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• The Lost Erotica of James West
• Patrick Spedding (bio)

On the cold, cloudy, and damp afternoon of Saturday 3 April 1773, on the eighth day of the sale of "the Curious and Truly Valuable Library of the Late James West"—one-time President of The Royal Society and one of the original trustees of the British Museum—three particularly important volumes of erotica were due to be sold.¹ As the auctioneer approached lot 1110, collectors such as William Herbert, John Ratcliffe, and James Brindley competed with members of the London book trade at "Mr. West's late Dwelling-House in King's-Street, Covent-Garden" for items from West's "varied and extensive" library.² True dyfferens betwen ye regall power and the ecclesiasticall power from 1548 (lot *1094) sold to Herbert for eleven shillings. Soon after, Pithy, Pleasant And Profitable Works Of Mister Skelton, Poet Laureate from 1568 (lot 1096), sold to Ratcliffe for seventeen shillings. But it is not entirely clear what happened after Du Vergers humble reflections vpon some passages of the Right Honorable the Lady Marchionesse of Nevvcastles Olio from 1657 (lot 1109) sold to Brindley for two shillings. Conflicting accounts suggest that, at the least, West's erotic books were missing and, consequently, not sold; but other accounts suggest that these "Curious and Truly Valuable" items were taken out of, withdrawn, or even stolen from, the sale.

In the following essay, after saying a little about West, the cataloguing and sale of his library, I survey West's "luxuriant and fruitful" collection of erotica,³ which contained a series of important works, some of which are now lost or have not been seen since they appeared in West's sale catalogue. These works include what may be described as the earliest pornographic work in English⁴ and the earliest defence of homosexuality in English. I then turn to the conflicting accounts of the fate of lot 1110 contained in over fifty surviving copies of the auction catalogue for his library. I suggest that, while such auction catalogues truly offer an invaluable "window into the past"—making the present survey of West's erotica possible—the conflicting accounts contained in annotated catalogues should encourage book historians to re-assess their understanding and use of these "first-hand witness[es] to a moment now gone."⁵ [End Page 299]

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Mezzotint of James West by Thomas Hodgetts, after a painting attributed to Thomas Gainsborough (from J. Ames and T. F. Dibdin, Typographical Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 4, 1819, opp. p.193)

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James West (1703–72) (Fig. 1) was rich: very rich. When he married in 1738, his wife brought him a dowry of one hundred thousand pounds to add to the income of one thousand pounds per annum that his father had left him, the financial benefits of various Government jobs and, from the late 1750s, a pension of another thousand pounds per annum.⁶ To put these [End Page 300] sums in perspective: from 1741 to 1744 Eliza Haywood had lodgings in Covent Garden, where she kept very "genteel Company," on about fifty pounds per year.⁷ West's annual income was enough to support more than forty such writers in Covent Garden, while his wife's dowry would have supported a succession of writers for about two thousand years. Rather than drink, gamble, or collect writers, West passionately collected books, manuscripts, pictures, prints, plate, coins, and medals. And, although West led an active life, he found time to collect on a large scale.⁸

In his 1949 account of West's library, R. Charles Lucas explains that

[West began] his purchases while still a student [at Oxford] in the 1720s, and continued until shortly before his death in 1772. With his love for scientific and antiquarian pursuits, not, however, too deeply pursued, and with his all-embracing interests and enthusiasms, he may be taken as a typical collector of his delightful age … for West not only collected books of the most varied kinds, but was also a connoisseur of pictures and prints, an eager numismaticist, and an assiduous hunter after all manner of other...

