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 FROM THE 
 
 SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 1891 
 
 A.i^l't'ak* :^Jfx7njH 
 
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Cornell University Library 
 Z1000 .W55 
 
 Prices of books: an inquiry into the cha 
 
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 3 1924 029 550 617 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029550617 
 
XCbe Xlbrar^ Series 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 Dr. RICHARD GARNETT 
 
 IV 
 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
ttbe l/ibrarg Series 
 
 Edited, with Introductions, bv Dr. RICHARD GARNETT 
 
 I. THE FREE LIBRARY : Its History and 
 Present Condition. By J. J. Ogle, of Bootle 
 Free Library. Cloth, 6s. net. 
 
 II. LIBRARY CONSTRUCTION, ARCHITEC- 
 TURE, AND FITTINGS. By F. J. BuR- 
 GOYNE, of the Tate Central Library, Brixton. 
 With 141 Illustrations. Cloth, 6s. net. 
 
 III. LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION. By J. 
 
 Macfarlane, of the British Museum. Cloth, 
 6s. net. 
 
 IV. PRICES OF BOOKS. By Henry B. 
 
 Wheatley, of the Society of Arts. Cloth, 
 6s. net. 
 
PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 AN INQUIRY INTO THE CHANGES IN THE PRICE 
 
 OF BOOKS WHICH HAVE OCCURRED IN 
 
 ENGLAND AT DIFFERENT PERIODS 
 
 HENRY B. WHEATLEY, F.S.A. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 GEORGE ALLEN, 156, CHARING CROSS ROAD 
 
 1898 
 
 [^// rights reserved'\ 
 
 E.V. 
 
Printed by BallanTyne, Hanson &^ Co. 
 At the Ballantyne Press 
 
•-v 
 
 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 
 
 The history of prices is one of the most interesting 
 subjects that can engage research. As language 
 has been called fossil poetry, from which the primi- 
 tive workings of the mind of man may be elicited, 
 so the story of his progress in material well-being 
 lies enfolded in the history of the prices which have 
 at various periods been procurable for commodi- 
 ties, whether of prime necessity, of general utility, 
 or simply ornamental. The prices of books, so ably 
 investigated and recorded by Mr. Wheatley in 
 the following pages, are a small but significant de- 
 partment of a great subject. If we had no record 
 of the price of any other article of commerce, 
 we should still perceive in them an index to the 
 world's advance in wealth, taste, and general intel- 
 ligence. With every allowance for the fall in the 
 value of money, it would yet be manifest that prices 
 could now be afforded for books which at an earlier 
 period would have been out of the question ; and 
 not less so that while some classes of books had risen 
 in worth with the enhanced standard of wealth, 
 others had accommodated themselves to the re- 
 quirements of the poor. We should trace the effect 
 of mechanical improvements in diminishing the 
 
vi editor's introduction 
 
 prices of things, and of fashion and curiosity in 
 augmenting them. We should see the enormous 
 influence of scarcity in forcing up the value of 
 products, while we should learn at the same time 
 that this was not the sole agent, but that intrinsic 
 merit must usually to some extent co-operate with 
 it, and that prices must bear some relation to the 
 inherent reason of things. It must, for instance, 
 have been entirely unforeseen by the early printers 
 that the books which they advertised with such 
 exultation as cheaper than the manuscripts they 
 were superseding would in process of time become 
 dearer, but we can discern this metamorphosis of 
 relative value to have been rational and inevitable. 
 Finally, the fluctuations of price would afford a clue 
 to the intellectual condition of the age. Observ- 
 ing, for example, the great decline which, as a rule, 
 has taken place in the value of early editions of the 
 classics, we should conclude that either the classical 
 writers were less generally esteemed than formerly, 
 or that such progress had been made in their study 
 that the old editions had become inadequate ; and 
 both conclusions would be well founded. 
 
 Books occupy a middle position between ordi- 
 nary products and works of art. Like the latter, 
 they are in theory the offspring of an exceptional 
 talent. The humblest bookman views himself as 
 in some measure the superior of his readers for 
 the time being ; he would have no excuse for ad- 
 dressing them if he did not suppose himself able 
 to convey to them some pleasure which they could 
 not have attained without him, or to inform them 
 
editor's introduction vii 
 
 of something, however insignificant, which but for 
 him would have remained unknown. But whereas 
 in the arts price is usually in the ratio of the real or 
 supposed intellectual merit of the production, in 
 books it may almost be said that the reverse rule 
 obtains. The fine picture or statue cannot be re- 
 produced as an original work; copies may be made 
 to any extent, but no amount of copying impairs 
 the value of the unique original. Again, such a 
 work, whether absolutely perfect or not, once 
 finished is complete for all time, and allows of no 
 further improvement. But the book admits of in- 
 definite multiplication, and the extent to which this 
 proceeds is commonly in the ratio of its intellectual 
 worth. It is the very greatest authors, the Homers, 
 the Shakespeares, that are usually the easiest and 
 cheapest to procure. 
 
 It appears, therefore, that, although great books 
 unquestionably demand more intellectual power 
 for their production than great works of art, their 
 very superiority tends to cheapen them in com- 
 parison by encouraging their dissemination. There 
 could not be a stronger instance of the power of 
 scarcity in determining price ; and, in fact, the 
 rarity of a book is the most important element in 
 its commercial worth. Yet intrinsic desert plays 
 its part, though an inferior one. There are some 
 cases in which it utterly fails. The commercial 
 value of the productions of the Dutch prototypo- 
 graphers, for example, would probably not be aug- 
 mented in the least if they could be transformed 
 from fragments of dull lesson-books into leaves from 
 
viii editor's introduction 
 
 sages and poets. The Papal Bulls relating to the 
 Turks in Cyprus, which have the honour to be 
 the first documents to have issued complete from 
 an European press, would hardly gain in com- 
 mercial value if they were briefs announcing the 
 foundation of the Vatican Library, or official an- 
 nouncements of the fall of Constantinople. On the 
 other hand, the first edition of Virgil, one of the 
 rarest of books, would assuredly be less valued if, 
 while equally rare, it were the editio princeps of a 
 Latin author of inferior reputation. In general, the 
 celebrity of an author will be found a considerable 
 factor in determining the value of a book ; but 
 while rarity without celebrity will effect much, cele- 
 brity without rarity, or some other adventitious 
 circumstance devoid of relation to the intellectual 
 value of the book, will effect very little. 
 
 Many other circumstances besides scarcity will 
 contribute to render a book highly prized, and con- 
 sequently dear. Some of these are obvious at once, 
 such as fine paper, fine print, fine binding, or the 
 autograph of a celebrated man. A book will be 
 valued because it has been the subject of a judicial 
 condemnation, or because it is a copy containing a 
 plate in general deficient or mutilated, or perhaps 
 only because it has an erratum corrected in other 
 copies. Mr. Sidney Lee's recent discovery of a 
 unique peculiarity in the Baroness Burdett-Coutts' 
 Shakespeare folio may probably have doubled the 
 value of the book. Sometimes such causes are 
 very singular. King Charles the First dropped a 
 pamphlet into the mud j the stain remains to this 
 
EDITOR S INTRODUCTION IX 
 
 day, and centuples the value of a tract which would 
 have been only deteriorated if it had slipped from 
 the fingers of a lord-in-waiting. Such a fact intro- 
 duces the element of sentiment, a powerful factor, 
 and one of far-reaching influence ; for the Quaker 
 or Freemason who collects literature interesting to 
 his society, or the local patriot who buys up the 
 books printed in his native town, sets others upon 
 collecting them too, and raises the value all round. 
 Next to scarcity and great beauty, nothing, perhaps, 
 imparts such stability to the worth of a book as to 
 be addressed to a small but well-defined circle of 
 readers. Books on chess and angling are familiar 
 instances. They are not too numerous to dismay 
 a collector, and every one differs from the rest in 
 some feature sufficient to make it indispensable to 
 a collector ambitious of completeness. 
 
 A certain description of books would excite lively 
 interest if they could be identified with certainty, 
 those which are not valuable now, but which are 
 about to be. It may probably be considered that 
 almost any book which can manage to exist for 
 five hundred years will find itself augmented in 
 value at the end of this period, but some classes 
 will have proved much better investments than 
 others. Two may be signalised with considerable 
 confidence — illustrated books, which portray the 
 fashions and humours of the age for posterity, and 
 newspapers. Nothing grows in value like a news- 
 paper ; the sheets of to-day, which, perhaps, con- 
 tain nothing of interest to any contemporary reader, 
 will be priceless to the historian and antiquary of 
 
X editor's introduction 
 
 the centuries to come. They fructify in silence, 
 and imperceptibly malie their possessor rich. Their 
 intellectual as well as their pecuniary value aug- 
 ments by lying still. Nothing so faithfully depicts 
 an age for its successors ; they are worth all the 
 histories and all the novels. Their preservation — 
 which involves their assemblage in one place for 
 the sake of accessibility and of comparison with 
 each other and with books — is a momentous trust, 
 neglect of which would strike a heavy blow at his- 
 torical, archaeological, and sociological research, and 
 inflict a grievous injury upon the ages to come. 
 
 R. GARNETT. 
 
 March 1898. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The subject of the prices of books is one which 
 always exercises a certain fascination over the minds 
 of book-lovers, although some have expressed their 
 objection to any discussion of it, lest this should 
 have the effect of enhancing prices. 
 
 In a single volume it is impossible to deal with 
 so large a subject in any fulness of detail, and I 
 have therefore endeavoured to give a general view, 
 merely instancing a few cases in illustration of the 
 whole, but making an exception in respect of two 
 of the most interesting and high-priced classes of 
 books in literature, namely, the productions of the 
 press of Caxton, and the original editions of Shake- 
 speare's works. 
 
 It is necessary for the reader to bear two points 
 in mind — 
 
 (i) That the value of money has changed during 
 each century of our history to an extent not easy 
 to calculate with precision, because the prices of all 
 articles have not been equally affected. We can say 
 generally that definite incomes a hundred years ago 
 were equivalent in worth to twice their nominal 
 
Xll PREFACE 
 
 amount at the present day, and that those of two 
 hundred years ago would be worth about five times 
 as much. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries 
 money was worth ten or twelve times what it is 
 now, but there is some difficulty in calculating 
 con^ectly the rates respectively of necessaries and 
 luxuries. This is a matter for experts, and cannot 
 be more than alluded to here, as a warning to the 
 reader that he must always remember that a pound 
 or a shilling in previous centuries was of more value 
 than it is to-day, and possessed a much greater 
 purchasing power. 
 
 (2) That in dealing with prices we are interested 
 with rare and specially valuable books. Ordinary 
 standard books, even in good editions, were never 
 cheaper than at present. 
 
 A writer of a work of this kind must feel grateful 
 to predecessors, who have made it possible for him 
 to gather satisfactory material for his purpose. 
 Special gratitude is due to Thomas Frognall Dib- 
 din, Hartwell Home, and William Clarke (author 
 of the Repertorium Bibliographicuni), who were all 
 thorough workers in this field. The labours of 
 Dibdin have been unjustly depreciated by many 
 modern writers. His works, besides being among 
 the most beautiful books produced in Europe, 
 are mines of bibliographical anecdote and useful 
 literary information. Objections may be made 
 by some to his descriptions, but he certainly greatly 
 
PREFACE XUl 
 
 influenced the bibliomania of a former age, and 
 made many sales famous which otherwise would 
 have been forgotten except by the few. 
 
 There is a gap in the literature of our subject 
 between authors at the beginning of the century 
 and the modern writers, who largely obtain their 
 information from French sources. 
 
 H. B. W. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION ....... I 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 SELLERS OF BOOKS . . . . . .26 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 PRICES OF MANUSCRIPT BOOKS .... 49 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 PUBLISHED PRICES 
 
 79 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 AUCTION SALES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY . 1 04 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 AUCTION SALES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY . 1 26 
 
XVI CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 PAGE 
 
 AUCTION SALES IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY . 1 47 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 PRICES OF EARLY PRINTED BOOKS . . . -179 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE — CAXTONS, &C. 1 93 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 PRICES OF SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS . . . .223 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 PRICES OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF BOOKS . . . 24I 
 
 INDEX 
 
 265 
 
PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 The treatment of such a subject as the Prices of 
 Books necessarily obliges us to range over a wide 
 field, for books have been bought and sold far back 
 in the historical period, and to books, both manu- 
 script and printed, we have to refer largely for 
 records of the past. It is, however, only possible 
 in the space at our disposal to take a very general 
 view of the subject ; and it is to be hoped that, 
 in recording the main points in the vicissitudes 
 of prices, the information may not be deemed too 
 desultory to be serviceable. 
 
 We might go back to the earliest times, even 
 to Job's famous exclamation, but for our present 
 purpose there would not be much advantage in 
 roaming in this early period, as the results to be 
 recorded would partake more of an archaeological, 
 than of a practical character. There is very little 
 chance of a copy of the first book of Martial's 
 Epigrams (which, when first composed by the 
 author, cost at Rome about three shillings and 
 
 A 
 
2 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 sixpence of our money) coming to auction, so that 
 we are not likely to be able to record its present 
 value. 
 
 A consideration of the subject opens up a large 
 number of interesting subjects, which can only 
 casually be alluded to, such as the position of 
 authors, and their remuneration. 
 
 For several centuries monasteries were the chief 
 producers of literature, and it seems probable that 
 it was worth the while of the chiefs of some of 
 these literary manufactories to pay a poet such as 
 Chaucer something for a new Canterbury Tale, 
 which they could copy and distribute over the 
 country. We know by the number of manu- 
 scripts, and the different order in these, that 
 several establishments were employed in the pro- 
 duction of the manuscripts, and we may guess 
 that there would probably be competition among 
 them, which would naturally result in a settlement 
 of some terms of payment. 
 
 In the early times it was only rich men who 
 could afford to collect books. Amongst these, one 
 of the most distinguished was Richard de Bury, 
 Bishop of Durham, Treasurer and Chancellor of 
 Edward III., who collected everything, and spared 
 no cost in the maintenance of a staff of copyists 
 and illuminators in his own household. Not only 
 was he a collector (whose books, however, have been 
 dispersed), but he was the author of an interesting 
 relic of that devotion to an ennobling pursuit, the 
 famous Philobiblon. This book had never been 
 satisfactorily produced until the late Mr, Ernest 
 
INTRODUCTION 3 
 
 Thomas issued in 1888 an admirable edition, founded 
 on a collation of many manuscripts, and a spirited 
 translation.^ This work occupied Mr. Thomas 
 several years, and before he completed it he saw 
 reason to doubt the high literary position which 
 had been universally accorded to the author ; and 
 his opinion was confirmed by an unpublished pas- 
 sage in a manuscript of the Chronicon sui temporis 
 of Adam de Murimuth, to which he was referred 
 by Sir Edward Maunde Thompson, where Adam 
 characterised the bishop in very harsh terms. Mr. 
 Thomas published in " The Library " (vol. i. p. 335) 
 an article entitled, " Was Richard de Bury an 
 Impostor ?" In this he expressed the opinion that 
 Richard Aungerville — 
 
 (i) Was not an excellent bishop, but an ambitious self- 
 seeker, who bought his way to preferment. 
 
 (2) Was not a scholar and patron of scholars, 3z/:/ merely 
 
 a collector of books, that he might appear as a 
 scholar. 
 
 (3) Did not bestow his collections on Durham College, 
 
 Oxford, as he expressed his intention of doing ; 
 but that these collections were sold to pay debts 
 incurred by his ostentatious extravagance. 
 
 (4) Did not write Philobiblon. The authorship was 
 
 claimed for Robert Holkot, a Dominican, who for 
 some time was a member of the bishop's house- 
 hold. 
 
 ■ A still more elaborate edition was published by the Grolier Club 
 in 1889. This was edited by Professor A. F. West, and printed in three 
 volumes small quarto. It was issued in a small edition, and a sight of 
 it is therefore difiScult to obtain. 
 
4 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 It is certain that the evidence is such as to force 
 us to lower our estimate of the prelate's merits, but 
 these four charges are certainly not all proved. He 
 may not have been so learned and so unselfish a 
 lover of books as was supposed, but there is no 
 satisfactory reason for depriving him of the credit 
 of being the author of the Philobiblon. 
 
 Mr. Thomas shows that Richard de Bury was 
 born on 24th January 1287, and not 1281, as stated 
 in the " Dictionary of National Biography." He 
 completed the Philobiblon, and on the 14th April of 
 the same year Doniinus Ricardus de Bury migravit 
 ad Dominum. 
 
 A singularly appropriate chapter from the earliest 
 " book about books " may here be quoted : — 
 
 "What we are to Think of the Price in the 
 Buying of Books. 
 
 (Chapter III. of the Philobiblon of Richard de Biiry.^) 
 
 " From what has been said we draw this corollary, 
 welcome to us, but (as we believe) acceptable to few; 
 namely, that no dearness of price ought to hinder a man 
 from the buying of books, if he has the money that is 
 demanded for them, unless it be to withstand the malice 
 of the seller, or to await a more favourable opportunity of 
 buying. For if it is wisdom only that makes the price of 
 books, which is an infinite treasure to mankind, and if the 
 value of books is unspeakable, as the premises show, how 
 shall the bargain be shown to be dear where an infinite 
 
 ^ From Ernest C. Thomas's translation, iS 
 
INTRODUCTION 5 
 
 good is being bought? Wherefore that books are to be 
 gladly bought and unwillingly sold, Solomon, the sun of 
 men, exhorts in the Proverbs : Buy the truth, he says, and 
 sell not wisdom. But what we are trying to show by 
 rhetoric or logic, let us prove by examples from history. 
 The arch-philosopher Aristotle, whom Averroes regards as 
 the law of Nature, bought a few books of Speusippus 
 straightway after his death for seventy -two thousand 
 sesterces. Plato, before him in time, but after him in 
 learning, bought the book of Philolaus the Pythagorean, 
 from which he is said to have taken the TimcEus, for ten 
 thousand denaries, as Aulus Gellius relates in the Nodes 
 Attica. Now Aulus Gellius relates this that the foolish 
 may consider how wise men despise money in comparison 
 with books. And on the other hand, that we may know 
 that folly and pride go together, let us here relate the folly 
 of Tarquin the Proud in despising books, as also related 
 by Aulus Gellius. An old woman, utterly unknown, is 
 said to have come to Tarquin the Proud, the seventh King 
 of Rome, offering to sell nine books in which (as she de- 
 clared) sacred oracles were contained ; but she asked an 
 immense sum for them, insomuch that the king said she 
 was mad. In anger she flung three books into the fire, and 
 still asked the same price for the rest. When the king 
 refused it, again she flung three others into the fire, and 
 still asked the same price for the three that were left. At 
 last, astonished beyond measure, Tarquin was glad to pay 
 for three books the same price for which he might have 
 bought nine. The old woman straightway disappeared, 
 and was never seen before or after. These were the Sibyl- 
 line books. . . ." 
 
 The destruction of libraries, which was common 
 in the Middle Ages, naturally caused an increase in 
 the value of those which remained. How completely 
 
6 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 these libraries passed away may be seen by the 
 instance of that which was once preserved in St. 
 Paul's Cathedral, and is noticed by the late Dr. 
 Sparrow Simpson in his "St. Paul's Cathedral 
 Library" (1893). Walter Shiryngton Clerk founded 
 the library, the catalogue of which (1458) fills eight 
 folio pages in the first edition of Dugdale's "History 
 of St. Paul's." Of all the manuscripts in this cata- 
 logue, only three are now known to exist : one is 
 still at St. Paul's, the second is at Aberdeen, and the 
 third at Lambeth. 
 
 The British Museum is fortunate in possessing 
 the beautiful library of the Kings and Queens of 
 England since Henry VII., which is full of the most 
 splendid specimens of artistic bindings. What the 
 market value of such literary gems as these may be 
 can scarcely be estimated, and fortunately they are 
 safe from the arising of any occasion which might 
 afford a test of their value. From this library we 
 are able to appreciate the good taste of James I., 
 who, whatever his faults may have been, was cer- 
 tainly a true bibliophile, and to him we owe some 
 of the finest books in the collection. 
 
 It may be safely said that few collections of books 
 have been formed under such difficult and trying 
 circumstances as the invaluable Thomason Collec- 
 tion of Civil War Tracts, now happily preserved in 
 the British Museum. Mr. F. Madan has contri- 
 buted to Bibliographica (vol. iii. p. 291) a most valu- 
 able article on the labours of the worthy Royalist 
 bookseller, George Thomason. Thomason com- 
 menced in November 1640, when the " Long or 
 
INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 Rebel Parliament " began, his great undertaking of 
 collecting all the pamphlets published in England, 
 and he continued it until May 1661. Many of 
 these were printed surreptitiously, and were ob- 
 tained with the greatest difficulty ; in fact, seventy- 
 three of these were in manuscript, "which no man 
 durst then venture to publish without endangering 
 his ruine." The King and the Cavalier party knew 
 of the existence of the collection, but every endea- 
 vour was made to keep the knowledge from the 
 other party. If it were difficult to form the collec- 
 tion, it was still more difficult to preserve it. We 
 are told that, "to prevent the discovery of thein, 
 when the army was Northwards, he packed them in 
 several trunks, and, by one or two in a week, sent 
 them to a trusty friend in Surrey, who safely pre- 
 served them, and when the army was Westward, 
 and fearing their return that way, they were sent 
 to London again ; but the collector durst not keep 
 them, but sent them into Essex, and so according 
 as they lay near danger, still by timely removing 
 them at a great charge, secured them, but continued 
 perfecting the work." Afterwards, for greater 
 security, they were lodged in the Bodleian Library, 
 and a pretended bargain was made, and a receipt 
 for j^iooo given to the University of Oxford, so that 
 "if the Usurper had found them out the Univer- 
 sity should claim them, who had greater power to 
 struggle for them than a private man." 
 
 On one occasion Charles I. wished to consult 
 a particular pamphlet, and applied to Thomason 
 for the loan of it. In small quarto vol. loo is a 
 
8 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 manuscript note describing the particulars of this 
 interesting loan : — 
 
 "Memorandum that Col. Will Legg and Mr. Arthur 
 Treavors were employed by his Matie K. Charles to gett 
 for his present use, a pamphlet which his Matie had then 
 occasion to make use of, and not meeting with it, they 
 both came to me, having heard that I did employ my selfe 
 to take up all such things, from the beginning of that Par- 
 lement, and finding it with me, tould me it was for the 
 King's owne use^ I tould them all I had were at his Maties 
 command and service, and withall tould them if I should 
 part with it and loose it, presuming that when his Matie 
 had done with it, that little account would be made of it, 
 and so I should loose by that losse a limbe of my collec- 
 tion, which I should be very loth to do, well knowing it 
 would be impossible to supplie it if it should happen to be 
 lost, with which answer they returned to his Matie at Hamp- 
 ton Court (as I take it) and tould him they had found that 
 peece he so much desired and withall how loath he that 
 had it, was to part with, he much fearing its losse ; where- 
 upon they were both sent to me againe by his Matie to tell 
 me that upon the worde of a Kinge (to use their own ex- 
 pressions) he would safely returne it, thereuppon imme- 
 diately by them I sent it to his Matie, who having done 
 with it, and having it with him when he was going towards 
 the Isle of Wight, let it fall in the durt, and then callinge 
 for the two persons before mentioned (who attended him) 
 delivered it to them, with a charge, as they would answer it 
 another day, that they should both speedily and safely return 
 it to him, from whom they had received it, and withall to 
 desire the partie to goe on and continue what had begun, 
 which book together with his Maties signification to me by 
 these worthy and faithfull gentlemen I received both speedily 
 and safely. Which volume hath the marke of honor upon 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 it, which no other volume in my collection hath, and very 
 diligently and carefully I continued the same, until the most 
 hapie restoration and coronation of his most gratious matie 
 Kinge Charles the second whom God long preserve. — 
 George Thomason." 
 
 Here we have surely an interesting instance of the 
 poetry of bibliography. 
 
 According to Mr. Madan's calculation, there are 
 22,834 pamphlets in about 1983 volumes, and appa- 
 rently some hundred or so pieces have been lost from 
 the original set. The collection of these pamphlets 
 was made at very considerable expense, and Thoma- 
 son is saidto have refused ^£4000 for them, "supposing 
 that sum not sufficient to reimburse him." On his 
 death in 1666 a special trust was appointed under his 
 will to take charge of the collection, and Dr. Thomas 
 Barlow (Bodley's librarian, 1652 to 1660) was one 
 of the trustees. In 1675 Barlow was appointed 
 Bishop of Lincoln, and in the following year re- 
 quested the Rev. George Thomason (son of the 
 bookseller) to take over the charge. After many 
 vicissitudes the books were bought for the absurdly 
 small sum of ;^300 for George III., who presented 
 the collection to the British Museum. It is im- 
 possible to guess at the present price of what is 
 practically invaluable. 
 
 The famous antiquary Elias Ashmole, whose trea- 
 sures are now preserved at Oxford in the Ashmolean 
 Museum, records in his Diary some of his purchases, 
 as, on May 1667, " I bought Mr. John Booker's study 
 of books, and gave ;^i40 for them '' ; and again, on 
 
10 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 June 12, 1681, " I bought Mr. Lilly's library of books 
 of his widow for £so." ^ We can judge of the char- 
 acter of his library by these purchases of the collec- 
 tions of two of his famous astrological friends. 
 
 Even in the seventeenth century men began to 
 be frightened at the increase of books, and Sir 
 Thomas Browne in his Religio Medici suggested 
 a system of destruction : "'Tis not a melancholy 
 utinam of my own, but the desires of better heads, 
 that there were a general synod — not to unite the 
 incompatible difference of religion, but — for the 
 benefit of learning, to reduce it, as it lay at first, in 
 a few and solid authors ; and to condemn to the 
 fire those swarms and millions of rhapsodies, be- 
 gotten only to distract and abuse the weaker judg- 
 ments of scholars, and to maintain the trade and 
 mystery of typographers." If there was reason for 
 this complaint two centuries ago, how much more 
 must there be now ! but the project is unworkable, 
 and Time takes the matter in his own hand and 
 destroys. Fortunately the destruction chiefly takes 
 place among books not likely to be missed. 
 
 Three of the greatest book collectors of the 
 eighteenth century were Bishop Moore, the Earl 
 of Sunderland, and the Earl of Oxford. Bishop 
 Moore's fine library, which consisted of about 
 thirty thousand volumes, was offered in 1714 to 
 Harley, Earl of Oxford, for ;£8ooo, but the latter 
 did not accept the offer because the bishop in- 
 sisted that the earl should pay the money at once, 
 although he was not to receive the books till the 
 
 ^ Dibdin's Bibliomania, Part V. 
 
INTRODUCTION 1 1 
 
 collector's death. He would not really have had 
 long to wait, for the bishop died on July 31st of the 
 same year. The library, mainly through the influ- 
 ence of Lord Townshend, was purchased for ;^6ooo 
 by George I., who presented it to the University 
 of Cambridge. This presentation gave rise to two 
 well-known epigrams, which have been frequently 
 misquoted. Dr. Trapp, the first Professor of Poetry 
 at Oxford, expressed the disgust of his University 
 in these lines — • 
 
 " Contrary methods justly George applies 
 To govern his two Universities ; 
 To Oxford sent a troop of horse ; for why ? 
 That learned body wanted Loyalty. 
 To Cambridge he sent books, as well discerning 
 How much that loyal body wanted learning." 
 
 Sir Wilham Browne, the physician, put the Cam- 
 bridge case in a form which extorted praise from 
 the Oxonian Samuel Johnson — 
 
 " Contrary methods justly George applies 
 To govern his two Universities ; 
 And so to Oxford sent a troop of horse, 
 For Tories hold no argument but force. 
 To Cambridge Ely's learned troops are sent, 
 For Whigs admit no force but argument." ^ 
 
 When Lord Treasurer Harley recommended 
 Queen Anne to purchase Sir Symonds d'Ewes' 
 
 1 The versions given in Noble's Continuation of Granger are inferior 
 to the above, which were taken from an old MS. by the Rev. Cecil 
 Moore, and are believed by him to be the originals. See "Biblio- 
 grapher," vol. vi. p. 92. 
 
12 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 manuscripts as the richest collection in England 
 after Sir Robert Cotton's, and to present them to 
 a public library, the Queen answered, " It was no 
 virtue for her, a woman, to prefer, as she did, arts to 
 arms ; but while the blood and honour of a nation 
 were at stake in her wars, she could not, till she had 
 secured her living subjects an honourable peace, 
 bestow their money upon ^^«</ letters." Thereupon 
 the Lord Treasurer bought the collection himself 
 for ^6000.1 The whole collection of the Harleian 
 MSS. (one of the greatest treasures of the British 
 Museum Library), which consists of 7639 volumes, 
 exclusive of 14,236 original rolls, charters, deeds, 
 and other legal instruments, was purchased by 
 Government for ^10,000, or only ;^40oo more than 
 the Earl of Oxford gave for Sir Symonds d' Ewes' 
 manuscripts alone. 
 
 The Earl of Sunderland's fine library was for 
 several years housed in the mansion which formerly 
 stood on the site of the Albany in Piccadilly. It 
 was removed to Blenheim in 1749, where it re- 
 mained till the great sale of 1881-83. Oldys 
 reports that the King of Denmark offered Lord 
 Sunderland's heirs ;^30,ooo for the library,^ and 
 that the great Duchess Sarah of Marlborough 
 was in favour of the offer being accepted, but it 
 was not. 
 
 We learn from Hearne's "Remains" that ;£30oo 
 was offered by the University of Oxford for the 
 noble library of Isaac Vossius, the free -thinking 
 
 1 William Oldys's "Choice Notes," 1862, p. 38. 2 lyd. p. gj. 
 
INTRODUCTION 1 3 
 
 Canon of Windsor, and refused. Hearne adds, 
 "We should have purchased them, and not stood 
 in such a case upon punctiHo and niceties, 
 when we are so lavish of our money upon trifles 
 that bring dishonour on the University." The 
 library was taken abroad, and soon afterwards 
 sold to the University of Leyden for the same 
 amount as that previously offered by Oxford 
 
 Thomas Osborne, the chief bookseller of his 
 time, bought the great Harley library, consisting 
 of about 50,000 volumes of printed books, 41,000 
 prints, and about 350,000 pamphlets, for ;^i3,ooo. 
 This seems a small amount for so matchless a 
 collection, but it is not certain that Osborne made 
 a very profitable investment by his purchase. We 
 shall have more to say of the bookseller and the 
 library in the next chapter. 
 
 As an instance of the low price of books at this 
 time, the anecdote of Mr. David Papillon's agree- 
 ment with Osborne may be mentioned here. The 
 contract was that the bookseller should supply 
 Mr. Papillon (who died in 1762) with one hundred 
 pounds' worth of books at threepence apiece, the 
 only conditions being that they should be perfect, 
 and that there should be no duplicates. Osborne 
 was at first pleased with his bargain, and sent in a 
 large number of books ; but he soon found that it 
 would be impossible to carry out the agreement 
 without great loss, as he was obliged to send in 
 
 1 Bliss's Reliquiie Hearniame, 1869, vol. i. pp. 206, 207. 
 
14 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 books worth shillings instead of pence. Long 
 before he had supplied the eight thousand volumes 
 required, he begged to be let off the contract. 
 
 Things were worse in Russia, where Klostermann, 
 the bookseller to the Imperial Court, sold books by 
 the yard (fifty to one hundred roubles, according to 
 binding). Every courtier who had hopes of a visit 
 from the Empress Catharine was expected to have 
 a library, and as few of them had any literary taste, 
 they bought them at this rate. Sometimes waste- 
 paper books were lettered with the names of cele- 
 brated authors. 
 
 Authorship could hardly become a profession 
 until after the invention of printing, and even then 
 it was long before a living could be got out of 
 books. Dr. Edward Castell laboured for seventeen 
 years in the compilation of his immense under- 
 taking — the Lexicon Heptaglotton, to accompany 
 Walton's Polyglot Bible. During this time he main- 
 tained at his own cost as writers seven English- 
 men and as many foreigners. All of them died 
 before the work was completed. Besides expend- 
 ing ^12,000 of his own money he was obliged to 
 borrow ^^2000 more^ and this not being sufficient, 
 he petitioned Charles II. that a prison might not 
 be the reward of so much labour. Notwithstand- 
 ing a circular letter from the king recommending 
 the purchase of this work the author ended his 
 days in poverty, and a great part of the impression 
 was thrown into garrets, where many of the copies 
 were destroyed by damp or rats. 
 
 A similar case was that of Thomas Madox, the 
 
INTRODUCTION 1 5 
 
 learned author of the " History of the Exchequer," 
 who wrote to Dr. Charlett requesting him to get his 
 book into the College Libraries at Oxford, and ex- 
 plaining that the cost of the impression was ;£400 
 for paper and print, and as only 481 copies were 
 printed, "when all the books shall be sold I shall 
 be just able to pay the charges with a trifling over- 
 plus. . . . This affair," he adds, "has given me 
 much perplexity, and perfectly cured me, of scrib- 
 bling." 1 
 
 Thomas Hearne was more fortunate, and amassed 
 a small fortune by his publications. One thousand 
 guineas were found in gold in his rooms at St. 
 Edmund Hall after his death. His books were 
 soon out of print, and fetched large prices even in 
 his own lifetime. 
 
 Lord Spencer bought the whole of the library 
 of Count Revickzky, a catalogue of which had 
 been privately printed by the original owner at 
 Berlin in 1784. According to Dibdin, when the 
 Count was in England he offered his whole 
 collection to Lord Spencer for a certain round 
 sum to be paid to him immediately, and for a 
 yearly sum by way of annuity. The offer was 
 accepted, and as the Count died soon afterwards. 
 Lord Spencer obtained the library at a cheap rate. 
 The same noble collector offered the Duke di 
 Cassano Serra ;£5oo for two books, viz., the Juvenal 
 of Ulric Han, and the Horace of Arnaldus de 
 Bruxella, Naples, 1474, but the offer was not 
 
 1 " Letters from the Bodleian," vol. i. p. 214. 
 
l6 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 accepted. In 1820 Lord Spencer bought the whole 
 collection. 
 
 The Duke of Devonshire purchased the valuable 
 library of Dr. Thomas Dampier, Bishop of Ely, 
 for nearly ^10,000 after the bishop's death in 
 1812. Dr. Dibdin has printed in his "Reminis- 
 cences " (vol. i. p. 363) a list of prices at which Dr. 
 Dampier valued the various classes of books in his 
 library. 
 
 Little idea of the prices of books can be obtained 
 from the amounts given for a whole library, but as 
 in future chapters particulars will be printed of 
 the great libraries that have been disposed of by 
 auction, it seemed well to mention here a few 
 instances of libraries that have been sold entire. 
 The greatest of these is the magnificent library of 
 Earl Spencer, which was sold in 1892 to. Mrs. 
 Rylands, and has been transferred from Althorpe 
 to Manchester. The exact amount paid for this 
 library has not been announced, but it is supposed 
 to have been about a quarter of a million pounds. 
 
 In respect to the history of prices of books, there 
 have been times of inflation and times of depression, 
 just as in the history of prices generally, but it will 
 be seen that in spite of these vicissitudes scarce 
 books have gradually increased in value. The first 
 signs of the growth of bibliomania are seen in the 
 sales of Dr. Mead's and Dr. Askew's libraries in the 
 middle of the last century, which aroused a great 
 interest among book collectors. 
 
 During the great Napoleonic wars books became 
 very scarce, because Englishmen were prevented 
 
INTRODUCTION 1 7 
 
 from purchasing on the Continent, but upon the 
 conclusion of the peace there was a steady flow of 
 books into the country. 
 
 The Duke of Roxburghe's sale in 1812 was a great 
 event, forming, as it did, an epoch in the history of 
 book collecting, and the widespread fervour of biblio- 
 maniacs may be dated from that period. Great 
 sales followed, and then came the sale of the 
 enormous Heber library, which let out too many 
 books on the market at once. After this there 
 followed a dull time, but a revival came with the 
 Bright sale in 1846 and Stowe sale in 1849, and 
 the Daniel and Corser sales between i860 and 1870, 
 and the Henry Perkins sale in 1873, were great 
 events. The last few years have been marked by 
 many great sales, those of the Sunderland, the 
 Beckford, and Hamilton Libraries, and the Turner, 
 Gaisford, Crawford, and Ashburnham collections 
 being among the most remarkable. The greatly 
 increased prices obtained for books have induced 
 many proprietors to sell their literary treasures. 
 
 It is well to remember that the value of all books 
 is not rising, but that whole classes have fallen in 
 price. Greek and Roman Classics, and the Fathers 
 and Theological Literature generally, have been 
 most markedly depreciated in value. 
 
 Fashion guides alterations in the prices of books, 
 just as she does in other less important matters. 
 Thus we find at one time certain books quoted at 
 high prices, which not many years afterwards have 
 become drugs in the market. Still, a careful review 
 of the subject will show that fashion is not nearly 
 
1 8 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 SO potent as in some other departments, say, for 
 instance, in the case of pictures, which certainly 
 vary in price more than books. In spite, therefore, 
 of signs of variableness, it vs^ill be seen that there 
 is a continuous increase of price among certain 
 classes of books which are sure to retain their 
 value, and even to be still more esteemed as time 
 passes. 
 
 It may be well to inquire what are some of the 
 causes which lead to an increase in the price, and 
 to distinguish between those which are permanent 
 and those which are ephemeral. The growth of 
 book-collecting in the United States has had a most 
 potent influence, and large purchases made for 
 many years in England have drained off a large 
 number of books, low priced as well as high priced, 
 which will never return to this country. Another 
 cause is the increase of public libraries in Great 
 Britain, and when books are bought for these 
 libraries they are permanently removed from the 
 open market, as they are not when sold to an in- 
 dividual, because his library will most probably 
 eventually come to the hammer. These two causes 
 would be sufficient in themselves to permanently 
 increase the price of scarce books, but there are 
 still others to be mentioned. There has been of 
 late years a greatly increased interest felt in the 
 history of books — in printing, in binding — and in- 
 creased knowledge has shown the great claims of 
 a large number of books to a higher appreciation 
 than hitherto. Then again, the class of the wealthy 
 who can afford to collect choice libraries has largely 
 
INTRODUCTION 19 
 
 increased ; and lastly, the belief that the collecting 
 of books is by no means a bad investment has not 
 been without effect. This last point opens up a 
 very interesting question in ethics, Should a col- 
 lector look upon his collections as an investment ? 
 The late Mr. J. Hill Burton argues very strongly 
 against this view in his " Book-Hunter." He 
 writes — 
 
 " The mercenary spirit must not be admitted to a share 
 in the enjoyments of the book-hunter. ... If [he] allows 
 money-making, even for those he is to leave behind, to be 
 combined with his pursuit, it loses its fresh relish, its 
 exhilarating influence, and becomes the source of wretched 
 cares and paltry anxieties. When money is the object, 
 let a man speculate or become a miser." . . . 
 
 This is quite true, but we must remember that, 
 after all, increased price is only an outward mani- 
 festation of increased public estimation, and it is 
 always satisfactory to know that our opinion has 
 been accepted by the public. The real point seems 
 to be that the collector should use his judgment 
 in respect to price, and not trouble himself whether 
 the market value of individual books goes up or 
 down, for he may be sure that if he buys wisely, 
 the ups and the downs will balance each other. 
 If a fair-sized library is purchased with judgment 
 and knowledge, it cannot fail to become a profit- 
 able investment, because good books increase in 
 value by reason of their companionship. All worth- 
 less books should therefore be ruthlessly weeded 
 out. For instance, a library of 1000 choice books 
 
20 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 would probably sell for less with 500 books of little 
 value added to them than if these were ruthlessly 
 eliminated. 
 
 Mr. Andrew Lang writes in his pretty little book, 
 "The Library"— 
 
 " When Osborne sold the Harley collection, the scarcest 
 old English books fetched but three or four shillings. If 
 the Wandering Jew had been a collector in the last cen- 
 tury, he might have turned a pretty profit by selling his old 
 English books in this age." 
 
 But Mr. Lang did not think of a calculation, by 
 which Mr. A. W. Pollard, in an interesting article 
 on " English Booksales, 1676-86 " {Bibliographica, 
 vol. ii. p. 126), overthrew this view of the possibility 
 of great gains. He writes — 
 
 " It is perhaps in accordance with precedent to remark 
 that, by the judicious expenditure of five-and-twenty 
 pounds during the ten years we have reviewed, a library 
 of about two hundred volumes might have been ac- 
 quired, which would now be cheap at ;^i 0,000. But 
 as the ;^2 5, if invested at compound interest at five 
 per cent., would now have amounted to nearly a million, 
 it is well for bookmen not to make too much of such 
 mercenary considerations.'' 
 
 This question of price was formerly a delicate 
 one. Thus William Beloe was censured by some 
 collectors for drawing attention to the subject in 
 his "Anecdotes of Literature" ; but that this objec- 
 tion is got over now may be seen from the great 
 success of such a valuable annual as the " Book- 
 
INTRODUCTION 21 
 
 Prices Current," notwithstanding the complaints of 
 some second-hand booiisellers of injury to their 
 business from its revelation of the real value of 
 their books ! 
 
 Dibdin mentions a book-collector to whom he 
 was pointed out at the Roxburghe sale, who ex- 
 claimed, " Hang him ! why did he not publish 
 his book in 1810 ? My books would have brought 
 double the prices." ^ 
 
 Dibdin doubtless influenced the market ; and in 
 later times two men have exerted a very special 
 influence in raising the prices of books : these are 
 the late Mr. Henry Stevens and Mr. Bernard 
 Quaritch. The former drew his counti-ymen's 
 attention to early books printed in and relating to 
 America, and he caused a considerable increase in 
 the price of Americana. But neither of these great 
 book-buyers could have permanently raised the 
 price of books if they had not devoted their atten- 
 tion to books which were well worth these advanced 
 prices. When we deal with books of great beauty 
 and value, and of rare occurrence, which are wanted 
 by several rich book-collectors, it is difficult to say 
 what price is too great for such treasures. 
 
 It becomes, therefore, an important matter for the 
 book-collector to consider what are the rules that 
 guide the enhancement of price in books. It is 
 not easy to codify these rules, for varying circum- 
 stances alter cases : thus new editions reduce the 
 value of some high-priced books, but have no effect 
 
 ' Dibdin's "Reminiscences," vol. i. p. 356 (note). 
 
22 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 in the case of others ; and time supersedes some 
 books, while it enhances the value of others. There 
 are, however, one or two points which may be men- 
 tioned as regulating price, for those persons who 
 suppose prices to be altogether erratic are certainly 
 wrong. 
 
 What, then, are the chief characteristics of a 
 book which make it valuable ? " Uniquity," to 
 use Horace Walpole's word, is one of these ; but 
 this is not always sufficient to keep up the price. 
 
 Good condition is the grand enhancer of value, 
 and dirty copies of even scarce works are seldom 
 worth much. But nowadays much is done by the 
 artist to improve these books. The leaves can be 
 washed, torn pages can be mended, imperfections 
 can be filled up by fac-similes, and then the whole 
 can be handsomely bound in morocco, so that the 
 owner scarcely knows his book again. Still, how- 
 ever, one difficulty remains in the artistic make-up 
 — a short copy cannot be made into a tall one. 
 
 It is useless for the artist to spend his labour 
 upon other than the best books, such as the pro- 
 ductions of the early presses, original editions of 
 masterpieces, and works of permanent value in 
 their best possible form, with the authors' final 
 corrections. The only high-priced books which 
 can dispense with interesting contents are speci- 
 mens of fine bindings ; while here again, if the 
 historical binding covers a really valuable book, 
 the two elements of value united will cause a 
 remarkable enhancement of price. 
 
 Little need be said as to those books which fetch 
 
INTRODUCTION 23 
 
 high prices for a time, and then when fashion alters 
 sink to a much lower level, as it will usually be 
 found that there was no intrinsic value attached to 
 these books, and therefore they were not such as 
 would be bought by the wise collector at a high 
 price. The fictitious value has usually been attained 
 by a system of limited editions and of judicious 
 advertising. Success in these cases is attained 
 among a class outside the experts in bibliography, 
 and therefore there is no cause for wonder that 
 mistakes are made. Sometimes the depression is 
 caused by the unexpected appearance of several 
 copies of a book, of which one or two copies only 
 were believed to exist. 
 
 In considering the probability of high prices 
 being sustained, it must always be borne in mind 
 that the peaceful and prosperous condition of the 
 country is taken for granted. In times of national 
 calamity little money is available for luxuries. Two 
 other important points must be remembered, (i) 
 That it is of no use for a book to be scarce if 
 nobody wants it. The money value of the pheno- 
 menally dull book mentioned by Sir Walter Scott 
 is not recorded. 
 
 " We have heard of one work of fiction so unutterably 
 stupid that the proprietor, diverted by the rarity of the 
 incident, oiTered the book, which consisted of two volumes 
 duodecimo, handsomely bound, to any person who would 
 declare upon his honour that he had read the whole from 
 beginning to end. But although this offer was made to the 
 passengers on board an Indiaman during a tedious outward- 
 bound voyage, the " Memoirs of Clegg the Clergyman " 
 
24 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 (such was the title of this unhappy composition) com- 
 pletely baffled the most dull and determined student on 
 board, when the love of glory prevailed with the boatswain, 
 a man of strong and solid parts, to hazard the attempt, and 
 he actually conquered and carried off the prize." 
 
 (2) That good books are still very cheap, parti- 
 cularly those which it is necessary to possess. So 
 much is talked about the high prices which books 
 fetch, that many are led to believe that he must be a 
 rich man who commences to collect a library ; but 
 this is not so, for many good books in good con- 
 dition can be bought for a few shillings ; in fact, 
 some of the best library books, well bound, do not 
 range at more than ten shillings per octavo volume, 
 and this cannot be called a high price. Ordinary 
 collectors must make up their minds to do without 
 Mazarin Bibles and first folios of Shakespeare, and 
 they will find that life can be lived without these 
 expensive luxuries. 
 
 In conclusion, it is necessary to strike a note of 
 warning respecting the bad paper which is used for 
 some books, and which render these books quite 
 worthless in a few years. Old books were made to 
 last ; the materials used — paper and ink — were of 
 the very best, but many books of the present day 
 are made of bad materials, and contain within them 
 the elements of decay. Lately a German Commis- 
 sion investigated this subject, and for their purpose 
 took out from the Berlin Library one hundred 
 volumes. They classified the paper upon which 
 these books were printed under the four headings 
 
INTRODUCTION 2$ 
 
 °f (i) good ; (2) medium ; (3) bad ; (4) very bad. 
 About five books came under the first two classes, 
 and the remainder were about equally divided be- 
 tween the third and fourth classes. Can we with 
 any confidence claim a better average for English 
 books ? If not, the future of our modern books is 
 a dark one. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 SELLERS OF BOOKS 
 
 It has been frequently remarked that a history of 
 bookselling would be a valuable addition to our 
 literature, but such a book would require extensive 
 research. In place of this a history of some book- 
 sellers has been produced ;>but although the volumes 
 of Mr. Curwen and Mr. Roberts are interesting in 
 themselves, they do not go far to fill the vacant 
 space still open for a history of bookselling. Mr. 
 G. H. Putnam has gathered together much curious 
 information in his "Authors and their Public in 
 Ancient Times," and " Books and their Makers 
 during the Middle Ages," which, notwithstanding 
 some errors, form certainly a useful contribution 
 towards this history. The sellers of books have 
 greatly changed their habits with the altered condi- 
 tions of their trade. Among the Greeks there were 
 public shops for the sale of manuscripts, and in them 
 the learned met together to hear the manuscripts 
 read. In Rome the general mart for books was to 
 be found in the district devoted to the bibliopole, 
 and in his shop advertisements of new works were 
 stuck up. 
 
 At the break up of the Roman Empire the 
 producers of books were mostly found in the 
 
SELLERS OF BOOKS 27 
 
 monasteries, and booksellers were sellers of Pater- 
 nosters, Aves, &c., as well as of books. 
 
 In the thirteenth century the stationarii not only 
 sold books, but accumulated much money by lend- 
 ing them at high rates. Bookstalls were sometimes 
 placed in the church porch, and one of the doors of 
 Rouen Cathedral is still called le portail des libraires. 
 
 When manuscripts were superseded by printed 
 books the business of selling books naturally be- 
 came a more important concern, although the 
 London company established by printers and pub- 
 lishers was called the Company of Stationers. At first 
 one man often undertook all the varieties of book 
 production and bookselling, but gradually the four 
 broad divisions of printers, publishers, second-hand 
 booksellers, and auctioneers came into existence. 
 
 We know but little of the early publishers, although 
 much attention is now being paid to the lives and 
 works of the old book producers, and we may hope 
 to have in course of time much material for a his- 
 tory of them. The great houses founded in the 
 eighteenth and at the beginning of the present 
 century are still with us, and large additions have 
 been made of late years to the ever-increasing roll. 
 At all events, there is no sign of a failure of pub- 
 lished books ; whether they are all worthy to be 
 published is another matter. 
 
 Great changes have been made in the publishing 
 business, and one of the chief of these is the 
 frequent sale of remainders of new books. It is 
 worth a remark in passing that good books which 
 have been sold off often become scarce and more 
 
28 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 valuable than those which have only been sold in 
 the ordinary way. James Lackington was one of the 
 first to make a great business out of the sale of re- 
 mainders ; he was followed by Tegg, and these two 
 men did much to cheapen and popularise literature. 
 
 Charles Knight will ever be remembered with 
 honour as the great pioneer in the cheapening 
 of good literature. The excellence of his shilling 
 volumes was a marvel when they were first pub- 
 lished, and even now it would be difficult to find 
 their equal. Knight had a great belief in the 
 adequacy of the penny as a price for a number of 
 a book. He published large quantities of books 
 at a penny a number — as one of the first cheap 
 periodicals — the Penny Magazine, and the first of 
 cheap encyclopaedias — the Penny Cyclopcedia. How 
 much good has been done by the large issues of 
 such excellent books as Knight's weekly and monthly 
 volumes, the Libraries of Useful and Entertain- 
 ing Knowledge, Constable's Miscellany, Murray's 
 Family Library, Home and Colonial Library, and 
 Bohn's Libraries ! — books all of which are worthy 
 of a place in the library, and not like too many of 
 the cheap books of the present day, books to be 
 read and then thrown aside. 
 
 In taking note of some of the old second-hand 
 booksellers, special mention must be made of 
 Joseph Kirton of St. Paul's Churchyard, whose 
 sign was "The King's Arms,'' because he was 
 Samuel Pepys's bookseller — "my poor Kirton," as 
 the latter calls him when he was ruined by the 
 Fire of London. Pepys tells us that " Kirton was 
 
SELLERS OF BOOKS 29 
 
 utterly undone by the loss of all his stock, so that 
 from being worth seven or eight thousand pounds, 
 he was made two or three thousand pounds worse 
 than nothing." (See "Diary," October 5, 1666.) 
 The poor bookseller did not live long after his 
 great loss, for he died in October 1667. Pepys 
 records an interesting instance of the rise in price 
 of one of the books burnt in the great fire. On 
 March 20, 1666-67 he writes : " It is strange how 
 Rycaut's 'Discourse of Turky,' which before the 
 fire I was asked but 8s. for, there being all but 
 twenty-two or thereabouts burned, I did now offer 
 20s., and he demands 50s., and I think I shall give 
 it him, though it be only as a monument of the 
 fire." On April 8, 1667, he gives us some fuller 
 particulars, which are of interest : " So 1 away to 
 the Temple, to my new bookseller's ; and there I 
 did agree for Rycaut's late ' History of the Turkish 
 Policy,' which costs me 55s. ; whereas it was sold 
 plain before the late fire for 8s., and bound and 
 coloured as this for 20s., for I have bought it finely 
 bound and truly coloured, all the figures, of which 
 there was but six books done so, whereof the King 
 and Duke of York, and Duke of Monmouth and 
 Lord Arlington had four. The fifth was sold, and 
 I have bought the sixth." There is no copy of this 
 edition in the British Museum. 
 
 John Dunton, the erratic bookseller and projector 
 of the eighteenth century, has left us in his " Life 
 and Errors" a most curious account of the book- 
 sellers of his time, who are all, oddly enough, 
 either handsome themselves or have beautiful wives. 
 
30 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Nearly all are also eminent Christians ; in fact, we 
 are told that of three hundred booksellers trading 
 in country towns the author knew not of one knave 
 or blockhead amongst them all. 
 
 Thomas Osborne, the most celebrated bookseller 
 of his day, is interesting to us as having had the 
 honour of being knocked down by Dr. Samuel 
 Johnson. Whether or no he deserved such a sum- 
 mary punishment we cannot now tell, but although 
 he appears to have been more of a business man 
 than a literary character, what he did is sufficient 
 to place him in an honourable position in the 
 history of English bibliography. He bought the 
 finest library of the time, and sold it piecemeal at 
 reasonable prices. He employed two of the most 
 capable men of his day — Johnson and Oldys — 
 to make a Catalogue, which does credit to all con- 
 cerned in its production, and he did not make 
 much money by the transaction. The amount 
 he gave for the Harley library in 1742 (;^i3,ooo) 
 was less by ;^5ooo than the binding of a portion 
 of the library had cost, but had he given more 
 he would certainly have been a loser. Osborne 
 projected a Catalogue, in which it was proposed 
 "that the books shall be distributed into distinct 
 classes, and every class arranged with some regard 
 to the age of the writers ; that every book shall 
 be accurately described ; that the peculiarities of 
 the editions shall be remarked, and observations 
 from the authors of literary history occasionally 
 interspersed, that by this Catalogue posterity may 
 be informed of the excellence and value of this 
 
SELLERS OF BOOKS 3 1 
 
 great collection, and thus promote the knowledge 
 of scarce books and elegant editions." Maittaire 
 drew up the scheme of arrangement, and wrote 
 the Latin dedication to Lord Carteret, who was 
 then Secretary of 'State. Dr. Johnson wrote the 
 " Proposals " for printing the Bibliotheca Harleiana, 
 which afterwards were prefixed to the first volume. 
 But in spite of having such eminent helpers, 
 Osborne had to give up his project of an anno- 
 tated Catalogue, and he informed the public in the 
 preface to the third volume of his failure — 
 
 " My original design was, as I have already explained, to 
 publish a methodical and exact Catalogue of this library, 
 upon the plan which has been laid down, as I am informed, 
 by several men of the first rank among the learned. It 
 was intended by those who undertook the work, to make 
 a very exact disposition of all the subjects, and to give an 
 account of the remarkable differences of the editions, and 
 other peculiarities, which make any book eminently valu- 
 able ; and it was imagined that some improvements might, 
 by pursuing this scheme, be made in Literary History. 
 With this view was the Catalogue begun, when the price 
 [5s. per volume] was fixed upon it in public advertisements ; 
 and it cannot be denied that such a Catalogue would have 
 been willingly purchased by those who understood its use. 
 But when a few sheets had been printed, it was discovered 
 that the scheme was impracticable without more hands 
 than could be procured, or more time than the necessity 
 of a speedy sale would allow. The Catalogue was there- 
 fore continued without notes, at least in the greatest part ; 
 and though it was still performed better than those which 
 are daily offered to the public, fell much below the original 
 intention." 
 
32 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 The public were not very grateful for what they 
 did receive, and resented Osborne's charge of five 
 shillings a volume for the Catalogue, which seems 
 reasonable enough now, but was then denounced 
 as "an avaricious innovation." In answer to the 
 clamour the bookseller announced that "those 
 who have paid five shillings shall be allowed at 
 any time within three months after the day of sale 
 either to return them in exchange for books, or to 
 send them back and receive their money." An- 
 other complaint was that the books were priced 
 too high. As this was a serious charge, Osborne 
 got Johnson to put his answer into sonorous lan- 
 guage, that would at least make the complainers 
 ashamed of themselves : " If, therefore, I have set 
 a high value upon books, if I have vainly imagined 
 literature to be more fashionable than it really is, 
 or idly hoped to revive a taste well-nigh extin- 
 guished, I know not why I should be persecuted 
 with clamour and invective, since I shall only 
 suffer by my mistake, and be obliged to keep those 
 books which I was in hopes of selling." 
 
 Dibdin proves that this charge of over-pricing 
 is quite unjust. He writes : " Whoever inspects 
 Osborne's Catalogue of 1748 (four years after the 
 Harleian sale) will find in it many of the most valu- 
 able of Lord Oxford's books ; and among them a 
 copy of the Aldine Plato of 1513 struck off upon 
 vellum, marked at ;^2i only — for this identical copy 
 Lord Oxford gave 100 guineas, as Dr. Mead in- 
 formed Dr. Askew ; from the latter of whose col- 
 lections it was purchased by Dr. Hunter, and is 
 
SELLERS OF BOOKS 33 
 
 now in the Hunter Museum. There will be found 
 in Osborne's Catalogues of 1748 and 1753 some of 
 the scarcest books in English literature marked at 
 2 or 3 or 4s. for which three times the number of 
 pounds is now given." ^ Dibdin has given a useful 
 analysis of the contents of the Harleian Library in 
 his Bibliotnania. Osborne published a large number 
 of catalogues full of literary curiosities, and with 
 interesting notes and prefaces. In Mr. Thorpe's 
 Catalogue of 185 1 there is a notice of a set of 
 Osborne's Catalogues from 1729 to 1768, in forty- 
 three volumes octavo. This famous bookseller died 
 on 27th August 1767, and he is said to have left 
 behind him some forty thousand pounds. 
 
 No bookseller has ever been held in higher 
 esteem than Thomas Payne, who was honourably 
 known as " honest Tom Payne." Payne's shop at 
 the Mews Gate, where the National Gallery now 
 stands, was for years the great afternoon resort of 
 the chief book collectors. Here met such men as 
 Cracherode, George Steevens, Malone, Lord Spencer, 
 Grenville, Bishop Dampier, Towneley, and Colonel 
 Stanley. Payne lived at the Mews Gate for forty 
 years, having commenced business as an assistant 
 to his elder brother, Oliver Payne. Thomas's first 
 catalogue, when he set up for himself, is dated 
 1740. He removed to Pall Mall, and retired from 
 business in 1790. He died in 1799, at the age of 
 eighty-two. He was succeeded by his son, who, in 
 partnership with Henry Foss, carried on a first-rate 
 
 ' SiblioTnaniOy Part V. 
 
34 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 bookselling business in Pall Mall for many years. 
 The catalogue of the Grenville Library was made 
 and published by them. 
 
 George Nicol, styled by Beloe in his Sexagena- 
 rian " a superb bookseller," was a man of great 
 influence in his day. He was largely instrumental 
 in the purchase of much of two magnificent libraries 
 — those of George 111. and the Duke of Roxburghe — 
 and he was highly esteemed by both his employers. 
 He always spoke of the King as his beloved master. 
 It was he who induced R. H. Evans, the bookseller, 
 to adopt the business of an auctioneer by offering 
 him the sale of the Roxburghe library. 
 
 Another bookseller who occupies a prominent 
 position in the roll of learned and high-principled 
 members of the calling was Thomas Rodd, of Great 
 Newport Street. His catalogues were of great in- 
 terest, and he numbered among his customers most 
 of the book-collectors of his time. Lord Campbell 
 referred to him in one of his books as "that very 
 learned and worthy bookseller, my friend Thomas 
 Rodd." 
 
 A rival of Rodd was Thomas Thorpe, who com- 
 menced business in Covent Garden, removed to Pic- 
 cadilly, and in his later days returned to Covent 
 Garden. Thorpe was a masterful man, who carried 
 everything before him, and published a series of 
 valuable catalogues, from which may be obtained 
 a history of prices for many years. Dibdin, in his 
 "Reminiscences" (1806), says, " I know of no such 
 dogged, indomitable energy and perseverance as 
 that of this renowned bibliopolist " ; and again, in 
 
SELLERS OF BOOKS 35 
 
 the preface to his " Library Companion," he writes, 
 " Mr. Thorpe is indeed a man of might. His 
 achievements at book -sales are occasionally de- 
 scribed in the ensuing pages. It is his catalogues 
 I am here to treat. They are never-ceasing pro- 
 ductions ; thronged with treasures which he has gal- 
 lantly borne off at the point of his lance, in many 
 a hard day's fight in the Pall Mall and Waterloo 
 Place arenas. But these conquests are no sooner 
 obtained than the public receives an account of 
 them ; and during the last year only, his catalogues 
 in three parts, now before me, comprise not fewer 
 than seventeen thousand nine hundred and fifty- 
 nine articles. What a scale of buying and selling 
 does this fact alone evince ! But in this present 
 year two parts have already appeared, containing 
 upwards of twelve thousand articles. Nor is this 
 all. On the 24th day of September, in the year of 
 our Lord 1823, there appeared the most marvellous 
 phenomenon ever witnessed in the annals of biblio- 
 polism. The Times newspaper had four of the five 
 columns of its last page occupied by an advertise- 
 ment of Mr. Thorpe, containing the third part of his 
 catalogue for that year. On a moderate computa- 
 tion this advertisement comprised eleven hundred 
 and twenty lines." Greater things have been done 
 since. 
 
 The Bohns were mighty booksellers in their time 
 — John the father, and Henry and James the two 
 sons ; but Henry Bohn made the greatest name. 
 His famous Guinea Catalogue ("the 'guinea pig") 
 was long a marvel, at least in respect to thickness. 
 
36 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 till Mr. Quaritch decided to far outrival it, and 
 make it appear slim by the side of his huge 
 volumes. Henry Bohn was a remarkable man, 
 and the cultivator of many tastes. In later life he 
 neglected second-hand bookselling for publishing 
 and the selling of remainders. He has already 
 been mentioned as one of the chief of those who 
 have supplied the public with sound cheap litera- 
 ture. Bohn was fond of exhibiting his importance, 
 and when at a book-sale he would, catalogue in 
 hand, inspect the lots far ahead, and occasionally 
 look up and arrest the course of the sale by in- 
 quiring of the auctioneer what was the number of 
 the lot then selling. 
 
 Mr. Quaritch has outdone all previous book- 
 sellers by the grandeur of his catalogues. They 
 have grown in size and importance, until the last 
 General Catalogue, in seven volumes and nine 
 supplements, a large paper copy of which is in the 
 Reading-room of the British Museum, throws all 
 other catalogues into the shade. The volumes con- 
 taining the various classes into which the catalogue 
 is divided each form a most valuable bibliography 
 and a grand record of the present prices of books. 
 
 This is not a history of booksellers, and therefore 
 more need not be said of them here than that a 
 body of men to whom book collectors are greatly 
 indebted may well be proud of numbering in their 
 ranks those already named, as well as the Pickerings, 
 the Lillys, the Boones, the Ellises, and the Bains, 
 upon whose exploits we have not space to enlarge. 
 
SELLERS OF BOOKS 37 
 
 AUCTIONEERS 
 
 William Cooper, a bookseller in a good way of 
 business at the sign of the Pelican in Little Britain, 
 was the first to introduce into England the practice 
 of selling books by auction, when in 1676 he sold 
 Dr. Seaman's library, and for some years he was 
 the chief auctioneer in London. His first catalogue 
 — the first sale catalogue in England — is exhibited 
 in the Kings' Library at the British Museum. 
 
 In 1680 Edward Millington, a better known man 
 and a bookseller of standing, took to auctioneering, 
 and he and Cooper together divided the chief busi- 
 ness in this department. Other booksellers, such 
 as Moses Pitt, Zachary Bourne, Nathaniel Ranew, 
 Richard Chiswell, and John Dunsmore, Robert 
 Scott, &c., sold books by auction, and Oldys styles 
 Marmaduke Foster, who made the catalogue of 
 Thomason's Civil War Tracts in twelve folio manu- 
 script volumes, an auctioneer. It is, however, of 
 the two foremost men. Cooper and Millington, that 
 we want to know more, and fortunately a wit of 
 Christ Church, Oxford, George Smalridge, after- 
 wards Dean of Christ Church and Bishop of Bristol, 
 was struck by the humours connected with the sale 
 in 1686 of the stock of a bankrupt Oxford book- 
 seller — Richard Davis, the publisher of several of 
 the Hon. Robert Boyle's works. Smalridge wrote 
 a skit on the proceedings, under the title of " Auctio 
 Davisiana Oxonii habita per Gulielmum Cooper, 
 Edoar. Millingtonum, Bibliop. Lond. . . . Londini : 
 
38 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Prostant venales apud Jacobum Tonson, 1689." 
 This was reprinted in Musarum Anglicanarum 
 Analecta, vol. i. 1691.^ 
 
 The sale, according to Anthony a Wood, took 
 place " in a large stone fabric opposite St. Michael's 
 Church, in Oxon., near the north gate of the city, 
 called Bocardo " (a prison in the Middle Ages), 
 and apparently it attracted a great deal of atten- 
 tion on account of the novelty of the mode of 
 sale. Smalridge fastened on the salient points, 
 and he has thus given us information respect- 
 ing the conduct of a sale in the seventeenth 
 century which we should not otherwise have pos- 
 sessed. The persons of the little drama are six 
 Christ Church men — Arthur Kaye, Walter Bacon, 
 Ed. Stradling, George Dixon, Christopher Codring- 
 ton, and William Woodward — and in the pride of 
 their learning they make sad fun of the pomposity 
 and ignorance of the poor auctioneers. We must, 
 however, remember that this is a satire and a carica- 
 ture. Cooper is described as " a man of wonderful 
 and notable gravity," with a monstrous paunch ; 
 and Millington as having a Stentor's lungs and con- 
 summate impudence, a very windbag, whose hollow 
 bellows blow lies. 
 
 Woodward took the part of Cooper, and Codring- 
 ton that of Millington, but when these characters 
 were first pressed upon them, the latter urged that 
 
 ^ An annotated translation of Audio Davisiana was published in 
 " Book-Lore," vol. iii. p. i66 ; vol. iv. p. i. The translator possesses a 
 copy formerly belonging to Bishop Wordsworth of Lincoln, in which is 
 written, in a contemporary hand, ex dono Bibliopole Ric Davis. 
 
SELLERS OF BOOKS 39 
 
 " if a book is bad, I cannot pile encomiums on it, 
 and prefer Wither to Virgil, or Merlin to the Sibyls." 
 We ai-e told that bids of one penny were taken, and 
 that when the third blow of the hammer has been 
 struck the sale was irrevocable. The auctioneers 
 seem to have offended the ears of the Oxonians by 
 saying "Nepotis" and "Stephani." At the end of the 
 day Woodward is made to say, " I have spoken, I 
 the great Cooper, whose house is in Little Britain." 
 Codrington recites a long rhodomontade ending 
 thus : " I check myself and put a curb on the 
 runaway muses. But this mallet, the badge of my 
 profession, I affix as a dedicatory offering to this 
 post — To Oxford and the Arts Millington con- 
 secrates these arms." Dunton draws a favourable 
 portrait of Millington in his " Life and Errors." 
 He says he " commenced and continued auctions 
 upon the authority of Herodotus, who commends 
 that way of sale for the disposal of the most ex- 
 quisite and finest beauties to their amorosos ; and 
 further informs the world that the sum so raised 
 was laid out for the portions of those to whom 
 nature had been less kind : so that he'll never be 
 forgotten while his name is Ned, or he, a man of 
 remarkable elocution, wit, sense, and modesty — 
 characters so eminently his, that he would be 
 known by them among a thousand. Millington 
 (from the time he sold Dr. Annesly's library) ex- 
 pressed a particular friendship to me. He was 
 originally a bookseller, which he left off, being 
 better cut out for an auctioneer. He had a quick 
 wit, and a wonderful fluency of speech. There was 
 
40 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 usually as much comedy in his ' once, twice, thrice,' 
 as can be met with in a modern play. 'Where,' 
 said Millington, ' is your generous flame for learn- 
 ing ? Who but a sot or a blockhead would have 
 money in his pocket and starve his brains ? ' 
 Though I suppose he had but a round of jests. Dr. 
 Cave once bidding too leisurely for a book, says 
 Millington, ' Is this your " Primitive Christianity ? " ' 
 alluding to a book the honest doctor had pub- 
 lished under that title. He died in Cambridge, and 
 I hear they bestowed an elegy on his memory, and 
 design to raise a monument to his ashes." Thomas 
 Hearne does not give him so good a character. He 
 writes under date 13th September 1723 : "Though 
 the late Mr. Millington of London, bookseller, was 
 certainly the best auctioneer in the world, being 
 a man of great wit and fluency of speech, and a 
 thorough master of his trade ; though, at the same 
 time, very impudent and saucy, yet he could not 
 at the end of the auction, be brought to give an 
 account to the persons who employed him, so that 
 by that means, he allowed what he pleased and no 
 more, and kept a great number of books that were 
 not sold to himself. Whence arose that vast stock 
 of books, though most of them but ordinary, that 
 he had when he dyed, and which, after his death, 
 were sold by auction." 1 
 
 "An Elegy upon the Lamented Death of Mr. Ed- 
 ward Millington, the famous Auctioneer,'' alluded to 
 by Dunton, is printed in the " Works of Mr. Thomas 
 Brown," ed. 1744, iv. p. 320, but the Rev. C. H. 
 
 ' Reliquia Hearniance, 1869, vol. ii. p. 172. 
 
SELLERS OF BOOKS 4I 
 
 Hartshorn e quotes it in his "Book Rarities of Cam- 
 bridge," 1829, p. 450, from Bagford's Collection, 
 British Museum, Harleian MSS., No. 5947. It reads 
 as follows : — 
 
 " Mourn ! mourn ! you booksellers, for cruel death 
 Has robb'd the famous auctioneer of breath : 
 He's gone, — he's gone, — all the great loss deplore ; 
 Great Millington — alas ! he is no more : 
 No more will he now at your service stand 
 Behind the desk, with mallet in his hand : 
 No more the value of your books set forth. 
 And sell 'em by his art for twice the worth. 
 Methinks I see him still, with smiling look. 
 Amidst the crowd, and in his hand a book : 
 Then in a fine, facetious, pleasing way 
 The author's genius and his wit display. 
 
 O all you scribbling tribe, come, mourn his death. 
 Whose wit hath given your dying fame new birth. 
 When your neglected works did mouldering lie 
 Upon the shelves, and none your books would buy. 
 How oft has he, with strained eloquence. 
 Affirm 'd the leaves contained a world of sense, 
 ' When all's insipid, dull impertinence ? 
 ' Come, gentlemen, — come bid me what you please ; 
 Upon my word it is a curious piece. 
 Done by a learned hand — and neatly bound : 
 One pound — once, twice, fifteen: who bids? — a 
 
 crown ! ' 
 Then shakes his head, with an affected frown, 
 And says ' For shame ! consider, gentlemen. 
 The book is sold in shops for more than ten. 
 Good lack a day ! — 'tis strange! ' then strikes the blow. 
 And in a feigned passion bids it go. 
 
42 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Then in his hand another piece he takes, 
 
 And in its praise a long harangue he makes ; 
 
 And tells them that 'tis writ in lofty verse, 
 
 One that is out of print and very scarce : 
 
 Then with high language, and a stately look. 
 
 He sets a lofty price upon the book ; 
 
 'Five pound, four pound, three pound,' he cries 
 
 aloud, 
 And holds it up to expose it to the crowd, 
 With arm erect, — the bidders to provoke 
 To raise the price before the impending stroke ; 
 This in the throng does emulation breed, 
 And makes 'em strive each other to outbid ; 
 While he descants upon their learned heats. 
 And his facetious dialect repeats ; 
 For none like him, for certain, knew so well 
 (By way of auction) any goods to sell. 
 'Tis endless to express the wayes he had 
 To sell their good, and to put off their bad. 
 But ah ! in vain I strive his fame to spread ; 
 The great, the wise, the knowing man is dead. 
 
 And you in painting skill' d, his loss bewail ; 
 
 He's dead ! — that did expose your works to sale. 
 
 Can you forget how he for you did bawl, 
 
 ' Come, put it in ? — a fine original. 
 
 Done by a curious hand : — What strokes are here. 
 
 Drawn to the life ? How fine it does appear ! 
 
 O lovely piece! — Ten pound, — five pound; — for 
 
 shame, 
 You do not bid the value of the frame.' 
 How many pretty stories would he tell 
 To enhance the price, and make the picture sell ! 
 But now he's gone ! — ah ! the sad loss deplore ; 
 Great Millington ! — alas ! he is no more. 
 
SELLERS OF BOOKS 43 
 
 And you, the Muses' darlings, too, rehearse 
 Your sorrows for the loss of him in verse : 
 Mourn ! mourn ! together, for that tyrant death 
 Has robb'd the famous auctioneer of breath." 
 
 The Epitaph. 
 
 Underneath this marble stone 
 
 Lies the famous Millington ; 
 
 A man who through the world did steer 
 
 I' th' station of an auctioneer ; 
 
 A man with wondrous sense and wisdom blest. 
 
 Whose qualities are not to be exprest. 
 
 We have given so much space to Millington, 
 because it is interesting to see how similar were 
 the practices of auctioneers at the first institution 
 of the business to what they are at the present time, 
 and also because Millington seems to have been 
 considered the most famous of auctioneers, until 
 James Christie arose to take his place as chief re- 
 presentative of the profession. It may be added 
 to his honour that he was a friend of Milton, who 
 lodged in his house. 
 
 Richard Chiswell (1639-1711) was more of a 
 bookseller than an auctioneer, but his name must 
 be mentioned here. He was one of the four who 
 issued the fourth folio edition of Shakespeare's 
 Plays, and he was the official publisher of the 
 Votes of the House. Dunton describes him as 
 " the metropolitan bookseller of England, if not of 
 all the world," and says that he never printed a bad 
 book, or one on bad paper. 
 
 Jonathan Greenwood, bookseller and auctioneer. 
 
44 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 is described by Dunton as a worthy but unfortunate 
 man, " so that the chief thing he has left to boast of 
 is a virtuous wife and several small children." He 
 adds, " But he still deserves the love and esteem 
 of all good men, for the worst that can be said of 
 him is, ' There goes a poor honest man,' which is 
 much better than ' There goes a rich knave.' " 
 
 How little is known of some of these early auc- 
 tioneers may be seen from the fact that John 
 Bullord, who sold books at the end of the seven- 
 teenth century, is said by the careful John Nichols 
 to be a member of the well-known bookselling 
 family of Ballard. I cannot find any information 
 respecting Bullord, but it is very improbable that 
 this name was merely a misspelling of Ballard. 
 
 Thf name of Samuel Paterson (1728-1802) will 
 always be held in honour among English bibHo- 
 graphers, for he was one of the first to improve the 
 art of cataloguing, and he gained great fame from his 
 labours in this department. He had one great fault, 
 however, for he was so insatiable a reader, that when 
 in cataloguing he came upon a book he had not seen 
 before, he must needs read the book then, and 
 thus his work was much delayed, and often his 
 catalogues could not be obtained until a few hours 
 before the sale. He was the son of a woollen 
 draper in St. Paul's, Covent Garden, but lost his 
 father when he was only twelve years old ; his 
 guardian neglected him, and having involved his 
 property in his own bankruptcy, sent him to 
 France. Here he acquired a considerable know- 
 ledge of French literature, which served him in 
 
SELLERS OF BOOKS 45^ 
 
 good stead through life. When Httle more than 
 twenty years of age he opened a shop in the Strand, 
 opposite Durham Yard. This bookselling business 
 was unsuccessful, and he then commenced as a 
 general auctioneer at Essex House. It was during 
 this period of his life that he saved the collection 
 of valuable manuscripts formerly belonging to Sir 
 Julius Caesar from being sold as waste-paper to a 
 cheesemonger. He classified the MSS., and made 
 an excellent catalogue of them, and when they 
 came to be sold by auction they realised £z5^- 
 Although Paterson made an excellent auctioneer, 
 he was no more successful financially than in his 
 other ventures. He therefore accepted the post of 
 librarian to the Earl of Shelburne (afterwards first 
 Marquis of Lansdowne) ; but after a few years there 
 was a quarrel, and he was obliged to return to the 
 business of cataloguing and selling of libraries. 
 
 The Rev. C. H. Hartshorne, in his "Book 
 Rarities," mentions a print by NichoUs in the 
 British Museum, called "The Complete Auc- 
 tioneer," representing a man with spectacles on, 
 standing at a table covered with books, which are 
 lettered at the tops. Underneath are these lines — 
 
 " Come, sirs, and view this famous Library ; 
 'Tis pity learning should discouraged be : 
 Here's bookes (that is, if they were but well sold) 
 I will maintain 't, are worth their weight in gold. 
 Then bid apace, and break me out of hand : 
 Ne'6r cry you don't the subject understand. 
 For this I'll say — howe'er the case may hit, — 
 Whoever buys of me — I'll teach 'em wit.'' 
 
46 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Although the London booksellers went into the 
 country to sell books, there were some local auc- 
 tioneers, as, for instance, Michael Johnson (the 
 father of Dr. Samuel Johnson), who kept a book- 
 stall in Lichfield, and attended the neighbouring 
 towns on market days. Johnson's address to his 
 customers is taken from " A Catalogue of Choice 
 Books, ... to be sold by auction, or he who bids 
 most, at the Talbot, in Sidbury, Worcester," and is 
 quoted from Clarke's Repertorium Bibliographicum 
 (1819)- 
 
 " To ALL Gentlemen, Ladies, and Others in or 
 NEAR Worcester, — I have had several auctions in your 
 neighbourhood, as Gloucester, Tewkesbury, Evesham, &c., 
 with success, and am now to address myself and try my 
 fortune with you. — You must not wonder that I begin every 
 Day's Sale with small and common books ; the reason is a 
 room is some time a filling, and persons of address and 
 business, seldom coming first, they are entertainment till 
 we are full ; they are never the last books of the best kind 
 of that sort for ordinary families and young persons, &c. 
 But in the body of the Catalogue you will find Law, Mathe- 
 maticks. History ■- and for the learned in Divinity there 
 are Drs. Souter, Taylor, Tillotson, Beveridge, and Flavel, 
 &c., the best of that kind : and to please the Ladies I have 
 added store of fine pictures and paper hangings, and, by the 
 way, I would desire them to take notice that the pictures 
 shall always be put up by the noon of that day they are to 
 be sold, that they may be view'd by day hght. I have no 
 more but to wish you pleas'd and myself a good sale, 
 who am 
 
 Your Humble Servant, 
 
 M. Johnson." 
 
SELLERS OF BOOKS 47 
 
 The sale took place in the evening, commencing 
 at six o'clock and continuing till all the lots were 
 sold. 
 
 The existing firms of literary auctioneers, Sotheby, 
 Wilkinson & Hodge ; Puttick & Simpson ; Christie, 
 Manson & Woods ; and Hodgsons, are all of con- 
 siderable standing, but Sotheby's is of the greatest 
 antiquity. Samuel Baker, the founder of the 
 house, commenced business in 1744 with sale of 
 Dr. Thomas Pellet's library (^£859) in York Street, 
 Covent Garden. He continued sole member of the 
 firm till 1774, when he entered into partnership 
 with George Leigh (who is styled by Beloe " the 
 finical bookseller"). Baker died in 1778, in his 
 sixty-sixth year, when he left his property to his 
 nephew, John Sotheby, who in 1780 was in part- 
 nership with Leigh. In 1800 the style was Leigh, 
 Sotheby & Son, John Sotheby's son Samuel being 
 taken into partnership. In 1803 the business was 
 removed from York Street to 145 Strand, opposite 
 Catharine Street, and in 1818 to the present house 
 in Wellington Street. The third and last Sotheby, 
 Mr. Samuel Leigh Sotheby, became a partner in 
 1837, and in 1843 Mr. John Wilkinson entered the 
 firm as a partner. The style was Sotheby and 
 Wilkinson till 1864, when Mr. Edward Grose 
 Hodge became a partner, and from that date the 
 name of the firm has been Sotheby, Wilkinson, and 
 Hodge. 
 
 The firm of Puttick & Simpson dates back to the 
 establishment of the business by Mr. Stewart in 
 1794 at 191 Piccadilly. The business was bought 
 
48 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 by Wheatley & Adlard on the retirement of Mr. 
 Stewart. For a short time it was carried on by Mr. 
 Fletcher, who was succeeded in 1846 by Messrs. 
 Puttick & Simpson. In 1858 the business was 
 removed from Piccadilly to 47 Leicester Square. 
 Mr. Puttick died in 1873. 
 
 The firm of Christie's was established soon after 
 that of Sotheby's, and James Christie the elder's 
 (1730-1803) first sale was on the 5th December 
 1766, at rooms in Pall Mall, formerly occupied by 
 the print warehouse of Richard Dalton. Christie 
 afterwards removed next door to Gainsborough, at 
 Schomberg House, and died there, 8th November 
 1803. His son, James Christie the younger (1773- 
 1831), was born in Pall Mall, and was educated 
 at Eton. In 1824 he removed to the present pre- 
 mises in King Street, formerly Wilson's European 
 Emporium. Mr. Christie died in King Street, 
 2nd February 1831, aged fifty-eight. Mr. George 
 Christie succeeded his father. Mr. William Manson 
 died in 1852, and was succeeded by his brother, 
 Mr. Edward Manson. In 1859 Mr. James Christie, 
 the great-grandson of the founder, and Mr. Thomas 
 Woods, joined the firm. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 PRICES OF MANUSCRIPT BOOKS 
 
 In a treatise devoted to an inquiry concerning the 
 varying prices of books, it is necessary that at least 
 one chapter should be devoted to manuscripts. 
 There is no field of investigation which offers a 
 more interesting subject for study, and few that are 
 more difficult to master. Manuscripts are really 
 more attractive' than printed books, because they 
 are so various, and have been produced over a 
 much longer period of the world's history. It 
 is therefore strange that so few authors care to 
 trouble themselves about them ; that this is so may 
 be seen from the large number of readers at the 
 British Museum who are contented to quote over 
 and over again from the much-used printed books, 
 and the comparatively few who cultivate the virgin 
 soil of the Manuscript Department, where there are 
 endless stores of unused materials. 
 
 Manuscripts are usually somewhat miscellaneous 
 in character, for they consist (i) of some of the 
 finest examples of the pictorial art of many ages ; 
 
 (2) of the originals of the great works of antiquity ; 
 
 (3) of a large number of valuable works that have 
 
 never been printed ; (4) of charters, documents, 
 
 letters, memoranda, &c., which are of great value, 
 
 49 D 
 
50 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 but which are not books, and therefore do not 
 come within the scope of our present inquiry. In 
 respect to the prices of the manuscripts, it is very 
 difficult to say anything of much value, because 
 (i) many of the most important manuscripts have 
 been transferred from library to library in bulk, 
 and it is comparatively seldom that they come up 
 for public sale ; (2) the buyers of manuscripts are 
 fewer than those of printed books, and therefore it 
 is more difficult to arrive at a real standard price 
 for books which are practically unique, as there is 
 no wide public opinion upon the subject. But for 
 the present purpose, a still more important reason 
 why this vast subject cannot be dealt with in a 
 succinct manner is, that the materials for its history 
 have not yet been thoroughly investigated by ex- 
 perts. The relative prices at different periods are 
 hard to understand, even in England, where money 
 has been better regulated than in most countries ; 
 but when we have to deal with foreign countries 
 and foreign coins, we are necessarily at a loss how 
 to convert into their present value coins which may 
 have been depreciated at the time we are dealing 
 with, and have certainly been still more depreciated 
 since : for instance, what idea is communicated to 
 the mind of the modern reader when he is told that 
 " Borso d'Este paid forty ducats for a Josephus and 
 a Quintus Curtius, while his large two-volume Bible 
 cost him 1375 sequins" ?i 
 
 In dealing with manuscripts, it is most impor- 
 tant to distinguish between plain and illuminated 
 
 1 Leader Scott's "Renaissance of Art in Italy," 1883, p. 193. 
 
PRICES OF MANUSCRIPT BOOKS 51 
 
 manuscripts. The neglect of this caution has led to 
 an exaggerated idea of the cost of books before the 
 invention of printing. Instances have been given 
 of purchases at sums equal to a king's ransom. 
 Hence it is supposed that books were so dear 
 that they were quite out of the reach of any but 
 the richest personages. But this view is erro- 
 neous, for we know that by means of the slave 
 labour at Rome and the organised work in the 
 monasteries, plainly written manuscripts could be 
 obtained at a reasonable price. We know now that 
 transcripts of MSS. can be had at a price which, 
 if dear when compared with the price of a newly- 
 published printed book, is by no means extravagant. 
 What could be done at a centre of civihsation like 
 Rome, where books were produced in large num- 
 bers and at low prices on account of the organisation 
 of literary production, could be done at other places. 
 There is evidence that at London, and at those seats 
 of learning, Oxford and Cambridge, where caligraphy 
 was a profession, books were not difficult to obtain. 
 Every church and chapel must have had service- 
 books. Probably during the Middle Ages, when 
 travelling was arduous and expensive, persons living 
 in out-of-the-way places had to pay special prices 
 for their literary treasures. 
 
 The late Professor J. Henry Middleton referred 
 to this matter of cost in his valuable work on " Illu- 
 minated Manuscripts " (1892). After quoting from 
 Aulus Gellius, he wrote — 
 
 "But ordinary copies of newly-published works, even 
 by popular authors, appear to have been but little more 
 
52 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 expensive than books of this class are at the present day. 
 The pubhsher and bookseller Tryphon could sell Martial's 
 first book of Epigrams at a profit for two denarii — barely 
 two shillings in modern value (see Mart. xiii. 3). It may 
 seem strange that written manuscripts should not have been 
 much more costly than printed books, but when one con- 
 siders how they were produced, the reason is evident. Atticus, 
 the Sosii, and other chief publishers of Rome, owned a large 
 number of slaves, who were trained to be neat and rapid 
 scribes. Fifty or a hundred of these slaves could write from 
 the dictation of one reader, and thus a small edition of a 
 new volume of Horace's Odes or Martial's Epigrams could 
 be produced with great rapidity, and at very small cost" 
 (p. 19). 
 
 In the fifteenth century, even, illustrated Books 
 of Hours were produced in France, Flanders, and 
 Holland at a cheap rate. Mr. Middleton wrote — 
 
 " Education had gradually been extended among various 
 classes of laymen, and by the middle of the fifteenth century 
 it appears to have been usual not only for all men above the 
 rank of artizans to be able to read, but even women of the 
 wealthy bourgeois class could make use of prayer-books. 
 Hence arose a great demand for pictured Books of Hours, 
 which appear to have been produced in enormous quantities 
 by the trade scribes of towns, such as Bruges, Paris, and 
 many others. These common manuscript Hours are mono- 
 tonous in form and detail ; they nearly always have the same 
 set of miniatures, which are coarse in detail and harsh in 
 colour" (p. 141). 
 
 Mr. Middleton gives some further information re- 
 specting the cost of production of certain service- 
 books taken from some church records in the 
 fourteenth and fifteenth centuries — 
 
PRICES OF MANUSCRIPT BOOKS 53 
 
 "From these accounts (1379-1385) we learn that six 
 manuscripts were written, illuminated, and bound, one of 
 them with gold or silver clasps or bosses, at a total cost of 
 ;^i4, 9s. 3d., more than ;^i5o in modern value" (p. 222). 
 " Three Processionals only cost ;^i, 17s. 4d., being on forty- 
 six quaternions of cheap parchment made of sheepskin, 
 which cost only 2|d. the quaternion" (p. 223). 
 
 There was thus great variety of cost in the pro- 
 duction of the various kinds of books, but when we 
 consider the matter, we shall find it impossible to do 
 other than believe that a demand for service-books, 
 the price of which was not prohibitive, must have 
 existed. 
 
 The Rev. T. Hartwell Home gave in his " Intro- 
 duction to Bibliography" some instances of the 
 prices of manuscripts in the Middle Ages, but as 
 some of these were evidently exceptional cases, 
 although they have been used by historians to draw 
 conclusions which we must consider as erroneous, 
 they need not be repeated here. 
 
 Dr. S. R. Maitland in his admirable work on the 
 " Dark Ages " comments with much acuteness on 
 some of these cases as quoted by Dr. Robertson, 
 and shows that the historian has drawn a general 
 conclusion from special instances, which in certain 
 cases have not been correctly reported. Maitland 
 adds that some writer a few centuries hence might — 
 
 "Tell his gaping readers . . . that in the year 1812 one 
 of our nobility gave ;^226o and another ;!^io6o for a 
 single volume, and that the next year a Johnson's Dic- 
 tionary was sold by public auction to a plebeian purchaser 
 for ;^2oo. A few such facts would quite set up some 
 
54 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 future Robertson, whose readers would never dream that 
 we could get better reading, and plenty of it, much cheaper 
 at that very time. The simple fact is, that there has always 
 been such a thing as bibliomania since there have been 
 books in the world, and no member of the Roxburghe Club 
 has yet equalled the Elector of Bavaria, who gave a town 
 for a single manuscript" (pp. 66-7). 
 
 Interesting particulars respecting the composition, 
 binding, and expenses of Petrarch's library will be 
 found in M. de Nolhac's monograph on the subject. 
 Petrarch kept copyists in his house, whose short- 
 comings occasioned him much vexation. He be- 
 queathed his library to Venice, and the Venetians 
 are accused of having suffered it to be dispersed, 
 but it would seem that it never reached them. 
 
 We may judge from the immense number of 
 manuscripts still existing, in spite of the wholesale 
 destruction that occurred at various times, how 
 large was the output in the Middle Ages. It is 
 therefore preposterous to suppose that when books 
 were being produced in large numbers in hundreds 
 of monasteries in Europe they were only bought 
 by kings or great nobles. 
 
 During the troubled times of the Barons' Wars 
 there must have been great destruction of literary 
 treasures, and at the Reformation, when whole 
 libraries were destroyed and made waste-paper of, 
 the ignorant waste was appalling. "The splendid and 
 magnificent abbey of Malmesbury, which possessed 
 some of the finest manuscripts in the kingdom, was 
 ransacked, and its treasures either sold, or burnt to 
 serve the commonest purposes of life. An antiquary 
 
PRICES OF MANUSCRIPT BOOKS 55 
 
 who travelled through that town many years after 
 the dissolution, relates that he saw broken windows 
 patched up with remnants of the most valuable MSS. 
 on vellum, and that the bakers hadn't even then 
 consumed the stores they had accumulated in heat- 
 ing their ovens." ^ That so much is left after the 
 wholesale raid on the monasteries is largely due 
 to the sound antiquarian taste of John Leland, to 
 whom we of later ages are supremely indebted. 
 
 In all times of political convulsions the learning 
 of the world stands a bad chance of escaping great 
 loss, and we are told that twenty-five thousand 
 manuscripts were burnt during the horrors of the 
 French Revolution. 
 
 Carelessness and the contempt felt for old books 
 are still the great destructive forces in the East, 
 and the Hon. Robert Curzon, who travelled in 
 search of manuscripts, gives in his ''Visits to the 
 Monasteries in the Levant" (1849) a lively account 
 of the irreparable losses that are constantly occur- 
 ring. (See also Archdeacon Tattam's and M. Pacho's 
 narratives of their negotiations with the monks of 
 the Nitrian Desert for Syrian MSS., and the subse- 
 quent experiences of Tischendorf and Mrs. Lewis.) 
 One of the most recent literary events is the re- 
 covery of a number of Jewish manuscripts from a 
 Genizah or storehouse of old papers and parch- 
 ments at Cairo, where they were preserved indeed, 
 but entirely neglected. 
 
 The late Mr. Thorold Rogers paid considerable 
 attention to the prices of books, and recorded many 
 
 1 " Letters from the Bodleian," vol. i. p. 279 (note). 
 
56 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 valuable facts respecting them in his important 
 work, " History of Agriculture and Prices in Eng- 
 land." After commenting on some prices in the 
 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, he adds, "such 
 prices indicate that written literature was not wholly 
 inaccessible to the general public " (vol. i. p. 646). 
 
 The particulars of the cost of church books give 
 perhaps the best idea of prices, because these were 
 needed by a large number of the population. Some 
 of them were of small price, while others of a more 
 elaborate character were of great price. In the 
 year 1278 the bailiff of Farley spent six shillings and 
 eightpence for books for the church, and in 1300 the 
 monks of Ely paid six shillings for a Decretal, and 
 two shillings for Speculum Gregorianum. In 1329 
 the precentor received six shillings and sevenpence, 
 with an instruction to go to Balsham to purchase 
 books.i In i344 a Bible cost three pounds, and in 
 1357 a book was bought for Farley church for four 
 shillings. 
 
 Mr. Blades printed in his Life of Caxton an in- 
 ventory of the library of Jean, Due de Berri, at the 
 chateau of Mohun sur Yevre, 1416. At the death 
 of the duke the library contained one hundred 
 and sixty-two volumes, valued at 14,909 livres. 
 
 In 1443 twenty-seven volumes were purchased 
 by the authorities of King's Hall, Cambridge, from 
 the executors of John Paston (who had been their 
 steward), at a cost of ;^8, 17s. 4d. In 1447 the 
 same college bought a Psalter for three shillings 
 and eightpence, and a Donatus for one shilling. 
 
 ' Putnam's "Books and their Makers,'' 1897, vol. i. p. 159. 
 
PRICES OF MANUSCRIPT BOOKS 57 
 
 In 1449 twenty new Processionals cost All Souls 
 College one hundred and thirteen shillings and 
 fourpence, and in 1453 a book of Wycliffe's was 
 bought for seven shillings and sixpence, and one 
 written against him for three shillings and sixpence.^ 
 A manuscript of 157 leaves, containing some of 
 the works of St. Gregory, was bought in 1455 for 
 £?>, 6s. 8d. 
 
 In 1459 Fastolfe's books were highly priced ; thus 
 a fair Mass book was fixed at ten pounds, and a 
 Holy Legend at the same sum, while two new great 
 Antiphons were together ^13, 6s. 8d. 
 
 One of St. Augustine's Epistles, containing 179 
 leaves, sold sometime after 1468 for £1, 13s. 4d., 
 and about the same time one of St. Bernard's 
 Treatises, written on 211 leaves, was bought by 
 Richard Hopton from the executors of a forrher 
 possessor for twenty shillings. 
 
 Perhaps a rather more accurate idea of the cost 
 of manuscript books can be obtained from a con- 
 sideration of the cost of materials and the pay of 
 the scribes, and, fortunately, particulars have come 
 down to us which allow of a comparison of the 
 various expenses. 
 
 A pocket lectionary was made in 1265 for the 
 use of Eleanor de Montfort, Countess of Leicester, 
 and sister of Henry 111. Twenty dozen of fine 
 vellum were purchased for the work at the price 
 of ten shillings, and the writing, which was executed 
 at Oxford, cost fourteen shillings. 
 
 Richaird du Marche, an illuminator, was paid 
 
 ' Rogers's "Agriculture and Prices,'' vol. iv. pp. 509-604. 
 
58 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 forty shillings for illuminating a Psalter and a pair 
 of tablets for Queen Eleanor, consort of Edward I. 
 
 In the same accounts of this queen an entry is 
 made of ^£6, 13s. 4d. to Adam the royal goldsmith 
 for work done upon certain books.^ 
 
 Professor Middleton printed in his " Illuminated 
 Manuscripts '' (pp. 220-23) extracts from the Manu- 
 script Records of the Collegiate Church of St. George 
 at Windsor, from which it appears that John Prust 
 (Canon of Windsor from 1379 to 1385) was paid 
 ^14, 9s. 3d. for six manuscripts written, illuminated, 
 and bound, one of them with gold or silver clasps 
 or bosses. The six books were an Evangeliarium, 
 a Martyrologium, an Antiphonale, and three Pro- 
 cessionals. The items of each are as follows : — 
 
 Evangeliarium. 
 1 9 quaternions (quires) of vellum at 8d. each 
 
 
 
 s. 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 Black ink 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 Botde to hold the ink ... . 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 Vermilion 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 The scribe's " commons " (food) for eighteen 
 
 
 
 
 weeks ...... 
 
 
 
 IS 
 
 
 
 Payment to the scribe .... 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 4 
 
 Corrections and adding coloured initials 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 Illumination ...... 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Binding 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Goldsmith's work (on the binding) 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 £i 
 
 13 
 
 S 
 
 Two journeys to London and some smaller 
 
 items 
 
 made a total of £,t,, 15s. 8d. 
 
 
 
 
 'Manners and Household Expenses" (Roxburghe Club). 
 
PRICES OF MANUSCRIPT BOOKS 
 
 59 
 
 Martyrologium . 
 
 7 quaternions of vellum at 8d. - 
 
 Payment to the scribe 
 
 Illumination 
 
 £ 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 s. 
 
 4 
 
 IS 
 
 5 
 
 d. 
 
 8 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 Binding .... 
 Coloured initials 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 O 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 o 
 
 I 
 
 IS 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 o 
 6 
 o 
 II 
 o 
 
 £^ 8 4 
 
 Antiphonale. 
 
 34 quaternions of larger and more expensive 
 sheets of vellum at 15 d. . . .2 
 
 Payments to the scribe .... 3 
 
 Adding to the musical notation . . i 
 
 Coloured initials . . . . .0 
 
 Illumination ...... o 
 
 Binding ....... o 
 
 ~£l 7 II 
 
 (Twelve quires of vellum which were in stock were also 
 used for this Anttphonale.) 
 
 The three Processionals only cost ;^i, 17s. ^d., 
 being written on forty-six quaternions of cheap 
 parchment made of sheepskin, which cost only 2|d. 
 the quaternion. 
 
 Mr. Falconer Madan tells us that "in 1453 John 
 Reynbold agreed at Oxford to write out the last 
 three books of Duns Scotus's Commentary on the 
 Sentences of Peter Lombard, in quarto, for 2s. 2d. 
 each book," and that " a transcript in folio by this 
 Reynbold of part of Duns Scotus on the Sentences 
 is in both Merton and Balliol College Libraries at 
 Oxford, one dated 1451."! 
 
 ' "Books in Manuscript," 1893, p. 43. 
 
6o 
 
 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Sir John Fenn quotes in illustration of one of 
 the Paston Letters the account of Thomas, a hmner 
 or illuminator of manuscripts residing at Bury St. 
 Edmunds, against Sir John Howard of Stoke by 
 Neyland in Suffolk (afterwards Duke of Norfolk), 
 dated July 1467. 
 
 For viij hole vynets [miniatures], prise the 
 
 vynett, xijd .... 
 
 Item, for xxj demi vynets, prise the demi 
 
 vynett, iiijd .... 
 
 Item, for Psalmes lettres xv*" and di', the 
 
 prise of C. iiijd .... 
 Item, for p'ms letters Ixiij", prise of a C jd 
 Item, for wrytynge of a quare and demi, 
 
 prise the quayr, xxd ... 
 Item, for wrytenge of a calendar 
 Item, for iij quayres of velym, prise the 
 
 quayr, xxd ..... 
 Item, for notynge of v quayres and ij laves. 
 
 prise of the quayr, viijd 
 Item, for capital drawynge \\f and di', the 
 
 prise ...... 
 
 Item, for floryshynge of capytallis, v"^ . 
 Item, for byndynge of the boke . 
 
 vijs 
 
 
 vs 
 vs 
 
 ijd 
 iijd 
 
 ijs 
 
 vjd 
 xijd 
 
 iijs vijd 
 
 iijd 
 vd 
 
 XIJS 
 
 cs ijd^ 
 
 This list of charges is of great interest and of 
 much value in illustrating the cost of illumination 
 in the fifteenth century. The price of the binding 
 seems to be very considerable as compared with 
 the work of the illuminator, unless it included the 
 
 ' Paston Letters, ed, Gairdner, 1874, vol. ii. p. 336. 
 
PRICES OF MANUSCRIPT BOOKS 6l 
 
 cost of gold or other expensive decoration. Mr. 
 Middleton gives also particulars of the cost of 
 ■writing, illuminating, and binding a manuscript 
 Lectionary, 1469-71, the total expense of which was 
 ;^3, 4s. id. These are taken from the Parish Ac- 
 counts of the Church of St. Ewen, in Bristol— 
 
 1468-69. 
 
 Item, for j dossen and v quayers of vellom 
 to perform the legend \i.e. to write the 
 lectionary on] . . . . . xs vjd 
 
 Item, for wrytyng of the same . . . xxvs 
 
 Item, for ix skynnys and j quayer of velom 
 
 to the same legend . . . . vs vjd 
 
 Item, for wrytyng of the forseyd legend . iiijs ijd 
 
 1470-71. 
 
 Item, for a red Skynne to kever the legent . vd 
 
 Also for the binding and correcting of the 
 said Boke ...... vs 
 
 Also for the lumining of the seid legent . xiijs vjd^ 
 
 Among the Paston Letters is a letter from William 
 Ebesham to his "moost worshupfull maister. Sir 
 John Paston," 1469 (?), asking for payment for his 
 labours in writing, the charge for which was a 
 penny per leaf for verse, and twopence a leaf for 
 prose. Appended to this letter is the following 
 interesting account : — 
 
 ' "Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucester Archseological Society,'' 
 vol. XV., 1891, pp. 257 and 260, quoted "Illuminated Manuscripts," 
 p. 223. 
 
62 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Folowyng apperith, parcelly, dyvers and soondry maner 
 of writynge, which I, William Ebesham, have wreetyn for 
 my gode and woorshupfull maistir, Sir John Fasten, and 
 what money I have resceyvid and what is unpaide. 
 
 First, I did write to his maistership a little 
 booke of Pheesyk, for which I had 
 paide by Sir Thomas Leevys in West- 
 minster ...... xxd 
 
 Item, I had for the wrytyng of half the Prevy 
 
 scale of Pampyng .... viijd 
 
 Item, for the wrytynge of the seid hole prevy 
 scale of Sir Thomas . . . . ijs 
 
 Item, I wrote viij of the Witnessis in parche- 
 ment, but aftir xiiijd a peecc, for which 
 I was paide of Sir Thomas . . . xs 
 
 Item, while my seide maister over the see in 
 Midsomertime. Calle sett me a warke 
 to wryte two tymes the prevy scale in 
 papir, and then after cleerely in parche- 
 ment ....... iiijs viijd 
 
 And also wrote the same tyme con mo of 
 the largest witnessis, and other dyvers 
 and necessary wrytyngs, for which he 
 promisid me xs, whereof I had of Calle 
 but iiijs viijd. car. vs iiij . . . vs iiijd 
 
 I resceyvid of Sir Thomas at Westminster 
 
 penultimo die Oct. anno viiij . . iijs iiijd 
 
 Item, I did write to quairs of papir of wit- 
 nessis, every quair conteyning xiiij leves 
 after ijd a leff iiijs viijd 
 
 Item, as to the Crete Booke — First, for 
 wrytyng of the Coronacion, and other 
 tretys of Knyghthode, in that quaire 
 which conteyneth a xiij levis and more 
 ijd a lef ijs ijd 
 
PRICES OF MANUSCRIPT BOOKS 63 
 
 Item, for the tretys of Werre in iiij books, 
 which conteyneth Ix levis aftir ijd a 
 leaff xs 
 
 Item, for Othea pistill, which conteyneth 
 
 xliij leves ...... vijs iid 
 
 Item, for the Chalengs and the acts of 
 
 Armes which is xxviij'' less . . iiijs viijd 
 
 Item, for De Regimine Principum, which 
 conteyneth xlv'' leves, aftir a peny a 
 leef, which is right wele worth . . iijs ixd 
 
 Item, for Rubrissheyng of all the booke . iijs iiijd ^ 
 
 The " Grete Booke," described above, is now 
 among the Lansdowne Manuscripts (No. 285) in 
 the British Museum, and is fully described in the 
 Catalogue of that Collection, 1812 (Part II., pp. 
 99-102). 
 
 In quoting the foregoing particulars of the early 
 sale of MSS. and of the cost of production, no 
 attempt has been made to calculate the present 
 value of the amounts set down, because the data 
 for such a calculation are not available. It will, 
 however, be well if the reader remembers that the 
 various amounts mentioned must have been equal 
 at the very least to ten times these sums in the 
 present day. Professor Middleton multiplies by 
 ten, but when we find an expert scribe charging 
 one penny and twopence for one leaf, and the 
 "commons" of another is set down at tenpence 
 per week, we may safely reckon the multiplier, at 
 considerably more than ten in the fourteenth and 
 fifteenth centuries. 
 
 ' Paston Letters, ed, Gairdner, 1874, vol. ii. pp. 334-35. 
 
64 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 The scribes and illuminators already mentioned 
 were the individual workers, who were employed 
 by corporations and men of wealth to produce 
 books for their libraries ; but the wholesale pro- 
 ducers of books, who employed armies of scribes, 
 must not be overlooked in this place. Vespasiano 
 di Bisticci of Florence {b. 1421) was the chief of 
 these booksellers, and he assisted to form the three 
 most famous libraries in Italy — the Laurentian in 
 Florence, that of the Vatican, and the library of 
 Federigo, Duke of Urbino, which was afterwards 
 bought by Pope Alexander VII. and incorporated 
 into the Vatican Library. Vespasiano was an author 
 as well as a bookseller, and has recorded some of his 
 doings in his Vite degli Uomini ILlustri. He gives a 
 detailed list of the works he obtained for the Duke 
 of Urbino, which comprised all the known classics, 
 the Fathers, books on astrology, science, medicine, 
 art, music, and all the Italian authors and poets. 
 Vespasiano claimed that in this magnificent library, 
 which cost 30,000 ducats, every author was found 
 complete, and not a page of his writings was miss- 
 ing. Every book was written on vellum, and there 
 was not a single one of which he was ashamed. 
 Vespasiano was ever ready to form a library, as the 
 following anecdote will prove. 
 
 Niccolo Niccoli having spent a long life and all 
 his patrimony in collecting, left his books to Cosimo 
 to found a public library. Cosimo built the fine 
 pillared hall in the Convent of San Marco, and then 
 proposed to form a worthy public library, of which 
 the legacy of Niccoli should be the nucleus. He sent 
 
PRICES OF MANUSCRIPT BOOKS 65 
 
 for Vespasiano for his advice, who said, " You could 
 not buy books enough." "Then what would you 
 do ? " asked Cosimo. " Have them written," re- 
 plied the bookseller. On which Cosimo gave the 
 commission, and Vespasiano set forty-five scribes 
 and illuminators to work, and furnished two hundred 
 volumes in twenty-two months. Cosimo was so 
 pleased with the books, that he employed the suc- 
 cessful purveyor to supply the illuminated Psalters 
 and Missals for the Church of the new Convent of 
 San Marco.^ No wonder, perhaps, that Vespasiano 
 expresses his great dislike for the new-fangled art 
 of printing. Every century has its own social con- 
 vulsion, and thinks it the most important of all 
 time. We talk of the revolutionary change made 
 by the introduction of machinery in the nineteenth 
 century, but we seldom realise how great a change 
 in the occupations of the people took place in the 
 fifteenth century, at the period of the invention of 
 printing. Large numbers of men entirely depen- 
 dent on their labours as scribes were thrown out 
 of work. Many of these men were members of in- 
 fluential bodies, who were not inclined to sit down 
 idly under their misfortunes, so they petitioned 
 against the use of printing ; but fate was too power- 
 ful for them, and their endeavours to boycott the 
 printing-press were not successful, even though 
 Vespasiano di Bisticci said that Duke Federigo 
 would have been ashamed to have a printed book 
 in his library. 
 
 ^ Leader Scott's " Renaissance of Art in Italy," 1883, p. 194. 
 
 E 
 
66 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 John of Trittenheim, Abbot of Spanheim, who is 
 known in Hterature as Trithemius, said some hard 
 things against printing in an essay, De Laude Scrip- 
 torum Mannalium, thus — 
 
 " A work written on parchment could be preserved for a 
 thousand years, while it is probable that no volume printed 
 on paper will last for more than two centuries. Many im- 
 portant works have not been printed, and the copies re- 
 quired of these must be prepared by scribes. The scribe 
 who ceases to perform his work because of the invention of 
 printing can be no true lover of books, in that, regarding 
 only the present, he gives no due thought to the intellectual 
 cultivation of his successors. The printer has no care for 
 the beauty and the artistic form of books, while with the 
 scribe this is a labour of love.'' 
 
 When, however, Trithemius found it necessary to 
 exhort his own monks, he was not able to speak 
 very favourably of their love of books — 
 
 " There is, in my opinion, no manual labour more be- 
 coming a monk than the writing of ecclesiastical books, 
 and preparing what is needful for others who write them, 
 for this holy labour will generally admit of being inter- 
 rupted by prayer and of watching for the food of the soul 
 no less than of the body. Need, also, urges us to labour 
 diligently in writing books, if we desire to have at hand 
 the means of usefully employing ourselves in spiritual 
 studies. For you see that all the library of this monastery, 
 which formerly was fine and large, has been so dissipated, 
 sold, and made away with by the disorderly monks before 
 us, that when I came I found but fourteen volumes." ^ 
 
 ' Maitland's "Dark Ages," 1844, p. 272. 
 
PRICES OF MANUSCRIPT BOOKS 67 
 
 Others were wiser than to oppose the new art, 
 and many scribes, recognising the inevitable de- 
 struction of their trade, became printers. Caxton's 
 master, Colard Mansion, was an extensive writer 
 of manuscripts before he took to the business of 
 printing at Bruges. Much has been written upon 
 famous collections of manuscripts, and upon the 
 individual works which compose them, but it is 
 not often that these come to public auction, so that 
 the particulars of prices are comparatively meagre. 
 The grand collections of the British Museum and 
 the Bodleian ^ are preserved in safety for the use of 
 the learned, and we only know that they are of the 
 greatest value. What they would fetch if sold now 
 can only be guessed, and it would be merely frivo- 
 lous to inquire. Three of the grandest collections 
 in the Museum — the old Royal Library, the Cotton, 
 which was only saved from slow destruction by the 
 establishment of the British Museum, to which it 
 was transferred, and the Harley, which the nation 
 obtained for .^10,000 — must now be of untold value. 
 
 The purchase by the British Museum of the 
 library of Dr. Charles Burney greatly added to the 
 completeness of the collections of Greek Classics. 
 
 ' Mr. Madan has given in Appendix A to his most useful and 
 interesting work on "Books in Manuscript," 1893, a list of public 
 libraries which contain more than 4000 MSS. The largest collections 
 are as follows : — British Museum, 52,000, and 162,000 charters ; 
 Bodleian Library, 31,000; Royal Library, Vienna, 20,000; Brussels, 
 30,000; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, 80,000; Royal Library, 
 Berlin, 16,000 ; Munich, 26,000 ; the Vatican, Rome, 23,600 ; Biblio- 
 teca Nazionale, Florence, 15,000; Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, 
 25,000. 
 
68 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Among the manuscripts is the wonderful Iliad 
 of Homer on vellum, formerly belonging to Mr. 
 Towneley, which, although it cannot be dated 
 further back than the beginning of the fourteenth 
 century, is supposed to be of the earliest date of 
 the MSS. of the Iliad known to scholars. A com- 
 mittee appointed to consider the purchase of the 
 library stated in their report: "With respect to 
 the value of the manuscripts, the Homer is rated 
 by the different witnesses at from ;£6oo to ;^8oo, 
 and one of them supposed it might even reach so 
 high a price as -^looo ; ^ the Greek rhetoricians are 
 estimated at from £s^o to ^^500 ; the larger copy 
 of the Greek Gospels at ^£200 ; the geography of 
 Ptolemy at £6^ ; and the copy of Plautus at £^0. 
 One witness estimates the whole of the ancient 
 manuscripts at upwards of ^^2500, and an eminent 
 bookseller at ;^3000." "The books with manu- 
 script notes, together with Dr. Burney's Variorum 
 Compilation, including the Fragmenta Scenica Grceca, 
 are estimated by one at ^1000, and by another as 
 high as ^1340." It must be remembered that this 
 was written in 1818, and these prices may be multi- 
 plied considerably at the present day. 
 
 Even those large private collections which have 
 been in the market of late years have mostly been 
 sold in bulk, so that little light has been thrown 
 upon the current value of fine manuscripts. 
 
 One of the best sources of information respecting 
 present prices is to be found in Mr. Quaritch's 
 
 1 Dr. Bumey gave ^^620 for it at Towneley 's sale, 1815. 
 
PRICES OF MANUSCRIPT BOOKS 69 
 
 admirable catalogues of his collections of literary 
 treasures. 
 
 When the treasures of Hamilton Palace were dis- 
 persed by public auction, the priceless collection 
 of manuscripts was sold by private contract to 
 the German Government. The amount paid has 
 never been officially announced, but it is believed 
 to have reached the sum of ;^75,ooo. Some of 
 these manuscripts were not required at Berlin, and 
 they were sold in May 1889 by Messrs. Sotheby for 
 
 The gem of the collection was the fifteenth- 
 century manuscript of Dante's Divina Commedia, 
 illustrated with upwards of eighty drawings, attri- 
 buted to Sandro BotticeUi. Of it a writer in the 
 Times said, "This priceless volume may, without 
 exaggeration, be described as the most valuable 
 manuscript in existence, from its artistic interest, 
 for it stands alone as an example of a literary 
 work of the first order illustrated by an artist of 
 the highest rank." 
 
 It is impossible here even to register some of the 
 many beautiful works that made the manuscripts 
 of the Duke of Hamilton so famous. Great dissatis- 
 faction was felt by the British public when it was 
 found that these treasures were to be transported 
 to Berlin. Before the final decision was made, Mr. 
 Ruskin, in a " General statement explaining the 
 nature and purposes of St. George's Guild," wrote — 
 
 " I hear that the library of Hamilton Palace is to be 
 sold some time this spring. That library contains a col- 
 lection of manuscripts which the late Duke permitted me 
 
yo PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 to examine at leisure, now some thirty years ago. It 
 contains many manuscripts for which I have no hope of 
 contending successfully, even if I wished to do so, against 
 the British Museum or the Hbraries of Paris and Vienna. 
 But it contains also a very large number of manuscripts, 
 among which I could assuredly choose some for which the 
 partly exhausted general demand might be not extrava- 
 gantly outbid, and I think the English public ought to have 
 confidence enough in my knowledge of art and history to 
 trust me with a considerable sum for this purpose." 
 
 Mr. Quaritch, who entered into Mr. Ruskin's 
 plans, circulated this pamphlet, and asked for con- 
 tributions to be sent to him, which he would for- 
 ward to Mr. Ruskin. Had the Government of this 
 country been of the same mind with Mr. Ruskin, 
 these manuscripts would not have been lost to the 
 country. 
 
 The sale of the Hamilton manuscripts to a foreign 
 Government naturally caused those who were in- 
 terested in these matters to feel great anxiety lest 
 the Earl of Ashburnham's manuscripts, which it 
 was known the owner wished to sell, should also be 
 sent abroad. This collection consisted of upwards of 
 three thousand manuscripts in about four thousand 
 volumes, and were made up of purchases from the 
 Duke of Buckingham (Stowe) and M. Libri ; and 
 of an Appendix consisting of separate manuscripts 
 purchased from time to time by the late Lord 
 Ashburnham. 
 
 (i) The Stowe collection grew out of the library 
 of MSS. formed by Thomas Astle, the palaeographer, 
 and Keeper of the Records in the Tower. Astle 
 
PRICES OF MANUSCRIPT BOOKS 7 1 
 
 directed by his will that his collection should be 
 offered to the Marquis of Buckingham on certain 
 specified terms, one of which was the payment of the 
 sum of ;^5oo. This amount was not of course any 
 measure of their value, and the bequest was made in 
 gratitude to the Grenville family for favours which 
 Astle had received from them. A room was built 
 at Stowe by Mr. (afterwards Sir John) Soane to 
 receive the collection, in which were charters, regis- 
 ters, wardrobe accounts, inventories, correspon- 
 dence, and many items of the greatest historical 
 value. O'Conor's Irish MSS. and the State Papers 
 of Arthur Capel, Earl of Essex, Lord-Lieutenant of 
 Ireland in the reign of Charles II., afterwards found 
 a home at Stowe. In April 1849 the Marquis of 
 Chandos wrote to Sir Robert Peel, stating that he 
 had recently had offers from private parties for the 
 Stowe manuscripts, and offering them to the British 
 Museum. Sir Frederick Madden valued the col- 
 lection at ;^830o, but he was only authorised to 
 treat with Lord Chandos for the Irish manuscripts 
 separately, and to seek for further information 
 respecting other portions of the collection. In the 
 meantime, however, the whole number were sold 
 to Lord Ashburnham for -^8000. 
 
 (2) Libri collection. In June 1846 the Trustees of 
 the British Museum applied for Treasury sanction 
 to the expenditure of ^^9000 in the purchase of the 
 Libri manuscripts, but this was refused. In Sep- 
 tember following renewed application was made 
 for ^6600 for the collection, less the Napoleon 
 papers valued at ^1000. The Treasury allowed 
 
72 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 ;^6ooo with commission to agents, but the negotia- 
 tion failed, and Lord Ashburnham obtained the 
 MSS. for ^8000. 
 
 (3) Barrois collection, chiefly consisting of French 
 romances and poems, was offered to the British 
 Museum in 1848 for ^^6000. It was examined by 
 the Keeper of the Manuscripts, who recommended 
 the purchase, but apparently no application was 
 made to the Treasury, and the collection was soon 
 afterwards sold to Lord Ashburnham for the same 
 amount. 
 
 (4) Appendix of MSS. collected separately by 
 Bertram, fourth Earl of Ashburnham, among which 
 were some splendid illuminated manuscripts. 
 
 With respect to some of these manuscripts a 
 difficulty had arisen, owing to M. Leopold Delisle's 
 claim that a large number of the manuscripts in 
 the Libri collection had been stolen from libraries 
 in France by Libri while holding the office of 
 Inspector-General of Libraries. M. Delisle also 
 alleged that at least sixty of the Barrois manuscripts 
 were stolen from the Paris National Library. In 
 November 1879 Lord Ashburnham offered to treat 
 for the sale of his library of printed books and 
 manuscripts with the Museum alone, or jointly with 
 the French Government, naming ^160,000 as the 
 price for the whole, and stated that he had received 
 an offer to that amount "from another quarter." 
 The Trustees then asked whether Lord Ashburnham 
 would treat for the manuscripts alone, and his 
 answer in January 1880 was that he had ascertained 
 that the offer he had received of ;^i6o,ooo for the 
 
PRICES OF MANUSCRIPT BOOKS 73 
 
 whole library from a private individual was intended 
 for private speculation, and that the collection was 
 worth a great deal more. This amount, which 
 comes to about ;^Soo for each manuscript, seems 
 to be very large, but competent authorities have 
 agreed to the valuation. At any rate, the Treasury 
 was not prepared to buy the whole at such a price, 
 and the Principal Librarian treated for the Stowe 
 collection alone, the price of which Lord Ash- 
 burnham fixed at ;^30,ooo.i In the end these were 
 purchased for the nation. 
 
 For many years the late Sir Thomas Phillipps 
 was an omnivorous collector of manuscripts, and 
 his collections were vast. They are gradually being 
 sold by auction. Several portions have passed 
 under the hammer of Messrs. Sotheby, and others 
 are still to follow. 
 
 A very fine collection of illuminated manuscripts 
 was gathered in a very short period by William 
 Morris. It is fortunate that a collection made by 
 one who knew so well what to buy is not to be 
 dispersed or taken out of the kingdom. As long as 
 it remains intact it will be a worthy monument of 
 an enthusiastic lover of art who, while teaching the 
 present age, was not forgetful of the history of the 
 earlier workers in the same spirit. 
 
 We cannot register prices of such priceless manu- 
 scripts as the Gospels of St. Cuthbert, for two cen- 
 turies at Lindisfarne, and now among the Cottonian 
 MSS. in the British Museum, or the Book of Kells 
 at Trinity College, Dublin — both of the seventh 
 
 ^ These particulars are obtained from the official reports. 
 
74 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 century ; but some few books of great interest which 
 have been sold by auction may be mentioned here. 
 The chief of these is the splendid manuscript of the 
 Bible in the British Museum, said to have been pre- 
 sented by Alcuin to Charlemagne. The vicissitudes 
 of this book are very remarkable. It was confis- 
 cated during the French Revolution, and eventually 
 came into the possession of M. Speyr Passavant of 
 Basle, who unavailingly ofFered it for a large sum to 
 the chief libraries of Europe. It was offered to the 
 Trustees of the British Museum, first for ^12,000, 
 then for ;£8ooo, and lastly for ;£65oo. The un- 
 founded claims of the proprietor, who appears to 
 have been very much of a charlatan, appear to have 
 damaged the repute of the MS., and it remained on 
 his hands. On 27th April 1836 the volume was put 
 up to auction at Evans's rooms, and was described 
 in six pages of a catalogue in which it was the chief 
 lot. It was catalogued as the Emperor Charle- 
 magne's Bible — a manuscript on vellum by Alcuin, 
 completed a.d. 800, presented to Charlemagne A.D. 
 801 at the ceremony of his coronation, and men- 
 tioned in his will. The date is not undisputed, and 
 it is supposed by some to be of about forty years 
 later. The statement that this Bible is mentioned 
 in the Emperor's will is absolutely denied. The 
 price registered in Evans's sale catalogue is ;^i5oo, 
 and the purchaser is given as Scordet, but the book 
 was really bought in, and it is said that few of the 
 biddings for it were genuine. After this failure 
 fresh overtures were made to the British Museum, 
 and in the end it was bought for that library for 
 
PRICES OF MANUSCRIPT BOOKS 75 
 
 ;^75o, which must be considered a small price for 
 so splendid and interesting a book. There was 
 some correspondence on this Bible in the Gentle- 
 man's Magazine, in which Sir Frederick Madden 
 took part. These letters are reprinted in Gomme's 
 Gentleman's Magazine Library {" lAitr3.vy Curiosities," 
 1888, pp. 234-64). Another historical manuscript 
 of particular beauty which has been several times 
 sold by auction, and now safely reposes at the 
 British Museum, is the famous so-called Bedford 
 Missal (really Book of Hours), written and illumi- 
 nated for John, Duke of Bedford, Regent of France 
 under Henry VI., to whom he presented the book in 
 the year 1430. It passed into the hands of Henry II. 
 of France, and long subsequently into those of 
 Lady Worsley (widow of Sir Robert Worsley), from 
 whom it was purchased by the Earl of Oxford, who 
 bequeathed it to his daughter, the Duchess of Port- 
 land. At the latter's sale in 1786 it was bought by 
 James Edwards the bookseller for ;^2i3, 3s. At 
 Edwards's sale in 181 5 it was bought for ;^687, 15s. 
 by the Marquis of Blandford, who afterwards sold 
 it to Mr. Broadley. At Broadley's sale in 1833 Sir 
 John Tobin bought it for -^iioo. Sir John's son 
 sold it to the bookseller from whom the British 
 Museum purchased it in 1852. 
 
 Two instances of most interesting manuscripts 
 sold at very inadequate prices may here be recorded. 
 One of the most distinguished among the Ashburn- 
 ham manuscripts was one known as the Albani 
 Missal. It is a manuscript of offices, and was exe- 
 cuted apparently for Alemanno Salviati, gonfalonier 
 
76 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 of Florence and brother - in - law of Lorenzo de' 
 Medici, and given by him to one of his relatives 
 of the house of Baroncelli. This beautiful volume 
 contains five full-page miniatures, each the work of 
 a master. The first is by the hand of Amico Asper- 
 tini, of Bologna, the pupil of Francia ; the next is 
 attributed to Lorenzo di Credi ; the third and fourth 
 of high excellence, though unassigned; and the fifth 
 by Perugino, signed " Petrus Perusinus pinxit." 
 For this artistic treasure Mr. James Dennistoun 
 gave ;^20 in Rome in the year 1838. When he had 
 purchased it he found that opposition to its leaving 
 Italy would be made on the part of the Roman 
 authorities, so he had it unbound and divided, and 
 got it sent to England privately a few pages at a 
 time. He afterwards sold it to Lord Ashburnham 
 for £^00. These facts were printed in the Times in 
 1883 by a cousin of Mr. Dennistoun. 
 
 Mr. Madan gives in his " Books in Manuscript," 
 1893, a very interesting account of a bargain obtained 
 by the Bodleian Library, which account is here re- 
 produced in a somewhat condensed form. " Six 
 years ago [1887] a little octavo volume, in worn 
 brown binding, stood on the shelves of a small parish 
 library in Suffolk, but was turned out and offered 
 at the end of a sale at Sotheby's, presumably as 
 being unreadable to country folk." It was de- 
 scribed in the catalogue as "Latin Gospels of the 
 Fourteenth Century, with English Illuminations." 
 For the sum of £6 it passed into the Bodleian 
 Library, and came to be catalogued as an ordinary 
 accession. It was noticed that the writing was of 
 
PRICES OF MANUSCRIPT BOOKS 77 
 
 the eleventh century, and that the iUuminations 
 ■were valuable specimens of old English work of the 
 same century, comprising figures of the four evan- 
 gelists, of the Byzantine type, which was common 
 in the west of Europe ; the drapery, however, 
 colouring, and accessories were purely English. 
 The book itself was seen to be not the complete 
 Gospels, but such portions as were used in the 
 service of the Mass at different times of the year. 
 On a fly-leaf was found a Latin poem, describing 
 how the book had dropped in the water and was 
 brought up by a soldier, who plunged in after it. 
 Surprise was expressed that the book was unin- 
 jured, save a slight contraction of two of tlje leaves, 
 and to this expression was added, " May the king 
 and pious queen be saved for ever, whose book was 
 but now saved from the waves ! " Curiosity was felt 
 as to the identity of this king and queen, when the 
 difficulty was solved by a reference to Forbes- Leith's 
 " Life of St. Margaret of Scotland," where this passage 
 occurs : " She had a book of the Gospels beautifully 
 adorned with gold and precious stones, and orna- 
 mented with the figures of the four evangelists 
 painted and gilt. . . . She had always felt a parti- 
 cular attachment for this book, more so than for 
 any of the others which she usually read." Then 
 follows a story almost identical with the one given 
 above, which proves that the identical book is now 
 preserved in the Bodleian Library. 
 
 It is not often that bargains such as these can be 
 obtained, but in spite of a great rise in price large 
 numbers of manuscripts are still purchaseable on 
 
78 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 reasonable terms. The late Mr. J. H. Middleton 
 was particularly urgent in pointing this out, and his 
 words may appropriately close this chapter — 
 
 " On the whole, a fine manuscript may be regarded as 
 about the cheapest work of art of bygone days that can 
 now be purchased by an appreciative collector. Many of 
 the finest and most perfectly preserved manuscripts which 
 now come into the market are actually sold for smaller 
 sums than they would have cost when they were new, in 
 spite of the great additional value and interest which they 
 have gained from their antiquity and comparative rarity. 
 For example, a beautiful and perfectly preserved historical 
 Anglo-Norman Vulgate of the thirteenth century, with its 
 full number of eighty-two pictured initials, written on be- 
 tween six and seven hundred leaves of finest uterine vellum, 
 can now commonly be purchased for from j^^o to ^40. 
 This hardly represents the original value of the vellum on 
 which the manuscript is written. 
 
 " Manuscripts of a simpler character, however beautifully 
 written, if they are merely decorated with blue and red 
 initials, commonly sell for considerably less than the origi- 
 nal cost of their vellum. 
 
 " A collector with some real knowledge and appreciation 
 of what is artistically fine can perhaps lay out his money to 
 greater advantage in the purchase of manuscripts than by 
 buying works of art of any other class, either mediaeval or 
 modern." 1 
 
 1 J. H. Middleton, "Illuminated MBS.," 1892, pp. 263-64. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 PUBLISHED PRICES 
 
 It was impossible for the scribe (however low his 
 pay might be reduced) to compete with the printing- 
 press, and we have good authority for saying that 
 printed books could be obtained in the fifteenth 
 century for one-fifth of what would have been the 
 cost of the same books in manuscript. Mr. Putnam, 
 in his interesting work on the history of bookselling, 
 quotes from Bishop John of Aleria, who, writing 
 to Pope Paul II. in 1467, said that it was possible 
 to purchase in Rome for 20 gulden in gold works 
 which a few years earlier would have cost not less 
 than 100 gulden. Other books selling for 4 gulden 
 would previously have cost 20. Mr. Putnam also 
 quotes Madden, to the effect that in 1470 a copy of 
 the forty-eight line Bible, printed on parchment, 
 could be bought in Paris for 2000 francs, while the 
 cost of the same text a few years earlier in manu- 
 script would have been 10,000 francs. 
 
 It is rather curious to find that the present custom 
 of fixing a published price is comparatively modern, 
 and that the system for which some of our present 
 retail booksellers yearn — that is, of buying from the 
 publishers in bulk and retailing at their own price — 
 
8o PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 was formerly in common use. In the old cata- 
 logues of English books no prices are affixed to the 
 various entries, and the custom of printing the prices 
 of books was not general until the end of the seven- 
 teenth century. But after all the booksellers' lati- 
 tude was not very great, for the law stepped in to 
 Hmit the price of books. 
 
 We might naturally have supposed that the in- 
 vention of printing would have made a complete 
 break in the mode of selling books, but this was not 
 so. Continuity was preserved, and the company 
 to which the London trade belongs is not called 
 after the printers, but after the older order of 
 stationers. In a " Note of the State of the Com- 
 pany of Printers, Bookesellers, and Bookebynders 
 comprehended under the name of Stacioners," 
 dated 1582, we are told that "in the tyme of King 
 Henry the Eighte, there were but fewe Printers, 
 and those of good credit and competent wealth, at 
 whiche tyme and before there was an other sort 
 of men that were writers, lymners of Bookes and 
 diverse thinges for the Church and other uses, 
 called Stacioners, which have, and partly to this 
 daye do use to buy their bookes in grosse of the 
 saide Printers, bynde them up, and sell them in 
 their shops, whereby they well mayntayned their 
 families." ^ 
 
 It seems probable that the English booksellers 
 before the introduction of printing experienced 
 little interference in their business from foreign 
 
 ^ Archaologia, xxv. 104. 
 
PUBLISHED PRICES 8 1 
 
 scribes, and therefore the bringing in of printed 
 books from abroad was distasteful to them. What 
 they particularly objected to was the importation 
 of these books bound instead of in sheets. 
 
 By " an Act touching the Marchauntes of Italy " 
 (i Ric. III. cap. 9) aliens were prohibited from 
 importing certain goods into this country, but this 
 Act was not to " extend to Importers of Books, or 
 to any writer, limner, binder, or printer." 
 
 In Henry VIII.'s reign this importation was found 
 intolerable, and "an Act for Printers and Binders 
 of Bokes" was passed (25 Hen. VIII. cap. 15). 
 It is stated in the preamble when the provision in 
 the Act of Richard III. was made there were few 
 books and few printers in England, but that at this 
 time large numbers of printed books were brought 
 into the country — 
 
 Whereas, a great number of the King's subjects within 
 this realm having "given themselves diligently to learn and 
 exercise the said craft of Printing, that at this day there 
 be within this realm a great number cunning and expert 
 in the said science or craft of printing, as able to exercise 
 the said craft in all points as any stranger, in any other 
 realm or country, and furthermore where there be a great 
 number of the King's subjects within this realm which 
 [live] by the craft and mystery of binding of books, . . . 
 well expert in the same," yet " all this notwithstanding, there 
 are divers persons that bring from [beyond] the sea great 
 plenty of printed books — not only in the Latin tongue, but 
 also in our maternal English tongue — some bound in boards, 
 some in leather, and some in parchment, and them sell by 
 retail, whereby many of the King's subjects, being binders 
 of books, and having none other faculty wherewith to get 
 
 F 
 
82 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 their living, be destitute of work, and like to be undone, 
 except some reformation herein be had." 
 
 Then follow some provisions respecting the sale 
 of books at too high a price — 
 
 "And after the same enhancing and increasing of the 
 said prices of the said books and binding shall be so found 
 by the said twelve men or otherwise by the examination of 
 the said lord chancellor, lord treasurer, and justices, or 
 two of them ; that then the same lord chancellor, lord 
 treasurer, and justices, or two of them at the least from time 
 to time shall have a power and authority to reform and 
 redress such enhancing of the prices of printed books by 
 their discretions, and to limit prices as well of the books 
 as for the binding of them ; and over that the offender or 
 offenders thereof being convict by the examination of the 
 same lord chancellor, lord treasurer, and justices, or two 
 of them or otherwise, shall lose and forfeit for every book 
 by them sold whereof the price shall be enhanced for the 
 book or binding thereof, three shillings four pence." 
 
 By the first Copyright Act (8 Anne, cap. 21) any 
 person thinking the published price of a book un- 
 reasonable was to complain to the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury or other great dignitaries. 
 
 It would have been enlightening if our lawmakers 
 had told us what was in their opinion a reasonable 
 price for a book, but they are silent on this point. 
 
 We have unfortunately no information as to the 
 price for which Caxton sold his various books, 
 but he bequeathed fifteen copies of his "Golden 
 Legend" to the churchwardens of St. Margaret, 
 Westminster, who succeeded in selling twelve of 
 them between the years 1496 and 1500. For the 
 
PUBLISHED PRICES 83 
 
 first three copies they obtained six shiUings and 
 eightpence each, but then they had to reduce the 
 price to five shilHngs and eightpence, at which price 
 they sold the next seven copies. The last two 
 copies only brought five shillings and sixpence and 
 five shillings respectively, so that evidently there 
 was a falling market. 
 
 Mr. Blades makes the following remarks on this 
 point — 
 
 "The commercial results of Caxton's trade as a printer 
 are unknown ; but as the fees paid at his burial were far 
 above the average, and as he evidently held a respectable 
 position in his parish, we must conclude that his business 
 was profitable. The preservation of the Cost Book of the 
 Ripoli Press has already been noticed, and some extracts 
 of interest translated therefrom. We may presume that 
 Caxton also kept exact accounts of his trade receipts and 
 expenditure, and if such were extant, the many doubts 
 which now surround the operations of his printing-office 
 would be definitely solved. We should then know the 
 price at which he sold his books — how many pence he 
 asked for his small quarto ' quayers ' of poetry, or his pocket 
 editions of the ' Horae ' and ' Psalter ' — how many shillings 
 were required to purchase the thick folio volumes, such 
 as 'Canterbury Tales,' 'King Arthur,' &c. That the price 
 was not much dearer than that paid for good editions now 
 we may infer from the rate at which fifteen copies of the 
 'Golden Legend' sold between 1496 and 1500. These 
 realised an average price of 6s. 8d. each, or about 
 jQ2, 13s. 4d. of modern money, a sum by no means too 
 great for a large illustrated work. This, however, would 
 depend on the number of copies considered necessary for 
 an edition, which probably varied according to the nature 
 of the work. . . . Some foreign printers issued as many as 
 
84 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 275 or 300 copies of editions of the Classics, but it is not 
 probable that Caxton ventured upon so large an impression, 
 as the demand for his publications must have been much 
 more restricted." ^ 
 
 It will be noticed that Mr. Blades is wrong in 
 saying that the copies of the "Golden Legend" 
 were sold at an average price of 6s. 8d., and it would 
 probably be more correct to give the equivalent 
 amount in modern money as £0^, rather than 
 £2, 13s. 4d., but this is perhaps more a matter of 
 opinion. 
 
 Several old priced lists of books have come down 
 to us, and the most interesting of these are the two 
 printed and edited by Mr. F. Madan in the first 
 series of the Collectanea of the Oxford Historical 
 Society, and further annotated by the late Mr. 
 Henry Bradshaw. The first of these is an inven- 
 tory, with prices of books received in 1483 for sale 
 by John Hunt, stationer of the University of Oxford, 
 from Magister Peter Actor and Johannes de Aquis- 
 grano, to whom he promises to restore the books 
 or pay the price affixed in the list ; and the second 
 is the Day- Book of John Dome, bookseller in 
 Oxford A.D. 1520. Mr. Bradshaw's valuable annota- 
 tions ("A Half-Century of Notes") were printed in 
 fac-simile of his handwriting in 1886, and afterwards 
 included in his "Collected Papers" (1889). 
 
 Dome's list is of great value, as showing what 
 was the literature sold at a great university city at 
 the beginning of the sixteenth century, and with 
 the much-needed explanations of Messrs. Madan 
 
 ' " Life and Typography of William Caxton," vol. ii. p. lix. 
 
PUBLISHED PRICES 85 
 
 and Bradshaw, it forms an important addition to 
 our knowledge, but there is not much in it that can 
 be quoted here with advantage. Latin theology 
 forms the bulk of the more important books sold, 
 and next to that Latin classics. English books 
 are few ; among the cheapest items, service-books 
 and ballads, Christmas carols, and almanacs are 
 common. A large proportion of the entries are 
 marked in pence from one penny upwards, but 
 some are in shillings, and the largest amount for 
 one sale of several books was forty-eight shillings. 
 
 Bibliographica (vol. i. p. 252) contains "Two 
 References to the English Book-Trade circa 1525." 
 The first, which is from the " Interlude of the Four 
 Elements," suggests that a large amount of the 
 output of the English presses at the beginning of 
 the sixteenth century was made up of ephemeral 
 publications — 
 
 " Now so it is in our Englyshe tonge, 
 
 Many one there is that can but rede and wryte, 
 For his pleasure wyll oft presume amonge 
 New bokys to compyle and balades to indyte, 
 Some of lore or other matter, not worth a myte." 
 
 The next is from the prologue to Robert Copland's 
 " Seven Sorrows that Women have when theyr hus- 
 bandes be deade," which consists of a conversation 
 between Copland and a customer, " Quidam " — 
 
 " Quidam. Hast thou a boke of the wydowe Edith, 
 That hath begyled so many with her wordes, 
 Or els suche a geest that is ful of bourdes ? 
 Let me se, I wyll yet waste a peny 
 Upon suche thynges and if thou have eny. 
 
86 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Copland. How say ye by these, wyll ye bestowe a grote ? 
 
 Quidam. Ye syr so muche ? nay, that I shorowe my cote, 
 A peny I trow is ynough on bokes, 
 It is not so soone goten, as this worlde lokes.'' 
 
 Much information respecting the prices of books 
 is found in the churchwardens' accounts of the 
 various parishes of the kingdom, and extracts from 
 some of these have been printed in the Gentleman s 
 Magazine and other places. Mr. Thorold Rogers also 
 has given several instances in the various volumes 
 of his great work on "Agriculture and Prices." 
 
 Archbishop Cranmer, in his "Articles to be in- 
 quired of . . . within the Diocese of Canterbury," 
 A.D. 1548, asks "whether in every case they have 
 provided one book of the whole Bible of the largest 
 volume in English, and the Paraphrases of Eras- 
 mus, also in English, upon the Gospels, and set up 
 the same in some convenient place in the church." 
 In 1548 we find that the churchwardens of St. 
 Margaret's, Westminster, paid five shillings for the 
 half part of the Paraphrases of Erasmus, and in 
 1549 the churchwardens of Wigtoft, Lincolnshire, 
 paid seven shillings for the same book. Archbishop 
 Parker required Jewel's " Defence of the Apology " 
 to be placed in parish churches, and in 1570 the 
 churchwardens of Leverton, Lincolnshire, paid four 
 shillings for "half Mr. Juylle's booke, called the 
 ' Appologie of Ingland,' " and fourpence for the 
 carriage of the same. 
 
 From the churchwardens' accounts of the parish 
 of Stratton, county Cornwall, we learn that in 1565 
 
PUBLISHED PRICES 87 
 
 two shillings were "paid for newe songes for the 
 church," and twopence " for a nother lyttell boke." 
 In 1570 twelvepence -was "paid to Nicholas Oliver 
 of sent tives for a song of te deum," fourpence was 
 paid "for mendyng of John Judes bybell which he 
 lonyd to the churche when the other was to bynd," 
 and six shillings " for a newe communion book and 
 a psalter in the same." On the other side twelve- 
 pence was received " for two peces of old bookes 
 sold." 1 
 
 The churchwardens of Canterbury parish gave 
 forty-one shillings for a church Bible in 1586, four 
 shillings for a prayer-book in 1598, and three shil- 
 lings and fourpence for a book of statutes in 1599. 
 
 Sir John Evans communicated to the Archmologia ^ 
 some most interesting extracts from the Private 
 Account Book of Sir William More of Loseley, in 
 Surrey, in the time of Queen Mary and Queen 
 Elizabeth, which contains an inventory of a collec- 
 tion of about one hundred and twenty volumes. 
 This inventory gives us a vivid idea of the contents 
 of a country gentleman's library in the sixteenth 
 century. There are the best chronicles of the time, 
 as Fabyan, Harding, &c., translations of the classics, 
 and some in their original languages, statutes, new 
 books of justices and other legal works, books of 
 physic, dictionaries, &c., and each of the books is 
 marked with a price. The most expensive books : — 
 Cronica Cronicarmn, xxs ; Munster's Cosmografye, 
 xvjs ; un byble, xs ; a calapyne, xs [Calepino's 
 Vocabulary of the Latin Tongue] ; Fabyan's Cronicle, 
 
 ^ Archaologia, xlvi. 228, 229. •' xxxvi. 284-310. 
 
88 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 vs ; Statuts of Henry theight, xijs ; all the Statuts 
 of Kyng Edward the VI., ijs ; all the Statuts of 
 the Quene, ijs ; Chausore, vs. There were four 
 New Testaments, "one in ffrench," xxd, two "in 
 Italion," respectively xxjd and ijs vjd, and one " in 
 lattyn," xijd. The Legenda Aurea was priced 
 iijs iiijd ; Tullye's Officys translated, viijd ; ij bokes 
 conteyning Tully's Philosophy, ijs vjd ; Cezar's Com- 
 mentary, xvjd ; ij bokes of Machevale's works in 
 Italion, iijs iiijd ; Hardyng's Cronycle, ijs vjd ; Utopea, 
 viijd. Of low-priced books we lind — A lyttle cro- 
 nicle, id; Lydgates' Proverbs, id; Alexander Barkley's 
 Eclogs, id ; Skelton's Work, iiijd ; and Triumph of 
 Petrark, vjd. 
 
 Sir Egerton Brydges also quoted from a House- 
 hold Book an interesting list of about the same 
 date as the above — 
 
 Anno 1564. 
 
 Iteme, for booke of the dysease of horses . iiijd 
 Iteme, for printing the xxv orders of honest 
 
 men . . .... xxd 
 
 Iteme, pd for a Lytlton in EngHsh . . xijd 
 Iteme, for a diologge betwine the cap and 
 
 the heade ...... ijd 
 
 Iteme, pd for the booke of the ij EngHshe 
 
 lovers ....... vjd 
 
 Iteme, for a French booke called the his- 
 
 torye de noster ternes .... xvjd 
 Iteme, pd for iij French bookes, the on 
 
 called Pawlus Jovius .... xxs ^ 
 
 ^ Censura Literaria, iii. 370. 
 
PUBLISHED PRICES 89 
 
 In the days before copyright acts authors and 
 pubhshers often tried to safeguard their property 
 by obtaining patents. These were sometimes for 
 a particular book, as, for instance, Richard Field, 
 printer, in February 1592 was granted the sole 
 licence to print " Orlando Furioso translated into 
 English verse by John Harrington." More often, 
 however, patents were granted to printers allowing 
 them the sole privilege of printing certain classes 
 of books. A licence "to imprint all manner of 
 books concerning the common laws of this realm " 
 was granted to Richard Tottell ; one for primers 
 and books of private prayers to William Seres ; one 
 to print all manner of songs of musick to Thomas 
 Tallis and William Bird ; one for dictionaries gene- 
 rally to H. Binneman ; and one for almanacks and 
 prognostications to James Roberts and Richard 
 Watkins.i Gradually by purchase or inheritance 
 nearly all the monopolies came into the possession 
 of the Stationers' Company. Certain printers, how- 
 ever, made a practice of pirating some of the most 
 popular English privileged books. The Company 
 resisted, and memorialised Lord Burghley in October 
 1582, with a complaint of the opposition met with in 
 making their search in the printing-house of one 
 " who printed all kinds of books at his pleasure." ^ 
 
 The chief leader of these invaders of privilege 
 was John Wolf, a freeman of the Fishmongers' 
 
 ' The late Mr. Cornelius Walford contributed to the Bibliographer 
 some articles on Book Patents and Printing Patents. See vol. v. pp. 
 125, 156; vol. vi. pp. 129, 171. 
 
 ^ Archaologia, vol. xxv. pp. 100-112. 
 
go PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Company. In 1583 the Stationers' Company drew 
 up thirteen heads of the " insolent and contemptuous 
 behaviour of John Wolf, printer, and his confede- 
 rates," which they presented to the Privy Council. 
 From this indictment it appears that when Wolf 
 was "frendly persuaded to live in order and not 
 print men's privileged copies," he answered that 
 " he would print all their bokes if he lacked work," 
 and added that "it was lawfuU for all men to print 
 all lawfull bookes, what commandement soever her 
 Majestie gave to y'^ contrary.'' Wolf was no re- 
 specter of persons, and his motto was, " I will live." 
 Being admonished that he " being but one so meane 
 a man should not presume to contrarie her High- 
 nesse Governmente," " Tush," said he, " Luther was 
 but one man, and reformed all the world for reli- 
 gion, and I am that man that must and will reforme 
 the government in this trade ! " The Queen appointed 
 a Commission to inquire into the matter, but the 
 Commissioners could make nothing of Wolf and 
 his party. In the end the opposition was bought 
 off ; and on ist July 1583 Wolf was admitted a free- 
 man of the Stationers' Company by redemption, 
 paying the usual fees of 3s. ^d.^ 
 
 Andrew Maunsell, a bookseller living in Loth- 
 bury, was the first to publish (1595) a catalogue of 
 English books, and this book is a very satisfactory 
 bit of bibliographical work. The compiler only pub- 
 Hshed two parts, the first on theological books, and 
 the second on scientific books. Maunsell proposed 
 
 ' Arber's "Transcript of the Registers of tlie Company of Sta- 
 tioners," 
 
PUBLISHED PRICES 91 
 
 the publication of others on more popular branches 
 of literature, but unfortunately he left his work in- 
 complete. In his dedication to Queen Elizabeth 
 he says — 
 
 "What great account (most gracious Soueraigne) hath 
 beene made of godly hookas, may euidently appeare by 
 the value set uppon the hookas of curious actas brought to 
 the Apostles feate to be burnt. For if those hookas werfi 
 valued to two thousand markes, of what estimation shall 
 wee account the bookes whose author is God himselfe . . . 
 all the goods upon the earth«cannot value them." 
 
 It is remarkable how difficult it must have been 
 in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to obtain 
 information respecting new books. There were no 
 public libraries, and the booksellers, according to 
 Maunsell, were not well acquainted with the titles 
 of the books published, and he constantly refers to 
 the scarceness of books issued only a few years 
 before. He writes — 
 
 "And seeing also many singular Bookes, not only of 
 Diuinitie, but of other excellent Arts, after the first impres- 
 sion, so spent and gone, that they lie euen as it were buried 
 in some few Studies. That man desirous of such kind of 
 Bookes, cannot aska for that they neuer heard of, and the 
 Bookaseller cannot shew that he hath not ; I have thought 
 good in my poor estate to undertake this most tiresome 
 business, hoping the Lord will send a blessing on my 
 labours taken in my vocation. Thinking it as necessarie 
 for the Bookaseller (considering the number and nature of 
 them) to haue a Catalogue of our English Bookes as the 
 Apothacaire his Dispensatorium or the Schoolmaster his 
 Dictionarie. By means of which my poore trauailes I will 
 
92 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 draw to your memories Bookes that you could not re- 
 member and shew to the learind such Bookes as they 
 would not thinke were in our owne tongues. . . .'' 
 
 Besides dedicating his book to Queen Elizabeth, 
 he addresses " the Companie of Stationers, and all 
 other printers and booksellers," to whom he says — 
 
 " I have in my vocation laboured to do somwhat : my 
 purpose is to shew (in such sort as I can) what we have in 
 print, in our own tongue, a thinge not regarded but of a 
 few. For some soare so hie that they looke not so low, as 
 on their owne countrie writers, and some regard not old 
 Bookes, but aske what newes ? or new writers ? " 
 
 To the reverend divines he says — 
 
 "The consideration whereof hath moved me (most un- 
 worthie and unable of many others) to undertake this trife- 
 ling yet most toylesome & troublesome busines, wherby the 
 reader shall haue this help, and he may see at home in his 
 Studie what Bookes are written and how many translated. 
 And though it be imperfect as I know not what first Booke 
 either of Dictionarie or Herball or such like was perfect at 
 the first or second edition, yet he that helpeth me to put in 
 one Booke that I have not scene, I hope I shall shew him 
 ten that he never heard of either new or old." 
 
 The second part of Maunsell's catalogue was 
 dedicated to Robert, Earl of Essex, and the scarce- 
 ness of books not twenty or forty years old is again 
 referred to in it — 
 
 "Seeing still many excellent Bookes written and printed 
 in our owne tongue, and that many of them after twenty 
 or fortie yeares Printing are so dispersed out of Bookesellers 
 
PUBLISHED PRICES 93 
 
 hands, that they are not onely scarce to be found but almost 
 quite forgotten, I have thought it worth my poore labour, 
 to take some paynes heerin though that the more learnd 
 sort would not willingly imploy their labour in the same) 
 to gather a Cathalogue in suche sort as I can of the Bookes 
 printed in our tongue which I doe hope will be delight- 
 some to all English men that be learnt or desirous of 
 learning." 
 
 The next bibliography of new English books was 
 William London's " Catalogue of the most vendible 
 Books," 1658, to which two small supplements were 
 published, bringing the list of publications down to 
 1660. 
 
 R. Clavel was the next to publish a catalogue of 
 new books, and the period covered by him was 
 from 1666 to 1695. To none of these books are 
 prices attached, but some of the books in Clavel's 
 supplement are priced ; and in the monthly cata- 
 logue commenced by Bernard Lintott in May 1714, 
 all the books are priced. 
 
 Bent's General Catalogue of Books, issued in 
 1786, contained the titles of books published since 
 1700, and this was succeeded by the London Cata- 
 logue, which appeared for several years. The 
 British and English catalogues followed, and the 
 latter is published annually. 
 
 In order to obtain some idea of the varying 
 prices at which books have been published, it will 
 be well to enumerate a few at different periods, 
 arranged under the different sizes of books. 
 
94 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 FOLIOS 
 
 Corpus Christi College, Oxford, gave seven shil- 
 lings in 1621 for Bacon's work on Henry VII., and 
 in 1624 ^3, 6s. 8d. for four volumes of " Purchas's 
 Pilgrims." The published price of the first edition 
 of Shakespeare's Plays is said to have been £1. 
 
 John Ogilby, who was one of the first projectors 
 of grand illustrated books in large folio, found 
 himself burthened with a heavy stock of expensive 
 books which did not sell, so he hit upon the expe- 
 dient of getting rid of them by means of a lottery, 
 licensed by the Duke of York and the Assistants 
 of the Corporation of the Royal Fishery. These 
 books were an illustrated Bible, printed by John 
 Field at Cambridge in 1660, two volumes folio ; the 
 "Works of Virgil," translated by Ogilby, 1654; 
 Homer's " Iliads," translated by Ogilby, 1660 ; 
 Homer's " Odysseys," 1665. Pope frequently spoke 
 in later life of the great pleasure Ogilby's " Homer" 
 gave him when a boy at school. ".^Esop's Fables 
 paraphrased by Ogilby," 1665; and Ogilby's " Enter- 
 tainment of Charles II. in his Passage through the 
 City of London to his Coronation," 1662 — a splen- 
 did book, which is said to have proved of great 
 service in succeeding coronations. 
 
 It is worthy of note that Samuel Pepys was a 
 subscriber to the lottery, and obtained the " ^sop " 
 and the " Coronation," which cost him ^4 (Feb. 
 19, 1665-66). 
 
 Ogilby issued a Proposal for a second lottery. 
 
PUBLISHED PRICES 95 
 
 which was reprinted in the Gentleman's Magazine 
 (1814, part I, pp. 646-48).! This is vakiable as 
 containing the prices at which the books are valued, 
 viz. — 
 
 An imperial Bible, with chorographical and an £ 
 hundred historical sculps . . . -25 
 
 " Virgil," translated, with sculps and annotations 5 
 
 Homer's " Iliads," adorned with sculps . . 5 
 
 Homer's " Odysseys," adorned with sculps . 4 
 
 " ^sop's Fables,'' paraphrased and sculped . 3 
 
 " His Majestie's Entertainment " . . . 2 
 
 In 1689 St. John's College, Cambridge, gave 
 ^10, 15s. for David Loggan's Cantabrigia illustrata, 
 1688, but this probably included a present to the 
 author ; for in 1690 Eton College paid ^a^ for 
 Cantabrigia illustrata and Oxonia illustrata, 1675, 
 two volumes together, so that we may suppose the 
 published price of each to be £^2. 
 
