The

1- covers
Private Librarv
the world
THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL O F THE
PRIVATE L I B R A R I E S ASSOCIATION

How I Became a Book Collector

Desmond Flower

A Magical Library I1 The Keepsake Press

Trevor H. Hall Roy Lewis

Oxford Bookshops
W. H. Ridler

Association Affairs Correspondence

Reviews Recent Private Press Books
I

Visit our Stand at IPEX '63 I

Vol. 4 : No. 7 July I 96 3

Grange Fibre Co. Ltd,
Leicester

@ Copyright 1963 by the Private Libraries Association

65 Hillway, London, N.6
Printed by The John Roberts Press Limited
Joronress House Clerkenwell Green London ECr
 The Private Libraries Association
65 Hillway, London N.6 The Private Library
President: DR.DESMOND FLOWER ~ u a r t e r l yJournal of the Private Libraries Association
Hon. Secretary: Antony Wilson
Hon. Editor: P u p w a r d , 28 Parkfield Crescent, North Harrow, Middlesex
Other Council Members:
Vol. 4 No. 7 July 1963
Iain S. Bain R. Guy Powell
D. J. Chambers J. K. Power
F. G. Feather
W. Forster
Peter Reid
C. E. Sheppard
Association Affairs
Philip Ward I-'vesidential Address and Antrnal General M e e t i q
~f Ucsmond Flower gavc the first Presidential Address (and scvc~ithA ~ u ~ u aLecture)
l
uf thc Private Libraries Association on April 2nd. The first part of his 'How 1 Uccamc a
The Private Libraries Association is a society of people interested in books from ~ o o kCollector' is printed in this number, and the conclusion will appear in the ncxt
the amateur or professional point of view. Membership is open to all who pay ~ ' r j v a t eLibrary. The Council exprcsscs its thanks to the speaker and to thc adnlinistrativ~
one guinea on January 1st each year regardless of the date of enrolment. staff of the National Book League, whose premises were so kindly made available for the
Founded in 1956, the Association immediately organised the Exchange occasion.
111thc coursc of the Annual Gcncral Meeting, attended by a record number of ~nculbcrs,
Scheme as a means of co-operation among collectors and students : The Exchange all the officers and nletnbcrs of Council prepared to stand again wcre re-elected.
List is published four times a year.
The Private Library, begun in January 1957, has printed contributions from T h e I-'itblicatiorzs I'rogratnrrre
members and experts outside the society on a variety of subjects concerned l~rivntePress Books I962 is now published, covering the major part of last ycar's private
press output throughout the world. Though thc numbcr of illustrations is increased to
with the world of books and the organisation of libraries at home. sig, the price remains at 7s 6d ($1.25) or 10s 6d ($1.7~)to non-nlenlbcrs.
Concerning Booklabels, previously announccd as Calligrnyhic Booklnbels, is sent frcc of
&arge with this issue; since there is almost nothing clsc published on booklabcls, the
~ o u n c i anticipates
l a heavy denland from non-members, to whom the price is js, and
lllcnlbers arc adviscd that extra copies may bc ordercd for thcir friends at 3s 6d per copy.
P A R K E R ' S of A printed supplc~nentto the Private Librarics Association hfcrnbcrs' Hnndbuok (3rd ed.,
1 ~ 6 2 )is enclosed; it supcrscdcs thc duplicated supplenlcnts issued so far with Thc
OXFORD ~ s d r n t t g eList.

