Odd Volumes, Association Copies, and Other Interesting Items In My Samuel Johnson Collection

. . . Every man is, or hopes to be an Idler.  Even those who seem to differ most from us are hastening to increase our fraternity; as peace is the end of war, so to be idle is the ultimate purpose of the busy. . . .  The Idler, though sluggish, is yet alive, and may sometimes be stimulated to vigour and activity.  He may descend into profoundness, or tower into sublimity; for the diligence of an Idler is rapid and impetuous, as ponderous bodies forced into velocity move with violence proportionate to their weight . . . .

I read these words for the first time almost twenty-seven years ago in an antique store in England.  I  had picked up an odd volume of the Works of Samuel Johnson that was laying on top of a bookcase.  The words are from The Idler, the very first number, dated Saturday, April 15, 1758.  Little did I know when I first started reading this book,  that I would want more books by and about Samuel Johnson.  And more.  And more . . .

My first copy of Johnson's Dictionary, an 1874 Routledge edition, cost me a whopping 60p!  It was formerly owned by a Hilda Watts.  She signed her name three times on the front endpapers of the book, and once upside down on the rear free endpaper.

I've paid a bit more for my other editions of Johnson's Dictionary, including an odd volume of the 1770 fourth abridged edition, which has an interesting bookseller's ticket pasted on the front pastedown:

This is the bookseller's ticket of John Dunlap, the printer of the Declaration of Independence.  He had a bookstore on Market Store in Philadelphia.

Although remembered mostly as an early supporter of cricket, the original owner of my copies of Johnson's Poets, the Third Duke of Dorset, John Frederick Sackville (1745-1799), was the English ambassador to France prior to the French Revolution.  He was instrumental in communicating with the likes of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin which lead to trade treaties  between the United States and England.  Sackville's volumes of Johnson's Poets were most likely on the book shelves in Knole House, the residence of the Sackvilles where years later, Virginia Woolf wrote her famous novel about the Sackvilles:  Orlando.  I bought Sackville's books in Hey-on-Wye in the late 1980s.  His bookstamp, the size of a dime, took me years to identify:

If my library is any indication, the English clergy had a liking for Samuel Johnson.  Fitzherbert Macdonald (?-1897), the Registrar for the diocese of Salisbury, had three choice first editions by or about Johnson and his travels in Scotland.   Here is Macdonald's bookplate:

In December, 1917, the author and statesman, Augustine Birrell (1850-1933), presented a copy of Aphorisms on Authors and Their Ways to his Diocesan at Norwich, Henry Charles Beeching (1859-1919):

The complete title of Birrell's book, a rather lengthy one, is Aphorisms on Authors and Their Ways; With Some General Observations on the Humours, Habits, and Methods of Composition of Poets –– Good, Bad, and Indifferent    
Diligently Collected from Johnson's "Lives"


And then there is G.B. Hill's book, Footsteps of Dr Johnson (Scotland) which was formerly owned by Arthur Roland Maddison (1843-1912), priest-vicar of Lincoln Cathedral:

Speaking of G.B. Hill (1835-1903), I still haven't identified the American recipient of G.B. Hill's letter, dated June 1, 1893, that was inside the first volume of G.B. Hill's edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson.  And I believe the Cowan clue mentioned in my research was a wild goose chase.  The bookseller's ticket of the Chicago bookseller Jerrold Nedwick (1895(?)-1966) was pasted on the first volume, and the set may have remained in Jerrold's stock until after his death.  The set may have been part of the 60,000 books the University of Louisville bought in 1966 from his estate.  I credit Donald C. Dickinson for providing the information about the sale of Jerrold's stock in his book, Dictionary of Antiquarian Bookdealers, Westport, 1988, a book I want to acquire for reference purposes one of these days.

And now for a rant!   I have an offprint from The Age of Johnson A Scholarly Annual published by the AMS Press.  It is an article about Johnson and Hill that the G.B. Hill scholar Catherine Dille  sent me.   The title of her piece is  "Johnson, Hill, And The Good Old Cause:  Liberal Interpretation In The Editions of George Birkbeck Hill." An excellent article and one I did not have access to online via my KB Library Pass.  In fact, very few of the articles published in this periodical can be viewed online. As for buying the periodical, would you agree that $182.50 for each issue of this periodical is ridiculous?  An inexpensive periodical on Johnson, and one I recommend –– only $12 a year for two issues –– is The Johnsonian News Letter.

I particularly enjoy acquiring copies of Johnsoniana that were formerly owned by Johnsonian scholars and notable Samuel Johnson collectors.  When I hold a book they formerly owned, I feel I am sharing in their enjoyment.

