the said books and binding shall be so found by the said twelve men
or otherwise by the examination of the said lord chancellor, lord
treasurer, and justices, or two of them; that then the same lord
chancellor, lord treasurer, and justices, or two of them at the
least from time to time shall have a power and authority to reform
and redress such enhancing of the prices of printed books by their
discretions, and to limit prices as well of the books as for the
binding of them; and over that the offender or offenders thereof
being convict by the examination of the same lord chancellor, lord
treasurer, and justices, or two of them or otherwise, shall lose and
forfeit for every book by them sold whereof the price shall be
enhanced for the book or binding thereof, three shillings four
pence.”
By the first Copyright Act (8 Anne, cap. 21) any person thinking the
published price of a book unreasonable was to complain to the Archbishop
of Canterbury or other great dignitaries.
It would have been enlightening if our lawmakers had told us what was in
their opinion a reasonable price for a book, but they are silent on this
point.
We have unfortunately no information as to the price for which Caxton
sold his various books, but he bequeathed fifteen copies of his “Golden
Legend” to the churchwardens of St. Margaret, Westminster, who succeeded
in selling twelve of them between the years 1496 and 1500. For the
first three copies they obtained six shillings and eightpence each, but
then they had to reduce the price to five shillings and eightpence, at
which price they sold the next seven copies. The last two copies only
brought five shillings and sixpence and five shillings respectively, so
that evidently there was a falling market.
Mr. Blades makes the following remarks on this point--
“The commercial results of Caxton’s trade as a printer are unknown;
but as the fees paid at his burial were far above the average, and
as he evidently held a respectable position in his parish, we must
conclude that his business was profitable. The preservation of the
_Cost Book_ of the Ripoli Press has already been noticed, and some
extracts of interest translated therefrom. We may presume that
Caxton also kept exact accounts of his trade receipts and
expenditure, and if such were extant, the many doubts which now
surround the operations of his printing-office would be definitely
solved. We should then know the price at which he sold his
books--how many pence he asked for his small quarto ‘quayers’ of
poetry, or his pocket editions of the ‘Horæ’ and ‘Psalter’--how many
shillings were required to purchase the thick folio volumes, such as
‘Canterbury Tales,’ ‘King Arthur,’ &c. That the price was not much
dearer than that paid for good editions now we may infer from the
rate at which fifteen copies of the ‘Golden Legend’ sold between
1496 and 1500. These realised an average price of 6s. 8d. each, or
about £2, 13s. 4d. of modern money, a sum by no means too great for
a large illustrated work. This, however, would depend on the number
of copies considered necessary for an edition, which probably varied
according to the nature of the work.... Some foreign printers issued
as many as 275 or 300 copies of editions of the Classics, but it is
not probable that Caxton ventured upon so large an impression, as
the demand for his publications must have been much more
restricted.”[29]
It will be noticed that Mr. Blades is wrong in saying that the copies of
the “Golden Legend” were sold at an _average_ price of 6s. 8d., and it
would probably be more correct to give the equivalent amount in modern
money as £4, rather than £2, 13s. 4d., but this is perhaps more a matter
of opinion.
Several old priced lists of books have come down to us, and the most
interesting of these are the two printed and edited by Mr. F. Madan in
the first series of the _Collectanea_ of the Oxford Historical Society,
and further annotated by the late Mr. Henry Bradshaw. The first of these
is an inventory, with prices of books received in 1483 for sale by John
Hunt, stationer of the University of Oxford, from Magister Peter Actor
and Johannes de Aquisgrano, to whom he promises to restore the books or
pay the price affixed in the list; and the second is the Day-Book of
John Dorne, bookseller in Oxford A.D. 1520. Mr. Bradshaw’s valuable
annotations (“A Half-Century of Notes”) were printed in fac-simile of
his handwriting in 1886, and afterwards included in his “Collected
Papers” (1889).
Dorne’s list is of great value, as showing what was the literature sold
at a great university city at the beginning of the sixteenth century,
and with the much-needed explanations of Messrs. Madan and Bradshaw, it
forms an important addition to our knowledge, but there is not much in
it that can be quoted here with advantage. Latin theology forms the bulk
of the more important books sold, and next to that Latin classics.
English books are few; among the cheapest items, service-books and
ballads, Christmas carols, and almanacs are common. A large proportion
of the entries are marked in pence from one penny upwards, but some are
in shillings, and the largest amount for one sale of several books was
forty-eight shillings.
_Bibliographica_ (vol. i. p. 252) contains “Two References to the
English Book-Trade _circa_ 1525.” The first, which is from the
“Interlude of the Four Elements,” suggests that a large amount of the
output of the English presses at the beginning of the sixteenth century
was made up of ephemeral publications--
“Now so it is in our Englyshe tonge,
Many one there is that can but rede and wryte,
For his pleasure wyll oft presume amonge
New bokys to compyle and balades to indyte,
Some of lore or other matter, not worth a myte.”
The next is from the prologue to Robert Copland’s “Seven Sorrows that
Women have when theyr husbandes be deade,” which consists of a
conversation between Copland and a customer, “Quidam”--
“_Quidam._ Hast thou a boke of the wydowe Edith,
That hath begyled so many with her wordes,
Or els suche a geest that is ful of bourdes?
Let me se, I wyll yet waste a peny
Upon suche thynges and if thou have eny.
_Copland._ How say ye by these, wyll ye bestowe a grote?
_Quidam._ Ye syr so muche? nay, that I shorowe my cote,
A peny I trow is ynough on bokes,
It is not so soone goten, as this worlde lokes.”
Much information respecting the prices of books is found in the
churchwardens’ accounts of the various parishes of the kingdom, and
extracts from some of these have been printed in the _Gentleman’s
Magazine_ and other places. Mr. Thorold Rogers also has given several
instances in the various volumes of his great work on “Agriculture and
Prices.”
Archbishop Cranmer, in his “Articles to be inquired of ... within the
Diocese of Canterbury,” A.D. 1548, asks “whether in every case they have
provided one book of the whole Bible of the largest volume in English,
and the Paraphrases of Erasmus, also in English, upon the Gospels, and
set up the same in some convenient place in the church.” In 1548 we find
that the churchwardens of St. Margaret’s, Westminster, paid five
shillings for the half part of the Paraphrases of Erasmus, and in 1549
the churchwardens of Wigtoft, Lincolnshire, paid seven shillings for the
same book. Archbishop Parker required Jewel’s “Defence of the Apology”
to be placed in parish churches, and in 1570 the churchwardens of
Leverton, Lincolnshire, paid four shillings for “half Mr. Juylle’s
booke, called the ‘Appologie of Ingland,’” and fourpence for the
carriage of the same.
From the churchwardens’ accounts of the parish of Stratton, county
Cornwall, we learn that in 1565 two shillings were “paid for newe
songes for the church,” and twopence “for a nother lyttell boke.” In
1570 twelvepence was “paid to Nicholas Oliver of sent tives for a song
of te deum,” fourpence was paid “for mendyng of John Judes bybell which
he lonyd to the churche when the other was to bynd,” and six shillings
“for a newe communion book and a psalter in the same.” On the other side
twelvepence was received “for two peces of old bookes sold.”[30]
The churchwardens of Canterbury parish gave forty-one shillings for a
church Bible in 1586, four shillings for a prayer-book in 1598, and
three shillings and fourpence for a book of statutes in 1599.
Sir John Evans communicated to the _Archæologia_[31] some most
interesting extracts from the Private Account Book of Sir William More
of Loseley, in Surrey, in the time of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth,
which contains an inventory of a collection of about one hundred and
twenty volumes. This inventory gives us a vivid idea of the contents of
a country gentleman’s library in the sixteenth century. There are the
best chronicles of the time, as Fabyan, Harding, &c., translations of
the classics, and some in their original languages, statutes, new books
of justices and other legal works, books of physic, dictionaries, &c.,
and each of the books is marked with a price. The most expensive
books:--_Cronica Cronicarum_, xxs; Minister’s _Cosmografye_, xvjs; un
byble, xs; a calapyne, xs [Calepino’s Vocabulary of the Latin Tongue];
Fabyan’s _Cronicle_, vs; Statuts of Henry theight, xijs; all the
Statuts of Kyng Edward the VI., ijs; all the Statuts of the Quene, ijs;
Chausore, vs. There were four New Testaments, “one in ffrench,” xxd, two
“in Italion,” respectively xxjd and ijs vjd, and one “in lattyn,” xijd.
The _Legenda Aurea_ was priced iijs iiijd; Tullye’s _Officys_
translated, viijd; ij bokes conteyning Tully’s _Philosophy_, ijs vjd;
Cezar’s _Commentary_, xvjd; ij bokes of Machevale’s works in Italion,
iijs iiijd; Hardyng’s _Cronycle_, ijs vjd; _Utopea_, viijd. Of
low-priced books we find--A lyttle cronicle, id; Lydgates’ _Proverbs_,
id; Alexander Barkley’s _Eclogs_, id; Skelton’s Work, iiijd; and
_Triumph of Petrark_, vjd.
Sir Egerton Brydges also quoted from a Household Book an interesting
list of about the same date as the above--
_Anno_ 1564.
Iteme, for booke of the dysease of horses iiijd
Iteme, for printing the xxv orders of honest men xxd
Iteme, pd for a Lytlton in English xijd
Iteme, for a diologge betwine the cap and the heade ijd
Iteme, pd for the booke of the ij Englishe lovers vjd
Iteme, for a French booke called the historye xvjd
de noster ternes
Iteme, pd for iij French bookes, the on called xxs[32]
Pawlus Jovius
In the days before copyright acts authors and publishers often tried to
safeguard their property by obtaining patents. These were sometimes for
a particular book, as, for instance, Richard Field, printer, in February
1592 was granted the sole licence to print “Orlando Furioso translated
into English verse by John Harrington.” More often, however, patents
were granted to printers allowing them the sole privilege of printing
certain classes of books. A licence “to imprint all manner of books
concerning the common laws of this realm” was granted to Richard
Tottell; one for primers and books of private prayers to William Seres;
one to print all manner of songs of musick to Thomas Tallis and William
Bird; one for dictionaries generally to H. Binneman; and one for
almanacks and prognostications to James Roberts and Richard Watkins.[33]
Gradually by purchase or inheritance nearly all the monopolies came into
the possession of the Stationers’ Company. Certain printers, however,
made a practice of pirating some of the most popular English privileged
books. The Company resisted, and memorialised Lord Burghley in October
1582, with a complaint of the opposition met with in making their search
in the printing-house of one “who printed all kinds of books at his
pleasure.”[34]
The chief leader of these invaders of privilege was John Wolf, a freeman
of the Fishmongers’ Company. In 1583 the Stationers’ Company drew up
thirteen heads of the “insolent and contemptuous behaviour of John Wolf,
printer, and his confederates,” which they presented to the Privy
Council. From this indictment it appears that when Wolf was “frendly
persuaded to live in order and not print men’s privileged copies,” he
answered that “he would print all their bokes if he lacked work,” and
added that “it was lawfull for all men to print all lawfull bookes, what
commandement soever her Majestie gave to y^e contrary.” Wolf was no
respecter of persons, and his motto was, “I will live.” Being admonished
that he “being but one so meane a man should not presume to contrarie
her Highnesse Governmente,” “Tush,” said he, “Luther was but one man,
and reformed all the world for religion, and I am that man that must and
will reforme the government in this trade!” The Queen appointed a
Commission to inquire into the matter, but the Commissioners could make
nothing of Wolf and his party. In the end the opposition was bought off;
and on 1st July 1583 Wolf was admitted a freeman of the Stationers’
Company by redemption, paying the usual fees of 3s. 4d.[35]
Andrew Maunsell, a bookseller living in Lothbury, was the first to
publish (1595) a catalogue of English books, and this book is a very
satisfactory bit of bibliographical work. The compiler only published
two parts, the first on theological books, and the second on scientific
books. Maunsell proposed the publication of others on more popular
branches of literature, but unfortunately he left his work incomplete.
In his dedication to Queen Elizabeth he says--
“What great account (most gracious Soueraigne) hath beene made of
godly bookes, may euidently appeare by the value set uppon the
bookes of curious actes brought to the Apostles feete to be burnt.
For if those bookes were valued to two thousand markes, of what
estimation shall wee account the bookes whose author is God
himselfe ... all the goods upon the earth cannot value them.”
It is remarkable how difficult it must have been in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries to obtain information respecting new books. There
were no public libraries, and the booksellers, according to Maunsell,
were not well acquainted with the titles of the books published, and he
constantly refers to the scarceness of books issued only a few years
before. He writes--
“And seeing also many singular Bookes, not only of Diuinitie, but of
other excellent Arts, after the first impression, so spent and gone,
that they lie euen as it were buried in some few Studies. That men
desirous of such kind of Bookes, cannot aske for that they neuer
heard of, and the Bookeseller cannot shew that he hath not: I have
thought good in my poor estate to undertake this most tiresome
business, hoping the Lord will send a blessing on my labours taken
in my vocation. Thinking it as necessarie for the Bookeseller
(considering the number and nature of them) to haue a Catalogue of
our English Bookes as the Apothecaire his Dispensatorium or the
Schoolmaster his Dictionarie. By means of which my poore trauailes I
will draw to your memories Bookes that you could not remember and
shew to the learind such Bookes as they would not thinke were in our
owne tongues....”
