16
STEVEN MARCUS
library of rare books-to the number of 15,299- to the British
Museum. That institution, according to a French source, at first
considered refusing the gift, but finally accepted it because Ashbee,
having bequeathed to it at the same time his collection of all the
editions and translations of
Don Quixote
J
had placed it as a condi–
tion of this legacy that the British Museum conserve his erotic library
as well. This library is presumably still there.
At the opening of the
Index
Ashbee announces his intention as
"truth, the extension of bibliographical studies, and the accurate
description of the works noticed in the following pages." Further on
he amplifies this statement. "The object of the present work," he
writes, "is to catalogue, as thoroughly, and at the same time, as
tersely as possible, books which, as a rule, have not been mentioned
by former bibliographers, and to notice them in such a way that the
student or collector may be able to form a pretty just estimate of their
value or purport, without having recourse to the books themselves."
The service thus performed is, to put it simply, rather ambiguous,
and there is something slightly teasing if not superior about the last
part of that sentence. It should be said, however, that this attitude is
not typical of Ashbee; although as we shall see his shortcomings are
considerable, he did not usually think of himself as resting upon an
eminence-he is, after all, the sovereign of an underworld. And he is
aware of it. "My object," he continues, "is to collect into a common
fold the stray sheep, to find a home for the pariahs of every nation.
I do not then hesitate to notice the catchpennies hawked in the public
streets, as well as the sumptuous volumes got up for the select few,
and whose price is counted in guineas. I embrace indeed that which
should be avoided as well as that which should be sought." And since
this is the first bibliography of its kind in English- and actually the
first of its kind in any language-Ashbee's work is cut out for him.
The difficulties to be overcome in this branch of bibliography
are enormous, "everything connected with it being involved in ob–
scurity, and surrounded with deception"-a situation which has since
not substantially changed. "The author writes, for the most part,
anonymously, or under an assumed name; the publisher generally
affixes a false impress with an incorrect date; and the title is not
unfrequently worded so as to mislead with regard to the real con–
tents of the book." To discover the author of a particular book is
frequently impossible, and this is especially true of English, where
