Bibliographical Catalogue of Books Privately Printed

Reissued in its first edition of 1834, this catalogue gives a valuable insight into bibliographical activity in early nineteenth-century Britain. It is the work of the former bookseller John Martin (1791-1855), an antiquary who would later become librarian to the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey. Martin's aim was to assemble a catalogue of books which were never intended for the open market, circulating only among the 'friends and connexions' of those who produced them. Spanning more than two centuries of small-scale British publishing, the resulting work is an extraordinarily eclectic resource, enlivened throughout by an eye for curious detail. The latter portion of the work documents the books, bills and pamphlets which emerged from the regional presses of Martin's own day, and records the early membership and output of the Roxburghe, Maitland and Bannatyne clubs, which would in time become the foremost bibliophilic societies of Victorian Britain.