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 sixtydollars—exactly the amount he had in bank—the first and only editionof the "Unpublishable Memoirs" of Beau Brummel, a little volume issuedin London in 1790, and one of two copies known, the other being in thefamous "hidden library" of the British Museum.
It was a scandalous chronicle of fashionable life in the eighteenthcentury, and many brilliant names were implicated therein;distinguished and reputable families, that had long been honored in thehistory of England, were ruthlessly depicted with a black and venomouspen. He had coveted this book for years, and here it was within hisgrasp! He had just told the proprietor that he would take it.
Robert Hooker was a book-collector. With not a great deal of money, hehad acquired a few of the world's most sought-after treasures. He hadlaboriously saved his pennies, and had, with the magic of thebibliophile, turned them into rare volumes! He was about to put theevil little book into his pocket when he was interrupted.
A large, portly man, known to book-lovers the world over, had enteredthe shop and asked Mr. Rodd if he might examine the Beau BrummelMemoirs. He had looked at it before, he said, but on that occasion hadmerely remarked that he would call again. He saw the volume on thetable in front of Hooker, picked it up without ceremony, and told theowner 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."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Fenn," returned the proprietor, "Mr. Hooker, here, hasjust said that he would take it."
"Now, look here, Rodd, I've always been a good customer of yours. I'vespent thousands in this very shop during the last few years. I'll giveyou two hundred dollars for it."
"No," said Rodd.
"Three hundred!" said Fenn.
"No."
"F