Gabriel Wells

Gabriel Wells (January 24, 1861 – November 6, 1946) was a bookseller, historian and author. He was one of the most important antiquarian booksellers in America and Britain in the first half of the twentieth century.

His most significant cultural contribution today is probably breaking up an original copy of the Gutenberg Bible into individual leaves, marketed and sold as “Noble Fragments”.

Early life He was born Gabor Weiss to a Hungarian Jewish family

Career Wells established his bookselling business in New York City. His first transaction set the stage for his lifetime modus operandi: He bought up copies of the ten-volume subscription edition of John L. Stoddard's Lectures at book auctions, rebound them, and sold them to regular book dealers who would not otherwise have access to subscription sets. He did the same with limited editions. Henry Sotheran Ltd, the longest-established antiquarian bookseller in Europe, was founded in York in 1761, established in London in 1815, and remains independently owned to the present day.

One of the most significant transactions of Wells' career was his purchase of a Gutenberg Bible from Joseph Sabin, who had bought it at auction in 1920. The two-volume work (one of 41 in existence) was not in perfect condition – it was missing 50 of its 643 leaves and some of those that remained had their illuminations cut out. Wells opted to break up the Bible and sell the leaves individually, thus reaching a wider market. The leaves in perfect or good condition sold for an average of $150 each (approximately $1,500 today), while the ruined leaves were priced around $100. Each leaf was elegantly slip-cased in a "black or dark blue morocco goatskin portfolio folder" with the words "A Leaf of the Gutenberg Bible (1450–1455)" embossed on the cover in gilt lettering. Wells commissioned A. Edward Newton to write a five-page essay, "A Noble Fragment, Being a Leaf of the Gutenberg Bible (1450–1455)", which was included with each sale. Wells' decision to sell the leaves individually allowed major institutions and universities to purchase pages that they were missing from their own editions of the Gutenberg Bible. Wells gifted the New York Public Library with all but one of the leaves that it was missing from its collection.

In 1939, Wells was embroiled in legal action after John Hayward discovered that Lord Victor Rothschild's first edition of Henry Fielding's Tom Jones was not authentic. Some of the pages were from another edition. Rothschild had paid £3,500 for the book including another work. The matter was settled out of court after a whole chain of dealers were shown not to have noticed the error, including Dr. Rosenbach.

In addition to book dealing, Wells authored many pamphlets on the social and economic issues of his day.

Death Wells never married. In his will, he left his estate to his siblings and their children, as well as to the Library of Congress, New York Public Library, Harvard, Rutgers University, and his native Hungarian town.

Selected bibliography Essays

Speeches

Pamphlets