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William G. Medlicott (1816-1883): an American Book Collector and His Collection

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William G. Medlicott (1816-1883): an American Book Collector and His Collection William G. Medlicott (1816-1883): An American book collector and his collection The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Hall, J. R. 1990. William G. Medlicott (1816-1883): An American book collector and his collection. Harvard Library Bulletin 1 (1), Spring 1990: 13-46. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:42660105 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA 13 William G. Medlicott (1816-1883): An American Book Collector and His Collection ]. R. Hall For Alexander C. A1edlicott,Jr. century ago in the Northeast a number of scholars, booksellers, and librar- A ians would have recognized the name of William Gibbons Medlicott, of Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Not only did Medlicott assemble an impressive library, he published in 1878 a thick catalog of it and offered the contents for sale; and many scholars and librarians of leading institutions took advantage of the opportunity to make extensive purchases. Indeed, Medlicott represents a relatively early instance of a private individual bringing to these shores great treasures that subsequently helped to create great research libraries. Yet an inquisitive reader coming upon Med- licott's bookplate or autograph in a volume at one of a dozen libraries will not find him identified in reference works. 1 This paper will present the basic facts on Med- licott's life, discuss the scope and quality of his collection, and detail its dispersal. William Gibbons Medlicott was born, the eldest of six children, to Mary Ann and William Medlicott, a shipbroker and merchant, on 7 November 1816 in Bristol. England. By the age of nine, he was away at school, learning Latin (among other subjects) and writing articulate letters to members of his farnily. 2 He lefi: school J. R. HALL 1s Professor o( at sixteen to work in a shipping office, after which he went to sea in 1835. Ship- English at the University of wrecked off Rockaway Beach, Long Island, Medlicott (in the words of family tra- Mississippi. 111 Umversity, dition) "swam to America." The author of Medlicott's obituary in the Springfield Mississippi. For furnishing copies of familv records end mher dorn- H_ W. Wilson Company. 1935-1940). 1-lll (hereafier cited nl<..'nts,fOr thL' l'Xtl'nsivc loan of JJl iTI\'Jiuabk J1111ocared JS Oe Ricci)_ [11 Di'aioniir'/ lf.--\rnaic,111Bt1l 1k c-(1//a1or., (N1.._•w copy of the I H7H Mcdlicott c.HJl01,;. .md for his warm York Gr,·enwood Press. 1L/H6),p. 9H. Don.,ld C Dick- hospitality and Jmiable correspondence. I am wc·arly in~on ch,1r:1ctLTlZL'SML~dlicntt .is ··an English literary schn- indebted to Alexander(;_ Mcdlicott.Jr., formerly prnfc·ssor 1.u" in <l1~cussing Ht:nry F. Durant. v.-hu purclu-;ed bPok::,, of English ,U the Universitv uf Connecticut and now at from M,·dhcott for Welksley Collef(t' Deerfield Acaduny. In Professor Medlirntt liHs thL' ' The Medlicott tiles in Deerti,·ld pres,·rvc t\·ped tra"'cript., g,·nerosity c>fhis ~rcdt-grandfather, who cordially wl'l- uf t\\'O such letters. in l'.Kh of v,:hich the young Medlicott comcd scholars to his library and fredy lent his books. 1nentinns studymg Latin. In anotht·r tra.nscript Mcdhn)tt, then fiftt'L'll, writc..·shis n1other £0 rl·quc~t n1onl'Y so rhat ' Exampks of Mc·dlicotcs bookpl.ue or signature can ht• he cm repl.icc-bcfore his fathl·r finds out-an escap-,d found in the books listed under his name in the ,·x libris bird_ In a fr,unh transcript Joseph Josephs. Medlicott"s card catalog at Harvard"s Houghton Library. (The· cata- kwish grandfather, writes the eleven-war-old on ~() log's list of 16 titks considerablv understat,·s the number -March 18~8 from London to praise him for srndmg "so of such books at Han,ard.) 1iJ ;nv knowledge. only two well writtrn a letter.'" and to urg,· him to t,,llow chc Hi bit·, reftrcnce works n1enrion MeJ\ic~)tt. He is ;ited a :-iozcn to kJrn to spcJk little anJ listen much so thJt he will he times as a "coll[cctor], Longmeadow," who published a Jhlc "'to compete with men of gL"nius." rnd to take up law "Cat[alogue]. 1878" m Cc11:,o ,,(.\ frd,n.,,/ ,wd Rcn11i,.