Charles Frederick Heartman was one of the most important antiquarian booksellers and book collectors in the first half of the twentieth century. For most of his career he specialized in rare Americana in both his bookselling and auction stocks and was a noted, careful cataloguer and bibliographer who established a reputation for discovering more unrecorded Americana materials than any of his predecessors or contemporaries. Heartman was also active in editing, publishing, and scholarly writing.

The personality of Heartman was perhaps atypical of an antiquarian bookman. He was outspoken, impatient, and energetic, and, as the varied and voluminous activities of his career attest, he was ambitious and hardworking. He was an intellectual who was especially passionate about his chosen specialization of Americana, a field in which he exhibited broad interests. Although a subject rarely held his attention long, some did not bore or disappoint him quickly, and he displayed...