[1] Mr. Edward Walmsley, who died in 1841, at an
advanced age, had been long known to me. He had latterly
extensive calico-printing works at Mitcham, and devoted much
of his time to the production of beautiful patterns in that
fabrication; his taste, in almost every thing which he
undertook, leant towards the fine arts. His body was in the
counting-house; but his spirit was abroad, in the studio of
the painter or engraver. Had his natural talents, which were
strong and elastic, been cultivated in early life, he would,
in all probability, have attained a considerable reputation.
How he loved to embellish—almost to satiety—a favourite
work, may be seen by consulting a subsequent page towards
the end of this volume. He planned and published the
Physiognomical Portraits, a performance not divested of
interest—but failing in general success, from the prints
being, in many instances, a repetition of their precursors.
The thought, however, was a good one; and many of the heads
are powerfully executed. He took also a lively interest in
Mr. Major’s splendid edition of Walpole’s Anecdotes of
Painting in England, a work, which can never want a reader
while taste has an abiding-place in one British bosom.

Mr. Walmsley possessed a brave and generous spirit; and I
scarcely knew a man more disposed to bury the remembrance of
men’s errors in that of their attainments and good
qualities.

[2] Catalogus Librorum Rariorum, præf. ix. edit.
1793.

[3] There are, nevertheless, some satirical
allusions which one could have wished had been suppressed.
For instance:

What has Mr. Pybus’s gorgeous book in praise of the late
Russian Emperor Paul I. (which some have called the
chef-d’œuvre of Bensley’s press[A]) to do with Mr.
Southey’s fine Poem of Madoc?—in which, if there are “veins
of lead,” there are not a few “of silver and gold.” Of the
extraordinary talents of Mr. Southey, the indefatigable
student in ancient lore, and especially in all that regards
Spanish Literature and Old English Romances, this is not the
place to make mention. His “Remains of Henry Kirk White,”
the sweetest specimen of modern biography, has sunk into
every heart, and received an eulogy from every tongue. Yet
is his own life

“The more endearing song.”

Dr. Ferriar’s next satirical verses are levelled at Mr.
Thomas Hope.

It has appeared to me that Mr. Hope’s magnificent volume on
“Household Furniture” has been generally misunderstood,
and, in a few instances, criticised upon false
principles.—The first question is, does the subject admit
of illustration? and if so, has Mr. Hope illustrated it
properly? I believe there is no canon of criticism which
forbids the treating of such a subject; and, while we are
amused with archæological discussions on Roman tiles and
tesselated pavements, there seems to be no absurdity in
making the decorations of our sitting rooms, including
something more than the floor we walk upon, a subject at
least of temperate and classical disquisition. Suppose we
had found such a treatise in the volumes of Gronovius and
Montfaucon? (and are there not a few, apparently, as
unimportant and confined in these rich volumes of the
Treasures of Antiquity?) or suppose something similar to Mr.
Hope’s work had been found among the ruins of Herculaneum?
Or, lastly, let us suppose the author had printed it only as
a private book, to be circulated as a present! In each of
these instances, should we have heard the harsh censures
which have been thrown out against it? On the contrary, is
it not very probable that a wish might have been expressed
that “so valuable a work ought to be made public.”

Upon what principle, a priori, are we to ridicule and
condemn it? I know of none. We admit Vitruvius, Inigo Jones,
Gibbs, and Chambers, into our libraries: and why not Mr.
Hope’s book? Is decoration to be confined only to the
exterior? and, if so, are works, which treat of these only,
to be read and applauded? Is the delicate bas-relief, and
beautifully carved column, to be thrust from the cabinet and
drawing room, to perish on the outside of a smoke-dried
portico? Or, is not that the most deserving of
commendation which produces the most numerous and pleasing
associations of ideas? I recollect, when in company with the
excellent Dr. Jenner,

and a half dozen more friends, we visited the splendid
apartments in Duchess Street, Portland Place, we were not
only struck with the appropriate arrangement of every thing,
but, on our leaving them, and coming out into the dull foggy
atmosphere of London, we acknowledged that the effect
produced upon our minds was something like that which might
have arisen had we been regaling ourselves on the silken
couches, and within the illuminated chambers, of some of the
enchanted palaces described in the Arabian Nights’
Entertainments. I suspect that those who have criticised Mr.
Hope’s work with asperity have never seen his house.

These sentiments are not the result of partiality or
prejudice, for I am wholly unacquainted with Mr. Hope. They
are delivered with zeal, but with deference. It is quite
consolatory to find a gentleman of large fortune, of
respectable ancestry, and of classical attainments, devoting
a great portion of that leisure time which hangs like a
leaden weight upon the generality of fashionable people, to
the service of the Fine Arts, and in the patronage of merit
and ingenuity. How much the world will again be indebted to
Mr. Hope’s taste and liberality may be anticipated from the
“Costume of the Ancients,” a work which has recently been
published under his particular superintendence.

[A] This book is beautifully executed, undoubtedly,
but being little more than a thin folio pamphlet devoid of
typographical embellishment—it has been thought by some
hardly fair to say this of a press which brought out so many
works characterized by magnitude and various elegance. B.B.

[4] In the fourth volume of the Transactions of the
Manchester Literary Society, part iv., p. 45-87, will be
found a most ingenious and amusing Essay, entitled
“Comments on Sterne,” which excited a good deal of
interest at the time of its publication. This discovery may
be considered, in some measure, as the result of the
Bibliomania. In my edition of Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, a
suggestion is thrown out that even Burton may have been an
imitator of Boisatuau: see
vol. II. 143.

[5] It may be taken for granted that the first book
in this country which excited a passion for the Sports of
the field was Dame Juliana Berners, or Barnes’s, work, on
Hunting and Hawking, printed at St. Alban’s, in the year
1486; of which Lord Spencer’s copy is, I believe, the only
perfect one known. It was formerly the Poet Mason’s, and is
mentioned in the quarto edition of Hoccleve’s Poems, p. 19,
1786. See too Bibl. Mason. Pt. iv. No. 153. Whether the
forementioned worthy lady was really the author of the work
has been questioned. Her book was reprinted by Wynkyn de
Worde in 1497, with an additional Treatise on Fishing. The
following specimen, from this latter edition, ascertains the
general usage of the French language with our huntsmen in
the 15th century.

Beasts of Venery.

Beasts of the Chace.

Of the hunting of the Hare.

And then say “Sacy avaunt, so how,” I thou praye, etc. The
following are a few more specimens—”Ha cy touz cy est
yll—Venez ares sa how sa—La douce la eit a venuz—Ho
ho ore, swet a lay, douce a luy—So how, so how, venez
acoupler!!!”

Whoever wishes to see these subjects brought down to later
times, and handled with considerable dexterity, may consult
the last numbers of the Censura Literaria, with the
signature J.H. affixed to them. Those who are anxious to
procure the rare books mentioned in these bibliographical
treatises, may be pretty safely taxed with being infected by
the Bibliomania. What apology my friend Mr. Haslewood, the
author of them, has to offer in extenuation of the mischief
committed, it is his business, and not mine, to consider;
and what the public will say to his curious forthcoming
reprint of the ancient edition of Wynkyn De Worde on
Hunting, Hawking, and Fishing, 1497 (with wood cuts), I
will not pretend to divine!

In regard to Hawking, I believe the enterprising Colonel
Thornton in the only gentleman of
the present day who keeps up this custom of “good old
times.”

The Sultans of the East seem not to have been insensible to
the charms of Falconry, if we are to judge from the evidence
of Tippoo Saib having a work of this kind in his library;
which is thus described from the Catalogue of it just
published in a fine quarto volume, of which only 250 copies
are printed.

“Shābbār Nāmeh, 4to. a Treatise on Falcony;
containing Instructions for selecting the best species of
Hawks, and the method of teaching them; describing their
different qualities; also the disorders they are subject to,
and method of cure. Author unknown.”—Oriental Library of
Tippoo Saib, 1809, p. 96.

[6] Of Snuff boxes every one knows what a
collection the great Frederick, King of Prussia, had—many
of them studded with precious stones, and decorated with
enamelled portraits. Dr. C. of G——, has been represented
to be the most successful rival of Frederick, in this “line
of collection,” as it is called; some of his boxes are of
uncommon curiosity. It may gratify a Bibliographer to find
that there are other Manias besides that of the book; and
that even physicians are not exempt from these diseases.

Of Old China, Coins, and Rusty Armour, the names of
hundreds present themselves in these departments; but to the
more commonly-known ones of Rawle and Grose, let me add that
of the late Mr. John White, of Newgate-Street; a catalogue
of whose curiosities [including some very uncommon books]
was published in the year 1788, in three parts, 8vo. Dr.
Burney tells us that Mr. White “was in possession of a
valuable collection of ancient rarities, as well as natural
productions, of the most curious and extraordinary kind; no
one of which however was more remarkable than the obliging
manner in which he allowed them to be viewed and examined by
his friends.”—History of Music, vol. II. 539, note.

[7] The reader will find an animated eulogy on this
great nobleman in Walpole’s Anecdotes of Painters, vol.
iv. 227: part of which was transcribed by Joseph Warton for
his Variorum edition of Pope’s Works, and thence copied into
the recent edition of the same by the Rev. W.L. Bowles. But
Pembroke deserved a more particular notice. Exclusively of
his fine statues, and architectural decorations, the Earl
contrived to procure a number of curious and rare books; and
the testimonies of Maittaire [who speaks indeed of him with
a sort of rapture!] and Palmer shew that the productions of
Jenson and Caxton were no strangers to his library. Annales
Typographici, vol. I. 13. edit. 1719. History of
Printing, p. v. “There is nothing that so surely proves the
pre-eminence of virtue more than the universal admiration of
mankind, and the respect paid it even by persons in opposite
interests; and more than this, it is a sparkling gem which
even time does not destroy: it is hung up in the Temple of
Fame, and respected for ever.” Continuation of Granger,
vol. I. 37, &c. “He raised, continues Mr. Noble, a
collection of Antiques that were unrivalled by any subject.
His learning made him a fit companion for the literati.
Wilton will ever be a monument of his extensive knowledge;
and the princely presents it contains, of the high
estimation in which he was held by foreign potentates, as
well as by the many monarchs he saw and served at home. He
lived rather as a primitive christian; in his behaviour,
meek: in his dress, plain: rather retired, conversing but
little.” Burnet, in the History of his own Times, has
spoken of the Earl with spirit and propriety.

[8] In the recent Variorum Edition of Pope’s Works,
all that is annexed to Hearne’s name, as above introduced by
the Poet, is, “well known as an Antiquarian.”

Alas, Poor Hearne!

thy merits, which are now fully appreciated, deserve an
ampler notice! In spite of Gibbon’s unmerciful critique
[Posthumous Works, vol. II. 711.], the productions of this
modest, erudite, and indefatigable antiquary are rising in
price proportionably to their worth. If he had only edited
the Collectanea and Itinerary of his favourite Leland,
he would have stood on high ground in the department of
literature and antiquities; but his other and numerous works
place him on a much loftier eminence. Of these, the present
is not the place to make mention; suffice it to say that,
for copies of his works, on Large Paper, which the author
used to advertise as selling for 7s. or 10s., or about
which placards, to the same effect, used to be stuck on the
walls of the colleges,—these very copies are now sometimes
sold for more than the like number of guineas! It is amusing
to observe that the lapse of a few years only has caused
such a rise in the article of Hearne; and that the Peter
Langtoft on large paper, which at Rowe Mores’s sale [Bibl.
Mores. No. 2191.] was purchased for £1. 2s. produced at
a late sale, [A.D. 1808] £37! A complete list of Hearne’s
Pieces will be found at the end of his Life, printed with
Leland’s, &c., at the Clarendon Press, in 1772, 8vo. Of
these the “Acta Apostolorum, Gr. Lat;” and “Aluredi
Beverlacensis Annales,” are, I believe, the scarcest. It is
wonderful to think how this amiable and excellent man
persevered “through evil report and good report,” in
illustrating the antiquities of his country. To the very
last he appears to have been molested; and among his
persecutors, the learned editor of Josephus and Dionysius
Halicarnasseus, Dr. Hudson, must be ranked, to the disgrace
of himself and the party which he espoused. “Hearne was
buried in the church yard of St. Peter’s (at Oxford) in the
East, where is erected over his remains, a tomb, with an
inscription written by himself,

[9] Of Dr. Mead and his Library a particular
account is given in the following pages.

[10] For this distinguished character consult
Nichols’s Anecdotes of Bowyer, 550, note*; which, however,
relates entirely to his ordinary habits and modes of life.
His magnificent collection of Natural Curiosities and MSS.
is now in the British Museum.

[11] The annals of the Aldine Press have had ample
justice done to them in the beautiful and accurate work
published by Renouard, under the title of “Annales de
L’Imprimerie des Alde,” in two vols., 8vo. 1804. One is
rather surprised at not finding any reference to this
masterly piece of bibliography in the last edition of Mr.
Roscoe’s Leo X., where there is a pleasing account of the
establishment of the Aldine Press.

[12] I do not recollect having seen any book bound
by this binder. Of Padaloup, De Rome, and Baumgarten, where
is the fine collection that does not boast of a few
specimens? We will speak “anon” of the Roger Paynes,
Kalthoebers, Herrings, Stagemiers, and in Macklays of the
day!

[13] This is not the reproach of the age we live
in; for reprints of Bacon, Locke, and Milton have been
published with complete success. It would be ridiculous
indeed for a man of sense, and especially a University man,
to give £5 or £6 for “Gosson’s School of Abuse, against
Pipers and Players,” or £3. 3s. for a clean copy of
“Recreation for Ingenious Head Pieces, or a Pleasant
Grove for their Wits to walk in,” and grudge the like sum
for a dozen handsome octavo volumes of the finest writers of
his country.

[14] About twelve years ago I was rash enough to
publish a small volume of Poems, with my name affixed. They
were the productions of my juvenile years; and I need hardly
say, at this period, how ashamed I am of their author-ship.
The monthly and Analytical Reviews did me the kindness of
just tolerating them, and of warning me not to commit any
future trespass upon the premises of Parnassus. I struck off
500 copies, and was glad to get rid of half of them as waste
paper; the remaining half has been partly destroyed by my
own hands, and has partly mouldered away in oblivion amidst
the dust of Booksellers’ shelves. My only consolation is
that the volume is exceedingly rare!

[15] “John Bagford, by profession a bookseller,
frequently travelled into Holland and other parts, in search
of scarce books and valuable prints, and brought a vast
number into this kingdom, the greatest part of which were
purchased by the Earl of Oxford. He had been in his younger
days a shoemaker; and, for the many curiosities wherewith he
enriched the famous library of Dr. John Moore, Bishop of
Ely, his Lordship got him admitted into the Charter House.
He died in 1706, aged 65: after his death Lord Oxford
purchased all his collections and papers, for his library:
these are now in the Harleian collection in the British
Museum. In 1707 were published, in the Philosophical
Transactions, his Proposals for a General History of
Printing.”—Bowyer and Nichols’s Origin of Printing, p.
164, 189, note.

It has been my fortune (whether good or bad remains to be
proved) not only to transcribe the slender memorial of
Printing in the Philosophical Transactions, drawn up by
Wanley for Bagford, but to wade through forty-two folio
volumes, in which Bagford’s materials for a History of
Printing are incorporated, in the British Museum: and from
these, I think I have furnished myself with a pretty fair
idea of the said Bagford. He was the most hungry and
rapacious of all book and print collectors; and, in his
ravages, spared neither the most delicate nor costly
specimens. His eyes and his mouth seem to have been always
open to express his astonishment at, sometimes, the most
common and contemptible productions; and his paper in the
Philosophical Transactions betrays such simplicity and
ignorance that one is astonished how my Lord Oxford and the
learned Bishop of Ely could have employed so credulous a
bibliographical forager. A modern collector and lover of
perfect copies will witness, with shuddering, among
Bagford’s immense collection of Title Pages, in the Museum,
the frontispieces of the Complutensian Polyglot, and
Chauncy’s History of Hertfordshire, torn out to illustrate a
History of Printing. His enthusiasm, however, carried him
through a great deal of laborious toil; and he supplied, in
some measure, by this qualification, the want of other
attainments. His whole mind was devoted to book-hunting; and
his integrity and diligence probably made his employers
overlook his many failings. His hand-writing is scarcely
legible, and his orthography is still more wretched; but if
he was ignorant, he was humble, zealous, and grateful; and
he has certainly done something towards the accomplishment
of that desirable object, an accurate General History of
Printing. In my edition of Ames’s Typographical
Antiquities, I shall give an analysis of Bagford’s papers,
with a specimen or two of his composition.

[16] For an eloquent account of this disorder
consult the letters of Dr. Mosely inserted in the Morning
Herald of last year. I have always been surprised, and a
little vexed, that these animated pieces of composition
should be relished and praised by every one—but the
Faculty!

[17] The writings of the Roman philologers seem to
bear evidence of this fact. Seneca, when an old man, says
that, “if you are fond of books, you will escape the ennui
of life; you will neither sigh for evening, disgusted with
the occupations of the day—nor will you live dissatisfied
with yourself, or unprofitable to others.” De
Tranquilitate, ch. 3. Cicero has positively told us that
“study is the food of youth, and the amusement of old age.”
Orat. pro Archia. The younger Pliny was a downright
Bibliomaniac. “I am quite transported and comforted,” says
he, “in the midst of my books: they give a zest to the
happiest, and assuage the anguish of the bitterest, moments
of existence! Therefore, whether distracted by the cares or
the losses of my family, or my friends, I fly to my library
as the only refuge in distress: here I learn to bear
adversity with fortitude.” Epist. lib. viii. cap. 19. But
consult Cicero De Senectute. All these treatises afford
abundant proof of the hopelessness of cure in cases of the
Bibliomania.

[18] It may be expected that I should notice a few
book-lovers, and probably Bibliomaniacs, previously to the
time of Richard De Bury; but so little is known with
accuracy of Johannes Scotus Erigena, and his patron Charles
the Bald, King of France, or of the book tête-a-têtes they
used to have together—so little, also, of Nennius, Bede,
and Alfred [although the monasteries at this period, from
the evidence of Sir William Dugdale, in the first volume of
the Monasticon were “opulently endowed,”—inter alia, I
should hope, with magnificent MSS. on vellum, bound in
velvet, and embossed with gold and silver], or the
illustrious writers in the Norman period, and the fine books
which were in the abbey of Croyland—so little is known of
book-collectors, previously to the 14th century, that I
thought it the most prudent and safe way to begin with the
above excellent prelate.

Richard De Bury was the friend and correspondent of
Petrarch; and is said by Mons. de Sade, in his Memoires pour
la vie de Petrarque, “to have done in England what Petrarch
did all his life in France, Italy, and Germany, towards the
discovery of MSS. of the best ancient writers, and making
copies of them under his own superintendence.” His passion
for book-collecting was unbounded [“vir ardentis ingenii,”
says Petrarch of him]; and in order to excite the same
ardour in his countrymen, or rather to propagate the disease
of the Bibliomania with all his might, he composed a
bibliographical work under the title of Philobiblion;
concerning the first edition of which, printed at Spires in
1483, Clement (tom. v. 142) has a long gossiping account;
and Morhof tells us that it is “rarissima et in paucorum
manibus versatur.” It was reprinted in Paris in 1500, 4to.,
by the elder Ascensius, and frequently in the subsequent
century, but the best editions of it are those by Goldastus
in 1674, 8vo., and Hummius in 1703. Morhof observes that,
“however De Bury’s work savours of the rudeness of the age,
it is rather elegantly written, and many things are well
said in it relating to Bibliothecism.” Polyhist. Literar.
vol. i. 187, edit. 1747.

For further particulars concerning De Bury, read Bale,
Wharton, Cave, and Godwin’s Episcopal Biography. He left
behind him a fine library of MSS. which he bequeathed to
Durham, now Trinity, College, Oxford.

It may be worth the antiquary’s notice, that, in consequence
(I suppose) of this amiable prelate’s exertions, “in every
convent was a noble library and a great: and every friar,
that had state in school, such as they be now, hath an hugh
Library.” See the curious Sermon of the Archbishop of
Armagh, Nov. 8, 1387, in Trevisa’s works among the Harleian
MSS. No. 1900. Whether these Friars, thus affected with
the frensy of book-collecting, ever visited the “old
chapelle at the Est End of the church of S. Saink
[Berkshire], whither of late time resorted in pilgrimage
many folkes for the disease of madness,” [see Leland’s
Itinerary, vol. ii. 29, edit. 1770] I have not been able,
after the most diligent investigation, to ascertain.

[19] The British Museum contains a great number of
books which bear the royal stamp of Henry VII.’s arms. Some
of these printed by Verard, upon vellum, are magnificent
memorials of a library, the dispersion of which is for ever
to be regretted. As Henry VIII. knew nothing of, and cared
less for, fine books, it is not very improbable that some of
the choicest volumes belonging to the late king were
presented to Cardinal Wolsey.

[20] The Earl of Surrey and Sir Thomas Wyatt were
among the first who taught their countrymen to be charmed
with the elegance and copiousness of their own language. How
effectually they accomplished this laudable object, will be
seen from the forthcoming beautiful and complete edition of
their works by the Rev. Dr. Nott.[B]

[B] It fell to the lot of the printer of this
volume, during his apprenticeship to his father, to correct
the press of nearly the whole of Dr. Nott’s labours, which
were completed, after several years of toil, when in the
extensive conflagration of the printing-office at Bolt
Court, Fleet-street, in 1819, all but two copies were
totally destroyed!

[21] Colet, More, and Erasmus [considering the
latter when he was in England] were here undoubtedly the
great literary triumvirate of the early part of the 16th
century. The lives of More and Erasmus are generally read
and known; but of Dean Colet it may not be so generally
known that his ardour for books and for classical literature
was keen, and insatiable; that, in the foundation of St.
Paul’s School, he has left behind a name which entitles him
to rank in the foremost of those who have fallen victims to
the Bibliomania. How anxiously does he seem to have watched
the progress, and pushed the sale, of his friend Erasmus’s
first edition of the Greek Testament! “Quod scribis de Novo
Testamento intelligo. Et libri novæ editionis tuæ hic avide
emuntur et passim leguntur!” The entire epistle (which may
be seen in Dr. Knight’s dry Life of Colet, p. 315) is
devoted to an account of Erasmus’s publications. “I am
really astonished, my dear Erasmus [does he exclaim], at the
fruitfulness of your talents; that, without any fixed
residence, and with a precarious and limited income, you
contrive to publish so many and such excellent works.”
Adverting to the distracted state of Germany at this period,
and to the wish of his friend to live secluded and
unmolested, he observes—”As to the tranquil retirement
which you sigh for, be assured that you have my sincere
wishes for its rendering you as happy and composed as you
can wish it. Your age and erudition entitle you to such a
retreat. I fondly hope, indeed, that you will choose this
country for it, and come and live amongst us, whose
disposition you know, and whose friendship you have proved.”

There is hardly a more curious picture of the custom of the
times, relating to the education of boys, than the Dean’s
own Statutes for the regulation of St. Paul’s School, which
he had founded. These shew, too, the popular books then
read by the learned. “The children shall come unto the
School in the morning at seven of the clock, both winter and
summer, and tarry there until eleven; and return against one
of the clock, and depart at five, &c. In the school, no time
in the year, they shall use tallow candle in no wise, but
only wax candle, at the costs of their friends. Also I
will they bring no meat nor drink, nor bottle, nor use in
the school no breakfasts, nor drinkings, in the time of
learning, in no wise, &c. I will they use no cockfightings,
nor riding about of victory, nor disputing at Saint
Bartholomew, which is but foolish babbling and loss of
time.” The master is then restricted, under the penalty of
40 shillings, from granting the boys a holiday, or “remedy,”
[play-day,] as it is here called “except the King, an
Archbishop, or a Bishop, present in his own person in the
school, desire it.” The studies for the lads were,
“Erasmus’s Copia & Institutum Christiani Hominis (composed
at the Dean’s request) Lactantius, Prudentius, Juvencus,
Proba and Sedulius, and Baptista Mantuanus, and such other
as shall be thought convenient and most to purpose unto the
true Latin speech: all barbary, all corruption, all Latin
adulterate, which ignorant blind fools brought into this
world, and with the same hath distained and poisoned the old
Latin speech, and the veray Roman tongue, which in the
time of Tully and Sallust and Virgil and Terence was used—I
say that filthiness, and all such abusion, which the later
blind world brought in, which more rather may be called
Bloterature that [] Literature,
I utterly banish and exclude out of this school.” Life of
Knight’s Colet, 362-4.

What was to be expected, but that boys, thus educated, would
hereafter fall victims to the Bibliomania?

[22] The history of this great
men, and of his literary labours, is most
interesting. He was a pupil of William Lilly, the first
head-master of St. Paul’s School; and, by the kindness and
liberality of a Mr. Myles, he afterwards received the
advantage of a College education, and was supplied with
money in order to travel abroad, and make such collections
as he should deem necessary for the great work which even
then seemed to dawn upon his young and ardent mind. Leland
endeavoured to requite the kindness of his benefactor by an
elegant copy of Latin verses, in which he warmly expatiates
on the generosity of his patron, and acknowledges that his
acquaintance with the Almæ Matres [for he was of both
Universities] was entirely the result of such beneficence.
While he resided on the continent, he was admitted into the
society of the most eminent Greek and Latin Scholars, and
could probably number among his correspondents the
illustrious names of Budæus, Erasmus, the Stephani, Faber
and Turnebus. Here, too, he cultivated his natural taste for
poetry; and from inspecting the fine books which the Italian
and French presses had produced, as well as fired by the
love of Grecian learning, which had fled, on the sacking of
Constantinople, to take shelter in the academic bowers of
the Medici, he seems to have matured his plans for carrying
into effect the great work which had now taken full
possession of his mind. He returned to England, resolved to
institute an inquiry into the state of the Libraries,
Antiquities, Records and Writings then in existence. Having
entered into holy orders, and obtained preferment at the
express interposition of the King, (Henry VIII.), he was
appointed his Antiquary and Library Keeper, and a royal
commission was issued in which Leland was directed to search
after “England’s Antiquities, and peruse the libraries of
all Cathedrals, Abbies, Priories, Colleges, etc., as also
all the places wherein Records, Writings, and Secrets of
Antiquity were reposited.” “Before Leland’s time,” says
Hearne, in the Preface to the Itinerary, “all the literary
monuments of Antiquity were totally disregarded; and
Students of Germany, apprised of this culpable indifference,
were suffered to enter our libraries unmolested, and to cut
out of the books deposited there whatever passages they
thought proper—which they afterwards published as relics of
the ancient literature of their own country.”

Leland was occupied, without intermission, in this immense
undertaking, for the space of six years; and, on its
completion, he hastened to the metropolis to lay at the feet
of his Sovereign the result of his researches. This was
presented to Henry under the title of A New Year’s Gift; and
was first published by Bale in 1549, 8vo. “Being inflamed,”
says the author, “with a love to see thoroughly all those
parts of your opulent and ample realm, in so much that all
my other occupations intermitted, I have so travelled in
your dominions, both by the sea coasts and the middle parts,
sparing neither labour nor costs, by the space of six years
past, that there is neither cape nor bay, haven, creek, or
pier, river, or confluence of rivers, breeches, wastes,
lakes, moors, fenny waters, mountains, vallies, heaths,
forests, chases, woods, cities, burghes, castles, principal
manor places, monasteries and colleges, but I have seen
them; and noted, in so doing, a whole world of things very
memorable.” Leland moreover tells his Majesty—that “By his
laborious journey and costly enterprise, he had conserved
many good authors, the which otherwise had been like to have
perished; of the which, part remained in the royal palaces,
part also in his own custody, &c.”

As Leland was engaged six years in this literary tour, so he
was occupied for a no less period of time in digesting and
arranging the prodigious number of MSS. he had collected.
But he sunk beneath the immensity of the task! The want of
amanuenses, and of other attentions and comforts, seems to
have deeply affected him; in this melancholy state, he wrote
to Archbishop Cranmer a Latin epistle, in verse, of which
the following is the commencement—very forcibly describing
his situation and anguish of mind.

The result was that Leland lost his senses; and, after
lingering two years in a state of total derangement, he died
on the 18th of April, 1552. “Prôh tristes rerum humanarum
vices! prôh viri optimi deplorandam infelicissimamque
sortem!” exclaims Dr. Smith, in his preface to Camden’s
Life, 1691, 4to.

The precious and voluminous MSS. of Leland were doomed to
suffer a fate scarcely less pitiable than that of their
owner. After being pilfered by some, and garbled by others,
they served to replenish the pages of Stow, Lambard, Camden,
Burton, Dugdale, and many other antiquaries and historians.
Polydore Virgil, who had stolen from them pretty freely, had
the insolence to abuse Leland’s memory—calling him “a vain
glorious man;” but what shall we say to this flippant
egotist? who, according to Caius’s testimony [De Antiq.
Cantab. head. lib. 1.] “to prevent a discovery of the many
errors of his own History of England, collected and burnt a
greater number of ancient histories and manuscripts than
would have loaded a waggon.” The imperfect remains of
Leland’s MSS. are now deposited in the Bodleian Library, and
in the British Museum.

Upon the whole, it must be acknowledged that Leland is a
melancholy, as well as illustrious, example of the influence
of the Bibliomania!

[23] In spite of Bale’s coarseness, positiveness,
and severity, he has done much towards the cause of
learning; and, perhaps, towards the propagation of the
disease under discussion. His regard for Leland does him
great honour; and although his plays are miserably dull,
notwithstanding the high prices which the original editions
of them bear, (vide ex. gr. Cat. Steevens, No. 1221;
which was sold for £12 12s. See also the reprints in the
Harleian Miscellany) the lover of literary antiquities must
not forget that his “Scriptores Britanniæ” are yet quoted
with satisfaction by some of the most respectable writers of
the day. That he wanted delicacy of feeling, and
impartiality of investigation, must be admitted; but a
certain rough honesty and prompt benevolence which he had
about him compensated for a multitude of offences. The
abhorrence with which he speaks of the dilapidation of some
of our old libraries must endear his memory to every honest
bibliographer: “Never (says he) had we been offended for the
loss of our Libraries, being so many in number, and in so
desolate places for the more part, if the chief monuments
and most notable works of our excellent writers had been
reserved. If there had been in every shire of England, but
one solempne Library, to the preservation of those noble
works, and preferment of good learning in our posterity, it
had been yet somewhat. But to destroy all without
consideration, is, and will be, unto England for ever, a
most horrible infamy among the grave seniors of other
nations. A great number of them which purchased those
superstitious mansions, reserved of those library-books,
some to serve the jakes, some to scour their candlesticks,
and some to rub their boots: some they sold to the grocers
and soap-sellers; some they sent over sea to the
book-binders, not in small number, but at times whole ships
full, to the wondering of the foreign nations. Yea, the
Universities of this realm are not all clear of this
detestable fact. But cursed is that belly which seeketh to
be fed with such ungodly gain, and shameth his natural
country. I know a merchant man, which shall at this time be
nameless, that bought the contents of two noble libraries
for forty shillings price; a shame it is to be spoken! This
stuff hath he occupied in the stead of grey paper, by the
space of more than ten years, and yet he hath store enough
for as many year to come!” Bale’s Preface to Leland’s
“Laboryouse journey, &c.” Emprented at London by John
Bale. Anno M.D. xlix. 8vo.

After this, who shall doubt the story of the Alexandrian
Library supplying the hot baths of Alexandria with fuel for
six months! See Gibbon on the latter subject; vol. ix. 440.

[24] Ascham’s English letter, written when he was
abroad, will be found at the end of Bennet’s edition of his
works, in 4to. They are curious and amusing. What relates to
the Bibliomania I here select from similar specimens. “Oct.
4. At afternoon I went about the town [of Bruxelles]. I went
to the frier Carmelites house,
and heard their even song: after, I desired to see the
Library. A frier was sent to me,
and led me into it. There was not one good book but Lyra.
The friar was learned, spoke Latin readily, entered into
Greek, having a very good wit, and a greater desire to
learning. He was gentle and honest, &c.” p. 370-1. “Oct. 20.
to Spira: a good city. Here I first saw Sturmius de
periodis. I also found here Ajax, Electra, and
Antigone Sophocles, excellently, by my good judgment,
translated into verse, and fair printed this summer by
Gryphius. Your stationers do ill, that at least do ‘not
provide you the register of all books, especially of old
authors, &c.'” p. 372. Again: “Hieronimus Wolfius, that
translated Demosthenes and Isocrates, is in this town. I am
well acquainted with him, and have brought him twice to my
Lord’s to dinner. He looks very simple. He telleth me that
one Borrheus, that hath written well upon Aristot. priorum,
&c., even now is printing goodly commentaries upon
Aristotle’s Rhetoric. But Sturmius will obscure them all.”
p. 381.

It is impossible to read these extracts without being
convinced that Roger Ascham was a book-hunter, and infected
with the Bibliomania!

[25] It is a question which requires more time for
the solution than I am able to spare, whether Cecil’s name
stands more frequently at the head of a Dedication, in a
printed book, or of State Papers and other political
documents in MS. He was a wonderful man; but a little
infected—as I suspect—with the book-disease.

I have never yet been able to ascertain whether the owner’s
attachment towards vellum, or large paper, Copies was the
more vehement!

[26] Perhaps this conclusion is too precipitate.
But whoever looks at Elizabeth’s portrait, on her bended
knees, struck off on the reverse of the title page to her
prayer book (first printed in 1565) may suppose that the
Queen thought the addition of her own portrait would be no
mean decoration to the work. Every page is adorned with
borders, engraved on wood, of the most spirited execution:
representing, amongst other subjects, “The Dance of Death.”
My copy is the reprint of 1608—in high preservation. I have
no doubt that there was a presentation copy printed upon
vellum; but in what cabinet does this precious gem now
slumber?

[27] Laneham gives a splendid list of Romances and
Old Ballads possessed by this said Captain Cox; and tells
us, moreover, that “he had them all at his fingers ends.”
Among the ballads we find “Broom broom on Hil; So Wo is me
begon twlly lo; Over a Whinny Meg; Hey ding a ding; Bony
lass upon Green; My bony on gave me a bek; By a bank as I
lay; and two more he had fair wrapt up in parchment, and
bound with a whip cord.” Edit. 1784, p. 36-7-8. Ritson, in
his Historical Essay on Scottish Song, speaks of some of
these, with a zest, as if he longed to untie the “whip-cord”
packet.

[28] Sir John Harrington, knt. Sir John, and his
father John Harrington, were very considerable literary
characters in the 16th century; and whoever has been
fortunate enough to read through Mr. Park’s new edition of
the Nugæ Antiquæ, 1804, 8vo., will meet with numerous
instances in which the son displays considerable
bibliographical knowledge—especially in Italian
literature; Harrington and Spenser seem to have been the
Matthias and Roscoe of the day. I make no doubt but that the
former was as thoroughly acquainted with the vera edizione
of the Giuntæ edition of Boccaccio’s Decamerone, 1527, 4to.,
as either Haym, Orlandi, or Bandini. Paterson, with all his
skill, was mistaken in this article when he catalogued
Croft’s books. See Bibl. Crofts. No. 3976: his true
edition was knocked down for 6s.!!!

[29] Spenser’s general acquaintance with Italian
literature has received the best illustration in Mr. Todd’s
Variorum edition of the poet’s works; where the reader will
find, in the notes, a constant succession of anecdotes of,
and references to, the state of anterior and contemporaneous
literature, foreign and domestic.

[30] “The story is extant, and written in very
choice French.” Consult Chauffepié’s Supplement to
Bayle’s Dictionary, vol. iv. p. 621. note Q. Vossius’s
library was magnificent and extensive. The University of
Leyden offered not less than 36,000 florins for it. Idem.
p. 631.

[31] Of Michael Maittaire I have given a brief
sketch in my Introduction to the Greek and Latin Classics,
vol. I, 148. Mr. Beloe, in the 3rd vol. of his Anecdotes of
Literature, p. ix., has described his merits with justice.
The principal value of Maittaire’s Annales Typographici
consists in a great deal of curious matter detailed in the
notes; but the absence of the “lucidus ordo” renders the
perusal of these fatiguing and dissatisfactory. The author
brought a full and well-informed mind to the task he
undertook—but he wanted taste and precision in the
arrangement of his materials. The eye wanders over a vast
indigested mass; and information, when it is to be acquired
with excessive toil, is, comparatively, seldom acquired.
Panzer has adopted an infinitely better plan, on the model
of Orlandi; and, if his materials had been printed with
the same beauty with which they appear to have been
composed, and his annals had descended to as late a period
as those of Maittaire, his work must have made us,
eventually, forget that of his predecessor. The
bibliographer is, no doubt, aware that of Maittaire’s first
volume there are two editions. Why the author did not
reprint, in the second edition (1733), the facsimile of the
epigram and epistle of Lascar prefixed to the edition of the
Anthology 1496, and the disquisition concerning the ancient
editions of Quintilian (both of which were in the first
edition of 1719), is absolutely inexplicable. Maittaire was
sharply attacked for this absurdity, in the “Catalogus
Auctorum,” of the “Annus Tertius Sæcularis Inv. Art.
Topog.” Harlem, 1741, 8vo. p. 11. “Rara certe Librum
augendi methodus (exclaims the author)! Satis patet auctorem
hoc eo fecisse consilio, ut et primæ et secundæ Libri sive
editioni pretium suum constaret, et una æque ac altera
Lectoribus necessaria esset.”

The catalogue of Maittaire’s library [1748, 2 parts, 8vo.],
which affords ample proof of the Bibliomania of its
collector, is exceedingly scarce. A good copy of it, even
unpriced, is worth a guinea: it was originally sold for 4
shillings; and was drawn up by Maittaire himself.

[32] In a periodical publication called “The
Director,” to which I contributed under the article of
“Bibliographiana” (and of which the printer of this work,
Mr. William Savage, is now the sole publisher), there was
rather a minute analysis of the famous library of Harley,
Earl of Oxford: a library which seems not only to have
revived, but eclipsed, the splendour of the Roman one formed
by Lucullus. The following is an abridgement of this
analysis:

Mr. Gough says, these books “filled thirteen handsome
chambers, and two long galleries.” Osborne the bookseller
purchased them for £13,000: a sum little more than two
thirds of the price of the binding, as paid by Lord Oxford.
The bookseller was accused of injustice and parsimony; but
the low prices which he afterwards affixed to the articles,
and the tardiness of their sale, are sufficient refutations
of this charge. Osborne opened his shop for the inspection
of the books on Tuesday the 14th of February, 1744; for fear
“of the curiosity of the spectators, before the sale,
producing disorder in the disposition of the books.” The
dispersion of the Harleian Collection is a blot in the
literary annals of our country: had there then been such a
Speaker, and such a spirit in the House of Commons, as we
now possess, the volumes of Harley would have been reposing
with the marbles of Townley!

