The Library of William Byrd of Westover [Hardcover]

Kevin T. Hayes (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0945612419 | ISBN-13: 978-0945612414 | Publication Date: August 1, 1997 | Edition: First

Of the handful of early American libraries of great significance, few rivaled the depth and breadth of William Byrd's collection. Made accessible for the first time, this library tells us much about its early American intellectual milieu. This exhaustive bibliography with its thorough introduction presents the great library and its collector in their rightful cultural context.

Enhanced by a mammoth forty-page index to the over 2,500 items, this book will be an invaluable resource for literary and cultural historians, book collectors, and anyone who seeks a better understanding of reading and the circulation of ideas in early America.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Colonial merchant and politician William Byrd (1674-1744) of Westover, Virginia, was also a leading intellectual of his era. Following the lead of his father, Byrd collected a handsome library of over 2500 separate titles. Editor Hayes (English, Univ. of Central Oklahoma) not only documents Byrd's book collection but also adds an engaging 100-page introduction that focuses equally on Byrd and his library. An extensive index provides title and author access. Printer and bookbinder John Stretch was the first to record the Byrd library as early as 1750. Since then, the collection has passed through several hands; 332 surviving titles are identified, for which Hayes provides a descriptive bibliography. In this catalog, the collection is arranged just as Byrd organized the books in cases, representing broad subject areas such as law, science and medicine, the classics, religion, and history and travels. Library, cultural, and literary historians will find this highly specialized volume a useful addition to the literature of American Colonial history Recommended for larger academic and special libraries concentrating on intellectual and cultural history.?Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Lib., Ala.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

There is no doubt that Hayes's syntheses and extension of the catalogues of William Byrd's library--the greatest in colonial America--is a major achievement. The scholarship is superb. It will be of immense use to schools, particularly given the trend toward the history of the book and of reading as crucial elements in identity and culture-formation. This work will be a standard reference tool. . . . We now have reasonable access to early American culture's major library. (Kenneth A. Lockridge )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 672 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; First edition (August 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0945612419
• ISBN-13: 978-0945612414
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.1 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,793,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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