The Project Gutenberg eBook of Bibliomania; or Book-Madness, by Thomas Frognall Dibdin This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Bibliomania; or Book-Madness A Bibliographical Romance Author: Thomas Frognall Dibdin Release Date: April 8, 2009 [eBook #28540] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIBLIOMANIA; OR BOOK-MADNESS*** E-text prepared by Suzanne Lybarger, Brian Janes, Linda Cantoni, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 28540-h.htm or 28540-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/8/5/4/28540/28540-h/28540-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/8/5/4/28540/28540-h.zip) Transcriber's Note: Thomas Frognall Dibdin's _Bibliomania_ was originally published in 1809 and was re-issued in several editions, including one published by Chatto & Windus in 1876. This e-book was prepared from a reprint of the 1876 edition, published by Thoemmes Press and Kinokuniya Company Ltd. in 1997. Where the reprint was unclear, the transcriber consulted a copy of the actual 1876 edition. Footnotes The original contains numerous footnotes, denoted by numbers prior to Part I, and by symbols in the remainder of the book. All of the footnotes are consecutively numbered in this e-book; footnotes within footnotes are lettered. Some of the footnotes contain lengthy book catalogues with descriptions and prices. For ease of reading, in this e-book these catalogues have been formatted as lists rather than tables. Text that in the original was rendered in blackletter is enclosed between equal signs (=bold face=). Letters with macrons are enclosed in brackets and preceded by an equal sign, e.g. [=a]. Spelling and typographical errors are retained as they appear in the original, with a [Transcriber's Note] containing the correct spelling. Minor obvious punctuation and font errors have been corrected without note. Inconsistent diacriticals and hyphenation have been retained as they appear in the original. There are frequent inconsistencies in the spelling of certain proper names. These have been retained as they appear in the original, for example: Bibliothèque/Bibliothéque Boccaccio/Bocaccio/Boccacio De Foe/Defoe Français/François Loménie/Lomenie Montfauçon/Montfaucon Roxburgh/Roxburghe Shakspeare/Shakespeare Spenser/Spencer Tewrdannckhs/Tewrdranckhs/Teurdanckhs (and other variations) Vallière/Valliere BIBLIOMANIA. [Illustration] _Libri quosdam ad Scientiam, quosdam AD INSANIAM, deduxêre._ GEYLER: Navis Stultifera: sign. B. iiij. rev. BIBLIOMANIA; OR =Book-Madness;= A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ROMANCE. ILLUSTRATED WITH CUTS. BY THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN, D.D. =New and improved Edition,= TO WHICH ARE ADDED PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS, AND A SUPPLEMENT INCLUDING A KEY TO THE ASSUMED CHARACTERS IN THE DRAMA. [Illustration: _Engraved by S. Freeman._] =London:= Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly. MDCCCLXXVI. [Illustration: T.F. DIBDIN, D.D. _Engraved by James Thomson from the Original Painting by T. Phillips, Esqr. R.A._ Published by the Proprietors (for the New Edition) of the Rev. Dr. Dibdins Bibliomania 1840.] [Illustration] TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF POWIS, PRESIDENT OF =The Roxburgh Club,= THIS NEW EDITION OF BIBLIOMANIA IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. [Illustration] ADVERTISEMENT. _The public may not be altogether unprepared for the re-appearance of the BIBLIOMANIA in a more attractive garb than heretofore;--and, in consequence, more in uniformity with the previous publications of the Author._ _More than thirty years have elapsed since the last edition; an edition, which has become so scarce that there seemed to be no reasonable objection why the possessors of the_ other _works of the Author should be deprived of an opportunity of adding the_ present _to the number: and although this re-impression may, on first glance, appear something like a violation of contract with the public, yet, when the length of time which has elapsed, and the smallness of the price of the preceding impression, be considered, there does not appear to be any very serious obstacle to the present republication; the more so, as the number of copies is limited to five hundred._ _Another consideration deeply impressed itself upon the mind of the Author. The course of thirty years has necessarily brought changes and alterations amongst "men and things." The dart of death has been so busy during this period that, of the Bibliomaniacs so plentifully recorded in the previous work, scarcely_ three,_--including the Author--have survived. This has furnished a monitory theme for the APPENDIX; which, to the friends both of the dead and the living, cannot be perused without sympathising emotions--_ _"A sigh the absent claim, the DEAD a tear."_ _The changes and alterations in "things,"--that is to say in the_ =Bibliomania= _itself--have been equally capricious and unaccountable: our countrymen being, in_ these _days, to the full as fond of novelty and variety as in those of Henry the Eighth. Dr. Board, who wrote his_ Introduction of Knowledge _in the year 1542, and dedicated it to the Princess Mary, thus observes of our countrymen:_ _I am an Englishman, and naked do I stand here, Musing in my mind what raiment I shall wear; For now I will wear_ this, _and now I will wear_ that, _Now I will wear--I cannot tell what._ _This highly curious and illustrative work was reprinted, with all its wood-cut embellishments, by Mr. Upcott. A copy of the original and most scarce edition is among the Selden books in the Bodleian library, and in the Chetham Collection at Manchester. See the_ Typographical Antiquities, _vol._ iii. _p._ 158-60. _But I apprehend the general apathy of Bibliomaniacs to be in a great measure attributable to the vast influx of BOOKS, of every description, from the Continent--owing to the long continuance of peace; and yet, in the appearance of what are called_ English Rarities, _the market seems to be almost as barren as ever. The wounds, inflicted in the HEBERIAN contest, have gradually healed, and are subsiding into forgetfulness; excepting where, from_ collateral _causes, there are too many_ striking _reasons to remember their existence._ _Another motive may be humbly, yet confidently, assigned for the re-appearance of this Work. It was thought, by its late proprietor,--MR. EDWARD WALMSLEY[1]--to whose cost and liberality this edition owes its appearance--to be a volume, in itself, of pleasant and profitable perusal; composed perhaps in a quaint and original style, but in accordance with the characters of the_ Dramatis Personæ. _Be this as it may, it is a work divested of all acrimonious feeling--is applicable to all classes of society, to whom harmless enthusiasm cannot be offensive--and is based upon a foundation not likely to be speedily undermined._ _T.F. DIBDIN._ _May_ 1, 1842. [Footnote 1: _Mr. EDWARD WALMSLEY, who died in 1841, at an advanced age, had been long known to me. He had latterly extensive calico-printing works at Mitcham, and devoted much of his time to the production of beautiful patterns in that fabrication; his taste, in almost every thing which he undertook, leant towards the fine arts. His body was in the counting-house; but his spirit was abroad, in the studio of the painter or engraver. Had his natural talents, which were strong and elastic, been cultivated in early life, he would, in all probability, have attained a considerable reputation. How he loved to embellish--almost to satiety--a favourite work, may be seen by consulting a subsequent page towards the end of this volume. He planned and published the_ Physiognomical Portraits, _a performance not divested of interest--but failing in general success, from the prints being, in many instances, a repetition of their precursors. The thought, however, was a good one; and many of the heads are powerfully executed. He took also a lively interest in Mr. Major's splendid edition of Walpole's_ Anecdotes of Painting in England, _a work, which can never want a reader while taste has an abiding-place in one British bosom._ _Mr. Walmsley possessed a brave and generous spirit; and I scarcely knew a man more disposed to bury the remembrance of men's errors in that of their attainments and good qualities._] THE BIBLIOMANIA; OR =Book-Madness;= CONTAINING SOME ACCOUNT OF THE HISTORY, SYMPTOMS, AND CURE OF THIS FATAL DISEASE. IN AN EPISTLE ADDRESSED TO RICHARD HEBER, ESQ. BY THE REV. THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN, F.S.A. Styll am I besy bokes assemblynge, For to have plenty it is a pleasaunt thynge In my conceyt, and to have them ay in honde: But what they mene I do nat understonde. =Pynson's Ship of Fools.= Edit. 1509. LONDON REPRINTED FROM THE FIRST EDITION, PUBLISHED IN 1809. =Advertisement.= _In laying before the public the following brief and superficial account of a disease, which, till it arrested the attention of Dr. Ferriar, had entirely escaped the sagacity of all ancient and modern physicians, it has been my object to touch chiefly on its leading characteristics; and to present the reader (in the language of my old friend Francis Quarles) with an "honest pennyworth" of information, which may, in the end, either suppress or soften the ravages of so destructive a malady. I might easily have swelled the size of this treatise by the introduction of much additional, and not incurious, matter; but I thought it most prudent to wait the issue of the present "recipe," at once simple in its composition and gentle in its effects._ _Some apology is due to the amiable and accomplished character to whom my epistle is addressed, as well as to the public, for the apparently confused and indigested manner in which the notes are attached to the first part of this treatise; but, unless I had thrown them to the end (a plan which modern custom does not seem to warrant), it will be obvious that a different arrangement could not have been adopted; and equally so that the perusal, first of the text, and afterwards of the notes, will be the better mode of passing judgment upon both._ T.F.D. _Kensington, June_ 5, 1809. [Illustration] TO THE READER. _A short time after the publication of the first edition of this work, a very worthy and shrewd Bibliomaniac, accidentally meeting me, exclaimed that "the book_ would do, _but that there was not_ gall _enough in it." As he was himself a_ Book-Auction-loving Bibliomaniac, _I was resolved, in a future edition, to gratify him and similar Collectors by writing_ PART III. _of the present impression; the motto of which may probably meet their approbation._ _It will be evident, on a slight inspection of the present edition, that it is so much altered and enlarged as to assume the character of a new_ work. _This has not been done without mature reflection; and a long-cherished hope of making it permanently useful to a large class of General Readers, as well as to Book-Collectors and Bibliographers._ _It appeared to me that notices of such truly valuable, and oftentimes curious and rare, books, as the ensuing pages describe; but more especially a_ Personal History of Literature, _in the characters of_ Collectors of Books; _had long been a desideratum even with classical students: and in adopting the present form of publication, my chief object was to relieve the dryness of a didactic style by the introduction of_ Dramatis Personæ. _The worthy Gentlemen, by whom the_ Drama _is conducted, may be called, by some, merely wooden machines or_ pegs _to hang notes upon; but I shall not be disposed to quarrel with any criticism which may be passed upon their acting, so long as the greater part of the information, to which their dialogue gives rise, may be thought serviceable to the real interests of_ Literature _and_ Bibliography. _If I had chosen to assume a more imposing air with the public, by spinning out the contents of this closely-printed book into two or more volumes--which might have been done without violating the customary mode of publication--the expenses of the purchaser, and the profits of the author, would have equally increased: but I was resolved to bring forward as much matter as I could impart, in a convenient and not inelegantly executed form; and, if my own emoluments are less, I honestly hope the reader's advantage is greater._ _The_ Engraved Ornaments of Portraits, Vignettes, and Borders, _were introduced, as well to gratify the eyes of tasteful Bibliomaniacs, as to impress, upon the minds of readers in general, a more vivid recollection of some of those truly illustrious characters by whom the_ HISTORY OF BRITISH LITERATURE _has been preserved._ _It remains only to add that the present work was undertaken to relieve, in a great measure, the anguish of mind arising from a severe domestic affliction; and if the voice of those whom we tenderly loved, whether parent or_ child, _could be heard from the_ grave, _I trust it would convey the sound of approbation for thus having filled a part of the measure of that time which, every hour, brings us nearer to those from whom we are separated._ _And now_, BENEVOLENT READER, _in promising thee as much amusement and instruction as ever were offered in a single volume, of a nature like to the present, I bid thee farewell in the language of_ Vogt,[2] _who thus praises the subject of which we are about to treat:--"Quis non_ AMABILEM _eam laudabit_ INSANIAM, _quæ universæ rei litterariæ non obfuit, sed profuit; historiæ litterariæ doctrinam insigniter locupletavit; ingentemque exercitum voluminum, quibus alias aut in remotiora Bibliothecarum publicarum scrinia commigrandum erat, aut plane pereundum, a carceribus et interitu vindicavit, exoptatissimæque luci et eruditorum usui multiplici felicitur restituit?"_ T.F.D. _Kensington, March_ 25, 1811. [Footnote 2: Catalogus Librorum Rariorum, præf. ix. edit. 1793.] [Illustration] CONTENTS. PART I. THE EVENING WALK. _On the right uses of Literature_ p. 3-20. II. THE CABINET. _Outline of Foreign and Domestic Bibliography_ p. 23-92. III. THE AUCTION-ROOM. _Character of Orlando. Of ancient Prices of Books, and of Book-Binding. Book-Auction Bibliomaniacs_ p. 103-139. IV. THE LIBRARY. _Dr. Henry's History of Great Britain. A Game at Chess. Of Monachism and Chivalry. Dinner at Lorenzo's. Some Account of Book Collectors in England_ p. 143-207. V. THE DRAWING ROOM. _History of the Bibliomania, or Account of Book Collectors, concluded_ p. 211-463. VI. THE ALCOVE. _Symptoms of the Disease called the Bibliomania. Probable Means of its Cure_ p. 467-565. SUPPLEMENT. CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. GENERAL INDEX. [Illustration: LUTHER.] [Illustration: MELANCTHON.] PUBLISHED BY THE PROPRIETOR (FOR THE NEW EDITION) OF THE REV. Dr. DIBDINS BIBLIOMANIA, 1840. [Illustration] =The Bibliomania.= MY DEAR SIR, When the poetical Epistle of Dr. Ferriar, under the popular title of "THE BIBLIOMANIA," was announced for publication, I honestly confess that, in common with many of my book-loving acquaintance, a strong sensation of fear and of hope possessed me: of fear, that I might have been accused, however indirectly, of having contributed towards the increase of this Mania; and of hope, that the true object of book-collecting, and literary pursuits, might have been fully and fairly developed. The perusal of this elegant epistle dissipated alike my fears and my hopes; for, instead of caustic verses, and satirical notes,[3] I found a smooth, melodious, and persuasive panegyric; unmixed, however, with any rules for the choice of books, or the regulation of study. [Footnote 3: There are, nevertheless, some satirical allusions which one could have wished had been suppressed. For instance: He turns where PYBUS rears his atlas-head Or MADOC'S mass conceals its veins of lead; What has Mr. Pybus's gorgeous book in praise of the late Russian Emperor Paul I. (which some have called the chef-d'oeuvre of Bensley's press[A]) to do with Mr. Southey's fine Poem of Madoc?--in which, if there are "veins of lead," there are not a few "of silver and gold." Of the extraordinary talents of Mr. Southey, the indefatigable student in ancient lore, and especially in all that regards Spanish Literature and Old English Romances, this is not the place to make mention. His "_Remains of Henry Kirk White_," the sweetest specimen of modern biography, has sunk into every heart, and received an eulogy from every tongue. Yet is his own life "The more endearing song." Dr. Ferriar's next satirical verses are levelled at Mr. THOMAS HOPE. "The lettered fop now takes a larger scope, With classic furniture, design'd by HOPE. (HOPE, whom upholsterers eye with mute despair, The doughty pedant of an elbow chair.") It has appeared to me that Mr. Hope's magnificent volume on "_Household Furniture_" has been generally misunderstood, and, in a few instances, criticised upon false principles.--The first question is, does the _subject_ admit of illustration? and if so, has Mr. Hope illustrated it properly? I believe there is no canon of criticism which forbids the treating of such a subject; and, while we are amused with archæological discussions on Roman tiles and tesselated pavements, there seems to be no absurdity in making the decorations of our sitting rooms, including something more than the floor we walk upon, a subject at least of temperate and classical disquisition. Suppose we had found such a treatise in the volumes of Gronovius and Montfaucon? (and are there not a few, apparently, as unimportant and confined in these rich volumes of the Treasures of Antiquity?) or suppose something similar to Mr. Hope's work had been found among the ruins of Herculaneum? Or, lastly, let us suppose the author had printed it only as a _private_ book, to be circulated as a present! In each of these instances, should we have heard the harsh censures which have been thrown out against it? On the contrary, is it not very probable that a wish might have been expressed that "so valuable a work ought to be made public." Upon what principle, _a priori_, are we to ridicule and condemn it? I know of none. We admit Vitruvius, Inigo Jones, Gibbs, and Chambers, into our libraries: and why not Mr. Hope's book? Is decoration to be confined only to the exterior? and, if so, are works, which treat of these only, to be read and applauded? Is the delicate bas-relief, and beautifully carved column, to be thrust from the cabinet and drawing room, to perish on the outside of a smoke-dried portico? Or, is not _that_ the most deserving of commendation which produces the most numerous and pleasing associations of ideas? I recollect, when in company with the excellent DR. JENNER, ----[clarum et venerabile nomen Gentibus, et multum nostræ quod proderat urbi] and a half dozen more friends, we visited the splendid apartments in Duchess Street, Portland Place, we were not only struck with the appropriate arrangement of every thing, but, on our leaving them, and coming out into the dull foggy atmosphere of London, we acknowledged that the effect produced upon our minds was something like that which might have arisen had we been regaling ourselves on the silken couches, and within the illuminated chambers, of some of the enchanted palaces described in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. I suspect that those who have criticised Mr. Hope's work with asperity have never seen his house. These sentiments are not the result of partiality or prejudice, for I am wholly unacquainted with Mr. Hope. They are delivered with zeal, but with deference. It is quite consolatory to find a gentleman of large fortune, of respectable ancestry, and of classical attainments, devoting a great portion of that leisure time which hangs like a leaden weight upon the generality of fashionable people, to the service of the Fine Arts, and in the patronage of merit and ingenuity. How much the world will again be indebted to Mr. Hope's taste and liberality may be anticipated from the "_Costume of the Ancients_," a work which has recently been published under his particular superintendence.] [Footnote A: This book is beautifully executed, undoubtedly, but being little more than a thin folio pamphlet devoid of _typographical_ embellishment--it has been thought by some hardly fair to say this of a press which brought out so many works characterized by magnitude and various elegance. B.B.] To say that I was not gratified by the perusal of it would be a confession contrary to the truth; but to say how ardently I anticipated an amplification of the subject, how eagerly I looked forward to a number of curious, apposite, and amusing anecdotes, and found them not therein, is an avowal of which I need not fear the rashness, when the known talents of the detector of Stern's plagiarisms[4] are considered. I will not, however, disguise to you that I read it with uniform delight, and that I rose from the perusal with a keener appetite for "The small, rare volume, black with tarnished gold." _Dr. Ferriar's Ep._ v. 138. [Footnote 4: In the fourth volume of the Transactions of the Manchester Literary Society, part iv., p. 45-87, will be found a most ingenious and amusing Essay, entitled "_Comments on Sterne_," which excited a good deal of interest at the time of its publication. This discovery may be considered, in some measure, as the result of the BIBLIOMANIA. In my edition of Sir Thomas More's Utopia, a suggestion is thrown out that even Burton may have been an imitator of Boisatuau [Transcriber's Note: Boiastuau]: see vol. II. 143.] Whoever undertakes to write down the follies which grow out of an excessive attachment to any particular pursuit, be that pursuit horses,[5] hawks, dogs, guns, snuff boxes,[6] old china, coins, or rusty armour, may be thought to have little consulted the best means of ensuring success for his labours, when he adopts the dull vehicle of _Prose_ for the commnication [Transcriber's Note: communication] of his ideas not considering that from _Poetry_ ten thousand bright scintillations are struck off, which please and convince while they attract and astonish. Thus when Pope talks of allotting for "Pembroke[7] Statues, dirty Gods and Coins; Rare monkish manuscripts for Hearne[8] alone; And books to Mead[9] and butterflies to Sloane,"[10] when he says that These Aldus[11] printed, those Du S[=u]eil has bound[12] moreover that For Locke or Milton[13] 'tis in vain to look; These shelves admit not any modern book; he not only seems to illustrate the propriety of the foregoing remark, by shewing the immense superiority of verse to prose, in ridiculing reigning absurdities, but he seems to have had a pretty strong foresight of the BIBLIOMANIA which rages at the present day. However, as the ancients tell us that a Poet cannot be a _manufactured_ creature, and as I have not the smallest pretensions to the "rhyming art," [although in former times[14] I did venture to dabble with it] I must of necessity have recourse to _Prose_; and, at the same time, to your candour and forbearance in perusing the pages which ensue. [Footnote 5: It may be taken for granted that the first book in this country which excited a passion for the _Sports of the field_ was Dame Juliana Berners, or Barnes's, work, on _Hunting and Hawking_, printed at St. Alban's, in the year 1486; of which Lord Spencer's copy is, I believe, the only perfect one known. It was formerly the Poet Mason's, and is mentioned in the quarto edition of Hoccleve's Poems, p. 19, 1786. See too Bibl. Mason. Pt. iv. No. 153. Whether the forementioned worthy lady was really the author of the work has been questioned. Her book was reprinted by Wynkyn de Worde in 1497, with an additional Treatise on _Fishing_. The following specimen, from this latter edition, ascertains the general usage of the French language with our huntsmen in the 15th century. Beasts of Venery. Where so ever ye fare by frith or by fell, My dear child, take heed how Trystram do you tell. How many manner beasts of Venery there were: Listen to your dame and she shall you _lere_. Four manner beasts of Venery there are. The first of them is the _Hart_; the second is the _Hare_; The _Horse_ is one of them; the _Wolf_; and not one _mo_. Beasts of the Chace. And where that ye come in plain or in place I shall tell you which be beasts of enchace. One of them is the _Buck_; another is the _Doe_; The _Fox_; and the _Marteron_, and the wild _Roe_; And ye shall see, my dear child, other beastes all: Where so ye them find _Rascal_ ye shall them call. Of the hunting of the Hare. How to speke of the haare how all shall be wrought: When she shall with houndes be founden and sought. The fyrst worde to the ho[=u]dis that the hunter shall out pit Is at the kenell doore whan he openeth it. That all maye hym here: he shall say "_Arere!_" For his houndes would come to hastily. That is the firste worde my sone of Venery. And when he hath couplyed his houndes echoon And is forth wyth theym to the felde goon, And whan he hath of caste his couples at wyll Thenne he shall speke and saye his houndes tyll "_Hors de couple avant, sa avant!_" twyse soo: And then "_So ho, so ho!_" thryes, and no moo. And then say "_Sacy avaunt, so how_," I thou praye, etc. The following are a few more specimens--"_Ha cy touz cy est yll_--_Venez ares sa how sa_--_La douce la eit a venuz_--_Ho ho ore, swet a lay, douce a luy_--_So how, so how, venez acoupler!!!_" Whoever wishes to see these subjects brought down to later times, and handled with considerable dexterity, may consult the last numbers of the Censura Literaria, with the signature J.H. affixed to them. Those who are anxious to procure the rare books mentioned in these bibliographical treatises, may be pretty safely taxed with being infected by the BIBLIOMANIA. What apology my friend Mr. Haslewood, the author of them, has to offer in extenuation of the mischief committed, it is _his_ business, and not mine, to consider; and what the public will say to his curious forthcoming reprint of the ancient edition of Wynkyn De Worde _on Hunting, Hawking, and Fishing_, 1497 (with wood cuts), I will not pretend to divine! In regard to Hawking, I believe the enterprising Colonel Thornton in [Transcriber's Note: is] the only gentleman of the present day who keeps up this custom of "good old times." The Sultans of the East seem not to have been insensible to the charms of Falconry, if we are to judge from the evidence of Tippoo Saib having a work of this kind in his library; which is thus described from the Catalogue of it just published in a fine quarto volume, of which only 250 copies are printed. "_Sh[=a]bb[=a]r N[=a]meh_, 4to. a Treatise on Falcony; containing Instructions for selecting the best species of Hawks, and the method of teaching them; describing their different qualities; also the disorders they are subject to, and method of cure. Author unknown."--Oriental Library of Tippoo Saib, 1809, p. 96.] [Footnote 6: Of _Snuff boxes_ every one knows what a collection the great Frederick, King of Prussia, had--many of them studded with precious stones, and decorated with enamelled portraits. Dr. C. of G----, has been represented to be the most successful rival of Frederick, in this "line of collection," as it is called; some of his boxes are of uncommon curiosity. It may gratify a Bibliographer to find that there are other MANIAS besides that of the book; and that even physicians are not exempt from these diseases. Of _Old China_, _Coins_, and _Rusty Armour_, the names of hundreds present themselves in these departments; but to the more commonly-known ones of Rawle and Grose, let me add that of the late Mr. John White, of Newgate-Street; a catalogue of whose curiosities [including some very uncommon books] was published in the year 1788, in three parts, 8vo. Dr. Burney tells us that Mr. White "was in possession of a valuable collection of ancient rarities, as well as natural productions, of the most curious and extraordinary kind; no one of which however was more remarkable than the obliging manner in which he allowed them to be viewed and examined by his friends."--_History of Music_, vol. II. 539, note.] [Footnote 7: The reader will find an animated eulogy on this great nobleman in Walpole's _Anecdotes of Painters_, vol. iv. 227: part of which was transcribed by Joseph Warton for his Variorum edition of Pope's Works, and thence copied into the recent edition of the same by the Rev. W.L. Bowles. But PEMBROKE deserved a more particular notice. Exclusively of his fine statues, and architectural decorations, the Earl contrived to procure a number of curious and rare books; and the testimonies of Maittaire [who speaks indeed of him with a sort of rapture!] and Palmer shew that the productions of Jenson and Caxton were no strangers to his library. _Annales Typographici_, vol. I. 13. edit. 1719. _History of Printing_, p. v. "There is nothing that so surely proves the pre-eminence of virtue more than the universal admiration of mankind, and the respect paid it even by persons in opposite interests; and more than this, it is a sparkling gem which even time does not destroy: it is hung up in the Temple of Fame, and respected for ever." _Continuation of Granger_, vol. I. 37, &c. "He raised, continues Mr. Noble, a collection of Antiques that were unrivalled by any subject. His learning made him a fit companion for the literati. Wilton will ever be a monument of his extensive knowledge; and the princely presents it contains, of the high estimation in which he was held by foreign potentates, as well as by the many monarchs he saw and served at home. He lived rather as a primitive christian; in his behaviour, meek: in his dress, plain: rather retired, conversing but little." Burnet, in the _History of his own Times_, has spoken of the Earl with spirit and propriety.] [Footnote 8: In the recent Variorum Edition of Pope's Works, all that is annexed to Hearne's name, as above introduced by the Poet, is, "well known as an Antiquarian." ALAS, POOR HEARNE! thy merits, which are now fully appreciated, deserve an ampler notice! In spite of Gibbon's unmerciful critique [_Posthumous Works_, vol. II. 711.], the productions of this modest, erudite, and indefatigable antiquary are rising in price proportionably to their worth. If he had only edited the _Collectanea_ and _Itinerary_ of his favourite Leland, he would have stood on high ground in the department of literature and antiquities; but his other and numerous works place him on a much loftier eminence. Of these, the present is not the place to make mention; suffice it to say that, for copies of his works, on LARGE PAPER, which the author used to advertise as selling for 7_s._ or 10_s._, or about which placards, to the same effect, used to be stuck on the walls of the colleges,--these very copies are now sometimes sold for more than the like number of guineas! It is amusing to observe that the lapse of a few years only has caused such a rise in the article of HEARNE; and that the Peter Langtoft on large paper, which at Rowe Mores's sale [Bibl. Mores. No. 2191.] was purchased for £1. 2_s._ produced at a late sale, [A.D. 1808] £37! A complete list of Hearne's Pieces will be found at the end of his Life, printed with Leland's, &c., at the Clarendon Press, in 1772, 8vo. Of these the "_Acta Apostolorum_, Gr. Lat;" and "_Aluredi Beverlacensis Annales_," are, I believe, the scarcest. It is wonderful to think how this amiable and excellent man persevered "through evil report and good report," in illustrating the antiquities of his country. To the very last he appears to have been molested; and among his persecutors, the learned editor of Josephus and Dionysius Halicarnasseus, Dr. Hudson, must be ranked, to the disgrace of himself and the party which he espoused. "Hearne was buried in the church yard of St. Peter's (at Oxford) in the East, where is erected over his remains, a tomb, with an inscription written by himself, Amicitiæ Ergo. Here lyeth the Body of THOMAS HEARNE, M.A. Who studied and preserved Antiquities. He dyed June 10, 1735. Aged 57 years. Deut. xxxii: 7. Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask thy Father and he will shew thee; thy elders and they will tell thee. Job. viii. 8, 9, 10. Enquire I pray thee." _Life of Hearne_, p. 34.] [Footnote 9: Of Dr. MEAD and his Library a particular account is given in the following pages.] [Footnote 10: For this distinguished character consult Nichols's _Anecdotes of Bowyer_, 550, note*; which, however, relates entirely to his ordinary habits and modes of life. His magnificent collection of Natural Curiosities and MSS. is now in the British Museum.] [Footnote 11: The annals of the Aldine Press have had ample justice done to them in the beautiful and accurate work published by Renouard, under the title of "_Annales de L'Imprimerie des Alde_," in two vols., 8vo. 1804. One is rather surprised at not finding any reference to this masterly piece of bibliography in the last edition of Mr. Roscoe's Leo X., where there is a pleasing account of the establishment of the Aldine Press.] [Footnote 12: I do not recollect having seen any book bound by this binder. Of Padaloup, De Rome, and Baumgarten, where is the fine collection that does not boast of a few specimens? We will speak "anon" of the Roger Paynes, Kalthoebers, Herrings, Stagemiers, and in Macklays of the day!] [Footnote 13: This is not the reproach of the age we live in; for reprints of Bacon, Locke, and Milton have been published with complete success. It would be ridiculous indeed for a man of sense, and especially a University man, to give £5 or £6 for "_Gosson's School of Abuse, against Pipers and Players_," or £3. 3_s._ for a clean copy of "_Recreation for Ingenious Head Pieces_, or a _Pleasant Grove for their Wits to walk in,"_ and grudge the like sum for a dozen handsome octavo volumes of the finest writers of his country.] [Footnote 14: About twelve years ago I was rash enough to publish a small volume of Poems, with my name affixed. They were the productions of my juvenile years; and I need hardly say, at this period, how ashamed I am of their author-ship. The monthly and Analytical Reviews did me the kindness of just tolerating them, and of warning me not to commit any future trespass upon the premises of Parnassus. I struck off 500 copies, and was glad to get rid of half of them as waste paper; the remaining half has been partly destroyed by my own hands, and has partly mouldered away in oblivion amidst the dust of Booksellers' shelves. My only consolation is that the volume is _exceedingly rare_!] If ever there was a country upon the face of the globe--from the days of Nimrod the beast, to Bagford[15] the book-hunter--distinguished for the variety, the justness, and magnanimity of its views; if ever there was a nation which really and unceasingly "felt for another's woe" [I call to witness our Infirmaries, Hospitals, Asylums, and other public and private Institutions of a charitable nature, that, like so many belts of adamant, unite and strengthen us in the great cause of HUMANITY]; if ever there was a country and a set of human beings pre-eminently distinguished for all the social virtues which soften and animate the soul of man, surely OLD ENGLAND and ENGLISHMEN ARE THEY! The common cant, it may be urged, of all writers in favour of the country where they chance to live! And what, you will say, has this to do with Book Collectors and Books?--Much, every way: a nation thus glorious is, at this present eventful moment, afflicted not only with the Dog[16], but the BOOK, disease-- Fire in each eye, and paper in each hand They rave, recite,---- [Footnote 15: "JOHN BAGFORD, by profession a bookseller, frequently travelled into Holland and other parts, in search of scarce books and valuable prints, and brought a vast number into this kingdom, the greatest part of which were purchased by the Earl of Oxford. He had been in his younger days a shoemaker; and, for the many curiosities wherewith he enriched the famous library of Dr. John Moore, Bishop of Ely, his Lordship got him admitted into the Charter House. He died in 1706, aged 65: after his death Lord Oxford purchased all his collections and papers, for his library: these are now in the Harleian collection in the British Museum. In 1707 were published, in the Philosophical Transactions, his Proposals for a General History of Printing."--Bowyer and Nichols's _Origin of Printing_, p. 164, 189, note. It has been my fortune (whether good or bad remains to be proved) not only to transcribe the slender memorial of Printing in the Philosophical Transactions, drawn up by Wanley for Bagford, but to wade through _forty-two_ folio volumes, in which Bagford's materials for a History of Printing are incorporated, in the British Museum: and from these, I think I have furnished myself with a pretty fair idea of the said Bagford. He was the most hungry and rapacious of all book and print collectors; and, in his ravages, spared neither the most delicate nor costly specimens. His eyes and his mouth seem to have been always open to express his astonishment at, sometimes, the most common and contemptible productions; and his paper in the Philosophical Transactions betrays such simplicity and ignorance that one is astonished how my Lord Oxford and the learned Bishop of Ely could have employed so credulous a bibliographical forager. A modern collector and lover of _perfect_ copies will witness, with shuddering, among Bagford's immense collection of Title Pages, in the Museum, the frontispieces of the Complutensian Polyglot, and Chauncy's History of Hertfordshire, torn out to illustrate a History of Printing. His enthusiasm, however, carried him through a great deal of laborious toil; and he supplied, in some measure, by this qualification, the want of other attainments. His whole mind was devoted to book-hunting; and his integrity and diligence probably made his employers overlook his many failings. His hand-writing is scarcely legible, and his orthography is still more wretched; but if he was ignorant, he was humble, zealous, and grateful; and he has certainly done something towards the accomplishment of that desirable object, an accurate General History of Printing. In my edition of _Ames's Typographical Antiquities_, I shall give an analysis of Bagford's papers, with a specimen or two of his composition.] [Footnote 16: For an eloquent account of this disorder consult the letters of Dr. Mosely inserted in the Morning Herald of last year. I have always been surprised, and a little vexed, that these animated pieces of composition should be relished and praised by every one--but _the Faculty_!] Let us enquire, therefore, into the origin and tendency of the BIBLIOMANIA. In this enquiry I purpose considering the subject under three points of view: I. THE HISTORY OF THE DISEASE; or an account of the eminent men who have fallen victims to it: II. THE NATURE, OR SYMPTOMS OF THE DISEASE: and III. THE PROBABLE MEANS OF ITS CURE. We are to consider, then, 1. THE HISTORY OF THE DISEASE. In treating of the history of this disease, it will be found to have been attended with this remarkable circumstance; namely, that it has almost uniformly confined its attacks to the _male_ sex, and, among these, to people in the higher and middling classes of society, while the artificer, labourer, and peasant have escaped wholly uninjured. It has raged chiefly in palaces, castles, halls, and gay mansions; and those things which in general are supposed not to be inimical to health, such as cleanliness, spaciousness, and splendour, are only so many inducements towards the introduction and propagation of the BIBLIOMANIA! What renders it particularly formidable is that it rages in all seasons of the year, and at all periods of human existence. The emotions of friendship or of love are weakened or subdued as old age advances; but the influence of this passion, or rather disease, admits of no mitigation: "it grows with our growth, and strengthens with our strength;" and is oft-times ----The ruling passion strong in death.[17] [Footnote 17: The writings of the Roman philologers seem to bear evidence of this fact. Seneca, when an old man, says that, "if you are fond of books, you will escape the ennui of life; you will neither sigh for evening, disgusted with the occupations of the day--nor will you live dissatisfied with yourself, or unprofitable to others." _De Tranquilitate_, ch. 3. Cicero has positively told us that "study is the food of youth, and the amusement of old age." _Orat. pro Archia_. The younger Pliny was a downright Bibliomaniac. "I am quite transported and comforted," says he, "in the midst of my books: they give a zest to the happiest, and assuage the anguish of the bitterest, moments of existence! Therefore, whether distracted by the cares or the losses of my family, or my friends, I fly to my library as the only refuge in distress: here I learn to bear adversity with fortitude." _Epist._ lib. viii. cap. 19. But consult Cicero _De Senectute_. All these treatises afford abundant proof of the hopelessness of cure in cases of the Bibliomania.] We will now, my dear Sir, begin "making out the catalogue" of victims to the BIBLIOMANIA! The first eminent character who appears to have been infected with this disease was RICHARD DE BURY, one of the tutors of Edward III., and afterwards Bishop of Durham; a man who has been uniformly praised for the variety of his erudition, and the intenseness of his ardour in book-collecting.[18] I discover no other notorious example of the fatality of the BIBLIOMANIA until the time of Henry VII.; when the monarch himself may be considered as having added to the number. Although our venerable typographer, Caxton, lauds and magnifies, with equal sincerity, the whole line of British Kings, from Edward IV. to Henry VII. [under whose patronage he would seem, in some measure, to have carried on his printing business], yet, of all these monarchs, the latter alone was so unfortunate as to fall a victim to this disease. His library must have been a magnificent one, if we may judge from the splendid specimens of it which now remain.[19] It would appear, too, that, about this time, the BIBLIOMANIA was increased by the introduction of foreign printed books; and it is not very improbable that a portion of Henry's immense wealth was devoted towards the purchase of VELLUM copies, which were now beginning to be published by the great typographical triumvirate, Verard, Eustace, and Pigouchet. [Footnote 18: It may be expected that I should notice a few book-lovers, and probably BIBLIOMANIACS, previously to the time of Richard De Bury; but so little is known with accuracy of Johannes Scotus Erigena, and his patron Charles the Bald, King of France, or of the book tête-a-têtes they used to have together--so little, also, of Nennius, Bede, and Alfred [although the monasteries at this period, from the evidence of Sir William Dugdale, in the first volume of the Monasticon were "opulently endowed,"--inter alia, I should hope, with magnificent MSS. on vellum, bound in velvet, and embossed with gold and silver], or the illustrious writers in the Norman period, and the fine books which were in the abbey of Croyland--so little is known of book-collectors, previously to the 14th century, that I thought it the most prudent and safe way to begin with the above excellent prelate. RICHARD DE BURY was the friend and correspondent of Petrarch; and is said by Mons. de Sade, in his Memoires pour la vie de Petrarque, "to have done in England what Petrarch did all his life in France, Italy, and Germany, towards the discovery of MSS. of the best ancient writers, and making copies of them under his own superintendence." His passion for book-collecting was unbounded ["vir ardentis ingenii," says Petrarch of him]; and in order to excite the same ardour in his countrymen, or rather to propagate the disease of the BIBLIOMANIA with all his might, he composed a bibliographical work under the title of _Philobiblion_; concerning the first edition of which, printed at Spires in 1483, Clement (tom. v. 142) has a long gossiping account; and Morhof tells us that it is "rarissima et in paucorum manibus versatur." It was reprinted in Paris in 1500, 4to., by the elder Ascensius, and frequently in the subsequent century, but the best editions of it are those by Goldastus in 1674, 8vo., and Hummius in 1703. Morhof observes that, "however De Bury's work savours of the rudeness of the age, it is rather elegantly written, and many things are well said in it relating to Bibliothecism." _Polyhist. Literar._ vol. i. 187, edit. 1747. For further particulars concerning De Bury, read Bale, Wharton, Cave, and Godwin's Episcopal Biography. He left behind him a fine library of MSS. which he bequeathed to Durham, now Trinity, College, Oxford. It may be worth the antiquary's notice, that, in consequence (I suppose) of this amiable prelate's exertions, "in every convent was a noble library and a great: and every friar, that had state in school, such as they be now, hath AN HUGH LIBRARY." See the curious Sermon of the Archbishop of Armagh, Nov. 8, 1387, in Trevisa's works among the _Harleian MSS._ No. 1900. Whether these Friars, thus affected with the frensy of book-collecting, ever visited the "old chapelle at the Est End of the church of S. Saink [Berkshire], whither of late time resorted in pilgrimage many folkes for the disease of _madness_," [see Leland's _Itinerary_, vol. ii. 29, edit. 1770] I have not been able, after the most diligent investigation, to ascertain.] [Footnote 19: The British Museum contains a great number of books which bear the royal stamp of Henry VII.'s arms. Some of these printed by Verard, UPON VELLUM, are magnificent memorials of a library, the dispersion of which is for ever to be regretted. As Henry VIII. knew nothing of, and cared less for, fine books, it is not very improbable that some of the choicest volumes belonging to the late king were presented to Cardinal Wolsey.] During the reign of Henry VIII., I should suppose that the Earl of Surrey[20] and Sir Thomas Wyatt were a little attached to book-collecting; and that Dean Colet[21] and his friend Sir Thomas More and Erasmus were downright Bibliomaniacs. There can be little doubt but that neither the great LELAND[22] nor his Biographer Bale,[23] were able to escape the contagion; and that, in the ensuing period, Rogar [Transcriber's Note: Roger] Ascham became notorious for the Book-disease. He purchased probably, during his travels abroad[24] many a fine copy of the Greek and Latin Classics, from which he read to his illustrious pupils, Lady Jane Grey, and Queen Elizabeth: but whether he made use of an _Editio Princeps_, or a _Large paper copy_, I have hitherto not been lucky enough to discover. This learned character died in the vigour of life, and in the bloom of reputation: and, as I suspect, in consequence of the BIBLIOMANIA--for he was always collecting books, and always studying them. His "Schoolmaster" is a work which can only perish with our language. [Footnote 20: The EARL of SURREY and SIR THOMAS WYATT were among the first who taught their countrymen to be charmed with the elegance and copiousness of their own language. How effectually they accomplished this laudable object, will be seen from the forthcoming beautiful and complete edition of their works by the Rev. Dr. Nott.[B]] [Footnote B: It fell to the lot of the printer of this volume, during his apprenticeship to his father, to correct the press of nearly the whole of Dr. Nott's labours, which were completed, after several years of toil, when in the extensive conflagration of the printing-office at Bolt Court, Fleet-street, in 1819, all but _two_ copies were totally destroyed!] [Footnote 21: COLET, MORE, and ERASMUS [considering the latter when he was in England] were _here_ undoubtedly the great literary triumvirate of the early part of the 16th century. The lives of More and Erasmus are generally read and known; but of DEAN COLET it may not be so generally known that his ardour for books and for classical literature was keen, and insatiable; that, in the foundation of ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL, he has left behind a name which entitles him to rank in the foremost of those who have fallen victims to the BIBLIOMANIA. How anxiously does he seem to have watched the progress, and pushed the sale, of his friend Erasmus's first edition of the Greek Testament! "Quod scribis de Novo Testamento intelligo. Et libri _novæ editionis tuæ hic avide emuntur et passim leguntur_!" The entire epistle (which may be seen in Dr. Knight's dry Life of Colet, p. 315) is devoted to an account of Erasmus's publications. "I am really astonished, my dear Erasmus [does he exclaim], at the fruitfulness of your talents; that, without any fixed residence, and with a precarious and limited income, you contrive to publish so many and such excellent works." Adverting to the distracted state of Germany at this period, and to the wish of his friend to live secluded and unmolested, he observes--"As to the tranquil retirement which you sigh for, be assured that you have my sincere wishes for its rendering you as happy and composed as you can wish it. Your age and erudition entitle you to such a retreat. I fondly hope, indeed, that you will choose this country for it, and come and live amongst us, whose disposition you know, and whose friendship you have proved." There is hardly a more curious picture of the custom of the times, relating to the education of boys, than the Dean's own Statutes for the regulation of St. Paul's School, which he had founded. These shew, too, the _popular books_ then read by the learned. "The children shall come unto the School in the morning at seven of the clock, both winter and summer, and tarry there until eleven; and return against one of the clock, and depart at five, &c. In the school, no time in the year, they shall use tallow candle in no wise, but _only wax candle_, at the costs of their friends. Also I will they bring no meat nor drink, nor bottle, nor use in the school no breakfasts, nor drinkings, in the time of learning, in no wise, &c. I will they use no cockfightings, nor riding about of victory, nor disputing at Saint Bartholomew, which is but foolish babbling and loss of time." The master is then restricted, under the penalty of 40 shillings, from granting the boys a holiday, or "remedy," [play-day,] as it is here called "except the King, an Archbishop, or a Bishop, present in his own person in the school, desire it." The studies for the lads were, "Erasmus's Copia & Institutum Christiani Hominis (composed at the Dean's request) Lactantius, Prudentius, Juvencus, Proba and Sedulius, and Baptista Mantuanus, and such other as shall be thought convenient and most to purpose unto the true Latin speech: all barbary, all corruption, all Latin adulterate, which ignorant blind fools brought into this world, and with the same hath distained and poisoned the old Latin speech, and the _veray_ Roman tongue, which in the time of Tully and Sallust and Virgil and Terence was used--I say that filthiness, and all such abusion, which the later blind world brought in, which more rather may be called _Bloterature_ that [Transcriber's Note: than] _Literature_, I utterly banish and exclude out of this school." _Life of Knight's Colet_, 362-4. What was to be expected, but that boys, thus educated, would hereafter fall victims to the BIBLIOMANIA?] [Footnote 22: The history of this great men [Transcriber's Note: man], and of his literary labours, is most interesting. He was a pupil of William Lilly, the first head-master of St. Paul's School; and, by the kindness and liberality of a Mr. Myles, he afterwards received the advantage of a College education, and was supplied with money in order to travel abroad, and make such collections as he should deem necessary for the great work which even then seemed to dawn upon his young and ardent mind. Leland endeavoured to requite the kindness of his benefactor by an elegant copy of Latin verses, in which he warmly expatiates on the generosity of his patron, and acknowledges that his acquaintance with the _Almæ Matres_ [for he was of both Universities] was entirely the result of such beneficence. While he resided on the continent, he was admitted into the society of the most eminent Greek and Latin Scholars, and could probably number among his correspondents the illustrious names of Budæus, Erasmus, the Stephani, Faber and Turnebus. Here, too, he cultivated his natural taste for poetry; and from inspecting the fine BOOKS which the Italian and French presses had produced, as well as fired by the love of Grecian learning, which had fled, on the sacking of Constantinople, to take shelter in the academic bowers of the Medici, he seems to have matured his plans for carrying into effect the great work which had now taken full possession of his mind. He returned to England, resolved to institute an inquiry into the state of the LIBRARIES, Antiquities, Records and Writings then in existence. Having entered into holy orders, and obtained preferment at the express interposition of the King, (Henry VIII.), he was appointed his Antiquary and Library Keeper, and a royal commission was issued in which Leland was directed to search after "ENGLAND'S ANTIQUITIES, and peruse the LIBRARIES of all Cathedrals, Abbies, Priories, Colleges, etc., as also all the places wherein Records, Writings, and Secrets of Antiquity were reposited." "Before Leland's time," says Hearne, in the Preface to the Itinerary, "all the literary monuments of Antiquity were totally disregarded; and Students of Germany, apprised of this culpable indifference, were suffered to enter our libraries unmolested, and to cut out of the books deposited there whatever passages they thought proper--which they afterwards published as relics of the ancient literature of their own country." Leland was occupied, without intermission, in this immense undertaking, for the space of six years; and, on its completion, he hastened to the metropolis to lay at the feet of his Sovereign the result of his researches. This was presented to Henry under the title of A NEW YEAR'S GIFT; and was first published by Bale in 1549, 8vo. "Being inflamed," says the author, "with a love to see thoroughly all those parts of your opulent and ample realm, in so much that all my other occupations intermitted, I have so travelled in your dominions, both by the sea coasts and the middle parts, sparing neither labour nor costs, by the space of six years past, that there is neither cape nor bay, haven, creek, or pier, river, or confluence of rivers, breeches, wastes, lakes, moors, fenny waters, mountains, vallies, heaths, forests, chases, woods, cities, burghes, castles, principal manor places, monasteries and colleges, but I have seen them; and noted, in so doing, a whole world of things very memorable." Leland moreover tells his Majesty--that "By his laborious journey and costly enterprise, he had conserved many good authors, the which otherwise had been like to have perished; of the which, part remained in the royal palaces, part also in his own custody, &c." As Leland was engaged six years in this literary tour, so he was occupied for a no less period of time in digesting and arranging the prodigious number of MSS. he had collected. But he sunk beneath the immensity of the task! The want of amanuenses, and of other attentions and comforts, seems to have deeply affected him; in this melancholy state, he wrote to Archbishop Cranmer a Latin epistle, in verse, of which the following is the commencement--very forcibly describing his situation and anguish of mind. Est congesta mihi domi supellex Ingens, aurea, nobilis, venusta Qua totus studeo Britanniarum Vero reddere gloriam nitori. Sed fortuna meis noverca coeptis Jam felicibus invidet maligna. Quare, ne pereant brevi vel hora Multarum mihi noctium labores Omnes---- CRANMERE, eximium decus piorum! Implorare tuam benignitatem Cogor. The result was that Leland lost his senses; and, after lingering two years in a state of total derangement, he died on the 18th of April, 1552. "Prôh tristes rerum humanarum vices! prôh viri optimi deplorandam infelicissimamque sortem!" exclaims Dr. Smith, in his preface to Camden's Life, 1691, 4to. The precious and voluminous MSS. of Leland were doomed to suffer a fate scarcely less pitiable than that of their owner. After being pilfered by some, and garbled by others, they served to replenish the pages of Stow, Lambard, Camden, Burton, Dugdale, and many other antiquaries and historians. Polydore Virgil, who had stolen from them pretty freely, had the insolence to abuse Leland's memory--calling him "a vain glorious man;" but what shall we say to this flippant egotist? who, according to Caius's testimony [_De Antiq. Cantab. head. lib._ 1.] "to prevent a discovery of the many errors of his own History of England, collected and burnt a greater number of ancient histories and manuscripts than would have loaded a waggon." The imperfect remains of Leland's MSS. are now deposited in the Bodleian Library, and in the British Museum. Upon the whole, it must be acknowledged that Leland is a melancholy, as well as illustrious, example of the influence of the BIBLIOMANIA!] [Footnote 23: In spite of BALE'S coarseness, positiveness, and severity, he has done much towards the cause of learning; and, perhaps, towards the propagation of the disease under discussion. His regard for Leland does him great honour; and although his plays are miserably dull, notwithstanding the high prices which the original editions of them bear, (vide ex. gr. Cat. Steevens, No. 1221; which was sold for £12 12_s._ See also the reprints in the Harleian Miscellany) the lover of literary antiquities must not forget that his "_Scriptores Britanniæ_" are yet quoted with satisfaction by some of the most respectable writers of the day. That he wanted delicacy of feeling, and impartiality of investigation, must be admitted; but a certain rough honesty and prompt benevolence which he had about him compensated for a multitude of offences. The abhorrence with which he speaks of the dilapidation of some of our old libraries must endear his memory to every honest bibliographer: "Never (says he) had we been offended for the loss of our LIBRARIES, being so many in number, and in so desolate places for the more part, if the chief monuments and most notable works of our excellent writers had been reserved. If there had been in every shire of England, but one SOLEMPNE LIBRARY, to the preservation of those noble works, and preferment of good learning in our posterity, it had been yet somewhat. But to destroy all without consideration, is, and will be, unto England for ever, a most horrible infamy among the grave seniors of other nations. A great number of them which purchased those superstitious mansions, reserved of those library-books, some to serve the _jakes_, some to scour their candlesticks, and some to rub their boots: some they sold to the grocers and soap-sellers; some they sent over sea to the book-binders, not in small number, but at times whole ships full, to the wondering of the foreign nations. Yea, the Universities of this realm are not all clear of this detestable fact. But cursed is that belly which seeketh to be fed with such ungodly gain, and shameth his natural country. I know a merchant man, which shall at this time be nameless, that _bought the contents of two noble libraries for forty shillings price_; a shame it is to be spoken! This stuff hath he occupied in the stead of grey paper, by the space of more than ten years, and yet he hath store enough for as many year to come!" Bale's Preface to Leland's "_Laboryouse journey_, &c." Emprented at London by John Bale. Anno M.D. xlix. 8vo. After this, who shall doubt the story of the Alexandrian Library supplying the hot baths of Alexandria with fuel for six months! See Gibbon on the latter subject; vol. ix. 440.] [Footnote 24: ASCHAM'S English letter, written when he was abroad, will be found at the end of Bennet's edition of his works, in 4to. They are curious and amusing. What relates to the BIBLIOMANIA I here select from similar specimens. "Oct. 4. At afternoon I went about the town [of Bruxelles]. I went to the frier [Transcriber's Note: friar] Carmelites house, and heard their even song: after, I desired to see the LIBRARY. A frier [Transcriber's Note: friar] was sent to me, and led me into it. There was not one good book but _Lyra_. The friar was learned, spoke Latin readily, entered into Greek, having a very good wit, and a greater desire to learning. He was gentle and honest, &c." p. 370-1. "Oct. 20. to Spira: a good city. Here I first saw _Sturmius de periodis_. I also found here _Ajax_, _Electra_, and _Antigone Sophocles_, excellently, by my good judgment, translated into verse, and fair printed this summer by Gryphius. Your stationers do ill, that at least do 'not provide you the register of all books, especially of old authors, &c.'" p. 372. Again: "Hieronimus Wolfius, that translated Demosthenes and Isocrates, is in this town. I am well acquainted with him, and have brought him twice to my Lord's to dinner. He looks very simple. He telleth me that one Borrheus, that hath written well upon Aristot. priorum, &c., even now is printing goodly commentaries upon Aristotle's Rhetoric. But Sturmius will obscure them all." p. 381. It is impossible to read these extracts without being convinced that Roger Ascham was a book-hunter, and infected with the BIBLIOMANIA!] If we are to judge from the beautiful Missal lying open before Lady Jane Grey, in Mr. Copley's elegant picture now exhibiting at the British Institution, it would seem rational to infer that this amiable and learned female was slightly attacked by the disease. It is to be taken for granted that Queen Elizabeth was not exempt from it; and that her great Secretary,[25] Cecil, sympathised with her! In regard to Elizabeth, her _Prayer-Book_[26] is quite evidence sufficient for me that she found the BIBLIOMANIA irresistible! During her reign, how vast and how frightful were the ravages of the Book-madness! If we are to credit Laneham's celebrated Letter, it had extended far into the country, and infected some of the worthy inhabitants of Coventry; for one "Captain Cox,[27] by profession a mason, and that right skilful," had "as fair a library of sciences, and as many goodly monuments both in Prose and Poetry, and at afternoon could talk as much without book, as any Innholder betwixt Brentford and Bagshot, what degree soever he be!" [Footnote 25: It is a question which requires more time for the solution than I am able to spare, whether CECIL'S name stands more frequently at the head of a Dedication, in a printed book, or of State Papers and other political documents in MS. He was a wonderful man; but a little infected--as I suspect--with the BOOK-DISEASE. ----Famous Cicill, treasurer of the land, Whose wisedom, counsell, skill of Princes state The world admires---- The house itselfe doth shewe the owners wit, And may for bewtie, state, and every thing, Compared be with most within the land. _Tale of Two Swannes_, 1590. 