I have more than a few books of Johnsoniana formerly owned by Mary Hyde  –– more than enough to warrant a separate posting of my Mary Hyde Collection at a future date.

I have two books formerly owned by Allen T. Hazen (1904-1977), who collaborated with R.W. Chapman (1881-1960) in writing the supplement to Courtney's Bibliography of Samuel Johnson.   Hazen received a copy of Philosophic Words:  A Study of Style and Meaning in the Rambler and Dictionary of Samuel Johnson from its author, W.K. Wimsatt, Jr. (1907-1975), along with a scholarly letter  from Wimsatt, well worth reading that identifies some of the anonymous quotations in Johnson's Dictionary.  Hazen's other book is a presentation copy from Charles H. Bennett (1906-1957),  one of the co-authors of a 1936 edition of Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, "now first published from the original manuscript."

Do authors enjoy reading about themselves?  Are the books they authored personal keepsakes?  William K. Wimsatt, mentioned in the previous paragraph, is one of the authors of Boswell for the Defence 1769-1774.  He had a copy of his own book sent to himself straight from the publisher.  He inserted the shipping slip and complimentary card from "the authors" inside the front of the book:

He also inserted a review of the book from The Times Library Supplement:

And a Christmas card from Donald and Mary Hyde:

In May 2011, I acquired two books from the library of the Johnsonian, Gwin J. Kolb (1919-2006).  Now the only mark of provenance in these two books is Kolb's signature, but I feel closer to him than I do to Wimsatt, probably because I am more familiar with Kolb.  Over ten years ago, I acquired a copy of the pamphlet, The Reynolds Copy of Johnson's Dictionary by Gwin J. Kolb and James H. Sledd, a reprint from the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library.   It is an outstanding article –– read my review –– I enjoyed it so much that I soon acquired a copy of their book, Dr. Johnson's Dictionary:  Essays in the Biography of a Book, Chicago, 1955.   Fast forward now to January 2009.  I had received a review copy of Brian A. Garner's book, Garner on Language and Writing, the month before, read it, reviewed it, and  lambasted the author for his review of the book Gwin J. Kolb co-edited with Robert Demaria, Jr., Johnson on the English Language.  Garner titled his nasty review, "Harmless Drudgery?"

I have no idea who its former owner is because she left no marks of provenance in her copy of Boswell's London Journal 1762-1763.  But she did leave three newspaper articles about Boswell from the 1950s:

And finally, no collection is complete –– in fact, no collection should even begin without a bibliography.  I have two bibliographies of Samuel Johnson:

I have only turned a few pages, so to speak.  So feel free to browse my Samuel Johnson Collection at your leisure.  Queries are welcome.  And comments are appreciated!

The Words of the Wise: My Periodical Collection

On my desk is a copy of Times and Tendencies, Boston and New York, 1931, a volume of essays by Agnes Repplier (1855-1950).  It was formerly owned by the bibliophile Gabriel Austin.  At one time, it was formerly owned by George Woodward Wickersham, President Taft's Attorney General, and the book contains Wickersham's bookplate.  Pasted over the top of his bookplate is the bookplate of St. Charles Seminary, Carthegena, Ohio, which contains part of a verse from Eccles.  XIII, 11:  "Verba Sapientium Sicut Stimuli," meaning "The words of the wise are like goads."

Agnes Repplier made her living as an essayist writing for periodicals.  This book includes seven essays which were published in the Atlantic Monthly, two that were published in the Forum, one that was published in the Yale Review, and another that was published in the Commonweal.  "The Pleasure of Possession" is the one from the Commonweal, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I'm not going to tell you what this essay is about; but I am going to let you read part of it.    And then I'm going to have the pleasure of displaying some of the many periodicals in my possession.


The oldest periodical in my possession is also the oldest book in my library.  It was published from January 1700 to December 1700, and contains reviews of books recently published in Europe:

The review of the first book caught my attention –– mind you, this was published in 1700.  The title was Experiments of Wind:  Hypotheses of the Earth's Motion:  The Phenomena of the Trade-Winds, Tides, Currents, Solv'd:  A Perpetual Motion Intimated:  Observations of the Weather, Winds, Loadflow, Magnetic Variations, and a Water-Screw by Edward Harrison, Gent.

My copy of The History of the Works of the Learned was formerly owned by Edward Gallaway (1869-1930) and contains his bookplate:

Edward Gallaway was a typographer who wrote several books on printing in the early 1900s.  A copy of Erdnase, The Expert at the Card Table, containing Gallaway's bookplate was in the Magic Collection of Jay Marshall.

