A PLEA FOR SPECIALISM
'The road lies plain before me; 'tis a theme
Single and of determined bounds.'--WORDSWORTH.
MOST book-collectors embark upon their life-long hobby without any
clearly defined scheme of collecting, buying just those books which take
their fancy, and in many cases not realising that they have caught the
dread contagion of bibliomania until they suddenly find that more
shelf-room is required for their books, and that the expenditure upon
their hobby is growing out of all proportion to their means. It is then
generally too late to stop, and although they may avoid the book-stalls
for some days, nay even weeks, the passion of collecting is only dormant,
and will break out with renewed vigour either upon a sudden (though
perhaps only temporary) condition of affluence, or upon the
receipt of that most insidious of all temptations, a bookseller's
catalogue--especially if it be a 'clearance' one.
This passion for collecting books resolves itself at length into two
categories. Either the patient grows rapidly worse and plunges headlong
into the vortex of auctions, catalogues, and bibliographies, amassing
during the process a vast nondescript collection of books; or else he
improves slowly but surely, growing daily shrewder in his purchases. So
that at length, having completely recovered his composure, he finds
himself the possessor of a collection of books valuable alike from
commercial and utilitarian standpoints.
The former of these collectors is generally said to suffer from acute
bibliomania. His knowledge of books is vast but of a general kind, and
for practical purposes it cannot compare with that acquired by his
fellow-collector who had seen the folly of a headlong course. His
complaint is well known; indeed it was recognised in the first century of
our era, when Seneca condemned the rage for mere book-collecting, and
rallied those who were more pleased with the outsides than the insides of
their volumes. Lucian, too, in the next century, employed his prolific
pen in exposing this then common folly.
Even the wise collector, however, runs some risk of being engulfed by his
hobby and swept away by the flood of books. There is but one remedy, or
rather alleviation, for book-collecting is quite incurable and follows a
man to his grave (unless, of course, he be cast upon a desert island),
and that is _specialism_.
Every collector should become a specialist. It will give him a definite
ambition, something to look for among other books, something to complete;
and there is a thousand times more satisfaction in possessing a select
collection of works of a definite class or upon a definite subject, than
in the accumulation of a vast heterogeneous mass of books. He will get to
know the greater part of the works upon his own subject, become an
authority upon it in time, and perhaps will even attempt a bibliography
if it be an out-of-the-way subject. He will know precisely what he wants,
what to search for, and what price to pay. In short, he will be lifted
out of the fog of miscellaneous books into the clear atmosphere of a
definite and known class of works.
It is such an easy step, and such an immensely important one, this
determination to confine one's collecting activities to a certain class
of books. 'What a blessing it is,' said a book-loving friend not long
ago, 'not to have to worry about all sorts of books. I have never ceased
congratulating myself that I took the resolution to confine myself
entirely to Herbals. Before, I had a vast but untrustworthy knowledge of
titles and editions which a bad memory did not assist. Now, thank
goodness, I have forgotten all that, but I flatter myself that I really
do know something about Herbals.'
And what a profitless occupation is the aimless collecting of
heterogeneous books. If bibliographical knowledge be our aim, their very
diversity tends to confuse us. If recreation be our object, better far to
join a circulating library than garner volumes which, once read, are
never to be opened again. Learning and study cannot be intended, for the
formation of a library of nondescript books collected upon no system or
plan can, at best, endow us with but a smattering of knowledge.
There was once a certain bishop who used continually to collect useless
luxuries. The Emperor Charlemagne, perceiving this, ordered a merchant
who traded in rare and costly objects to paint a common mouse with
different colours and to offer it to the bishop, as being a rare and
curious animal which he had just brought from Palestine. The bishop is
transported with delight at the sight of it, and immediately offers the
merchant three silver pounds for such a treasure. But the merchant,
acting on his instructions, bargains with the bishop, saying that he
would rather throw it into the sea than sell it for so little. Finally
the bishop offers twenty pounds for it. The merchant, wrapping up the
'ridiculus mus' in precious silk, is going away when the collector,
unable to bear the thought of losing so great a curio, calls him back and
says that he will give him a bushel of silver for it. This the merchant
accepts: the money is paid; and the merchant returns to the Emperor to
give him an account of the transaction.
Then Charlemagne convokes the bishops and priests of all the province,
and placing before them the money which the mouse has fetched, reads them
a homely lesson on the foolishness of collecting profitless trifles.
Sternly he enjoins them in future to use their money in administering to
the wants of the poor rather than to throw it away on such unprofitable
baubles as a painted mouse. The guilty bishop, now become the
laughing-stock of the province, is permitted to depart without
punishment.
Doubtless the great majority of book-collectors are not specialists. They
may set greater store by a certain class of works which appeals to them
from some whimsical reason, but until they have grown middle-aged in
their pursuit most of them are but _dilettanti_.
'Yes,' I can hear you exclaim, 'but if your collecting propensities are
to be curbed and countless books passed by, books which your very
instinct urges you to acquire, surely you will lose most of the charm of
collecting? How dull to be obliged to purchase only those works to which
you have vowed to confine yourself.'
Dull! No. I can assure you from my own experience that this restraint
will but serve to redouble your eagerness, to sharpen an appetite in
danger of becoming blunted by a plethora of _desiderata_ and a shrinkage
of your purse. So that whereas before, a short stroll about the
book-shops would discover to you abundance, or at least plenty, of books
that you would like casually to possess, now that you have become a
specialist you must go further afield. Often you will return empty-handed
from your rambles, and your sanctum (to the delight of the housemaid)
will not be invaded quite so often by stacks of 'dirty old books.' Order
will come out of chaos; many works bought upon impulse because they
appealed to you at the moment will be weeded out and discarded. Moreover
the shillings which this process yields will enable you to send that
priceless gem, the _chef d'oeuvre_ of your collection, to the binder's,
that its extrinsic appearance may be fashioned in keeping with its
intrinsic worth.
More important still, you will become a known man. The booksellers will
remember you, and one day when you reach home from a long and barren
ramble, you will find a postcard awaiting you, announcing the discovery
of some book for which you have long sought.
'SIR,--I have found a copy of the Vitruvius fo. Venice, 1535,
that you asked me for some time ago. You can have it for 10s.
(vellum, clean copy). Shall I send it?--Yours respectfully, JOHN
BROWN.'
Your ramble may have been on a cold winter's afternoon, it may have been
raining and muddy underfoot, but will not this cheer you up and warm you
better than any cup of tea? And what will be your sensations as you undo
the parcel, take out the treasure (which you once saw in Johnson's
catalogue for L3), turn eagerly to its title-page, and collate it as
gently as though you were handling some priceless work of art? Don't tell
me! The specialist gets a thousand times more pleasure out of his hobby
than ever did casual buyer. Besides, what rapture will be his whenever he
chance upon some book for which he has long been searching, or upon some
work on his very subject and yet unknown to him; for book-collecting is
full of surprises.
Some of the booksellers will ask you for a list of your wants. You may
safely supply them with one, and it is not necessary to state the maximum
price which you are prepared to pay for each. Should you do so, probably
it will be taken to indicate that you are prepared to pay the price
named, and the book when found will be offered to you at that price (or a
few shillings less to give the idea of a bargain) when you might have had
it at a considerably lower figure. Remember also that the very fact of a
book being sought for enhances its price. Suppose that a country
bookseller sees an advertisement in the trade journal asking for a copy
of a certain obscure sixteenth-century work, and that he recollects he
has a copy somewhere in stock. He finds it among his shelves marked,
possibly, five shillings. When he answers the advertisement it is more
than likely that he will ask a pound or even two for it. At the same
time, however, you must consider whether or not the book is worth as much
to you. It may be a little known and, to the world at large, a valueless
book, and you may have to wait some years before you are able to secure a
copy; whereas by advertising for it you may procure a copy almost
immediately. Do you prefer to take the chance of having to wait years for
a book which you urgently want, or to pay a longish price and possess it
at once?
There is another point to be considered. Should you ever part with your
collection _en bloc_, or should your executors dispose of it, this volume
will be an item of the collection of works in which you specialise. As
such it will be much more likely to realise the larger than the smaller
price, especially as the disposal of a collection of books upon a
definite subject attracts to the rostrum other collectors of a like class
of works.
Surely every book-collector is in his heart of hearts a specialist. Have
you ever taken into your hands some choice gem of your collection without
wishing that there were others in your library of the same genus? Is
there not some one volume among your books that demands your first
consideration when new shelving is put up, when your books are
re-arranged; the volume to which you would fly first of all if a fire
broke out in your sanctum? Brother bookman, I can almost hear you turn in
your chair at the awful prospect of having to make choice between your
beloved tomes! Indeed I am with you whole-heartedly, for there are two
books, two priceless gems, rescued (the one from Austria, the other
France) after years of patient search, two books which ever strive for
the ascendancy in my bibliophilic affections. Far from me be it to make
distinction between them. Granted, however, that you have made up your
mind as to the identity of _the_ treasure, do you not wish to possess
other equally choice works of the same class, on the same subject?
Suppose some distant relative of yours with great propriety should die,
bequeathing you all unexpectedly far more worldly goods than you had ever
hoped to possess; supposing also that you were 'without encumbrances' or
ties of any description, and that your sole aim and ambition in this
world was the collecting unto yourself of the choicest fruits of master
minds: what would be your first act, in so far as your hobby is
concerned?
I know what our book-hunter would do under such conditions. He would take
the next train to Paris, proceed to a certain shop not a great distance
from the Rue St. Honore, mount the step-ladder and hand down to the
delighted Henri just precisely what he fancied _in his own particular
line_. This process he would continue elsewhere until he had formed a
goodly nucleus round which to amass still scarcer volumes as they came to
hand. And I venture to think that you would do the same, though not
necessarily in Paris.
What is it that makes a man a specialist? Is it a particular knowledge of
a certain subject? Do all book-collecting doctors garner only herbals and
early medical works? Does the poet-collector specialise in poetry, the
freemason in masonic books, the angler in works dealing only with his
pastime?
Not always, perhaps; but doubtless this is the case with the great
majority of collectors. Sometimes a chance purchase may shape the entire
course of a man's collecting, sometimes he is led to the subject to which
he devotes his collecting energies by devious byways. Our book-hunter has
a friend who began to collect old French books on Chivalry through a
touch of influenza. When convalescent his doctor ordered him a
sea-voyage. An hour after the advice was given he met a shipping friend,
who offered him a cabin in a ship just about to start on a trading voyage
in the Mediterranean. At Crete the ship was detained for some repairs, so
he took the opportunity to visit Rhodes in a coasting vessel. He was much
struck with the famous Street of the Knights and ancient buildings of
the great military Order that once owned the island, and regretted that
he knew so little about it. Nor did his scanty knowledge of these things
enable him to appreciate to the full the buildings of the Order at Malta.
On his return to this country he spent some time at the British Museum,
delving into these knightly records of the past, but was unable even then
to discover all that he wished to know. So for a time he took up his
abode in Paris, working daily at the Archives, the Arsenal Library, and
Bibliotheque Nationale. Then came the Library of the Vatican. To-day his
collection of ancient works on La Chevalerie, in most of the languages of
Europe, is a thing to be proud of, and his sub-collection on the
Hospitallers and their commanderies is especially rich. Probably there
are few works upon this subject with which he is unacquainted, and the
bibliography upon which he is at work bids fair to become the standard
volume.
What an immense part Chance plays in all our lives. Some of the most
momentous events in the world's history have turned upon the most trivial
happenings. Had not a wild boar run in a certain direction, probably
there would have been no Norman Conquest of England! Robert of Normandy,
out hunting with his friends, roused a boar which, running a certain
course, necessitated the duke's return through the village street where
he saw and fell in love with the burgess's daughter who became the mother
of William the Conqueror. Had the boar run north instead of south,
probably Robert would never have seen Arlette, and William would never
have been born. Olaf of Norway, the great sea-king whose name was feared
from Brittany to the Orkneys, was converted to Christianity by a chance
landing at the Scilly Isles, where haply he visited the cell of a holy
man that dwelt there.
Let us now draw up a list of those subjects which generally engage the
attention of specialists. The list is a lengthy one and offers an
infinite variety. Each heading will comprise various sub-headings, and of
these I shall speak more in detail.
1. Arctic, Antarctic, Whaling.
2. Africa.
3. Americana.
4. Architecture, Building Construction.
5. Australasia.
6. Bibles.
7. Bibliography, Bookbinding, Printing.
8. Biography, Memoirs, Diaries.
9. Celebrated Authors and Books.
10. Celebrated Presses.
11. Chapbooks, Ballads, Broadsides.
12. Civil War and Commonwealth.
13. Classics.
14. Cookery Books.
15. Costume.
16. Crime and Prisons.
17. Dictionaries, Etymology.
18. Drama, the Stage.
19. Early-printed books.
20. Early Romances.
21. Economics.
22. Facetiae, Curiosa, Books on Gallantry.
23. Fine Arts, including Technique, Theory, Criticism, History of the
Arts, Furniture, Tapestries, Decorations, Gems, Ceramics, Plate.
24. First Editions of Esteemed Authors.
25. Folk-lore, Fables, Mysteries.
26. Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, and Secret Societies.
27. French Revolution.
28. Gardening.
29. Heraldry, Chivalry, Crusades, Genealogy, Peerages, Ceremonies,
and books on Seals and Brasses.
30. History and Chronicles.
31. Husbandry, Agriculture.
32. Illustrated Books, Books of Engravings.
33. Legal.
34. Liturgies, Mass and Prayer Books.
35. Locally-printed books.
36. Mathematical and Early Scientific.
37. Medical (Early), including Herbals and Early Botanical.
38. Military, including Archery, Arms, Armour, Fencing, and Duelling.
39. Music.
40. Napoleon.
41. Natural History.
42. Nautical and Naval.
43. Numismatics, Medals.
44. Occult, Astrology, Astronomy, Alchemy, Witchcraft, Magic.
45. Pamphlets and Tracts.
46. Philosophy.
47. Poetry.
48. Privately-printed books.
49. School books.
50. Sport, Games, Pastimes.
51. Theology, Lives and Works of the Early Fathers, History of the
Church, Inquisition, works on the Religious Sects.
52. Tobacco.
53. Topography, including Atlases, Geography, and County Histories.
54. Trades.
55. Travels and Exploration.
56. Voyages, Shipwrecks.
From this list are purposely omitted books printed upon vellum, Books of
Hours of the Virgin Mary, and illuminated books; for these are rarities
within reach of the wealthy only. Nor is 'bindings' included, for the man
who collects these is no book-lover in the truest sense of the word, and
his hobby does not fall properly within the category of book-collecting,
being classed rather under the heading Art and Vertu, Bric-a-Brac, or
what you will. Naturally all book-collectors (save perhaps the
'original-boards-uncut' man) are sensible to the charm of a choicely
bound copy, provided always that the binding be appropriate and that it
is impossible to obtain the book in its original covers; but it is for
something more than the mere outsides of his treasures that the real
book-lover cares.
Needless to say, there are other subjects which have their devotees. Some
collectors specialise in large-paper copies, some prefer certain editions
which contain matter suppressed later. Others collect early children's
books, gipsy literature, Egyptology, books on inventions, ballooning,
etc. But most of these are more in the nature of sub-headings to the
subjects in our list, and offer a more restricted field of collecting.
