Publications

By Dr. Brian Hillyard, Head of Rare Books, National Library of Scotland.

When I was asked to speak at a symposium forming part of the year 2000 meeting of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers in Edinburgh, I chose my subject, David Steuart, as one appropriate for such an international gathering because of the European dimension to his activities, but at the same time I had the selfish idea that my audience might be able to advance my research, for it is important to this research that I trace more of the copies he owned.

In his book Neueste Reise (Tubingen, 1807), we read that during a visit to Edinburgh the author, Philip Andreas Nemnich, called on David Steuart.1 This was probably in 1806, but further work needs to be done on the chronology of this visit. Steuart's was the fascinating life of a business tycoon and property speculator in late 18th-century Edinburgh and it would be easy to be side-tracked into his biography.2 But a mere framework will have to suffice here.

1747	born 20 September, fifth son of John Steuart of Dalguise, Perthshire
c1754	moves from the Highlands to Edinburgh
1764-1768	enters a career in commerce, beginning in Edinburgh, then London
1768-1775	working abroad, in Barcelona, Roscoff, and Nantes
1776	returns to Edinburgh; forms Allan & Steuart, important new private bank
1776	marries Anne Fordyce, of the prominent Aberdeen family
1780-1782	Provost of Edinburgh
1785	a founder of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce
1790	leaves Allan & Steuart, sets up own business
1793	financial problems; winds up previous business and turns to wine importing
1799	owes about £2,000 to a Portuguese; sent to jail
1799-1802	bankruptcy proceedings (sale of library 1801); continues in wine business
1805/1806	sells Gutenberg Bible
1810	sells Jenson Breviary, 1472 Mainz Bible
1814	financial affairs finally sorted out; moves to West of Scotland
1824	dies 19 Mayin Annan; buried in Edinburgh

Nemnich wrote (pp.499-500): "the man whom I had taken to be just a wine trader turned out to be a passionate collector of first editions, manuscripts and fine works. His large collection of rare books from all parts of Europe amazed me".3 What did Nemnich see? One book would have been a beautifully illuminated copy on vellum of a Breviary printed in Venice by Nicolaus Jenson in 1478. Lillian Armstrong has written about this copy, whose illuminations she has attributed to the Venetian miniaturist Leonardo Bellini, and in October 1994-January 1995 it was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.4 This book has long been regarded as one of the great treasures of the National Library of Scotland (shelfmark: Inc.118), and, before 1925, when the non-law books belonging to the Faculty of Advocates were transferred to the nation, one of the great treasures of the Advocates Library, to which it was sold privately by David Steuart in 1810 for 100 guineas. Sold with it, again to the Advocates Library but at only 50 guineas, was a copy of the 1472 Mainz Bible (now NLS Inc.2). If Steuart had thought that Nemnich was a connoissseur of early Mainz printing he would have shown him the opening that preserves an additional vellum leaf (evidently rescued from a binding) from the much rarer 1462 Mainz Bible printed by Fust & Schoeffer. To my knowledge Steuart never did own a copy of the 1462 Bible, but we know that he coveted one, for loosely inserted in this 1472 Bible is a letter (29 November 1798) to Steuart from the celebrated London book dealer James Edwards:

You wished me to acquaint you whenever there was an opportunity of purchasing the Bible of 1462 by Fust & Schoeffer ? There is now a copy of it upon vellum as clean as when it came out of the printer's hands ? the vellum is also remarkably white & beautifull ? it is bound in 2 vols red morocco German binding with heavy silver clasps & corners ? It will be sold at Legh & Sothebys early next month with many other curious books and some duplicates of Lord Spencer's ? I fancy it will go at between 200 & 300. If you dont chuse it for yourself it would be a treasure to your Advocates Library.

This was Leigh & Sotheby's sale of 20-21 December 1798, and the 1462 Bible was duly sold for £252 but not to Steuart nor indeed - much to my regret - to the Advocates Library. Of course, the most famous early Mainz book, though relatively common, was the 42-line or Gutenberg Bible, a copy of which came into Steuart's possession no later than 1796.5 What is irritatingly uncertain - how one wishes he described what he saw! - is whether Nemnich did see Steuart's Gutenberg Bible, also sold to the Advocates Library and now one of the National Library of Scotland's most treasured possessions (Inc.1). Its precise date of acquisition by the Advocates Library is not known; the only evidence, depending on the usage of the word 'lately', is in the Curators' Minutes for 16 December 1806: 'The Curators ? desired the Librarian not to shew the Bible lately purchased from Mr David Steuart for £150 guineas unless by order of the Curators.'

Speculating about what Nemnich might have seen is all the more difficult because, with few exceptions, we are uncertain what Steuart owned at the time of the visit. After a series of financial disasters, Steuart was forced to auction his library in 1801 in a sale the details of which are far from simple and still obscure. The catalogue survives, so far known only from one copy in New York Public Library:6

A catalogue of a small but very select collection of books, in which are to be found some of the finest specimens of typography extant, from the first attempts on wooden blocks, until the present time; particularly from the presses of John Guttemberg, J. Fust & P. Schoeffer, Lawrence Koster, Nicholas Jenson, Vindeline de Spire, C. Sweynheym & A. Pannartz, William Caxton, Wynken de Worde, and many other printers who flourished in the fifteenth century; as well as of Aldus, Elzivir, Stevens, Vostre, Royal Press (Paris), Giolito, Giunti, Grafton, Field, Tonson, Foulis, Ibarra, Baskerville, Bodoni, Barbou, Didot, Bensley, Bulmer, and other eminent modern printers: which will be sold by auction, by Mr. Elliot, at his Rooms, Cross, Edinburgh, on Monday, the 18th May, 1801, and the eleven following days, at twelve o'clock.

Steuart is nowhere identified as the owner of the books in this sale, but since those books include the Gutenberg Bible, the Jenson Breviary and the 1472 Mainz Bible described as having 'a duplicate leaf of the edition of 1462', it is clear even from this that 'the small but very select collection' was his, just as the same books are evidence that some lots were not sold. Moreover, there was much indecision about the timing of the sale. The reason why in the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society facsimile some of the headings for the days of the sale are skewed is because these dates are on pasted-in slips; underneath are March dates. Newspaper advertisements for the date of the sale are also bewilderingly confusing. Fortunately we have clear evidence that the sale did take place and in 1801, though it may not have begun on 18 May.

While it was an Edinburgh sale, interest was widespread as seen from the catalogue's title page:

Catalogues (price one shilling each) to be had of Manners and Miller, Edinburgh, T. Payne, London, Fletcher & Hanwell, Oxford, W.H. Lunn, Cambridge, Brash & Reid, Glasgow, A. Brown, Aberdeen, W. Morison, Perth, G. Mylne, Dundee, and Gilbert & Hodges, Dublin; and at the place of sale.

To judge from his letter of 29 November 1798 in which he suggests that Steuart sends some Bodoni editions to Legh & Sotheby's in London (see further below), Edwards would have recommended the sale of Steuart's library to take place in London if that had been possible. Perhaps it had to take place in Edinburgh because it formed part of the sequestration procedures. It is a most impressively compiled catalogue. It is quite unlike other Edinburgh catalogues of this period. By way of contrast look at the rather Spartan entries in the sale catalogue of Hugh Blair's library auctioned by the same auctioneer, Cornelius Elliot, in the same year, 1801:7 unlike Steuart's, Blair's catalogue does not have references to De Bure's Bibliographie instructive, notes on printers, bindings, paper and other aspects of condition, and also a comparison with another copy of the same book. It seems to me that the difference between these two catalogues is most easily explained by Steuart's close involvement with Elliot in the cataloguing of the collection. Indeed, the note to Bodoni's 1791 folio Horace (day 11/item 45) quotes in Italian from a letter written by Bodoni to 'a friend here', the significance of which will become obvious later. Another unusual feature of the catalogue is the following in the Conditions: 'The Books to be viewed on Friday the 15th, and Saturday the 16th May, and the mornings of the sale, excepting such articles as are marked *, which can be shewn only by particular application to Mr Elliot.' There are twenty-four books thus marked. For the most part they are books described as in fine or original condition, though the absence of an asterisk against the Jenson Breviary makes it difficult to produce a totally convincing and comprehensive explanation. Perhaps these viewing arrangements arose from Steuart's direct intervention.

There were 958 lots in all. So far I have traced very few books from this sale, but it will be useful here to describe several that were acquired by the Advocates Library, some of them certainly in 1801 and so probably via the sale. Ortografia de la lengua Castellana, 6th edition, Madrid, 1779 (NLS, [Ag].7/1) has Steuart's most common bookplate (fig. 1); two variants of a different design are also found (figs. 2 & 3). It is also worth noting (fig. 1 again) the pencil number '10/62', the day/lot number in the sale. This book has the Advocates Library ex-libris of 1801 (not illustrated), making it likely that it came directly from the sale. As a young man in commerce, Steuart lived in France and Spain. While there is no evidence at all to show that he bought any books while abroad, we may suspect that he did. This one, of course, because of its date, was not bought at that time. The same applies to Gramática de la Lengua Castellana, 3rd edition, Madrid, 1781 (NLS, K.109.f), with his bookplate and the Advocates Library 1801 ex-libris. Three books he could have acquired while on the Continent, though there is no evidence for it, are: Abrégé chronologique de l'histoire d'Espagne et de Portugal, Paris, 1765 (NLS, S.192.h), with his bookplate and Advocates Library 1801 ex-libris; Bartolomé Leonardo y Argensola, Conquista de la Islas Malucas, Madrid, 1609 (NLS, A.74.b.1), same bookplate and ex-libris; and Cervantes, Galatea, Barcelona, 1618 (NLS, [Ag].8/1/10), same bookplate and '6/71'.

My impression is that most of Steuart's books did have his bookplate, but the note of the day and lot number is well worth bearing in mind as a very useful piece of evidence. The following underlines the importance of cataloguers - whether they be librarians or booksellers - recording such details even when their significance is not understood. The Advocates Library's 1776 catalogue records the Mainz 1486 Latin edition of Breydenbach's Pilgrimage to the Holy Land (Peregrinatio), with the famous plates by Reuwich, and I had always assumed that this was the copy that is now National Library of Scotland Inc.8. It is true that the style of the Advocates Library's undated ex-libris (in fact a stamp) and the shelfmark itself ('Julius 1.11') are not consistent with a pre-1776 date of acquisition,8 but I had said to myself that rebinding and relocation on a different shelf in the Library could explain that. This was before I appreciated the significance of '1/59' on the fly-leaf of this volume. Coupled with the information that lot 1/59 in Steuart's 1801 sale was a copy of this book, this now provides a different explanation: Inc.8 was a replacement copy that did not reach the Library until after 1801.

The best evidence that the sale actually took place is the publication in the Scots Magazine for August 1801 (p.584) of a list of 20 items sold, with the prices they realised, itself an extremely unusual, if not unparalleled, press report of an Edinburgh book auction of this period. Here is my transcription of that list. The contents speak for themselves, but I have added the day/lot numbers and a few other comments.

1. "Durandi Rationale Divinorum Officiorum," printed on vellum, by Fust & Schoeffer, at Mentz, M.CCCC.LIX. One hundred and sixty leaves folio. The second book, printed with a date, 115l. [12/47 - At £115 this copy of the 1459 Mainz Durandus was by far the most valuable book sold. The catalogue described it as 'in the most perfect preservation, and is most superbly bound in red morocco, by the celebrated De Rome of Paris'. This copy was H.P. Kraus, Catalogue 156, item 1, in 1980, and Sotheby's New York, 12 December 1991, lot 21, in neither catalogue with a reference to Steuart, though De Ricci's Catalogue raisonné of early Mainz books (65.7), cited by Kraus and Sotheby's, does record Steuart in his notes on this copy. But since Steuart has not been recognised as an important collector, little attention has been paid to his provenances. The Durandus is now regarded as the third dated book extant.]
2. "Lyndewoede's Constitutions," printed by Wynken de Worde, at Westminster, M.CCCC.XCIX, a small Octavo, 2l. [12/23]
3. Zachary Boid's Translation of the Psalms, small 12mo. Glasgow, M.DC.XLVIII. 2l. 5s. [12/14]
4. "Hesiodus, et Theocritus," folio editio princeps, apud Aldum, Venice, M.CCCC.XCV. 3l. 16s. [8/47]
5. Caesaris Commentarii, folio, Milan, M.CCCC.LXVIII [i.e. 1478]. 3l. 5s. [8/50]
6. "Canta's Songs and Fancies," Aberdeen, M.DC.LXVI. thin 8vo. 1l. 15s. [7/69]
7. "Ovidii Metamorphoseon et Fasti," editio princeps, Rome, by Sweynheynd [sic] and Pannartz, M.CCCC.LXXI. 2 vols. folio, 23l. 10s. [7/49-50 - These Sweynheym and Pannartz Ovid editions are of particular interest. The catalogue note on the Fasti reads: 'This edition is exceedingly scarce, there being only one other copy known in Britain - it is in the magnificent library of Earl Spencer.' In comparing his copies with those belonging to the 2nd Earl Spencer, Steuart shows himself to be no parochial collector.]
8. "Spectator," original edition, folio, 5l. 5s. [7/48]
9. "Bernal Diaz del Castillo Historia de la Conquista de la Neuva Espana," folio, Madrid, M.DC.XXXII. 9l. 15s. [6/53]
10. "Titi Livii Historia," editio princeps, by Vindelin de Spire, at Venice, M.CCCC.LXX. 50l. [6/50]
11. "Amadis de Gaula, folio," Seville, M.D.LXXXVI. 4l. 10s. [6/52]
12. "Pii Secundi Epistolae," a small folio, Cologne, M.CCCC.VIII [i.e. 1458]. 5l. 14s. [4/47]
13. L'Encyclopoedie, par M'Alembert et Diderot, 28 vols. folio, 31l. 10s. [3/48]
14. "C.Crispus Sallustius," folio, Brescia, M.CCCC.LXXX. 4l. 18s. [1/61]
15. Aulus Gellius, folio, Venice, M.CCCC.LXXII. 5l. 5s. [1/62]
16. Don Quixotte, in Spanish, 4 vols. 4to. Madrid, M.DCC.LXXX. 7l. 19s. [12/31]
17. Speculum Humanae Salvationis, folio, MS. an exact fac simile of the printing on wooden blocks, by Le Clabart, 8l. 18s. [12/44]
18. Biblia Pauperum, another folio MS. in imitation of block printing, by Le Clabart. 8l. 18s. 6d. [12/43]
19. Horatius, folio, plates, printed by Bodoni, 11l. 11s. [11/45]
20. Virgilius, folio, plates, also by Bodoni. 11l. 11s. [11/44]

Of particular interest towards the end of this list (16, 19-20) are the Bodoni folio editions of Virgil and Horace and the Ibarra edition of Don Quixote in Spanish. The 1801 catalogue has thirty-four books printed by Giambattista Bodoni in Parma,9 and the nine Bodoni books sold by Legh & Sotheby's in 1798 may have come from Steuart's library since in his letter of 29 November 1798 Edwards wrote: 'I think it would be a good opportunity to try a part of your Bodoni's books in the same sale - if you think so I will send one of each and desire Legh if there is still time to put them in.' These beautifully printed books by Bodoni were not just one of Steuart's many bibliophilic interests: they constituted a consuming passion. Bodoni's 1794 edition of Thomson's Seasons is not only a good example of his very fine printing, but for a student of the European book trade it contains a fascinating dedication which is lavishly printed over three pages and easier to transcribe in full than to reproduce:

To David Stewart [sic]
Esquire of Cardneys
Late Lord Provost
of the City of Edinburg [sic]

Sir

Convinced that the works of Fancy and Imagination have a peculiar claim to typographical beauty and elegance, I have of late almost entirely dedicated my labours to splendid editions of the most celebrated Poets of every age and in every language.

Amongst these your countryman James Thomson occupies a distinguish'd place, and in printing this Edition of the Seasons I avail myself with infinite satisfaction of the spontaneous offer of your patronage to introduce it to the Men of Taste and Letters in Britain.

If I particularly wish immortality to any of my works it is to this, that the testimony of my respect and gratitude for a person of so much worth and eminence may be handed down to future ages, and remain a monument of my ardent wish to extend the fame of my Press, and of your Liberality in not confining your protection to the Printers of your own country.
I have the honor to be

Sir
your most obliged
and most humble Servant
J.B. Bodoni

This is quite remarkable, but it can be illustrated by the correspondence - surviving in the Museo Bodoni, Biblioteca Palatina, Parma - between Steuart and Bodoni in the years 1791 to 1799.10 These letters show the strong bonds between the two men; in particular, in 1793 Steuart offers that if Bodoni wishes to set up in London, he would assist him - both financially and otherwise ('de ma bourse & de mes conseils') - to do so. But I particularly like Steuart's last letter, January 1799, saying to Bodoni that if it were possible to find copies of Horace, Milan, 1470, and Virgil, Venice, 1470 - on the evidence of 18th-century bibliographers, in Steuart's time these were reckoned to be the first printed editions of Horace and Virgil11 - he would pay him 25 guineas each if in perfect condition. Given Steuart's perilous finances at this time, this shows him in the grip of bibliomania ten years before Dibdin first described that disease in 1809.12 But for the historian of the book as opposed to the biographer, it is more important to note the evidence of the letters showing that Steuart recommended many titles to Bodoni for printing (though in fact Thomson's Seasons was the only suggestion that came to fruition), and also made bulk purchases of books Bodoni did print (for example, Steuart asked for twenty-four copies of the folio Virgil), acting as a distributor. Bodoni sent costings for two titles Steuart recommended: Paradise Lost and Don Quixote. Steuart thought the price for Paradise Lost too high, but was keen on Don Quixote, as also was Bodoni who imagined it as a four-volume folio 'edizione magnifica' to be compared with his Virgil and Horace: alas it all came to nothing. In the course of this Steuart recommended Ibarra's 1780 printing as the best edition. He owned a copy of this himself, which was offered for sale in 1801, lot 12/31. He was clearly very proud of it: the catalogue description says 'This copy was selected with great care by the Count of Campomanes, and has the first set of the Plates', and is 'most superbly bound by Scott'. The work done on James Scott's bindings by James Loudon,13 and subsequent records maintained at the National Library of Scotland, contain no trace of this binding. Surely such a collector's copy survives somewhere, and I end with an appeal: if anybody knows of its whereabouts, or indeed of the whereabouts of any other books from Steuart's library, please let me know.

1. My thanks are due to Barbara Traxler Brown who unearthed this reference. See her article 'The Northern Grand Tour: Contemporary Scottish Publishing and the Continental Tourist, 1760-1810', The Bibliotheck, 20 (1995), 55-69.
2. See the introduction to my David Steuart Esquire: An Edinburgh Collector: The 1801 Sale Catalogue of Part of his Library Reproduced from the Unique Copy in New York Public Library with an Introductory Essay (Edinburgh: Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 1993). I have recently published a shorter sketch in W. Baker & K. Womack (eds.), Pre-Nineteenth-Century British Book Collectors and Bibliographers = Dictionary of Literary Biography 213 (Detroit etc.: Gale Group, 1999), pp.328-335.
3. `? der Mann, den ich für einen blosen Weinhändler hielt, zugleich ein leidenschaftlicher Liebhaben von ersten Drucken, Handschriften und Practwerken war. Seine grosse Sammlung von seltenen Buchern aus allen Theilen von Europa, erregte meine Bewunderung.'
4. See the book accompanying the exhibition, J.J.G. Alexander (ed.), The Painted Page: Italian Renaissance Book Illumination (Munich & Ney York, 1994), p.181-182, with references.
5. See my 'History of the National Library of Scotland's 42-line Bible', Bibliotheck, 12 (1985), 105-125; and 'History of the National Library of Scotland's 42-line Bible: Addenda', Bibliotheck, 15 (1988), 23-26.
6. For a facsimile see note 2 above.
7. Facsimile in H. Amory (ed.), Poets and Men of Letters = A.N.L. Munby (ed.), Sale Catalogues of Libraries of Eminent Persons, vol. 7 (London, 1973), pp.159-225.
8. See my 'Acquisitions of Incunables by the Advocates' Library before 1808', Edinburgh Bibliographical Society Transactions, vol. 6, part 3 (1995), 92-114, with details of ex-libris inscriptions and older shelfmarks.
9. These and the Legh & Sotheby items are listed in my 'Parma and Edinburgh: Some Letters Relating to the European Booktrade at the End of the Eighteenth Century', Bulletin du Bibliophile, 2 (1992), pp.330-364, at Appendix I and III respectively.
10. Published in the Bulletin du Bibliophile (see note 6).
11. Goff H?439, [Venice: Printer of Basilius, 'De vita solitaria', about 1471?72], and Goff V?150, [Venice:] Vindelinus de Spira, 1470; see M. Maittaire, Annales typographici ab artis inventae origine ad annum MD (The Hague, 1719), pp.70?73.
12. T.F. Dibdin, Bibliomania (London, 1809).
13. J. Loudon, James Scott and William Scott, Bookbinders (Edinburgh, 1980).