Produced by Al Haines

[Frontispiece: THE BIBLIOFIENDS. DRAWN BY OLIVER HERFORD]

THE

UNPUBLISHABLE

MEMOIRS

BY A. S. W. ROSENBACH

NEW YORK

MITCHELL KENNERLEY

MCMXVII

COPYRIGHT 1917 BY

MITCHELL KENNERLEY

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES

BY THE VAIL-BALLOU COMPANY

BINGHAMTON - - NEW YORK

TO

R. R.

CONTENTS

The Unpublishable Memoirs The Three Trees The Purple Hawthorn The Disappearance of Shakespeare The Colonial Secretary In Defence of His Name "The Hundred and First Story" The Lady of the Breviary The Evasive Pamphlet The Great Discovery The Fifteen Joys of Marriage

THE UNPUBLISHABLE MEMOIRS

It was very cruel.

He was dickering for one of the things he had desired for a life-time.

It was in New York at one of the famous book-stores of the metropolis. The proprietor had offered to him for one hundred and sixty dollars--exactly the amount he had in bank--the first and only edition of the "Unpublishable Memoirs" of Beau Brummel, a little volume issued in London in 1790, and one of two copies known, the other being in the famous "hidden library" of the British Museum.

It was a scandalous chronicle of fashionable life in the eighteenth century, and many brilliant names were implicated therein; distinguished and reputable families, that had long been honored in the history of England, were ruthlessly depicted with a black and venomous pen. He had coveted this book for years, and here it was within his grasp! He had just told the proprietor that he would take it.

Robert Hooker was a book-collector. With not a great deal of money, he had acquired a few of the world's most sought-after treasures. He had laboriously saved his pennies, and had, with the magic of the bibliophile, turned them into rare volumes! He was about to put the evil little book into his pocket when he was interrupted.

A large, portly man, known to book-lovers the world over, had entered the shop and asked Mr. Rodd if he might examine the Beau Brummel Memoirs. He had looked at it before, he said, but on that occasion had merely remarked that he would call again. He saw the volume on the table in front of Hooker, picked it up without ceremony, and told the owner of the shop that he would purchase it.

"Excuse me," exclaimed Hooker, "but I have just bought it."

"What!" said the opulent John Fenn, "I came especially to get it."

Table of contents (by pages)

• 1: The Unpublishable Memoirs by A. S. W. Rosenbach
• 2: And Fenn quickly grasped the little book
• 3: Fenn said nothing for five minutes
• 4: Old Rodd is an unqualified liar
• 5: Without another word Fenn retired to his stateroom
• 6: His etchings and his engravings
• 7: He took the etching carefully from the wall
• 8: Foster then had other visitors
• 9: Gentlemen the hawthorn vase purchased by my grandfather
• 10: Hooker went into the living room
• 11: In 1908 the Hedley family were in financial straits
• 12: Robert Hooker was a great lover of books
• 13: He or no one else has a right to undervalue
• 14: Hooker will often remain by the fireside in his library
• 15: Thomas Pennington Welford was growing old
• 16: Welford was in the act of examining his books
• 17: For his name was Robert Hooker
• 18: Made of Santa Domingo mahogany
• 19: Said John Stuyvesant DePuyster
• 20: An autograph letter of General Arnold
• 21: Hooker also came here to examine it
• 22: And eminent autograph and book collectors
• 23: Libro saw was a vacancy in his favorite bookcase
• 24: The Boccaccio was nowhere to be seen
• 25: And sell it back to its owner or some other book crank
• 26: Including the famous Abelard missal
• 27: When Hooker was shown the breviary
• 28: Bibliophiles are not missionaries
• 29: And Jack Worthing was talking of books
• 30: Or the litany that came first in the breviary
• 31: But I know where there's another copy
• 32: Now everyone believes in ghosts but landlords
• 33: Tomlinson was a friend of mine
• 34: Hooker grew restless as the weeks rolled by
• 35: Hooker turned the leaves to see whether
• 36: John Libro had money on July 28th
• 37: John Libro entered properly into the spirit of the occasion
• 38: Steinman remained the same heartless
• 39: Answered Steinman in a surprised tone
• 40: In a joyous mood John Libro called upon Ethel Edwards
• 41: I read the catalogue item by item