THE ASHLEY LIBRARY

A Catalogue of Printed Books, Manuscripts, and Autograph Letters. Collected by Thomas James Wise. Vol. XI [only]. Introduction by Arundell Esdaile. Pp. xxiv+204(last Ashley library device, colophon), frontispiece portrait [Mrs. Wise] with tissue guard, plus 43 plates, a couple of facsimiles in text, addenda, notes, index; cr. 4to; cream cloth over bevelled boards, lettered and decorated in gilt, a trifle marked, spine faintly faded; t.e.g., others uncut; hinges reinforced, a couple of tiny edge chips, occasional light foxing; printed for private circulation only, London, 1936. First edition, being one of 200 copies on antique paper. [Todd 420b]. *Eleven volumes of the catalogue of Thomas J. Wise's Ashley Library were published from 1922 to 1936, each containing an introduction by a well-known writer of the period. This is the final volume, published after Carter & Pollard's Enquiry and shortly before Wise's death. In the Preface, Wise states that ill health prevented him from writing an Introduction to this volume. 'I could tell so many stories and relate so many incidents in connection with the acquisition of the more prominent and fascinating of the items of which it is composed, that I feel sure I could have produced a paper which would have interested many other of my fellow collectors, and perhaps have encouraged them to continue this pleasant and useful pursuit. But the serious misfortune which caused the delay in the completion of Volume XI has also rendered this impossible, and physical weakness, combined with the still ragged state of my nerves, have frustrated my hopes, and the task must be left for some future occasion' [pp. xv-xvi].…