University of Virginia Library

James Edwards's Auction-Catalogues

James Edwards was best known in his own time for the remarkable dash and skill with which he secured extraordinary books and even whole libraries from the Continent, often acting not far in front of the armies of revolutionary France. This was an area in which his family had not embarked before, and it required formidable financial resources, far beyond what we can reconstruct.[23] He must have had funds from powerful backers who believed in his book-selling genius, probably from wealthy bibliophiles and colleagues in the trade as well as more conventional sources. The four extensive English libraries he had acquired by the end of 1784 and sold successfully through his first catalogue of January 1785 demonstrated his capacity to deal with wholesale transactions, though the returns from the shop must have been comparatively slow, and in his 1787 catalogue he offered works from three more English libraries evidently acquired en bloc. Thereafter his attention was diverted steadily to Continental sources.

By 1789 he had been twice to Italy and elsewhere on the Continent, scouring for books, and his ambition did not flinch at the prospect of acquiring even the largest and most distinguished libraries. Dibdin wrote of the Catalogue des Livres de la Bibliothèque de M. Pierre-Antoine Crevenna, 5 vols. (Amsterdam: chez D.J. Changuion & P. den Hengst, 26 April-15 June 1790): "I possess an interesting copy of the small paper [issue], which has

numerous marginal remarks in pencil, by Mr. Edwards; who examined the library at Amsterdam, with a view to purchase it entire."[24] This would have been an enormous undertaking, but not larger than others which he achieved.

In the summer of 1787, James Edwards made a tour of France, Geneva, and Italy, searching for books with James Robson, Robson's kinsman Robert Faulder, and Peter Molini, with all of whom he later collaborated in publishing books, and in the diary which James Robson kept we can catch occasional glimpses of the pleasures, hazards, and book-successes of the journey. For instance, on Tuesday 31 July 1787 near Geneva

On August 14th they bought £50 worth of books from the Firmian Library in Milan—they had offered £450 for all the English books, but this was refused.

Their visit which was most important in bibliographical terms was on Sunday August 26th:

However, on Wednesday the 29th they "b[ough]t a parcel of the 1400", and eventually they acquired the entire library by offering "a price [about £7,000] which the executors and trustees found it in their interest to accept".[25] The Gentleman's Magazine review of the Pinelli catalogue of Edwards & Robson in January 1789 remarked that "it has been conveyed to England at the great hazard of the sea, during the late severe weather", and "From the unforeseen delay of the books the sale is now to begin [not on 2 March but] on the 20th of April with the second part first".[26]

James Robson at the Three Feathers in New Bond Street worked closely with James Edwards throughout Edwards's career; as well as co-publishing with him a number of books, he appears on the title-page of all his book-auctions, at least as a vendor of the catalogue.

The title-page of the 1789 Pinelli auction-catalogue calls attention to the "unparalleled Collection" of the classics, to incunabula printed on vellum, to manuscripts from the sixth to the sixteenth centuries, and to the "singularly fine Preservation" of the whole library. Oddly enough, the auctioneer is not identified in this or in any of Edwards's other auction-sales, but the address is given: The Great Room in Conduit Street, Hanover Square, where all his later London book-auctions were held. James Robson, Edwards's collaborator, in this sale, had a house in Conduit Street, and the sales were probably held there.[27] It seems likely that Edwards himself was the auctioneer.

The making of the catalogue itself was comparatively simple, for it is "an exact Abridgement, merely for the purpose of sale by auction [of] The Catalogue of the Collection, published by the learned Abbe Morelli, in Six Volumes Octavo" (1787).[28] Its appeal to both classical scholars and Continental buyers is indicated by the prefatory matter in Latin, including even the "Ordo Venditionis". The catalogue had to be issued well in advance of the

sale, so as to reach Continental customers in time; it was reviewed in the Analytical Review for October 1788, and the British Mercury for March 1789 announced that its publisher, Remnant of Hamburg, had for sale "a considerable Number" of copies of the Bibliotheca Pinelliana.

Commencing at last on 20 April 1789, the main sale lasted sixty-one days (if the published sequence was followed), and the 12,859 lots realized £9,356.[29] So extensive was the library that an Appendix was subsequently compiled and issued free to the purchasers of the main catalogue.[30] This added sale lasted from 1 February through 9 March 1790, a further thirty-two days, with 5,722 more lots. The entire sale, lasting ninety-three days, was one of the greatest events of the English book-selling world of the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Bodley's librarian was so enthusiastic that he spent £500 at the Pinelli sale—and then asked for loans from colleges and individuals because the budget was overspent.[31]

However, though the Pinelli sale confirmed the reputation of James Edwards, it did not go far toward establishing his finances, as he later told Lord Glenbervie:

On 8 March 1790, James Edwards was also engaged in a curious sale of Imperial Gold Coins at his own bookshop at 102 Pall Mall. This was not an auction, for, according to the catalogue, there were "Prices Affixed to Each" coin, but the sale seems to have been limited to one day. The 400 lots were priced at 10s.6d. to £31, and Edwards confidently expected them all to be sold immediately, for a note on the title-page verso said: "To prevent any suspicion of partiality, those who intend to become purchasers are desired

to deliver in, on Saturday [6 March], lists of such Medals as they choose, and each list shall be supplied as fully as possible, in the order they shall stand as to value." This implies that the largest purchasers would get the earliest choices. Edwards's confidence in the success of this one-day sale of coins suggests that their value was determined largely by weight. I suspect that Edwards needed to raise money rapidly. I know of no other occasion on which he sold anything else but books, manuscripts, prints, and designs.

One of the largest collections which Edwards helped to dispose of was that of the late Giovanni Battista Paitoni (1703-88) of Venice, which was sold for over forty-three days (9,754 lots) in two parts, from 22 November to 15 December 1790 and from 24 January to 17 February 1791. As with other book-auctions by Edwards, it was held at The Great Room in Conduit Street, Hanover Square, the catalogue was available from James Edwards of Pall Mall and James Robson of New Bond Street, and no auctioneer was named. Who owned the books at the time of the sale is not clear, but as the title-page of the Bibliotheca Paitoniana is very similar to that of the Bibliotheca Pinelliana, which was jointly purchased by Edwards and Robson, it seems reasonable to suppose that they shared the ownership of the Bibliotheca Paitoniana as well, though James Robson signed the Conditions of Sale.

The Preface to the catalogue stated emphatically: "Too much, with Truth, cannot be said in Commendation of the Paitoni-Library; which, in Point of Choice, in most Branches of Science and Polite Literature, in various Languages, but more especially in Italian, is inferior to few; and, with respect to Condition, almost without Exception, is one of the finest ever offered to Public Sale" (p. [iii]). The most important section was that of "The Class of Italian Poetry, Novels and Miscellanies [which] is very complete; including all the best Writers, several of the rarest, and some of the earliest Editions. . . . Of the Italian Theatre there are about 1000 volumes" (pp. iv, v). Indeed, two of the Boccaccios are so rare that they are "not in the Pinelli Catalogue" (p. v). In all probability, Edwards and Robson were the chief suppliers of Italian books to the English market at this period; the Pinelli and Paitoni sales in 1789-91 lasted one hundred and thirty-six days and disposed of 28,335 lots of books.

James Edwards crossed the Channel regularly even after the beginning of the French Revolution. These trips were mostly on his book business, finding new books to import and old libraries to acquire, though occasionally he had confidential government business as well. On 21 September 1790 he wrote to William Roscoe, who was compiling a life of Lorenzo de' Medici, of "a most Valuable Acquisition w.h I have made of the Library of the [late] Marquis de Paris of Paris—the most elegant & Curious that were ever seen together . . . the Cat. shall be sent you soon—they will be sold by Auction at [the] end of next March . . .". And on 7 December 1790 he wrote again: "Besides M.r Paris', I have a smaller Library of choice Italian Literature coming". The identity of the former owners of these books is somewhat obscure. Jean Baptiste Pâris de Meyzieu, Marquis de Paris, died in 1778, and

at least part of his library was sold in 1779. Some of the works sold by Edwards in 1791 had been bought after 1778, presumably by a member of the family, perhaps his nephew, and bound with the Pâris arms, but "the majority includes books which have nothing to do with any Pâris".[33] Perhaps the major collection of books in the 1791 sale was bought in France by M. Laurent, who is listed with Edwards on the auction-title-page—the owner is not mentioned in the "Avis au Public"—and Edwards may have been misled by the identification of several lots (e.g., No. 475, 486) in the French catalogue as from Mr. P's collection and by the ambiguous French title (Bibliotheca . . . Parisina).

The supplementary "Grand Collection of choice Italian Literature" is identified in Edwards's preface as that of Claude d'Urfé, but it was in fact that of Cardinal de Loménie de Brienne. The identity of the second collection is made clear in a note of a conversation between Edwards and Lord Glenbervie on 23 October 1801:

The catalogue was issued in two forms and with three different titlepages. The first (Bibliotheca Elegantissima, Parisina) was in French, it was sold by M. Laurent in Paris and by Edwards in London, it gave the first day of sale as lundi 28 mars 1791, and it did not mention the place of sale (beyond "Londres") or where the books could be seen. The second catalogue (Bibliotheca Parisiana) was in English, and its integral title-page said that it was sold by M. Laurent in Paris, by Edwards in London, and by the principal booksellers throughout Europe, it corrected the date on which the sale began to Monday the 26th of March 1791, and it too neglected to mention where the sale was to be held (beyond "London") or where the books might be seen. Finally and tardily, an English cancel title was issued substituting James Robson in London for M. Laurent in Paris as vendor of the catalogue and giving at last the place of sale (The Great Room in Conduit Street), where presumably the books were also to be seen before the sale. The title-pages spoke of "Books of the Greatest Splendour and Rareness", many "Magnificently printed on Vellum", in the "finest [parfaite] Condition", in bindings "superlatively rich [avec un luxe extraordinaire]", consisting especially of classical authors, "manuscrits avec de superbes miniatures", and books of natural history with coloured engravings and the original designs.

Some of the most remarkable books in this six-day sale were Aldine editions which probably came directly from Italy. Indeed, some of them manifestly did not arrive in London before the sale took place, and the English catalogue-descriptions were derived from information sent from abroad. One copy of the catalogue is inscribed: "Some of the Articles in this Catalogue, not having been received in due time, were sold [by Edwards & Robson] with the books of Sigr Santorio of Venice, May 12th, 1791, & the two following days". Some entries among these Aldines are ghosts,[35] and Renouard in his Catalogue de la Bibliothèque d'un Amateur (1819), IV, 258-259, commented: "C'est bien les plus fautif de tous les catalogues. On y estropie les titres, on y crée des éditions qui jamais n'existèrent". Considering the carefulness of most of Edwards's descriptions, it seems likely that the English catalogue descriptions of the ghosts, and perhaps of all the Aldines, derived from accounts sent him from the Continent of copies he had never seen.

In his preface, Edwards said: "The collection exhibited in this catalogue is, for its number, by far the richest and most valuable ever offered to the Public. . . . most of them are bound by De Rome . . .". This view of its value was clearly accepted by contemporaries, for, according to the exclamatory Dibdin, on Monday 26 March 1791 there were to be seen

Clearly Edwards had judged his market very shrewdly.

Cooperation between French and English booksellers was still possible in revolutionary times, for Edwards's next sale was actually held in Paris, on 12-14 May 1791. It consisted of the library of Signor Santorio, at least some of the books had been intended for the Parisina sale, and Edwards's partner was once again James Robson. The collection must have been extensive, for

the sale lasted three days, but no catalogue seems to have survived, and we know of it only through chance references.

The last auction which James Edwards managed himself was that of the libraries of the late William Wootton and a dead nobleman on 24 February-2 March 1795. The subjects of the books were the conventional ones of an English gentleman, with English history, classics, books of prints, and natural history, but they were "all in the best and finest condition", and the whole was "supposed equal in value (for the quantity) to any ever offered to public Sale". Edwards and Robson were joined as catalogue vendors by the booksellers Thomas Payne and Benjamin White, whom Edwards had described as "pushing at a great rate" in the antiquarian book field, and perhaps the sale was a joint venture of the four of them. No catalogue seems to have survived, and the sale is known only from an advertisement.

James Edwards conducted no more sales himself, but he did have a number of important sales through established auctioneers. The first of these sales was, like Edwards's earlier ones, composed of works from one major library, in this case "From a monastery at Bamberg". According to The Monthly Mirror for April 1798 (Vol. V, p. 230), "EDWARDS, in Pall Mall, is just returned from Italy, where he has purchased many rare and magnificent editions of the classics; he is preparing a catalogue, which is expected to be perfectly unique". Note that Edwards himself "is preparing a catalogue", even though the anonymous sale on 15 June 1799 was by Leigh & Sotheby. Presumably under such conditions, the auctioneer's percentage was reduced a good deal. The sale was apparently not a success, totalling only £156.5.0, not much more than the two Aldines realized at the Santorio sale in Paris in May 1791.

