bookselling

See her entry, and that of Whittaker, in the Oxford DNB. 1p, landscape 12mo. A corner of the letter carrying a few words of text has been torn away on opening; it is still attached, beneath a red wax seal, so that the entire document is present in two parts. Otherwise in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Addressed by Mitford 'To / Messrs. Baynes & Son / 23 Paternoster Row'. Begins: 'Miss Mitford presents her Compts. to Mr.

Several James Joyce scholars have turned their attention to Schwartz, an early dealer in his books and manuscripts, as well as publisher of a couple of pirated editions. See William S. Brockman, 'Jacob Schwartz - The Fly in the Honey' in Joyce Studies Annual, Summer 1998. 1p, 4to. On the Ulysses Bookshop letterhead, printed on green paper. Addressed to 'Dear Sir:' and with valediction 'Au Revoir / Dr J Schwartz / prop / Ulysses Books'.

See his entry by his grandson Anthony Rota in the Oxford DNB. On one side of a piece of paper cut from the end of a letter. Refers to the first privately-printed collection of Dobell's poetry, 'Rosemary and Pansies' (1901). Reads: ‘Yours faithfully / Bertram Dobell. / I have printed only 75 copies of my booklet, so that it may have at least the recommendation of being scarce - the only one, I am afraid, that it can claim.’

Three pages, 8vo, creased and slightly stained, but clear and complete. He's been sent a copy of Seymour's lectures on Convents (pub. 1852), pays for it with stamps, makes one or two points for the next edition, refers to Wiseman (who published a response in 1853) as the Cardinal of Impudentiana, and gives references to other works on nunneries (evidences against). He promotes a campaign to petition for the repeal of the Emancipation Act, and concludes with further suggestions for a new edition (typography etc).

See Sheila Markham’s interview with Thorp’s grandson Jim in ‘The Bookdealer’, April 1995, and the report ‘Now it’s the end of the Thomas Thorp story’, Surrey Live, 17 January 2003. 132pp, 8vo. Stapled. Pagination includes grey printed wraps, with title and first and last entries. On cheap discoloured paper, with slight wear to bottom corner of first few leaves; spine worn and chipped, covers detached. Undated, but with no item found dated later than 1929. Fifty-one pages (33-83) of bookplates in small print.

An elusive figure, Dosse is certainly a candidate for a full-length study. The novelist Sally Emerson gives an excellent account of her time as editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ in its last days in an article titled ‘Death of a Bookman’ (Standpoint magazine, October 2018). These six items are in good condition, lightly aged and worn. ONE: 2pp, foolscap 8vo, second page numbered. Complete rough draft of typed letter, with manuscript corrections, endorsing ‘Books and Bookmen’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient Philip Dosse was proprietor of Hansom Books, publisher of a stable of seven arts magazines including Books and Bookmen and Plays and Players. See ‘Death of a Bookman’ by the novelist Sally Emerson (editor of ‘Books and Bookmen’ at the time of Dosse’s suicide), in Standpoint magazine, October 2018. The typed letter is in fair condition, aged and worn; the three cards are in very good condition. The signature on the four items is little more than a squiggle. Of the three cards, only Item Four below is addressed.

Two pieces of uncommon Edwardian bibliographical ephemera. Both items worn and aged, and the catalogue somewhat dogeared. Both with some pencil marking. ONE (1909 catalogue): 32pp, 12mo. Drophead title on first page: ‘Macmillan’s Three-and-Sixpenny Library of Books by Popular Authors / Crown 8vo.’ The first two pages carry a description of the series, which ‘comprises over four hundred volumes in various departments of Literature. Prominent among them is a new and attractive edition of The Works of Thackeray, issued under the editorship of Mr. Lewis Melville.

As the Great Depression hit Gibbons found himself over-extended, and was forced into bankruptcy. The present item is scarce. The only copy on JISC is at the Paul Mellon Centre Library. 68pp, 8vo. In grey printed wraps, and with purchase slip tipped in. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. At head of title-page: ‘By Direction of Lieut.-Col. SIR WALTER GIBBONS, K.B.E., D.L. Following the Sale of the Freehold, and the proposed conversion of the Property into high-class Residential Flats.’ ‘Conditions of Sale’ on reverse of title. 974 lots.