Indeed I am in some doubt as to whether the large-paper collector should
be included here, for his penchant is as far removed from true
book-collecting as is that of the specialist in bindings. His hobby can
have nothing to do with literature, since it is only the external
characteristics of a book which appeal to him. He may be 'wise in his
generation,' but his pursuit approaches closely to bibliomania. This
objection may perhaps also be urged against one other subject in our
list, namely, privately-printed books. But here there is an ulterior
interest beyond the mere singularity of their production; for there are
very many books of great merit, chiefly memoirs and family histories,
which their authors have designed, from personal and contemporary
reasons, to come only into the hands of their own families and
acquaintances.
So here is your list, reader, take your choice. But perchance you are
already numbered among the elect, one of those _magi_ among bibliophiles
who are at once the despair of the booksellers and the wise men of their
generation? Is it not to the specialists that we owe the bulk of our
knowledge of old books--for who else is it that produce the
bibliographies, numerous but not nearly numerous enough, that delight the
heart of the collector? All praise to them, and, brother bibliophile, if
you are not yet of their number in heart at least, read through the
foregoing list once more and put a mark with your pencil against the
heading which is most to your taste. If you do not see your chosen
subject at once, a scrutiny will probably discover it for you included in
another and wider subject.[74] For example, Astronomy and Astrology,
inseparably bound up in the ancient works, are included in the heading
'Occult.' Herbals, which deal with the medicinal qualities of plants, you
will find under 'Medical.'
Is your purse a long one? Would you not like to garner folios and quartos
with weird and heavy types that speak of a craft yet in its infancy;
books that perchance have seen or even been handled by the actual
combatants of Barnet or of Bosworth Field; books with monstrous crude yet
wholly delightful woodcuts that bring before us the actual appearance of
our forebears under the King-maker, Richard Crouchback, and Harry
Richmond? Or would you like to gather to yourself as many examples as you
may, in the finest possible condition, of the exquisite art of Aldo
Manuccio the elder? But perhaps the following, from a recent catalogue,
represents a class (20) more to your palate.
L'Histoire du tres fameux et tres redoute Palmerin d'Olive . . . .
traduite de Castillan en Francoys reueue et derechef mise en
son entier, selon nostre vulgaire moderne et usite, par Jean
Maugin, dit l'Angeuin. _With_ 45 _large spirited woodcuts (some
being nearly full-page) representing duels, battles, etc., and_
132 _large ornamental initial letters_. Folio, Paris, 1553.
Is your purse a light one? Then fifteenth-century books are denied you,
as are all other esteemed works of the Middle Ages such as romances and
classics. But there is hardly another heading in our list, save perhaps
the first editions of the great authors, which you may not make your own.
Almost every subject has its bibliography, and many fresh volumes are
added yearly to the ever-increasing list of 'books about books.' You will
find what bibliographies have appeared upon your particular subject, up
to 1912, by referring to Mr. W. P. Courtney's 'Register of National
Bibliography,' which should be (if indeed it is not) in every public
library throughout the kingdom.
Some day an enterprising public body will purchase a building with
fifty-five rooms (or thereabouts), each of which will contain a small and
carefully selected collection of books on each one of these subjects.
Each room will have its own catalogue and its own librarian, who will be
an expert in the subject over which he presides. The rooms, of course,
will vary in size according to the magnitude of the subject and the
number of sub-headings which it comprises. Readers will have access to
the shelves in almost every case, books of great value alone being kept
under lock and key.
How invaluable such a library would be, and what a vast amount of time
would all readers be saved! We should know instantly to whom to turn for
expert advice upon any subject--for the sub-librarians would naturally be
acquainted with more than the mere outsides of the volumes in their
charge. We should be able to handle the latest works upon our subject
immediately; and we should have, ready to our hand, a history of its
literature from the earliest times to the present day.
As to whether the acquisition of knowledge by this method would not turn
us all into journalists, however, is another matter.
With the first heading in our list shall be included several others,
namely (2) Africa; (5) Australasia; (55) Travels and Explorations (which
heading includes every land under the sun not specially mentioned in our
list), and (56) Voyages and Shipwrecks; in short, all those subjects
which concern 'foreign parts.' They are subjects which are most likely to
engage the attentions of collectors who have been seafaring in their
time, though, as has been shown in Chapter II., it is not every traveller
who has been far afield.
Books on Arctic and Antarctic exploration, as well as whaling voyages,
comprise much reading that is as interesting to the landsman as to the
sailor. Most of its literature is within easy reach of the collector of
modest means, though the earlier volumes are naturally increasing
gradually in price. One of the hardest to obtain is William Scoresby's
'Account of the Arctic Regions,' which was published in two octavo
volumes at Edinburgh in 1820. You will be lucky if you find a clean sound
copy of it with the plates unspotted. It is now getting very scarce, as
is Weddell's 'Voyage towards the South Pole in 1822-24' (octavo, London,
1825).
Each of these headings can be subdivided according to your requirements.
Africa you may divide conveniently into West, South, East, and Central;
North Africa being best classified under the various countries which it
contains, namely, Algiers, Morocco, Tripoli, and Tunis. Egypt, of course,
has a vast literature of its own. Similarly books on Australasia may be
divided into those which deal with Polynesia, New Guinea, Australia
(again divided into its states), Tasmania, and New Zealand; though,
properly speaking, the first of these should be classified under the
heading 'Voyages.'
There is little doubt that those collectors who have devoted their
energies during the past twenty-five years to the collecting of books on
Africa, especially the South, will prove at no very distant date to have
been wise in their purchases. Just as early Americana are so eagerly
bought by our neighbours across the Atlantic at immense prices, far and
away out of all proportion to their intrinsic worth as literature or
history, so will the day come when those of our kin whose fathers sought
a home in the 'great dark continent' will go to any length to procure
works which deal with the early history of that newer world; and this
will be the case, perhaps even sooner, with our Australasian friends.
The early books on Australia are most interesting. Besides Governor
Phillip's 'Voyage to Botany Bay' (1789) and his Letters therefrom (1791)
there are such compilations as John Callander's version of the Comte de
Tournay's 'Terra Australis Cognita,' or Voyages to the Southern
Hemisphere during the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries,
three octavo volumes published at Edinburgh between 1766 and 1768. Then
there is Admiral Hunter's 'Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port
Jackson and Norfolk Island' (1793).[75] Hunter sailed with the first
fleet in 1787 under Arthur Phillip, the first governor of Botany Bay, as
second in command of H.M.S. _Sirius_, and afterwards became
governor-general of New South Wales in succession to Phillip. His journal
gives a very valuable account of the early days of the Colony.
Barrington's, Mitchell's, and Sturt's handsome volumes, all with fine
plates, are still to be had for shillings. They seem a very good
investment.
Books on the South Seas have a peculiar interest, for the subject at once
conjures up the name of the immortal Captain Cook; and the accounts of
his remarkable voyages between 1768 and 1779 are perhaps the most eagerly
sought for of all books on Polynesia. The first voyage of discovery in
which the great explorer took part was in the years 1768 to 1771. His
ship, the _Endeavour_, was accompanied in the first part of the voyage by
the _Dolphin_ and _Swallow_; and an account of the _Endeavour's_ voyage
was published surreptitiously in 1771 by, it is said, certain of the
petty officers of Cook's vessel.[76] But the compilation of an authentic
account of the voyage, from the rough notes and diaries, was entrusted to
Dr. Hawkesworth, and was published in 1773 in three quarto volumes. From
this task Hawkesworth gleaned L6000, and although we are told that the
book 'was read with an avidity proportioned to the novelty of the
adventures which it recorded,' yet the compiler so far offended against
the canons of good taste as to cause considerable offence. Cook gained
such credit for his intrepidity that he was promptly promoted from
lieutenant to commander.
A second expedition was soon planned, and in 1772 the _Resolution_ and
the _Adventure_ set sail, the former returning to England in 1775. The
results of this voyage were drawn up by Captain Cook himself, and
published in 1777 in two quarto volumes. In 1776 he sailed once more in
the _Resolution_, but was destined never to return, for on St.
