Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The
Reference Library
of a
Bibliomaniac


A library represents the mind of its collector, his fancies and foibles, his strength and weakness, his prejudices and preferences. Particularly is this the case if to the character of a collector he adds—or tries to add—the qualities of a student who wishes to know the books and the lives of the men who wrote them.
                           Sir William Osler, Bibliotheca Osleriana


I enjoy researching and writing about the books in my library, their authors, and even their former owners.  To help me do all that, I have assembled an extensive reference library of bibliographies, biographies, and other reference works.

Reading about bibliographical matters may become tedious to the non-initiated so instead, I shall present a picture display of my reference library, with many pictures and fewer words.   And I will post a link to the catalogue of my bibliographies and other reference works on Library Thing at the end of this blog.



                           The New Bible on SJ                     The Old Bible on SJ
                           published 2000                                   published 1915
                                                                                   supplemented 1939
                                                                                    reprinted 1984
               took Fleeman 30 years to compile his bibliography.  Both
        Fleeman and Courtney died before their books were published




   50th Anniversary Catalogue of Johnsonian Keepsakes;  Johnsonian Contact List
                   
                   
  Biographies of SJ in my library:  My Many Lives of Samuel Johnson
                                         
                                                      My Bible on books about books
                                                                 published 1939


                                           




                                                        Another copy,
                                                      my working copy,
                                        signed by my granddaughter Carrissa;
                                       now one of the treasures of my library
                                 note to Noah and my other grandchildren:
                                            don't even think about it!





                                Wrote about the former owner and the author in
           The Collector and the Collected:  Two Typophiles From New York




                                1921 edition (1st)                          1928 edition
                  reminds me of the the energizer bunny:   9th edition published in 1960
                                                 Lessons in Bookselling





The Bibles on Miniature Books                           published 1985
  published 2001 and 2000                         Levitan, Founder of Miniature Book Society
formerly owned by Don Brady
 


                                                   Grolier Club 1905
Vol 2 only of 3 vol set;  catalogue of English works "from Wither to Prior"

 
            Lowndes                                                                 Lowndes
            published 1834                                       published 1857-1864
           Vol 3 only of 4 vol set                                        revised and expanded by Bohn
                                                                            2 sets*, 11 vols ea


                                           *Vol 8 of 2nd set eaten by my dog
                                          "some books should be tasted . . ."





                           
                       English Books  1475-1900 Sawyer & Darton 1927
               STC English Books 1475-1640 Pollard & Redgrave 1946, reprinted 1969
                                    STC 1641-1700 compiled by Wing 1951

                                                       odd volumes
Brunet Tome Quatrieme 1843 (1810);      Dibdin Vol 2 1808;                Moss Vol 2 1825
used all three books in researching Greek and Latin classics in the Auchinleck Library



                                                          De Ricci 1921
       Subtitle:  A Practical Handbook of British and American Bibliography



     Wilson 1827  Catalogue of works relating to Shakespeare                    
Bartlett & Pollard 1916  Census of Shakespeare quartos 1594-1709



                                             Dodd, Mead & Co. 1907
   An account of the four folios and a census of known perfect copies of the First Folio



                              NUC 1977  All pre-1956 works of Shakespeare



               biographies and other books on Shakespeare catalogued on Library Thing




        Duff 1917                 (top) Cordasco 1970   ←18c bibliographies →Williams 1924
   Hellinga Supp 2009                  (bottom) Schwartz 1931
top:  Smollett, Richardson, Sterne, Fielding, Dibdin, Godwin, Gibbon, Young, Burke
left:  took Duff 28 years to compile his bibliography
bottom: 555 points on works by Eng authors; 555 points on works by Amer authors
right:  Armstrong, Shenstone, Akenside, Collins, Goldsmith, Churchill, Sheridan



                     Fabes 1930, 31, 32  Presentation 1930  Dedication 1931
Covers works by Abercombie, Arlan, Baring, Barrie, Bates, Beerbohm, Belloc, Bennett, Birrell, Bone, Brooke, Burke, Campbell, Chesterton, Conrad, Coppard, Corvo, Crackanthorpe, Crockett, Davidson, Davies, De la Mare, De Morgan, Douglas, Dobson, Dodgson, Dowson, Doyle, Drinkwater, Dunsany, Feuchtwanger, Firbank, Flecker, Freeman, Galsworthy, Graham, Graves, Haggard, Hall, Hanley, Hardy, Harris, Herbert, Hewlett, Hoult, Houseman, Hudson, Huxley, Jacobs, Jerome, Kennedy, Kipling, Lawrence, Ledwidge, Leslie, Lewis, Locke, Machen, Mackenzie, Mansfield, Masefield, Maugham, Meredith, Meynell, Montague, Moore, Mottram, Munro, Newton, Noyes, O'Casey, O'Flaherty, Phillpotts, Powys, Priestley, Quiller-Couch, Remarque, Sadleir, Sassoon, Sedgwick, Shaw,  Shiel, Sirwell, Somerville, Stevens, Stevenson, Symonds, Thomas, Tomlinson, Wallace, Walpole, Wells, Weyman, Woolf, Wilde, and Yeats



                                                          Fabes 1932

                 Roff 1979                Murray 1968 (1st 1900)   Green 1946
                                                Dobson 1970 (1st 1925)



                                            Breslauer Catalogue Sixty  1946
                               (more on Breslauer catalogues maybe next month)
                                                   




                                                      Seymour 2011

  Sabin Readex Microprint c.1967  172 parts in 29 vols completed 1936
                    Sabin 1-82  Eames 83-116  Vail 117-172
                                             My Bible on Americana



                            Johnson/Blanck 1936;  Fullerton 1932;  Waldman 1925



Howes 1st ed 1954 2nd ed 1962  Reprinted 1963, 1970, 1978, 1981, 1984, 1988
Reese Catalogues 294 and 295  2012 (50th anniversary of 1962 edition)



                                                      Jenkins 1977, 79

               Richardson 1966 (1st 1931)       Wood 2nd ed 1956 (1st 1949)


              Stonehill, Block & Stonehill 1927;  Halkett & Laing 1926-1934
                                      bibliographies on pseudonyms



                                                       Growoll 1898
                                            more on this book next month

                       (top) De Ricci 1969 (1st 1930);  (middle) Dickinson 1986;
       (left) Fletcher 1969 (1st 1902;) Quaritch 1892; Quaritch 1968 (1st 1892);
                             Cannon 1941; Bowker 1948 9th ed (1st 1912-13)
                                               for provenance research



                      Fox-Davies 1970 (reprint of 1929 7th ed, 1st ed 1895)


Burke PDF (1884); 23 Heraldry Books on CD: Boutell, Papworth etc.; Var. Ex Libris



                                                     Davenport 1909



                                                    McBride 1987

                                                        Gorlach  1998


                                                   UNC, Chapel Hill 1969
       bibliography of Eng & Am authors of detective stories (book length)
                                 

Sonnenschein 1969 (repub of 1910 3rd ed); 1896 (repnt of 1892 2nd ed; 1st ed 1887)
                               The 1896 ed was my first bibliography



                                           Allibone 1874; Supplement 1891
                                 used so much I have to resew and rebind vol 1

                                                   Browning 1958

     


                                       Lang 1912; Hist of Eng Lit
                                   Morley 2nd ed c.1877; First Sketch of Eng Lit
                       Legouis & Cazamian 1940 (1st 1930) Hist of Eng Lit




Drinkwater c.1923; Bateson 1941; Quennell 1986 (1981);  Benét 1965 2nd ed (1st 1948)




   Harvey 3rd ed 1946 rpnt 1955     Drabble 1985  1st ed Companion publ 1932




Hallam 1855 5th ed (1st 1837-39); Intro to Lit of Eur 15th, 16th and 17th Cent. 
Bagehot 1910;  Essays on Coleridge, Shakespeare, Cowper, Gibbon, Shelley etc.
 Taine 1877 (1st 1872) Hist of Eng Lit transl by H. Van Laun

                               Legouis 1953 (1934)                   Simonds 1902



      Northup 1925,             Courtney 1915,                  Sabin 1966 (1st 1877)
Northup:  Winslow Webber's copy
Courtney:  Multi-tasked, compiling this register and the Samuel Johnson bibliography
Sabin:  (subtitle) A Handy Book About Books Which Relate to Books


                                                      Oak Knoll c.2000
                                                 My Bible on bibliographies


                                               About Books c1990s
                                 


                                        Briscoe 1982;  Kaplan 1961
                    Kaplan's bibliography covers works published before 1945




                McKerrow 1928 (1927);  Esdaile 1974 4th ed 3rd im (1st 1931)



(top to bottom) Vitale 1971; Bühler, McManaway; Wroth 1949; Ferguson 1900;
Jones 1974;  Gore 1968 (1966).


And that's that.  I hope you enjoyed the picture tour of my reference library.   You can view the catalogue of my bibliographies, biographies, and other reference works on  my Library Thing pages.


ADDENDA


Here's a few reference books I've added to my library in the last four years:

Rogers 1996


Seymour 2016


Van Pelt 1898


Dickinson 1998


Starnes & Noyes 1946