4_to._ I have never yet been able to ascertain whether the owner's attachment towards VELLUM, or LARGE PAPER, Copies was the more vehement!] [Footnote 26: Perhaps this conclusion is too precipitate. But whoever looks at Elizabeth's portrait, on her bended knees, struck off on the reverse of the title page to her prayer book (first printed in 1565) may suppose that the Queen thought the addition of her own portrait would be no mean decoration to the work. Every page is adorned with borders, engraved on wood, of the most spirited execution: representing, amongst other subjects, "The Dance of Death." My copy is the reprint of 1608--in high preservation. I have no doubt that there was a _presentation_ copy printed UPON VELLUM; but in what cabinet does this precious gem now slumber?] [Footnote 27: Laneham gives a splendid list of Romances and Old Ballads possessed by this said CAPTAIN COX; and tells us, moreover, that "he had them all at his fingers ends." Among the ballads we find "Broom broom on Hil; So Wo is me begon twlly lo; Over a Whinny Meg; Hey ding a ding; Bony lass upon Green; My bony on gave me a bek; By a bank as I lay; and two more he had fair wrapt up in parchment, and bound with a whip cord." Edit. 1784, p. 36-7-8. Ritson, in his Historical Essay on _Scottish Song_, speaks of some of these, with a zest, as if he longed to untie the "whip-cord" packet.] While the country was thus giving proofs of the prevalence of this disorder, the two Harringtons (especially the younger)[28] and the illustrious Spenser[29] were unfortunately seized with it in the metropolis. [Footnote 28: SIR JOHN HARRINGTON, knt. Sir John, and his father John Harrington, were very considerable literary characters in the 16th century; and whoever has been fortunate enough to read through Mr. Park's new edition of the _Nugæ Antiquæ_, 1804, 8vo., will meet with numerous instances in which the son displays considerable bibliographical knowledge--especially in _Italian_ literature; Harrington and Spenser seem to have been the Matthias and Roscoe of the day. I make no doubt but that the former was as thoroughly acquainted with the _vera edizione_ of the Giuntæ edition of Boccaccio's Decamerone, 1527, 4to., as either Haym, Orlandi, or Bandini. Paterson, with all his skill, was mistaken in this article when he catalogued Croft's books. See Bibl. Crofts. No. 3976: his true edition was knocked down for 6_s._!!!] [Footnote 29: Spenser's general acquaintance with Italian literature has received the best illustration in Mr. Todd's Variorum edition of the poet's works; where the reader will find, in the notes, a constant succession of anecdotes of, and references to, the state of anterior and contemporaneous literature, foreign and domestic.] In the seventeenth century, from the death of Elizabeth to the commencement of Anne's reign, it seems to have made considerable havoc; yet, such was our blindness to it that we scrupled not to engage in overtures for the purchase of Isaac Vossius's[30] fine library, enriched with many treasures from the Queen of Sweden's, which this versatile genius scrupled not to pillage without confession or apology. During this century our great reasoners and philosophers began to be in motion; and, like the fumes of tobacco, which drive the concealed and clotted insects from the interior to the extremity of the leaves, the infectious particles of the BIBLIOMANIA set a thousand busy brains a-thinking, and produced ten thousand capricious works, which, over-shadowed by the majestic remains of Bacon, Locke, and Boyle, perished for want of air, and warmth, and moisture. [Footnote 30: "The story is extant, and written in very choice _French_." Consult Chauffepié's _Supplement to Bayle's Dictionary_, vol. iv. p. 621. note Q. Vossius's library was magnificent and extensive. The University of Leyden offered not less than 36,000 florins for it. _Idem._ p. 631.] The reign of Queen Anne was not exempt from the influence of this disease; for during this period, Maittaire[31] began to lay the foundation of his extensive library, and to publish some bibliographical works which may be thought to have rather increased, than diminished, its force. Meanwhile, Harley[32] Earl of Oxford watched its progress with an anxious eye; and although he might have learnt experience from the fatal examples of R. Smith,[33] and T. Baker,[34] and the more recent ones of Thomas Rawlinson,[35] Bridges,[36] and Collins,[37] yet he seemed resolved to brave and to baffle it; but, like his predecessors, he was suddenly crushed within the gripe of the demon, and fell one of the most splendid of his victims. Even the unrivalled medical skill of Mead[38] could save neither his friend nor himself. The Doctor survived his Lordship about twelve years; dying of the complaint called the BIBLIOMANIA! He left behind an illustrious character; sufficient to flatter and soothe those who may tread in his footsteps, and fall victims to a similar disorder. [Footnote 31: Of MICHAEL MAITTAIRE I have given a brief sketch in my Introduction to the _Greek and Latin Classics_, vol. I, 148. Mr. Beloe, in the 3rd vol. of his _Anecdotes of Literature_, p. ix., has described his merits with justice. The principal value of Maittaire's _Annales Typographici_ consists in a great deal of curious matter detailed in the notes; but the absence of the "lucidus ordo" renders the perusal of these fatiguing and dissatisfactory. The author brought a full and well-informed mind to the task he undertook--but he wanted taste and precision in the arrangement of his materials. The eye wanders over a vast indigested mass; and information, when it is to be acquired with excessive toil, is, comparatively, seldom acquired. Panzer has adopted an infinitely better plan, on the model of Orlandi; and, if his materials had been _printed_ with the same beauty with which they appear to have been composed, and his annals had descended to as late a period as those of Maittaire, his work must have made us, eventually, forget that of his predecessor. The bibliographer is, no doubt, aware that of Maittaire's first volume there are two editions. Why the author did not reprint, in the second edition (1733), the facsimile of the epigram and epistle of LASCAR prefixed to the edition of the Anthology 1496, and the disquisition concerning the ancient editions of Quintilian (both of which were in the first edition of 1719), is absolutely inexplicable. Maittaire was sharply attacked for this absurdity, in the "Catalogus Auctorum," of the "_Annus Tertius Sæcularis Inv. Art. Topog._" Harlem, 1741, 8vo. p. 11. "Rara certe Librum augendi methodus (exclaims the author)! Satis patet auctorem hoc eo fecisse consilio, ut et primæ et secundæ Libri sive editioni pretium suum constaret, et una æque ac altera Lectoribus necessaria esset." The catalogue of Maittaire's library [1748, 2 parts, 8vo.], which affords ample proof of the BIBLIOMANIA of its collector, is exceedingly scarce. A good copy of it, even unpriced, is worth a guinea: it was originally sold for 4 shillings; and was drawn up by Maittaire himself.] [Footnote 32: In a periodical publication called "_The Director_," to which I contributed under the article of "_Bibliographiana_" (and of which the printer of this work, Mr. William Savage, is now the sole publisher), there was rather a minute analysis of the famous library of HARLEY, EARL OF OXFORD: a library which seems not only to have revived, but eclipsed, the splendour of the Roman one formed by Lucullus. The following is an abridgement of this analysis: VOLUMES. 1. Divinity: _Greek, Latin, French and Italian_--about 2000 ---- _English_ 2500 2. History and Antiquities 4000 3. Books of Prints, Sculpture, and Drawings-- _Twenty Thousand Drawings and Prints._ _Ten Thousand Portraits._ 4. Philosophy, Chemistry, Medicine, &c. 2500 5. Geography, Chronology, General History 600 6. Voyages and Travels 800 7. Law 800 8. Sculpture and Architecture 900 9. Greek and Latin Classics 2400 10. Books printed UPON VELLUM 220 11. English Poetry, Romances, &c. 1000 12. French and Spanish do. 700 13. Parliamentary Affairs 400 14. Trade and Commerce 300 15. Miscellaneous Subjects 4000 16. Pamphlets--_Four Hundred Thousand_! Mr. Gough says, these books "filled thirteen handsome chambers, and two long galleries." Osborne the bookseller purchased them for £13,000: a sum little more than two thirds of the price of the binding, as paid by Lord Oxford. The bookseller was accused of injustice and parsimony; but the low prices which he afterwards affixed to the articles, and the tardiness of their sale, are sufficient refutations of this charge. Osborne opened his shop for the inspection of the books on Tuesday the 14th of February, 1744; for fear "of the curiosity of the spectators, before the sale, producing disorder in the disposition of the books." The dispersion of the HARLEIAN COLLECTION is a blot in the literary annals of our country: had there then been such a Speaker, and such a spirit in the House of Commons, as we now possess, the volumes of Harley would have been reposing with the MARBLES OF TOWNLEY!] [Footnote 33: "BIBLIOTHECA SMITHIANA: sive Catalogus Librorum in quavis facultate insigniorum, quos in usum suum et Bibliothecæ ornamentum multo ære sibi comparavit vir clarissimus doctissimusque D. RICHARDUS SMITH, &c., Londini, 1682," 4to. I recommend the collector of curious and valuable catalogues to lay hold upon the present one (of which a more particular description will be given in another work) whenever it comes in his way. The address "To the Reader," in which we are told that "this so much celebrated, so often desired, so long expected, library is now exposed to sale," gives a very interesting account of the owner. Inter alia, we are informed that Mr. Smith "was as constantly known every day to walk his rounds through the shops, as to sit down to his meals, &c.;" and that "while others were forming arms, and new-modelling kingdoms, _his_ great ambition was to become master of a good book." The catalogue itself justifies every thing said in commendation of the collector of the library. The arrangement is good; the books, in almost all departments of literature, foreign and domestic, valuable and curious; and among the English ones I have found some of the rarest Caxtons to refer to in my edition of Ames. What would Mr. Bindley, or Mr. Malone, or Mr. Douce, give to have the _creaming_ of such a collection of "Bundles of Stitcht Books and Pamphlets," as extends from page 370 to 395 of this catalogue! But alas! while the Bibliographer exults in, or hopes for, the possession of such treasures, the physiologist discovers therein fresh causes of disease, and the philanthropist mourns over the ravages of the BIBLIOMANIA!] [Footnote 34: Consult Masters's "_Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the late Rev._ THOMAS BAKER," Camb. 1864, 8vo. Let any person examine the catalogue of _Forty-two_ folio volumes of "MS. collections by Mr. Baker," (as given at the end of this piece of biography) and reconcile himself, if he can, to the supposition that the said Mr. Baker did not fall a victim to the _Book-disease_! For some cause, I do not now recollect what, Baker took his name off the books of St. John's College, Cambridge, to which he belonged; but such was his attachment to the place, and more especially to the library, that he spent a great portion of the ensuing twenty years of his life within the precincts of the same: frequently comforted and refreshed, no doubt, by the sight of the magnificent LARGE PAPER copies of Walton and Castell, and of Cranmer's Bible UPON VELLUM!] [Footnote 35: This THOMAS RAWLINSON, who is introduced in the Tatler under the name _Tom Folio_, was a very extraordinary character, and most desperately addicted to book-hunting. Because his own house was not large enough, he hired _London House_, in Aldersgate Street, for the reception of his library; and here he used to regale himself with the sight and the scent of innumerable black letter volumes, arranged in "sable garb," and stowed perhaps "three deep," from the bottom to the top of his house. He died in 1725; and Catalogues of his books for sale continued, for nine succeeding years, to meet the public eye. The following is a list of all the parts which I have ever met with; taken from copies in Mr. Heber's possession. _Part_ 1. _A Catalogue of choice and valuable Books in most Faculties and Languages_: being the sixth part of the collection made by THOS. RAWLINSON, Esq., &c., to be sold on Thursday, the 2d day of March, 1726; beginning every evening at 5 of the clock, by Charles Davis, Bookseller. Qui non credit, eras credat. Ex Autog. T.R. 2. _Bibliotheca Rawlinsoniana_; sive Delectus Librorum in omni ferè Linguâ et Facultate præstantium--to be sold on Wednesday 26th April, [1726] by Charles Davis, Bookseller. 2600 Numbers. 3. _The Same_: January 1727-8. By Thomas Ballard, Bookseller, 3520 Numbers. 4. _The Same_: March, 1727-8. By the same. 3840 Numbers. 5. _The Same_: October, 1728. By the same. 3200 Numbers. 6. _The Same_: November, 1728. By the same. 3520 Numbers. 7. _The Same_: April, 1729. By the same. 4161 Numbers. 8. _The Same_: November, 1729. By the same. 2700 Numbers. 9. _The Same_: [Of Rawlinson's MANUSCRIPTS] By the same. March 1733-4. 800 Numbers. 10. _Picturæ Rawlinsonianæ._ April, 1734. 117 Articles. At the end, it would seem that a catalogue of his prints, and MSS. missing in the last sale, were to be published the ensuing winter. N.B. The black-letter books are catalogued in the Gothic letter.] [Footnote 36: "BIBLIOTHECÆ BRIDGESIANÆ CATALOGUS: or, A Catalogue of the Entire Library of JOHN BRIDGES, late of _Lincoln's Inn_, Esq., &c., which will begin to be sold, by Auction, on Monday the seventh day of February, 1725-6, at his chambers in _Lincoln's Inn_, No. 6." From a priced copy of this sale catalogue, in my possession, once belonging to Nourse, the bookseller in the Strand, I find that the following was the produce of the sale: The Amount of the books £3730 0 0 Prints and books of Prints 394 17 6 ----------- Total Amount of the Sale £4124 17 6 Two different catalogues of this valuable collection of books were printed. The one was analysed, or a _catalogue raisonné_; to which was prefixed a print of a Grecian portico, &c., with ornaments and statues: the other (expressly for the sale) was an indigested and extremely confused one--to which was prefixed a print, designed and engraved by A. Motte, of an oak felled, with a number of men cutting down and carrying away its branches; illustrative of the following Greek motto inscribed on a scroll above--[Greek: Dryos pesousês pas anêr xyleuetai]: "An affecting memento (says Mr. Nichols, very justly, in his _Anecdotes of Bowyer_, p. 557) to the collectors of great libraries, who cannot, or do not, leave them to some public accessible repository."] [Footnote 37: In the year 1730-1, there was sold by auction, at St. Paul's Coffee-house, in St. Paul's Church-yard (beginning every evening at five o'clock), the library of the celebrated Free-Thinker, ANTHONY COLLINS, ESQ. "Containing a collection of several thousand volumes in Greek, Latin, English, French, and Spanish; in divinity, history, antiquity, philosophy, husbandry, and all polite literature: and especially many curious travels and voyages; and many rare and valuable pamphlets." This collection, which is divided into _two parts_ (the first containing 3451 articles, the second 3442), is well worthy of being consulted by the theologian, who is writing upon any controverted point of divinity: there are articles in it of the rarest occurrence. The singular character of its owner and of his works is well known: he was at once the friend and the opponent of Locke and Clarke, who were both anxious for the conversion of a character of such strong, but misguided, talents. The former, on his death-bed, wrote Collins a letter to be delivered to him, after his decease, which was full of affection and good advice.] [Footnote 38: It is almost impossible to dwell on the memory of this GREAT MAN without emotions of delight--whether we consider him as an eminent physician, a friend to literature, or a collector of books, pictures, and coins. Benevolence, magnanimity, and erudition were the striking features of his character: his house was the general receptacle of men of genius and talent, and of every thing beautiful, precious, or rare. His curiosities, whether books, or coins, or pictures, were freely laid open to the public; and the enterprising student, and experienced antiquary, alike found amusement and a courteous reception. He was known to all foreigners of intellectual distinction, and corresponded both with the artisan and the potentate. The great patron of literature, and the leader of his profession (which he practised with a success unknown before), it was hardly possible for unbefriended merit, if properly introduced to him, to depart unrewarded. The clergy, and in general, all men of learning, received his advice _gratuitously_: and his doors were open every morning to the _most indigent_, whom he frequently assisted with money. Although his income, from his professional practice, was very considerable, he died by no means a rich man--so large were the sums which he devoted to the encouragement of literature and the fine arts! The sale of Dr. Mead's _books_ commenced on the 18th of November, 1754, and again on the 7th of April, 1755: lasting together 57 days. The sale of the _prints_ and _drawings_ continued 14 nights. The _gems_, _bronzes_, _busts_, and _antiquities_, 8 days. His books produced £5496 15 0 Pictures 3417 11 0 Prints and drawings 1908 14 0 Coins and medals 1977 17 0 Antiquities 3246 15 0 -------------- Amount of all the sales £16,047 12 0 It would be difficult to mention, within a moderate compass, all the rare and curious articles which his library contained--but the following are too conspicuous to be passed over. The _Spira Virgil_ of 1470, _Pfintzing's Tewrkdrancs_, 1527, _Brandt's Stultifera Navis_, 1498, and the _Aldine Petrarch_ of 1501, ALL UPON VELLUM. The large paper _Olivet's Cicero_ was purchased by Dr. Askew for £14 14_s._ and was sold again at his sale for £36 15_s._ The King of France bought the editio princeps of _Pliny Senr._ for £11 11_s._; and Mr. Willock, a bookseller, bought the magnificently illuminated _Pliny by Jenson_ of 1472, for £18 18_s._: of which Maittaire has said so many fine things. The _French_ books, and all the works upon the _Fine Arts_, were of the first rarity, and value, and bound in a sumptuous manner. Winstanley's _Prospects of Audley End_ brought £50. An amusing account of some of the pictures will be found in Mr. Beloe's "_Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books_," vol. i. 166. 71. But consult also _Nichol's Anecdotes of Bowyer_, p. 225, &c. Of the catalogue of Dr. Mead's books there were only six copies printed on LARGE PAPER. See Bibl. Lort, no. 1149.] The years 1755-6 were singularly remarkable for the mortality excited by the BIBLIOMANIA; and the well known names of Folkes,[39] and Rawlinson,[40] might have supplied a modern Holbein a hint for the introduction of a new subject in the "_Dance of Death_." The close of George the Second's reign witnessed another instance of the fatality of this disease. Henley[41] "bawled till he was hoarse" against the cruelty of its attack; while his library has informed posterity how severely and how mortally he suffered from it. [Footnote 39: "A Catalogue of the entire and valuable library of MARTIN FOLKES, ESQ., President of the Royal Society, and member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, lately deceased; which will be sold by auction by Samuel Baker, at his house, in York Street, Covent Garden. To begin on Monday, February 2, 1756, and to continue for forty days successively (Sundays excepted). Catalogues to be had at most of the considerable places in Europe, and all the booksellers of Great Britain and Ireland, Price Sixpence." This collection was an exceedingly fine one; enriched with many books of the choicest description, which Mr. Folkes had acquired in his travels in Italy and Germany. The works on natural history, coins, medals, and inscriptions, and on the fine arts in general, formed the most valuable department--those in the Greek, Latin and English classics, were comparatively of inferior importance. It is a great pity the catalogue was not better digested; or the books classed according to the nature of their contents. The following prices, for some of the more rare and interesting articles, will amuse a bibliographer of the present day. The chronicles of Fabian, Hall, and Grafton, did not altogether bring quite £2: though the copies are described as perfect and fair. There seems to have been a fine set of Sir Wm. Dugdale's Works (Nos. 3074-81) in 13 vols. which, collectively, produced about 30 guineas. In _Spanish literature_, the history of South America, By Don Juan and Ant. di Ulloa, Madr. fol. in 5 vols., was sold for £5: a fine large paper copy of the description of the Monastery of St. Lorenzo, and the Escorial, Madr. 1657, brought £1 2_s._: de Lastanosa's Spanish Medals, Huesca, fol. 1645, £2 2_s._ In _English_, the first edition of Shakespeare, 1623, which is now what a French bibliographer would say "presque introuvable," produced the sum of £3 3_s._; and Fuller's Worthies, 18_s._! _Fine Arts, Antiquities, and Voyages._ Sandrart's works, in 9 folio volumes (of which a fine perfect copy is now rarely to be met with, and of very great value) were sold for £13 13_s._ only: Desgodetz Roman edifices, Paris, 1682, £4 10_s._: Galleria Giustiniano, 2 vols., fol. £13 13_s._ Le Brun's Voyages in Muscovy, &c., in large paper, £4 4_s._ De Rossi's Raccolta de Statue, &c. Rom. 1704, £6 10_s._ Medailles du Regne de Louis le Grand, de l'imp. Roy. 1. p. fol. 1702, £5 15_s._ 6_d._ The works on _Natural History_ brought still higher prices; but the whole, from the present depreciation of specie, and increased rarity of the articles, would now bring thrice the sums then given. Of the _Greek and Latin Classics_, the Pliny of 1469 and 1472 were sold to Dr. Askew for £11 11_s._ and £7 17_s._ 6_d._ At the Doctor's sale they brought £43 and £23: although the first was lately sold (A.D. 1805) among some duplicates of books belonging to the British Museum, at a much lower price: the copy was, in fact, neither large nor beautiful. Those in the Hunter and Cracherode collections are greatly superior, and would each bring more than double the price. From a priced copy of the sale catalogue, in my possession, I find that the amount of the sale, consisting of 5126 articles, was £3091 5_s._ The _Prints and Drawings_ of Mr. Folkes occupied a sale of 8 days; and his _pictures_, _gems_, _coins_, and _mathematical instruments_, of five days. Mr. MARTIN FOLKES may justly be ranked among the most useful, as well as splendid, literary characters of which this country can boast. He appears to have imbibed, at a very early age, an extreme passion for science and literature; and to have distinguished himself so much at the University of Cambridge, under the able tuition of Dr. Laughton, that, in his 23rd year, he was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society. About two years afterwards he was chosen one of the council, and rose, in gradual succession, to the chair of the presidentship, which he filled with a credit and celebrity that has since never been surpassed. On this occasion he was told by Dr. Jurin, the Secretary, who dedicated to him the 34th vol. of the Transactions, that "the greatest man that ever lived (Sir Isaac Newton) singled him out to fill the chair, and to preside in the society, when he himself was so frequently prevented by indisposition: and that it was sufficient to say of him that he was _Sir Isaac's friend_." Within a few years after this, he was elected President of the Society of Antiquaries. Two situations, the filling of which may be considered as the _ne plus ultra_ of literary distinction. Mr. Folkes travelled abroad, with his family, about two years and a half, visiting the cities of Rome, Florence, and Venice--where he was noticed by almost every person of rank and reputation, and whence he brought away many a valuable article to enrich his own collection. He was born in the year 1690, and died of a second stroke of the palsy, under which he languished for three years, in 1754. Dr. Birch has drawn a very just and interesting character of this eminent man, which may be found in Nichol's _Anecdotes of Bowyer_, 562. 7. Mr. Edwards, the late ornithologist, has described him in a simple, but appropriate, manner. "He seemed," says he, "to have attained to universal knowledge; for, in the many opportunities I have had of being in his company, almost every part of science has happened to be the subject of discourse, all of which he handled as an adept. He was a man of great politeness in his manners, free from all pedantry and pride, and, in every respect, the real unaffected fine gentleman."] [Footnote 40: "BIBLIOTHECA RAWLINSONIANA, sive Catalogus Librorum Richardi Rawlinson, LL.D. Qui prostabunt Venales sub hasta, Apud Samuelem Baker. In Vico dicto _York Street, Covent Garden Londini, Die Lunæ_, 22 Martii MDCCLVI." This valuable library must have contained about 20,000 volumes; for the number of Articles amounted to 9405. On examining a priced catalogue of it, which now lies before me, I have not found any higher sum offered for a work than £4 1_s._ for a collection of fine prints, by Aldegrave (No. 9405). The Greek and Latin classics, of which there were few _Editiones Principes_, or on _large paper_, brought the usual sums given at that period. The old English black-lettered books, which were pretty thickly scattered throughout the collection, were sold for exceedingly low prices--if the copies were perfect. Witness the following: £ _s._ _d._ The Newe Testament in English, 1530 0 2 9 The Ymage of both Churches, after the Revelation of St. John, by Bale, 1550 0 1 6 The boke called the Pype or Tonne of Perfection, by Richard Whytforde, 1532 0 1 9 The Visions of Pierce Plowman, 1561 0 2 0 The Creede of Pierce Plowman, 1553 0 1 6 The Bookes of Moses, in English, 1530 0 3 9 Bale's Actes of Englishe Votaryes, 1550 0 1 3 The Boke of Chivalrie, by Caxton 0 11 0 The Boke of St. Albans, by W. de Worde 1 1 0 These are only very few of the rare articles in English literature, of the whole of which (perhaps upwards of 200 in number) I believe, the 'Boke of St. Albans,' brought the highest sum. Hence it will be seen that this was not the age of curious research into the productions of our ancestors. Shakspeare had not then appeared in a proper _Variorum edition_. Theobald, and Pope, and Warburton, had not investigated the black-letter lore of ancient English writers, for the illustration of their favourite author. This was reserved for Farmer, for Steevens, for Malone, for Chalmers, Reed and Douce: and it is expressly to these latter gentlemen (for Johnson and Hanmer were very sparing, or very shy, of the black letter), that we are indebted for the present spirit of research into the works of our ancestors. The sale of the books lasted 50 days. There was a second sale of pamphlets, books of prints, &c., in the following year, which lasted 10 days; and this was immediately succeeded by a sale of the Doctor's single prints and drawings, which continued 8 days.] [Footnote 41: This gentleman's library, not so remarkable for the black letter as for whimsical publications, was sold by auction, by Samuel Paterson, [the earliest sale in which I find this well known book-auctioneer engaged] in June, 1759, and the three ensuing evenings. The title of the Sale Catalogue is as follows: "A Catalogue of the original MSS. and manuscript collections of the late Reverend Mr. JOHN HENLEY, A.M., Independent Minister of the Oratory, &c., in which are included sundry collections of the late Mons. des Maizeaux, the learned editor of Bayle, &c., Mr. Lowndes, author of the Report for the Amendment of Silver Coins, &c., Dr. Patrick Blair, Physician at Boston, and F.R.S. &c., together with original letters and papers of State, addressed to Henry d'Avenant, Esq., her Britannic Majesty's Envoy at Francfort, from 1703 to 1708 inclusive." Few libraries have contained more curious and remarkable publications than did this. The following articles, given as notable specimens, remind us somewhat of Addison's Memoranda for the Spectator, which the waiter at the coffee-house picked up and read aloud for the amusement of the company. No. 166. God's Manifestation by a Star to the Dutch. A mortifying Fast Diet at Court. On the Birth Day of the first and oldest young gentleman. All corrupt: none good: no not one. No. 168. General Thumbissimo. The Spring reversed, or the Flanderkin's Opera and Dutch Pickle Herrings. The Creolean Fillip, or Royal Mishap. A Martial Telescope, &c., England's Passion Sunday, and April Changelings. No. 170. Speech upon Speech. A Telescope for Tournay. No Battle, but worse, and the True Meaning of it. An Army Beaten and interred. No. 174. Signs when the P. will come. Was Captain Sw----n a Prisoner on Parole, to be catechised? David's Opinion of like Times. The Seeds of the plot may rise, though the leaves fall. A Perspective, from the Blair of Athol, the Pretender's Popery. Murder! Fire! Where! Where! No. 178. Taking Carlisle, catching an eel by the tail. Address of a Bishop, Dean and Clergy. Swearing to the P----r, &c., Anathema denounced against those Parents, Masters, and Magistrates, that do not punish the Sin at Stokesley. A Speech, &c. A parallel between the Rebels to K. Charles I. and those to his Successor. _Jane Cameron_ looked killing at _Falkirk_. No. 179. Let stocks be knighted, write, Sir Banks, &c. the Ramhead Month. A Proof that the Writers against Popery fear it will be established in this Kingdom. A Scheme, wisely blabbed to root and branch the Highlanders. Let St. Patrick have fair play, &c. Of ORATOR HENLEY I have not been able to collect any biographical details more interesting than those which are to be found in Warburton's notes to Pope's Dunciad.] We are now, my dear Sir, descending rapidly to our own times; and, in a manner sufficiently rough, have traced the _History of the Bibliomania_ to the commencement of the present illustrious reign: when we discover, among its victims, a General, who had probably faced many a cannon, and stormed many a rampart, uninjured. The name of Dormer[42] will remind you of the small but choice library which affords such a melancholy proof of its owners' fate; while the more splendid examples of Smith[43] and West[44] serve to shew the increased ravages of a disease, which seemed to threaten the lives of all, into whose ears (like those of "Visto,") some demon had "whispered" the sound of "TASTE." These three striking instances of the fatality of the Bibliomania occurred--the first in the year 1764; and the latter in 1773. The following year witnessed the sale of the Fletewode[45] library; so that nothing but despair and havoc appeared to move in the train of this pestiferous malady. In the year 1775 died the famous Dr. Anthony Askew, another illustrious victim to the Bibliomania. Those who recollect the zeal and scholarship of this great book-collector, and the precious gems with which his library[46] was stored from the cabinets of De Boze and Gaignat, as well as of Mead and Folkes, cannot but sigh with grief of heart on the thought of such a victim! How ardently, and how kindly [as I remember to have heard his friend Dr. Burges say], would Askew unfold his glittering stores--open the magnificent folio, or the shining duodecimo, UPON VELLUM, embossed and fast held together with golden knobs and silver clasps! How carefully would he unroll the curious MS.--decipher the half effaced characters--and then, casting an eye of ecstacy over the shelves upon which similar treasures were lodged, exult in the glittering prospect before him! But death--who, as Horace tells us, raps equally at the palaces of kings and cottages of peasants, made no scruple to exercise the knocker of the Doctor's door, and sent, as his avant-courier, THIS DEPLORABLE MANIA! It appeared; and even Askew, with all his skill in medicine and books, fell lifeless before it--bewailed, as he was beloved and respected! [Footnote 42: "A Catalogue of the genuine and elegant Library of the late Sir C.C. DORMER, collected by Lieutenant-General James Dormer, which will be sold, &c., by Samuel Baker, at his house in York Street, Covent Garden; to begin on Monday, February the 20th, 1764, and to continue the nineteen following evenings." At the end of the catalogue we are told that the books were "in general of the best editions, and in the finest condition, many of them in _large paper_, bound in morocco, gilt leaves, &c." This was a very choice collection of books, consisting almost entirely of Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish and French. The number of articles did not exceed 3082, and of volumes, probably not 7000. The catalogue is neatly printed, and copies of it on _large paper_ are exceedingly scarce. Among the most curious and valuable articles were those numbered 599, 604, 2249, 2590; from no. 2680, to the end, was a choice collection of Italian and Spanish books.] [Footnote 43: In the year 1755 was published at Venice, printed by J.B. Pasquali, a catalogue of the books of JOSEPH SMITH, Esq., Consul at Venice. The catalogue was published under the following Latin title: "Bibliotheca Smitheana, seu Catalogus Librorum D. Josephi Smithii, Angli, per Cognomina Authorum dispositus, Venetiis, typis Jo. Baptistæ Pasquali, M,DCCLV.;" in quarto; with the arms of Consul Smith. The title page is succeeded by a Latin preface of Pasquali, and an alphabetical list of 43 pages of the authors mentioned in the catalogue: then follow the books arranged alphabetically, without any regard to size, language, or subject. These occupy 519 pages, marked with the Roman numerals; after which are 66 pages, numbered in the same manner, of "addenda et corrigenda." The most valuable part of the volume is "The Prefaces and Epistles prefixed to those works in the Library which were printed in the 15th century:" these occupy 348 pages. A Catalogue, (in three pages) of the Names of the illustrious Men mentioned in these prefaces, &c., closes the book. It would be superfluous to mention to bibliographers the rare articles contained in this collection, which are so generally known and so justly appreciated. They consist chiefly of early editions of _Italian_, _Greek_, and _Latin classics_; and of many copies of both printed UPON VELLUM. The library, so rich in these articles, was, however, defective in English Literature and Antiquities. There was scarcely any thing of Shakspeare or Dugdale. On the death of Mr. Smith in 1772, his collection was sold in 1773, 8vo., by Baker and Leigh; and the books were announced to the public, as being "in the finest preservation, and consisting of the very best and scarcest editions of the Latin, Italian, and French authors, from the invention of printing; with manuscripts and missals, upon vellum, finely illuminated." A glance upon the prices for which most of these fine books were sold made Mr. Cuthell exclaim, in my hearing, that "_they were given away_." On these occasions, one cannot help now and then wishing, with father Evander, "O mihi præteritos referat si Jupiter annos!" On comparing Pasquali's, with the sale, catalogue, it will be obvious that a great number of rare and valuable articles was disposed of before the books came to public auction. Indeed it is known that his present MAJESTY enriched his magnificent collection with many of the Consul's _first editions_, and _vellum copies_, during the life of the latter. The sale continued thirteen days only; and on the last day were sold all the English books in the _black-letter_. Some of these are rather curious. Of CONSUL SMITH I am unable to present the lover of VIRTU with any particulars more acceptable than the following. Pasquali (whose Latin preface is curious enough--abounding with as many interrogatories as Hamlet's soliloquies) has told us that "as the Consul himself was distinguished for his politeness, talents, and prudence, so was his house for splendid and elegant decorations. You might there view, says he, the most beautifully painted pictures, and exquisite ornaments, whether gems, vases, or engravings. In short, the whole furniture was so brilliant and classical that you admired at once the magnificence and judgment of the owner." He tells us, a little further, that he had frequently solicited the Consul to print a catalogue of his books; which proposition his modesty at first induced him to reject; but, afterwards, his liberality, to comply with. He then observes that, "in the compilation of the catalogue, he has studied brevity as much as it was consistent with perspicuity; and that he was once desirous of stating the _value_ and _price_ of the books, but was dissuaded from it by the advice of the more experienced, and by the singular modesty of the Collector." It must be confessed that Pasquali has executed his task well, and that the catalogue ranks among the most valuable, as well as rare, books of the kind.] [Footnote 44: "BIBLIOTHECA WESTIANA; A catalogue of the curious and truly valuable library of the late James West, Esq., President of the Royal Society, deceased, &c. Including the works of CAXTON, LETTOU, MACHLINIA, the anonymous ST. ALBANS SCHOOLMASTE [Transcriber's Note: Schoolmaster], WYNKYN DE WORDE, PYNSON, and the rest of the old English typographers. Digested by Samuel Paterson," 1773, 8vo. ANALYSIS OF THE CATALOGUE. 1. _Volumes of Miscellaneous Tracts._ These volumes extend from No. 148 to 200, from 915 to 992, from 1201 to 1330, and from No. 1401 to 1480. 2. _Divinity._ In the whole, 560 articles; probably about 1200 volumes; some of them exceedingly scarce and valuable. 3. _Education, Languages, Criticism, Classics, Dictionaries, Catalogues of Libraries, &c._ There were about 700 volumes in these departments. The catalogues of English books, from that of Maunsell, in 1595, to the latest before Mr. West's time, were very complete. The treatises on education and translations of the ancient classics comprehended a curious and uncommon collection. The Greek and Latin classics were rather select than rare. 4. _English Poetry, Romance, and Miscellanies._ This interesting part of the collection comprehended about 355 articles, or probably about 750 volumes: and if the singularly rare and curious books which may be found _under these heads alone_ were now concentrated in one library, the owner of them might safely demand 4000 guineas for such a treasure. 5. _Philosophy, Mathematics, Inventions, Agriculture and Horticulture, Medicine, Cookery, Surgery, etc._ Two hundred and forty articles, or about 560 volumes. 6. _Chemistry, Natural History, Astrology, Sorcery, Gigantology._ Probably not more than 100 volumes. 7. _History and Antiquities._ This comprehended a great number of curious and valuable productions, relating both to foreign and domestic transactions. 8. _Heraldry and Genealogy._ A great number of curious and scarce articles may be found under these heads. 9. _Ancient Legends and Chronicles._ To the English antiquary, few departments of literature are more interesting that these. Mr. West seems to have paid particular attention to them, and to have enriched his library with many articles of this description, of the rarest occurrence. The lovers of Caxton, Fabian, Hardyng, Hall, Grafton, and Holinshed, may be highly gratified by inspecting the various editions of these old chroniclers. I entreat the diligent bibliographer to examine the first eight articles of page 209 of the catalogue. Alas, when will all these again come under the hammer at one sale?! 10. _Topography._ Even to a veteran, like the late Mr. GOUGH, such a collection as may be found from p. 217 to p. 239 of this catalogue, would be considered a first-rate acquisition. I am aware that the gothic wainscot, and stained glass windows, of _Enfield Study_ enshrined a still more exquisite topographical collection! But we are improved since the days of Mr. West; and every body knows to _whom_ these improvements are, in a great measure, to be attributed. When I call to mind the author of '_British Topography_' and '_Sepulchral Monuments_,' I am not insensible to the taste, diligence, and erudition of the "par nobile fratrum," who have gratified us with the '_Environs of London_,' '_Roman Remains_,' and the first two volumes of '_Magna Britannia_!' The preceding is to be considered as a very general, and therefore superficial, analysis of the catalogue of Mr. West's library; copies of it, with the sums for which the books were sold, are now found with difficulty, and bring a considerable price. I never saw or heard of one on LARGE PAPER!] [Footnote 45: "A catalogue of rare books and tracts in various languages and faculties; including the _Ancient Conventual Library_ of Missenden-Abbey, in Buckinghamshire; together with some choice remains of that of the late eminent Serjeant at law, WILLIAM FLETEWODE, Esq., Recorder of London, in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth; among which are several specimens of the earliest Typography, foreign and English, including CAXTON, WYNKYN DE WORDE, PYNSON, and others; a fine collection of English Poetry, some scarce old law-books, a great number of old English plays, several choice MSS. upon vellum, and other subjects of literary curiosity. Also several of the best editions of the Classics, and modern English and French books. To begin _December_ 5, 1774, and the 17 following evenings, precisely at half an hour after five." I am in possession of a _priced Catalogue_ of this collection, which once belonged to Herbert, and which contains all the purchasers' names, as well as the sums given. The purchasers were principally Herbert, Garrick, Dodd, Elmsley, T. Payne, Richardson, Chapman, Wagstaff, Bindley, and Gough. The following is a specimen of some curious and interesting articles contained in this celebrated library, and of the prices for which they once sold! No. 172. _Bale's brefe Chronycle relating to Syr Johan Oldecastell_, 1544. The Life off the 70th Archbishopp off Canterbury presentleye sittinge, 1574, &c. Life of Hen. Hills, Printer to O. Cromwell, _with the Relation of what passed between him and the Taylor's Wife in Black Friars_, 1688, _&c._ £0 7_s._ 9_d._ Purchased by Mores. Nos. 361 to 367. Upwards of thirty _scarce Theological Tracts_, in Latin and English 1 5 0 Nos. 746 to 784. A fine collection of early English Translations, in black letter, with some good foreign editions of the classics. Not exceeding, in the whole 10 10 0 Nos. 837, 838. Two copies of the _first edition_ of Bacon's Essays, 1597! 0 0 6 The reader will just glance at No. 970, in the catalogue, en passant, to Nos. 1082 (£1 2s.) and 1091 (12s.); but more particularly to No. 1173. Caxton's _Boke of Tulle of olde age_, &c. 1481. Purchased by the late Mr. T. Payne 8 8 0 No. 1174. CAXTON'S _Boke which is sayd or called Cathon_, &c. 1483. 5 0 0 Purchased by Alchorn. No. 1256. CAXTON'S _Doctrinal of Sapyence_, 1489 6 6 0 Purchased by Alchorn. No. 1257. CAXTON'S _Cordyal_, 1479 6 12 6 No. 1258. WYNKYN DE WORDE'S _Ocharde of Syon_, &c. 1519. 1 13 0 I will, however, only add that there were upwards of 150 articles of _Old Plays_, mostly in quarto. See page 73. Of _Antiquities_, _Chronicles_, and _Topography_, it would be difficult to pitch upon the rarest volumes. The collection, including very few MSS., contained 3641 articles, or probably nearly 7000 volumes. The Catalogue is uncommon.] [Footnote 46: I am now arrived, pursuing my chronological arrangement, at a very important period in the annals of book-sales. The name and collection of Dr. ASKEW are so well known in the bibliographical world that the reader need not be detained with laboured commendations on either: in the present place, however, it would be a cruel disappointment not to say a word or two by way of _preface_ or _prologue_. Dr. ANTHONY ASKEW had eminently distinguished himself by a refined taste, a sound knowledge, and an indefatigable research relating to every thing connected with Grecian and Roman literature. It was to be expected, even during his life, as he was possessed of sufficient means to gratify himself with what was rare, curious, and beautiful in literature and the fine arts, that the public would, one day, be benefited by such pursuits: especially as he had expressed a wish that his treasures might be unreservedly submitted to sale, after his decease. In this wish the Doctor was not singular. Many eminent collectors had indulged it before him: and, to my knowledge, many modern ones still indulge it. Accordingly on the death of Dr. Askew, in 1774, appeared, in the ensuing year, a catalogue of his books for sale, by Messrs. Baker and Leigh, under the following title: "BIBLIOTHECA ASKEVIANA, sive Catalogus Librorum Rarissimorum ANTONII ASKEW, M.D., quorum Auctio fiet apud S. Baker et G. Leigh, in Vico dicto _York Street, Covent Garden_, Londini. _Die Lunæ_, 13 _Februarii_, MDCCLXXV, et in undeviginti sequentes dies." A few copies were struck off on large paper. We are told by the compiler of the catalogue that it was thought unnecessary to say much with respect to this Library of the late Dr. Anthony Askew, as the Collector and Collection were so well known in almost all parts of Europe. Afterwards it is observed that "The books in general are in very fine condition, many of them bound in morocco, and Russia leather, with gilt leaves." "To give a particular account," continues the Compiler, "of the _many scarce editions_ of books in this Catalogue would be almost endless, therefore the _first editions_ of the Classics, and some _extremely rare books_ are chiefly noticed. The catalogue, without any doubt, contains the best, rarest, and most valuable collection of GREEK and LATIN BOOKS that were ever sold in England." This account is not overcharged. The collection, in regard to Greek and Roman literature, was _unique_ in its day. The late worthy and learned Mr. M. CRACHERODE, whose library now forms one of the most splendid acquisitions of the British Museum, and whose _bequest_ of it will immortalize his memory, was also among the "Emptores literarii" at this renowned sale. He had enriched his collection with many _Exemplar Askevianum_; and, in his latter days, used to elevate his hands and eyes, and exclaim against the prices _now_ offered for EDITIONES PRINCIPES! The fact is, Dr. Askew's sale has been considered a sort of _æra_ in bibliography. Since that period, rare and curious books in Greek and Latin literature have been greedily sought after, and obtained at most extravagant prices. It is very well for a veteran in bibliography, as was Mr. Cracherode, or as are Mr. Wodhull and Dr. Gosset, whose collections were formed in the days of Gaignat, Askew, Duke de la Valliere, and Lamoignon--it is very well for such gentlemen to declaim against _modern prices_! But what is to be done? Books grow scarcer every day, and the love of literature, and of possessing rare and interesting works, increases in an equal ratio. Hungry bibliographers meet, at sales, with well furnished purses, and are resolved upon sumptuous fare. Thus the hammer _vibrates_, after a bidding of _Forty pounds_, where formerly it used regularly to _fall_ at _Four_! But we lose sight of Dr. Askew's _rare editions_, and _large paper copies_. The following, gentle Reader, is but an imperfect specimen! No. 168. Chaucer's Works, by PYNSON, no date £7 17_s._ 6_d._ No. 172. Cicero of Old Age, by Caxton, 1481 13 13 0 No. 518. Gilles' (Nicole) Annales, &c. de France. Paris, fol. 1520. 2 tom. SUR VELIN 31 10 6 No. 647. Æginetæ (Pauli) Præcepta Salubria. Paris, quarto, 1510. ON VELLUM 11 0 0 No. 666. Æsopi Fabulæ. EDIT. PRIN. _circ._ 1480 6 6 0 No. 684. Boccacio, la Teseide _Ferar._ 1475. PRIMA EDIZIONE 85 0 0 No. 1433. Catullus Tibullus, et Propertius, Aldi. 8vo. 1502. IN MEMBRANA 17 10 0 This copy was purchased by the late Mr. M.C. Cracherode, and is now, with his library, in the British Museum. It is a beautiful book, but cannot be compared with Lord Spencer's Aldine VELLUM Virgil, of the same size. No. 1576. Durandi Rationale, &c. 1459. IN MEMBRANA 61 0 0 The beginning of the 1st chapter was wanting. Lord Spencer has a perfect copy of this rare book on spotless VELLUM! No. 2656. Platonis Opera, apud Aldum. 2 vol. fol. 1513. _Edit. Prin._ ON VELLUM 55 13 0 Purchased by the late Dr. W. Hunter; and is at this moment, in his Museum at _Glasgow_. The reader who has not seen them can have no idea of the beauty of these vellum leaves. The ink is of the finest lustre, and the whole typographical arrangement may be considered a master-piece of printing. Lord Oxford told Dr. Mead that he gave 100 guineas for this very copy.] After this melancholy event, one would have thought that future _Virtuosi_ would have barricadoed their doors, and fumigated their chambers, to keep out such a pest;--but how few are they who profit by experience, even when dearly obtained! The subsequent history of the disease is a striking proof of the truth of this remark; for the madness of book-collecting rather increased--and the work of death still went on. In the year 1776 died John Ratcliffe[47] another, and a very singular, instance of the fatality of the BIBLIOMANIA. If he had contented himself with his former occupation, and frequented the butter and cheese, instead of the book, market--if he could have _fancied himself_ in a brown peruke, and Russian apron, instead of an embroidered waistcoat, velvet breeches, and flowing perriwig, he might, perhaps, have enjoyed greater longevity; but, infatuated by the Caxtons and Wynkyn De Wordes of Fletewode and of West, he fell into the snare; and the more he struggled to disentangle himself, the more certainly did he become a prey to the disease. [Footnote 47: BIBLIOTHECA RATCLIFFIANA; or, "A Catalogue of the elegant and truly valuable Library of JOHN RATCLIFFE, Esq. late of Bermondsey, deceased. The whole collected with great judgment and expense, during the last thirty years of his life: comprehending a large and most choice collection of the rare old English _black-letter_, in fine preservation, and in elegant bindings, printed by CAXTON, LETTOU, MACHLINIA, the anonymous St. Albans Schoolmaster, Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, Berthelet, Grafton, Day, Newberie, Marshe, Jugge, Whytchurch, Wyer, Rastell, Coplande, and the rest of the _Old English Typographers_: several missals and MSS., and two Pedigrees on vellum, finely illuminated." The title page then sets forth a specimen of these black-lettered gems; among which our eyes are dazzled with a galaxy of Caxtons, Wynkyn de Wordes, Pynsons, &c. &c. The sale took place on March 27, 1776. If ever there was a _unique_ collection, this was one--the very essence of Old Divinity, Poetry, Romances, and Chronicles! The articles were only 1675 in number, but their intrinsic value amply compensated for their paucity. The following is but an inadequate specimen. No. 1315. Horace's Arte of Poetrie, Pistles and Satyres, by Drant. 1567, _first English edition_ £0 16_s._ 6_d._ No. 1321. The Sheparde's Calender, 1579. Whetstone's Castle of Delight, 1576 1 2 0 No. 1392. The Pastyme of the People, printed by Rastell. Curious wood cuts. A copy of this book is not now to be procured. I have known £40 offered for it, and rejected with disdain 7 7 0 No. 1403. Barclay's Shyp of Folys, printed by Pynson, 1508, _first edit._ fine copy 2 10 0 No. 1426. The Doctrinal of Sapyence, printed by CAXTON, 1489 8 8 0 No. 1427. The Boke, called Cathon, DITTO, 1483. _Purchased by Dr. Hunter_, and now in his Museum 5 5 0 No. 1428. The Polytyque Boke, named Tullius de Senectute, in Englishe, by CAXTON, 1481. _Purchased for his Majesty_ 14 0 0 No. 1429. The Game of Chesse Playe. 1474 16 0 0 No. 1665. The Boke of Jason, printed by CAXTON 5 10 0 No. 1669. The Polychronicon of Ranulph Higden, printed by CAXTON, 1482. _Purchased by Dr. Hunter_ 5 15 6 No. 1670. Legenda Aurea, or the Golden Legende 1483 9 15 0 No. 1674. Mr. Ratcliffe's MS. Catalogues of the _rare old black letter_, and other curious and uncommon books, 4 vols. 7 15 0 This would have been the most delicious article to _my_ palate. If the present owner of it were disposed to part with it, I could not find it in my heart to refuse him _compound interest_ for his money. As is the wooden frame-work to the bricklayer in the construction of his arch, so might Mr. Ratcliffe's MS. Catalogues be to me in the compilation of a certain _magnum opus_! The memory of such a man ought to be dear to the "_black-lettered dogs_" of the present day; for he had [mirabile dictu!] _upwards of_ THIRTY CAXTONS! If I might hazard a comparison between Mr. James West's and Mr. John Ratcliffe's collections, I should say that the former was more extensive, the latter more curious: Mr. West's, like a magnificent _champagne_, executed by the hand of Claude or Both, and enclosing mountains, and meadows, and streams, presented to the eye of the beholder a scene at once extensive, luxuriant, and fruitful: Mr. Ratcliffe's, like one of those delicious pieces of scenery, touched by the pencil of Rysdael or Hobbima, exhibited to the beholder's eye a spot equally interesting, but less varied and extensive. The sweeping foliage and rich pasture of the former could not, perhaps, afford greater gratification than did the thatched cottage, abrupt declivities, and gushing streams of the latter. To change the metaphor--Mr. West's was a magnificent repository, Mr. Ratcliffe's a choice cabinet of gems.] Thirty years have been considered by Addison (somewhere in his Spectator) as a pretty accurate period for the passing away of one generation and the coming on of another. We have brought down our researches to within a similar period of the present times; but, as Addison has not made out the proofs of such assertion, and as many of the relatives and friends of those who have fallen victims to the BIBLIOMANIA, since the days of Ratcliffe, may yet be alive; moreover, as it is the part of humanity not to tear open wounds which have been just closed, or awaken painful sensibilities which have been well nigh laid to rest; so, my dear Sir, in giving you a further account of this fatal disorder, I deem it the most prudent method _not to expatiate_ upon the subsequent examples of its mortality. We can only mourn over such names as BEAUCLERK, CROFTS, PEARSON, LORT, MASON, FARMER, STEEVENS, WOODHOUSE, BRAND, and REED! and fondly hope that the list may not be increased by those of living characters! We are, in the SECOND place, to describe the SYMPTOMS OF THE DISEASE. The ingenious Peignot, in the first volume of his 'Dictionnaire Bibliologie,' p. 51, defines the Bibliomania[48] to be "a passion for possessing books; not so much to be instructed by them, as to gratify the eye by looking on them. He who is affected by this mania knows books only by their titles and dates, and is rather seduced by the exterior than interior"! This is, perhaps, too general and vague a definition to be of much benefit in the knowledge, and consequent prevention, of the disease: let us, therefore, describe it more certainly and intelligibly. [Footnote 48: There is a short, but smart and interesting, article on this head in Mr. D'Israeli's _Curiosities of Literature_, vol. 1. 10. "Bruyere has touched on this mania with humour; of such a collector (one who is fond of superb bindings only) says he, as soon as I enter his house, I am ready to faint on the stair-case from a strong smell of morocco leather. In vain he shows me fine editions, gold leaves, Etruscan bindings, &c.--naming them one after another, as if he were showing a gallery of pictures!" Lucian has composed a biting invective against an ignorant possessor of a vast library. "One who opens his eyes, with an hideous stare, at an old book, and, after turning over the pages, chiefly admires the _date_ of its publication."] Symptoms of this disease are instantly known by a passion for I. _Large Paper Copies_: II. _Uncut Copies_: III. _Illustrated Copies_: IV. _Unique Copies_: V. _Copies printed upon Vellum_: VI. _First Editions_: VII. _True Editions_: VIII. _A general desire for the Black Letter_. We will describe these symptoms more particularly. I. _Large Paper Copies._ These are a certain set or limited number of the work printed in a superior manner, both in regard to ink and press work, on paper of a larger size, and better quality, than the ordinary copies. Their price is enhanced in proportion to their beauty and rarity. In the note below[49] are specified a few works which have been published in this manner, that the sober collector may avoid approaching them. [Footnote 49: 1. _Lord Bacon's Essays_, 1798, 8vo., of which it is said only five copies were struck off on royal folio. In Lord Spencer's and the Cracherode, collection I have seen a copy of this exquisitely printed book; the text of which, surrounded by such an amplitude of margin, in the language of Ernesti [see his Critique on Havercamp's Sallust] "natut velut cymba in oceano." 2. _Twenty Plays of Shakespeare_ published by Steevens from the old quarto editions, 1766, 8vo. 6 vols. Of this edition there were only twelve copies struck off on large paper. See Bibl. Steevens, No. 1312. 3. _Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays_, 1780, 8vo., 12 vols. only six copies printed on large paper. See Bibl. Woodhouse, No. 198. 4. _The Grenville Homer._ Græce, 1800. 4to. 4 vols. Fifty copies with plates were struck off on large paper, in royal quarto. A copy of this kind was purchased at a sale in 1804, for £99 15s. 5. _Sandford's Genealogical History_, etc. 1707, fol. Mr. Arch of Cornhill purchased a copy of this work on large paper, at the late sale of Baron Smyth's books, for £46. If the largest paper of Clarke's Cæsar be excepted, this is the highest priced single volume on large paper, that I just now recollect. 6. _Hearne's Works_ on large paper. Something relating to Hearne will be found in the note at page 7 ante. Here it will be only necessary to observe that the Hernëan rage for Large Paper is quite of recent growth, but it promises to be giant-like. When the duplicates of a part of Mr. Woodhull's library, in 1803, were sold, there was a fine set of copies of this kind; but the prices, comparatively with those now offered, were extremely moderate. Mr. Otridge, the bookseller, told me an amusing story of his going down to Liverpool, many years ago, and accidentally purchasing from the library of the late Sir Thomas Hanmer, a _magnificent set of Large Paper Hearnes_ for about 40 Guineas. Many of these are now in the choice library of his Grace the Duke of Grafton. The copies were catalogued as _small_ paper. Was there ever a more provoking blunder?!] This[50] symptom of the Bibliomania is, at the present day, both general and violent, and threatens to extend still more widely. Even modern publications are not exempt from its calamitous influence; and when Mr. Miller, the bookseller, told me with what eagerness the large paper copies of Lord Valentia's Travels were bespoke, and Mr. Evans shewed me that every similar copy of his new edition of "Burnett's History of his own Times" was disposed of, I could not help elevating my eyes and hands, in token of commiseration at the prevalence of this Symptom of the BIBLIOMANIA! [Footnote 50: Analogous to Large Paper Copies are _tall Copies_; that is, copies of the work published on the ordinary size paper and not much cut down by the binder. The want of _margin_ is a serious grievance complained of by book-collectors; and when there is a contest of margin-measuring, with books never professedly published on large paper, the anxiety of each party to have the largest copy is better conceived than described! How carefully, and how adroitly, are the golden and silver rules then exercised!] II. _Uncut Copies._ Of all the symptoms of the Bibliomania, this is probably the most extraordinary. It may be defined as a passion to possess books of which the edges have never been sheared by the binder's tools. And here, my dear Sir, I find myself walking upon doubtful ground;--your UNCUT HEARNES rise up in "rough majesty" before me, and almost "push me from my stool." Indeed, when I look around in my book-lined tub, I cannot but be conscious that this symptom of the disorder has reached my own threshold; but when it is known that a few of my bibliographical books are left with the edges uncut _merely to please my friends_ (as one must sometimes study their tastes and appetites as well as one's own), I trust that no very serious conclusions will be drawn about the probable fatality of my own case. As to uncut copies, although their inconvenience [an uncut lexicon to wit!] and deformity must be acknowledged, and although a rational man can want for nothing better than a book _once well bound_, yet we find that the extraordinary passion for collecting them not only obtains with full force, but is attended with very serious consequences to those "qui n'ont point des pistoles" (to borrow the language of Clement; vol. vi. p. 36). I dare say an uncut _first Shakspeare_, as well as an uncut _first Homer_[51] would produce a little annuity! [Footnote 51: "Un superbe exemplaire de cette édition _princeps_ a été vendu, chez M. de Cotte, en 1804, la somme de 3601 livres; mais il faut ajouter que cet exemplaire très-precieux est de la plus belle conservation; on dirait qu'il sort dessous presse. De plus, il est peut-être _l'unique dont les marges n'ont pas été rognées ni coupées_!" Peignot's _Curiosités Bibliographiques_, lxv-vi.] III. _Illustrated Copies._ A passion for books illustrated or adorned with numerous prints, representing characters or circumstances mentioned in the work, is a very general and violent symptom of the Bibliomania, which has been known chiefly within the last half century. The origin, or first appearance, of this symptom has been traced by some to the publication of Granger's "Biographical History of England;" but whoever will be at the pains of reading the preface of this work will see that Granger sheltered himself under the authorities of Evelyn, Ashmole, and others; and that he alone is not to be considered as responsible for all the mischief which this passion for collecting prints has occasioned. Granger, however, was the first who introduced it in the form of a treatise, and surely "in an evil hour" was this treatise published--although its amiable author must be acquitted of "malice prepense." His History of England[52] seems to have sounded the tocsin for a general rummage after, and slaughter of, old prints: venerable philosophers and veteran heroes, who had long reposed in unmolested dignity within the magnificent folio volumes which recorded their achievements, were instantly dragged from their peaceful abodes to be inlaid by the side of some spruce, modern engraving, within an ILLUSTRATED GRANGER! Nor did the madness stop here. Illustration was the order of the day; and Shakspeare[53] and Clarendon[54] became the next objects of its attack. From these it has glanced off in a variety of directions, to adorn the pages of humbler wights; and the passion, or rather this symptom of the Bibliomania,[55] yet rages with undiminished force. If judiciously[56] treated, it is, of all the symptoms, the least liable to mischief. To possess a series of well executed portraits of illustrious men, at different periods of their lives, from blooming boyhood to phlegmatic old age, is sufficiently amusing[57]; but to possess _every_ portrait, _bad, indifferent, and unlike_, betrays such a dangerous and alarming symptom as to render the case almost incurable! [Footnote 52: It was first published in two quarto volumes, 1766; and went through several editions in octavo. The last is, I believe, of the date of 1804; to which three additional volumes were published by William Noble, in 1806; the whole seven volumes form what is called an excellent library work.] [Footnote 53: About two or three years ago there was an extraordinary set of prints disposed of, for the illustration of Shakspeare, collected by a gentleman in Cornwall, with considerable taste and judgment. Lord Spencer's beautiful octavo illustrated Shakespeare, bequeathed to him by the late Mr. Steevens, has been enriched, since it came into the library of its present noble possessor, with many a rare and many a beauteous specimen of the graphic art.] [Footnote 54: I have heard of an illustrated Clarendon (which was recently in the metropolis), that has been valued at 5000 Guineas! "a good round sum!"] [Footnote 55: One of the most striking and splendid instances of the present rage for illustration may be seen in Mr. Miller's own copy of the Historical Work of Mr. Fox, in two volumes, imperial quarto. Exclusively of a great variety of Portraits, it is enriched with the original drawing of Mr. Fox's bust from which the print, attached to the publication, is taken; and has also many original notes and letters by its illustrious author. Mr. Walter Scott's edition of Dryden has also received, by the same publisher, a similar illustration. It is on large paper, and most splendidly bound in blue morocco, containing upwards of 650 portraits.] [Footnote 56: The fine copy of Granger, illustrated by the late Mr. Bull, is now in the library of the Marquis of Bute, at Lutton. It extends to 37 atlas folio volumes, and is a repository of almost every rare and beautiful print, which the diligence of its late, and the skill, taste, and connoisseurship of its present, noble owner have brought together.] [Footnote 57: In the Memoirs of Mr. Thomas Hollis there is a series of the portraits of Milton (not executed in the best manner) done in this way; and a like series of Pope's portraits accompanies the recent edition of the poet's works by the Rev. W.L. Bowles.] There is another mode of illustrating copies by which this symptom of the Bibliomania may be known: it consists in bringing together, from different works, [by means of the scissors, or otherwise by transcription] every page or paragraph which has any connection with the character or subject under discussion. This is a useful and entertaining mode of illustrating a favourite author; and copies of works of this nature, when executed by skilful[58] hands, should be preserved in public repositories. I almost ridiculed the idea of an ILLUSTRATED CHATTERTON, in this way, till I saw Mr. Haslewood's copy, in twenty-one volumes, which rivetted me to my seat! [Footnote 58: Numerous are the instances of the peculiar use and value of copies of this kind, especially to those who are engaged in publication, of a similar nature. Oldys's interleaved Langbaine is re-echoed in almost every recent work connected with the belles-lettres of our country. Oldys himself was unrivalled in this method of illustration; if, besides his Langbaine, his copy of 'Fuller's Worthies' [once Mrs. Steevens's, now Mr. Malone's, See Bibl. Steevens, no. 1799] be alone considered! This Oldys was the oddest mortal that ever scribbled for bread. Grose, in his _Olio_, gives an amusing account of his having "a number of small parchment bags inscribed with the names of the persons whose lives he intended to write; into which he put every circumstance and anecdote he could collect, and thence drew up his history." See Noble's _College of Arms_, p. 420. Of illustrated copies in this way, the Suidas of Kuster, belonging to the famous D'Orville, is a memorable instance. This is now in the Bodleian library. I should suppose that one Narcissus Luttrell, in Charles the Second's reign, had a number of like illustrated copies. His collection of contemporaneous literature must have been immense, as we may conclude from the account of it in Mr. Walter Scott's Preface to his recent edition of Dryden's works. Luckily for this brilliant poet and editor, a part of Luttrell's collection had found its way into the libraries of Mr. Bindley and Mr. Heber, and thence was doomed to shine, with renewed lustre, by the side of the poetry of Dryden.] IV. _Unique Copies._ A passion for a book which has any peculiarity about it, by either, or both, of the foregoing methods of illustration--or which is remarkable for its size, beauty, and condition--is indicative of a rage for _unique copies_, and is unquestionably a strong prevailing symptom of the Bibliomania. Let me therefore urge every sober and cautious collector not to be fascinated by the terms "_Matchless, and Unique_;" which, "in slim Italicks" (to copy Dr. Ferriar's happy expression) are studiously introduced into Bookseller's catalogues to lead the unwary astray. Such a Collector may fancy himself proof against the temptation; and will, in consequence, _call only to look at_ this unique book, or set of books; but, when he views the morocco binding, silk water-tabby lining, blazing gilt edges--when he turns over the white and spotless leaves--gazes on the amplitude of margin--on a rare and lovely print introduced--and is charmed with the soft and coaxing manner in which, by the skill of Herring or Mackinlay,[59] "leaf succeeds to leaf"--he can no longer bear up against the temptation--and, confessing himself vanquished, purchases, and retreats--exclaiming with Virgil's shepherd-- Ut vidi, ut perii--ut me malus abstulit error! [Footnote 59: At page 8, note--the reader has been led to expect a few remarks upon the luxuriancy of modern book-binding. Mr. Roscoe, in his Lorenzo de Medici, vol. ii., p. 79., edit. 8vo., has defended the art with so much skill that nothing further need be said in commendation of it. Admitting every degree of merit to our present fashionable binders, and frankly allowing them the superiority over De Rome, Padaloup, and the old school of binding, I cannot but wish to see revived those beautiful portraits, arabesque borders, and sharp angular ornaments, that are often found on the outsides of books bound in the 16th century, with calf leather, upon oaken boards. These brilliant decorations almost make us forget the ivory crucifix, guarded with silver doors, which is frequently introduced in the interior of the sides of the binding. Few things are more gratifying to a genuine collector than a fine copy of a book in its _original binding_!] V. _Copies printed on vellum._ A desire for works printed in this manner is an equally strong and general symptom of the Bibliomania; but as these works are rarely to be obtained of modern[60] date, the collector is obliged to have recourse to specimens, executed three centuries ago, in the printing-offices of Aldus, Verard, and the Juntæ. Although the Bibliothéque Imperiale, at Paris, and the library of Count Macarty, at Toulouse, are said to contain the greatest number of books printed upon vellum, yet, those who have been fortunate enough to see copies of this kind in the libraries of his Majesty, the Duke of Marlborough, Earl Spencer, Mr. Johnes, and the late Mr. Cracherode (now in the British Museum), need not travel on the Continent for the sake of being convinced of their exquisite beauty and splendour. Mr. Edward's _unique_ copy (he will forgive the epithet) of the first Livy, upon vellum, is a Library of itself!--and the recent discovery of a vellum copy of Wynkyn De Worde's reprint of _Juliana Barnes's book_,[61] complete in every respect, [to say nothing of his Majesty's similar copy of Caxton's _Doctrinal of Sapience_, 1489, in the finest preservation] are, to be sure, sufficient demonstrations of the prevalence of this symptom of the Bibliomania in the times of our forefathers; so that it cannot be said, as some have asserted, to have appeared entirely within the last half century. [Footnote 60: The modern books, printed upon vellum, have in general not succeeded; whether from the art of preparing the vellum, or of printing upon it, being lost I will not presume to determine. The reader may be amused with the following prices for which a few works, executed in this manner, were sold in the year 1804: NO. £ _s._ _d._ 250. Virgilii Opera, 1789, 4to. 33 12 0 251. Somervile's Chase, 1796, 4to. 15 4 6 252. Poems by Goldsmith and Parnell, 1795, 4to. 15 15 0 253. The Gardens, by Abbé Delille, 1798, 4to. 14 3 6 254. Castle of Otranto, printed by Bodoni, 1791, 4to. 13 2 6 260. La Guirlande Julie, 1784, 8vo. 37 17 6 263. Economy of Human Life, 1795, 8vo. 15 15 0 See "_Catalogue of a most splendid and valuable Collection of Books, Superb Missals, &c._," sold by Mr. Christie, on April 24, 1804. But the reader should procure the Catalogue of Mr. Paris's Books, sold in the year 1790, which, for the number of articles, is unrivalled. The eye is struck, in every page, with the most sumptuous copies on VELLUM, AND LARGE PAPER.] [Footnote 61: See page 5, ante, for some account of this curious work.] VI. _First Editions._ From the time of Ancillon[62] to Askew, there has been a very strong desire expressed for the possession of original or first published editions of works, as they are in general superintended and corrected by the author himself; and, like the first impressions of prints, are considered more valuable. Whoever is possessed with a passion for collecting books of this kind may unquestionably be said to exhibit a strong symptom of the Bibliomania; but such a case is not quite hopeless, nor is it deserving of severe treatment or censure. All bibliographers have dwelt on the importance of these editions, for the sake of collation with subsequent ones, and detecting, as is frequently the case, the carelessness displayed by future[63] editors. Of such importance is the _first edition of Shakspeare_[64] considered, that a fac-simile reprint of it has been published with success. In regard to the Greek and Latin Classics, the possession of these original editions is of the first consequence to editors who are anxious to republish the legitimate text of an author. Wakefield, I believe always regretted that the first edition of Lucretius had not been earlier inspected by him. When he began _his_ edition, the Editio Princeps was not (as I have understood) in the library of Earl Spencer--the storehouse of almost every thing that is exquisite and rare in ancient classical literature! [Footnote 62: There is a curious and amusing article in Bayle [English edition, vol. i., 672, &c.] about the elder ANCILLON, who frankly confessed that he "was troubled with the BIBLIOMANIA, or disease of buying books." Mr. D'Israeli says "that he always purchased _first editions_, and never waited for second ones,"--but I find it, in the English Bayle, note D, "he chose _the best_ editions." The manner in which Ancillon's library was pillaged by the Ecclesiastics of Metz (where it was considered as the most valuable curiosity in the town) is thus told by Bayle; "Ancillon was obliged to leave Metz: a company of Ecclesiastics, of all orders, came from every part, to lay hands on this fine and copious library, which had been collected with the utmost care during forty years. They took away a great number of the books together, and gave a little money, as they went out, to a young girl, of twelve or thirteen years of age, who looked after them, that they might have it to say they had _paid for them_. Thus Ancillon saw that valuable collection dispersed, in which, as he was wont to say, his chief pleasure and even his heart was placed!"--Edit. 1734.] [Footnote 63: An instance of this kind may be adduced from the _first edition_ of Fabian, printed in 1516; of which Messrs. Longman, and Co., have now engaged a very able editor to collate the text with that of the subsequent editions. "The antiquary," says the late Mr. BRAND, "is desired to consult the edition of Fabian, printed by Pynson, in 1516, because there are others, and I remember to have seen one in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, with a continuation to the end of Queen Mary, 1559, in which the _language is much modernised_." Shakespeare, edit. 1803, vol. xviii. p. 85-6.] [Footnote 64: A singular story is "extant" about the purchase of the late Duke of Roxburgh's fine copy of the first edition of Shakespeare. A friend was bidding for him in the sale-room: his Grace had retired to a distance, to view the issue of the contest. Twenty guineas and more were offered, from various quarters, for the book: a slip of paper was handed to the Duke, in which he was requested to inform his friend whether he was "to go on bidding"--His Grace took his pencil, and wrote underneath, by way of reply-- ----lay on Macduff! And d----d be he who first cries, 'Hold, enough!' Such a spirit was irresistible, and bore down all opposition. His Grace retired triumphant, with the book under his arm.] It must not, however, be forgotten that if first editions are, in some instances, of great importance, they are in many respects superfluous, and an incumbrance to the shelves of a collector; inasmuch as the labours of subsequent editors have corrected their errors, and superseded, by a great fund of additional matter, the necessity of consulting them. Thus, not to mention other instances (which present themselves while noticing the present one), all the fine things which Colomiés and Remannus have said about the rarity of La Croix du Maine's Bibliotheque, published in 1584, are now unnecessary to be attended to, since the ample and excellent edition of this work by De La Monnoye and Juvigny, in six quarto volumes, 1772, has appeared. Nor will any one be tempted to hunt for Gesner's Bibliotheca of 1545-8, whatever may be its rarity, who has attended to Morhof's and Vogt's recommendation of the last and best edition of 1583. VII. _True Editions._ Some copies of a work are struck off with deviations from the usually received ones, and, though these deviations have neither sense nor beauty to recommend them, [and indeed are principally _defects_] yet copies of this description are eagerly sought after by collectors of a certain class! This particular pursuit may therefore be called another, or the seventh, symptom of the Bibliomania. The note below [65] will furnish the reader with a few anecdotes relating to it. [Footnote 65: _Cæsar. Lug. Bat._ 1635, 12mo. _Printed by Elzevir._ In the Bibliotheca Revickzkiana we are informed that the _true_ Elzevir edition is known by having the plate of a Buffalo's head at the beginning of the preface, and body of the work: also by having the page numbered 153, which _ought_ to have been numbered 149. A further account is given in my Introduction to the Classics, vol. i., 228. _Horace_: Londini, 1733, 8vo., 2 vols. Published by Pine. The _true_ edition is distinguished by having at page 108, vol ii, the _incorrect_ reading 'Post Est.'--for 'Potest.' _Virgil._ Lug. Bat. 1636, 12mo. Printed by Elzevir. The _true_ edition is known by having at plate 1, before the Bucolics, the following Latin passage _printed in red ink_. "Ego vero frequentes a te litteras accipi"--Consult De Bure, No. 2684. _Idem._ Birmingh. 1763, 4to. Printed by Baskerville. A particular account of the _true_ edition will be found in the second volume of my 'Introduction to the Classics' p. 337--too long to be here inserted. _Boccaccio._ Il Decamerone, Venet. 1527, 4to. Consult De Bure, No. 3667: Bandini, vol. ii., 24: (who however is extremely laconic upon this edition, but copious upon the anterior one of 1516) and Haym., vol. iii., p. 8, edit. 1803. Bibl. Paris. No. 408. Clement. (vol. iv., 352,) has abundance of references, as usual, to strengthen his assertion in calling the edition 'fort rare.' The reprint or spurious edition has always struck me as the prettier book of the two.] VIII. Books printed in the _Black Letter_. Of all symptoms of the Bibliomania, this eighth symptom (and the last which I shall notice) is at present the most powerful and prevailing. Whether it was not imported into this country from Holland, by the subtlety of Schelhorn[66] (a knowing writer upon rare and curious books) may be shrewdly suspected. Whatever be its origin, certain it is, my dear Sir, that books printed in the black letter are now coveted with an eagerness unknown to our collectors in the last century. If the spirits of West, Ratcliffe, Farmer and Brand, have as yet held any intercourse with each other, in that place 'from whose bourne no traveller returns,' what must be the surprise of the three former, on being told by the latter, of the prices given for some of the books in his library, as mentioned below!?[67] [Footnote 66: His words are as follow: "Ipsa typorum ruditas, ipsa illa atra crassaque literarum facies _belle tangit sensus, &c._" Was ever the black letter more eloquently described? See his _Amoenitates Literariæ_, vol. i., p. 5.] [Footnote 67: 282. A Boke of Fishing with Hooke and Line, A Boke of Engines and Traps to take Polcats, Buzzards, Rats, Mice, and all other Kinds of Vermine and Beasts whatsoever, with cuts, very rare, 1600 £3 3_s._ 0_d._ 454. A Quip for an upstart Courtier; or, a quaint Dispute between Velvet Breeches and Cloth Breeches, &c. 1620 2 16 0 475. A Checke, or Reproof of Mr. Howlet's untimely screeching in her Majesty's Ear. _Black letter_ 1581 0 12 0 As a _striking conclusion_, I subjoin the following. 6479. Pappe with an Hatchett, _alias_, a Fig for my Godsonne, or crake me this Nutt, or, a Countrie Cuffe, that is a sound Box of the Eare for the Idiot Martin, to hold his Peace: seeing the Patch will take no warning; written by one that dares call a Dog a Dog. _Rare._ Printed by Anoke and Astile 1 8 0] A perusal of these articles may probably not impress the reader with any lofty notions of the superiority of the black letter; but this symptom of the Bibliomania is, nevertheless, not to be considered as incurable, or wholly unproductive of good. Under a proper spirit of modification it has done, and will continue to do, essential service to the cause of English literature. It guided the taste, and strengthened the judgment, of Tyrwhitt in his researches after Chaucerian lore. It stimulated the studies of Farmer and of Steevens, and enabled them to twine many a beauteous flower round the brow of their beloved Shakespeare. It has since operated, to the same effect, in the labours of Mr. Douce,[68] the _Porson_ of old English and French literature; and in the editions of Milton and Spenser, by my amiable and excellent friend Mr. Todd the public have had a specimen of what the _Black Letter_ may perform, when temperately and skilfully exercised. [Footnote 68: In the criticisms on Mr. Douce's _Illustrations of Shakspeare and Ancient Manners_, it has not, I think, been generally noticed that this work is distinguished; 1. For the singular diffidence and urbanity of criticism, as well as depth of learning, which it evinces: 2. For the happy illustrations, by means of wood cuts: Let any one, for instance, read a laboured disquisition on the punishment of "the boots"--and only glance his eye on the plate representing it [vol. i. p. 34.]: from which will he obtain the clearer notions? 3. For the taste, elegance, and general correctness with which it is printed. The only omission I regret is that Mr. Douce did not give us, at the end, a list of the works alphabetically arranged, with their dates which he consulted in the formation of his own. Such a BIBLIOTHECA SHAKSPEARIANA might, however, have been only a fresh stimulus to the increase of the black-letter symptom of the _Bibliomania_. How Bartholomæus and Batman have risen in price since the publication of Mr. Douce's work, let those who have lately smarted for the increase tell!] I could bring to your recollection other instances; but your own copious reading and exact memory will better furnish you with them. Let me not however omit remarking that the beautiful pages of the _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, and Sir Trestrem_, exhibit, in the notes [now and then thickly studded with black letter references], a proof that the author of "The Lay" and "Marmion" has not disdained to enrich his stores of information by such intelligence as black lettered books impart. In short, though this be also a strong and general symptom of the Bibliomania, it is certainly not attended with injurious effects when regulated by prudence and discretion. An undistinguishable voracious appetite, to swallow every thing printed in the black letter can only bring on inconquerable disease, if not death, to the patient! Having in the two preceding divisions of this letter discoursed somewhat largely upon the HISTORY and SYMPTOMS of the Bibliomania, it now remains, according to the original plan, to say a few words upon the PROBABLE MEANS OF ITS CURE. And, indeed, I am driven to this view of the subject from every laudable motive; for it would be highly censurable to leave any reflecting mind impressed with melancholy emotions concerning the misery and mortality that have been occasioned by the abuse of those pursuits, to which the most soothing and important considerations ought to be attached. Far from me, and my friends, be such a cruel, if not criminal, conduct; let us then, my dear Sir, seriously discourse upon the III. PROBABLE MEANS OF THE CURE of the Bibliomania. _He_ will surely be numbered among the philanthropists of his day who has, more successfully than myself, traced and described the ravages of this disease, and fortified the sufferer with the means of its cure. But, as this is a disorder of quite a recent date, and as its characteristics, in consequence, cannot be yet fully known or described, great candour must be allowed to that physician who offers a prescription for so obscure and complicated a case. It is in vain that you search the works [ay, even the best editions] of Hippocrates and Galen for a description of this malady; nor will you find it hinted at in the more philosophical treatises of Sydenham and Heberden. It had, till the medical skill of Dr. Ferriar first noticed it to the public, escaped the observations of all our pathologists. With a trembling hand, and fearful apprehension, therefore, I throw out the following suggestions for the cure, or mitigatiou [Transcriber's Note: mitigation], of this disorder: In _the first place_, the disease of the Bibliomania is materially softened, or rendered mild, by directing our studies to _useful and profitable_ works--whether these be printed upon small or large paper, in the gothic, roman, or italic type; To consider purely the _intrinsic_ excellence, and not the exterior splendour, or adventitious value, of any production, will keep us perhaps wholly free from this disease. Let the midnight lamp be burnt to illuminate the stores of antiquity--whether they be romances, or chronicles, or legends, and whether they be printed by Aldus or by Caxton--if a brighter lustre can thence be thrown upon the pages of modern learning! To trace genius to its source, or to see how she has been influenced or modified, by "the lore of past times" is both a pleasing and profitable pursuit. To see how Shakspeare has here and there plucked a flower, from some old ballad or popular tale, to enrich his own unperishable garland--to follow Spenser and Milton in their delightful labyrinths 'midst the splendour of Italian literature--are studies which stamp a dignity upon our intellectual characters! But, in such a pursuit let us not overlook the wisdom of modern times, nor fancy that what is only ancient can be excellent. We must remember that Bacon, Boyle, Locke, Taylor, Chillingworth, Robertson, Hume, Gibbon, and Paley, are names which always command attention from the wise, and remind us of the improved state of reason and acquired knowledge during the two last centuries. In the _second place_, the re-printing of scarce and intrinsically valuable works is another means of preventing the propagation of this disorder. Amidst all our present sufferings under the BIBLIOMANIA, it is some consolation to find discerning and spirited booksellers re-publishing the valuable Chronicles of Froissart, Holinshed, and Hall,[69] and the collections known by the names of "The Harleïan Miscellany," and "Lord Somer's Tracts." These are noble efforts, and richly deserve the public patronage. [Footnote 69: The re-publication of these chronicles is to be followed by those of Grafton and Fabian. Meanwhile, Hakluyt's Voyages, (projected by Mr. Evans), and Fuller's Worthies (by Messrs. Longman, and Co.) will form admirable acquisitions to these treasures of past times.] In the _third place_, the editing of our best ancient authors, whether in prose or poetry,[70] is another means of effectually counteracting the progress of the Bibliomania, as it has been described under its several symptoms. [Footnote 70: The recent _Variorum_ editions of Shakspeare, of which some yet prefer that of Steevens, 1793, 15 vols. 8vo.--Mr. Todd's editions of Milton and Spenser; Mr. G. Chalmers' edition of Sir David Lyndsay's works; Mr. Gifford's edition of Massinger; and Mr. Octavius Gilchrist's, of Bishop Corbett's poems, exemplify the good effects of this _third means of cure_.] In the _fourth place_, the erecting of Public Institutions[71] is a very powerful antidote against the prevalence of several symptoms of this disease. [Footnote 71: The Royal, London, Surrey, and Russel Institutions have been the means of concentrating, in divers parts of the metropolis, large libraries of _useful_ books; which, it is to be hoped, will eventually suppress the establishment of what are called _Circulating Libraries_--vehicles, too often, of insufferable nonsense, and irremediable mischief!] In the _fifth place_, the encouragement of the study of Bibliography,[72] in its legitimate sense, and towards its true object, may be numbered among the most efficacious cures for this destructive malady. To place competent Librarians over the several departments of a large public Library, or to submit a library, on a more confined scale, to one diligent, enthusiastic, well informed, well bred, Bibliographer[73] or Librarian, [of which in this metropolis we have so many examples] is doing a vast deal towards directing the channels of literature to flow in their proper courses. [Footnote 72: "UNNE BONNE BIBLIOGRAPHIE," says Marchand, "soit générale soit particulière, soit profane, soit écclésiastique, soit nationale, provinciale, ou locale, soit simplement personnelle, en un mot de quelque autre genre que ce puisse être, n'est pas un ouvrage aussi facile que beaucoup de gens se le pourroient imaginer; mais, elles ne doivent néanmoins nulelment [Transcriber's Note: nullement] prévenir contre celle-ci. Telle qu'elle est, elle ne laisse pas d'être bonne, utile, et digne d'être recherchée par les amateurs, de l'Histoire Littéraire." _Diction. Historique_, vol. i. p. 109. "Our nation," says Mr. Bridgman, "has been too inattentive to bibliographical criticisms and enquiries; for generally the English reader is obliged to resort to foreign writers to satisfy his mind as to the value of authors. It behoves us to consider that there is not a more useful or a more desirable branch of education than a _knowledge of books_; which being correctly ascertained and judiciously exercised, will prove the touch-stone of intrinsic merit, and have the effect of saving many spotless pages from prostitution." _Legal Bibliography_, p. v. vi.] [Footnote 73: Peignot, in his _Dictionnaire de Bibliologie_, vol. i. 50, has given a very pompous account of what ought to be the talents and duties of a Bibliographer. It would be difficult indeed to find such things united in one person! De Bure, in the eighth volume of his _Bibliographie Instructive_, has prefixed a "Discourse upon the Science of Bibliography and the duties of a Bibliographer" which is worth consulting: but I know of nothing which better describes, in few words, such a character, than the following: "In eo sit multijuga materiarum librorumque notitia, ut saltem potiores eligat et inquirat: fida et sedula apud exteras gentes procuratio, ut eos arcessat; summa patientia ut rarè venalis expectet: peculium semper præsens et paratum, ne, si quando occurrunt, emendi occasio intercidat; prudens denique auri argentique contemptus, ut pecuniis sponte careat quæ in bibliothecam formandam et nutriendam sunt insumendæ. Si fortè vir literatus eo felicitatis pervenit ut talem thesaurum coaceraverit, nec solus illo invidios fruatur, sed usum cum eruditis qui vigilias suas utilitati publicæ devoverunt, liberaliter communicet; &c."--_Bibliotheca Hulsiana_, vol. i. Præfat. p. 3, 4.] Thus briefly and guardedly have I thrown out a few suggestions, which may enable us to avoid, or mitigate the severity of, the disease called THE BIBLIOMANIA. Happy indeed shall I deem myself, if, in the description of its symptoms, and in the recommendation of the means of cure, I may have snatched any one from a premature grave, or lightened the load of years that are yet to cone [Transcriber's Note: come]! You, my dear Sir, who, in your observations upon society, as well as in your knowledge of ancient times, must have met with numerous instances of the miseries which "flesh is heir to," may be disposed perhaps to confess that, of all species of afflictions, _the present one_ under consideration has the least moral turpitude attached to it. True, it may be so: for, in the examples which have been adduced, there will be found neither Suicides, nor Gamesters, nor Profligates. No woman's heart has been broken from midnight debaucheries: no marriage vow has been violated: no child has been compelled to pine in poverty or neglect: no patrimony has been wasted, and no ancestor's fame tarnished! If men have erred under the influence of this disease, their aberrations have been marked with an excess arising from intellectual fevour, and not from a desire of baser gratifications. If, therefore, in the wide survey which a philosopher may take of the "Miseries of Human life"[74] the prevalence of this disorder may appear to be less mischievous than that of others, and, if some of the most amiable and learned of mortals seemed to have been both unwilling, as well as unable, to avoid its contagion, you will probably feel the less alarmed if symptoms of it should appear within the sequestered abode of Hodnet![75] Recollecting that even in remoter situations its influence has been felt--and that neither the pure atmosphere of Hafod nor of Sledmere[76] has completely subdued its power--you will be disposed to exclaim with violence, at the intrusion of Bibliomaniacs-- What walls can guard me, or what shades can hide? They pierce my thickets, through my grot they glide! By land, by water, they renew the charge, They stop the chariot, and they board the barge.[77] [Footnote 74: In the ingenious and witty work so entitled, I do not recollect whether the disappointment arising from a _cropt_ or a _dirty_ copy has been classed among "_The Miseries of Human Life_."] [Footnote 75: _Hodnet Hall_, Shropshire. The country residence of Mr. Heber.] [Footnote 76: _Hafod_, South Wales, the seat of THOS. JOHNES, Esq., M.P., the translator of the Chronicles of Froissart and Monstrelet, and of the Travels of De Broquiere and Joinville. The conflagration of part of his mansion and library, two years ago, which excited such a general sympathy, would have damped any ardour of collection but that of Mr. Johnes--his Library has arisen, Phoenix-like, from the flames! _Sledmere_, in Yorkshire, the seat of SIR MARK MASTERMAN SYKES, Bart., M.P. The library of this amiable and tasteful Baronet reflects distinguished credit upon him. It is at once copious and choice.] [Footnote 77: Pope's "_Prologue to the Satires_," v. 7-10.] Upon the whole, therefore, attending closely to the symptoms of this disorder as they have been described, and practising such means of cure as have been recommended, we may rationally hope that its virulence may abate, and the number of its victims annually diminish. But if the more discerning part of the community anticipate a different result, and the preceding observations appear to have presented but a narrow and partial view of the mischiefs of the BIBLIOMANIA, my only consolation is that to advance _something_ upon the subject is better than to preserve a sullen and invincible silence. Let it be the task of more experienced bibliographers to correct and amplify the foregoing outline! Believe me, My dear Sir, Very sincerely Yours, &c. THOMAS FROGNALL DIBBIN [Transcriber's Note: DIBDIN]. _Kensington, May_ 16, 1809. POSTSCRIPT. On re-considering what has been written, it has struck me that a SYNOPSIS of this disease, after the manner of BURTON, as prefixed to his _Anatomy of Melancholy_, may be useful to some future pathologist. The reader is, accordingly, presented with the following one: SYNOPSIS. Page. { I. HISTORY of; or an account of eminent Book { Collectors who have fallen victims to it 12 T { H { II. SYMPTOMS OF; { 1. Large Paper Copies 44 E { being a passion for { 2. Uncut Copies 46 { { 3. Illustrated Copies 47 B { { 4. Unique Copies 49 I { { 5. Vellum Copies 51 B { { 6. First Editions 52 L { { 7. True Editions 54 I { { 8. Black Letter Editions 56 O { M { III. CURE OF { 1. Reading useful works 56 A { { 2. Reprints of scarce and N { { valuable works _ib._ I { { 3. Editing our best ancient A { { Writers 60 . { { 4. Erecting of Public { { Institutions _ib._ { { 5. Encouragement of { { Bibliography _ib._ PART I. =The Evening Walk.= ON THE RIGHT USES OF LITERATURE. Rede well thyselfe that other folke can'st rede. CHAUCER'S _Good Counsail_. [Illustration] [Illustration] =The Evening Walk.= ON THE RIGHT USES OF LITERATURE. It was on a fine autumnal evening, when the sun was setting serenely behind a thick copse upon a distant hill, and his warm tints were lighting up a magnificent and widely-extended landscape, that, sauntering 'midst the fields, I was meditating upon the various methods of honourably filling up the measure of our existence; when I discovered, towards my left, a messenger running at full speed towards me. The abruptness of his appearance, and the velocity of his step, somewhat disconcerted me; but on his near approach my apprehensions were dissipated. I knew him to be the servant of my old college friend, whom I chuse here to denominate LYSANDER. He came to inform me, in his blunt and honest manner, that his master had just arrived with PHILEMON, our common friend; and that, as they were too fatigued with their journey to come out to me, they begged I would quickly enter the house, and, as usual, make them welcome. This intelligence afforded me the liveliest satisfaction. In fifteen minutes, after a hearty shaking of hands, I was seated with them in the parlour; all of us admiring the unusual splendour of the evening sky, and, in consequence, partaking of the common topics of conversation with a greater flow of spirits. "You are come, my friends," said I (in the course of conversation), "to make some stay with me--indeed, I cannot suffer you to depart without keeping you at least a week; in order, amongst other things, to view the beauty of our neighbour Lorenzo's grounds, the general splendour of his house, and the magnificence of his LIBRARY." "In regard to grounds and furniture," replied Lysander, "there is very little in the most beautiful and costly which can long excite my attention--but the LIBRARY--" "Here," exclaimed Philemon, "here you have him in the toils." "I will frankly confess," rejoined Lysander, "that I am an arrant BIBLIOMANIAC--that I love books dearly--that the very sight, touch, and, more, the perusal--" "Hold, my friend," again exclaimed Philemon, "you have renounced your profession--you talk of _reading_ books--do BIBLIOMANIACS ever _read_ books?" "Nay," quoth Lysander, "you shall not banter thus with impunity. We will, if it please you," said he, turning round to me, "make our abode with you for a few days--and, after seeing the library of your neighbour, I will throw down the gauntlet to Philemon, challenging him to answer certain questions which you may put to us, respecting the number, rarity, beauty, or utility of those works which relate to the literature and antiquities of our own country. We shall then see who is able to return the readiest answer." "Forgive," rejoined Philemon, "my bantering strain. I revoke my speech. You know that, with yourself, I heartily love books; more from their contents than their appearance." Lysander returned a gracious smile; and the hectic of irritability on his cheek was dissipated in an instant. The approach of evening made us think of settling our plans. My friends begged their horses might be turned into the field; and that, while they stayed with me, the most simple fare and the plainest accommodation might be their lot. They knew how little able I was to treat them as they were wont to be treated; and, therefore, taking "the will for the deed," they resolved to be as happy as an humble roof could make them. While the cloth was laying for supper (for I should add that we dine at three and sup at nine), we took a stroll in my small garden, which has a mound at the bottom, shaded with lilacs and laburnums, that overlooks a pretty range of meadows, terminated by the village church. The moon had now gained a considerable ascendancy in the sky; and the silvery paleness and profound quiet of the surrounding landscape, which, but an hour ago, had been enlivened by the sun's last rays, seemed to affect the minds of us all very sensibly. Lysander, in particular, began to express the sentiments which such a scene excited in him.--"Yonder," says he, pointing to the church-yard, "is the bourne which terminates our earthly labours; and I marvel much how mortals can spend their time in cavilling at each other--in murdering, with their pens as well as their swords, all that is excellent and admirable in human nature--instead of curbing their passions, elevating their hopes, and tranquillizing their fears. Every evening, for at least one-third of the year, heaven has fixed in the sky yonder visible monitor to man. Calmness and splendour are her attendants: no dark passions, no carking cares, neither spleen nor jealousy, seem to dwell in that bright orb, where, as has been fondly imagined, "the wretched may have rest."--"And here," replied Philemon, "we do nothing but fret and fume if our fancied merits are not instantly rewarded, or if another wear a sprig of laurel more verdant than ourselves; I could mention, within my own recollection, a hundred instances of this degrading prostitution of talent--aye, a thousand."--"Gently reprimand your fellow creatures," resumed Lysander, "lest you commit an error as great as any of those which you condemn in others. The most difficult of human tasks seems to be the exercise of forbearance and temperance. By exasperating, you only rekindle, and not extinguish, the evil sparks in our dispositions. A man will bear being told he is in the wrong; but you must tell him so gently and mildly. Animosity, petulance, and persecution, are the plagues which destroy our better parts."--"And envy," replied Philemon, "has surely enough to do."--"Yes," said Lysander, "we might enumerate, as you were about to do, many instances--and (what you were not about to do) pity while we enumerate! I think," continued he, addressing himself particularly to me, "you informed me that the husband of poor Lavinia lies buried in yonder church-yard; and perhaps the very tomb which now glistens by the moonbeam is the one which consecrates his memory! That man was passionately addicted to literature;--he had a strong mind; a wonderful grasp of intellect; but his love of paradox and hypothesis quite ruined his faculties. NICAS happened to discover some glaring errors in his last treatise, and the poor man grew sick at heart in consequence. Nothing short of _infallibility_ and _invincibility_ satisfied him; and, like the Spaniard in the 'Diable Boiteux,' who went mad because five of his countrymen had been beaten by fifty Portugese, this unhappy creature lost all patience and forbearance, because, in an hundred systems which he had built with the cards of fancy, ninety-nine happened to tumble to the ground. "This is the dangerous consequence, not so much of vanity and self-love as of downright literary Quixotism. A man may be cured of vanity as the French nobleman was--'Ecoutez messieurs! Monseigneur le Duc va dire la meillure chose du monde!'[78] but for this raving, ungovernable passion of soaring beyond all human comprehension, I fear there is no cure but in such a place as the one which is now before us. Compared with this, how different was MENANDER'S case! Careless himself about examining and quoting authorities with punctilious accuracy, and trusting too frequently to the _ipse-dixits_ of good friends:--with a quick discernment--a sparkling fancy--great store of classical knowledge, and a never ceasing play of colloquial wit, he moved right onwards in his manly course--the delight of the gay, and the admiration of the learned! He wrote much and variously: but in an evil hour the demon Malice caught him abroad--watched his deviations--noted down his failings--and, discovering his vulnerable part, he did not fail, like another Paris, to profit by the discovery. Menander became the victim of over-refined sensibility: he need not have feared the demon, as no good man need fear Satan. His pen ceased to convey his sentiments; he sickened at heart; and after his body had been covered by the green grass turf, the gentle elves of fairy-land took care to weave a chaplet to hang upon his tomb, which was never to know decay! SYCORAX was this demon; and a cunning and clever demon was he!" [Footnote 78: This is the substance of the story related in Darwin's _Zoonomia_: vol. iv. p. 81.] "I am at a loss," said Philemon, "to comprehend exactly what you mean?"--"I will cease speaking metaphorically," replied Lysander; "but Sycorax was a man of ability in his way. He taught literary men, in some measure, the value of careful research and faithful quotation; in other words, he taught them to speak the truth as they found her; and, doubtless, for this he merits not the name of a demon, unless you allow me the priviledge of a Grecian.[79] That Sycorax loved truth must be admitted; but that he loved no one so much as himself to speak the truth must also be admitted. Nor had he, after all, any grand notions of the goddess. She was, in his sight, rather of diminutive than gigantic growth; rather of a tame than a towering mien; dressed out in little trinkets, and formally arrayed in the faded point-lace and elevated toupee of the ancient English school, and not in the flowing and graceful robes of Grecian simplicity. But his malice and ill-nature were frightful; and withal his love of scurrility and abuse quite intolerable. He mistook, in too many instances, the manner for the matter; the shadow for the substance. He passed his criticisms, and dealt out his invectives, with so little ceremony, and so much venom, that he seemed born with a scalping knife in his hand to commit murder as long as he lived! To him, censure was sweeter than praise; and the more elevated the rank, and respectable the character of his antagonist, the more dexterously he aimed his blows, and the more frequently he renewed his attacks. In consequence, scarcely one beautiful period, one passionate sentiment of the higher order, one elevated thought, or philosophical deduction, marked his numerous writings. 'No garden-flower grew wild' in the narrow field of his imagination; and, although the words decency and chastity were continually dropping from his lips, I suspect that the reverse of these qualities was always settled round his heart.[80] Thus you see, my dear Philemon," concluded Lysander, "that the love of paradox, of carelessness, and of malice, are equally destructive of that true substantial fame which, as connected with literature, a wise and an honest man would wish to establish. But come; the dews of evening begin to fall chilly; let us seek the house of our friend." [Footnote 79: Without turning over the ponderous tones of Stephen, Constantine, and Scaliger, consult the sensible remarks upon the word '[Greek: Daimôn]' in _Parkhurst's Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament_, 8vo. edit. 1798. In the Greek language, it is equally applied to an accomplished and unprincipled character. Homer alone will furnish a hundred instances of this.] [Footnote 80: Mark certain expressions, gentle reader, which occur in the notes to the life of _Robin Hood_, prefixed to the ballads which go under his name: 1795. 2 vols. 8vo.--also a Dissertation on Romance and Minstrelsy in the first vol. of _Ancient Metrical Romances_, 1802, 3 vols. 8vo. A very common degree of shrewdness and of acquaintance with English literature will shew that, in Menander and Sycorax, are described honest TOM WARTON and snarling 'mister' JOSEPH RITSON.] As Lysander concluded his discourse, we turned, abruptly, but thoughtfully, towards my cottage; and, making the last circuit of the gravel walk, Philemon stopped to listen to the song of a passing rustic, who seemed to be uttering all the joy which sometimes strongly seizes a simple heart. "I would rather," exclaimed he, "be this poor fellow, chanting his 'native wood-notes wild,' if his heart know not guilt--than the shrewdest critic in the universe, who could neither feel, nor write, good-naturedly!" We smiled at this ejaculation; and quickly reached the house. The fatigue of travelling had sharpened the appetites of my friends; and at a moment when, as the inimitable Cowper expresses it, our drawing-rooms begin to blaze With lights, by clear reflection multiplied From many a mirror, in which he of Gath, Goliath, might have seen his giant bulk Whole, without stooping, towering crest and all, _Our_ pleasures too _began_; _Task_, b. iv. but they were something more rational than those of merely eating and drinking. "I seldom partake of this meal," observed Philemon, "without thinking of the _omnium-gatherum_ bowl, so exquisitely described by old Isaac Walton. We want here, it is true, the 'sweet shady arbour--the contexture of woodbines, sweet-briar, jessamine, and myrtle,'[81] and the time of the evening prevents our enjoying it without; but, in lieu of all this, we have the sight of books, of busts, and of pictures. I see there the ponderous folio chronicles, the genuine quarto romances, and, a little above, a glittering row of thin, closely-squeezed, curiously-gilt, volumes of original plays. As we have finished our supper, let us--" "My friends," observed I, "not a finger upon a book to-night--to-morrow you may ransack at your pleasure. I wish to pursue the conversation commenced by Lysander, as we were strolling in the garden." "Agreed," replied Philemon,--"the quietness of the hour--the prospect, however limited, before us--(for I shall not fail to fix my eyes upon a Froissart printed by Verard, or a portrait painted by Holbein, while you talk)--every thing conspires to render this discourse congenial." "As you have reminded me of that pretty description of a repast in Walton," resumed Lysander, "I will preface the sequel to my conversation by drinking a glass to your healths--and so, masters, 'here is a full glass to you' of the liquor before us." Lysander then continued, "It were to be wished that the republic or region of LITERATURE could be described in as favourable a manner as Camden has described the air, earth, and sky, of our own country;[82] but I fear Milton's terrific description of the infernal frozen continent, beat with perpetual forms Of whirlwind and dire hail, _Par. Lost_, b. ii. v. 587. is rather applicable to it. Having endeavoured to shew, my dear friends, that the passionate love of hypothesis--(or a determination to make every man think and believe as we do) incorrigible carelessness--and equally incorrigible ill-nature--are each inimical to the true interests of literature, let us see what other evil qualities there are which principally frustrate the legitimate view of learning. [Footnote 81: _Complete Angler_, p. 335. Bagster's edit. 1808. In a similar style of description are "the faire grove and swete walkes, letticed and gardened on both sides," of Mr. Warde's letter--describing the nunnery of Little Gidding in Huntingdonshire. See Hearne's edit. of _Peter Langtoft's Chronicle_, vol. 1. p. cx.] [Footnote 82: "The ayre is most temperate and wholesome, sited in the middest of the temperate zone, subject to no stormes and tempests, as the more southerne and northerne are; but stored with infinite delicate fowle. For water, it is walled and guarded with ye ocean most commodious for trafficke to all parts of the world, and watered with pleasant fishful and navigable rivers, which yeeld safe havens and roads, and furnished with shipping and sailers, that it may rightly be termed THE LADY OF THE SEA. That I may say nothing of healthful bathes, and of meares stored both with fish and fowl. The earth fertile of all kinde of graine, manured with good husbandry, rich in minerall of coals, tinne, lead, copper, not without gold and silver, abundant in pasture, replenished with cattel, both tame and wilde (for it hath more parks than all Europe besides), plentifully wooded, provided with all complete provisions of war, beautified with many populous cities, faire boroughs, good towns, and well-built villages, strong munitions, magnificent palaces of the prince, stately houses of the nobilitie, frequent hospitals, beautiful churches, faire colledges, as well in the other places as in the two Vniversities." _Remains_, p. 12. edit. 1637. How far Camden was indebted to the following curious description of our country, written in the time of Edward vj, (of which I shall modernize the orthography,) the reader will judge for himself. The running title of the work is "_The Debate between the_ [French and English] _Heralds_," 8vo., printed in the bl. lett. (In the possession of Mr. Heber.) "We have all manner of grains, and fruits, and more plenty than you; for, thanked be God, England is a fruitful and plenteous region, so that we have some fruits whereof you have few; as _wardeines_, quinces, peaches, medlers, chesnuts, and other delicious fruits; serving for all seasons of the year; and so plenty of pears and apples that, in the west parts of England and Sussex, they make perry and cider, and in such abundance that they convey part over the sea, where, by the Monsieurs of France, it is coveted for their beverage and drinks."--_Sign. L._ iiij. rev. "We have in Cornwall and Devonshire (God be honoured) the richest mines of silver and tin that may be, also in Ireland mines of silver, in Derbyshire mines of lead, alabaster, marble, black and white. In Sussex, Yorkshire, and Durham, mines of iron, coal, slate, and freestone; and in every shire of England, generally quarries of hard stone, chalk, and flint: these be commodities honorable and not feigned, being of such estimation that France, nor other realms, may well forbear; and as for saltpetre, there is sufficient made in England to furnish our turn for the wars. Also we have hot fountains or bathes, which you nor no other realms christened have."