Ernst Philip Goldschmidt (1887–1954) was a Viennese-born

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

bookseller, scholar and bibliophile.E.P. Goldschmidt, Famous Book Dealer, Dies in London
jta.org. Retrieved 7 December 2023. During his career he issued more than 100 "meticulously researched"William Helfand et al.
''Lasting Impressions: The Grolier Club Library''
New York: The Grolier Club, 2004, p. 49. Retrieved 8 December 2023. and scholarly sales catalogues, which "set high standards"Karen Atar
"Goldschmidt, E. P. (Ernst Philip)"
In: ''The Oxford Companion to the Book'', Oxford University Press, 2010 (online edition). Retrieved 7 December 2023. and many of which are now standard reference works in libraries. He also wrote books and articles about early books and manuscripts, including his ''

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and Renaissance Bookbindings'' (1928), which remains "one of the most important works on bookbinding history", and works on the relation of humanism to the spread of printing, which "broke new ground".

Life and career

Ernst (Moritz) Philip Goldschmidt was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary on 1 December 1887. He came from the Goldschmidt banking family. His father Philipp Heymann Goldschmidt (1839-1905) was Dutch and worked in Vienna and his mother was Clara Edle von Portheim (1853-1932). After attending high school in Vienna, Goldschmidt studied at Trinity College, Cambridge from 1905. In 1909 he returned to Vienna and temporarily assisted the incunabulist

Konrad Haebler Konrad Haebler (29 October 1857 – 13 December 1946) was a German (Saxonian) librarian, historian and expert on incunabula. He studied philology in Leipzig and worked in the royal public library in his native Dresden from 1879. He specialize ...

in "describing thousands of fifteen century books in Austrian monastic libraries" for the projected '' Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke'' (English, "The Union Catalogue of

Incunabula In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pro ...

"), which he also helped finance. In 1914, against his family's wishes, he decided to become an antiquarian bookseller. In 1919 he became an authorized signatory for the Gilhofer und Ranschburg antiquarian bookshop in Vienna, in 1920 he became a partner together with Wilhelm H. Schab, and in September 1923 he resigned as a partner.Georg Hupfer
Zur Geschichte des antiquarischen Buchhandels in Wien
master's thesis, University of Vienna, 2003, p. 151. "Hard hit financially in the post-World War I period", Goldschmidt left Vienna for the United Kingdom and started anew in the bookselling business by founding an antiquarian bookshop, E. P. Goldschmidt & Co., located in Laurence Sterne's old house at 45 New Bond Street, London and specializing particularly in " manuscripts, early printed books, and bookbindings". In 1925 he relocated permanently to London. From 1933 to 1948 he worked in the firm with Ernst Weil.Ernst Weil catalog cards
harvard.edu. Retrieved 8 December 2023. In 1948 Jacques Vellekoop became his assistant and after many years in that role continued to run the firm after Goldschmidt's death until its closure in about 1993. Goldschmidt died in London on 18 February 1954.

Legacy

Goldschmidt has been described as "perhaps the most learned of antiquarian booksellers"."H. A. Feisenberger". In: '' The Daily Telegraph'', 14 September 1999, p. 25. Retrieved 8 December 2023. In addition to his scholarly output, he was one of a generation of

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

booksellers from Europe who arrived in London in the 1930s, including Ernst Weil, H. A. Feisenberger,

Bernard H. Breslauer Bernard Hartmut Breslauer (1 July 1918 – 14 August 2004) was a German antiquarian book dealer and collector, who lived in turn in Germany, England and the United States. Life Breslauer was born into a Jewish family. His father Martin Breslaue ...

, Heinrich Eisemann, Maurice L. Ettinghausen, and Albi Rosenthal,Nicolas Barker
"Albi Rosenthal"
In: ''The Independent'', Obituaries, 10 August 2004, p. 33. Retrieved 8 December 2023. and "widened the range and greatly improved the scholarship of bookselling" in the United Kingdom and who introduced English and American

collectors Collector(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Collector (character), a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe * ''Collector'' (2011 film), a 2011 Indian Malayalam film * ''Collector'' (2016 film), a 2016 Russian film * ''Collec ...

to books that had previously been "overlooked or undervalued". In 1995 the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia established a fellowship, named the E. Ph. Goldschmidt Fellowship, to honour the memory of this "great London antiquarian bookseller".E. Ph. Goldschmidt Fellowship
rarebookschool.org. Retrieved 14 December 2023. Under this scheme the RBS "promising persons who are beginning careers in rare books, the antiquarian book trade, and related fields". In addition, fellows attend an RBS course and "work as program staff member or lab instructor".

Select list of publications

* ''Seventy-Five Books from a Library Formed by E. Ph. Goldschmidt of Trinity College, Cambridge 1905–1909''. Privately printed at the University Press for the Collector, Cambridge University Press, 1909 - Goldschmidt's first catalogue, being a privately printed and annotated list of the books in his personal collection. * ''Gothic and Renaissance Bookbindings Exemplified and Illustrated from the Author’s Collection''. London: Ernst Benn Ltd., 1928. * '' Hieronymus Münzer und seine Bibliothek'' (Studies of the Warburg Institute, Volume 4). London: Warburg Institute, 1938. * ''Medieval Texts and Their First Appearance in Print''. London:

Bibliographical Society Founded in 1892, The Bibliographical Society is the senior learned society dealing with the study of the book and its history in the United Kingdom. Largely owing to the efforts of Walter Arthur Copinger, who was supported by Richard Copley ...

, 1943. * ''The Printed Book of the Renaissance : Three Lectures on Type, Illustration, Ornament''. Cambridge University Press, 1950. * ''The First Cambridge Press in Its European Setting''. Cambridge University Press, 1955 ( Sandars Lectures, 1953).

References

Attribution

Some of the text and references are adapted from the German Wikipedia page "Ernst Philip Goldschmidt".

External links

E. P. Goldschmidt & Co. Papers and Memorabilia
- finding list at

The Grolier Club The Grolier Club is a private club and society of bibliophiles in New York City. Founded in January 1884, it is the oldest existing bibliophilic club in North America. The club is named after Jean Grolier de Servières, Viscount d'Aguisy, Tre ...

Geschichte: Antiquariat INLIBRIS Gilholfer Nfg. GmBH
- history of the Gilhofer und Ranschburg firm, with a portrait of E. P. Goldschmidt {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldschmidt, Ernst Philip 1887 births 1954 deaths People from Vienna Austrian booksellers British booksellers Antiquarian booksellers British bibliographers British book and manuscript collectors British bibliophiles History of books Historians of printing Cultural historians Intellectual historians British company founders 20th-century British businesspeople Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom