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 U.C. Bt^R^JiLL^^'i LIBRARY 
 
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 3 ^El -733 
 

RICHARD DE BURY, BISHOP 
 OF DURHAM 
 
RICHARD DE BURY 
 BISHOP OF DURHAM 
 
 FIRST YEAR-BOOK OF 
 THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR, MAINE 
 
 SAMUEL LANE BOARDMAN 
 
 BANGOR 
 
 PRINTED FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION 
 
 1902 
 
SCHOOL 
 
 Edition of One Hundred and Twenty- 
 five Copies. 
 
So far as the present brochure may 
 be regarded a history of the incep- 
 tion, organization and worli of the 
 De Burians, it may be said that 
 such a record was authorized by the coin- 
 mittee of publication for the purpose of 
 showing what the club had done during 
 the two years of its existence. So far as 
 the biographical sketch of De Bury is 
 concerned, the author wishes it to be 
 dedicated to the individual members of 
 the only book club in the world named in 
 honor of Richard De Bury, Bishop of 
 Durham, who gathered the first private 
 library in England and wrote the first 
 treatise on the love of books of which 
 the literature of the centuries has 
 given us any record. 
 
 It will be unnecessary to apologize for 
 the personal references in this memoir, 
 to those who may see it who are not 
 members of the De Burians, when it is 
 stated that it was read as a concluding 
 paper of the club's season of 1901-'02. As 
 here printed some new matter has been 
 added to make it more completely a year- 
 book of the De Burians. 
 
No tinker's hand shall dare a book to stain; 
 
 No miser's heart can wish a book to gain; 
 The gold assayer cannot value books; 
 
 On them the epicure disdainful looks. 
 One house at once, believe me, cannot hold 
 Lovers of books and hoarders up of gold. 
 —The Philobiblon, 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Richard Aungervyle 
 
 page 9 
 
 Editions of The Philobiblon 
 
 " 28 
 
 John Bellingham Inglis 
 
 " 32 
 
 Samuel Hand and Robert 
 
 
 Safiford Hale 
 
 " 39 
 
 The De Burians of Bangor 
 
 " 45 
 
 The Birth of a Book 
 
 " 56 
 
 Second Year of the De Burians 
 
 " 58 
 
 Officers and Members 
 
 " 65 
 
 PLATES 
 
 Durham Cathedral Frontispiece 
 
 Seal of Richard De Bury " 21 
 
 Robert Safford Hale " 42 
 
 The Bookworm " 56 
 
I. RICHARD AUNGERVYLE 
 
 II' was in the city of Albany, N. Y., iu 
 the summer of 1859 that I discovered 
 Richard De Bury and his Philobib- 
 lon. I had gone there from my little 
 farm home in Norridgewock to begin the 
 work which has since proved to be my 
 life-work, that of journalism — for I had 
 been selected from among all their cor- 
 respondents by the publisher the even 
 then venerable Luther Tucker — as assis- 
 tant editor of The Country Gentleman, 
 to whom I had the pleasure of dedicating 
 my first book. It chanced that my 
 boarding place was within two doors of 
 the state library and I lost little time 
 iu exploring the rich treasures which it 
 contained. The building was one of the 
 typical old style library buildings. Upon 
 the first floor was the law library, and 
 at the opposite end from the entrance 
 the hbrarian, the late Alfred B. Street, 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 the poet, had a small desk. The second 
 and third floors were in one large hall 
 with alcoves on each side and galleries 
 with corresponding alcoves above. The 
 keeper of this part of the library was 
 John H. Holmes who allowed me consid- 
 erable liberty in the use of the books, al- 
 though no volumes could be taken from 
 the room. I was at that time about the 
 age of the youngest member of the De 
 Buriaus, and even then knew consider- 
 able about books. I had not been long 
 in Albany before I knew almost every 
 book in the state library outside of those 
 in the law collection. I not only knew 
 where the books were in their alcoves 
 and shelves, but I read many of them. 
 It was a happy moment when, one af- 
 ternoon in late summer, which I remem- 
 ber very well, I came upon a little 
 brown volume labeled Philobiblon. 
 Opening it I found to my great joy that 
 it was a book about the love of books. 
 I had never seen or heard of such a 
 book. Book-lover that I had always 
 been, the little volume made a most en- 
 ticing plea to my heart. I found on 
 closer examination that this little book 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 in boards, about as thick as one's finger, 
 was the first English edition of Richard 
 De Bury's immortal treatise, the trans- 
 lation of John Bellingham Inglis, printed 
 in 1832. The volume could not be taken 
 from the room and I read it and re-read 
 it. Indeed I was so afraid I should 
 never see another copy of the booE thac 
 I transcribed entire chapters and read 
 them again and again in my own loom. 
 
 And here I wish to relate an incident 
 of my summer in Albany which I have 
 never before given even to the De 
 Burians. While there I became ac- 
 quainted with that famous printer-pub- 
 lisher, the late Joel Muusell, and was 
 often in his office and his printing rooms. 
 He printed some very beautiful books 
 and was one of the first printers in 
 America to issue reprints of rare things 
 in limited editions. I cannot say that I 
 gave the suggestion which resulted in 
 having De Bury's Philobiblon reprinted 
 in this country, but have always more 
 than half believed that I was instru- 
 mental in bringing that event to pass. 
 
 Mr. Munsell and myself had many 
 talks on books and printing and libra- 
 II 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 ries. One day I asked him if he knew 
 about a book ou the love of books that 
 was up in the state library in such an 
 alcove. I have forgotten his reply, but 
 two years later, in 1861, received a copy 
 of his edition of De Bury — the first 
 American edition — edited by Samuel 
 Hand, and that book has been one of 
 my favorites and dear friends "from that 
 day to this, a period of 40 years. While 
 I have parted with many books, I re- 
 joice in the Providence which has al- 
 lowed me to retain that volume. 1 
 show you in an old autograph album 
 the autographs of both Mr. Street, the 
 state librarian and of Mr. Munsell. 
 
 I am quite sure Mr. Munsell did not 
 know of this work of De Bury in the 
 state library until I called his attention 
 to it, and am certain that after that he 
 went and examined the book and printed 
 it two years later. He was like all 
 business publishers, always seeking to 
 bring out books, and when he had de- 
 cided to reprint De Bury he placed it 
 under the care of Samuel Hand for edi- 
 torial revision. Of Mr. Hand I shall 
 speak later. 
 
THE DK BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
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 13 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 Erer since I read the Philobiblon in 
 the dimly-lighted and very silent alcove 
 of the New York state library in 1859 it 
 has been a book that I have loved and 1 
 have collected much relating to its 
 author, I do not intend to take up the 
 time this evening with any extended 
 account of De Bury's life, as the sketch 
 by Charles Orr in his edition of thy 
 Philobiblon of 1899 — which several mem- 
 bers of the club already possess— is most 
 satisfactory. Still, an outline, at least, 
 is necessary to the purpose of the present 
 paper. 
 
