A MISCELLANY OF HER ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES

Mary Morley Crapo

The Beginning of a Collection HER LADYSHIP I collect Samuel Johnson. To say that Mary Hyde Eccles collected Samuel Johnson is an understatement. She "wrote the book(s)" on Johnson, researching the information from manuscripts and letters in the vast Hyde Collection of Samuel Johnson. I have just begun to collect her works. I never got the chance to meet Mary Hyde Eccles in person. I got to know about her by making a web acquaintance with Gabriel Austin through ExLibris. In his e-mails, Gabriel Austin referred to Mary Hyde Eccles as "Her Ladyship." The title fits like Cinderella's slipper. Eccles, Mary Hyde. A MISCELLANY OF HER ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES New York, 2002. The Grolier Club. In her Note, Carolyn L. Smith, President of the Grolier Club, said that the purpose of this book was to honor Mary Hyde Eccles and to "introduce a selection of her less accessible works to a wider audience." CONTENTS: A Note from Carloyn L. Smith, President of the Grolier Club. Foreward by Kenneth Auchincloss. Editor's Introduction. Illustrations. Mary Hyde Eccles: A Chronology. Shakespeare, Jr. (1946). The History of the Johnson Papers (1951). Tetty and Johnson (1957). A Library of Dr. Samuel Johnson (1960). "Not in Chapman" (1965). William Alexander Jackson,1905-1964 (1965). John Hayward, 1905-196 (1965). LevÈe at Fifty-Third Street (1972). Boswell's Ebony Cabinet (1973). My Life with the Thrales (1976).

An Address Commemorating Dr. Samuel Johnson (1979). Introduction to Bernard Shaw and Alfred Douglas: A Correspondence (1982). Adam, Tinker, and Newton (1984-1988). Grolier Watching, by a Lady, 1943-1976 (1984). John F. Fleming, 1910-1987 (2000). Our Japanese Collection and Adventure (2001). Peter the First and His Descendants (2001). My favorites? I like them all! See my Exlibris tribute to Mary Hyde: http://www.tinyurl.com/2eg6e Austin, Gabriel, Editor. FOUR OAKS FARM. FOUR OAKS LIBRARY. Somerville, New Jersey, 1967. Thistle Press. 1000 copies and 1250 copies published respectively. Compliments of the editor. A modern day Camelot, Four Oaks Farm was the home of Donald and Mary Hyde. Their library includes the most extensive Samuel Johnson Collection in private hands. I recommend one reads Four Oaks Farm before reading Four Oaks Library simply to get a taste of the beauty of the place in the presence of the Hydes and of their guests. Mary Hyde's essay, "The Guest Book" is precious, especially when her Ladyship describes how she relaxed the rules to accomodate the great R.W. Chapman during his visit. The second book, containing fifteen chapters, describes the magnificient Hyde Collection; Samuel Johnson by Robert F. Metzdorf. James Boswell by Charles Ryskamp. Hester Lynch Salusbury Thrale Piozzi by James L. Clifford. Henry Fielding by Hugh Amory. Miscellaneous Autographs by Gabriel Austin. Japanese Books and Manuscripts by Shigeo Sorimachi. Oscar Wilde by H. Montgomery Hyde. George Bernard Shaw by Dan H. Lawrence. Elizabethan Books and Early Drama by John F. Fleming. English and Other Bindings by Frederick B. Adams Jr.. Other Collections by Gabriel Austin. The Visiting Scholar by L.F. Powell. and a Bibliography by Herbert Cahoon. Awesome books for the Johnson collector; awesome books for any collector! Benjamin Rush's Reminiscences of Boswell and Johnson

Originally published in the Port Folio and from thence newly and faithfully corrected for the first time by L.H. Butterfield, Esqr. on the occasion of a dinner given at the Four Oaks Farm for a company of Ladies & Gentlemen who assembled on Dr. Johnson's Natal Day to do him honour. Septr. 18,1946 Over against the Traffick Circle near Somerville, in New-Jersey. This is the first keepsake for The Johnsonians. Here is the listing in the Celebrations of the Johnsonians 1946-1996. a keepsake compiled by Gabriel Austin, under the direction of Mary Hyde for the celebration at the Grolier Club in 1996: 1946 September 18 -- Four Oaks Farm, Somerville, New Jersey. First Meeting -- Johnson's 237th Birthday Chairmen: Donald and Mary Hyde Keepsake: Benjamin Rush's Reminiscences of Boswell & Johnson Editor: Lyman H. Butterfield Printer: P.J. Conkwright Jr. at the Princeton University Press.. [Stitched in the basement of the Julian Boyds' house by P.J. Conkwright (designer), Datus Smith (Director of the Press), Lyman Butterfield and the Boyds.] Copies: 130 Speaker: Charles G. Osgood gave the offical talk. Ralph H. Isham gave an extemporaneous account of his "new" bundles of Boswell papers from Lord Talbot de Malahide. The 'bundles" had arrived in Boston harbor a few days earlier on the S.S. Forwarder, too late for him to bring any "treasures" to show at the party. Hyde, Mary. THE THRALES OF STREATHAM PARK.

Cambridge, Ma.,1978 (1976), Harvard University Press, third printing. Hyde, Mary. NOT IN CHAPMAN. Off Print from JOHNSON, BOSWELL & THEIR CIRCLE. Oxford,1965, Clarendon Press. Inscribed by Mary Hyde: "To Courage, Barclay & Simonds, still friends of Dr. Johnson--With Appreciation. Mary Hyde." The referenced pages, 304,305, and 316, refer to letters in the Hyde Collection that Dr. Johnson wrote to John Perkins, chief clerk of the Thrale brewery, which was sold to Barclay & Perkins in1781. As noted in Mary Hyde's book, The Thrales of Streatham Park, Courage Limited merged with the firm in 1955. Hyde, Mary. Announcement for a Lecture "The Life of Samuel Johnson, L.L.D. at Four Oaks Farm. n.p Designed and printed by Lawton and Alfred Kennedy. A keepsake commemorating the presentation of the Sir thomas More Medal for Book Collecting to Mary Hyde. Lecture and presentation given at the annual meeting of the Gleeson Library Associates, University of San Francisco, Sunday, May 11,1975. Keepsake contains two breakup letters that Mrs. Thrale "did not dare to print in her edition of Johnson's Letters 1788. I acquired this item from Robert Perata- Books, of Santa Rosa, Ca., who has become a steady source for keepsakes and fine press items.