 The Rev. John Flavel's Works, in two volumes 
 folio, was published in 1700 for forty shillings, which 
 shows that the price of an illustrated volume in 
 folio was still about £x. 
 
 Colin Campbell's Vitruvius Britannicus, a hand- 
 some work containing a large number of fine archi- 
 tectural plates, was published at a very reasonable 
 price. The first and second volumes, published 
 in 1715 and 1717 respectively, were sold for four 
 guineas on imperial paper, and three guineas on 
 royal paper. 
 
 1 Gomme's Gentleman's Magazine Library, "Literary Curiosities,'' 
 1888, p. 79. 
 
96 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 The price of Johnson's Dictionary of the English 
 Language, two volumes folio, was in 1755 four 
 guineas in sheets, and ^4, 15s. in boards. 
 
 Folios are so completely out of fashion now, 
 except for gorgeously illustrated books, or for fac- 
 similes of books and documents, that it is scarcely 
 worth while to carry the inquiry to a later period. 
 
 QUARTOS 
 
 The small quarto volumes of the seventeenth 
 century were by no means high priced, and we 
 learn that three shillings bought Milton's " Paradise 
 Lost " when first published. The price of the early 
 editions of the separate plays of the Elizabethan 
 dramatists, which now are so much sought after, 
 was sixpence. This we learn from the address 
 prefixed to the early issue of " Troilus and Cressida," 
 1609, published before that play was acted — 
 
 " Amongst all these is none more witty than this ; and 
 had I time, I would comment upon it, though I know it 
 needs not — for so much as will make you think your testern 
 well bestowed, — but for so much worth as even poor I know 
 to be stuffed in it." 
 
 The poets had a profitable time when their poems, 
 handsomely printed in quarto volumes, were priced 
 so high as two guineas. Sir Walter Scott made 
 great sums by these editions which sold in large 
 numbers, but no other poet was so fortunate as he 
 was. Moore did well with his poems, and in his 
 
PUBLISHED PRICES 97 
 
 Diary (Dec. 23, 1818) he records an amusing in- 
 stance of the practical appreciation of an admirer. 
 He writes — 
 
 "The young Bristol lady who enclosed me ^^3 after 
 reading ' Lalla Rookh ' had very laudable ideas on the 
 subject; and if every reader of 'Lalla Rookh' had done 
 the same, I need never have written again." 
 
 Wordsworth's " Excursion " was published in 
 1814, in a two guinea quarto volume, but it took 
 six years to exhaust an edition of five hundred 
 copies. Such are the inequalities in the rate of 
 the remuneration of authors. 
 
 Rees's " Cyclopaedia," which was published be- 
 tween 1802 and 1820 (in forty-five volumes and 
 six volumes of plates), cost in all £8$- The " En- 
 cyclopaedia Britannica," which has superseded it, 
 is published at the small price of twenty-eight 
 shillings per volume. 
 
 In the early part of this century, when it was the 
 fashion to print standard works in quarto, they 
 were very high priced, thus the first edition of 
 " Pepys's Diary " was published in two volumes 
 for six guineas. Now the quarto is almost as much 
 out of date as the folio, and is confined to illus- 
 trated books. 
 
 OCTAVOS 
 
 The ordinary octavo volume was published at 
 the beginning of the eighteenth century for five 
 or six shillings. Thus Boyer's translation of " The 
 ingenious and entertaining Memoirs of Count 
 
98 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Gramont, who lived in the court of King Charles II., 
 and was afterwards Ambassador from the King 
 of France to King James II.," 1714, was published 
 at five shillings, and George Psalmanazar's " His- 
 torical and Geographical Description of Formosa" 
 at six shillings. Since then the price for an octavo 
 has gradually increased to seven shillings and six- 
 pence, then to ten shillings and sixpence. In the 
 latter half of the present century there has been a 
 considerable advance to twelve shillings, to sixteen 
 and eighteen shillings, and now fully illustrated 
 books are often priced as high as one guinea a 
 volume. Plays, trials, and pamphlets generally 
 have averaged about one shilling apiece. 
 
 DUODECIMOS 
 
 Walton's "Complete Angler," first published in 
 1653, was issued at one shilling and sixpence, as 
 appears from the following contemporary advertise- 
 ment, quoted by Hone in his " Every-Day Book" : 
 "There is published a Booke of Eighteen-pence 
 price, called ' The Compleat Angler ; or, The Con- 
 templative Man's Recreation,' being a Discourse 
 of Fish and Fishing. Not unworthy the perusall. 
 Sold by Richard Marriot at S. Dunstan's Church- 
 yard, Fleet Street." 
 
 In 1663 Pepys bought the first part of Butler's 
 "Hudibras" for two shilhngs and sixpence, and 
 sold it again for one shilling and sixpence. The 
 Master of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, gave at 
 
PUBLISHED PRICES 99 
 
 the same time one shilling for the first part and 
 the same sum for the second part, but later on 
 he gave half-a-crown for the latter. 
 
 " The Works of the celebrated Mons. de MoU^re, 
 translated from the last edition printed at Paris, 
 containing his life, all his comedies, interludes, &c., 
 with a large account of his life and remarkable 
 death, who, as he was acting the part of Death in 
 one of his own plays, was taken ill and died a few 
 hours after. . . ." This was printed in six volumes 
 i2mo, "on a fine paper and Elzevir letter," and 
 published by B. Lintott for fifteen shiUings (or 
 two shillings and sixpence a volume) in May 1714. 
 
 Tom D'Urfey sold his "Wit and Mirth ; or. Pills 
 to purge Melancholy," at two shillings and sixpence 
 a volume. 
 
 Duodecimos have now gone out of fashion, at 
 least in name, as small books are mostly known 
 as post octavos, foolscap octavos, &c. The price 
 of these small handy volumes remains much the 
 same, as the half-crown of the last century is the 
 equivalent of our five or six shillings. 
 
 The greatest change in price has been made in 
 poetry and novels, and six shillings has become a 
 favourite price for both. The two guineas for the 
 poem, and the guinea and a half for the three- 
 volume novel, are become things of the past. 
 
 Although in the last century many books were 
 published and sold which could not be sold at the 
 present time, it is probable that some of these 
 books paid the publisher but badly, and it was 
 therefore found to be a wise precaution to publish 
 
100 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 certain books by subscription, and this plan was 
 therefore frequently adopted. 
 
 Dr. Brian Walton's Polyglot Bible (six vols, 
 folio, 1657, ;£io) is often said to be the first book 
 printed by subscription in England ; but Minsheu's 
 Dictionary, in eleven languages, 1617, was certainly 
 sold by the author to subscribers. The number 
 of these subscribers was 174, among whom are 
 six — viz.. Sir John Laurence, Dr. Aileworth, Mr. 
 Paul Peart, Mr. Brigges, Sir Henry Spelman, and 
 Mr. Booth — who largely assisted the author with 
 money to complete his great undertaking. 
 
 "The Monthly Catalogue" of new books com- 
 menced by Bernard Lintott in May 17 14 frequently 
 contained lists of the books printed by subscription. 
 In the number for January 1714-15 the terms of 
 subscription to the worst edition of Chaucer's works 
 ever published are announced — 
 
 "Whereas John Urry, Student of Christ-Church, Oxon, 
 has obtained from her late Majesty, Queen Anne, a Licence 
 for Printing the Works of the celebrated Jeffrey Chaucer, 
 corrected from all the printed editions, and from several 
 rare and ancient MSS. not hitherto consulted : from the 
 collating of which he has restored many single Hnes and 
 added several Tales never yet printed, by which alterations, 
 amendments, and additions, the work is in a manner be- 
 come new. Thirty copper plates by the best gravers will 
 be printed before each tale ; a more compleat Glossary and 
 Table will be added at .the end. A small number will be 
 printed on Royal Paper at 503. per book, and those on the 
 finest demy at 30s. Half to be paid in hand. Subscrip- 
 tions are taken in by the Undertaker, Bernard Lintott 
 
PUBLISHED PRICES lOI 
 
 between the Temple Gates, and by most Booksellers in 
 London and the country. N.B. — A new Black Letter, 
 accented, has been cast on purpose for this work, for the 
 ease of the Reader." 
 
 Dryden made very good terms with Tonson for 
 the publication of his translation of Virgil, but Pope 
 was still more successful with the subscription to 
 his translation of Homer's " Iliad." The subscrip- 
 tion for six quarto volumes was fixed at six guineas, 
 and 575 persons subscribed for 654 copies. The 
 booksellers eagerly made their offers of publication, 
 and the highest bidder was B. Lintott, who agreed 
 to supply all the subscription copies at his own 
 expense, and to pay ^£200 for every volume. Pope 
 therefore received altogether £5320 without any 
 deduction. 
 
 Lintott engaged not to print any quartos except 
 for Pope, but he printed the quarto pages on small 
 folio, and sold each volume for half-a-guinea. These 
 being cut down by some dishonest traders, were 
 sold as subscription copies. 
 
 Lintott was defrauded of his profit by the sale 
 of a duodecimo edition, printed in Holland, which 
 obliged him to print an edition in a similar form. 
 Of Lintott's first duodecimo edition 2500 copies 
 were quickly sold off. Five thousand further copies 
 were at once printed. 
 
 Some of Hearne's antiquarian works were sub- 
 scribed at ten shillings and sixpence per volume 
 for small paper, and one guinea for large paper. 
 
 It seems to have been the practice for the 
 
102 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 subscriber to a book to pay down half the purchase- 
 money on sending in his name, and the other half 
 on publication. 
 
 Another expedient for the rapid sale of books 
 was their issue in numbers. Smollett's " History 
 of England" was published in sixpenny numbers, 
 and had an immediate sale of 20,000 copies. This 
 immense success is said to have been due to an 
 artifice practised by the publisher. He sent down 
 a packet of prospectuses carriage free (with half-a- 
 crown enclosed) to every parish clerk in the king- 
 dom, to be distributed by him through the pews 
 of the church. This being generally carried out, a 
 valuable advertisement was obtained, which resulted 
 in an extensive demand for the work. 
 
 Books are published at an equal price, according 
 to size, whether they are good or bad, but they find 
 their level in the catalogues of the second-hand 
 booksellers. The bad soon become waste-paper, 
 or are marked down to very low prices, while the 
 good books increase in price till they come in 
 some cases to be marked more than the original 
 published price. 
 
 Sometimes when books are printed in limited 
 numbers the public will give more than the pub- 
 lished price even before publication ; thus the large 
 paper edition of the " Life of the Queen," by Mr. 
 R. R. Holmes, was subscribed at ^^8, and the right 
 of receiving a copy when ready is said to have been 
 sold for from ^20 to £2^. 
 
 Publishers occasionally reduce the price of 
 a book after publication, but this is seldom a 
 
PUBLISHED PRICES I03 
 
 successful operation. The selling-off of remainders 
 has been the means of distributing books to the 
 pubUc at a low rate, and it will often be found that 
 some of the scarcest and highest priced books in 
 the present day are those which have been sold-off. 
 These were good books, which sold too slowly, but 
 which went off quickly when the price was low. 
 When the stock is exhausted, and more are required, 
 the price naturally goes up. 
 
 A most remarkable instance of this increase in 
 price of a sold-off book is that of Edward Fitz- 
 gerald's wonderful version of the Rubdiydt of Omar 
 Khayyam, the first edition of which was pub- 
 lished by Quaritch in 1859. Though the number 
 printed was few, nobody bought, and eight years 
 afterwards the publisher, in disgust, threw the 
 whole remainder into a box outside his door, and 
 marked all these one penny each. It is said that 
 Dante Rossetti found them there, and soon the 
 remainder was exhausted. Now this penny book 
 is worth six guineas.^ 
 
 ^ This was quite true when written a few months ago, but on the 
 loth February 1898 a copy with the original wrappers was sold at 
 Sotheby's salerooms for £2\. It was bought by Mr. Quaritch, the 
 original publisher. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 AUCTION SALES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 The exact date of the first introduction into 
 England of the convenient plan of selling books 
 by auction is known to us through the amiable 
 weakness of the auctioneers for writing prefaces to 
 the sale catalogues ; and this history, therefore, is 
 singularly unlike that of most other inventions and 
 customs, the origin of which is usually open to 
 doubt, because the originators have not thought it 
 worth while to explain that they were doing some 
 new thing. The auctioneers, on the other hand, tell 
 us which was the first sale, and which were the 
 second, the third, and the fourth. After this the 
 freshness may be said to be exhausted, and we are 
 contented with less exact particulars. 
 
 The custom was prevalent in Holland in the 
 middle of the seventeenth century, and the honour 
 of introducing it into England is due to WiUiam 
 Cooper, the bookseller of Little Britain, about 
 whom some notice has been given in a former 
 chapter. He was largely interested in alchemy, 
 and three years before he sold his first sale he 
 published a " Catalogue of Chemical Books." 
 
 We must not, however, suppose that this was the 
 
AUCTION SALES IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 1 05 
 
 introduction of auctions into England, for sale by 
 inch of candle had long been practised here, a plan 
 adopted by the Navy Office for the sale of their old 
 stores. 
 
 The earliest use of the word auction, quoted by 
 Dr. Murray in the "New English Dictionary," is 
 from Warner's translation of Plautus, 1595 : "The 
 auction of Mencechmus, . . . when will be sold 
 slaves, household goods," &c. ; and the next quota- 
 tion is from the Appendix to Phillip's Dictionary, 
 1678 : ^^ Auction, a making a publick sale and selling 
 of goods by an outcry." We shall see that the word 
 was far from familiar to the general public, as the 
 auctioneers considered it wise to explain the word, 
 thus : " Sale of books by way of auction, or who 
 will give most for them." The moi-e usual words 
 in old English were outcry, outrope (still familiar 
 in Scotland as roup, cf. German ruf) and port sale. 
 
 The first sale by auction was that of the library 
 of Lazarus Seaman, a member of the Assembly of 
 Divines, and chaplain to the Earl of Northumber- 
 land. He was also minister of All Hallows, Bread 
 Street, and Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge. In 
 the latter college a Diary written by him between 
 1645 and 1657 is preserved. He seems to have been 
 an active man on his own side in politics, and we 
 find that he was a member of the Committee for 
 ejecting Scandalous Ministers for London and the 
 Counties of Cambridge and Huntingdon. It is 
 therefore not surprising to find that at the Restora- 
 tion he was ejected both from his living and from 
 the Mastership of Peterhouse. He died at his house 
 
I06 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 in Warwick Court, London, in September 1675, and 
 in the following year his library was sold in his 
 house by Cooper, who makes the following interest- 
 ing remarks in his preface — 
 
 " Reader, it hath not been usual here in England to make 
 sale of Books by way of auction, or who will give most for 
 them : But it having been practised in other countreys to 
 the advantage both of buyers and sellers, it was therefore 
 conceived (for the encouragement of Learning) to publish 
 the sale of these Books this manner of way, and it is hoped 
 that this will not be unacceptable to Schollers. ..." 
 
 Mr. Alfred W. Pollard, in a very valuable article 
 on English Book Sales, 1676-80 {Bibliographica, vol. 
 i. p. 373), quotes an interesting letter from David 
 Millington to Joseph Hill, an English Noncon- 
 formist minister in Holland, dated June 1697, and 
 now preserved in the British Museum (Stowe MS., 
 709), in which the writer tenders to the divine his 
 thanks for the " great service done to learning and 
 learned men in your first advising and effectually 
 setting on foot that admirable and universally 
 approved way of selling librarys amongst us ; " 
 and distinctly states that it was Hill who " happily 
 introduced the practice into England." Mr. Pollard 
 goes on to say that " Hill, who from 1673 to 1678, 
 owing to his publication of a pamphlet which gave 
 offence to the Dutch Government, was resident in 
 England, must have advised the executors of Dr. 
 Seaman, a theologian of principles not widely 
 different from his own, to adopt this method of 
 selling his friend's library to the best advantage." 
 
AUCTION SALES IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 1 07 
 
 Seaman was the author of "A Vindication of the 
 Judgement of the Reformed Churches, &c., con- 
 cerning Ordination, &c.," 1647, ^^'^ ^^e chief class of 
 books in his library was what we might expect to 
 find, viz., theological works that he required in his 
 vocation. Some few books (such as the Eliot Bible 
 of 1661-63, nineteen shillings) fetched small prices 
 as compared with their present value, but Mr. 
 Pollard says that " nine-tenths of the books sold for 
 more than they would at the present day." 
 
 The library was a large one, and the lots num- 
 bered between five and six thousand, and the 
 amount realised by the sale was a little over ;£7oo, 
 which may be roughly estimated at about ^£3500 of 
 our present money. 
 
 The second auction sale (February 1676-67) was 
 also carried out by Cooper, and consisted of the 
 library of Thomas Kidner, Rector of Hitchin, in 
 Hertfordshire, who died 31st August 1676. The 
 library, Hke that of Dr. Seaman, consisted largely 
 of theological works. It is evident from Cooper's 
 preface to this catalogue that Seaman's sale had 
 given considerable satisfaction, although the refer- 
 ence to an attempt to stifle this manner of sale 
 shows that there were some opponents of the 
 system. Cooper writes — 
 
 " Reader, the first attempt in this kind (by the Sale of 
 Dr. Seaman's library) having given great content and 
 satisfaction to the gentlemen who were buyers, and no 
 great discouragement to the Sellers, hath encouraged the 
 making this second trial, by the exposing (to auction or sale) 
 the Library of Mr. Tho. Kidner, in hopes of receiving such 
 
Io8 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 encouragement from the Learned as may prevent the stifling 
 of this manner of sale, the benefit (if rightly considered) 
 being equally balanced between buyer and seller.'' 
 
 The third sale (February 1677-78) was of the 
 library of Thomas Greenhill, a Nonconformist 
 minister of some repute, who died in 1671, seven 
 years before his books were sold. This sale is 
 worthy of note, for the auctioneer was Zachariah 
 Bourne, and not Cooper, as in the two former cases. 
 It took place at the Turk's Head Coffee-House in 
 Bread Street (in aedibus Ferdinandi Stable, Coffi- 
 polce, ad insigne Capitis Turcae). Bourne states in 
 his preface that — 
 
 "The attempts in this kind having given great content 
 and satisfaction to the gentlemen who were the buyers, 
 and no discouragement to the sellers, hath encouraged the 
 making this trial by exposing (to auction or sale) the 
 library of Mr. William Greenhill." 
 
 The fourth sale (25th May 1678) was occupied 
 with the library of Thomas Manton (1620-77), one 
 of the ministers appointed to wait upon Charles II. 
 at Breda. It took place at the house of the late 
 possessor, in King Street, Covent Garden. More 
 English literature was included in this library than 
 in the former three. The auctioneer was Cooper, 
 and his preface is worth quoting. It will be seen 
 that the plan of allowing an inspection of the books 
 before the sale had now been adopted — 
 
 " Reader, we question not but that this manner of sale 
 by way of auction is pretty well known to the Learned, nor 
 can we doubt their encouragement for the advantage which 
 
AUCTION SALES IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY I09 
 
 they (as well as we) may in time reap thereby. Wherefore 
 we are resolved (Deo voknte) to make a fourth triall 
 with the Library of Dr. Tho. Manton, which is not con- 
 temptible either for the Value, Condition, or Number, as will 
 appear upon a sight thereof, which is free for any Gentle- 
 man that shall please to take that pains." 
 
 Cooper was not satisfied with the catalogue, 
 which had been made by one considered by him 
 to be incompetent, and of whom he writes thus — 
 
 " This Catalogue was taken by Phil Briggs, and not by 
 W. Cooper, but afterwards in parts methodized by him. 
 Wherefore he craves your excuse for the mistakes that have 
 hapned ; and desires that the Saddle may be laid upon the 
 right horse." 
 
 The sale of Benjamin Worsley's library (May 
 1678) is interesting, as being the first auction in 
 which a fair representation of old English literature 
 occurs, in addition to the ordinary theological 
 works. Chaucer (1602) fetched £^\, 3s. 6d. ; Ben 
 Jonson's Works (1640), ^\, 13s. 6d. ; Shakespeare, 
 second folio, i6s., and third folio, £\, 8s. 6d. The 
 auctioneers were John Dunsmore and Richard Chis- 
 well, and the sale took place over against the Hen 
 and Chickens, in Paternoster Row. The sixth sale 
 consisted of the libraries of John Godolphin and 
 Owen Philips, and took place in November 1678, 
 when a Caxton — "Geffrey Chaucer's translation of 
 Boethius' De Consolatione PhilosophicB in English " 
 — fetched five shillings. We thus see that in two 
 years there were only six sales. After this time 
 they became more frequent, and in this same 
 
no PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 month of November 1678 an attempt was made at 
 rigging a sale ; the booksellers were so well satis- 
 fied with the prices obtained, that they thought it 
 would be a good stroke of business to lift some of 
 their old stock under the cover of a good name. 
 Moses Pitt adopted this expedient, and issued a 
 catalogue of books described as including " the 
 library of a worthy and learned person deceased, 
 with a considerable number of the choice books of 
 most sciences, some of which have been bought 
 out of the best libraries abroad, particularly out of 
 the late famous and learned Gilbert Voetius's." 
 
 This fraud was greatly resented by the book- 
 buyers, and it was felt by the other auctioneers 
 that a blow had been dealt to the newly-established 
 system of sale ; so when in December of this same 
 year the libraries of Lord Warwick and Gabriel 
 Sangar came to be sold at the Harrow, over 
 against the College of Physicians, in Warwick 
 Lane, Nathaniel Ranew, the auctioneer, thought it 
 expedient to make a statement in the preface to 
 the catalogue, where he informed his patrons that 
 this is "no collection made by any private hand 
 (which hath been imputed to some auctions as a 
 reflection), but the works were really belonging to 
 their proprietors deceased mentioned on the title- 
 page, and by the direction of their respective exe- 
 cutors exposed to sale." 
 
 Moses Pitt made up another sale in February 
 1678-79, chiefly of books printed at the Sheldonian 
 Theatre, Oxford, which took place in Petty Canons 
 Hall, near St. Paul's Churchyard. In June 1679 
 
AUCTION SALES IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY III 
 
 William Cooper sold the libraries of Stephen Wat- 
 kins and Dr. Thomas Shirley (the catalogue of 
 which contained an appendix of Richard Chiswell's 
 books) at the Golden Lion, over against the Queen's 
 Head Tavern, in Paternoster Row. John Dunsmore 
 sold in November 1679 the library of Sir Edward 
 Bysshe, Clarenceux King at Arms, at his house, 
 near the sign of the Woolpack, in Ivy Lane. This 
 library was more varied in its character than many 
 of those that were sold before it, and it contained 
 a considerable amount of French, Italian, and 
 Spanish literature, including some early editions of 
 Moliere. This catalogue is deserving of particular 
 attention, because the books are described as 
 "curiously bound and richly gilt." Hitherto no 
 mention had been made of bindings in the various 
 catalogues. This attention to binding was to grow, 
 and Thomas Hearne protested against it some 
 years after. In his memoranda under date 15th 
 February 1725-26 he wrote respecting the sale of 
 John Bridges' library : " I hear they go very high, 
 being fair books in good condition, and most of 
 them finely bound. This afternoon I was told of 
 a gentleman of All Souls' College (I suppose Dr. 
 Clarke) that gave a commission of eight shillings 
 for a Homer in two vols., a small 8vo, if not i2mo. 
 But it went for six guineas. People are in love 
 with good binding more than good reading." 1 
 
 The British Museum Library contains a valuable 
 collection of early sale catalogues, and one of the 
 
 ^ Reliquiie Hearniance, vol. ii. (1869), p. 243. 
 
112 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 volumes, containing the first eleven sales from Sea- 
 man to Bysshe, is of considerable interest from 
 having the following note in Richard Heber's hand- 
 writing — 
 
 "This volume, which formerly belonged to Narcissus 
 Luttrell, and since to Mr. Gough, is remarkable for con- 
 taining the eleven first Catalogues of Books ever sold by 
 auction in England. What renders it still more curious, is 
 that the prices of nearly all the articles are added in MS. 
 When it came into my possession it had suffered so much 
 from damp, and the leaves were so tender and rotten, that 
 every time the volume was opened, it was liable to in- 
 jury. This has been remedied by giving the whole a strong 
 coat of size. At Willett's sale, Booth, the bookseher of 
 Duke Street, Portland Place, bought a volume of old 
 catalogues for £^2, 3s. (see Merly Catalogue, 531), and 
 charged the same in his own shop catalogue for 1815, £^2\ 
 (6823). It contained merely the eight which stand first 
 in the present collection, of which Greenhill's and Godol- 
 phin's were not priced at all ; and Voet's and Sangar's only 
 partially. However, it enabled me to fill up a few omis- 
 sions in the prices of my copy of Sangar's. — N.B. The 
 prices of Willett's and the present copy did not always 
 tally exactly." 
 
 Heber paid six shillings for this volume at Gough's 
 sale in 1810, and Charles Lewis's labours in sizing 
 and binding in 1824 cost £,2, 15s. At Heber's sale 
 the volume sold for ^3. 
 
 In April 1680 was sold "the Library of the Right 
 Hon. George, late Earl of Bristol, a great part of 
 which were the curiosities collected by the learned 
 Sir Kenelm Digby, together with the Library of 
 
AUCTION SALES IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY II3 
 
 another Learned person." It is impossible from 
 the catalogue to tell which lots belonged to Sir 
 Kenelm ; and there seems to be little doubt that 
 few of the books which he left in Paris when he 
 came to London, and which were confiscated by 
 the French Government on his death in 1665, were 
 included in this catalogue. According to M. Leopold 
 Delisle,! Sir Kenelm's books eventually reached the 
 French national library. The proceeds of the sale 
 of 3878 lots was only ;£9o8, and this does not look 
 as if there were many of Digby's books, nobly 
 bound by Le Gascon, in this sale. 
 
 In 1681 Edward Millington's name came into 
 notice as the seller, in May of that year, of the 
 libraries of Lawson, Fawkes, Stockden, and Brooks. 
 
 Richard Chiswell sold in 1682 the Bibliotheca 
 Smithiana, or library of Richard Smith, Secondary 
 of the Poultry Compter, who is better known to us 
 as the author of the useful " Obituary " published 
 by the Camden Society in 1849. This was pro- 
 bably the finest library brought to the hammer up 
 to this date. Oldys wrote of the possessor, that 
 " for many years together [he] suffered nothing to 
 escape him that was rare and remarkable " ; and he 
 added, that his "extraordinary library makes per- 
 haps the richest catalogue of any private library we 
 have to show in print, making above four hundred 
 pages in a very broad-leaved and close-printed 
 quarto." Richard Chiswell sold the library in May 
 
 ' "Sir Kenelm Digby et les anciens rapports des Bibliotheques 
 franfaises avec la Bretagne." Quoted by Mr. Pollard, Bibliografhica, 
 vol. i. p. 383. 
 
 H 
 
114 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 "at the auction house known by the name of the 
 Swan, in Great St. Bartholomew's Close." 
 
 The auctioneer made the following remarks in 
 his Address to the Reader — 
 
 " Though it be needless to recommend what to all in- 
 telligent persons sufficiently commends itself, yet perhaps 
 it may not be unacceptable to the ingenious to have some 
 short account concerning this so much celebrated, so often 
 desired, so long expected library, now exposed to sale. 
 The gentleman that collected it was a person infinitely 
 curious and inquisitive after books; and who suffered 
 nothing considerable to escape him that fell within the 
 compass of his learning, for he had not the vanity of 
 desiring to be master of more than he knew how to use. 
 He lived to a very great age, and spent a good part of it 
 almost entirely in the search of books. Being as constantly 
 known every day to walk his rounds through the shops as 
 he sat down to meals, where his great skill and experience 
 enabled him to make choice of what was not obvious to 
 every vulgar eye. He lived in times which ministered 
 peculiar opportunities of meeting with books that are not 
 every day brought into publick light; and few eminent 
 libraries were bought where he had not the liberty to pick 
 and choose. And while others were forming arms, and 
 new-modelling kingdoms, his great ambition was to become 
 master of a good book. Hence arose, as that vast number 
 of his books, so the choiceness and rarity of the greatest 
 part of them; and that of all kinds, and in all sorts of 
 learning. . . . Nor was the owner of them a meer idle 
 possessor of so great a treasure ; for as he generally collated 
 his books upon the buying them (upon which account the 
 buyer may rest pretty secure of their being perfect) so he 
 did not barely turn over the leaves, but observed the defects 
 of impression, and the ill acts used by many; compared 
 
AUCTION SALES IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY II5 
 
 the differences of editions ; concerning which and the Hke 
 cases, he has entered memorable and very useful remarks 
 upon very many of the books under his own hand : observa- 
 tions wherein, certainly never man was more diligent and 
 industrious. Thus much was thought fit to be communi- 
 cated to public notice, by a gentleman who was intimately 
 acquainted both with Mr. Smith and his books." 
 
 Dibdin condemns the compiler of the catalogue 
 severely, and adds — 
 
 " A number of the most curious, rare, and intrinsically 
 valuable books — the very insertion of which in a book- 
 seller's catalogue would probably now make a hundred 
 bibliomaniacs start from their homes by starlight, in order 
 to come in for the first picking — a number of volumes of 
 this description are huddled together in one lot, and all 
 these classed under the provoking running title of ' Bundles 
 of Books,' ' Bundles of stitcht Books.' " 1 
 
 Smith was one of the earliest collectors of Caxtons, 
 and eleven books produced by our first printer sold 
 for ^£3, 4s. 2d. at his sale. But one of the greatest 
 points of interest connected with Smith's library is 
 that it included the books of Humphrey Dyson, 
 collected at a much earlier date. Hearne notes in 
 his " Collections "— 
 
 " That Mr. Rich. Smith's rare and curious collection of 
 books was began first by Mr. Humphrey Dyson, a publick 
 notary, living in the Poultry. They came to Mr. Smith by 
 
 1 Bibliomania (The Drawing Room). 
 
Il6 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 marriage. This is the same Humphrey Dyson that assisted 
 Howes in his continuation of Stow's ' Survey of London,' 
 ed. folio." 
 
 Under date 4th September 1715 Hearne says — 
 
 " Mr. Richard Smith's Catalogue that is printed contains 
 a very noble and very extraordinary collection of books. 
 It was begun first in the time of King Hen. VHL, and 
 comeing to Mr. Smith, he was so very diligent and exact in 
 continueing and improving, that hardly anything curious 
 escaped him. He had made the best collection that possibly 
 he could of Erasmus's works." ^ 
 
 In another place Hearne describes Dyson as — 
 
 "A person of a very strange, prying, and inquisitive 
 genius in the matter of books, as may appear from many 
 libraries ; there being books chiefly in old English, almost 
 in every library, that have belonged to him, with his name 
 upon them." 2 
 
 The following interesting entry from Smith's 
 catalogue corroborates Hearne's statement as to 
 Smith's acquisition of Dyson's books — 
 
 "115. Six several catalogues of all such books, touching 
 the state ecclesiastical as temporal of the realm of England, 
 which were published upon several occasions, in the reigns 
 of K. Henry the Vllth and VIHth, Philip and Mary, Q. 
 Elizabeth, K. James and Charles I., collected by Mr. H. 
 Dyson : out of whose library was gathered by Mr. Smith 
 a great part of the rarities of this catalogue." 
 
 This lot only fetched seven shillings and six- 
 pence. 
 
 ' Reliquia HearnianiB, 1869, vol. i. p. 310. 
 ^ Peter Langtoft's "Chronicle," vol. i. p. 13. 
 
AUCTION SALES IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY II7 
 
 The number of sales seem now to have increased 
 annually, but it was some years before a library that 
 could rank with Richard Smith's was sold. In April 
 i683''the books of Brian Walton, Bishop of Chester, 
 were sold (twenty-two years after his death) " by 
 Samuel Carr, at his house of the King's Head in 
 St. Paul's Churchyard." About this time auction 
 sales took place in various parts of the country, 
 and Edward Millington was largely employed as 
 a peripatetic auctioneer. In September 1684 he 
 sold books at Stourbridge Fair {Bibliotheca Sturbit- 
 chiand). In 1686 two sales occurred at Trumpington 
 (Obadiah Sedgwick in March, and William Whit- 
 wood in May) and two at Cambridge (Dr. Edmond 
 Castell in June, and Rev. J. Chamberlaine, of St. 
 John's College, at Stourbridge Fair, in September). 
 When we forget the change that has taken place in 
 the value of money, and express our surprise that 
 rare books should only realise a few shillings, we 
 should note that the cost of the hire of thirteen 
 carts for conveying Dr. Castell's books from 
 Emmanuel College to the sign of the Eagle and 
 Child, where they were sold, was only three shil- 
 lings.^ In 1685 and 1686 occurred the famous sales 
 of the stock of Richard Davis, the Oxford book- 
 seller, which was satirised in the Audio Davisiana, 
 noticed in an earlier chapter. 
 
 In 1682 William Cooper pubhshed a Hst of book- 
 sales up to that date, and again a fuller list in 1687, 
 which contained a note of seventy-four sales in the 
 
 ' Bibliographica, vol. ii. p. 126. 
 
Il8 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 ten years 1676-86. The following note is printed 
 on the back of page 33 of Catalogus Librorum Biblio- 
 thecce viri cujusdam Literati, 14th February 1686-87 — 
 
 "To gratifie those Gentlemen whose curiosities may lead 
 them to make perfect their Collection, I have caused to be 
 printed the names of those persons whose hbraries have 
 been sold by auction, and the series of the time when " 
 [1676-1686]. 
 
 This list is reprinted by Hartshorne in his " Book 
 Rarities of the University of Cambridge," 1829 (pp. 
 454-57), and it forms the text for two excellent 
 articles by Mr. A. W. Pollard in Bibliographica. 
 
 In 1687 Millington sold the valuable library of 
 Dr. Thomas Jacomb, a Nonconformist minister 
 {Bibliotheca Jacombiand), which realised ;^I300 ; and 
 in February of the following year the library of a 
 counsellor of the Parliaments of Montpelier, which 
 had been brought from France to be sold in Eng- 
 land {Bibliotheca Mascoviand). 
 
 T. Bentley and B. Walford sold in November 1687 
 an interesting library of an anonymous but dis- 
 tinguished defunct — Bibliotheca Illustrissima, which 
 is described as follows in the Address to the 
 Reader — 
 
 " If the catalogue here presented were only of common 
 books and such as were easie to be had, it would not have 
 been very necessary to have prefaced anything to the reader ; 
 but since it appears in the world with circumstances which 
 no auction in England (perhaps) ever had before, nor is it 
 probable that the like should frequently happen again, it 
 
AUCTION SALES IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY II9 
 
 would seem an oversight if we should neglect to advertise 
 the reader of them. The first is, that it comprises the main 
 part of the library of that famous secretary, William Cecil, 
 Lord Burleigh : which considered, must put it out of doubt 
 that these books are excellent in their several kinds and 
 well chosen. The second is, that it contains a greater 
 number of rare manuscripts than ever yet were offered 
 together in this way, many of which are rendered the 
 more valuable by being remarked upon by the hand of the 
 said great man." 
 
 A considerable number of sales took place be- 
 tween this date and the end of the century, but few 
 were of any particular mark until the fine library of 
 Dr. Francis Bernard came to the hammer in 1698. 
 
 Milhngton continued his travels in the country, 
 and sold, among others, the library of Mrs. Eliza- 
 beth Oliver at Norwich in 1689, and some modern 
 English books at Abingdon in 1692 ; and John 
 Howell sold the Rev. George Ashwell's library at 
 Oxford in 1696. 
 
 Dr. Francis Bernard, physician to St. Bartholo- 
 mew's Hospital, was also physician to James II. 
 He was a good judge of books, and collected a very 
 fine library, which was sold by auction in October 
 1698 at his late dwelling in Little Britain. Dibdin 
 says he was "a stoic in bibliography. Neither 
 beautiful binding nor amplitude of margin ever 
 delighted his eye or rejoiced his heart ; for he was 
 a stiff and straightforward reader, and learned in 
 literary history beyond all his contemporaries. His 
 collection was copious and excellent." 
 
 The account given of the doctor in the Address 
 
120 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 to the Reader prefixed to the catalogue is of con- 
 siderable interest — 
 
 " The character of the person whose collection this was 
 is so well known, that there is no occasion to say much of 
 him, nor, to any man of judgment that inspects the Cata- 
 logue, of the collection itself. Something, however, it 
 becomes us to say of both; and this, I think, may with 
 truth and modesty enough be said, that as few men knew 
 books, and that part of learning which is called Historia 
 Literaria, better than himself, so there never appeared in 
 England so choice and valuable a Catalogue to be thus 
 disposed of as this before us. Certain it is, this library 
 contains not a few which never appeared in any auction 
 here before; nor indeed, as I have heard him say, for aught 
 he knew — and he knew as well as any man living — in any 
 printed Catalogue in the world. It was very seldom that 
 he bought any book without some very particular reason. 
 For if any man died, he certainly knew what we call the 
 secret history of learning so well, that if there were but 
 one single passage in an author for which only it was to 
 be valued, it never escaped him. Being a person who col- 
 lected his books, and not for ostentation or ornament, he 
 seemed no more solicitous about their dress than his own ; 
 and therefore you'll find that a gilt back or a large margin 
 was very seldom any inducement to him to buy. 'Twas 
 sufficient to him that he had the book. . . . He himself 
 was not a mere nomenclator, and versed only in title-pages, 
 but had made that just and laudable use of his books which 
 would become all those that set up for collectors. . . . 
 Give me leave to say this of him upon my own knowledge, 
 that he never grudged his money in procuring, nor his time 
 or labour in perusing any book which he thoug'ht could be 
 any ways instructive to him ; and having the felicity of a 
 memory always faithful, always officious, which never forsook 
 
AUCTION SALES IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 121 
 
 him, though attacked by frequent and severe sickness, 
 and by the worst of all diseases, old age, his desire for 
 knowledge attended him to the last, and he pursued his 
 studies with equal vigour and application to the very 
 extremity of his life." 
 
 He had thirteen Caxtons, which sold altogether 
 for less than two guineas, less than these books 
 fetched at Richard Smith's sale. A curious volume 
 of Tracts, consisting of "The Bellman's Night 
 Walks" (1632), "The Bellman of London" (1608), 
 " Life of Ned Browne," " Cut Purse," &c., sold for 
 2S. 8d. ; Stubbe's "Anatomic of Abuses" (1585), 
 for 8d. ; and Tusser's " Five Hundred Points of 
 Good Husbandry" (1590) for ^d. In spite of these 
 low prices, the total amount of the sale was ;£i6oo, 
 the expenses of the sale — 4s. in the pound = ;£320 — 
 being deducted. 
 
 The catalogue was charged 2s. 6d. 
 
 The last sale in the seventeenth century to be 
 recorded is that of John Lloyd, Bishop of St. 
 Davids, sold in 1699 by John BuUord at Tom's 
 Goffee-House. 
 
 When auctions were first started conditions of 
 sale were formulated, and with the exception of a 
 little elaboration, they remain pretty much what 
 they were at first ; but there were certain peculi- 
 arities which are worthy of mention. 
 
 The catalogues were not at first divided into 
 day's sales, but as many lots as possible were sold 
 in the time fixed for the sale. The hours were 
 usually from nine to twelve, and from two to six. 
 
122 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Sometimes the sales only took place in the evening. 
 In 1681 we learn that an average sale of 544 lots in 
 a day was considered satisfactory. In the Condi- 
 tions of Sale printed in the Catalogue of Seaman's 
 library we read — 
 
 "That the Auction will begin the 31st of October at the 
 Deceased D''^ house in Warwick Court in Warwick Lane 
 punctually at nine Of the Clock in the morning and two in 
 the afternoon, and this to continue daily until all the books 
 be sold." 
 
 The early hour was found a disadvantage, and 
 books often sold for low prices at the beginning of 
 sales, so that Cooper was forced to make a rule that 
 the sale should not be commenced unless there were 
 twenty present. At this time biddings of a penny 
 were common. 
 
 Two great evils came to light on the first institu- 
 tion of auctions ; one was due to the buyers, and 
 the other to the auctioneers. It was found that 
 in cases where the buyer thought he had given 
 more for a book than was wise, he often forgot to 
 pay and fetch away the books. Millington refers 
 specially to this in 1681 — 
 
 " I question not but the well disposed, and the Learned 
 will give us such incouragement in the Sale by Bidding in 
 some measure to the value of the Books so exposed, as 
 may further incourage and keep on foot such a commend- 
 able and serviceable a way of sale (as this of Auction is) 
 to the great purposes of promoting Learning and Know- 
 ledge. Which, when I consider, I cannot but wonder that 
 so many persons have appeared at our auctions, and buy 
 with a great freedom to the injury of others (that are truly 
 
AUCTION SALES IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 1 23 
 
 conscientious to pay for, and fetch away the Books so 
 bought) ; yet in most auctions have hitherto neglected to 
 fetch away and pay for their own. To the end therefore 
 that they may know, we will not be damaged after so great 
 expences, as inevitably attends the management of an 
 auction ; we do intend to prosecute them according to 
 the law if forthwith they do not send for their books, or 
 give us some reasonable satisfaction. To prevent any 
 abuses for the future that may happen to other gentlemen 
 who suffer by this unhandsome practice (of having Books 
 bought out of their hands by persons that never will, or 
 perhaps never designed to fetch them away), we shall, at 
 a convenient time, for the further satisfaction of gentlemen, 
 give an account of their names, and desire their absence 
 if any of them happen to be present." ^ 
 
 The other evil was the attempt of the booksellers 
 to get rid of some of their old stock by introducing 
 it into the sales of collectors' libraries. This trick 
 has already been alluded to. 
 
 The frequenters of auctions seem to have been 
 very jealous of being bid against by any one in- 
 terested in the sale. This jealousy found voice in 
 the complaints of Wanley and others at Bridges' 
 sale in 1726. 
 
 The lots were not numbered throughout in the 
 catalogues, but the octavos, quartos, and folios 
 were each numbered separately, the number of 
 each section running on from the previous day's 
 sale. This is very confusing, as when you look at 
 the end for the purpose of finding the total number 
 
 ' Millington's preface to catalogue of libraries of Lawson, Fawkes, 
 Stockden, and Brooks, 30th May 1681. 
 
124 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 of the lots, you only find the number of foltos in 
 the sale. Millington found that it was not advis- 
 able to bid for books, in case it might be supposed 
 that he was running them up in price, and Mr. 
 Pollard believes that he adopted a plan of getting 
 men to bid for him. 
 
 In corroboration of this view Mr. Pollard refers 
 to a copy of the catalogue of the libraries of Button, 
 Owen, and Hoel, 7th November 1681, in the British 
 Museum which belonged to Millington. It has 
 two receipts by persons whose names are among 
 the bidders for money received from Millington 
 for various books. "At first sight this seems a 
 reversal of what we should expect, but after the 
 first few sales the auctioneers had renounced the 
 right of making bids themselves, lest they should 
 be accused of running up prices, and Millington 
 had obviously employed these friends to bid for 
 him." 1 
 
 Another evil connected with auctions comes from 
 knocks out, which are thoroughly dishonest, and in 
 fact, criminal, being, as they are, a form of conspiracy, 
 but the agreements of two persons not to bid against 
 one another are not necessarily to be condemned. 
 Mr. Henry Stevens was very urgent against any kind 
 of agreement, and in his reminiscences amusingly 
 describes his frustration of a knock-out ; and it has 
 been said that when the Duke of Roxburghe and 
 Lord Spencer made an agreement, they were parties 
 to a knock-out; but this view is founded on a fallacy, 
 
 ' Bibliografhica, vol. ii. p. 115. 
 
AUCTION SALES IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 1 25 
 
 viz., that whatever price a book fetches at public 
 auction is the proper price. We know, however, 
 that this is not correct ; for instance, the Valdarfer 
 Boccaccio fetched its huge price at the Roxburghe 
 sale because two great book-buyers with long 
 purses bid against one another. When one of 
 these buyers died and the book was again in the 
 market, seven years after the first sale, the survivor 
 obtained the book at a smaller price. Hence who 
 is to say whether ^2260 or ^^918 is the actual value 
 of the book ! 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 AUCTION SALES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 The sales of the last quarter of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury are of the greatest interest in the history of the 
 subject, but they are not of any great value as guides 
 to present prices, for circumstances and tastes have 
 greatly changed. The sales were largely those of 
 the working libraries of theologians, and the books 
 which their owners found of use in their studies 
 sold well, while books in other classes which have 
 now taken their place in public esteem fetched 
 prices which seem to us very small. Among the 
 number of sales noticed in the last chapter, two 
 only stand out as the libraries of true collectors in 
 the modern acceptation of the term, that is, of those 
 who collect for love of the books rather than from 
 an appreciation of their utility. Much the same 
 conditions ruled during the first quarter of the 
 eighteenth century, although the library of Charles 
 Bernard, serjeant- surgeon to Queen Anne and 
 brother of Dr. Francis Bernard, previously referred 
 to, was sold in March 171 1 at the Black Boy Coffee- 
 House in Ave Maria Lane, and the sale of the vast 
 collection of Thomas Rawlinson commenced in 
 
 1721. Then followed the sale of John Bridges' 
 
 136 
 
AUCTION SALES IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 1 27 
 
 library in February 1726, but the middle of the 
 century was passed when the great sale of Dr. 
 Richard Mead occurred. This (1754-55), when 
 compared with Askew's sale in 1775, may be said 
 to mark an era in bibHography. These two great 
 physicians were friends with similar tastes. We are, 
 therefore, able to gauge the considerable growth of 
 the taste for book-collecting during the few years 
 that parted these two sales. Askew bought many 
 books at Mead's sale, and when the same volumes 
 came to be sold at his own sale they realised twice 
 and thrice the prices he had given. We shall see 
 in the register of the sales after Askew's day how 
 the prices gradually advanced, until we arrive at 
 the culmination of the bibliomaniacal spirit in the 
 Roxburghe sale of 1812. 
 
 We will now enumerate some of the principal 
 sales which took place during the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, which led up to the long list of sales which 
 have formed so marked a feature of the nineteenth 
 century. 
 
 Charles Bernard's library, sold in 171 1, was said 
 by Oldys to contain "the fairest and best editions 
 of the classics." Swift, in his "Journal to Stella" 
 (19th March) wrote, " I went to-day to see poor 
 Charles Bernard's books, and I itch to lay out nine or 
 ten pounds for some fine editions of fine authors " ; 
 and on the 29th he adds, " I walked to-day into the 
 city and went to see the auction of poor Charles 
 Bernard's books. They were in the middle of the 
 Physic books, so I bought none ; and they are so 
 dear, I believe I shall buy none." 
 
128 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 The sale of the library of Thomas Britton, the well- 
 known small-coal man of Clerkenwell, in January 
 1715, deserves mention on account of the worthi- 
 ness of its owner. The books were sold by auction 
 at St. Paul's Coffee-House by Thomas Ballard, and 
 the sale catalogue consists of forty closely-printed 
 pages in quarto. There were 664 lots in octavo, 
 274 in quarto, and 102 in folio, besides 50 pamphlets 
 and 23 manuscripts. This was the second library 
 Britton had collected, for some years before his 
 death he sold the first one by auction. 
 
 Thomas Rawlinson (1681-1725) was one of the 
 most insatiable of book collectors, and he left the 
 largest library that had been collected up to his 
 time. His chambers were so filled that his bed 
 had to be moved into a passage, and he took Lon- 
 don House, in Aldersgate Street, to accommodate 
 his ever-increasing library. Oldys says of him — 
 
 " If his purse had been much wider he had a passion 
 beyond it, and would have been driven to part with what 
 he was so fond of, such a pitch of curiosity or dotage he 
 was arrived at upon a different edition, a fairer copy, a 
 larger paper than twenty of the same sort he might be 
 already possessed of. In short, his covetousness after 
 those books he had not increased with the multiplication 
 of those he had, and as he lived so he died in his bundles, 
 piles, and bulwarks of paper, in dust and cobwebs, at Lon- 
 don House." 1 
 
 He did, in fact, commence the sale of his library 
 before his death, and the first part was sold in 
 
 1 " Memoir of William Oldys," 1862, p. loi. 
 
AUCTION SALES IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 1 29 
 
 December 1721. The catalogue of the whole library 
 occupied sixteen parts, the last being sold in 1734. 
 A complete set of these catalogues is very rare, and 
 the lists of them in the various bibliographical works 
 are mostly incomplete. There is, however, a set in 
 the Bodleian Library. The books in the first five 
 parts sold for ;£2409, and the manuscripts alone 
 took sixteen days of March 1734 to sell, and went 
 cheap. Hearne writes in his Diary (9th November 
 1734)— 
 
 "The MSS. in Dr. Rawlinson's last auction of his 
 brother Thomas's books went extraordinary cheap, and 
 those that bought had great penny worths. The Doctor 
 purchas'd many himself, at which here and there one were 
 disgusted, tho' all the company supported the Doctor in 
 it, that as a creditor he had a right equal to any other. 
 My friend Mr. Tom Brome, that honest gentleman of 
 Ewithington in Herefordshire in a letter to the Doctor, 
 says that he cannot but wonder at the low rates of most 
 of the MSS., and adds 'had I been in place I should have 
 been tempted to have laid out a pretty deal of money, 
 without thinking myself at all touched with bibliomania.' " 1 
 
 On loth November Hearne further writes — 
 
 " Dr. Rawlinson by the sale of his brother's books hath 
 not rais'd near the money expected. For it seems they 
 have ill answer'd, however good books; the MSS. worse, 
 and what the prints will do is as yet undetermin'd."^ 
 
 It is worthy of mention here that Dr. Rawlinson 
 purchased Hearne's Diaries for a hundred guineas 
 
 ' Reliquice Hearniana, 1869, vol. Hi. p. 159. 
 ^ Ibid., p. 160. 
 
 I 
 
130 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 from the widow and executrix of Dr. William 
 Bedford, to whom they had been given by Hearne,^ 
 and he bequeathed them with other property to the 
 University of Oxford. The auctioneers who dis- 
 persed Thomas Rawlinson's large collections were 
 Charles Davis and Thomas Ballard. 
 
 The sale of the valuable library of John Bridges 
 at his chambers in Lincoln's Inn by Mr. Cock, in 
 February 1726, was an event of much literary 
 interest. The number of lots was 4313, occupying 
 twenty-seven days, and the total proceeds of the 
 sale were ;£400i. This is therefore worthy of note 
 as the first sale at which the prices averaged nearly 
 one pound per lot. 
 
 There was much dissatisfaction among the buyers 
 at the high prices, and a conspiracy to " bull " the 
 market was suspected. 
 
 Humphry Wanley expressed his opinion strongly 
 on this point — 
 
 '■^ Feb. 9, 1725-6. — Went to Mr. Bridges's chambers, but 
 could not see the three fine MSS. again, the Doctor his 
 brother having locked them up. He openly bid for his 
 own books, merely to enhance their price, and the auction 
 proves to be, what I thought it would become, very 
 knavish." 
 
 "Feb. II, 1725-6. — Yesterday at five I met Mr. Noel 
 and tarried long with him; we settled then the whole 
 affair touching his bidding for my Lord [Oxford] at the 
 roguish auction of Mr. Bridges's books. The Reverend 
 Doctor one of the brothers hath already displayed himself 
 
 ' Nichols's "Literary Anecdotes," vol. v. p. 490. 
 
AUCTION SALES IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 131 
 
 SO remarkably as to be both hated and despised, and a 
 combination among the booksellers will soon be against 
 him and his brother-in-law, a lawyer. These are men of 
 the keenest avarice, and their very looks (according to 
 what I am told) dart out harping-irons. I have ordered 
 Mr. Noel to drop every article in my Lord's commissions 
 when they shall be hoisted up to too high a price. Yet I 
 desired that my Lord may have the Russian Bible, which 
 I know full well to be a very rare and a very good book." ^ 
 
 The frontispiece to the sale catalogue exhibited 
 an oak felled, and persons bearing away the branches, 
 signifying that when the oak is cut down every man 
 gets wood. Nichols, referring to the motto, Jpvo? 
 irecTQvarj'; ttS? avrjp ^vXeverai, Speaks of it as " an 
 affecting memento to the collectors of great libraries, 
 who cannot or do not leave them to some public 
 accessible repository." ^ 
 
 Besides the sale catalogue, there was a catalogue 
 raisonne of Bridges's library, a large paper of which, 
 bound in old blue morocco, and ruled with red 
 lines. Dr. Gosset bought for Dibdin for four shil- 
 lings, and the latter styles it a happy day when he 
 received it. 
 
 In 173 1 was sold, at St. Paul's Coffee-House, the 
 extensive library of Anthony Collins, the famous 
 freethinker and author, and a friend of Locke. 
 His books were sold in two divisions. Part i of 
 the catalogue contained 3451 lots, and part 2, 3442. 
 
 The sale of Dr. Thomas Pellet's library in 1744 is 
 
 1 Wanley's " Diary," Lansdowne MS., 808, quoted Nichols's 
 " Literary Anecdotes," vol. i. pp. 91-92. 
 
 2 Ibid., vol. ii.^p. 106. 
 
132 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 of especial interest as the first undertaken by Samuel 
 Baker, the founder of the house of Sotheby. 
 
 In 1746 two sales of note took place, those of 
 Sir Christopher Wren and Michael Maittaire, the 
 scholar and bibliographer. The following adver- 
 tisement of the former is from the Daily Advertiser 
 of 26th October 1748 — 
 
 "To be sold by auction, by Messrs. Cock and Langford, 
 in y" Great Piazza, Covent Garden, this and y'' following 
 evening, the curious and entire libraries of y'^ ingenious 
 architect Sir Christopher Wren, Knt., and Christopher 
 Wren, Esq., his son, late of Hampton Court; both de- 
 ceased. Consisting of great variety of Books of Archi- 
 tecture, Antiquities, Histories, etc., in Greek, Latin, French, 
 and English ; together with some few lots of Prints. The 
 said books may be viewed at Mr. Cock's in y* Great Piazza 
 aforesaid, till y^ time of sale, which will begin each evening 
 at 5 o'clock precisely. Catalogues of which may be had 
 gratis at y^ place of sale aforesaid." 
 
 Maittaire's library was sold in two parts, in 
 November 1748 and January 1749, by Mr. Cock, 
 and occupied forty-five evenings in the selling. 
 For some reason or other the books appear to 
 have been sacrificed, and they realised little more 
 than ;^7oo. One reason was, that they were not 
 very presentable in appearance. The auctioneer 
 writes in the " advertisement " to the catalogue — 
 
 "Tho' the books in their present condidon make not 
 the most ostentatious appearance, yet like the late worthy 
 possessor of them, however plain their outside may be, 
 they contain within an invaluable treasure of ingenuity and 
 learning. In fine, this is (after fifty years' diligent search 
 
AUCTION SALES IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 1 33 
 
 and labour in collecting) the entire library of Mr. Maittaire, 
 whose judgement in the choice of books as it ever was con- 
 fessed, so are they undoubtedly far beyond whatever I can 
 attempt to say in their praise. In exhibiting them thus to 
 the public, I comply with the will of my deceased friend, 
 and in printing the catalogue from his own copy, just as he 
 left it (tho' by so doing it is more voluminous), I had an 
 opportunity not only of doing the justice I owe to his 
 memory, but also of gratifying the curious.'' 
 
 According to a very interesting account of the 
 sale in Beloe's " Anecdotes " (vol. v. pp. 389-452), 
 it appears that if "the curious" attended the sale, 
 they did not do much to raise the prices. Beloe 
 writes, "The library of Michael Maittaire was of 
 incalculable vahie, from its great variety, from the 
 number of early printed books which it contained, 
 from the extraordinary collection of Greek and 
 Latin tracts by the famous French printers of the 
 sixteenth century, from the most uncommon books 
 in criticism which it exhibited, and lastly, from the 
 high reputation of its possessor." And, in conclu- 
 sion, he says, " Such a collection was never before 
 exhibited for pubHc sale, and perhaps never will 
 again." 
 
 A striking instance of the absurdly low prices 
 obtained for the books is that of Homeri Batracho- 
 myomachia (Venet. per Leonicum Cretensem, i486, 
 4to), which sold for sixteen shillings. In this copy 
 a subsequent possessor wrote the following note — 
 
 "This book is so extremely rare that I never saw any 
 other copy of it except that of Mons. de Boze, who told 
 me he gave 650 livres for it. Mr. Smith, our consul at 
 
134 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Venice, wrote me word that he had purchased a copy, but 
 that it was imperfect. Lord Oxford offered Mr. Maittaire 
 fifty guineas for this identical copy." 
 
 Askew's copy, supposed to be the same as this, 
 fetched at his sale fourteen guineas. 
 
 Martialis, apud Vindelinum Spirensem — sine anno — 
 which is described as "one of the rarest of rare 
 books," only brought four shillings and sixpence. 
 The editio princeps of Plautus ( Vetiet. per Joh. de 
 Colonia et Vindelinum Spirensem, 1472, folio) was 
 sold for sixteen shillings, while the Pinelli copy 
 fetched ;^36. These are no exceptions to the rule, 
 for Beloe mentions a large number of rare books 
 which only fetched a shilling or two shillings each. 
 
 The great library of Richard Mead, M.D., was 
 dispersed by Samuel Baker in November and 
 December 1754 and in April and May 1755. In the 
 first sale there were 3280 lots in 28 days, which 
 realised ;£2475, i8s. 6d. The second sale consisted 
 of 6741 lots in 29 days, realising ;£3033, is. 6d., 
 making the totals for the two sales, 57 days, 10,021 
 lots, amount of sale £^^0(). It is usually stated 
 that Mead's library consisted of 10,000 volumes, 
 but there must have been at least 30,000 volumes. 
 The numbering of lots in Mead's sale followed the 
 confusing rule adopted at the first printing of auc- 
 tion catalogues, viz., the leaving three separate 
 numberings of octavos, quartos, and folios. As 
 already said, this was the first really renowned 
 sale that took place in England, and there can 
 be little doubt that the owner spent considerably 
 
AUCTION SALES IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 1 35 
 
 more money in the collection of his books than 
 they realised after his death. Johnson said of 
 Mead, that he lived more in the broad sunshine 
 of life than almost any man. The dispersion of 
 his library was a loss to the world, for every scholar 
 had been allowed access to it during the owner's 
 life. 
 
 The novelist Fielding's library was sold by Baker 
 i" 1755- The sale consisted of 653 lots, occupied 
 four nights, and realised £36^. 
 
 Richard Rawlinson, D.D., younger brother of 
 Thomas Rawlinson, died on the 6th of April 1755, 
 and his large and valuable library was sold by 
 Baker in March of the following year. The sale of 
 the books lasted fifty days, and there was a second 
 sale of pamphlets, books of prints, &c., which 
 occupied ten days. The prices realised for old 
 English literature were very small, and the total 
 of the whole sale was under ;^i20o. 
 
 The year 1756 was remarkable for the sale of the 
 library of Martin Folkes by Samuel Baker. It con- 
 sisted of 5126 lots, and realised ;^309i. Martin Folkes 
 occupied a prominent position in the literary and 
 scientific worlds as President of the Royal Society 
 and of the Society of Antiquaries. He was more a 
 generally accomplished man than a man of science, 
 and it has been the fashion to laugh at his preten- 
 sions to the chair of the Royal Society, but his con- 
 temporaries thought well of him. Dr. Jurin, secretary 
 of the Royal Society, said that " The greatest man 
 that ever lived (Sir Isaac Newton) singled him out 
 to fill the chair, and to preside in the Society when 
 
136 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 he himself was so frequently prevented by indis- 
 position ; and that it was sufficient to say of him 
 that he was Sir Isaac's friend." 
 
 Edwards, the ornithologist, said of Folkes — 
 
 " He seemed 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." 
 
 The earliest sale recorded of Samuel Paterson 
 was that of the library of "Orator" Henley, which 
 took place in June 1769, and contained some 
 curious books. 
 
 Joseph Smith, British Consul at Venice, was a 
 cultivated book collector. He printed a catalogue 
 of his library in 1755, Bibliotheca Smitheana, seu 
 Catalogus Librorum D. Josephi Smithii, Angli . . . 
 Venetiis, typis Jo. Baptistce Pasquali, MDCCLV. This 
 is of value as containing an appendix to "the 
 prefaces and epistles prefixed to those works in the 
 library which were printed in the fifteenth century." 
 George III. bought the whole library, and added it 
 to his own matchless collection. On the sale of his 
 library Consul Smith set to work to collect another, 
 and in 1773, a year after his death, this second library 
 was sold by auction by Baker & Leigh, occupying 
 thirteen days in the selling. The books were de- 
 scribed as being "in the finest preservation, and 
 consisting of the very best and scarcest editions of 
 
AUCTION SALES IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 1 37 
 
 the Latin, Italian, and French authors, from the 
 Invention of Printing, with manuscripts and missals 
 upon vellum, finely illuminated." The last day's 
 sale contained all the English books in black letter. 
 This fine library realised ;^2245, not so large an 
 amount as might have been expected. In fact, 
 Dibdin says in his Bibliomania that Mr. Cuthell 
 exclaimed in his hearing that "they were given 
 away." 
 
 In this same year, 1773, was sold the splendid 
 library of James West, President of the Royal 
 Society, the catalogue of which was digested by 
 Samuel Paterson. The preface informs the reader 
 that "the following catalogue exhibits a very curious 
 and uncommon collection of printed books and 
 travels, of British history and antiquities, and of 
 rare old English literature, the most copious of any 
 which has appeared for several years past ; formed 
 with great taste and a thorough knowledge of 
 authors and characters." There were 4633 lots, 
 and they occupied twenty-four days in the selling, 
 the auctioneer being Langford. West's large 
 collection of manuscripts was sold to the Earl of 
 Shelburne, and is now in the British Museum. 
 
 Although this sale attracted much attention, and 
 was well attended, the prices did not rule high 
 according to our present ideas, but doubtless it 
 was not thought then that the following Caxtons 
 realised less than their value : Chaucer's Works, first 
 edition by Caxton, ^^47, 15s. 6d. ; "Troylus and 
 Cresseyde," ;^io, los. ; " Book of Fame," £^, 5s. ; 
 " Gower de Confessione Amantis," 1483, £<^, 9s. 
 
138 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Dibdin has given a very full analysis of this line 
 library in his Bibliomania. In contrast to this sale 
 may be mentioned, on account of the distinction of 
 the owner, the library of Oliver Goldsmith, which 
 was sold on 12th July 1774 by Mr. Good of Fleet 
 Street. There were 162 lots, and Mr. Forster has 
 reprinted the catalogue in his " Life of Goldsmith " 
 (vol ii. p. 453). 
 
 A very curious library was sold in this same year 
 (1774) by Paterson. The title of the catalogue 
 describes it as follows — 
 
 "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 
 Sergeant 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 history, some 
 scarce old law books, a great number of old English plays, 
 several choice MSS. upon vellum, and other subjects of 
 literary curiosity. . . ." 
 
 It will be seen from this that works of our early 
 printers were beginning to come into vogue, but 
 they did not fetch very high prices, varying from 
 five pounds to eight guineas. Two copies of the 
 first edition of Bacon's " Essays," 1597, went for 
 sixpence. 
 
 In 1775 one of the finest sales of the century took 
 place at the auction rooms of Baker & Leigh, 
 that of Anthony Askew, M.D. (1722-1772), whose 
 
AUCTION SALES IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 1 39 
 
 ambition it was to have every edition of a Greek 
 author. His library largely consisted of classics, 
 and most of the books were in good condition. 
 There were 3570 lots sold in twenty-two days, 
 which realised ;^3993, or about £1 per lot. Mead's 
 library consisted of 10,021 lots, which realised ;£5509, 
 or a little over half the average amount per lot 
 obtained at Askew's sale. As the character of 
 Mead's and Askew's libraries was somewhat similar, 
 the difference may be partly accounted for by the 
 increased price of good books in the interval be- 
 tween the two sales. 
 
 Mr. Christie sold in March 1776 the valuable 
 library of a very remarkable book-collector, John 
 Ratcliflfe, who kept a chandler's shop in the Borough. 
 It is said that he bought some of his treasures by 
 weight in the way of his business. His skill as a 
 collector was recognised by his brother collectors, 
 and on Thursday mornings he was in the habit of 
 giving breakfasts at his house in East Lane, Rother- 
 hithe, and to them Askew, Croft, Topham Beauclerk, 
 James West, and others, were constant visitors. At 
 these breakfasts he displayed his latest purchases. 
 He was a very corpulent man, and a few years 
 before his death, when a fire happened in his 
 neighbourhood, and his furniture and books were 
 removed for safety, he was unable to help those who 
 were engaged in the task. He stood lamenting the 
 loss of his Caxtons, when a sailor, who heard him, 
 attempted to console him, and cried, " Bless you, sir, 
 I have got them perfectly safe." While Ratcliffe 
 was expressing his thanks, the sailor produced two 
 
140 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 of his fine curled periwigs which he had saved. He 
 had no idea that a man could make such a fuss over 
 a few books.^ 
 
 There were nine days' sale of 1675 lots. The 
 Caxtons numbered thirty, and realised an average 
 of £f) each. 
 
 Topham Beauclerk, the fashionable friend of Dr. 
 Johnson, collected a very large library, which was 
 distributed by Paterson in 1781. There were thirty 
 thousand volumes, which took fifty days to sell. 
 The library was rich in English plays, English 
 history, travels, and antiquities, but there were not 
 many high-priced books. 
 
 The sale of the library of the Rev. Thomas Crofts 
 in 1783, also by Paterson, was a much more im- 
 portant event. It consisted of 8360 lots, distributed 
 over forty-three days, and realised ;£3453. We are 
 told in the preface to the sale catalogue that — 
 
 "The great reputation which the late Rev. and learned 
 Mr. Crofts had acquired, with respect to bibliographical 
 knowledge, cannot be better established than by the follow- 
 ing digest of his excellent library, in which no pains have 
 been spared to render it worthy the character of the col- 
 lector, and such as he himself, it is presumed, would not 
 have disapproved. The collection on the ' Origin of 
 Letters,' and of Grammars and Dictionaries, is admirable, 
 and much fuller of curious books than is to be found in 
 many libraries of the first description. The theological 
 divisions comprehend many curious and valuable articles. 
 . . . The classical part of the library is indeed a treasure of 
 
 ^ Dibdin's " Reminiscences," vol. i. p. 327 (note). 
 
AUCTION SALES IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 141 
 
 Greek and Roman learning, comprising many of the early 
 editions, almost all the Aldine editions, and those of the 
 best modern commentators." 
 
 Other classes well represented in the library were 
 Italian poetry, novels and plays, Spanish and Portu- 
 guese poetry, &c., history, topography, antiquities, 
 and voyages and travels. There is a portrait of 
 Mr. Crofts in Clarke's Repertorium Bibliographicum. 
 
 In this same year, 1783, was sold by Mr. Compton 
 the elegant and curious library of an eminent col- 
 lector (Joseph Gulston), which contained a con- 
 siderable number of books printed on large paper, 
 and well bound. The library is described in the 
 catalogue as "undoubtedly the most select ever 
 offered to the public for beauty, scarcity, and 
 condition." There were eleven days' sale of 2007 
 lots, which realised ;£i75o. In 1784 the remaining 
 portion of Mr. Gulston's library was sold by the 
 same auctioneer. This consisted chiefly of a fine 
 collection of English typography, and the 784 lots 
 occupied four days in the selling. 
 
 Dr. Samuel Johnson's library, which was sold in 
 1785, was not a very valuable one. It consisted of 
 650 lots, which sold for £\Q0. Among them was 
 the second Shakespeare folio, now in the possession 
 of Sir Henry Irving. 
 
 In 1785 Dr. Askew's collection of manuscripts 
 were sold, ten years after the printed books, when 
 they realised ;^i827. When Askew died in 1774 
 they were offered to a collector for two thousand 
 guineas, but the price was considered too large. 
 
142 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 The library of Major Thomas Pearson (1740- 
 1781) was sold by T. & J. Egerton in 1788. The 
 sale extended over twenty-three days, and consisted 
 of 5525 lots. This library was very rich in old 
 English literature, and contained two volumes of 
 original ballads, which were bought by the Duke 
 of Roxburghe for £2,(i, 4s. 6d., and with the Duke's 
 additions are now safely preserved in the British 
 Museum. 
 
 The famous Pinelli library, founded by John 
 Vincent Pinelli in the sixteenth century, and aug- 
 mented by his descendants (the last possessor was 
 Maffeo Pinelli, a learned printer at Venice, who 
 died in 1785), was bought in 1788 by Messrs. Rob- 
 son & Edwards, booksellers, for about ;£7ooo ; and 
 on being brought to London was sold by auction 
 in Conduit Street in two divisions — the first, in 
 March and April 1789, consisted of sixty days' sale, 
 and the second, in February and March 1790, of 
 thirty -one days. The total number of lots was 
 14,778, and they realised ;£9356, which did not 
 allow much profit to the purchasers after payment 
 of duties, carriage, and costs of the sale. The 
 Hbrary was very rich in Greek and Latin classics, 
 and Italian literature generally. The chief lot was 
 the Coinplutensian Polyglot (6 vols, folio, 15 14- 17), 
 printed on vellum, which fetched ;£483. 
 
 The sale of the choice library of M. Paris de 
 Meyzieux (Bibliotheca Parisina), which took place 
 in March 1791, is worthy of special record in that 
 the prices realised averaged considerably more than 
 in any previous sale, and has seldom been equalled 
 
AUCTION SALES IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY I43 
 
 even in our own day. The title of the EngHsh 
 catalogue is as follows — 
 
 "A Catalogue of a Collection of Books formed by a 
 Gentleman in France, not less conspicuous for his taste 
 in distinguishing than his zeal in acquiring whatever of this 
 kind was most perfect, curious, or scarce : it includes many 
 first editions of the classics : books magnificently printed 
 on vellum with illuminated paintings ; manuscripts on vel- 
 lum, embellished with rich miniatures ; books of natural 
 history, with the subjects coloured in the best manner or 
 with the original drawings and books of the greatest 
 splendour and rareness in the different classes of literature. 
 To these are added from another grand collection, selected 
 articles of high value. The whole are in the finest condi- 
 tion, and in bindings superlatively rich." 
 
 The library was bought from the executors of 
 Mons. Paris by M. Laurent of Paris and Mr. James 
 Edwards, and brought to London to be sold. There 
 were six days' sale, and the 636 lots realised 
 ^7095, 17s. gd., or a little over eleven pounds per 
 lot. One of the most beautiful books in the sale 
 was the Opere of Petrarch, 15 14, printed on vellum, 
 with charming miniatures attributed to Giulio Clovio. 
 Six of these were the Triumphs of Love, Chastity, 
 Death, Fame, Time, and the Deity. The borders 
 of the pages were ornamented with 174 exquisite 
 miniatures of birds, beasts, fishes, monsters, fabu- 
 lous histories, and various compositions of the 
 greatest ingenuity. This splendid folio volume 
 fetched ;£ii6, iis. A similar book, but apparently 
 much less elaborate, a vellum Aristotle, recently 
 fetched ;^8oo at the Ashburnham sale. 
 
144 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 The library of Michael Lort, D.D., F.R.S., was 
 sold by Leigh & Sotheby in this same year, 1791; 
 it contained a large number of interesting books, 
 particularly those on English history and antiquities, 
 many of which were enriched with MS. notes by 
 the Rev. George North. There were 6665 lots, 
 which occupied twenty-five days in the selling, but 
 the amount realised (^^1269) was not large for so 
 considerable a collection. 
 
 In 1792 a great sale occurred at Dublin ; it was of 
 the library of the Right Hon. Denis Daly, and was 
 dispersed under the hammer of James Vallance. 
 There is a good description of the library in the 
 Gentleman's Magazine (1792, Part I., pp. 326-28), 
 but although Dibdin gives in his Bibliomania a 
 notice of some of the books, he does not record the 
 prices of several of the most interesting items men- 
 tioned in the Gentleman's Magazine. The number 
 of lots was 1441, which realised £yioo. The library 
 was purchased entire from the executors of Mr. 
 Daly by John Archer and William Jones, two 
 Dublin booksellers, and the former told Dibdin 
 that Lord Clare offered £4poo for it before the 
 auction sale, but this offer was refused. 
 
 The Earl of Bute's botanical library was sold by 
 Leigh & Sotheby in 1794 for ;£347o. It was a ten 
 days' sale. 
 
 The first part of Thomas Allen's library was dis- 
 persed in June 1795, and the second part in 1799, 
 both parts coming under the hammer of Leigh and 
 Sotheby. There were in all 3460 lots sold during 
 nineteen days, which realised £S73T- 
 
AUCTION SALES IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY I45 
 
 The sale of the hbrary of George Mason com- 
 menced in January 1798, anc} continued till 1807, 
 when the fifth part was sold. The first part con- 
 tained 497 lots (three days), which realised ;£620 ; 
 the second part 480 lots (three days), £7^^ ; the 
 third part 547 lots (three days), ;£67o ; the fourth 
 part, sold in 1799, 338 lots (two days), £s86. All 
 were sold by Leigh & Sotheby. The four parts 
 contained 1862 lots, and the total amount of the 
 sale was ;^2663. The fifth part, sold in 1807, con- 
 tained few lots of any importance. 
 
 The library of Richard Farmer, D.D., sold by 
 Mr. King in May 1798, was a peculiarly interesting 
 one, as containing a rich collection of early English 
 poetry, of which he was one of the earliest pur- 
 chasers. Although he employed agents to purchase 
 for him, he was not very liberal, and is said to have 
 made a rule not to exceed three shillings for any 
 book. The number of lots in the sale was 8199, 
 and thirty-six days were occupied in selling them. 
 The total amount of the sale was ^2210, and the 
 library is supposed to have cost Dr. Farmer in 
 collecting about ;£5oo. 
 
 Dr. Farmer (1735-1797), author of the famous 
 " Essay on the Learning of Shakspeare," and for 
 two-and-twenty years Master of Emanuel College, 
 Cambridge, was a curious character, who was said 
 to have loved three things — old port, old clothes, 
 and old books. It was further said that there were 
 three things which nobody could persuade him to 
 do, viz., to rise in the morning, to go to bed at 
 night, and to settle an account. He is said to have 
 
146 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 imbibed his passion for collecting books from Dr. 
 Askew. Dr. Parr, who composed his Latin epitaph, 
 wrote of him — 
 
 " How shall I talk of thee, and of thy wonderful collec- 
 tion, O rare Richard Farmer? — of thy schblarship, acute- 
 ness, pleasantry, singularities, varied learning, and colloquial 
 powers ! Thy name will live long among scholars in general, 
 and in the bosoms of virtuous and learned bibliomaniacs 
 thy memory shall ever be enshrined ! The walls of Emanuel 
 College now cease to convey the sounds of thy festive 
 wit ; thy volumes are no longer seen, like Richard Smith's 
 ' bundles of stitcht books,' strewn upon the floor ; and thou 
 has ceased in the cause of thy beloved Shakespeare to delve 
 into the fruitful ore of black letter literature. Peace to thy 
 honest spirit; for thou wert wise without vanity, learned 
 without pedantry, and joyous without vulgarity.'' 
 
