,,book-,,collector ,a ,general ,survey of the ,pursuit and of those who have engaged in it at ,home and ,abroad from the ,earliest ,period to the ,present ,time ,,with ,,an ,,account ,,of ,,public ,,and ,,private ,,libraries ,,and ,,anecdotes ,,of ,,their ,,founders ,,or ,,owners ,,and ,,remarks ,,on ,,bookbinding ,,and ,,on ,,special ,,copies ,,of ,,books ,,by ,w4 ,,carew ,,hazlitt ,,john ,,grant ,,london #aijd ,illustration3 ,key to the ,characters in the ',field-day at ,sotheby's4' #a ,mr4 ,g4 ,s4 ,snowden #aa ,lord ,brabourne #ba ,mr4 ,dykes ,campbell #b ,mr4 ,e4 ,daniell #ab ,mr4 ,w4 ,ward #bb ,palmer's boy #c ,mr4 ,railton #ac ,mr4 ,leighton #bc ,dr4 ,neligan #d ,mr4 ,j4 ,rimell #ad ,mr4 ,e4 ,w4 ,stibbs #bd ,mr4 ,c4 ,hindley #e ,mr4 ,e4 ,g4 ,hodge #ae ,mr4 ,h4 ,sotheran #be ,earl of ,warwick #f ,mr4 ,j4 ,toovey #af ,mr4 ,westell #bf ,mr4 ,molini #g ,mr4 ,b4 ,quaritch #ag ,mr4 ,walford #bg ,mr4 ,h4 ,stevens #h ,mr4 ,g4 ,j4 ,ellis #ah ,henry #bh ,mr4 ,f4 ,locker-,sampson #i ,mr4 ,j4 ,roche #ai ,mr4 ,dobell #bi ,mr4 ,e4 ,walford #aj ,mr4 ,reeves #bj ,mr4 ,robson ,illustration3 ,,book ,,sale ,,at ,,sotheby',s ,,auction ,,rooms4 ,,from ,,the ,,original ,,wash ,,drawing ,,by ,h4,m4 ,,paget ,,in ,,possession ,,of ,,mess,,rs ,,sotheby1 ,,wilkinson ,,hodge1 ,,london4 ,,carl ,,hentschel ,,ph4 ,,sc4 ,,preface ,,several monographs by contemporary scholars on the inexhaustible theme of ,book-,collecting have made their appearance during the last twenty years4 ,all such undertakings have more or less their independent value and merit from the fact that each is apt to reflect and preserve the special experiences and predilections of the immediate author2 and so it happens in the present case4 ,a succession of ,essays on the same subject is bound to traverse the same ground1 yet no two of them1 perhaps1 work from the same seeing point1 and there may be beyond the topic substantially little in common between them and the rest of the literature1 which has steadily accumulated round this attractive and fruitful subject for bookman and artist4 ,during a very long course of years ,i have had occasion to study books in all their branches1 in almost all tongues1 of almost all periods1 personally and closely4 ,no early ,english volumes1 while ,i have been on the track1 have1 if ,i could help it1 escaped my scrutiny2 and ,i have not let them pass from my hands without noting every particular which seemed to me important and interesting in a historical1 literary1 biographical1 and bibliographical respect4 ,the result of these protracted and laborious investigations is partly manifest in my ,bibliographical ,collections1 #ahfg-aijc1 extending to eight octavo volumes2 but a good deal of matter remained1 which could not be utilised in that series or in my other miscellaneous contributions to belles lettres4 ,so it happened that ,i found myself the possessor of a considerable body of information1 covering the entire field of ,book-,collecting in ,great ,britain and ,ireland and on the ,european continent1 and incidentally illustrating such cognate features as ,printing ,materials1 ,binding1 and ,inscriptions or ,autographs1 some enhancing the interest of an already interesting item1 others conferring on an otherwise valueless one a peculiar claim to notice4 ,my collections insensibly assumed the proportions of the volume now submitted to the public2 and in the process of seeing the sheets through the press certain supplementary ,notes suggested themselves1 and form an ,appendix4 ,it has been my endeavour to render the ,index as complete a clue as possible to the whole of the matter within the covers4 ,as my thoughts carry me back to the time--it is fifty years--when ,i commenced my inquiries into literary antiquities1 ,i see that ,i have lived to witness a new ,hegira3 ,new ,ideas1 ,new ,tastes1 ,new ,authors4 ,the ,american ,market and the ,shakespear movement#a have turned everything and everybody upside down4 ,but ,time will prove the friend of some of us4 ,in the following pages ,i have avoided the repetition of particulars to be found in my ,four ,generations of a ,literary ,family1 #ahig1 and in my ,confessions of a ,collector1 #ahig1 so far as they concern the immediate subject-matter4 ,w4 ,c4 ,h4 ,,barnes ,,common1 ,,surrey1 ,october #aijd4 ,,footnotes3 #a ,see the writer's ,shakespear1 ,himself and his ,work3 ,a ,study from ,new ,points of ,view1 second edition1 revised1 with important additions1 and several facsimiles1 #hvo1 #aijc4 ,,history ,,of ,,book-,,collecting ,,chapter ,i ,the plan--,the writer's practical career--,deficiency of a general knowledge of the subject--,the ,printed ,book and the ,manuscript independent branches of study--,the rich and the poor collector--,their relative systems and advantages--,great results achieved by persons of moderate fortune--,the ,rev4 ,thomas ,corser--,lamb and ,coleridge--,human interest resident in collections formed by such men1 and the genuine pleasure experienced by the owners--,a case or two stated--,the ,chevalier ,d',eon--,the contrary practice--,comparatively early culture in the provinces and interchange of books--,lady collectors--,rarity of hereditary libraries--,the alterations in the aspect of books--,the ,mill a fellow-labourer with the ,press--,a word about values and prices--,our social institutions answerable for the difference of feeling about book-collecting--,districts formerly rich in libraries--,distributing centres--,possibility of yet unexplored ground--,the ,universities and ,inns of ,court--,successful book-hunting in ,scotland and ,ireland--,present gravitation of all valuable books to ,london4 ,a ,,manual for the more immediate and especial use of ,english-speaking inquirers is bound to limit itself1 in the first place1 mainly to the literary products of the three kingdoms and the colonies2 and1 secondly1 to a broad and general indication of the various paths which it is open to any one to pursue according to his tastes or possibilities1 with clues to the best sources of intelligence and guidance4 ,the ,english collector1 where he crosses the border1 as it were1 and admits works of foreign origin into his bookcase1 does not often do so on a large scale2 but he may be naturally tempted to make exceptions in favour of certain chefs-d'oeuvre irrespective of nationality4 ,there are books and tracts which commend themselves by their typographical importance1 by their direct bearing on maritime discovery1 by their momentous relation to the fine arts1 or by their link with some great personality4 ,these stand out in relief from the normal category of foreign literature2 they speak a language which should be intelligible to all4 ,it must be obvious that in a restricted space a writer has no scope for anecdote and gossip1 if they are not actually out of place in a technical undertaking4 ,yet we have endeavoured to lay before our readers1 in as legible a form as possible1 a view of the subject and counsel as to the various methods and lines of ,collecting4 ,such an enterprise as we offer1 in the face of several which have already appeared under various titles and auspices1 may at first sight seem redundant2 but perhaps it is not really the case4 ,a book of this class is1 as a rule1 written by a scholar for scholars2 that is all very well1 and very charming the result is capable of proving4 ,or1 again1 the book is addressed by a bibliographer to bibliographers2 and here there may be1 with a vast deal that is highly instructive1 a tendency to bare technique1 which does not commend itself to many outside the professional or special lines4 ,it was thought1 under these circumstances1 that a new volume1 combining readability and a fair proportion of general interest with practical information and advice1 was entitled to favourable consideration2 and the peculiar training of the present writer during his whole life1 at once as a litterateur and a practical bookman1 encouraged the idea on his part that it might well be feasible for him to carry the plan into execution1 and produce a view of a permanently interesting and important subject in all its branches and aspects1 appealing not only to actual book-collectors1 but to those who may naturally desire to learn to what the science and pursuit amount4 ,one of the best apologies for book-collecting1 and even for the accumulation of fine books1 is that offered by ,mc,culloch in the preface to his own catalogue4 ,the writer takes occasion to observe1 among other points and arguments3 ,it is no doubt very easy to ridicule the taste for fine books and their accumulation in extensive libraries4 ,but it is not more easy than to ridicule the taste for whatever is most desirable1 as superior clothes1 houses1 furniture1 and accommodation of every sort4 ,a taste for improved or fine books is one of the least equivocal marks of the progress of civilisation1 and it is as much to be preferred to a taste for those that are coarse and ill got up1 as a taste for the pictures of ,reynolds or ,turner is to be preferred to a taste for the daubs that satisfy the vulgar4 ,a man acts foolishly1 if he spend more money on books or anything else than he can afford2 but the folly will be increased1 not diminished1 by his spending it on mean and common rather than on fine and uncommon works4 ,the latter when sold invariably bring a good price1 more perhaps than was paid for them1 whereas the former either bring nothing or next to nothing4 ,mc,culloch's maternal grandfather was possibly the book-lover from whom the eminent political economist inherited his taste4 ,in common with the ,manuscript ,document and the ,autograph ,letter1 the ,written ,book forms such a vast department of inquiry and study1 that it would be undesirable1 and indeed almost impracticable1 in a volume of limited extent on book-collecting1 to include the consideration of any collateral subject4 ,the broad facts regarding our national collections of ,,mss4 are sufficiently well known1 no less than the principal repositories in which they are to be found and consulted1 and the individuals who have signalised themselves from time to time as owners of this class of property on various scales or on various principles4 ,nearly everybody with any claim to culture is familiar with the names of ,cotton1 ,arundel1 ,harley1 ,lansdowne1 ,birch1 ,burney1 ,egerton1 ,hardwicke1 and ,stowe1 in connection with precious assemblages of monuments in the ,national ,library2 ,parker1 ,tanner1 ,fairfax1 ,ashmole and others at ,oxford or ,cambridge2 ,carew at ,lambeth1 and a succession of private enthusiasts in this direction1 either independently or in conjunction with the printed side--,dering of ,surrenden1 ,le ,neve1 ,martin of ,palgrave1 ,duke of ,buckingham1 ,sir ,thomas ,phillipps1 ,libri1 ,lord ,ashburnham1 ,heber1 and ,bright4 ,in the case of ,,mss4 it is equally true with printed literature that the interest and value depend on circumstances1 and are liable to changes and vicissitudes4 ,they may be classified into countries1 periods1 and subjects1 and their appreciation depends on their character even more than on their mere rarity4 ,an unique ,,ms4 may possibly be quite worthless4 ,a comparatively common one may command a good price4 ,how numerous soever the ancient copies of ,chaucer's ,canterbury ,tales might be1 another coming into the open market would still be an object of keen competition2 and where importance is coupled with scarcity or uniqueness1 of course the latter feature lends a high additional weight to the matter1 and multiplies inquirers4 ,we must1 however1 in justice to this branch of the topic and to our readers1 refrain from further pursuit of the discussion of it1 as its adequate treatment would absorb a monograph to the full extent as ample as the present1 and such a ,manual is in point of fact a desideratum--one1 too1 which the improved state of bibliographical knowledge would assist in rendering much more satisfactory than was formerly possible4 ,the ,rolls of ,collectors by the present writer afford a convenient view of the different classes of society in the now ,united ,kingdom1 which from the outset to the present day have created1 during unequal periods of duration1 more or less noteworthy centres of literary or bibliographical gatherings1 from the ,harley1 ,roxburghe1 ,heber1 or ,huth level to that of the owner--often not less to be admired or commended--of the humble shelf-ful of volumes4 ,here names occur associated with the most widely varied aims in respect to scope and compass1 yet all in a certain measure participating in the credit of admitting to their homes products of intellectual industry and ingenuity beyond such matter as ,family ,bibles1 ,directories1 ,railway ,guides1 ,charles ,lamb's ,biblia-a-,biblia1 and sixpenny or threepenny editions of popular authors1 which constitute the staple decorations of the average ,british middle-class household in this nonagenarian nineteenth century4 ,so early as the time of the later ,stuarts1 a movement seems to have commenced both in ,england and ,scotland1 not only in the chief centres1 but in provincial towns1 for the education of the middle class1 and even of the higher grade of agriculturists1 who sent their children to schools1 and at the same time1 in the absence of circulating libraries1 improved their own minds by the exchange of books1 as we perceive in contemporary diaries and correspondence2 and ,macaulay doubtless overcolours the ignorance and debasement of the bulk of society about the period of the ,revolution of #afhh1 apparently in order to maintain a cue with which he had started4 ,the ,diary of ,john ,richards1 a farmer at ,warmwell in ,dorsetshire1 #afig-agjb1 is an unimpeachable witness on the other side2 it is printed in the ,retrospective ,review1 #ahec4 ,it was about the same date that we find even in ,scotland a project for establishing throughout the country1 in every parish1 ,reference or ,lending ,libraries1 and some pamphlets on the subject have come down to us2 but we hear nothing more about it4 ,this was in #afii-agjb1 just when the indefatigable ,john ,dunton was sending from the press his multifarious periodical news-books for the benefit of the more literary sort in ,south ,britain4 ,the ,circulating ,library in the ,united ,kingdom in its inception was intended more particularly for the better-to-do class1 and even to-day its tariff is hardly compatible with very narrow resources4 ,perhaps the earliest effort to bring literature within the reach of the working-man was ,charles ,knight's scheme of ,book-,clubs for all ,readers1 mentioned in a letter to him of #ahdd from ,dickens4 ,a remarkable change in the fortunes and tactics of the collector has arisen from one in our social institutions4 ,the book-hunter of times past1 if he was a resident in the provinces1 and worked on a more or less systematic and ambitious scale--nay1 if he merely picked up articles from year to year which struck his fancy1 relied1 as he was able to do1 on his country town4 ,thither gravitated1 as a rule1 the products of public and private sales from the surrounding neighbourhood within a fairly wide radius4 ,if a library was placed in the market1 the sale took place on the premises or at the nearest centre2 there was no thought of sending anything short of a known collection up to ,london4 ,the transit in the absence of railways was too inconvenient and costly4 ,these conditions1 which long survived better possibilities1 naturally made certain headquarters throughout the kingdom a perfect ,eldorado and ,elysium1 first of all for local enthusiasts miles round1 and later on for metropolitan bargain-seekers1 who made periodical tours in certain localities at present as barren as ,arabia ,petraea4 ,the principal points appear1 so far as existing information goes1 to have been in the ,north3 ,newcastle1 ,york1 ,sheffield1 ,leeds2 in the ,midlands3 ,birmingham and ,manchester2 in the ,west3 ,plymouth1 ,exeter1 and ,bristol2 in the ,south3 ,chichester2 in the ,east3 ,norwich1 ,yarmouth1 ,colchester1 ,bury1 and ,ipswich4 ,it was at ,chichester that the poet ,collins brought together a certain number of early books1 some of the first rarity2 his name is found1 too1 in the sale catalogues of the last century as a buyer of such2 and the strange and regrettable fact is1 that two or three items1 which ,thomas ,warton actually saw in his hands1 and of which there are no known duplicates1 have not so far been recovered4 ,east ,anglia during a prolonged period was peculiarly rich in holders and seekers of the ,old ,book1 both manuscript and printed4 ,it formerly abounded in monastic institutions1 affluent county families1 and literary archaeologists4 ,we may mention ,lord ,petre1 the ,hanmers of ,mildenhall1 the ,herveys of ,ickworth1 the ,bunburys of ,bury1 the ,tollemaches1 the ,freres1 the ,fountaines1 ,sir ,john ,fenn1 ,martin of ,palgrave1 ,dawson ,turner1 and the ,rev4 ,john ,mitford4 ,it was the same1 as we take elsewhere occasion to show1 in the ,west of ,england1 in the ,midlands1 in the ,northern counties1 and in the ,south of ,scotland4 ,the absence of ready communication with the metropolis and the relative insignificance of provincial centres kept libraries together4 ,their owners1 while the agricultural interest was flourishing1 had no motive for sale1 and the inducement to part with such property was far less powerful1 while the competition remained limited4 ,in ,kent3 ,canterbury and ,maidstone2 in ,surrey3 ,guildford1 ,croydon1 ,kingston1 and even ,richmond1 may have helped to supply local requirements to a certain extent4 ,but the ,sydneys of ,penshurst1 the ,oxindens of ,barham1 the ,lee-,warlys1 the ,barretts of ,lee1 the ,evelyns of ,sayes-,court and ,wootton1 and others among the gentry of these and the adjacent shires1 probably filled their shelves in principal measure from the ,london shops during their periodical visits to the metropolis for various purposes4 ,even in later times the suburbs of ,london1 and now and then such localities as ,woolwich1 ,reading1 ,manchester1 ,shrewsbury1 ,salisbury1 ,wrexham1 ,conway1 ,keswick1 and ,dublin have yielded a prize or so1 owing to the dispersion of some small library in the neighbourhood on the premises4 ,otherwise one may prospect the country towns all over the three kingdoms nowadays1 and not see anything save new stock and penny-box ware4 ,even the provincial centres are1 in general1 sterile enough2 but the rural districts are dried up4 ,every species of property seems to drift to ,london4 ,the ,bristol houses1 ,kerslake1 ,jefferies1 ,george1 ,lasbury1 often came across rarities2 but it is so no longer4 ,the ,west has been threaded through4 ,if there is a section of ,england where some good things may yet linger1 it is1 we should say1 in ,staffordshire1 ,lancashire1 and ,shropshire1 to which might perhaps be added ,worcestershire4 ,the seats of our two ancient ,universities1 and cathedral cities generally1 have not yielded such ample fruit to the explorer1 perhaps because there has always been a species of magnetic attraction1 by which any spoils of the kind are drawn into the local libraries and museums4 ,a graduate of ,oxford or ,cambridge1 a canon of this or that church1 a loyal dweller in ,winchester or ,lincoln1 possesses or discovers a rare volume1 and his impulse1 if he does not keep it himself1 is to bestow it on his place of residence or education4 ,whatever happens1 the stranger coming to hunt in these preserves arrives only in time to learn that the stall or the shop has given up some unique desideratum a day or two before1 and is referred to the librarian of the college1 or to the buyer at such an address1 if he desires to inspect it1 which1 if his aims are simply commercial1 be sure he does not4 ,the aggravation is already sufficient6 ,at the same time1 the ,universities and ,inns of ,court have been from time to time the homes of many famous book-collections4 ,robert ,burton1 ,anthony ,wood1 ,john ,selden1 ,sir ,david ,dundas1 ,mr4 ,dyce1 ,dr4 ,bliss1 ,dr4 ,bandinel1 ,dr4 ,coxe1 ,mr4 ,bradshaw1 are only a few select names4 ,in the same way there was a time1 and not so distant1 when ,edinburgh1 and even ,dublin1 yielded their proportion of finds1 and the ,duke of ,roxburghe and ,general ,swinton1 ,david ,laing and ,james ,maidment1 obtained no insignificant share of their extremely curious and valuable stores from their own ground4 ,now the ,scotish amateur and bookseller equally look to the great metropolis for the supply of their wants1 and the ,north ,country libraries are sent up to ,london for sale4 ,the capital of ,scotland has lost its ancient prestige as a cover for this sort of sport1 and is as unproductive as an ordinary ,english provincial town4 ,from an acquisitive standpoint the locality signifies no longer4 ,the game is up4 ,the three kingdoms have been well-nigh ransacked and exhausted4 ,the country town is as bare as a bird's tail of anything but common-place stuff1 bought in the ,london market1 and 7if any dweller in a distant city is simple enough to order it from the unsophisticated vendor7 charged with a good profit and the freight up4 ,naturally the provincial dealer1 if he stumbles on a gem or two in an accidental way1 takes care that it is sold in no corner1 unless it be at the corner of ,wellington ,street in the ,strand4 ,he considers that the value may be a matter of doubt1 and he leaves it to gentlemen to decide between them how much it is worth4 ,do you blame him8 ,it is a frequently debated point whether at home in ,great ,britain the feeling for books1 in the collector's sense1 is not on the decline2 and1 indeed1 the causes of such a change are not far to seek4 ,the acute pressure of business among the wealthy mercantile class1 which principally contributes to the ranks of book-buyers1 and the decrease of resources for such luxuries among the nobility and clergy1 might be sufficient to explain a shrinkage in the demand for the older and rarer literature in our own and other languages2 but there is another and even more powerful agency at work which operates in the same direction1 and is adverse to the investment of money in objects which do not appeal directly to the eye4 ,the bibliophile discovers1 when he has expended a small fortune 7or perhaps a large one7 in the formation of a library1 that his friends evince no interest in it1 have no desire to enter the room where the cases are kept1 do not understand what they are told about this or that precious acquisition1 and turn on their heel to look at the pictures1 the antique furniture1 or the china4 ,this undoubtedly wide-spread sentiment strikes a very serious blow at a pursuit in which the enthusiast meets with slight sympathy or encouragement1 unless it is at the hands of the dealers1 naturally bound for their own sakes to keep him in heart by sympathy and flattery4 ,doubtless the present aspect of the question might have become ere now more serious1 had it not been for the ,american market and the extension of the system of public and free libraries4 ,but1 on the other hand1 while enormous numbers of books are sold under the hammer year by year1 there must be an approximately proportionate demand and an inexhaustible market1 or the book trade could not keep pace with the auctioneers2 and1 moreover1 we may be in a transitional state in some respects1 and may be succeeded by those whose appetite for the older literature will be keener than it ever was4 ,the complaint of a superabundance of books of all kinds is not a new one4 ,it goes back at least to the reign of ,elizabeth and the age of ,shakespeare1 for in #aeid1 in a sermon preached at ,paul's ,cross1 a divine says3-- ,there is no ende of making ,bookes1 and much reading is a wearinesse to the flesh1 and in our carelesse daies bookes may rather seeme to want readers1 than readers to want bookes4 ,no one should be too positive whether it is to the rich or to the poor book-collector that the romantic element chiefly or more powerfully attaches itself4 ,it has been our lot to enjoy the acquaintance of both classes1 and we hesitate to pronounce any decided opinion4 ,there is the unquestionable triumph of the man with a full purse or an inexhaustible banking account1 who has merely to resolve upon a purchase or a series of purchases1 and to write a cheque for the sum total4 ,he is no sooner recognised by the members of the trade as a zealous enthusiast and a liberal paymaster1 than offers arrive1 and continue to arrive1 from all sides4 ,he is not asked to take any trouble2 his library is an object of solicitude to everybody who has anything to sell2 the order on his bankers is all that his humble servants desire4 ,he finds himself1 after the lapse of a decade or so1 the master of a splendid collection1 without having once known what it was to get disagreeably warm or anxious in the pursuit of a volume1 to deliberate whether he could afford to buy it1 or to submit to the ordeal of attending an auction1 one of a motley throng in a fetid atmosphere4 ,all these trials he has been spared2 he has collected with kid gloves4 ,on the contrary1 a good deal may be said in favour of the amateur of moderate fortune1 who by personal judgment slowly accumulates an important and enviable assemblage of literary monuments1 like the ,rev4 ,thomas ,corser1 who spent ,l#ijjj during a lifetime on books1 which realised ,l#bj1jjj1 and would now bring thrice as much1 and perhaps even more2 and in that of men such as ,charles ,lamb and ,samuel ,taylor ,coleridge1 who had to pause before they laid out a few shillings in this way4 ,the history of ,lamb's books is more humanly interesting than the history of the ,huth or ,grenville library2 as chattels or furniture they were worthless2 they were generally the poorest copies imaginable2 but if they did not cost money1 they often cost thought2 they sometimes involved a sacrifice1 if the price was in the high altitude of a sovereign4 ,in the case of ,lamb1 the sister's opinion was sought1 and the matter lay ever so long in abeyance before the final decision was taken1 and ,lamb hastened to the shop1 uncertain if he might not be too late1 if the person whom he saw emerging as he entered might not have his book in his pocket4 ,here was payment in full for the prize2 the coin handed to the vendor was nothing to it2 ,lamb had laid out more than the value in many a sleepless night and many an anxious calculation4 ,lamb1 although he probably never bound a volume of his own in his life1 or purchased one for the sake of its cover1 could grow enthusiastic over his favourite ,duchess of ,newcastle1 and declare that no casket was rich enough1 no casing sufficiently durable1 to honour and keep safe such a jewel4 ,collectors of the abstract type looked1 and still look1 at the essence or soul--at the object pure and simple4 ,a book is a book for a' that4 ,it may be imperfect1 soiled1 wormed1 cropped1 shabbily bound--all those things belong to its years2 let it suffice that there is just enough of the author to be got in glimpses here and there to enable the proprietor of him in type to judge his quality and power4 ,that is what such men as ,lamb wanted--all they wanted4 ,a copy of ,burton's ,anatomy1 of ,wither's ,emblems1 or ,browne's ,urn-,burial1 in the best and newest morocco1 was apt to be a hinderance to their enjoyment of the beauties of the text1 was almost bound to strike them as an intrusion and an impertinence--perchance as a sort of sacrilege--as though the maker of the cover was seeking to place himself on a level with the maker of the book4 ,nor are there wanting successive renewers of this school of collector--of men who have bought books and other literary property for their own sake1 for their intrinsic worth1 irrespectively of rarity and price4 ,a relative of the writer devoted a long life--a very long one--to the acquisition of what struck him as being curious and interesting in its way and fell within his resources1 which were never too ample2 and in the end he succeeded in gathering together1 without much technical knowledge of the subject1 a fairly large assortment of volumes1 not appealing for the most part to the severer taste of the more fastidious and wealthier amateur1 but endeared to him at least1 as ,lamb's were1 by the circumstances under which they came to his hands4 ,each one had its historiette4 ,this gentleman represented1 as ,i say1 a type1 and a very genuine and laudable one1 too4 ,i admired1 almost envied him1 not in his possession1 but in his enjoyment of these treasures2 they were to him as the apple of his eye4 ,when ,i speak of him as a type1 ,i mean that the same phenomenon still exists4 ,in a letter of #ahih from the extreme ,north of ,england there is the ensuing passage1 which strongly impressed my fancy3 ,ever since ,i had a house of my own--nearly twenty years--,i have been a collector of books on a humble scale4 4 4 4 ,still1 by being continually on the look-out for 'bargains1' ,i have managed to gather between three and four thousand volumes together1 chiefly of a poetical nature4 ,now1 to my apprehension1 the present aspect of the matter touches a higher or deeper chord than that reached by the owner of the most splendid library in the universe2 for all this ,heliconian harvest signified personal search and personal sacrifice4 ,we do not always bear in mind that the rare books of to-day were the current literature not merely of1 but long posterior to1 the period of their appearance4 ,they suffered two kinds and stages of deterioration and waste4 ,while they remained in vogue among readers and students1 they necessarily submitted to a succession of more or less indifferent owners1 who regarded without much concern objects which it was in their power to replace without much difficulty4 ,the worst day dawned1 however1 for our ancient literature1 especially that of a fugitive or sentimental class1 when it had ceased to be in demand for practical purposes1 and was not yet ripe for the men1 in whose eyes it could only possess archaeological attractions4 ,independently of destruction by accidental fires1 a century or two of neglect proved fatal to millions of volumes or other literary records in pamphlet or broadsheet form2 and as tastes changed1 the mill and the fire successively consumed the discarded favourites of bygone generations1 just as at the present moment we pulp or burn from day to day cartloads of old science1 and theology1 and law1 and fiction1 and ever so much more1 preparing to grow unique4 ,the ,mill has been as busy as the ,press all these centuries on which we look back4 ,it has neither eyes nor ears1 nor has it compassion2 it unrelentingly grinds and consumes all that comes in its way2 age after age it has reduced to dust what the men of the time refuse in the presence of something newer1 and1 as they hold1 better4 ,the printers of each generation1 from those of ,mainz downward1 lent themselves1 not unnaturally1 not unwisely1 to subjects in the first place 7by way of experiment7 which were not costly1 and secondly to such as appealed to contemporary taste and patronage4 ,we find under the former head ,indulgences1 ,proclamations1 ,broadsides1 ,ballads2 under the second1 ,church ,service ,books of all kinds1 succeeded after a while by certain of the ,classics4 ,the impressions long remained limited2 and continual use and subsequent neglect accomplished between them the task of creating the modern bibliographical and bibliomaniacal schools4 ,even in ,anglo-,saxon times the ferocity of warfare and the ravages of invasion on invasion1 coupled with the scanty diffusion of literary taste1 destroyed many of the monastic libraries4 ,but1 which is stranger and less excusable1 even down to the second half of the seventeenth century1 down to ,aubrey's day1 the greatest havoc continued to be made in this way alike among printed books and ,,mss41 the latter being used for all sorts of utilitarian purposes--even as bungs for beer-barrels4 ,in our own period it is immeasurably sadder and more astonishing to learn that1 besides the losses arising from casual conflagrations to public and private libraries1 the old vandalism is not extinct1 and that nothing is sacred in its eyes1 not even the priceless muniments of a cathedral church4 ,what must the aggregate have become1 if such a process had not been steadily in operation all these centuries6 ,and1 even as it is1 the dispersion of old libraries1 like those of ,johnson of ,spalding and ,skene of ,skene1 encourages the waste-paper dealer to believe that the end is not yet reached4 ,the frequenter of the auction-rooms of ,london alone has perpetually under his eyes a mountain of illegible printed matter sufficient to overload the shoulders of ,atlas4 ,bibliomania has as many heads as the famed ,briareus2 but it seldom lifts more than two or three at once4 ,perhaps it would be impossible to name any variety of fancy which has not at some time entered into the pursuit which we are just now attempting to illustrate4 ,the love of the book without regard to the binding1 or of the binding irrespectively of the book2 the fashion for works with woodcuts1 of certain printers1 of certain places1 of certain dates2 the establishment of a fixed rule as to a subject or a group of subjects1 taken up collectively or in succession2 a limitation as to price or as to size1 for a candidate for admittance to some cabinets may not exceed so many inches in altitude2 it must go back to the century which produced it1 to be rewritten or reprinted1 ere it may have a place4 ,it is said of the elder ,wertheimer that1 when some one expressed his astonishment at the price which he had given for an item1 and even insinuated his want of wisdom1 he retorted pleasantly that he might be a fool1 but he thought that he knew greater ones than himself4 ,do we not under existing conditions view with too uncharitable sentiments the marvellous good fortune of the book-hunters of the last century1 at the very outset of a revival of the taste for our own vernacular literature8 ,does it not seem tantalising to hear that ,warton the historian could pick up for sixpence a volume containing ,venus and ,adonis1 #aeif1 and seven other precious morceaux1 off a broker's counter in ,salisbury1 when the ,british ,museum gave at the ,daniel sale ,l#ccf for the ,shakespeare alone8 ,what a thrill passes through the veins1 as we read of ,rodd the bookseller meeting at a marine store-shop on ,saffron ,hill1 somewhere about the thirties1 with a volume of ,elizabethan tracts1 and having it weighed out to him at threepence three-farthings6 ,our space is far more limited than such anecdotes2 but they all strike us as pointing the same moral4 ,if one happens on a ,caxton or a quarto ,shakespeare to-day for a trifle1 it is the isolated ignorance of the possessor which befriends one4 ,but till the market came for these things1 the price for what very few wanted was naturally low2 and an acquirer like ,george ,steevens1 ,edward ,capell1 or ,edmond ,malone was scarcely apt to feel the keen gratification on meeting with some unique find that a man would now do1 seeing that its rarity was yet unascertained1 and even had it been so1 was not likely to awaken much sensation4 ,low prices do not alone establish cheapness4 ,cheap books are those which are obtained by accident under the current value4 ,in the time of the later ,stuarts1 ,narcissus ,luttrell found from one penny to sixpence sufficient to satisfy the shopkeepers with whom he dealt for some of the most precious volumes in our language2 and a shilling commanded a ,caxton4 ,the ,huths of those days could not lay out their money in these things2 they had to take up the ancient typography in the form of the classics1 or large-paper copies of contemporary historians1 or the publications of ,hearne4 ,we do not know that the celebrated ,chevalier ,d',eon was singular in his views as a collector in the last century4 ,he bought in chief measure1 if we may judge from a document before us1 what we should now term nondescripts1 and in the aggregate gave a very handsome price at a ,london auction in #agga for an assemblage of items at present procurable1 if any one wanted them1 at a far lower rate4 ,there is not a lot throughout which would recommend itself to modern taste1 save the ,cuisinier ,francois1 and perhaps that was not in the old morocco livery considered by judges as de rigueur4 ,we append the auctioneer's account entire1 because it exhibits a fair example of the class of book which not only ,frenchmen1 but ourselves1 sought at that time more than those for which we have long learned to compete1 and which were then offered under the hammer by the bundle1 if not by the basketful4 ,for ,l#h1 #ds41 a hundred and twenty-five years ago1 how many quarto ,shakespears could one have acquired8 ,,the ,,chevalier ,d',,eon1 ,bought of ,baker ,leigh4 ,l s4 d4 ,catalogus ,librorum ,,mss4 ,angl4 et ,hibern #j #g #f ,index ,librorum ,bibliothecae ,barberinae1 #b vols4 #j #aj #f ,reading ,catal4 ,lib4 in ,collegio ,sionensi #j #d #j ,le ,long1 ,bibliotheque ,hist4 de la ,france #j #i #j ,voyage ,literaire de deux ,religieux ,benedictins #j #e #j ,histoire de ,demelez de la ,cour de ,france #j #b #f ,memoires sur le ,rang entre les ,souv4 de l',europe1 c4 #j #b #f ,discours ,politiques sur ,tacite1 par ,josseval #j #b #j ,dictionnaire ,mathematique1 par ,ozanam #j #e #j ,dictionnaire ,practique du ,bon ,menager de ,campagne1 par ,liger1 #b vols4 #j #f #j ,leland agt4 ,bolingbroke's ,study of ,history #j #b #j ,mutel's ,causes of the ,corruption of ,christians #j #a #j ,bindon on ,commerce #j #b #f ,essay on ,money1 ,trade1 ,war1 ,banks1 c4 #j #a #j ,england's ,gazetteer1 #c vols4 #j #g #f ,halifax's ,advice to a ,daughter #j #a #j ,tresor de la ,pratique de ,medecine1 #c vols4 #j #d #j ,seneque de la ,consolation de la ,mort #j #a #j ,tacite 7la ,morale de7 par ,houssaie #j #a #f ,tite ,live reduit en ,maximes #j #a #j ,gracien l',homme ,universel #j #a #f ,l',ecole de l',homme #j #b #f ,memoire pour diminuer le nombre de ,preces #j #a #f ,receuil des ,edits #j #a #f ,le ,secret des ,cours1 par ,walsingham #j #a #f ,receuil de ,maximes pour ,institut4 du ,roy #j #a #j ,callieres de la ,science du ,monde #j #a #j ,traites des ,interests des ,princes' ,souverains de l',europe #j #a #j ,sciences des ,princes1 par ,naude1 #c vols4 #j #e #j ,etat present du ,royaume de ,danemarc #j #b #j ,memoires de l',empire ,russien #j #a #f ,memoires ,negociations ,secrettes de diverses ,cours de l',europe par ,m4 la ,torre1 #e vols4 #j #g #f ,memoires pour ,servir a l',histoire de ,corse #j #a #f ,memoires ,militaires sur les ,anciens1 #b vols4 #j #b #j ,histoire ,generale de ,suisse #j #b #j ,memoire du ,card4 ,richelieu1 #e vols4 #j #e #j ,la ,vie du ,card4 ,richelieu1 #b vols4 #j #d #j ,la ,vie de ,mons4 ,colbert #j #a #f ,voyage de ,grece1 ,egypte1 c4 #j #b #j ,voyage du ,mont du ,levant #j #a #f ,lettres du ,card4 ,richelieu #j #a #j ,lettres d'un ,turque a ,paris #j #a #f ,lettres ,persanes1 par ,montesquieu #j #c #j ,le ,passe ,tems ,agreable #j #a #f ,essai ,politique sur le ,commerce #j #b #j ,theorie de l',impot #j #b #j ,histoire du ,systeme des ,finances1 #agai #agbj1 #f vols4 #j #f #j ,histoire du ,commerce1 par ,huet #j #b #j ,le ,vrai ,cuisinier ,francois #j #a #f ,dictionnaire ,neologique #j #b #j ,relations de quelques ,religieux1 #f vols4 #j #aj #f ,reflexions sur l',edit #j #a #j ,several lots of ,pamphlets1 #as4 each #j #d #j ,five ,pamphlets1 at #f;d4 each #j #b #f -------- ,l#h #d #j ,jan4 #abth1 #agga4 ,recd4 the contents ,for ,baker and ,self1 ,,geo4 ,,leigh4 ,the neglect of our early literature continued1 as we have said1 down to the second half of the eighteenth century4 ,prior to that time1 all the information at our command tends to show that collectors almost uniformly restricted themselves to the books current in or about their own time1 as we find even ,pepys asking ,bagford to secure for him1 not ,caxtons or ,elizabethan books1 but items which we should now regard with comparative or absolute indifference4 ,while some insignificant trifle1 which had happened to go out of print1 was sought with avidity1 while editions of the classics and ,continental writers1 long since converted to waste paper1 were objects of keen rivalry1 the most precious examples of ancient ,english and ,scotish typography and poetry were obtainable for pence4 ,a very interesting side to the subject before us is the share claimable in it by the fair sex4 ,in our two ,rolls of ,book-,collectors we have included the names of several ladies1 who in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries1 as well as in the earlier part of the present1 established a title to rank among possessors of libraries in a larger or smaller measure4 ,two of the most prominent names are probably those of ,miss ,richardson ,currer1 of ,eshton ,hall1 ,yorkshire1 and ,mrs4 ,rylands of ,manchester1 the latter not only the acquirer of the ,althorp treasures1 but of a most valuable body of books1 ancient and modern1 in augmentation of them4 ,this feature in the annals of collecting is the more to be borne in mind1 in that it has in recent days declined almost to disappearance1 and may be said to be limited to a few gentlewomen1 who pursue special studies1 like the ,hon4 ,alicia ,amherst and ,mrs4 ,earle1 and bring together for use or reference the works illustrative of them4 ,a study of the writer's ,rolls of ,book-,collectors1 which embrace over two thousand names1 will satisfy any one that the hereditary or transmitted collections in this country are very few1 if we limit ourselves to libraries of note1 and do not compensate for the long catalogue of old libraries which have been dispersed even in our own time4 ,are there really more than the ,miller and the ,huth1 unless we add the ,spencer or ,althorp1 kept intact and amplified1 yet in the hands of a stranger8 ,book-collecting by individuals is1 then1 mainly a personal affair1 which begins and ends with a life4 ,the continuance even of the two libraries above mentioned in private hands cannot be regarded as otherwise than precarious and terminable2 the fourth succession of ,miller has just expired in an unexpected manner1 and the destiny of the ,britwell treasures is problematical4 ,rumour has long since pointed to the ,advocates' ,library at ,edinburgh as the ultimate reversioner4 ,in a volume of moderate compass1 professedly addressing itself in a special manner to ,english collectors1 the consideration of foreign literature must of necessity be a secondary and incidental feature and element1 although it may be quite true that our countrymen and countrywomen look so frequently aside1 as it were1 from the literary productions of their own soil to study those of other lands4 ,in ,great ,britain we may be said to be much more cosmopolitan in our book-collecting tastes than many of our contemporaries on the ,continent of ,europe1 ,germany perhaps excepted4 ,in ,france1 ,spain1 ,portugal1 ,italy1 and elsewhere1 the demand is almost exclusively for native authors2 but the ,germans1 ,americans1 and ourselves take a pride1 and a just one1 in being more catholic and broad3 we see the advantage1 no doubt1 and no doubt we reap the fruit1 of such a policy4 ,at the same time1 in a monograph of limited scope it is obviously impossible to embrace even a general view of the enormously wide range which is before any one who crosses over from his own country to add to his ,english possessions even a select collection of books in foreign languages2 and we have confined our efforts in this direction to an indication of such typical or special works 7principally ,french7 as are usually sought by people in these islands1 who resort more or less to the ,continental market4 ,even prominent ,anglo-,french amateurs like ,mr4 ,r4 ,s4 ,turner and ,lord ,ashburton are found keeping within certain classes of literature1 and certain copies recommendable by their provenance1 binding1 or graphic peculiarities4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,spoliation of public libraries in past times--,denouncers of the robbers of books--,schedule of public libraries in the ,united ,kingdom--,view of the chief features of some of these--,cathedral libraries--,public libraries on the ,continent and in ,america--,early ,english books in foreign collections--,difference in the constitution of public collections--,private libraries--,their classification--,the writer's ,rolls of ,collectors--,the ,harleian ,library--,the idea borrowed from abroad--,formation of a new ,english ,school of ,collecting--,the ,roxburghe sale in #ahab--,richard ,heber and his vast library--,his services to literature--,his scholarship--,the ,britwell ,library4 ,,it hardly falls within the province of a manual for the book-collector to dwell on the character and relative merits of the purely public libraries at home and abroad1 or even on the bibliographical possessions of private personages which are not available for purchase4 ,recent experience1 however1 teaches us that we are not entitled to count any longer on the intact preservation of the books of any individual or family1 as the sale by auction has almost become fashionable4 ,at any rate1 there can be no harm in introducing a few remarks on this aspect and branch of our subject1 particularly seeing that the effect of throwing on the market thousands of rare books1 which were once thought to be hopelessly unattainable1 has contributed to improve the prospects and opportunities of purchasers4 ,the spoliation of public libraries at home and abroad is an aspect of the question or subject neither very agreeable nor very flattering4 ,in ,england and other parts of the ,empire1 within the last century1 numerous examples have occurred where valuable or unique books have been stolen or mutilated4 ,the national collection in ,great ,russell ,street has perhaps suffered the least1 and whatever may be said about the system on which it was formerly conducted and managed1 sufficient care seems always to have been exercised to guard against depredators of various kinds4 ,so far as is publicly known1 petty thefts of articles more or less easily replaceable are all that we have to regret4 ,it is notorious that the ,bodleian has lost several important volumes1 and no one will probably ever arrive at any definite information of the extent to which the libraries at ,cambridge and the other minor collections at the sister ,universities of ,oxford1 ,edinburgh1 and ,dublin have been pillaged and impoverished4 ,it has been the same all over the ,continent4 ,the ,bibliotheque ,nationale at ,paris1 and many of the leading provincial libraries of ,france1 have been robbed wholesale in former times1 and in some cases annihilated4 ,one has only to read the observations and evidence of ,m4 ,achille ,jubinal accompanying a 7then7 inedited letter of ,montaigne 7#hvo1 ,paris1 #ahej71 to form an idea of the ravages which have been made through neglect of officials and dishonesty of visitors2 and what must the fact be in ,italy1 ,spain1 ,portugal1 and elsewhere8 ,the denunciations against robbers of books and libraries date1 however1 from the remotest period1 and were at first highly necessary as a means of safeguarding the treasures of monasteries and churches4 ,isaac ,taylor1 in his ,history of the ,transmission of ,ancient ,books to ,modern ,times1 #ahge1 p4 #bdf1 prints an anathema of this kind3 ,whosoever removeth this volume from this same mentioned convent1 may the anger of the ,lord overtake him in this world1 and in the next to all eternity4 ,amen4 ,let the energetic explorers who have transferred so many hundreds of such ,,mss4 to the ,vatican and the ,british ,museum look to it2 and what are ,his ,holiness and the ,trustees in ,great ,russell ,street but palpable accessories after1 if not before1 the fact6 ,a common peril hangs over them all4 ,a visit to a library such as the ,british ,museum or the ,bodleian1 or even to those of some of the ,colleges at ,oxford and ,cambridge1 is apt to instil a feeling of reverential affection for the founders and benefactors of such institutions2 the existing functionaries seem to withdraw into middle distance1 and one enters into communion with the spirits of the departed4 ,from the private collector's point of view these great public libraries are mainly serviceable for purposes of reference and comparative study4 ,these storehouses of bibliographical and literary wealth may be classified into-- 7i7 ,national or quasi-,national ,collections3-- ,the ,british ,museum ,guildhall ,library ,south ,kensington ,museum 7,dyce and ,forster and ,general ,fine ,art ,collections7 ,society of ,antiquaries ,dr4 ,william's ,library1 ,gordon ,square ,chetham ,library1 ,manchester ,spencer-,rylands ,library1 ,manchester ,bodleian ,university ,library1 ,cambridge ,university ,library1 ,edinburgh ,advocates' ,library1 ,edinburgh ,signet ,library1 ,edinburgh ,hunterian ,library1 ,glasgow ,trinity ,college1 ,dublin ,the ,british ,museum readily divides itself1 of course very unequally1 into the ,printed ,book and ,manuscript ,departments1 and each of these has been periodically enriched by large donations or purchases en bloc1 the former more especially by the gift of the ,grenville books1 and the latter by the ,cottonian1 ,harleian1 ,lansdowne1 ,stowe1 and ,hardwicke ,,mss4 ,the ,bodleian would fall far short of what it is1 had it not been for the bequests of ,tanner1 ,selden1 ,burton1 ,crynes1 ,gough1 ,malone1 and ,douce1 and so with the ,university ,library at ,cambridge1 which owes so much to ,bishop ,moore's books1 and ,trinity1 ,dublin1 to ,archbishop ,marsh's4 7ii7 ,college ,libraries3-- ,sion ,college ,dulwich ,college ,eton ,college ,winchester ,college ,stonyhurst ,college ,st4 ,cuthbert's ,college1 ,ushaw ,cambridge ,colleges ,oxford ,colleges ,sion ,college preserves a few items of the rarest and most precious class--,shakespeare's ,lucrece1 #aeid1 ,barnfield's ,affectionate ,shepherd1 #aeid1 the ,phoenix ,nest1 #aeic1 ,drayton's ,matilda1 #aeid1 and others2 but a few specified in the old catalogue have disappeared4 ,many of the most valuable volumes bequeathed by ,edward ,alleyn to ,dulwich are now among ,garrick's books in the ,british ,museum1 or among ,malone's at ,oxford1 by conveyance2 but a few yet remain4 ,eton ,college ,library contains a small number of early printed books 7including ,caxton's ,book of ,good ,manners7 and the unique copy of ,udall's ,ralph ,roister ,doister4 ,at ,winchester they have a volume or two of very rare poetical tracts of ,elizabeth's and ,james ,i4's time4 ,stonyhurst is solely remarkable for ,,mss4 and printed works of ,robert ,southwell and other ,romish writers4 ,of the subordinate libraries at ,oxford and ,cambridge the treasures are innumerable4 ,those which belong to the printed department are very fully registered in special catalogues and by ,hazlitt1 except1 perhaps1 the very recent legacy to ,trinity ,college1 ,cambridge1 of the library of the late ,mr4 ,samuel ,sandars1 rich in early ,english typography1 and the result of life-long researches4 ,outside these fall the ,royal ,library at ,windsor1 which includes the unique perfect ,a,esop1 and one of the two books on vellum 7the ,doctrinal of ,sapience7 printed by ,caxton2 the ,archiepiscopal one at ,lambeth1 rich in rare early printed books and ,,mss41 and the ,chetham and ,rylands foundations at ,manchester1 the latter comprehending the ,althorp treasures en bloc4 ,humphrey ,chetham also established the ,church ,libraries at ,turton and ,gorton1 bibliographical notices of which have been printed by ,mr4 ,gilbert ,french1 #dto1 #ahef2 and a few strays from the ,chetham collection will be incidentally mentioned hereafter4 ,a reference to the writer's ,collections1 where such facts are not matters of familiar knowledge1 will show that the majority of this section is more remarkable for the possession of a few rarities1 or even unique items1 than for a systematic representation of classes and periods4 ,yet some are very strong in specialities3 ,christ ,church1 ,oxford1 in music2 ,magdalen1 ,cambridge1 in early ,english books 7,pepys's72 ,corpus1 ,cambridge1 in ,,mss4 7,archbishop ,parker's72 the ,bodleian1 in ,shakespeariana1 early popular books1 ,elizabethan poetry1 c4 7,malone's1 ,douce's1 ,selden's1 ,burton's71 and so forth4 7iii7 ,cathedral ,libraries3-- ,st4 ,paul's1 ,london ,canterbury 7,christ ,church7 ,york ,minster and ,chapter ,peterborough ,lichfield ,lincoln ,hereford ,at ,lincoln there was formerly the precious ,honeywood bequest1 improperly sold to ,dibdin for #ejj guineas2 but the library still contains about #ejjj volumes1 to which the ,dean and ,chapter make additions from time to time2 and there is a paid custodian1 who is one of the minor canons4 ,york ,minster and ,chapter are rich in early typography and ,yorkshire books4 ,the ,cathedral library is under the charge of a canon as librarian and a vicar-choral as sub-librarian1 who receive no salary4 ,it is open to the public on three days in summer and on two days in winter in each week4 ,there is no fund for the support or improvement of the library1 except the interest of ,l#djj and a few voluntary subscriptions4 ,hereford possesses a remarkable assemblage of chained volumes4 ,to the present group most properly appertains the library at ,westminster ,abbey1 founded by ,lord-,keeper ,williams1 while he was ,dean of ,westminster4 7iv7 ,public ,libraries on the ,continent or in ,america3-- ,bibliotheque ,nationale1 ,paris ,french ,institute 7the gift of the late ,duc d',aumale71 ,chantilly ,vatican ,library1 ,rome ,royal ,library1 ,naples ,medicean ,library1 ,florence ,st4 ,mark's ,library1 ,venice ,royal ,library1 ,turin ,imperial ,library1 ,vienna ,imperial ,library1 ,st4 ,petersburg ,royal ,library1 ,berlin ,library of ,electors and ,kings of ,bavaria1 ,muenich ,library of the ,dukes and ,kings of ,saxony1 ,woelfenbuettel ,landerbibliothek1 ,cassel ,public ,library1 ,hamburg ,public ,library1 ,goettingen ,public ,library1 ,zuerich ,archiepiscopal ,library1 ,eichstadt ,archiepiscopal ,library1 ,salzburg ,archiepiscopal ,library1 ,worms1 c4 ,plantin ,museum1 ,antwerp ,university ,library1 ,upsala ,royal ,library1 ,copenhagen ,lenox and ,carter ,brown ,libraries1 ,new ,york ,the two last named1 as it may be at once concluded1 are principally ,english and ,anglo-,american in their character4 ,our collectors do not1 as we are aware1 by any means restrict themselves to the literature of the mother country so exclusively as their ,transatlantic contemporaries2 and for them therefore it becomes of importance and interest to acquire through catalogues a familiarity with the contents of the leading assemblages of foreign and classical literature in ,continental hands4 ,but there are very few of the great public libraries abroad which have not casually or otherwise acquired ,english books1 and those of the rarest description4 ,at ,goettingen they have1 from an auction at ,lueneburg in #agfg1 the ,c4 ,merry ,tales of #aebf2 at ,cassel1 ,marlowe's ,edward ,,ii41 #aeid2 and at ,hamburg the ,elizabethan edition of ,blanchardine and ,eglantine1 #aeig1 all unique or most rare2 and this is only by way of instance or sample4 ,the ,huth copy of ,shakespeare's ,sonnets1 #afji1 was obtained from ,zuerich4 ,the private amateur does well if he keeps before him the salient features connected with his pursuit from this point of view4 ,it is to be deeply regretted that the ,government of the ,netherlands did not take steps to preserve intact the ,enscheden collection at ,haarlem1 in the same manner that that of ,belgium did the ,plantin heirlooms4 ,the late ,mr4 ,quaritch narrated an amusing and characteristic anecdote1 commemorative of his participation in the ,enscheden sale1 where the agent of the ,british ,museum waited till the morning to bid at the table for the ,troy-,book1 printed by ,wynkyn de ,worde in #aejb1 and he bought it privately over-night of the auctioneer4 ,there is1 it must be noted1 a fundamental difference in the constitution of public libraries in ,great ,britain and ,america as compared with those on the ,continent4 ,the latter1 if they do not restrict themselves1 in principal measure1 to the literature of their own country1 or at least tongue1 very seldom go far outside those limits otherwise than by accident or for works of reference4 ,on the contrary1 the ,english and ,american collections are cosmopolitan1 like those who have formed them4 ,at the ,british ,museum a volume in ,icelandic1 ,chinese1 ,hawaian1 or any other character is welcomed nearly as much as one in the vernacular4 ,in ,germany1 at all events at ,berlin and ,vienna1 ,english books of importance are recognised4 ,but at the ,bibliotheque in ,paris it is not so4 ,the ,french collect only the classics and their own literature1 just as they ignore in coins all but the ,greek and ,roman and national series4 ,within their own lines1 however1 it is wonderful1 looking at all the political convulsions which the country and capital have undergone1 what vast treasures remain in ,france--treasures of all epochs and in every class1 from the rise to the fall of the monarchy1 from volumes written for the ,carolingian1 if not ,merovingian kings1 to volumes bound for ,marie ,antoinette4 ,some interesting and instructive notices of our own public libraries1 and of a few private collections of former times1 may be found in the later volumes of the ,retrospective ,review4 ,the two ,rolls of ,collectors before mentioned are capable of making a not inconsiderable volume2 but they are classifiable in groups and periods1 and certain individuals may be taken as the central figures in the successive onward movements4 ,our immediate concern is with printed monuments1 and consequently we do not hearken back beyond the men who witnessed the introduction of typography4 ,nor does there appear1 while the purchasing power of money for literary possessions or the book-closet was high1 to have been any esprit de corps or emulation tending to constitute schools or coteries1 and to raise certain books or series to an artificial standard4 ,men at first acquired at random what happened to fall in their way2 booksellers there were few or 7except at ,london or in the ,universities7 next to none2 and auctions were long unknown4 ,except for topography and the classics1 there was1 down to the middle of the eighteenth century1 no active competition4 ,the bulk of the ,harleian ,library was probably obtained without extravagant outlay1 though not without labour and time2 not those divisions which we should now prize would be the most expensive1 unless we include the manuscripts for which ,lord ,oxford had even then to pay a price4 ,we have drawn the line where it appears that the principle of forming libraries1 in the modern sense of the word1 commenced in this country4 ,down to the ,harleian epoch1 when the ,continental system began to influence us1 the shelf of books which we observe in many old prints was the limit of nearly all collectors3 not necessarily of their resources1 but of their views and of the feeling of the time4 ,men acquired a handful or so of volumes1 which came into their hands by gift or otherwise2 from the absence or paucity of public institutions there were few individuals of any culture whatever without a few books besides the family ,bible and ,pilgrim's ,progress2 but such a colossal accumulation as was formed under the auspices of the second ,lord ,oxford1 and still more that of ,richard ,heber1 was as undreamt of as the vast and multifarious contents of the building in ,great ,russell ,street as it now exists4 ,a study of early correspondence and other sources of original information on the present point will be found to corroborate such a view of the average private collection in these islands anterior to the last century4 ,it was not till many years after the dispersion of that noble ,harleian memorial of generous ardour among the public and private collections of ,england and the ,continent 7,dr4 ,johnson in his letter to ,sir ,f4 ,barnard1 #agfh1 says that many books passed direct into the ,bibliotheque du ,roi at ,paris71 that the ,shakespeare revival led to an inquiry1 on the one hand1 into the literature connected with the ,elizabethan period1 and on the other to a partial discovery of how much of it had perished4 ,that epoch may be regarded as the true ,hegira from which we have to date the modern annals of collecting2 the antecedent time was in a sense pre-historic1 for the most precious remains of our national literature were unheeded and uncalendared2 the means of forming a comprehensive estimate of the printed stores in actual existence were yet latent or unknown1 and the almost undivided attention of students and purchasers was directed to the ancient classics and foreign typography4 ,it must be conceded1 we think1 that whatever the importance of those branches of inquiry may be1 the cause of ,british letters is more closely and permanently bound up with our own classics and the products of our own soil2 and we repeat that the movement which first gave a stimulus to a sort of revolt from the ,continental school and to the formation of a native one was the persuasion1 on the part of a few scholars1 that something more was to be done towards popularising the plays of ,shakespeare and his more eminent contemporaries1 and elucidating their writings by the help of those who lived amid the same scenes and habits of thought and under the same institutions4 ,leigh ,hunt used to speak to me of having attended the great ,roxburghe sale in #ahab just for the sake of gaining an idea of what such an affair was4 ,it was1 no doubt1 a fine collection which the noble owner and his predecessors 7particularly ,john1 ,earl of ,roxburghe in the time of ,queen ,anne7 had acquired1 mainly in the preceding century1 at very moderate prices2 and the result must have been highly satisfactory to the estate4 ,but many things have happened since then2 the ,heber ,library1 the most extensive1 most valuable1 and most ill-fated in its realisation3 the grandest and proudest bibliographical monument of the nineteenth or any other century1 has been completed and scattered2 and yet to-day1 if the general reader were asked1 he would probably be of the belief that the first rank was due to the earlier personage and collection4 ,there is somehow a prestige about the ,roxburghe sale which time seems incapable of weakening2 yet in comparison with its successor it was a mere handful2 and in fact the accumulations even of ,harley1 the second ,earl of ,oxford1 vast and precious as they may have been1 were not equal in magnitude or in value to those of ,heber1 of whom the most surprising and most interesting trait is his conversance with the interiors of so many of his treasures2 nor should we ever forget his generosity in lending them to literary workers4 ,the ,rev4 ,alexander ,dyce1 who so ably edited our elder dramatists and poets1 could never have accomplished his projects1 if ,heber had not come to his assistance with the rare1 or even unique1 original editions4 ,we have taken elsewhere an opportunity of recording the probable obligation under which we all lie to ,heber for his offices in prevailing on the ,government under the ,regency to arrange the so-called gift to the country of the library of ,george ,,iii4 ,what an inestimable boon and advantage it would have been1 had he left us his own magnificent gatherings1 with the liberty of exchanging duplicates6 ,to how many a subsequent collection would such a step have been the deathblow or rather an insuperable bar6 ,the ,britwell and ,huth libraries would have been robbed of half their gems1 and the ,daniel sale could not have proved the singular coup and sensation which it was1 had the ,heber element been absent4 ,the flyleaves of an enormous proportion of ,heber's books are found enriched by his scholarly and often very interesting memoranda2 they usually bear a stamp with ,,bibliotheca ,,heberiana1 but never an ex libris4 ,that distinction the accomplished owner resigned to minor luminaries4 ,the notes are always pertinent and occasionally numerous2 and the pages of the sale catalogue1 of which we have no fewer than thirteen parts1 are lifted above mechanical common-place by the curious and varied matter interspersed from this source1 as well as to a certain extent from the pen of ,john ,payne ,collier1 who edited the early poetical and dramatic portions1 and attended the auction to secure some of the rarest old plays for his friend the ,duke of ,devonshire4 ,heber had1 in the course of a not very prolonged life 7he died at sixty71 absorbed by degrees mainly all that fell within his reach1 both at home and abroad2 and he acquired much which never came to ,england1 but was warehoused at ,antwerp or elsewhere on the ,continent1 pending future arrangements1 which he did not live to make4 ,the library is said to have cost ,l#aej1jjj1 and to have fetched about a third of that sum4 ,as the owner had built it up from the ruins of others1 so some more recent collectors found there their opportunity4 ,a good deal of interesting information about this once conspicuous figure in book-collecting circles may be found in ,dibdin's ,reminiscences4 ,heber seems to have inherited some shares in ,elliott's brewery at ,pimlico1 and a residence within the precincts4 ,how far this fortune contributed to enable him to devote so large an amount to the purchase of books and ,,mss41 we hardly know2 it was said that he derived advantage from the slave trade1 but perhaps this was a calumny4 ,at any rate1 there was trouble which saddened his later years4 ,mr4 ,william ,henry ,miller of ,craigentinny bought nearly the whole of the early ,english poetry1 and made the ,britwell ,library what it was and is2 and ,george ,daniel of ,canonbury carried off1 at what might have then seemed exorbitant prices1 the ,shakespeare quartos1 to have the enjoyment of them for thirty years1 and then leave them as a valuable inheritance to his family2 for his death just occurred1 when ,henry ,huth had begun to compete more courageously for this class of books1 and when the ,national ,library was in a better position to offer tall figures for really vital acquisitions4 ,it was in #ahfd1 and the struggle for the quartos and a few other prizes was principally between the ,british ,museum1 ,mr4 ,huth1 and ,sir ,william ,tite4 ,at the present moment the ,britwell collection is probably1 on the whole1 the finest private library in the kingdom2 the founder of it was a solicitor in ,edinburgh1 whose name already meets the eye as a purchaser in #ahai1 when the ,marquis of ,blandford's books were sold at ,white-,knight's1 and it passed by bequest to the ,christy family1 in whose hands it now remains4 ,had it not been for ,heber and for the bibliophobia which prevailed1 when his possessions came to the hammer in #ahcd1 it is doubtful whether ,miller of ,craigentinny could have achieved the extraordinary coup1 which he did by transferring to his own shelves at one swoop the harvest of a lifetime--a lifetime almost dedicated to a single object4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,the ,huth ,library--,special familiarity of the writer with it--,seven influential collectors of our time--,the great dispersions of old-established libraries--,althorp--,ashburnham--,johns on of ,spalding--,list of the other leading collections1 which no longer exist4 ,,during a long series of years it was my special good fortune to see nearly every week the late ,mr4 ,henry ,huth1 and to learn from him many particulars of the sources from which he had derived some of his fine and rare books4 ,we made ,mr4 ,huth's acquaintance not long after the enrichment of his library by the sale of ,george ,daniel's collection in #ahfd2 and that1 with his very important acquisitions when ,mr4 ,corser died1 and his early ,english poetry came into the market soon after1 constituted the backbone or stamina of the new-comer4 ,mr4 ,huth did not collect on a large scale during a great length of time2 he made his library1 or had it made for him1 chiefly between #ahed1 when he bought his first folio ,shakespeare at ,dunn-,gardner's auction1 and #ahgj4 ,once or twice his health and spirits failed1 and he was always more or less desultory and capricious4 ,we saw him one afternoon1 when he shyly mentioned that he had at last taken courage to order home the ,mazarin ,bible1 which ,mr4 ,quaritch had kept two years after giving ,l#bfbe for it at the ,perkins sale1 and then sold to ,mr4 ,huth for ,l#be profit4 ,he did not show the book to us1 for he had not opened the parcel1 and confessed that he was rather ashamed of himself4 ,a very curious circumstance was that one of the ,rothschilds1 who had been nibbling at the copy1 called at ,quaritch's a day or so later1 and was of course vexed to find that he had been anticipated4 ,huth necessarily bought in every case1 like ,addington and ,locker1 at the top of the market1 for he waited till the books were shown or sent to him2 he never searched for them4 ,condition governed his choice a good deal2 he was fond of ,spanish books1 his mother having been a ,spaniard1 and of early ,german ones1 being a ,german on his father's side4 ,he took the classics and ,americana rather hesitatingly1 and there is no doubt that the old ,english literature interested him most powerfully1 as it was most fully represented on his shelves4 ,the folio volume of black-letter ballads1 knocked down to his agent at the ,daniel sale for ,l#gej1 was regarded by him with special tenderness2 but we think that its real history was unknown to him4 ,he was not aware that it was only a selection by ,daniel from a much larger number obtained by ,thorpe the bookseller from a private source1 suspected to have been a person in the employment of the ,tollemaches of ,helmingham ,hall1 near ,ipswich4 ,thorpe parted with the bulk to ,mr4 ,heber for ,l#bjj1 and the latter1 in sending the vendor the money1 declared how conscious he was of his extravagance1 and asked whether he had been so fortunate as to secure the inheritance of the ,stationers' ,company6 ,a far more extensive collection1 though of later date1 came some years afterward into ,mr4 ,huth's possession2 it consisted of three hundred and thirty-four sheet ballads of the ,stuart period1 which had formed part of a larger lot bought at a house-sale in the ,west of ,england for fifty shillings4 ,some went to the ,british ,museum1 some elsewhere2 ,mr4 ,huth's share cost him ,l#ejj6 ,the ,huth catalogue is a disappointing production1 owing to the circumstance that a good deal of useful information was suppressed1 and the opportunity was not taken1 where expense was the least object1 to furnish an exhaustive account of the books4 ,it is singular that the ,grenville and ,chatsworth catalogues were spoiled much in the same way1 and that ,lord ,ashburnham's own privately printed account of his books is a thousandfold inferior to the auctioneer's one4 ,the ,duke of ,roxburghe1 ,mr4 ,heber1 ,mr4 ,grenville1 ,mr4 ,daniel1 ,lord ,spencer1 ,mr4 ,miller and ,mr4 ,huth were seven personages who exercised on the printed book-market in their time 7to say nothing of ,,mss47 a very notable influence1 particularly ,heber4 ,one might add the names of ,mr4 ,jolley1 ,mr4 ,bright1 and ,mr4 ,corser1 who severally between #ahaj and #ahgj made their competition sensible and raised the standard of prices for many classes of old ,english books4 ,it was said in #ahde1 when the ,bright ,library was dispersed1 that the advance in realised values led some collectors to relinquish the pursuit4 ,the formation1 not only of such a library as that of ,heber or ,harley1 but that of ,corser or ,daniel or ,bright1 will be in the future a sheer impossibility from the absence of the means of acquiring in many branches so large a proportion of the rarer desiderata4 ,to gather together a collection of books on an extensive scale may always remain feasible2 but the probability seems to be that assemblages of literary property outside mere works of reference will show a tendency to distribute themselves over a more numerous body of owners1 including the public repository1 which year by year removes a certain body of rare books of all kinds beyond the reach of competition4 ,the ,bright episode was to a considerable extent a duel between ,mr4 ,corser and the ,british ,museum4 ,but ,mr4 ,miller and ,lord ,ashburnham1 and 7it may be added7 ,mr4 ,henry ,cunliffe of the ,albany1 were also in the field2 and two years prior1 ,maitland in his ,account of the ,early ,printed ,books at ,lambeth1 #ahdc1 already takes occasion to animadvert on what he terms the puerile competition for rarities1 which had then set in4 ,miss ,richardson ,currer1 of ,eshton ,hall1 ,craven1 ,yorkshire1 whose extensive and valuable library came to the hammer in #ahfd1 was one of the most distinguished lady-collectors of the century4 ,there is a privately printed catalogue of the books1 of which two editions appeared in #ahbj and #ahcc4 ,miss ,currer was a competitor side by side with those already named for a certain proportion of the literary treasures which were in the market in her time4 ,the late ,lady ,charlotte ,schreiber confined herself to a few subjects1 of which playing-cards were one2 but both these personages have been eclipsed in our immediate day by ,mrs4 ,rylands1 who conceived1 as a tribute to the memory of a deceased husband1 the princely design of founding on the theatre of his commercial success a grand literary monument1 of which the ,spencer books should be the nucleus and central feature4 ,one of the greatest surprises of our time in a bookish way was not the sale of the library at ,althorp1 which had been rumoured as a contingency many years before it occurred1 but its transfer by the purchaser to ,manchester4 ,we were all rather sorry to learn that the climax had at length been reached2 the sacrifice was doubtless a painful one on more than one account2 but it was presumably unavoidable1 and the noble owner was encouraged by numerous precedents3 the fashion for selling had quite set in then4 ,i visited ,althorp in #ahfh for the purpose of examining some of its treasures4 ,i remember the room1 and the corner of it where the largest private collection of ,caxtons in the world was kept1 and the glass case which enshrined quite a number of ,elizabethan rarities4 ,his ,lordship mounted a ladder to get me one or two of his ,aldines printed on vellum4 ,he showed me a delightful old volume of tracts1 bound in a vellum wrapper1 some absolutely unique1 which his grandfather had bought1 and a copy of the romance of ,richard ,coeur de ,lion1 #aeji1 which came out of a poor cottage in ,lincolnshire4 ,that former ,lord ,spencer once did a gentlemanly act in handing ,payne the bookseller a bonus of ,l#ej1 on finding that a volume he had had from him was a ,caxton4 ,alas6 the spell is broken4 ,althorp was its library1 and that has left it for ever6 ,sic transit gloria4 ,in the wake of the ,spencer books have followed those of the late ,earl of ,ashburnham1 whose representative had previously disposed of his father's coins and of some of the ,,mss4 ,the remainder of the latter still await dispersion or a purchaser en bloc4 ,the ,ashburnham printed books included a considerable number of ,caxtons and ,wynkyn de ,wordes1 the ,st4 ,albans ,chronicle and ,book of ,hunting1 c41 printed at the same place1 and many distinguished rarities in the foreign series of ancient typography2 but first and foremost the ,perkins copy of the ,gutenberg or ,mazarin ,bible on vellum1 which realised ,l#djjj1 being ,l#fjj in excess of the figure given by the buyer4 ,there was also the ,bible of #adfb on vellum1 which fetched ,l#aejj4 ,but the prevalent characteristic of the collection was an ostensible indifference on the part of the nobleman who formed it to condition4 ,there were several fine books and interesting examples of binding2 but the absence of any definite plan and of judgment was conspicuous throughout4 ,circumstances aided the immediate proprietor in his project for converting the property into cash1 and the prices reached were1 in the cases of the early printed volumes by ,caxton and others1 simply unprecedented1 looking at the sorry state of the copies offered4 ,the catalogue 7sooth to speak7 was not very carefully or scientifically prepared1 and when the important lots were put on the table1 the company had1 as a rule1 some serious deduction to make from the account printed by the auctioneers4 ,the noble vendor did not see anything unbecoming in attendance to note the prices of lots during the earlier stages1 and did not disguise his gratification when a book brought a heavy profit4 ,yet twenty years ago it was almost accounted a disgrace for an ancient family even to part with its heirlooms4 ,in those cases1 when want of the money cannot and is not pleaded1 the proceeding seems all the stranger and the more discreditable4 ,the late ,lord bought at the right time1 and his son sold at the right time4 ,the prices realised were not merely high1 but outrageous4 ,yet1 after all1 prices are a figure of speech and a relative term4 ,to a wealthy ,manchester manufacturer a thousand pounds are nothing more than four figures on a piece of paper instead of one or two1 and the sole difference between ,l#ajjj and ,l#bjjj is the substitution of one numeral for another4 ,it was known1 in a few cases1 what the noble owner had given for the articles4 ,his ,jason1 printed by ,caxton1 cost ,l#hg plus commission1 and produced ,l#bajj4 ,the ,merlin of #adih was bought for #cj guineas1 and realised ,l#gfj4 ,a little ,french volume by ,jean ,maugin1 ,les ,amours de ,cupidon et de ,psiche1 #aedf1 was carried to ,l#fj1 having been acquired for half-a-crown4 ,certain other antecedent quotations were left far behind1 as in the ,canterbury ,tales of #adih1 which at ,dunn-,gardner's sale in #ahed brought ,l#bde1 and now went up to ,l#ajjj1 and in the ,antonius ,andreas of #adhf1 which was thought worth ,l#bca1 as probably the earliest volume issued in the ,city of ,london4 ,there was a notable drop in the biddings for the imperfect copies of ,chaucer from ,caxton's press1 and a host of items went for next to nothing1 which in an inferior sale would have realised far more4 ,it is ever so2 and of course there was half a century's interest on the outlay4 ,still what an intense pleasure beyond money it had afforded the nobleman who formed it6 ,and let us think1 again1 to how long a succession of holders the same beautiful or rare book has been a friend and a companion1 a source of delight and pride6 ,it was remarked in the room that the present ,earl had enlarged his father's possessions only to the extent of ,,one ,,volume 7,no4 #bgdh71 for which he gave ,l#d1 and which yielded him ,l#g4 ,he had no right to complain so far4 ,concurrently with the ,ashburnham episode in #ahig1 there came upon us all1 like a shell1 the extraordinary report1 which proved too true1 not only that the representative of ,johnson of ,spalding had determined to part with the valuable library preserved in the house since at least the time of the ,stuarts1 if not of the ,tudors1 but that ,mrs4 ,johnson had actually called in a local clergyman to select what books he deemed worthy of being sent up to ,london for sale1 and had committed the residue to a local auctioneer4 ,the catalogues were partly distributed before the books were added1 and very few booksellers were even aware of the matter1 till the sale was over4 ,not more than three or so1 and a few private persons1 were present2 the volumes were made up in parcels and only one mentioned1 and the bidding did not exceed two or three shillings a lot4 ,supposing #bjjj items1 comprised in #ajj bundles at #cs4 each2 the grand total would be ,l#ae6 ,blades quotes the library as containing seven ,caxtons1 and the late ,mr4 ,henry ,bradshaw thought it worth while to pay a visit to ,spalding to make notes1 which he very kindly communicated to us4 ,one of the purchasers at the sale offered me two of his minor acquisitions for ,l#cj4 ,although the library included a proportion of desirable articles1 many of the books were esteemed so worthless that the acquirers removed the ex libris1 and left the rest behind them6 ,some of the ,caxtons in the public library at ,cambridge have belonged to the ,johnson family1 and are supposed to have been formerly presented to it by those of ,spalding4 ,they were acquired in the earlier half of the reign of ,henry ,,viii4 by ,martin ,johnson at the then current prices--from sixpence to a shilling or so2 and a stray or two from the same collection1 long prior to the dispersion of #ahig1 has occurred in the auction-rooms4 ,i have to mention in particular the ,spalding ,chartulary1 sold in #ahga4 ,but a few still remained on the old ground1 and fortunately five were bound up together in one volume1 which was not comprised in the wretched fiasco and anti-climax4 ,this precious collection was offered to ,mr4 ,jacobus ,weale1 while he was still curator at ,south ,kensington1 for ,l#bj1 and declined1 because1 as an officer of a public institution1 he could not accept it at that price1 and was unable to pay the real value4 ,two1 ,curia ,sapientiae1 by ,lydgate1 and ,parvus et ,magnus ,cato1 have since been acquired by the ,british ,museum1 with five excessively rare specimens of the press of ,wynkyn de ,worde4 ,the ,national ,library did not require the ,reynard the ,fox or the ,game of the ,chess4 ,the ,spalding case was as unique as some of the books themselves4 ,the owner seems to have been grossly ignorant of their value1 as well as wholly indifferent to the property as heirlooms4 ,except as a matter of record and history1 the collector need not so greatly concern himself with all those libraries which have been scattered1 and yet he finds it desirable to refer to the catalogues1 if they were publicly sold1 in order to trace books from one hand to another1 till they return into the market and find a new owner--perhaps himself4 ,one might fill a volume with a list of all the sales which the last forty years have witnessed2 but1 taking the principal names1 let us enumerate3-- ,addington ,ashburnham ,auchinleck 7,boswell7 ,bandinel ,beckford ,blew ,bliss ,bolton ,corney ,collier ,corser ,cosens ,crossley ,dunn-,gardner ,fountaine ,fraser of ,lovat ,frere ,fry ,gibson-,craig ,halliwell-,phillipps ,hamilton ,palace ,hartley ,henry ,cunliffe ,inglis ,ireland ,johnson of ,spalding ,laing ,maidment ,makellar of ,edinburgh ,middle ,hill ,mitford ,offor ,osterley ,park ,ouvry ,rimbault ,sir ,david ,dundas ,sir ,john ,fenn ,sir ,john ,simeon ,singer ,stourhead ,sunderland ,surrenden ,syston ,park ,way ,william ,morris 7residue after private sale7 ,wolfreston ,within these broad lines1 which do not include libraries privately acquired by institutions1 such as the ,dyce1 ,forster1 and ,sandars1 or by the trade1 which is an almost daily incidence1 are comprehended a preponderant share of all the important books which have come to the front since the earliest period1 of which there is an authentic register4 ,for we have to recollect that many of the persons whose possessions were dispersed only in our time were buyers a century or more ago1 and had from ,osborne1 at what still appear to our weak minds provokingly low prices1 his ,harleian bargains4 ,by the way1 he kept them a tolerably long time4 ,did some one help him to find the money1 or did he pay it by instalments8 ,seriously speaking1 it was rather a white elephant4 ,one of the most notorious private transactions in the way of sales of books en bloc was that by the ,royal ,society in #ahgc of the printed portion of the ,pirkheimer ,library1 presented to it by ,henry ,howard1 ,duke of ,norfolk1 the first president1 and originally purchased by his ancestor1 the celebrated ,earl of ,arundel1 in #afcf4 ,the dispersion of the ,harleian ,library doubtless gave an impetus to the revival in the eighteenth century of a taste for book-collecting2 but of course a large proportion of the purchases from ,osborne himself was on the part of buyers who parted with their acquisitions1 and of whom we have no further record4 ,but the ,osterley ,park and ,ham ,house collections1 the latter still intact1 owed many indeed of their greatest treasures to this source4 ,in #agfh ,dr4 ,johnson1 who had had a leading hand in the compilation of the ,harleian ,catalogue1 and had so gained a considerable experience of the bearings of the matter1 as they were then understood1 addressed a long and interesting letter to the ,king's ,librarian on the subject of the public collections of ,europe and other bibliographical particulars4 ,of the libraries above mentioned1 the ,sunderland1 ,syston ,park 7,sir ,john ,thorold71 and ,hamilton-,beckford collections owed their chief importance to early typography1 editiones principes of the classics1 and bindings4 ,among the ,blenheim books were a few miscellaneous rarities in the ,english class4 ,of ,beckford's volumes many contained his ,,mss4 notes4 ,the ,surrenden 7,dering family71 ,stourhead 7,sir ,richard ,colt-,hoare71 and ,hartley libraries were historical and topographical4 ,in the ,inglis1 ,dunn-,gardner1 and ,osterley ,park 7,earl of ,jersey7 catalogues we encounter1 among a good deal that is more or less commonplace1 the rarest ancient typography1 poetry1 and romances4 ,we next approach the larger and more important ,private ,collections of books1 which are more or less of a permanent and hereditary character1 and which we have to content ourselves with admiring at a distance or otherwise according to circumstances4 ,we cannot enumerate the holders of a few volumes or so up and down the country4 ,the names of which we think are ,devonshire1 ,bute1 ,bath1 ,dysart1 ,bridgewater 7,earl of ,ellesmere71 ,britwell1 ,huth1 ,aldenham 7,h4 ,h4 ,gibbs71 and ,acton 7or ,carnegie74 ,the ,duke of ,fife is believed to possess some curious books inherited from ,skene of ,skene4 ,the ,duke of ,northumberland owns a few1 and a few are in the possession of ,lord ,robartes at ,llanhydrock1 near ,bodmin1 ,lord ,aldenham1 and ,mr4 ,wynn of ,peniarth4 ,all these centres affect the book-collector in one of two ways3 in showing him what exists1 and in showing him now and then what he is never likely to obtain4 ,for in these repositories there are actually certain things which have never been offered for sale1 and of which the most indefatigable research has failed to bring to light other examples4 ,such is not the case1 however1 with ,lord ,acton's library at ,aldenham ,park1 near ,bridgnorth4 ,that is a collection made by a scholar for scholars2 it is wonderfully extensive and complete in its way1 and it were much to be desired that it should be preserved intact4 ,it commercial value is1 relatively to its extent1 inconsiderable4 ,the collections at ,chatsworth and ,devonshire ,house 7including the books of ,henry ,cavendish and many of those of ,thomas ,hobbes7 principally consist of early printed literature1 ,english and foreign1 and old plays2 of the latter the ,kemble dramatic library formed the nucleus1 ,payne ,collier filling up at the ,heber and other sales many important lacunae4 ,the late ,duke ill-advisedly engaged a foreign gentleman to compile his catalogue1 and the result is most unfortunate4 ,besides the ,henry ,cavendish and ,hobbes elements1 a few very valuable items came from the old library at ,bolton ,abbey1 ,yorkshire4 ,the ,althorp heirlooms1 now removed to ,manchester1 have been familiarised by the catalogues of them printed by ,dibdin2 but there are hundreds of precious volumes which he has overlooked1 and of which some account is given in the present writer's ,collections from the books themselves4 ,an idea of the ,dysart and ,britwell libraries is to be gathered from ,blades's ,caxton1 ,dibdin's ,ames1 and ,hazlitt's ,collections4 ,of the possessions in this way of the ,marquises of ,bath and ,bute we gain only casual glimpses from the same sources4 ,payne ,collier and ,hazlitt have made the ,bridgewater ,house library fairly well known4 ,the ,huth one is elsewhere referred to1 and of ,lord ,acton's a sale catalogue of a portion was prepared some years since1 as well as a bibliographical account2 but the former was suppressed1 and the latter remains incomplete and in ,,ms4 ,of ,lord ,aldenham's collection 7,early ,english ,literature1 ,bibles1 ,classics1 ,,mss41 c47 there is a privately printed catalogue1 #ahhh1 and there is also one of the late ,mr4 ,locker-,lampson's literary treasures4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,classification of collections--,origin of the taste for books--,schedule of topics or branches of inquiry--,each separately considered and the authorities cited--,ancient typography--,british history and topography--,liturgies--,books of ,hours--,the ,imitatio ,christi--,pilgrim's ,progress--,books of ,emblems--,books of ,characters--,books printed before the ,great ,fire1 at ,oxford1 during the ,civil ,war and ,interregnum1 c4--,monastic and patristic writers--,english devotional and other books printed abroad--,froschover's ,zuerich ,bible of #aeej--,other ,bibles--,the ,french ,bible of #aebc-bh--,minor specialisms4 ,,as books1 in a manuscript or printed shape1 are far more numerous and varied than any other species of property1 and are also more largely sought for purposes of direct study and instruction1 there exists the greater difficulty in attempting to advise collectors as to the line which it is best1 wisest1 or safest to embrace4 ,the class of persons who engage in this attractive pursuit are3-- 7i7 ,pure amateurs1 without any eye to the financial question4 7ii7 ,specialists of more than a single kind4 7iii7 ,students4 7iv7 ,speculators4 7v7 ,miscellaneous or casual buyers4 ,the normal amateur starts1 in general1 without any well-defined scheme before him4 ,he has seen in the hands of a friend1 perhaps1 a curious book2 and the notion takes possession of him1 rather stealthily1 yet rather languidly too1 that it might be a nice thing to have oneself--that or such another4 ,the spirit of collecting1 like a delicate germ1 is at first easily extinguished2 but an incident as trivial and fortuitous as the one just suggested has ere now constituted the nucleus and starting-point of a large library4 ,it may1 indeed1 be a favourable symptom and augury when a man begins circumspectly and deliberately2 he is more apt1 other circumstances favouring1 to prosecute his scheme to the end1 and to prove a valuable friend to the trade4 ,we have mentioned that the ,specialist may be of more than one sort4 ,he may1 in short1 be of ten thousand sorts2 and the ,student1 after all1 may be bracketed with him2 for both equally devote their exclusive attention to a prescribed class of works or branch of inquiry for a more or less definite term4 ,the subjects which principally engage the notice of specialists are3-- ,ancient ,typography 7including ,xylographic works74 ,english1 ,scotish1 and ,irish ,history4 ,english ,topography4 ,english ,genealogy and ,family ,history4 ,liturgies and ,prayer-,books4 ,books of ,hours4 ,bibles4 ,roman ,catholic books4 ,english books printed abroad4 ,voyages and ,travels4 ,irish ,literature4 ,scotish ,literature4 ,early illustrated books4 ,modern illustrated books4 ,french illustrated books4 ,books of ,emblems4 ,books of ,engravings4 ,early ,english ,poetry4 ,early ,romances4 ,early ,music4 ,spanish ,romances4 ,italian ,romances4 ,dantesque ,literature4 ,cromwell ,literature4 ,civil ,war and ,commonwealth tracts4 ,editions of the ,imitatio ,christi4 ,editions of the ,pilgrim's ,progress4 ,occult ,literature4 ,folk-lore4 ,tobacco4 ,educational books4 ,caricatures in book form4 ,miracles and phenomena4 ,broadsides4 ,chap-books4 ,there is probably not much of consequence to be suggested outside this calendar from which an intending collector may make his choice4 ,each of the topics indicated is1 for the most part1 susceptible of being subdivided and subdivided again4 ,ancient ,typography is not only a large1 but a difficult and costly field4 ,it is1 notwithstanding1 a not unusual circumstance for a beginner1 and not a rich one1 to start by making himself master of a few examples of our first printers2 and this arises from the fact that among the remains in such a line of collecting are pieces of no high interest or character1 and copies whose condition does not attract the riper connoisseur4 ,at the same time it arises from the feeling of the period which witnessed the dawn of the art1 that a heavy percentage of the output of the printers of all countries amounts to little more than typographical curiosities1 which may be substantially possessed in the form of an example of moderate cost4 ,the novice generally selects books and tracts of foreign origin1 and of a theological or technical complexion4 ,perhaps he goes further--even so far as to discard his earlier purchases2 perhaps he does not4 ,it is a matter of taste and money4 ,if he does not seek the finest and rarest specimens1 especially in the ,english series1 it is not too much to say that ,l#ejj spread over a career would suffice to procure one a fair representation in which ,fust and ,schoeffer1 ,gutenberg1 ,mentelin1 and ,caxton might appear in the form of a leaf--possibly a damaged one4 ,yet there would be a chronological view in actual originals of the art of printing from the commencement in all countries4 ,we go for our facts on this subject to ,panzer1 ,hain1 ,brunet1 the ,british ,museum ,catalogue1 c4 ,british ,history and ,topography are alike departments which can scarcely be regarded as specialities without questionable fitness4 ,for when we survey the catalogues of those who have professedly restricted their aim to these two ranges1 and reflect that all such collections are1 by the light of bibliographical authorities1 more or less tentative and imperfect1 we are brought to the conclusion that there would be1 in a thoroughly exhaustive treatment of the matter1 less left outside than could be found within4 ,of the divisions which present themselves above so much is capable of being drawn into the two other series4 ,numerically an assemblage of ancient and modern books in these classes would be by possibility immense4 ,but the attendant outlay1 unless certain signal rarities were included1 or it was deemed necessary to comprise all the poetical relics with a historical or a topographical side1 ought not to be relatively so high as that on the preceding category1 particularly if the acquirer were satisfied here and there with trustworthy reproductions of three-and-four-figure items4 ,from ,l#ajjj to ,l#aejj will go a long way in supplying a collection with that qualifying proviso2 without it1 four times the amount would barely cover you4 ,the ,hartley and ,phillipps catalogues should be consulted1 as well as ,upcott and other older authorities4 ,liturgies form one of the tastes and objects of pursuit of persons who have left behind them the fancies of their novitiate1 and possess the means of purchasing a description of literature which is abnormally costly1 and might prove more so1 were the buyers more numerous4 ,the editions of the ,prayer-,book fall under this section1 and are almost innumerable1 being tantamount to ,annuals1 and of many years we possess more than one issue4 ,the printed ,books of ,hours might1 from their extent1 as regards subordinate variations arising from the different uses and occasional changes in portions of the ritual1 constitute in themselves a life's study and absorb a fortune4 ,there is great disparity in their typographical and artistic execution1 no less than in their commercial value4 ,a tolerably full description of the series occurs in ,brunet1 ,lowndes1 ,maskell1 the ,british ,museum ,catalogue1 and in those of the principal collectors on these lines4 ,of those adapted to ,english or ,scotish uses there is an account in ,hazlitt's ,collections2 but we may look in the early future for an exhaustive monograph from the pen of ,mr4 ,jacobus ,weale4 ,the ,british ,museum is singularly rich in editions in all languages of the ,imitatio ,christi1 having enjoyed the recent opportunity of supplying wants from an enormous collection sold by public auction en bloc4 ,the ,offor ,catalogue is considered an authority on the ,pilgrim's ,progress and other works of ,bunyan2 but the ,national ,library contains a large proportion of these books1 and the ,huth ,catalogue and ,hazlitt's ,collections must not be overlooked4 ,the authorities just cited1 the ,corser ,catalogue1 and the publications of the ,holbein ,society1 will prove useful guides to any one desirous of studying the ,,emblem ,series1 which was some time since in marked request1 but has sustained the customary relapse1 and is what booksellers term rather slow just now4 ,our own literature is not particularly wealthy in these productions2 there is nothing of consequence beyond ,whitney1 ,peacham1 ,the ,mirror of ,majesty1 #afah1 ,wither1 ,quarles1 and ,harvey 7,school of the ,heart74 ,but if the collector goes outside the national frontier1 he meets with works of this class in even bewildering abundance in regard to number1 variety of type and treatment1 and degree of artistic and literary merit4 ,moreover1 among the works of this species just enumerated as of national origin1 four of the six were more or less heavily indebted to the ,continent2 the ,whitney was printed at ,leyden1 and ,wither1 ,quarles1 and ,harvey did little more than write ,english letterpress to sets of foreign plates4 ,books of ,characters1 of which perhaps ,earle's ,microcosmography1 #afbh1 is the most familiar1 have attracted attention from more than one of our book-fanciers2 they constitute a somewhat extensive series1 and we gain a fair apercu of it in the catalogue of the library of ,,dr4 ,,bliss1 of ,st4 ,mary's ,hall1 ,oxford1 #aheh4 ,it was ,bliss who reprinted ,earle in #ahaa1 and inserted a bibliography of publications on similar lines4 ,the above-mentioned gentleman also lent himself to two other paths of collecting3 one suggested by local associations1 and consisting of works printed at ,oxford1 the second dealing with those which appeared just prior to the ,great ,fire of ,london in #afff4 ,one of ,bliss's ,oxford friends1 ,,dr4 ,,bandinel1 ,bodley's librarian1 made it his speciality to bring together as many of the fugitive publications as possible relative to the ,civil ,war ,period and the ,commonwealth1 and ,,mr4 ,,john ,,forster did the same4 ,the ,bandinel ,catalogue1 #ahfa1 is an excellent guide on this ground1 although it is almost unnecessary to state that it is very incomplete4 ,the best and most exhaustive assemblage of the literature of the ,troubles and ,interregnum 7#afdj-ei7 is the descriptive list of the ,king's pamphlets in the ,british ,museum formed by ,thomason the stationer4 ,the interest and profit attendant on the study of the monastic and patristic writers1 who may be said to be less strictly national and more cosmopolitan than those of later schools1 are1 as a rule1 casual and slender for the merely literary consulter or peruser1 supposing the rather extreme case1 where such a person is sufficiently courageous and robust to engage in anything approaching a serious examination of these families of books4 ,the authors were true enthusiasts1 labouring to their lives' last thread in some obscure cell or dim closet1 where pride of authorship1 as we may feel and enjoy it1 there was none1 when beyond the walls of a convent or those of a native town their names were unknown1 their personality unrecognised4 ,except to the theologian or ritualist how repellent and illegible this mass of printed and manuscript matter must ever seem6 ,how deficient in human sympathy and pertinence6 ,these treatises1 so erudite1 so prolix1 and so multifarious1 were composed by men 7,universal1 ,irrefragable1 or ,seraphic ,doctors71 and after a certain date by women too 7,angelical ,sisters71 who had no knowledge of the world1 of society1 of human nature1 or of real philosophy4 ,yet they were1 and long remained1 the class of literature most cultivated1 most studied1 and most multiplied2 and to this hour1 notwithstanding the destruction of millions of them1 they abound in our national1 cathedral1 and college libraries1 and in private collections dedicated to that particular side of inquiry and learning4 ,in the booksellers' catalogues we sometimes meet with examples1 which are recommended to the curious buyer by their illustrations of conventual life1 and their exposure of those vices which a state of celibacy is calculated to promote in both sexes4 ,the chained book is not an uncommon feature in the ancient ecclesiastical repositories1 and even in certain churches2 and apart from the ,scriptures1 it almost invariably enters into the department of early divinity or polemics4 ,whatever may be thought of this branch of the theological library1 there is an undoubted market for it1 or some portions of it1 as stocks are kept both here and abroad1 although on a more restricted scale1 perhaps1 than formerly4 ,it is extremely probable that1 if any one who was learned enough and dexterous enough should make a decoction of all the uncountable folios which exist up and down the globe1 the result might be a single volume of not very ample dimensions1 affording its share of insight and edification4 ,the call on the part of a narrow coterie of churchmen for the ,catholic literature of the sixteenth and succeeding centuries1 more especially the books produced at ,continental presses1 necessarily resulted in the rapid inflation of the value1 while it brought to light from numberless recesses a vast assemblage of works previously undescribed and unknown4 ,many of these works were produced at obscure localities in ,france and the ,netherlands2 but ,paris1 ,douay1 ,brussels1 ,antwerp1 ,mecklin1 ,tournai1 ,bruges1 ,ghent1 ,breda1 are responsible for a majority4 ,besides the purely religious publications1 quite a large number of secular books1 and those of permanent and striking interest1 owed their origin to the same region1 particularly to ,amsterdam1 the ,hague1 ,middelburg1 ,dort4 ,the source of all this foreign production was mainly either the employment of ,englishmen and ,scots abroad on military service1 or their residence there in exile or for other purposes4 ,italy1 ,switzerland1 ,germany1 and even ,poland1 lent their presses to the ,british author2 the scarce tracts by ,james ,crichton 7the ,admirable7 proceeded from ,milan or ,venice4 ,we know what important centres for ,english controversial divinity and political pamphleteering were ,geneva1 ,basle1 and ,zuerich1 and the last-named place is particularly associated with the name of ,christopher ,froeschover1 printer of the ,bible of #aeej4 ,a distinct feature in this vast body of ,continental typography connected with us is the curious and often unique light which it incidentally throws on the lives of our countrymen and countrywomen1 segregated by their employments or opinions from their compatriots at home1 and obliged to resort to printers ignorant of the language which they committed to type4 ,a tolerably exhaustive estimate may be found of this branch of the subject by a reference to the ,general ,index of ,hazlitt's ,,collections 7#ahfg-ia74 ,to the ,duke of ,sussex's ,catalogue1 and those of ,lea ,wilson1 ,george ,offor1 ,francis ,fry1 ,william ,maskell1 ,w4 ,j4 ,loftie1 ,w4 ,j4 ,blew1 ,farmer-,atkinson1 ,lord ,ashburnham1 and the ,rev4 ,w4 ,makellar of ,edinburgh1 we must go for the means of bibliographically estimating the editions of the ,scriptures and the ,prayer-,book2 and the ,huth and ,caxton ,exhibition ,catalogues should be consulted4 ,the ordinary ,english and ,american collector seldom goes beyond ,english1 ,french1 ,german1 and ,latin ,bibles4 ,of all these1 not even excepting the ,fust and ,gutenberg or ,mazarin1 the original impression of the ,scriptures in ,french1 published at ,paris and ,antwerp in six volumes between #aebc and #aebh1 is by far the rarest2 and the next place or rank is perhaps due to the ,german one1 printed at ,zuerich in the same number of volumes1 #aebg-bi1 of which an imperfect copy is in the ,huth ,library4 ,the ,mazarin ,bible has grown rather commoner of late years4 ,it is certainly much more so than ,coverdale's ,english one of #aece in a perfect state1 or ,tyndale's ,new ,testament of #aebf4 ,it is a point about it not generally known1 that the extant copies on vellum and on paper differ4 ,for ,history1 ,genealogy1 ,topography1 and well-nigh all other branches of human science1 the student finds himself referred to the ,middle-,hill ,library1 now in course of gradual dispersion2 but this is far richer in the manuscript than in the printed book department4 ,he may also profitably consult the catalogues of ,mr4 ,hartley and ,mr4 ,tyrrell 7,city ,remembrancer71 of whom the second collected largely on ,london4 ,mr4 ,bolton ,corney1 ,mr4 ,grenville1 and ,mr4 ,jadis made voyages and travels1 books relating to ,america1 and the first-named literary adversaria1 distinct features in their enormous aggregate of volumes4 ,information on early ,english poetry and the drama may be sought in the catalogues of ,sykes1 ,perry1 ,caldecott1 ,heber1 ,chalmers1 ,jolley1 ,wolfreston1 ,way1 ,daniel1 ,corser1 ,collier1 ,frere1 ,bliss1 ,bright1 ,mitford1 ,ouvry1 ,bandinel1 ,halliwell-,phillipps1 and of course ,huth4 ,mr4 ,brook ,pulham concentrated his attention on the writings of ,george ,wither1 ,mr4 ,bragge on works illustrative of ,smokers and ,tobacco1 and ,major ,irwin on the occult and supernatural4 ,mr4 ,henry ,pyne during a long series of years made an extensive collection1 restricted to ,english books dated prior to the year #afjj1 and as a rule1 it must be added1 to the commoner class of publications4 ,,chapter ,v ,voyages and travels--,their strong ,american interest--,maryland and ,pennsylvania--,new ,plymouth--,sir ,john ,mandeville--,columbus and ,vespucci--,early medical literature--,harvey and the circulation of the blood--,occult literature--,phenomena--,technical works--,the paddle-wheel--,books printed in a special manner--,chapbooks--,garlands--,ballads- -,broadsides--,street advertisements--,general or miscellaneous collections--,omnivorous buyers--,richard ,heber1 ,sir ,thomas ,phillipps1 ,james ,crossley--,a moral deduced--,most interesting types of collector--,advantages connected with restriction to personal tastes or wants--,dangers of emulation and servility--,mr4 ,quaritch's ,dictionary of ,collectors--,various sorts of genuine collector4 ,,voyages and ,travels have always engaged a large share of attention and study1 and comprise the central and very interesting feature of almost the entire body of early ,americana1 dealing with the discovery and colonisation of that continent4 ,this part of the subject before us has received1 owing to recent political occurrences1 a further development in the direction of ,africa4 ,to the purely ,american collector1 who of course takes in ,canada1 his own literary heirlooms are unexceptionally material2 and if he works on a comprehensive principle1 he admits every item relevant to the series1 however costly and however individually trivial4 ,an ,englishman1 as a rule1 is content with typical or representative examples4 ,the late ,mr4 ,huth long remained unpersuaded that books of this character were desiderata4 ,there can be no doubt1 however--and ,mr4 ,huth concurred so far from the outset--that there are certain ,anglo-,american works which are1 so to speak1 indispensable to a library of any pretensions4 ,for instance1 it must not be without such capital productions as those written or published in elucidation of the history of the ,new ,world by ,drake1 ,cavendish1 ,hakluyt1 and ,purchas2 or such1 again1 as contribute to throw light on the settlement of ,new ,england and the progress of the ,pilgrim ,fathers4 ,this group of literature has grown within the last twenty years almost unattainable by the less opulent bibliophile2 its commercial value has risen to four times that to which the previous generation was accustomed4 ,the most signal feature in the whole series is1 however1 out of the pale of commerce4 ,the precious manuscript found at ,fulham ,palace in #ahif1 giving a detailed account of the settlement of ,new ,plymouth1 has by a graceful international act been restored1 as it were1 to its fittest home1 although many of us in ,old ,england would have1 no doubt1 preferred to see it deposited in ,great ,russell ,street4 ,there is another source of association with the mother country which commends to the notice of many1 not exclusively ,american in their tastes or objects1 the literary memorials of ,maryland and ,pennsylvania1 so intimately associated with the ,english families of ,calvert and ,penn4 ,there is no rarer volume among the first ,anglo-,american monuments than ,hariot's ,virginia1 #aehh1 which is worth from ,l#ajj to ,l#abj4 ,among the favourite books of travel are ,sir ,john ,mandeville's ,voyages1 of which there are ancient editions in ,english1 ,french1 ,italian1 and ,german1 and which is being constantly reproduced with the quaint illustrations4 ,the narratives of ,pinto1 prince of liars1 and ,bruce are gaining increased credit and confidence4 ,leo's ,description of ,africa1 in the ,english version of #afjj1 has a map already showing the source of the ,nile in an inland lake4 ,the labours of the ,hakluyt and ,geographical ,societies have conferred respectively great benefits on the cause of discovery and verification4 ,in the famous ,letter of ,columbus1 #adic1 in its various forms1 the ,mundus ,novus and ,paesi ,retrovate 7#aejg7 of ,vespucci1 and a few other leading publications1 there is a recognised interest regardless of the countries of origin4 ,we owe to the entrance into the lists of sundry members of the medical profession a temporary emergence from oblivion and respite from the waste-basket of what the booksellers describe in their catalogues as ,rare ,early ,medical4 ,there is no doubt that among these obsolete publications may be detected many curious points and many evidences of former acquaintance with supposed latter-day inventions or ideas4 ,a prominent feature in the series is ,harvey's ,latin treatise on the circulation of the blood1 of which he was the 7rather late ,british7 discoverer4 ,but1 on the whole1 the group of early works dealing with medicine and surgery is of questionable interest outside the purely practical range as a comparative study1 and those which treat of anatomy and other cognate topics are in the last degree gruesome4 ,they are the antipodes to the belles lettres4 ,occult ,literature is susceptible of a division into several classes or sections3 ,religious ,cults1 ,necromancy1 ,magic1 ,second ,sight1 ,divination1 ,astrology1 ,palmistry1 of which all have their special literatures and bibliographies4 ,major ,irwin recently sold an extensive series of works on these and kindred topics4 ,cornelius ,agrippa1 ,ashmole1 ,bulwer1 ,lilly1 ,partridge1 ,gadbury are among the foremost names of older writers in the present categories4 ,but for the faiths and worships of antiquity which may be ranked in the first order of importance and solid interest1 we chiefly depend on modern books1 such as ,payne1 ,knight1 ,inman1 ,davies1 ,forlong2 and there is quite a small library on that branch which touches on theosophy and similar speculations--all having a common source in the grand principle of ,agnosticism4 ,further information will be found collected on this and the topics which we notice below in ,hazlitt's ,popular ,antiquities1 #ahgj4 ,for those who are interested in ,portents1 ,phenomena1 ,lusus ,naturae1 ,murders1 ,earthquakes1 ,fires1 there is the catalogue of ,,mr4 ,,nassau1 #ahbd4 ,the ,british ,museum has in recent times grown more complete in the same direction4 ,the founders and earlier curators of the institution appear to have regarded such nugae as beneath the dignity of a national library2 but in fact the information which they1 and possibly they alone1 convey1 is frequently of historical1 biographical1 or topographical relevance4 ,there has been a rather marked tendency to a rise in the value of a section of technical publications which deals with the earliest notices in ,english literature of such subjects as ,electricity1 the ,microscope1 the ,steam-,engine1 the ,paddle-,wheel1 and the ,telephone1 and the books identified with these subjects are now commanding very high prices4 ,an uncut copy of ,thomas ,savery's ,navigation ,improved1 #afih1 where the principle of the paddle-wheel is discussed1 fetched at ,sotheby's in ,june #ahif1 ,l#af1 #aes4 ,this is a somewhat fresh departure1 but it is not an unsound or unreasonable one1 and the series is limited4 ,an almost invariable incidence of these artificial figures is to draw out other copies1 and then the barometer falls4 ,the name of ,,mr4 ,,eyton is identified with copies of books printed on vellum or on some special paper1 not unfrequently for his own use or pleasure2 and this gentleman's catalogue is serviceable to such as desire to follow his precedent1 of which the modern ,edition de ,luxe is an outgrowth4 ,eyton would have proved an invaluable friend to ,japanese vellum1 had he belonged to a later decade of the century4 ,the ,,chap-,,book1 which dates from the reign of ,elizabeth1 and was sold for a silver penny of her ,highness1 becomes less rare under the ,stuarts1 and common to excess at a later period down to our own days4 ,a large proportion of this species of literature consists of abridgments of larger works or of new versions on a scale suited to the penny ,history and ,garland4 ,pepys was rather smitten with those which appeared in and about his own time1 and at ,magdalen1 ,cambridge1 with the rest of his library1 a considerable number of them is bound up in volumes1 lettered ,penny ,merriments and ,penny ,godlinesses respectively4 ,the ,huth ,collection possesses many which were formerly in the ,heber and ,daniel libraries4 ,all these productions share the common attributes of very coarse paper1 very rough cuts1 and very poor type4 ,they are interesting as eminently folk-books--books printed for the multitude1 and now1 especially when the article happens to be of unusual importance and rarity1 worth several times their weight in gold4 ,two catalogues of ,chap-,books and ,popular ,histories were edited by ,mr4 ,halliwell for the ,percy ,society in #ahdh-di4 ,in the present writer's bibliographical works1 to which there is a ,general ,index1 will be found an account of all that have come into the market between #ahff and #ahib4 ,thousands upon thousands have unquestionably perished4 ,the most fascinating member of the ,chap-,book series is undoubtedly the ,garland--not so much a volume by a given author1 such as the ,court of ,venus 7#aeeh7 and ,deloney's ,garland of ,good ,will1 #aeif1 as a miscellany by sundry hands4 ,the next earliest of these collections known to us at present are the ,muses' ,garland1 #afjc1 and ,love's ,garland1 #afbd4 ,those in ,pepys's library at ,cambridge are of much later date1 yet of some no duplicates can be quoted1 so vast has been the destruction of these ephemerides4 ,of the ,pepysian ,garlands a certain proportion are reprints of older editions or repositories of songs and ballads belonging to an anterior date1 and here and there we meet with lyrics extracted from contemporary dramatic performances4 ,besides ,pepys1 ,narcissus ,luttrell the ,diarist displayed a taste for fugitive and popular publications1 and the copies acquired by him eventually found their way1 for the most part1 into ,heber's hands1 whence they have drifted in large measure either into the ,british ,museum or the ,miller and ,huth collections4 ,numerous unique examples of the popular literature of his own day1 again1 are preserved among ,robert ,burton's books in the ,bodleian4 ,allied to the chap-book are the broadsides of various classes1 including the ,ballad1 popular and political1 the ,advertisement and the ,proclamation4 ,so far as we know1 the second division exhibits the most ancient specimen in our own literature1 and is a notification on a single leaf by ,caxton respecting ,picas of ,salisbury use4 ,this precious relic1 of which only two copies are recorded1 appeared about #adhj4 ,it must have been soon after the introduction of printing into ,london and ,westminster that resort was had to the press for making public at all events matters of leading importance2 but we do not seem to possess any actual evidence of the issue of such documents save in isolated instances till toward the end of the century1 and they are chiefly in the shape of indulgences and other ecclesiastical manifestos1 circulated in all probability in the most limited numbers and peculiarly liable to disappearance4 ,the ,ballad proper cannot be said to be anterior to the closing years of ,henry ,,viii41 subsequently to the fall of ,cromwell1 ,earl of ,essex1 when the composition relative to that incident printed in the collections appeared1 and was followed by the series preserved in the library of the ,society of ,antiquaries of ,london1 and reprinted in the writer's ,fugitive ,tracts1 #ahge4 ,from the time of ,elizabeth onward the broadside in its varied aspects grew abundant1 and served as a substitute for newspaper notices1 so long as the press remained an insufficient medium4 ,the ,british ,museum and ,society of ,antiquaries possess large collections of this kind4 ,lord ,crawford has printed a catalogue of his ,proclamations1 and in the writer's ,collections1 #ahfg-ib1 occur thousands of these ephemerides arranged under what appeared to be their appropriate heads4 ,during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the sheet format lent itself largely and conveniently to teachers1 quack doctors1 astrologers1 announcing their addresses1 qualifications1 and terms1 no less than to the official1 municipal1 or parochial authorities1 and to private persons who desired to give publicity to some current matter by the exhibition of the placard on a wall or a church door4 ,there was yet another purpose which the broadside was made to serve3 prospectuses of schemes and reports of companies' or societies' proceedings4 ,the purely temporary interest of such publications accounts for their survival in unique examples and even fragments4 ,there is a general notion that the ,harleian ,miscellany and the ,somers ,tracts represent between them a very large proportion of the extant pamphlets and broadsheets published during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries4 ,but1 as a matter of fact1 they do nothing of the sort4 ,even in or about #afie ,william ,laycock of the ,inner ,temple drew attention to the unsuspected importance of these fugitive publications in his printed proposal for buying them up by a public subscription2 but even in the ,national ,library1 with all its immense accumulations1 and in ,hazlitt's ,collections1 many thousands of items are probably deficient2 while the two sets of books above mentioned contain a very slender percentage of the whole--in fact1 mere representative selections4 ,there have been men who coupled with a general plan a speciality or two4 ,for instance1 ,dyce1 who laid a collateral stress on ,shakespeariana2 ,ireland1 who made himself strong in ,leigh ,hunt and ,hazlitt2 ,crossley1 who had a peculiar affection for ,defoe2 ,bliss1 who collected books of characters and books printed at ,oxford or just before the ,great ,fire of #afff2 ,bandinel1 who was smitten by the charms of the ,civil ,war literature2 ,corser1 whose bibliographical sweethearts were ,nicholas ,breton and ,richard ,brathwaite2 and ,rimbault1 who had two1 ,old ,music and ,old ,plays4 ,mr4 ,g4 ,l4 ,gomme is similarly situated3 anthropology and folklore are his foibles4 ,it goes without saying that the ,shakespearian and dramatic student1 from ,sir ,thomas ,hanmer downward1 has usually made a stand on the literary remains and works tending to illustrate their own labours2 but of course the relevance may be direct or indirect1 and in the latter case the specialist is found to cast his net surprisingly wide4 ,specialism1 whether on the principle of personal taste or of particular studies1 has manifest advantages in an age where the multitude and choice of books are so bewildering1 where of every work of any sort of value or interest a man may have1 not a single edition--all that in a majority of instances was once available--but a hundred or a thousand in all sorts of sizes and at all sorts of prices4 ,with the discontinuance of the older paucity of literature1 the facilities for lodging within a modest bookcase a coterie of literary favourites have sorrowfully decreased1 and a collector finds it imperative to draw the line more and more rigidly1 if he does not care to fall into one of two perils--excessive outlay or excessive bulk4 ,for we have not1 as regards the former1 to go very far before we incur a serious expense1 if it happens that the run is on the rarer ,english section or on what constitutes a picked library of the ,french type4 ,of the miscellaneous group there are graduated and varying types4 ,the omnivorous accumulator1 especially where he does not insist on condition or binding1 is the dealer's idol4 ,in the forefront of this class stand facile principes ,richard ,heber and ,sir ,thomas ,phillipps1 for the reason that they bought everything--whole libraries and catalogues at a swoop4 ,yet both these distinguished men have to be placed on a distinct footing from the normal promiscuous buyer1 such as ,thomas ,jolley1 ,joseph ,tasker1 ,edward ,hailstone1 ,edward ,solly1 and a legion of others1 to whom anything in the guise of a book was a sure bait1 and who spurned ,evelyn's motto3 ,meliora retinete4 ,ascending a step or two higher1 we come to the men who repudiate specialism as narrowing and troublesome1 and who impose on themselves no restraint save perchance in the direction of theology1 science1 and arcana4 ,they stop peremptorily at the belles lettres4 ,singer1 ,mitford1 ,bliss1 ,bandinel1 ,forster1 ,cosens1 ,ireland1 ,crossley1 ,sir ,john ,simeon1 were more or less of this school4 ,at a still greater altitude we meet with a yet stronger tendency to draw the line at character or condition1 and there occur to us the names1 under the former head1 of ,capell1 ,malone1 ,douce1 ,bright1 ,chalmers1 ,collier1 ,ouvry1 ,bolton ,corney1 ,david ,laing1 ,e4 ,f4 ,rimbault1 ,halliwell-,phillipps1 ,frederick ,locker1 ,w4 ,h4 ,miller1 ,henry ,cunliffe1 ,r4 ,s4 ,turner1 and ,henry ,huth4 ,from the same point of view1 nearly in the clouds are discovered a small knot of fastidious dilettanti1 who purchase a volume in the same spirit as they might do a picture or a piece of majolica2 and of this minority ,sir ,andrew ,fountaine1 ,sir ,david ,dundas1 and ,samuel ,addington may perhaps be accepted as types4 ,the most interesting1 and it may with permission be added1 intelligent type of book-collector1 however1 seems to be that where1 after a certain measure of preparatory thought and training1 one confines acquisitions for permanent ownership to volumes for which the acquirer has a genuine personal relish4 ,in general1 the principle of forming a library on this wholesome basis would be found not only more useful1 but more economical1 since the rarest and costliest articles are by no means1 on the whole1 the most interesting or the most instructive4 ,in any case1 the inconsiderate emulation by one collector of others1 who may have different objects and perhaps ampler resources1 is a course to be avoided4 ,even here there is more than a single source or ground of inducement to purchase4 ,setting aside the mere book of reference1 which has to be multiplied to suit various exigencies1 there may be said to be three classes of literary property which rationally appeal to our sympathy3 7i7 the volume which commends itself by its intrinsic value and charm2 7ii7 that which has grown dear from lengthened companionship and possibly hereditary link2 7iii7 and that which1 unimportant so far as its internal claims and merits are concerned1 bears on its face the evidence of having once belonged to a favourite of our own or a world's hero4 ,one persuasive argument in favour of adopting the miscellaneous or typical course in the choice of a library is the rapid growth of the difficulty of meeting with the rarer items in all important specialities4 ,it is the general plan on the part of every follower of particular lines to commence1 very often casually1 by bringing home from time to time a few volumes on a certain topic1 or in a given class of literature1 or by one or two of a school of writers2 and such a proceeding succeeds tolerably well1 till the owner makes discovery of volumes positively essential to his object1 and unattainable save by a heavy outlay--perchance not even to be had at any price4 ,it is nearly always the lacunae for which we yearn2 one or two of our richer friends have them1 and we have not4 ,what we possess anybody can get in a morning's walk2 we find that we have travelled a long distance1 and have come to an impasse4 ,it is very seldom indeed that a man is satisfied with the cheaper and commoner articles in a series1 if he is aware of the existence of those which just constitute the corner-stones of such a collection as his4 ,on the contrary1 by the process of sampling or picking out here and there1 now and again1 a book or a set of books which chance or circumstances may throw in our path1 we may gradually acquire a caseful of most desirable specimens1 against which it is out of the question to raise any charge of incompleteness1 where incompleteness is the governing aim4 ,book-buying under these conditions is a humour4 ,we are at liberty to take or leave4 ,because we conceive a fancy for a work by this or that author1 we feel under no obligation to accommodate every scrap which he has printed1 or which his friends or followers have penned4 ,the object of our personal selection suffices us2 and there perhaps we begin and we end4 ,it is our humour4 ,the auctioneers' and booksellers' catalogues of the present day supply an instructive demonstration of the gradual withdrawal from the market of many thousands of articles1 in ,early ,english literature more particularly1 which at one time seemed to be of fairly frequent recurrence4 ,they have been taken up into public collections all over the world2 and the very few copies1 not to speak of unique examples1 which time had spared1 are beyond the reach of the private purchaser of to-day4 ,we have only to study with attention the ,heber and other leading records of former libraries existing in this and other countries to become convinced that the facilities for acquiring an approximately complete library of the rarer books grow narrower year by year4 ,there is1 ,i submit1 far too prevalent a tendency in collectors to follow suit1 to attach themselves to leaders of temporary fashions4 ,i plead for a greater independence of opinion1 where the taste is in any reasonable measure cultivated and developed1 or1 again1 where an individual knows what pleases himself4 ,by all means1 if it happens that he does not admire ,shakespeare and ,bacon1 ,sydney and ,jonson1 ,dryden and ,pope1 ,byron and ,shelley1 ,scott's novels or ,lamb's ,elia1 let him leave them alone1 and make his own free choice1 even if it be to go in for ,john ,buncle1 the ,adventures of a ,guinea1 or ,luttrell's ,letters to ,julia4 ,there is always the room for hope that he may quit those pastures after a time and seek more fruitful ones4 ,what is important and desirable1 however1 is that each person should be his own caterer4 ,schools are only useful where some writer of real genius has been neglected or overlooked1 or been boycotted by the press1 and attention to his works is only a fair service to him1 or a becoming1 if tardy1 tribute to his memory4 ,apropos of the increasing difficulty of obtaining certain old books noted above1 the extensive scale on which reproductions of original editions of ,early ,english literature have of recent years been made is certainly a boon to literary inquirers1 since the presence of such reissues in our circulating libraries1 if we do not choose to buy them1 tends at every step in many branches of work to help us1 and to render our undertakings more complete4 ,it frequently occurs that volumes and tracts1 which are of very slight literary or intrinsic value1 contain valuable allusions and illustrations1 which we might miss in the absence of available copies4 ,it is worth while to take in one's hand even some puerile trifle by the author of ,adonais1 if one is not obliged to buy it or asked to become the possessor4 ,one feels a curiosity to glance for a moment at a volume which1 we are constantly assured in the catalogue1 the writer did his utmost to obliterate2 and we sometimes wish that he had fully succeeded4 ,any of us1 taking in his hands the series of ,english ,book-,collectors in course of issue by ,mr4 ,quaritch 7,nos4 #a-ab71 will perceive without difficulty1 if he go no farther1 the two distinct camps1 so to speak1 into which the collecting fraternity may be1 and is1 broadly divided and classifiable4 ,you have1 on the one hand1 the men who followed their personal taste1 and amused their leisure in late years after a busy life by purchasing such works or such descriptions of literature as appealed to them and fell within their resources2 again1 the scholar or investigator who assembled round him what illustrated his studies1 not merely with an aim at emulating others2 or1 once more1 the gentleman of fortune1 who evolved from his school-day acquisitions a feeling or a passion for higher things1 and made it the business of his maturer time--even made it his career--to carry out on a scale and on lines dictated and governed by circumstances the predilection formed in boyhood4 ,on the contrary1 there are for our consideration and instruction the libraries which owed their existence to less interesting motives1 to the vague and untrained pursuit of rare and expensive books and ,,mss41 on the judgment of others in rivalry of others1 and the enterers into the field of competition with a practical eye and a financial side-look4 ,of all these great divisions there are varieties naturally arising from personal character2 but of the collector pure and simple of the older school1 that type1 we avow1 most warmly and potently attracts us which limited itself to the small and unpretentious book-closet1 with just those things which the master loved for their own sakes or for the sakes of the donors--where the commercial element was wanting1 and where the library was not viewed in the same light as railway or mining stock4 ,it is a famous principle to invest money prudently and well2 but happy is he who is wise enough to keep his library within narrow limits1 and rich enough to leave it1 such as it may be1 out of the category of realisable assets4 ,mr4 ,quaritch's project possesses in our eyes the incidental merit of providing us with personal accounts in a succinct form of many of the past proprietors of ,english and ,american libraries1 and enables us to see at once how varied and fortuitous were the conditions under which the task was begun and accomplished1 with what different measures of success and financial means2 and in what a preponderance of instances it was an individual rather than an hereditary trait4 ,broadly speaking1 we recognise two varieties of collector from all time3 the one who confers his name on a library1 and the other whose library confers a name on him4 ,even the family of genuine book-lovers--neither virtuosos nor speculators--presents more than a single type to our notice4 ,we have the student who takes a subject for treatment1 and forms a small gathering of the literary material necessary for his purpose1 shooting it back perchance into the market1 his immediate task accomplished4 ,there is the man like ,coleridge1 who regarded the volumes which fell in his way as casual and welcome visitors1 of whom he asked questions1 or who answered his1 and whose margins gave themselves up to his untiring habit of registering whatever occurred to him1 before the passing--possibly borrowed--volume went on its way again4 ,there is ,lamb1 who was less addicted to annotating his acquisitions1 but who gave them a permanent home1 if they had come to him jure emptionis1 and were of the elect--not presentation--copies1 cold and crude1 thrust into his hand by some well-meaning acquaintance4 ,there is ,edward ,fitzgerald1 dissimilar from all these1 yet so far cognate that he bought only the books which struck him as worth reading1 if not turning to some practical account4 ,nor should we in strict fairness refuse admittance within this highest circle even to such as ,selden1 ,burton1 ,pepys1 and others who might be easily enumerated1 who may have been little more than curiosity-hunters1 but who had a genuine relish for pieces of old popular literature1 the greatest rarities in the language inclusive1 when there was barely any competition for them4 ,the man of the old school1 who ransacked the shops and the stalls1 and even attended