Bibliomania; or Book-Madness
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Title: Bibliomania; or Book-Madness
Author: Thomas Frognall Dibdin
Release date: April 8, 2009 [eBook #28540]
Most recently updated: January 4, 2021
Language: English
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Transcriber's Note:
Thomas Frognall Dibdin's _Bibliomania_ was originally published
in 1809 and was re-issued in several editions, including one
published by Chatto & Windus in 1876. This e-book was prepared
from a reprint of the 1876 edition, published by Thoemmes Press
and Kinokuniya Company Ltd. in 1997. Where the reprint was
unclear, the transcriber consulted a copy of the actual 1876
edition.
Footnotes
The original contains numerous footnotes, denoted by numbers
prior to Part I, and by symbols in the remainder of the book.
All of the footnotes are consecutively numbered in this
e-book; footnotes within footnotes are lettered.
Some of the footnotes contain lengthy book catalogues with
descriptions and prices. For ease of reading, in this e-book
these catalogues have been formatted as lists rather than
tables.
Text that in the original was rendered in blackletter is
enclosed between equal signs (=bold face=).
Letters with macrons are enclosed in brackets and preceded by
an equal sign, e.g. [=a].
Spelling and typographical errors are retained as they appear
in the original, with a [Transcriber's Note] containing the
correct spelling. Minor obvious punctuation and font errors
have been corrected without note. Inconsistent diacriticals and
hyphenation have been retained as they appear in the original.
There are frequent inconsistencies in the spelling of certain
proper names. These have been retained as they appear in the
original, for example:
Bibliothèque/Bibliothéque
Boccaccio/Bocaccio/Boccacio
De Foe/Defoe
Français/François
Loménie/Lomenie
Montfauçon/Montfaucon
Roxburgh/Roxburghe
Shakspeare/Shakespeare
Spenser/Spencer
Tewrdannckhs/Tewrdranckhs/Teurdanckhs (and other variations)
Vallière/Valliere
BIBLIOMANIA.
[Illustration]
_Libri quosdam ad Scientiam, quosdam AD INSANIAM, deduxêre._
GEYLER: Navis Stultifera: sign. B. iiij. rev.
BIBLIOMANIA;
OR
=Book-Madness;=
A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ROMANCE.
ILLUSTRATED WITH CUTS.
BY THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN, D.D.
=New and improved Edition,=
TO WHICH ARE ADDED
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS, AND A SUPPLEMENT INCLUDING A KEY
TO THE ASSUMED CHARACTERS IN THE DRAMA.
[Illustration: _Engraved by S. Freeman._]
=London:=
Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly.
MDCCCLXXVI.
[Illustration: T.F. DIBDIN, D.D.
_Engraved by James Thomson from the Original Painting by T. Phillips,
Esqr. R.A._
Published by the Proprietors (for the New Edition) of the Rev. Dr.
Dibdins Bibliomania 1840.]
[Illustration]
TO
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE EARL OF POWIS,
PRESIDENT OF
=The Roxburgh Club,=
THIS
NEW EDITION
OF
BIBLIOMANIA
IS
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY
THE AUTHOR.
[Illustration]
ADVERTISEMENT.
_The public may not be altogether unprepared for the re-appearance of
the BIBLIOMANIA in a more attractive garb than heretofore;--and, in
consequence, more in uniformity with the previous publications of the
Author._
_More than thirty years have elapsed since the last edition; an
edition, which has become so scarce that there seemed to be no
reasonable objection why the possessors of the_ other _works of the
Author should be deprived of an opportunity of adding the_ present
_to the number: and although this re-impression may, on first glance,
appear something like a violation of contract with the public, yet,
when the length of time which has elapsed, and the smallness of the
price of the preceding impression, be considered, there does not
appear to be any very serious obstacle to the present republication;
the more so, as the number of copies is limited to five hundred._
_Another consideration deeply impressed itself upon the mind of the
Author. The course of thirty years has necessarily brought changes and
alterations amongst "men and things." The dart of death has been so
busy during this period that, of the Bibliomaniacs so plentifully
recorded in the previous work, scarcely_ three,_--including the
Author--have survived. This has furnished a monitory theme for the
APPENDIX; which, to the friends both of the dead and the living,
cannot be perused without sympathising emotions--_
_"A sigh the absent claim, the DEAD a tear."_
_The changes and alterations in "things,"--that is to say in the_
=Bibliomania= _itself--have been equally capricious and unaccountable:
our countrymen being, in_ these _days, to the full as fond of novelty
and variety as in those of Henry the Eighth. Dr. Board, who wrote his_
Introduction of Knowledge _in the year 1542, and dedicated it to the
Princess Mary, thus observes of our countrymen:_
_I am an Englishman, and naked do I stand here,
Musing in my mind what raiment I shall wear;
For now I will wear_ this, _and now I will wear_ that,
_Now I will wear--I cannot tell what._
_This highly curious and illustrative work was reprinted, with all its
wood-cut embellishments, by Mr. Upcott. A copy of the original and
most scarce edition is among the Selden books in the Bodleian library,
and in the Chetham Collection at Manchester. See the_ Typographical
Antiquities, _vol._ iii. _p._ 158-60.
_But I apprehend the general apathy of Bibliomaniacs to be in a great
measure attributable to the vast influx of BOOKS, of every
description, from the Continent--owing to the long continuance of
peace; and yet, in the appearance of what are called_ English
Rarities, _the market seems to be almost as barren as ever. The
wounds, inflicted in the HEBERIAN contest, have gradually healed, and
are subsiding into forgetfulness; excepting where, from_ collateral
_causes, there are too many_ striking _reasons to remember their
existence._
_Another motive may be humbly, yet confidently, assigned for the
re-appearance of this Work. It was thought, by its late
proprietor,--MR. EDWARD WALMSLEY[1]--to whose cost and liberality this
edition owes its appearance--to be a volume, in itself, of pleasant
and profitable perusal; composed perhaps in a quaint and original
style, but in accordance with the characters of the_ Dramatis Personæ.
_Be this as it may, it is a work divested of all acrimonious
feeling--is applicable to all classes of society, to whom harmless
enthusiasm cannot be offensive--and is based upon a foundation not
likely to be speedily undermined._
_T.F. DIBDIN._
_May_ 1, 1842.
[Footnote 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._]
THE BIBLIOMANIA;
OR
=Book-Madness;=
CONTAINING SOME ACCOUNT OF THE
HISTORY, SYMPTOMS, AND CURE OF THIS FATAL DISEASE.
IN AN EPISTLE ADDRESSED TO
RICHARD HEBER, ESQ.
BY THE
REV. THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN, F.S.A.
Styll am I besy bokes assemblynge,
For to have plenty it is a pleasaunt thynge
In my conceyt, and to have them ay in honde:
But what they mene I do nat understonde.
=Pynson's Ship of Fools.= Edit. 1509.
LONDON
REPRINTED FROM THE FIRST EDITION, PUBLISHED IN 1809.
=Advertisement.=
_In laying before the public the following brief and superficial
account of a disease, which, till it arrested the attention of Dr.
Ferriar, had entirely escaped the sagacity of all ancient and modern
physicians, it has been my object to touch chiefly on its leading
characteristics; and to present the reader (in the language of my old
friend Francis Quarles) with an "honest pennyworth" of information,
which may, in the end, either suppress or soften the ravages of so
destructive a malady. I might easily have swelled the size of this
treatise by the introduction of much additional, and not incurious,
matter; but I thought it most prudent to wait the issue of the present
"recipe," at once simple in its composition and gentle in its
effects._
_Some apology is due to the amiable and accomplished character to whom
my epistle is addressed, as well as to the public, for the apparently
confused and indigested manner in which the notes are attached to the
first part of this treatise; but, unless I had thrown them to the end
(a plan which modern custom does not seem to warrant), it will be
obvious that a different arrangement could not have been adopted; and
equally so that the perusal, first of the text, and afterwards of the
notes, will be the better mode of passing judgment upon both._
T.F.D.
_Kensington, June_ 5, 1809.
[Illustration]
TO THE READER.
_A short time after the publication of the first edition of this work,
a very worthy and shrewd Bibliomaniac, accidentally meeting me,
exclaimed that "the book_ would do, _but that there was not_ gall
_enough in it." As he was himself a_ Book-Auction-loving Bibliomaniac,
_I was resolved, in a future edition, to gratify him and similar
Collectors by writing_ PART III. _of the present impression; the motto
of which may probably meet their approbation._
_It will be evident, on a slight inspection of the present edition,
that it is so much altered and enlarged as to assume the character of
a new_ work. _This has not been done without mature reflection; and a
long-cherished hope of making it permanently useful to a large class
of General Readers, as well as to Book-Collectors and Bibliographers._
_It appeared to me that notices of such truly valuable, and oftentimes
curious and rare, books, as the ensuing pages describe; but more
especially a_ Personal History of Literature, _in the characters of_
Collectors of Books; _had long been a desideratum even with classical
students: and in adopting the present form of publication, my chief
object was to relieve the dryness of a didactic style by the
introduction of_ Dramatis Personæ.
_The worthy Gentlemen, by whom the_ Drama _is conducted, may be
called, by some, merely wooden machines or_ pegs _to hang notes upon;
but I shall not be disposed to quarrel with any criticism which may be
passed upon their acting, so long as the greater part of the
information, to which their dialogue gives rise, may be thought
serviceable to the real interests of_ Literature _and_ Bibliography.
_If I had chosen to assume a more imposing air with the public, by
spinning out the contents of this closely-printed book into two or
more volumes--which might have been done without violating the
customary mode of publication--the expenses of the purchaser, and the
profits of the author, would have equally increased: but I was
resolved to bring forward as much matter as I could impart, in a
convenient and not inelegantly executed form; and, if my own
emoluments are less, I honestly hope the reader's advantage is
greater._
_The_ Engraved Ornaments of Portraits, Vignettes, and Borders, _were
introduced, as well to gratify the eyes of tasteful Bibliomaniacs, as
to impress, upon the minds of readers in general, a more vivid
recollection of some of those truly illustrious characters by whom
the_ HISTORY OF BRITISH LITERATURE _has been preserved._
_It remains only to add that the present work was undertaken to
relieve, in a great measure, the anguish of mind arising from a severe
domestic affliction; and if the voice of those whom we tenderly loved,
whether parent or_ child, _could be heard from the_ grave, _I trust it
would convey the sound of approbation for thus having filled a part of
the measure of that time which, every hour, brings us nearer to those
from whom we are separated._
_And now_, BENEVOLENT READER, _in promising thee as much amusement and
instruction as ever were offered in a single volume, of a nature like
to the present, I bid thee farewell in the language of_ Vogt,[2] _who
thus praises the subject of which we are about to treat:--"Quis non_
AMABILEM _eam laudabit_ INSANIAM, _quæ universæ rei litterariæ non
obfuit, sed profuit; historiæ litterariæ doctrinam insigniter
locupletavit; ingentemque exercitum voluminum, quibus alias aut in
remotiora Bibliothecarum publicarum scrinia commigrandum erat, aut
plane pereundum, a carceribus et interitu vindicavit, exoptatissimæque
luci et eruditorum usui multiplici felicitur restituit?"_
T.F.D.
_Kensington, March_ 25, 1811.
[Footnote 2: Catalogus Librorum Rariorum, præf. ix. edit.
1793.]
[Illustration]
CONTENTS.
PART I. THE EVENING WALK.
_On the right uses of Literature_ p. 3-20.
II. THE CABINET.
_Outline of Foreign and Domestic Bibliography_ p. 23-92.
III. THE AUCTION-ROOM.
_Character of Orlando. Of ancient Prices of Books,
and of Book-Binding. Book-Auction Bibliomaniacs_ p. 103-139.
IV. THE LIBRARY.
_Dr. Henry's History of Great Britain. A Game at
Chess. Of Monachism and Chivalry. Dinner at Lorenzo's.
Some Account of Book Collectors in England_ p. 143-207.
V. THE DRAWING ROOM.
_History of the Bibliomania, or Account of Book
Collectors, concluded_ p. 211-463.
VI. THE ALCOVE.
_Symptoms of the Disease called the Bibliomania.
Probable Means of its Cure_ p. 467-565.
SUPPLEMENT.
CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
GENERAL INDEX.
[Illustration: LUTHER.]
[Illustration: MELANCTHON.]
PUBLISHED BY THE PROPRIETOR (FOR THE NEW EDITION) OF THE REV. Dr.
DIBDINS BIBLIOMANIA, 1840.
[Illustration]
=The Bibliomania.=
MY DEAR SIR,
When the poetical Epistle of Dr. Ferriar, under the popular title of
"THE BIBLIOMANIA," was announced for publication, I honestly confess
that, in common with many of my book-loving acquaintance, a strong
sensation of fear and of hope possessed me: of fear, that I might have
been accused, however indirectly, of having contributed towards the
increase of this Mania; and of hope, that the true object of
book-collecting, and literary pursuits, might have been fully and
fairly developed. The perusal of this elegant epistle dissipated alike
my fears and my hopes; for, instead of caustic verses, and satirical
notes,[3] I found a smooth, melodious, and persuasive panegyric;
unmixed, however, with any rules for the choice of books, or the
regulation of study.
[Footnote 3: There are, nevertheless, some satirical
allusions which one could have wished had been suppressed.
For instance:
He turns where PYBUS rears his atlas-head
Or MADOC'S mass conceals its veins of lead;
What has Mr. Pybus's gorgeous book in praise of the late
Russian Emperor Paul I. (which some have called the
chef-d'oeuvre 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.
"The lettered fop now takes a larger scope,
With classic furniture, design'd by HOPE.
(HOPE, whom upholsterers eye with mute despair,
The doughty pedant of an elbow chair.")
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,
----[clarum et venerabile nomen
Gentibus, et multum nostræ quod proderat urbi]
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.]
[Footnote 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.]
To say that I was not gratified by the perusal of it would be a
confession contrary to the truth; but to say how ardently I
anticipated an amplification of the subject, how eagerly I looked
forward to a number of curious, apposite, and amusing anecdotes, and
found them not therein, is an avowal of which I need not fear the
rashness, when the known talents of the detector of Stern's
plagiarisms[4] are considered. I will not, however, disguise to you
that I read it with uniform delight, and that I rose from the perusal
with a keener appetite for
"The small, rare volume, black with tarnished gold."
_Dr. Ferriar's Ep._ v. 138.
[Footnote 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 [Transcriber's Note: Boiastuau]: see
vol. II. 143.]
Whoever undertakes to write down the follies which grow out of an
excessive attachment to any particular pursuit, be that pursuit
horses,[5] hawks, dogs, guns, snuff boxes,[6] old china, coins, or
rusty armour, may be thought to have little consulted the best means
of ensuring success for his labours, when he adopts the dull vehicle
of _Prose_ for the commnication [Transcriber's Note: communication] of
his ideas not considering that from _Poetry_ ten thousand bright
scintillations are struck off, which please and convince while they
attract and astonish. Thus when Pope talks of allotting for
"Pembroke[7] Statues, dirty Gods and Coins;
Rare monkish manuscripts for Hearne[8] alone;
And books to Mead[9] and butterflies to Sloane,"[10]
when he says that
These Aldus[11] printed, those Du S[=u]eil has bound[12]
moreover that
For Locke or Milton[13] 'tis in vain to look;
These shelves admit not any modern book;
he not only seems to illustrate the propriety of the foregoing
remark, by shewing the immense superiority of verse to prose, in
ridiculing reigning absurdities, but he seems to have had a pretty
strong foresight of the BIBLIOMANIA which rages at the present day.
However, as the ancients tell us that a Poet cannot be a
_manufactured_ creature, and as I have not the smallest pretensions
to the "rhyming art," [although in former times[14] I did venture to
dabble with it] I must of necessity have recourse to _Prose_; and, at
the same time, to your candour and forbearance in perusing the pages
which ensue.
[Footnote 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.
Where so ever ye fare by frith or by fell,
My dear child, take heed how Trystram do you tell.
How many manner beasts of Venery there were:
Listen to your dame and she shall you _lere_.
Four manner beasts of Venery there are.
The first of them is the _Hart_; the second is the _Hare_;
The _Horse_ is one of them; the _Wolf_; and not one _mo_.
Beasts of the Chace.
And where that ye come in plain or in place
I shall tell you which be beasts of enchace.
One of them is the _Buck_; another is the _Doe_;
The _Fox_; and the _Marteron_, and the wild _Roe_;
And ye shall see, my dear child, other beastes all:
Where so ye them find _Rascal_ ye shall them call.
Of the hunting of the Hare.
How to speke of the haare how all shall be wrought:
When she shall with houndes be founden and sought.
The fyrst worde to the ho[=u]dis that the hunter shall
out pit
Is at the kenell doore whan he openeth it.
That all maye hym here: he shall say "_Arere!_"
For his houndes would come to hastily.
That is the firste worde my sone of Venery.
And when he hath couplyed his houndes echoon
And is forth wyth theym to the felde goon,
And whan he hath of caste his couples at wyll
Thenne he shall speke and saye his houndes tyll
"_Hors de couple avant, sa avant!_" twyse soo:
And then "_So ho, so ho!_" thryes, and no moo.
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 [Transcriber's Note: is] 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.
"_Sh[=a]bb[=a]r N[=a]meh_, 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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 7_s._ or 10_s._, 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. 2_s._ 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,
Amicitiæ Ergo.
Here lyeth the Body of
THOMAS HEARNE, M.A.
Who studied and preserved
Antiquities.
He dyed June 10, 1735.
Aged 57 years.
Deut. xxxii: 7.
Remember the days of old;
consider the years
of many generations;
ask thy Father
and he will shew thee;
thy elders
and they will tell thee.
Job. viii. 8, 9, 10.
Enquire I pray thee."
_Life of Hearne_, p. 34.]
[Footnote 9: Of Dr. MEAD and his Library a particular
account is given in the following pages.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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!]
[Footnote 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. 3_s._ 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.]
[Footnote 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_!]
If ever there was a country upon the face of the globe--from the days
of Nimrod the beast, to Bagford[15] the book-hunter--distinguished for
the variety, the justness, and magnanimity of its views; if ever there
was a nation which really and unceasingly "felt for another's woe" [I
call to witness our Infirmaries, Hospitals, Asylums, and other public
and private Institutions of a charitable nature, that, like so many
belts of adamant, unite and strengthen us in the great cause of
HUMANITY]; if ever there was a country and a set of human beings
pre-eminently distinguished for all the social virtues which soften
and animate the soul of man, surely OLD ENGLAND and ENGLISHMEN ARE
THEY! The common cant, it may be urged, of all writers in favour of
the country where they chance to live! And what, you will say, has
this to do with Book Collectors and Books?--Much, every way: a nation
thus glorious is, at this present eventful moment, afflicted not only
with the Dog[16], but the BOOK, disease--
Fire in each eye, and paper in each hand
They rave, recite,----
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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_!]
Let us enquire, therefore, into the origin and tendency of the
BIBLIOMANIA.
In this enquiry I purpose considering the subject under three points
of view: I. THE HISTORY OF THE DISEASE; or an account of the eminent
men who have fallen victims to it: II. THE NATURE, OR SYMPTOMS OF THE
DISEASE: and III. THE PROBABLE MEANS OF ITS CURE. We are to consider,
then,
1. THE HISTORY OF THE DISEASE. In treating of the history of this
disease, it will be found to have been attended with this remarkable
circumstance; namely, that it has almost uniformly confined its
attacks to the _male_ sex, and, among these, to people in the higher
and middling classes of society, while the artificer, labourer, and
peasant have escaped wholly uninjured. It has raged chiefly in
palaces, castles, halls, and gay mansions; and those things which in
general are supposed not to be inimical to health, such as
cleanliness, spaciousness, and splendour, are only so many inducements
towards the introduction and propagation of the BIBLIOMANIA! What
renders it particularly formidable is that it rages in all seasons of
the year, and at all periods of human existence. The emotions of
friendship or of love are weakened or subdued as old age advances; but
the influence of this passion, or rather disease, admits of no
mitigation: "it grows with our growth, and strengthens with our
strength;" and is oft-times
----The ruling passion strong in death.[17]
[Footnote 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.]
We will now, my dear Sir, begin "making out the catalogue" of victims
to the BIBLIOMANIA! The first eminent character who appears to have
been infected with this disease was RICHARD DE BURY, one of the tutors
of Edward III., and afterwards Bishop of Durham; a man who has been
uniformly praised for the variety of his erudition, and the
intenseness of his ardour in book-collecting.[18] I discover no other
notorious example of the fatality of the BIBLIOMANIA until the time of
Henry VII.; when the monarch himself may be considered as having added
to the number. Although our venerable typographer, Caxton, lauds and
magnifies, with equal sincerity, the whole line of British Kings, from
Edward IV. to Henry VII. [under whose patronage he would seem, in some
measure, to have carried on his printing business], yet, of all these
monarchs, the latter alone was so unfortunate as to fall a victim to
this disease. His library must have been a magnificent one, if we may
judge from the splendid specimens of it which now remain.[19] It would
appear, too, that, about this time, the BIBLIOMANIA was increased by
the introduction of foreign printed books; and it is not very
improbable that a portion of Henry's immense wealth was devoted
towards the purchase of VELLUM copies, which were now beginning to be
published by the great typographical triumvirate, Verard, Eustace, and
Pigouchet.
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
During the reign of Henry VIII., I should suppose that the Earl of
Surrey[20] and Sir Thomas Wyatt were a little attached to
book-collecting; and that Dean Colet[21] and his friend Sir Thomas
More and Erasmus were downright Bibliomaniacs. There can be little
doubt but that neither the great LELAND[22] nor his Biographer
Bale,[23] were able to escape the contagion; and that, in the ensuing
period, Rogar [Transcriber's Note: Roger] Ascham became notorious for
the Book-disease. He purchased probably, during his travels
abroad[24] many a fine copy of the Greek and Latin Classics, from
which he read to his illustrious pupils, Lady Jane Grey, and Queen
Elizabeth: but whether he made use of an _Editio Princeps_, or a
_Large paper copy_, I have hitherto not been lucky enough to discover.
This learned character died in the vigour of life, and in the bloom
of reputation: and, as I suspect, in consequence of the
BIBLIOMANIA--for he was always collecting books, and always studying
them. His "Schoolmaster" is a work which can only perish with our
language.
[Footnote 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]]
[Footnote 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!]
[Footnote 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 [Transcriber's Note: than] _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?]
[Footnote 22: The history of this great men [Transcriber's
Note: man], 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.
Est congesta mihi domi supellex
Ingens, aurea, nobilis, venusta
Qua totus studeo Britanniarum
Vero reddere gloriam nitori.
Sed fortuna meis noverca coeptis
Jam felicibus invidet maligna.
Quare, ne pereant brevi vel hora
Multarum mihi noctium labores
Omnes----
CRANMERE, eximium decus piorum!
Implorare tuam benignitatem
Cogor.
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!]
[Footnote 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 12_s._ 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.]
[Footnote 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 [Transcriber's Note: friar] Carmelites house,
and heard their even song: after, I desired to see the
LIBRARY. A frier [Transcriber's Note: friar] 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!]
If we are to judge from the beautiful Missal lying open before Lady
Jane Grey, in Mr. Copley's elegant picture now exhibiting at the
British Institution, it would seem rational to infer that this amiable
and learned female was slightly attacked by the disease. It is to be
taken for granted that Queen Elizabeth was not exempt from it; and
that her great Secretary,[25] Cecil, sympathised with her! In regard
to Elizabeth, her _Prayer-Book_[26] is quite evidence sufficient for
me that she found the BIBLIOMANIA irresistible! During her reign, how
vast and how frightful were the ravages of the Book-madness! If we are
to credit Laneham's celebrated Letter, it had extended far into the
country, and infected some of the worthy inhabitants of Coventry; for
one "Captain Cox,[27] by profession a mason, and that right skilful,"
had "as fair a library of sciences, and as many goodly monuments both
in Prose and Poetry, and at afternoon could talk as much without book,
as any Innholder betwixt Brentford and Bagshot, what degree soever he
be!"
[Footnote 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.
----Famous Cicill, treasurer of the land,
Whose wisedom, counsell, skill of Princes state
The world admires----
The house itselfe doth shewe the owners wit,
And may for bewtie, state, and every thing,
Compared be with most within the land.
_Tale of Two Swannes_, 1590. 4_to._
I have never yet been able to ascertain whether the owner's
attachment towards VELLUM, or LARGE PAPER, Copies was the
more vehement!]
[Footnote 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?]
[Footnote 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.]
While the country was thus giving proofs of the prevalence of this
disorder, the two Harringtons (especially the younger)[28] and the
illustrious Spenser[29] were unfortunately seized with it in the
metropolis.
[Footnote 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 6_s._!!!]
[Footnote 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.]
In the seventeenth century, from the death of Elizabeth to the
commencement of Anne's reign, it seems to have made considerable
havoc; yet, such was our blindness to it that we scrupled not to
engage in overtures for the purchase of Isaac Vossius's[30] fine
library, enriched with many treasures from the Queen of Sweden's,
which this versatile genius scrupled not to pillage without confession
or apology. During this century our great reasoners and philosophers
began to be in motion; and, like the fumes of tobacco, which drive the
concealed and clotted insects from the interior to the extremity of
the leaves, the infectious particles of the BIBLIOMANIA set a thousand
busy brains a-thinking, and produced ten thousand capricious works,
which, over-shadowed by the majestic remains of Bacon, Locke, and
Boyle, perished for want of air, and warmth, and moisture.
[Footnote 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.]
The reign of Queen Anne was not exempt from the influence of this
disease; for during this period, Maittaire[31] began to lay the
foundation of his extensive library, and to publish some
bibliographical works which may be thought to have rather increased,
than diminished, its force. Meanwhile, Harley[32] Earl of Oxford
watched its progress with an anxious eye; and although he might have
learnt experience from the fatal examples of R. Smith,[33] and T.
Baker,[34] and the more recent ones of Thomas Rawlinson,[35]
Bridges,[36] and Collins,[37] yet he seemed resolved to brave and to
baffle it; but, like his predecessors, he was suddenly crushed within
the gripe of the demon, and fell one of the most splendid of his
victims. Even the unrivalled medical skill of Mead[38] could save
neither his friend nor himself. The Doctor survived his Lordship about
twelve years; dying of the complaint called the BIBLIOMANIA! He left
behind an illustrious character; sufficient to flatter and soothe
those who may tread in his footsteps, and fall victims to a similar
disorder.
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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:
VOLUMES.
1. Divinity: _Greek, Latin, French and Italian_--about 2000
---- _English_ 2500
2. History and Antiquities 4000
3. Books of Prints, Sculpture, and Drawings--
_Twenty Thousand Drawings and Prints._
_Ten Thousand Portraits._
4. Philosophy, Chemistry, Medicine, &c. 2500
5. Geography, Chronology, General History 600
6. Voyages and Travels 800
7. Law 800
8. Sculpture and Architecture 900
9. Greek and Latin Classics 2400
10. Books printed UPON VELLUM 220
11. English Poetry, Romances, &c. 1000
12. French and Spanish do. 700
13. Parliamentary Affairs 400
14. Trade and Commerce 300
15. Miscellaneous Subjects 4000
16. Pamphlets--_Four Hundred Thousand_!
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!]
[Footnote 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!]
[Footnote 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!]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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:
The Amount of the books £3730 0 0
Prints and books of Prints 394 17 6
-----------
Total Amount of the Sale £4124 17 6
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--[Greek: Dryos pesousês pas anêr xyleuetai]: "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."]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.
His books produced £5496 15 0
Pictures 3417 11 0
Prints and drawings 1908 14 0
Coins and medals 1977 17 0
Antiquities 3246 15 0
--------------
Amount of all the sales £16,047 12 0
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
14_s._ and was sold again at his sale for £36 15_s._ The
King of France bought the editio princeps of _Pliny Senr._
for £11 11_s._; and Mr. Willock, a bookseller, bought the
magnificently illuminated _Pliny by Jenson_ of 1472, for £18
18_s._: 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.]
The years 1755-6 were singularly remarkable for the mortality excited
by the BIBLIOMANIA; and the well known names of Folkes,[39] and
Rawlinson,[40] might have supplied a modern Holbein a hint for the
introduction of a new subject in the "_Dance of Death_." The close of
George the Second's reign witnessed another instance of the fatality
of this disease. Henley[41] "bawled till he was hoarse" against the
cruelty of its attack; while his library has informed posterity how
severely and how mortally he suffered from it.
[Footnote 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 2_s._: de Lastanosa's Spanish Medals, Huesca,
fol. 1645, £2 2_s._
In _English_, the first edition of Shakespeare, 1623, which
is now what a French bibliographer would say "presque
introuvable," produced the sum of £3 3_s._; and Fuller's
Worthies, 18_s._!
_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
13_s._ only: Desgodetz Roman edifices, Paris, 1682, £4
10_s._: Galleria Giustiniano, 2 vols., fol. £13 13_s._ Le
Brun's Voyages in Muscovy, &c., in large paper, £4 4_s._ De
Rossi's Raccolta de Statue, &c. Rom. 1704, £6 10_s._
Medailles du Regne de Louis le Grand, de l'imp. Roy. 1. p.
fol. 1702, £5 15_s._ 6_d._
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 11_s._ and £7 17_s._
6_d._ 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 5_s._
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."]
[Footnote 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 1_s._ 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:
£ _s._ _d._
The Newe Testament in English, 1530 0 2 9
The Ymage of both Churches, after the Revelation
of St. John, by Bale, 1550 0 1 6
The boke called the Pype or Tonne of Perfection,
by Richard Whytforde, 1532 0 1 9
The Visions of Pierce Plowman, 1561 0 2 0
The Creede of Pierce Plowman, 1553 0 1 6
The Bookes of Moses, in English, 1530 0 3 9
Bale's Actes of Englishe Votaryes, 1550 0 1 3
The Boke of Chivalrie, by Caxton 0 11 0
The Boke of St. Albans, by W. de Worde 1 1 0
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.]
[Footnote 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.]
We are now, my dear Sir, descending rapidly to our own times; and, in
a manner sufficiently rough, have traced the _History of the
Bibliomania_ to the commencement of the present illustrious reign:
when we discover, among its victims, a General, who had probably
faced many a cannon, and stormed many a rampart, uninjured. The name
of Dormer[42] will remind you of the small but choice library which
affords such a melancholy proof of its owners' fate; while the more
splendid examples of Smith[43] and West[44] serve to shew the
increased ravages of a disease, which seemed to threaten the lives of
all, into whose ears (like those of "Visto,") some demon had
"whispered" the sound of "TASTE." These three striking instances of
the fatality of the Bibliomania occurred--the first in the year 1764;
and the latter in 1773. The following year witnessed the sale of the
Fletewode[45] library; so that nothing but despair and havoc appeared
to move in the train of this pestiferous malady. In the year 1775 died
the famous Dr. Anthony Askew, another illustrious victim to the
Bibliomania. Those who recollect the zeal and scholarship of this
great book-collector, and the precious gems with which his library[46]
was stored from the cabinets of De Boze and Gaignat, as well as of
Mead and Folkes, cannot but sigh with grief of heart on the thought
of such a victim! How ardently, and how kindly [as I remember to have
heard his friend Dr. Burges say], would Askew unfold his glittering
stores--open the magnificent folio, or the shining duodecimo, UPON
VELLUM, embossed and fast held together with golden knobs and silver
clasps! How carefully would he unroll the curious MS.--decipher the
half effaced characters--and then, casting an eye of ecstacy over the
shelves upon which similar treasures were lodged, exult in the
glittering prospect before him! But death--who, as Horace tells us,
raps equally at the palaces of kings and cottages of peasants, made
no scruple to exercise the knocker of the Doctor's door, and sent, as
his avant-courier, THIS DEPLORABLE MANIA! It appeared; and even Askew,
with all his skill in medicine and books, fell lifeless before
it--bewailed, as he was beloved and respected!
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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 [Transcriber's Note:
Schoolmaster], 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!]
[Footnote 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!
No. 172. _Bale's brefe Chronycle relating to Syr Johan
Oldecastell_, 1544. The Life off the 70th Archbishopp off
Canterbury presentleye sittinge, 1574, &c. Life of Hen.
Hills, Printer to O. Cromwell, _with the Relation of what
passed between him and the Taylor's Wife in Black Friars_,
1688, _&c._ £0 7_s._ 9_d._
Purchased by Mores.
Nos. 361 to 367. Upwards of thirty _scarce Theological
Tracts_, in Latin and English 1 5 0
Nos. 746 to 784. A fine collection of early English
Translations, in black letter, with some good foreign
editions of the classics. Not exceeding, in the whole 10 10 0
Nos. 837, 838. Two copies of the _first edition_ of Bacon's
Essays, 1597! 0 0 6
The reader will just glance at No. 970, in the catalogue,
en passant, to
Nos. 1082 (£1 2s.) and 1091 (12s.); but more particularly to
No. 1173. Caxton's _Boke of Tulle of olde age_, &c. 1481.
Purchased by the late Mr. T. Payne 8 8 0
No. 1174. CAXTON'S _Boke which is sayd or called Cathon_,
&c. 1483. 5 0 0
Purchased by Alchorn.
No. 1256. CAXTON'S _Doctrinal of Sapyence_, 1489 6 6 0
Purchased by Alchorn.
No. 1257. CAXTON'S _Cordyal_, 1479 6 12 6
No. 1258. WYNKYN DE WORDE'S _Ocharde of Syon_, &c. 1519. 1 13 0
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.]
[Footnote 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!
No. 168. Chaucer's Works, by PYNSON, no date £7 17_s._ 6_d._
No. 172. Cicero of Old Age, by Caxton, 1481 13 13 0
No. 518. Gilles' (Nicole) Annales, &c. de France. Paris,
fol. 1520. 2 tom. SUR VELIN 31 10 6
No. 647. Æginetæ (Pauli) Præcepta Salubria. Paris, quarto,
1510. ON VELLUM 11 0 0
No. 666. Æsopi Fabulæ. EDIT. PRIN. _circ._ 1480 6 6 0
No. 684. Boccacio, la Teseide _Ferar._ 1475. PRIMA EDIZIONE
85 0 0
No. 1433. Catullus Tibullus, et Propertius, Aldi. 8vo. 1502.
IN MEMBRANA 17 10 0
This copy was purchased by the late Mr. M.C. Cracherode, and
is now, with his library, in the British Museum. It is a
beautiful book, but cannot be compared with Lord Spencer's
Aldine VELLUM Virgil, of the same size.
No. 1576. Durandi Rationale, &c. 1459. IN MEMBRANA 61 0 0
The beginning of the 1st chapter was wanting. Lord Spencer
has a perfect copy of this rare book on spotless VELLUM!
No. 2656. Platonis Opera, apud Aldum. 2 vol. fol. 1513.
_Edit. Prin._ ON VELLUM 55 13 0
Purchased by the late Dr. W. Hunter; and is at this moment,
in his Museum at _Glasgow_. The reader who has not seen them
can have no idea of the beauty of these vellum leaves. The
ink is of the finest lustre, and the whole typographical
arrangement may be considered a master-piece of printing.
Lord Oxford told Dr. Mead that he gave 100 guineas for this
very copy.]
After this melancholy event, one would have thought that future
_Virtuosi_ would have barricadoed their doors, and fumigated their
chambers, to keep out such a pest;--but how few are they who profit by
experience, even when dearly obtained! The subsequent history of the
disease is a striking proof of the truth of this remark; for the
madness of book-collecting rather increased--and the work of death
still went on. In the year 1776 died John Ratcliffe[47] another, and
a very singular, instance of the fatality of the BIBLIOMANIA. If he
had contented himself with his former occupation, and frequented the
butter and cheese, instead of the book, market--if he could have
_fancied himself_ in a brown peruke, and Russian apron, instead of an
embroidered waistcoat, velvet breeches, and flowing perriwig, he
might, perhaps, have enjoyed greater longevity; but, infatuated by the
Caxtons and Wynkyn De Wordes of Fletewode and of West, he fell into
the snare; and the more he struggled to disentangle himself, the more
certainly did he become a prey to the disease.
[Footnote 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.
No. 1315. Horace's Arte of Poetrie, Pistles and Satyres, by
Drant. 1567, _first English edition_ £0 16_s._ 6_d._
No. 1321. The Sheparde's Calender, 1579. Whetstone's Castle
of Delight, 1576 1 2 0
No. 1392. The Pastyme of the People, printed by Rastell.
Curious wood cuts. A copy of this book is not now to be
procured. I have known £40 offered for it, and rejected with
disdain 7 7 0
No. 1403. Barclay's Shyp of Folys, printed by Pynson, 1508,
_first edit._ fine copy 2 10 0
No. 1426. The Doctrinal of Sapyence, printed by CAXTON, 1489
8 8 0
No. 1427. The Boke, called Cathon, DITTO, 1483. _Purchased
by Dr. Hunter_, and now in his Museum 5 5 0
No. 1428. The Polytyque Boke, named Tullius de Senectute, in
Englishe, by CAXTON, 1481. _Purchased for his Majesty_ 14 0 0
No. 1429. The Game of Chesse Playe. 1474 16 0 0
No. 1665. The Boke of Jason, printed by CAXTON 5 10 0
No. 1669. The Polychronicon of Ranulph Higden, printed by
CAXTON, 1482. _Purchased by Dr. Hunter_ 5 15 6
No. 1670. Legenda Aurea, or the Golden Legende 1483 9 15 0
No. 1674. Mr. Ratcliffe's MS. Catalogues of the _rare old
black letter_, and other curious and uncommon books, 4 vols.
7 15 0
This would have been the most delicious article to _my_
palate. If the present owner of it were disposed to part
with it, I could not find it in my heart to refuse him
_compound interest_ for his money. As is the wooden
frame-work to the bricklayer in the construction of his
arch, so might Mr. Ratcliffe's MS. Catalogues be to me in
the compilation of a certain _magnum opus_!
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.]
Thirty years have been considered by Addison (somewhere in his
Spectator) as a pretty accurate period for the passing away of one
generation and the coming on of another. We have brought down our
researches to within a similar period of the present times; but, as
Addison has not made out the proofs of such assertion, and as many of
the relatives and friends of those who have fallen victims to the
BIBLIOMANIA, since the days of Ratcliffe, may yet be alive; moreover,
as it is the part of humanity not to tear open wounds which have been
just closed, or awaken painful sensibilities which have been well nigh
laid to rest; so, my dear Sir, in giving you a further account of this
fatal disorder, I deem it the most prudent method _not to expatiate_
upon the subsequent examples of its mortality. We can only mourn over
such names as BEAUCLERK, CROFTS, PEARSON, LORT, MASON, FARMER,
STEEVENS, WOODHOUSE, BRAND, and REED! and fondly hope that the list
may not be increased by those of living characters!
We are, in the SECOND place, to describe the SYMPTOMS OF THE DISEASE.
The ingenious Peignot, in the first volume of his 'Dictionnaire
Bibliologie,' p. 51, defines the Bibliomania[48] to be "a passion for
possessing books; not so much to be instructed by them, as to gratify
the eye by looking on them. He who is affected by this mania knows
books only by their titles and dates, and is rather seduced by the
exterior than interior"! This is, perhaps, too general and vague a
definition to be of much benefit in the knowledge, and consequent
prevention, of the disease: let us, therefore, describe it more
certainly and intelligibly.
[Footnote 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."]
Symptoms of this disease are instantly known by a passion for I.
_Large Paper Copies_: II. _Uncut Copies_: III. _Illustrated Copies_:
IV. _Unique Copies_: V. _Copies printed upon Vellum_: VI. _First
Editions_: VII. _True Editions_: VIII. _A general desire for the Black
Letter_. We will describe these symptoms more particularly.
I. _Large Paper Copies._ These are a certain set or limited number of
the work printed in a superior manner, both in regard to ink and press
work, on paper of a larger size, and better quality, than the ordinary
copies. Their price is enhanced in proportion to their beauty and
rarity. In the note below[49] are specified a few works which have
been published in this manner, that the sober collector may avoid
approaching them.
[Footnote 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?!]
This[50] symptom of the Bibliomania is, at the present day, both
general and violent, and threatens to extend still more widely. Even
modern publications are not exempt from its calamitous influence; and
when Mr. Miller, the bookseller, told me with what eagerness the large
paper copies of Lord Valentia's Travels were bespoke, and Mr. Evans
shewed me that every similar copy of his new edition of "Burnett's
History of his own Times" was disposed of, I could not help elevating
my eyes and hands, in token of commiseration at the prevalence of
this Symptom of the BIBLIOMANIA!
[Footnote 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!]
II. _Uncut Copies._ Of all the symptoms of the Bibliomania, this is
probably the most extraordinary. It may be defined as a passion to
possess books of which the edges have never been sheared by the
binder's tools. And here, my dear Sir, I find myself walking upon
doubtful ground;--your UNCUT HEARNES rise up in "rough majesty" before
me, and almost "push me from my stool." Indeed, when I look around in
my book-lined tub, I cannot but be conscious that this symptom of the
disorder has reached my own threshold; but when it is known that a few
of my bibliographical books are left with the edges uncut _merely to
please my friends_ (as one must sometimes study their tastes and
appetites as well as one's own), I trust that no very serious
conclusions will be drawn about the probable fatality of my own case.
As to uncut copies, although their inconvenience [an uncut lexicon to
wit!] and deformity must be acknowledged, and although a rational man
can want for nothing better than a book _once well bound_, yet we find
that the extraordinary passion for collecting them not only obtains
with full force, but is attended with very serious consequences to
those "qui n'ont point des pistoles" (to borrow the language of
Clement; vol. vi. p. 36). I dare say an uncut _first Shakspeare_, as
well as an uncut _first Homer_[51] would produce a little annuity!
[Footnote 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.]
III. _Illustrated Copies._ A passion for books illustrated or adorned
with numerous prints, representing characters or circumstances
mentioned in the work, is a very general and violent symptom of the
Bibliomania, which has been known chiefly within the last half
century. The origin, or first appearance, of this symptom has been
traced by some to the publication of Granger's "Biographical History
of England;" but whoever will be at the pains of reading the preface
of this work will see that Granger sheltered himself under the
authorities of Evelyn, Ashmole, and others; and that he alone is not
to be considered as responsible for all the mischief which this
passion for collecting prints has occasioned. Granger, however, was
the first who introduced it in the form of a treatise, and surely "in
an evil hour" was this treatise published--although its amiable author
must be acquitted of "malice prepense." His History of England[52]
seems to have sounded the tocsin for a general rummage after, and
slaughter of, old prints: venerable philosophers and veteran heroes,
who had long reposed in unmolested dignity within the magnificent
folio volumes which recorded their achievements, were instantly
dragged from their peaceful abodes to be inlaid by the side of some
spruce, modern engraving, within an ILLUSTRATED GRANGER! Nor did the
madness stop here. Illustration was the order of the day; and
Shakspeare[53] and Clarendon[54] became the next objects of its
attack. From these it has glanced off in a variety of directions, to
adorn the pages of humbler wights; and the passion, or rather this
symptom of the Bibliomania,[55] yet rages with undiminished force. If
judiciously[56] treated, it is, of all the symptoms, the least liable
to mischief. To possess a series of well executed portraits of
illustrious men, at different periods of their lives, from blooming
boyhood to phlegmatic old age, is sufficiently amusing[57]; but to
possess _every_ portrait, _bad, indifferent, and unlike_, betrays
such a dangerous and alarming symptom as to render the case almost
incurable!
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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!"]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
There is another mode of illustrating copies by which this symptom of
the Bibliomania may be known: it consists in bringing together, from
different works, [by means of the scissors, or otherwise by
transcription] every page or paragraph which has any connection with
the character or subject under discussion. This is a useful and
entertaining mode of illustrating a favourite author; and copies of
works of this nature, when executed by skilful[58] hands, should be
preserved in public repositories. I almost ridiculed the idea of an
ILLUSTRATED CHATTERTON, in this way, till I saw Mr. Haslewood's copy,
in twenty-one volumes, which rivetted me to my seat!
[Footnote 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.]
IV. _Unique Copies._ A passion for a book which has any peculiarity
about it, by either, or both, of the foregoing methods of
illustration--or which is remarkable for its size, beauty, and
condition--is indicative of a rage for _unique copies_, and is
unquestionably a strong prevailing symptom of the Bibliomania. Let me
therefore urge every sober and cautious collector not to be fascinated
by the terms "_Matchless, and Unique_;" which, "in slim Italicks" (to
copy Dr. Ferriar's happy expression) are studiously introduced into
Bookseller's catalogues to lead the unwary astray. Such a Collector
may fancy himself proof against the temptation; and will, in
consequence, _call only to look at_ this unique book, or set of books;
but, when he views the morocco binding, silk water-tabby lining,
blazing gilt edges--when he turns over the white and spotless
leaves--gazes on the amplitude of margin--on a rare and lovely print
introduced--and is charmed with the soft and coaxing manner in which,
by the skill of Herring or Mackinlay,[59] "leaf succeeds to leaf"--he
can no longer bear up against the temptation--and, confessing himself
vanquished, purchases, and retreats--exclaiming with Virgil's
shepherd--
Ut vidi, ut perii--ut me malus abstulit error!
[Footnote 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_!]
V. _Copies printed on vellum._ A desire for works printed in this
manner is an equally strong and general symptom of the Bibliomania;
but as these works are rarely to be obtained of modern[60] date, the
collector is obliged to have recourse to specimens, executed three
centuries ago, in the printing-offices of Aldus, Verard, and the
Juntæ. Although the Bibliothéque Imperiale, at Paris, and the library
of Count Macarty, at Toulouse, are said to contain the greatest number
of books printed upon vellum, yet, those who have been fortunate
enough to see copies of this kind in the libraries of his Majesty, the
Duke of Marlborough, Earl Spencer, Mr. Johnes, and the late Mr.
Cracherode (now in the British Museum), need not travel on the
Continent for the sake of being convinced of their exquisite beauty
and splendour. Mr. Edward's _unique_ copy (he will forgive the
epithet) of the first Livy, upon vellum, is a Library of itself!--and
the recent discovery of a vellum copy of Wynkyn De Worde's reprint of
_Juliana Barnes's book_,[61] complete in every respect, [to say
nothing of his Majesty's similar copy of Caxton's _Doctrinal of
Sapience_, 1489, in the finest preservation] are, to be sure,
sufficient demonstrations of the prevalence of this symptom of the
Bibliomania in the times of our forefathers; so that it cannot be
said, as some have asserted, to have appeared entirely within the last
half century.
[Footnote 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:
NO. £ _s._ _d._
250. Virgilii Opera, 1789, 4to. 33 12 0
251. Somervile's Chase, 1796, 4to. 15 4 6
252. Poems by Goldsmith and Parnell, 1795, 4to. 15 15 0
253. The Gardens, by Abbé Delille, 1798, 4to. 14 3 6
254. Castle of Otranto, printed by Bodoni, 1791, 4to. 13 2 6
260. La Guirlande Julie, 1784, 8vo. 37 17 6
263. Economy of Human Life, 1795, 8vo. 15 15 0
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.]
[Footnote 61: See page 5, ante, for some account of this
curious work.]