<,lll<"<' JS J profr~sllm-"&· ,vho can ~ay bur wh.1t you might n"il' ,\fa1111S(rt'ptsin rht i-nitt'd .)rlHt's i111dCan,,da. bv Sevmour to the High .rnd Honorable- Sltu,ltion of Lord Chancellor De Ricci, with the assistmce ofWJ. Wilson (N,,";York: of England " 14 HARVARD LIBRARY BULLETIN Daily Rep1tblicandescribes his business career after such an inauspicious beginning as a classic American success story: Although an entire stranger, his intelligent and manly bearing, with the special advantage of a penmanship singularly clear and beautiful, obtained for him at once a business situation in New York, where he advanced with firm and rapid steps, till his remarkable business grasp and extensive ability secured him the manage- ment of the Enfield manufacturing company at Thompsonville [in 1845]. 3 In September 1842 he married Marianne Dean (born in 1808 in Pleasant Valley, New York), who bore him three children before her death in 1849. Following an association withJohn Gihon & Co., he founded the Medlicott Company, at Win- sor Locks, Connecticut, for the manufacture of woolen goods. In 1851 he moved to Longmeadow, where, three years later, he married Eliza Bliss Collins (d. 1907), who gave birth to two children, and where, in 1864, he remodeled the Calvin Burt Place, living there until his death on 17 February 1883. 4 Medlicott's commercial success permitted him to pursue his passion for books. But upon suffering financial reverses in the 1870s (perhaps in the wake of the Panic of 1873), he was obliged to offer an important part of his collection for sale and compiled a catalog for the purpose. The full title indicates many of the major categories of the works included: Catalo,queof a Collectionof Books Formed by William G. lvfedlicott,cf Longmeadow,A,fass. Selected u;ith Referenceto Studying or IllustratingAnglo- Saxon Language and Literature, English Ballads and Ballad Literature, Early English and Early French Literature, English Bibles, Catechisms, and Liturgies, Biblio,(!raphy,Pala.'ogra- phy, and Shakesperiana, u;ith Other CollateralSubjects, IncludingMany Valuable,Old, Rare and Curious Books and Manuscripts (Boston: Press of Rockwell and Churchill, 1878). 5 The catalog is arranged alphabetically by author, title or by subject, with nearly two-thirds of the lots under subject headings. It runs to 380 pages, lists 3667 lots, and includes about 4200 titles and 6950 volumes. 6 The oldest work is a mounted and framed Egyptian papyrus dated at 500 B.C. (1709); the most recent date of pub- lication for a book in the catalog is 1876. 7 The manuscript section (2672-2741) con- sists of 70 lots containing 78 volumes and (by coincidence) 78 titles. Among the manuscripts are 36 from the 10th-15th centuries, 11 from the 16th-17th, 9 from the 18th-19th, and 14 for which no date is given (most of them apparently late). A leading feature of the printed books is a collection of 23 incunabula, comparable 1 "Death of William (; Medlicott."" Springfield Oc,ily Rcpu/,- (posthumous) thanks i 11 the Preface to Pr,,recdi11,R.,,p 4, lirm,, 19 Fcbniary 188:l, p. S TI1e obituary also ~ves infrir- for shdring in the cost of the publication: p. 302 contains matil111 on Mcdhcott's ship'h-rcck Jnd later business career. an accolade to him and his librarv. 4 Genealogjcal infonnatlon. including dares, in rh1~ par.l- ' In rhe course of the paper I refi.,r to 14 copies of the cata- graph Jnd elsewhere is based !Jrgcly on th,· Medlicott files, log m various librJries. Six others are to be found .1t JS" the detail that he was once dssociated with John Gihun Columbia Universay, Cdtaloged 9 April 1938; Dartmouth &: Co. The acrnmpanying picture of Mcdlicotr's house College: Librarv of Congress, acquired 1H79 and cataloged ,n LongmeJdow is reproduced from the plate facing p October ]903: Clark Universitv, acquired March 1916; 97 m R. S. Storrs and J. W Harding, eds., Pnncedi11gsal New York Public Library, acqmred 1by the Astor LibrdrVJ tht C1.•11ro1m1.1lCclchr,1tiu11 ,f lhc /11rotpomtio11(f the 'fow~1 ,~f 22_11111e1878: .ind rhe University of Michi~an, acqrnrcd Lot1J!HltJdt1u1,()ooher 1711,, IH83, ri,ith 1'\~iuncn,11sH1st,1nral July 1928 from the Worcester County Law Librarv. Appn1dfres and a 'fown ( ;e111'alo,1ff(Longmeado,v: Secretary 6 Although the last lot is numbered 3667, sevctal fa~tors of the Ccnrennial Committee, 1884). Page [7] records that (e.g., skips in enumeration) combine to make that an inac- Mcdhcott remodeled the Calvin Hurt Place in 1864, hut curate count: the actual number of lots is 3663. The this nct'd not n1ea11 he purcha~cd tht' rt'-;idenct' only then. :,:,l/i,,nal (i11i,1nCllalog Prc-/956 fo1prinrs (hereafter \il 'Cl According to the "Gcncalogic.1! Apprndix," p. 23. CJl- 37."l. 2-l'ia, reports the number of titles dS 3667: but that vin Burt died in 1848: perhaps Mcdlicott lived in the house is to confuse titles with lots. from 1851 on. rc:-modchng It in the next decade.
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