BECKFORD (William). The Valuable Library of Books, in Fonthill Abbey. A Catalogue of the Magnificent, Rare, and Valuable Library, (of 20,000 Volumes)... also of the Books of Prints, Galleries of Art, Curious Missals and Manuscripts, the Persian and Chinese Drawings, &c... Which will be Sold by Auction, by Mr. Phillips, at the Abbey, on Tuesday the 9th of September, 1823, and Nine Following Days, on Friday the 3d of October, & Four Following Days, and on... 23d October... & Four Following Days, etc. [The Unique and Splendid Effects of Fonthill Abbey. Catalogue of the Extensive Assemblage of Costly and Interesting Property, which Adorns this Magnificent Structure; Embracing Part of the Furniture; the Bijouterie... the Matchless Collection of Raised Gold Japan, and... the Rare Oriental, Japan & Sevres China... Which will be Sold... on... the 23d of September... and Seven Following Days, and on... 16th of October, and Four Following Days, etc. - The Second Part of Books and Books of Prints. - The Pictures and Miniatures at Fonthill Abbey. Catalogue of this Well-selected and Valuable Collection of Gallery and Cabinet Paintings, Miniatures and Drawings... Which will be Sold by Auction, by Mr. Phillips, on... the 10th of October... and on... October 14 and 15, 1823. - The Second Part of the Unique and Splendid Effects. - The Third Part of Books and Books of Prints.1823

[London: J. Davy], Large 8vo (237 x 148 mm), [10], 391, [1]pp., frontispiece of the Abbey (lightly spotted), cont. half black morocco, sometime rebacked with original spine laid-down, upper joint starting, corners rubbed. Mounting debts and shrinking asserts continued to plague Beckford during his final years in residence at Fonthill Abbey. Beckford was finally compelled to sell Fonthill Abbey to John Farquhar for £300,000 in 1822. Farquhar, motivated more by speculation than genuine interest in the valuable contents of the Abbey, put the collection, including books and manuscripts, up for auction the following year. Thus the Beckford collection herein described (3960 lots) was actually sold by Farquhar. The catalogues are paged continuously (391pp.) but the parts are rearranged in binding to follow the chronological order of sales. De Ricci, p.84; Fletcher, p.317-24.