[Rarebooks] Books As A Way of Life, Essays by Gordon N. Ray

[HoltkampBk at aol.com]

{within border} Books As A Way of Life.  Essays by Gordon N.  Ray.  Edited, 
with an introduction and a checklist, by G. Thomas  Tanselle.  NY:  The Grolier 
Club/The Pierpont Morgan Library,  1988.  Sm 4to, pp. (vii-xxxiii) 432.  
Full-bound red cloth,  gold-stamped spine, raised bands.  This volume is printed 
in an edition of  750 copies by the Meriden-Stinehour Press.  Publication of 
this volume has  been supported the The Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation, 
Inc.  Bright,  tight, intact, text-block clean.  Dust jacket mylar protected.  
As New  condition.  $75.00
 
Gordon N. Ray (1915-1986), professor of English at the University of  
Illinois from 1946 to 1960 and president of teh John Simon Guggenheim Memorial  
Foundation from 1963 to 1985, was one of the major book and manuscript  collectors 
of his time.  His two great Morgan Library catalogues, on  English and French 
book illustration, are monuments both to his collecting and  to his 
scholarship, which were inseparable aspects of his life.   Over the years he wrote a 
number of essays and addresses on book  collecting, the book trade, libraries, 
and the role of books in  life.   Some of them have become famous, while others 
are not well  known; but all are perceptive and eloquent statements, full of 
literary  allusions and touches of humor.  This volume brings together 
virtually  everything of this kind that he wrote; the result is an appealing and 
important  book that seems certain to be regarded in the future as a classic 
contribution  to the literature of the book world.
 
The volume begins with four essays about his own collection, which  
constitute a kind of autobiography.  They are followed by his two  celebrated surveys, 
dating from 1965 and 1974, of the state of the rare-book  world (with a 
further brief account from 1982).  Four essays analyzing and  demonstrating the role 
of book collecting in scholarship come next, and then  three addresses about 
the development and significance of research  libraries.  A concluding roup of 
three essays deals with the importance of  books and reading to individual 
self-understanding, and thus with the place of  the humanities in society. An 
appendix prints Ray's brief assessments of four  prominent figures in the book 
world:  Michael Sadleir, Tom Turner,  John D. Gordan, and C. Waller Barrett.
 
The twenty-one pieces have been selected by G. Thomas Tanselle, Ray's  
literary executor and (currently) the president of The Grolier Club; he has also  
provided an introductory essay on Ray's life and writings and has prepared a  
checklist of Ray's publications. 
 
 
 
Holtkamp  Books
103 East 10th Street
Fulton, Missouri 65251-1980
Phone/Fax:  573-642-7917
Cell Phone: 651-983-7917
HoltkampBk at aol.com

"Let my  temptation be a book,
Which I shall purchase, hold, and keep." - Eugene  Field

We carry a diverse stock of fine books. All books are subject to  prior sale. 
We accept PayPal and US checks or money orders drawn on US banks.  
Institutions may be billed. Missouri residents add 7.225% tax. Books may be  reserved 
pending payment. Books may be returned within 7 days of receipt,  provided they 
are in the same condition as sent and prior notice is given.  Domestic 
(priority or media) and Overseas postage billed at actual cost + $1.00  S&H.