It is, however, the sale catalogues of the eighteenth and the greater part of the nineteenth century which interest me most. It was a period which may be called the Golden Age of bookselling. The sale catalogues of this later time unfortunately came to an end in 1890, with that of Richard Bentley & Son, whose business was afterwards taken over by Messrs. Macmillan & Co. At the end of this catalogue, dated October 21, 1890, there was reprinted from "The Bookseller" an article on "Trade Sale Dinners," to which I contributed some of the information, and I am indebted to the courteous head of Messrs. Whitaker & Co. for allowing me to reproduce it in this chapter. It is as follows:
"The very ancient institution, peculiar to booksellers, of dining together on the occasion of a trade sale, is almost extinct and is, we very much regret to think, likely to become entirely so in the near future.
"The fashion of dining together on the occasion of a sale is a very old one. An interesting collection of sale catalogues in the possession of Mr. William Reader contains specimens dating back to 1704. They consist of the catalogues sent in the ordinary course of business to Osborne and his successor, the first of the Longmans. It is evident from these catalogues that sale dinners were a well-established custom of the trade as long ago as the beginning of the eighteenth century; and, as it must have required considerable time for the practice to have developed into a custom, their first beginnings may possibly have been as far back as 'the spacious times of great Elizabeth,' when bookselling first took shape as a regular trade.
"The first catalogue in Mr. Reader's collection is that of the stock of Mrs. Elizabeth Harris, deceased, which is to be sold at 'The Bear, in Avey Mary Lane,' on the 11th December, 1704, 'beginning at 9 in the morning, when the whole company shall be entertained with a breakfast, and at noon with a good dinner and a glass of wine, and then proceed with the sale in order to finish that evening.' The sale of the stock of the late John Nicholson took place in 1718 at the Queen's Head Tavern in Paternoster Row, and the catalogue bears marginal notes in Osborne's handwriting, the names of Curil and Tonson appearing amongst the buyers. Nicholson's interest in certain share books was also disposed of, including Robert Clavel's shares, which he had formerly acquired. (Robert Clavel was a bookseller who flourished during the latter half of the previous century. He carried on business at the Peacock, in St. Paul's Churchyard, and in 1673 issued the well-known 'Catalogue of all the Books Printed in England since the Dreadful Fire of London in 1666 to the end of Michaelmas Term, 1672.') Nicholson's stock and shares appeared to have realized altogether £2,533, a very respectable sum for those days.
"It is remarkable that these sale catalogues were printed in almost exactly the same form as those of our own day. Nearly all are in folio, with broad margins for annotations, and they are addressed to 'A select number of Booksellers of London and Westminster,' in the identical terms still current. Only those who were invited by having a catalogue sent them were expected to attend the sale, and the invitations were restricted to booksellers of established position. 'No stallmen admitted' is the significant notice printed at the head of one of the catalogues.
"It was not always a dinner that was given; sometimes it was a supper at which the buyers were entertained, as at the sale of Edward Valentine's stock in 1725, on the margin of which catalogue we first meet with the name of Longman among the buyers. In any case, however, whether the stock sold was that of an individual bookseller or a miscellaneous assortment from several contributors, it was the invariable custom to entertain those who came with a substantial repast 'and a glass of good wine.' At Thomas Osborne's sale in 1743, the catalogue even recites the delicacies which were provided, 'consisting of turkies and chines, hams and chickens, apple-pies, etc., and a glass of very good wine.'
"Thirteen years later, in 1756, the sale took place of part of the stock of the late Thomas Longman, Osborne's successor and founder of the great Paternoster Row house. The copyrights and shares of Jacob and Richard Tonson were sold in August, 1767, and we notice the names of Dilly, Rivington, and Newbery amongst the buyers. Many of the copyrights were offered in twentieths, for the convenience of bidders. At that time, and long afterward, the risk and expense of publishing a book were jointly borne by a group of booksellers, who met periodically to agree upon the number to be printed, and to audit accounts, and these shares constantly appear in the sale catalogues of the period.
"The trade sales were always held at some selected tavern or coffee-house; until 1754, they took place at the Queen's Head Tavern in Paternoster Row, and up to that time it is a rare exception to find them held elsewhere. But in 1755 they were removed to the Queen's Arms in St. Paul's Churchyard, in consequence, as a note on a catalogue of that date states, of the Queen's Head Tavern being converted to another use. For many years subsequently the Queen's Arms continued in favour, and sales were held there as late as 1813; but from about 1790 the London Coffee House on Ludgate Hill seems to have had the preference. The Horn Tavern, Doctors' Commons, was sometimes selected, and less frequently the Globe Tavern, in Fleet Street, where as long ago as 1768, a sale was held. The Chapter Coffee House in Paternoster Row was sometimes used, but not often, although the share-meetings continued to take place there until a very recent date. The London Coffee House gradually obtained a monopoly of the trade sales, until they were finally transferred to the Albion Tavern in Aldersgate Street.
"During a period of nearly a hundred and ninety years the sales appear to have been almost exclusively held at five houses, which, as time went on, succeeded each other in favour. The transfer to the Albion was gradual, but in 1831 the greater number were already held there, and in recent years seldom took place elsewhere, though occasionally one was held as far west as the Freemasons' Tavern in Great Queen Street.
