Chapter XII: Part III: =The Auction Room.= (1)

CHARACTER OF ORLANDO.

OF ANCIENT PRICES OF BOOKS, AND BOOK-BINDING.

BOOK-AUCTION BIBLIOMANIACS.

"As to the late method used in selling books by AUCTION in
London, I suppose that many have paid dear for their
experience in this way--it being apparent that most books
bought in an auction may be had cheaper in booksellers'
shops."

CLAVEL: _Cat. of Books for 1680, Pref._

=The Auction Room.=

CHARACTER OF ORLANDO. OF ANCIENT PRICES OF BOOKS, AND BOOK-BINDING. BOOK AUCTION BIBLIOMANIACS.

Never, surely, did two mortals set off upon any expedition with greater glee and alacrity than did Lisardo and Philemon for the sale, by auction, of GONZALVO'S bibliographical library. The great pains which Lysander had taken in enumerating the various foreign and domestic writers upon Bibliography, with his occasionally animated eulogies upon some favourite author had quite inflamed the sanguine mind of Lisardo; who had already, in anticipation, fancied himself in possession of every book which he had heard described. Like Homer's high-bred courser, who

--ere he starts, a thousand steps are lost--

our young bibliomaniac began to count up his volumes, arrange his shelves, bespeak his binder, and revel in the luxury of a splendid and nearly matchless collection. The distance from my house to the scene of action being thirteen miles, Lisardo, during the first six, had pretty nearly exhausted himself in describing the delightful pictures which his ardent fancy had formed; and finding the conversation beginning to flag, Philemon, with his usual good-nature and judgment, promised to make a pleasing digression from the dry subject of book-catalogues, by an episode with which the reader shall be presently gratified. Having promised to assist them both, when we arrived at Messrs. L. and S., in the Strand, with some information relating to the prices of such books as they stood in need of, and to the various book-collectors who attended public sales, Lisardo expressed himself highly obliged by the promise; and, sinking quietly into a corner of the chaise, he declared that he was now in a most apt mood to listen attentively to Philemon's digressive chat: who accordingly thus began.

"Lord Coke,"--exclaimed PHILEMON, in a mirthful strain--"before he ventured upon '_The Jurisdiction of the Courts of the Forest_,' wished to 'recreate himself' with Virgil's description of 'Dido's Doe of the Forest;'[163] in order that he might 'proceed the more cheerfully' with the task he had undertaken; and thus exchange somewhat of the precise and technical language of the lawyer for that glowing tone of description which woodland scenes and hunting gaieties seldom fail to produce. Even so, my good friends (pursued Philemon), I shall make a little digression from the confined subject to which our attentions have been so long directed by taking you with me, in imagination, to the delightful abode of ORLANDO."

[Footnote 163: The quaint language of Lord Coke is well
worth quotation: "And seeing we are to treat of matters of
game, and hunting, let us (to the end we may proceed the
more chearfully) recreate ourselves with the excellent
description of Dido's Doe of the Forest wounded with a
deadly arrow sticken in her, and not impertinent to our
purpose:

Uritur infælix Dido, totaque vagatur
Urbe furens, &c.

And in another place, using again the word (Sylva) and
describing a forest saith:

Ibat in antiquam sylvam stabula alta ferarum."

_Institutes_, pt. iv., p. 289, ed. 1669.

Thus pleasantly could our sage expounder of the laws of the
realm illustrate the dry subject of which he treated!]

LIS. I have heard of him: a very "_Helluo Librorum_!" Thus we only change sides--from things to men; from books to book-collectors. Is this digressive? Is this an episode?

PHIL. Why this abrupt interruption? If I did not know you and myself, too, Lisardo, I should observe an obstinate silence during the remainder of the journey. An episode, though it suspend the main action for a while, partakes of the nature of the subject of the work. It is an _appropriate_ digression. Do pray read Dr. Blair[164] upon the subject--and now only listen.

[Footnote 164: _Lecture_ XLII., vol. iii.]

Orlando (continued Philemon) had from his boyhood loved books and book-reading. His fortune was rather limited; but he made shift--after bringing up three children, whom he lost from the ages of nineteen to twenty-four, and which have been recently followed to their graves by the mother that gave them birth--he made shift, notwithstanding the expenses of their college education, and keeping up the reputation of a truly hospitable table, to collect, from year to year, a certain number of volumes, according to a certain sum of money appropriated for the purchase of them; generally making himself master of the principal contents of the first year's purchase, before the ensuing one was placed upon his shelves. He lives in a large ancestral house; and his library is most advantageously situated and delightfully fitted up. Disliking such a wintry residence as Thomson has described[165]--although fond of solemn retirement, and of Cowper's "boundless contiguity of shade,"--he has suffered the rules of common sense always to mingle themselves in his plans of domestic comfort; and, from the bow-windowed extremity of his library, he sees realized, at the distance of four hundred yards, Cæsar's gently-flowing river _Arar_,[166] in a stream which loses itself behind some low shrubs; above which is a softly-undulating hill, covered with hazel, and birch, and oak. To the left is an open country, intersected with meadows and corn fields, and terminated by the blue mountains of Malvern at the distance of thirteen miles. Yet more to the left, but within one hundred and fifty yards of the house, and forming something of a foreground to the landscape, are a few large and lofty elm trees, under which many a swain has rested from his toil; many a tender vow has been breathed; many a sabbath-afternoon[167] innocently kept; and many a village-wake cordially celebrated! Some of these things yet bless the aged eyes of ORLANDO!

[Footnote 165:

"In the wild depth of Winter, while without
The ceaseless winds blow ice, be my retreat
Between the groaning forest and the shore,
Beat by the boundless multitude of waves,
A rural, sheltered, solitary scene!"----

_Winter._

One would like a situation somewhat more _sheltered_, when
"The ceaseless winds blow ice!"]

[Footnote 166: "Flumen est _Arar_, quod per fines Æduorum et
Sequanorum in Rhodanum fluit, incredibili lenitate, ita ut
oculis, in utram partem fluat, judicari nos possit." _De
Bell. Gall._, lib. i., § x. Philemon might as happily have
compared Orlando's quiet stream to "the silent river"

----quæ Liris quietâ
Mordet aquâ----

which Horace has so exquisitely described, in contrast with

----obliquis laborat
Lympha fugax trepidare rivo.

_Carm._, _lib._ i., _Od._ xxxi., _lib._ ii., _Od._ ii.

Yet let us not forget Collin's lovely little bit of landscape--

"Where slowly winds the stealing wave."]

[Footnote 167: There is a curious proclamation by Q.
Elizabeth, relating to some Sabbath recreations or games,
inserted in Hearne's preface to his edition of _Camden's
Annals_, p. xxviii. It is a little too long to be given
entire; but the reader may here be informed that "shooting
with the standard, shooting with the broad arrow, shooting
at the twelve score prick, shooting at the Turk, leaping for
men, running for men, wrestling, throwing the sledge, and
pitching the bar," were suffered to be exhibited, on several
Sundays, for the benefit of one "John Seconton Powlter,
dwelling within the parish of St. Clements Danes, being a
poor man, having four small children, and fallen to decay."]

I have slightly noticed the comfortable interior of his library.--

LIS. You spoke of a bow-windowed extremity--

PHIL. Yes, in this bow-window--the glass of which was furnished full two hundred and fifty years ago, and which has recently been put into a sensible modern frame-work--thereby affording two hours longer light to the inhabitant--in this bow-window, you will see a great quantity of stained glass of the different arms of his own, and of his wife's, family; with other appropriate embellishments.[168] And when the evening sun-beams throw a chequered light throughout the room, 'tis pleasant to observe how Orlando enjoys the opening of an Aldine Greek Classic--the ample-margined leaves of which receive a mellower tint from the soft lustre that pervades the library. Every book, whether opened or closed, is benefited by this due portion of light; so that the eye, in wandering over the numerous shelves, is neither hurt by morning glare nor evening gloom. Of colours, in his furniture, he is very sparing: he considers white shelves, picked out with gold, as heretical--mahogany, wainscot, black, and red, are, what he calls, orthodox colours. He has a few busts and vases; and as his room is very lofty, he admits above, in black and gold frames, a few portraits of eminent literary characters; and whenever he gets a genuine Vandyke, or Velasquez, he congratulates himself exceedingly upon his good fortune.

[Footnote 168: The reader, who is partial to the
lucubrations of Thomas Hearne, may peruse a long gossipping
note of his upon the importance of _stained glass
windows_--in his account of Godstow nunnery. See his _Guil.
Neubrig._, vol. ii., 768.]

LIS. All this bespeaks a pretty correct taste. But I wish to know something of the man.

PHIL. You shall, presently; and, in hearing what I am about to relate, only let us both strive, good Lisardo, so to regulate our studies and feelings that our old age may be like unto Orlando's.

Last year I went with my uncle to pay him our annual visit. He appeared quite altered and shaken from the recent misfortune of losing his wife; who had survived the death of her children fifteen years; herself dying in the sixtieth of her own age. The eyes of Orlando were sunk deeply into his forehead, yet they retained their native brilliancy and quickness. His cheeks were wan, and a good deal withered. His step was cautious and infirm. When we were seated in his comfortable library chairs, he extended his right arm towards me, and squeezing my hand cordially within his own--"Philemon," said he, "you are not yet thirty, and have therefore sufficient ardour to enable you to gratify your favourite passion for books. Did you ever read the inscription over the outside of my library door--which I borrowed from Lomeir's account of one over a library at Parma?[169]" On my telling him that it had escaped me--"Go," said he, "and not only read, but remember it."--The inscription was as follows:

INGREDERE MUSIS SACER, NAM
ET HIC DII HABITANT.
ITEM
NULLUS AMICUS MAGIS LIBET,
QUAM LIBER.

[Footnote 169: _De Bibliothecis_: p. 269, edit. 1680.]

"Have a care," said he, on my resuming my seat--"have a care that you do not treat such a friend ill, or convert him into a foe. For myself, my course is well nigh run. My children have long taken their leave of me, to go to the common parent who created, and to the Saviour who has vouchsafed to redeem, us all; and, though the usual order of nature has been here inverted, I bow to the fate which Heaven has allotted me with the unqualified resignation of a Christian. My wife has also recently left me, for a better place; and I confess that I begin to grow desolate, and anxious to take my departure to join my family. In my solitude, dear Philemon, I have found these (pointing to his books) to be what Cicero, and Seneca, and our own countryman De Bury,[170] have so eloquently and truly described them to be--our friends, our instructors, and our comforts. Without any affectation of hard reading, great learning, or wonderful diligence, I think I may venture to say that I have read more valuable books than it falls to the lot of the generality of book-collectors to read; and I would fain believe that I have profited by my studies. Although not of the profession of the church, you know that I have always cherished a fondness for sacred literature; and there is hardly a good edition of the Greek Testament, or a commentator of repute upon the Bible, foreign or domestic, but what you will find some reference to the same in my interleaved copy of Bishop Wilson's edition of the Holy Scriptures. A great number of these commentators themselves are in my library, as well as every authoritative edition of the Greek Testament, from the Complutensian to Griesbach's. Yet do not suppose that my theological books are equal in measure to one fourth part of those in the Imperial library at Paris.[171] My object has always been instruction and improvement; and when these could be obtained from any writer, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant, Arminian or Calvinistic, I have not failed to thank him, and to respect him, too, if he has declared his opinions with becoming diffidence and moderation. You know that nothing so sorely grieves me as dogmatical arrogance, in a being who will always be frail and capricious, let him think and act as he please. On a Sunday evening I usually devote a few hours to my theological studies--(if you will allow my sabbath-meditations to be so called) and, almost every summer evening in the week, saunter 'midst yon thickets and meadows by the river side, with Collins, or Thompson, or Cowper, in my hand. The beautiful sentiments and grand imagery of Walter Scott are left to my in-door avocations; because I love to read the curious books to which he refers in his notes, and have always admired, what I find few critics have noticed, how adroitly he has ingrafted fiction upon truth. As I thus perambulate, with my book generally open, the villagers treat me as Sir Roger De Coverley made his tenants treat the Spectator--by keeping at a respectful distance--but when I shut up my volume, and direct my steps homewards, I am always sure to find myself, before I reach my threshold, in company with at least half a dozen gossipping and well-meaning rustics. In other departments of reading, history and poetry are my delight. On a rainy or snowy day, when all looks sad and dismal without, my worthy friend and neighbour, PHORMIO, sometimes gives me a call--and we have a rare set-to at my old favourite volumes--the '_Lectiones Memorabiles et Reconditæ_' of WOLFIUS[172]--a commonplace book of as many curious, extraordinary, true and false occurrences, as ever were introduced into two ponderous folios. The number of strange cuts in it used to amuse my dear children--whose parent, from the remembrance of the past, still finds a pleasing recreation in looking at them. So much, dear Philemon, for my desultory mode of studying: improve upon it--but at all events, love your books for the good which they may produce; provided you open them with 'singleness of heart--' that is, a sincerity of feeling.

