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細節
MERLY LIBRARY. A Catalogue of the Well Known and Celebrated Library of the Late Ralph Willet. London: Leigh and Sotheby, 1813-1814. 8° (224 x 131mm.) Prices and names of buyers supplied in a neat contemporary hand, printed prices in a separate section at the end. Contemporary diced calf, thin gilt border round sides, gilt spine (joints rather rubbed).
On his father's death in 1740 Ralph Willet (1719-1795) succeeded to the family estates in the West Indies which enabled him, for the rest of his life, to gratify his taste for books and pictures. He built Merly in Canford, Dorset, to accommodate his library, but soon had to add two wings to contain his collections. The Merly library was auctioned by Leigh and Sotheby over seventeen days between 6 and 24 December 1813, the 2720 lots of books fetching £13,223 7s. 6d. Many found their way into the Spencer, Grenville, Devonshire, and White Knights collections. Thomas Frognall Dibdin helped compile the catalogue (see ODNB).
On his father's death in 1740 Ralph Willet (1719-1795) succeeded to the family estates in the West Indies which enabled him, for the rest of his life, to gratify his taste for books and pictures. He built Merly in Canford, Dorset, to accommodate his library, but soon had to add two wings to contain his collections. The Merly library was auctioned by Leigh and Sotheby over seventeen days between 6 and 24 December 1813, the 2720 lots of books fetching £13,223 7s. 6d. Many found their way into the Spencer, Grenville, Devonshire, and White Knights collections. Thomas Frognall Dibdin helped compile the catalogue (see ODNB).