classics during the present century has unquestionably been very great.
Even the _editiones principes_ have scarcely maintained their former
values; whilst their appearance in the book-market does not call forth
anything like the enthusiasm and excitement which at one time prevailed.
The Askew sale in 1775 was the first at which really sensational prices
were reached throughout for the first editions of the Greek and Latin
classics. Although some of these prices have been exceeded in many cases
since that period, it is tantamount to a confession that they have gone
down in value when it is stated that the Askew prices are as nearly as
possible the same at which identical copies are now to be had. As we
shall see presently, there are several exceptions to this rule; but
these exceptions occur, not because they are the _editiones principes_
of Homer or Virgil, as the case may be, but because they are the works
of some eminent printer. And herein the change is a very striking one.
The first edition of every classic has a literary or technical value
almost equal to a manuscript, from which, of course, it is directly
printed; but the first editions of the classics are not now collected
because of their textual value, and not at all unless they are fine
examples of typographical skill. The curious vicissitudes of these
editions would alone occupy a fairly large volume; but we propose
dealing briefly with the subject by comparing the prices at which good
copies were sold in and about 1775, when Dr. Harwood published his
useful little 'View of the Various Editions of the Greek and Roman
Classics,' with those at which they may be now acquired.
[Illustration: _Aldus, from a contemporary Medal._]
Beginning with the _editio princeps_ Homer, 1488, the fine copy of this
edition in the British Museum was purchased, Dr. Harwood tells us, for
£17. A 'large, pure, and fine' copy of this exceedingly rare work is now
priced at £150, whilst the Wodhull copy sold in 1886 for £200.[129:A]
But whilst this edition has increased enormously in pecuniary value,
'one of the most splendid editions of Homer ever delivered to the
world'--namely, that of the Foulis brothers, Glasgow, 1756-58--has only
doubled its price, or has increased in value from two to four guineas.
The very beautifully-printed _editio princeps_ of Anacreon, printed in
Paris by Henri Stephan, 1554, remains stationary, for its value then, as
now, is one guinea. Of the Aldine first edition of Sophocles, 1502, Lord
Lisburne purchased 'a beautiful copy' in 1775 for 1-1/2 guineas; the
present value of a similar example would range from 8 to 20 guineas,
whilst a slightly imperfect copy sells for about £1. The first edition
of Euripides, 1503, also printed at the Aldine Press, has advanced from
£1 16s. to £3 10s. to 6 guineas, according to the eminence of the
binder. A 'most beautiful' copy of the first Herodotus, Aldus, 1502,
realized £2 15s. in 1775, but cannot now be had for less than twice that
amount; whilst an example in a fine Derome binding of red morocco extra
is priced at 12 guineas. The first Aristophanes, likewise from the press
of Aldus, 1498, shows a slight advance from £4 to 5 guineas. The
earliest issue of Isocrates, 1493, is one of the rarest of the
_incunabula_, as it is one of the most beautiful when in perfect
condition. The exceedingly fine example in the British Museum was
bought by the authorities in 1775 for £11; copies may now be had for
£15.
The first (Aldine) edition of Plato has advanced in value from 5 guineas
to just twice that sum. The very beautiful copy of this _editio
princeps_ on vellum, and now in the British Museum, was purchased by the
Museum authorities at Dr. Askew's sale in 1775 for 53 guineas. The
commercial value of the very scarce and splendid first edition, in six
volumes (Aldus, 1495-98), of Aristotle, shows a depreciation--from 17 to
15 guineas--although it has realized in comparatively recent years as
much as £51. Dr. Harwood adds to his entry of this book: 'The finest
copy of this first edition of Aristotle's works, perhaps in Europe, is
in Dr. Hunter's Museum.' Dr. Hunter gave £4 6s. for a 'most beautiful
copy of the first edition of Theocritus,' Aldus, 1495--an edition which
also includes Hesiod, Theognis, Phocylides, etc.,--the value of which is
now placed at £10. A much more considerable advance is seen in
connection with the _editio princeps_ of Musæus, 1494, a choice and
beautiful book, which is at once the first and rarest production of the
Aldine Press. George III. gave in 1775 17 guineas for a fine copy, which
would now realize twice that amount. An almost equally emphatic advance
may be chronicled in connection with the 'Anthologia Græca,' Florence,
1494, printed throughout in capital letters, which, selling for 15
guineas a century and a quarter ago, is now worth nearly double; whilst
the Sunderland copy in 1881 brought £51. The first impressions of
Diodorus Siculus, 1539, and Stephanus Byzantius, Aldus, 1502, are
stationary at about £2 each, and Lucian, Florence, 1496, now, as in
1776, sells for £20.
