Ellis Booksellers Records, 1860-1928

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Summary

Title:
Ellis Booksellers records
Dates:
1860-1928
Creators:
Ellis (Firm).
Abstract:
Frederick Startridge Ellis (1830-1901) was born in Richmond, Surrey, England. He opened a bookstore in Covent Garden in 1860 dealing in old books and manuscripts. He was the official buyer for the British Museum for many years and published works by William Morris and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The collection consists of Ellis booksellers correspondence, mostly concerned with the sale of rare books; 14 day books; and 39 letter books.
Extent:
11.5 linear feet (23 boxes and 38 oversize boxes)
Language:
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Ellis Booksellers Records (Collection 425). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of Ellis booksellers correspondence, mostly concerned with the sale of rare books; 14 day books; and 39 letter books. Correspondents include Dante Gabriel Rosseti, William Morris, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Joseph Crawhall, John Maynard Keynes, and George Bernard Shaw.

Biographical / historical:

Frederick Startridge Ellis was born on June 7, 1830 in Richmond, Surrey, England. He became assistant to bookseller C.J. Stewart in the Strand and in 1860 set up his own bookstore in Covent Garden. In 1872 he took over the premises of bookseller T. & W. Boone, and carried on a large business, mostly in old books and manuscripts. An official buyer for the British Museum for many years, he also published works by William Morris and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. He retired in 1885 and was succeeded by his nephew, Gilbert Ifold Ellis. From 1902-1928 the firm was run by J.J. Holdsworth, George Smith, and Frank Benger.

Acquisition information:
Gift of George Smith, 1951.
Arrangement:

Arranged in the following series:

  1. Correspondence (Boxes 1-11).
  2. Letter books (Boxes 12-50).
  3. Trade day books (Boxes 51-53).
  4. Day books (Boxes 53-61).

Physical location:
Stored off-site at SRLF. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance through our electronic paging system using the request button located on this page.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Brooke Whiting and Lilace Hatayama; additional description by Rebecca Bucher with supervision by Megan Hahn Fraser; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé
Date Prepared:
Online finding aid last updated 10 August 2017.
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2017-08-10T13:41-0700 . Supplementary encoding and revision by Caroline Cubé using Notetab Pro.

Access and use

Restrictions:

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance through our electronic paging system using the request button located on this page.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the physical object belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Ellis Booksellers Records (Collection 425). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
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