Author: [CLARKE (William)]
Title: Repertorium Bibliographicum; or, Some Account of the Most Celebrated British Libraries. London: William Clarke, 1819. First edition, xlviii, [2], 138, 133*-138*, 139-454, 449*-454*, 455-672, [2]pp., engraved frontispiece and 9 engraved portraits (foxed and offset, the portrait of Towneley is inserted and stands proud), small ink splash to title, 2 woodcuts in the text. [Bound with:] A Dialogue in the Shades; between William Caxton, a Bibliomaniac, and William Wynken, Clerk. Rare Doings at Roxburghe Hall. A Ballad. The Diary of Roger Payne, with a Lithographic sketch on the Monument to be Erected to his memory by the Bibliographical Club.
Description: London: Printed for William Clarke, 1821. Second edition, [2 ads], [36]pp., with printed title-page and half-title, engraved headpiece, the advert leaf includes two editions of Beckford's Vathek and A Description of Fonthill Abbey. Small 4to (235 x 145 mm), 2 works in one, recent half calf to style, marbled boards, spine tooled in gilt. A survey of the principal public and private libraries in England, listing highlights of the collections and concluding with brief accounts of 30 important English book auctions from the 17th century onwards. William Beckford assisted in the compilation of this work, particularly in the description of his own library at Fonthill. The Dialogue in the Shades is a two-part pamphlet of satirical verse is a response to Dibdin's Lincolne Nosegay and the Bibliographical Decameron. The attribution varies from William Beckford to the Clarke brothers. This second edition is issued with an additional half-title, title-page with note from 'Mr. Wynkem' on the verso, and with the addition of The Diary of Roger Payne, a work in the same vein. A rare anti-Dibdinia item. Windle & Pippin, D9.

Keywords: BIBLIOGRAPHY THOMAS FROGAL DIBDIN BOOK AUCTION CATALOGUE BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS INCUNABLES INCUNABULA MANUSCRIPTS PRINTING TYPOGRAPHY WILLIAM BECKFORD FONTHILL ABBEY