University of Virginia Library

The "Edwardses of Halifax" as Booksellers by Catalogue 1749-1835
by
G. E. Bentley, Jr.

The Yorkshire family known as Edwards of Halifax was famous for almost a century in the book trade, first as provincial booksellers and publishers of growing ambition and success, then as bookbinders and book-decorators of extraordinary taste and originality, and finally as metropolitan booksellers and publishers at the head of the trade.[1] The title "Edwards of Halifax" applies primarily to the technique they invented and patented for painting under the surface of vellum—these distinctive bindings were apparently never signed, and, as we do not know precisely when or by whom they were made, we call them "Edwards of Halifax" bindings. The members of the family

were close-knit: they assisted one another, published books jointly, and probably bound works in the same style. It is therefore convenient to refer to the family as Edwards of Halifax, even though three of its members moved to London, where they were remarkably successful, both in collecting and selling old books and in publishing illustrated books. James Edwards was perhaps the most important antiquarian bookseller of his time,[2] and his brother Richard was the sole publisher of the great folio edition of Young's Night Thoughts (1797) for which William Blake made his most ambitious series of book illustrations.[3]

There were three generations of Edwardses active in the book trade in Halifax, as may be seen from the accompanying chart.

The first and most shadowy of the Edwardses of Halifax is RICHARD Edwards (1691-1767), stationer and schoolmaster. His son WILLIAM Edwards (1722-1808) was a provincial publisher and a major bookseller who distributed important books across Britain from his Halifax bookshop, and he and his sons perfected techniques of vellum decoration and fore-edge painting which became famous in his day and remain so in ours. At least four of his sons followed him in the business: JAMES Edwards (1756-1816), JOHN Edwards (1758-91), THOMAS Edwards (1762-1834), and RICHARD Edwards (1768-1827). James and John first worked in the Halifax shop and then went to London in 1784 to set up a new business as Edwards & Sons at 102 Pall Mall; John died in Paris in 1791; and James retired from the book-world in 1800, rich in honour and profit. Thomas continued with the Halifax shop until he wound it up about 1826. And Richard opened a third Edwards bookshop at 142 New Bond Street, London, about 1789, from which he retired in 1798 to take up a position with government in Minorca.

Of these three bookshops in Halifax, in Pall Mall, and in New Bond Street, the most important were those in Halifax and Pall Mall; both issued major catalogues of antiquarian books, were widely known in the trade, and published books of some ambition. Richard Edwards in New Bond Street was altogether more humble in ambition and accomplishment; he produced no catalogue, he was only slightly known in the trade, and, apart from works in which he was only a minor member of a publishers' conger, his publications were unimportant religious and political pamphlets—with the exception of Young's Night Thoughts (1797). The catalogues published by William Edwards (1722-1808), by James Edwards (1756-1816), and by Thomas Edwards (1762-1834) provide much of the detailed information which survives about their activities as antiquarian booksellers and book-collectors and tell us a good deal about their publications, their bindings, and their fore-edge paintings. The catalogues are hard to find, and a number of them are known only from advertisements and correspondence. It is therefore worthwhile to assemble information about them here.

William Edwards's Auctions 1749-1760

Of Richard Edwards (?1691-1767), little is known other than that he was a schoolmaster and stationer. His son William (1722-1808) apparently started the family tradition of being simultaneously bookseller, bookbinder, and publisher.

He seems to have started selling books by auction about the same time (1749) as he commenced publishing. There are advertisements in the newspapers for seven sales by Edwards (sometimes William Edwards) in Halifax from 1749 through 1760; the first of these was in conjunction with the Halifax bookseller Nathanial Binns, and the rest were by Edwards alone. No surviving catalogue has been traced, so little can be learnt of these sales. In particular, it is difficult to gauge how extensive they were, for at least two sales of books (those of 1749 and 1759) began on a specified date and continued "every Evening till they were Sold". Only one collector is named in the advertisements, and the contents are described merely as "Choice and valuable Books" or as "Books on Divinity, History, Law, Physick, Antiquities, Voyages, Travels, and Miscellanies", a common country gentleman's range of interests. The sales did not take place in Edwards's shop or in a regular auction room but at The Old Cock Inn in Halifax.

Edwards does not seem to have acted as agent for the vendors, taking a percentage of the prices at which the works were sold, as an ordinary auctioneer might do. Instead, he seems to have sold his own books at auction, presumably as a way of realizing cash on them more quickly than he could in his shop. At any rate, at his auction of 1760 he sold "part of several libraries lately purchased", indicating that they had already been paid for, presumably by the auctioneer. The sales are infrequent, not quite one a year from 1754 through 1760, mostly in the autumn, and it is likely that they served primarily as a priming-device for William Edwards's secondhand

book business, drawing attention to it, bringing in sudden infusions of money, and making it possible for him to purchase stock on a larger scale, sometimes whole libraries at a time, such as that of the Rev. Mr. Nathaniel Makant in 1754.

The William Edwards auctions thus far recorded cover only 1749-1760;[6] apparently when he became firmly established as a bookseller he discontinued the practice. So far as I have ascertained, William Edwards never issued a catalogue of the stock of his shop. For that matter, neither did his son Richard. It was only his most successful sons James and Thomas who published catalogues of their book-stock. James did so almost as soon as he had established himself in London.

James Edwards's Shop-Catalogues

When James and John Edwards came to London in 1784, they established themselves in fashionable premises at 102 Pall Mall, and this is the address given on their catalogues from January 1785 through 1791.[7] In 1794 James Edwards moved to what is now 70 Pall Mall, and he paid the rates there until 1810,[8] though by the end of that time he had moved to Harrow. His catalogue of 1794 gives the address as 78 Pall Mall and that of 1796 as 77 Pall Mall-perhaps one number was a mistake, or perhaps the building was re-numbered in the interim.

The shop quickly attracted both the learned and the fashionable. According to the bibliographical anecdotalist William Below, who was almost his exact contemporary, James Edwards

His manners were as attractive as his manuscripts, and James Edwards's first catalogue of his shop-stock established him immediately as among the most important antiquarian booksellers of his time, a time which was just beginning to indulge extensively a relish for fine books. The works most eagerly sought were incunabula, and the most anxious competition was over works printed on vellum and preserved in elegant bindings. Such works James Edwards from the first proved adept at securing,[10] and, equally important, he proved himself adept first in winning the confidence of major collectors and then in becoming friends with them.

His first catalogue is thus described by the careful and responsible John Nichols:

It is surprising that no copy of this superlatively "splendid" and "truly valuable" catalogue has been traced. As a consequence of its rarity, its character and even date are uncertain. On 24 July 1784 James Edwards wrote to the ambitious bibliophile Richard Bull that This letter implies that the catalogue would not be finished before about October 1784. Since we know from newspaper advertisements that James Edwards's Catalogue of Books for "January 1785" was ready on 4 January 1785, and since it is unlikely that he had two major catalogues ready within three months, it seems probable that James Edwards's Catalogue mentioned in the advertisements is the same as the Edwards and Sons catalogue mentioned by Nichols; after all, James Edwards's Catalogue was "to be had of Edwards and Sons", among others, though the "Sons" mentioned here are Thomas and Richard in Halifax, rather than James and John in London.

The first London catalogue was clearly seen as related to the Halifax shop, for not only was the first of its vendors named as Edwards and Sons, Halifax, but it was available "Also of the Booksellers at York, Leeds, Wakefield, Manchester and Rochdale", all of them much more in the sphere of influence of Halifax than in that of London.[15]

Note that the advertisements speak vaguely of "above Thirty-Thousand . . . of the scarcest and most valuable Articles on various Subjects" and that the four libraries of which it was chiefly composed (according to Nichols) are not identified there. Further, the libraries, at least so far as they are described, are conspicuously English. Thereafter James Edwards secured his best books and reputation from the Continent, and he advertised both the gems of the collection and their immediate provenance in large letters.

The "success" of the catalogue was apparently as "splendid" as its merit. James Edwards's reputation for taste, judgment, fair prices, and ability to produce remarkable books was firmly established by this 1785 catalogue, and he went on from success to success. In 1786 James Edwards outbid the agent of the King to secure the Bedford Book of Hours at £225.15.0, and "His fame as a Bibliographer was now completely established".[16]

In all, he produced six catalogues of the stock of his shop, in January 1785, in May 1787, in 1789, in 1790, in 1794, and in 1796. These catalogues

were available not only from the bookshop of James Edwards but also from those of Thomas Payne in Mews Gate (1785), of Joseph Johnson in Paternoster Row (1785, 1789, 1790), and of Edwards (and Sons) in Halifax (1785, 1787, 1789, 1790). Thereafter James Edwards felt able to stand on his own feet unaided, and his name alone appears on the catalogues of 1794 and 1796. It is striking that the name of James Robson, with whom he collaborated closely and continuously in his book-auction-catalogues, never appears on his shop-catalogues.

