University of Virginia Library

From Medicine To Books

Born in 1899, he quitted his
native New York City at the age of
23 to study medicine at St. Bartholomews
Hospital in London. The
transition from medicine to books
And prints arose from his fascination
with the subject of evolution,
which prompted him to gather
books And manuscripts on theories
And histories of evolution. He discovered
previously unknown works
on the subject And eventually
gathered over a thousand rare
books dealing with the evolutionary
writings.

After this initial contact with
rare books he began speculating in
editions which he felt would increase
in value. The day author
D.H. Lawrence died Victorius sent
letters to book dealers all over
England asking to buy all of their
first edition copies of Lawrence's
books. He quickly cornered the
market And soon his bunch that
Lawrence's literary reputation
would grow proved lucratively correct.
Critics were re-reviewing Lawrence's
works And praising them
highly, making it possible for Victorius
to resell some of the books
three weeks later for ten times what
he had paid for them.

Eventually he gave up his medical
studies And became the purchasing
agent for the rare And out of
print book departments of Columbia
And London Universities, as well
as several U.S. bookstores. Along
with this job he opened his own
rare books shop in London in 1925,
operating it until World War II
began. Victorius was in the United
States when the war broke out so
his holdings, which by this time
included rare prints as well as rare
books, were shipped to the States.
The collection of prints was a natural
by-product of rare book interest
And dealing. Many books
were illustrated by means of original
prints, And artists often had
their series of prints bound in
volumes.