The release of a bibliographical work many decades in the
making is quite an achievement. One that
breaks entirely new ground is cause for celebration. Such is John Payne’s Great Catalogues by Master Booksellers (Austin: 2017). Mr. Payne, who authored the standard bibliographies
of John Steinbeck and W. H. Hudson, brings his formidable skills to bear on a
subject long of interest to him.
He writes
in the preface, “Bookshops open and close.
Booksellers retire, change professions, and pass on. What remains, other than memories and
reputations, are their catalogues, the lasting tangible record of a bookseller’s
creativity and expertise—a remembrance, a talisman.
“Catalogues
reflect booksellers’ personalities, preferences, and priorities, the nature of
their stock, sources of inventory, the evolution of bibliographical
sophistication, and their relationships with others in the trade. Catalogues also reveal friendships that
sometimes develop between booksellers and their clients. The best catalogues display scholarship in
abundance.
“Great Catalogues by Master Booksellers
was begun during my year as a Lilly Fellow at The Lilly Library at Indiana
University, studying under the irrepressible David A. Randall, where I
discovered The Lilly’s collection of booksellers’ catalogues. During my succeeding seventeen years’ work
with the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas Austin, I took the
opportunity to examine its collection of 20,000+ booksellers’ catalogues
assembled from the reference collection of the rare book dealer, James F.
Drake, and the private libraries of Christopher Morley, Evelyn Waugh, William Targ,
and others. I sought out the most
important, most interesting, and most entertaining catalogues.
“Work on Great Catalogues lay undisturbed but
unforgotten for twenty-five years, from the time I left the Ransom Center in
1985 to 2010. These were the years I
established and operated Payne Associates, an appraisal firm for rare books and
archives, an ongoing scholarly enterprise.
By the time I returned to Great
Catalogues, my perspective had changed.
Rather than simply identifying my choice of the most important
catalogues and describing them in checklist form, I then realized the value of
reproducing and introductory essays written by England’s and America’s most
distinguished booksellers, bibliographers, and librarians on the most popularly
collected subjects.
“My
preliminary catalogue selection from the Ransom Center was expanded by research
visits to the Grolier Club in New York and the Huntington Library in San
Marino, California, and again at The Lilly Library. I then asked booksellers and others for
comments and recommendations for additional titles. All were winnowed down to these one hundred
and forty [selections].
“Great Catalogues describes catalogues
published by American and English booksellers during the nineteen to twenty-first
centuries. Sufficient bibliographical
particulars are given to identify each catalogue, including variants.”
I would at
this point typically give you my review of the work. However, having been privileged to write the
introduction, I will simply state that the success of such an endeavor is
whether it serves as a valuable reference, stirs long-term interest in the
subject, and provides a coherent framework to discuss and build upon. In these ways, I feel its success is assured. Great Catalogues by Master Booksellers goes one step further by
illuminating an area of bibliography that has been surprisingly neglected.
How does an
individual or library obtain a copy? I
received the following information from Mr. Payne:
I want to take this opportunity to forward
to you my announcement of the recent publication of Great Catalogues by
Master Booksellers.
Great Catalogues is
a fine press production designed and printed by Bill & David Holman of
Austin, under the imprint, Roger Beacham Publishers, with only 200 copies of
the 300-regular edition available for sale. The net price is $225.
It is a substantial quarto, running close to 500 pages, printed on high quality
paper, bound in a fine red cloth, filled with detailed descriptions and excerpts
from the catalogues and highly illustrated in color. Great Catalogues presents
my selection of 140 significant English and American rare booksellers’
catalogues, 19th-21st century.
Because each catalogue description
includes the bookseller’s Preface or Introduction by a guest writer, the book
has become an unexpected anthology of essays about the most popularly collected
subjects written by England’s and America’s most distinguished booksellers,
collectors and rare book librarians. The 100 Special Copies bound in quarter
morocco will be available ca April 1, 2018, priced $450. The Regular
Copies, bound in full red cloth, are currently available at $225. Because
I am giving 100+ Regular Copies to booksellers and others who have assisted me
with the preparation of my book, I am unable to provide a bookseller’s discount
for this first printing.
Please send orders, comments, or questions to
John R. Payne at 2309 Camino Alto, Austin, TX 78746 or johnpayne111@gmail.com Phone:
512-328-4535.