Another periodical in my library which provided reviews is The Librarian:

The complete title is The Librarian, Being an Account of Scarce, Valuable, and Useful English Books, Manuscript Libraries, Public Records, &c.&c.  Savage published this work monthly from July 1808 to January 1810.  He included a list of books published for the month, but what he reviewed were the contents of the British Museum and other libraries in England.

Now I'm not much for recommending e-books, but I've already downloaded James Savage's book, Memorabilia, or, Recollections, Historical, Biographical, and Antiquarian, first published in 1820,, and which contains "Dr. Johnson's Conversation with the Late King."

Speaking of Samuel Johnson, I would be remiss if I did not display my copy of the 1738 edition of The Gentleman's Magazine which contains his first contributions to this periodical:

Here's a shelf of periodicals from bibliographical societies and from monthly and quarterly reviews.

Yes. Most of my periodicals pertain to books and book collecting.  The first American book on book collecting wasn't published until 1861:

I have the complete run in two volumes from December 1861 to December 1863.  I also have an extra copy of Vol II.  The complete title is The Philobiblion:  a Monthly Bibliographical Journal Containing Critical Notes of, and Extracts from Rare, Curious and Valuable Old Books.  I suspect that the Civil War affected the periodical's circulation; but I alƒo wonder if the publiƒher's uƒe of the long S had ƒomething to do with it'ƒ demiƒe.

Here are some more displays of book-related periodicals, and in no particular order:

And more:

Paul Leicester Ford was the editor of the above short-lived periodical; he was murdered by his brother.

Here's 60 issues of The Collector:  A Monthly Journal Devoted to Autographs, the subtitle later changed to A Magazine for Autograph and Historical Collectors.

Here's a periodical containing the Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress.

Notice the difference in bindings?

Not all my periodicals are related to books.  Some are related specifically to Shakespeare:

One issue of a periodical is devoted to a topic of vital importance:

How high is your manure pile?

Now why would I have an issue of this periodical?  Three of my four children were born on this base in Illinois, now called Scott Air Force Base.

When I first started collecting periodicals, I wanted to collect only early issues of periodicals.  I soon realized there were just too many periodicals in the world for me.  Here are more of them.  

Early issues of English Periodicals:

Early issues of American periodicals:

And here are some more periodicals stored in baskets underneath my library table:

I also have books about periodicals in my periodical collection. You can view them and all my periodicals in my Periodical Collection on Library Thing.  Enjoy!

Biblio Researching, Biblio-Connecting and Biblio Reviewing

This month I will post a thread from my Biblio Researching blog, and a thread from my Biblio-Connecting blog.  And I will provide a review of My Sentimental Library blog posts for the year.

From my Biblio Researching blog:
Researching the Value of Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare

From my Biblio-Connecting blog:
Biblio-Connecting: Dec 2011

From My Sentimental Library blog:

Jan:  Always Be On Time

My goal was to post at least one blog entry per month.   In two months I posted two        entries to this blog.  And in two months I posted two entries from my other blogs.

Jan:  Arthur Schlesinger's Bookplate:The Whole Picture

How I discovered the source document for Schlesinger's bookplate

Feb:  Changing Bookplates: Multiple Bookplates of Famous People

Inputs from the bookplate maven Lew Jaffe, the book collector Mark Samuels Lasner, and the scholar Linde Brocato.

Mar:  Two Hurt Books And Their Former Owners

Two books formerly owned by two New Yorkers: Paul Leicester Ford and Daniel Van Pelt.

Mar:  Maureen E. Mulvihill List of Online Work

The online works of the  guest hostess, the Irish-American Scholar Maureen E. Mulvihill.

Apr:  My William Targ Collection

Targ was a bookseller, author, editor, publisher, and book collector.  A true bibliophile.

May:  My Many Lives of Samuel Johnson

Grab a chair.  I have a lot of biographies of Samuel Johnson.

Jun:  Ten Books From Texas and Two Reminiscences

My first visit to Larry McMurtry's town of books in Archer City, Texas

Jul:   Blog Posts From Two of My Other Blogs

The first post is from my Biblio Researching blog and documents my somewhat fumbling research of a Greek classic.  The second post is a running diary of my life in the book world.  An abbreviated version was published in the October issue of The Caxtonian.

Aug:  Grand Moments

All about grandchildren, mine and those belonging to bibliophiles in my library.

