William Reese Obituary, Company (Bookseller)

William Sherman Reese was an American bookseller and founder of the William Reese Company.

William Reese was born on July 29, 1955, in Havre de Grace, Maryland to William Blain Reese and Katherine Jackson Reese.

Reese graduated from Yale, summa cum laude, in 1977 and was already a partner in a rare book firm, Frontier Americana, while in college.

In 1979, he founded the William Reese Company. To date, the firm has issued 357 catalogues in Americana, voyages, exploration, natural history, color plate books, literature, et al.

Reese was a longtime member of the ABAA and ILAB, also a member of the Grolier Club, the Club of Odd Volumes, The Old Book Table, the Yale Club, and board member of the Library of America, among other affiliations.

He was also a frequent lecturer at the Rare Book School, and author of several books on the antiquarian trade and book history, including a number of recent books that can be found here.

William Reese died on June 4, 2018, at his family’s farm, Seven Springs Farm, in Havre de Grace after a long illness. He was 62.

He is survived by his wife, Dorothy Hurt, his sister, Barbara Reese, his nieces, Sarah Dyer and Tessa Currie, and nephew, Andrew Currie.

Reese Company was continued under the ownership and management of his wife, Dorothy Hurt.

Reese was profiled in the 2019 documentary The Booksellers, directed by D.W. Young.