Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - June - 2011 Issue

Bibliography, Bookbinding and Reference from Forest Books

Books for bibliophiles from Forest Books.

Books for bibliophiles from Forest Books.

Forest Books has published their Catalogue 110. Bibliography, Bookbinding & Reference. This may seem like a niche field, but there are over 600 titles available. While Forest Books is located in England, the selection knows no boundaries. It is international in nature. Among the items offered are numerous catalogues of great collections, some a bibliographical accounting, others prepared for the auctions which dispersed them. What individuals once possessed in their personal libraries, before so much material was scooped up by institutions, is astounding today. Here is a look at some of the material Forest Books is offering for sale.

 

You may not recognize the individual in the photograph on the cover of this catalogue, but he is perhaps the greatest collector ever. He collected, quite literally, everything. While his book collection was extensive, he is even better known for his manuscript and ephemeral material. Much of it was one of a kind, and he quite literally saved an enormous body of work from extinction. He attempted to obtain a copy of everything, and if no one could ever quite succeed at that, he came closest among private collectors. His library filled not just his shelves, but every room in his house, to the ceiling, leaving little more than alleyways to move around. Indeed, it is odd to see him depicted in such a clean space, just two books and a table, with empty walls and floor space. This could only be Sir Thomas Phillipps, and he is shown here in 1860 at the age of 68. In his hand is a 10th century Horace text, now at Harvard University, while on the table is a 13th century Gospels in Armenian. He had just purchased the manuscripts at the sale of the library of Rev. John Mitford. Item 319. Priced at £695 (British pounds, or approximately $1,129 U.S. dollars).

 

Speaking of the obsessive collector, item 403 is Phillipps' copy of Straker's Catalogue of a Collection or Oriental Manuscripts, Etc., Etc. William Straker's catalogue was published in 1836, and Phillipps' notations in the copy displays his need to possess everything. He has marked those items he wished to purchase, over 80% of 497 items listed. It came to a total of just over £1,250, an enormous sum of money in those days, particularly for someone like Phillipps who while of significant means, was not a man of great wealth. £225 (US $365).

 

Item 282 is a catalogue dispersing much of the library of one of the greatest names in the book trade, William Morris of the Kelmscott Press. The title is Catalogue of a Portion of the Valuable Library of Manuscripts, Early Printed Books, &c. of the Late William Morris, of Kelmscott House, Hammersmith. It was published for the 1898 auction of many of the books held by Morris. However, the auction was not conducted by the estate of Morris, who died in 1896. It was held by the eccentric collector Richard Bennett, who had earlier purchased the bulk of Morris' library. Bennett kept what he wanted, then auctioned off the rest. Bennett was in a buying mood at this time, but he had his oddities, such as not wanting any books over 13 inches in size. So those larger folios in Morris' collection were sent out for sale. Two years later, Bennett sold his collection to J. Pierpont Morgan, with the result that this portion of Morris' collection is with the Morgan Library today. Henry Wellcome was the largest buyer at the sale described by this catalogue, so that much of this material is in the Wellcome Institute Library now. £295 (US $479).

 

Item 19 is a catalogue of publications by a long defunct Edinburgh book collectors club:  Catalogue of the Bannatyne Club Publications, published in 1833. It had been founded a decade earlier by Sir Walter Scott, then a very popular British writer and poet, to print rare Scottish literature, history and poetry. It was named in honor of George Bannatyne, a 16th century Scottish preservationist who created an 800-page manuscript of earlier Scottish poems. This catalogue contains brief descriptions of the 54 works the club had published up to that time, as well as a list of members (membership was limited to 31). The Bannatyne Club would in time print 116 volumes before being dissolved in 1861. £275 (US $446).

 

Item 122 is a bound collection of around 20 sermons from the first half of the 19th century. There are a few interesting ones here, such as a deliberately provocative sermon in favor of Catholic emancipation by Sydney Smith in front of a Bristol audience not noted for its tolerance. However, this doesn't explain why such a collection is in a catalogue full of bibliographies. The explanation is the presence of a very rare copy of A Sermon Preached in the Church of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, in May 1828, on the Visitation of the Venerable George Owen Cambridge… The sermonizer was Thomas Frognall Dibdin, a reverend in his own right, but better known as the world's greatest bibliophile, or, perhaps, bibliomaniac. Dibdin wrote several books on his passion for book collecting, and later in life, following a depression in market prices, on how underpriced books had become. Many in the trade would agree with those sentiments today. While Dibdin's books on books sold well, his sermons were not so popular, this item having been printed in a run of just 50 copies. It is so inscribed, "Only 50 Copies printed," likely in the author's hand. £1,295 (US $2,104).

 

Forest Books may be reached at +44 1949-842360 or bib@forestbooks.co.uk. Their website is www.forestbooks.co.uk.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
    Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
    Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
    Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
    Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
    Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
    Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€
  • Swann, May 15: Lot 4: Helena Bochoráková-Dittrichová, Z Mého Detství Drevoryty, Prague: Obzina, 1929. First trade edition, signed by the artist. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 10: Nancy Cunard, Negro Anthology, with a tipped-in A.L.S. to Karl Marx's niece, 1934. First edition. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 14: Margaret Fuller, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, 1845. First edition. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 17: Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun, inscribed first edition, 1959. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 28: Margaret Hill Morris, Private Journal Kept during a Portion of the Revolutionary War, for the Amusement of a Sister, 1836. First edition. $3,000 to $4,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 38: Anna Sewell, Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse, 1877. First edition. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 43: Gertrude Stein, Portrait of Mabel Dodge at the Villa Curonia, signed presentation copy with photograph of Stein, 1912. First edition. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 48: Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse, first edition in the scarce dust jacket, 1927. $6,000 to $8,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 54: Katherine Dunham, large archive of material from her attorney, 1951-53. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 55: Margaret Fuller Signed Autograph Letter, New York City, 1846. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 92: Sonia Delaunay, illus. & Tristan Tzara, Juste Present, deluxe edition with original gouache, 1961. $20,000 to $25,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 93: Flor Garduño, The Sonnets of Shakespeare, 2006. Limited edition. $6,000 to $8,000.
  • Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
    Ketterer, May 26: PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000
  • Leland Little, May 21: Signed Artist Proof of the Monumental G.O.A.T.: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali.
    Leland Little, May 21: Assorted Rare Publications Related to H.P. Lovecraft, Including The Recluse Signed by Vincent Starrett.
    Leland Little, May 21: Two Issues of The Vagrant, Including the First Appearance of H.P. Lovecraft's "Dagon" in Number Eleven.
    Leland Little, May 21: Rare First Printing of Anne of Green Gables, With ALS from the Author.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, In First Issue Jacket.
    Leland Little, May 21: The Limited Paumanok Edition of The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman.
    Leland Little, May 21: Beautifully Bound Limited Flaubert Edition of The Works of Guy de Maupassant.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Bonaparte's Celebrated American Ornithology, With Spectacular Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Rare Complete Set of Jardine's The Naturalist's Library, With Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: Invitation to the Lincoln-Johnson National Inaugural Ball, March 4th, 1865.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Scarce Inscribed First Edition of James Baldwin's Nobody Knows My Name.
    Leland Little, May 21: Picasso's Le Goût du Bonheur, Limited Edition.

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions