BIBLIOTHECA AMERICANA. A CATALOGUE OF A VALUABLE COLLECTION OF BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, MANUSCRIPTS, MAPS, ENGRAVINGS, AND ENGRAVED PORTRAITS, ILLUSTRATING THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA, AND THE WEST INDIES, ALTOGETHER FORMING THE MOST EXTENSIVE COLLECTION EVER OFFERED FOR SALE.

London: John Russell Smith, 1865. 22cm. (8), 308, (32, the bookseller's catalogue) pp. [text printed double-column]. 6598 items of Americana, replete with 17th and 18th century rarities; the 32-page catalogue offers material from a range of general antiquarian areas. Ownership signature of bookseller "Patrick Traynor / 29 & 30 Essex Quay / Dublin" on front endpaper and with his ink stamp on verso of title page (also with Bookseller W.B. Kelly's ownership note and signatures on verso of title page and at head of index and a final inscription by an unnamed bookseller "Bought at the auction of my late friend and employer's stock, October 1877 ... Patk. Traynor / Late Manager / to W.B Kelly of / 8 Grafton St. / & / 4 Lower Ormond Quay"). Traynor had a reputation for "an exceptional knowledge of books ... professor's from the different colleges, London booksellers, and book collectors have been known to listen to him for hours at a time and go away delighted with the conversation. He could talk about the insides as well as the outsides of his books, and was always most willing to give any information that he possessed about books" (obituary in "Publishers' Circular and Booksellers' Record of British and Foreign Literature," vol. lxxi, July-Dec., 1899 Some soiling, title page foxed, but a very good copy with wonderful bookselling associations. Somewhat later quarter-leather (rebacked, spine ends a little chipped) and cloth, gilt spine title (dull). (11192). Item #63368

Price: $200.00

See all items in Americana, Books on Books