Horace Walpole remarked of him in passing as "The Merchant of Venice", who knew nothing of his books save their titlepages, but the bon mot seems undeserved, according to the original 1897 Dictionary of National Biography, s.v. "Smith, Joseph". "This collection was especially rich in the classics and in examples of early printing," the British Library observes (British Library: "The printed books of King George III"Archived 16 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine) which are two outstanding symptoms of books collected as trophies. On the other hand the catalogue of his library has an Appendix which reprints in full some 200 prefaces, dedications and epilogues contained in incunabula, a mark of genuine curiosity.
"No. 8312". The London Gazette. 20 March 1743. p. 10. Dates given in the London Gazette prior to 1752 are old style, by modern standards, with the year beginning on 1 January, rather than 25 March, this date falls in 1744
Horace Walpole remarked of him in passing as "The Merchant of Venice", who knew nothing of his books save their titlepages, but the bon mot seems undeserved, according to the original 1897 Dictionary of National Biography, s.v. "Smith, Joseph". "This collection was especially rich in the classics and in examples of early printing," the British Library observes (British Library: "The printed books of King George III"Archived 16 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine) which are two outstanding symptoms of books collected as trophies. On the other hand the catalogue of his library has an Appendix which reprints in full some 200 prefaces, dedications and epilogues contained in incunabula, a mark of genuine curiosity.
