An Ex-library copy of Fables by the Late Mr. Gay

 

In the normal course of events the Bewick Society would have held an Enthusiasms event at this time of year. This year's meetings have all been cancelled as we continue to fight the pandemic. Enthusiasms events allow us to share recent finds, often highlighting out of the ordinary publications, artworks or manuscripts. 

Here Graham Carlisle shares a rare item from an unlikely source.

 

Fables | by the Late | Mr. Gay. | […] EDINBURGH: PRINTED FOR W. COKE, LEITH. | 1792.

Ex-Libris, nice to consider; thoughts of a fine armorial bookplate, and a good family association perhaps. But Ex-Library? That is a less than enticing addition to any book description. Short of funds, even to maintain existing stocks, public libraries in recent years have made large scale disposals. 

The Times, February 28, 2009 reported:
“Rush for Free Books. Thousands of second-hand books were given away free at a warehouse in Bristol. […] Visitors brought crates and even prams to collect the books. The
warehouse will remain open this week.”

Best known for his prize winning ‘Hound and Huntsman’ engraving printed within the book, Thomas Bewick’s edition of Fables by the Late Mr. Gay, sourced from the
Bristol warehouse, had an interesting life. 

Central Library, Brixton; Westminster Public Library and Kent County Library are among the stamps gracing this buckram
bound volume.

Tattersfield: TB 2.163, vol. 3 p.46, note 4. ‘nearly the whole [of the remaining sheets] … was sold to an Edinburgh bookseller, who printed a new title page and inserted his own name as the printer of the work’. 

Coke’s edn is elusive and the only 2 copies examined (coll. Iain Bain, coll. The writer) each bear Glasgow Grammar School prize labels (1801, 1802), suggesting the sheets were
purchased by Coke for the purpose of supplying scholastic premia. 

Graham Carlisle