Book Trade History

Catalogue No. 26: 'Early Newspapers | From 1625 to 1850'.

Author: 
Birrell & Garnett, Ltd., 30 Gerrard Street, London W.1 [booksellers' catalogues; bookselling]
Publication details: 
Harding & Curtis, Ltd., Somerset Street, Bath. [1929.]
£56.00

Octavo: 32 pp. Stapled and unbound. Rather worn, particularly at first and last leaves. A few pencil marks and notes, and slight ink staining at head of first leaf. Twenty illustrations. 168 items; three-part index on final page. Influential catalogue, the collection sold in its entirety to Duke University. One of Birrell & Garnett's managers was Graham Pollard, co-author of the book which unmasked T. J. Wise as a forger.

Autograph Letter Signed and two Typed Notes Signed to J.G. Wilson, Chairman of Bumpus's.

Author: 
Grant Richards.
Publication details: 
21 Soho Square, London, W1, 20 April 1929 (ALS), and The Cottage, Upper Culham, Near Henley-on-Thames, 6 Jan. and 14 May 1930 (TNSs).
£150.00

Publisher and author (1872-1948). All one page, 4to, fold marks, sl. grubby but text clear. (ALS) "Dear Wilson/ I have been meaning for several days to see whether you were not free to lunch, and now comes your note. Will you lunch on Tuesday? I hope you will./ Those advertisements? Why, I thought it was taken for granted that booksellers would supply the publications of any publisher - except those Heinemann people.

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent (John Tyndall?).

Author: 
Alexander Strahan
Publication details: 
21 January 1874; on letterhead '12, Paternoster Row, London'.
£65.00

Two pages, octavo. Good, apart from damage and loss to one edge caused by removal from mount. Would appear to relate to the controversy between the surgeon Sir Henry Thompson (1820-1904) and John Tyndall (1820-1893), held in the pages of Strahan's 'Contemporary Review'. Reads 'I herewith send you the proof of your reply to Sir Henry Thompson | Please revise and return it tomorrow.

Autograph Note Signed. In French.

Author: 
Victor Noir (pseudonym for Yvan Salmon)
Publication details: 
[1867].
£1,500.00

Journalist (1848-1870), killed 1870 in duel by Prince Pierre Buonaparte. The note is one page, 12mo, as follows: "La Gazette de Java, se recommande a l'Avenir Nationale / Victor Noir". The conjoint leaf has the following information, possibly in the same hand but more formal: "La Gazette de Java / Redige en Javanais, formar [?] Paris-Magazine, ... samedi 28 Mars, imprime sur papier de luxe - / . . . [series of names including Victor Noir], etc, etc. / Le Numero cinquante Centimes -". Victor Noir iwas the editor of this short-lived (no pun intended) publication.

Three autograph letters signed to [C.H.] Grinling, socialist, editor of the Woolwich Pioneer (London).

Author: 
Annie Payson Call
Publication details: 
The Hillside, Waltham, Mass., 24 April [1915?] AND Worcester Lane. Waltham, Mass., 9 April 1916 AND 19 March 1923.
£275.00

Author, associate of Arthur Astor Carey (1857-1923), philanthropist and social worker, of Waltham, Mass. Four, three and two pages, 8vo, respectively, good condition. (1915?). She speculates that she didb't answer his letter because "I think I wanted at first to consider asking my publishers what they thought of publishing a cheap edition of my books - as you suggested - and then I decided that they would not think it advisable . . ." She praises a pamphlet he has sent, "Libraries as Workshops", describing her early experience in libraries.

Printed Advertisement Leaf.

Author: 
Robert Akenhead, bookseller, 'at the Bible and Crown upon the Bridge, Newcastle' [provincial printing]
Publication details: 
Undated [circa 1723 re. pencilled note on reverse; Akenhead in businessc.1716-1768 re. BBTI]
£200.00

Dimensions roughly three and a half inches by three. One page, blank reverse. On aged paper, with some staining along one edge and crude ink marking, including 'Bookes bound', in a contemporary hand. Twenty-seven lines, beginning 'ROBERT AKENHEAD [...] sells the Goods followsng, [sic] viz. | BIBLES, Common-Prayers, and all other Sorts of Books of Divinity, History, Physick, Mathematicks.

Receipted Invoice Signed "S. Hodgson", Account of "Mr Charnley" (BBTI, William Charnley) bookseller, stationer, publisher, bookbinder, librarian/owner of circulating library

Author: 
[NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE] S[olomon] Hodgson, Printer, bookseller, stationer, print seller, newspaper proprietor (BBTI 1785-1800), also publisher of Bewick.
Publication details: 
Newcastle, no date.
£350.00

One page, 4to, somewhat grubby and worn at the edge, but text clear and complete. Account total £7.16.11 paid in cash. Twenty two items listed with prices, multiple copies from "6 Hist of All Nations" to 200 Maclaurin's Spelling", subjects including educational (as above) and children's ("Mother Goose", "Mothers Chits Chats Tales"). Other items include "Traders Guide", "Robinson Crusoe", "London Cries", "Lottery Books", "Tom Thumbs Play Bills".

Autograph Note Signed ('Tho. Graham') to 'Mr. Schultze | Poland Street', printer.

Author: 
Thomas Graham (1805-1869), Scottish chemist and Master of the Mint
Publication details: 
4 Gordon Square [London]; 9 June 1851.
£56.00

One page, octavo. Carefully laid down on neatly-docketed larger piece of paper, but with the glue employed badly aged and causing staining. Closed tear across letter caused by removal from spike. Signature clear and unmarked. Reads 'Dear Sir, | I believe it will be better to set up the enclosed proofs, in sheets in the usual manner. The remainder of the Report will be sent immediately.'

Autograph Letter Signed to the poet, journalist and editor Alaric A[lexander]. Watts (1797-1864).

Author: 
Thomas Haynes Bayly (1797-1839), English poet and song writer.
Publication details: 
Friday [no date]; 5 Wyndham Place, London.
£56.00

Two pages, quarto. Very good, on lightly aged and creased paper. He is sorry that he has not been able to 'become personally acquainted with' Watts since coming to town, but will 'very soon make another attempt', hoping to find him at home.

Four Autograph Letters Signed ('W. Marshall') to Messrs Bradley & Son Ltd[, The Crown Press, Printers, Caxton Road, Reading], giving formula for 'Spacine' ('for the prevention of rising spaces in Monotype') and instructions for its application.

Author: 
W. Marshall, East Dulwich printer and inventor [Bradley & Son, Reading printers; Monotype; Spacine]
Publication details: 
30 Jan. [1929], 8 and 13 May 1929 and undated; the first three from 92 Upland Rd, East Dulwich, London, S.E.22.
£180.00

The four items, all on aged and lightly spotted paper, are attached by four rusty staples. One (five pages, octavo): In reply to the firm's inquiry regarding 'the prevention of rising spaces in Monotype', Marshall states that, instead of giving information, he 'would rather send you the method and you try it out and prove for yourself its value, then pay me afterwards'.

Autograph Note, third person, to Hurst Robinson & Co.

Author: 
Sir John Sinclair.
Publication details: 
178 Piccadilly, 24 June 1824.
£60.00

First president of the board of agriculture (1754-1835). One page, 8vo, sl. chipped and marked, but text clear and complete. "Sir John Sinclair presents his Compliments to Messrs. Hurst Robinson & Co. and shall be glad to have send [sic] him, as soon as possible, 10 Copies of the Prospectus of his analysis of the Statistical Account of Scotland, which he will replace from Edinburgh. He will take an early opportunity of calling upon them respecting the London sale of that Work." The "Analysis" was published in two parts in 1825 - by Hurst?

Printed Receipt with ms. adds ({J.M. Farquhar for Mr Bruce}).

Author: 
Archibald Constable & Co.
Publication details: 
Edinburgh, {4 April }18{15} (bracketed = ms.)
£75.00

One page, from larger sheet, c.8 x 6.5, fold marks, some marking mainly good. "Edinburgh {6 April} 18{15}/{J.M. Farquhar Esq/ for Mr Bruce}/ Bought of Archd. Constable & Co./ { Bewick Birds --£1.4.0/ <?> Saxon and Gaul 17 /6 April 1815'/ Recd / for A. Constable &Co/ }" Verso note: "6 April 1815/ account/ by/ A Constable & Co/ 7/."