VI. _First Editions._ From the time of Ancillon[62] to Askew, there
has been a very strong desire expressed for the possession of original
or first published editions of works, as they are in general
superintended and corrected by the author himself; and, like the first
impressions of prints, are considered more valuable. Whoever is
possessed with a passion for collecting books of this kind may
unquestionably be said to exhibit a strong symptom of the Bibliomania;
but such a case is not quite hopeless, nor is it deserving of severe
treatment or censure. All bibliographers have dwelt on the importance
of these editions, for the sake of collation with subsequent ones, and
detecting, as is frequently the case, the carelessness displayed by
future[63] editors. Of such importance is the _first edition of
Shakspeare_[64] considered, that a fac-simile reprint of it has been
published with success. In regard to the Greek and Latin Classics, the
possession of these original editions is of the first consequence to
editors who are anxious to republish the legitimate text of an author.
Wakefield, I believe always regretted that the first edition of
Lucretius had not been earlier inspected by him. When he began _his_
edition, the Editio Princeps was not (as I have understood) in the
library of Earl Spencer--the storehouse of almost every thing that is
exquisite and rare in ancient classical literature!
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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--
----lay on Macduff!
And d----d be he who first cries, 'Hold, enough!'
Such a spirit was irresistible, and bore down all
opposition. His Grace retired triumphant, with the book
under his arm.]
It must not, however, be forgotten that if first editions are, in some
instances, of great importance, they are in many respects superfluous,
and an incumbrance to the shelves of a collector; inasmuch as the
labours of subsequent editors have corrected their errors, and
superseded, by a great fund of additional matter, the necessity of
consulting them. Thus, not to mention other instances (which present
themselves while noticing the present one), all the fine things which
Colomiés and Remannus have said about the rarity of La Croix du
Maine's Bibliotheque, published in 1584, are now unnecessary to be
attended to, since the ample and excellent edition of this work by De
La Monnoye and Juvigny, in six quarto volumes, 1772, has appeared. Nor
will any one be tempted to hunt for Gesner's Bibliotheca of 1545-8,
whatever may be its rarity, who has attended to Morhof's and Vogt's
recommendation of the last and best edition of 1583.
VII. _True Editions._ Some copies of a work are struck off with
deviations from the usually received ones, and, though these
deviations have neither sense nor beauty to recommend them, [and
indeed are principally _defects_] yet copies of this description are
eagerly sought after by collectors of a certain class! This particular
pursuit may therefore be called another, or the seventh, symptom of
the Bibliomania. The note below [65] will furnish the reader with a
few anecdotes relating to it.
[Footnote 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.]
VIII. Books printed in the _Black Letter_. Of all symptoms of the
Bibliomania, this eighth symptom (and the last which I shall notice)
is at present the most powerful and prevailing. Whether it was not
imported into this country from Holland, by the subtlety of
Schelhorn[66] (a knowing writer upon rare and curious books) may be
shrewdly suspected. Whatever be its origin, certain it is, my dear
Sir, that books printed in the black letter are now coveted with an
eagerness unknown to our collectors in the last century. If the
spirits of West, Ratcliffe, Farmer and Brand, have as yet held any
intercourse with each other, in that place 'from whose bourne no
traveller returns,' what must be the surprise of the three former, on
being told by the latter, of the prices given for some of the books in
his library, as mentioned below!?[67]
[Footnote 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 _Amoenitates Literariæ_,
vol. i., p. 5.]
[Footnote 67:
282. A Boke of Fishing with Hooke and Line, A Boke of
Engines and Traps to take Polcats, Buzzards, Rats, Mice, and
all other Kinds of Vermine and Beasts whatsoever, with cuts,
very rare, 1600 £3 3_s._ 0_d._
454. A Quip for an upstart Courtier; or, a quaint Dispute
between Velvet Breeches and Cloth Breeches, &c. 1620 2 16 0
475. A Checke, or Reproof of Mr. Howlet's untimely
screeching in her Majesty's Ear. _Black letter_ 1581 0 12 0
As a _striking conclusion_, I subjoin the following.
6479. Pappe with an Hatchett, _alias_, a Fig for my
Godsonne, or crake me this Nutt, or, a Countrie Cuffe, that
is a sound Box of the Eare for the Idiot Martin, to hold his
Peace: seeing the Patch will take no warning; written by one
that dares call a Dog a Dog. _Rare._ Printed by Anoke and
Astile 1 8 0]
A perusal of these articles may probably not impress the reader with
any lofty notions of the superiority of the black letter; but this
symptom of the Bibliomania is, nevertheless, not to be considered as
incurable, or wholly unproductive of good. Under a proper spirit of
modification it has done, and will continue to do, essential service
to the cause of English literature. It guided the taste, and
strengthened the judgment, of Tyrwhitt in his researches after
Chaucerian lore. It stimulated the studies of Farmer and of Steevens,
and enabled them to twine many a beauteous flower round the brow of
their beloved Shakespeare. It has since operated, to the same effect,
in the labours of Mr. Douce,[68] the _Porson_ of old English and
French literature; and in the editions of Milton and Spenser, by my
amiable and excellent friend Mr. Todd the public have had a specimen
of what the _Black Letter_ may perform, when temperately and skilfully
exercised.
[Footnote 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!]
I could bring to your recollection other instances; but your own
copious reading and exact memory will better furnish you with them.
Let me not however omit remarking that the beautiful pages of the
_Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, and Sir Trestrem_, exhibit, in the
notes [now and then thickly studded with black letter references], a
proof that the author of "The Lay" and "Marmion" has not disdained to
enrich his stores of information by such intelligence as black
lettered books impart. In short, though this be also a strong and
general symptom of the Bibliomania, it is certainly not attended with
injurious effects when regulated by prudence and discretion. An
undistinguishable voracious appetite, to swallow every thing printed
in the black letter can only bring on inconquerable disease, if not
death, to the patient!
Having in the two preceding divisions of this letter discoursed
somewhat largely upon the HISTORY and SYMPTOMS of the Bibliomania, it
now remains, according to the original plan, to say a few words upon
the PROBABLE MEANS OF ITS CURE. And, indeed, I am driven to this view
of the subject from every laudable motive; for it would be highly
censurable to leave any reflecting mind impressed with melancholy
emotions concerning the misery and mortality that have been occasioned
by the abuse of those pursuits, to which the most soothing and
important considerations ought to be attached. Far from me, and my
friends, be such a cruel, if not criminal, conduct; let us then, my
dear Sir, seriously discourse upon the
III. PROBABLE MEANS OF THE CURE of the Bibliomania. _He_ will surely
be numbered among the philanthropists of his day who has, more
successfully than myself, traced and described the ravages of this
disease, and fortified the sufferer with the means of its cure. But,
as this is a disorder of quite a recent date, and as its
characteristics, in consequence, cannot be yet fully known or
described, great candour must be allowed to that physician who offers
a prescription for so obscure and complicated a case. It is in vain
that you search the works [ay, even the best editions] of Hippocrates
and Galen for a description of this malady; nor will you find it
hinted at in the more philosophical treatises of Sydenham and
Heberden. It had, till the medical skill of Dr. Ferriar first noticed
it to the public, escaped the observations of all our pathologists.
With a trembling hand, and fearful apprehension, therefore, I throw
out the following suggestions for the cure, or mitigatiou
[Transcriber's Note: mitigation], of this disorder:
In _the first place_, the disease of the Bibliomania is materially
softened, or rendered mild, by directing our studies to _useful and
profitable_ works--whether these be printed upon small or large paper,
in the gothic, roman, or italic type; To consider purely the
_intrinsic_ excellence, and not the exterior splendour, or
adventitious value, of any production, will keep us perhaps wholly
free from this disease. Let the midnight lamp be burnt to illuminate
the stores of antiquity--whether they be romances, or chronicles, or
legends, and whether they be printed by Aldus or by Caxton--if a
brighter lustre can thence be thrown upon the pages of modern
learning! To trace genius to its source, or to see how she has been
influenced or modified, by "the lore of past times" is both a pleasing
and profitable pursuit. To see how Shakspeare has here and there
plucked a flower, from some old ballad or popular tale, to enrich his
own unperishable garland--to follow Spenser and Milton in their
delightful labyrinths 'midst the splendour of Italian literature--are
studies which stamp a dignity upon our intellectual characters! But,
in such a pursuit let us not overlook the wisdom of modern times, nor
fancy that what is only ancient can be excellent. We must remember
that Bacon, Boyle, Locke, Taylor, Chillingworth, Robertson, Hume,
Gibbon, and Paley, are names which always command attention from the
wise, and remind us of the improved state of reason and acquired
knowledge during the two last centuries.
In the _second place_, the re-printing of scarce and intrinsically
valuable works is another means of preventing the propagation of this
disorder. Amidst all our present sufferings under the BIBLIOMANIA, it
is some consolation to find discerning and spirited booksellers
re-publishing the valuable Chronicles of Froissart, Holinshed, and
Hall,[69] and the collections known by the names of "The Harleïan
Miscellany," and "Lord Somer's Tracts." These are noble efforts, and
richly deserve the public patronage.
[Footnote 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.]
In the _third place_, the editing of our best ancient authors, whether
in prose or poetry,[70] is another means of effectually counteracting
the progress of the Bibliomania, as it has been described under its
several symptoms.
[Footnote 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_.]
In the _fourth place_, the erecting of Public Institutions[71] is a
very powerful antidote against the prevalence of several symptoms of
this disease.
[Footnote 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!]