Valentine's Day, 1779, he met his death at the hands of the natives of
Hawaii. The expedition returned the next year, and the official account
of it was published in 1784, in three quarto volumes, of which the first
two were from the pen of Cook, the third volume being written by James
King. The following year a second edition appeared, also in three quarto
volumes. All these works have maps, charts, and folding plates, which are
sometimes bound up separately into folio volumes. A few of these somewhat
crude plates were engraved by Bartolozzi. Admiral James Burney's
'Chronological History of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Sea,' was
published in five quarto volumes between 1803 and 1817. The author was
one of Cook's officers, and the diary of the last voyage which he sailed
in company with the great navigator is still (1921) in manuscript. His
account of the death of Captain Cook, however, was published in the
'Cornhill Magazine' so lately as November 1914.
During the first half of the nineteenth century many handsome works upon
these subjects issued from the press. For the most part they are
sumptuous books, many of them having coloured plates and sometimes
folding ones. They were published chiefly for subscribers at prices
ranging from two guineas to fifteen; and during the last few years they
have risen considerably in price. Until the decline of the coloured
engraving in the 'fifties of last century they were legion in number,
both quartos and octavos, and many are still to be had for a few
shillings. But a study of booksellers' catalogues alone will give you an
idea of their prices and values. Needless to say, works upon voyages,
travels, and explorations issued in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries are becoming increasingly scarce and valuable.
Here a word of warning. Before you purchase any of these illustrated
volumes, make sure (by referring to a bibliography or standard collation
if possible) that it is intact. Frequently a plate or a map is missing,
and sometimes an unscrupulous seller will go so far as to remove the
'list of plates' in order that the blemish may remain undetected. With
such defects, books of travel are generally of little worth.
Some of the byways included in these headings of Travel and Foreign
Countries are of considerable interest for the bibliographer no less than
for the traveller. Who has confined his attentions to the early Saracenic
literature of North Africa? There is a number of works dealing with it,
chiefly sixteenth-century Spanish books, and all are of considerable
value. Luis del Marmol's 'Descripcion general del Affrica' is in three
folio volumes, of which the first two were printed at Granada in 1573,
the third volume being dated at Malaga, 1599. But though Marmol affixed
his own name to it, the work is little more than a translation of the
'Description of Africa,' by Leo Africanus, a fellow-countryman of Marmol,
who composed his work in Arabic. Marmol was certainly well qualified for
his task, for he was taken prisoner by the Moors in 1546, and was eight
years in captivity in Africa. Curio's 'Sarracenicae Historiae' was first
published in folio at Basel in 1567; but it was English'd by T. Newton in
1575, quarto, black letter, London--if you are so lucky as to come across
it. It is called 'A Notable Historie of the Saracens.' Dan's 'Histoire de
la Barbarie,' folio, Paris, 1649, appears in the sale-room from time to
time.
[Sidenote: Americana.]
3. Americana--what a vast subject in itself! Its very definition
signifies the inclusion of everything upon any subject whatsoever that
has ever been written upon the Americas! But in the bibliographer's
reading this term is generally taken to imply those early works relating
to the discovery and settlement of the United States and Canada, though
not necessarily in the English language. For the purposes of our list,
however, we will confine its meaning solely to the United States;
classifying books upon Canada, Alaska, and Mexico under the heading
Travels and Exploration. Under the latter heading also, of course, will
come the various countries of Central and South America.
Many have been the collections upon the early history of New England, and
you will do well to obtain the catalogues of the Huth, Church,
Auchinleck, Winsor, Livingston, Grenville, and Hoe collections. The
famous collection of Americana from the library at Britwell Court was to
have been sold by auction at Sotheby's in August 1916; but it was
purchased _en bloc_ to go to New York, where it was dispersed by public
auction the following January. The sale catalogue (Sotheby's) is an
extremely good one, and contains a large number of works previously
undescribed. The well-known library of Americana amassed by Dr. White
Kennet, bishop of Peterborough during the latter part of the seventeenth
century, and entrusted by him in 1712 to the keeping of the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel 'for their perpetual use,' was sold by
order of that Society at Sotheby's in August 1917 and realised very high
prices, though most of the items were in poor condition. The gem of the
collection, 'New England Canaan,' 1632, and most of the other important
volumes (seventy-nine in all) had been presented previously by the
Society to the British Museum. The highest price realised was L650, which
was paid for 'A True Relation of the late Battell fought in New England
between the English and the Salvages,' 1637, a small quarto of sixteen
leaves, said to be by the Rev. Philip Vincent.[77]
There are two valuable bibliographies upon this subject, both necessarily
large and important works. They are Sabin's 'Dictionary of Books relating
to America,' in nineteen octavo volumes published at New York from 1868
to 1891, which, however, comprises only the headings from A to Simms: and
Evans' 'American Bibliography,' privately printed in eight quarto volumes
at Chicago, 1903 to 1914. Harrisse's 'Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima'
(New York, 1866) with its supplement (Paris, 1872) is a bibliography of
the rarest books concerning America that appeared between 1492 and 1551.
Mr. W. H. Miner's 'The American Indians, North of Mexico,' published by
the Cambridge University Press in 1917, contains a bibliography of works
on the aboriginals.
[Sidenote: Architecture.]
4. Works upon Architecture are, _de natura_, for the greater part 'art
books,' and comprise not only such large works as Furttenbach's massive
tomes and the works of Britton and Billing, but the many beautifully
illustrated books published by Ackermann at the beginning of last
century. Most of them, English and foreign, are books of considerable
value, for the plates were often produced by the great masters of
engraving, and they readily command high prices whenever they appear in
the market. But there is a large and increasing number of smaller works
which deal with buildings and designs, as well as those books concerning
buildings of an historical interest. There does not seem to be any
monumental bibliography of architectural books, but you will find useful
lists in Mr. W. P. Courtney's volumes.
The older books upon this subject are necessarily scarce: such as
Alberti's 'Libri de Re AEdificatoria Decem,' which appeared first at
Florence in 1485. This work, however, was reprinted at Paris in 1512, and
you may have a copy of it for a couple of pounds, though the first French
translation 'L'Architecture et Art de bien bastir, trad. par deffunct Jan
Martin,' folio, Paris, 1553, with fine large woodcuts, will cost you four
times as much. It is a fine book, and contains a portrait of the author
as well as a three-page epitaph by Ronsard on the deffunct Jan Martin.
[Sidenote: Bibles.]
6. The collection of Bibles is perhaps one of the commonest subjects to
engage the attention of specialists. There is a numerous bibliography,
ranging from Anthony Johnson's little tract 'An Historical Account of the
English Translations of the Bible,' printed in 1730, down to the Rev. J.
L. Mombert's 'English Versions of the Bible,' of which a new edition
appeared in 1907. You will find the volumes of Anderson, Cotton, Eadie,
Loftie, Dore, Darlow and Moule, Stoughton, and Scrivener of assistance to
you here, as well as Westcott's 'General View of the History of the
English Bible,' of which a third and revised edition was published in
1905. It contains a useful list of English editions of the Holy Writ. The
Huth Collection, that portion of it which was sold in 1911-12, was
especially rich in Bibles, as was the Amherst Library, dispersed in
1908-09. This last contained editions from 1455 (the so-called 'Mazarin'
Bible) to King Charles the First's own copy of the 1638 Cambridge
edition. The sale catalogues of these will be of value to you.
7. Bibliography is perhaps the subject nearest to the heart of every
bibliophile. But since the collection of 'books about books' must of
necessity be the stepping-stone by which the book-lover attains his
knowledge of the extrinsic attributes of his hobby, I have dealt with
this subject at some length in the chapter wherein are treated the 'books
of the collector.'
[Sidenote: Biography.]