the auction1 may have been a faddist and a superficial student2 but his was an honest sort of zeal and affection2 there was no vanity or jealousy2 and we meet with cases where one collector would surrender to another an acquisition which the latter happened to have missed1 and to want very badly indeed4 ,so ,isaac ,reed gave up to ,george ,steevens ,marlowe's ,dido1 and so ,george ,,iii4 enjoined his agent not to bid for him against a student or a scholar4 ,i have not yet quite done with this aspect of the matter4 ,i have to speak of the personages who have thought fit to impose on themselves a chronological or a financial limit1 who drew the line at a given year1 or would not go beyond a certain figure4 ,mr4 ,henry ,pyne laid down #afjj as the latest date which he would admit1 and rarely exceeded a sovereign or two for a single article 7,dr4 ,doran gave me to understand that fourpence was his maximum74 ,it may appear strange to suggest that the higher the sum paid for a book 7assuming it to be worth the money71 the slighter the risk grows of the purchase proving pecuniarily unprofitable4 ,yet at the same time outlay on a library is a relative term1 and one individual may account himself as frugal in expending ,l#cj1jjj in the course of a lifetime1 as another may do in expending ,l#cjj4 ,the late ,earl of ,ashburnham bought in chief measure during the forties and fifties1 when the reaction from the bibliomania still more or less sensibly prevailed1 and considering his ,lordship's position and resources1 he was not much more lavish than the above-mentioned ,mr4 ,pyne1 or indeed any other amateur of average calibre1 while he was to the full extent as genuine a follower of the pursuit for its mere sake as anybody whom we could name--as the ,duke of ,roxburghe1 ,mr4 ,heber1 ,mr4 ,corser1 or ,mr4 ,crossley4 ,in my ,rolls of ,collectors ,i specify a type under the designation of ,book-,recipients1 and ,i instance such cases as ,dickens and ,thackeray2 but in fact there are many who would never go in pursuit of anything of the kind beyond a work of reference1 and whose utmost exploit is the payment of a friendly subscription4 ,the only title to admittance into my category of such doubtful enthusiasts is the sentimental enhancement of value arising from the transformation of the margins of a common-place volume into a repository for manuscript remarks or graphic embellishments1 which may send it back into the market some day a three-figure item in a catalogue4 ,in attempting to indicate in a sort of tentative manner the publications to which a private collection might be advantageously and comfortably limited1 one does not contemplate the shelf or so of mere works of reference1 which have to be obtained even by such as are not amateurs in this direction1 and1 moreover1 there is an obvious difficulty in prescribing for persons of infinitely varied ideas and prepossessions4 ,now1 as to volumes for reference1 the class and extent of course depend on individual requirements1 and the books outside this radius are apt to be subject in their selection to local circumstances1 since a man associated with a district or county naturally contracts a sympathy with its special history or its archaeological transactions1 as well as any miscellaneous monographs relating to particular places or celebrated persons4 ,with such specialities and preferences we cannot presume to interfere2 but1 as a rule1 the aggregate body comprised in them need not be large or very expensive1 and in catholic or general literature it becomes almost surprising when we have taken the pains to winnow from literary remains of real and permanent interest the preponderant mass1 of which the facilities for occasional examination at a public library ought to suffice1 how comparatively slender the residuum is4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,the safest course--,consideration of the relative value and interest of books in libraries--,the intrinsic and extrinsic aspects--,consolation for the less wealthy buyer--,the best books among the cheapest--,a few examples--,abundance of printed matter in book-form--,schedule of ,books which are ,books--,remarks on ,english translations of foreign literature4 ,,when we inspect a great library1 filling three or four apartments lined with cases1 the first impression is that the possession of such an assemblage of literary monuments is a privilege reserved for the very wealthy2 and to some extent so it is4 ,but certain elements enter into the constitution of all extensive accumulations of property of any kind1 whether it be books1 prints1 medals1 or coins1 which inevitably swell the bulk and the cost without augmenting in anything approaching an equal ratio the solid value4 ,not to wander from our immediate field of inquiry and argument1 the literary connoisseur1 starting perhaps with a fairly modest programme1 acquires almost insensibly an inclination to expand and diverge1 until he becomes1 instead of the owner of a taste1 the victim of an insatiable passion4 ,he not merely admits innumerable authors and works of whom or which he originally knew nothing1 but there are variant impressions1 copies with special readings or an unique provenance1 bindings curious or splendid2 and nothing at last comes amiss1 the means of purchase presumed4 ,yet1 at the same time1 he does not substantially possess1 perhaps1 much more than the master of a petite bibliotheque1 on which the outlay has not been a hundredth part of his own4 ,a considerable proportion of his shelf-furniture are distant acquaintances1 as it were1 and those acquisitions with which he is intimate are not unlikely to prove less numerous than the belongings of his humbler and less voracious contemporary4 ,even where the object and ruling law are strict practical selections of what pleases the buyer1 the range of difference is very wide4 ,one man prefers the modern novelists1 prose essayists1 or verse writers2 a second1 collections of caricatures and prints in book-form2 a third1 topography2 a fourth1 the occult sciences1 and so forth4 ,i offer no objection to these partialities2 but ,i entertain an individual preference for volumes chosen from nearly all branches of the belles lettres1 each for its own sake4 ,i do not vote of necessity in all cases for a book because it is rare1 or because it is old1 or because it is the best edition2 but ,i do not think that ,i should like any scholar my friend to have the opportunity of pointing out to me 7as he would1 wouldn't he87 that ,i lacked any real essential1 as the child tried to satisfy ,longfellow that his shelves were not complete without a copy of the undying romance of ,jack the ,giant-killer4 ,it cannot fail to strike any one opening such books as ,bacon's ,sylva ,sylvarum or ,markham's ,way to ,get ,wealth1 for how comparatively1 indeed absolutely1 small a consideration it is possible to obtain two works so brimful of interest and curiosity on all subjects connected with gardening1 agriculture1 and rural pursuits or amusements4 ,but both these works long remained--the ,bacon yet does so--outside the collector's pale and cognisance1 and the real cause was that they were alike common2 they had been the favourites of successive generations2 edition upon edition had been demanded2 and the survival of copies was too great to suit the book-hunter1 who aims at shyer quarry4 ,take again1 as a sample1 a noble old work like the ,english ,bayle1 five substantial folios2 it was a question of more than a five-pound note to become the master of a good1 well-bound copy2 one in morocco or russia by ,roger ,payne twice that amount could once scarcely have brought down2 and now it is articulo mortis4 ,the connoisseur finds it too bulky1 and he hears that its matter has been superseded4 ,at any rate1 it is no longer the mode1 and the mill begins to acquire familiarity with it4 ,let the taste return for such big game1 and copies will be as ,caxtons are4 ,most part of the editions will ere then have been served up again in the form of cheap book-drapery4 ,the ne plus ultra of interest and respect seems to us to centre in such collections of books as those of ,samuel ,pepys1 ,narcissus ,luttrell1 the ,rev4 ,henry ,white of ,lichfield1 and ,charles ,lamb1 where the volumes reflect the personal tastes of their owners1 and are1 or have been1 objects to them of personal regard4 ,what is to be thought or said of the man who simply buys works which happen to be in the fashion for the moment1 and for which he competes with others as wise as himself1 till the prices become ridiculous8 ,english and ,american millionaires acquire specimens of early typography1 poetry1 binding1 or what not1 because they hear that it is the thing to do4 ,one gentleman will give ,l#ajj more for a copy1 because he is credibly informed that it is three-eighths of an inch taller than any other known2 and a second will take something from the vendor on the assurance that no library of any pretensions is complete without it4 ,this sort of child's-play is not ,book-,collecting4 ,the true book-closet and its master have to be kinsfolk1 not acquaintances introduced by some bookseller in waiting4 ,humanly speaking1 the poor little catalogue made by ,hearne of his own books and ,,mss4 comes nearer home to our affections than those of ,grenville and ,huth4 ,in speaking and thinking of real books1 it is necessary again to distinguish between articulate productions of two classes--between such a work1 for example1 as ,defoe's ,robinson ,crusoe and such an one as ,thoreau's ,walden1 or between ,gibbon's ,decline and ,fall of the ,roman ,empire and ,sir ,thomas ,browne's ,urn-,burial4 ,the present is an enterprise directed toward the indication to collectors of different views and tastes of the volumes which they should respectively select for study or purchase4 ,there are millions who have passed through life unconsciously without having read a book1 although they may have seen1 nay1 possessed thousands4 ,those which might have been recommended to them with advantage1 and perused with advantage1 were too obscure1 too dull1 too cheap1 too unfashionable4 ,it is of no use to read publications with which your acquaintances have no familiarity1 and to the merits of which it might be a hard task to convert them4 ,but1 as we have said1 we want space to enter into these details1 and we can only generalise bibliographically1 repeating that literature is broadly classifiable into ,books and ,things in ,book-,form--,specimens of ,paper1 ,typography and ,binding1 or counterfeit illusory distributions of printer's letter into words and sentences and volumes by the passing favourites of each succeeding age--what ,thoreau call its tit-men4 ,we might readily instance masterpieces of erudition or industry which leave nothing to be desired in the way of information and safe guidance1 and which1 at the same time1 do not distantly realise our conception of ,books--real bona fide ,books4 ,they may be the best editions by the best binders1 or they may be antiquarian periodicals or sets of ,learned ,transactions1 reducing much of the elder lore cherished and credited by our ancestors to waste-paper2 we feel that it is a sort of superstition which influences us in regarding them2 but we fail to shake off the prejudice1 or whatever it may be1 and we hold up1 on the contrary1 to the gaze of some sceptical acquaintance a humble little volume in plain mellow sheep--say1 a first ,walton1 or ,bunyan1 or ,carew1 nay1 by possibility a ,caxton or ,wynkyn de ,worde--which a roomful of perfectly gentlemanly books should not buy from us4 ,it may strike the reader as a heresy in taste and judgment to pronounce the four ,shakespeare folios of secondary interest from the highest point of view1 as being posthumous and edited productions4 ,but so it is2 yet ,caxton's first impression of ,chaucer's ,canterbury ,tales1 if we were to happen upon it by accident1 is a possession which we should not be easily persuaded to coin into sovereigns1 and such a prize as the ,evelyn copy of ,spenser's ,faery ,queen1 #aeij1 with the ,diarist's cypher down the back and his note of ownership inside the old calf cover1 is worth a library of inarticulate printed matter4 ,so1 again1 ,aubrey1 in his ,miscellanies1 ,remains of ,gentilism and ,judaism1 ,history of ,surrey1 and ,natural ,history of ,wiltshire1 presents us with works very imperfect and empirical in their character--even foolish and irritating here and there2 but between those undertakings and such as ,manning and ,bray's or ,brayley and ,britton's ,surrey there is the difference that the latter are literary compilations1 and the former personal relics inalienably identified with an individual and an epoch4 ,it is the same with certain others1 ancient as well as modern writers4 ,take ,herodotus1 ,athenaeus1 and ,aulus ,gellius on the one hand1 and ,bishop ,kennett's ,parochial ,antiquities1 ,white's ,selborne1 ,knox's ,ornithological ,rambles in ,sussex1 or ,lucas's ,studies in ,nidderdale on the other4 ,all these equally tell you1 not what some one else saw or thought1 but what they saw or thought themselves1 and in a manner which will never cease to charm4 ,there are works1 again1 which1 without professing to entertain for the authors any strong personal regard1 we read and re-peruse1 as we admire a fine piece of sculpture or porcelain1 an antique bronze or cameo1 as masterpieces of art or models of style4 ,we are perfectly conscious1 as we proceed1 that they are not to be trusted as authorities1 and perhaps it is so on the very account which renders them irresistibly attractive4 ,some of the most celebrated literary compositions in our language are more or less strongly imbued with the spirit of partisanship or a leaven of constitutional bias2 yet we like to have them by us to steal half-an-hour's delight1 just as we resort sometimes to alluring but dangerous stimulants4 ,we have in our mind1 not volumes of fiction1 not even the historical novel1 but serious narratives purporting to describe the annals of our country and the lives of our countrymen and countrywomen4 ,we take them up and we lay them down with pleasure1 and it is agreeable to feel that they are not far away2 and they will not do us greater harm1 if we combine an acquaintance with their deficiencies and faults as well as with their beauties1 than the fascinating associates with whom we exchange civilities in the drawing-room or at the club1 and with whose haunts and opinions we are alike unconcerned4 ,of the romances under the soberer names of history1 biography1 and criticism1 which abound in all the literatures of nearly all times1 we are at liberty to credit as much or as little as we choose2 but in how many instances we should regret to lose1 or not to have inherited1 these2 and the personal partiality which constitutes the blemish here and there equally constitutes the merit4 ,what makes us return again and again to certain books in all literatures1 forgetful of chronology and biographical dictionaries8 ,what draws us irresistibly for the twentieth time to works of such different origin and character as ,herodotus1 ,caesar1 ,aulus ,gellius1 ,browne's ,urn-,burial and ,religio ,medici1 ,pepys's ,diary1 ,defoe's ,robinson ,crusoe1 ,boswell's ,life of ,johnson1 and a handful of authors nearer to our own day8 ,is it not their breadth1 catholicism1 and sincerity8 ,is it not precisely those qualities which no sublunar systems of computing time can affect or delimit8 ,if we take successively in hand the ,odyssey1 the ,arabian ,nights1 the ,canterbury ,tales1 ,don ,quixote1 ,gil ,blas de ,santillane1 and ,robinson ,crusoe1 do we without some reflection realise that between the first and the last in order of production thousands of years intervened8 ,most of the romances of chivalry and the ,faery ,queen strike us as more antiquated than ,homer1 assuredly more so than ,chaucer4 ,the secret and the charm seems to lie in the fact that all great books are pictures of human nature1 which is and has been always the same2 and we are able to account in a similar manner for the stupendous popularity of such works as the ,imitatio ,christi and the ,pilgrim's ,progress4 ,above all things1 they are strictly bona fide4 ,they are no catch-pennies4 ,we find ourselves with hundreds1 nay1 thousands of other books at our elbow or at our command1 living in communion with half-a-dozen minds4 ,we read our favourite books1 and when we have reached the end of our tether1 we recommence as if we were in the ,scilly ,islands1 and there were no more obtainable or permissible4 ,we never wax tired of conning over ,bayle ,st4 ,john's ,montaigne the ,essayist1 ,thoreau's ,walden1 ,howell's ,venetian ,life and ,italian ,journeys4 ,cuique suum4 ,we have known those who never let the sun set without dipping into ,burton's ,anatomy of ,melancholy1 or who have some pet volume with which they renew their intimacy every year1 as ,francis ,douce did with ,reynard the ,fox4 ,there must usually be an unconscious sympathy in these cases1 a pleasing revelation of extended identity1 as if these other productions were what we should have liked to claim as our own1 and as if we felt we should have said the same things and thought the same thoughts1 if they had been ours4 ,it is the same with some parts of some writers' labours1 to be had separately1 as ,hamlet1 ,as ,you ,like ,it1 ,a ,midsummer ,night's ,dream1 ,the ,merry ,wives of ,windsor1 ,macbeth1 and the ,merchant of ,venice2 and with a few detached or select compositions to which one has to thread one's way in a larger volume3 a few songs scattered through the early dramatists and lyrists2 ,gray's ,elegy2 ,tennyson's ,may ,queen 7without the sequel71 and ,locksley ,hall and ,in ,memoriam 7missing the tags74 ,in the present aspect of our inquiry1 ,famous ,books and the ,best are by no means convertible terms4 ,there are such1 it is true1 as fall under both categories3 the ,hebrew ,scriptures1 ,homer1 ,herodotus1 ,arabian ,nights1 ,canterbury ,tales1 ,montaigne's ,essays1 ,shakespeare1 ,gibbon4 ,famous literary compositions at different levels or in their various classes are ,boccaccio's ,decameron1 ,ariosto's ,orlando ,furioso1 ,aretino1 ,spenser's ,faery ,queen1 ,rabelais1 ,pilgrim's ,progress1 ,la ,fontaine's ,tales1 ,rousseau's ,confessions1 ,tristram ,shandy1 ,candide1 ,don ,juan2 and even among these how fair a proportion depends for its value and fruitfulness on the student8 ,and1 again1 on his training4 ,for we are aware of readers who prefer ,bunyan to ,spenser1 others who place ,sterne1 ,voltaire1 and ,byron before both1 and not a few who have emerged with profit and without pollution from the perusal of the labours of ,rabelais and ,aretino4 ,there is a literal deluge of moral and colourless works1 on the contrary1 from which even the average modern reader comes away only with an uncomfortable sense of waste of time and eyesight4 ,of printed matter in book-shape there is no end4 ,the mass grows day by day1 almost hour by hour4 ,yet the successful candidates for admission to our inner circle of publications of all ages and countries1 which so far meet on common ground in being provided with a passport to succeeding times requiring and recognising no critical vise1 increase in numbers slowly1 ,o so slowly6 ,it would be presumptuous and unsafe to attempt to discount the ultimate verdict on many now popular names2 but it is to be apprehended that1 looking at the much more numerous body of writers1 the calls to immortality will hereafter be in a relatively diminishing ratio4 ,the influences and agencies by which certain schools of thought and work are artificially forced to the front are too often temporary1 and their life is apt to be1 ,hamadryad-like1 conterminous with that of their foster-parents4 ,it has been my lot to witness the rise1 decline1 and evanescence of groups of authors and artists1 whom it was almost sacrilegious to mention even with qualification4 ,adverse criticism was out of the question for any one valuing his own repute4 ,how various all the afore-mentioned standard or permanent books are1 and still in one respect how similar6 ,similar1 inasmuch as they or their subject-matter are surrounded by an atmosphere which preserves them as in embalmed cerements4 ,in strict truth1 there may be some among the number which are far indeed from being individually important or costly1 while others in a critical sense have long been entirely obsolete1 or perhaps never possessed any critical rank4 ,it does not signify4 ,their testimonials are independent of such considerations4 ,many1 most of them1 are on ever-living topics2 many1 again1 in their essence and material properties are sanctified and odorous4 ,i find myself possessed by a theory1 possibly a weak and erroneous one1 in favour of such a book1 for instance1 as ,johnson's ,lives of the ,poets1 as ,johnson published it1 with all its imperfections1 with the full consciousness that improved editions exist4 ,for the original output represents a genuine aspect of the author's mind1 prejudices inclusive2 and ,i am not sure that1 had he lived to bring out a revised and enlarged impression1 ,i should have looked upon it as so characteristic and spontaneous2 and the same criticism applies to a number of other productions1 dependent for their appreciation by us not upon their substantial1 so much as on their sentimental1 value4 ,what is not unapt to strike an average mind is that1 with such a caseful of volumes as my cursory and incomplete inventory represents and enumerates1 how much1 or perhaps rather how little1 remains behind of solid1 intrinsic worth1 and what a preponderance of the unnamed printed matter resolves itself into bric-a-brac1 unless it amounts to such publications1 past and present1 as one is content to procure on loan from the circulating library or inspect in the show-cases of our museums4 ,happy the men who lived before literary societies1 book-clubs1 and cheap editions1 which have between them so multiplied the aggregate stock or material from which the collector has to make his choice6 ,there are occasional instances where co-operation is useful1 and even necessary2 but the movement has perhaps been carried too far1 as such movements usually are4 ,our forefathers could not have divined what an unknown future was to yield to us in the form of printed matter of all sorts and degrees4 ,but they already had their great authors1 their favourite books1 their rarities1 in sufficient abundance4 ,it was a narrower field1 but a less perplexing one2 and from the seeing-point of the amateur1 pure and simple1 our gain is not unequivocal4 ,i shall now proceed to draw up an experimental catalogue of works which appear to possess a solid and permanent claim to respect and attention for their own sakes1 apart from any critical1 textual1 or other secondary elements4 ,others without number might be added as examples of learning1 utility1 and curiosity2 but they do not fall within this exceedingly select category3-- ,a,esop's ,fables4 ,in a form as near as may be to the original work4 ,antoninus1 ,itinerary4 ,arabian ,nights4 ,arthur of ,little ,britain4 ,ashmole's ,theatrum ,chemicum4 ,athenaeus4 ,aulus ,gellius4 ,bacon's ,sylva ,sylvarum4 ,bacon's ,essays4 ,bayle's ,dictionary1 in ,english4 ,bidpai or ,pilpay so called1 ,fables of4 ,a genuine ,english text4 ,boccaccio's ,decameron4 ,boswell's ,life of ,johnson and ,tour in the ,hebrides4 ,bradbury's ,nature-printed ,ferns and ,seaweeds4 ,brand's ,popular ,antiquities4 ,latest recension1 not ,ellis's4 ,browne's ,religio ,medici4 ,browne's ,urn-,burial4 ,the latter reminds us of ,lamb's style1 allowing for difference of time4 ,browne's ,vulgar ,errors4 ,browning's ,early ,poems4 ,a moderate volume would hold all worth perpetuation4 ,bunyan's ,pilgrim's ,progress4 ,burton's ,anatomy of ,melancholy4 ,a book of academical cast1 abounding in quaint conceits and curious extracts2 full of false philosophy and morality4 ,butler's ,hudibras4 ,byron's ,scotish ,bards4 ,byron's ,childe ,harold4 ,byron's ,don ,juan4 ,caesaris ,commentarii4 ,carew1 ,thomas1 ,poems4 ,cervantes' ,don ,quixote1 by ,jervis1 #b vols4 #dto4 ,chappell's ,popular ,music4 ,chaucer's ,canterbury ,tales4 ,chronicles 7,english7 ,series of4 ,including ,froissart and ,monstrelet1 with the original illuminated illustrations to former4 ,cicero1 ,de ,senectute et ,de ,amicitia4 ,in the original ,latin4 ,cobbett's ,rural ,rides4 ,coleridge's ,table-,talk4 ,cotgrave's ,french ,dictionary4 ,couch's ,british ,fishes4 ,coventry1 ,chester1 ,towneley1 and ,york ,mysteries4 ,cunningham's ,london1 by ,h4 ,b4 ,wheatley4 ,defoe's ,robinson ,crusoe4 ,delany1 ,diary and ,correspondence4 ,diogenes ,laertius4 ,dodsley's ,old ,plays4 ,douce's ,illustrations of ,shakespeare1 #b vols4 ,dunlop's ,history of ,fiction4 ,sir ,h4 ,ellis's ,original ,letters1 three series4 ,george ,ellis's ,specimens of ,early ,english ,romances4 ,elton's ,specimens of the ,classic ,poets1 #c vols4 #ahad4 ,elton's versions of portions of ,homer appear to be superior to ,chapman1 and to make it regrettable that he did not complete the work4 ,epinal ,glossary1 by ,sweet4 ,for the earliest ,english extant4 ,evelyn's ,diary4 ,evelyn's ,sylva4 ,fairholt's ,costume1 #ahfj4 ,fielding's ,tom ,jones4 ,fox's ,book of ,martyrs4 ,fournier's ,vieux-,neuf1 #ahgg4 ,gayton's ,festivous ,notes on ,don ,quixote4 ,gesta ,romanorum1 in ,english4 ,gilchrist's ,blake4 ,gilpin's ,forest ,scenery4 ,golden ,legend1 in ,english4 ,goldsmith's ,vicar of ,wakefield4 ,goldsmith's ,citizen of the ,world4 ,grimm's ,popular ,stories4 ,hakluyt's ,voyages4 ,harleian ,miscellany4 ,hearne's ,diary1 #bnd edition4 ,rawlinson's ,herodotus4 ,herrick's ,hesperides4 ,holland's ,heroeologia1 #afbj4 ,homer1 by ,chapman4 ,but better in the original4 ,hone's ,popular ,works4 ,an original copy4 ,horace1 ,satires and ,epistles1 by ,keightley4 ,horae ,beatae ,mariae ,virginis4 ,a printed edition for the engravings4 ,james ,howell's ,letters4 ,howells' ,italian ,journeys4 ,howells' ,venetian ,life4 ,hundred ,merry ,tales1 #aebf4 ,hunter's ,new ,illustrations of ,shakespeare4 ,hunter's ,historical ,tracts4 ,hunter's ,account of ,new ,plymouth1 #bnd edition4 ,irving's ,scotish ,poetry4 ,johnson's ,lives of the ,poets4 ,johnson's ,rasselas4 ,for the sake of its story1 not of the book4 ,junius1 ,letters of4 ,keightley's ,mythology of ,greece and ,italy4 ,some of the matter anticipated by ,sir ,t4 ,browne in his ,vulgar ,errors4 ,keightley's ,histories of ,greece1 ,rome1 and ,england 7last editions74 ,knox's ,ornithological ,rambles in ,sussex4 ,lamb's ,elia4 ,lamb's ,letters4 ,lamb's ,adventures of ,ulysses4 ,lamb's ,rosamund ,gray4 ,langland's ,piers ,ploughman4 ,latimer's ,sermons4 ,lazarillo de ,tormes1 in ,english4 ,le ,houx1 ,vaux de ,vire1 in ,french4 ,leland's ,itinerary and ,collectanea1 #aggj4 ,le ,sage's ,gil ,blas1 ,,in ,,french4 ,lord ,lindsay's ,lives of the ,lindsays4 ,see that passage where the opinion of ,james1 ,earl of ,balcarres1 is quoted in regard to the duty of men to leave behind them some trace or record of their mind4 ,edit4 #ahdi4 ,lockhart's ,life of ,scott4 ,lodge's ,portraits4 ,an early edition4 ,lovelace's ,poems4 ,lucas1 ,studies in ,nidderdale4 ,lysons1 ,magna ,britannia1 #f vols4 ,lysons1 ,environs of ,london1 #bnd edition4 ,malory's ,morte ,arthur4 ,montaigne's ,essays1 ,,in ,,french4 ,morris's ,works on ,birds1 ,birds' ,eggs1 c4 ,nuernberg ,chronicle1 #adic4 ,the ,latin text4 ,as a very early picture-book4 ,olaus ,magnus4 ,original ,latin1 with the woodcuts4 ,ovid4 ,partly as in all appearance a favourite in some shape with our ,shakespeare4 ,paston ,letters4 ,pennant's ,tours in ,wales and ,scotland1 and ,journey to ,london4 ,on account of their personality4 ,you know that much is obsolete1 and other men have improved on them2 but there is somehow the same charm4 ,pepys's ,diary1 by ,wheatley4 ,percy's ,reliques4 ,phillips's ,english ,dictionary4 ,photii ,bibliotheca4 ,plato's ,dialogues4 ,perhaps the ,french version by ,cousin is preferable4 ,plinii ,epistolae4 ,plutarch's ,lives4 ,popular 7,early7 ,poetry of ,england1 #d vols4 ,popular 7,early7 ,poetry of ,scotland and the ,border1 #b vols4 ,poets4 ,select ,british ,poets1 #ahbd4 ,includes ample selections from writers hardly worth possessing in a separate shape1 including many even great and distinguished names4 ,poets4 ,corpus ,poetarum ,latinorum et ,graecorum4 ,the same remark applies4 ,rabelais4 ,randolph's ,plays and ,poems4 ,retrospective ,review4 ,reynard the ,fox1 in ,english4 ,richardson's ,clarissa4 ,robin ,hood ,ballads4 ,scot's ,discovery of ,witchcraft4 ,selden's ,table-,talk4 ,shakespeare's ,works4 ,shakespeare's ,library1 #f vols4 ,songs of the ,dramatists4 ,southey's ,commonplace ,book4 ,southey's ,select ,letters4 ,more especially for his delightful letters to children4 ,spence's ,anecdotes4 ,spenser's ,works4 ,sterne's ,tristram ,shandy4 ,st4 ,john's 7,j4 ,a47 ,manners and ,customs of ,ancient ,greece1 #ahdb4 ,a lifelong labour1 and most delightful and instructive work4 ,st4 ,john's 7,bayle7 ,montaigne the ,essayist4 ,st4 ,john's ,english version of ,saint ,simon4 ,stow's ,annals4 ,stow's ,survey of ,london1 #agbj4 ,strutt's ,costume1 by ,planche4 ,suckling's ,works4 ,swift's ,gulliver4 ,sydney's ,arcadia4 ,tennyson's ,lyrical ,poems4 ,a judicious one-volume selection preferable4 ,thoreau's ,walden1 #ahed4 ,thorne's ,environs of ,london4 ,tottell's ,miscellany4 ,virgil1 ,bucolics and ,georgics1 by ,keightley4 ,voltaire's ,candide1 in ,french4 ,voltaire's ,philosophical ,dictionary4 ,walton's ,angler4 ,warton's ,english ,poetry1 #ahga4 ,walpole's ,letters4 ,wise's ,new ,forest4 ,best edition for engravings4 ,white's ,selborne1 #ast edition4 ,wodroephe's ,spare ,hours of a ,soldier1 #afbc4 ,yarrell's ,british ,birds4 ,how passing rich one would be with all these1 and no more--rich beyond the greatest bibliomaniacs1 and beyond the possessors of the rarest and costliest treasures in book-form6 ,turn over the pages of the most splendid catalogues1 and how few one would find to add6 ,nor would all the before-recited productions appeal to all book-lovers4 ,there are many who would excuse themselves from admitting ,rabelais4 ,some might not particularly care for the works of foreign origin4 ,some might be courageous enough to avow an indifference to ,milton and ,spenser1 and even a dislike to ,bunyan4 ,still the rule holds good1 we think1 that all our chosen authors or books have more or less powerful credentials4 ,there remain to be added ,books of ,reference1 as we have pointed out1 curiosities1 and this or that person's specialisms4 ,from a strictly practical point of view1 the language and sense of any great writer1 ancient or modern1 may be as well1 nay1 better1 appreciated in a volume bought for a trifle than in a rare and luxurious edition1 where the place and time of origin1 the type1 the paper1 and the binding are adventitious accessories--almost impedimenta--and the book itself a work of art like a picture or a coin4 ,but with either of the latter it is different1 for there the canvas or the metal is an integral portion of the object4 ,for instance1 take the better parts of ,tennyson4 ,is it not sufficient to read them in a modest foolscap octavo8 ,do we require external aids8 ,the poet is his own best illustrator1 and if we purchase a pictorial edition1 we are apt to find that the author and the artist are at variance in their interpretations4 ,translations are always to be carefully avoided by all who can more or less confidently read the author in the original language4 ,we have yet to meet with a version1 whether of an ancient or of a modern classic1 which is thoroughly appreciative and satisfactory4 ,the majority are utterly disappointing and deceptive4 ,it is in the transfer of the idiom and costume that the difficulty and consequent failure lie4 ,no one who merely knows at second hand ,homer1 ,herodotus1 ,plautus1 ,terence1 ,horace1 ,virgil1 ,montaigne1 ,le ,sage 7a metonym for ,gil ,blas71 ,cervantes1 ,la ,fontaine1 ,dumas1 ,maupassant1 ,balzac1 can have had an opportunity of forming an adequate and just estimate of those authors4 ,you might nearly as soon expect a ,frenchman to relish ,butler or ,dickens in their ,parisian habiliments4 ,such a fact--for a fact it undoubtedly is--opens to our consideration a very large and a very grave problem1 since the very limited extent to which the ,english public is conversant with ,greek and ,latin1 and with even the ,latin family of modern languages1 makes the admission that so many works of the highest importance and interest are only properly and truly readable in their own tongues tantamount to one that they are not properly and truly readable at all4 ,of all forms of translation1 the paraphrase is perhaps the worst1 so far as an interpretation of the original sense goes1 but not the most dangerous if we know it to be what it is1 and do not look for more than a general idea of the meaning and plan of the author4 ,to be practically serviceable1 an ,english version of any classical or foreign work should be literal1 and with the literalness as idiomatic as may be2 and if the text to be rendered is in verse1 the ,english equivalent should preferably be in verse without rhyme or in prose4 ,the object to be attained in these cases is a transfer of the conceptions1 notions1 or theories of writers from languages which we do not understand to one which we do2 and therefore the best translator is he who has absolutely no higher aim than this1 and does not aspire to make his task a stalking-horse for his own literary ambition4 ,there is scarcely an end of the various schemes adopted to convey to us intelligibly and successfully the sentiments and conceits of ancient authors as well as of those of other countries1 and1 all things considered1 a literal version in prose appears to present the fewest disadvantages1 for it disarms the translator of the temptation to poetical flights and metrical ingenuity1 and brings us nearer to the man and the age to be immediately and primarily studied4 ,at best1 a translation is an indifferent substitute for the book itself1 as it was delivered to the world by some renowned hand1 or even by some personage whose individuality is stamped1 as in the case of the ,imitatio ,christi or the ,essays of ,montaigne1 on every sentence indelibly and untransferably1 and seems part of the very ,latin or ,french type4 ,an amusing instance occurred in which a gentleman1 having heard of the fine style of ,a ,kempis1 bought as a present to a friend a copy of the latest ,english translation6 ,and it is equally futile to look for the essence and spirit of the great ,gascon writer in the pages of ,florio or ,cotton1 both of whom1 though in unequal measure1 to the exigencies of diction or an imperfect conversance with the dialect in which ,montaigne wrote sacrificed precious personal idiosyncrasies4 ,the majority of the popular and current versions of the classics are unsatisfying and treacherous1 because they have been executed either by under-paid scholars1 like ,bohn's ,series1 or by persons who have had a tendency to put themselves in the place of their author4 ,we may not be very willing to part with our old favourites1 such as ,chapman's ,homer1 ,florio's ,montaigne1 ,north's ,plutarch1 ,shelton's ,don ,quixote1 ,urquhart's ,rabelais1 and ,smollett's ,gil ,blas2 but it is to be feared that they must be prized as curiosities and rarities rather than as interpreters and guides4 ,if a thoroughly reliable library of classical translations1 on as literal a plan as possible1 could be formed1 it would be a real boon to the public--it would be what ,bohn's ,series ought to have been4 ,of course1 in the department of translation there are two leading divisions--the ancient and the modern classics2 and for much the same reason that a story or a jeu d'esprit seldom bears transplanting from one soil to another1 both these branches of literature are apt to suffer when they change their garb4 ,almost every man who writes is influenced by dominant environments1 whether he be ,greek or ,roman1 or ,oriental1 or modern ,european of whatever nationality2 and his mere expressions or sense rendered into a foreign tongue are usually like a painting without a background or an atmosphere4 ,we may range over the whole field from the most ancient times to the most modern1 and the same thing manifests itself4 ,open before me is an illustration which will answer the purpose as well as any other1 in the shape of ,muirhead's version of the ,vaux de ,vire of ,jean le ,houx4 ,at page #aje we have the following stanza3-- ,lorsque me presse l'heure1 ,je retourne au logis2 ,ma femme est la qui pleure1 ,ainsi qu'il m'est aduis1 ,et me dict en cholere3 ',que fay ie seule au lict8 ,est il seant de boire ,ainsi jusqu'a minuict8' ,mr4 ,muirhead translates thus-- ,when late the hour appears1 ,returning to my home1 ,my wife is there in tears1 ,as ,i hear when ,i come4 ,she greets me testily3 ',i lie a-bed alone3 ,do you thus shamelessly ,carouse till midnight's gone8' ,the same kind of paraphrastic dilution runs through the volume2 nor is ,mr4 ,muirhead wholly to blame4 ,the original is idiomatic and terse1 and he could not find exact equivalents in numerous cases4 ,ab uno disce omnes4 ,but what a privilege it becomes to be able to dispense with interpreters6 ,my admiration of these festive chansons arises from my appreciation of them in their native costume and diction4 ,the ,knight of ,la ,mancha was of my opinion herein1 for he likened a translation to a piece of ,flemish tapestry seen on the wrong side4 ,a corollary which naturally suggests itself to my mind is that if a familiarity--say1 even with ,latin and ,french alone--is expedient on no other account1 it is eminently so on this one2 and the mastery of the inner sense of a great and famous writer constitutes an ample reward for any expenditure of labour and time in acquiring the language in which he wrote1 in making yourself as nearly his countryman as you can4 ,i remember a saying1 which may have been a wicked epigram1 that the only book in ,bohn's ,classical ,library worthy of purchase or perusal was a version of one of ,aristotle's works which a gentleman had executed con amore and presented to the publisher4 ,a voluminous and not very well known body of literary material consists of foreign translations of contemporary ,english pamphlets of a historical or religious character1 from the time of ,henry ,,viii4 to the ,revolution of #afhh1 covering the entire ,stuart period4 ,they cannot be said to be of primary consequence beyond the proof which they furnish of the interest felt abroad in passing transactions in this country1 even in such incidents of minor moment as the trial of ,elizabeth ,cellier in #afhj for an obscure political libel1 and the occasional value which they have acquired through the apparent loss of the ,english originals4 ,we have1 for example1 a ,french account of a ,london ferryman1 who1 under pretence of conveying passengers across the river1 strangled them 7#aehf72 a second1 of the misdoings of a minister at ,malden in ,essex 7#aehh72 and a third1 of the execution of two priests and two laymen at ,oxford in #aeij1 the last existing also in ,italian1 but none of them known in ,english4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,transmission of ancient remains--,the unique fragment and unique book--,importance of the former--,the ,st4 ,alban's ,grammar-,school find--,a more recent one or two--,mr4 ,neal's volume--,a tantalising entry in a country catalogue--,the ,hundred ,merry ,tales--,large volumes only known from small fragments--,blind ,harry's ,wallace--,aberdeen and other ,breviaries--,the ,oxenden ,collection of ,old ,english ,plays--,the idyll of ,adam ,bell1 #aecf--;,john ,bagford3 his unsuspected services to us--,ought we to destroy the old theology8--,other causes of the disappearance of books--,unique books which still preserve their reputation--,rare books which are not rare--,books which are rare and not valuable--,ratcliff1 the waste-paper dealer1 who had a collection of ,caxtons--,the bystander's manifold experiences--,narrowness of the circle of first-class buyers--,the old collector and the new one--,speculative investors4 ,,looking at the imperfect and unconsecutive condition in which much of our most precious early literature has been received by us1 we are apt to reflect to how narrow and close an accident we owe two classes of existing remains3 the unique book and the unique fragment4 ,of course to term a volume or production unique is a perilous business2 the bookseller and the auctioneer may do so ex officio2 an inexperienced amateur may resort to the term as a pleasant and harmless self-deception2 but no responsible writer or critic dares to pronounce anything whatever unique without an emphatic caveat4 ,we have personally known cases where a publication by one of the early printers was first introduced to notice1 and created a sort of sensation1 as a mutilated fragment rescued from the binding of another work2 this revelation brought to light1 after an interval1 a second of a different issue2 anon at some auction occurred a perfect copy2 and now the poor damaged worm-eaten leaves1 once so reverently and so tenderly regarded1 awake no further interest2 the mystery and romance have vanished2 and when we examine the book as a whole1 we do not find its merits so striking as when we strained our eyes to decipher the old binder's pasteboard4 ,the ,,fragment is really an unusually and more than at first credibly important feature in the elder literature4 ,it may be taken1 after all deductions for occasional discoveries of the entire work1 to be the sole existing voucher for a terribly large section of the more popular books of our forefathers1 just as the ,stationers' ,register is for another4 ,but it is far more than one degree trustworthier and more palpable2 for it is1 like the torso of an ancient statue1 a veritable part of the printed integer and a certificate of its publication and former existence4 ,many years ago there was a great stir in consequence of the detachment from the binding of another book--,caxton's ,boethius--in the ,st4 ,alban's ,grammar-,school of a parcel of fragments belonging to books by ,caxton2 these are now in the ,british ,museum4 ,in the ,huth ,catalogue are noticed several relics of a similar kind2 and indeed scarcely any great library1 public or private1 is without them4 ,they may be accepted as provisional evidences4 ,a rather curious circumstance seems to be associated with one of the ,huth fragments--three leaves of ,thomas ,howell's ,new ,sonnets and ,pretty ,pamphlets4 ,the relic once belonged to ,thomas ,martin of ,palgrave1 and includes two leaves of signature ,d1 which are deficient in the ,capell copy of this work at ,cambridge4 ,the latter is described as a quarto2 but it would be interesting to discover that from the fragment the text could be completed4 ,the inconvenience attending the examination of rare books in provincial libraries is very great and serious4 ,a copy of ,statham's ,abridgement of the ,statutes1 printed at ,rouen about #adia1 and bound in ,england1 had as flyleaves two sheets of ,caxton's ,chronicles of ,england1 possibly some of the waste found in ,caxton's warehouse after his death4 ,there is a weird fascination about a newly found fragment of some lost literary composition4 ,only a few months since1 in a copy of ,cicero's ,rhetorica1 printed by ,aldus ,manutius in #aedf1 in the possession of ,mr4 ,neal1 quite a number of pieces of wastrel were disclosed on the removal of the covers1 and among them portions of ,english metrical effusions of the period 7for the volume must have been bound here74 ,we view this treasure trove wistfully and indulgently2 there it is2 no mortal eye had fallen on it in the course of three and a half centuries2 and how can we be expected to judge its value or quality by the ordinary standard--on an ordinary critical principle8 ,it has come to us like an unlooked-for testamentary windfall4 ,we are not to look at it in the mouth too curiously or fastidiously1 or we deserve to have lost it2 and it is the very same thing with scores of remains of the kind1 brought to light in various directions and ways from season to season1 and 7to the utmost extent of my power and opportunity7 chronicled by me on my accustomed principle4 ,when ,i was younger by some thirty years1 ,i received the catalogue of a provincial bookseller1 and was sanguine enough to suppose that ,i should become the happy master at the marked price 7#gs4 #f;d47 of ,no4 #bjhd1 which ran as follows3-- ,pynson and others--,specimens of ,early ,printing1 comprising ,twenty ,leaves of the ,ballad of ,robin ,hood1 c4 c41 taken from the cover of an old ,missal4 ,no time was lost in giving the order2 but the lot was sold1 and the proprietors did not even know who had bought it4 ,i comforted myself as the fox did4 ,yet such is the frailty of one's nature1 that one cannot refrain1 after long1 long years1 from sentimentalising over it4 ,there is something so taking in the notion of a tattered1 semi-illegible1 unappropriated fractional relic1 not a trunk even2 it fascinates us like a coin of which the legend is almost beyond identification2 there is mystery behind it2 we may be on the track of a discovery which will help to make us famous4 ,we have all heard of the ,hundred ,merry ,tales1 rescued by ,mr4 ,conybeare in the early years of the century from another book1 of which the fragments assisted to form the covers1 and how the treasure was prized till a complete copy occurred in a ,continental library and dispelled the charm4 ,it was pointed out many years ago by the present writer 7,old ,english ,jest-,books1 #ahfd1 i41 ,additional ,notes7 that ,scot1 in his ,discovery of ,witchcraft1 #aehd1 quotes the story from this miscellany of the miller's eels1 and enabled us1 before the ,goettingen copy was brought under notice1 to complete the text1 which is almost undecipherable in the ,conybeare 7now ,huth7 one4 ,the fragmentary state by no means restricts itself to literary items of insignificant bulk4 ,for1 as we see1 a potential factor in the creation of rare books has been a vast temporary popularity1 succeeded by a prolonged period of neglect4 ,the result is before us in the almost total evanescence of thousands of books extending to hundreds of pages4 ,look at ,blind ,harry's ,wallace1 a large volume1 first printed in folio about #aebj2 a few leaves are all that remain of the editio princeps2 and others have totally vanished4 ,many of us are familiar with the tolerably ample dimensions of the service-books of various uses in the ,english ,church2 and yet those of ,aberdeen1 ,hereford1 and ,york survive only in fragments or torsi2 and the modern reprint of the first was formed from a combination of several imperfect originals4 ,a similar fate has all but overtaken such excessively popular works as ,coverdale's ,bible1 #aece1 and ,fox's ,martyrs1 #aefc1 an absolutely perfect copy of either of which ,i have never beheld4 ,henry ,oxinden1 of ,barham in ,kent1 was the earliest recorded collector of old ,english plays1 and bound up his #abb dramatic possessions in six volumes before #afdg4 ,he has left a list of them in his manuscript common-place book4 ,tears almost steal into our eyes as we read the titles3 the ,hamlet of #afjc1 the ,taming of the ,shrew1 #aeid1 ,ralph ,roister ,doister4 ,of the first we know well enough the history to date3 two copies1 both imperfect4 ,the second exists in the unique ,inglis1 ,heber1 and ,devonshire example2 it is mentioned in ,longman's ,catalogue for #ahag1 from which it was purchased by ,rodd1 and sold to ,mr4 ,inglis2 it is reputed to have once belonged to ,pope4 ,the remaining item survives in the titleless copy at present in the library of ,eton ,college1 to which ,mr4 ,briggs presented it in #ahah1 not on account of the association of ,udall the author with that seminary of learning1 but1 curiously enough1 by mere accident4 ,among ,bagford's collections there is a single leaf of an otherwise unknown impression of ,clement ,robinson's ,handful of ,pleasant ,delights1 a #aefe book only hitherto extant in a #aehd reprint4 ,this precious little morceau altogether differs1 so far as it goes1 from the corresponding portion of the volume now preserved in the ,national ,library4 ,let me insist a little on the instructive progress of knowledge in one or two cases4 ,a fragment of a small tract in verse by ,lydgate1 from the prolific press of ,wynkyn de ,worde1 was proclaimed as an extraordinary and unique accession to our literary stores some eighty years since2 it was called ,the ,treatise of a ,gallant1 and had been taken from the covers of a volume of statutes in the library at ,nash ,court4 ,some time after1 a complete copy of another impression turned up1 and ultimately a third1 quite distinct from either of the previous two1 was discovered in a volume of marvellously rare pieces sold by a ,bristol bookseller to the late ,mr4 ,maskell for ,l#cjj1 and by him to the ,british ,museum4 ,take another case connected with the same press4 ,a piece entitled ,the ,remorse of ,conscience1 by ,william ,lichfield1 parson of ,all ,hallows1 ,thames ,street1 who died in #addg1 leaving a larger number of ,,mss4 behind him than ,lamb once humorously made ,coleridge do1 long enjoyed the reputation of being a solitary survivor2 but at present the world holds four1 two recovered from bindings1 and a third titleless1 and all1 in fact1 more or less dilapidated by unappreciative or over-appreciative handlers4 ,last1 not least1 the delightful idyll of ,adam ,bell1 of which we were so glad on a time to follow the ,garrick exemplar1 is now proved to have been in type in the reign of ,henry ,,viii42 and a piece of a pre-,reformation issue luckily preserves enough to show how1 even in a production probably sold at a penny1 it was thought worth while to alter a passage where the ,pope was originally alluded to4 ,there are instances where we are deprived of the gratification of beholding so much as a morsel of a book sufficient to establish its former existence in hundreds1 if not thousands1 of copies4 ,of the ,four ,sons of ,aymon1 from the press of ,wynkyn de ,worde1 #aejd1 not a vestige has so far accrued2 yet it once existed1 as it is expressly cited in a later issue4 ,so it is1 again1 with ,skelton's ,nigramansir1 printed by ,de ,worde in #aejd1 which was actually seen by ,weston the historian in the hands of ,collins the poet1 and with ,peter ,fabyl's ,ghost 7the ,merry ,devil of ,edmonton7 from the same press4 ,we are accustomed to associate with the black-letter fragment the name of ,,john ,,bagford1 who1 in the closing years of the seventeenth and beginning of the next century1 distinguished himself by the zeal with which he collected typographical specimens and memorials4 ,in ,bagford's day1 the relative value of old books was scarcely at all understood2 there was no adequate discrimination between the productions of ,caxton and his immediate successors and those of living or recent printers2 and1 again1 which was more excusable1 volumes by early divines or by writers of established repute were more generally sought than those by schools of poetry and fiction1 which at present command chief attention and respect4 ,if we turn over the pages of an auctioneer's catalogue belonging to that era1 we perceive1 side by side1 items estimated at about the same figure1 of which many have become worth perhaps even less1 while a few have left their former companions immeasurably behind1 and one or two rank among the livres introuvables4 ,those were the days when the classics were preserved with the most jealous care1 and acquired at extravagant prices1 and when our vernacular literature1 from the introduction of typography down to the ,restoration1 was an object of attention to an extremely limited constituency1 and could be obtained for a song4 ,the ,bagford collection of title-pages and fragments formerly constituted part of the ,harleian manuscripts in the ,british ,museum1 but has been chiefly transferred to the printed book department of recent years4 ,it resembles a ,typographical ,cemetery1 a charnel-house of books crowded together without respect to their subject-matter or their literary rank3 the leaf of a ,caxton1 another of a valueless legal treatise1 the title-page of ,romeus and ,julietta1 on which ,shakespeare founded1 as the phrase goes1 his own play1 and a broadsheet preserved entire1 there being no more of it4 ,but ,bagford1 who helped ,dr4 ,moore1 ,bishop of ,ely1 and perchance ,lord ,oxford1 to some of their rarities1 does not stand alone4 ,he had many followers2 but the scale of operations diminished as the orthodox collector multiplied and prices rose4 ,sir ,john ,fenn1 editor of the ,paston ,letters1 whom we have named above1 was a disciple1 however1 and ,martin of ,palgrave was another4 ,many years since1 for a proposed new ,biographia ,britannica by ,murray of ,albemarle ,street1 the present writer collected all the known particulars of ,bagford himself1 who spent his last days in the ,charterhouse4 ,his episcopal client or patron died in #agad4 ,before we condemn these biblioclasts1 let us recollect one thing4 ,it is not so much that they have rendered books imperfect by the abstraction of leaves or title-pages1 as that they have actually preserved the sole testimony for the existence of hundreds of books1 tracts1 and broadsheets of which we should have otherwise known nothing1 amid the wholesale destruction of early literature1 which was not arrested till the close of the last century1 and still proceeds in a modified form and degree4 ,not many years since the ,troy-,book printed by ,caxton was discovered hanging up in a water-closet at ,harrogate2 a portion had disappeared1 but the remainder was secured1 and was sold to a dealer in ,manchester for thirty guineas4 ,it must be1 and is1 ,bagford's apology that he sacrificed to his typographical scheme material which was almost universally neglected1 and for which there might seem1 two hundred years ago1 scarcely any prospect of a future call4 ,yet1 oddly enough1 this very person was one of the pioneers1 by his labours and example1 in bringing back a taste for the older ,english school2 he appeared at a juncture when sufficient time had elapsed for the destruction by various agencies of a vast proportion of the products of the press2 but until the fashion1 which he and others set1 had begun to spread1 it remained unknown how much was reduced from its original volume1 and how much had perished4 ,we have the less pretence for censuring the biblioclasts of the past1 who could only use the eyes and experience of their own epoch1 when instances are reported from time to time of the same ruthless practices even by those who might have been expected to know better2 and there is more than one way of viewing the present notorious tendency to exterminate the old theology on the plea that it is worthless1 since a generation may arise which will upbraid us for having converted to pulp this part of our inheritance1 till it comes at last to survive in a stray leaf here or a mangled fragment there4 ,an altogether different quarter from which a result conducive to the shrinkage or disappearance of copies of early works has arisen is the print-collecting movement1 involving the devastation of the innumerable volumes which contain portraits1 frontispieces1 and other engravings1 and the more than incidental risk of the consignment of the unvalued residue to the waste-basket2 and it may be mentioned that within our personal knowledge hundreds upon hundreds of scarce old books have been destroyed by editors1 lexicographers1 and other literary workers1 to save the trouble of transcribing extracts4 ,it might be impossible to exhaust the variety of ways in which an extraordinarily large body of publications of former days has been reduced or raised to the position of rarities of graduated rank4 ,after all these ages1 all the indefatigable researches which have been undertaken for profit or for pleasure1 all the libraries which have been formed and dispersed1 true it is that the ,unique volume1 which of course enjoys its designation only till a second copy is producible1 still survives in such abundance1 that one1 if it were otherwise feasible1 might form a library composed of nothing else4 ,does it not become curious to consider to what lottery1 as it were1 we owe them--owe their arrest just at the dividing line between living and lost literature8 ,whatever may be the cause1 we have hitherto failed to trace duplicates of the metrical ,ship of ,fools1 #aeji1 ,queen ,elizabeth's ,prayer-,book1 #aefi1 ,watson's ,teares of ,fancie1 #aeic1 ,venus and ,adonis1 #aeic1 #aeii1 and #afag1 and of ,lucrece1 #aeih4 ,copies of these later productions must have found their way to ,shakespeare's country at the time4 ,malone met with the ,venus and ,adonis of #aeic at ,manchester in #ahje1 and another collector with that of #aeid in the same shire2 and the ,florio's ,montaigne of #afjc1 the only volume with the poet's autograph yet seen1 was long preserved at ,smethwick1 near ,birmingham4 ,it was at ,manchester1 too1 that the copy of the ,tragedy of ,richard ,,iii41 #aeid1 came to light as recently as #ahha4 ,several of the works of ,nicholas ,breton and ,samuel ,rowlands survive in isolated copies4 ,upwards of a century has elapsed since a medical man picked up in ,ayrshire in #aghh an assemblage of quarto tracts belonging to the ancient vernacular literature of ,scotland and to the parent press of ,edinburgh2 and not a whisper has been raised to suggest the existence of a second copy of any of them1 which is to be regretted so far1 as some are imperfect4 ,during years on years1 the authorities at the ,advocates' ,library1 ,edinburgh1 kept this inestimable relic in a cupboard under the stairs4 ,in the find at ,lamport ,hall1 ,northamptonshire1 thirty or forty years since1 there were items upon items utterly unknown4 ,it was the same at the ,wolfreston sale in #ahef4 ,it goes without saying that among the ,heber stores the uniques were barely numerable2 and many yet preserve their reputation as such4 ,mr4 ,caldecott1 ,mr4 ,jolley1 and ,mr4 ,corser were lucky in falling in with scores of tracts of the first order of rarity4 ,no one has beheld the double of the ,jests of the ,widow ,edith1 purchased by ,lord ,fitzwilliam for ,l#c #ajs4 at ,west's sale in #aggc1 and formerly ,lord ,oxford's2 and the citation of the last name prompts the remark that many a book in the ,harleian ,library still awaits recovery1 assuming the description in the catalogue to be correct4 ,on the contrary1 there are serious warnings to enthusiasts not to rely too implicitly on the reputation of a volume for uniqueness or high rarity in view of such phenomena as the occurrence within a short period of each other at the same mart in #ahif of two copies of the first edition of ,chaucer's ,canterbury ,tales1 printed by ,caxton4 ,here was a case where the publicity afforded to these matters brought out a second example1 which the owner found to be worth a small estate4 ,the writer's publication1 ,fugitive ,tracts1 #adic-agjj1 #b vols41 #ahge1 very aptly and powerfully illustrates the present bearings of our subject4 ,of the sixty pieces there reproduced1 two-thirds appear to be unique1 and only four are traceable in the ,heber ,catalogue4 ,yet many of the items are of historical or biographical importance1 and were1 in fact1 selected from a much larger number with that view2 which seems to be tantamount to a recognition of the truth1 that1 enormous as is the total surviving body of early ,english and ,scotish ,literature1 it represents in some sections or classes only a salvage of what was once in type1 or1 to speak more by the card1 of what we have so far been able to recover4 ,there are rare books which1 paradoxical as it may seem1 are not rare4 ,take1 for example1 ,burton's ,anatomy of ,melancholy1 #afba2 the first folio ,shakespeare1 #afbc2 ,milton's ,lycidas1 ,poems1 ,paradise ,lost1 ,paradise ,regained1 in the editiones principes2 the works of the minor poets1 ,suckling1 ,carew1 ,shirley1 ,davenant2 ,walton's ,angler1 #afec2 ,bunyan's ,pilgrim's ,progress1 #afgh2 the ,kilmarnock ,burns1 #aghf2 and many first editions of ,wordsworth1 ,lamb1 ,shelley1 ,keats1 ,tennyson4 ,every season swells the roll of existing copies4 ,on the contrary1 ,spenser's ,faery ,queen1 ,books i4-iii41 #aeij1 and ,milton's ,comus1 #afcd1 are authentically scarce1 the former especially so in fine state2 and the same may be predicated of ,lovelace's ,lucasta 7the two parts complete74 ,but the real meaning of the rarity of the other books above specified--and the list might be readily enlarged--is that1 although the copies are numerous enough1 the taste for capital productions has increased within a few years out of proportion to the recovery of new or unknown examples4 ,we are finding frequent occasion to cite works of foreign origin1 which are more or less habitually taken up into our own collections by miscellaneous or general buyers2 and there is among these one which forms a signal illustration of the fallacy of uniqueness4 ,it is the ,gutenberg or ,mazarin ,bible4 ,scarcely a library of the first rank occurs here or elsewhere without offering a copy2 and we are persuaded that at least forty must exist1 either on paper or on vellum1 throughout the world4 ,the book occupies the same bibliographical position as the first folio ,shakespeare1 the first edition of ,walton's ,angler1 and the first ,burns2 it tends to grow commoner1 yet1 so far1 not cheaper4 ,there are other books which1 as it may be more readily understood1 are rare without being valuable1 and of which such of the commercial world as has it not in its power to expend large amounts on individual purchases1 naturally seeks to make the most4 ,it was almost amusing1 some time since1 to note the entries in some of the booksellers' lists under ,black ,letter1 ,gothic ,letter1 ,rare ,law1 ,curious ,early ,english1 and so forth2 and the names of ,caxton1 ,wynkyn de ,worde1 and other ancient printers were freely introduced to help off a rather lame foreigner1 who was alleged to have been professionally associated with one or the other of them4 ,if the bookseller knows the book-buyer1 it is highly requisite that the latter should study what he is going to buy4 ,illustrations are not wanting of the loss of untold treasure through a medium more fatal than any other--through exhaustive popular demand4 ,entire and large impressions of books1 pamphlets1 and broadsides have succumbed1 not to the sacrilegious hand of the spoiler1 but to the too affectionate1 and not too cleanly1 fingering of the multitude of men and women who read and then cast the sources of entertainment away4 ,if we remember that certain of the ,bibles ordered to be kept in churches for general use chiefly survive in crumbling fragments1 or at best woefully dilapidated copies1 we cease to be surprised at the easy prey which more fugitive compositions have formed to a succession of careless and indifferent owners4 ,the illiterate inscriptions on many books1 which have thus become valuable1 point to the hands through which they have passed1 and tell a story of prolonged neglect1 too often culminating in appropriation to domestic requirements4 ,it is1 anyhow1 perfectly undeniable that of the miscellaneous early literature of all countries1 the proportion which exists is in very numerous instances no more than a simple voucher for the work having passed the press4 ,a single copy has formerly occurred or occurs fortuitously1 and no duplicate can be cited4 ,this is the position of thousands of volumes1 and of many it is the chief merit4 ,infinitely numerous are the strange tales1 sometimes drawing up the moisture into the mouth1 sometimes sufficient to make one's hair rigid1 of books of price hung up for use at country railway stations1 or employed by a tobacconist to wrap up his pennyworths of snuff1 or converted by a lady of quality into curl-papers4 ,what has become of the ,caxtons sent over to the ,netherlands in the last century by a confiding ,english gentleman their owner1 for the inspection of a nameless ,mynheer his friend1 who1 when he was invited to restore them1 lamented their disappearance in a fire8 ,there was beyond a question an epoch1 and a prolonged one1 when the mill shared with household demands an immense quota of the cast-off literature of these islands4 ,one of our early collectors of ,caxtons1 ,ratcliff1 whose books were sold in #aggf1 acquired his taste 7one in a thousand7 through his vocation as a chandler or storekeeper in the ,borough4 ,we may surmise how his ,caxtons came to him1 and at what rates6 ,these episodes appertain to the romantic and speculative aspect of book-collecting2 but they really have another side4 ,here1 at a time when the first-fruits of the ,english press were unregarded1 we find a man of ,ratcliff's status acquiring thirty ,caxtons4 ,he lived just to see a rise in their value1 yet a very slight and fluctuating one2 for at last he went into the open market and purchased a few lots at ,west's auction in #aggc1 and the ,caxtons thus obtained re-sold after ,ratcliff's death in one or two cases at a lower rate4 ,he had inflated the market2 the competitors were not more than two or three4 ,but the time was soon to come when such persons could no longer afford to hold this kind of property--when it became fashionable for dukes and earls and men of large property to make our early typography an object of research2 and so it continued down to the present time1 till the agricultural depression arrived to create another organic change1 and to direct these1 as well as other costly luxuries1 into new channels4 ,not the chandler1 or the ,government official1 or the private gentleman of modest means1 but the great manufacturer or the merchant-prince entered on the scene1 and wrested from the landowner his long-cherished possessions4 ,the ,west and ,ratcliff sales 7#aggc-gf7 were the two golden opportunities1 however1 of which the advisers of ,george ,,iii4 wisely availed themselves to purchase volumes at what we have been taught to consider nominal prices2 and there they are in the ,british ,museum to-day1 a recollection of one of the better traits in the character of that prince4 ,when we say that the market for ,caxtons in #aggf was beginning to expand1 we mean that the day for getting such things for a few pence or a shilling or two had gone by4 ,here1 for example1 are some of the quotations from the ,ratcliff auction3-- ,l s4 d4 ,chronicles of ,englande1 fine copy1 #adhj #e #e #j ,doctrinal of ,sapyence1 #adhi #h #h #j ,the ,boke called ,cathon1 #adhc #e #e #j ,tullius de ,senectute1 in ,englyshe1 #adha #ad #j #j ,the ,game and ,playe of ,chesse #af #j #j ,the ,boke of ,jason #e #aj #j ,legenda ,aurea2 or1 the ,golden ,legend1 #adhc #i #ae #j ,these figures make even some of those in the ,west auction1 #aggc1 appear by comparison rather extravagant4 ,for his ,majesty's agent at the latter gave as much as ,l#ad for the romance of ,paris and ,vienne1 from the ,caxton press1 #adhe4 ,true1 it seems to be unique1 and might to-day require its purchaser1 if it were for sale1 to have ,l#ejj in his pocket or at his bank to secure it4 ,yet strange events still continue to happen from time to time4 ,not ,caxtons nor ,shakespeares1 but excellent books which command prices in the open market1 are yet occasionally given away4 ,a case occurred in ,lincolnshire about a year ago1 when a library of some #bejj volumes was sold by an intelligent provincial auctioneer al fresco in the dogdays1 and put up in bundles1 nearly all of which were knocked down at the first bid--threepence4 ,say1 #aej lots at #c;d4 per lot ,l#a #ags4 #f;d4 for the whole4 ,there must have been an entente cordiale among those in attendance1 the gentleman in the rostrum inclusive4 ,these instances of misdirection1 which have been in times past more numerous than now1 although two of the most recent and most signal have occurred in the same county 7,lincolnshire71 inevitably tend to the destruction of copies1 and so far illustrate our remarks on the causes of the gradual disappearance of books during former periods4 ,there are1 however1 circumstances under which prices are depressed by collusion1 as where a first folio ,shakespeare was knocked done for ,l#bj in an auction-room not five hundred miles from ,fleet ,street2 or by an accident1 as when the original ,somers ,tracts1 in thirty folio volumes1 comprising unique ,americana1 fetched bona fide under the hammer only ,l#fa4 ,a single item was re-sold for sixty guineas1 and would now bring thrice that amount4 ,what a game of chance this book traffic is6 ,imperfect ,books1 as distinguished from ,fragments1 constitute a rather complex and troublesome portion and aspect of collecting4 ,they are susceptible of classification into books--7#a7 ,of which no perfect copy is known2 7#b7 ,of which none is known outside one or two great libraries2 7#c7 ,of which even imperfect examples1 as of a specimen of early typography or of engraving1 are valuable and interesting2 7#d7 ,of which copies are more or less easily procurable4 ,it is only the last division at which an amateur of any pretensions and resources draws the line4 ,with the other contingencies our keenest and richest book-hunters and our most important public collections have been and are obliged to be satisfied4 ,when it is a question of a unique1 or almost unique1 ,caxton1 ,wynkyn de ,worde1 or ,pynson1 or quite as much of a volume from the ,london1 ,st4 ,albans1 ,tavistock1 ,york1 or ,edinburgh presses1 what is to be done8 ,the object1 no doubt1 laisse a desirer2 but where is another8 ,this sentiment and spirit operated twice1 as we have elsewhere noted1 within three months in #ahif in the case of two incomplete copies of the first edition by ,caxton of ,chaucer's ,canterbury ,tales4 ,but for the defective copy of a common book some find an apology and a home3 they cannot afford a better1 or they require it for a special purpose4 ,the upshot is1 that for every old volume there is a customer1 who is pleased with his acquisition according to his light2 and we have met with such as seemed disposed to view the missing of damaged leaves as negative evidence of antiquity and genuineness4 ,the bystander who has had the benefit of as long an innings as the present writer1 witnesses perpetual changes and vicissitudes of sentiment2 and from one point of view1 at all events1 the minute details1 into which the too generally despised bibliographer enters1 are valuable1 because they present to us1 in lists of editions of authors and books published from age to age1 the astonishing evidence of mutable popularity or acceptability4 ,there is a feature1 which is almost amusing1 in the ideas and estimates expressed of many works by our earlier antiquaries1 when we look to-day at their position and rank4 ,if we turn over the pages of ,hearne's ,diary1 for instance1 we constantly meet with accounts of literary curiosities and rarities1 which we regard with different eyes by virtue of our enlarged information1 while thousands of really valuable items--valuable on some score or other--go there unnoted1 although copies of them must have passed through the sales1 even more frequently than at present4 ,the close of the nineteenth century has brought these matters to a truer level4 ,we are better able to gauge the survival of books and editions4 ,even in the sometimes tedious enumeration of editions of early books bibliography confers a sort of benefit1 for it demonstrates the longevity in public estimation and demand of a host of books now neglected1 yet objects of interest and utility to many successive ages4 ,we have seen so many cranks and fancies successively take possession of the public4 ,early typography2 early poetry and romances2 books of hours2 books of emblems2 ,roman ,catholic literature2 liturgies2 ,bewick2 ,bartolozzi2 the first edition 7which was sometimes equally the last72 books on vellum1 on ,india-paper1 or on yellow or some other bizarre colour or material1 debarring perusal of the publication2 copies with remarkable blunders or with some of the text inadvertently omitted--all these and a legion of others have had their day2 and to some of them it happens that they drop out of view for a season1 and then reappear for a second or third brief term of life and favour2 and therefore1 it being so1 who can have the heart to blame the parties that in the exercise of their vocation make hay while the sun shines8 ,there is one personage1 and one alone1 who makes it whether or no1 summer and winter1 to wit1 the auctioneer2 his commission is assured2 on what or from whom he gets it he cares not4 ,he cheerfully leaves the adjustment of accounts to gentlemen outside4 ,the circumstances under which a new departure takes place1 often without much previous warning1 in the book-market1 and disturbs the calculations of holders of certain classes of stock1 are infinitely varied4 ,the bibliographical barometer is surprisingly sensitive1 and the slightest change of fashion in the older literature1 and even in those sections of the more recent which embrace acknowledged rarities1 is instantaneously felt4 ,in some branches of collecting1 and where the prices of commodities are such as to exclude all but a knot of wealthy amateurs1 the entrance of a new-comer on the ground makes a vital difference1 especially if the market is in need of support from existing wants having been supplied2 and if one goes about a little1 one hears men whispering in corners and questioning who the stranger is1 and for what he is likely to prove good4 ,should he be a strong man1 that is1 in purse1 you will soon perceive1 if you keep your eye on the auction-room1 another strong man buying at all costs against all comers just the articles which commend themselves to the first dramatis persona4 ,he buys nearly everything2 they are for him alone1 unless there are two in the field concurrently1 and then one may be conveniently played off against the other4 ,a small field it is6 ,and this interesting commercial strategy is always going on1 while the objects of pursuit continually vary4 ,the dealer looks after1 not his own desiderata--for he has none--but those of his immediate clients4 ,in a large business a man is likely to have many2 but the class which repays study1 which turns sovereigns into bank-notes for him1 is not a numerous one4 ,half-a-dozen first-rate customers keep a shop open even in the most fashionable and expensive thoroughfare4 ,the late ,joseph ,lilly leant during his last years mainly on one4 ,a collector of the stamp of ,mr4 ,hartley was almost sufficient to support such an establishment as ,newman's in ,holborn or ,toovey's in ,piccadilly4 ,you might pass the latter1 or both1 day after day and week after week1 and not see a soul enter or leave the premises2 all was done by correspondence and flukes and a few real good buyers in the background4 ,mr4 ,quaritch in ,london or ,m4 ,fontaine in ,paris will clear more in an afternoon by the change of hands of two or three heavy items than a small dealer1 even if he is unusually lucky1 will do in a twelvemonth out of thousands of petty and troublesome transactions4 ,it is not particularly unusual for a big firm to sell at one sitting four or five thousand pounds worth of property4 ,there are others which have not sold as much during the entire term of their career1 and never will4 ,the works which enjoy their turn of public favour are generally recognisable in the catalogues by the type in which they are set forth2 and any one who has stood by and witnessed all the changes of the last thirty or forty years observes periodical phenomena in the transfer of typographical honours from one school of authors1 or one group of subjects1 to another4 ,the most recent auctioneers' catalogues reflect the sentiment of the day in lavishing capitals on trifles from the pens of more or less ephemeral modern writers1 and registering with corresponding brevity much of the old ,english literature1 which a few years since was in the ascendant4 ,a rare volume of ,elizabethan verse or prose halts after an insignificant brochure by ,lamb1 ,dickens1 or ,thackeray1 which the respective authors would have judged scarcely worth preserving1 to which their indifference1 in point of fact1 constitutes the cause of scarcity and consequent appreciation4 ,so it was once upon a time1 to be sure1 with the ,caxton1 the quarto ,shakespeare1 the ballad1 the penny black-letter garland1 and many another article which we now hold so precious4 ,the man who could secure ,caxtons and ,shakespeares for pence1 was he happier8 ,why1 no2 for he simply followed the market and nobody was envious4 ,he lifted his acquisition off the counter or stall for the best of all reasons--because he fancied it--nay1 because he intended to read it when he reached home4 ,a plea from the absolute collector's point of view--,i fear1 a weak and false one--is occasionally advanced for books which were formerly in fashion and favour2 for example1 ,sylvester's ,du ,bartas1 the ,platonic romances1 ,townley's ,french ,hudibras1 and a hundred--a thousand--ten thousand more4 ,it is thought to be worth while to have a few of these deposed idols to show to your friends when they visit you1 that they may join in a homily on changes of taste4 ,perhaps it would suffice to compare notes through the medium of some ,censura ,literaria1 or ,beloe1 or ,collier4 ,with most people space is a consideration1 with a few1 money2 and an incidental and passing reflection need not be so costly in either way4 ,for that reason such works as ,i have indicated1 and a few others similar to them1 are apt to prove serviceable and economical4 ,the periodical reinforcement of the ranks of the book-collecting world1 in the higher latitudes at least1 is obviously imperative1 as individuals do not usually commence investments of such a kind till they are well on in life and have put by a fortune1 or at all events retired from business4 ,some purely accidental matter directs attention to a line of bibliography which appears attractive and important2 the money is there1 and the expert will undertake the rest4 ,it is not the interest of those engaged in the business to be critical2 they are merely executive agents4 ,but the demand for the costlier rarities and curiosities is so narrow1 that the fresh aspirant is soon the central object of attention to the few who can provide him with what he imagines he wants4 ,as a rule1 where a man has no personal knowledge1 and finds that he is gradually becoming a milch-cow for the trade1 the hobby is not of long duration2 it is only where the buyer can control and check the vendor that satisfactory relations are likely to continue1 perhaps for years1 perhaps for a lifetime4 ,there is ever a tendency1 on the part of the bookish commissariat1 to strike the iron too hard4 ,it does happen here and there that collectors are enabled to make their own prices for their acquisitions either by extraordinary reputation for judgment and by virtue of a well-known name1 or by the fact of being carried by our common lot beyond earshot of their good fortune1 or1 once more1 by the force of peculiar circumstances4 ,as an almost inexorable rule1 the stocks of dealers are coldly regarded1 and even those of ,william ,pickering and ,joseph ,lilly were allowed to drop1 so that1 in the latter instance more particularly1 some real bargains were obtained4 ,yet1 on the contrary1 the books thrown on the market after the retirement of ,f4 ,s4 ,ellis and the death of ,james ,toovey went capitally1 partly because they were supported by ,mr4 ,quaritch 7rather glad perhaps to get rid of his two confreres74 ,then1 more recently1 the collection formed by ,mr4 ,warton brought quite unexpected figures1 and we feel justified in adding1 figures sometimes scarcely warranted by the property4 ,these instances1 and this other aspect of the subject1 strengthen our contention that the whole affair from beginning to end is a sort of lottery1 a type of gambling4 ,if those who enter into the fray do so with their eyes open1 and do not object1 who should8 ,but assuredly the most egregious case in modern times of the absolute despotism of name and ownership over all other considerations was that of the portion of ,william ,morris's library submitted to public sale in ,december #ahih4 ,the books themselves were1 as a rule1 below mediocrity in state1 and could not have well possessed for the new acquirers even that special interest and value which ,morris recognised in them as aids to his artistic and literary labours4 ,yet the prices realised were beyond anything on record1 and were simply absurd4 ,there seemed to be a violent struggle on the part of three or four competitors to secure these treasures at any cost1 and they did so4 ,let the very same copies recur1 and in the hands of a person of inferior celebrity1 and the shrinkage will probably be serious4 ,the direct association was dissolved when the lots were adjudged to the highest bidders1 and here the highest bidders were high indeed4 ,to the speculative investor in literary property what can we have to say8 ,he works with his eyes opened to their widest possibility of expansion1 and carries his fortune or success in his hands4 ,no doubt there are occasional flukes for him2 but1 generally speaking1 the greatest have been for collections formed and dispersed without any view to profit1 where the state of the market has accidentally favoured the owner1 or there was some nimbus round the name4 ,before you set about forming a library1 you should consider in what sort of atmosphere1 of your own or your friends' creation1 it is likely to be sold hereafter4 ,you ought almost to be able to calculate how celebrated you will die4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,early ,english literature--,absorption of the rarer items by public libraries or by ,america--,future of collecting--,poetical writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries--,fruits of a long neglect--,want of discrimination among private buyers--,necessity for a better training or sounder advice--,remarks on our early literature--,small proportion of high-class authors--,safe and unsafe investments--,condition of copies--,writers whose works are of mysterious rarity--,nicholas ,breton--,three-halfpenny ware--,paucity of great names in the post-,restoration period down to our own--,foreign works belonging to the ,english series3 their chief places of origin--,english presses--,typographical vicissitudes of ,london--,the ,scotish ,series--,scotish presses--,the ,irish ,series--,irish presses--,the ,irish ,stock--,the ,list of ,claims1 #agja--;,anglo-,american literature and early ,american editions of ,english ,classics--,the ,american ,colonial group of books--,the ,bay ,psalm-,book1 #afdj--,the volumes of ,statutes printed at ,boston1 ,philadelphia1 and ,new ,york--,sources of information on ,anglo-,american bibliography--,caution against impatience and enthusiasm4 ,,the entire range of the earlier ,english and ,scotish romantic1 poetical1 and even historical literature embraces so many items1 which are either unattainable from their rarity or their cost1 if they happen once in a lifetime to occur1 that it may be said to be ground almost closed against the ordinary private buyer4 ,articles which are to be seen by the hundred in the priced catalogues of libraries dispersed twenty or thirty years since with fairly moderate figures attached to them1 have1 owing to severer competition from ,america as well as at home1 either for public or private purchasers1 trebled or quadrupled in value4 ,with the more modern literature1 of which the positive scarcity does not warrant this great inflation1 we may reasonably look for a fall2 but in the case of volumes which are really rare1 it is hard to see how the chances of collectors can be improved in the future4 ,the upshot will be1 that they must be satisfied with smaller fish or modify their lines2 for of old and elderly books of intrinsic value and interest there is a plentiful choice4 ,with regard to a considerable body of ,early ,english volumes1 which formerly appeared in the catalogues of ,thorpe1 ,rodd1 the elder ,pickering1 and others1 it is to be said that the fewness of survivors was not appreciated1 and half-a-dozen public or closed libraries have absorbed them all4 ,it exemplifies the remarkable revolution in feeling and taste when we turn over the pages of one of ,william ,pickering's catalogues--that for #ahbg--;and observe a perfect set of the four folio ,shakespeares1 #afbc-he1 marked ,l#aje1 while a large-paper series of ,hearne's books1 or of some standard edition of the classics in morocco1 cost more2 whereas at present the ,hearnes and the classics are barely saleable at any price1 and the dramatic volumes might be worth twenty times more than they brought seventy years since4 ,the poetical writers of the ,tudor1 ,elizabethan1 and ,stuart eras have had1 in a commercial sense1 two or three reverses of fortune4 ,from the period of publication down to the last quarter of the eighteenth century they were to be bought at prices little beyond waste paper1 so soon as the original interest in them had subsided4 ,the editors of ,shakespeare--,pope1 ,hanmer1 ,theobald1 ,warburton1 ,capell1 ,steevens1 ,malone1 ,farmer1 and ,reed--awakened a sort of new interest in the subject1 just in time to save the slender salvage of a century and a half's neglect or indifference from the mill and the kitchen-fire2 and their example led to others coming upon the ground1 such as ,west1 ,major ,pearson1 the ,duke of ,roxburghe1 ,lord ,blandford1 ,lord ,spencer1 ,bindley1 and ,heber1 whose motives were primarily acquisitive4 ,in or about #ahcc a strong reaction set in1 and prices fell till #ahdb-de1 when the ,bright and ,chalmers sales1 and the more sensible competition of the ,british ,museum1 again restored confidence and strength to the market4 ,since that time1 our old poets have not1 on the whole1 suffered any marked decline1 and the most recent revival is in their favour4 ,the ,americans1 it seems1 call for first editions1 and they have not to call twice1 though they may be required to pay smartly4 ,this new ticket owes its origin to the usual agency4 ,one or two ,transatlantic book-lovers gain the information from some source that this is the real article1 that if you want fine poetry you must go to these fellows--not exactly ,shakespeare and ,spenser1 for they had heard of them before--but to ,gascoigne1 ,sydney1 ,herrick1 ,carew1 ,suckling1 ,lovelace1 and the rest of the company2 and above all1 if you desire to enjoy their beauties and appreciate their genius fully and absolutely1 you are referred to the editio princeps--not that which the author corrected and preferred1 but the one in morocco extra1 which your bookseller recommends to you4 ,it is by no means that we seek to ridicule or discourage the pursuit1 but we want and wish to see a more healthy and discriminating spirit among buyers4 ,let intending collectors devote a reasonable time to a preparatory study of the subject and survey of the field and then they will perhaps accomplish better results at a lower cost4 ,let them1 once more1 not be in too violent a hurry4 ,the abundance of transmitted writings in a metrical shape only proves more conclusively the familiar fact that it is as easy to compose verses as it is difficult to compose poetry4 ,the long succession of authors who fall within the category of poets has received an extent of editorial care and illustration in the course of the century1 however1 which argues the prevalence of a more favourable opinion of their merits4 ,the names which are at present commanding chief notice are those which have always been esteemed3 ,shakespeare1 ,fletcher1 ,beaumont1 ,jonson1 ,daniel1 ,drayton1 ,wither1 ,sir ,john ,davis1 ,herrick1 ,carew1 ,lovelace1 and ,suckling2 and among the ,scotish bards ,drummond takes the lead4 ,the most singular feature about the matter is that1 in the presence of all kinds of critical editions1 the demand is not for them1 but for the originals4 ,the mission of the modern recensor comes to an end when1 by a stupendous amount of research and erudition1 he has emphasised the characteristics and gifts of a writer4 ,then the amateur steps forward1 and expresses his readiness to give any price for the good old book1 undisfigured by notes and emendations6 ,it is perhaps fruitless to attempt to turn the tide of common sentiment1 and gentlemen must be permitted to choose their own money's worth4 ,they may think and say that they want the volume as it left the author's hands1 not diluted and overlaid by commentators4 ,granted1 it is a product of the time1 even though the author did not see the proofs1 and the printer could not always decipher the ,,ms4 ,but then comes the larger and more general question3 ,how much of the better class of early verse-writers are worth reading8 ,the present deponent1 without being conscious that he is very hyper-critical1 states the deliberate result of actual examination and perusal when he affirms that of the minor poets of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries1 save perhaps ,randolph1 the productions of enduring value and interest could be brought within the compass of a moderate volume4 ,it would be eminently unwise for any one who treats his library as an investment to yield to the existing tendency to exorbitant prices for the later poets and playwrights1 as the rise is due to ephemeral causes1 and the demand1 for the most part1 is not likely to exhaust the supply4 ,if the truth may be told1 the literature of past ages in all countries1 and nowhere more so than in ,england1 is1 in proportion to its immense extent1 excessively barren of high-class writers or written matter4 ,each generation of collectors discovers this fact at last2 but it discovers it for itself4 ,we disdain to profit by the experience of our precursors1 just as the little girl insisted on learning at her own cost how foolish it was to do a certain thing4 ,because there are a few highly interesting catholic publications1 your amateur must be absolutely complete in the series4 ,if it seems expedient to possess an example or two of ancient typography1 he ends by doing his best to accumulate every example in the market4 ,there is more than a probability that the service-books of the ,romish ,church have their archaeological and literary value3 ergo1 he orders every one which he sees advertised1 albeit the differences are substantially far from momentous4 ,he understands that some very curious volumes illustrative of ritualism and the various holy orders were printed here or abroad1 and he proceeds to drain the booksellers' shelves throughout the universe of every bit of sorry stuff answering to this description4 ,there are a dozen or so of ,collections of ,emblems1 ,english or foreign1 which are supposed to throw light on passages in ,shakespeare and other authors2 this is sufficient leverage for the concentration under the unfortunate gentleman's roof of a closely packed cartload4 ,seriously and bibliographically speaking1 there is a fairly wide difference and disparity among the old editions of the poets and romancists2 and there are1 and always will be1 a distinguished minority1 of which the selling prices may be expected to remain firm4 ,such men as ,shakespeare1 ,jonson1 ,beaumont1 ,fletcher1 ,chapman1 ,massinger1 and among the lyric group ,barnfield1 ,watson1 ,constable1 ,wither 7earlier works and ,hallelujah71 ,carew1 ,herrick1 ,suckling1 and ,lovelace1 are to be viewed as standard and stable4 ,then in the ,scotish series there is permanence in ,lyndsay1 ,drummond1 and ,burns4 ,but1 on the contrary1 the minor1 more obscure1 or commoner productions must be carefully distinguished and circumspectly handled by those who do not desire or cannot afford to throw away their money4 ,the names above cited are themselves very unequal2 some1 like ,breton1 ,churchyard1 ,whetstone1 ,barnfield1 ,watson1 and ,constable1 are sought1 and will ever be sought1 by reason of their peculiar rarity2 and1 save in a sentimental way1 no one would probably dream of placing ,beaumont1 ,chapman1 ,wither1 and some of the rest on a par with ,shakespeare1 ,fletcher1 and ,massinger4 ,there has been1 however1 a tendency to force on the notice of book-buyers1 faute de mieux1 many writers whose productions are neither rare nor of the first class--,heywood1 ,dekker1 ,webster1 ,ford1 and ,shirley--and to bracket them commercially with authentic desiderata either on the score of merit or of scarcity4 ,of the three former1 the most difficult pieces to procure are the ,civic ,pageants4 ,nearly all ,ford's and ,shirley's works1 except the ,echo of the latter1 #afah1 are classable among common books even in the first editions4 ,again1 condition is a postulate which begins to assert itself in the book-market4 ,poor and bad copies are eschewed by many or most of those who are willing to pay handsomely for fine specimens2 and the worst type of indifferent exemplars is the sophisticated volume1 which can be manipulated by experts to such an extent that even a person of considerable experience will now and then be at fault4 ,the ,american collector grows more fastidious every day1 and discovers blemishes which we on this side of the water try to tolerate1 if the article is rare or we badly want it4 ,our ,transatlantic friends1 however1 are more inexorable1 and go so far as to return purchases not answering the description in the auctioneer's catalogue to their ,english commission-agents4 ,we have instanced above two or three writers whose works command excessive prices mainly by virtue of the paucity of surviving copies1 seconded by a faint and indirect literary interest2 but we see that the list is open to extension4 ,during the last half-century and upward the publications of ,nicholas ,breton have fetched sums1 when they have occurred1 totally incompatible with any intrinsic value2 with some few exceptions they belong to the category of three-halfpenny ware1 as ,chamberlain the letter-writer styles such things in his correspondence with ,sir ,dudley ,carleton2 half-a-dozen or so out of forty and more are undoubtedly curious and illustrative2 but ,mr4 ,corser and one or two other collectors made a speciality of the author4 ,it is only the other day that ,sir ,john ,fenn's copy of ,breton's ,works of a ,young ,wit1 #aegg1 recorded by ,herbert in his ,typographical ,antiquities1 and the only perfect one known1 occurred at an auction and fetched ,l#ha6 ,a fine book it was1 too1 with the blank leaf at end4 ,doubtless1 the reason for the evanescence of ,breton's literary labours is to be sought in their estimation by many1 besides the letter-writer above quoted1 as barely more than waste paper4 ,verily1 their substantial worth is barely tangible4 ,speaking from a connoisseur's rather than from a reader's point of view1 when we leave behind us the pre-,restoration writers of ,great ,britain and ,ireland1 we do not encounter much difficulty in a commercial sense1 if we consider the length of time and the almost innumerable names1 excepting ,bunyan's ,pilgrim's ,progress1 ,swift's ,gulliver1 ,defoe's ,robinson ,crusoe1 ,goldsmith's ,vicar of ,wakefield1 and a few early ,byrons and ,shelleys1 unless the buyer schedules among his desiderata the earlier ,anglo-,american literature4 ,for as we draw nearer to our own day1 items which were thought to be superlatively uncommon1 including sundry pieces by ,tennyson and ,browning1 have failed to maintain their reputation for scarcity1 as any one might have foreseen that they would do4 ,the preposterous prices paid for some copies have brought out others1 and the ultimate supply will probably exceed the demand4 ,even where an ,english collection may not enter the ,continental lines1 but preserves its national character1 there are numerous classes of books of foreign origin and from foreign presses1 which are fairly entitled to consideration and admittance4 ,these publications embrace not merely religious and controversial literature1 but a large and important body of material for ,english and ,scotish biography and history1 and for the elucidation of ,irish affairs4 ,every season brings to light some new features in this immense series1 which is1 of course1 susceptible of a classifying process1 and may be ranged under such sections as we have above indicated1 besides a considerable residue which falls under the head of poetry and typography1 the latter constituting a branch of the ,history of ,english ,printing1 and the former being worthy of notice as embracing some of the rarest metrical productions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries1 which owed their issue from presses in ,germany and the ,low ,countries to various agencies1 but chiefly to the exigencies of foreign military service by ,english and ,scotish officers during the ,english operations in the ,netherlands under ,elizabeth and during the ,thirty ,years' ,war4 ,the foreign sources of ,english books1 or books written by or about ,english1 ,scotish1 and ,irish folk1 have been-- ,aire ,amsterdam ,antwerp ,arras ,augsburg ,basle ,bologna ,boulogne ,breda ,bruges ,brussels ,constantinople ,dort ,florence ,flushing ,geneva ,ghent ,gouda ,haarlem ,leipsic ,leyden ,lyons ,malines ,middelburg ,milan ,munich ,munster ,paris ,parma ,pisa ,rome ,rotterdam ,strasburg-in-,elsass ,the ,hague ,tournai ,utrecht ,venice ,vevey ,wesel ,zuerich ,it is always to be borne in mind that these adjuncts at the foot of title-pages in troubled periods are not unfrequently fictitious2 and we have elsewhere equally shown that ,greenwich and ,waterford are names appended to early controversial works of which the writers desired to conceal the real parentage4 ,of ,english presses it might seem almost superfluous to speak2 but in fact the typographical fortunes of ,london have experienced their flux and reflux4 ,at first we find the ,city itself in sole possession of the industry and privilege2 then ,westminster came2 thirdly1 ,southwark4 ,of the provincial places of origin1 ,oxford appears to have been the foremost1 and was followed at intervals by ,york1 ,cambridge1 ,canterbury1 ,ipswich1 ,worcester1 and other centres1 of which some preserved their reputation down to comparatively recent times1 while ,oxford and ,cambridge of course remain important and busy seats of printing4 ,beverley1 ,nottingham1 ,derby1 ,northampton1 ,bristol1 ,birmingham1 ,gateshead1 and ,newcastle-on-,tyne have never been more than occasional sources of literary production1 and certain towns1 such as ,lincoln and ,gainsborough1 are only known from local or small popular efforts2 there is an edition of ,robin ,hood's ,garland with the ,gainsborough imprint4 ,one or two publications purporting to have been executed at ,sherborne in ,dorsetshire belong to the firm of ,william ,bowyer of ,london4 ,there was a distinct centralising tendency at a later period1 by which the ,english metropolis absorbed the principal share of work1 and it was followed1 owing to economical causes1 by a reaction which we know to be at present in full force1 and which has restored to the provinces1 but to new localities1 ,bungay1 ,guildford1 ,bristol1 no less than ,edinburgh and ,aberdeen1 an appreciable proportion of the custom of the ,london publishing houses2 nor is it unusual to send ,,mss4 abroad for the sake of the advantage accruing from cheaper labour4 ,we not long since secured this boon in ,scotland2 but ,scotland has grown as dear as ,london4 ,the ,,scotish ,,series is a difficult and costly one to handle4 ,the early vernacular literature of that country has suffered from two classes of destructive agency1 neglect and fanaticism1 to a greater extent than ,england1 and the disappearance of the more popular books and tracts has been wholesale4 ,the attempt on the part of a collector1 however rich and persevering he might be1 to form a complete series of original editions of the poetical and romantic writers of ,north ,britain1 could only be made in ignorance of the utter impossibility of success4 ,the late ,david ,laing abundantly illustrated this fact in his numerous publications1 and further evidence of it may be found throughout the bibliographical works of the present writer4 ,the old ,scotish presses were ,edinburgh1 ,leith1 ,st4 ,andrew's1 ,glasgow1 ,stirling1 and ,aberdeen2 but a large proportion of the literary productions of ,scotish authors1 including much of the historical group relative to ,mary ,queen of ,scots1 proceeded from foreign places of origin1 where the writers had settled or were temporarily resident4 ,the principal channels through which we have in modern times augmented our information of their products are the catalogues of ,fraser of ,lovat1 ,boswell of ,auchinleck1 the ,duke of ,roxburghe1 ,pitcairn1 ,constable1 ,chalmers1 ,maidment1 ,gibson-,craig1 ,david ,laing1 and the ,rev4 ,william ,makellar1 the last a cousin of ,sir ,william ,stirling ,maxwell of ,keir1 and a collector from #ahch to #ahih4 ,a purely ,,irish ,,library would inherently differ both from one limited to ,english or to ,scotish books4 ,there is no early typography or poetry1 no works printed on vellum1 no masterpieces of binding4 ,the collectors in that part of the empire have always been few in number1 and in fact ,irish books have been chiefly collected by persons who were not ,irishmen1 nor even residents in that country4 ,it used to be the case that1 where a book was remarkably successful in ,england1 the ,dublin booksellers reprinted it1 and1 as these reproductions are generally scarcer than the originals1 doubtless in limited numbers4 ,the series consists of a handful of books and tracts of the ,elizabethan and ,jacobean periods 7#aegj-afbe72 of publications relative to the ,civil ,war 7#afdd-dh72 of others relative to the ,commonwealth and ,jacobite troubles 7#afej-ij72 of literary illustrations of the state of ,ireland under the ,houses of ,orange1 ,stuart1 and ,brunswick or ,hanover1 and of modern days4 ,the bibliographical writings of ,sir ,james ,ware are usually quoted and consulted for the literature within his time1 but they have become almost obsolete4 ,the two other works of reference for amateurs and students are those by ,charles ,vallancey 7,collectanea de ,rebus ,hibernicis1 #aghf-ahjg1 #g vols47 and ,charles ,o',conor 7,rerum ,hibernicarum ,scriptores ,veteres1 #ahad-bf1 #d vols474 ,but we have to go to more recent authorities to discover that the typographical productions of ,ireland in the first decade of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries comprise a few books of the greatest rarity and one or two of which no copies are at present known4 ,on the other hand1 certain ,elizabethan volumes1 purporting to have proceeded from ,irish presses1 are generally believed to have an ,english origin1 while others with ,german imprints of a later date 7second half of the seventeenth century7 are absolutely proved to have been clandestinely executed at home4 ,a very fair and comprehensive idea of the salient features in the present series may be gained from the ,grenville and ,huth catalogues and from ,hazlitt's ,collections 7,general ,index74 ,considerable stress is laid by collectors on a large-paper copy with the ,decisions filled in in ,,ms41 the ,memorandum1 c41 of the ,list of ,claims1 #agja1 in connection with the ,irish forfeitures4 ,but in fact a copy of this work is always available1 when any one wants it1 which is seldom enough4 ,there was no regular printing here till the beginning of the seventeenth century1 although one or two ,marian tracts falsely purport to have come from the ,waterford press4 ,dublin had a printer1 ,john ,frankton1 who worked from #afja to #afbj or thereabout1 and produced many books1 tracts1 and broadsheets1 some not yet recovered2 the city also boasted a ,society of ,stationers in #afjh1 and many volumes appeared at ,london ,printed for the ,partners of the ,irish ,stock1 referring to the ,plantation of ,ulster4 ,the places in ,ireland itself1 where the art of typography was pursued1 were ,dublin1 ,cork1 ,waterford1 ,drogheda1 ,kilkenny1 and ,belfast 7as in the section just dismissed74 ,but the rarest articles in the earlier series emanated from ,london or from ,continental presses1 the writings of ,nicholas ,french and ,cranford's ,tears of ,ireland1 #afdb1 taking a prominent rank in the latter category4 ,the leading collectors on ,irish lines have been ,sir ,robert ,peel1 ,mr4 ,grenville1 ,mr4 ,huth1 ,mr4 ,bradshaw1 ,canon ,tierney1 ,mr4 ,shirley1 and ,bishop ,daly4 ,in the ,english series ,i have supposed the admission of a certain number or proportion of foreign books1 which are of catholic interest1 and have acquired a standing among many classes of collectors whose bias is principally national4 ,but there are two other series of very unequal extent1 importance1 and costliness1 which more directly appeal to the buyers of these islands1 namely1 the earlier ,anglo-,american literature belonging to the ,colonial period1 and the ,american reproductions of the favourite books of ,lamb1 ,leigh ,hunt1 ,hazlitt1 ,thackeray1 and others in the present century4 ,the latter category enters into the department of curiosities1 and has yet to acquire bibliographical importance4 ,in one or two cases1 works issued at home in numbers have been published in the ,states in book-form prior to their appearance here4 ,this happened with the ,yellow-,plush ,correspondence1 reprinted direct from ,fraser's ,magazine at ,philadelphia in #ahch1 and curious as the writer's earliest separate publication4 ,these papers were not collected in ,england till #ahda4 ,the products of the ,colonial period include all the books emanating from ,american presses between #afdj1 the date of the ,bay ,psalm-,book at ,cambridge1 ,n4,e41 from the press of ,stephen ,day1 and the ,declaration of ,independence4 ,there has been a disposition to treat the whole of this output of printed matter with a special tenderness and reverence on political grounds2 but it obviously is of a very mixed and unequal character1 and1 as time goes on1 there must be a continuous winnowing process1 and a consignment to oblivion of a vast assortment of the dullest theology and of political ephemerides4 ,there will always remain a rich heirloom to our ,american kinsfolk and ourselves of historical nuggets in the shape of narratives of the fortunes and careers of the ,pilgrim ,fathers1 their experiments in statecraft1 their religious trials1 their early superstitions and strange intolerance of personal liberty in a land chosen by its settlers for liberty's sake2 and of course there is a section of literary products appertaining to the ,new ,world1 namely1 ritualistic ordinances1 liturgical manuals1 and collections of statutes1 which derive what one is bound to term an artificial interest from the local circumstances1 or1 in other words1 from the place of origin4 ,a theological treatise1 a ,bible1 a volume of prayers1 or a law-book1 published in ,england in the second half of the seventeenth century1 may be worth from sixpence to a sovereign2 if it bears the imprint of ,boston1 ,cambridge 7,n4,e471 ,new ,york1 ,philadelphia1 or ,new ,london1 its value may be computed in bank-notes4 ,the ,laws of ,massachusetts1 #affj1 was lately sold for ,l#aji1 and the ,papers ,relating to ,massachusetts ,bay1 #agfi1 for ,l#h1 the latter in boards4 ,the reason 7so far as there is any7 for this inflation is twofold3 the patriotic sentiment which leads ,american amateurs to desire the oldest and most precious typographical and historical monuments of their country1 and1 secondly1 the perhaps less justifiable enthusiasm of some ,englishmen for books which1 as they may plead1 are the offspring of the ,states while they were still ,english settlements4 ,a copious and fairly contemporary view of the extensive family of works belonging to the earlier ,anglo-,american library may be found in the bibliographies of ,stevens1 ,sabin1 and ,harrisse1 and in the ,grenville1 ,huth1 ,lenox1 and ,tower catalogues4 ,there is not only no line of collecting which is more difficult and more costly than the present1 but none which1 within the last twenty years1 has1 so far as first-rate rarities are concerned1 more seriously advanced1 even inferior copies of certain books fetching at times five times as much as good ones did in the seventies4 ,just lately the call appears to come from the other side of the ,atlantic4 ,there are two or three new bidders4 ,that is sufficient4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,the ,modern ,side--,words of advice--,the place and functions of ,free ,libraries--,coleridge and ,byron period--,unhealthy state of the market--,the ,dickens and ,thackeray movement--,fashions in books--,a valuable suggestion--,slight actual demand for costly modern productions--,two often make a market--,effect of time in settling value--,forecast of the durability of a few names--,a large-paper copy of ,byron's poems1 #ahjg--;,cheap literature not a modern invention--,the published price noted on the face of early volumes--,an episode--,practical buyers not to be considered collectors--,the first edition considered from editorial and other points of view4 ,,in the acquisition of modern books1 far greater caution is requisite than in that of the older literature1 since the output is so enormous1 and the changes in taste and depreciation in value so rapid and so capricious4 ,the ,free and other ,circulating or ,reference ,libraries throughout the country must prove of immense service in superseding the necessity of purchasing volumes of temporary interest or of expensive character2 and the average collector will1 and does1 find that a certain number of dictionaries of various kinds1 and of works which happen to be favourites1 suffice to exhaust his space and resources4 ,the ,free ,library is an undoubted boon in two ways3 in enabling us to read or consult books which we do not care to buy2 and again1 in affording us an opportunity at leisure of judging whether such and such a volume merits more than a passing notice and perusal4 ,the sole method of arriving at this information is to take the publication home4 ,even where shelf-room and funds are forthcoming1 there is slight danger of any large percentage of recent literature being added to the stores of a judicious householder4 ,to read1 perhaps only to skim1 and return1 will be the general rule4 ,it is inexpedient to lend oneself too exclusively to a period or a school2 for even where one has to study for a purpose a particular class of authors1 or a particular subject or group of subjects1 the local institution is at hand to help one2 and the cheap reproductions of the writings of the earlier centuries1 erring1 as they do1 on the side of indulgence1 place it in the power of individuals of modest means to have at their elbows a representative assemblage1 not necessarily a cumbrous one1 of the literature from ,chaucer to the present day1 so that they may form a comparative estimate of the intellectual activity and wealth of successive ages1 while1 at the same time1 the ,greek and ,latin authors are procurable in a collective shape1 if they desire to compare notes and satisfy themselves on the obligations of the moderns to the ancients4 ,it amounts to this1 that the ,free ,library is an agency which should save us to a very material extent from actually acquiring books which are not worth holding2 it is not only a medium for reference1 but for testing and winnowing4 ,but for the select private bookcase it is not1 or ought not to be1 a substitute4 ,the ,free ,library is in its infancy and on its trial4 ,in course of time the spread of education and the force of experience will confer on it better governing bodies1 and better governing bodies will guarantee better curators4 ,the actual generation of librarians1 or so-called librarians1 is the product of inefficient committees of control and selection2 and the worst part is that some of these gentlemen receive salaries which would almost enable their employers to secure the services of qualified officers4 ,i am not personally of the opinion that those institutions are an unmixed blessing4 ,for already there was a marked tendency to a decline in the taste for collecting among the middle classes in the ,united ,kingdom1 available resources being devoted to other outlets more generally acceptable to families2 and the facilities afforded by the ,free ,library virtually amount to each individual parishioner being enabled1 without appreciable cost1 to possess books on a far larger scale than if he had a collection actually his own4 ,the unfavourable operation of this state of affairs is twofold3 it injures the literary market1 and it promotes superficiality of study in the case of books which should be owned1 not borrowed1 to be thoroughly mastered and understood4 ,the range of choice1 which embraces the writers of the modern school in prose and verse1 is both wide and difficult4 ,during many years past the number of authors within these lines has been continually on the increase1 yet1 while merit and value may be questions of opinion1 there can be no serious or legitimate doubt that the output of literary work of high character is not greater than it was1 if indeed as great4 ,in the course of a quarter of a century many popular names have either fallen or faded out of remembrance1 alike of authors who belonged to antecedent generations1 and of those who have enjoyed a transient and artificial celebrity1 and have come and gone1 as it were1 under the eyes of their immediate contemporaries4 ,with the advantages offered by lending libraries1 it appears to be imprudent on the part of any one who cannot conveniently form an extensive collection of modern books to buy on the recommendation of the press or the trade new favourites2 for literary acquisitions are unfortunately apt to occupy space1 and1 save in very exceptional cases1 to deteriorate in value4 ,even the original editions of the later works of ,tennyson are not in great demand1 and the high figures realised by one or two of his early productions are explainable in the same way as those given for ,byrons and ,shelleys4 ,the ,modern ,side of collecting is classifiable into numerous branches1 according to the point of departure1 as some differ in their view of what is modern from others4 ,if we have to lay down a dividing line1 however1 we should make it comprehend the last decade of the eighteenth century1 when many of the writers who were the contemporaries of our immediate foregoers began their literary careers4 ,then1 again1 there are two branches of the later literature3 the more recent writers themselves1 and the reproductions1 as ,i have noted1 of the writers of former periods2 and the extent to which the edited collections have been carried places it within the power of many who so desire to specialise on a certain line1 and to deal representatively with the rest4 ,the specialist who proposes to himself as a field for his activity the ,coleridge and ,byron period1 or who1 again1 confines his efforts to the writings of one or two of that set1 has his work before him4 ,generally speaking1 the first editions1 which are those usually desired1 are not uncommon2 but there is almost always a crux1 an introuvable1 for which the not altogether blameable dealer puts on the screw1 and charges more than for all the remaining items4 ,bohn's ,lowndes yields a fair account of this family of literature2 and ,alexander ,ireland1 ,richard ,herne ,shepherd1 and others have bestowed vast pains on drawing up monographs on ,coleridge1 ,hazlitt1 ,hunt1 ,shelley1 ,lamb1 ,keats1 ,browning1 ,tennyson1 and the rest4 ,it is difficult to foresee what the final upshot may be2 probably1 when fabulous prices have drawn forth from their hiding-places additional copies of many of these latter-day objects of keen pursuit1 the market will fall and the craze will subside4 ,it is a purely artificial and spurious one4 ,a second group1 to whose books a collector may reasonably and conveniently confine his attention1 consists of the poets and prose-writers who are still1 or who were till lately1 among us2 and a fairly numerous body of matter falls within this class1 as we may judge from a glance at the names which present themselves in the publishers' and booksellers' lists4 ,in selecting the contemporary school1 there is the undoubted advantage that you can institute a comparison between the book and its author1 and that you may fall in with him at dinner1 in a drawing-room or in a shop1 and congratulate him or solicit an explanation of some fine but obscure passage2 and should you also be literary1 he has the opportunity of exchanging compliments with you4 ,the old dead writers receive praise and offer no equivalent4 ,during a series of years there was a notorious run1 which1 as usual1 became indiscriminate1 on first editions of the writings of ,dickens1 ,thackeray1 and other foremost men of the period1 eclipsing1 as it seemed1 even the demand for the earlier ,english classics1 till the auctioneers and booksellers in their catalogues underlined at a venture every editio princeps1 though it might be the last as well as the first1 and1 whether or no1 a book of no mark4 ,but the enthusiasm has at last contracted itself within narrower and more intelligent limits1 and is restricted to productions which rank as masterpieces or are special favourites1 and then all postulates have to be satisfied1 all bibliographical minutiae have to be studied4 ,it is impossible to foresee how far this latest compromise may last2 but whatever it is1 there must always be some novelty to keep the market going1 and bring grist to the mill4 ,the world of fashion comprehends books as well as bonnets and dresses2 but the literary section is a humble one by comparison1 and is in few hands4 ,every fresh mode has somewhere its starter1 and it usually prevails long enough to suit the purposes of the trade1 when it makes way for its successor4 ,if one had the ordering of these strategical devices1 one would imagine that the true policy was to buy up a given class of books1 procure the insertion of a clever article or two in the press1 extolling their merits and lamenting the public ignorance and neglect1 and then launch a ,jesuitically constructed catalogue devoted to such undeservedly disregarded treasures4 ,but we may have been forestalled4 ,who knows8 ,the less current and every-day literary ware appeals to a more or less narrow constituency4 ,there is a proverb1 ,the wool-seller knows the wool-buyer2 and it has to be so in books4 ,there are volumes which1 if they do not from their character or price suit one of a circle of half-a-dozen collectors1 with whose means and wants the whole trade is generally familiar1 are exceedingly likely to suit nobody outside the public libraries at public library prices4 ,so much is this the case1 that many booksellers do not think it worth their while to publish catalogues1 and content themselves with reporting to the most probable purchaser fresh acquisitions4 ,with certain very special and costly rarities two often make a market4 ,time will perform its habitual office or function for us and our successors of separating from the multitudinous accumulation of modern published or printed matter such portion as1 on deliberate inquiry and scrutiny1 appears to be of permanent value4 ,there is no doubt that much will be thrown aside2 but the residuum which will bear the test of dispassionate judgment must prove considerable in itself1 and also when taken into account as an appendix to the record left by preceding generations of writers4 ,there may be certain authors and authoresses whom our descendants will like to have by them1 even though they may no longer exert a sensible influence on literature and thought1 just as we prize many of the older schools and types for characteristics and allusions which strike us as curious or entertaining2 and soon1 as decade follows decade1 and the twentieth century has well opened1 men and women1 who were our grandsires' contemporaries1 will seem through the lengthening vista almost as remote as they were from the ,stuart epoch with its ,elizabethan and ,shakespearian traditions4 ,it is useless and invidious to particularise1 and1 besides1 when one has drawn up a list of names1 which are more or less obviously ephemeral1 one cannot be certain as to the rest4 ,some must live2 some may4 ,the astonishing demand for the first editions of our modern poets and novelists has1 as was generally anticipated1 subsided1 and in some cases almost ceased2 and it is extremely doubtful whether the taste will ever assume again the same unhealthy proportions4 ,for one result of the matter has been to make it perfectly clear that copies of ,byron1 ,shelley1 ,keats1 ,coleridge1 ,lamb1 ,dickens1 ,thackeray1 ,tennyson1 and so forth1 exist in much greater plenty than was at first supposed1 though very little reflection should have sufficed to establish the fact as an eminent probability2 and all that was needed to draw them from their resting-places was the series of paragraphs in the press conveying to holders how valuable their property had unexpectedly become4 ,shall we not have more copies of ,shelley's poor little brochure of #ahaj offered for sale ere long1 as well as of ,thackeray's ,exquisites and ,king ,glumpus8 ,at the same time1 while we insist that the survival of means of supply is too large1 and the market too limited1 to sustain the extravagant quotations of recent years1 there will ever remain persons prepared to give generous prices for absolutely first-class examples of the best modern authors4 ,there must be no qualification1 nothing secondary1 nothing dubious2 and with these provisos1 we do not venture to predict that the competition might not become keener than ever4 ,the same experience will result here and there1 whenever a book forming a desideratum in more than one cabinet occurs for sale1 and is perhaps the first copy which has been offered4 ,at ,sotheby's in ,june #ahif1 ,shelley's ,oedipus ,tyrannus1 #ahbj1 it is said1 was carried under these circumstances to ,l#acj4 ,it was1 we believe1 one of two copies1 picked up by a well-known amateur for fourpence each4 ,on another account--its perfectly immaculate state in boards--a large-paper copy of ,byron's poems1 #ahjg1 was thought by ,mr4 ,edward ,huth not too dear at ,l#aje4 ,it had been acquired by a ,london bookseller in exchange for one in morocco from a correspondent in ,yorkshire1 the latter receiving the bound book 7which cost the vendor ,l#bg7 and ,l#ah difference1 so that there was a profit on the transaction of ,l#fj4 ,seriously speaking1 the purchase was extravagantly dear1 for the book on large paper is at all events not scarcer than on small4 ,one of the most signal incidents1 however1 in modern auctioneering annals was the sale of ,,mss4 copies of the ,endymion and ,lamia of ,keats in the poet's handwriting for ,l#ajjj1 and the subsequent offer to the purchasers at that figure of a large advance for their bargain4 ,these two items are printed1 and the written copies were those employed by the printer1 as upon the first leaf of each ,,ms4 were the directions as to size4 ,they were in the familiar round schoolboy hand1 and presented occasional corrections4 ,we heard a suggestion that there might have once1 at all events1 been a duplicate copy in existence4 ,if the lots were worth the money1 what would the manuscript of ,venus and ,adonis or ,hamlet fetch8 ,the mischief which proceeds from the advertisements through the press of sensational sale prices is not one for which either the buyers or the sellers are responsible4 ,it is due to the notorious circumstance that very few persons are able to discriminate accurately between an important item in an auction or elsewhere1 and another submitted to their approval1 ostensibly and professedly identical1 but actually very different4 ,a certain familiar type of bookseller will tell you that a copy of such or such a work fetched ,l#ej under the hammer last week1 but that he can let you have his--same edition1 same date1 same nearly everything--for fifty shillings4 ,of course it is no such matter2 yet the bait is often swallowed1 and the poor 7or possibly rich7 fish caught4 ,the relatively cheap literature of the present day has been thought to be a revival rather than an invention4 ,we meet with tracts published in the reign of ,elizabeth with the express notation of the price of issue1 namely1 one penny4 ,the ,book of ,common ,prayer1 #aedi1 was to be sold at #bs4 #b;d4 unbound1 and #ds4 in paste or boards4 ,the ordinary amount charged for a tract extending to thirty or forty pages1 and for a quarto play1 was #d;d4 or a groat4 ,the first folio ,shakespeare1 #afbc1 cost the original purchaser #bjs42 ,percival's ,spanish ,dictionary1 #aeii1 appears to have come out at #abs4 ,there are lists of advertisements attached to publications of the later ,stuart era showing that a large variety of popular productions brought the printer or stationer twopence or a penny4 ,a curious little edition of ,coffee-,house ,jests1 #agfj1 bears the imprint3-- ,drogheda4 ,printed for the sake of a ,penny3 ,sold in ,waterford1 ,cork1 and ,kilkenny4 ,but throughout these statistics1 which are capable1 of course1 of infinite augmentation1 we have to keep before us the difference in the value of money1 and the purchasing power of the same amount in other and more practical directions2 and it follows that the printed matter offered to-day for threepence or sixpence had no real parallel in former times1 and that the absolutely cheap book is a product of modern facilities for manufacture4 ,the published price not unfrequently presents itself at the foot of the title on books of the late seventeenth and earlier eighteenth centuries4 ,the simplicity of some individuals who are ranked among occasional or casual buyers was illustrated many years since by a man going into a shop in ,fleet ,street and putting down eighteenpence in payment of ,hubert's ,edward ,,ii41 #agba1 in the window4 ,the bookseller explained to him that his price was #es4 ,but1 insisted the customer1 look at the title-page2 it was published at #as4 #f;d4 ,then you had better go to the publisher1 observed the other1 replacing the volume4 ,book-collecting seems scarcely to concern very closely those who regard the pursuit from a severely practical point of view1 or in the aspect of absolute intrinsic importance4 ,it is true enough that one may form1 not only a library1 but a remarkably extensive one1 of books of reference and study2 but this does not quite answer to the idea of a bibliophile--in fact1 it is little more than the digestion into book-form of a mass of learning and useful information4 ,again1 if1 without embracing such classes of volumes1 we limit ourselves to those which1 as we express the matter above1 are positively important1 we of course find on our shelves all the capital authors1 ancient and modern2 yet how many we should have to reject which are accounted indispensable to a choice cabinet6 ,and such is apt to be more peculiarly the case in a selection formed on ,anglo-,french lines1 as anybody may readily judge by examining a catalogue of this kind1 where pages and pages are occupied by irritating trifles of no solid pretensions whatever1 not even those evident in personal or heraldic accessories4 ,the general rule may be applied to our modern books1 that1 whatever they may be for purposes of instruction or entertainment1 they seldom represent the outlay1 and still more rarely a profit upon it when the day arrives for realising4 ,during some time past we have witnessed the rise and fall1 or at least disappearance from the front rank1 of individuals and schools of individuals whose writings no amount of friendly support in the press was capable of propping up beyond three or four seasons4 ,it is not that some of them may not hereafter1 like our older authors1 return to notice and currency2 but they will suffer that intermediate period of neglect which has been experienced by well-nigh all our greatest names in letters4 ,there is for literature1 in common with its buyers1 an earth1 a purgatory1 and a heaven--or something else4 ,the public cannot keep pace with the vast and unbroken succession of literary produce1 and the favourites of the day pass over to neutral ground1 with very few exceptions1 when their honeymoon has expired1 to await the deliberate verdict of posterity on their merit and their station4 ,to the investor for a more or less immediate return1 however1 they are precarious possessions1 unless the market be carefully watched4 ,the wealthy and absolutely uncommercial amateur disregards these risks and these counsels2 and he is in a sense to be envied4 ,the question of the ,first ,edition is not limited to any era of literary history and production1 and the call for this class of book1 at first 7as usual7 rather unreasoning1 begins to be more critical and narrow4 ,the author to be thus honoured by his posterity must have a certain bouquet and vogue4 ,he must be a ,shakespeare1 a ,jonson1 a ,herrick1 a ,burton1 a ,defoe1 a ,bunyan1 a ,burns1 or 7if we cross the sea7 a ,moliere1 a ,montaigne1 or a ,cervantes4 ,with the first edition in some bibliographical schemes is associated the ,best ,one4 ,the possessor of both may pride himself on being able to show the earliest and latest state of the writer's mind1 what he originally conceived1 and what he decided to leave behind him as his ultimum vale4 ,for the most part1 however1 first thoughts are treated as better than second1 and it may actually be the case that1 alike in ancient and modern books1 the too fastidious and wavering ancient poet1 or playwright1 or essayist has done himself in maturer years an injustice by blotting the fresh impulses of his noviciate4 ,it is a case1 perhaps1 where the public is entitled to intervene1 and taking the two readings1 deliver its award--always supposing that the text is that of a man worth the pains1 and1 again1 that both versions are the language of the author1 not that of the editor4 ,it is obvious that1 as a matter of literary and scientific or technical completeness1 the last edition of a work is the most desirable2 but it is particularly the case with volumes endeared by personal associations1 such as ,gilbert ,white's ,selborne1 that one prefers the text as the author left it1 even if one has to be at the pains to consult a second publication for up-to-date knowledge4 ,the present point is one to which ,i have adverted in an earlier place4 ,apart from the collector1 the first and the best impressions of writers of importance1 whose texts underwent at their own hands more or less material changes1 are necessarily an object of research to the editor or specialist who has dedicated his attention to such or such a study2 and he is apt to pursue the matter still further than the amateur1 who does not1 as a rule1 esteem the intermediate issues4 ,it is this feeling and need which have led1 since critical and comparative editions came into fashion1 to the accumulation by their superintendents of an exhaustive array of titles and dates1 with hints of the most remarkable various readings2 and the cause of bibliography has gained1 whether1 in drawing together the series1 the book-hunter or the literary worker be the pioneer4 ,from the editorial and bibliographical points of view a complete sequence of the writings of our more distinguished and durable authors is generally practicable2 but of excessively popular or favourite books1 even of the ,elizabethan era1 it is imperfect4 ,we refer to such cases as the so far unseen second impression of ,shakespeare's ,passionate ,pilgrim and the ostensible disappearance of the original quarto of ,love's ,labor's ,lost4 ,two questions connected with the present part of the subject before us1 now better understood and managed1 were under the old system1 so far as we can ascertain or judge1 permitted to remain in a very loose and vague state4 ,we allude to the law of copyright and the revision for the press4 ,prior to the institution of the ,stationers' ,company and the existence of a ,register1 the sole protection for authors and publishers was by the grant of a privilege or a monopoly for a term of years2 yet even when registration had become compulsory1 and was supposed to be effectual1 spurious editions constantly found their way into the market1 while books of which the writers might desire1 on various grounds1 to keep the ,,mss4 in their own hands1 found their way into print through some irregular channel4 ,such was the case with ,shakespeare's ,hamlet1 #afjc1 and 7in a somewhat different way7 with the third edition of his ,passionate ,pilgrim1 #afab2 and we perceive that of ,bacon's ,essays during some years two parallel impressions were current without ostensible interference or warrant4 ,there are frequent instances in which authors state that their motive in hastening into type was the rumour that a surreptitious and inaccurate text was threatened1 as if there was no legal power to prevent such a class of piracy4 ,the correction of proofs by early writers1 if we except books of reference1 and those not without qualification1 was evidently very lax and precarious4 ,the entire body of popular literature1 the drama included1 offers the appearance1 when we investigate examples1 of having been left to the mercy of the typographers1 and the faulty readings of old plays are more readily susceptible of explanation from the fact that we owe their survival in a printed form as often as not to the clandestine sale of the prompters' copies to the stationer4 ,the editors of our dramatists have consequently found it an extremely laborious task to restore the sense of corrupt passages1 and have sometimes abandoned the attempt in despair4 ,not a few of the pieces in the last edition of ,dodsley come within this category2 and we may signalise the unique tragedy of ,appius and ,virginia1 #aege1 as a prodigy of negligent and ignorant execution on the part of the original compositor4 ,but to the same cause is due our still remaining uncertainty as to the true reading of numerous places in ,shakespeare himself4 ,our collectors1 however1 are not particularly solicitous to study the present aspect of the matter1 and the hunter for ,first ,editions is by no means likely to care an iota about the purity of the text1 but may be more apt to congratulate himself on the ownership of the genuine old copy with all the errors of the press as vouchers for its character4 ,who would exchange a second ,hamlet of #afjd for a first one of #afjc1 simply because the former happens to contain as much more1 and the latter is little better than a torso8 ,the long uncertainty and insecurity of authors' rights1 whatever may be thought of the present position of the matter1 led at a very early date to the adoption of such safeguards against plagiarism as it was in the power of specialists1 at all events1 to impose4 ,some time after its original publication in #aecj1 we find ,john ,palsgrave1 compiler of the ,eclaircissement de la ,langue ,francoise1 prohibiting the printer from giving or selling copies to any one without his leave1 lest his profits as a teacher of the language should be prejudicially affected2 and so it was that preceptors often reserved the right of sale1 and dealt direct with buyers1 and in one case 7only a sample7 a treatise on ,shorthand by ,richard ,weston 7#aggj7 is delivered to purchasers at eighteenpence on the express condition that they shall not allow the book to leave their own hands or premises4 ,,chapter ,x ,our failure to realise the requirements of ,illustrated ,books--,the ,french ,school--,la ,fontaine's ,contes et ,nouvelles1 #agfb--;,imperfect conception of what constitutes a thoroughly complete copy--,the ,crawford copy--,comparative selling values of copies--,the ,fables of the same author--,dorat--,la ,borde--,beaumarchais--,contrast between the ,english and ,french ,schools--,process-printing--,the ,edition de ,luxe--,its proper destination and limit--,the ,illustrated ,copy--,increasing difficulty in forming it--,unsatisfactory character of the majority of specimens--,analogy between the ,french taste in books and in vertu--,temper of the foreign markets--,the ,anglo-,american collector--,the ,parisian gout--,the famous mud-stained volume of tracts in the ,british ,museum--,foreign translations of early ,english tracts4 ,,of the ,illustrated ,book1 the ,illustrated ,copy1 and the ,edition de ,luxe we have spoken a few words elsewhere4#b ,these are three forms of competition1 which represent as many sources of danger and disappointment to the inexperienced4 ,when we refer to illustrated books we of course signify books with woodcuts and other graphic embellishments from the earliest period1 such as the ,block ,books1 the ,game and ,play of the ,chess1 the ,caxton ,a,esop1 the ,nuernberg ,chronicle1 #adic1 the ,poliphilo1 #adii1 the ,ship of ,fools1 #adig1 and the ,dance of ,death2 collections of ,portraits and ,views2 down to the productions of the modern school1 and comprising the popular abridgments of ,crouch or ,burton1 of which an idea may be gained from the list printed at the end of ,bliss's ,reliquiae ,hearnianae1 #aheg1 and the cheap editions of romances and story-books brought out by sundry stationers at prices ranging from threepence to a penny in the closing years of the seventeenth century4 ,in the ,english series1 independently of the woodcuts which incidentally occur in the books printed by ,caxton and his immediate successors and the ,emblem series1 there are ,roeslin's ,birth of ,mankind1 by ,raynald1 #aedj1 ,braun's ,civitates ,orbis ,terrarum1 ,gemini's ,anatomy1 #aede1 ,godet's ,genealogy of all the ,kings of ,england1 #aefc1 ,saxton's ,maps1 ,holinshed's ,chronicles1 #aegg1 ,harington's ,ariosto1 #aeia1 ,holland's ,baziologia1 #afah1 and ,heroeologia1 #afbj1 the various works illustrated by ,pass1 ,elstracke1 ,hollar1 ,barlow1 and others1 ,vicars's ,england's ,worthies1 #afde1 ,ricraft's ,survey of ,england's ,champions1 #afdg1 and other publications by ,ricraft with engravings1 till we come down to the pictorial histories of ,england by ,bishop ,white1 ,kennett1 and ,rapin and ,tindal1 ,pine's ,horace1 and ,buck's ,views4 ,no doubt among these there are interesting specimens for the respective periods4 ,it is noticeable that in the ,holinshed of #aegg the illustrations are frequently repeated without regard to the context4 ,the engravings by ,hollar and ,barlow are the most pleasing4 ,but the ,basiliologia1 #afah1 is the rarest book in the whole range of this class of literature4 ,pine's ,horace1 even in the first edition1 #agcc1 with the ,post ,est reading1 is common enough2 and it has been found uncut4 ,so far as we are concerned1 we should prefer it in the original morocco4 ,as a text it is of no account4 ,coming lower down1 we may specify or emphasise a few chefs d'oeuvre1 such as ,hogarth's ,prints in the first or best states1 ,turner's ,liber ,studiorum1 ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds' ,graphic ,works1 and ,lodge's ,portraits4 ,but we are neither so wealthy nor so advanced as our ,french and ,german neighbours in this direction1 and the former may be affirmed to stand alone in the possession of a class of books with engravings germane to the national genius and to the feeling and spirit of the time which produced such masterpieces in their way4 ,of works illustrated by copper-plates1 that by ,roeslin on ,midwifery1 #aedj1 above-named1 seems to be the first in chronological order2 but both this and the ,gemini of #aede probably owed their embellishments to foreign sources4 ,our own country is probably weakest in this department2 many of the engravings in our early literature are direct copies from the ,german1 ,dutch1 or ,french masters2 the names of some of our leading artists are those of foreigners2 and we have comparatively little to show of strictly original work till the last quarter of the eighteenth century1 when we may place our national efforts side by side with uninterrupted ,continental series from the middle of the fifteenth4 ,we are also poorly provided with books of reference enabling amateurs to form an idea of the extent of the field and of the relative practicability and costliness of given classes or lines1 whereas the foreign collector enjoys the advantage of many excellent and fairly trustworthy manuals4 ,we want a ,general ,guide to ,english ,illustrated ,literature1 which should exhibit its sources and inspiration1 and the epochs and schools into which it is divisible4 ,of course1 it stands with the present description of literary monuments as it does with the normal book4 ,an enterprise which should aim at being exhaustive would prove excessively serious in point of outlay1 and would hardly be so satisfactory as one either on a miscellaneous or a special principle4 ,meanwhile1 it is desirable that statements offered in catalogues of various kinds should aim at accuracy as far as possible4 ,it is singular what a vitality resides in errors when they have been pointed out by experts1 and ought to be recognised4 ,the auctioneers seem to keep the type of certain notes standing1 as they are repeated in catalogue after catalogue without any other gain than that of misleading such as know no better4 ,one familiar acquaintance of this class is the dictum that the copper-plates in ,hugh ,broughton's ,concent of ,scripture1 #aeif1 are the earliest of the kind executed in ,england1 although they had not only been preceded by the prints in ,harington's ,ariosto1 #aeia1 but by those accompanying the ,birth of ,mankind by ,roeslin1 #aedj1 and the ,anatomie ,delineatio of ,thomas ,gemini1 #aede4 ,the average collector1 who possesses tolerable judgment1 and has the authorities at his elbow1 cannot go far astray if he buys what pleases him among the ordinary books of medium price1 and may acquire examples of every period and place of origin1 as opportunities arise4 ,or he may limit himself to early ,german1 ,dutch1 ,italian1 or ,french books with woodcuts1 to the ,french illustrated literature of the eighteenth century1 to volumes with engravings by ,bewick1 ,stothard1 or ,bartolozzi1 or to modern works with proof-plates1 etchings1 and other choice varieties4 ,it is literally impossible to fix any maximum or minimum of cost in this case2 so much depends in graphic publications on niceties of difference2 and a law prevails here analogous to that which governs the ,print1 that is to say1 that a more or less slight point of detail vitally affects values4 ,let us take such a familiar instance as ,lodge's ,portraits of ,illustrious ,personages4 ,one may have a copy in ,bohn's ,libraries for a dozen shillings2 and one may give seventy or eighty sovereigns for a large-paper copy with india proofs of the four-volume folio edition of #ahba4 ,on the whole1 the twelve-volume quarto book is almost preferable1 as in the folio there is the disadvantage of three volumes having copper-plates and one 7the fourth7 steel engravings1 and the quarto is obtainable for ,l#bj or ,l#be in morocco4 ,very few of the ,english portraits in the engraved series antecedent to ,lodge are trustworthy1 as this branch of specialism was not properly studied and understood down to the present century1 and even the heads executed by ,houbraken are not unfrequently apocryphal4 ,such a criticism applies less to royal personages than to private individuals1 of whom the painted likenesses were apt1 after the lapse of years1 to be not so easily identifiable4 ,we have excellent monographs on ,bewick and ,bartolozzi by ,mr4 ,hugo and ,mr4 ,tuer respectively2 and there is the delightful biography of ,stothard by ,mrs4 ,bray1 #ahea1 with profuse illustrations of his various artistic productions and progressive style4 ,many of the scarcer examples of ,bartolozzi have been imitated4 ,to the collector who limits his interest to artists in book-shape1 the first editions on large or largest paper of the ,birds1 ,quadrupeds1 and ,select ,fables of ,bewick are most familiar and most desirable4 ,stothard is seen to advantage in the engravings to ,ritson's ,english ,songs1 #aghc4 ,much of his work lies outside the mere library4 ,for a general view of that branch of the subject1 ,jackson and ,chatto's ,treatise on ,wood ,engraving1 #ahci1 may be recommended1 so far as the printed book is concerned4 ,we do not dwell on the modern illustrated literature1 which demands less study1 and offers few features of interest1 especially that produced at home4 ,too large a proportion of it1 however1 whatever may be the origin1 is indifferent in quality and permanent worth4 ,publications are at present1 like other commodities1 prepared with a main eye to sale2 the sense of pride and honour on the part of the producer is dulled2 he manufactures in gross4 ,there are the showy volumes of ,yriate on ,venice1 ,florence1 and other subjects1 with letterpress written apparently to accompany blocks and plates in the publisher's warehouse4 ,perhaps1 if we seek something more elevated and creditable1 it will be in certain periodicals conducted on higher lines than those to which the ordinary publisher has from financial exigencies to be bound2 and of these there are several both in ,france and ,england--nay1 in ,italy1 in ,australia4 ,the ,illustrated ,book1 as we are familiar with it here1 affords innumerable examples of varied treatment1 as the school of design and the public taste differ or fluctuate from century to century1 from age to age1 and even from season to season4 ,we do not speak of the cheaper literature in this class1 accompanied by engravings so intolerably poor as to disarm criticism1 but to the higher efforts of the artist to respond to the author1 and to appeal more directly to the eye4 ,in this country1 however1 we have not so far been so fortunate1 or otherwise1 as to attain the ,continental ideal of what the graphic portion of a literary performance should be2 and the question is intimately associated1 particularly in ,france and among foreign buyers of the ,french school1 who are numerous in all parts of the world1 with that of binding1 inasmuch as a volume possessing pictorial embellishments of whatever kind must fulfil all requirements in that respect no less than in the outward vesture1 and what may be termed the complemental book-plate4 ,one of the eighteenth-century ,french productions which answers most thoroughly to the just foregoing description1 is the ,fermiers ,generaux edition of the ,contes et ,nouvelles of ,la ,fontaine1 #b vols4 #hvo1 #agfb4 ,the ordinary copies of this work1 of which the whole charm lies in the meretricious plates by ,eisen 7for the text is inoffensive enough71 are distinguished by the presence or otherwise of two or three plates in a particular state1 those left as originally printed being preferred1 because they offer certain unconventional details subsequently modified4 ,but1 in fact1 to make a perfect exemplar of the work1 to satisfy the demand of a rigid connoisseur1 you have to combine features in the shape of proofs before letters and vignettes taken off separately1 besides extra engravings by other artists not strictly belonging to the edition1 until you have a complete album of bijoux indiscrets1 and in the old ,french morocco by ,derome or ,bozerian a ,l#bjj lot4 ,the ,earl of ,crawford's copy1 which was to have been sold at ,sotheby's in ,july #ahif 7,no4 #dic of catalogue71 was a masterpiece of this description2 but it was withdrawn4 ,it has since been sold to another noble lord--the ,earl of ,carnarvon4 ,a copy of the normal decouvert type of the ,contes et ,nouvelles1 #agfb1 may be had1 according to condition and binding1 for between ,l#aj and ,l#ej4 ,it has been said of the extra plates to the ,contes et ,nouvelles of ,la ,fontaine that their rejection as part of the published work ought to be a matter neither of surprise nor of regret1 for they are not only flagrantly indecent1 but are poor and unsatisfying from an artistic point of view4 ,another favourite edition of the ,tales is that with the plates by ,romeyn de ,hooge1 #afhe1 #b vols4 #hvo2 but you must have it on fine paper in old morocco4 ,looking at the illustrated editions of the ,tales generally1 the plates1 except the charming head and tail pieces1 do great injustice to the text1 which the author can hardly have foreseen the possibility of being deformed and discredited by such forced and exaggerated constructions of his meaning4 ,the edition of ,la ,fontaine's ,fables by ,oudry1 #d vols4 folio1 #agee-ei1 is almost equally sought by connoisseurs1 though on somewhat different grounds4 ,some copies in one of the plates1 where there is a tavern sign1 have on the board a lion rampant4 ,in the ,bibliotheque at ,paris is a copy on largest paper bound for ,marie ,antoinette with original decorations by ,oudry himself on the covers2 it is only a single book out of thousands which they have there1 yet it might make a day's sale1 and a remunerative one1 in ,wellington ,street in the ,strand6 ,boccaccio1 #e vols4 #hvo1 #ageg1 with plates by ,eisen1 ,gravelot1 and others1 enters into this series2 it is not an uncommon book1 and is found with a ,french and an ,italian text1 of which the former is generally preferred4 ,it is necessary to secure a copy in all respects faultless4 ,but far more important and relatively costly are the ,baisers of ,dorat1 #aggj1 printed on grand papier de ,hollande1 with the title in red and black1 and1 above all1 ,laborde's ,choix de ,chansons1 #aggc1 always a dear publication when the state is right1 and excessively difficult to obtain with proof plates2 the ,magniac copy was bought by ,mr4 ,quaritch at ,phillips's a few years since for upwards of ,l#bjj1 and sold by him1 we believe1 to ,lord ,carnarvon4 ,another copy1 with the plates in unlettered proof state1 is marked ,l#bej in ,pearson ,co4's ,catalogue1 #ahig-ih4 ,la ,folle ,journee1 by ,beaumarchais1 with engravings of the same period and character1 is also a charming production1 and commands a good price4 ,the minutiae into which the enthusiasts for the graphic ,french literature produced in the closing years of the ancient regime permit themselves to enter is rather bewildering to a novice or an outsider1 and certainly asks as much study as it can well be worth4 ,the cultivation of the pursuit has naturally brought into existence a small library of monographs1 of which that by ,cohen is one of the best known and the most frequently quoted4 ,there is an equal degree of difference between the pictorial features of books produced in ,england and on the ,continent during the past and the present centuries4 ,in ,france there still reigns the spirit of enterprise conducive to the execution of high-class work2 but among ourselves it is painful to contemplate the decline1 not of power1 but of encouragement1 and the unhealthy tendency to a style of illustration which will not probably be very creditable to the country in retrospect4 ,a collection of modern illustrated works of mixed origin may well dispense1 except by way of sample and contrast1 with much of the fantastic and preposterous creations of some of the latter-day masters4 ,the ,edition de ,luxe1 the ,large1 ,larger1 and ,largest ,paper1 the copy on yellow paper1 blue paper1 writing paper1 on papier de ,hollande1 de ,chine1 or d',inde1 or on ,japanese vellum1 the very limited impression1 are among the fancies and demands of the omnivorous past4 ,a short study of the supplement to ,bonn's ,lowndes and of ,martin's ,privately ,printed ,books will suffice to show that not only a library1 but a tolerably extended one1 might be formed of these classes of literature exclusively2 and indeed the thing has been more than once actually done4 ,utterson1 ,halliwell1 ,laing1 ,maidment1 ,eyton1 ,turnbull1 and others have contributed to leave to us a voluminous inheritance of now rather neglected and undervalued curiosities of this kind4 ,but even here the discriminating collector may still advantageously pick out items worth buying and holding1 for in the case of every artificial furore the good1 bad1 and indifferent are apt to rise and to fall together1 while it is reserved only for the first to experience a revival--the ,revival of the ,fittest4 ,the ,illustrated ,copy is an indefinite quantity as to character and importance or estimation1 since no two correspond4 ,nearly all those which have been formed are more or less unequal1 even where there has been no regard to cost1 and every care has been exercised in the selection of objects2 for there is a chronic tendency to become complete4 ,but so far as the normal undertaking of this class is concerned1 we usually perceive a few desirable and appropriate prints or drawings as a sort of piece de resistance1 and the remainder is made up anyhow4 ,even such a book as the ,pennant's ,london in the ,huth ,collection strikes us as unsatisfactory on the ground stated2 there is a share of merit in the choice of embellishments2 there is also too considerable a residuum of comparative rubbish2 and if it is so here1 the reader may judge how the matter stands with illustrated books of the ordinary stamp made up for sale4 ,there is one remark to be offered4 ,the really fine prints and other similar productions are too valuable to treat in this way1 as they would necessarily render the work1 when it was ready for the client1 too expensive4 ,a ,pennant1 for example1 exclusively composed of first-rate material1 and tolerably representative in regard to names and localities1 would be worth thousands of pounds4 ,the time for securing prizes for this purpose at a moderate figure has gone by4 ,the catalogues advertise copies extensively and tastefully illustrated with hundreds or thousands of portraits and views2 and the bidding or demand1 as the case may be1 is carried to ,l#bj1 ,l#ej1 or ,l#ajj4 ,our advice is1 ,not to touch4 ,it is preferable to have a few chosen examples in a portfolio4 ,it is not always that the ,illustrated ,copy is restricted to engravings and other works of art4 ,autograph letters enter into the plan1 and facsimiles of title-pages or other cognate and more or less relevant objects4 ,one of the most recent enterprises of this nature--a ,boswell's ,johnson--cost the actual possessor about ,l#aj1jjj2 it was extended to forty-two volumes1 and aimed at having a token of some kind of every one mentioned in the text4 ,so we advance4 ,it was deemed a piece of extravagance when1 forty or fifty years ago1 the late ,sir ,william ,stirling-,maxwell expended about ,l#ajjj in forming an illustrated copy of his own ,cloister ,life of ,charles ,v4 ,the ,nature-printing1 ,autotype1 ,photogravure1 ,collotype1 and other processes strike us as hardly falling within the category here contemplated1 although that they are material accessions to our resources is undoubted4 ,they are the fruit of a combination between nature and mechanical science2 their fidelity for portraiture and technical purposes may be granted2 but they do not realise the notion of artistic embellishment or interpretation1 nor are they capable of rendering with anything approaching truth the more delicate and subtle touches of the miniaturist4 ,the ,edition de ,luxe is dilettantism in extremis4 ,it is a movement which seems to rest on a false theory and basis4 ,it should have limited itself to nugae literariae1 to bagatelles1 which no mortal sought to read1 and which might be harmlessly printed on any material1 of any latitude and longitude1 in any type1 or else to graphic works where the luxury would more comfortably and more suitably make itself manifest in illustrations varied and duplicated to whatever extent it pleased the issuer1 or was calculated to gratify his clients4 ,but to apply the principle to books so essentially appealing to practical readers as ,dickens1 ,thackeray1 ,scott1 and others1 was an unfortunate step and precedent1 which has thrown on the market a large amount of stock not easily moved even at a heavy discount on the published price4 ,merely looking at the bibliophile pure and simple1 and shutting our eyes to those phases of book-collecting1 where the principle or sole aim is educational or religious1 we incline to the conclusion that foreigners1 and above all the ,french1 are less practical than ourselves1 and lay far greater stress on sentiment4 ,the ,french1 and we may perhaps add the ,anglo-,french school of book-collecting1 works on lines which to a normal lover of books must at first appear rather mysterious and strange1 if not absolutely irrational4 ,the closest analogy which it is in our power to suggest is the almost parallel sentiment and policy in regard to other branches of inquiry--china1 furniture1 numismatics4 ,the ,frenchman and his ,english disciple have no respect whatever as collectionneurs for substantial value1 and agree in ignoring everything1 good1 bad1 indifferent1 outside a prescribed limit4 ,the temper of the foreign markets1 especially the ,french one1 is so essentially different from that of ,england1 that it demands an almost life-long study of the subject to comprehend the true principles by which they are guided and influenced4 ,in what we are just now urging1 we must of course be understood to allude to the amateur pure and simple1--in fact1 if it may be said without offence1 to the virtuoso4 ,there are foreign book-collectors1 as there are ,english1 who seek copies of works within their lines1 whatever those lines may be1 for the sake of information and reference4 ,the collector has no such aim4 ,he aspires to make himself master of so many items answering to certain inexorable postulates laid down by the experts in such matters4 ,his taste has happened to take a bibliographical direction and shape2 it is hardly a literary one2 and the objects of his pursuit1 instead of being pictures1 prints1 antiquities1 gems1 or coins1 are things in book-form4 ,monsieur and his ,british satellite cultivate exclusively what is ,french1 just as in the numismatic department ,monsieur will only buy ,french coins or ,franco-,italian ones1 or the money of ,monsieur's direct ancestors1 the ,greeks and ,romans4 ,it is the same principle throughout2 and the undoubted fact is before us that1 if the article to be sold is right in all respects1 the price is marvellous4 ,one can understand a high appreciation of some superb or unique example of ancient typography1 of a book which has belonged to a famous person1 or of a manuscript like the ,bedford ,missal or the ,hours of ,anne of ,brittany4 ,one can understand1 again1 the enthusiasm for an unrecorded old poem1 romance1 or play1 for a production by an eminent author supposed to have perished1 or for a precious relic such as the ,manesse ,,ms41 presented by the ,german ,emperor ,frederic to the library at ,heidelberg1 from which it had been taken by the ,french during the wars of the ,revolution4 ,but the ,parisian gout is less intent on such matters than on flimsy and effeminate specialities4 ,a copy of a book1 it does not signify how valuable intrinsically it may be1 is worth nothing in the eyes of ,monsieur and ,monsieur d',angleterre son ami1 unless it is in a particular vesture1 with a particular ex libris1 and of a particular measurement in millesimes4 ,,mm4 les amateurs reject not merely calf1 but that vellum wrapper and that stitched paper envelope so dear to us ,english--so dear that when one of us has given hundreds of pounds for a book thus clothed1 rather than commit it to a binder1 we employ him to make us a case for the gem4 ,the volume of tracts which ,charles ,i4 borrowed of ,thomason the stationer1 and let fall in the mud1 what could ,monsieur do with it8 ,absolutely nothing4 ,but the ,british ,museum cherishes the relic1 and would not on any account1 we solemnly believe1 suffer the stains to be removed4 ,they are the credentials1 the link between the king and ourselves4 ,on the subject of ,french books in regard to their bindings we shall have more to say below4 ,,footnotes3 #b ,four ,generations of a ,literary ,family1 #ahig1 ii4 #cga4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,the extrinsic features in books--,autographs--,inscriptions--,vari ous classes of them and of interest in their subject-matter--,the ,henry ,,viii4 ,prayer-,book of #aedd--,some account of it--,gabriel ,harvey--,spenser--,evelyn--,milton--,hy pothetical grands prix--,classification of inscriptions--,examples--,dramatists--,p oets--,jonson1 ,massinger1 ,drayton1 ,wycherley1 ,killigrew--,mere signatures--,shakespeare's copy of ,florio's ,montaigne1 #afjc--,the ,earl of ,essex's copy of ,drayton's ,eclogues1 #aeic--;,humphrey ,chetham--,strays from his library--,beau ,nash as a collector--,sir ,joshua ,reynolds--,william ,beckford and his ,vathek--,foreign autographs and memoranda--,a whimsical note in a copy of ,shakespeare's ,passionate ,pilgrim1 #aeii--;,interesting ,,ms4 matter in a copy of ,stow's ,survey1 #afcc--,pepys's binder--,dr4 ,burney and his verses in ,sandford and ,merton--,napoleon and ,josephine--,the ,lutheran ,testament given by the latter to ,general ,buonaparte--,a charming presentation copy from ,josephine of ,voltaire's ,henriade--,what makes the interest in autographs--,ineptitudes--,the reviewer's copy--,latter-day vandalism--,arms on books--,prefaces and ,dedications--,imprimaturs4 ,,what may be treated as the casual accessories of books of nearly all periods and countries--the autograph inscription testifying to the ownership or signalising a gift from one possessor to another--have manifold and diversified elements of interest and attraction4 ,these features offer a graduated scale of importance1 just as it happens4 ,the question depends on the donor1 or the recipient1 or the article given and received2 and where all these combine to augment the charm and to complete the spell1 the issue is electrifying4 ,no more impressive corroboration of this truth could well be desired or produced than the ,henry ,,viii4 ,prayer-,book of #aedd on vellum1 from the ,fountaine ,collection1 with the ,,mss4 notes and autographs of the ,king1 the ,princess ,mary1 ,prince ,edward1 and ,queen ,catherine ,parr4 ,it fetched about #fjj guineas at ,christie's in #ahid4 ,in the ,bibliographer1 ,bookworm1 and his own ,collections1 the writer has formerly assembled together notices of all the most remarkable examples of ,english books1 both printed and in ,,ms41 with inscriptions1 marginalia1 and other records of prior and successive possession1 brought within his reach during more than thirty years past4 ,there are not unreasonably people who may not see in an ordinary copy of a volume much tangible interest1 yet who are prepared to recognise the value1 and even importance1 of one with the autograph and memoranda of some illustrious personage1 of some great warrior or statesman1 or of a famous man of letters1 artist1 or sculptor4 ,the accidental and secondary feature in the work takes precedence of the rest2 he pays for the sentiment and association4 ,the direct human interest resident in such a relic is apt1 in the opinion of many1 to surpass that of the finest binding2 for one has here the very characters traced long ago by the holder2 one can imagine him 7or her7 seated at the table engaged in the task of leaving to the times to come this memento4 ,the book is the casual receptacle2 perchance in itself it is of inconsiderable worth2 but the manuscript accessions are as an embalmment and a sanctification4 ,the copy is not as others2 it has descended to us as a part of a precious inheritance1 of which the mere paper and print are the least significant2 we are to approach and touch it reverently1 as if the individual to whom it appertained were standing by1 to reprove an ungentle hand and take back the legacy4 ,it would be barely possible1 were it of essential use1 to schedule all the existing presentation or annotated copies of books in our own and other literatures1 but we shall here make an effort to offer a general view of what is intended1 and what may in some instances become attainable by watching opportunities3-- ,monastic or collegiate literature4 ,editions of the ,bible4 ,editions of the ,new ,testament4 ,editions of the ,prayer-,book4 ,royal ,books3-- 7i7 ,with autograph notes by the owner4 7ii7 ,with inscription by the giver4 7iii7 ,with both4 7iv7 ,in binding identifiable with a royal personage4 ,books which possess the signatures of noble or illustrious individuals1 politicians1 statesmen1 soldiers4 ,the same categories apply4 ,books with literary inscriptions3-- 7i7 ,presentation copies with author's inscription4 7ii7 ,with his inscription and additional matter by him4 7iii7 ,with inscription by recipient4 7iv7 ,with autographs and ,,mss4 notes by both4 ,foreign books3-- ,monastic and mediaeval4 ,with ,,ms4 matter of historical or genealogical interest4 ,books from royal or noble libraries4 ,books of literary interest4 ,monastic inscriptions are generally limited in their interest to casual light shed by them on personages connected with the institution or on some local circumstance4 ,of royal books1 genuine and otherwise1 the number has had a tendency to increase through the successive dispersion of old libraries everywhere1 combined with the additional facilities for gaining access to those which still remain intact4 ,the ,henry ,,viii4 ,prayer-,book on vellum is the only copy known in any state of the edition of #aedd1 and may not have been publicly issued with this date4 ,some of the royal memoranda are of signal interest and curiosity4 ,on the back of the title1 under the royal arms1 the king himself says3 ,remember thys wrighter wen you doo pray for he ys yours noon can saye naye4 ,henry ,r4 ,at the passage3 ,i have not done penance for my malice1 the same hand inserts in the margin3 trewe repentance is the best penance2 and farther on he makes a second marginal note on the sentence3 thou hast promysed forgyveness1 4 4 4 repentance beste penance4 ,this was a sort of family common-place book4 ,inside the cover ,prince ,edward 7afterward ,edward ,,vi47 writes3 ,i will yf you will4 ,the volume1 which contains other matter of great historical value1 appears to have been given by ,henry ,,viii4 shortly before his death to his daughter ,mary2 for on a small piece of vellum inside the cover he has written3 ,myne owne good daughter ,i pray you remember me most hartely when you in your prayere do shew for grace to be attayned assurydly to yr lovyng fader ,henry ,r4 ,the ,princess subsequently gave it to her stepmother1 ,catherine ,parr1 and it has a motto and signature of that lady's second husband1 ,lord ,seymour of ,sudeley1 the ,admiral4 ,the old king1 we observe1 grew rather nervous about the future just at the last1 and he at all events admitted that there was room for contrition4 ,a companion volume and monument was the copy of the ,sarum ,horae of #aebj1 printed on vellum1 in the second portion of the ,ashburnham sale4 ,this precious book belonged to the ,parr family1 including the mother of ,queen ,katherine ,parr1 and at any rate contained an inscription in the hand of the ,queen's brother1 and of those of members of the ,carew1 ,vaux1 ,tailboys1 ,nevill1 and other families1 besides being in beautiful condition2 and the same library yielded a second copy of ,hours1 #aeab1 which had passed through the hands of ,henry ,,viii4 himself1 as attested in one place by his autograph memorandum3 ,pray yow pray for me your loving cousin ,henry ,rex4 ,such relics appear to bring back before us the dead players on the human stage1 divested of all but their more redeeming characteristics4 ,in the ,british ,museum we have the ,great ,bible of #aedj on vellum1 which enters into the present category by reason of its association with the same prince1 though in a different way4 ,on the reverse of the fly-leaf occurs3 ,this ,booke is presented vnto your most excellent highnesse by youre loving1 faithfull1 and obedient subiect and daylye ,oratour1 ,anthonye ,marler1 of ,london1 ,haberdassher4 ,truly a gift worthy of a king2 and there it remains1 a precious link with the past and a splendid memorial of the citizen of ,london who laid it at his sovereign's feet4 ,propriety and sympathy of costume go very far indeed to establish and augment the estimation of printed volumes with manuscript tokens of former proprietorship4 ,the collector who chooses this field of activity has to weigh the correlation and harmony between the volume itself and the individual or individuals to whom it once appertained4 ,we have usually to content ourselves with the interest resident in an autograph1 with or without further particulars2 it is a book1 perhaps1 which formed part of the library of a distinguished ,elizabethan or ,jacobean writer or public character2 but1 if it were not1 its worth might be nominal4 ,again1 the book is possibly one of great value1 and exhibits an early autograph and ,,mss4 notes2 it would be better without them4 ,find the copy of ,venus and ,adonis1 #aeic1 given by ,shakespeare to ,lord ,southampton1 the poet's copy of the ,faery ,queen1 #aeij-if1 ,sir ,fulke ,greville's copy of ,sydney's ,arcadia1 #aeij1 or a book of ,voyages belonging to ,drake or ,raleigh1 and it is worth a library1 and a good one too4 ,the nearest approach we have yet made to this kind of combination is the first folio ,montaigne and the original edition of ,lord ,brooke's works1 #afcc1 with the signature of ,jonson1 and the ,spenser of #afgi with the notes of ,dryden1 unless the ,paradise ,lost1 #affg1 with ,milton's presentation to a bookbinder at ,worcester be authentic4 ,we must not omit in the present connection the copy of the prose story-book of ,howleglas1 given in #aegh with others by ,edmund ,spenser to ,gabriel ,harvey4 ,but an almost equally covetable possession was the copy just referred to of ,milton's ,paradise ,lost1 #affg1 which occurred only the other day at a sale1 where it was1 as too often happens1 mis-described1 and brought ,l#gj4 ,it bore on a small slip inlaid in a fly-leaf3 ,for my loving ffreind1 ,mr4 ,francis ,rea1 ,booke binder in ,worcester these1 and on another piece of paper3 ,presented me by the ,author to whom ,i gave two doubl sovereigns ,l#d1 nearly as much as the poet had for the copyright4 ,the story of the book is unknown to us2 it seems eminently likely that the first memorandum was written by ,milton2 but whether it belonged to a wrapper forwarding the gift1 or to a letter accompanying it1 is problematical4 ,rea of ,worcester must be the same individual who is described as having re-bound in ,june #affj the ,jolley and ,ashburnham copy of ,higden's ,polychronicon1 printed by ,caxton1 #adhb2 but there an earlier owner1 ,richard ,furney1 calls him one ,rede of ,worcester4 ,at ,trinity1 ,cambridge1 there is the edition of ,spenser1 #afgi1 with a memorandum on the fly-leaf by ,jacob ,tonson1 testifying to the ,,mss4 notes in the book being by ,dryden1 and at ,wootton formerly was the ,faery ,queen1 #aeif1 ,john ,evelyn's cypher in gold down the back of the cover and seventeen lines in his autograph on the fly-leaf4 ,among our dramatists1 ,ben ,jonson is conspicuous by the number of copies of his own performances which he presented to royal and noble personages or to private friends4 ,of three gift-copies of his ,volpone1 #afjg1 one has an inscription to ,john ,florio1 the other to ,henry ,lambton of ,lambton4 ,the almost unique large-paper one of ,sejanus1 #afje1 in the ,huth ,collection1 was given to the poet's perfect friend1 ,francis ,crane4 ,in the ,museum are the ,masque of ,queens and the ,masque of ,blackness and ,beauty offered to the queen of ,james ,i4 ,but of ,shakespeare1 ,beaumont and ,fletcher1 and many others1 we have not a single memorial of this kind4 ,of ,massinger there is one3 the copy of his ,duke of ,milan1 #afbc1 received from him by ,sir ,f4 ,foljambe4 ,in the case of ,taylor the water-poet1 the nearest approach to anything of the sort is the ,,ms4 note of the recipient of a copy of his ,works1 #afcj4 ,of two equally prominent poets of the same epoch1 ,daniel and ,drayton1 the latter seems to have had a partiality for inscribing his autograph in presentation copies of his books1 while of ,daniel in this way we do not recollect to have met with a single example4 ,very engaging1 on account of its manly and cordial tone1 is the autograph epistle by ,sir ,richard ,fanshawe accompanying an extant copy of his translation of ,guarini's ,faithful ,shepherd1 #afdh4 ,the whole production may be seen in the ,huth ,catalogue 7p4 #fcc71 where we inserted it as a favourable sample of this kind of poetry or verse4 ,the lines are headed3 ,to my deare friend ,mr4 ,tho4 ,brooke with ,pastor ,fido before an entended voyage1 and commence3-- ,this to the man ,i most affect ,i send1 ,the faithfull ,shepherd to as true a friend4 ,there on each page thou'lt tenderest passion see1 ,but none more tender than my own for thee4 ,the volume belongs to the series of memorials1 which we possess in not too ample abundance1 of the regard entertained by men of letters of former days for each other1 or for their intimates1 and ranks with the priceless copies of his own books presented by ,jonson to some of his distinguished contemporaries4 ,if he1 or any one else1 made gifts of such things to the greatest of them all1 every trace of such an incident has apparently disappeared4 ,rarity of occurrence is not by any means an imperative feature in influencing or determining the value of inscriptions4 ,no examples are probably more abundant than the books of ,izaak ,walton1 either with an ordinary note of presentation1 or with ,,mss4 notes in the writer's hand1 if not with both2 yet they invariably command a liberal price from the admission of ,walton by common acknowledgment into the select circle of literary men1 whose works we love for the sake of the author4 ,the following inscription in contemporary ,,ms4 occurs on the reverse of the ,old ,testament title to a ,cranmer's ,bible of #aedj3 ,thys byble ys ,john ,crogdens1 ,cytyzen and merchant taylor of ,london1 dwellynge in ,wattlynge ,street at ye syne of ,ye ,whyte ,horse1 #aeej4 ,occasionally more or less curious personal traits or family clues are yielded by the memoranda on fly-leaves4 ,a ,latin ,testament of #aefc bears3 e libris ,thomae ,northcote e dono ,joh4 ,rolle ,armig4 de ,stephenstone in agro ,devoniensi2 a copy of ,jewell's ,sermons1 #aehc1 has ,john ,willoughby1 #aeia1 and ,amor vincit omnia4 ,in the ,savile copy of ,sir ,thomas ,more's ,works1 #aeeg1 we read3 de dono ,h4 ,savile anno #afjj2 found by ,mary ,savile1 ,dec4 #ab1 #afce1 amongst other books at ,metheby3 for my daughter ,mary ,savile4 ,if the reader will cross over with us into ,scotland for a moment or so1 we will introduce him to a very interesting relic in the shape of a ,latin ,aristotle of #aebf1 in which a ,cistercian monk of ,kinloss ,abbey1 ,andrew ,langland1 has enshrined two metrical compositions from his own pen2 an epitaph on the ,regent ,murray1 and an epistle to ,joannes ,ferrerius1 ,professor at ,kinloss1 #aedb1 and continuator of ,hector ,boece4 ,the epitaph is dialogue-wise between the ,bishop of ,orkney1 who was absent from the funeral1 and ,ferrerius1 who attended it4 ,at the sale of the library of the ,duke of ,leeds1 a large-paper copy of ,wycherley's ,miscellany ,poems1 #agjd1 apparently given by the poet to ,lord ,treasurer ,danby1 produced the outrageous price of ,l#df4 ,a far more interesting example was that which he presented to ,mistress ,mary ,twysden1 as noticed in the ,bibliographer4 ,a more important souvenir was the ,latin ,testament given by ,pope to ,bolingbroke in #agbh 7,christie's1 ,april #c1 #ahie1 ,no4 #cci72 and a yet stronger sympathy must be felt with the ,juvenal and ,persius1 #hvo1 ,amsterdam1 #afhd1 which once belonged to ,t4 ,killigrew1 and subsequently to ,pope1 whose ,english version occupies the interleaves1 if the description given by ,wake of ,derby be correct1 as the book itself we have not seen4 ,we approach a different class of consideration when we leave behind us the more or less factitious and artificial attractions of early bindings and autograph memoranda1 and pass to books which owe their extrinsic interest to a mere signature1 as in the case of the copy of ,florio's ,montaigne1 #afjc1 which belonged to ,shakespeare1 and possesses his autograph on the fly-leaf1 and of which the provenance1 as stated by ,madden in his pamphlet1 #ahch1 favours the authenticity2 and again1 in that of ,mr4 ,collier's copy of ,drayton's ,shepheard's ,garland1 #aeic1 which bears on the title-page the signature of ,robert1 ,earl of ,essex4 ,there quite casually fell into our own hands a copy of one of ,archbishop ,usher's books1 a stray from ,manchester1 with ,humfrey ,chetham's ,booke1 #afdd1 on fly-leaf1 and with it came a ,,ms4 on vellum1 also formerly ,chetham's1 of the ,stimulus ,conscientiae in ,english verse4 ,they long lay in a garret at ,pennington ,hall1 ,leigh1 ,lancashire1 the seat of the ,hiltons1 with whom ,chetham was intimate1 if not connected4 ,we meet with a surprise now and then1 as when such a work as the ,english ,reynard the ,fox of #afha-hd carries on its face a proof of the prior ownership of ,beau ,nash3 ,rich4 ,nash ,arm4 ,bathoniae1 #agfa1 but it is quite natural to find the autograph of ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds accompanying a series of ,french plates illustrative of the ,odyssey1 #afci4 ,in old books1 and in new ones too1 there are inscriptions and inscriptions4 ,we are all familiar with the scrawl of the clown1 who has handed down to us his unconsecrated name on the title-page or fly-leaf of some volume of ours otherwise irreproachable4 ,just a step above him is your fellow who writes some objurgatory caveat against the malappropriator1 and brings the ,almighty without scruple into the witness-box1 in case any varlet should make free with his property3-- ,hic liber est meus1 ,testis est ,deus2 ,si quis me quaerit1 ,hic nomen erit4 ,will4 ,morsse1 #afgh4 ,of the whimsical entries in old ,english books the diversity is endless4 ,on the fly-leaf of a copy of ,roger ,edgworth's ,sermons1 #dto1 #aeeg1 occurs3 ,bryen ,o'rourke his hand and writting by fore ,god and man4 ,a singular application of the ,holy ,scriptures presents itself in a couple of ,,iou's written by ,james ,haig of ,prettisides in ,longwood1 co4 ,wilts1 on the back of the title to a ,new ,testament of #aehd4 ,there is a curious1 almost pathetic form of this habit of writing in books1 practised from very early days down to our own1 when we may easily remember how ,lamb and ,coleridge used to fill the blank leaves of a work of common interest1 as it kept passing to and fro like a messenger1 till the worth of the manuscript matter left that of the printed far behind indeed4 ,in a mild kind of way this sort of thing was already going on in the sixteenth century4 ,a copy of the ,english version of the ,paraphrase of ,erasmus on the ,new ,testament1 #aedh1 passes similarly between two ,tudor-period intimates1 and there is this3 ,mr4 ,dunes1 ,i woulde wish you to peruse ,v4 chapter of ,marke1 and there you shall finde great comforte to your soules health4 ,thus fare you well in the ,lorde4 ,wyllyam ,byrde4 ,in the copy of ,shakespeare's ,passionate ,pilgrim1 #aeii1 bound up with an early edition of ,venus and ,adonis1 a former owner represents with perfect justice1 that although he gave three-halfpence for the two volumes in one1 a corner of a leaf was defective2 and there has been furthermore a profound arithmetical computation that if this gentleman and his heirs or assigns had invested the amount in good securities1 the capital at this moment would have reached the vicinity of ,l#ajjj4 ,in a copy of ,stow's ,survey1 #afcc1 which once belonged to ,sir ,thomas ,davies1 ,lord ,mayor of ,london in #afgf1 we encounter a memorandum on the fly-leaf3 ,i pray1 put in the loose leaues ,carefully4 ,john ,meriton4 ,for ,mr4 ,richardson1 bookbinder in ,scalding ,alley4 ,richardson bound for ,pepys4 ,in an odd volume of ,sandford and ,merton1 which fell in ,dr4 ,burney's way1 and which he gave to his daughter--,johnson's little ,burney--he wrote3-- ,see1 see1 my dear ,fan1 ,here comes1 spick and span1 ,little ,sandford and ,merton1 ,without stain or dirt on2 ',tis volume the second1 ,than the first better reckoned2 ,pray read it with glee1 ,and remember ,c4 ,b4 ,april #ah1 #aghf4 ,beauty has been said to depend on ,variety1 and so we ought not to object to examples selected from widely different sources4 ,illustration3 ,,book ,,sale ,,at ,,sotheby',s ,,auction ,,rooms ,from the original ,water-colour ,drawing by ,thomas ,rowlandson1 in possession of ,messrs ,sotheby1 ,wilkinson ,hodge1 ,london ,horace's multa renascentur comes into our mind when we stumble on a remark by ,wodhull the collector in an ,acta ,apostolorum printed at ,oxford in #agae3 ,in ,may1 #ahaj1 ,mr4 ,leigh1 auctioneer1 told me that a copy of this edition had lately sold for ,l#bj1 observing1 'these are the times to sell books1 not to buy them4' ,a more notable man1 ,william ,beckford1 appears in a copy of the original ,french ,vathek1 #aghg1 as the second person of the drama by reason of the written matter referring to him1 and being in the hand of ,m4 ,chavannes of ,lausanne4 ,the note occupies the whole of the available space on the title1 and is as follows3--,a la demande de ,m4 ,beckford je me suis charge de corriger son ,manuscrit et de le faire imprimer a ,lausanne4 ,m4 ,beckford en quittant ,lausanne se hata de le faire imprimer a ,paris au ,prejudice de l',imprimeur de ,lausanne1 et je dus menacer ,m4 ,beckford de mettre dans les papiers son infidelite 4 4 4 et ,m4 ,b4 se hata de dedomager l',imprimeur pour eviter la publicite4 ,so far as books with the autographs and ,,mss4 notes of men of the modern school1 such as ,byron1 ,coleridge1 ,lamb1 and ,shelley1 are concerned1 the opportunities for securing specimens have certainly grown more numerous4 ,we have already in the places specified above furnished many illustrations of this section1 and they might be readily extended4 ,in the foreign department there is a perfectly inexhaustible store of material under a variety of heads3 evidences of ownership and descent1 biographical suggestions1 historical links and side-lights1 dated armorial ex libris4 ,in #ahfi the author met with a thick #dto volume1 including the ,cologne edition of the ,legenda ,sancti ,albani ,martyris1 printed about #adge1 on the fly-leaf or cover of which was a list of contents made in #adge2 and in the ,hopetoun copy of the ,ethica of ,aristotle the original owner had established the place of printing1 otherwise unspecified1 by a ,,ms4 note1 dated #adfi1 in which he stated that the book was presented to him by its typographer1 ,johannes ,mentelin ,argentin4 ,in a copy of the works of ,petrarch in ,latin1 folio1 #aeja1 occurs on the title3 ,liber ,antonij kressen juris vtriusq4 doctoris emptus venecijs ligatus nurenberge ,mcccccv2 and the noble old volume 7now in the ,british ,museum7 is accompanied by a memoir of ,kressen1 printed about #afjj1 of uniform size1 with a splendid portrait of the interesting ,nueremberger4 ,a copy of the ,vulgate of #adhd commands attention from the presence of a coeval ,,ms4 note pasted on the first leaf3 ,hec ,biblia est ,petri ,dominici ,boninsegnis qui a fratre ,cosmo empta fuit ,anno ,,mcccclxxxu4 xviii4 die ,februarii4 ,a ,latin ,horae of the fifteenth century contains on a fly-leaf the ensuing little family story3 ,ces ,heures apartiennent a ,damoyselle ,michelle ,du ,dere ,femme de ,m4 ,loys ,dorleans ,advocat en la ,court du ,parlement et lesquelles luy sont echeues par la succession de feu son pere ,m4 ,jehan ,dudere ,conseiller du ,roy ,auditeur en sa chambre des comptes #aegg4 ,amour ,humilite sont les deux liens de nostre mariage4 ,a ,st4 ,jerome's ,epistolae1 printed at ,mainz about #adgj1 is accompanied by the dated book-plate1 #aeie1 of ,christophorus ,baro a ,wolckhenstain4 ,in the ,french series the number of interesting items from a personal or historical point of view1 if not both1 is of course great1 although1 as a rule1 ,french collectors have been rather sparing as annotators of their literary possessions4 ,in a copy of ,de ,bure's ,sale ,catalogue1 #aghf1 now in the ,huth ,library1 occurs a peculiarly striking exception1 however1 in the shape of a ,,ms4 note in the handwriting of ,louis ,,xvi41 only three years prior to the fall of the ,bastille1 ,marquer les livres que je desire pour moi4 ,in the ,duke of ,sussex's ,library was a ,new ,testament in ,french presented by ,josephine before her second marriage to ,napoleon4 ,she had inscribed on the spare leaf preceding title3 ,au ,general ,bonaparte ce ,testament ,lutherain est presente de part la veuve ,beauharnois1 and below occurs in the illustrious recipient's hand1 ,buonaparte4 ,an association fully as historically and personally significant appertains to the ,voltaire's ,henriade1 #aggj1 in one of the volumes of which the to-be ,empress writes3 ,donne part ,madame la ,viscontesse de ,beauharnois3 pensez a elle1 aimez-la1 n'oubliez jamais qu'elle est votre amie la plus attachee4 ,was this an oblation at the same shrine8 ,but this is a slight digression1 warranted by the twofold circumstance that all these examples have belonged to ,english collectors1 and are of a class quite as interesting to us as to those with whom they are more immediately associated by origin4 ,the same may perhaps be said of the ,,ms4 sold in ,london in #ahii1 formerly belonging to two persons so widely different as ,marie ,antoinette and ,robespierre1 of the latter of whom it possessed the autograph4 ,the interest seemed to centre in the signature of the ,revolutionary leader4 ,the interest and respect with which the presence of handwriting in books is regarded are indefinitely varied4 ,but the preponderance of worshippers is no doubt on the side of those who have shone in the belles lettres and in society4 ,sovereigns1 unless it be ,frederic the ,great or ,napoleon1 ,mary of ,scotland or ,marie ,antoinette1 generals1 politicians1 professional men1 do not go for much4 ,the competition is for the poet1 the novelist1 the newsmonger1 or some enfant terrible1 whose autograph is rare to excess4 ,to be on thoroughly good posthumous terms with collectors1 one has no need to have been respectable1 sober1 benevolent1 or pious2 these are rather in the nature of draw-backs2 but one must have possessed a strong personality4 ,that is the secret4 ,personality4 ,schedule the illustrious of the past on this guiding principle1 and you cannot err4 ,men and women without infirmities1 without vices1 why1 ask any dealer of repute and experience1 and he will tell you that there is no call for their signatures or for their correspondence4 ,they have too much character in one sense and too little in another4 ,an autograph of ,dick ,turpin or ,claud ,du ,val would be worth a dozen of ,archdeacon ,paley or even of ,archbishop ,tillotson4 ,the autograph collector certainly forms a separate genus4 ,he does not buy books4 ,he does not affect ,,mss4 where they exceed the limits of a fly-leaf or title-page entry4 ,we are accustomed to criticise ,master ,john ,bagford unkindly because he stripped the volumes of their titles and then cast them away4 ,but he lived a long while ago1 when the value and rarity of many of these things were not so generally understood1 and there were not customers all over the ,old and ,new ,worlds as many as one can tell on one's fingers to take an early book1 if it was offered to them4 ,even now it not seldom happens that an exceedingly interesting signature or note accompanies an item worth only so much per lb41 and your connoisseur in the autograph surrenders all but his portion to its destiny4 ,who can gainsay him8 ,he shrugs his shoulders2 he is no bookworm2 he wants autographs alone4 ,exceptions to the governing principle arise1 however1 and sometimes they are recognised1 sometimes not4 ,the most beautiful examples for internal condition1 binding1 even intrinsic interest1 are occasionally sacrificed to this ,procrustes--this case-hardened ,bagford of our own day4 ,not so long since we remarked as a treasure beyond our purse a copy of ,donne's ,sermons1 with a brilliant portrait of the author1 and a long inscription by ,izaak ,walton presenting the volume to his aunt4 ,it was in the pristine ,english calf binding1 as clean as when it left ,walton's hands en route for his kinswoman1 and such a delightful signature4 ,what has become of it8 ,it is sad even to commit to paper the story--one among many4 ,an ,american gentleman acquired it1 tore the portrait and leaf of inscription out1 and threw the rest away6 ,why1 forsooth1 should he keep a folio volume against his inclination8 ,he left that to whomsoever it might chance to fall--a mangled corpse6 ,it is not peremptorily necessary1 however1 that there should be witness in black on white to the prior holder of a literary bijou2 for the external evidence may prove abundantly adequate to the satisfaction of the most sceptical4 ,a binding is quite capable of serving as a voucher and guarantee for the provenance of a printed book or manuscript1 provided that all the links in the chain are sound4 ,the ,prayer-,book of ,queen ,henrietta ,maria1 the ,fables of ,la ,fontaine with the arms of ,marie ,antoinette as ,dauphine1 an unquestioned ,grolier or ,maioli1 and still more such a bibliographical phoenix as that volume bound in gold of ,lady ,elizabeth ,tyrrwhit's ,prayers1 formerly belonging to ,queen ,elizabeth1 which the late ,sir ,wollaston ,franks purchased at an incredible price and presented to the ,british ,museum--these1 and many more1 speak for themselves4 ,yet where a royal or noble personage is not in the case1 when it is only some ,shakespeare or some ,milton who is concerned1 let us preferably have the written internal passport4 ,we would barter all the books which we have indicated for the ,florio's ,montaigne with the poet's signature on the fly-leaf1 albeit it is in no better a covering than its ,shakespearian jacket of shabby old calf4 ,more than one volume in the earlier range depends very disproportionately for its interest on the preliminary matter in the form of a ,preface or ,dedication4 ,in ,prefaces1 ,dedications1 ,epistles1 #ahgd1 the writer drew attention to this point1 and furnished a considerable series of such prolegomena in illustration of the fact4 ,but there are cases1 of course1 where the inscription is of a piece with the book1 as in ,davenant's ,madagascar1 #afch1 where the poet wrote and printed on the leaf following the title3 ,if these ,poems live1 may their ,memories1 by whom they were cherish'd1 ,end4 ,porter1 ,h4 ,jarmyn1 live with them4 ,the ,imprimatur1 or ,license to the ,printer1 occasionally supplies a curious literary or biographical side-light4 ,that to ,davenant's play of the ,witts1 #afcf1 runs3 ,this ,play1 called the ,,witts1 as it was ,acted without offence1 may be ,printed1 not otherwise1 #ai ,ianuary1 #afce4 ,henry ,herbert2 and before ,blount's ,jocular ,tenures1 #afgi1 we find3 ,i well knowing the ,learning and industry of the ,author1 do allow the ,printing of this ,book4 ,fra4 ,north4 ,once more there is ,sir ,isaac ,newton's ,principia1 #afhg1 with ,imprimatur4 ,s4 ,pepys4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,materials on which books are printed--,early popular works printed on vellum--,the edition de luxe again--,binding of books--,earliest method and style--,printers who were also binders--,superiority of morocco to russia and calf--,influence of climate and atmosphere on bindings--,character of old ,english bindings--,charm of a ,caxton or other precious volume in the original covers--,a first folio ,shakespeare in old calf--,our latter-day literature compared with the old--,splendour of the liveries of books in the libraries of ,france under the ancient regime--,disappointment at the interiors of well-bound volumes explained--,the author plays a subordinate part--,the ,parisian book-binding ,code--,the difference between the ,french and ourselves--,the original publisher's boards--,the ,frenchman's maroquin rouge--,a suggestion to collectors--,bibliographical simulacra--,do not touch6--,sentiment finds a place in ,england in regard to the treatment of old books--,thoughts which a book may awaken4 ,,it may be necessary to introduce a few words about the material on which the ,printed ,book has at various times been brought before its readers1 or at least its purchasers4 ,the oldest ,european fabrics employed for books of this class 7not ,,mss47 were paper and parchment1 the latter very often prepared with very slight care1 but the former of remarkable strength and durability4 ,the cost must have been at first very onerous2 but impressions of ancient volumes were usually limited4 ,by degrees1 fine vellum1 alike conspicuous for its delicacy of quality and beauty of tone1 was introduced1 and became fashionable among the patrons of literature in ,italy and elsewhere during the ,renaissance4 ,no such luxurious mode of presenting the type and giving full effect to the work of the illuminator1 which so constantly formed a feature and a charm in the productions of the presses of the ,continent of ,europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries has ever since been found possible4 ,it is rather singular that not merely classical authors and other editiones principes received this sumptuous treatment1 but even such books as grammars and theological treatises4 ,a copy of the ,grammatica of ,alexander ,gallus 7or ,de ,villa ,dei7 was lately offered for sale by auction1 and realised ,l#bc2 it was printed on vellum of excellent character and colour about #adhj4 ,a visit to the galleries where the show-cases are ranged at the ,british ,museum in intelligible order1 is by no means the worst method of arriving at an introductory or general acquaintance with this aspect of the matter4 ,for there examples of printing on parchment or vellum in all countries from the earliest period are conveniently grouped together4 ,the ,national ,library is fairly rich in treasures of the present class1 partly owing to the two facts1 that it has inherited a good deal from the old royal collections and the ,grenville one1 and that it was already in the field when prices were more consistent with the financial resources of the institution4 ,among the productions on vellum here to be found are the ,gutenberg1 and ,fust and ,schoeffer1 ,bibles 7#adee-fb72 the ,psalters of #adeg and #adei2 the ,cicero of #adfe2 the ,livy of #adfi2 the ,book of ,st4 ,albans1 #adhf2 one of the two known ,caxtons on vellum 7the ,speculum ,vitae ,christi1 bought of ,mr4 ,maskell in #ahfd72 the ,sarum ,missals of #adib and #adig2 the ,great ,bible of #aedj2 and the ,works of ,aquinas1 in seventeen folio volumes1 formerly belonging to ,pope ,pius ,v4 and ,philip ,,iii4 of ,spain4 ,a curious episode is connected with the last item4 ,in the time of ,panizzi the copy was offered for sale1 and the ,museum commission 7,l#cjj1 we believe7 was topped2 but the book occurred again1 and was acquired by ,coventry ,patmore1 who presented it to the establishment1 where he had for many years been an officer4 ,on the whole1 there is no doubt that the ,english1 and much more the ,scotish1 printers employed this costly and durable substance far more sparingly than those of the ,continent4 ,of many no specimens whatever have descended to us2 and the circumstances render it improbable that we shall hereafter add sensibly to our stores in this direction4 ,in the case even of the ,romish service-books1 printed on paper1 it is a matter of common knowledge among book-lovers that the ,canon ,missae1 which was subject to exceptional wear and tear1 is usually on vellum4 ,in our own language1 works which we are accustomed to view as essentially popular were occasionally struck off 7in a few copies1 no doubt7 on parchment4 ,there is the edition of ,helyas1 ,knight of the ,swan1 printed by ,wynkyn de ,worde1 #aeab1 of which only one copy remains1 and the metrical version of the ,ship of ,fools1 from the same press1 #aeji1 of which an unique copy is in the ,national ,french library4 ,let us recollect1 too1 the ,scotish ,boece of #aecf1 the ,great ,bible of #aeci1 and the ,tudor ,prayer-,book of #aedd4 ,except paper1 parchment 7called in some old documents parthemen71 and vellum1 there are no substances which can be said to boast any degree of antiquity1 so far as ,european literature is concerned4 ,we have1 as is sufficiently well known1 many others of comparatively modern introduction1 which tend to impart to the editions or specimens for which they are employed a special value and curiosity4 ,such are3 7#a7 ,whatman's hand-made paper2 7#b7 ,dutch paper 7papier de ,hollande71 of which there are cheap and worthless imitations2 7#c7 ,china paper2 7#d7 ,india paper2 7#e7 ,japanese 7so-called7 vellum2 7#f7 tinted paper2 7#g7 writing paper2 7#h7 motley paper or paper of different colours2 7#i7 silk2 7#aj7 satin4 ,the edition de luxe has consumed in its time an enormous total of some of these descriptions of receptacle for literary products4 ,the lovers of the ,select in ,books1 who more commonly regard their possessions as vertu rather than as vehicles of instruction or amusement1 not unnaturally prefer something which the ordinary purchaser cannot procure1 or at any rate does not seek4 ,the fancy appears to be1 for the most part1 worse than futile1 unless it is that books with engravings sometimes gain by being taken off on one or another of these materials2 although in practice illustrations are found to be just as apt to come out well on ordinary paper of good quality as on spurious vellum4 ,it was not unusual in the last century1 in ,mexico and in ,south ,america1 to print on silk even ordinary works2 it may have been possibly found cheaper than paper4 ,satin is purely ceremonial4 ,certain books occur of various dates1 such as the ,livre de ,quatre ,couleurs1 printed on paper of various shades or colours1 either for some passing reason or as a mere matter of fancy4 ,a modern jest-book appeared not long since1 harmoniously executed on motley paper in a motley binding--a humorous conceit6 ,it is sufficiently remarkable that neither the ,printing nor the ,book-binding industries ever erected themselves into societies or guilds1 as did the representatives of so many trades far less important in the nature as well as the influence of their products4 ,all the early typographers1 at all events from the sixteenth century1 were members of the ,stationers' ,company1 and the investiture of books in liveries of different kinds became the function of an unprivileged and unchartered body1 of which our knowledge is on that account even more limited and imperfect than it would otherwise have been4 ,it is only through occasional and casual notices in correspondence or diaries that we hear of those who bound volumes for the older collectors1 and we have to wait till we come down to the ,harleian era1 before we find artificers of this class in possession of a recognised calling and competent staff4 ,three employments1 which have long been independent and distinct1 those of the printer1 stationer1 and binder1 were therefore at first and during a prolonged period in the same hands and under the same roof4 ,anterior to the introduction of printed books1 the literary product or record was either rolled up 7volutus7 or stitched1 with or without a wrapper2 and hence1 when there were no volumes in the more modern acceptation in existence1 there were rolls4 ,we do not agree with the editor of ,aubrey's ,letters1 c41 #ahac1 where1 in a note to a letter from ,thomas ,baker to ,hearne1 he 7the editor7 remarks that the term explicitus was applied to the completion of the process of unfolding a roll3 it always signified the termination of the labour of the scribe1 and even in early printed books occurs in the form explicit to convey the same idea on the part of the printer4 ,the most ancient binders were the monks1 who stitched together their own compositions or transcripts1 or1 when the volume was more substantial1 encased it in oaken boards1 which a subsequent hand often improved and preserved by a coat of leather4 ,but laymen were occasionally their own binders1 as we perceive in the note to ,warton's ,poetry1#c where a ,life of ,concubranus in ,,ms4 is said to have been bound by ,william ,edis1 afterward a monk at ,burton-on-,trent1 while he was a student at ,oxford in #aeag4 ,at ,durham and ,winchester there were notable schools of art of the present class in the ,middle ,ages1 and specimens occasionally occur1 though rarely in good state4 ,a very fine ,winchester piece of work was sold in #ahih among ,william ,morris's books 7,no4 #ehj71 and all over the country and abroad1 even down to the present time1 the inmates of religious institutions occupy themselves with the same industry on a less ambitious scale1 and with infinitely less artistic and picturesque results4 ,when ,barclay wrote his ,english paraphrase of ,brandt's ,stulltifera ,navis about #aejh1 it almost seems as if the type of connoisseur1 who understood the outside better than the interior of a book1 was already in evidence1 for the writer says3-- ,still am ,i busy bookes assembling1 ,for to have plentie it is a pleasaunt thing ,in my concept1 and to haue them ay in hand3 ,but what they meane do ,i not vnderstand4 4 4 4 ,lo in likewise of bookes ,i haue store1 ,but fewe ,i reade1 and fewer vnderstande1 ,i folowe not their doctrine nor their lore1 ,it is ynough to beare a booke in hande4 ,in ,barclay's ,english ,ship of ,fools1 #aeji1 it is stated that at that time damask1 satin1 and velvet were employed as luxurious materials for the covering of books1 and it seems to have been usual to draw a curtain before the case in which they were preserved4 ,showy or gay bindings were approved1 especially where the owner was not a reader1 but1 to quote the ,latin text1 was ,viridi contentus tegmine libri4 ,the formation of ,book-binding into a distinct employment and organisation must have preceded any explicit evidence of the fact4 ,the gradual increase in the output of literature of all kinds from the days of ,elizabeth necessitated the surrender to an independent craft of the envelopment of volumes in various liveries1 more especially when the ,french and ,italians had set the fashion of elaborate ornamental patterns and rich gilding4 ,already in the time of ,edward ,,vi4 the tariff chargeable for certain quasi-official publications1 such as the ,bible and ,book of ,common ,prayer1 was fixed by ,government1 and at a later date scales of prices for binding in different styles or materials were periodically printed4 ,that of #afdf is reprinted entire in the ,antiquary for #ahhf4 ,the most usual styles were plain brown sheep or calf without any lettering1 a publisher's label inside the volume sometimes supplying the latter deficiency1 and communicating to a shelf of books an aspect far from picturesque2 but vellum or parchment of varying consistence was also a favourite and inexpensive mode of covering the contents of a library4 ,morocco and russia were later innovations1 and the former is not unusually found altogether free from decoration or gilding and with a lettering1 probably abbreviated and obscure1 on the back4 ,very sumptuous examples alike of calf and turkey leather binding frequently present themselves1 either executed for ordinary persons1 or without any note of the original owner2 many are more or less successful copies of ,continental models1 such as the ,lyonnese calf1 the ,grolier and ,maioli pattern2 but in general our ancestors seem to have been satisfied with the paned sides and floriate back1 unless heraldic accessories intervened to usurp the space occupied by the lateral ornament or 7as in some of ,john ,evelyn's or his sovereign's books7 a gilt ornamental cypher formed the dorsal embellishment4 ,a visit to some old church or parish1 or even cathedral1 library nowadays may afford a notion of the external aspect of the early book-closet of the ,english student or amateur4 ,the glass case is conspicuously absent2 the shelf on which the volumes are ranged has to our eyes a ragged1 slatternly look2 and nothing can well be more opposite to modern taste4 ,yet the feeling for the printed matter between the two covers or behind the paper label was more genuine1 may be1 and more practical when a handful of volumes1 reflecting the personal predilections or requirements of the owner1 gradually accumulated1 and the acquisition did not amount to a pursuit1 much less to a passion and a competitive race4 ,the professional binding of books in our country1 whether they had been actually produced here or had been purchased abroad1 was at the outset almost exclusively executed by printers1 who must have had a special department to carry out this branch of work4 ,we hear of the site of ,dean ,colet's original school having been a bookbinder's1 and of the teaching establishment occupying the upper part of the building4 ,the usual style of binding appears to have been the covering of stamped leather1 of which such a rich store of examples still survives1 and which was copied from the ,german and ,low-,country models4 ,for weightier books oaken boards frequently served as a foundation1 on which the leather was laid4 ,our sovereigns and nobility employed ,pynson1 ,berthelet1 ,raynes1 and other typographers to clothe the volumes which formed their libraries1 before the more luxurious and splendid fashion was introduced of investing them in richly gilt calf bindings1 with or without armorial cognisances1 and these were again superseded by the adoption of the ,continental taste for ,levant morocco 7maroquin de ,constantinople74 ,down to the time of the earlier ,stuarts the binding department more than probably remained part of the printer's functions1 and calf or sheep was the usual material employed4 ,thomas ,vautrollier1 however1 the ,elizabethan typographer1 who carried on business in the ,black ,friars1 and who adopted the ,anchora ,spei as a device on his title-pages1 seems to have occasionally bound copies of his own publications in morocco with the same symbol on the covers in gold--perhaps to order2 and ,lyonnese calf was another style in favour at the same date4 ,some highly preserved specimens of the latter have descended to us4 ,another of the earlier essays in ,england in the direction of morocco bindings appears to have had in view as a model the ,grolieresque style of decoration4 ,a copy of a ,latin ,bible printed at ,venice in #aecg1 and presented in #aefc by the ,earl of ,arundel to ,sir ,william ,petre1 bears the crest of the ,fitzalans1 a white horse1 on sides enclosed in a painted design1 the compartments filled in with a dotted pattern4 ,but examples of the same or a similar class are by no means uncommon4 ,a copy of a very common volume1 ,knolles's ,history of the ,turks1 #afch1 was sold among the ,morris books in #ahih at a high price on account of the very charming red morocco binding1 richly gilt1 with the unusual feature of side-panels filled in with dotted scrolls4 ,early ,continental collectors more usually than our own registered not only the place and date of purchase on the fly-leaf or title-page1 but the circumstances attendant on the binding1 as we find in the volume of tracts elsewhere mentioned1 put into their existing covers in #adfi1 in the nearly coeval assemblage of tracts formed and bound by ,udalric ,ellenbog in #adgf1 and in the ,latin ,petrarch of #aeja1 bound for ,antonius ,kressen of ,nuernberg in #aeje1 now in the ,british ,museum4 ,the middle-period schools of collectors and binders1 who displayed a preference for morocco over russia and calf1 were assuredly wise in their generation4 ,much of the russia has perished1 or is perishing fast1 under a variety of deleterious agencies2 and the more modern calf1 at least1 does not bear its years well4 ,but morocco1 at first more expensive1 withstands infinitely better and longer the incidence of social life4 ,what noble sets of books1 as well as single volumes1 have almost crumbled away in damp country-houses1 sometimes relegated to the garret or the stable by the intelligent and highly-educated proprietors1 while others have fallen a prey to gas and dust in town4 ,these sources of injury and natural ruin no material can of course long resist2 and1 the foreigner often enjoying the advantage of a less impure atmosphere1 and not usually aiming at a larger collection than may be necessary as chamber-furniture1 his acquisitions are apt to come down to us in a more contemporary state1 although we grant that1 where certain postulates have been fulfilled1 we have shown our capability of presenting to a distant age an assemblage of the ancient literature of our own and other countries as immaculate as when it changed hands over the counter in ,tudor or in ,stuart times4 ,binding and ,bibliography1 no less than literature1 are in opposite lobbies as regards the character of the objects which one sees submitted to periodical competition4 ,the taste in books has undergone revolutionary changes2 the volumes on which early owners lavished extravagant sums have too often become per se waste paper2 and it consequently happens that a catalogue devoted to an account of such relics of the past has to register titles and names which play a subordinate part in the matter1 and are1 as it were1 merely useful as a means of identification4 ,while a large number of splendid examples of binding in russia and morocco have been produced in ,great ,britain1 there has scarcely been at any time a school of binding analogous to those which ,france1 and even ,italy1 have known1 each with its distinctive and recognisable characteristics2 nor have we attained in the liveries of our books to the same splendour and beauty of decoration1 or to an equal degree of historical or personal interest4 ,a large number of fine examples present themselves in our sale-rooms here1 formerly ornaments of some of the noble collections formed in different parts of ,germany2 too often they show traces of neglect1 yet occasionally they have preserved their pristine beauty and freshness almost unimpaired4 ,they are1 for the most part1 of the very favourite class1 where the oaken boards constitute a receptacle or foundation for an encasement of leather 7frequently pigskin7 stamped with some beautiful historiette on either side1 and carrying the date and other particulars of origin and ownership4 ,we meet with numerous specimens from time to time of the libraries of the ,electors of ,saxony and ,bavaria in this picturesque and becoming raiment4 ,there should be by right1 and with advantage1 as distinct an intellectual spirit or element of thought in the binding as in the writing and printing of a book4 ,a man who traces on the covers and back of a volume lines1 curves1 circles1 crescents1 scrolls1 and other figures without harmony and without significance--in other words1 without mind or esprit--is no true artist1 but either an unskilful copyist or a rude beginner4 ,different schools naturally adopted new ideas of the beautiful or the elegant2 some of our most ancient patterns were scriptural or mathematical2 the age ruled the prevailing taste and fashion1 and everything in and out of ,nature has had its turn and its day4 ,then1 again1 nationality goes for something3 the ,frenchman is fond of his lis and the ,scot of his thistle4 ,artistic and historical book-covers have more than a special and technical importance1 inasmuch as they contribute to enrich a pursuit which might otherwise become more limited in its interest than it is4 ,for gay or splendid bindings assist in bringing the ,book1 manuscript or printed1 within the category of antiquities or curiosities1 where it awakens sentiments in the breasts of persons1 neither literary nor bibliographical in their tastes1 akin to those which they entertain for a specimen of old furniture or old porcelain2 and so indeed we see entire libraries1 which are little more than assemblages of triumphs of the binder's art and agreeable memorials of prior ownership4 ,a once rather famous emporium in ,piccadilly was known as the ,temple of ,leather and ,literature1 because the extrinsic was supposed to govern2 and the same point is illustrated by the enormous difference in pecuniary value between copies of many old works in morocco and in more humble garb4 ,here ,dress makes the book no less than in the song it is said to make the man4 ,so it was with the three independent libraries of ,mesdames de ,france1 daughters of ,louis ,,xv4 ,each of these ladies had her favourite hue in morocco1 with the royal arms on the sides2 for ,madame ,adelaide it was red1 for ,madame ,sophie1 citron1 and for ,madame ,victoire1 green or olive4 ,the ornamental details of early bindings1 especially those of ,continental origin1 embrace nearly every section of natural history3 beasts1 birds1 fishes1 insects1 flowers1 and fruit1 and endless varieties of geometrical lines and curves4 ,a ,spanish ,new ,testament1 printed at ,venice in #aeef1 even presented on its sides what were described in the ,ashburnham ,catalogue as richly gilt raindrops4 ,among flowers we most frequently meet with the rose1 the daisy1 the lily1 and the tulip4 ,many varieties of form in connection with the gift of books to friends or patrons formerly subsisted1 apart from the autograph note inside the volume4 ,we have adverted to the ,grolier group of bindings and certain other allied types perhaps borrowed from ,grolier1 and the practice was followed1 though on a very limited scale1 in ,england1 where the token in all cases was mainly confined to the title or fly-leaf1 and consequently enters into a distinct category4 ,a very unusual example of presentation occurs in a copy printed on vellum of ,voerthusius' ,consecrationis ,augustae ,liber ,unus1 printed at ,antwerp in #aefc1 where the centres of either side of the volume are occupied by an inscription in gold letters to the ,archbishop-,elector of ,cologne4 ,of the ,grolier examples which have descended to us--and possibly the greater part has done so--we possess two or three types as regards the mode of registering the proprietorship2 the books occur with and without the autograph3 ,jo4 ,grolierij ,lugdunensis3 et ,amicorum1 which generally occurs at the end1 and with variant mottoes3 ,portio mea ,domine sit in ,terra ,viventium1 ,spes mea ,dominus et verbo ejus fidem habeo1 and ,a,eque difficilior4 ,he was a noble patron of learning1 and on the title of a volume on ,music1 printed in #aeah1 dedicated to him1 appear his arms and the motto1 ,joannes ,grolierius ,musarum ,cultor4 ,to the same school belongs the equally well-known ,maioli1 with the similar method of establishing his claim3 ,tho4 ,maioli et ,amicorum2 ,cristoforo ,beneo of ,milan 7,questo libro e de ,christophore ,beneo de ,milano e soi ,amize72 ,antonio ,maldonado1 of whom a volume of ,petrarch has on the upper cover the name of the poet1 and on the reverse1 ,d4 ,antonio ,maldonado1 with a shield enclosing five fleurs-de-lis2 and ,penelope ,coleona1 with flowering vases heightened in silver1 and her initials at the foot of the book4 ,this is1 of course1 a most fascinating and covetable class of possession1 and the difficulty of procuring genuine specimens of the ,henry ,deux and ,diane de ,poitiers bindings1 and of all the other sumptuous and artistic productions of a like character belonging to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries1 has naturally suggested to certain ingenious persons the desirability of counterfeiting them4 ,the ,maioli bindings have long been subject to this treatment and abuse2 but at present almost every other book which offers itself in a fine state of preservation is suspicious from a wholesale system of forgery1 which has more or less recently been introduced with considerable success1 and culminated in an entire sale at a leading auction-room of a library almost exclusively composed of such fabrications4 ,of the genuine old ,english bindings1 the usual materials are vellum or parchment and sheep or calf4 ,all these may be1 and in general are1 ostentatiously plain2 but they are1 on the contrary1 susceptible of being rendered in the highest degree ornamental4 ,nothing is more agreeable to the eye1 and even the touch1 than an old book in contemporary gilt calf1 with arms on the sides1 or in the original vellum wrapper1 or1 again1 in the plebeian mutton4 ,the two former modes of treatment may1 as we have said1 be developed to any extent in the direction of tooling and gilding2 the sheep has to be left unadorned--simplex munditiis4 ,what can we desire more characteristic and harmonious than a ,caxton1 uncut and in oaken boards1 or even in a secondary vesture of vellum1 like the ,holford copy of the ,life of ,godfrey of ,bouillon8 ,or than a volume of ,elizabethan poetry or a first ,walton's ,angler1 in the primitive sheep1 as clean as a new penny1 like the ,huth examples of ,turbervile1 #aegj1 and ,walton8 ,the purest copy of the first folio ,shakespeare we ever saw was ,miss ,napier's1 in the original calf1 but wanting the verses4 ,it sold at the sale for ,l#aea1 and subsequently for over ,l#djj4 ,there exist such things as ,laneham's ,letter from ,kenilworth1 #aege1 ,spenser's ,faery ,queen1 #aeij1 ,allot's ,england's ,parnassus1 #afjj1 and ,davison's ,poetical ,rhapsody1 #afaa1 in the pristine vellum wrappers2 and one of the ,bodleian copies of ,brathwaite's most rare ,good ,wife1 #afah1 is just as it was received #bhj years since from the stationer who issued it4 ,would any one wish to see these remains tricked out in the sprucest1 or even the richest1 modern habiliments8 ,among ourselves in these islands we commonly prize and preserve 7even in a leathern case7 a highly preserved specimen of ,tudor or ,stuart binding2 and there are instances where to exchange the old coat for a new one1 however magnificent or 7so to speak7 appropriate1 is not merely sacrilege1 but absolute surrender of value4 ,a copy of the first folio ,shakespeare1 of a ,caxton1 of ,spenser's ,faery ,queen1 in unblemished primitive clothing1 could not be re-attired without making the party convicted of the act liable to capital punishment without benefit of clergy4 ,besides the methods and kinds of binding above mentioned1 there are others of a metallic and a textile character4 ,we find volumes clothed in bronze1 silver1 silver-gilt1 gold1 and embroidered silks1 the last variety usually associated with the ,nunnery of ,little ,gidding1 without absolute certainty of correctness so far as the claim set up on behalf of that institution to be an exclusive source of such products goes4 ,mr4 ,brassington has furnished in his well-known work examples of all these more or less exceptional and luxurious liveries4 ,in the most precious metal the most celebrated specimen is the ,book of ,prayers of ,lady ,elizabeth ,tirrwhyt1 #aegd1 formerly belonging to ,queen ,elizabeth1 and ascribed to the ,edinburgh goldsmith1 ,george ,heriot4 ,next in point of rarity to gold comes bronze2 silver and silver-gilt are comparatively frequent2 and the embroidered style is only uncommon where the execution and condition are unimpeachable1 as in the case of a few in our public libraries4 ,the most ordinary books found within embroidered covers are small editions of the ,common ,prayer and ,psalms2 and they are almost invariably in a dilapidated state4 ,gilding books was usually considered at a later epoch1 at all events in ,france1 part of the business of a binder1 and so perhaps it may have been in the case of ,dubuisson1 who flourished about the middle of the last century at ,paris2 yet we observe on his ticket attached to an exquisitely gilt copy of an almanac for #agdg1 in red morocco of the period1 simply ,dore par ,dubuisson1 as if that portion or branch of the work only had been his4 ,some curious episodes have ere now occurred in connection with sets of books1 or even works in two or three volumes1 in historical bindings1 or with a remarkable and interesting provenance of another kind4 ,it was only at the sale of the last portion of the ,ashburnham ,library 7#ahih71 ,no4 #cegd1 that the third and fourth parts of ,tasso1 ,rime e ,prose1 #aehi1 bound together by ,clovis ,eve for ,marie-,marguerite de ,valois ,saint-,remy1 was acquired by a ,french firm through ,mr4 ,quaritch1 the purchaser having already secured at the ,hamilton ,palace sale the first and second portions1 also in one volume1 in the same binding1 and the set still wants ,parts v4-vi41 so that it will demand a small fortune to effect a perfect reunion4 ,it is hazardous to discount the durability and permanence of our best modern bindings of ,english origin1 and to answer our own question1 whether hereafter they will be appreciated in the same way as those of the old masters here and abroad4 ,yet we think that we can offer a valid and persuasive reason why we shall fall short of former ages in this handicraft4 ,the feudal conditions and atmosphere1 which go far to win our regard or arrest our attention in the case of the older binders and their work1 have vanished1 and can never revive4 ,it is with the book from this point of view as it is from that of the autograph inscription or signature2 both are extensions of the owner's personality2 and what a personality it was6 ,those who follow us at a distance may find reason to think and speak differently2 but we can at the present moment scarcely realise the possibility of our latter-day literature acquiring a pedigree and an incrusted fragrance such as belong to works1 however dull and worthless in themselves1 from the libraries of ,grolier1 ,maioli1 ,de ,thou1 ,peiresc1 or ,pompadour4 ,there is a sort of sensation of awe in taking up these volumes1 as if they had passed through some holy ordeal1 as if they had been canonised4 ,it is not the piece of dressed leather with its decorative adjuncts which casts its spell over us3 it is the reputation of the courtly patron of learning and art2 of the statesman and soldier who sought a diversion in the formation of a library from severer employments2 of the prince who loved to gather round him such evidences of his taste1 or to lay them at the feet of a chere amie2 of the licentious but superb ,lady ,marquise1 who vied with her king in the magnificence of her books1 as she did with his consort in that of her toilette--it is this which exercises upon our imagination its ridiculous yet unalterable sway4 ,it is impossible to avoid the discovery1 if we take for the first time a survey of a library chiefly conspicuous for the splendour of its bindings1 how almost invariably we are disappointed by the contrast between the exterior and the contents4 ,it would probably be far from easy to fill a small case with examples where a really valuable book was enshrined in a covering of corresponding character4 ,it is our ordinary experience to meet with some obsolete nondescript classic1 or some defunct theological treatise of alike infinitesimal worth1 in a sumptuous morocco garb1 bestowed on it by the author as a compliment to his sovereign1 or by the sovereign as an oblation to his mistress4 ,in those princely establishments for which such things were destined and reserved1 it was necessary that all the constituent features should correspond in external grandeur1 the costumes of the great folks themselves1 the furniture1 the decorations1 the equipages1 the dependents1 the book-bindings4 ,the remarkable changes of taste in books cannot be more powerfully and decisively exemplified than by the thousands of volumes which have descended to us in all languages and many branches of literature in liveries once only a subsidiary feature in the eyes of the possessors or acquirers1 and at present often the sole title to regard and the sole object of competition4 ,the work has become mere printed paper2 but it is perhaps not less covetable as a triumph of bibliopegistic art1 than as a memorial of the distinguished or interesting personages through whose hands it has passed to our own4 ,the book1 alas6 has degenerated into a vehicle for external accessories4 ,we are asked to admire1 not the quality of the text or the style of the writer1 but the beauty of the type1 the splendour of the ink1 and the elegance of the initial letters1 on the one hand2 on the other1 the excellence of the leather1 the brilliance of the gilding1 the ingenuity and skill of the design1 and the curiosity of the ex libris4 ,but this has to be kept well in mind4 ,it is the binding which constitutes the supreme feature of importance and attraction4 ,a second copy in shabby attire may plead in vain its merits of production2 but it fares as ill as a person of the highest respectability who labours under the misfortune of being badly dressed4 ,there is no point of distinction on the part of our own countrymen more marked and enduring than the very qualified allegiance which they give to the ,parisian book-binding code4 ,it is true enough that in ,england we admire not merely the old ,french ,school1 but the modern one2 but our loyalty and liking are by no means unreserved4 ,a ,frenchman1 in nine cases out of ten1 will not1 in the first place1 buy any book that was born out of ,france1 any more than he will buy an article of furniture or china1 or a coin1 emanating from a less favoured soil2 nor will he willingly acquire even a volume of native origin in any state but the orthodox morocco2 but his first impulse and act1 if he does so under protest1 is to strip and re-clothe the disreputable article1 and have it put into habiliments worthy of the cabinet choisi of ,monsieur4 ,now1 we have had1 and no doubt have still1 on this side of the ,channel certain heathens in the likeness of collectors who1 no matter how perfect and how fresh1 and how suitable1 the original jacket1 commit the heinous offence of following the ,continental mode1 and in such a way thousands of lovely examples1 transmitted to us as heirlooms from our ancient families1 have been sacrificed4 ,but let us congratulate ourselves that we have among us many who know better1 who will not even let the binder desecrate a faultless copy of ,tennyson1 ,byron1 ,shelley1 or ,keats in the publisher's boards4 ,this is1 however1 not exactly an analogy4 ,the analogy arises and grows possible when we compare such writers as ,montaigne1 ,moliere1 ,corneille1 or again1 certain of the ,elzevir series1 with our corresponding foremost names4 ,if we meet with the latter in vellum or in sheep1 we only too gladly preserve them as we find them1 provided that the outward garb is irreproachable4 ,of how many gems do we not know1 in all the peerless glory of their pristine life1 tenderly ensconced in morocco envelopes4 ,let them never be acquainted with another existence6 ,let no binder's unholy hand come near them6 ,let them be exhibited as historical monuments4 ,on the other hand1 if we could oblige ,monsieur to comply with this law1 he would be desole2 for it is not the matter which makes the book2 it is the maroquin rouge4 ,even in ,england1 where we are more robust in our taste1 the true collector is not a reader4 ,he may buy a cheap book now and then2 but he hands it to the cook when he has perused it4 ,such things are outside his category2 they are for those interesting creatures the toiling million4 ,his possessions or desiderata are not vehicles of instruction2 they are far too valuable2 they are objects of ocular and sensuous indulgence equally with china1 paintings1 sculpture1 and coins4 ,they are classable with bric-a-brac4 ,you have an opportunity of appreciating the quality of the paper or vellum1 the type1 and the binding4 ,the merits of the author are reserved4 ,it is better1 if a gentleman leans a little to the practical side1 and chooses to admit literature for actual reading1 to have two cases1 one for ,books1 the other for ,bibliographical ,simulacra4 ,for it is not for one till he has graduated to lay his prentice fingers on a tome in the pristine mutton1 or to endanger the maidenhood of a ,clovis ,eve1 a ,padeloup1 or a ,derome1 which you must handle as if it were the choicest and daintiest proof medal or etching4 ,why1 one has to bear in mind that he is not dealing with a mere ordinary source of intellectual gratification and improvement1 but with a mechanical product perfect in all its parts4 ,let him come gloved1 and his friend the owner will bless him4 ,between a book bound in its original cloth or paper boards1 and one in its rich vesture of morocco or russia1 there is a contrast similar to that between a woodland and a park4 ,in the one case1 at a distance1 perhaps1 of fifty or even a hundred years from the period of publication1 we hold in our hand a volume precisely in the state in which it passed from that of the contemporary salesman to the contemporary buyer2 and not a stain nor a finger-mark save the mellowing touch of time is upon it anywhere4 ,let us look at the description in a sale catalogue of such a rarity as ,lamb's ,poetry for ,children1 #ahjg1 in the original grey boards1 with red labels1 or a copy of the first edition of ,fielding's ,tom ,jones1 absolutely uncut1 and in the bookseller's pristine covers1 or1 better still1 of the first part of the first edition of ,spenser's ,faery ,queen1 #aeij1 in the ,elizabethan wrapper6 ,it is not the mere circumstance1 let it be understood1 of untrimmed edges which makes the charm2 many a book or pamphlet occurs as innocent of the binder's knife as the lamb unborn1 and highly desirable it is too2 but to render an example of this class complete1 its authentic outward integument in blameless preservation is as essential to its repute and its marketable worth as the presence of the claws is held to be in the original valuation of a fur of fox or beaver4 ,no educated eye can regard with indifference a more or less interesting volume clothed in a becoming livery by an accomplished artist either of other times or of these4 ,if it is an ancient vesture1 with the credentials in the form of a coat of arms1 an ex libris1 or a signature1 or all of these1 handed down with it to us1 we appear to be able to disregard time1 and feel ourselves brought within touch of the individual who owned it1 of him who encased it in its lavishly gilt leathern coat1 and of the circle to which it was long a familiar object1 as it reposed unmolested in a corner of some petite bibliotheque or study during generations--if the subject of which it treated had to be handled1 a vicarious copy in working raiment doing duty for it4 ,for it is not a book in the ordinary acceptation of the word2 it is a souvenir of the past1 a message and a voice from remote times1 ever growing remoter1 or an objet de luxe1 a piece of literary1 or rather bibliographical1 dandyism4 ,in any case1 its identity is to be preserved and held sacred4 ,,footnotes3 #c ,hazlitt's edition1 #ahga1 iii4 #aic4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,english and other national binders--,anonymous bindings--,list of binders--,the ,scotish ,school--,mr4 ,quaritch out-bidden--,the vellum copy of ,boece's ,chronicles of ,scotland--,most familiar names in ,england--,embroidered bindings ascribed to the ,nuns of ,little ,gidding--,provincial binders--,edwards of ,halifax--,fashion of edge-painting--,amateur binding--,forwarding and finishing--,a ,baronet-binder--,french liveries for ,english books--,bedford's ,french style--,incongruity of the ,parisian gout with our literature--,list of ,french binders--,ancient stamped leather bindings of ,italy1 ,flanders1 and ,germany copied in ,france--,ludovicus ,bloc of ,bruges--,judocus de ,lede--,rarity of early signed examples in ,france--,andre ,boule 7#aejh7--;,enhancement of the estimation of old books in ,france by special bindings--,the ,new ,collector counselled and admonished--,what he is to do1 and where he is to go4 ,,the ,english ,school of ,binding brings before us a roll of names borne by artists of successive periods and of varying merit1 from the last quarter of the fifteenth century to the present time4 ,that it is by no means exhaustive is due to the circumstance that in the case of many of the older1 and some of the more recent1 masters1 there is no clue to the origin in the shape of an external inscription on the cover1 as we find on foreign works1 or in that of a ticket or a signature4 ,as it so frequently happens with old pictures1 the style of a binder was often1 indeed generally1 imitated by his pupils or successors1 and we are apt to mistake the original productions for the copies1 unless we engage in a very close study of minute details4 ,in the ,english1 ,scotish1 and ,irish series it is equally true that the preponderance of bindings are unidentified4 ,the monastic liveries1 in which so many venerable tomes have come down to us1 were executed within the walls of the buildings which held the books1 and had perhaps produced them2 and analogously most of our early printers were binders of their own stocks1 as well as of any other works brought to them4 ,we may incidentally remind the reader that one practice on their part was to utilise waste as end-papers or pasteboard1 and to that circumstance we are indebted for the recovery of numerous typographical fragments belonging to publications not otherwise known4 ,that ,pynson1 ,julian ,notary1 ,john ,reynes1 and others executed book-binding outside their own productions seems to be proved by the existence of much early literature of foreign origin with ,english end-papers and covers4 ,in fact1 till the ,stationers' ,company made the sale of books or printed matter a separate industry1 the typographer was his own binder and vendor4 ,the bibliopegist1 as an independent artificer whom we are able to identify1 dates from the seventeenth century4 ,we have already mentioned ,francis ,rea or ,read of ,worcester as flourishing in #affj4 ,john ,evelyn seems to have employed some one who executed good work in morocco1 and in better taste than that done for royalty at the same period2 yet we cannot be sure that he did not carry the books abroad for the purpose4 ,pepys had in his service a binder named ,richardson1 whom he mentions in the ,diary1 and who is otherwise known4 ,a copy of ,stow's ,survey1 #afcc1 passed through his hands2 it is in the original calf2 and he was merely engaged to repair it1 as appears from a memorandum inside the cover4 ,of authentic names of later ,english binders1 considering the incalculable amount of work done1 the number is extremely limited4 ,if we tabulate1 we find only3-- ,samuel ,mearne4 ,bookbinder to ,charles ,,ii4 ,elliot ,chapman4 ,the ,harleian binders4 ,robert ,black4 ,about #agfj4 ,edwards of ,halifax4 ,richard and ,mrs4 ,wier4 ,roger ,payne4 ,roger ,payne and ,r4 ,wier4 ,baumgarten4 ,staggemeier4 ,the binder of the ,psalter of #adei1 formerly in the ,sykes collection1 and bought by ,quaritch at the ,perkins sale for ,l#dijj4 ,charles ,hering4 ,benedict4 ,h4 ,walther4 ,fargher ,lindner4 ,h4 ,faulkner4 ,c4 ,kalthoeber4 ,charles ,lewis the ,younger4 ,charles the ,younger4 ,j4 ,mackenzie4 ,c4 ,murton4 ,charles ,smith4 ,f4 ,t4 ,aitken4 ,wickwar4 ,j4 ,wright4 ,hayday4 ,hayday ,co4 ,j4 ,clarke4 ,clarke ,bedford4 ,francis ,bedford4 ,roger ,de ,coverly4 ,grieve4 ,henderson ,bissett4 ,mc,lehose of ,glasgow4 ,holloway4 ,robert ,riviere4 ,the business is carried on by grandsons4 ,zaehnsdorf4 ,cobden ,sanderson4 ,r4 ,montague 7#agcj-dj74 ,this represents not only the entire assemblage and succession1 so far as ,england is concerned1 but covers ,scotland and ,ireland2 and several of the names are obviously those of foreigners4 ,the ,scotish artists1 if1 as there is no absolute reason to doubt1 a large number of early books were clothed on the spot1 possessed much taste and originality1 and some of them have descended to us in a pristine state of preservation with the lavish gilding as fresh and brilliant as when they left the workshop4 ,we may fairly consider1 looking at the intimate relationship between ,scotland and ,france in former times1 that a certain proportion of volumes of ,scotish origin were bound abroad1 just as ,americans at present send over their books to ,england4 ,coming down to more recent days1 the two names chiefly associated with ,scotland are ,c4 ,murton and ,j4 ,mackenzie1 neither of whom attained special celebrity4 ,but it is to be more than suspected that all important work in this direction was long executed out of ,scotland--either in ,london or in ,paris4 ,the time came1 however1 when the ,scots acquired a school and style of their own1 and all that can be pleaded for it is1 that it is manneristic and peculiar4 ,of recent years heavy prices have been paid for first-class examples1 which are of unusual rarity4 ,messrs4 ,kerr ,richardson1 of ,glasgow1 bought over ,mr4 ,quaritch at the ,laing sale in ,london at a preposterous figure 7,l#bie7 a copy of one of ,sir ,george ,mackenzie's legal works simply for the covers2 it was offered by the purchasers afterward to the underbidder1 who quietly informed them that he had come to his senses again4 ,there is no reason why the magnificent copy on vellum of ,boece's ,chronicles of ,scotland 7#aecf71 which occurred at the ,hamilton sale in #ahhd1 should not have received its clothing of oaken boards covered with gilt calf at home4 ,the most familiar names to ,english ears are perhaps those of ,roger ,payne1 ,charles ,hering1 ,c4 ,kalthoeber1 ,charles ,lewis1 ,francis ,bedford1 ,robert ,riviere1 and ,zaehnsdorf4 ,the genuine ,roger ,paynes in good state are very scarce and equally desirable4 ,hering excelled in russia and half-binding4 ,lewis bound with equal excellence in brown calf and ,venetian morocco1 and was largely employed by ,heber4 ,bedford had two or three periods1 of which the last was1 on the whole1 the best2 he was famous for his brown calf1 but made it too dark at first1 instead of allowing it to deepen in colour with time4 ,riviere could do good work when he took pains2 but he was unequal and uncertain4 ,charles ,lewis had been preceded by another person of his name1 who is noticed in ,nichols's ,anecdotes 7iii4 #dfe7 as dying in #aghc1 and as of ,chelsea4 ,this personage was held in high esteem by his clients1 and was very intimate with ,smollett the novelist1 who is said to have had ,lewis in his mind1 when he drew the character of ,strap in ,roderick ,random4 ,fashions in binding1 which occupy a distinct position1 are the embroidered covers in gold1 silver1 and variegated threads1 executed both abroad and in ,england1 and of which many examples are ascribed to the ,nuns of ,little ,gidding in ,huntingdonshire2 and velvet1 silk1 and metal bindings1 which exist in sufficient abundance1 and usually occur with marks of original ownership1 lending to them a special value4 ,much depends in all these instances on the character of the work and the preservation of the copy2 and each book has to be judged on its own merits4 ,a considerable proportion of indifferent specimens are constantly in the market4 ,the ,little ,gidding bindings are made additionally interesting by the apparent connection between them and ,john ,farrer of ,little ,gidding1 who had a principal hand in producing a volume on ,virginia entitled ,virgo ,triumphans1 of which there were three issues1 #afej-ea1 the last of which has the map by ,goddard in two states1 one bearing the inscription3 ,john ,farrer1 ,esq41 ,collegit4 ,and the other3 ,domina ,virginia ,farrer ,collegit4 ,it is highly probable that the material for the book-covers worked by the ,nunnery were obtained by the ,farrers direct from ,virginia4 ,but it may be well questioned whether the holy ladies did more than the decorative and finishing stages4 ,the early provincial school of ,english binding is chiefly remarkable for the productions of ,edwards of ,halifax1 who1 with his two sons1 ,james and ,thomas1 held a prominent rank in the book-trade at ,halifax and in ,london in the last and present century1 and whose name is also recognised as that of an enthusiastic amateur4 ,it was at the sale of the private library of ,james ,edwards in #ahae that the celebrated ,bedford ,missal occurred4 ,the bindings of ,edwards present nothing very extraordinary2 but many of them have painted edges or sides1 sometimes executed with great care and skill4 ,a copy of the ,history of ,halifax1 with a view of the place thus given on the leaves1 is a favourable illustration of a practice which was formerly carried out on an extensive scale1 and of course with very unequal results4 ,a brisk demand arose a short time since for this branch of ingenuity2 but it has probably ere now subsided1 having been in response to a call for the artist by one or two collectors4 ,of course1 the prices advanced instantaneously to high-water mark1 from the certainty that the craze was ephemeral4 ,but the school of ,edwards of ,halifax probably borrowed the idea from earlier men1 who had occasionally decorated the edges of books in this way1 and we may instance ,samuel ,mearne1 bookbinder to ,charles ,,ii41 by whom a copy of ,north's ,plutarch1 #afeg1 was clothed in a richly gilt morocco vesture1 the leaves gilt and painted with flowers4 ,mearne also introduced what is known as the cottage-roof pattern4 ,there are two fashions in the costlier department of binding which have recommended themselves to adoption by some connoisseurs in this country1 and to which we do not find it easy to reconcile our taste3 the investiture of old ,english books in ,parisian liveries and their treatment by our own binders in the ,french style4 ,both courses of proceeding strike us1 we have to confess1 as equally unsatisfactory4 ,there is an absence of harmony and accord between the book and its cover1 like dissonant notes in music4 ,at the same time1 ,bedford was fairly successful in copying the ,french manner for foreign works1 and his productions of this class are very numerous4 ,the practice of clothing ,english volumes in foreign liveries was occasionally followed in early times4 ,messrs4 ,pearson ,co4 bought at ,paris some years ago a lovely copy of ,queen ,elizabeth's ,prayer-,book1 #aeij1 in a richly gilt contemporary ,french1 perhaps ,lyonnese1 calf binding4 ,the work was executed for an ,englishman resident abroad1 more probably than for a local collector4 ,but these instances are rare4 ,one of a different character occurred to our notice in a copy of ,whitney's ,choice of ,emblems1 printed at ,leyden in #aehf1 and still preserved in the old ,dutch boards--old1 but not coeval4 ,of amateur binding all countries have had their examples to show1 and here we do not intend the limitation of the artist to a particular pattern and material chosen by his employer1 such as the ,hollis plain red morocco1 or the ,duke of ,roxburghe's half-morocco with marbled paper sides for his old plays1 but the conduct of the whole process under the owner's roof1 as in the case of ,robert ,southey1 whose first wife attired many of her husband's books in cotton raiment1 and led him to speak of them as his ,cottonian library2 or1 nearer to us1 in that of ,sir ,edward ,sullivan1 who devotes himself to the finishing stages of any volumes belonging to friends or otherwise1 when the article has been forwarded in an ordinary workshop4 ,sir ,edward tools1 gilds1 decorates1 and letters1 and subscribes or inscribes himself ,e4 ,s4 ,aurifex4 ,specimens of his handicraft occur fairly often in the market2 as to their merit1 opinions differ4 ,but after all1 there is a soupcon of gratification in having a ,baronet to your binder2 and we understand that ,sir ,edward is complaisant enough to accept commissions outside his personal acquaintance4 ,a second essayist in the same way1 who has become almost a member of the vocation1 is ,cobden ,sanderson1 who bound several books of ordinary character and moderate value for ,william ,morris1 and whose merit1 if the prices realised for the lots in the auction be any sort of a criterion1 must be extremely high4 ,the present writer and many others carefully examined the volumes1 and failed to see any justification for the enthusiasm awakened in at least two competitors4 ,specimens occur also now and then in the market of the beautiful morocco bindings executed by another and 7as some think7 superior amateur1 ,mrs4 ,prideaux4 ,a copy of ,arnold's edition of ,wordsworth's ,select ,poems1 #ahic1 bound by this lady in ,levant morocco1 with elaborate gold tooling on back and sides--only one small octavo volume--is priced in a catalogue of #ahih at ,l#ab1 #abs4 ,the ,parisian differs from us islanders in these particulars toto caelo4 ,there is an utter and hopeless incompatibility4 ,his predilection is for morocco in genere2 he estimates it not only above russia 7calf is hardly in his dictionary71 but above even the choicest vellum encasement to be procured or conceived2 but on maroquin rouge dentelle or aux petits fers from some pre-revolutionary workshop he is hobbyhorsical to a pathetic extent4 ,the most celebrated ,french binders are carefully enumerated by the latest authorities in their chronological order1 but there is a difficulty in respect to many of them analogous to that encountered by the inquirer on ,english ground1 since the names of several even of the best period are unknown1 and the productions are accordingly classable only under their styles or their early owners4 ,a good deal of the finest ,french work is attributed to the two ,eves1 whose chefs d'oeuvre must1 and can easily1 be distinguished from the tolerably frequent imitations put into the market from time to time1 some probably nearly coeval with the original examples4 ,prior to the ,eves1 however1 ,france had more or less skilful artists in this line of industry4 ,in the ,frere sale at ,sotheby's in #ahif occurred a copy of ,philelphus ,de ,liberorum ,educatione1 printed by ,gilles ,gourmont in #aejh1 in the original stamped leather covers1 with the name of ,andre ,boule on the sides4 ,under ,francis ,i4 we find the names of ,estienne ,roffet1 dit le ,faulcheur1 as ,relieur du ,roy1 and also with that of ,pignolet4 ,the initials ,g4 ,g4 occur on a volume of #aebc in ,messrs4 ,pearson ,co4's catalogue1 #ahig-ih1 ,no4 #fgi2 they are probably those of ,gilles ,gourmont above mentioned4 ,in #aebh1 according to his edition of ,meliadus de ,leonnois1 ,galliot du ,pre was sworn binder to the ,university of ,paris4 ,in the imprint of his edition of ,lancelot du ,lac1 ,paris1 #aecc1 ,philippe le ,noir describes himself as one of the two sworn binders of the same ,university2 and we gather elsewhere that ,francois ,regnault was then the other4 ,when we reach the seventeenth century1 greater facilities naturally arise for identification of artists4 ,one of the earliest directly associated with his own labours was ,le ,gascon 7#afbj-fj71 followed by the ,boyets 7#afej-agbe71 ,louis de ,bois 7#agbe-bh71 ,augustin du ,seuil1 7#agbh-df71 and ,andreau 7binder to the queen of ,louis ,,xv474 ,from the commencing years of the eighteenth century1 in addition to the binders just enumerated1 there is a fairly consecutive series1 who worked for the court and the public3 ,padeloup1 the two ,deromes1 ,douceur 7who was much employed by ,madame de ,pompadour71 the two ,bozerians1 ,le ,monnier1 ,tessier1 ,dubuisson 7famous for his gilding71 ,simier1 ,thompson of ,paris1 ,cape1 ,duru1 ,chambolle1 ,lesne 7who printed in #ahbg a didactic poem on his craft71 ,trautz1 ,bauzonnet1 ,marius-,michel1 and ,lortic4 ,agreeably to the experience in every other department of skilled labour connected with book-production1 the ,french obeyed here the early influence of ,italian and ,german taste1 and the germ was ,teutonic1 as in ,spain it was ,moorish4 ,the stamped leather bindings1 mainly common to ,germany1 the ,netherlands1 ,spain1 c41 were largely copied in ,england for the royal and noble libraries of the ,tudor era4 ,in some of those executed abroad1 the artificer1 as we have seen1 was accustomed to place his name or initials very conspicuously outside the cover4 ,ludovicus or ,lodewijk ,bloc1 for instance1 who flourished at ,ghent or ,bruges at the close of the fifteenth century1 usually signs and claims his work in an elaborate inscription4 ,two specimens bear3 ,ludovicus ,bloc ob ,amorem ,christi librum hunc recte ligavi4 ,jodocus de ,lede adopted a similar method of commemoration4 ,in the case of foreign books1 especially those of ,french origin1 the presence of a pure and unblemished morocco binding by a recognised artist1 coupled with the armorial cognisance or ex libris of some famous amateur and the binder's ticket1 which is equally de rigueur1 enhances the commercial importance of a volume or set of volumes beyond calculation1 and has its only analogue in the stupendous figures paid for the ,sevres soft paste porcelain of the true epoch1 when all the necessary conditions are happily united and fulfilled4 ,nothing is more striking than the immense disparity between a book in the right sort of garniture and in the wrong one1 or1 again1 in the true covers with some ulterior sophistication in the shape of added arms1 restored joints1 renovated gilding1 and a hundred other subtleties difficult to detect4 ,the case is on all fours with a specimen of unimpeachable ,sevres contrasted with another of which the porcelain dates back beyond the painting and the gold4 ,a ,french book in old morocco by ,derome1 ,le ,gascon1 or some other esteemed artist1 with its credentials and pedigree above suspicion1 may fetch ,l#ej or double2 the identical production in old calf or in modern morocco or russia will not bring the price of the binding2 all the magic is in the leather and the ticket4 ,it is not a literary object1 but an article of vertu4 ,there is probably no description of ,continental books which has so greatly risen in value during the last thirty years as the illustrated publications of the last century1 provided always that they conform to the very exacting requirements of a ,parisian exquisite4 ,above all1 they must be of the statutory tallness and breadth1 and in the livery by bibliographical injunction and usage prescribed4 ,no more impressive exemplification of the difference between a book or set of books in the ,french series1 in the right and in the wrong state1 could be afforded or desired than the edition of ,moliere1 #aggc1 which in contemporary morocco may be worth ,l#ajj1 and in calf or any other ordinary dress a five-pound note4 ,but after all1 a still more signal case is that of ,laborde's ,chansons mises en ,musique1 published in the same year1 which1 even in thoroughly preserved contemporary calf1 brings under the hammer in proof state nearly ,l#bjj1 while in modern morocco it is rather dear at a quarter of that amount4 ,the extreme rarity of pure and genuine specimens of the work of the earliest foreign binders--nay1 of our own--has naturally produced a large inheritance of imitations of varied character and degree4 ,there is nothing to save the amateur from deception but the same kind of training which qualifies collectors in other departments to distinguish what is true from what is false4 ,a man who proposes to himself to make ,bindings a speciality1 cannot do better than graduate by studying the most trustworthy and contemporary guides on the subject in different literatures1 and then we should send him on a tour round the great public and private libraries of ,great ,britain and the ,continent4 ,this1 of course1 applies only where the undertaker is in thorough earnest1 and wishes to spare himself a good deal of expense and a good deal of mortification4 ,illustrated catalogues are of very indifferent value1 especially those of auctioneers1 which too often offer the result of sophistication so cleverly disguised that to an inexperienced eye the repair is not palpable4 ,if one goes in search of desiderata to the trade1 let it be to the dealer who knows his business and charges his price1 but who supplies the article1 and not to the empiric1 who charges a price and does not supply it1 for the excellent reason 7among others7 that this party does not know a fine binding when he sees it--or a spurious one4 ,in curiosities generally it is the safest plan for a private collector to place himself more or less in the hands of the highest firms in the particular line which he selects1 provided that he is not one of a hundred thousand1 and is a mile or two ahead even of professional experts4 ,then1 wherever he goes and whatever he buys1 he is always armed cap-a-pie4 ,to him1 to him solely1 are the lots almost as precious as the purse of ,fortunatus2 he alone it is who may fall in with ,caxtons1 ,clovis ,eves1 ,rembrandts1 ,syracusan medallions1 for a song1 and carry them home without a qualm4 ,a curious case1 unique in its way1 of what may be characterised as perverted ingenuity1 occurred at a public sale in ,november #ahig at ,sotheby's rooms4 ,it was1 in the words of the catalogue1 ,a ,remarkable ,collection of ,magnificent ,modern ,bindings1 ,formed by an ,amateur2 but the salient feature was--in fact1 the ruling one1 with one exception--that the whole of the specimens represented imitations of ancient work and of historical copies of early books4 ,the interiors were authentic2 they had simply served as the medium for carrying out a rather whimsical1 not to say foolish1 project1 and the hundred and ten lots1 destitute of any conspicuous or genuine interest1 probably yielded very much less than the cost of their counterfeit liveries4 ,the present volume is not a treatise on ,binding1 and we can merely indicate the general bearings of this branch and aspect of ,book-,collecting1 on which several useful1 and some very sumptuous and beautiful1 monographs have appeared of recent years4 ,an amateur cannot do better1 for purposes of reference1 than secure a copy of ,mr4 ,quaritch's ,catalogue of ,bindings1 #ahhh1 which includes particulars of all the principal works on the subject1 ,english and foreign1 and one of ,zaehnsdorf's ,short ,history of ,bookbinding1 #ahie1 with illustrations of processes1 and a glossary of styles and terms used in the art4 ,mr4 ,wheatley and ,mr4 ,brassington have also produced monographs upon it4 ,in ,america1 during many years past1 there has been a laudable effort to establish a national taste and feeling in this direction2 for collectors in the ,states formerly made a general rule of sending their books either to ,london or to ,paris for treatment4 ,the institution of the ,grolier ,club of ,new ,york nearly twenty years since was a step in the direction of independence1 and its ,transactions form an interesting and creditable series4 ,the ,club printed a catalogue of its library of early typographical examples in #ahie1 with facsimiles of bindings4 ,the modern ,french school of literary architecture unites in the type1 the paper1 the illustrations such a remarkable degree of taste and feeling1 combined with economy of production1 that in ,england there is no present approach to what may be termed the ensemble of a volume placed in the market by our neighbours4 ,this style of book-making asks of course age to mellow it1 and perchance the materials employed may not bear the test of time and manipulation by successive owners1 like the old eighteenth-century work4 ,but as they emerge from the workshop1 and stand upon the shelves or in the case1 their aspect is decidedly agreeable1 while half a roomful of them are to be had for the price of a ,clovis ,eve or even a first-rate ,padeloup4 ,very much1 on the contrary1 we are apt to conceive a dislike for that unwieldy imperial format which some of the ,parisian libraires editeurs affect1 and which perhaps occupy the same place in ,french literature of the day as our detestable ,english editions de luxe4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,aids to the formation of a library3 7i47 ,personal observation2 7ii47 ,works of reference--,rarity of taste and judgment--,dependence of some booksellers on want of knowledge in their clients--,trade catalogues--,principal modern books of reference criticised--,those for the 7i47 ,bibliography2 7ii47 for the ,prices--,unsatisfactory execution of ,book ,prices ,current1 c4--,the ,british ,museum ,catalogue of ,early ,english books--,obsolete authorities--,their unequal demerit--,british ,museum ,general ,catalogue and ,mr4 ,quaritch's ,new ,general ,catalogue--,the former not implicitly trustworthy--,source of the value of the latter--,the labours of ,sir ,egerton ,brydges1 ,joseph ,haslewood1 and others--,tribute to their worth--,bibliotheca ,anglo-,poetica--,the ,heber ,catalogue--,its magnitude and immense value and interest--,where ,heber obtained his treasures--,his library the most splendid ever formed in any country--,its absorption of all preceding collections--,and the vital obligations of every succeeding collection to it--,the ,grenville ,catalogue--,george ,daniel--,his fly-leaf canards--,collier's ,bibliographical ,catalogue--,corser's ,collectanea--,unequal value of the posthumous parts--,the ,huth ,catalogue--,testimony to its character--,several monographs--,lord ,crawford's ,broadsides--,lists of the ,college libraries at ,oxford and ,cambridge--,catalogues of the ,dyce and ,forster ,bequests to ,south ,kensington--,halliwell-,phillipps's ,shakespeariana--,blades's ,caxton--,botfield's ,cathedral ,libraries--,a new catalogue of the ,althorp-,rylands books in preparation--,mr4 ,wheatley's scheme for cataloguing a library--,redundant cataloguing exemplified--,differences in copies of the same book and edition--,french books of reference--,brunet1 ,cohen1 ,gay--,special treatises on ,playing-cards1 ,angling1 ,tobacco3 ,bewick1 ,bartolozzi3 ,tokens1 ,coins and ,medals1 and ,americana--,tracts relating to ,popery--,the ,printing ,clubs and ,societies--,errors in books of reference liable to perpetuation--,heads of advice to collectors of books with supplements1 extra leaves1 c4 ,,the two principal aids to the formation of a library1 great or small1 general or special1 are ,personal ,observation and ,works of ,reference4 ,the first is obviously an uncertain quantity1 and may be restricted to an ordinary mechanical experience1 or may comprise the finest commercial and literary instinct4 ,we have had among us ere now amateurs who possessed the highest qualifications for assembling round them gratifying and valuable monuments of their taste and judgment1 with the harmless satisfaction of feeling tolerably sure that the investment1 if not a source of profit1 would not form one of serious loss4 ,this is a fair and legitimate demand and expectation2 but such characters are far rarer than the books which they collect2 and if it were otherwise1 the large industry which lies in the purchase and re-sale of literary property could not exist4 ,the buyer whose knowledge is in advance of that of the salesman is a party whom ,mr4 ---- and ,mr4 ---- and the remainder of the alphabet pharisaically admire1 while they privily harbour toward him sadly unchristian feelings and views4 ,the second and remaining auxiliary1 the ,book of ,reference1 has become a wide term1 since it has so enormously developed itself1 and formed branches1 so as to constitute a library within a library1 and to call for its own bibliographer4 ,so far as the current value and general character of literary works are concerned1 all the older authorities are more or less untrustworthy1 and the same is to be predicated of a heavy proportion of auctioneers' and booksellers' catalogues1 where the first and sole object is to realise the maximum price for an article4 ,the system pursued by the former class of vendors of late years renders it far more hazardous to bid on the faith of the printed descriptions1 and there is1 in fact1 greater danger for the novice in the elaborate rehearsal of the title and the accompanying fillip in the shape of a note 7usually erroneous7 than the good old-fashioned plan of setting out the particulars briefly--even illiterately2 for in the latter case the burden of discovering the exact truth is thrown on the customer or acquirer4 ,we must say that few things are less satisfactory than trade-catalogues with certain honourable exceptions1 which it might be invidious to particularise2 and the book-buyer has to depend almost exclusively on his own discernment and the bibliographers4 ,of what he reads in the catalogues he may believe as much or as little as he likes4 ,nothing could be more ungracious than to speak disrespectfully of the publications of those laborious and earnest workers who have preceded us1 and who for that very sufficient reason did not know quite so much as we do4 ,we admire their industry1 on the contrary1 their taste and their devotion2 we buy their volumes because it is pleasant to have them at our side2 and ever and anon we dip into this one or that1 and meet with something which had escaped us4 ,seriously1 however1 they are1 on the whole1 not merely of slight use1 but of a misleading tendency4 ,for the gods of our forefathers1 ,ware1 ,tanner1 ,ames1 ,herbert1 ,oldys1 ,dibdin1 ,brydges1 ,watt1 ,park1 ,haslewood1 the compilers of the ,bibliotheca ,grenvillana1 ,bibliotheca ,anglo-,poetica1 and ,biographia ,dramatica1 and scores besides1 before and even since1 we have substituted others1 assuredly more complete1 perhaps constructed on truer and more lasting principles4 ,we have on our shelves 7i47 for the ,bibliography1 the ,heber1 ,collier1 ,corser1 and ,huth catalogues 7#ahcd-hj71 and the writer's own ,collections 7#ahfg-aijc71 ,bibliographica and the ,transactions of the ,bibliographical ,society3 7ii47 for the ,prices1 ,book ,prices ,current and ,book ,sales4 ,unfortunately the two latter undertakings are little better than mechanical transcripts from the auctioneers' extremely treacherous catalogues by outsiders4 ,the peculiar class of information purporting to be supplied by such catalogues is often in need of some qualifying criticism or admonition1 which it is not easy1 if possible1 for any one not on the spot and behind the scenes to offer4 ,no mere reference to the catalogue after the event is capable of initiating one into these arcana2 and the same has to be said of the quotations in the ordinary periodicals4 ,this is a species of employment for which there must be either a long training or a unique instinct4 ,book ,prices ,current and ,book ,sales cannot be trusted as an authority or a guide by any person who does not approach them with a certain measure of experience4 ,where an editor cites a common and comparatively worthless volume as selling for a high sum1 and omits to mention that on the title there is a valuable autograph1 the mischief is obvious2 and this and allied forms of error are habitual4 ,such empirical attempts do more harm than good4 ,the ,account printed by the ,trustees of the ,early ,english books in the ,british ,museum is not without its value1 although it is almost everything that it ought not to have been2 and there are several monographs of importance dealing with special items in public or private collections4 ,it is to be hoped that in course of time we may see a creditable catalogue of the ,britwell ,library1 and that the ,spencer books at ,manchester will be done over again by a competent hand4 ,if money is expended on these objects1 it is distressing to find that the task has been confided to a gentleman whose best credentials are his personal acquaintance with the owner4 ,we do not add to existing authorities3 7i47 for the printers1 ,ames1 ,herbert1 and ,dibdin1 or 7ii47 for general information ,lowndes's ,manual by ,bohn and his coadjutors1 because we are afraid that there is almost greater danger of being misled by them than being helped or enlightened4 ,both ,ames and ,herbert1 however1 we emphatically pronounce conscientious1 and accurate in the highest degree in their respective days2 but these days were long ago1 and the present state of knowledge has rendered a considerable proportion of their texts obsolete and unreliable4 ,dibdin has certainly added to ,herbert1 but he has not1 on the contrary1 in all cases faithfully reprinted him2 if his book had been as great an advance on his predecessor as ,herbert's was on ,ames1 it would have been a treasure indeed4 ,a new ,lowndes is said to be in the hands of a syndicate4 ,i know nothing about it2 but ,i shall rejoice if it should prove worthy of the subject1 and as unlike ,lowndes or ,lowndes by ,bohn as possible4 ,i labour1 however1 under the gravest apprehension that it will prove one of those undertakings which will just be advanced enough to block the right book without being relatively anything approaching even to an ,english ,brunet4 ,at least five-and-twenty annotated copies of ,lowndes must exist4 ,will the promoters deem it necessary to acquire or to borrow them8 ,probably not4 ,there must be thousands of additions and corrections in the writer's alone4 ,it is estimated that the enlarged ,lowndes contains about #aj per cent4 of the literature which ought to find a place1 not reckoning the earlier ,english books1 tracts1 or broadsides1 and that of that proportion about #ga_/b per cent4 are misdescribed4 ,the anecdote of ,pope and the wag who retorted to his habitual exclamation1 ,god mend me6 ,it would take less to make a new one1 appears to apply in the present case4 ,the original ,lowndes in #ahcd was a poor affair2 but ,bohn's recension twenty years or so later was by comparison a still poorer one1 for there was the opportunity1 in the presence of innumerable discoveries and a large body of new bibliographical material in various shapes1 of rendering the new edition a really creditable performance4 ,the name of the publisher1 however1 was a sufficient guarantee for this not being the case1 and where the second impression is superior to the first1 is where ,bohn happened to have an interest in mentioning certain works1 or information was communicated to him by others4 ,the sole comfort for us is1 that ,brunet has passed through five editions1 and yet remains deplorably