James F. Drake, Inc. Sales Records:
A Preliminary Inventory of Its Sales Records at the Harry Ransom Center
| Creator: | James F. Drake, Inc. | |
| Title: | James F. Drake Inc. Sales Records | |
| Dates: | circa 1910-1957 | |
| Extent: | 29 document boxes (12.18 linear feet) | |
| Abstract: | The archive of New York book dealer James F. Drake, comprised primarily of correspondence, financial, and other business records, offers resources for research into the complete operation of a major dealer in the modern book trade. This group of 5x8 cards represents book and manuscript sales of the James F. Drake, Inc. firm of New York City, circa 1910-1957. | |
| Call Number: | Manuscript Collection MS-02154 | |
| Language: | English |
| Access: | Open for research. Researchers must create an online Research Account and agree to the Materials Use Policy before using archival materials. Part or all of this collection is housed off-site and may require up to three business days’ notice for access in the Ransom Center’s Reading and Viewing Room. Please contact the Center before requesting this material: reference@hrc.utexas.edu | |
| Use Policies: | Ransom Center collections may contain material with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in the collections without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the Ransom Center and The University of Texas at Austin assume no responsibility. | |
| Restrictions on Use: | Authorization for publication is given on behalf of the University of Texas as the owner of the collection and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder which must be obtained by the researcher. For more information please see the Ransom Center's Open Access and Use Policies. |
Administrative Information
| Preferred Citation | James F. Drake, Inc. Sales Records (Manuscript Collection MS-02154). Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin. | |
| Acquisition: | Purchase, 1965 | |
| Processed by: | Joan Sibley, 1996; Kevin O’Sullivan, 2010 |
| Repository: |
Organizational History
| The firm of James F. Drake, Inc. was established in 1911 by James Frederick Drake (1863-1933) for the sale of rare books and manuscripts. For the native New Yorker the firm represented the culmination of a career in books and publishing that was already of thirty years' duration. Drake's sons Marston E. and James H. Drake entered the firm in the teens, and by the time of the senior Drake's death the firm on West 40th Street was a mecca for bookmen in the New York area. | ||
| The Drake brothers continued in the tradition of their father, but upon the retirement of Marston ("the Colonel") and death in 1965 of Jim the entire stock of the firm and its business records were acquired by the Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas. | ||
Scope and Contents
| This group of 5x8 cards represents book and manuscript sales of the James F. Drake, Inc. firm of New York City, circa 1910-1957. Most of the cards are filed by author and subsequently by title, though some appear to have been filed by a particular series (Ariel Poets), or press (Doves Press), and occasionally some works are filed by title. Information generally appearing on the cards includes lists of customers who bought particular items, the date, and the price paid. In some instances "wants" are also listed. Correspondence, in the form of quotations from other dealers or requests from customers, is sporadically clipped to individual cards. | ||
Related Material
| For additional material from the James F. Drake, Inc. Archive at the Harry Ransom Center, see James F. Drake, Inc. Collection of Autograph Letters and Autographs; James F. Drake, Inc. Catalog Slips Records; and the James F. Drake, Inc. Correspondence and Business Records. | ||