Barton Currie
Barton Wood Currie | |
---|---|
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US | |
Occupation | Journalist, editor, book collector |
Alma mater | Harvard University |
Spouse | Florence |
Barton Wood Currie (March 8, 1877 – May 7, 1962) was an American journalist, author, and book collector. Writer of hundreds of articles and stories for publications such as
Early life and education
Currie was born in New York City.[2] He graduated from Harvard University in 1899.[3]
Writing career
Currie began his writing career in about 1905 at
Currie was a staff reporter for the
From 1912 to 1917 he was the associate editor of
An example of Currie's versatility is Officer 666, a comic novel written with
Collecting
Currie wrote from personal experience of the effect of bibliomania on the collector in his memoir Fishers of Books (1931):
The first symptom of bibliomania ... manifests itself by producing a form of somnambulism. You come out of a bookshop carrying a first edition of something or other. You cannot explain how or why you got it, or what you paid for it. But you have it; and when you arrive home with it you creep off to some secluded room and examine it. Then occurs the first little burning exaltation. Just a little glow to begin with, then by infinite gradations a consuming fire.[11]
Other topics in the book included the pros and cons of different methods of collecting, the techniques of various dealers, fellow collectors, highlights from his collection and the effect of the
Currie assembled an important collection of material relating to the novelist
Sometime around 1931, Currie acquired, via Gabriel Wells, the original manuscript for Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The School for Scandal. It was purchased for less than the $75,000 reported in the press at the time.[12] It was then acquired by Robert H. Taylor and ultimately by Princeton University, who received Taylor's collection.[1]
Death
Currie died on 7 May 1962 in Philadelphia
Papers
A collection of Currie's papers is held at the Princeton University Library.[13]
Selected publications
- Officer 666. H.K. Fly Company, New York, 1912. (With Augustin MacHugh)
- The Tractor and Its Influence Upon the Agricultural Implement Industry. Curtis Publishing Co., Philadelphia, 1916.
- Fishers of Books. Little, Brown, and Company, Boston, 1931.
- Booth Tarkington: A Bibliography. Doubleday, Doran & Co., Garden City, New York, 1932.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Barton Currie: Formidable Book Angler. Kurt Zimmerman, American Book Collecting, 6 February 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
- ^ Meschant, Edward A. (11 December 1920). "Currie Named Editor of Home Journal". Editor & Publisher. 53: 36. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f "Obituaries". Harvard Alumni Bulletin. 64: 691. 1961.
- ISBN 978-0-8232-2267-4.
- ^ Quoted in McGrath, 2003, p. 192.
- Lewiston Evening Journal. p. A-2. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
- ISBN 978-0252074929.
- ISBN 0195169867.
- ^ Films in Review. Vol. 18. National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. 1967. p. 61.
- ISBN 3110951940.
- ^ Currie, Barton. (1931) Fishers of Books. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, p. 22.
- ^ Randall, David A. (1969) Dukedom Large Enough. New York: Random House, p. 77.
- ^ Barton Wood Currie Collection Princeton University Finding Aids, Princeton University. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
External links
- Works by Barton Currie at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Barton Currie at Internet Archive
- Works by Barton Currie at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Fishers of Books at Hathi Trust
- Officer 666 by Barton Wood Currie and Augustin McHugh, Library of Alexandria