lackington j james lackington (2 Ergebnisse)

Leather_bound. Zustand: fair. second American edition. The second American edition (with letters dated as late as 1803; the first edition was London 1804). 18 mo. (3 3/4" x 5 3/4") in original plain full calf, spine lined in gilt. vii (advertisement then preface dated Dec. 10th 1803) + 189 pp. + 2 pp. publisher's ads. A well worn, though complete, example, the text has staining throughout. 1822 ownership signature and notation that it cost 37 1/2 cents, front free endpaper. James Lackington (1746-1815) was a London bookseller who is considered to have revolutionized the British bookselling world. Lackington would refuse credit at his London shop, thereby enabling him to lower the prices of the books thereby providing availability to all social and economic classes. He opened the shop in 1774 (he also sold shoes in the shop). He was an aggressive book buyer, often purchasing entire libraries, printed writer's manuscripts, and bought left over (remaindered) stock at bargain prices. In 1794, he moved the business to a much larger location, renamed it "TheTemple of The Muses", and hung a sign outside proclaiming, "Cheapest Bookstore In The World". The Temple of the Muses became the largest bookstore in Great Britian, at its heights housing some half-million volumes and annual sales of 100,000 items.

Zustand: Very good plus. Scarce US edition of the bookseller's Confessions, with one of the earliest Brooklyn imprints. Lackington's CONFESSIONS (first published in London in 1804) follow and disclaim his earlier MEMOIRS, in which he first detailed his "strange rise from one of the lowest stations in life, to the possession of probably the greatest book-store in the known world," and fervently insulted Christianity in general and Methodism in particular along the way. Following his happy but temporary time as a Deist, the erstwhile bookseller was reclaimed once more for the Methodist side, and wrote these Letters to advertise and explain the fact of his conversion. Notable in Lackington's redemption drama is his reliance on books and reading to draw him back from the precipice: just as a novel-reading wife and Voltaire pushed him to deny the Gospels, only texts could bring him back: and to convert that same novel-reading wife, Lackington sent to his former book-dealing colleagues for "Seeker's Lectures on the Catechism; Wilson's Sermons, 4 vols.", and much more of the same, piling religious books upon his poor wife until at last "Mrs. L. said that she preferred that kind of reading far beyond the reading of novels." As for himself, the author "laid my freethinking books aside and began once more to study my Bible." Not merely a Methodist conversion narrative, but a history of reading: of a soul whose apprehension of truth and reality was entirely mediated through books and the written word. 5.5'' x 3.25''. Full brown calf. Spine stamped with gilt lines. [vii], [10-189], [1] pages. Contemporary owner's name and religious verse, ("A looking glass where we may see / Our natures own depravity.") in pen to front free endpaper. Boards slightly bowed, with moderate edgewear; head of spine lightly chipped. Moderate to heavy foxing and toning throughout.