His first shop-catalogues were not so much notices of what he had in his shop as they were advertisements of his acquisitions of whole libraries. The 1787 title-page mentions three libraries, though the former owner of only one is identified (J. Mainwaring). The books singled out are divided into two categories, Ancient and Modern. In the former category, attention is drawn to illuminated missals, manuscripts of English history, publications of Caxton and other printers of incunabula, books printed on vellum, and early chronicles, poetry, and topography. Among the best Modern Books, the ones considered worthy of special mention were works printed (at Horace Walpole's press) at Strawberry Hill, illustrated books on birds, insects, shells, vegetables, vases, archaeology, voyages, and fine art (Van Dyke, Claude, the Vatican ceiling),[17] many "in the most elegant Bindings". These elegant bindings were probably often in the style of Edwards of Halifax; at least one (No. 83) is said to be "bound in the Etruscan stile", which the Edwards binders had made peculiarly their own. The catalogue is clearly aimed not at country gentlemen but at cosmopolitan bibliophiles, though there are many novels in English, Italian, and French for the pleasure of the less discriminating.

Edwards's next catalogue of about eighteen months later (1789) stressed on the title-page both Ancient and Modern Books as before, but the range of subjects was wider ("Every Branch of Pleasing and Useful Science"), and the focus of admiration was narrower, on Magnificent Books of Prints beautifully coloured and in elegant and splendid Bindings. It was half again as large as his previous catalogue (202 compared with 140 pages) and was the catalogue of his shop which pleased Edwards most:

The James Edwards catalogue of [?March] 1790 is similar to that of 1789, though larger (245 compared with 202 pages) and specifying on the title-page "the choicest part of the Libraries of Monsignor Salichetti, of Rome; of Cav. Zanetti, of Venice; and an Assortment of the rarest and most esteemed Articles collected in various Parts of Europe". This stress upon works bought on the Continent was of course particularly remarkable during the turmoil engendered by the French Revolution. It was the insecurity created by this turmoil which made it possible for Edwards to acquire such libraries so readily; according to William Beloe, "by following the rear of the French armies, he might on easy terms obtain his choice of what he most wanted . . .".[19] Some of these books acquired on the Continent were probably put into the elegant bindings advertised on the title-page after they reached England.

After producing four catalogues of the stock available at his shop in six years (1785-90), Edwards waited four years before he published another. He was, of course, not idle during these years, for from 1789 through 1795 he collected works for six important auction sales (see below), mostly of works secured from the Continent. Probably he could not afford to finance these purchases by the slow, piecemeal sale of their contents, and the auction provided a quicker way of recovering his capital. The travels incident to acquiring these books and the labour of cataloguing them on his return, plus his vigorous publishing business being established at the same time, prevented him from making new catalogues of his shop-stock. These large catalogues of course required endless labour; on 20 December 1793 Edwards wrote to William Roscoe: "My Attention has been so wholly directed to a Catalogue for the last 6 M.s that I scarcely know how my regular Business has been going on".[20]

The [January] 1794 Catalogue is yet larger than that of 1790 (320 compared with 245 pages), though there are about the same number of lots (almost 7,000). The title follows the 1790 formula, though it claims to be "A Very Select Collection" rather than merely "A Select Collection". The catalogue listed, inter alia, Chinese paintings, a Koran written in gold (No. 1,192), a manuscript collection of Persian poetry (No. 1,197), Didot's and Bodoni's splendid editions, coloured prints, incunabula, a receipt for £200,000 "for betraying Charles I", and numerous publications by James Edwards. It maintained the high standard of accuracy established in his earlier catalogues, and Thomas Frognall Dibdin quoted a description from it "out of respect to the bibliographical talents of Mr. Edwards. His catalogues are full of curiosities; and his descriptions of, and observations upon, rare and beautiful books, are accurate and interesting."[21]

Edwards's last shop-catalogue, of [February] 1796, has the least exclamatory title-page, is about the same length as that of 1794 (316 compared with 314 pages), and has about ten percent more entries (7,743 compared with 6,694). It was apparently accompanied by engraved "specimens" which have not been traced. To a modern eye, the prices seem admirably modest: the second Shakespeare folio is offered at £3.3.0 (No. 962) and £1.5.0 (No. 963, lacking the title-page), and even incunabula are within reason, such as Gutenberg's Bible at £126 (No. 1).[22]

English shop-catalogues before 1800 are not common. Those which James Edwards produced in 1787, 1789, 1790, 1794, and 1796 are among the most extensive and distinguished which survive. The amount of information given about books is surprisingly full, and the accuracy is in general admirable. James Edwards would be memorable for these shop-catalogues, even had he confined his work to them.

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.

Thomas Edwards's Sales Catalogues

As a provincial bookseller and publisher, Thomas Edwards is an altogether more shadowy figure than his brother James in London. He was, however, a bookseller of some importance, as his dozen or so sales catalogues demonstrate.

Of the first two, a shop-catalogue of books in April 1812 and another in May 1812 of prints, drawings, and pictures, we know only from a manuscript letter. The third is a shop-catalogue of August 1815 specializing in law and jurisprudence (516 lots) and medicine (918 lots). Much more ambitious was his general catalogue in 1815 of "Books, in Most Languages, and Every Branch of Literature", Part I. The reference to "Unique and Splendid Articles, collected from various Parts of Europe . . . many in elegant Bindings", makes it sound like the stock of his brother James; certainly it listed many publications by James and Richard Edwards and books superbly bound [by Edwards of Halifax] in Etruscan calf (e.g., No. 1,285). Part II, the Appendix and Supplement, appeared in 1816 "Containing all the rarest Articles from the Cabinet of an Eminent Collector", unfortunately unnamed. The titlepage stressed French books, emblem books, incunabula, and illuminated missals,

as well as works in mathematics, law, medicine, arts and sciences, perhaps from his general stock.

It cannot have been easy to sell bibliographical treasures in Halifax, and most of the rest of Thomas Edwards's catalogues were of auctions in London and Manchester. The first of these was the anonymous sale by Saunders in London on 30 March-16 April 1818 of some of the more remarkable books in his stock—2,232 lots in all, over sixteen days. The title-page described it as "one of the most rich and splendid Collections ever submitted to the Public", singling out particularly the bindings of unusual taste and splendour. Some of these were in the Edwards of Halifax Etruscan style.

Thomas Edwards's last shop-catalogue was issued in 1821, but it is so fugitive that only one copy has been traced.[47] It listed over three thousand works, including at least ten with Edwards fore-edge paintings, and the 537 drawings (£300) which William Blake had made for the edition of Young's Night Thoughts published by Thomas's brother Richard Edwards in 1797. But the Blakes were unsaleable at £300 or anything like it, and this and others of Thomas Edwards's best works proved to be too good for his market.

Five years later Thomas Edwards had determined on retiring from business, and he printed in Halifax two catalogues of selections from his stock in trade which were sold at auction by Thomas Winstanley & Co. in Manchester, the first of books on 1-2 May 1826 and the second of art works on 15-16 May. The first covered the standard antiquarian bookseller's range of "The Best Works in Divinity, Poetry, . . . Belles Lettres, . . . History, Biography, Topography, Antiquities, Voyages and Travels, . . . Natural History and Botany, . . . Encyclopedias, . . . Books of Prints, and . . . Illuminated Missals", plus the best recent works, especially those "Richly Illustrated with Plates". These modern works included many publications by James, Richard, and Thomas Edwards. The text drew attention particularly to the "splendid, costly" bindings in which "The greater part" of the collection of 1,465 lots were bound-an extraordinary claim: "In the superintendance of this department [Etruscan bindings, . . . with matchless and unique Drawings on the leaves], the utmost care and expence has been lavished on the part of Mr. Edwards. . . . it is seldom that a collection is seen altogether, displaying, in its binding, . . . such general excellence and perfection of the Art" (p. iv). Among the rest was the set of Blake's Night Thoughts drawings (No. 1,076), which had not sold at £300 in 1821 and which did not meet its reserve of £50 in 1826. The sale was a failure, and most of the items were withdrawn and placed in private sale. A notice was circulated about the

Winstanley seems to have provided a shop sale for the books Thomas Edwards had brought to Manchester and been unable to sell at auction.

The art sale of 15-16 May 1826 consisted of engravings, drawings, oil paintings, painted glass, and carvings on ivory; the extensive title-page drew attention particularly to works of the modern English school of engravers and to the modern English drawings, and one suspects that at least some of them had passed to Thomas Edwards in Halifax from his brothers James Edwards and Richard Edwards in London, as Blake's Night Thoughts drawings had.

