CATALOGUE. HELY-HUTCHINSON SALEof The Celebrated Library of Valuable Printed Books, Fine Bindings and Manuscripts. The Property of the late J. W. Hely-Hutchinson, Esq. Chippenham Lodge, Ely. Sold by Order of the Executors. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday12th-14th March, 1956. At eleven o’clock precisely each day.

With numerous plates. London: Sotheby & Co., 1956. pp. 139, [3], 35 (plates). Green cloth with original paper wrappers bound in, title in gilt on brown morocco letterpiece along spine. Prices realised marked in pencil. Top edge gilt. A very good copy.
This illustrated version of the catalogue with thirty-five plates, chiefly illustrate the fine bindings and has a foreword by A.N.L. Mundy. The collection was particularly strong in English Restoration French Renaissance and Irish bindings. “I have known no other bibliophile who, having taken up book collecting comparatively late in life, brought such enthusiasm to the pursuit,” writes Munby. “Three sentences from [an address given at Eton] convey something of the man himself and of the happiness he found in his books. ‘Once you achieve a moderate standing in the book world’, he said, ‘and have a reasonable humility and consideration for others and a love of books, all doors will be open to you. There will be no class distinctions: you can get into museums, public libraries, schools, colleges, minsters, houses large and small: and you will be really welcomed by men and women of all kinds and ages, all bound together by this common friendship. It has been a wonderful experience.”
[Cat 161]