Brick Row Book Shop Records, ca. 1913-2015
RLIN ID
NYGG07-A12
Main Entry
Brick Row Book Shop (New York, N.Y.)
Title
Records, ca. 1913-2015.
Physical Description
62 boxes ; approx. 76 linear ft.
Organization and Arrangement
Organized into four series: I. Correspondence; II. Financial Records; Catalogs and Lists; IV. Miscellaneous.
Historical/Biographical Note
The Brick Row Book Shop was established in New Haven, Connecticut in 1915 to provide the Yale community with good editions of standard literature. Edmund Byrne Hackett, the first director, was in charge of the business until his death 1953. The shop’s original store in New Haven and branch in Princeton, New Jersey were closed during the Depression of the 1930s and consolidated into the New York City location. The shop moved to Austin, Texas in 1954 after its purchase by Frank Gilliam, Hackett’s last associate, and then relocated to San Francisco in 1971. Gilliam sold the business to John Crichton in 1983. Throughout its history but especially over the past few decades, the shop has emphasized English and American literature. It also deals in prints and manuscripts.
Scope and Contents Note
Correspondence with individual stitutional customers. Financial records include invoices, cash sales books, and booking ledgers, as well as tax records and stock certificates. The collection of catalogs consists mainly of marked copies. Miscellaneous material includes samples of enclosures and various letterhead formats. Correspondence includes but is not limited to a TLS (8 Jan. 1934) from John Goring to Edmund Byrne Hackett concerning pages of a manuscript supposedly dictated by Napoleon during his residence on St. Helena.
Additional accession in December 2013, these records are unprocessed and are organized into three record containers and one letter sized document box, boxes 27-30.
Finding Aid Note
Unpublished finding aid available in repository.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Records ca. 1951-1955, 1983-1996 are gift of John Crichton/Brick Row Book Shop, 49 Geary Street #235, San Francisco, Calif.
Records ca. 1913-1950s, catalogs 1921-1939 and 1963-1972 are gift of Mary Cooper Gilliam, Charlottesville, Va., Sept. 2004-current.
Records in 2013 and 2018 accessions are gift of Mary Cooper Gilliam, Charlottesville, Va.
Access points:
Names
Brick Row Book Shop (Austin, Tex.)
Brick Row Book Shop (San Francisco, Calif.)
Hackett, Edmund Byrne, b. 1879.
Gilliam, Franklin, 1925-1994.
Crichton, John.
Subjects
Antiquarian booksellers. United States. 20th century.
Booksellers and bookselling. United States. 20th century.
Genres
Account books. 20th century.
Bookseller’s catalogs. 20th century.
Business records. 20th century.
Financial records. 20th century.
Ledgers. 20th century.
Letterheads. 20th century.
Loose-leaf binders. 20th century.
Stock certificates. 20th century.
Occupation (as reflected in collection)
Antiquarian booksellers. United States. 20th century.
Location
Grolier Club, 47 East 60th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022-1098