the book collector
marks in the rarity or the importance of this precious volume would be sheer impertinence’. 9 Two aspects could have guided James Weatherup in his estimate of the value of the book – a knowledge of previous purchases and an adjustment to its worth based upon the condition of his copy. In the 1930s James Weatherup had few, if any, guidelines on which to base his expectations. In his later correspondence with his son Arthur, and undoubtedly with hindsight, Weatherup stated a complete copy would be worth £ 2,000 ($8,480) and a perfect copy at least £ 5,000 ($21,200) at auction. The initial consideration that Weatherup imparted to his son was a figure of £ 400 ($1,700). It is unclear whether there was a basis for any of these figures, especially when comparing them to earlier public sales of the Bay Psalm Book , but given auction prices of £ 823 (1903), £ 87 (1894), £ 310 (1881) and £ 350 (1879) it does not seem that a valuation of £ 400 was an unreasonable guess. The second problem for James Weatherup was the incomplete condition of the volume which normally, for a more common edi- tion of the Psalms, would greatly decrease its worth. In this light a reduction from £ 400 to £ 150 ($636) might have seemed acceptable. This erroneous assumption is highlighted by Winterich’s comment on incomplete copies of the Bay Psalm Book that ‘A book without a title page is in general as valueless as a building without a roof. But there are many buildings without roofs which are carefully preserved as survivals of significant civilizations’. 10 Finally it is clear from his surviving correspondence that James Weatherup was not a well man at this time, and his ill health combined with the stress of the great significance of his find weighed heavily on his mind. Rosenbach’s appreciation of the Weatherup deal was recorded in a postscript to the story many years later in 1945. In that year The Rosenbach Fellowship Bibliography Series published George Parker Winship’s The Cambridge Press 1638–1692 which naturally included significant chapters on the Bay Psalm Book and the first Massachusetts press. My collection of Weatherup books and docu- 9 . Catalogue of the American Library of the late Mr. George Brinley (Hartford, 1878–97) part 1 p. 115. 10 . J. T. Winterich Early American Books & Printing (Boston, 1935) p. 32.
752
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter