No. XXI. PROGRESS OF SELLING BOOKS BY CATALOGUES. If the circulation of Books be a mark of a learned age, no method has been thought of better adapted to that purpose, than by making what are commonly called Sale CATALOGUES of them. These are of two sorts; by auction and by hand. The practice has now obtained considerably above a century. The oldest I have seen of the first class are those of Lazarus Seaman, D. D. 1676, by Will. Cooper, bookseller, Warwick-lane; and Mr. Kidner, rector of Hitchin, by the same, in Little Britain. And that these were the first in the kind, may be gathered from * First printed in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. LVIII. 1066. + Maunsell's Catalogue of English printed Books, part I. inscribed "to the Queene's Most Sacred Majestie be continued the blessinge and protection of the Mighty God of Jacob;" and part II. dedicated to Robert Earl of Essex, &c. were both published in 1595, fol. This is rather analogous to the modern Catalogues of new publications. "A Catalogue of the most vendible Books in England, digested under the heads of Divinity, History, Physick, &c. with School Books, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; and an Introduction for the Use of Schools, by W. London," was published in 4to, Lond. 1658, with this motto, VARIETAS DELECTAT. "Clavel's General Catalogue of Books printed in England since the dreadful Fire 1666, to the end of Trinity Term, 1676, was continued every Term until 1700.-" Mr. Robert Clavel is a great dealer, and has deservedly gained himself the reputation of a just man. Dr. Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, used to call him the honest Bookseller. He has been Master of the Company of Stationers [1698 and 1699]; and perhaps the greatest unhappiness of life, was his being one of Alderman Cornish's Jury. He printed Dr. Comber's Works, &c." Dunton, p. 283. To this Catalogue is prefixed an Address to the Reader, wherein the custom of selling books by auction is mentioned as having been but of recent origin in our country. See some curious particulars concerning the sale, in Dibdin's Bibliomania, p. 402. the the preface to the next, which was, that of William Greenhill, minister of Stepney, at the Turk's-head coffee-house, in Bread-street (in ædibus Ferdinandi Stable, coffipolæ, ad insigne capitis Turca), by Zach. Bourne, who sets forth, that "the attempts in this kind (by the sale of Dr. Seaman's and Mr. Kidner's libraries) having given great content and satisfaction to the gentlemen who were the buyers, and no discouragement to the sellers, hath encou→ raged the making this trial by exposing (to auction or sale) the Library of Mr. William Greenhill *." William Cooper next sold the Library of Dr. Thomas Manton, at his late house in King-street, Covent Garden, 1678; and in the same year, John Dunmore and Richard Chiswell, booksellers, those * William Greenhill, a native of Oxfordshire, of plebeian parentage, was admitted, at the age of 13, a servitor of Magdalen College, Oxford; where he took the degree of M. A. in 1612, Embracing early the principles of the Puritans, and afterwards of the rigid Independents, he was appointed in 1643 Lecturer at Stepney and afterwards filled the same office at St. Michael's, Cornhill, and St. Giles, Cripplegate. Being a worthy and a moderate man, and much valued for his great learning and unwearied labours, he was appointed in 1643 one of the Assembly of Divines; preached a Fast Sermon before the House of Commons April 26, 1643; and was fixed on as a proper person to be Chaplain to the King's children, the Dukes of York and Gloucester, and the Lady Henrietta Maria. In 1653, he was ap pointed by Cromwell a Tryer of Schoolmasters, Preachers, &c. and in 1654, Mr. Hoyle, the vicar of Stepney, having been sequestered, Mr. Greenhill was appointed to that cure by the Keepers of the Liberties of England; and held it till ejected after the Restoration; subsequently to which, he continued at Stepney as a Dissenting Minister, but in reduced