[33] “Bibliotheca Smithiana: sive Catalogus
Librorum in quavis facultate insigniorum, quos in usum suum
et Bibliothecæ ornamentum multo ære sibi comparavit vir
clarissimus doctissimusque D. Richardus Smith, &c., Londini,
1682,” 4to. I recommend the collector of curious and
valuable catalogues to lay hold upon the present one (of
which a more particular description will be given in another
work) whenever it comes in his way. The address “To the
Reader,” in which we are told that “this so much celebrated,
so often desired, so long expected, library is now exposed
to sale,” gives a very interesting account of the owner.
Inter alia, we are informed that Mr. Smith “was as
constantly known every day to walk his rounds through the
shops, as to sit down to his meals, &c.;” and that “while
others were forming arms, and new-modelling kingdoms, his
great ambition was to become master of a good book.”

The catalogue itself justifies every thing said in
commendation of the collector of the library. The
arrangement is good; the books, in almost all departments of
literature, foreign and domestic, valuable and curious; and
among the English ones I have found some of the rarest
Caxtons to refer to in my edition of Ames. What would Mr.
Bindley, or Mr. Malone, or Mr. Douce, give to have the
creaming of such a collection of “Bundles of Stitcht Books
and Pamphlets,” as extends from page 370 to 395 of this
catalogue! But alas! while the Bibliographer exults in, or
hopes for, the possession of such treasures, the
physiologist discovers therein fresh causes of disease, and
the philanthropist mourns over the ravages of the
Bibliomania!

[34] Consult Masters’s “Memoirs of the Life and
Writings of the late Rev. Thomas Baker,” Camb. 1864, 8vo.
Let any person examine the catalogue of Forty-two folio
volumes of “MS. collections by Mr. Baker,” (as given at the
end of this piece of biography) and reconcile himself, if he
can, to the supposition that the said Mr. Baker did not fall
a victim to the Book-disease! For some cause, I do not now
recollect what, Baker took his name off the books of St.
John’s College, Cambridge, to which he belonged; but such
was his attachment to the place, and more especially to the
library, that he spent a great portion of the ensuing twenty
years of his life within the precincts of the same:
frequently comforted and refreshed, no doubt, by the sight
of the magnificent large paper copies of Walton and Castell,
and of Cranmer’s Bible upon vellum!

[35] This Thomas Rawlinson, who is introduced in
the Tatler under the name Tom Folio, was a very
extraordinary character, and most desperately addicted to
book-hunting. Because his own house was not large enough, he
hired London House, in Aldersgate Street, for the
reception of his library; and here he used to regale himself
with the sight and the scent of innumerable black letter
volumes, arranged in “sable garb,” and stowed perhaps “three
deep,” from the bottom to the top of his house. He died in
1725; and Catalogues of his books for sale continued, for
nine succeeding years, to meet the public eye. The following
is a list of all the parts which I have ever met with; taken
from copies in Mr. Heber’s possession.

Part 1. A Catalogue of choice and valuable Books in most
Faculties and Languages: being the sixth part of the
collection made by Thos. Rawlinson, Esq., &c., to be sold on
Thursday, the 2d day of March, 1726; beginning every evening
at 5 of the clock, by Charles Davis, Bookseller. Qui non
credit, eras credat. Ex Autog. T.R.

2. Bibliotheca Rawlinsoniana; sive Delectus Librorum in
omni ferè Linguâ et Facultate præstantium—to be sold on
Wednesday 26th April, [1726] by Charles Davis, Bookseller.
2600 Numbers.

3. The Same: January 1727-8. By Thomas Ballard,
Bookseller, 3520 Numbers.

4. The Same: March, 1727-8. By the same. 3840 Numbers.

5. The Same: October, 1728. By the same. 3200 Numbers.

6. The Same: November, 1728. By the same. 3520 Numbers.

7. The Same: April, 1729. By the same. 4161 Numbers.

8. The Same: November, 1729. By the same. 2700 Numbers.

9. The Same: [Of Rawlinson’s Manuscripts] By the same.
March 1733-4. 800 Numbers.

10. Picturæ Rawlinsonianæ. April, 1734. 117 Articles.

At the end, it would seem that a catalogue of his prints,
and MSS. missing in the last sale, were to be published the
ensuing winter.

N.B. The black-letter books are catalogued in the Gothic
letter.

[36] “Bibliothecæ Bridgesianæ Catalogus: or, A
Catalogue of the Entire Library of John Bridges, late of
Lincoln’s Inn, Esq., &c., which will begin to be sold, by
Auction, on Monday the seventh day of February, 1725-6, at
his chambers in Lincoln’s Inn, No. 6.”

From a priced copy of this sale catalogue, in my possession,
once belonging to Nourse, the bookseller in the Strand, I
find that the following was the produce of the sale:

Two different catalogues of this valuable collection of
books were printed. The one was analysed, or a catalogue
raisonné; to which was prefixed a print of a Grecian
portico, &c., with ornaments and statues: the other
(expressly for the sale) was an indigested and extremely
confused one—to which was prefixed a print, designed and
engraved by A. Motte, of an oak felled, with a number of men
cutting down and carrying away its branches; illustrative of
the following Greek motto inscribed on a scroll
above—Δρυὸς
πεσοὺσης πᾶς ἀνὴρ ξυλευεταὶ: “An
affecting memento (says Mr. Nichols, very justly, in his
Anecdotes of Bowyer, p. 557) to the collectors of great
libraries, who cannot, or do not, leave them to some public
accessible repository.”

[37] In the year 1730-1, there was sold by auction,
at St. Paul’s Coffee-house, in St. Paul’s Church-yard
(beginning every evening at five o’clock), the library of
the celebrated Free-Thinker,

Anthony Collins, Esq.

“Containing a collection of several thousand volumes in
Greek, Latin, English, French, and Spanish; in divinity,
history, antiquity, philosophy, husbandry, and all polite
literature: and especially many curious travels and voyages;
and many rare and valuable pamphlets.” This collection,
which is divided into two parts (the first containing 3451
articles, the second 3442), is well worthy of being
consulted by the theologian, who is writing upon any
controverted point of divinity: there are articles in it of
the rarest occurrence. The singular character of its owner
and of his works is well known: he was at once the friend
and the opponent of Locke and Clarke, who were both anxious
for the conversion of a character of such strong, but
misguided, talents. The former, on his death-bed, wrote
Collins a letter to be delivered to him, after his decease,
which was full of affection and good advice.

[38] It is almost impossible to dwell on the memory
of this great man without emotions of delight—whether we
consider him as an eminent physician, a friend to
literature, or a collector of books, pictures, and coins.
Benevolence, magnanimity, and erudition were the striking
features of his character: his house was the general
receptacle of men of genius and talent, and of every thing
beautiful, precious, or rare. His curiosities, whether
books, or coins, or pictures, were freely laid open to the
public; and the enterprising student, and experienced
antiquary, alike found amusement and a courteous reception.
He was known to all foreigners of intellectual distinction,
and corresponded both with the artisan and the potentate.
The great patron of literature, and the leader of his
profession (which he practised with a success unknown
before), it was hardly possible for unbefriended merit, if
properly introduced to him, to depart unrewarded. The
clergy, and in general, all men of learning, received his
advice gratuitously: and his doors were open every morning
to the most indigent, whom he frequently assisted with
money. Although his income, from his professional practice,
was very considerable, he died by no means a rich man—so
large were the sums which he devoted to the encouragement of
literature and the fine arts!

The sale of Dr. Mead’s books commenced on the 18th of
November, 1754, and again on the 7th of April, 1755: lasting
together 57 days. The sale of the prints and drawings
continued 14 nights. The gems, bronzes, busts, and
antiquities, 8 days.

It would be difficult to mention, within a moderate compass,
all the rare and curious articles which his library
contained—but the following are too conspicuous to be
passed over. The Spira Virgil of 1470, Pfintzing’s
Tewrkdrancs, 1527, Brandt’s Stultifera Navis, 1498, and
the Aldine Petrarch of 1501, all upon vellum. The large
paper Olivet’s Cicero was purchased by Dr. Askew for £14
14s. and was sold again at his sale for £36 15s. The
King of France bought the editio princeps of Pliny Senr.
for £11 11s.; and Mr. Willock, a bookseller, bought the
magnificently illuminated Pliny by Jenson of 1472, for £18
18s.: of which Maittaire has said so many fine things. The
French books, and all the works upon the Fine Arts, were
of the first rarity, and value, and bound in a sumptuous
manner. Winstanley’s Prospects of Audley End brought £50.
An amusing account of some of the pictures will be found in
Mr. Beloe’s “Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books,”
vol. i. 166. 71. But consult also Nichol’s Anecdotes of
Bowyer, p. 225, &c. Of the catalogue of Dr. Mead’s books
there were only six copies printed on large paper. See Bibl.
Lort, no. 1149.

[39] “A Catalogue of the entire and valuable
library of Martin Folkes, Esq., President of the Royal
Society, and member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at
Paris, lately deceased; which will be sold by auction by
Samuel Baker, at his house, in York Street, Covent Garden.
To begin on Monday, February 2, 1756, and to continue for
forty days successively (Sundays excepted). Catalogues to be
had at most of the considerable places in Europe, and all
the booksellers of Great Britain and Ireland, Price
Sixpence.”

This collection was an exceedingly fine one; enriched with
many books of the choicest description, which Mr. Folkes had
acquired in his travels in Italy and Germany. The works on
natural history, coins, medals, and inscriptions, and on the
fine arts in general, formed the most valuable
department—those in the Greek, Latin and English classics,
were comparatively of inferior importance. It is a great
pity the catalogue was not better digested; or the books
classed according to the nature of their contents.

The following prices, for some of the more rare and
interesting articles, will amuse a bibliographer of the
present day. The chronicles of Fabian, Hall, and Grafton,
did not altogether bring quite £2: though the copies are
described as perfect and fair. There seems to have been a
fine set of Sir Wm. Dugdale’s Works (Nos. 3074-81) in 13
vols. which, collectively, produced about 30 guineas.

In Spanish literature, the history of South America, By
Don Juan and Ant. di Ulloa, Madr. fol. in 5 vols., was sold
for £5: a fine large paper copy of the description of the
Monastery of St. Lorenzo, and the Escorial, Madr. 1657,
brought £1 2s.: de Lastanosa’s Spanish Medals, Huesca,
fol. 1645, £2 2s.

In English, the first edition of Shakespeare, 1623, which
is now what a French bibliographer would say “presque
introuvable,” produced the sum of £3 3s.; and Fuller’s
Worthies, 18s.!

Fine Arts, Antiquities, and Voyages. Sandrart’s works, in
9 folio volumes (of which a fine perfect copy is now rarely
to be met with, and of very great value) were sold for £13
13s. only: Desgodetz Roman edifices, Paris, 1682, £4
10s.: Galleria Giustiniano, 2 vols., fol. £13 13s. Le
Brun’s Voyages in Muscovy, &c., in large paper, £4 4s. De
Rossi’s Raccolta de Statue, &c. Rom. 1704, £6 10s.
Medailles du Regne de Louis le Grand, de l’imp. Roy. 1. p.
fol. 1702, £5 15s. 6d.

The works on Natural History brought still higher prices;
but the whole, from the present depreciation of specie, and
increased rarity of the articles, would now bring thrice the
sums then given.

Of the Greek and Latin Classics, the Pliny of 1469 and
1472 were sold to Dr. Askew for £11 11s. and £7 17s.
6d. At the Doctor’s sale they brought £43 and £23:
although the first was lately sold (A.D. 1805) among some
duplicates of books belonging to the British Museum, at a
much lower price: the copy was, in fact, neither large nor
beautiful. Those in the Hunter and Cracherode collections
are greatly superior, and would each bring more than double
the price.

From a priced copy of the sale catalogue, in my possession,
I find that the amount of the sale, consisting of 5126
articles, was £3091 5s.

The Prints and Drawings of Mr. Folkes occupied a sale of 8
days; and his pictures, gems, coins, and mathematical
instruments, of five days.

Mr. Martin Folkes may justly be ranked among the most
useful, as well as splendid, literary characters of which
this country can boast. He appears to have imbibed, at a
very early age, an extreme passion for science and
literature; and to have distinguished himself so much at the
University of Cambridge, under the able tuition of Dr.
Laughton, that, in his 23rd year, he was admitted a Fellow
of the Royal Society. About two years afterwards he was
chosen one of the council, and rose, in gradual succession,
to the chair of the presidentship, which he filled with a
credit and celebrity that has since never been surpassed. On
this occasion he was told by Dr. Jurin, the Secretary, who
dedicated to him the 34th vol. of the Transactions, that
“the greatest man that ever lived (Sir Isaac Newton) singled
him out to fill the chair, and to preside in the society,
when he himself was so frequently prevented by
indisposition: and that it was sufficient to say of him that
he was Sir Isaac’s friend.”

Within a few years after this, he was elected President of
the Society of Antiquaries. Two situations, the filling of
which may be considered as the ne plus ultra of literary
distinction. Mr. Folkes travelled abroad, with his family,
about two years and a half, visiting the cities of Rome,
Florence, and Venice—where he was noticed by almost every
person of rank and reputation, and whence he brought away
many a valuable article to enrich his own collection. He was
born in the year 1690, and died of a second stroke of the
palsy, under which he languished for three years, in 1754.
Dr. Birch has drawn a very just and interesting character of
this eminent man, which may be found in Nichol’s Anecdotes
of Bowyer, 562. 7. Mr. Edwards, the late ornithologist, has
described him in a simple, but appropriate, manner. “He
seemed,” says he, “to have attained to universal knowledge;
for, in the many opportunities I have had of being in his
company, almost every part of science has happened to be the
subject of discourse, all of which he handled as an adept.
He was a man of great politeness in his manners, free from
all pedantry and pride, and, in every respect, the real
unaffected fine gentleman.”

[40] “Bibliotheca Rawlinsoniana, sive Catalogus
Librorum Richardi Rawlinson, LL.D. Qui prostabunt Venales
sub hasta, Apud Samuelem Baker. In Vico dicto York Street,
Covent Garden Londini, Die Lunæ, 22 Martii mdcclvi.”

This valuable library must have contained about 20,000
volumes; for the number of Articles amounted to 9405. On
examining a priced catalogue of it, which now lies before
me, I have not found any higher sum offered for a work than
£4 1s. for a collection of fine prints, by Aldegrave (No.
9405). The Greek and Latin classics, of which there were few
Editiones Principes, or on large paper, brought the
usual sums given at that period. The old English
black-lettered books, which were pretty thickly scattered
throughout the collection, were sold for exceedingly low
prices—if the copies were perfect. Witness the following:

These are only very few of the rare articles in English
literature, of the whole of which (perhaps upwards of 200 in
number) I believe, the ‘Boke of St. Albans,’ brought the
highest sum. Hence it will be seen that this was not the age
of curious research into the productions of our ancestors.
Shakspeare had not then appeared in a proper Variorum
edition. Theobald, and Pope, and Warburton, had not
investigated the black-letter lore of ancient English
writers, for the illustration of their favourite author.
This was reserved for Farmer, for Steevens, for Malone, for
Chalmers, Reed and Douce: and it is expressly to these
latter gentlemen (for Johnson and Hanmer were very sparing,
or very shy, of the black letter), that we are indebted for
the present spirit of research into the works of our
ancestors.

The sale of the books lasted 50 days. There was a second
sale of pamphlets, books of prints, &c., in the following
year, which lasted 10 days; and this was immediately
succeeded by a sale of the Doctor’s single prints and
drawings, which continued 8 days.

[41] This gentleman’s library, not so remarkable
for the black letter as for whimsical publications, was sold
by auction, by Samuel Paterson, [the earliest sale in which
I find this well known book-auctioneer engaged] in June,
1759, and the three ensuing evenings. The title of the Sale
Catalogue is as follows:

“A Catalogue of the original MSS. and manuscript collections
of the late Reverend Mr. John Henley, A.M., Independent
Minister of the Oratory, &c., in which are included sundry
collections of the late Mons. des Maizeaux, the learned
editor of Bayle, &c., Mr. Lowndes, author of the Report for
the Amendment of Silver Coins, &c., Dr. Patrick Blair,
Physician at Boston, and F.R.S. &c., together with original
letters and papers of State, addressed to Henry d’Avenant,
Esq., her Britannic Majesty’s Envoy at Francfort, from 1703
to 1708 inclusive.”

Few libraries have contained more curious and remarkable
publications than did this. The following articles, given as
notable specimens, remind us somewhat of Addison’s Memoranda
for the Spectator, which the waiter at the coffee-house
picked up and read aloud for the amusement of the company.

No. 166. God’s Manifestation by a Star to the Dutch. A
mortifying Fast Diet at Court. On the Birth Day of the first
and oldest young gentleman. All corrupt: none good: no not
one.

No. 168. General Thumbissimo. The Spring reversed, or the
Flanderkin’s Opera and Dutch Pickle Herrings. The Creolean
Fillip, or Royal Mishap. A Martial Telescope, &c., England’s
Passion Sunday, and April Changelings.

No. 170. Speech upon Speech. A Telescope for Tournay. No
Battle, but worse, and the True Meaning of it. An Army
Beaten and interred.

No. 174. Signs when the P. will come. Was Captain Sw——n a
Prisoner on Parole, to be catechised? David’s Opinion of
like Times. The Seeds of the plot may rise, though the
leaves fall. A Perspective, from the Blair of Athol, the
Pretender’s Popery. Murder! Fire! Where! Where!

No. 178. Taking Carlisle, catching an eel by the tail.
Address of a Bishop, Dean and Clergy. Swearing to the
P——r, &c., Anathema denounced against those Parents,
Masters, and Magistrates, that do not punish the Sin at
Stokesley. A Speech, &c. A parallel between the Rebels to K.
Charles I. and those to his Successor. Jane Cameron looked
killing at Falkirk.

No. 179. Let stocks be knighted, write, Sir Banks, &c. the
Ramhead Month. A Proof that the Writers against Popery fear
it will be established in this Kingdom. A Scheme, wisely
blabbed to root and branch the Highlanders. Let St. Patrick
have fair play, &c.

Of Orator Henley I have not been able to collect any
biographical details more interesting than those which are
to be found in Warburton’s notes to Pope’s Dunciad.

[42] “A Catalogue of the genuine and elegant
Library of the late Sir C.C. Dormer, collected by
Lieutenant-General James Dormer, which will be sold, &c., by
Samuel Baker, at his house in York Street, Covent Garden; to
begin on Monday, February the 20th, 1764, and to continue
the nineteen following evenings.” At the end of the
catalogue we are told that the books were “in general of the
best editions, and in the finest condition, many of them in
large paper, bound in morocco, gilt leaves, &c.”

This was a very choice collection of books, consisting
almost entirely of Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish and
French. The number of articles did not exceed 3082, and of
volumes, probably not 7000. The catalogue is neatly printed,
and copies of it on large paper are exceedingly scarce.
Among the most curious and valuable articles were those
numbered 599, 604, 2249, 2590; from no. 2680, to the end,
was a choice collection of Italian and Spanish books.

[43] In the year 1755 was published at Venice,
printed by J.B. Pasquali, a catalogue of the books of Joseph
Smith, Esq., Consul at Venice.

The catalogue was published under the following Latin title:
“Bibliotheca Smitheana, seu Catalogus Librorum D. Josephi
Smithii, Angli, per Cognomina Authorum dispositus, Venetiis,
typis Jo. Baptistæ Pasquali, M,DCCLV.;” in quarto; with the
arms of Consul Smith. The title page is succeeded by a Latin
preface of Pasquali, and an alphabetical list of 43 pages of
the authors mentioned in the catalogue: then follow the
books arranged alphabetically, without any regard to size,
language, or subject. These occupy 519 pages, marked with
the Roman numerals; after which are 66 pages, numbered in
the same manner, of “addenda et corrigenda.” The most
valuable part of the volume is “The Prefaces and Epistles
prefixed to those works in the Library which were printed in
the 15th century:” these occupy 348 pages. A Catalogue, (in
three pages) of the Names of the illustrious Men mentioned
in these prefaces, &c., closes the book.

It would be superfluous to mention to bibliographers the
rare articles contained in this collection, which are so
generally known and so justly appreciated. They consist
chiefly of early editions of Italian, Greek, and Latin
classics; and of many copies of both printed upon vellum.
The library, so rich in these articles, was, however,
defective in English Literature and Antiquities. There was
scarcely any thing of Shakspeare or Dugdale.

On the death of Mr. Smith in 1772, his collection was sold
in 1773, 8vo., by Baker and Leigh; and the books were
announced to the public, as being “in the finest
preservation, and consisting of the very best and scarcest
editions of the Latin, Italian, and French authors, from the
invention of printing; with manuscripts and missals, upon
vellum, finely illuminated.” A glance upon the prices for
which most of these fine books were sold made Mr. Cuthell
exclaim, in my hearing, that “they were given away.” On
these occasions, one cannot help now and then wishing, with
father Evander,

“O mihi præteritos referat si Jupiter annos!”

On comparing Pasquali’s, with the sale, catalogue, it will
be obvious that a great number of rare and valuable articles
was disposed of before the books came to public auction.
Indeed it is known that his present Majesty enriched his
magnificent collection with many of the Consul’s first
editions, and vellum copies, during the life of the
latter. The sale continued thirteen days only; and on the
last day were sold all the English books in the
black-letter. Some of these are rather curious.

Of Consul Smith I am unable to present the lover of virtu
with any particulars more acceptable than the following.
Pasquali (whose Latin preface is curious enough—abounding
with as many interrogatories as Hamlet’s soliloquies) has
told us that “as the Consul himself was distinguished for
his politeness, talents, and prudence, so was his house for
splendid and elegant decorations. You might there view, says
he, the most beautifully painted pictures, and exquisite
ornaments, whether gems, vases, or engravings. In short, the
whole furniture was so brilliant and classical that you
admired at once the magnificence and judgment of the owner.”
He tells us, a little further, that he had frequently
solicited the Consul to print a catalogue of his books;
which proposition his modesty at first induced him to
reject; but, afterwards, his liberality, to comply with. He
then observes that, “in the compilation of the catalogue, he
has studied brevity as much as it was consistent with
perspicuity; and that he was once desirous of stating the
value and price of the books, but was dissuaded from it
by the advice of the more experienced, and by the singular
modesty of the Collector.”

It must be confessed that Pasquali has executed his task
well, and that the catalogue ranks among the most valuable,
as well as rare, books of the kind.

[44] “Bibliotheca Westiana; A catalogue of the
curious and truly valuable library of the late James West,
Esq., President of the Royal Society, deceased, &c.
Including the works of Caxton, Lettou, Machlinia, the
anonymous St. Albans Schoolmaste,
Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, and the rest of the
old English typographers. Digested by Samuel Paterson,”
1773, 8vo.

ANALYSIS OF THE CATALOGUE.

1. Volumes of Miscellaneous Tracts.

These volumes extend from No. 148 to 200, from 915 to
992, from 1201 to 1330, and from No. 1401 to 1480.

2. Divinity.

In the whole, 560 articles; probably about 1200 volumes;
some of them exceedingly scarce and valuable.

3. Education, Languages, Criticism, Classics, Dictionaries,
Catalogues of Libraries, &c.

There were about 700 volumes in these departments. The
catalogues of English books, from that of Maunsell, in 1595,
to the latest before Mr. West’s time, were very complete.
The treatises on education and translations of the ancient
classics comprehended a curious and uncommon collection. The
Greek and Latin classics were rather select than rare.

4. English Poetry, Romance, and Miscellanies.

This interesting part of the collection comprehended about
355 articles, or probably about 750 volumes: and if the
singularly rare and curious books which may be found under
these heads alone were now concentrated in one library, the
owner of them might safely demand 4000 guineas for such a
treasure.

5. Philosophy, Mathematics, Inventions, Agriculture and
Horticulture, Medicine, Cookery, Surgery, etc.

Two hundred and forty articles, or about 560 volumes.

6. Chemistry, Natural History, Astrology, Sorcery,
Gigantology.

Probably not more than 100 volumes.

7. History and Antiquities.

This comprehended a great number of curious and valuable
productions, relating both to foreign and domestic
transactions.

8. Heraldry and Genealogy.

A great number of curious and scarce articles may be found
under these heads.

9. Ancient Legends and Chronicles.

To the English antiquary, few departments of literature are
more interesting that these. Mr. West seems to have paid
particular attention to them, and to have enriched his
library with many articles of this description, of the
rarest occurrence. The lovers of Caxton, Fabian, Hardyng,
Hall, Grafton, and Holinshed, may be highly gratified by
inspecting the various editions of these old chroniclers. I
entreat the diligent bibliographer to examine the first
eight articles of page 209 of the catalogue. Alas, when will
all these again come under the hammer at one sale?!

10. Topography.

Even to a veteran, like the late Mr. Gough, such a
collection as may be found from p. 217 to p. 239 of this
catalogue, would be considered a first-rate acquisition. I
am aware that the gothic wainscot, and stained glass
windows, of Enfield Study enshrined a still more exquisite
topographical collection! But we are improved since the days
of Mr. West; and every body knows to whom these
improvements are, in a great measure, to be attributed. When
I call to mind the author of ‘British Topography‘ and
‘Sepulchral Monuments,’ I am not insensible to the taste,
diligence, and erudition of the “par nobile fratrum,” who
have gratified us with the ‘Environs of London,’ ‘Roman
Remains,’ and the first two volumes of ‘Magna Britannia!’

The preceding is to be considered as a very general, and
therefore superficial, analysis of the catalogue of Mr.
West’s library; copies of it, with the sums for which the
books were sold, are now found with difficulty, and bring a
considerable price. I never saw or heard of one on large
paper!

[45] “A catalogue of rare books and tracts in
various languages and faculties; including the Ancient
Conventual Library of Missenden-Abbey, in Buckinghamshire;
together with some choice remains of that of the late
eminent Serjeant at law, William Fletewode, Esq., Recorder
of London, in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth; among which are
several specimens of the earliest Typography, foreign and
English, including Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, and
others; a fine collection of English Poetry, some scarce old
law-books, a great number of old English plays, several
choice MSS. upon vellum, and other subjects of literary
curiosity. Also several of the best editions of the
Classics, and modern English and French books. To begin
December 5, 1774, and the 17 following evenings, precisely
at half an hour after five.”

I am in possession of a priced Catalogue of this
collection, which once belonged to Herbert, and which
contains all the purchasers’ names, as well as the sums
given. The purchasers were principally Herbert, Garrick,
Dodd, Elmsley, T. Payne, Richardson, Chapman, Wagstaff,
Bindley, and Gough. The following is a specimen of some
curious and interesting articles contained in this
celebrated library, and of the prices for which they once
sold!

I will, however, only add that there were upwards of 150
articles of Old Plays, mostly in quarto. See page 73. Of
Antiquities, Chronicles, and Topography, it would be
difficult to pitch upon the rarest volumes. The collection,
including very few MSS., contained 3641 articles, or
probably nearly 7000 volumes. The Catalogue is uncommon.

[46] I am now arrived, pursuing my chronological
arrangement, at a very important period in the annals of
book-sales. The name and collection of Dr. Askew are so well
known in the bibliographical world that the reader need not
be detained with laboured commendations on either: in the
present place, however, it would be a cruel disappointment
not to say a word or two by way of preface or prologue.

Dr. Anthony Askew had eminently distinguished himself by a
refined taste, a sound knowledge, and an indefatigable
research relating to every thing connected with Grecian and
Roman literature. It was to be expected, even during his
life, as he was possessed of sufficient means to gratify
himself with what was rare, curious, and beautiful in
literature and the fine arts, that the public would, one
day, be benefited by such pursuits: especially as he had
expressed a wish that his treasures might be unreservedly
submitted to sale, after his decease. In this wish the
Doctor was not singular. Many eminent collectors had
indulged it before him: and, to my knowledge, many modern
ones still indulge it. Accordingly on the death of Dr.
Askew, in 1774, appeared, in the ensuing year, a catalogue
of his books for sale, by Messrs. Baker and Leigh, under the
following title:

“Bibliotheca Askeviana, sive Catalogus Librorum Rarissimorum
Antonii Askew, M.D., quorum Auctio fiet apud S. Baker et G.
Leigh, in Vico dicto York Street, Covent Garden, Londini.
Die Lunæ, 13 Februarii, MDCCLXXV, et in undeviginti
sequentes dies.” A few copies were struck off on large
paper.

We are told by the compiler of the catalogue that it was
thought unnecessary to say much with respect to this Library
of the late Dr. Anthony Askew, as the Collector and
Collection were so well known in almost all parts of Europe.
Afterwards it is observed that “The books in general are in
very fine condition, many of them bound in morocco, and
Russia leather, with gilt leaves.” “To give a particular
account,” continues the Compiler, “of the many scarce
editions of books in this Catalogue would be almost
endless, therefore the first editions of the Classics, and
some extremely rare books are chiefly noticed. The
catalogue, without any doubt, contains the best, rarest, and
most valuable collection of Greek and Latin Books that were
ever sold in England.” This account is not overcharged. The
collection, in regard to Greek and Roman literature, was
unique in its day.

The late worthy and learned Mr. M. Cracherode, whose library
now forms one of the most splendid acquisitions of the
British Museum, and whose bequest of it will immortalize
his memory, was also among the “Emptores literarii” at this
renowned sale. He had enriched his collection with many
Exemplar Askevianum; and, in his latter days, used to
elevate his hands and eyes, and exclaim against the prices
now offered for Editiones Principes!

The fact is, Dr. Askew’s sale has been considered a sort of
æra in bibliography. Since that period, rare and curious
books in Greek and Latin literature have been greedily
sought after, and obtained at most extravagant prices. It is
very well for a veteran in bibliography, as was Mr.
Cracherode, or as are Mr. Wodhull and Dr. Gosset, whose
collections were formed in the days of Gaignat, Askew, Duke
de la Valliere, and Lamoignon—it is very well for such
gentlemen to declaim against modern prices! But what is to
be done? Books grow scarcer every day, and the love of
literature, and of possessing rare and interesting works,
increases in an equal ratio. Hungry bibliographers meet, at
sales, with well furnished purses, and are resolved upon
sumptuous fare. Thus the hammer vibrates, after a bidding
of Forty pounds, where formerly it used regularly to
fall at Four!

But we lose sight of Dr. Askew’s rare editions, and large
paper copies. The following, gentle Reader, is but an
imperfect specimen!

[47] Bibliotheca Ratcliffiana; or, “A Catalogue of
the elegant and truly valuable Library of John Ratcliffe,
Esq. late of Bermondsey, deceased. The whole collected with
great judgment and expense, during the last thirty years of
his life: comprehending a large and most choice collection
of the rare old English black-letter, in fine
preservation, and in elegant bindings, printed by Caxton,
Lettou, Machlinia, the anonymous St. Albans Schoolmaster,
Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, Berthelet, Grafton, Day, Newberie,
Marshe, Jugge, Whytchurch, Wyer, Rastell, Coplande, and the
rest of the Old English Typographers: several missals and
MSS., and two Pedigrees on vellum, finely illuminated.” The
title page then sets forth a specimen of these
black-lettered gems; among which our eyes are dazzled with a
galaxy of Caxtons, Wynkyn de Wordes, Pynsons, &c. &c. The
sale took place on March 27, 1776.

If ever there was a unique collection, this was one—the
very essence of Old Divinity, Poetry, Romances, and
Chronicles! The articles were only 1675 in number, but their
intrinsic value amply compensated for their paucity.

The following is but an inadequate specimen.

The memory of such a man ought to be dear to the
“black-lettered dogs” of the present day; for he had
[mirabile dictu!] upwards of Thirty Caxtons!

If I might hazard a comparison between Mr. James West’s and
Mr. John Ratcliffe’s collections, I should say that the
former was more extensive, the latter more curious: Mr.
West’s, like a magnificent champagne, executed by the hand
of Claude or Both, and enclosing mountains, and meadows, and
streams, presented to the eye of the beholder a scene at
once extensive, luxuriant, and fruitful: Mr. Ratcliffe’s,
like one of those delicious pieces of scenery, touched by
the pencil of Rysdael or Hobbima, exhibited to the
beholder’s eye a spot equally interesting, but less varied
and extensive. The sweeping foliage and rich pasture of the
former could not, perhaps, afford greater gratification than
did the thatched cottage, abrupt declivities, and gushing
streams of the latter. To change the metaphor—Mr. West’s
was a magnificent repository, Mr. Ratcliffe’s a choice
cabinet of gems.

[48] There is a short, but smart and interesting,
article on this head in Mr. D’Israeli’s Curiosities of
Literature, vol. 1. 10. “Bruyere has touched on this mania
with humour; of such a collector (one who is fond of superb
bindings only) says he, as soon as I enter his house, I am
ready to faint on the stair-case from a strong smell of
morocco leather. In vain he shows me fine editions, gold
leaves, Etruscan bindings, &c.—naming them one after
another, as if he were showing a gallery of pictures!”
Lucian has composed a biting invective against an ignorant
possessor of a vast library. “One who opens his eyes, with
an hideous stare, at an old book, and, after turning over
the pages, chiefly admires the date of its publication.”

[49] 1. Lord Bacon’s Essays, 1798, 8vo., of which
it is said only five copies were struck off on royal folio.
In Lord Spencer’s and the Cracherode, collection I have seen
a copy of this exquisitely printed book; the text of which,
surrounded by such an amplitude of margin, in the language
of Ernesti [see his Critique on Havercamp’s Sallust] “natut
velut cymba in oceano.”

2. Twenty Plays of Shakespeare published by Steevens from
the old quarto editions, 1766, 8vo. 6 vols. Of this edition
there were only twelve copies struck off on large paper. See
Bibl. Steevens, No. 1312.

3. Dodsley’s Collection of Old Plays, 1780, 8vo., 12 vols.
only six copies printed on large paper. See Bibl. Woodhouse,
No. 198.

4. The Grenville Homer. Græce, 1800. 4to. 4 vols. Fifty
copies with plates were struck off on large paper, in royal
quarto. A copy of this kind was purchased at a sale in 1804,
for £99 15s.

5. Sandford’s Genealogical History, etc. 1707, fol. Mr.
Arch of Cornhill purchased a copy of this work on large
paper, at the late sale of Baron Smyth’s books, for £46. If
the largest paper of Clarke’s Cæsar be excepted, this is the
highest priced single volume on large paper, that I just now
recollect.

6. Hearne’s Works on large paper.

Something relating to Hearne will be found in the note at
page 7 ante. Here it will be only necessary to observe that
the Hernëan rage for Large Paper is quite of recent growth,
but it promises to be giant-like. When the duplicates of a
part of Mr. Woodhull’s library, in 1803, were sold, there
was a fine set of copies of this kind; but the prices,
comparatively with those now offered, were extremely
moderate. Mr. Otridge, the bookseller, told me an amusing
story of his going down to Liverpool, many years ago, and
accidentally purchasing from the library of the late Sir
Thomas Hanmer, a magnificent set of Large Paper Hearnes
for about 40 Guineas. Many of these are now in the choice
library of his Grace the Duke of Grafton. The copies were
catalogued as small paper. Was there ever a more provoking
blunder?!

[50] Analogous to Large Paper Copies are tall
Copies; that is, copies of the work published on the
ordinary size paper and not much cut down by the binder. The
want of margin is a serious grievance complained of by
book-collectors; and when there is a contest of
margin-measuring, with books never professedly published on
large paper, the anxiety of each party to have the largest
copy is better conceived than described! How carefully, and
how adroitly, are the golden and silver rules then
exercised!

[51] “Un superbe exemplaire de cette édition
princeps a été vendu, chez M. de Cotte, en 1804, la somme
de 3601 livres; mais il faut ajouter que cet exemplaire
très-precieux est de la plus belle conservation; on dirait
qu’il sort dessous presse. De plus, il est peut-être
l’unique dont les marges n’ont pas été rognées ni
coupées!”

Peignot’s Curiosités Bibliographiques, lxv-vi.

[52] It was first published in two quarto volumes,
1766; and went through several editions in octavo. The last
is, I believe, of the date of 1804; to which three
additional volumes were published by William Noble, in 1806;
the whole seven volumes form what is called an excellent
library work.

[53] About two or three years ago there was an
extraordinary set of prints disposed of, for the
illustration of Shakspeare, collected by a gentleman in
Cornwall, with considerable taste and judgment. Lord
Spencer’s beautiful octavo illustrated Shakespeare,
bequeathed to him by the late Mr. Steevens, has been
enriched, since it came into the library of its present
noble possessor, with many a rare and many a beauteous
specimen of the graphic art.

[54] I have heard of an illustrated Clarendon
(which was recently in the metropolis), that has been valued
at 5000 Guineas! “a good round sum!”

[55] One of the most striking and splendid
instances of the present rage for illustration may be seen
in Mr. Miller’s own copy of the Historical Work of Mr. Fox,
in two volumes, imperial quarto. Exclusively of a great
variety of Portraits, it is enriched with the original
drawing of Mr. Fox’s bust from which the print, attached to
the publication, is taken; and has also many original notes
and letters by its illustrious author. Mr. Walter Scott’s
edition of Dryden has also received, by the same publisher,
a similar illustration. It is on large paper, and most
splendidly bound in blue morocco, containing upwards of 650
portraits.

[56] The fine copy of Granger, illustrated by the
late Mr. Bull, is now in the library of the Marquis of Bute,
at Lutton. It extends to 37 atlas folio volumes, and is a
repository of almost every rare and beautiful print, which
the diligence of its late, and the skill, taste, and
connoisseurship of its present, noble owner have brought
together.

[57] In the Memoirs of Mr. Thomas Hollis there is a
series of the portraits of Milton (not executed in the best
manner) done in this way; and a like series of Pope’s
portraits accompanies the recent edition of the poet’s works
by the Rev. W.L. Bowles.

[58] Numerous are the instances of the peculiar use
and value of copies of this kind, especially to those who
are engaged in publication, of a similar nature. Oldys’s
interleaved Langbaine is re-echoed in almost every recent
work connected with the belles-lettres of our country. Oldys
himself was unrivalled in this method of illustration; if,
besides his Langbaine, his copy of ‘Fuller’s Worthies’ [once
Mrs. Steevens’s, now Mr. Malone’s, See Bibl. Steevens,
no. 1799] be alone considered! This Oldys was the oddest
mortal that ever scribbled for bread. Grose, in his Olio,
gives an amusing account of his having “a number of small
parchment bags inscribed with the names of the persons whose
lives he intended to write; into which he put every
circumstance and anecdote he could collect, and thence drew
up his history.” See Noble’s College of Arms, p. 420.

Of illustrated copies in this way, the Suidas of Kuster,
belonging to the famous D’Orville, is a memorable instance.
This is now in the Bodleian library. I should suppose that
one Narcissus Luttrell, in Charles the Second’s reign, had a
number of like illustrated copies. His collection of
contemporaneous literature must have been immense, as we may
conclude from the account of it in Mr. Walter Scott’s
Preface to his recent edition of Dryden’s works. Luckily for
this brilliant poet and editor, a part of Luttrell’s
collection had found its way into the libraries of Mr.
Bindley and Mr. Heber, and thence was doomed to shine, with
renewed lustre, by the side of the poetry of Dryden.

[59] At page 8, note—the reader has been led to
expect a few remarks upon the luxuriancy of modern
book-binding. Mr. Roscoe, in his Lorenzo de Medici, vol.
ii., p. 79., edit. 8vo., has defended the art with so much
skill that nothing further need be said in commendation of
it. Admitting every degree of merit to our present
fashionable binders, and frankly allowing them the
superiority over De Rome, Padaloup, and the old school of
binding, I cannot but wish to see revived those beautiful
portraits, arabesque borders, and sharp angular ornaments,
that are often found on the outsides of books bound in the
16th century, with calf leather, upon oaken boards. These
brilliant decorations almost make us forget the ivory
crucifix, guarded with silver doors, which is frequently
introduced in the interior of the sides of the binding. Few
things are more gratifying to a genuine collector than a
fine copy of a book in its original binding!

[60] The modern books, printed upon vellum, have in
general not succeeded; whether from the art of preparing the
vellum, or of printing upon it, being lost I will not
presume to determine. The reader may be amused with the
following prices for which a few works, executed in this
manner, were sold in the year 1804:

See “Catalogue of a most splendid and valuable Collection
of Books, Superb Missals, &c.,” sold by Mr. Christie, on
April 24, 1804. But the reader should procure the Catalogue
of Mr. Paris’s Books, sold in the year 1790, which, for the
number of articles, is unrivalled. The eye is struck, in
every page, with the most sumptuous copies on vellum, and
large paper.

[61] See page 5, ante, for some account of this
curious work.

[62] There is a curious and amusing article in
Bayle [English edition, vol. i., 672, &c.] about the elder
Ancillon, who frankly confessed that he “was troubled with
the Bibliomania, or disease of buying books.” Mr. D’Israeli
says “that he always purchased first editions, and never
waited for second ones,”—but I find it, in the English
Bayle, note D, “he chose the best editions.” The manner in
which Ancillon’s library was pillaged by the Ecclesiastics
of Metz (where it was considered as the most valuable
curiosity in the town) is thus told by Bayle; “Ancillon was
obliged to leave Metz: a company of Ecclesiastics, of all
orders, came from every part, to lay hands on this fine and
copious library, which had been collected with the utmost
care during forty years. They took away a great number of
the books together, and gave a little money, as they went
out, to a young girl, of twelve or thirteen years of age,
who looked after them, that they might have it to say they
had paid for them. Thus Ancillon saw that valuable
collection dispersed, in which, as he was wont to say, his
chief pleasure and even his heart was placed!”—Edit. 1734.

[63] An instance of this kind may be adduced from
the first edition of Fabian, printed in 1516; of which
Messrs. Longman, and Co., have now engaged a very able
editor to collate the text with that of the subsequent
editions. “The antiquary,” says the late Mr. Brand, “is
desired to consult the edition of Fabian, printed by Pynson,
in 1516, because there are others, and I remember to have
seen one in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, with a
continuation to the end of Queen Mary, 1559, in which the
language is much modernised.” Shakespeare, edit. 1803,
vol. xviii. p. 85-6.

[64] A singular story is “extant” about the
purchase of the late Duke of Roxburgh’s fine copy of the
first edition of Shakespeare. A friend was bidding for him
in the sale-room: his Grace had retired to a distance, to
view the issue of the contest. Twenty guineas and more were
offered, from various quarters, for the book: a slip of
paper was handed to the Duke, in which he was requested to
inform his friend whether he was “to go on bidding”—His
Grace took his pencil, and wrote underneath, by way of reply—

Such a spirit was irresistible, and bore down all
opposition. His Grace retired triumphant, with the book
under his arm.

[65] Cæsar. Lug. Bat. 1635, 12mo. Printed by
Elzevir.

In the Bibliotheca Revickzkiana we are informed that the
true Elzevir edition is known by having the plate of a
Buffalo’s head at the beginning of the preface, and body of
the work: also by having the page numbered 153, which
ought to have been numbered 149. A further account is
given in my Introduction to the Classics, vol. i., 228.

Horace: Londini, 1733, 8vo., 2 vols. Published by Pine.

The true edition is distinguished by having at page 108,
vol ii, the incorrect reading ‘Post Est.’—for ‘Potest.’

Virgil. Lug. Bat. 1636, 12mo. Printed by Elzevir.

The true edition is known by having at plate 1, before the
Bucolics, the following Latin passage printed in red ink.
“Ego vero frequentes a te litteras accipi”—Consult De Bure,
No. 2684.

Idem. Birmingh. 1763, 4to. Printed by Baskerville.

A particular account of the true edition will be found in
the second volume of my ‘Introduction to the Classics’ p.
337—too long to be here inserted.

Boccaccio. Il Decamerone, Venet. 1527, 4to.

Consult De Bure, No. 3667: Bandini, vol. ii., 24: (who
however is extremely laconic upon this edition, but copious
upon the anterior one of 1516) and Haym., vol. iii., p. 8,
edit. 1803. Bibl. Paris. No. 408. Clement. (vol. iv., 352,)
has abundance of references, as usual, to strengthen his
assertion in calling the edition ‘fort rare.’ The reprint or
spurious edition has always struck me as the prettier book
of the two.

[66] His words are as follow: “Ipsa typorum
ruditas, ipsa illa atra crassaque literarum facies belle
tangit sensus, &c.” Was ever the black letter more
eloquently described? See his Amœnitates Literariæ,
vol. i., p. 5.

[67]

[68] In the criticisms on Mr. Douce’s
Illustrations of Shakspeare and Ancient Manners, it has
not, I think, been generally noticed that this work is
distinguished; 1. For the singular diffidence and urbanity
of criticism, as well as depth of learning, which it
evinces: 2. For the happy illustrations, by means of wood
cuts: Let any one, for instance, read a laboured
disquisition on the punishment of “the boots”—and only
glance his eye on the plate representing it [vol. i. p.
34.]: from which will he obtain the clearer notions? 3. For
the taste, elegance, and general correctness with which it
is printed. The only omission I regret is that Mr. Douce did
not give us, at the end, a list of the works alphabetically
arranged, with their dates which he consulted in the
formation of his own. Such a Bibliotheca Shakspeariana
might, however, have been only a fresh stimulus to the
increase of the black-letter symptom of the Bibliomania.
How Bartholomæus and Batman have risen in price since the
publication of Mr. Douce’s work, let those who have lately
smarted for the increase tell!

[69] The re-publication of these chronicles is to
be followed by those of Grafton and Fabian. Meanwhile,
Hakluyt’s Voyages, (projected by Mr. Evans), and Fuller’s
Worthies (by Messrs. Longman, and Co.) will form admirable
acquisitions to these treasures of past times.

[70] The recent Variorum editions of Shakspeare,
of which some yet prefer that of Steevens, 1793, 15 vols.
8vo.—Mr. Todd’s editions of Milton and Spenser; Mr. G.
Chalmers’ edition of Sir David Lyndsay’s works; Mr.
Gifford’s edition of Massinger; and Mr. Octavius
Gilchrist’s, of Bishop Corbett’s poems, exemplify the good
effects of this third means of cure.

[71] The Royal, London, Surrey, and Russel
Institutions have been the means of concentrating, in divers
parts of the metropolis, large libraries of useful books;
which, it is to be hoped, will eventually suppress the
establishment of what are called Circulating
Libraries—vehicles, too often, of insufferable nonsense,
and irremediable mischief!

[72] “Unne bonne Bibliographie,” says Marchand, “soit
générale soit particulière, soit profane, soit
écclésiastique, soit nationale, provinciale, ou locale, soit
simplement personnelle, en un mot de quelque autre genre que
ce puisse être, n’est pas un ouvrage aussi facile que
beaucoup de gens se le pourroient imaginer; mais, elles ne
doivent néanmoins nulelment
prévenir contre celle-ci. Telle qu’elle est, elle ne laisse
pas d’être bonne, utile, et digne d’être recherchée par les
amateurs, de l’Histoire Littéraire.” Diction. Historique,
vol. i. p. 109.

“Our nation,” says Mr. Bridgman, “has been too inattentive
to bibliographical criticisms and enquiries; for generally
the English reader is obliged to resort to foreign writers
to satisfy his mind as to the value of authors. It behoves
us to consider that there is not a more useful or a more
desirable branch of education than a knowledge of books;
which being correctly ascertained and judiciously exercised,
will prove the touch-stone of intrinsic merit, and have the
effect of saving many spotless pages from prostitution.”
Legal Bibliography, p. v. vi.

[73] Peignot, in his Dictionnaire de Bibliologie,
vol. i. 50, has given a very pompous account of what ought
to be the talents and duties of a Bibliographer. It would be
difficult indeed to find such things united in one person!
De Bure, in the eighth volume of his Bibliographie
Instructive, has prefixed a “Discourse upon the Science of
Bibliography and the duties of a Bibliographer” which is
worth consulting: but I know of nothing which better
describes, in few words, such a character, than the
following: “In eo sit multijuga materiarum librorumque
notitia, ut saltem potiores eligat et inquirat: fida et
sedula apud exteras gentes procuratio, ut eos arcessat;
summa patientia ut rarè venalis expectet: peculium semper
præsens et paratum, ne, si quando occurrunt, emendi occasio
intercidat; prudens denique auri argentique contemptus, ut
pecuniis sponte careat quæ in bibliothecam formandam et
nutriendam sunt insumendæ. Si fortè vir literatus eo
felicitatis pervenit ut talem thesaurum coaceraverit, nec
solus illo invidios fruatur, sed usum cum eruditis qui
vigilias suas utilitati publicæ devoverunt, liberaliter
communicet; &c.”—Bibliotheca Hulsiana, vol. i. Præfat. p.
3, 4.

[74] In the ingenious and witty work so entitled, I
do not recollect whether the disappointment arising from a
cropt or a dirty copy has been classed among “The
Miseries of Human Life.”

[75] Hodnet Hall, Shropshire. The country
residence of Mr. Heber.

[76] Hafod, South Wales, the seat of Thos.
Johnes, Esq., M.P., the translator of the Chronicles of
Froissart and Monstrelet, and of the Travels of De Broquiere
and Joinville. The conflagration of part of his mansion and
library, two years ago, which excited such a general
sympathy, would have damped any ardour of collection but
that of Mr. Johnes—his Library has arisen, Phœnix-like,
from the flames!

Sledmere, in Yorkshire, the seat of Sir Mark Masterman
Sykes, Bart., M.P. The library of this amiable and tasteful
Baronet reflects distinguished credit upon him. It is at
once copious and choice.

[77] Pope’s “Prologue to the Satires,” v. 7-10.

[78] This is the substance of the story related in
Darwin’s Zoonomia: vol. iv. p. 81.

[79] Without turning over the ponderous tones of
Stephen, Constantine, and Scaliger, consult the sensible
remarks upon the word ‘Δαίμῶν‘ in Parkhurst’s
Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament, 8vo. edit.
1798. In the Greek language, it is equally applied to an
accomplished and unprincipled character. Homer alone will
furnish a hundred instances of this.

[80] Mark certain expressions, gentle reader, which
occur in the notes to the life of Robin Hood, prefixed to
the ballads which go under his name: 1795. 2 vols.
8vo.—also a Dissertation on Romance and Minstrelsy in the
first vol. of Ancient Metrical Romances, 1802, 3 vols.
8vo. A very common degree of shrewdness and of acquaintance
with English literature will shew that, in Menander and
Sycorax, are described honest Tom Warton and snarling
‘mister’ Joseph Ritson.

[81] Complete Angler, p. 335. Bagster’s edit.
1808. In a similar style of description are “the faire grove
and swete walkes, letticed and gardened on both sides,” of
Mr. Warde’s letter—describing the nunnery of Little Gidding
in Huntingdonshire. See Hearne’s edit. of Peter Langtoft’s
Chronicle, vol. 1. p. cx.

[82] “The ayre is most temperate and wholesome,
sited in the middest of the temperate zone, subject to no
stormes and tempests, as the more southerne and northerne
are; but stored with infinite delicate fowle. For water, it
is walled and guarded with ye ocean most commodious for
trafficke to all parts of the world, and watered with
pleasant fishful and navigable rivers, which yeeld safe
havens and roads, and furnished with shipping and sailers,
that it may rightly be termed The Lady of the Sea. That I
may say nothing of healthful bathes, and of meares stored
both with fish and fowl. The earth fertile of all kinde of
graine, manured with good husbandry, rich in minerall of
coals, tinne, lead, copper, not without gold and silver,
abundant in pasture, replenished with cattel, both tame and
wilde (for it hath more parks than all Europe besides),
plentifully wooded, provided with all complete provisions of
war, beautified with many populous cities, faire boroughs,
good towns, and well-built villages, strong munitions,
magnificent palaces of the prince, stately houses of the
nobilitie, frequent hospitals, beautiful churches, faire
colledges, as well in the other places as in the two
Vniversities.” Remains, p. 12. edit. 1637.

How far Camden was indebted to the following curious
description of our country, written in the time of Edward
vj, (of which I shall modernize the orthography,) the reader
will judge for himself. The running title of the work is
“The Debate between the [French and English] Heralds,”
8vo., printed in the bl. lett. (In the possession of Mr.
Heber.)

“We have all manner of grains, and fruits, and more plenty
than you; for, thanked be God, England is a fruitful and
plenteous region, so that we have some fruits whereof you
have few; as wardeines, quinces, peaches, medlers,
chesnuts, and other delicious fruits; serving for all
seasons of the year; and so plenty of pears and apples that,
in the west parts of England and Sussex, they make perry and
cider, and in such abundance that they convey part over the
sea, where, by the Monsieurs of France, it is coveted for
their beverage and drinks.”—Sign. L. iiij. rev.

“We have in Cornwall and Devonshire (God be honoured) the
richest mines of silver and tin that may be, also in Ireland
mines of silver, in Derbyshire mines of lead, alabaster,
marble, black and white. In Sussex, Yorkshire, and Durham,
mines of iron, coal, slate, and freestone; and in every
shire of England, generally quarries of hard stone, chalk,
and flint: these be commodities honorable and not feigned,
being of such estimation that France, nor other realms, may
well forbear; and as for saltpetre, there is sufficient made
in England to furnish our turn for the wars. Also we have
hot fountains or bathes, which you nor no other realms
christened have.”—Sign. L. v. rev. If ancient Gildas
speak the truth, Great Britain was no contemptible place
twelve hundred years ago—the period when he lived and wrote
his lachrymable history.

“The iland of Britaine placed in the ballance of the divine
poising hand (as they call it) which weigheth the whole
world, almost the uttermost bound of his earth towards the
South and West; extending itself from the South-West, out
towards the North pole, eight hundred miles in length; and
containing two hundred in breadth, besides the fare
outstretched forelands of sundry promonteries, embraced by
the embowed bosomes of the ocean sea; with whose most
spacious, and on every side (saving only the Southern
Streights, by which we sale to Gallehelgicke) impassable
enclosure (as I may call it) she is strongly defended;
enriched with the mouths of two noble floods, Thames and
Severne, as it were two armes (by which out-landish
commodities have in times past been transported into the
same) besides other rivers of lesser account, strengthened
with eight and twenty cities, and some other castles, not
meanly fenced with fortresses of walls, embattled towers,
gates, and buildings (whose roofes being raised aloft with a
threatening hugenesse, were mightily in their aspiring
toppes compaced) adorned with her large spreading fields,
pleasant seated hils, even framed for good husbandry, which
over-mastereth the ground, and mountains most convenient for
the changeable pastures of cattell; whose flowers of sundry
collours, troden by the feete of men, imprint no unseemly
picture on the same, as a spouse of choice, decked with
divers jewels; watered with cleere fountains, and sundry
brokes, beating on the snow-white sands, together with
silver streames sliding forth with soft sounding noise, and
leaving a pledge of sweet savours on their bordering bankes,
and lakes gushing out abundantly in cold running
rivers.”—Epistle of Gildas, Transl. 1638, 12mo. p. 1,
after the prologue.

Whoever looks into that amusing and prettily-printed little
book, “Barclaii Satyricon,” 1629, 18mo., will find a
description of Germany, similar, in part, to the
preceding.—”Olim sylvis et incolis fera, nunc oppidis
passim insignis; nemoribus quoque quibus immensis tegebatur,
ad usum decusque castigatis.” p. 316.

[83] From “A Satyrical Dialogue, &c., betweene
Alexander the Great and that truelye woman-hater Diogynes.
Imprinted in the low countryes for all such gentlewomen as
are not altogether idle nor yet well occupyed,” 4to. no
date. A strange composition! full of nervous lines and
pungent satire—but not free from the grossest
licentiousness.

[84] “Interdum vulgus rectum videt:” says
Horace.—Epist. lib. ii. ad. Augustum, v. 63.

[85] Vide Rymeri Fœdera—passim.

[86] A very recent, and very respectable, authority
has furnished me with this expression.

[87] See Mr. Todd’s Illustrations of Gower and
Chaucer, p. 10.

[88] It is said, very sensibly, by La Bruyere, I
will allow that good writers are scarce enough; but then I
ask where are the people that know how to read and judge? A
union of these qualities, which are seldom found in the same
person, seems to be indispensably necessary to form an able
critic; he ought to possess strong good sense, lively
imagination, and exquisite sensibility. And of these three
qualities, the last is the most important; since, after all
that can be said on the utility or necessity of rules and
precepts, it must be confessed that the merit of all works
of genius must be determined by taste and sentiment. “Why do
you so much admire the Helen of Zeuxis?” said one to
Nicostratus. “You would not wonder why I so much admired it
(replied the painter) if you had my eyes.”—Warton: Note to
Pope’s Essay on Criticism. Pope’s Works, vol. i. 196,
edit. 1806.

[89] The earliest publications, I believe, in this
country, in the character of Reviews were
there Weekly Memorials for the
Ingenious, &c. Lond. 1683, 4to.—and The Universal
Historical Bibliotheque: or an Account of most of the
considerable Books printed in all Languages, in the Month of
January 1686. London, 1687, 4to. Five years afterwards came
forth The Young Student’s Library, by the Athenian
Society, 1692, folio, “a kind of common theatre where every
person may act, or take such part as pleases him best, and
what he does not like he may pass over, assuring himself
that, every one’s judgment not being like his, another may
chuse what he mislikes, and so every one may be pleased in
their turns.” Pref. A six weeks’ frost is said to have
materially delayed the publication. After these, in the
subsequent century, appeared the Old and New Memoirs of
Literature; then, the Works of the Learned; upon which
was built, eclipsing every one that had preceeded it, and
not excelled by any subsequent similar critical journal,
The Monthly Review.

[90] After all, said the reviewing Doctor, we are
of opinion, with the author himself, that this publication
contains ‘the sentiments of one who has seen but little:’
meaning, thereby, that the book was hardly worth perusal!
What has become of the said Dr. Kenrick now? We will not ask
the same question about the said Dr. Johnson; whose works
are upon the shelf of every reading man of sense and
virtue.

[91] See the opening the fourth book of “The
Task;” a picture perfectly original and unrivalled in its
manner.

[92] It is not less true, than surprising, that the
ridiculous squabbles, which disgraced both this theatre and
the metropolis, have been deemed deserving of a regular
series of publications in the shape of numbers—1, 2, 3, &c.
As if the subject had not been sufficiently well handled in
the lively sallies and brilliant touches of satire which had
before appeared upon it in the Monthly Mirror!

[93] Let him who wishes to be regaled in a dull
dreary night—when the snow is heavily falling, and the wind
whistles hollowly—open those leaves of Bayle’s Historical
and Biographical Dictionary which relate to this
extraordinary character; and see there how adroitly Agrippa
is defended against the accusation of “having two devils
attending him in the shape of two little dogs—one of them
being called Monsieur, and the other Mademoiselle”—”whereas
Paulus Jovius, Thevet, &c., speak only of one dog, and
never mention his name.” Vol. i. 357, 361; edit. 1736, 10
vols. folio.

The bibliographer, who wishes to be master of the most
curious and rare editions of his works, may go from Bayle to
Clement, and from Clement to Vogt. He must beware of the
castrated Lyons’ editions “per Beringos fratres”—against
one of which Bayle declaims, and produces a specimen (quite
to his own liking) of the passage suppressed:—another, of a
similar kind, is adduced by Vogt (edit. 1793, pp. 19, 20);
who tells us, however, that an edition of 1544, 8vo.,
without mention of place or printer—and especially a
Cologne edition of 1598, by Hierat, in 12mo.—exhibits the
like castrations; p. 20. This has escaped Clement, learned
as he is upon the Lyons’ editions, vol. i. 94, 95, 96. Bauer
(Bibl. Libr. Rarior.) is here hardly worth consulting; and
the compilers of the celebrated Nouveau Dict. Historique
(Caen edit. 1789, vol. i. p. 7. Art. Agrippa) deserve
censure for the recommendation of these Lyons’ editions
only.

Agrippa’s “Vanity of Sciences” was first published at
Antwerp in 4to. 1530; a book, upon the rarity of which
bibliographers delight to expatiate. His “Occult
Philosophy“—according to Bayle, in 1531 (at least, the
Elector of Cologne had seen several printed leaves of it in
this year), but according to Vogt and Bauer, in 1533.—There
is no question about the edition of 1533; of which Vogt
tells us, “An Englishman, residing at Frankfort, anxiously
sought for a copy of it, offering fifty crowns (imperiales)
and more, without success.” All the editions in Agrippa’s
life-time (before 1536) are considered uncastrated, and the
best. It should not be forgotten that Brucker, in his Hist.
Crit. Phil., has given a masterly account of Agrippa, and
an analysis of his works.

[94] This word is almost peculiar to our own
country, and means a vehement degree of applause. It is
generally used previous to, and during, a contest of any
kind—whether by men in red coats, or blue coats, or black
coats—upon land, upon water, or within doors. Even the
walls of St. Stephen’s chapel frequently echo to the “loud
cheerings” of some kind or other. See every newspaper on
every important debate.

[95] Recherches, &c., sur l’Origine de
l’Imprimerie: Introd. p. x. Lambinet adds very justly,
“L’art consiste à les rendre supportables par des objets
variés de littérature, de critique, d’anecdotes,” &c.

[96] See the “Discours sur la Science
Bibliographique,” &c., in the eighth volume of De Bure’s
Bibl. Instruct. and Peignot’s Dictionnaire Raisonné de
Biblilolgie, vol. i. p.
50. The passage, in the former authority, beginning “Sans
cesse”—p. xvj.—would almost warm the benumbed heart of a
thorough-bred mathematician, and induce him to exchange his
Euclid for De Bure!!

[97] Lysander had probably the following passage
more particularly in recollection; which, it must be
confessed, bears sufficiently hard upon fanciful and
ostentatious collectors of books. “[Il y a] deux sortes de
connoissance des livres: l’une qui se renferme presque
uniquement dans les dehors et la forme du livre, pour
apprécier, d’après sa date, d’après la caractère de
l’impression, d’après certaines notes, quelquefois seulement
d’après une erreur typographique, les qualités qui le font
ranger dans la classe des livres rares où curieux, et qui
fixent sa valeur pecuniaire: l’autre genre de connoissance
consiste à savoir quels sont les livres les plus propres à
instruire, ceux où les sujets sont le plus clairement
présentés et le plus profondement discutés; les ouvrages à
l’aide desquels il est possible de saisir l’origine de la
science, de la suivre dans ses développemens, d’atteindre le
point actuel de la perfection. Sans doute il seroit
avantageux que ces deux genres de connoisances fussent
toujours réunis: l’expérience montre qu’ils le sont
rairement; l’expérience montre encore que le premier des
deux genres a été plus cultivé que le second. Nous
possédons, sur l’indication des livres curieux et rares, sur
les antiquités et les bijoux litteraires, si l’on me permet
d’employer cette expression, des instructions meilleures que
nous n’en avons sur les livres propres à instruire
foncièrement des sciences. En recherchant la cause de cette
difference, on la trouvera peut-être dans la passion que des
hommes riches et vains ont montrée pour posséder des livres
sans être en état de les lire. Il a fallu créer pour eux une
sorte de bibliotheque composée d’objets qui, sous la forme
exterieure de livres, ne fussent réellement que des raretés,
des objets de curiosité, qu’on ne lit pas, mais que tantôt
on regarde avec complaisance, tantôt en montre avec
ostentation; et comme après cela c’est presque toujours le
goût des personnes en état de récompenser qui dirige le but
des travailleurs, on ne doit pas être surpris qu’on se soit
plus occupé d’indiquer aux hommes riches dont je parle, des
raretés à acquérir, ou de vanter celles qu’ils avoient
rassemblées, que de faciliter, par des indications utiles,
les travaux des hommes studieux dont on n’attendoit aucune
récompense.” Memoires de l’Institut, vol. i. 664. See also
the similar remarks of Jardé, in the “Précis sur les
Bibliotheques,” prefixed to Fournier’s Dict. portatif de
Bibliographie, edit. 1809.

Something like the same animadversions may be found in a
useful book printed nearly two centuries before: “Non enim
cogitant quales ipsi, sed qualibus induti vestibus sint, et
quanta pompa rerum fortunæque præfulgeant—sunt enim omnino
ridiculi, qui in nuda librorum quantumvis selectissimorum
multitudine gloriantur, et inde doctos sese atque admirandos
esse persuadent.” Draudius: Bibliotheca Classica, ed.
1611. Epist. ad. Lect. Spizelius has also a good passage
upon the subject, in his description of Book-Gluttons
(“Helluones Librorum”): “cum immensa pené librorum sit
multitudo et varietas, fieri non potest, quin eorum opibus
ditescere desiderans (hæres), non assiduam longamque
lectionem adhibeat.” Infelix Literatus, p. 296, edit.
1680, 8vo.

[98] Pope, in his Dunciad, has treated the
conflagration of the two great ancient libraries, with his
usual poetical skill:

“Chi Ho-am-ti, Emperor of China, the same who built the
great wall between China and Tartary, destroyed all the
books and learned men of that empire.”

“The caliph, Omar I. having conquered Egypt, caused his
general to burn the Ptolemean library, on the gates of which
was this inscription: ‘ΨΥΧΗΣ ΙΑΤΡΕΙΟΝ:’
‘The Physic of the Soul.'” Warburton’s note. The last editor
of Pope’s works, (vol. v. 214.) might have referred us to
the very ingenious observations of Gibbon, upon the
probability of this latter event: see his “Decline and Fall
of the Roman Empire,” vol. ix. 440, &c.

[99] “Anglica gens longe fuit negligentior in
consignandis ingeniorum monumentis; nihil enim ab illis
prodiit, quod mereatur nominari, cum tamen sint extentque
pene innumera ingeniossimæ gentis in omnibus doctrinis
scripta, prodeantque quotidie, tam Latina, quam vernacula
lingua, plura,” Morhof: Polyhist. Literar. vol. i. 205,
edit. 1747.

Reimmannus carries his strictures, upon the jealousy of
foreigners at the success of the Germans in bibliography,
with a high hand: “Ringantur Itali, nasum incurvent Galli,
supercilium adducant Hispani, scita cavilla serant Britanni,
frendeant, spument, bacchentur ii omnes, qui præstantiam
Musarum Germanicarum limis oculis aspiciunt,” &c.—”hoc
tamen certum, firmum, ratum, et inconcussum est, Germanos
primos fuisse in Rep. Literaria, qui Indices Librorum
Generales, Speciales et Specialissimos conficere, &c. annisi
sunt.”—A little further, however, he speaks respectfully of
our James, Hyde, and Bernhard. See his ably-written Bibl.
Acroamatica, pp. 1, 6.

[100] “Sive de Amore Librorum.” The first
edition, hitherto so acknowledged, of this entertaining
work, was printed at Spires, by John and Conrad Hist, in
1483, 4to., a book of great rarity—according to Clement,
vol. v. 435; Bauer (Suppl. Bibl. Libr. Rarior, pt. i.
276); Maichelius, p. 127; and Morhof, vol. i. 187. Mons. De
La Serna Santander has assigned the date of 1473 to this
edition: see his Dict. Bibliog. Chois. vol. ii. 257,—but,
above all, consult Clement—to whom Panzer, vol. iii. p. 22,
very properly refers his readers. And yet some of Clement’s
authorities do not exactly bear him out in the
identification of this impression. Mattaire, vol. i. 449,
does not appear to have ever seen a copy of it: but, what is
rather extraordinary, Count Macarty has a copy of a Cologne
edition in 4to., of the date of 1473. No other edition of it
is known to have been printed till the year 1500; when two
impressions of this date were published at Paris, in 4to.:
the one by Philip for Petit, of which both Clement and
Fabricius (Bibl. Med. et Inf. Ætat. vol. i. 842, &c.) were
ignorant; but of which, a copy, according to Panzer, vol.
ii. 336, should seem to be in the public library at
Gottingen; the other, by Badius Ascensius, is somewhat more
commonly known. A century elapsed before this work was
deemed deserving of republication; when the country that had
given birth to, and the university that had directed the
studies of, its illustrious author, put forth an inelegant
reprint of it in 4to. 1599—from which some excerpts will be
found in the ensuing pages—but in the meantime the reader
may consult the title-page account of Herbert, vol. iii. p.
1408. Of none of these latter editions were the sharp eyes
of Clement ever blessed with a sight of a copy! See his
Bibl. Curcuse, &c. vol. v. 438.

The 17th century made some atonement for the negligence of
the past, in regard to Richard De Bury. At Frankfort his
Philobiblion was reprinted, with “a Century of
Philological Letters,” collected by Goldastus, in 1610,
8vo—and this same work appeared again, at Leipsic, in 1674,
8vo. At length the famous Schmidt put forth an edition, with
some new pieces, “typis et sumtibus Georgii Wolffgangii
Hammii, Acad. Typog. 1703,” 4to. Of this latter edition,
neither Maichelius nor the last editor of Morhof take
notice. It may be worth while adding that the subscription
in red ink, which Fabricius (ibid.) notices as being
subjoined to a vellum MS. of this work, in his own
possession—and which states that it was finished at
Auckland, in the year 1343, in the 58th of its author, and
at the close of the 11th year of his episcopacy—may be
found, in substance, in Hearne’s edition of Leland’s
Collectanea, vol. ii. 385, edit. 1774.

[101] His Bibliotheca, or Catalogus Universalis,
&c., was first printed in a handsome folio volume at
Zurich, 1545. Lycosthyne put forth a wretched abridgement of
this work, which was printed by the learned Oporinus, in
4to., 1551. Robert Constantine, the lexicographer, also
abridged and published it in 1555, Paris, 8vo.; and William
Canter is said by Labbe to have written notes upon Simler’s
edition, which Baillet took for granted to be in existence,
and laments not to have seen them; but he is properly
corrected by De La Monnoye, who reminds us that it was a
mere report, which Labbe gave as he found it. I never saw
Simler’s own editions of his excellent abridgement and
enlargement of it in 1555 and 1574; but Frisius published
it, with great improvements, in 1583, fol., adding many
articles, and abridging and omitting many others. Although
this latter edition be called the edit. opt. it will be
evident that the editio originalis is yet a desideratum in
every bibliographical collection. Nor indeed does Frisius’s
edition take away the necessity of consulting a supplement
to Gesner, which appeared at the end of the Bibliothéque
Françoise of Du Verdier, 1584. It may be worth stating that
Hallevordius’s Bibliotheca Curiòsa, 1656, 1687, 4to., is
little better than a supplement to the preceding work.

The Pandects of Gesner, 1548, fol. are also well worth the
bibliographer’s notice. Each of the 20 books, of which the
volume is composed, is preceded by an interesting dedicatory
epistle to some eminent printer of day. Consult Baillet’s
Jugemens des Savans, vol. ii. p. 11. Bibl. Creven. vol.
v. p. 278; upon this latter work more particularly; and
Morhof’s Polyhistor. Literar. vol. i. 197, and Vogt’s
Catalog. Libr. Rarior., p. 164: upon the former. Although
the Dictionnaire Historique, published at Caen, in 1789,
notices the botanical and lexicographical works of Gesner,
it has omitted to mention these Pandects: which however, are
uncommon.

[102] The first edition of this work, under the
title of “Illustrium maioris Britanniæ Scriptorum, hoc est,
Anglæ, Cambriæ, ac Scotiæ summarium, in quasnam centurias
divisum, &c.,” was printed at Ipswich, in 1548, 4to.,
containing three supposed portraits of Bale, and a spurious
one of Wicliffe. Of the half length portrait of Bale, upon a
single leaf, as noticed by Herbert, vol. iii. 1457, I have
doubts about its appearance in all the copies. The above
work was again published at Basil, by Opornius, in 1559,
fol., greatly enlarged and corrected, with a magnificent
half length portrait of Bale, from which the one in a
subsequent part of this work was either copied on a reduced
scale, or of which it was the prototype. His majesty has
perhaps the finest copy of this last edition of Bale’s
Scriptores Britanniæ, in existence.

[103] “Les Savans n’ont nullemont été satisfaits des
règles prescrites par Florian Treffer (Trefler) le premièr
dont on connoisse un écrit sur ce sujet [de la disposition
des livres dans une bibliothèque]. Sa méthode de classer les
livres fut imprimée à Augsbourg en 1560.” Camus: Memoires
de l’Institut. vol. i. 646. The title is “Methodus
Ordinandi Bibliothecam,” Augustæ, 1560. The extreme rarity
of this book does not appear to have arisen from its
utility—if the authority quoted by Vogt, p. 857, edit.
1793, may be credited. Bauer repeats Vogt’s account; and
Teisser, Morhof, and Baillet, overlook the work.

[104] It would appear, from Morhof, that Neander
meditated the publication of a work similar to the
Pandects of Gesner; which would, in all probability, have
greatly excelled it. The “Erotemata Græcæ Linguæ” was
published at Basil in 1565, 8vo. Consult Polyhist. Liter.
vol. i. 199: Jugemens des Savans, vol. iii. art. 887, but
more particularly Niceron’s Memoires des Hommes Illustres,
vol. xxx. In regard to Neander, Vogt has given the title at
length (a sufficiently tempting one!) calling the work “very
rare,” and the preface of Neander (which is twice the length
of the work) “curious and erudite.” See his Catalog.
Libror. Rarior., p. 614, edit. 1793.

[105] La Croix Du Maine’s book appeared toward the
end of the year 1584; and that of his coadjutor, Anthony
Verdier, in the beginning of the subsequent year. They are
both in folio, and are usually bound in one volume. Of these
works, the first is the rarest and best executed; but the
very excellent edition of both of them, by De La Monnoye and
Juvigny, in six volumes, 4to., 1772, which has realized the
patriotic wishes of Baillet, leaves nothing to be desired in
the old editions—and these are accordingly dropping fast
into annihilation. It would appear from an advertisement of
De Bure, subjoined to his catalogue of Count Macarty’s
books, 1779, 8vo., that there were then remaining only
eleven copies of this new edition upon large paper, which
were sold for one hundred and twenty livres. Claude Verdier,
son of Antony, who published a supplement to Gesner’s
Bibliotheca, and a “Censio auctorum omnium veterum et
recentiorum,” affected to censure his father’s work, and
declared that nothing but parental respect could have
induced him to consent to its publication—but consult the
Jugemens des Savans, vol. ii. 87-8, upon Claude’s filial
affection; and Morhof’s Polyhist. Literar., vol. i., 176,
concerning the “Censio,” &c.—”misere,” exclaims Morhof,
“ille corvos deludit hiantes: nam ubi censuram suam exercet,
manifestum hominis phrenesin facile deprehendas!” The
ancient editions are well described in Bibl. Creven., vol.
v., 277-8, edit. 1776—but more particularly by De Bure,
nos. 6020-1. A copy of the ancient edition was sold at
West’s sale for 2l. 15s. See Bibl. West., No. 934.

[106] John Baptist Cardona, a learned and
industrious writer, and bishop of Tortosa, published a
quarto volume at Tarracona, in 1537, 4to.—comprehending the
following four pieces: 1. De regia Sancti Lamentii
Bibliotheca: 2. De Bibliothecis (Ex Fulvio Ursino,) et
De Bibliotheca Vaticana (ex Omphrii Schedis): 3. De
Expurgandis hæreticorum propriis nominibus: 4. De
Dipthycis. Of these, the first, in which he treats of
collecting all manner of useful books, and having able
librarians, and in which he strongly exhorts Philip II. to
put the Escurial library into good order, is the most
valuable to the bibliographer. Vogt, p. 224, gives us two
authorities to shew the rarity of this book; and Baillet
refers us to the Bibliotheca Hispana of Antonio.

[107] Mutius Panza’s work, under the title of
Ragionamenti della Libraria Vaticana, Rome, 1590, 4to.,
and Angelus Roccha’s, that of Bibliotheca Apostolica
Vaticana, Rome, 1591, 4to., relate rather to the ornaments
of architecture and painting, than to a useful and critical
analysis, or a numbered catalogue, of the books within the
Vatican library. The authors of both are accused by Morhof
of introducing quite extraneous and uninteresting matter.
Roccha’s book, however, is worth possessing, as it is
frequently quoted by bibliographers. How far it may be
“Liber valde quidem rarus,” as Vogt intimates, I will not
pretend to determine. It has a plate of the Vatican Library,
and another of St. Peter’s Cathedral. The reader may
consult, also, the Jugemens des Savans, vol. ii., p. 141.
My copy of this work, purchased at the sale of Dr. Heath’s
books, has a few pasted printed slips in the margins—some
of them sufficiently curious.

[108] Consult Renouard’s L’Imprimerie des Alde,
vol. ii., 122, &c. One of the grandest works which ever
issued from the Vatican press, under the superintendence of
Aldus, was the vulgate bible of Pope Sixtus V., 1590, fol.,
the copies of which, upon large paper, are sufficiently well
known and coveted. A very pleasing and satisfactory account
of this publication will be found in the Horæ Biblicæ of
Mr. Charles Butler, a gentleman who has long and justly
maintained the rare character of a profound lawyer, an
elegant scholar, and a well-versed antiquary and
philologist.

