My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This looked like such a fun book when I stumbled upon it. I bought a University of Michigan Library scanned copy that was printed on demand. So, modern trade paperback format with the scanned pages of the original 1821 book. I love the look of the old fonts and page layouts, but I was able to be a little less gentle with it than I would if I had the original.

Some might find bibliographies boring or only useful when doing research. I enjoy them no matter what. But, Davis makes this a fun and quick read for a more general audience. He covered books from about 1430 up to 1809. Depending on the entry, he would talk about the book, its history, the author or some interesting, related tidbit. When possible, he lists sale prices of the book through time.

I learned some cool things, e.g. Shakespeare’s 3rd folio was seen then as more valuable than the 2nd, since the 2nd was riddled with problems. He had two neat things on Cervantes’s Don Quixote. First, contemporary (to Davis) critics highly valued the Motteux English translation, even though it’s in less favor today. And even in 1821, the beauty of Ibarra’s Don Quixote was beyond question. When discussing Knight’s Account of the Remains of the Worship of Priapus (1786), he writes of Brydone’s thoughts on Catholics appropriating ancient myths and gods, and simply renaming them (p. 87-90). Fascinating.

The edition I bought also has his second Journey around the library, published in 1825. I’ll write a separate review for that one once I finish it.