Saturday 14 February 2015

The Book-Lover's Library Series, 1886–1902


"The Book-Lover’s Library" (BLL) was published in London by Elliot Stock. The series was edited by Henry Benjamin Wheatley (1838–1917), Vice-President and President of the Bibliographical Society, 1908–10, 1911–13. There appear to have been 26 volumes in the series, published between 1886 and 1902, all of them aimed at "the Bibliographer and all Book-Loving Readers." Since I am a Bibliographer and Book-Loving Reader, I have a hand-full of them (above), and I have read them all.

Volumes in the BLL series were issued (as advertised in 1902, below [NB "was first published"]) in three printing and binding styles: (A) on antique paper, with rough edges, in cloth, bevelled [178x110mm] (B) on hand-made paper, Roxburgh half morocco, with gilt top [185x110mm; 250 copies "for sale in England" thus] (C) on large, hand-made paper (by Van Gelder), bound in Roxburgh half morocco [220x178mm; 50 copies "for sale in England"]. In 1902 the prices in the UK were A: 4s 6d; B: 7s 6d; C: £1 1s; the prices in the US (ca. 1892) were A: $1.25; B: $2.50. As you can see in my first picture, at left, binding B dosen't age well.


My Checklist of the 26 volumes in the BLL series is below, numbered in the order that they I think they were released. I haven't been able to find a full list online, and the few claims I have seen about the number of volumes in the series both disagree about the total number of volumes and don't list the individual volumes. So, for instance, the British Library has a catalogue entry for the series, which claims that there were 28 volumes, but notes that their set "includes more than one edition of certain Works"—which are not named.


In 2010, a lot of 32 volumes was sold at auction (lot 347, here) as a "complete set," but only "some" of titles are mentioned in the catalogue entry for the lot, so it is not clear which volumes I exclude that the auctioneer believed had belonged to the series. However, the photograph that accompanies this lot (above) suggests why there might be some confusion about the number of volumes in this series (i.e., why the auctioneer might have been wrong that there were 32 volumes in the series). As you can see, partly visible, at the left of the photo, is W. Davenport Adams, Byways in Book-Land (1888).

If you look here you can see that Byways in Book-Land is not a part of the BLL series, although the paper, binding and price matches those in the BLL (i.e., it "is another of Mr. Stock's dainty little volumes, ever tempting in their cool green covers … [with] clear type and wide margins" as a reviewer states in The Reliquary 3 (1889): 59). Elliot Stock was famous for this type of book, it was his house style, rather than the distinguishing feature of volumes in the BLL series alone. Stock issued many dainty little bookish volumes, which cannot be differentiated from titles in the BLL by their appearance alone. Below, for instance, is J. Rogers Rees' Diversions of a Bookworm (1886) and The Pleasures of a Book-Worm (1886).

Volumes in the BLL series can only be established as belonging to the series if they appear in one of the publisher's lists of volumes in the BLL or if the text "The Book-Lover's Library" appears on the page facing their title-page. I have compiled the list below from four publisher's lists, two printed at the back of volumes from the series, and two leaflets from the publisher that I have otherwise acquired. The four lists (illustrated after the checklist) are:

1892a = A list of 14 titles printed in the back of Books Condemned to be Burnt (1892).
1892b = A list of 16 titles on a ca. 1892 leaflet advertising in the BLL series.
1902 = A list of 25 titles printed in the back of How to Make an Index (1902)
1910 = A list three reprints from the BLL on a ca. 1910 leaflet for "The 'How To' Series."

(The 'How To' series was comprised of J. D. Stewart, How to Use a Library (1910) and reprints of BLL nos.1, 11, 26). I have provided a code to show the order in which titles appear in the three main lists: 1892a and 1892b have the newest volumes, first; 1902 has the oldest volumes first.

* * * * *

01 Henry B. Wheatley, How to Form a Library (1886 on IA here; 2nd ed. 1886 on IA here; 3rd ed. 1887 on IA here; "Popular Edition" 1902 on IA here; 1886, New York 2nd edition on HT here; 1887, New York 3rd edition on HT here) [1892a.14; 1892b.16; 1902.01]

02 W. C. Hazlitt, Old Cookery Books and Ancient Cuisine (1886 on IA here; rpr. "Popular Edition" 1902 on IA here) [1892a.13; 1892b.15; 1902.02]

03 G. L. Gomme, Literature of Local Institutions (1886 on IA here) [1892a.12; 1892b.14; 1902.03]

04 H. Trueman Wood, Modern Methods of Illustrating Books (1886 on IA here; 1887 edition [=2nd ed.; author's name omitted] on IA here; 3rd ed. 1890 [author's name omitted] on IA here; 1887 New York edition on IA here) [1892a.11; 1892b.13; 1902.05]

05 Henry B. Wheatley, The Dedications of Books to Patron and Friend (1887 on IA here; 1887 New York edition on IA here) [1892a.10; 1892b.12; 1902.06]

06 W. C. Hazlitt, Gleanings in Old Garden Literature (1887 on IA here) [1892a.09; 1892b.11; 1902.07]

07 Frederick Saunders, The Story of Some Famous Books (1887 on IA here; 2nd. ed. 1888 on IA here; 1887 New York edition on IA here) [1892a.08; 1892b.10; 1902.08]

08 William Blades, The Enemies of Books (1888 on IA here; Popular Edition, 1902 on HT here) [1892a.07; 1892b.09; 1902.09]

09 W.A. Clouston, The Book of Noodles (1888 on IA here; Popular Edition, 1903 on IA here; 1888 New York edition on IA here) [1892a.06; 1892b.08; 1902.10]

10 Edward Smith, Foreign Visitors in England (1889 on IA here; 1889 New York edition on HT here) [1892a.05; 1892b.07; 1902.04]

11 Henry B. Wheatley, How to Catalogue a Library (1889 on IA here; 2nd ed., 1889 on IA here; 1889 New York edition on HT here) [1892a.04; 1892b.06; 1902.11]

12 John Pendleton, Newspaper Reporting in the Olden Time and To-day (1890 on IA here; 1890 New York edition on HT here) [1892a.03; 1892b.05; 1902.12]

13 W. C. Hazlitt, Studies in Jocular Literature (1890 on IA here; Popular Edition, 1904 on IA here) [1892a.02; 1892b.04; 1902.13]

14 L. A. Wheatley, The Story of the "Imitatio Christi" (1891 on IA here) [1892a.01; 1892b.03; 1902.14]

15 J. A. Farrer, Books Condemned to be Burnt (1892 on IA here; Popular Edition, 1904 on IA here) [1892b.02; 1902.15]

16 William Blades, Books in Chains (1892 on IA here; 1892 New York edition on HT here) [1892b.01; 1902.16]

17 Henry B. Wheatley, Literary Blunders (1893 on IA here) [1902.17]

18 Gleeson White, Book-Song. An anthology of poems of books and bookmen from modern authors (1893 on IA [ex GB] here) [1902.18]

19 R. B. Marston, Walton and Some Earlier Writers on Fish and Fishing (1894 on IA here; Popular Edition, 1903 on IA here) [1902.19]

20 P. H. Ditchfield, Books Fatal to their Authors (1895 on IA here; 1895 New York edition on IA here) [1902.20]

21 William Roberts, ed., Book-Verse. An anthology of poems of books and bookmen from the earliest times to recent years (1896 on IA here; undated New York edition on HT here) [1902.21]

22 James E. Matthew, The Literature of Music (1896 on IA here) [1902.22]

23 Frederick G. Kitton, The Novels of Charles Dickens (1897 on IA here) [1902.23]

24 John Lawler, Book Auctions in England in the Seventeenth Century (1898 on IA here) [1902.25]

25 Frederick G. Kitton, The Minor Writings of Charles Dickens (1900 on IA here) [1902.24]

26 Henry B. Wheatley, How to Make an Index (1902 on IA here; 1902 New York edition on HT here)

* * * * *





[UPDATE 2022.03.05 I am indebted to Jerry Morris: his blog post "About Elliot Stock, Henry B. Wheatley, and The Book Lover's Library Series" (29 March 2017; here) does exactly what you'd expect it to do with such a title. In his post Jerry mentions an excellent article on the BLL series: Claude A. Prance, "The Book Lover's Library," The Private Library, Series 3, vol. 4, no.3 (Autumn 1983): 132–39. Prance lists 34 editions of the 26 titles in the BLL (including four reprints and four Popular editions). Prompted by some very welcome feedback, I have now added links to as many editions of the BLL titles that I can locate on the Internet Archive (IA) and Hathi Trust (HT); where more than one copy was available, I favoured the one which best shows the original binding and endpapers. I now list 52 editions above (including seven London reprints and seven Popular Editions—three more of each than Prance lists—plus twelve New York editions—which Prance only mentions in passing [p.133: "Apparently the green cloth issue could be bought in the U.S.A. for $1.25"). It is likely that there were more New York editions than I have located online, but I trust that the listing of London editions is complete. However, if a reader finds an edition online that I have not listed above, please let me know, and I will add it.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Sir....I notice a book "Modern Methods of Illustrating Books on Internet Archive. There is no author on Title Page. Have you seen any other book like this from Elliot Stock. Have a good day.


Modern methods of illustrating books No Author on Title Page.
https://archive.org/details/modernmethodsofi00lond/page/n5/mode/2up

Patrick Spedding said...

Thank you for the link: as you can see above, you've encouraged me to add some more from the Internet Archive.

I haven't seen any other book like this from Elliot Stock, and I have no idea why the name was dropped for the reprint, when it was present in the original edition.

I will keep my eyes open for similar anomalies as I work through the remaining texts, and note whatever I see.

P.

Unknown said...

Sir:
Book-Lore, The Bibliographer, The Bookworm from Elliot Stock are on Internet Archive. At 75 and collecting books for about 50 years; now i can sit in my Living Room and read hundreds of Books about Books. I have downloaded about 600 books about books. In the future there will be no need for paper. No reply is needed for this comment. Charles....