"Within the present generation, the houses having annual sale dinners numbered about fourteen—Bentley, Bickers, Bohn, Chatto & Windus, Longmans, Macmillan, Murray, Quaritch, Routledge, Seeley and Burnside, Tegg, Ward and Lock, Warne, and Whittaker; and of these only two now survive. Messrs. Longmans' last sale dinner took place on November 5, 1872, and Mr. Murray's last dinner on November 4, 1887.
"It is curious that the form of trade sale catalogues should have remained so long unchanged. The old-fashioned yellow-wove post folios of Murray are well remembered. Those of Bentley are somewhat different. Their catalogues were printed in red and black for some years, but since 1885 in blue and brown; and, with a single exception, in 1880, their dinners always took place at the Albion."
It was in connexion with the firm with which I have been for so many years associated, that I happened, quite accidentally, some thirty years ago, to come across a parcel of catalogues which were placed with a heap of papers to be sent to the paper mills for destruction. My interest in them was such that as they were considered only waste paper, I took the bundle home, and they have since been to me an endless source of pleasure and instruction. Some of these catalogues are dated 1797, but from the early part of the nineteenth century, judging from the catalogues, books and booksellers had a very prosperous period. At this time, the following publishers and booksellers had a large number of titles in their catalogues, and in many instances they were very important publications. Among them are Sir Richard Phillips (Lord Mayor of London), Darton & Harvey (10 Crosby Square), Joseph Johnson, J. Walker, F. & C. Rivington, Murray & Highley (the predecessors of the celebrated house of John Murray), Longman, Hurst Rees & Orme (who at this period had a very miscellaneous catalogue of books, including plays), Wilson & Spence of York, Henry Mozley of Gainsborough, Cadell & Davies, J. Stockdale of Piccadilly, Scotcherd & Letterman, W. Miller, C. Law, Constable, Vernor & Hood, G. & J. Robinson, and R. Baldwin. Most of these catalogues contain books which had been issued by a combination of bookseller publishers; the shares in the publication of a particular book were divided up by those interested in the book; and the profits were divided between those who contributed to its publication.
A catalogue, dated April 1805, of Joseph Maurnan, agent to the University of Cambridge, besides enumerating Bibles of various sizes, from folio to twelves and twenty-fours, and Common Prayers of a like character (these were sold 5 for 4, 9 for 7, 12 for 10, and other numbers with a similar reduction), also contained such books as "Lambe on Constitutional Diseases"; Ruddiman's "Rudiments," new edition; Ruffhead's "Statutes," 18 vols., £38; New Geographical Game upon cards in a box, 7s. 6d.; also a collection of Plays and Farces.
Another catalogue, dated June 1805, shows that at this period women held a position amongst the booksellers. This catalogue was issued by Elizabeth Mathews, 18 Strand, and the terms of the sale were four months' credit for £10; four and eight months' for £20; four, eight, and twelve months' for £50; four, eight, twelve, and sixteen for £100: money was evidently not of the same value then as now. Some of the most important books in this catalogue were "Annual Register," 33 vols.; Buffon's "Natural History," 15 vols.; Sheraton's "Cabinet Maker's Drawing Book," 18s.; "Encyclopædia Britannica," 20 vols. Another of the same period also contained many important works such as "Johnson's Dictionary," in 4 vols., Mavor's "Voyages and Travels," 25 vols., Radcliffe's "Mysteries of Udolpho," 4 vols.; "Pinder's Works," 5 vols.; Pope's "Homer," 5 vols. "Shakespeare's Works," in 21 vols., and with four different editions in 10 vols. and two in 9 vols., are all in this catalogue. From this period onward the same characteristics appear in catalogues, but by degrees, when publishers only sold the books they published, the constitution of the catalogue and the sales greatly changed and the business done was more ordinary and commonplace. I have spent many most enjoyable occasions when attending these sales, and also met there many distinguished people connected both with the trade and also with the making of literature.
As a few samples of the characteristics and the business done at some of the sale dinners when the custom was drawing to a close, I may mention that at Murray's sale, in 1885, the completing volume of the "Speaker's Commentary" was among the works offered, and some 2,500 copies were sold within the first ten minutes; of that great traveller Du Chaillu's "Land of the Midnight Sun," in 2 vols., about 1,800 copies were sold. The educational works of Dr. Smith were then in great demand, and there were disposed of at this sale some 7,500 copies of his "English Course," and of the Latin 16,000, while of "Little Arthur's History of England," 12,500 copies were sold.
At another sale, when Bishop Wilberforce's Life was the leading book offered, the principal sales were as follows: 1,000 Mudie's Library, 900 Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 450 Hamilton & Co., 250 Smith & Son, 100 W. Kent, and 100 Hatchard's, whilst 22,500 of Smith's Latin Course were quickly purchased.
Times and the methods of education have greatly changed, but there are two things respecting these sales which strike me very forcibly. These are the comparatively small sales to-day of the above-mentioned educational works, also whether the publisher has been wise to stop these trade sales. They undoubtedly not only brought publishers and booksellers together, but offered an inducement to the booksellers which does not exist to the same extent to-day to make up stock orders and interest themselves in books.
Personally, as I have suggested in other chapters, I should be delighted to see some organized association brought into existence of which all those interested in the making and selling of books could become members, so that representatives of the different departments of the trade might meet together and talk over or discuss questions connected with it. This I am sure would lead to a greater and more satisfactory prosperity in all departments of the publishers' and booksellers' trade than has ever yet been attained.