The Edition of this Volume XVIII of AMERICAN BOOKPRICES CURRENT is limited to Five Hundred and Forty Copies BOOK-PRICES CURRENT A RECORD OF BOOKS, MANUSCRIPTS, AND AUTOGRAPHS THE PRICES REALIZED COMPILED FROM THE AUCTIONEERS' CATALOGUES OF LUTHER S. LIVINGSTON NEW YORK DODD AND LIVINGSTON 1912 THE PREFACE HE present volume of American Book-Prices Current includes a large selection from Parts II. and III. of the great library brought together by the late Robert Hoe, sold by the Anderson Auction Company, Part II. on January 8 to 19, and Part III. April 15 to 26. The sale of Part I., on April 24 to May 5, 1911, was reported in the 1911 volume, and that of Part IV., on November 11 to 22, 1912, will be included in the 1913 volume of this compilation. As at the date of writing the final sale has taken place and the library all dispersed, here, perhaps, will be the best place to bring together a few notes regarding the library and the man who formed it. It has always seemed very fitting that Robert Hoe, of the third generation of his family to be engaged in the manufacture of printing presses, should have been a collector of printed books. In the forty years or more during which he was active in the Hoe business no man did more to cheapen printing processes, and the Hoe presses made possible the cheap newspapers, cheap magazines, and cheap books of our day. But no one realized better than he that the older, slower, and more expensive processes in use before the invention of the rotary press made the better books. The Hoe library was the result of just about a half century of collecting. As a young man Mr. Hoe bought finely printed English books, such as those produced by the Chiswick press for William Pickering. Later he bought older books from famous Continental presses, illuminated manuscripts, and printed Books of Hours, which he greatly admired and of which he gathered a notable collection. His early interest in old English books is shown by the fact that he gave encouragement and financial assistance to David G. Francis in reprinting Collier's "Bibliographical Account of the Rarest Books in the English Language," published in 1866. In 1880 he edited a new edition of Maberly's "Print Collector." In January, 1884, with William Loring Andrews, Theodore L. De Vinne, Brayton Ives, and a few others, he organized the Grolier Club, and he was its first president. He was for many years a liberal bidder at most of the important book V sales in America and abroad. In the early days he and Mr. Andrews used to send their bids together to some of the English auction sales; then when the purchases were received the two would draw lots to see which would have first choice. The most important book awarded in this manner was the First Folio Shakespeare, which they bought at the Syston Park sale in December, 1884, for £590. When the box was opened it was Mr. Hoe's good luck to secure first pick. The folio brought $13,000 at the sale. In the late eighties when Almon W. Griswold was selling the last of his books, the greatest treasures were about equally divided between Mr. Hoe and Mr. Church. Out of the last batch which Griswold brought in a tin box in a cab to Dodd, Mead & Company's store, Mr. Hoe secured one of his best Caxton's, the superb Charlemont copy of Higden's "Polycronicon" (1482); Pynson's edition of Lydgate's "Siege and Destruction of Troy" (1513); and his large paper set of Ben Jonson's "Works" (1616-1640); while Mr. Church got Shakespeare's "Sonnets" (1609), the grand Daniel copy; the first edition of Sidney's "Arcadia" (1590); and "Dives and the Pauper" (1493), one of the earliest and most important books from Pynson's press. Mr. Hoe did not buy libraries entire as several American collectors have done, though he was the actual purchaser of the library of Mrs. Abby E. Pope, of Brooklyn, sold in 1895, after her death, by her husband, Norton Q. Pope. From the collection he selected the books he wanted, and the balance, the greater portion, was put upon the market. From the Pope collection he secured his two finest Caxtons, the "Morte d'Arthur" and the Gower, most of his Shakespeare quartos, and a good many other books, including some of his rarest Americana. Up to that time he had taken no interest in Americana, but even Mr. Hoe could not resist the attractions of Smith's "New York," large paper and uncut, Filson's "Kentucky," with the map, and Horsmanden's "Negro Plot," in the original boards and uncut, and similar books. A little later, when the wonderful collection of Americana gathered together by Charles H. Kalbfleisch, a collector of knowledge, discrimination, and courage known to few, was being broken up and distributed, the books were mainly acquired by either Mr. Hoe or Mr. Lefferts. In order that he might not miss any opportunities Mr. Hoe bought almost everything that was offered to him, and turned over what he did not want himself to a firm of Fifth Avenue booksellers, through whose hands they passed into the Church collection. |