=The Auction Room.=
CHARACTER OF ORLANDO.
OF ANCIENT PRICES OF BOOKS, AND BOOK-BINDING.
BOOK-AUCTION BIBLIOMANIACS.
"As to the late method used in selling books by AUCTION in
London, I suppose that many have paid dear for their
experience in this way--it being apparent that most books
bought in an auction may be had cheaper in booksellers'
shops."
CLAVEL: _Cat. of Books for 1680, Pref._
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
=The Auction Room.=
CHARACTER OF ORLANDO.
OF ANCIENT PRICES OF BOOKS, AND BOOK-BINDING.
BOOK AUCTION BIBLIOMANIACS.
Never, surely, did two mortals set off upon any expedition with
greater glee and alacrity than did Lisardo and Philemon for the sale,
by auction, of GONZALVO'S bibliographical library. The great pains
which Lysander had taken in enumerating the various foreign and
domestic writers upon Bibliography, with his occasionally animated
eulogies upon some favourite author had quite inflamed the sanguine
mind of Lisardo; who had already, in anticipation, fancied himself in
possession of every book which he had heard described. Like Homer's
high-bred courser, who
--ere he starts, a thousand steps are lost--
our young bibliomaniac began to count up his volumes, arrange his
shelves, bespeak his binder, and revel in the luxury of a splendid
and nearly matchless collection. The distance from my house to the
scene of action being thirteen miles, Lisardo, during the first six,
had pretty nearly exhausted himself in describing the delightful
pictures which his ardent fancy had formed; and finding the
conversation beginning to flag, Philemon, with his usual good-nature
and judgment, promised to make a pleasing digression from the dry
subject of book-catalogues, by an episode with which the reader shall
be presently gratified. Having promised to assist them both, when we
arrived at Messrs. L. and S., in the Strand, with some information
relating to the prices of such books as they stood in need of, and to
the various book-collectors who attended public sales, Lisardo
expressed himself highly obliged by the promise; and, sinking quietly
into a corner of the chaise, he declared that he was now in a most apt
mood to listen attentively to Philemon's digressive chat: who
accordingly thus began.
"Lord Coke,"--exclaimed PHILEMON, in a mirthful strain--"before he
ventured upon '_The Jurisdiction of the Courts of the Forest_,' wished
to 'recreate himself' with Virgil's description of 'Dido's Doe of the
Forest;'[163] in order that he might 'proceed the more cheerfully'
with the task he had undertaken; and thus exchange somewhat of the
precise and technical language of the lawyer for that glowing tone of
description which woodland scenes and hunting gaieties seldom fail to
produce. Even so, my good friends (pursued Philemon), I shall make a
little digression from the confined subject to which our attentions
have been so long directed by taking you with me, in imagination, to
the delightful abode of ORLANDO."
[Footnote 163: The quaint language of Lord Coke is well
worth quotation: "And seeing we are to treat of matters of
game, and hunting, let us (to the end we may proceed the
more chearfully) recreate ourselves with the excellent
description of Dido's Doe of the Forest wounded with a
deadly arrow sticken in her, and not impertinent to our
purpose:
Uritur infælix Dido, totaque vagatur
Urbe furens, &c.
And in another place, using again the word (Sylva) and
describing a forest saith:
Ibat in antiquam sylvam stabula alta ferarum."
_Institutes_, pt. iv., p. 289, ed. 1669.
Thus pleasantly could our sage expounder of the laws of the
realm illustrate the dry subject of which he treated!]
LIS. I have heard of him: a very "_Helluo Librorum_!" Thus we only
change sides--from things to men; from books to book-collectors. Is
this digressive? Is this an episode?
PHIL. Why this abrupt interruption? If I did not know you and myself,
too, Lisardo, I should observe an obstinate silence during the
remainder of the journey. An episode, though it suspend the main
action for a while, partakes of the nature of the subject of the work.
It is an _appropriate_ digression. Do pray read Dr. Blair[164] upon
the subject--and now only listen.
[Footnote 164: _Lecture_ XLII., vol. iii.]
Orlando (continued Philemon) had from his boyhood loved books and
book-reading. His fortune was rather limited; but he made shift--after
bringing up three children, whom he lost from the ages of nineteen to
twenty-four, and which have been recently followed to their graves by
the mother that gave them birth--he made shift, notwithstanding the
expenses of their college education, and keeping up the reputation of
a truly hospitable table, to collect, from year to year, a certain
number of volumes, according to a certain sum of money appropriated
for the purchase of them; generally making himself master of the
principal contents of the first year's purchase, before the ensuing
one was placed upon his shelves. He lives in a large ancestral house;
and his library is most advantageously situated and delightfully
fitted up. Disliking such a wintry residence as Thomson has
described[165]--although fond of solemn retirement, and of Cowper's
"boundless contiguity of shade,"--he has suffered the rules of common
sense always to mingle themselves in his plans of domestic comfort;
and, from the bow-windowed extremity of his library, he sees realized,
at the distance of four hundred yards, Cæsar's gently-flowing river
_Arar_,[166] in a stream which loses itself behind some low shrubs;
above which is a softly-undulating hill, covered with hazel, and
birch, and oak. To the left is an open country, intersected with
meadows and corn fields, and terminated by the blue mountains of
Malvern at the distance of thirteen miles. Yet more to the left, but
within one hundred and fifty yards of the house, and forming something
of a foreground to the landscape, are a few large and lofty elm trees,
under which many a swain has rested from his toil; many a tender vow
has been breathed; many a sabbath-afternoon[167] innocently kept; and
many a village-wake cordially celebrated! Some of these things yet
bless the aged eyes of ORLANDO!
[Footnote 165:
"In the wild depth of Winter, while without
The ceaseless winds blow ice, be my retreat
Between the groaning forest and the shore,
Beat by the boundless multitude of waves,
A rural, sheltered, solitary scene!"----
_Winter._
One would like a situation somewhat more _sheltered_, when
"The ceaseless winds blow ice!"]
[Footnote 166: "Flumen est _Arar_, quod per fines Æduorum et
Sequanorum in Rhodanum fluit, incredibili lenitate, ita ut
oculis, in utram partem fluat, judicari nos possit." _De
Bell. Gall._, lib. i., § x. Philemon might as happily have
compared Orlando's quiet stream to "the silent river"
----quæ Liris quietâ
Mordet aquâ----
which Horace has so exquisitely described, in contrast with
----obliquis laborat
Lympha fugax trepidare rivo.
_Carm._, _lib._ i., _Od._ xxxi., _lib._ ii., _Od._ ii.
Yet let us not forget Collin's lovely little bit of landscape--
"Where slowly winds the stealing wave."]
[Footnote 167: There is a curious proclamation by Q.
Elizabeth, relating to some Sabbath recreations or games,
inserted in Hearne's preface to his edition of _Camden's
Annals_, p. xxviii. It is a little too long to be given
entire; but the reader may here be informed that "shooting
with the standard, shooting with the broad arrow, shooting
at the twelve score prick, shooting at the Turk, leaping for
men, running for men, wrestling, throwing the sledge, and
pitching the bar," were suffered to be exhibited, on several
Sundays, for the benefit of one "John Seconton Powlter,
dwelling within the parish of St. Clements Danes, being a
poor man, having four small children, and fallen to decay."]
I have slightly noticed the comfortable interior of his library.--
LIS. You spoke of a bow-windowed extremity--
PHIL. Yes, in this bow-window--the glass of which was furnished full
two hundred and fifty years ago, and which has recently been put into
a sensible modern frame-work--thereby affording two hours longer light
to the inhabitant--in this bow-window, you will see a great quantity
of stained glass of the different arms of his own, and of his wife's,
family; with other appropriate embellishments.[168] And when the
evening sun-beams throw a chequered light throughout the room, 'tis
pleasant to observe how Orlando enjoys the opening of an Aldine Greek
Classic--the ample-margined leaves of which receive a mellower tint
from the soft lustre that pervades the library. Every book, whether
opened or closed, is benefited by this due portion of light; so that
the eye, in wandering over the numerous shelves, is neither hurt by
morning glare nor evening gloom. Of colours, in his furniture, he is
very sparing: he considers white shelves, picked out with gold, as
heretical--mahogany, wainscot, black, and red, are, what he calls,
orthodox colours. He has a few busts and vases; and as his room is
very lofty, he admits above, in black and gold frames, a few portraits
of eminent literary characters; and whenever he gets a genuine
Vandyke, or Velasquez, he congratulates himself exceedingly upon his
good fortune.
[Footnote 168: The reader, who is partial to the
lucubrations of Thomas Hearne, may peruse a long gossipping
note of his upon the importance of _stained glass
windows_--in his account of Godstow nunnery. See his _Guil.
Neubrig._, vol. ii., 768.]
LIS. All this bespeaks a pretty correct taste. But I wish to know
something of the man.
PHIL. You shall, presently; and, in hearing what I am about to relate,
only let us both strive, good Lisardo, so to regulate our studies and
feelings that our old age may be like unto Orlando's.