 Dr. Farmer at one time proposed to have had a 
 catalogue taken of his library, to which he intended 
 to have prefixed the following advertisement — 
 
 " This Collection of Books is by no means to be con- 
 sidered as an essay towards a perfect Library ; the circum- 
 stances and the situation of the Collector made such an 
 attempt both unnecessary and impracticable. Here are 
 few publications of great price which were already to be 
 found in the excellent Library of Emanuel College; but 
 it is believed that not many private collections contain a 
 greater number of really curious and scarce books ; and 
 perhaps no one is so rich in the antient philological 
 Enghsh literature. — R. Farmer." 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 AUCTION SALES IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 
 
 The sales of the nineteenth century are so nume- 
 rous, that they must be treated in a more summary 
 manner than those of the two previous centuries. 
 The Roxburghe sale in 1812 marks an era in 
 bibliography, and after it a series of valuable sales 
 occurred until about the middle of the century, 
 when there was a certain period of dulness, although 
 great sales like those of the libraries of the Duke of 
 Sussex and the Duke of Buckingham (Stowe) took 
 place. In 1864 the fine library of George Daniel 
 was dispersed, when many editions of Shakespeare's 
 plays, and much valuable dramatic literature, were 
 sold at high prices. In 1873 was the great sale of 
 Henry Perkins's library, in 1881-83 the Sunderland 
 sale, and in 1882-84 the Beckford and Hamilton 
 sales. These three sales deserve an historian, such 
 as the Roxburghe sale had in Dibdin ; but although 
 they created a great sensation, they have not been 
 written about as the Roxburghe sale was. The 
 effect of the high prices realised at these sales has 
 been to cause a great number of fine libraries to be 
 brought to the hammer. The century opened with 
 the sale by Mr. King of the valuable library of 
 
148 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 George Steevens, the Shakespearian commentator, 
 which commenced on 13th May 1800, and con- 
 tinued during the ten 'following days. There were 
 1943 lots, which realised ;^2740. Useful lists of 
 some of the most interesting books in the sale are 
 given in Dibdin's Bibliomania and Clarke's Reper- 
 toriiim. Bibliographicum. The whole of the library 
 was sold, with the exception of an illustrated copy 
 of Shakespeare, bequeathed to Earl Spencer, the 
 corrected copy of Steevens's edition of Shake- 
 speare to Mr. Reed, and a fine set of Hogarth's 
 prints, in three volumes, to the Right Hon. William 
 Windham. 
 
 The sale of the library of Greffier Fagel of the 
 Hague was announced for sale in 1802, but instead 
 of coming to auction it was sold entire to Trinity 
 College, Dublin, for ;£7ooo. A catalogue, digested 
 by Samuel Paterson, in two parts, was printed in 
 1806. 
 
 The very valuable library of Robert Heathcote 
 was sold by Leigh, Sotheby & Son in 1802 and 
 1808. The first sale, on 8th April 1802 and five 
 following days, was described as "an elegant col- 
 lection of books, comprising a very extraordinary 
 assemblage of the Greek and Roman classics, and 
 other books in the English, French, and Italian lan- 
 guages ; the greater part upon large paper, and 
 the whole in fine condition, in morocco and other 
 splendid bindings." The number of lots was 958, 
 which realised ;£336i. 
 
 The second part was described as " a portion of 
 the singularly elegant library, late the property of a 
 
AUCTION SALES IN NINETEENTH CENTURY I49 
 
 very distinguished amateur [R. H.], likewise a few 
 duplicates belonging to the present possessor [John 
 Dent]. . . . The books are almost universally bound 
 in different coloured morocco, by Roger Payne and 
 other eminent binders." This sale took place on 
 4th April 1808 and five following days, and consisted 
 of 858 lots, which fetched ;£2469. 
 
 The third sale took place on 2nd May 1808 and 
 following day, when 222 lots were sold for ;^i246. 
 The books are described as bound by "the most 
 eminent English and French binders.'' The totals of 
 the three sales were 2038 lots, which realised ;^7076. 
 
 The sale of the library of John Woodhouse, which 
 was carried out by Leigh, Sotheby & Son, on 12th 
 December 1803 and four following days, was one 
 of great interest. The books were in fine condition, 
 and besides works on English history, topography, 
 &c., there was a good collection of old English 
 poetry and romances. There were 862 lots, and 
 the amount realised was ;£3i35. 
 
 James Edwards, who commenced bookselling in 
 Pall Mall about the year 1784, was in 1788 the joint 
 purchaser with James Robson, bookseller, of New 
 Bond Street, of the Pinelli library. He retired to 
 the Manor House, Harrow, some years before his 
 death, and gathered around him a very choice col- 
 lection of books. He is mentioned in the index 
 to Nichols's "Literary Anecdotes" (1813) as the 
 possessor, "with numberless other literary treasures," 
 of the famous Bedford Missal. On 25th April 1804 
 and three following days Mr. Christie sold a selec- 
 tion from his library, which was described as "a 
 
150 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 most splendid and valuable collection of books, 
 superb missals, original drawings, &c., the genuine 
 property of a gentleman of distinguished taste, re- 
 tiring into the country." There were only 339 lots, 
 which fetched ;^4640, or nearly £1^ per lot, a very 
 considerable average, but then the books were 
 highly distinguished. Dibdin gives, in part 5 of 
 his Bibliomania, a list of some of the more important 
 items, and in part 6 a notice of the large number of 
 books printed on vellum, in the collection. Dibdin 
 does not, however, mention that it belonged to 
 James Edwards. 
 
 On 5th April 1815 and five following days Mr. 
 Evans sold " the valuable library of James Edwards, 
 Esq., containing a splendid assemblage of early 
 printed books, chiefly on vellum, highly curious 
 and important manuscripts, magnificent books of 
 prints," &c. In this sale was the Bedford Missal, 
 which was bought by the Marquis of Blandford for 
 ^^687. There were 830 lots, which sold for £^\2'i-, 
 or rather more than ^10 per lot. Edwards died 
 on 2nd January 1816, aged fifty-nine years. 
 
 The library of the first Marquis of Lansdowne 
 (previously Earl of Shelburne) was sold by 
 Leigh & Sotheby in January and February 1806. 
 The sale occupied thirty-one days, and contained 
 6530 lots, which realised ^6701. Amongst the 
 books was a very rare collection of tracts, docu- 
 ments, and pamphlets relating to the French 
 Revolution, in more than 280 volumes, which sold 
 for ;£i68. In 1807 the Marquis's collection of 
 manuscripts were catalogued for sale, but they 
 
AUCTION SALES IN NINETEENTH CENTURY 151 
 
 never came to auction, as they were purchased by 
 Padiament for the British Museum for ^£6000. 
 
 The Rev. Jonathan Boucher (1738-1804) pos- 
 sessed a large library, which was sold by Leigh & 
 Sotheby in three parts for a total of £45^0. Part i, 
 24th February 1806 and twenty-six following days, 
 6646 lots sold for ;^2990. Part 2, 14th April 1806 
 and eight following days, 1940 lots sold for ;£8i5. 
 Part 3, 29th May 1809 and three following days, 
 857 lots sold for £70^. The library was full of 
 valuable and useful books in divinity, history, 
 voyages and travels, poetry, classics, &c., but there 
 were few books of extreme rarity. Dibdin says in 
 his Bibliomania — 
 
 "I attended many days during this sale, but such was 
 the warm fire, directed especially towards divinity, kept up 
 during nearly the whole of it, that it required a heavier weight 
 of metal than I was able to bring into the field of battle to 
 ensure any success in the contest." 
 
 The extensive library of the Rev. John Brand 
 was sold by Mr. Stewart in two parts. Part i, in 
 May and June 1807, 861 1 lots and MSS. 294 lots, in 
 thirty-seven days, sold for _;^43oo. Part 2, February 
 1808, 4064 lots sold for ;£i85i. The last lot in the 
 first part of the sale was Brand's own work on 
 " Popular Antiquities," with additions prepared for 
 republication, which, with copyright, sold for ;£63o. 
 The books were in poor condition, and had been 
 mostly bought for small sums ; in addition, no 
 money was expended by the proprietor on the 
 binding of his books. 
 
152 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 On the twenty-fourth day's sale Dr. Gosset found 
 in one of the volumes of Menage's French Dic- 
 tionary sixty-five pounds in bank-notes, and a rare 
 portrait of Margaret Smith, engraved by W. Mar- 
 shall, which was subsequently sold for twenty-seven 
 guineas. Previous to the removal of the library 
 from Somerset House, where Brand lived as secre- 
 tary of the Society of Antiquaries, Stewart, the 
 auctioneer, found by accident in an old waste-paper 
 volume seventy guineas wrapped up in paper and 
 placed in various parts of the book. The money 
 was handed to Mr. Brand's executor. 
 
 Isaac Reed's interesting library of old English 
 literature was sold by King & Lochee in November 
 and December 1807. The sale occupied thirty-nine 
 days, and consisted of 8957 lots, which realised 
 ;^4386. 
 
 A five days' sale of Lord Penrhyn's library at 
 Leigh & Sotheby's in March 1809 brought ;£20oo. 
 
 In June 1809 Leigh & Sotheby sold the library of 
 Richard Porson, which consisted of 1931 lots, and 
 realised £12^^. A list of the prices given for the 
 principal classics in this sale is printed in the 
 Classical Journal {\. 385-90). 
 
 The eminent antiquary Richard Gough be- 
 queathed his collection of British topography to 
 the Bodleian Library, but the rest of his library 
 was sold by Leigh & Sotheby in April 1810 during 
 twenty days. There were 4373 lots, which sold 
 for ;£3552- 
 
 The Rev. Benjamin Heath, D.D., sold his very 
 fine library during his lifetime to Joseph Johnson, 
 
AUCTION SALES IN NINETEENTH CENTURY 1 53 
 
 bookseller, of St. Paul's Churchyard, who consigned 
 it to Mr. Jeffery in 1810 to be sold by auction. 
 The sale consisted of 4786 lots, and realised ;£8899. 
 Dibdin describes this sale in enthusiastic terms in 
 his Bibliomania. He writes — 
 
 "Never did the bibliomaniac's eye alight upon 'sweeter 
 copies,' as the phrase is, and never did the biblio maniacal 
 barometer rise higher than at this sale ! The most marked 
 phrensy characterised it. A copy of the editio princeps 
 of Homer (by no means a first-rate one) brought ^92, 
 and all the Aldine classics produced such an electricity of 
 sensation, that buyers stuck at nothing to embrace them ! 
 Do not let it hence be said that black letter lore is the only 
 fashionable pursuit of the present age of book collectors. 
 This sale may be hailed as the omen of better and brighter 
 prospects in literature in general ; and many a useful philo- 
 logical work, although printed in the Latin or Italian lan- 
 guage — and which had been sleeping unmolested upon a 
 bookseller's shelf these dozen years — will now start up 
 from its slumber, and walk abroad in a new atmosphere, 
 and be noticed and ' made much of.' " 
 
 We now arrive at the year 1812, which will ever 
 be memorable in bibliographical annals on account 
 of the sale of the grand library of the Duke of 
 Roxburghe during forty-six days. The catalogue 
 was arranged by Messrs. G. & W. Nicol, and in 
 the preface we read — 
 
 "When literature was deprived of one of its warmest 
 admirers by the death of the Duke of Roxburghe, his 
 grace was in full pursuit of collecting our dramatic authors. 
 But when his collection of English plays is examined, and 
 
154 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 the reader is informed that he had only turned his mind 
 to this class of literature for a few years, his indefatigable 
 industry will be readily admitted." 
 
 Mr. Robert H. Evans, the bookseller of Pall 
 Mall, was induced to commence the business of 
 auctioneer with his sale, and he continued to sell 
 by auction for over thirty years. 
 
 The Roxburghe library consisted of 10,120 lots, 
 which sold for ;£23,397. Although one of the finest 
 libraries ever brought to the hammer, the glory 
 of the majority of the books was eclipsed by the 
 Valdarfer Boccaccio, 1471, which fetched ^£2260, the 
 largest sum ever paid for a book up to that time. 
 It has been said that the amount of the Boccaccio 
 day's sale equalled what had been given by the 
 Duke for the entire collection.^ 
 
 Leigh & Sotheby sold in May 1812 the library of the 
 Marquis Townshend, during sixteen days, for ;£5745. 
 
 The splendid library of Colonel Stanley was sold 
 by Evans in April and May 1813, during eight days. 
 There were 1136 lots (or above 3000 volumes), 
 which sold for ^^8236. A unique copy of De Bry's 
 Voyages, with duplicates of parts x. and xi. and a 
 large number of duplicate plates, bound in blue 
 morocco, sold for £^i\(>. Brunet wrote that at this 
 sale the thermometer of the bibliomania reached its 
 highest point. 
 
 The library of Stanesby Alchorne, of the Mint, 
 was bought entire by Earl Spencer, who sold at 
 Evans's, in 1813, the portion which he did not 
 
 ^ Dibdin's "Reminiscences," vol. i. p. 369 (note). 
 
AUCTION SALES IN NINETEENTH CENTURY 155 
 
 require, and added to the sale some of his own 
 duplicates. There were only 187 lots in this sale, 
 and they sold for £i']6(). 
 
 Leigh & Sotheby sold the library of the Rev. 
 Isaac Gosset, a constant attendant on book-sales, in 
 1813 (the year after his death), during twenty-three 
 days. There were 5740 lots, which sold for ^£3141. 
 Gosset (the Lepidus of Dibdin) was much attached 
 to Richard Heber, whom he regarded as his pupil. 
 
 In this same year (1813) the famous Merly library 
 (Ralph Willett) was sold by Leigh & Sotheby. 
 There were seventeen days, and 2906 lots, which 
 sold for ;£i3,So8. It was said at the time that if 
 ever there was a unique collection this was one. 
 
 A choice and small library of a well-known col- 
 lector (John Hunter) was sold in this same year by 
 Leigh & Sotheby, in a three days' sale, with 405 lots, 
 which realised ^1344. 
 
 Messrs. King & Lochee sold the library of John 
 Home Tooke, 1813. There were four days, and 
 1813 lots, which fetched ;^i25o. 
 
 In 1814 and 1815 the library of John Towneley 
 was sold by Evans. Part i in June 1814, seven 
 days, 904 lots, amount of sale £$^90. Part 2, June 
 1815, ten days, 1703 lots, amount of sale £,2']0'], or 
 a total for the two parts of ;£8597. The Towneley 
 Mysteries sold for ^i^"]. A small remaining portion 
 of the Towneley library was sold by Evans in 1817. 
 Mr. Towneley's collection of drawings, prints, 
 books of prints, &c., was sold by Mr. King in 1816 
 for ;£i4i4, and a collection of the works of Hollar, 
 also by Mr. King, in May 1818 for ;£2io8. 
 
156 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 In 181 6 there were several fine sales. Evans sold 
 Edward Astle's library, which occupied two days' 
 sale, and consisted of 265 lots, realising ;^2366 ; Dr. 
 Vincent's, Dean of Westminster, library, in six days' 
 sale, 1 176 lots, which sold for £iS9° > ^"d the library 
 of Marshal Junot, which consisted chiefly of books 
 printed on vellum — the 139 lots sold for £i3<)'j; but 
 this fact by itself is misleading, insomuch that the 
 books of more than half that value were bought 
 in, viz., £yyg, making those sold amount only to 
 ;£6i8. 
 
 Messrs. Leigh & Sotheby sold in 1816 the library 
 of Prince Talleyrand, which was described as Biblio- 
 theca splendissima. There were eighteen days' sale, 
 and the amount realised was ;£'8399. 
 
 In this same year (1816) Mr. J. G. Cochrane sold 
 the Gordonstoun library of Sir Robert Gordon. 
 It contained 2421 lots, occupying twelve days in the 
 selling, and realising ;^i539. This sale is specially 
 alluded to by Mr. Hill Burton in his " Book-Hunter" 
 as a remarkable exception to the rule that great 
 book-sales seldom " embrace ancestral libraries 
 accumulated in old houses from generation to 
 generation." This library " was begun by Sir 
 Robert Gordon, a Morayshire laird of the time of 
 the great civil wars of the seventeenth century. 
 He was the author of the ' History of the Earldom 
 of Sutherland,' and a man of great political as 
 well as literary account. He laid by heaps of the 
 pamphlets, placards, and other documents of his 
 stormy period, and thus many a valuable morsel, 
 which had otherwise disappeared from the world, 
 
AUCTION SALES IN NINETEENTH CENTURY 1 57 
 
 left a representative in the Gordonstoun collection. 
 It was increased by a later Sir Robert, who had the 
 reputation of being a wizard. He belonged to one 
 of those terrible clubs from which Satan is entitled 
 to take a victim annually ; but when Gordon's turn 
 came, he managed to get off with merely the loss of 
 his shadow." 
 
 William Roscoe's fine library was also sold in 
 1816 by Winstanley of Liverpool. There were 1918 
 lots, and fourteen days' sale, the amount realised 
 being ;£5i5o. 
 
 It is worthy of mention that in 1817 Evans sold 
 the library of Count Borromeo of Padua, and that 
 the books were very fully described in the cata- 
 logue. In one instance a book which only sold 
 for half-a-crown was described in fourteen lines. 
 The catalogue of 324 lots occupied seventy-seven 
 octavo pages. The total proceeds of the sale were 
 
 The cataloguing of the time was not affected by 
 this example, and it was many years before full 
 descriptions were given in sale catalogues. M. 
 Libri's annotated catalogues of 1859-62 set the new 
 fashion. 
 
 The book sales from this date become so very 
 numerous, that it is impossible in the space at our 
 disposal to register more than a few of the most 
 important, and these must be recorded quite suc- 
 cinctly. 
 
 The sale of Edmond Malone's library at Sotheby's 
 in 1818 occupied eight days, and brought ;£i649. 
 
 The great sale by Evans of James Bindley's 
 
158 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 library, which was particularly rich in early English 
 literature, was spread over several years. Part i, 
 December 1818, twelve days, 2250 lots, amount of 
 sale ^£3046. Part 2, January 1819, twelve days, 
 2588 lots, amount realised ;£463i. Part 3, February 
 1819, eleven days, 2321 lots [amount not given in 
 Evans's sale catalogues in the British Museum.] 
 Part 4, August 1820, books, six days, 1132 lots, 
 amount £22<iT,. [Part 5] omissions, January 182 1, 
 five days, 1092 lots [no totals given]. 
 
 Bindley's portraits, prints and drawings, and 
 medals were sold by Sotheby in 1819. Part i, 
 Bindley Granger. Part 2, portraits. Part 3, prints 
 and drawings. [Part 4], medals. These realised 
 
 ;£7692- 
 
 John North's library was sold in 1819 by Evans 
 in three parts. Part i, nine days, 1497 lots, ;£4285. 
 Part 2, twelve days, 2175 lots, £s^J()- Part 3, four 
 days, 842 lots, ^£2842. Total, ^£12,806. 
 
 Evans sold George Watson Taylor's library in 
 
 1823. Part I, six days, 965 lots, ;£385o. Part 2, 
 eight days, 1207 lots, ;£4926. 
 
 The great Fonthill Abbey sale (Beckford's collec- 
 tion) occurred in 1823. The sale occupied thirty- 
 seven days, of which twenty were taken up with 
 the disposal of the library of 20,000 volumes. The 
 auctioneer was Mr. Phillips of New Bond Street, 
 and the place of sale was the Abbey. 
 
 George Nassau's library was sold by Evans in 
 
 1824. Part I, twelve days, 2603 lots, ;£4894. Part 
 2, eight days, 1661 lots, £2>^ii. 
 
 A still finer library than this was sold in the same 
 
AUCTION SALES IN NINETEENTH CENTURY 1 59 
 
 year by Evans, that of Sir Mark Masterraan Sykes, 
 Bart. Part i, eleven days, 1676 lots, ^9505. Part 2, 
 six days, 825 lots, ;^4S8o. Part 3, eight days, 1190 
 lots, ;^4644, making a total of 3691 lots, which realised 
 ;£i8,729. 
 
 Almost a rival to this was the sale by Evans in 
 1827 of the library of John Dent, F.R.S. Part i, 
 nine days, 1502 lots, ;^6278. Part 2, nine days, 
 1474 lots, ;£8762. Totals, 2976 lots, and _;^i5,040. 
 
 In 1827 the library of the Duke of York was sold 
 at Sotheby's for ^5718. 
 
 The Earl of Guilford's library was sold by Evans 
 in seven parts in the years 1828, 1829, 1830, and 
 1835. There were forty days and 85 11 lots, and 
 the total amount realised was ^^12,175. These totals 
 were made up as follows : — Part i (1828), nine days, 
 1788 lots, ;£i665. Part 2 (1829), six days, 1459 lots, 
 £'L']ST- P^t 3 (1829), three days, 740 lots, £%^o. 
 Manuscript (1830), five days, 679 lots, ;£444i- 
 Library from Corfu : Part i (1830), five days, 1124 
 lots, ;£998. Part 2 (1831), four days, 722 lots, ^£678. 
 Remaining portion (1835), eight days, 1999 lots, 
 
 ;£i7S6. 
 
 The great sale of George Hibbert's library by 
 Evans was commenced in 1829, forty-two days' 
 sale, 8794 lots, ;£68i6. 
 
 Evans sold in 1831 the small but fine library of 
 the Duchesse de Berri, who is described on the 
 catalogue as an " Illustrious Foreign Personage." 
 There were five days, and 846 lots, which realised 
 ;£5i6o. 
 
 In 1832 Evans sold the library of Philip Hurd 
 
l6o PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 for ;^5545. There were 1464 lots, which occupied 
 eight days in selhng. 
 
 In this same year the choicer portion of John 
 Broadley's hbrary was sold, also by Evans. There 
 were 589 lots in three days' sale, which realised 
 ;£2052. The second portion was sold during six 
 days in 1833, 1225 lots, which realised £2>1°T- 
 
 Joseph Haslewood's library was sold by Evans 
 in 1833. This was an eight days' sale, consisting 
 of 1855 lots, which realised ^i^^i. The amount 
 was probably more than the late proprietor expected, 
 as he said he would refuse a thousand pound cheque 
 in exchange for his books. Dibdin remarks in his 
 " Reminiscences " on the fact that Haslewood always 
 intended that his books should be sold by Sotheby. 
 He was in the habit of saying, "What will Sam 
 Sotheby make of this or that after I am gone ? " 
 
 In 1833 and 1834 the library of P. A. Hanrott 
 was sold by Evans in five parts, and during forty- 
 seven days, for -£22,409. There were 10,826 lots. 
 These totals are obtained as follows : — Part i (1833), 
 twelve days, 2504 lots, £t^^T. Part 2 (1833), twelve 
 days, 2574 lots, ;£5i6i. Part 3 (1834), twelve days, 
 2753 lots, ^£5727. Part 4 (1834), six days, 1489 lots, 
 ^£2845. Part 5 (1834), five days, 1506 lots, ;£ii89. 
 
 The great sale of the library of Richard Heber 
 took place during the years 1834, 1835, and 1836. 
 Mr. H. Foss has written the following totals for the 
 twelve parts in a copy of the catalogue in the British 
 Museum. Two hundred and two days of sale, 52,676 
 lots, 119,613 volumes, which sold for £z^,T]^- The 
 proportionate total cost to Mr. Heber of the library 
 
AUCTION SALES IN NINETEENTH CENTURY l6l 
 
 is put at ;^77,75o. The following are the particulars 
 of the various parts : — Part i, April and May 1834, 
 sold by Sotheby & Son, twenty-six days, 7486 lots, 
 ^5615. Part 2, June and July (Sotheby), twenty- 
 five days, 6590 lots, ;^5Q58. Part 3, November 
 (Sotheby), seventeen days, 5055 lots, ;£2ii6. Part 
 4, December, sold by R. H. Evans, fifteen days, 
 3067 lots, ^7248. Part 5, January and February 
 1835, sold by B. Wheatley, twenty days, 5693 lots, 
 ;£2623. Part 6, March and April (Evans), twenty 
 days, 4666 lots, £6jji. Part 7, May and June 
 (Evans), twenty-one days, 6797 lots, ;£4035. Part 
 8, February and March 1836 (Evans), twelve days, 
 3170 lots, ;£3955. Part 9, April (Sotheby), fourteen 
 days, 3218 lots, ;^6463. Part 10, May and June 
 (Sotheby), fourteen days, 3490 lots, ^iii^. Part 11, 
 manuscripts (Evans), ten days, 1717 lots, -^8964. 
 Part 12, July (Wheatley), eight days, 1727 lots, 
 ^^894. Part 13 (and last) was sold in February 
 1837 by Wheatley, six days, 1558 lots, £']^o. This 
 amount must be added to the totals of the twelve 
 parts given above. 
 
 In 1835 the remarkable collection of Dr. Kloss 
 of Frankfort was sold by Sotheby & Son. It con- 
 tained many original and unpublished manuscripts 
 and printed books, with MS. annotations attributed 
 to Philip Melancthon. There were 4682 lots, which 
 took twenty days to sell, and realised ^iibi. The 
 catalogue was the work of Samuel Leigh Sotheby, 
 and he expended much labour upon it. 
 
 Evans sold in 1835 the fine library of the Comte 
 de Noailles, who is described in the catalogue as 
 
 L 
 
l62 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 "a distinguished collector." There were 952 lots, 
 sold in five days for ;^3i88. 
 
 The Hon. Baron (Sir William) Holland's library 
 was sold by Evans in 1840. The sale consisted of 
 2940 lots, and occupied thirteen days, realising 
 ;^30i9. In the next year was sold, also by Evans, 
 the library of Thomas Hill (supposed to be the 
 original of Paul Pry), during seven days. There 
 were 1684 lots, which brought ;^i424. 
 
 The library of George Chalmers, F.R.S., was sold 
 by Evans in 1841 and 1842, and the catalogue was 
 divided into three parts. Part i, September and 
 October 1841, nine days, 2292 lots, ;^2i90. Part 2, 
 March 1842, six days, 1514 lots, ^^1918. Part 3, 
 November 1842, eight days, 1966 lots, ;^2o8i. 
 
 Horace Walpole's collections were sold at Straw- 
 berry Hill by George Robins in April and May 
 1842, during twenty-four days. The first six days 
 were devoted to the sale of the library, which 
 consisted of 1555 lots, and realised ^£3900. It 
 was very badly catalogued, and the books and 
 books of prints, collection of portraits, &c., form- 
 ing the seventh and eighth days' sale, were with- 
 drawn, re-catalogued, and extended to a ten days' 
 sale. 
 
 The library of Lord Berwick was sold at Sotheby's 
 in April and May 1843 for £6']26. 
 
 The great sale of the years 1844 and 1845, at 
 Evans's, was that of the extensive library of the 
 Duke of Sussex, which occupied sixty-one days in 
 selling, and consisted of 14,107 lots. The total 
 amount realised was _£i9,i48. The sale was divided 
 
AUCTION SALES IN NINETEENTH CENTURY 163 
 
 into six parts, as follows : — Part i, July 1844, 
 theology, twenty-four days, 5551 lots, ;^8438. Part 
 2, July and August 1844, manuscripts, four days, 
 510 lots, ^^3126. Part 3, August 1844, history, topo- 
 graphy, voyages and travels, six days, 1523 lots, 
 ■£2096. Part 4, January and February 1845, Greek 
 classics, foreign history, &c., eleven days, 2641 lots, 
 ^£2121. Part 5, April and May r845, poetry, drama, 
 polygraphy, Latin classics, belles-lettres, &c., twelve 
 days, 2956 lots, ;£2649. Part 6, August 1845, four 
 days, 926 lots, £yi8- 
 
 The library of Mr. B. H. Bright was sold at 
 Sotheby's in three divisions in 1845, and the total 
 amount realised was £,^<^()'J- 
 
 In 1849 Messrs. Southgate & Barrett tried the 
 experiment of selling the library of the Rev. H. F. 
 Lyte and J. W. M. Lyte in the evening, but the 
 new departure (or rather, revival of an old practice) 
 did not meet with approval, and the practice was 
 not followed. There were 4368 lots, and the sale 
 occupied seventeen evenings. 
 
 In this same year the world was startled by the 
 dispersion of the Duke of Buckingham's property at 
 Stowe House, and Messrs. Sotheby sold the library 
 during twenty-four days. There were 621 1 lots, and 
 the total amount realised for library and prints was 
 ;^i4,i55. The Stowe MSS. were sold by private 
 contract to the Earl of Ashburnham for ^8000. 
 
 Since this time the sale of great libraries from the 
 old family mansions have been so numerous, that 
 little surprise is felt when another is added to the 
 long list. 
 
164 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Messrs. Sotheby sold in 185 1 the library of 
 Granville Penn, during six days, for ^£7845 ; in 1851 
 the library of E. V. Utterson, during eight days, for 
 ;£5494 ; in 1853 the library of Dawson Turner for 
 ;£4562, and that of Baron Taylor for ;^4o87 ; in 
 1854 the private library of William Pickering for 
 ^10,700 ; in 1857 the library of the Earl of Shrews- 
 bury for ^£3250. 
 
 Between 1859 and 1864 were sold at Sotheby's the 
 various portions of the library of Mons. Gulielmo 
 Libri. The 1176 lots of manuscripts were sold in 
 eight days of March and April 1859, and realised 
 ^^6783. The " choicer portion " of the library was 
 sold in August of the same year, thirteen days, 2824 
 lots, ;£8822. 
 
 In 1 86 1 the mathematical and general library 
 was sold. Part i, A to L, twelve days, 4335 lots, 
 ^£1349. Part 2, M to Z, eight days, lots 4336 to 
 7268, ^877. 
 
 The "reserved portion" was sold in July 1862, 
 during four days. The number of lots was 713, and 
 these sold for the immense sum of ;£io,328, or an 
 average of over £1^ per lot. 
 
 The library of Miss Richardson Currer was sold 
 at Sotheby's in 1862, during ten days, for ;^5984. 
 
 In July 1864 was sold by Sotheby, Wilkinson, and 
 Hodge the extremely interesting library of George 
 Daniel, which was specially rich in old English 
 literature, and remarkable for the superb collection 
 of Shakespeare folios and quartos. The sale occu- 
 pied ten days, and realised ;£i5,865. 
 
 At the same auction rooms were sold in 1865 the 
 
AUCTION SALES IN NINETEENTH CENTURY 1 65 
 
 library of J. B. Nicholl, in two parts, for ;£6i75 ; in 
 1867 the library of Sir Charles Price for ;£5858 ; 
 and in 1868 the library of Macready, the actor, 
 for ^1216. 
 
 In 1868, 1869, 1870, 1871, and 1873 were sold at 
 Sotheby's eight portions of the unique poetical 
 library of the Rev. T. Corser, which realised 
 ;^i9,78i. 
 
 The library, engravings, and autographs of John 
 Dillon were sold by the same firm in 1869, during 
 twelve days, for ;^87oo. 
 
 The library of Lord Selsey was sold in 1872 for 
 
 £4757- 
 
 The sale in 1873 by Messrs. Gadsden, Ellis & Co., 
 at Hanworth Park, of the grand library of Henry 
 Perkins created a sensation. The late owner had 
 been a purchaser at the time of the bibliomaniacal 
 fever after the Roxburghe sale, and for years the 
 library was practically forgotten, so that the oppor- 
 tunity afforded to book-collectors of purchasing its 
 choice rarities came as a surprise. The four days' 
 sale realised ^£25,954. 
 
 In 1874 the choice library of Sir William Tite was 
 sold at Sotheby's, during sixteen days, for ;^i9,943. 
 
 The same firm sold the library of the Rev. C. H. 
 Crauford, during five days, in July 1876 for ^^6229. 
 
 In 1878 Messrs. Sotheby sold the very choice 
 collection of books and miniatures formed by Mr. 
 J. T. Payne, of the firm of Payne & Foss, which 
 realised ;£2843, or about ;£i6 per lot, the day's sale 
 consisting of only 117 lots. 
 
 In 1879, 1880, and 1881 the fine library of Dr. David 
 
l66 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Laing, of the Signet Library, Edinburgh, was sold 
 at Sotheby's in four portions, whicli reaUsed a total 
 of ;^i6,536, the first part alone making ^^13,288. 
 
 A portion of the library of Cecil Dunn Gardner 
 was sold in June 1880 at Sotheby's, during six days, 
 for ;£4734. The same firm sold in 1881 a portion 
 of the Earl of Clare's library for ;^2i30, a portion 
 of Lord Hampton's library for ;^3539, and a portion 
 of the library of G. L. Way for £2324; Daniel 
 Gurney's library, four days, £i68y ; library of a 
 collector (Mr. Gulston), ;£ii73. 
 
 Never before has there been, and probably never 
 again will there be, two such remarkable sales as 
 those of the Sunderland and Beckford libraries at 
 the same time. The Sunderland library, the sale 
 of which was commenced by Messrs. Puttick and 
 Simpson in December 1881, was formed by Charles, 
 third Earl of Sunderland, who died on 19th April 
 1722, and was transferred from the Earl's house 
 in Piccadilly in 1733, when Charles, fifth Earl of 
 Sunderland, became Duke of Marlborough. Suc- 
 cessive Dukes of Marlborough added a few books 
 to the library, but it is noteworthy, as we turn over 
 page after page of the catalogue, how seldom we 
 come upon a book published since 1722. On the 
 ist of December a large company was gathered in 
 the famous auction-room in Leicester Square, to 
 watch the progress of what promised to be one of 
 the most remarkable sales of modern times. Some 
 of those who formed this company were to become 
 duellists in the fight over the treasures arranged 
 upon the shelves round the room, for the fight for the 
 
AUCTION SALES IN NINETEENTH CENTURY 1 67 
 
 chief lots always resolved itself into a duel in the end. 
 Those who expected the books to make a distin- 
 guished external appearance were disappointed, for 
 more than a century's occupation of the great library 
 at Blenheim, with a scorching sun beating down upon 
 the backs of the books from the huge windows, had 
 destroyed a large proportion of the bindings. When 
 the sale opened it was seen that prices would rule 
 high ; but at the same time, the character of the 
 library, which contained many books now hope- 
 lessly out of fashion, was marked by the sudden 
 drop in the prices from hundreds of pounds to a 
 shilling or so, soon again to rise to hundreds of 
 pounds. Mr. Quaritch was the hero of the sale, 
 and after him the chief combatants were Mr. F. S. 
 Ellis and M. Techener, while Mr. Henry Stevens, 
 Mr. Pearson, Messrs. Pickering, Messrs. Morgand 
 and Fatout, and some others made a good fight for 
 the lots they required. As the bids of ;£io and 
 upwards went on rapidly till ;£iooo — in some cases 
 more — were reached, the excited faces of those 
 around formed a sight worth seeing, for few could 
 resist the excitement, which found vent in applause, 
 when the lot was knocked down. 
 
 Part I, December 1881, realised ;£i9,373. Part 2, 
 April 1882, ;^9376- Part 3, July, ^£7792. Part 4, 
 November, ^10,129. Each of these parts con- 
 sisted of ten days' sale. Part 5 (and last), March 
 1883, contained eleven days' sale, and realised ;£99o8. 
 The lots were numbered throughout the parts, and 
 amounted to 13,858. The total amount realised by 
 the sale was ;£56,58i, 6s. 
 
l68 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 When the sale was concluded Mr. Quaritch made 
 a short speech appropriate to the occasion, and said 
 that " This was the most wonderful library that had 
 been sold by auction in the present century. Fine 
 as the Hamilton library was he could form another 
 like it to-morrow, but nothing like the Sunderland 
 library would be seen again as a private collection. 
 He held its founder in the highest respect and 
 gratitude." 
 
 On the 30th of June 1882 the sale of the beautiful 
 library of William Beckford was commenced at 
 Sotheby's by Mr. Hodge. The books were in the 
 finest condition, and in consequence they fetched 
 very high prices. Mr. Henry Bohn, writing to 
 The Times at the commencement of this sale, said 
 that Beckford was the greatest book enthusiast he 
 ever knew. He was a great collector of "Aldines 
 and other early books bearing the insignia of cele- 
 brities, such as Francis 1., Henri et Diane, and De 
 Thou, and especially of choice old morocco bind- 
 ings by Deseuil, Pasdeloup, and Derome." Mr. 
 Bohn further said that after Beckford's death, and 
 while the books were still at Bath, the Duke of 
 Hamilton, Beckford's son-in-law, wished to sell the 
 whole library. Mr. Bohn offered -;^30,ooo, payable 
 within a week ; but although the Duke would will- 
 ingly have accepted the offer, the Duchess would 
 not agree to the sale of her father's books. Mr. 
 Bohn estimated that the library was now worth 
 ^£50,000. It actually sold for ;£73,55i. Part i, 
 June and July 1882, consisted of twelve days' sale 
 and 3197 lots, which realised ;£3i,5i6. Part 2, 
 
AUCTION SALES IN NINETEENTH CENTURY 169 
 
 December, twelve days, 2732 lots, ^22,340. Part 3, 
 July 1883, twelve days, 2781 lots, ;£i2,852. Part 4 
 (and last), November, four days, 11 27 lots, ;^6843. 
 The total number of lots in the forty days' sale was 
 
 9837- 
 
 The library collected by the Duke of Hamilton 
 (when Marquis of Douglas) at the same time as 
 Beckford was adding to his own, was sold by 
 Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge during eight 
 days of May 1884. There were 2136 lots, which 
 realised ;£i2,892. The most valuable portion of 
 the Hamilton library was the collection of match- 
 less manuscripts, which were ^ kept distinct from 
 the printed books, and sold to the German Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 During the years that the Blenheim and Hamilton 
 Palace libraries were selling many valuable sales 
 took place, and since then there have been a great 
 number of fine libraries dispersed. We have only 
 space to mention shortly a few of these ; but with 
 respect to the last ten years there is the less need 
 for a full list, in that a valuable record of sales is 
 given in the annual volumes of Slater's " Book 
 Prices Current," and Temple Scott's " Book Sales." 
 
 The important topographical library of James 
 Comerford was sold by Sotheby, Wilkinson, and 
 Hodge in 1881. There were 4318 lots, in thirteen 
 days' sale, which realised £^22^. 
 
 In 1882 the library of Frederic Ouvry, P.S.A., 
 which consisted of 1628 lots, in a six days' sale, 
 was sold at Sotheby's for ;£6i69 ; and the choice 
 library of a gentleman, ;£3366. 
 
lyo PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 In March 1882 was sold a portion of the Right 
 Hon. A. J. B. Beresford-Hope's library (two days, 
 ;£23i6), and further portions were sold in 1892. 
 
 The Stourhead heirlooms (Sir Richard Colt 
 Hoare) were sold at Sotheby's in July 1883, eight 
 days, 1971 lots, ;^io,028. 
 
 The Towneley Hall library, consisting of 2815 lots, 
 in an eight days' sale, realising £^616, and the 
 Towneley Hall manuscripts (two days, 235 lots, 
 ;^4054) were both sold in June 1883 at Sotheby's, 
 as was also the Drake library (four days, ;^3276). 
 
