My Many Lives of Samuel Johnson

James  Cummings, the bookseller from Signal Mtn, Tn., is fast becoming a valuable source of books for My Sentimental Library Collection.  Last month I bought a book formerly owned by William Targ from him.  This month I bought two books formerly owned by the Johnsonian, Gwin J. Kolb.  One of them, Kolb's copy of  Johnson Before Boswell:  A Study of Sir John Hawkins' Life of Samuel Johnson, will be the first book in this month's blog posting, "My Many Lives of Samuel Johnson."

Johnson Before Boswell:  A Study of Sir John Hawkins' Life of Samuel Johnson, by Bertram H. Davis,  New Haven:  Yale University Press, 1960.

Hawkins's biography of Samuel Johnson was published in 1787 and was the first full-length biography of Johnson, over 600 pages.  Its popularity was short-lived because of criticism of the book and its author. James Boswell was one of Hawkins's biggest detractors.  I will read Davis's book, then browse Hawkins online, and form my own opinion on the worth of Hawkins's LOJ.

As a bibliomaniac, I am sometimes obsessive in my collecting habits, and maybe even excessive.  I have thirty-one copies of William Strunk's Elements of Style in my Elements of Style Collection.  I am fast approaching that number of copies of biographies of Samuel Johnson in my library. And I have already exceeded that number if I use the expanded meaning of the word "biography" that O.M. Brack, Jr. and Robert E. Kelley used in their book, The Early Biographies of Samuel Johnson.

In the Preface of their book, Brack and Kelley wrote:

"Biography, for the purposes of this collection, has been rather loosely defined as any account that begins with the phrase, 'Samuel Johnson was born,' or some rough equivalent, and makes some attempt, no matter how haphazard, to survey his life or his career in chronological order."

The Early Biographies of Samuel Johnson edited by O.M. Brack Jr. and Robert E. Kelley, Iowa City:  University of Iowa Press, 1974.

I will use Brack's and Kelley's expanded meaning of biography for the display of my LOJ Collection.  And I will include books written about LOJ biographies, such as the one Davis wrote about Hawkins's LOJ.

Brack and Kelley provided no less than fourteen biographies of Samuel Johnson in their book. The earliest one was written in 1762 by William Rider, and was part of his book, An Historical and Critical Account of the Lives and Writings of the Living Authors of Great Britian. Wherein their respective Merits are discussed with Candor and Impartiality, London, 1762. Rider's biography of Johnson contained a whole four pages. The fourteenth biography, written by James Harrison, contained eighteen pages, and appeared in his edition of A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson, London, 1786. A number of the other biographies appeared in periodicals of the day, with most of them borrowing biographical data mentioned in Biographia Dramatica, or, A Companion to the Playhouse, first published under an abbreviated title in 1764. Brack and Kelley are quick to note that the reader will find the early biographies of Johnson somewhat repetitious.  Times have not changed. Writers of today's LOJs are still trying to shed new light on old subjects, and without success.

Boswell's Life of Johnson Including Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides and Johnson's Diary of a Journey Into South Wales by George Birkbeck Hill, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1887. Six vols.

That was the "before" picture. Hill's edition of Boswell's LOJ is my most frequent source of information about Johnson's life,  and by its shabby looks, was well used by its former owners.  In fact, this is about how the set looked when I first bought it almost seven years ago.   And here is the "after" picture after I rebound it:

Tipped into the first volume was an interesting letter from G.B. Hill to a still unidentified American book collector.  There was also some marginalia written in the books.  I'm still researching the identity of the American book collector.  I've ruled out Cowan, and am researching a Chicago bookseller, Jerrold Nedwick, whose bookseller's ticket was pasted in one of the volumes.

Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. by Rev. C Adams, New York: Carlton & Lanahan, 1869.

LOJ with a religious twist, written "for the young men of this country."  Charles Adams was a Wesleyan minister.  He was the president of Illinois Female College from 1858 until he resigned in July 1868 and became a clerk in the Dead Letter Office in Washington.  A true "man of letters."

