One Hundred Years Of Book Auctions 1807 1907

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Excerpt from One Hundred Years of Book Auctions, 1807-1907: Being a Brief Record of the Firm of Hodgsons and Co; (Commonly Known as "Hodgsons") In the sphere of bibliography - and it may be mentioned in passing, that in 1807 the word bibliography was not known in its present sense - the great Dibdin had hardly commenced the publication of those elaborate bibliographical works which, though Often inaccurate, contain so much curious and amusing information about books and printers, book-collectors and sales by auction. The second edition of Biblio mania, which appeared in 1811, had no small share in exciting that interest in rare books and early editions, which appeared to reach a climax at the famous Roxburghe sale in 1812, but which, if prices are any criterion, is still growing in intensity. One saying alone of Dr. Dibdin's, amply suffices to show the distance we have travelled with regard to prices since he lived. Referring in 1812 to the sum Of121 163. Paid for a copy of the First Folio Shakespeare, he said it was the highest price ever given, or likely to be given for the book - yet, only recently, has been paid for this most famous book, and he would be a bold man who would say, even now, that the highest limit has been reached. That this interest in the early edi tions Of famous and rare books centred largely round the auction sales, was shown indeed by the fact that Dibdin, in his second and much en larged edition, added a new chapter on The Auction Room. By this addition he resolves, as explained in the preface, to gratify a cer tain book-auction-loving Bibliomaniac and similar collectors, whose approbation also he hopes to gain, by the motto prefixed to the chap ter in question from Clavell's Catalogue of Books for 1680 a catalogue of no small in terest in the early history of book-auctions. Robert Watt had hardly commenced in 1807 his great Bibliotheca Britannica, which despite untiring industry was not completed until after his death; while Lowndes was not to publish the original edition of his Bibliographer's Manual - a work which has the oft-forgotten merit of being the first systematic bibliography of the kind in England - until nearly thirty years later. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.