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[WEST ( Wm. )]. Fifty years' recollections of an old bookseller ; consisting of anecdotes, character

Currency:EUR Category:Antiques / Books & Manuscripts Start Price:10.00 EUR Estimated At:100.00 - 120.00 EUR
[WEST ( Wm. )]. Fifty years' recollections of an old bookseller ; consisting of anecdotes, character

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Auction Date:2012 Oct 20 @ 11:00 (UTC+1)
Location:38 Molesworth Street, Dublin, Dublin, ., Ireland
[WEST ( Wm. )]. Fifty years' recollections of an old bookseller ; consisting of anecdotes, characteristic sketches, and original traits and eccentricities of authors, artists, actors, books, booksellers, and of the periodical press for the last half century, with appropriate selections. Second edition - first series. To which is added, some additional sketches of the late Captain Grose, including his rules for drawing caricatures ; and an unlimited retrospect ( with : Three hundred and fifty years retrospection of an old bookseller; containing an account of the origin and progress of printing, type founding, and engraving … Cork : Printed by and for the Author, 67, South Mall, 1835). London : Printed for the Author, 1837 (-1835)FIRST UK EDITION, with 11 plates & 7 text ilustrs, pp 78, (10), 85 - 100 ; (4), (101) - 200, 2 parts, separate titles, in 1 vol, 8vo, original cloth, gilt, old plain rebacking, uncut:very good copy, with ownership inscription of John Gamble, Camden Street, dated Sept. 12th, 1838. West (1770–1854), bookseller and antiquary, native of Surrey. The death of Samuel Johnson in 1784 inspired him to move to London and pursue a career in the world of literature and bookselling. In December that year he travelled to London on foot in the company of his elder brother, determined to be bound as an apprentice stationer. In the following January he repeated the journey and found employment with the bookseller Thomas Evans, to whom West's brother had been apprenticed since 1778. Within months he was apprenticed at Stationers' Hall to Robert Colley before being turned over to Evans. West then went into business for himself and in 1800 was joined as partner by Thomas Hughes. On 3 October 1801 both were declared bankrupt, but by 1808 West had re-established himself as a bookseller in Cork, where he published A Picturesque Description of Cork and its Environs (1808). Although the Gentleman's Magazine states that West spent some thirty years residing in Ireland, the dates of his sojourn remain unknown and, given the known chronology of his career, it seems unlikely that he spent so long out of England. It is known that he remained in Cork until 1830, during which time he wrote the anonymous Tavern anecdotes and reminiscences of the origin of signs, clubs, coffee houses, streets, city companies, wards … by one of the old school (1825) and the disjointed biographical miscellany Fifty Years' Recollections of an Old Bookseller (1830). (ODNB). “It is an extremely curious and amusing work, and deserves more attention than it has received.” – Bigmore & Wyman III.77.ALSO WITH THIS LOT: [EGAN ( Pierce )]. Real life in Ireland ; or, the day and night scenes, rovings, rambles, bodderation and blarney, of Brian Boru, Esq. and his elegant friend Sir Shawn O'Dogherty. Exhibiting a real picture of characters, manners, &c. in high and low life, in Dublin and various parts of Ireland … By a Real Paddy. Fourth edition. William Evans, circa 1850. With 19 coloured plates including frontispiece, pages (4), vii, (1), (5) - 196, 8vo, original green cloth : inside hinges weak but binding strong and fresh, otherwise very good-nice. An extreme exercise in stage-Irish caricature purporting to depict 'the fountainhead of bulls abd blunders' good-humouredly. Joyce mentions the work in his Finnegans Wake.(2)BIBLIOGRAPHY; PRINTING; BOOKSELLING; CORK PRINTED; HISTORY; IRELAND; HUMOUR; SATIRE; ENGLISH LITERATURE; COLOURED PLATES; ;