Passing over a whole host of minor names in the list of Greek authors,
we may venture upon a few facts in connection with the Latin writers.
Virgil would, of course, come at the head of this list; but the examples
which came under Dr. Harwood's notice have no commercial value
indicated. George III. gave £17 6s. 6d. for the very fine copy of the
first Horace (about 1472) in Dr. Askew's sale--a fairly good example is
now priced at £50--whilst the first commentated edition of this author,
Milan, 1474, has advanced from 9-1/2 guineas to 30 guineas; it is
exceedingly rare, particularly the first of the two volumes. The first
Aldine Horace (1501) has gone up from £2 5s. to £15, and other editions
from the same press have about quadrupled in value. Of the first edition
of Ovid's 'Opera' (1471) only one copy is known, and the second,
Bologna, 1480, is scarcely less rare, and certainly not less valuable,
than the first. Dr. Harwood prices a very fine copy at £10 5s., or about
a third of its present value. The first dated edition of Valerius
Maximus was printed by Schöffer at Mentz in 1471, but is apparently not
a very popular book with collectors, for whereas in 1775 a beautiful
copy was valued at £26, its present price is only £28. A much more
popular book, Seneca's 'Tragoediæ,' printed about 1475, has advanced
from 4-1/2 guineas to £18, or, an exceptionally good copy bound by
Bedford, £25.
Although for several centuries one of the most popular of books, some of
the earlier editions of Pliny's 'Historia Naturalis' do not keep up
their price. The second edition, Rome, 1470, which is rarer than the
first--issued at Venice the year before--may now be had for 12 guineas.
The British Museum copy of the first edition cost the nation £43 in
1775. The edition printed by Jenson at Venice in 1472 is, however, much
sought after, for it is a very beautiful book, with a splendidly
illuminated border on the first page of the text. The British Museum
copy cost at Dr. Askew's sale £23, whilst Mr. Quaritch quotes an example
at £140; but, then, the latter copy is printed on vellum, which makes
all the difference. Silius Italicus is not by any means an author whose
work is at present much studied, but the first edition of his 'Opera'
(1471) is a book worth mentioning, because for beauty and grace it is
unsurpassed by any of the works ever published by the first Italian
printers, Sweynheim and Pannartz. The British Museum copy cost in 1775
£13 2s. 6d., whilst it is now worth about £25. The superb copy in the
British Museum of the _editio princeps_ Juvenal and Persius (printed at
Rome about the year 1469) cost the country 13 guineas; a first-class
example is now valued at £12. On the other hand, the Aldine edition of
Martial's 'Epigrammata' (1501) has gone up in value from 2 guineas to
£10, or even £17 10s., according to condition. The first edition of
Justin (printed at Venice, 1470) has declined, for the British Museum
copy cost 13 guineas in 1775, whilst a fine copy may now be had for 10
guineas.
A very different story has to be told with reference to the books and
pamphlets produced by the early English printers. Until the latter part
of the last century, these items were the despised of the scholarly and
aristocratic collector. A few antiquaries found them not without
interest, but they had only a nominal commercial value. At the sale of
Dr. Francis Bernard, at his 'late dwelling house in Little Britain,' in
October, 1698, thirteen Caxtons were sold, as follows:
£ s. d.
'The Boke called Cathon,' 1483 0 3 0
'Chastising of Goddes Chyldern' 0 1 10
'Doctrinal of Sapience,' 1489 }
'Chastising of Goddes Chyldern' } 0 5 0
'Chronicle of England,' _very old_ 0 4 0
'Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers,' 1477 0 5 4
'Game and Playe of the Chesse,' 1474 0 1 6
'Godefroy of Boloyne,' 1481 0 4 0
'Historyes of Troy,' 1500 0 3 0
'Jason and the Golden Fleece' 0 3 6
'Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye,' 1502 0 3 0
Another copy 0 3 0
'Tullius of Olde Age' 0 4 2
----------
£2 1 4
Eighty years later, when the library of John Ratcliffe[132:A] was sold
at Christie's (March 27, 1776), a collection of upwards of thirty
Caxtons came under the hammer, and of these we will only quote seven
examples:
£ s. d.
'Chronicles of Englande,' fine copy, 1480 5 5 0
'Doctrinal of Sapience,' 1489 8 8 0
'The Boke called Cathon,' 1483 5 5 0
'The Polytique Book, named Tullius de Senectute,' 1481 14 0 0
'The Game and Playe of Chesse' 16 0 0
'The Boke of Jason' 5 10 0
'Legenda Aurea,'[133:A] 1483 9 15 0
At the Watson Taylor and Perry sales in 1823, four examples, nearly all
fine copies, of Caxton's books realized a total of £239 5s., as follows:
£ s. d.
'The Life of Jason,' 1476-77 95 11 0
'The Boke called Cathon,' 1483 30 19 6
'Troylus and Creside,' 1484 66 0 0
Virgil's 'Eneidos,' 1490, very fine and perfect 46 14 6
[Illustration: _The Fifty-seven Althorp Caxtons._]
We do not think that the foregoing sets of figures call for any
elaborate comment. The present value of each item may be averaged at
from £250 to £300, but the majority are absolutely unprocurable at any
price. The highest sum ever paid for a Caxton is £1,950, at which amount
the only perfect copy known of 'King Arthur,' 1485, was knocked down at
the sale of the Earl of Jersey's books in 1885. At the same sale the
'Histoires of Troy,' _circa_ 1474, realized £1,820. In 1812 the Duke of
Devonshire gave £1,060 12s. for a copy of this book, for which the Duke
of Roxburghe had paid £50 a few years previously. The Syston Park copy
of the 'Mirrour of the World,' 1481, sold in 1884 for £335; Higden's
'Polychronicon, 1482, is valued at £500; Lord Selsey's copy of Gower's
'Confessio Amantis,' 1483, sold in 1872 for £670; and Lord Jersey's, in
1885, for £810. The 'Hystorye of Kynge Blanchardyn and Princes
Eglantyne,' 1485, imperfect, but one of the rarest of this press,
realized £21 at the Mason sale, 1798-99, the purchaser being John, Duke
of Roxburghe, at whose sale in June, 1812, Lord Spencer gave £215 5s.
for it. According to the latter's note in the copy, 'The Duke and I had
agreed not to oppose one another at the [Mason] sale; but after the book
was bought, to toss up who should win it; when I lost.' A tract of five
leaves, by John Russell, 'Propositio ad illustriss. principem Karoleum
ducem Burgundie,' etc. (printed probably at Bruges, 1475), of which no
other copy is known, was purchased by a bookseller in the West End of
London for £2 5s. He sold it to the Duke of Marlborough for 50 guineas,
and at his sale in 1819 Earl Spencer purchased it for 120 guineas. There
are about 560 examples of Caxton's books in existence. Of these, about
one half are in the British Museum, the Althorp or Rylands library (57),
at Cambridge, in the Bodleian, and in the Duke of Devonshire's library.
Of this total thirty-one are unique, and seven exist only in a
fragmentary form. The greater number are safely locked up in public or
private libraries, and are not likely, under ordinary circumstances, to
come into the market. A great quantity of romance has been written
respecting Caxtons. In Scott's 'Antiquary,' 'Snuffy Davy' is stated to
have bought a perfect copy of the 'Game of Chess,' the first book
printed in England, for about two groschen, or twopence of our money.
This he sold to Osborne for £20; it became Dr. Askew's property for 60
guineas, and at the Askew sale it realized £170, the purchaser being
George III. '"Could a copy now occur, Lord only knows," ejaculated
Monkbarns, with a deep sigh and lifted-up hands--"Lord only knows what
would be its ransom"; and yet it was originally secured, by skill and
research, for the easy equivalent of twopence sterling.' It has been
repeatedly stated that there is no foundation whatever for this
anecdote; but Scott himself expressly states in a note that it is
literally true, and that David Wilson 'was a real personage.' 'Snuffy
Davy' has been identified with Clarke, the bookseller of New Bond
Street, whose 'Repertorium Bibliographicum' is a most valuable book.
However that may be, it is certain that the King did not give any such
price at any such sale. The King's copy was purchased at West's sale in
1773 for £32 0s. 6d. At the Askew sale the King's purchases did not
exceed £300, and the items were almost exclusively editions of the
classics. It is certain, however, that Caxton's books have experienced
many ups and downs. Mr. Blades tells us of an incident in which he was
personally concerned. He happened on a copy of the 'Canterbury Tales' in
a dirty pigeon-hole close to the grate in the vestry of the French
Protestant Church, St. Martin's-le-Grand; it was fearfully mutilated,
and was being used leaf by leaf--a book originally worth £800.
[Illustration: _From 'Game and Play of Chesse,' by Caxton._]
Caxton's immediate successors met with a fate similar to his own. The
most remarkable feature of Richard Rawlinson's[136:A] library (sold by
Samuel Leigh in 1756), which contained nearly 25,000 volumes, consisted
in the large quantity of Old English black-letter books, and these, of
course, realized absurdly low figures, as the following list testifies:
£ s. d.
'The Newe Testament in English,' 1500 0 2 9
'The Ymage of both Churches, after the Revelation
of St. John,' by Bale, 1550 0 1 6
'The Boke called the Pype or Toune of Perfection,'
by Richard Whytforde, 1532 0 1 9
'The Visions of Pierce Plowman,' 1561 0 2 0
'The Creede of Pierce Plowman,' 1553 0 1 6
'The Booke of Moses in English,' 1530 0 3 9
'Bale's Actes of English Votaryes,' 1550 0 1 3
'The Boke of Chivalrie,' by Caxton 0 11 0
'The Boke of St. Albans,' by W. de Worde 1 1 0
[Illustration: _Specimen of the type of 'The Boke of St. Albans.'_]
The very high price paid for the 'Boke of St. Albans' is noteworthy, for
nearly all the other items are equally rare. In 1844, a copy of this
'boke' was sold as waste-paper for 9d., and almost immediately passed
into the possession of Mr. Grenville for £70 or guineas. Dr. Mead's
copy--one of the only two known--of 'Rhetorica Nova Fratris Laurentii
Gulielmi de Sacra,' printed at St. Albans, 1480, sold for 2s. At the
Willett sale, in 1813, it brought £79 16s.
[Illustration: _Specimen page of Tyndale's Testament, 1526._]
The rarity of the English translations of the Bible and New Testament
arises from just the opposite cause which has operated in making the
early productions of the English press so scarce. The latter were for
the most part neglected out of existence, whilst the former were
literally read out of it. A complete copy of the _editio princeps_
Coverdale, 1535, is, we believe, unknown. One illustration will
sufficiently indicate the enhanced value of this book, and the
illustration may be taken as a general one in respect to this class of
book: The Perkins copy, which realized £400 in 1873, was purchased at
the Dent sale in 1827 for £89 5s. The more perfect of the only two
copies known of Tyndale's New Testament, first edition, 1526, in the
Baptists' Library at Bristol, is of great interest, and well deserving
of a mention in this place. It has no title-page. Underneath a portrait,
pasted to the first leaf, is this inscription:
'Hoh Maister John Murray of Sacomb,
The works of old Time to collect was his pride,
Till oblivion dreaded his care;
Regardless of friends intestate he dy'd,
So the Rooks and the Crows were his heir.'