circumstances. Mr. Howe, in his Funeral Sermon for Mr. Mead, speaking of his going to give Mr. Greenhill some assistance, styles him, "that eminent servant of Christ, whose praise is with God." He published "An Exposition of Ezekiel, to Chap. xxix. by William Greenbill, Lecturer in London, 1650," 4 vols, 4to, "Sermons of Christ his Discovery of himself, &c. 1656;" "A Sermon before the Par liament 165..; "The Sound Christian; or, a Treatise of the Soundness of the Heart, with some other Sermons, 1670," Svo; and is supposed to have died in 1676. ↑ In the Address to the Reader, prefixed to Manton's Catalogue, it would seem that this was the fourth trial of this mode of sale in our own country. See Dibdin's Bibliomania, p. 408. t Of Mr. Chiswell see vol. I. p. 62; vol.IV.pp. 67.73.-He was in VOL. III. Ꭱ Ꭱ 1683, of Dr. Benjamin Worsley, and two other learned men, over-against the Hen and Chickens, in Paternoster-row, at nine in the morning. 1683, and I believe many years afterwards an eminent Bookseller in St. Paul's Church-yard. John Dunton, p. 250, places him at the head of the most eminent of the profession of the three kingdoms. "Mr. Richard Chiswell well deserves the title of Metropolitan Bookseller of England, if not of all the world. His name at the bottom of a title page, does sufficiently recommend the book. He has not been known to print either a bad book, or on bad paper. He is admirably well qualified for his business, and knows how to value a copy according to its worth; witness the purchase he has made of Archbishop Tillotson's octavo Sermons." He was born in the parish of St. Botolph's Aldgate; and was appointed one of the first Directors of the Bank of England in the original charter; and was buried in that church, with the following epitaph: "Mr. Richard Chiswell, a noted Bookseller in St. Paul's Church-yard, lies buried in the North aile of this church; and also his father and mother, John and Margaret Chiswell; and his first wife Sarah, daughter of John King; and also five children, who died young, whom he had by Mary, daughter of Richard Royston, Bookseller, who lies buried in Christ Church, London [see p. 598.]; by whom he had likewise three sons more; John, who died in India, Richard, and Royston, who survived him. He was born in this parish Jan. 4, 1639, and died May 3, 1711, and was a man worthy of great praise. As a memorial whereof, his son Richard Chiswell, of London, merchant, caused a monument to be erected, which is against the wall in the South aile."-See in Gent. Mag. vol. LIV. p. 179; a list of the principal Books published by R. Chiswell from 1675 to 1709; and some of the family epitaphs. - Mr. Chiswell's first wife was Sarah, daughter of Mr. John King; and his second, Mary, daughter of Richard Royston, esq. bookseller to Charles I. and II. By the last wife he had five children, who died young, and three sons more; John, who died in India, Richard and Royston, who survived him. Richard, the eldest son, was an eminent Turkey merchant, representative in Parliament for Calne, co. Wilts, 1714; several times a Director of the Bank, between the years 1714 and 1721. He bought the estate of DepdenHall, near Newport, in Essex, and married Mary, daughter and one of the coheiresses of Thomas Trench, of London, merchant, also several times a Director of the Bank between the years 1736 and 1751, in which year he died, and was buried at Depden. (Mr. Trench's other daughter married Dudley Foley, esq. merchant.) Mrs. Chiswell died 1796, aged 47, having had 10 children, of whom William and Treneh died at Constantinople, aged about 18; a son, Richard, and two daughters survived their father. The son was also a Turkey merchant, and resided in the early part of his life at Constantinople, being partner William Cooper, those of John Godolphin, J.U.D. and Owen Philips, A. M. under-master of Winchester, in Westmoreland-court, Bartholomew-close. Moses Pits, various libraries and collections, from that of Gisbert Voet *, at the White Hart, Bartholomew-close. Nathaniel Ranew, those of Gabriel Sangar and another person, magni, dum vixit, nominis,at the Harrow, overagainst the College of Physicians, Warwick-1. Moses Pits made an auction, for the trade only, of copies printed at the Sheldon theatre, and by himself, in Petty Canons-hall, Paul's church-yard. In 1679, William Cooper sold the library of Stephen Watkins and Dr. Thomas Shirley, and another, learned man, at the Golden Lion, overagainst the Queen's-head tavern, in Pater-nosterrow, at 9 in the morning, and 2 in the afternoon. partner in the house of Hanger, brother to Henry Lord Colerane. After he came home, he was chosen a Director of the Bank in 1738, and was frequently re-elected till the year 1753; he was also a captain in the Essex militia, and one of the trustees of Sir John Morden's College on Blackheath for decayed merchants, and had a good house at Homerton in Hackney, where he resided some part of the year; but died unmarried at Depden-Hall June 1772, leaving behind him a very great fortune, the bulk of which descended to Richard, son of one of his sisters above-mentioned, who was married to Peter Muilman, of KirbyHall, Essex, esq. an eminent Dutch merchant, younger brother to Henry Muilman, esq. renowned in antient story for having married the once gay, once beautiful Teresia Constantia Phillips, of famous memory, who died some years ago in Jamaica. This gentleman was also an eminent merchant, and married one of the daughters of James Jurin, M. D. some time of Clapton in Hackney. After the death of his uncle, he took the names of Trench Chiswell; and laid out a great deal of money in improv ing and embellishing his estate at Depden. He was F. S. A.; M. P. for Aldborough, in Yorkshire; and assisted in publishing a "History of Essex," in six volumes 8vo, 1772. In an unfortunate derangement of mind, I regiet to add, he destroyed himself, Feb. 3, 1797 (see Gent. Mag. vol. LXVII. pp. 173. 249.) His only daughter and heiress, Mary, married the late Sir Francis Vincent, bart. by whom she had a son, the present Baronet. * A celebrated German Divine. He was Professor of Divinity and the Oriental Languages at Utrecht; and died 1677, aged 87. ↑ Author of The Work of Faith; being a Repetition of some Morning Lectures, 1656," 8vo. John Dunmore, bookseller, sold at his house, near the sign of the Woolpack in Ivy-lane, the Library of Sir Edward Byshe, knt. Clarenceux (the year not mentioned). By MS prices in some of these Catalogues it appears, that one penny was a very common bidding. Mr. Smith's books were sold by Mr. Chiswell in 1682; and I have seen a few of the prices in MS. * Libraries of Mr. Wheatly, minister, near Banbury, and of Simon Rutland, M. D. of Brentwood, sold by auction, at Mr. Bridges's coffee-house, Pope's head alley, April 23, 1683. The interval till 1686 I have not been able to fill up: but in that year I find the Library of Sir Robert Wyseman, Kt. LL. D. sold by Robert Scott. Obadiah Sedgewick, B. D.; Edward Millington, Bookseller, of London, at the Black Swan, Trumpington-street. Physical, of Christopher Terne and Thomas Allen, F. R. SS. and Robert Talbot, Pyretiator; Ditto, at his Auction-room opposite the Black Swan, Ave-Mary-lane. Richard Davis, Bookseller, two parts, Oxford; Millington and Cooper, booksellers, London. Choice English books, all folio, two Wednesdays in May; at Jonathan's coffee-house, Christopher Husseet, Bookseller, Little Britain. Choice books, chiefly of Mr. Francis Bacon; Black Swan, Cambridge, En. Wyre, bookseller. Dr. Bradford, and W. Cooper, A. M. Bridges's coffee-house, Pope's-head-alley. Law books of Sir Richard Weston, Knight, Baron of the Exchequer; Millington. Dr. Edmund Castell §, Professor of Arabic at Cambridge; at the Eagle and Child there, Ditto. *Mr. Bindley possesses the original Sale Catalogue, with the prices and purchasers names. † Of whom see vol. IV. p. 29. "He is a downright honest man; and has always a large stock of books that are very scarce. He is a man of moderation, and my good friend." Dunton, p. 296. § Of whom see memoirs in vol. IV. P. 22. Me |