A hearty hello this Tuesday morning from Tavistock Books!  Since our last list 2 weeks ago, I continue unpacking & cataloguing, such that in that 2 week period I’ve shelved approximately 300 volumes from which I selected 15 to comprise this week’s list of offerings.  You’ll find our usual eclectic mix, from Architecture to Doyle, from America to Africa, etc., etc.

“Wing Books.”  Most bibliophiles, when seeing a citation such as “Wing W-3755”, realize that refers to an entry in Donald Wing’’s 4 volume work, The SHORT-TITLE CATALOGUE of Books Printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, British America and of English Books Printed in Other Countries 1641 - 1700.  The 2nd edition is preferred, published by the MLA, 1994 - 1998.  In a recent search of my website, using the key word ‘Wing’, 58 titles popped out.  And while there were outliers such as number 16 in this week’s list of offerings, 42 of the 58 titles will be found in Donald Wing’s reference.  This week we offer 21 of those 42.

This week's FS List features a very specific genre of photography…  the stereoview.  Essentially, the stereoview card presents 2 two-dimensional photographic images, depicting left-eye and right-eye views of the same scene, that when viewed through a stereoscope, is seen as a single three-dimensional image.  Stereographic imaging first came on the scene in the 1830s.  By the 1850s, the device was beginning to enjoy widespread popularity, with even Queen Victoria expressing her approbation on seeing a demonstration at the 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition.  In the 1860s, the viewer came within financial reach the ‘common man’, when Oliver Wendell Holmes invented a hand-held stereoscope. People, with this more economically-priced viewer, could now travel the world from the comfort of their own parlor [see our #6 for a trip through Italy].  

This past June 9th marked the 154th anniversary of the passing of England’s greatest novelist, Charles Dickens.  Achieving fame at the young age of 24 with the publication of his debut novel, Pickwick Papers, he continued to entertain the world with his prose throughout the remainder of his life.  And that public readership continues till today, with all of his works remaining in print.  For the collectors of his oeuvre, which are many, finding 1st editions are relatively easy, for his the bulk of his books were published in the tens of thousands.  What may challenge the Dickens collector are those -iana items that were issued in significantly lesser quantities.  To celebrate this great man’s memory, Tavistock Books just issued a list of 20 such items, which may be seen by clicking on the accompanying link.

Enjoy.