John Nichols commented on James Edwards's short career, "some fortunate purchases on the Continent soon filled up the measure of fortune which his unambitious mind and strong natural sense informed him, was sufficient for all the rational requirements of life."[37] He was ready to use his leisure for further bibliographical work, for Joseph Farington's Diary for 3 July 1801 records that "The [Royal Academy] Council last night . . . resolved to appoint Edwards of Pallmall to arrange and make out a catalogue of the R. Academy",[38] but A Catalogue of the Library of the Royal Academy, London (1802) contains no reference to Edwards. And, not surprisingly, he continued his avocations of collecting books and helping friends to do so:

When James Edwards gave up business about 1800, he must have turned over most of his new and antiquarian stock to his successor in Pall Mall, R. H. Evans.[40] When his business interests were wound up and he was "Retiring into the Country" as "A Gentleman of Distinguished Taste", he sold part of his private collection anonymously at Christie's on 25-28 April 1804. The title-page describes it as "A Splendid Collection", and the books are indeed extraordinarily luxurious. Numbers are "unique", extra-illustrated with original drawings, proofs, etc., printed on vellum, and "superbly" or "sumptuously bound". Probably Edwards had acquired from friendly publishers works such as the Large Paper copy of Hunter's Travels through France, Turkey, Hungary (1803) with coloured plates of which "there were none printed for sale" (No. 138), or the "unique" copies of Bulmer's editions of Goldsmith and Parnell's Poems (1795) and Somervile's Chase (1796) printed on vellum (No. 251-252). Indeed, it seems probable that such vellum copies were printed specially for Edwards. The dates of the books in the sale range from the sixteenth century to 1803, there are a number of Strawberry Hill publications, and the plays include King Lear (1608), Romeo and Juliet (1609), "exceedingly rare" [£4.18.0], Hamlet (1611), and Pericles (1611), as well as all four Shakespeare folios uniformly bound (No. 94-97, 220 [£73. 10.0]). And these of course were just the ephemeral works from his library which he did not care to move into the country.

He sold the rest of his books, under his own name, through his successor R. H. Evans on 5-8, 10-11 April 1815. In his long account of the Sale of Mr. Edwards's Library, Dibdin says that Edwards took a house in town for the season, "and day after day did the owner and the vendor of the library communicate, consult, and proceed to work, in the formation of the catalogue for sale. . . . [The Catalogue] was left exclusively, as to the description of the volumes, to the efficient pen of Mr. Evans. . .".[41] Since Edwards helped Evans with some aspects of the catalogue, he may have had a hand with the

title-page, which speaks of the "Splendid Assemblage of Early Printed Books, Chiefly upon Vellum", of "Important Manuscripts, Many of Them Executed for Sovereign Princes", of "Magnificent Books of Prints", and of "Fine Greek Vases".

There were 830 lots of manuscripts and books plus nine of Greek vases (£2.2.0 to £700).[42] They include many of Edwards's own publications in remarkable states, coloured, on Large Paper, &c., and there were remarkable works of wider interest, such as Opera di Piranesi, "very first impressions of the plates, selected by Mr. E." (No. 211 [£315]); Livy (1469), "the only copy . . . known to exist upon vellum" (No. 278 [£903]); Biblia Pauperum (1440-50) (No. 804 [£210]); Evangeli Quatuor Graece (10th Century) (No. 821 [£210]); and the famous Bedford Missal (No. 830 [£687.15.0]). As a note on No. 809 remarked, "Mr. Edwards . . . from his valuable and extensive correspondence on the continent, obtained more early printed books than were ever imported by any one individnal [sic]". The total was £9,795.18.0, and the average was almost £10 per book, which Dibdin calls "a result, unprecedented in the annals of book-sales".[43]

The sale roused Dibdin to a frenzy of admiration, and in his Bibliographical Decameron (1817) he saluted

Of all book-sales, Dibdin liked best "the last day of the sale of the library of RINALDO".[44]

Very shortly after this sale, Edwards died, and presumably his property went to his widow. There were only three more sales of his property, each rather surprising. On 15 July 1820 Christie sold "Original Miniatures of the Stuart Family" belonging to J. Edwards (No. 69-94, £262.10.0) and gave something of their history. The miniatures were sold again by order of the assignees at Christie's on 3 February 1827 to the Rev. Mr Thomas Butt of Kinnersley, Shropshire, who had married James Edwards's widow in November 1820.[45] They stayed in the family until 13 June 1928, when they were sold at Christie's (No. 45-54) for the late Captain J.H. Edwards-Heathcote, the great grandson of James Edwards.

The last catalogue explained that at the Glorious Revolution of 1688, these miniatures had gone into exile with James II, and, at his temporary home at St Germain as the guest of Louis XIV, James had given them to his host. In 1801 they were given by George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer, bibliophile and First Lord of the Admirality (1794-February 1801) to James Edwards "in return for a [secret] Diplomatic Mission to France".[46] James Edwards's excellent connections in both France and England had served more causes than that of bibliography.