THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES . THE BOOK FANCIER OR THE IRomance of JSoofc Collecting BY PERCY FITZGERALD LONDON SAMPSON LOW MARSTON & CO., LTD. PRINTED BY THE LONDON AND NORWICH PRESS, LIMITED LONDON AND NORWICH TO GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA, CRITIC AND CONNOISSEUR, Cbis Volume, ON A SUBJECT CONGENIAL TO HIS TASTES, IS INSCRIBED BY HIS FRIEND THE AUTHOR 662851 PREFACE WITHIN the last few years there has been a revival of the old and elegant taste of the book-fancier, as well as of that passion or faith which is described with such amiable enthusiasm in the little tract of the worthy Bishop Richard of Bury. The history and pedigree of books, of printers, &c., has always been a favourite study with the learned, attested by the profound and scholarly treatises of the Panzers, Hains, de Bures, Brunets, and our own Lowndes. But this subject has its popular graces also, and there is a sort of romantic interest attached to all that is associated with books the rare old edition, the old printer, the blear-eyed collector, the binder, the sale, and the stray survivor of a whole edition, by some miracle preserved to our time. These topics seemed to kindle such writers as the late Dr. Hill Burton perhaps the first in our time to deal popularly with such matters ; Mr. Andrew Lang being the latest to illustrate this subject from his abundant stores of knowledge. Having from the earliest date had a taste for this fascinating pursuit and when a boy I formed a very respectable collection of Elzevirs, and looked on auction days as festivals I have ventured to add my contribution to the rest. This little volume will be found to contain many curious and interesting things not readily accessible, and deals in some fashion with almost everything that is connected with " book." vi PREFACE Due allowance must be made for the enthusiasm of the collector, who from the days of the excellent Dr. Frognall Dibdin has been good-naturedly allowed ever to see gold and silver and jewels in his mouldy treasures. For some curious information concerning book- binding I am indebted to the papers of the late Mr. Sanders of Oxford. Other obligations I have acknowledged in the notes. ATHENAEUM CLUB. CONTENTS PAGB BOOK COLLECTORS AND DEALERS . . . . I THE MAZARIN BIBLE 17 THE INCUNABLES ....... 32 ELZEVIRS AND OLD PRINTERS ..... 47 CAXTONS AND ENGLISH PRINTERS . . . 67 OF THE LIBRARY ....... 82 BINDING AND ITS CURIOSITIES 99 CURIOSITIES OF PRINTING . . . . .136 GRANGERISING AND DICKENSIANA .... l68 " LUXURIOUS EDITIONS " IQ3 OF THE AUCTION-ROOM ...... 222 SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS . . . 253 L'ENVOI ........ 307 INDEX ......... 309 THE BOOK FANCIER Boofe Collectors ano Dealers " O MY darling books ! " exclaims an enthusiastic collector, Silvestre de Sacy ; "a day will come when you will be laid out on the saleroom table, and others will buy and possess you persons, perhaps, less worthy of you than your old master. Yet how dear to me are they all ! for have I not chosen them one by one, gathered them in with the sweat of my brow ? I do love you all ! It seems as if, by long and sweet companionship, you had become part of myself. But in this world nothing is secure." Some such pang or foreboding as this has often wrung the collector's heart as he surveys his treasures ranged within their glass-bound tene- ments ; for he knows that, whatever securities he may contrive, their dispersion is almost inevitable. The more precious the collection, the more certain the temptation ; and there is even a grim legend of one library carried to the saleroom, " by order 2 THE BOOK FANCIER of the relatives," on the very day after the interment of the owner. Yet here there is a righteous Nemesis ; for too often, indeed, the " hobby " has been ridden at the sacrifice of family comforts, and even family embarrassment, hence the pressing temptation to recover what is thought to have been unrighteously abstracted. Yet a cloud of pleasant romantic associations still envelops the amiable collector, often a man of simple manners and tastes, whose holiday is a prowl among the " old bookshops," and whose triumph is his return home with some mouldy but precious little duodecimo. He will exhibit to you with trembling glee his Elzevir Rabelais, secured out of a book-box at the door, " all at a shilling," or his rare Jenson in folio, purchased from a " country dealer " for the vast price of 10, but which " he knows is worth five times the money," as indeed it is. But alas ! behind all this is the grim tragic idea of, as it were, " writing in water," of gathering for dispersion, of heaping up only for scattering, of that final, fatal day when all shall be sold and others buy again ! He is but a bibliophilist Danaid, vainly filling his pitcher the water run- ning out at bottom ! The book-collecting passion was alluded to long ago in Lucian, who asks : " Why do you buy so many books ? You are blind, and you buy a grand mirror ; you are deaf, and you purchase fine musical instruments ; you have no hair, and you get yourself a comb." This is perhaps the most bitter stroke yet given to the bibliomaniac. More pleasantly sarcastic, too, are the lines of old Brandt in his " Ship of Fools," where our maniac is ever a con* spicuous passenger : BOOK COLLECTORS AND DEALERS 3 " Still am I busy bookes assembling, For to have plentie it is a pleasaunt thing In my conceyt, to have them ay at hand, But what they meane do I not understande," One might weep over the mad folly of old Maglia- becchi " the Glutton of Books " who covered -floor, bed, and every portion of his house with books. When he wished to sleep, he would throw an old rug over any books that were on the floor, and stretch himself upon them, or he would cast himself, completely dressed, into his unmade bed, which was filled full of books, taking a basin of coals with him. Often he thus, quite unintentionally, set himself and his bed on fire. Notwithstanding this confusion, he could lay his hand on any book at any moment, though buried under a load of disorderly volumes. But most " untidy " literary men and scholars can do this, to a great extent, in the case of their papers as well as of books. To the housemaid eye there is a hopeless confusion. No " hobby " is so old, so enduring, or respectable as this. Almost from the first days of writing it declared itself, and down to this hour it has flour- ished. The very literature of the subject is enor- mous, and would fill a small library. There is a dictionary on the subject of books that deals with books that is, things of paper and print. About printers and printing alone, its various styles and forms, there are treatises without end ; grand encyclopaedic dictionaries written by the pundits Hain, Panzer, De Bure, the greater Brunet, and many more. There can be no doubt, indeed, that a book falls within the domain of art, for it is a thing of arrangement and disposition, and with such elements it is obvious there must be one sort of 4 THE BOOK FANCIER arrangement or disposition that is more pleasing than another. The ordinary book-hunter, stall-ranger, or " prow- ler " has a store of joys and delight, even in anticipat- ing their fruition, which he can gratify to the full in this London of ours, as well as did old Monkbarns in the " wynds " and purlieus of Edinburgh. He becomes a character. "Of the old bookstall hunters," writes Mr. Sanders in his MS., penes me, " Richard Smyth, one of the Secondaries of the City of London from 1644 to 1655, was said to be so devoted to the pleasant toils of book collecting, that he resigned his office (and emoluments of 700 a year) expressly that he might take his rounds among the booksellers' shops, especially in Little Britain. Dr. John North delighted in the small editions of the classics by Seb. Gryphius. His biographer says : * I have borne him company at a bookstall for many hours together, and minding him of the time he hath made a dozen offers before he would quit.' Sterne was fond of looking over bookstalls, and writes exultingly of a bargain made by Mr. Shandy, who had the good fortune to get Bruscambille's Prologue on Noses [i2mo, Paris, 1612] almost for nothing, that is, for three half-crowns. ' There are not three Brus- cambilles in Christendom [said the stall-man] except what are chained up in the libraries of the curious. My father flung down the money as quick as lightning, took Bruscambille into his bosom, hyed home from Piccadilly to Coleman Street with it, as he would have hyed home with a treasure, without taking his hand once off from Bruscambille all the way.' The Rev. Richard Farmer, D.D., was a great lover of bookstalls. His library sold in 1798 for 2,210, his pictures for 500, all of which, it is believed, were purchased by BOOK COLLECTORS AND DEALERS 5 the Doctor for much under 500. The Rev. J. Brand, F.A.S., whose compact library of ' unique, scarce, rare, and curious works ' was sold at the beginning of the century for upwards of 6000, almost daily visited the bookstalls between Piccadilly and Mile End a rather extensive range and generally returned from these excursions with his deep and wide pockets well laden, and it is said his volumes were chiefly collected in this way, and for compara- tively small sums. The old Duke of Roxburghe wandered industriously and zealously from bookshop to bookstall over the world, just as he wandered over the moor stalking the deer. Madame D'Arblay men- tions that Queen Charlotte, speaking of a book in her library, said, ' I picked the book up on a stall. Oh, it's amazing what good books there are on stalls ! ' On which Mrs. Del any, fancying that her Majesty was in the habit of exploring bookstalls in person, expressed her surprise. ' Why,' said the Queen, ' I don't pick them up myself ; but I have a servant, very clever, and if they are not to be had at the booksellers', they are not for me more than for another.' Still Dr. Croly says that Queen Charlotte was in the habit of paying visits, with a lady-in- waiting, to Holywell Street and Ludgate Hill, where second-hand books were offered for sale. ' In no instance,' says he, ' was her Majesty recognised or interfered with.' Her Majesty's taste went further, and it is not generally known that she had a private press of her own. This we learn from a volume, ' Miscellaneous Poems, printed in 1812 by E. Hardy for her Majesty Queen Charlotte, at the Frogmore Lodge Press.' Only thirty copies were printed as presents for the Queen's select friends. Most of the royal family had this taste for typography and books, 6 THE BOOK FANCIER and the author possesses some verses printed in red ink by George Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.) when a child. George III. at one time proposed setting up a press in the palace. " ' How often,' says Sir Walter Scott, speaking with the voice of the old antiquary, Monkbarns, ' have I stood haggling on a penny, lest, by a too ready acqui- escence in the dealer's first price, he should be led to suspect the value I set upon the article ! How have I trembled lest some passing stranger should chop in between me and the prize ; and then, Mr. Love], the sly satisfaction with which one pays the consideration and pockets the article, affecting a cold indifference while the hand is trembling with pleasure ! ' South ey could not pass a stall without ' just running his eye over for one minute,' even, we are told, if the coach which was to take him to see Coleridge at Hampstead was within that time of starting. The great lawyer, Francis Hargrave, is said to have formed his exten- sive library merely by ' picking up ' at bookstalls, seldom, if ever, purchasing a volume at what is called a * regular ' bookseller's. This library was purchased for 8000 for the British Museum. Charles Butler, another lawyer of eminence, also ranged bookstalls, and many a rare book he has secured for a few shil- lings, worth as many pounds. This was his frequent boast. Lord Macaulay was peculiarly fond of rum- maging the bookstalls, and scarcely a dusty old book- shop in any by-court or out-of-the-way corner in London escaped his attention. No one so ready to mount a ladder and scour the top shelf for quarto pamphlets or curious literary relics of a bygone age, and come down after an hour's examination covered with dust and cobwebs, sending for a bun to take the place of his usual luncheon. He was not ashamed BOOK COLLECTORS AND DEALERS 7 to act as his own porter, and, like most of the eminent bookworms, ancient and modern, was not above carrying a shabby old folio through a fashionable thoroughfare." The late Mark Pattison had a special fancy for the little antique Latin pocket volumes published in myriads a couple of centuries ago. It is curious to think of scholars " wise and old " issuing their profoundest lucubrations in volumes about the size of a small Prayer-Book or Pocket Testament ; but such was the fashion. Long histories, such as Strada On the Belgian War, a work as long as " Hume and Smollett," or even " Gibbon," were thus squeezed into portable shape. Eyes in those days must have been stouter and clearer. The bookworm, bibliophilist, or book fancier is a favourite and almost dramatic figure, with his dim eyes, rusty clothing, and eccentric affection for his treasures. We have a sympathetic tenderness for his lone, solitary ways, his self-denial and privations, his hungry ardour and prowlings after his " midnight darlings." If the truth were known, this sympathy would be found to be thrown away ; for his greed, akin to that of the miser, would make him sacrifice all that is human to all that is of paper. He is likely enough to be morose, snarling, grasping, and would find the most exquisite pleasure in getting from some poor but ignorant dealer for a shilling what was worth guineas. This is the triumph of the chasse a livres. The prospect of parting with his old friends adds a new pang to death. Friends, relatives, he can leave behind with indifference, but his dear books " cannot bear him company." Here was the de- parture of a late book lover thus quaintly por- trayed : " He had a quite human fondness for his books ; nothing annoyed him so much as to hear one 8 THE BOOK FANCIER of them fall ; and dusting them, which he reduced to a science, seemed to give him real pleasure. In his last illness the sight of any of his favourites depressed him greatly. ' Ah ! ' he would say, ' I am to leave my books ; ' and sometimes, ' They have been more to me than my friends.' He would ask for them one after the other, till he was literally covered almost to his shoulders, as he lay, and the floor around him was strewn with them. He used to say that the sight of books was necessary to him at his work ; and once reading how Schiller always kept ' rotten apples ' in his study because their scent was beneficial to him, he pointed to some shelves above his head, where he kept his oldest and most prized editions, and said, ' There are my rotten apples.' " * In the last century there flourished if the term be not too extravagant a book hunter named Wil- son, better and more ungraciously known as " Snuffy Davy," who once picked up on a stall in a Dutch town a small black-letter quarto, for which he paid twopence. This proved to be one of the first English- printed books, Caxton's " Game of Chess." He sold it to a London bookseller, Osborne, celebrated for being knocked down by Dr. Johnson with one of his own folios, for 20. Osborne disposed of it to Dr. * Mr. Gladstone is a diligent searcher of the stalls. The book fancier often comes on his track, and has seen a little parcel a bit of old theology, a rare poet, a nice old edition of Lamb set aside to be sent home to Downing Street. Some- times, when he is cheapening a book in a more public place than Holywell Street, a curious crowd will gather outside, staring in unmeaningly, as the vulgar gaper knows how to do. This " draws " the eminent virtuoso, who strides out impatiently, the stall-man execrating the idlers, who, perhaps, have hindered a bargain. All catalogues are sent to him and read, and returned marked with orders. BOOK COLLECTORS AND DEALERS 9 Askew for 65 ; and on his death it was purchased for the Windsor library for 370. At the present time the original twopence would have multiplied into a thousand pounds. All your book hunters will tell us that such surprises are part of the joys of their call- ing. Yet I fancy the loyal heart would feel a twinge or scruple as he carries off from the humble and ignorant dealer, for a shilling or two, a volume that may be worth ten or twenty pounds. No sophistry will veil the sharpness of the transaction, in which profit is made of poverty and ignorance ; and it would not be difficult to make an equitable decision, the buyer, as discoverer, being entitled to perhaps the larger share, and the owner to the rest. Instances of trouvailles of this sort are within the experience of every book fancier. A few lots that in 1807 were bought for 8 is., produced at Heber's in 1836, 238 175. At the same time the " Chronica Gulielmi Thorn " sold for 85, having in 1807 changed hands for 12s. This famous library consisted of 105,000 volumes. " The Story e of Frederick of Jensen," Anwarpe, 1518, with that of " Mary of Nemegen " and the " Lyfe of Ver- gilius," bound in one volume, cost the Duke of Rox- burghe also 123., and produced at his sale in 1812, 186 145. Dr. Gosset had seen in his lifetime the first Psalter of 1481 sold at Wilcox's for 55., resold to Dr. Askew for 5 guineas, at whose sale it fetched 16 guineas. He had seen Dr. Farmer give 55. gd. for Painter's " Palace of Pleasure," and the same resold for 20 guineas ; and at Brand's sale he saw a black- letter article, the original cost of which was 35. 6d., rise in a second sale to 100 and upwards. Of the " Tragedy of Dido, Queen of Carthage," written by Marlowe and Nash, printed by the Widdowe Orwin, io THE BOOK FANCIER quarto, London, 1594, only three copies are known to exist. The Duke of Devonshire's copy cost Hen- derson the actor fourpence ; it sold at the Heber sale in 1834 for 39 ! Another was purchased by Malone at Dr. Wright's sale, 1787, for 16 guineas ; a third, purchased by Mr. Reed for eighteenpence, of Mr. Flackton, bookseller, Canterbury, and presented by him in exchange to Stevens, sold at the latter's sale in 1800 for 17. Again, Mr. Rodd, the eminent book- seller, bought in the early part of this century a volume of rare tracts for threepence three-farthings (being its fair weight when put in the scales), which he sold about 1830 to Mr. Heber for 50 ! And again, for the " Mirror of Magistrates " (by G. H.), quarto, 1618, a bookseller at Lancaster gave the sum of threepence and sold for io guineas. It produced at Sotheby's in 1857, 20 los. Malone, the Shakespearean scholar, tells of a precious little collection bound in one volume, and which contained some ten tracts of poetry by Daniel and others, written circa 1590. " Its history," he says, " is a curious one. The volume is just fit for the waistcoat pocket four and a half inches long by three broad pretty thick, well printed, and in good condition. It was sold at the sale of Dr. Bernard's books in 1698 for one shilling and threepence. After- wards, probably passing through many hands, it came into the possession of a broker at Salisbury, where, about thirty years ago, Mr. Warton found it among a parcel of old iron and other lumber, and I think purchased it for sixpence. Since his death, his brother, Dr. Joseph Warton, very kindly presented it to me ; and I have honoured it with a new cover, and have preserved above the name of my poor friend, Mr. Thomas Warton, which was written at the inside of the old cover, as a memorial of that very elegant and ingenious writer." This would now be priced at thirty or forty guineas. But a much more extraordinary illustra- tion of the " ups and downs " of sales was exhibited at the Roxburghe sale, when there were offered no less than ten " Wynkyn de Wordes," with a " Pynson and a Wyer," which in all brought 538. Yet these rarities had actually formed a single volume when in Dr. Farmer's possession, and at his sale fetched but twenty guineas ! The system of " old book dealing " has been so perfected or methodised, that the days for the patient explorer going his rounds with the certainty of " picking up," as it was called, some treasure or rarity, seem to have departed. The value of every- thing really worth anything is known ; no hunting in " book-boxes " or on the outside shelves of the stall will discover a prize. The finding of an old quarto Shakespeare bound up with a lot of tracts is a dream. Still the man of taste and judgment may make his rounds, and find pleasure in redeeming many a pretty and useful volume, worth much more to him than the shilling or two he pays. The " old book " sellers of London and of portions of the country are an interesting class, many of them enthusiasts, all knowing their business thor- oughly, and some with that pleasant quaintness which has often come from living retired in dark Rembrandtish shops, among their antique and musty volumes. The amount of bibliographic lore they acquire and spend over their catalogues is often surprising. They maintain a correspondence with half the literary men of the kingdom, and this adds a tone to their minds. The latter rely on their 12 THE BOOK FANCIER humble friends and assistants, who, when these patrons are in want of some special work, exert themselves and put certain " sleuth-hounds " well known to the trade, with a strange faculty for " nosing " books on the track. Most litterateurs will admit that they always find in good catalogues agreeable and piquant reading, and there are some such as Ridler's of Booksellers' Row, Salkeld's, Georges's, Bennett's of Birmingham which are really most entertaining as well as instructive. My worthy ally of Booksellers' Row has a style of his own, and I often envy his readiness of knowledge and resource. His bazaar has an antique look ; the venerable boxes and shelves look into the street ; within these are the darkened chambers where volumes are stored and stacked, and old monks might be at work. No enthusiast of printing could sing with more appropriateness the merits and charms of his tomes. Here is an honest bit of enthus- iasm : " ALDINE. Hieronymi Opera, 2 vols. in i, thick folio, rubricated throughout in red and blue (with the exception of a slight water-stain), a very fine large copy of this noble volume of early typo- graphy, new calf gilt, exceedingly rare, 2 12s. 6d. Venet., A. de Torresano de Asola, 1488." On which he comments : " This interesting publi- cation is connected with the early Aldine press, the printer being the father-in-law and afterwards partner of the elder Aldus. Dibdin says of this volume ' If the lover of fine and legible printing wishes for a specimen of one of the choicest pro- ductions of the XV. Century, let him lose no oppor- tunity of obtaining the present impression when a reasonable hope of its possession is held out to him ; nor is the work less intrinsically valuable than its BOOK COLLECTORS AND DEALERS 13 exterior form is inviting. A nobler book cannot grace the shelves of any collection.' ' Or better still : " MENTELIN'S PRESS, 1465. Conradi de Alemania, Concordantiae Bibliorum, thick roy. folio, first edition, black letter, the first page surrounded with a broad illuminated border in gold and colours, and illuminated throughout. A most superb copy of this early monument of typography in its infancy, printed by one of the secret workmen of Guttenberg, handsome copy, bound in hogskin, gold and blind tooling on back and sides, from the Syston Park Collection, of the greatest rarity, four- teen guineas. Strasburg, J. Mentelin, 1465. First edition and the first Bible Concordance ever printed. Cost Sir John Thorold 30 ios., bought of Payne and Foss, 1829. See also his MS. note ; not in the Spencer Collection, ascribed by Panzer to the press of Mentelin. The birthplace of printing has been hotly disputed ; there are partisans who have en- deavoured to prove that Strasburg was the original seat of the invention, and assert Mentelin the real inventor of the art, and describe Guttenberg as the robber of his priceless secret, &c. See a long account of this famous printer in Humphrey's History of Printing. Any one wishing to possess a fine and beautiful specimen of early typography could not require a more desirable book than the above. In fact, a more noble volume could not grace the shelves of the finest collection." Who would not be attracted by this glowing language ? The praise of this book is like the taste of rich ripe fruit in the mouth. For this enticing treasure 24 was asked. Yet at a sale in 1827, Herbert's copy sold for i 133. Most of these men can tell us curious and interest- 14 THE BOOK FANCIER ing incidents of their experience of buyers in the olden days. So Mr. Stibbs, on allusion to Charles Lamb, will relate how he had many of his folios " huge armfuls " the " midnight darlings " he bewailed, passing through his hands. He noted what ragged veterans they were, how soiled, thumbed, and generally dirty. His confrere, Wilson, has had Cobbett, Leigh Hunt, and others of the time, drop- ping in. Many of these men have been writers themselves, such as Hindley, who has worked on Catnach literature street cries, ballads, &c. One of the most interesting of this class was an old and rather wizened man, who, when dealing, invariably pointed his speech with a succession of short grunts increasing in intensity as he grew obdurate, dis- appearing wholly when the bargain was a very good one for him. He lived in a little den of books, and was usually interrupted when pursuing " his literary avocations." He was easy to sell, but terrible to the peripatetic vendor of a stray volume, whom he greeted with a sort of ferocity. Yet this man was amiable, had a simplicity worthy of Goldsmith wrote in a charming, easy, unaffected style ; indeed, he had once been a schoolmaster. He collected folk-lore, and at last made a collection of stories of fairies, &c., which he had picked up himself, and which was published with much success. He signed himself quaintly " Philomath." He had never been in London or the great cities, and once wrote to me that he " could picture me sitting of some fine summer's evening with a book under the trees in Trafalgar Square." Foremost among them is the now celebrated Mr. Quaritch of London, the very Napoleon of book- sellers. His enterprise and daring has really had a BOOK COLLECTORS AND DEALERS 15 momentous influence in stimulating prices. He suggests one of those great financiers who rule the market with a nod. He has brought books, as it were, " within the range of practical politics." No one who passes his rather dark and unpretending place of business at No. 15, Piccadilly, could guess at the vast character of his transactions ; neither would any one who sees at some great sale his plain figure, somewhat of Jewish cast, with the ancient felt hat to which his friends attach a sort of mysterious and superstitious power, donned on great occasions, suppose that this was the careless bidder of hundreds and thousands of pounds. In that repository of his are stored away priceless volumes.* Lately inter- * " Mr. Quaritch is by no means an easy man to get at, unless you wish to see him on business. He was in his sanctum, a small, dark room, almost filled with the table, a few chairs, and two or three bookcases, containing several thousand pounds' worth of rare volumes, protected from the dust by glass doors. He discoursed in a pessimistic strain of the decadence of the general buyer and collector, ' a sign of the materialistic age we live in.' Book buying and book collecting in its proper sense has gradually declined since 1830. It was before that time that the great libraries were formed. ' At the Hamilton sale I spent 40,000, and at the Sunderland sale ^3 3,000 ; and most of my purchases are now in the house here. I have known well most of the collectors of my time ; three Dukes of Hamilton, for instance ; and there you see the portrait of one of my best cus- tomers the late Earl of Crawford, whose body was stolen. But, as I have said, the fashion has changed now-a-days. Col- lectors go in for first editions of Keats, Shelley, Thackeray, Dickens, and for the engravings of Cruikshank and Phiz. Then sporting literature is greatly in demand. Another very good customer is the country gentleman, who generally aspires to have in his library the best books on his county history. But I cannot enumerate the demands and crazes. Show me a man's library and I will tell you his character and his attainments.' He began business in Castle Street some forty years ago never mind how old he is now. No one having talked five minutes to the Bismarck of the book trade could fail to see that he had to do with a keen trader, up to every move on the board, and to every trick of the trade. His hunting-grounds are all over the face of the 16 THE BOOK FANCIER viewed by an agent of the Pall Mall Gazette, he communicated some very interesting information. The great book dealer added the careless remark, " Most of my purchases " made in the great sales two and three years ago " are in the house here ; " these costly things lying there, as it were, at interest, which the buyer may have to pay. But the market for the greater books is scarcely in London. There are the grand collectors abroad, such as the Duke of Aumale and Rothschild, makers of grand and costly libraries. earth ; he gathers his harvest from the five continents, and stores it up in Piccadilly. ' Now will you come with me, and I will show you a few of the rooms here.' And as we went, my guide pointed with pride to this case and that, to this pile and that. Here was a bundle of Eastern manuscripts worth thousands, there was a case full of Mexican manuscripts written at the time of the conquest ; here was the ' pigsty,' as he calls one of the rooms, full of musty tomes and books as yet uncatalogued. Mr. Quaritch proceeded to expatiate upon his morocco bindings, his russia leather, his rare editions, his illuminated missals, his black letters, his manuscripts, his breviaries and psalters. He declares that he sells everything, and never refuses an order. Each of these rooms contains priceless treasures, the value of which is known only to the great man himself, for he marks the price of each book. It is impossible to deceive Mr. Quaritch by any flimsy pretence to book-learning, ' If I hear any one talking about Elzevirs and Aldines, I know he is an ignorant ass.' Mr. Quaritch speaks plainly, and this outburst was, I must confess, apropos of an unfortunate remark of my own concerning Elzevirs. ' Elzevirs and Aldines, indeed ! a pack of ignoramuses 1 ' 'I suppose you like the excitement of a great sale ? ' ' No, sir ; there is nothing I abominate so heartily as the dreary hours I have to sit in those dreary auction-rooms. Once or twice one gets excited, and one's blood is up like the blood of a gambler ; but how often ? No. I am happiest here.' " The little intolerance as to the man who talks about Elzevirs and Aldines " being an ignorant ass " is characteristic enough. Many of this class are probably good customers. I fancy talking about Elzevirs and Aldines betokens a taste for rare things, and an amiable, well-meaning fancy to learn more. It was intended, no doubt, in the sense of the rebuke to those who " talked of Coreggios and stuff." Ube jflDasarin Bible WHEN we think of our modern press, that of books there is now no end, being stacked away by the million in the libraries, it is surely with a feeling almost of awe and reverence that one calls up the earliest of the kind the primeval Adam and Eve. And then to take in one's hand the first of the " race " of books to think of its age and its necessary vicissitudes ; this leaves a strange mysterious feeling. On the eve of the famous Syston Park sale there were seen in the Sothebys' modest auction-room half-a-dozen volumes, laid out on the table under glass, on which one of the " old " booksellers made this specu- lation, not without point : " It would be a curious thing," he said, " to bring some of these country-folk who are up for the cattle-show, and show 'em these, and then put this question to 'em, " What now would you fancy was the value of these half-dozen plain- looking volumes, and what are they likely to fetch ? " The rustics might think they were going ridiculously high if they named 5 ; but how dumfounded they would be if assured that 10,000 would probably be, and almost was, the figure realised ! the Mazarin Bible, its successor the " Codex," and some others fetching near that sum. It was a strange feeling to c 17 i8 THE BOOK FANCIER take the volumes into your hands, turn over the leaves, admire the long " black-letter," the mellow satin-like paper, and then reflect " And this is the first, or first known of all the books ! And it has survived all the storms and troubles, the kings and princes, and armies and revolutions, and rough usage. And further, this sheaf of leaves, in its modest, rather common leather binding, will to a certainty survive to the end of the world." A little volume might be written on these now famous books, and it must be confessed that there is a sort of flavour of romance attached to them. This grand book the Mazarin Bible was actu- ally discovered, dug up, as it were, like a piece of an- tiquity, by an accomplished bibliographer, De Bure. In his own agreeable narrative he shows that this was almost an accident. " Mere chance," he tells us, " led me to the discovery of this precious edition, to which we have given the title of ' The Mazarin Bible,' and I do not hesitate an instant to give it the first place, not only above all Bibles, but above every known book ! When making some explorations in the Mazarin Library, that is, of the College of the Four Nations, we were not a little surprised to find this first and most celebrated work of the press, which a simple impulse of curiosity caused us to open." It should be said, however, that the exist- ence of such a book was long suspected, and there is an actual allusion to it in the Chronicle of Cologne, which speaks of the jubilee year 1450, when the first book, a Bible " of the larger type " Scriptura gran- diosi, was discovered. There is much disputing of a dry-as-dust kind over the origin of printing, the inventors and place whence the first book was issued. As no dates THE MAZARIN BIBLE 19 were attached to the first printed books, there must be always something speculative in the discussions as to priority of issue ; but it is marvellous what comparative certainty has been reached owing to the ingenious exercise of wits. The matter lies between two or three of those pristine efforts. There are some three or four great and famous books of the world, which are progenitors of the millions that now, like the human population, swarm over the earth. But it is a surprise to think that in workmanship these fairly distance the most perfect specimens of the modern press. The history of this well-known Mazarin Bible, which attracted such at- tention of late, deserves to be told, like that of some well-known historical personage. Other works issued by the Mayence press about the same time so far as can be speculated as the famous Bible, are not of the same importance, such as the " Durandus," printed about 1459, which exhibits the first specimen of the smallest letter, and which a rapturous admirer declares " strikes one as the most marvellous monu- ment of early printing." This is indeed no exaggera- tion, and one does look with astonishment at the fancy and elegance displayed in the design and cut- ting of the type. Of the Mazarin Bible it is reckoned that there are in the world nineteen copies on paper, mark ; but on vellum, not more than five. It was at the great Perkins sale, whose catalogue sells now for a couple of guineas, held in the great library at Hanworth Park in June, 1873, that the grand copy made its appearance, and was thus gloriously de- scribed by the auctioneers, a prosaic firm of land- agents (Messrs. Gadsden and Ellis). Kept as a bonne-louche for the last lot of the last day, No. 864, no wonder it was regarded with veneration, for it was 20 the first best-known regularly printed volume in the world. It is a rather happy tribute to Christianity that this first printed book should have been the first issue of the Scriptures. But let us hear the auctioneer : " A most splendid and magnificent copy, printed upon vellum, with the capitals artistically illuminated in gold and colours, and in magnificent binding, with clasps and bosses." It was styled " Mazarin " from the first discovery of a copy in Cardinal Mazarin's library. It is printed in double columns, in large letters, much like those used in the Missals. " In contemplating this work," says our auctioneer, as though speaking of a statue or picture, " the mind is lost in astonishment that the inventor of printing should by a single effort have exhibited the perfec- tion of this art." A very just remark, and what always strikes us when looking at any of these early works. Of the five copies known, all on vellum, " not one is believed to be absolutely perfect." This Perkins one was considered " the finest of the few known copies, whether for amplitude of margin or purity of vellum, it being as clean as the day it issued from the press." It however was declared by Dr. Dibdin to want two leaves, which were " supplied in facsimile by Whitaker," one of those amazing persons who perform such feats, and so successfully that, as the auctioneer tells us, "a very careful examination has revealed one leaf which appears doubtful, but has quite failed to discover the second."* This copy came from the University * There are in London now one or two persons who perform these feats. They seem amazing. I was shown lately by Mr. Toone, of Leicester Square, a little duodecimo of an old and rare Missal, but from which the title-page had been torn away. One of these artists supplied the loss, reproducing the red and THE MAZARIN BIBLE 21 of Mentz, whence it was obtained by Messrs. NicoL* Three of the five vellum copies are in public libraries, including one at Paris. A fourth belonged to Mr. Grenville, who left it to the British Museum, and the fifth came up for sale on this memorable day, " unquestionably the most important and distin- guished article in the whole annals of typography, and a treasure which would exalt the humblest and stamp with a due character of dignity the proudest collections in the world." Allowing a little for " high falutin' " here, there is no doubt a modicum of truth in all this, as there is no one but must look with reverence on this true Adam of all the millions of books that have followed. It was sold to Mr. Ellis, in trust, for Lord Ashburnham, for the sum of 3,400 ! A copy on paper was next sold for 2,690. It was declared that "it is unquestionably the first time, as it may with almost absolute certainty be the last, that two copies of this work were sold in one day." It was strange that a copy of so world- famed a book was not secured for some foreign state. But the price was prohibitive, particularly, as the auction- eers said, truly, it was virtually a unique, and no other copy is ever likely to come into the market, as they are secured in public libraries. black inks, the woodcut in the centre, the faded tones of the ink, and nearly (but not so perfectly) matched the quality of the old paper. * A Mazarin Bible was once sent over by Mr. Home, and consigned to Mr. Nicol. Dr. Dibdin describes the illuminations as being " in a quiet and pleasing style. The volume is absolutely cased in mail by a binding of three hundred years' standing, upon the exterior of which are knobs and projections injbrass, of a durability and bullet-defying power which may vie with the coat of a rhinoceros." The style of the Doctor, it will be seen, is vivacious and graphic. 22 THE BOOK FANCIER In the same year Mr. Quaritch was offering his copy for 3,000 guineas, describing it as " the original genuine issue of the book, printed on paper, as dis- tinguished from the second issue made by Fust and Schoffer, to which all the copies on vellum belong, a perfect and extraordinarily fine copy, of the full size, most of the leaves being rough and uncut, so as even to show the ancient MS. signatures and chapter- numbers, as written down by Guttenberg himself for the guidance of the binder and the illuminator ; in blue morocco extra, from the libraries of Sir Mark Sykes and Mr. Henry Perkins, 3,000 guineas. Mentz, about 1455-'' To appreciate this enormous price, we may trace the career of another copy, known as Count Mac- carthy's, and which is now one of the glories of the British Museum. These volumes were originally in one M. Gaignat's library, and thence passed to Count Maccarthy, who secured it for a bagatelle or " song " of 85 ! At his sale, which was inevitable to take place (the only sure protection against the billows of prompt realisation being the safe harbour of re- fuge of a public library), it was purchased for that most elegant of collectors, Mr. Grenville, who paid for it just 250. He bequeathed his fine collection to the English public, who can every day walk through its spacious hall, lined with cases in which are enshrined these treasures, all handsomely clad. This monument passed with them, which had thus in about fifty years advanced to nearly twenty times its price. On this romance of the auction-room, let us hear that congenial and competent judge and true biblio- phile, my friend Mr. Sala : " With perhaps only one exception and even this THE MAZARIN BIBLE 23 is doubtful of the magnificent collection by Mr. Thomas Grenville to the British Museum, the Per- kins library has long been famous in Europe as the finest private collection that has ever been amassed by any English bibliophile ; and when on Friday the final and fourth day of the dispersion the last lot was knocked down for 3,400, a buzz ran round the room, which told that the entire proceeds of the four days' sale had been upwards of 26,000. " It seems incredible 3,400 for a single book ! The money would buy a small estate ; it would pur- chase a comfortable annuity ; it would cover the expenses of a contested election. Yet the purchaser, Mr. Ellis, is a happy man, and one to be congratu- lated. Twenty years hence the precious volume will in all probability be worth twice or thrice the sum it fetched last week. The costly book was none other than a vellum copy of the famous Gutenberg and Fust Bible ' the most important and distinguished work in the whole annals of typography ' the first edition of the Holy Scriptures the first book printed with movable metal types by the inventors of the art of printing. One such copy exists in the National Library of Paris, and but seven others are known in all, of which one, lamentably marred by the irretriev- able loss of two pages, was sold in 1825 f r no I GSS than 504. Even paper copies of this wonderful and precious work fetch fabulous sums. Mr. Quaritch bought one on Friday for 2,690. Nor was the price at all exorbitant. This very copy was pur- chased by the then Bishop of Cashel, and at his death in 1858 it was knocked down to Mr. Perkins for 596. It now fetches, in 1873, more than four times the price paid for it by Mr. Perkins in 1858, and fourteen times the price given by the Bishop of 24 THE BOOK FANCIER Cashel in 1843. What, then, the vellum copy, for which Mr. Ellis has just paid 3,400, will fetch in the year 1900 it is difficult to conjecture." There had been, however, an earlier appearance of this wonderful volume in the year 1847, when it was thus introduced : " A remarkably fine copy of this splendid speci- men of the typographic art. The margins of the first page are filled with rich illuminated borders, and the capitals throughout are finely rubricated, 2 vols., old blue morocco, gilt leaves, without name of printer, place, or date, but attributed to the press of Gutenberg at Mentz, between the years 1450-55. " It is printed in double columns, in imitation of the large letters used by the Scribes in the Church Missals and Choir Books. " On our first acquaintance with this extraordinary production [say the auctioneers] we were inclined to the opinion of Laire, that there existed two perfectly distinct editions of this Bible, printed with the same type ; but on a more minute examination and colla- tion of the two so-called editions, we are perfectly convinced they are essentially the same. They are indeed^the same book in different conditions of pub- lication, occasioned by the cancelling and reprinting of certain sheets." At Lord Gosford's sale, which took place a few years ago, there was but a tranquil interest excited by the appearance of what may be called an odd volume of the Mazarin Bible. It was only the first volume, and was arrayed in its old original mon- astic binding " in an oak case, with twelve brass bosses." It brought a price that rather surprised the public, and was secured by Mr. Toovey, of Picca- dilly. This copy was sold for 500, so that we THE MAZARIN BIBLE 25 were then a long way from the days of huge prices. To illustrate further its rarity, it may be mentioned that the Duke of Sussex, who had an extraordinary craze for collecting Bibles in every known tongue and edition, had all his life been striving vainly to acquire one on vellum. Alas ! he died, unhappily, without attaining his desires, much as the late Earl of Derby failed to secure the " Blue Ribbon of the Turf." He had ruefully, we are told, to content himself with a copy on paper, for which he gave 100, and which at his sale in 1844 brought 190. Some years ago an odd volume made its appearance and caused a sensation, and was sold for a large price. But it was now to figure in the most " sensational," as it is called, of modern book sales, and which rose to the dignity of a struggle, viz., that known as the Syston Park Library, which took place on December 12, 1884. Sir John Hayford Thorold had indulged his passion for books for nearly fifty years, from about the time of the French Revolution to the date of the Reform Bill. He had collected all the noblest " monuments " of printing, with such success, that it was said he possessed nearly all of the " incunables,' and certainly all the first editions of the Classics, with the exception of only two or three. The result was a grand and imposing collection, which, after his death, slumbered peacefully for nearly fifty years at his seat, near Grantham. These treasures stately, impressive tomes were magnificent in their calm dignity and rich but sober dress, and one could not but admire the taste which brought together such stately veterans of typography notably that band of " Editiones Principes " conceived and brought forth in days when the printer seemed to enter into 26 competition with the artist or painter, and to apply the canons of art to his page. For two days these veterans were being widely dispersed, some to meet again on a new friendly shelf ; but it was not until the fourteenth morn that the " Mazarin Bible " a work of which few had even heard, but with which everybody became of a sudden familiar was to be contended for. The bibliophiles and critics grew excited as they dwelt with pardonable exaggeration on its charms. A fevered excitement was in the air. It was described as " a superb work, the printing on paper as thick and rich in tone as vellum, with glossy ink intensely black, and very uniform in the expression ; in double columns, the letters large, and similar to those written by scribes of the Church missals and choral books." " After a preliminary fever of excitement, as the wonderful book was passed with great solem- nity up and down before the two rows of professional and amateur bibliophiles seated in front of the ros- trum, the first bid of 500 was made, and immediate- ly met with one of 1000 from Mr. Quaritch, who had to advance on the biddings on commissions made by the auctioneer's clerk, Mr. Snedden ; and so the con- test went on by bids of 50 ; the excitement rising higher and higher, as 3,000 was called for Mr. Quaritch, followed by 3,100 from his opponent, while each seemed to get fresher with the fight up to the fifty-seventh round, when at 3,650 the commission was exhausted, and at Mr. Quaritch's bid of 3,700, everybody expected the hammer to fall. But here Mr. Ellis, who had hitherto only watched the con- test, joined issue with two or three splendid bids, and a last one of 3,850, leaving it to Mr. Quaritch to possess this splendid Mazarin Bible at the enormous THE MAZARIN BIBLE 27 price of 3,900. There was a buzz of applause as the hammer fell, and there was some minutes before the excitement subsided." Talking over his purchases, the enterprising Quaritch, then the hero of the hour, said : " That of five copies of the Mazarin or Gutenberg Bible known, three had passed through his hands. The first he purchased when a young man in business, for what was then an enormous sum, 590. He had no commission for it, but offered it at the same price to the Earl of Crawford. The Earl (who had left a commission of 500 for the book) accepted his offer, and was always after a good patron of his. 'The present copy' (the Syston), Mr. Quaritch went on to say, ' I have also bought for my stock, and it is purely a speculation of my own. I do not expect to keep it long.' A copy was sold to Mr. Huth for 3,500, he himself securing the paper copy for 2,690. This, from a bookseller's point of view, is worth more money than the vellum copy, from the fact that two of the five copies are on paper, the remainder being on vellum. The sum of 3,900 is the largest ever paid for a book, the nearest approach being the 3,500 above." This extraordinary and extravagant price which suggests the Dutch tulip mania had scarcely ceased to be talked of, with much uplifting of hands and eyebrows, when the memorable day of December 19 came round, revealing a more startling sensation. For now the " Psalmorum Codex " a portion only of the Scriptures, an older work, and fixed as belonging to the year 1459 was to be contended for. Now, great as was the fuss and excitement pro- duced by the appearance of the Mazarin Bible, this 28 THE BOOK FANCIER was a yet rarer volume, though only a Latin Psalter or Codex, four years younger ; there are supposed to be some five copies of the Bible for one of this volume, but the latter is somehow not nearly so " sensational " a volume, and like many a modest man of merit, had not been put forward. Here is its official declaration : " Psalmorum codex, Latine cum Hymnis, Oratione Dominica, Symbolis et Notis musicis, folio, printed on vellum, very fine copy, with painted woodcut- capitals, in red morocco extra, borders of gold, gilt edges, by Staggemeier, Moguntiae, J. Fust et P. Schoifher, 1459. This excessively rare edition is the second book with a date, and contains the Athana- sian Creed, printed for the first time. In rarity it equals that printed in 1457, of which only eight copies are known, and of this only seven, all printed on vellum. The Schceffer Psalter [says Mr. Quaritch in his Catalogue] (first produced in 1457, next in 1459) is the first and almost the only early example of print- ing in colours, the large initials being impressed, each in at least two colours, from wooden or metal blocks. Of the seven surviving copies of the 1457 edition, most are imperfect, and all but Lord Spencer's are in public libraries. Of the seven or eight (two or three of the ten formerly known having now dis- appeared) extant copies of the 1459, all are in public libraries except Lord Spencer's and the Thorold copy. Hence it was not surprising that the collec- tors engaged in keen competition to secure the only copy of the book that is likely ever to come into the market." There has been much debate as to whether these colours are hand-painted, but the best judges, with the aid of magnifying glasses, &c., have decided that THE MAZARIN BIBLE 29 at this early stage these wonderful printers were equal to this most difficult art of printing in various colours.* The Codex was in vellum, and displayed five painted capitals with initial letters in red, and also musical notes. The second book in our wide world with a date, mark ! and, more interesting still, with the Athanasian Creed thus making its first appear- ance in print. At the end was the usual printer's signature. There was no expectation of what was to come. Very many were present : there was no excitement. But there were bibliophiles there who knew what was involved. There it lay what perhaps is one of the earliest and oldest of printed books ! Four hundred and twenty-five years had elapsed since Gutenberg had looked on it. Its history was clear for nearly a hun- dred years. It had been in Count Macarthy's collection, where it had been bought by Sir Mark for only 134, a great price : at the latter 's sale it had fetched 2 los. more. Mr. Quaritch was heard to declare that " in his experience of forty years he had never handled a copy." The second book published with a date. It was indeed one of the " grand old men " of typography. Its grand splendid page was noted and admired its vellum, its " painted capitals, its red letters, and musical notes." It was proclaimed as being " bound by Steggemeier, in red morocco, and is in an exceptionally fine state." * Mr. Quaritch, the happy possessor of the latest sold copy, now offers it or did lately among his numerous other costly treasures, for the sum of ^4,095 ! He thus seems to be paying about 150 a. year that is, loss of interest on the sum laid out for the custody of the treasure ; just as the late Lord Dudley, who secured a famous pair of Sevres jars for 10,000, was paying 500 a year for the pleasure of gazing on them. 30 THE BOOK FANCIER Again the same graphic enthusiast describes the scene. " It was put up with a brief eulogy from the auctioneer, Mr. Hodge, at 500, and the biddings steadily advanced by fifties to over 2,000, there being only three competitors in the field, Mr. Snow- den A. Clerke, Mr. Quaritch, and Mr. Ellis (the Bond Street bookseller), who, however, soon far dis- tanced the commission, and brought the biddings to over 3,000, while the audience looked on in dead silence, wondering if it could possibly beat the 3,900 of the Mazarin Bible. To the astonishment of every one, this was soon not only reached, but surpassed by more than 1000, Mr. Ellis gallantly bidding 4,900, Mr. Quaritch immediately topping it with 4,950, at which, after calling this enormous price three times, Mr. Hodge raised his hammer for the last time, and sealed the purchase of the famous Codex to Mr. Quaritch amidst the loudest applause ever heard in the room." There is yet another of this primeval company known as the " CATHOLICON " of Johan Balbi de Janua which is considered to be the fourth book printed with a date, two copies of which rarity have made their appearance recently. This distinguished work, " The Catholicon, was printed and completed in the gracious (alma) city of Mayence, of the glorious German nation, in the year of the incarnation of our Lord, 1460." This has been styled by an enthusiast, Lambinet, " souscription sublime." The date and place, says an enthusiastic auction- eer, Evans of Pall Mall, are sufficient to excite the curiosity of the collectors of rare and ancient produc- tions of the press. It is allowed by the most eminent bibliographers that this is one of the very few works printed by Gutenberg. It is interesting, too, as one THE MAZARIN BIBLE 31 of the works of his new press, after Fust had seized on his presses and established, as Mr. Quaritch says, " the second printing-office of the world." Up to the year 1813 not three copies had been seen in England for fifty years. The paper is of surprising strength and beauty, making us acknow- ledge how little has been gained, or rather how much has been lost, in modern manufacture of this article, by having recourse to what is called chemical im- provements. Mr. Stanley Alchorne, of the Mint, pos- sessed a copy sold in 1813 for 58. Mr. Quaritch, some seventy years later, was offering " a superb copy in old calf gilt, with the Royal Arms of Bavaria stamped in gold on the side," for 250 ; while at Sir Mark Sykes's sale, about fifty years ago, it brought but 50. Strange to say, within the last four years no less than two copies of this rare book have appeared. This, of the Syston Park sale, brought 400 ; the second, at the Woodhull sale though boasting " painted capitals and bound by Roger Payne " fetched but 310. There is a curious caprice in these prices. Sncunables MANY a " gentle " or unkindly reader, while feeling due respect for these antique books, has associated them with something musty and dusty, something more curious than beauti- ful magis admirandum quant imitandum. A genuine old ecclesiastical library, where all the old calf volumes are grown rusted and mouldy, with the rows of vellum-bound things, mainly theological, their names and titles written in large characters on their backs, offers but a cheerless spectacle at best. But there are few who have seen and handled the splendid pro- ductions of the first presses. To the general they are ' caviare. Fewer will have seen them when enshrined in some great library, like that of Al- thorpe, richly bound, waited on by guardians and menials, and sumptuously treated. But even under less favourable conditions, it is astonishing what splendid things these works are perfect works of art, triumphs of unassisted genius, at a time when everything had to be devised. We look at them with wonder and admiration, as we would at some graceful and elegant memorial in some old 32 THE INCUNABLES 33 Italian city. And here is the further surprise. While the first printed book of importance takes rank also for design, execution, excellence of ma- terial, and price as one of the great books of the world, viz., the Mazarin Bible, all those that followed it within so short a space as twenty years, are about the noblest, grandest works that ever were issued from the press. Vellum used for paper, with magnificent effect, or paper almost like vellum in its size and strength ; large and brilliant type, capitals rubricated, and wrought by hand with a florid variety ; other capitals " illuminated " in colours, and golden miniatures with bindings to match such were the glories of the first printed books. Their size was often two feet high, and as to their number, here is one significant fact. In the Royal Library at the Hague there is a collection bequeathed by a Flemish nobleman, one Baron de Westreenen, and which contains no less than twelve hundred of the rarest editions, all printed before the close of the fifteenth century that is, during the forty years from 1460 to 1500. The works of Virgil in the noblest folio shape, printed in large type, expands over a vast surface, and makes a huge volume, printed with labour and expense : yet a single library that of Althorpe possesses no less than fifteen of these great Virgils, all printed before the year 1476. Fifteen great editions of a classic in eight or ten years ! Again, among the delusions of centuries one is that we owe the publication of the Bible to the Reformation. But it is a fact that fifty years before the Reformation there had been issued a dozen editions in Germany, while over the world it was a favourite " venture " with publishers. Ko- burger issued editions as early as 1476 and 1478. 34 THE BOOK FANCIER It was natural, after so constant a use of vellum for MSS., that the same material should be adopted for printing. Yet almost at once we find that, in printing the first books, only a portion of the im- pression was taken off on vellum, and another on paper. To the close of the century this practice was adopted, and hence we find all the collectors of grand editions disdaining any save those printed in this splendid and costly form. In Lord Spencer's superb library there are nearly one hundred of these vellum impressions, worth on an average from two to three hundred pounds apiece. The National Library at Paris is said to possess more than any other. The expense of securing suitable parchment is an element in the value, together with the difficulty of working, drying, &c. In modern times we have occasionally a few copies of small works taken off on vellum, but this is merely a fantasy, and somehow, from the lean, attenuated character of modern type, the effect does not correspond to the trouble. The enthusiast, Dib- din, when publishing the magnificent Typographical Antiquities, on which no money was spared, deter- mined to have a copy taken off on vellum for his patron's library, but after printing only twenty-four pages, was compelled to give up the task. "I at- tempted it," he says, " with every possible attention to printing and to the material, but I failed at every point. And this single wretched-looking book," adds the disgusted bibliophilist, " had I persevered, would have cost me about seventy-five guineas." The most important and ambitious attempt in this direction was made under the direction of an amateur whom no one would ever have expected to see figuring in such a capacity no other, indeed, than Marshal Junot, Duke d'Abrantes. For this eminent THE INCUNABLES 35 soldier, Didot, the great publisher, took off a whole series of French dramatists on this costly material, over thirty in number. Many have, of course, had in their hands some small vellum MS., say a " Book of Hours," which, from its small size and liability to lie open and be crushed, will show much soiling and hard usage. But it is otherwise with a grand vellum tome that has calmly reposed for centuries in the libraries, and has been treated daintily, and petted, as it were. The spreading leaves have acquired a tone like ivory, and, indeed, seem of the texture of some precious metal, so stout and enduring do they appear. They are like veneer of ivory, and there is a golden mellow shaded tone over all. Then the ink seems blacker, and glistens like polished ebony. The gold and colours of the illuminated capitals and borders secure more effect on this ground. There is, too, the idea of costliness, of endurance, of skill and care in the working, for the printing requires infinite art and trouble. What strikes us in these early works is their magnificent size and grand amplitude. They are indeed vast tomes, and it is curious that the first editions, or Editiones Principes, should be the finest of any. The publishers, in thus printing but one to three hundred copies, looked on each volume as a publication it was a monument for the public library, or for the wealthy amateur. The miniatur- ist, now out of work, was called in to fill up the spaces left vacant for the initial letters ; while the scrivener, with extraordinary diligence, " rubricated " each page with a series of small " caps " done in a flowing, dashing style, which gave quite a free artistic air to the whole page. This decoration, while it added seriously to the expense, imparted a separate indi- 36 THE BOOK FANCIER viduality to each copy. The front page was always specially glorified with a fine border and arabesque initial, and often had the escutcheon and devices of the owner set out at the foot in gold and colours. The sort of link between the fast decaying miniatur- ists' art and the new born typographer is curious and interesting. In England, Caxton and his successors had not the same tastes. Their books seemed conceived in a timorous spirit ; they were small, thin, and com- paratively inexpensive ventures, as though they feared to run risk. Perhaps the truth was that those splendid foreign publishers, Fust, Gutenberg, Jenson, Vindelin de Spira, Aldus, Pannartz, with others and what a melodious roll in their names ! could justly count the whole Continent as their customers ; whereas Caxton, with his English and French works, could rarely reach beyond the shores of his own country. Even now abroad Caxton's are regarded with but a languid interest, and do not excite the enthusiasm that the work of other printers does . The same reasoning applies at the present time. English works are printed for the English or Americans, whereas costly books published at Paris or Berlin have the world for a market. It is wonderful to think that every incident con- nected with the making of a book was to be found within ten years from the introduction of printing almost exactly the same as it is now the water- mark, the system of noting and registering the sheets, binding, &c. This grandeur of treatment, which made a book a sort of monument, left its impression on the men who conceived and carried out the enter- prise. Many a noble tome is associated with a story of energy, perseverance, or romance connected either THE INCUNABLES 37 with the author or the publisher. In the days of Gutenberg, or Vindelin de Spira, curious tales have come down to us of struggles to raise money to com- plete some huge tome, as though one were striving to complete a house. As is well known, the founders of printing had to suffer cruelly. The story of the publisher's life has often been told, always chequered with a dogged perseverance, a generous ardour, if not enthusiasm, a venturesomeness, combined with tact and instinct. All this seems to suggest the career of a successful merchant. The supremacy of German energy and enterprise has never been so triumphantly shown as in this de- velopment 6i 'printing, and the obligations of the world to this great nation are extraordinary. The old controversy between Mentz and Haarlem for the honour of the discovery may be considered as settled in favour of the German ; but it is really the German character of the early printing that is the most irresistible of the arguments.* It is calculated that * It is not known generally what escapes from destruction some of the MSS. of the classics have had. In a dungeon at the monastery of St. Gall, a writer in The Fireside tells us Poggio found, corroded with damp and covered with filth, the great work of Quintilian. In Westphalia a monk stumbled accidentally on the only manuscript of Tacitus. The poems of Propertius were found under the casks in a wine-cellar. In a few months the manuscript would have crumbled to pieces and become completely illegible. Parts of Homer have come to light in the most extraordinary way. A considerable portion of the Iliad, for instance, was found in the hand of a mummy. The Ethiopics of Heliodorus was rescued by a common soldier, who found it in the streets of a town in Hungary. The Thurloe State Papers were brought to light by the tumbling in of the ceiling of some chambers in Lincoln's Inn. The letters of Lady Mary Montague were found in the false bottom of an old trunk ; and in the secret drawer of a chest the curious manu- scripts of Dr. Lee lurked unsuspected for years. One of the most singular discoveries of this kind was the recovery of Luther's 38 THE BOOK FANCIER there were over one hundred German printers established in the great cities of Europe within forty years of the discovery of printing. In Venice and in Rome we find the names of some twenty great German printers. More interesting is it to see how native force is thus tempered by local association and Italian elegance. Thus as we look at one of those portly Bibles of Koburger, the Nuremberg printer, issued in 1478 and 1480, we are struck with their rude stalwart proportions, the rough stoutness of the paper, the vigorous " blackletter," and blackness of the ink. The leaves lie in close together, board-like and com- pact. There is a general air of " burliness," owing to a lack of proportion between the thickness and other dimensions. But when we come to the work of Pannartz at Rome, or Jenson at Venice, we find a greater delicacy. The paging is laid out with more beauty and elegance, and the size of the volume more handsomely proportioned. We are so accustomed now to this " Roman type " almost always in use in England, France, and Italy that we are apt to forget that the Germans to this day have merely retained what was originally the universal form of type, viz., the smaller blackletter, or " German text," though it has lately become the " Table Talk." A gentleman in 1626 had occasion to build upon the old foundation of a house. When the workmen were engaged in digging, they found, " lying in a deep obscure hole, wrapped in strong linen cloth which was waxed all over with beeswax within and without," this work, which had lain concealed ever since its suppression by Pope Gregory XIII. We are told that one of the cantos of Dante's Paradise, which had long been mislaid, was drawn from its lurking-place (it had slipped beneath a window- sill) in consequence of an intimation received in a dream. One of the most interesting of Milton's prose works the essay on the Doctrines of Christianity was unearthed from the midst of a bundle of despatches, by Mr. Lemon, deputy-keeper of the State Papers in 182^. THE INCUNABLES 39 fashion to issue scientific works in the Roman letter. The earliest printed works, such as the famous Bible, were in the elongated blackletter, which speedily took the shape of the small German text, as we have it to-day, and which in that country has scarcely changed in shape to this hour. It was so in Italy, Belgium, and England. In the latter country the old blackletter lingered on in Acts of Parliament till a recent period. The bright, stout blackletter of Caxton was almost the same as that used in Belgium, and was brought by him from that country, and became larger and longer in the hands of Wynkyn de Worde. It will not, perhaps, occur to many that these early forms of type were merely copies or imitations of the existing handwriting, as found in the MSS. Italy was the first to adopt another form of letter, which it had ready to hand in the abundant Roman inscriptions, said to be first used by the " eminent firm " of Sweynheim, in 1467. It is wonderful to think that only two years' practice should have resulted in the magnificent works of the Brothers de Spira, which shows a perfect familiarity with the handling of this new-born type. More wonderful, indeed, is it to turn the pages of their great Pliny, and think that the style of type displayed was but two years old. The well-known Aldine type the origi- nal " Italic " was simply copied from the running- hand " of the time ; and it is said that it was Petrarch's handwriting that formed the model. These elegant works deserve their reputation, and the little thin quartos, with the well-known anchor on the title, the pretty turns and flourishes of the italic letter, are ever pleasing to the eye. The greater massive folios of the same publisher ponderous arm- 40 THE BOOK FANCIER fuls, each page " packed " with matter, yet clear and uncrowded impress one with the sense of a magnifi- cent power. We feel that one of these grand volumes was a storehouse or magazine of learning. It was to its surroundings what the chained Bible was in the church a tome to be read from, for the benefit of all. But would we dazzle the careless inquirer, and show him one of the stateliest, most imposing efforts of the early press men, we would exhibit two noble tomes, grand folios, the work of Zainer, grown ripe and mellow with age, though literally defying " the ravages of time." It came from his press, in 1474, and is a " Pelagius de Planctu," " thick Royal folio." Here is Mr. Ridler's enthusiastic description : " As large as the Nuremberg Chronicle, blackletter, with woodcut borders, and large capital letters, sup- posed to be the first of their kind ever engraved. SPLENDID COPY, the capitals filled in with red ink by the rubricator, with old blue morocco extra, full gilt back by Derome. A more glorious production of the fifteenth century, or a more beautiful specimen of early typography it would be impossible to pro- duce. It is in the finest state imaginable, the paper is of the firmest texture, and as clean as on the day that it was issued from the press : it is so large a copy that it might almost be emphatically called UNCUT. Thorpe's long printed article is inserted on fly- leaf, which copy was priced 31 los." As these grand volumes are taken down and laid open re- verently, we are struck by the beautiful proportions, the noble margins of the natural size not artificially or studiously made large, the dazzling brilliancy of the Gothic letters, the sobriety of the binding, and the curious woodcuts flourishing around the capital letters, delicately coloured by some artist. THE INCUNABLES 41 It would not be fanciful to say that the posses- sion of such a treasure would have an elevating and refining influence, and one would be almost bound, like the possessor of the old china teapot, " to try and live up to it." One of the rarest of the early Greek books is the " Lascaris Grammatica Graeca." the first Greek book printed, the first edition, which is a small quarto, printed at Milan 1476. Only five or six copies are known. The one in the British Museum was picked up by Mr. Pryse Lockhart Gordon in 1800 for his friend Dr. Burney, and was after his death sold to the British Museum for the extraordinary price of 600. As one dwells on these grand books and grand printers, we seem to be dealing critically with pic- tures or other works of art. But it should be re- membered that almost every copy thus had an indi- viduality of its own, and was distinguishable, having been " worked on," decorated, and otherwise glorified as a true work of art. There are, however, some half-dozen grandly conspicuous works of this era, which it is impossible to gaze on without admiration. Apart from their typographical merits, there is a strange feeling in the thought that these noble tomes are the very first editions of Homer, Virgil, Horace, Dante, and among them is the book that is second only in popularity to the Bible, " The Imitation of Christ." It is extraordinary to think that these noble volumes the first appearance of their authors in print remain, strange to relate, the most dignified forms in which they have ever appeared. They are grand, solid, substantial, well printed, and well edited (for the time). Hear Mr. Quaritch on one of these primaeval volumes for which he demands the 42 THE BOOK FANCIER sum of one thousand pounds : " Its first page," he said, " is decorated with a magnificent border, on which architectories and arabesque ornament are combined, with exquisite figures of winged and wing- less angels, those in the bottom painted with camien blue, the whole picture radiant with gold and lovely with harmonising colours of floreate scroll-work and ornamental vases, with entwined handles in green on a gold ground. The initial to the first book " and this gives a good idea of the magnificent style in which the threshold to one of these stately tomes was decorated " was a full-length figure of a warrior in pale blue, in a floreate letter in crimson, on a golden ground ; in the centre of the right-hand mar- gin was a highly-finished miniature of a doge ; in the corner a coat of arms upheld by Cupids while some of the epitomes were written in blue and gold." There is many an opening page thus set forth in this combination]of pictorial and typographical splendour. A short time ago Mr. Quaritch was in possession of more book rarities than ever were found in the hands of one single owner before. He was fresh from the spoil of the Sunderland, Syston Park, Beckford and Hamilton sales. There were to be seen the Mazarin Bible, Psalter, Codex (before described), and, above all, the first of the classics that was put in print, namely, the Cicero of 1465. It is extra- ordinary all that is conveyed in this simple phrase, for it was not only the first printed Cicero, but the first of the classics printed. Then we turn the catalogue of the British Museum, under the heading " Cicero," and find some thousand editions. What a leap ! He had also the first editions of Livy, and of Bibles the first Polyglot, the first Greek Bible, the first English, Latin, German, Icelandic, Swedish, THE INCUNABLES 43 Welsh, and American-Indian ; nine Caxtons ; the (rarissimus) Boke of St. Albans ; the Shakespeare, folio, fifteen of the quartos ; the first edition of Don Quixote ; Blake's Works and other rarities, to say nothing of all the great binding masters, and a host of books that had belonged to kings and queens. Of the finest and most " desirable " of these patri- archs, and rarest of rare Aldines, is the Virgil of 1501, an ordinary octavo of no striking merit. But mark ! " It is," says Mr. Quaritch, offering a copy, " the first book printed in italic type by Aldus Romanus, slightly wormed, else good copy, in red Italian calf extra, borders of gold, gilt edges. To find the first Aldine Virgil in perfect condition is almost hopeless. Neither Mr. Beckford nor the Duke of Hamilton, who would have become purchasers at any price, could ever secure even tolerable copies, those occur- ring for sale being defective." A sad state of things, but warranting the seller in asking for his small octavo i 12. But this should be further noted. Even in these pristine days the forger and imitator was at work, and so desired and " desirable " was the Aldine octavo that there was issued at Lyons, to meet the demand : " The Aldine Counterfeit, with facsimiles of the title and last leaf of the real Aldine Edition, probably to pass it off for the original, the book being perfect without that imprint, red morocco extra, gilt edges, with Aldine anchor in gold on sides, 1501, 15 155." This volume was the first issued by the Lyonese forgers in imitation of the Aldine type, and is perhaps quite as rare, if not even rarer, than the original. Bishop Butler's copy sold for 22. The next desirable of these grand old monuments is the Livy of the De Spiras of Venice, issued in the 44 THE BOOK FANCIER year 1470 in two great folio volumes. Everything stately and beautiful seems to have been lavished on these noble tomes. Dibdin's tongue seems to " grow wanton " in their praise. " This great printer," he exclaims, " is praised, not because he produced many volumes, but because he gave the world what was the most beautiful and best." This was a work of supreme rarity ; on vellum, probably not more than three copies are known. It was one of the most superb works offered at all the recent sales. It was arrayed in contemporary oaken binding, covered with stamped leather, the first page of each volume exquisitely illuminated in choicest Italian style, and each chapter heading illuminated in gold and colours. Well kept and taken care of through four long cen- turies, richly yet soberly dressed, these treasures repay the kindness with which they are treated, and might be well enshrined in cabinets. The sense of possession adds hugely to the power of enjoyment of such treasures. Shown so rare a volume in another's library, there is not time leisurely to weigh and appreciate its merits. Somehow a book in a public library seems to be beyond sympathies. It is under government, under the care of officials not to be handled tenderly by one kind and anxious master. When it is your own, however, you can cultivate its acquaintance day by day, and get to know it. But to these grand " Incunables " or Cradle-Books, with their miniatures and capitals glowing with gold and colours, the ordinary book forager hardly dare raise his eyes. He may handle at auction-rooms Jenson's Pliny the " glory of his press ; " but 35, the price at the Woodhull sale, is too vast. The companion Pliny of the Venetian De Spiras seems a nobler and rarer volume, worth THE INCUNABLES 45 pausing over a few moments as it strikes the specta- tor with more astonishment and admiration than any other work of its day. It would be difficult to give an idea of its sumptuous and noble aspect. It is one of the monumental works, and might be laid apart by itself, on a great reading-desk, as though it were a Bible or Missal. There was a copy on vellum with " painted capitals " in the Sunderland sale which fetched 82 ; but Jensen's Pliny at the same sale, in its blue morocco jacket, brought no less than 220 ! One day exploring the shelves of a favourite old book shop in Holywell Street, and groping in the dim mysterious light within, I came upon a maimed im- perfect copy of this De Spira Pliny. Leaves were wanting at the end, it was grievously mauled and soiled in places, and it was execrably clothed, by some profane vandal of an owner, in the commonest of modern jacket oh ! vile profanity ! in " half calf," with marble paper sides ! But there was still left many a painted capital, richly dight, though many a one had been cut out beautifully designed things the larger letter in burnished gold, brighter even than it was 420 years ago, and encircled with lacertine devices of an Irish pattern. These, I was assured, if " cut out " and sold separately for mount- ing in books, would have brought money as little works of art ! The glory of the whole, however, was the front page the threshold of the volume en- circled by a florid bordering with burnished gold and flowers and arabesque. The date of this huge volume was 1469, and it was to be noted that the leaves were without numbers, but a scribe had placed a number at the head of each page. More curious still, as Greek characters had not then come into use, and words in Roman letters were used cor- 46 THE BOOK FANCIER responding to the sound ; exactly as Jenkinson is described in the " Vicar of Wakefield," when quoting his cosmogony. Rudely handled as it had been, I was glad to carry the old tome home, to pour oil into and bind up his wounds. He became mine for something about three pounds, which it was well worth. It is pleasant and refreshing to take him out occasionally, and think of the eyes and hands of 420 years ago. Not less pleasant is it to show it to a visitor as an illustration of what could be done in those days. His surprise is great, for he expects some rude and clumsy effort. Such " a find " as this more than rewards the book fancier. But all the De Spira books and they are very few have this elegant and romantic air. an& icftenstana " GRANGERISING " is a term familiar enough to the initiated, but possibly a mystery to " the general." There is many a book which a nice instinct feels ought to be illustrated, such as histories, accounts of persons and places. Hence it is that certain ingenious persons, with plenty of money and more idle time on hand, have devoted their lives to the Grangerising some favourite work. To this pursuit they have devoted energy and purpose, hunting up and hunting down, tearing and cutting out, ransacking generally, until they have secured what they desired. It is in this way, as Mr. Blades shows, that fearful havoc has been wrought, and thousands of fine books mutilated and destroyed by the Grangerites. And why Grangerites ? It seems that a Rev. Mr. Granger came into the world specially for the benefit of these Attilas, having written a large " History of England," in which he made allusion to every celebrated person and place connected with the chronicles of England. It may be conceived what welcome volumes these were to the collecting " Grangerite," and from that 168 GRANGERISING AND DICKENSIANA 169 time to the present there have always been a number of persons diligently engaged in the task. Some of these collections have cost fortunes. The " Bindley Granger " was celebrated. The late Mr. John Forster had two Grangerised copies of " Granger," one in fourteen folio volumes, the other in seventeen. To- gether they contain between five and six thousand portraits, many of which are singularly rare and costly and might count as originals. The incidental ex- penses of Grangerising are serious, owing to the nice " laying down " of the prints on extra fine paper, and of the " inlaying to folio size " of small printed pages, which is an expensive operation. Dr. Dibdin, in his most sarcastic vein, gives a happy instance of this mania. " Take this passage," he says, " from Speed : ' Henry Le Spencer, the warlike Bishop of Norwich, being drawn on by Pope Urban to preach a crusade, and to be general against Clement.' To be properly illustrated, (i) Procure all the portraits, at all periods of his life, of Henry Le Spencer. (2) Obtain every view, ancient or modern, like or unlike, of the city of Norwich, and, if fortune favour you, of every bishop of the See. (3) Every portrait of Pope Urban must be procured, and as many prints and drawings as will give a notion of the crusade. (4) You must search high and low, early and late, for every print of Clement. (5) Procure, or you will be wretched, as many fine prints of cardinals and prelates, singly or in groups, as will impress you with a proper idea of a conclave. The result, gentle reader, will be that you will have work enough cut out to occupy you for one whole month at least." He then adds that " a late distin- guished and highly respectable female collector, who 170 THE BOOK FANCIER had commenced an illustrated Bible, procured for the illustration of verses 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25 of chapter i. of Genesis no less than 700 prints ! " It will be a surprise to know that even in the pre- sent time there is sometimes a wealthy amateur who, with a love or passion for a particular subject, deter- mines to adorn it in a special fashion, and gives an order for a superb memorial to be prepared, set off with exquisite writing, a series of drawings and water- colours, the whole being bound with all the luxury " the bibliopegistic art " can furnish. It is thus that we find many a superb volume prepared, to celebrate this generous ardour. One of the most tastefully