[CLARKE, William].

Repertorium Bibliographicum; or, Some Account of the Most Celebrated British Libraries.

Engraved frontis., nine engraved plates (all somewhat foxed as is usual), & two woodcut ports. in the text. [iii]-vi, [2], vii-xlviii pp., one leaf, 138, 133*-138*, 139-78, [2], 179-392, [2], [393]-[454], 449*-454*, [455]-672, [1] pp. Tall 8vo, cont. dark red straight-grained morocco, sides panelled in an elaborate gilt design, spine richly gilt, a.e.g. London: W. Clarke, 1819.

First edition, and an unusually lovely copy, of a book which is today rather scarce. This is a descriptive account of the great British public and private libraries, with much information on libraries dispersed at auction and with an extensive index. Highlights of each collection are described. Archer Taylor considers this an excellent book about public, private, and sale catalogues. Clarke was matched only by Dibdin for providing first-hand information on all the great collectors of the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Britain.

Bound-in at the end, as is sometimes the case, is William Wynken’s A Dialogue in the Shades, between William Caxton, Fodius, a Bibliomanic, and William Wynken, Clerk [8 pp.; London, 1817] and A Ballad entitled Rare Doings at Roxburghe Hall [8 pp., London, n.d.].

A fine and handsome copy with the bookplates of Charles Henry Turner, John William Pease, and Lord Wardington. Lacks half-title.

❧ Taylor, Book Catalogues, pp. 39-41–“A good book about library catalogues…The unique feature that commends the Repertorium to me is the ‘Index of Books’ (pp. 603-673). Accounts of collectors and collections do not usually offer the reader the assistance of such an index.”.

Price: $3,500.00

Item ID: 2597