 Richard Aungervyle, the son of Sir 
 Richard d'Aungervyle, a kuight of Nor- 
 man descent, was born at Bury St. 
 Edmonds, or Edmunds, Suffolk, Eng., 
 and as was the custom at that day, took 
 the name of the town in which he was 
 born. The year of his birth was 1287 — 
 not 1281, as given in the Encyclopaedia 
 Britannica and other works; while the 
 exact date is generally given as Jan. 21 
 of that year. He finished his studies at 
 Oxford, It is presumed that he entered 
 the order of the Benedictine monks but 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 was soon afterward appointed tutor to the 
 Prince of Wales, afterward Edward 
 III. Mr. Orr is in error in saying he 
 was "tutor to the Prince of Windsor, 
 the future Edward III.," as all authori- 
 ties agree that it is the Prince of Wales 
 who succeeds to the British crown. It 
 was 1327 when Edward III. ascended 
 the throne; he lost little time in ap- 
 pointing his former tutor successively 
 cofferer to the king, treasurer of the 
 wardrobe and keeper of the great seal. 
 
 In 1330 he was appointed ambassador 
 to the Holy See, the autograph letter of 
 the king to Pope John 22d containing 
 this testimonial to De Bury's character: 
 "We recommend to your Holiness this 
 clerk, the more particularly because we 
 know him to be a man wise in counsel, 
 remarkable for the purity of his life and 
 conversation, endowed with a knowledge 
 of letters and prudent in action.'' On 
 this embassy De Bury traveled fn great 
 splendor, accompanied by 20 clerks and 
 36 esquires all wearing his livery. The 
 Pope received him with great honor and 
 distinction. It was on this visit that he 
 first met the great Italian poet Petrarch, 
 i6 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 forming an acquaintance which was kept 
 up through life. Writing of him 
 Petrarch says he was "a man of ardent 
 character, not ignorant of literature;" 
 and during their discourse he asked him 
 for information of the Thule of the 
 ancients about which Petrarch wished 
 information, but De Bury answered that 
 he could not tell him "until he had re- 
 turned home to his books of which no- 
 body had a greater plenty.'' 
 
 On Dec 19, 1333, De Bury was con- 
 secrated in the abbey of the Black 
 Monks of Chertsey, by John Stratford, 
 archbishop of Canterbury; in February, 
 
 1334, he was made Lord Treas- 
 urer, and on June 5, 1334, he was 
 enthroned Bishop of Durham, the cere- 
 mony having been conducted with great 
 pomp in the presence of the king and 
 queen and nearly all the high officials 
 of church and state. De Bury surren- 
 dered the care of the great seal June 6, 
 
 1335. In 13S6, 1337 and 1338 he was 
 sent on embassies to France in behalf 
 of the king, and while on the continent 
 traveled in Flanders and Germany 
 where he obtained many books. With 
 
 17 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 what raptures De Bury tells of his 
 visits to Paris: "Oh blessed God of Gods 
 in Sion! what a rush of the flood of 
 pleasure rejoiced our heart as often as 
 we visited Paris, the paradise of the 
 world; There we louged to remain, 
 where, on account of the greatness of 
 our love, the days ever appeared to us 
 to be few. There are delightful libra- 
 ries in cells redolent of aromatics, there 
 are flourishing greenhouses of all sorts 
 of volumes." I imagine De Bury had 
 something of the same feeling of joy and 
 rapture at visiting the libraries and book 
 shops of Paris, that we, his modest dis- 
 ciples and followers have, on taking 
 whiffs of bookish air in the underground 
 cells of the Old South, Boston, wher« 
 another Richard presides, or in wander- 
 ing amid the glories of first editions and 
 tall copies and sumptuous bindings in 
 Scribuer's book palace on Fifth avenue, 
 where the hours we spend ever seem few 
 and short. 
 
 After De Bury's mission to France by 
 
 order of the king in the early part ot 
 
 1341, his abhorence of war led him to a 
 
 greater seclusion of the companionship 
 
 i8 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 of his books aud the care of his diocese, 
 and after the fruitless attempt to ar- 
 range peace with France in 1342 he 
 withdrew altogether from the distraction 
 and strife of official life and retired to 
 the blessed seclusion of his home and his 
 library at Bishops Aukland, or Aukland 
 Palace. lu the quiet of his surroundings 
 he there passed his happiest years, but 
 they were few. Out of the fullness of 
 his experience as a trusted agent of the 
 king, a great traveler, a devoted 
 scholar and a magnificent collector of 
 books, he gave much of his time to the 
 writing of his Philobiblon. which was 
 completed on the 58th anniversary of his 
 birthday, Jan. 24, 1345. This magnifi- 
 cent treatise may be regarded as his last 
 will and testament to the book lovers of 
 the world, for in less than three months 
 after its completion, on April 14, 1345, 
 while engaged in the duties of loving, 
 reading and caring for the great collec- 
 tion of books and manuscripts he had 
 formed, and in the performance of thfl 
 good works for which he had been noted, 
 he breathed his last at Aukland Palace. 
 Fourteen days after his death the body 
 
 19 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 of De Bury was borne from Aukland. 
 the episcopal residence, and buried with 
 great pomp before the altar in the 
 chapel of St. Mary Magdalen in the 
 northeast corner of his own Durham 
 cathedral. Our associate, Mr. Sav?- 
 telle, visited this cathedral in the sum- 
 mer of 1901, and our members possess 
 as a souvenir of that visit copies of a 
 photograph of the cathedral which are 
 lovingly treasured. A magnificent mar- 
 ble tomb marked De Bury's last resting 
 place, and upon it was a tablet in brass 
 upon which an image of De Bury was 
 sculptured. He was represented as 
 clothed in pontifical robes and sur- 
 rounded by the 12 apostles. The cathe- 
 dral of Durham, as was then the cus- 
 tom, inherited the two horses which 
 transported his body to the burial, his 
 mule, his sacred ornaments and hie 
 seals. And it is a matter for gratitude, 
 that while his tomb and graven image 
 were destroyed during the civil wars, 
 impressions of his seals are in existence 
 to our own day. Mr. Hand in the notes 
 to his memoir of De Bury says that he 
 used two seals. The first was of ordi- 
 20 
 
SEAL OF RICHARD DE BURY 
 
 i"RONTISPIECE TO THOMAS TKANSLATIOX 
 OF THE PHILOBIBLON, LONDON, i88q 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 nary form, but the other was regarded 
 as a master work of engraving, and iu 
 examining it one cannot fail to admire 
 the exquisite taste which governed the 
 design. The custom at the time of De 
 Bury's death was that the bishops, at 
 their deaths, offered their seals of silver 
 with which they sealed their acts. This 
 offering of seals was made at the offer- 
 tory where prayers were offered. After 
 the offertory the priest who held the 
 seals handed them to the artificer to be 
 broken up. One of De Bury's seals 
 was broken and converted into a cup, 
 the other was preserved. A copy of this 
 seal forms the frontispiece to Thomas' 
 edition of the Philobiblon (London, 
 1888) and I take pleasure in presenting 
 an exact impression of the same to each 
 member of the club. The legend of the 
 seal is: S [igillum] Ricardi dei. gra. 
 dvnelmensis. epi: a literal English 
 translation of which is:— Seal of Richard, 
 by the Grace of God, Bishop of the See 
 of Durham. Of the seal as a piece of ar- 
 tistic work the Encyclopaedia Brittanica 
 says: "The seal of Richard De Bury, 
 Bishop of Durham, shows a very beauti- 
 21 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 ful example of the late fourteenth cen- 
 tury. The standing figure of the Bishop 
 in Mass Vestments is modelled with 
 wonderful skill and shows extreme taste 
 in the treatment of the drapery." 
 
 I have not time to give you, as 1 
 would like, a full account of De Bury 
 as a book-lover, collector and author on 
 the choice, the love and the care of 
 books. The sources of this study are 
 alread»y familiar to several members of 
 the club in the edition of the Philobiblon 
 edited by Charles Orr; in the first Ameri- 
 can edition of De Bury edited by Samuel 
 Hand, in Campbell's Lives of the Lord 
 Chancellors of Great Britain, and especi- 
 ally in Merryweather's Bibliomania in 
 the Middle Ages, which latter has a most 
 charming essay on De Bury as a book 
 collector filling nearly 30 pages. It may 
 be said, however, that he was the first 
 known collector and lover of books in 
 England, and the first to write a treatise 
 on book love. The book-sellers through- 
 out Europe knew him as modern book- 
 sellers have known Richard Heber; 
 George, Earl of Spencer; the Duke of 
 Roxburghe or Locker-Lampson. He 
 
 22 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 bought books all over England as well 
 as throughout France, Germany and 
 Italy. 
 
 At the time De Bury wrote his Philo- 
 biblon he had by far the best private 
 library in England and it is said that it 
 contained more books than the libraries 
 of all the other English bishops put to- 
 gether. He had collections of books iu 
 each of his residences and they so filled 
 his rooms that his friends often had 
 some difficulty in finding a place to sit 
 or to stand. No modern collector ever 
 reached a higher pitch of enthusiasm 
 than did De Bury and hence it is not 
 strange that for the four centuries since 
 the appearance of his Philobiblon in 
 print he has remained the patron saint 
 of all English speaking book-lovers. He 
 loved and venerated his books and was 
 the first person to write of their care, 
 use and preservation. He composed his 
 Philobiblon to show why he loved 
 books, why books were to be loved and 
 how they were to be used in a reverent 
 and cleanly manner. De Bury was a 
 scholar as well as a book lover. He 
 valued his library not as a collection of 
 
 23 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 rarities to be wondered at, but as a 
 company of friends and teachers to be 
 used. 
 
 Any sincere student who desired to 
 consult his books might knock at the 
 door of his palace at Bishops Aukland 
 and be lodged and boarded while he 
 stayed to make references. Next to his 
 beautiful clasped vellum tomes nothing 
 afforded him so much delight as 
 a learned disputation with his chaplains 
 who were men of acknowledged taleut 
 and scholarship. It was his custom to 
 have some one read to him at dinner and 
 supper that no time might be wasted. As 
 his life drew to a close he made arrange- 
 ments for the continuous use of his 
 books after his decease at Durham col- 
 lege, Oxford university, but the college 
 was dissolved by Henry Vlllth and 
 his books scattered. Mr. Hand says 
 that De Bury prepared an accurate 
 catalogue of his library, "which up to 
 this time (1861) has never been discov- 
 ered;" but Mr. Merry weather, who 
 wrote in 1848, says that a catalogue 
 taken some 40 years after De Bury's 
 
 24 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 death, is preserved at Durham to that 
 day. 
 
 Contemporary chronicles confirm the 
 favorable impression of De Bury'g 
 character which the perusal of his 
 Fhilobiblon produces. A prelate, pious 
 and charitable; a statesman, wise and 
 skilful; a bibliophile, learned and en- 
 thusiastic, he knew how to render him- 
 self beloved, not for his honors nor for 
 his fortune, but for the valuable quali- 
 ties which distinguished him as a man 
 of God, a man of the state and a man 
 of learning. His taste for books wafe 
 but a natural consequence of his ardor 
 for study, and the passion which" urged 
 him continually to new acquisitions was 
 but an imperious desire to enlarge the 
 circle of his acquaintances. The great 
 Dibdiu wrote in his Bibliomania: "What 
 can be more delightful to a lover of his 
 country's intellectual reputation, than to 
 find such a character as De Bury in such 
 an age of war and bloodshed, uniting the 
 calm and mild conduct of a legislator 
 with the sagacity of a philosopher and 
 the elegant mind of a scholar.'' The 
 exalted situation he occupied in the 
 
 25 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 opinion and esteem of Petrarch and 
 other eminent literary men of the 14th 
 century shed brighter lustre on his 
 memory than it could have derived from 
 funeral processions or from monuments 
 and epitaphs. 
 
 Wharton, in his history of English 
 literature, says that De Bury's house 
 was always full of chaplains and great 
 scholars. He was very bountiful to the 
 poor and each week he bestowed for 
 their relief eight quarters (equal to 32U 
 pounds) of wheat, made into bread, be- 
 sides the offal and fragments of his 
 tables. Riding between Newcastle and 
 Durham he would give away £S in alms; 
 from Durham to Stockton, £5; from Dur- 
 ham to Aukland 5 marks, and from 
 Durham to Middletown, £5. Mrs. Dob- 
 son, in the first volume of her life of 
 Petrarch, published at London in 1805, 
 says: "Richard of Bury had a piercing 
 wit, a cultivated understanding and an 
 eager desire after every kind of knowl- 
 edge. Nothing could satisfy his ardor, 
 no obstacle could stop his progress. His 
 genius threw light on the darkest and 
 his penetration fathomed the deepest 
 
 26 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 subjects. Petrarch was happy to unite 
 himself to so grfeat a scholar from whom 
 he might receive much information on 
 subjects of ancient history and geogra- 
 phy. Richard of Bury did in England 
 what Petrarch did all his life in France, 
 Italy and Germany— accomplished great 
 studies." 
 
 27 
 
II. EDITIONS OF THE PHILO- 
 BIBLON 
 
 THEPhilobiblon stands for the uni- 
 versality throughout the ages of 
 that kind of literature which 
 clusters about the love of books. 
 Science of all kinds, systems of phil- 
 osophy and thought have their cycles of 
 great changes and their books become 
 useless and obsolete in a few genera- 
 tions, often less. How few are the 
 books written by man that are as fresh 
 and sweet today as they were 600 years 
 ago — indeed how few survive that are as 
 old as this. The Philobiblon is one of 
 these. It makes the same appeal to, and 
 finds the same response from book-lovers 
 now, as the most recent essay of Andrew 
 Lang, or the writings of Eugene Field. 
 
 Sixteen editions of the Philobiblon 
 
 have been printed, viz.: The first in 1473, 
 
 an edition of 48 leaves in black letter; in 
 
 1483, in a small quarto of 39 leaves; in 
 
 L28 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 1500, at Paris, a small quarto of 24 un- 
 numbered leaves; in 1598, a quarto of 74 
 pages; in IGIO and 1614 at Frankfort, ia 
 1674 at Leipzic, both in small quaito; in 
 1703 at Helmstadt; in 1832 at London 
 the first English edition of 159 pages; 
 in 1856 at Paris; in 1861 the first Ameri 
 can edition at Albany, N. Y., in an edi- 
 tion of only 230 copies; in 1888, the 
 cheap edition m Morley's Universal Li- 
 brary, London; in 1888 the London edi- 
 tion of Ernest C. Thomas (a new trans- 
 lation); in 1889 the elegant edition of the 
 Grolier club. New York, in three vol- 
 umes; m 1899, the edition edited by 
 Charles Orr, New York and in 1901, the 
 edition of Mr. Conwell at the Elstou 
 Press. New Eochelle, N. Y. 
 
 I have myself examined but six of 
 these 16 editions. The Boston public 
 library has but four editions. It does not 
 possess neither the first English nor the 
 first American edition, nor does it possess 
 the splendid edition of the Grolier club, 
 or the elegant Elston edition. Those 
 which are in the Boston public library 
 are: 
 
 I. The Helmstadt edition of 1703. 
 
 29 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 This is bound up in a collection of tracts 
 the volume of which is entitled: "Bibli^ 
 graphical Archives. It has no title, con- 
 tains 6G small quarto pages and has 
 this heading to its first page: Typis ac 
 Sumtibus Georg Wolfgang: Hamml, 
 Acad. Typogr, MDCCIII. Richardi de 
 Burl. 
 
 II. The cheap edition edited by Henry 
 Morley and forming 90 pages of one 
 volume of the Universal Library, issued 
 on thin paper and in very small type. 
 London, 1888. 
 
 III. The London edition containing 
 the new translation by Ernest C. 
 Thomas, 1888. 
 
 IV. The New York edition of 1899, 
 with introduction by Charles Orr, being 
 the Inglis translation. 
 
 These various editions were of limited 
 impressions. Of the edition of 1473, 
 which was probably set up from the 
 original manuscript of De Bury, nine or 
 ten copies are in existence. A copy of 
 this first edition was sold by Dr. C. In- 
 glis, a son of the late J. B. Inglis — its 
 first translator— in 1900 for $400. Six 
 copies oC the second edition of 1483 are 
 30 
 
THE DB BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 lu existence. The third edition, that of 
 the Paris edition of 1500, is the rarest 
 of all the editions, only two copies are 
 known to be in existence. The first 
 English edition is very rare. Of the 
 Paris edition of 1856, only 500 copieb 
 were printed. Of the first American 
 edition but 230 copies were printed and 
 it is extremely rare. Of this edition 30 
 copies were on large paper. Of the 
 Thomas. London edition of 1888, only 
 750 copies were printed. Of the three 
 volume edition of the Grolier club, of 
 1889, "the typography of which is per- 
 fect," but 300 copies were printed. The 
 Orr edition of 1899, consisted of 500 
 copies and of the Elston edition of 
 1901, 555 copies were printed, 70 of 
 which were on Japan paper at $15.00 pei 
 copy. 
 
 31 
 
III. JOHN BELLINGHAM INGLIS 
 
 THERE has always been to me 
 much that is of interest about the 
 personality of a book. I like to 
 know all I possibly can know 
 about the authors of favorite books, 
 about the publishers of such books and 
 about the persons to whom authors dedi- 
 cated certain of their own books. There 
 is much of human interest in all these 
 things and besides I apprehend that they 
 belong in a most legitimate way to the 
 finer knowledge of bibliography and lit- 
 erary history. While book-lovers can 
 never know too much of De Bury it is 
 also interesting to know something about 
 De Bury's various translators and edi- 
 tors. It is only very recently that I 
 have been able to find anything at all 
 satisfactory about John B. Inglis, the 
 translator and editor of the first BngUsh 
 edition of the Philobiblon and 1 am 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 sure English readers who are indebted 
 to that rare old bibliophile for a knowl- 
 edge of Ihis 13th century book about 
 books will also be glad to know some- 
 thing about the man who gave us De 
 Bury in our own tongue. Hence I shall 
 give brief biographies of the original 
 translator of De Bury, and some account 
 of the editor of the first American edi- 
 tion and of the friend to whom it was 
 dedicated. 
 
 John Bellingham Inglis was born in 
 London, Feb. 14, 1780. In his early life 
 he was very fond of horses and hunting 
 and lived in a country house till he was 
 33 years of age. His father was a part- 
 ner in the firm of Inglis, Ellice & Co., 
 merchants, and was also a director in 
 the East India company. In conse- 
 quence of the failure of the firm in 1823, 
 young luglis, who .had been a clerk to 
 the firm, set up in business on his own 
 account in the wine trade, but this not 
 proving successful, he retired goon after 
 ou the money saved from the wreck of 
 the fortune of his father who died soon 
 after his failure. Mr. Inglis twice vis- 
 ited this country and spent one winter in 
 
 33 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 Canada, where he nearly lost his life by 
 pneumonia from going out without suf- 
 ficient clothing, not realizing that the 
 weather was many degrees below zero. 
 In 1S13 he married Mary Helen Gra- 
 ham. Mr. Inglis speculated a Uttle in 
 stocks, wrote a little, but spent much 
 time in studying his favorite black letter 
 books. 
 
 He was a very good classical scholar, 
 an excellent linguist and a man of con- 
 siderable literary ability and soon 
 formed a very valuable and important 
 library which was especially rich in 
 works from the presses of the early Eng- 
 Hsh printers. It is related of him that 
 the Duke of Sussex, at one of his literary 
 dinners at Kensington Palace, said: 
 "Gentlemen, you are all very learned 
 about titles, editions and printers, but 
 none of you seem to have read anything 
 of the books except Mr. Inglis, here." 
 His library was gathered partly from his 
 own knowledge and partly from having 
 a very useful friend. He had aided Tom 
 Rodd when young in starting in life and 
 Eodd helped him. Mr. Inglis was a 
 daily visitor at Longman's store and sel- 
 
 34 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 dom came out of it without having pur- 
 chased some vahiable book. In 1826 his 
 fortune being reduced he sold a part of 
 his library. In the part sold were 13 
 Caxtons, six block books, first editions 
 of Shakespeare, Spenser and other early 
 English poets. This sale comprised 1665 
 lots and the sale occupied eight days and 
 was made anonymously. It realized 
 nearly $17,000. Afterward his circum- 
 stances being much improved Mr. Inglis 
 bought again to the end of his long life, 
 and also repurchased many of his own 
 books that had been sold, which he 
 found in sales and in catalogues. 
 
 In 1832 Mr. Inglis translated from the 
 Latin the Philobiblon of Richard de 
 Bury, which had never been translated 
 before and presented it to his friend, 
 Thomas Rodd, who pubUshed it. He 
 made a great many other translations 
 from Latin and extracts from medieval 
 books and MS. in a hand as clear as 
 printed work and had them handsomely 
 bound in 19 volumes. He was very mod- 
 est and did not care to see his name 
 brought before the public. This was 
 why his library was sold anonymously 
 
 35 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 and why the Philobiblon was first print- 
 ed anonymously. He was a great reader 
 and a constant student. After he was 
 ()0 he rarely went into society at all. 
 Deafness separated him from the outer 
 world and he devoted all his time to the 
 study of his books. He knew Latin, 
 French. Dutch and German and his 
 learning was almost inexhaustible. He 
 knew all sources of information and his 
 conversation was extremely interesting. 
 The last 25 years of his life were spent 
 in St. John's Wood. He loved both 
 London and the country and took his 
 country house because it looked out up- 
 on the fields. As the country built up 
 he again moved to the edge of Hanistead 
 Heath where, from his library w indows, 
 he had a view to the hills of Harrow. 
 
 For the above facts about Mr. Inglis 1 
 am maiuly indebted to a biographical 
 sketch of him by J. P. Berjeau in a 
 magazine called The Bookworm, the last 
 number of which ever published was 
 that for December, 1870, vol. 5, new se- 
 ries No. 12, and is wholly devoted to a 
 sketch of the life of Mr. Inglis. Mr. 
 Berjeau says: "Mr. Inglis w^as a thor- 
 
 36 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 ough aud clever bibliophile, with no 
 touch of bibliomania, liking the books 
 not for their outward appearance but for 
 what waf^ in them; caring nothing for au- 
 tographs or extravagant bindings of val- 
 ueless monkish or modern lubrications. 
 That did not prevent him from having 
 all his valuable books neatly aud ele- 
 gantly bound, because he thought the 
 binding would save them from destruc- 
 tion in the course of time." Announcing 
 his death as having occurred Dec. 9, 
 1870, Mr. Berjeau says: "The end of 
 the present year has seen disappear, af- 
 ter a long and honored life, among the 
 ablest and most learned collectors of 
 books, a star of the first magnitude in 
 the person of our dear friend aud com- 
 panion, at the ripe age of 91, m the en- 
 joyment of all his faculties. Even if 
 the impious war now going on in my be- 
 loved country would not have brought 
 The Bookworm to an untimely death, I 
 should have scarcely the courage to con 
 tinue it after the loss of so dear a friend 
 as Mr. Inglis." 
 
 In the recently published volume ou 
 English Book Collectors by William 
 
 37 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 Younger Fletcher, there is a sketch of 
 Mr. Inglis and hjs vast library. Beside 
 the books sold by Mr. Inglis from his li- 
 brary in 1826, his son, Dr. C. Inglis, af- 
 ter his father's death, sold such books 
 as he could not find room for. This sale 
 occupied ten days, embraced 2437 lots, 
 aud brought $10,285. 
 
 Such was John Bellingham Ihglis, the 
 bibliophile who made the first English 
 translation of De Bury's Philobiblon. If 
 your patience is not exhausted let us de- 
 vote a few moments to the editor of the 
 first American edition. 
 
 38 
 
IV. SAMUEL HAND AND ROBERT 
 SAFFORD HALE 
 
 THAI Samuel Hand, the editor of 
 the first American edition of the 
 Philobiblon, was a book lover, we 
 may be sure, and when it is 
 learned that he "collected one of the 
 most valuable private libraries in th*> 
 state of New York''— as his brief biogra- 
 phy in Appleton's Cyclopedia of Ameri- 
 can Biography says — we do not need to 
 question his fitness for such a task, 
 although he was but 27 years of 
 age when his edition of De Bury 
 was published. Samuel Hand was 
 born in Elizabethtown, N. Y., May 
 1, 1834, and graduated at Union college, 
 in 1851. In 1863 he was corporation 
 counsel for the city of Albany and was 
 appointed a judge of the supreme court 
 of that state in 1878. Resigning this 
 position he had a large practice before 
 the New York court of appeals. He was 
 
 39 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 senior couusel in all the elevated rail- 
 road oases when he was in active prac- 
 tice, represented the state against the 
 canal contractors and frequently de- 
 clined to be a candidate for public office 
 during his latter years. In 1863 he was 
 president of the Albany Young Men's 
 Christian association and in 1865 was 
 president of the New York bar associa- 
 tion. In 1884. two years before his 
 death, he received the degree of LL. D. 
 from Union college. His deatn occurred 
 at Albany, N. Y., May 21, 188G. 
 
 When we have learned this niuch of 
 the man who edited the first AmerJcan 
 edition of the Philobiblon, we naturally 
 want also to learn something about the 
 friend to whom it was dedicated. As 
 Mr. Hand was born in the little village 
 of Elizabethtown, Essex county, N. Y., 
 and Robert S. Hale also lived in the 
 same village, how do we know but, be- 
 ing book-lovers each, Mr. Hale had fa- 
 vored and encouraged the young book- 
 lover, loaned or given him books, helped 
 him in his studies and in acknowledg- 
 ment of his kindness Mr. Hand had dedi- 
 cated his edition of De Bury to his old 
 40 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 friend? What would be more natural 
 than thatthetwo book-lovers should have 
 been brought together, aud possibly Mr. 
 Hale being an older and perhaps better 
 classical scholar may have helped Mr 
 Hand in his notes aud translations. 
 When Mr. Hand's edition of De Bury 
 was printed he was 27 years of age ana 
 at that time Mr. Hale was 39, and could 
 we trace the whole history of the book 
 and its dedication we should probably 
 find that there was a great store of 
 book love and personal friendship be- 
 tween the two persons. 
 
 I wish here to refer to a very unjust 
 criticism of Mr. Hand's edition, by Mr. 
 Thomas, who made a new translation of 
 De Bury in 1888. He speaks of it in the 
 objectionable way of some conceited 
 English authors as "a flagrant piece of 
 book-making, not very creditable either 
 to its editor or to America." The criti- 
 cism is most unjust. It is much to one's 
 credit to have edited the first American 
 edition of De Bury. Moreover, I know 
 this edition well aud I afSmi that the 
 work is carefully aud lovingly done, 
 full of valuable notes, embraces all the 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 notes of the luglis edition and coutain3 
 a mass of biographical, bibliographical 
 and critical information. Beside, it is 
 finely printed and deserves better words 
 thau what Mr. Thomas has said of it. 
 
 Mr. Hand dedicated his booli to Robert 
 S. Hale, LL. D., "one of the regents of 
 the University of the State of New 
 York." 
 
 Robert Safford Hale was born in 
 Chelsea, Vt., Sept. 24, 1822, and at the 
 age of 20 years was graduated from the 
 University of Vermont and in 1847 was 
 admitted to the bar in Elizabethtown, 
 N. Y., where he ever afterward resided 
 until his death which took place Dec. 14. 
 1881. He was a regent of the University 
 of New York from 18.59, until his death. 
 He was twice chosen a representative to 
 Congress, his first term being from 1865 
 to 18G7 and his second from 1873 to 
 1875. Mr. Hale was also special coun- 
 sel for the United States from 1868 to 
 1870 and was also agent for the United 
 States before the American and British 
 commission under the treaty of Washing- 
 ton from 1871 to 1873. 
 
 A meeting to the memory of Mr. Hale 
 42 
 
ROBERT SAFFORD HALE 
 
 TO WHOM THE FIRST AMERICAN EDITION OF THE 
 PHILOBIBLON WAS DEDICATED 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 •was held by the regents of the Univer- 
 sity of New York on Jan. 12, 1882, at 
 which an eulogy was pronounced by Re- 
 gent George William Curtis, for many 
 years editor of Harper's Magazine; and 
 remarks were made by John Carson 
 Brevoort and Regent Fitch. In his eu- 
 logy, George William Curtis, after 
 speaking of his "alert and incisive intel- 
 ligence, his quick and flashing intellec- 
 tual grasp, his blithe courage and some- 
 what aggressive independence, his care- 
 ful mental training, his generous and 
 finely cultivated literary taste," said: 
 "The courts of law in which he was 
 distinguished on the bench and at the 
 bar; the Congress of the United States 
 in which he fitly represented the pure 
 character, the high intelligence and the 
 simple republican manners of a great 
 rural constituency; the national and in- 
 ternational tribunals before which he 
 successfully maintained the rights of 
 citizens entrusted to him by the govern- 
 ment: the community in which he Uved 
 respected and beloved of all men; the 
 home consecrated by that holy tender- 
 ness of affection which is the chief glory 
 
 43 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 aud consolation of human life — all tliese 
 lament our friend." If any other rea- 
 sons than the above are wanting why 
 Mr. Hand dedicated the first edition ol 
 the Philobiblon to his friend Regent 
 Hale, it could be found in the words to 
 his memory uttered by Regent Fitch 
 that "as a scholar he was exceedingly 
 well informed, and that in several de- 
 partments which few essay. In the 
 classics and in English literature he was 
 an authority and had made thorough 
 studies in ethnology and archaeology. In 
 all the walks of life he was distinguish- 
 ed, but his various accomplishments 
 were ever subordinated to the highest 
 moral principle." It may be added that 
 to the De Burians of Bangor Regent 
 Hale has a special claim upon our re- 
 gard in that he was a brother of the 
 mother of our distinguished and es- 
 teemed member, Mr. Charles E. Bliss. 
 
 44 
 
V. THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 A FT 10 K I had been connected with 
 the Daily Commercial for a year 
 or two I determined to put on a 
 book and literary page. I think I 
 judged rightly when I concluded there 
 were enough people in a city the size <:t 
 Bangor to be sufficiently interested ia 
 such a page to justify the work put into 
 it — which was and has always been a 
 labor of love. The first man who recog- 
 nized any interest in that department 
 and spoke to me about it was our valued 
 member, Mr. Bliss. I cannot tell you 
 what peculiar joy his commendation 
 gave me. Later our young member, 
 Mr. Hennessy, after coming to the Com- 
 mercial staff, ventured to talk with me 
 about books. These several talks led to 
 the expression of a wish that a club 
 might be formed consisting of a few 
 genuine book-lovers which could meet 
 once a fortnight, or once a month to 
 
 45 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 talk about books. The result was that 
 cue beautiful evening in the early June 
 of 1890, the three original members of 
 the De Burians of Bangor, Mr. Hen- 
 nessy, Mr. Sawtelle and myself met in 
 the delightful parlor of Mr. Hennessy's 
 home and decided to form such a club. If 
 I may take any credit whatsoever for 
 introducing De Bury to the Bangor club 
 of book-lovers, the honor of the name 
 chosen for it, The De Burians, is the 
 happy conception of our young member 
 Mr. Hennessy. The objects of the club 
 have been stated in the introduction to 
 our first book— "the holding of meetings 
 to talk about books; the visits to libra- 
 ries of its members and others and the 
 publication of occasional books relating 
 to bibliography or local history." 
 
 One of the first visits of the club— a 
 friendly visit before the club had been 
 organized — was that of two or three 
 members to the home of our associate, 
 Judge Edgar C. Smith of Dover. The 
 first real pilgrimage of the club vyas in 
 the fall of 1900 when that delightful 
 visit participated in by four members 
 was made to Portland. On that occa- 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 sion a ninuber of our members met the 
 Portland publisher, Mr. Mosher aud the 
 Portland book-collector, Hon. Charles B\ 
 Libby, for the first time — but in a few 
 moments after introducions we were as 
 familiar as though we had been friends 
 for a long time. The enjoyment of Mr. 
 Mosher's hospitality at his home in 
 Deering, the long evening spent among 
 the rare treasures of his rich private 
 library where for the first time we saw 
 choice first editions of many rare books 
 and the generous attentions of host and 
 hostess will pass into our history as the 
 red letter day of our first year; while 
 Mr. Libby was equally free in admitting 
 us to the private rooms of his residence 
 in Portland where we saw treasure up- 
 on treasure of richly bound volumes, es- 
 pecially the wealth of rare illustrated 
 French books and books of fine arr. The 
 privacy of two or three bed-room hbra- 
 ries, even— where one could take down a 
 favorite book while lying in bed (after 
 the coveted manner of our dear Eugene) 
 — was not denied us, and the freedom of 
 the entire house was our own for the 
 few short hours we there spent. 
 
 47 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 The winter season of 1900-'01 was fair- 
 ly successful— especially for a first one. 
 Five meetings were held during that 
 winter with the following papers, viz.: 
 One on Choate, Everett and Webster, by 
 Mr. Bhss: on Collectors and Collecting 
 by Mr. Boardman; on Early Printing by 
 Mr. Sawtelle; on Chaucer by our distin- 
 guished honorary member, Prof. Sewall 
 and on Goethe by Prof. Faulkland Lewis 
 of the University of Maine. It was 
 during that winter that the club decided 
 to print the memoir and diary of Peter 
 Edes for its first publication. 
 
 Two conspicuous events make the au- 
 tumn of 1901 the most notable period in 
 the history of the De Burians, thus far. 
 The first of these was the pilgrimage of 
 the club, in which six members joined, to 
 Rockland and Camden on Oct. 11-12; the 
 second was the publication of the club's 
 first book and annual supper, Oct. 17. 
 Both were red letter occasions. Th«» 
 pilgrimage to Rockland and Camden was 
 made on a specially chartered steamer, 
 the Tremont, Capt. Crosby. Leaving 
 Bangor about ].30 p. m., we had supper 
 on board the boat and arrived at Cair- 
 48 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 deu just at the shutting in of early even- 
 ing on a short autumn day. From there 
 electric cars were taken to Rockland 
 where we quartered at the Thorndike 
 house. The members of the club then 
 spent an hour in the charming "brown 
 study" of Mr. W. O. Fuller, Jr., an ideal 
 den or library room in the attic of his 
 house, every nook and corner of which 
 was of interest — the walls attractive 
 with portaits, autographs and mottoes, 
 framed letters of Dickens, Mark Twain, 
 Bret Harte, T. B. Aldrich; while the 
 shelves and niches were crowded with 
 favorite books, presentation copies and 
 choice editions; with window and alcove 
 seats of most inviting softness and over 
 the open fireplace this verse, from Mr. 
 Fuller's literary friend and one of his 
 favorite authors — Mr. Thomas Bailey 
 Aldrich: 
 "When friends are at your fireside met, 
 
 Sweet courtesy has done Its most 
 If you have made each guest forget 
 
 That he himself Is not the host" 
 — the sentiment of which was as true ou 
 that occasion, I imagine, as it has ever 
 been. From Mr. Fuller's the members 
 
 49 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 were piloted to the residence of Con- 
 gressman Charles E. Littlefield, where 
 we met with the Rockland Twelve Mo. 
 club, among the members being Con- 
 gressman Littlefield, Mr. Fuller, the late 
 Mr. Justice Fogler, Captain Butler, Mr. 
 Cobb, Mr. L. F. Starrett and others. 
 
 It was in the beautiful new library of 
 Congressman Littlefield — the opening of 
 which was really dedicated on that occa- 
 sion — that the question, which had been 
 asked many times before, "where difl 
 your club obtain its name," was agaiu 
 asked. All the members of the Twelve 
 Mo. club were in ignorance on that 
 point. On the answer being briefly 
 given Congressman Littlefield took 
 down fi-om his shelves his copy of Lord 
 John Campbell's Lives of the Lord 
 Chancellors and Keepers of the Great 
 Seal of England and turning to the 
 index found in the first volume that ac- 
 count of De Bury which answered the 
 question fully. He read many passages 
 with evident delight at what he had 
 found and the account was equally en- 
 joyed by all present. 
 
 Lord Campbell says that De Bury filled 
 50 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 the office of chancellor only from Sept. 
 28, 1334, to June 5, 1335, when he ex- 
 changed it for that of treasurer. During 
 this interval he held the great seal him- 
 self and did all the duties belonging to 
 it, without the assistance of any vice- 
 chancellor and he seems to have given 
 satisafction to the public. I quote from 
 Lord Campbell: 
 
 "A parliament met at Whitsuntide, 
 and De Bury presided at it; but we can- 
 not celebrate him as a legislator, for at 
 this parliament only one act passed, 
 which was to regulate the herring fishery 
 at Yarmouth; and the time was occupied 
 in obtaining a supply to enable the king 
 to carry on war against Spain. Dp Bury 
 went thrice to Paris as ambassador from 
 Edward to the King of France respect- 
 ing his claim to the crown of that coun- 
 try, and afterwards visited Antwerp and 
 Brabant, with a view of forming alli- 
 ances for the coming contest. But be- 
 fore the French war had made much 
 progress he resigned the great seal and 
 retired from public life." 
 
 In this act we obtain a just and correct 
 estimate of De Bury's character. He 
 
 51 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 did not like public life aud had little en- 
 joyment of its duties or its honors. Lord 
 Campbell says: "He now shut himself 
 up in his palace at Bishops Auckland 
 among his books, which he preferred to 
 all other human enjoyments. He em- 
 ployed himself ardently in the extension 
 of his library, which, whether out of 
 compliment to him, or as a satire on his 
 brother ecclesiastics, was said to 'con- 
 tain mpre volumes than those of all the 
 other bishops in the kingdom put to- 
 gether.' By the favor of Edward he 
 gained access to the libraries of the 
 great monasteries, where he shook off 
 the dust from volumes preserved iu 
 chests and presses, which had not been 
 opened for many ages. Not satisfied 
 with this privilege, he extended his 
 researches by employing stationers and 
 booksellers, not only in England, but al- 
 so in France, Germany and Italy, re- 
 gardless both of expense and labor. To 
 solace his declining years, he wrote the 
 Philobiblon, in praise of books; 8 
 treatise which may now be perused with 
 great pleasure, as it shows that the au- 
 thor had a most intimate acquaintance 
 
 52 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 with the classics, and not only a passiou 
 for books exceeding that of any modern 
 collector, but a rich vein of native 
 humor, which must have made him a 
 most delightful companion.'' 
 
 Following the above extract Lord 
 Campbell devotes four pages of his work 
 to numerous extracts from the Philobi- 
 blon to show its general style, these ex- 
 tracts being connected by a sort of run- 
 ning commentary upon the various 
 chapters from which they are selected. 
 In that chapter telling "of the numerous 
 opportunities of the author of collecting 
 books from all quarters," which as Lord 
 Campbell intimates may bring some sus- 
 picion upon his judicial purity, but after 
 a full examination he concludes that "the 
 open avowal of the manner in which his 
 library was accumulated, proves that he 
 had done nothing that would not be 
 sanctioned by the public opinion of the 
 age." 
 
 I give these extracts from Lord Camp- 
 bell's work in this connection because 
 they seem appropriate as indicating some 
 of the subjects of conversation ou that 
 delightful evening. The talk was en- 
 
 53 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 joyed till a late hour when the members 
 returned to their quarters at the Thorn- 
 dike. 
 
 On Saturday morning, Oct. 12, the 
 members of the club, accompanied by 
 Capt. Butler and Mr. Starrett, visited 
 the rooms of the Rockland public library, 
 and later, in company with the above 
 named gentlemen and Mr. Fuller came 
 to Camden where an hour or two was 
 spent in the elegant library room of the 
 late Mr. J. B. Stearns, in Norumbega, 
 one of the most beautiful private houses 
 on the Maine coast, where we were the 
 recipients of most kindly attentions from 
 Mrs. Stearns. The library, which was 
 the pride of its late owner and was 
 chiefly purchased in London during sev- 
 eral years' residence in that city, is one 
 of the finest in any private residence in 
 Maine. It embraces several thousand 
 volumes, all in fine editions, elegantly 
 bound, with many large paper copies and 
 a large number of beautifully illustrated 
 folios. Dinner on the boat and a pleas- 
 ant sail up the picturesque Penobscot, its 
 banks gorgeous wjth the autumnal colors 
 of its wooded hillsides— not to speak of 
 
 54 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 Sandy and the sardines — were among 
 the pleasing incidents of this delightful 
 pilgrimage. 
 
 55 
 
VI. THE BIRTH OF A BOOK 
 
 Tjjg second of the notable events in 
 the history of the club for the year 
 1901 was the annual supper and 
 distribution to members of its first 
 publication. The birth of a book is al- 
 ways an important event for those inter- 
 ested in its production and the De Bu- 
 rians regarded the issue of their first 
 volume as an occasion over which they 
 could well afford to make merry. Con- 
 sequently a supper was arranged for the 
 evening of Oct. 17, 1901, at Weferling's, 
 and at the tables were seated eight ac- 
 tive and one honorary member, Prof. 
 Sewall of the Seminary. At this supper 
 two new members met with the club for 
 the first time — Gen. Charles Hamlin and 
 Col. Fred H. Parkhurst. There Tvere no 
 speeches. The committee of the club 
 having the matter in charge gracefully 
 presented copy No. 1 of the Biography 
 
 56 
 
THE BOOKWORM 
 
 3M THE CELEBRATED PAINTING BV EDOUARD 
 GRUTZNER 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 and Diary of Peter Edes, to its presi- 
 dent and the members then drew for 
 their own personal copies. At a subse- 
 quent meeting Mr. Frank H. Damon 
 was admitted to the club, the number of 
 members now being nine, A large mem- 
 bership is not desirable. With a larger 
 number is Uable to enter more occasion 
 for discord. Future members should be 
 chosen with great caution. There are 
 few real De Burians — it is only real D« 
 Burians who are eligible to our select 
 fraternity. 
 
 57 
 
VII. SECOND YEAR OF THE 
 DE BURIANS 
 
 THE season of the De Burians for 
 1901-'02, which comes to a close 
 this evening, has been the mobt 
 enjoyable and successful in its 
 history. The full program has been car 
 ried out, and although an occasional post- 
 ponement has been made to accommodate 
 parties, the meetings have been held 
 with commendable regularity. All have 
 been full of enjoyment. Seven papers 
 have been read by our own members; 
 one by our honorary member, Prof. Sew- 
 all, and three by invited guests. The lat- 
 ter have been the talk on manuscripts 
 and early printed books by Prof. Edward 
 W. Hall of Colby college: the paper on 
 Charles Lamb by Mr. W. O. Fuller, 
 Jr., of the Twelve Mo. club and 
 the exceedingly entertaining talk about 
 private presses and rare books by our 
 honorary member, the publisher known 
 
 58 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 iu England and America for his fine 
 books— Mr. Thomas B. Mosher of Port- 
 land. 
 
 While all of these were good the 
 bright glow of happy recollection rests 
 longest upon the talk of Prof. Hall 
 with his early manuscripts and incuna- 
 bula, or "cradle books," and most gor- 
 geously upon that little entranced com- 
 pany iu Mr. Sawtelle's beautiful library 
 room in which Mr. Mosher held us spell- 
 bound for more than an hour as he 
 talked of authors and books, presses and 
 editions. The grip which Mr. Mosher 
 brought from Portland contained nearly 
 .$1,000 worth of rare books. One does 
 not so much wonder at this when it is 
 remembered that it contained rare speci- 
 mens of the Daniel, Kelmscott, Vale, Es- 
 sex House, Doves and Ashendon 
 presses, England; specimens of the Gro- 
 lier club books, the first edition of Fitz- 
 Gerald's Omar of 1859, a httle pamphlet 
 for which Mr. Mosher paid $70 and 
 Andrew Lang's Ballads and Lyrics of 
 Old France. The English books em- 
 braced Tennyson's Maud, Hand and 
 Soul, the new type Ruskin and Morris, 
 
 59 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 printed at the Essex House press; Cob- 
 deu-Sanderson's The Ideal Book from 
 Doves press; while none of the English 
 books were exceeded in beauty by Mr. 
 Mosher's own Hand and Soul, bound by 
 Miss Pratt; one of the six copies of 
 Mimes, printed on pure vellum, and 
 Child Christopher, in Levant binding. 
 One of the treasures which Mr. Moshei 
 also exhibited was the MS. of Richard 
 Jefferies' poem My Chaffinch. 
 
