For a collection that Roger Gozdecki has estimated was likely worth several million dollars at the time of Hurley's death, this has to be accounted a major blow to bibliophilia.Bibliophiles as Intermediaries: The Case of the Antwerp Book Collector Jean Baptiste Lauwers (1755-1829) Bibliophiles as Intermediaries: The Case of the Antwerp Book Collector Jean Baptiste Lauwers.Ībstract This article discusses an important aspect of bibliophily, viz. This catalog, along with the two Dawson catalogs and Basbanes' brief mention of the collector, will likely be Hurley's only legacy. Twenty-five years later (July 2009), Cole issued a very special anniversary catalog (depicted above left). While I recognized it as a very special and unique book, I didn't have a specialty of any kind at that time, and so tucked it away very carefully for some future time. They were wonderful books on all subjects: travel, poetry, literature, children's and one gemological book - The Book of the Pearl by Kunz and Stevenson, published 1908. T was that I experienced my very first auction, as well as the acquisition of hundreds of books that became my starter inventory. She cites Hurley's death as one of the three major influences on her career as a bookseller: The respected Santa Monica bookseller, a well-known specialist in gemology, was just getting into the bookselling business when Michael Hurley passed away. And from the ashes of a great but now obscure book collection arose not only a new generation of book collectors.but booksellers as well. Even with this more respectful treatment of his books, the prices realized will make you weep.Įven in death, though, new life arises. It is from Tabor's introduction to these catalogs that we have what little is known about Hurley. These were cataloged by Stephen Tabor in two sales that Dawson's conducted in August 1984 (catalog # 477, 206 items) and May 1985 (catalog # 479, 554 items). We should perhaps be grateful that Dawson's, which had learned of Hurley's death from Hurley's sisters, was able to select some 800 items for more respectful treatment. Not only was Hurley's collection scattered to the winds, but an astounding number of rare and important books were sold for a mere pittance by order of the Los Angeles County Public Administrator. Some 35,000 volumes.īecause Hurley died intestate, posterity treated this wonderful collection very, very poorly. All of which had been collected on the salary of a postal clerk over a 50-year period. Shephard, one of only 20 copies bound in vellum.Īmong many other wondrous items. the First Edition of Winnie-the-Pooh, signed by Milne and illustrator E. an inscribed First Edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula.the First Edition of Shelley's Queen Mab.the 2-volume First Edition of The Life of Samuel Johnson.In Basbanes' Gentle Madness interview with renowned Los Angeles bookseller Glen Dawson, Dawson observed that Hurley "never married.never owned a car.wore the same suit year in and year out.lived in a small house that he rented, and the only furniture he had was bookcases." Reading this, one might be inclined to imagine rooms piled high with dog-eared copies of National Geographic, stack upon stack of yellowing newspapers, with perhaps an occasional great tottering mound of paperbacks thrown in for good measure.īut when Hurley passed away in 1984, what folks discovered was.
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