The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy gentleman

London, J.C.Nimmo and Bain, 1883 2 volumes. 408 + 358 printed pages. Large paper edition in two volumes; one of 150 copies on laid paper, the copies are numbered consecutively as issued, this is number two. Eight proof etchings on Japanese paper by Damman from original designs by Harry Furniss. Inside good condition, apart from browned endpapers. Some edges untrimmed. Paper labels on front paste-down endpapers of "Hugh Hopkins, Bookseller, 85 Renfield Street, Glasgow" (with old label having been carefully removed from volume one). 16 x 23.5 cm. Original green cloth. Spines with original paper printed labels -chipped & slightly torn- (volume one with two small tears, both slightly creased and worn at head and tail). Boards slightly bumped & worn at the corners and with slighlt patina of handling. Hugh Hopkins (1831-1911) 'the doyen of the Glasgow booksellers', was so much a part of Glasgow's cultural fabric that, like John Honeyman, John Keppie and Mackintosh, he was included in the celebratory publication Who's Who in Glasgow in 1909. Hopkins was the son of an Ayrshire carpet-weaver, turned Glasgow bookseller, and in the 1851 Census and various Post Office directories it can be seen that several of his uncles and brothers also ran bookshops and circulating libraries for short periods. By 1861, Hugh and his brother Archibald were living together, but they traded separately Archibald continued their father's business at the Bazaar, in Candleriggs, and Hugh had a shop in Buchanan Street. Archibald kept the same address until c. 1884, when he moved to Renfrew Street, but Hugh moved several times, leaving 85 Renfield Street for 17 West Regent Street around 1889. Who's Who in Glasgow in 1909 described his shops as 'a resort of the literati . [where] Historian and antiquarian, journalist and poet foregather in the back room'.. Illustrated Edition. Hardcover. Good.