Rare Book Monthly
Articles - December - 2003 Issue
117 Years in the Dismantling:<br>The End of Perhaps the Greatest Collection Ever
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Anyone who collects books (or anything else for that matter) passionately will sympathize with Sir Thomas Phillipps. After all, he was driven by the same forces that drive all collectors. The difference is that while most collectors can exercise some control over these passions, Phillipps was consumed by them. His life was devoted to amassing paper. While a man of means, he was constantly in debt, which only served to strain his personal relationships. His family was, to put it mildly, inconvenienced by the boxes of paper that eventually made it very difficult just to move about the house. But Phillipps was a man possessed, and nothing until his death in 1872 was able to stop him.
If Phillipps was an eccentric, if not downright loony man, his madness did leave a gift for contemporary and future generations. While his book collection is not that highly regarded, his collection of manuscripts may have been the greatest ever. During his lifetime, Sir Thomas readily made his collection available to scholars. Even more important is that Phillips saved many of these one of a kind documents from the paper merchants, the recyclers of their day. Many manuscripts scattered in diverse collections around the world today would not continue to exist were it not for this man’s obsessive desire to preserve every piece of paper in the world. That is his legacy.
The apparent final disposition of the Phillipps boxes took place in London on December 2, 2003. There were many other Phillipps items sold at this auction, but this was the last lot to be sold just as Phillipps left it. It went for £2,160, including buyer’s premium. Perhaps the new owner will finally sort through these last three boxes, or maybe he or she too will be overwhelmed by the task and these boxes will come around for sale once again. If this is finally the end, it will bring a conclusion to a remarkable collection by a most unusual man.
For those interested in learning more about Phillipps, a five-volume set was produced by A.N.L. Munby in 1967. However, a much briefer description taken from this set is available online at www.maggs.com/onlycollect/munby.html.