From the Macqueen-Pope papers. (See his entry, and those of Foyle and Mackenzie, in the Oxford DNB.) Apart from damage and rust staining from paperclips, the seven items are in good condition. The correspondence mainly concerns a Foyles Literary Lunch for Macqueen-Pope, which Mackenzie was unable to chair because of an attack of bronchitis. All items 1p, 8vo. Mackenzie’s two letters signed ‘Compton Mackenzie’ and Foyle’s signed ‘Christina Foyle’. ONE: Foyle to MP, 26 February 1951. She is forwarding a letter from Mackenzie.

From the Macqueen-Pope papers (see his entry in the Oxford DNB). 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once, with one dogeared corner. He thanks him for ‘having mentioned my name in connection with the playbills, prints, etc., needed for the redecoration of the Whitbread house in Covent Garden’. He believes MP will be ‘seeing my selection within the next few days’, and hopes that, ‘in general, you will approve of it’.

An idiosyncratic letter, revealing something of his working practices, and the relations between client and bookseller in the early nineteenth century. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. From the collection of a painstaking Victorian autograph collector, who has unobtrusively repaired slight damage to a central fold. On lightly discoloured paper, with a thin neat strip from the windowpane mount adheres to the edges. The letter is signed ‘Sh.n Turner’ and the recipients are not named.

For the background to this letter see D’Arch Smith’s memoir ‘The Times Deceas’d: The Rare Book Department of The Times Bookshop in the 1960s’ (2003). The obituary of the recipient Andrew Block (1892-1987) in ‘The Private Library’ was subtitled ‘the doyen of booksellers’; his business was established in 1911. 1p, 4to. Aged and lightly creased. Signed ‘Tim’, with Block writing ‘D’ARCH SMITH’ beside this. Begins: ‘My dear Andrew: / Thanks so much for looking after me so well on Saturday.

See Nicolas Barker’s obituary of Bondy in the Independent, 27 June 1993. The obituary of the recipient Andrew Block (1892-1987) in ‘The Private Library’ was subtitled ‘the doyen of booksellers’; his business was established in 1911. An evocative piece of booktrade and London local government ephemera. 2pp, 8vo. Printed on a leaf of shiny art paper. Worn and creased; folded twice. On one side ‘L. W.

See Nicolas Barker’s typically-elegant obituary of Williamson in the Independent. 2pp, 4to. The obituary of the recipient Andrew Block (1892-1987) in ‘The Private Library’ was subtitled ‘the doyen of booksellers’; his business was established in 1911. On aged and worn paper; folded three times. Signed ‘Hugh Williamson:’ and addressed to ‘Mr Block’. Thirty-one lines in a close, calligraphic hand.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged. In the following transcript, the parts in Masefield’s autograph are in square brackets, and the first printed sentence (‘I [...] letter.’) has been scored through: ‘PINBURY PARK, / CIRENCESTER. / Dear [Sirs,] / I thank you for you letter. / [I shall be obliged if you will send me No 98 of your list / Du Maurier. Trilby / London, 1895.] / With all good wishes, / Yours sincerely, / John Masefield.’ (Note that this ‘signature’ is printed.) See image.

The obituary of the recipient Andrew Block (1892-1987) in ‘The Private Library’ was subtitled ‘the doyen of booksellers’; his business was established in 1911. Both addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Block’. LETTER: 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Signed ‘Helen D. Willard’. She is hoping to be able to see him in London the following month. ‘I called in you [sic] briefly last year, then got swept up into many activities that kept me from returning to browse.’ She has a very pleasant memory of their conversation.

See Nicolas Barker’s appreciative obituary in the Independent, 7 April 1999, which notes that after selling his entire stock to the University of Texas in 1968, ‘He moved his business to the other side of Great Russell Street, and briefly opened another shop, selling prints in partnership with Rob Douwma.’ (The British Museum website states that ‘Weinreb & Douwma was on the corner of Great Russell Street and Bloomsbury Way during the 1970s and 1980s.’) The obituary of the recipient Andrew Block (1892-1987) in ‘The Private Library’ was subtitled ‘the doyen of booksellers’; his business w

An evocative artefact of the interesting connection between Powys and the man who supplied him with the books for his translation of Rabelais. Writing on 24 September 1940, in 'Letters to Sea-Eagle', Powys gives a lengthy account of 'Our Jew Book-Pedlar' and the bombing by the Germans of his Russell Street address.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. Folded twice. Signed ‘André Deutsch’ (but note that there is no accent to the name on the letterhead). He thanks him for his letter, and hope that ‘the enclosed postcard [not present] will be of some help. It is rather an amusing one, as Herr von Papen gives a literal translation of the German expression for the appendix’. Here Deutsch adds in autograph: ‘(Physical).’ He ends by stating that he is enclosing ‘a copy of our list for your information’ (also not present).

