FABS Handpress: John Bidwell on the 1795 English Translation of Paul et Virginie

Sponsored by FABS

The FABS Handpress Group will host a presentation by John Bidwell, Curator Emeritus at the Morgan Library & Museum. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre’s Paul et Virginie was a bestseller during the Romantic era. One of its bibliographers counted 269 editions published between 1789 and 1962. Bidwell will describe the 1795 first edition of the English translation by Helen Maria Williams, a book that has stumped the bibliographers because it appeared without an imprint. The paper, type, illustrations, and bindings – even the flyleaves in his copy – provide evidence for attributing it to the English Press in Paris, operated by the notorious radical John Hurford Stone. Here, a close scrutiny of handpress books can explain why Stone concealed his name and how he exported books to England even though it was at war with France.

After Q&A, we’ll have open mic for New Acquisitions (broadly construed)!

(September 9; contact Jennifer Larson at info@fabsocieties.org)