Dates

• Existence: 1819 - 1899

Biography

Bernard Quaritch (1819-99), bookseller, was born on 23 April 1819 at Worbis, a village in Thuringia, Germany. From the age of fifteen to nineteen Quaritch served an apprenticeship with a local bookseller, Koehne, and in 1839 set off for Berlin, where he found work at the publishing firm of Klemann, and in the bookshop of Adrien Oehmigke, mastering various bibliographical manuals, and acquainting himself with the English book world from literary and trade periodicals. In 1844-5 he put in a year's stint with Théophile Barrois at Paris, but returned to London and Bohn for two final years of employment. From 16 Castle Street, Leicester Square, London, Quaritch issued his first catalogue in October 1847. Most of Quaritch's early stock was, and remained, usefully 'learned' - second-hand scholarly books at moderate prices - but the pursuit of fine, rare, and costly materials, for which he became famous, began in the mid-1850s, through connections with private collectors like Alexander, Lord Lindsay, later twenty-fifth earl of Crawford, who initially patronized him for the range of his academic wares. His most celebrated publication was Edward FitzGerald's Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam, the first four editions of which (1859, 1868, 1872, and 1879) name Quaritch as publisher. Quaritch died of bronchial pneumonia at his home, 34 Belsize Grove, London, on 17 December 1899.

Found in 4 Collections and/or Records: