Davis & Orioli (London)

Seventy-seven catalogues (21 cm), as issued, in the publisher’s wrappers. - A good run comprising seventy-three catalogues and four stock lists. J. Irving Davis (1889-1967) and Giuseppe “Pino” Orioli (1884-1942) commenced bookselling together in Florence in 1910-1911, and in 1913 established premises in London, where they inaugurated a “new series” of catalogues. Though the name of the firm remained unchanged, Davis soon became sole proprietor, with Orioli residing in Italy, where he worked mostly as a publisher. The firm’s last catalogue (no. 170) was issued in 1965; Davis died on 1 May 1967 (obituary by H.A. Feisenberger, in The Book Collector, Autumn 1967, pp.369-371). The residue of Davis’ stock was offered by Sotheby’s in 1968-1969 (principal sale on 2 December 1968, 305 lots); the remainder was sold there on 2 April 1985 (519 lots). ¶ Many catalogues in the present group are from the reference collection of Hellmut Feisenberger (1909-1999), Davis’ junior partner in the firm from c. 1935-1947, editor of sixty catalogues (nos.64-125). Feisenberger recorded on the catalogue covers items of interest, in pencil or pen; occasionally he corrects a collation, or supplies additional provenance details, or identifies a purchaser - as for example in Catalogue 140 (item 16a), where he writes: “from me / sold to him £37.10”. Paper stocks available during the War generally were of poor quality; in some catalogues, the pages edges are browned, and in one (Catalogue 89) the entire leaf has browned. Staples are often rusted; specific faults are mentioned below.