“The whole being arranged in one alphabetical series”

Boston.

Catalogue of the Mercantile Library of Boston.

Boston: Printed by John Wilson and Son, 1854. Item #822

8vo.  230 x 145 mm., [9 x 5 ½ inches].  xxiii, 298 pp.  Original brown embossed cloth; piece of spine missing.  Ownership signature of ‘James A. Woolsen of 7 Bowdoin Square’ appears in pencil on the front free endpaper.

“Since 1848 (see above), the date of our last Catalogue, the Library has increased from six thousand volumes to sixteen thousand volumes; and, although a hastily prepared Supplement was printed in 1851, the titles of nearly six thousand volumes, the latest and most valuable additions to the Library, were not to be found on any printed Catalogue.“    

The catalogue includes a substantial historical sketch of the library and the acquisitions of books over a thirty-year period.  Along with a subscription fee of two dollars, members were obliged to present the Library with “one or more volumes, either in biography, history, voyages, travels, or works relative to mercantile subjest . . .”  The provision of the by-laws was later abolished as the books given were generally of worthless value.

Price: $150.00