rustic shop, 'Ivy House,' is quite
one of the sights of bookish London.

[Illustration: _Salkeld's Shop--'Ivy House'--in Clapham Road._]

Indeed, nearly every by-street,[202:A] as well as the public highway in
and around Holborn, has had its bookseller ever since the beginning of
the century. Lord Macaulay, C. W. Dilke, W. J. Thoms, Edward Solly, John
Forster, and the visions of many other mighty book-hunters, crowd on
one's memory in grubbing about after old books in this ancient and
attractive, if not always particularly savoury, locality. The two
Turnstiles have always been favourites with bibliopoles. Writing in
1881, the late Mr. Thoms said: 'Many years ago I received one of the
curious catalogues periodically issued by Crozier, then of Little
Turnstile, Holborn. From a pressure of business or some other cause, I
did not look through it until it had been in my possession for two or
three days, and then I saw in it an edition of "Mist's Letters" in three
volumes! In two volumes the book is common enough, but I had never heard
of a third volume; neither does Bohn in his edition of Lowndes mention
its existence. Of course, on this discovery, I lost no time in making my
way to Little Turnstile; and on asking for the "Mist" in three volumes,
found, as I had feared, that it was sold. "Who was the lucky purchaser?"
I asked anxiously; adding, "Aut Dilke aut Diabolus!" "It was not
Diabolus," was Crozier's reply; and I was reconciled when I found the
book had fallen into such good hands, and not a little surprised when
Crozier went on to say, "But he was not the first to apply for it. Mr.
Forster sent for it, but would not keep it, because it was not a
sufficiently nice copy."' Both the Great and the Little Turnstiles,
Holborn, have always been, as we have said, famous as book-hunting
localities, and they still preserve this reputation. In 1636 a
publisher and bookseller, George Hutton, was at the 'Sign of the Sun,
within the Turning Stile in Holborne.' J. Bagford, the celebrated
book-destroyer, was first a shoemaker in the Great Turnstile, a calling
in which he was not successful. Then he became a bookseller at the same
place, and still success was denied him. At Dulwich College is a library
which includes a collection of plays formed by Cartwright, a bookseller
of the Turnstile, who subsequently turned actor.

[Illustration: _John Bagford, Shoemaker and Book-destroyer._]

[Illustration: _Mr. Tregaskis's Shop--'The Caxt