Last year I went with my uncle to pay him our annual visit. He
appeared quite altered and shaken from the recent misfortune of losing
his wife; who had survived the death of her children fifteen years;
herself dying in the sixtieth of her own age. The eyes of Orlando were
sunk deeply into his forehead, yet they retained their native
brilliancy and quickness. His cheeks were wan, and a good deal
withered. His step was cautious and infirm. When we were seated in his
comfortable library chairs, he extended his right arm towards me, and
squeezing my hand cordially within his own--"Philemon," said he, "you
are not yet thirty, and have therefore sufficient ardour to enable you
to gratify your favourite passion for books. Did you ever read the
inscription over the outside of my library door--which I borrowed from
Lomeir's account of one over a library at Parma?[169]" On my telling
him that it had escaped me--"Go," said he, "and not only read, but
remember it."--The inscription was as follows:
INGREDERE MUSIS SACER, NAM
ET HIC DII HABITANT.
ITEM
NULLUS AMICUS MAGIS LIBET,
QUAM LIBER.
[Footnote 169: _De Bibliothecis_: p. 269, edit. 1680.]
"Have a care," said he, on my resuming my seat--"have a care that you
do not treat such a friend ill, or convert him into a foe. For myself,
my course is well nigh run. My children have long taken their leave of
me, to go to the common parent who created, and to the Saviour who has
vouchsafed to redeem, us all; and, though the usual order of nature
has been here inverted, I bow to the fate which Heaven has allotted me
with the unqualified resignation of a Christian. My wife has also
recently left me, for a better place; and I confess that I begin to
grow desolate, and anxious to take my departure to join my family. In
my solitude, dear Philemon, I have found these (pointing to his books)
to be what Cicero, and Seneca, and our own countryman De Bury,[170]
have so eloquently and truly described them to be--our friends, our
instructors, and our comforts. Without any affectation of hard
reading, great learning, or wonderful diligence, I think I may venture
to say that I have read more valuable books than it falls to the lot
of the generality of book-collectors to read; and I would fain believe
that I have profited by my studies. Although not of the profession of
the church, you know that I have always cherished a fondness for
sacred literature; and there is hardly a good edition of the Greek
Testament, or a commentator of repute upon the Bible, foreign or
domestic, but what you will find some reference to the same in my
interleaved copy of Bishop Wilson's edition of the Holy Scriptures. A
great number of these commentators themselves are in my library, as
well as every authoritative edition of the Greek Testament, from the
Complutensian to Griesbach's. Yet do not suppose that my theological
books are equal in measure to one fourth part of those in the Imperial
library at Paris.[171] My object has always been instruction and
improvement; and when these could be obtained from any writer, whether
Roman Catholic or Protestant, Arminian or Calvinistic, I have not
failed to thank him, and to respect him, too, if he has declared his
opinions with becoming diffidence and moderation. You know that
nothing so sorely grieves me as dogmatical arrogance, in a being who
will always be frail and capricious, let him think and act as he
please. On a Sunday evening I usually devote a few hours to my
theological studies--(if you will allow my sabbath-meditations to be
so called) and, almost every summer evening in the week, saunter
'midst yon thickets and meadows by the river side, with Collins, or
Thompson, or Cowper, in my hand. The beautiful sentiments and grand
imagery of Walter Scott are left to my in-door avocations; because I
love to read the curious books to which he refers in his notes, and
have always admired, what I find few critics have noticed, how
adroitly he has ingrafted fiction upon truth. As I thus perambulate,
with my book generally open, the villagers treat me as Sir Roger De
Coverley made his tenants treat the Spectator--by keeping at a
respectful distance--but when I shut up my volume, and direct my steps
homewards, I am always sure to find myself, before I reach my
threshold, in company with at least half a dozen gossipping and
well-meaning rustics. In other departments of reading, history and
poetry are my delight. On a rainy or snowy day, when all looks sad and
dismal without, my worthy friend and neighbour, PHORMIO, sometimes
gives me a call--and we have a rare set-to at my old favourite
volumes--the '_Lectiones Memorabiles et Reconditæ_' of WOLFIUS[172]--a
commonplace book of as many curious, extraordinary, true and false
occurrences, as ever were introduced into two ponderous folios. The
number of strange cuts in it used to amuse my dear children--whose
parent, from the remembrance of the past, still finds a pleasing
recreation in looking at them. So much, dear Philemon, for my
desultory mode of studying: improve upon it--but at all events, love
your books for the good which they may produce; provided you open them
with 'singleness of heart--' that is, a sincerity of feeling.
[Footnote 170: Every school-lad who has written a copy under
a writing-master, or who has looked into the second book of
the _"Selectæ è Profanis Scriptoribus," &c._, has probably
been made acquainted with the sentiments of the above
ancient heathen philosophers relating to Learning and Books;
but may not have been informed of the conciliatory manner in
which our countryman De Bury has invited us to approach the
latter. "Hi sunt magistri (says he) qui nos instruunt sine
vergis et ferula, sine verbis et colera, sine pane et
pecunia. Si accedis, non dormiunt; si inquiris, non se
abscondunt; non remurmurant, si oberres; cachinnos nesciunt,
si ignores." These original and apt words are placed in the
title-page to the first volume of _Dr. Clarke's
Bibliographical Dictionary_.]
[Footnote 171: "Il y a 300 pieds cubes de livres de
théologie,"--"qui tapissent les murs des deux premières
salles de la Bibliothéque Impériale." Caillot: _Roman
Bibliographique_, tom. i., 72, edit. 1809.]
[Footnote 172: There are few men, of any literary curiosity,
who would not wish to know something of the work here
noticed; and much more than appears to be known of its
illustrious author; concerning whom we will first discourse
a little: "JOHANNES WOLFIUS (says Melchoir [Transcriber's
Note: Melchior] Adam), the laborious compiler of the
_Lectionum Memorabilium et Reconditarum Centenarii_ xvi.
(being a collection of curious pieces from more than 3000
authors--chiefly Protestant) was a civilian, a soldier, and
a statesman. He was born A.D. 1537, at Vernac, in the duchy
of Deux Ponts; of which town his father was chief
magistrate. He was bred under Sturmius at Strasbourg, under
Melancthon at Wittemberg, and under Cujas at Bruges. He
travelled much and often; particularly into France and
Burgundy, with the Dukes of Stettin, in 1467. He attended
the Elector Palatine, who came with an army to the
assistance of the French Hugonots in 1569; and, in 1571, he
conducted the corpse of his master back to Germany by sea.
After this, he was frequently employed in embassies from the
electors Palatine to England and Poland. His last patrons
were the Marquisses of Baden, who made him governor of
Mündelsheim, and gave him several beneficial grants. In
1594, Wolfius bade adieu to business and courts, and retired
to Hailbrun; where he completed his "_Lectiones_," which had
been the great employment of his life. He died May 23, A.D.
1600--the same year in which the above volumes were
published." Thus far, in part, our biographer, in his _Vitæ
Eruditorum cum Germanorum tum Exterorum_: pt. iii., p. 156,
edit. 1706. These particulars may be gleaned from Wolfius's
preface; where he speaks of his literary and diplomatic
labours with great interest and propriety. In this preface
also is related a curious story of a young man of the name
of Martin, whom Wolfius employed as an amanuensis to
transcribe from his "three thousand authors"--and who was at
first so zealously attached to the principles of the Romish
Church that he declared "he wished for no heaven where
Luther might be." The young man died a Protestant; quite
reconciled to a premature end, and in perfect good will with
Luther and his doctrine. As to Wolfius, it is impossible to
read his preface, or to cast a glance upon his works--"magno
et pene incredibili labore multisque vigiliis
elaboratum"--(as Linsius has well said, in the opening of
the admonition to the reader, prefixed to his index) without
being delighted with his liberality of disposition, and
astonished at the immensity of his labour. Each volume has
upwards of 1000 pages closely printed upon an indifferent
brown-tinted paper; which serves nevertheless to set off the
several hundreds of well executed wood cuts which the work
contains. Linsius's index, a thin folio, was published in
the year 1608: this is absolutely necessary for the
completion of a copy. As bibliographers have given but a
scanty account of this uncommon work (mentioned, however,
very properly by Mr. Nicol in his interesting preface to the
catalogue of the Duke of Roxburgh's books; and of which I
observe in the _Bibl. Solgeriana_, vol. i., no. 1759,
that a second edition, printed in 1672, is held in
comparatively little estimation), so biographers (if we
except Melchior Adam, the great favourite of Bayle) have
been equally silent respecting its author. Fabricius, and
the Historical Dictionary published at Caen, do not mention
him; and Moreri has but a meagre and superficial notice of
him. Wolfius's _Penus Artis Historicæ_, of which the best
edition is that of 1579, is well described in the tenth
volume of Fournier's _Methode pour étudier l'histoire_, p.
12, edit. 1772. My respect for so extraordinary a
bibliomaniac as WOLFIUS, who was groping amongst the books
of the public libraries belonging to the several great
cities which he visited, (in his diplomatic character--vide
præf.) whilst his masters and private secretary were
probably paying their devotions to Bacchus--induces me to
treat the reader with the following impression of his
portrait.
[Illustration]
This cut is taken from a fac-simile drawing, made by me of
the head of Wolfius as it appears at the back of the
title-page to the preceding work. The original impression is
but an indifferent one; but it presents in addition, the
body of Wolfius as far as the waist; with his right hand
clasping a book, and his left the handle of a sword. His
ponderous chain has a medallion suspended at the end. This
print, which evidently belongs to the English series, has
escaped Granger. And yet I know not whether such
intelligence should be imparted!--as the scissars may hence
go to work to deprive many a copy of these "_Lectiones_," of
their elaborately-ornamented title-pages. Forbid it, good
sense!]
"In a short time," continued the venerable Orlando, after a pause of
fifteen seconds, "in a short time I must bid adieu to this scene; to
my choice copies; beautiful bindings: and all the classical furniture
which you behold around you. Yes!--as Reimannus[173] has well
observed,--'there is no end to accumulating books, whilst the
boundaries of human existence are limited, indeed!' But I have made
every necessary, and, I hope, appropriate, regulation; the greater
part of my library is bequeathed to one of the colleges in the
University of Oxford; with an injunction to put an inscription over
the collection very different from what the famous Ranzau[174]
directed to be inscribed over his own.--About three hundred volumes
you will find bequeathed to you, dear Philemon--accompanied with a few
remarks not very different from what Lotichius[175] indited, with his
dying breath, in his book-legacy to the learned Sambucus. I will, at
present, say no more. Come and see me whenever you have an
opportunity. I exact nothing extraordinary of you; and shall therefore
expect nothing beyond what one man of sense and of virtue, in our
relative situations, would pay to the other."
[Footnote 173: "Vita brevis est, et series librorum longa."
He adds: "Æs magnum tempus, quo id dispungere conatus est,
parvum." _Bibl. Acroamat._, p. 51, sign. d [dagger symbol]
2.]
[Footnote 174: "Henry de Ranzau--avoit dressé une excellente
bibliothéque au chateau de Bredemberg, dans laquelle
estoient conservez plusieurs manuscrits Grecs et Latins, et
autres raretez, &c.--Ce sçavant personnage a fait un decret
pour sa bibliothéque, qui merite d'estre icy inseré, pour
faire voir a la posterité l'affection qu'il auoit pour sa
conservation."
... Libros partem ne aliquam abstulerit,
Extraxerit, clepserit, rapserit,
Concerpserit, coruperit,
Dolo malo:
Illico maledictus,
Perpetuo execrabilis,
Semper detestabilis
Esto maneto.
JACOB: _Traicté des Bibliothéques_, pp. 237, 240.
I have inserted only the fulminatory clause of this
inscription, as being that part of it against which
Orlando's indignation seems to be directed.]
[Footnote 175: "Petrus Lotichius Johanni Sambuco Pannonio
gravissimo morbo laborans Bononiæ, bibliothecam suam
legaverit, _lib._ 3, _eleg._ 9, verba ejus lectu non
injucunda:
Pro quibus officiis, hæres abeuntis amici,
Accipe fortunæ munera parva meæ.
Non mihi sunt Baccho colles, oleisque virentes,
Prædiave Æmiliis conspicienda jugis.
Tu veterum dulces scriptorum sume libellos,
Attritos manibus quos juvat esse meis.
Invenies etiam viridi quæ lusimus ævo,
Dum studiis ætas mollibus apta fuit.
Illa velim rapidis sic uras carmina flammis
Ut vatem ipse suis ignibus jussit Amor."
LOMEIER: _de Bibliothecis_, p. 288.]
"So spake Orlando," said Philemon, with tears in his eyes, who, upon
looking at Lisardo and myself, found our faces covered with our
handkerchiefs, and unable to utter a word.
The deliberate manner in which this recital was made--the broken
periods, and frequent pauses--filled up a great measure of our
journey; and we found that St. Paul's dome was increasing upon us in
size and distinctness, and that we had not more than three miles to
travel, when Lisardo, wishing to give a different turn to the
discourse, asked Philemon what was the cause of such extravagant sums
being now given at book-sales for certain curious and uncommon--but
certainly not highly intrinsically-valuable--publications; and whether
our ancestors, in the time of Hen. VIII. and Elizabeth, paid in
proportion for the volumes of _their_ Libraries?
Upon Philemon's declaring himself unable to gratify his friend's
curiosity, but intimating that some assistance might probably be
derived from myself, I took up the discourse by observing that--
"In the infancy of printing in this country (owing to the competition
of foreigners) it would seem that our own printers (who were both
booksellers and book-binders) had suffered considerably in their
trade, by being obliged to carry their goods to a market where the
generality of purchasers were pleased with more elegantly executed
works at an inferior price. The legislature felt, as every patriotic
legislature would feel, for their injured countrymen; and,
accordingly, the statute of Richard III. was enacted,[176] whereby
English printers and book-binders were protected from the mischiefs,
which would otherwise have overtaken them. Thus our old friend Caxton
went to work with greater glee, and mustered up all his energies to
bring a good stock of British manufacture to the market. What he
usually sold his books for, in his life time, I have not been able to
ascertain; but, on his decease, one of his _Golden Legends_ was
valued, in the churchwardens' books, at six shillings and eight
pence.[177] Whether this was a great or small sum I know not; but,
from the same authority we find that twenty-two pounds were given,
twelve years before, for eleven huge folios, called '_Antiphoners_.'[178]
In the reign of Henry VIII. it would seem, from a memorandum in the
catalogue of the Fletewode library (if I can trust my memory with such
minutiæ) that Law-Books were sold for about ten sheets to the
groat.[179] Now, in the present day, Law-Books--considering the
wretched style in which they are published, with broken types upon
milk-and-water-tinted paper--are the dearest of all modern
publications. Whether they were anciently sold for so comparatively
extravagant a sum may remain to be proved. Certain it is that, before
the middle of the sixteenth century, you might have purchased
Grafton's abridgment of Polydore Virgil's superficial work about _The
Invention of Things_ for fourteen pence;[180] and the same printer's
book of _Common Prayer_ for four shillings. Yet if you wanted a
superbly bound _Prymer_, it would have cost you (even five and twenty
years before) nearly half a guinea.[181] Nor could you have purchased
a decent _Ballad_ much under sixpence; and _Hall's Chronicle_ would
have drawn from your purse twelve shillings;[182] so that,
considering the then value of specie, there is not much ground of
complaint against the present prices of books."
[Footnote 176: By the 1st of Richard III. (1433, ch. ix.
sec. xii.) it appeared that, Whereas, a great number of the
king's subjeets [Transcriber's Note: subjects] within this
realm having "given themselves diligently to learn and
exercise THE CRAFT OF PRINTING, and that at this day there
being within this realm a great number cunning and expert in
the said science or craft of printing, as able to exercise
the said craft in all points as any stranger, in any other
realm or country, and a great number of the king's subjects
living by the craft and mystery of BINDING OF BOOKS, and
well expert in the same;"--yet "all this notwithstanding,
there are divers persons that bring from beyond the sea
great plenty of printed books--not only in the Latin tongue,
but also in our maternal English tongue--some bound in
boards, some in leather, and some in parchment, and them
sell by retail, whereby many of the king's subjects, being
binders of books, and having no other faculty therewith to
get their living, be destitute of work, and like to be
undone, except some reformation herein be had,--Be it
therefore enacted, &c." By the 4th clause or provision, if
any of these printers or sellers of printed books vend them
"at too high and unreasonable prices," then the Lord
Chancellor, Lord Treasurer, or any of the Chief Justices of
the one bench or the other--"by the oaths of twelve honest
and discreet persons," were to regulate their prices. This
remarkable act was confirmed by the 25th Hen. VIII., ch. 15,
which was not repealed till the 12th Geo. II., ch. 36, § 3.
A judge would have enough to do to regulate the prices of
books, by the oaths of twelve men, in the present times!]
[Footnote 177: The reader will be pleased to refer to p. cx.
of the first volume of my recent edition of the
_Typographical Antiquities of Great Britain_.]
[Footnote 178: The following is from 'the churchwardens'
accompts of St. Margaret's, Westminster. "A.D. 1475. Item,
for 11 great books, called Antiphoners, 22_l._ 0_s._ 0_d._"
_Manners and Expenses of Ancient Times in England_, &c.,
collected by John Nichols, 1797, 4to., p. 2. _Antiphonere_
is a book of anthems to be sung with responses: and, from
the following passage in Chaucer, it would appear to have
been a common school-book used in the times of papacy:
This litel childe his litel book lerning,
As he sate in the scole at his primere
He _Alma Redemptoris_ herde sing,
As children lered hir _Antiphonere_:
_Cant. Tales_, v. 13,446, &c.
"A legend, an _Antiphonarye_, a grayle, a psalter," &c.,
were the books appointed to be kept in every parish church
"of the province of Canterbury" by Robert Winchelsen.
_Const. Provin. and of Otho and Octhobone_, fol. 67, rect.,
edit. 1534.]
[Footnote 179: "The year books, 9 v. parcels, as published,
impr. in different years by Pynson, Berthelet, Redman,
Myddylton, Powell, Smythe, Rastell, and Tottyl, 1517 to
1531." Some of them have the prices printed at the end; as
"The Prisce of thys Boke ys xiid. unbounde--The Price of
thys Boke is xvid. un bownde;" and upon counting the sheets,
it appears that the stated price of Law-Books, in the reign
of Hen. 8, was ten sheets for one groat. _Bibl.
Monast-Fletewodiana_, no. 3156.]
[Footnote 180: In a copy of this book, printed by Grafton in
1546, which was in the library of that celebrated
bibliomaniac, Tom Rawlinson, was the following singular MS.
note: "At Oxforde the yeare 1546, browt down to Seynbury by
John Darbye _pryce_ 14_d._ When I kepe Mr. Letymers shype I
bout thys boke when the testament was obberagatyd that shepe
herdys myght not red hit I pray god amende that blyndnes
wryt by Robert Wyllyams keppynge shepe uppon Seynbury hill.
1546." _Camdeni Annales: Edit. Hearne_, vol. i., p. xxx.]
[Footnote 181: From Mr. Nichol's curious work, I make the
following further extracts:
£ _s._ _d._
A.D.
1539. Item, paid for the half part of the Bybell, }
accordingly after the King's injunction } 0 9 9
1544. Item, also paid for six books of the Litany }
in English } 0 1 6
1549. Paid for iv books of the service of the church 0 16 0
[This was probably Grafton's Prayer book of 1549, fol.]
1559. Paid for a Bybyl and Parafrawse 0 16 0
[From the Ch. Wardens Accts. of St. Margaret's Westminster]
The Inventory of John Port, 1524.
In the shop.
Item, a premmer lymmed with gold, and with imagery }
written honds } 0 8 4
(From the do. of St. Mary Hill, London.)
To William Pekerynge, a ballet, called a Ryse and }
Wake } 0 0 4
(From the books of the Stationers' Company).
See pp. 13, 15, 126, and 133, of Mr. Nichols's work.]
[Footnote 182: By the kindness of Mr. William Hamper, of
Birmingham (a gentleman with whom my intercourse has as yet
been only epistolary, but whom I must be allowed to rank
among our present worthy bibliomaniacs), I am in possession
of some original entries, which seem to have served as part
of a day-book of a printer of the same name: "it having been
pasted at the end of '_The Poor Man's Librarie_' printed by
John Day in 1565." From this sable-looking document the
reader has the following miscellaneous extracts:
A.D. 1553. £ _s._ _d._
(Two) Meserse of bloyene in bordis }
One Prymare latane & englis } 0 ii 0
Balethis (ballads) nova of sortis 0 0 ii
Boke of paper 1 quire in forrell 0 0 vi
Morse workes in forrell 0 9 viij
Castell of Love in forrelle wi: a sarmo nova 0 0 x
A.D. 1554.
Balethis nova arbull in 8vo. 1 catechis 0 0 viiij
Prymare for a chyllde in 8vo. englis 0 iv
Halles Croneckelle nova englis 0 xii 0
From a Household Book kept in London, A.D. 1561
(in the possession of the same Gent.)
Item, p-d for a Lyttellton in English xij_d._
---- for the booke of ij englishe lovers vj_d._
---- for the booke of Songes and Sonnettes }
and the booke of dyse, and a frenche booke } ij_s._ viij_d._
(viz. the frenche booke xvj_d._ the ij other bookes at
viij_d._ the pece.)
---- ---- for printing the xxv orders of honest men xx_d._]
LIS. All this is very just. You are now creeping towards the
seventeenth century. Go on with your prices of books 'till nearly the
present day; when the BIBLIOMANIA has been supposed to have attained
its highest pitch.
"Don't expect," resumed I, "any antiquarian exactness in my
chronological detail of what our ancestors used to give for their
curiously-covered volumes. I presume that the ancient method of
_Book-Binding_[183] added much to the expense of the purchase. But be
this as it may, we know that Sir Ralph Sadler, at the close of the
sixteenth century, had a pretty fair library, with a _Bible_ in the
chapel to boot, for £10.[184] Towards the close of the seventeenth
century, we find the Earl of Peterborough enlisting among the book
champions; and giving, at the sale of Richard Smith's books in 1682,
not less than eighteen shillings and two pence for the first English
edition of his beloved _Godfrey of Boulogne_.[185] In Queen Ann's
time, Earl Pembroke and Lord Oxford spared no expense for books; and
Dr. Mead, who trod closely upon their heels, cared not at what price
he purchased his _Editiones Principes_, and all the grand books which
stamped such a value upon his collection. And yet, let us look at the
priced catalogue of his library, or at that of his successor Dr.
Askew, and compare the sums _then_ given for those _now_ offered for
similar works!"
[Footnote 183: As a little essay, and a very curious one
too, might be written upon the history of BOOK-BINDING, I
shall not attempt in the present note satisfactorily to
supply such a desideratum; but merely communicate to the
reader a few particulars which have come across me in my
desultory researches upon the subject. Mr. Astle tells us
that the famous _Textus Sancti Cuthberti_, which was written
in the 7th century, and was formerly kept at Durham, and is
now preserved in the Cottonian library, (Nero, D. IV.) was
adorned in the Saxon times by Bilfrith, a monk of Durham,
with a silver cover gilt, and precious stones. Simeon
Dunelmensis, or Turgot, as he is frequently called, tells us
that the cover of this fine MS. was ornamented "forensecis
Gemmis et Auro." "A booke of Gospelles garnished and wrought
with antique worke of silver and gilte with an image of the
crucifix with Mary and John, poiz together cccxxij oz." In
the secret Jewel House in the Tower. "A booke of gold
enameled, clasped with a rubie, having on th' one side, a
crosse of dyamounts, and vj other dyamounts, and th' other
syde a flower de luce of dyamounts, and iiij rubies with a
pendaunte of white saphires and the arms of Englande. Which
booke is garnished with small emerades and rubies hanging to
a cheyne pillar fashion set with xv knottes, everie one
conteyning iij rubies (one lacking)." _Archæologia_, vol.
xiii., 220. Although Mr. Astle has not specified the time in
which these two latter books were bound, it is probable that
they were thus gorgeously attired before the discovery of
the art of printing. What the ancient Vicars of Chalk (in
Kent) used to pay for binding their missals, according to
the original endowment settled by Haymo de Hethe in 1327
(which compelled the vicars to be at the expense of the
same--_Reg. Roff._, p. 205), Mr. Denne has not informed us.
_Archæologia_, vol. xi., 362. But it would seem, from
Warton, that "students and monks were anciently the binders
of books;" and from their Latin entries respecting the same,
the word "conjunctio" appears to have been used for
"ligatura." _Hist. of Engl. Poetry_, vol. ii., p. 244.
Hearne, in No. III. of the appendix to _Adam de Domerham
de reb. gest. Glast._, has "published a grant from Rich. de
Paston to Bromholm abbey, of twelve pence a year rent charge
on his estates to _keep their books in repair_." This I
gather from Gough's _Brit. Topog._, vol. ii., p. 20: while
from the _Liber Stat. Eccl. Paulinæ_, Lond. MSS., f. 6, 396
(furnished me by my friend Mr. H. Ellis,[D] of the British
Museum), it appears to have been anciently considered as a
part of the Sacrist's duty to bind and clasp the books:
"Sacrista curet quod _Libri bene ligentur et haspentur_," &c.
In Chaucer's time, one would think that the fashionable
binding for the books of young scholars was
_various-coloured velvet_: for thus our poet describes the
library of the Oxford Scholar:
A twenty bokes, clothed in black and red
Of Aristotle----
(_Prolog. to Cant. Tales._)
We have some account of the style in which Chaucer's royal
patron, Edward III., used to have his books bound; as the
following extract (also furnished me by Mr. H. Ellis) will
testify:----"To Alice Claver, for the making of XVI laces
and XVI tasshels for the garnyshing of diuers of the Kings
books, ij_s._ viij_d._----And to Robert Boillet for blac
paper and nailles for closing and fastenyng of diuers cofyns
of ffyrre wherein the Kings boks were conveyed and caried
from the Kings grete warderobe in London vnto Eltham
aforesaid, v_d._----Piers Bauduyn Stacioner for bynding
gilding and dressing of a booke called Titus Liuius, xx_s_:
for binding gilding and dressing of a booke called
Ffrossard, xvj_s_: or binding gilding and dressing of a
booke called the Bible, xvj_s_: for binding gilding and
dressing of a booke called le Gouuernement of Kings and
Princes, xvj_s._" "For the dressing of ij books whereof oon
is called la forteresse de Foy and the other called the
booke of Josephus, iij_s._ iiij_d._ And for binding gilding
and dressing of a booke called the bible historial, xx_s._"
Among the expenses entered in the Wardrobe Accompts 20th
Edw. III. I suspect that it was not 'till towards the close
of the 15th century, when the sister art of painting
directed that of engraving, that books were bound in thick
boards, with leather covering upon the same; curiously
stamped with arabesque, and other bizarre, ornaments. In the
interior of this binding, next to the leaves, there was
sometimes an excavation, in which a silver crucifix was
safely guarded by a metal door, with clasps. The exterior of
the binding had oftentimes large embossed ornaments of
silver, and sometimes of precious stones [as a note in the
Appendix to the _History of Leicester_, by Mr. Nichols, p.
102, indicates--and as Geyler himself, in his _Ship of
Fools_, entitled "_Navicula, sive Speculum Fatuorum_," edit.
1511, 4to., thus expressly declares:--"sunt qui libros
inaurunt et serica tegimenta apponunt preciosa et superba,"
sign. B. v. rev.], as well as the usual ornaments upon the
leather; and two massive clasps, with thick metalled corners
on each of the outward sides of the binding, seemed to
render a book impervious to such depredations of time as
could arise from external injury. Meantime, however the worm
was secretly engendered within the wood: and his perforating
ravages in the precious leaves of the volume gave dreadful
proof of the defectiveness of ancient binding, beautiful and
bold as it undoubtedly was! The reader is referred to an
account of a preciously bound diminutive godly book (once
belonging to Q. Elizabeth), in the first volume of my
edition of the British _Typographical Antiquities_, p. 83;
for which I understand the present owner asks the sum of
160_l._ We find that in the sixteenth year of Elizabeth's
reign, she was in possession of "Oone Gospell booke covered
with tissue and garnished on th' onside with the crucifix
and the Queene's badges of silver guilt, poiz with wodde,
leaves, and all, czij. oz." _Archæologia_, vol. xiii., 221.
