[British Book Trade.] Manuscript list of material, made by collector 'Mr Abrahams', with an Autograph Letter Signed from W. H. Peet, who made use of Abraham's collection in compiling the bibliographical index to Mumby's 'Romance of Book Selling'.

Author: 
Abrahams; William Henry Peet [F. A. Mumby [Frank Arthur Mumby] (1872-1954), author of 'The Romance of Book Selling' (1910), later 'Publishing and Bookselling' (sixth edition, 1982)]
Publication details: 
Without place or date [circa 1910].
£500.00
SKU: 18944

The manuscript is closely-written over 80pp., 4to, in green cloth, and is interleaved with the twenty leaves of Peet's printed bibliography from the 1910 edition of Mumby's book (paginated 431-470), to which it does not correspond, with only a small amount of the information in the manuscript also in Peet's bibliography. It contains a mass of material not present in Peet's bibliography, and has the main list followed by entries under the following headings: 'Booksellers' Portraits', 'Tokens', 'Petitions & Memorials', 'Charities', 'Magazine Articles', 'Book Labels' and 'Copyright'. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in modern green cloth binding with 'BIBLIOGRAPHY MS.' in gilt on spine. Bound in at the beginning is an Autograph Letter Signed to the presumed compiler 'Mr Abrahams' from Peet ('Wm. H. Peet'), dated from Alleyn, Burcott Road, Purley, on 4 December 1910. In the letter (which is written after the publication of the first edition of Mumby's book) Peet thanks Abrahams for his offer of help with 'my Bibliography. I will go carefully through your list and ask you for what I should like to see'. In the meantime he asks Abrahams to accept 'these rough Sheets which may be useful'. At the head of the first page of the manuscript is the following note signed by 'Aa': 'Mr Peet in his bibliography includes contributions to the Periodical Press. I have provided a separate list of these supra "Magazine Articles" as they are frequently discussions of current topics and not of historical importance. The author was clearly a scholar and collector of material relating to British book trade history. Occasional entries in the list are signed 'Aa', and one reading 'Aa collection', and a slip from a bookseller's catalogue annotated 'now in my collection cost 23/- 7/4/12'. A few extraneous items are bound in or loosely inserted: including engravings from the European Magazine of Dr Ralph Griffiths, editor of the Monthly Review, and Robert Orme; and a leaf from a catalogue of 'John Boydell, Engraver, in Cheapside', dated 2 April 1764.