New, Antiquarian
and HOW I B E C A M E A B O O K
Foreign Booksellers
A CAMBRIDGE since 1798 COLLECTOR Desnzond Flower
BOOKSHOP Private Libraries Association, Presidential Address, April 1963
NE can become a collector of books for a number ofreasons.
THAT IS KNOWN
IN ALL PARTS
WRITE F O R
CATALOGUES I
0 I suppose that the most common are environment and upbringing.
~f collecting is in the air when one is at the right impressionable age,
OF THE WORLD there is more than an even chance that one will begin some form of
a inlitation. This certainly was true in my case.
W. H E F F E R & S O N S L T D
27 Broad Street I
Shortly after the first World War my father began to form! his
I
P e t t y Cnry, C a m b r i d g e OXFORD I collection of the music of Handel which is now the most important in
I private hands in the world. (He has one great rival whose printed
I
editions are splendid, but in manuscripts my father is unequalled.) when the age at which one could have a licence to drive a motor car
Thus as a schoolboy I saw these parcels of books arriving, shared the was reduced to sixteen. Owing to the consequent presence of people
excitement of unpacking and examining them, and used to accompany like myself upon the road the Government quickly gave up the idea.
my father to those few antiquarian booksellers who then specialized Anyway, I drove over to the shop, where I found only old Mr Barnard
in music. I shared his sorrows when the ship bringing from Germany a at the receipt of custom. He was rather lik> Mr Pastry: he had a purple
superb portrait of Handel by Hudson was sunk, and, after the cargo face, a grizzled moustache stained with nicotine, and he looked at one
had been recovered, for years his anxiety when with every change of over the top of his glasses. In a kindly way he asked me what I wanted
weather the picture sweated a crust of salt. The cruellest cut was that and I told him. He looked at me over those glasses again and said:
he had to pay his share of the cost of the ship-since the law in those 'My boy, let me give you a word of advice. Do not collect books. Buy
days said that the owner of cargo was proportionally responsible for instead drawings of the old masters; they will cost you little and you
the bottom in which it was carried. will never regret it.' I gazed back with a patronizing smile and said:
In this atmosphere emulation was probable. My interest was un- 'Thank you, sir; I will bear that in mind. Now might I have No. 156?'
doubtedly stimulated by the fact that my first purchase-a volume of He sighed and found it for me. O f course he was right; if I had taken
Sheridan's plays--turned out to be the first collected edition and a hi4 advice I would today be a wealthy man.
rather scarce book. Two further factors led to my downfall. At At this time I met someone else who was to become a lifetime friend,
Lancing, where I went to school, I became head librarian with some a man for whom I have the deepest respect. I became Captain of
20,000 volumes under my charge. I was advised and helped in my task Athletics at Lancing and took my team to Eton for our annual match
by a distinguished O.L., Arundell Esdaile, Secretary of the British against the College. W e arrived for lunch and the Eton captain who
Museum, who broke the rules by giving me a ticket to the Reading looked after us with charm and grace was a very good hurdler named
R o o m long before I was 21.At Sevenoaks, where I lived, there was an Ian Fleming. Our budding friendship very nearly came to grief because
antiquarian bookseller named Walker-a gentle man who lived up to my team won the match handsomely; however, better feelings pre-
the finest traditions of his profession. He owned a tall house in the vailed. He is today one of the proprietors of T h e Book Collector, also,
London Road which, apart from the shop on the ground floor, was of course, ofJa~ncsBond, and he has a wonderful library.
completely filled with books not only on shelves around the walls but Next I went up to Cambridge, and found myself at King's College
i n piles on the floors, making access to each room an exercise in with John Carter. By then, in 1926, he was already an authority. T o
mountaineering. How the structure stood up to the terrific weight any bibliographical question I might ask of anyone, I always received
I do not know. I ingratiated myself with him and before long he gave the same answer: 'You will have to ask John Carter.' His companion
me the run of the house. There can be few factors more calculated to and fellow collector in the college was John Hayward, equally known
turn a willing adolescent into a hopeless bibliophile than the pleasures to us all for many reasons, and today as the editor of T h e Book Collector.
of the chase. Sneezing from the dust up my nose, so filthy that I would They were both a year senior to me, and a year at that time of life
need a bath when I got home, I burrowed for hours, finding one makes a power of difference. In their presence therefore, I felt a tyro,
volume of a Bronte novel on one floor and searching feverishly to find as indeed I was. John Carter had already formed a collection of early
the others before it was time to go home. I was hooked. editions of the classics, which I think he still possesses, and he was
It was at this time that a sharp attack was made upon my virtue. beginning on Sir Thomas Browne. John Hayward's collection of
I had begun to receive booksellers' catalogues and there was something St Evremond was in an advanced stage and already top of its class-
which I wanted from Craddock & Barnard. Most of you probably while I was still swivelling indeterminately between Edith Sitwell,
know them as eminent dealers in prints now to be found across the Eric Gill, Tennyson and Browning like a yacht tacking in light weather
road from the British Museum. But in those days their shop was in before the start of a race. That they treated me with condescension was
Tunbridge Wells and they dealt in books as well as prints and drawings. quite proper; bat as cgentlemen, they tempered their condescension
1 drove over-I should mention that this was during a trial period with sympathy and kindness, so that I learned from them to such an
extent that when I once found my collecting ndtier I was able to get editor of a periodical. Together A.J. and I decided to found The Book
on with it without further backing and filling. And I am happy and Collectors' Qirorttrly, which we kept going for four years until the
proud to acknowledge my debt to two such good friends. slump finally beat us.
One of the hazards at Cambridge in those days, if one was a book Much has been written and told about A.J. I must say that to me he
collector, was the weekly gallop to David's stall at nine o'clock on was a very good friend, but there is no doubt that he could be a ruthless
Saturday morning. Old David-with his long Jewish nose pitted with and unscrupulous enemy. He was one of the first seriously to collect
blackheads hanging over the yellowed stub of a long dead home-made the books of the nineties and in his heyday his library was a revelation.
cigarette, an ensemble topped by an Anthony Eden hat of such age But he was, unfortunately, a literary speculator, living largely on his
that it shone with grease-was a genius. He loved books as a lioness wits, and like so many of that sort at that time his grandiose scheines
