"Every page is thoroughly soaked in Tanselle's enthusiasm for his subject... When one master turns his attention to another, the rest of us should stop and listen. This volume is a handsome tribute from one of the greatest bibliographers of our present age to one of the greatest bibliographers of the previous age. It is a joy to read."
- Joseph Hone, The Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies Journal, Volume 30, No. 1 - Spring 2026


John Carter was one of the most prominent figures in the Anglo-American book world in the twentieth century. In addition to his activities as a bookseller and book collector on both sides of the Atlantic, he is remembered, with Graham Pollard, for his detection of the Wise-Forman forgeries. He wrote (or co-wrote or co-edited) An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets (1934), Taste and Technique in Book-Collecting (1948), ABC for Book-Collectors (1952), and Printing and the Mind of Man (1967).
This assessment of Carter's achievements by celebrated bibliographer G. Thomas Tanselle is accompanied by a handlist of the more than 1500 items Carter is known to have written, all of which are distinguished by Carter's characteristic style, wit, and learning. It also includes Tanselle's account of the Halcyon Booklets, a little-known publishing enterprise of the mid-1960s in which Carter was involved, as well as a comprehensive index.