[John Lane; Bodley Head edits] The Bodleian, vols. 1 & 4 only. Twenty-four numbers (including the first twelve) of 'The Bodleian | A Journal of Books at the Bodley Head'.

Scarce. The only complete runs of the magazine located on COPAC are at the British Library and (possibly) Oxford, with Cambridge and St Andrews holding copies from between 1932 and 1935. Bound in two volumes of grey buckram, with titles in gilt on spine and front board. Internally in good condition, lightly aged; in lightly-worn binding. Each number carries an editorial under the title 'Impressions', a section of quotations titled 'Wit and Wisdom', 'Best Reviews of New Novels' (exclusively dealing with the firm's publications), a final page of chitchat, titled 'Bodleiana', together with poems, short stories, articles (on G. K. Chesterton; 'The New Darwinism'), extracts and interviews ('An Interview with the Author of Mrs. Grammercy-Park'; 'A Poet at Business [i.e. Darrell Figgis]' by 'D. F. H.', 'A Chat with Miss Mills Young'; 'Mrs. Macdonald Interviewed'), a prize competition. A few articles nod towards the firm's 1890s heyday ('?The Little Company?' [i.e. the Rhymers' Club]; obituary of John Davidson, 'Ross on Beardsley'; 'Beardsley Drawings at the Baillie Gallery Exhibition of Many Famous Artists'; pieces on Frank Harris and Whistler), but the content is predominantly and unashamedly Georgian, as evidence the front-page lead poems by: Esm? Wingfield-Stratford; A. C. Benson; Oliver Davies; Richard Le Gallienne; Darrell Figgis; Alice Herbert; William Watson; Francis Coutts; Rachel Annand Taylor; Leonard Shoobridge; Canon Beeching; H. W. Garrod; Rosamund Marriott Watson; Lascelles Abercrombie; Lucy Masterman; Stephen Coleridge.At the beginning of the editorial to the first number Lane states that 'The year 1908 has been especially memorable in the history of the Bodley Head from the removal of our warehouse to more commodious premises. Brewer Street satisfactorily meets the demand for space which an increased output of books necessarily incurs.' After discussing the firm's recent publication the editorial concludes: 'Consequently, we commence 1909 with feelings of pleasure from the past and with confidence in the future. Not looking backward or dwelling overmuch on the triumphs of the past, but ready to make a new and definite appeal to all who read, whatever the style of book, and by giving only of our best, may we secure our own little niche in the Halls of Literature.' The number for July 1909 reprints a letter by Lane on 'Mark Twain's Literary Larceny' (in his book 'Is Shakespeare Dead?', allegedly from G. G. Greenwood). A quirky piece in the July 1912 number is 'Mr. Robert Blatchford declines to review ?At the Sign of the Reine Pedauque?'. The January 1913 number carries a review of paintings titled 'M. Paul-Louis Hervier on Mrs. John Lane'. Also present is a 12mo order slip, printed in red and headed 'APRIL'.