Sales catalogue: The Anderson Galleries

Date:
20th century
Reference:
WA/HMM/CM/Sal/52/134
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sales catalogue: The Anderson Galleries. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/230
    HE present catalogue is based on “A Catalogue of Early English Books in the Library of John L. Clawson,” by Seymour De Ricci, published in 1924. We have, however, examined every book very carefully and described all defects _ known to us, though, it is possible that we have not always mentioned time-stains or any other condition that can reasonably be expected in an old book. In this collection there are two hundred and ten books printed before 1600 and seven hundred and sixteen books printed before 1700, many of them in superb original condition. The miracle is that they have survived at all. No wonder that some of them are unique. The fact that one or more original blank leaves are present or missing in the front or at the end of a book does not make that volume perfect or imperfect, provided no text is missing. A col- lector who confined himself to books containing such blank leaves could not form a library. We have not always men- tioned when they are present, or absent. One could compile a list of the great English and Amer- ican collectors of English Literature from the books in this collection. There is hardly a volume which has not been enriched by the book plate of one or more of them or by an autograph or by a note which has been identified by Mr. De Ricci. Mr. Clawson bought his first book in this catalogue, the Second Folio of Shakespeare, in 1914, and his last pur- chase in 1923 was Nicholas Breton’s “The Pilgrimage to Paradise.” Since Mr. De Ricci’s catalogue was published in 1924 the books have been stored in a bank vault, while Mr. Clawson has travelled, and he has decided that others should be given the opportunity to acquire them. It is an opportunity that may never recur on anything like the present scale. The rarest treasures of the book world are steadily passing into permanent institutions, and the chances of obtaining coveted volumes are correspond- ingly decreasing.
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