loves her cubs, and could round on intruders with equal ferocity. He eventually failed. If he had been operating today, he would have
bought in the sale rooms during the week and the fruits of his en- succeeded, but it was the shortage of money in the Thirties which
deavour were offered for sale on Saturday mornings. One had to be really beat him. So many of his ideas were good ones, but nobody had
there absolutely on the hour when business began; and since his stall the funds with which to back them. In his collecting days he had an
was only two minutes' walk from King's, I usually went in my uncanny knack of ferreting out the surviving luminaries of the
pyjamas and bedroom slippers. It was important to arrive on time be- nineties, but what he knew and had found out he kept strictly to
cause the University Library had an automatic lien on anything not himself. For instance, he sold to my father Dowson's poetical note-
already on their shelves and in the free-for-all which ensued I found book, which Father gave to me and I in turn eventually sold to the
myself barging Creswick, then the assistant to Schofield and now Morgan Library. But he would never tell me where he got it; there is
University Librarian, in an endeavour to get our hands on to an plenty of evidence as to where he must, in fact, have found it, but to
interesting-looking book. If we had been playing for Spurs we would give a straight answer would have been contrary to his principles.
have been sent OK But as a result of this good-natured fighting, we got He could be quite renlarkably tortuous, and I renlernber that he-a
to know one another and I must say that through all the years which master of the English language-once let off one of the finest mixed
have elapsed he has been a real friend to me. I respect him and salute metaphors that I have ever heard. He made a publishng proposition
him. to me of which I thought nothing at the time and told him so. But on
To counteract the University Library's prestige, I had to have some reflection his scheme seemed to me to have something to reconmlend
sort of edge. David himself was sweet. Ferocious as he might be, if you it, and I rang him up a few days later saying that I had changed my
were in-you were in. For some reason, he accepted me; and looking mind. I sensed at once that he was embarrassed; after a pause he said:
over mid-off's head like an Australian umpire rejecting an appeal for 'When you turned down my proposal I had to try elsewhere; as a
l.b.w., he would say: 'Nothing there; look down the other end.' result I started several hares and-one of them has come home to roost.'
By 1929 university life was over, the golden days were done, and I said also that he could be an unscrupulous enemy. During our
after a spell in Germany I entered Cassells on January st, 1930, to association I once asked a bookseller in the Midlands to send me a
begin work. During that year I first met Oliver Simon who became book on approval. He wrote in reply that he would be glad to do so
one of my closest friends and remained so until his death. At that time if I could give him an assurance that I was not in business with A. J. A.
he had published two annual voluines of a little work called The Symons. After a good deal of writing back and forth the book was
Bibliophile's Almanac, but had decided not to go on. I asked him if sent to me; and the next time I saw A.J. I taxed him as to what he had
I could take it over and to his assent he added the advice that I should done to this wretched dealer to engender such bitterness. A far away
seek an article from A. J. A. Symons. I accordingly called upon that look came into his eye and after a moment he said: 'Ah, yes, I remember
tall, bespectacled and genial figure. I entered the portals of the him; a foolish fellow.'
imposing mansion in Bedford Square which then housed the First One pleasant concomitant of my ineeting with A.J. was that he used
Edition Club to ask for an article for an annual, and I emerged the to take me round to Conduit Street where Elkin Mathews then had
their shop. Evans was there and Gathorne-Hardy, and of course Percy THEKEEPSAKEPRESS RoyLezvis
Muir. It was a wonderful atmosphere, talking, talking about books,
E do not forget those rare moments of hclairissernent when we
books, books over a glass of good sherry; and one of the most interest-
ing subjects of discussion was the possible new horizons in collecting.
There were many then. And it was at thls time that Elkin Mathews
W know we love and know the object of that love. I recall the
afternoon in 1928, in the remote, informal skylighted brightness of the
began to use the back cover of their catalogue to advertise a book which school art-room when I and a dozen other escapees doing 'voluntary
they considered important but under-estimated. I remember one was art' gathered round a boy demonstrating how he really printed an
Macaulay's History ojEtlgland, which tickled my vanity because I had amateur magazine on a wooden flatbed press with a chase measurement
just acquired a sct. It was a good idea, and one which they would be of 8 x 5 inches and a corresponding page size (the impression was
hard put to carry out today. achieved, though I did not realise it, by four-point leading between the
The acquisition by my father of the Dowson notebook was to have lines of to-point type and en to em spaces between words). My nostrils
a profound effect upon my life as a book collector. The plan was that took in the aroma of parafin, printer's ink and type-metal. I knew.
my father, who had seen Dowson in the flesh and loved his poetry, Within a week the Exchnr~gi,G Mart offered for sale a complete railway
would keep the notebook while I would incorporate the unpublished and army. Childish things disposed of, I acquired a press for 57s 6d
verses which it contained in a new cdition of the poetical works. complete with instructions and two card founts.
I dccided to include in the volume, which was published in 1934, somc I ceased to eat lanch in the Kardomah, and bought type. I produced,
passages from Dowson's translation of Voltaire's Puceh as specimens after a misunderstanding with my press over its inability to print
of his ability in this genre. In those days the barrows in the Farringdon 10-point type set solid, my own magazine, Thc Lillipmtian-later, more
Road, a few minutes' walk from La Belle Sauvage whcre I worked, pretentiously, The Meanderer. I presented a surprised father with an
were still a promising h ~ n t i n ~ - ~ r o u nOdn. one of my lunch-time cdition of his humorous lecture (for ~hristnlaiparties and Church
explorations I found an edition of La Atceh dated 175j.I bought it for 'evenings') on the anatomy of fabulous beasts, rewritten in rhymed
the purpose of comparing Dowson's translation with the original. . couplets and printed with linocut diagrams and index in twelve
Bound in I found a number of pamphlets, of the same year, all by 5 x 8 inch pages bound in wallpaper. He entered the depths of
Voltaire. My curiosity was aroused and I went off to the London Smethwick and returned with about ro lbs of 12-point Caslon, two
Library to find a bibliography to check up on what I had got. I sat in dozen of each character from A to Z and R to ffl including small caps
the stacks poring over Bengesco and I realized at once that I had found and italics. He then took me aside, presented me with Updike's
my collecting mltier. Gone was my interest in Gill-although I knew Printing Types, and read me a solemn lecture on the iniquities of the
and loved him as a fricnd, gone was Sitwell, Tennyson and all the Cheltenham family which I have never forgotten.
others. Voltaire was my man. That was thirty years ago and today my Happiness in an attic for nearly two years. Then two million un-
Voltaire collection has assumed formidable proportions. That is the employed, my father's firm sold up, the National Government, Hitler
way it all began, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. -and the certainty that I could not go to Oxford unless I won a
scholarship. I cut printing out of my heart, put an advertisement in the
Exchange and Mart, For sale, complete printing plant, and decided to grow
up con~pletely.
I believe this is quite a common story. However, many waters can-
not quench love. I cannot explain the Keepsake Press t r ~ ~ t h f ~ifd Il yomit
this excursion into the past. Behold the boy becomes portly ratepayer
and paterfamilias with his own children to amuse and instruct. He
rummages in family debris, for all children love such archaeology. And
up comeq, with the photographs of the great-aunts in cloche-hats, a
 Linocuts by Elizabeth Lewis my first mistress. I ought not. I neglect my publishers. Besides, the first
rapture is irrecoverable. Type, even at 8s a lb, does not cost me my
lunch; modern printing inks have lost their seductive pungency of
odour; and my mistress has become exacting in matters of perfornl-
ance-impression, register, and so on. Alas, I fear I am too old to learn
the tricks that would have come so easily in 1930 had I enrolled under
Leonard Jay and Harold Holden instead of under G. D. H. Cole.
These are the facts. The owners of private presses are so sure of
themselves, so clear in their aims, such enviable craftsmen, so often
established artists and the habit& of charmed circles-people with a
secret ('with it')-that I don't know what place there is for a press with
such a history as ours. It is not quite a private press: it is an amateur
press-it is a retreat. The Freudians (I know them) would recognise it
for a sy~nptonlof infantilism. Is it not significant (to use the essential
Charles I Freudian word) that I love vcry slnall formats? Was not the use of
18-point Black Letter in the Keepsake Press Death of' G o d and Genesis
an over-conlpensation? W e printed Edward Lowbury's Metamorphoses
(now worthily republishcd by Chatto & Windus) in 8 point in Pott
8vo, and likewise Charles St. J. Shore's Kcrriii~isccnceso f a T a x Inspector.
Perhaps it is better to travel hopefully than to arrive. W e print the
poems, stories, satires, essays, jcux ri'csyrit, off-cuts, marginalia, of our
friends, established and unestablishcd, as keepsakes for them to give their
friends. W e hope for their woodcuts. If we can see a hole to be filled in
the vast output of conuncrcial publishing we will fill it; the Keepsake
Press will, for example, cornmealorate Annus Shakespearianus 1964
with a delightfill and handy chronology of the poet's life. It will be fun
to set:
There be sonic sports are painful, and their labour
Delight in thcin sets off.
Edward IV
The title page will be Period. W e will also print a bouquet of flowers in
colour and solne poctns of the new generation in 14-point italic. A
forme of type. It must-it must!-be demonstrated, and so forgotten history, in very small format, is also planned, though it may not be as
lore is recalled and a wooden press hainmered together from odds and witty as Jane Austen's, which we reprinted in 1962.
ends. A Christmas card is produced. The ashes are in flame. Lewis & Thus, the Keepsake Press (Group IV). Types: Bell, in 8, 11, 14 and
Daughters picked up a Columbian press in the nick of time to be 18 point; Times in 6 , 8, 10, 12 point; black-letter in 12, 18 and 3 0 point;
included in the Book of the Private Press, by Messrs Rae and and for display a few card founts of Albertus, Bodoni bold, Gill,
Handley-Taylor. Cursive and Latin Antique, which were the gift of our valued friend and
The excuse that I am amusing and instructing my daughters will no well-wisher, Mr John Lewis, the typographer. For presses, we have a
longer wash. They are now tripping into the nuclear age as I stumbled Model Platen and a card Albion. For premises, a shed in a rose-garden.
into the 'thirties, I have to confess that I have returned to the charms of For a philosophy, we grope.
 If you tell your ordinary acquaintance that your recreation is printing things away for us is another matter. W e are all in his debt-often in
(and of course without the explanations advanced here) you will both senses of the word!
generally be thought to have a rather unusual hobby. Tell a Russian, The visitor to Blackwell's will see displayed a notice which might
Chinese or Bulgarian and the reaction will be very different: surprise, well serve as a model for all booksellers.
excitement, questioning. He will ask what kind of subversive stuffyou W h e n yell visit Blackwell's no oiie tvill ask you what yoir waiit.
print. Explain, and he will be disgusted with your bourgeois dilet- Y o u a r e f i e to ramble where you will; to haudle ally book; iil short,
tantism. Behind the Iron Curtain, it seems, there is no hobby o f p r i v a t e to brotvse at leisure.
printing, any more than on this side there is one of private minting of T h e s t a f a r e at your service tvhert you need theirt; but urlle~syou look
the coinage of the realm. Private presses seem to be all Class V, to them, they tvill leave you uildisturbed.
clandestine. Whatever may be said in praise or otherwise, about print- Y o u are equally tvelcoir~ewhether you come to buy or to browse.
ing as a hobby or artistic exercise, it does quietly attest the tenets of a Such has beeti the trnditiotz at Blacktvell'sfir more thaiz seventy years.
free society. The productions listed in Private Press Books may not often Blackwell's carry a tremendous stock and free catalogues are issued
scare the pants off the Prime Minister. But did the little boats that saw at frequent intervals.
service off Dunkirk know in advance their appointment with destiny? The ground floor is devoted to new books, but the two upper floors
I hope it isn't presumptuous of me to conclude our contribution to this have second-hand books on all subjects. The oriental department and
series with the observation that messing about with type in a backyard the English Literature department arc particularly large. In the latter,
is anyhow a hobby for free men. prices for Ackermann's Oxford or a Kehscott Chairccr will be at current
market levels, but most modern first editions, and books from the
lesser private presses, are often surprisingly cheap. I have bought the
Centenary Edition of T h e Neivcorttes, issued by the Heritage Club with
illustrations by Edward Ardizzone, for only ISS, and some of the
Bruce Rogers unpretentious early Riverside Press items for even
OXFORD BOOKSHOPS less. Incidentally, the collection of bibliography is always worth
examination.
William Ridlev Thornton's, also in Broad Street, is noted for theology, but the shop
is a delightfully rambling one, and there are large sections devoted to

T HE stranger to Oxford, approaching Blackwell's Bookshop in

Broad Street just before they reopen after lunch, might wonder if
a dog-fight had broken out and attracted a crowd of spectators. It is a
travel, Greek and Roman classics, history, and oriental books.
Parker's, formerly on one of the Broad Street corners of Turl Street,
has been demolished for rcbuilding. W e are promised one of the finest
rare thing for the customers of a bookshop to queue up to get in. And bookshops in thc cotuntry on the same site. Let us hope that second-hand
once inside, the visitor would find that he was welcome to browse to books will still be found there. See A. D. Thomas' note below.
his heart's content. Which is what all book collectors love to do, and
in welcon~econtrast to some of the shops in Charing Cross Road,
I A. Rosenthal Ltd., also in Broad Street, 1s noted for early Spanish
and Portuguese books, Judaica, and books on music and musicology.
where they hover round and would be better en~ployedselling packets
of sugar and tea. Nothing is more infuriating to the book collector
I Along Turl Street, adjoining the Mitre Hotel, is the Turl Cash
Uookshop. The shop 1s an old cottage and, sincc they seem to be
than that question, 'What are you looking for?' W e are looking for trying to fill it up to its full cubic capacity, one often has to edge in
treasure trove and unconsidered trifles. If we do have a particular book sideways. Standing on one of its creaking upper floors, one fears that it
in mind we can generally spot it for ourselves. W e like to peep at the might collapse at any moment and an avalanche of books descend on
price and consider its condition, and half the f ~ has
~ ngone if it is thrust the assistant on the ground floor, causing him to give his life for
at us. The friendly bookseller who knows our interests and tucks literature. But they have withstood the load for many years past and
 The Dolphin Book Co., dealers in new Spanish books, carry a large
and very fine stock of antiquarian Spanish books (many of them
in exquisite bindings), early Americana, and also a stock of cheaper
secondhand Spanish books.
A. R. Bullock issues occasio~ialcatalogues of Islamic books and books
on the Middle East. Business is by correspo~idenceor by appointment.
Last (and least), the baselilelit of the writer's antique shop at the
bottom of the High, on the Magdalen College side, usually contains a
mixture of about 2,000 volumcs. Bat prices are low and members of
the Association arc always welcome.