8. Biography, Memoirs, Diaries: what a flood of names and memories occur
to one under this heading! Not only the immortal Boswell and Pepys, but
Fanny Burney, Alexandre Dumas, Mary Wortley-Montague, Lord Herbert of
Cherbury, _et permulti alii_. Also, this heading will comprise that great
series of mysterious and 'racy' books ycleped 'Court Memoirs,' and the
somewhat less exciting but--to our book-hunter's mind at least--more
interesting works which border on the domain of history, such as the
Memoirs of Blaise de Montluc and Saint-Simon: works which bring home to
us the everyday life of those far-off days more clearly than anything
that has ever been written about them since.
How meagre is the stock of valuable historical memoirs with which we may
furnish our libraries to-day! There is abundance to be had--after long
searching, but the great Memoirs which we may have to hand, such as
Froissart and Monstrelet, Waurin and La Marche, must number scarce a
couple of dozen. Perhaps some day a philanthropic publisher will give us
good editions (unabridged) of Sir James Melvil, Sir Philip Warwick,
Edmund Ludlow, Bulstrode Whitlock, Sir Thomas Herbert, Robert Cary,
Denzil Lord Holles, and many other valuable contemporary evidences now
scarcely to be had, and when found usually in ancient tattered calf. Why
is it, too, that the great mass of French chroniclers who bear witness to
English doings in the wars of Normandy, Brittany, Burgundy, Anjou and
Touraine remain still untranslated and almost unprocurable?
There are so many delightful Memoirs to which one would like to have
access at will. Jean de Boucicault, Marshal of France, stands out as one
of the most interesting figures in mediaeval France and, indeed, Europe.
Nicknamed 'le meingre,' he was Vicomte de Turenne, and bore arms at the
age of ten. His father[78] also was a Marshal of France. Few men have
lived such a stirring life as this paragon of knightly prowess. At
Rosebeque in 1382 (where Philip van Artevelde and 20,000 Flemings were
slain), being then a page of honour to Charles VI., he fought at the
King's side and acquitted himself so well that he received knighthood at
the King's hands. Thenceforward he was fighting continually in Flanders,
Normandy, Brittany, Languedoc--in short wherever there was fighting to be
done. In 1396, marching with the flower of the French chivalry through
Bulgaria against the Turks, he was one of the three thousand knights
taken prisoner at the disastrous battle of Nicopoli; but was among the
twenty-five whose lives were spared by the savage victor. Four years
later he was defending Constantinople for the Emperor against his late
captor, and here again he distinguished himself greatly by his bravery.
Not long after this he was appointed Governor of Genoa. In command of the
Genoese fleet he undertook to chastise the Cypriots for an outrage on
some Genoese gentlemen. But calling at Rhodes on the way, the Grand
Master of the Hospitallers persuaded him to try the effect of mediation
first of all, and proceeded to Cyprus himself for that purpose. Whereupon
the Marshal, 'to beguile the time, and give employment to the fiery
spirits on board his squadron' (says a later chronicler) 'ran down at a
venture to the Syrian city of Scanderoon, which place he carried by
assault and plundered.' Encouraged by this success, on the Grand Master's
return he persuaded that great personage to accompany him on a further
expedition, and together they harried the whole coast of Syria, the
Hospitaller confining his attention to the Infidels whilst the Marshal
razed the factories which the Venetians (enemies to the Genoese) had
established at Baruth and other places. Thus passing a very pleasant
summer.
In Italy he took an active part in the turmoil betwixt Guelphs and
Ghibellines, and seized Milan for the former (1409). At Agincourt in 1415
he commanded the vanguard of the French army, and was taken prisoner.
Being sent to England, he remained there until his death six years later.
This great soldier was a man of many accomplishments, an ardent musician
as well as a poet; and his leisure was passed chiefly in composing
ballads, rondeaux, and virelays. Yet his 'Livre des Faicts' remains
unenglish'd.
Another truly great man of a later period was that great warrior of
saintly life and death, Henri, Duc de Montmorency. After a long and noble
career of arms in the service of his king no less than of his countrymen,
he fell a victim to the jealousy of Cardinal de Richelieu. 'Dieu vouloit
que sa mort fust aussi admirable que sa vie,' writes his biographer; 'que
ses dernieres actions couronnassent toutes les autres; et que ses vertus
Chrestiennes jettassent encor plus d'eclat que n'avoient fait les
Heroiques.' Brought to the scaffold he refused to avail himself of the
indulgence of having his hands at liberty. 'So great a sinner as I,' he
said, 'cannot die with too much ignominy.' Of his own accord he took off
his splendid dress. 'How can I,' said he, 'being so great a sinner go to
my death in such attire when my guiltless Saviour died naked upon the
Cross.' Yet save we are contented to turn to a poorly printed
seventeenth-century edition of his Life, there is no place (to my
knowledge at least) where we can read of this truly great man, and, of
course, no version other than that in the French tongue.
Then there is that great and vivacious chronicle of the house of Burgundy
during the fifteenth century, the Memoirs of Messire Olivier, Sieur de la
Marche. No historian would write of the Flemish wars, from the Peace of
Arras in 1435 to the taking of Ghent by the Archduke Maximilian in 1491,
without constant reference to this invaluable work, for la Marche was
often an eye-witness of the events which he records. Yet so far it has
not been rendered in English, and I know of no complete edition in modern
French. It is the same with the memorials of Bouchet, Chartier, de
Coussy, Crillon, Olivier de Clisson, and many other great soldiers, all
of whom have much to say of the wars 'contre les Anglois.' The famous
history of Bertrand du Guesclin[79] contained in 'Le Triomphe des Neuf
Preux' does not seem to have been reprinted after its second appearance
in Spanish at Barcelona in 1586, and there is no English version.
Why is it that biography has such a peculiar fascination for most men? Is
it but curiosity to know how others have passed their lives, mere idle
inquisitiveness? Or is it that we may store up in our minds what these
great ones said and did upon occasions that may occur to us some day?
This is, perhaps the more likely; for women dislike biographies, and
women, we are told, care not a fig for examples, but act upon their
native intuition. Be the reason what it may, the fact remains that for
one man who looks to the future there are fifty who look to the past.
Moreover the sages of all times encourage us to seek examples in the
lives of other men, and examples are certainly of more value than idle
speculations. 'With what discourses should we feed our souls?' asked one
of that pleasant philosopher Maximus of Tyre. 'With those that lead the
mind [Greek: epi ton prosthen chronon]--towards former times,' replied
the sage--those that exhibit the deeds of past ages.
Possibly it would be better to include biographical dictionaries under
this heading than under 'Dictionaries.' Oettinger's 'Bibliographie
Biographique Universelle,' published first in quarto at Leipzig, 1850,
describes some 26,000 biographies, under their subjects' names. A second
edition appeared in two octavo volumes at Brussels four years later.
There is a useful catalogue of 174 biographical dictionaries in all
languages at the end of the third volume of John Gorton's 'General
Biographical Dictionary,' the 1833 edition.
[Sidenote: Famous Authors and Books.]
9. Celebrated Authors and Books. How interesting it would be to know
which individual work, after the Bible, has passed through the greatest
number of editions. 'The Pilgrim's Progress,' 'Robinson Crusoe,' 'The
Decameron,' 'The Compleat Angler,' 'Paradise Lost,' all these must have
been reprinted an immense number of times; while others such as 'Gil
Blas' and 'Don Quixote' would not be so very far behind. Then there are
the ancients, such as Homer, Horace, Virgil, with the great host of
classics of the old world. Perhaps, however, the palm would be awarded to
the 'Imitatio Christi' of the saintly Thomas a Kempis. The editions of
it, from the presses of almost every country in the old and the new
worlds, run well into four figures. An English collector, Edmund
Waterton, succeeded in amassing no less than thirteen hundred, and at his
death the British Museum acquired all those of his treasures which were
not already upon its shelves.
There is another name to couple with this, though (I hasten to add) from
a purely bibliographical standpoint--that of the great Dominican Giacomo
di Voraggio, or Jacobus de Voragine. Except to the student of Early
Fathers, the hagiologist, and the bibliophile, his very name has almost
sunk into oblivion; but to these savants he stands forth as the compiler
of that marvellous collection of the Lives of the Saints, known as The
Golden Legend. The first Latin edition of his great work was printed in
folio at Cologne in 1470, and six years later it appeared in French at
Lyons and in Italian at Venice. Caxton translated and published an
English version, and from that time to the middle of the sixteenth
century it is said to have undergone more impressions than any other
contemporary work.[80]
It is not only editions of individual works, however, that this heading
comprises. Upon reading a book which pleases us greatly it is but natural
to seek other works by the same author; and with the book-collector this
tendency often becomes the basis of a definite plan of campaign. Who has
yet formed a complete collection of the works and editions of Defoe, of
Alexandre Dumas, or even of that indefatigable Jesuit antiquary Claude
Francois Menestrier? There are bibliographies of all three, but I do not
know of any library that possesses a complete collection of either. Every
year sees the addition of bibliographies upon this subject, and we have
now excellent accounts of the publications of Bunyan, Cervantes, Defoe,
Milton, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Isaac Newton, Isaac Walton, and many
other famous men.
Under this heading also is included the collection of books dealing with
a particular author or book, such, for example, as the many published
works upon the authorship of the 'Imitatio Christi,' the 'Eikon
Basilike,' or the Letters of Junius, and--commonest sub-heading of
all--'Shakespeareana.' The British Museum authorities have issued a
bibliography (large quarto, 1897), of books in that library relating to
Shakespeare, which you may have for a few shillings. If this be your
hobby, however, perhaps the first book which you will acquire, at the
very outset of your career, will be Sir Sidney Lee's monumental 'Life of
William Shakespeare,' which has become a classic in itself. Of this, the
first edition appeared in 1898, but a new edition (the seventh) rewritten
and greatly enlarged, was published in 1915. It is, at the time of
writing, the fullest and best, so is much to be preferred. It contains a
full account of the earliest and subsequent editions and editors of the
immortal writer. Mr. A. W. Pollard published in 1909 a bibliographical
account of 'Shakespeare Folios and Quartos,' and you will find a lengthy
list of books upon this subject in Appendix I of Sir Sidney Lee's work
(1915). Mr. William Jaggard's 'Shakespeare Bibliography' purports to be
'a dictionary of every known issue of the writings of our national poet
and of recorded opinion thereon in the English language.' It was
published at Stratford-on-Avon in 1911, a thick octavo volume of more
than 700 pages. The fifth volume of the 'Cambridge History of English
Literature' contains some 47 pages of Shakespeareana in the
bibliographies to Chapters VIII. to XII.
[Sidenote: Famous Presses.]
10. Celebrated Presses. Of all the famous printers this world has seen,
there are two in particular whose productions have engaged the attentions
of collectors continually, namely, the Manuccios ('Aldines') and the
Elzeviers. The reason for this is not far to seek. Unlike the productions
of Caxton or de Worde (whose works, mostly in the vernacular, have
usually engaged the attentions of English collectors only), the volumes
issued by these two great foreign houses stand out for their conspicuous
merit both as specimens of book-production and as examples of scholarly
editing. Should you decide, however, to confine your attention to some
other of the great printers, then a delightful hobby will be yours; for
the field is narrow, and your collecting must take the form of a personal
inspection of each volume purchased. It will be book-hunting with a
vengeance; the booksellers' catalogues (which rarely give the printers)
will be of little use to you except as regards certain specimens with
which you are acquainted, and each volume that you acquire will have been
unearthed by your own hands. It is a subject which has been chosen so
frequently by specialists that there are bibliographies of almost all the
well-known printers, most of them, it were needless to add, in French.
For a list of them, you must consult the work of Bigmore and Wyman, as
well as that of Mr. W. P. Courtney.
There is a chance here, also, for the public librarian. How many of the
public libraries in this country possess a collection of books
illustrating the history and progress of printing in their particular
towns? Most provincial public libraries now possess collections of books
relating to the history and topography of their localities; and it should
not be difficult to form similar collections of locally-printed books. It
would be an interesting hobby for the private collector too, and such a
collection would be of the greatest interest and value from the
bibliographical standpoint. Similarly it would not be difficult to form a
small collection of books printed by, say, the French or German or
Italian printers before 1500, or the Paris or Venetian printers up to
1600. There is a considerable field for the collector here.
[Sidenote: Ballads and Broadsides.]
11. Chapbooks, Broadsides, and Ballads: a curious byway of
book-collecting this, for the knowledge to be gleaned from these
_curiosa_ is not probably of great value. Nor can a great deal be said in
favour of their utility. Perhaps, however, the first two would be classed
more properly with No. 22--Facetiae and Curiosa, leaving Ballads only
under this heading. The Earl of Crawford and Balcarres' 'Bibliotheca
Lindesiana: a Catalogue of a Collection of English Ballads of the
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, printed for the most part in Black
Letter' was printed privately in small quarto in 1890. It is undoubtedly
the finest collection of this kind in the world. Ritson's 'Ancient Songs
and Ballads' was revised by Hazlitt in 1877. Then there are such volumes
as Payne Collier's 'Illustrations of English Popular Literature,'
published in 1863-66, Huth's 'Ancient Ballads and Broadsides published in
England in the Sixteenth Century' (1867), and others which will be
mentioned when discussing Facetiae (22) and Pamphlets and Tracts (45).
Lemon's 'Catalogue of a Collection of Printed Broadsides in the
Possession of the Society of Antiquaries of London' (1866) and Lilly's
'Black Letter Ballads and Broadsides,' (1867) will also be of use to you
here, as will the publications of the Percy, Ballad, and Philobiblon
Societies. In 1856 J. Russell Smith, the antiquarian publisher of Soho
Square, issued a 'Catalogue of a Unique Collection of Four Hundred
Ancient English Broadside Ballads, Printed Entirely in the Black Letter'
which he had for sale--a small octavo volume with notes and facsimiles.
It is a valuable little book and somewhat hard to obtain. For other
reference-books upon this subject, you must turn to the headings
'Ballads' and 'Broadsides' in Mr. W. P. Courtney's valuable 'Register of
National Bibliography.'
This heading also includes the collection of proclamations and single
sheet posters of all kinds. There is a fine collection of Royal
Proclamations in the Library of the Society of Antiquaries, probably the
most perfect in existence. 'Bookes' of Proclamations were issued by R.
Grafton in 1550 (8vo), R. Barker in 1609 (folio), Norton and Bill in 1618
(folio)--all in black letter--and by several other the king's printers
during the seventeenth century. For the purposes of the historian they
are simply invaluable. The (26th) Earl of Crawford and Balcarres has
printed a bibliography of proclamations, vols. v. and vi. of his
'Bibliotheca Lindesiana.'
[Sidenote: Civil War and Commonwealth.]
12. Civil War and Commonwealth is properly speaking a sub-heading of No.
30--History; but it is a favourite subject with book-collectors, and the
volumes issued during this period are _sui generis_ and mostly of
considerable interest. With the abolition of the Star Chamber in 1641 the
drastic repression of the printers disappeared, and, freed from all
control, the presses now poured forth political tracts and volumes of
every description. Needless to say a great number of the books thus
issued were anonymous publications. But two years later an Order for the
Regulating of Printing came into force, and Cromwell's censorship was
reinforced by a further Act in 1649. Nevertheless a large mass of
political matter continued, throughout the interregnum, to make its
appearance on the stalls and in the shops. What would not Cromwell have
given to suppress 'Killing no Murder'! Edwards' 'Catalogue of the Great
Rebellion Tracts in the British Museum' was included in his 'Memoirs of
Libraries,' which appeared in 1859. George Thomason's famous collection
of Royalist tracts will be dealt with under the heading 'Pamphlets.'
[Sidenote: Classics.]
13. Of all the subjects in our list perhaps none comprises volumes of
greater beauty and printed with greater distinction than this--the
Classics of the Old World. It is a rare field for the scholar to-day, for
the time when no library could be considered complete without editions of
most of the old masters of Greece and Italy is long past; and there is
nothing like the competition nowadays to secure the well-known editions
which formerly adorned the shelves of our grandfathers. Not long ago our
book-hunter witnessed the sale of a sixteenth-century folio Isocrates,
bound in ancient green morocco, for seven and sixpence; and similar
volumes are described continually in the modern booksellers' catalogues.
There is more scope here for the collection of masterpieces of typography
than in any other heading in our list. Aldines, Estiennes, Elzeviers,
Plantins, Baskervilles, Barbous--all are within the reach of the most
modest purse. You need not trouble to study Dibdin's 'Introduction to the
Knowledge of Rare and Valuable Editions of the Greek and Latin Classics':
if you are sufficiently fond of immortal books and beautiful printing to
make this subject your hobby, your own eyes and hands will guide you in
the choice of editions--from the bibliographical standpoint.
[Sidenote: Cookery Books.]
14. The Collection of Cookery Books offers a wider field for the
book-collector's activities than would appear at first sight. Besides the
considerable number of works of a purely culinary nature, there are many
sources whence we can learn much concerning the dietary and table
customs of our ancestors. Caxton's (or rather de Worde's) 'Book of
Curtesye' is a primer of good manners for a small boy at table and
elsewhere, and it may well find a place, in modern shape, on the shelf
beside other volumes on household economy. 'Don't dip your meat in the
salt-cellar,' the wise man tells Master Jackie, 'lest folk apoynte you of
unconnyngnesse.' He must be careful, also, not to expectorate across the
table,
'ne at the borde ye shall no naylis pare
ne pyke your teth with knyf.'
Injunctions that are, perhaps, unnecessary nowadays; but all must agree
with the great printer that
'it is a tedyous thynge
For to here a chylde multeplye talkyng.'
Are books on table-manners published nowadays? The latest I remember to
have seen is Trusler's 'The Honours of the Table, or Rules for Behaviour
during Meals, with the Whole Art of Carving,' which appeared in 1788. It
has woodcuts by Bewick, and is a curious and scarce little volume.
Even such unlikely volumes as Dugdale's 'Origines Juridiciales' (folio,
London 1680), the Egerton and Rutland Papers, and other volumes of
household accounts issued by the learned societies contain menus and long
lists of foodstuffs and drinks consumed at various feasts. W. C.
Hazlitt's account of some 'Old Cookery Books and Ancient Cuisine'
appeared in 12mo in 1886. It has a list of some of the older works. There
is also a bibliography of books upon this subject in Dr. A. W. Oxford's
'Notes from a Collector's Catalogue' which appeared in 1909. His 'English
Cookery Books to the Year 1850' was published in 1913. You will find a
useful paper upon old English cookery in the 'Quarterly Review' for
January 1894. M. Georges Vicaire's 'Bibliographie Gastronomique,' a
handsome octavo volume with facsimiles, appeared at Paris in 1890.
Then there are such books on dieting as Cornaro's 'Discorsi della Vita
Sobria' and Lessius on the Right Course of Preserving Health, both
english'd in 1634 and printed at Cambridge in a tiny volume entitled
'Hygiasticon'; also Tryon's 'Way to Health,' Sir Thomas Elyot's 'Castel
of Helth,' and other works of this nature. 'The Forme of Cury,' compiled
about 1390 by the master cook of Richard II., was published by Samuel
Pegge in 1780; and the 'Libre Cure Cocorum,' about 1440, was issued by
the Philological Society in 1862. The 'Boke of Cookery' printed by Pynson
in 1500, and Buttes' 'Dyets Dry Dinner,' 1599, you will probably have to
go without unless your purse be a deep one; indeed so far as I am aware
no duplicate is known of the first-mentioned!
[Sidenote: Costume.]
15. Books on Costume, like works on Architecture and the Fine Arts, are
_de natura_ 'art books.' During the first few decades of the nineteenth
century there were published a number of folio volumes containing fine
coloured plates, depicting the costumes of various foreign countries.
Numerous books of travels issued during the same period also were
embellished with similar plates; whilst of late years monographs have
appeared on the history of various articles of attire, such as shoes,
gloves, hats, etc. It is not a large field for the specialist, and at
present I am unaware of any modern bibliography upon this subject. There
are lists of costume books in Fairholt's 'Costume in England' (1896
edition), 'The Heritage of Dress' by Mr. W. M. Webb (1907), and a paper
on them by Mr. F. W. B. Haworth in the Quarterly Record of the Manchester
Public Library for 1903 (vol. vii. pp. 69-72).
Some of the older works on costume are extremely interesting for their
curious engravings. For the most part they are valuable works. 'Le
Recueil de la diversite des Habits, qui sont de present en usage, tant es
pays d'Europe, Asie, Afrique et Isles Sauvages, le tout fait apres le
naturel' was put forth by Richard Breton, a Paris printer, in 1564,
octavo. It contains 121 full-page wood-engravings of costume; it is a
little difficult, however, to see why the 'sauvages' should be included
in a book of costume. But perhaps they are covered by the phrase 'apres
le naturel.' Beneath each engraving is a rhyming and punning quatrain.
Here is the one beneath the portrait of a young lady of demure
appearance, entitled 'L'Espousee de France':
'L'espousee est coiffee, aussi vestue
Comme voyez, quant elle prent mary,
A demonstrer sa beaute s'esuertue,
En ce iour la, n'ayant le cueur marry.'
There are other interesting sixteenth-century works by Abraham de Bruyn,
Nicolas de Nicolay, Cesare Vecellio, Pietro Bertelli, Ferdinand Bertelli,
and others, all with copper and wood engravings.
[Sidenote: Crime.]
16. Books dealing with Crimes and Prisons are classed generally under the
heading _Curiosa_ (22); but accounts of murders, rogueries, piracies,
etc., are so common and so frequently engage the attentions of
specialists that I have thought fit to place this subject in a class by
itself. Needless to say the majority of works on this subject are in the
shape of pamphlets or tracts, though some (such as the 'Trial of Queen
Caroline') run to more than one thick volume. You must not expect to come
across many of Samuel Rowlands' tracts on roguery, (1600-1620), for they
are worth literally their weight in gold, and more. Many of them,
however, have been reprinted by the Hunterian Club (1872-86). Nor will
you find readily 'The Blacke Dogge of Newgate' by Luke Hutton, which
appeared first about 1600, though 'The Life and Death of Gamaliel Ratsey,
a Famous Thief of England,' was reprinted by Payne Collier. Mr. F. W.
Chandler's two volumes on 'The Literature of Roguery,' published in 1907,
will be of great assistance to you here; whilst Payne Collier's
'Illustrations of Early English Popular Literature' contains several
murder pamphlets. The Newgate Calendar is well known and may be had, in
varying states of completeness, of the booksellers from time to time,
together with the many accounts of famous murders and trials.
[Sidenote: Dictionaries.]
17. Dictionaries and Etymologies are subjects which generally engross the
attentions of 'curious antiquaries.' Some of the older dictionaries are
of great interest. A few years ago our book-hunter purchased in London
for half a crown a copy of Cooper's 'Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et
Britanniae,' a thick folio printed at London by Henry Bynneman in 1584.
It is bound in the original sheepskin, a portion of a vellum psalter
having been used to strengthen the joints. The worthy bishop's text is
delightful (Cooper died bishop of Winchester in 1594), the
interpretations being in black letter, and it is full of quaint conceits.
At the end is a biographical dictionary which certainly contains some
startling statements. Baret's 'Alvearie or Triple Dictionarie,' 1573, and
Rider's 'Bibliotheca Scholastica,' 1589, you may still come across, but
do not set your heart upon acquiring a copy of Huloet's 'Abcedarium
Anglico-Latinum' put forth at London in 1552. Perhaps the finest
collection of dictionaries amassed by any one collector in this country
was that of the reverend Dr. Skeat of Cambridge; but alas! at his death
it was partly dispersed.
[Sidenote: Drama.]
18. Shakespeareana has already been dealt with under heading No. 9, and
the bibliography of the Drama is a voluminous one. You will find the
following works of value to you at the outset, if this be the subject of
your choice. Hazlitt's 'Manual for the Collector and Amateur of Old
English Plays' was issued in 1892, whilst Mr. F. E. Schelling's
'Elizabethan Drama, 1558-1642,' appeared in two volumes, New York, in
1908. The second volume contains a useful bibliography. Mr. W. W. Greg's
'List of English Plays written before 1643 and printed before 1770' was
published by the Bibliographical Society in 1900. There is a
supplementary volume which deals with Masques, Pageants, and some
additional plays; it appeared in 1902. The bibliography to Chapter IV. in
the tenth volume of the 'Cambridge History of English Literature'
contains useful lists of works on the drama. The office-book of Sir Henry
Herbert, Master of the Revels, 1623 to 1673, was edited by Professor
Quincy Adams and published by the Yale University Press ('Cornell Studies
in English,' vol. iii.) in 1917. It is the chief source of information
about English plays and playwrights from 1623 until the Civil War, and
the documents of the period 1660-73 are important to students of the
Restoration Drama.
[Sidenote: Early-Printed Books.]
19. By the term 'early-printed books' the bookseller generally means
fifteenth-century works, or _incunabula_ as they are now called. You must
needs be a rich man if this be your hobby, for every volume issued prior
to the year 1500--however worthless as literature or useless from a
bibliographical standpoint--is now worth at least a couple of pounds,
provided it is complete and in good condition. You _may_ pick up an
example or two of early printing for a few shillings on your rambles, but
every day the chance of a bargain in this direction is smaller. There is
not a bookseller throughout the kingdom who is not aware of the minimum
value of _any_ volume printed in the fifteenth century, and a private
purchase and treasure trove are the only sources available to the
'incunabulist' to-day. As regards works of reference on this subject,
such books have already been dealt with in the chapter on the Books of
the Collector.
[Sidenote: Early Romances.]
20. Early Romances, too, will tax your exchequer somewhat heavily, for
these glorious folio and quarto examples of early woodcut engraving are
eagerly snapped up whenever they appear in the market. One of the finest
collections of these fascinating volumes in recent times was that amassed
by Baron Achille Seilliere. A portion of it was sold at Sotheby's in
February 1887. Most of these treasures were exquisitely bound by the
great French masters of book-binding, and the sale of 1147 lots realised
L14,944, an average of about L13 a volume. Yet it is safe to assert that
the same collection to-day would fetch more than double that amount.[81]
The first folio edition (_Lyon_, 1477) of Honore Bonnor's 'L'Arbre des
Batailles' realised only L30. At the Fairfax Murray sale in 1918 the
quarto Lyons edition (1510) made L130. The Lisbon edition of 'Le Triomphe
des Neuf Preux' (1530) brought L83. The same copy at the Fairfax Murray
sale realised L135. A second portion of this fine collection afterwards
came under the hammer in Paris, and realised similar prices.
There is a numerous bibliography. Mr. A. Esdaile's 'List of English Tales
and Prose Romances' was published by the Bibliographical Society in 1912,
as was Mr. F. W. Bourdillon's 'Early Editions of the Roman de la Rose.'
The second edition of W. J. Thom's 'Early English Prose Romances'
appeared in three small octavo volumes in 1858, whilst Quaritch's
'Catalogue of Mediaeval Literature, especially the Romances of Chivalry'
was issued--large octavo--in 1890. Mr. H. L. D. Ward's 'Catalogue of
Mediaeval Romances in the British Museum,' in three volumes, was completed
in 1910. For foreign Romances Lenglet du Fresnoy's 'Bibliotheque des
Romans,' is useful. The Comte de Tressan's 'Corps d'Extraits des Romans
de Chevalerie,' published in twelve volumes in 1787, has exquisite plates
by Marillier. It is an interesting compendium of all the most famous
romances of chivalry. The Early English Text Society has published a
large number of old English romances both in verse and prose.
[Sidenote: Facetiae, Curiosa.]
22. Facetiae, Curiosa--a somewhat broad subject which would include
Chapbooks, Broadsides, Jest Books, as well as those works which treat of
'Gallantry' and subjects generally not alluded to in polite society! The
literature upon all these topics is so large that it is impossible to
attempt a resume of it here, but you will find a very useful bibliography
in the fourth volume of the 'Cambridge History of English Literature,'
pages 514 to 536. Carew Hazlitt's 'Fugitive Tracts' (1875) and 'Studies
in Jocular Literature' (1890) are both useful; and Mr. G. F. Black has
recently (1909) printed a bibliography of _Gipsies_. Witchcraft,
sometimes classed under this heading, shall be dealt with when we
consider the Occult.
[Sidenote: Fine Arts.]
23. Works upon the Fine Arts are, like books on Architecture, chiefly
illustrated. Doubtless such books are collected generally by students and
craftsmen, but under this heading must be included books on gems, ancient
statuary, and ceramics, cameos, rings, and the like. There is a large
number of works which treat of these from the sixteenth century onwards,
and many are to be had for a few shillings.
FOOTNOTES:
[74] Or turn to the index.
[75] Quarto. It was abridged in octavo the same year.
[76] Similarly, a quarto volume containing an account of the second
voyage, 'Drawn up from Authentic Papers,' appeared anonymously in 1776;
an octavo 'Journal' having appeared, also anonymously, the previous year.
[77] It was a cropped copy. The one in the Wilton Park library, sold at
Sotheby's in March, 1920, lacked two blank leaves and was unbound; but it
was a fine large copy and fetched L660.
[78] He was a contemporary of Geoffroi de La Tour Landry, who relates a
pleasing story of his amours in Chapter xxiii. of the book which he wrote
for the delectation of his three daughters.
[79] Du Guesclin gave striking proofs of courage in his childhood, and at
16 won a prize at a tournament (where he was unknown and against his
father's will). He spent most of his life fighting the English, gained
several victories over them, and recovered Poitou, Limousin, and many
towns in Normandy and Brittany. Charles V. created him Constable of
France in 1370, and he died in 1380 in harness, at the ripe age of 66,
while besieging a town in Languedoc. He was buried in the Abbey of St.
Denis, at the feet of the royal master whom he had served so well. It is
said that he could neither read nor write (which is probably incorrect),
but his life and deeds were recorded shortly after his death (as in the
case of Bayard) by a 'loyal serviteur'--folio, Gothic letter, printed by
Guillaume Le Roy at Lyons about 1480. Of this there does not appear to be
any English version. (See also footnote on page 92.)
[80] Melchior Cano, a later Provincial of his Order, is reported to have
said concerning this book, 'The author of this Legend had surely a mouth
of iron, a heart of lead, and but little wisdom or soundness of
judgment'; for it abounds with the most puerile and ridiculous fables and
absurdities. But of course 'Voragine' wrote in accordance with the
fashion and beliefs of his time.
[81] The portion of the Sudbury Hall Library sold at Sotheby's in June
1918 realised L20,201, 10s. There were 526 lots, an average of more than
L38 a volume. The prices realised at the sale of that part of the
Britwell Court Library dispersed at Sotheby's in December 1919, however,
far exceeded any hitherto obtained. 108 lots brought L110,356--an average
of nearly L1,022 a volume. But in this case every book was _rarissimus_.
A small volume containing the only known copy of the fourth edition of
Shakespeare's 'Venus and Adonis' (1599), the first edition of 'The
Passionate Pilgrim' (1599--one other copy known), and 'Epigrammes and
Elegies' by Davies and Marlow (_circa_ 1598), realised L15,100--and
departed forthwith to the United States.
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