Beckford (William) The Hamilton Palace Libraries. Catalogue of the First [- Fourth] Portion of the Beckford Library, [bound with] Catalogue of the Hamilton Library [and] Catalogue of the Valuable Books Returned..., 11 parts in 3 vol., lists of prices and purchasers, c.200 plain ff. bound-in with ms pagination and many bearing contemporary press clippings and similar, interspersed across all vol. but c.150 blank to end of vol. 3, marginal notes by Anthony Hobson, some very faint browning, occasional minor spotting or stains, nineteenth century green half morocco, gilt, spines dis-coloured, some scuffs to extremities, original printed wrappers bound-in, 8vo, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 1882-84.

*** The Beckford Sale is one of the most remarkable in the annals of book collecting. The catalogues comprise the two libraries of Hamilton Palace, known as the Beckford Library and the Hamilton Library. The former assembled by William Beckford (1760-1844), ‘one of the greatest collectors of the day’ attracted solely by the rarity, beauty and artistry of old books and MSS (de Ricci, pp.84-5), and the latter by Alexander Hamilton, 10^th Duke of Hamilton (1767-1852), a notorious dandy and incorrigible antiquarian. The Beckford library realised the enormous sum of £73,551. 18s, while the smaller Hamilton library realised £12,892. 12s. 6p. The sales were important for Bernard Quaritch’s history, who managed to be a particularly successful buyer, ‘gathering into his stores practically everything that was worth having in those gigantic libraries’. (de Ricci p.159).

Provenance: Anthony Hobson (1921-2014), book auctioneer, book historian (particularly bindings) and bibliophile (armorial bookplates).

Captain Francis-Capper Brooke (1810-1886), Italophile, scholar and book collector. Brooke had his copies of the sale catalogues and prices and purchasers lists bound together, along with newspaper clippings reporting on the sales (see Sunderland lot 45 for Brooke's signature on A.L.s from auctioneer Patrick Simpson there bound-in; these vol. bound in same style with relevant ephemera and near uniform half morocco, presumably all 5 vol. once a set in his library).