Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge (London)

(25.5 cm), vii (1), 193 (3) pp. 2110 lots. Bound in contemporary black cloth, back lettered “Syston Park Library Dec. 1884” (printed yellow wrappers retained). - The Syston Park library was collected by Sir John Thorold (1734-1815), ninth baronet, and by his son, John Hayford Thorold (1773-1831). The elder Thorold commenced collecting about 1785, and by 1789 had become well-known in the Parisian salerooms; his pace began to slacken about 1800. Sir John’s principal contribution was an impressive group of Elzevirs; his son concentrated on Aldines, incunabula, and early printing, and rebuilt the library at Syston in 1822-1824 to house the new acquisitions (Tim Knox, “Sir John Thorold’s library at Syston Park, Lincolnshire” in Apollo, volume 146, September 1997, pp.24-29). The sale of the library in 1884 was tremendously successful, realising just over £28,000, with some outstanding prices: the 1462 Mainz Psalter on vellum (£4950), and the 42-line Bible (£3900), are most notable. The auctioneer afterwards distributed copies of the sale catalogue annotated with buyers’ names and prices. The present copy is one of these; there was also an issue of 25 annotated copies in a larger format (c. 280 × 195 mm, designated large paper in manuscript facing the title; see Christie’s sale of the Bibliotheca Bibliographica Breslaueriana, New York, 22-23 March 2005, lot 328: $2640). Further sales of books occurred on 3 July 1899, 5 March 1923 (lots 1-317), and 9 April 1923 (lots 411-795); the house was demolished in 1924. ¶ Good copy.