[109] Lipsius published his Syntagma de
Bibliothecis, at Antwerp, in 1603, 4to., “in quo de ritibus
variis et antiquitatibus circa rem bibliothecariam agitur.”
An improved edition of it, by Maderus, was printed at
Helmstadt, in 1666, 4to., with other curious bibliographical
opuscula. A third edition of it was put forth by Schmid, at
the same place, in 1702, 4to. Consult Morhof. Poly. Lit.,
vol. i., 188.

[110] “Scripsit et Erycius Puteanus librum De Usu
Bibliothecæ et quidem speciatim Bibliothecæ Ambrosianæ
Mediol., in 8vo., 1606, editum, aliumque, cui titulus
Auspicia Bibliothecæ Lovaniensis, an. 1639, in 4to.”
Morhof. “It is true,” says Baillet, “that this Puteanus
passed for a gossipping sort of writer, and for a great
maker of little books, but he was, notwithstanding, a very
clever fellow.” Jugemens des Savans, vol. ii., 150. In the
Bibl. Crev., vol. v., 311, will be found one of his
letters, never before published. He died in 1646. Possevinus
published a Bibliotheca selecta and Apparatus sacer—of
the former of which, the Cologne edition of 1607, folio, and
of the latter, that of 1608, are esteemed the most complete.
The first work is considered by Morhof as less valuable than
the second. The “Apparatus” he designates as a book of
rather extraordinary merit and utility. Of the author of
both these treatises, some have extolled his talents to the
skies, others have depreciated them in proportion. His
literary character, however, upon the whole, places him in
the first class of bibliographers. Consult the Polyhist.
Literar., vol. i., 175. He was one of the earliest
bibliographers who attacked the depraved taste of the
Italian printers in adopting licentious capital-initial
letters. Catherinot, in his Art d’imprimer, p. 3, makes
the same complaint: so Baillet informs us, vol. i., pt. i.,
p. 13, edit. 1725: vol. iii., pt. 1, p. 78. Schottus’s work,
de Bibl. claris Hispaniæ viris, France, 1608, 4to., is
forgotten in the splendour of Antonio’s similar production;
but it had great merit in its day. Jugemens des Savans,
vol. ii., pt. 1, 132, edit. 1725.

[111] Bolduanus published a Theological (Jenæ,
1614) and Philosophico Philological (Jenæ, 1616), as well
as an Historical (Lipsiæ, 1620), library; but the latter
work has the pre-eminence. Yet the author lived at too great
a distance, wanting the requisite materials, and took his
account chiefly from the Frankfort catalogues—some of which
were sufficiently erroneous. Polyhist. Literar. vol. i.,
199. See also the very excellent historical catalogue,
comprehending the 1st chap. of Meusel’s new edition of
Struvius’s Bibl. Histor., vol. i., p. 26. Draudius’s work
is more distinguished for its arrangement than for its
execution in detail. It was very useful, however, at the
period when it was published. My edition is of the date of
1611, 4to.: but a second appeared at Frankfort, in 1625,
4to.

[112] The reader will find a good account of some
of the scarcer works of Du Chesne in Vogt’s Catalog.
Libror. Rarior., p. 248, &c., and of the life and literary
labours of this illustrious man in the 7th volume of
Niceron’s Memoires des Hommes Illustres.

[113] See the note at p. 29, ante. “It is a pity,”
says Morhof, “that the Dutch had such little curiosity
about the literary history of their country—but the
English were yet more negligent and incurious.”—And yet,
Germany, France, and Italy, had already abounded with
treasures of this kind!!

[114] Senebier, who put forth a very useful and
elegantly printed catalogue of the MSS. in the public
library of Geneva, 1779, 8vo., has the following
observations upon this subject—which I introduce with a
necessary proviso, or caution, that now-a-days his
reproaches cannot affect us. We are making ample amends for
past negligence; for, to notice no others, the labours of
those gentlemen who preside over the British Museum
abundantly prove our present industry. Thus speaks Senebier:
‘Ill sembleroit d’abord étonnant qu’on ait tant tradé à
composer le Catalogue des Manuscripts de la Bibliothéque de
Genéve; mais on peut faire plus raisonnablement ce reproche
aux Bibliothécaires bien payés et uniquement occupés de leur
vocation, qui sont les dépositaires de tant de collections
précieuses qu’on voit en Italie, en France, en Allemagne, et
en Angleterre; ils le mériteront d’autant mieux, qu’ils
privent le public des piéces plus précieuses, et qu’ils ont
plusieurs aids intelligens qui peuvent les dispenser de la
partie le plus méchanique et la plus ennuyeuse de ce
travail,’ &c.

[115] This mode of exclamation or expression, like
that of cheering (vide p. 20, ante) is also peculiar to
our own country; and it is uttered by both friend and foe.
Thus, in the senate, when a speaker upon one side of the
question happens to put an argument in a strong point of
view, those of the same party or mode of thinking
exclaim—hear him, hear him! And if he should happen to
state any thing that may favour the views, or the mode of
thinking, of his opponents, these latter also take advantage
of his eloquence, and exclaim, hear him, hear him! Happy
the man whom friend and foe alike delight to hear!

[116] Pitseus’s work “De Rebus Anglicis,” Paris,
1619, 4to., vol. i., was written in opposition to Bale’s
(vid. p. 31, ante). The author was a learned Roman Catholic;
but did not live to publish the second volume. I was glad to
give Mr. Ford, of Manchester, 1l. 16s. for a stained and
badly bound copy of it.

[117] “Gabriele Naudæo nemo vixit suo tempore
ἐμπειρίας Bibliothecariæ peritior:” Polyhist.
Liter., vol. i., 187. “Naudæi scripta omnia et singula
præstantissima sunt,” Vogt, p. 611. “Les ouvrages de Naudé
firent oublier ce qui les avoient précédé.” Camus, Mem. de
l’Institut., vol. i., 646. After these eulogies, who will
refuse this author’s “Avis pour dresser une Bibliothéque,
Paris, 1627, 1644, 8vo.” a place upon his shelf? Unluckily,
it rarely comes across the search of the keenest collector.
The other, yet scarcer, productions of Naudé will be found
well described in Vogt’s Catalog. Libror. Rarior., p. 610.
The reader of ancient politics may rejoice in the possession
of what is called, the “Mascurat“—and “Considerations
politiques“—concerning which Vogt is gloriously diffuse;
and Peignot (who has copied from him, without
acknowledgement—Bibliogr. Curieuse, pp. 49, 50,) may as
well be consulted. But the bibliographer will prefer the
“Additions à l’Histoire de Louis XI.,” 1630, 8vo., and
agree with Mailchelius that a work so uncommon and so
curious “ought to be reprinted.” See the latter’s amusing
little book “De Præcipuis Bibliothecis Parisiensibus,” pp.
66, 67, &c. Naudæus was librarian to the famous Cardinal
Mazarin, the great Mæcenas of his day; whose library,
consisting of upwards of forty thousand volumes, was the
most beautiful and extensive one which France had then ever
seen. Its enthusiastic librarian, whom I must be allowed to
call a very wonderful bibliomaniac, made constant journeys,
and entered into a perpetual correspondence, relating to
books and literary curiosities. He died at Abbeville in
1653, in his 53rd year, on returning from Sweden, where the
famous Christian had invited him. Naudæus’s “Avis, &c.“,
[ut supr.] was translated by Chaline; but his “Avis à
Nosseigneurs du Parlement, &c.” 1652, 4to.—upon the sale
of the Cardinal’s library—and his “Remise de la
Bihliothéque [Du
Cardinal] entre le mains de M. Tubeuf, 1651,” are much
scarcer productions. A few of these particulars are gathered
from Peignot’s Dict. de la Bibliolologie,
vol. ii., p. 1—consult also his Dict.
Portatif de Bibliographie, p. v. In the former work I
expected a copious piece of biography; yet, short as it is,
Peignot has subjoined a curious note from Naudé’s
“Considerations politiques“—in which the author had the
hardihood to defend the massacre upon St. Bartholomew’s day,
by one of the strangest modes of reasoning ever adopted by a
rational being.

[118] This work, in four books, was published at
Lyons, 1635, 4to. If it be not quite “Much ado about
nothing”—it exhibits, at least, a great waste of ink and
paper. Morhof seems to seize with avidity Baillet’s lively
sentence of condemnation—”Il y a trop de babil et trop de
ce que nous appellons fatras,” &c.

[119] Le Pere Louys Jacob published his “Traicté
des plus belles Bibliothéques publiques et particulières,
qui ont esté, et qui sont à présents dans le monde,” at
Paris, in 1644—again in 1655, 8vo.—in which he first
brought together the scattered notices relating to
libraries, especially to modern ones. His work is well worth
consultation; although Baillet and Morhof do not speak in
direct terms of praise concerning it—and the latter seems a
little angry at his giving the preference to the Parisian
libraries over those of other countries. It must be
remembered that this was published as an unfinished
production: as such, the author’s curiosity and research are
highly to be commended. I have read the greater part of it
with considerable satisfaction. The same person meditated
the execution of a vast work in four folio volumes—called
“La Bibliothéque universelle de tous les Autheurs de
France, qui ont escrits en quelque sorte de sciences et de
langues“—which, in fact, was completed in 1638: but, on
the death of the author it does not appear what became of
it. Jacob also gave an account of books as they were
published at Paris, and in other parts of France, from the
year 1643 to 1650; which was printed under the title of
Bibliographia Parisina, Paris, 1651, 4to. Consult
Polyhist. Liter., vol. i., pp. 189, 202: Bibl. Creven.,
vol. v., pp. 281, 287. Jugemens des Savans, vol. ii., p.
151.

[120] He published a work entitled “De
scriptoribus non-ecclesiasticis,” 1648, vol. i., 1649, vol.
ii., folio: in which his opinions upon authors are given in
the most jejune and rash manner. His other works, which
would form a little library, are reviewed by Leti with
sufficient severity: but the poor man was crack brained! And
yet some curious and uncommon things, gleaned from MSS.
which had probably never been unrolled or opened since their
execution, are to be found in this “Sciolum Florentinum,” as
Labbe calls him. Consult the Polyhist. Literar., vol. i.,
p. 175.

[121] Magliabechi put Cinelli upon publishing his
Bibliotheca Volante, 1677, 8vo., a pretty work, with a happy
title!—being an indiscriminate account of some rare books
which the author picked up in his travels, or saw in
libraries. It was republished, with valuable additions, by
Sancassani, at Venice, in 1734, 4to. See Cat. de Lomenie,
No. 2563. Works of this sort form the Ana of
bibliography! Conringius compiled a charming bibliographical
work, in an epistolary form, under the title of Bibliotheca
Augusta; which was published at Helmstadt, in 1661,
4to.—being an account of the library of the Duke of
Brunswick, in the castle of Wolfenbuttle. Two thousand
manuscripts, and one hundred and sixteen thousand printed
volumes, were then contained in this celebrated collection.
Happy the owner of such treasures—happy the man who
describes them! Lomeier’s, or Lomejer’s “De Bibliothecis
Liber singularis,” Ultraj, 1669-1680, 8vo., is considered
by Baillet among the best works upon the subject of ancient
and modern libraries. From this book, Le Sieur Le Gallois
stole the most valuable part of his materials for his
“Traité des plus belles Bibliothéques de l’Europe,” 1685,
1697—12mo.: the title at full length (a sufficiently
imposing one!) may be seen in Bibé. Crevenn., vol. v., p.
281; upon this latter treatise, Morhof cuttingly
remarks—”Magnos ille titulus strepitus facit: sed pro
thesauris carbones.” Polyhist. Literar., vol. i., p. 191.
See also “Jugemens des Savans,” vol. ii., p. 152. Gallois
dispatches the English libraries in little more than a page.
I possess the second edition of Lomeier’s book (1680—with
both its title pages), which is the last and best—and an
interesting little volume it is! The celebrated Grævius used
to speak very favourably of this work.

[122] “Vir, qui in texendis catalogis totam pene
vitam consumpsit.” “Homo ad Lexica et Catalogos conficiendos
a naturâ factus.” Such is Morhof’s account of Labbe; who, in
the works above-mentioned, in the text, has obtained an
unperishable reputation as a bibliographer. The Bibliotheca
Bibliothecarum, thick duodecimo, or crown octavo, has run
through several impressions; of which the Leipsic edit. of
1682, is as good as any; but Teisser, in his work under the
same title, 1686, 4to., has greatly excelled Labbe’s
production, as well by his corrections of errata as by his
additions of some hundreds of authors. The Bibliotheca
Nummaria is another of Labbe’s well-known performances: in
the first part of which he gives an account of those who
have written concerning medals—in the second part, of those
who have publishe separate
accounts of coins, weights, and measures. This is usually
appended to the preceding work, and is so published by
Teisser. The Mantissa Suppellectilis was an unfinished
production; and the Specimen novæ Bibliothecæ
Manuscriptorum Librorum, Paris, 1653, 4to., is too
imperfectly executed for the exercise of rigid criticism;
although Baillet calls it ‘useful and curious.’ Consult the
Polyhist. Literar., vol. i., 197, 203: and Jugemens des
Savans, vol. ii., pt. 1, p. 24, edit. 1725. A list of
Labbe’s works, finished, unfinished, and projected, was
published at Paris, in 1656 and 1662. He was joint editor
with Cossart of that tremendously voluminous work—the
“Collectio Maxima Conciliorum”—1672, 18 volumes, folio.

[123] Lambecius died at, one may almost say, the
premature age of 52: and the above work (in eight folio
volumes), which was left unfinished in consequence, (being
published between the years 1665-79 inclusive) gives us a
magnificent idea of what its author would have accomplished
[see particularly Reimanni Bibl. Acroamatica, p. 51] had
it pleased Providence to prolong so valuable an existence.
It was originally sold for 24 imperiali; but at the
commencement of the 18th century for not less than 80
thaleri, and a copy of it was scarcely ever to be met
with. Two reasons have been assigned for its great rarity,
and especially for that of the 8th volume; the one, that
Lambecius’s heir, impatient at the slow sale of the work,
sold many copies of it to the keepers of herb-stalls: the
other, that, when the author was lying on his death-bed, his
servant maid, at the suggestion and from the stinginess of
the same heir, burnt many copies of this eighth volume
[which had recently left the press] to light the fire in the
chamber. This intelligence I glean from Vogt, p. 495: it had
escaped Baillet and Morhof. But consult De Bure, vol. vi.,
Nos. 6004-5. Reimannus published a Bibliotheca
Acroamatica, Hanov., 1712, 8vo., which is both an
entertaining volume and a useful compendium of Lambecius’s
immense work. But in the years 1766-82, Kollarius published
a new and improved edition of the entire commentaries, in
six folio volumes; embodying in this gigantic undertaking
the remarks which were scattered in his “Analecta
Monumentorum omnis ævi Vindobonensia,” in two folio
volumes, 1761. A posthumous work of Kollarius, as a
supplement to his new edition of Lambecius’s Commentaries,
was published in one folio volume, 1790. A complete set of
these volumes of Kollarius’s bibliographical labours,
relating to the Vienna library, was in Serna Santander’s
catalogue, vol. iv., no. 6291, as well as in Krohn’s: in
which latter [nos. 3554, 3562] there are some useful
notices. See my account of M. Denis: post. Critics have
accused these “Commentaries concerning the MSS. in the
imperial library at Vienna,” as containing a great deal of
rambling and desultory matter; but the vast erudition,
minute research, and unabateable diligence of its author,
will for ever secure to him the voice of public praise, as
loud and as hearty as he has received it from his abridger
Reimannus. In these volumes appeared the first account of
the Psalter, printed at Mentz in 1457, which was mistaken by
Lambecius for a MS. The reader will forgive my referring him
to a little essay upon this and the subsequent Psalters,
printed at Mentz, in 1459, 1490, &c., which was published by
me in the 2nd volume of the Athenæum, p. 360, 490.

[124] Morhof considers the labours of Antonio as
models of composition in their way. His grand work began to
be published in 1672, 2 vols., folio—being the Bibliotheca
Hispana Nova: this was succeeded, in 1696, by the
Bibliotheca Hispana Antiqua—in two folio volumes: the
prefaces and indexes contain every thing to satisfy the
hearts of Spanish Literati. A new edition of the first work
was published at Madrid, in 1783, 2 vols., folio; and of the
latter work, in 1788, 2 vols., folio.—These recent editions
are very rarely to be met with in our own country: abroad,
they seem to have materially lowered the prices of the
ancient ones, which had become excessively scarce. See
Polyhist Literar., vol. i., 203-4: Dictionn. Bibliogr.,
vol. iv., p. 22: and Mem. de l’Inst., vol. i., 651. Let us
here not forget the learned Michael Casiri’s Bibliotheca
Arabico-Hispana Escorialensis, published in two superb
folio volumes at Madrid in 1760. All these useful and
splendid works place the Spaniards upon a high footing with
their fellow-labourers in the same respectable career. De La
Serna Santander tells us that Casiri’s work is dear, and
highly respected by the Literati. See Cap. de Santander,
vol iv., no. 6296.

[125] The Bibliotheca Realis, &c., of Lipenius
contains an account of works published in the departments of
Jurisprudence, Medicine, Philosophy, and Theology:
of these, the Bibliotheca Theologica, et Philosophica,
are considered by Morhof as the best executed. The Bibl.
Juridica was, however, republished at Leipsic in two folio
volumes, 1757, with considerable additions. This latter is
the last Leipsic reprint of it. Saxius notices only the
re-impressions of 1720, 1736, 1742. See his Onomast. Lit.,
vol. v., 588. I will just notice the Bibliotheca Vetus et
Recens of Koenigius, 1678, folio—as chart-makers notice
shoals—to be avoided. I had long thrown it out of my own
collection before I read its condemnation by Morhof. Perhaps
the following account of certain works, which appear to have
escaped the recollection of Lysander, may not be
unacceptable. In the year 1653, Father Raynaud, whose
lucubrations fill 20 folio volumes, published a quarto
volume at Lyons, under the title of “Erotemata de malis ac
bonis Libris, deque justa aut injusta eorum conditione;”
which he borowed in part from
the “Theotimus, seu de tollendis et expurgandis malis
libris,” (Paris, 1549, 8vo.) of Gabriel Puhtherb. Of these
two works, if were difficult to
determine which is preferable. The bibliographer need not
deeply lament the want of either: consult the Polyhist.
Literar., vol. i., 177. In the year 1670, Vogler published
a very sensible “Universalis in notitiam cujusque generis
bonorum Scriptorum Introductio“—of this work two
subsequent editions, one in 1691, the other in 1700, 4to.,
were published at Helmstadt. The last is the best; but the
second, to him who has neither, is also worth purchasing.
The seven dissertations “De Libris legendis” of Bartholin,
Hafniæ, 1676, 8vo., are deserving of a good coat and a front
row in the bibliographer’s cabinet. “Parvæ quidem molis
liberest, sed in quo quasi constipata sunt utilissima de
libris monita et notitiæ ad multas disciplinas utiles.” So
speaks Morhof.

