Bibliographer and antiquarian John Carter’s interleaved, massively annotated copy which he used to prepare his 1932 limited edition of the book which was illustrated by Paul Nash and printed by the Curwen Press. This interleaved copy also formed the basis of Carter’s subsequent scholarly edition which appeared through Cambridge University Press in 1958.
Carter has used William Greenshill’s small octavo classic edition in its 1929 reprint, having it custom-bound in green buckram and interleaved throughout with much more spacious quarto sized blank leaves. His ownership signature from 1931 appears on the first blank opposite the book label of the late 20th century book designers and bibliophiles, David and Hermione Chambers.
Preceding the printed text, Carter has recorded his collation of Thomas Browne’s own manuscript corrections to several printed first editions which include the Osler copy, Trinity College, Cambridge, the Tregaskis copy etc. (The incorporation of this novel scholarly work into the 1933 limited edition was one of its main selling points: ‘I am able to present for the first time the results of a collation of the six known copies of the first edition which bear corrections in the author's hand’.) Carter then reviews and adds to Greenhill’s list of printed editions before continuing with his own textual notes which methodically compare Greenhill’s readings with his own collations of multiple copies. Occasionally laid in are additional sheets such as a reference to ‘John Sparrow note, page 63’ and correspondence. Carter uses a pencil outer margin to allow himself to insert glosses to textual meaning in addition to the bibliographical content with his notes concluding opposite page 160 of Greenhill’s text.
Altogether an astonishingly rich bibliographical manuscript from a scholar who despite his pre-eminence in bibliography self-described as a book dealer.
