FAMOUS BOOKSHOP SOLD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18711, 17 May 1924, Page 22 (Supplement)

FAMOUS BOOKSHOP SOLD.

HISTORY OF " HATCHARDS."

v Founded in 1797 -with a capital of less than £5, Hatehards, the ■ bookshop in Piccadilly, has changed hands on the retirement of its-proprietor, Mr. Arthur L. ; Humphreys, -who, in conjunction with the late; Mr. Edwin :A. M. Shepherd, assumed control of the firm 34 years ago, when the Hatchard ■ family relinquished ,heir interest in the business. John Hatchard, who was born in: 1768, ind served his apprenticeship at Ginker's shop in Great College Street, Westoinstor; :. borrowed money .Jto ; pay 30 ;uineas for the good will of the outgoing enant ' from John Penn, Henry Boare, .nd other literary men of the period. ,nd - thus began the business which ha; irospered ever since. < ' ■ <

In the v days • before clubf Hatchards rovided a meeting-place for book* lovers rom every part 'of the world, - and, 1 when hey tired of poring over old volumes, 1 ,hey were encouraged fay sJrumbV/ ih. haire 'in front of • the fire.

The firm's old ledgers show that custoers included Queen Charlotte and other >yal personages. John Hatchard, who ed in 1849, was succeeded by his son homas, /who died in 1858.

dinist, -whose fatuity is sometimes reminis" cent of Bennet, the egregious Mrs. Bennet. " I often wonder," said Lady Horsham, " how people manage to' paint on ceilings. I always think it must be most awkward. But, then, looking at them is very difficult, too," she added, as if to indicate that the painter had, after all, given as good as he had got. Some of the epigrams are wise as well as witty. " Lydia had that rarest of all gifts, she could not only sympathise when things went wrongs she; could even rejoice when they went right." ' ' ; Others are in lighter vein. " Just now she is ,in love with the most conventional man vin the world — with spats. ; His i}ot wearing a; gardenia is so surprising that one feels that he is wearing one, but that 3 some unkind fairy has made it invisible." - ' It only remains to add that the translation by Professor V Gilbert Murray, [of Heine's poem, and the cover specially designed by Augustus John, A. R.A., > show that the Princess Bibesco inherits , all Mrs. Asquith's gift of commanding the services of eminent men. «