At The Bookseller's
This extract from an 1820s English/ French conversation manual gives an interesting insight into a vanished world. Note the concern with the appearance and quality of the books, the perennial problems with trying to get the binder to do what the bookseller and customer wants and on time. The eagerness of the collector to be the first to be offered fresh stock from the shop has changed very little. It is interesting that in the early nineteenth century women bookbuyers were likely to be attracted to Large Paper Copies and vellum. The customer's knowledge of book lore and binding styles has changed somewhat. It is all a far cry from ebay...
Well ! you are a man of your word, as usual: and the books that you were to send me, when shall I have them? Eh bien ! vous etes un homme de parole, comme a l'ordinaire: et ces livres que vous deviez m'emvoyer, quand viendront-ils? I assure you it is not our fault; they are not come from the binder's. Je vous assure que ce n'est pas notre faute; ils ne sont pas encore revenus de chez le relieur. You are under great obligations to your binder; he often furnishes you with an excuse. Vous avez un relieur a qui vous avez de grardes obligations , car il vous sert souvent de manteau. I protest that I sent them to him the same day you came to buy them. Je vous proteste que je les ai fait porter chez lui le meme jour que vous etes venu les acheter. I must give credit to your protestations, though you are not very sparing of them. It faut s'en rapporter a vos protestations , quoique vous n'en soyez pas chiche. You may jeer me, if you please; but nothing is more true than what I tell you. Vous avez beau me plaisanter, rien n'est plus certain que ee que je vous dis. Well, I am willing to believe you; but, tell me, have you received anything new? Allons, je veux bien vous croire; mais, dites-mio , avez-vous recu des nouveautes? None since I had the honour of seeing you; but we have received within these few days the bill of lading of several chests which we expect every hour. Aucune, depuis que j'ai eul'honneur de vous voir ; mais nous avons recu ces jours-ci le connoissement de plusieurs caisses que nous attendons incessamment. Do not fail to preserve me a copy of every thing you meet with that is interesting. N'oubliez pas de me reserver un exemplaire de tout ce qui pourra s'y trouver d'interessant. You may rely upon it I will not fail. Vous pouvez compter que je n'y manquerai pas. Have you found the edition of Buffon that I asked you for? Avez Õ vous trouve le Buffon que je vous ai demande? I have only been able to procure the octo-decimo edition, which is embellished with plates beautifully coloured. Je n'ai pu me procurer que l'edition in-dix-huit, qui est enrichie de figures superieurement enluminces. Show me some volumes. Montrez-m'en quelques volumes. They will bring you some immediately. On va vous en apporter sur-le-champ. The size pleases me much; but I would wish to have it bound. Le format me plait beaucoup ; mais je voudrois que l'ouvrage fut relie. You may have it in eight or ten days; what kind of binding do you wish? Vous pourrez l'avoir sous huit a dix jours : quell genre de reliure desirez-vous ? Show me some of your handsomest bound in calf and gilt. Montrez-moi quelques-unes de vos plus jolies reliures en veau dore. Here are the best we have at present. Voici ce que nous avons de mieux pour le moment. This pattern pleases me exceedingly; only I wish to have the edges marbled. Ce modele-ci me plait beaucoup; seulememnt je voundrois avoir les tranches marbrees. Nothing is more easy than to please you. Rien n'est plus aise que de vous satisfaire. When do you think you will publish your new catalogue? Quand comptez-vous publier votre nouveau catalogue? The last sheets are in the press, and will appear without fail towards the end of the month. Les dernieres feuilles sont sous la presse, et il paroilra au plus tard vers la fin du mois. Remember that I want a copy. Songez qu'il m'en faut un exemplaire. You shall be supplied one of the first. I dare flatter myself that you will see the most complete catalogue that has yet appeared. Vous serez servi un des premiers. J'ose me flatter que vous verrez le catalogue le plus complet qui ait encore paru. Have you Voltaire's works complete? Avez-vous les oeuvres completes de Voltaire? The most beautiful edition, in seventy volumes in octavo, in large vellum paper, with plates, beautifully bound. La plus belle edition, en soicante et dix volumes in- octavo, en grand papier velix , avec figures, et superbementrelies. I would likewise wish to have the Travels of young Anacharsis. Je voudrois aussi avoir le Voyage d' Anacharsis. We have only one copy left of the quarto edition, with the atlas in folio ; but it is only in boards. Il nous en reste un exemplaire de l'edition in-quarto, avec l'atlas in-folio ; mais il est seulement cartonne. I will take it : but you will get it bound for me in Russia. Have you Moliere in a small size? Je le prends : mais vous me le ferez relier en cuir de Russie. Avez-vous Moliere en petit format? We have the stereotype edition, on four different kinds of paper. Nous avons l'edition stereotype, sur quatre differens papiers. As it is a commission that a lady of my acquaintance has given me, I think I had better take the large vellum paper. Comme c'est une commission don't une dame de ma connoissance m'a charge, je crois que je ferai bien de prendre le grand papier velin. I just happen just to have a very pretty copy, bound in green morocco with gilt edges. J'en ai justement un tres-joli exemplaire , relie en maroquin vert , dore sur tranche. I will take it with me, but on condition that I may return it if it does not suit. Je vais le prendre avec moi, mais a condition que je vous le rendrai s'it ne convient pas. There will be no objection to that. Cela ne souffre aucune difficulte. Farewell ; but above all, take care that your binders are more diligent. Adieu : mais surtout que vos relieurs soient plus diligens.
BILLIONAIRE BOOK COLLECTORS
I keep seeing lists of billionaires in glossy magazines. I speculate about how many of these men (and they usually are men) collect books. Andrew Carnegie ('Man of Steel') who appears to have been worth today's equivalent of $100 billion gave away a large part of this fortune to build public libraries. But did he collect books? Alot of wealthy men endow libraries and colleges and may have a 100 yards of fine leather bindings but do not actually collect books or care very much for them. The only modern moguls I have heard of that collect books are Malcolm Forbes, Bill Gates, Fred Koch, Paul Getty and James Goldsmith. Hopefully there are a few more. Forbes ('who dies with the most books wins') was a collector of many things but books were a passion. Gates is apparently extremely well read and collects manuscripts (eg the Leonardo Codex.) In an interview he refers to Scott Fitzgeralds' lines at the end of 'The Great Gatsby' about the green light*--an apposite image for him. He is so keen on Fitzgerald that he is known in some circles as 'The Great Gatesby.' 'Tender is the Night' is his favourite. Good call.
Getty is, of course, a fabulous collector and photos of his temperature-controlled English Country house library can be found in a recent glossy book about celebs and their book collections (Keith Richards, Nicholas Barker and other intellos.). He is said to have bought the $7 million Caxton Chaucer incunable that was recently auctioned, possibly to go next to his Kelmscott Chaucer (vellum, 1 of 3 copies.) At one time he was a considerable buyer of Pre Raphaelite books and manuscripts, with a taste also for William Blake. Such books are now beyond the grasp of mere millionaires. Fred Koch (oil) was always mentioned in the salerooms when any Nineties highspot came up--Wilde letters, Dowson holograph poems etc.,. He was also, reputedly, a heavy collector of livres d'artistes, a category he may have tired of, as many of these appeared to come back to auction in the mid 1990s.
James Goldsmith was reported as having upwards of 50,000 books at his mansion near Acapulco. He collected, among other things, travel books. A fellow dealer reports that he unerringly chose the best books on any subject, not necessarily the most expensive. However, when, due to demands on his time he delegated his book buying, his men merely chose books that looked good.
My favourite wealthy collector is the late Maundy Gregory. He was not a billionaire but had in the 1920s what amounted to a licence to print money. He sold honours. For £10,000 (about $1 million now) he could get you an earldom; knighthoods were a bit cheaper. You could, in fact, sign a cheque to him in your expected new name--only cashable when you assumed the title. He liked rare books, especially the works of the fantastical Frederick Rolfe (Baron Corvo.) In some cases (according to AJA Symons in 'Quest for Corvo') he would pay his agents to track down supposedly unfindable books, money no object. In the case of one particularly difficult book his agents hunted down the original printer, long defunct, and found four mint copies in a cellar. One wonders how much money it would take to track down a copy of James Joyce's first book 'Et tu Healy' (no copies known) or 'Questions at the Well' (Ford Madox Ford under the name Fenil Haig--only copy known was in the British Museum but has been stolen.)
*"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter-tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther....And one fine morning - So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
Amazing Breakthrough in Silicon Valley.
The new Built-in Orderly Organized Knowledge device, otherwise known as the BOOK.
It's a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It's so easy to use even a child can operate it. Just lift its cover. Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere -- even sitting in an armchair by the fire -- yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disk.
Here's how it works: each BOOK is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of paper (recyclable), each capable of holding thousands of bits of information. These pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence. By using both sides of each sheet, manufacturers are able to cut costs in half.
Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain. A flick of the finger takes you to the next sheet. The BOOK may be taken up at any time and used by merely opening it. The "Browse" feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet, and move forward or backward as you wish. Most come with an "index" feature, which pinpoints the exact location of any selected information for instant retrieval.
An optional "BOOKmark" accessory allows you to open the BOOK to the exact place you left it in a previous session -- even if the BOOK has been closed. BOOKmarks fit universal design standards; thus a single BOOKmark can be used in BOOKs by various manufacturers.
Portable, durable and affordable, the BOOK is the entertainment wave of the future, and many new titles are expected soon, due to the surge in popularity of its programming tool, the Portable Erasable-Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Stylus.....
(Not sure where this came from--I think it was a benign spam that landed on my desk.) I've since found this is a kind of cyber-samizdat and is all over the web -- often in slightly different versions. This, of course, is the best bersion.
Shakespeare-DWM
There's a lot of talk about literature being dominated by dead white males. I was reminded of this recently reading Charles Lamb's 'Essays of Elia.' Lamb is excoriating one Malone:-
". . .he bribed the sexton of Stratford church to let him white-wash the painted effigy of old Shakespeare, which stood there, in rude but lively fashion depicted, to the very colour of the cheek, the eye, the hair, the eye-brow, hair, the very dress he used to wear-the only authentic testimony we had, however imperfect, of these curious parts and parcels of him. They covered him over with a coat of white paint. By- if I had been a justice of peace for Warwickshire, I would have clapt both commentator and sexton fast in the stocks, for a pair of meddling, sacrilegious varlets. I think I see them at their work-these sapient trouble-tombs."
I see them too and join with Lamb in blasting Malone and the venal sexton.
Further Startling Results From A Search Engine
There are consortiums of bookdealers on the Web who have systems allowing the collector to search through catalogues using key words.
They are considerate enough to have a file available of the number of searches made on key words (authors, titles, etc.). It gives an insight into the online book collector. There were some zany requests (do people really collect books on nesting dolls?) but these collectors are a serious, well-mannered group.
There is little interest in antiquarian books; they are primarily a 20th century crowd. Johnson, Byron, Dickens and Trollope hardly get a look in. There is a tendency towards science fiction, horror, cult and the ubiquitous 'hypermoderns.' The Roycrofters & Prairie Press attract noticeable interest, as does the town of Nantucket for some reason. There is naturally a strong U.S bias.
A caveat. Results can be 'contaminated,' e.g. if one collector searches daily for his favourite author or if a dealer has a single author collection that is frequently accessed. There is also a discernible emphasis among the dealers on speculative fiction (and undoubtedly among internet users at the moment).
Results were surprising often because of the authors who failed to get a significant showing. Christie, Wodehouse, Fleming-the triumvirate of collectible Brits have a very low profile and do not make my lists. Ezra Pound & T.S. Eliot are left 'fighting in the captain's tower' while Hemingway and Fitzgerald are also not on the cyber guest list. Churchill gets there, but mainly through a person or persons unknown searching for 'The World Crisis'-most likely the elusive volume six. I was unfamiliar with Peter Rabe who was 'bubbling under' with 10 searches (possibly all from the same rabid collector).
Findings are thus somewhat conjectural, but a definite tendency is discernible. See for yourself. I've divided the authors into 3 groups:
Very High
Lewis Carroll, Winston Churchill, Howard Fast, Stephen King, Anne Rice, Jack Vance.High
Baum, Doyle, Hiaasen, Heinlein, John McPhee, AA Milne, Tolkien, Ayn Rand, Vita Sackville-West, Susanna Moore, Jules Verne.Significant
E.R. Burroughs, Brautigan, Bukowski, Castaneda, Umberto Eco, James Joyce, Allen Ginsberg, Dick Francis, Graham Greene, Robinson Jeffers, Heinrich Harrer, Harper Lee, H.P. Lovecraft, Michener, Ellis Peters, Thomas Pynchon, Walker Percy, Arthur Rackham, Doc Savage (Lester Dent), Andre Norton, Hunter Thompson, Ralph Steadman, William T. Vollman.Things will change as more data comes in-hierarchies will shift and freak results ('sports' is the scientific word) will manifest themselves. Dealers who stock all of the above are on the right track in cyberspace. This is a mixed bunch. Churchill & Anne Rice are strange bedfellows and I'm not sure whether Jeffers would have invited Doc Savage for tea at his tower in old Carmel.
International BooktownsThe world's first 'booktown' was Hay-on-Wye (Hereford, English-welsh Border). It was established by an eccentric semi-genius by the name of Richard Booth in 1961. If booktowns existed in former centuries, I'd like to hear about them.
Sometimes referred to as a 'graveyard for books' or as 'way on High' Booth's enterprise has flourished and it is an amusing place to visit now and then. There are a tremendous amount of slightly overpriced 'dogs' (very common books) on its shelves, but an occasional gem can be found and some great libraries have ended up there. Booth is the only dealer I have heard of to have bought a royal library, albeit European royalty.
There are now a number of booktowns in this world. Here is as complete a list as I was able to obtain:--
Montolieu, Aude, FRANCE
Fontanoy-la-Joute, FRANCE
Bredevoort, NETHERLANDS
Redu, BELGIUM (established 1984)
St. Pierre de Clarges, SWITZERLAND
Fjaerland, NORWAY
Three Pistols, CANADA
Kampung, MALAYSIA
Archer City, Texas, USA
Stillwater, Minnesota, USA
Miyagawa, JAPAN
Kembuchi, JAPAN
P'Aju, KOREA
Walstadt-Wundsdorf, GERMANYThere are plans for booktowns in Israel, Finland, Denmark and Scotland. (Wigtown, now open and thriving.)
Stillwater & Archer City although at present only sporting a few bookshops have decided to call themselves booktowns. That is really what makes a booktown--the decision to proclaim itself as such. Some towns, like Ann Arbor, have many bookshops but are not called booktowns.
Essentially there should be little else going on except the selling of old books. Hay has become a major tourist attraction, with many other shops; it may be making the unfortunate transition to 'Heritage' town.
Richard Booth has a web site about 'The International Booktown Movement' where he offers 'tailor-made packages ... which have lead to the speedy success of a starting booktown or bookshop.' He also offers a 'booktown consultancy service'. I guess if you are looking for advice on booktowns, you could do no better than to talk to the King of Hay. After all, giving advice is a bookseller's favourite pastime.
My advice? Go there once in every lifetime. If the books are a bore the surrounding countryside is adequate compensation.
A Blind Road MakerIn the 19th century there was a spate of books about eccentric characters, oddballs and cranks. From a small book, "The Book of Oddities" by William Andrews, 1882, I have extracted this biography of a great character, "Blind Jack of Knaresborough" (John Metcalf).
… He was born on the 15th. August, 1717, at Knaresborough, Yorkshire. At the age of six years he lost his sight by smallpox, and six months after his recovery he was able to go from his home to the end of the street, and return without the aid of company. At about the age of nine years he joined the other boys in their bird nesting exploits, he seeking nests and climbing trees to share the plunder . When he had reached thirteen summers he was taught music, and soon became a proficient performer; he also learned to read, swim, and was passionately fond of field sports. At the age of manhood it is said his mind possessed a self-dependence rarely enjoyed by those who heave the perfect use of their faculties; his body was well proportioned to his mind, for, when twenty-one years of age, he was six feet one-and-a-half inches in height strong and robust in proportion.
We may mention that one day Metcalf being wishful to obtain a little fish, he without aid drew a net measuring 80 yards in length in the deepest part of the river Wharfe for three hours together. At one time he held the lines in his mouth, being obliged to swim.
Respecting the river Wharfe and old Yorkshire couplet tells us that the
Wharfe is clear, and the Aire lithe,
Where the Aire drowns one, Wharfe drowns five.At the age of twenty-five he was engaged as a musician at Harrogate. About this time he was frequently employed during the dark nights as a guide over the moors and wilds, then abundant in the neighbourhood of Knaresborough. He was a lover of horse-racing, and often rode his own steeds at the races. His horses he so trained that when he called them by their respective names they came to him, so he was able to find his own amongst any number, and without trouble. Particulars of the marriage of this individual read like a romance. A Miss Benson, daughter of an innkeeper, reciprocated the affections of our hero; however, the suitor did not please the parents of the fair lady, and they selected a Mr. Dickinson for her future husband. Metcalf hearing that the object of his affection was to be married to next day to the young man favoured by her father, he hastened to free her, and induce to damsel to eloped with him. Next day they were made man and wife, to the great surprise of all who know them, and to the disappointment of the intended son-in-law. To all it was a matter of wonder how so handsome a woman, the pride of the place, could link her future with "Blind Jack," reject many good offers, and accept him. The bride set the matter at rest by saying: "His actions are so singular, and his spirit so manly and enterprising, that I could not help liking him."
At Harrogate he continued to give his musical performances in the season; he, at the place, for public accommodation, set up a four-wheel chaise and a one-horse chaise. It is worthy of note, he was the first to establish these for visitors. For two seasons he kept his carriages, but the innkeepers commencing to run vehicles he gave them up, as he also did racing and hunting. He next bought horses, and went to the coast for fish, which he took to Leeds and Manchester. We are told he was so indefatigable that he would frequently walk for two nights and a day with little or no rest; for, as a family was coming on , he was as eager for business as had been for diversion, still keeping up his spirits as the Giver of Goodness blessed him with good health.
Next we find, when the rebellion of 1745 broke out in Scotland, "Blind Jack" joined a regiment of volunteers, raised by Colonel Thomas Thornton, an patriotic gentleman, for the defence of the House of Hanover, shared with them all the danger of the campaign, defeated at Falkirk, victorious at Culloden. It is said Jack afterwards carried on a small contraband trade, between the ports on the east coast and the interior, as well as in galloways from Scotland, in which he met with many strange adventures. He was the first to set up (in 1754) a stage waggon between York and Knaresborough; this he conducted himself twice a week in summer and once a week in winter. This employment he continued until he commence to contract for making rods. His first contract was for making three miles of road between Minskep and Ferrensby. After this he constructed hundred of miles of road in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire; bridges and houses he also erected. He was a dealer in timber and hay which he measured, and calculated the solid contents, by a peculiar method of his own. The hay he always measured with his arms, and having learnt the height he could soon tell the number of cubic yards in any stack. When he went out he always carried with him a stout staff, some inches taller than himself, which was of great service both in his travel and measurements.
In the "Memoirs of the literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester," vol. I., Metcalf is referred to as follows:--His present occupation is that of a projector and surveyor of highways, in difficult and mountainous parts. With the assistance only of a long staff, I have several time met these man, traversing the roads, ascending precipices, exploring valleys, and investigating their several extents, forms, and situations, so as to answer his designs in the best manner. The plans which he designed, and the estimates which he makes, are done in a method peculiar to himself, and which he cannot well convey the meaning of to others. His abilities in this respect are nevertheless so great that he find constant employment. Most of the roads over the Peak, in Derbyshire, have been altered by his directions, particularly those in the vicinity of Buxton; and he is at this time constructing a new one between Wilmslow and Congleton, with a view to open a communication with the great London-road without being obliged to pass over the mountain."
In 1792 he left Lancashire, and settled at Spofforth, a pleasant rural village not far distant form the town of his nativity, where he resided with a daughter on a small farm until he died. At the cost of Lord Dundas a headstone was placed to his memory in Spofforth churchyard. It bears the following interesting inscription, giving a summary of his life and character:--
Here lies John Metcalf, one whose infant sight
Felt the dark pressure of and endless night;
Yet such was the fervour of his dauntless mind,
His limbed full strung, his spirit unconfined,
That, long ere yet life's' bolder years began,
The sightless efforts marked the' aspiring man;
Nor marked in vain--high deeds his manhood dared,
And commerce, travel, both his ardour shared,
'Twas his guide's unerring aid to lend--
O'er trackless wasted to bid new roads extend;
And, when rebellion reared her giant size,
'Twas his to burn with patriotic enterprise;
For parting wife and babes, a pang to feel,
Then welcome danger for his country's weal.
Reader, like him, exert thy utmost talent given!
Reader. like him, adore the bounteous hand of heaven.He died on the 26th of April, 1801, in the 93rd year of his age.
We may add, his wife died in the summer of 1778, after 39 years of conjugal felicity, in the 61st year of her age, and was interred at Stockport.
Blind Jack at present is almost unindexed on the web. However, the worthy Gutenberg Project mentions him in an old book on gaming that they have generously placed on their site. It is rather a gruesome gambling story where Blind Jack outruns a man on a horse. Some of his roads are still in use....
~Nigel Burwood