the old and the new. He was at 249, High Holborn in 1840, and
had been established forty years. His lists were apparently issued only
once or twice a year; one of the notices in his catalogue may be quoted
here, as showing the chief medium by which country book-collectors were
supplied with their books: 'Gentlemen residing in the country had better
apply direct to J. Coxhead for any articles from this list, or they can
obtain them by giving the order to their country bookseller, and it will
be sent in their weekly parcel from London.' At about the same time, and
for nearly the same period, David Ogilby was selling second-hand books
at the same locality.

One of the most interesting of the Holborn booksellers was William
Darton, of 58, Holborn Hill, of whose shop we give an 'interior' view
from a plate engraved by Darton himself. William was a son of William
Darton, who founded the famous publishing house of Darton and Harvey, of
55, Gracechurch Street, in the latter part of the last century, their
speciality being children's books, which had a fame almost as extensive
as those of the great Mr. Newbery himself. He was joined by his brother
Thomas, and for two generations a successful business was carried on in
this place; the three generations of Dartons were prominent members of
the Society of Friends. The house chiefly devoted itself to publishing,
but it had a fairly large trade in selling the books issued by other
publishers. The firm ceased to exist about the time when the Holborn
Valley improvements swept away so many of the old landmarks of that
locality. Mr. Joseph W. Darton, the sole partner in Wells Gardner,
Darton and Co., is a grandson of the founder of the Holborn Hill house
and a great-grandson of the original William Darton. A history of the
Dartons would form as interesting a volume as that on John Newbery.

[Illustration: _William Darton, Bookseller_, The Founder of the House of
Darton and Harvey.]

Holborn is an additionally interesting book-locality from the fact that
it was from here that some of the first book-catalogues were issued.
This important innovation owes much to Charles Davis, whose shop was
'against Gray's Inn.' The earliest of these catalogues which we have
seen is a very interesting list of 168 pages octavo, and includes
'valuable libraries, lately purchased, containing near 12,000 volumes in
Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, and English,' 'which
will be sold very cheap,