Book Auction Catalogues

Beauclerk, Topham. Bibliotheca Beauclerkiana. A Catalogue of the Large and Valuable Library... Paterson, 9 April 1781, two parts in one, preliminaries and title bound after the first part--Letter from the Earl of Buchan to his brother...on the subject of Education... Edinburgh, 1782, author's presentation copy--Catalogue of the Extensive, Genuine, and Highly Valuable Collection of Pictures, late the property of The Hon. John Clerk of Eldin... Edinburgh, 14 March 1833--Catalogue of the intire Cabinet of Capital Drawings collected by the late Greffier Francois Fagel...which will be sold by auction, under the direction of Mr. Thomas Philipe...the 20th of May, 1799, ad five following days... 1799; and many other catalogues (including the collection of drawings, books, coins etc assembled by John McGouan of Edinburgh, sold in January 1804) all annotated with prices realised, and others, including accounts of trials and histories of the church; 8vo, various bindings (spines numbered 232, 379, one unnumbered) (3) 

The Forbes Baronetcy was created in 1626 for Sir William Forbes (d. circa 1650) by James VI in the Barontage of Nova Scotia. The majority of the works offered here were acquired by the sixth Baronet, also William (1739-1806), who added Pitsligo to his title in 1781. He was an eminent Scottish banker and benefactor, good friend of James Boswell and Samuel Johnson (see lots 45-46), and finally succeeded in recovering the Pitsligo estates forfeited after the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. His son William, the seventh baronet, beat Sir Walter Scott to the hand of the renowned beauty Williamina Belsches Stuart (1776-1810), and it was with their marriage that the family moved to her family seat, Fettercairn House in Kincardineshire, Aberdeenshire.

One of the sixth baronet’s acquisitions for his library at Pitsligo were numerous highly important miscellanies and tract volumes, many of which were purchased as a set from Edinburgh bookseller Elphinstone Balfour in October 1786. These were subsequently supplemented by further contemporary tracts and other works from the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century. Most of these miscellanies bear a nineteenth century Forbes family bookplate.

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing unless otherwise stated
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The book collector and amateur chemist Topham Beauclerk (1739–1780), a great grandson of Charles II and Nell Gwyn, was "aristocratic, idle, and accomplished" (Oxford DNB), and a close friend of Samuel Johnson, appearing throughout Boswell's Life. Over the course of his short life he amassed a fine library of over 30,000 volumes. "To store them, he employed Robert Adam to design a library for his house in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury. According to Walpole it reached "halfway to Highgate. Everybody goes to see it; it has put the [British] Museum's nose quite out of joint" (Walpole, Corr., 33.136). On Beauclerk's death the library, which had been mortgaged to the duke of Marlborough, was sold over a period of fifty days, beginning on Monday, 9 April 1781, for £5011." (op.cit.)