David
A. Randall.
DUKEDOM LARGE ENOUGH [REMINISCENCES OF A RARE BOOK DEALER, 1929-1956]. New
York: Random House, [1969]. xiv 368 [1]
p. Plates. 8vo. Maroon cloth, spine stamped in gilt, dust
jacket.
Inscribed
to Frederick B. Adams, Jr., “For Fred from Dave, Aug. 7, 1969. It all seems far away and long ago.” Bookplate of Adams. Adams has marked various sections with
annotated slips. Laid in is a copy of a TLs dated Jan. 24, 1973, from Randall
to Reginald Allen at the Pierpont Morgan Library, discussing the acquisition of
Gilbert & Sullivan material including reference to Carroll Wilson, and
Randall’s thoughts on how a bibliography should be written. Also laid in is the AB tribute to Randall by Michael Papantonio. Adams delivered the main address at the gala
dedication of the Lilly Library in 1960.
A companion piece, acquired
separately, is an exceptional ALs from Adams to David Randall dated Paris,
January 18, 1970, spurred on by Adams’ reading of the book: “Dear Dave, I have
just this afternoon finished Dukedom
Large Enough. . . you have a lot of good stories to tell of men and books
and you tell them damn well, without any pretentiousness, telling the bad with
the good, and bringing back to me so many memories of old days and of wonderful
people that we had fun with. There were
others too—Phil the literate bartender—Mrs. Clampitt, Sara Hay and others who
entertained me if you were busy with a client when I dropped by—and a collector
or two whom you didn’t mention, for reason of libel? . . . As to the
introduction of Carroll Wilson and Waller Barrett, my memory runs this
way. CAW and Tom Streeter and I were
working on the 100 Influential American Books [1947] and we had heard—through
you? Through the Grolier Club?—that there was a youngish collector of American
literature whose library might be worth looking into for some possible
loans. As I recall it, I made the date
by correspondence, and in due course on a Sunday shortly after lunch Carroll
and I descended from the Long Island RR train at Garden City to be greeted by a
man neither of us had met before—C.W.B.
He took us to his comfortable but not grandiose suburban home, and our
eyes were opened—bugged! There seemed to
be a whole room full of Henry James, and what’s more our host had read
them. He had a scattering of many
authors, and by golly he knew exactly what he had and what he himself thought
of it as literature. The other thing I
remember about the afternoon was the extraordinary number of children who
seemed to be popping in and out irregularly, and assembled for tea, because we
stayed on and on. Obviously this was a
collector after Carroll’s own heart—that was the beginning. Some day we must ask Waller how he remembers
it. And what did Waller lend to the
glorious 100? One book certainly, which
was included in the show at his insistence, W. G. Simms The Yearnassee. He already owned, I am sure, the country’s finest
Simms collection, doubtless reinforced since then.”
