English
bookman John Carter came into my life in early 1990 and has made frequent
appearances since. Our initial
introduction was inevitable… I was a
novice book collector eager for guidance when I stumbled across a reprint of
his classic guide ABC for Book Collectors,
standing fine in jacket on the shelves of a retail bookstore. I
purchased the book for full price-- a
rare occurrence then and now. Today, I
hold the book in hand and I see my scattered annotations from that first
reading. The foundation was set.
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| John Carter |
Before I discuss the origins and
publication of ABC for Book Collectors
a brief outline of its author is in order. John Carter (1906-1976), educated at Eton and
King’s College, Cambridge, became a bibliophile early on and found himself so
keenly interested in the field he made a career of it. He entered the rare book trade in 1927 with
the London branch of Scribner’s New York.
The New York office would be in a few years overseen by notable American
bookman, David Randall. The two men
formed a formidable duo. Carter &
Randall’s natural tastes ran to new paths in book collecting and bibliography. They published, via Scribner’s, a number of
innovative bookseller catalogues designed to promote untapped or nascent
collecting areas such as Mysteries, Familiar Quotations, Modern First Editions,
& Musical Firsts. However, the rent
must be paid and many classically expensive items were also sold with aplomb
including a Gutenberg Bible. Carter
became managing director of the London office in 1945 and remained at
Scribner’s until 1953. In 1956 Carter joined Sotheby’s auction house and was
also a director of Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York. His wide circle of associates lay at the heart
of bookselling and book collecting of his era and included John Hayward, Graham
Pollard, Michael Sadleir, and Percy Muir.
