Catalogue of the Important Collections mainly of the Writings of Charles Dickens and of other XIX Century Authors forming part of the Library of Thomas Hatton . . .

Illustrated copy - Price Two Shillings. Green printed wraps, 40pp., 8vo, wear and tear, contents shaky (staples rusting), wraps worn and sl. soiled, contents partly stained but clear and complete. St J. Hornby's copy. INSCRIBED by St John Hornby "StJH" on front on which is stamped (some faded) "Please do not use in the press before 6 Nov. 1931" i.e advanced review copy for distinguished customer. Hornby has annotated several items usually with the price and the purchaser (First item recorded, "Annals of Sporting and Fancy Gazette", Wills, £115; then a complete set of "Bentley's Miscellany", Freeman, £50; Latin Bible, Maggs, £40; Combe's "Dr Syntax", Mitchell, £140, and so on). The entry for The complete Pickwick in numbers attracts the most annotation. Hornby recalls the price of the Jerome Kern copy in 1929, £5600 [only two years before], that of the McGeorge copy, £1400, 1928 ("prob. finest & purest copy for years"); and the price this copy made, Bowden, £1480 "started £200 / Sotheran underbidder" - presumably aware of the impact on prices of the Crash. Perhaps St J. Hornby is displaying a collector's interest in certain items and/or recording information which bears on his collection. Another hand has written St J. Hornby on [p.40].