John Carter (writer)

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from John Carter (author))

John Waynflete Carter (10 May 1905 – 18 March 1975) was an English writer, diplomat, bibliographer, book-collector, antiquarian bookseller and president of the Bibliographical Society in 1968.[1] He was recognized as one of the most important figures in the Anglo-American book world. [2] He was the great-grandson of Canon T. T. Carter

Biography[edit]

After attending Eton College, he studied classics at King's College, Cambridge, where he gained a double first. He then joined Scrivner's working two periods 1927-1939 and 1946- 1953 building up the antiquarian bookselling side.

During World War II he worked for the Ministry of Information until 1943 and then moved to New York City to work for the British Information Services where he wrote Victory in Burma. [3]

He returned to Scrivner's after the War until it closed its London Office in 1953. He then worked for Roger Makins, British Ambassador to the United States until 1955 and was made a CBE.

He then joined Sotheby's where he was associate director until 1972.[4]

Carter was the husband of the writer and curator Ernestine Carter and the brother of the printer Will Carter (1912–2001) of the Rampant Lions Press, at which some of his smaller-scale works were published.

An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets[edit]

His 1934 exposé, An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets, co-written with Graham Pollard, exposed the forgeries of books and pamphlets by Harry Buxton Forman, an editor of Keats and Shelley, and Thomas J. Wise, one of the world's most prominent book collectors.[5] Forman and Wise's crimes are generally regarded as one of the most notorious literary scandals of the twentieth century.[6]

Writing, editing and bibliographical work[edit]

Carter wrote seminal books on aspects of book-collecting, notably ABC for Book Collectors, a classic which was published in many editions. Carter first published the ABC in 1952 and edited five editions. Nicholas Barker produced the sixth, seventh and eighth editions (1980) and was joined by co-editor, Simran Thadani, for the ninth. [7]

He served on the board of directors of the journal, The Book Collector, published by Queen Anne Press, a company managed by Ian Fleming creator of James Bond.[8]

Carter also edited the prose of the poet A. E. Housman and two editions of A.E. Houseman: Bibliography.[9]

He was also a humorist and writer of clerihews, whimsical, four-line biographical poems, some of which were printed by Will Carter in 1938.

In 1975 he won the Gold Medal from the Bibliographical Society.[10]

Selected works[edit]

  • ABC for book collectors. 8th ed. edited by Nicolas Barker. New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Press; London: British Library, 2004. ISBN 0-7123-4822-0 (British Library) ISBN 1-58456-112-2 (Oak Knoll); a classic, first published in 1952. Free access icon
  • Taste and technique in book-collecting, with an epilogue. Pinner, Middlesex: Private Libraries Association, 1970 (The Sandars Lectures in Bibliography, 1947). ISBN 0-900002-30-1
  • Carter, John. 1934. New Paths in Book Collecting : Essays by Various Hands ; John Carter, John T. Winterlich, P.H. Muir [and Others]. London: Constable & Co.
  • Binding variants in English publishing: 1820-1900. London: Constable; New York: Ray Long & Richard R. Smith, 1932.
  • More binding variants. London: Constable, 1938.
  • Publisher's cloth ... 1820-1900. New York: Bowker; London: Constable, 1935. Reprinted 1970.
  • Carter, John; Muir, Percy H. (1967). Printing and the Mind of Man: A Descriptive Catalogue Illustrating the Impact of Print on the Evolution of Western Civilization During Five Centuries. London: Cassell; New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. OCLC 576854.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Bibliographical Society of London. Past Presidents.
  2. ^ Dickinson, Donald C. 2004. John Carter : The Taste & Technique of a Bookman. 1st ed. New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Press.
  3. ^ British Information Services. 1945. Victory in Burma. New York, N.Y.: Published by British Information Services, 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
  4. ^ Munby, A.N.L.(1975) "John Carter." The Book Collector 24 (summer): 202-216.
  5. ^ Carter, John; Pollard, Graham (1934), An enquiry into the nature of certain nineteenth century pamphlets, London New York: Constable & Co., C. Scribner's Sons, ISBN 978-0-8383-1261-2
  6. ^ Collins, John, Two Forgers: A Biography of Harry Buxton Forman and Thomas James Wise, Oak Knoll Press, New Castle, Del., 1992. ISBN 0-85967-754-0
  7. ^ Richard L.“John Carter’s ABC for Book Collectors, 9th Edition. Nicholas Barker and Simran Thadani, Eds. and Sidney E. Berger. The Dictionary of the Book: A Glossary for Book Collectors, Booksellers, Librarians, and Others.” RBM : A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage 20, no. 1 (2019): 54-.
  8. ^ Lycett, Andrew. Ian Fleming. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1995
  9. ^ Carter, John, and John Sparrow. 1982. A.E. Houseman : Bibliography. 2. ed. rev. Foxbury Meadow [England]: St. Paul’ Bibliographies.
  10. ^ "Gold Medallists". The Bibliographical Society.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Dickinson, Donald C., John Carter: the taste & technique of a bookman. Oak Knoll Press, New Castle, Del., 2004. ISBN 1-58456-137-8
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Carter_(writer)&oldid=1223359033"