Sir Thomas Phillipps: Number of Copies of Sir T. P.’s Printed Works, ca. 1860s

RLIN ID No.
NYGG04-A6

Main Entry
Phillipps, Thomas, Sir, 1792-1872, compiler.

Title
Number of copies of Sir T P.’s printed works : being a volume of sheets bound together, [ca. 186-?]

Physical Description
1 v. (ca. 325 p.) ; 35 cm.

Historical/Biographical Note
English antiquary and collector. He began collecting while at Rugby School and at Oxford and on inheriting his father’s estate at Middle Hill in Worcestershire he embarked on a career of collecting manuscripts and books. His collection eventually contained over 60,000 manuscripts and included many in Greek, Latin and eastern languages as well as English and Continental manuscripts. In the 1820s he made trips to the Continent where he visited many libraries and purchased manuscripts. On his return to England he continued to collect, frequently buying up entire libraries of both books and manuscripts at auction. He printed a number of the manuscripts at the Middle Hill Press he established on his estate.

Scope and Contents
A volume of sheets bound together that represent signatures of 27 Middle Hill Press publications. The recto of each sheet records which sheet of the book it represents and the number of copies printed, with occasional dates. One page contains a five-line epitaph to Katharine Gray in the hand of Sir Thomas Phillipps.

General Note
Title from spine.

General Note
Pagination includes blank sheets.

General Note
Bound in drab-colored Middle Hill Press boards and laid in modern folding cloth box with other items; spine of box lettered in gilt: Phillipps Private Papers/Middle Hill Press/Printing Records.

General Note
Entry no. 22,718 in Catalogus Librorum Manuscriptorum in Bibliotheca D. Thomas Phillipps, Bt…, with an introduction by A. N. L. Munby (London: Holland Press, 1968).

Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchase; Sotheby’s auction no. 3243, Lot 0060, London; 2003/12/02.

Provenance Note
Formerly owned by Martin Schoyer of Spikkestad, Norway who purchased it from the dealer H. P. Kraus of New York City. Previously owned by W. H. Robinson, Ltd of London. It would have been one of the many Phillipps manuscripts sold at one of the numerous sales of his collection conducted by Sotheby’s starting in 1886.

Names
Gray, Katharine, dedicatee.
Phillipps, Thomas, Sir, 1792-1872.
Schoyer, Martin, former owner.
Middle Hill Press, publisher.

Subjects
Book collecting. England. 19th century.

Occupation (as reflected in collection)
Book collectors. England. 19th century.

Location
Grolier Club, 47 East 60th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022-1098.