The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. Comprising a Series of His Epistolary Correspondence and Conversation With Many Eminent Persons; and Various Original Pieces of His Composition; With a Chronological Account of His Studies and Numerous Works.  The Whole Exhibiting a View of Literature and Literary Men in Great Britain For Nearly Half a Century, by James Boswell (with copious notes), London: George Routledge and Sons, 1895.

596 pages of very small type.  Very hard to read. 

Macauley's Life of Johnson, Edited With Introduction, Notes Etc. by Albert Perry Walker, Boston: D.C. Heath & Company, 1903

Part of Heath's English Classics Series.  Macaulay wrote his life of Johnson in 1856.  That and his 1831 scathing review of Croker's LOJ are included in this volume.

Boswell's Life of Johnson, Edited by Augustine Birrell, Westminster: Archibald Constable and Co.., Boston, 1904. Six vols.

I am very disappointed with Birrell's editing of this set.  In his Intro he says that his notes are few and far between because he deleted most of them, believing them unimportant  (Most of the notes included are Malone's).  Birrell praises G.B. Hill's edition of LOJ and writes, "When you know you must be beaten, the wisest course is to decline competition."  That says a lot about Hill's edition!  Birrell's publisher must have been having fits with Birrell praising a rival publisher's works.

Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., An Abridgment, With Annotations by the Eminent Biographers and an Introduction and Notes by Mary H. Watson, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1913.

Watson was a teacher at DeWitt Clinton High School in NYC.  This book was part of Macmillan's Pocket American and English Classics Series.

The Life of Samuel Johnson L.L.D. by James Boswell.  Complete and Unabridged With Notes.  with an Introduction by Herbert Askwith, New York:  The Modern Library, n.d. but c.1930.

Number G2 of the Modern Library Giant Series. 1200 pages in all.

Samuel Johnson by Joseph Wood Krutch, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1945 (1944)

I have yet to read this biography.  What I like to do first is to go to the index and then read how the author presents certain portions of Johnson's life.  If the author captures my interest great; if not, I don't think I'll miss anything new.  I'll have to give Krutch a chance, though.  He was the Brander Matthews Professor of Dramatic Literature, Columbia University, and the author of a number of books.

The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell [with] Illustrations by Gordon Ross.  New York: Doubleday and Company, 1946.

Part of the Literary Guild Book Club.

The Portable Johnson and Boswell, Edited, With an Introduction by Louis Kronenberger,  New York:  The Viking Press, 1955 (1947)

A book to take on vacations. 762 pages worth.

Mr. Oddity: Samuel Johnson, LL.D. by Charles Norman, Drexel Hill, Pa: Bell Publishing Company, 1951.

In between the Table of Contents and the Forward, Norman inserts a List of Characters, thirteen of which he identifies as "Non-Boswellian sources for Johnson's Life.  At 348 pages, Norman's book is at least 200 pages shorter than the average LOJ biography, but bigger is not always better.  I began reading this books some years ago, but for some reason stopped reading it with my bookmark on page 197. I am putting it on my reading pile again.

The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell, London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1952. Two vols.

No. 1 of the Everyman's Library Series.  As Terry Seymour, author of A Guide to Collecting Everyman's Library, Bloomington, 2005, once noted to me,  "Being No. 1 in the Everyman's Library Series says a lot about what J.M. Dent thought about Boswell's  Life of  Samuel Johnson."

The Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. by James Boswell, Esq. With Marginal comments and Markings From Two Copies Annotated by Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, Prepared For Publication With an Introduction by Edward G. Fletcher, in Three Volumes, New York:  the Heritage Press, 1963.

The same edition as the Limited Editions Club, but at a lower price and lower quality of binding.  I've read some of Piozzi's comments, but need to devote a week to this set alone.

Samuel Johnson: A Biography by John Wain.  New York:  The Viking Press, 1974.

Read and enjoyed, but nothing stands out in my memory that puts this LOJ biography above the others.

Samuel Johnson by W. Jackson Bate.  New York:  Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978.

Sidney Ives's annotated copy with something extra that produced my essay, "An Unexpected Find in Umatilla, Florida."   I found something new as well.  There are over 75 page numbers written on the endpapers, and I thought these were references Ives used to create his talk before the Johnsonians.  But that is not the case.  The page numbers identify typos and grammatical errors in the book!

I wrote a review comparing certain portions of Nokes's book with Bate's books.

Samuel Johnson:  The Life of an Author by Lawrence Lipking, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998

This book is not a biography of SJ, but rather  a book about his writing career.  Since it provides a survey of Johnson's works in chronological order, it meets the biographical standards set by Brack and Kelley.

According to Queeney by Beryl Bainbridge, New York: Carroll & Graff Publishers, 2001.

 I'm stretching it a bit here because this book is historical fiction.  But it does present a biography of sorts of Samuel Johnson from the eyes of Hester Thrale's daughter, Queeney.  I've read that Dame Beryl Bainbridge insisted the characters were real, but there is at least one notable Johnsonian who publicly doubted that.

Samuel Johnson:  The Struggle by Jeffrey Meyers, New York:  Basic Books, 2008

This author doesn't struggle with his writing; he just churns them out.  His list of works is almost a mile long.  His biography of Johnson, however, didn't appeal to me.  Same old stuff.

Samuel Johnson:  A Biography by Peter Martin, Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008

Martin wrote biographies on Boswell and Malone as well.  I have the former and want to acquire the latter.

Samuel Johnson: A Life by David Nokes, New York:  Henry Holt and Company, 2009.

Here's a review by John Carey in the London Sunday Times, written three months before Nokes died.  Nokes emphasizes Johnson's sexual tendencies – which seems to be the thing authors of today are honing in on these days, Martin and Meyers as well.   The worst is Philip Baruth's ploy in The Brothers Boswell,  a 2009 historical novel in which the author insinuates that Johnson had a sexual encounter with Boswell's brother.  Personally, I find such writing distasteful.

Boswell's Presumptuous Task:  The Making of the Life of Dr. Johnson by Adam Sisman, New York:  Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000

To quote the blurb on the book jacket: "A dazzling study of the biographer at work."

The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.  A New Edition in Twelve Volumes With an Essay on His Life and Genius by Arthur Murphy. Esq.  London: Printed for F.C. and J. Rivington &c, 1823.

The first volume contains Murphy's essay, first published in 1793.

Murphy's "Essay on the Life and Genius of Samuel Johnson" was included in the Murphy, Chalmers, and Tegg editions, and almost all other editions of Johnson's Works published after 1793.

Johnsoniana; Or Supplement to Boswell: Being Anecdotes and Sayings of Dr. Johnson, Collected by Piozzi, Hawkins, Tyers, Hoole, Steevens, Reynolds, Cumberland, Cradock, Seward, Murphy, Beattie, Miss Hawkins, Windham, Nichols, Humphry, Hannah More, Parr, Mad. D'Arblay, Horne, Baretti, Lady Knight, Northcote, Percy, Stockdale, Parker, Rose, Green, Reed, Kearsley, Knowles, Smith, Warner, King Boothby, Pepys, Carter &c.&c.&c. Edited by J. Wilson Croker, Philadelphia: Carey and Hart, 1842.

This work contains portions of the biographies written by Hawkins and Murphy, as well as the anecdotes of a number of friends in Johnson's circle.  In 1831, Croker published a new edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson.  It was soundly bashed by Macaulay.

Johnsonian Miscellanies Arranged and Edited by George Birkbeck Hill, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1897. 2 vols.

I include this work because it contains Johnson's Annals covering his life from birth to his eleventh year, Murphy's essay in its entirety, extracts from Hawkins's LOJ, the Piozzi Anecdotes, and more.

Johnsonian Gleanings, (3 of 10 vols) by Aleyn Lyell Reade, New York: Octagon Books, 1968 (1923-33)

I ordered Vol V on ebay because the appendix contained a listing of Johnson's Undergraduate Library thoroughly researched by Reade.   The ebay seller had three volumes up for auction and sent me the wrong one.  I ended up buying all three volumes just to make sure I got the right one.  Vol. 4 contains appendices pertaining to Johnson's boyhood.  Vol. 5 covers Johnson's life from 1728 to 1735, and Vol. 6 covers Johnson's life from 1735 to 1740.

Macaulay's and Carlyle's Essays on Samuel Johnson Edited With Introduction and Notes by William Strunk, Jr. New York:  Henry Holt and Company, 1895, 96.

Yes.  I have two copies.  Strunk was an instructor, and later a Professor, at Cornell University when he wrote this book.  He was to become one of the leading Shakespeare authorities of his time.  He was also the author of my favorite grammar book, The Elements of Style.  Strunk's book on Johnson contains a forty-page introduction which includes a chronological table of Johnson's entire life, followed by words of wisdom on Croker's edition of Boswell's LOJ, and Strunk's views on Boswell, Macaulay and Carlyle. And that's just the Intro.  Follow that by Macaulay's trouncing review of Croker's edition, and Carlyle's essay which is in effect  his response to Macaulay's review.  Moi recommends!

On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle, London:  Chapman & Hall, 1840.

I include this work because Carlyle briefly but eloquently describes Johnson's life and his works in his essay, "The Hero as Man of Letters."

Dictionary Johnson:  Samuel Johnson's Middle Years by James Clifford, New York:  McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1981 (1979).

I include this work because it covers the most productive portion of Johnson's writing career from the Rambler  to the Dictionary to the Idler and to Rasselas.

Boswell the Great Biographer 1789-1795, Edited by Marlies K. Davies and Frank Brady, New York:  McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 1989.

A gift from James Caudle, Associate Editor of the Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell during my visit to the Sterling Library, Yale University in June 2010 with Terry Seymour and Dave Larkin.

A Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors Living and Deceased From the Earliest Accounts to the Latter Half of the Nineteenth Century...by S. Austin Allibone, Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1874, 3 Vols and 2 Supp.

Allibone devotes 11 pages to Johnson, providing a short biography and covering all his works in chronological order.

Everyman's Dictionary of Literary Biography English & American Compiled after John w. Cousin by D.C. Browning, London:  J.M. Dent & Sons, 1958.

My ready reference. Sits on the edge of a nearby shelf for easy access.

Studies of a Booklover by Thomas Marc Parrott, New York:  James Pott & Company, 1904.


Parrot was a Professor of English at Princeton University. This work contains a forty-one page chapter on "The Personality of Johnson."  What qualifies the piece as a "biography" is a paragraph that begins, "Samuel Johnson was born in the cathedral town of Lichfield in 1709..."

The Chobham Book of English Prose by Stephen Coleridge, Boston:  Small, Maynard & Company, 1924.

Coleridge's essay on Johnson is but one of the 54 essays included in this book.  Also included is a short essay on Boswell.  Coleridge does not begin his essay with "Samuel Johnson was born..." nor does he cover Johnson's works in chronological order.  But the quality of the essay is such that I would include it in any listing of the LOJ.

Note:  On the front pastedown, a former owner wrote the name of the place where he acquired this copy of the book:  "The Old Corner Bookstore 1925."

In the Name of the Bodleian by Augustine Birrell, New York:  Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905.

Two essays nominate this book for inclusion in my blog entry on "My Many Lives of Samuel Johnson."  "The Johnsonian legend" reviews not only G.B. HIll's edition of Boswell's LOJ, but also the Johnsonian Miscellanies.  And Birrell's essay, "Boswell as Biographer" seeks to show that both Macaulay and Carlyle were wrong about Boswell.  Birrell wrote an essay specifically on Dr. Johnson in Obiter Dicta, Second Series that is well worth reading as well, but I would really be stretching it to call it "a biography" or "a review of a biography."  It is more about Johnson's character.