imperfect and inaccurate4 ,there are three prominent publications1 each in its way of signal value and merit3 the ,british ,museum and ,bodleian ,catalogues of ,printed ,books1 and ,mr4 ,quaritch's ,new ,general ,catalogue4 ,the two former1 of course confine themselves to the contents of the respective libraries2 they are consequently far from exhaustive4 ,they have been compiled by human beings2 they are consequently far indeed from faultless4 ,they express1 as a rule1 no opinions1 and of commercial estimation very properly take no cognisance4 ,but the ,oxford collection has always been differently situated from the ,national ,library in not having any adequate means of purchasing deficiencies1 while it is rich in its own very interesting way by reason of bequests of unique value1 making it the possessor of numerous priceless volumes not to be found in ,great ,russell ,street or anywhere else4 ,the ,quaritch ,catalogue 7including the ,typographical ,supplement1 #ahig71 a noble monument to the energy and courage of the grand marchand whose name it bears1 is a good deal more than even a bookseller's advertising medium on a large or the largest scale4 ,it is1 in fact1 a literary performance2 and it is an open secret to whom we owe it4 ,the collector1 apart from the question of purchase1 will find it replete with useful1 instructive1 and trustworthy information1 so far as bibliography is concerned4 ,the highly honourable and equally laborious publications of ,sir ,egerton ,brydges1 ,joseph ,haslewood1 ,thomas ,park1 ,e4 ,v4 ,utterson1 and others1 if they are of minor substantial value to us at present1 demonstrate the keen appetite for bibliographical information and anecdote in the first quarter of this century4 ,the ,censura ,literaria1 extending to ten octavo volumes1 passed through two editions1 and1 in common with other similar works1 till recently commanded a heavy price4 ,that they have fallen into neglect is due to the necessity1 on the part of buyers and sellers of early literature1 of studying only the latest authorities4 ,at the same time1 from a literary point of view1 the ,restituta and ,censura ,literaria 7#bnd edit4 #ahae7 of ,brydges1 and many members of the same group and period1 will always be worth consulting1 and will be found to yield a vast store of interesting and instructive matter4 ,such works may at present be sterile enough1 but yet we are bound to recollect on their behalf that on their first appearance they were revelations and pioneers4 ,it is where a book at the outset is behind the knowledge of the day1 or indeed rather not in advance of it1 that it seems to be disentitled to respect4 ,not only have more modern labours superseded the ,brydges1 ,park1 ,haslewood1 and other series1 which till of late years held the market firmly enough1 but the ,rev4 ,dr4 ,dibdin1 whose sumptuously printed and illustrated productions long remained such prime favourites at heavy prices1 both at home and in the ,united ,states1 has been overtaken by a general neglect1 and the ,americans1 who were once so enthusiastic and generous as bidders for these books1 will at present scarcely agree to acquire them at a fifth of their appreciation in the height of the ,dibdinomania4 ,many of the gems which have passed through the hands of successive owners are known to have once formed part of the ,bibliotheca ,anglo-,poetica1 a famous--almost historical catalogue of old literature on sale in #ahae by ,longmans1 when that firm dealt in such commodities1 and imported largely from the ,continent in response to the keen and hungry demand on the part of the school created by the ,roxburghe sale and the ,roxburghe ,club1 ,heber its greatest disciple and ornament1 ,heber a colossus in himself4 ,many are the traditional anecdotes of the wonderful bargains which ,longmans' agent secured for his principals in all sorts of places1 whither he resorted in quest of prey--of the romances in folio in the virgin stamped ,spanish bindings1 which they might have worn since they lay on the shelves of ,don ,quixote or the ,licentiate1 brought for sale1 as it were haphazard1 to some market-place in ,seville or ,valladolid in wine-skins4 ,but the contents of the above-mentioned ,bibliotheca were purely ,english4 ,it was a small but choice assemblage of old poetry formed by ,mr4 ,thomas ,hill1 otherwise ,tommy ,hill1 otherwise ,paul ,pry1 which he offered to ,longmans on the plea of failing health1 and for which the purchasers elected1 looking prophetically at his moribund aspect1 to grant him an annuity in preference to a round sum4 ,mr4 ,hill's apprehensions1 however1 were premature1 as the transaction had the effect of restoring his spirits2 and the booksellers scored rather indifferently4 ,how pleased they must have been to see him coming for his pension year after year6 ,even the outrageous prices asked for the articles1 of which the condition was ordinarily poor1 could not have brought ,longmans anywhere near home2 and the catalogue was expensively printed4 ,yet one would like1 very much indeed like1 to put down thirty golden sovereigns for ,shakespeare's ,sonnets never before imprinted1 #afji1 and fifty for ,anthony ,munday's ,banquet of ,dainty ,conceits1 #aehh4 ,the ,rev4 ,j4 ,m4 ,rice obtained the latter in #ahae2 it was sold at his auction in #ahcd for eighteen guineas1 and when it next occurred among ,george ,daniel's books in #ahfd1 was bought by ,mr4 ,huth against ,sir ,william ,tite for ,l#bbe4 ,the ,sonnets of #afji would at present be worth ,l#bej4 ,as regards the bulk of the lots1 however1 one might almost read shillings for pounds4 ,sir ,francis ,freeling had an interleaved copy1 in which he entered acquisitions4 ,through his official connection with the ,post-,office he procured many prizes from the country districts4 ,dick of ,bury ,st4 ,edmunds stood him in good stead4 ,what ,dibdin euphemistically christened the ,lincoln ,nosegay was a second pair of bellows applied about the same date to the reddening flame of bibliographical ardour4 ,it was a descriptive list of certain books which the ,doctor had prevailed on the ,dean and ,chapter of the ,cathedral to sell to him for five hundred guineas1 and which he divided between ,mr4 ,heber and ,lord ,spencer4 ,the collection was part of the benefaction of ,dean ,honeywood1 and it was a shameful betrayal of trust4 ,our cathedral libraries still retain a host of treasures1 notwithstanding all this sort of pillage2 and the dim religious light which is shed around lends an air of sanctity to the spot sufficient1 one might have thought1 to arrest the hand of the marauder4 ,this was the height of the ,bibliomania4 ,dibdin had in #ahaa brought out his work so called4 ,perhaps it was hardly wise so to accentuate the passion on paper4 ,he lived to publish the ,bibliophobia4 ,the ,bibliotheca ,heberiana1 in thirteen parts1 #ahcd-cf1 which in its realisation showed a strong revulsion1 or at least a marked decline1 from the cometary period1 #ahab-be1 is the most stupendous assemblage of literary treasures and curiosities ever brought together by an individual in this country4 ,heber was a scholar and a reader of his books2 he has made memoranda on a large number of the fly-leaves2 and these have been occasionally transferred to the catalogue1 of which the ,early ,english poetical portion1 a singularly rich one1 was edited and annotated by ,john ,payne ,collier4 ,in using the ,heber ,catalogue1 its mere extent and diversity ought to suffice as a warning that the prices are not in the least degree trustworthy2 the classics and some of the early typography went pretty high2 and the ,early ,english books were only saved from being given away by the active competition of ,mr ,w4 ,h4 ,miller1 who secured nearly everything of account at very moderate figures1 and by the commissions held by ,collier for the ,duke of ,devonshire1 who bought the rarest of the old plays4 ,the ,british ,museum was scarcely in evidence there4 ,it was enjoying one of its periodical slumbers4 ,the poetical section of the library embraced not only the lion's share of all the rarest books of the class offered for public sale in ,heber's time1 but an immense assortment of articles which he acquired privately from ,thorpe1 ,rodd1 and others1 of whom he was the infallible resource whenever they fell in with books or tracts or broadsides which he did not possess1 or of which he perhaps possessed only one copy4 ,it was not merely that ,heber distanced all that went before him or have succeeded him1 so far as the extent and variety of his collections go1 but that with his insatiable acquisitiveness he combined so much of the bibliographer and litterateur4 ,it was fairly easy for certain men with more limited means and views1 such as ,malone1 ,steevens1 ,douce1 ,brand1 ,chalmers1 ,bright1 ,bliss1 ,laing1 ,bandinel1 ,turner1 ,locker1 ,corser1 and a legion more1 to pose as judges of the merits of their possessions2 but how comparatively little was theirs to grasp6 ,in the case of ,heber the range of knowledge was immense2 and he was equally at home with all departments and all periods4 ,he had his modern side and his interest in current affairs1 and a scholarly insight into the vast literary and bibliographical accumulations which it was his bent and pride to form1 beyond any one whom we can call to mind4 ,we do not include in this sort of category the ,harley1 ,roxburghe1 ,grenville1 ,spencer1 ,blandford1 ,ashburnham1 and ,huth libraries1 whose owners were collectors pure and simple4 ,of the ,grenville ,catalogue1 as an independent work1 it is less usual to think and speak1 because the library which it describes has long formed part of the ,british ,museum1 and very few are now living who can remember it under the roof of its excellent founder in ,hamilton ,place4 ,the books have now during some years constituted an integral part of the ,new ,general ,museum ,catalogue2 there is scarcely any department of literature in which they did not contribute importantly to enrich and complete the national stores4 ,but ,mr4 ,grenville was particularly strong in early typography and ,irish and ,english history4 ,the catalogue of ,mr4 ,george ,daniel's singular and precious collection1 disposed of in #ahfd1 was an ordinary auctioneer's compilation2 except that many of the owner's ,,mss4 notes written on the fly-leaves were introduced by way of whetting the appetites of competitors2 and to say that a vein of hyperbole pervaded these remarks is a mild expression2 they emanated1 we have to remember1 from an accountant4 ,the books1 however1 spoke for themselves4 ,the printed account of them1 viewed as a work of reference1 must be read cum grano salis--cum multis granis4 ,the sale was the starting-point of a new epoch and school in prices4 ,nothing of the kind on so extended a scale in that particular way had so far been seen before4 ,collier's ,bibliographical ,catalogue1 #ahfe1 is an enlargement of his ,bridgewater ,house ,catalogue1 #ahcg1 without the illustrations4 ,the two volumes are full of curious and readable matter1 and as they usually deal with the libri rarissimi1 we have to accept the accounts and extracts in the absence of the originals4 ,to many this may be indifferent2 to a few it may be a serious drawback1 since1 rightly or wrongly1 the fidelity and accuracy of the editor have been more than once called in question4 ,mr ,collier's book1 however1 is merely serviceable as a guide to the character of the works described2 he does not offer an opinion on the selling values1 nor does he always render the titles correctly4 ,one signal fault distinguishes the undertaking from what may be regarded as a commercial point of view2 and it is the refusal or failure to recognise the momentous changes in the bibliographical rank of a number of books through the discovery between #ahcg and #ahfe of additional copies4 ,like most of us when we are advanced in life1 he thought more of what was true when he was young1 than of what was so at the time of writing4 ,the ,collectanea ,anglo-,poetica of the ,rev4 ,thomas ,corser1 in eleven parts1 of which some were posthumous1 constitutes a very proud monument to the memory of an accomplished clergyman of limited resources1 who during the best part of his life devoted his thought and surplus money to the acquisition of one of the richest assemblages of ,early ,english ,poetry ever formed by any one1 as he succeeded in obtaining many works in this extensive series not comprised even in the ,heber ,catalogue4 ,mr4 ,corser bought much privately2 but he was largely indebted for his bibliographical good fortune to such sales as those of ,jolley1 ,chalmers1 ,bright1 and ,wolfreston 7#ahdd-ef74 ,of his catalogue as an authority and guide the value is unequal2 the portions edited by himself are excellent and exhaustive1 but it is not so with those which ,mr4 ,james ,crossley superintended4 ,a complete copy of the sale catalogue is a desideratum for the follower in this gentleman's footsteps2 but he would have to spend more money than ,mr4 ,corser did by some thousands4 ,of the ,huth ,catalogue1 #ahhj1 we can only say that it is a splendid gathering in a comparatively short period of various classes of books obtained from the sales in ,london and elsewhere1 and from private sources1 and selected on account of condition and interest rather than with a view to completeness4 ,in its character it is emphatically miscellaneous2 but is very strong in ,early ,english literature1 owing to the opportunities which the founder enjoyed through the dispersion in his time of so many fine libraries of that class1 especially those of ,daniel and ,corser1 and perhaps we may add of ,george ,smith the distiller4 ,but there was scarcely any sale here or on the ,continent from which ,mr4 ,huth was not enabled to add to his stores4 ,he was a very rich man2 but he was not a book-hunter1 and he was both inconsistent and capricious4 ,he had1 in fact1 no definite plan1 and took each purchase on its own merits4 ,his ,catalogue1 which he did not live to see completed1 is unusually free from errors1 but not quite so much so as he anticipated and desired4 ,nevertheless1 it will always be an useful guide and an honourable memorial4 ,several monographs1 dealing in a brief or cursory way with an entire library1 or more fully with a section of it1 may be noticed4 ,the ,ashburnham hand-list1 #ahfd1 now 7#ahig-ih7 supplemented by the sale catalogue2 the ,chatsworth ,catalogue1 which does not include the books at ,devonshire ,house1 and ,lord ,crawford's catalogue of his ,ballads and ,broadsides4 ,there are special accounts of several of the ,college ,libraries at ,oxford and ,cambridge1 as well as ,hartshorne's ,book ,rarities1 #ahbi1 a disappointing yet suggestive volume4 ,we ought to remind the reader that the catalogue of ,trinity1 ,cambridge1 embraces ,capell's ,shakesperiana1 and that there are separate hand-lists of ,malone's and ,douce's books at the ,bodleian1 of the ,dyce and ,forster bequests at ,south ,kensington1 of the ,society of ,antiquaries' ,broadsides1 and of the ,shakespearian treasures formerly at ,hollingbury ,copse4 ,we have two editions of ,blades's book on ,caxton's press1 ,maitland's two ,lambeth ,catalogues1 ,botfield's ,cathedral ,libraries1 and ,edmond's ,lists of the ,aberdeen printers1 #ahhf4 ,it is eminently likely that of the ,rylands-,spencer library we shall have in the fulness of time a new catalogue1 superseding ,dibdin's publications1 and of course embracing all the personal acquisitions of ,mrs4 ,rylands1 apart from the grand ,althorp lot4 ,in the capable hands of ,mr4 ,duff it ought to turn out well4 ,in the ,book ,lover's ,library1 ,mr4 ,h4 ,b4 ,wheatley has dedicated two or three volumes to the topic of forming and cataloguing a library4 ,the object of these technical undertakings is clearer1 perhaps1 than their general utility2 for1 as a rule1 a man likes to follow his own plan1 and scarcely two normal collections of the average kind resemble one another1 or are susceptible of similar treatment4 ,the idea broached by ,mr4 ,wheatley was1 of course1 not a new one4 ,gabriel ,naude1 librarian to ,cardinal ,mazarin1 and subsequently keeper of the ,royal ,collection1 printed a sketch of what in his opinion was necessary to constitute a library1 and this our ,evelyn put into an ,english dress in #affa1 and dedicated to ,lord ,clarendon4 ,the plan of ,naude was naturally that of a ,frenchman accustomed to extensive assemblages of literary monuments1 and was not suited to the ,english taste1 unless it might be in the case of a rich nobleman1 to whom space and cost were alike indifferent4 ,it was not likely to meet with adoption even by ,evelyn himself1 of whose acquisitions we know enough to judge that he followed his own personal sentiments rather than professional or technical advice4 ,it rarely occurs that in the less ambitious types of library there are any bibliographical details likely to prove serviceable to the public2 and the extent of knowledge gained by the owner in the course of his own experience should suffice to qualify him to become1 where time is presumably not an object1 his own cataloguer4 ,for all that can be required is a hand-list on the scale of the ,douce or ,malone separate catalogues1 where a title seldom occupies more than a single line4 ,plentiful illustrations of our meaning will be found by any one who opens the ,grenville or ,huth ,catalogue1 and perceives the wide discrepancy between the essential information and the descriptive and critical accounts4 ,the primary motive in drawing up a view of the contents of ninety-nine libraries out of a hundred is the facilitation of reference1 combined with an excusable personal pride2 but a great deal of repetition and redundancy and useless expense are incurred by the literal transcript of the titles of books more or less familiar to all who are interested in them4 ,a very heavy proportion of the ,early ,english entries in the ,huth ,catalogue are duplicates of those in the writer's ,collections1 and the same would be the case if the long-expected book on the ,britwell heirlooms were to make its appearance4 ,it would be1 to a large extent1 bis cocta4 ,in a private catalogue detailed explanation is required in the interest of bibliography1 only where 7i47 the owner happens to possess an unrecorded book2 or 7ii47 an unknown impression2 or 7iii47 a variant copy4 ,defects in important items should be particularised2 in others the word imperfect is sufficient2 and it is best to indicate from what source they have come to the immediate repository4 ,take a few instances3-- ,reynard the ,fox1 #ast edit4 ,the ,inglis copy4 ,folio1 ,w4 ,caxton1 ,westminster1 #adha4 ,hannay 7,patrick71 ,poems4 ,the ,huth copy4 #hvo1 ,london1 #afbb4 ,holinshed 7,raphael71 ,chronicles1 #b vols4 ,the ,sunderland copy4 ,wants the plan of ,edinburgh ,castle4 ,folio1 ,london1 #aegg4 ,shakespeare 7,w471 ,plays1 #ast edit4 ,the ,napier copy1 wanting the verses4 ,folio1 ,london1 #afbc4 ,the notation of differences in copies of the same book1 even if it is not one of supreme value1 is always apt to be useful4 ,of literary comment the supply is discretionary1 so long as it is new1 pertinent1 and interesting4 ,the transfer to the catalogue of any inedited manuscript matter on the fly-leaves or margins1 or of any proprietary marks1 is eminently desirable4 ,for ,french literature1 which is so largely collected in ,england1 the ,manuel du ,libraire1 c41 of ,brunet1 #g vols4 #hvo1 #ahfj-gh1 with the works of ,cohen and ,gay1 is the standard authority4 ,the two latter1 so far as they go1 are more exhaustive than the ,manuel1 which is nearly as incomplete as our ,lowndes1 and not much more accurate4 ,a new edition has been mooted2 it is a clear desideratum4 ,for value ,brunet is scarcely more serviceable than its ,english analogue1 and the book is1 curiously enough1 particularly unsafe in such a field as the ,french books of former times1 where so much depends on factitious conditions barely intelligible to an ordinary ,english or ,american consulter4 ,two books which perhaps equally appeal to the ,english and ,continental collectors are those just mentioned3 ,cohen1 ,guide de l',amateur de ,livres a ,gravures du ,,xviiith siecle1 #eme ed4 #ho1 #ahhf-ij1 and ,gay1 ,bibliographie des ,ouvrages relatifs a l',amour1 aux ,femmes1 au ,mariage1 et des ,livres ,facetieux1 #cme ed4 #abo1 #ahga1 #f vols4 ,both1 but especially the first1 are essential for guidance in the choice of a class of publication of which the innumerable variations and the artificial prices necessitate the utmost caution on the part of an intending buyer4 ,there are1 in fact1 no topics to which an amateur or student can direct his notice or limit himself where he will not have been preceded1 so to speak1 by a path-finder2 nor does the narrowness of the range always ensure brevity or compactness of treatment1 since the ,schreiber ,playing ,cards of all ,countries and ,periods1 which to a certain extent enter into the literary category1 occupy in the ,account by ,sir ,a4 ,w4 ,franks three folio volumes2 but a satisfactory view of the subject is to be gained from the works by ,singer and ,chatto1 #ahaf-dh4 ,as a rule1 editors of this class of publication are more modest and compressed4 ,there are the bibliographies on ,angling by ,j4 ,r4 ,smith and ,westwood2 on ,tobacco1 by ,bragge 7#ahhj72 on ,dialect books1 by ,j4 ,r4 ,smith 7at present capable of great expansion72 on ,bewick1 by ,hugo2 on ,bartolozzi1 by ,tuer2 on ,tokens1 by ,williamson and by ,atkins2 on ,coins and ,medals1 by a numerous body of gentlemen specified in a section of the writer's ,coin ,collector1 #ahif4 ,in the ,english and ,american series are the well-known volumes by ,henry ,stevens and by ,sabin1 and the sumptuous catalogue of the early ,laws and ,statutes by ,mr4 ,charlemagne ,tower4 ,in the ,chetham ,society's series1 ,mr4 ,jones1 late ,chetham's ,librarian1 printed an elaborate list of all the old ,english books and tracts relating to ,popery4 ,there are many ways in which compilers of works of reference are in danger of perpetuating mistakes as to books1 where they rely on secondary authorities4 ,no account of an old book is1 in the first place1 entitled to credence unless it has been drawn up by the describer with the book itself before him2 and when it is considered that not one individual in ten thousand can even then be trusted to copy what is under his eyes1 and that there are1 and always have been1 those who have thought fit to exercise their ingenuity by falsifying dates and other particulars1 there cannot be much room for surprise that our bibliographies1 and those of every other people1 are partly made up of material which never existed4 ,errors are heirlooms1 of which it is hard to get rid4 ,the extent to which rare books are multiplied1 as regards varieties of impression1 by misdescriptions in catalogues1 is remarkable and serious1 and the bibliographer is not unfrequently confronted with statements of his ignorance of copies in sales of which he has not thought it worth while to indicate the true facts4 ,but it is our individual experience that it is impossible to be too minute in pointing out snares for the unwary1 and indeed for all who work at second-hand4 ,the ,club or ,society for the communication to members1 and through them to the public generally1 of literary and archaeological material previously existing only in ,,ms4 or in unique printed copies1 was at the outset very restricted in its zone and its scope2 but1 in spite of the circumscribed interest felt by general readers in the more abstruse or obscure provinces of research1 the movement1 at first confined to scholars and patrons of literature1 at length became universal in its range and distribution4 ,there is no country pretending to culture without several of these institutions4 ,in ,great ,britain1 ,france1 ,italy1 the ,netherlands1 ,germany1 and ,switzerland1 they have long abounded4 ,they have rendered accessible an enormous body of inedited or unknown material for history1 archaeology1 and biography2 and after all deductions for indiscretion and dilettantism1 they may be pronounced the medium for having shed new and precious light on well-nigh all branches of human science4 ,to the book-collector they appeal less in a possessory sense than as works of reference4 ,where they enter into his plan is in the practice1 which some of them have followed1 of striking off on vellum or other special substance half a dozen copies1 which from their presqu' uniquity 7this is as good a phrase as rarissime7 have ere now bred unchristian sentiments among competitors for the bijoux in the belles lettres4 ,the book-hunter's motto is ,pulchra quae difficilia2 he reverses the common saying4 ,there is so far no exhaustive ,guide to the ,club literature1 but the supplementary volume to ,bohn's ,lowndes contains a fairly complete view of it down to #ahfi4 ,the additions since that date have been incessant and almost innumerable4 ,the ,british ,museum ,general ,catalogue registers them all under the mediaeval heading of ,academies4 ,it is right and necessary that the inexperienced collector should be put on his guard against the reprehensible and dishonest practice of some professional vendors in advertising or offering for disposal books of which the leaves are not entirely genuine1 which are deficient in supplemental matter recognised as part of the work1 or whose bindings are sophisticated in a manner only capable of detection by a connoisseur or a specialist4 ,there are wily persons who systematically and habitually insert in their catalogues items which they have acquired with the distinct proviso that they were defective1 and have naturally acquired at a proportionate price4 ,the forms of deception are infinitely various2 but the leading points demanding attention and verification are apt to be3-- ,the ,frontispiece4 ,the ,portrait4 ,the ,half-title4 ,the ,errata4 ,supplement or ,postscript4 ,starred pages4 ,extra sheets inserted4 ,plates4 ,extra ,plates4 ,the intending purchaser must take care to satisfy himself that there are no facsimile or reprinted leaves1 no catchword erased to cancel a deficiency1 no mixture of editions1 and no wrong or re-engraved portrait or frontispiece1 or false date inserted or inconvenient one erased2 and that the copy has not been unskilfully cleaned4 ,it is caveat emptor indeed4 ,the most surprising pains are undertaken by certain persons to mislead the collector who is not very much indeed on his guard1 and who yearns for the possession of some current prize4 ,a case lately occurred in which the well-known copy of the scarce portrait of ,milton1 with the famous verses beneath it1 attached to the first edition of the ,poems in #afde1 had been actually split and laid down on old paper to make it resemble the original print1 and in the same way a plate belonging to ,lovelace's ,lucasta1 #afdi1 representing ,lucy ,sacheverell1 being frequently deficient1 and making a good deal of the value of the book1 has been ere this soaked off from the modern reproduction in ,singer's ,select ,poets1 and lined to communicate to it the aspect of a genuine impression mounted4 ,other forms of deception and danger lie in the exact reproduction of ancient or early books1 not always with any mischievous or fraudulent intention4 ,such a piece of supercherie as the ,history of ,prince ,radamanthus1 professedly re-printed from a unique copy by ,wynkyn de ,worde1 or the ,life and ,death of ,mother ,shipton1 dated #afhg1 and actually issued in the latter half of the last century1 are scarcely apt to impose on any but the most unobservant4 ,it stands differently1 however1 with the ,declaratioun of the ,kings maiesties intention and meaning toward the lait acts of parliament1 #aehe1 republished in #afdf in facsimile3 with ,marlowe's ,ovid1 originally printed in #aeif1 and repeatedly brought out without any change in the text down to #afcj3 with ,sir ,john ,hayward's ,life of ,henry ,,iv41 #aeii1 similarly reproduced1 and 7in ,french literature7 with the eighteenth-century edition of the works of ,rabelais1 purporting to have come from the ,lyons press in #aeeh4 ,these difficulties require on the part of buyers one of two things3 an experienced eye or a trustworthy counsellor4 ,the version of ,ovid's ,elegies by ,marlowe in a re-issue of no value is constantly sold for the right one1 suppressed by authority1 although ,dyce1 in his edition of the poet1 #ahej1 points out the differences4 ,one has to study not merely the external characteristics of an old book1 but the paper1 water-mark1 type4 ,it is scarcely conceivable that the reprint by ,pepys of the ,order of the ,hospital of ,st4 ,bartholomew1 #aeeg1 could be mistaken for the genuine impression2 the paper and type alike betray it4 ,a curious and long-lived misapprehension prevails respecting certain works from the press of ,thomas ,berthelet1 at the foot of the title-pages of which we find the date #aecd2 but the latter forms part of the woodcut in which the letterpress is enclosed1 and was retained in publications posterior to the year named1 and the same is1 to a slighter extent1 the case with ,robinson's ,reward of ,wickedness1 where the figures #aegc occur at the end within an engraved border employed for other purposes1 the particular production by one of the guards set over ,mary1 ,queen of ,scots1 having probably appeared some years after4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,fluctuations in the value of books--,the prices of books comparative--,low prices adverse to the sale of books in certain cases--,great difficulty in arriving at the market-price of very rare volumes--,influence of the atmosphere--,reflections on the utility and prudence of collecting--,the collector1 as a rule1 pays for his amusement--,the classes which chiefly buy the dearer books--,bookselling a speculation--,the question of investment--,runs on particular kinds of books or particular subjects--,quotations of prices realised to be read between the lines--,careful consideration of certain problems essential to security of buyers--,the bookseller's point of view--,books which are wanted1 and why--,capital publications and universally known authors--,tendency to estimate earlier and middle period literature by its literary or artistic qualities--,collectors in the future--,interest in prices current--,some notable figures--,the most precious books of all countries--,two imperfect copies of ,chaucer's ,canterbury ,tales bring ,l#bijj--;,henry ,,viii4's own copy on vellum of a volume of ,prayers1 #aedd1 with ,,mss4 notes by him and his family--,lady ,elizabeth ,tirrwhyt's ,prayers1 #aegd1 bound in gold--,book of ,st4 ,alban's1 #adhf1 and ,chronicles of ,england1 printed at ,st4 ,alban's--,the ,lincoln ,nosegay--,american buyers and their agents--,composition of an average auction-room--,an early example of a book-lottery4 ,,the fluctuations and revolutions in the mercantile value of old ,english books present phenomena to our consideration of an instructive and occasionally of a tantalising character4 ,no one has the power to foresee what future changes time may bring forth4 ,it is the fashion with the vendor to force a purchase on his client1 because1 says he1 this book cannot recur for sale1 or this class of books is rising2 but that is a facon de parler1 nothing more4 ,we are apt to sigh over the times when unique ,caxtons could be had--ay1 in our grandsires' time--for less than ,l#bj4 ,in the sixteenth century twenty pence paid for them4 ,but let us recollect that our estimation of an article depends on its cost so largely4 ,what we acquire cheaply we hold cheaply4 ,should we have heard of many of our great modern collectors had old quotations survived8 ,we have known personally one or two who would not dream of taking a volume at a low price2 you had1 as it were1 to adjust it to their meridian4 ,they failed to perceive how anything could be worth having if it was to be secured for a song4 ,a hundred-dollar author might be barely admissible2 a dollar man would be a disgrace to the collection4 ,as regards the strange vicissitudes of the tariff for second-hand books prices1 there is an illustrative note from ,robert ,scott1 the celebrated dealer1 to ,pepys1 dated ,june #cj1 #afhh1 where he offers his customer four books for #cds41 namely3-- ,campion and ,others' ,history of ,ireland #ab #j ,harding's ,chronicle #f #j ,sir ,john ,pryce's ,defensio ,hist4 ,brit4 #h #j ,barclay's ,ship of ,fools #aegj #h #j ,the value set on the second and fourth items would now1 if they were poor copies1 be vastly in excess of the figures named by ,scott2 but for the other two a bookseller of the present day might not expect much more than ,pepys was asked more than two hundred years ago4 ,the anecdotes of bargains picked up from day to day at the present time are plentiful1 and 7except for the fortunate finder7 exasperating enough4 ,but if we go back to a period when there were no auctions1 no organised book depots1 no newspapers1 no railways and other such facilities1 and men lived practically in separate communities1 there can be no feeling of astonishment that our own early literature1 like that of all other countries1 has descended to us in an almost inconceivably shrunk volume4 ,books1 and more especially pamphlets and broadsheets1 were acquired1 and1 after perusal1 flung away4 ,there were not only no booksellers1 in our sense1 but down to the seventeenth century no systematic book-buyers4 ,the library1 as we understand the term and the thing1 is a comparatively modern institution4 ,even the products of the ,caxton press1 very early in the next century1 had sunk in commercial value to almost nothing2 they were procurable for pence1 nor did they acquire any appreciation till the reign of ,george ,,iii4 and the rise of a new school of collectors1 amongst whom we have to reckon the ,king himself4 ,it is not unusual to hear cases of cheap books having been acquired by the normal buyer in the open market4 ,a friend tells you that he has bought such or such a volume of a dealer--perhaps a specialist in that line--a positive bargain2 he was not very keen on purchases just at the moment1 but he could not resist this4 ,it may be so2 but it is exceedingly problematical4 ,if we were to inquire into the facts1 one might1 nay1 one would almost certainly1 find that the specialist had secured the item over all competitors at a recent auction1 and had added his own profit4 ,if he had not been present1 the item would not have brought half4 ,he was deemed rash by his confreres for giving so much4 ,of course there were two in it2 but the under-bidder was1 maybe1 a second private enthusiast1 who had gone to the full extent of his ideas or resources4 ,where1 then1 is the bargain8 ,the more or less artificial quotations at first-class auctions partly arise1 no doubt1 from the preference of certain private buyers for dispensing with the middle-man in the person of the bookseller4 ,they do not object to employ him as an agent1 and often enable him to secure their desiderata against all comers2 but they somehow distrust him as an independent valuer of what he may offer over the counter2 and this is1 we fear1 usually attributable to their diffidence of their own judgment and experience4 ,there is a prevailing idea--it may be a prejudice--that in the salerooms an article fetches its worth and no more1 and that you save the relative profit4 ,you may or you may not4 ,in the majority of cases1 where the actual purchaser has no practical knowledge1 and his resources are ample1 the saleroom is a dearer market than the shop1 if the property offered is that of an eminent person and is of high character2 and even in obscurer sales bargains of any moment are only to those who are experts and are on the spot4 ,the prices or market values of the older and rarer books form a debateable ground1 on which those interested will probably never arrive at anything approaching unanimity2 and the reason or part of the reason seems to be that the actual realised figure depends on so many considerations1 of which the mere character of the article put up for sale is not invariably the most influential4 ,there is no species of weather-glass more sensitive than the bibliographical one2 it responds to the slightest change in the commercial temperature1 and must be carefully watched and studied by all who either seek to sell at a profit or to buy without the risk of serious loss on eventual realisation4 ,two books belonging to the same edition1 bound in the same style by the same person1 are they not one as good as the other8 ,by no means necessarily so4 ,setting aside the extrinsic features which confer arbitrary value on literary property1 one of the copies may have the start of the other1 if it is something then in active or general demand2 one may occur when the trade has a glut of stock1 or has exhausted its credit at the auctioneer's2 one may belong to a genuine collection1 while the other may labour under the suspicion of being rigged4 ,place them side by side2 there does not appear to be sixpence between them1 yet under the hammer one lot may fetch twice as much as the other4 ,this1 it may be fairly argued1 tells against the wisdom and security of laying out money by collectors of moderate resources on such doubtful investments2 but look in whatever direction you please1 and you will encounter similar phenomena4 ,the buyer of coins1 china1 pictures1 or any other curiosities1 meets with an identical experience4 ,immense sums are lost in these recreations by one class to provide livelihoods1 and very handsome livelihoods1 too1 for thousands and tens of thousands year by year4 ,sometimes the amount is not serious to the individual1 or he can afford it2 occasionally it is otherwise4 ,prices fluctuate1 and their fluctuation is apt to be deceptive4 ,it is not merely the article which has to be considered1 but the atmosphere in which it was sold4 ,no one can be sure that he has secured a bargain till he sells it4 ,at the ,beckford sale the ,thuanus copy of ,buchanan's ,poemata1 #aegi1 fetched ,l#ed2 a year or two later it was offered at ,l#ah1 and in #ahig it occurs in a catalogue at ,l#db4 ,a rare theatrical item in the ,mackenzie sale produced ,l#fb1 #ajs4 ,in another in #ahig a second copy formed part of a bundle which brought #ads4 ,at the ,laing sale ,beza's ,confession of ,christian ,faith1 in ,italian1 #aefj1 said to have been the property of ,mary ,queen of ,scots1 was carried to ,l#adi4 ,after being kept by the purchaser many years1 it realised during the current year ,l#eb4 ,the eclat which accompanied these books on their original realisation was absent1 or was no more than a tradition4 ,some judged the ,queen of ,scots volume very dear even at the lower quotation4 ,we saw it knocked down1 and such was our own judgment4 ,these samples we adduce for the advantage of ordinary purchasers of literary property1 whose estimation principally depends on its provenance4 ,there is an inherent proneness to shrinkage of interest and value in the hands of any one who is not equally celebrated1 or is not going to become so4 ,even an approximately accurate appreciation in a commercial sense of books of various classes can only be reached by one who is behind the scenes1 who can feel the pulse of the market1 and who follows the incessant changes in its temperature and feeling4 ,it is absurd for a simple amateur1 who passes his time in a study or an office1 to attempt or presume to instruct us on this subject4 ,he knows what he has given for his own library1 and what some of his friends have given for theirs1 and he reads the accounts in the papers of periodical sales4 ,but it is a widely different affair1 when one sets about the task1 intrusted to this or that individual by a friendly publisher or editor-general1 in a scientific manner2 and it is only under such circumstances that one realises1 or can render intelligible to others1 what prices actually mean and are1 how much they depend on perpetually modifying and varying influences1 and how little the quotations found in works of reference are to be trusted4 ,the turns of the book-market are as sudden and strange1 as delicate and mysterious1 as those of a ,bourse2 and the steadfast and keen onlooker alone can keep pace with them--not he always2 the wire-pullers are so many4 ,how1 then1 shall collectors of books1 for example1 protect themselves8 ,they cannot4 ,it is their diversion1 their by-play2 their time and thought are engaged elsewhere in business1 where it is their turn to reap the fruit of special study and experience1 and they hand over a percentage of this to the caterer for their pleasure4 ,the whole world is1 in other words1 perpetually intent on gathering and distributing2 we are1 every one of us1 buyers and sellers1 not of necessaries only1 but of luxuries and amusements4 ,coming to the more immediate point1 men nowadays1 in the presence of a severe and almost homicidal competition for subsistence1 have to devote their whole attention to their chosen employment1 and have the most limited opportunities of ascertaining or verifying values as submitted to them by experts in the book-market2 they have ,lowndes1 which is almost worthless1 and ,book ,prices ,current1 which is1 of course1 more contemporary1 but must be read between the lines2 and the extreme difficulty of judging what is worth having1 and how much should be given for it1 has led to that frequent habit of collectors favouring a particular dealer1 or1 as an alternative1 pursuing a policy highly unpleasant to dealers by acquiring direct from the salerooms4 ,fortunately for booksellers the latter plan does not suit busy men1 and it is just that class1 especially the merchant and the stockbroker1 the solicitor and accountant1 who are their best clients4 ,the trade has its sorrows and trials2 but it cannot be a very bad one when we see how many live out of it1 if they do not often make fortunes4 ,the fact is1 that the motives for buying books are almost as infinitely multifarious as the books themselves1 and there exists not the volume for which the customer will not arise1 if the holder can wait2 and this customary incidence accounts for the familiar aphorism that booksellers accumulate stock1 not money--an aphorism to which the exceedingly rare exceptions prove the rule4 ,putting it differently1 bookselling outside the current literature is a form of speculation which varies according to the class of investment which the stockholder selects2 and it is quite necessary to bear in mind the nature and tendency of the business in order to more clearly appreciate the uncertainty of prices1 and how utterly impossible it must ever be for any ordinary book-buyer to rely on his purchases as a representation of value4 ,if he does not view the matter in that light1 or chooses to let the instruction or pleasure derived from his acquisitions become a set-off against the outlay1 it is very well2 what he or his heirs get for the property is in that case all profit4 ,we dwell a little on this aspect of the matter1 because we are quite aware that in purchasing books many persons look at the ulterior question1 and even demand of the vendor how much the article is likely to bring when or if re-sold4 ,such a contingency usually limits itself to cases where a volume is secured for a special and temporary object1 or where funds are restricted and the fancy is purely personal4 ,apart from these considerations1 there are other influences always at work to render the book-market uncertain and insecure4 ,collectors who have no fixed plan or aim are apt to follow the precedent set by such as have1 or are supposed to have1 one1 and this obviously tends to create a run on particular subjects or authors1 till the call is satisfied1 or the coterie grows sensible of the inexpediency of proceeding any further4 ,a revolt from a fad naturally gluts the market with the discarded copies1 and the latest vendors have to bear the brunt4 ,such is not an occasional incidence1 but one continually in progress among a certain quota1 and a large quota1 too1 of the book-buying public1 who let others judge for them1 instead of judging for themselves4 ,it cannot be treated as otherwise than an ordinary and reasonable sequitur that prices which are purely artificial are also arbitrary and precarious4 ,the quotations which are to be found in such a publication as ,book ,prices ,current are at best a bare record of facts2 but with such a record at his elbow no man who does not possess a fair amount of knowledge and judgment would be safe in his figures4 ,it would be little better than plunging4 ,still less is it of any use to rely on the reports in the press1 which are frequently inaccurate1 and in nine cases out of ten are the work of inexperienced persons4 ,the careful and discerning observer of these problems 7for such they indeed are7 discovers that the high prices for books1 which the trade is never tired of citing as an encouragement to its connections1 are almost invariably associated with conditions which are adventitious or accidental1 and which scarcely ever comprise benefit to a living individual4 ,a man must be truly exceptional1 phenomenally above suspicion1 bedridden with an incurable complaint1 to disarm the scepticism of the wary buyer under the hammer2 it is the property of the departed which is preferred2 for the result cannot help him1 and he is not at hand to reserve lots4 ,so recently as #ahif1 there was an exception to the prevailing rule2 but it was one rather in appearance than in reality4 ,we allude to the ,,frere sale at ,sotheby's4 ,now1 we repeat that this was merely an ostensible departure from ordinary experience2 and what we mean is that the most valuable portion of the library was that which once belonged to another and antecedent person1 ,sir ,john ,fenn1 and that these items had been long known to exist1 and were desiderata for which public and private collections had hitherto thirsted in vain4 ,no wonder1 then1 that there was a dead set at them1 the living owner maulgre4 ,the booksellers are apt to complain nowadays of their inability to move or place items with which they cannot give a certificate of character4 ,it will not always suffice to allege that they have realised a great deal of money heretofore1 as vouched by ,lowndes2 they must carry with them some definite recommendation2 they must exhibit remarkable allusions2 they may be written by an ancestor or namesake of the buyer in view2 at all events1 if they are not by a good author1 they must be on a good subject4 ,their interest must be 7#a7 personal2 7#b7 local2 or 7#c7 topical4 ,there is a drift on the part of collectors of the purer type toward accredited and certified securities--toward recognised writers4 ,established character goes for more than mere rarity4 ,the trade can always place fine copies of authors who have made their personality standard3 ,chaucer1 ,spenser1 ,shakespeare1 ,sydney1 ,jonson1 ,milton1 ,butler1 ,swift1 ,thomson1 ,goldsmith1 ,miss ,burney1 ,dr4 ,johnson1 ,wordsworth1 ,coleridge1 ,sir ,walter ,scott1 ,charles ,lamb1 ,shelley1 ,keats1 ,thackeray1 ,george ,eliot4 ,if to the more fastidious or self-diffident amateur an excessively rare item is introduced without credentials1 it is in danger of being rejected2 the same principle applies to certain foreign writers1 such as ,cervantes1 ,montaigne1 ,moliere1 ,corneille1 ,la ,fontaine4 ,but in almost all these cases the demand is not for collected or library editions1 or even for first copies of everything coming from the pens of those writers4 ,chaucer has to be served up in the types of ,caxton or ,de ,worde or ,pynson2 ,spenser is only sought in quarto and octavo2 ,shakespeare means the four folios and certain quartos1 and the ,poems in octavo2 the leading aim in ,sydney is the ,arcadia of #aeij2 ,jonson is just admissible in folio 7the right one71 but is preferred in quarto2 by ,milton we mean the ,comus1 ,lycidas1 ,poems1 ,paradise ,lost and ,paradise ,regained in the original issues4 ,butler is only represented by his ,hudibras2 ,swift by his ,gulliver2 ,defoe by his ,crusoe 7some must have all three volumes1 although the first is worth nearly all the money72 ,thomson by the ,seasons2 ,goldsmith by the ,vicar of ,wakefield2 ,miss ,burney by one or two of her ,novels in boards2 ,dr4 ,johnson by his ,rasselas2 ,scott by the ,waverley series with uncut edges1 and so forth4 ,the actual current appreciation of old books seems to be1 to a large and increasing extent1 in the ratio of their literary or artistic attraction2 and under the second head we comprise typography and wood-engraving2 and we think that we could establish that1 as a rule1 the highest bids in modern days are for something of which the reputation or importance1 or both1 are a matter of tacit acknowledgment and acceptance4 ,a merely curious volume may fetch money2 but it must be something beyond that to make the pulse beat more quickly and form a record4 ,two considerations govern and recommend such a course--those of commercial expediency and of space4 ,there is not much probability that in the time to come book-buyers will arise to renew the traditions of the ,harleian and ,heber libraries1 or even of such vast heterogeneous assemblages of literary monuments as those formed by ,sir ,thomas ,phillipps1 ,james ,crossley1 ,joseph ,tasker1 ,gibson-,craig1 and a few others4 ,the feeling is more in favour of the ,french view--small and choice2 and there is no doubt that1 as a rule1 the sale of a collection should not occupy more than three days4 ,beyond that time the interest flags and prices are apt to recede4 ,at the same time there has always been1 and will be1 a powerful curiosity in the direction of knowing or hearing what certain rare or superlatively important books occasionally bring4 ,the feeling is rather more general than might be imagined1 for it extends to those who are not collectors1 yet like to see how foolish other people are1 or1 again1 store up the information1 in case they should have the good fortune to meet with similar things in their travels4 ,when one thinks of the extraordinary casualities which have brought to light undescribed works or editions1 and continue to do so year by year1 there is no reason to despair of completing ourselves in due course in many and many a direction4 ,the tendency in prices of late has certainly been favourable to books which are at once rare and admittedly important2 and we have said that the latter feature and quality appear to be weightier than mere unfrequency of occurrence4 ,for instance1 any given number of copies of such comparatively common volumes as the first folio ,shakespeare1 the first ,faery ,queen1 the first ,paradise ,lost1 ,herrick1 ,beaumont and ,fletcher1 will present themselves in the market and command steadily advancing figures2 it is the same with ,pope and ,dryden in a measure1 and with some of the more eminent moderns4 ,the literary eclat stimulates the biddings4 ,those works which represent the maximum value during recent years have been3-- 7i47 ,the earliest examples of printing1 at all events in book-form2 ,missae ,speciales1 and other smaller books executed by ,gutenberg previous to #adee1 or at all events to the ,bible ascribed to that date2 ,gutenberg's ,bible1 otherwise known as the ,mazarin ,bible1 #adee1 re-issued by ,fust and ,schoeffer in #adef2 the ,psalters of #adeg and #adei1 designed for the ,cathedral and ,benedictine monastery of ,mainz respectively2 the ,chronicles of ,monstrelet on vellum2 ,lancelot du ,lac on vellum1 #adhh2 the ,sarum ,missal1 #adib1 #adig1 #aejd2 ,caxton's two ,troy-,books1 two ,jasons1 ,arthur1 ,speculum ,vitae ,christi and ,doctrinal of ,sapience on vellum1 ,canterbury ,tales and other separate works of ,chaucer1 ,paris and ,vienne1 c42 ,book of ,st4 ,albans1 #adhf1 and other works printed there1 #adhj-aecd2 ,tyndale's ,new ,testament1 #aebf2 ,coverdale's ,bible1 #aece2 ,boece's ,chronicles of ,scotland on vellum1 #aecf2 the ,huth ,ballads2 ,montaigne's ,essais1 #aehj2 the same in ,english1 #afjc1 #afac2 ,spenser's ,faery ,queen1 #aeij-if2 ,constable's ,diana1 #aeib2 ,bacon's ,essays1 #aeig1 #aeih2 ,shakespeare's ,venus and ,adonis1 ,lucrece1 #ast quartos1 ,sonnets1 and the collected ,plays1 #aeic-afbc4 7ii47 ,shelton's ,don ,quixote1 #afab-bj2 first editions of ,daniel1 ,drayton1 ,lodge1 ,watson1 ,barnfield1 ,breton1 c42 ,milton's ,comus1 #afcg1 ,lycidas1 #afch1 ,paradise ,lost1 #affg2 ,walton's ,complete ,angler1 #afec1 ,bunyan's ,pilgrim's ,progress1 #afgh1 and any other capital or standard authors of the seventeenth century1 particularly ,lovelace1 ,carew1 ,suckling1 down to ,locke's ,essay on the ,human ,understanding1 which1 though a common book1 has lately grown a dear one by sheer force of companionship4 ,there seems a disposition to look more indifferently on volumes which have no certificate or passport4 ,secondarily1 as in the case of ,florio's version of ,montaigne1 items are admitted as hangers-on and interpreters of great authors4 ,the last copy of the ,faery ,queen1 #aeij-if1 offered for sale1 an extraordinarily fine one1 brought ,l#hd1 of ,robinson ,crusoe1 ,l#ge4 ,the ,british ,museum paid for the ,book of ,common ,prayer1 #afjc1 a year earlier than any edition so far described1 ,l#age4 ,it was obtained by the vendor from a sale at ,sotheby's1 where its liturgical interest was overlooked4 ,the question of prices in all these cases is involved in equal uncertainty and difficulty4 ,the second ,psalter of #adei brought at the ,syston ,park sale ,l#diej4 ,mr4 ,quaritch still holds it 7#ahig71 and asks ,l#ebej4 ,the ,british ,museum possesses both impressions4 ,this was the highest figure ever reached by a single lot in this country4 ,gutenberg's ,bible follows1 copies on vellum and paper having produced from ,l#aejj to ,l#djjj2 the vellum copies are deemed more valuable1 but of those issued by ,gutenberg himself we seem to have only examples on paper4 ,the ,huth copy of the latter type1 from the ,sykes and ,h4 ,perkins libraries cost its late owner ,l#cfej4 ,mr4 ,grenville for his gave ,l#ejj4 ,as we have already remarked1 the book has a tendency to become commoner4 ,the ,ashburnham ,fust and ,schoeffer ,bible of #adfb brought ,l#aejj2 at the ,comte de ,brienne's sale in #agbd1 where ,hearne refers to the vast prices1 the ,earl of ,oxford gave for the same book ,l#aab4 ,the ,history of ,king ,arthur1 printed by ,caxton1 #adhe1 for which ,lord ,jersey's ancestor gave ,l#b1 #abs4 #f;d4 about #agej to ,osborne1 was carried at the ,osterley ,park sale in #ahhe to ,l#aiej1 the ,british ,museum underbidding2 while the ,troy-,book in ,english from the same press fetched ,l#ahbj2 and at the dispersion of a curious lot of miscellanies1 apparently derived from ,darlaston ,hall1 near ,stone1 ,staffordshire1 an imperfect1 but very large and clean1 copy of the first edition of the ,canterbury ,tales1 by ,caxton1 was adjudged to ,mr4 ,quaritch at ,l#ajbj1 a second one1 by an unparalleled coincidence presenting itself at the same place of sale a few months later1 only four leaves wanting1 but not so fine1 and being knocked down at ,l#ahjj to the same buyer4 ,the ,asburnham ,chaucers and other works from the same press were 7with one or two exceptions7 so poor1 that it was surprising that they sold even so well as they did4 ,we descend to relatively moderate quotations when we come to the ,daniel 7now ,huth7 ,ballads in #ahfd 7,l#gej72 the ,l#fgj and ,l#haj bidden for the ,caxton's ,gower at the ,selsey sale in #ahga and the ,osterley ,park sale in #ahhe respectively2 the ,l#fjj paid for the ,book of ,st4 ,albans1 #adhf1 wanting two leaves1 in #ahhb2 and the ,l#dbj at which ,mr4 ,quaritch estimated the ,troy-,book of #aejc4 ,the price asked for the original ,,ms4 of the ,towneley ,mysteries in #ahib1 ,l#hbj1 strikes one as reasonable by comparison4 ,but amounts which we venture to think unduly extravagant have of late years been obtained at ,christies's rooms for certain books1 such as ,lady ,elizabeth ,tirrwhyt's ,prayers1 #aegd1 bound in gold1 and said to have belonged to ,queen ,elizabeth 7#abbj guineas72#d ,henry ,,viii4's ,prayers1 #aedd1 printed on vellum1#e and enriched with notes by the ,king1 the ,queen1 ,prince ,edward1 and ,princess ,mary 7#faj guineas1 as above mentioned72 and a third folio ,shakespeare1 #affc-fd1 with both titles1 but represented as being almost unique in that state1 ,l#dce4 ,what a contrast to the old prices6 ,even in our time and memory1 the first folio could be had in fine state for ,l#ej or ,l#fj1 the second for ,l#e1 #es41 the third for ,l#ej1 and the fourth for ,l#e1 #es4 ,george ,daniel1 we are informed by his representatives1 gave about ,l#bbj for his first ,shakespeare to ,william ,pickering1 and ,mr4 ,corser kept his #afcb book in his dining-room at ,stand ,rectory among the commoner volumes1 although it was a fine copy4 ,a middling set now fetches ,l#fjj or thereabout4 ,the earlier standard both for ,english and foreign rarities was undoubtedly much lower4 ,in ,osborne's ,catalogue for #agea1 the ,toledo ,missal1 described as the scarcest volume in the world1 was valued only at ,l#ce4 ,in the ,heber1 and even in the ,bright sale1 from ,l#aj to ,l#be secured some of the greatest gems in ancient ,english literature4 ,at the ,frere auction at ,sotheby's1 #ahif1 however1 the realisation of the ,fenn books beat every record1 considering that the copies were generally so poor2 and it was hard indeed to see where the value was in a ,herbert's ,ames accompanied by an extra volume of typographical fragments1 of which many were mutilated and many were worthless 7,l#bee74 ,the ,book of ,st4 ,albans1 #adhf1 as it is usually designated1 has descended a little from its original rank as a first-class rarity owing to the successive discovery of unknown copies4 ,the romance connected with the acquisition of the ,grenville one has been more than once printed2 but the ,chronicles of ,england1 from the same press1 especially on vellum1 maintains its reputation for the utmost rarity1 although there were two impressions2 and the same may be said of the issues by ,william of ,mecklin1 ,caxton1 and ,gerard de ,leeu1 all and any of which could not1 if complete1 fail to command very high prices even on paper4 ,l#dijj for the second edition of the ,mainz ,psalter1 #adei1 appears 7as we have observed7 to be the largest sum ever paid in this country for a single work2 and the vellum copy of the ,gutenberg ,bible follows1 ,l#ijj behind2 at least at the price of ,l#djjj it fell to ,mr4 ,quaritch at the ,ashburnham sale in #ahig4 ,but for the ,manesse ,liederbuch1 a thirteenth-century ,,ms4 of national ballads1 carried away by the ,french from ,heidelberg in #afef1 and found among the ,ashburnham ,,mss41 the ,german ,government practically paid in #ahhg ,l#ah1jjj4 ,what may be termed a bad second was the ,duke of ,hamilton's ,missal1 sold to the ,german ,government in #ahhg for ,l#aj1jjj2 but that also belongs to the manuscript class4 ,it must be an absolute truism to state that at the present moment the ,american is a material factor in influencing the book-market4 ,he is less so1 perhaps1 in the sort of way in which he assisted the booksellers of a bygone generation in reducing or realising their stocks2 but he has come to the front more than ever as a competitor for the prizes4 ,there was a day when countless ,transatlantic libraries were in course of formation2 but they are now fairly complete1 and1 moreover1 they have the means at hand1 not formerly available1 of filling up the gaps at home4 ,our ,american kinsfolk have undoubtedly become masters of an almost countless number of bibliographical gems1 and have been content to pay handsomely for them4 ,we do not hear of any sensible reflux of old books from the ,states1 but that might happen hereafter under the influence of financial depression4 ,at the same time1 there is perhaps nothing on the other side of the ,atlantic which is not represented in duplicate here1 unless it be in an instance or two1 as1 for example1 the perfect ,caxton ,morte ,arthur1 #adhe2 and even those volumes1 which are of signal rarity1 are almost without exception in repositories accessible to all4 ,returning for a moment to the commercial aspect of our present topic1 the ,transatlantic acquirer at any cost makes the fixture of high1 even ridiculous1 prices for certain books impossible4 ,beyond the maximum there is a higher maximum still4 ,who would have dreamed of a first edition of ,burns1 although uncut1 bringing1 as it did just lately 7,february #ahih7 in an ,edinburgh auction-room1 ,l#egb1 or a sixpenny volume on ,ploughs by one ,small1 ,l#cj1 because it bore on the title1 ,robt4 ,burns1 ,poet1 in the great man's own hand1 as well as a holograph memorandum attached to flyleaf8 ,in the case of the ,kilmarnock ,burns of #aghf the sole excuse of the purchaser was its uncut state1 for it is a comparatively common book4 ,it was acquired by ,mr4 ,lamb of ,dundee1 a hotel-keeper1 of one ,mr4 ,braidwood for ,l#fj4 ,a second copy in paper covers1 also uncut1 exists2 but the general condition is not so good4 ,there are in ,london and other ,english centres1 however1 ,american export and commission agents1 independently of those houses which make shipments to the ,states a collateral branch of their business4 ,it has been the cry1 ever since we can recollect1 that our cousins were draining the old country of its books1 and yet the movement continues--continues with this difference1 that the ,americans have now plenty of ordinary stock1 and are more anxious to limit their acquisitions to rarities4 ,the number of public and private libraries has become very considerable2 the most familiar names are ,lenox1 ,carter-,brown1 ,tower1 and ,pope1 the last the purchaser of the ,king ,arthur printed by ,caxton in #adhe1 and formerly in the ,harleian and ,osterley ,park collections4 ,there is an occasional reflux of exportations1 and we should like to hear one day of the ,arthur being among them4 ,one not very pleasant aspect of ,american and other plutocratic competition has been to convert most of the capital old ,english books from literature into vertu4 ,what else is it1 when two imperfect ,chaucers bring ,l#bijj1 and a ,walton's ,angler1 ,l#dae1 and where for the second and third folio ,shakespeares persons are found willing to give a profit on ,l#ejj or ,l#fjj8 ,the ,transatlantic buyer1 or indeed the buyer at a distance anywhere1 has no option in employing an agent on the spot to acquire his desiderata1 and he is practically in his hands4 ,so long as your representative is competent it is well enough1 and on the whole the ,american agencies in ,london are1 we think1 both that and conscientious4 ,but the frequenter of the salerooms cannot fail to note a very unsatisfactory aspect of this business by proxy1 where an inexperienced amateur with a well-lined purse employs an almost equally inexperienced person to act on his behalf--that is to say1 one who is a bookseller by vocation1 but who enjoys no conversance with bibliographical niceties4 ,his principal consequently scores very poorly by buying wrong things at the right prices2 but if he is satisfied1 who need be otherwise8 ,and his error1 if his property is not realised in his lifetime1 never comes home to him6 ,nevertheless1 to buy with other people's eyes and judgment is not1 after all1 the best form2 all that can be pleaded for it is1 that it is the sole resource of the individual who has no time to devote to the practical side1 or who1 if he has1 distrusts his own knowledge2 and as everything has its compensation1 such are the customers on whom the trade mainly leans4 ,if the amateur expert were to be too much multiplied1 the professional bookseller would inevitably be a grave sufferer4 ,those are in the safest hands1 perhaps1 who are in their own4 ,but in the case of books1 as of all analogous property1 the next best thing to acting for oneself is to employ a high-class dealer1 or1 if the line is very special1 one who enjoys a reputation for conversance with the particular branch of inquiry4 ,where a collector who does not possess personal knowledge1 and takes into his service a bookseller who is not much more informed1 or who has not studied certain classes of literature1 it is bound to be an exemplification of the blind leading the blind1 and one1 at all events1 unless he has a very long purse1 falling into the ditch4 ,under any circumstances1 it is unquestionably beneficial to any private buyer to take some pains to arrive at at least a general knowledge of values1 as well as of the bearings and extent of the field which he may choose4 ,he should not be a puppet in the hands of his representative1 if he can help it4 ,where he cannot1 he is apt to buy in one sort of market and to sell in another4 ,not the worst policy is to hand a commission to one's strongest opponent1 if he will or can take it4 ,it disarms him4 ,but some firms dislike agency1 as the profit1 though sure1 is often so narrow1 particularly where the person employed is a specialist in the line1 and would have given for purposes of re-sale in the ordinary way twice or thrice as much as the item fetches1 his personal opposition withdrawn4 ,hence it is not unusual among commission-agents at book-sales to charge1 not on the price realised1 but on the figure given by the client4 ,the latter authorises his representative to bid up to ,l#aj for this or that lot2 it drops at ,l#b2 the fee for buying it is a percentage1 not on the lower1 but the higher amount4 ,a commission of ,l#f was given by the present writer for a volume of ,john ,leland's ,tracts2 it dropped at #bs42 his agent charged him #ajs4 brokerage4 ,some hand their orders direct to the auctioneer1 and this may be done within certain limits2 but if the practice becomes too habitual1 the dealers retaliate by bidding against the rostrum4 ,all is fair in love and war4 ,,footnotes3 #d ,now in the ,british ,museum by the munificence of the late ,sir ,wollaston ,franks 7,department of ,antiquities74 #e ,said to have been purchased for ,lord ,amherst4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,foundations of bibliography--,commencement of advertising books through catalogues and lists at end of other publications--,classes of literature principally in demand--,origin of sales by public competition--,a book-lottery in #affa--,the book-auction in ,london makes a beginning--,the practice extends to the provinces and ,scotland 7#afhj-ie7--;,first sale-catalogue where ,caxtons were separately lotted 7#afhb7--;,catalogue of a private library