--_Sign. L._ v. rev. If ancient GILDAS speak the truth, Great Britain was no contemptible place twelve hundred years ago--the period when he lived and wrote his lachrymable history. "The iland of Britaine placed in the ballance of the divine poising hand (as they call it) which weigheth the whole world, almost the uttermost bound of his earth towards the South and West; extending itself from the South-West, out towards the North pole, eight hundred miles in length; and containing two hundred in breadth, besides the fare outstretched forelands of sundry promonteries, embraced by the embowed bosomes of the ocean sea; with whose most spacious, and on every side (saving only the Southern Streights, by which we sale to Gallehelgicke) impassable enclosure (as I may call it) she is strongly defended; enriched with the mouths of two noble floods, Thames and Severne, as it were two armes (by which out-landish commodities have in times past been transported into the same) besides other rivers of lesser account, strengthened with eight and twenty cities, and some other castles, not meanly fenced with fortresses of walls, embattled towers, gates, and buildings (whose roofes being raised aloft with a threatening hugenesse, were mightily in their aspiring toppes compaced) adorned with her large spreading fields, pleasant seated hils, even framed for good husbandry, which over-mastereth the ground, and mountains most convenient for the changeable pastures of cattell; whose flowers of sundry collours, troden by the feete of men, imprint no unseemly picture on the same, as a spouse of choice, decked with divers jewels; watered with cleere fountains, and sundry brokes, beating on the snow-white sands, together with silver streames sliding forth with soft sounding noise, and leaving a pledge of sweet savours on their bordering bankes, and lakes gushing out abundantly in cold running rivers."--_Epistle of Gildas_, Transl. 1638, 12mo. p. 1, after the prologue. Whoever looks into that amusing and prettily-printed little book, "_Barclaii Satyricon_," 1629, 18mo., will find a description of Germany, similar, in part, to the preceding.--"Olim sylvis et incolis fera, nunc oppidis passim insignis; nemoribus quoque quibus immensis tegebatur, ad usum decusque castigatis." p. 316.] "In the example of GONZALO, with whom Philemon is perfectly well acquainted, a remarkable exemplification of the passion of _Vanity_ occurs. I recollect, one evening, he came rushing into a party where I sat, screaming with the extatic joy of a maniac--'[Greek: Eurêka, Eurêka]'; and, throwing down a scroll, rushed as precipitately out of the room. The scroll was of vellum; the title to the contents of it was penned in golden letters, and softly-painted bunches of roses graced each corner. It contained a sonnet to love, and another to friendship; but a principal mistake which struck us, on the very threshold of our critical examination, was that he had incorrectly entitled these sonnets. Friendship should have been called love, and love, friendship. We had no sooner made the discovery than Gonzalo returned, expecting to find us in like ecstacies with himself!--We gravely told him that we stumbled at the very threshold. It was quite sufficient--he seized his sonnets with avidity--and, crumpling the roll (after essaying to tear it) thrust it into his pocket, and retreated. One of the gentlemen in company made the following remarks, on his leaving us: 'In the conduct of Gonzalo appears a strange mixture of intellectual strength and intellectual debility; of wit and dulness; of wisdom and folly; and all this arises chiefly from his mistaking the means for the end--the instrument of achieving for the object achieved. The fondest wish of his heart is literary fame: for this he would sacrifice every thing. He is handsome, generous, an affectionate son, a merry companion, and is, withal, a very excellent belles-lettres scholar. Tell him that the ladies admire him, that his mother doats on him, and that his friends esteem him--and--keeping back the wished-for eulogy of literary excellence--you tell him of nothing which he cares for. In truth he might attain some portion of intellectual reputation, if he would throw aside his ridiculous habits. He _must_, as soon as the evening shades prevail, burn wax tapers--he must always have an Argand lamp lighted up before him, to throw a picturesque effect upon a dark wood painted by Hobbima--his pens must be made from the crow's wing--his wax must be green--his paper must be thick and hot-pressed; and he must have a portfolio of the choicest bits of ancient vellum that can be procured--his body must recline upon a chintz sofa--his foot must be perched upon an ottoman--in short he _must_ have every thing for which no man of common sense would express the least concern. Can you be surprised, therefore, that he should commence his sonnet to friendship thus: Oh, sweetest softest thing that's friendship hight! or that he should conceive the following address to women, by one William Goddard, worthy of being ranked among the most beautiful poetical efforts of the 16th century: Stars of this earthly heaven, you whose essence Compos'd was of man's purest quintessence, To you, to virtuous you, I dedicate This snaggy sprig[83]----" [Footnote 83: From "_A Satyrical Dialogue, &c., betweene Alexander the Great and that truelye woman-hater Diogynes_. Imprinted in the low countryes for all such gentlewomen as are not altogether idle nor yet well occupyed," 4to. no date. A strange composition! full of nervous lines and pungent satire--but not free from the grossest licentiousness.] "Enough," exclaimed Philemon--while Lysander paused a little, after uttering the foregoing in a rapid and glowing manner--"enough for this effeminate vanity in man! What other ills have you to enumerate, which assail the region of literature?"--"I will tell you," replied Lysander, "another, and a most lamentable evil, which perverts the very end for which talents were given us--and it is in mistaking and misapplying these talents. I speak with reference to the individual himself, and not to the public. You may remember how grievously ALFONSO bore the lot which public criticism, with one voice, adjudged to him! This man had good natural parts, and would have abridged a history, made an index, or analyzed a philosophical work, with great credit to himself and advantage to the public. But he set his heart upon eclipsing Doctors Johnson and Jamieson. He happened to know a few etymons more correctly, and to have some little acquaintance with black letter literature, and hence thought to give more weight to lexicographical inquiries than had hitherto distinguished them. But how miserably he was deceived in all his undertakings of this kind past events have sufficiently shewn. No, my good Philemon, to be of use to the republic of literature, let us know our situations; and let us not fail to remember that, in the best appointed army, the serjeant may be of equal utility with the captain. "I will notice only one other, and a very great, failing observable in literary men--and this is severity and self-consequence. You will find that these severe characters generally set up the trade of _Critics_; without attending to the just maxim of Pope, that Ten censure wrong, for one that writes amiss. "With them, the least deviation from precise correctness, the most venial trippings, the smallest inattention paid to doubtful rules and equivocal positions of criticism, inflames their anger, and calls forth their invectives. Regardless of the sage maxims of Cicero, Quintilian, and Horace, they not only disdain the sober rules which their ancient brethren have wisely laid down, and hold in contempt the voice of the public,[84] but, forgetting the subject which they have undertaken to criticise, they push the author out of his seat, quietly sit in it themselves, and fancy they entertain you by the gravity of their deportment, and their rash usurpation of the royal monosyllable 'Nos.'[85] This solemn pronoun, or rather 'plural style,'[86] my dear Philemon, is oftentimes usurped by a half-starved little _I_, who sits immured in the dusty recess of a garret, and who has never known the society nor the language of a gentleman; or it is assumed by a young graduate, just settled in his chambers, and flushed with the triumph of his degree of 'B.A.', whose 'fond conceyte' [to borrow Master Francis Thynne's[87] terse style,] is, to wrangle for an asses shadowe, or to seke a knott in a rushe!' [Footnote 84: "Interdum vulgus rectum videt:" says Horace.--_Epist. lib._ ii. _ad. Augustum_, v. 63.] [Footnote 85: Vide RYMERI _Foedera_--passim.] [Footnote 86: A very recent, and very respectable, authority has furnished me with this expression.] [Footnote 87: See Mr. Todd's _Illustrations of Gower and Chaucer_, p. 10.] "For my part," continued Lysander, speaking with the most unaffected seriousness--"for my part, nothing delights me more than modesty and diffidence, united with 'strong good sense, lively imagination, and exquisite sensibility,'[88] whether in an author or a critic. When I call to mind that our greatest sages have concluded their labours with doubt, and an avowal of their ignorance; when I see how carefully and reverently they have pushed forward their most successful inquiries; when I see the great Newton pausing and perplexed in the vast world of planets, comets, and constellations, which were, in a measure, of his own creation--I learn to soften the asperity of my critical anathemas, and to allow to an author that portion of fallibility of which I am conscious myself. [Footnote 88: It is said, very sensibly, by La Bruyere, I will allow that good writers are scarce enough; but then I ask where are the people that know how to read and judge? A union of these qualities, which are seldom found in the same person, seems to be indispensably necessary to form an able critic; he ought to possess strong good sense, lively imagination, and exquisite sensibility. And of these three qualities, the last is the most important; since, after all that can be said on the utility or necessity of rules and precepts, it must be confessed that the merit of all works of genius must be determined by taste and sentiment. "Why do you so much admire the Helen of Zeuxis?" said one to Nicostratus. "You would not wonder why I so much admired it (replied the painter) if you had my eyes."--WARTON: Note to Pope's Essay on Criticism. _Pope's Works_, vol. i. 196, edit. 1806.] "I see then," rejoined Philemon, "that you are an enemy to _Reviews_."[89] "Far from it," replied Lysander, "I think them of essential service to literature. They hold a lash over ignorance and vanity; and, at any rate, they take care to bestow a hearty castigation upon vicious and sensual publications. Thus far they do good: but, in many respects, they do ill--by substituting their own opinions for those of an author; by judging exclusively according to their own previously formed decisions in matters of religion and politics; and by shutting out from your view the plan, and real tendency, of the book which they have undertaken to review, and therefore ought to analyze. It is, to be sure, amusing to read the clamours which have been raised against some of the most valuable, and now generally received, works! When an author recollects the pert conclusion of Dr. Kenrick's review of Dr. Johnson's Tour to the Hebrides,[90] he need not fear the flippancy of a reviewer's wit, as decisive of the fate of his publication! [Footnote 89: The earliest publications, I believe, in this country, in the character of REVIEWS were there [Transcriber's Note: the] _Weekly Memorials for the Ingenious_, &c. Lond. 1683, 4to.--and _The Universal Historical Bibliotheque_: or an Account of most of the considerable Books printed in all Languages, in the Month of January 1686. London, 1687, 4to. Five years afterwards came forth _The Young Student's Library_, by the Athenian Society, 1692, folio, "a kind of common theatre where every person may act, or take such part as pleases him best, and what he does not like he may pass over, assuring himself that, every one's judgment not being like his, another may chuse what he mislikes, and so every one may be pleased in their turns." Pref. A six weeks' frost is said to have materially delayed the publication. After these, in the subsequent century, appeared the _Old and New Memoirs of Literature_; then, the _Works of the Learned_; upon which was built, eclipsing every one that had preceeded it, and not excelled by any subsequent similar critical journal, _The Monthly Review_.] [Footnote 90: After all, said the reviewing Doctor, we are of opinion, with the author himself, that this publication contains 'the sentiments of one who has seen but little:' meaning, thereby, that the book was hardly worth perusal! What has become of the said Dr. Kenrick now? We will not ask the same question about the said DR. JOHNSON; whose works are upon the shelf of every reading man of sense and virtue.] "It is certainly," pursued Lysander, "a very prolific age of knowledge. There never was, at any one period of the world, so much general understanding abroad. The common receptacles of the lower orders of people present, in some degree, intellectual scenes. I mean, that collision of logic, and corruscation of wit, which arise from the perusal of a newspaper; a production, by-the-bye, upon which Cowper has conferred immortality.[91] You may remember, when we were driven by a sharp tempest of hail into the small public-house which stands at the corner of the heath--what a _logomachy_--what a _war of words_ did we hear! and all about sending troops to the north or south of Spain, and the justice or injustice of the newly-raised prices of admission to Covent Garden theatre!![92] The stage-coach, if you recollect, passed by quickly after our having drunk a tumbler of warm brandy and water to preserve ourselves from catching cold; and into it glad enough we were to tumble! We had no sooner begun to be tolerably comfortable and composed than a grave old gentleman commenced a most furious Philippic against the prevailing studies, politics, and religion of the day--and, in truth, this man evinced a wonderfully retentive memory, and a fair share of powers of argument; bringing everything, however, to the standard of his _own times_. It was in vain we strove to edge in the great _Whig and Tory Reviews_ of the northern and southern hemispheres! The obdurate champion of other times would not listen a moment, or stir one inch, in favour of these latter publications. When he quitted us, we found that he was a ---- of considerable consequence in the neighbourhood, and had acquired his fortune from the superior sagacity and integrity he had displayed in consequence of having been educated at the free-school in the village of ----, one of the few public schools in this kingdom which has not frustrated the legitimate views of its pious founder, by converting that into a foppish and expensive establishment which was at once designed as an asylum for the poor and an academy to teach wisdom and good morals." [Footnote 91: See the opening the fourth book of "_The Task_;" a picture perfectly original and unrivalled in its manner.] [Footnote 92: It is not less true, than surprising, that the ridiculous squabbles, which disgraced both this theatre and the metropolis, have been deemed deserving of a regular series of publications in the shape of numbers--1, 2, 3, &c. As if the subject had not been sufficiently well handled in the lively sallies and brilliant touches of satire which had before appeared upon it in the _Monthly Mirror_!] Philemon was about to reply, with his usual warmth and quickness, to the latter part of these remarks--as bearing too severely upon the eminent public seminaries within seventy miles of the metropolis--but Lysander, guessing his intentions from his manner and attitude, cut the dialogue short by observing that we did not meet to discuss subjects of a personal and irritable nature, and which had already exercised the wits of two redoubted champions of the church--but that our object, and the object of all rational and manly discussion, was to state opinions with frankness, without intending to wound the feelings, or call forth the animadversions, of well-meaning and respectable characters. "I know," continued he, "that you, Philemon, have been bred in one of these establishments, under a man as venerable for his years as he is eminent for his talents and worth; who employs the leisure of dignified retirement in giving to the world the result of his careful and profound researches; who, drinking largely at the fountain head of classical learning, and hence feeling the renovated vigour of youth (without having recourse to the black art of a Cornelius Agrippa[93]), circumnavigates 'the Erythrean sea'--then, ascending the vessel of Nearchus, he coasts 'from Indus to the Euphrates'--and explores with an ardent eye what is curious and what is precious, and treasures in his sagacious mind what is most likely to gratify and improve his fellow-countrymen. A rare and eminent instance this of the judicious application of acquired knowledge!--and how much more likely is it to produce good, and to secure solid fame, than to fritter away one's strength, and undermine one's health, in perpetual pugilistic contests with snarling critics, dull commentators, and foul-mouthed philologists." [Footnote 93: Let him who wishes to be regaled in a dull dreary night--when the snow is heavily falling, and the wind whistles hollowly--open those leaves of Bayle's _Historical and Biographical Dictionary_ which relate to this extraordinary character; and see there how adroitly Agrippa is defended against the accusation of "having two devils attending him in the shape of two little dogs--one of them being called Monsieur, and the other Mademoiselle"--"whereas Paulus Jovius, Thevet, &c., speak only of _one_ dog, and never mention his name." Vol. i. 357, 361; edit. 1736, 10 vols. folio. The bibliographer, who wishes to be master of the most curious and rare editions of his works, may go from Bayle to Clement, and from Clement to Vogt. He must beware of the castrated Lyons' editions "per Beringos fratres"--against one of which Bayle declaims, and produces a specimen (quite to his own liking) of the passage suppressed:--another, of a similar kind, is adduced by Vogt (edit. 1793, pp. 19, 20); who tells us, however, that an edition of 1544, 8vo., without mention of place or printer--and especially a Cologne edition of 1598, by Hierat, in 12mo.--exhibits the like castrations; p. 20. This has escaped Clement, learned as he is upon the Lyons' editions, vol. i. 94, 95, 96. Bauer (_Bibl. Libr. Rarior._) is here hardly worth consulting; and the compilers of the celebrated _Nouveau Dict. Historique_ (Caen edit. 1789, vol. i. p. 7. Art. Agrippa) deserve censure for the recommendation of these Lyons' editions only. Agrippa's "VANITY OF SCIENCES" was first published at Antwerp in 4to. 1530; a book, upon the rarity of which bibliographers delight to expatiate. His "OCCULT PHILOSOPHY"--according to Bayle, in 1531 (at least, the Elector of Cologne had seen several printed leaves of it in this year), but according to Vogt and Bauer, in 1533.--There is no question about the edition of 1533; of which Vogt tells us, "An Englishman, residing at Frankfort, anxiously sought for a copy of it, offering fifty crowns (imperiales) and more, without success." All the editions in Agrippa's life-time (before 1536) are considered uncastrated, and the best. It should not be forgotten that Brucker, in his _Hist. Crit. Phil._, has given a masterly account of Agrippa, and an analysis of his works.] Philemon heartily assented to the truth of these remarks; and, more than once, interrupted Lysander in his panegyrical peroration by his cheerings:[94] for he had, in his youth (as was before observed), been instructed by the distinguished character upon whom the eulogy had been pronounced. [Footnote 94: This word is almost peculiar to our own country, and means a vehement degree of applause. It is generally used previous to, and during, a contest of any kind--whether by men in red coats, or blue coats, or black coats--upon land, upon water, or within doors. Even the walls of St. Stephen's chapel frequently echo to the "_loud cheerings_" of some kind or other. See every newspaper on every important debate.] The effort occasioned by the warmth in discussing such interesting subjects nearly exhausted Lysander--when it was judged prudent to retire to rest. Each had his chamber assigned to him; and while the chequered moon-beam played upon the curtains and the wall, through the half-opened shutter, the minds of Lysander and Philemon felt a correspondent tranquillity; and sweet were their slumbers till the morning shone full upon them. [Illustration] PART II. =The Cabinet.= OUTLINE OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC BIBLIOGRAPHY. Condemn the daies of elders great or small, And then blurre out the course of present tyme: Cast one age down, and so doe orethrow all, And burne the bookes of printed prose or ryme: Who shall beleeve he rules, or she doth reign, In tyme to come, if writers loose their paine The pen records tyme past and present both: Skill brings foorth bookes, and bookes is nurse to troth. CHURCHYARD'S _Worthiness of Wales_ p. 18, edit. 1776. [Illustration] [Illustration] =The Cabinet.= OUTLINE OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC BIBLIOGRAPHY. Tout autour oiseaulx voletoient Et si tres-doulcement chantoient, Qu'il n'est cueur qui n'ent fust ioyeulx. Et en chantant en l'air montoient Et puis l'un l'autre surmontoient A l'estriuee a qui mieulx mieulx. Le temps n'estoit mie mieulx. De bleu estoient vestuz les cieux, Et le beau Soleil cler luisoit. Violettes croissoient par lieux Et tout faisoit ses deuoirs tieux Comme nature le duisoit. OEUVRES DE CHARTIER, Paris, 1617, 4to. p. 594. Such is the lively description of a spring morning, in the opening of Alain Chartier's "_Livre des quatre dames_;" and, excepting the violets, such description conveyed a pretty accurate idea of the scenery which presented itself, from the cabinet window, to the eyes of Lysander and Philemon. PHIL. How delightful, my dear friend, are the objects which we have before our eyes, within and without doors! The freshness of the morning air, of which we have just been partaking in yonder field, was hardly more reviving to my senses than is the sight of this exquisite cabinet of bibliographical works, adorned with small busts and whole-length figures from the antique! You see these precious books are bound chiefly in Morocco, or Russia leather: and the greater part of them appear to be printed upon _large paper_. LYSAND. Our friend makes these books a sort of hobby-horse, and perhaps indulges his vanity in them to excess. They are undoubtedly useful in their way. PHIL. You are averse then to the study of bibliography? LYSAND. By no means. I have already told you of my passion for books, and cannot, therefore, dislike bibliography. I think, with Lambinet, that the greater part of bibliographical works are sufficiently dry and soporific:[95] but I am not insensible to the utility, and even entertainment, which may result from a proper cultivation of it--although both De Bure and Peignot appear to me to have gone greatly beyond the mark, in lauding this study as "one of the most attractive and vast pursuits in which the human mind can be engaged."[96] [Footnote 95: _Recherches, &c., sur l'Origine de l'Imprimerie_: Introd. p. x. Lambinet adds very justly, "L'art consiste à les rendre supportables par des objets variés de littérature, de critique, d'anecdotes," &c.] [Footnote 96: See the "Discours sur la Science Bibliographique," &c., in the eighth volume of De Bure's _Bibl. Instruct._ and Peignot's _Dictionnaire Raisonné de Biblilolgie_, [Transcriber's Note: Bibliologie] vol. i. p. 50. The passage, in the former authority, beginning "Sans cesse"--p. xvj.--would almost warm the benumbed heart of a thorough-bred mathematician, and induce him to exchange his Euclid for De Bure!!] PHIL. But to know what books are valuable and what are worthless; their intrinsic and extrinsic merits; their rarity, beauty, and particularities of various kinds; and the estimation in which they are consequently held by knowing men--these things add a zest to the gratification we feel in even looking upon and handling certain volumes. LYSAND. It is true, my good Philemon; because knowledge upon any subject, however trivial, is more gratifying than total ignorance; and even if we could cut and string cherry-stones, like Cowper's rustic boy, it would be better than brushing them aside, without knowing that they could be converted to such a purpose. Hence I am always pleased with Le Long's reply to the caustic question of Father Malebranche, when the latter asked him, "how he could be so foolish as to take such pains about settling the date of a book, or making himself master of trivial points of philosophy!"--"Truth is so delightful," replied Le Long, "even in the most trivial matters, that we must neglect nothing to discover her." This reply, to a man who was writing, or had written, an essay upon truth was admirable. Mons. A.G. CAMUS, a good scholar, and an elegant bibliographer, [of whom you will see some account in "_Les Siecles Litteraires de la France_,"] has, I think, placed the study of bibliography in a just point of view; and to his observations, in the first volume of the "_Memoires de l'Institut National_," I must refer you.[97] [Footnote 97: Lysander had probably the following passage more particularly in recollection; which, it must be confessed, bears sufficiently hard upon fanciful and ostentatious collectors of books. "[Il y a] deux sortes de connoissance des livres: l'une qui se renferme presque uniquement dans les dehors et la forme du livre, pour apprécier, d'après sa date, d'après la caractère de l'impression, d'après certaines notes, quelquefois seulement d'après une erreur typographique, les qualités qui le font ranger dans la classe des livres rares où curieux, et qui fixent sa valeur pecuniaire: l'autre genre de connoissance consiste à savoir quels sont les livres les plus propres à instruire, ceux où les sujets sont le plus clairement présentés et le plus profondement discutés; les ouvrages à l'aide desquels il est possible de saisir l'origine de la science, de la suivre dans ses développemens, d'atteindre le point actuel de la perfection. Sans doute il seroit avantageux que ces deux genres de connoisances fussent toujours réunis: l'expérience montre qu'ils le sont rairement; l'expérience montre encore que le premier des deux genres a été plus cultivé que le second. Nous possédons, sur l'indication des livres curieux et rares, sur les antiquités et les bijoux litteraires, si l'on me permet d'employer cette expression, des instructions meilleures que nous n'en avons sur les livres propres à instruire foncièrement des sciences. En recherchant la cause de cette difference, on la trouvera peut-être dans la passion que des hommes riches et vains ont montrée pour posséder des livres sans être en état de les lire. Il a fallu créer pour eux une sorte de bibliotheque composée d'objets qui, sous la forme exterieure de livres, ne fussent réellement que des raretés, des objets de curiosité, qu'on ne lit pas, mais que tantôt on regarde avec complaisance, tantôt en montre avec ostentation; et comme après cela c'est presque toujours le goût des personnes en état de récompenser qui dirige le but des travailleurs, on ne doit pas être surpris qu'on se soit plus occupé d'indiquer aux hommes riches dont je parle, des raretés à acquérir, ou de vanter celles qu'ils avoient rassemblées, que de faciliter, par des indications utiles, les travaux des hommes studieux dont on n'attendoit aucune récompense." _Memoires de l'Institut_, vol. i. 664. See also the similar remarks of Jardé, in the "Précis sur les Bibliotheques," prefixed to Fournier's _Dict. portatif de Bibliographie_, edit. 1809. Something like the same animadversions may be found in a useful book printed nearly two centuries before: "Non enim cogitant quales ipsi, sed qualibus induti vestibus sint, et quanta pompa rerum fortunæque præfulgeant--sunt enim omnino ridiculi, qui in nuda librorum quantumvis selectissimorum multitudine gloriantur, et inde doctos sese atque admirandos esse persuadent." Draudius: _Bibliotheca Classica_, ed. 1611. Epist. ad. Lect. Spizelius has also a good passage upon the subject, in his description of Book-Gluttons ("Helluones Librorum"): "cum immensa pené librorum sit multitudo et varietas, fieri non potest, quin eorum opibus ditescere desiderans (hæres), non assiduam longamque lectionem adhibeat." _Infelix Literatus_, p. 296, edit. 1680, 8vo.] PHIL. I may want time, and probably inclination, to read these observations: and, at any rate, I should be better pleased with your analysis of them. LYSAND. That would lead me into a wide field indeed; and, besides, our friend--who I see walking hastily up the garden--is impatient for his breakfast; 'tis better, therefore, that we satisfy just now an appetite of a different kind. PHIL. But you promise to renew the subject afterwards? LYSAND. I will make no such promise. If our facetious friend LISARDO, who is expected shortly to join us, should happen to direct our attention and the discourse to the sale of MALVOLIO'S busts and statues, what favourable opportunity do you suppose could present itself for handling so unpromising a subject as bibliography? PHIL. Well, well, let us hope he will not come: or, if he does, let us take care to carry the point by a majority of votes. I hear the gate bell ring: 'tis Lisardo, surely! Three minutes afterwards, Lisardo and myself, who met in the passage from opposite doors, entered the Cabinet. Mutual greetings succeeded: and, after a hearty breakfast, the conversation was more systematically renewed. LIS. I am quite anxious to give you a description of the fine things which were sold at Malvolio's mansion yesterday! Amongst colossal Minervas, and pigmy fauns and satyrs, a magnificent set of books, in ten or twelve folio volumes (I forget the precise number) in Morocco binding, was to be disposed of. LYSAND. The Clementine and Florentine museums? LIS. No indeed--a much less interesting work. A catalogue of the manuscripts and printed books in the library of the French king, Louis the fifteenth. It was odd enough to see such a work in such a sale! PHIL. You did not probably bid ten guineas for it, Lisardo? LIS. Not ten shillings. What should I do with such books? You know I have a mortal aversion to them, and to every thing connected with bibliographical learning. PHIL. That arises, I presume, from your profound knowledge of the subject; and, hence, finding it, as Solomon found most pursuits, "vanity of vanities, and vexation of spirit." LIS. Not so, truly! I have taken an aversion to it from mere whim and fancy: or rather from downright ignorance. PHIL. But I suppose you would not object to be set right upon any subject of which you are ignorant or misinformed? You don't mean to sport _hereditary_ aversions, or hereditary attachments? LIS. Why, perhaps, something of the kind. My father, who was the best creature upon earth, happened to come into the possession of a huge heap of catalogues of private collections, as well as of booksellers' books--and I remember, on a certain fifth of November, when my little hands could scarcely grasp the lamplighter's link that he bade me set fire to them, and shout forth--"Long live the King!"--ever since I have held them in sovereign contempt. PHIL. I love the king too well to suppose that his life could have been lengthened by any such barbarous act. You were absolutely a little Chi Ho-am-ti, or Omar![98] Perhaps you were not aware that his majesty is in possession of many valuable books, which are described with great care and accuracy in some of these very catalogues. [Footnote 98: Pope, in his Dunciad, has treated the conflagration of the two great ancient libraries, with his usual poetical skill: "Far eastward cast thine eye, from whence the sun And orient Science their bright course begun: One god-like monarch all that pride confounds, He, whose long wall the wandering Tartar bounds; Heavens! what a pile! whole ages perish there, And one bright blaze turns Learning into air. Thence to the south extend thy gladden'd eyes; There rival flames with equal glory rise, From shelves to shelves see greedy Vulcan roll, And lick up all their PHYSIC OF THE SOUL." "Chi Ho-am-ti, Emperor of China, the same who built the great wall between China and Tartary, destroyed all the books and learned men of that empire." "The caliph, Omar I. having conquered Egypt, caused his general to burn the Ptolemean library, on the gates of which was this inscription: '[Greek: PSYCHÊS IATREION]:' 'THE PHYSIC OF THE SOUL.'" Warburton's note. The last editor of Pope's works, (vol. v. 214.) might have referred us to the very ingenious observations of Gibbon, upon the probability of this latter event: see his "_Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_," vol. ix. 440, &c.] LIS. The act, upon reflection, was no doubt sufficiently foolish. But why so warm upon the subject? LYSAND. Let me defend Philemon; or at least account for his zeal. Just before you came in, he was leading me to give him some account of the RISE AND PROGRESS OF BIBLIOGRAPHY; and was fearful that, from your noted aversion to the subject, you would soon cut asunder the thread of our conversation. LIS. If you can convert me to be an admirer of such a subject, or even to endure it, you will work wonders; and, unless you promise to do so, I know not whether I shall suffer you to begin. PHIL. Begin, my dear Lysander. A mind disposed to listen attentively is sometimes half converted. O, how I shall rejoice to see this bibliographical incendiary going about to buy up copies of the very works which he has destroyed! Listen, I entreat you, Lisardo. LIS. I am all attention; for I see the clouds gathering in the south, and a gloomy, if not a showery, mid-day, promises to darken this beauteous morning. 'Twill not be possible to attend the antiques at Malvolio's sale. LYSAND. Whether the sun shine, or the showers fall, I will make an attempt--not to convert, but to state simple truths: provided you "lend me your ears." PHIL. And our hearts too. Begin: for the birds drop their notes, and the outlines of the distant landscape are already dimmed by the drizzling rain. LYSAND. You call upon me as formally as the shepherds call upon one another to sing in Virgil's eclogues. But I will do my best. It is gratifying to the English nation--whatever may have been the strictures of foreigners[99] upon the paucity of their bibliographico-literary works in the 16th century--that the earliest printed volume upon the love and advantages of book-collecting was the _Philobiblion_[100] of RICHARD DE BURY; who was bishop of Durham at the close of the 14th century, and tutor to Edward III. I will at present say nothing about the merits and demerits of this short treatise; only I may be permitted to observe, with satisfaction, that the head of the same see, at the present day, has given many proofs of his attachment to those studies, and of his reward of such merit as attracted the notice of his illustrious predecessor. It is with pain that I am compelled to avow the paucity of publications, in our own country, of a nature similar to the _Philobiblion_ of De Bury, even for two centuries after it was composed; but while Leland was making his library-tour, under the auspices of that capricious tyrant Henry VIII., many works were planned _abroad_, which greatly facilitated the researches of the learned. [Footnote 99: "Anglica gens longe fuit negligentior in consignandis ingeniorum monumentis; nihil enim ab illis prodiit, quod mereatur nominari, cum tamen sint extentque pene innumera ingeniossimæ gentis in omnibus doctrinis scripta, prodeantque quotidie, tam Latina, quam vernacula lingua, plura," Morhof: _Polyhist. Literar._ vol. i. 205, edit. 1747. Reimmannus carries his strictures, upon the jealousy of foreigners at the success of the Germans in bibliography, with a high hand: "Ringantur Itali, nasum incurvent Galli, supercilium adducant Hispani, scita cavilla serant Britanni, frendeant, spument, bacchentur ii omnes, qui præstantiam MUSARUM GERMANICARUM limis oculis aspiciunt," &c.--"hoc tamen certum, firmum, ratum, et inconcussum est, GERMANOS primos fuisse in Rep. Literaria, qui Indices Librorum Generales, Speciales et Specialissimos conficere, &c. annisi sunt."--A little further, however, he speaks respectfully of our James, Hyde, and Bernhard. See his ably-written _Bibl. Acroamatica_, pp. 1, 6.] [Footnote 100: "_Sive de Amore Librorum._" The first edition, hitherto so acknowledged, of this entertaining work, was printed at Spires, by John and Conrad Hist, in 1483, 4to., a book of great rarity--according to Clement, vol. v. 435; Bauer (_Suppl. Bibl. Libr. Rarior_, pt. i. 276); Maichelius, p. 127; and Morhof, vol. i. 187. Mons. De La Serna Santander has assigned the date of 1473 to this edition: see his _Dict. Bibliog. Chois._ vol. ii. 257,--but, above all, consult Clement--to whom Panzer, vol. iii. p. 22, very properly refers his readers. And yet some of Clement's authorities do not exactly bear him out in the identification of this impression. Mattaire, vol. i. 449, does not appear to have ever seen a copy of it: but, what is rather extraordinary, Count Macarty has a copy of a Cologne edition in 4to., of the date of 1473. No other edition of it is known to have been printed till the year 1500; when two impressions of this date were published at Paris, in 4to.: the one by Philip for Petit, of which both Clement and Fabricius (_Bibl. Med. et Inf. Ætat._ vol. i. 842, &c.) were ignorant; but of which, a copy, according to Panzer, vol. ii. 336, should seem to be in the public library at Gottingen; the other, by Badius Ascensius, is somewhat more commonly known. A century elapsed before this work was deemed deserving of republication; when the country that had given birth to, and the university that had directed the studies of, its illustrious author, put forth an inelegant reprint of it in 4to. 1599--from which some excerpts will be found in the ensuing pages--but in the meantime the reader may consult the title-page account of Herbert, vol. iii. p. 1408. Of none of these latter editions were the sharp eyes of Clement ever blessed with a sight of a copy! See his _Bibl. Curcuse_, &c. vol. v. 438. The 17th century made some atonement for the negligence of the past, in regard to RICHARD DE BURY. At Frankfort his _Philobiblion_ was reprinted, with "a Century of Philological Letters," collected by Goldastus, in 1610, 8vo--and this same work appeared again, at Leipsic, in 1674, 8vo. At length the famous Schmidt put forth an edition, with some new pieces, "typis et sumtibus Georgii Wolffgangii Hammii, Acad. Typog. 1703," 4to. Of this latter edition, neither Maichelius nor the last editor of Morhof take notice. It may be worth while adding that the subscription in red ink, which Fabricius (_ibid._) notices as being subjoined to a vellum MS. of this work, in his own possession--and which states that it was finished at Auckland, in the year 1343, in the 58th of its author, and at the close of the 11th year of his episcopacy--may be found, in substance, in Hearne's edition of Leland's _Collectanea_, vol. ii. 385, edit. 1774.] Among the men who first helped to clear away the rubbish that impeded the progress of the student, was the learned and modest CONRAD GESNER; at once a scholar, a philosopher, and a bibliographer: and upon whom Julius Scaliger, Theodore Beza, and De Thou, have pronounced noble eulogiums.[101] His _Bibliotheca Universalis_ was the first thing, since the discovery of the art of printing, which enabled the curious to become acquainted with the works of preceding authors: thus kindling, by the light of such a lamp, the fire of emulation among his contemporaries and successors. I do not pretend to say that the _Bibliotheca_ of Gesner is any thing like perfect, even as far as it goes: but, considering that the author had to work with his own materials alone, and that the degree of fame and profit attached to such a publication was purely speculative, he undoubtedly merits the thanks of posterity for having completed it even in the manner in which it has come down to us. Consider Gesner as the father of bibliography; and if, at the sale of Malvolio's busts, there be one of this great man, purchase it, good Lisardo, and place it over the portico of your library. [Footnote 101: His _Bibliotheca_, or _Catalogus Universalis, &c._, was first printed in a handsome folio volume at Zurich, 1545. Lycosthyne put forth a wretched abridgement of this work, which was printed by the learned Oporinus, in 4to., 1551. Robert Constantine, the lexicographer, also abridged and published it in 1555, Paris, 8vo.; and William Canter is said by Labbe to have written notes upon Simler's edition, which Baillet took for granted to be in existence, and laments not to have seen them; but he is properly corrected by De La Monnoye, who reminds us that it was a mere report, which Labbe gave as he found it. I never saw Simler's own editions of his excellent abridgement and enlargement of it in 1555 and 1574; but Frisius published it, with great improvements, in 1583, fol., adding many articles, and abridging and omitting many others. Although this latter edition be called the _edit. opt._ it will be evident that the _editio originalis_ is yet a desideratum in every bibliographical collection. Nor indeed does Frisius's edition take away the necessity of consulting a supplement to Gesner, which appeared at the end of the _Bibliothéque Françoise_ of Du Verdier, 1584. It may be worth stating that Hallevordius's _Bibliotheca Curiòsa_, 1656, 1687, 4to., is little better than a supplement to the preceding work. The _Pandects_ of Gesner, 1548, fol. are also well worth the bibliographer's notice. Each of the 20 books, of which the volume is composed, is preceded by an interesting dedicatory epistle to some eminent printer of day. Consult Baillet's _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii. p. 11. _Bibl. Creven._ vol. v. p. 278; upon this latter work more particularly; and Morhof's _Polyhistor. Literar._ vol. i. 197, and Vogt's _Catalog. Libr. Rarior._, p. 164: upon the former. Although the _Dictionnaire Historique_, published at Caen, in 1789, notices the botanical and lexicographical works of Gesner, it has omitted to mention these Pandects: which however, are uncommon.] LIS. All this is very well. Proceed with the patriarchal age of your beloved bibliography. LYSAND. I was about resuming, with observing that our BALE speedily imitated the example of Gesner, in putting forth his _Britanniæ Scriptores_;[102] the materials of the greater part of which were supplied by Leland. This work is undoubtedly necessary to every Englishman, but its errors are manifold. Let me now introduce to your notice the little work of FLORIAN TREFLER, published in 1560;[103] also the first thing in its kind, and intimately connected with our present subject. The learned, it is true, were not much pleased with it; but it afforded a rough outline upon which Naudæus afterwards worked, and produced, as you will find, a more pleasing and perfect picture. A few years after this, appeared the _Erotemata_ of MICHAEL NEANDER;[104] in the long and learned preface to which, and in the catalogue of his and of Melancthon's works subjoined, some brilliant hints of a bibliographical nature were thrown out, quite sufficient to inflame the lover of book-anecdotes with a desire of seeing a work perfected according to such a plan: but Neander was unwilling, or unable, to put his design into execution. Bibliography, however, now began to make rather a rapid progress; and, in France, the ancient writers of history and poetry seemed to live again in the _Bibliotheque Françoise_ of LA CROIX DU MAINE and DU VERDIER.[105] Nor were the contemporaneous similar efforts of CARDONA to be despised: a man, indeed, skilled in various erudition, and distinguished for his unabating perseverance in examining all the MSS. and printed books that came in his way. The manner, slight as it was, in which Cardona[106] mentioned the Vatican library, aroused the patriotic ardor of PANSA; who published his _Bibliotheca Vaticana_, in the Italian language, in the year 1590; and in the subsequent year appeared the rival production of ANGELUS ROCCHA, written in Latin, under the same title.[107] The magnificent establishment of the VATICAN PRESS, under the auspices of Pope Sixtus V. and Clement VIII. and under the typographical direction of the grandson of Aldus,[108] called forth these publications--which might, however, have been executed with more splendour and credit. [Footnote 102: The first edition of this work, under the title of "_Illustrium maioris Britanniæ Scriptorum, hoc est, Anglæ, Cambriæ, ac Scotiæ summarium, in quasnam centurias divisum, &c._," was printed at Ipswich, in 1548, 4to., containing three supposed portraits of Bale, and a spurious one of Wicliffe. Of the half length portrait of Bale, upon a single leaf, as noticed by Herbert, vol. iii. 1457, I have doubts about its appearance in all the copies. The above work was again published at Basil, by Opornius, in 1559, fol., greatly enlarged and corrected, with a magnificent half length portrait of Bale, from which the one in a subsequent part of this work was either copied on a reduced scale, or of which it was the prototype. His majesty has perhaps the finest copy of this last edition of Bale's _Scriptores Britanniæ_, in existence.] [Footnote 103: "Les Savans n'ont nullemont été satisfaits des règles prescrites par FLORIAN TREFFER (Trefler) le premièr dont on connoisse un écrit sur ce sujet [de la disposition des livres dans une bibliothèque]. Sa méthode de classer les livres fut imprimée à Augsbourg en 1560." Camus: _Memoires de l'Institut_. vol. i. 646. The title is "Methodus Ordinandi Bibliothecam," Augustæ, 1560. The extreme rarity of this book does not appear to have arisen from its utility--if the authority quoted by Vogt, p. 857, edit. 1793, may be credited. Bauer repeats Vogt's account; and Teisser, Morhof, and Baillet, overlook the work.] [Footnote 104: It would appear, from Morhof, that NEANDER meditated the publication of a work similar to the _Pandects_ of Gesner; which would, in all probability, have greatly excelled it. The "_Erotemata Græcæ Linguæ_" was published at Basil in 1565, 8vo. Consult _Polyhist. Liter._ vol. i. 199: _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. iii. art. 887, but more particularly Niceron's _Memoires des Hommes Illustres_, vol. xxx. In regard to Neander, Vogt has given the title at length (a sufficiently tempting one!) calling the work "very rare," and the preface of Neander (which is twice the length of the work) "curious and erudite." See his _Catalog. Libror. Rarior._, p. 614, edit. 1793.] [Footnote 105: LA CROIX DU MAINE'S book appeared toward the end of the year 1584; and that of his coadjutor, ANTHONY VERDIER, in the beginning of the subsequent year. They are both in folio, and are usually bound in one volume. Of these works, the first is the rarest and best executed; but the very excellent edition of both of them, by DE LA MONNOYE and JUVIGNY, in six volumes, 4to., 1772, which has realized the patriotic wishes of Baillet, leaves nothing to be desired in the old editions--and these are accordingly dropping fast into annihilation. It would appear from an advertisement of De Bure, subjoined to his catalogue of Count Macarty's books, 1779, 8vo., that there were then remaining only eleven copies of this new edition upon LARGE PAPER, which were sold for one hundred and twenty livres. Claude Verdier, son of Antony, who published a supplement to Gesner's Bibliotheca, and a "_Censio auctorum omnium veterum et recentiorum_," affected to censure his father's work, and declared that nothing but parental respect could have induced him to consent to its publication--but consult the _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii. 87-8, upon Claude's filial affection; and Morhof's _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., 176, concerning the "Censio," &c.--"misere," exclaims Morhof, "ille corvos deludit hiantes: nam ubi censuram suam exercet, manifestum hominis phrenesin facile deprehendas!" The ancient editions are well described in _Bibl. Creven._, vol. v., 277-8, edit. 1776--but more particularly by De Bure, nos. 6020-1. A copy of the ancient edition was sold at West's sale for 2_l._ 15_s._ See _Bibl. West._, No. 934.] [Footnote 106: JOHN BAPTIST CARDONA, a learned and industrious writer, and bishop of Tortosa, published a quarto volume at Tarracona, in 1537, 4to.--comprehending the following four pieces: 1. _De regia Sancti Lamentii Bibliotheca_: 2. _De Bibliothecis_ (_Ex Fulvio Ursino_,) et _De Bibliotheca Vaticana (ex Omphrii Schedis)_: 3. _De Expurgandis hæreticorum propriis nominibus_: 4. _De Dipthycis_. Of these, the first, in which he treats of collecting all manner of useful books, and having able librarians, and in which he strongly exhorts Philip II. to put the Escurial library into good order, is the most valuable to the bibliographer. Vogt, p. 224, gives us two authorities to shew the rarity of this book; and Baillet refers us to the _Bibliotheca Hispana_ of Antonio.] [Footnote 107: MUTIUS PANZA'S work, under the title of _Ragionamenti della Libraria Vaticana_, Rome, 1590, 4to., and ANGELUS ROCCHA'S, that of _Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome_, 1591, 4to., relate rather to the ornaments of architecture and painting, than to a useful and critical analysis, or a numbered catalogue, of the books within the Vatican library. The authors of both are accused by Morhof of introducing quite extraneous and uninteresting matter. Roccha's book, however, is worth possessing, as it is frequently quoted by bibliographers. How far it may be "Liber valde quidem rarus," as Vogt intimates, I will not pretend to determine. It has a plate of the Vatican Library, and another of St. Peter's Cathedral. The reader may consult, also, the _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii., p. 141. My copy of this work, purchased at the sale of Dr. Heath's books, has a few pasted printed slips in the margins--some of them sufficiently curious.] [Footnote 108: Consult Renouard's _L'Imprimerie des Alde_, vol. ii., 122, &c. One of the grandest works which ever issued from the Vatican press, under the superintendence of Aldus, was the vulgate bible of Pope Sixtus V., 1590, fol., the copies of which, upon LARGE PAPER, are sufficiently well known and coveted. A very pleasing and satisfactory account of this publication will be found in the _Horæ Biblicæ_ of Mr. Charles Butler, a gentleman who has long and justly maintained the rare character of a profound lawyer, an elegant scholar, and a well-versed antiquary and philologist.] Let us here not forget that the celebrated LIPSIUS condescended to direct his talents to the subject of libraries; and his very name, as Baillet justly remarks, "is sufficient to secure respect for his work," however slender it may be.[109] We now approach, with the mention of Lipsius, the opening of the 17th century; a period singularly fertile in bibliographical productions. I will not pretend to describe, minutely, even the leading authors in this department. The works of PUTEANUS can be only slightly alluded to, in order to notice the more copious and valuable ones of POSSEVINUS and of SCHOTTUS;[110] men who were ornaments to their country, and whose literary and bibliographical publications have secured to them the gratitude of posterity. While the labours of these authors were enriching the republic of literature, and kindling all around a love of valuable and curious books, the _Bibliotheca Historica_ of BOLDUANUS, and the _Bibliotheca Classica_ of DRAUDIUS[111] highly gratified the generality of readers, and enabled the student to select, with greater care and safety, such editions of authors as were deserving of a place in their libraries. [Footnote 109: LIPSIUS published his _Syntagma de Bibliothecis_, at Antwerp, in 1603, 4to., "in quo de ritibus variis et antiquitatibus circa rem bibliothecariam agitur." An improved edition of it, by Maderus, was printed at Helmstadt, in 1666, 4to., with other curious bibliographical opuscula. A third edition of it was put forth by Schmid, at the same place, in 1702, 4to. Consult Morhof. _Poly. Lit._, vol. i., 188.] [Footnote 110: "Scripsit et ERYCIUS PUTEANUS librum _De Usu Bibliothecæ et quidem speciatim Bibliothecæ Ambrosianæ Mediol._, in 8vo., 1606, editum, aliumque, cui titulus _Auspicia Bibliothecæ Lovaniensis_, an. 1639, in 4to." Morhof. "It is true," says Baillet, "that this Puteanus passed for a gossipping sort of writer, and for a great maker of little books, but he was, notwithstanding, a very clever fellow." _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii., 150. In the _Bibl. Crev._, vol. v., 311, will be found one of his letters, never before published. He died in 1646. POSSEVINUS published a _Bibliotheca selecta_ and _Apparatus sacer_--of the former of which, the Cologne edition of 1607, folio, and of the latter, that of 1608, are esteemed the most complete. The first work is considered by Morhof as less valuable than the second. The "_Apparatus_" he designates as a book of rather extraordinary merit and utility. Of the author of both these treatises, some have extolled his talents to the skies, others have depreciated them in proportion. His literary character, however, upon the whole, places him in the first class of bibliographers. Consult the _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., 175. He was one of the earliest bibliographers who attacked the depraved taste of the Italian printers in adopting licentious capital-initial letters. Catherinot, in his _Art d'imprimer_, p. 3, makes the same complaint: so Baillet informs us, vol. i., pt. i., p. 13, edit. 1725: vol. iii., pt. 1, p. 78. SCHOTTUS'S work, _de Bibl. claris Hispaniæ viris, France_, 1608, 4to., is forgotten in the splendour of Antonio's similar production; but it had great merit in its day. _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii., pt. 1, 132, edit. 1725.] [Footnote 111: BOLDUANUS published a _Theological_ (Jenæ, 1614) and _Philosophico Philological_ (Jenæ, 1616), as well as an _Historical_ (Lipsiæ, 1620), library; but the latter work has the pre-eminence. Yet the author lived at too great a distance, wanting the requisite materials, and took his account chiefly from the Frankfort catalogues--some of which were sufficiently erroneous. _Polyhist. Literar._ vol. i., 199. See also the very excellent historical catalogue, comprehending the 1st chap. of Meusel's new edition of Struvius's _Bibl. Histor._, vol. i., p. 26. DRAUDIUS'S work is more distinguished for its arrangement than for its execution in detail. It was very useful, however, at the period when it was published. My edition is of the date of 1611, 4to.: but a second appeared at Frankfort, in 1625, 4to.] The name of DU CHESNE can never be pronounced by a sensible Frenchman without emotions of gratitude. His _Bibliotheca Historiarum Galliæ_ first published in the year 1627, 8vo.--although more immediately useful to foreigners than to ourselves, is nevertheless worth mentioning. Morhof, if I recollect aright, supposes there was a still later edition; but he probably confused with this work the _Series Auctorum, &c. de Francorum Historia_;[112] of which two handsome folio editions were published by Cramoisy. French writers of bibliographical eminence now begin to crowd fast upon us. [Footnote 112: The reader will find a good account of some of the scarcer works of Du Chesne in Vogt's _Catalog. Libror. Rarior._, p. 248, &c., and of the life and literary labours of this illustrious man in the 7th volume of Niceron's _Memoires des Hommes Illustres_.] LIS. But what becomes of the English, Spanish, and Italian bibliographers all this while? LYSAND. The reproach of Morhof is I fear too just; namely that, although we had produced some of the most learned, ingenious, and able men in Europe--lovers and patrons of literature--yet our librarians, or university scholars, were too lazy to acquaint the world with the treasures which were contained in the several libraries around them.[113] You cannot expect a field-marshal, or a statesman in office, or a nobleman, or a rich man of extensive connections, immersed in occupations both pressing and unavoidable--doggedly to set down to a _Catalogue Raisonné_ of his books, or to an analysis of the different branches of literature--while his presence is demanded in the field, in the cabinet, or in the senate--or while all his bells, at home, from the massive outer gate to the retired boudoir, are torn to pieces with ringing and jingling at the annunciation of visitors--you cannot, I say, my good Lisardo, call upon a person, thus occupied, to produce--or expect from him, in a situation thus harassed, the production of--any solid bibliographical publication; but you have surely a right to expect that librarians, or scholars, who spend the greater part of their time in public libraries, will vouchsafe to apply their talents in a way which may be an honour to their patrons, and of service to their country.[114] Not to walk with folded arms from one extremity of a long room (of 120 feet) to another, and stop at every window to gaze on an industrious gardener, or watch the slow progress of a melancholy crow "making wing to the rooky wood," nor yet, in winter, to sit or stand inflexibly before the fire, with a duodecimo jest book or novel in their hands--but to look around and catch, from the sight of so much wisdom and so much worth, a portion of that laudable emulation with which the Gesners, the Baillets, and the Le Longs were inspired; to hold intimate acquaintance with the illustrious dead; to speak to them without the fear of contradiction; to exclaim over their beauties without the dread of ridicule, or of censure; to thank them for what they have done in transporting us to other times, and introducing us to other worlds; and constantly to feel a deep and unchangeable conviction of the necessity of doing all the good in our power, and in our way, for the benefit of those who are to survive us! [Footnote 113: See the note at p. 29, ante. "It is a pity," says Morhof, "that the _Dutch_ had such little curiosity about the literary history of their country--but the _English_ were yet more negligent and incurious."--And yet, Germany, France, and Italy, had already abounded with treasures of this kind!!] [Footnote 114: Senebier, who put forth a very useful and elegantly printed catalogue of the MSS. in the public library of Geneva, 1779, 8vo., has the following observations upon this subject--which I introduce with a necessary proviso, or caution, that _now-a-days_ his reproaches cannot affect us. We are making ample amends for past negligence; for, to notice no others, the labours of those gentlemen who preside over the BRITISH MUSEUM abundantly prove our present industry. Thus speaks Senebier: 'Ill sembleroit d'abord étonnant qu'on ait tant tradé à composer le Catalogue des Manuscripts de la Bibliothéque de Genéve; mais on peut faire plus raisonnablement ce reproche aux Bibliothécaires bien payés et uniquement occupés de leur vocation, qui sont les dépositaires de tant de collections précieuses qu'on voit en Italie, en France, en Allemagne, et en Angleterre; ils le mériteront d'autant mieux, qu'ils privent le public des piéces plus précieuses, et qu'ils ont plusieurs aids intelligens qui peuvent les dispenser de la partie le plus méchanique et la plus ennuyeuse de ce travail,' &c.] PHIL. Hear him, hear him![115] [Footnote 115: This mode of exclamation or expression, like that of _cheering_ (vide p. 20, ante) is also peculiar to our own country; and it is uttered by both friend and foe. Thus, in the senate, when a speaker upon one side of the question happens to put an argument in a strong point of view, those of the same party or mode of thinking exclaim--_hear him, hear him!