Sketches of Booksellers of Other Days. By E. Marston. (Sampson
Low, Marston, and Co. 5s.)—Mr. Marston has done all that was possible for his subject, but that has sometimes been but little. The two conspicuously best of these eight papers are VII. and VIII., dealing with William Shelton and Thomas Lackington. Both of these men told their own story, and the only difficulty here has been to choose. About the others, as booksellers, we do not really hear much, doubtless because there is not much to be heard. And what Mr. Marston says of Samuel Richardson is to a certain extent true of others. They were more properly printers than booksellers. Of bookselling proper we hear more from Lackington than from all the others put together. A very interesting book might be made if we could only get at the materials. Probably they do not exist. What a pity it is that the late Mr. Bernard Quaritch did not put down his experiences. His was, of course, bookselling and bookbuying in excelsis. There have been other less exalted personages who would have had much that was interesting to tell us if they had only thought it worth while. Some of our older readers will remember Baldock, who had a shop in High Holborn that was crammed with second- hand books from cellar to attic. What a book he might have written about the trade if he had thought fit ! One thing would have gone near to breiking his heart if he had lived down to the present day, the " slump " that has come to pass in classical books. Only the editiones principes have kept up their price.
Previous page