 The program for the season of 1901-'02 
 embraced the following papers and lec- 
 tures by De Burian members and in- 
 vited speakers: 
 
 Oct. 24, 1901: Visits to the Great Li- 
 braries and Museums of England and 
 the Continent, by William Otis Saw- 
 telle. 
 
 Nov. 7: The Anglo Saxons, by Prof. 
 John S. Sewall, D. D., of Bangor 
 Theological Seminary. 
 
 Dec. 12: The Ethics of Book Collect- 
 ing, by Wilfrid A. Hennessy. 
 
 Jan. 3, 1902: Rufus Choate, by Hon. 
 Charles E. Bliss. 
 
 Jan. 16: Moses Greenleaf, by Hon. 
 Edgar Colby Smith. 
 6o 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 Jan. 30: Mauuscripts and Early 
 Piinted Books, by Prof. Edward W. 
 Hall, librarian of Colby college. 
 
 Feb. 13: Some Men and Their Books, 
 by Frank A. Damon. 
 
 Feb. 27: Charles Lamb, by W. O. 
 Fuller, Jr.. of Rockland. 
 
 March 13: An Informal Talk on Boob 
 and Club Matters. 
 
 March 27: Fine Printing and the 
 Books of Famous Private Presses, by 
 Thomas B. Mosher of Portland. 
 
 April 10: My Three Favorite Books 
 by Gen. Charles Hamlin. 
 
 April 24: De Bury and the De Buri 
 aus of Bangor, by Samuel L. Boardman 
 
 The record may well close here. But 
 I should not omit to mention the red let 
 ter meeting of the winter, that at Gen 
 Hamlin's, at which every member was 
 present, and when for the first time in 
 our history a member had the courage to 
 set aside the fundamental code of the 
 club that DO lunch should be served at its 
 meetings, and spread before us a mag- 
 nificent banquet. The precendent has, 
 however, since been followed by other 
 members with evident satisfaction. 
 6i 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 The mighty Dibdln, writing in his 
 Bibliomania in 1809 said: "I am rather 
 surprised that a 'De Bury Club' has not 
 yet been established by Philobiblists as 
 he was undoubtedly the founder of the 
 order in England.'' While since De 
 Bury's death 557 years ago, and since 
 Dibdin wrote this sentence nearly 100 
 years ago numerous book clubs have 
 been formed in all the countries of the 
 globe, it has been left to a few book- 
 ioTers in this little "down east" city of 
 Bangor to form a book club in De Bury's 
 honor, bearing his name, and to dedicate 
 its series of volumes to his memory. With 
 this first book in an edition so limited as 
 179 copies, taking a creditable place in 
 the collections of book lovers and in the 
 libraries of the country; with a second 
 one, devoted to so important and appro- 
 priate a subject as that of the first 
 geographer of Maine, which is in the 
 judicious hands of Judge Smith and 
 nearly ready for the stocks, and with 
 three other equally as good subjects for 
 books already in sight of the publishing 
 committee, the future work of the Do 
 
 62 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 Buriaus may be said to be well mapped 
 out. 
 
 Following these I want to see one 
 final volume devoted to a compilation of 
 all the biographies of De Bury, with 
 those of his original translator and the 
 editor of his first English and first Amer- 
 ican editions, with a brief history of the 
 De Burians of Bangor as an introduc- 
 tion — all issued in the same uniform and 
 unvarying style of its first publication. 
 This will embrace a set of six volumes, 
 which may well occupy an honorable cor- 
 ner of some shelf in the libraries of the 
 world. It is not probable that this can 
 all be accomplished during the tarry with 
 you of your older members— but the 
 boys here can. keep up the work till it is 
 completed. And I want you all to know, 
 with the last words of this already too 
 long paper, how dear you are to me. The 
 happiest hours of my life in this city 
 have been those passed at the meetings 
 of our little club, while the dearest and 
 most highly prized friendships of my 
 life are those which have been formed 
 with each and every member of the De 
 Burians of Bangor. Indeed, as Charles 
 
 63 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 Lamb said of his friend, William Haz- 
 litt, I may say of them: "I think I 
 shall go to my grave without finding or 
 expecting to find another such compan- 
 ion." 
 
 64 
 
THE DE BURIANS 
 
 OFFICERS 
 
 Samuel Lane Boardmau, Presideut, 
 No. 185 Pine Street, Bangor. 
 
 Wilfrid A. Hennessy, Secretary, No. 5 
 High Street, Bangor. 
 
 William Otis Sawtelle, Treasurer, No. 
 50 Penobscot Street, Bangor. 
 
 MEMBERS 
 
 Samuel Lane Boardman, Editor Ban- 
 gor Daily Commercial. 
 
 Wilfrid A. Hennessy, City Editor Ban- 
 gor Daily Commercial. 
 
 William Otis Sawtelle, Director of 
 Mathematics, Bangor High School. 
 
 Charles F. Kennedy, with E. F. 
 Dillingham, Bookseller, Bangor. 
 
 Hon. Charles E. Bliss, Manager West- 
 ern Union Telegraph Company, Bangor. 
 
 Hon. Edgar Colby Smith, Judge 
 Piscataquis Municipal Court, Dover. 
 
 65 
 
RICHARD DE BURY AND 
 
 Gen. Charles Hamlin, United States 
 Commissioner and Reporter of Decisions, 
 Maine Supreme Court, Bangor. 
 
 Col. Frederic H. Parkhurst, Staff of 
 Hon. John F. Hill, Governor of Maine, 
 Bangor. 
 
 Frank H. Damon, Director of Science, 
 Bangor High School, Bangor. 
 
 HONORARY MEMBERS 
 
 Prof. John S. Sevvall, D. D., Bangor 
 Theological Seminary. 
 
 Thomas B. Mosher, Publisher, Port- 
 land. 
 
 Hon. Charles F. Libby, Portland. 
 
 William O. Fuller, Jr., Author, Editor 
 The Courier-Gazette, Rockland. 
 
 Hon. Charles E. Littlefield, Represen- 
 tative, Second Maine District, United 
 States Congress, Rockland. 
 
 Edward W. Hall, Librarian Colby Col- 
 lege, Waterville. 
 
 Hubbard Winslow Bryant, Secretary 
 and Librarian, Maine Historical Society, 
 Portland. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Peter Edes: Pioneer Printer in Maine. 
 A Biography. His Diary While a 
 66 
 
THE DE BURIANS OF BANGOR 
 
 Prisoner by the British at Boston in 
 1T75, with the Journal of John Leach 
 who was a Prisoner at the Same 
 Time, Edited by Samuel Lane 
 Boardman. (Seal of De Bury). Ban- 
 gor: Printed for the De Burians, 
 1901. Square 4to., pp. xiv, 160. With 
 23 Plates Edition of 179 copies. 
 67 
 
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