By 1828 Thomas Edwards had left Halifax, and what appears to be the last of his shop-stock was sold in London by Stewart, Wheatley, & Adlard on 15-24 May 1828.[49] It was described as "One of the most magnificent Assemblages of Missals, Illuminated Manuscripts, and Illustrated Books ever offered for public Sale", being especially strong in English and classical literature and fine bindings, including Etruscan bindings. It realized £4,640.6.6, but Blake's Night Thoughts drawings were bought in at £52.10.0—and apparently have not since been offered at public sale.[50]

Finally Thomas Edwards's personal library, along with that of the late John Bowden, was sold by Southgate & Son, London, on 9-16 March 1835. Unfortunately the catalogue does not indicate which books belonged to Thomas Edwards and which to Bowden. This is the last catalogue in which books from the family of Edwards of Halifax were gathered for sale.

The shop- and auction-catalogues of the various branches of the firm of Edwards of Halifax span almost a hundred years (1749-1835) and indicate the growth and resources of a remarkable family book business. Through them we can also glimpse the development from provincial to metropolitan standards and the development of the antiquarian book-trade from casual adolescence into responsible maturity. Just as book-publishers developed from being socially negligible shopmen in the seventeenth century to patrons of literature in the eighteenth, antiquarian booksellers grew from being dealers in dusty used books before about 1760 to being the acquaintances and the friends of the rich and the great thereafter. The development from Pope's scurrilous Curll in the 1720s to Dr Johnson's patron Edward Cave in the 1740s to Cowper's friend and Mary Wollstonecraft's mentor Joseph Johnson in the 1780s is paralleled by the development from William Edwards as a provincial bookseller in the 1750s, none of whose catalogues seems to survive, to his son James Edwards in the 1780s, who outbid his king for books, who bought and sold libraries which were the envy of all Europe, who was the friend of Lord Orford (Horace Walpole) and of Earl Spencer, and who declined payment in gold for secret services to his country. It is a long road from Edmund Curll grovelling in Pope's mire to James Edwards, cultivated by noblemen and thanked by Government. The mapping of much of the end of this route is made possible by the Edwards of Halifax catalogues.

These catalogues are the chief means we have of knowing about some of the most enterprising and successful antiquarian booksellers of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and they also throw valuable light upon their activities as bookbinders, fore-edge-painters, and publishers. They have been treasured by specialist collectors and scholars for two hundred years and more—and yet it is remarkable that, of the thirty-seven catalogues of which we have record, only twenty-four have survived, or at least have come to my attention. Of thirteen catalogues, there is now no trace,[51] yet some at least of these missing catalogues were considered by contemporaries to be of major importance. Book-sale catalogues are of great interest to historians of the book-trade, and only recently have a few enlightened libraries besides Bodley and the British Library actively searched out and eagerly welcomed such works. Their riches may have been too tardily recognized. Something at least of the riches of the catalogues of Edwards of Halifax has been mooted here.

Bibliography of Edwards Catalogues

WILLIAM EDWARDS[52]

• 1749 Nov 10 ff ("every Evening till all are Sold")
• Auction by Nathaniel Binns & William Edwards at The Cock Inn, Halifax, of Books on Divinity, History, Law, Physick, Antiquities, Voyages, Travels, and Miscellanies (advertisement in the Leeds Mercury, 7 Nov 1749).
• 1754 December 14
• Catalogue of the Library of the Rev. Mr. Nathaniel Makant sold by [?William] Edwards (advertisements in the Leeds Intelligencer, 26 Nov 1754, and York Courant 26 Nov 1754).
• 1755 October 11
• [?William] Edwards auction (advertisements in the Leeds Intelligencer, 16 Sept 1755 ff., and York Courant, 7 Oct 1755).
• 1757 October 30
• [?William] Edwards auction (advertisements in the Leeds Intelligencer, 5 Oct 1756, and York Courant, 26 Oct 1756).
• 1757 October 22
• William Edwards auction (advertisement in the Leeds Intelligencer, 18 Oct 1757).
• 1759 October 27 ff
• William Edwards "Catalogue of Choice and valuable Books which will be sold by Auction at The Old Cock, in Halifax, on Saturday the 27th of October 1759 at Five o'clock in the Evening and to Continue every Evening (Sundays excepted) till all are sold" (advertisement in the Union Journal or Halifax Advertiser, 16 Oct 1759, p. 4).
• 1760 March 22
• Edwards auction Catalogue "of very scarce and valuable Old Books in Divinity, part of several libraries lately purchased" to be sold at The Old Cock (advertisement in the Union Journal or Halifax Advertiser, 11 March 1766, p. 3).

JAMES EDWARDS

• James Edwards's Catalogue (Jan 1785)
• TITLE: James Edwards's Catalogue of Books, containing above Thirty-Thousand Volumes, amongst which are many curious MSS. and a Collection of the scarcest and most valuable Articles on various Subjects, which will begin to be sold (for ready money) January 1785. Catalogues to be had of Edwards and Sons, Halifax; Messrs. Paynes, Mews Gate; Mr. Johnson, St. Paul's Church-yard, and J. Edwards, no. 102 Pall Mall, London. Also of the Booksellers at York, Leeds, Wakefield, Manchester, and Rochdale.
• COPY SEEN: None. Advertisements for it as above, announced as "Just Published",

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  appeared in the Leeds Mercury for 4 Jan 1785, and similar ones were placed in the Leeds Intelligencer and the Manchester Mercury of the same date.[53]
• A Catalogue of . . . Ancient and Modern Books (May 1787)
• TITLE-PAGE: A | CATALOGUE | OF A | SELECT AND VALUABLE | COLLECTION | OF | ANCIENT and MODERN BOOKS, | IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES. | CONTAINING | A considerable Number of very rare and curious Articles in | the finest Condition. | ALSO, | An extensive Assortment of the best Modern Books in the most | elegant Bindings. | Including the libraries of the late J. MAINWARING,[54] M.D. an eminent CIVILIAN, | and a celebrated COLLECTOR, deceased. | AMONG OTHERS EQUALLY CURIOUS ARE, |[55] Caxton's Game of Chesse, | Caxton's Chaucer. | Caxton's Cato. | Caxton's Alain Chartier. | Caxton's Catherine of Senes. | Caxton's Bull of Pope Innocent for the Marriage of Henry VII. and Eliza-|beth of York. | Several by Wynken de Worde, | Pynson, Maclinia, and other | early Printers. Books printed on Vellum. | Books printed at Strawberry-Hill | Sir William Dugdale's Works. | Most of the scarce English Topographical | Histories. | Early English Poetry. | Chronicles, by Froissart, Higden, Hollinshed, Hall, Grafton, Fabian, &c. | Romans de Chevalrie de la Table | ronde | Illuminated Missals and MSS. | MSS. on English History and Antiqui-|ties. | Buffon's Birds, coloured, 5 vol. Mo-|rocco.|[55] Hill's Vegetable System, coloured. 26 | vol. | Merian's Surinam Insects, coloured. | Knorr's Shells, coloured. | Martyn's Shells, painted. | Lister's Shells, orig: edit. large paper. | Hamilton's Sicilies, Coloured, | 3 vol. | --- Etruscan Vases, coloured, | 4 vol. | Antiquities of Herculaneum, 7 vol. | Voyages Pittoresques de la Grèce, de | Naples, de France, de Sicile, de | Suisse, &c. 18 vol. | Houbraken's Heads, large paper. | Perrauld Hommes Illustres, lar. pap. | Vandyke's Heads. | Claude's Drawings, Proofs. | Pilastres of the Vatican, COLOURED. Cielings of the Vatican, COLOURED. Oeuvres de Buffon, 33 vol. complete. | --- de Voltaire, 30 vol. | --- de Rousseau, 30 vol. | Tasso, 3 vol: 4to. par Didot. | Which will begin to be sold, for Ready Money, at the Prices | fixed in the Catalogue, and marked in the first Leaf of each | Book, in May 1787, at | EDWARDS's, N°. 102, Pall-Mall. | *** The full Value given for any Library or Parcel of Books. | CATALOGUES to be had of Mr. Johnson, No. 172, St. | Paul's Church-Yard, and at the Place of Sale; also at Ed-|wards's, Halifax.
• COLLATION: Octavo: [a]1 A-R4 S2
• CONTENTS: Title-page (p. [i]); index (p. [ii]); A CATALOGUE, &c. (pp. [1]-141 [i.e., 140]).
• PLATE: None.
• COPY SEEN: Cambridge University Library.
• NOTES: The lots are numbered 1-3,255, with some extra entries with duplicate numbers and asterisks; the list is not alphabetical. In the catalogue itself, there is no indication of which books belonged to J. Mainwaring and which to "A Celebrated Collector", etc.
• Bibliotheca Pinelliana (1789)
• TITLE-PAGE: BIBLIOTHECA PINELLIANA. | [rule] | A | CATALOGUE | Of the MAGNIFICENT and CELEBRATED | LIBRARY | OF | MAFFEI PINELLI, | Late of Venice: | Comprehending an unparalleled Collecton of the Greek, | Roman and Italian Authors, | FROM THE ORIGIN OF PRINTING: | With many of the Earliest Editions printed upon Vellum, | and finely illuminated; | A curious Greek and considerable Number of Latin Manuscripts, | of the XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV and

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  XVI. Centuries; | And the completest Specimen hitherto known to exist, of an Instrument | written upon the Ancient Egyptian Papyrus, A.D. 572. | The whole LIBRARY is in singularly fine Preservation, | And will be SOLD by AUCTION, | On Monday March 2, 1789, and the Twenty-two following Days [2-7, 9-14, 16-21, 23-28 March], | (Sundays excepted); The Sale afterwards to re-commence on | Monday, April 20, and continue the following Thirty-six [i.e., 37] Days [20-25, 27-30 April, 1-2, 4-9, 11-16, 18-23, 25-30 May, 1-2 June], | (Sundays excepted), | At the Great Room, opposite the CHAPEL, | In CONDUIT STREET, HANOVER SQUARE, | LONDON: | To begin each Day at Twelve o'Clock. | [Pointing finger:] To be viewed Ten Days preceding the Sale. | [rule] | Catalogues to be had of Mess. ROBSON and CLARKE, Booksellers | New Bond Street; Mr. EDWARDS, Bookseller, Pall Mall; and | of the principal Booksellers throughout europe.
• COLLATION: Octavo: [a]4 b-c4 d2 B-YY4 ZZ1
• CONTENTS: Half-title (p. [i]); title-page (p. [iii]); Conditions of Sale (p. [v]); To the Public (pp. [vii]-viii); Morelli Praefatio (pp. ix-xviii); Tabula Sectionis (pp. xix-xxii); Ordo Venditionis 2 March to 2 June (pp. xxiii-xxviii); Catalogue (pp. 1-538).
• PLATE: None.
• COPIES SEEN: Bodley (2, one Large Paper with prices), Huntington "Priced June 1800 from Mr Evans's Copy of Pall Mall per me W C[oombes] Jun.r"
• NOTES: An advertisement for the sale in ?January 1789 from the Morning Herald is in the Victoria & Albert scrapbook of Presscuttings, Vol. I, p. 345. There were Large Paper copies at 10s.6d., and the appendix was free, according to the advertisements in the Victoria & Albert volume of Press-cuttings (Vol. I, pp. 512, 590; see also pp. 343, 347, 513). The Catalogue was reviewed in the Analytical Review, II (Oct 1788), 243, and in the Gentleman's Magazine, LIX (Jan 1789), 69-71. According to T. H. Horne, An Introduction to the Study of Bibliography (1814), II, 722, "The produce of the auction was £9,356, which little more than reimbursed those public-spirited gentlemen [Robson & Edwards] the expenses they had incurred"; prices are given in Dr [Edward] Harwood, View of Various Editions of the Greek and Roman Classics, 4th Edition, to which is Added a View of the Price of the Early Editions of the Classics at the Late Sale of the Pinellian Library (1790), and in the Gentleman's Magazine, LIX, ii (1789), 934. The Catalogue continued to be of interest to collectors even after the sale, and a priced Large Paper copy was offered in Edwards's 1794 Catalogue, No. 3,976, for £1.11.6.
• Edwards's Catalogue (1789)
• TITLE-PAGE: A | CATALOGUE | OF | A Select Collection of Ancient and Modern Books, | IN EVERY BRANCH OF PLEASING AND USEFUL SCIENCE; | AND IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES; | Capital books of drawings; Magnificent books of prints; and | PRINTS from the ANTIQUE, beautifully coloured. | The whole are in fine Condition, and many of them in the most elegant and splendid | Bindings. | AMONGST OTHERS EQUALLY VALUABLE ARE | . . . [95 different titles, authors, and categories listed] | They will be sold during the Year 1789, | At Edwards's, NO. 102, Pall-Mall, London: | ⁂ The full Value for Libraries or Parcels of Books | --- Books exchanged, | and Libraries valued. | [double rule] | Catalogues may be had at the Place of Sale; at Mr. Johnson's No. 72, | St. Paul's Church Yard; and at Messrs. Edwards's, Halifax.
• COLLATION: Octavo: [A]2 B-Cc4 Dd1
• CONTENTS: Title-page (p. [i]); Index (p. [iii]); Edwards's Catalogue, &c. (pp. [1]-189); Supplement (pp. [190]-202).
• PLATE: None.
• COPIES SEEN: Bodley, British Library.
• Catalogue of Imperial Gold Coins (1790)
• TITLE-PAGE: A | CATALOGUE | OF | IMPERIAL GOLD COINS, | TO BE SOLD | AT THE PRICES AFFIXED TO EACH, | On MONDAY the 8th of March, 1790, | AT | Mr. Edwards's, No. 102 Pall Mall. | [double rule] | To be Viewed on

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  Thursday the Fourth of March, and the two following Days, | at Eleven o'clock in the Forenoon. | [rule] | 1790.
• COLLATION: Folio: [a]1 A2 C-F2 [G]1
• CONTENTS: Title-page (p. [i]); note (p. [ii]); Catalogue (pp. [1]-22).
• PLATE: None.
• COPY SEEN: British Library.
• Bibliotheca Pinelliana Appendix (1790)
• TITLE-PAGE: BIBLIOTHECA PINELLIANA. | [rule] | APPENDIX. | [rule] | [Pointing finger:] The Public are respectfully acquainted that the Sale of | the pinelli Library, comprehending the Italian, French, and | English, will recommence on Monday, February 2 [corrected by hand to 1], 1790, and, | with this Appendix, will continue the Thirty-one following | Days (Sundays excepted) without Interruption [1-6, 8-13, 15-20, 22-27 Feb, 1-6, 8-9 March].
• PLATE: None.
• COPY SEEN: Huntington.
• Bibliotheca Paitoniana (1790-91)
• TITLE-PAGE: BIBLIOTHECA PAITONIANA: | [rule] | A | CATALOGUE | Of the truly-valuable and justly-celebrated | LIBRARY | OF THE LATE EMINENT | Sig. JO. BAPT. PAITONI, M.D. | Late of the City of Venice, | [black letter] Deceased: | Comprehending a copious and extraordinary fine Collection of BOOKS, | in almost every Branch of Science and Polite Literature; | MORE PARTICULARLY IN | HISTORY and ANTIQUITIES; | GEOGRAPHY, VOYAGES AND TRAVELS; | PHILOSOPHY, MEDICINE and NATURAL HISTORY; | GREEK and ROMAN CLASSICS and PHILOLOGY; | ITALIAN POETRY and BELLES LETTRES; | The whole in the highest preservation: | Which is divided into Two Parts; | And will be sold by Auction, | At the Great Room, opposite the Chapel, in Conduit | Street, Hanover Square, | [PART I.] | On Monday, November 22, 1790, and TWENTY following Days; | [PART II.] | On monday, January 24, 1791, and the Twenty-one following | Days; | To begin precisely at Twelve o'Clock. | To be viewed on Monday, November 15, and to the Time of Sale. | Catalogues, Price Two Shillings and Sixpence, may be had of Mr. Robson, Bookseller, | New Bond-Street; Mr. Edwards, Bookseller, Pall-Mall, and at the Place of Sale.
• COLLATION: Octavo: A4 b4 B-Oo4 Pp2; last leaf blank
• CONTENTS: Title-page (p. [i]); Conditions of Sale, signed by James Robson (p. [ii]); Preface (pp. [iii]-viii); The Order and Contents of Each Day's Sale (pp. [ix]-xvi); Bibliotheca Paitoniana (pp. [1]-289).
• PLATE: None.
• COPY SEEN: Bodley; there are also copies in the British Library, Gottingen (with a leaf pasted in announcing the sale in Italian), Harvard, Newberry, U.S. National Library of Medicine, and Yale.
• NOTE: There is no significant division between the two Parts in the Catalogue, Part II beginning on the same page (142) on which Part I ends. There are 9,754 lots in all.
• Edwards's Catalogue (1790)
• TITLE-PAGE: EDWARDS's CATALOGUE | OF | A Select Collection of Ancient and Modern Books | IN EVERY BRANCH OF SCIENCE, VALUABLE DRAWINGS AND PRINTS, | PAINTED FROM THE ANTIQUE; | Including the choicest Part of the Libraries of Monsignor Salichetti of Rome, late | Physician to the Pope; of Cav. Zanetti of Venice; and an Assortment of the | rarest and most esteemed Articles collected in various Parts of Europe. | . . . [Lists 84 different titles, authors, and categories] | The Whole are in fine Condition, and many of them in elegant Bindings. | They are now on Sale, 1790, | (At the Prices printed in the Catalogue [sic], and marked in the First Leaf of every Book) | At EDWARDS's, No. 102, Pallmall, London. | *** The full Value for Libraries.-Books exchanged . . . and Libraries

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  valued. | [double rule] | Catalogues at the Place of Sale; Mr. Johnson's, No. 72, St. Paul's Church-yard, | and at Messrs. EDWARDS'S, Halifax.
• COLLATION: Octavo: [a]1 A-Gg4 Hh4 (— one leaf)
• CONTENTS: Title-page (p. [i]); Index (p. [ii]); Edwards's Catalogue, &c. (pp. [1]-245); [list of eight] Books published by Edwards, No. 102, Pall-Mall (p. [246]).
• PLATE: None.
• COPIES SEEN: Bodley (2); there is also a copy in the British Library.
• NOTE: The 6,844 lots are organized by size and, within size, by subject but only roughly alphabetically within subjects. According to Adam Clarke, "Mr. Edwards Catalogues of 1790 and 1794, contain (especially the former) an account of many valuable and curious works executed in the infancy of printing; such indeed as are seldom offered to the public on a sale catalogue" (The Bibliographical Miscellany [1806], II, 87, echoed by T.H. Horne, An Introduction to the Study of Bibliography [1814], II, 737).
• Bibliotheca Elegantissima, Parisina (1790)
• TITLE-PAGE: BIBLIOTHECA | ELEGANTISSIMA, PARISINA. | CATALOGUE | De livres choisis, provenants du cabinet d'un | amateur très distingué par son bon goût. et l'ar-|deur qu'il a eu de rassembler ce qu'il a trouvé | de plus beau, de plus rare et de plus curieux; | auxquels on a aussi joint un choix de la col-|lection d'un autre amateur. | IL CONTIENT | Beaucoup de premières éditions des auteurs classi-|ques; livres magnifiquement imprimés sur velin | avec des peintures; livres manuscrits avec de super-|bes miniatures; livres d'histoire naturelle colo-|riés et avec dessins originaux; et livres de la plus | grande rareté dans différentes | classes de littératu-|res: le tout d'une conservation parfaite et relié | avec un luxe extraordinaire. | La vente se sera à Londres, au plus offrant, le lundi 28 mars 1791, | et les 5 jours suivants | [rule] | A LONDRES, | chez Edwards, libraire n°. 102, Pall Mall. | A PARIS, | chez Laurent, libraire, rue de la Harpe, n°. 18 | [double rule] | 1790.
• COLLATION: Octavo: [a]2 A-M8 N1
• CONTENTS: Title-page (p. [i]); anon., Avis au Public (pp. [iii-iv]); Catalogue des Livres de la Bibliotheque de M. P*** [Paris] (pp. [1]-171, including a Supplement on pp. 170-171); Table des Auteurs (pp. 172-192); Errata (pp. [193-194]).
• PLATE: None.
• COPIES SEEN: Bodley (2, one with prices and buyers), Huntington (with most buyers); there is a copy also in Leeds.
• Bibliotheca Parisiana (1790)
• TITLE-PAGE: BIBLIOTHECA PARISIANA. | A | CATALOGUE | OF | A COLLECTION OF BOOKS, | FORMED BY | A GENTLEMAN IN FRANCE, | Not less conspicuous for his Taste in distinguishing, than for | his | Zeal in acquiring, whatever, of this Kind, was most | perfect, curious, or scarce. | IT INCLUDES | MANY FIRST EDITIONS OF THE CLASSICKS; | BOOKS MAGNIFICENTLY PRINTED ON VELLUM, WITH | ILLUMINATED PAINTINGS; | MANUSCRIPTS ON VELLUM, EMBELLISHED WITH RICH | MINIATURES; | BOOKS OF NATURAL HISTORY, WITH THE SUBJECTS | COLOURED IN THE BEST MANNER, OR WITH | THE ORIGINAL DRAWINGS; | AND | BOOKS OF THE GREATEST SPLENDOUR AND RARENESS IN | THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF LITERATURE. | To these are added, from another Grand Collection, | selected Articles of high Value. | The Whole are in the finest Condition, and in Bindings | superlatively rich. | THEY WILL BE SOLD BY AUCTION, | IN LONDON, | On MONDAY the 26th of March, 1791, | And the FIVE DAYS following [i.e., 26-31 March], | To be viewed the Week preceding. | Catalogues to be had of Mr. Edwards, No. 102, Pall Mall, | London; of Mr. LAURENT, Rue de la Harp, Paris; and of the | principal Booksellers throughout Europe [1790].
• CANCEL TITLE-PAGE: This Day is published, Price 2s.6d. | BIBLIOTHECA PARISIANA. | A | CATALOGUE | OF | A COLLECTION OF BOOKS, | FORMED

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  BY | A GENTLEMAN IN FRANCE, | Not less conspicuous for his Taste in distinguishing, than for | his Zeal in acquiring, whatever, of this Kind, was most | perfect, curious, or scarce. | IT INCLUDES | MANY FIRST EDITIONS OF THE CLASSICKS; | BOOKS MAGNIFICENTLY PRINTED ON VELLUM, WITH | ILLUMINATED PAINTINGS; | MANUSCRIPTS ON VELLUM, EMBELLISHED WITH RICH | MINIATURES; | BOOKS OF NATURAL HISTORY, WITH THE SUBJECTS | COLOURED IN THE BEST MANNER, OR WITH | THE ORIGINAL DRAWINGS; | AND | BOOKS OF THE GREATEST SPLENDOUR AND RARENESS IN | THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF LITERATURE. | To these are added, from another Grand Collection, | selected Articles of high Value. | The Whole are in the finest Condition, and in Bindings | superlatively rich. | THEY WILL BE SOLD BY AUCTION, | At the Great Room, opposite the Chapel, in Conduit | Street, Hanover Square, | On Monday the 28th of March, 1791, | And the FIVE following DAYS. | The Sale will begin each Day precisely at Twelve o'clock. | To be viewed the Week preceding, from Ten to Four. | CATALOGUES to be had of Messrs Edwards, No. 102, Pall Mall; | of Mr. Robson, New Bond Street; and at the Place of Sale [?1791].[56]
• COLLATION: Octavo: [A]4 B-L8 M2; measurement untrimmed 12.8 x 19.6 cm.
• CONTENTS: Half-title (p. [i]); title-page (p. [iii]); J. Edwards, Preface (pp. [v]-viii); Catalogue of the Library of Mr. P**** [Paris] (pp. [1]-146, including a Supplement on pp. 145-146); Index (pp. 147-164); Colophon: From the Press of H. Cooper, N°. 31, Bow Street, Covent Garden (p. 164).
• PLATE: None.
• COPIES SEEN: Bodley, GEB, Huntington; there are also copies in the British Library, Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris), California (Los Angeles), Cambridge, Grolier Club, Harvard, Leeds, New York Public Library (with prices and buyers and a printed amount of sale bound in), Victoria & Albert Museum, and Yale (with prices and buyers).
• NOTES: The French catalogue has lots numbered 1-630, plus 2 bis-lots, and 1-5 of Supplement; the English catalogue, with a different preface, has lots numbered 1-630 (mostly identical in substance), plus 25 bis-lots, and 631-636 of Supplement. The Bibliotheca Parisiana was reviewed with praise for Edwards in the Analytical Review, VIII (Nov 1790), 341-343. According to T.H. Horne (Introduction [1814], II, 716): "The English catalogue was executed by Mr. Edwards, of Pall-Mall . . . it is beautifully printed on fine vellum paper, and is, perhaps, more valuable as a book of reference than the French catalogue, as many of the articles are described more in detail, and some exceedingly rare and curious works are noticed for the first time. A few copies of the French catalogue were struck off on vellum paper, and one copy on quarto; some copies have double prices, of valuation and sale; these are both rare and dear". The average price was £14 per "article".
• Library of Signor Santorio (1791)
• TITLE: The Library of Signor Santorio intended to be sold at Paris on 12-14 May 1791 by [James] Edwards and [James] Robson.
• COPY SEEN: None; the information above derives from notes by W. A. Jackson in his copy (now in Harvard) of the British Museum List of Catalogues of English Book Sales (1915), p. 94, and summarized in Munby and Coral, British Book Sale Catalogues (1977), p. 90.
• NOTE: Some of the books in this sale had been described in the Edwards and Robson Bibliotheca Parisiana of 28 March-2 April 1791 (q.v.), but they did not arrive in London in time to be sold then.

