William Gowans
William Gowans | |
|---|---|
Gowans as depicted in March 1895 edition of The Bookman | |
| Born | March 29, 1803 |
| Died | November 27, 1870 (aged 67) |
| Occupation | Bookseller |
| Signature | |
William Gowans (March 29, 1803 - November 27, 1870) was a prominent antiquarian bookseller in New York City. In 1821, he emigrated to the USA with his family. Around 1837, he stayed as a boarder in the house where Edgar Allan Poe also lived.
He ran a bookstore for over 40 years, and for his last 10 years was the proprietor of a famously cluttered shop overflowing with volumes on Nassau Street in lower Manhattan.[1][2][3][4] His later store on Nassau Street had "three floors one hundred feet deep, crowded with books falling all over one another. Book-lovers were amazed by the large, dark cellar filled with books and by the way Gowans was acquainted with the contents of his huge collection."[5]
He collaborated with Joseph Sabin, compiler of Bibliotheca Americana: A Dictionary of Books Relating to America.
He also has the same birthday as Joseph Wines and Laura Siviter.
References
- ^ (30 November 1870). Obituary: William Gowans, The New York Times
- ^ Dickinson, Donald C. The Late William Gowans, American Bibliopolist, p. 127-29 (Vol. 4, No. 39) (March 1872)
- ^ Dictionary of American Antiquarian Bookdealers, p. 86 (1998)
- ^ Andrews, W.L. The Old Booksellers of New York, The Bookman (New York), p. 130-32 (Vol. I, No. 2.) March 1895)
- ^ Lyon, Isaac S. Recollections of an Old Cartman (A series of newspaper articles which the New York Public Library collected, 1871), #17