_ And if he should happen to state any thing that may favour the views, or the mode of thinking, of his opponents, these latter also take advantage of his eloquence, and exclaim, _hear him, hear him!_ Happy the man whom friend and foe alike delight to hear!] LIS. But what is become, in the while, of the English, Italian, and Spanish bibliographers--in the seventeenth century? LYSAND. I beg pardon for the digression; but the less we say of these, during this period, the better; and yet you must permit me to recommend to you the work of PITSEUS, our countryman, which grows scarcer every day.[116] We left off, I think, with the mention of Du Chesne's works. Just about this time came forth the elegant little work of NAUDÆUS;[117] which I advise you both to purchase, as it will cost you but a few shillings, and of the aspect of which you may inform yourselves by taking it down from yonder shelf. Quickly afterwards CLAUDE CLEMENT, "haud passibus æquis," put forth his _Bibliothecæ tam privatæ quam publicæ[118] extructio_, &c.; a work, condemned by the best bibliographical judges. But the splendour of almost every preceding bibliographer's reputation was eclipsed by that arising from the extensive and excellent publications of LOUIS JACOB;[119] a name at which, if we except those of Fabricius and Muratori, diligence itself stands amazed; and concerning whose life and labours it is to be regretted that we have not more extended details. The harsh and caustic manner in which Labbe and Morhof have treated the works of GADDIUS,[120] induce me only to mention his name, and to warn you against looking for much corn in a barn choked with chaff. We now approach the close of the seventeenth century; when, stopping for a few minutes only, to pay our respects to CINELLI, CONRINGIUS, and LOMEIER,[121] we must advance to do homage to the more illustrious names of Labbe, Lambecius, and Baillet; not forgetting, however, the equally respectable ones of Antonio and Lipenius. [Footnote 116: Pitseus's work "_De Rebus Anglicis_," Paris, 1619, 4to., vol. i., was written in opposition to Bale's (vid. p. 31, ante). The author was a learned Roman Catholic; but did not live to publish the second volume. I was glad to give Mr. Ford, of Manchester, 1_l._ 16_s._ for a stained and badly bound copy of it.] [Footnote 117: "GABRIELE NAUDÆO nemo vixit suo tempore [Greek: empeirias] Bibliothecariæ peritior:" _Polyhist. Liter._, vol. i., 187. "Naudæi scripta omnia et singula præstantissima sunt," Vogt, p. 611. "Les ouvrages de Naudé firent oublier ce qui les avoient précédé." Camus, _Mem. de l'Institut._, vol. i., 646. After these eulogies, who will refuse this author's "_Avis pour dresser une Bibliothéque_, Paris, 1627, 1644, 8vo." a place upon his shelf? Unluckily, it rarely comes across the search of the keenest collector. The other, yet scarcer, productions of Naudé will be found well described in Vogt's _Catalog. Libror. Rarior._, p. 610. The reader of ancient politics may rejoice in the possession of what is called, the "_Mascurat_"--and "_Considerations politiques_"--concerning which Vogt is gloriously diffuse; and Peignot (who has copied from him, without acknowledgement--_Bibliogr. Curieuse_, pp. 49, 50,) may as well be consulted. But the bibliographer will prefer the "_Additions à l'Histoire de Louis XI._," 1630, 8vo., and agree with Mailchelius that a work so uncommon and so curious "ought to be reprinted." See the latter's amusing little book "_De Præcipuis Bibliothecis Parisiensibus_," pp. 66, 67, &c. Naudæus was librarian to the famous Cardinal Mazarin, the great Mæcenas of his day; whose library, consisting of upwards of forty thousand volumes, was the most beautiful and extensive one which France had then ever seen. Its enthusiastic librarian, whom I must be allowed to call a very wonderful bibliomaniac, made constant journeys, and entered into a perpetual correspondence, relating to books and literary curiosities. He died at Abbeville in 1653, in his 53rd year, on returning from Sweden, where the famous Christian had invited him. Naudæus's "_Avis, &c._", [ut supr.] was translated by Chaline; but his "_Avis à Nosseigneurs du Parlement, &c._" 1652, 4to.--upon the sale of the Cardinal's library--and his "_Remise de la Bihliothéque_ [Transcriber's Note: Bibliothèque] [Du Cardinal] _entre le mains de M. Tubeuf_, 1651," are much scarcer productions. A few of these particulars are gathered from Peignot's _Dict. de la Bibliolologie_ [Transcriber's Note: Bibliologie], vol. ii., p. 1--consult also his _Dict. Portatif de Bibliographie_, p. v. In the former work I expected a copious piece of biography; yet, short as it is, Peignot has subjoined a curious note from Naudé's "_Considerations politiques_"--in which the author had the hardihood to defend the massacre upon St. Bartholomew's day, by one of the strangest modes of reasoning ever adopted by a rational being.] [Footnote 118: This work, in four books, was published at Lyons, 1635, 4to. If it be not quite "Much ado about nothing"--it exhibits, at least, a great waste of ink and paper. Morhof seems to seize with avidity Baillet's lively sentence of condemnation--"Il y a trop de babil et trop de ce que nous appellons _fatras_," &c.] [Footnote 119: Le Pere LOUYS JACOB published his "_Traicté des plus belles Bibliothéques publiques et particulières, qui ont esté, et qui sont à présents dans le monde_," at Paris, in 1644--again in 1655, 8vo.--in which he first brought together the scattered notices relating to libraries, especially to modern ones. His work is well worth consultation; although Baillet and Morhof do not speak in direct terms of praise concerning it--and the latter seems a little angry at his giving the preference to the Parisian libraries over those of other countries. It must be remembered that this was published as an unfinished production: as such, the author's curiosity and research are highly to be commended. I have read the greater part of it with considerable satisfaction. The same person meditated the execution of a vast work in four folio volumes--called "_La Bibliothéque universelle de tous les Autheurs de France, qui ont escrits en quelque sorte de sciences et de langues_"--which, in fact, was completed in 1638: but, on the death of the author it does not appear what became of it. Jacob also gave an account of books as they were published at Paris, and in other parts of France, from the year 1643 to 1650; which was printed under the title of _Bibliographia Parisina_, Paris, 1651, 4to. Consult _Polyhist. Liter._, vol. i., pp. 189, 202: _Bibl. Creven._, vol. v., pp. 281, 287. _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii., p. 151.] [Footnote 120: He published a work entitled "_De scriptoribus non-ecclesiasticis_," 1648, vol. i., 1649, vol. ii., folio: in which his opinions upon authors are given in the most jejune and rash manner. His other works, which would form a little library, are reviewed by Leti with sufficient severity: but the poor man was crack brained! And yet some curious and uncommon things, gleaned from MSS. which had probably never been unrolled or opened since their execution, are to be found in this "Sciolum Florentinum," as Labbe calls him. Consult the _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., p. 175.] [Footnote 121: Magliabechi put CINELLI upon publishing his BIBLIOTHECA VOLANTE, 1677, 8vo., a pretty work, with a happy title!--being an indiscriminate account of some rare books which the author picked up in his travels, or saw in libraries. It was republished, with valuable additions, by Sancassani, at Venice, in 1734, 4to. See _Cat. de Lomenie_, No. 2563. Works of this sort form the ANA of bibliography! CONRINGIUS compiled a charming bibliographical work, in an epistolary form, under the title of _Bibliotheca Augusta_; which was published at Helmstadt, in 1661, 4to.--being an account of the library of the Duke of Brunswick, in the castle of Wolfenbuttle. Two thousand manuscripts, and one hundred and sixteen thousand printed volumes, were then contained in this celebrated collection. Happy the owner of such treasures--happy the man who describes them! LOMEIER'S, or Lomejer's "_De Bibliothecis Liber singularis_," Ultraj, 1669-1680, 8vo., is considered by Baillet among the best works upon the subject of ancient and modern libraries. From this book, Le Sieur LE GALLOIS stole the most valuable part of his materials for his "_Traité des plus belles Bibliothéques de l'Europe_," 1685, 1697--12mo.: the title at full length (a sufficiently imposing one!) may be seen in _Bibé. Crevenn._, vol. v., p. 281; upon this latter treatise, Morhof cuttingly remarks--"Magnos ille titulus strepitus facit: sed pro thesauris carbones." _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., p. 191. See also "_Jugemens des Savans_," vol. ii., p. 152. Gallois dispatches the English libraries in little more than a page. I possess the second edition of Lomeier's book (1680--with both its title pages), which is the last and best--and an interesting little volume it is! The celebrated Grævius used to speak very favourably of this work.] LIS. Pray discuss their works, or merits, _seriatim_, as the judges call it; for I feel overwhelmed at the stringing together of such trisyllabic names. These gentlemen, as well as almost every one of their predecessors, are strangers to me; and you know my bashfulness and confusion in such sort of company. LYSAND. I hope to make you better acquainted with them after a slight introduction, and so rid you of such an uncomfortable diffidence. Let us begin with LABBE,[122] who died in the year 1667, and in the sixtieth of his own age; a man of wonderful memory and of as wonderful application--whose whole life, according to his biographers, was consumed in gathering flowers from his predecessors, and thence weaving such a chaplet for his own brows as was never to know decay. His _Nova Bibliotheca_, and _Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum Manuscriptorum_, are the principal works which endear his memory to bibliographers. More learned than Labbe was LAMBECIUS;[123] whose _Commentarii de Bibliotheca Cæsareâ-Vindobonensis_, with Nesselius's supplement to the same, [1696, 2 vols. fol.] and Kollarius's new edition of both, form one of the most curious and important, as well as elaborate, productions in the annals of literature and bibliography. Less extensive, but more select, valuable, and accurate, in its choice and execution of objects, is the _Bibliotheca Hispana Vetus et Nova_ of Nicholas ANTONIO;[124] the first, and the best, bibliographical work which Spain, notwithstanding her fine palaces and libraries, has ever produced. If neither Philemon nor yourself, Lisardo, possess this latter work [and I do not see it upon the shelves of this cabinet], seek for it with avidity; and do not fear the pistoles which the purchase of it may cost you. LIPENIUS[125] now claims a moment's notice; of whose _Bibliotheca Realis_ Morhof is inclined to speak more favourably than other critics. 'Tis in six volumes; and it appeared from the years 1679 to 1685 inclusive. Not inferior to either of the preceding authors in taste, erudition, and the number and importance of his works, was ADRIEN BAILLET;[126] the simple pastor of Lardiéres, and latterly the learned and indefatigable librarian of Lamoignon. His _Jugemens des Savans_, edited by De la Monnoye, is one of those works with which no man, fond of typographical and bibliographical pursuits, can comfortably dispense. I had nearly forgotten to warn you against the capricious works of BEUGHEM; a man, nevertheless, of wonderful mental elasticity; but for ever planning schemes too vast and too visionary for the human powers to execute.[127] [Footnote 122: "Vir, qui in texendis catalogis totam pene vitam consumpsit." "Homo ad Lexica et Catalogos conficiendos a naturâ factus." Such is Morhof's account of LABBE; who, in the works above-mentioned, in the text, has obtained an unperishable reputation as a bibliographer. The _Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum_, thick duodecimo, or crown octavo, has run through several impressions; of which the Leipsic edit. of 1682, is as good as any; but TEISSER, in his work under the same title, 1686, 4to., has greatly excelled Labbe's production, as well by his corrections of errata as by his additions of some hundreds of authors. The _Bibliotheca Nummaria_ is another of Labbe's well-known performances: in the first part of which he gives an account of those who have written concerning medals--in the second part, of those who have publishe [Transcriber's Note: published] separate accounts of coins, weights, and measures. This is usually appended to the preceding work, and is so published by Teisser. The _Mantissa Suppellectilis_ was an unfinished production; and the _Specimen novæ Bibliothecæ Manuscriptorum Librorum_, Paris, 1653, 4to., is too imperfectly executed for the exercise of rigid criticism; although Baillet calls it 'useful and curious.' Consult the _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., 197, 203: and _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii., pt. 1, p. 24, edit. 1725. A list of Labbe's works, finished, unfinished, and projected, was published at Paris, in 1656 and 1662. He was joint editor with Cossart of that tremendously voluminous work--the "Collectio Maxima Conciliorum"--1672, 18 volumes, folio.] [Footnote 123: LAMBECIUS died at, one may almost say, the premature age of 52: and the above work (in eight folio volumes), which was left unfinished in consequence, (being published between the years 1665-79 inclusive) gives us a magnificent idea of what its author would have accomplished [see particularly Reimanni _Bibl. Acroamatica_, p. 51] had it pleased Providence to prolong so valuable an existence. It was originally sold for 24 _imperiali_; but at the commencement of the 18th century for not less than 80 _thaleri_, and a copy of it was scarcely ever to be met with. Two reasons have been assigned for its great rarity, and especially for that of the 8th volume; the one, that Lambecius's heir, impatient at the slow sale of the work, sold many copies of it to the keepers of herb-stalls: the other, that, when the author was lying on his death-bed, his servant maid, at the suggestion and from the stinginess of the same heir, burnt many copies of this eighth volume [which had recently left the press] to light the fire in the chamber. This intelligence I glean from Vogt, p. 495: it had escaped Baillet and Morhof. But consult De Bure, vol. vi., Nos. 6004-5. Reimannus published a _Bibliotheca Acroamatica_, Hanov., 1712, 8vo., which is both an entertaining volume and a useful compendium of Lambecius's immense work. But in the years 1766-82, KOLLARIUS published a new and improved edition of the entire commentaries, in six folio volumes; embodying in this gigantic undertaking the remarks which were scattered in his "_Analecta Monumentorum omnis ævi Vindobonensia_," in two folio volumes, 1761. A posthumous work of Kollarius, as a supplement to his new edition of Lambecius's Commentaries, was published in one folio volume, 1790. A complete set of these volumes of Kollarius's bibliographical labours, relating to the Vienna library, was in Serna Santander's catalogue, vol. iv., no. 6291, as well as in Krohn's: in which latter [nos. 3554, 3562] there are some useful notices. See my account of M. Denis: post. Critics have accused these "Commentaries concerning the MSS. in the imperial library at Vienna," as containing a great deal of rambling and desultory matter; but the vast erudition, minute research, and unabateable diligence of its author, will for ever secure to him the voice of public praise, as loud and as hearty as he has received it from his abridger Reimannus. In these volumes appeared the first account of the Psalter, printed at Mentz in 1457, which was mistaken by Lambecius for a MS. The reader will forgive my referring him to a little essay upon this and the subsequent Psalters, printed at Mentz, in 1459, 1490, &c., which was published by me in the 2nd volume of the _Athenæum_, p. 360, 490.] [Footnote 124: Morhof considers the labours of ANTONIO as models of composition in their way. His grand work began to be published in 1672, 2 vols., folio--being the _Bibliotheca Hispana Nova_: this was succeeded, in 1696, by the _Bibliotheca Hispana Antiqua_--in two folio volumes: the prefaces and indexes contain every thing to satisfy the hearts of Spanish Literati. A new edition of the first work was published at Madrid, in 1783, 2 vols., folio; and of the latter work, in 1788, 2 vols., folio.--These recent editions are very rarely to be met with in our own country: abroad, they seem to have materially lowered the prices of the ancient ones, which had become excessively scarce. See _Polyhist Literar._, vol. i., 203-4: _Dictionn. Bibliogr._, vol. iv., p. 22: and _Mem. de l'Inst._, vol. i., 651. Let us here not forget the learned Michael CASIRI'S _Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana Escorialensis_, published in two superb folio volumes at Madrid in 1760. All these useful and splendid works place the Spaniards upon a high footing with their fellow-labourers in the same respectable career. De La Serna Santander tells us that Casiri's work is dear, and highly respected by the Literati. See _Cap. de Santander_, vol iv., no. 6296.] [Footnote 125: The _Bibliotheca Realis_, &c., of LIPENIUS contains an account of works published in the departments of _Jurisprudence_, _Medicine_, _Philosophy_, and _Theology_: of these, the _Bibliotheca Theologica_, et _Philosophica_, are considered by Morhof as the best executed. The _Bibl. Juridica_ was, however, republished at Leipsic in two folio volumes, 1757, with considerable additions. This latter is the last Leipsic reprint of it. Saxius notices only the re-impressions of 1720, 1736, 1742. See his _Onomast. Lit._, vol. v., 588. I will just notice the _Bibliotheca Vetus et Recens_ of KOENIGIUS, 1678, folio--as chart-makers notice shoals--to be avoided. I had long thrown it out of my own collection before I read its condemnation by Morhof. Perhaps the following account of certain works, which appear to have escaped the recollection of Lysander, may not be unacceptable. In the year 1653, Father RAYNAUD, whose lucubrations fill 20 folio volumes, published a quarto volume at Lyons, under the title of "_Erotemata de malis ac bonis Libris, deque justa aut injusta eorum conditione_;" which he borowed [Transcriber's Note: borrowed] in part from the "_Theotimus, seu de tollendis et expurgandis malis libris_," (Paris, 1549, 8vo.) of Gabriel PUHTHERB. Of these two works, if [Transcriber's Note: it] were difficult to determine which is preferable. The bibliographer need not deeply lament the want of either: consult the _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., 177. In the year 1670, VOGLER published a very sensible "_Universalis in notitiam cujusque generis bonorum Scriptorum Introductio_"--of this work two subsequent editions, one in 1691, the other in 1700, 4to., were published at Helmstadt. The last is the best; but the second, to him who has neither, is also worth purchasing. The seven dissertations "_De Libris legendis_" of BARTHOLIN, Hafniæ, 1676, 8vo., are deserving of a good coat and a front row in the bibliographer's cabinet. "Parvæ quidem molis liberest, sed in quo quasi constipata sunt utilissima de libris monita et notitiæ ad multas disciplinas utiles." So speaks Morhof.] [Footnote 126: ADRIEN BAILLET was the eldest of seven children born in a second marriage. His parents were in moderate circumstances: but Adrien very shortly displaying a love of study and of book-collecting, no means, compatible with their situation, were left untried by his parents to gratify the wishes of so promising a child. From his earliest youth, he had a strong predilection for the church; and as a classical and appropriate education was then easily to be procured in France, he went from school to college, and at seventeen years of age had amassed, in two fair sized volumes, a quantity of extracts from clever works; which, perhaps having Beza's example in his mind, he entitled _Juvenilia_. His masters saw and applauded his diligence; and a rest of only five hours each night, during two years and a half of this youthful period, afforded Baillet such opportunities of acquiring knowledge as rarely fall to the lot of a young man. This habit of short repose had not forsaken him in his riper years: "he considered and treated his body as an insolent enemy, which required constant subjection; he would not suffer it to rest more than five hours each night; he recruited it with only one meal a day--drank no wine--never came near the fire--and walked out but once a week." The consequence of this absurd regime was that Baillet had ulcers in his legs, an erysipelatous affection over his body, and was, in other respects, afflicted as sedentary men usually are, who are glued to their seats from morn till night, never mix in society, and rarely breathe the pure air of heaven. These maladies shortened the days of Baillet; after he had faithfully served the LAMOIGNONS as a librarian of unparalleled diligence and sagacity; leaving behind him a "_Catalogue des Matieres_," in 35 volumes folio. "All the curious used to come and see this catalogue: many bishops and magistrates requested to have either copies or abridgments of it." When Baillet was dragged, by his friend M. Hermant, from his obscure vicarage of Lardiéres, to be Lamoignon's librarian, he seems to have been beside himself for joy.--"I want a man of such and such qualities," said Lamoignon.--"I will bring one exactly to suit you," replied Hermant--"but you must put up with a diseased and repulsive exterior."--"Nous avons besoin de fond," said the sensible patron, "la forme ne m'embarasse point; l'air de ce pays, et un grain de sel discret, fera le reste: il en trouvera ici." Baillet came, and his biographer tells us that Lamoignon and Hermant "furent ravis de le voir." To the eternal honour of the family in which he resided, the crazy body and nervous mind of Baillet met with the tenderest treatment. Madame Lamoignon and her son (the latter, a thorough bred bibliomaniac; who, under the auspices of his master, soon eclipsed the book celebrity of his father) always took a pleasure in anticipating his wishes, soothing his irritabilities, promoting his views, and speaking loudly and constantly of the virtues of his head and heart. The last moments of Baillet were marked with true Christian piety and fortitude; and his last breath breathed a blessing upon his benefactors. He died A.D. 1706, ætatis 56. Rest his ashes in peace!--and come we now to his bibliographical publications. His "_Jugemens des Savans_," was first published in 1685, &c., in nine duodecimo volumes. Two other similar volumes of _Anti Baillet_ succeeded it. The success and profits of this work were very considerable. In the year 1722, a new edition of it in seven volumes, quarto, was undertaken and completed by De La Monnoye, with notes by the editor, and additions of the original author. The "Anti Baillet" formed the 8th volume. In the year 1725, De La Monnoye's edition, with his notes placed under the text--the corrections and additions incorporated--and two volumes of fresh matter, including the Anti Baillet--was republished at Amsterdam, in eight duodecimo volumes, forming 16 parts, and being, in every respect, the best edition of the _Jugemens des Savans_. The curious, however, should obtain the portrait of Baillet prefixed to the edition of 1722; as the copy of it in the latter edition is a most wretched performance. These particulars, perhaps a little too long and tedious, are gleaned from the "Abregé" de la Vie de Baillet, printed in the two last editions of the work just described.] [Footnote 127: It will not be necessary to notice _all_ the multifarious productions, in MS. and in print, of this indefatigable bibliographer; who had cut out work enough for the lives of ten men, each succeeding the other, and well employed from morn 'till even, to execute. This is Marchand's round criticism: _Dict. Hist._ vol. i., p. 100. Beughem's _Incunabula Typographica_, 1688, 12mo., is both jejune and grossly erroneous. The "_Bibliographia Eruditorum Critico-Curiosa_," 1689, 1701, 4 vols., 12mo., being an alphabetical account of writers--extracts from whom are in the public literary Journals of Europe from 1665 to 1700--with the title of their works--is Beughem's best production, and if each volume had not had a separate alphabet, and contained additions upon additions, the work would have proved highly useful. His "_Gallia Euridita_," Amst., 1683, 12mo., is miserably perplexing. In addition to Marchand, consult the _Polyhist. Literar._ of Morhof, vol. i., p. 179; and the note therein subjoined. See also "_Bibl. Creven._," vol. v., p. 298: _Cat. de Santander_, vol. iv., nos. 6273-4: 6281-2.] PHIL. You have at length reached the close of the 17th century; but my limited knowledge of bibliographical literature supplies me with the recollection of two names which you have passed over: I mean, THOMAS BLOUNT and ANTONY-A-WOOD. There is surely something in these authors relating to editions of the works of the learned. LYSAND. You have anticipated me in the mention of these names. I had not forgotten them. With the former,[128] I have no very intimate acquaintance; but of the latter I could talk in commendation till dinner time. Be sure, my good Lisardo, that you obtain _both_ editions of the _Athenæ Oxoniensis_.[129] [Footnote 128: Sir Thomas Pope Blount's "_Censura Celebriorum Authorum_," Londini, 1690, folio, is unquestionably a learned work--the production of a rural and retired life--"Umbraticam enim vitam et ab omni strepitu remotam semper in delitiis habui,"--says its author, in the preface. It treats chiefly of the most learned men, and sparingly of the English. His "_Remarks upon Poetry_," Lond., 1694, 4to. (in English) is more frequently read and referred to. It is a pity that he had not left out the whole of what relates to the Greek and Latin, and confined himself entirely to the English, poets. A life of Sir Thomas Pope Blount will be found in the new edition of the _Biographia Britannica_.] [Footnote 129: The first, and, what Hearne over and over again calls the genuine edition of the _Athenæ Oxoniensis_, was published in two folio volumes, 1691, 1692. That a _third_ volume was intended by the author himself may be seen from Hearne's remarks in his _Thom. Caii. Vind. Antiq. Oxon._, vol. i., p. xliii. For the character of the work consult his _Rob. de Avesb._, pp. xxvi, xxxiii. After the lapse of nearly half a century, it was judged expedient to give a new edition of these valuable biographical memoirs; and Dr. Tanner, afterwards bishop of St. Asaph, was selected to be the editor of it. It was well known that Wood had not only made large corrections to his own printed text, but had written nearly _500_ new lives--his MS. of both being preserved in the Ashmolean Museum. This new edition, therefore, had every claim to public notice. When it appeared, it was soon discovered to be a corrupt and garbled performance; and that the genuine text of Wood, as well in his correctness of the old, as in his compositions of the new, lives, had been most capriciously copied. Dr. Tanner, to defend himself, declared that Tonson "would never let him see one sheet as they printed it." This was sufficiently infamous for the bookseller; but the editor ought surely to have abandoned a publication thus faithlessly conducted, or to have entered his caveat in the preface, when it did appear, that he would not be answerable for the authenticity of the materials: neither of which were done. He wrote, however, an exculpatory letter to Archbishop Wake, which the reader may see at length in Mr. Beloe's _Anecdotes of Literature_, vol. ii., p. 304. Consult the life of the author in Mr. Gutch's valuable reprint of Wood's "_History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford_," 1792, 4to., 2 vols.: also, Freytag's _Analect. Literar._, vol. ii., 1105. I have great pleasure in closing this note, by observing that Mr. Philip Bliss, of St. John's College, Oxford, is busily engaged in giving us, what we shall all be glad to hail, a new and faithful edition of Wood's text of the _Athenæ Oxoniensis_, in five or six quarto volumes.] We have now reached the boundaries of the 17th century, and are just entering upon the one which is past: and yet I have omitted to mention the very admirable _Polyhistor. Literarius_ of MORHOF:[130] a work by which I have been in a great measure guided in the opinions pronounced upon the bibliographers already introduced to you. This work, under a somewhat better form, and with a few necessary omissions and additions, one could wish to see translated into our own language. The name of MAITTAIRE strikes us with admiration and respect at the very opening of the 18th century. His elaborate _Annales Typographici_ have secured him the respect of posterity.[131] LE LONG, whose pursuits were chiefly biblical and historical, was his contemporary; an able, sedulous, and learned bibliographer. His whole soul was in his library; and he never spared the most painful toil in order to accomplish the various objects of his inquiry.[132] And here, my dear friends, let me pay a proper tribute of respect to the memory of an eminently learned and laborious scholar and bibliographer: I mean JOHN ALBERT FABRICIUS. His labours[133] shed a lustre upon the scholastic annals of the 18th century; for he opened, as it were, the gates of literature to the inquiring student; inviting him to enter the field and contemplate the diversity and beauty of the several flowers which grew therein--telling him by whom they were planted, and explaining how their growth and luxuriancy were to be regulated. There are few instructors to whom we owe so much; none to whom we are more indebted. Let his works, therefore, have a handsome binding, and a conspicuous place in your libraries: for happy is that man who has them at hand to facilitate his inquiries, or to solve his doubts. While Fabricius was thus laudably exercising his great talents in the cause of ancient literature, the illustrious name of LEIBNITZ[134] appeared as author of a work of essential utility to the historian and bibliographer. I allude to his _Scriptores Rerum Brunwicensium_, which has received a well pointed compliment from the polished pen of Gibbon. After the successful labours of Fabricius and Leibnitz, we may notice those of STRUVIUS! whose _Historical Library_[135] should be in every philological collection. [Footnote 130: DANIEL GEORGE MORHOF, professor of poetry, eloquence, and history, was librarian of the University of Khiel. He published various works, but the above--the best edition of which is of the date of 1747--is by far the most learned and useful--"liber non sua laude privandus; cum primus fere fuerit Morhofius qui hanc amoeniorum literarum partem in meliorum redigerit." _Vogt._, pref. ix., edit. 1793. Its leading error is the want of method. His "_Princeps Medicus_," 1665, 4to., is a very singular dissertation upon the cure of the evil by the royal touch; in the efficacy of which the author appears to have believed. His "_Epistola de scypho vitreo per sonum humanæ vocis rupto_," Kiloni, 1703, 4to.--which was occasioned by a wine merchant of Amsterdam breaking a wine-glass by the strength of his voice--is said to be full of curious matter. Morhof died A.D. 1691, in his 53rd year: beloved by all who knew the excellent and amiable qualities of his head and heart. He was so laborious that he wrote during his meals. His motto, chosen by himself,--PIETATE, CANDORE, PRUDENTIA, should never be lost sight of by bibliomaniacs! His library was large and select. These particulars are gleaned from the _Dict. Historique_, Caen, 1789, vol. vi., p. 350.] [Footnote 131: A compendious account of MAITTAIRE will be found in the third edition of my _Introduction to the Knowledge of rare and valuable Editions of the Greek and Latin Classics_, vol. i., p. 148. See too Mr. Beloe's _Anecdotes of Literature, &c._, vol iii., p. ix. The various volumes of his _Annales Typographici_ are well described in the _Bibl. Crevenn._, vol. v. p. 287. To these may be added, in the bibliographical department, his _Historia Stephanorum, vitas ipsorum ac libros complectens_, 1709, 8vo.--and the _Historia Typographorum aliquot Parisiensium vitas et libros complectens_, 1717, 8vo.--Of these two latter works, (which, from a contemporaneous catalogue, I find were originally published at 4_s._ the common paper,) Mr. T. Grenville has beautiful copies upon LARGE PAPER. The books are rare in any shape. The principal merit of Maittaire's _Annales Typographici_ consists in a great deal of curious matter detailed in the notes; but the absence of the "lucidus ordo" renders the perusal of these fatiguing and unsatisfactory. The author brought a full and well-informed mind to the task he undertook--but he wanted taste and precision in the arrangement of his materials. The eye wanders over a vast indigested mass; and information, when it is to be acquired with excessive toil, is, comparatively, seldom acquired. Panzer has adopted an infinitely better plan, on the model of Orlandi; and if his materials had been _printed_ with the same beauty with which they appear to have been composed, and his annals had descended to as late a period as those of Maittaire, his work must have made us eventually forget that of his predecessor. The bibliographer is, no doubt, aware that of Maittaire's first volume there are two editions: why the author did not reprint, in the second edition (1733), the fac-simile of the epigram and epistle of Lascar prefixed to the edition of the Anthology, 1496, and the Disquisition concerning the ancient editions of Quintilian (both of which were in the first edition of 1719), is absolutely inexplicable. Maittaire was sharply attacked for this absurdity, in the "Catalogus Auctorum," of the "_Annus Tertius Sæcularis Inv. Art. Typog._," Harlem, 1741, 8vo., p. 11. "Rara certe Librum augendi methodus! (exclaims the author) Satis patet auctorem hoc eo fecisse concilio, ut et primæ et secundæ Libri sui editioni pretium suum constaret, et una æque ac altera Lectoribus necessaria esset." Copies of the Typographical Antiquities by Maittaire, upon LARGE PAPER, are now exceedingly scarce. The work, in this shape, has a noble appearance. While Maittaire was publishing his Typographical Annals, ORLANDI put forth a similar work under the title of "_Origine e Progressi della Stampa o sia dell' Arte Impressoria, e Notizie dell' Opere stampate dall' Anno 1462, sino all' Anno 1500_." Bologna, 1722, 4to. Of this work, which is rather a compendious account of the several books published in the period above specified, there are copies upon strong WRITING PAPER--which the curious prefer. Although I have a long time considered it as superseded by the labours of Maittaire and Panzer, yet I will not withhold from the reader the following critique: "Cet ouvrage doit presque nécessairement être annexé à celui de Maittaire à cause de plusieurs notices et recherches, qui le rendent fort curieux et intéressant." _Bibl. Crevenn._, vol. v., 286-7. As we are upon publications treating of Typography, we may notice the "_Annalium Typographicorum selecta quædam capita_," Hamb., 1740, 4to., of LACKMAN; and HIRSCHIUS'S supplement to the typographical labours of his predecessors--in the "_Librorum ab Anno I. usque ad Annum L. Sec. xvi. Typis exscriptorum ex Libraria quadam supellectile, Norimbergæ collecta et observata, Millenarius I._" &c. Noriberg, 1746, 4to. About this period was published a very curious, and now uncommon, octavo volume, of about 250 pages, by SEIZ; called "_Annus Tertius Sæcularis Inventæ Artis Typographicæ_," Harlem, 1741--with several very interesting cuts relating to Coster, the supposed inventor of the art of printing. It is a little strange that Lysander, in the above account of eminent typographical writers, should omit to mention CHEVILLIER--whose _L'Origine de l'Imprimerie de Paris, &c._, 1694, 4to., is a work of great merit, and is generally found upon every bibliographer's shelf. Baillet had supplied him with a pretty strong outline, in his short account of Parisian printers. All the copies of Chevillier's book, which I have seen, are printed upon what is called Foxey paper. I believe there are none upon LARGE PAPER. We may just notice LA CAILLE'S _Histoire de l'Imprimerie et de la Librarie_, 1689, 4to., as a work full of errors. In order that nothing may be wanting to complete the typographical collection of the curious, let the "portraits of booksellers and printers, from ancient times to our own," published at Nuremberg, in 1726, folio--and "the Devices and Emblems" of the same, published at the same place, in 1730, folio, be procured, if possible. The Latin titles of these two latter works, both by SCHOLTZIUS, will be found in the _Bibl. Crevenn._ vol. v. 281. Renouard mentions the last in his "_Annales de l'Imprimerie des Alde_," vol. ii. p. 63. Meanwhile the _Monumenta Typographica_ of WOLFIUS, Hamb., 1740, 2 vols., 8vo., embraces a number of curious and scattered dissertations upon this interesting and valuable art. It may be obtained for 8_s._ or 10_s._ at present! The _Amoenitatus [Transcriber's Note: Amoenitates] Literariæ, &c._, of SCHELHORN had like to have been passed over. It was published in 14 small octavo volumes, at Frankfort and Leipsic, from the year 1725 to 1731 inclusive. The _Amoenitates Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ et Literariæ_, of the same person, and published at the same place in two octavo volumes, 1738, should accompany the foregoing work. Both are scarce and sought after in this country. In the former there are some curious dissertations, with cuts, upon early printed books. Concerning the most ancient edition of the Latin Bibles, Schelhorn put forth an express treatise, which was published at Ulm in 1760, 4to. This latter work is very desirable to the curious in biblical researches, as one meets with constant mention of Schelhorn's bible. Let me not omit ZAPF'S _Annales Typographiæ Augustanæ_, Aug. Vindel., 1778; which was republished, with copious additions, at Augsbourg, in two parts, 1786, 4to.--but unluckily, this latter is printed in the German language. Upon Spanish Typography (a very interesting subject), there is a dissertation by Raymond Diosdado Caballero, entitled "_De Prima Typographiæ Hispanicæ Ætate Specimen_," Rome, 1793, 4to.] [Footnote 132: From the Latin life of LE LONG, prefixed to his _Bibliotheca Sacra_, we learn that he was an adept in most languages, ancient and modern; and that "in that part of literature connected with BIBLIOGRAPHY (Typographorum et Librorum Historia), he retained every thing so correctly in his memory that he yielded to few literary men, certainly to no bookseller." Of the early years of such a man it is a pity that we have not a better account. His _Bibliotheca Sacra_, Paris, 1725, folio, has been republished by MASCH and BOERNER, in four volumes, 4to., 1778, and enriched with copious and valuable additions. This latter work is quite unrivalled: no young or old theologian, who takes any interest in the various editions of the Holy Scriptures, in almost all languages, can possibly dispense with such a fund of sacred literature. The _Bibliothéque Historique de la France_, 1719, folio, by the same learned and industrious bibliographer, has met with a fate equally fortunate. FONTETTE republished it in 1768, in five folio volumes, and has immortalized himself and his predecessor by one of the most useful and splendid productions that ever issued from the press. De Bure used to sell copies of it upon LARGE PAPER, in sheets, for 258 livres: according to the advertisement subjoined to his catalogue of Count Macarty's books in 1779, 8vo. The presses of England, which groan too much beneath the weight of ephemeral travels and trumpery novels, are doomed, I fear, long to continue strangers to such works of national utility.] [Footnote 133: The chief labours of Fabricius ("Vir [Greek: ellênichôtatos]"--as Reimannus truly calls him), connected with the present object of our pursuit, have the following titles: 1. "_Bibliotheca Græca, sive Notitia Scriptorum Græcorum, &c._," Hamb. 1705-8-14-18, &c., 4to., 14 vols.--of which a new edition is now published by HARLES, with great additions, and a fresh arrangement of the original matter: twelve volumes have already been delivered to the public. 2. _Bibliotheca Latina_; first published in one volume, 1703--then in three volumes, 1721, and afterwards in two volumes, 1728, 4to.;--but the last and best edition is that of 1773, in three vols. 8vo., published by Ernesti at Leipsic--and yet not free from numerous errors. 3. _Bibliographia Antiquaria_, 1716, 4to.: a new edition of Schaffshausen, in 1760, 4to., has superseded the old one. A work of this kind in our own language would be very useful, and even entertaining. Fabricius has executed it in a masterly manner. 4. _Bibliotheca Ecclesiastica, in quâ continentur variorum authorum tractatus de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis_, Hamb., 1718, folio. An excellent work; in which the curious after theological tracts and their authors will always find valuable information. It is generally sharply contended for at book-auctions. 5. _Bibliotheca Latina Mediæ et Infimæ Ætatis, &c._, Leipsic, 1734, 6 vols. 8vo.--again, with Schoettgenius's supplement, in 1754, 4to., 6 vols. in 3. This latter is in every respect the best edition of a work which is absolutely indispensable to the philologist. A very excellent synopsis or critical account of Fabricius's works was published at Ams., 1738, in 4to., which the student should procure. Let me here recommend the _Historia Bibliothecæ Fabricianæ_, compiled by JOHN FABRICIUS, 1717-24, 6 vols. 4to., as a necessary and interesting supplement to the preceding works of John Albert Fabricius. I have often gleaned some curious bibliographical intelligence from its copious pages. The reader may consult _Bibl. Crevenn._, vol. v., 272-3.] [Footnote 134: He is noticed here only as the author of "_Idea Bibliothecæ Publicæ secundum classes scientiarum ordinandæ, fusior et contractior_," and of the "_Scriptores Rerum Brunswicarum_," Hanov., 1707, fol., 3 vols. "The antiquarian, who blushes at his alliance with Thomas Hearne, will feel his profession ennobled by the name of LEIBNITZ. That extraordinary genius embraced and improved the whole circle of human science; and, after wrestling with Newton and Clark in the sublime regions of geometry and metaphysics, he could descend upon earth to examine the uncouth characters and barbarous Latin of a chronicle or charter." Gibbon: _Post. Works_, vol. ii., 712. Consult also _Mem. de l'Inst._, vol. v., 648.] [Footnote 135: I will not pretend to enumerate all the learned works of BURCHARD GOTTHLIEB STRUVIUS. His "_Bibliotheca Librorum Rariorum_" was published in 1719, 4to. The first edition of the _Bibliotheca Historica_ appeared as early as 1705: a very valuable one was published by Buder, in 1740, 2 vols.: but the last, and by far the most copious and valuable, is that which exhibits the joint editorial labours of BUDER and MEUSEL, in eleven octavo volumes, 1782, 1802--though I believe it does not contain every thing which may be found in the edition of the _Bibl. Hist. Selecta_, by Jugler, 1754, three vols. 8vo.: vide pp. iv. and vii. of the preface of Meusel's edition. The _Bibl. Hist. Select._, by Jugler, was formerly published under the title of _Introd. in notitiam rei literariæ et usum Bibliothecæ_. Jugler's edition of it contains a stiff portrait of himself in a finely embroidered satin waistcoat. The first volume, relating to foreign libraries, is very interesting: but, unluckily, the work is rare. Of Struvius's _Bibl. Saxonica_, 1736, 8vo., I never saw a copy.] PHIL. You are advancing towards the middle of the 18th century, in enumerating foreign publications, without calling to mind that we have, at home, many laudable publications relating to typography and bibliography, which merit at least some notice, if not commendation. LYSAND. I thank you for the reproof. It is true, I was running precipitately to introduce a crowd of foreigners to your notice, without paying my respects, by the way, to the _Historical Libraries_ of Bishop NICOLSON, the _Bibliotheca Literaria_ of WASSE, and the _Librarian_ of WILLIAM OLDYS. Nor should I omit to mention the still more creditable performance of Bishop TANNER: while the typographical publications of WATSON, PALMER, and MIDDLETON,[136] may as well be admitted into your libraries, if you are partial to such works; although upon this latter subject, the elegant quarto volume of AMES merits particular commendation. [Footnote 136: Let us go gently over this _British_ ground, which Lysander depictures in rather a flowery manner. The first edition of BISHOP NICOLSON'S _English Historical Library_ was published in the years 1696, 1697, and 1699--comprehending the entire three parts. In 1702, came forth the _Scottish_ Historical library; and in 1724, the _Irish_ Historical Library. These three libraries, with the author's letter to Bishop Kennet in defence of the same, are usually published in one volume; and the last and best editions of the same are those of 1736, fol., and 1776, 4to. Mr. John Nichols has recently published an entertaining posthumous work of the bishop's _Epistolary Correspondence_, in two octavo volumes, 1809. Some of these letters throw light and interest upon the literature of the times. As to the authority of Bishop Nicolson, in his historical matters, I fear the sharp things which are said of his libraries by Tyrrell (Pref. to _Hist. Engl._, vol. ii., p. 5.), and Wood (_Athen. Brit._, vol. ii., col. 980, ed. 1721), all which authorities are referred to by Mr. Nichols, are sufficiently founded upon truth. He was a violent and wrong-headed writer in many respects; but he had acumen, strength, and fancy. The _Bibliotheca Literaria_ of WASSE (although his name does not appear as the professed editor) is a truly solid and valuable publication; worthy of the reputation of the learned editor of Sallust. The work was published in numbers, which were sold at one shilling each; but, I suppose from the paucity of classical readers, it could not be supported beyond the 10th number (1724); when it ceased to be published. Some of the dissertations are very interesting as well as erudite. OLDYS'S _British Librarian_ was published in six numbers, during the first six months of the year 1737; forming, with the index, an octavo volume of 402 pages. It is difficult to say, from the conclusion (p. 373-4), whether the work was dropped for want of encouragement, or from the capriciousness or indolence of the author: but I suspect that the ground was suffered "to lie fallow" (to use his own words) till it was suffocated with weeds--owing to the _former_ cause: as Oldys never suffered his pen to lie idle while he could "put money in his purse" from his lucubrations. We shall speak of him more particularly in PART V. Meanwhile, the reader is informed that the _British Librarian_ is a work of no common occurrence, or mean value. It is rigidly correct, if not very learned, in bibliographical information. I once sent three guineas to procure a copy of it, according to its description, upon LARGE PAPER; but, on its arrival, I found it to be not quite so large as my own tolerably amply-margined copy. Bishop TANNER'S _Bibliotheca Britanico-Hibernica_, which cost the author forty years' labour, was published in 1748, folio; with a preface by Dr. Wilkins. We must receive it with many thanks, imperfect and erroneous as many parts of it are; but I hope the period is not very remote when a literary friend, living, as he constantly is, in an inexhaustible stock of British literature of all kinds, will give us a new edition, with copious additions and corrections, translated into our native tongue. _The History of the Art of Printing_ by WATSON, Edit., 1713, 8vo., is at best but a meagre performance. It happens to be rare, and, therefore, bibliomaniacs hunt after it. My copy of it, upon LARGE PAPER, cost me 1_l._ 8_s._ It was formerly Paton's, of Edinburgh, a knowing antiquary in Scottish printing. The _History of Printing_, by PALMER, 1733, 4to., and Dr. MIDDLETON'S _Dissertations upon the same_, 1735, 4to., have been particularly treated by me, as well as the similar works of AMES and HERBERT, in the first volume of my new edition of Herbert's _British Typographical Antiquities_; and the public is too well acquainted with the merits and demerits of each to require their being pointed out in the present place. I will close this note by observing that the _Censuria Literaria_, in ten volumes octavo; and the _British Bibliographer_ (now publishing) which grew out of it; Mr. BELOE'S _Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books_, six volumes, 8vo.; and Mr. Savage's continuation of _The British Librarian_; are works which render the list of English publications, relating to typography and curious books, almost complete. I believe I may safely affirm that the period is not very distant when some of these latter publications, from the comparatively few copies which were struck off, will become very rare.] LIS. I am glad to hear such handsome things said of the performances of our own countrymen. I was fearful, from your frequent sly allusions, that we had nothing worth mentioning. But proceed with your Germans, Italians, and Frenchmen. LYSAND. You draw too severe a conclusion. I have made no sly allusions. My invariable love of truth impels me to state facts as they arise. That we have philosophers, poets, scholars, divines, lovers and collectors of books, equal to those of any nation upon earth is most readily admitted. But bibliography has never been, till now, a popular (shall I say fashionable?) pursuit amongst the English. LIS. Well, if what you call bibliography has produced such eminent men, and so many useful works, as those which have been just enumerated, I shall begin to have some little respect for this department of literature; and, indeed, I already feel impatient to go through the list of your bibliographical heroes.--Who is the next champion deserving of notice? LYSAND. This confession gives me sincere pleasure. Only indulge me in my rambling manner of disquisition, and I will strive to satisfy you in every reasonable particular. If ever you should be disposed to form a bibliographical collection, do not omit securing, when it comes across you, the best edition of Du Fresnoy's[137] _Methode pour étudier l'Histoire_: it is rare, and sought after in this country. And now--softly approach, and gently strew the flowers upon, the tomb of worthy NICERON:[138] Low lies the head, and quiescent has become the pen, of this most excellent and learned man!--whose productions have furnished biographers with some of their choicest materials, and whose devotion to literature and history has been a general theme of admiration and praise. The mention of this illustrious name, in such a manner, has excited in my mind a particular train of ideas. Let me, therefore, in imagination, conduct you both to yonder dark avenue of trees--and, descending a small flight of steps, near the bottom of which gushes out a salient stream--let us enter a spacious grotto, where every thing is cool and silent; and where small alabaster busts, of the greater number of those bibliographers I am about to mention, decorate the niches on each side of it. How tranquil and how congenial is such a resting place!--But let us pursue our inquires. Yonder sharp and well turned countenances, at the entrance of the grotto, are fixed there as representations of CARDINAL QUIRINI[139] and GOUJET; the _Bibliothéque Françoise_ of the latter of whom--with which I could wish book collectors, in general, to have a more intimate acquaintance--has obtained universal reputation.[140] Next to him, you may mark the amiable and expressive features of DAVID CLEMENT:[141] who, in his _Bibliothéque Curieuse_, has shown us how he could rove, like a bee, from flower to flower; sip what was sweet; and bring home his gleanings to a well-furnished hive. The principal fault of this bee (if I must keep up the simile) is that he was not sufficiently choice in the flowers which he visited; and, of course, did not always extract the purest honey. Nearly allied to Clement in sprightliness, and an equally gossipping bibliographer, was PROSPER MARCHAND;[142] whose works present us with some things no where else to be found, and who had examined many curious and rare volumes; as well as made himself thoroughly acquainted with the state of bibliography previous to his own times. [Footnote 137: The last edition of this work is the one which was printed in fifteen volumes, crown 8vo., at Paris, 1772: with a copious index--and proportionable improvements in corrections and additions. It is now rare. I threw out the old edition of 1729, four vols., 4to., upon LARGE PAPER; and paid three guineas to boot for the new one, neatly bound.] [Footnote 138: It is quite delightful to read the account, in the _Dict. Hist._, published at Caen, 1789, (vol. vi., p. 475) of JEAN PIERRE NICERON; whose whole life seems to have been devoted to bibliography and literary history. Frank, amiable, industrious, communicative, shrewd, and learned--Niceron was the delight of his friends, and the admiration of the public. His "_Memoires pour servir à l'Histoire des Hommes Illustres, &c., avec un Catalogue raisonné de leur Ouvrages_," was published from the years 1729 to 1740, in forty crown 8vo. volumes. A supplement of three volumes, the latter of which is divided into _two parts_, renders this very useful, and absolutely necessary, work complete in 44 volumes. The bibliomaniac can never enjoy perfect rest till he is in possession of it!] [Footnote 139: QUIRINI published his "_Specimen variæ Literaturæ quæ in urbe Brixiæ ejusque Ditione paulo post Typographiæ incunabula florebat_," _&c._, at Brescia, in 1739; two vols., 8vo.: then followed "_Catalogo delle Opere del Cardinale Quirini uscite alla luce quasi tuttee da' Torchi di mi Gian Maria Rizzardi Stampatore in Brescia_," 8vo. In 1751, Valois addressed to him his "_Discours sur les Bibliothéques Publiques_," in 8vo.: his Eminence's reply to the same was also published in 8vo. But the Cardinal's chief reputation, as a bibliographer, arises from the work entitled "_De Optimorum Scriptorum Editionibus_." Lindaugiæ, 1761, 4to. This is Schelhorn's edition of it, which is chiefly coveted, and which is now a rare book in this country. It is a little surprising that Lysander, in his love of grand national biographical works, mingled with bibliographical notices, should have omitted to mention the _Bibliotheca Lusitana_ of Joaov and Barbosa, published at Lisbon, 1741, in four magnificent folio volumes. A lover of Portuguese literature will always consider this as "opus splendidissimum et utilissimum."] [Footnote 140: _La Bibliothéque Françoise, ou Histoire de la Littérature Françoise_, of CLAUDE PIERRE GOUJET, in eighteen volumes, crown 8vo., 1741, like the similar work of Niceron, is perhaps a little too indiscriminate in the choice of its objects: good, bad, and indifferent authors being enlisted into the service. But it is the chéf-d'oeuvre of Goujet, who was a man of wonderful parts; and no bibliographer can be satisfied without it. Goujet was perhaps among the most learned, if not the "facile princeps," of those who cultivated ancient French literature. He liberally assisted Niceron in his Memoires, and furnished Moreri with 2000 corrections for his Dictionary.] [Footnote 141: The "_Bibliothèque Curieuse, Historique et Critique, ou Catalogue raisonné de Livres difficiles à trouver_," of DAVID CLEMENT, published at Gottingen, Hanover, and Leipsic, in 9 quarto volumes, from the year 1750 to 1760--is, unfortunately, an unfinished production; extending only to the letter H. The reader may find a critique upon it in my _Introduction to the Greek and Latin Classics_, vol. i., p. 370; which agrees, for the greater part, with the observations in the _Bibl. Crevenn._, vol. v., 290. The work is a _sine quâ non_ with collectors; but in this country it begins to be--to use the figurative language of some of the German bibliographers--"scarcer than a white crow,"--or "a black swan." The reader may admit which simile he pleases--or reject both! But, in sober sadness, it is very rare, and unconscionably dear. I know not whether it was the same CLEMENT who published "_Les cinq Années Littéraires, ou Lettres de M. Clément, sur les ouvrages de Littérature, qui ont parus dans les Années 1748--á 1752_;" Berlin, 1756, 12mo., two volumes. Where is the proof of the assertion, so often repeated, that Clement borrowed his notion of the above work from WENDLER'S _Dissertatio de variis raritatis librorum impressorum causis_, Jen., 1711, 4to.?--Wendler's book is rare among us: as is also BERGER'S _Diatribe de libris rarioribus, &c._, Berol. 1729, 8vo.] [Footnote 142: The principal biographical labours of this clever man have the following titles: "_Histoire de l'Imprimerie_," La Haye, 1740, 4to.--an elegant and interesting volume, which is frequently consulted by typographical antiquaries. Of MERCIER'S supplement to it, see note in the ensuing pages under the word "Mercier." His "_Dictionnaire Historique, ou Memoires Critiques et Littéraires_," in two folio volumes, 1758, was a posthumous production; and a very extraordinary and amusing bibliographical common-place book it is! My friend Mr. Douce, than whom few are better able to appreciate such a work, will hardly allow any one to have a warmer attachment to it, or a more thorough acquaintance with its contents, than himself--and yet there is no bibliographical work to which I more cheerfully or frequently turn! In the editor's advertisement we have an interesting account of Marchand: who left behind, for publication, a number of scraps of paper, sometimes no bigger than one's nail; upon which he had written his remarks in so small a hand-writing that the editor and printer were obliged to make use of a strong magnifying glass to decypher it--"et c'est ici (continues the former) sans doute le premier livre qui n'ait pu être imprimé sans le secours continuel du Microscope." Marchand died in 1753, and left his MSS. and books, in the true spirit of a bibliomaniac, to the University of Leyden. I see, from the conclusion of this latter authority, that a new edition of Marchand's History of Printing was in meditation to be published, after the publication of the Dictionary. Whether Mercier availed himself of Marchand's corrected copy, when he put forth his supplement to the latter's typographical history, I have no means of ascertaining. Certainly there never was a second edition of the _Histoire de l'Imprimerie_, by Marchsnd [Transcriber's Note: Marchand].] Perhaps I ought to have noticed the unoccupied niche under which the name of VOGT[143] is inscribed; the title of whose work has been erroneously considered more seductive than the contents of it. As we go on, we approach FOURNIER; a man of lively parts, and considerable taste. His works are small in size, but they are written and printed with singular elegance.