appended to a posthumous publication 7#agjd7--,mystery surrounding the sources whence the ,harleian ,library was supplied with its early ,english rarities--,an explanation--,indebtedness of the ,heber ,collection to private purchasers on a large scale--,vast additions to our knowledge since ,heber's time--,the modern auction-marts--,penny and other biddings at auctions--,an average auction-room--,watching the ,ashburnham sale--,the collector behind the scenes--,key to certain prices--,the ,frost and the ,boom--,difficulty of gauging quotations without practical experience--,the ,court of ,appeal--,the ,duke of ,wellington pays ,l#aje for a shilling pamphlet--,a few more words about the ,frere sale in illustration of the ,boom and something else--,the ,rig4 ,,the earliest method of communication between holders and vendors of books and probable buyers of them related to the issue of new works1 or1 at most1 to such as were not out of date4 ,maunsell's celebrated folio1 of which he was not apparently encouraged to proceed with more than certain sections1 and which did not comprise the subjects most interesting to us1 came out in #aeie in two parts1 and was1 notwithstanding its imperfect fulfilment1 the most comprehensive enterprise of the kind in our language down to comparatively recent times4 ,these matters usually took the form of notices1 accompanying a published volume1 of others already in print or in preparation by the same firm4 ,no possessor or observer of old ,english books can fail to have met with such advertisements2 but1 as we have said1 they limit themselves1 as a rule1 to current literature and the ventures of the immediate stationer or printer4 ,to some copies of ,marmion's ,antiquary1 #afda1 we find attached a slip containing an announcement by ,thomas ,dring of old plays on sale by him at the ,white ,lion in ,chancery ,lane1 and inserted posterior to the issue of this particular drama1 which does not bear ,dring's name2 and we all know the list of dramatic performances appended to ,tom ,tyler and his ,wife1 #affa1 and probably emanating from ,kirkman the bookseller1 where we discern items belonging to an earlier period--of some of which we know nothing further4 ,this catalogue1 the material for which ,kirkman had personally brought together by the expenditure of considerable time and labour1 was re-issued in #afga1 and from about that time ,clavell and other members of the trade circulated periodical accounts of all the novelties of the season1 but almost entirely in those classes which seem to have then appealed to the public3 ,law1 ,science1 and ,divinity--just the sections with which ,maunsell in #aeie began and ended4 ,the absence of the machinery supplied by the auction long necessitated a practice which not only survived sales by inch of candle and under the hammer1 but which still prevails1 of disposing of libraries and small collections en bloc to the trade1 and the dedication by the particular buyer of a serial catalogue to his purchase4 ,executors and others long possessed no other means of realisation2 the ,harleian printed books were thus dispersed2 and even those of ,heber1 almost within our own memory1 engrossed the resources of two or three firms of salesmen4 ,the conditions under which a library was accumulated in former days were not less different than those under which it passed into other hands2 the possibilities of profit were infinitesimal2 a heavy loss was almost a certainty4 ,but then men bought more generally for the mere love of the objects or for purposes of study4 ,the speculative element had yet to arise4 ,evelyn1 in his famous letter to ,pepys1 ,august #ab1 #afhi1 speaks of ,lord ,maitland's library as certainly the noblest1 most substantial1 and accomplished1 that ever passed under the spear4 ,this was within two decades or so of the commencement of the system of selling literary effects by auction4 ,we are aware that in the ,bristol records of the fourteenth century the trumpet1 introduced from ,france1 is mentioned as a medium for the realisation of property in the same way2 and there was the much later inch-of-candle principle--a perhaps unconscious loan from ,king ,alfred's alleged time-candles1 which are referred to by his biographer ,asser--a work suspected of being unauthentic1 yet on that account may have none the less suggested the idea to some one4 ,abroad the trumpet or the cry appear among the commercial states of the ,middle ,ages to have been the usual forms4 ,in the particulars of a sale of galleys by auction at ,venice in #accb1f the property was cried beforehand on behalf of the ,government1 and the buyer1 till he paid the price reached1 furnished a surety4 ,this process was known as the incanto2 and it is curious enough that in the sale-catalogue of ,francis ,hawes1 ,esq41 a ,south ,sea ,company director1 in #agbb1 the goods are said to be on sale by cant or auction4 ,but the modern ,italian still speaks of an auction as an asta 7the ,roman hasta74 ,some of these types are illustrated by ,lacroix in his ,moeurs et ,usages4 ,in ,france they anciently had the bell and the crier 7the ,roman praeco74 ,in ,london1 firms of commercial brokers long continued to hold their sales of goods by inch of candle2 but the ,roman practice seems to have survived down to comparatively modern days in ,spain and ,portugal1 if not in ,france and ,italy4 ,in #aeed1 ,junius ,rabirius1 a ,french jurist1 published at ,paris1 with a metrical inscription to ,henry ,,ii4 of ,france1 a ,latin treatise on the origin of ,hastae and ,auctions1 in which he enters at some length into the system pursued by the ancients1 and still retained in the sixteenth century by the ,latin communities of ,europe4 ,this is probably the earliest monograph which we possess on the present branch of the subject4 ,it is a tolerably dull and uninforming one4 ,some of us are aware by practical experience how deplorably tedious a normal modern auction under the hammer is1 although it extends only at the utmost from one to five or six in the afternoon4 ,but1 like some of the ,continental sales of to-day1 the old-fashioned affair spread1 with a break for refreshment1 over twice the space of time1 and was conducted1 previous to the introduction of the hammer1 by inch of candle4 ,this system was somewhat less inconvenient than it at first sight strikes us as being1 since the property was lotted to a much larger extent in parcels and bundles1 and the biddings were apt to be comparatively fewer4 ,another way of saying that the early auction appealed less to private than to professional buyers1 and not merely in that1 but in every aspect4 ,the same remark still applies to the dispersion of all miscellaneous collections of secondary importance1 unless an amateur chooses to compete for a dozen articles1 which he does not want1 for the sake of one1 which he does4 ,the steadily accumulating volume of literary production in the seventeenth century inspired two successive movements1 which we regard to-day as peremptory necessities and matters of course1 but which1 so long as books were scarcer1 and the demand for them correspondingly restricted1 failed to strike any one as likely to prove popular and advantageous4 ,these movements were the second-hand department and the auction-room4 ,it is a sufficiently familiar fact that during the reign of ,charles ,,ii4 both sprang into existence1 although among the ,hollanders the usage of putting up books to public competition had commenced three-quarters of a century prior2 but in #affa there do not appear to have been any facilities for disposing of libraries or collections1 as in that year ,john ,ogilby1 the historian1 arranged to sell his books--the remainder of his own publications--through the medium of a lottery4 ,it was within a very brief interval1 however1 that the sale by auction is shown to have become an accomplished fact4 ,the earliest of which an actual catalogue has come down to us is that of ,dr4 ,lazarus ,seaman1 sold by ,cooper in #afgf2 but there were in all probability anterior experiments1 and side by side with the auctioneer grew up the professional ancestor of the ,thorpes and the ,rodds--the men who supplied ,burton1 ,drummond1 ,evelyn1 ,pepys1 ,selden1 and many more1 with the rarities which are yet associated with their names4 ,the system of selling under the hammer in its various stages of development and different ramifications is not an unimportant factor in our modern social and commercial life2 it did not require many years from its introduction into the metropolis to recommend it to the provinces and to ,scotland2 and we possess catalogues of libraries or properties dispersed in this manner at ,leeds1 ,sheffield1 ,nottingham1 ,cambridge1 ,edinburgh1 and elsewhere in the last quarter of the last but one century2 and in one case at least of this kind of property being offered at a fair4#g ,occasionally1 as in the case of ,secondary ,smith1 #afhb1 a precocious feeling for the early ,english school reveals itself2 but1 for the most part1 the articles accentuated by the old-fashioned auctioneer are foreign classics1 history1 and theology--the literary wares1 in fact1 in vogue4 ,annexed to the ,memoirs of ,thomas 7or ,tom7 ,brown1 #agjd1 is a very unusual feature--a catalogue of his library4 ,within about five-and-twenty years of the supposed starting-point of the auction1 the modern practice of the ,london auctioneer being engaged to conduct sales in the country1 even in important provincial towns1 seems to have fairly commenced1 for in #agjj ,edward ,millington of ,little ,britain sold at ,cambridge the library of ,dr4 ,cornwall of ,clapton in ,northamptonshire4 ,in the preliminary matter attached to the catalogue1 ,millington remarks that he always esteems it a privilege to exercise his lungs amongst his friends4 ,a glimpse of the method of collecting by the ,hon4 ,john ,north1 one of the sons of ,lord ,north of ,kirtling1 and born in #afde1 is afforded by his brother and biographer1 ,roger ,north1 who says that he gradually accumulated1 commencing about #afff1 a large collection of books1 principally ,greek1 and generally bought them himself1 spending much time in company with his relation in booksellers' shops1 and not objecting to possess duplicates1 if other copies in better condition were found or were presented to him by friends4 ,mr4 ,north flourished during the halcyon days of the classics4 ,the literature of his own country probably interested him little4 ,north1 however1 was so far a true book-lover1 inasmuch as he sought what pleased himself4 ,it affords a pleasanter impression of the pursuit when one perceives individuals of all ranks and callings buying themselves personally1 either at the book-shop or the saleroom1 in the selection of their periodical acquisitions4 ,the marked copies of the older auction catalogues are distinguished by the names of some of our most eminent collectors1 but at present gentlemen prefer to give their commissions to their booksellers from want of leisure or other motives4 ,i have alluded to the sale by auction of ,dr4 ,seaman's library in #afgf1 which took place at his house in ,warwick ,court1 ,warwick ,lane4 ,the address to the reader1 presumably by ,cooper1 commences3-- ,it hath not been usual here in ,england to make sale of ,books by way of ,auction1 or who will give most for them3 ,but it having been practised in other ,countreys to the ,advantage both of ,buyers and ,sellers2 ,it was therefore conceived 7for the ,encouragement of ,learning7 to publish the ,sale of these ,books this manner of way4 ,the ,catalogue is not divided into days1 but the fifth condition says1 ,that the ,auction will begin the #cast of ,october1 punctually at ,nine of the ,clock in the ,morning1 and ,two in the afternoon1 and this to continue daily until all the ,books be ,sold2 ,wherefore it is desired1 that the ,gentlemen1 or those deputed by them1 may be there precisely the ,hours appointed1 lest they should miss the opportunity of ,buying those ,books1 which either themselves or their ,friends desire4 ,in #afhb ,thomas ,parkhurst1 in offering for sale the libraries of several eminent men1 announces that the catalogues might be had gratis at the ,bible on ,london ,bridge 7his place of business as a bookseller71 and he takes occasion to introduce 7perhaps for the first time7 that courageous form of statement so popular to this day among the fraternity as to the collection being the finest ever sold or to be sold1 and the opportunity by consequence being one which would never probably recur4 ,but the present writer does not enter minutely into this branch of the subject1 which ,mr4 ,lawler has made his own4 ,it has always been1 and must always remain1 a mystery whence the ,harleian exemplars of a large number of unique or almost unique volumes belonging to the early vernacular literature of ,great ,britain were obtained4 ,in some cases they are traceable to anterior owners and catalogues2 but a considerable residue first come to the front here1 and the explanation seems to be that the practice of registering unregarded trifles1 as they were then deemed to be1 in large parcels was necessarily fatal to individuality and to the survival of clues4 ,to a certain extent the same disappointment awaits us in more recent days1 till1 in fact1 the demand for old poetry1 romances1 and plays made the few extant copies objects of interest to the trade sufficient to entitle them to prominence in their lists and in those published by the auctioneers4 ,it may have been the catalogue of ,joseph ,ames1 #agfj1 which was among the earliest to raise such items to the dignity of separate lots1 thought by the purchasers at the time worth a shilling or two2 but the noted sale of ,mr4 ,west in #aggc is entitled to rank as the foremost in those days1 where the books and tracts1 long since discovered to be represented by one or two accidental survivors1 and grown dearer than gold a hundredfold1 began to draw figures indicative of increased curiosity and appreciation4 ,the most eminent of the earlier race of auctioneers in ,london1 who confined their attention to properties belonging to the fine arts1 were ,william ,cooper1 a man of considerable literary taste and culture1 whom we have seen disposing of ,dr4 ,seaman's books in #afgf2 ,edward ,millington1 ,robert ,scott1 and ,john ,dunton1 of whom we know more than of his predecessors and contemporaries through his publications1 and especially his ,life and ,errors4 ,commercial rivalry and jealousy arose among the members of the fraternity before the institution had grown at all old1 and complaints were also made against gentlemen-bidders4 ,in the preface to the catalogue of a ,french library1 where he takes occasion to animadvert severely on his contemporary and confrere ,scott1 ,millington refers to the third condition of sale1 requiring all buyers to give in their place of abode1 to prevent the inconveniences that have more or less hitherto attended the ,undertakers1 and also the ,purchasers1 by reason that several persons1 out of ,vanity and ,ostentation1 have appeared and bought1 to the damage and disappointment of the ,parties they outbid1 and have not been so kind to their own ,reputation1 or just to the ,proprietors1 as to pay for and fetch them away4 ,this was in #afhg4 ,it seems to have been a considerable time after the first institution of the auction before a fixed place of business was appointed for the sale of literary and artistic properties consigned to a particular party for realisation4 ,we find taverns and coffee-houses much in request for this purpose during the former half of the last century4 ,the library of printed books and ,,mss4 belonging to ,thomas ,britton1 small-coal man1 were sold about #agbj at ,tom's ,coffee-,house1 and about the same date portions of ,thomas ,rawlinson's stupendous collections1 of which the dispersion extended over a dozen years1 came to the hammer at the ,paul's ,head ,tavern in ,carter ,lane4 ,it is improbable that any early auction catalogue of consequence has disappeared1 and looking at those which we have1 say1 from the outset to #agjj1 we at once perceive the comparatively limited business transacted in this direction during a lengthened term of years1 and the numerous instances where a not very considerable catalogue embraces three or four properties4 ,collections were1 as a rule1 made on a smaller scale prior to the ,harley epoch4 ,the practice of publishing booksellers' and auctioneers' catalogues1 rudimentary as it was at the outset1 succeeded by the more systematic descriptive accounts of public and private collections1 gradually extended the knowledge of the surviving volumes of early literature1 and laid the foundation of a ,national ,bibliography4 ,we shall probably never fully learn our amount of obliged indebtedness to ,richard ,heber1 who in his own person1 from about #ahjj to #ahcc1 consolidated and concentrated an immense preponderance of the acquisitions of anterior collectors1 and with them gained innumerable treasures1 which came to him through other channels4 ,his marvellous catalogue must have proved a revelation at the time1 and to-day it is a work of reference at once instructive and agreeable4 ,what must strike any one who has attentively considered the ,heber library1 even if it is not a case of having had the catalogue at his elbow1 as ,i have1 in a manner1 all his life1 is the presence there of so large a number of items of which no trace occurs in earlier lists1 and of which no duplicates have since presented themselves4 ,it is perfectly marvellous how ,heber accumulated the vast bibliographical treasures brought to light1 and of which his catalogue is the record achievement2 he must have been not only indefatigable in his own person1 but must have furnished encouragement to many others1 who met with rare books1 to afford him the first refusal4 ,on the other hand1 hundreds of early ,english books and tracts which this indefatigable and munificent of collectors never succeeded in obtaining1 items and authors whose titles and names were hitherto utterly unknown1 have within the last two generations come piecemeal into the market1 to delight alike1 yet in a different way1 the bibliographer and the amateur4 ,the accidental and almost miraculous survival of literary relics of past ages is curious on account of the purely casual manner in which they present themselves from season to season1 as well as from the strange hands in which many of them are found--often persons of obscure character and in humble life1 who have one1 two1 or half-a-dozen books of which all had somehow eluded the researches of every collector4 ,cases are known in which a single article has come to light in this manner1 a unique publication of the ,plantagenet or ,tudor era1 maybe in sorry state1 maybe just as it left the press two or three centuries ago1 but anyhow a monument and a revelation4 ,the almost exclusive sources of intelligence on these questions are the correspondence of the period1 a portion of which is printed in the volumes of #ahac devoted to ,aubrey's ,collections1 and another in ,nichols's ,anecdotes4 ,there we perceive that ,lord ,oxford was indebted for many rarities to ,john ,bagford and other private purveyors of printed books as well as ,,mss4 ,in a letter of #agca to ,hearne1 his ,lordship mentions his impression that he had forty-two ,caxtons at that date4 ,he seems to have possessed seventy-three examples of ,wynkyn de ,worde4#h ,with respect to some of the college libraries at ,oxford1 ,cambridge1 and even ,dublin1 it is easier to arrive at the facts1 so far as they go1 or1 in other words1 many of the rare and important acquisitions of those institutions came to them at a period anterior to what may be termed the bibliographical era1 and were often contemporary gifts from the authors of the volumes or from early owners of them4 ,the value of the auction became manifest at a comparatively early date1 when a clear demand for certain descriptions of literary property had set in1 particularly when the formation of the ,harleian library was in progress4 ,in #ageg the representatives of ,sir ,julius ,caesar1 ,master of the ,rolls under ,james ,i41 proposed to sell his ,,mss41 and eventually negotiated with a cheesemonger1 who offered ,l#aj for the collection as waste paper4 ,paterson1 the auctioneer1 fortunately heard of the affair1 dissuaded the family from it1 and prepared a careful catalogue of the articles1 by which he realised to the owners ,l#cef4 ,take another case4 ,in #ahef the ,wolfrestons decided on parting with a lot of old books and pamphlets which an ancestor had collected under the ,stuarts1 or even earlier1 and would1 as one of them informed us1 have gladly accepted ,l#cj for the whole4 ,but they were sent to ,sotheby's1 and realised ,l#gej4 ,on the other hand1 instances are by no means unknown1 in spite of what the auctioneers may assert1 where it has suited a bookseller to give for a library or a parcel of books a sum at all events sufficient to tempt the owner1 who has always before his eyes1 in the case of a sale under the hammer1 a variety of risks and draw-backs1 which an immediate cheque1 even for a lower amount1 at once removes4 ,after all1 the book-lover must1 as a rule1 be satisfied with the pleasure attendant on temporary possession4 ,of the houses which lend themselves in our own day1 and have done so during the last hundred or hundred and fifty years1 to the incessant redistribution of literary acquisitions1 and have gradually reduced an originally rather rudimentary principle to a sort of fine art1 so much has been written by a succession of gentlemen interested in these specialities that we could hardly add much that was new1 or treat this aspect of the topic without repeating others or ourselves4 ,a point which merits a passing mention1 however1 is the history of the bidding at these scenes of competition4 ,it has been remarked as a singular circumstance that in the seventeenth century penny biddings were usual2 but it was the silver penny of those days1 and we have to remember the higher purchasing value of money4 ,twopenny and threepenny advances succeeded1 and although these have long ceased in ,london1 they yet survive in the provinces1 where the lots are less important4 ,some of the principal houses now decline even sixpence1 a shilling being the minimum offer entertained4 ,the twopenny bidding still prevailed in #agca1 as a priced copy of the sale catalogue of ,robert ,gray1 ,m4,d41#i shows4 ,an offer of threepence is still not unknown in the provinces1 as we have intimated above in our notice of an episode in ,lincolnshire--not the ,spalding one1 but a second about the same point of time4 ,one of the not least interesting and curious aspects of the auction system is the diversity of motives inducing owners to part with their property4 ,a study of the title-pages or covers of catalogues admits us ostensibly to the confidence of this or that collector4 ,we should not otherwise become aware that some fairly obscure gentleman or lady was leaving his or her actual abode1 that ,balbus was changing the character of his library1 that his friend so-and-so1 owing to a failure of health1 had found it necessary to settle in a more genial climate1 or that a well-known amateur1 of whom we never heard before1 was selling his duplicates4 ,what does it signify8 ,literary acquisitions1 in common with everything else1 are constantly passing from one hand to another4 ,of course1 if the last proprietor is deceased1 if it is an executor's affair1 it is just as well to mention the fact1 as it places the operation on a clearer footing1 and there is little1 if any1 suspicion of nursing2 but with ordinary lots of books1 where the party or parties interested may be living1 it seems preferable to describe the objects of competition purely and simply as so many items for sale4 ,the reason for the step is immaterial1 more especially as there is a proneness to receive the one tendered1 if not with indifference1 with incredulity4 ,a singular entry in one of the sale catalogues of ,edward ,jeffery1 of ,warwick ,street1 ,golden ,square1 under #aghh1 is a property described as the lounging books of a gentleman1 in the near vicinity of which we come across the ,parliamentary and constitutional library of a man of fashion4 ,of course1 where a famous or capital assemblage of literary treasures is for sale1 it is quite proper and expedient on every account to connect with it the name on which it confers1 and which may even confer on it1 distinction4 ,but it is different when ,mr4 ,jones is changing his lines1 or ,mr4 ,brown is removing into the country or out of it1 or the executors of the late ,mr4 ,robinson have given instructions for the submission of his effects to the hammer4 ,qu'importe8 ,who cares8 ,the composition of an average auction-room1 where the property is miscellaneous1 is a curious and not unedifying study4 ,one beholds a large1 closely-packed room1 where the atmosphere is not too salubrious1 and yet the names which the auctioneer proclaims as those of the buyers are not numerous1 are not even in all cases the names of persons present4 ,the reason is that booksellers or their representatives often attend sales for the sake of watching the market or of noting the prices1 and are on the spot when a lot occurs which suits them1 or for which they have a commission4 ,it is not perhaps too much to say that if the company should be reduced by #ge per cent4 the quotations would remain unaltered1 for a certain proportion are dummies beyond a moderate figure1 and a certain proportion never open their mouths4 ,the latter are spectators1 or proprietors1 or individuals whose biddings are given from the rostrum by proxy4 ,an experienced dealer will probably guess for whom the salesman or his clerk is acting1 and will be guided by such a hint in his own course of proceeding4 ,where the goods on sale are of a prevailingly low standard1 the scene varies in compliance with the circumstances1 and the purchasers' names in the priced catalogue are almost without exception the names of booksellers1 who make their account by going in for heavy lots and rough stuff--an excellent vocation thirty years ago1 but now a fairly forlorn hope and quest4 ,the bargain is no longer to the man who can buy for a shilling and sell for a pound1 but to him who has the courage and means to buy for fifty pounds what he can sell for five times fifty by virtue of his knowledge and connection4 ,to watch carefully and studiously a big sale such as that of the ,ashburnham library1 of which two out of three portions are now scattered1 is a bibliographical1 if not a commercial1 education in little4 ,we attended in person throughout1 and observed with interest and profit the curious working1 unappreciable to those not practically versed in books1 and acquainted with the result only through paragraphs in the newspapers4 ,a spectator with some preparatory training could see how and why certain lots fetched such and such abnormal figures2 and a leading agency in this direction was the unfortunate employment--unfortunate for himself1 not for the owner or the auctioneer--by a leading buyer of an agent who had to win his purchases from men stronger than himself4 ,thus the ,caxton's ,jason1 instead of bringing perhaps ,l#ajjj1 ran up to more than twice that sum1 while1 if it was re-sold under different conditions1 it might not even reach the lower amount4 ,still more striking were the offers for such things as the first ,english edition of ,more's ,utopia 7,l#ea71 a volume which has repeatedly sold for a couple of guineas2 while1 on the other hand1 a handsomely bound copy of ,bourrienne's ,memoires in ten volumes went for #aas41 and other ordinary works in proportion4 ,the names in the booksellers' ledgers and in the auctioneers' catalogues as buyers of old or scarce literature are not by any means necessarily always the names of collectors4 ,they are often those of middlemen1 through whose hands a volume passes before it reaches its ultimate destination--passes in many cases from one of these channels to another4 ,this is1 of course1 another mode of saying that the number of actual book-holders on their own permanent account is comparatively limited1 and so it is4 ,a call on the part of two or three persons for a particular class of work or subject immediately puts the whole trade on its mettle2 everything directly or indirectly connected with the new topic is bought up or competed for with extraordinary and abrupt eagerness2 the entire fraternity is bent on supplying the latest demand2 and prices rise with proportionate rapidity to an extravagant height4 ,the market consists of a couple or trio of individuals1 who might be insensible to the excitement which they have occasioned if it were not for the offers from all sides which pour in upon them from day to day2 and in a season or so it is all over2 quotations are as before2 and the running is on something different4 ,books of ,emblems1 ,catholic ,literature1 ,gardening and ,agriculture1 ,occult ,sciences1 ,early ,poetry1 ,old ,plays1 ,americana1 ,bewick1 ,cruikshank1 the modern novelists1 have all had their day4 ,but the cry and the want are largely artificial4 ,the customers are few2 the caterers are many4 ,such a criticism applies only to the rarer and costlier desiderata4 ,the characteristics and frequent surprises of auction figures largely proceed from the pressure brought to bear from without by bidders who are in the background1 who often possess slight bibliographical knowledge1 and whose resources enable them to furnish their representatives with generous instructions4 ,these competitors are usually restricted to prominent sales1 where the capital items are numerous1 and the name of the proprietor is that of a departed celebrity1 or at all events1 where certain copies1 whether of manuscripts or printed books1 are submitted to public competition after a lengthened period of detention in the hands of the late holder4 ,the ,ashburnham sale 7now completed7 afforded abundant proof of the influence on the market of a collector who began to form his library before many of us were born1 and who succeeded not only in securing many treasures at present almost beyond reach1 but in doing so at fairly moderate prices4 ,but even when the late ,lord ,ashburnham went to what was in his time considered an extreme figure1 he or his estate generally gained4 ,for example1 his ,parzival and ,titurell1 #adgg1 which cost ,mr4 ,quaritch ,l#cj1 and was sold to his ,lordship for ,l#de or less 7,lord ,ashburnham did not object to a discount71 was reacquired by the former for ,l#ha1 and the set of ,walton's ,angler1 which is understood to have cost ,l#bjj1 realised four times that amount4 ,the auction mart1 where literary property of all kinds changes hands1 possesses its slang vocabulary1 and knows alike the ,frost and the ,boom--not to mention the ,fluke4 ,in the notices which occur in the press the public sees only one side1 only the high quotations4 ,the public are of course1 as a rule1 destitute of bibliographical knowledge1 and so is the normal journalist4 ,he marches into the room after some sale1 asks for the priced catalogue1 scans the pages1 and makes notes of the highest figures1 which are as often as not misprinted by him in the organ by which he is employed4 ,he does not say that a lot which was worth ,l#bj went for ,l#b1 or that one which would usually fetch ,l#b1 brought ,l#bj by reason of some mentioned technicality1 because he does not know4 ,a man who has devoted his life to the study of books and prices is aware that there are occasions when very ordinary property realises silly prices1 and that there are others when the rarest and most valuable articles are given away4 ,sometimes1 again1 the company is not unanimous enough1 and a sovereign's worth may go for more than a sovereign1 or1 if there is perfect friendship among those present1 a first folio ,shakespeare may drop at a dozen pounds2 but then there is1 you know1 the court of appeal1 which reassesses the amount to be finally paid4 ,not invariably4 ,we have our very selves not so long since1 on a hot ,saturday afternoon1 sat at the auctioneer's table1 and made nearly a clean sweep of a library of old ,english plays1 where the maximum bid was eighteen pence1 and there was a buzz through the room when one1 no better than the rest1 was accidentally carried to #ads4 ,but to the artificial inflation of prices in our salerooms there is more than one side and one key4 ,there was not so long since an instance at ,christie's1 and a second at ,sotheby's1 where the high quotations were entirely due to the competition of a so-called interloper1 who bade1 as he thought1 on the judgment of the room1 and was signally handicapped4 ,again1 something has ere now been carried to a prodigious figure owing to an unlimited commission inadvertently given to two agents4 ,the old ,duke of ,wellington once gave ,l#aje in this way for a shilling pamphlet1 and even then the bidding was only stopped by arrangement4 ,however1 of all the miraculous surprises1 the most signal on record was one of the most recent--the ,frere sale at ,sotheby's in #ahif1 already alluded to1 where the prices realised for books in very secondary preservation set all records and precedents at thorough defiance4 ,the phenomenon1 if it could be referred to any cause1 arose from the peculiar atmosphere and surroundings2 it was a bona fide old library1 formed partly by the ,freres of ,roydon ,hall1 ,norfolk1 and partly by their relative ,sir ,john ,fenn1 editor of the ,paston ,letters1 and a rather noted antiquary of the eighteenth century4 ,it was all straight and fair1 so far as one could see2 there was no rigging1 and the competition was simply insane4 ,a portion of the ,paston ,correspondence struck us as cheap by comparison at ,l#djj2 it was that which was offered at ,christie's some time since1 and bought in at about the same figure4 ,there were one or two singular errors in the catalogue4 ,an ,elizabethan edition of ,sir ,john ,mandeville's ,travels was ascribed to #aejc and the press of ,wynkyn de ,worde1 and the ,tylney ,psalter1 belonging to the fifteenth century1 was stated in a note by a former possessor to be of the age of ,richard ,coeur de ,lion4 ,one of the most unaccountable blunders in an auctioneer's catalogue which we can call to mind was the description of a ,sarum service book as a grammatical treatise4 ,but solecisms of various kinds are periodical4 ,a ,german book is said to be printed at ,gedruckt1 and a copy of ,sir ,john ,mandeville in ,italian is entered as ,questo1 that being its compiler's frugal method of giving the title 7,questo e il libro74 ,one striking feature in the ,frere sale was that it was only a part of the library1 and that not the part which the auctioneers' representative saw at ,roydon4 ,some further instalments occurred at another saleroom a few months later2 and perhaps there is yet more to come4 ,but in a bibliographical respect the dispersion proved of interest1 as many of the items1 formerly ,sir ,john ,fenn's1 had remained imperfectly known and described2 and it was not absolutely certain that they survived4 ,an element in the modern auctions which is patent to all fairly conversant with such mysteria1 and has become one not less indispensable than normal1 is what is commonly known as the ,rig4 ,a ,rig is a sale which departs or declines from the strict line of bona fides so far as not to be precisely what the forefront of the catalogue avouches it1 and by one or two houses it is discountenanced4 ,nevertheless it exists1 and will continue from the nature of things to do so2 and we observe in the very opening decade of auctions1 in the very infancy of the system1 a trace or germ of this commencing impurity or abuse4 ,for some of the catalogues1 so far back as #afgh1 purport to register within their covers the libraries of certain noblemen or gentleman and others 7aliorumque1 in the ,latin diction then so much in favour71 and so it has been ever since4 ,when we go to the rooms and lift up our voices1 we do not always know whose property we are trying to secure2 nor1 if our own judgment is worth anything1 does it greatly signify4 ,,footnotes3 #f ,hazlitt's ,venice1 #ahfj1 iv4 #dca4 #g ,the library of ,james ,chamberlain1 sold at ,stourbridge ,fair in #afhf4 #h ,see ,catalogue of ,early ,english ,miscellanies formerly in the ,harleian ,library1 by ,w4 ,c4 ,hazlitt1 #ahfb4 #i ,see besides1 ,hazlitt's ,memoirs1 #ahif1 chaps4 vii1 viii1 ix2 and ,hazlitt's ,confessions of a ,collector1 #ahig1 p4 #aej et seq4 ,,additional ,,notes ,p4 #e4 ,of the public collections in ,england1 those of ,humphrey1 ,duke of ,gloucester1 at ,oxford1 of which very little remains1 and of ,sir ,john ,gyllarde1 ,prior of the ,calendaries' ,gild in ,bristol 7founded before #adea71 appear to be the pioneers4 ,for the latter the ,bishop of ,worcester is said to have provided1 in #adfd1 a receptacle or building2 but the collection was destroyed by fire in #adff4 ,p4 #e4 ,illuminated ,,mss4--,a great store of information is capable of being collected on the subject of the embellishing and finishing processes which ,,mss4 underwent when the scribe had done his part4 ,among the ,paston ,letters occurs a bill from ,thomas 7the7 ,limner of ,bury ,st4 ,edmunds to ,sir ,john ,howard1 afterward ,duke of ,norfolk1 in #adfg1 for illuminating several books1 and we have also one of ,antoine ,verard of ,paris1 ,enlumineur du ,roy1 in #adic for similar work executed for the ,comte d',angouleme by artists in the printer's employment4 ,p4 #g4 ,circulating ,libraries4--,there was a library of this class at ,dunfermline in #agaa and at ,edinburgh in #agbe4 ,when ,benjamin ,franklin came to ,london1 there was nothing of the kind4 ,a bookseller named ,wright established one about #agdj1 and it was kept up by his successors4 ,sion ,college was limited in its lending range to the ,london clergy4 ,p4 #i4 ,add the ,le ,stranges of ,hunstanton to the ,east ,anglian collectors4 ,p4 #i4 ,kent as a ,hunting-ground for ,books in ,old ,days4--,flockton of ,canterbury it was who once sold ,marlowe's ,dido1 #aeid1 for #bs4 ,he was a contemporary of ,william ,hutton1 the ,birmingham bookseller4 ,this may have been the very copy which formerly belonged to ,henry ,oxinden of ,barham1 near ,canterbury1 and passed in succession into the hands of ,isaac ,reed1 ,george ,steevens1 the ,duke of ,roxburghe1 ,sir ,egerton ,brydges1 and ,mr4 ,heber4 ,the price charged by ,flockton1 however1 was fairly extravagant in comparison with that given by ,john ,henderson1 the actor1 for the copy which subsequently belonged to ,j4 ,p4 ,kemble and the ,duke of ,devonshire--fourpence--probably the original published price4 ,p4 #aj4 ,bristol ,houses4--,add ,strong4 ,strong's catalogues for #ahbg-ahbh are now before me1 and describe #aj1jjj items4 ,no such stock has been kept at ,bristol since4 ,jefferies had in former days some very remarkable books on sale--,caxtons included2 and ,kerslake and ,george could shew you volumes worth your notice and money1 whoever you might be4 ,now1 alas6 you have to leave the city as empty as you entered it4 ,p4 #ah4 ,loss of ,old ,books4--,the fate of a heavy percentage of our earlier books--of the earlier books of every people--is curiously and mournfully readable in the illiterate bucolic scrawls1 doing duty for autographs and inscriptions1 which tell1 only too plainly1 how such property slowly but surely passed out of sight and existence4 ,p4 #ai4 ,old ,libraries4--,add ,fraser of ,lovat1 ,boswell of ,auchinleck1 and ,fountaine of ,narford4 ,p4 #be4 ,rolls of ,book-,collectors4--,rather say #ejjj names4 ,p4 #bi4 ,spoliation of ,libraries4--,a precious volume of early ,english tracts was not very long since offered at an auction1 which had been stolen from ,peterborough ,cathedral1 and another1 which constituted one of the chief treasures of ,sion ,college4 ,p4 #cb4 ,the bulk of the books of ,mr4 ,samuel ,sandars were left to the ,university ,library1 ,cambridge1 which has since acquired those of the late ,lord ,acton4 ,p4 #cc4 ,lincoln ,cathedral ,library4--,besides the ,honeywood books sold to ,dibdin1 the ,dean and ,chapter have suffered others to stray from their homes4 ,a notice is before me of one1 a large folio on vellum1 containing tracts of a theological complexion1 chiefly by an ,oxford doctor1 ,robert of ,leicester1 which was presented1 as a coeval inscription apprises us1 by ,thomas ,driffield1 formerly ,chancellor of the ,diocese1 in #adbb to the new library of the cathedral4 ,p4 #cd4 ,provincial ,libraries4--,of the books at ,bamborough ,castle1 a catalogue was printed at ,durham in #agii4 ,some of the books at ,york ,minster appear to have been gifts from ,archbishop ,mathews4 ,at ,colchester they are fortunate in possessing the library of ,archbishop ,harsnet4 ,p4 #ce4 ,marlowe's ,edward ,,ii41 #aeid4--,possibly obtained by the ,landgraf of ,hesse during his visit to ,london in #afaa4 ,this is mentioned by me in my ,shakespear ,monograph1 #aijc4 ,p4 #cg4 ,private ,libraries4--,in the case of private collections1 we have to distinguish between those of an ancestral character1 insensibly accumulated from generation to generation without any fixed or preconcerted plan1 and such as have been formed by or for wealthy individuals in the course of a single life1 if not of a few years1 on some general principle1 with or without an eye to cost4 ,under either of these conditions the motive is usually personal1 and the ultimate transfer in some instances to a public institution an accident or afterthought4 ,p4 #ch4 ,harleian ,library4--,the taste of the ,harley family for books dated from the time of ,charles ,i4 ,sir ,robert ,harley1 of ,brampton ,castle1 is credited with the possession of an extraordinary library of manuscript and printed books1 which had been collected from one descent to another4 ,the house was besieged and burned in #afdc1 and these literary and bibliographical treasures probably perished with it4 ,but his grandson1 the first ,earl of ,oxford1 restored the library2 and we all know that the second earl1 who survived till #agda1 elevated it to the rank of the first private collection in ,england1 while he unconsciously sacrificed it to the incidence of a languid and falling market4 ,p4 #db4 ,mr4 ,william ,henry ,miller of ,craigentinny was originally a solicitor in ,edinburgh4 ,p4 #fe4 ,books of ,emblems4--,besides those described is the translation executed by ,thomas ,combe1 and licensed in #aeic1 of the ,theatre des ,bons ,engins of ,guillaume de la ,perriere1 of which no perfect copy of any edition had been seen till the writer met with one of #afad among the ,burton-,constable books4 ,p4 #ajc4 ,books ,appreciable on ,special ,grounds4--,among these are--,pennant's ,tour in ,scotland1 #agfi1 and ,white's ,selborne1 #aghe4 ,everybody is aware that there are better works on ,scotland than ,pennant's1 and better accounts of birds1 those of ,selborne included1 than ,white's4 ,but we desire the two heirlooms1 as their authors left them1 pure and simple4 ,we prefer not to have to disentangle the two pieces of eighteenth century workmanship from the editorial and artistic improvements which have overlaid them4 ,a much-edited writer becomes a partner in a limited company without a vote4 ,his pages are converted by degrees into an arena where others commend him above his deserts1 or what might have been his wishes1 while here and there he finds a commentator1 whose aim is to convince you how superior a job he would have made of it had it been left to him4 ,p4 #aji4 ,translations4--,it is remarkable that ,aulus ,gellius makes the same complaint as is embodied in the text1 about the lame versions of ,latin writers from the ,greek4 ,p4 #aag4 ,howell's ,new ,sonnets and ,pretty ,pamphlets4--,the ,huth fragment seems as if it would complete the unique1 but imperfect1 ,capell copy4 ,p4 #aai4 ,a ,hundred ,merry ,tales4--,besides the ,huth mutilated copy and the ,goettingen complete one 7of #aebf7 there is a fragment at the ,birthplace ,museum1 ,stratford4 ,i saw it there1 but did not note to what impression it belonged4 ,p4 #abb4 ,four ,sons of ,aymon1 #aejd4--;,a fine copy is offered at #aes4 in a catalogue about #agfj4 ,of the ,famous history of the vertuous and godly woman ,judith1 #aefe1 all that is so far discoverable is that it is a translation in ,english metre by ,edward ,jenynges4 ,a title-page1 preserved among ,ames's collections at the ,british ,museum1 is copied by me in ,bibl4 ,coll41 #aijc1 pp4 #baj-aa4 ,p4 #abe4 ,destruction of ,books4--,untold numbers of volumes have also been sacrificed to the accumulation of material on special lines4 ,tons of the ,annual ,register1 ,gentleman's ,magazine1 ,notes and ,queries1 and the like1 have been lost1 if it be a loss1 in this way4 ,a few pages1 maybe1 are all that survive of a book1 and when the library of the specialist is sold1 the rest shares the same fate at the hands of an unsympathetic purchaser4 ,p4 #abf4 ,unique copies4--,the play of ,orestes1 #aefg1 came to light at ,plymouth about forty years ago with an equally unique issue of one of ,drayton's pieces4 ,of such things the present writer has met in the course of a lengthened career with treasures which would make a small library1 and has beheld no duplicates4 ,p4 #abh4 ,fragments4--,the ,fragment has within the last twenty or thirty years come into surprising evidence1 and in my latest instalment of ,bibliographical ,notes1 #aijc1 ,i have been enabled to supply numerous deficiencies in existing records even of modern date from a variety of sources not ostensibly connected with ,bagford1 ,fenn1 or any other culprit of this type1 shewing that the process of disappearance was in universal operation1 and that mere chance arrested it here and there just in the nick of time4 ,p4 #abh4 ,capital ,books4--,it is perhaps not unfair to add that although ,milton's ,poems1 #afde1 is not a rare book1 it is eminently so in an irreproachable state1 to say nothing of such a copy as the ,bodleian one presented by the poet himself1 which one of the earlier officials1 a ,dr4 ,hudson1 thought might be thrown away without detriment to the library4 ,p4 #aga4 ,early ,prices of ,binding4--,the books or pamphlets issued at one penny1 that is1 a silver penny of the day1 were usually stitched or sewn4 ,the edition of the ,book of ,common ,prayer1 #aeeb1 was sold1 bound in parchment1 at #cs4 #d;d41 and in leather1 paper boards1 or clasps1 at #ds4 ,but in the next impression1 it being in contemplation to suppress certain matter1 the price was to be reduced in proportion4 ,p4 #ahc4 ,there has been recently added to ,cohen's work a companion one on the ,french illustrated literature of the nineteenth century4 ,books like ,bewick's ,birds and ,quadrupeds1 and indeed all works of the modern side in request1 are best liked in the original boards with labels inviolate4 ,p4 #aia4 ,cloister ,life of ,charles ,v4--,the ,keir illustrated copy was long at ,leighton's in ,brewer ,street1 while the late ,sir ,w4 ,stirling-,maxwell was known as ,mr4 ,stirling4 ,p4 #aih4 ,henry ,,viii41 ,prayers1 #aedd4--,this exists in later impressions in ,english1 and of the date #aedd in ,latin4 ,p4 #bjj4 ,special ,copies4--,to the list given may be added the extraordinary volume of tracts formerly in the possession of ,edmund ,spenser and ,gabriel ,harvey1 a ,,ms4 note in which throws an entirely new light on the earlier life of ,spenser1 as first pointed out by me after my purchase of the book at an auction1 where its importance was overlooked4 ,p4 #bje4 ,shakespear's ,copy of ,florio's ,montaigne1 #afjc4--;,in my ,monograph on ,shakespear1 #aijc1 ,i have adduced new evidence in support of the authenticity of this and other signatures of the poet4 ,p4 #bjf4 ,books with ,,mss4 ,notes4--,there is yet another category of remains among the older literature of all countries1 and it is that1 in which an acknowledged judge or master of a subject1 though himself perhaps a person of no peculiar celebrity1 has rendered a copy of some book the medium for preserving for future use matter overlooked by the author or editor or correcting serious errors1 and the lapse of time exercises its influence in the appreciation of such adversaria4 ,a living scholar may be capable of going far beyond his predecessors in enriching margins and flyleaves2 but there is the caveat that he is our contemporary4 ,the privilege of the grave appertains to the man who laid down his pen ever so long ago4 ,we may know much more than ,langbaine or ,oldys about the drama1 and than ,johnson or ,malone about ,shakespear2 yet1 depend upon it1 their notes are more wanted than ours4 ,p4 #bjh4 ,autographs in ,books4--,in his copy of ,slatyer's ,palaealbion1 #afba1 the poet ,earl of ,westmorland wrote on a flyleaf3 ,solus ,deus ,protector ,meus4 ,w4 ,ex dono ,danielis ,beswitch servi mei fidelis1 #afed4 ,among his books ,robespierre possessed a ,,ms4 ,account of the ,glorious ,achievements of ,louis ,,xiv4 with illustrative drawings1 and did it the honour of attaching his autograph--an operation seldom so harmless4 ,p4 #bah4 ,books on ,vellum4--,the ,horae of the ,virgin in the ancient impressions on vellum are commoner than those on paper1 though1 as the late ,mr4 ,huth quietly observed to me1 the vellum copies may be more desirable4 ,the material1 on which the ,gwynn and ,methuen copy of ,helyas1 #aeab1 was printed1 was unusually coarse1 and this criticism applies to other early ,english books taken off on that substance4 ,they are a powerful contrast to the ,italian productions of the same class4 ,p4 #bcb4 ,a good deal of information has gradually accumulated respecting the ,venetian school of binding2 but undoubted examples of early date remain singularly scarce4 ,see my ,venetian ,republic1 #aijj1 ii4 #ffc1 #gbh4 ,the older school of ,french binding resembled that of the finer porcelain of ,chantilly and ,sevres1 where on a choice piece of the ,louis ,,xv4 period are found1 side by side1 the separate marks of maker1 painter1 and gilder4 ,p4 #bdd-e4 ,english ,binders4 ,add3-- ,edmond ,richardson of ,scalding ,alley4 ,matthews4 7,binder of the ,hibbert1 ,wilkes1 ,gardner1 and ,huth copy of ,shakespear1 #afbc47 ,hayday4 7,worked for ,w4 ,pickering47 ,leighton4 ,j4 ,j4 ,leighton4 7,this firm still does business in ,brewer ,street47 ,douglas ,cockerell4 ,j4 ,larkins4 ,miss ,prideaux4 ,sir ,edward ,sullivan4 ,r4 ,montague 7#agcj-dj71 bookseller1 publisher1 and binder1 had a place of business in #agcb at the corner of ,great ,queen ,street1 ,drury ,lane1 and in #agdj in ,great ,wyld ,street4 ,he undertook to gild and letter books at his customers' own houses4 ,john ,bancks of ,sunning was his journeyman4 ,it was the late ,mr4 ,huth who expressed to me the opinion that ,bedford's brown calf should have been left to acquire a natural tone4 ,p4 #bdh4 ,books with ,painted and ,goffered ,edges4--,i have seen volumes belonging to the first quarter of the sixteenth century with the leaves goffered and ornamentally inscribed2 but the painted edge1 as we know it1 was then already in existence in ,italy1 and the most eminent artists did not disdain to execute this kind of embellishment4 ,one family at ,belluno long possessed numerous examples enriched by the hand of ,cesare ,vecellio4 ,see my ,venetian ,republic1 #aijj1 ii4 #gbh4 ,the major part of a sale at ,sotheby's a year or so ago consisted of books treated on this principle by the owner2 and the commercial result was not joyous4 ,p4 #bec4 ,french and other ,binders4 ,add3-- ,brodel ,aine et fils4 ,bisiques4 7,famous for his ,turkey leather47 ,thouvenin4 ,l4 ,muller4 7,thouvenin's successor47 ,the house of ,marius-,michel combined binding and gilding4 ,among the ,rothschild ,,mss41 now in the ,british ,museum1 is a ,boccaccio bound by ,thomas ,berthelet before #aeeb for the ,protector ,somerset4 ,it is in gilt calf with the motto3 ,foy povr ,debvoir4 ,p4 #bfc4 ,the catalogue of the ,early ,english ,books in the ,british ,museum was mainly the work of ,mr4 ,eccles1 a late member of the staff4 ,a new1 enlarged1 and much improved edition by ,mr4 ,pollard is in progress4 ,p4 #bga4 ,that fairly familiar term1 ,unique1 has been very badly entreated4 ,a late eminent auctioneer1 who was not shy of using it1 tried to bring into vogue the variant form1 ,uni ,que4 ,p4 #bgd4 ,huth ,catalogue4--,my copy is full of corrections1 the text abounding with errors1 some of a very serious character4 ,the late ,mr4 ,f4 ,s4 ,ellis was the responsible editor1 and omitted at his discretion much interesting matter4 ,p4 #bge4 ,bibliographical ,works of ,reference4--,one of the best is ,dickson and ,edmond's ,annals of ,scotish ,printing1 #ahij4 ,the ,rylands ,catalogue proved a fiasco4 ,p4 #bih4 ,of course the notification in the press of a signally high price at an auction for a really important lot overwhelms the vendors with inquiries and offers--offers of similar treasures1 which are extremely the reverse4 ,p4 #cjg4 ,mr4 ,robert ,hoe acquired the bulk or whole of ,mr4 ,pope's books after his death1 including the ,caxton ,arthur1 #adhe1 and this gentleman continues to buy some of the most important items which occur for sale in ,london4 ,after all said1 much as we at home here in ,britain need to be better instructed in the art of ,book-,collecting1 our ,american cousins are still farther from having completed their education in this way--a few have not commenced it1 ,i fancy4 ,it is not generally realised in ,england that the ,american collector of loftier range is a type entirely distinct from the normal book-collector1 whose limit is quickly reached4 ,those who buy books in the ,united ,states are by no means all ,hoes and ,morgans4 ,p4 #caa4 ,early ,catalogues of old ,plays4--,i should have added the so often quoted one annexed to the ,old ,law1 #afef4 ,p4 #cad4 ,inch of ,candle4--,this practice survived down to modern times both in ,france and ,england in the disposal or transfer of real property4 ,p4 #cae4 ,lazarus ,seaman4--,this gentleman was a member of the ,assembly of ,divines1 and at one time chaplain to the ,duke of ,northumberland4 ,he held the living of ,all ,hallows1 ,bread ,street1 and became ,master of ,peterhouse1 ,cambridge4 ,but he lost his clerical preferment at the ,restoration1 and chiefly resided in his later days in ,warwick ,lane1 ,london1 where he died in #afge4 ,p4 #cag4 ,book ,auctions4--,it is at present1 ,i believe1 at the discretion of the auctioneer to postpone a sale1 when the company is too small to promise a satisfactory result1 yet ,i have known one carried out when not more than two influential bidders were present4 ,in a catalogue of #afha1 however1 there is a proviso that at least twenty gentlemen must attend4 ,p4 #cbc4 ,it is a powerful exemplification of the contrast between old times and ours1 that ,mr4 ,pierpont ,morgan is credited with having acquired forty ,caxtons at one swoop4 ,,errata#aj ,p4 #e1 l4 #h1 for depends read depend4 ,p4 #g1 l4 #c1 for ,warm ,well read ,warmwell4 ,p4 #i1 l4 #h from foot1 for ,oxendens read ,oxindens4 ,p4 #ca1 l4 #h1 read ,dr4 ,williams's ,library1 ,gordon ,square4 ,p4 #ce1 l4 #d from foot1 read ,the late ,mr4 ,quaritch narrated4 ,p4 #dj1 l4 #ad1 read the second ,earl of ,oxford4 ,p4 #ed1 l4 #e from foot1 read such as the ,dyce4 ,p4 #ed1 l4 #f1 read ,auchinleck 7,boswell74 ,p4 #ajg1 l4 #bb1 read ,st4 ,john's 7,j4 ,a474 ,p4 #ajg1 l4 #bf1 read ---- 7,bayle7 ,montaigne the ,essayist4 ,p4 #aad1 l4 #d from foot1 read ,malden4 ,p4 #abj1 l4 #c1 read ,oxinden4 ,p4 #ade1 l4 #c1 read eighteenth century4 ,p4 #aeb1 l4 #ae1 read which falls4 ,p4 #aee1 l4 #c from foot1 read ,makellar4 ,p4 #aef1 l4 #b from foot1 read sixteenth and seventeenth centuries4 ,p4 #afj1 l4 #ab1 read ,stevens4 ,p4 #afh1 l4 #bj1 read twentieth century has well opened4 ,p4 #ahj1 bis1 read ,basiliologia4 ,p4 #aha1 l4 #d from foot1 read we may place4 ,p4 #baj1 l4 #ad1 read ,dere4 ,p4 #bba1 l4 #b from foot1 read ,concubranus4 ,p4 #bde1 l4 #aa1 read ,charles ,lewis the younger4 ,p4 #bea1 l4 #c1 read genere4 ,p4 #bfb1 l4 #ac1 read #ahfg-aijc4 ,p4 #bgg1 l4 #ba1 read ,inglis copy4 ,p4 #bhc1 l4 #bj1 read last century4 ,p4 #big1 l4 #e1 read the right one4 ,p4 #cjj1 l4 #c1 read ,watson1 ,barnfield4 ,p4 #cjc1 l4 #ba1 read descended a little4 ,p4 #cbb1 l4 #d from foot1 read ,nichols's ,anecdotes4 ,p4 #cbc1 last line1 read ,w4 ,c4 ,hazlitt4 ,p4 #cbe1 l4 #f1 read priced copy4 ,p4 #cbf1 l4 #d1 read to describe4 ,p4 #cbf1 l4 #ab1 read books of a gentleman4 ,p4 #ccb1 l4 #aj from foot1 read eighteenth century4 ,p4 #ccc1 l4 #e from foot1 read bona fides4 ,,footnotes3 #aj ,owing to circumstances for which neither the writer nor the printers are responsible1 some sheets were worked1 before the corrections had been carried out4 ,,index ,,acton1 ,,lord1 #eg-eh ,adam ,bel1 #aba ,addington1 ,s41 #de ,advice in the formation of a catalogue1 #bgg ,advice in the formation of a library1 #bge-bgf ,advice to collectors1 #bee-bef1 #bhb ,aldenham1 ,lord 7,h4 ,h4 ,gibbs71 #ef-eg1 #eh ,alexander de ,villa ,dei 7,ville ,dieu71 #bag ,alleyn1 ,edward1 #cb ,althorp ,library1 #dh ,amateur binding1 #bdi-bej1 #cdj ,american laws1 bibliography of1 #bgi ,american libraries1 #cd1 #cf1 #cda ,american literature1 #gb-gc ,american market1 #ac1 #cf1 #gj-gb1 #ade1 #aea1 #aeh-afj1 #bac1 #beg1 #cjd-cjg ,american reprints of ,english books1 #aeh ,amherst1 ,hon4 ,alicia1 #be ,anathema against book-thieves1 #cj ,ancient bindings1 #bji-baj ,anglo-,american literature1 #aeh ,anglo-,french collectors1 #bg1 #agc1 #aib-aid ,anne1 ,queen1 #ci ,arthur1 ,romance of1 printed by ,caxton1 #cja1 #cje ,arundel ,books and ,,mss41 #d1 #ee ,ashburnham ,library1 #e1 #dg1 #di-ea1 #bge1 #cbh1 #ccj ,ashburton1 ,lord1 #bg ,aubrey1 ,john1 #ai ,auctions1 #ada-adb1 #caj et seqq41 #e1 #cbc1 #cdb ,auctions1 catalogues of1 #cah1 #ccb ,auctions1 provincial1 #cae ,aulus ,gellius1 #ajd1 #ccg ,autographs in books1 #aie et seqq4 ,autographs in ,french books1 #baj-baa ,aymon1 ,four ,sons of1 #cch ,,bagford1 ,,john1 #bd1 #abb1 #cbb ,baker1 ,thomas1 #bba ,ballads1 #de1 #gh ,bamborough ,castle1 #ccf ,barclay's ,ship of ,fools1 #bbb ,bargains1 #bj1 #bhg ,barnard1 ,sir ,f41 #ch ,barretts of ,lee1 #i ,bay ,psalm ,book1 #aei ,bayle's ,dictionary1 #id ,beckford1 ,w41 #ef1 #bjh-bji ,bedford ,missal1 #bdh ,bewick1 ,w41 #ahd ,bibles1 #fh-fi1 #aii1 #bjd1 #bbc1 #bii-cja1 #cjd ,biblioclasts1 #abc-abd ,bibliomania1 #ai-bj ,bibliotheque ,nationale at ,paris1 #bi1 #ch ,biddings1 low1 #cbd-cbe ,binding1 #bbj et seqq41 #cch1 #cdj ,blanchardine and ,eglantine1 #ce ,blenheim ,palace library1 #dc ,blount's ,jocular ,tenures1 #bae ,bolingbroke1 ,lord1 #bje ,bolton ,abbey1 ,yorkshire1 #eg ,book of ,st4 ,albans1 #cjc ,book-,clubs1 #g1 #beg1 #bhj ,book-collecting centres 7old71 #cc ,book-lovers1 #ae-ag1 #hh1 #id ,book-market 7#ahaj-ahgj71 #df ,book-recipients1 #ij ,book trade1 #bic ,books of reference1 #bfb-bfc ,books1 which are books1 #id-ajh ,bradshaw1 ,henry1 #eb1 #aeh ,breton1 ,nicholas1 #hj1 #adi-aea ,bridgewater library1 #ef1 #eh1 #bgb ,bright1 ,b4 ,h41 #e1 #dg ,bristol1 #cce ,bristol booksellers1 #aj1 #ccf ,british ,museum1 #d1 #ca1 #db1 #ec1 #aba1 #bfc1 #bgj1 #cda ,britton1 ,thomas1 #cbj ,britwell ,library1 #be-bf1 #da-dc1 #bgg ,brooke1 ,thomas1 #bjc ,brown1 ,tom1 #caf ,brydges1 ,sir ,egerton1 #cce ,bunburys of ,bury1 #i ,burneys1 the1 #bjh ,burns1 ,r41 #cje ,bury1 #h-i1 #cce ,bute1 ,earls and ,marquises of1 #ef ,,caesar1 ,sir ,,julius1 #cbc ,calendaries' ,gild at ,bristol1 #cce ,cambridge1 #aj-aa1 #cj-cc1 #fe1 #gg1 #bja1 #bge1 #caf1 #ccf ,capell's ,shakespeariana1 #bge ,capital books1 #bif1 #cch ,carew ,,mss41 #e ,carleton1 ,sir ,dudley1 #aea ,catalogues of libraries1 #df1 #eg-eh1 #caj ,caveat ,emptor1 #bhb ,cavendish1 ,henry1 #eg ,caxton1 ,w41 #ba1 #bd1 #gg1 #bja1 #bcb1 #cja1 #cbh ,cervantes1 #aac ,chained books1 #cd ,chamberlain1 ,john1 #aej ,changes of taste1 #ace1 #aci ,chap-books1 #gf ,characters1 books of1 #fe ,chaucer's ,canterbury ,tales1 printed by ,caxton1 #e1 #cja1 #cjf ,cheap literature1 #aaa ,chetham1 ,humphrey1 #cc1 #bje ,church libraries1 #cc ,circulating libraries1 #f-g1 #cce ,city ,companies1 #bjj1 #bjd ,civil ,war tracts1 #fe ,classification of libraries1 #ei-ia ,colchester1 #ccf ,coleridge1 ,s4 ,t41 #ae1 #bjg ,collections1 ,english1 #ed ,collectors of ,,mss41 #d-e ,collier1 ,john ,payne1 #da1 #eg1 #bgj ,collins1 ,william1 #h ,colonial 7,north ,american7 literature1 #aeh-afj ,combe1 ,thomas1 #ccg ,commission system1 #cjg-cji ,concubranus1 #bba1 #cdc ,continental libraries1 #cd ,cooper1 ,william1 #cai ,copper-plates1 #ahb ,copyright1 #agf ,correction of the press1 #agg ,corser1 ,rev4 ,thomas1 #ad1 #dg1 #bgc ,cotton1 ,sir ,robert1 #d ,counterfeit bindings1 #bef ,crawford1 ,earl of1 #bgd ,crichton1 ,james1 #fh ,cuisinier ,francois1 #bb ,cunliffe1 ,henry1 #dg ,currer1 ,miss ,richardson1 #be1 #dg-dh ,,danby1 ,,lord ,,treasurer1 #bje ,daniel1 ,george1 #bj1 #db1 #de-dg1 #bgb ,daniel1 ,samuel1 #bj1 #bh1 #de-dg ,davenant1 ,sir ,w41 #bae ,davies1 ,sir ,thomas1 #bjg ,day1 ,stephen1 printer at ,cambridge 7,n4,e471 #aei ,dedications1 #bad-bae ,d',eon1 ,chevalier1 #ba-bd ,derings of ,surrenden1 #e ,destruction of books1 #ah1 #abe1 #cch ,devonshire1 ,duke of1 #da1 #eg ,diane de ,poitiers bindings1 #bca ,dickens1 ,charles1 #g ,dilettanti1 #hb ,doran1 ,dr41 #hi ,dorat1 #ahg-ahh ,drayton1 ,michael1 #bjb1 #bje1 #cch ,driffield1 ,thomas1 #ccf ,dryden1 ,john1 #bja-bjb ,dulwich ,college1 #cb ,dunfermline1 #cce ,dunton1 ,john1 #g1 #cai ,durham and ,winchester bindings1 #bbb ,dyce1 ,rev4 ,a41 #dj1 #ed1 #gi ,,earle1 ,mrs41 #bd ,earliest productions of the press1 #ah ,early ,english literature1 #add et seqq4 ,east ,anglia1 #i1 #cce-ccf ,edge-painting1 #bdh ,edinburgh1 #cce ,edition de ,luxe1 #aia ,edwards of ,halifax1 #bdd1 #bdh ,elements of interest in books1 #bif ,elizabeth's 7,queen7 ,prayer ,book1 #bdi ,elizabethan literature1 #adc et seqq4 ,ellenbog1 ,udalric1 #bbf ,elliott's ,brewery at ,pimlico1 #db ,emblems1 ,books of1 #fd-fe1 #ccg ,english and foreign presses1 #fg-fh1 #aec ,english binders1 #bja1 #bjh1 #bbj et seqq41 #bdb1 et seqq41 #cdj ,english books abroad1 #ce ,english collectors1 #d-e1 #h-i1 #aa1 #ad-af1 #ed-eh ,english lists of1 #bdd1 #bdf ,english presses1 #aec-aed ,english series1 #adi ,enscheden collection at ,haarlem1 #ce ,ephemeral schools of writers1 #agc ,esprit in binding1 #bbh ,essex1 ,robert ,devereux1 ,earl of1 #bje ,evelyn1 ,john1 #i1 #cab1 #cae ,eves1 the two1 #bea ,,fanshawe1 ,sir ,r41 #bjb ,farrer of ,little ,gidding1 #bdg ,fenn1 ,sir ,john1 #i1 #abc1 #aea1 #bie1 #ccb ,fictitious imprints1 #aec-aed ,first editions1 #agd-agf1 #agh ,fitz,gerald1 ,edward1 #hh ,flockton1 bookseller at ,canterbury1 #cce ,florio1 ,john1 #bjb1 #bje1 #bad1 #cci ,foljambe1 ,sir ,f41 #bjb ,foreign liveries for ,english books1 #bdi ,foreign presses for the same1 #aec ,forster1 ,john1 #ed1 #fe ,fountaine ,collection1 #aif1 #ccf ,four ,sons of ,aymon1 #abb1 #cch ,fragments of books1 #aae-aai1 #abb1 #cch ,franklin1 ,benjamin1 #cce ,franks1 ,sir ,wollaston1 #bad ,fraser of ,lovat1 #ccf ,free libraries1 #g1 #afa-afc ,french binders1 #bcd1 #bcf1 #bch1 #bea1 et seqq41 #cda ,french list of1 #beb ,french books1 #ahf-ahg1 #aib-aid ,french collectors1 #bb1 #aib-aid ,french taste in collecting1 #cf ,french works of reference1 #bgh ,frere sale1 #bie1 #ccb ,freres1 ,the1 #i ,,garlands1 #gg ,george ,,iii41 #dj ,gilding of books1 #bcd ,goffering1 #cdj ,gold binding1 #bad ,grenville1 ,thomas1 #ae1 #df1 #bga ,grolier bindings1 #bbf1 #bcj-bca ,grolier ,club1 #beg ,guarini1 ,b41 #bjc ,,hailstone1 ,,edward1 #ha ,ham ,house1 #ee ,hanmer1 ,sir ,thomas1 #hj ,hanmers of ,mildenhall1 #i ,hardwicke ,,mss41 #d ,harleian ,library1 #d1 #cg-ch1 #dj1 #ee1 #cab1 #cah1 #cba-cbb1 #ccg ,harleian ,miscellany1 #gi ,harvey1 ,gabriel1 #bja ,hasta1 #cab-cac ,hawes1 ,francis1 #cac ,hazlitt1 ,w41 #hj1 #aeh1 #afe ,hearne1 ,thomas1 #ba1 #ace1 #bba ,heber1 ,richard1 #d-e1 #ch1 #dj-dc1 #df1 #ha1 #bfg1 #bfi1 #bgj-bga1 #cba1 #cce ,helyas1 #aeab1 #cdj ,henri ,deux binding1 #bca ,henrietta ,maria1 #bad ,henry ,,viii41 #aif1 #aih1 #cci ,heriot1 ,george1 #bcd ,herveys of ,ickworth1 #i ,hesse1 ,landgraf of1 #ccf ,highest prices realised for books1 #bii-cjd ,hill1 ,thomas1 #bfh ,hoe1 ,robert1 #cda-cdb ,hogarth1 #aha ,honeywood bequest to ,lincoln1 #cc1 #ccf ,horae1 #fc1 #aii1 #baj1 #cci ,howard1 ,sir ,john1 first ,duke of ,norfolk1 #cce ,howell1 ,thomas1 #ccg ,humphrey1 ,duke of ,gloucester1 #cce ,hundred ,merry ,tales1 #aebf1 #ce1 #cch ,hunt1 ,leigh1 #ci1 #hj1 #aeh1 #afe ,huth1 ,henry1 #f1 #ae1 #ba1 #be1 #da-df1 #fd1 #bgd1 #cda ,hutton1 ,w41 #cce ,,illuminated ,,mss41 #cce ,illustrated ,books1 #agh et seqq41 #bgh1 #cci ,illustrated copies1 #ahi-aia ,imitatio ,christi1 #fd1 #aaa ,imperfect books1 #acd ,incanto1 #cac ,inch of candle1 #cad1 #cda ,inglis library1 #ed1 #ef ,inns of ,court1 #aa ,irish collectors1 #aeh ,irish presses1 #aeg ,irish series1 #aef-aeh ,,jenynges1 ,,edward1 #cch ,jermyn1 ,henry1 #bae ,johnson1 ,dr41 #ch1 #ee1 #ajc1 #cci ,johnsons of ,spalding1 #ai1 #ea-ec ,jolley1 ,thomas1 #ha ,jonson1 ,benjamin1 #bjb ,josephine1 the ,empress1 #baa ,jubinal1 ,achille1 #bi ,judith1 ,history of1 #aefe1 #cch ,,keir ,,library1 #aia ,kentish collectors1 #i ,killigrew1 ,t41 #bje ,kinloss ,abbey1 #bjd ,kirkman1 ,f41 #caa ,knight1 ,charles1 #g ,kressen1 ,anton1 of ,nuernberg1 #baj ,,laing1 ,,david1 #aa ,lamb1 ,charles1 #f1 #ae1 #hh1 #aci1 #aeh1 #bjg1 #bji1 #bdj ,lambeth ,library1 #e ,lambton1 ,henry1 #bjb ,langbaine1 ,gerard1 #cci ,langland1 ,andrew1 #bjd ,laycock1 ,w41 #gi ,lee-,warlys1 the1 #i ,leigh1 ,george1 auctioneer1 #bd1 #bjh ,le ,houx1 ,jean1 #aab-aac ,le ,neve1 ,p41 #e ,le ,stranges of ,hunstanton1 #cce ,levant morocco1 #bbe1 #bej ,libraries1 ,cathedral1 #cc ,libraries1 ,college1 #ca ,libraries1 ,foreign1 #cd ,libraries1 ,national1 #ca ,libraries1 ,provincial1 #ccf ,libraries compared1 #ae-ag1 #ch ,lichfield1 ,william1 #aba ,limited market for rarer books1 #ach ,lincoln ,cathedral1 #cc1 #ccf ,lincoln ,nosegay1 #bfi ,lincolnshire1 two give-away sales in1 #acc ,little ,gidding bindings1 #bdg ,liturgies1 #fc1 #fh ,locker-,lampson1 ,f41 #de1 #eh ,longleat library1 #ef ,lost books1 #abj-abh1 #acj1 #acc ,louis ,,xv41 #bcj ,louis ,,xvi41 #baa ,lounging ,books of a ,gentleman1 #aghh1 #cbf ,lovelace's ,lucasta1 #abi ,luttrell1 ,narcissus1 #ba1 #gg ,lydgate's ,troy-,book1 #ce-cf ,lyonnese calf1 #bbe1 #bdi ,,macaulay1 ,,lord1 #f ,m',culloch1 ,j4 ,r41 #c-d ,maidment1 ,james1 #aa ,maioli bindings1 #bca ,maitland1 ,lord1 #cab ,malone1 ,edmond1 #ba1 #cci ,manesse ,liderbuch1 #cjd ,manuscript ,notes 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