Sep: My Autograph Letter Collection

Another part of My Sentimental Library Collection.  I strive to have copies of books by and about authors I collect, books they formerly owned,  bookplates if they had them, catalogues of their libraries, and autograph letters either to or from them.

Oct: In And About Foley

A post about an American bibliographer.

Nov:J.O. Halliwell-Phillipps, Bibliophile

My review of The Shakespeare Thefts perked my interest in Halliwell-Phillipps.

Dec:

Scroll back up to the top amigo!

Yes. 2011 has been a very good year for reading, researching, collecting, and posting about books. May 2012 be an even better year!

Wishing all of you a Happy and Healthy New Year!
Jerry

J.O. Halliwell-Phillipps, Bibliophile

James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-1889) is one of the bibliophiles in my library. He was one of the leading Shakespeare authorities for over forty years.  I have copies of books and periodicals which contain articles by or about him, a book he presented to a well-known American author, and also a book he formerly owned.  Recently, when a certain modern Shakespeare scholar implied in his book that Halliwell-Phillipps may have stolen a Shakespeare First Folio belonging to Sir Thomas Phillipps, I felt the need to defend him.  Here is my review of The Shakespeare Thefts by Eric Rasmussen, New York, 2011

J.O. Halliwell-Phillipps is well represented in my library.  Here is the book he formerly owned:

The Victorian Publisher Joseph Cundall edited this book and presented a copy to Halliwell-Phillipps.  This book was bequeathed to Halliwell-Phillipps's nephew and Executor, Ernest E. Baker, January, 1889.  I bought it online several years ago.

I bought the following book online from Krown & Spellman, booksellers from Culver City, Ca.:

Halliwell-Phillipps gave this copy to the American author James Russell Lowell when Lowell was our ambassador to England.  At that time, ambassadors were called ministers.

This is the fact sheet that Krown & Spellman inserted in the book:

Halliwell-Phillips was a founding member of the Shakespeare Society in England.  I have the first volume of the Society's papers:

Halliwell-Phillipps was the author of three of the first twenty-five papers of the Society:

I will mention that this copy was formerly owned by the late Jerry D. Melton, book collector and drama instructor, who was elected Best Teacher in a Supporting Role.  His daughter Mary Melton is the Editor-in-Chief of Los Angeles Magazine:

One of the books the Shakespeare Society published was Patient Grissil, reprinted from the black-letter edition of 1603.  Jerry D. Melton was the former owner of this book as well:

In 1874, the New Shakspere Society headed by Frederick James Furnivall published a reprint of the First Quarto edition of Romeo and Juliet.  It was printed "directly from the facsimile prepared by Mr. E.W. Ashbee, under the direction of Mr. J.O. Halliwell-Phillipps."  To put it mildly, Furnivall and Halliwell-Phillipps didn't exactly see eye to eye, and Halliwell-Phillipps was not much involved with this Society.

Halliwell-Phillipps was known for publishing extremely limited editions of his books.  Some say he would publish two copies, keep one for his library, and throw the other one away.  Only 150 copies of his monumental Folio Edition of Shakespeare were privately printed between 1853 and 1865.  I have a later reprint of the Comedies:

Visitors were always welcome at Hollinbury Copse, the residence of Halliwell-Phillipps.  One of them was an English Professor from Central High School in Philadelphia, the high school A.S.W. Rosenbach attended.   The professor gave a talk about The Halliwell-Phillipps Collection before the Pennsylvania Library Club in 1895.

 By the way, it took me over two hours to find this book:

Here it is on the shelf.  It is the furthest book to the left –– the one that blends in with the woodwork:

Halliwell-Phillipps was well known in New York as well.  I have a number of early issues of Shakespeariana, the official periodical of the Shakespeare Society of New York and he is mentioned in a number of issues.  The July 1884 issue contains a report of one member's visit to Hollingbury Copse:

In the October 1888 issue, Halliwell-Phillips answers the following question:

HOW DID YOU BECOME A SHAKESPEARE STUDENT?

In answer to the leading question, "How did you become a Shakespeare student?" the accompanying letters have been received. This question is not a matter of idle gossip. Its interest turns upon that characteristic quality belonging only to genius, and above all to the genius of Shakespeare —the call it makes upon the life-long devotion of the various minds it especially attracts. Its natural election of its peculiar lovers is mysterious, the destined ways of its strong mort-main past the finding out of the idly curious. The workings of its fascinating influence under different conditions are implied rather than expressed in the autobiographic replies the question has called forth. It is with no idea of adding to the stock of more and less impertinent personal talk in which it is the fashion to indulge, that these letters are recorded here, but rather to give place to a body of experiential evidence carrying with it a significant witness and tribute to the lovable greatness of Shakespeare.

MR. J. O. HALLIWELL-PHILLIPPS'S LETTER.

"To the best of my recollection Shakespeare fascinated me in very early life chiefly if not entirely by the unrivalled melody of his versification, and even now, so far as the effect in mere reading is concerned, my temperament is more distinctly affected by that melody than by the grander results of his genius. It was not until I had witnessed the exquisite impersonations of Miss Helen Faucit that I had the least appreciation of his dramatic art. They have dwelt in my memory ever since, witnesses in themselves sufficient for the conviction that no satisfactory high general criticism on his dramas is possible without the assistance of stage interpretation. Then, having a great fancy for record research, I have devoted the larger portion of forty years, 1847 to 1887, to the evidential study of the poet's biography. And this is all that is in my power to say in reply to your enquiry. Believe me.

Yours faithfully,
J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps."

Halliwell-Phillipps was even popular with the Bacon Society.  They referred to a number of his works to "prove" that Francis Bacon wrote the works of Shakespeare:

Halliwell-Phillips is cited more than seven times in the following index.  And mind you, this is only Volume I.

I love the informative note about the Bacon-Shakespeare controversy which is in brackets above the index.  If you didn't see it, you need to click on the above image and take another peek!

One of the Bacon sympathizers managed to get in print in a London newpaper that Halliwell-Phillipps was supportive of the efforts of the Bacon Society.  The article was reprinted in Shakespeariana, which drew the following reply from Halliwell-Phillipps:

A DISCLAIMER OF BACONIAN INTEREST.

In reference to a letter of mine which you quote from a London newspaper in your last number [Miscellany of November, 1887], will you kindly allow me to state that the expression which it includes of an interest in the Bacon-Shakespeare business is a facetious interpolation for which I am not responsible. I have never taken the faintest interest in the subject, and having said so much to several American correspondents, naturally do not like to be exposed to the risk of their considering me a stupidly inconsistent old party.

        J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps.
        Brighton, England, Nov. 30, 1887.





In the January 1889 issue of Shakespeariana, the Shakespeare Society of New York mentioned an addition to Halliwell-Phillipps's Shakespeare Collection the title of which is all the more eerie because J.O. Halliwell-Phillipps died on Jan. 3, 1889.  The Society was able to literally stop the press and add the following editorial:

"Halliwell-Phillips is dead! We yesterday sent to press the last pages of this issue, adding at the last moment the brief item below, as to a new addition to his great collection at Hollinbury Copse. Twenty-four hours later the telegram reaches us.

To speak of the close of such a life, requires more than the impulse of a moment. To speak fittingly of it, who will dare? Later we shall try to dwell on his noble manliness, his inexhaustible patience, his magnificent hospitality, his large, unfailing friendliness—which, even more than his achievements in the great field of history he had made his own, and to which he gave life, time, fortune, and strength—crowd upon us. Just now we can only bend to the blow.

  He dies in harness. In a letter to The New York Shakespeare Society, which honored itself by electing him its first honorary member, he spoke of the weight of advancing years and the constant interruption it brought to his studies. But never a word of relinquishing them; and readers of will remember the simple modesty with which, in our issue of October last, he alluded to his immense labors, covering almost half a century, as a simple matter of tendency and of taste! and as still in progress.

If his friends should be asked to say what was Mr. Halliwell-Phillips' most prevailing characteristic, we think they would say it was the courtly and tender and charming words with which he would welcome a newcomer into the great preserves where he himself has so long and fondly labored. He was as far above, was as incapable of, resenting the arrival of a new investigator as an intruder and an enemy, as he was of defending himself when attacked by those very newcomers—to whom he alone had given a place to stand and work to do!
Learned, brave, genial, modest, patient; his countrymen and lovers on two sides of the ocean will do him princely honor. But the highest encomium they will ever pronounce upon him will be that, in the midst of that small bickering, jealousy, criticism, counter-criticism, criticastering, and ungentleness, which unhappily have been too prominent among the disciples of the gentle Shakespeare, he has never cherished an unkind thought or said an unkind or an ungentle word!

What was the item that J.O. Halliwell Phillipps added to his collection?

Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps announces that he has added to his collection of Shakespeare Rarities at Hollinbury Copse, a copy of the printed original music to " Farewell, Dear Heart, since I must needs begone," quoted by the Clown, Twelfth Night, and a MS. book of travels of the last century containing the earliest known account of the interior of the room understood to have been that in which Shakespeare was born, in the Henley Street cottage.