I am in possession of the covers of a book, bound (A.D.
1569) in thick parchment or vellum, which has the whole
length portrait of Luther on one side, and of Calvin on the
other. These portraits, which are executed with uncommon
spirit and accuracy, are encircled with a profusion of
ornamental borders of the most exquisite taste and richness.
We shall speak occasionally of more modern book-binding as
we proceed. Meanwhile, let the curious bibliomaniac glance
his eye upon the copper-plate print which faces this
concluding sentence--where he will see fac-similes of the
portraits just mentioned.]
[Footnote 184: See the recent very beautiful edition of Sir
Ralph Sadler's _State Papers_, vol. ii., p. 590.]
[Footnote 185: See the _Catalogue of R. Smith's Books_,
1682, 4to., p. 199 (falsely numbered 275), no. 94.]
[Footnote D: Since created a Knight.]
LIS. You allude to a late sale in Pall Mall, of one of the choicest
and most elegant libraries ever collected by a man of letters and
taste?
"I do, Lisardo--but see we are just entering the smoke and bustle of
London; and in ten minutes shall have reached the scene of action."
PHIL. How do you feel?
LIS. Why, tolerably calm. My pulse beats as leisurely as did my Lord
Strafford's at his trial--or (to borrow Hamlet's phrase)
--as yours, it doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music.
PHIL. Ninety-five to the minute! You are just now in a fit frame of
mind to write a political pamphlet. Pray consider what will be the
issue of this madness?
LIS. No more! Now for my catalogue; and let me attend to my marks. But
our friend is not forgetful of his promise?
PHIL. I dare say he will assist us in regulating the prices we ought
to give--and more particularly in making us acquainted with the most
notable book-collectors.
Upon my readily acquiescing in their demand, we leapt from the chaise
(giving orders for it to attend by three o'clock) and hurried
immediately up stairs into THE AUCTION ROOM.
The clock had struck twelve, and in half an hour the sale was to
begin. Not more than nine or ten gentlemen were strolling about the
room: some examining the volumes which were to be sold, and making
hieroglyphical marks thereupon, in their catalogues: some giving
commissions to the clerk who entered their names, with the sums they
intended staking, in a manner equally hieroglyphical. Others, again,
seemed to be casting an eye of vacancy over the whole collection; or
waiting till a book friend arrived with whom they might enter into a
little chat. You observe, my friends, said I, softly, yonder active
and keen-visaged gentleman? 'Tis LEPIDUS. Like Magliabechi, content
with frugal fare and frugal clothing[186] and preferring the riches of
a library to those of house-furniture, he is insatiable in his
bibliomaniacal appetites. "Long experience has made him sage:" and it
is not therefore without just reason that his opinions are courted,
and considered as almost oracular. You will find that he will take his
old station, commanding the right or left wing of the auctioneer; and
that he will enliven, by the gaiety and shrewdness of his remarks, the
circle that more immediately surrounds him. Some there are who will
not bid 'till Lepidus bids; and who surrender all discretion and
opinion of their own to his universal book-knowledge. The consequence
is that Lepidus can, with difficulty, make purchases for his own
library; and a thousand dexterous and happy manoeuvres are of
necessity obliged to be practised by him, whenever a rare or curious
book turns up. How many fine collections has this sagacious
bibliomaniac seen disposed of! Like Nestor, who preaches about the
fine fellows he remembered in his youth, Lepidus (although barely yet
in his grand climacteric!) will depicture, with moving eloquence, the
numerous precious volumes of far-famed collectors, which he has seen,
like Macbeth's witches,
"Come like shadows, so depart!"
[Footnote 186: Tenni cultu, victuque contentus, quidquid ei
pecuniæ superaret in omnigenæ eruditionis libros comparandos
erogabat, selectissimamque voluminum multitudinem ea mente
adquisivit, ut aliquando posset publicæ utilitati--dicari,
_Præf. Bibl. Magliab. a Fossio_, p. x.]
And when any particular class of books, now highly coveted, but
formerly little esteemed, comes under the hammer, and produces a large
sum,--ah then! 'tis pleasant to hear Lepidus exclaim--
O mihi præteritos referat si Jupiter annos!
Justly respectable as are his scholarship and good sense, he is not
what you may call a _fashionable_ collector; for old chronicles and
romances are most rigidly discarded from his library. Talk to him of
Hoffmen, Schoettgenius, Rosenmuller, and Michaelis, and he will listen
courteously to your conversation; but when you expatiate, however
learnedly and rapturously, upon Froissart and Prince Arthur, he will
tell you that he has a heart of stone upon the subject; and that even
a clean uncut copy of an original impression of each, by Verard or by
Caxton, would not bring a single tear of sympathetic transport in his
eyes.
LIS. I will not fail to pay due attention to so extraordinary and
interesting a character--for see, he is going to take his
distinguished station in the approaching contest. The hammer of the
worthy auctioneer, which I suppose is of as much importance as was Sir
Fopling's periwig of old,[187] upon the stage--the hammer is upon the
desk!--The company begin to increase and close their ranks; and the
din of battle will shortly be heard. Let us keep these seats. Now,
tell me who is yonder strange looking gentleman?
[Footnote 187: See Warburton's piquant note, in Mr. Bowles's
edition of _Pope's Works_, vol. v., p. 116. "This remarkable
_periwiy_ [Transcriber's Note: periwig] (says he) usually
made its entrance upon the stage in a sedan chair, brought
in by two chairmen with infinite approbation of the
audience." The _snuff-box_ of Mr. L. has not a less imposing
air; and when a high-priced book is balancing between 15_l._
and 20_l._ it is a fearful signal of its reaching an
additional sum, if Mr. L. should lay down his hammer, and
delve into this said crumple-horned snuff-box!]
"'Tis MUSTAPHA, a vender of books. Consuetudine invalescens, ac veluti
callum diuturna cogitatione obducens,[188] he comes forth, like an
alchemist from his laboratory, with hat and wig 'sprinkled with
learned dust,' and deals out his censures with as little ceremony as
correctness. It is of no consequence to him by whom positions are
advanced, or truth is established; and he hesitates very little about
calling Baron Heinecken a Tom fool, or ---- a shameless impostor. If
your library were as choice and elegant as Dr. H----'s he would tell
you that his own disordered shelves and badly coated books presented
an infinitely more precious collection; nor must you be at all
surprised at this--for, like Braithwait's Upotomis,
'Though weak in judgment, in opinion strong;'
or, like the same author's Meilixos,
'Who deems all wisdom treasur'd in his pate,'
our book-vender, in the catalogues which he puts forth, shews himself
to be 'a great and bold carpenter of words;'[189] overcharging the
description of his own volumes with tropes, metaphors, flourishes, and
common-place authorities; the latter of which one would think had but
recently come under his notice, as they had been already before the
public in various less ostentatious forms."
[Footnote 188: The curious reader may see the entire caustic
passage in Spizelius's _Infelix Literatus_, p. 435.]
[Footnote 189: _Coryat's Crudities_, vol. i., sign. (b. 5.)
edit. 1776.]
PHIL. Are you then an enemy to booksellers, or to their catalogues
when interlaced with bibliographical notices?
"By no means, Philemon. I think as highly of our own as did the author
of the Aprosian library[190] of the Dutch booksellers; and I love to
hear that the bibliographical labour bestowed upon a catalogue has
answered the end proposed, by sharpening the appetites of purchasers.
But the present is a different case. Mustapha might have learnt good
sense and good manners, from his right hand, or left hand, or
opposite, neighbour; but he is either too conceited, or too obstinate,
to have recourse to such aid. What is very remarkable, although he is
constantly declaiming against the enormous sums of money given for
books at public auctions, Mustapha doth not scruple to push the
purchaser to the last farthing of his commission; from a ready knack
which he hath acquired, by means of some magical art in his foresaid
laboratory, of deciphering the same; thus adopting in a most
extraordinary manner, the very line of conduct himself which he so
tartly censures in others."
[Footnote 190: See pages 103-4, of Wolfius's edition of the
_Bibliotheca Aprosiana_, 1734, 8vo. It is not because Mr.
Ford, of Manchester, has been kind enough to present me with
one of the _six_ copies of his last catalogue of books,
printed upon STRONG WRITING PAPER--that I take this
opportunity of praising the contents of it,--but that his
catalogues are to be praised for the pains which he exhibits
in describing his books, and in referring to numerous
bibliographical authorities in the description. While upon
this subject, let me recommend the youthful bibliomaniac to
get possession of Mr. Edwards's catalogues, and especially
of that of 1794. If such a catalogue were but recently
published, it would be one of the pleasantest breakfast
lounges imaginable to _tick off_ a few of the volumes with
the hope of possessing them at the prices therein afixed.]
PHIL. Was this the gentleman whose catalogue (as you shewed me)
contained the fascinating colophon of Juliana Berner's book of
hawking, hunting, and heraldry, printed in the year 1486, subjoined to
a copy of the common reprint of it by Gervase Markham--thereby
provoking a thousand inquiries after the book, as if it had been the
first edition?
"The same," resumed I. "But let us leave such ridiculous vanity."
LIS. Who is that gentleman, standing towards the right of the
auctioneer, and looking so intently upon his catalogue?
"You point to my friend BERNARDO. He is thus anxious, because an
original fragment of the fair lady's work, which you have just
mentioned, is coming under the hammer; and powerful indeed must be the
object to draw his attention another way. The demure prioress of
Sopewell abbey is his ancient sweetheart; and he is about introducing
her to his friends, by a union with her as close and as honourable as
that of wedlock. Engaged in a laborious profession (the duties of
which are faithfully performed by him) Bernardo devotes his few
leisure hours to the investigation of old works; thinking with the
ancient poet, quoted by Ashmole, that
'----out of old fields as men saythe
Cometh all this new corne fro yeare to yeare;
And out of olde Bokes in good faythe
Cometh all this scyence that men leare:'
or, with Ashmole himself; that 'old words have strong emphasis: others
may look upon them as rubbish or trifles, but they are grossly
mistaken: for what some light brains may esteem as foolish toys,
deeper judgments can and will value as sound and serious matter.[191]'
[Footnote 191: _Theatrum Chemicum_: proleg. sign. A. 3.
rev.: B. 4. rect. The charms of ancient phraseology had been
before not less eloquently described by Wolfius: "Habet hoc
jucundi priscorum quorundam obsoleta dictio, ac suo quodam
modo rudius comta oratio, ut ex ea plus intelligamus quam
dicitur; plus significetur quam effertur." _Lect. Memorab.
Epist. Ded._ fol. xiv. rev. Of Wolfius, and of this his
work, the reader will find some mention at page 110, ante.]
"If you ask me whether Bernardo be always successful in his labours, I
should answer you, as I have told him, No: for the profit and applause
attendant upon them are not commensurate with his exertions. Moreover,
I do verily think that, in some few instances, he sacrifices his
judgment to another's whim; by a reluctance to put out the strength of
his own powers. He is also, I had almost said, the admiring slave of
Ritsonian fastidiousness; and will cry 'pish' if a _u_ be put for a
_v_, or a _single e_ for a _double one_: but take him fairly as he is,
and place him firmly in the bibliographical scale, and you will
acknowledge that his weight is far from being inconsiderable. He is a
respectable, and every way a praise-worthy man: and although he is
continually walking in a thick forest of black letter, and would
prefer a book printed before the year 1550, to a turtle dressed
according to the rules of Mr. Farley, yet he can ever and anon sally
forth to enjoy a stroll along the river side, with Isaac Walton[192]
in his hand; when 'he hath his wholesome walk and merry, at his ease:
a sweet air of the sweet savour of the mead flowers, that maketh him
hungry.'[193]
[Footnote 192: "Let me take this opportunity of recommending
the amiable and venerable ISAAC WALTON'S _Complete Angler_:
a work the most singular of its kind, breathing the very
spirit of contentment, of quiet, and unaffected
philanthrophy, and interspersed with some beautiful relics
of poetry, old songs, and ballads." So speaks the Rev. W.
Lisle Bowles, in his edition of _Pope's Works_, vol i., p.
135. To which I add--Let me take this opportunity of
recommending Mr. Bagster's very beautiful and creditable
reprint of Sir John Hawkin's edition of Walton's amusing
little book. The plates in it are as true as they are
brilliant: and the bibliomaniac may gratify his appetite,
however voracious, by having copies of it upon paper of all
sizes. Mr. Bagster has also very recently published an
exquisite facsimile of the original edition of old Isaac.
Perhaps I ought not to call it a fac-simile, for it is, in
many respects, more beautifully executed.]
[Footnote 193: The reader may see all this, and much more,
dressed in its ancient orthographic garb, in a proheme to
the first edition of the merry art of fishing, extracted by
Herbert in his first volume, p. 131. I have said the
"_merry_," and not the "_contemplative_," art of
fishing--because we are informed that "Yf the angler take
fyshe, surely thenne is there noo man _merier_ than he is in
his spyryte!!" Yet Isaac Walton called this art, "The
_Contemplative_ Man's Recreation." But a _book-fisherman_,
like myself, must not presume to reconcile such great and
contradictory authorities.]
"But see--the hammer is vibrating, at an angle of twenty-two and a
half, over a large paper priced catalogue of Major Pearson's
books!--Who is the lucky purchaser?
"QUISQUILIUS:--a victim to the Bibliomania. If one single copy of a
work happen to be printed in a more particular manner than another;
and if the compositor (clever rogue) happen to have transposed or
inverted a whole sentence or page; if a plate or two, no matter of
what kind or how executed; go along with it, which is not to be found
in the remaining copies; if the paper happen to be _unique_ in point
of size--whether MAXIMA or MINIMA--oh, then, thrice happy is
Quisquilius! With a well-furnished purse, the strings of which are
liberally loosened, he devotes no small portion of wealth to the
accumulation of _Prints_; and can justly boast of a collection of
which few of his contemporaries are possessed. But his walk in
book-collecting is rather limited. He seldom rambles into the
luxuriancy of old English black-letter literature; and cares still
less for a _variorum_ Latin classic, stamped in the neat mintage of
the Elzevir press. Of a Greek _Aldus_, or an Italian _Giunta_, he has
never yet had the luxury to dream:--'trahit sua quemque voluptas;' and
let Quisquilius enjoy his hobby-horse, even to the riding of it to
death! But let him not harbour malevolence against supposed injuries
inflicted: let not foolish prejudices, or unmanly suspicions, rankle
in his breast: authors and book-collectors are sometimes as
enlightened as himself, and have cultivated pursuits equally
honourable. Their profession, too, may sometimes be equally beneficial
to their fellow creatures. A few short years shall pass away, and it
will be seen who has contributed the more effectively to the public
stock of amusement and instruction. We wrap ourselves up in our own
little vanities and weaknesses, and, fancying wealth and wisdom to be
synonymous, vent our spleen against those who are resolutely striving,
under the pressure of mediocrity and domestic misfortune, to obtain an
honourable subsistence by their intellectual exertions."
LIS. A truce to this moralizing strain. Pass we on to a short
gentleman, busily engaged yonder in looking at a number of volumes,
and occasionally conversing with two or three gentlemen from five to
ten inches taller than himself. What is his name?
"ROSICRUSIUS is his name; and an ardent and indefatigable book-forager
he is. Although just now busily engaged in antiquarian researches
relating to British typography, he fancies himself nevertheless deeply
interested in the discovery of every ancient book printed abroad.
Examine his little collection of books, and you will find that
'There Caxton sleeps, with Wynkyn at his side,
One clasp'd in wood, and one in strong cow-hide!'[194]
--and yet, a beautiful volume printed at 'Basil or Heidelberg makes
him spinne: and at seeing the word Frankford or Venice, though but on
the title of a booke, he is readie to break doublet, cracke elbows,
and over-flowe the room with his murmure.'[195] Bibliography is his
darling delight--'una voluptas et meditatio assidua;'[196] and in
defence of the same he would quote you a score of old-fashioned
authors, from Gesner to Harles, whose very names would excite
scepticism about their existence. He is the author of various works,
chiefly bibliographical; upon which the voice of the public (if we
except a little wicked quizzing at his _black-letter_ propensities in
a celebrated North Briton Review) has been generally favourable.
Although the old maidenish particularity of Tom Hearne's genius be not
much calculated to please a bibliomaniac of lively parts, yet
Rosicrusius seems absolutely enamoured of that ancient wight; and to
be in possession of the cream of all his pieces, if we may judge from
what he has already published, and promises to publish, concerning the
same. He once had the temerity to dabble in poetry;[197] but he never
could raise his head above the mists which infest the swampy ground at
the foot of Parnassus. Still he loves 'the divine art' enthusiastically;
and affects, forsooth, to have a taste in matters of engraving and
painting! Converse with him about Guercino and Albert Durer, Berghem
and Woollett, and tell him that you wish to have his opinion about the
erection of a large library, and he will 'give tongue' to you from
rise to set of sun. Wishing him prosperity in his projected works, and
all good fellows to be his friends, proceed we in our descriptive
survey."
[Footnote 194: Pope's _Dunciad_, b. i. v. 149.]
[Footnote 195: _Coryat's Crudities_, vol. i., sign. (b. 5.)
edit. 1776.]
[Footnote 196: Vita Jacobi Le Long., p. xx., _Biblioth.
Sacra_, edit. 1778.]
[Footnote 197: See the note p. 11, in the first edition of
the _Bibliomania_.]
LIS. I am quite impatient to see ATTICUS in this glorious group; of
whom fame makes such loud report--
"Yonder see he comes, Lisardo! 'Like arrow from the hunter's bow,' he
darts into the hottest of the fight, and beats down all opposition. In
vain BOSCARDO advances with his heavy artillery, sending forth
occasionally a forty-eight pounder; in vain he shifts his mode of
attack--now with dagger, and now with broadsword, now in plated, and
now in quilted armour: nought avails him. In every shape and at every
onset he is discomfited. Such a champion as Atticus has perhaps never
before appeared within the arena of book-gladiators:
'Blest with talents, wealth, and taste;'[198]
and gifted with no common powers of general scholarship, he can easily
master a knotty passage in Eschylus or Aristotle; and quote Juvenal
and Horace as readily as the junior lads at Eton quote their '_As in
præsenti_:' moreover, he can enter, with equal ardour, into a minute
discussion about the romance literature of the middle ages, and the
dry though useful philology of the German school during the 16th and
17th centuries. In the pursuit after rare, curious, and valuable
books, nothing daunts or depresses him. With a mental and bodily
constitution such as few possess, and with a perpetual succession of
new objects rising up before him, he seems hardly ever conscious of
the vicissitudes of the seasons, and equally indifferent to petty
changes in politics. The cutting blasts of Siberia, or the fainting
heat of a Maltese sirocco, would not make him halt, or divert his
course, in the pursuit of a favourite volume, whether in the Greek,
Latin, Spanish, or Italian language. But as all human efforts, however
powerful, if carried on without intermission, must have a period of
cessation; and as the most active body cannot be at 'Thebes and at
Athens' at the same moment; so it follows that Atticus cannot be at
every auction and carry away every prize. His rivals narrowly watch,
and his enemies closely way-lay, him; and his victories are rarely
bloodless in consequence. If, like Darwin's whale, which swallows
'millions at a gulp,' Atticus should, at one auction, purchase from
two to seven hundred volumes, he must retire, like the '_Boa
Constrictor_,' for digestion: and accordingly he does, for a short
season, withdraw himself from 'the busy hum' of sale rooms, to
collate, methodize, and class his newly acquired treasures--to repair
what is defective, and to beautify what is deformed. Thus rendering
them 'companions meet' for their brethren in the rural shades of H----
Hall; where, in gay succession, stands many a row, heavily laden with
'rich and rare' productions. In this rural retreat, or academic bower,
Atticus spends a due portion of the autumnal season of the year; now
that the busy scenes of book-auctions in the metropolis have changed
their character--and dreary silence, and stagnant dirt, have succeeded
to noise and flying particles of learned dust.
[Footnote 198: Dr. Ferriar's _Bibliomania_, v. 12.]
"Here, in his ancestral abode, Atticus can happily exchange the
microscopic investigation of books for the charms and manly exercises
of a rural life; eclipsing, in this particular, the celebrity of Cæsar
Antoninus; who had not universality of talent sufficient to unite the
love of hawking and hunting with the passion for book-collecting.[199]
The sky is no sooner dappled o'er with the first morning sun-beams,
than up starts our distinguished bibliomaniac, either to shoot or to
hunt; either to realize all the fine things which Pope has written
about 'lifting the tube, and levelling the eye;'[200] or to join the
jolly troop while they chant the hunting song of his poetical
friend.[201] Meanwhile, his house is not wanting in needful garniture
to render a country residence most congenial. His cellars below vie
with his library above. Besides 'the brown October'--'drawn from his
dark retreat of thirty years'--and the potent comforts of every
species of 'barley broth'--there are the ruddier and more sparkling
juices of the grape--'fresh of colour, and of look lovely, smiling to
the eyz of many'--as Master Laneham hath it in his celebrated
letter.[202] I shall leave you to finish the picture, which such a
sketch may suggest, by referring you to your favourite, Thomson."[203]
[Footnote 199: This anecdote is given on the authority of
Kesner's [Transcriber's Note: Gesner's] _Pandects_, fol. 29:
rect. '[Greek: Alloi men hippôn] (says the grave Antoninus)
[Greek: alloi de orneôn, alloi thêriôn ebôsin: emoi de
bibliôn ktêseôs ek paidoiriou deinos entetêke pothos].']
[Footnote 200: See Pope's _Windsor Forest_, ver. 110 to
134.]
[Footnote 201:
Waken lords and ladies gay;
On the mountain dawns the day.
All the jolly chase is here,
With hawk and horse and hunting spear:
Hounds are in their couples yelling,
Hawks are whistling, horns are knelling;
Merrily, merrily, mingle they.
"Waken lords and ladies gay."
Waken lords and ladies gay,
The mist has left the mountain grey.
Springlets in the dawn are steaming,
Diamonds on the lake are gleaming;
And foresters have busy been,
To track the buck in thicket green:
Now we come to chaunt our lay,
"Waken lords and ladies gay."
HUNTING SONG, by Walter Scott: the remaining stanzas will be
found in the _Edinb. Annual Register_, vol. i., pt. ii.,
xxviii.]
[Footnote 202: "_Whearin part of the Entertainment untoo the
Queenz Majesty of Killingworth Castl in Warwick Sheer, &c.,
1576, is signified._" edit. 1784, p. 14.]
[Footnote 203: _Autumn_, v. 519, 701, &c.]
LIS. Your account of so extraordinary a bibliomaniac is quite amusing:
but I suspect you exaggerate a little.
"Nay, Lisardo, I speak nothing but the truth. In book-reputation,
Atticus unites all the activity of De Witt and Lomanie, with the
retentiveness of Magliabechi and the learning of Le Long.[204] And
yet--he has his peccant part."
[Footnote 204: The reader will be pleased to turn for one
minute to pages 49, 85, 86, ante.]
LIS. Speak, I am anxious to know.
"Yes, Lisardo; although what Leichius hath said of the library
attached to the senate-house of Leipsic be justly applicable to his
own extraordinary collection[205]--yet ATTICUS doth sometimes sadly
err. He has now and then an ungovernable passion to possess more
copies of a book than there were ever parties to a deed, or stamina to
a plant: and therefore I cannot call him a duplicate or triplicate
collector. His best friends scold--his most respectable rivals
censure--and a whole 'mob of gentlemen' who think to collect 'with
ease,' threaten vengeance against--him, for this despotic spirit which
he evinces; and which I fear nothing can stay or modify but an act of
parliament that no gentleman shall purchase more than two copies of a
work; one for his town, the other for his country, residence."
[Footnote 205: Singularis eius ac propensi, in iuvandam
eruditionem studii insigne imprimis monumentum exstat,
Bibliotheca instructissima, sacrarium bonæ menti dicatum, in
quo omne, quod transmitti ad posteritatem meretur, copiose
reconditum est. _e [Transcriber's Note: De] Orig. et
Increment. Typog. Lipsiens. Lips. An. Typog._ sec. iii.,
sign. 3.]
PHIL. But does he atone for his sad error by being liberal in the loan
of his volumes?
"Most completely so, Philemon. This is the 'pars melior' of every book
collector, and it is indeed the better part with Atticus. The learned
and curious, whether rich or poor, have always free access to his
library--
His volumes, open as his heart,
Delight, amusement, science, art,
To every ear and eye impart.
His books, therefore, are not a stagnant reservoir of unprofitable
water, as are those of PONTEVALLO'S; but like a thousand rills, which
run down from the lake on Snowdon's summit, after a plentiful fall of
rain, they serve to fertilize and adorn every thing to which they
extend. In consequence, he sees himself reflected in a thousand
mirrors: and has a right to be vain of the numerous dedications to
him, and of the richly ornamented robes in which he is attired by his
grateful friends."
LIS. Long life to Atticus, and to all such book heroes! Now pray
inform me who is yonder gentleman, of majestic mien and shape?--and
who strikes a stranger with as much interest as Agamemnon did
Priam--when the Grecian troops passed at a distance in order of
review, while the Trojan monarch and Helen were gossipping with each
other on the battlements of Troy!
"That gentleman, Lisardo, is HORTENSIUS; who, you see is in close
conversation with an intimate friend and fellow-bibliomaniac--that
ycleped is ULPIAN. They are both honourable members of an honourable
profession; and although they have formerly sworn to purchase no old
book but Machlinia's first edition of Littleton's Tenures, yet they
cannot resist, now and then, the delicious impulse of becoming masters
of a black-letter chronicle or romance. Taste and talent of various
kind they both possess; and 'tis truly pleasant to see gentlemen and
scholars, engaged in a laborious profession, in which, comparatively,
'little vegetation quickens, and few salutary plants take root,'
finding 'a pleasant grove for their wits to walk in' amidst rows of
beautifully bound, and intrinsically precious, volumes. They feel it
delectable, 'from the loop-holes of such a retreat,' to peep at the
multifarious pursuits of their brethren; and while they discover some
busied in a perversion of book-taste, and others preferring the
short-lived pleasures of sensual gratifications--which must 'not be
named' among good bibliomaniacs--they can sit comfortably by their
fire-sides; and, pointing to a well-furnished library, say to their
wives--who heartily sympathize in the sentiment--
This gives us health, or adds to life a day!"[206]
[Footnote 206: Braithwaite's _Arcadian Princesse_: lib. 4,
p. 15, edit. 1635. The two immediately following verses,
which are worthy of Dryden, may quietly creep in here:
Or helps decayed beauty, or repairs
Our chop-fall'n cheeks, or winter-molted hairs.]
LIS. When I come to town to settle, pray introduce me to these amiable
and sensible bibliomaniacs. Now gratify a curiosity that I feel to
know the name and character of yonder respectably-looking gentleman,
in the dress of the old school, who is speaking in so gracious a
manner to Bernardo?
"'Tis LEONTES: a man of taste, and an accomplished antiquary. Even yet
he continues to gratify his favourite passion for book and
print-collecting; although his library is at once choice and copious,
and his collection of prints exquisitely fine. He yet enjoys, in the
evening of life, all that unruffled temper and gentlemanly address
which delighted so much in his younger days, and which will always
render him, in his latter years, equally interesting and admired. Like
Atticus, he is liberal in the loan of his treasures; and, as with him,
so 'tis with Leontes--the spirit of book-collecting 'assumes the
dignity of a virtue.'[207] Peace and comfort be the attendant spirits
of Leontes, through life, and in death: the happiness of a better
world await him beyond the grave! His memory will always be held in
reverence by honest bibliomaniacs; and a due sense of his kindness
towards myself shall constantly be impressed upon me--
Dum memor ipse mei, dum spiritus hos regret artus."
