Muir mss. II, 1892-1981
Access to this collection requires advance notice. Please contact the Curator of
Manuscripts for additional information.
Percy Muir was associated with the antiquarian bookselling firm, Elkin Mathews, Ltd.
from 1930 until his death in 1979. Founded in 1885 by Charles Elkin Mathews, the
business began in the Cathedral Close at Exeter but moved to London in 1887 when
Elkin Mathews and John Lane went into partnership. Within a very few years
publishing became the principle interest of the firm, now Elkin Mathews and John
Lane Ltd., with retail sales of books, old and new, taking a secondary place. The
two men parted company in 1894 and Mathews, although continuing to publish, returned
to a greater concentration on bookselling. He died in 1922. A.W. Evans, ex–curate,
ex–journalist, and himself a collector and customer of Elkin Mathews, acquired the
business as a going concern from Mathews' widow. Percy Muir joined the firm, as a
partner, in January 1930, becoming managing director in 1939. It was under his
stewardship that the firm moved from London during the German blitz to Blakeney,
Norfolk.
Percy Muir was president of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association in Britain from
1945-1947, and chaired the first conference of the International League of
Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) in 1947. He became president of the ILAB from
1950-1952 and was subsequently elected the first Life President of Honor. The author
of several bibliographies and books on book collecting, as well as an autobiography:
Minding My Own Business (Chatto & Windus, 1956), he also made frequent
contributions to Colophon, Library, and various bibliographical journals such as
Bookman's Journal. He was also a founder and member of the editorial board of Book
Collector.
The collection is organized into the following series: I. Elkin Mathews, Ltd.; II.
Muir.
The Elkins Mathews series contains correspondence, papers and business records of the
company. The Muir series is the personal correspondence and writings of Percy
Muir.
Series:
Box 1
Elkin Mathews, Ltd.
Mimeographs lists of books for sale, followed by chronologically arranged
business materials.
Early catalogues, pre-1900
Publications lists, 1894, 1908-1909
Catalogues of the private library of Elkin Mathews,
1922
Numbered lists: Nos. 42, 47, 56, 78, 81, 85, 86
(2
folders)
Quarto lists, 1, 3–5, 8, 9, one unnumbered
(2
folders)
Unnumbered and incomplete lists.
Stop Gap, 1 & 2; catalogue #7 new series; publications
catalogue for Elkin Mathews and Marrot Ltd., July-Dec. 1933; John Ruskin
first editions catalogue
Box 4
Elkin Mathews catalogues
(master copies), 1-35
Box 5
Elkin Mathews catalogues
(master copies), 36-73 (lacks
57)
Box 6
Elkin Mathews catalogues
(master copies), 74-108
Box 7
Elkin Mathews catalogues
(master copies), 109-133 (lacks
121)
Box 8
Elkin Mathews catalogues
(master copies), 134-150
Box 9
Elkin Mathews catalogues
(master copies), 151-166
Box 10
Elkin Mathews catalogues
(master copies), 167-189
Box 11
Duval & Muir catalogues
(master copies), 1-56 (lacking 6, 30,
41)
Box 1 (continued)
ca. 1886–1916. Bibliographical Wrinkles.
Bound volume, plus one folder of items formerly laid–in
1892–1893
John Lane letters to Grant Richards
1893–1917. Elkin Mathews correspondence, including letters from
Richard le Gallienne, from Mathews to Holbrook Jackson, and from Jack B.
Yeats, enclosing three Elkin Mathews logo designs.
1894. Stock on hand.
4 ledger sheets
ca. 1896–1981.
Miscellaneous notes, invoices, printed
pieces
ca. 1922–1980. Share register
1922–1980. Stock transfers
1930. Edmund Blunden letter to A.W. Evans, enclosing an
introduction for a catalogue.
1932–1933. Trial balances
1933. Two leases
1930s–1960s. Ledger volume
1943–1968. Annual returns
1949, Apr. 30. Stock. 8 ledger pages
1969–1977. Share certificates
Box 2
1927–1929
Oversized share certificates
Series:
Box 2
Muir
Subseries:
Box 2
Correspondence
Arranged alphabetically by correspondent or subject. Range of years of
the correspondence follows each name
Antiquarian Booksellers' Association. 1958, Apr.–1959, May
(4
folders)
Davis, Rupert Hart. 1958–1986
Deval, Laurie E. 1932–1970
McLean, Ruari. 1964–1966
Property concerns. 1935–1938, 1962
Sendak, Maurice. 1966, 1968–1969
Subseries:
Box 2
Writings by Muir: Articles and books
Arranged alphabetically by title or subject of book or article, followed
by reviews Andre Poursin, obituary. 1969
The Antiquarian Booksellers Association.
1st item in volume
of miscellaneous writings
Beaumarchais: Biography of a Bourgeois. Unfinished
(8
folders)
Bibliographical Notes & Queries. Concerns Toy Books
designed by Walter Crane. 1968
Bibliographical Notes & Queries. "Tauchnitz editions of
nineteenth–century English novels...[1st line]" 1955
Book–collecting: More letters to Everyman.
Book–collecting II: More letters to Everyman.
Casanova's memoirs.
"Come on Kate! said the little boy . . . " First line of
chapter one of untitled volume
Commentary on Weston, W.J. Law and the Countryman.
1953
Edward Seago art exhibition. 1953
An Elizabethan Writing Master, Peter Bales
(1547–1610?).
Encyclopedia Britannica: Bibliographic comparison of 1773
London printing and 1771 Edinburgh. (incomplete). 1969
February 14 and all that. Also draft of
introduction
The First Edition of Rousseau's Émile, 1762. 1952
Further letters to Everyman; preface to Book Collecting as a
Hobby, etc. Bound volume Includes "The International Congress at
Copenhagen (Preliminary Report)"
Goethe Bibliography with special reference to Faust, ein
Fragment, 1790. 1977
Gregynog Press. 1957
History of science and philosophy collectors; et
al.
The Incunabula of Progress.
Introduction to Little Wide Awake by Leonard De Vries.
Includes two letters from M. Joy Fisher to Muir, Oct. 12 and Nov. 4,
1966
Journal. Chiefly concerns Muir's work with the ABA. Jan.–Feb.
1967
Box 3
Just in time. Bound volume Partial memoir?
Limited Editions and Spurious Values.
London letters. Bound volume
Minding My Own Business. Bound volume
Miscellaneous notes, concerning authors: Dr. Newman, Samuel
Pepys, Adam Smith, et al.
Miscellaneous notes and fragments concerning books and
editions of various books.
Miscellaneous notes.
8 items, all untitled
Murder? Unpublished short story. ca. 1940s.
My first suit. Bound volume
Note concerning death of William Kundig. 1952
Novel fragment. p. 179–211; 232–234 (latter pages are on
verso of p. 3–5 of "What is a Working Majority?")
An Open Letter to Paul Hirsch on His Seventieth Birthday.
Feb. 1951. Tear sheets, p. 3–6 of The Music Review edited and
revised to include only story of original manuscript of Mozart's
Haffner Symphony
Otto Eric Deutsch. A Profile. Incomplete, accompanied by
untitled Muir reminiscence of OED, 1975
"...Paul Louis Bader has closed his shop...[first line]"
Accompanied by letter from Bader to Muir, 29 Oct. 1965
A Picture Bible. Includes clipping of article from Sunday
Chronicle, July 11, 1954
Private Presses. 1965
The Rake's Progress. Complete set of the eight plates,
1735–1763, plus other bibliographic descriptions
Robert Burns and the Scots Musical Museum.
Incomplete
Robert John Thornton and his "Temple of Flora," etc. Bound
volume
Round a Curious Tree. 1968
Some Whys and Wherefores of Book Collecting (a.k.a. Book
Collecting and the Man in the Street). 1951
Thomas Moore's Irish Melodies, 1808–1834. 1933
Two Library Hoaxes (for ABA Newsletter, 1961)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Original Manuscripts of the Haffner
Symphony (K.385).
Words. 3 versions. "PHM succeeds Dr. Flower (Address)" in
pencil on cover of bound volume. 1964
Subseries:
Box 3
Writings by Muir: Reviews.
Arranged alphabetically by author and title of book reviewed.
Abbey, J.R. Life in England in Aquatint and Lithography,
1770–1860 ... 1953
Amman, Jost. Kunst und Lehrbüchlein. 1971
Bentley, Eric. Shaw on Music: A Selection From the Music
Criticism of Bernard Shaw. 1955
Childs, J. Rives. Casanoviana: An Annotated World
Bibliographyâ...1956
Fletcher, Ifan Kyrle and Arnold Rood. Edward Gordon Craig: A
Bibliography. 1969
Hamilton, Sinclair. Early American Book Illustrators and Wood
Engravers, 1670–1870. 1968.
Hofstätter, Hans Hellmut. Jugendstil: Druckkunst.
1968
Humphries, Charles. Music Publishing in The British Isles...
A Dictionary of Engravers, Printers, Publishers and Music Sellers
... 1955
King, A. Hyatt. Some British Collectors of Music. The Sanders
Lectures for 1961. 1963
McGrath, Daniel F. Bookman's Price Index: An Annual Guide to
the Values of Rare and Other Out–of–Print Books and Sets of
Periodicals... 1964
McLean, Ruari. Victorian Book Design and Colour Printing.
1963
Morison, Stanley. Calligraphy, 1535–1885: A Collection of 72
Writing–Books. 1962.
Neuberg, Victor E. The Penny Histories: A study of
chapbooks... 1968
Newbery, John. A Little Pretty Pocket–Book. 1963
Newman, Ernest. The Life of Wagner. 1948
Roscoe, S. Newbery–Carnan–Power: A Provisional Check–List of
Books... 1966
Schauer, Georg Kurt. Deutsche Buchkunst: 1890 Bis 1960. Vol.
I: Text by G.K. Schauer. Vol. II: Illustrations &
bibliography... 1964
Shaw, J.M. Childhood in Poetry: A Catalogue of the Shaw
Childhood in Poetry Collection in the Library of the Florida State
University. 1968. Accompanied by correspondence between Shaw and
Muir, July 24, Aug. 27, and Sept. 11, 1974.
Spielmann, Percy Edwin. Catalogue of the Library of
Miniature Books. 1961
Taubert, Sigfred. Bibliopola. Pictures and Text About the
Book Trade. 1967
Thwaite, Mary Florence. From Primer to Pleasure in Reading.
1963
Tooley, R. V. English Books with Coloured Plates, 1790 to
1860: A Bibliographical Account... 1955
Uden, Grant. Collector's Casebook. 1963
Wagner, Richard. Sämtliche Briefe... 1969
Wegehaupt, Heinz. 150 Jahre Kinder–und Hausmärchen der Brüder
Grimm. 1965
Wendt, Bernhard. Der Antiquariats–Buchhandel....
1975
no author. Book Auction Records, Vol. 62, August 1964 to July
1965
no author. Book Auction Records, Vol. 64, September 1966 to
August 1967
no author. Jahrbuch der Auktionspreise für Buchen,
Handschriften und Autographen. 1976
