Laurence Witten (Southport)
[Stock catalogues, numbered series:] 1 § 3-20
Bethany, CT (latterly Bridgeport, New Haven, Monroe, Southport), Laurence Witten Rare Books, 1952-1984
Nineteen volumes (28 cm), as issued, in the publisher’s printed wrappers. - A complete set of Witten’s catalogues (no. 2 was not issued). Laurence Witten (1926-1995) commenced trading in 1951 and in 1952 issued his first catalogue. In 1957, on a buying-trip in Europe, he purchased the infamous “Vinland map”, a transaction that mired him in controversy for the remainder of his life (Kirsten A. Seaver, Maps, myths, and men: the story of the Vinland map, Stanford, CA 2004). Cf. Donald C. Dickinson, Dictionary of American Antiquarian Bookdealers (Westport, CT 1998), pp.233-235. ¶ Wrappers of Catalogues 1 and 3 are in poor state; otherwise good copies.