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[LACKINGTON, JAMES] : MEMOIRS OF THE FIRST FORTY-FIVE YEARS OF THE LIFE OF...THE PRESENT BOOKSELLER in Chiswell-street, Moorfields, London

Printed for and Sold by The Author, London, N.d. [1791]

8vo. (8 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches), nineteenth century tree calf with a narrow leafy border on the covers; spine with five raised bands and gilt decoration within the compartments, except for the one that contains the title information. All edges marbled to match the end leaves. The half title is wanting.First edition of a frequently reprinted autobiography (by 1793 there were copies with the words 13th edition on the title), the DNB calls it, "...an interesting picture of bookselling life." Lackington was a vain but warm-hearted, shrewd man of business, whose first object in life was to make money. As soon as he had acquired a fortune he seems to have lost any love of books which he may have had. The caption beneath Lackington's engraved frontispiece portrait immodestly reads: "J. Lackington, Who a few years since, began Business with five Pounds; now sells one Hundred Thousand Volumes Annually."Self promotion or not, it is always beneficial to have a collection of letters and anecdotes written by another contemporary of Dr. Johnson and Boswell, to mention just two others actually concerned with the sale of their books.

FIRST EDITION NICely BOUND

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