Handbill headed 'Souvenir. Street Library Book Fund.', consisting of a monologue entitled 'Lord Beaconsfield speaks before the curtain'.

Author: 
Laurence Housman [The Street Library, The Crispin Hall; Somerset; English libraries]
Publication details: 
Crispin Hall, July 8th, 1931.'
£56.00

One one side of a piece of laid paper, 26.5 x 21 cms. Aged and creased, with chipping to extremities and staining on reverse from repair to one of two closed tears. Thirty-six lines, with facsimile of Housman's signature at foot. An appeal for 'money for the Library - your Library'. Somewhat poignant, considering the present neglected state of the British library service. '[...] The question is - do you want to give money to your Library? [...] But, for my own part, I ask - why, why Libraries? What are they for? What there do you read?

Mortgage Indenture (No. 13992), printed, manuscript, typewritten, and signed, between Smith, his wife Millicent Smith and the Burnley Building Society.

Author: 
William Russell Smith, Oldham 'Book Manufacturer and Auctioneer'
Publication details: 
9 October 1922. Printed by 'George Anderson (Burnley) Limited.'
£35.00

Eight pages, quarto. Unbound and stitched on six leaves. Good, with recto of first leaf and verso of last somewhat more aged. With company and tax stamps. 'Mortgage, [a leasehold plot of land and messuage Numbered 26 in Barker Street Oldham in the County of Lancaster to secure £450 and interest.' Typewritten acknowledgment of payment, 25 February 1929, signed by company secretary W. Harvey and director J. Brown.

Autograph Letter Signed "W E Frost" to F. S. Ellis, bookseller and author.

Author: 
William Edward Frost, artist
Publication details: 
8 Southampton Street, Fitzroy Square, London, 9 Nov. 1860.
£85.00

One page, 8vo, minor defects, text clear and complete, except were a spike-hole cuts out a letter. He enjoyed looking through Ellis's catalogue but "I regret the names of Stothard and Blake do not occur more frequently - I beg to enclose a list of a few works I am seeking and shall feel greatly obliged if by any means you could procure them for me." Note: He formed a large collection of engravings after the works of Thomas Stothard, R.A., and prepared, in conjunction with Mr.

Invoice (and stamped Receipt) Signed.

Author: 
Bernard Quaritch.
Publication details: 
15 Piccadilly, W., London, 26 June 1888.
£75.00

Printed and manuscript. Invoice made out to Rev. Dr. Eccleston of Cambridge, 9 x 5.5", defects but text clear and complete.

Book Culture, vol. 1, nos 1-4 [of 7, all published]

Author: 
Nathan Haskell Dole, editor.
Publication details: 
Boston, MA., Jan.-April 1899
£50.00

Pp. 16' 16; 32-56; 57-80, one coloured frontispiece.Some wear and tear, marking and sunning, fair condition, complete. Articles and advertising aimed at the book-collector (for example "A Prince of Collectors" (Jean Grolier)).

Invoice/Receipt signed indecipherably on behalf of Th. Barrois to Lord Glenbervie

Author: 
Theophile Barrois fils, Libraire, French bookseller and publisher.
Publication details: 
[Headed] No. 11 Quai Voltaire, a Paris, 1817[-1818]
£65.00

One page, 4to, good condition. Books include English grammars in French, Pope's Works, Guarini's "Pastor Fido". Broiefly docketed presumably by Glenbervie.

Engraved coloured lithographic portrait, 'Drawn from Nature by J. W. Childe' and engraved by Charles James Hullmandel (1789-1850).

Author: 
Richard Lemmon Gregory, 'The Respected Librarian at MR. LODER'S ESTABLISHMENT, North St. Brighton.' [Robert Loder; Circulating Libraries]
Publication details: 
Published by R. Loder, North Street, Sepr. 12th. 1828.'
£75.00

Dimensions of paper roughly eight and a half inches by six and a half wide. Illustration roughly five and a half inches by five wide. Good on slightly aged and creased paper. A grey-haired Gregory, fashionably dressed in striped waistcoat and cravat, and wearing a white apron, stares at the viewer while holding a book in his left hand and writing its details in a ledger with a quill in his right hand. BBTI gives Robert Loder's trading dates as 1822-39, and Gregory's as 1793-1851.

Printed handbill advertising the publication of Kirby's 'Monographia Apum Angliae'.

Author: 
William Kirby [John White, bookseller; Stephen Couchman, printer]
Publication details: 
London: 'Printed for the AUTHOR, and Sold by J. WHITE, Fleet-Street. Printed by S. Couchman, Throgmorton-Street.' [1802].
£120.00

One page, on rough-edged grey wove paper, roughly nine inches by six wide. An attractive production of twenty-two lines, with ornamental rules top and bottom, headed 'This Day is Published, | IN TWO VOLUMES OCTAVO, | PRICE ONE GUINEA IN BOARDS, | Monographia Apum Angliae; | [...] | By WILLIAM KIRBY, B.A. F.L.S. | RECTOR of Barham in Suffolk. | [...]'. According to BBTI John White traded between 1785 and 1816 and Stephen Couchman between 1774 and 1825.

Autograph Note Signed ('Geo Gregory') to 'Mr Hawley'.

Author: 
George Gregory, Bath bookseller
Publication details: 
4 June 1919; on firm's ornate letterhead.
£75.00

One page, on paper roughly seven inches by eight wide. Good, on lightly creased paper. Stamped with date. He thanks his correspondent for 'the typed list'. Headed 'Memorandum from | GEORGE GREGORY, Book Merchant, Library Buyer and Exporter, | The Imperial Book Store, | 5 and 5a ARGYLE STREET, BATH. | Out-of-Print and Rare, or Out-of-the-Way Books sought for and reported promptly, with option of purchase. Send me your List of Wants. | Licensed Valuer. Stock well classified in Thirty Rooms. Libraries Purchased. | Bankers: UNION OF LONDON & SMITHS BANK, LTD., BATH.

Receipted Invoice, account of "Messrs [T.?] Gibbs & Co.

Author: 
[James F. Cannell, bookseller, stationer and printer.]
Publication details: 
50 Castle Street, Liverpool, Sept. and Oct. 1836, receipted 30 Sept.1837.
£25.00

One page, 4to, part printed (headed notepaper), poor condition, loss of most of signature of the receipt. They invoiced for circulars they had printed. Correct BBTI 50 Castle Street (or add). Also provides binding service and export.

Eight items relating to royalties due from Richards for Lucas's 'The Open Road' following Richards' bankruptcy.

Author: 
Edward Verrall Lucas (1868-1938), English author; Grant Richards (1872-1948), English publisher
Publication details: 
London; 9 March to 7 April 1905.
£220.00

The collection as a whole is in good condition, although lightly creased in places and somewhat dusty and aged. All items have unobtrusive pinholes, and Item Seven has fraying and closed tears to extremities. An interesting correspondence casting light on publishing practices at the turn of the nineteenth century. ITEMS ONE TO FIVE: 12mo letters from Lucas's solicitors Field, Roscoe & Co., each on the firm's letterhead, to the 'Receiver and Manager appointed to carry on [Richards'] business', H. C. K. Stileman, dated 9, 11, 18 and 21 March, and 1 April 1905.

Prospectus for 'MARIA EDGEWORTH | 1767-1849 | A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL TRIBUTE | BY | BERTHA COOLIDGE | SLADE | Demy 8vo. 42s. net.'

Author: 
Bertha Coolidge Slade [Maria Edgeworth; Constable and Company; Richard Clay and Sons]
Publication details: 
LONDON: | PRINTED IN AN EDITION OF TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY | COPIES BY RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, | BUNGAY, SUFFOLK, FOR CONSTABLE AND COMPANY | LIMITED ORANGE STREET, LONDON, W.C.2. | 1937.'
£30.00

Stapled and unbound. Octavo: four leaves (eight unpaginated pages). On aged and lightly spotted paper. Vignette on title page. Includes list of plates and 'Specimen Entry' of pages 51-3. Verso of last leaf headed 'from CONSTABLE'S BIBLIOGRAPHICAL LIST', comprising 'THE CARTER-POLLARD DISCLOSURES', 'BIBLIOGRAPHIA SERIES' and 'DORMY HOUSE CATALOGUES'.

