Publisher and Bookseller Materials from the Collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1749-1835

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Summary

Abstract:
Letters related to publishing and bookselling in 18th and 19th century England, from the collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps.
Extent:
0.21 Linear Feet 1 box
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Publisher and Bookseller Materials from the Collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps, MS.2004.006, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

Letters related to publishing and bookselling from the collection of legendary collector Sir Thomas Phillipps. The 34 items in this collection date from approximately 1749 to 1835, and contain letters from a wide variety of booksellers, printers, authors, readers, clergymen, foreign dignitaries and antiquaries. Many letters concern ordering books from printers and booksellers, while other letters concern payments due to authors and discussions of books. Some letters bear Phillipps' manuscript catalog numbers. Many also still bear seals and postmarks.

Biographical / historical:

Sir Thomas Phillipps was a book and manuscript collector from young adulthood, who amassed the largest manuscript collection of the 19th century. He was born in 1792, the illegitimate son of a textile manufacturer, and began collecting while a student at Rugby and later at Oxford. Though he inherited a substantial estate upon his father's death, his bibliomania and "vello-mania" (his obsession with manuscripts on vellum) resulted in his being nearly perpetually in debt.

After Phillipps' death in 1872, his library was left to his youngest daughter and her family. Beginning in 1885, they began to disperse the collection at a series of sales that only ended in 1977, when New York dealers H.P. Kraus purchased the remainder.

Acquisition information:

Originally from the collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps, some letters collected here still bear his manuscript numbers. Later, part of the H.P. Kraus inventory auctioned at Sotheby's New York, December 5, 2003, lot 519.

Purchased by the Clark Library in 2003.

Processing information:

Processed by Rebecca Fenning, September 2009.

Arrangement:

Letters are arranged in the original order in which they arrived at the Clark Library. It is unclear whether this arrangement was imposed by Sotheby's, Kraus or even Phillipps.

Physical location:
Clark Library
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The Clark Library owns the property rights to its collections but does not hold the copyright to these materials and therefore cannot grant or deny permission to use them. Researchers are responsible for determining the copyright status of any materials they may wish to use, investigating the owner of the copyright, and obtaining permission for their intended publication or other use. In all cases, you must cite the Clark Library as the source with the following credit line: The William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Publisher and Bookseller Materials from the Collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps, MS.2004.006, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
2520 Cimarron Street
Los Angeles, CA 90018, US
Contact:
(310) 794-5155
clark@humnet.ucla.edu
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