In the _fifth place_, the encouragement of the study of
Bibliography,[72] in its legitimate sense, and towards its true
object, may be numbered among the most efficacious cures for this
destructive malady. To place competent Librarians over the several
departments of a large public Library, or to submit a library, on a
more confined scale, to one diligent, enthusiastic, well informed,
well bred, Bibliographer[73] or Librarian, [of which in this
metropolis we have so many examples] is doing a vast deal towards
directing the channels of literature to flow in their proper courses.
[Footnote 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 [Transcriber's Note: nullement]
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.]
[Footnote 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.]
Thus briefly and guardedly have I thrown out a few suggestions, which
may enable us to avoid, or mitigate the severity of, the disease
called THE BIBLIOMANIA. Happy indeed shall I deem myself, if, in the
description of its symptoms, and in the recommendation of the means of
cure, I may have snatched any one from a premature grave, or lightened
the load of years that are yet to cone [Transcriber's Note: come]!
You, my dear Sir, who, in your observations upon society, as well as
in your knowledge of ancient times, must have met with numerous
instances of the miseries which "flesh is heir to," may be disposed
perhaps to confess that, of all species of afflictions, _the present
one_ under consideration has the least moral turpitude attached to it.
True, it may be so: for, in the examples which have been adduced,
there will be found neither Suicides, nor Gamesters, nor Profligates.
No woman's heart has been broken from midnight debaucheries: no
marriage vow has been violated: no child has been compelled to pine in
poverty or neglect: no patrimony has been wasted, and no ancestor's
fame tarnished! If men have erred under the influence of this disease,
their aberrations have been marked with an excess arising from
intellectual fevour, and not from a desire of baser gratifications.
If, therefore, in the wide survey which a philosopher may take of the
"Miseries of Human life"[74] the prevalence of this disorder may
appear to be less mischievous than that of others, and, if some of the
most amiable and learned of mortals seemed to have been both
unwilling, as well as unable, to avoid its contagion, you will
probably feel the less alarmed if symptoms of it should appear within
the sequestered abode of Hodnet![75] Recollecting that even in remoter
situations its influence has been felt--and that neither the pure
atmosphere of Hafod nor of Sledmere[76] has completely subdued its
power--you will be disposed to exclaim with violence, at the intrusion
of Bibliomaniacs--
What walls can guard me, or what shades can hide?
They pierce my thickets, through my grot they glide!
By land, by water, they renew the charge,
They stop the chariot, and they board the barge.[77]
[Footnote 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_."]
[Footnote 75: _Hodnet Hall_, Shropshire. The country
residence of Mr. Heber.]
[Footnote 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, Phoenix-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.]
[Footnote 77: Pope's "_Prologue to the Satires_," v. 7-10.]
Upon the whole, therefore, attending closely to the symptoms of this
disorder as they have been described, and practising such means of
cure as have been recommended, we may rationally hope that its
virulence may abate, and the number of its victims annually diminish.
But if the more discerning part of the community anticipate a
different result, and the preceding observations appear to have
presented but a narrow and partial view of the mischiefs of the
BIBLIOMANIA, my only consolation is that to advance _something_ upon
the subject is better than to preserve a sullen and invincible
silence. Let it be the task of more experienced bibliographers to
correct and amplify the foregoing outline!
Believe me, My dear Sir,
Very sincerely Yours, &c.
THOMAS FROGNALL DIBBIN [Transcriber's Note: DIBDIN].
_Kensington, May_ 16, 1809.
POSTSCRIPT.
On re-considering what has been written, it has struck me that a
SYNOPSIS of this disease, after the manner of BURTON, as prefixed to
his _Anatomy of Melancholy_, may be useful to some future pathologist.
The reader is, accordingly, presented with the following one:
SYNOPSIS.
Page.
{ I. HISTORY of; or an account of eminent Book
{ Collectors who have fallen victims to it 12
T {
H { II. SYMPTOMS OF; { 1. Large Paper Copies 44
E { being a passion for { 2. Uncut Copies 46
{ { 3. Illustrated Copies 47
B { { 4. Unique Copies 49
I { { 5. Vellum Copies 51
B { { 6. First Editions 52
L { { 7. True Editions 54
I { { 8. Black Letter Editions 56
O {
M { III. CURE OF { 1. Reading useful works 56
A { { 2. Reprints of scarce and
N { { valuable works _ib._
I { { 3. Editing our best ancient
A { { Writers 60
. { { 4. Erecting of Public
{ { Institutions _ib._
{ { 5. Encouragement of
{ { Bibliography _ib._
PART I.
=The Evening Walk.=
ON THE RIGHT USES OF LITERATURE.
Rede well thyselfe that other folke can'st rede.
CHAUCER'S _Good Counsail_.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
=The Evening Walk.=
ON THE RIGHT USES OF LITERATURE.
It was on a fine autumnal evening, when the sun was setting serenely
behind a thick copse upon a distant hill, and his warm tints were
lighting up a magnificent and widely-extended landscape, that,
sauntering 'midst the fields, I was meditating upon the various
methods of honourably filling up the measure of our existence; when I
discovered, towards my left, a messenger running at full speed towards
me. The abruptness of his appearance, and the velocity of his step,
somewhat disconcerted me; but on his near approach my apprehensions
were dissipated.
I knew him to be the servant of my old college friend, whom I chuse
here to denominate LYSANDER. He came to inform me, in his blunt and
honest manner, that his master had just arrived with PHILEMON, our
common friend; and that, as they were too fatigued with their journey
to come out to me, they begged I would quickly enter the house, and,
as usual, make them welcome. This intelligence afforded me the
liveliest satisfaction. In fifteen minutes, after a hearty shaking of
hands, I was seated with them in the parlour; all of us admiring the
unusual splendour of the evening sky, and, in consequence, partaking
of the common topics of conversation with a greater flow of spirits.
"You are come, my friends," said I (in the course of conversation),
"to make some stay with me--indeed, I cannot suffer you to depart
without keeping you at least a week; in order, amongst other things,
to view the beauty of our neighbour Lorenzo's grounds, the general
splendour of his house, and the magnificence of his LIBRARY." "In
regard to grounds and furniture," replied Lysander, "there is very
little in the most beautiful and costly which can long excite my
attention--but the LIBRARY--" "Here," exclaimed Philemon, "here you
have him in the toils." "I will frankly confess," rejoined Lysander,
"that I am an arrant BIBLIOMANIAC--that I love books dearly--that the
very sight, touch, and, more, the perusal--" "Hold, my friend," again
exclaimed Philemon, "you have renounced your profession--you talk of
_reading_ books--do BIBLIOMANIACS ever _read_ books?" "Nay," quoth
Lysander, "you shall not banter thus with impunity. We will, if it
please you," said he, turning round to me, "make our abode with you
for a few days--and, after seeing the library of your neighbour, I
will throw down the gauntlet to Philemon, challenging him to answer
certain questions which you may put to us, respecting the number,
rarity, beauty, or utility of those works which relate to the
literature and antiquities of our own country. We shall then see who
is able to return the readiest answer." "Forgive," rejoined Philemon,
"my bantering strain. I revoke my speech. You know that, with
yourself, I heartily love books; more from their contents than their
appearance." Lysander returned a gracious smile; and the hectic of
irritability on his cheek was dissipated in an instant.
The approach of evening made us think of settling our plans. My
friends begged their horses might be turned into the field; and that,
while they stayed with me, the most simple fare and the plainest
accommodation might be their lot. They knew how little able I was to
treat them as they were wont to be treated; and, therefore, taking
"the will for the deed," they resolved to be as happy as an humble
roof could make them.
While the cloth was laying for supper (for I should add that we dine
at three and sup at nine), we took a stroll in my small garden, which
has a mound at the bottom, shaded with lilacs and laburnums, that
overlooks a pretty range of meadows, terminated by the village church.
The moon had now gained a considerable ascendancy in the sky; and the
silvery paleness and profound quiet of the surrounding landscape,
which, but an hour ago, had been enlivened by the sun's last rays,
seemed to affect the minds of us all very sensibly. Lysander, in
particular, began to express the sentiments which such a scene excited
in him.--"Yonder," says he, pointing to the church-yard, "is the
bourne which terminates our earthly labours; and I marvel much how
mortals can spend their time in cavilling at each other--in murdering,
with their pens as well as their swords, all that is excellent and
admirable in human nature--instead of curbing their passions,
elevating their hopes, and tranquillizing their fears. Every evening,
for at least one-third of the year, heaven has fixed in the sky yonder
visible monitor to man. Calmness and splendour are her attendants: no
dark passions, no carking cares, neither spleen nor jealousy, seem to
dwell in that bright orb, where, as has been fondly imagined, "the
wretched may have rest."--"And here," replied Philemon, "we do nothing
but fret and fume if our fancied merits are not instantly rewarded, or
if another wear a sprig of laurel more verdant than ourselves; I could
mention, within my own recollection, a hundred instances of this
degrading prostitution of talent--aye, a thousand."--"Gently reprimand
your fellow creatures," resumed Lysander, "lest you commit an error as
great as any of those which you condemn in others. The most difficult
of human tasks seems to be the exercise of forbearance and temperance.
By exasperating, you only rekindle, and not extinguish, the evil
sparks in our dispositions. A man will bear being told he is in the
wrong; but you must tell him so gently and mildly. Animosity,
petulance, and persecution, are the plagues which destroy our better
parts."--"And envy," replied Philemon, "has surely enough to
do."--"Yes," said Lysander, "we might enumerate, as you were about to
do, many instances--and (what you were not about to do) pity while we
enumerate! I think," continued he, addressing himself particularly to
me, "you informed me that the husband of poor Lavinia lies buried in
yonder church-yard; and perhaps the very tomb which now glistens by
the moonbeam is the one which consecrates his memory! That man was
passionately addicted to literature;--he had a strong mind; a
wonderful grasp of intellect; but his love of paradox and hypothesis
quite ruined his faculties. NICAS happened to discover some glaring
errors in his last treatise, and the poor man grew sick at heart in
consequence. Nothing short of _infallibility_ and _invincibility_
satisfied him; and, like the Spaniard in the 'Diable Boiteux,' who
went mad because five of his countrymen had been beaten by fifty
Portugese, this unhappy creature lost all patience and forbearance,
because, in an hundred systems which he had built with the cards of
fancy, ninety-nine happened to tumble to the ground.