[Footnote 207: _Edinburgh Review_, vol. xiii., p. 118.]
PHIL. Amen. With Leontes I suppose you close your account of the most
notorious bibliomaniacs who generally attend book sales in person; for
I observe no other person who mingles with those already
described--unless indeed, three very active young ones, who
occasionally converse with each other, and now and then have their
names affixed to some very expensive purchases--
"They are the three MERCURII, oftentimes deputed by distinguished
bibliomaniacs: who, fearful of the sharp-shooting powers of their
adversaries, if they _themselves_ should appear in the ranks, like
prudent generals, keep aloof. But their aides-de-camp are not always
successful in their missions; for such is the obstinacy with which
book-battles are now contested, that it requires three times the
number of guns and weight of metal to accomplish a particular object
to what it did when John Duke of Marlborough wore his full-bottomed
periwig at the battle of Blenheim.
"Others there are, again, who employ these Mercurii from their own
inability to attend in person, owing to distance, want of time, and
other similar causes. Hence, many a desperate bibliomaniac keeps in
the back-ground; while the public are wholly unacquainted with his
curious and rapidly-increasing treasures. Hence SIR TRISTRAM,
embosomed in his forest-retreat,
--down the steepy linn
That hems his little garden in,
is constantly increasing his stores of tales of genii, fairies, fays,
ghosts, hobgoblins, magicians, highwaymen, and desperadoes--and
equally acceptable to him is a copy of Castalio's elegant version of
Homer, and of St. Dunstan's book '_De Occulta Philosophia_;'
concerning which lattter [Transcriber's Note: latter], Elias Ashmole
is vehement in commendation.[208] From all these (after melting them
down in his own unparalleled poetical crucible--which hath charms as
potent as the witches' cauldron in Macbeth) he gives the world many a
wondrous-sweet song. Who that has read the exquisite poems, of the
fame of which all Britain 'rings from side to side,' shall deny to
such ancient legends a power to charm and instruct? Or who, that
possesses a copy of PROSPERO'S excellent volumes, although composed in
a different strain (yet still more fruitful in ancient matters), shall
not love the memory and exalt the renown of such transcendent
bibliomaniacs? The library of Prospero is indeed acknowledged to be
without a rival in its way. How pleasant it is, dear Philemon, only to
contemplate such a goodly prospect of elegantly bound volumes of old
English and French literature!--and to think of the matchless stores
which they contain, relating to our ancient popular tales and romantic
legends!
[Footnote 208: He who shall have the happiness to meet with
St. Dunstan's Worke "_De Occulta Philosophia_," may therein
reade such stories as will make him amaz'd, &c. Prolegom. to
his _Theatrum Chemicum_, sign A., 4. rev.]
"Allied to this library, in the general complexion of its literary
treasures, is that of MARCELLUS: while in the possession of numberless
rare and precious volumes relating to the drama, and especially to his
beloved Shakespeare, it must be acknowledged that Marcellus hath
somewhat the superiority. Meritorious as have been his labours in the
illustration of our immortal bard, he is yet as zealous, vigilant, and
anxious, as ever, to accumulate every thing which may tend to the
further illustration of him. Enter his book-cabinet; and with the
sight of how many _unique_ pieces and tracts are your ardent eyes
blessed! Just so it is with AURELIUS! He also, with the three last
mentioned bibliomaniacs, keeps up a constant fire at book auctions;
although he is not personally seen in securing the spoils which he
makes. Unparalleled as an antiquary in Caledonian history and poetry,
and passionately attached to every thing connected with the fate of
the lamented Mary, as well as with that of the great poetical
contemporaries, Spenser and Shakespeare, Aurelius is indefatigable in
the pursuit of such ancient lore as may add value to the stores,
however precious, which he possesses. His _Noctes Atticæ_, devoted to
the elucidation of the history of his native country, will erect to
his memory a splendid and imperishable monument. These, my dear
friends, these are the virtuous and useful, and therefore salutary
ends of book-collecting and book-reading. Such characters are among
the proudest pillars that adorn the greatest nations upon earth.
"Let me, however, not forget to mention that there are bashful or busy
bibliomaniacs, who keep aloof from book-sales, intent only upon
securing, by means of these Mercurii, _stainless_ or _large paper_
copies of ancient literature. While MENALCAS sees his oblong cabinet
decorated with such a tall, well-dressed, and perhaps matchless,
regiment of _Variorum Classics_, he has little or no occasion to
regret his unavoidable absence from the field of battle, in the Strand
or Pall Mall. And yet--although he is environed with a body guard, of
which the great Frederick's father might have envied him the
possession, he cannot help casting a wishful eye, now and then, upon
still choicer and taller troops which he sees in the territories of
his rivals. I do not know whether he would not sacrifice the whole
right wing of his army, for the securing of some magnificent treasures
in the empire of his neighbour RINALDO: for there he sees, and adores,
with the rapture-speaking eye of a classical bibliomaniac, the tall,
wide, thick, clean, brilliant, and illuminated copy of the _first
Livy_ UPON VELLUM--enshrined in an impenetrable oaken case, covered
with choice morocco!
"There he often witnesses the adoration paid to this glorious object,
by some bookish pilgrim, who, as the evening sun reposes softly upon
the hill, pushes onward, through copse, wood, moor, heath, bramble,
and thicket, to feast his eyes upon the mellow lustre of its leaves,
and upon the nice execution of its typography. Menalcas sees all
this; and yet has too noble a heart to envy Rinaldo his treasures!
These bibliomaniacs often meet and view their respective forces; but
never with hostile eyes. They know their relative strength; and wisely
console themselves by being each 'eminent in his degree.' Like
Corregio, they are 'also painters' in their way."
PHIL. A well-a-day, Lisardo! Does not this recital chill your blood
with despair? Instead of making your purchases, you are only listening
supinely to our friend!
LIS. Not exactly so. One of these obliging Mercurii has already
executed a few commissions for me. You forget that our friend entered
into a little chat with him, just before we took possession of our
seats. As to despair of obtaining book-gems similar to those of the
four last mentioned bibliomaniacs, I know not what to say--yet this I
think must be granted: no one could make a better use of them than
their present owners. See, the elder Mercurius comes to tell me of a
pleasant acquisition to my library! What a murmur and confusion
prevail about the auctioneer! Good news, I trust?
At this moment Lisardo received intelligence that he had obtained
possession of the catalogues of the books of Bunau, Crevenna, and
Pinelli; and that, after a desperate struggle with QUISQUILIUS, he
came off victorious in a contest for De Bure's _Bibliographie
Instructive_, _Gaignat's Catalogue_, and the two copious ones of the
_Duke de la Valliere_: these four latter being half-bound and uncut,
in nineteen volumes. Transport lit up the countenance of Lisardo, upon
his receiving this intelligence; but as pleasure and pain go hand in
hand in this world, so did this young and unsuspecting bibliomaniac
evince heavy affliction, on being told that he had failed in his
attack upon the best editions of Le Long's _Bibliotheca Sacra_,
Fresnoy's _Méthode pour etudier l'Histoire_, and Baillet's _Jugemens
des Savans_--these having been carried off, at the point of the
bayonet, by an irresistible onset from ATTICUS. "Remember, my
friend," said I, in a soothing strain, "remember that you are but a
Polydore; and must expect to fall when you encounter Achilles.[209]
Think of the honour you have acquired in this day's glorious contest;
and, when you are drenching your cups of claret, at your hospitable
board, contemplate your De Bure as a trophy which will always make you
respected by your visitors! I am glad to see you revive. Yet further
intelligence?"
[Footnote 209: The reader may peruse the affecting death of
this beautiful youth, by the merciless Achilles, from the
407 to 418th verso of the xxth book of _Homer's Iliad_.
Fortunately for Lisardo, he survives the contest, and even
threatens revenge.]
LIS. My good Mercurius, for whom a knife and fork shall always be laid
at my table, has just informed me that Clement's _Bibliotheque
Curieuse_, and Panzer's _Typographical Annals_, are knocked down to
me, after Mustapha had picked me out for single combat, and battered
my breast-plate with a thousand furious strokes!
"You must always," said I, "expect tough work from such an enemy, who
is frequently both wanton and wild. But I congratulate you heartily on
the event of this day's contest. Let us now pack up and pay for our
treasures. Your servant has just entered the room, and the chaise is
most probably at the door."
LIS. I am perfectly ready. Mercurius tells me that the whole amounts
to----
PHIL. Upwards of thirty guineas?
LIS. Hard upon forty pounds. Here is the draft upon my banker: and
then for my precious tomes of bibliography! A thousand thanks, my
friend. I love this place of all things; and, after your minute
account of the characters of those who frequent it, I feel a strong
propensity to become a deserving member of so respectable a
fraternity. Leaving them all to return to their homes as satisfied as
myself, I wish them a hearty good day.
Upon saying this, we followed Lisardo and his bibliographical
treasures into the chaise; and instantly set off, at a sharp trot, for
the quiet and comfort of green fields and running streams. As we
rolled over Westminster-bridge, we bade farewell, like the historian
of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, to the
"Fumum et opes strepitumque Romæ."
[Illustration]
[Illustration: CHISWICK HOUSE as in 1740.]