[Footnote 170: Every school-lad who has written a copy under
a writing-master, or who has looked into the second book of
the _"Selectæ è Profanis Scriptoribus," &c._, has probably
been made acquainted with the sentiments of the above
ancient heathen philosophers relating to Learning and Books;
but may not have been informed of the conciliatory manner in
which our countryman De Bury has invited us to approach the
latter. "Hi sunt magistri (says he) qui nos instruunt sine
vergis et ferula, sine verbis et colera, sine pane et
pecunia. Si accedis, non dormiunt; si inquiris, non se
abscondunt; non remurmurant, si oberres; cachinnos nesciunt,
si ignores." These original and apt words are placed in the
title-page to the first volume of _Dr. Clarke's
Bibliographical Dictionary_.]

[Footnote 171: "Il y a 300 pieds cubes de livres de
théologie,"--"qui tapissent les murs des deux premières
salles de la Bibliothéque Impériale." Caillot: _Roman
Bibliographique_, tom. i., 72, edit. 1809.]

[Footnote 172: There are few men, of any literary curiosity,
who would not wish to know something of the work here
noticed; and much more than appears to be known of its
illustrious author; concerning whom we will first discourse
a little: "JOHANNES WOLFIUS (says Melchoir [Transcriber's
Note: Melchior] Adam), the laborious compiler of the
_Lectionum Memorabilium et Reconditarum Centenarii_ xvi.
(being a collection of curious pieces from more than 3000
authors--chiefly Protestant) was a civilian, a soldier, and
a statesman. He was born A.D. 1537, at Vernac, in the duchy
of Deux Ponts; of which town his father was chief
magistrate. He was bred under Sturmius at Strasbourg, under
Melancthon at Wittemberg, and under Cujas at Bruges. He
travelled much and often; particularly into France and
Burgundy, with the Dukes of Stettin, in 1467. He attended
the Elector Palatine, who came with an army to the
assistance of the French Hugonots in 1569; and, in 1571, he
conducted the corpse of his master back to Germany by sea.
After this, he was frequently employed in embassies from the
electors Palatine to England and Poland. His last patrons
were the Marquisses of Baden, who made him governor of
Mündelsheim, and gave him several beneficial grants. In
1594, Wolfius bade adieu to business and courts, and retired
to Hailbrun; where he completed his "_Lectiones_," which had
been the great employment of his life. He died May 23, A.D.
1600--the same year in which the above volumes were
published." Thus far, in part, our biographer, in his _Vitæ
Eruditorum cum Germanorum tum Exterorum_: pt. iii., p. 156,
edit. 1706. These particulars may be gleaned from Wolfius's
preface; where he speaks of his literary and diplomatic
labours with great interest and propriety. In this preface
also is related a curious story of a young man of the name
of Martin, whom Wolfius employed as an amanuensis to
transcribe from his "three thousand authors"--and who was at
first so zealously attached to the principles of the Romish
Church that he declared "he wished for no heaven where
Luther might be." The young man died a Protestant; quite
reconciled to a premature end, and in perfect good will with
Luther and his doctrine. As to Wolfius, it is impossible to
read his preface, or to cast a glance upon his works--"magno
et pene incredibili labore multisque vigiliis
elaboratum"--(as Linsius has well said, in the opening of
the admonition to the reader, prefixed to his index) without
being delighted with his liberality of disposition, and
astonished at the immensity of his labour. Each volume has
upwards of 1000 pages closely printed upon an indifferent
brown-tinted paper; which serves nevertheless to set off the
several hundreds of well executed wood cuts which the work
contains. Linsius's index, a thin folio, was published in
the year 1608: this is absolutely necessary for the
completion of a copy. As bibliographers have given but a
scanty account of this uncommon work (mentioned, however,
very properly by Mr. Nicol in his interesting preface to the
catalogue of the Duke of Roxburgh's books; and of which I
observe in the _Bibl. Solgeriana_, vol. i., no. 1759,
that a second edition, printed in 1672, is held in
comparatively little estimation), so biographers (if we
except Melchior Adam, the great favourite of Bayle) have
been equally silent respecting its author. Fabricius, and
the Historical Dictionary published at Caen, do not mention
him; and Moreri has but a meagre and superficial notice of
him. Wolfius's _Penus Artis Historicæ_, of which the best
edition is that of 1579, is well described in the tenth
volume of Fournier's _Methode pour étudier l'histoire_, p.
12, edit. 1772. My respect for so extraordinary a
bibliomaniac as WOLFIUS, who was groping amongst the books
of the public libraries belonging to the several great
cities which he visited, (in his diplomatic character--vide
præf.) whilst his masters and private secretary were
probably paying their devotions to Bacchus--induces me to
treat the reader with the following impression of his
portrait.

This cut is taken from a fac-simile drawing, made by me of
the head of Wolfius as it appears at the back of the
title-page to the preceding work. The original impression is
but an indifferent one; but it presents in addition, the
body of Wolfius as far as the waist; with his right hand
clasping a book, and his left the handle of a sword. His
ponderous chain has a medallion suspended at the end. This
print, which evidently belongs to the English series, has
escaped Granger. And yet I know not whether such
intelligence should be imparted!--as the scissars may hence
go to work to deprive many a copy of these "_Lectiones_," of
their elaborately-ornamented title-pages. Forbid it, good
sense!]

