Chapter I: Front Matter

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.

A superscript is denoted by ^x or ^{xx}, for example XIX^e or XIX^{TH}.

A single asterisk occurring before a Title shows that the work was
published anonymously.

A bracketed unknown name is indicated by [ ], though the original text
used about a dozen spaces between the brackets. Similarly with ( ).

The original text used dashes of various lengths for an unknown name;
this etext always uses ---- (double emdash) for consistency.

The original text also used an emdash to link the place and date of
death, as in ‘Scotland--1846’. For clarity these occurrences have been
changed to e.g. ‘Scotland -1846’.

There are no footnotes in this book; it uses [...] for other purposes.
The Preface explains the syntax used in each item in this bibliography.

Many minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.

A Martyr to Bibliography:

A NOTICE OF THE
LIFE AND WORKS OF
JOSEPH-MARIE QUÉRARD,
Bibliographer,

PRINCIPALLY TAKEN FROM THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF
MAR. JOZON D’ERQUAR (ANAGRAM);
WITH THE NOTICES OF GUSTAVE BRUNET, J. ASSEZAT, AND PAUL
LACROIX (BIBLIOPHILE JACOB);
AND A LIST OF BIBLIOGRAPHICAL TERMS, AFTER PERQUIN,
WITH NOTES AND INDEX.

BY

OLPHAR HAMST, ESQ.,
Bibliophile.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

“A little volume of great interest and value. Of great interest for the amount of information it contains relative to the life and labours of one who was in sooth a martyr to the art he loved so well; and of great value because it may awaken in all who read it a juster estimate of the importance of bibliography.”--_Notes and Queries, July 20, 1867._

* * * * *

“This is a curious pamphlet-biography, reversing the usual order. M. Quérard’s works are treated as the subject, and M. Quérard himself as something that grew out of his works. Perhaps the strangest feature of all is that the index is made a sort of supplement, in which anything that has not been said in the body of the work is added incidentally. Thus, a good story about a French author ... appears in the index under its author’s name.... We are afraid people will be too much amused by the biographer’s eccentricities to pay proper attention to his subject, which is much to be regretted for the sake of Quérard, and may delay the public recognition of him which is demanded by his eminent services to bibliography.”--_Spectator, Oct. 26, 1867._

“Under this title we have an interesting sketch of the life and works of Joseph-Marie Quérard, the greatest of French (perhaps we might say, of all) bibliographers, a useful class of men who seldom obtain much fame, and whose works are generally left unread by the public. One of Quérard’s works escaped this fate, his “Supercheries Littéraires Dévoilées,” which attracted much attention, chiefly on account of the terrible attack which it contained on Alexandre Dumas.”--_London Review, July 20, 1867._

* * * * *

“Mr. Hamst’s short biography of Quérard does not add much to the information given in the _Ecrivains Pseudonymes_; and it has been the writer’s object to describe the quarrels and the many disappointments of his hero, rather than to give a definite estimate of his labours. Quérard’s bibliographical knowledge was minute, but not extensive. The want of general culture forced him to restrict himself within the comparatively narrow circle of modern books and modern languages; but he made up for this drawback by malicious care in dragging to light the secrets of contemporary authorship. His publications involved him in endless personal disputes, and his life was full of literary scandals. It must be reckoned not only an injustice to him, but a misfortune for the Imperial library, that, owing to his peculiar reputation, he never obtained a subordinate employment on its staff. Mr. Hamst ... states that Quérard dedicated his early books to M. Schalbacher; but there is no reason to suppress the fact that M. Schalbacher was the Viennese bookseller with whom Quérard learned to know books. That he also profited by the particular exactness and perseverance which prevailed at Vienna, is an illusion of good nature.

“The son of the revolutionist Rousselin obtained an injunction prohibiting Quérard from publishing an article on his father. Mr. Hamst seems impressed with the danger of disobedience, and speaks of him mysteriously as ‘the son of a man of ninety-three.’ * * * * * * * * * * Mr. Hamst’s depreciatory remarks on the _Athenæum Français_ are quite unjust; it was nearly the best organ of criticism in France, and if it were not extinct would probably castigate the presumption of a bibliographer who imagines (p. 15) that the Kehl [this oversight is easily rectified by putting the word in parenthesis] edition of Voltaire’s works is so called from the name of the editor.”--_The Chronicle, July 27, 1867._

* * * * *

“A brief sketch of the obscure but useful labours and chequered life of one of the greatest of modern bibliographers. It will be read with pleasure by all Englishmen who know or care anything about the science of books. We fear the number is somewhat limited, and probably within the circuit of the British Museum Reading-room Mr. Hamst’s audience will, without exception, be found. At all events, the career of a man to whom we owe such valuable works of rare erudition as ‘La France Littéraire,’ ‘La Littérature Française Contemporaine,’ and ‘Les Supercheries Littéraires Dévoilées,’ deserves to be known to English lovers of the study in which Quérard was famous. Mr. Olphar Hamst has carried out his self-imposed task with highly creditable diligence, accuracy, and good taste.”--_Morning Star, September 2, 1867._

* * * * *

_NOTE.--Only two hundred copies printed for sale. A few copies still remain, price Three Shillings and Sixpence, in cloth, post free._

J. R. SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE.

HANDBOOK

OF

FICTITIOUS NAMES.

HANDBOOK

OF

FICTITIOUS NAMES:

BEING A GUIDE TO AUTHORS, CHIEFLY IN THE LIGHTER LITERATURE
OF THE XIX^{TH} CENTURY, WHO HAVE WRITTEN UNDER ASSUMED NAMES;
AND TO LITERARY FORGERS, IMPOSTORS, PLAGIARISTS, AND IMITATORS,

BY

OLPHAR HAMST, ESQ.,

AUTHOR OF “A NOTICE OF THE LIFE AND WORKS OF J.-M. QUÉRARD.”

“All the world’s a stage
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts.”
_As You Like It._

“There is no vice doth so cover a man with shame as to be found false
and perfidious.”
BACON.

LONDON:
JOHN RUSSELL SMITH,
36, SOHO SQUARE.
1868.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY S. AND J. BRAWN, 13, PRINCES STREET, LITTLE QUEEN STREET,
HOLBORN, W.C.

TO

THE MEMORY

OF

JOSEPH-MARIE QUÉRARD