printed modern works is Dore's famous Bible, published at Tours, the Eng- lish edition having but small pretensions. It is adorned with a vast number of illustrations ; but an enterprising Grangerite has gathered every Scripture print procurable, including all the most famous line engravings, each of which is a thing of cost and rarity, and has thus enlarged the work from two to ten sumptuous volumes. Men the most unlikely have engaged in this fascinating craze. In the last century there was a Mr. Storer, one of the wild set led by the Duke of Queensberry, who never flagged in collecting, and left the result of his labours to his University. An extraordinary monument of pains, patience, and expense in this direction is " Clutterbuck's History of Hertfordshire," which an enthusiast adorned and expanded in this fashion, regardless of expense. Starting with some fifty plates of its own of antiquities, seats, castles, plans, &c., proof impres- sions, superb copy on large paper, it was enlarged GRANGERISING AND DICKENSIANA 171 from three volumes to ten volumes, folio, and " illus- trated by eleven hundred original landscapes, archi- tectural views, and portraits, beautifully painted in water-colours by Buckler, Harding, and other eminent artists ; also fourteen hundred drawings of coats of arms, beautifully emblazoned by Dowse, and nearly six hundred additional engravings, comprising views, old buildings, antiquities, portraits, &c., by Hou- braken, &c., fine and large mezzotints and brilliant India proofs in folio, russia extra, gilt edges, by Hol- loway." This, we are told, was " a magnificent monument of industry and liberality, and the finest copy which has ever been offered for sale. The work of many years, it was executed regardless of expense, and cost thousands of pounds to produce." The name of this Grangerite was John Morice, Esq., F.S.A. Eight hundred guineas was asked for this treasure by Messrs. Robson & Kerslake, the vendors. Another of these costly and stupendous enterprises was the copy of " Pennant's London," illustrated by a Mr. Crowle, and bequeathed by that gentleman to the British Museum, where it now reposes. Pennant is a favourite subject, as the prints of London build- ings and London streets are to be found in enormous abundance. But what was this to the prodigious " Clarendon and Burnet," a collection of illustrative pictures formed by Mr. Sutherland, of Gower Street, continued by his widow, and by her presented to the Bodleian Library ? It has been said that this is the richest and most extensive pictorial history in existence, or ever likely to be in existence ; and this will be admitted when it is stated that there are nearly 19,000 prints and drawings. The scale on which it is carried out may be conceived when we 172 THE BOOK FANCIER find it contains no less than 731 portraits of Charles I., 518 of Charles II., 352 of Cromwell, 273 of James II., and 420 of William III. If we only think how few are the portraits of Charles I. that we ourselves have seen, mostly copies after Vandyke, we shall have an idea of the labour and exploration necessary to gather up the 731. Think also of the labour, pains, and cost in cleaning, " laying down," " insetting," and " inlaying " these portraits, the binding, arranging, &c., and we shall not be sur- prised to learn that this folly occupied the eccentric and fanatical Sutherland forty precious years of his life ; that it fills sixty-seven huge volumes, and cost twelve thousand pounds ! We may conceive all the visitings of print-shops, the turning over boxes of prints, the visiting of wynds and lanes, the corre- spondence, and the endless paying of money. To give a finish to his labours, a catalogue was prepared of all the engravings, and which fills two great quartos. Portraits en masse have little value, as they are mostly copies one from another. " There is a charm," it has been said, " in collections of the human face divine," though it must needs be power- ful to call forth, as it does, twenty or thirty or fifty guineas from a collector's pocket for a coarsely executed cut of some Meg Merrilees, or a con- demned criminal of which the only value is being " mentioned by Granger." The illustrator of Bos- well's " Johnson " will find allusions to a malefactor called Rann, otherwise " Sixteen-String Jack " and to Johnson, a circus-rider, whom the great Doctor ad- mired for riding several horses at a time. There are actually in existence some cheap common sketches GRANGERISING AND DICKENSIANA 173 of these worthies, the latter shown riding the horses. These are singularly scarce, as may be imagined, and your " Boswell " would be halting and incomplete without it ; so any price must be given, on the ground that all that had been paid would be thrown away without them. It might be worth while almost to have the plate re-engraved, and printed off on old paper, say the fly-leaf of some contemporary volume, and the result will serve. Not unfrequently, by a happy chance, old copper-plates turn up, and new impressions can be taken. Some such discovery has been made in the case of Bartolozzi, the mania for whose red-tinted oval plates has been to dealers one of the wonders known in modern times. Boswell's " Johnson " is certainly the most favour- able object on which this taste may be exercised. What can be done with this book was once shown by a splendid memorial made by Mr. F. Harvey, of St. James's Street, whose pleasant magasin is as enter- taining to the passer-by outside as to those within, for he liberally takes pains to put his best and dearest proofs in the window, no niggard evidences of what is in store within. The pages of Boswell are so full of allusions to persons and localities, and these again are of such celebrity, and have been so handsomely glorified by art, that the task may be undertaken under the most favourable conditions. Mr. Harvey justly terms his work " the grandest literary monu- ment erected in honour of Dr. Johnson." The " Life of Boswell " selected was Croker's edi- tion in five volumes, which was enlarged and inlaid to sixteen volumes folio, by the addition of autographs, portraits, views in water-colours, mezzotints and line engravings. A general dealer in pictures, autographs, prints, has immense advantage in his system ; for 174 THE BOOK FANCIER out of the great masses of " papers " which he pur- chases, the great portion is certain to prove useful for some one or other of these purposes. The num- ber of articles illustrating them, including twenty por- traits of the writer, are nine hundred and eighty-two, each one of which has been inlaid and enlarged, cleaned, and laid down with the greatest neatness, care, and cost. The supplement, a single volume, was enlarged to six folio volumes. How rich and curious the contents are will be seen from the fact that it contains many original MSS. of the Doctor, including the famous letter to Macpherson, and which was worth 50, the draft of the plan for his Dictionary, and which was sold at auction for 57. There were water- colours by Pyne and others. For the whole set of twenty-two volumes, handsomely bound in morocco extra, with the title-pages, table of contents, and printed specially, the large but not excessive sum of one thousand and fifty pounds is asked. The Grangerised Kemble is enlarged from two into nine volumes, with all the luxe of special water-colours, bills, &c., proof prints, &c., and is valued at 300. But in these instances, it need not be said, the outlay has been purposely kept within measurable bounds. But the wealthy reckless amateur need only to give his commission and the book can be illustrated regard- less of cost. The pitiless Grangerite slaughters a book for a few pictures, just as an epicure has had a sheep killed for the sweetbread. At the Bernal sale there was a collection of pictures to illustrate Shakespeare : " An Extensive and Valuable Collection of Engrav- ings made for various editions of the Plays of Shake- speare, formed with the intention of illustrating the GRANGERISING AND DICKENSIANA 175 Works of this celebrated writer (!) by the aid of pic- torial art, comprising the series published to several editions, viz., Bell's first edition, with the Actors in Costume, large paper, 170 plates ; Inchbald's Theatre, 23 proofs on india before the writing ; Singleton's designs, 44 plates ; Pickering's edition, 39 large paper, india paper ; Smirke's designs, by Taylor, in ovals, nearly all paper ; Woodcuts to Scholey's edi- tion (23) ; Jennings and Chaplin's series of 40 proofs before the letters ; Smirke's Illustrations (40) ; Sar- gent's Landscape and Architectural Illustrations, 9 parts, 45 plates, india proofs ; How and Parsons, 1841 ; the Union Shakespeare, 6 parts, proofs before the letters ; Theobald's edition, 39 plates mounted ; Bell and Kearsley, 106, mostly mounted ; Kearsley's edition, 75 plates mounted ; with others from Ballan- tyne, Thurston, and Whittingham's editions ; in all, above eight hundred engravings. A choice collec- tion, mostly proofs." But what is all this to the following stupendous monument :* " Blomefield's Norfolk Illustrated. Blomefield's (Francis) Essay towards a Topographi- cal History of the County of Norfolk, new edition, with Continuation, n vols., large paper, richly illus- strated by the insertion of additional manuscript and printed matter, the arms coloured throughout, and many hundred drawings of arms, seals and other * In a recent catalogue was offered a volume of miniatures and illuminated capital letters cut from the old MS., and about 150 in number. Conceive of the sacrilegious Goth at his work, slicing and snipping from the reverent tawny leaves of the thirteenth century, it may be, and flinging away the useless vellum I There is an instance, too, of another devastator who wished to illustrate the History of Printing in the most effective style, and formed a collection of title-pages cut from books, with specimens of ordinary pages. These he accumulated in thous- ands, each specimen entailing the sacrifice of a volume. 176 THE BOOK FANCIER interesting objects upon the margin ; half russia. Original Drawings to illustrate Blomefield's Norfolk ; also a very extensive Collection of engraved Illustra- tions, together amounting to about seven thousand subjects, 29 vols. half russia, and 12 vols. in cloth ; also a few additional drawings, unbound. Yarmouth Town Rolls ; ancient manuscripts, neatly laid down and bound in i vol. half russia. Original Deeds and Charters, two hundred and twenty-four in number, in i vol. half russia. Miscellaneous Deeds, about two hundred and thirty in number, arranged in n solan- der boxes, russia backs, uniform with the rest. A Collection of 224 Seals, embracing conventual, paro- chial, corporate, and private seals, many of high antiquity ; arranged in trays, enclosed in a case with russia back. List of Norfolk Portraits, Manuscript, i vol. half russia. Index of Illustrations, arranged according to Parishes (royal 8vo, privately printed, inlaid to a size uniform with the rest), with copious MS. additions, i vol. half russia. Together 70 vols. and cases." " To speak of this article summarily as presenting the finest illustrated county history ever formed would perhaps be its only fitting and sufficient description. It may, however, be stated that of the total number of seven thousand illustrations (without estimating at all those to be found in the printed volumes), about four thousand are beautiful original drawings." One feels a sort of pity for this poor demented collector, with his " eleven solander boxes," and his " trays with russia backs," and his bills to the artists and binders, and the jackals employed to search the country for prey. These " County Histories " are a favourite and in- variable subject. Sometimes the wealthy amateur, GRANGERISING AND DICKENSIANA 177 full of his pet subject, has given an order regardless of expense for the illustrators by pen and pencil, gold and colours. This seems turning the clock back- wards, as these modern imitators, from want of practice, lack the certainty and freedom of the older masters of the craft. It was thus that some one interested in the meeting of the Field of the Cloth of Gold commissioned artists and scriveners to prepare him an illustrated chronicle of the ceremonies, with the result of a superb volume : " Field of the Cloth of Gold. Le Champ de Drap d'Or ; or, Account of the Interview between Henry VIII. and Francis I. on the Field of the Cloth of Gold, near Guisnes in Picardy, in the year MDXX, with a particular detail of all the magnificent ceremonies there observed, from the contemporary chroniclers. A beautifully-written Manuscript, within borders of gold, by Adams, the caligraphist, containing 80 original paintings by Stephanoff, Cooper, Willement, R. T. Bone, Har- lowe, and Kenny Meadows, royal 4to, purple morocco super extra, joints double with vellum, completely covered with hand-worked gold tooling in a remark- ably handsome pattern, vellum fly-leaves, gilt gaufre" edges, by C. Lewis, and preserved in a green morocco case lined with velvet." The price for this gem was one hundred guineas " A volume which is in every way a superb work of art ; and it has been justly said that nearly two centuries and a half have passed since any manuscript so richly decorated has been executed. It formerly belonged to Mr. Hanrott, the eminent bibliophile, and after his death was pur- chased for 173 55. by Sir John Tobin, whose arms were drawn and illuminated on the first leaf." It con- tained portrait of Henry VIII. in water-colours by Willement, after Holbein ; portrait of Francis I. in 178 THE BOOK FANCIER water-colours, slightly touched with oil, by R. T. Bone, after Titian ; portrait of Francis I. in chalks on blue paper by Harlowe, from the original picture at Paris ; three water-colour drawings by Stephanoff ; two water-colour drawings by Cooper, R.A. ; thir- teen historical oil paintings by R. T. Bone, and eight smaller ones ; one water-colour drawing by R. T. Bone ; three water-colour drawings by Kenny Meadows ; illuminated title by T. Willement, bear- ing portraits of Henry, Francis, their Queens, and Wolsey, coats of arms, &c. ; and forty-seven exquis- ite emblematic and heraldic head and tail pieces, initial letters, and vignettes, very beautifully illumi- nated in gold and colours, by Willement. Nothing would have caused so much amusement and surprise to the late amiable and brilliant Charles Dickens had he been assured that one of the fashions in which his posthumous fame would have been celebrated was to be a mania for collecting " early clean or uncut " copies of his works, in various " states " and conditions. This sort of compliment would have brought a pleasant twinkle in his eye, anticipatory of some quip more pleasant. Still, though careful to preserve for himself the series of his works in due order as they were issued, he had little toleration for the fads of the bibliophilist, as little as he had for " fads " of any kind. Thacke- ray, it is known, like many other copious writers, used to complain rather piteously that he could never lay his hand on, or keep a copy of, his own books, which were usually begged or borrowed, stolen or given away. On the other hand, the less-appreci- ated author has generally a stock on hand, and is ever ready to bestow a copy on a favoured friend, GRANGERISING AND DICKENSIANA 179 -enriched with a presentation formula in his own autograph. It is only within the last few years this eager quest for early copies and first editions of Dickens' s works has developed to an extraordinary degree. Every- thing written by this master when in its " first state " fetches extravagant prices. All sorts of refinements or variations are carefully noted to enhance the price. Within the last two years a new " sense " has been created by two or three enterprising Lon- don booksellers, who have contrived to stimulate an eager demand for rare copies and editions. Pos- sessors of early editions will be astonished to learn what prices can be obtained for these rarities, or for a " Pickwick " in " fine condition." A " Pickwick " arrayed in its green covers, it may be said, should be bound up with these adornments, including all the advertisements, the British Museum having ruled the precedent, and binding up its magazines in this fashion. A nice point is thus raised, it being urged that these are legitimate and component parts of the work, as being issued with it ; more especially as among them will be found " the two scarce ad- dresses " of the author to the reader. " Nickleby " and its successors cost from three to four guineas, according to condition, while " Oliver Twist," owing to the masterly plates by Cruikshank, reaches to five and upwards ; for here the claims of collectors of Cruikshankiana and Dickensiana come into conflict. Next comes " Great Expectations," a first edition of which is almost impossible to procure, buyers having to be content with a first or second volume, making lip the rest from the second or third. The reason given for this scarcity is a curious one. The work was issued in the " Mudie " or three-volume form i8o THE BOOK FANCIER and was thus promptly thumbed, torn, marked, and even dismembered, by the professional reader ; whereas works issued in numbers were bought by private purchasers and preserved for binding. It is indeed pathetically complained, " We have had to use fourth editions for vols. ii. and iii. Vol. i. is a first edition, and very clean. A complete copy of the first is of extreme rarity, and even when offered is generally very dirty hi all volumes. When it is remembered that the whole of the first issue was sold out the day of publication, and the greatest number of them went to the libraries, its scarcity is understood." The little Christmas stories, truly charming volumes, gems of art and typography, fetch five or six guineas a set, according to condi- tion. We remember not long since when they could be procured for three or four shillings apiece. What is really introuvable is " The Story of the Bible," " written for my children," and which, though printed, was, we believe, never published. The truth is, the early editions of Dickens's works have great typographical merit, and are really handsome vol- umes. Nothing now produced can compare with " Master Humphrey's Clock," its large noble page and type, and its exquisite Cattermole etchings set in the type.* * Mr. Jarvis, an enterprising bookseller in King William Street, has recently issued a little " Dickens Catalogue," con- taining all the works, with additional " Dickensiana," reaching to some four hundred items, all richly bound in " crushed green levant morocco by Zaehnsdorf," and which includes " an almost unique collection of portraits, some seventeen in number." Here we find the rare playbills of the amateur performances, the various farces and plays he wrote, and which Mr. R Herne Shepherd ventured to reprint in two portly volumes, thereby bringing down on his head a swift and effectual stroke from Mr. Wilkie Collins, who suppressed the work by force of law. They are divided under heads, " The Green Leaf Series," the GRANGERISING AND DICKENSIANA 181 This fancy for Dickens is therefore not so unmean- ing or exaggerated as might be supposed. It seems to be founded on a certain intrinsic excellence in the articles that are so recherche ; later editions, being " cheap " and thrown off hastily, have really few attractions. As I have said, some of the prettiest volumes ever turned out were the little Christmas annuals, in their gold and crimson " jackets," effec- tive and dainty titles, and exquisite engravings. The way these are combined with the type, the romance and sympathy in the touches, the beauty and dreamy character of the whole, make these most charming little works, and quite account for the general desire to possess them. A set in fine condition is a welcome treasure indeed. *' Bound Works," and " Dickensiana," all the books and pam- phlets that have been written on our author or in imitation of him. Mr. R. H. Shepherd has written a very interesting volume called the " Bibliography of Charles Dickens," in which he has noted all his works, editions, letters, &c., with the dates of publications. Here are found all the theatrical adaptations, the imitations, " catchpenny " and otherwise, such as " Pickwick Abroad," " Pickwick in America," " The Penny Pickwick by Boz," " The Peregrinations of Pickwick," " Dpmbey and Daughter," by the notorious " Chief Baron Nicholson " ; " Nickleby Married," &c. Even an attenuated little volume of poems by the " horse-riding " Ada Menken is much sought, owing to a letter of our author which is given in the preface. A most curious feature is that his wonderful descriptive faculty has been found of value in describing scenes or buildings that have now been swept away ; hence we have volumes on his connection with Old London, and its demolished streets and inns " Charles Dickens in Kent," " Rochester and Charles Dickens," " Dickens and London," " Dickens in England " while one person has used his scissors to make up a pleasing little book of sketches of old streets, inns, houses, &c., described by the great author. In short, the fashion in which this wonderful master has leavened social talk, allusions, jokes, characters, places, &c., is one of the most singular phenomena of the age, and as unique as it is extraordinary. No other writer, save perhaps Shakespeare, has been so reprinted or so illustrated, and it now looks as though this prestige is entering on a new lease. 182 THE BOOK FANCIER The " Sunday Under Three Heads," like all pam- phlets of small circulation, is singularly scarce. I recall the delighted chuckle of a well-known collector who at a sale bid carelessly for a small volume of tracts, secured for a shilling or two. He was pre- sently showing his friends, in unconstrained delight, the " Sunday Under Three Heads," bound up with the rest. " Worth a couple of guineas," he cried ; " the rarest of Dickens's works." The merits of the " Sunday Under Three Heads " are set out thus offi- cially : " By Timothy Sparks (the only instance of the use of this nom de plume by Dickens) . With all the woodcuts (early specimens of the work of H. K. Browne, otherwise ' Phiz '), and both the wrappers, fine copy. The first and probably the scarcest of all Dickens's published works. 11 153. 1836." But for another copy 10 is asked, and this has merits of its own, being " an exceptionally large copy, with the edges quite rough and uncut. It has been gene- rally found in stiff boards, with the edges cut ; the present copy is the largest the writer has ever seen." The ordinary mortal might esteem himself fairly happy in the possession of a good legible copy of " Pickwick " which he can read with comfort. One more ambitious will show with pride his copy of " the original edition, sir, very rare, and picked up for a trifle old gold." Alas ! he has but little idea of the knowledge, the necessary perfections and beau- ties that go to make up that really perfect and entire chrysolite, a first edition of " Pickwick " in a good " state." That it should be " clean," " uncut," i.e, t the edges not pared by the binder's knife, are mere elementary conditions, but there are far more impor- tant questions. Are the numbers in the original green wrappers with all the advertisements ? Has it GRANGERISING AND DICKENSIANA 183 the " suppressed plate " by Seymour, or can it show the " Buss " plates ? and, above all, the recently dis- covered Buss plate of the Review ? Has it Alfred Crowquill's set of forty extra illustrations, or the set of thirty-two illustrations by Onwhyn in the " green wrappers as originally issued," or the " twelve curious ones " by Strange, or the original cover containing fourteen portraits of characters, or Sir John Gilbert's thirty-two illustrations, or Leslie's frontispiece, or, finally, Mr. Pailthorpe's twenty-four etchings, done lately, which it must be said are admirable and full of a Cruikshank spirit. When all these additions have been secured, and the whole splendidly and suitably bound in " whole crushed green levant morocco by Zaehnsdorf in the best style," then in- deed you may sit down contentedly in possession of a real first edition of " Pickwick," that is not only " worth looking at," but worth a great deal of money. Such has been priced at 28. In this connection may be mentioned the extra- ordinary Cruikshank controversy, the delusion of an old man the claim to the invention or sugges- tion of part of the story and characters of " Oliver Twist." The same claim was made to some of Ains- worth's stories, and finally some members of the Sey- mour family put forward a similar pretension. Mr. Seymour's widow seriously urged the claims of her husband in a tiny pamphlet of a few leaves, but so scarce and almost introuvable that a copy was lately offered at ten guineas. To this unhappy and clever artist we owe the original sporting complexion of " Pickwick," but he committed suicide during its pro- gress, and threw the young author's venture into con- fusion. These claims seem ludicrous. One of the last plates, " Rose Maylie and Oliver," was so inferior 184 THE BOOK FANCIER that it had to be cancelled. " With reference to the last one," wrote Mr. Dickens to the artist, Cruik- shank, " without entering into the question of great haste or any other cause which may have led to its being what it is, I am quite sure there can be little difference of opinion between us with respect to the result. May I ask whether you will object to design- ing this plate afresh, and doing so at once, in order that as few impressions as possible of the present one may go forth ? " This change was accordingly made ; but it will be undisputed that " the few im- pressions " that did go forth have since become ex- ceedingly precious and rare. An " Oliver Twist " with this cancelled plate is a thing to be the collector's glory and pride.* The " Memoirs of Grimaldi," which Dickens revised rather than wrote, is also much recherche on account of its spirited etchings by the admirable George. It has become, too, a favourite book for " enlarging " and illustrating. The quaint old theatre of Sadlers Wells, where many of its scenes are laid, the old style of entertainment, the pictures of Old London life, all furnish, as it were, so many pegs on which to hang the dresses and properties of decora- * It is the same with " Nickleby " and " Humphrey's Clock," for which various artists have furnished extra illustrations, viz., Sibson, " Charley Chalk," Hablot Browne with his " eight scarce plates," Peter Palette, Onwhyn, &c. These extra illus- trations have an artificial and arbitrary air, for the first regular illustrations were done under the inspiration and promptings of the writer. Hablot Browne after " Copperfield, 1 ' fell strangely away, and his figures seem to have little significance. Yet still when a change of artists was made, none of his successors seem to have caught the spirit of the great novelist. It may be repeated, however, that those of Mr. Pailthorpe are excellent, and the one of the Pickwickians leading the horse and pre- senting themselves at the roadside inn is in the best vein of comedy. GRANGERISING AND DICKENSIANA 185 tion.* Even the little green pamphlets prepared for the " Readings," " Dombey and Son," " Christmas Carol," &c., and sold at the doors for a shilling, are now grown to be rarities, and fetch a pound or pounds. The great " edition de luxe," issued at vast trouble and expense, is described as " splendidly printed in large type, and illustrated with upwards of 700 engravings, including the whole of the original plates by George Cruikshank, Seymour, H. K. Browne, Maclise, &c., executed on china paper in 30 vols., imp. 8vo, cloth, uncut, published at 40, and offered for 24, and of which the edition was limited to 1000 copies." There live and flourish in London litterateurs whose industry, at least, cannot be contested pains- taking, industrious men, who make themselves specially useful in compiling what are called " Biblio- graphies " of these works picking up with a pointed stick every scrap or chiffon of composition, and tossing it into the basket on their shoulders. A * We thus find copies of this character : " Grimaldi (Joseph). A number of unique portraits, views, scenes, and playbills, illustrating the Memoirs, by ' Boz,' of the greatest of English clowns, consisting of engraved and artistically painted portraits in water-colours by the artist, H. Browne, representing Grimaldi in private dress and in frs favourite characters ; the Times report of his last appearance, together with his farewell speech ; interesting scenes of himself and son ; views of Sadlers Wells, coloured ; an etching of the exterior in 1760 ; fishing scene by Woodward, 1794 ; exterior, 1813, 2 views ; races in 1826 ; the Clown Tavern opposite. Also 12 playbills, T. R. Covent Garden, in which Grimaldi is cast for clown in pantomimes, Harlequin Mother Goose, Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, Asmodeus, Whit- tington, Dragon of Wantley, Gulliver, Cinderella, Mother Bunch, Vision of the Sun, Mother Shipton, &c. These have an extra interest, as they contain the casts of many of Shakespeare's plays, with such notables as Kemble, Young, Cosway, Miss O'Neill, and others, a most interesting collection," i86 THE BOOK FANCIER little work on Dickens is, it must be said, a monu- ment of careful and useful labour, for here we have every book and pamphlet of the great novelist, with date, place, and number of the edition, while almost every letter that he wrote is duly noted. This has been exceeded by the final tribute, " Dickensiana," for which every conceivable fact and criticism has been gathered by Mr. Kitton. It is not unnatural that there should be curiosity and interest about some of our novelist's earliest and scarcely acknowledged productions. Who, for in- stance, is acquainted with the " Library of Fiction, or Family Story-Teller, Original Tales, Essays, and Sketches of Character," 14 plates by Seymour and H. K. Browne, &c., 2 vols. post 8vo, half calf, very scarce, published in 1836-37, and containing the " Tuggs at Ramsgate," and a little talk about " Spring and Sweeps," by Boz, pieces by Mayhew, Douglas Jerrold, Stirling Coyne, &c. Rarer still is what is open before the writer at this moment, a number of the " Monthly Magazine," containing " Horatio Sparkins," the second number to which he contributed. It is a curious and melancholy sensa- tion to look at the characters of this juvenile attempt. We stretch back over the long, long interval, to the gay, spirited, handsome youth, now first trying his powers the brilliant career fame, honour, profit a name to be known all over the world and in every generation to come ; yet here he was, obscure, unknown, unthought of making this first jocose effort and the tale unpaid for ! Rare, also, the strange story he contributed to the " Picnic Papers," a venture on behalf of a publisher who had shown singular greed in his dealings with him, and whom he repaid, as Mr. Pickwick did Job Trotter, with a GRANGERISING AND DICKENSIANA 187 " Take that, sir ! " not a blow, but the most un- wearied exertions for him, and for his widow and children. The most wonderful and flattering monument, however, to the memory of Dickens was the work of Mr. Harvey of St. James Street. This is the " Forster Life," comprised in thirteen large folios, and illustrated by all that industry and money could acquire. To begin with, each octavo was expanded into a folio by the process known as " inlaying " or " insetting," a costly thing in its way, and which requires pressing and delicate pasting with a " feather edge," and which has to be paid for at the rate of fourpence a leaf. Every notable name has its portrait, and every place visited by our author an illustration. Every portrait had its autograph letter, and the author himself was glorified by a series of no less than sixteen. Here were all sorts of inter- esting curiosities, such as his " Manual of Short- hand," written out by himself and dealt with in a very original way, and a review of a pamphlet done in the vigorous Crokerish style fashionable fifty years ago. There are bills of his early plays, pictures of the actors who created their parts, scenes and bits of Old London, with even a water-colour sketch of the " Fox-under-the-Hill," an old public-house on the banks of the Thames, where the child Dickens occasionally forgot his early miseries over a glass of ale. It would take long to describe this wonderful collection, which, I believe, was sold to a wealthy American, and for which the comparatively small sum of 350 was asked. It is evidence of the extraordinary interest in his works that several of his little early books have been reprinted in facsimile. The " Sunday Under Three i88 THE BOOK FANCIER Heads," before alluded to, has been thus treated by two publishers ; so have the plays, in a fashion which can scarcely be distinguished from the original. Perhaps the rarest of these little trifles is the " Dance Round a Christmas Tree," a little story of a few leaves, which was, I believe, written for a bazaar, and is eagerly sought, and at an extravagant price.* One of the least known of our author's works is " The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman," with the plates by George Cruikshank, in which Dickens treated the ballad with all the gravity of a classical commentator, furnishing notes and " various con- jectural readings " in a most diverting fashion ; but we must see and get the " scarce original issue," and, better still, have " the original " cloth covers pre- served. For his friend Miss Pardoe he was induced to write something for one of the volumes, gorgeous in crimson watered silk, that she edited ; and in " The Keepsake " of 1852 is to be found a story by him, entitled, " To be Read at Dusk." This, of course, is rare. Some industrious ones have traced his very earliest productions, carried by their ardour * Among the " ana " is a curious little book on the " Origin of Sam Weller," published by Mr. Jarvis, and which certainly supports its title in showing how Sam was suggested. It seems that there was an actor of the name of Sam Vale playing at the Olympic some sixty years since. His chief and most popular part was that of " Sam Splatterdash " in the " Boarding-House," in which he introduced those odd similes which made Sam Weller so popular, such as " ' Come on ! ' as the man said to the tight boot " ; " ' Why, here we are all mustered,' as the roast beef said to the Welsh rabbit " ; " ' Where shall we fly ? ' as the bullet said to the trigger " ; " ' I know the world,' as the monkey said when he cut off his tail " ; " ' There she is, musical and melancholy,' as the cricket said to the tea-kettle." This subject has been recently dealt with by my friend Mr. Charles Kent in a curious little volume " Wellerisms." GRANGERISING AND DICKENSIANA 189 into very speculative regions, as when it has been assumed that he contributed to " ' The Town/ a journal of original essays, characteristic of the manners, social, domestic, and superficial, of London and Londoners, containing an interesting condemna- tory notice of the ' Penny Pickwick ' edited by Boz, and has probably unrecognised contributions by Dickens." Another journal, " Figaro in London," was also considered to have " probably unrecognised contributions," and accordingly is priced highly. It may be added that " Bentley's Magazine," which he edited, has been found to contain many addresses and ephemeral contributions which the diligent collector will take care not to overlook. In the Daily News, in an odd company, are to be found several of his poems and letters. Then there are prefaces, such as he prefixed to Overs, the " working man's " book, and to Miss Procter's poems. A no less extraordinary testimony to the popular- ity of this great and charming writer are the number of imitations, sequels, &c., to his works, attempts made during his lifetime to secure one faint puff even from the full gale of his popularity. These also have been collected, and fall into the ranks of " Dicken- siana. ' ' To this category belong the ' ' Sketch-Book ' ' by " Boz," containing a great number of highly inter- esting and original tales, sketches, &c., &c., curious rough woodcut illustrations (circa 1837), very scarce ; " Pickwick Abroad, or The Tour in France," by G. W. M. Reynolds, plates by Crowquill and Phil- lips, 8vo, 1839 ; " Pickwick in America ; " " The Penny Pickwick," edited by " Boz " (the first 54 numbers of this very remarkable plagiarism, many rough woodcuts, has the curious original wrappers to igo THE BOOK FANCIER Part i, many advertisement leaves, and the title, very rarely to be met with, 8vo (one page slightly defect- ive), 1842 ; " The Peregrinations of Pickwick." The unfinished fragment of " Edwin Drood " has pro- duced quite a literature in itself, and the commonly found being, who rushes in where a more super- natural power might fear to tread, has exercised his art freely in speculative continuations and arrange- ments, dramatic and narrative. There are many of these continuations, such as " John Glasper's Secret.' There is also " Christmas Eve with the Spirits, or The Canon's Wanderings through Ways Unknown, with some further tidings of the Lives of Scrooge and Tiny Tim, with illustrations ; " and " The Mystery of Edwin Drood," an adaptation by Orpheus C. Kerr, I2mo, half morocco uniform, original illustrated covers preserved. A celebrated but not distinguished character of forty years ago was the so-called or self-styled " Chief Baron Nicholson," who presided at the " Judge and Jury " Club. This personage, turning author, wrote a continuation of Dombey, which he styled " Dom- bey and Daughter, by Renton Nicholson, Lord Chief Baron of the celebrated Judge and Jury Club, with numerous engravings, the rare original edition, very scarce." And later, some one, issuing a series of " Sketches of Celebrated Characters," was pleased to include our novelist, who was complimentarily marked " No. i " in the gallery of portraits, a mark of favour that must have been distasteful to its object. The number of persons who have described him, recorded their " recollections " of him, sketched the places he resorted to, is enormous. We have accordingly his " Youth and Middle Age," his " Child- hood," "The Story of his Life," "A Day with GRANGERISING AND DICKENSIANA 191 Dickens," " Charles Dickens as a Reader," the " Phil- osophy of Dickens," his " Humour and Pathos," " About England," with him " In Kent," Dickens as a " Journalist," " In Rochester," also among the " Worthies of the World," a title that would have amused him. Then the adaptations for the stage is in itself a long catalogue ; and it is remarkable that every one of his stories has been dramatised, some of them many times over. The portraits of the departed master form another department for the collector. Some of the early ones show how bright and interesting was the face when he was a young man, and the eager, quick eyes, so likely to rivet attention. Maclise had a happy faculty for reproducing this grace. It seems there was to have been a portrait prefixed to " Copperfield," but which, being " suppressed " for some reason, has, of course, become desirable. The Laurence portrait, a brilliant head, we are told, was " much esteemed by the family." Some of Cruikshank's careless sketches have been reproduced. Some years ago a pencil drawing by Cruikshank was discovered and repro- duced in facsimile by Messrs. Robson & Kerslake. This characteristic sketch has an interest of its own, though, of course, it is stamped with that curious air of aerial grotesqueness which was the author's char- acteristic. We are told that it is " one of the ear- liest, if not the first, and perhaps the most interesting, of all the portraits of Dickens. It appears that in 1836 or 1837 both he and Cruikshank were members of a club of literary men which had but a brief ex- istence, under the title of the ' Hook-and-Eye Club.' At a meeting one night Dickens was seated in an arm-chair beside a table, book in hand, conversing, when Cruikshank exclaimed, ' Sit still, Charley, 192 THE BOOK FANCIER while I take your portrait.' ' Finally comes the French translations, such as " Les Aventures de Monsieur Pickwick," which read strangely. How, for instance, can Count Smoltork's broken English be translated, " How you well, Peek Veeks ? " There was a regular series of translations formerly arranged for with Hachette on one of Dickens's visits to Paris ; but Amadee Pichot, a diligent writer of all work on the French press, was the first, we believe, to introduce him to the French public. "Xujurfous Editions" IN further proof of the wonderful growth of the art of printing, which seemed to escape, equipped, as from the head of Minerva, it can be shown that the now popular form of illustration and engraving reached almost at once a surprising perfection. The combining of wood blocks in the same page with type has always been a matter of much nicety and difficulty, while copper engrav- ings offer greater difficulties. This seemed child's- play to the early printer, who essayed works of magnitude which even the most speculative of modern publishers would hesitate before attempting ; and as we open their broadly spreading pages, we are amazed at the abundance, the wealth of resource and general effect. Some of the most extraordinary pro- ductions of those early days of printing are what many called the great " picture books," folios filled with copious illustrations in the manner of Albert Diirer and his school. These are rude but spirited, with little shading ; and it amazes us to see the freedom and boldness of these things, and with what ease the difficulties of " working " them were overcome. One of the oldest illustrated books known is an o 193 194 THE BOOK FANCIER edition of Msop's Fables, published about 1471, with numerous initial letters and upwards of 160 very curious woodcuts in the text, bound in the original thick oak boards covered with stamped leather. The " Libro di Monte Sancto di Dio," Florence, 1477, with three engravings by Baccio Baldini after the designs of Botticelli, so rarely met with in the book, is considered to be one of the earliest samples of engraving on copper plates for book illus- tration. But the most celebrated of this class is of course " The Nuremberg Chronicle," a huge portly volume, thus lately described by Mr. Ridler : " The Nuremberg Chronicle, best Latin edition, thick royal folio, with large and spirited woodcuts, all brilliant impressions, and uncoloured (except two genealogies that are coloured), very large sound copy, in old black morocco, very neat, the sides richly blind tooled, printed by Koberger, 1493. So fine a copy has not occurred for sale for several years past. The book is genuine, and perfect throughout ; no wash'd leaves, and all the large capitals filled in by the rubricator in different coloured inks ; it has the blank leaves, and six additional leaves at end, which Brunet says are nearly always wanting." This astonishing vol- ume contains between two and three thousand pic- tures or impressions of the most varied, grotesque, and entertaining kind. There are large plates nine and ten inches square, one a well-known composition, representing Almighty God seated on His throne, and which the wary collector turns to, as it is often miss- ing, cut out by the " spoliator." This was a truly astounding feat for a publisher, considering that printing and woodcutting were then scarcely out of their cradles. When we think of the difficulties that always attended woodcutting, the warping of the "LUXURIOUS EDITIONS" 195 wood, the tools, it is amazing to see with what ease these obstacles were surmounted. In each of these there is good drawing, and a strange lurid imagina- tion in the display of human forms with animals' heads, or of human heads united by the neck of a snake with the trunk of a man. In the old cuts of this era, in initial letters there will be found a sug- gestiveness and display of dramatic action, within perhaps an inch square. These little sketches will bear study and also repay study. The earlier num- bers of Punch exhibit this minute and artistic abund- ance to an extraordinary degree, and in the floriated borderings in a single page the astonished reader will trace hundreds of little fairies, goblins, beautiful nymphs, pursuing strange games and gymnastics among the capital letters ; all drawn with an amaz- ing spirit and originality by Richard Doyle. Here is the style and title of another copy, and it should be noted what a difference in price the element of " condition," i.e., size of margin, bril- liancy of impression, &c., causes the former copy costing only six or seven pounds ; this one five-and thirty : " Nuremberg Chronicle, by Schedel (Hart- mann), first edition, royal folio, with fine original impressions of the 2,250 large woodcuts of towns, historical events, portraits, &c., by Michael Wolge- muth (the master of Albert Diirer) and William Pleydenwurff ; very tall copy, measuring i8 inches by I2|-, beautifully bound in morocco super extra, dull gilt edges, by Riviere, 35." " A volume," adds the vendor enthusiastically, " of which Dibdin says, ' If Koberger had printed only this Chronicle, he would have done enough to place his name among the most distinguished of his typo- graphical brethren.' Many of the initials in this 196 THE BOOK FANCIER copy are coloured, and the original owner's coat of arms, finely illuminated in gold and colours, is added. Probably no taller copy exists, as the edges of some of the leaves are in their original state, rough and uncut. Mr. Bedford's copy, in no finer condition, sold for 49. It is only upon comparison with the edition with German text, published later in the same year (a book of much smaller value), that the full beauty of the original impressions is apparent."* Open before me now mine own too is a goodly exemplar of this monumental old tome, arrayed in solid oak, covered with a brown calf hide scored and tooled, with an escutcheon of some German baron deeply sunk, and the date of binding, 1583, a very rare thing, displayed below. Nothing can be finer than the title-page, flourishing away with its great German ecclesiastical letters more than an inch * These are, in truth, the ordinary copies that come into the market, but they would not satisfy the collector of taste and long purse. Any one that has placed a proof impression of a fine engraving beside a later worn one, has to own that the two are as different as though they were of different subjects ; and so with a tall clean copy of a famous work, unblemished and in sound " desirable " condition. Who would not covet such an exemplar of the " Chronicle " as this ? " A very large, complete, and fine copy, with capitals beautifully illuminated in colours, and all the blank leaves " (this is a characteristic touch), " in the original oak boards." " This," says the enthusiastic writer of the catalogue, " is probably the largest and finest copy in existence after Lord Spencer's." In 1873 a copy measuring 1 8 by i\ inches was sold as the finest then known; but the present one measures nearly 18 \ inches by \z\on the paper only ; while along the boards it is 19^ inches by 13, and 3^ thick. This belonged to Mr. Dunn-Gardiner, one of the most accom- plished of collectors, a book of whose is always honourably dis- tinguished as " Dunn-Gardiner's copy." Dibdin says, " Let me entreat you always to pay marks of respect to the productions of the first printer of Nuremberg, Anthony Koberger. His ample margins betray a thoroughly well-cultivated taste." "LUXURIOUS EDITIONS" 197 long, and laid out with good effect. A good and true copy boasts the wholly blank pages near the close, which are yet duly paged ; but the author thoughtfully explains that they have been left blank purposely, so that, after he had brought all down " to date," the " courteous reader " might write in any particulars he listed. In short, a grandly " designed " book, if one may use the phrase ; and the very " amplitude " of the title, with its bold stately pro- clamation of what is within the inscription on the portal impresses us with respect, if not with awe. A book of this kind is surely a monument, and excites wonder and astonishment. Yet another of these wonderful picture-books came from France in 1491, and is thus described : " Orose ^Paul). History of the World (in French), with the Book of the Four Vertues of Seneca, black-letter, 3 vols. in one, thick royal folio, with very beautiful ornamental borders, large map, and nearly 300 large and splendid woodcuts, all fine bright impressions, illustrating history from the Creation, large sound copy in old brown calf neat, from the Sunderland Collection at Paris. Anthoine Verard, 1491." " This most rare volume," says the book-dealer " (which is the size of the Nuremberg Chronicle), is one of the most magnificent and splendid productions of the early Paris press, was fully expected to have pro- duced over one hundred guineas in the Sunderland Sale ; it has a slight defect, corner of two leaves being mended, otherwise it is in fine crackling state. Brunet could never have seen a copy. He states it was printed near the end of the fifteenth century, whereas the date 1491 is given at the conclusion of the second volume. It must be an almost unique volume, since the celebrated bibliographer only refers to the sale 198 THE BOOK FANCIER of one copy sixty years ago." Twenty pounds is surely not too much. A companion chronicle is that of Cologne : " Cologne Chronicle. Chronica van der Hilliger Stat Coellen, Ccellen, J. Kcelhoff, 1499. Gothic letter, folio, with a large number of curious woodcuts of battles, historical events, portraits of popes, emperors, kings, and others, all coloured by a contemporary hand, olive morocco extra, gilt and marbled edges by Zaehnsdorf, rare, 12." Of this interesting and important volume Dibdin says, " There are few ancient books so rarely seen. I think there are not three copies of it in this country, and the evidence of De Bure leads us to suspect that no copy of it was known at Paris." It contains an important passage relating to the invention of the art of print- ing with metal types, in which the author says, " The beginning and progress of the before-mentioned art was told me, by word of mouth, by the worthy man, Master Ulrich Zell, printer at Cologne," &c. It con- tains the suppressed account of Pope Joan, with her portrait, carrying a child. Passing by the " Ortus Sanitas," 1497, the " Ship of Fools," 1488, crammed with strange illustrations, we come to what is really the most important of these old illustrated books, and with which is associated some rather ludicrous incidents. This unpretend- ing series has been the occasion of a craze that has lasted nearly two hundred years, and at this moment diligently excites the longings of first-rate collec- tors. I refer to the well-known DE BRY volumes a sound at which the bibliognoste pricks up his ears and feels his heart palpitate between hope and despair. For he may see a volume of the well- known Voyages in a catalogue, but this will give him no satisfaction, for the same editions differ, and only "LUXURIOUS EDITIONS" 199 the most laborious collation can decide whether the work will suit him. It indeed belongs to the haute icole, and is really only within reach of the greater circles, the Rothschilds, Crawfurds, and the like. Near the close of the sixteenth century there was a publisher at Frankfort named De Bry, who about the year 1590 conceived a plan of bringing out a series of travels with illustrations. He was a dealer in books and also an engraver, which double calling no doubt led him to this choice of subject. He began with the work of an English traveller named Hariott, and issued the book in four languages English, German, French, and Latin using the same engrav- ings for each, and thus " got off " his stock of illus- trations in the different countries. This he followed up with the same travels in two languages, and be- fore his death, which took place in 1598, had issued some six portions of what he intended to be a long series. There were to be the " Greater Travels " to the West Indies, and the " Little Travels " to the East. His widow and sons, finding the venture suc- cessful, carried on the scheme, and a period of forty- four years was covered by the joint enterprise. Of the first division there were thirteen parts in Latin, fourteen in German, &c. ; and of the second, twelve in Latin and fourteen in German. In due course the first portions became " out of print," and sub- scribers to the later issues naturally wished to " com- plete their sets ; " hence there were reissues, with certain alterations and corrections and additions. And in this fashion the work was completed, so far as it went and has come down to us. Taking up a volume of it, we shall find that there is nothing very attractive about it, the frontispiece being in the style which was then in vogue, the title being set in the 200 THE BOOK FANCIER centre of an elaborately florid decoration. Who would think that to possess " a set " was the longing desire of the first-class bibliophilist ? But a reflec- tion or two will show that it possessed the proper elements for stimulating this craze, i.e., almost in- superable difficulties in the way of getting a complete set. At great cost, and as the work of a lifetime, you may have secured all the successive parts, but you were only beginning ; had you the parts with the variations, or had you these parts with the variations in the different languages ; or, had you these, did you know that you had all ? The best collection is likely enough to be incomplete. No one can conceive the lore, the discussions, the elaborate distinctions, the exquisite instinct and knowledge necessary to a genuine part from one that was issued " made up " of other editions. Mr. Quaritch had copies of the same editions, which, as he shows, differed, the one having an " i " more than the other. So if you had the " i "- less one you were undone. Some, too, of the same edition had the vignettes altered. Under the dreadful fascination of tracing these things, collectors since the year 1740 have been writing volumes on the subject Camus, Brunet, De Bure, &c. Brunet has over fifty closely printed columns, De Bure the same ; while, latest of all, comes the Earl of Crawfurd with a splendid quarto full of facsimile illustrations. For thirty years he tells us pathetically he has devoted his labours to the scientific study of the innumerable DE BRY'S and their variation of copies, and in this work printed in three columns side by side these trivial changes and alterations. But the truth is, this investigation seems endless, and there is the secret of its fascination. Almost from these times down to our own times, "LUXURIOUS EDITIONS" 201 the line of costly illustrated works has been main- tained almost unbroken. The feebly monotonous character of the " trade " illustrated books in our day is well known, and has happily tired out the public. Indeed, there is hardly a single ambitious work of the kind that can be pointed to with satis- faction. Whether it be Shakespeare, or Milton, or Tennyson, there is the regular procedure. It is too often put into the hands of stock artists and wood- cutters, and usually with the same result. There is little time to prepare the greater engravings. In- deed, one of the single flowing-line engravings out of the old works would take one of our engravers half a year to prepare. A curious note, too, of those moderns' illustrations is that a single glance seems to reveal all that is in them, whereas the older ones are full of suggestion and thought, and bear study. The French have introduced a class of work of this kind, under the auspices of Lacroix (the bibliophile Jacob), Charles Yriate, and others, who have " done " the " arts of the middle and other ages," Florence, Rome, Venice, &c., setting off their work with in- numerable illustrations, all of the same weary pattern. Dore is accountable for a great deal of this " job " work, and though all admire the inexhaustible variety of the artist, there grew up at last a sort of sameness in his work, no doubt the result of the publisher's ceaseless calls on his imagination. His Bible is considered one of his most successful achievements, and the execution of this work by printer and pub- lisher is a true specimen of what is artistic in that direction. As a good illustration of how the machinery of trade may vulgarise what is good and noble, it may be related that when it was determined to adapt this work for the English market, cliches, as they 202 THE BOOK FANCIER are called, of the engravings were sent over, and a well-known firm proceeded to bring the work out. Large type was selected, good paper chosen, and the book duly " machined " through one of the great presses. But the result was anything but effective. There was no homogeneousness. This compatibility between the various portions of a book is too often forgotten. The whole should be designed together, like any other artistic work, so that the smallest duo- decimo may show signs of elegance of design as well as the greater octavo. It must be admitted, however, that moderns labour under serious disadvantages compared with their predecessors, for the grand folio and quarto engravings, after reproduction of the works of great painters, offer space for breadth of effect and imposing design which is quite lost in small efforts. In the old French work, so exquisitely carried out by Eisen and others, the appropriateness of their culs-de-lampe, vignettes, &c., to the position in the page, was one of the charms of the work. Type, spacing, headings, all calculated on principles of proportion, make up the indefinable attraction of fine typography. It is thus that the little Christmas volumes of Mr. Dickens are so deservedly admired for their elegance and the harmony and appropriate- ness of their illustrations. In the " Chimes," for instance, we are struck with the fashion in which the delicate fancies of Richard Doyle are blended with the text the old church, the bells, fairies, &c. the eye wandering from the suggestions of the writer to those of the artist. But in latter days an idea was conceived of issuing " editions of luxury " on a large scale the works of Thackeray, Dickens, Shakespeare,, and others and all the illustrations, great and small, were collected, and dispersed through the work on a "LUXURIOUS EDITIONS" 203 large page " with all the amplitude of margin." Artists of different styles and era were mixed in confusion, and a picture meant for a small page was set in the centre of a large one. It is obvious that this was a false and inartistic principle. Of the falling off in English typography, looking at it as an art, there can be no doubt ; and the late American bibliophilist, Mr. Henry Stevens, of Ver- mont, who has judiciously investigated the matter, concurs in this view in a production entitled " Who Spoils Our New English Books ? Asked and Answered." " The sinners who combine together to spoil our new English books are no less than ten, viz. (i) the author, (2) the publisher, (3) the printer, (4) the reader, (5) the compositor, (6) the pressman or machinist, (7) the papermaker, (8) the inkmaker, (9) the bookbinder, and (10) the consumer. In what proportion each one of the above contributes towards the spoiling of the books which pass through his hands, it would be unfair to divulge, for it would sim- ply be taking the spirit out of the little book. Let every representative of the combination buy a copy of it for himself, and if authors are thus taught to admit their ' ignorance,' publishers their ' fussiness ' and their desire to cheapen and ' shoddy ' literature ; printers their carelessness and want of taste ; binders their greed of ' shavings ' ; inkmakers their shoddy inks, which turn brown so soon, then we shall have read them a very valuable lesson." This is not merely a speculative opinion, but a de- liberate verdict founded on investigation. Our author founds his opinions partly upon long personal obser- vation, and partly upon discussions, in many of which he participated ; upon reports issued by the juries of the several great Exhibitions since 1851 ; 204 THE BOOK FANCIER and, finally, upon the verdict of the last three, held at Vienna, Philadelphia, and Paris, at which the best and latest books of all nations were subjected to the closest inspection of experts. Each of his associates, he tells us, almost without exception, " felt and expressed his disappointment at the comparative quality of English exhibits in this class ' ' Finally, he hopes " the art of bookmaking will drift back into the practice of those same laws of proportion, taste, and workmanship so well settled and displayed in old manuscript and old books, large and small, long before and long subsequent to the birth of typography." This is a serious and well-founded indictment. It has often been urged in regard to original work that the round of subjects novels and fiction must have been exhausted, and that there is now no striking out anything that is original ; whereas the truth is that the originality is inexhaustible because founded on the possibility of looking at the same subject from ever so many different points. This view is oddly fortified by the instances of Dor6 and Gavarni, two French artists who came specially to London to por- tray for their countrymen " The English at Home." The result was most extraordinary, for the subjects are little recognisable as English. The two artists unconsciously brought with them the atmospheric effects and associations of their beloved Paris, and one would think we were looking at French- men and French scenes. A more curious effect could not be conceived. It may be said that the system which has grown up of illustrating ephemeral scenes for the weekly papers has had prejudicial effects on art. We have grown so fami- liar with this sort of hurriedly done picture that we accept it ; but there is no doubt they are as unfaithful "LUXURIOUS EDITIONS" 205 as they are superficial. There is no roundness of drawing all is coarse " scratching," and those who have witnessed the particular scene will scarcely recognise it. William Harvey was the last book illustrator who seemed to possess sentiment, as alt who own the early edition of Knight's " Shake- speare " will admit. There is here a grace and sym- pathy, a harmony and fancy, that is inexpressibly pleasing, and contrasts favourably with the utter in- expressivensss of our modern illustrations. Another cause of this modern failure is the realistic spirit in which all modern art works most figures and scenes being sketched from living models, without any attempt at abstract grace. The older illustrators all aimed at elevating the reader and putting them- selves on a level with the poetry of the narrator. It is only those who are familiar with the grand libraries that can form an idea of the splendid scale on which illustration was carried on a century ago. The " spaciousness," the grand ambition, and even splendour, of the older school may be illustrated by a few of their huger efforts. What will be thought of a comprehensive work such as the " Grand Theatre Historique," 5 vols. folio, map of the world, and many hundred fine plates of battles, sieges, execu- tions, historical events, many English in the style of Callot, very fine copy, in rich old crimson morocco extra, full gilt back, gilt and marble edges. Leide, 1703 ? It may be added that nothing can be more spirited than the battle-pieces often supplied to historical works of this kind. The folio " Strada's Belgian War " is full of dashing etchings, highly imaginative, no doubt, but curious as showing the costumes, arms, &c. Picart was one of the great and most industrious of artists for this class of work, his 206 THE BOOK FANCIER labours showing an infinite boldness and variety. One of his monuments is " The Ceremonies and Reli- gious Customs of all Nations," a most astounding work for its elaborateness and finish of execution, to say nothing of the encyclopaedic knowledge and accuracy necessary, for it embodied " all ancient and modern superstitions." There are eleven great folio volumes, overflowing with finely engraved copper- plates, representing processions, sacrifices, costumes, and the most extraordinary rites and ceremonies. Every figure is well drawn, finished, and studied. One might spend days and weeks over it and find ceaseless entertainment. A copy " bound in rich old red morocco by Derome " was sold at the Perkins sale, and fetched 98 ; yet not long since we " picked up," as it is called, seven volumes of the work on a stall for twenty-five shillings ! But of this class of work there is no end. As another illustration I will describe one out of my own modest collection, and which is a pleasant recreation to look at for a few minutes, so grand and noble is it. This is an enormous Venetian book, the size of a large atlas a huge armful indeed a collection of engravings of the antique statues and busts in the Museum, engraved in a fine " large " style. But the charm is in the pages of description, each set in an exquisitely engraved and more exquis- itely designed border. All is worked on one side of the page only on paper like cardboard. It is heralded by a grand title-page, a portrait of the King of Sweden, to whom it is dedicated, with the favourite apotheosis, always a welcome introduction. It is bound in a massive style, and came from the Townley Collection, finding its way to the outside shelf of a stall, marked twenty shillings. As an old writer remarks, it is a pleasant humane task to redeem such captives from "LUXURIOUS EDITIONS" 207 their degrading slavery. This same Picart brought out another sumptuous work, " Le Temple des Muses, the rare original edition, with descriptions in French, English, Dutch, and German, royal folio, large paper, sixty large and very beautiful plates, brilliant proof impressions, each plate surrounded with broad and elegant borders, fine copy, French calf gilt, full gilt back, gilt edges, 5 53. Amst., 1733. Descriptions in French, Dutch, &c. ! This shows the clientele to which the artist appealed. The fine " style " of the work, its beautiful borderings, all commend it to the amateur of taste, though the treatment, however classical, goes beyond the limit of propriety. Perhaps the more imposing and more pretentious work is the " Gallery of Versailles," from Le Brun's paintings, executed in the old, large, bold sweeping copperplate style, on board-like paper. One always admires even the frontispieces of these fine pictorial volumes, with their gods and nymphs disporting, combined with some architectural work, the title mixed up with abundant scrolls and flourishings, the inscription seeming as though it were carved on the walls of some old monument. This truly regal work is worthy of the Grand Monarque and the creator of Versailles. I take the description from the Perkins Collection, where a copy was sold for 130 : "Cabinet du Roi. A magnificent collection of engravings exe- cuted at the expense of Louis XIV. for presentation to crowned heads and ambassadors resident at his court. Bound in twenty-three volumes." These enormous volumes are in the binding of the time, secured between planks of wood, the paper like a " board," and the engravings in the fine sweeping masculine style so effective in these great books. The printing was no less splendid large, solid letters, proportioned 208 THE BOOK FANCIER to the space covered a matter utterly neglected in our time. The very title-page.with its fine characters and the royal escutcheon, is ennobling to look at. This work was issued at twenty-five francs, and only 1000 copies were taken off, about 150 remaining over ; these were sold as a bonus for the engravers. In works like this we are attracted by the vignettes and tailpieces, conceived in a singularly free and flowing style, full of fancy in the disposition of shields and cupids and scroll-work often, indeed, rising to the dignity of a regular picture. It is of what is called " atlas folio " size, with the royal arms on the side. It contained the King's own pictures, each a finely engraved copperplate ; the battles of Alexander, after Le Brun ; medals, French and Roman ; plans and pictures of the Louvre and Tuileries ; of Ver- sailles (in itself a monument) ; ancient and modern statues ; the royal tapestries, fetes, and " carousals " (always an entertaining form of illustration, from the admirable spirit, and crowds, figures, costumes, &c. &c.) ; all the palaces and celebrated buildings in Paris ; the battles, sieges, marches, processions, &c., of the Grand Monarque, &c. &c. It may be said truly that each copperplate in the collection, in size about three feet by two, is in itself worthy of being hung up and framed, the lines are shadows so rich and bold, and the whole effect so masterly. An objection is of course the unwieldy, unmanageable size of these monsters, and the difficulty of storing them. On the walls of the long galleries in noble- men's houses we often find large prints of this char- acter, and fine portraits of cardinals and French statesmen hanging, each in its old-fashioned ebony frame ; and as we pause and survey them to our great interest and entertainment, we scarcely think that "LUXURIOUS EDITIONS" 209 they have formed but one in an immense company, and have been separated from their fellows. Another department of these grand art works is the glorification of theatres. This in England is unknown ; indeed, there are not more than two or three English works on the construction or theory of theatres, and those of an unpretending sort. Abroad, where a theatre is a public monument for the city, as much as the Exchange or the Town Hall, the highest talent of the country is evoked to produce what shall be an ornament to the city and to the stage. Hence we have everywhere splendid and interesting build- ings, each with a significance of its own ; and almost every theatre of importance has been celebrated by a magnificent work, setting forth all the plans to scale, with views of the interior and exterior, front, sides, sections, &c. In these works the amateur finds a certain charm, a savour of the entertainment of the stage itself ; and the style of engraving, in some in- stances, is of the highest order. The writer possesses a collection of these great works, the pleasure of look- ing over which is almost akin to that of seeing a play. One of the best is that noble tribute to a noble theatre of atlas folio size the account of the great theatre at Bordeaux. The San Carlo, the Scala, the Russian theatres, the new Opera House at Paris, and our Drury Lane, have all been illustrated in this sump- tuous fashion. Besides the architectural plans, done minutely to scale, there are given views of the exterior and interior wrought in artistic fashion ; and in the case of the Bordeaux house we see the audience, com- posed of innumerable figures in bag wigs and sack backs, the king and his courtiers in the royal box, the wax lights blazing away, the whole conveying an idea of elegant festivity. 210 THE BOOK FANCIER Another department of sumptuous volumes, issued not for profit, but to minister to the glory of some opulent patron, is found in what are styled " Galler- ies." These noble works, of grand dimensions, noble type, lavish, if not exquisite art, are a reproduction, with fine plates and minute description, of the pic- tures in some public gallery, issued at the expense of the State ; or in some private collection produced at the expense of the owner ; or of some artistic palace like that of the Farnese or Pamphili at Rome. These fine testimonials to art would fill a library in them- selves ; and on them have been expended all the treasure of printing, paper, engraving, and binding. Most costly is the well-known " Musee " of the Louvre, issued by Napoleon at a time when he had ravished all the museums of Europe and gathered them in Paris. The work fills many atlas folio vol- umes, and is, indeed, a cynical monument of plunder. For the Mus6e Franais the Napoleon publishers received 307 as the subscription price, and a copy sold by auction at Sotheby's in 1860 produced 102. At the same time, by a proper retribution, it became a mere temporary memorial, as almost before its com- pletion the works had been restored to their lawful owners. The engravings in these huge volumes are in that rather pretty style which was fashionable, and reflected the finish of David's pictures, then much copied ; but the effect lacks boldness and breadth. No expense was spared, but, like other productions of the Imperial Press at this time such as Denon's great work on " Egypt " there is not the general solidity and boldness of the older works. Its merit is the vast number of subjects, and the vastness of the enterprise. Still, these five grand folios are a surpris- ing achievement, having been produced with a com- "LUXURIOUS EDITIONS" 211 parative ease which is astonishing to us. Every sort of engraving is here found, including " line," eau forte, worked after the fashion of regular engraving, but all showing honest and finished labour. These volumes do not often come into the market. The successor of Napoleon was stimulated by his example to produce the " Gallerie Royale," a work of the same pretension, full of highly finished engravings and finely printed. The " Florence Gallery " and many others followed, but none rival the state and splendour of the works of the last century. Two of the most elegant and finished form the " Gallery of the Palais Royal," describing the collection of the Duke of Orleans, a series of beautiful engravings in the Moreau style, each plate having an elegant bor- der, while the description is engraved below. The " Dresden Gallery " is in two splendid tomes, full of the finest lithographs, the best and most effective sort to say nothing of the " Gallery of the Pitti Palace." The library of the Athenaeum Club is particularly rich in works of this class, boasting a large number of these costly and entertaining tomes. Many were bequeathed by the Rev. Mr. Turner. But, as I say, none are so sumptuous or impress one so much as those of the last century. Not less remarkable is the variety of forms in which this royal encouragement of art would display itself. Such noble patronage seemed to be ingeniously lavish in devising oppor- tunities. Yet another sumptuous work was brought out to minister to the glories of the Grand Monarque. Con- ceive of a fine, crimson-coated folio, stout, but well- proportioned, in old raspberry-tinted morocco, by the court binder, Ruette. The leaves display the rich " old gold." On the sides is the escutcheon 212 THE BOOK FANCIER of Louis XV., the collar of the St. Esprit and Crown, the back exquisitely tooled, the monogram " L.L." and crown elaborately repeated. This noble " piece," intended as a royal present, is devoted to a series of pictures of medals illustrating the achievements of the great king. Each page is devoted to a medal, and there are 318 medals, and consequently pages, but printed on only the one or the recto side. Each page is in an exquisitely designed border by Coypel and Le Clerc, exhibiting a great variety of treatment. The medal is shown at the top, in two views, the obverse and the reverse the first by Edelinck, the latter by Picart. Then follows a handsome printed historical description, while at the bottom is a grace- ful vignette. The whole was produced at the Royal Press, with a splendid frontispiece by Coypel, and makes, from its glorification of the king in every page, a most flattering and sumptuous picture. It is cer- tainly worth possessing such a memorial, which is as entertaining as it is beautiful. To this class of work, so artistic, one can come and come again. Our modern editions of luxury will not bear these recur- ring visits. A more wonderful, amusing, and costly collection could not be conceived. The Popes, too, have contributed some noble works to this category, such as the " Muse"e Pie Clemen- tino," ten enormous vellum-bound folios, full of pictures of statues and antiques, wrought in the native rough Italian manner. It is seldom recollected that the infamous Regent of Orleans, whose name is odious, was one of the most brilliant and accomplished men of any age a fine musical composer, well and deeply read, a skilled politician, and an exquisite artist, whose works are said to bear comparison with some of the masters of "LUXURIOUS EDITIONS" 213 his day. A translation of Longus's " Amours de Daphne et Chloe " was illustrated by his pencil, and engraved by Audran. This exquisite work, in an artistic sense a companion to the " Temple de Guide," is sold at a great price. One of the most extraordinary and brilliant books of illustration is the collection of Piranesi's views. These immense etchings are remarkable for their brilliant coal-black effect. The surprising dash, cer- tainty, freedom, and chiaro-oscuro effects are truly astonishing not less surprising are the number. In many a country house we may find in the library two of the huge folios and spend a morning looking through them. But there are some twenty-six vol- umes and there may be more containing nearly twelve hundred of these great plates, " comprising," says one bibliopole, " the grand series of splendid engravings of the buildings and antiquities of Rome, the prisons, picturesque architecture, classical orna- ments, Herculaneum and Pompeii, statues, vases, candelabra, sarcophagi, &c. ; remarkable Rembrandt- like compositions." And this praise is not over- charged. An extraordinary feature is the taste the Dutch have shown for the great works illustrated with copperplates. Most of the leading engravers were Dutch or Flemish ; and it is a fact that there is hardly a town in Holland that has not its folio volumes of description, set off with profuse plates of its buildings, &c., devoted to its glories. One of the most exquisitely done of these tributes is Rada- maeker's small quartos a series of miniature views, done with a Meissonier-like grace and feeling. The connoisseur should secure a copy when he can of this work, as I have done. 214 THE BOOK FANCIER Thus gradually making our way down the biblio- graphic stream, we shall find that each era has a special taste and treatment of its own, and an origin- ality quite marked. The French have ever been unrivalled in this elegant taste, and above all in the tasteful art of combining illustration in its proper proportion with typography. About the middle of the last century in France, there was introduced a species of elegant illustrated quarto, rather thin in contrast to the solidly abdominal English quarto, and something smaller. And here again we find the homogeneousness of which we have spoken, and which contributes so much to the artistic merit of a book. It would seem that in " designing " a book and the term is appropriate enough the publisher took all the departments binding, type, illustra- tions, paper into consideration. For we find that the binding is uniform a sort of mottled calf, laid out with a sort of mixture of fruit colour, bordered with three close lines of gold, the edges of the leaves wavy, and of an " old gold " tint, each leaf being dis- tinct, with richest effect. Such was the binding of the little " Barbou " volumes. Not so long since I re- deemed from the stalls, for three shillings, a couple of pretty quartos the plays of Crebillon, printed at the Royal Press in such style, with an exquisite vign- ette on the title of Cupids, &c., " composed and designed by Boucher, painter to his Majesty," and " engraved by Le Bas, engraver of the King's cab- inet." There is even a delicacy in the way this little inscription is set down. And how jet-like the ink, how beautifully composed the page, how charming the general effect ? This book, as the author tells us, was printed by order of his Majesty, and is worthy of such patronage. Such works recovered from the stall "LUXURIOUS EDITIONS" 215 are among the pleasant incidents of the book-hunter's pilgrimage. In this shape appeared a number of the French classics, such as Racine, Corneille, and others, and which are all of the same pattern. But they bring large prices now when in fine condition. Of all books, the French seemed to have honoured the graceful and ever-popular " La Fontaine " most, and the elegance and grace of the various editions are truly remarkable. It was in 1762 that the opulent Farmers-General of France subscribed to issue an edition of the Contes which is a model of taste and beauty. It was printed by Barbou, prefaced by Diderot, illustrated with " eighty exquisite plates by Eisen," one of the " little masters," supplied with fifty-seven elegant " tailpieces " by Choffard a combination of printers, illustrators, author and editor truly remarkable. By a common fiction it was, oddly enough, supposed to be issued at Amster- dam. As may be conceived, the ordinary price of this work is large, and the two small volumes, with the additional merit of Derome's binding, were lately offered for 520 ! Seventy-five years before an edition of the Fables was issued at Amsterdam, which has become celebrated for Romeyne de Hooghe's vigorous but rather coarse plates. Three years after the Farmers-Generals' edition another beautiful edition made its appearance. This was in six volumes octavo, illustrated with hundreds of beautiful engravings, vignettes, culs-de-lampe, by Monnet, Huet, Loutherberg, the letterpress being also engraved, so that the whole was printed from copper- plates. But the collector must be warned that these names only belong to the " first state," and if the name of Deslaurier is found at the corner of the plates he must reject them as inferior, and not of the premier 216 THE BOOK FANCIER tirage. But the really remarkable edition of " La Fon- taine " is the one in four folios, of the date 1755-59, and finely printed, with humorous and bold illustra- tions, engraved in the most spirited style, after Oudry, the French painter. This book is occasion- ally found in old libraries. The engravings are the work of Cochin, Tardieu, and others, and there is, sometimes lacking, a fine elaborate portrait of Oudry. From 60 to 200 has been paid for fine copies of this edition. It indeed adds to the entertainment to read the pleasant fabulist in this shape. In our own way, in this country, we can point to en- terprising and costly efforts to do honour to the great classics, and our publishers have never spared money or enterprise in great speculative ventures of the kind. It is when we compare the manner in which Shake- speare has been honoured in England with that in which the great classics of France have been cele- brated by their country that we see the extraordinary interest excited by the English bard. In England itself no other writer has been so dealt with, or in such costly fashion. I do not refer to the ordinary edi- tions, stereotyped and others, brought out to satisfy the current demands, but to those " labours of love," grand editions, on which scholars have expended a goodly share of their lifetime, or to those more sumptuous volumes, set off with all the magnificence that paper, print, and illustrations could furnish. But first of all let us see what our neighbours have done for their Moliere, Racine, and others of their leading and most popular classics. Of the first, whom they usually couple with Shakespeare a compliment to us there are literally not more than half-a-dozen important editions, set out with fine margin and plates. "LUXURIOUS EDITIONS" 217 At first there were some poor little duodecimo sets of Moliere's plays, such as are seen on the stalls ; and not until 1734 do we find a really hand- some edition, in six quarto volumes, adorned with cuts. There was another quarto edition in 1773, furnished with the younger Moreau's plates. In 1792 Didot issued a fine quarto edition. In 1819 there came an octavo edition in nine volumes quarto, with plates ; while in 1824 there was the Variorum edition in eight volumes octavo, with notes and plates. There have been one or two more important editions since, such as Tony Johannot's, and lately they have been issuing something like our reprints of the original editions of the separate plays. This exertion, spread over 250 years, does not argue much generosity or enthusaism. Not till 1760 was Racine glorified with a fine quarto edition in three volumes. Till the end of the century there were only three other editions, one of which was adorned with Gravelot's plates. Then the first year of the century was celebrated by a really splendid effort in the shape of Didot's magnificent Folios, claimed to be " the finest edition of any author in any country," and set off with nearly sixty plates by the first artists. Up to 1844 there were about seven more of any pretence, one of these being a superb folio edition in three volumes, printed by the famous Bodoni, at Parma, under the patronage of Murat. For all these varied efforts due credit may be given to our neighbours, but they cannot compare with what we have done in our own sturdy, positive way for Shakespeare. This shows a sterling apprecia- tion, unrivalled by any nation or time. Mention has been made of Bodoni of Parma, cer- tainly one of the most magnificent and elegant of modern publishers. Under the encouragement of 218 THE BOOK FANCIER Murat he produced some magnificent editions of the French classics Racine, La Fontaine, and others, some of which were taken off on vellum. No one, Dibdin