The Wit and Sagacity of Dr. Johnson, Selected and Arranged by Norman J. Davidson, London:  Seeley & Co., n.d..

From the Intro:  "Samuel Johnson, lexicographer, essayist, poet, and philosopher, was born at Lichfield, September 18, 1709..."

This just about completes my blog on "My Many Lives of Samuel Johnson."  For brevity purposes, I have omitted well over ten works from the likes of Dobson, Hyde, Fleeman, Taine, and others which would have qualified under my expanded definition of biography.  Some of these works are listed in My Samuel Johnson Collection on Library Thing.

My William Targ Collection

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I recently discovered that I did not yet have a book formerly owned by William Targ, one of the bibliophiles in my library. So I ordered one from James Cummings, the bookseller from Tennessee (not James Cummins from NYC).

Arthur Machen: A Bibliography by Henry Danielson, London, 1923

I "gave a talk" on William Targ (1907-1999) before the Florida Bibliophile Society on Oct. 16, 2005. After two or three flubs in the first few minutes of my talk, I ended up reading the darn thing. Today I want to display my William Targ collection for you. I will let the pictures and Targ's own words in his prefatory, introductory, and explanatory matter tell you about him and his books.

Targ's American First Editions & Their Prices: A Checklist of Foremost American Firsts, Chicago: Black Archer Press, 1930.

From the Forward:

The purpose of this little book is to act as a reference guide for the collector and the dealer, to assist him in determining the authenticity of important as well as lesser American First Editions and also to give him a basis for evaluation.

This copy, by the way, once belonged to the Long Island books about books collector, Alida Roochvarg. Her bookplate is pasted on the front pastedown. Tipped in is a postcard from the eminent proprietor of Oak Knoll Books, Bob Fleck.

From the Explanatory Matter:

The publication of this book was prompted by a perpetual stream of requests received by us for 'some sort of a list of rare books worth looking for.' There are apparently, thousands of persons who have immediate access to large and small collections of books––but who have not the slightest conception as to WHICH BOOKS TO LOOK FOR, which books to put aside to sell, or preserve, or present to libraries and educational institutions. There are un-numbered attics, cellars, barns, old homes and warehouses in this country which hold tons of old books which have been handed down for generations. It is important that the great, rare and valuable books should be sifted from this colossal accumulation. This little book then, attempts to single out for the novice, the outstanding rare American books worth looking for...

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Confronted with a reference work such as this, the reader is inclined to hurdle the prefatory and explanatory matter to plunge at once into the information which prompted his purchase. It is urgent that you read the following before consulting the pages herein." Targ then provides valuable information concerning the scope and usefulness of the catalog, the actual prices listed, the importance of a book's condition, the sources the prices have been derived from, and the points identifying specific issues of books.

A Few Random Notes on the Nature of This Work

This volume is not a bibliography, nor is it an attempt to supplant bibliographical literature. It is simply a broad selection from the catalogs of booksellers and auction sale records.
To the uninitiated, I will confess at once that this book does not contain every rare piece of Americana ever published. To include all desirable American items would necessitate a volume the size of at least the Encyclopedia Britannica or thereabouts.

A Few Random Notes on Volume II

This volume, like its predecessor, is a compilation of books pertaining to the American Scene, books written by American authors, and American imprints of significance. It is a supplementary work and does not duplicate any of the material contained in the 1941 volume.
It is my hope that the purchaser recognizes the specific purpose of these volumes. It is not my intention to supplant strictly bibliographical literature; this fact is self-evident. What I am endeavoring to accomplish is a ready service for bookmen, enabling them to locate a title quickly, and give some information pertinent to identification plus a logical price by which they can appraise their book. The prices found after each title have been taken from the catalogues of dealers and auction houses.

This LITTLE BOOK has been prepared solely for the guidance of the neophyte and pauper who has chosen to enter the holy portals of the kingdom of books. It is not written for the expert, the crack or the sophisticated bibliosnob––it is written for you, alone, my dear indigent but avid reader.