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• J. Edwards Catalogue (1794)
• TITLE-PAGE: A | CATALOGUE | OF A VERY | SELECT COLLECTION OF BOOKS | IN ALL LANGUAGES, AND EVERY BRANCH OF LITERATURE: | CONTAINING | A great number of Articles altogether unique, purchased from a | very celebrated Cabinet on the Continent, and collected from | various parts of Europe; in the highest Condition, and most | elegant Bindings; | AMONGST THEM ARE | . . . [80 different titles, authors, and categories] | now on sale | (the Prices printed in the Catalogue, and marked in the first leaf of every Book) | At J. EDWARDS's, No. 78, Pall-mall, London. | M,DCC,XCIV [1794].
• COLLATION: Octavo: [A]1 B-Rr4 Ss1 Tt4; title-page and gathering Ss apparently printed together, on wove paper (the rest is on laid paper).
• CONTENTS: Title-page (p. [i]); Index (p. [ii]); Edwards's Catalogue (pp. 1-314); [list of 12] BOOKS lately published by J. EDWARDS, No. 78, Pall Mall (pp. [315-318]); [list of 8] BOOKS lately imported by J. EDWARDS (pp. [318-320]); [a book which] Speedily will be Published by J. EDWARDS (p. [321]).
• PLATE: None.
• COPY SEEN: Bodley; there are also copies in the British Library, Chicago, the Grolier Club, Huntington, and Yale (Wilmarth Lewis-Walpole Library).
• NOTE: There are 6,964 lots organized by size, then by subject, and then roughly by alphabet.
• Bibliotheca Woottoniana (1795)
• TITLE: BIBLIOTHECA WOOTTONIANA. | The very valuable, curious, and elegant Library of William Wootton, Esq. of Brooke-street, Grosvenor-square; and also that of a Nobleman, of Conduit-street, both lately deceased: comprehending all the best English County Histories, Chronicles, Antiquities, Hearne's Pieces, large paper; together with the best editions of the Greek and Roman Classicks, Books of Prints, Natural History, &c. &c. all in the best and finest condition, and many upon large paper, in Russia and Morocco Bindings. [Which will be Sold by Auction] At the Great Room, in Conduit-street, Hanover-square, opposite the Chapel, (now the Turf Gallery) This Day, Feb. 24th, and the four following days, (Sunday and the Fast-day excepted) [24 Feb-2 March 1795] beginning each day at 12 o'clock. To be viewed till the Sale. Catalogues, price 6d. may be had, and also at Mr. Robson's, New Bond-street; Mr. Payne, Mews Gate; Mr. White, Fleet-street; and Mr. Edwards, Pall Mall. N.B. This Collection is supposed equal in value (for the quantity) to any ever offered to public Sale.
• COPY SEEN: None; the title above is transcribed from an advertisement (pasted in the Victoria & Albert volume of Press-cuttings 1686-1835, Vol. III, f. 746, dated in MS "22 Feby 1795"), with the place and date of sale ("At the Great Room . . . 12 o'clock") transposed from beneath the title in the advertisement.
• J. Edwards Catalogue (1796)
• TITLE-PAGE: A | CATALOGUE of BOOKS, | IN ALL LANGUAGES, AND IN EVERY BRANCH OF LITERATURE, | COLLECTED FROM VARIOUS PARTS OF EUROPE. | CONTAINING, | . . . [73 authors, titles, and categories] | NOW ON SALE | At J. EDWARDS's, No. 77, Pall Mall, London. | The Prices are printed in the Catalogues, and marked in the first | Leaf of each Book. | MDCCXCVI [1796].
• COLLATION: Octavo: [A]1 B-Ss4
• CONTENTS: Title-page (p. [i]); Index (p. [ii]); Edwards's Catalogue (pp. [1]-300); Appendix (pp. 301-316); Books lately or Speedily to be published by J. Edwards (pp. [317-320]). The Huntington and British Library copies have at the end two leaves, perhaps once integral, listing nine Books lately published by J. Edwards, No. 78, Pall-Mall (pp. [317-320]) and two books which Speedingly will be published by J. Edwards (p. [320]); Bodley and another British Library copy have the same two integral leaves on laid paper plus six more (pp. [321-332] on wove paper = [Tt]4 [Uu]2) listing

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  twenty-four Books lately published (pp. [321-328]), eleven Books lately imported by J. Edwards (pp. [328-330]), and a book which Speedily will be published (p. [331]). These six leaves apparently constitute a supplement to the 1796 Catalogue.
• PLATE: None—but No. 1, the Gutenberg Bible, cites "No. I in the plate of specimens", of which I have no further information.
• COPIES SEEN: Bodley, Huntington; there are also copies in the British Library, Cambridge, Folger, and Michigan State.
• NOTE: The lots numbered 1-7,743 (plus some intercalated) are organized by size, subject, and, roughly, by alphabet.
• Leigh & Sotheby Catalogue [of James Edwards] (1799)
• TITLE: Leigh & Sotheby Catalogue of a Valuable Collection of [128] Books printed in the Fifteenth Century, Consigned [by James Edwards] from abroad; Containing Rare Specimens of the Early German Printers; In the finest Preservation, and in the original Monastic Bindings, 15 June 1799.
• COPIES SEEN: Bodley (some prices and buyers) and British Library (prices and buyers).
• NOTE: Francis Douce annotated his copy (now in Bodley), after "FROM ABROAD", with "From a monastery at Bamberg". The sale realized £156.5.0.
• Christie Catalogue [of James Edwards] (1804)
• TITLE-PAGE: A | CATALOGUE | OF | A MOST SPLENDID AND VALUABLE | COLLECTION OF BOOKS, | SUPERB MISSALS, | ORIGINAL DRAWINGS, &c., | THE GENUINE PROPERTY OF | A GENTLEMAN OF DISTINGUISHED TASTE [James Edwards] | RETIRING INTO THE COUNTRY; | WITH | SOME FINE ARTICLES OF VERTU; | A BEAUTIFUL BUST OF SHAKESPEARE | BY ROUBILLAC, | from the Chandos Painting; | AND A SUPERB GENUINE STATUE OF | JOHN CHURCHILL, DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH, | Late the Property of the Beaulieu Family. | Which | WILL BE SOLD BY AUCTION, | BY MR. CHRISTIE, | At the Great Room, (late the Royal Academy,) 118, PALL MALL, | ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, AND THREE FOLLOWING | DAYS, AT TWELVE O'CLOCK. | [rule] | May be viewed Two Days preceding the Sale, when | Catalogues may be had at the Rainbow Coffee House, and in Pall Mall. | [Price One Shilling.]
• COPIES SEEN: Christie's (with prices and buyers) and Huntington (prices).
• R. H. Evans Catalogue of James Edwards (1815)
• TITLE-PAGE: A | CATALOGUE | OF | THE VALUABLE LIBRARY | OF | JAMES EDWARDS, ESQ. | CONTAINING | A SPLENDID ASSEMBLAGE OF EARLY PRINTED BOOKS, | CHIEFLY UPON VELLUM. | HIGHLY CURIOUS AND IMPORTANT MANUSCRIPTS, | MANY OF THEM EXECUTED FOR SOVEREIGN PRINCES. | MAGNIFICENT BOOKS OF PRINTS, | And various important Articles in every Department of Literature | and Science; | INCLUDING | . . . [12 MSS and books] | ALSO HIS COLLECTION OF FINE GREEK VASES. | WHICH WILL BE | SOLD BY AUCTION, | On WEDNESDAY April 5, 1815, and Five following Days | (Sunday excepted [i.e., 5-8, 10-11 April]). | BY R. H. EVANS, | AT HIS HOUSE, No. 26, PALL-MALL, | [rule] | Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. Cleveland-row, St. James's. | 1815.
• COPIES: Bodley (6, at least two with prices and buyers, one on Large Paper), British Library (2 copies), Glasgow (with prices and buyers), Halifax Public Library, Harvard, Huntington (with prices and buyers), Library of Congress, Michigan (prices and buyers), Pierpont Morgan Library, New South Wales, New York Public Library (2, one with prices and buyers), Princeton, Victoria & Albert Museum, and Yale.
• NOTE: A printed duodecimo leaf with "MSS. in Edwards's Sale 1815 / with the Purchasers Names" is in Bodley (Arch AA c 21 (19)) and the Yale Center for British Art (+ Z232 M5 Case 1 No. 18).

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• Christie Catalogue of J[ames] Edwards (1820)
• TITLE: Christie catalogue of Original Miniatures of the Stuart Family, the Property of J[ames] Edwards Esq. Dec. . . . [and of two others], 15 July 1820.
• COPIES: British Museum (Department of Prints and Drawings) and Christie's.
• NOTE: No. 69-94 were miniatures which had belonged to James Edwards.
• Christie sale of Captain J.H. Edwards-Heathcote (1928)
• TITLE: On 13 June 1928 Christie's sold miscellaneous furniture and objets d'art of the late Captain J. H. Edwards-Heathcote.
• NOTE: No. 45-47 were miniatures which passed by inheritance to Captain J. H. Edwards-Heathcote, the great grandson of James Edwards.

THOMAS EDWARDS

• Thomas Edwards Catalogue of Books (1812)
• TITLES: Thomas Edwards Catalogue of Books (Halifax: Thomas Edwards, April 1812).
• COPY SEEN: None.
• NOTE: With the Hanson Papers in Bodley is a letter of 6 April 1812 from Thomas Edwards in Halifax to John B. Nichols in London enclosing "a Catalogue of Books I offer for Sale, the Catalogue of Prints Drawings & Pictures will be out the next Week. . . . Sale does not begin till May 1.st—if you can with propriety insert it with literary information in body of Mag.e next Month I shall be obliged . . . it will be advertiz'd in Literary Gazette & various London News Papers &c &c". However, I have found neither these catalogues nor references to them in the April, May, and June issues of the Gentleman's Magazine which John Bowyer Nichols edited.
• Thomas Edwards Catalogue of Prints (1812)
• TITLE: Thomas Edwards Catalogue of Prints, Drawings, and Pictures (Halifax: Thomas Edwards, May 1812)
• COPY SEEN: None.
• NOTE: See above.
• Thomas Edwards Catalogue of Law, Jurisprudence, and Medicine (1815)
• TITLE-PAGE: A | CATALOGUE | OF | [black letter] Law and Jurisprudence, | ALSO | MEDICAL BOOKS, | NOW ON SALE AT THE PRICES AFFIXED, | AT THE HOUSE OF | THOMAS EDWARDS, BOOKSELLER, HALIFAX. | [rule] | Halifax: | PRINTED BY P. K. HOLDEN, HALL-END. | [rule] | AUGUST, 1815.
• COPY SEEN: Bodley.
• NOTE: Law works are No. 1-516 (pp. 1-14); medicine, without separate titlepage, are No. 1-918 (pp. 1-20).
• Thomas Edwards Catalogue of Books Part I (1815)
• TITLE-PAGE: PART I. | [rule] | A | CATALOGUE | OF A VERY VALUABLE AND SELECT | Collection of Books, | IN MOST LANGUAGES, | AND EVERY BRANCH OF LITERATURE; | Containing many Unique and Splendid Articles, collected from various | Parts of Europe, generally in good Condition, | and many in elegant Bindings. | . . . | [black letter] Now on Sale (for Ready Money only) | The Prices printed in the Catalogue and marked in the first Leaf of every Book | At THO.s EDWARDS's, Bookseller, | HALIFAX. | PRICE 3s. | M.DCCC.XV [1815]. | [rule] | ⁂ The Second Part of this Catalogue will very shortly be published, containing all | the rarest Articles from the Cabinet of an eminent Collector in early French Poetry, Mys-|teres, Books of Emblems, early printed Books, MSS. in Vellum, &c.
• COPIES SEEN: Bodley (2) and Halifax Public Library; there is also a copy in Cambridge.

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• Thomas Edwards Catalogue of Books Part II (1816)
• TITLE-PAGE: PART II. | [rule] BEING THE | Appendix and Supplement | TO | THOMAS EDWARDS's | [black letter] Catalogue, | HALIFAX; | Containing all the rarest Articles from the Cabinet of an | eminent Collector; | CONSISTING OF | EARLY FRENCH POETRY, | MYSTERES, BOOKS OF EMBLEMS, EARLY PRINTED BOOKS, | MISSALS ON VELLUM WITH MINIATURES, | AND OTHER FINE ARTICLES; | TOGETHER WITH | The Mathematics, Arts and Sciences | LAW AND MEDICAL BOOKS: | [black letter] Now on Sale (for Ready Money only) | The Prices printed in the Catalogue and marked in the first Leaf of every Book | M.DCCC.XVI [1816]. | [rule] | PRINTED BY P. K. HOLDEN, HALL-END, HALIFAX. | [rule] | Price Two Shillings.
• COPIES SEEN: Bodley (2); there is also a copy in Cambridge.
• NOTE: The works are continuously numbered and paginated from Part I. At the end is a leaf listing works "lately published by Thomas Edwards of Halifax" and "January, 1816, in the Press, and speedily will be published" by him.
• Saunders Catalogue [of Thomas Edwards] (1818)
• TITLE-PAGE: A | CATALOGUE | OF A VERY EXTENSIVE AND VALUABLE | MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTION | OF | BOOKS | FROM THE NORTH OF ENGLAND; | COMPREHENDING | . . . | Forming as a whole, one of the most rich and splendid Collections | ever submitted to the Public, being in the finest Condition, and | nearly all bound, with unusual Taste and Splendour, in Etruscan | and variegated Calf, Vellum, Russia, Morocco, &c. &c. | WHICH | WILL BE SOLD BY AUCTION, | BY | MR. SAUNDERS, | At his Great Room, (Poets' Gallery) No. 39, Fleet Street, | On Monday March 30, 1818, | AND FIFTEEN FOLLOWING DAYS, (SUNDAYS EXCEPTED) | At Half-past Twelve o'clock precisely. | To be viewed four Days preceding and Mornings of Sale; and | Catalogues had (Price Three Shillings each.) | [double rule] | Bensley and Sons, Bolt Court, Fleet Street, London.
• COPY SEEN: Harvard.
• NOTE: The origin of the collection from "THE NORTH OF ENGLAND" and the bindings of "unusual Taste and Splendour", many in Etruscan calf, point to Thomas Edwards, who is identified in manuscript ("Edwards of Halifax") on the title-page of the copy sent to the booksellers "Messrs Arch" (now in Harvard). The 2,232 lots include numerous Edwards publications.
• Thomas Edwards's Catalogue (1821)
• TITLE: EDWARDS'S CATALOGUE. | [rule] | Superb Books of Prints, Atlasses, Books printed on Vellum | with Miniatures, and other Superlatively fine Articles. | R. Sagden, Printer, Hall-End, Halifax [for Thomas Edwards] | at No. 2. Old Market, Halifax, 1821. N.B. In the only copy traced, the titlepage is missing; the title above is constructed from the heading on p. 1 (which may apply only to the first section), the printer's colophon on p. 120, and the inscription by the owner Professor Walter M. Edwards, on the flyleaf.
• COLLATION: Octavo: [?a]2 [A]4 B-P4 A-D4
• CONTENTS: [?half-title]; [title-page]; catalogue, divided into Folio Books of Prints &c., Folio, Quarto, Octavo, Duodecimo Et Infra, Magazines and Odd Volumes (pp. [1]-119]); advertisements for Whitaker's Craven (1811) and Whalley [1818] "Lately published by Thomas Edwards of Halifax", plus colophon (p. [120]; Drawings (pp. [1]-4) and Prints (pp. 6-31).
• PLATE: None.
• COPY SEEN: Bodley. N.B. The work is quite uncommon, and a thirty-year search discovered only this defective copy.
• NOTES: There are 2,013 lots of books, 117 of drawings, and 784 of prints. The books are mostly fairly recent, forty-seven of them published by the Edwardses, though No. 75 is the Second Shakespeare Folio at £12.12.0. One hundred and thirty-five

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  lots are "sumptuously", "splendidly", "superbly", "richly", or merely "elegantly" bound. Thirty-four are in the Edwards's Etruscan calf (most of them "elegant"), and twenty-four have Edwards fore-edge paintings mostly with Etruscan calf bindings, five on James Edwards publications, and fourteen of the fore-edges have the subjects identified, but there is no reference to Edwards painted vellum bindings, though seven lots are bound in vellum. The most notable lot (No. 3) is William Blake's "unequalled" and "masterly designs" in illustration of Young's Night Thoughts, which "occupied nearly two years" of his time; they are "sumptuously bound in red morocco" and were offered at £300 but found no buyer either at that price or at the £50 for which they were offered in 1826 and 1828.
• Thomas Winstanley Catalogue of Books of Thomas Edwards (1826)
• TITLE-PAGE: | CATALOGUE | OF THE VERY | VALUABLE, EXTENSIVE AND GENUINE | Collection of Books, | (SELECTED FROM THE STOCK IN TRADE) | OF | Mr. THOMAS EDWARDS, Bookseller, of Halifax, | (WHO IS RETIRING FROM BUSINESS) | COMPRISING | THE BEST WORKS IN DIVINITY, POETRY, AND THE | BELLES LETTRES; | THE BEST EDITIONS OF THE MOST ESTEEMED WORKS IN | HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, TOPOGRAPHY, ANTIQUITIES, VOYAGES | AND TRAVELS, | Enriched with very choice and early Impressions of the Plates; many costly and | highly beautiful Works (English and Foreign) in | NATURAL HISTORY AND BOTANY, | Accurately and Beautifully Coloured from Nature: | ENCYCLOPAEDIAS; | Superb Copies of the Galleries, and other Works Illustrative of Art, | recently published in this Country, many of them early Subscription | Copies, and selected with great attention to the Embellishments; also, | several splendid works richly illustrated with Plates; some fine | BOOKS OF PRINTS | AND A FEW ILLUMINATED MISSALS, | (Both printed and Manuscript) of great interest and Beauty, | WHICH WILL BE | SOLD BY AUCTION, | By Messrs. THOMAS WINSTANLEY & Co. | AT THE EXCHANGE ROOMS, MANCHESTER, | On Monday the 1st of May next, AND [9] FOLLOWING DAYS (SATURDAY AND SUNDAY EXCEPTED.) | . . . | [rule] | HALIFAX: | PRINTED BY N. WHITLEY, | FOR THOMAS EDWARDS, BOOKSELLER. | [rule] | MDCCCXXVI [1826].
• COPIES SEEN: Bodley, Glasgow, Harvard, Michigan.
• NOTE: According to a note in the Glasgow University Library copy, the catalogue was made by W. Ford of Manchester; the auction was a failure; and the remainder of the books was placed on private sale. The 1,465 lots include many publications of James, Richard, and Thomas Edwards.
• Winstanley & Co. Catalogue of Prints of Thomas Edwards (1826)
• TITLE-PAGE: CATALOGUE | OF THE | SELECT AND VALUABLE COLLECTION | OF | ENGRAVINGS, DRAWINGS, PICTURES, PAINTED | GLASS, CARVINGS IN IVORY, | AND OTHER CURIOSITIES, THE GENUINE PROPERTY OF | Mr. THOMAS EDWARDS, Bookseller, Halifax, | [WHO IS RETIRING FROM BUSINESS.] | [rule] | THE ENGRAVINGS | COMPRISE MANY OF THE CHOICEST WORKS, (A CONSIDERABLE PORTION | OF THEM PROOFS,) OF | BARTOLOZZI, RYLAND, VIVARES, WOOLLET, BYRNE, | HOLLOWAY, | AND OTHERS OF THE MODERN ENGLISH SCHOOL, AMONGST WHICH WE MAY ENUMERATE,- | The Death of Lord Chatham, after Copley, by Bartollozzi, fine proof; | THE DEATH OF WOLFE, BY WOOLLET, AFTER WEST, | Before the words "Right Honourable," were prefixed to the Name of Lord Grosvenor; and | THE CARTOONS OF RAFFAELLE, BY HOLLOWAY; | Both the Etchings and finished Impressions. | [rule] | THE DRAWINGS | Are principally modern, but many of them extremely fine, by Riddall, Smith, (Italian) West, | and others; but more especially, a Set of Six large Italian Drawings after the ANTIQUE, most | exquisitely coloured, "equal to Miniature Paintings," by Cam. Buti of Rome, who expressly | executed them for Mr. Beckford, of Fonthill,

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  and was paid Two Hundred Guineas for them: they contain, also, several in Natural History and Botany, by the celebrated Miss Stone, | Harris, Bolton, of Halifax, Lewin, &c. very finely executed. | THE PAINTINGS ARE FEW, BUT GOOD AND MISCELLANEOUS: | WHICH WILL BE SOLD | By Messrs. Thomas WINSTANLEY & Co. | AT THE EXCHANGE ROOMS, MANCHESTER, | On Monday, the 15th, and Tuesday, the 16th of May, 1826, | At 11 o'clock each Day precisely. | [rule] | The whole may be viewed on Friday the 12th, and Saturday, the 13th of | May 1826. | [rule] | Catalogues may now be had, price one shilling each, of Messrs. WINSTANLEY AND | SONS, Auctioneers, Pater-noster-Row, London; Messrs. THO. WINSTANLEY & SON, | Liverpool; Messrs. THO. WINSTANLEY & Co. St. Anne's Street, Manchester; | Messrs. A. CONSTABLE & Co. Edinburgh; Mr. THO. EDWARDS, Halifax; and of | the principal Booksellers in the Neighbouring Towns. | [rule] | HALIFAX; PRINTED BY N. WHITLEY. | [rule] | MDCCCXXVI [1826].
• COPIES SEEN: Bodley (3), Glasgow University Library, Manchester Public Library.
• Stewart, Wheatley, & Adlard Catalogue of Books of Thomas Edwards (1828)
• TITLE-PAGE: A | CATALOGUE | OF THE | SPLENDID AND VALUABLE COLLECTION | OF | BOOKS, MANUSCRIPTS, and MISSALS, | THE PROPERTY OF | THOMAS EDWARDS, Esq. | (Late of Halifax, Yorkshire.) | COMPRISING | One of the most magnificent Assemblages of Missals, Illuminated Manuscripts, | and Illustrated Books, ever offered for public Sale; among them may be noticed, | . . . | . . . Together with | the best Works in English and Classical Literature of all Classes, many on Large | Paper. The greater Part are bound in Morocco, Russia and Etruscan | bindings by Lewis, Hering, and other eminent Binders in their style | WHICH WILL BE SOLD BY AUCTION, | BY MESSRS. | [double rule] | [black letter] Stewart, Wheatley, & Adlard, | [double rule] | AT THEIR GREAT ROOM, 191, PICCADILLY, | On THURSDAY, MAY 15th, 1828, and eight following days, (Sunday excepted,) | At Twelve o'Clock.
• COPIES SEEN: Bodley (3, one on lavender paper with prices and buyers, evidently Thomas Edwards's own copy), British Library (with prices and buyers), and Victoria & Albert Museum.
• NOTE: The total realized was £4,640.6.6. On the last page is a notice of Stewart, Wheatley & Adlard's "IMMEDIATE SALE . . . [of] THE FINE COLLECTION OF PICTURES, DRAWINGS, AND CHOICE ENGRAVINGS, THE PROPERTY OF THOMAS EDWARDS, Esq.", but I have no further information about the sale.
• Southgate & Son Catalogue of John Bowden and Thomas Edwards (1835)
• TITLE: Southgate & Son sold the libraries of the late John Bowden and of Thomas Edwards on 9-16 March 1835.
• NOTE: The lots are not distinguished as to owner.

MR EDWARDS OF GREAT ST HELEN'S, BISHOPSGATE, AUCTIONEER

• Mr Edwards of Great St Helens, Bishopsgate, London, conducted occasional one-day auctions at Tom's Coffee-House, Cornhill, at least from 1798 through 1800. The catalogues are trifling affairs, four to seven pages long with about a hundred lots of paintings, jewelry, books, wine, olives, &c., described with wonderful vagueness. No Christian name of the auctioneer is ever vouchsafed in the catalogues and advertisements I have seen. There is no reason to suppose that this Mr Edwards is related to the Edwards family of Halifax; his sales are listed here merely to distinguish them from those of the relevant Edwardses.
• 1798 July 12
• Pictures from the Seat in Surrey of a Person of Distinction.

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• 1799 July 18
• Pictures of John Farrow, of Upper Brooke-Street, Deceased.
• 1799 October 11
• Paintings, Bronzes, &c., of a Gentleman Going to India, removed from his Dwelling-House at Richmond Green.
• 1799 October 17
• Books and Mathematical and Musical Instruments of the same Gentleman.
• 1800 January 17
• Paintings, Wine [and Olives] of William Finch, sold by Mess. Edwards & Wilson, On the Premises, Little Saint Helens, Bishopsgate.
• 1800 April 18
• Paintings from a Dwelling-House, near Grosvenor-Square.
• 1800 April 25
• Books and Musical and Mathematical Instruments from the same House.
• 1800 June 27
• Library, Pictures, Musical Instruments, Plate, Jewels, &c., of a Merchant, Removed from Gower Street.
• 1800 October 4
• Paintings from the Dwelling-House, near Grosvenor Square.
• 1800 October 10
• Library, Musical Instruments, Air Pump, Jewels, &c., from the same House.

Notes