THE BOOKMAN

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 695, 21 June 1929, Page 16

THE BOOKMAN

A Collector On His Treasures The following interview with Mr .4. E. Newton, the ivell-knoyrn American bibliophile, appeared recently in the London “Spectator.” Mr Newton has written several very pleasant books about his hobby, of which the best, perhaps, is “The Amenities of

Book Collecting I BEGAN by COLLECTING first editions of eighteenth century ; authors,” said Mr Alfred Edward Newton recently to a representative of the “Spectator”; “but I could not resist this when I was in Rome. Its worth £4000,” he added casually. Out of a litter of papers in a drawer of his desk he produced a yellow leaflet. It was a printed pamphlet by Christopher Columbus, describing his discovery of America. “Naturally, I had to have it,” said Mr Newton. “But it is out of my usual line. I buy for the most part only what I can read and enjoy—books from Richardson to Arnold Bennett which seem to me to best express tbe spirit and manners of the age in which they were written. Only yesterday I bought a first edition of ‘The Old Wives Tale* for £SO. Bennett thought it wasn’t worth more than £2O; but he was wrong. The value of his first editions and those of John Galsworthy will go up steadily and surely; in my opinion the ‘Forsyte Saga’ will become the standard social history of these days. “My purchases have a way of appre- I elating in value. For instance, 20 years ago I paid £2O for an uncut copy of Boswell’s ‘Life of Johnson.' Today it is worth £660, at least one of my countrymen paief one of yours that sum for it only yesterday. “I don’t have many ‘lucky deals,* however, for I am generally buying on a rising market, but that makes no difference; I buy my books for the pleasure of owning them and the joy of reading them. Trollope, whom you English considered as dead as Caesar 20 years ago, lias always been one of my favourite authors. I wrote an article in a magazine, singing his praises to the top of my voice, in 1911: to-day he is becoming recognised at his true worth as the social chronicler of England when her star was at its zenith. I consider him the greatest English author after Dickens, and Dickens, with me, stands next to Shakespeare.” (And at these fair and friendly words the interviewer’s heart leapt in sympathy.) “I consult only my own tastes. T have never sold a book during all my 40 years of collecting except to buy a better one of the same sort. It is a hobby with me, not a business; and I have earned a right to this hobby by working at my business until I was 60. That is what some of you on this side of the water don’t quite understand — how hard we Americans work to earn the money we spend. “My great-grandmother was governess to King Edward VII., and taught him to draw. Everything connected with the country of my ancestors has a strong appeal to me, and since I was 60 I have devoted my whole time to collecting first editions and have handed over my business to my son. But long before I retired I was a keen collector- In fact, I have been one all my life. Every man who works much after reaching the age of 60 is, in my judgment, either unlucky or unwise. If a man intends living at all, at CO it's high time he began. “You ask it I am happy. Certainly I am! I am enormously busy and interested, but over relatively unimportant matters, such as auctions, libraries, manuscripts, sales rooms. That is where true happiness lies—to he busy over trifles. Horace Walpole had the right idea. I sometimes think you English have reduced living to a fine art which we Americans are unconsciously destroying. “Can’t you imagine the thrill I feel when I secure another landmark of English literature in a first edition or in a manuscript—Hardy’s ‘Far From the Madding Crowd,” for example, which I own complete and entire, or a rare Blake or Charles Lamb, authors I have been collecting all my life. “Of course, my collection can’t compare with the really great libraries; still it is representative enough in its way. I could not match for emotional appeal the love letters of Henry VIII. to Anne Boleyn, which I recently saw in the Vatican library in Rome. Nevertheless, for a private collection I have some very good items. “Of late my object has been to acquire specimens of the five main periods of the English novel, which I

have called after their physical characteristics: that is to say, the Age of Calf, which encompassed the transcendent genius of Fielding, the Age of Boards, in which Scott and Jane Austen first appeared, the Age of Monthly Parts in which the meteor star of Pickwick burned across the firmament of Victorian letters, then the Three Deckers that Trollope and his compeers so diligently composed, and finally our present Age of the Single Volume, begun by George Moore’s ‘Mummer’s Wife’ as the result of a quarrel with Mudie. To some extent my collection is representative of the literary history of the last two hundred years. “What will happen to my library? Wei’. I daresay it will be sold after my death. So large a portion cf my small fortune is invented in books. But col-

lecting is the joy of my life. “This Book-Collecting Game,' which is the title of my last book, is the best game I know, and as an investment books are quite as good as bonds or shares.”

Boosting Browning IN A RECENT “Saturday Review” literary competition, it was’ proposed to readers that, as “the quack doctor, the hairdresser, and others have evolved a form of selfadvertisement which appears to be successful,” authors might reasonably attempt the same; and a model of such an advertisement for Robert Browning was called for, to consist of the “usual personal puff and extracts from unsolicited testimonials.” It is necessary to imagine, with the prize puff that follows, the illustration which the judge regretted not being able to reproduce—depicting “a vast lounge chair, in which the reader is sunk from view except for his baggy trousers, his bedroom slippers, and his pipe that, of course, smokes rings. There is a fire and a reading desk for his Browning. How well one knows that appeal to comfort.” A comfortable chair, a soothing smoke, and a book to beguile the hours —“ All’s right with the world.” BUT THE BOOK MUST BE ROBERT BROWNING. Do you want to escape from the drab turmoil and the carking cares of Business ? Do you want to lead a fuller, richer life? Do you want to improve your mind and thus increase your efficiency and income? Then—READ ROBERT BROWNING. The multi-coloured pageantry of Medieval Italy; the loves, passions and intrigues of the most fascinating sirens of history; the lilied loveliness of Florence; intimate studies of insanity; the vernal glory of the English Countryside; drinking songs, riding songs, love songs; heart-searching lyrics; the visions of a great seer; the profound analytical genius of en eminent philosopher. the finest thought the century has produced wrought into verse of COMPELLING WITCHERY All this is YOURS for the expenditure of a few shillings. READ WHAT OTHERS SAY **When not engaged upon my own works 1 can find no pleasure comparable to the study of your charming poems.”—George Bernard Shaw. “/ consider * Porphyria’s Lover ’ quite the most notable contribution to pathological literature since ‘Les Fleurs du Mai’.”—A Psycho-Analyst. “Since reading *The Ring and the Book’ I have never lost a case.”—An Eminent K.C. “7 hasten to add that your poems are models of lucidity.”—Gilbert Keith Chesterton. “These tripping numbers.”—Max Becrbohm. PLACE AN ORDER AT ONCE WITH YOUR BOOKSELLER. Avoid all substitutes. See the name “Robert Browning” on every copy. Copyright is 11.5. A.

“Eat And Be Happy” “What will you allow me to eat,” asked the late King Edward of his medical adviser after a royal indisposition. “Your Majesty may eat in moderation anything that agrees with you.” After reading “Eat and Be Happy,” by Dr. Josiah Oldfield, one wonders whether, after all, the beginning and end of the science of dietetics is not better summed up in the simple advice given to King Edward. But Dr. Oldfield, who is no mere food faddist, merits listening to if only for his sane views on the prevention and cure of digestive troubles and their dozen and one attendant ailments. The little work, which is attractively presented, should find favour, particularly among those to whom meals are not a happy institution. “Eat and Be Happy,” by Dr. Josiah Oldfield. Our copy from the publishers, Methuen and Co., Ltd., London.

AN AUCKLAND POET.—Here we see Mr. A. R. D. Fairburn, whose graceful verse has frequently appeared on the Bookman’s page. Mr. Fairburn is, at the moment, considering the publication, in collaboration with Mr. R. A. K. Mason, of a volume of verse.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED Stead's Review.—Australian issue for June numbers among its contributors F. W. Eggleston, Harold W. Clapp. J. W. Curtin, Will Craig, Professor Meredith Atkinson, H. E. Holland, M.P., of New Zealand, Adela Pankhurst and Thomas Walsh — all prominent in the eyes of Australia’s public. Copy from publishers. “Newspaper News.”—June number announces the incorporation of “Advertising in Australia,” formerly published monthly in Melbourne. The number is, as usual, well stocked with valuable information for newspaper men and advertisers. “The Month.”—June number. Contains articles by Hilaire Belloc, Princess Edith Almarigen, Captain Francis McCullagh, and Mona Tracy. Tributes are paid to the late Father Ryan. An excellent portrait of the Right Rev. Dr. Cleary in flying kit is published.