Catalogue of the printed books preserved at Haigh Hall, Wigan, Co. Pal. Lancast > A--D
(17) Columns xiii and xiv
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INTRODUCTION
xiu
XIV
In subsequent years other great libraries were dis¬
persed, amongst which I may mention the collection
from Hamilton Palace which was known as the Beckford
Library, in 1882-83. The Hamilton Palace Library
proper in 1884—together with Duke's Collection of mss.
which were sold privately to the German Government.
At the sale of the Syston Park books, the property of Sir
John Thorold, the glorious Psalmorum Codex was bought
for upwards of £5000 by Mr. Quaritch, thus constituting
a record price for a printed book. It is a strikingly
magnificent piece of printing, being not only the first
book ever printed with a date (1457) but also the earliest
example of compound printing, or the use of two colours
in the initials.
The Osterley sale in 1885 was also a most interesting
and valuable collection.
From all of these collections I have added to my store.
With regard to printed books I found it desirable to
limit myself to one class at a time, devoting attention
mainly to filling gaps and generally raising its standard.
After a time I changed to another class and secured
examples from all parts of the Continent, thus utilising
the numberless correspondents with whom my father
had been in communication. At first these tactics were
very successful—but I perceived that when I wanted to
be told what a dealer could offer me on, say, early works
on lace, with woodcuts, if I wrote to Florence, I should
be told that there was nothing available for the moment,
but that a rare book was expected in a few days. He
would send round to his friends, and having got it, offer
it to me, naturally at an enhanced price.
To such an extent did this take place, that I found in
a few years that an inquiry for any scarce work would
in a very short time set the market seriously against me.
I found a method of guarding myself after a while.
I prepared a carefully selected list of desiderata, then
with the help of a Postal Guide and a foreign Bradshaw,
calculated the length of time required for a letter to
arrive, say on a Wednesday morning, at half a dozen
foreign capitals. Identical copies of my wants would be
despatched from London by various posts so that they
should be received nearly simultaneously all over Europe.
On several occasions this was successful—but it was not
often that I carried it out.
In common with all persons who mainly derive their
income from the pursuits of trade, I have suffered
severely by the recurrent waves of commercial depres¬
sion which have affected our country, as in whatever
branch it may be that the depression shows itself, so
suffer the producers of coal, iron and steel.
Such adverse conditions fell upon me in 1887 and 1889,
when I was called upon to redeem mortgages which
had been laid upon the estates long years ago; and I
was forced to realise as best I could, my only available
resource being the Library.
It is useless to think that the public will pay large
prices at a sale unless the subject-matter is of such an
excellence as to cause serious competition among buyers.
At the time I was fairly familiar with the "wants of
the market," and what they might reasonably be ex¬
pected to realise, with the result that on each occasion
the bitter sacrifices entailed upon me were not in vain
The next severance of a portion of the Library took
place in the year 1890. The Government of the day had
accepted my offer-to transfer to the Royal Observatory
at Edinburgh the whole of the instruments of my own
Observatory at Dun Echt, on the condition that the
National Institution should be maintained. With the
rest of the equipment passed the Library, the catalogue
of which was even at the moment of transfer in the
hands of the printers.
As I have mentioned above, these books were never
actually incorporated in the main collection, so the
severance was not so keenly felt—nevertheless I regret
now that I did not retain the books, as there was a
sufficient working collection for the technical require¬
ment of the Observatory—and a very large proportion
of mine were of mediaeval bibliographical interest.
At a later period (about 1899) I received a letter from
a firm (with whose house my father and I had been in
friendly correspondence for more than seventy years)
making the inquiry whether I had ever contemplated
the parting with my manuscript collections, to which
I replied. No, and thought no more abotit it.
Some eighteen montlis later I heard from them that
they had received definite instructions to procure a
collection of mss. for a customer, and that no other
existing collection was to l>e found : would I consider
the question at leisure ?
To make a long story short, I said, that if ever I did
sell, it would only be at a price which I felt confident
that no person would give ; finally I did, under pressure,
name a sum which I considered would stop further
proceedings.
Within ten days I could not help regretting, as
I received a letter saying that the client of Messrs.
Sotheran was prepared to close the business on the terms
I had mentioned, which were, that the collection re¬
mained a British one, that all family papers, or mss.
having belonged to members of my family were to be
retained, together with a small collection of autograph
letters and documents relating to the French Revolution
and First Empire. As it happens the purchaser then
made a very good investment, as I have no doubt what¬
ever that, were the collection to be offered publicly for
sale as a whole, at the present time, it would realise at
least three or four times the amount which was paid for it.
It was then only that I learnt that the purchaser was
Mrs. Rylands, the lady who some nine years before, had
founded in memory of her deceased husband the John
Rylands Library of Manchester, and had placed therein
the celebrated Althorp Library, probably the finest
collection of early printed books ever brought together in
this country.
Looking back, I cannot but feel that my action was a
right one, as, no matter what were my own personal feel¬
ings, I was enabled by this sale to lessen to a very great
extent the burdens which had for many years pressed
heavily on the family estates.
Before I quit this melancholy theme, I cannot retrain
from expressing my undisguised terror of the effects which
must follow upon the Duties imposed by our Governments
xiu
XIV
In subsequent years other great libraries were dis¬
persed, amongst which I may mention the collection
from Hamilton Palace which was known as the Beckford
Library, in 1882-83. The Hamilton Palace Library
proper in 1884—together with Duke's Collection of mss.
which were sold privately to the German Government.
At the sale of the Syston Park books, the property of Sir
John Thorold, the glorious Psalmorum Codex was bought
for upwards of £5000 by Mr. Quaritch, thus constituting
a record price for a printed book. It is a strikingly
magnificent piece of printing, being not only the first
book ever printed with a date (1457) but also the earliest
example of compound printing, or the use of two colours
in the initials.
The Osterley sale in 1885 was also a most interesting
and valuable collection.
From all of these collections I have added to my store.
With regard to printed books I found it desirable to
limit myself to one class at a time, devoting attention
mainly to filling gaps and generally raising its standard.
After a time I changed to another class and secured
examples from all parts of the Continent, thus utilising
the numberless correspondents with whom my father
had been in communication. At first these tactics were
very successful—but I perceived that when I wanted to
be told what a dealer could offer me on, say, early works
on lace, with woodcuts, if I wrote to Florence, I should
be told that there was nothing available for the moment,
but that a rare book was expected in a few days. He
would send round to his friends, and having got it, offer
it to me, naturally at an enhanced price.
To such an extent did this take place, that I found in
a few years that an inquiry for any scarce work would
in a very short time set the market seriously against me.
I found a method of guarding myself after a while.
I prepared a carefully selected list of desiderata, then
with the help of a Postal Guide and a foreign Bradshaw,
calculated the length of time required for a letter to
arrive, say on a Wednesday morning, at half a dozen
foreign capitals. Identical copies of my wants would be
despatched from London by various posts so that they
should be received nearly simultaneously all over Europe.
On several occasions this was successful—but it was not
often that I carried it out.
In common with all persons who mainly derive their
income from the pursuits of trade, I have suffered
severely by the recurrent waves of commercial depres¬
sion which have affected our country, as in whatever
branch it may be that the depression shows itself, so
suffer the producers of coal, iron and steel.
Such adverse conditions fell upon me in 1887 and 1889,
when I was called upon to redeem mortgages which
had been laid upon the estates long years ago; and I
was forced to realise as best I could, my only available
resource being the Library.
It is useless to think that the public will pay large
prices at a sale unless the subject-matter is of such an
excellence as to cause serious competition among buyers.
At the time I was fairly familiar with the "wants of
the market," and what they might reasonably be ex¬
pected to realise, with the result that on each occasion
the bitter sacrifices entailed upon me were not in vain
The next severance of a portion of the Library took
place in the year 1890. The Government of the day had
accepted my offer-to transfer to the Royal Observatory
at Edinburgh the whole of the instruments of my own
Observatory at Dun Echt, on the condition that the
National Institution should be maintained. With the
rest of the equipment passed the Library, the catalogue
of which was even at the moment of transfer in the
hands of the printers.
As I have mentioned above, these books were never
actually incorporated in the main collection, so the
severance was not so keenly felt—nevertheless I regret
now that I did not retain the books, as there was a
sufficient working collection for the technical require¬
ment of the Observatory—and a very large proportion
of mine were of mediaeval bibliographical interest.
At a later period (about 1899) I received a letter from
a firm (with whose house my father and I had been in
friendly correspondence for more than seventy years)
making the inquiry whether I had ever contemplated
the parting with my manuscript collections, to which
I replied. No, and thought no more abotit it.
Some eighteen montlis later I heard from them that
they had received definite instructions to procure a
collection of mss. for a customer, and that no other
existing collection was to l>e found : would I consider
the question at leisure ?
To make a long story short, I said, that if ever I did
sell, it would only be at a price which I felt confident
that no person would give ; finally I did, under pressure,
name a sum which I considered would stop further
proceedings.
Within ten days I could not help regretting, as
I received a letter saying that the client of Messrs.
Sotheran was prepared to close the business on the terms
I had mentioned, which were, that the collection re¬
mained a British one, that all family papers, or mss.
having belonged to members of my family were to be
retained, together with a small collection of autograph
letters and documents relating to the French Revolution
and First Empire. As it happens the purchaser then
made a very good investment, as I have no doubt what¬
ever that, were the collection to be offered publicly for
sale as a whole, at the present time, it would realise at
least three or four times the amount which was paid for it.
It was then only that I learnt that the purchaser was
Mrs. Rylands, the lady who some nine years before, had
founded in memory of her deceased husband the John
Rylands Library of Manchester, and had placed therein
the celebrated Althorp Library, probably the finest
collection of early printed books ever brought together in
this country.
Looking back, I cannot but feel that my action was a
right one, as, no matter what were my own personal feel¬
ings, I was enabled by this sale to lessen to a very great
extent the burdens which had for many years pressed
heavily on the family estates.
Before I quit this melancholy theme, I cannot retrain
from expressing my undisguised terror of the effects which
must follow upon the Duties imposed by our Governments
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Bibliotheca Lindesiana catalogues > Catalogue of the printed books preserved at Haigh Hall, Wigan, Co. Pal. Lancast > A--D > (17) Columns xiii and xiv |
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Description | Privately printed catalogues of the special collections of the Bibliotheca Lindesiana, the family library of the Earls of Crawford and Balcarres. Reformation Tracts, English Newspapers and De Bry Collection catalogues provide the only record of the contents of these collections. Also include catalogues of Bibliotheca Lindesiana collections now held elsewhere. |
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