[126] Adrien Baillet was the eldest of seven
children born in a second marriage. His parents were in
moderate circumstances: but Adrien very shortly displaying a
love of study and of book-collecting, no means, compatible
with their situation, were left untried by his parents to
gratify the wishes of so promising a child. From his
earliest youth, he had a strong predilection for the church;
and as a classical and appropriate education was then easily
to be procured in France, he went from school to college,
and at seventeen years of age had amassed, in two fair sized
volumes, a quantity of extracts from clever works; which,
perhaps having Beza’s example in his mind, he entitled
Juvenilia. His masters saw and applauded his diligence;
and a rest of only five hours each night, during two years
and a half of this youthful period, afforded Baillet such
opportunities of acquiring knowledge as rarely fall to the
lot of a young man. This habit of short repose had not
forsaken him in his riper years: “he considered and treated
his body as an insolent enemy, which required constant
subjection; he would not suffer it to rest more than five
hours each night; he recruited it with only one meal a
day—drank no wine—never came near the fire—and walked out
but once a week.” The consequence of this absurd regime was
that Baillet had ulcers in his legs, an erysipelatous
affection over his body, and was, in other respects,
afflicted as sedentary men usually are, who are glued to
their seats from morn till night, never mix in society, and
rarely breathe the pure air of heaven. These maladies
shortened the days of Baillet; after he had faithfully
served the Lamoignons as a librarian of unparalleled
diligence and sagacity; leaving behind him a “Catalogue des
Matieres,” in 35 volumes folio. “All the curious used to
come and see this catalogue: many bishops and magistrates
requested to have either copies or abridgments of it.” When
Baillet was dragged, by his friend M. Hermant, from his
obscure vicarage of Lardiéres, to be Lamoignon’s librarian,
he seems to have been beside himself for joy.—”I want a man
of such and such qualities,” said Lamoignon.—”I will bring
one exactly to suit you,” replied Hermant—”but you must put
up with a diseased and repulsive exterior.”—”Nous avons
besoin de fond,” said the sensible patron, “la forme ne
m’embarasse point; l’air de ce pays, et un grain de sel
discret, fera le reste: il en trouvera ici.” Baillet came,
and his biographer tells us that Lamoignon and Hermant
“furent ravis de le voir.” To the eternal honour of the
family in which he resided, the crazy body and nervous mind
of Baillet met with the tenderest treatment. Madame
Lamoignon and her son (the latter, a thorough bred
bibliomaniac; who, under the auspices of his master, soon
eclipsed the book celebrity of his father) always took a
pleasure in anticipating his wishes, soothing his
irritabilities, promoting his views, and speaking loudly and
constantly of the virtues of his head and heart. The last
moments of Baillet were marked with true Christian piety and
fortitude; and his last breath breathed a blessing upon his
benefactors. He died A.D. 1706, ætatis 56. Rest his ashes in
peace!—and come we now to his bibliographical publications.
His “Jugemens des Savans,” was first published in 1685,
&c., in nine duodecimo volumes. Two other similar volumes of
Anti Baillet succeeded it. The success and profits of this
work were very considerable. In the year 1722, a new edition
of it in seven volumes, quarto, was undertaken and completed
by De La Monnoye, with notes by the editor, and additions of
the original author. The “Anti Baillet” formed the 8th
volume. In the year 1725, De La Monnoye’s edition, with his
notes placed under the text—the corrections and additions
incorporated—and two volumes of fresh matter, including the
Anti Baillet—was republished at Amsterdam, in eight
duodecimo volumes, forming 16 parts, and being, in every
respect, the best edition of the Jugemens des Savans. The
curious, however, should obtain the portrait of Baillet
prefixed to the edition of 1722; as the copy of it in the
latter edition is a most wretched performance. These
particulars, perhaps a little too long and tedious, are
gleaned from the “Abregé” de la Vie de Baillet, printed in
the two last editions of the work just described.

[127] It will not be necessary to notice all the
multifarious productions, in MS. and in print, of this
indefatigable bibliographer; who had cut out work enough for
the lives of ten men, each succeeding the other, and well
employed from morn ’till even, to execute. This is
Marchand’s round criticism: Dict. Hist. vol. i., p. 100.
Beughem’s Incunabula Typographica, 1688, 12mo., is both
jejune and grossly erroneous. The “Bibliographia Eruditorum
Critico-Curiosa,” 1689, 1701, 4 vols., 12mo., being an
alphabetical account of writers—extracts from whom are in
the public literary Journals of Europe from 1665 to
1700—with the title of their works—is Beughem’s best
production, and if each volume had not had a separate
alphabet, and contained additions upon additions, the work
would have proved highly useful. His “Gallia Euridita,”
Amst., 1683, 12mo., is miserably perplexing. In addition to
Marchand, consult the Polyhist. Literar. of Morhof, vol.
i., p. 179; and the note therein subjoined. See also “Bibl.
Creven.,” vol. v., p. 298: Cat. de Santander, vol. iv.,
nos. 6273-4: 6281-2.

[128] Sir Thomas Pope Blount’s “Censura
Celebriorum Authorum,” Londini, 1690, folio, is
unquestionably a learned work—the production of a rural and
retired life—”Umbraticam enim vitam et ab omni strepitu
remotam semper in delitiis habui,”—says its author, in the
preface. It treats chiefly of the most learned men, and
sparingly of the English. His “Remarks upon Poetry,”
Lond., 1694, 4to. (in English) is more frequently read and
referred to. It is a pity that he had not left out the whole
of what relates to the Greek and Latin, and confined himself
entirely to the English, poets. A life of Sir Thomas Pope
Blount will be found in the new edition of the Biographia
Britannica.

[129] The first, and, what Hearne over and over
again calls the genuine edition of the Athenæ Oxoniensis,
was published in two folio volumes, 1691, 1692. That a
third volume was intended by the author himself may be
seen from Hearne’s remarks in his Thom. Caii. Vind. Antiq.
Oxon., vol. i., p. xliii. For the character of the work
consult his Rob. de Avesb., pp. xxvi, xxxiii. After the
lapse of nearly half a century, it was judged expedient to
give a new edition of these valuable biographical memoirs;
and Dr. Tanner, afterwards bishop of St. Asaph, was selected
to be the editor of it. It was well known that Wood had not
only made large corrections to his own printed text, but had
written nearly 500 new lives—his MS. of both being
preserved in the Ashmolean Museum. This new edition,
therefore, had every claim to public notice. When it
appeared, it was soon discovered to be a corrupt and garbled
performance; and that the genuine text of Wood, as well in
his correctness of the old, as in his compositions of the
new, lives, had been most capriciously copied. Dr. Tanner,
to defend himself, declared that Tonson “would never let him
see one sheet as they printed it.” This was sufficiently
infamous for the bookseller; but the editor ought surely to
have abandoned a publication thus faithlessly conducted, or
to have entered his caveat in the preface, when it did
appear, that he would not be answerable for the authenticity
of the materials: neither of which were done. He wrote,
however, an exculpatory letter to Archbishop Wake, which the
reader may see at length in Mr. Beloe’s Anecdotes of
Literature, vol. ii., p. 304. Consult the life of the
author in Mr. Gutch’s valuable reprint of Wood’s “History
and Antiquities of the University of Oxford,” 1792, 4to., 2
vols.: also, Freytag’s Analect. Literar., vol. ii., 1105.
I have great pleasure in closing this note, by observing
that Mr. Philip Bliss, of St. John’s College, Oxford, is
busily engaged in giving us, what we shall all be glad to
hail, a new and faithful edition of Wood’s text of the
Athenæ Oxoniensis, in five or six quarto volumes.

[130] Daniel George Morhof, professor of poetry,
eloquence, and history, was librarian of the University of
Khiel. He published various works, but the above—the best
edition of which is of the date of 1747—is by far the most
learned and useful—”liber non sua laude privandus; cum
primus fere fuerit Morhofius qui hanc amœniorum literarum
partem in meliorum redigerit.” Vogt., pref. ix., edit.
1793. Its leading error is the want of method. His
“Princeps Medicus,” 1665, 4to., is a very singular
dissertation upon the cure of the evil by the royal touch;
in the efficacy of which the author appears to have
believed. His “Epistola de scypho vitreo per sonum humanæ
vocis rupto,” Kiloni, 1703, 4to.—which was occasioned by a
wine merchant of Amsterdam breaking a wine-glass by the
strength of his voice—is said to be full of curious matter.
Morhof died A.D. 1691, in his 53rd year: beloved by all who
knew the excellent and amiable qualities of his head and
heart. He was so laborious that he wrote during his meals.
His motto, chosen by himself,—Pietate, Candore, Prudentia,
should never be lost sight of by bibliomaniacs! His library
was large and select. These particulars are gleaned from the
Dict. Historique, Caen, 1789, vol. vi., p. 350.

[131] A compendious account of Maittaire will be
found in the third edition of my Introduction to the
Knowledge of rare and valuable Editions of the Greek and
Latin Classics, vol. i., p. 148. See too Mr. Beloe’s
Anecdotes of Literature, &c., vol iii., p. ix. The various
volumes of his Annales Typographici are well described in
the Bibl. Crevenn., vol. v. p. 287. To these may be added,
in the bibliographical department, his Historia
Stephanorum, vitas ipsorum ac libros complectens, 1709,
8vo.—and the Historia Typographorum aliquot Parisiensium
vitas et libros complectens, 1717, 8vo.—Of these two
latter works, (which, from a contemporaneous catalogue, I
find were originally published at 4s. the common paper,)
Mr. T. Grenville has beautiful copies upon large paper. The
books are rare in any shape. The principal merit of
Maittaire’s Annales Typographici consists in a great deal
of curious matter detailed in the notes; but the absence of
the “lucidus ordo” renders the perusal of these fatiguing
and unsatisfactory. The author brought a full and
well-informed mind to the task he undertook—but he wanted
taste and precision in the arrangement of his materials. The
eye wanders over a vast indigested mass; and information,
when it is to be acquired with excessive toil, is,
comparatively, seldom acquired. Panzer has adopted an
infinitely better plan, on the model of Orlandi; and if his
materials had been printed with the same beauty with which
they appear to have been composed, and his annals had
descended to as late a period as those of Maittaire, his
work must have made us eventually forget that of his
predecessor. The bibliographer is, no doubt, aware that of
Maittaire’s first volume there are two editions: why the
author did not reprint, in the second edition (1733), the
fac-simile of the epigram and epistle of Lascar prefixed to
the edition of the Anthology, 1496, and the Disquisition
concerning the ancient editions of Quintilian (both of which
were in the first edition of 1719), is absolutely
inexplicable. Maittaire was sharply attacked for this
absurdity, in the “Catalogus Auctorum,” of the “Annus
Tertius Sæcularis Inv. Art. Typog.,” Harlem, 1741, 8vo., p.
11. “Rara certe Librum augendi methodus! (exclaims the
author) Satis patet auctorem hoc eo fecisse concilio, ut et
primæ et secundæ Libri sui editioni pretium suum constaret,
et una æque ac altera Lectoribus necessaria esset.” Copies
of the Typographical Antiquities by Maittaire, upon large
paper, are now exceedingly scarce. The work, in this shape,
has a noble appearance. While Maittaire was publishing his
Typographical Annals, Orlandi put forth a similar work under
the title of “Origine e Progressi della Stampa o sia dell’
Arte Impressoria, e Notizie dell’ Opere stampate dall’ Anno
1462, sino all’ Anno 1500.” Bologna, 1722, 4to. Of this
work, which is rather a compendious account of the several
books published in the period above specified, there are
copies upon strong writing paper—which the curious prefer.
Although I have a long time considered it as superseded by
the labours of Maittaire and Panzer, yet I will not withhold
from the reader the following critique: “Cet ouvrage doit
presque nécessairement être annexé à celui de Maittaire à
cause de plusieurs notices et recherches, qui le rendent
fort curieux et intéressant.” Bibl. Crevenn., vol. v.,
286-7. As we are upon publications treating of Typography,
we may notice the “Annalium Typographicorum selecta quædam
capita,” Hamb., 1740, 4to., of Lackman; and Hirschius’s
supplement to the typographical labours of his
predecessors—in the “Librorum ab Anno I. usque ad Annum L.
Sec. xvi. Typis exscriptorum ex Libraria quadam
supellectile, Norimbergæ collecta et observata, Millenarius
I.” &c. Noriberg, 1746, 4to. About this period was
published a very curious, and now uncommon, octavo volume,
of about 250 pages, by Seiz; called “Annus Tertius
Sæcularis Inventæ Artis Typographicæ,” Harlem, 1741—with
several very interesting cuts relating to Coster, the
supposed inventor of the art of printing. It is a little
strange that Lysander, in the above account of eminent
typographical writers, should omit to mention
Chevillier—whose L’Origine de l’Imprimerie de Paris, &c.,
1694, 4to., is a work of great merit, and is generally found
upon every bibliographer’s shelf. Baillet had supplied him
with a pretty strong outline, in his short account of
Parisian printers. All the copies of Chevillier’s book,
which I have seen, are printed upon what is called Foxey
paper. I believe there are none upon large paper. We may
just notice La Caille’s Histoire de l’Imprimerie et de la
Librarie, 1689, 4to., as a work full of errors. In order
that nothing may be wanting to complete the typographical
collection of the curious, let the “portraits of booksellers
and printers, from ancient times to our own,” published at
Nuremberg, in 1726, folio—and “the Devices and Emblems” of
the same, published at the same place, in 1730, folio, be
procured, if possible. The Latin titles of these two latter
works, both by Scholtzius, will be found in the Bibl.
Crevenn. vol. v. 281. Renouard mentions the last in his
“Annales de l’Imprimerie des Alde,” vol. ii. p. 63.
Meanwhile the Monumenta Typographica of Wolfius, Hamb.,
1740, 2 vols., 8vo., embraces a number of curious and
scattered dissertations upon this interesting and valuable
art. It may be obtained for 8s. or 10s. at present! The
Amœnitatus
Literariæ, &c., of Schelhorn had like to have been passed
over. It was published in 14 small octavo volumes, at
Frankfort and Leipsic, from the year 1725 to 1731 inclusive.
The Amœnitates Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ et Literariæ, of
the same person, and published at the same place in two
octavo volumes, 1738, should accompany the foregoing work.
Both are scarce and sought after in this country. In the
former there are some curious dissertations, with cuts, upon
early printed books. Concerning the most ancient edition of
the Latin Bibles, Schelhorn put forth an express treatise,
which was published at Ulm in 1760, 4to. This latter work is
very desirable to the curious in biblical researches, as one
meets with constant mention of Schelhorn’s bible. Let me not
omit Zapf’s Annales Typographiæ Augustanæ, Aug. Vindel.,
1778; which was republished, with copious additions, at
Augsbourg, in two parts, 1786, 4to.—but unluckily, this
latter is printed in the German language. Upon Spanish
Typography (a very interesting subject), there is a
dissertation by Raymond Diosdado Caballero, entitled “De
Prima Typographiæ Hispanicæ Ætate Specimen,” Rome, 1793,
4to.

[132] From the Latin life of Le Long, prefixed to
his Bibliotheca Sacra, we learn that he was an adept in
most languages, ancient and modern; and that “in that part
of literature connected with Bibliography (Typographorum et
Librorum Historia), he retained every thing so correctly in
his memory that he yielded to few literary men, certainly to
no bookseller.” Of the early years of such a man it is a
pity that we have not a better account. His Bibliotheca
Sacra, Paris, 1725, folio, has been republished by Masch
and Boerner, in four volumes, 4to., 1778, and enriched with
copious and valuable additions. This latter work is quite
unrivalled: no young or old theologian, who takes any
interest in the various editions of the Holy Scriptures, in
almost all languages, can possibly dispense with such a fund
of sacred literature. The Bibliothéque Historique de la
France, 1719, folio, by the same learned and industrious
bibliographer, has met with a fate equally fortunate.
Fontette republished it in 1768, in five folio volumes, and
has immortalized himself and his predecessor by one of the
most useful and splendid productions that ever issued from
the press. De Bure used to sell copies of it upon large
paper, in sheets, for 258 livres: according to the
advertisement subjoined to his catalogue of Count Macarty’s
books in 1779, 8vo. The presses of England, which groan too
much beneath the weight of ephemeral travels and trumpery
novels, are doomed, I fear, long to continue strangers to
such works of national utility.

[133] The chief labours of Fabricius
(“Vir ελληνίχώτατος“—as Reimannus truly calls him), connected
with the present object of our pursuit, have the following
titles: 1. “Bibliotheca Græca, sive Notitia Scriptorum
Græcorum, &c.,” Hamb. 1705-8-14-18, &c., 4to., 14 vols.—of
which a new edition is now published by Harles, with great
additions, and a fresh arrangement of the original matter:
twelve volumes have already been delivered to the public. 2.
Bibliotheca Latina; first published in one volume,
1703—then in three volumes, 1721, and afterwards in two
volumes, 1728, 4to.;—but the last and best edition is that
of 1773, in three vols. 8vo., published by Ernesti at
Leipsic—and yet not free from numerous errors. 3.
Bibliographia Antiquaria, 1716, 4to.: a new edition of
Schaffshausen, in 1760, 4to., has superseded the old one. A
work of this kind in our own language would be very useful,
and even entertaining. Fabricius has executed it in a
masterly manner. 4. Bibliotheca Ecclesiastica, in quâ
continentur variorum authorum tractatus de scriptoribus
ecclesiasticis, Hamb., 1718, folio. An excellent work; in
which the curious after theological tracts and their authors
will always find valuable information. It is generally
sharply contended for at book-auctions. 5. Bibliotheca
Latina Mediæ et Infimæ Ætatis, &c., Leipsic, 1734, 6 vols.
8vo.—again, with Schoettgenius’s supplement, in 1754, 4to.,
6 vols. in 3. This latter is in every respect the best
edition of a work which is absolutely indispensable to the
philologist. A very excellent synopsis or critical account
of Fabricius’s works was published at Ams., 1738, in 4to.,
which the student should procure. Let me here recommend the
Historia Bibliothecæ Fabricianæ, compiled by John
Fabricius, 1717-24, 6 vols. 4to., as a necessary and
interesting supplement to the preceding works of John Albert
Fabricius. I have often gleaned some curious bibliographical
intelligence from its copious pages. The reader may consult
Bibl. Crevenn., vol. v., 272-3.

[134] He is noticed here only as the author of
“Idea Bibliothecæ Publicæ secundum classes scientiarum
ordinandæ, fusior et contractior,” and of the “Scriptores
Rerum Brunswicarum,” Hanov., 1707, fol., 3 vols. “The
antiquarian, who blushes at his alliance with Thomas Hearne,
will feel his profession ennobled by the name of Leibnitz.
That extraordinary genius embraced and improved the whole
circle of human science; and, after wrestling with Newton
and Clark in the sublime regions of geometry and
metaphysics, he could descend upon earth to examine the
uncouth characters and barbarous Latin of a chronicle or
charter.” Gibbon: Post. Works, vol. ii., 712. Consult also
Mem. de l’Inst., vol. v., 648.

[135] I will not pretend to enumerate all the
learned works of Burchard Gotthlieb Struvius. His
“Bibliotheca Librorum Rariorum” was published in 1719,
4to. The first edition of the Bibliotheca Historica
appeared as early as 1705: a very valuable one was published
by Buder, in 1740, 2 vols.: but the last, and by far the
most copious and valuable, is that which exhibits the joint
editorial labours of Buder and Meusel, in eleven octavo
volumes, 1782, 1802—though I believe it does not contain
every thing which may be found in the edition of the Bibl.
Hist. Selecta, by Jugler, 1754, three vols. 8vo.: vide pp.
iv. and vii. of the preface of Meusel’s edition. The Bibl.
Hist. Select., by Jugler, was formerly published under the
title of Introd. in notitiam rei literariæ et usum
Bibliothecæ. Jugler’s edition of it contains a stiff
portrait of himself in a finely embroidered satin waistcoat.
The first volume, relating to foreign libraries, is very
interesting: but, unluckily, the work is rare. Of Struvius’s
Bibl. Saxonica, 1736, 8vo., I never saw a copy.