Oxford Bookshops
B. H. Blackwell Ltd, 48-5 I Broad Street.
J. Thornton & Son, T T Broad Street.
A. Rosenthal Ltd, 2nd Floor, 9 Broad Street.
The Turl Cash Ilookshop, 3 Turl Street.
Arsist's impression of Parker's new bookshop Sanders & Co., 104 High Street.
The Dolphin Book Co. Ltd, r4 Fyfield Road.
A. R. Bullock, 62 Kelburnc Road.
maybe the danger is not as great as one might inlagine. The shop holds W . H. Rider, 50 High Strcct.
frequent half-price sales.
Alniost opposite the Mitre Hotel, in the High Street, is Sanders'
booksliop. The secondhand books are at the back of the shop and
upstairs. Here is to be found one of the niost interesting 'pokes-round' The new shop will occupy the wholc of the floor frontage of
in Oxford. I renmnber finding a set of thc Daniel Press Ow Mernorics the Broad Strcet-Turl Strcct corner of the extension being built for
--Shadows of Old Oxford. Madan describes this as the 'niost readable Exeter Collcgc, thc architects of which are Messrs Brett & Pollen.
and amusing of the Daniel books'. The twenty numbers were by senior It is planned on the split-lcvcl principle and consists of mezzanine,
inembers of the University and were devotcd to pcrsonal reminiscences. ground floor, lower ground floor and basement. With the exception of
The first number was issued in December 1888, and the 20th in May the basement the various lcvcls arc open to each other and connected
1893. This last number contains an interesting colophon: 'Here ends by two sets of staircascs. Waist-high bookcases act as balustrades to the
the first series of Our Merrzorics to be followcd by a second if time cage of each level.
circunlstances and contributors assist the Editor!' Two more nuinbers The total area of thc prcinises is approxilnately 3,090 feet, giving a
of the second series appeared, and my copy includes theni. 'These', run of some 3,000 fcct of shclving. The whole of the premises will be
says Madan, 'must be rather rarer than the first.' About IOO copies of used solely for display purposes, carrying a representative stock of
each n u m b h were issued for private circulation, sent out unbound, and some 2o,ooo volumes, together with the Ordnance Survey maps, for
'often mislaid by the recipient'. Complete sets in existence, including which Messrs Parker are local agents, and usual stocks of other maps
the two numbers of the second series, must be considerably fewer than and guides. Messrs Parker's Accounts Department, Mail Order and
the number issued. Publicity Department will not be returning to the site, but will be
The owner of Sanders', Lord John Kerr, is most approachable and is operated from other premises.
a specialist in sixteenth and seventeenth-century Continental books. A. D. THOMAS
A MAGICAL L I B R A R Y : I1 tion of the MS., and the printing and illustrating ofthe book in England.
I was sadly aware that time was short. However, much of the
Trevor H. Hall material was already assembled in my library, and I enjoyed, moreover,
the inestimable advantage of having friends whose expert help was

