Sterling Library
The Collection
Subject: English literature
This collection comprises over 7,000 volumes of first and fine editions of English literature: poetry, prose, and drama. It is divided into five main sections:
- Authors before 1900
- Twentieth-century literature
- Private press books
- Illustrated and extra-illustrated works
- Manuscripts
The collection covers most high spots of English literature, from Geoffrey Chaucer鈥檚 Canterbury Tales (1492 edition) onwards. Some special highlights include two books printed by William Caxton; the first edition of Martin Luther鈥檚 New Testament (September 1522; one of very few items not in English); a set of the first four Shakespeare folios; three early Shakespeare quartos; a presentation copy of Oscar Wilde鈥檚 厂补濒辞尘茅 to Aubrey Beardsley; E. B. Browning鈥檚 Aurora Leigh, annotated acidly by Thomas Carlyle; and the original parts of three Dickens novels, alongside original parts of novels by some of Dickens鈥檚 contemporaries. Particular author strengths include Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Thackeray, W.B. Yeats, and Tennyson. Twentieth-century books retain their dust wrappers.
Private presses represented begin with Horace Walpole鈥檚 press at Strawberry Hill and peak with the entire Kelmscott Press output. Most English presses from the heyday of the Private Press movement are represented: the Ashendene, Essex House and Golden Cockerel Presses and, in Dublin, the Cuala Press, especially well. Productions by Rudolph Ackermann and George Cruikshank stand out among the illustrated books, followed by Walter Crane and Rockwell Kent.
Most manuscripts are literary; some are letters. The earliest are two manuscripts from about 1400 of William Langland鈥檚 Piers Plowman. Many are from the twentieth century: Rhys Davies, H. E. Bates, Compton Mackenzie, and letters to Charles Lahr among others. Highlights in between include letters by John Ruskin, Robert Burns and Robert Southey and literary manuscripts by Byron, Tennyson, and Swinburne.
The EMI record company director and bibliophile (1879-1958; see ODNB) donated the nucleus of the collection (ca 4,200 items) in 1954, with an endowment to purchase additional material for the collection. The most notable such purchases were a complete set of books published by Dublin鈥檚 Dolmen Press (1994), which was founded to publish Irish poetry, and the so-called 鈥業lchester manuscript鈥 of Piers Plowman. Bequests and donations have enabled further growth. These include presentation copies and first editions of the works of Sean O鈥機asey and of John Masefield, given by Masefield鈥檚 widow, Eileen (1966) and O鈥機asey鈥檚 sister, Mrs Stockdale-Ross (1987), and a full set of specially bound books from the Gregynog Press, a private press in Wales, given by (1966).
Sterling supplemented his literary collection with a small clutch of Napoleoneana and the first editions of such ground-breaking non-literary works as Newton鈥檚 Principia and Opticks and Adam Smith鈥檚 Wealth of Nations.
The Gregynog Press was founded by Misses Gwendoline and Margaret Davies at their country house at Gregynog, near Newtown in Wales, in 1921. In its twenty-year lifespan 1923-1942, it published 42 books, usually in editions of 250 copies. At least fifteen copies of each book were specially bound in full morocco. The Welshness of many of the books extended beyond their place of production: seven were in the Welsh language; one was bilingual English and Welsh; eleven English-language books were written by Welsh authors or authors with Welsh connections.
The Welshness of the Press is a link with the staunchly Welsh Professor Sir David Hughes Parry (1893-1973), who was born at Llanaelhaearn, Caernarvonshire, learned English only when he went to school, and spent part of his academic career at Aberystwyth. Parry was Chairman of the University Court 1962- and Vice-Chancellor of the 嗨碰视频 1945-48. In 1966 he gave the Sterling Library a complete set of specially-bound Gregynog Press books. The gift was especially welcome as the original Sterling Library had contained only six Gregynog items, all in the standard bindings.
Poems
George Herbert
Gregynog: Gregynog Press, 1923
[S.L.] III [Gregynog Press 鈥 1923]
Copy no. 32
This slim volume of poems by George Herbert (xv, 26 p.) is the first book published by the Gregynog Press. Its Welshness is assured not only by the nationality of the author, but by the fact that the poems were chosen by Sir Henry Walford Davies (1869-1941), chairman of the National Council of Music for the University of Wales 1919-1941. The wood engraving of Montgomery Castle, Herbert鈥檚 birthplace (shown here) is by Robert Ashwin Maynard, first Controller of the Press, and is the only illustration in the book; other adornment is provided by the typesetting, by red and black printing in two antiphons, and by large red capital letters, of which the ink does not match the less bright red on the title page. Three hundred copies were printed, the first 43 of which were specially bound in morocco.
The Life of Saint David
Ernest Rhys
[Gregynog]: Gregynog Press, 1927
[S.L.] III [Gregynog Press 鈥 1927]
Copy no. 20
The Life of Saint David, patron saint of Wales, is the first book for which the Gregynog Press used damped paper, subsequently used for nearly all its productions. The book has been admired for its three-colour printing, in red, blue and black; its hand-drawn paragraph marks by Horace Bray, redolent of those which adorned the earliest printed books; and for its wood engravings. These pictures, praised as 鈥渁pt and charming and delicately and subtly coloured鈥, were hand-coloured by girls in the Gregynog Press bindery, under the direction of Horace Bray. One hundred and seventy-five copies were printed, the first twenty-five of which were specially bound in red morocco with a gilt Celtic cross.
The Fables of Esope
Aesop; trans. by William Caxton
Newtown, Montgomery: Gregynog Press, 1931
[S.L.] III [Gregynog Press 鈥 1931]
Copy no. 16
The Gregynog edition of Aesop鈥檚 Fables caused a certain amount of controversy, concerning both payment to the engraver and the wording of a note at the end about editorial policy. The book contains 37 large wood engravings by Agnes Parker Miller 鈥 her first contribution to the Gregynog Press 鈥 in addition to large pictorial initials designed by the printer, William MacCance. Walter Lewis, printer to Cambridge University Press, wrote of this edition: 鈥淚 do not think that I have ever seen such a beautifully printed book 鈥 an example of the finest presswork I have ever seen鈥. Two hundred and fifty copies were printed, of which the first twenty-five were in a special binding of tan-coloured morocco, with the title n reddish-brown within a deep gilt frame.
Caneuon Ceiriog Detholiad
John Ceiriog Hughes
Gregynog: Gregynog Press, 1925
[S.L.] III [Gregynog Press 鈥 1925]
Copy no. 4
Caneuon Ceiriog Detholiad is the third book to have been published at all by the Gregynog Press, and the first of seven to have been published in Welsh. Its author (1832-1887), a Welsh national figure, has been described as the Burns of Wales. The book is printed in red and black, with red initials and a wood engraved frontispiece and thirty other wood engraving by Press controller Robert Ashwin Maynard and resident artist Horace Walter Bray. Four hundred copies were printed, the first thirty of which were specially bound.
Annual World Wireless Message of the Youth of Wales
[Gregynog]: Gregynog Press, 1935
[S.L.] III [Gregynog Press 鈥 Appendix] fol.
Between 1922 and 1941 the Gregynog Press generated about 235 ephemeral items: Christmas cards, concert and conference programmes, exhibition catalogues, posters, prospectuses, subscribers鈥 forms, invitations, orders of service and others. It published its first world wireless message of the youth of Wales (broadcast annually on Goodwill Day, 18 May) in 1923. While the design of the message varies, the arrangement of two columns, one each in Welsh and in English, with a red woodcut dragon between them, is fairly standard.
The Plays of Euripides
Euripides; trans. by Gilbert Murray
[Gregynog]: Gregynog Press, 1931
[S.L.] III [Gregynog Press 鈥 1931] fol.