"In a short time," continued the venerable Orlando, after a pause of fifteen seconds, "in a short time I must bid adieu to this scene; to my choice copies; beautiful bindings: and all the classical furniture which you behold around you. Yes!--as Reimannus[173] has well observed,--'there is no end to accumulating books, whilst the boundaries of human existence are limited, indeed!' But I have made every necessary, and, I hope, appropriate, regulation; the greater part of my library is bequeathed to one of the colleges in the University of Oxford; with an injunction to put an inscription over the collection very different from what the famous Ranzau[174] directed to be inscribed over his own.--About three hundred volumes you will find bequeathed to you, dear Philemon--accompanied with a few remarks not very different from what Lotichius[175] indited, with his dying breath, in his book-legacy to the learned Sambucus. I will, at present, say no more. Come and see me whenever you have an opportunity. I exact nothing extraordinary of you; and shall therefore expect nothing beyond what one man of sense and of virtue, in our relative situations, would pay to the other."

[Footnote 173: "Vita brevis est, et series librorum longa."
He adds: "Æs magnum tempus, quo id dispungere conatus est,
parvum." _Bibl. Acroamat._, p. 51, sign. d [dagger symbol]
2.]

[Footnote 174: "Henry de Ranzau--avoit dressé une excellente
bibliothéque au chateau de Bredemberg, dans laquelle
estoient conservez plusieurs manuscrits Grecs et Latins, et
autres raretez, &c.--Ce sçavant personnage a fait un decret
pour sa bibliothéque, qui merite d'estre icy inseré, pour
faire voir a la posterité l'affection qu'il auoit pour sa
conservation."

... Libros partem ne aliquam abstulerit,
Extraxerit, clepserit, rapserit,
Concerpserit, coruperit,
Dolo malo:
Illico maledictus,
Perpetuo execrabilis,
Semper detestabilis
Esto maneto.

JACOB: _Traicté des Bibliothéques_, pp. 237, 240.

I have inserted only the fulminatory clause of this
inscription, as being that part of it against which
Orlando's indignation seems to be directed.]

[Footnote 175: "Petrus Lotichius Johanni Sambuco Pannonio
gravissimo morbo laborans Bononiæ, bibliothecam suam
legaverit, _lib._ 3, _eleg._ 9, verba ejus lectu non
injucunda:

Pro quibus officiis, hæres abeuntis amici,
Accipe fortunæ munera parva meæ.
Non mihi sunt Baccho colles, oleisque virentes,
Prædiave Æmiliis conspicienda jugis.
Tu veterum dulces scriptorum sume libellos,
Attritos manibus quos juvat esse meis.
Invenies etiam viridi quæ lusimus ævo,
Dum studiis ætas mollibus apta fuit.
Illa velim rapidis sic uras carmina flammis
Ut vatem ipse suis ignibus jussit Amor."

LOMEIER: _de Bibliothecis_, p. 288.]

"So spake Orlando," said Philemon, with tears in his eyes, who, upon looking at Lisardo and myself, found our faces covered with our handkerchiefs, and unable to utter a word.

The deliberate manner in which this recital was made--the broken periods, and frequent pauses--filled up a great measure of our journey; and we found that St. Paul's dome was increasing upon us in size and distinctness, and that we had not more than three miles to travel, when Lisardo, wishing to give a different turn to the discourse, asked Philemon what was the cause of such extravagant sums being now given at book-sales for certain curious and uncommon--but certainly not highly intrinsically-valuable--publications; and whether our ancestors, in the time of Hen. VIII. and Elizabeth, paid in proportion for the volumes of _their_ Libraries?

Upon Philemon's declaring himself unable to gratify his friend's curiosity, but intimating that some assistance might probably be derived from myself, I took up the discourse by observing that--

"In the infancy of printing in this country (owing to the competition of foreigners) it would seem that our own printers (who were both booksellers and book-binders) had suffered considerably in their trade, by being obliged to carry their goods to a market where the generality of purchasers were pleased with more elegantly executed works at an inferior price. The legislature felt, as every patriotic legislature would feel, for their injured countrymen; and, accordingly, the statute of Richard III. was enacted,[176] whereby English printers and book-binders were protected from the mischiefs, which would otherwise have overtaken them. Thus our old friend Caxton went to work with greater glee, and mustered up all his energies to bring a good stock of British manufacture to the market. What he usually sold his books for, in his life time, I have not been able to ascertain; but, on his decease, one of his _Golden Legends_ was valued, in the churchwardens' books, at six shillings and eight pence.[177] Whether this was a great or small sum I know not; but, from the same authority we find that twenty-two pounds were given, twelve years before, for eleven huge folios, called '_Antiphoners_.'[178] In the reign of Henry VIII. it would seem, from a memorandum in the catalogue of the Fletewode library (if I can trust my memory with such minutiæ) that Law-Books were sold for about ten sheets to the groat.[179] Now, in the present day, Law-Books--considering the wretched style in which they are published, with broken types upon milk-and-water-tinted paper--are the dearest of all modern publications. Whether they were anciently sold for so comparatively extravagant a sum may remain to be proved. Certain it is that, before the middle of the sixteenth century, you might have purchased Grafton's abridgment of Polydore Virgil's superficial work about _The Invention of Things_ for fourteen pence;[180] and the same printer's book of _Common Prayer_ for four shillings. Yet if you wanted a superbly bound _Prymer_, it would have cost you (even five and twenty years before) nearly half a guinea.[181] Nor could you have purchased a decent _Ballad_ much under sixpence; and _Hall's Chronicle_ would have drawn from your purse twelve shillings;[182] so that, considering the then value of specie, there is not much ground of complaint against the present prices of books."

[Footnote 176: By the 1st of Richard III. (1433, ch. ix.
sec. xii.) it appeared that, Whereas, a great number of the
king's subjeets [Transcriber's Note: subjects] within this
realm having "given themselves diligently to learn and
exercise THE CRAFT OF PRINTING, and that at this day there
being within this realm a great number cunning and expert in
the said science or craft of printing, as able to exercise
the said craft in all points as any stranger, in any other
realm or country, and a great number of the king's subjects
living by the craft and mystery of BINDING OF BOOKS, and
well expert in the same;"--yet "all this notwithstanding,
there are divers persons that bring from beyond the sea
great plenty of printed books--not only in the Latin tongue,
but also in our maternal English tongue--some bound in
boards, some in leather, and some in parchment, and them
sell by retail, whereby many of the king's subjects, being
binders of books, and having no other faculty therewith to
get their living, be destitute of work, and like to be
undone, except some reformation herein be had,--Be it
therefore enacted, &c." By the 4th clause or provision, if
any of these printers or sellers of printed books vend them
"at too high and unreasonable prices," then the Lord
Chancellor, Lord Treasurer, or any of the Chief Justices of
the one bench or the other--"by the oaths of twelve honest
and discreet persons," were to regulate their prices. This
remarkable act was confirmed by the 25th Hen. VIII., ch. 15,
which was not repealed till the 12th Geo. II., ch. 36, § 3.
A judge would have enough to do to regulate the prices of
books, by the oaths of twelve men, in the present times!]

[Footnote 177: The reader will be pleased to refer to p. cx.
of the first volume of my recent edition of the
_Typographical Antiquities of Great Britain_.]

[Footnote 178: The following is from 'the churchwardens'
accompts of St. Margaret's, Westminster. "A.D. 1475. Item,
for 11 great books, called Antiphoners, 22_l._ 0_s._ 0_d._"
_Manners and Expenses of Ancient Times in England_, &c.,
collected by John Nichols, 1797, 4to., p. 2. _Antiphonere_
is a book of anthems to be sung with responses: and, from
the following passage in Chaucer, it would appear to have
been a common school-book used in the times of papacy:

This litel childe his litel book lerning,
As he sate in the scole at his primere
He _Alma Redemptoris_ herde sing,
As children lered hir _Antiphonere_:

_Cant. Tales_, v. 13,446, &c.

"A legend, an _Antiphonarye_, a grayle, a psalter," &c.,
were the books appointed to be kept in every parish church
"of the province of Canterbury" by Robert Winchelsen.
_Const. Provin. and of Otho and Octhobone_, fol. 67, rect.,
edit. 1534.]

[Footnote 179: "The year books, 9 v. parcels, as published,
impr. in different years by Pynson, Berthelet, Redman,
Myddylton, Powell, Smythe, Rastell, and Tottyl, 1517 to
1531." Some of them have the prices printed at the end; as
"The Prisce of thys Boke ys xiid. unbounde--The Price of
thys Boke is xvid. un bownde;" and upon counting the sheets,
it appears that the stated price of Law-Books, in the reign
of Hen. 8, was ten sheets for one groat. _Bibl.
Monast-Fletewodiana_, no. 3156.]

[Footnote 180: In a copy of this book, printed by Grafton in
1546, which was in the library of that celebrated
bibliomaniac, Tom Rawlinson, was the following singular MS.
note: "At Oxforde the yeare 1546, browt down to Seynbury by
John Darbye _pryce_ 14_d._ When I kepe Mr. Letymers shype I
bout thys boke when the testament was obberagatyd that shepe
herdys myght not red hit I pray god amende that blyndnes
wryt by Robert Wyllyams keppynge shepe uppon Seynbury hill.
1546." _Camdeni Annales: Edit. Hearne_, vol. i., p. xxx.]

[Footnote 181: From Mr. Nichol's curious work, I make the
following further extracts:

£ _s._ _d._
A.D.
1539. Item, paid for the half part of the Bybell, }
accordingly after the King's injunction } 0 9 9
1544. Item, also paid for six books of the Litany }
in English } 0 1 6
1549. Paid for iv books of the service of the church 0 16 0
[This was probably Grafton's Prayer book of 1549, fol.]
1559. Paid for a Bybyl and Parafrawse 0 16 0

[From the Ch. Wardens Accts. of St. Margaret's Westminster]

The Inventory of John Port, 1524.
In the shop.

Item, a premmer lymmed with gold, and with imagery }
written honds } 0 8 4
(From the do. of St. Mary Hill, London.)

To William Pekerynge, a ballet, called a Ryse and }
Wake } 0 0 4
(From the books of the Stationers' Company).

See pp. 13, 15, 126, and 133, of Mr. Nichols's work.]

[Footnote 182: By the kindness of Mr. William Hamper, of
Birmingham (a gentleman with whom my intercourse has as yet
been only epistolary, but whom I must be allowed to rank
among our present worthy bibliomaniacs), I am in possession
of some original entries, which seem to have served as part
of a day-book of a printer of the same name: "it having been
pasted at the end of '_The Poor Man's Librarie_' printed by
John Day in 1565." From this sable-looking document the
reader has the following miscellaneous extracts:

A.D. 1553. £ _s._ _d._
(Two) Meserse of bloyene in bordis }
One Prymare latane & englis } 0 ii 0
Balethis (ballads) nova of sortis 0 0 ii
Boke of paper 1 quire in forrell 0 0 vi
Morse workes in forrell 0 9 viij
Castell of Love in forrelle wi: a sarmo nova 0 0 x

A.D. 1554.
Balethis nova arbull in 8vo. 1 catechis 0 0 viiij
Prymare for a chyllde in 8vo. englis 0 iv
Halles Croneckelle nova englis 0 xii 0

From a Household Book kept in London, A.D. 1561
(in the possession of the same Gent.)

Item, p-d for a Lyttellton in English xij_d._
---- for the booke of ij englishe lovers vj_d._
---- for the booke of Songes and Sonnettes }
and the booke of dyse, and a frenche booke } ij_s._ viij_d._
(viz. the frenche booke xvj_d._ the ij other bookes at
viij_d._ the pece.)
---- ---- for printing the xxv orders of honest men xx_d._]

LIS. All this is very just. You are now creeping towards the seventeenth century. Go on with your prices of books 'till nearly the present day; when the BIBLIOMANIA has been supposed to have attained its highest pitch.

"Don't expect," resumed I, "any antiquarian exactness in my chronological detail of what our ancestors used to give for their curiously-covered volumes. I presume that the ancient method of _Book-Binding_[183] added much to the expense of the purchase. But be this as it may, we know that Sir Ralph Sadler, at the close of the sixteenth century, had a pretty fair library, with a _Bible_ in the chapel to boot, for £10.[184] Towards the close of the seventeenth century, we find the Earl of Peterborough enlisting among the book champions; and giving, at the sale of Richard Smith's books in 1682, not less than eighteen shillings and two pence for the first English edition of his beloved _Godfrey of Boulogne_.[185] In Queen Ann's time, Earl Pembroke and Lord Oxford spared no expense for books; and Dr. Mead, who trod closely upon their heels, cared not at what price he purchased his _Editiones Principes_, and all the grand books which stamped such a value upon his collection. And yet, let us look at the priced catalogue of his library, or at that of his successor Dr. Askew, and compare the sums _then_ given for those _now_ offered for similar works!"

[Footnote 183: As a little essay, and a very curious one
too, might be written upon the history of BOOK-BINDING, I
shall not attempt in the present note satisfactorily to
supply such a desideratum; but merely communicate to the
reader a few particulars which have come across me in my
desultory researches upon the subject. Mr. Astle tells us
that the famous _Textus Sancti Cuthberti_, which was written
in the 7th century, and was formerly kept at Durham, and is
now preserved in the Cottonian library, (Nero, D. IV.) was
adorned in the Saxon times by Bilfrith, a monk of Durham,
with a silver cover gilt, and precious stones. Simeon
Dunelmensis, or Turgot, as he is frequently called, tells us
that the cover of this fine MS. was ornamented "forensecis
Gemmis et Auro." "A booke of Gospelles garnished and wrought
with antique worke of silver and gilte with an image of the
crucifix with Mary and John, poiz together cccxxij oz." In
the secret Jewel House in the Tower. "A booke of gold
enameled, clasped with a rubie, having on th' one side, a
crosse of dyamounts, and vj other dyamounts, and th' other
syde a flower de luce of dyamounts, and iiij rubies with a
pendaunte of white saphires and the arms of Englande. Which
booke is garnished with small emerades and rubies hanging to
a cheyne pillar fashion set with xv knottes, everie one
conteyning iij rubies (one lacking)." _Archæologia_, vol.
xiii., 220. Although Mr. Astle has not specified the time in
which these two latter books were bound, it is probable that
they were thus gorgeously attired before the discovery of
the art of printing. What the ancient Vicars of Chalk (in
Kent) used to pay for binding their missals, according to
the original endowment settled by Haymo de Hethe in 1327
(which compelled the vicars to be at the expense of the
same--_Reg. Roff._, p. 205), Mr. Denne has not informed us.
_Archæologia_, vol. xi., 362. But it would seem, from
Warton, that "students and monks were anciently the binders
of books;" and from their Latin entries respecting the same,
the word "conjunctio" appears to have been used for
"ligatura." _Hist. of Engl. Poetry_, vol. ii., p. 244.
Hearne, in No. III. of the appendix to _Adam de Domerham
de reb. gest. Glast._, has "published a grant from Rich. de
Paston to Bromholm abbey, of twelve pence a year rent charge
on his estates to _keep their books in repair_." This I
gather from Gough's _Brit. Topog._, vol. ii., p. 20: while
from the _Liber Stat. Eccl. Paulinæ_, Lond. MSS., f. 6, 396
(furnished me by my friend Mr. H. Ellis,[D] of the British
Museum), it appears to have been anciently considered as a
part of the Sacrist's duty to bind and clasp the books:
"Sacrista curet quod _Libri bene ligentur et haspentur_," &c.
In Chaucer's time, one would think that the fashionable
binding for the books of young scholars was
_various-coloured velvet_: for thus our poet describes the
library of the Oxford Scholar:

A twenty bokes, clothed in black and red
Of Aristotle----

(_Prolog. to Cant. Tales._)

We have some account of the style in which Chaucer's royal
patron, Edward III., used to have his books bound; as the
following extract (also furnished me by Mr. H. Ellis) will
testify:----"To Alice Claver, for the making of XVI laces
and XVI tasshels for the garnyshing of diuers of the Kings
books, ij_s._ viij_d._----And to Robert Boillet for blac
paper and nailles for closing and fastenyng of diuers cofyns
of ffyrre wherein the Kings boks were conveyed and caried
from the Kings grete warderobe in London vnto Eltham
aforesaid, v_d._----Piers Bauduyn Stacioner for bynding
gilding and dressing of a booke called Titus Liuius, xx_s_:
for binding gilding and dressing of a booke called
Ffrossard, xvj_s_: or binding gilding and dressing of a
booke called the Bible, xvj_s_: for binding gilding and
dressing of a booke called le Gouuernement of Kings and
Princes, xvj_s._" "For the dressing of ij books whereof oon
is called la forteresse de Foy and the other called the
booke of Josephus, iij_s._ iiij_d._ And for binding gilding
and dressing of a booke called the bible historial, xx_s._"
Among the expenses entered in the Wardrobe Accompts 20th
Edw. III. I suspect that it was not 'till towards the close
of the 15th century, when the sister art of painting
directed that of engraving, that books were bound in thick
boards, with leather covering upon the same; curiously
stamped with arabesque, and other bizarre, ornaments. In the
interior of this binding, next to the leaves, there was
sometimes an excavation, in which a silver crucifix was
safely guarded by a metal door, with clasps. The exterior of
the binding had oftentimes large embossed ornaments of
silver, and sometimes of precious stones [as a note in the
Appendix to the _History of Leicester_, by Mr. Nichols, p.
102, indicates--and as Geyler himself, in his _Ship of
Fools_, entitled "_Navicula, sive Speculum Fatuorum_," edit.
1511, 4to., thus expressly declares:--"sunt qui libros
inaurunt et serica tegimenta apponunt preciosa et superba,"
sign. B. v. rev.], as well as the usual ornaments upon the
leather; and two massive clasps, with thick metalled corners
on each of the outward sides of the binding, seemed to
render a book impervious to such depredations of time as
could arise from external injury. Meantime, however the worm
was secretly engendered within the wood: and his perforating
ravages in the precious leaves of the volume gave dreadful
proof of the defectiveness of ancient binding, beautiful and
bold as it undoubtedly was! The reader is referred to an
account of a preciously bound diminutive godly book (once
belonging to Q. Elizabeth), in the first volume of my
edition of the British _Typographical Antiquities_, p. 83;
for which I understand the present owner asks the sum of
160_l._ We find that in the sixteenth year of Elizabeth's
reign, she was in possession of "Oone Gospell booke covered
with tissue and garnished on th' onside with the crucifix
and the Queene's badges of silver guilt, poiz with wodde,
leaves, and all, czij. oz." _Archæologia_, vol. xiii., 221.
I am in possession of the covers of a book, bound (A.D.
1569) in thick parchment or vellum, which has the whole
length portrait of Luther on one side, and of Calvin on the
other. These portraits, which are executed with uncommon
spirit and accuracy, are encircled with a profusion of
ornamental borders of the most exquisite taste and richness.
We shall speak occasionally of more modern book-binding as
we proceed. Meanwhile, let the curious bibliomaniac glance
his eye upon the copper-plate print which faces this
concluding sentence--where he will see fac-similes of the
portraits just mentioned.]

[Footnote 184: See the recent very beautiful edition of Sir
Ralph Sadler's _State Papers_, vol. ii., p. 590.]

[Footnote 185: See the _Catalogue of R. Smith's Books_,
1682, 4to., p. 199 (falsely numbered 275), no. 94.]

[Footnote D: Since created a Knight.]

LIS. You allude to a late sale in Pall Mall, of one of the choicest and most elegant libraries ever collected by a man of letters and taste?

"I do, Lisardo--but see we are just entering the smoke and bustle of London; and in ten minutes shall have reached the scene of action."

PHIL. How do you feel?

LIS. Why, tolerably calm. My pulse beats as leisurely as did my Lord Strafford's at his trial--or (to borrow Hamlet's phrase)

--as yours, it doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music.

PHIL. Ninety-five to the minute! You are just now in a fit frame of mind to write a political pamphlet. Pray consider what will be the issue of this madness?

LIS. No more! Now for my catalogue; and let me attend to my marks. But our friend is not forgetful of his promise?

PHIL. I dare say he will assist us in regulating the prices we ought to give--and more particularly in making us acquainted with the most notable book-collectors.

Upon my readily acquiescing in their demand, we leapt from the chaise (giving orders for it to attend by three o'clock) and hurried immediately up stairs into THE AUCTION ROOM.

The clock had struck twelve, and in half an hour the sale was to begin. Not more than nine or ten gentlemen were strolling about the room: some examining the volumes which were to be sold, and making hieroglyphical marks thereupon, in their catalogues: some giving commissions to the clerk who entered their names, with the sums they intended staking, in a manner equally hieroglyphical. Others, again, seemed to be casting an eye of vacancy over the whole collection; or waiting till a book friend arrived with whom they might enter into a little chat. You observe, my friends, said I, softly, yonder active and keen-visaged gentleman? 'Tis LEPIDUS. Like Magliabechi, content with frugal fare and frugal clothing[186] and preferring the riches of a library to those of house-furniture, he is insatiable in his bibliomaniacal appetites. "Long experience has made him sage:" and it is not therefore without just reason that his opinions are courted, and considered as almost oracular. You will find that he will take his old station, commanding the right or left wing of the auctioneer; and that he will enliven, by the gaiety and shrewdness of his remarks, the circle that more immediately surrounds him. Some there are who will not bid 'till Lepidus bids; and who surrender all discretion and opinion of their own to his universal book-knowledge. The consequence is that Lepidus can, with difficulty, make purchases for his own library; and a thousand dexterous and happy manoeuvres are of necessity obliged to be practised by him, whenever a rare or curious book turns up. How many fine collections has this sagacious bibliomaniac seen disposed of! Like Nestor, who preaches about the fine fellows he remembered in his youth, Lepidus (although barely yet in his grand climacteric!) will depicture, with moving eloquence, the numerous precious volumes of far-famed collectors, which he has seen, like Macbeth's witches,

"Come like shadows, so depart!"

[Footnote 186: Tenni cultu, victuque contentus, quidquid ei
pecuniæ superaret in omnigenæ eruditionis libros comparandos
erogabat, selectissimamque voluminum multitudinem ea mente
adquisivit, ut aliquando posset publicæ utilitati--dicari,
_Præf. Bibl. Magliab. a Fossio_, p. x.]

And when any particular class of books, now highly coveted, but formerly little esteemed, comes under the hammer, and produces a large sum,--ah then! 'tis pleasant to hear Lepidus exclaim--

O mihi præteritos referat si Jupiter annos!

Justly respectable as are his scholarship and good sense, he is not what you may call a _fashionable_ collector; for old chronicles and romances are most rigidly discarded from his library. Talk to him of Hoffmen, Schoettgenius, Rosenmuller, and Michaelis, and he will listen courteously to your conversation; but when you expatiate, however learnedly and rapturously, upon Froissart and Prince Arthur, he will tell you that he has a heart of stone upon the subject; and that even a clean uncut copy of an original impression of each, by Verard or by Caxton, would not bring a single tear of sympathetic transport in his eyes.

LIS. I will not fail to pay due attention to so extraordinary and interesting a character--for see, he is going to take his distinguished station in the approaching contest. The hammer of the worthy auctioneer, which I suppose is of as much importance as was Sir Fopling's periwig of old,[187] upon the stage--the hammer is upon the desk!--The company begin to increase and close their ranks; and the din of battle will shortly be heard. Let us keep these seats. Now, tell me who is yonder strange looking gentleman?

[Footnote 187: See Warburton's piquant note, in Mr. Bowles's
edition of _Pope's Works_, vol. v., p. 116. "This remarkable
_periwiy_ [Transcriber's Note: periwig] (says he) usually
made its entrance upon the stage in a sedan chair, brought
in by two chairmen with infinite approbation of the
audience." The _snuff-box_ of Mr. L. has not a less imposing
air; and when a high-priced book is balancing between 15_l._
and 20_l._ it is a fearful signal of its reaching an
additional sum, if Mr. L. should lay down his hammer, and
delve into this said crumple-horned snuff-box!]

"'Tis MUSTAPHA, a vender of books. Consuetudine invalescens, ac veluti callum diuturna cogitatione obducens,[188] he comes forth, like an alchemist from his laboratory, with hat and wig 'sprinkled with learned dust,' and deals out his censures with as little ceremony as correctness. It is of no consequence to him by whom positions are advanced, or truth is established; and he hesitates very little about calling Baron Heinecken a Tom fool, or ---- a shameless impostor. If your library were as choice and elegant as Dr. H----'s he would tell you that his own disordered shelves and badly coated books presented an infinitely more precious collection; nor must you be at all surprised at this--for, like Braithwait's Upotomis,

'Though weak in judgment, in opinion strong;'

or, like the same author's Meilixos,

'Who deems all wisdom treasur'd in his pate,'

our book-vender, in the catalogues which he puts forth, shews himself to be 'a great and bold carpenter of words;'[189] overcharging the description of his own volumes with tropes, metaphors, flourishes, and common-place authorities; the latter of which one would think had but recently come under his notice, as they had been already before the public in various less ostentatious forms."