"This is the dangerous consequence, not so much of vanity and
self-love as of downright literary Quixotism. A man may be cured of
vanity as the French nobleman was--'Ecoutez messieurs! Monseigneur le
Duc va dire la meillure chose du monde!'[78] but for this raving,
ungovernable passion of soaring beyond all human comprehension, I fear
there is no cure but in such a place as the one which is now before
us. Compared with this, how different was MENANDER'S case! Careless
himself about examining and quoting authorities with punctilious
accuracy, and trusting too frequently to the _ipse-dixits_ of good
friends:--with a quick discernment--a sparkling fancy--great store of
classical knowledge, and a never ceasing play of colloquial wit, he
moved right onwards in his manly course--the delight of the gay, and
the admiration of the learned! He wrote much and variously: but in an
evil hour the demon Malice caught him abroad--watched his
deviations--noted down his failings--and, discovering his vulnerable
part, he did not fail, like another Paris, to profit by the discovery.
Menander became the victim of over-refined sensibility: he need not
have feared the demon, as no good man need fear Satan. His pen ceased
to convey his sentiments; he sickened at heart; and after his body had
been covered by the green grass turf, the gentle elves of fairy-land
took care to weave a chaplet to hang upon his tomb, which was never to
know decay! SYCORAX was this demon; and a cunning and clever demon was
he!"
[Footnote 78: This is the substance of the story related in
Darwin's _Zoonomia_: vol. iv. p. 81.]
"I am at a loss," said Philemon, "to comprehend exactly what you
mean?"--"I will cease speaking metaphorically," replied Lysander; "but
Sycorax was a man of ability in his way. He taught literary men, in
some measure, the value of careful research and faithful quotation; in
other words, he taught them to speak the truth as they found her; and,
doubtless, for this he merits not the name of a demon, unless you
allow me the priviledge of a Grecian.[79] That Sycorax loved truth
must be admitted; but that he loved no one so much as himself to speak
the truth must also be admitted. Nor had he, after all, any grand
notions of the goddess. She was, in his sight, rather of diminutive
than gigantic growth; rather of a tame than a towering mien; dressed
out in little trinkets, and formally arrayed in the faded point-lace
and elevated toupee of the ancient English school, and not in the
flowing and graceful robes of Grecian simplicity. But his malice and
ill-nature were frightful; and withal his love of scurrility and abuse
quite intolerable. He mistook, in too many instances, the manner for
the matter; the shadow for the substance. He passed his criticisms,
and dealt out his invectives, with so little ceremony, and so much
venom, that he seemed born with a scalping knife in his hand to commit
murder as long as he lived! To him, censure was sweeter than praise;
and the more elevated the rank, and respectable the character of his
antagonist, the more dexterously he aimed his blows, and the more
frequently he renewed his attacks. In consequence, scarcely one
beautiful period, one passionate sentiment of the higher order, one
elevated thought, or philosophical deduction, marked his numerous
writings. 'No garden-flower grew wild' in the narrow field of his
imagination; and, although the words decency and chastity were
continually dropping from his lips, I suspect that the reverse of
these qualities was always settled round his heart.[80] Thus you see,
my dear Philemon," concluded Lysander, "that the love of paradox, of
carelessness, and of malice, are equally destructive of that true
substantial fame which, as connected with literature, a wise and an
honest man would wish to establish. But come; the dews of evening
begin to fall chilly; let us seek the house of our friend."
[Footnote 79: Without turning over the ponderous tones of
Stephen, Constantine, and Scaliger, consult the sensible
remarks upon the word '[Greek: Daimôn]' 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
As Lysander concluded his discourse, we turned, abruptly, but
thoughtfully, towards my cottage; and, making the last circuit of the
gravel walk, Philemon stopped to listen to the song of a passing
rustic, who seemed to be uttering all the joy which sometimes strongly
seizes a simple heart. "I would rather," exclaimed he, "be this poor
fellow, chanting his 'native wood-notes wild,' if his heart know not
guilt--than the shrewdest critic in the universe, who could neither
feel, nor write, good-naturedly!" We smiled at this ejaculation; and
quickly reached the house.
The fatigue of travelling had sharpened the appetites of my friends;
and at a moment when, as the inimitable Cowper expresses it,
our drawing-rooms begin to blaze
With lights, by clear reflection multiplied
From many a mirror, in which he of Gath,
Goliath, might have seen his giant bulk
Whole, without stooping, towering crest and all,
_Our_ pleasures too _began_;
_Task_, b. iv.
but they were something more rational than those of merely eating and
drinking. "I seldom partake of this meal," observed Philemon, "without
thinking of the _omnium-gatherum_ bowl, so exquisitely described by
old Isaac Walton. We want here, it is true, the 'sweet shady
arbour--the contexture of woodbines, sweet-briar, jessamine, and
myrtle,'[81] and the time of the evening prevents our enjoying it
without; but, in lieu of all this, we have the sight of books, of
busts, and of pictures. I see there the ponderous folio chronicles,
the genuine quarto romances, and, a little above, a glittering row of
thin, closely-squeezed, curiously-gilt, volumes of original plays. As
we have finished our supper, let us--" "My friends," observed I, "not
a finger upon a book to-night--to-morrow you may ransack at your
pleasure. I wish to pursue the conversation commenced by Lysander, as
we were strolling in the garden." "Agreed," replied Philemon,--"the
quietness of the hour--the prospect, however limited, before us--(for
I shall not fail to fix my eyes upon a Froissart printed by Verard, or
a portrait painted by Holbein, while you talk)--every thing conspires
to render this discourse congenial." "As you have reminded me of that
pretty description of a repast in Walton," resumed Lysander, "I will
preface the sequel to my conversation by drinking a glass to your
healths--and so, masters, 'here is a full glass to you' of the liquor
before us." Lysander then continued, "It were to be wished that the
republic or region of LITERATURE could be described in as favourable a
manner as Camden has described the air, earth, and sky, of our own
country;[82] but I fear Milton's terrific description of the infernal
frozen continent,
beat with perpetual forms
Of whirlwind and dire hail,
_Par. Lost_, b. ii. v. 587.
is rather applicable to it. Having endeavoured to shew, my dear
friends, that the passionate love of hypothesis--(or a determination
to make every man think and believe as we do) incorrigible
carelessness--and equally incorrigible ill-nature--are each inimical
to the true interests of literature, let us see what other evil
qualities there are which principally frustrate the legitimate view of
learning.
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
"In the example of GONZALO, with whom Philemon is perfectly well
acquainted, a remarkable exemplification of the passion of _Vanity_
occurs. I recollect, one evening, he came rushing into a party where I
sat, screaming with the extatic joy of a maniac--'[Greek: Eurêka,
Eurêka]'; and, throwing down a scroll, rushed as precipitately out of
the room. The scroll was of vellum; the title to the contents of it
was penned in golden letters, and softly-painted bunches of roses
graced each corner. It contained a sonnet to love, and another to
friendship; but a principal mistake which struck us, on the very
threshold of our critical examination, was that he had incorrectly
entitled these sonnets. Friendship should have been called love, and
love, friendship. We had no sooner made the discovery than Gonzalo
returned, expecting to find us in like ecstacies with himself!--We
gravely told him that we stumbled at the very threshold. It was quite
sufficient--he seized his sonnets with avidity--and, crumpling the
roll (after essaying to tear it) thrust it into his pocket, and
retreated. One of the gentlemen in company made the following remarks,
on his leaving us: 'In the conduct of Gonzalo appears a strange
mixture of intellectual strength and intellectual debility; of wit and
dulness; of wisdom and folly; and all this arises chiefly from his
mistaking the means for the end--the instrument of achieving for the
object achieved. The fondest wish of his heart is literary fame: for
this he would sacrifice every thing. He is handsome, generous, an
affectionate son, a merry companion, and is, withal, a very excellent
belles-lettres scholar. Tell him that the ladies admire him, that his
mother doats on him, and that his friends esteem him--and--keeping
back the wished-for eulogy of literary excellence--you tell him of
nothing which he cares for. In truth he might attain some portion of
intellectual reputation, if he would throw aside his ridiculous
habits. He _must_, as soon as the evening shades prevail, burn wax
tapers--he must always have an Argand lamp lighted up before him, to
throw a picturesque effect upon a dark wood painted by Hobbima--his
pens must be made from the crow's wing--his wax must be green--his
paper must be thick and hot-pressed; and he must have a portfolio of
the choicest bits of ancient vellum that can be procured--his body
must recline upon a chintz sofa--his foot must be perched upon an
ottoman--in short he _must_ have every thing for which no man of
common sense would express the least concern. Can you be surprised,
therefore, that he should commence his sonnet to friendship thus:
Oh, sweetest softest thing that's friendship hight!
or that he should conceive the following address to women, by one
William Goddard, worthy of being ranked among the most beautiful
poetical efforts of the 16th century:
Stars of this earthly heaven, you whose essence
Compos'd was of man's purest quintessence,
To you, to virtuous you, I dedicate
This snaggy sprig[83]----"
[Footnote 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.]
"Enough," exclaimed Philemon--while Lysander paused a little, after
uttering t
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