Copy no. 12
Comprising two folio volumes and over 500 pages, The Plays of Euripides is the largest enterprising undertaken by the Gregynog Press. The work鈥檚 engravings by Robert Ashwin Maynard and Horace Walter Bray (sixteen in each volume) are based on fifth-century Greek vase paintings chosen by the classical scholar T.B.L. Webster (1905-1974). The work was intended as homage to the translator, Gilbert Murray, for his work in the League of Nations. As a book, the Gregynog Euripides was praised by the Observer as 鈥渁 magnificent folio edition鈥 and 鈥渁 fine example of modern book making鈥. But at twelve guineas for the cloth-bound edition (twenty guineas for the specially bound one), it was the Press鈥檚 most expensive venture and, published during the Depression, was the only one which did not sell easily. The Davies sisters therefore gave copies to various libraries and Colleges in Wales.
Twenty-five of the 500 copies were specially bound, some only as late as 1952 by John Ewart Bowen at the National Library of Wales. The Sterling Library copy is bound in one volume by the Gregynog Press, with its stamp on the back turn-in.
Article reproduced with permission from the Times Literary Supplement, 4 Feb. 1939
Book-collecting is, comparatively, an inexpensive hobby. The value of a very fine library might not suffice to purchase more than one or two really first-class pictures. The Folger Library is the best of its kind in the world. It would probably be impossible now to make a collection of Shakespeariana equal to it. Translate its value into old masters, however, and it would be a long way below the best. The Gutenberg Bible is the only book that compares, in terms of money, with the most valuable pictures. Moreover, in the sense that collecting is one expression of the acquisitive instinct, it is satisfying because there is much to acquire. The collector of great pictures may buy one a year, or one in five years; the book-collector may find something almost every day which demands to be added to his collection.
This indulgence in bibliophilic Gem眉tlichkeit results from a visit to the library of Sir Louis Sterling. Here is a collector who observes a simple, if not very easily imitable, principle 鈥 namely, to buy the best whenever he sees it. He excludes no period or subject, and his double-lined shelves remind one irresistibly of the more swagger catalogues of the Anderson Galleries. Huth, Bishop, van Whitall, Kern and other similar collectors come to mind, and Sir Louis may be compared to them without disadvantage.
There simply is not a department of English book-collecting of which his library cannot show some brilliant example. Early printing and Kelmscotts, the Romantics and the Augustans, Rowlandson and Alken, Shakespeare and the moderns, a manuscript of Mozart, Powys, or Byron 鈥 all are fish to Sir Louis鈥檚 net, if only the catch be big enough to save it from being thrown back.
Evolution of a library
The stages of its evolution are not the least interesting features of such a library. There was no time to examine the purchases of Sir Louis鈥檚 shoestring period. We began with the bound sets of first editions of Hardy, Thackeray, Dickens, and others. Friendship and the example of Mr. A. Edward Newton and Mr. Jerome D. Kern showed Sir Louis the error of these ways and the next step is represented by fine copies, mostly in modern bindings, of the colour plate books. Almost all the best titles are in the library. To mention Pierce Egan, Surtees, 鈥淒r. Syntax,鈥 the quarto Ackermann 鈥淢icrocosm,鈥 and the rest is but to indicate the widely inclusive nature of this part of the library.
Perhaps to this period also belong the fine copies, often in modern bindings, of first editions of such landmarks as 鈥淕ulliver鈥 and 鈥淩obinson Crusoe,鈥 but the later acquisitions demand so much more detailed attention that only passing mention can be given to these and their companions, attractive though they are. Many of them, in fact, might be worthy corner-stones of some collections, and, although their owner referred to them as 鈥渏ust the ordinary stuff,鈥 this was due less to a proper affection and regard for them than to the anticipation that the visitor would be more entertained by the library鈥檚 unusual possessions.
Not the least of these were the Alkens. His earliest productions, published under the pseudonym of 鈥淏en Tallyho,鈥 have not survived in large numbers, but Sir Louis has most of them in the finest state and in the original printed wrappers, among them 鈥淪porting Notions,鈥 鈥滻deas,鈥 and 鈥淨ualified horses and Unqualified riders.鈥 His 鈥淢ilitary Discoveries鈥 and 鈥淪ome do and some do not鈥 are in similar condition. It may be heretical to suggest that this kind of book may be enhanced by a suitable binding, but I would rather have Sir Louis鈥檚 copy of 鈥淏ritish National Sports鈥 in its handsome contemporary straight grain morocco binding than any copy I have seen in original boards. Illustrators of another temper are Blake, who is finely represented by India paper proofs on large paper of the engravings for the 鈥淏ook of Job,鈥 and a set of Goya鈥檚 鈥淐appriccios鈥 in fine state.
English literature
In English literature we may begin most suitably with Shakespeare and the English Bible. The four folios of Shakespeare and duplicates of all but the first, include a superb third folio in contemporary calf. There are also two Shakespeare quartos, King Lear, 1608, falsely dated (the Pavier-Jaggard second edition of 1619), and Othello, 1630 鈥 first edition, 1622. The most important of the Bibles, is a perfect copy of the Authorized Version, 1611, with broad margins and not only the 鈥淗e鈥 reading in 鈥淓sther鈥 but the first state of the map and all the other points. There is also the important Coverdale version of 1535 and the 鈥淕reat鈥 or 鈥淐romwell鈥 Bible, 1539, the first officially commissioned text ordered by Henry VIII to be read in churches. In this Coverdale also had a hand.
Herbert鈥檚 鈥淭emple,鈥 1634, has the uncancelled title, and, if Sir Louis鈥檚 surmise about his copy is correct, it must be one of the most interesting in existence. He believes that its amateurish binding of inlaid leather is the work of the Little Gidding Community. Nicholas Ferrar, the head of this community, edited Herbert鈥檚 book, and nothing seems more likely than that some copies of it should have been bound by the members.
In this period the library also includes a fine Herrick鈥檚 鈥淗esperides,鈥 1648, with the uncancalled leaves; Burton鈥檚 鈥淎natomy,鈥 1621, in original vellum; the first edition of Milton鈥檚 鈥淟ycidas鈥 鈥 鈥淛usta Eduardo King naufrago鈥 鈥 Cambridge, 1638; the first English translation of Boccaccio鈥檚 鈥淒ecameron,鈥 1620; Locke鈥檚 鈥淓ssay concerning Human Understanding, 鈥 1690; a superb copy, with fine impressions of the portrait and maps, of Drayton鈥檚 鈥淧oly-Olbion,鈥 1613-1622, the first complete edition; a fine 鈥淐oryat鈥檚 Crudities,鈥 1611, in contemporary calf; and Newton鈥檚 鈥淧rincipia,鈥 1687.
Slightly earlier in date are 鈥淏atman upon Bartholme,鈥 1582, which may have been Shakespeare鈥檚 source book for some of his scientific references; Gavin Douglas鈥檚 鈥淎eneid, 鈥 1553, the first classical translation into English; Florio鈥檚 translation of Montaigne, 1603, with its extravagant title-page running over on to the reverse and its fine portrait; the first collected edition of Chaucer, published by Godfray in 1532; the 1527 edition of Higden鈥檚 鈥淧olycronicon鈥; and the 1570 edition of Barclay鈥檚 translation of Brandt.
Fine condition
The eighteenth century books in the library are especially notable because of their superb condition. Johnson鈥檚 鈥溹伺鍪悠,鈥 Boswell鈥檚 鈥淛ohnson鈥 and 鈥淗ebrides,鈥 and Mrs. Radcliffe鈥檚 鈥淢ysteries of Udolpho鈥 and 鈥淭he Italian鈥 are present in original boards or wrappers so fresh in condition as to make it appear incredible that they should have survived. The 鈥淥de to Mrs. Thrale鈥 1784 (i.e., 1788), which gives Johnson鈥檚 name as the author on the title-page, but which Professor Pottle has proved to be by Boswell, is one of the copies in unstabbed sheets which Glen bought at the Auchinleck sale.
