Donald C. Dickinson: A Tribute

Don Dickinson 1927-2016

Next to my desk is a small group of reference books that I utilize often.  Don Dickinson’s Dictionary of American Book Collectors (1986) and Dictionary of American Antiquarian Bookdealers (1998) are there: thumbed, note-scribbled, and worn from use.  I’ve spent the last twenty-seven years with Don Dickinson by my side although we never met in person.  We did exchange emails and books over a couple decades and I told myself I would visit him one day at his home in Tucson, Arizona.  I imagined us diving deep into biblio-lore talk, drinks in hand, surrounded by his stacks of books and pamphlets and papers that overflowed his study.  Or, at least that is what I envisioned.  Perhaps he kept everything neat as a pin, but alas, it must remain an imaginary happening.  My email to Don this last fall went unanswered.  I suspected, but was hesitant to type his name into an online search.  When I did, the finality of the moment was difficult.  Don had died October 10, 2016, age 89.

            The brief obituary in the Arizona Daily Star described a life centered around libraries and books.  Don received his PhD in Library Science at the University of Michigan and worked as an academic librarian in Illinois, Michigan, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, and Arizona.  In 1969, he was invited to establish a library science program at the University of Arizona and became its first director.  The obituary notes his membership in the Grolier Club and Zamorano Club.  A passing sentence refers to his works about Langston Hughes, Henry Huntington, and John Carter.  No mention is made of his Dictionaries.  The rest of the obituary portrays a progressive, fun-loving man whose hobbies included hitchhiking, playing drums, Studebakers, jazz, table tennis, basketball watching, train travel, and of course, book collecting.

            Dickinson’s work in the history of book collecting and the book trade deserves further elucidation.  For the scholar, collector, or dealer, Dickinson’s books are always a good place to start and sometimes the only place to go. 

His first major work was A Bio-Bibliography of Langston Hughes 1902-1967 (1967, revised 1972).  In 1975, he produced for the Typophiles of New York, Hellmut Lehmann-Haupt: A Bibliography. 

            However, it was with Dictionary of American Book Collectors that he broke new ground, or at least went much further than anyone else ever had in the field.  The word “dictionary” in the title is misleading, conjuring an image of a brief definition, distilled to sentence or two.  Dickinson’s Dictionary is in fact a collection of short but meaty essays on “359 significant American book collectors who died before December 31, 1984.”  He explains in the preface, “The information provided in the narrative discussions is intended to identify the collector’s chief areas of interest, to describe how those interests developed, and where possible, to indicate the influence the collector and collection may have had.  This approach should be useful to librarians, collectors, curators, and individuals in the book trade who wish to identify prominent American collectors.”

            Dickinson’s criterion for selection is described in the preface.  He sums up the process, “Generally, the men and women represented in this survey formed libraries distinguished by the quality, unity, and superior physical condition of the materials they collected as well as the importance those materials had to other collectors and/or to institutional libraries.”

            What is elusive is the spark that ignited such an undertaking. I should have asked Don about this but never did.  The amount of research involved, particularly in the pre-Internet age, was tremendous and painstaking.  Much of the source information was difficult to access (and remains so).  Dickinson writes, “The only previous work on this subject, Carl Cannon’s American Book Collectors and Collecting, published in 1941, is still valuable but difficult to use for reference purposes. . . More recent information can only be found by searching through a maze of journals, memoirs, reports, and auction records.  This book brings that information together for easy consultation.”

            Dickinson did not hesitate to draw upon the collective brain power of many extraordinary book people to enhance the value of the work.  The preface cites a litany of “librarians, curators, and bookdealers [who] have contributed unselfishly to the preparation of this text.”  I’ll name only a few to give the flavor:  W. H. Bond, Herbert Cahoon, Glen Dawson, Herman Liebert, Marcus McCorison, Lawrence Clark Powell, Ellen Shaffer, Madeleine Stern, Edwin Wolf, and Jake Zeitlin.  Dickinson ends the preface, perhaps with relief, “The preparation of this volume has been both a pleasure and a challenge.”

            I’m glad Don took on the challenge.  I was twenty-three years old in September 1990 when I discovered a copy of his Dictionary at the old Half-Price books location on Guadalupe Street in Austin, Texas.  My interest in the history of book collecting had just begun, and this fortuitous find provided a framework to build my biblio-library.  I still get excited to check off another name in the Dictionary when I acquire an item related to that book collector.  There have been many check marks over the years.

            Don rose to the challenge again after some time off, producing the Dictionary of American Antiquarian Bookdealers (1998), another unique work in the field.  The format follows a similar one to that of the Book Collectors.  He writes in the preface, “This book has been undertaken in order to throw light on the accomplishments of a select group of 205 notable American antiquarian bookdealers who died before 1 August, 1997.”  He details the selection process and explains, “Generally, the individuals included in this book developed a quality stock, issued accurate, attractive sales catalogs, made an impact on private and /or institutional collections, enjoyed a certain amount of longevity in the trade and were active in professional organizations.  Obviously, not all of the bookdealers included possessed all of these qualities.  The diversity of individual styles and practices among antiquarian booksellers is a known and cherished phenomenon.”  Indeed.

            The research on Bookdealers was even more arduous than Book Collectors.  He records that he is “grateful” to the editor of Greenwood Publishing Group, “who extended the deadline on the book on several occasions.”  Dickinson explains, “Few [bookdealers] left any permanent record of their life’s work.  This dictionary has been compiled as an attempt to fill that gap.”  As before, he draws upon the invaluable assistance of many prominent bookdealers, bibliographers and librarians. 

            Although published twelve years apart, Dickinson’s two dictionaries are both bound in matching sturdy red publisher’s cloth, the front cover and spine with black labels and silver gilt stamping.  This was a thoughtful gesture on the part of the publisher Greenwood Press.  My copies sit next to each other on the reference shelf, reflecting the symbiotic relationship between collector and dealer.

            Dickinson wrote an important book, Henry E. Huntington’s Library of Libraries (1995), between the publications of the two dictionaries.  There have been biographies of railroad magnate Huntington but none had focused intensively on his book collecting.  Dickinson explores the crucial period between 1911 and Huntington’s death in 1927 when Huntington dominated the book markets of New York and London.  In his typically thorough manner, Dickinson draws upon the Huntington archives, other manuscript material, printed sources, and even the interviewing of two of Huntington’s granddaughters to flesh out the narrative.  It is crisply written, engaging, and replete with details about prices paid and behind the scenes jousting among the bibliophiles.  Huntington was the biggest book collector of them all in a Golden Age of important American book hunters.  Because of this, the book naturally casts a wide net to tell his story, including just about every prominent collector, bookseller, and bookman of the period.  It is an essential read for anyone with a serious interest in the history of American book collecting.  The only caveat is just that—a casual reader may want to start with a more general biography.  The Huntington Library published the book both in hardback and paperback.  The book itself is well designed and heavily illustrated. 

On a related note, Dickinson also wrote the biographical introduction and edited George Watson Cole: 1850-1939 (1990), No. 8 in the Great Bibliographers Series issued by the Scarecrow Press.  Cole was Huntington’s chief librarian and played a crucial role in developing the collection.

Don Dickinson’s last major work was a biography, John Carter: The Taste and Technique of a Bookman (New Castle: Oak Knoll Press, 2004).  Carter (1905-1975), a well-respected Anglo-American bookman, writer, dealer, and bibliographer, garnered fame early in his career with the publication of his and Graham Pollard’s expose of Thomas J. Wise, An Enquiry in the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets (1934).  He also authored the classic ABC for Book-Collectors (1952).  Carter’s writing acumen and insightful commentary are displayed throughout his published works with Tastes and Technique in Book-Collecting (1948) and Books and Book-Collectors (1956) being other examples.   This elegant, witty Englishman was firmly embedded in the rare book world of England and America for most of his life.

Dickinson uses material from many institutional collections as well as personal interviews of Carter’s colleagues / family to structure the narrative.  There is also a checklist of Carter’s publications.  Don’s style is as usual concise and orderly, making for easy, enjoyable reading.  Full immersion in the biography exposes the close-knit and sometimes combative interplay between the collectors, dealers, and librarians who pushed to advance a more scholarly approach to collecting and bibliography from the 1930s to the 1960s.   

Don had other projects in mind that unfortunately did not come to fruition. He emailed me soon after the Carter book that he had a contract with Oak Knoll to write a biography of English bookman and librarian, A. N. L. Munby.  He also was planning an updated revision of his Dictionary of American Book Collectors with Joel Silver, current director of the Lilly Library.

Don explained to me in an email dated January 29, 2010, “Don't know if I told you I had a contract with O[ak] K[noll] for a revision up date of the Dictionary of American Antiquarian Book Collectors. Joel Silver was going to be the co-author.  I simply could not get it off the ground here - maybe lack of energy ???? anyway I cancelled the OK contract and Joel may go ahead and do it himself.  I regretted giving it up and still think it would be worth doing - deceased collectors from 1985 to 2009 or so.  And just a few months ago I was tested and found to have macular degeneration, and am having treatment.  SO, just as well to put the DAAB behind me.”

The disconcerting news of Don’s failing eyesight prompted me to print out and send Don a draft of my biblio-collection catalogue filled with hundreds of association items related to American book collecting.  He emailed me soon after, “WOW!!! You have done a mighty job.  Congratulations. Absolutely delightful. The Zimmerman Collection of Books About Books is a smashing showpiece.   And I intend to give it several showings to Biblio Friends here in Tucson.  Thanks for the warm inscription. It is, as they say, ‘up my alley.’  I thought the Preface struck just the right tone, a ‘work in progress’. . . I know as I look in more depth, I will have notes/comments etc. to send on but for now WOW!!!”

To receive two “wows” from a mentor is more than I could have hoped for.  Had I not sent him a copy of the catalogue it would have been an eternal regret.  A labor of love has its own reward but positive feedback now and again keeps the fire tended.

Book collecting has rewarded me with many of my closest friends and best moments.  Don Dickinson, through his writings and personal encouragement, greatly enhanced my book collecting and thus my life.  So, this tribute to Don is not only a pleasure to write but a necessity.