I have two copies of this little book. The copy on the left was formerly owned by the renowned Maine bookseller, Francis O'Brien.  I bought it from his daughter, Bevinn O'Brien, who inherited the business.  The other copy belonged to a book collector by the name of John Richard Starrs, who underlined all the errors in the book and sent it to Targ.  Here is Targ's response:

Targ's next venture was to publish a newspaper for book collectors.  I have eight issues of The Book Collector's Journal,  dating from July 1936 to February 1937.  Targ sold the newspaper to John K. Potter in the fall of 1936 because it was not a money maker.

Targ tried to make a little extra money from this newspaper. The July 1936 issue contained an article written by William Saroyan titled "Those Who Write Them And Those Who Collect Them."

Targ published 50 copies of Saroyan's article and sold them for a dollar each. In his first autobiography, Indecent Pleasures, Targ recalls that he ran into Saroyan in a hotel lobby in the early 1970s. Targ said, "You don't remember me," to which Saroyan replied, "Sure, you're Bill Targ, you pirated my stuff." Targ continues,"He put his arm around me and said with a leer, 'I hear it's a collector's item.' It certainly is: I've seen it listed for $50."

Those Who Write Them And Those who Collect Them... by William Saroyan, Chicago: Black Archer Press, 1936.

Today the pamphlet is listed for $350 and up.

Now that makes me wonder what the newspaper issue would list for.

Adventures in Good Reading by William Targ, Chicago: Black Archer Press, 1940.

From the Forward:

Taken as a unit, these books form an admirably comprehensive and carefully diversified library which should occupy no more than about one-half the space usually allotted to an ordinary bridge table. Each of these books, it is my intention, shortly, to discuss and evaluate with necessary brevity and, it is hoped, a not too apparent lack of discernment. But first, permit me to make this clear:
One may read through the entire collection and still remain a relief client. Unlike the fabulous results claimed for the Club Foot Shelf, the reader may never wow a roomful of jaw-sprung people with a dissertation on the nocturnal habits of the potato-beetle. But this much is possible: the reader will very likely enjoy himself and acquire a personal philosophy which will stand him in good stead throughout the rest of his life-journey; furthermore, he may become an even more civilized and tolerant person than he naturally is.

Poems of a Chinese Student by Charles Yu, Chicago: Black Archer Press,1941

These poems originally appeared in the Chicago Tribune. Targ wrote the poems himself.

Brittle Bright by Marion Thompson Van Steenwyk, Chicago: Black Archer Press, 1931.

Targ published books by other authors as well, including books of poems.

The American West: A Treasury of Stories, Legends, Narratives, Songs & Ballads of Western America edited with an introduction by William Targ, Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company, 1946

Nothing of note in the Introduction.  But on the front free endpaper is inscribed. " For my good friend and colleague, George Lanning, with the warmest regards and good wishes of Wm. Targ 4/25/46."

Lanning was Targ's secretary/assistant when Targ was editor at World Publishing. Lanning later became editor of The Kenyon Review.

The Case of Mr Cassidy by William Targ, Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company,1944.

A mystery Targ wrote. A good read but definitely not bestseller material. There's a teaser in the book jacket blurb that mentions the main character bumping into Somerset Maugham, Christopher Morley and Vincent Starrett on the stairs of the Argus book shop in Chicago. But that is the only contact the main character had with them. Ironically, I have a book that Christopher Morley bought at the Argus book shop, which contains a note he wrote on a sheet advertising an upcoming W. Somerset Maugham lecture. And pasted on the front pastedown are the bookplates of Vincent Starrett and Augustine Birrell!

The Vanishing Gold Truck by Harry Stephen Keeler, Shreveport: Ramble House, 2005 (1941).
I bought this book because William Targ the bookseller is one of the minor characters. The author, Harry Stephen Keeler was a looney. He is said to have written some amazing stuff. But I don't think this is one of them.

Carrousel For Bibliophiles: A Treasury of Tales, Narratives, Songs, Epigrams and Sundry Curious Studies Relating to a Noble Theme edited with an introduction by William Targ, New York: Philip C. Duschnes, 1947.

From the Introduction:

We are passing through an era that will undoubtedly provide scholars of the future with endless problems. One of these will be the matter of determining a proper appellation for the age we now live. The prosaic will perhaps choose to term this the Electronic, the Plastic, or the Atomic, Age. To the astute and less academic, it will probably be known as the Anthology Age.
...although this book is intended for the practicing book-collector, it is also, we hope, of interest to those timid souls who are still on the periphery, or who are contemplating entrance though the portals of this world, and need one gentle prod.

Bouillabaise For Bbibliophiles: A Treasury of Bookish Lore, Wit & Wisdom, Tales, Poetry & Narratives & Certain Curious Studies of Interest to Bookmen and Collectors edited with an introduction and notes by William Targ, Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company 1955.

From the Introductory:

This book is in a sense a sequel to my Carrousel For Bibliophiles, published in 1947. It is hoped that both newcomer and veteran find some pleasure and stimulation in the following pages. Some of the pieces are amusing, a few historical, others provocative, sentimental, solemn, nostalgic, illuminating, basic. They derive from countless sources and from a trunk-scrapbook I have been keeping over the years. Piece them all together––like a jigsaw puzzle or mosaic––and a fairly clear picture of the book-collector's world will emerge––as it was and as it is today. There are of course the inevitable, and I hope not too conspicuous gaps.

Bibliophile in the Nursery: A Bookman's Treasury of Collector's Lore on Old and Rare Children's Books edited with an introduction and notes by William Targ, Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company, 1957.

From the Introduction:

It is conjectured by some authorities (and denied by others!) that the first book to be printed from movable type was Donatus' De octo partibus orationis. Printed about 1448, it is said to have preceded the Gutenberg Bible. It was a treatise on Latin grammar from which the children of the fifteenth century studied, and was by them popularly called the Donat. The author, Aelisu Donatus, a Roman rhetorician, was a teacher of Saint Jerome. If the arguments of certain scholars may be accepted, then Donatus, while hardly possessing the characteristics of a saint, may conceivably be called the patron saint of the Bibliophile in the Nursery. To my knowledge this notion has never been advanced before, and perhaps some scholar will wish to pursue it.

Indecent Pleasures: The Life and Colorful Times of William Targ by William Targ, New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1975.

From the first chapter (no intro):

This book is an unorthodox synthesis. While it tries to achieve an organic form ((orderliness is one of my compulsions), I don't stick to chronological sequence; no need for that. I'm on a reconnaissance. My purpose is to show you one man's life (skipping the gummy juvenalia) within the framework of my book-publishing and bookselling history.

Abacus Now: Footnotes to Indecent Pleasures & Observations on fine Book Printing, Book-collecting & Matters Personal Including How To Survive in the Computer Age. with a Checklist of the First Twenty-Four Titles in Targ's Editions by William Targ, New York: Targ Editons, 1984.

From near the end of the book:

When my wife and I were in Amsterdam recently, we stepped into an attractive shop where only writing tools were sold: fountain pens and pencils of every description. She treated herself to a beautiful slim enamel covered pen. I bought a nine-inch ball point pen, coated in a bright red plastic. I brought it back to New York intending to write 'a big book' which naturally called for a big pen. Alas, the present little book is the result. I'm beginning to believe that bigness is not all and that big is not beautiful. If there are a few ideas or thoughts recorded here that give you pause, then I've done the job.

I hope I have done the job as well.
Jerry

Addendum
Lew Jaffe read this post and sent an image of another bookplate belonging to Targ.

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Two Hurt Books And Their Former Owners

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Some books, like their owners, live long healthy lives.  Some don't.  Two books in My Sentimental Library Collection didn't:
 Paul L. Ford's copy of Volume One of The Complete Works of William Shakespere, in Commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of His Birth, London, 1864,

and D. Van Pelt's copy of The Charter of the City of New-York, With Notes Thereon.  Also a Treatise on the Powers and Duties of the Mayor, Alderman, and Assistant Aldermen, and the Journal of the City Convention, New York, 1836.                                                        

I bought the Shakespeare book because I wanted a book formerly owned by Paul Leicester Ford for my Sentimental Library Collection.  I already had eight books written by him, and one book by his brother, Worthington Chauncey Ford.  The Shakespeare book was inexpensive because it was a hurt book, and because it was an odd volume of a three-volume set.  Both boards were completely detached.  The first signature containing the front endpapers, frontispiece, title page, and table of contents, was completely detached.  And three quarters of the leather formerly covering its spine was lacking.

On the front flyleaf, someone wrote the following presentation inscription:

On the front pastedown, Paul L. Ford's daughter pasted her bookplate:

Paul Leicester Ford was born in 1865.  He was a small sickly boy who wore a back brace because of a spinal deformity.  He never grew over five feet tall.  His father, Gordon L. Ford, had the best Americana Collection in the world: 100,000 manuscripts and 50,000 books.  As a teenager, Paul established the Historical Printing Club together with his father and Worthington, publishing various tracts and pamphlets from his father's collection.  As an author, he made many contributions to history, from The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 1892-1899, to the Franklin Bibliography, 1899.  Switching to fiction, his novel, The Honourable Peter Stirling, 1894, became quite popular.

Unlike knowing Ford, I didn't know the owner of the New York City book from Adam.  I bought the book for my small but budding New York City Collection.  It was inexpensive because it, too, was a hurt book.  Its front cover was completely detached.  The scotch tape which once held the cloth to the spine was long gone, along with the cloth, leaving the spine exposed.

On the front pastedown, a bookseller pasted his bookseller's ticket:

Kleinteich's bookstore was previously located at 334 Bedford Ave. Brooklyn until sometime in the 1890s.

On the front flyleaf, a former owner wrote his ownership inscription:

When I researched Van Pelt, I discovered that he bought the book for his own New York City Collection.   Daniel Van Pelt was born in the Netherlands in 1853, graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1874, and from the Theological Seminary at New Brunswick in 1877.  He was the pastor of the Remsen Street Reformed Church, one of the most prominent churches in Astoria, but resigned his position in 1898 to devote more time to writing.  He was an acknowledged expert on early Dutch history in America, and in New York City history, publishing articles and books on both subjects, including the massive three-volume work, Leslie's History of the Greater New York, New York, 1898.


Weather permitting, Daniel Van Pelt enjoyed taking a midnight bath in the East River near his home in Astoria.  But on the night of Tuesday, Oct. 23, 1900, he never made it home.  He drowned.  They found his clothes the next morning folded neatly on Scaly Rock, Hell's Gate, Astoria.  His body washed up on the shore in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn the following Monday.  Dead at the age of forty-seven.  According to one newspaper report, Van Pelt's wife, Gertrude Scott Van Pelt, was devastated by the news, and was contemplating suicide. But the hurting didn't stop there. Van Pelt's only son, Leonard Irving Van Pelt, died the following year on his sixteenth birthday, Dec. 14, 1901.

Was it Leonard who doodled on the page below?

Is this a drawing of his father drowning?

Paul L. Ford did not have a long and healthy life either. He had another brother, Malcolm Webster Ford,  who was one of America's best-known athletes.  Gordon L. Ford wrote this son out of the family will because of his flamboyant lifestyle. Gordon L. Ford died of Typhoid Fever while nursing Malcolm in 1892.  At the inheritance trial instigated by Malcolm two years later, Paul L. Ford said of his father, "He gave a worthy life to save an unworthy life." For years afterwards Malcolm argued that his brothers cheated him out of his inheritance. Finally, on May 8, 1902 Malcolm entered Paul L. Ford's library and murdered him.  Shot him dead at the age of thirty-seven.  Then Malcolm killed himself.

Two hurt books.  Two sad stories.  I had always intended to fix these two hurt books, but after researching the stories of their former owners, I'm thinking of leaving them in their current condition.

What do you think?

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