Sir Louis has an excellent Kilmarnock Burns; a signed presentation copy from the author of Wycherley鈥檚 鈥淢iscellany Poems,鈥 1704, in contemporary calf and on large paper; a fine Walpole 鈥淐astle of Otranto,鈥 1764. Most of the important books of the period like White鈥檚 鈥淪elborne,鈥 a large paper 鈥淒unciad鈥 and Sterne鈥檚 鈥淭ristram Shandy鈥 and 鈥淪entimental Journey,鈥 Fieldings, Smolletts, Richardsons and the like are first editions and in contemporary bindings.
An unusual and attractive book is Gray鈥檚 copy of Volumes 1, 4, 5, and 6 of the six-volume Dodsley 鈥淢iscellany,鈥 of 1758.
Nineteenth century
Fine condition is also evident in the nineteenth-century books. Ainsworth鈥檚 copy, with his autograph, of Shelley鈥檚 鈥淎donais,鈥 Pisa, 1821, in the original blue printed wrappers, vies with Lamb鈥檚 鈥淪pecimens of English Dramatic Poets,鈥 1808, with an inscription from Lamb to Southey dated at Keswick, 鈥淎ugust 6, 1808,鈥 its original boards covered in Southey鈥檚 鈥淐ottonian鈥 binding. Many other Shelley first editions are there in bindings, but 鈥淩osalind and Helen,鈥 1819, is in wrappers with the label.
Other rarities and high spots of the century are too numerous to mention in detail. Such are Reade鈥檚 鈥淭he Cloister and the Hearth鈥; Thackeray鈥檚 鈥淔lore et Zephyr,鈥 and his novels in parts and cloth; Barham鈥檚 鈥淚ngoldsby Legends鈥; Dickens novels in parts, and a collection of variants of the first and early editions of 鈥淐hristmas Carol鈥; Darwin鈥檚 鈥淥rigin of Species,鈥 and Whitman鈥檚 鈥淟eaves of Grass鈥.
Fine printing of various periods begins with two Caxtons 鈥 a perfect copy of 鈥淭he Game of the Chess,鈥 1481, and 鈥淐ronicles of England,鈥 1480, with six leaves in facsimile and lacking two blanks 鈥 and ends with a complete collection of Doves and Kelmscott Press books and a selection of Ashendenes and Golden Cockerels.
Finally there are the manuscripts. The earliest and in some ways the finest of these is a fourteenth-century manuscript of Langland鈥檚 鈥淧iers Plowman.鈥 This is of the 鈥淐鈥, or final text, which is almost twice as long as the earliest version and dates from about 1395. Sir Louis has also the first printed edition of the poem of 1550, which is falsely dated 1505. There are two important eighteenth-century manuscripts, the one a letter from Burns dated 1791 incorporating his poem 鈥淭he Song of Death,鈥 fittingly addressed to Mrs. Dunlop, a descendant of Wallace; the other of some canons by Mozart.
Byron and Tennyson
The nineteenth-century manuscripts in the library are of great interest and importance. Five cantos of 鈥淒on Juan鈥 entirely in Byron鈥檚 hand include Canto XVII, which remained unpublished until the present century, when it was printed in Murray鈥檚 collected edition, 1903. A manuscript of the third canto of 鈥淐hilde Harold鈥 is in the hand of Mary Wollstonecraft with corrections by Byron. There are several Tennyson manuscripts, the most interesting of which is the first draft of 鈥淪ir John Oldcastle,鈥 which was printed in 鈥淏allads and other Poems,鈥 1880. In this manuscript the poem has been sketched out in pencil, sometimes leaving lines unfinished; more frequently a line is left without its couplet, the imperfections being supplied later in ink. Other Tennyson manuscripts include 鈥淭he Voyage of Maeldune鈥 from the same volume and seven stanzas of 鈥淓arly Spring鈥 (鈥淭iresias,鈥 1885).
Original manuscripts of Scott鈥檚 鈥淒eath of the Laird鈥檚 Jock鈥 and 鈥淎 Highland Anecdote鈥 published in The Keepsake for 1829; Swinburne鈥檚 鈥淩obert Davenport,鈥 written for the Fortnightly Review, November, 1890, partly in pencil; the manuscript of an essay by Carlyle; and Borrow鈥檚 manuscript of 鈥淪zekeley,鈥 an article for the 鈥淓ncyclopaedia Britannica,鈥 are also in the library. Of considerable bibliographical importance is the correspondence, from both sides, between Mrs. Davis and Charles Dickens about the character of Fagin in 鈥淥liver Twist.鈥 She charges Dickens with anti-Semitism, but Dickens neatly rebuts the charge, and eventually satisfies her of his good-will to the Jewish race.
Sir Louis鈥檚 interest in modern authors is to be seen in his acquisition of their manuscripts. Among these are Mr. Compton Mackenzie鈥檚 鈥淐arnival,鈥 Mr. James Hanley鈥檚 鈥淏oy鈥 and 鈥淢aelstrom,鈥 and others by Mr. T F. Powys, Mr. H. E. Bates, Mr. Rhys Davies and Mr. Siegfried Sassoon. It is their owner鈥檚 intention to bequeath all the manuscript material to the British Museum, apart from the Dickens correspondence, which will go to the Jewish Historical Society.
The description of such a collection as this cannot give more than brief reference to some of its high-water marks and thereby attempt to indicate the catholicity of its owner鈥檚 tastes. Few collectors in this country now attempt 鈥 let alone achieve 鈥 anything on quite so extensive a scale, for the younger generation prefers its own more specialized 鈥 and, some might say, more scientific 鈥 methods of collecting. The great charm of Sir Louis鈥檚 library lies precisely in its rambling nature and in the evidence of his determination to follow no set path, but to buy whatever he happened to like. It is comforting to know that the tradition is not entirely extinct.
Access
For an overview of the library in classified order, do on [S.L.]. An on 鈥淪terling, Louis鈥 as former owner will isolate items owned by him.
Digital versions of most books printed before 1801 (not of our copies) are available via Early English Books Online and Eighteenth Century Collections Online. You can find digital versions of our copies of the following on Bloomsbury Medieval Culture: a Piers Plowman manuscript (SL.V.17), The Canterbury Tales ([1492]) and The Cronicles of Englond (1480). These are all subscription databases.
Related materials
- : Sterling papers
- and : manuscripts belonging to the collection
- Literary first editions in other special collections, especially the
- Chesterfield portraits of literary giants, given by Sterling
Further reading
- Byron, George Gordon, Lord Byron: 鈥楧on Juan鈥 Cantos X, XI, XII and XVII Manuscript: A Facsimile of the Original Draft Manuscripts in the 嗨碰视频 Library, ed. by Andrew Nicholson (New York and 嗨碰视频: Garland, 1993)
- Carlyle, Thomas, and Jane Welsh Carlyle, The Collected Letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle, vol. 32: October 1856-July 1857, ed. by Ian Campbell et al. (Durham, NC, and 嗨碰视频: Duke University Press, 2004)
- Martland, Peter, Since Records Began: EMI, the First 100 Years (嗨碰视频: Batsford, 1997; for Sterling himself)
- Mosser, D. W., 鈥楾he Manuscript Glosses of the Canterbury Tales and the 嗨碰视频鈥檚 coy of Pynson鈥檚 [1492] Edition鈥, Chaucer Review, 41 (2007), 360-92.
- Piper, David, 鈥楾he Chesterfield Library Portraits鈥, in: Evidence in Literary Scholarship: Essays in Memory of James Marshall Osborn, ed. by Ren茅 Wellek and Alvaro Ribeiro (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979), pp. 179-95
- 鈥樷,&苍产蝉辫;Times Literary Supplement, 4 Feb. 1939
- The Sterling Library: A Catalogue of the Printed Books and Literary Manuscripts Collected by Sir Louis Sterling and Presented by him to the 嗨碰视频 ([England]: privately printed, 1954)
- Walworth, Julia, 鈥楽ir Louis Sterling and his Library鈥,&苍产蝉辫;Jewish Historical Studies, 40 (2005), 159-75
- Entries 2, 7, 32, 39, 43 and 46 in Senate House Library, 嗨碰视频, ed. by Christopher Pressler and Karen Attar (嗨碰视频: Scala, 2012)