[Illustration: _John Murray, of Sacomb, Book-hunter._]
On the opposite leaf is a printed statement to this effect: 'On Tuesday
evening (13 May, 1760) at Mr. Langford's sale of Mr. Ames's books, a
copy of the translation of the New Testament by Tindall, and supposed to
be the only one remaining which escaped the flames, was sold for
fourteen guineas and a half. This very book was picked up by one of the
late Lord Oxford's collectors ['John Murray' written in the margin], and
was esteemed so valuable a purchase by his lordship, that he settled £20
a year for life upon the person who procured it. His Lordship's library
being afterwards purchased by Mr. Osborne, of Gray's Inn, he marked it
at fifteen shillings, for which price Mr. Ames bought it.' (John Murray
died in 1748.) On the other side of the leaf is another note, in
manuscript: 'N.B. This choice book was purchased at Mr. Langford's sale,
13th May, 1760, by me John White [for £15 14s. 6d.], and on the 13th day
of May, 1776, I sold it to the Rev. Dr. Gifford for 20 guineas.' Dr.
Gifford was an assistant librarian at the British Museum, and left his
library to the use of the Baptist Society at Bristol.
Before leaving the subject of Bibles, we may refer to one of the most
interesting events of the book-sale season of 1836, when, at Evans's on
April 27, the superb copy of St. Jerome's Bible, executed by Alcuin for
Charlemagne, came up for sale. Commenced about the year 778, it was not
completed till 800. When it was finished it was sent to Rome by his
friend and disciple, Nathaniel, who presented it to Charlemagne on the
day of his coronation; it was preserved by that monarch until his death.
Its subsequent history is full of interest, and would form an
entertaining chapter in the Adventures of Books. After its first owner's
death, it is supposed to have been given to the monastery of Prum in
Lorraine by Lothaire, the grandson of Charlemagne, who became a monk of
that monastery. In 1576, this religious house was dissolved, but the
monks preserved the manuscript, and carried it to Switzerland to the
abbey of Grandis Vallis, near Basle, where it reposed till the year
1793, when, on the occupation of the episcopal territory of Basle by the
French, all the property of the abbey was confiscated and sold, and the
manuscript in question came into the possession of M. Bennot, from whom,
in 1822, it was purchased by M. Speyr Passavant, who brought it into
general notice, and offered it for sale to the French Government at the
price of 60,000 francs; this was declined, when the proprietor knocked
off nearly 20,000 francs from the original demand, but still without
effecting a sale. M. Passavant subsequently brought it to England, and
offered it to the Duke of Sussex, who, however, declined it. It was then
offered to the British Museum for £12,000, then for £8,000, and at last
for £6,500, which he declared an 'immense sacrifice.' Unsuccessful at
every turn, he resolved to submit it to auction, and the precious volume
was entrusted to Evans. It was knocked down for £1,500, but to the
proprietor himself. After a further lapse of time, Passavant sold the
volume to the British Museum for £750. This splendid manuscript is a
large folio in delicate and beautifully formed minuscule characters,
with the beginnings of chapters in fine uncials, written in two columns
on the purest vellum. If this magnificent manuscript were now offered
for sale, it would probably realize at least £3,000.
The rise in the value of the First Folio Shakespeare only dates back for
about a century. Beloe, writing in 1806, states that he remembers the
time when a very fine copy could be purchased for five guineas. He
further observes, 'I could once have purchased a superb one for 9
guineas'; and (apparently) this 'superb' example realized 13 guineas at
Dr. Monro's sale in 1792. At the end of the last century it was thought
to have realized the 'top' price with 36 guineas. Dr. Askew had a fine
copy of the Second Folio, which realized at his sale, in 1775, £5
10s.--it had cost 2-1/2 guineas at Dr. Mead's sale--the purchaser being
George Steevens. In this book Charles I. had written these words: 'DUM
SPIRO, SPERO, C. R.,' and Sir Thomas Herbert, to whom the King presented
it the night before his execution, had also written: 'Ex dono
serenissimi Regis Car. servo suo Humiliss. T. Herbert.' Steevens
regarded the amount which he paid for it as 'enormous,' but at his sale
it realized 18 guineas, and was purchased for the King's library, and is
now, with some other books bought by George III., at Windsor. Steevens
supposes that the original edition could not have exceeded 250 copies,
and that £1 was the selling price. Its rarity ten or a dozen years after
its first appearance may be gauged by the fact that Charles I. was
obliged to content himself with a copy of the Second Folio; its rarity
at the present moment will be readily comprehended when it is stated
that during the past ninety years only five or six irreproachable
examples have occurred for sale. The copy for which the Duke of
Roxburghe gave 34 guineas, realized at his sale £100, and passed into
the library of the Duke of Devonshire. The example in the possession of
the Baroness Burdett-Coutts is a very fine one; it was formerly George
Daniel's copy, and realized 682 guineas at his sale in 1864. Height
makes a great difference in the price of a book of this sort. For
example, a good sound example measuring 12-1/4 inches by 8 inches is
worth about £136; another one measuring 13-1/8 by 8-3/8 inches would be
worth £300, and perhaps more. Dibdin, with his usual prophetic
inaccuracy, described the amount (£121 6s.) at which Mr. Grenville
obtained his copy as 'the highest price ever given, or likely to be
given, for the volume.' As a matter of fact, the time must come when it
will be no longer possible to obtain a perfect copy of this volume,
which to English people is a thousand times more important than the
Gutenberg Bible or the Psalmorum Codex.
The following list is believed to contain all the finest examples known
at present:
FIRST FOLIO EDITIONS OF SHAKESPEARE, 1623.
Inches Inches
High. Wide. Present Possessor.
Loscombe 12 × 8
Sotheby's 12-1/4 × 8
Gardner 12-3/8 × 8 Mr. Huth.
Stowe 12-3/8 × 8-1/8
Poynder 12-1/2 × 8-1/8
Ellis 12-5/8 × 8-1/8 Earl of Crawford.
Quaritch's Catalogue 12-11/12 × 8
Thomas Grenville 12-7/8 × 8-3/8 British Museum.
Holland 12-3/8 × 8-1/2
Duke of Devonshire 13-1/8 × 8-1/8 Chatsworth.
George Daniel 13-1/8 × 8-1/4 Baroness Burdett-Coutts.
Beaufoy Library 13 × 8-3/8
Locker-Lampson 13 × 8-3/8 Rowfant Library.
Gosford (Earl of) 12-7/8 × 8-3/8
Lord Vernon 13-1/16 × 8-3/8 America.
Hartley 13-1/8 × 8-1/2
John Murray 13 × 8-1/2 Albemarle Street.
Thorold 13-3/8 × 8-1/2 America.
Sir Robert Sydney, }
Earl of Leicester, }
with his arms on }
sides; original old } 13-3/8 × 8-3/4 Mr. C. J. Toovey.
calf, with lettering,}
full of rough }
leaves }
The Second, 1632, Third, 1664, and Fourth, 1685, Folios have
considerably advanced in value--the Second has risen from £15, at which
the Roxburghe copy was sold in 1812, to nearly £200; George Daniel's
copy, of the purest quality from beginning to end, and one of the
largest known, sold for £148, but fairly good copies may be had for half
that amount. The Third Folio, which is really the rarest, as most of the
impression was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, has gone up from
£20 or £30 to £200, or even more when the seven doubtful plays have the
separate title-page; and the Fourth Folio from £5 to about ten times
that amount. But the most remarkable feature in connection with
Shakespeare, so far as we are just now concerned, is the change which
has taken place in the value of the quartos. We give below a tabulated
list of first editions, in which this change will be seen at a glance: