Books and Manuscripts

The William Pickering Copy, Signed and Inscribed by Izaak Walton

London: Printed for Richard Marriott, 1678. First edition. 8vo. (238); (ii), 45, (3), 47-253, (3), 255-276 pp. Presentation copy, inscribed by Walton on title-page: “Ffor Mr. John Millington I:W.”, and with his autograph corrections in text, on b5v, b7v, c3r, d5v, d8r, h7v, l1r, and T3v. From the library of English publisher and bookseller William Pickering. Illustrated with engraved frontispiece portrait by R. White. Full green morocco, brown morocco spine labels, stamped in gilt; all edges gilt; illustrated book-plate of John Gribbel on front paste-down; old cataloguer's notes at front; scattered spotting to text; in full green levant lift-off case and chemise, by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. From the fishing library of American adventurer and naturalist Brooke Dolan II. Coigney, p. 386; Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts, 1450-1700, Wtl 56

Presentation copy of Izaak Walton's Life of Dr. Sanderson, inscribed to John Millington, an executor to English royalist clergyman, Anthony Fairndon (1598-1658). From 1647 to about 1656, Fairndon was the minister of St. Mary Magdalen, Milk Street church in London, which Dr. Sanderson frequented. At the time of his death, Fairndon was working on a life of English theologian John Hales (1584-1686) of Eton College, but it remained unfinished. Millington, as Fairndon's executor, sent his collected papers to Walton, who considered finishing the project, but decided against it.

William Pickering (1796-1854) was an innovative English publisher and bookseller, known for being one of the first to introduce cloth edition binding in British publishing, recognizable by its dyed cloth of red, magenta, or dark blue. His first major project was the Diamond Classics series of miniatures, comprising reprints of Latin, Italian, Greek and English literature. This was followed by his Oxford English Classics, as well as new editions of classic English writers such as Edmund Spenser, John Milton, Francis Bacon, William Shakespeare, and Izaak Walton (his Lives and The Compleat Angler). “His growing publishing business was solely devoted to the highest branches of literature, of which his personal knowledge and appreciation were alike extensive and sound. About 1830 he had adopted the familiar trademark of the famous Aldine press (an anchor entwined with a dolphin), and the legend ‘Aldi Discip. Anglvs.’ The taste he displayed in his publications proved him a worthy disciple of the great Italian master.” (DNB) Among one of his most ambitious works was his 1836 edition of Walton's Compleat Angler, considered one of the finest illustrated editions of the work, with plates by Inskipp and Stothard, and edited by Sir Nicolas Hawkins (see lot). Lot includes Brooke Dolan's copy of the 1941 Parke-Bernet catalogue for the sale that he bought the book in.

Brooke Dolan II (1908-45) was an American adventurer, naturalist, and book collector. Educated at Harvard University and Princeton University, he became a trustee of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. During the 1930s he led two notable expeditions to China and Tibet, collecting numerous specimens that he sent back for the Academy's collection. In 1942, during World War II, he was recruited to serve in the OSS (precursor of the CIA) and traveled to Lhasa with Illia Tolstoy (grandson of Russian writer Leo Tolstoy), searching for supply routes to China for the Allied Forces. During this time they established contact with the Tibetan government and met the 14th Dalai Lama--the first Americans to ever do so. He then joined the Army Air Forces, and the United States Military Observer Group in China. He died in 1945.