tells us, had such an eye for laying out or composing a page. These charming duodecimos, somewhat after the pattern of Barbou, often turn up on the stalls. I myself possess, with nearly every known edition, some forty illustrated editions of " the Bard," each extending from six to a dozen volumes. We shall conclude this view with two specimens, and which perhaps for expense and luxury deserve to be placed at the head of the list, " Bastard (Comte Augustus de) Peintures et Ornemens des Manuscrits Fran9ais, depuis le Huitieme Siecle jusqu'a la Fem du Seizieme, twenty parts (all at present published), in five portfolios imp. fol. Par. 1835, &c." " This is," says a panegyrist with a reasonable pride, " without exception the most sumptuous, unique, and costly work that has ever been produced. Each part con- tains eight splendid plates, copied from the most beautiful examples known to exist, coloured and finished with gold and silver equal to the exquisite originals. The whole series extends to one hundred and sixty engravings. No perfect copy of this mag- nificent work has occurred for sale in this country prior to the present." " This wonderful performance is remarkable for the price at which it was issued (and to subscribers only), as well as for the extravagant patronage it received from the government of the ' citizen king.' There were twenty parts published, but the work was to have gone on to a much greater extent. Each part cost 72, so that the subscriber had to pay nearly 1,500 for his ' five portfolios ! r This, as we have said, was but a tithe of what was "LUXURIOUS EDITIONS" 219 intended, for there were to be two other sections de- voted to France, which would have brought the sum up to 4,500. If the succeeding portions dealing with other countries were carried out, the luckless or insane subscriber would have been bound for some 10,000. The French Government patriotically sub- scribed for sixty copies, representing a donation in money of 90,000. One copy, put up in an English auction saleroom, M. R. Cutler-Fergusson's, brought only 200." Yet another of these gorgeous works, coloured sumptuously in a style that puts our modern efforts to the blush, is Du Sommerard's " Les Arts du Moyen Age," in which all the most striking works in the Hotel Cluny and the Roman Palace at Paris, and in other collections, were reprinted. This was in five superb volumes, and contained over five hundred illustrations, all " so accurately coloured as to convey a lively description of the exact appearance of the originals." This, auctioneers boast, is more than warranted. These are all, as were the illustrations of the time, coloured by hand in the most masterly style, and here one is struck by the difference of the action of time on works of this kind and on the modern printed colours. The latter gradually fade and become hard and flat, and even disagreeable. " A magnificent copy of this most splendid work, admir- ably bound in smooth red morocco extra," was sold twenty-four years ago for 92. All know the celebrated column of Antoninus at Rome, round which runs to the summit a spiral band containing hundreds of groups and figures all cast in bronze. To draw them correctly from top to bottom must have been a task of amazing difficulty and in- convenience, yet it was accomplished in a most min- ute and thorough fashion nearly two hundred years 220 THE BOOK FANCIER ago ; and we have a splendid folio, by one Peter Bartoli, containing " seventy-eight large plates of battles, processions, thousands of figures that adorn this column, brilliant impressions, and descriptions in Latin, quite complete." What astonishes us in this class of work, of which there is an abundance, is the laborious, conscientious thoroughness with which the task is carried out, contrasting strangely with the perfunctory, hurried style in which works of the same kind are attempted now. Such labour indeed could only be secured at an enormous cost nowadays. There is a whole department of illustrated works devoted to " costume," to the dress of different nations. There are some sumptuous volumes on this subject, France being conspicuous even the military dress of this nation being pictorially represented from the earliest tunes. The theatrical costumes are also separately dealt with from 1600 to 1820 in 104 coloured plates. So with scenery. Forty or fifty years ago there was a fashion in England for issuing in quarto parts views of the different countries, under the name of " The Beauties," while there was a distinct class of writers engaged in " writing up " " to " the plates. These are generally insipid representations done on steel. Of course there were brilliant exceptions, such as Turner. Nothing, however, can be compared with the older works. Any one who set himself to collect books with architectural illustrations of town churches, cathe- drals, castles, &c., would require enormous and vast library space indeed. There are booksellers devoted to this one branch alone, notably Parsons in the Brompton Road, who within his shop has costly treasures galore, while outside there is a curious sur- "LUXURIOUS EDITIONS" 221 vival in the shape of a bookstall, with boxes (" all at threepence ") and loose prints of all kinds strung to- gether, " from a penny each." This suggests the " Omnium Gatherum " on the Quai D'Orsay. Among these old strangers and pilgrims there is of course much that is artistically bad and mediocre, but the true connoisseur should never fail to secure the fine series of views abroad of old Flemish and French cities and churches, done on a grand scale by one Coney, now forgotten, but a man of singular taste and power. These are a series of large etchings, atlas folio, represented with a singular breadth, consider- ing they are in outline, and not in the elegant black- ness of the modern school. There is a poetry, a feeling, a tone of the place shown, and a dramatic animation ; to say nothing of their value as records of what has long since been altered or what have passed away. The courteous reader, securing his " Coney " soon to become scarce for thirty shillings, will be grateful for this piece of advice. Such is a glimpse, and a little more, of this vast domain. f tbe Huction IRoom WITH what mixed feelings one regards the book auction-room ! Many a bibliophilist might look on it as the scaffold whereon his darling " hobby " will one day be done to death. Like death itself, he may think the idea is remote and will not affect him. Yet each recurring sale seems to say " to-day for me, to-morrow for thee ! " Considering the costly nature of these operations, the vast sums involved, the " drawing and quartering " of whole libraries, it is astonishing how prosaic is the scene, how homely the properties, going little beyond a general tone of " green baize," and rude, raw-looking shelves. There must be a secret dramatic history connected with many a book or library that has found a few weeks' lodgings in these rooms. One collection, and now another comrades once, during a century's span arrives ; a glorious compact companionship, in all honour and distinction, in a few days to be disintegrated, sold into captivity, scattered or adopted into a new collection. With them the late owner's soul is associated. How has his long life been bent or coloured by their familiarity ; how has he stinted or spent for them, to ruin almost ; or it may be some inheriting prodigal who is delighted to find -an asset on which money can be obtained, and which 222 OF THE AUCTION-ROOM 223 he at once despatches to the auction. Then the smaller passions of greed, longing, envy, recklessness, all exhibited in the biddings ; the contrasts of character the opulent collector with few real treasures to boast of ; the poor, rustily-clad one who can yet boast rare and splendid things at home. Then the " seamy side," the craft and scheming, the wrecking of a sale, and the robbery by " knock out." The dealer can tell you strange legends of the capri- cious fate of many a rare volume. One wonders as some mouldy fellow tells the craft of his journey three hundred miles, it may be, down to the country to attend some obscure sale of a " gentleman's effects," for here he draws in his lottery or lucky bag. Here he may win f or " a song " or a shilling or two some rare volume worth many pounds.* The rooms where these holocausts are offered up in London are the well-known Sotheby, Wilkin- son & Hodge's in Wellington Street, Strand, and Puttick & Simpson's in Leicester Square. These are the historic marts where all the great sales have been held time out of mind. To the Sotheby's modest rooms you scale a steep ladder-like stair. The place is small and unpretending, the business is trans- * There are stories of a first Shakespeare folio " knocked out " for twelve or sixteen shillings and resold for ^400, It is in country sales of Great Britain that this system of " knock out " is brought to bear with fruitful effort. The " knock out " is a nefarious proceeding, and is often carried on in country sales. The principles of the knock out are two combination against the innocent buyer and combination against the seller or owner. In the first instance the book is bid up against the out- sider, who is not allowed to buy save at some extortionate price, and if it be bought by one of the conspirators at an extravagant figure, he is indemnified by the rest or the book sold after the sale. In the second, where it is purchased for some ridiculously low figure for " a song," in fact it is allowed by sufferance and a fresh sale takes place at some public-house among the dealers themselves, where it is bought at a dealer's price. 224 THE BOOK FANCIER acted in a quiet fashion ; but it is astonishing what sums have been here transferred in the course of a few days. More interesting are " the rooms " in Leicester Square, where the august genius, the shade of Sir Joshua, hovers over the scene. For this, as is well known, was his residence and studio, the latter a noble spacious apartment, serving now as the sale- room. Worn and somewhat roughly used as it has been owing to the traffic, the visitor will note the elegance of the town mansion of those days, the airy stone stair and rail, its graceful pente, the classical doorways, the fine proportions (it is probably a work of Sir W. Chambers), and the genuine air of dignity. Here we see the collectors and the " dealers," and if a field day, some notable buyers from Paris and Berlin. The collectors now give their " commission," but formerly the noble gatherers attended themselves and did their own buying. As we survey this interest- ing scene, one of the most fantastic bibliographical tricks, one connected with the auction-room, played in the year 1840, recurs to us, when the sale of the Count J. N. A. de Fortsas' rare and valuable collec- tion was announced all over Europe. " The sale," says a pleasant bibliograph essayist, writing in the daily paper, " was advertised to take place at the office of a notary residing at Binche, an insignificant town in Belgium. The catalogue covered only fourteen largely printed pages, and contained a list of the fifty-two books forming the Count's collection, each of which was unique. It was added that M. de Fortsas would keep no volume if he found it mentioned in any bibliography. The catalogues were sent to the great book- collectors of France, England, and the United States, and each recipient supposed himself to be OF THE AUCTION-ROOM 225 specially favoured, and kept the secret to himself. Two days before the sale, Brunet, Nodier, Techener, and Renouard met accidentally in the diligence which ran from Paris to Brussels, and each hoped that his neighbours had heard nothing of the wonder- ful auction which was about to take place at Binche. It was related that M. Castian, of Lisle, took great interest in a work said to have been published by Castman, of Tournay, on the subject of the Belgian Revolution of 1830, the entire edition of which had been suppressed, although M. de Fortsas had been so fortunate as to gain possession of a single copy. Being a little incredulous as to a library of which he had never heard, M. Castian stopped at Tournay and called on the publisher to inquire if such a work had ever been issued by his firm. M. Castman had him- self forgotten all about the edition in question, but his foreman recollected it and its author, M. Lecocq, perfectly a fact which at once silenced the inquirer's suspicions. The Baron de Reiffenber, director of the Royal Library at Brussels, asked for a special appro- priation to buy some of the Count de Fortsas' treasures, which was immediately granted. One ardent bookseller made the journey from Amsterdam to Binche in order to see a single volume the ' Corpus Juris Civilis,' printed by the Elzevirs on vellum. The Princesse de Ligne, anxious to pre- serve the reputation of her grandfather from obloquy, wrote to a commissioner to buy ' No. 48 ' for her at any price. The Roxburghe Club was represented at the sale ; and, singularly enough, there were books in the catalogue which appealed to the taste of every distinguished col- lector. On the day before the sale the good people of Binche were astonished at the number of mysterious strangers who had suddenly appeared in their midst 226 THE BOOK FANCIER without any ostensible cause. At last the eventful morning arrived, and in the newspapers circulated at Binche there appeared a curt notice that the library of the Count de Fortsas would not be sold, as the Municipal Council had resolved to keep it in honour of its collector, their distinguished fellow-townsman. It now came out that the Count de Fortsas was a myth ; his chateau and his library were both apocryphal." As we walk through the auction-room ghostly figures seem to rise before us, the old heroes of many an exciting contest. It would almost seem that for them the spirit of competition was the charm. The shades of Lord Spencer, Heber, Bernal and others must haunt these places. The glory of English collectors was certainly the Lord of Althorp, who, from the calm retirement of his library, regarded his son as he fought political battles, and waged many a contest in the auction- room when his heir was " taking divisions " in the House. Never was collecting pursued under such magnificent conditions. A fortune splendid as his taste ; a noble mansion to contain his treasures ; a period when books were to be " picked up " cheaply ; while he was guided by an adviser and agent of re- markable ability, taste, and knowledge such were the advantages that favoured the noble amateur. The adviser and agent was the well-known Dr. Frognall Dibdin, F.S.A., and never was such talent so encour- aged and supported. The enthusiasm of this enthu- siast seemed to gather every hour. Appetite, " grow- ing by what it fed on," became at last voracious and incontrollable. No bibliophilist had so enjoyable a life. He was sent on missions to France and Ger- many, visiting all the libraries, and monasteries, and shops, and bookstalls, tempting the monks and OF THE AUCTION-ROOM 227 librarians to dispose of their treasures by a display of his noble patron's gold. He published accounts of his travels, produced in royal style, and sumptuously illustrated. These noble volumes, set forth in all the epicureanism of " large paper copies," are now precious things when found in a " fine state ; " and a set of Dibdin's works fetches a very startling sum indeed. It is pleasant, as it is interesting, to read the amiable ravings of this honest collector, who by living in one long dream came at last to persuade himself that he was dealing with precious stones, and all that was rare and costly in the world ! His style, from this generous ardour, was passionately expressive full of quaint and gorgeous turns, with a power of de- lineating character that wins his readers. His career and story is valuable as exhibiting the very highest and most expressive form of which bibliophilism is capable. So sumptuous was the system on which his catering for the Earl's taste was carried out, that merely good copies of any work were almost considered a little better than having no copies at all, or at best but a substitute, en attendant a fine one. Again, a fine one was unsatisfactory should a finer appear in the mar- ket. This fastidiousness required the deepest purse, but the result has been a collection that is unequalled. It was thus that the Earl purchased a superb Livy from the collection of another amateur, magnificent in ideas as himself. (" It was, I believe, this book," says his Doctor, " and the Psalter of 1457, that the Abbe" Strathman, librarian to the Emperor, declared he would carry away with him, one under each arm, should the French come.") Notwithstanding this enthusiasm we hear that " his Lordship threw it out " of his collection ; the truth being that he had found 228 THE BOOK FANCIER another whose charms surpassed it a noble copy truly, bound in blue morocco. This system of " throwing out " culminated in a formal sale by auction of a collection of " incunables " in itself enough to form a distinguished one, but rejected by the Doctor and his patron as not up to the standard of their library. " Our failures," he might call them, like Drummers valet. The Doctor devoted some of his magnificent tomes to a detailed account of the Althorp Library and its contents. He described the rooms, and gave the history of each rare work, too often straying off into raptures as when dealing with a certain "Pliny upon Paper." " How can I convey an idea," he exclaims, " of its condition and amplitude ? Think, enthusiastic collector, of the uncontaminated snow upon the summit of the Apennine peaks, and you will have an idea of the size and colour of the Spencer copy. The press work of this surprising volume is quite perfect." * By way of contrast it is pleasant to reflect how much can be done with small resources, but large indeed in their efficacy, without outlay of little be- yond trouble, time, and patience. In a provincial town of some note I recall the figure of a retiring man of modest means, but sufficient and with nothing to do who spent his days during the past forty years in a sort of unexcited, though careful, sensible, and dili- gent attendance at auctions. For him the sale day was a regular gala. Forty years have been thus spent, and he still pursues his quiet labours. He had a calm, accurate judgment, and a quick eye. The city he lived in was but indifferently stored with " curios," and our friend's purse, as I said, was but indifferently * A collection of the Dibdin publications, all tall splendid volumes, is rare indeed. One such (large paper) was the glory of a great American collector's library. OF THE AUCTION-ROOM 229 lined I doubt if he laid out twenty pounds in the year. But during these forty years he pursued his course unflinchingly, securing now the print, now the rare play, the old book, the unique pamphlet, the playbill, the MS., the picture, the " bit " of china, until he is absolutely, at this moment, in possession of one of the most interesting and valuable collections conceivable. It is impossible to name anything rare of which he has not got a specimen and generally a very choice one. He will tell you that " he has got a few old plays," but these are sure to prove to be of the rarest sort. " Yes " this modestly " he had a fine copy (uncut) of Marlowe's ' Faustus/ also of the ' Rich Jew.' ' He had mezzotintos in the finest states, and somehow contrived to have those which were unique, or of which only a few were in existence. He rarely contrived to pay more than a shilling or two for each. What a contrast this to the opulent collector, who looks through his catalogues, and sends an order to his chosen dealer or broker to bid for him, and has thus to secure at the highest possible market price anything he desires to possess. There money is no object, and things thus purchased in market overt contrast strangely with the treasures so quietly and cheaply acquired by the collector just described. Him a strange good fortune seemed to attend. Perhaps it was that he never hesitated, but struck in time. Frappez vite and frappez fort should be the book-hunter's motto. Perhaps the most extraordinary of book-gatherers was the famous Heber, brother of the better known Bishop. This poor delusionist carried book-collect- ing over the borders into lunacy almost. No poor sot ever swilled glass after glass so greedily as this Heber devoured books. He bought libraries without 230 THE BOOK FANCIER seeing them, and died before he had seen all the books he possessed. But at last the end came, and the hour struck when he could see or handle books no more. No friend stood by his bedside, save the insensible quartos and folios to which he had sold his soul. That great auctioneer Death had his hammer raised for the final " going, going, gone ! " This was in November, 1833. No one cared for the loss of this poor foolish buyer. But now the cry was " the library ! " What was to become of that ? There is an unpublished letter of the famous bibliophilist, Rev. Mr. Dyce, to another as ardent, Sir Egerton Brydges, which exhi- bits a melancholy picture. Hearken to this brother collector : " Poor man ! " he wrote, " he expired at Pimlico, in the midst of his rare property, without a friend to close his eyes, and from all I have heard I am led to believe that he died broken-hearted : he had been ailing some time, but took no care of himself, and seemed indeed to court death. Yet his ruling passion was strong to the last. The morning he died he wrote out some memoranda for Thorpe about books which he wished to be purchased for him. He was the most liberal of book-collectors : I never asked him for the loan of a volume, which he could lay his hand on, he did not immediately send me." The sale of this library is one of the great " book eras " of the century ; and the prices, appearance of rarities, &c., have all the interest that " a leading case " has for barristers. It took place in April, 1834, and was extended over some years, which was natural, considering the vast number of volumes that were to be disposed of. The catalogue is itself a treatise, extending to six thick volumes, closely printed, and containing a vast amount of bibliophilite lore. There is a copy in the Athenaeum Library OF THE AUCTION-ROOM 231 the official one it may be called which was presented to it by Messrs. Payne and Foss, the booksellers, who prepared it ; and at the commencement is given an exhaustive MS. analysis of the prices, number of volumes, loss or gain on the sale of each volume, &c. From this it would seem that there were 119,613 volumes sold ! which it required no less than two hundred and two days, or nearly seven months, to sell ; and the sum realised was 56,774. Few have a conception of what a serious thing a well-furnished library is, until he has turned over these marvellous pages ; or even of a single department, in which there maybe thousands of volumes whose titles he may have never seen or heard of before. Thus a volume was devoted to " early English " works old quaint things of the sixteenth century, prose and poetry, masques, interludes, dramas, &c. Indeed " it may be asserted that so complete an assemblage of plays, extending from the earliest period at which they were printed down to the closing of the theatres in 1647, was never seen." The value and rarity of which may be conceived when it is stated that it is now difficult to procure an " interlude " or pageant a single one of which may cost ten, twenty, or fifty pounds. Book catalogues have ever a certain interest and fascination, they contain for the fanatically curious such an odd and heterogeneous amount of informa- tion. The odd notes, the prices, the glowing descrip- tions, all make these records pleasant reading, and form part of the romance of the saleroom. Some collectors write their own catalogue, as did Mr. Henry Huth, whose five magnificent volumes printed at the Chiswick Press " on hand-made paper and strongly bound in half morocco, top edges gilt, Roxburghe style," form a treatise on bibliography 232 THE BOOK FANCIER rather than a catalogue. Ten guineas is the price of this record, and the " impression," we are told, " has been almost disposed of." Every collection seems to reflect its owner's char- acter ; and there is a curious interest in contrasting the different sides of character of men like George Steevens, Malone, Cole, George Daniel, and others, whose books and MSS. denote what is delicate and interesting, but whose character to the world was rough, violent, and insolent. George Steevens seemed indeed an odious person truculent and malignant in his resentments, tortuous in his pro- ceedings, and, as Miss Hawkins hints, reported to have died like one who had sold himself to the evil one. Yet among their books these men were all interesting. I own to a fancy for collecting the catalogues of cer- tain famous men actors, poets, &c., which reveal by many little touches their characters. Thus I have the one of Garrick's elegant library, in all the lan- guages, showing the taste and accomplishments of the owner : of Topham Beauclerk's, interesting to the Johnsonian (the owner is said to have departed but once from his inflexible rule of never lending a book) ; Kemble's, the junior James Boswell, a most interest- ing one full of records of the Doctor, the famous Perkins, Henderson the actor, the Stowe, Duke of Sussex, &c. Among the famous sales were Mr. Meade's, in 1754, Mr. Woodhull's, in 1803, " rich in editiones principes " (he had thus a sale in his lifetime and one after his death) ; the Lansdowne, in 1806, 31 days ; Brand in 1807, 37 days, a remarkable assemblage on typo- graphy : " hundreds of uniques, Caxtons, Wynkyns, a most covetable tout ensemble ; this glorious sale realised 17,000" (so sings our bookseller) ; Stanley's, in 1813, " which realised over 1000 a day, being rich OF THE AUCTION-ROOM 233 in Italian and Spanish works ; " the Morley or Willet sale, in 1813, of block-printed chronicles, vellum and large paper copies, and other indescribable treasures ; Borromeo (good name of an owner of volumes), in 1817, " the rarest and most curious assemblage of early Italian volumes ever offered ; " the Bindley, in 1818, a truly remarkable sale of " rare, curious, and early English literature " ; the Fonthill, of 20,000 volumes, in 1823 ; the Hibbert, in 1829, a collection formed to illustrate the history of printing, and there- fore offering the most splendid and unique examples ; George Chalmers, in 1841 ; Bright, in 1845 ; Upcott, in 1846, remarkable for its works made up of " cut- tings ; " Bernal, in 1855 ; Sir M. Sykes, in 1824 ; Whiteknights, in 1829 ; G. Daniel, in 1864 ; to say nothing of innumerable others. It is curious that within recent times there have been at least two casualties at auction-rooms which have wrought havoc on famous collections. Mr. George Offers' collection was to be sold in 1865, and was one of the richest gatherings of early Scripture editions Liturgies, Fathers, " Bunyaniana," Cax- tons, Books of Hours, &c. There were to be eleven days' sale of these treasures ; but the prices are only marked down to the end of the second day, when a conflagration took place at Sotheby's, which des- troyed almost the whole. Many purchasers had left their books, but the wisely cautious book-buyer always takes his purchases away on the day he buys. The Charlemont collection was also partially burnt, and many works irreparably injured by water when they escaped the fire. A great day or days at Sotheby's not the sale days, which are theatrical, but the quiet or viewing days, when you can inspect and compare at leisure, for hours if you will furnishes a charm and instruc- 234 THE BOOK FANCIER tion which would have delighted Doctor Dibdin him- self, or the amazingly erudite author of " Mores Catholici." The last four years have been notable for some famous sales, and opportunities, which will not occur again, have been offered of seeing some of the most famous books in the world. Indeed it might be said that all the Masterpieces of Printing have been laid open to view in the Sunderland, Hamilton, Beckford, and Syston Park sales. ' ; The earlier months of the year 1881 were notable for an announcement that went forth, that the Blenheim Library was shortly to be sold. Already the fine collection known as the " Marlborough gems," which had been celebrated in a volume, had been dis- posed of en bloc to a private purchaser. The books were now to follow, while later in the year of grace 1884 the gems of the picture-gallery great and fam- ous works of Velasquez, Raphael, and Rubens were sold to various purchasers. Soon the halls of the great palace will be left vacant and the walls stripped. The news of the coming sale fluttered the book- collecting and bookselling circles all over the world, for it was known that this Sunderland Library was among the most famous, and stored with articles that would have rejoiced a Frognall Dibdin to celebrate. The sale was fixed for December i, 1881, and occu- pied ten days, during which Messrs. Puttick's histori- cal rooms were crowded with buyers from the chief capitals of Europe. The books themselves astonished many who were not curious or interested in such things, from their magnificent character, though it was remarked that the old calf bindings showed neg- lect, and were in rather sorry condition. For some time after were seen on the stalls many a stray vol- ume, with the florid arms and escutcheons of the OF THE AUCTION-ROOM 235 ducal house on the sides, fallen from their high estate and palatial lodgment. The first portion was announced as being " a re- markable collection of the Greek and Roman classical writers, in first, early, and rare editions, with a large series of early-printed Bibles, in various languages ; rare editions of the great Italian writers, notably Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, and Ariosto ; of chroni- cles in Spanish, Portuguese, English, and French ; while there were many very curious tracts relating to English and French politics,with first editions of the writings of the chief French, Italian, and Spanish poets of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries." Here were also found the first editions (editiones prin- cipes), nearly eighty in number, of all the Greek and Roman classics and classical writers, besides numer- ous other early editions in profusion, innumerable Bibles, polyglot and others. But what this collection was chiefly remarkable for was the vast number of books printed upon vellum, and which, it was claimed, was unrivalled in this respect by any library in Eur- ope. There were no less than fifty-eight of these choice and desirable works, most of them belonging to the " incunaUe," or " cradle " category, dating from the fifteenth century noble, splendid works, most of them set off with illuminated borderings on the front leaf, and with initials in gold and colour at the begin- ning of every chapter. Here too were sold an Anacreon on vellum, " per- haps the only copy known," for 221 ; an Ariosto for 300 ; the Romance of King Arthur, a manuscript with annotations, for 535 ; and the " fourth printed book with a date," to wit " Balbus de Janua," for 285. There were no less than 166 rare Bibles set up for sale, of which Cardinal Ximenes' famous " Poly- glot " of 1514, in six volumes, brought 195. There 236 THE BOOK FANCIER also appeared here the famous Bible of 1462, printed on vellum, a copy of which, at the Perkins sale, astounded all by the price it brought. But the real excitement of the sale was the sale of the two editions of Boccaccio. The first is stated to have been the " first book printed at Bruges," by Colard Manson, who is connected with our Caxton. This volume was measured scrupulously as being 14!- inches by g|-. It was sold for 960. But then the decks were cleared for the Boccaccio, the famous " first edition of the Decameron with a date," " of extraordinary rarity." It was described with nice and minute accuracy as being " printed in Roman letters, lines without numerals, catchwords, or signa- tures, four leaves missing, the plain margin of columns 212, 242, 259, and 260 mended, two corners defective. It measured i2| inches by 8, being nearly an inch taller and half an inch wider than the Roxburghe copy, and made such a sensation at the beginning of the nineteenth century and realised such a sum at the sale of the library of John Ker, third Duke of Rox- burghe, in 1812, as no single printed volume ever did before or since." Such was the only perfect copy known of the world-famous edition of the Decameron of Boccaccio, a small folio printed by Christopher Valdarfar, Venice, 1471, black letter, in faded yellow morocco binding, and originally published, it is be- lieved, for about ten shillings. About this famous work hovers a sort of bibliographical romance. Only three copies were known one in Lord Spencer's library at Althorp ; one in the Sunderland ; and the third said to be in the National Library at Paris but only " a cruelly washt and cropt " thing. The most famous is the one which produced the excitement at the great Roxburghe sale. Dr. Dibdin, who styled this auction of the biblio- OF THE AUCTION-ROOM 237 maniacal Duke " the Waterloo of Book Sales," gives a graphic description of it in the " Ninth Day of his Bibliographical Decameron " (vol. iii., pages 62 and 117), from which we gather that no less than three noble candidates had gathered to struggle for the prize, the Duke of Devonshire (who at the same sale gave 1,060 for Caxton's " Histories of Troy "), Earl Spencer, and the Marquis of Blandford (afterwards Duke of Marlborough) . The scene is described by Dr. Dibdin with bated breath. The sale was held at the Duke's house in St. James's Square, where he had expired, his bedroom adjoining his beloved library. The eagerness, the prices given, vast for those days, were extraordinary. Mr. Evans, the auctioneer, prefaced the sale of the articles by an appropriate oration, concluding by in- forming the company of the regret and even anguish of heart expressed by a foreign connoisseur that the Imperial Library had not a copy. It was known that an agent of Bonaparte was present. " Silence fol- lowed the address," says our Doctor. " On his right hand, leaning against the wall, stood Earl Spencer ; a little lower down, and standing at right angles with his lordship, appeared the Marquis of Blandford. The Duke, I believe, was not then present ; but my Lord Althorp stood a little behind to the right of his father. " The honour of making the first bid was due to a gentleman from Shropshire, who seemed almost elec- trified at his own temerity in offering ' 100 guineas.' Soon, however, the bidding rose to 500 guineas (the sum Beloe had prophesied it would fetch) . At length 1000 guineas is named by the Earl Spencer, to which the Marquis of Blandford quietly added ' ten.' From this point these two worthy noblemen were the only bidders, neither evincing any desire to yield. ' 2,000,' says the Marquis ! For a quarter of a minute the 238 THE BOOK FANCIER Earl hesitated, at length he boldly cries, ' 2,250 ; ' nothing daunted, the Marquis as quietly adds his usual ' ten ' ; and after due and deliberate suspension ' in mid air,' down drops the hammer before the amazed and excited auditory at the last-named hand- some figure, namely, 2,260. When the Marquis bid the last 10 Lord Spencer said, ' I bow to you.' Pre- sently, after the Marquis offered his hand to Lord Spencer, saying, ' We are good friends still,' his Lord- ship replied, ' Perfectly, indeed I am obliged to you.' ' So am I to you/ said the Marquis, ' so the obliga- tion is mutual.' He declared it was his intention to have secured it at any price." It seems the Marquis possessed another copy, but which, alas ! wanted five leaves, so that, as his dis- appointed rival remarked, he might be said to have given that great sum for the five leaves. The book itself, the subject of this mad and ridiculous contest, was described as being certainly one of the scarcest, if not the scarcest, book that ever existed. It is known that it was a bone of contention among the collectors in the reign of the first two Georges. Lord Sunder- land had seen it, and Lord Oxford cast a longing eye upon it. In 1497 the work was publicly burnt, and copies in the beginning of the fifteenth century were scarce, and this identical copy, it is thought, owed its safety to the ingenuity of a former owner, a Jesuit, who had it lettered on the back " Concilium Triden- ti " and was so accidentally discovered by a book- worm. It came into the possession of an ancestor of the Duke of Roxburghe, previous to the year 1740, at the price of 100, then considered an extravagant sum. How it first reached the Duke was curiously explained to Mr. Beloe, the " septuagenarian," by Mr. G. Nicol. It appears that this copy was in the hands of a London bookseller, who showed it to Lord Oxford OF THE AUCTION-ROOM 239 and Lord Sunderland, then the great collectors of books, and competitors for rare publications, and asked 100 guineas for it, which they hesitated to give. Whilst they were deliberating, an ancestor of the Duke's saw and purchased the volume. The two noble collectors were invited to dinner, and the sub- ject of Boccace being purposely introduced, Lord Ox- ford and Lord Sunderland began to talk of this parti- cular copy. The Duke of Roxburghe told them that he thought he could show them a copy of this edition, which they defied him to exhibit. To their mortifi- cation and chagrin he produced the book in question. " I have a perfect recollection," goes on Dibdin, " of this volume in the library of the Duke. It had a faded yellow morocco binding, and was a sound rather than a fine copy." It may be said that foreign writers and book-fanciers were as much amused as astonished at this fancy price, and threw serious doubts on the rarity of the volume. They have since, however, established their claim to be as frantic and extravagant in the pursuit as the English are. So re- solved was the infatuated Marquis upon the acquisi- tion of this book that he was prepared to give 5,000 to obtain it. The object of this struggle subsequent- ly came, at the sale of the Marquis of Blandford's library in 1819, into the possession of the Earl Spen- cer for the sum of 918, in whose library at Althorp it now rests. The Earl had the book bound in the most superb style by Charles Lewis, having the arms of the Duke of Roxburghe within, and his own without, on dark green.* * This is perhaps the only instance of an English duke devoting himself to the bibliomania. His name is honourably associated with the club that bears his name. Dr. Dibdin and Joseph Hazlewood were instrumental in founding this club of noblemen and gentlemen, which was limited to forty members, called the Roxburghe Club, and inaugurated at the Old St. Alban's 240 THE BOOK FANCIER At this Roxburghe sale there were other extraor- dinary prices obtained for objects that seem quite beyond their value, as, for instance, that " collection of twopenny portraits of criminals," which fetched 94, and the selection of old halfpenny ballads, which would have delighted Macaulay, " pasted in three volumes," which fetched 477. Caxton's " Recueil " was also the subject of an- other ridiculous contest. This was the first book printed in the English language, but it wanted the last leaf. Lord Spencer had a copy that wanted the first. It had been sold at the Steevens' sale, and secured by the enthusiastic Earl for 200. Sir Mark Sykes, Lord Blandford, and Mr. Ridgway, acting for the Duke of Devonshire, contested for it. Sir Mark retired when he reached 500 ; the Marquis went to 1000, " Let them be guineas," cried Mr. Ridgway, and the baffled Marquis making no sign, the book be- came the property of the Duke. " Why," says Dibdin pathetically, in a letter, " tear open wounds which promise in due time to be closed ? More mischief has ensued, more bibliomaniacal wretchedness has en- sued, than the healing influence of an undisturbed century may be able to counterbalance. It has been a sort of book earthquake." These people seem to have lost their wits. With these traditions, one of the cherished glories Tavern, London, dating from Thursday, lyth June, 1812. Each member undertook to give his brother Roxburghers, in turn, a volume printed for the special occasion. It is now, how- ever, arranged that an annual subscription of five guineas is received, which is devoted to the publication of some unpublished MS., or the reprint of some rare and valuable work. The collected works of the club always realise high prices. At Lang's sale in 1828 thirty-nine volumes fetched m 6s. ; Hazlewood's, in 1834, forty-four volumes, 115; Sir F. Freeling, in 1834, forty-four volumes, 90 ; and at Harvard's, in 1858, sixty-one volumes (sold separately) produced ^125 as, OF THE AUCTION-ROOM 241 of the book auction-room, it may be conceived how eagerly, after an interval of nearly seventy years, the reappearance of such a treasure with such a history was looked for. Still, after all the speculation, it brought but 585 ; a vast sum certainly, but still a sad falling off as compared with the 918 and the enormous 2,260. The second edition of the same book brought 400. Later came some astonishing prices ; a superb "St. Augustin de Civitate," printed by Jenson on vellum, produced 1000 ! Bourbet's " L'Amoroux," 640 ; and the " Voyages de Bry " (1590), in a few parts, the astonishing sum of 750. The grand competitors through the various contests were Mr. Quaritch of Piccadilly, and a foreign dealer, M. Techener, who contended with each other regardless of limit ; but it was rumoured that each represented influential patrons, such as Baron Rothschild of Paris, the Due d'Aumale, and other connoisseurs. The total cash received during these ten days was 19,373 IDS. 6d. ! No wonder the hopes of the family ran high as to the prospective gains from future sales. But these fell off considerably, and never approached that magnificent return. Many valuable books went at extraordinary low prices for odd shillings and half-crowns ; and the skilled amateur, for months afterwards, might have seen on the various stalls innumerable " desir- able " lots to be secured "for a song." Shrewd American dealers bought enormous quantities, en gros, as it were, of these serviceable works, and shipped them home. The total sum realised was about 73,000. The Syston Park Library, a model for the splendid condition of its treasures, offered a curious show, from the quality and rather monotonous tone of the bind- ing. What the nice connoisseur noted was the 242 THE BOOK FANCIER absence of a certain style and character. Every work was plentifully overlaid with gilding, but no volume had a character of its own, and there was often a strange lack of appropriateness in the dress adopted for each. The stately " Fif teeners," as they are vulgarly termed, the grand old signers of the early years of printing, so noble and dignified, were mostly dressed in buff coatings, their backs squared and stiff, the lettering rather thin and poor, and not very brilliant. Elaborate gold tooling on a pale yellow ground is not effective. How different is the charac- ter imparted by the old bindings ! The rich, deep- toned crimson morocco, and the sparing use of gold, would surely have been a more appropriate roque- laure for these hidalgoes. This gives a sinuosity to the sides, which bend inwards to the edges of the leaves, while the rounding of the backs and the bold ribs furnish detail and protection. The remarkable feature of this library was the collection of first edi- tions of the Classics books almost like MS., on which we look with admiration, reverence, and wonder. They suggest old Venetian portraits, so stately and noble are they, so rich and costly and elegant in their material. As was justly said by a critic, " Those who admire the magnificent editiones principes from the famous early presses of Italy and France, when the printer was the rival of the painter in the love and worship of his art, will find an ample feast of delight in reviewing a collection wonderfully fine for condi- tion and remarkable beyond most for completeness. Almost the only lacuna are the absence of a Pha;drus and the want of one volume of the Ovid, first edition of 1471 of three volumes, the rarest of all, and of which only one perfect copy is known, the first book printed at Bologna, and of which Brunet had never known a copy sold in his time. Many are the choice OF THE AUCTION-ROOM 243 editions of the Aldines and Elzevirs, several on vel- lum or large paper, generally in exceptionally good condition and superb bindings, from the libraries of such high historic repute as those of Lorenzo de' Medici, Marguerite de Valois, Diane de Poictiers, Barbarigo, Doge of Venice, and Catharine de' Medici, Thuanus, Maioli, De Menars, Grolier, and of more modern collectors." At the present moment the cultured amateur rather the dilettante flourishes to a degree that has never before been known, and to all the arts brings a taste, knowledge, and above all a purse, which has hitherto never been rivalled. " He holds the field." He is the " patron." His gifts are elegant and solid, and there is little of that ridiculous affectation and " airs " which was the stock-in-trade of the old ama- teur. This cultivated being stamps his own graces upon his collection to a degree that could scarcely be conceived. And it is only when we compare a gather- ing of the kind, to whose selection patience, time and taste has been brought, with the larger " om- nium gatherums," that we recognise the immeasur- able superiority of the former. Open before me is an elegant monument of this elegant ease in the shape of a finely-printed catalogue, significant of the owner and his library, which is the work of Mr. Frederick Locker Lampson, of Rowfant. Herein he describes his elegant and valuable collection a dainty record adorned with an etched portrait of the owner, and a Cruikshank sketch of his study ; while Mr. Andrew Lang, a congenial and well-skilled expert, ushers the whole in with a ballade on " the Rowfant Books :" " The Rowfant books, how fair they show, The quarto quaint, the Aldine tall ; Print, autograph, portfolio ! Back from the outer air they call 244 THE BOOK FANCIER The athletes from the tennis hall ; The rhymer from his rod and hooks. Would I could sing them, one and all, The Rowfant books 1 The Rowfant books 1 These long ago Were chained within some college hall ; These manuscripts retain the glow Of many a coloured capital ; While yet in satires keep their gall, While the pastissier puzzles cooks, There is a joy that does not pall The Rowfant books 1 " The merit of this collection is that it was formed on a system steadily pursued for the illustration of old English, modern poetry, and drama to be accom- plished by selecting only the rarest and most taste- ful exemplars. The test is that the scholar in such department would here find himself fully equipped. There is a quaint " relish " in the owner's introduc- tion of his cherished tomes. " It is a good thing to read books, and it need not be a bad thing to write them ; but it is a pious thing to preserve these that have been some time written : the collecting, and mending, and binding, and cataloguing of books are all means to such an end. This is my apology for the present volume. I had intended to annotate some of the more curious and rare volumes, for I have a decided opinion about a good many of them. By doing so I should have given my catalogue the distinct quality that comes of ownership and affec- tion." First editions of poets during that dainty era, 1550- 1600, abound, and forty choice Shakespeare quartos, headed by the first folio in fine condition, fill the con- noisseur with envy and admiration. While, of a later generation, the first editions of Lamb, Byron, Tenny- son, Coleridge always dainty things, and now much coveted swell the ranks of the moderns. The owner OF THE AUCTION-ROOM 245 of Rowfant has himself laboriously appraised and collated each volume, sternly rejecting all that is not choice and perfect, and has added many a piquant note of his own, or inscription into the book itself. It may be added here that this gathering together of old plays has always had a fascination for collect- ors. Those who are not inclined to anything else are drawn by the wish to accumulate these elegant little volumes, with their quaint old spelling and tawny paper, each, according to strict bibliograph etiquette, a volume in itself. There is, as usual, a melancholy interest in looking over such a collection. Many will be found to have three or four book-plates, showing the different owners, how it has passed from hand to hand, the owner himself having passed away ; and each is generally bound in the best style, often " by Bedford." This cost may be set down at a guinea, while the little book itself may have been secured for five shillings. Not long since, we saw one of Mr. J. Payne Collier's little reprints, issued at is. 6d., com- ing from Mr. Ouvry's rare and valuable library a trifle, which yet had been bound in exquisite fashion, certainly at a cost of a couple of guineas. Many col- lectors consider their books as ornaments also ; they please themselves by taking them out of the glass- enclosed bookcases fondling them, as it were. This binding is a difficult question, for to see some rare little tome " done up " in ragged " Aa//-binding " that is, covered with marbled paper and cheap roan is revoltingly inappropriate, or, as Lamb would say, heartless. At the same time, new and brilliant bind- ing, gilt edges, &c., are equally out of keeping with the sober dignity of an Elizabethan play, though by and by, when thirty years have mellowed it, it will be fit enough. 246 THE BOOK FANCIER Mr. Malone's valuable collection of " Old Plays " now reposes in the Bodleian Library. The founda- tion of his dramatic collection was, he tells us, one hundred and nineteen volumes of old plays printed in quarto, containing on an average eight plays in each volume, given him by George Steevens, I believe in 1778. To these he added forty-eight in quarto, twelve in i2mo and 8vo, besides an almost perfect collection of single plays of all the early dramatic writers. Among these were such rarities as the " Gorboduc " of 1562 ; also Lyly's plays in one vol- ume quarto. " This," said the owner, " is one of the most curious and expensive volumes in my library. The plays were purchased for the most part at very dear rates, and are not to be had now at any price. For Midas alone (a ' Children of Paules' play) I think I paid seven guineas and a half ! " Another " amateur," Mr. Ruskin one of the most interesting personalities of his time some years ago, in protest against what he considered the grasping dealings of publishers, determined to publish his own works himself, selecting " Mr. George Allen, Sunny- side, Orpington," as his agent or deputy. This is really a unique enterprise, and one of great extent and importance from the long list of issues, reprints, &c., which the author's works now fill. But this dispens- ing with a middleman is only to be done by a Ruskin, and the general principle is not practicable. There is something specially appropriate in a writer like Mr. Ruskin supplying his own books ; for as the writing and matter represent his mind, so does the book its type, shape, &c. express the form and pressure of the author's mind. There is an elegance of grace and dignity about his grander works, such as " The Modern Painters " and the " Stones of Venice," that marks this impress in the most striking way. Even OF THE AUCTION-ROOM 247 the exceptional size has a nobility. There was infin- ite care used in the working, hence the grace of the illustrations. A fine copy of " The Modern Paint- ers " has been priced at 40 ! and a fine set of Ruskin is of extraordinary value. His publishing notices are characteristic, and show his own familiar touch : " Works by Mr. Ruskin published by and to be had of George Allen, Sunnyside, Orpington, Kent (five minutes' walk west of Orpington Station, South- Eastern Railway). " Advice by Mr. Ruskin : ' I have directed Mr. Allen, in this and all future issues of his list of my purchaseable works, to advertise none but those which he is able to despatch to order by return of post. The just estimate of decline in the energy of advancing age the warnings, now thrice repeated, of disabling illness consequent on any unusual exertion of thought and chiefly, the difficulty I now find in addressing a public for whom, in the course of the last few years of Revolution, old things have passed away, and all things become new, render it, in my thinking, alike irreverent and unwise to speak of any once-intended writings as "in pre- paration." " ' I may perhaps pray the courtesy of my readers and here and there, the solicitude of my friends to refer, at the time of the monthly issue of maga- zines, to this circular of Mr. Allen's, in which they will always find the priced announcement of anything I have printed during the month. May I also venture to hint to friends who may at any time be anxious about me, that the only trustworthy evidences of my health are my writings ; and that it is a prettier attention to an old man to read what he wishes to say, and can say without effort, than to require him to answer vexing questions on general subjects, or to 248 THE BOOK FANCIER add to his day's appointed labour the burden of accidental and unnecessary correspondence.' " Mr. Allen has positive orders to attend to no letter asking credit. All books are sent carriage paid to any place in the Postal Union on remittance (in advance) of the full prices of the volumes required. In the case of foreign countries, it is suggested that the cost of registration for the more expensive works be added to their prices, to insure safety in transit. N.B. Correspondents are respectfully requested to note that the utmost despatch is used in replying to orders and letters of inquiry ; but as these are very numerous, it is not always possible to attend to them at once, especially at the time of issue of new publica- tions. Much trouble and delay will be saved if corre- spondents will invariably give their full address, and, in advising change of residence, their former one also. Stamps not accepted for sums over half-a-crown. Amounts of less than five shillings not acknowledged unless a stamped envelope is enclosed." The American amateurs now compete with the British, and some very fine and rare treasures and choice editions are being collected into libraries by opulent bibliomen with long purses. We hear of first folios and rare things of the kind finding their way across the Atlantic. In the very handsome cata- logue of an American bibliophile, Mr. Farmer, the true principles of the collection were set out judi- ciously enough. " Mr. Farmer's theory was large paper copies rather than small ; the relicures of Hayday, Riviere, &c., in preference to cheap store bindings ; limited editions on fine paper instead of unlimited on wood pulp ; unique extra illustrated copies rather than volumes manufactured by the thousand with well-worn plates and indistinct impressions ; the choicest examples of OF THE AUCTION-ROOM 249 American printed books, reprinted by the Riverside Press, or of the British printing-offices, exhibited in the typographical beauties of Baskerville and Whit- tingham in fact, always Editions de luxe; uncut copies not ravished by the binder's plough, and above all, original editions, if with plates, but if not, then the best printed and the best edited the book market has to offer." The late Mr. Bohn's catalogue, an enormous bulky volume, weighing many Ibs., was supposed to be the biggest in the world. It seemed by actual measure- ment to be about a foot thick. He was in truth an extraordinary man, combining original taste in all departments of art and literature with singular know- ledge. He, like many successful bibliophilists, was a German. His " Bohn's Library " was a truly magni- ficent enterprise, carried out with extraordinary spirit and ambition. His collection of china was vast. He had also collections of paintings, virtu, books, rarities of every kind, all selected with the same judgment, which at his death were sold at very remunerative prices. He brought to his task powers of tact and energy, and an instinct akin to the political or finan- cial. He appeared to forecast prospective rises in value. Like many others of his countrymen he rose from being a humble assistant in a bookseller's " store." At all periods the amateur has been eager to indulge in the luxury of a press of his own. There is much to be said for this costly fancy ; for if taste and char- acter are present it is sure to impress itself on the works, and even on the printing. Such form and pressure of the mind reveals itself. This is particu- larly manifest in the work of Horace Walpole, whose books betray an elegance of subject, touch, and senti- ment that betokens the man of congenial refinement 250 THE BOOK FANCIER and makes them quite distinct from the ordinary work of eminent publishers. His own compositions such as the pleasant apology for Richard III., and the " Royal and Noble Authors " are admirably adapted to the mode of expression used. It is a claim on pos- terity to have issued Gray's Odes. There is a distinct physiognomy in these charming little books. Among them are Lord Whitworth's account of Russia in 1710, Lady Temple's poems, Renault's tragedy " Cornelie," Lord Herbert of Cherbury's Life, trifles by Sir William Jones and Hannah More, and so serious and important a work as the " Anecdotes of Painting." On an average about two hundred copies only were printed of each. Perhaps the rarest is the hierogly- phic Tales, of which only six copies are said to have been printed ; the printer's private copy sold for 16. Rarest perhaps of all are these occasional leaves of congratulatory verses which the virtuoso used to have " worked " off for some visitor of distinction. Kirkgate, his printer for a long period was, however, left by the noble owner without even the slightest mention in his will. Another important private press was that of Lee Priory, directed by Sir E. Brydges, but not at all so attractive, though the collection is much sought, and brings in good prices. As of course the subject is large enough to be treated in a volume devoted to itself. There were also the Boswell, Philips, and other presses. A collector of much taste and judgment was the late Mr. John Forster " mine own fast friend " whose handsome library at Palace Gate was richly stored with rare and interesting volumes, autographs, and prints, to say nothing of pictures and sketches. The interest of the collection is found it can be seen at South Kensington Museum, to which he bequeathed OF THE AUCTION-ROOM 251 it in the intimate connection of these treasures with famous men, and particularly with the famous liter- ary personages with whom he had been associated all his life. His own admirable literary work always of the best and most finished kind brought him into further connection with literary memorials of every description ; and there was no greater treat than to turn over one of his well-stored portfolios. His artistic friends seemed to have delighted in recording their connection with the many social hours he fur- nished them, by pleasant, spirited sketches perhaps the happiest souvenirs that could be devised. Among his books he delighted to have such as had been in the possession of famous writers, and were enriched with signatures and inscriptions. He possessed most of the correspondence of Garrick, filling many great tomes ; and his more precious volumes were bound in a solidly sumptuous style, to do honour to the subject. There is another class of amateur not so inviting or acceptable. He is figured in the worm which feeds on books. This " prowler " scans the catalogues care- fully for anything in his line, and there are dealers who purvey for his taste. In certain booksellers' catalogues this department is often labelled " Facetiae," supposed by the innocent readers to stand for books of a humorous or Rabe- laisian character. In this class might be included " Macaronic " poetry. It is lamentable to relate, however, that there is a demand for books written in Latin and French, and often in very elegant Latin and French, of such a character as to forbid them the freedom of the drawing-room table. There are many such, belonging chiefly to the seventeenth century, and one, a notorious one, by a professor. There have been collectors of these odious things. Selwyn men- tions a noble lord of his acquaintance who imported 252 THE BOOK FANCIER some thirty copies of one of Crebillon's stories, which he disposed of to his loose friends an instance of rare good nature. There was an English earl who in 1789 " privately " reprinted the works of one Baffo, an Italian writer, styled Le Rimeur le plus obsctne et le plus sale de son temps, to give away for presents ! It is now, we are told, very scarce. Mr. Beckford enjoyed the privilege of a copy, which was sold for 11, solely upon its claim to salete. One person not long since dead was held to possess " one of the finest collections " of these things conceiv- able, and which he later sent to the Continent for sale. " Facetice ! " Heaven save the mark ! We should like to hear the burning tongue of Thomas Carlyle on this abomination. As to the insect book-worm, few have an idea of the ravages caused by these deadly enemies of books. Their performances excite amazement. As when we see some huge folio a St. Thomas or Bellarminus bored straight through with a tiny tunnel, the material in each leaf being cut out and carried off. One such tunnel literally destroys a book. There is something painful in finding leaf after leaf unto the end thus pierced. These depredators are so tiny as to escape detection, though not so long since one was captured flagrante delido, and exhibited to the curious. Sbafcespeare jfolfos attf> (Quartos SHAKESPEARE, so philosophical and occult inex- haustible, almost, in repaying the student's labours so overlaid with speculation and commentaries, has naturally furnished a vast contribution to the " libraries of the curious." He stands alone in this fruitfulness ; Racine, Moliere, and other great classics offering their text without exciting much con- troversy. But we must add to this fruitfulness the strange dispensation which attends the greater genius, that sense of mystery and obscurity which prevents us ever reaching, with anything approaching assur- ance, to the knowledge that we have what Shakespeare really wrote. Depending on various and conflicting versions, we are forced to hold the general sense, as in the sense of the oracles, but the literal and exact form escapes us. There is no authorised canon of Shake- speare ; and, strangest of all, the writer of these immortal pieces, unlike other authors, seems to have been least concerned with their publication and editing. He who wrote for all time seems not to have cared to bring his work before the British pub- lic, nor to have bethought him of editing, printing, or correcting for the press, nor of any of the welcome incidents that attend on authorship. 253 254 THE BOOK FANCIER This curious fate has naturally had extraordinary results. The plays given to the press by others than the author, as they were found, picked up, or copied, naturally reflected their disorderly origin ; each shape being different, and often opposed to the other. The plays were clearly printed from notes or recollections, and rude playhouse copies. Further to complicate the matter, the compositor did his best to add to the disorder, and every page of the first folio " teems with errors." In truth, it is with the works of Shakespeare as with the Scriptures ; there is no original text, but only the best, or what is thought to be the best. In the case of the Scriptures there are the various recognised MSS., the Vatican and others, while of Shakespeare there are the little quartos and the four folios. None of these can be shown to have been in relation with the author or with his original MS. Hence no one has more special claim to authority than its fellows. Round the quartos and the four folios there floats a cloud of almost romantic details. An army of laborious commentators has given days and nights and^their whole lives to the comparing of copies, the counting of lines, the searching for analogous passages in other authors, until a flood of light has been shed upon the question. Behind these are ranged the col- lectors and their searchings the story of the rare quarto, the restorations, and above all, the " fear- some " prices. These, it may be conceived, will rise with every year, owing to the demand in America and the Colonies. Nothing is more mysterious than the fate that has pursued this comparatively modern volume, the First Folio : works a hundred and a hundred and thirty years older have fared infinitely better, and have swept down the rapids of time without damage or SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 255 wreckage. But this work is usually found frayed, maimed, soiled, smeared, imperfect, leaves and sheets torn out in the middle, the beginning, and end. Almost every copy, save two or three that can be named, is " made up " that is, the defects of one are supplemented from others. George Steevens supplies a fair, sensible reason. " Of all volumes," he says, " those of popular enter- tainment are soonest inj ured. It would be difficult to name four folios that are oftener found in dirty, muti- lated condition than this first assemblage of Shake- speare's plays, ' God's Revenge against Murder,' ' The Gentleman's Recreation,' and Johnson's ' Lives of the Highwaymen.' The folio Shakespeare," goes on Steevens, " was generally found on the hall tables of mansions, and that a multitude of his pages ' have this effect of gravy ' may be imputed to the various eatables set out on the same boards. I have repeatedly met with flakes of pie-crust between the leaves of our author. These unctuous fragments, remaining long in close confinement, communicated their grease to several pages deep on each side of them. Since our breakfasts have become less gross, our favourite authors have escaped with fewer injuries. I claim to be the first commentator who strove with becoming seriousness to account for the frequent stains that disgrace the earliest folio edition, which is now become the most expensive book in our language. For," asks the astonished Steevens, " what other English volume, without plates, and printed since the year 1600, is now known to have sold more than once for thirty -five pounds fourteen shillings ? " There is a pleasant quaintness in all this. He tells us, moreover, that most of the first folios then extant belonged to ancient families resident in the country. 256 THE BOOK FANCIER Every possible adulteration, he tells us, has of late years (that is, sixty years since) been practised " in fitting up copies of this book for sale. When leaves are wanting, they have been reprinted with battered types, and foisted into vacancies. When the title has been lost, a spurious one has been fabricated, with a blank space left for the head of Shakespeare, after- wards added for the second, third, or fourth impres- sions. To conceal these frauds, thick vermilion lines have been usually drawn over the edges of the engrav- ings, and discoloured with tobacco-water till it had assumed the true jaune antique. Sometimes leaves have been inserted from the second folio, and, in a known instance, the entire play of Cymbeline, the genuine date being altered. And this is the more easy, as the matter of both editions corresponds ex- actly page by page and line by line, though differing in words." It is difficult to account for this craze, or indeed to define the element that is priced so highly. It is not the text, for that is accessible in fac-simile reprints ; nor is it the scarcity, for there are other works far more rare, yet not so costly. It seems really a com- pliment to the surpassing merit of the bard himself combined with the other elements. Fine choice copies are also extraordinarily few, and bring increasing prices. It will be interesting to note the steady growth of this amiable mania. In 1821 a pleasant writer, Mr. Davis, in his " Jour- ney Round the Library of a Bibliomaniac," quotes prices for this interesting monument. In 1792 Daly's copy brought 30 ; Heathcote's (title wanting), 37 ; S. Ireland's, in 1801, 14 ; Duke of Roxburghe's, 100 ; Sebright's, in 1807 (title wanting), 30 ; Stan- ley's (title also wanting), 37 ; Sir P. Thompson's, in SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 257 1815, 41 ; and in 1818, at the Sanders sale, " a fine original copy in a genuine state " brought 121. The third edition is nearly as valuable as the first ; the second is " adulterated " in every page. Droeshout's portrait served for all the four editions. " Good or first impressions of this portrait are valued by judges at about five guineas ; inferior ones are scarcely worth a guinea, as the lines have been crossed over the face to give strength to the impression." A leading bookseller was offering some years ago a set of the four folios. He gives accurately (though incidentally) copies of the title-pages of each edition, which is interesting, and shows how damages are repaired and the book can be " made up." The third edition, it is known, did not go off briskly, and was, as it were, reissued with the seven additional plays. The prices asked were not too much. The titles are given in full, and will be found interesting ; for, with the quaint titles of the separate plays, they have been abolished by modern editors. " SHAKESPEARE. Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, published accord- ing to the true original copies. London, printed by Isaac laggard and Ed. Blount. 1623. Folio, first edition, the title containing the portrait and verses opposite to it in fac-simile, so' well done as to almost defy detection ; otherwise perfect and genuine throughout. Size, 12$ x 8. " The second impression. London, printed by T. Cotes for Robert Allot, and are to be sold at the Signe of the Blacke Beare in Pauls Churchyard. 1632. Folio, portrait on title and verses opposite. The verses are mended, and a portion filled in, but only an ex- perienced eye could detect it. Some of the end 258 THE BOOK FANCIER leaves are mended a little at the corners ; otherwise perfect and genuine throughout. Size, i2f x8. " The third impression, and unto this impression is added seven plays, never before printed in folio, viz., Pericles, Prince of Tyre ; The London Prodigal ; The History of Thomas, Lord Cromwell ; Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham ; The Puritan Widow ; A Yorkshire Tragedy ; The Tragedy of Locrine. Lon- don, printed for P. C., 1664. Folio, portrait, with the verses underneath opposite the title. The por- trait, title, and margins of a few leaves at end are mended and filled in, and the dedication is entirely in fac-simile, the whole most beautifully done ; other- wise perfect and genuine throughout. Size, I2| x8. " The fourth edition. London, printed for H. Her- ringman, E. Brewster, and Rd. Bentley, at the An- chor, in the New Exchange, the Crane, in St. Paul's Churchyard, and in Russel Street, Covent Garden. 1685. Folio, portrait and verses opposite the title in fac-simile, beautifully done. The title has the bottom corner slightly mended ; otherwise perfect and genuine throughout. Size, 14^x9. " A very good set. The four volumes beautifully and uniformly bound, by Riviere, in the best French morocco, paned sides, full gilt backs, and gilt edges." Four hundred and fifty pounds was the price ! But it is clear these were ordinary things, without pedi- gree " not born," as is said of an inferior German prince. " Perhaps," says Beloe, " there is no book in the English language which has risen so rapidly in value as the first editions of the works of our great national poet. I can remember a very fine copy to have been sold for five guineas. I could once have purchased a superb one for nine guineas. At the sale SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 259 of Dr. Monro's books it was purchased for thirteen guineas ; and two years since I was present when thirty-six guineas was demanded for a copy." But there are notable copies of noble dimensions, and which can be traced from owner to owner, each having its story, its life and adventures, as it were ; while of the owner or possessor something curiously interesting might be detailed. George Daniel (the predecessor of Lady Burdett Coutts in the ownership of a famous copy) had a curious history himself one of the strange combative bibliomaniacs ; while George Steevens's copy would suggest the history of a learned and stormy collector. Of his " second folio." now in the King's Library of the British Museum, this history is given : " This had belonged to King Charles I., who with his own hand had written in it these words : ' Dum spiro spero, C.R.' ' And Sir Henry Herbert, to whom the King presented it the night before his execution, had also written : "Ex Dono serenissimi Regis Car. Servo suo Humiliss. T. Herbert." This precious volume came into the possession of Dr. Askew a well-known scholar ' a fine copy " it was called and at his sale it was purchased by Steevens for the sum of 5 zos. Yet the new owner says, " I gave this enormous sum." Askew had bought it at Dr. Mead's sale for two guineas and a half. At Steevens's sale it was bought for George III. for eighteen guineas, thus oddly returning into royal custody. There is another royal association con- nected with this copy. Steevens had written in it that its former owner, Sir T. Herbert, was Master of the Revels to King Charles I., whereas it was Sir Henry Herbert who held that office. This mistake was im- mediately detected and ratified by George III., in his 260 THE BOOK FANCIER own hand, and thus this interesting copy possesses the autographs of two sovereigns of England. Be- neath the words of Mr. Steevens his Majesty has written thus : " This is a mistake, he [Sir T. Herbert] having been Groom of the Bed Chamber to King Charles I. ; but Sir Henry Herbert was Master of the Revels." Steevens supposes that the original edition was not more than 250 copies. Before 1649 they were so scarce that King Charles, Mr. Malone says, was obliged to content himself with a copy of the second edition ; though it is likely his Majesty preferred a revised and more carefully printed edition to the old one. Ten shillings, it is supposed, was the selling price. But now for the successive appearances of these four folios in solemn sets ; for " no gentleman's Shakespearean library should be without them." At Heber's sale in 1834 we find the four, the first re- ceiving this handsome panegyric : " An extraordin- arily fine copy, and one of the tallest known." This had been Lord Denbigh's, and had come to him from the Broadley sale. It fetched, however, only 57 153. a huge price then. But it lacked the Ben Jonson verses, and the title and his imprint torn off, with other blemishes. The second folio brought 9 155., the third 26 ios., and the fourth only 4 43., about 100 covering the whole.* At the well-known sale of Mr. Dunn-Gardner, a * The reader will be amused to see the jealous nicety with which the marks and tokens of this great book have been set down. The following is Mr. Frederick Locker Lampson's " col- lation " of his own copy : SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM. Mr. William Shakespeares Come- dies, Histories, and Tragedies. Published according to the true originall copies. London, Printed by Isaac laggard & Ed. Blount. 1623, Colophon ; Printed at the charges of W. SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 261 gentleman who admitted nothing but what was choice and as nearly perfect as possible, a set of the four folios were sold. They were thus described : " Shakespeare. First edition. This copy, from the libraries of Mr. Hibbert and Mr. Wilks, is one of the finest copies known, and without doubt the finest that has ever been sold by public auction. It may, though bound in russia, with border of gold, in the quiet and good taste of Montague, be called in its original state, and may be fairly stated, as far as a book can be so designated, an immaculate copy. " Shakespeare's (Mr. William) Comedies, &c., as before. The second impression, russia, gilt edges. The leaf with the lines preceding the title is in this copy shorter than the work itself, that being un- usually large. " Shakespeare's (Mr. William) Comedies, &c., as before. Third edition. " Shakespeare's (Mr. William) Comedies, &c., as before, to which is added seven plays never before Jaggard, Ed. Blount, J. Smithweeke, and W. Aspley, 1623. Folio. A, 8 leaves : A Cc 2, Aa 3 6 : b g 6 ; gg i 8 : h i 6 : f i6 : t x 6 : If i 6 : Hf 6 : W r ' aA ~ SS 3 2 gg 2 6: hh tti: tt3: vv6: xi 6yyi: y2 6 : zz bbb6. In sixes. Title Ai : Dedication by " John Heminge " and " Henry Condell," " To the most noble," &c., A 2 : Address " To the great variety," &c., by the same, A 3, recto, verso blank : verses to Shakespeare's memory by L. Digges, i M : Ben Jonson and Hugh Holland, 3 leaves, verses of ist and 3d blank. " The names of the Principall Actors " and " A Catalogue " of two leaves, versos blank : The Comedies, pp. 303 and a blank page : Histories, pp. 232, " The Tragedy of Troylus," &c., not men- tioned in the catalogue of contents, 15 leaves, the second only paged, and that incorrectly, as 79 and 80 : Tragedies, pp. 309 (misprinted 993), last page blank." Beneath the titles and occupying two-thirds of the title-page is a portrait of Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout, facing which, upon the opposite page, are ten lines of verse on the author, addressed " to the reader," and numbered " B i " The volume measures 13 in, X 8|. 262 THE BOOK FANCIER printed in folio, &c. Fourth edition. The same por- trait was used for this edition, after having been re- touched ; it here occupies the upper part of a leaf pre- ceding the title, having the metrical lines beneath it." Here begin all the niceties of folio measure- ments, marginal width, pedigree, and the rest. This first folio measures I2| x 8 inches, and could be traced to the Hibbert Collection, where it had been bought for 85, and to the Wilks ditto, where it had leaped up to 155. At the Dunn-Gardner sale it was redeemed from captivity for 250 by Mr. Huth, in whose library it now reposes. In the choice Corser Collection, sold in 1868, there was, of course, found a fine quartette of folios. The first, described as " a very desirable copy of this ever-to-be-coveted vol- ume, was, with the exception of the letterpress of the title-page and the corners of a few leaves which have been admirably supplied in fac-simile by Harris as almost to defy detection, quite complete." It was tall and broad, measuring fully i2f by 8 inches. It fetched 160. The second folio excited attention as being " a genuine unsophisticated copy in its original state, remarkably tall, measuring 13^ by 8 inches." It had this oddity ; the imprint in this copy is differ- ent from any hitherto described, the words " at this shop " being omitted. It brought 49, while the third fetched 77, and the fourth 12 ; total 398. But now to introduce a more distinguished set still. In 1880 Mr. Quaritch was offering an extraordinary collection of Shakespeare's editions. There were no less than three copies of the first folio, the first " a good and sound copy," desirable and perfect all to two leaves. It measured I2|- by 8 inches, and its price was 136. It came from the Brand Hollis Library. The next copy was also defective by two leaves, but SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 263 was " a very fine tall copy, of unusual size," measuring J 3 by 8f, from a well-known library ; a difference which exactly doubled the price, which was 300. The third but let us hear the vendor himself : " With title, portrait, verses, and all preliminary leaves in splendid original condition, untouched by the hand of any modern renovator ; a very fine and large copy (i2f by 8f inches), red morocco extra, gilt edges, by Bedford, enclosed in a red morocco case with key. Price 880." " To some this price for a fine copy may seem sur- prisingly large, but not to those who are aware that this is probably the only copy, undoctored, genuine, sound and fine, which can come into the market for probably another quarter of a century. Even if the Huth Library had been sold, as at first announced, it would merely have produced a short and not over- desirable first Shakespeare. Since the beginning of this century, only four perfect and satisfactory copies (besides the above) have been sold, and all but this are now in safe keeping, inaccessible to many eager purchasers on both sides of the Atlantic. " Should it be considered that this first folio, be- sides being the first authorised edition of Shakes- peare's plays, contains editiones principes of no less than twenty pieces, we thus learn to estimate the real value of a fine, unmixed, unsophisticated copy. As all the first editions in this volume amount to twenty, it may be said that a set of separate first editions of any twenty plays would cost from 500 to 4000." Note the pleasant bibliophilist phrase. There was also for sale " a fine large, genuine, undoctored copy " of the second impression, measuring 12$ by 8f inches. But there was yet another second folio, which claimed to be " probably the finest copy in existence," 264 THE BOOK FANCIER measuring 13^ by 8f inches, and in as pure, clean condition as when issued from the press. The old binding is also in a fine state of preservation. Sir W. Tite's copy sold, we are told, for 45, G. Smith's for 58, and Daniel's " the largest ever seen," for 148. For this 84 was asked. There was also a third folio, " a fine and sound copy," measuring i2^ 5 by 8f inches, in Bedford's binding ; portrait, " with the verses printed upside down above it." A hundred and sixty pounds was demanded for it. The fourth was to be had for 25. Thus we might equip ourselves here with the four fine copies complete for the modest sum of nearly 1,200. But this did not exhaust the Shakespearian treasures of our bibliopole. There was a rare supplementary stock of the dainty quartos, fifteen in number, early " Hamlets," first edition of " Midsummer Night's Dream " (1600), and a " Tam- ing of the Shrew" UNCUT conceive it ! rare, if not unique in this state ; and for the fifteen, five hundred guineas was asked. Seventeen hundred pounds for an armful of old books ! When that eminent and noble amateur the Duke of Roxburghe determined to add a first folio to his col- lection, it seems to have been a nervous and serious business. He empowered his friend Mr. Nichol to bid for him at the sale, saying in his letter : " If I am not present, I desire you will be excessively bold ; and if I should be present, your courage need not fail you till you see me turn my back and walk out of the room." Which sounds something like the soldier before battle, "If I should fall," &c. He, however, attended the struggle in person. At the agitating moment of the bidding, we are told that " his Grace had retired to one end of the room, coolly to view the issue of the con- test. The biddings rose quickly to twenty guineas SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 265 a great sum in former times but the Duke was not to be daunted or defeated. A slip of paper was handed to him upon which the propriety of discon- tinuing the contest was suggested. His Grace took out his pencil and wrote on the same slip, " Lay on, Macduff." The Duke was of course declared victor, and marched off triumphantly with the volume under his arm, having secured the precious volume for " about 35." It measured 13! by 8 inches. This copy was sold at his sale for 100 to the Duke of Devonshire, in whose library it now is. Sir M. Sikes, we are told, would have gone to 80 for the treasure. But at the famous Perkins sale in 1873, where everything was of the choicest and finest, there were to be seen the four folios, justly described as " a superb set." All were bound in crimson morocco, with joints and gilt leaves, and by measurement were 13^ inches by 8|- inches for the first, 13 inches by 9 inches for the second, 13^ inches by 8f inches for the third, and 14 inches by 9 inches for the fourth. It was noted, with just pride, that the first folio was of exactly the same dimensions as that of the famous Daniel copy, while the third was " an eighth of an inch taller ! " This Perkins first folio ushered in the series of startling prices. It had come from the Dent Collec- tion, and now fetched what seems the immense sum of 585. The great actor Kemble had, of course, a copy among his dramatic treasures at his sale, which was bought by Mr. Boswell, the Shakespearian, the bio- grapher's second son, for 112 a huge price sixty years since. But then, was it not very nicely inlaid throughout, bound in Venetian morocco, enclosed in a russia bookcase ? 