Manuscript Invoice/Receipt Signed to "Mrs Forbes", Ampthill, [Bedfordshire]

Author: 
E. Handscomb, bookseller [add date to BBTI]
Publication details: 
1823[-1825].
£50.00

One page, 8vo, minor damage and staining. The invoice is to the account of [J?] Handscomb but the receipt is signed by "E. Hanscomb" identifiable with Eb Handscomb perhaps in BBTI though the dates are a problem. Apparently unrelated figures in pencil on reverse.

Receipt, printed heading, signed "E Harris".

Author: 
Eliz[abeth] Harris, bookseller, stationer, printer, bookbinder (adds to BBTI)
Publication details: 
96 High Street, Shadwell, LOndon, 31 Dec. 1833) - date extends BBTI
£75.00

One page, 6.5 x 5.5", good condition. Payment for one number of "Blackwood's Magazine". Note spelling "Recieved".

A co-operative [booksellers'] catalogue' entitled 'Detective Fiction: A Century of Crime: First and Early Editions'.

Author: 
R. A. Brimmell; Boris Harding-Edgar (Charles Rare Books)
Publication details: 
Hastings and Hildenborough; [circa 1966].
£120.00

Forty-four pages, octavo, with two-page leaf of addenda loosely inserted. Four pages illustrating seventeen pictorial covers on art paper. In printed card wraps. A worn and creased copy of an influential catalogue, issued at a time when, as the introduction points out 'catalogues devoted to detective fiction [were] something of a rarity in the book trade'.

[Printed Circular with MS. additions from the "Trustees of the late Firm of White, Cochrane and Co. of Fleet Street, Booksellers" to the Rt Hon Lord Glenbervie.

Author: 
[White, Cochrane and Co. , booksellers [BBTI 1812; Maxted 1812-1816], publishers [see BLC]
Publication details: 
63 Fleet Street, 3 May 1815.
£120.00

One page, 4to, good condition. The printed circular is a request for the "early settlement" of an outstanding bill, adding that "A Catalogue of the whole of the extensive and valuable Stock of the late Partnership, is now published; and each article will be sold, for ready money, with a Discount of Ten per Cent. from the marked prices." The manuscript portion comprises the name of the debtor and a detailed receipt for payment for numbers of the "Edinburgh Review" (received in 1814 and 1815), signed "[W. Tripp?]".

Receipted Invoice, printed heading, account of Lord Glenbervie, signed "C.W. Keller" pp. Rodwell (see BBTI for identifiable dealer 1839 - not mentioned as Rodwell's assistant)

Author: 
J[ames] Rodwell, bookseller "late Partner with & Successor to Mr. Faulder" (BBTI does not mention the partnership)
Publication details: 
46 New Bond Street, London, 1913[-1814].
£35.00

One page, 7 x 4.5", good condition. Annual Register

Lithographic caricature of Panizzi by 'Ape' ['Men of the Day. No 77'], with letterpress.

Author: 
Ape' [Carlo Pellegrini (1838-89)], Victorian caricaturist; Sir Anthony Panizzi (1797-1879), Chief Librarian at the British Museum
Panizzi
Publication details: 
[London]: published in 'Vanity Fair', 17 January 1874.
£80.00
Panizzi

Paper dimensions roughly fifteen inches by ten and a half wide; print dimensions twelve inches by seven and a quarter wide. Good clear image with border a little dusty and aged. Full-length image of a dour Panizzi standing at a desk holding a book. Page of letterpress on separate leaf of same dimensions, containing spirited account ['he sought refuge in Switzerland, but he was expelled discreditably from that country, [...] Keeper of the Printed Books [...] the man in all Europe most competent to fill it.

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