THE PRIVATE PAPERS OF JAMES BOSWELL FROM MALAHIDE CASTLE IN THE COLLECTION OF LT. COLONEL RALPH HEYWARD ISHAM

I first discovered one of the volumes by chance in a used book store and as I continued to stumble onto them purchased each one that I found. I knew their history from my study of Boswell. I never expected to try to acquire the entire set, but as time went by I found several more books. This triggered my actively searching for the volumes that I needed. When I finally had all but two or three of the books (they were particularly hard to find since only a few sets were broken up) I started making inquiries of the more exclusive antiquarian book stores and, of course, since about 1998 relied a great deal on the internet. I did not average purchasing more than 1 book each year and finally accumulated all of the first 17 volumes and the 3 supplemental books. No way to find the last book that I needed - as luck would have it, it was the final book - number 18. Because the chances of my locating it was considered to be negligible, and my son discovered that a local university had the complete set, he arranged to photostat the 18th volume. He gave this to me as a birthday present. Just as I had given up all hope and felt that I had to settle for what I had, I came upon a bookseller who was advertising this 18th needed book on the internet. Of course I purchased it. I was reluctant to tell this tale to him for fear that he would increase the listed price or remove the book from his sales inventory and stymie my acquisition (paranoia) . The odds of acquiring all of these books was of course minimal - a search that took over 20 years. After the elation of completing the job wore away, I felt a certain morbidity overcome me. I felt that I could never duplicate anything like this. I continued and subsequently located a copy of the original prospectus, an order sheet and a some pamphlets discussing the set. While proud of my success I feel, to some extent, that my other searches are a bit anti-climactic. This was the high point of my collecting. Most people who I tell this story to, are polite but not particularly impressed. Only book people can appreciate this endeavor.