For information on Cleverdon, see his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient is the subject of an obituary by Nicolas Barker in the Independent, 18 March 1997. 2pp, 8vo. On tastefully-printed letterhead (Cleverdon’s shop sign was by Eric Gill) headed ‘DOUGLAS CLEVERDON / WISHES TO BRING TO YOUR NOTICE’, and printed in the same font (as is the order form on the reverse) at foot: ‘The order form on the reverse of this sheet should be sent to / THE BOOKSHOP OF DOUGLAS CLEVERDON / 18 CHARLOTTE STREET, BRISTOL, ENGLAND’. in fair condition, a little creased.

An interesting letter, casting light on bibliographic and book trade practices in Consulate Paris. 2pp, 12mo. Forty-two lines of closely-written text on the first leaf of a bifolium, the recto of the second leaf being addressed 'Au Citoyen Firmin Didot | Rue du Regard | A Paris'. In good condition, lightly aged, with white paper stub of mount adhering to second leaf.

4to, 1 p. Fourteen lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. He has been 'extremely unwell', and is sending '3 bills for the account of Thomsons Chemistry £1100'. 'I trust that you will not be dis-satisfied with this as I can assure you conscientiously that I could not afford to give them shorter.' Reference to Longmans, and to his anxiety, 'as you left the settlement to my own conscience'.

See his obituary in the Gentleman's Magazine, September 1839. B. Dulau & Co. was a firm of foreign language booksellers in Soho Square, London, founded by a Benedictine monk, Armand Bertrand Dulau, who had fled France during the revolution. 2pp, 4to. Thirty-two lines of text. In good condition, lightly aged, with stub from mounting adhering to one edge, and negligible damage at a corner. The letter begins: 'Sir James Craufurd prie M.

Author not named. The six parts totalling 96pp., 4to. Unbound and stitched together. In poor condition, on aged and worn paper with occasional minor loss. Page 1 carries 'A Few Words to the British Reader', beginning: 'UNCLE TOM'S CABIN is not only the most thrilling Novel ever written in America, but the most interesting and startling work of the age.

2pp, 16mo. Bifolium with mourning border. Heavily aged, worn and creased, with traces of paper from mount adhering to blank reverse of second leaf. There is no salutation. The letter begins: 'It is impossible to make the best selection, out of 11 vols which I gave Quaritch, £8. for, from the Bindon Blood Collection, and 3 thick vols, collected by the very well known Collector Chas. Kirkpatrick Sharpe of Edinbro'. I bought from Upham & Beet for £4. nett so many curious amongst the above vols.' He hopes some of these volumes will be useful to the recipient, 'now, and already before sent'.

Evocative artefacts of the interesting connection between Powys and the man who supplied him with the books for his translation of Rabelais. On 24 September 1940, in 'Letters to Sea-Eagle', Powys gives a lengthy account of 'Our Jew Book-Pedlar' and the bombing by the Germans of his Russell Street address.

Both items in good condition, lightly aged. The autograph receipt is on a slip of paper attached to the invoice with sealing wax. The invoice is docketed: 'For Par Re: Richd Clarke | 1825 | Sepr. 13th. | Mr Lupton Rolfe Bill for Books | £2 13 6 | No 13 Cornhill London'. ONE: Invoice. 1p., 12mo. Handsome letterhead for items 'Bought of Lupton Relfe | (From J. Hatchard's Son's [sic]) | Bookseller, Publisher & Stationer. | No.

1p., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. He acknowledges Wilson's 'kind letter regarding Dalglish', who 'suffered a good deal during the latter weeks of his life, but I am glad to say that even then he still retained that brightness of disposition of which you speak'.

R. J. L. Kingsford, in his history of the Publishers Association, describes Young as 'a bookseller of outstanding character and ability, a friend of Arnold Bennett, and the discoverer of the literary distinction of George Sturt'. 1p., 12mo. Neatly and closely written. Headed 'private', and addressed to 'Dear John'. Young is apparently following a dinner (of the Publishers Association) at which George Bernard Shaw was present, and the subject of the letter would appear to be an exhibition Wilson's firm has mounted of books by the London publisher John Murray.