Dibdin's Bibliomania is an anthem to the printed book, a warning to the unwary about the perils of obsessive book-collecting, and the confessions of a rabid book-collector. As a casual glance at the book will show, Dibdin's footnotes predominate over text, and it is in the footnotes that the interest lies. They invite questions as often as they answer them. What is the supposed similarity between 'Orator' Henley's library and Addison's memoranda for the Spectator? What cutting words did Edward Gibbon write about Thomas Hearne? Why should we not be surprised to find a book on American history by a Spanish admiral in the library of the President of the Royal Society? Who was Captain Cox who 'could talk as much without book, as any Innholder betwixt Brentford and Bagshot'? Was Polydore Vergil a plagiarist and John Bagford a biblioclast? What is bloterature? Sometimes Dibdin tells us, sometimes he assumes we know, and sometimes he chooses to tantalise us. The endnotes provide some of the answers and will, it is hoped, lead readers to discover new books and new writers, or, more often and more pleasurably, old books and old writers. This book is based upon Dibdin's first edition of 1809, to which have been added an introduction and eighty-five pages of valuable endnotes, mostly concerned with biographical details of the printers, librarians, bookbinders, writers, book-collectors and Bibliomaniacs to whom Dibdin refers. An appendix contains John Ferriar's Bibliomania, the poem which prompted Dibdin's work. There are also a substantial bibliography and index. This book will be invaluable to bibliographers, librarians, cultural historians and all those interested in books and book people. It gives a valuable insights into antiquarianism in general and book-collecting in particular. Dibdin's book ranges widely, from Juliana Barnes, Wynkyn de Worde, Michael Maittaire and the St Albans Schoolmaster, to Thomas Hope, Edward Rowe Mores, William Hunter and Horace Walpole. Many of his footnotes (which take up far more of the book than the text) contain details of the important book sales of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century to tantalise the reader: Caxton's Boke of Chivalrie selling for 11 shillings in 1756; Grenville's 1800 edition of Homer selling for an astounding GBP99 15s in 1804. Peter Danckwerts studied Book Publishing at Oxford Polytechnic, Bibliography & Textual Criticism at the University of Leeds, Mathematics with the Open University, and Medieval Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is currently preparing an edition of Byron's English Bards and Scotch Reviewers for Tiger of the Stripe.

By the 1970s, Robt. Jowitt & Sons was believed to be the oldest surviving wool company in Britain. From a small family concern it grew into a large international business before suffering from the general decline in domestic demand and increase in overseas competition which afflicted all British wool businesses. This book tells the story of the company and the family behind it. In the seventeenth century, the Jowitts were persecuted for being Quakers. By hard work and moderate habits, they escaped poverty to become leading opinion-formers and benefactors in nineteenth-century Leeds. They backed the Reform Bill, fought tirelessly against the slave trade and were instrumental in setting up the Leeds branch of the Cotton Districts Relief Fund. Th ey were a major force behind the General Infirmary, the Medical School and the University. As well as business records and newspaper articles, the book draws upon unpublished diaries which give a fascinating glimpse into the private lives of the Jowitts, in particular John Jowitt junior and Deborah Benson's trip to Europe in 1835, the year before their marriage. The diaries also shed light on the family's central role in the Beaconite controversy which caused many, including the Jowitts, to leave the Society of Friends. Peter Danckwerts studied at Oxford Polytechnic, the University of Leeds, the Open University and Birkbeck College, University of London.

'If the editor has allowed himself to become as Dibdinesque as his subject, then it is all part of the fun of a work where references and citations run back and forth like so many ink rollers on a printing press.' - Rare Book Review 'a usefully annotated edition' - Financial Times

'He was the greatest composer that ever lived,' said Beethoven of Handel. 'He is the father of us all,' wrote Haydn. This short, vivid biography of Handel reminds us of the composer's greatness. Separate chapters are devoted to the Messiah, the Harmonious Blacksmith, Handel's organ at Cannons, and his will and codicils. A few notes and an index have been added to this revised and reset edition. William Hayman Cummings (1831-1915) was a singer and music historian. He taught singing at the Royal Normal School and the School for the Blind before being appointed a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in 1879. In 1896 he was appointed principal of the Guildhall School of Music. His historical studies of music and musicians led to him being made a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1884.

William Coxe (1748-1828) was the stepson of Handel's amanuensis, John Christopher Smith. As such, he was ideally placed to write a biography of Smith, and also of Handel. These Anecdotes are therefore important sources for the lives of both composers. It is notable that many of the subscribers were close friends of Smith. The style of the original 1799 text is refreshingly simple and unaffected, and little change has been necessary to make it accessible to the modern reader. An introduction, notes and index have been added. William Coxe was a talented writer and historian whose output include several travel books and volumes on both Robert and Horace Walpole. He died at the age of eighty in his parish of Bemerton, Wiltshire. John Sharp, in a letter to Constable, wrote that he 'died of old age, unable to contend with two helps of salmon in lobster sauce, washed down with large draughts of Perry'.