William S. Reese
William Sherman Reese | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 29, 1955 Havre de Grace, Maryland, U.S. |
| Died | June 4, 2018 (aged 62) |
| Occupation | Antiquarian bookseller |
| Known for | Founder of the William Reese Company, expert in Americana and rare books |
William Sherman Reese (July 29, 1955 – June 4, 2018) was a prominent American antiquarian bookseller and the founder of the William Reese Company. Throughout a distinguished 44-year tenure, he established himself as a foremost authority in the rare book industry, with a particular focus on Americana and the history of books.
Biography
Born in Havre de Grace, Maryland to William Blaine Reese and Katherine Reese (née Jackson), Reese completed his secondary education at Gilman School in Baltimore, graduating in 1973. He then pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree in history at Yale University, which he obtained in 1977. Reese was married first to Margaret Hurt until her passing in 2002, after which he wed her sister Dorothy Hurt. He succumbed to prostate cancer on June 4, 2018.
Bookselling career
Reese’s engagement with antiquarian books began during his undergraduate years at Yale in the mid-1970s when he partnered with the rare book enterprise Frontier Americana. Following his graduation, he gained experience working alongside bookseller Fred White Jr. in Texas before launching the William Reese Company in 1979, based in New Haven, Connecticut. Under his leadership, the firm rose to prominence within the Americana sector, managing leading collections and producing numerous catalogues dedicated to American historical materials. He maintained a close collaborative relationship with Yale's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, significantly contributing to the enhancement of their Americana archives.
In 1998, the William Reese Company initiated Fellowships in the Print Culture of the Americas to foster scholarly research on American book history.
Reese authored a collection of essays titled Collectors, Booksellers, and Libraries: Essays on Americanists and the Rare Book Market, which showcases his extensive knowledge. He earned widespread acclaim as one of the preeminent American antiquarian booksellers of his era, recognized for his expertise in Americana, natural history, exploration literature, color plate books, and general literature.
His work was highlighted in the 2019 documentary The Booksellers and commemorated within The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. In 2022, Christie's auctioned his private collection.
Selected Publications
- Reese, William S., and Grolier Club. 2022. Stamped with a National Character: Nineteenth Century American Color Plate Books. New York: The Grolier Club.
- Reese, William S., and Ink, Inc. 2018. Collectors, Booksellers, and Libraries: Essays on Americanists and the Rare Book Market. New Haven: Overland Press.
- Reese, William S. 2017. The Federal Hundred. New Haven: William Reese Company.
- Reese, William S. 2017. The Best of the West: 250 Classic Works of Western Americana. New Haven: William Reese Company.
- Vinson, Michael, and William S. Reese. 2016. Edward Eberstadt & Sons: Rare Booksellers of Western Americana. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
- Reese, William S., James N. Green, and John C. Van Horne. 2001. The Michael Zinman Collection of Early American Imprints. Philadelphia: Library Co. of Philadelphia.
- Reese, William S., and Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. 1991. A Herman Melville Collection Exhibited at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University: On the Occasion of the 100th Anniversary of His Death. New Haven: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
- Reese, William S. "Joseph Sabin," American Book Collector 5, no. 1 (1984):3-24.