E ARLY American conjuring items are very scarce. The collector

who, llke myself, pines in vain for the first book on magic published
in the United States will probably continue to do so, for only two
available to The page-proofs were conlpleted in December 1956,
but it was clear that publication would be inevitably delayed until
1957. The news from Minneapolis was not good, but through the
copies are known. This is a reprint (styled the eleventh edition and kindness of the Shenval Press I was able partly to inlplement my
with the predominant title changed to Hocru Pocrrs) of Dean's The promise to Carl. Six special copies of the book were illustrated, sewn
Whole Art of Legerdemain, published in Philadelphia in 1795. I do, and wrappered and one of these was sent by air mail to Carl Jones in
however, possess the second, Pinchbeck's The Expositor; or, Many time for Christnlas Day. These copies were dated 1956 on the title-page.
Mysteries Unravelled (Boston, 1805) and a representative American Carl Jones died on January sth, 1957, serene and courageous to the
section including Nickerson's The Whole Art of Lecgerdemain (Baltimore, end, and before his death was able to see and handle the book he had
I830)~ Ventriloquism
~ Explained; andJuggler's Tricks, or Legerdemain Ex- so I T I U C ~ wishcd to publish.
posed (Amherst, 1834) and Engstrom's The Htrmorrrozts Magician Solne post-1850 books of which large editions are printed are now
Unmasked (Philadelphia, I 836). of considerable rarity for reasons difficult to comprehend. Douglas
A few conjuring books published after 1850 are difficult to find Blackburn's Tkolocght-Reading; or, Modern Mysteries Explained [1884],
because of limited editions, and are in consequence highly regarded. for example, exists in the libraries of Cambridge and London Uni-
Exa~nplesare the Brinsley Nicholson Discoveric of' Witchcraft, to which versities and the Magic Circle, and in the British Museum and in my
reference has been made, Second Sight Simplijed (1883) and Second own collection, but I have not been able to trace its presence elsewhere.
Sightfor Amatelrrs (r888), of which respectively fifty and twenty-five Bibliographers are curiously silent about it. So far as I am aware, it
copies were printed. One of the most desirable items in my collection is has not been offered for sale since 1924.~Blackburn and G. A. Smith
Thr Annals of Cotzjrrring (1929), by Sidney W. Clarke, a barrister and a were the two Brighton - 'telepathists' who were the subjects of early
Vice-President of the Magic Circle. It was published as a serial in the experiments in thought-transference, conducted by Edmund Gurney
late George Johnson's quarterly The Magic Wand during the years and Frederic W. H. Myers in 1882-83, and described as genuine in the
~924-28.Only four copies of this lavishly illustrated and monumental first volume of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research.
history of the conjurer's art were, however, printed in book form. Blackburn subsequently confessed that the whole affair had been a
Six years ago I accidentally created a modern rarity of my own, and gigantic hoax. Why virtually all copies of his little book should have
as an American bookseller has since alluded to its existence2 the story disappeared is a matter of conjecture, particularly when another book
should perhaps be recorded. The circumstances which led to the by the same publishers, Christmas Entertainmerits (1883), of similar
printing of a few copies of my conjuring bibliography prior to 1957, format and price, is of fairly common occurrence.
the year of publication, are not without interest. The late Carl W. During the last twenty years old conjuring books have become
Jones of Minneapolis3 and I were old friends and had discussed such a increasingly hard to find, and prices have tended steadily to rise. I have
project for many years, but it was not until Carl's last illness that he had occasion to observe elsewhere6 that in my view the late Leo
asked me to nuke it possible for his name as publisher to appear on Rullman's catalogue No. 42, issued in April 1940, marked a climacteric
the title-page of a bibliography of the older conjuring books which in the antiquarian book market. Never again was a lover of conjuring
had such a compelling interest for both of us. He knew that his life books to have the opportunity of buying from the same list a dozen
was drawing to its close, and he was especially anxious that this, hi? scarce and desirable items, or as Rullman put it, 'a nice assortment of
final contribution to the literature of magic, should be completed rare books and pamphlets to delight the heart of the collector'. It was,
before his death. He invited me to take responsibility for the prepara- from the purchaser's point of view, the last illuminated window display
 before the lights went out. 4 Especially Dr E. J. Diugwall, the honorary assistant keeper of printed books at the
British Museum and Mr J. H. P. Pafford, the Goldstniths' Librarian of the University
The reasons for this state of affairs is, I fancy, twofold. First, in of London.
recent years the n~unberof collectors of conjuring books has rapidly 5 By the late Arthur Margery of Brompton. Mr H. E. Pratt, the Magic Circle Librarian,
thinks it probable that this is the copy now in his care, its having passed through the
increased, especially in the United States. Thc bookseller who in libraries of Dr Milton Bridges and C. H. Charlton. The latter's collection was
September 1958 offered me an ilnmaculate copy of Hoctrs Poars: or purchased ell bloc by the Magic Circle some years ago.
Sleight ofHmd Explained (1826) had no anxicty as to its saleability nor The Alagic Circ~~lrrr,June 1 9 5 ~p.
, 197.
Ibid., pp. 198-200. The essay in which this theme was developed included a short history
any noticeable inhibitions regarding pricc. He mercly had to decide of magical libraries.
upon whom amongst the clanlouring multitude he was to bcstow the
privilege of possessing this rare pamphlet, and I happened to be first
in the field. The sccond reason, as I have said in another place, is the REVIEWS
very curious absence in the case of conjuring books of the normal
cyclic redistribution from one generation of bibliophiles to the next.7 Privnte 11rrsscs n d tl~cirbooks, by Will Ransom. 493pp. Philip C. Duschnes, New York.
$20.00 or L7 0. 0.
It would seem that, in the main, earlicr collectors of conjuring litera- Selrctivr il~r~.klisrs
ofprcss hooks, by Will Ransom. 420pp. Philip C. Duschnes, New York,
ture have been unable to bring themselves to arrange for the piecemeal $15.00 or A5 ro. o.
When Will Ranso~n'sPrilwtr Prcssrr appeared in an edition of 1200 copies in 1929, it
disposal of their beloved books. The important libraries asselnbled by quickly ectablishecl itself ac the standard authority in the field of private printing in the
Dr Milton Bridges, C. H. Charlton, Harry Houdini, Carl W . Jones English speaking world. 1)cpending quite heavily upon Tomkinson's earlier bibliography
of the Engli.;h presses, and to a lesser extent on suc11 earlier workers as Martin and Dobell,
and Harry Price, to name but five, havc all passed into institutional I
he nevcrthelrss acco111plis11cdvery nluch n o r e in his remarkably f ~ dandl accurate check-
ownership or have been bought intact by other book-lovers. lists of the private presses. His Srlritivc rhrrklists, published in twelve parts between 1945
and 1950, wcrc an atten~ptto bring the picture up to date, at any rate for the inoreimport-
The collector of an unusual subject is invariably asked how his ant of the I'riv~tc I'resscs; in these lists too, he included some of the n~ostimportant of the
continental presses - 13retner, Crat~ach,and so on - whose absence had weakened his earlier
interest was first aroused. I have been a Shcrlock Holmes enthusiast book.
since my schooldays and it was as a schoolboy that my father, who was The new cditions of thcsc two works which have just been published by Philip C.
acq~~ainted with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, introduced me to the creator Duschnes of New York are extremely welcome, as the books are now by no means easy or
cheap to cornc by. They have been reproduced by photolithography from the original
of my hero. The meeting took place in Sir Arthur's psychic bookshop volunm, which accounts for the odd pagination of parts of the Selective check1ist.s; and,
more regrettably, for the perpetuation of a few silly errors - 'Sir Horace Walpole',
in Westminster, and we were invited to inspect the curious exhibits in 'Lacock, nr. Slirewsbury' etc. - which disfigured the original. But Ransom's ~nistakes
the basement museum. The inlpression made upon a small boy by the were s n d l in nunlbcr, and though one today can think of minor presses which he never
knew aboi~t,and can add to the infor~nationhe gives about such presses as that of Albany
greatest exponent and champion of spiritualism in its history was Wallace, or correct him on a few ~ninorpoints, his book remains i~nnlenselyuseful and is
clearly formidable, and my father, who was a wise man, decided that scarcely likely to be replaced. The Srlectivr rllrcklists were never intended as more thin an
interin~publication, 3 r d as such contain a number of queries and loose-endings which
an immediate antidote was necessary. W e went to Maskelynes, where could with advantage be settled, but until another writer of Ransom's stature appears, are
I saw that greater miracles than those described by Sir Arthur could still very valuable. R.C.

be accomplished in full light by normal mcans. An enthusiasm for Viiforintt book desigtr n d colo~rrpritttiigby Ruari McLean. 182 pp. Faber and Faber, 4 ~ s .
Victoriana is nearly in, and those who would buy fine examples of Victorian book pro-
ainateur conjuring was a natural development, leading in its turn as duction at the low prices still current in the general bookshops will do well to move
the years went by to an interest in the history and bibliography of the quickly. For some tin~e,the specialist booksellers have been edging up their prices, and
now this lavishly illustrated work, highlighting the most desirable books, will arouse
subject. That afternoon in London so long ago probably accounts also Inore enthusiasnl. It may be time that the textual content of many of the books of the
for my occasional critical contributions to the literature of psychical period is still of little interest to the contemporary collector, but the gorgeous and
extravagant bindings and the sotnetin~esexquisite, and always vigorous, coloured wood-
research. engravings and lithographs undoubtedly have an instant appeal. Mr McLean has rightly
A rarity brought back across the Atlantic for me, uudcr the noses of Atncrican collectors, cotlcentrated his researches on these lesser-know11 aspects of his subject, touching only
by the late Peter Murray Hill. briefly on the illustrations of the sixties which have already been so fully documented.
t' Edgar Heyl, Catalogue no. 28 (Ualtimorc, July 1958). IIe has gathered a mass of detail which has saved his text from the name-dropping
T a r 1Jones's library of early conjuring books, containing what was the only free copy of catalogue it might have been, and has illustrated it by no less than 64 pages of half-tones
the first edition of Hocrrs Pocus Junior (1634)~passed to Princeton University on his death. and eight excellent colour plates reproducing photographs of well over a hundred typical
He was, of course, the son of Herschel V. Jones, who assembled one of the most complete pages and bindings: a most informative and welcome survey.
collections of Americana in private hands. n. I. c.
R E C E N T PRIVATE P R E S S B O O K S the Porti~grrese was-with more justification-with their forebears fifty years ago. T w o
rcrcnt issucs havc come from the Press of a Yankee Ink I l a u b ~ r quite ,~ an attractively
lxoduccd cdition of 300 copics at $6.50 each, aud from Robert Jaskovski's River Hill
An American school with an unusually vigorous programme is the Department of I'rcss9,whose less successful edition of eighty copics is not for sale. A much more substantial
Graphic Arts at the Pratt Institute.' At the 'Pratt Adlib Press'-the students' book design book from this prcss is an appreciation of the work of Jarzis Muncis, the theatrical dcsigncr.
and production workshop-they are now producing an anuual compendium of the best Likc nearly all Jaskovski's books, this is in Latvian, but it includes summaries in English,
work of their students, Adlib, of which editions of up to 500 copies arc printed from the and as the chief virtue of the book is in its excellent reproductions of Muncis' work thc
students' original blocks, plates and type. This collection, together with two keepsakes a lauguagc barrier is insignificant. At $4.90 the book is very good value.
year, goes to 'Friends of the Graphic Arts Workshop' for S~o.ooa year. The two keep-
sakes which I have so far seen: Rolf Fjelde's suite of twelve poems, T h e In~aged Word, In poetry, too, some important books have been produccd, three of thcin bcing thc
with four autolithographs by John Rose; and Exiles, a poem with original woodcuts by first works from their presscs. Readers of Private Press Books 1962 will already bc familiar
Robert Tomlinson, are very handsome pieces of work. Equally attractive is a third booklet, with the book from the Tenfingers Prcss:'O Proverbis on Musyke, a charming littlc cditiou
a special keepsake produced for guests at the opening of the exhibition of Pratt Graphic of some verses supposed to have bccn inscribed in the 'garet at the New Lodgc in the
Talent, 1962: T h e Pterodactyl and the Lamb, a charming fable by Marshall Hinrichs with Park of Lckingfelde' during the reign of Henry VII.
accomplished wood-engravings by Michael Horen.
Wallacc J. Bonk's Crown Garland of Ungolden Roses, priutcd by thc author undcr thc
Several outstanding and substantial books have been produced in recent months by
American presses. From the Adagio Press2,John Ruskin's hitherto unpublished letter on iinprint of Westport Housc," is a very much less attractive book physically, but its
pocms are sometimes of considerable beauty. One section of the volunle is devoted to
T h e Contemptible Horse is presented in a very handsome manner, with illustrations by
Adele Bichan. Approximately 360 copies were printed, of which 280 were for sale at vcrscs for grcetings cards for some rather unusual festivals-among thcm Janus' Day,
the death of Alexander thc Great, the restoration of Charles I1 and so oil-an odd idea,
%IZ.SOeach. At the same price, from Henry Morris's Bird 8r Bull Press3 came Three
Erfrirt Tales, of which 310 copies were primed on Morris's own paper. The stories were but onc which introduces some fine work on the chosen themes. R o y A. Squires private
prcssl"as produced an attractivc selection of poems by Clark Ashton Smith, T h e Hill of'
originally published in Erfurt, 1497-98, and in this translation by Arnold H. Price are
illustrated with reproductions of woodcuts in the original edition.
Dionysns, and a French-folded printing of Smith's Cycles. Both arc attractively designcd
and wcll printcd, and augur wcll for the press's future work. Verse of a very much lightcr
For the English reader, Tiuo Diaries from the Little Press of Este Es4 and T h e Cnlifirnio sort is printcd in Foster Macy Johnson's Ver.ce and Worse, of which roo copies have been
and Overland Diaries of Count Leonetto Cipriani from the Champoeg Press5 are likely to published at $1.50 from the author's Bayberry Hill Press.lVt is attractively bound, but
remain closed books; of great interest to those who specialize in the history of the great spoiled by the very thick papcr on which it has beeu printed, which prevents the book
American West, but rather dull to others as the two diarists-Calvin Perry Clark, who bcing opcncd propcrly.
went to Denver over the Santa Fe trail in 1859, and his sister Helen who took the alter-
native northern route the following year-and Count Cipriani are not the most As usual, scvcral Anicrican prcssca havc produccd picccs (sun~cvcry distinguished)
entertaining of writers. This is a pity, as the design of the books is of a very high standard. which appeal primarily to thc typophilc. As thesc havc all bccn listcd in I'rivate I're~s
The 750 copies of Cipriani's diaries were printed by Lawton Kennedy; the Ttuo Di0rie.c Books 1962, thosc who care for such things will find details of them there.
(of which only 300 copies were printed for publication by Denver Public Library at R.C.
$ 1 ~ . 5 0each) are printed back to back, so that each starts at the beginning of the voluu~e
and meets the other (upside down) in the middle. This is an unusual and happy way to
avoid subordinating one text to the other; less successful is the attempt to simulate the T h e L)iscovery and Nami~ryuf Lytrdoch Valley: 1837, from the Pump Press of Australia,'4
original manuscripts by setting the text in two different script-types. is a ~rlodcsteight-page paulphlet reprinting Colonel William Light's diary of a week's
journey in South Australia in December 1837. Despite a slightly uneven inlprcssion this is
From the Oriole Press6 have come two collections of booklets gathered in slipcases: a pleasant and worthwhile piece, enlivened by line-block reproductions of a sketch by
Darien'r World, poems by Peter Darien; and the Collected Works of Rose Freen~arr-Ishill, Light in the text and of the arms of Lord Lyndoch printed in red on the covcr. I n
the printer's wife. Both sets show the usual care in production that we have come to Capricornia, a collection of 'Pointless Exotic Ballads' by Albin Eiger, from thc Wattlc
take for granted in Ishill, and are good examples of his rather florid design. A third work Grovc Press of Tasmanial5 is a complete contrast in style and content. The nearly unread-
of considerable interest which he has recently printed is T h e People and Jolrn Qninry able 18-point condensed Grotesque type fits the tall format of the book admirably, and
Adams, an article by Walt Whitinan which had never been published but survived in is printed with a heavy, if careless, black impression. A large Old Style roman uscd on
galley-proof. Seventy-five copies were printed and, like the other two works mentioned, thc titlc page and covcr detracts from the unity of an otherwise vigorous production, thc
it is not for sale. Another booklet printed for presentation only is Robert Louis Ster~etuotron mood of which is sustained by the strongly-drawn frontispiece and cover dcvicc by
Talk arid Talkers, a very pleasant little Christmas keepsake from the Redcoat Press7 whose H. Buehlcr. Thc binding, though ingenious, is not rcally good enough: perhapa thcrc is
work was described in a recent article in T h e American Book Collector. no way of binding single leavcs together completely satisfactorily.
U. J. C.
Mark Twain's curious 1601,for which I can arouse no enthusiasm, is see~ninsly
becoming as popular a text with contemporary American private printers as Sonriets~frotit
8 Frcdcrick B. MacMahon, Kural Route z , Rockville, Conn.
9 Robcrt J. Jaskovski, R.D.1, Box 251, Shippenville, Pa.
I Pratt Adlib Press, Pratt Institute Department of Graphic Arts, Brooklyn 5 , N.Y ro Frank J. Thomas, 4921 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angelcs 29, Calif.
2 Leonard F. Uahr, I725 Van Dyke, Apt. 4, Detroit 14, Michisan. II Wallacc J. Bonk, zoo2 Shadford Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
3 Henry Morris, 321 Elm Avenue, North Hills, Pa. 12 R o y A. Squires, 1745 Kenneth Road, Glendale I, Calif.
4 John R . Evans, Box 76, Parker, Colorado. 13 Fostcr M. Johnson, 403 Preston Avenue, Meriden, Conn.
5 Richard Abel, Champoeg Press, Reed Collese, Portland 2, Oregon.
14 I'innp Press, Box 48, P.O., Aldgate, South Australia. Unpriced.
6 Joseph Ishill, 11 Hamilton Terrace, Berkeley Heights, N.J. I 5 Wattle Grove Press, 69 George Town Road, Newnham, Tasmania, Australia.
7 Ralph V. Sollitt, 43 Redcoat Road, Westport, Conn.
l'ricc A; I 6s.
 Letter to the Editor The name of John Roberts Press is well
Messieurs,
Nous sonlines trks hcureux de vous annonccr clue notre "Asociaci6n
known to collectors of fine editions
de Bibli6filos de Barcelona" ayant it6 d6signEc pour organiser le I1Ii.mc
Congrts International de Bibliophilie, a fix6 la date du 7 octobre pour and privately printed books. Their pro-
son inauguration oficielle qui aura lieu B la salle gothique (Sa1611 de
Ciento) de 1'HBtel de Ville de Barcelone. ductions range from the twenty-guinea
La veille les inenibres du Congrks seront reGus par son I'rCsident
Mr. Miguel Mateu, Anlbassadeur d'Espagne, cn son chfteau de magnificence of a folio 'Song of Songs'
Perelada 011 ils pourront visiter sa bibliothi.que.
Les stances dc travail du Congrts sc dcrouleront le nlenie jour de
l'inauguration et les jours suivants 8, 9 et 10 B Barcelone. Ensuite trois
to the more modest charm of 'Twelve
jours sont prCvus pour la visite des bibliothi.qucs et des collections
privtes i Madrid.
by Eight', recently published by the
Dam une prochaine circulairc nous pourrons vous donner dc plus
anlples informations sur tous les dttails d'organisation du Congri.s ainsi Private Libraries Association.
que vous fournir d'autres inforinations qui puissent etrc d'int6rct pour
ses membres. Many bibliophiles cause small books
Dans l'attente nous vous prionb de bien vouloir agrter nos seiitiinents
les plus distinguCs to be privately printed, so to clothe
ASOClACION D h UIULIOFILOS L)E BARCELONA
(SIGNED) Le Prisident some favoured item in worthy typo-
Valencia, 231, pral. Barcelona 7, Espagne
graphical dress. They may cost little
PRIVATE PRESS B O O K S more than a good Christmas card -
I959 I 960 1961
5 /- 7/6 7/6 though there is, of course, no limit at
to members
the opposite end of the scale.
C O N C E R N I N G BOOKPLATES
2/- Those contemplating the production
SIMPLIFIED CATALOGUING R U L E S of a book or booklet 'printed for their
5 /-
friends' may expect interested co-
PRIVATELIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
Sales and Distribution: operation from John Roberts Press Ltd,
41 Cuckoo Hill Road, Pinner, Middlesex 14Clerkenwell Green, London ECI.