For new collectors, the idea of “books on books” may seem like a strange one. However, within this genre of books lies one specific category known as bibliographies, which are an incredible resource for collectors of virtually all levels and interests. Using a bibliography to direct your collecting efforts is an excellent way to eliminate guesswork and find new direction. They are your guidebook to the author/subject on which you focus your collecting energies and monies.

What Is a Bibliography?

‘A Short Account of the Life and Work of Wynkyn de Worde’ offers both biographical and bibliographical information on the man who popularized the printing press.

Most of us think of bibliographies as the source lists at the end of research papers and journal articles. in the world of rare books, “bibliography” still refers to a list of books and other works, but with a slightly different focus. A bibliography is a compilation of all the printed works that fall into a given category. It may be annotated, which means that it includes more than simply publication information for each item listed. Bibliographies are available in almost every concentration.

• Genre: The Bibliography of American Literature (BAL) is the definitive source on the subject. Other genre bibliographies, such as The Fourth Estate (newspapers) and British Literary Magazines: The Modern Age, 1914-1984 are even more narrowly focused.
• Location: Robert Bent’s The London Catalogue of Books includes all titles published in that city from 1814 to 1839. California’s Pictorial Letter Sheets 1849-1969 focuses on both genre and location.
• Author: A Bibliography of A. Conan Doyle and A Bibliography of the Writings of Henry James are both excellent references for collectors of these authors.
• Collector: The libraries of famous collectors often merit their own study. Bibliotecha Steevensiana, for example, details the incredible collection of legendary bibliophile George Steevens.

Know Your Books

This rare catalogue of the short-lived publishing firm is both a resource and a collectible in its own right.

One of the greatest challenges for novice book collectors–and sometimes even professional antiquarian book dealers–is accurately identifying the book in front of us. It can be difficult to differentiate among different editions of books, for example. The bibliography can eliminate that uncertainty. These research tools often list relevant points of issue, that is, small details about a book than can help you tell the difference between the first edition and subsequent editions, or between different printings of the same edition; in the era of letterpress printing, for instance, the printer would often make changes to the typeset (sometimes mid-run) to correct errors. A collector would need to know these, in order to correctly spot true first editions and avoid potentially costly mistakes.

Discover New Direction

Typically collectors focus on the “high points” in their specialty or genre. Dickens collectors, for example, generally begin with the Inimitable’s most famous works like Pickwick Papers, Bleak House, and Great Expectations. This propensity for collecting high points has two important results. First, it means that most collections lack much depth. Second, prices for these high point works are driven up, often out of the reach of amateur collectors. The bibliography, then, offers a means of discovering lesser known works that add interest and completeness to a collection. It can also point collectors toward fascinating items that are more accessible from a cost standpoint. Ultimately the bibliography can act as a collector’s “checklist.”

As you move forward with building your own collection, find out which relevant bibliographies are considered most useful. Add these to your personal library as soon as you can! They’ll prove a sound investment as you delve deeper into the world of rare and antiquarian books.  Finally, Tavistock Books offers an annual workshop on Reference Book use [the next being this coming August 24th].  Should you desire further information on this workshop, please contact Margueritte Peterson at msp [@] tavbooks.com

Henry Fielding

Charles Dickens

When Charles Dickens’ sixth son was born on January 16, 1849, the boy was named for one of Dickens’ favorite authors. Supposedly Dickens had first thought to name the boy after Oliver Goldsmith, but he feared the child would be ridiculed as “Oliver always asking for more.” Instead he named his son Henry Fielding Dickens, after legendary 18th-century author Henry Fielding. Though Dickens was born too late to meet Fielding, his predecessor had a profound impact on Dickens’ work.

 A Father of the Novel

Henry Fielding (April 22, 1707-Oct 8, 1754) began his literary career due to financial distress. At the time writing plays could be quite lucrative, so Fielding turned his attention to drama. His first play, Love in Several Masques (1728), was an immediate success, and over the next several years Fielding would write at least 25 more plays. Most of these had little literary merit. In 1736, Fielding wrote Pasquin, a Dramatic Satire of the Times, which was performed 60 times in only three months. The play attacked the administration of Sir Robert Walpole, portraying the government as rife with corruption.

Fielding followed with The Historical Register for the Year 1736 (1737), which was even more critical of Sir Walpole’s administration. The play was so overtly critical that it caused worry among government officials. Sir Walpole seized the opportunity to pass the License Act of 1737, turning over control of the theatre to Lord Chamberlain. After that, it was virtually impossible to produce a satirical play, and Fielding found his career as a dramatist at an abrupt end. Though Fielding turned back to the law to make his money, he soon found himself facing financial trouble. He began editing the anti-Walpole The Champion, or British Mercury (1739-1741), writing under the pseudonym Captain Hercules Vinegar.

Then Samuel Richardson published the first two volumes of Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded in 1740. Fielding found Richardson’s tone so self-serving and moralistic, he was moved to pen a scathing satire of Richardson’s novel. An Apology for the LIfe of Mrs. Shamela Andrews (1741) was published anonymously, but is accepted as Fielding’s work. He followed up with the comic romance of Pamela’s brother in The History and Adventures of Joseph Andrews (1742). Both novels were quite successful.

Fielding, as many know, also had a very successful career as magistrate, being, for example, co-founder of London’s first police force, the Bow Street Runners. But he never stopped writing. He was a prolific writer of political pamphlets. Vehemently anti-Stuart, Fielding wrote for the burlesque Jacobite Journal (1747-1748) as a response to the Jacobite uprising of 1745. That event would later serve as the backdrop for The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749). It was with this novel that Fielding made his greatest contribution to literature: this picaresque tale blends elements of the mock epic and comic romance, but it also introduces the omniscient narrator.

Meanwhile the novel’s protagonist, Tom Jones, is an ordinary person, a sort of modern-day everyman. With the figure of Tom Jones, Fielding made the novel accessible and interesting to a whole new middle-class reading public. It’s no surprise, then, that a copy of Tom Jones found its way to the bookshelf of the poor Dickens household when Charles was a boy.

Fielding’s Impact on the Victorian Novel

While Richardson is credited with originating the psychological realism so prevalent today, Fielding was the inventor of a new narrative voice that vastly influenced Victorian writers from William Makepeace Thackeray to Charles Dickens. Indeed, Dickens owes quite a debt to Fielding. Dickens’ first several novels were picaresques (novels of short episodes), a style he’d picked up from the books of his childhood–namely Arabian Nights, Don Quixote, and Tom Jones. Dickens would also incorporate elements of the mock epic and the comic romance in his stories.

Dickens also followed in Fielding’s footsteps by using fiction to openly address political and social issues. Fielding made literature more egalitarian; while the novel had previously focused on members of the upper classes and their lives, Fielding opened up the genre. Dickens furthered that work with tales like Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol.

Fielding’s novels surely left a lasting impression, influencing Dickens for a lifetime. It’s no wonder that Dickens chose to name a child after Fielding. Where else do you see Fielding’s influence on Dickens’ writing? And which writer would you choose for a child’s namesake?