Book-Collecting

BOOK-COLLECTING, the bringing together of books which in their contents, their form or the history of the individual copy possess some element of permanent interest, and either actually or prospectively are rare, in the sense of being difficult to procure. This qualification of rarity, which figures much too largely in the popular view of book-collecting, is entirely subordinate to that of interest, for the rarity of a book devoid of interest is a matter of no concern. On the other hand so long as a book (or anything else) is and appears likely to continue to be easily procurable at any moment, no one has any reason for collecting it. The antici pation that it will always be easily procurable is often unfounded; but so long as the anticipation exists it restrains collecting, with the result that Horn books are much rarer than First Folio Shakespeares. Of the books which any one generation of readers acquires the great majority are dead before their own owners. But from out of this seemingly dead stock, preserved at haphazard, critics and antiquaries and librarians gradually pick out at auctions or from dealers' stocks books which they find to be still alive and possessing an interest which cannot be reproduced in its entirety by any mere reprint. At first this salvage is rescued at haphazard, but in the modern private collection, as in the modern museum, the first requisite is the steady pursuit of a central idea. Neither the collector nor the curator can be content to keep a mere curi osity shop. It is the collector's business to illustrate his central idea by his choice of examples and by the care with which he examines and describes them. It is mainly by the zeal of private collectors that books which otherwise would have perished from neglect are discovered, preserved and made to yield up their se crets, with the result that almost every great library owes more, on its historical side, to their generosity than to the purchases made from its own resources.

Although adumbrations of it existed under the Roman empire and towards the end of the middle ages, book-collecting, as it is now understood, is essentially of modern growth. Even when the invention of printing had reduced the cost of books by some 8o%, book-collectors did not immediately appear. There is a natural temptation to imagine that the early book-owners, whose libraries have enriched modern collectors with some of their best known treasures, must necessarily have been collectors them selves. This is far from being the case. In England Archbishop Cranmer, Lords Arundel and Lumley, and Henry, prince of Wales ; in France Jean Grolier (1479-1565), who bought largely in Italy, and the famous historian Jacques Auguste de Thou (1553-1617), brought together the best books of their day In all departments of learned literature, put them into hand some leather jackets, and enriched them with their coats of arms, heraldic badges or other marks of possession. But they brought their books together for use and study, to be read by themselves and by the scholars who frequented their houses, and no evidence has been produced that they appreciated what a collector might now call the points of a book other than its fine condition and literary or informational merits. Collecting, as dis tinct from the formation of working libraries, may perhaps be said to have begun in England at the time of the antiquarian reaction produced by the book massacres when the monasteries were dissolved by Henry VIII., and the university and college libraries and the parish service books were plundered and stript by the commissioners of Edward VI. To rescue good books from perishing is one of the main objects of book-collecting, and when Archbishop Parker and Sir Robert Cotton set to work to gather what they could of the scattered records of English statecraft and literature, and of the decorative art bestowed so lavishly on the books of public and private devotion, they were book-collectors in a sense and on a scale to which few of their modern imitators can pretend. Men of more slender purses, and armed with none of Archbishop Parker's special powers, worked according to their ability on similar lines. Humphrey Dyson, an Elizabethan notary, who collected contemporary proclamations and books from the early English presses, and George Thomason (d. 1666), the bookseller who bought, stored and catalogued all the pamphlet lit erature of the Civil War, were mindful of the future historians of the days in which they lived. By the end of the 17th century book-collecting was in full swing all over Europe, and much of its apparatus had come into existence. In 1676 book auctions were introduced into England from Holland, and soon we can trace in priced catalogues the beginning of a taste for Caxtons, and the books prized by collectors slowly fought their way up from amid the heavy volumes of theology by which they were at first over whelmed.

Early Book-buyers.

Almost all the large book-buyers of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries bought with a public object, or were rewarded for their zeal by their treasures being thought worthy of a public resting-place. Sir Thomas Smith (d. 15 7 7) bequeathed his books to Queen's college, Cambridge ; Archbishop Parker's were left under severe restrictions to Corpus Christi college in the same university; Sir Thomas Bodley refounded during his life time the university library at Oxford, to which also Laud gave liberally and Selden bequeathed his books. The library of Arch bishop Williams went to St. John's college, Cambridge; that of Archbishop Usher was bought for Trinity college, Dublin. The mathematical and scientific books of Thomas Howard, earl of Norfolk (d. 1646), were given by his grandson to the Royal So ciety; the heraldic collections of Ralph Sheldon (d. 1684) to Heralds' college; the library in which Pepys took so much pleasure to Magdalen college, Cambridge. Bishop Moore's books, includ ing a little volume of Caxton quartos, almost all unique, were bought by George I. and presented to the university library at Cambridge. Archbishop Marsh, who had previously bought Still ingfleet's printed books (his manuscripts went to Oxford), founded a library at Dublin. The immense accumulations of Thomas Rawl inson (d. 1725) provided materials for a series of auctions, and Harley's printed books were sold to Osbourne the bookseller. But the trend was all towards public ownership. While Richard Rawl inson (d. 1755) allowed his brother's books to be sold, the best of his own were bequeathed to Oxford, and the Harleian mss. were offered to the nation at a sum far below their value. A similar offer of the great collections formed by Sir Hans Sloane, includ, ing some 50,000 printed books, together with the need for taking better care of what remained of the Cotton manuscripts, vested in trustees for public use in 1702 and partially destroyed by fire in 1731, led to the foundation of the British Museum in and this on its opening in 1757 was almost immediately enriched by George II.'s gift of the old royal library, formed by the kings and queens of England from Henry VII. to Charles II., and by Henry, prince of Wales, son of James I., who had bought the books belonging to Archbishop Cranmer and Lords Arundel and Lumley.

When George III. came to the throne he found himself book less, and the magnificent library of over 8o,000 books and pamph lets and 440 manuscripts which he accumulated shows on a large scale the catholic and literary spirit of the book-lovers of his day. As befitted the library of an English king it was rich in English classics as well as in those of Greece and Rome, and the typographical first-fruits of Mainz, Rome and Venice were bal anced by numerous works from the first presses of Westminster, London and Oxford. This noble library passed in 1823 to the British Museum, which had already received the much smaller but carefully chosen collection of the Rev. C. M. Cracherode (d. , and in 1846 was further enriched by the wonderful library formed by Thomas Grenville, who died in that year, aged 91. A few less wealthy men had kept up the old public-spirited tradition during George III.'s reign, Garrick bequeathing his fine collection of English plays to the British Museum, and the natural history books of Sir Joseph Banks also passing to it. Capell's Shake spearian treasures enriched Trinity college, Cambridge, and those of Malone went to the Bodleian library at Oxford, the formation of these special collections, in place of the large general library with a sprinkling of rarities, being in itself worth noting. But the noble book-buyers celebrated by the Rev. Thomas Frognall Dibdin in his numerous bibliographical works kept mainly on the old lines, though with aims less patriotic than their predecessors. The duke of Roxburghe's books were sold in 1812, and the excitement pro duced by the auction, more especially by the competition between Lord Spencer and the duke of Marlborough (at that time mar quess of Blandford) for an edition of Boccaccio printed by Val darfer at Venice in 1471, led to the formation of the Roxburghe club at a commemorative dinner. In 1819 the duke of Marl borough's books were sold, and the Boccaccio for which he had paid £2,26o went to Earl Spencer (d. 1834) for £750, to pass with the rest of his rare books to Mrs. Rylands in 1892, and by her gift to the John Rylands library at Manchester in 1899. The books of Sir M. M. Sykes were sold in 1824, those of J. B. Inglis in 1826 (after which he collected again) and those of George Hibbert in 1829. The i5o,000 volumes brought together by Richard Heber at an expense of about Li oo,000 were disposed of by successive sales during the years 1834-37 and realized not much more than half their cost.

Great Collections.

The wonderful library of William Beck ford (d. 1844), especially rich in fine bindings, bequeathed to his daughter, the duchess of Hamilton, was sold in 1882, with the Hamilton manuscripts, for the most part to the German Govern ment. Their dispersal was preceded in 188 i by that of the Sun derland collection, already mentioned. The library of Brian Fairfax (d. 1749), which had passed to the earls of Jersey, was sold in 1885, that of Sir John Thorold (d. 1815) in 1884, his "Gutenberg" Bible fetching £3,90o and his Mainz Psalter 44,95o. The great collection of manuscripts formed by Sir Thomas Phillipps (d. 1872) has furnished materials for numerous sales. The printed books of the earl of Ashburnham (d. 1878) kept the auctioneers busy in 1897 and 1898; his manuscripts were sold in sections to the British Government (the Stowe collection shared between the British Museum and Dublin), the German Govern ment (part of the Libri and Barrois collection, all, save one ms. of 13th century German ballads, resold to France), the Italian Government (the rest of the Libri collection), Mr. Yates Thomp son (the mss. known as the Appendix) and Mr. J. Pierpont Mor gan (the Lindau Gospels). In the present century the Huth library formed by Henry Huth (1815-78) on very broad lines, and augmented by his son Alfred, was dispersed on the latter's death; after 5o books and manuscripts had been selected by the British Museum in accordance with his bequest, and a fine set of Shake speare quartos sold privately, the collection realized 1250,566. Large as was this total it was far surpassed by that fetched by the Britwell library, originally formed by William Henry Miller (1789-1848), of which the main strength lay in the number and rarity of its editions of early English and Scottish literature. After passing, with Britwell Court, to Samuel Christie-Miller (d. 1889) this great collection was dispersed in the years 1916-27 in 13,707 lots for f 612,145. In contrast with these vast collections the modern cabinet theory of book-collecting was first carried out with conspicuous skill by Henry Perkins (d. 1855), whose 865 fine manuscripts and specimens of early printing, when sold in 18 7o, realized nearly £26,000. Henri Beraldi, in his catalogue of his own collection (printed 1892), has described how in France a little band of book-loving amateurs grew up who in place of the miscel laneous library in which every class of book claimed to be repre sented, and which needed a special room or gallery to house it, aimed at small collections, more especially of the French illustrated books of the i8th century, which should epitomize the owner's tastes and require nothing bulkier than a neat bookcase or cabinet to hold them. On similar lines Frederick Locker (Locker-Lampson, 1821-95) formed in two small book cases a gathering of first editions of English imaginative literature (catalogue published in 1886) which by its compactness and unity won much admiration, more especially in the United States, where book-collecting was just becoming a popular pastime with wealthy men. The one great private collection of English imaginative writers of the last 300 years held by an English collector, that of the late Thomas J. Wise, is now owned by the British Museum. The catalogue of this in nine volumes was completed in 1928.

The United States entered into the field of book-collecting more than two centuries after Sir Robert Bruce Cotton began to gather together his famous library in England, yet it is in America that, during the last 5o years, the most important collections of the world, apart from those already possessed by the great public institutions of England and the Continent, have become established.

Pioneer

Collectors.—James . Lenox (d. 188o) was a pioneer American book-collector when, in 1847, he brought to America for the first time an example of the Gutenberg Bible, for which he paid the then extravagant price of £5oo. Prior to 186o, Lenox and John Carter Brown (d. 1874) of Providence, R.I., greatly assisted in their quest by Henry Stevens, an American living in London and engaged in the rare book business, com peted against each other in collecting in England volumes relating to the early history of the United States, incidentally picking up other treasures as well. Lenox, for instance, brought home one of the earliest first folios of Shakespeare which came to America; now there are considerably more Shakespearian first folios in America than in England. Of the second edition of Hamlet (the first to contain the true text) the three examples extant are to-day respectively in the Huntington library at San Gabriel, Calif., the library of the Elizabethan club of Yale university, New Haven, Conn., and the Henry C. Folger collection in Washington, D.C. Thomas Barton (d. 1866), whose volumes were bequeathed to the Boston public library, was an early collector of Shakespearian items.

The John Carter Brown library, at Providence, R.I., represents the only American bibliographical dynasty. The nucleus of this magnificent collection was begun by Nicholas Brown in the 18th , century, added to by his son Nicholas (d. 1841), brought to its great importance in the next generation by John Carter Brown (d. 1874), increased and presented to Brown university in 1904 by his son, John Nicholas Brown (d. 1900), and is still receiving additions through the continuing interest of the present John Nicholas Brown. The Lenox books, including the Gutenberg Bible, are now a part of the New York public library.

Important Collections.

The great impetus to book-collect ing in general and to American collecting in particular came when John Pierpont Morgan (d. 1913), the American financier, began to gather together the marvellous library which was later dedi cated by his son to the use of the people of the city of New York. Henry E. Huntington (d. 1927), a railroad magnate, acquired, in addition to his Americana, incunabula, and general rarities, Shakespeariana which rival those of the British Museum, and as many English volumes printed prior to 164o as are in the Bodleian library. At its founder's death, the Huntington col lection passed into the hands of the people, and it is now per manently housed in a magnificent library at San Gabriel, Calif. In view of the present competition for bibliographical treasures, and with so large a proportion of the priceless items permanently secured, it is not likely that such collections as those made by Morgan and Huntington can ever again be brought together.

Other noteworthy American collections are those made by Robert Hoe (d. 19°9) of New York, which was sold in 1911-12 for nearly $2,000,000; by Edward E. Ayer (d. 1927) of Chicago, who specialized in books relating to the American Indian, pre sented before his death to the Newberry library, Chicago; by William A. White (d. 1927), of Brooklyn, whose valuable Shakespearian volumes went to Harvard university at his death, and whose Elizabethans, the envy of book-lovers on both sides of the water, Harvard hopes to acquire by purchase; by Henry C. Folger of New York, specializing in Shakespeariana. Folger's collection is the finest library of Shakespeariana in America, comprising some 20,000 volumes, 42 of which are first folios. In 1928 he arranged for the permanent preservation of his li brary in a building specially erected for the purpose near the library of Congress in Washington, D.C. General Rush C. Hawkins (d. 192o) collected examples of the earliest presses of the sth century, now preserved in the Annmary Brown library at Providence, R.I. Harry Elkins Widener (d. 1912), who lost his life in the "Titanic" tragedy, left his collection (including the most complete Stevensoniana in the world) to Harvard university, where it is now housed in the building of the Widener Memorial library.

Improved Outlook.

Only the names of the most note worthy American collectors have been mentioned. Book-collect ing as an art is in its infancy in America. New foundations with ample funds f or the purchase of volumes demonstrate the fact that the American people fully realize that libraries are created by books rather than by buildings. Most significant is the army of more modest collectors who undertake the adventure without the financial ability to compete against wealthy enthusiasts, yet succeed in bringing together important libraries. The fact that the great American collections have been made by industrial leaders rather than by scholars is also worthy of attention. The history of book-collecting shows a surprising number of those who have amassed fortunes in industrial pursuits turning with no less zeal to the acquisition of literary treasures; and when these are once acquired, the final wish of their collectors is to place them in the hands of the people. The "despoiling" of the private libraries of England by American financiers, so much decried in England, has resulted in making the "spoils" far more available to the world than if the precious examples had remained in private collections. It is significant that Morgan always de clined to bid against the British Museum for any book which obviously should become a part of that great and wonderfully stocked library.

Apart from the famous collections and collectors, American university libraries have reason to feel grateful for the generous additions they have received from private sources. This is espe cially true as regards those collectors who have devoted their attention to special subjects; e.g., Willard Fiske (d. 19o4), who presented his extraordinary collections of Dante, Petrarch and Icelandic literature to the Cornell university library. No uni versity library possesses an adequate endowment, and but for the constantly increasing bequests of individual bibliophiles, Ameri can students would be deprived of the opportunity to continue their researches in special fields. A surprising exception to this humanistic attitude of American collectors is their apparent fail ure to appreciate to the full the importance of the library of Congress. The opportunity thus overlooked of making this of greater national significance to students and scholars is now however, receiving belated attention.

The entry of American financiers into the book-market caused the continuous increase in the prices of books ever since collecting began to progress by leaps and bounds instead of at its earlier quiet though steady pace, so that within the last 4o years prices of first editions of famous English plays, poems and novels have in many cases increased 4o-fold, and some amazing records have been created, for example, that of L15,400, which was paid at Sotheby's in 1928 for the manuscript of "Lewis Carroll's" Alice in Wonderland.

Fields of Collecting.

Among American collectors Eliza bethan and pre-Elizabethan authors are always in demand and prices paid are in keeping. Among the i9th century English authors collected Charles Dickens stands supreme, with Thomas Hardy seemingly on his way to a similar niche. Thackeray, Steven son and Kipling never lack for admirers. Collectors specializing in American literature can, however, have their share of excite ment, with Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Bret Harte and Walt Whitman standing well out in front. A new game, that of collect ing first and limited editions of contemporary authors has acquired startling momentum in the United States. It appeals to the average book-lover who cannot afford the older rarities; and for those who intelligently pursue the hobby there is the added fascin ation of staking one's own judgment of literature against that of posterity.

Americana (the term includes books, pamphlets and broadsides relating to America) offers a field of special interest for American collectors. It is. so large that collectors usually specialize, limiting their field chronologically, geographically or by subject matter. Thus we have collections on certain colonies, on the French and Indian Wars, on the Revolution and Civil Wars, on Indians, on certain states or sections, etc. There are even notable collections on the World War already existing, especially the Hoover collec tion at Leland Stanford University. A notable increase in the demand for books on the far West has. brought this field into prominence in recent years, and the increase in interest in Latin America is also being felt in auction room prices. The Huntington library at San Gabriel, Calif., stands among the great Americana collections. The Bancroft library at San Francisco, the Munk library in Los Angeles, the Coe Collection in New York city are other notable private collections of Western Americana which are now being opened to the public, while the Clements library at Ann Arbor, Mich., and the Burton library at Detroit are already open to scholars.

There are collectors. of items of the early American presses, items of Benjamin Franklin usually standing preeminent, and of later presses noted for the typographical excellence of their work. The principal exponent of fine book designing in America at pres ent is Bruce Rogers (see F. Warde, Bruce Rogers; Designer of Books, 1926, which contains a check-list) whose books already command a high premium. There are other collectors with more eccentric hobbies which are however no less fascinating. Old books on cooking, navigation, bee-keeping, smoking, hunting', early text books, almanacs, guidebooks, time-tables—these and books in a hundred special categories are all in demand by someone and are easily disposed of. (W. D. O.) BIBLIOGRAPHY.-The details can be studied in Bookprices Current, Bibliography.-The details can be studied in Bookprices Current, started by J. H. Slater in 1887, and Book-Auction Records, started by Frank Karslake in 1903, both since published annually with decennial indexes, and for the United States in American Book Prices Current, started by Luther Livingston in 1913 and also continued annually. The exploits of earlier gatherers are recorded in C. and M. Elton, The Great Book-Collectors (1893), and W. Y. Fletcher, English Book-Col lectors (19oz), while the List of Catalogues of English Book-Sales, z676--19oo, now in the British Museum, printed by order of the trus tees in 1915, facilitates research. A notable feature in the museum collection is the auctioneer's copies annotated with prices and pur chasers' names from 1744 to the present century. Stories of the later American collections will be found in A. S. W. Rosenbach, Books and Bidders (1928), who succeeded G. D. Smith as the chief agent for American collectors at English book auctions. Many guides for would be collectors have been written, among the best of which are John Hill Burton, The Book Hunter (1862) ; C. J. Davenport, The History of the Book (19°8) ; A. E. Newton, Amenities of Book-Collecting (1918), and This Book Collecting Game (1928) ; I. A. Williams, The Elements of Book Collecting (1927) ; J. T. Winterich, Collector's Choice (1928), and A Primer of Book Collecting (1927); C. Davenport, Byways Among English Books (1927); C. J. Sawyer and F. J. Harvey Darton, English Books r475—Igoo; a Signpost for Collectors (1927); The American Collector (edited by C. F. Heartman, 1925) ; A Record of British and American Private Collectors (1927) ; Private Book Col lectors in the United States and Canada 0928). See also D. Cockerel], Book-binding and the Care of Books (ed. 4, 192o) and Some Notes on Book-binding 0929); H. Williams, Histoty of Book Clubs and Printing Societies in Great Britain and Ireland 0929) ; W. Ransom, Private Presses and the Books They Have Given Us (i929).