[144] See what a respectable and almost dignified air the highly finished bust of the pensionary MEERMAN[145] assumes! Few men attained to greater celebrity in his day; and few men better deserved the handsome things which were said of him. Polite, hospitable, of an inquisitive and active turn of mind--passionately addicted to rare and curious books--his library was a sort of bibliographical emporium, where the idle and the diligent alike met with a gracious reception. Peace to the manes of such a man! Turn we now round to view the features of that truly eminent and amiable bibliographer, DE BURE! [Footnote 143: The earliest edition of VOGT'S _Catalogus Librorum Rariorum_ was published in 1732; afterwards in 1737; again in 1748; again in 1752, much enlarged and improved; and, for the last time, greatly enlarged and corrected, forming by far the "editio optima," of the work--at Frankfort and Leipsic, 1793, 8vo.--We are told, in the new preface to this last edition, that the second and third impressions were quickly dispersed and anxiously sought after. Vogt is a greater favourite with me than with the generality of bibliographers. His plan, and the execution of it, are at once clear and concise; but he is too prodigal of the term "rare." Whilst these editions of Vogt's amusing work were coming forth, the following productions were, from time to time, making their appearance, and endeavouring perhaps to supplant its reputation. First of all BEYER put forth his _Memoriæ Historico-Criticæ Librorum Rariorum_. Dresd. and Lips., 1734, 8vo.; as well has [Transcriber's Note: as] his _Arcana Sacra Bibliothecarum Dresdensium_, 1738, 8vo.--with a continuation to the latter, preceded by an epistle concerning the electoral library, separately published in the same year. Then ENGEL (in Republicâ Helveto-Bernensi Bibliothecarius primus) published his _Bibliotheca selectissima, sive Catalogus librorum in omni genere scientiarum rarissimorum_, &c., Bernæ, 1743, 8vo.; in which work some axioms are laid down concerning the rarity of books not perhaps sufficiently correct; but in which a great deal of curious matter, very neatly executed, will repay the reader for any expense he may incur in the purchase of it. Afterwards FREYTAG'S _Analecta Literaria de libris rarioribus_, Lips., 1750, two vols. 8vo.;--and his _Adparatus Literarius ubi libri partim antiqui partim rari recensentur_, Lipsiæ, 1755, three volumes 8vo., highly gratified the curious in bibliography. In the former work the books are described alphabetically, which perhaps is the better plan: in the latter, they are differently arranged, with an alphabetical index. The latter is perhaps the more valuable of the two, although the former has long been a great favourite with many; yet, from Freytag's own confession, he was not then so knowing in books, and had not inspected the whole of what he described. They are both requisite to the collector; and their author, who was an enthusiast in bibliography, ranks high in the literature of his country. In the last place we may notice the _Florilegium Historico-Criticum Librorum Rariorum, cui multa simul scitu jucunda intersperguntur_, &c., of DANIEL GERDES; first published at Groningen, in 1740; but afterwards in 1763, 8vo., at the same place, the third and best edition. It was meant, in part, to supply the omission of some rare books in Vogt: and under this title it was published in the _Miscellaneæ Groninganæ_, vol. ii., and vol. iii. This work of Gerdes should have a convenient place in every bibliographical cabinet. I will close this attempt to supply Lysander's omission of some very respectable names connected with bibliography by exhorting the reader to seize hold of a work (whenever it comes across him, which will be rarely) entitled _Bibliotheca Librorum Rariorum Universalis_, by JOHN JACOB BAUER, a bookseller at Nuremberg, and printed there in 1770, 8vo., two vols.; with three additional volumes by way of Supplement, 1774-1791, which latter are usually bound in one. It is an alphabetical Dictionary, like Vogt's and Fournier's, of what are called rare books. The descriptions are compendious, and the references respectable, and sometimes numerous. My copy of this scarce, dear, and wretchedly-printed, work, which is as large and clean as possible, and bound in pale Russia, with marbled edges to the leaves--cost me 5_l._ 5_s._] [Footnote 144: We are indebted to PIERRE SIMON FOURNIER le jeune, for some very beautiful interesting little volumes connected with engraving and printing. 1. _Dissertation sur l'Origine et les Progrés de l'art de Graver en Bois, &c._, Paris, 1758, 8vo. 2. _De l'Origine et des Productions de l'Imprimerie primitive en taille de bois_, Paris, 1759, 8vo. 3. _Traité sur l'Origine et les Progrés de l'Imprimerie_, Paris, 1764. 4. _Observations sur un Ouvrage intitulé Vindiciæ Typographicæ_, Paris, 1760. These treatises are sometimes bound in one volume. They are all elegantly printed, and rare. We may also mention--5. _Epreuves de deux petits caractères nouvellement gravès, &c._, Paris, 1757; and especially his chef-d'oeuvre. 6. _Manuel Typographique_, Paris, 1764-6, 8vo., two vols.: of which some copies want a few of the cuts: those upon LARGE PAPER (there is one of this kind in the Cracherode collections) are of the first rarity. Fournier's typographical manual should be in every printing office: his types "are the models (says his namesake,) of those of the best printed books at Paris at this day." _Dict. Port. de Bibliogr._, p. 218, edit. 1706.] [Footnote 145: The _Origines Typographicæ_ of MEERMAN, which was published at the Hague in two handsome quarto volumes, 1765, (after the plan or prospectus had been published in 1761, 8vo.), secured its author a very general and rather splendid reputation, till the hypothesis advanced therein, concerning Laurence Coster, was refuted by Heinecken. The reader is referred to a note in the first volume of my new edition of the _Typographical Antiquities of Great Britain_, p. xxxi. It is somewhat singular that, notwithstanding Meerman's hypothesis is now exploded by the most knowing bibliographers, his dissertation concerning the claims of Haerlem should have been reprinted in French, with useful notes, and an increased catalogue of all the books published in the Low Countries, during the 15th century. This latter work is entitled "_De l'Invention de l'Imprimerie, ou analyse des deux ouvrages publiés sur cette matière par M. Meerman, &c.; suivi d'une notice chronologique et raisonnée des livres avec et sans date_," Paris, 1809, 8vo. The author is Mons. Jansen. Prefixed there is an interesting account, of Meerman. Lysander might have noticed, with the encomium which it justly merits the _Vindiciæ Typographicæ_ of SCHOEPFLIN, printed at Strasburg, in 1760, 4to.; where the claimes of Gutenburg (a native of the same city) to the invention of the typographic art are very forcibly and successfully maintained.] LIS. You absolutely transport me! I see all these interesting busts--I feel the delicious coolness of the grotto--I hear the stream running over a bed of pebbles--The zephyrs play upon my cheeks--O dolt that I was to abuse---- PHIL. Hear him, hear him![146] [Footnote 146: Vide note at p. 37, ante.] LYSAND. From my heart I pity and forgive you. But only look upon the bust of DE BURE; and every time that you open his _Bibliographie Instructive_,[147] confess, with a joyful heart, the obligations you are under to the author of it. Learn, at the same time, to despise the petty cavils of the whole Zoilean race; and blush for the Abbé RIVE,[148] that he could lend his name, and give the weight of his example, to the propagation of coarse and acrimonious censures. [Footnote 147: The works of GUILLAUME-FRANÇOIS DE BURE deserve a particular notice. He first published his _Musæum Typographicum_, Paris, 1755, 12mo.; of which he printed but TWELVE copies, and gave away every one of them (including even his own) to his book-loving friends. It was published under the name of G.F. Rebude. Peignot is very particular in his information concerning this rare morçeau of bibliography--see his _Bibliographie Curieuse_, p. 21. Afterwards appeared the _Bibliographie Instructive_, in seven volumes, 8vo., 1763-68--succeeded by a small volume of a catalogue of the anonymous publications, and an essay upon Bibliography: this 8th volume is absolutely necessary to render the work complete, although it is frequently missing. Fifty copies of this work were printed upon LARGE PAPER, of a quarto size. Its merits are acknowledged by every candid and experienced critic. In the third place, came forth his _Catalogue des Livres, &c., de L.J. Gaignat, Paris_, 1769, 8vo., two vols.: not, however, before he had published two brochures--"_Appel aux Savans_," _&c._, 1763, 8vo.--and "_Reponse à une Critique de la Bibliographie Instructive_," 1763, 8vo.--as replies to the tart attacks of the Abbé RIVE. The Catalogue of Gaignat, and the fairness of his answers to his adversary's censures, served to place De Bure on the pinnacle of bibliographical reputation; while Rive was suffered to fret and fume in unregarded seclusion. He died in the year 1782, aged 50: and was succeeded in his bibliographical labours by his cousin WILLIAM; who, with Mons. Van-Praet, prepared the catalogue of the Duke de la Valliere's library, in 1783, and published other valuable catalogues as late as the year 1801. But both are eclipsed, in regard to the _number_ of such publications, by their predecessor GABRIEL MARTIN; who died in the year 1761, aged 83--after having compiled 148 catalogues since the year 1705. This latter was assisted in his labours by his son Claude Martin, who died in 1788. See Peignot's _Dict. de Bibliologie_, vol. i., 221, 422: vol iii., 277.] [Footnote 148: The mention of De Bure and the Abbé RIVE induces me to inform the reader that the _Chasse aux Bibliographes_, Paris, 1789, 8vo., of the latter, will be found a receptacle of almost every kind of gross abuse and awkward wit which could be poured forth against the respectable characters of the day. It has now become rare. The Abbé's "_Notices calligraphiques et typographiques_," a small tract of 16 pages--of which only 100 copies were printed--is sufficiently curious; it formed the first number of a series of intended volumes (12 or 15) "_des notices calligraphiques de manuscrits des differens siécles, et des notices typographiques de livres du quinziéme siécle_," but the design was never carried into execution beyond this first number. The other works of Rive are miscellaneous; but chiefly upon subjects connected with the belles lettres. He generally struck off but few copies of his publications; see the _Bibliographie Curieuse_, pp. 58-9; and more particularly the _Dictionnaire de Bibliologie_, vol. iii., p. 277, by the same author, where a minute list of Rive's productions is given, and of which Fournier might have availed himself in his new edition of the _Dict. Portatif de Bibliographie_. From Peignot, the reader is presented with the following anecdotes of this redoubted champion of bibliography. When Rive was a young man, and curate of Mollèges in Provence, the scandalous chronicle reported that he was too intimate with a young and pretty Parisian, who was a married woman, and whose husband did not fail to reproach him accordingly. Rive made no other reply than that of taking the suspicious Benedick in his arms, and throwing him headlong out of the window. Luckily he fell upon a dunghill! In the year 1789, upon a clergyman's complaining to him of the inflexible determination of a great lord to hunt upon his grounds--"_Mettez-lui une messe dans le ventre_"--repiled [Transcriber's Note: replied] Rive. The clergyman expressing his ignorance of the nature of the advice given, the facetious Abbé replied, "Go and tear a leaf from your _mass book_, wrap a musket-ball in it, and discharge it at the tyrant." The Duke de la Valliere used to say--when the knowing ones at his house were wrangling about some literary or bibliographical point--"Gentlemen, I'll go and let loose my bull dog,"--and sent into them the Abbé, who speedily put them all to rights. Rive died in the year 1791, aged seventy-one. He had great parts and great application; but in misapplying both he was his own tormentor. His library was sold in 1793.] Next to the bust of De Bure, consider those of the five Italian bibliographers and literati, HAYM, FONTANINI, ZENO, MAZZUCHELLI, and TIRABOSCHI; which are placed in the five consecutive niches. Their works are of various merit, but are all superior to that of their predecessor DONI. Although those of the first three authors should find a place in every bibliographical collection, the productions of Mazzuchelli,[149] and especially of the immortal Tiraboschi, cannot fail to be admitted into every judicious library, whether vast or confined. Italy boasts of few literary characters of a higher class, or of a more widely-diffused reputation than TIRABOSCHI.[150] His diligence, his sagacity, his candour, his constant and patriotic exertions to do justice to the reputation of his countrymen, and to rescue departed worth from ill-merited oblivion, assign to him an exalted situation: a situation with the Poggios and Politians of former times, in the everlasting temple of Fame! Bind his _Storia della Letteratura Italiana_ in the choicest vellum, or in the stoutest Russia; for it merits no mean covering! [Footnote 149: We may first observe that "_La Libraria del_ DONI _Fiorentino_;" Vinegia, 1558, 8vo., is yet coveted by collectors as the most complete and esteemed of all the editions of this work. It is ornamented with many portraits of authors, and is now rare. Consult _Bibl. Crevenn._, vol. v., p. 275. Numerous are the editions of HAYM'S _Biblioteca Italiana_; but those of Milan, of the date of 1771, 4to., 2 vols., and 1803, 8vo. 4 vols., are generally purchased by the skilful in Italian bibliography. The best edition of FONTANINI'S _Biblioteca dell' Eloquenza Italiana_ is with the annotations of ZENO, which latter are distinguished for their judgment and accuracy. It was published at Venice in 1753, 4to., 2 vols.; but it must be remembered that this edition contains only the _third_ book of Fontanini, which is a library of the principal Italian authors. All the three books (the first two being a disquisition upon the orgin [Transcriber's Note: origin] and progress of the Italian language) will be found in the preceeding [Transcriber's Note: preceding] Venice edition of 1737, in one volume 4to. In the year 1753-63, came forth the incomparable but unfinished work of COUNT MAZZUCHELLI, in two folio volumes, [the latter vol. being divided into four thick parts] entittled [Transcriber's Note: entitled]: _Gli Scrittori d'Italia, cioé Notizie Storiche e Critiche intorno alle Vite e agli Scritti dei Letterati Italiani_. The death of the learned author prevented the publication of it beyond the first two letters of the alphabet. The Count, however, left behind ample materials for its execution according to the original plan, which lay shamefully neglected as late as the year 1776. See _Bibl. Crevenn._, vol. v., p. 274. This work is rare in our own country. If the lover of Italian philology wishes to increase his critico-literary stores, let him purchase the _Biblioteca degli Autori Antichi Greci, e Latini volgarizzati_, &c., of PAITONI, in five quarto volumes, 1766: the _Notizie Istorico-Critiche &c., degli Scrittori Viniziani_, [Transcriber's Note: corrected printer error in original; 'degli' was misplaced on preceding line] of AGOSTINI, Venez., 1752, 4to., 2 vols.: and the _Letteratura Turchesca of_ GIAMBATISTA TODERINI, Venez., 1787, 8vo., 3 vols.--works nearly perfect of their kind, and (especially the latter one) full of curious matter.] [Footnote 150: The best edition of his _Letteratura Italiana_ is that of Modena, 1787-94, 4to., in fifteen volumes, as it contains his last corrections and additions, and has the advantage of a complete index. An excellent account of the life and labours of its wonderful author appeared in the fifth volume of the _Athenæum_, to the perusal of which I strongly recommend the reader.] The range of busts which occupies the opposite niches represents characters of a more recent date. Let us begin with MERCIER;[151] a man of extraordinary, and almost unequalled, knowledge in every thing connected with bibliography and typography; of a quick apprehension, tenacious memory, and correct judgment; who was more anxious to detect errors in his own publications than in those of his fellow labourers in the same pursuit; an enthusiast in typographical researches--the Ulysses of bibliographers! Next to him stand the interesting busts of SAXIUS and LAIRE;[152] the latter of whom has frequently erred, but who merited not such a castigation as subsequent bibliographers have attempted to bestow upon him: in the number of which, one is sorry to rank the very respectable name of AUDIFFREDI[153]--whose bust, you observe, immediately follows that of Laire. Audiffredi has left behind him a most enviable reputation: that of having examined libraries with a curious eye, and described the various books which he saw with scrupulous fidelity. There are no lively or interesting sallies, no highly-wrought, or tempting descriptions--throughout his two quarto volumes: but, in lieu of this, there is sober truth, and sound judgment. I have mentioned Audiffredi a little out of order, merely because his name is closely connected with that of Laire: but I should have first directed your attention to the sagacious countenance of HEINECKEN;[154] whose work upon ancient printing, and whose _Dictionary of Engravers_ (although with the latter we have nothing just now to do) will never fail to be justly appreciated by the collector. I regret, Lisardo, for your own sake--as you are about to collect a few choice books upon typography--that you will have so much to pay for the former work, owing to its extreme rarity in this country, and to the injudicious phrenzy of a certain class of buyers, who are resolved to purchase it at almost any price. Let me not forget to notice, with the encomiums which they deserve, the useful and carefully compiled works of SEEMILLER, BRAUN, WURDTWEIN, DE MURR, ROSSI, and PANZER, whose busts are arranged in progressive order. All these authors[155] are greatly eminent in the several departments which they occupy; especially Panzer--whose _Annales Typographici_, in regard to arrangement and fulness of information, leaves the similar work of his precedessor, Maittaire, far behind. It is unluckily printed upon wretched paper--but who rejects the pine-apple from the roughness of its coat? Get ready the wherry; man it with a choice bibliomanical crew, good Lisardo!--and smuggle over in it, if you can, the precious works of these latter bibliographers--for you may saunter "from rise to set of sun," from Whitechapel to Hyde-Park Corner--for them--in vain! [Footnote 151: Barthelemy, MERCIER DE ST. LEGER, died in the year 1800, and in the sixty-sixth of his age, full of reputation, and deeply regretted by those who knew the delightful qualities of his head and heart. It is not my intention to enumerate _all_ his publications, the titles of which may be found in the _Siécles Littéraires_, vol. iv., p. 350: but, in the present place, I will only observe that his "_Supplement à l'Histoire de l'Imprimerie, par P. Marchand_," was first published in 1773, and afterwards in 1775, 4to., a rare and curious work; but little known in this country. His _Bibliothéque des Romans, traduit de Grec_, was published in 1796, 12 vols. 12mo. His letter concerning De Bure's work, 1763, 8vo., betrayed some severe animadversions upon the _Bibliogr. Instruct._: but he got a similar flagellation in return, from the Abbé Rive, in his _Chasse aux Bibliographes_--who held him and De Bure, and all the bibliographical tribe, in sovereign contempt. His letter to Heinecken upon the rare editions of the 15th century, 1783, 8vo., and his other works, I never saw in any collection. The imperial library at Paris purchased his copy of Du Verdier's and La Croix du Maine's Bibliothéques, covered with his marginal annotations, as well as his copy of Clement's _Bibl. Curieuse_. Le Blond, member of the Institute, obtained his copy of De Bure's _Bibliographie Instructive_, also enriched with MS. notes. Mr. Ochéda, Lord Spencer's librarian, who knew well the Abbé de St. Leger, informed me that he left behind him ample materials for a History of Printing, in a new edition of his Supplement to Marchand's work, which he projected publishing, and which had received from him innumerable additions and corrections. "He was a man," says Mr. Ochéda, "the most conversant with editions of books of all kinds, and with every thing connected with typography and bibliography, that I ever conversed with." The reader may consult Peignot's _Dict. de Bibliologie_, vol. i., p. 452, vol. iii., p. 212.] [Footnote 152: The _Onomasticon Literarium_ of CHRISTOPHER SAXIUS, _Traject. ad Rhenum_, 1775-90, seven vols. 8vo., with a supplement, or eighth volume, published in 1803, is considered as a work of the very first reputation in its way. The notices of eminent men are compendious, but accurate; and the arrangement is at once lucid and new. An elegantly bound copy of this scarce work cannot be obtained for less than six and seven guineas. The first bibliographical production of the Abbé LAIRE was, I believe, the _Specimen Historicum Typographiæ Romanæ, xv. seculi, Romæ_, 1778, large 8vo.; of which work, a copy printed UPON VELLUM (perhaps unique) was sold at the sale of M. d'Hangard, in 1789, for 300 livres. _Dictionn. Bibliogr._, vol. iv., p. 250. In my Introduction, &c., to the Greek and Latin Classics, some account of its intrinsic merit will be found: vol. i., p. xviii. In the year 1784 Laire published a "_Dissertation sur l'origine et Progrès de l'Imprimerie en Franche-Comté_," 8vo.; and, in the year 1791, came forth his Catalogue Raisonné of the early printed books in the library of Cardinal de Lomenie de Brienne; under the title of "_Index Librorum ab Inventa Typographia, ad annum 1500_," in two octavo volumes. See the article "LOMENIE," in the list of foreign catalogues, post. Laire was also the author of a few other minor bibliographical productions. All the books in his library, relating to this subject, were covered with marginal notes; some of them very curious. See Peignot's _Dict. de Bibliologie_, vol. i., p. 330: and _Les Siecles Littéraires_, (1801, 8vo.) vol. iv., p. 75.] [Footnote 153: The works and the merits of AUDIFFREDI have been before submitted by me to the public; and Mr. Beloe, in the third volume of his "_Anecdotes of Literature_," &c., has justly observed upon the latter. In Lord Spencer's magnificent library at Althorpe, I saw a copy of the "_Editiones Italicæ_," sec. xv., 1793, 4to., upon LARGE PAPER. It is much to be wished that some knowing bibliographer upon the Continent would complete this unfinished work of Audiffredi. His _Editiones Romanæ_, sec. xv., 1783, 4to., is one of the most perfect works of bibliography extant: yet Laire's "_Index Librorum_," &c. (see preceeding note), is necessary to supply the omission of some early books printed at Rome, which had escaped even this keen bibliographer!] [Footnote 154: HEINECKEN'S name stands deservedly high (notwithstanding his tediousness and want of taste) among bibliographical and typographical antiquaries. Of his "_Nachrichten von Kunstlern und Kunst-Sachen_," Leipzig, 1768, 8vo., two vols., (being "New Memoirs upon Artists and the objects of Art"--and which is frequently referred to by foreigners,) I never saw a copy. It was again published in 1786. His "_Idée Générale d'une Collection complette d'Estampes_," &c., Leips., 1771, 8vo., is a most curious and entertaining book; but unconscionably dear in this country. His "_Dictionnaire des Artistes dont nous avons des Estampes_," &c., Leips. 1778, 8vo., four vols., is an unfinished performance, but remarkably minute as far as it goes. The remainder, written in the German language, continues in MS. in the Electorate library at Dresden, forming twelve volumes. Of the character of Heinecken's latter work, consult Huber's _Manuel, &c., des Amateurs de l'Art_, Zurich, 1797, 8vo.: and a recent work entitled "_Notices des Graveurs_," Paris, 1804, 8vo., two vols. Heinecken died at the advanced age of eighty.] [Footnote 155: We will discuss their works _seriatim_, as Lisardo has said above. SEEMILLER'S _Bibliothecæ Incolstadiensis Incunabula Typographica_, contains four parts, or fasciculi: they are bound in one volume, quarto, 1787, &c.; but, unfortunately for those who love curious and carefully executed works, it is rather rare in this country. The _Notitia Historico-Critica de libris ab art typog. invent._, by PLACID BRAUN, in two parts, or volumes, 1788, 4to., with curious plates, has long been a desideratum in my own collection; and my friend Mr. Beloe, who is luckily in possession of a copy, enjoys his triumph over me when he discovers it not in my bibliographical boudoir. The same author also published his "_Notitia Historico-Literaria de cod. MSS. in Bibl. Monast. ord. S. Bened. ad SS. Vidal. et Afram Augustæ ex tantibus_," Aug. Vindel., 1791, 4to., two vols. _Cat. de Santander_, vol. iv., p. 170. I know not how any well versed bibliographer can do without the "_Bibliotheca Moguntina libris sæculo primo Tpyographico [Transcriber's Note: Typographico] Moguntiæ impressis instructa_;" 1787, 4to., of WURDTWEIN. It has some curious plates of fac-similes, and is rarely seen in the Strand or King-street book-markets.----C.T. DE MURR published a work of some interest, entitled, "_Memorabilia Bibliothecarum Publicarum Norimbergensium_," Norimb., 1786-91, three parts or vols. 8vo.; which is also rare.----ROSSI'S valuable work concerning the annals of Hebrew typography: _Annales Hebræo-Typographici, à 1475, ad 1540_, Parmæ, 1795, 1799, 4to., two separate publications, is prettily printed by Bodoni, and is an indispensable article in the collection of the typographical antiquary. See the _Dict. de Bibliologie_, vol. iii., p. 286.----PANZER'S _Annales Typographici_, in eleven quarto volumes (1793-1803) is a work of the very first importance to bibliographers. Its arrangement, after the manner of Orlandi's, is clear and most convenient; and the references to authorities, which are innumerable, are, upon the whole, very faithful. The indexes are copious and satisfactory. This work (of which I hear there are only three copies upon LARGE PAPER) contains an account of books which were printed in all parts of Europe from the year 1457, to 1536, inclusive; but it should be remembered that the author published a distinct work in the year 1788, 4to., relating to books which were printed, within the same period, in the _German Language_; and this should always accompany the eleven Latin volumes. I will just add from it, as a curiosity, the title and colophon (translated into English) of the first printed book in the German language:--"THE PUBLICATION OF DIETHERS, ELECTOR OF MAYENCE, AGAINST COUNT ADOLPHUS OF NASSAU; _given out under our impressed seal on Tuesday, after the fourth Sunday in Advent, anno Domini 1462_." Consult also Wurdtwein's _Bibl. Mogunt._, p. 80; and the authorities there referred to. It seems doubtful whether this curious little brochure, of which scarcely any thing more than a fragment now remains, was printed by Fust and Schoeffer, or by Gutenberg.] What countenances are those which beam with so much quiet, but interesting, expression? They are the resemblances of DENIS and CAMUS:[156] the former of whom is better known from his _Annalium Typographicorum Maittaire Supplementum_; and the latter very generally respected abroad, although our acquaintance with him in this country is exceedingly slight. If I mistake not, I observe the mild and modest countenance of my old acquaintance, HERBERT, in this bibliographical group of heads? Do not despise his toil[157] because it is not sprinkled with gay conceits, or learned digressions: he wrote to be useful, not to be entertaining; and so far as he went, his work was such an improvement upon his predecessor's plan as to place it quite at the head of NATIONAL TYPOGRAPHY. See yonder the sensible countenance of HARWOOD![158] the first writer in this country who taught us to consider the respective merits and demerits of the various editions of Greek and Latin authors. [Footnote 156: MICHAEL DENIS, the translator of Ossian, and a bibliographer of justly established eminence, was principal librarian of the Imperial library at Vienna, and died in the year 1800, at the age of 71. His _Supplement to Maittaire's Typographical Annals_, in two parts or volumes, 1789, 4to., is a work of solid merit, and indispensable to the possessor of its precursor. The bibliographical references are very few; but the descriptions of the volumes are minutely accurate. The indexes also are excellent. In the year 1793, Denis published the first volume (in three thick parts in folio) of his _Codices Manuscripti Theologici Bibl. Palat. Vindob._; a production which the reader will find somewhat fully described in the ensuing pages. The second volume appeared after his death in 1801. In 1795-6, came forth his second edition of an _Introduction to the Knowledge of Books_, in two quarto volumes; unfortunately written in the German language--but mentioned with approbation in the first volume of the _Mem. de l'Inst._, p. 648. Consult also Peignot's _Dict. de Bibliologie_, vol. i., p. 122; ii., 232.----ARMAND GASTON CAMUS is a bibliographer of very first rate reputation. The reader has only to peruse the following titles of some of his works, and he will certainly bewail his ill fortune if they are not to be found in his library. 1. _Observations sur la distribution et le classement des livres d'une Bibliothéque_: 2. _Additions aux mêmes_; 3. _Memoire sur un livre Allemand_ (which is the famous TEWRDANNCKHS; and about which is to be hoped that Mr. Douce will one day favour us with his curious remarks): 4. _Addition au même_: 5. _Memoire sur l'histoire et les procédés du Polytypage et de la Stéréotypie_: 6. _Rapport sur la continuation de la Collection des Historiens de France, et de celle des Chartres et Diplomes_: 7. _Notice d'un livre imprimé à Bamberg en 1462_. All these works are thus strung together, because they occur in the first three volumes of the _Memoires de l'Institut_. This curious book, printed at Bamberg, was discovered by a German clergyman of the name of Stenier, and was first described by him in the _Magasin Hist.-Litt., bibliogr._ Chemintz, 1792: but Camus's memoir is replete with curious matter, and is illustrated with fac-simile cuts. In the "_Notices et Extraits des MSS. de la Bibl. Nationale_," vol. vi., p. 106, will be found a most interesting memoir by him, relating to two ancient manuscript bibles, in two volumes folio, adorned with a profusion of pictures: of some of which very elegant fac-similes are given. These pictures are 5152 in number! each of them having a Latin and French verse beautifully written and illuminated beneath.--Camus supposes that such a work could not now be executed under 100,000 francs!--"Where (exclaims he) shall we find such modern specimens of book-luxury?" In the year 1802, he published an admirable "_Mémoire sur la collection des grands et petits voyages, et sur la Collection des Voyages des Melchesedech Thevenot_," 4to., with an excellent "Table des Matières." Of his own journey into the Low Countries, recently published, I never met with a copy. All the preceding works, with the exception of the last, are in my own humble collection.] [Footnote 157: A short bibliographical memoir of HERBERT will be found in the first volume of my edition of the _Typographical Antiquities of Great Britain_. Since that was published, I have gleaned a few further particulars relating to him, which may be acceptable to the reader. Shortly after the appearance of his third volume, he thus speaks in a letter to Mr. Price, librarian of the Bodleian library, "If at any time you meet with any book of which I have not taken notice, or made any mistake in the description of it, your kind information will be esteemed a favour; as I purpose to continue collecting materials for a future publication, when enough shall be collected to make another volume." This was in April, 1790. In the ensuing month he thus addresses his old friend Mr. White, of Crickhowell, who, with himself, was desperately addicted to the black-letter. "To morrow my wife and self set out for Norfolk to take a little relaxation for about a fortnight. I hope my labours will in some good measure answer the expectation of my friends and subscribers in general. Sure I am my best endeavours have been exerted for that purpose. I have been 24 years collecting materials; have spent many a fair pound, and many a weary hour; and it is now ten years since the first part was committed to the press. I purpose to continue collecting materials in order to a fourth volume, &c.;--yet by no means will I make myself debtor to the public when to publish: if it shall please God to take me to himself, Isaac will in due time set it forth. However I shall keep an interleaved copy for the purpose." In a letter to a Mr. John Banger Russell (in Dorsetshire), written in the ensuing month of June, the same sentiments and the same intention are avowed. Thus ardent was the bibliomaniacal spirit of Herbert in his 72d year! The _interleaved copy_ here alluded to (which was bound in six volumes 4to., in Russia binding, and for which Mr. Gough had given Herbert's widow 52_l._ 10_s._) is now in my possession; as well as the yet more valuable acquisition of some numerous MS. addenda to his History of Printing--both of these articles having been purchased by me at the sale of Mr. Gough's MSS. and printed books, A.D. 1810.] [Footnote 158: Dr. EDWARD HARWOOD published the fourth and last edition of his "_View of the various editions of the Greek and Roman Classics_," in the year 1790, 8vo. A work which, in the public estimation, has entitled its author's memory to very considerable respect in the classical world; although the late Professor Porson, in the fly leaf of a copy of my second edition of a similar publication, was pleased to call the Doctor by a name rather unusually harsh with _him_, who was "Criticus et lenis et acutus;" censuring also my dependance upon my predecessor. In the year 1808, was published my third edition of "_An introduction to the knowledge of rare and valuable editions of the Greek and Latin Classics_," two volumes 8vo.: in which, if I may presume to talk of anything so insignificant, I have endeavoured to exhibit the opinions--not of Dr. Harwood alone, but of the most eminent foreign critics and editors--upon the numerous editions which, in a chronological series, are brought before the reader's attention. The remarks of the first bibliographers in Europe are also, for the first time in a English publication, subjoined; so that the lover of curious, as well as of valuable, editions may be equally gratified. The authorities, exceedingly numerous as well as respectable, are referred to in a manner the most unostentatious; and a full measure of text, and to be really useful, was my design from the beginning to the end of it. To write a long and dull homily about its imperfections would be gross affectation. An extensive sale has satisfied my publishers that its merit a little counterbalances its defects.] LIS. You are, no doubt, a fond and partial critic in regard to the works of Herbert and Harwood: but I am glad to recognise my fellow countrymen in such an illustrious assemblage. Go on. LYSAND. We are just at the close. But a few more busts, and those very recently executed, remain to be noticed. These are the resemblances of LA SERNA SANTANDER, CAILLEAU, and OBERLIN;[159] while several vacant niches remain to be filled up with the busts of more modern bibliographers of eminence: namely, of VAN-PRAET, FISCHER, LAMBINET, RENOUARD, PEIGNOT, FOURNIER, BARBIER, BOUCHER, and BRUNET.[160] [Footnote 159: DE LA SERNA SANTANDER will always hold a distinguished place amongst bibliographers, not only from the care and attention with which he put forth the catalogue of his own books--the parting from which must have gone near to break his heart--but from his elegant and useful work entitled, "_Dictionnaire Bibliographique choisi du quinzieme Siécle_," 1805, &c., 8vo., in three parts or volumes. His summary of researches, upon the invention of printing, Mr. Edwards told me, he read "with complete satisfaction"--this occupies the first part or volume. The remaining volumes form a necessary, as well as brilliant, supplement to De Bure. Just at this moment, I believe that Mr. Beloe's, and my own, copy of the work, are the only ones in this country.----CAILLEAU has the credit of being author of the _Dictionnaire Bibliographique_, &c., in three volumes, octavo, 1790--of which there are a sufficient number of counterfeited and faulty re-impressions; but which, after all, in its original shape, edit. 1790, is not free from gross errors; however useful it is in many respects. I suspect, however, that the Abbé DUCLOS had the greater share in this publication: but, be this as it may, the fourth supplemental volume (by the younger Brunet) is, in every respect, a more accurate and valuable performance. OBERLIN, librarian of the central school or college at Strasbourg, is author of a bibliographical treatise particularly deserving of the antiquary's attention: namely, _Essai d'annales de la vie de Jean Gutenburg [Transcriber's Note: Gutenberg], &c._, Stasb. [Transcriber's Note: Strasb.], an. ix., 8vo. His other numerous (belles-lettres) works are minutely specified by Peignot in his _Dict. de Bibliologie_, vol. iii., p. 230. His edition of Horace, Argent., 1788, 4to., is both elegant and correct.] [Footnote 160: Let us go quietly through the modern French school of bibliography.----Mons. JOSEPH VAN-PRAET is principal librarian of the Imperial collection at Paris, and is justly called, by some of his fellow-labourers in the same career, "one of the first bibliographers in Europe." He is known to me, as a bibliographical writer, only by the part which he took, and so ably executed, in the Valliere catalogue of 1783. Peignot informs us that M. Van-Praet is now busy in composing a little work--which I am sure will rejoice the hearts of all true bibliomaniacs to be apprised of--called a _Catalogue raisonné_ of books PRINTED UPON VELLUM; for which he has already prepared not fewer than 2000 articles! See the _Curiosités Bibliogr._, p. iij. Among these VELLUM articles, gentle reader, I assure thee that thine eyes will be blest with the description of "THE SHYP OF FOOLES," printed by Pynson, 1509! The urbanity and politeness of this distinguished librarian are equal to his knowledge.----GOTTHELF FISCHER, a Saxon by birth, and librarian of the public collection at Mentz, has given us the following interesting treatises, of which, I believe, not five copies are to be found in this country: namely--_Essai sur les Monumens Typographiques de Jean Gutenberg, &c._, an. x. [1801], 4to.: and _Descriptions de raretés typographiques et de Manuscrits remarquables, &c._, Nuremb., 1801, 8vo.--the latter is in the German language, and has cuts--with a portrait of Fust. By this time, the work has most probably been translated into French, as it is frequently referred to and highly spoken of by foreigners. Peignot [_Dict. de Bibliologie_, vol. iii., p. 128] refers us to the fine eulogy pronounced upon Fisher [Transcriber's Note: Fischer] (not yet 40 years of age) by Camus, in his "Voyage dans les departemens réunis," p. 12.----LAMBINET will always be remembered and respected, as long as printing and bibliography shall be studied, by his "_Recherches Historiques Littéraires et Critiques, sur l'Originè de L'Imprimerie; particulièrement sur les premiers établissemens au_ XVme _siécle dans la Belgique_," &c., Brux., an. vii. (1798), 8vo. It is, indeed, a very satisfactory performance: the result of judgment and taste--rare union!----In like manner, RENOUARD has procured for himself a bibliographical immortality by his _Annales de l'Imprimerie des Aide_, 1803, 8vo., two vols.: a work almost perfect of its kind, and by many degrees superior to Bandini's dry _Annales Typog. Juntarum._, Lucæ, 1761. In Renouard's taste, accuracy and interest are delightfully combined; and the work is printed with unrivalled beauty. There were only six copies of it printed upon LARGE PAPER; one of which I saw in the fine collection of the Rt. Hon. T. Grenville.----Few modern bibliographers have displayed so much diligence as GABRIEL PEIGNOT: from whom we have, 1. _Dictionnaire Raisonné de Bibliologie_, Paris, 1802, 8vo., two vols., with a third, by way of supplement (1804). With necessary corrections and additions, this work would answer many useful purposes in an English translation. 2. _Essai de Curiosités Bibliographiques_, 1804, 8vo. This is a very amusing (but scarce and unconscionably dear) book. It contains elaborate descriptions of many curious and sumptuous works, which were sold for 1000 and more livres at public sales. 3. _Dictionnaire, &c., des principaux livres condamnés au feu, supprimés ou censurés_, Paris, 1806, 8vo., 2 vols. The very title of such a work must sharpen the edge of curiosity with those bibliomaniacs who have never seen it. 4. _Bibliographie Curieuse, ou Notice Raisonnée des livres imprimés a cent exemplaires au plus, suivie d'une notice de quelques ouvrages tirés sur papier de couleur_, Paris, 1808, 8vo. Only one hundred copies of this thin volume were struck off: of which I possess the 86th copy, according to Peignot's notification. Indeed I am fortunate in having all his preceding works. Let us wish long life and never-failing success to so brave a book-chevalier as Gabriel Peignot.----FRANÇOIS IGNACE FOURNIER, at 18 years of age, published an elegantly printed little volume, entitled _Essai Portatif de Bibliographie_, 1796, 8vo., of which only 26 copies were struck off. In the year 1805, this essay assumed the form of a Dictionary, and appeared under the title of _Dictionnaire portatif de Bibliographie, &c._, 8vo., comprising 17,000 articles, printed in a very small character. Last year, in the month of May, Fournier put forth a new edition of this _Dictionnaire_, considerably augmented; but in which (such is the fate of bibliographical studies) notwithstanding all the care of the author, Brunet tells us that he has discovered not fewer than five hundred errors! Let not Fournier, however be discouraged; in a few years he will achieve something yet more worthy of his laudable seal in bibliography.----ANTOINE-ALEXANDRE BARBIER, librarian of the Council of State, has favoured us with an admirably well executed work, entitled _Dictionnaire des Ouvrages Anonymes et Pseudonymes, composés, traduits ou publiés en Français, &c., accompagneé de notes historiques et critiques_, Paris, _Imprimis Bibliogr._, 1806, 8vo., two vols. See also art. "Conseil d'Etat," in the list of French Catalogues, post. From these the reader will judge of the warm thanks to which this eminent bibliographer is entitled for his very useful labours.----G. BOUCHER de la Richarderie has, in an especial manner, distinguished himself by his _Bibliothéque Universelle des Voyages_, Paris, 1808, 8vo., six vols.: a work executed with care, minuteness, and considerable interest. Some of its extracts are, perhaps, unnecessarily long. The index to the sixth volume will lead the reader to consult an account of some of the most ancient, rare, and curious publications of voyages which have ever appeared: and Boucher "has deserved well" of the book world by this truly valuable and almost indispensable performance.----BRUNET Le Fils. This able writer, and enthusiastic devotee to bibliography, has recently published an excellent and copious work which would appear greatly to eclipse Fournier's; entitled "_Manuel du Libraire et de l'Amateur de Livres, contenant, 1. Un Nouveau Dictionnaire Bibliographigue, 2. Une Table en forme de Catalogue Raisonnée_," Paris, 1810, 8vo., 3 vols.: in which he tells us he has devoted at least thirty years to the examination of books. The first two volumes form a scientific arrangement: the latter is an alphabetical one, referring to one or the other of the preceding volumes for a more copious account of the work. It must be confessed that Brunet has, in this publication, executed a difficult task with great ability.] LIS. I am quite anxious to possess the publications of these moderns: but you say nothing of their comparative value with the ancients. LYSAND. Generally speaking, in regard to discoveries of rare books and typographical curiosities, the moderns have the advantage. They have made more rational conclusions, from data which had escaped their predecessors: and the sparkling and animated manner in which they dress out the particular objects that they describe renders the perusal of their works more pleasant and gratifying. I am not sure that they have the learning of the old school: but their works are, in general, less ponderous and repulsive. The ancient bibliographers were probably too anxious to describe every thing, however minute and unimportant: they thought it better to say too much than too little; and, finding the great mass of readers in former times, uninstructed in these particular pursuits, they thought they could never exhaust a subject by bringing to bear upon it every point, however remotely connected! They found the plain, it is true, parched and sandy; but they were not satisfied with pouring water upon it, 'till they had converted it into a deluge.[161] [Footnote 161: What Denis says, in the preface to his _Catalog. Cod. MSS. Bibl. Palat. Vindob._ (of which see p. 65, ante) is very just; "media incedendum via; neque nudis codicum titulis, ut quibusdam bibliothecis placuit, in chartam conjectis provehi multum studia, neque _doctis, quæ superioris seculi fuit intemperantia, ambagibus et excursibus_."--This is certainly descriptive of the OLD SCHOOL of bibliography.] LIS. Let me ask you, at this stage of our inquiries, what you mean by bibliographical publications?--and whether the works of those authors which you have enumerated are sufficient to enable a novice, like myself, to have pretty accurate notions about the rarity and intrinsic value of certain works? LYSAND. By bibliographical publications, I mean such works as give us some knowledge of the literary productions, as well as of the life, of certain learned men; which state the various and the best editions of their lucubrations; and which stimulate us to get possession of these editions. Every biographical narrative which is enriched with the mention of curious and rare editions of certain works is, to a great extent, a bibliographical publication. Those works which treat professedly upon books are, of course, immediately within the pale of bibliography. LIS. But am I to be satisfied with the possession of those works already recommended? PHIL. I suppose Lisardo has heard of certain valuable CATALOGUES, and he wishes to know how far the possession of these may be requisite in order to make him a bibliographer? LYSAND. At present I will say nothing about the catalogues of the collections of our own countrymen. As we have been travelling principally abroad, we may direct our attention to those which relate to foreign collections. And first, let us pay a due tribute of praise to the published Catalogues of Libraries collected by the JESUITS: men of shrewd talents and unabating research, and in derogation of whose merits Voltaire and D'Alembert disgraced themselves by scribbling the most contemptible lampoons. The downfall of this society led, not very indirectly, to the destruction of the ancient French monarchy. Men seemed to forget that while the most shameless depredations were committed within the libraries of the Jesuits, the cause of learning, as well as of liberty, suffered,--and the spoils which have glittered before our eyes, as the precious relics of these collections, serve to afford a melancholy proof how little those men stick at any thing who, in raising the war-whoop of liberty and equality, tear open the very bowels of order, tranquillity, peace, and decorum! But, to the subject. Let the catalogues of PUBLIC COLLECTIONS, when they are well arranged, be received into your library. Of foreign PRIVATE COLLECTIONS, the catalogues[162] of DU FRESNE, CORDES, HEINSIAS, BALUZE, COLBERT, ROTHELIN, DE BOZE, PREFOND, POMPADOUR, GAIGNAT, GOUTTARD, BUNAU, SOUBISE, LA VALLIERE, CREVENNA, LAMOIGNON, and of several other collections, with which my memory does not just now serve me, will enable you to form a pretty correct estimate of the _marketable value_ of certain rare and sumptuous publications. Catalogues are, to bibliographers, what _Reports_ are to lawyers: not to be read through from beginning to end--but to be consulted on doubtful points, and in litigated cases. Nor must you, after all, place too strong a reliance upon the present prices of books, from what they have produced at former sales; as nothing is more capricious and unsettled than the value of books at a public auction. But, in regard to these catalogues, if you should be fortunate enough to possess any which are printed upon _Large Paper, with the Names of the Purchasers, and the Prices_ for which each set of books was sold, thrice and four times happy may you account yourself to be, my good Lisardo! [Footnote 162: As it would have required more breath than usually falls to the lot of an individual, for Lysander to have given even a rough sketch of the merits, demerits, and rarity of certain foreign catalogues of public and private collections--in his discourse with his friends--I have ventured to supply the deficiency by subjoining, in the ensuing _tolerably copious_ note, a list of these catalogues, alphabetically arranged; as being, perhaps, the most convenient and acceptable plan. Such an attempt is quite novel; and must be received, therefore, with many grains of allowance. Although I am in possession of the greater number (at least of two thirds) of the catalogues described, I am aware that, in regard to the description of those not in my own library, I subject myself to the lash of P. Morhof. "Inepti sunt, qui librorum catalogos scribunt e catalogis. Oculata fides et judicium præsens requiritur." _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., 230. But the weight of my authorities will, I trust, secure me from any great violence of critical indignation. To render so dry a subject (the very "_Hortus Siccus_" of bibliography) somewhat palatable, I have here and there besprinkled it with biographical anecdotes of the collectors, and of the state of French literature in the last century and a half.----D'AGUESSEAU. _Catalogue des Livres Imprimés et Manuscrits de la Bibliothéque de feu Monsieur D'Aguesseau_, &c., Paris, 1785, 8vo. "Anxious to enrich his collection, (says the compiler of this catalogue) the Bibliomaniac sees with delight the moment arrive when, by the sale of a library like this, he may add to his precious stores. It is, in truth, a grand collection; especially of history, arts, and sciences, and jurisprudence. The famous Chancellor D'Aguesseau laid the foundation of this library, which was as universal as his own genius." It would appear that the son, to whom the collection latterly belonged, was gracious in the extreme in the loan of books; and that, in consequence, a public advertisement was inserted at the foot of the "Avis preliminaire," to entreat those, who had profited by such kindness, to return their borrowed (shall I say stolen?) goods? For want of these volumes, many sets of books were miserably defective.----ANONYMIANA. _Catalogus Bibliothecæ Anonymianæ, in quo libri rariores recensentur, una cum notis litterariis_, Norimb., 1738, 8vo. This is a catalogue of value, and may be well ranged with its brethren upon the bibliographer's shelf. Another "_Bibliotheca Anonymiana_," was published ten years preceding the present one; at the Hague, in three parts, one vol., 8vo.: which, in the _Bibl. Solger._, vol iii., no. 1388, is said to contain many rare books: see also no. 1370, _ibid._----D'ARTOIS. _Catalogue des Livres du Cabinet de Monseigneur Le Compte D'Artois_, Paris, 1783, 8vo. Very few copies of this catalogue, which is printed in a wide octavo page, resembling that of a quarto, were struck off: according to Fournier's _Dict. Portat. de Bibliogr._, p. 120, edit. 1809. See also _Cat. de Boutourlin_, no. 3876.----AUGUSTANA. _Catalogus Bibliothecæ inclytæ Reipubl. Augustanæ utriusque linguæ tum Græcæ tum Latinæ librorum et impressorum et manu exaratorum._ Aug. Vindel., 1600, fol. Morhof informs us that this catalogue, of which Hoeschelius was the compiler, contains an account of some manuscripts which have never been printed, as well as of some which Marcus Velserus published. It is, moreover, full of precious bibliographical matter; but unfortunately (the possessor of it may think otherwise) only ONE HUNDRED COPIES were struck off. _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., 211. I find, however, some little difficulty about distinguishing this catalogue of the Augsbourg library from the impression of 1633, fol., which Vogt mentions at p. 323, and of which he also talks of 100 copies being printed. It should not be forgotten that Hoeschelius published an admirable catalogue of the Greek MSS. in the library of Augsbourg, 1595, and again 1605, in 4to. Colomiés pronounces it a model in its way. _Bibl. Choisie_, p. 194-5. The catalogue of the Greek MSS. in the library of the Duke of Bavaria, at Munich, was published about the same period; namely, in 1602: the compiler was a skilful man, but he tells us, at the head of the catalogue, that the MSS. were open to the inspection of every one who had any work in hand, provided he were a _Roman Catholic_! This was being very kind to protestants! _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii., part i., p. 215, edit. 1725. See also Vogt's _Catalog. Libror. Rarior._, p. 232.----AUGUSTANA. _Notitia historica-literaria de libris ab artis typographicæ inventione usque ad annum, 1478, impressis, in Bibliotheca Monasterii ad SS. Udalricum et Afram Augustæ extantibus._ August, Vindel, 1788, 4to. This volume, which I have no doubt would gratify the curious bibliographer, it has never been my good fortune to meet with. It is here introduced upon the authority of the _Cat. du Cardinal de Loménie_, no. 2647: ed. 1797. I ought not to close this account of the Augsbourg catalogues of books, without remarking, on the authority of Reimannus, that the _first_ published catalogue of books is that which Villerius, a bookseller at Augsburg, put forth in the year 1564. See the _Bibl. Acroam._, p. 5.----AURIVILLIUS. _Catalogus Bibliothecæ quam collegerat Carolus Aurivillius_, sectio [Transcriber's Note: section] i. and ii., Upsal, 1787, 8vo. This catalogue contains a plentiful sprinkling of short literary and bibliographical notes; according to _Bibl. Krohn_, p. 256, no. 3582.----BADENHAUPT. _Bibliotheca selectissima; sive Catalogus librorum magnam partem philologicorum, quos inter eminent. Auctores Græci et Romani classica quos collegit E.F. Badenhaupt_, Berol, 1773, 8vo. The pithy bibliographical notes which are here and there scattered throughout this catalogue, render it of estimation in the opinion of the curious.----BALUZE. _Bibliotheca Balusiana; seu catalogus librorum bibliothecæ D.S. Baluzii, A. Gab. Martin_, Paris, 1719, 8vo., two vols. Let any enlightened bibliographers read the eulogy upon the venerable Baluze (who died in his eighty-eighth year, and who was the great Colbert's librarian), in the preface of the _Bibl. Colbertina_ (vide post), and in the _Dict. Hist._ (Caen, 1789, vol. i., p. 443-4), and he will not hesitate a moment about the propriety of giving this volume a conspicuous place upon his shelf. From the _Bibl. Mencken_, p. 10, it would appear that a third volume, containing translations of some MSS. in the royal library, is wanting to make this catalogue complete. This third volume is uncommon.----BARBERINI. _Index Bibliothecæ Francisci Barberini Cardinalis. Romæ, Typis Barberinis_, 1681, fol., three vols. in two. The widely spread celebrity of Cardinal Barberini suffers no diminution from this publication of the riches contained within his library. The authors are arranged alphabetically, and not according to classes. Although it be not the most luminous in its arrangement, or the most accurate in its execution, this finely printed catalogue will never remain long upon a bookseller's shelf without a purchaser. It were much to be desired that our own noblemen, who have fine collections of books, would put forth (after the example of Cardinal Barberini) similar publications.----BARTHELEMY. _Catalogue des Livres de la Bibliothéque de M. l'Abbé Barthelemy, par M. Bernard_, 1800, 8vo. The high reputation of the owner of this collection will always secure purchasers for this catalogue of useful and interesting books.----BIBLIOGRAPHIE _des Pays Bas, avec quelques notes. Nyon, en Suisse_, 1783, 4to. Only fifty copies of this work were printed. It is a pity that Peignot, who gives us this information, does not accompany it with some account of the nature and merits of the work--which probably grew out of the _Histoire Littéraire des Pays Blas_, 1725, in three folio volumes. _Bibl. Curieuse_, p. 10.----BODLEIAN. _Catalog. Libr. Bibl. Publ., &c., in Acad. Oxon._, 1605, 4to. _Catal. Libr. Impr._, 1674, fol. _Catalogi Libror. MSS. Angl. et Hibern._, 1697, fol. _Catalogus Impress. Libror. Bibl. Bodl._, 1733, fol., two vols. Although none but catalogues of foreign public and private collections were intended to be noticed in this list, the reader will forgive a little violation of the rule laid down by myself, if I briefly observe upon the catalogues of the Bodleian library and the British Museum. [For the latter, vide 'MUSEUM.'] The first of these Bodleian catalogues contains an account of the MSS. It was prepared by Dr. James, the editor of the Philobiblion of De Bury (vide p. 30, ante), and, as it was the first attempt to reduce to "lucid order" the indigested pile of MSS. contained in the library, its imperfections must be forgiven. It was afterwards improved, as well as enlarged, in the folio edition of 1697, by Bernard; which contains the MSS. subsequently bequeathed to the library by Selden, Digby, and Laud, alone forming an extensive and valuable collection. The editor of Morhof (vol. i., 193, n.) has highly commended this latter catalogue. Let the purchaser of it look well to the frontispiece of the portraits of Sir Thomas Bodley and of the fore-mentioned worthies, which faces the title-page; as it is frequently made the prey of some prowling Grangerite. The first catalogue of the _Printed Books_ in the Bodleian library was compiled by the celebrated orientalist, Dr. Hyde: the second by Fisher: of these, the latter is the more valuable, as it is the more enlarged. The plan adopted in both is the same: namely, the books are arranged alphabetically, without any reference to their classes--a plan fundamentally erroneous: for the chief object in catalogues of public collections is to know what works are published upon particular subjects, for the facility of information thereupon--whether our inquiries lead to publication or otherwise: an alphabetical index should, of course, close the whole. It is with reluctance my zeal for literature compels me to add that a _Catalogue Raisonnée of the Manuscripts and Printed Books in the Bodleian Library_ is an urgent desideratum--acknowledged by every sensible and affectionate son of ALMA MATER. Talent there is, in abundance, towards the completion of such an honourable task; and the only way to bring it effectually into exercise is to employ heads and hands enough upon the undertaking. Let it be remembered what Wanley and Messrs. Planta and Nares have done for the Cottonian and Harleian MSS.--and what Mr. Douce is now doing for those of the Lansdowne collection! One gentleman alone, of a very distinguished college, in whom the acuteness and solidity of Porson seem almost revived, might do wonders for the Greek MSS., and lend an effectual aid towards the arrangement of the others. The printed books might be assigned, according to their several classes, to the gentlemen most conversant with the same; and the numerous bibliographical works, published since the catalogue of 1733, might be occasionally referred to, according to the plan observed in the _Notitia Editionum vel Primariæ, &c., in Bibl. Bodl. Oxon._, 1795, 8vo.; which was judiciously drawn up by the Bishop of London, and the Rev. Dr. William Jackson. I am aware that the aged hands of the present venerable librarian of the Bodleian library can do little more than lay the foundation-stone of such a massive superstructure; but even this would be sufficient to enrol his name with the Magliabecchis and Baillets of former times--to entitle him to be classed among the best benefactors to the library--and to shake hands with its immortal founder, in that place where are et amoena vireta Fortunatorum nemorum, sedesque beatæ. BONNIER. _Catalogue des livres de la Bibliothéque de Bonnier._ Paris, 1800, 8vo. This catalogue is here introduced to the bibliographer's notice in order to sharpen his bibliomaniacal appetite to obtain one of the four copies only which were printed upon LARGE PAPER of Dutch manufacture. See _Cat. de Caillard_ (1808), no. 2596.----BOUTOURLIN. _Catalogue des livres de la Bibliothéque de S.E.M. Le Comte de Boutourlin._ Paris (an. xiii.), 1805, 8vo. Every one must conceive a high respect for the owner of this choice collection, from the amiable sentiments which pervade the preface to the catalogue. It has a good index; and is elegantly printed. My copy is upon LARGE PAPER.----DE BOZE. _Catalogue des Livres du Cabinet de M. Claude Gros de Boze._ Paris. _De l'Imp. Royale_, 1745, small folio. This is the first printed catalogue of the choice and magnificent library of De Boze, the friend and correspondent of Dr. Mead, between whom presents of books were continually passing--as they were the first collectors of the day in their respective countries. Some have said 50, some 35, others 25, and others ONLY 12 COPIES of this impression were struck off, as presents for the collector's friends. Consult _Bibl. Mead_, p. 81, no. 617. _Bibl. Creven._, vol. v., 291. _Bauer's Bibl. Rarior._, vol. i., 151. _Bibl. Curieuse_, p. 12. _Bibl. Askev._, no. 508. Barbier's _Dict. des Anonymes_, vol. ii., no. 8002.----DE BOZE, _de la même bibliothéque_, 1753, 8vo. This catalogue, which was executed by Martin, after the death of De Boze, does not contain all the notices of works mentioned in the preceding one. It is, however, well deserving of a place in the bibliographer's library. Peignot tells us that there was yet a _third_ catalogue printed, in 8vo., containing 192 pages, and giving an account of some books taken out of De Boze's collection: a few of which are described in the preceding edition of 1753. See his _Bibl. Cur._, p. 12.----BOZERIAN. _Notice des livres précieux ye [Transcriber's Note: de] M. Bozérian, par M. Bailly_, 1798, 8vo. A cabinet of "precious books," indeed! The misfortune is, so small a number of modern foreign catalogues come over here that the best of them will be found in few of our libraries. Whenever the "Bibliotheca Bozeriana" shall be imported, it will not stop seven days upon a bookseller's shelf!----BULTEAU. _Bibliotheca Bultelliana; (Caroli Bulteau) a Gabr. Martin_, Paris, 1711, 12mo., 2 vols. in one. This catalogue, which is carefully compiled, contains curious and uncommon books; many of which were purchased for the collections of Préfond, De Boze, and others.----BUNAU. _Catalogus Bibliothecæ Bunavianæ._ Lipsiæ, 1750. Six parts, in three volumes, each volume having two parts--usually bound in six vols. Highly and generally esteemed as is this extensive collection, and methodically arranged catalogue, of Count Bunau's books, the latter has always appeared to me as being branched out into too numerous ramifications, so as to render the discovery of a work, under its particular class, somewhat difficult, without reference to the index. I am aware that what Camus says is very true--namely, that "nothing is more absurd than to quarrel about catalogue-making: and that every man ought to have certain fixed and decisive ideas upon the subject," [_Mem. de l'Inst._ vol. i., 650,] but simplicity and perspicuity, which are the grand objects in every undertaking, might have been, in my humble apprehension, more successfully exhibited than in this voluminous catalogue. It represents _over-done analysis_! yet those who are writing upon particular subjects will find great assistance in turning to the different works here specified upon the same. It is rare and high-priced. From the preface, which is well worth an attentive perusal, it appears that this grand collection, now deposited in the electoral library at Dresden (see _Cat. de Caillard_, no. 2545, 1808,) was at Count Bunau's country-house, situated in a pleasant village about half a mile from Dresden-- Vicinam videt unde lector urbem. Saxius, in his _Onomast. Literar._, vol i., p. xxxiii., edit. 1775, &c., has a smart notice of this splendid collection.----BUNNEMAN. _J.L. Bunnemanni Catalogus Manuscriptorum, item librorum impressorum rarissimorum pro assignato pretio venalium._ Minda, 1732, 8vo. For the sake of knowing, by way of curiosity, what books (accounted rare at this period) were sold for, the collector may put this volume into his pocket, when he finds it upon a book-stall marked at 1_s._ 6_d._ In the _Bibl. Solger._, vol iii., no. 1396, there was a priced copy upon LARGE PAPER with bibliographical memoranda.----CAILLARD. _Catalogue des livres du Cabinet de M.A.B. Caillard_, Paris, 1805, 8vo. Of this private catalogue, compiled by Caillard himself, and printed upon fine Dutch paper, in super-royal 8vo., only twenty-five copies were struck off. So says Fournier, _Dict. Portatif de Bibliographie_: p. 120; edit. 1809, and the "avant-propos" prefixed to the subsequent catalogue here following:----_Livres rares et précieux de la Bibliothéque de feu M. Ant. Bern. Caillard_, Paris, 1808, 8vo. There were but twenty-five copies of this catalogue of truly valuable, and, in many respects, rare, and precious, books, printed upon LARGE PAPER, of the same size as the preceding. This was the sale catalogue of the library of Caillard, who died in 1807, in his sixty-ninth year, and of whose bibliomaniacal spirit we have a most unequivocal proof in his purchasing De Cotte's celebrated uncut copy of the first printed Homer, at an enormous sum! [vide COTTE, post.] "Sa riche bibliothéque est á-la-fois un monument de son amour pour l'art typographique, et de la vaste étendue de ses connoissances," p. xiv. Some excellent indexes close this volume; of which Mr. Payne furnished me with the loan of his copy upon LARGE PAPER.----CAMBIS. _Catalogue des principaux manuscrits du cabinet de M. Jos. L.D. de Cambis_, Avignon, 1770, 4to. Although this is a catalogue of MSS., yet, the number of copies printed being very few, I have given it a place here. Some of these copies contain but 519, others 766, pages; which shews that the owner of the MSS. continued publishing his account of them as they increased upon him. Rive, in his "_Chasse aux bibliographes_," has dealt very roughly with the worthy Cambis; but Peignot tells us that this latter was a respectable literary character, and a well-informed bibliographer--and that his catalogue, in spite of Rive's diatribe, is much sought after. See the _Bibliogr. Curieuse_, p. 14; also _Cat. de la Valliere_, vol. iii., no. 5543.----CAMUS DE LIMARE. _Catalogues des livres de M. le Camus de Limare_, Paris, 1779, 12mo.--_Des livres rares et précieux de M---- (Camus de Limare)_, Paris, 1786, 8vo.--_Des livres rares et précieux, reliés en maroquin, de la bibliothéque du même, Paris, an trois_ (1795), 8vo. Of the _first_ catalogue only a small number of copies was printed, and those for presents. _Bibliogr. Curieuse_, p. 15. It contains a description of De Boze's extraordinary copy of Du Fresnoy's "Methode pour étudier l'Histoire," 1729, 4to., four volumes, with the supplement, 1740, two vols.; which was sold for 1500 livres; and which was, of course, upon LARGE PAPER, with a thousand inviting additions, being much more complete than the similar copies in _Cat. de Valliere_, no. 4467; and _Cat. de Crevenna_, no. 5694, edit. 1789; although this latter was preferable to the Valliere copy. Consult also the _Curiosités Bibliographiques_, p. 77-8. The _second_ catalogue was prepared by De Bure, and contains a very fine collection of natural history, which was sold at the Hôtel de Bullion. The printed prices are added. The _third_ catalogue, which was prepared by Santus, after the decease of Camus, contains some very choice articles [many printed UPON VELLUM] of ancient and modern books superbly bound.----CATALOGUE _des livres rares. Par Guillaume de Bure, fils âiné._ Paris, 1786, 8vo. We are told, in the advertisement, that this collection was formed from a great number of sales of magnificent libraries, and that particular circumstances induced the owner to part with it. The books were in the finest order, and bound by the most skilful binders. The bibliographical notices are short, but judicious; and a good index closes the catalogue. The sale took place at the Hôtel de Bullion.----CATALOGUE _fait sur un plan nouveau, systématique et raisonné, d'une Bibliothéque de Littérature, particulièrement d'Histoire et de Poésie, &c._ Utrecht, 1776, 8vo., two vols. A judicious and luminous arrangement of 19,000 articles, or sets of books; which, in the departments specified in the title-page, are singularly copious and rich.----CATALOGUS _Librorum rarissimorum, ab Artis Typographicæ inventoribus, aliisque ejus artis Principibus ante annum 1500 excusorum; omnium optime conservatorum_, 8vo., _Sine loco aut anno_. Peignot, who has abridged Vogt's excellent account of this very uncommon and precious catalogue, of which ONLY TWENTY-FIVE COPIES were printed, has forgotten to examine the last edition of the _Catalog. Libror. Rarior._, pp. 262-3; in which we find that the collection contained 248 (and not 217) volumes. At the end, it is said: "Pretiosissima hæc Librorum Collectio, cujusvis magni Principis Bibliotheca dignissima, constat voll. ccxlviii." Consult the respectable references in Vogt, _ibid._; also the _Bibliogr. Curieuse_ of Peignot, p. 15.----CERAN. _Catalogue des livres de M. Mel de Saint Ceran._ Paris, 1780, 8vo., again in 1791, 8vo. These catalogues were compiled by De Bure, and are carefully executed. Some of the books noticed in them are sufficiently curious and rare.----CLEMENTINO-VATICANA. _Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino Vaticana, in quâ manuscriptos codices Orientalium Linguarum recensuit Joseph Simonius Assemanus_, Romæ, 1719. Folio, four vols. Asseman's son compiled an excellent catalogue of the Oriental MSS. in the Medico-Laurentian library; but this work of the father is more curious and elaborate. Whenever a few half-guineas can procure it, let the country-settled philologist send his "henchman" to fly for it!--"Speed, Malise, speed." But alas! Santander tells us that copies of it are rare. _Cat. de Santander_, vol. iv., no. 6287.----COLBERT. _Bibliotheca Colbertina: seu Catalogus Librorum Bibliothecæ quæ fuit primum J.B. Colbert, deinde J.B. Colbert (fil) postea J. Nic. Colbert, ac demum C.L. Colbert._ Parisiis, 1728, 8vo., three vols. The preface to this valuable catalogue (executed by Martin) gives us a compressed, but sufficiently perspicuous, account of the auspices under which such an extensive and magnificent collection was assembled and arranged. It contains not fewer than 18,219 articles; being perhaps 60,000 volumes. The celebrated Baluze was the librarian during the life of the former branches of the Colbert family; a family which, if nothing remained to perpetuate their fame but this costly monument of literary enterprise, will live in the grateful remembrance of posterity--but it wants not even such a splendid memorial! The lover of fine and curious books will always open the volumes of the COLBERT CATALOGUE with a zest which none but a thorough bred bibliomaniac can ever hope to enjoy.----CONSEIL D'ETAT. _Catalogue des livres de la Bibliothéque du Conseil d'Etat (par M. Barbier, Bibliothecaire du Conseil d'Etat)._ Paris, an. xi. (1802), folio. "This catalogue is most superbly executed. The richness of the materials of which it is composed, the fine order of its arrangement, and the skilful researches exhibited in it relating to anonymous authors, are worthy of the typographical luxury of the national press, from which this curious work was put forth. It will be perfect in three parts: the third part, containing the supplement and tables, is now at press." (A.D. 1804.) The preface and table of the divisions of this catalogue were published in a small 8vo. volume, 1801. This information I glean from Peignot's _Curiosités Bibliographiques_, p. lix.; and from the _Cat. de Boutourlin_, no. 3892, I learn that only 190 copies of so useful, as well as splendid, a work were printed, of which the French government took upon itself the distribution.----CORDES. _Bibliothecæ Cordesianæ Catalogus, cum indice titulorum_, Parisiis, 1643, 4to. The celebrated Naudé had the drawing up and publishing of this catalogue, which is highly coveted by collectors, and is now of rare occurrence. De Cordes was intimate with all the learned men of his country and age; and his eulogy, by Naudé, prefixed to the catalogue, gives us a delightful account of an amiable and learned man living in the bosom, as it were, of books and of book-society. This collection, which was purchased by Cardinal Mazarin, formed the foundation of the latter's magnificent library. Consult the _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii., p. 142; Colomié's _Biblioth. Choisie_, p. 126; _Mem. de l'Inst._, vol. i., p. 647. Nor must we forget Morhof--_Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., p. 211; who, after a general commendation of the collection, tells us it is remarkable for containing a fine body of foreign history. De Cordes died A.D. 1642, in the 72d year of his age--nearly 50 years having been devoted by him to the formation of his library. "Fortunate senex!"----COTTE. _Catalogue des Livres rares et précieux et de MSS. composant la bibliothéque de M---- (le President de Cotte)_, Paris, 1804, 8vo. We are told by Peignot that the books at this sale were sold for most exorbitant sums: "the wealthy amateurs striving to make themselves masters of the LARGE PAPER Alduses, Elzevirs, and Stephenses, which had been Count d'Hoym's copies." An uncut first edition of Homer, in the highest state of preservation, was purchased by Mons. Caillaird [Transcriber's Note: Caillard] for 3,601 livres! See the _Curiosités Bibliographiques_, pp. lxv, lxvj. According to _Cat. de Caillard_, no. 2600 (1808, 8vo.), there were only ten copies of this catalogue printed upon LARGE PAPER.----COUVAY. _Catalogue de la bibliothéque de M. Couvay, chevalier de l'ordre de Christ, secrétaire du Roi_, Paris, 1728, fol. Very few copies of this catalogue were printed, and those only for presents. _Bibliogr. Curieuse_, p. 21.----CREVENNA. _Catalogue raisonnée de la collection des Livres de M. Pierre Antoine Crevenna, Négocient à Amsterdam_, 1776, 4to., six vols.--_De la même collection_, 1789, 8vo., five vols.--_De la même collection_, 1793, 8vo. Of these catalogues of one of the most extensive and magnificent collections ever formed in Amsterdam, the first impression of 1776 (to which I have generally referred) is by far the most valuable in regard to bibliographical remarks and copious description. Peignot tells us that no bibliographer can do without it. It was commenced in the year 1774, and published during the life time of Peter Antony Crevenna, the father; from whom the collection passed into the hands of the son Bolongari Crevenna, and in whose lifetime it was sold by public auction. The second impression of 1789 is the sale-catalogue, and contains more books than the preceding one; but the bibliographical observations are comparatively trifling. There are copies of this latter impression upon LARGE PAPER in quarto. I possess an interesting copy of the small paper, which has numerous marginal remarks in pencil, by Mr. Edwards; who examined the library at Amsterdam, with a view to purchase it entire. The last catalogue of 1793, which was published after the death of the son, contains a few choice books which he had reserved for himself, and, among them, a curious set of fac-simile drawings of old prints and title-pages; some of which were obtained at the sale of the elder Mirabeau (vide post). It seems to have been the ruling passion of B. Crevenna's life to collect all the materials, from all quarters, which had any connection, more or less, with "THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING," and it is for ever to be regretted that such extensive materials as those which he had amassed, and which were sold at the sale of 1793 should have been dissipated beyond the hope of restoration. See Peignot's _Dict. de Bibliologie_, vol. iii., p. 100; and his _Curiosités Bibliographiques_, p. 139.----CROZAT. _Catalogue des Livres de Monsieur Le President Crozat de Tugny_, Paris, 1751, 8vo. This collection was particularly rich in the belles-lettres--and especially in Italian and French Romance-Literature.----VAN DAMME. _Catalogue d'une Bibliotheque, vendue publiquement à la Haye, le 8 Octobre, par Varon et Gaillard_, 1764, three vols. 8vo. "This precious and rare collection belonged to M. Pierre Van Damme, book-merchant at Amsterdam, equally well known for his knowledge of bibliography and of medals; of which latter he had a beautiful and uncommon collection." _Bibl. Crevenn._, vol. v., p. 306.----DUBOIS. _Bibliotheca Duboisiana, ou Catalogue de la Bibliothéque du Cardinal Dubois. A la Haye_, 1725, 8vo., four vols. A collection which evinces the fine taste and sound judgment of the Cardinal Du Bois. It is not rare abroad.----ELZEVIR. _Catalogus librorum qui in Bibliopolio Officinæ Danielis Elzevirii venales extant_, Ams. 1674, 12mo.: 1681, 12mo.--_qui in Bibliopoli Elzeviriano venales extant_, Lug. Bat., 1634, 1684, 4to. These, and other catalogues of the books printed by the distinguished family of the Elzevirs, should find a place within the cabinet of bibliographers. The first book ever published by the Elzevirs was of the date of 1595; the last, of 1680 or 1681, by Daniel Elzevir, who was the only surviving branch. His widow carried on the business after his decease in 1680. In the _Dictionnaire de Bibliologie_ of Peignot, vol. i., p. 216, vol. iii., p. 116, will be found a pleasing account of this family of (almost) unrivalled printers.----DU FAY. _Bibliotheca Fayana seu Catalogus librorum Bibl. Cor. Hier. de Cisternay du Fay, digestus à Gabriel Martin_, Paris, 1725, 8vo. The catalogue of this collection, which is a judicious one, and frequently referred to, is very carefully put forth by Martin. I think that I have seen a copy of it upon LARGE PAPER.----FAGEL. _Bibliotheca Fageliana. A catalogue of the valuable and extensive Library of the Greffier Fagal, of the Hague: in two parts._ London, 1802, 8vo. It is highly creditable to that most respectable establishment, Trinity College, Dublin, that the present grand collection of books was purchased "en masse" (for 7000_l._) to be deposited within its library; thus rendering the interior of the latter "companion meet" for its magnificent exterior. The title-page of the first part announces the sale of the books by auction by Mr. Christie; but the above offer having been made for the whole collection, the same was forthwith transported to Ireland. Collectors should take care that the second part of this catalogue be not wanting, which is oftentimes the case. A good index only is requisite to make the BIBLIOTHECA FAGELIANA rank with the most valuable publications of its kind in existence. It was compiled by the well-known S. Paterson.----FAULTRIER. _Catalogus Librorum Bibliothecæ Domini Joachimi Faultrier, digestus à Prosper Marchand_, Paris, 1709, 8vo. The bibliographical introductory remarks, by Marchand, render this volume (which rarely occurs) very acceptable to collectors of catalogues. Maittaire has spoken well of the performance, _Annal. Typog._ iii., p. 482. Consult also the _Mem. de l'Inst._, vol. i., p. 675, and the _Dict. de Bibliologie_, vol. ii., p. 235, upon Marchand's introductory remarks relating to the arrangement of a library.----FAVIER. _Catalogue des Livres de la Bibliothéque de feu Mons. L'Abbé Favier, Prêtre à Lille_, Lille, 1765, 8vo. A well arranged catalogue of a choice collection of books, which cost the Abbé fifty years of pretty constant labour in amassing. Prefixed, are some interesting notices of MSS.: and, among them, of a valuable one of Froissart. The prints of the Abbé were afterwards sold, from a catalogue of 143 pages, printed at Lisle in the same year.----DU FRESNE. _Raphaelis Tricheti du Fresne Bibliothecæ Catalogus._ Paris, 1662, 4to. "I have observed," says Morhof, "a number of authors in this catalogue which I have in vain sought after elsewhere. The typographical errors (especially in regard to dates, adds Baillet) are innumerable: and the theological, legal, and medical works, comparatively few--but in the departments of history, antiquities, and general literature, this collection is wonderfully enriched--containing authors hardly ever heard of." _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., p. 212. Colomiés and Labbe unite in conferring the highest praises upon Du Fresne and his collection. See the _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii., p. 143; where, however, the confused and inaccurate manner in which the catalogue is executed is sharply censured by Baillet. Morhof informs us that this collection was disposed of by Du Fresne's widow, to the Royal Library, for 24,000 _livres_, after she had refused 33,000 for the same.----GAIGNAT. _Catalogue des Livres du Cabinet de feu M. Louis Jean Gaignat, disposé et mis en ordre par Guill. François de Bure le Jeune._ Paris, 1769, 8vo., two vols. One of the best executed, and most intrinsically valuable catalogues in existence. Almost all the books of Gaignat were in the choicest condition; being the cream of the collections of Colbert, Préfond, and De Boze. The possession of this rare catalogue, which is indispensable to the collector, forms what is called a Supplement to De Bure's "_Bibliographie Instructive_." There are 50 copies struck off upon SMALL QUARTO paper, to arrange with a like number of this latter work. Consult _Bibl. Crevenn._, vol. v., p. 291.----GENÈVE. _Catalogue raisonné des Manuscrits conservés dans la bibliothéque, &c., de Genève; par Jean Senibier._ Genève, 1779, 8vo. A neatly executed and useful catalogue of some manuscripts of no mean value. It has received a good character by Mons. Van-Praet, in the _Cat. de la Valliere_, vol. iii., no. 5542. See also p. 36, ante.----GOEZ. _Bibliothecæ Goësinæ Catalogus_, Leidæ, 1687, 8vo. A fine collection of books and of coins distinguished the Museum of Goez.----GOLOWKIN. _Catalogue des Livres de la Bibliothéque du Comte Alexis de Golowkin_, Leipsic, 1798, 4to. It is said that ONLY 25 COPIES of this catalogue were struck off, and that not more than two of these are known to be in France. Neither the type nor paper has the most inviting aspect; but it is a curious volume, and contains a description of books "infiniment précieux." Consult Peignot's _Bibliogr. Curieuse_, p. 31. Dr. Clarke, in his _Travels in Russia, &c._, p. 138, has noticed the extraordinary library of Count Botterline, but says nothing of Golowkin's.----GOUTTARD. _Catalogue des Livres rares et precieux de feu M. Gouttarde par Guillaume de Bure fils aîné._ Paris, 1780, 8vo. A short bibliographical notice of the amiable and tasteful owner of this select collection precedes the description of the books. The bibliographical observations are sometimes copious and valuable. This catalogue is indispensable to the collector.----GUYON. _Catalogue des livres de la Bibliothéque de feu M.J.B. Denis Guyon, Chev. Seigneur de Sardiere, Ancien Capitaine au Regiment du Roi, et l'un des Seigneurs du Canal de Briare._ Paris, 1759, 8vo. It is justly said, in the "advertisement" prefixed to this catalogue, that, in running over the different classes of which the collection is composed, there will be found articles "capable de piquer la curiosité des bibliophiles." In ancient and modern poetry, and in romances--especially relating to chivalry--this "ancient Captain" appears to have been deeply versed. The advertisement is followed by 28 pages of "Eclaircissemens"--which give an interesting account of some precious manuscripts of old poetry and romances. A MS. note, in my copy of this catalogue, informs me that the books were sold "en masse."----HEINSIUS. (NIC.) _Nicolai Heinsii Bibliothecæ Catalogus_, (1682) 8vo. A portrait of the elegant and learned owner of this collection faces the title-page. The books contained in it are remarkable both for their rarity and intrinsic value; and a great number of them were enriched with the notes of Scaliger, Salmasius, and others. Few collections display more judgment and taste in the selection than the present one; and few critics have been of more essential service to the cause of ancient classical literature than Nicholas Heinsius. He excelled particularly in his editions of the poets. Mr. Dyer, of Exeter, the bookseller, has a copy of this catalogue, which was formerly Grævius's; in which that celebrated critic has made marginal remarks concerning the rarity and value of certain works described in it.----HOHENDORF. _Bibliotheca Hohendorfiana; ou Catalogue de la Bibliothéque de feu Mons. George Guillaume Baron de Hohendorf: à la Haye_, 1720, 8vo., three parts. A magnificent collection; which a MS. note, by Dr. Farmer (in my copy of the catalogue), informs me was "added to the Emperor's library at Vienna." In the _Bibl. Mencken_, p. 10, it is thus loftily described: "Catalogus per-rarus rarissimis libris superbiens."----HOYM. _Catalogus Librorum Bibliothecæ Caroli Henrici Comitis de Hoym_, 1738, 8vo. This catalogue, which is exceedingly well "digested by Martin," is a great favourite with collectors. A copy out of Count Hoym's collection tells well--whether at a book-sale, or in a bookseller's catalogue. There are copies upon LARGE PAPER, which, when priced, sell high.----HULSIUS. _Bibliotheca Hulsiana, sive Catalogus Librorum quos magno labore, summa cura et maximis sumptibus collegit Vir Consularis Samuel Hulsius._ Hag. Com. 1730, four vols. 8vo. (the second and third being in two parts, and the fourth in three). This is, in sober truth, a wonderful collection of books; containing nearly 34,000 articles--which, allowing three volumes to an article, would make the owner to have been in possession of 100,000 volumes of printed books and MSS. The English library, (vol. iv., pt. ii.) of nearly 3300 articles, comprehended nearly all the best books of the day. There were about 1200 articles of Spanish Literature. Nor was the worthy Consul deficient in the love of the fine arts ("hæc est, sitque diu, Senis optimi voluptas et oblectatio," says the compiler of the catalogue); having 11,000 most beautiful prints of subjects relating to the Bible, bound up in 92 atlas folio volumes. Long live the memory of Hulsius; a consular hero of no ordinary renown!----JENA. _Memorabilia Bibliothecæ Academicæ Jenensis: sive designatio Codicum manuscriptorum illa Bibliothecâ et Librorum impressorum plerumque rariorum. Joh. Christophoro Mylio._ Jenæ, 1746, 8vo. A work of some little importance; and frequently referred to by Vogt and Panzer. It is uncommon.----JESU SOC. _Bibliotheca Scriptorum Societatis Jesu._ Antv., 1643. Romæ, 1676, fol. Although this work is not a professed catalogue of books, yet, as it contains an account of the writings of those learned men who were in the society of the Jesuits--and as Baillet, Antonio, and Morhof, have said every thing in commendation of it--I strongly recommend one or the other of these editions to the bibliographer's attention. I possess the edition of 1643; and have frequently found the most satisfactory intelligence on referring to it. How clever some of the Jesuits were in their ideas of the arrangement of a library may be seen from their "_Systema Bibliothecæ Jesuitarum Collegii Ludoviciani_"--which was written by Garnier for the private use of the Louvain college, and which is now extremely difficult to be found. See Maichelius, _de Præcip. Bibl. Parisiens_, p. 128. Their "_Systema bibliothecæ collegii Parisiensis societatis Jesu_," 1678, 4to. (or catalogue of books in the college of Clermont), is handsomely noticed by Camus in the _Mem. de l'Inst._, vol. i., 647.----JUST, ST. _Catalogue des livres en très-petit nombre qui composent la Bibliothéque de M. Merard de St. Just, ancien maitre-d'hotêl de Monsieur, frère du Roi (avec les prix d'achat)._ Paris, 1783, 18mo. Of this book, printed upon superfine paper, of the manufactory of d'Annonay, only 25 copies were struck off. _Bibl. Curieuse_, p. 43. Another catalogue of the same collection (perhaps a more copious one) was put forth in 1799, 8vo., prepared by M. Mauger, See _Diction. Bibliographique_, tom. iv., p. xiv.----KROHN. _Catalogus Bibliothecæ Præstantissimorum &c., Librorum selectum complectentis. Libros collegit et Literariis Catalogum Animadversionibus instruxit, B.N. Krohn. Editio altera._ Hamb. 1796, 8vo. The preface to this very excellent collection of books is written in Latin by Rambach; and a most interesting one it is. After giving a slight sketch of the life and literary occupations of Krohn, he thus finishes the picture of his death--"Ego certe (exclaims the grateful biographer), mi KROHNI, te amabo, et quamdiu 'spiritus hos reget artus' gratam Tui memoriam ex animo nunquam elabi patiar. O! me felicem, si, qua olim me beasti, amicitiâ nunc quoque frui possem. Sed fruar aliquando, cum Deus me ad beatorum sedes evocaverit, ac Te mihi rediderit conjunctissimum. Vale, interim, pia anima; et quem jam tristem reliquisti, prope diem exspecta, in tenerrimos Tuos amplexus properantem, ac de summa, quam nunc habes, felicitate Tibi congratulantem," p. xix. This is the genuine language of heart-felt grief; language, which those who have lost an old and good friend will know well how to appreciate. This catalogue, which was given to me by my friend the Rev. Dr. Gosset, 'vir in re bibliographicâ [Greek: polymathestatos],' exhibits a fine collection of books (3821 in number) relating to history and philology. Some of Krohn's notes are sufficiently shrewd and intelligent.----LAMOIGNON. _Catalogue des Livres Imprimés et manuscrits de la Bibliothéque de M. le President de Lamoignon (redigé par L. Fr. Delatour) avec une table des auteurs, et des anonymes._ Paris, 1770, fol. The bibliographer has only to hear Peignot speak in his own language, and he will not long hesitate about the price to be given for so precious [Transcriber's Note: 'a' missing in original] volume: "Catalogue fort rare, tiré a QUINZE EXEMPLAIRES seulement, sur du papier de coton fabriqué, par singularité, à Angoulême." Mr. Harris, of the Royal Institution, possesses a copy of it, bound in orange-coloured Morocco, which was presented to him by Mr. Payne; and, as Alexander placed his beloved Homer--so does he this catalogue--uner [Transcriber's Note: under] his pillow "quand il vent se reposer--a cause des songes agréables qu'il doit inspirer." This beautiful volume, which was printed for Lamoignon's own convenience, in supplemental parts, does not, however, contain Baillet's interesting Latin prefece, which may be seen in the _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. [Transcriber's Note: volume number missing in original] pt. ii., p. 140, ed. 1725.----LAMOIGNON. _Des Livres de la Bibliothéque de feu M. de Lamoignon, Garde de Sçeaux de France._ Paris, 1791, 8vo., 3 vols. These volumes contain the sale catalogue of Lamoignon's books as they were purchased by Mr. T. Payne, the bookseller. Like the great libraries of Crevenna and Pinelli, this immense collection (with the exception of the works upon French jurisprudence) has been dissipated by public sale. It yet delights Mr. Payne to think and to talk of the many thousand volumes which were bound in Morocco, or Russia, or white-calf-leather, "with gilt on the edges"--which this extraordinary family of book-collectors had amassed with so much care and assiduity. The preface gives us a short, but pleasing, account of the bibliomanical spirit of Lamoignon's father-in-law, Monsieur Berryer; who spent between thirty and forty years in enriching this collection with all the choice, beautiful, and extraordinary copies of works which, from his ministerial situation, and the exertions of his book-friends, it was possible to obtain. M. Berryer died in 1762, and his son-in-law in 1789.----LAMOIGNON. _Des Livres de la même Biblothéque, par Nyon l'âiné._ Paris, 1797, 8vo. This volume presents us with the relics of a collection which, in its day, might have vied with the most splendid in Europe. But every thing earthly must be dissipated.----LANCELOT. _Catalogue des Livres de feu M. Lancelot de l'Academie Royale des Belles Lettres._ Paris, 1741, 8vo. Those who are fond of making their libraries rich in French History cannot dispense with this truly valuable catalogue. Lancelot, like the elder Lamoignon, appears to have been "buried in the benedictions of his countrymen"--according to the energetic language of Bourdaloue.----LEMARIÉ. _Catalogue des livres de feu M. Lemarié, disposé et mis en ordre, par Guil. De Bure, fils aîné_, Paris, 1776, 8vo. A well digested catalogue of a rich collection of Greek and Latin Literature, which evinces a man of taste and judgment. Nothing can be more handsomely said of a collection than what De Bure has prefixed to the present one. In the _Cat. de Gouttard_, no. 1545, I find a copy of it upon LARGE PAPER.----LOMÉNIE. _Index Librorum ab inventa Typographia da annum 1500, &c., cum notis, &c._ Senonis, 1791, 8vo., two vols. The owner of this collection, whose name does not appear in the title-page, was the celebrated Cardinal DE LOMÉNIE DE BRIENNE: who is described, in the advertisement prefixed to the catalogue of his books in 1797, [vide infra] as having, from almost early youth, pushed his love of book-collecting to an excess hardly equalled by any of his predecessors. When he was but a young ecclesiastic, and had only the expectation of a fortune, his ruling passion for books, and his attachment to fellow bibliomaniacs, was ardent and general. But let his panegyrist speak in his own language--"Si le hazard procuroit à ses amis quelque objét précieux, il n'avoit de repos qu'aprés l'avoir obtenu; les sacrifices ne l'effrayoient pas; il étoit né généreaux; mais ce qu'on lui accordoit, il le devoit sur-tout à ses manières insinuantes. Ses sollicitations étoient toujours assaisonnées d'un ton d'amabilité auquel on résistoit difficilement. Lorsque le tems et les grâces de la cour eurent aggrandi ses moyens, ses veus s'etendirent à proportion. Insensiblement il embressa tous les genres, et sa bibliothéque devint un dépôt universel. Dans ses fréquens voyages, s'il s'arrêtoit quelques instans dans une ville, on le voyoit visiter lui-même les libraries, s'introduire dans les maisons religieuses, s'insinuer dans les cabinets d'amateurs, chercher par-tout à acquérir; c'etoit un besoin pour lui d'acheter sans cesse, d'entasser les volumes. Cette passion a peut-être ses excés; mais du moins, elle ne fut pas pour le cardinal de Loménie une manie stérile. Non seulement il aimoit, il connoissoit les livres, mais il savoit s'en servir; sans contredit il fut un des hommes les plus éclairés du Clergé de France."----To return from this pleasing rhapsody to the catalogue, the title of which is above given. It is composed by Laire, in the Latin language, with sufficient bibliographical skill: but the index is the most puzzling one imaginable. The uncommonly curious and magnificent collection, not being disposed of "en masse"--according to advertisement--was broken up; and the more ancient books were sold by auction at Paris, in 1792, from a French catalogue prepared by De Bure. Some of the books were purchased by Mr. Edwards, and sold at London in the Paris collection [vide p. 90, post]; as were also those relating to Natural History; which latter were sold by auction without his Eminence's name: but it is a gross error in the _Bibl. Krohn_, p. 259, no. 3466, to say that many of these books were impious and obscene. These are scarce and dear volumes; and as they supply some deficiencies [Transcriber's Note: missing 'in'] Audiffredi's account of books published at Rome in the xvth century [vid. p. 62, ante], the bibliographer should omit no opportunity of possessing them.----LOMÉNIE. _D'une partie des livres de la Bibliothéque du Cardinal de Loménie de Brienne_, Paris, an. v. [1797], 8vo. This collection, the fragments or ruins of the Lomenie library, contains 2754 articles, or numbers, with a rich sprinkling of Italian literature; leaving behind, however, a surplus of not fewer than twelve hundred pieces relating to the Italian Drama--many of them rare--which were to be sold at a future auction. From the biographical memoir prefixed to this catalogue, I have given the preceding extract concerning the character of the owner of the collection--who died in the same year as the sale.----MACARTHY. _Catalogue des livres rares et précieux du cabinet de M.L.C.D.M._ (_M. Le Comte de Macarthy_), Paris, 1779, 8vo. _Supplement au Catalogue des livres, &c._, de M.L.C.D.M., Paris, 1779, 8vo. _Chez de Bure, fils aîné._ These books were sold in January, 1780; and great things are said, in the advertisement, of their rarity and beauty. The Count Macarthy has, at this moment, one of the most magnificent collections upon the continent. His books printed UPON VELLUM are unequalled by those of any private collection. Of the above catalogue, a copy upon strong writing paper occurs in the _Cat. de Gouttard_, no. 1549.----MAGLIABECHI. _Catalogus Codicum Sæculo_ xv. _Impressorum qui in publica Bibliotheca Magliabechiana Florentiæ adservantur. Autore Ferdinando Fossio; ejusd. bibl. Præf._, Florent., 1793, folio, three vols. A magnificent and truly valuable publication (with excellent indexes) of the collection of the famous Magliabechi; concerning whom the bibliographical world is full of curious anecdotes. The reader may consult two volumes of letters from eminent men to Magliabechi, published in 1745, &c., vide _Bibl. Pinell_, no. 8808, &c., edit. 1789: Wolfius's edition of the _Bibliotheca Aprosiana_, p. 102; and the Strawberry Hill[C] edition of the _Parallel between Magliabechi and Mr. Hill_, 1758, 8vo.--an elegant and interesting little volume. Before we come to speak of his birth and bibliographical powers, it may be as well to contemplate his expressive physiognomy. [Illustration] MAGLIABECHI was born at Florence October 29, 1633. His parents, of low and mean rank, were well satisfied when they got him into the service of a man who sold herbs and fruit. He had never learned to read; and yet he was perpetually poring over the leaves of old books that were used in his master's shop. A bookseller, who lived in the neighbourhood, and who had often observed this, and knew the boy could not read, asked him one day "what he meant by staring so much on printed paper?" Magliabechi said that "he did not know how it was, but that he loved it of all things." The consequence was that he was received, with tears of joy in his eyes, into the bookseller's shop; and hence rose, by a quick succession, into posts of literary honour, till he became librarian to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. In this situation Magliabechi had nothing further, or more congenial to his feelings, to sigh for: in the Florentine library he revelled without cessation in the luxury of book-learning. The strength of his memory was remarkable; one day, the Grand Duke sent for him to ask whether he could procure a book that was particularly scarce. "No, sir," answered Magliabechi, "it is impossible; for there is but one in the world, and that is in the Grand Signior's Library at Constantinople, and is the seventh book on the second shelf on the right hand as you go in." In spite of his cobwebs, dirt, and cradle lined with books, Magliabechi reached his 81st year. Hearne has contrived to interweave the following (rather trifling) anecdote of him, in his _Johan. Confrat., &c., de Reb. Glaston_, vol. ii., 486--which I give merely because it is the fashion to covet every thing which appertaineth to Tom Hearne. "I have mentioned the bank where the MSS. (concerning the Epistles of St. Ignatius; Bank LVII.) stands, and the title of the book, because Vossius tells us not in his preface which of the several MSS. in this library he made use of; and to finde it out gave me so much trouble that, if the Grand Duke's library-keeper had not known the book, and searched it for me, I think I should never have met with it, there being not one canon of St. Laurence, not their library-keeper himself, nor, I believe, any other in Florence, except this Sre. MAGLIABECHI, that could direct me to it. The learned Bishop will be pleased to take notice of Sre. Maliabechi's [Transcriber's Note: Magliabechi's] civility; who, besides procuring me the Grand Duke's leave to collate the epistles, attended himself in the library, all the time I was there (the licence being granted by the Grand Duke upon this condition): and since, as a mark of his respect to the reverend bishop, hath been pleased to present him with a book (about the Florentine history) which I have committed to Mr. Ferne, my Lord Lexinton's Gentleman, to be conveyed to his lordship." (Mr. Ledgerd's account of his collations of the Florentine MS. with the edition of Vossius.)----ST. MARK. _Græca D. Marci Bibliotheca Codicum Manuscriptorum Præside Laurentio Theopolo._ Venet. 1740, folio: _Ejusdem Latina et Italica Bibliotheca Codicum Manuscriptorum Præside eodem_, Venet. 1741, folio. These useful and handsomely executed volumes should be found in every extensive philological collection.----MEDICI-LORENZO. _Bibliothecæ Mediceo-Laurentianæ et Palatinæ Codicum Manuscriptorum Orientalium Catalogus digessit S.E. Assemanus._ Florent. 1742, folio. A very valuable and splendid publication; evincing the laudable ambition of the Medici in their encouragement of oriental literature. The editor is commended in the preface of the subsequent catalogue, p. xxxxv.----MEDICI-LORENZO. _Bibliothecæ Hebraico-Grecæ Florentinæ sive Bibliothecæ Mediceo-Laurentianæ Catalogus ab Antonio Maria Biscionio, &c., digestus atque editus_, Florent., 1752, folio, two vols. in one. A grand book; full of curious fac-similes of all sorts of things. It was begun to be printed in 1752, but Biscioni's death, in May, 1756, prevented the completion of the publication 'till May 1757. See præfat., p. xxxxvii--and particularly the colophon.----MEDICI-LORENZO. _Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum, Græcorum, Latinorum, et Italicoram, Bibliothecæ Medicæ Laurentianæ: Angelus Maria Bandinus recensuit, illustravit edidit._ Florent., 1764; 3 vols., 1774; 5 vols., folio. An equally splendid work with the preceding--and much more copious and erudite in regard to intrinsically valuable matter. The indexes are excellent. No extensive philological library should be without these volumes--especially since the name of MEDICI has recently become so popular, from the able biographical memoirs of the family by Mr. Roscoe.----MENARSIANA. _Bibliotheca Menarsiana; ou Catalogue de la Bibliothéque de feu Messire Jean Jaques Charron, Chevalier Marquis de Menars_, &c. A La Haye, 1720, 8vo. A very fine collection of books in all branches of literature. After the "Ordo Venditionis," there is an additional leaf pasted in, signifying that a magnificent copy of Fust's bible of 1462, upon paper, would be sold immediately after the theological MSS. in folio. It brought the sum of 1200 florins. The sale commenced at nine and at two; giving the buyers time to digest their purchases, as well as their dinners, at twelve! "Tempora mutantur!"----MENCKENIUS. _Catalogus Bibliothecæ Menckenianæ ab Ottone et Burchardo collectæ. Editior altera longe emendatior._ Lips., 1727, 8vo. There are some curious and uncommon books in this collection; which evince the taste and judgment of Menckenius, who was a scholar of no mean reputation. Perhaps the word "rare" is too lavishly bestowed upon some of the books described in it.----MEON. _Catalogue des livres précieux singuliéres et rares de la Bibliothèque de M. Meon._ Paris, an. xii. (1804), 8vo. A very choice collection of books; catalogued with considerable care.----MERCIER. _Catalogue de la Bibliothéque de M. Mercier, Abbé de Saint Leger_, par. M. De Bure, 1799, 8vo. If the reader has chanced to cast his eye over the account of the Abbé de St. Leger, at p. 61, ante, he will not hesitate long about procuring a copy of the catalogue of the library of so truly eminent a bibliographer.----MÉRIGOT. _Catalogue des livres de M.J.G. Mérigot, Libraire_, par M. De Bure, 1800, 8vo. It is very seldom that this catalogue appears in our own country: which is the more provoking as the references to it, in foreign bibliographical works, render its possession necessary to the collector. Mérigot was an eminent bookseller, and prepared a good catalogue of M. Lorry's library, which was sold in 1791, 8vo.----ST. MICHAEL. _Bibliotheca Codicum Manuscriptorum Monasterij Sancti Michaelis Venetiarum, una cum appendice librorum impressorum sæculi_ xv. _Opus posthumum Joannis Bened. Mittarelli._ Venet., 1779, folio. It were much to be wished that, after the example of this and other monasteries, all religious houses, which have large libraries attached to them, would publish accounts of their MSS. and printed books. There is no knowing what treasures are hid in them, and of which the literary world must remain ignorant, unless they are thus introduced to general notice. How many curious and amusing anecdotes may be told of precious works being discovered under barbarous titles! Among others, take, gentle reader, the two following ones--relating to books of a very different character. Within a volume, entitled _Secreta Alberti_, were found "_The Fruyte of Redempcyon_," printed by W. De Worde, 1532, 4to.; and a hitherto imperfectly described impression of _The Boke of Fyshinge_, printed by W. De Worde, in 4to., without date; which usually accompanies that fascinating work, ycleped Dame Juliana Barnes's _Boke of Hawkyng, Huntyng, and Cote Armoor_. My friend Mr. J. Haslewood first made me acquainted with this rare treasure--telling me he had "a famous tawny little volume" to shew me: his pulse, at the same time, I ween, beating one hundred and five to the minute! The second anecdote more exactly accords with the nature of my preliminary observations. In one of the libraries abroad, belonging to the Jesuits, there was a volume entitled, on the back of it "_Concilium Tridenti_:" the searching eye and active hands of a well-educated Bibliomaniac discovered and opened this volume--when lo! instead of the _Council of Trent_, appeared the _First_, and almost unknown, _Edition_ of the _Decameron of Boccaccio_! This precious volume is now reposing upon the deserted shelves of the late Duke of Roxburgh's library; and, at the forth-coming sale of the same, it will be most vigorously contended for by all the higher and more knowing powers of the bibliographical world; But when the gods descending swell'd the fight, Then tumult rose; fierce rage and pale affright Varied each face: [_Pope's_] _Homer's Iliad_, b. xx. v. 63. MIRABEAU. _Catalogue de la Bibliotheque de Mirabeau l'aîné, par Rozet_, 1792, 8vo. A fine collection of books; some of them very curious and uncommon. At the head of the choice things contained in it must be noticed the "Recueil de Calques, ou dessins des titres et figure d'un grand nombre des plus anciens ouvrages, gravés en bois, ou imprimés en caractères mobiles, depuis l'origine de l'imprimerie," &c. These designs were 226 in number; of which a description is given at the head of the catalogue. They were purchased for 1105 livres, and again sold, with the same description prefixed, at the last Crevenna sale of 1793 (see p. 79, ante). Consult the _Curiosités Bibliographiques_ of Peignot, p. 139.----MIROMENIL. _Catalogue des Livres de la Bibliothéque de M. Hüe de Miromenil, garde des sceaux de France_, Paris, 1781, 4to. "It appears, from the catalogue of M. de Coste, that this is a rare book, of which only few copies were printed, and those never sold." _Bibliogr. Curieuse_, p. 33.----MONTFAUÇON. _Diarium Italicum; sive Monumentorum Veterum, Bibliothecarum, Musæorum Notitiæ Singulares a D. Bernardo de Montfauçon_, Paris, 1702, 4to. _Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum Manuscriptorum nova, autore De Bern. de Montfauçon_, Paris, 1739, folio, two vols. These are the bibliographical works (which I thought would be acceptable if placed in this list of Catalogues) of the illustrious Montfauçon; whose publications place him on the summit of antiquarian fame. So much solid sense, careful enquiry, curious research, and not despicable taste, mark his voluminous productions! The bibliographer may rest assured that he will not often be led into confusion or error in the perusal of the above curious and valuable volumes, which have always been considered precious by the philologist.----MORELLI. _Jacobi Morellii Bibliothecæ Regiæ divi Marci Venetiarum Custodis, Bibliotheca Manuscripta Græca et Latina._ Tom. prim. Bassani, 8vo. Morelli was the amiable and profoundly learned librarian of St. Mark's at Venice; and this catalogue of his Greek and Latin MSS. is given upon the authority of Peignot's _Curiosités Bibliographiques_, p. lix.----MUSEUM BRITISH. _Catalogus Librorum Manuscript. Bibl. Cotton._, Oxon., 1696, fol. _A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Cottonian Library_, Lond. 1777, 8vo. _A Catalogue of the same_, 1802, fol. _A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts, &c._, Lond., 1759, fol., 2 vols. _A Catalogue of the same_, Lond., 1808, fol., 3 vols. _A Catalogue of the MSS. of the Kings Library, &c._, 1734, 4to. _A Catalogue of the MSS., &c., hitherto undescribed_, Lond., 1782, 4to., two vols. _Catalog. Libror. Impress., &c._, Lond., 1787, folio, 2 vols. These are the published catalogues of the literary treasures, in manuscript and in print, which are contained in the British Museum. The _first Cottonian_ catalogue has a life of Sir Robert Cotton, and an account of his library prefixed to it. The _second_, by Samuel Hooper, was intended "to remedy the many defects" in the preceding catalogue, and "the injudicious manner" in which it was compiled; but it is of itself sufficiently confused and imperfect. The _third_, which is the most copious and valuable, with an index (and which has an abridged account of Sir Robert Cotton, and of his Library), was drawn up by Mr. Planta, the principal librarian of the British Museum. A great part of the first catalogue of the _Harleian MSS._ was compiled by the celebrated Humphrey Wanley, and a most valuable and ably executed publication it is! The _Second_ is executed by the Rev. R. Nares: it contains the preface of the first, with an additional one by himself, and a copious index; rendering this the most complete catalogue of MSS. which has ever yet appeared in our own country; although one regrets that its typographical execution should not have kept pace with its intrinsic utility. The two latter catalogues of MSS. above described give an account of those which were presented by royal munificence, and collected chiefly by Sir Hans Sloane and Dr. Birch. The catalogue of 1734 (which is now rare) was compiled by David Casley: that of 1782, by Samuel Ascough. Of the catalogue of _Printed Books_, it would be unfair to dwell upon its imperfections, since a new, and greatly enlarged and improved, impression of it is about going to press, under the editorial care and inspection of Messrs. H. Ellis and Baber, the gentlemen to whom the printed books are at present intrusted. Mr. Douce, who has succeeded Mr. Nares as head librarian of the MSS., is busily employed in examining the multifarious collection of the _Lansdowne MSS._ (recently purchased by the Trustees of the Museum), and we may hope that the day is not very far distant when the public are to be congratulated on his minute and masterly analysis of these treasures.----PARIS. _Catalogue de la Bibliothéque de M. Paris de Meyzieux_, Paris, 1779, 8vo. _Bibliotheca elegantissima Parisina, par M. Lourent_, 1790, 8vo. _The same_: Lond., 1791, 8vo. Since the days of Gaignat and the Duke de la Valliere, the longing eyes of bibliographers were never blessed with a sight of more splendid and choice books than were those in the possession of M. PARIS DE MEYZIEUX. The Spira Virgil of 1470, UPON VELLUM, will alone confer celebrity upon the _first_ catalogue--but what shall we say to the _second_? It consists of only 635 articles, and yet, as is well observed in the preface, it was never equalled for the like number. Happy is that noviciate in bibliography who can forget the tedium of a rainy day in sitting by the side of a log-wood fire, and in regaling his luxurious fancy, by perusing the account of "fine, magnificent, matchless, large paper," and "vellum" copies which are thickly studded from one end of this volume to the other. Happier far the veteran, who can remember how he braved the _perils of the sale_, in encountering the noble and heavy metalled competitors who flocked, from all parts of the realm, to partake of these _Parisian_ spoils! Such a one casts an eye upon his well-loaded shelves, and while he sees here and there a yellow morocco Aldus, or a Russian leather Froben, he remembers how bravely he fought for each, and with what success his exertions were crowned! For my own part, gentle reader, I frankly assure thee that--after having seen the "HEURES DE NOTRE DAME," written by the famous Jarry, and decorated with SEVEN small exquisite paintings of the Virgin and Christ--and the _Aldine Petrarch_ and _Virgil_ of 1501, all of them executed upon SNOW-WHITE VELLUM--after having seen only these books out of the Paris collection, I hope to descend to my obscure grave in perfect peace and satisfaction! The reader may smile; but let him turn to nos. 14, 201, 328, of the _Bibl. Paris_: no. 318 of the _Cat. de la Valliere_; and _Curiositès Bibliographiques_, p. 67. This strain of "ètourderie bibliographique," ought not to make me forget to observe that we are indebted to the enterprising spirit and correct taste of Mr. Edwards for these, as well as for many other, beautiful books imported from the Continent. Nor is it yet forgotten that some thorough-bred bibliomaniacs, in their way to the sale, used to call for a glass of ice, to allay the contagious inflammation which might rage in the auction-room. And now take we leave of Monsieur Paris de Meyzieux. Peace to the ashes of so renowned a book-chevalier.----PETAU ET MANSART. _Bibliotheca Potavina et Mansartiana; ou Catalogue des Bibliothéques de Messrs. Alexander Petau, et François Mansart; auxquells on a ajouté le Cabinet des MSS. de Justus Lipsius._ Haye, 1722, 8vo. A catalogue not very common, and well worth the bibliographer's consultation.----PINELLI. _Bibliotheca Maphæi Pinelli Veneti, &c. A Jacobo Morellio._ Venetiis, 1787, 6 vols., 8vo. _Bibliotheca Pinelliana: a catalogue of the magnificent and celebrated library of Maffæi Pinelli, late of Venice_, &c., London, 1789, 8vo. There can be no question about the priority, in point both of typographical beauty and intrinsic excellence, of these catalogues; the latter being only a common sale one, with the abridgment of the learned preface of Morelli, and of his bibliographical notices. This immense collection (of the ancient owners of which we have a short sketch in Morhof, vol. i., pp. 28, 202) was purchased by Messrs. Edwards and Robson: the Greek and Latin books were sold for 6786_l._, the Italian, for 2570_l._--which barely repaid the expenses of purchase, including duties, carriage, and sale. Although, as Dr. Harwood has observed, "there being no dust in Venice, this most magnificent library has in general lain reposited for some centuries, in excellent preservation,"--yet the copies were not, upon the whole, in the choicest condition. There are copies of the catalogue of 1789 upon LARGE PAPER. The catalogue of 1787 (with an elegant portrait of Pinelli prefixed) has, at first sight, the aspect of a work printed in small quarto.----POMPADOUR. _Catalogue des Livres de la Bibliothéque de feue Madame La Marquise de Pompadour, Dame du Palais de la Reine_, Paris, 1765, 8vo. The name of Madame de Pompadour will be always respected by bibliographers, on account of the taste and judgment which are displayed in this elegant collection. The old popular romances form the leading feature; but there is an ample sprinkling of the belles-lettres and poetry. An animated eulogium is pronounced upon Mad. de Pompadour by Jardé, in his "Précis sur les Bibliothéques;" prefixed to the last edition of Fournier's _Dictionnaire Portatif de Bibliographie_, p. vij.----PRÉFOND. _Catalogue des Livres du Cabinet de M.D.P. (Girardot de Préfond) Par Guillaume F. De Bure_, Paris, 1757, 8vo. An excellent collection; not wanting in rare and magnificent productions. The owner of it was distinguished for many solid, as well as splendid, qualifications. Only six copies of it were printed upon LARGE PAPER. See _Cat. de Gaignat_, vol. ii., no. 3467.----RANDON DE BOISSET. _Catalogue des livres du cabinet de feu M. Randon du Boisset. Par Guil. de Bure, fils aîné_, Paris, 1777, 12mo. Although the generality of catalogue collectors will be satisfied with the usual copy of this well-digested volume, yet I apprehend the curious will not put up with any thing short of a copy of it upon strong WRITING PAPER. Such a one was in the Gouttard collection. See _Cat. de Gouttard_, no. 1546.----_Reimannus._ _J.F. Reimanni Catalogus Bibliothecæ Theologicæ Systematico-Criticus._ Hildes. 1731, 8vo., two vols. _Ejusdem accessiones uberiores ad Catalogum Systematico-Criticum, editæ a Jo. W. Reimannus_, Brunsv., 1747, 8vo. I have before given the character of this work in the introductory part of my "Knowledge of the Greek and Latin Classics." Every thing commendatory of it may be here repeated.----RENATI. _Bibliothecæ Josephi Renati Imperialis, &c., Cardinalis Catalogus, &c._ Romæ, 1711, fol. This excellent catalogue, which cost the compiler of it, Fontanini, nine years of hard labour, is a most useful and valuable one; serving as a model for catalogues of large libraries. See the more minute criticism upon it in _Cat. de Santander_, no. 6315. My copy, which wants the title-page, but luckily contains the Latin preface, was formerly Ruddiman's. The volume has 738 pages: this is noticed because all the appendixes and addenda are comprehended in the same.----REVICKZKY. _Bibliotheca Græca et Latina, complectens auctores fere omnes Græcia et Latii veteris, &c., cum delectu editionum tam primariarum, &c., quam etiam optimarum, splendidissimarum, &c., quas usui meo paravi._ PERIERGUS DELTOPHILUS (the feigned name for REVICKZKY), Berolini, 1784: 1794, 8vo. It was the delight of Count Revickzky, the original owner of this collection, to devote his time and attention to the acquisition of scarce, beautiful, and valuable books; and he obtained such fame in this department of literature as to cause him to be ranked with the Vallieres, Pinellis, and Loménies of the day. He compiled, and privately disposed of, the catalogue of his collection, which bears the above title; and to some few of which are prefixed a letter to M. L' A.D. [enini] (Member of the French Academy) and a preface. _Three Supplements_ to this catalogue were also, from time to time, circulated by him; so that the purchaser must look sharply after these acquisitions to his copy--as some one or the other of them are generally missing. Peignot supposes there are only _two_ supplements. _Bibl. Curieuse_, p. 58. When Count Revickzky came over to England, he made an offer to Earl Spencer to dispose of the whole collection to his lordship, for a certain "round sum" to be paid immediately into his hands, and to receive, in addition, a yearly sum by way of annuity. So speaks fame. Shortly after this contract was closed, the Count died; and Earl Spencer, in consequence, for a comparatively small sum (the result of an immediate and generous compliance with the Count's wishes!), came into the possession of a library which, united with his previous magnificent collection, and the successful ardour with which he has since continued the pursuit, places him quite at the head of all the collectors in Europe--for early, rare, precious, and beautiful, books. Long may he possess such treasures!--and fleeing from the turbulence of politics, and secluded as he is, both in the metropolis and at Althorp, from the stunning noise of a city, may he always exclaim, with Horace, as the Count did before him-- Sit mihi, quod nunc est, etiam minus; ut mihi vivam Quod superest ævi, si quid superesse volunt Dí. Sit bona librorum et provisæ frugis in annum Copia, ne fluitem dubiæ spe pendulus horæ. _Epist. Lib._ i.: _Epist._ xviii. v., 107. Sir M.M. Sykes, Bart., has a copy of the edition of 1784 [which is in every respect the better one], printed upon FINE VELLUM PAPER. A similar copy of the edition of 1794 is noticed in the _Cat. de Caillard_,(1808) no. 2572. At the sale of M. Meon's books, in 1804, a copy of the first edition, charged with MS. notes of the celebrated Mercier St. Leger, was sold for 30 livres.----RIVE. _Catalogue de la Bibliothéque de l'Abbé Rive, par Archard_, Marseille, 1793, 8vo. A catalogue of the books of so sharp-sighted a bibliographer as was the Abbé Rive cannot fail to be interesting to the collector.----DU ROI [Louis XV.] _Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Bibliothecæ Regiæ (studio et labore Anicetti Mellot). Paris, e Typog. Reg._, 1739, folio, four vols.----DU ROI. _Des Livres imprimés de la même Bibliothéque Royale. (Disposè par Messrs. les Abbés Sallier et Boudot, &c.) Paris, De L'Imprim. Royale_, 1739-53, folio, six vols. The most beautiful and carefully executed catalogue in the world: reflecting a truly solid lustre upon the literary reputation of France! The first four volumes, written in Latin, comprehend an account of MSS.: the six last, written in French, of printed works in THEOLOGY, JURISPRUDENCE, and BELLES-LETTRES; the departments of HISTORY and the ARTS AND SCIENCES still remaining to be executed. De Bure told us, half a century ago, that the "Gens de Lettres" were working hard at the completion of it; but the then complaints of bibliographers at its imperfect state are even yet continued in Fournier's last edition of his _Dictionnaire Portatif de Bibliographie_, p. 468. So easy it is to talk; so difficult to execute! I believe, however, that M. Van-Praet, one of the principal librarians, is now putting all engines to work to do away the further disgrace of such unaccountably protracted negligence. My copy of this magnificent set of books is bound in red Morocco, gilt leaves, and was a presentation one from the King "au Comte de Neny, comme une marque de son estime, 1770." I should add that the first volume of "Theology" contains a history of the rise and progress of the royal library, which was reprinted in 8vo., 1782.----DU ROI. _Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits de la Bibliothéque du Roi, Paris. De l'Imprim. Roy._ 1787, 4to., seven vols. It will be obvious to the candid reader that this work could not be better introduced than in the present place; and a most interesting and valuable one it is! My copy of it, which is only in six volumes [but a seventh is mentioned in _Cat. de Boutourlin_, no. 3845, and in Caillot's _Roman Bibliographique_, p. 195], was purchased by me of Mr. Evans of Pall-Mall, who had shewn it to several lovers of bibliography, but none of whom had courage or curiosity enough to become master of the volumes. How I have profited by them, the Supplement to my first volume of the "Typographical Antiquities of Great Britain," may in part shew. The public shall be made acquainted with still more curious excerpts. In my humble judgment the present work is a model of extraction of the marrow of old MSS. It may be worth adding, the plates in the sixth volume are singular, curious and beautiful.----DU ROI. _Accounts and Extracts of the Manuscripts in the Library of the King of France. Translated from the French_, London, 1789, 8vo., two vols. "The French Monarch [Louis XVI.], in the publication now before us, has set an example to all Europe, well worthy to be followed"--says the opening of the translator's preface. The present volumes contain a translation of only twenty-two articles from the preceding work; and very strongly may they be recommended to the curious philologist, as well as to the thorough-bred bibliomaniac.----RÖVER. _Bibliotheca Röveriana, sive Catalogus Librorum qui studiis inservierunt Matthiæ Röveri._ Lug. Bat. 1806, 8vo., _two parts_. From the elegant and pleasing Latin preface to this most carefully compiled catalogue, we learn that the owner of the books lived to his 82d year--and [what must be a peculiar gratification to Bibliomaniacs] that he beat Pomponius Atticus in the length of time during which he never had occasion to take physic; namely, 50 years! Röver's life seemed to glide away in rational tranquillity, and in total seclusion from the world; except that he professed and always shewed the greatest kindness to his numerous, and many of them helpless, relatives--"vix in publicum prodiit, nisi cultus Divini externi aut propinquorum caussâ," p. xv. His piety was unshaken. Like the venerable Jacob Bryant, his death was hastened in consequence of a contusion in his leg from a fall in endeavouring to reach a book.----ROTHELIN. _Catalogue des livres de feu M'L. Abbé D'Orleans de Rothelin. Par G. Martin_, Paris, 1746, 8vo. This catalogue of the library of the amiable and learned Abbé Rothelin, "known (says Camus) for his fine taste for beautiful books," is judiciously drawn up by Martin, who was the De Bure of his day. A portrait of its owner faces the title-page. It was the Abbé Rothelin who presented De Boze with the celebrated '_Guirlande de Julie_'--a work which afterwards came into the Valliere collection, and was sold for 14,510 livres,--"the highest price (says Peignot) ever given for a modern book." Consult his _Curiosités Bibliographiques_, pp. 62, 67; and _Bibl. Curieuse_, p. 61.----SARRAZ. _Bibliotheca Sarraziana._ Hag. Com., 1715, 8vo. This catalogue, which is frequently referred to by bibliographers, should not escape the collector when he can obtain it for a few shillings. A tolerably good preface or diatribe is prefixed, upon the causes of the rarity of Books, but the volume itself is not deserving of all the fine things in commendation of it which are said in the _Bibl. Reiman_, pt. ii., p. 671, &c.----SARTORI. _Catalogus Bibliographicus Librorum Latinorum et Germanicorum in Bibliotheca Cæsar. reg. et equestris Academiæ Theresianæ extantium, cum accessionibus originum typographicarum. Vindobonensium, et duobus supplementis necnon, indice triplici, systematico, bibliographico, et typographico; auctore Josepho de Sartori._ Vindobonæ, 1801-3, 4to. Vol. i., ii., iii. Of this very curious and greatly-to-be-desired catalogue, which is to be completed in eight volumes, it is said that only ONE HUNDRED copies are struck off. Peignot has a long and interesting notice of it in his _Bibliographie Curieuse_, p. 64.----SCHALBRUCK. _Bibliotheca Schalbruchiana; sive Catalogus exquisitissimorum rarissimorumque librorum, quos collegit Joh. Theod. Schalbruch._ Amst. 1723, 8vo. A very fine collection of rare and curious books. From a priced copy of the catalogue, accidentally seen, I find that some of them produced rather large sums.----SCHWARTZ. _Catalogus Librorum continens codd. MSS. et libros sæculo_ xv. _impressos, quos possedit et notis recensuit A.G. Schwarzius_, Altorf. 1769, 8vo. The name of Schwartz is so respectable in the annals of bibliography that one cannot help giving the present catalogue a place in one's collection. According to _Bibl. Solger._, vol. iii., no. 1459, a first part (there said to be printed upon LARGE PAPER) was published in 1753. Schwartz's treatise, "_De Orig. Typog. Document. Primar._" Altorf, 1740, 4to., should have been noticed at p. 41, ante.----SCRIVERIUS. _Bibliothecæ Scriverianæ Catalogus_, Amst., 1663, 4to.--"exquisitissimus est: constat enim selectissimus omnium facultatum et artium autoribus." This is the strong recommendatory language of Morhof: _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., 212.----SERNA SANTANDER. _Catalogue des livres de la Bibliothéque de M.C. De La Serna Santander; redigé et mis en ordre par lui même; avec des notes bibliographiques et littèraires_, &c. Bruxelles, 1803, 8vo., five volumes. An extensive collection of interesting works; with a sufficiently copious index at the end of the fourth volume. The fifth volume contains a curious disquisition upon the antiquity of signatures, catchwords, and numerals; and is enriched with a number of plates of watermarks of the paper in ancient books. This catalogue, which is rarely seen in our own country, is well worth a place in any library. It is a pity the typographical execution of it is so very indifferent. For the credit of a bibliographical taste, I hope there were a few copies struck off upon LARGE PAPER.----SION COLLEGE. _Catalogus universalis librorum omnium in Bibliotheca Collegii Sionii apud Londinenses_; Londini, 1650, 4to. _Ejusdem Collegii librorum Catalogus, &c., Cura Reading_, Lond., 1724, fol. As the first of these catalogues (of a collection which contains some very curious and generally unknown volumes) was published before the great fire of London happened, there will be found some books in it which were afterwards consumed, and therefore not described in the subsequent impression of 1724. This latter, which Tom Osborne, the bookseller, would have called a "pompous volume," is absolutely requisite to the bibliographer: but both impressions should be procured, if possible. The folio edition is common and cheap.----SMITH [CONSUL]. _Bibliotheca Smithiana, seu Catalogus Librorum D.J. Smithii Angli, per cognomina Authorum dispositus._ Venetiis, 1755, 4to. _A Catalogue of the curious, elegant, and very valuable library of Joseph Smith, Esq., His Britannic Majesty's Consul at Venice, lately deceased_, 1773, 8vo. These are the catalogues of the collections of books occasionally formed at Venice, by Mr. Joseph Smith, during his consulship there. The quarto impression contains a description of the books which were purchased "en masse" by his present majesty. It is singularly well executed by Paschali, comprehending, by way of an appendix, the prefaces to those volumes in the collection which were printed in the fifteenth century. I possess a brochûre of 71 pages, containing a catalogue of books printed in the fifteenth century, which has Consul Smith's arms at the beginning, and, at the end, this subscription, "Pretiosissima hæc librorum collectio, cujusvis magni principis Bibliotheca dignissima, constat voluminibus ccxlviii." The title-page has no date. I suspect it to be the same catalogue of books which is noticed at p. 77, ante, and which probably the Consul bought: forming the greater part of his own library of early printed books. See too the _Bibliogr. Miscellany_, vol. ii., 72. The collection of 1773 was sold by auction, for Mr. Robson, by Messrs. Baker and Leigh--and a fine one it was. Among these books, the Spira Virgil of 1470, printed UPON VELLUM, was purchased for _only twenty-five guineas_! Excidat ille dies ævo--ne postera credant Sæcula--! ----SOLGER. _Bibliotheca sive Supellex Librorum Impressorum, &c., et Codicum Manuscriptorum, quos per plurimos annos collegit, &c., Adamus Rudolphus Solger._ Norimb., 1760, 8vo., three parts or vols. I should almost call this publication "facile princeps Catalogorum"--in its way. The bibliographical notices are frequent and full; and saving that the words "rarus, rarior, et rarissimus," are sometimes too profusely bestowed, nothing seems to be wanting to render this a very first rate acquisition to the collector's library. I am indebted to the bibliomanical spirit of honest Mr. Manson, of Gerard-street, the bookseller, for this really useful publication.----SOUBISE. _Catalogue des livres imprimés et manuscrits, &c., de feu Monseigneur Le Prince de Soubise (par feu Le Clerc)_, Paris, 1788, 8vo. A short history of this collection will be the best inducement to purchase the present catalogue, whenever it comes in the way of the collector. The foundation of this splendid library was that of the famous De Thou's [vide Art. THUANUS, post], which was purchased by the Cardinal de Rohan, who added it to his own grand collection--"the fruit of a fine taste and a fine fortune." It continued to be augmented and enriched 'till, and after, it came into the possession of the PRINCE DE SOUBISE--the last nobleman of his name--who dying in January, 1789, the entire collection was dispersed by public auction: after it had been offered for the purchase of one or two eminent London booksellers, who have repented, and will repent to their dying day, their declining the offer. This catalogue is most unostentatiously executed upon very indifferent paper; and, while an excellent index enables us to discover any work of which we may be in want, the beautiful copies from this collection which are in the Cracherode library in the British Museum, give unquestionable proof of the splendour of the books. For the credit of French bibliography, I hope there are some few copies upon LARGE PAPER.----TELLIER. _Bibliotheca Tellereana, sive Catalogus Librorum Bibliotheca Caroli Mauritii Le Tellier, Archiepiscopi Ducis Remensis. Parisiis, e Typographia Regia_, 1693, fol. A finely engraved portrait of Tellier faces the title-page. This is a handsome volume, containing a numerous and well-chosen collection of books.----THUANUS. [DE THOU] _Bibliothecæ Thuanæ Catalogus_, Parisiis, 1679, 8vo. "Three particular reasons," says Baillet, "should induce us to get possession of this catalogue; first, the immortal glory acquired by De Thou in writing his history, and in forming the most perfect and select library of his age: and secondly, the abundance and excellence of the books herein specified; and, thirdly, the great credit of the bibliographers Du Puys and Quesnel, by whom the catalogue was compiled." _Jugemens des Savans_, vol. ii., p. 144, &c. Morhof is equally lavish in commendation of this collection. See his _Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., 36, 211. The Books of De Thou, whose fame will live as long as a book shall be read, were generally in beautiful condition, with his arms stamped upon the exterior of the binding, which was usually of Morocco; and, from some bibliographical work (I think it is Santander's catalogue), I learn that this binding cost the worthy president not less than 20,000 crowns. De Thou's copy of the editio princeps of Homer is now in the British Museum; having been presented to this national institution by the Rev. Dr. Cyril Jackson, who has lately resigned the deanery of Christ Church College, Oxford,--"and who is now wisely gone to enjoy the evening of life in repose, sweetened by the remembrance of having spent the day in useful and strenuous exertion." For an account of the posterior fate of De Thou's library, consult the article "SOUBISE," ante. I should add that, according to the _Bibl. Solgeriana_, vol. iii., p. 243, no. 1431, there are copies of this catalogue upon LARGE PAPER.----UFFENBACH. _Catalogus universalis Bibliothecæ Uffenbachinæ librorum tam typis quam manu exaratorum._ Francof. ad Moen, 1729, 8vo., 4 vols. This catalogue is no mean acquisition to the bibliographer's library. It rarely occurs in a perfect and clean condition.----VALLIERE (DUC DE LA). _Catalogue des Livres provenans de la Bibliothéque de M.L.D.D.L.V._, (M. le Duc de la Valliere) _disposé et mis en ordre par Guill. Franc. De Bure le Jeune._ Paris, 1767, 8vo., 2 vols.--_Des Livres de la même Bibliothéque._ Paris, 1772, 8vo.--_Des Livres et Manuscrits de la même Bibliothéque_, Paris, 1783, 8vo., 3 vols.--_Des Livres de la même Bibliothéque_, Paris, 1783, 6 vols. 8vo. These twelve volumes of catalogues of this nobleman's library impress us with a grand notion of its extent and value--perhaps never exceeded by that of any private collection! It would seem that the Duke de la Valliere had two sales of part of his books (of which the two first catalogues are notifications) during his life-time: the two latter catalogues of sales having been put forth after his decease. Of these latter (for the former contain nothing remarkable in them, except that there are copies of the first on LARGE PAPER, in 4to.), the impression of 1783, which was compiled by Van Praet and De Bure, is the most distinguished for its notices of MSS. and early printed books: and in these departments it is truly precious, being enriched with some of the choicest books in the Gaignat Collection. Those printed UPON VELLUM alone would form a little library! Of the impression of 1783, which has a portrait of the owner prefixed, there were fifty copies printed upon LARGE PAPER, in 4to., to harmonize with the _Bibliographie Instructive_, and _Gaignat's Catalogue_. See _Bibliographical Miscell._, vol. ii., 66. Twelve copies were also printed in royal 8vo., upon fine stout VELLUM PAPER; of which the Rt. Hon. T. Grenville has a beautiful uncut copy in six volumes. See also _Cat. de Loménie_ [1797], no. 2666. The last publication of 1788 was put forth by Nyon l'aîné; and although the bibliographical observations are but few in comparison with those in the preceding catalogue, and no index is subjoined, yet it is most carefully executed; and presents us with such a copious collection of French topography, and old French and Italian poetry and romances, as never has been, and perhaps never will be, equalled. It contains 26,537 articles. The Count D'Artois purchased this collection "en masse;" and it is now deposited in the "bibliothéque de l'Arsenal." See _Dictionn. Bibliographique_, vol. iv., p. 133. It was once offered for purchase to a gentleman of this country--highly distinguished for his love of Virtû. Mr. Grenville has also a similar large paper copy of this latter edition, of the date of 1784.----VIENNA. _Codices Manuscripti Theologici. Bibl. Palat. Vindob. Latini aliarumque Occidentis Linguarum_, vol. i. (in tribus partibus.) _Recens._, &c., _Michael Denis._ Vindob. 1793, folio. Some mention of this work has been made at page 65, ante. It may be here necessary to remark that, from the preface, it would appear to contain a ninth additional book to Lambecius's well-known Commentaries (vide, p. 41, ante) which Kollarius had left unpublished at his death. The preface is well worth perusal, as it evinces the great pains which Denis has taken; and the noble, if not matchless, munificence of his patron--"qui præter augustam Bibliothecæ fabricam in ipsos libros centenis plura Rhenensium expendit millia."--This catalogue is confined to a description of Latin, with some few notices of Oriental Manuscripts; as the preceding work of Lambecius and Kollarius contained an account of the Greek MSS. These three parts, forming one volume, are closed by an excellent index. The second volume was published in 1801. Upon the whole, it is a noble and highly useful publication; and places its author in the foremost rank of bibliographers.----VOLPI. _Catalogo della Libreria de Volpi_, &c. _Opera di Don Gaetano Volpi._ Padova, 1756, 8vo. The Crevenna library was enriched with a great number of valuable books which came from the library of the celebrated Vulpii; of which the present is a well-arranged and uncommon catalogue. Annexed to it there is an account of the press of the Comini, which belonged to the owners of this collection. The reader may consult _Bibl. Crevenn._, vol. v., pp. 302-3; and Dr. Clarke's _Bibliogr. Miscell._, vol. ii., 72.----VOYAGE _de deux Français dans le nord de l'Europe, en 1790-92, (par M. de Fortia)_ Paris, 1796, 8vo., 5 vols. That the collector of catalogues may not scold me for this apparent deviation from the subject discussed in this note, I must inform him, upon the authority of Peignot, that these interesting volumes contain "some account of the most beautiful and curious books contained in the Libraries of the North, and in those of Italy, Spain, Holland, &c." _Curiosités Bibliographiques_, p. lviii.----DE WITT. _Catalogus Bibliothecæ Joannis De Witt_, Dordraci, 1701, 12mo. The preface to this catalogue, (from which an extract was given in the _first_ edition of my "_Introduction to the Editions of the Greek and Latin Classics_," 1802, 8vo.,) gives us a pleasing account of an ardent and elegant young man in the pursuit of every thing connected with Virtû. De Witt seems to have been, in books and statues, &c., what his great ancestor was in politics--"paucis comparandus." A catalogue of the library of a collector of the same name was published at Brussels, in 1752, by De Vos. See _Cat. de Santander_, vol. iv., no. 6334.----ZURICH. _Catalogus librorum Bibliothecæ Tigurinæ._ Tiguri, 1744, 8vo., 4 vols. Although the last, this is not the most despicable, catalogue of collections here enumerated. A reading man, who happens to winter in Switzerland, may know, upon throwing his eyes over this catalogue, that he can have access to good books at Zurich--the native place of many an illustrious author! The following, which had escaped me, may probably be thought worthy of forming an APPENDIX TO THE PRECEDING NOTE. BERN. _Cat. Codd. MSS. Bibl. Bernensis. Cum annotationibus, &c. Curante Sinner._ Bernæ, 1760, 8vo. A very curious and elegantly printed Catalogue with three plates of fac-similes.----PARKER [ABP.] _Catalog. Libror. MSS. in Bibl. Coll. Corporis Christi in Cantab., quos legavit M. Parkerus Archiepiscop. Cant._ Lond., 1722, fol.; _Eorundem Libror. MSS. Catalogus. Edidit J. Nasmith._ Cantab., 1777, 4to. Of these catalogues of the curious and valuable MSS. which were bequeathed to Corpus College (or Bennet College, as it is sometimes called) by the immortal Archbishop Parker, the first is the more elegantly printed, but the latter is the more copious and correct impression. My copy of it has a fac-simile etching prefixed, by Tyson, of the rare print of the Archbishop, which will be noticed in PART V., post.----ROYAL INSTITUTION. _A Catalogue of the Library of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, &c. By William Harris, Keeper of the Library._ Lond., 1809, 8vo. If a lucid order, minute and correct description of the volumes of an admirably chosen library, accompanied with a copious and faithful alphabetical index, be recommendations with the bibliographer, the present volume will not be found wanting upon his shelf. It is the most useful book of its kind ever published in this country. Let the bibliomaniac hasten to seize one of the five remaining copies only (out of the _fifty_ which were printed) upon LARGE PAPER!----WOOD (ANTHONY). _A Catalogue of Antony-a-Wood's Manuscripts in the Ashmolean Museum; by W. Huddesford_, Oxon, 1761, 8vo. The very name of _old Anthony_ (as it delights some facetious book-collectors yet to call him!) will secure respect for this volume. It is not of common occurrence.] [Footnote C: In Part VI. of this work will be found a List of Books printed here. The armorial bearings of Lord Orford are placed at p. 100.] LIS. You have so thoroughly animated my feelings, and excited my curiosity, in regard to BIBLIOGRAPHY, that I can no longer dissemble the eagerness which I feel to make myself master of the several books which you have recommended. LYSAND. Alas, your zeal will most egregiously deceive you! _Where_ will you look for such books? At what bookseller's shop, or at what auction, are they to be procured? In this country, my friend, few are the private collections, however choice, which contain two third parts of the excellent works before mentioned. Patience, vigilance, and personal activity, are your best friends in such a dilemma. LIS. But I will no longer attend the sale of Malvolio's busts and statues, and gaudy books. I will fly to the Strand, or King-street: peradventure-- PHIL. Gently, my good Lisardo. A breast thus suddenly changed from the cold of Nova Zembla to the warmth of the torrid zone requires to be ruled with discretion. And yet, luckily for you-- LIS. Speak--are you about to announce the sale of some bibliographical works? PHIL. Even so. To morrow, if I mistake not, GONZALVO'S choice gems, in this way, are to be disposed of. LIS. Consider them as my own. Nothing shall stay me from the possession of them. LYSAND. You speak precipitately. Are you accustomed to attend book-auctions? LIS. No; but I will line my pockets with pistoles, and who dare oppose me? PHIL. And do you imagine that no one, but yourself, has his pockets "lined with pistoles," on these occasions? LIS. It may be so--that other linings are much warmer than my own:--but, at any rate, I will make a glorious struggle, and die with my sword in my hand. PHIL. This is _Book-Madness_ with a vengeance! However, we shall see the issue. When and how do you propose going? LIS. A chaise shall be at this door by nine in the morning. Who will accompany me? LYSAND. Our friend and Philemon will prevent your becoming absolutely raving, by joining you. I shall be curious to know the result. LIS. Never fear. _Bibliomania_ is, of all species of insanity, the most rational and praise-worthy. I here solemnly renounce my former opinions, and wish my errors to be forgotten. I here crave pardon of the disturbed manes of the Martins, De Bures, and Patersons, for that flagitious act of _Catalogue-Burning_; and fondly hope that the unsuspecting age of boyhood will atone for so rash a deed. Do you frankly forgive--and will you henceforth consider me as a worth [Transcriber's Note: worthy] "_Aspirant_" in the noble cause of bibliography? LYSAND. Most cordially do I forgive you; and freely admit you into the fraternity of Bibliomaniacs. Philemon, I trust, will be equally merciful. PHIL. Assuredly, Lisardo, you have my entire forgiveness: and I exult a little in the hope that you will prove yourself to be a sincere convert to the cause, by losing no opportunity of enriching your bibliographical stores. Already I see you mounted, as a book chevalier, and hurrying from the country to London--from London again to the country--seeking adventures in which your prowess may be displayed--and yielding to no competitor who brandishes a lance of equal weight with your own! LIS. 'Tis well. At to-morrow's dawn my esquire shall begin to burnish up my armour--and caparison my courser. Till then adieu! * * * * * Here the conversation, in a connected form, ceased; and it was resolved that Philemon and myself should accompany Lisardo on the morrow. [Illustration] [Illustration: FARI QUÆ SENTIAT] PART III. =The Auction Room.= CHARACTER OF ORLANDO. OF ANCIENT PRICES OF BOOKS, AND BOOK-BINDING. BOOK-AUCTION BIBLIOMANIACS. "As to the late method used in selling books by AUCTION in London, I suppose that many have paid dear for their experience in this way--it being apparent that most books bought in an auction may be had cheaper in booksellers' shops." CLAVEL: _Cat. of Books for 1680, Pref._ [Illustration] [Illustration] =The Auction Room.= CHARACTER OF ORLANDO. OF ANCIENT PRICES OF BOOKS, AND BOOK-BINDING. BOOK AUCTION BIBLIOMANIACS. Never, surely, did two mortals set off upon any expedition with greater glee and alacrity than did Lisardo and Philemon for the sale, by auction, of GONZALVO'S bibliographical library. The great pains which Lysander had taken in enumerating the various foreign and domestic writers upon Bibliography, with his occasionally animated eulogies upon some favourite author had quite inflamed the sanguine mind of Lisardo; who had already, in anticipation, fancied himself in possession of every book which he had heard described. Like Homer's high-bred courser, who --ere he starts, a thousand steps are lost-- our young bibliomaniac began to count up his volumes, arrange his shelves, bespeak his binder, and revel in the luxury of a splendid and nearly matchless collection. The distance from my house to the scene of action being thirteen miles, Lisardo, during the first six, had pretty nearly exhausted himself in describing the delightful pictures which his ardent fancy had formed; and finding the conversation beginning to flag, Philemon, with his usual good-nature and judgment, promised to make a pleasing digression from the dry subject of book-catalogues, by an episode with which the reader shall be presently gratified. Having promised to assist them both, when we arrived at Messrs. L. and S., in the Strand, with some information relating to the prices of such books as they stood in need of, and to the various book-collectors who attended public sales, Lisardo expressed himself highly obliged by the promise; and, sinking quietly into a corner of the chaise, he declared that he was now in a most apt mood to listen attentively to Philemon's digressive chat: who accordingly thus began. "Lord Coke,"--exclaimed PHILEMON, in a mirthful strain--"before he ventured upon '_The Jurisdiction of the Courts of the Forest_,' wished to 'recreate himself' with Virgil's description of 'Dido's Doe of the Forest;'[163] in order that he might 'proceed the more cheerfully' with the task he had undertaken; and thus exchange somewhat of the precise and technical language of the lawyer for that glowing tone of description which woodland scenes and hunting gaieties seldom fail to produce. Even so, my good friends (pursued Philemon), I shall make a little digression from the confined subject to which our attentions have been so long directed by taking you with me, in imagination, to the delightful abode of ORLANDO." [Footnote 163: The quaint language of Lord Coke is well worth quotation: "And seeing we are to treat of matters of game, and hunting, let us (to the end we may proceed the more chearfully) recreate ourselves with the excellent description of Dido's Doe of the Forest wounded with a deadly arrow sticken in her, and not impertinent to our purpose: Uritur infælix Dido, totaque vagatur Urbe furens, &c. And in another place, using again the word (Sylva) and describing a forest saith: Ibat in antiquam sylvam stabula alta ferarum." _Institutes_, pt. iv., p. 289, ed. 1669. Thus pleasantly could our sage expounder of the laws of the realm illustrate the dry subject of which he treated!] LIS. I have heard of him: a very "_Helluo Librorum_!" Thus we only change sides--from things to men; from books to book-collectors. Is this digressive? Is this an episode? PHIL. Why this abrupt interruption? If I did not know you and myself, too, Lisardo, I should observe an obstinate silence during the remainder of the journey. An episode, though it suspend the main action for a while, partakes of the nature of the subject of the work. It is an _appropriate_ digression. Do pray read Dr. Blair[164] upon the subject--and now only listen. [Footnote 164: _Lecture_ XLII., vol. iii.] Orlando (continued Philemon) had from his boyhood loved books and book-reading. His fortune was rather limited; but he made shift--after bringing up three children, whom he lost from the ages of nineteen to twenty-four, and which have been recently followed to their graves by the mother that gave them birth--he made shift, notwithstanding the expenses of their college education, and keeping up the reputation of a truly hospitable table, to collect, from year to year, a certain number of volumes, according to a certain sum of money appropriated for the purchase of them; generally making himself master of the principal contents of the first year's purchase, before the ensuing one was placed upon his shelves. He lives in a large ancestral house; and his library is most advantageously situated and delightfully fitted up. Disliking such a wintry residence as Thomson has described[165]--although fond of solemn retirement, and of Cowper's "boundless contiguity of shade,"--he has suffered the rules of common sense always to mingle themselves in his plans of domestic comfort; and, from the bow-windowed extremity of his library, he sees realized, at the distance of four hundred yards, Cæsar's gently-flowing river _Arar_,[166] in a stream which loses itself behind some low shrubs; above which is a softly-undulating hill, covered with hazel, and birch, and oak. To the left is an open country, intersected with meadows and corn fields, and terminated by the blue mountains of Malvern at the distance of thirteen miles. Yet more to the left, but within one hundred and fifty yards of the house, and forming something of a foreground to the landscape, are a few large and lofty elm trees, under which many a swain has rested from his toil; many a tender vow has been breathed; many a sabbath-afternoon[167] innocently kept; and many a village-wake cordially celebrated! Some of these things yet bless the aged eyes of ORLANDO! [Footnote 165: "In the wild depth of Winter, while without The ceaseless winds blow ice, be my retreat Between the groaning forest and the shore, Beat by the boundless multitude of waves, A rural, sheltered, solitary scene!"---- _Winter._ One would like a situation somewhat more _sheltered_, when "The ceaseless winds blow ice!"] [Footnote 166: "Flumen est _Arar_, quod per fines Æduorum et Sequanorum in Rhodanum fluit, incredibili lenitate, ita ut oculis, in utram partem fluat, judicari nos possit." _De Bell. Gall._, lib. i., § x. Philemon might as happily have compared Orlando's quiet stream to "the silent river" ----quæ Liris quietâ Mordet aquâ---- which Horace has so exquisitely described, in contrast with ----obliquis laborat Lympha fugax trepidare rivo. _Carm._, _lib._ i., _Od._ xxxi., _lib._ ii., _Od._ ii. Yet let us not forget Collin's lovely little bit of landscape-- "Where slowly winds the stealing wave."] [Footnote 167: There is a curious proclamation by Q. Elizabeth, relating to some Sabbath recreations or games, inserted in Hearne's preface to his edition of _Camden's Annals_, p. xxviii. It is a little too long to be given entire; but the reader may here be informed that "shooting with the standard, shooting with the broad arrow, shooting at the twelve score prick, shooting at the Turk, leaping for men, running for men, wrestling, throwing the sledge, and pitching the bar," were suffered to be exhibited, on several Sundays, for the benefit of one "John Seconton Powlter, dwelling within the parish of St. Clements Danes, being a poor man, having four small children, and fallen to decay."] I have slightly noticed the comfortable interior of his library.-- LIS. You spoke of a bow-windowed extremity-- PHIL. Yes, in this bow-window--the glass of which was furnished full two hundred and fifty years ago, and which has recently been put into a sensible modern frame-work--thereby affording two hours longer light to the inhabitant--in this bow-window, you will see a great quantity of stained glass of the different arms of his own, and of his wife's, family; with other appropriate embellishments.[168] And when the evening sun-beams throw a chequered light throughout the room, 'tis pleasant to observe how Orlando enjoys the opening of an Aldine Greek Classic--the ample-margined leaves of which receive a mellower tint from the soft lustre that pervades the library. Every book, whether opened or closed, is benefited by this due portion of light; so that the eye, in wandering over the numerous shelves, is neither hurt by morning glare nor evening gloom. Of colours, in his furniture, he is very sparing: he considers white shelves, picked out with gold, as heretical--mahogany, wainscot, black, and red, are, what he calls, orthodox colours. He has a few busts and vases; and as his room is very lofty, he admits above, in black and gold frames, a few portraits of eminent literary characters; and whenever he gets a genuine Vandyke, or Velasquez, he congratulates himself exceedingly upon his good fortune. [Footnote 168: The reader, who is partial to the lucubrations of Thomas Hearne, may peruse a long gossipping note of his upon the importance of _stained glass windows_--in his account of Godstow nunnery. See his _Guil. Neubrig._, vol. ii., 768.] LIS. All this bespeaks a pretty correct taste. But I wish to know something of the man. PHIL. You shall, presently; and, in hearing what I am about to relate, only let us both strive, good Lisardo, so to regulate our studies and feelings that our old age may be like unto Orlando's. Last year I went with my uncle to pay him our annual visit. He appeared quite altered and shaken from the recent misfortune of losing his wife; who had survived the death of her children fifteen years; herself dying in the sixtieth of her own age. The eyes of Orlando were sunk deeply into his forehead, yet they retained their native brilliancy and quickness. His cheeks were wan, and a good deal withered. His step was cautious and infirm. When we were seated in his comfortable library chairs, he extended his right arm towards me, and squeezing my hand cordially within his own--"Philemon," said he, "you are not yet thirty, and have therefore sufficient ardour to enable you to gratify your favourite passion for books. Did you ever read the inscription over the outside of my library door--which I borrowed from Lomeir's account of one over a library at Parma?[169]" On my telling him that it had escaped me--"Go," said he, "and not only read, but remember it."--The inscription was as follows: INGREDERE MUSIS SACER, NAM ET HIC DII HABITANT. ITEM NULLUS AMICUS MAGIS LIBET, QUAM LIBER. [Footnote 169: _De Bibliothecis_: p. 269, edit. 1680.] "Have a care," said he, on my resuming my seat--"have a care that you do not treat such a friend ill, or convert him into a foe. For myself, my course is well nigh run. My children have long taken their leave of me, to go to the common parent who created, and to the Saviour who has vouchsafed to redeem, us all; and, though the usual order of nature has been here inverted, I bow to the fate which Heaven has allotted me with the unqualified resignation of a Christian. My wife has also recently left me, for a better place; and I confess that I begin to grow desolate, and anxious to take my departure to join my family. In my solitude, dear Philemon, I have found these (pointing to his books) to be what Cicero, and Seneca, and our own countryman De Bury,[170] have so eloquently and truly described them to be--our friends, our instructors, and our comforts. Without any affectation of hard reading, great learning, or wonderful diligence, I think I may venture to say that I have read more valuable books than it falls to the lot of the generality of book-collectors to read; and I would fain believe that I have profited by my studies. Although not of the profession of the church, you know that I have always cherished a fondness for sacred literature; and there is hardly a good edition of the Greek Testament, or a commentator of repute upon the Bible, foreign or domestic, but what you will find some reference to the same in my interleaved copy of Bishop Wilson's edition of the Holy Scriptures. A great number of these commentators themselves are in my library, as well as every authoritative edition of the Greek Testament, from the Complutensian to Griesbach's. Yet do not suppose that my theological books are equal in measure to one fourth part of those in the Imperial library at Paris.[171] My object has always been instruction and improvement; and when these could be obtained from any writer, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant, Arminian or Calvinistic, I have not failed to thank him, and to respect him, too, if he has declared his opinions with becoming diffidence and moderation. You know that nothing so sorely grieves me as dogmatical arrogance, in a being who will always be frail and capricious, let him think and act as he please. On a Sunday evening I usually devote a few hours to my theological studies--(if you will allow my sabbath-meditations to be so called) and, almost every summer evening in the week, saunter 'midst yon thickets and meadows by the river side, with Collins, or Thompson, or Cowper, in my hand. The beautiful sentiments and grand imagery of Walter Scott are left to my in-door avocations; because I love to read the curious books to which he refers in his notes, and have always admired, what I find few critics have noticed, how adroitly he has ingrafted fiction upon truth. As I thus perambulate, with my book generally open, the villagers treat me as Sir Roger De Coverley made his tenants treat the Spectator--by keeping at a respectful distance--but when I shut up my volume, and direct my steps homewards, I am always sure to find myself, before I reach my threshold, in company with at least half a dozen gossipping and well-meaning rustics. In other departments of reading, history and poetry are my delight. On a rainy or snowy day, when all looks sad and dismal without, my worthy friend and neighbour, PHORMIO, sometimes gives me a call--and we have a rare set-to at my old favourite volumes--the '_Lectiones Memorabiles et Reconditæ_' of WOLFIUS[172]--a commonplace book of as many curious, extraordinary, true and false occurrences, as ever were introduced into two ponderous folios. The number of strange cuts in it used to amuse my dear children--whose parent, from the remembrance of the past, still finds a pleasing recreation in looking at them. So much, dear Philemon, for my desultory mode of studying: improve upon it--but at all events, love your books for the good which they may produce; provided you open them with 'singleness of heart--' that is, a sincerity of feeling. [Footnote 170: Every school-lad who has written a copy under a writing-master, or who has looked into the second book of the _"Selectæ è Profanis Scriptoribus," &c._, has probably been made acquainted with the sentiments of the above ancient heathen philosophers relating to Learning and Books; but may not have been informed of the conciliatory manner in which our countryman De Bury has invited us to approach the latter. "Hi sunt magistri (says he) qui nos instruunt sine vergis et ferula, sine verbis et colera, sine pane et pecunia. Si accedis, non dormiunt; si inquiris, non se abscondunt; non remurmurant, si oberres; cachinnos nesciunt, si ignores." These original and apt words are placed in the title-page to the first volume of _Dr. Clarke's Bibliographical Dictionary_.] [Footnote 171: "Il y a 300 pieds cubes de livres de théologie,"--"qui tapissent les murs des deux premières salles de la Bibliothéque Impériale." Caillot: _Roman Bibliographique_, tom. i., 72, edit. 1809.] [Footnote 172: There are few men, of any literary curiosity, who would not wish to know something of the work here noticed; and much more than appears to be known of its illustrious author; concerning whom we will first discourse a little: "JOHANNES WOLFIUS (says Melchoir [Transcriber's Note: Melchior] Adam), the laborious compiler of the _Lectionum Memorabilium et Reconditarum Centenarii_ xvi. (being a collection of curious pieces from more than 3000 authors--chiefly Protestant) was a civilian, a soldier, and a statesman. He was born A.D. 1537, at Vernac, in the duchy of Deux Ponts; of which town his father was chief magistrate. He was bred under Sturmius at Strasbourg, under Melancthon at Wittemberg, and under Cujas at Bruges. He travelled much and often; particularly into France and Burgundy, with the Dukes of Stettin, in 1467. He attended the Elector Palatine, who came with an army to the assistance of the French Hugonots in 1569; and, in 1571, he conducted the corpse of his master back to Germany by sea. After this, he was frequently employed in embassies from the electors Palatine to England and Poland. His last patrons were the Marquisses of Baden, who made him governor of Mündelsheim, and gave him several beneficial grants. In 1594, Wolfius bade adieu to business and courts, and retired to Hailbrun; where he completed his "_Lectiones_," which had been the great employment of his life. He died May 23, A.D. 1600--the same year in which the above volumes were published." Thus far, in part, our biographer, in his _Vitæ Eruditorum cum Germanorum tum Exterorum_: pt. iii., p. 156, edit. 1706. These particulars may be gleaned from Wolfius's preface; where he speaks of his literary and diplomatic labours with great interest and propriety. In this preface also is related a curious story of a young man of the name of Martin, whom Wolfius employed as an amanuensis to transcribe from his "three thousand authors"--and who was at first so zealously attached to the principles of the Romish Church that he declared "he wished for no heaven where Luther might be." The young man died a Protestant; quite reconciled to a premature end, and in perfect good will with Luther and his doctrine. As to Wolfius, it is impossible to read his preface, or to cast a glance upon his works--"magno et pene incredibili labore multisque vigiliis elaboratum"--(as Linsius has well said, in the opening of the admonition to the reader, prefixed to his index) without being delighted with his liberality of disposition, and astonished at the immensity of his labour. Each volume has upwards of 1000 pages closely printed upon an indifferent brown-tinted paper; which serves nevertheless to set off the several hundreds of well executed wood cuts which the work contains. Linsius's index, a thin folio, was published in the year 1608: this is absolutely necessary for the completion of a copy. As bibliographers have given but a scanty account of this uncommon work (mentioned, however, very properly by Mr. Nicol in his interesting preface to the catalogue of the Duke of Roxburgh's books; and of which I observe in the _Bibl. Solgeriana_, vol. i., no. 1759, that a second edition, printed in 1672, is held in comparatively little estimation), so biographers (if we except Melchior Adam, the great favourite of Bayle) have been equally silent respecting its author. Fabricius, and the Historical Dictionary published at Caen, do not mention him; and Moreri has but a meagre and superficial notice of him. Wolfius's _Penus Artis Historicæ_, of which the best edition is that of 1579, is well described in the tenth volume of Fournier's _Methode pour étudier l'histoire_, p. 12, edit. 1772. My respect for so extraordinary a bibliomaniac as WOLFIUS, who was groping amongst the books of the public libraries belonging to the several great cities which he visited, (in his diplomatic character--vide præf.) whilst his masters and private secretary were probably paying their devotions to Bacchus--induces me to treat the reader with the following impression of his portrait. [Illustration] This cut is taken from a fac-simile drawing, made by me of the head of Wolfius as it appears at the back of the title-page to the preceding work. The original impression is but an indifferent one; but it presents in addition, the body of Wolfius as far as the waist; with his right hand clasping a book, and his left the handle of a sword. His ponderous chain has a medallion suspended at the end. This print, which evidently belongs to the English series, has escaped Granger. And yet I know not whether such intelligence should be imparted!--as the scissars may hence go to work to deprive many a copy of these "_Lectiones_," of their elaborately-ornamented title-pages. Forbid it, good sense!] "In a short time," continued the venerable Orlando, after a pause of fifteen seconds, "in a short time I must bid adieu to this scene; to my choice copies; beautiful bindings: and all the classical furniture which you behold around you. Yes!--as Reimannus[173] has well observed,--'there is no end to accumulating books, whilst the boundaries of human existence are limited, indeed!' But I have made every necessary, and, I hope, appropriate, regulation; the greater part of my library is bequeathed to one of the colleges in the University of Oxford; with an injunction to put an inscription over the collection very different from what the famous Ranzau[174] directed to be inscribed over his own.--About three hundred volumes you will find bequeathed to you, dear Philemon--accompanied with a few remarks not very different from what Lotichius[175] indited, with his dying breath, in his book-legacy to the learned Sambucus. I will, at present, say no more. Come and see me whenever you have an opportunity. I exact nothing extraordinary of you; and shall therefore expect nothing beyond what one man of sense and of virtue, in our relative situations, would pay to the other." [Footnote 173: "Vita brevis est, et series librorum longa." He adds: "Æs magnum tempus, quo id dispungere conatus est, parvum." _Bibl. Acroamat._, p. 51, sign. d [dagger symbol] 2.] [Footnote 174: "Henry de Ranzau--avoit dressé une excellente bibliothéque au chateau de Bredemberg, dans laquelle estoient conservez plusieurs manuscrits Grecs et Latins, et autres raretez, &c.--Ce sçavant personnage a fait un decret pour sa bibliothéque, qui merite d'estre icy inseré, pour faire voir a la posterité l'affection qu'il auoit pour sa conservation." ... Libros partem ne aliquam abstulerit, Extraxerit, clepserit, rapserit, Concerpserit, coruperit, Dolo malo: Illico maledictus, Perpetuo execrabilis, Semper detestabilis Esto maneto. JACOB: _Traicté des Bibliothéques_, pp. 237, 240. I have inserted only the fulminatory clause of this inscription, as being that part of it against which Orlando's indignation seems to be directed.] [Footnote 175: "Petrus Lotichius Johanni Sambuco Pannonio gravissimo morbo laborans Bononiæ, bibliothecam suam legaverit, _lib._ 3, _eleg._ 9, verba ejus lectu non injucunda: Pro quibus officiis, hæres abeuntis amici, Accipe fortunæ munera parva meæ. Non mihi sunt Baccho colles, oleisque virentes, Prædiave Æmiliis conspicienda jugis. Tu veterum dulces scriptorum sume libellos, Attritos manibus quos juvat esse meis. Invenies etiam viridi quæ lusimus ævo, Dum studiis ætas mollibus apta fuit. Illa velim rapidis sic uras carmina flammis Ut vatem ipse suis ignibus jussit Amor." LOMEIER: _de Bibliothecis_, p. 288.] "So spake Orlando," said Philemon, with tears in his eyes, who, upon looking at Lisardo and myself, found our faces covered with our handkerchiefs, and unable to utter a word. The deliberate manner in which this recital was made--the broken periods, and frequent pauses--filled up a great measure of our journey; and we found that St. Paul's dome was increasing upon us in size and distinctness, and that we had not more than three miles to travel, when Lisardo, wishing to give a different turn to the discourse, asked Philemon what was the cause of such extravagant sums being now given at book-sales for certain curious and uncommon--but certainly not highly intrinsically-valuable--publications; and whether our ancestors, in the time of Hen. VIII. and Elizabeth, paid in proportion for the volumes of _their_ Libraries? Upon Philemon's declaring himself unable to gratify his friend's curiosity, but intimating that some assistance might probably be derived from myself, I took up the discourse by observing that-- "In the infancy of printing in this country (owing to the competition of foreigners) it would seem that our own printers (who were both booksellers and book-binders) had suffered considerably in their trade, by being obliged to carry their goods to a market where the generality of purchasers were pleased with more elegantly executed works at an inferior price. The legislature felt, as every patriotic legislature would feel, for their injured countrymen; and, accordingly, the statute of Richard III. was enacted,[176] whereby English printers and book-binders were protected from the mischiefs, which would otherwise have overtaken them. Thus our old friend Caxton went to work with greater glee, and mustered up all his energies to bring a good stock of British manufacture to the market. What he usually sold his books for, in his life time, I have not been able to ascertain; but, on his decease, one of his _Golden Legends_ was valued, in the churchwardens' books, at six shillings and eight pence.[177] Whether this was a great or small sum I know not; but, from the same authority we find that twenty-two pounds were given, twelve years before, for eleven huge folios, called '_Antiphoners_.'[178] In the reign of Henry VIII. it would seem, from a memorandum in the catalogue of the Fletewode library (if I can trust my memory with such minutiæ) that Law-Books were sold for about ten sheets to the groat.[179] Now, in the present day, Law-Books--considering the wretched style in which they are published, with broken types upon milk-and-water-tinted paper--are the dearest of all modern publications. Whether they were anciently sold for so comparatively extravagant a sum may remain to be proved. Certain it is that, before the middle of the sixteenth century, you might have purchased Grafton's abridgment of Polydore Virgil's superficial work about _The Invention of Things_ for fourteen pence;[180] and the same printer's book of _Common Prayer_ for four shillings. Yet if you wanted a superbly bound _Prymer_, it would have cost you (even five and twenty years before) nearly half a guinea.[181] Nor could you have purchased a decent _Ballad_ much under sixpence; and _Hall's Chronicle_ would have drawn from your purse twelve shillings;[182] so that, considering the then value of specie, there is not much ground of complaint against the present prices of books." [Footnote 176: By the 1st of Richard III. (1433, ch. ix. sec. xii.) it appeared that, Whereas, a great number of the king's subjeets [Transcriber's Note: subjects] within this realm having "given themselves diligently to learn and exercise THE CRAFT OF PRINTING, and that at this day there being within this realm a great number cunning and expert in the said science or craft of printing, as able to exercise the said craft in all points as any stranger, in any other realm or country, and a great number of the king's subjects living by the craft and mystery of BINDING OF BOOKS, and well expert in the same;"--yet "all this notwithstanding, there are divers persons that bring from beyond the sea great plenty of printed books--not only in the Latin tongue, but also in our maternal English tongue--some bound in boards, some in leather, and some in parchment, and them sell by retail, whereby many of the king's subjects, being binders of books, and having no other faculty therewith to get their living, be destitute of work, and like to be undone, except some reformation herein be had,--Be it therefore enacted, &c." By the 4th clause or provision, if any of these printers or sellers of printed books vend them "at too high and unreasonable prices," then the Lord Chancellor, Lord Treasurer, or any of the Chief Justices of the one bench or the other--"by the oaths of twelve honest and discreet persons," were to regulate their prices. This remarkable act was confirmed by the 25th Hen. VIII., ch. 15, which was not repealed till the 12th Geo. II., ch. 36, § 3. A judge would have enough to do to regulate the prices of books, by the oaths of twelve men, in the present times!] [Footnote 177: The reader will be pleased to refer to p. cx. of the first volume of my recent edition of the _Typographical Antiquities of Great Britain_.] [Footnote 178: The following is from 'the churchwardens' accompts of St. Margaret's, Westminster. "A.D. 1475. Item, for 11 great books, called Antiphoners, 22_l._ 0_s._ 0_d._" _Manners and Expenses of Ancient Times in England_, &c., collected by John Nichols, 1797, 4to., p. 2. _Antiphonere_ is a book of anthems to be sung with responses: and, from the following passage in Chaucer, it would appear to have been a common school-book used in the times of papacy: This litel childe his litel book lerning, As he sate in the scole at his primere He _Alma Redemptoris_ herde sing, As children lered hir _Antiphonere_: _Cant. Tales_, v. 13,446, &c. "A legend, an _Antiphonarye_, a grayle, a psalter," &c., were the books appointed to be kept in every parish church "of the province of Canterbury" by Robert Winchelsen. _Const. Provin. and of Otho and Octhobone_, fol. 67, rect., edit. 1534.] [Footnote 179: "The year books, 9 v. parcels, as published, impr. in different years by Pynson, Berthelet, Redman, Myddylton, Powell, Smythe, Rastell, and Tottyl, 1517 to 1531." Some of them have the prices printed at the end; as "The Prisce of thys Boke ys xiid. unbounde--The Price of thys Boke is xvid. un bownde;" and upon counting the sheets, it appears that the stated price of Law-Books, in the reign of Hen. 8, was ten sheets for one groat. _Bibl. Monast-Fletewodiana_, no. 3156.] [Footnote 180: In a copy of this book, printed by Grafton in 1546, which was in the library of that celebrated bibliomaniac, Tom Rawlinson, was the following singular MS. note: "At Oxforde the yeare 1546, browt down to Seynbury by John Darbye _pryce_ 14_d._ When I kepe Mr. Letymers shype I bout thys boke when the testament was obberagatyd that shepe herdys myght not red hit I pray god amende that blyndnes wryt by Robert Wyllyams keppynge shepe uppon Seynbury hill. 1546." _Camdeni Annales: Edit. Hearne_, vol. i., p. xxx.] [Footnote 181: From Mr. Nichol's curious work, I make the following further extracts: £ _s._ _d._ A.D. 1539. Item, paid for the half part of the Bybell, } accordingly after the King's injunction } 0 9 9 1544. Item, also paid for six books of the Litany } in English } 0 1 6 1549. Paid for iv books of the service of the church 0 16 0 [This was probably Grafton's Prayer book of 1549, fol.] 1559. Paid for a Bybyl and Parafrawse 0 16 0 [From the Ch. Wardens Accts. of St. Margaret's Westminster] The Inventory of John Port, 1524. In the shop. Item, a premmer lymmed with gold, and with imagery } written honds } 0 8 4 (From the d