266 THE BOOK FANCIER The sale of his miscellaneous library was com- menced by Mr. Evans on the 26th of January, and terminated on the 26th of February. It contained some extremely curious articles, but the rarest of his dramatic works were not brought to the hammer, having been previously selected and purchased by the Duke of Devonshire for two thousand guineas. The books fetched very good prices at the sale. He seems, indeed, to have been a most indefatigable annotator, and had compiled MS. indexes to several of his books. The total amount of the ten days' sale was 2,665 i2s. The Drury Lane Playbills from 1751 to 1818, sixty-five vols. half-bound, with MS. indexes, notes by Mr. Kemble, and extracts from an unpublished diary of Hopkins, the prompter, father of Mrs. Kemble, were sold for 120 155. A similar one of Covent Garden, from 1758 to 1819, sixty-two vols., brought 68 53. These sets of bills excited much curiosity, and gave rise to much specu- lation as to the price they would fetch. It was a very general impression that they ought to have been deposited in the British Museum. Mr. Booth, the bookseller, was the highest bidder, and is understood to have purchased them for Sir Gregory Page Turner. His Majesty sent a commission of seventy guineas for the Drury Lane set, and the Duke of Devonshire one hundred and fifty guineas for the two sets. The room was excessively crowded. Mr. Boswell, the younger, when he purchased his copy of the desired folio, seems to have regarded his acquisition with mixed feelings. " Ipse miserimus gave a much larger sum at Mr. Kemble's sale, but I could not bring myself to a cold calculation of the value of a copy which was at once a memorial of Shakespeare and of Kemble." Ipse miserimus ! Surely a lugubrious tone for an ardent collector, such as Mr. Boswell was. At his sale it was disposed of at a small increase, for 120. Lord Spencer, that most fastidious of amateurs, felt that he must have a folio to make his happiness complete. But as a typographical performance he ever felt that it was not in harmony with its nobler brethren, and his librarian thus apologises for its presence : " The knowing," he says, " need not be surprised at the price and importance of this impres- sion ; yet a tougher question is rarely agitated amongst bibliographers than as to what constitutes a fine and genuine copy of it. After having seen a copy lately obtained by Mr. Grenville, and that yet more recently by Mr. James Boswell, and carefully examined the present, I am abundantly convinced that this is after all but a disagreeable book. As to typographical execution, every leaf of the present copy was carefully examined by the late George Steevens for his Lordship, a task requiring no ordinary skill." Mr. Garrick was fortunate enough to pick up a copy of the second folio from " Mr. Payne of the Meuse- gate " in York, I presume. " After the death of our Roscius," says Mr. Steevens, " it should have accom- panied his collection of old plays to the British Museum, but had been taken out of his library, and has not been heard of since." This he secured for the small sum of i i6s.* It, however, was said to * In a bookseller's catalogue I have seen the seventh volume of Warburton's small Shakespeare. It had belonged to Garrick, and his wife had written in it, " This Book whent with us to Althorp on Dec. the soth, 1778 : my husband never travelled without some work of Shakespeare." How interesting is this and illustrative too! Turning over the catalogue of Mr. Garrick's library, the com- 268 THE BOOK FANCIER want the Ben Jonson verses. His beautiful collec- tion of plays, thus generously bequeathed, formed with great assiduity during the course of his theatri- cal life, is uniformly bound and distinguished by his initials, and prompted that charming handbook to the English Drama, " The Specimens " of Charles Lamb, which has educated several generations in dramatic literature. The copy of the first folio, however, could scarcely be ranked in the collection of " Old Plays," which were all of the separate " little quarto " pattern, and more than forty years later it reappeared in the sale of Garrick's library, where it brought 34 2s. 6d. In 1844 it again changed hands, and was resold to Mr. Tolley for 86. Garrick's second folio long after was offered for sale and seems to have been a " folio of pretension " from the description, for it was " a fine tall copy in russia extra, gilt edges, with arms stamped in gold on the sides." Thirty guineas was the price asked. " A copy of unusual interest, partly from the fact that it be- longed to David Garrick and contains his bookplate, and partly because copies are rarely found with such large margins. It measures 13^ by 9 inches, and has position whereof was evidence of his accomplished mind, I came upon a book, " Le Jardin des Racines Grecs," with this interesting little note in Latin : " The gift of Gilbert Walmesley of Lichfield to Garrick at the age of sixteen, on the condition that he shall every day learn a page by heart, word for word, so that he shall be always ready to repeat without book and in the same words. 3d July 1732." The worthy Dibdin makes this reckless charge against Garrick without offering any proof. " Garrick had free access to the library at Dulwich College, founded by Alleyn, and pillaged it without scruple or remorse. He did pretty nearly the same thing with Sir Thomas Hanmer's library. No wonder, therefore, that the Garrick Collection, now deposited in the British Museum, presents at once an object of vexation, envy, and despair to the bibliomaniac." This is incredible, as such spoliation would not have been tolerated. SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 269 some of the leaves with rough uncut edges, in which state no copy is on record but that of George Daniel, which was the largest example known, and sold for 148. The Perkins copy, measuring half an inch less than this, brought 44 ; and the Ouvry copy, which was smaller still, sold for 46. The verses opposite the title and a portion of the last leaf are in admirable fac-simile, and a part of the margin of the title has been skilfully repaired." This " uncut edge " in so old a book is really a rare and remarkable instance, for it proves that the book had not been bound, and had escaped the shears. It is a nice question whether the original sheets of so old a book constitute the identity, and whether the substitution of a sheet, practically the same, makes any legal difference. The truth is, the original sheets belong to each other, and acquire from the companionship a special cast they are found under the same atmosphere, the same pressure, the same sewing and binding, the same " lie," as it were. A new intruder is a disturber, and does not belong to the party. It is curious, too, how this is betrayed to the skilful and practised eye. Mr. Croker, suspecting from the text some suppression in the second edition of Boswell's " Tour," took the book to pieces, and discovered " a cancel " that is, only a portion of a sheet had been sewn in. Another notable copy was the Grenville one, now in our Museum. This came from Sanders' in Fleet Street sale in 1819, and measures I2| by 8f inches. Mr. Grenville paid 121 i6s. for it. The Stowe copy was another giant 12$ by 8 inches and was sold for 76. There were copies sold by the Sothebys in three successive years 1854, 1855, 1856 the first by 8 inches ; the last 12$ by 8, which was 270 THE BOOK FANCIER bought by Lord Gosford for 164 173. The copy sold in 1855 was of extraordinary interest from its having " two cancelled leaves " in the play of "As You Like It." In the Hartley sale, held in June, 1885, was offered a " first folio," about which, it was rumoured, hung a curious history. It was sold at some rather obscure sale, and adroitly manipulated by the system of " knock out," being bought for 20, to be later dis- posed of by the fraternity among themselves for a much larger sum. This sacrifice, produced by these " shady " tactics, was illustrated by the price brought at this unlawful sale, which was no less a sum than 480, or, as another account says, 525. But we now are arrived at the really great day for the folio the greatest since Mr. Herringman issued his volume in 1623. This was on the occasion of the sale of Mr. George Daniel's books in 1864, after his demise. This well-known critic, writer, and collector had fixed himself at Islington, and dwelt in that curious old tower which still rises, though in sad decay, and which has ever had a series of literary tenants from Goldsmith's time. Never was there such a collection of rarities and uniques offered, and never again will collector be offered such opportuni- ties, or be so prompt to avail himself of them. The sale occupied ten days, but " the Shakespeare day," as it was called in the Times, drew an eager and excited audience. There were seen abundance of the rare Shakespeare quartos, that are well-nigh introuv- able, which the wary and enterprising Daniel had secured in lavish profusion rare and dainty little quartos, many of them with but two and three com- panions in the world. But resplendent among them all were the four grand folios. The " first " had been SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 271 in the possession of Daniel Moore, Esq., F.R.S., and by him had been bequeathed to William H. Booth, who also left it by will to John Gage Rokewode, from whose hands it passed to Mr. Daniel. An enthusi- astic critic fell into raptures over it, called it " a mar- vellous copy, of unrivalled beauty, unquestionably the finest that can ever occur again for public sale. The copy will to all future time possess a world-wide reputation. It was cased in beautiful old russia binding, and preserved in a russia leather case." It was by measurement a grand specimen. After a spirited and exciting contest, in which the price rose and rose, the astonishingly unheard-of sum of 716 2S. was bid by Mr. Radcliffe, to whom it was knocked down. When it was known that the prize had been carried off by Miss Burdett Coutts, the room re- sounded with acclamation. The treasure now reposes in a stately case made out of the wood of Herne's oak. Nor is this price excessive, for it is admitted by experts that in all " points " condition, dimensions, and general proportion it could not be matched. In its way the " second folio " was no less meri- torious, and possibly the finest of its generation. With a quaint enthusiasm the owner thus expatiated on its charms. It is like a little biography : " This genuine and beautiful copy was bought by Mr. Thorpe at the sale of the library at Nevill Holt, Leicester- shire, and bought of him by me this the i6th day of September, my birthday." Adds the collector, 1848, " I never saw its equal for soundness and size." It was, moreover, the largest example known, and brought the surprising, for a second folio, price of 142. The third went for 46, and the fourth for 21. Lord Charlemont's first folio was pronounced to be one of the finest known, 272 THE BOOK FANCIER measuring I2f by 8^ inches, arrayed handsomely in red morocco with tooled borders. It fetched 455.* The grand copy and its price was destined to retain its undisturbed glories for over twenty years, until the year 1881 came round that of the Thorold or Syston Park sale. This copy shows that the apprecia- tion of the precious volume has been carried to the highest point of finish. This copy was described with a tender minuteness, as though it had been some old picture by Raphael or Rembrandt. First it is proudly claimed to be " the largest and finest copy known," or rather would be, save for some trifling but sad blem- ishes. The titles and verses had been very neatly inlaid, and, owing to some defect in the paper, it was carefully computed that about eight or ten letters were deficient in three of the leaves. An expert de- clared that these restorations could not be detected by ordinary observers, so skilfully were they effected, but in looking close it might be made out that the " Mr. William " of the title-page had been put in in fac-simile ; the last five letters of " Shakespere " are also supplied. " Tails " of letters in the name of the printer, Jaggard, and one of the figures in the date are also restorations. Notwithstanding these blem- ishes serious in bibliomaniacal eyes the present " very large copy," was found to be by measurement 13! inches by 8 inches, or a quarter of an inch taller than Lady Burdett Coutts' famous copy. It was in- teresting to see that noble lady busily scanning the proportions of the rival copy. Another extraordinary incident connected with this copy is that some of the * Copies have turned up in a strange, odd way. In 1857 one was discovered in a carpenter's shop at Maidenhead, which had been bought for a few shillings at a country auction. Another turned up in Germany. SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 273 leaves are " uncut," on the top, front, and bottom margins, which enables us to know the exact size of the original edition as issued. In ordinary cases the top margin is f of an inch, the front ||ths of an inch, and the bottom i|- inch pre- cious details, that may excite a smile, but are ele- ments of value when dealing with hundreds of pounds. This copy was further adorned by a fine red morocco " jacket" from the hands of Roger Payne. It sold for the large sum of 590. Is the collector happy or wretched who can gaze on the four folios his own in " fine condition," " pure copies," but representing an outlay of 1000 ? He has virtually to pay 50 a year interest during his natural life for this enjoyment. Indeed, I have heard one bewail his folly bitterly, and wish he had his money back again. Much conies, however, to the collector who can watch and wait, and he need then have no qualms of conscience. There are the ambitious, who set their minds to the attaining some grand post or alliance, bearing in mind their Shakespeare declaration, that the " hatted dame " is as attainable with daring and perseverance as the lowly maid. In this spirit I determined to watch and wait patiently, and secure, not only a folio, but the four, and in less than two years success crowned me ! I began with a second folio, and found an honest, respectable copy, lacking, of course, portrait, title, and last two leaves, which could be " supplied in fac-simile." For him I paid 2 los. Next came a damaged fourth folio, secured for " a song," but which, exchanged, brought a perfect one at a cost of 7. Next followed a first folio for 12, wanting a play at the end and the title, but having all the " prefatory matter." Lastly came the third, for 8. T 274 THE BOOK FANCIER The total was under 30. These will soon be put in order. I picked up also some fine russia bindings, discarded by the late Mr. Bedford for some folios he was treating, and had them reclothed. Now here was a modest outlay, unattended by prickings of con- science, and the quartette, as they stand, are worth a goodly sum. This little bit of bibliographical adven- ture is mentioned pour encourager les autres. It will amuse the reader to give an instance of what minute and laborious investigation is brought to test the merits and defects of these precious tomes, and reasonably, considering the vast prices given. Here we find a particular copy thus jealously scrutinised. The Ben Jonson verses are " neatly inlaid," that is, " inset " in new paper so deftly as to escape the ordi- nary reader's eye. In the title-page the words " Mr. William " are supplied in jac-simile, and the scraps of paper on which they are displayed are neatly joined to the rest, matching in colour and texture ; while the last five letters of the name, " peare," are also reproduced, only the " Shakes " being original. This is counting after the principles of Sir John's stocking. But mark this " the tails of the letter G in the name of the printer (Herringman) and of the figure 3 in the date have also been added." We speak of the " four first folios " or of the " first four folios " (according as the grammarians shall decide), but in strict truth there are five. The third was issued in 1663, but did not " go off," so the publisher in the following year added seven spurious plays and supplied a new title. It must be noted of this first third edition that the copy has the portrait in the centre of the title-page, and the Ben Jonson verses face it on another leaf. " In this state it is excessively rare," says Mr. Lilly, who protests that it SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 275 is unknown to Lowndes " in this peculiar and pristine state." Nor does " J. Lilly " recall the sale of any copy save one, which he sold to Mr. Dunn-Gardner, and which is now in the Huth Library. The reader will admit that so far few known works offer such per- plexing oddities. But there is yet another surprise. Editions may legitimately differ, but copies of the same edition do not. Yet it has now come out that there are copies of this mysterious first folio which disagree. How strange it is that its paging should be all astray and capricious ! The numerals do not follow, and many are doubled ; many more are left out, as though we went, say, from 10 to 15. But, most singular of all, there are copies of the first edition itself which so vary from each other as to have different readings. Thus it is said Messrs. Longman's once had a copy in which, instead of Roderigo's speech in " Othello " (p. 333), the line ran " And Hell gnaw his bones." A Bishop Butler possessed a copy with a proof leaf of a page in " Ham- let," and Messrs. Arch of Cornhill had one with the date 1622 instead of 1623. Mr. O. Halliwell-Phillipps has a copy of the first folio, containing misprints, which indicate the priority of the impression.* Thus, on the second column of p. 172 of the Histories, at line 13 and is mis- printed add, and in the second line following, its instead of kiss, the correct readings being found in all other copies excepting in one in the library of the Earl of Ellesmere. These variations are of course of no value in themselves. Mr. Lenox, the well-known American collector, possessed a copy which had many variations, even in the signatures, and the title-page had the date of 1622 instead of 1623 ; but * This, we may presume, is the copy which cost him 4 10 in 1867. 276 THE BOOK FANCIER it is suspiciously " inlaid " below this date, and the owner cautiously adds, "If by this means the last figure has been tampered with, the alteration is very successfully concealed." As to how these things are to be accounted for I can offer no suggestion except it be from carelessness. It is sad and perplexing to think that this famous volume is one of the worst printed in the world. The book might almost be said to be unique in this respect. Professor Craik made some calculations, and discovered that there were some twenty mistakes in each page, which made a total of nearly 20,000 ! It is indeed stated on the title that it was " published according to the true and original copies," but it is believed that these were burnt with the Globe Theatre ; and the mis- takes in the sense and spelling, and the startling dis- crepancies between the folio and the previous quartos show that the edition was fashioned exactly as we might expect, from stray and imperfect copies, recol- lections of actors, and such printed copies as could be got. Thus, Mr. Dyce tells us of the " Hamlet," as it appears in the edition of 1623 : " While the editors added considerably to the prose dialogue in Act II., Sc. 2, inserted elsewhere lines and words which are wanting in the quartos of 1604, &c., and rectified various mistakes of those quartos, they not to men- tion minor mutilations of the text, some of them accidental omitted in the course of the play about a hundred and sixty verses (including nearly the whole of the fourth scene of Act IV.), and left out a portion of the prose dialogue in Act V., Sc. 2, besides allowing a multitude of errors to creep in passim." Mr. Collier says : " Any editor who should content himself with reprinting the folio, without large addi- tions from the quartos, would present but an imper- SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 277 feet notion of the drama as it came from the hand of the poet. The text of ' Hamlet ' is, in fact, only to be obtained from a comparison of the editions in quarto and folio." Few can have an idea of the drudgery of collation and the conscientious enthusiasm that will carry a book-lover through the monotonous labour of com- paring two long works line by line. When the re- print of the first folio was issued, it was hailed with delight as an aid to students, though published at five guineas. It was soon discovered, however, that, though a reprint of a book that teemed with errors, it had a fresh crop of its own ! All faith being gone, no one could rely on it, as the mistakes were unascer- tained. To make all clear, Mr. William Upcott in the year 1821 undertook a laborious collation of the reprint with the folio, and with the following result : " Four months," he writes, " and twenty- three days were occupied during my leisure moments, at the suggestion of our late librarian, Professor Porson, in reading and comparing the pretended reprinted fac- simile first edition. With what accuracy it passed through the press, the following pages (26 folio leaves), noting 368 typographical errors, will show." The booksellers, who had expended a large sum on the reprint, when they had heard of this grew alarmed, and made many overtures for the purchase of the MS. ; and " Mr. Upcott was induced to part with it to Arch & Co., from whom he expected a handsome remuneration ; but all he got was a single copy of the work. This copy, however, he disposed of to Perry (of the Chronicle] for six guineas, at whose sale it brought twelve." >*.' The well-known rude and coarse portrait by Droes- hout has been the subject of discussion and debate, 278 THE BOOK FANCIER filling books and pamphlets. Every line on it has been scanned and appraised. It has been searched with magnifying glasses and reproduced with labori- ous care. It has been found that there are " states " of this print, and that the shading of the forehead was deepened for the later editions. Nearly every copy offered for sale lacks this portrait ; to find it separate is therefore hopeless ; even a damaged impression would fetch a great sum. A fac-simile is priced at 2 los. Mr. Boaden wrote a volume in which he compared all the known portraits of Shakespeare, the Chandos, &c., and others. I fancy it would pay an engraver to re-engrave it with the minutest care, line for line, and issue impressions on old fly-leaves.* * Mr. Lenox writes that the common description of the genuine state, that the shading is expressed by single uncrossed fines is incorrect, the genuine portrait being known by observing that the cross lines do not occur on the right side of the face. The cross lines were added for the fourth edition. Among the "fifteen hundred rarities" collected by Mr. O. Halliwell- Phillipps to illustrate Shakespeare, and preserved at Hollingbury Copse, is a proof copy of the Droeshout portrait of 1623, and is the only likeness of Shakespeare in existence which has come down to us in an original unaltered state. " No other copy of the engraving in this reliable state has yet been discovered, the only ones in all other libraries being those taken from a retouched plate. The latter is one of the only three impressions known of the title-page of the edition of 1632 before the spelling of the word coppies was altered, a circumstance which, although appar- ently trivial, is of value as showing that it includes one of the earliest impressions from the plate after it had been used for the first folio." Of this portrait Mr. Fairholt wrote : " The portrait in this state of the engraving is remarkable for clearness of tone, the shadows being very delicately rendered, so that the light falls upon the muscles of the face with a softness not to be found in the ordinary impressions. This is particularly visible in the arch under the eye, and in the muscles of the mouth ; the ex- pression of the latter is much altered in the later states of the plate by the enlargement of the up-turned moustache, which hides and destroys the true character of this part of the face. The whole of the shadows have been darkened by cross-hatching and coarse dotting, particularly on the chin ; this gives a coarse and SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 279 The passion for these early editions, and the de- vouring fanatical craze led, not unnaturally, to a whole chapter of forgeries. The story of the Ireland forgeries is familiar, carried out, as it was, with such enterprise and apparent ingenuity, to the extent of imposing on a generation ; only a few competent scholars declining to accept what seemed to them a transparent imposture. Some time ago collections of these " original " efforts were being offered for sale. It seems that one such bantling was actually made a present of by the forger to a friend, as if strangely indifferent to the propriety of his gift. " These speci- mens of my Shakespearian fabrication," he wrote, " are presented to my friend Mr. Moncreiff with best regards. W. H. Ireland." We might as well con- ceive the late Mr. Fauntleroy, if happily pardoned, giving a friend with best regards one of his " imita- tions " of Miss Young's signature.* undue prominence to some parts of the portrait, the forehead particularly. In this early state of the plate the hair is darker than any of the shadows on the head, and flows softly and naturally ; in the retouched plate the shadow is much darker than the roots of the hair, imparting a swelled look to the head and giving the hair the appearance of a raised wig. It is remark- able that no shadow falls across the collar ; this omission and the general low tone of colour in the engraving, may have induced the retouching and strengthening which has injured the true character of the likeness, which, in its original state, is far more worthy of Ben Jonson's commendatory lines." * This cadeau took the shape of a 4to volume, containing a series of seventeen original fabrications by W. H. Ireland, specially collected and neatly arranged, with autograph notes describing each specimen by himself. And the contents con- sisted of: i. Tracings from the authenticated signatures of Shakespeare. 2. Three fabricated signatures of Shakespeare. 3. Tracing from an authenticated signature of Queen Elizabeth. 4. Fabricated signature of the Queen. 5. Acrostic on the name of Elizabeth, signed by Shakespeare. 6. Acrostic on the name of Mary, Queen of Scots, signed by W. S. 7. Spurious signature of Lord Southampton, 8. Facetious Letter to William Cowley, the player, signed by W. S. 9. Singular Portrait of Shakespeare, 280 THE BOOK FANCIER If we take some of these things in our hand and scrutinise them, we shall be astonished to note how poor and clumsy the imitation is, how feeble and modern the characters. At the present day such could not be even attempted. The late Mr. Henry Bradshaw detected the forged " Codex Sinaiticus " simply by the smell, when separating the genuine leaves. A much more skilful and serious attempt was that which was known as " The Corrector's Folio," intro- duced by the late scholar, J. Payne Collier. Its his- tory, as told by himself, was as follows : In the year 1847, when turning over some old books in a shop in the Seven Dials, he lighted on an old copy of the second folio, which he thought might serve for " mak- ing up " some deficiencies in his own. He paid 303. for it. It was, as usual, " much cropped and very greasy," and did not suit his purpose. By laborious investigations he traced it to the family of Gray at Upton Court, where one Perkins, who may have been connected with the stage, was living a few years after the date on the folio. It seems extraordinary that the pages of a work such as this, covered with MS. corrections, should not at once have attracted the wary eye of our collector. But it was not until later, he said, that he noted it. It was illustrated from be- of which Ireland writes : " The above document was enclosed in the foregoing epistle, and christened by the believers in the MSS. as a witty conundrum invented by Shakespeare ! " 10. Tracing from Heminge's authentic autograph, n. Spurious signature of John Heminge. 12. The jug water-mark. 13. First signature of Shakespeare produced, and affixed to the spurious deed of Michel Fraser, on vellum. 14. Signature of Fraser written with the left hand (on vellum). 15. Shakes- peare's signature annexed to the Fraser deed, with the Quintin seal. 1 6 and 17. Spurious signatures affixed to the deeds purporting to be between Shakespeare and Lowin and Condel the players (on vellum). SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 281 ginning to end with marginal notes or " corrections." These became the sensation of the hour. The writ- ing was presumed to be contemporary ; some one, probably with the original MS. copy before him, had corrected the text. The Duke of Devonshire de- frayed the expenses of printing. But at the British Museum there were some shrewd and competent men, who, when the original was submitted to them, pro- nounced it an imposition. They found by chemical tests that the writing was not in ink, but in a sort of water-colour mixed to imitate old ink, while under- neath the characters had been first traced in pencil and imperfectly rubbed out ! There were many other certain indications of the forgery, but that one was sufficient. An old and learned scholar like Mr. Collier is entitled to indulgence, and it would be ungracious to hold him accountable for the imposi- tion. In any case, one would prefer to say nothing ; only it is well known that the fanatical passions of some scholars have led them to break through all res- traints, much as some eminent mineralogists will not be trusted alone in the cabinets of the curious. In Mr. Collier's case it would be affectation to deny the suspicion that attaches to his attempts to appropri- ate discoveries brought in aid of his side of the controversy.* We now pass from the folios to the little quarto * In the catalogue of his late sale there was a copy of the " Taming of the Shrew," on whose title was a " curious contem- porary MS. note " " 1607 played by the author," the rest being unfortunately " cropped by the binder," probably the name of the character he played, with more of the kind. When the rare " Hamlet " was discovered it is significant that he declared that some ten or twelve years before he had " a large portion " of a copy of this very edition put into his hands, mysteriously formed of " fly-leaves and linings of bindings." Strange to say, he refused to buy it for the modest price of 10, saying he had the use of the Duke's copy, and there was, moreover, a reprint, 282 THE BOOK FANCIER plays, and nothing is more interesting than the study of the contending claims of the different editions and readings. The labour and cost that has been in- curred, the numberless fac-similes of every page and word, so that the explorer should have the various editions before him for his studies, is truly extra- ordinary. These fac-similes have been several times produced, either in perfect fac-similes or in ordinary type, and are of great value to the student. In 1871 that spirited Shakespearian, Mr. Halliwell, issued fac- similes of the early quarto plays of Shakespeare, including every known edition of all the plays which were issued in the dramatist's lifetime. " There were forty-eight volumes, small quarto, half morocco. Only thirty-one copies were privately printed ; five or six sets have been destroyed, several broken up, and others locked up in public libraries, so that com- plete sets are now becoming exceedingly rare." A hundred and sixty pounds was demanded as the price of this collection ! At the present moment a fresh edition is being issued under the direction of the New Shakespeare Society, while will only cost about 10. They are exact fac-similes. Unfortunately, a fire at the lithographer's premises has destroyed some of the impressions. There have been repeated fac-similes of the folio, notably Mr. Staunton's, but the effect is not pleasant. It is curious that as the new series of quar- tos is being issued, almost before it is half completed the first issues are disappearing and becoming scarce. It is in the fascinating drama of " Hamlet," how- ever, that all devotion centres, bibliographically as well as intellectually. It is here that the quartos and folios concentrate all their interest, and the compari- son of the seven or eight copies and their variations has exercised the wits of all commentators. SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 283 The first " Hamlet " quarto is thus introduced : " The Tragicall Historic of Hamlet, Prince of Den- marke, by William Shakespeare, as it hath beene divers times acted by his Highnesse Servants in the Citie of London : as also in the two Vniversities of Cambridge and Oxford, and elsewhere. At London, printed for N. L. and John Trundell, 1603." The second quarto : " The tragicall historic of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare. Newly imprinted and enlarged to about as much againe as it was, according to the true and perfect coppie. At London, printed by I. R. for N. L., and are to be sold at his shoppe under Saint Dunstan's Church in Fleet Street, 1604." The third edition appeared in 1605, and is from the same " types and formes." Next followed : " Shakespeare (William) Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmarke, newly imprinted and enlarged according to the true and perfect copy lastly printed. Morocco, by Bedford, edges uncut, pro- bably the finest copy known. Printed by W. S. for John Smethwicke, and are to be sold at his shop in Saint Dunstan's Churchyard in Fleet Street, under the Diall, N.D." This undated edition is assigned to the year 1607, on the excellent authority of the Stationers' Registers. Then came " Shakespeare (William) Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmarke, newly imprinted and enlarged to almost as much againe as it was, accord- ing to the true and perfect copy. Morocco, gilt edges, by Bedford. At London, printed for John Smethwicke, and are to be sold at his shoppe in Saint Dunstan's Churchyard in Fleetstreet, under the Diall. 1611." "A perfect genuine copy, with the original fly- leaf. An edition dated 1606 is mentioned in some lists 284 THE BOOK FANCIER but no copy is known. The present, of which no copy has appeared for sale for many years, is in all proba- bility the next edition after the preceding article." It will be seen by comparison of the titles of the two editions that the first was merely from a copy used by the players, and with which the author had nothing to do. The second claims to be " the true and perfect copy." The singular variations between the first quarto and the second are well known to scholars, and show convincingly how the text was obtained. In the first, the old Polonius is called Corambis ; and though there are many speeches in which the subject of the incident is treated in the same fashion, the words are quite different. It seems likely that this copy was, as it were, picked up from hearsay, or from the actors, altered and made effective according to their lights, in default of written copies. It has been suggested, indeed, by Mr. Aldis Wright and Mr. Halliwell, that they were taken from a vulgar stock play on the same subject which is known to have been often acted before Shakespeare took it up. But it is not probable that Shakespeare would have conde- scended to borrow the literal handling of a passage from such a source. Every one of these editions of " Hamlet " is of a rarity that seems extraordinary, considering the period and the abundance of other books of the same era. Of the first edition, that of 1603, there are but two copies known. Of that of 1604 there are only three copies : one in the Duke of Devonshire's, one in Mr. Huth's, and one in the Stowe Collection. Of that of 1605 there is only one perfect copy, which is in the Capell Collection. There is another in the British Museum, but it wants the last leaf. SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 285 But a curious little romantic adventure attends the first quarto of 1603. Down to fifty years ago such a thing was unknown and unsuspected, but in the year 1825 Messrs. Payne and Foss, eminent bibliopolists in Pall Mall, brought the Duke of Devonshire a little volume containing some rare and valuable old plays by Green and others, dated before the year 1600, and among them, mirabile dictu, nestled this precious little quarto " Hamlet " of 1603. True, the last leaf was gone, and no one knew, or was likely to know, how the piece ended. For 100 it became the Duke's property, and was added to his " Kemble Plays " at his house in Piccadilly. The Duke immediately ordered a reprint to be made, in which, as Mr. Collier declared, for a wonder, he could only find two letters and one " stop " wrong. Thus, with the most argus- eyed and vigilant corrector, blunders will escape notice. The noble amateur might be justly proud of his " unique," displayed, no doubt, with a pardonable elation, to the curious. Others might have their folios in better or worse condition, but the single " Hamlet," species and genus together, put to shame the National Library. Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps ap- plied for leave to fac-simile it for his grand folio sub- scription " Shakespeare ; " but this was refused, possibly under the Collier influence, which had then the ducal ear. But however that might be, Nemesis came speedily. The Duke was to enjoy his superior- ity but thirty years in all. It came to pass that in 1855 an English student went to study at Trinity College, Dublin, bringing with him a few old pam- phlets as a " memento " of his old home. He took some of them to a Dublin bookseller living in Grafton Street, named Rooney. Rooney, it was said, " gave a 286 THE BOOK FANCIER shilling for the lot " such is rumour, for he does not directly tell us what he gave. On looking over his purchase, he saw there was a copy of " Hamlet," and he tells us that seeing there a character called Coram- bis, and not Polonius, he knew at once it was the same edition as the Duke's unique. Unfortunately, the first leaf was missing the title, in short. Now this, no doubt, prompted the first step taken by Rooney, which was the sensible one of applying to the Duke himself, owner of the precious unique. The Rooney last leaf would have supplied the want in his copy ; he might have destroyed or preserved the rest, and he would remain the owner of the play now made perfect. But he, unluckily, took no notice of the communica- tion, which he no doubt for the rest of his life bitterly regretted. The next step was to apply to the emin- ent Shakespearian, Mr. Halliwell, who at first doubted but was convinced, we are told, by some quoted readings, though, considering there was a reprint, this was no proof. He then offered fifty guineas, but a hundred was asked, which " could be got from the Museum." Mr. Halliwell declined to make any advance, adding in an injudicious spirit, " that he might whistle " for his hundred from the Museum ; on which Rooney repaired to London, bringing with him the treasure. He saw the officers of the Museum who treated him, he says, de haut en bas, sneering at its " cut-down " look, finally telling him if he liked to leave it for some indefinite time they would see about it. This he declined. Again he offered it to Mr. Halliwell, who declined to go beyond the fifty pounds. Taking it to Mr. Boone, a well-known bookseller, he sold it to him for 70, and Mr. Boone promptly resold it to Mr. Halliwell for 160 ! This sibylline system is more common than is supposed in book-buying, SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 287 what is too dear when the book is cheap, becoming absolutely cheap when the price is raised later on.* It may be conceived from this little adventure what a craze there must be for securing these precious little volumes, which are really put tenderly in cases and cabinets like jewels. We take one of these little dainties in our hands, a pretty little tract of some fifty or a hundred leaves. Any editions of " Romeo and Juliet," " Much Ado," &c., late or early, fetched a goodly sum ; but the first, of which only two or three existing copies can be counted up, would be bid for in hundreds of pounds. Here again has been dis- covery, and increase of price by " leaps and bounds." Dodd the actor, so graphically portrayed by Charles Lamb, had the actor's taste for gathering up old plays. " Dodd," he says, " was a man of reading, and left at his death a choice collection of old English literature," of course promptly submitted to " the hammer." He had " picked up " his plays on the stalls, probably at a few shillings a piece, and there is an astonishing contrast between the prices at his sale and at that of Mr. George Daniel in 1864. His " Midsummer Night's Dream " of 1606 brought i i8s. ; " Henry V." (1622), 3 8s. ; " Richard III." (1621), i 133. ; " Merchant of Venice " (1600), 3 53. ; " King Lear " (1608), 5 2s. 6d. ; " Romeo and Juliet" (1599), 8 153.; " Troilus and Cressida " * Apropos of lost leaves, it may be mentioned that a happy piece of luck once attended two eminent collectors in " making up " their defective copies. The Duke of Devonshire and Earl Spencer each possessed a copy of the grand and rare Aldine Homer, each of which, alas ! was imperfect. Fortunately a third copy, not perfect either, came into the market. The Duke and Earl joined purses, and bought it between them, each repair- ing their defects from its pages, and each fortunately finding the leaves he lacked. The first volume of Lord Spencer's copy is regarded with a pathetic bibliomaniacal interest, it being the last that Roger Payne bound, or rather, death surprised him in the act. 288 THE BOOK FANCIER, (1611), 4 IDS., and that of 1578, 7 IDS. ; while the precious " Gammer Gurton's Needle " (1575), one of the earliest and rarest of plays set by Shakespeare, but three guineas. With these lordly prices let us now compare a well-known author's collection, sold in 1857, and the titles of the plays shall be given at length, as a pleas- ant contribution to the restoration of Shakespeare.* Thus here we read of : "A pleasant conceited His- toric called the Taming of a Shrew, as it was sundry times acted by the Right Honourable the Earl of Pembrooke his servants. Printed at London by Peter Short, and are to be sold by Cuthbert Vudlie. 1594. This copy differs from later editions in the same fashion that the first ' Hamlet ' differs from its successors. The names of the characters being changed, &c." A curious bit of information from a catalogue. This rarity sold for 2 1 . " Shakespeare (William) History of Henrie the Fourth, with the battell at Shrewsburie between the King and Lord Henry Percy, surnamed Henry Hotspur of the North, with the humorous conceits of Sir John Falstaffe, newly corrected by W. Shakespeare. Second edition, fine copy, extremely rare, a few leaves inlaid, morocco by Bedford. At London, printed by S. S. for Andrew * Those who are accustomed to the modern editions of Shakes- peare can hardly conceive how much that is decorative has been added. Turning to our early folios and quartos, we are surprised to find not a word about scenic locality, all being left " general " by the author, to be indicated in a broad way by the words and action of the scene itself. This much is surely gained by comparing the early editions ; for it shows us that was all indifferent to the great mind, and he by anticipation rebuked the late authors of sumptuous revivals. There is no doubt, too, that for the reader the quaint, pedantic setting out of the title would have a more old-fashioned charm than the ordinary modern abridged one. Wise, dwelling in Paules Churchyard at the signe of the Angell, 1599. ' The present/ says the owner, ' is probably the finest copy known of one of the most in- trinsically valuable of all the early quartos. My other copy, which is in most wretched condition, cost me 26 55., so largely have these rarities risen in value. Amongst many other localities that have been searched, it may be interesting to some to know that, recollecting the occupation of Flushing by the Eng- lish in the time of Shakespeare, early editions might have been carried thither, especially as English plays were performed there, I was at the expense of sending an intelligent agent through Zealand, unfortunately without any useful results. In fact, bearing in mind the expenses of searches of this kind, and the neces- sity of buying duplicates for the sake of securing others, I may safely say no Shakespearian quarto ever came into my hands at a reasonable rate.' ' ' This is a melancholy confession. The copy brought 75. " Shakespeare (William) Tragedie of King Richard the Second, as it hath been publikely acted by the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlaine his Ser- vantes, by William Shakespeare, a fine genuine copy. Printed by W. W. for Mathew Law, 1608. This edi- tion is of the greatest curiosity and rarity, and must not be confused with the more common one of the same year, ' with new Additions of the Parliament Sceane/ It is, indeed, so scarce that Mr. Collier, in his edition of ' Shakespeare/ vol. 4, p. 105, describes the Duke of Devonshire's copy as unique." This brought 30. " Shakespeare (William) First and Second Part of the troublesome Raigne of John King of England." This was sold for 17 IDS. " Shakespeare (William) Most Excellent and Lam- u 2go THE BOOK FANCIER entable Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet, as it hath been sundry times publikely Acted by the Kings Majesties Servants at the Globe. Very fine copy, edges entirely uncut, morocco by Bedford, 1637. This, and another sold at the last sale, are believed to be the only entirely uncut copies of this edition known to exist." Uncut or not, it fetched only 5 153. 6d. But now begins a crescendo in prices. " Shakespeare (William) True Chronicle History of the Life and Death of King Lear, and his three Daughters, with the unfortunate Life of Edgar, sonne and heire to the Earle of Glocester, and his sullen and assumed humor of Tom of Bedlam, as it was plaid before the Kings Majesty at Whitehall uppon S. Stephens night in Christmas Hollidaies by his Majes- ties Servants playing usually at the Globe on the Banck-side. Good copy, morocco, gilt edges, by Bedford, Printed for Nathaniel Butler, 1608. The copy of this edition sold by us last year realised 22 los." This year it brought 20. " Shakespeare (William) True Tragedie of Richard Duke of Yorke, and the death of good King Henrie the sixt. The first edition, of which only one copy is known, produced 131 at Chalmer's sale. The present is the second edition, and is also of the great- est rarity when, like this copy, in an absolutely perfect state." On this occasion it brought 63. " Shakespeare (W.) Much Adoe about Nothing, it hath been sundrie Times publikely Acted by the right honourable the Lord Chamberlaine his Ser- vants. Written by William Shakespeare. First edition, extremely rare, fine copy, morocco by Bed- ford. London, Printed by V. S. for Andrew Wise and William Aspley, 1600." 65. " Shakespeare (William) Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, continuing to his death, and coronation of Henrie the Fift, with the Humours of Sir John Fal- staffe and swaggering Pistoll, as it hath been sundrie times publikely acted by the right honourable the Lord Chamberlaine his Servants, written by William Shakespeare. First edition, a perfect genuine uncas- trated copy. Printed by S. for Andrew Wise, 1600. It is scarcely possible to overrate the curiosity and importance of this edition, which is almost the rarest of first editions of Shakespeare, for to the best of our knowledge, only one other copy, viz. that which sold at Heber's sale, ii. 5460, for the then liberal sum of 40, is the only other copy that has hitherto been submitted to public competition. It is almost the only first edition wanting in the Capell Collection. This edition must not be confused with the spurious one, which contains two scenes less, but has the same date, title, and imprint ; for whereas Heber's copy of the present one fetched 40, the other edition at the same sale sold for only 2 los. Long notes are care- fully avoided in this catalogue, but it can scarcely be thought irrelevant to observe that the present is the rarest of any of Shakespeare's genuine plays that have occurred for sale during the last twenty years. ' Nothing,' says a MS. note, ' would induce me to part with it, had I not a copy largely made up with excel- lent fac-simile, which, though of slight comparative pecuniary value, is as useful to me for the purposes o1 collation.' ' This brought 100. " Shakespeare (William) True Chronicle History of the Life and Death of King Lear and his three Daughters, with the unfortunate Life of Edgar, sonne and heire to the Earle of Glocester, and his sullen assumed Humour of Tom of Bedlam, fine copy, printed by Jane Bell, 1655. The rarest of the latest 292 THE BOOK FANCIER quartos. With the exception of a copy sold by us last year for 10 ios., we do not trace another for many years. Lowndes notices only one copy." It f etched 11. These prices are extraordinary enough, but it was at the Daniel sale in 1864 that the astonishing value of rare exemplars of these little tracts was revealed. The well-skilled owner had secured about a score of the very earliest of these Shakespeare plays, and these twenty little pamphlets for they did not rise to greater dignity of shape fetched about 3,500 ! The play of " Richard II." was sold for 341 55. ; another copy for 108 33. ; " Richard III." for 351 155. ; " Love's Labour Lost," 346 ios. ; " Henry IV. " 115 ios. ; " Romeo and Juliet," 52 ios. ; " Henry V.," 231 ; " Merchant of Venice," 99 155. ; " Much Ado about Nothing," 267 155. ; " Midsummer Night's Dream," 241 ios. ; " Merrie Wives," 346 ios. ; " King Lear," 29 8s. ; " Pericles," 84 ; " Troilus and Cressida," 114 gs. ; " Hamlet " (1611), 28 75. ; and " Othello " for 155. These seem enormous prices, and are perhaps owing to the furore of the sale. But at the Corser sale in 1868, where about a score of these little quartos were sold, prices went so low as 2, 7, 10, and 26 ; while a copy of the precious " Troilus," which at the Daniel sale brought 114 95., here fetched only 37, but then " the headlines were cut off a few leaves." The little volumes of the Poems, Sonnets, " Venus and Adonis," " Rape of Lucrece," are equally precious. Mr. Quaritch shall usher in the " Poems : written by Wil. Shake-speare. Gent. sm. 8vo. (i2mo) with the rare portrait by W. Marshall, fine copy in brown morocco super extra, gilt edges, the sides covered with gold tooling, after an old English pattern, by F. Bedford. T. Cotes, 1640. Very rare. SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 293 G. Daniel's copy sold for 44. I have since sold a defective one for 36 ; but these prices are only a slight indication of the tendency of the market. Good copies will in the future continue to rise in value." This was priced at 70. Next for " The Rape of Lvcrece, by Mr. William Shakespeare. Newly reuised, i2mo, blue morocco extra, gilt edges. I. B. for Roger lackson, 1624. Very rare ; only one other copy has occurred for sale during a great many years. There is none in the Huth Collection, and there was none sold at Sir William Tite's sale." For this 42 was the price. But this is not the first edition, which is dated 1594. Of this rare little tome it is said that only five perfect copies are known, of which two are in the Bodleian Library. Mr. Combe, we are told, could boast a copy, but " it wanted the last leaf." The fly in the ointment ! The fifth copy of the little book, " a fine and perfect copy, extraordinarily rare," was sold by auction at Baron Bolland's sale in 1840. This amateur, it seems, secured it in a rather odd way. Dibdin rummaging other books in the Canon's Library at Lincoln, came upon a little bundle of tracts, which he says he hoped to tempt them to let him have for 80. But they refused him. Later, dining with Baron Bolland, his host showed him in triumph the bundle, which he had secured for the very sum. A single tract proved to be this " Rape of Lucrece," which at the Baron's sale brought one hundred guineas. The " Venus and Adonis " is another precious little volume almost introuvable. Baron Bolland died happy in possession of a copy, which at his sale was purchased by Mr. Bright for 91 ; at Bright's sale, Daniel became the purchaser for gi IDS. ; while at his sale it brought three hun- 294 THE BOOK FANCIER dred guineas ! Last come the " Sonnets." The Daniel copy belonged originally to Narcissus Lut- trell, who paid one shilling for it ; it afterwards passed to George Steevens, and at Daniel's sale was sold for 215 ! This little book has been often re- printed line for line and in imitation of the original. Some years ago a copy with the imprint " G. Eld, 1609," was sold by auction, and the following interest- ing account was added : " The present fine and perfect copy of the Sonnets is in its genuine original state, not made up in any way, but is precisely in the condition in which it was found in a volume of tracts bound up about the year 1725. The original binder cut the top margins too close, and some of the head- lines are cut into the print ; but although the oppor- tunity presented itself of remedying this defect by means of another copy, it was thought that the extreme firmness and genuineness of the state of the leaves throughout, and their sound condition, amply compensated for it, and that it was more desirable in its original state." We can imagine the bibliophile's distraction at this crisis. The " top margins cut too close " and the headlines " cut into the print " were terrible things, and prompted the intrusion of the leaves of the supplementary copy. But then there was compensation in the " extreme firmness and genuineness " of the maimed leaves. They had " sound condition," at least, and everything, after all, is " more desirable in its original state." This question of copies of folio and quarto editions is not so idle or barren as might be supposed, and bears in a highly important way on the poet's share in the work. Thus one of the first interesting points to ascertain is how many plays were published before Shakespeare's death, which took place in 1616. There SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 295 were some fourteen that thus appeared, and it might be assumed that so many could not have been issued in succession without his knowledge and approba- tion. Yet this presumption wholly fails us, as we find several editions of a particular play differing in an extraordinary degree. One speculation might be that the author did not publish his pieces, but toler- ated their being published, and that all he was con- cerned for was their being acted or published on the stage. This is shown particularly in the discrepancies between the quarto editions of " Hamlet ; " and their variations, though making it a perplexing and almost hopeless task to search out the poet's mind, still add a never-failing piquancy to the pursuit, and stimulate the editorial hound. How few know that in the first folio of " Much Ado about Nothing " a scene in the fourth act is headed, " Enter Leonato and Jacke Wilson," this being the name of the actor, which had slipped in in place of the character. More curious still is it to find another lapse in the same play, in Dog- berry's well-known scene with the watch, where nearly all his speeches to the end are headed, " Kemp," being the name of the actor who played the part. Still more singular a unique instance too this slip is found repeated in the three successive folios, and, which is even more singular, in Rowe's edition also.* * Were we to select a passage which would illustrate the difficulties of fixing a " canon " for Shakespeare, it would be the perplexing and much-tortured passage in the part of Henry V., where Dame Quickly describes the last moments of Falstaff, " And 'a babbled of green fields." These, as is well known, are the words of Theobald, the second commentator, but they are univer- sally accepted and even quoted as Shakespeare's, or as the nearest that could be got to Shakespeare. The original reading was the despair of all i " His nose was as sharp as a pen, and a table of greenfields." The objection to Theobald's view is that in the previous sentences had been described all that Falstaff did, signs of death, fumbling with the sheets, playing with flowers, smiling, 296 THE BOOK FANCIER These thin, not inelegant little quarto plays, the shape in which the earliest plays were published, are inviting enough from their shape and printing, and it is not surprising that their owner should have had each dressed separately in a costly " jacket." A collection of such things has a curious effect ; it is de rigueur not to bind them together ; and thus we see some thousand of these thin-leaved veterans ranged on the shelves. Mr. Halliwell- Phillipps, the Shakespearian scholar, has, we believe, the finest known collection of the poetical drama, a different thing altogether from a dramatic collec- tion. The present writer has no indifferent col- lection, though without pretension ; as he has about a thousand plays printed before the year 1700. A gen- eration ago an " old play " could be got for " an old song ; " now the really old articles have disappeared, and rarely, if ever, come into the market. Rare old Elizabethan plays bring now from ten to twenty guineas, and one is not surprised that the owners of these elegant little tracts should be inclined to lay out a couple of guineas more in clothing them in citron- coloured or olive morocco. A well-known actor who died a few years ago, and had amused himself, as so many actors have done, with collecting old plays, had gathered a large number of rare curious ones. On his death, his heirs hurriedly took numbers to the &c. Then his looks are described, the physical signs of death, his " nose sharp as a pen " ; hence the doubtful words are likely to be either an expansion of the metaphor, or further descriptive of his looks. Pope declares that the words were a stage direction (a table of Greenfields), i.e., to be got ready for the actor, which seems specious. But the point in the passage which has been quoted, is that it is simply impossible, under our present light, to come to any decision whatever. It is a riddle which we must " give up," and give up for ever. There is no light, and we see not whence light can come. SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 297 nearest old bookseller's, and disposed of them for a few shillings a piece. Many of these I secured, but some of the most precious, such as Marlowe's " Rich Jew of Malta " or " Faustus," which bring now six or eight guineas, were then disposed of for three or four shillings. At this present moment, so scarce are old plays, the collector might search all the leading booksellers' stores without finding a score. Yet two or three years ago there was scarcely an auction with- out its department of " old plays." It is melan- choly, too, to note the waste of money, the sums ex- pended on the mere binding of these treasures, some thin attenuated little tract being enveloped, as it were, in a rich roquelaire or mantle of morocco and gold. It is often ludicrous to see some ill-bred " man- gy tract " of, say, ten leaves, " ill-kept, ill-fed, and as bad as bad can be," eked out with many blank pages of paper to add to the thickness, and the whole bound sumptuously in green morocco, joints, and " blind tooling," or otherwise, by Bedford, Charles, Lewis, or Riviere, and put into a cabinet under glass too pre- cious to be read, but to be shown to friends as a triumph of " bibliopegistic skill." Alas ! at the sale the binding will count for little or nothing in the price fetched, though the cost will have been a couple of guineas or more. The English have certainly not been slack to do honour to their great poet, and contribute all that print and illustration are capable of. Of either Racine, Moliere, La Fontaine, in France there are few " editions of luxury." Cervantes owes his finest edition to an Englishman. Of Dante and Ariosto there are one or two pretentious editions. Goethe and Schiller can boast the same. But Shakespeare, during the course of two hundred and fifty years, has 298 THE BOOK FANCIER been illustrated in a fashion so costly and abundant as to do honour to the enterprise and idolatry of his countrymen. The abundance of fine editions on which the publishers' capital has been lavishly ex- pended in fine paper, print, rich illustrations, and editorial work, must be enormous. The present book- fancier has nearly all these fine testimonials on his shelves, and will now, an' the reader list, take them down, one by one, and display them. For the " general reader " one who, often, is not general in his reading at all is like enough never to have seen these things. It seems strange that from the year 1685 to 1711, a period of nearly forty years, no edition of Shake- speare was called for. The old folios, well thumbed and worn, lay about the libraries of country-houses or on the recessed windows. James and William, and Anne and George, kings and queen, came and passed away. The glory of being the first editor the first to issue Shakespeare in convenient size, with a set of handsome plates, one to every play was Rowe the poet, whose work has been styled the fifth and sixth editions. These are grown scarce and dear. One may congratulate oneself now if he secures a maimed, " cropped " edition, such as mine is. Such was the favourite one of Charles Lamb. The four great folios were issued within a period of sixty years and it is a thing of mark, and unique, that so many editions should have been issued in that size. It is curious that the third should not match with its fellows, being an inch or thereabouts taller and wider. In each of these the Droeshout plate does duty, but touched up, cut, and shaped to fit the desires of the publishers. So desirable is this small, old, poor, and stiff effigy, and so invariably wanting SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 299 in all saleable copies that turn up, that ten guineas and more has often been given for an impression. This invariable want, like the " crumb flakes " be- tween the leaves, is evidence of popularity, for the portraits in the corresponding folios of Ben Jonson, and Beaumont and Fletcher, and Davenant are usually found in their place. It is remarkable that from this time it seemed de rigueur to issue Shakespeare with an abundance of illustrations : as though the poet was so suggestive and dramatic as to enforce this mode of setting out his beauties. Next followed Theobald ; and here is on the book-fancier's shelves a beautiful tempting copy, eight volumes bound in bright crimson morocco and gold, with quaint plates by Gravelot, animated, but very general. The editions of Theobald, large and small, were to be very numerous and spread over the century. There must have been seven or eight, and the editor made handsomely off his work, and was probably the only editor who did make profit thereby. But now with becoming courtesy let us introduce the stately, solemn quartos, a massive avoirdupois business, as Mr. Carlyle might say. Those six ponder- ous fellows in crimson morocco, with great golden stars and thick board-like paper, large, bright, and open type, these " grand old men " are Mr. Alexan- der Pope's work, and expansive reading enough. It may be noted en passant that there is a little discom- fort in reading from these large-type works. The eye does not seem to take in enough at a time : a couple of lines will detain it. This may seem mesquinerie, but it holds. The book-fancier recalls a pleasant remark of the late Mr. Dickens when showing him one of the placid black letters on a yellow ground, stretching to eight or ten feet in.length, and which was 300 THE BOOK FANCIER stretched out on the floor. " W ," he said, " has to go down on his knees to correct the proofs." Pope's was succeeded by yet another fine set of quarto " armfulls " Sir Thomas Hanmer's, issued by the literati of the University of Oxford, and which was also adorned with large etchings by Gravelot, then high in favour as an illustrator. But his dainty figures, bosquets, gardens, are all of Versailles, and are in the school of Lancret and Boucher. Nothing more amusingly un-English or un-Shakespearian could be conceived than those smirking and elegant ladies and gentlemen in the cocked hats and " sack backs " of Marly and Versailles performing their graceful antics. It is strange to think how cheerfully this mode of interpretation could be accepted by the public, though it seems almost intelligible when we had nearly at the same time the spectacle of Garrick playing " Othello " in a general officer's scarlet, and " Macbeth " in a court dress. Anticipating a little, we come to another magni- ficent series of quartos Alderman Boy dell's monu- mental " Shakespeare," perhaps the finest and most costly enterprise of the kind ever undertaken. His system was to give commissions to all the leading painters, including Sir Joshua Reynolds, at great prices, for subjects from the plays. These were en- graved by the leading engravers of the day, and in two sizes ; the first " atlas folio," a splendid volume of large engravings, that sell now for about 20. The next size was of a large and spacious quarto to suit the plays, printed in the finest style. This edition is difficult to procure perfect, the contemporary pur- chaser generally finding a plate or two wanting. The reason is that the plays were issued in parts, with the result that a stray plate is taken out, or lost, stolen, or SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 301 strayed, with all loose prints a likely fate. " Grand Old Samuel," when issuing his edition in 1762, a disagreeable, calf-bound thing, cumbering the second- hand booksellers' shelves, little reckoned that it would one day come to such glory. Yet another grand quarto set is on the book- fancier's shelves, " Heath's," full of fine engravings by Smirke, then in fashion, and others ; beautiful as regards print and paper highly " desirable " in every way. Coming to later days, there are the two large " atlas quartos," " Virtue's edition " of our time. These were proprietors of the Art Journal, and when they had issued innumerable plates engraved in line, after pictures by painters on Shakespearian subjects, they were duly collected, " taken off " on large paper, and put in at the proper places. Of course, there is a " hotch-potch " air about the whole from the different sizes and thicknesses, no single plate being originally intended for this function. . The last important venture on this great and dar- ing scale was that of Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps, carried out literally regardless of expense, sixteen solid folio volumes represent this labour of Hercules, the editor's design being to collect " all that was know- able " of Shakespeare. It was issued by subscription in sixteen grand folios. It was issued at the price of sixty-five guineas the set a great price for England and only a hundred and fifty copies, it was en- gaged, were to be printed, and there was set out in the proposals a signed promise of the printer, who solemnly contracted not to print a single copy more, and even to return every one of the wasted or soiled sheets.* * It may be mentioned in this connection, that the neglect of this last point once led to a very serious embarrassment and 302 THE BOOK FANCIER The amount of money represented by the 150 sub- scriptions was over 10,000. Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps proceeded manfully with his work, bringing out volume after volume until the whole was completed. Though stored with illustrations of all kinds a folio is devoted to a full " life " it is by no means an ar- tistic work, neither in printing, illustration, arrange- ment, or shape. The text is quite overpowered in the elaborate and learned notes. For mere reading it is an uncomfortable book " heartless " Lamb would call it : more for the antiquaries. Now, however, it is difficult to procure, and sells at about the original price. One of the most wonderful Shakespearian monu- ments is now in progress, under the auspices of an American gentleman, Mr. Furniss, whose idea is to issue an edition of Shakespeare that shall contain almost everything that has been written on each pas- sage, or that can throw light on the history, acting, or interpretation of the plays. It may be conceived that this is a scheme that requires enormous room, and must, if ever completed, fill fifty or sixty thick volumes. It is a " variorum " edition on the largest scale. The editor is said to possess the finest collec- tion of Shakespeares known in the States, while his editions comprise everything in all languages. His four folios cost him 500. He exhibits the poet's glove a doubtful relic among his treasures. An- litigation, connected with the early happy years of the Queen and Prince Consort. The royal pair used to amuse themselves etching plates, and a number of the trial or " waste " copies thrown aside as useless were purchased by a man in Windsor, who offered them for sale and exhibited them in his windows. This led to some painful law proceedings, the Queen wishing to recover her property and also to crush libellous pamphleteering, now deservedly forgotten. SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 303 other American has happily illustrated the extremest extent of the Shakespeare craze by writing a pamph- let in 1869, in which he spells the name Shakespeare in four thousand different ways ! Another editor, Charles Knight, engaged one of the most sympathetic of artists, William Harvey, who was full of fancy and poetry. It is impossible now to look at one of his designs without feeling a sense of being elevated above mere prose, while the illustra- tors of our day seem to draw us down far below the level of the authors they illustrate into the dull actualities of daily life. Now there is no suggestion ; everything is literal, the artist usually drawing from some members of his family. Harvey was at his best in this congenial office, and presents us his refined groupings, graceful figures, and thoughtful faces. There are scenes from town and country, and a number of charming vignettes and culs-de-lampe. All these adornments are disposed with singular grace to set off the page. The printing is of a tone and size that is not obtrusive, but makes part of the design, as it were, while the paper is fine and delicate. It is only when we contrast this edition with the coarse ones that followed, printed anyhow and every how, on thick paper from worn blocks, that we seem to be looking at two different works. All honour to the amiable, accomplished, and tasteful Charles Knight. Two other English artists have ventured to illus- trate Shakespeare, viz., Kenny Meadows and Sir John Gilbert. The first is an almost ludicrous per- formance, from the extraordinarily unintentional grotesquerie which always intruded into this artist's drawings, and made them recognisable at once. All his characters, the women notably, seem Londoners 304 THE BOOK FANCIER of the suburbs, of the pattern described by Albert Smith. Sir John Gilbert's illustrations were supplied for the edition of a chess-player editor Howard Staunton. This accomplished colourist imparted a certain flowing grace and richness of effect to his figures and costumes, always of a flamboyant sort. But there is no idea conveyed ; it is all historical and conventional. It would indeed be a most inter- esting speculation to consider how, and on what principle, should Shakespeare be illustrated. The answer would seem to be the principle on which he should be acted. It is thought now, and surely erroneously, that rich glowing dresses, &c., nay, the ingeniously devising of newer pomps and shows, out of .some fanciful hint let drop by the bard, must be the true mode. But this makes the poetry earthier and yet earthier. Treatment in the abstract the central figures standing out scenery accessories " supers " all indistinct and far off, like shadowy figures on a tapestry such would be the note. So with illustrations ; central figures full of thought, mind, beautiful in form, but with little regard to dress and show. It was on this principle that a spirited publisher, Bell on many a stall we find " Bell's British Poets," or Bell's British something else brought out his " Bell's Theatre," and " Bell's Shakespeare." The " Theatre," in over fifty pocket volumes, is a work such as we cannot conceive of now a really pretty series, each volume containing some four elegant copperplates, with figures of famous actors and actresses in character ; excellent likenesses on the whole, the scene spirited, and the whole engraved within an oval frame. The " Shakespeare " in twenty volumes, but on large paper, the plates, &c., SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS AND QUARTOS 305 on fine paper, is a truly handsome work, desirable in every way, and worthy of him that buys as of him that sells A " large paper " " Bell's Theatre " and accompanying Shakespeare, bound, say, in his best chocolate livery by Calverley, such "a set" might be coveted by a fancier, and do honour to his shelves. It is well known that at the time of his death Gustave Dore" engaged on what he hoped should be his most signal achievement Shakespeare's plays illustrated throughout on the scale of his Bible. He had made, it is said, some progress in the work. But it seems certain the result would have been failure. No Frenchman seems to understand Shakespeare, and we should, to a certainty, have had put before us a series of melodramatic, if not violent scenes, con- ceived in the Porte St. Martin spirit. Hamlet, Mac- beth, and other heroes would have been shown as Frenchmen, just as like views of London by the same artist are unrecognisable, and seem bits of Paris. There are other illustrated Shakespeares of less pre- tension, but marked by much artistic merit. Such are the small editions of Whittingham and Tilt, full of spirited and expressive little woodcuts ; an edition issued by Scholey, remarkable for a curious series of woodcuts in a free and open style ; and a little known edition, with some graceful plates by Stothard and others of his school. These are in that refined and delicately finished if not sentimental manner, which is at least in a spirit of respect suited to the great poet. Of minor editions there is almost no end. In short, the lavish extent to which the great master has been illustrated may be conceived from a startling and daring act of Grangerism. A Mr. Wilson in 1824 attracted attention by having devoted a portion of w 306 THE BOOK FANCIER his life to the illustration of Shakespeare. He had set himself diligently to the work of stripping and spoliating every book of plates that were on the sub- ject, ruthlessly cutting out every plate from each illustrated edition, and incorporating them into his own, with a thousand processes of " insetting," " laying down ; " the result of which promiscuous slaughter was a collection of many thousands, which was thought so important that either he or another foolish person printed a list of the prints, " with a view," said the preface to the volume, " to furnish the collector with a catalogue from which he may select the more attainable materials for the illustration of our great bard," i.e., cut out and paste down every suitable print, maim and maul every Shakespearian volume. But a more elaborate tribute to Shakespeare is preserved in the library at Althorp. Lady Lucan, mother of the bibliophilist Lord Spencer, and Dr. Johnson's friend, devoted herself from the fiftieth to her sixty-sixth year to the duty of illustrating the his- torical plays with pencil and brush. With laborious care she copied portraits, arms, devices, illuminations, scenes representing towns and palaces, the result being five magnificent and richly decorated volumes, Boy dell's edition being selected as the foundation to work on. These sumptuous tomes were " clothed " in green velvet with silver gilt edges. There are actually two wholly Shakespearian libraries existing ; one in England at Birmingham, the other in America, known as " the Barton," each devoted to the collection of editions of Shakespeare, books on Shakespeare, or books that deal indirectly with Shakespeare. A vast number of volumes are here collected ; in each some thousand works. X'Envot IF the courteous and sympathetic reader shall have attended me so far, he may have enjoyed a tranquil stroll through the prim, quaintly laid-out gardens and agreeable plaisaunces, where all the old conceits, trimmed yews, &c., of letters and bibliomaniac lore live and flourish. So do we read in the old dramatist "That place that does contain My books, the best companions, is to me A glorious court, where hourly I converse With the old sages and philosophers." Or, as another enthusiast hath it, " A man loveth his books as a lover loves the portrait of his mistress ; and, like the lover, he loves to adorn that which he loves. He scrupulously takes care of the precious volume which has filled his heart with keen sensations of delight or sorrow, and clothes it in all the glories of gilded cloths and moroccos. His library is as res- plendent with golden laces as the toilet of a favourite ; and by their exterior appearance itself his books are worthy of the regards of consuls, as Virgil wished his own to be." For there may be plenty who love the garden, yet know nothing of the flowers and their 307 308 THE BOOK FANCIER botanical names ; and there have been many passion- ate collectors of fiddles who could not and did not care for playing. That there has ever been this interest in what is a mere book, its covers, associations, owners, &c., has been shown in the foregoing pages, where the abundance of goodwill may be accepted to supply other shortcomings. And so to bibliophile, biblionoste, and bipliopegist, and above all to the " courteous general reader," I commend this little volume. ADVERTISEMENTS, should they be bound up with the volume, 179 Alibone, dictionary of, 96 " Arabian Nights, The " : their " scatological " merits, 162 " BABBLED of green fields," speculation on, 295 Ballads, halfpenny, collections of, 1 60 " Barbou " volumes, 214 Baskerville, 78 Bastard, Comte de, his work the most costly illustrated work known, 218 Bedford Missal described, 103 , the modern binder, 115 Bellows, his miniature French dictionary, 141 Bell's Shakespeare, 304 Bible, rapid printing of a, 146 with " nicknames," 147 the Penny Testament, enormous sale of, 147 Bibliography, writers on, 92 Binders' mistakes in lettering, 128 Binding, eccentricities con- nected with, 121 , prices for, at Sunderland and Beckford sales, 105 Blomefield's History of Nor- folk Grangerised, 175 Boccaccio, exciting sale of the Roxburghe copy of, 236 Bodoni of Parma, 217 Bohn, Mr., his moaster cata- logue, 249 Book repairers, 20 plates, 128 worm insect, the, 252 Bowyer, the printer, anecdote of, 58, n. Boydell's Shakespeare, 300 Brandt on the foolishness of book buying, 2 Brunet, originator of the craze for bindings, 102 Bry, De, the mania described, 198 CARDS, works upon, 151 Catalogue, British Museum, 86 , difficulties of making a, 86 Catalogues, interest of, 232 " Cat and mouse " device, a note of merit, 166 Catholicon, the, described, 30 Caxton, number of copies known, prices, 68 et seq. Caxton's relative inferiority as a printer, 36 " Chained Books," 82 Charles I., 731 portraits of, in a Grangerised book, 172 Charlotte, Queen, her pur- chases from the stalls, 5. Cheap books, 161 marvels of typography, M3-I45 Chippendale, rarity of his treatise, 155 309 3io INDEX Cloth, first introduced in bind- ing, 132 Clutterbuck, his " Granger- ised " History of Hertford- shire described, 170 Cocker, his rare arithmetic, 164 Codex, the, or Psalter, 28 Coloured papers and inks, books with, 137 " Corrections," heavy in- stances of, 64 " Corrector's," or Perkins folio, the story of, 280 Coutts, Miss Burdett, pur- chaser of the Daniel " First Folio," 271 Cruikshank, the artist, his claims on Oliver Twist, 183 " Cuttings," collectors of, 149 DANIEL, George, his " First Folio " Shakespeare, 271 Daniel sale, great prices at, for Shakespearian quartos, 292 Delphin Classics, the, 79 Dickens, portraits of, 191 Dodd, the actor, his collection of plays, 287 Dor6 s Bible, 201 Doyle, Richard, his particular merit described, 105 Droeshout portrait, its rarity, 278 " Dummy backs of books and their titles, 125 Dutch, remarkable for their copperplate of cities, build- ings, &c., 214 ELZEVIRS, the, and their publi- cations, 47 " Errors," printers', 62 " FACETIAE," so called, 251 Farmer, Mr., the American, his canons for a collection, 248 " Farthing epic," the, 145 " Fire of London, destroyed in," a recommendation, 162 Fontaine, La, various editions of, 215 Forgeries, Shakespearian, 279 Forster, Mr. John, his collec- tion, 251 his " Grangerised "copies of Granger, 169 Fortsas 1 , Count de, " bogus " sale, 224 French artists, their failure in English illustrations, 204 homogeneous treatment of their books in binding, paper, print, and type, 214 Furniss, Mr,, his edition of Shakespeare, 302 " GALLERIES," illustrating pic- ture collections, 210 " Gallery of Versailles," Le Brun's, 207 Garrick, contributions to his history from a catalogue, 267 Germans, the, excellence of the early printers, 37 Giant books, 142 Gladstone, Mr., a " stall hunt- er," 8, n. Glasse, Mrs., her famous cook- ery book, 164 " Grangerising," account of, 168 Dibdin's ridicule of, 169 " Great Expectations," curious reasons for its scarcity, 179 Grolier binding, rage for, 108 HALLIWELL-PHILLIPPS, MR. O., his unique Droeshout im- pression, 278 his editions of Shakes- peare described, 302 Hamlet, Devonshire, story of the, 284 INDEX Harvey, Mr. F., his Granger- ised Boswell, 173 ; and his Grangerised Life of Dickens, 187 , W., his graceful wood- cuts for Shakespeare's plays, 303 Heber sale, 230 , the collector, his sad end, 230 Heinsius on the library, 83 Human skin, binding in, 122 " INCUNABLES " described, 32 Index, the, 97 Ireland, W. H., his forgeries, 279 " JACKE WILSON," the actor's name, introduced into text of first folio by mistake, 295 Jarvis, Mr., Dickens' biblio- graphical catalogue, 180 Jenson, " the glory of his press," 44 KEMBLE, J., suppression of his poems, 167 Knight, C., charming edition of Shakespeare, 303 LAMB, C., on books, 89 ; early editions of his works now sought, 156 " Large paper " copies, 121 Libri Library, 109 Livy, miniature Elzevir, 51 Locker Lampson, F., his col- lection described, 243 Lucan, Lady, her illustrated Shakespeare at Althorp, 306 Lucian on book-buying, 2 MAGLIABECCHI, his oddities, 2 Maioli binding, 107 Mazarin Bible, account of, 19 Medals, sumptuous work on, 212 " Men of the Time," droll accident connected with, 152 " Midget " type, 139 Miller, Joe, 165 Moltere, various editions of, 217 NUREMBURG CHRONICLE de- scribed, 194 PAYNE-COLLIER, MR., 280 Payne, Roger, 112 Perkins sale, 23 Photogravure, an inferior method, 159 Picart's Ceremonies described, 206 Pickwick, genuine state and requisite conditions of, 182 Piranesi, his grand collection of etchings, 213 Plantin printing-office de- scribed, 52 Playbills, 161 " Ploughing " and margin, 119 Poole's Index, 96 Portraits for Grangerised books, 171 Presses, private, 250 Printing, English, falling off in modern times, 202 QUARITCH, MR., and his sys- tem, 14 Quartos, reprints of, 282 Quarto Shakespeares, compari- son of prices, 287 READER, the, 58 " Register," the, 94 Reprints, facsimile, 87 Restorers of books, 76 Richard, Jules, his idea for a collection, 118 Robinson Crusoe, 166 Roman type, its original model, 38 312 INDEX Rothschild, the late Baron F. de, account of, 116 Rowfant books, Mr. A. Lang's lines on, 243 Roxburghe Club, 239 Ruskin, publisher of his own works, 246 SACY, SILVESTRE DE, his com- ment over his books, i Sales, famous, 232 Schoolboy magazines, 161 Scotch printers always emi- nent, 79 " Setting " without MS., 65 Shakespeare, why the first folio so scarce, 255 ; " adultera- tions " in the copies, 256 ; early prices given, 256 ; King Charles I.'s copy, 259 ; splendidly illustrated in England, 297 Shakespearian libraries in Eng- land and America, 306 Shepherd, Mr. R. Herne, Dickens' bibliography, 181 " Signatures," 95 Single copy, editions of a, 163 " Snuffy Davy," and his " find," 8 Spencer, Lord, described, 226 Spiras, De, their Livy de- scribed, 43 ; their Pliny, 45 Stalls, celebrated buyers from, 4 Stealer, the book, 84 Sterne's Diary found in a plate-warmer, 158 ; typo- graphical oddities of, 138 Sternhold and Hopkins, 164 Stevens, the American dealer, on the decay of modern English printing, 203 Sunderland sale, 234 Suppressed books, collection of, 152 Sutherland, forty years " Gran- gerising " one book, 172 Syston Park sale, 5 TEDDER, MR., his monograph on Baskerville, 77, n. , tract on librarianship, 85 Tennyson, early editions of his works, 155 Theatres, works on, and their charm, 209 " UNCUT," 269 Upcott's collection of errors of the first folio reprint, 277 VELLUM, printing on, 34 Virgil, Aldine, genuine and spurious, 43 WELLER, SAM, origin of, 188 Wellington, Duke of, anecdote of, 167 Westreenen, Baron de, his collection of " Incunables," 33 Wilson, Mr., his " spoliating " Shakespeare, 305 ZAINER, one of his books described, 40 LONDON AND NORWICH PRESS, LIMITED, LONDON AND NORWICH UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. ' t> > ' REC'D I..HI 9 OCT 1 1 M nn I ID! *-' r _ | jD , URL UiiL JUL Form L9-50w-ll,'50 (2554)444 THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CA1IFOINU TAS ANGELES A 000914470 o