Author Description

The library of the physician Anthony Askew (1722-72) was outstanding in both printed books and manuscripts. He may have failed in his ambition to secure a complete collection of every printed edition of the Greek classics, but he did amass a classical library which remained unsurpassed until Spencer. Although he was later accused of plagiarism, virtually every edition of Aeschylus down to the 1850s cited 'Askew's collations'. He also secured Richard Mead's fine collection of Latin and Greek manuscripts, alongside other early classical codices from the Maffei library. The dispersal of Askew's collection in two sales, ten years apart, attracted international interest. Bidders at the 1775 book sale included George III, while the manuscript sale in 1785 led to acquisitions by the British Museum, the Bodleian and Cambridge University Library. Now reissued together, the sale catalogues have been annotated here by auction attendees who recorded prices and some purchaser details.