746. he Provenance of Silverpoints, Copy No. 216 (2)

Copy no. 216 of Silverpoints from the collection of Barry Humphries had previously been sold by James Cummins in 1999 and owned by William E. Fredeman. Before them, the book had been offered for sale by Warrack & Perkins in 1989 and the Winter of 1990-1991. 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 Hutchinson and 'No. 2437'. 

Bookplate of Thomas Hutchison in John Gray, Silverpoints (1893): no. 216

Thomas Hutchinson (1856–1938) was an English writer and educator, teaching at Northumbria University and a school in Pegswood, a small mining town. He published a book of verse, Ballades and other Rhymes of a Country Bookworm (1888). He was also a collector of first editions and letters by notable writers, such as Walt Whitman, and his collection was donated by Hutchinson's descendants to Preston Park Museum and Grounds. A letter to Whitman is recorded in the Whitman Archive (see the Whitman Archive).

On two occasions, parts of his collection were sold off. The first time this happened was in 1905, when a large number of books went to the auction house of Sotheby's. The sale helped finance his son's tuition. (See 'Booklives'). Silverpoints was part of this sale, and was probably acquired by an American dealer of British descent, Walter Martin Hill (1868-1925) whose shop was located in Chicago, but who went on regular buying trips to Great Britain. (For Hill, see blog no. 742). Hill first offered this copy in December 1906 in his Catalogue of Choice and Rare Books…,  Number 19, p. 4, no. 18: 'First edition, narrow 8vo, fancy cloth gilt, uncut', 'With autograph inscription to Mr. Mathews respecting the book: inserted.'), $2.50. 

That this brief and somewhat cryptic description refers to copy no. 216 can be deduced from a later catalogue: Catalogue of Miscellaneous Books…, Number 31 (June 1910), p. 31: 'Limited to 250 copies, of which this is No. 216. Autograph of Gray is in half pp. to Pub., telling how pp. should be arranged'), $1.75. After four years, the price had been reduced. 

The question remains: when could Hutchinson have obtained this particular copy? There are a few indications. First, the book number is 2434. This is a significantly lower number than that in a purchase he made in July 1903: James Russell Lowes' My Study Window which had number 3976. Other books have clippings from bookseller's catalogues pasted in, indicating his interest in the value or rarity of his books.

His copy of Silverpoints has the bookplate in the middle of the inside of the front cover, and around it, carefully pasted in, are newspaper clippings and one clipping from a catalogue. Price of the book in that catalogue was 15s, while the book was published at 7s.6d. Because he was in the habit of doing this, and because all of the newspaper reviews are surrounding his bookplate, we may presume that Hutchinson pasted these in himself. 

Review by T.P. O'Connor on the inside of the front cover of
John Gray, Silverpoints (copy No. 216)

Counterevidence is that a name is written on two reviews and the handwriting differs greatly from his letter to Whitman – but the calligraphy on that admiring letter is deliberately decorative. 

The reviews are early, including one by T.P. O'Connor and one by Richard Le Gallienne, both undated and untraced. These were probably published anonymously, but someone wrote their names at the foot of the clippings, and because Hutchinson had his copy auctioned in 1905, we must assume that he pasted in these early reviews – they were no longer available later on. Two small clippings are quotes from The Athenaeum and The Daily Chronicle published in other newspapers or weekly magazines.

Review by Richard Le Gallienne on the inside of the back cover of
John Gray, Silverpoints (copy No. 216)

This may indicate that Hutchinson acquired his copy on publication in March 1893 or shortly afterwards. 

From this, we have to conclude that, subsequently, he approached the publisher, and got him to send the proof of the title-page with the letter by John Gray, which he decided to paste in as well. (The John Lane Company archive at the Harry Ransom Center does not contain any letters from Hutchinson, nor does the Charles Elkin Mathews Collection at the University of Reading.)

Despite the digitisation of many newspapers, I have been unable to find the two reviews. O'Conner may have written his review in The Daily Telegraph or The New York Herald, and Le Gallienne in The Star. If you can locate them, I would be very grateful to hear from you!