中文翻译：

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詹姆斯·韦斯特《失落的情色》

代替摘要，这里是内容的简要摘录：

• 詹姆斯·韦斯特《失落的情色》
• 帕特里克·斯佩丁（生物）

在1773年4月3日星期六寒冷，阴暗，潮湿的下午，出售“已故詹姆斯·韦斯特（James West）的好奇而真正有价值的图书馆”的第八天，皇家学会的一次会长，也是原作之一。大英博物馆的受托人—将出售三本特别重要的情色书。¹当拍卖师接近拍品1110时，威廉·赫伯特（William Herbert），约翰·拉特克利夫（John Ratcliffe）和詹姆斯·布林德利（James Brindley）等收藏家与“伦敦先生在考文特花园的国王街的已故房屋”与伦敦图书交易商竞争，从伦敦的“种类繁多”的库。² 真正的dyfferens在regall权力和ecclesiasticall权力之间，从1548年开始（批次* 1094）卖给了Herbert，获得了11先令。不久之后，斯凯尔顿先生的活泼，令人愉悦且有利可图的作品，诗人桂冠得主（1568年，拍品1096年），以十七先令的价格卖给了拉特克利夫。但是，尚不清楚Du Vergers的卑鄙反映使右翼尊贵的内夫卡斯特尔·奥利奥夫人侯爵夫人从1657年（1109号拍品）的一些段落卖给了布林德利，获得了两先令。相互矛盾的说法表明，至少，韦斯特的色情书不见了，因此没有出售。但其他说法表明，这些“好奇且真正有价值的”物品是从此次销售中取出，撤回甚至被盗的。

在下一篇文章中，在对韦斯特，他的图书馆的编目和销售进行了一些介绍之后，我考察了韦斯特的“丰富而富有成果的”情色书集³，其中包含一系列重要作品，其中一些如今已经失传或没有失传。自从它们出现在West的销售目录中以来就被看到。这些作品包括最早的英语色情作品⁴和最早的英语同性恋辩护。然后，我转向在他的图书馆的五十多份尚存的拍卖目录中，发现了关于1110号拍品命运的矛盾说法。我建议，尽管这样的拍卖目录确实提供了宝贵的“过去的窗口”（使对西方情色的当前调查成为可能），但带注释的目录中包含的相互矛盾的说明应鼓励书籍历史学家重新评估他们对这些情色的理解和使用。第一手证人到现在已经消失了。” ⁵ [结束页299]

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托马斯·霍基茨（Thomas Hodgetts）在詹姆斯·韦斯特（James West）的梅佐廷特（Mezzotint）之后，将一幅归因于托马斯·盖恩斯伯勒（Thomas Gainsborough）的画作（摘自J. Ames和TF Dibdin，《英国印刷古迹》，第19卷，第4卷，第193页）

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詹姆斯·韦斯特（James West（1703–72）（图1）有钱：非常有钱。当他于1738年结婚时，他的妻子给他带来了十万英镑的嫁妆，以增加父亲留下的每年一千英镑的收入，各种政府工作的经济利益，以及从1750年代后期开始的一笔收入。每年再支付一千英镑的退休金。⁶总结一下这些[End Page 300]：从1741年到1744年，伊丽莎·海伍德（Eliza Haywood）在科文特花园住了下来，在那里她养着非常“文雅的公司”，每年约五十英镑。⁷韦斯特的年收入足以支撑科文特花园四十多位这样的作家，而他妻子的嫁妆将支撑一千多年的作家们。West热情洋溢地收集书籍，手稿，图片，版画，碟子，硬币和奖章，而不是喝酒，赌博或收集作家。而且，尽管韦斯特过着积极的生活，但他还是抽出时间来进行大规模的集会。⁸

查尔斯·卢卡斯（R. Charles Lucas）在1949年对韦斯特图书馆的介绍中解释说：

[韦斯特（West）在1720年代还是[在牛津]的一个学生时就开始购买商品，一直持续到1772年他去世前不久。由于他对科学和古董研究的热爱，并没有太过追求，并且全心全意地-怀有兴趣和热情，他可能被视为典型的享乐时代的收藏家……因为韦斯特不仅收集了种类最多的书籍，而且还是绘画和版画的鉴赏家，热切的钱币学家和勤奋的猎人其他...的方式