Catalogue of the Important Library. . .Including an Extensive Collection of Works of Shakespeare Interest, Comprising the First, Third and Fourth Folio. . .An extraordinary collection of Shakespeareana, including Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps own Collection on the Life of Shakespeare

8vo.  [2], 97 pp.  Bound in modern boards by Rene Patron, with original wrappers bound-in.  Very good copy.

James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-1889) became the son-in-law of the most important collector of the 19th Century in England Sir Thomas Phillipps, after eloping with daughter and earning the eternal wrath of the old man for the remainder of his life.  Halliwell-Phillipps was himself an inveterate collector of Shakespeare and his circle and from the very beginning of his career courted controversy by being involved with stolen material.  He was known to form and sell collections of printed books, manuscripts, and relics and was considered by some to be both unscrupulous and deceptive in his practices.  Undeterred he published numerous articles on Shakespeare and was a member of many antiquarian societies although he was held at arm's length by other Shakespeare scholars and collectors.

This sale was organized by Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge  six months after his death in January of 1889 and it contains his personal collection of Shakespeariana and manuscripts.  The collection contained 1291 lots including his collection of papers on the life of Shakespeare that was so controversial.  Although his career was marred by the suspicion of his removing uncatalogued manuscripts from Trinity College Cambridge his scholarship and devotion to the writings of Shakespeare was undeniable.  His copy of the First Folio brought £95 and was a much inferior copy to the Daniel copy sited above.

Seymour De Ricci, English Collectors of Books and Manuscripts, p. 144-49.  British Museum,  List of Catalogues of English Book Sales,  406.  (1189)