[Footnote 188: The curious reader may see the entire caustic
passage in Spizelius's _Infelix Literatus_, p. 435.]

[Footnote 189: _Coryat's Crudities_, vol. i., sign. (b. 5.)
edit. 1776.]

PHIL. Are you then an enemy to booksellers, or to their catalogues when interlaced with bibliographical notices?

"By no means, Philemon. I think as highly of our own as did the author of the Aprosian library[190] of the Dutch booksellers; and I love to hear that the bibliographical labour bestowed upon a catalogue has answered the end proposed, by sharpening the appetites of purchasers. But the present is a different case. Mustapha might have learnt good sense and good manners, from his right hand, or left hand, or opposite, neighbour; but he is either too conceited, or too obstinate, to have recourse to such aid. What is very remarkable, although he is constantly declaiming against the enormous sums of money given for books at public auctions, Mustapha doth not scruple to push the purchaser to the last farthing of his commission; from a ready knack which he hath acquired, by means of some magical art in his foresaid laboratory, of deciphering the same; thus adopting in a most extraordinary manner, the very line of conduct himself which he so tartly censures in others."

[Footnote 190: See pages 103-4, of Wolfius's edition of the
_Bibliotheca Aprosiana_, 1734, 8vo. It is not because Mr.
Ford, of Manchester, has been kind enough to present me with
one of the _six_ copies of his last catalogue of books,
printed upon STRONG WRITING PAPER--that I take this
opportunity of praising the contents of it,--but that his
catalogues are to be praised for the pains which he exhibits
in describing his books, and in referring to numerous
bibliographical authorities in the description. While upon
this subject, let me recommend the youthful bibliomaniac to
get possession of Mr. Edwards's catalogues, and especially
of that of 1794. If such a catalogue were but recently
published, it would be one of the pleasantest breakfast
lounges imaginable to _tick off_ a few of the volumes with
the hope of possessing them at the prices therein afixed.]

PHIL. Was this the gentleman whose catalogue (as you shewed me) contained the fascinating colophon of Juliana Berner's book of hawking, hunting, and heraldry, printed in the year 1486, subjoined to a copy of the common reprint of it by Gervase Markham--thereby provoking a thousand inquiries after the book, as if it had been the first edition?

"The same," resumed I. "But let us leave such ridiculous vanity."

LIS. Who is that gentleman, standing towards the right of the auctioneer, and looking so intently upon his catalogue?

"You point to my friend BERNARDO. He is thus anxious, because an original fragment of the fair lady's work, which you have just mentioned, is coming under the hammer; and powerful indeed must be the object to draw his attention another way. The demure prioress of Sopewell abbey is his ancient sweetheart; and he is about introducing her to his friends, by a union with her as close and as honourable as that of wedlock. Engaged in a laborious profession (the duties of which are faithfully performed by him) Bernardo devotes his few leisure hours to the investigation of old works; thinking with the ancient poet, quoted by Ashmole, that

'----out of old fields as men saythe
Cometh all this new corne fro yeare to yeare;
And out of olde Bokes in good faythe
Cometh all this scyence that men leare:'

or, with Ashmole himself; that 'old words have strong emphasis: others may look upon them as rubbish or trifles, but they are grossly mistaken: for what some light brains may esteem as foolish toys, deeper judgments can and will value as sound and serious matter.[191]'

[Footnote 191: _Theatrum Chemicum_: proleg. sign. A. 3.
rev.: B. 4. rect. The charms of ancient phraseology had been
before not less eloquently described by Wolfius: "Habet hoc
jucundi priscorum quorundam obsoleta dictio, ac suo quodam
modo rudius comta oratio, ut ex ea plus intelligamus quam
dicitur; plus significetur quam effertur." _Lect. Memorab.
Epist. Ded._ fol. xiv. rev. Of Wolfius, and of this his
work, the reader will find some mention at page 110, ante.]

"If you ask me whether Bernardo be always successful in his labours, I should answer you, as I have told him, No: for the profit and applause attendant upon them are not commensurate with his exertions. Moreover, I do verily think that, in some few instances, he sacrifices his judgment to another's whim; by a reluctance to put out the strength of his own powers. He is also, I had almost said, the admiring slave of Ritsonian fastidiousness; and will cry 'pish' if a _u_ be put for a _v_, or a _single e_ for a _double one_: but take him fairly as he is, and place him firmly in the bibliographical scale, and you will acknowledge that his weight is far from being inconsiderable. He is a respectable, and every way a praise-worthy man: and although he is continually walking in a thick forest of black letter, and would prefer a book printed before the year 1550, to a turtle dressed according to the rules of Mr. Farley, yet he can ever and anon sally forth to enjoy a stroll along the river side, with Isaac Walton[192] in his hand; when 'he hath his wholesome walk and merry, at his ease: a sweet air of the sweet savour of the mead flowers, that maketh him hungry.'[193]

[Footnote 192: "Let me take this opportunity of recommending
the amiable and venerable ISAAC WALTON'S _Complete Angler_:
a work the most singular of its kind, breathing the very
spirit of contentment, of quiet, and unaffected
philanthrophy, and interspersed with some beautiful relics
of poetry, old songs, and ballads." So speaks the Rev. W.
Lisle Bowles, in his edition of _Pope's Works_, vol i., p.
135. To which I add--Let me take this opportunity of
recommending Mr. Bagster's very beautiful and creditable
reprint of Sir John Hawkin's edition of Walton's amusing
little book. The plates in it are as true as they are
brilliant: and the bibliomaniac may gratify his appetite,
however voracious, by having copies of it upon paper of all
sizes. Mr. Bagster has also very recently published an
exquisite facsimile of the original edition of old Isaac.
Perhaps I ought not to call it a fac-simile, for it is, in
many respects, more beautifully executed.]