A collecting forum. CollectingBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » CollectingBanter forum » Collecting newsgroups » Books
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

A Collection Of Leftovers



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old June 13th 04, 03:20 PM
Jerry Morris
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default A Collection Of Leftovers


Every Johnsonian has probably heard that the Houghton Library at Harvard
inherited the Donald and Mary Hyde Collection of Samuel Johnson. Every
Shakespearian has probably heard that Christie's auctioned off almost
all of the Shakespeare books and other English Drama from the estate of
Mary Viscountess Eccles. Not too many book collectors know where the
rest of the books of the Four Oaks Library went to.

After all the other collections were dispersed according to the wishes
of Donald and Mary Hyde, their friend, Gabriel Austin, inherited "the
leftovers" of the Four Oaks Library. I recently received a "collection
of leftovers" from Gabriel Austin.

For the past fifteen months, Gabriel Austin and I have been
communicating with each other about books. He has become both friend and
mentor, particularly when it comes to "learning me" about Samuel Johnson
and/or the Donald and Mary Hyde Collections.

Gabriel recommended several books for me to read, particularly the
collected letters of certain authors. Some books I bought, while others
I put on my Wants List. I don't have the Wants List anymore; the three
parcels of books I received contained the letters of various authors,
mostly those from the Age of Johnson. Gabriel had decided I should
become a Collector of Collected Letters.

To start me off, Gabriel gave me a presentation set of the Letters of
Samuel Johnson. Mary Hyde Eccles had given him this set. It is signed by
both Mary Hyde Eccles and Bruce Redford, the editor.

All told, I received fifty-six volumes of collected letters, including
eight volumes of the Percy Letters, a nine-volume set of the Letters of
Horace Walpole, two-volume sets of the Letters of Samuel Taylor
Coleridge, the Orrery Papers, and the Letters of Mrs.Montagu. Other
volumes include the letters or correspondence of Thomas Warton,
Elizabeth Bishop, James Joyce, George Birkbeck Hill, Samuel Lysons, the
Burney Family, James Thompson, Tobias Smollett, Leo Stein, Sydney
Carlyle Cockerell, George S. Gordon, Logan Pearsall Smith, Dylan Thomas,
W. B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Maxwell E. Perkins, Max
Beerbohm, Sir Thomas Bodley, and several others.

Proof of Provenance abounds in many of these volumes, while others bear
no marks of provenance whatsoever. Quite a few volumes contain the
bookplate of Donald and Mary Hyde. Some volumes contain the toad
bookplate of Mary Crapo Hyde. One volume bears the signature of Mary
Morley Crapo. In another volume are the ex libris book label of R.W.
Chapman, and the bookplate of Donald and Mary Hyde. Still another volume
contains an inscription to Donald Hyde in the hand of L.F. Powell.
Several volumes contain notes in the hand of Mary Hyde Eccles.

Many volumes in this collection were presentation copies from the
editors, while some other volumes were complimentary copies from the
publishers. Every volume in this "collection of leftovers" from the Four
Oaks Library of Donald and Mary Hyde will be read and cherished by this
bibliomaniac.


Jerry Morris,
Book Collector,
Man of Letters (mailman),
Collector of Collected Letters.


Welcome to Moi's Books About Books: http://www.tinyurl.com/hib7
My Sentimental Library http://www.picturetrail.com/mylibrary and
moislibrary.com http://www.tinyurl.com/hisn






Ads
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Vintage Big Jim from Mexico collection Rick Sollers General 0 May 1st 04 07:00 PM
FS: 1996 Coca-Cola "Travel Refreshed Collection" Postcard Set J.R. Sinclair General 0 March 2nd 04 05:08 AM
Thailand, Malaysia, Belgium, Japan Collection at 1c LiHui US Stamps 0 January 24th 04 10:05 AM
Thailand, Malaysia, Belgium Collection at 1c LiHui Worldwide Stamps 0 January 24th 04 09:58 AM
FS: "Star Trek" Limited Edition Collector Plates Jim Sinclair General 0 October 5th 03 08:10 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 08:02 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 CollectingBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.