Once a book has been published, most copies lead a hidden life. Every now and then, they resurface when a collector manages to acquire a better copy, or when the nature of the collection changes, or when family members auction off a copy after the buyer's death. In this way, each copy has its own rhythm of temporary publicity, like a mole occasionally emerging above ground out of necessity.
A book from 1893 may well turn up ten times in a century in antiquarian catalogues, shop windows or at auctions, while in between it may sometimes be featured in an exhibition. When it is eventually purchased by a library or museum, its hidden life comes to an end, even though it may be taken off the shelf less often than when it was in private ownership.
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| Limitation statement in John Gray, Silverpoints (1893): no. 216. |
John Gray's book of poetry Silverpoints (1893) was officially printed in 25 deluxe copies, bound in vellum, and 250 copies bound in green cloth, after a design by Charles Ricketts. In reality, at least three additional unnumbered deluxe copies are known to exist, while there are more than twenty unnumbered copies in green cloth on a variety of paper.
Copy 216 last surfaced in March of this year, in one of the auctions of the collection of Barry Humphries (aka Dame Edna) (1934-2023), see The Library of Barry Humphries. London: Forum Auction, 26 March 2025, p. 35, lot 64. It was acquired for a private library and may reappear again in twenty years' time. [See blog no 709 about the Humphries sale.]
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| Bookplate of Barry Humphries in John Gray, Silverpoints (1893), no. 216 |
Before Barry Humphries acquired this copy, it was offered for sale in 1999 by James Cummins Booksellers in New York. The description on Bibliocity, the internet site for 'Rare and Collectible Books Etc. from Leading International Antiquarian Booksellers' was seen by me on 18 February 1999 (and again on 17 November 1999): 'Number 216 of 250 copies', 'Some minor shelf wear, extremities slightly rubbed, spine darkened, with catalogue and newspaper clippings mounted on endpapers. Former owners tickets.' The price was: $4,500. Before Humphries purchased the copy, it may of course have been offered for sale in other places and bought by other collectors, but I have found no evidence of this.
In 1989, the same copy had been catalogued by Claire Warrack and Geoffrey Perkins, who had a London office, but asked orders and correspondence to be send to their French address in Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives. The volume was listed in their catalogue The Turn of a Century, 1885-1910 of March/April 1989, and priced at £3,000. The catalogue did not mention that this copy was number 216, but it can be identified by a second pasted-in title page (or a proof of it) with a handwritten letter from John Gray to one of the two publishers, Elkin Mathews:Tipped in a the front of this copy is a proof of the title-page with a holograph inscription, "Dear Mr. Matthews (sic). This is the way these pages should be arranged - as I have numbered them, according to Mr. Ricketts. So now Mr. Leighton can proceed with the binding. Yours most sincerely, John Gray".
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| Leather bookplate of William Evan Fredeman in John Gray, Silverpoints (1893), no. 216 |
Warrack & Perkins, like James Cummins, did not mention the names of previous owners, although they observed the presence of two bookplates. However, in the Barry Humphries sale the names were disclosed, one of them being that of William Evan (Dick) Fredeman (1928-1999). Fredeman was Emeritus Professor of English at the University of British Columbia and was seen as the most-eminent Pre-Raphaelite scholar of his time. His bookplate includes his initials and the name of the collection: 'Pre-Raphaelite Collection'.
After he had died, a large part of his collection was handled by the Seattle-based antiquarian firm of Edward Nudelman. However, Copy 216 of Silverpoints was not among the books. Fredeman had died on 15 July 1999, months after James Cummins had offered it for sale, and we may assume that the collector himself decided to part with it before his demise.
Perhaps, Fredeman had acquired this copy from Warrack & Perkins in or around 1991.
I have no other evidence of earlier collectors apart from the second bookplate that is pasted on the inside of the front cover. This one mentions the owner and a book number: Thomas Hutchison and 'No. 2437'.
[To be continued...]
