ABSTRACT
Dr. Seaman, a well-known Puritan divine, is, says the Dictionary of National Biography, "chiefly remembered for his library"; several of his contemporaries achieved recognition in the same manner. More typical, and more revealing for the history of the trade, are the activities of the bookseller Robert Scott, who did not get into the DNB. Scott's career, which included publishing, retail bookselling, and managing an auction house, lasted from 1661 to 1687. According to Roger North, the historian, Scott was "the greatest librarian in Europe," with a large stock of books in London and warehouses in Frankfurt, Paris, and other European cities.! On Monday, 13 February 1687/8, part of this stock was offered at auction by Benjamin Walford, who had been Scott's apprentice, with the advertisement that "this catalogue contains the celebrated collection of books which hath been made at several times with great expense, from most parts of the learned world."2 The conditions of sale are clearly established: lots will be sold to the highest bidder, the condition of the books is perfect "for ought we know," payment must be made within one month, commissions will be executed by the auctioneer, a preview will be held one week before the sale and the cost of the cata10gue (I shilling) will be refunded to buyers. This substantial catalogue of 186 pages is divided into subjects (e.g., theology, mathematics, etc.) and languages (English, French, etc.) and each subject is arranged by size (folio, quarto, octavo, and duodecimo). Some of the books sold for what seem like high prices (£6ho/- for Walton's polyglot Bible, £40 for Blaeu's twelve-volume atlas of 1662, £9h5/- for the 1633 edition of Gerard's Herbal, described as "Turkey leather, gilt edges, the plants in colours") while others sold for the proverbial song (a 1495 Ockham for 10/6, a 1600 Gilbert's De Magnete for 3/z, and two Fourth Folio Shakespeares for 15/6 and 15/4). The highest price recorded in the British Library copy of the catalogue is fifty pounds for a manuscript called "Figurae plurimae."
