"Books for the Use of the Learned and Studious": William London's Catalogue of Most Vendible Books

If Books be the Spectacles we see through to all Learning, let's then use them so; branch them forth, and spread their Knowledge.¹

Newcastle-upon-Tyne bookseller William London produced his pioneering bibliographical text, A Catalogue of the Most Vendible Books in England, between 1657 and 1660.² London's work was one of the earliest attempts to catalog all English-language books, at a time when booksellers and readers alike were scrambling to keep up with the output of printed matter. In his extended preface, London explained that he was offering his audience a new means of harnessing this typographic flood, a treasure map that would ensure that books did not end up buried in obscurity. To date scholars have largely limited their discussion of this catalog to these bibliographic contributions.³ However, as London makes clear in his introduction, he considered books to be far more than repositories of intangible learning; rather, they offered access to an important new kind of functional knowledge. London intended his catalog not only to convey information about the latest printed material to a broad audience—one that he would play a role in creating—but also to promote the very idea of knowledge as a practical tool.

Little is known about William London's life beyond a few details from 1649 to 1660, the period when he was active in the book trade in Newcastle.⁴ However, a close examination of the Catalogue of Most Vendible Books can shed light on both his business practices and his intellectual interests. Dedicated to readers in "the Northern Counties of Northumberland, Bppk. of Durham,Westmerland and Cumberland," and prefaced by a fortynine page "Introduction to the Use of Books," London's catalog is notable in conception, scale, and content. The 1657 editio princeps of A Catalogue of the Most Vendible Books contains 3, 284 titles arranged under seven subject headings, while the two supplementary installments of 1658 and 1660 added 510 additional books.⁵ More than half of the 1657 work is devoted to "Divinity Books" (1, 698 ), a proportion slightly greater than the average over the period.⁶ The "Physick and Chyrurgery" and "Mathematicks"⁷ sections contain 152 and 241 titles respectively, or approximately one-eighth of the total, a significant proportion for any seventeenth-century library or book list.⁸ In addition to sizeable sections on "History with other pieces of humane learning intermixed, alphabetically digested" (479) and "Common and Civil Law" (155), London had a separate list of 261 "Romances Poems and Playes" and concluded with 298 "Hebrew, Greek, and Latin bookes Such as falls not directly under the heads of divinity, physick, or law, &c. but are properly usefull for schooles and scholars." London planned to issue annual supplements to keep his customers updated on "what Books are daily prest for their service," but only succeeded at this in 1658 and 1660.

London displayed an enthusiastic familiarity with the books in his catalog, as well as a basic facility for Latin and other languages.⁹ In his introduction he referenced at least thirty of the most popular texts of the day. (After the Bible, the most frequently cited works are those of Francis Bacon, an English translation of Montaigne's essays, Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, and Thomas Stanley's History of Philosophy.)¹⁰ This obvious love for books and reading has earned his catalog comparisons to Richard de Bury's canonical Philobiblon.¹¹

London produced his catalog at a time when the English book trade was inventing new vehicles to disseminate information about printed works. The Catalogue of Most Vendible Books and the handful of other systematic lists that appeared in the first half of the seventeenth century met a clear need, particularly in regions some distance from London. Between 1557 and 1662 English book publishing was essentially limited to London, Oxford, and Cambridge, and further constrained by the 1643 Licensing Order. As a result, even in sizeable provincial towns readers and booksellers had to place orders with London publishers. These limits aside, F...