Besides dedicating his book to Queen Elizabeth, he addresses “the
Companie of Stationers, and all other printers and booksellers,” to whom
he says--
“I have in my vocation laboured to do somwhat: my purpose is to shew
(in such sort as I can) what we have in print, in our own tongue, a
thinge not regarded but of a few. For some soare so hie that they
looke not so low, as on their owne countrie writers, and some regard
not old Bookes, but aske what newes? or new writers?”
To the reverend divines he says--
“The consideration whereof hath moved me (most unworthie and unable
of many others) to undertake this trifeling yet most toylesome &
troublesome busines, wherby the reader shall haue this help, and he
may see at home in his Studie what Bookes are written and how many
translated. And though it be imperfect as I know not what first
Booke either of Dictionarie or Herball or such like was perfect at
the first or second edition, yet he that helpeth me to put in one
Booke that I have not seene, I hope I shall shew him ten that he
never heard of either new or old.”
The second part of Maunsell’s catalogue was dedicated to Robert, Earl of
Essex, and the scarceness of books not twenty or forty years old is
again referred to in it--
“Seeing still many excellent Bookes written and printed in our owne
tongue, and that many of them after twenty or fortie yeares Printing
are so dispersed out of Bookesellers hands, that they are not onely
scarce to be found but almost quite forgotten, I have thought it
worth my poore labour, to take some paynes heerin (though that the
more learnd sort would not willingly imploy their labour in the
same) to gather a Cathalogue in suche sort as I can of the Bookes
printed in our tongue which I doe hope will be delightsome to all
English men that be learnt or desirous of learning.”
The next bibliography of new English books was William London’s
“Catalogue of the most vendible Books,” 1658, to which two small
supplements were published, bringing the list of publications down to
1660.
R. Clavel was the next to publish a catalogue of new books, and the
period covered by him was from 1666 to 1695. To none of these books are
prices attached, but some of the books in Clavel’s supplement are
priced; and in the monthly catalogue commenced by Bernard Lintott in May
1714, all the books are priced.
Bent’s General Catalogue of Books, issued in 1786, contained the titles
of books published since 1700, and this was succeeded by the London
Catalogue, which appeared for several years. The British and English
catalogues followed, and the latter is published annually.
In order to obtain some idea of the varying prices at which books have
been published, it will be well to enumerate a few at different periods,
arranged under the different sizes of books.
FOLIOS
Corpus Christi College, Oxford, gave seven shillings in 1621 for Bacon’s
work on Henry VII., and in 1624 £3, 6s. 8d. for four volumes of
“Purchas’s Pilgrims.” The published price of the first edition of
Shakespeare’s Plays is said to have been £1.
John Ogilby, who was one of the first projectors of grand illustrated
books in large folio, found himself burthened with a heavy stock of
expensive books which did not sell, so he hit upon the expedient of
getting rid of them by means of a lottery, licensed by the Duke of York
and the Assistants of the Corporation of the Royal Fishery. These books
were an illustrated Bible, printed by John Field at Cambridge in 1660,
two volumes folio; the “Works of Virgil,” translated by Ogilby, 1654;
Homer’s “Iliads,” translated by Ogilby, 1660; Homer’s “Odysseys,” 1665.
Pope frequently spoke in later life of the great pleasure Ogilby’s
“Homer” gave him when a boy at school. “Æsop’s Fables paraphrased by
Ogilby,” 1665; and Ogilby’s “Entertainment of Charles II. in his Passage
through the City of London to his Coronation,” 1662--a splendid book,
which is said to have proved of great service in succeeding coronations.
It is worthy of note that Samuel Pepys was a subscriber to the lottery,
and obtained the “Æsop” and the “Coronation,” which cost him £4 (Feb.
19, 1665-66).
Ogilby issued a Proposal for a second lottery, which was reprinted in
the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ (1814, part 1, pp. 646-48).[36] This is
valuable as containing the prices at which the books are valued, viz.--
An imperial Bible, with chorographical £
and an hundred historical sculps 25
“Virgil,” translated, with sculps and annotations 5
Homer’s “Iliads,” adorned with sculps 5
Homer’s “Odysseys,” adorned with sculps 4
“Æsop’s Fables,” paraphrased and sculped 3
“His Majestie’s Entertainment” 2
In 1689 St. John’s College, Cambridge, gave £10, 15s. for David Loggan’s
_Cantabrigia illustrata_, 1688, but this probably included a present to
the author; for in 1690 Eton College paid £4 for _Cantabrigia
illustrata_ and _Oxonia illustrata_, 1675, two volumes together, so that
we may suppose the published price of each to be £2.
The Rev. John Flavel’s Works, in two volumes folio, was published in
1700 for forty shillings, which shows that the price of an illustrated
volume in folio was still about £1.
Colin Campbell’s _Vitruvius Britannicus_, a handsome work containing a
large number of fine architectural plates, was published at a very
reasonable price. The first and second volumes, published in 1715 and
1717 respectively, were sold for four guineas on imperial paper, and
three guineas on royal paper.
The price of Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language, two volumes
folio, was in 1755 four guineas in sheets, and £4, 15s. in boards.
Folios are so completely out of fashion now, except for gorgeously
illustrated books, or for facsimiles of books and documents, that it is
scarcely worth while to carry the inquiry to a later period.
QUARTOS
The small quarto volumes of the seventeenth century were by no means
high priced, and we learn that three shillings bought Milton’s “Paradise
Lost” when first published. The price of the early editions of the
separate plays of the Elizabethan dramatists, which now are so much
sought after, was sixpence. This we learn from the address prefixed to
the early issue of “Troilus and Cressida,” 1609, published before that
play was acted--
“Amongst all these is none more witty than this; and had I time, I
would comment upon it, though I know it needs not--for so much as
will make you think your _testern_ well bestowed,--but for so much
worth as even poor I know to be stuffed in it.”
The poets had a profitable time when their poems, handsomely printed in
quarto volumes, were priced so high as two guineas. Sir Walter Scott
made great sums by these editions which sold in large numbers, but no
other poet was so fortunate as he was. Moore did well with his poems,
and in his Diary (Dec. 23, 1818) he records an amusing instance of the
practical appreciation of an admirer. He writes--
“The young Bristol lady who enclosed me £3 after reading ‘Lalla
Rookh’ had very laudable ideas on the subject; and if every reader
of ‘Lalla Rookh’ had done the same, I need never have written
again.”
Wordsworth’s “Excursion” was published in 1814, in a two guinea quarto
volume, but it took six years to exhaust an edition of five hundred
copies. Such are the inequalities in the rate of the remuneration of
authors.
Rees’s “Cyclopædia,” which was published between 1802 and 1820 (in
forty-five volumes and six volumes of plates), cost in all £85. The
“Encyclopædia Britannica,” which has superseded it, is published at the
small price of twenty-eight shillings per volume.
In the early part of this century, when it was the fashion to print
standard works in quarto, they were very high priced, thus the first
edition of “Pepys’s Diary” was published in two volumes for six guineas.
Now the quarto is almost as much out of date as the folio, and is
confined to illustrated books.
OCTAVOS
The ordinary octavo volume was published at the beginning of the
eighteenth century for five or six shillings. Thus Boyer’s translation
of “The ingenious and entertaining Memoirs of Count Gramont, who lived
in the court of King Charles II., and was afterwards Ambassador from the
King of France to King James II.,” 1714, was published at five
shillings, and George Psalmanazar’s “Historical and Geographical
Description of Formosa” at six shillings. Since then the price for an
octavo has gradually increased to seven shillings and sixpence, then to
ten shillings and sixpence. In the latter half of the present century
there has been a considerable advance to twelve shillings, to sixteen
and eighteen shillings, and now fully illustrated books are often priced
as high as one guinea a volume. Plays, trials, and pamphlets generally
have averaged about one shilling apiece.
DUODECIMOS
Walton’s “Complete Angler,” first published in 1653, was issued at one
shilling and sixpence, as appears from the following contemporary
advertisement, quoted by Hone in his “Every-Day Book”: “There is
published a Booke of Eighteen-pence price, called ‘The Compleat Angler;
or, The Contemplative Man’s Recreation,’ being a Discourse of Fish and
Fishing. Not unworthy the perusall. Sold by Richard Marriot at S.
Dunstan’s Churchyard, Fleet Street.”
In 1663 Pepys bought the first part of Butler’s “Hudibras” for two
shillings and sixpence, and sold it again for one shilling and sixpence.
The Master of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, gave at the same time one
shilling for the first part and the same sum for the second part, but
later on he gave half-a-crown for the latter.
“The Works of the celebrated Mons. de Molière, translated from the last
edition printed at Paris, containing his life, all his comedies,
interludes, &c., with a large account of his life and remarkable death,
who, as he was acting the part of Death in one of his own plays, was
taken ill and died a few hours after....” This was printed in six
volumes 12mo, “on a fine paper and Elzevir letter,” and published by B.
Lintott for fifteen shillings (or two shillings and sixpence a volume)
in May 1714.
Tom D’Urfey sold his “Wit and Mirth; or, Pills to purge Melancholy,” at
two shillings and sixpence a volume.
Duodecimos have now gone out of fashion, at least in name, as small
books are mostly known as post octavos, foolscap octavos, &c. The price
of these small handy volumes remains much the same, as the half-crown of
the last century is the equivalent of our five or six shillings.
The greatest change in price has been made in poetry and novels, and six
shillings has become a favourite price for both. The two guineas for the
poem, and the guinea and a half for the three-volume novel, are become
things of the past.
Although in the last century many books were published and sold which
could not be sold at the present time, it is probable that some of these
books paid the publisher but badly, and it was therefore found to be a
wise precaution to publish certain books by subscription, and this plan
was therefore frequently adopted.
Dr. Brian Walton’s Polyglot Bible (six vols. folio, 1657, £10) is often
said to be the first book printed by subscription in England; but
Minsheu’s Dictionary, in eleven languages, 1617, was certainly sold by
the author to subscribers. The number of these subscribers was 174,
among whom are six--viz., Sir John Laurence, Dr. Aileworth, Mr. Paul
Peart, Mr. Brigges, Sir Henry Spelman, and Mr. Booth--who largely
assisted the author with money to complete his great undertaking.
“The Monthly Catalogue” of new books commenced by Bernard Lintott in May
1714 frequently contained lists of the books printed by subscription. In
the number for January 1714-15 the terms of subscription to the worst
edition of Chaucer’s works ever published are announced--
“Whereas John Urry, Student of Christ-Church, Oxon, has obtained
from her late Majesty, Queen Anne, a Licence for Printing the Works
of the celebrated Jeffrey Chaucer, corrected from all the printed
editions, and from several rare and ancient MSS. not hitherto
consulted: from the collating of which he has restored many single
lines and added several Tales never yet printed, by which
alterations, amendments, and additions, the work is in a manner
become new. Thirty copper plates by the best gravers will be printed
before each tale; a more compleat Glossary and Table will be added
at the end. A small number will be printed on Royal Paper at 50s.
per book, and those on the finest demy at 30s. Half to be paid in
hand. Subscriptions are taken in by the Undertaker, Bernard Lintott
between the Temple Gates, and by most Booksellers in London and the
country. _N.B._--A new Black Letter, accented, has been cast on
purpose for this work, for the ease of the Reader.”
Dryden made very good terms with Tonson for the publication of his
translation of Virgil, but Pope was still more successful with the
subscription to his translation of Homer’s “Iliad.” The subscription for
six quarto volumes was fixed at six guineas, and 575 persons subscribed
for 654 copies. The booksellers eagerly made their offers of
publication, and the highest bidder was B. Lintott, who agreed to supply
all the subscription copies at his own expense, and to pay £200 for
every volume. Pope therefore received altogether £5320 without any
deduction.
Lintott engaged not to print any quartos except for Pope, but he printed
the quarto pages on small folio, and sold each volume for half-a-guinea.
These being cut down by some dishonest traders, were sold as
subscription copies.
Lintott was defrauded of his profit by the sale of a duodecimo edition,
printed in Holland, which obliged him to print an edition in a similar
form. Of Lintott’s first duodecimo edition 2500 copies were quickly sold
off. Five thousand further copies were at once printed.
Some of Hearne’s antiquarian works were subscribed at ten shillings and
sixpence per volume for small paper, and one guinea for large paper.
It seems to have been the practice for the subscriber to a book to pay
down half the purchase-money on sending in his name, and the other half
on publication.
Another expedient for the rapid sale of books was their issue in
numbers. Smollett’s “History of England” was published in sixpenny
numbers, and had an immediate sale of 20,000 copies. This immense
success is said to have been due to an artifice practised by the
publisher. He sent down a packet of prospectuses carriage free (with
half-a-crown enclosed) to every parish clerk in the kingdom, to be
distributed by him through the pews of the church. This being generally
carried out, a valuable advertisement was obtained, which resulted in an
extensive demand for the work.
Books are published at an equal price, according to size, whether they
are good or bad, but they find their level in the catalogues of the
second-hand booksellers. The bad soon become waste-paper, or are marked
down to very low prices, while the good books increase in price till
they come in some cases to be marked more than the original published
price.
Sometimes when books are printed in limited numbers the public will give
more than the published price even before publication; thus the large
paper edition of the “Life of the Queen,” by Mr. R. R. Holmes, was
subscribed at £8, and the right of receiving a copy when ready is said
to have been sold for from £20 to £25.
Publishers occasionally reduce the price of a book after publication,
but this is seldom a successful operation. The selling-off of
remainders has been the means of distributing books to the public at a
low rate, and it will often be found that some of the scarcest and
highest priced books in the present day are those which have been
sold-off. These were good books, which sold too slowly, but which went
off quickly when the price was low. When the stock is exhausted, and
more are required, the price naturally goes up.
A most remarkable instance of this increase in price of a sold-off book
is that of Edward Fitzgerald’s wonderful version of the _Rubáiyát_ of
Omar Khayyam, the first edition of which was published by Quaritch in
1859. Though the number printed was few, nobody bought, and eight years
afterwards the publisher, in disgust, threw the whole remainder into a
box outside his door, and marked all these one penny each. It is said
that Dante Rossetti found them there, and soon the remainder was
exhausted. Now this penny book is worth six guineas.[37]
FOOTNOTES:
[28] _Archæologia_, xxv. 104.
[29] “Life and Typography of William Caxton,” vol. ii. p. lix.
[30] _Archæologia_, xlvi. 228, 229.
[31] xxxvi. 284-310.
[32] _Censura Literaria_, iii. 370.
[33] The late Mr. Cornelius Walford contributed to the _Bibliographer_
some articles on Book Patents and Printing Patents. See vol. v. pp. 125,
156; vol. vi. pp. 129, 171.
[34] _Archæologia_, vol. xxv. pp. 100-112.
[35] Arber’s “Transcript of the Registers of the Company of Stationers.”
[36] Gomme’s _Gentleman’s Magazine Library_, “Literary Curiosities,”
1888, p. 79.
[37] This was quite true when written a few months ago, but on the 10th
February 1898 a copy with the original wrappers was sold at Sotheby’s
salerooms for £21. It was bought by Mr. Quaritch, the original
publisher.
CHAPTER V
AUCTION SALES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
The exact date of the first introduction into England of the convenient
plan of selling books by auction is known to us through the amiable
weakness of the auctioneers for writing prefaces to the sale catalogues;
and this history, therefore, is singularly unlike that of most other
inventions and customs, the origin of which is usually open to doubt,
because the originators have not thought it worth while to explain that
they were doing some new thing. The auctioneers, on the other hand, tell
us which was the first sale, and which were the second, the third, and
the fourth. After this the freshness may be said to be exhausted, and we
are contented with less exact particulars.
The custom was prevalent in Holland in the middle of the seventeenth
century, and the honour of introducing it into England is due to William
Cooper, the bookseller of Little Britain, about whom some notice has
been given in a former chapter. He was largely interested in alchemy,
and three years before he sold his first sale he published a “Catalogue
of Chemical Books.”
We must not, however, suppose that this was the introduction of
auctions into England, for sale by inch of candle had long been
practised here, a plan adopted by the Navy Office for the sale of their
old stores.
The earliest use of the word auction, quoted by Dr. Murray in the “New
English Dictionary,” is from Warner’s translation of Plautus, 1595: “The
auction of Menæchmus, ... when will be sold slaves, household goods,”
&c.; and the next quotation is from the Appendix to Phillip’s
Dictionary, 1678: “_Auction_, a making a publick sale and selling of
goods by an outcry.” We shall see that the word was far from familiar to
the general public, as the auctioneers considered it wise to explain the
word, thus: “Sale of books by way of auction, or who will give most for
them.” The more usual words in old English were outcry, outrope (still
familiar in Scotland as _roup_, _cf._ German _ruf_) and port sale.
The first sale by auction was that of the library of Lazarus Seaman, a
member of the Assembly of Divines, and chaplain to the Earl of
Northumberland. He was also minister of All Hallows, Bread Street, and
Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge. In the latter college a Diary written
by him between 1645 and 1657 is preserved. He seems to have been an
active man on his own side in politics, and we find that he was a member
of the Committee for ejecting Scandalous Ministers for London and the
Counties of Cambridge and Huntingdon. It is therefore not surprising to
find that at the Restoration he was ejected both from his living and
from the Mastership of Peterhouse. He died at his house in Warwick
Court, London, in September 1675, and in the following year his library
was sold in his house by Cooper, who makes the following interesting
remarks in his preface--
“Reader, it hath not been usual here in England to make sale of
Books by way of auction, or who will give most for them: But it
having been practised in other countreys to the advantage both of
buyers and sellers, it was therefore conceived (for the
encouragement of Learning) to publish the sale of these Books this
manner of way, and it is hoped that this will not be unacceptable to
Schollers....”
Mr. Alfred W. Pollard, in a very valuable article on English Book Sales,
1676-80 (_Bibliographica_, vol. i. p. 373), quotes an interesting letter
from David Millington to Joseph Hill, an English Nonconformist minister
in Holland, dated June 1697, and now preserved in the British Museum
(Stowe MS., 709), in which the writer tenders to the divine his thanks
for the “great service done to learning and learned men in your first
advising and effectually setting on foot that admirable and universally
approved way of selling librarys amongst us;” and distinctly states that
it was Hill who “happily introduced the practice into England.” Mr.
Pollard goes on to say that “Hill, who from 1673 to 1678, owing to his
publication of a pamphlet which gave offence to the Dutch Government,
was resident in England, must have advised the executors of Dr. Seaman,
a theologian of principles not widely different from his own, to adopt
this method of selling his friend’s library to the best advantage.”
Seaman was the author of “A Vindication of the Judgement of the Reformed
Churches, &c., concerning Ordination, &c.,” 1647, and the chief class of
books in his library was what we might expect to find, viz., theological
works that he required in his vocation. Some few books (such as the
Eliot Bible of 1661-63, nineteen shillings) fetched small prices as
compared with their present value, but Mr. Pollard says that
“nine-tenths of the books sold for more than they would at the present
day.”
The library was a large one, and the lots numbered between five and six
thousand, and the amount realised by the sale was a little over £700,
which may be roughly estimated at about £3500 of our present money.
The second auction sale (February 1676-67) was also carried out by
Cooper, and consisted of the library of Thomas Kidner, Rector of
Hitchin, in Hertfordshire, who died 31st August 1676. The library, like
that of Dr. Seaman, consisted largely of theological works. It is
evident from Cooper’s preface to this catalogue that Seaman’s sale had
given considerable satisfaction, although the reference to an attempt to
stifle this manner of sale shows that there were some opponents of the
system. Cooper writes--
“Reader, the first attempt in this kind (by the Sale of Dr. Seaman’s
library) having given great content and satisfaction to the
gentlemen who were buyers, and no great discouragement to the
Sellers, hath encouraged the making this second trial, by the
exposing (to auction or sale) the Library of Mr. Tho. Kidner, in
hopes of receiving such encouragement from the Learned as may
prevent the stifling of this manner of sale, the benefit (if rightly
considered) being equally balanced between buyer and seller.”
The third sale (February 1677-78) was of the library of Thomas
Greenhill, a Nonconformist minister of some repute, who died in 1671,
seven years before his books were sold. This sale is worthy of note, for
the auctioneer was Zachariah Bourne, and not Cooper, as in the two
former cases. It took place at the Turk’s Head Coffee-House in Bread
Street (in ædibus Ferdinandi Stable, Coffipolæ, ad insigne Capitis
Turcæ). Bourne states in his preface that--
“The attempts in this kind having given great content and
satisfaction to the gentlemen who were the buyers and no
discouragement to the sellers, hath encouraged the making this trial
by exposing (to auction or sale) the library of Mr. William
Greenhill.”
The fourth sale (25th May 1678) was occupied with the library of Thomas
Manton (1620-77), one of the ministers appointed to wait upon Charles
II. at Breda. It took place at the house of the late possessor, in King
Street, Covent Garden. More English literature was included in this
library than in the former three. The auctioneer was Cooper, and his
preface is worth quoting. It will be seen that the plan of allowing an
inspection of the books before the sale had now been adopted--
“Reader, we question not but that this manner of sale by way of
auction is pretty well known to the Learned, nor can we doubt their
encouragement for the advantage which they (as well as we) may in
time reap thereby. Wherefore we are resolved (_Deo volente_) to make
a fourth triall with the Library of Dr. Tho. Manton, which is not
contemptible either for the Value, Condition, or Number, as will
appear upon a sight thereof, which is free for any Gentleman that
shall please to take that pains.”
Cooper was not satisfied with the catalogue, which had been made by one
considered by him to be incompetent, and of whom he writes thus--
“This Catalogue was taken by Phil Briggs, and not by W. Cooper, but
afterwards in parts methodized by him. Wherefore he craves your
excuse for the mistakes that have hapned; and desires that the
Saddle may be laid upon the right horse.”
The sale of Benjamin Worsley’s library (May 1678) is interesting, as
being the first auction in which a fair representation of old English
literature occurs, in addition to the ordinary theological works.
Chaucer (1602) fetched £1, 3s. 6d.; Ben Jonson’s Works (1640), £1, 13s.
6d.; Shakespeare, second folio, 16s., and third folio, £1, 8s. 6d. The
auctioneers were John Dunsmore and Richard Chiswell, and the sale took
place over against the Hen and Chickens, in Paternoster Row. The sixth
sale consisted of the libraries of John Godolphin and Owen Philips, and
took place in November 1678, when a Caxton--“Geffrey Chaucer’s
translation of Boethius’ _De Consolatione Philosophiæ_ in
English”--fetched five shillings. We thus see that in two years there
were only six sales. After this time they became more frequent, and in
this same month of November 1678 an attempt was made at rigging a sale;
the booksellers were so well satisfied with the prices obtained, that
they thought it would be a good stroke of business to lift some of their
old stock under the cover of a good name. Moses Pitt adopted this
expedient, and issued a catalogue of books described as including “the
library of a worthy and learned person deceased, with a considerable
number of the choice books of most sciences, some of which have been
bought out of the best libraries abroad, particularly out of the late
famous and learned Gilbert Voetius’s.”
This fraud was greatly resented by the book-buyers, and it was felt by
the other auctioneers that a blow had been dealt to the
newly-established system of sale; so when in December of this same year
the libraries of Lord Warwick and Gabriel Sangar came to be sold at the
Harrow, over against the College of Physicians, in Warwick Lane,
Nathaniel Ranew, the auctioneer, thought it expedient to make a
statement in the preface to the catalogue, where he informed his patrons
that this is “no collection made by any private hand (which hath been
imputed to some auctions as a reflection), but the works were really
belonging to their proprietors deceased mentioned on the title-page, and
by the direction of their respective executors exposed to sale.”
Moses Pitt made up another sale in February 1678-79, chiefly of books
printed at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, which took place in Petty
Canons Hall, near St. Paul’s Churchyard. In June 1679 William Cooper
sold the libraries of Stephen Watkins and Dr. Thomas Shirley (the
catalogue of which contained an appendix of Richard Chiswell’s books) at
the Golden Lion, over against the Queen’s Head Tavern, in Paternoster
Row. John Dunsmore sold in November 1679 the library of Sir Edward
Bysshe, Clarenceux King at Arms, at his house, near the sign of the
Woolpack, in Ivy Lane. This library was more varied in its character
than many of those that were sold before it, and it contained a
considerable amount of French, Italian, and Spanish literature,
including some early editions of Molière. This catalogue is deserving of
particular attention, because the books are described as “curiously
bound and richly gilt.” Hitherto no mention had been made of bindings in
the various catalogues. This attention to binding was to grow, and
Thomas Hearne protested against it some years after. In his memoranda
under date 15th February 1725-26 he wrote respecting the sale of John
Bridges’ library: “I hear they go very high, being fair books in good
condition, and most of them finely bound. This afternoon I was told of a
gentleman of All Souls’ College (I suppose Dr. Clarke) that gave a
commission of eight shillings for a Homer in two vols., a small 8vo, if
not 12mo. But it went for six guineas. People are in love with good
binding more than good reading.”[38]
The British Museum Library contains a valuable collection of early sale
catalogues, and one of the volumes, containing the first eleven sales
from Seaman to Bysshe, is of considerable interest from having the
following note in Richard Heber’s handwriting--
“This volume, which formerly belonged to Narcissus Luttrell, and
since to Mr. Gough, is remarkable for containing the eleven first
Catalogues of Books ever sold by auction in England. What renders it
still more curious, is that the prices of nearly all the articles
are added in MS. When it came into my possession it had suffered so
much from damp, and the leaves were so tender and rotten, that every
time the volume was opened, it was liable to injury. This has been
remedied by giving the whole a strong coat of size. At Willett’s
sale, Booth, the bookseller of Duke Street, Portland Place, bought a
volume of old catalogues for £2, 3s. (see Merly Catalogue, 531), and
charged the same in his own shop catalogue for 1815, £21 (6823). It
contained merely the eight which stand first in the present
collection, of which Greenhill’s and Godolphin’s were not priced at
all; and Voet’s and Sangar’s only partially. However, it enabled me
to fill up a few omissions in the prices of my copy of
Sangar’s.--_N.B._ The prices of Willett’s and the present copy did
not always tally exactly.”
Heber paid six shillings for this volume at Gough’s sale in 1810, and
Charles Lewis’s labours in sizing and binding in 1824 cost £2, 15s. At
Heber’s sale the volume sold for £3.
In April 1680 was sold “the Library of the Right Hon. George, late Earl
of Bristol, a great part of which were the curiosities collected by the
learned Sir Kenelm Digby, together with the Library of another Learned
person.” It is impossible from the catalogue to tell which lots belonged
to Sir Kenelm; and there seems to be little doubt that few of the books
which he left in Paris when he came to London, and which were
confiscated by the French Government on his death in 1665, were included
in this catalogue. According to M. Delisle,[39] Sir Kenelm’s books
eventually reached the French national library. The proceeds of the sale
of 3878 lots was only £908, and this does not look as if there were many
of Digby’s books, nobly bound by Le Gascon, in this sale.
In 1681 Edward Millington’s name came into notice as the seller, in May
of that year, of the libraries of Lawson, Fawkes, Stockden, and Brooks.
Richard Chiswell sold in 1682 the _Bibliotheca Smithiana_, or library of
Richard Smith, Secondary of the Poultry Compter, who is better known to
us as the author of the useful “Obituary” published by the Camden
Society in 1849. This was probably the finest library brought to the
hammer up to this date. Oldys wrote of the possessor, that “for many
years together [he] suffered nothing to escape him that was rare and
remarkable”; and he added, that his “extraordinary library makes perhaps
the richest catalogue of any private library we have to show in print,
making above four hundred pages in a very broad-leaved and close-printed
quarto.” Richard Chiswell sold the library in May “at the auction house
known by the name of the Swan, in Great St. Bartholomew’s Close.”
The auctioneer made the following remarks in his Address to the Reader--
“Though it be needless to recommend what to all intelligent persons
sufficiently commends itself, yet perhaps it may not be unacceptable
to the ingenious to have some short account concerning this so much
celebrated, so often desired, so long expected library, now exposed
to sale. The gentleman that collected it was a person infinitely
curious and inquisitive after books; and who suffered nothing
considerable to escape him that fell within the compass of his
learning, for he had not the vanity of desiring to be master of more
than he knew how to use. He lived to a very great age, and spent a
good part of it almost entirely in the search of books. Being as
constantly known every day to walk his rounds through the shops as
he sat down to meals, where his great skill and experience enabled
him to make choice of what was not obvious to every vulgar eye. He
lived in times which ministered peculiar opportunities of meeting
with books that are not every day brought into publick light; and
few eminent libraries were bought where he had not the liberty to
pick and choose. And while others were forming arms, and
new-modelling kingdoms, his great ambition was to become master of a
good book. Hence arose, as that vast number of his books, so the
choiceness and rarity of the greatest part of them; and that of all
kinds, and in all sorts of learning.... Nor was the owner of them a
meer idle possessor of so great a treasure; for as he generally
collated his books upon the buying them (upon which account the
buyer may rest pretty secure of their being perfect) so he did not
barely turn over the leaves, but observed the defects of impression,
and the ill acts used by many; compared the differences of
editions; concerning which and the like cases, he has entered
memorable and very useful remarks upon very many of the books under
his own hand: observations wherein, certainly never man was more
diligent and industrious. Thus much was thought fit to be
communicated to public notice, by a gentleman who was intimately
acquainted both with Mr. Smith and his books.”
Dibdin condemns the compiler of the catalogue severely, and adds--
“A number of the most curious, rare, and intrinsically valuable
books--the very insertion of which in a bookseller’s catalogue would
probably now make a hundred bibliomaniacs start from their homes by
starlight, in order to come in for the first picking--a number of
volumes of this description are huddled together in one lot, and all
these classed under the provoking running title of ‘Bundles of
Books,’ ‘Bundles of stitcht Books.’”[40]
Smith was one of the earliest collectors of Caxtons, and eleven books
produced by our first printer sold for £3, 4s. 2d. at his sale. But one
of the greatest points of interest connected with Smith’s library is
that it included the books of Humphrey Dyson, collected at a much
earlier date. Hearne notes in his “Collections”--
“That Mr. Rich. Smith’s rare and curious collection of books was
began first by Mr. Humphrey Dyson, a publick notary, living in the
Poultry. They came to Mr. Smith by marriage. This is the same
Humphrey Dyson that assisted Howes in his continuation of Stow’s
‘Survey of London,’ ed. folio.”
Under date 4th September 1715 Hearne says--
“Mr. Richard Smith’s Catalogue that is printed contains a very noble
and very extraordinary collection of books. It was begun first in
the time of King Hen. VIII., and comeing to Mr. Smith, he was so
very diligent and exact in continueing and improving, that hardly
anything curious escaped him. He had made the best collection that
possibly he could of Erasmus’s works.”[41]
In another place Hearne describes Dyson as--
“A person of a very strange, prying, and inquisitive genius in the
matter of books, as may appear from many libraries; there being
books chiefly in old English, almost in every library, that have
belonged to him, with his name upon them.”[42]
The following interesting entry from Smith’s catalogue corroborates
Hearne’s statement as to Smith’s acquisition of Dyson’s books--
“115. Six several catalogues of all such books, touching the state
ecclesiastical as temporal of the realm of England, which were
published upon several occasions, in the reigns of K. Henry the
VIIth and VIIIth, Philip and Mary, Q. Elizabeth, K. James and
Charles I., collected by Mr. H. Dyson: out of whose library was
gathered by Mr. Smith a great part of the rarities of this
catalogue.”
This lot only fetched seven shillings and sixpence.
The number of sales seem now to have increased annually, but it was
some years before a library that could rank with Richard Smith’s was
sold. In April 1683 the books of Brian Walton, Bishop of Chester, were
sold (twenty-two years after his death) “by Samuel Carr, at his house of
the King’s Head in St. Paul’s Churchyard.” About this time auction sales
took place in various parts of the country, and Edward Millington was
largely employed as a peripatetic auctioneer. In September 1684 he sold
books at Stourbridge Fair (_Bibliotheca Sturbitchiana_). In 1686 two
sales occurred at Trumpington (Obadiah Sedgwick in March, and William
Whitwood in May) and two at Cambridge (Dr. Edmond Castell in June, and
Rev. J. Chamberlaine, of St. John’s College, at Stourbridge Fair, in
September). When we forget the change that has taken place in the value
of money, and express our surprise that rare books should only realise a
few shillings, we should note that the cost of the hire of thirteen
carts for conveying Dr. Castell’s books from Emmanuel College to the
sign of the Eagle and Child, where they were sold, was only three
shillings.[43] In 1685 and 1686 occurred the famous sales of the stock
of Richard Davis, the Oxford bookseller, which was satirised in the
_Auctio Davisiana_, noticed in an earlier chapter.
In 1682 William Cooper published a list of book-sales up to that date,
and again a fuller list in 1687, which contained a note of seventy-four
sales in the ten years 1676-86. The following note is printed on the
back of page 33 of _Catalogus Librorum Bibliothecæ viri cujusdam
Literati_, 14th February 1686-87--
“To gratifie those Gentlemen whose curiosities may lead them to make
perfect their Collection, I have caused to be printed the names of
those persons whose libraries have been sold by auction, and the
series of the time when” [1676-1686].
This list is reprinted by Hartshorne in his “Book Rarities of the
University of Cambridge,” 1829 (pp. 454-57), and it forms the text for
two excellent articles by Mr. A. W. Pollard in _Bibliographica_.
In 1687 Millington sold the valuable library of Dr. Thomas Jacomb, a
Nonconformist minister (_Bibliotheca Jacombiana_), which realised £1300;
and in February of the following year the library of a counsellor of the
Parliaments of Montpelier, which had been brought from France to be sold
in England (_Bibliotheca Mascoviana_).
T. Bentley and B. Walford sold in November 1687 an interesting library
of an anonymous but distinguished defunct--_Bibliotheca Illustrissima_,
which is described as follows in the Address to the Reader--
“If the catalogue here presented were only of common books and such
as were easie to be had, it would not have been very necessary to
have prefaced anything to the reader; but since it appears in the
world with circumstances which no auction in England (perhaps) ever
had before, nor is it probable that the like should frequently
happen again, it would seem an oversight if we should neglect to
advertise the reader of them. The first is, that it comprises the
main part of the library of that famous secretary, William Cecil,
Lord Burleigh: which considered, must put it out of doubt that these
books are excellent in their several kinds and well chosen. The
second is, that it contains a greater number of rare manuscripts
than ever yet were offered together in this way, many of which are
rendered the more valuable by being remarked upon by the hand of the
said great man.”
A considerable number of sales took place between this date and the end
of the century, but few were of any particular mark until the fine
library of Dr. Francis Bernard came to the hammer in 1698.
Millington continued his travels in the country, and sold, among others,
the library of Mrs. Elizabeth Oliver at Norwich in 1689, and some modern
English books at Abingdon in 1692; and John Howell sold the Rev. George
Ashwell’s library at Oxford in 1696.
Dr. Francis Bernard, physician to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, was also
physician to James II. He was a good judge of books, and collected a
very fine library, which was sold by auction in October 1698 at his late
dwelling in Little Britain. Dibdin says he was “a stoic in bibliography.
Neither beautiful binding nor amplitude of margin ever delighted his eye
or rejoiced his heart; for he was a stiff and straightforward reader,
and learned in literary history beyond all his contemporaries. His
collection was copious and excellent.”
The account given of the doctor in the Address to the Reader prefixed
to the catalogue is of considerable interest--
“The character of the person whose collection this was is so well
known, that there is no occasion to say much of him, nor, to any man
of judgment that inspects the Catalogue, of the collection itself.
Something, however, it becomes us to say of both; and this, I think,
may with truth and modesty enough be said, that as few men knew
books, and that part of learning which is called _Historia
Literaria_, better than himself, so there never appeared in England
so choice and valuable a Catalogue to be thus disposed of as this
before us. Certain it is, this library contains not a few which
never appeared in any auction here before, nor indeed, as I have
heard him say, for aught he knew--and he knew as well as any man
living--in any printed Catalogue in the world. It was very seldom
that he bought any book without some very particular reason. For if
any man died, he certainly knew what we call the secret history of
learning so well, that if there were but one single passage in an
author for which only it was to be valued, it never escaped him.
Being a person who collected his books, and not for ostentation or
ornament, he seemed no more solicitous about their dress than his
own; and therefore you’ll find that a gilt back or a large margin
was very seldom any inducement to him to buy. ’Twas sufficient to
him that he had the book.... He himself was not a mere nomenclator,
and versed only in title-pages, but had made that just and laudable
use of his books which would become all those that set up for
collectors.... Give me leave to say this of him upon my own
knowledge, that he never grudged his money in procuring, nor his
time or labour in perusing any book which he thought could be any
ways instructive to him; and having the felicity of a memory always
faithful, always officious, which never forsook him, though
attacked by frequent and severe sickness, and by the worst of all
diseases, old age, his desire for knowledge attended him to the
last, and he pursued his studies with equal vigour and application
to the very extremity of his life.”
He had thirteen Caxtons, which sold altogether for less than two
guineas, less than these books fetched at Richard Smith’s sale. A
curious volume of Tracts, consisting of “The Bellman’s Night Walks”
(1632), “The Bellman of London” (1608), “Life of Ned Browne,” “Cut
Purse,” &c., sold for 2s. 8d.; Stubbe’s “Anatomie of Abuses” (1585), for
8d.; and Tusser’s “Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry” (1590) for 4d.
In spite of these low prices, the total amount of the sale was £1600,
the expenses of the sale--4s. in the pound = £320--being deducted.
The catalogue was charged 2s. 6d.
The last sale in the seventeenth century to be recorded is that of John
Lloyd, Bishop of St. Davids, sold in 1699 by John Bullord at Tom’s
Coffee-House.
When auctions were first started conditions of sale were formulated, and
with the exception of a little elaboration, they remain pretty much what
they were at first; but there were certain peculiarities which are
worthy of mention.
The catalogues were not at first divided into day’s sales, but as many
lots as possible were sold in the time fixed for the sale. The hours
were usually from nine to twelve, and from two to six. Sometimes the
sales only took place in the evening. In 1681 we learn that an average
sale of 544 lots in a day was considered satisfactory. In the Conditions
of Sale printed in the Catalogue of Seaman’s library we read--
“That the Auction will begin the 31st of October at the Deceased
D^r’s house in Warwick Court in Warwick Lane punctually at nine Of
the Clock in the morning and two in the afternoon, and this to
continue daily until all the books be sold.”
The early hour was found a disadvantage, and books often sold for low
prices at the beginning of sales, so that Cooper was forced to make a
rule that the sale should not be commenced unless there were twenty
present. At this time biddings of a penny were common.
Two great evils came to light on the first institution of auctions; one
was due to the buyers, and the other to the auctioneers. It was found
that in cases where the buyer thought he had given more for a book than
was wise, he often forgot to pay and fetch away the books. Millington
refers specially to this in 1681--
“I question not but the well disposed, and the Learned will give us
such incouragement in the Sale by Bidding in some measure to the
value of the Books so exposed, as may further incourage and keep on
foot such a commendable and serviceable a way of sale (as this of
Auction is) to the great purposes of promoting Learning and
Knowledge. Which, when I consider, I cannot but wonder that so many
persons have appeared at our auctions, and buy with a great freedom
to the injury of others (that are truly conscientious to pay for,
and fetch away the Books so bought); yet in most auctions have
hitherto neglected to fetch away and pay for their own. To the end
therefore that they may know, we will not be damaged after so great
expences, as inevitably attends the management of an auction; we do
intend to prosecute them according to the law if forthwith they do
not send for their books, or give us some reasonable satisfaction.
To prevent any abuses for the future that may happen to other
gentlemen who suffer by this unhandsome practice (of having Books
bought out of their hands by persons that never will, or perhaps
never designed to fetch them away), we shall, at a convenient time,
for the further satisfaction of gentlemen, give an account of their
names, and desire their absence if any of them happen to be
present.”[44]
The other evil was the attempt of the booksellers to get rid of some of
their old stock by introducing it into the sales of collectors’
libraries. This trick has already been alluded to.
The frequenters of auctions seem to have been very jealous of being bid
against by any one interested in the sale. This jealousy found voice in
the complaints of Wanley and others at Bridges’ sale in 1726.
The lots were not numbered throughout in the catalogues, but the
octavos, quartos, and folios were each numbered separately, the number
of each section running on from the previous day’s sale. This is very
confusing, as when you look at the end for the purpose of finding the
total number of the lots, you only find the number of folios in the
sale. Millington found that it was not advisable to bid for books, in
case it might be supposed that he was running them up in price, and Mr.
Pollard believes that he adopted a plan of getting men to bid for him.
In corroboration of this view Mr. Pollard refers to a copy of the
catalogue of the libraries of Button, Owen, and Hoel, 7th November 1681,
in the British Museum which belonged to Millington. It has two receipts
by persons whose names are among the bidders for money received from
Millington for various books. “At first sight this seems a reversal of
what we should expect, but after the first few sales the auctioneers had
renounced the right of making bids themselves, lest they should be
accused of running up prices, and Millington had obviously employed
these friends to bid for him.”[45]
Another evil connected with auctions comes from _knocks out_, which are
thoroughly dishonest, and in fact, criminal, being, as they are, a form
of conspiracy, but the agreements of two persons not to bid against one
another are not necessarily to be condemned. Mr. Henry Stevens was very
urgent against any kind of agreement, and in his reminiscences amusingly
describes his frustration of a knock-out; and it has been said that when
the Duke of Roxburghe and Lord Spencer made an agreement, they were
parties to a knock-out; but this view is founded on a fallacy, viz.,
that whatever price a book fetches at public auction is the proper
price. We know, however, that this is not correct; for instance, the
Valdarfer _Boccaccio_ fetched its huge price at the Roxburghe sale
because two great book-buyers with long purses bid against one another.
When one of these buyers died and the book was again in the market,
seven years after the first sale, the survivor obtained the book at a
smaller price. Hence who is to say whether £2260 or £918 is the actual
value of the book!
FOOTNOTES:
[38] _Reliquiæ Hearnianæ_, vol. ii. (1869), p. 243.
[39] “Sir Kenelm Digby et les anciens rapports des Bibliothèques
françaises avec la Bretagne.” Quoted by Mr. Pollard, _Bibliographica_,
vol. i. p. 383.
[40] _Bibliomania_ (The Drawing Room).
[41] _Reliquiæ Hearnianæ_, 1869, vol. i. p. 310.
[42] Peter Langtoft’s “Chronicle,” vol. i. p. 13.
[43] _Bibliographica_, vol. ii. p. 126.
[44] Millington’s preface to catalogue of libraries of Lawson, Fawkes,
Stockden, and Brooks, 30th May 1681.
[45] _Bibliographica_, vol. ii. p. 115.
CHAPTER VI
AUCTION SALES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
The sales of the last quarter of the seventeenth century are of the
greatest interest in the history of the subject, but they are not of any
great value as guides to present prices, for circumstances and tastes
have greatly changed. The sales were largely those of the working
libraries of theologians, and the books which their owners found of use
in their studies sold well, while books in other classes which have now
taken their place in public esteem fetched prices which seem to us very
small. Among the number of sales noticed in the last chapter, two only
stand out as the libraries of true collectors in the modern acceptation
of the term, that is, of those who collect for love of the books rather
than from an appreciation of their utility. Much the same conditions
ruled during the first quarter of the eighteenth century, although the
library of Charles Bernard, serjeant-surgeon to Queen Anne and brother
of Dr. Francis Bernard, previously referred to, was sold in March 1711
at the Black Boy Coffee-House in Ave Maria Lane, and the sale of the
vast collection of Thomas Rawlinson commenced in 1721. Then followed the
sale of John Bridges’ library in February 1726, but the middle of the
century was passed when the great sale of Dr. Richard Mead occurred.
This (1754-55), when compared with Askew’s sale in 1775, may be said to
mark an era in bibliography. These two great physicians were friends
with similar tastes. We are, therefore, able to gauge the considerable
growth of the taste for book-collecting during the few years that parted
these two sales. Askew bought many books at Mead’s sale, and when the
same volumes came to be sold at his own sale they realised twice and
thrice the prices he had given. We shall see in the register of the
sales after Askew’s day how the prices gradually advanced, until we
arrive at the culmination of the bibliomaniacal spirit in the Roxburghe
sale of 1812.
We will now enumerate some of the principal sales which took place
during the eighteenth century, which led up to the long list of sales
which have formed so marked a feature of the nineteenth century.
Charles Bernard’s library, sold in 1711, was said by Oldys to contain
“the fairest and best editions of the classics.” Swift, in his “Journal
to Stella” (19th March) wrote, “I went to-day to see poor Charles
Bernard’s books, and I itch to lay out nine or ten pounds for some fine
editions of fine authors”; and on the 29th he adds, “I walked to-day
into the city and went to see the auction of poor Charles Bernard’s
books. They were in the middle of the Physic books, so I bought none;
and they are so dear, I believe I shall buy none.”
The sale of the library of Thomas Britton, the well-known small-coal man
of Clerkenwell, in January 1715, deserves mention on account of the
worthiness of its owner. The books were sold by auction at St. Paul’s
Coffee-House by Thomas Ballard, and the sale catalogue consists of forty
closely-printed pages in quarto. There were 664 lots in octavo, 274 in
quarto, and 102 in folio, besides 50 pamphlets and 23 manuscripts. This
was the second library Britton had collected, for some years before his
death he sold the first one by auction.
Thomas Rawlinson (1681-1725) was one of the most insatiable of book
collectors, and he left the largest library that had been collected up
to his time. His chambers were so filled that his bed had to be moved
into a passage, and he took London House, in Aldersgate Street, to
accommodate his ever-increasing library. Oldys says of him--
“If his purse had been much wider he had a passion beyond it, and
would have been driven to part with what he was so fond of, such a
pitch of curiosity or dotage he was arrived at upon a different
edition, a fairer copy, a larger paper than twenty of the same sort
he might be already possessed of. In short, his covetousness after
those books he had not increased with the multiplication of those he
had, and as he lived so he died in his bundles, piles, and bulwarks
of paper, in dust and cobwebs, at London House.”[46]
He did, in fact, commence the sale of his library before his death, and
the first part was sold in December 1721. The catalogue of the whole
library occupied sixteen parts, the last being sold in 1734. A complete
set of these catalogues is very rare, and the lists of them in the
various bibliographical works are mostly incomplete. There is, however,
a set in the Bodleian Library. The books in the first five parts sold
for £2409, and the manuscripts alone took sixteen days of March 1734 to
sell, and went cheap. Hearne writes in his Diary (9th November 1734)--
“The MSS. in Dr. Rawlinson’s last auction of his brother Thomas’s
books went extraordinary cheap, and those that bought had great
penny worths. The Doctor purchas’d many himself, at which here and
there one were disgusted, tho’ all the company supported the Doctor
in it, that as a creditor he had a right equal to any other. My
friend Mr. Tom Brome, that honest gentleman of Ewithington in
Herefordshire in a letter to the Doctor, says that he cannot but
wonder at the low rates of most of the MSS., and adds ‘had I been in
place I should have been tempted to have laid out a pretty deal of
money, without thinking myself at all touched with
bibliomania.’”[47]
On 10th November Hearne further writes--
“Dr. Rawlinson by the sale of his brother’s books hath not rais’d
near the money expected. For it seems they have ill answer’d,
however good books; the MSS. worse, and what the prints will do is
as yet undetermin’d.”[48]
It is worthy of mention here that Dr. Rawlinson purchased Hearne’s
Diaries for a hundred guineas from the widow and executrix of Dr.
William Bedford, to whom they had been given by Hearne,[49] and he
bequeathed them with other property to the University of Oxford. The
auctioneers who dispersed Thomas Rawlinson’s large collections were
Charles Davis and Thomas Ballard.
The sale of the valuable library of John Bridges at his chambers in
Lincoln’s Inn by Mr. Cock, in February 1726, was an event of much
literary interest. The number of lots was 4313, occupying twenty-seven
days, and the total proceeds of the sale were £4001. This is therefore
worthy of note as the first sale at which the prices averaged nearly one
pound per lot.
There was much dissatisfaction among the buyers at the high prices, and
a conspiracy to “bull” the market was suspected.
Humphry Wanley expressed his opinion strongly on this point--
“_Feb. 9, 1725-6._--Went to Mr. Bridges’s chambers, but could not
see the three fine MSS. again, the Doctor his brother having locked
them up. He openly bid for his own books, merely to enhance their
price, and the auction proves to be, what I thought it would become,
very knavish.”
“_Feb. 11, 1725-6._--Yesterday at five I met Mr. Noel and tarried
long with him; we settled then the whole affair touching his bidding
for my Lord [Oxford] at the roguish auction of Mr. Bridges’s books.
The Reverend Doctor one of the brothers hath already displayed
himself so remarkably as to be both hated and despised, and a
combination among the booksellers will soon be against him and his
brother-in-law, a lawyer. These are men of the keenest avarice, and
their very looks (according to what I am told) dart out
harping-irons. I have ordered Mr. Noel to drop every article in my
Lord’s commissions when they shall be hoisted up to too high a
price. Yet I desired that my Lord may have the Russian Bible, which
I know full well to be a very rare and a very good book.”[50]
The frontispiece to the sale catalogue exhibited an oak felled, and
persons bearing away the branches, signifying that when the oak is cut
down every man gets wood. Nichols, referring to the motto, ?????
???????? ??? ???? ?????????, speaks of it as “an affecting memento to
the collectors of great libraries, who cannot or do not leave them to
some public accessible repository.”[51]
Besides the sale catalogue, there was a _catalogue raisonné_ of
Bridges’s library, a large paper of which, bound in old blue morocco,
and ruled with red lines, Dr. Gosset bought for Dibdin for four
shillings, and the latter styles it a happy day when he received it.
In 1731 was sold, at St. Paul’s Coffee-House, the extensive library of
Anthony Collins, the famous freethinker and author, and a friend of
Locke. His books were sold in two divisions. Part 1 of the catalogue
contained 3451 lots, and part 2, 3442.
The sale of Dr. Thomas Pellet’s library in 1744 is of especial interest
as the first undertaken by Samuel Baker, the founder of the house of
Sotheby.
In 1746 two sales of note took place, those of Sir Christopher Wren and
Michael Maittaire, the scholar and bibliographer. The following
advertisement of the former is from the _Daily Advertiser_ of 26th
October 1748--
“To be sold by auction, by Messrs. Cock and Langford, in y^e Great
Piazza, Covent Garden, this and y^e following evening, the curious
and entire libraries of y^e ingenious architect Sir Christopher
Wren, Knt., and Christopher Wren, Esq., his son, late of Hampton
Court; both deceased. Consisting of great variety of Books of
Architecture, Antiquities, Histories, etc., in Greek, Latin, French,
and English; together with some few lots of Prints. The said books
may be viewed at Mr. Cock’s in y^e Great Piazza aforesaid, till y^e
time of sale, which will begin each evening at 5 o’clock precisely.
Catalogues of which may be had gratis at y^e place of sale
aforesaid.”
Maittaire’s library was sold in two parts, in November 1748 and January
1749, by Mr. Cock, and occupied forty-five evenings in the selling. For
some reason or other the books appear to have been sacrificed, and they
realised little more than £700. One reason was, that they were not very
presentable in appearance. The auctioneer writes in the “advertisement”
to the catalogue--
“Tho’ the books in their present condition make not the most
ostentatious appearance, yet like the late worthy possessor of them,
however plain their outside may be, they contain within an
invaluable treasure of ingenuity and learning. In fine, this is
(after fifty years’ diligent search and labour in collecting) the
entire library of Mr. Maittaire, whose judgement in the choice of
books as it ever was confessed, so are they undoubtedly far beyond
whatever I can attempt to say in their praise. In exhibiting them
thus to the public, I comply with the will of my deceased friend,
and in printing the catalogue from his own copy, just as he left it
(tho’ by so doing it is more voluminous), I had an opportunity not
only of doing the justice I owe to his memory, but also of
gratifying the curious.”
According to a very interesting account of the sale in Beloe’s
“Anecdotes” (vol. v. pp. 389-452), it appears that if “the curious”
attended the sale, they did not do much to raise the prices. Beloe
writes, “The library of Michael Maittaire was of incalculable value,
from its great variety, from the number of early printed books which it
contained, from the extraordinary collection of Greek and Latin tracts
by the famous French printers of the sixteenth century, from the most
uncommon books in criticism which it exhibited, and lastly, from the
high reputation of its possessor.” And, in conclusion, he says, “Such a
collection was never before exhibited for public sale, and perhaps never
will again.”
A striking instance of the absurdly low prices obtained for the books is
that of _Homeri Batrachomyomachia_ (Venet. per Leonicum Cretensem, 1486,
4to), which sold for sixteen shillings. In this copy a subsequent
possessor wrote the following note--
“This book is so extremely rare that I never saw any other copy of
it except that of Mons. de Boze, who told me he gave 650 livres for
it. Mr. Smith, our consul at Venice, wrote me word that he had
purchased a copy, but that it was imperfect. Lord Oxford offered Mr.
Maittaire fifty guineas for this identical copy.”
Askew’s copy, supposed to be the same as this, fetched at his sale
fourteen guineas.
_Martialis, apud Vindelinum Spirensem--sine anno_--which is described as
“one of the rarest of rare books,” only brought four shillings and
sixpence. The _editio princeps_ of Plautus (_Venet. per Joh. de Colonia
et Vindelinum Spirensem_, 1472, folio) was sold for sixteen shillings,
while the Pinelli copy fetched £36. These are no exceptions to the rule,
for Beloe mentions a large number of rare books which only fetched a
shilling or two shillings each.
The great library of Richard Mead, M.D., was dispersed by Samuel Baker
in November and December 1754 and in April and May 1755. In the first
sale there were 3280 lots in 28 days, which realised £2475, 18s. 6d. The
second sale consisted of 6741 lots in 29 days, realising £3033, 1s. 6d.,
making the totals for the two sales, 57 days, 10,021 lots, amount of
sale £5509. It is usually stated that Mead’s library consisted of 10,000
volumes, but there must have been at least 30,000 volumes. The numbering
of lots in Mead’s sale followed the confusing rule adopted at the first
printing of auction catalogues, viz., the leaving three separate
numberings of octavos, quartos, and folios. As already said, this was
the first really renowned sale that took place in England, and there can
be little doubt that the owner spent considerably more money in the
collection of his books than they realised after his death. Johnson said
of Mead; that he lived more in the broad sunshine of life than almost
any man. The dispersion of his library was a loss to the world, for
every scholar had been allowed access to it during the owner’s life.
The novelist Fielding’s library was sold by Baker in 1755. The sale
consisted of 653 lots, occupied four nights, and realised £364.
Richard Rawlinson, D.D., younger brother of Thomas Rawlinson, died on
the 6th of April 1755, and his large and valuable library was sold by
Baker in March of the following year. The sale of the books lasted fifty
days, and there was a second sale of pamphlets, books of prints, &c.,
which occupied ten days. The prices realised for old English literature
were very small, and the total of the whole sale was under £1200.
The year 1756 was remarkable for the sale of the library of Martin
Folkes by Samuel Baker. It consisted of 5126 lots, and realised £3091.
Martin Folkes occupied a prominent position in the literary and
scientific worlds as President of the Royal Society and of the Society
of Antiquaries. He was more a generally accomplished man than a man of
science, and it has been the fashion to laugh at his pretensions to the
chair of the Royal Society, but his contemporaries thought well of him.
Dr. Jurin, secretary of the Royal Society, said that “The greatest man
that ever lived (Sir Isaac Newton) singled him out to fill the chair,
and to preside in the Society when he himself was so frequently
prevented by indisposition; and that it was sufficient to say of him
that he was Sir Isaac’s friend.”
Edwards, the ornithologist, said of Folkes--
“He seemed to have attained to universal knowledge, for in the many
opportunities I have had of being in his company, almost every part
of science has happened to be the subject of discourse, all of which
he handled as an adept. He was a man of great politeness in his
manners, free from all pedantry and pride, and in every respect the
real, unaffected, fine gentleman.”
The earliest sale recorded of Samuel Paterson was that of the library of
“Orator” Henley, which took place in June 1769, and contained some
curious books.
Joseph Smith, British Consul at Venice, was a cultivated book collector.
He printed a catalogue of his library in 1755, _Bibliotheca Smitheana,
seu Catalogus Librorum D. Josephi Smithii, Angli ... Venetiis, typis Jo.
Baptistæ Pasquali_, MDCCLV. This is of value as containing an appendix
to “the prefaces and epistles prefixed to those works in the library
which were printed in the fifteenth century.” George III. bought the
whole library, and added it to his own matchless collection. On the sale
of his library Consul Smith set to work to collect another, and in 1773,
a year after his death, this second library was sold by auction by Baker
& Leigh, occupying thirteen days in the selling. The books were
described as being “in the finest preservation, and consisting of the
very best and scarcest editions of the Latin, Italian, and French
authors, from the Invention of Printing, with manuscripts and missals
upon vellum, finely illuminated.” The last day’s sale contained all the
English books in black letter. This fine library realised £2245, not so
large an amount as might have been expected. In fact, Dibdin says in his
_Bibliomania_ that Mr. Cuthell exclaimed in his hearing that “they were
given away.”
In this same year, 1773, was sold the splendid library of James West,
President of the Royal Society, the catalogue of which was digested by
Samuel Paterson. The preface informs the reader that “the following
catalogue exhibits a very curious and uncommon collection of printed
books and travels, of British history and antiquities, and of rare old
English literature, the most copious of any which has appeared for
several years past; formed with great taste and a thorough knowledge of
authors and characters.” There were 4633 lots, and they occupied
twenty-four days in the selling, the auctioneer being Langford. West’s
large collection of manuscripts was sold to the Earl of Shelburne, and
is now in the British Museum.
Although this sale attracted much attention, and was well attended, the
prices did not rule high according to our present ideas, but doubtless
it was not thought then that the following Caxtons realised less than
their value: Chaucer’s Works, first edition by Caxton, £47, 15s. 6d.;
“Troylus and Cresseyde,” £10, 10s.; “Book of Fame,” £4, 5s.; “Gower de
Confessione Amantis,” 1483, £9, 9s.
Dibdin has given a very full analysis of this fine library in his
_Bibliomania_. In contrast to this sale may be mentioned, on account of
the distinction of the owner, the library of Oliver Goldsmith, which was
sold on 12th July 1774 by Mr. Good of Fleet Street. There were 162 lots,
and Mr. Forster has reprinted the catalogue in his “Life of Goldsmith”
(vol ii. p. 453).
A very curious library was sold in this same year (1774) by Paterson.
The title of the catalogue describes it as follows--
“A Catalogue of rare books and tracts in various languages and
faculties, including the Ancient Conventual Library of Missenden
Abbey in Buckinghamshire, together with some choice remains of that
of the late eminent Sergeant at Law, William Fletewode, Esq.,
Recorder of London in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; among which are
several specimens of the earliest typography, foreign and English,
including Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, and others; a fine
collection of English history, some scarce old law books, a great
number of old English plays, several choice MSS. upon vellum, and
other subjects of literary curiosity....”
It will be seen from this that works of our early printers were
beginning to come into vogue, but they did not fetch very high prices,
varying from five pounds to eight guineas. Two copies of the first
edition of Bacon’s “Essays,” 1597, went for sixpence.
In 1775 one of the finest sales of the century took place at the auction
rooms of Baker & Leigh, that of Anthony Askew, M.D. (1722-1772), whose
ambition it was to have every edition of a Greek author. His library
largely consisted of classics, and most of the books were in good
condition. There were 3570 lots sold in twenty-two days, which realised
£3993, or about £1 per lot. Mead’s library consisted of 10,021 lots,
which realised £5509, or a little over half the average amount per lot
obtained at Askew’s sale. As the character of Mead’s and Askew’s
libraries was somewhat similar, the difference may be partly accounted
for by the increased price of good books in the interval between the two
sales.
Mr. Christie sold in March 1776 the valuable library of a very
remarkable book-collector, John Ratcliffe, who kept a chandler’s shop in
the Borough. It is said that he bought some of his treasures by weight
in the way of his business. His skill as a collector was recognised by
his brother collectors, and on Thursday mornings he was in the habit of
giving breakfasts at his house in East Lane, Rotherhithe, and to them
Askew, Croft, Topham Beauclerk, James West, and others, were constant
visitors. At these breakfasts he displayed his latest purchases. He was
a very corpulent man, and a few years before his death, when a fire
happened in his neighbourhood, and his furniture and books were removed
for safety, he was unable to help those who were engaged in the task. He
stood lamenting the loss of his Caxtons, when a sailor, who heard him,
attempted to console him, and cried, “Bless you, sir, I have got them
perfectly safe.” While Ratcliffe was expressing his thanks, the sailor
produced two of his fine curled periwigs which he had saved. He had no
idea that a man could make such a fuss over a few books.[52]
There were nine days’ sale of 1675 lots. The Caxtons numbered thirty,
and realised an average of £9 each.
Topham Beauclerk, the fashionable friend of Dr. Johnson, collected a
very large library, which was distributed by Paterson in 1781. There
were thirty thousand volumes, which took fifty days to sell. The library
was rich in English plays, English history, travels, and antiquities,
but there were not many high-priced books.
The sale of the library of the Rev. Thomas Crofts in 1783, also by
Paterson, was a much more important event. It consisted of 8360 lots,
distributed over forty-three days, and realised £3453. We are told in
the preface to the sale catalogue that--
“The great reputation which the late Rev. and learned Mr. Crofts had
acquired, with respect to bibliographical knowledge, cannot be
better established than by the following digest of his excellent
library, in which no pains have been spared to render it worthy the
character of the collector, and such as he himself, it is presumed,
would not have disapproved. The collection on the ‘Origin of
Letters,’and of Grammars and Dictionaries, is admirable, and much
fuller of curious books than is to be found in many libraries of the
first description. The theological divisions comprehend many curious
and valuable articles.... The classical part of the library is
indeed a treasure of Greek and Roman learning, comprising many of
the early editions, almost all the Aldine editions, and those of the
best modern commentators.”
Other classes well represented in the library were Italian poetry,
novels and plays, Spanish and Portuguese poetry, &c., history,
topography, antiquities, and voyages and travels. There is a portrait of
Mr. Crofts in Clarke’s _Repertorium Bibliographicum_.
In this same year, 1783, was sold by Mr. Compton the elegant and curious
library of an eminent collector (Joseph Gulston), which contained a
considerable number of books printed on large paper, and well bound. The
library is described in the catalogue as “undoubtedly the most select
ever offered to the public for beauty, scarcity, and condition.” There
were eleven days’ sale of 2007 lots, which realised £1750. In 1784 the
remaining portion of Mr. Gulston’s library was sold by the same
auctioneer. This consisted chiefly of a fine collection of English
typography, and the 784 lots occupied four days in the selling.
Dr. Samuel Johnson’s library, which was sold in 1785, was not a very
valuable one. It consisted of 650 lots, which sold for £100. Among them
was the second Shakespeare folio, now in the possession of Sir Henry
Irving.
In 1785 Dr. Askew’s collection of manuscripts were sold, ten years after
the printed books, when they realised £1827. When Askew died in 1774
they were offered to a collector for two thousand guineas, but the price
was considered too large.
The library of Major Thomas Pearson (1740-1781) was sold by T. & J.
Egerton in 1788. The sale extended over twenty-three days, and consisted
of 5525 lots. This library was very rich in old English literature, and
contained two volumes of original ballads, which were bought by the Duke
of Roxburghe for £36, 4s. 6d., and with the Duke’s additions are now
safely preserved in the British Museum.
The famous Pinelli library, founded by John Vincent Pinelli in the
sixteenth century, and augmented by his descendants (the last possessor
was Maffeo Pinelli, a learned printer at Venice, who died in 1785), was
bought in 1788 by Messrs. Robson & Edwards, booksellers, for about
£7000; and on being brought to London was sold by auction in Conduit
Street in two divisions--the first, in March and April 1789, consisted
of sixty days’ sale, and the second, in February and March 1790, of
thirty-one days. The total number of lots was 14,778, and they realised
£9356, which did not allow much profit to the purchasers after payment
of duties, carriage, and costs of the sale. The library was very rich in
Greek and Latin classics, and Italian literature generally. The chief
lot was the _Complutensian Polyglot_ (6 vols. folio, 1514-17), printed
on vellum, which fetched £483.
The sale of the choice library of M. Paris de Meyzieux (Bibliotheca
Parisina), which took place in March 1791, is worthy of special record
in that the prices realised averaged considerably more than in any
previous sale, and has seldom been equalled even in our own day. The
title of the English catalogue is as follows--
“A Catalogue of a Collection of Books formed by a Gentleman in
France, not less conspicuous for his taste in distinguishing than
his zeal in acquiring whatever of this kind was most perfect,
curious, or scarce: it includes many first editions of the classics:
books magnificently printed on vellum with illuminated paintings;
manuscripts on vellum, embellished with rich miniatures; books of
natural history, with the subjects coloured in the best manner or
with the original drawings and books of the greatest splendour and
rareness in the different classes of literature. To these are added
from another grand collection, selected articles of high value. The
whole are in the finest condition, and in bindings superlatively
rich.”
The library was bought from the executors of Mons. Paris by M. Laurent
of Paris and Mr. James Edwards, and brought to London to be sold. There
were six days’ sale, and the 636 lots realised £7095, 17s. 9d., or a
little over eleven pounds per lot. One of the most beautiful books in
the sale was the _Opere_ of Petrarch, 1514, printed on vellum, with
charming miniatures attributed to Giulio Clovio. Six of these were the
Triumphs of Love, Chastity, Death, Fame, Time, and the Deity. The
borders of the pages were ornamented with 174 exquisite miniatures of
birds, beasts, fishes, monsters, fabulous histories, and various
compositions of the greatest ingenuity. This splendid folio volume
fetched £116, 11s. A similar book, but apparently much less elaborate, a
vellum Aristotle, recently fetched £800 at the Ashburnham sale.
The library of Michael Lort, D.D., F.R.S., was sold by Leigh & Sotheby
in this same year, 1791; it contained a large number of interesting
books, particularly those on English history and antiquities, many of
which were enriched with MS. notes by the Rev. George North. There were
6665 lots, which occupied twenty-five days in the selling, but the
amount realised (£1269) was not large for so considerable a collection.
In 1792 a great sale occurred at Dublin; it was of the library of the
Right Hon. Denis Daly, and was dispersed under the hammer of James
Vallance. There is a good description of the library in the _Gentleman’s
Magazine_ (1792, Part I., pp. 326-28), but although Dibdin gives in his
_Bibliomania_ a notice of some of the books, he does not record the
prices of several of the most interesting items mentioned in the
_Gentleman’s Magazine_. The number of lots was 1441, which realised
£3700. The library was purchased entire from the executors of Mr. Daly
by John Archer and William Jones, two Dublin booksellers, and the former
told Dibdin that Lord Clare offered £4000 for it before the auction
sale, but this offer was refused.
The Earl of Bute’s botanical library was sold by Leigh & Sotheby in 1794
for £3470. It was a ten days’ sale.
The first part of Thomas Allen’s library was dispersed in June 1795, and
the second part in 1799, both parts coming under the hammer of Leigh and
Sotheby. There were in all 3460 lots sold during nineteen days, which
realised £5737.
The sale of the library of George Mason commenced in January 1798, and
continued till 1807, when the fifth part was sold. The first part
contained 497 lots (three days), which realised £620; the second part
480 lots (three days), £784; the third part 547 lots (three days), £670;
the fourth part, sold in 1799, 338 lots (two days), £586. All were sold
by Leigh & Sotheby. The four parts contained 1862 lots, and the total
amount of the sale was £2663. The fifth part, sold in 1807, contained
few lots of any importance.
The library of Richard Farmer, D.D., sold by Mr. King in May 1798, was a
peculiarly interesting one, as containing a rich collection of early
English poetry, of which he was one of the earliest purchasers. Although
he employed agents to purchase for him, he was not very liberal, and is
said to have made a rule not to exceed three shillings for any book. The
number of lots in the sale was 8199, and thirty-six days were occupied
in selling them. The total amount of the sale was £2210, and the library
is supposed to have cost Dr. Farmer in collecting about £500.
Dr. Farmer (1735-1797), author of the famous “Essay on the Learning of
Shakspeare,” and for two-and-twenty years Master of Emanuel College,
Cambridge, was a curious character, who was said to have loved three
things--old port, old clothes, and old books. It was further said that
there were three things which nobody could persuade him to do, viz., to
rise in the morning, to go to bed at night, and to settle an account. He
is said to have imbibed his passion for collecting books from Dr.
Askew. Dr. Parr, who composed his Latin epitaph, wrote of him--
“How shall I talk of thee, and of thy wonderful collection, O rare
Richard Farmer?--of thy scholarship, acuteness, pleasantry,
singularities, varied learning, and colloquial powers! Thy name will
live long among scholars in general, and in the bosoms of virtuous
and learned bibliomaniacs thy memory shall ever be enshrined! The
walls of Emanuel College now cease to convey the sounds of thy
festive wit; thy volumes are no longer seen, like Richard Smith’s
‘bundles of stitcht books,’ strewn upon the floor; and thou has
ceased in the cause of thy beloved Shakespeare to delve into the
fruitful ore of black letter literature. Peace to thy honest spirit;
for thou wert wise without vanity, learned without pedantry, and
joyous without vulgarity.”
Dr. Farmer at one time proposed to have had a catalogue taken of his
library, to which he intended to have prefixed the following
advertisement--
“This Collection of Books is by no means to be considered as an
essay towards a perfect Library; the circumstances and the situation
of the Collector made such an attempt both unnecessary and
impracticable. Here are few publications of great price which were
already to be found in the excellent Library of Emanuel College; but
it is believed that not many private collections contain a greater
number of really curious and scarce books; and perhaps no one is so
rich in the antient philological English literature.--R. FARMER.”
FOOTNOTES:
[46] “Memoir of William Oldys,” 1862, p. 101.
[47] _Reliquiæ Hearnianæ_, 1869, vol. iii. p. 159.
[48] _Ibid._, p. 160.
[49] Nichols’s “Literary Anecdotes,” vol. v. p. 490.
[50] Wanley’s “Diary,” Lansdowne MS., 808, _quoted_ Nichols’s “Literary
Anecdotes,” vol. i. pp. 91-92.
[51] Ibid., vol. ii. p. 106.
[52] Dibdin’s “Reminiscences,” vol. i. p. 327 (note).
CHAPTER VII
AUCTION SALES IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
The sales of the nineteenth century are so numerous, that they must be
treated in a more summary manner than those of the two previous
centuries. The Roxburghe sale in 1812 marks an era in bibliography, and
after it a series of valuable sales occurred until about the middle of
the century, when there was a certain period of dulness, although great
sales like those of the libraries of the Duke of Sussex and the Duke of
Buckingham (Stowe) took place. In 1864 the fine library of George Daniel
was dispersed, when many editions of Shakespeare’s plays, and much
valuable dramatic literature, were sold at high prices. In 1873 was the
great sale of Henry Perkins’s library, in 1881-83 the Sunderland sale,
and in 1882-84 the Beckford and Hamilton sales. These three sales
deserve an historian, such as the Roxburghe sale had in Dibdin; but
although they created a great sensation, they have not been written
about as the Roxburghe sale was. The effect of the high prices realised
at these sales has been to cause a great number of fine libraries to be
brought to the hammer. The century opened with the sale by Mr. King of
the valuable library of George Steevens, the Shakespearian commentator,
which commenced on 13th May 1800, and continued during the ten following
days. There were 1943 lots, which realised £2740. Useful lists of some
of the most interesting books in the sale are given in Dibdin’s
_Bibliomania_ and Clarke’s _Repertorium Bibliographicum_. The whole of
the library was sold, with the exception of an illustrated copy of
Shakespeare, bequeathed to Earl Spencer, the corrected copy of
Steevens’s edition of Shakespeare to Mr. Reed, and a fine set of
Hogarth’s prints, in three volumes, to the Right Hon. William Windham.
The sale of the library of Greffier Fagel of the Hague was announced for
sale in 1802, but instead of coming to auction it was sold entire to
Trinity College, Dublin, for £7000. A catalogue, digested by Samuel
Paterson, in two parts, was printed in 1806.
The very valuable library of Robert Heathcote was sold by Leigh, Sotheby
& Son in 1802 and 1808. The first sale, on 8th April 1802 and five
following days, was described as “an elegant collection of books,
comprising a very extraordinary assemblage of the Greek and Roman
classics, and other books in the English, French, and Italian languages;
the greater part upon large paper, and the whole in fine condition, in
morocco and other splendid bindings.” The number of lots was 958, which
realised £3361.
The second part was described as “a portion of the singularly elegant
library, late the property of a very distinguished amateur [R. H.],
likewise a few duplicates belonging to the present possessor [John
Dent].... The books are almost universally bound in different coloured
morocco, by Roger Payne and other eminent binders.” This sale took place
on 4th April 1808 and five following days, and consisted of 858 lots,
which fetched £2469.
The third sale took place on 2nd May 1808 and following day, when 222
lots were sold for £1246. The books are described as bound by “the most
eminent English and French binders.” The totals of the three sales were
2038 lots, which realised £7076.
The sale of the library of John Woodhouse, which was carried out by
Leigh, Sotheby & Son, on 12th December 1803 and four following days, was
one of great interest. The books were in fine condition, and besides
works on English history, topography, &c., there was a good collection
of old English poetry and romances. There were 862 lots, and the amount
realised was £3135.
James Edwards, who commenced bookselling in Pall Mall about the year
1784, was in 1788 the joint purchaser with James Robson, bookseller, of
New Bond Street, of the Pinelli library. He retired to the Manor House,
Harrow, some years before his death, and gathered around him a very
choice collection of books. He is mentioned in the index to Nichols’s
“Literary Anecdotes” (1813) as the possessor, “with numberless other
literary treasures,” of the famous Bedford Missal. On 25th April 1804
and three following days Mr. Christie sold a selection from his library,
which was described as “a most splendid and valuable collection of
books, superb missals, original drawings, &c., the genuine property of a
gentleman of distinguished taste, retiring into the country.” There were
only 339 lots, which fetched £4640, or nearly £14 per lot, a very
considerable average, but then the books were highly distinguished.
Dibdin gives, in part 5 of his _Bibliomania_, a list of some of the more
important items, and in part 6 a notice of the large number of books
printed on vellum, in the collection. Dibdin does not, however, mention
that it belonged to James Edwards.
On 5th April 1815 and five following days Mr. Evans sold “the valuable
library of James Edwards, Esq., containing a splendid assemblage of
early printed books, chiefly on vellum, highly curious and important
manuscripts, magnificent books of prints,” &c. In this sale was the
Bedford Missal, which was bought by the Marquis of Blandford for £687.
There were 830 lots, which sold for £8421, or rather more than £10 per
lot. Edwards died on 2nd January 1816, aged fifty-nine years.
The library of the first Marquis of Lansdowne (previously Earl of
Shelburne) was sold by Leigh & Sotheby in January and February 1806. The
sale occupied thirty-one days, and contained 6530 lots, which realised
£6701. Amongst the books was a very rare collection of tracts,
documents, and pamphlets relating to the French Revolution, in more than
280 volumes, which sold for £168. In 1807 the Marquis’s collection of
manuscripts were catalogued for sale, but they never came to auction,
as they were purchased by Parliament for the British Museum for £6000.
The Rev. Jonathan Boucher (1738-1804) possessed a large library, which
was sold by Leigh & Sotheby in three parts for a total of £4510. Part 1,
24th February 1806 and twenty-six following days, 6646 lots sold for
£2990. Part 2, 14th April 1806 and eight following days, 1940 lots sold
for £815. Part 3, 29th May 1809 and three following days, 857 lots sold
for £704. The library was full of valuable and useful books in divinity,
history, voyages and travels, poetry, classics, &c., but there were few
books of extreme rarity. Dibdin says in his _Bibliomania_--
“I attended many days during this sale, but such was the warm fire,
directed especially towards divinity, kept up during nearly the
whole of it, that it required a heavier weight of metal than I was
able to bring into the field of battle to ensure any success in the
contest.”
The extensive library of the Rev. John Brand was sold by Mr. Stewart in
two parts. Part 1, in May and June 1807, 8611 lots and MSS. 294 lots, in
thirty-seven days, sold for £4300. Part 2, February 1808, 4064 lots sold
for £1851. The last lot in the first part of the sale was Brand’s own
work on “Popular Antiquities,” with additions prepared for
republication, which, with copyright, sold for £630. The books were in
poor condition, and had been mostly bought for small sums; in addition,
no money was expended by the proprietor on the binding of his books.
On the twenty-fourth day’s sale Dr. Gosset found in one of the volumes
of Menage’s French Dictionary sixty-five pounds in bank-notes, and a
rare portrait of Margaret Smith, engraved by W. Marshall, which was
subsequently sold for twenty-seven guineas. Previous to the removal of
the library from Somerset House, where Brand lived as secretary of the
Society of Antiquaries, Stewart, the auctioneer, found by accident in an
old waste-paper volume seventy guineas wrapped up in paper and placed in
various parts of the book. The money was handed to Mr. Brand’s executor.
Isaac Reed’s interesting library of old English literature was sold by
King & Lochée in November and December 1807. The sale occupied
thirty-nine days, and consisted of 8957 lots, which realised £4386.
A five days’ sale of Lord Penrhyn’s library at Leigh & Sotheby’s in
March 1809 brought £2000.
In June 1809 Leigh & Sotheby sold the library of Richard Porson, which
consisted of 1931 lots, and realised £1254. A list of the prices given
for the principal classics in this sale is printed in the _Classical
Journal_ (i. 385-90).
The eminent antiquary Richard Gough bequeathed his collection of British
topography to the Bodleian Library, but the rest of his library was sold
by Leigh & Sotheby in April 1810 during twenty days. There were 4373
lots, which sold for £3552.
The Rev. Benjamin Heath, D.D., sold his very fine library during his
lifetime to Joseph Johnson, bookseller, of St. Paul’s Churchyard, who
consigned it to Mr. Jeffery in 1810 to be sold by auction. The sale
consisted of 4786 lots, and realised £8899. Dibdin describes this sale
in enthusiastic terms in his _Bibliomania_. He writes--
“Never did the bibliomaniac’s eye alight upon ‘sweeter copies,’ as
the phrase is, and never did the bibliomaniacal barometer rise
higher than at this sale! The most marked phrensy characterised it.
A copy of the _editio princeps_ of Homer (by no means a first-rate
one) brought £92, and all the Aldine classics produced such an
electricity of sensation, that buyers stuck at nothing to embrace
them! Do not let it hence be said that black letter lore is the only
fashionable pursuit of the present age of book collectors. This sale
may be hailed as the omen of better and brighter prospects in
literature in general; and many a useful philological work, although
printed in the Latin or Italian language--and which had been
sleeping unmolested upon a bookseller’s shelf these dozen
years--will now start up from its slumber, and walk abroad in a new
atmosphere, and be noticed and ‘made much of.’”
We now arrive at the year 1812, which will ever be memorable in
bibliographical annals on account of the sale of the grand library of
the Duke of Roxburghe during forty-six days. The catalogue was arranged
by Messrs. G. & W. Nicol, and in the preface we read--
“When literature was deprived of one of its warmest admirers by the
death of the Duke of Roxburghe, his grace was in full pursuit of
collecting our dramatic authors. But when his collection of English
plays is examined, and the reader is informed that he had only
turned his mind to this class of literature for a few years, his
indefatigable industry will be readily admitted.”
Mr. Robert H. Evans, the bookseller of Pall Mall, was induced to
commence the business of auctioneer with his sale, and he continued to
sell by auction for over thirty years.
The Roxburghe library consisted of 10,120 lots, which sold for £23,397.
Although one of the finest libraries ever brought to the hammer, the
glory of the majority of the books was eclipsed by the Valdarfer
_Boccaccio_, 1471, which fetched £2260, the largest sum ever paid for a
book up to that time. It has been said that the amount of the
_Boccaccio_ day’s sale equalled what had been given by the Duke for the
entire collection.[53]
Leigh & Sotheby sold in May 1812 the library of the Marquis Townshend,
during sixteen days, for £5745.
The splendid library of Colonel Stanley was sold by Evans in April and
May 1813, during eight days. There were 1136 lots (or above 3000
volumes), which sold for £8236. A unique copy of De Bry’s Voyages, with
duplicates of parts x. and xi. and a large number of duplicate plates,
bound in blue morocco, sold for £546. Brunet wrote that at this sale the
thermometer of the bibliomania reached its highest point.
The library of Stanesby Alchorne, of the Mint, was bought entire by Earl
Spencer, who sold at Evans’s, in 1813, the portion which he did not
require, and added to the sale some of his own duplicates. There were
only 187 lots in this sale, and they sold for £1769.
Leigh & Sotheby sold the library of the Rev. Isaac Gosset, a constant
attendant on book-sales, in 1813 (the year after his death), during
twenty-three days. There were 5740 lots, which sold for £3141. Gosset
(the Lepidus of Dibdin) was much attached to Richard Heber, whom he
regarded as his pupil.
In this same year (1813) the famous Merly library (Ralph Willett) was
sold by Leigh & Sotheby. There were seventeen days, and 2906 lots, which
sold for £13,508. It was said at the time that if ever there was a
unique collection this was one.
A choice and small library of a well-known collector (John Hunter) was
sold in this same year by Leigh & Sotheby, in a three days’ sale, with
405 lots, which realised £1344.
Messrs. King & Lochée sold the library of John Horne Tooke, 1813. There
were four days, and 1813 lots, which fetched £1250.
In 1814 and 1815 the library of John Towneley was sold by Evans. Part 1
in June 1814, seven days, 904 lots, amount of sale £5890. Part 2, June
1815, ten days, 1703 lots, amount of sale £2707, or a total for the two
parts of £8597. The Towneley Mysteries sold for £147. A small remaining
portion of the Towneley library was sold by Evans in 1817.
Mr. Towneley’s collection of drawings, prints, books of prints, &c., was
sold by Mr. King in 1816 for £1414, and a collection of the works of
Hollar, also by Mr. King, in May 1818 for £2108.
In 1816 there were several fine sales. Evans sold Edward Astle’s
library, which occupied two days’ sale, and consisted of 265 lots,
realising £2366; Dr. Vincent’s, Dean of Westminster, library, in six
days’ sale, 1176 lots, which sold for £1390; and the library of Marshal
Junot, which consisted chiefly of books printed on vellum--the 139 lots
sold for £1397; but this fact by itself is misleading, insomuch that the
books of more than half that value were bought in, viz., £779, making
those sold amount only to £618.
Messrs. Leigh & Sotheby sold in 1816 the library of Prince Talleyrand,
which was described as _Bibliotheca splendissima_. There were eighteen
days’ sale, and the amount realised was £8399.
In this same year (1816) Mr. J. G. Cochrane sold the Gordonstoun library
of Sir Robert Gordon. It contained 2421 lots, occupying twelve days in
the selling, and realising £1539. This sale is specially alluded to by
Mr. Hill Burton in his “Book-Hunter” as a remarkable exception to the
rule that great book-sales seldom “embrace ancestral libraries
accumulated in old houses from generation to generation.” This library
“was begun by Sir Robert Gordon, a Morayshire laird of the time of the
great civil wars of the seventeenth century. He was the author of the
‘History of the Earldom of Sutherland,’ and a man of great political as
well as literary account. He laid by heaps of the pamphlets, placards,
and other documents of his stormy period, and thus many a valuable
morsel, which had otherwise disappeared from the world, left a
representative in the Gordonstoun collection. It was increased by a
later Sir Robert, who had the reputation of being a wizard. He belonged
to one of those terrible clubs from which Satan is entitled to take a
victim annually; but when Gordon’s turn came, he managed to get off with
merely the loss of his shadow.”
William Roscoe’s fine library was also sold in 1816 by Winstanley of
Liverpool. There were 1918 lots, and fourteen days’ sale, the amount
realised being £5150.
It is worthy of mention that in 1817 Evans sold the library of Count
Borromeo of Padua, and that the books were very fully described in the
catalogue. In one instance a book which only sold for half-a-crown was
described in fourteen lines. The catalogue of 324 lots occupied
seventy-seven octavo pages. The total proceeds of the sale were £726.
The cataloguing of the time was not affected by this example, and it was
many years before full descriptions were given in sale catalogues. M.
Libri’s annotated catalogues of 1859-62 set the new fashion.
The book sales from this date become so very numerous, that it is
impossible in the space at our disposal to register more than a few of
the most important, and these must be recorded quite succinctly.
The sale of Edmond Malone’s library at Sotheby’s in 1818 occupied eight
days, and brought £1649.
The great sale by Evans of James Bindley’s library, which was
particularly rich in early English literature, was spread over several
years. Part 1, December 1818, twelve days, 2250 lots, amount of sale
£3046. Part 2, January 1819, twelve days, 2588 lots, amount realised
£4631. Part 3, February 1819, eleven days, 2321 lots [amount not given
in Evans’s sale catalogues in the British Museum.] Part 4, August 1820,
books, six days, 1132 lots, amount £2253. [Part 5] omissions, January
1821, five days, 1092 lots [no totals given].
Bindley’s portraits, prints and drawings, and medals were sold by
Sotheby in 1819. Part 1, Bindley Granger. Part 2, portraits. Part 3,
prints and drawings. [Part 4], medals. These realised £7692.
John North’s library was sold in 1819 by Evans in three parts. Part 1,
nine days, 1497 lots, £4285. Part 2, twelve days, 2175 lots, £5679. Part
3, four days, 842 lots, £2842. Total, £12,806.
Evans sold George Watson Taylor’s library in 1823. Part 1, six days, 965
lots, £3850. Part 2, eight days, 1207 lots, £4926.
The great Fonthill Abbey sale (Beckford’s collection) occurred in 1823.
The sale occupied thirty-seven days, of which twenty were taken up with
the disposal of the library of 20,000 volumes. The auctioneer was Mr.
Phillips of New Bond Street, and the place of sale was the Abbey.
George Nassau’s library was sold by Evans in 1824. Part 1, twelve days,
2603 lots, £4894. Part 2, eight days, 1661 lots, £3611.
A still finer library than this was sold in the same year by Evans,
that of Sir Mark Masterman Sykes, Bart. Part 1, eleven days, 1676 lots,
£9505. Part 2, six days, 825 lots, £4580. Part 3, eight days, 1190 lots,
£4644, making a total of 3691 lots, which realised £18,729.
Almost a rival to this was the sale by Evans in 1827 of the library of
John Dent, F.R.S. Part 1, nine days, 1502 lots, £6278. Part 2, nine
days, 1474 lots, £8762. Totals, 2976 lots, and £15,040.
In 1827 the library of the Duke of York was sold at Sotheby’s for £5718.
The Earl of Guilford’s library was sold by Evans in seven parts in the
years 1828, 1829, 1830, and 1835. There were forty days and 8511 lots,
and the total amount realised was £12,175. These totals were made up as
follows:--Part 1 (1828), nine days, 1788 lots, £1665. Part 2 (1829), six
days, 1459 lots, £1757. Part 3 (1829), three days, 740 lots, £880.
Manuscript (1830), five days, 679 lots, £4441. Library from Corfu: Part
I (1830), five days, 1124 lots, £998. Part 2 (1831), four days, 722
lots, £678. Remaining portion (1835), eight days, 1999 lots, £1756.
The great sale of George Hibbert’s library by Evans was commenced in
1829, forty-two days’ sale, 8794 lots, £6816.
Evans sold in 1831 the small but fine library of the Duchesse de Berri,
who is described on the catalogue as an “Illustrious Foreign Personage.”
There were five days, and 846 lots, which realised £5160.
In 1832 Evans sold the library of Philip Hurd for £5545. There were
1464 lots, which occupied eight days in selling.
In this same year the choicer portion of John Broadley’s library was
sold, also by Evans. There were 589 lots in three days’ sale, which
realised £2052. The second portion was sold during six days in 1833,
1225 lots, which realised £3707.
Joseph Haslewood’s library was sold by Evans in 1833. This was an eight
days’ sale, consisting of 1855 lots; which realised £2471. The amount
was probably more than the late proprietor expected, as he said he would
refuse a thousand pound cheque in exchange for his books. Dibdin remarks
in his “Reminiscences” on the fact that Haslewood always intended that
his books should be sold by Sotheby. He was in the habit of saying,
“What will Sam Sotheby make of this or that after I am gone?”
In 1833 and 1834 the library of P. A. Hanrott was sold by Evans in five
parts, and during forty-seven days, for £22,409. There were 10,826 lots.
These totals are obtained as follows:--Part 1 (1833), twelve days, 2504
lots, £7487. Part 2 (1833), twelve days, 2574 lots, £5161. Part 3
(1834), twelve days, 2753 lots, £5727. Part 4 (1834), six days, 1489
lots, £2845. Part 5 (1834), five days, 1506 lots, £1189.
The great sale of the library of Richard Heber took place during the
years 1834, 1835, and 1836. Mr. H. Foss has written the following totals
for the twelve parts in a copy of the catalogue in the British Museum.
Two hundred and two days of sale, 52,676 lots, 119,613 volumes, which
sold for £56,774. The proportionate total cost to Mr. Heber of the
library is put at £77,750. The following are the particulars of the
various parts:--Part 1, April and May 1834, sold by Sotheby & Son,
twenty-six days, 7486 lots, £5615. Part 2, June and July (Sotheby),
twenty-five days, 6590 lots, £5958. Part 3, November (Sotheby),
seventeen days, 5055 lots, £2116. Part 4, December, sold by R. H. Evans,
fifteen days, 3067 lots, £7248. Part 5, January and February 1835, sold
by B. Wheatley, twenty days, 5693 lots, £2623. Part 6, March and April
(Evans), twenty days, 4666 lots, £6771. Part 7, May and June (Evans),
twenty-one days, 6797 lots, £4035. Part 8, February and March 1836
(Evans), twelve days, 3170 lots, £3955. Part 9, April (Sotheby),
fourteen days, 3218 lots, £6463. Part 10, May and June (Sotheby),
fourteen days, 3490 lots, £2117. Part 11, manuscripts (Evans), ten days,
1717 lots, £8964. Part 12, July (Wheatley), eight days, 1727 lots, £894.
Part 13 (and last) was sold in February 1837 by Wheatley, six days, 1558
lots, £780. This amount must be added to the totals of the twelve parts
given above.
In 1835 the remarkable collection of Dr. Kloss of Frankfort was sold by
Sotheby & Son. It contained many original and unpublished manuscripts
and printed books, with MS. annotations attributed to Philip Melancthon.
There were 4682 lots, which took twenty days to sell, and realised
£2261. The catalogue was the work of Samuel Leigh Sotheby, and he
expended much labour upon it.
Evans sold in 1835 the fine library of the Comte de Noailles, who is
described in the catalogue as “a distinguished collector.” There were
952 lots, sold in five days for £3188.
The Hon. Baron (Sir William) Bolland’s library was sold by Evans in
1840. The sale consisted of 2940 lots, and occupied thirteen days,
realising £3019. In the next year was sold, also by Evans, the library
of Thomas Hill (supposed to be the original of Paul Pry), during seven
days. There were 1684 lots, which brought £1424.
The library of George Chalmers, F.R.S., was sold by Evans in 1841 and
1842, and the catalogue was divided into three parts. Part 1, September
and October 1841, nine days, 2292 lots, £2190. Part 2, March 1842, six
days, 1514 lots, £1918. Part 3, November 1842, eight days, 1966 lots,
£2081.
Horace Walpole’s collections were sold at Strawberry Hill by George
Robins in April and May 1842, during twenty-four days. The first six
days were devoted to the sale of the library, which consisted of 1555
lots, and realised £3900. It was very badly catalogued, and the books
and books of prints, collection of portraits, &c., forming the seventh
and eighth days’ sale, were withdrawn, re-catalogued, and extended to a
ten days’ sale.
The library of Lord Berwick was sold at Sotheby’s in April and May 1843
for £6726.