Bernard Alexander Christian Quaritch ( ; April 23, 1819 – December 17, 1899) was a German-born British bookseller and collector. The company established by Bernard Quaritch in 1847 lives on in London as Bernard Quaritch Ltd, dealing in rare books and manuscripts, as well as publishing books.

Early life

Quaritch was born in

Worbis Leinefelde-Worbis () is a town in the district of Eichsfeld, in northwestern Thuringia, Germany. The town was formed on March 16, 2004, from the former independent towns Leinefelde and Worbis along with the municipalities of Breitenbach and Wi ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. After being apprenticed to a bookseller, he went to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1842, and was employed by

Henry Bohn Henry George Bohn (4 January 179622 August 1884) was a British publisher. He is principally remembered for the ''Bohn's Libraries'' series which he inaugurated. These were begun in 1846, targeted the mass market, and comprised editions of standard ...

, the publisher.

Work in London

Grave of Bernard Quaritch in Highgate Cemetery

In 1847 he started a bookseller's business off

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised town square, square in the West End of London, England, and is the centre of London's entertainment district. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leice ...

, becoming naturalized as a British subject. In 1848 he started to issue a monthly ''Catalogue of Foreign and English Books''. About 1858 he began to purchase rare books, one of the earliest of such purchases being a copy of the '' Mazarin Bible'' (usually known as the Gutenberg Bible), and within a period of forty years he possessed six separate copies of this rare and valuable edition. In 1860 he moved to

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, England, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road (England), A4 road that connects central London to ...

. In 1873 he published the ''Bibliotheca Xylographica, Typographica et Palaeographica'', a remarkable catalogue of early productions of the

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

of all countries. He became a regular buyer at all the principal book-sales of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and from time to time published a variety of other catalogues of old books. Amongst these may be mentioned the ''Supplemental Catalogue'' (1877), and in 1880 an immense catalogue of considerably over 2,000 pages. The last complete catalogue of his stock was published in 1887-88 under the title ''General Catalogue of Old Books and Manuscripts'', in seven volumes, increased with subsequent supplements to twelve. All these catalogues are of considerable bibliographical value. By this time Quaritch had developed the largest trade in old books in the world. Among the books that he published was Edward Fitzgerald's translation of

Omar Khayyám Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Nīshābūrī (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131) ( Persian: غیاث الدین ابوالفتح عمر بن ابراهیم خیام نیشابورﻯ), commonly known as Omar Khayyam (), was ...

's poetry collection

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam ''Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám'' is the title that Edward FitzGerald (poet), Edward FitzGerald gave to his 1859 translation from Persian language, Persian to English of a selection of quatrains (') attributed to Omar Khayyam (1048–1131), dub ...

. He was also the agent for the publications of the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

and the Society of Antiquaries. He died at

Hampstead, London Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

, leaving the business to his son Bernard Alfred Quaritch, who died in 1913. Both father and son are buried together on the western side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in North London, England, designed by architect Stephen Geary. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for so ...

. The business survives to this day.

Works and publications

* * * *

References

External links

* of Bernard Quaritch Ltd * *
Digitised book sales catalogues
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quaritch, Bernard 1819 births 1899 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery People from Leinefelde-Worbis People from the Province of Saxony British bibliographers German bibliographers English booksellers German booksellers Antiquarian booksellers British booksellers German male non-fiction writers 19th-century English businesspeople Emigrants from the German Confederation to the United Kingdom

Early life

Work in London

Works and publications

See also

References

Further reading

External links