 In 1884 were sold at Sotheby's the library of 
 Francis Bedford, bookbinder (five days, 1551 lots), 
 for ;^4867, and the Syston Park library of Sir 
 John Hayford Thorold, Bart, (eight days, 2110 lots), 
 
 ;£28,OOI. 
 
 The Earl of Gosford's library was sold by Puttick 
 and Simpson in 1884, eleven days, 3363 lots. 
 
 It is curious to compare the sale of a library such 
 as Beckford's with one like James Crossley. Both 
 were great collectors, and possessed many dainties ; 
 but whilst the former was particular as to condition, 
 with the consequence that his books fetched high 
 prices, the latter was regardless of this, and neces- 
 sarily his sold for small sums. 
 
 One portion of Crossley's library was sold at 
 Manchester by F. Thompson & Son (seven days, 
 2682 lots), but other two parts were dispersed in 
 London by Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge. Part i 
 (1884), seven days, 2824 lots. Part 2 (1885), nine 
 days, 31 19 lots, ;£4095. 
 
AUCTION SALES IN NINETEENTH CENTURY 171 
 
 The fine library of the Earl of Jersey at Osterley 
 Park was sold by Sotheby's in May 1885 for 
 ;^i3,oo7; where also was sold, in the following 
 month, the library of the Rev. J. F. Russell for 
 ;£8682. 
 
 In 1885 the sale of the miscellaneous but valuable 
 library of Leonard Lawrie Hartley was commenced 
 by Messrs. Puttick & Simpson. Part i (1885) con- 
 sisted of 2475 lots, occupying ten days in the selling, 
 which realised £()(i2,(i. Part 2 (1886), ten days' sale 
 of 2582 lots, ;£52S8. Part 3 (1887), eight days' sale 
 of 2937 lots, ;£i635. 
 
 In January 1886 was sold the library of Mr. Wod- 
 hull, ;^i 1,972 ; and in November of the same year 
 Edward Solly's, F.R.S., ;£i544. 
 
 A selection fropi the magnificent library of the 
 Earl of Crawford was sold at Sotheby's in 1887 
 and 1889. Portion i (1887), ten days, 2146 lots, 
 realised ;£i9,073. Portion 2 (1889), four days, 1105 
 lots, ;£9324. 
 
 Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge in 1887 
 and 1888 sold the almost equally fine library of 
 Mr. James T. Gibson-Craig. First portion (1887), 
 ten days, 2927 lots, realised ;£68o3. Second portion 
 (1888), fifteen days, 5364 lots, ^£7907. Third portion 
 (1888), three days, £^o<^. The total amount realised 
 for the three portions was ;£i 5,509. 
 
 A choice portion of Baron Seilliere's library was 
 sold in February 1887 (1440 lots, ;^i4,944). A 
 second portion was afterwards sold in Paris. 
 
 In 1888 Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods sold 
 the library of the Earl of Aylesford (;£io,574) ; and 
 
172 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 the Wimpole library, which formerly belonged to 
 Lord Chancellor Hardwicke (-^3244). 
 
 In the same year the beautiful Hbrary of Mr. R. 
 S. Turner was sold at Sotheby's. Part i, June 1888, 
 twelve days, 2999 lots, ;^i3,37o. Part 2, November 
 1888, fourteen days, ;£2874. The total amount 
 realised for the whole library was ;^ 16, 244. 
 
 Mr. Turner sold in Paris in 1878 a previous col- 
 lection of books in 774 lots, which realised the large 
 sum of 319,100 francs (;^i2,764). 
 
 In February 1889 were sold at Sotheby's the Earl 
 of Hopetoun's library of 1263 lots for ^^61 17, and 
 that of R. D. Dyneley, -^3084. At the same auction 
 rooms, and in the same year, were sold the library 
 of John Mansfield Mackenzie of Edinburgh, remark- 
 able for a large number of illustrated editions of 
 modern authors, 2168 lots, in an eight days' sale, 
 ^^7072 ; and that of J. O. Halliwell Phillipps, four 
 days, 1291 lots, ^£2298. 
 
 Also at Sotheby's in 1889 were sold the libraries 
 of Frederick Perkins (2086 lots, ^^8222); the Duke 
 of Buccleuch (selection), 1012 lots, ;£3705 ; W. D. 
 Salmond, £2ZS1- 
 
 In the following year Thomas Gaisford's library 
 was sold at Sotheby's (eight days, 2218 lots, ^9236); 
 also that of Frederick William Cosens (twelve days, 
 4995 lots, ;£5S7i) ; that of Sir Edward Sullivan 
 (choicer portion), ^11,002 ; that of Frank Marshall 
 (six days, 1937 lots, ;£2i87) ; that of Alexander 
 Young, ;£2238 ; and that of T. H. Southby, 
 
 ;£224I. 
 
 In 1891 were sold the libraries of Cornelius Paine 
 
AUCTION SALES IN NINETEENTH CENTURY 173 
 
 (£3(>77); Edward Hailstone of Walton Hall:— Part 
 I, ten days, 2728 lots, £^^738. Part 2, eight days, 
 2904 lots, ^^4252 (total, ;£899i) ; W. H. Crawford 
 of Lakelands, county Cork, twelve days, 3428 lots, 
 ;^2i,255 ; J. Anderson Rose, ;£245o ; and Lord Bra- 
 bourne, four days, 1149 lots, ^^2042. 
 
 The remainder of Lord Brabourne's library was 
 sold by Messrs. Puttick & Simpson in 1893 (three 
 days, 995 lots, ^1058). 
 
 In 1892 were sold the libraries of John Wing- 
 field Larking (three days, 946 lots, ;^3925) ; of 
 Edwin Henry Lawrence (four days, 860 lots, 
 -^7409) ; of Joshua H. Hutchinson (832 lots, 
 £2277) ; of Count Louis Apponyi, ;^3363 ; and of 
 "a gentleman deceased" (418 lots, ;^24ii) — all at 
 Sotheby's. 
 
 In 1893 were sold at Sotheby's the Bateman 
 heirlooms (W. & T. Bateman), six days' sale, 1840 
 lots, £7296 ; of Howard Wills, ;£8204 ; and of H. 
 G. Reid, ;£3466 ; of Fred Burgess (dramatic library), 
 ^1558 ; also selected portion of the Auchinleck 
 library, £2^2^. At the same rooms the sale of the 
 Rev. W. E. Buckley's library was commenced. 
 Part I, ten days, 3552 lots, ;£4669. The second 
 part was sold in April 1893, twelve days, 4266 lots, 
 ^4751. The total amount realised by the two sales 
 was ;^9420. 
 
 A choice collection of books was sold by Sotheby 
 in 1894, viz., the library of Birket Foster, 1361 lots, 
 
 ;^5i98. 
 
 In 1895 were sold at Sotheby's the libraries of 
 
 Mons. John Gennadius, eleven days, 3222 lots, 
 
174 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 ;^5466 ; of Baron Larpent, £262,0 ; of T. B. F. 
 Hildyaid, £416^ ; of the Earl of Orford, two days, 
 340 lots, ;^26o9 ; of the Rev. W. J. Blew (liturgical), 
 ;^2220 ; and of Dr. Hyde Clarke, ^^2598. 
 
 The library of the Rev. W. Bentinck L. Haw- 
 kins, F.R.S., was sold at Christie's in the same 
 year. First portion, three days, 747 lots, £it'j(i. 
 Second portion, two days, 471 lots, £?>'i2>- Third 
 and final portion, one day, 252 lots, ;£8g4. At the 
 same rooms the library of William Stuart, 215 lots, 
 
 ^296. 
 
 The sales at Sotheby's in 1896 which realised 
 ;^20oo and upwards were those of John Tudor 
 Frere, ;£3747 ; Sir W. Pole, £4342 ; Adrian Hope, 
 £?>SS^ '> Lord Coleridge, ;£2845 ; Sir Thomas 
 Phillipps (MSS.), ;£6988 ; Sir E. H. Bunbury, 
 ;^2965, Lord Bateman, ;£2i5i ; Alfred Crampton, 
 ;^2492 ; fine bindings of a collector, ;^36i3 ; 
 books and MSS. from various collections, £^SS'\- 
 
 The chief sales at Sotheby's in 1897 have been as 
 follows : — Sir Charles Stewart Forbes and others, 
 five days, ;£5i46 ; Beresford R. Heaton and others, 
 three days, £40^4 ; Sir Cecil Domville and others, 
 four days, ;^5289. 
 
 The great sales, however, of 1897 were those of 
 the first and second portions of the library of the 
 Earl of Ashburnham. In the first part 1683 lots 
 were sold for £20,151, and in the second part 1208 
 lots for -^18,649. 
 
AUCTION SALES IN NINETEENTH CENTURY 175 
 
 List of Book Sales in the Nineteenth Century 
 
 WHICH HAVE realised OVER ;^I0,000. 
 
 ,23.397 
 
 i3>5o8 
 
 I7>522 
 
 12,806 
 18,729 
 15,040 
 
 12.175 
 22,409 
 
 56,774 
 19,148 
 
 14,155 
 10,700 
 28,159 
 
 15,865 
 19,781 
 
 25,954 
 19,943 
 12,764 
 
 16,536 
 56,581 
 73,551 
 12,892 
 10,028 
 11,318 
 28,000 
 13,007 
 16,529 
 
 11,972 
 14,944 
 26,397 
 15,519 
 
 I8I2. 
 
 Duke of Roxburghe . 
 
 :>■ 
 
 1813. 
 
 Ralph Willett (Merly) . 
 
 I8I8-2I. 
 
 James Brindley . . over 
 
 I8I9. 
 
 John North .... 
 
 1825. 
 
 Sir Mark Masterman Sykes 
 
 1827. 
 
 John Dent .... 
 
 1828-35. 
 
 Earl of Guilford 
 
 1833-34- 
 
 P. A. Hanrott .... 
 
 1834-36. 
 
 Richard Heber 
 
 1844-45. 
 
 Duke of Sussex 
 
 1849. 
 
 Duke of Buckingham (Stowe) . 
 
 1853- 
 
 W. Pickering (private library) . 
 
 1859-64. 
 
 GuliiClmo Libri 
 
 1864. 
 
 George Daniel 
 
 
 1868-73. 
 
 Rev. T. Corser 
 
 
 1873- 
 
 Henry Perkins 
 
 
 1874. 
 
 Sir William Tite 
 
 
 1878. 
 
 R. S. Turner (Paris) 
 
 
 1879-81. 
 
 David Laing . 
 
 
 1881-83. 
 
 Sunderland (Blenheim) 
 
 
 1882-83. 
 
 William Beckford . 
 
 
 1884. 
 
 Duke of Hamilton . 
 
 
 1883. 
 
 Stourhead (Hoare) . 
 
 
 1884. 
 
 Earl of Gosford 
 
 
 1884. 
 
 Sir J. H. Thorold (Syston Park) 
 
 1885. 
 
 Earl of Jersey (Osterley Park) . 
 
 1885-87. 
 
 L. L. Hartley . . . • 
 
 1886. 
 
 F. C. Severne, M.P. (Michael 
 
 
 Wodhull) . . . . 
 
 1887. 
 
 Baron Seilliere 
 
 1887-89. 
 
 Earl of Crawford 
 
 1887-88. 
 
 J. T. Gibson-Craig . 
 
 ■ 
 
176 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 1888. 
 
 Earl of Aylesford . 
 
 ;^io.574 
 
 1888. 
 
 R. S. Turner .... 
 
 16,244 
 
 1889. 
 
 MSS. from the Duke of Hamilton' 
 
 3 
 
 
 collection (bought privately by 
 
 
 the Berlin Government) . 
 
 15.189 
 
 1890. 
 
 Sir Edward Sullivan 
 
 1 1,002 
 
 1891. 
 
 W. H. Crawford (Lakelands) . 
 
 21,255 
 
 1897. 
 
 Earl of Ashburnham. Part i . 
 
 30.I5I 
 
 1897. 
 
 Earl of Ashburnham. Part 2 . 
 
 18,649 
 
 It is worthy of notice in the above Hst that the 
 amounts reahsed for the Heber and Sunderland 
 sales were almost identical, while the totals of the 
 Hamilton Palace libraries were larger than those 
 for any other English sale, viz., ;^86,543 (Beckford, 
 ;£73,55i ; Duke of Hamilton, ;£i2,892). 
 
 In these totals the sales of booksellers' stocks 
 have not been recorded, because they do not sell 
 so well as private libraries, owing to a rather absurd 
 impression in the minds of buyers that the rarer 
 books would have sold out at the shops had they 
 been of special value ; but it may be noted here 
 that the stock of Messrs. Payne & Foss was sold in 
 three portions in 1850 for ^£8645 (certainly much 
 less than its worth) by Sotheby, who sold in 
 1868-70-72 Mr. Henry G. Bohn's stock, in three 
 parts, for ;£i3,333, and Mr. Lilly's in 1871 and 1873, 
 in five parts, for ;^i3,o8o. In 1873 Mr. T. H. Lacy's 
 stock of theatrical portraits and books were sold at 
 Sotheby's for £s^S1- 
 
 Mr. F. S. Ellis's stock was sold in November 1885 
 for ;£i5,996, and Mr. Toovey's in February 1893 for 
 ;£7090. The latter's sporting books realised ;£i03i. 
 
AUCTION SALES IN NINETEENTH CENTURY 177 
 
 It is very much the fashion now to average the 
 amounts reahsed at auctions, and to point out that 
 at such a sale the amount obtained was about ;^io 
 or more per lot. This is a useful generalisation so 
 far as it goes, but further information is required to 
 enable the reader to obtain a correct idea of value. 
 The generalisation is useful in regard to a mass 
 of sales ; thus we may say broadly, that in the 
 last century the ordinary large and good libraries 
 averaged about ^^i per lot, while in the present 
 century they average at least £2 per lot. 
 
 A small and select library will naturally average 
 a much higher amount than a large library, in 
 which many commonplace books must be in- 
 cluded. These averages, however, will not help 
 us very much to understand the relative value of 
 libraries. 
 
 For instance, at the Sunderland sale some lots 
 sold for enormous sums, while a large number fell 
 for a few shillings ; but at the Hamilton Palace sales 
 (William Beckford and the Duke of Hamilton) 
 nearly every lot was of value, and although indi- 
 vidual lots did not reach the sums realised at the 
 Sunderland sale, the total was much larger. As an 
 instance of what is meant, we may quote from the 
 notice of the Ashburnham sale in the Times — 
 
 "The 1683 lots realised a grand total of ;!^30,isi, los., 
 which works out at an average of as nearly as possible 
 ^18 per lot. Hitherto the highest average was obtained 
 by the disposal in 1884 of the Syston Park library, where 
 21 10 lots brought ^28,000, or ^13, 5s. per lot, the next 
 highest average being that of the Seilliere library, sold in 
 
 M 
 
lyS PRICES OF 600KS 
 
 1887, 1 140 lots realising ;^ 1 4, 944, or about ;£'i3, 2s. per 
 lot. It is scarcely fair, however, to compare the Ashburn- 
 ham collection with either of these two libraries, as the 
 Seilliere was admittedly only the choice portion of the 
 assemblage of the baron, whilst nearly every lot in the 
 Syston Park library was of importance. Eliminating from 
 the Ashburnham collection the hundreds of lots which 
 realised less than £1 each, the average would be nearer 
 £^0 than ;^i8." 
 
 This is all very well in its way, but one lot 
 fetched ;£40oo, and such an amount would de- 
 moralise any average. Let us therefore see what 
 are the particular points worthy of notice in the 
 sums making up this large total of ;£3o,i5i. We 
 find that five lots realised ^^looo and over each, 
 and including these five lots, forty-two were over 
 ;^ioo each. Now the total for these forty-two lots 
 is ;£20,348, which, if we deduct from the grand 
 total, leaves 1641 lots for ;£98o3, bringing our 
 average down considerably. 
 
 This is not perhaps a quite fair system of strik- 
 ing an average, but it shows better how the prices 
 of the books are distributed. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 PRICES OF EARLY PRINTED BOOKS 
 
 It is impossible in the following chapters to do 
 more than select some of the chief classes of valu- 
 able books in order to indicate the changes that 
 have taken place in the prices. It will be noticed 
 that the great enhancement of prices which is so 
 marked a feature of the present age commenced 
 about the beginning of the present century. 
 
 Bibliomania can scarcely be said to have existed 
 in the seventeenth century, but it commenced in 
 the middle of the next century, when the Mead 
 library was sold. Still it attracted little attention 
 until the sale of the Roxburghe library in 1812, 
 when it had become a power. In the middle of 
 the present century there was a dull time, but 
 during the last quarter the succession of sales realis- 
 ing one, two, and three thousand pounds have been 
 continuous, with occasional sales realising much 
 larger amounts. Great changes have occurred at 
 different times in the taste of collectors for certain 
 classes of books. 
 
 We may obtain a good idea of the public taste 
 in books by analysing a list of the highest prices 
 obtained at three such representative sales as the 
 
l8o PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Sunderland, the Hamilton Palace, and the Ash- 
 burnham libraries. 
 
 At the first of these the largest prices were ob- 
 tained for the first editions of Bibles, classics, 
 Italian poets, &c. ; at the second, fine bindings 
 took the lead ; and at the third, Bibles and Cax- 
 tons, and other early literature occupied the first 
 place. 
 
 All these classes are dealt with in the following 
 chapters. In the present one, the most important 
 among the early Bibles, the first editions of the 
 classics, and early Italian literature are recorded. 
 These are among the chief of those books which 
 have been steadily rising for years, and now stand 
 at enormous prices. 
 
 It is not safe to prophesy, but there is no reason 
 to doubt that if riches continue to increase these 
 prices will also advance. As these books are placed 
 in great libraries they naturally become scarcer 
 each year. We must, however, always bear in 
 mind that the number of libraries and individuals 
 who can afford to spend thousands of pounds on 
 single books are few, and if they are reduced, those 
 who remain in the field are Hkely to get books 
 cheaper. 
 
 While the first editions of the classics will pro- 
 bably always keep up their price, later editions 
 have experienced a fall from which they are never 
 likely to recover. Scholarship and knowledge of 
 inanuscripts have so greatly advanced, that many 
 of the old high-priced editions are now hope- 
 lessly out of date, and good German texts, which 
 
PRICES OF EARLY PRINTED BOOKS l8l 
 
 can be obtained at a few shillings, are naturally 
 preferred. 
 
 The Delphin and Oxford classics, which were 
 once so much sought after, have now sunk to a 
 comparatively low price. The large paper copy of 
 Dr. Samuel Clarke's edition of " Caesar" (2 vols. imp. 
 folio, 1712), of which only twenty-five copies were 
 printed, was once a high priced book.- The Duke 
 of Grafton's copy fetched £6/\., and Topham Beau- 
 clerk's £^^. There is a story connected with the 
 latter, which should be noted. Beauclerk gave four 
 guineas for his copy to the mother of a deceased 
 officer, the sum she asked, but when he was after- 
 wards told by his bookseller that it was worth 
 seventeen guineas, he sent the additional thirteen 
 guineas to the lady. Certainly the Sunderland copy 
 fetched ;£ioi in 1881, but this was a special case, 
 owing to the connection of the great Duke of Marl- 
 borough with the book. The Duke of Hamilton's 
 copy, which had belonged to Louis XIV., sold in 
 1884 for ^^36 ; but Beckford's copy, bound in red 
 morocco, only brought £6. 
 
 Block books are of such excessive rarity that they 
 have always been high priced, but like the earliest 
 books printed from movable types, they have greatly 
 increased in value of late years. This is seen in the 
 case of the copy of the second edition of the Biblia 
 Pauperum, which fetched ;^io5o at the Earl of 
 Ashburnham's sale. This same copy brought £1^'^ 
 at Willett's sale, but at Hanrott's the price fell to 
 the small amount of ;^36, 15s. 
 
 The following are some of the prices that those 
 
102 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 magnificent books — the Mazarin Bible and the first 
 Bible with a date — have realised ; — 
 
 Biblia Sacra Latina (Moguntias, Gutenberg et Fust, circa 
 
 1450-55):— 
 
 On vellum — G. & W. Nicols, 1825, £,^o\ (Messrs. 
 Arch for H. Perkins). H. Perkins, 1873, ;^34oo. 
 Earl of Ashburnham, 1897, .j^4°°°- 
 
 On paper — Sykes, 1824, £i<)(), los. (H. Perkins). 
 Hibbert, 1829, ^215. Bishop of Cashel, 1858, 
 ;^59S. H. Perkins, 1873, ;^269o. Thorold 
 (Syston Park), ^3900. Earl of Gosford, 1884 
 (vol. i. in original binding), ;^Soo. Earl of 
 Crawford, 1887, ^^2650. Earl of Hopetoun, 
 1889 (one leaf injured, and slightly wormed), 
 
 ;^2 000. 
 
 Biblia Sacra Latina (Moguntis, Fust et Schoeffer, 
 1462) [first Latin Bible with a date] : — 
 On vellum — 
 
 Due de la Valliere, 4085 francs, -i 
 Count MacCarthy, 4750 francs. 
 
 Watson Taylor, 1823, ;^2is. 
 
 ~r\ ^ o r \ Same copy. 
 
 Dent, 1827, ^173. r ^^ 
 
 H. Perkins, 1873, £>']^°- 
 
 Earl of Crawford, 1887, £,\02'^. 
 
 The Lamoignon copy, bought by Mr. Cracherode for 
 
 250 guineas, is now in the British Museum. 
 
 Sunderland, 1881, jC^\6oo. Thorold, _j^iooo. 
 
 The Latin Version of the Psalms, in its second edition, 
 by Fust and Schoeffer, 1459 (printed on vellum), 
 sold at Sykes's sale for £,\i(>, los. At the Syston 
 Park sale (Thorold) it brought ^£'4950, a greater 
 price even than has been given for the Mazarin 
 Bible. It has been erroneously stated that this was 
 the MacCarthy copy, which was sold in 1815 for 
 
PRICES OF EARLY PRINTED BOOKS 183 
 
 3350 francs. The MacCarthy copy was bought by 
 Hibbert, and at his sale in 1829 it became the pro- 
 perty of Baron Westreenen.i 
 
 Bibha Latina, folio Venetiis (N. Jenson), 1476, printed on 
 vellum, capital letters illuminated, in red morocco, 
 sold at the Merly sale for p^i68. Beckford copy 
 (supposed to be the same copy) sold in 1882 for 
 ;^33o. H. Perkins, 1873, £2(^0. 
 
 The first edition of the Bible in English (translated by 
 Coverdale), 1535 (with some leaves mended), was 
 sold at the Earl of Ashburnham's sale for ;^82o. 
 Dent's copy £,?>() in 1827 (title and two leaves in 
 facsimile). Freeling's copy, £z\, los. in 1836. 
 Dunn Gardner's, 1854 (with title and one leaf in 
 facsimile), ^^365. H. Perkins, 1873 (title and two 
 leaves in facsimile), ;^4oo. Earl of Crawford's 
 (imperfect), ;£'226. 
 
 The first edition of Tyndale's New Testament (1526) 
 sold in Richard Smith's sale, 1682, for 6s. Ames 
 bought the Harleian copy for 153. This was sold at 
 Ames's sale, 1760, to John White for ;^i5, 14s. 6d. 
 It was sold by \Vhite to the Rev. Dr. Gifford for 
 twenty guineas, and bequeathed by Gifford, with the 
 rest of his library, to the Baptists' Ubrary at Bristol. 
 
 The Complutensian Polyglot (6 vols, folio, 1514-17) is 
 said to have cost Cardinal Ximenes _;^4o,ooo. Six 
 hundred copies were printed. The following prices 
 have been paid for the one vellum copy in the 
 market, and for some paper copies : — 
 Three on vellum — (i) Royal Library, Madrid ; (2) 
 Royal Library, Turin ; (3) supposed to have 
 
 ^ F. Norgate, in The Library, vol. iii. p. 329. 
 
184 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 been reserved for the Cardinal. Pinelli, 1789, 
 ;^483, bought by MacCarthy. MacCarthy, 181 7 
 £fil(i (16,000 francs), bought by Hibbert. Hib- 
 bert, 1829, ;!^S25. 
 On paper — Harleian copy, sold by Osborne for J[^\2. 
 Maittaire's imperfect copy sold for 50s. Sunder- 
 land, ;£i95. Earl of Crawford, 1887 (general 
 title wanting), ;;^56. Beresford Hope, 1882, 
 ;^i66. W. H. Crawford (Lakelands), 1891, 
 
 ;^I00. 
 
 The vellum copy sold in the Pinelli sale was, according 
 to Dibdin, taken to Dr. Gosset when on a bed of 
 sickness, in the hopes that the sight might work a 
 cure on that ardent book-lover.i 
 
 John Brocario, son of Arnoldus Brocario, the printer of 
 this polyglot, when a lad, was deputed to take the 
 last sheets to the Cardinal. He dressed himself in 
 his best clothes, and delivered his charge into 
 Ximenes' hand, who exclaimed, " I render thanks 
 to Thee, O God, that Thou hast protracted my life to 
 the completion of these biblical labours." He told 
 his friends that the surmounting of the various diffi- 
 culties of his political situation did not afford him 
 half the solace which arose from the finishing of his 
 Polyglot.^ A few weeks after the noble enthusiast 
 died. 
 
 Plantin Polyglot Bible, 1569-72, 5 vols. Five hundred 
 copies printed ; greater part lost at sea. 
 Earl of Ashburnham, 1897, on vellum (wanting the 
 "Apparatus"), ^^79. 
 
 ■* Dibdin's " Reminiscences," vol. i. p. 206 (note). 
 ^ Gomecius {Gomez) de rebus gestis a Francisco Xiniinis Cisnerio, 
 1569, quoted in Dibdin's " Reminiscences," vol. i. p. 211, 
 
PRICES OF EARLY PRINTED BOOKS 185 
 
 Walton's Polyglot Bible, 6 vols, folio, 1657 (with Castell's 
 Lexicon), does not keep up its price. 
 Seaman, 1676, ;£&, 2s. Bernard, 1698, ;^io. Duke 
 of Grafton (without Castell), £^8, 13s. Edwards, 
 ^£■61. Heath, ^^73, los. (bought by the Earl of 
 Essex). H. Perkins, 1873, ;^r 9, 153. AttheWim- 
 pole library sale (Lord Chancellor Hardwicke), 
 1888, a copy of Walton without Castell fetched 
 £g, ss. The Ashburnham copy, which had be- 
 longed to Henry, Duke of Gloucester, fourth son 
 of Charles I., with his name on the binding, which 
 was in blue morocco, sold in 1897 for £28. 
 
 Editiones Principes of THE Classics 
 
 ^SOPUS. Fabuls Latine et Italice. Neapoli, 1485 ; 
 first edition of J2sop with the Italian version. 
 Hibbert's, ^^17; Libri, 480 francs; Earl of Ash- 
 burnham, ;!£^203. 
 
 Anacreon. Lutetiae, 1554, on vellum. Sunderland, 
 
 1881, ;^22I. 
 
 Aristoteles. Opera varia. Venetiis, 1483, 2 vols. 
 Earl of Ashburnham, 1897 (printed on vellum), each 
 volume decorated in the highest style of Italian 
 art of the period, fifty-nine beautiful historical and 
 ornamental initials, ;^8oo. 
 
 Cicero. Opera Omnia Mediolani, per Alex. Minutianum 
 et Gulielmos fratres, 1498-99 [first edition of the 
 collected works], four vols, in two, folio, old yellow 
 morocco. Sunderland, £,2fii i°s- 
 
 Epistolae ad familiares. Rom» (Sweynheym et 
 
 Pannartz), 1467, folio, the first edition and the first 
 book printed in Rome and in Roman letters. 
 Sunderland, ;^2 95. 
 
l86 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Cicero. EpistolEe. Venetiis, a Nicolao Jenson, 147 1, 
 folio. Mead, ;^3, 3s.; Askew, £11, i6s. ; Sunder- 
 land, ^12. 
 
 Orationes. Adam de Ambergau, 1472, folio. 
 
 Askew gave ^^3, ss. for his copy, which was bought 
 by Dr. Hunter at his sale for ;^i2. It is now at 
 Glasgow University. Sunderland, £i?>. 
 
 Claudianus. Opera. Venetise, 1482, first edition. Mead, 
 ;£2, 2s. ; Askew, ;£t, 153.; Pinelli, ;£<), 9s.; Sunder- 
 land (broken binding), -£^. 
 
 Gellius (Aulus). Noctes Atticse. Romse (Sweynheym 
 et Pannartz), 1469, foHo, first edition. Pinelli, 
 ;^58, i6s. (printed on vellum); Sunderland, £t)o. 
 
 Noctes. Venetiis, per Nicolaum Jenson, 1472, folio. 
 
 Mead, ;,^2, 12s. 6d. ; Askew, ;^ii, los. ; Sunder- 
 land, ^13, lOS. 
 
 HoMERUS. Opera Omnia. Florentiae sumpt. Bern, 
 et Nerii NerHorum, 1488, two vols. foHo, first 
 edition. The British Museum copy was purchased 
 for ;^i7; WodhuU, ;^2oo; Sunderland, ^48. 
 
 Homeri Odyssea Graece. Florenti^, 1488, first 
 
 edition. Duke of Hamilton, 1884, very large and 
 fine copy, red morocco, by Clarke & Bedford, £,2^,. 
 
 On vellum (one of the four known to exist). 
 
 Dent, part i, 1827, ;!^i42, i6s. 
 
 HoRATius. Opera. 1470, small folio, first edition, with 
 a date. Sunderland, ;^29. The Naples edition 
 of 1474 is called by Dibdin "the rarest classical 
 volume in the world," and it was chiefly to possess 
 this book that Earl Spencer bought the famous 
 library of the Duke of Cassano. 
 
 JusTiNUS. Venetiis, per Nicolaum Jenson, 1470, small 
 folio, first edition. Mead, ^^3, 3s. ; Askew, 
 ;^i3, 13s. (sold to the British Museum); Pinelli, 
 :£i?>, 7s. 6d. ; Sunderland, ^^15. 
 
PRICES OF EARLY PRINTED BOOKS 187 
 
 JuvENALis ET Persius. Editio Princeps. Dr. Askew 
 gave ;^3 for his copy ; at his sale it was purchased 
 by the British Museum for thirteen guineas. 
 
 Livius. The first edition, printed at Rome by Sweyn- 
 heym and Pannartz, as is supposed, in 1469. The 
 only copy printed on vellum which is known to 
 exist is now in the Grenville Library (British 
 Museum). It was for years in the possession of 
 the Benedictine Library at Milan. It was bought 
 by Sykes at J. Edwards's sale (1815) for £go:^. 
 At Sykes's sale (1824) it was bought by Payne and 
 Foss for;^472, los. These booksellers sold it to 
 Dent, and at Dent's sale (1827) •bought it again for 
 Grenville for ;!£i'262, los., a remarkable instance of 
 depreciation in price of a unique book. 
 
 The editor of this series contributed an article on 
 this copy to The Library (vol. i. p. 106). The arms 
 of the Borgia family are beautifully painted on the 
 first page of the text, and it has usually been sup- 
 posed that Cardinal Roderigo Borgia (afterwards 
 Pope Alexander VI.), to whom it belonged, was 
 Abbot of the monastery of Subiaco (where the 
 first productions of Sweynheym and Pannartz were 
 executed) at the time the book was printed. It is 
 proved in the article, however, that the abbey was 
 not conferred upon Borgia by Sixtus IV. until 147 1, 
 so that the connection is merely a coincidence. 
 This magnificent volume was probably executed for 
 Borgia, whose character, as delineated by Raphael 
 Volaterranus, is evidently imitated from Livy's 
 character of Hannibal. ' 
 
 Venet. Vindelin de Spira, 1470, two vols, folio, 
 
 printed on vellum. Sunderland, ^£^520. 
 
 LucANUs. Pharsalia. Romse (Sweynheym and Pannartz), 
 1469, folio; fine edition, of which only 250 copies 
 
88 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 were printed. Askew gave ;£6, i6s. 6d. for his 
 copy, which was bought at his sale by De Bure for 
 ^i6; Sunderland, ^38. 
 
 LuciANUs. Opera. Florentise, 1496, foHo, first edition. 
 Askew gave /^2, 12s. 6d. for his copy, which was 
 sold at the sale of his library for ;^i9, 8s. 6d. ; 
 Pinelli, ^S, i8s. 6d. ; copy on vellum in the Sun- 
 derland library, ;£$g. 
 
 Martialis Epigrammata. Ferrara, 147 1, quarto, first 
 edition of Martial, and the first book printed at 
 Ferrara. Mead, ^4, 14s. 6d. ; Askew, ^17; 
 Combes, p^6o, bought for the Bodleian. 
 
 OviDius. Opera. First edition. Mead, ;£2, 12 s. 6d. ; 
 Askew, ;^io, 15s. 
 
 Romffi (Sweynheym et Pannartz), 147 1, three vols. 
 
 folio, probably second edition. Sunderland, ^85. 
 
 Venet. in sedibus Aldi, 1502-3, three vols. 8vo, 
 
 first Aldine edition. Sunderland, ;£g ; copy on 
 vellum (Askew, ;^63) sold to Lord Spencer. 
 
 Plato. Omnia Platonis Opera. Venet. in sedibus 
 Aldi, 1513, folio, first edition. Sunderland, ;^3i. 
 Copy on vellum. Lord Orford gave ^^105 for it; 
 Askew purchased it for one-fifth of that price. At 
 his sale it was bought by Dr. William Hunter for 
 ;^52, I OS. It is now in the library at Glasgow 
 University. 
 
 Plinius. Venetiis, Joannes de Spira, 1469, first edi- 
 tion. The British Museum copy was purchased in 
 1775 for;^43; Sunderland, ;^82; another copy, ^^70. 
 
 Venetiis, Nicolaus Jenson, 1472. The British 
 
 Museum copy was bought at Askew's sale for ^23 ; 
 printed on vellum, Sunderland, ;^2 2o. 
 
 Parmffi, 1476. Sunderland, ^7, iSS. Douce gave 
 
 Payne & Foss three hundred guineas for his copy 
 on vellum. It is now in the Bodleian Library. 
 
PRICES OF EARLY PRINTED BOOKS 189 
 
 QuiNTiLiANUs. Institutionum Oratoriarum lib. xii. Romae, 
 1470, folio, printed on vellum. Sunderland, ;£29o. 
 
 Institutiones Oratoriae. Romse (Sweynheym et 
 
 Pannartz), circa 1470, folio. Paris library, ;£^26, 5s., 
 now in Cracherode library (British Museum) ; Sun- 
 derland, ;£2 6. 
 
 Sallustius. Venetiis, Vindelin de Spira, 1470, quarto 
 or folio. Mead, ^5, 17s.; Askew, ;^i4, 3s. 6d. ; 
 Sunderland, ;£ig, 10s. 
 
 SiLius Italicus. Romse (Sweynheym et Pannartz), 1 47 1 , 
 folio, first edition. Askew gave three guineas for 
 his copy, which was bought for the British Museum 
 at his sale for ^^ 13, 2 s. 6d. ; PinelH, ^48 ; Sunder- 
 land, ;£^20, I OS. 
 
 Valerius Maximus. Moguntinse, per Petrum Schoyffer 
 de Gernsheim, 1471, foho, first edition, with a date. 
 Askew gave ^4, 14s. 6d. for his copy, which sold at 
 his sale for ;^26; Sunderland, £32. 
 
 Another copy, printed on vellum, sold at the 
 
 Sunderland sale for ;^i94. 
 
 ViRGiLius. Romse (Sweynheym et Pannartz), 1469 (?). 
 Most valuable of all the first editions. Hopetoun 
 House, 1889, slightly damaged and slightly wormed, 
 _;^20oo. The previous occasion on which a copy 
 was sold was at the La Valliere sale, 1784, when an 
 imperfect copy fetched 41 01 francs. 
 
 Venet. Vindelin de Spira, 1470, folio, first edition 
 
 with a date, printed on vellum. A copy sold for 
 twenty-five guineas at Consul Smith's sale, 1773; 
 Sunderland, ;^8io. A copy on paper was sold in 
 1889. Hopetoun, ;£"590. 
 
 Venet. in sedibus Aldi, 1501, 8vo, first Aldine 
 
 edition, and the first book printed with the italic 
 type invented by Aldus. Sunderland, £65 ; copy 
 printed on vellum (Askew, £^4, us.) now in the 
 Althorpe library. 
 
IQO PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Italian Classics 
 
 Ariosto. Orlando Furioso. Ferrara, 1 516, with William 
 Cecil's (Lord Burghley) autograph. Sunderland, 
 i88r, ;^3oo. 
 
 Boccaccio. In the catalogue of the Sunderland library 
 (1881) eight pages are devoted to the description of 
 various editions of his works. One of these, "De 
 la Ruine des Nobles Hommes et Femmes," Bruges 
 Colard Mansion, 1476, realised ^^920. An im- 
 perfect copy of the celebrated first edition of the 
 "Decameron" (C. Valdarfer^ 1471) fetched.;^585. 
 This was the copy possessed by Lord Blandford 
 when he bought the complete Roxburghe copy. 
 The imperfect copy was afterwards sold in the 
 Lakelands sale (W. H. Crawford) for ;^2 30, and 
 is now in the British Museum. 
 
 The latter book will always hold a high position 
 in the annals of bibliography, from the fact that 
 when a perfect copy in the Roxburghe library was 
 sold in 1812, it was bought by the Marquis of 
 Blandford after a hard struggle with Earl Spencer 
 for ;£2 26o, the highest price ever paid for a book 
 up to that date, and for many years afterwards. It 
 had originally been added to the Roxburghe library 
 at a cost of one hundred guineas. Seven years after- 
 wards Messrs. Longman bought this same book at 
 the White Knights sale for ^^918 for Lord Spencer. 
 
 Dante. First edition of Landino's Commentary, 
 Firenze, 1481 ; very large copy, with twenty rare 
 engravings, purple morocco, by Lewis. Duke of 
 Hamilton, 1884, ^^380. 
 
 W. H. Crawford, 1891, with the engravings by 
 Bacio Baldini from designs of Botticelli, ^£^360. 
 
PRICES OF EARLY PRINTED BOOKS 19I 
 
 Petrarca. I Triumphi. Venetia, per Bernardino da 
 Novara, 1488, with two sets of six illustrations, 
 one on metal and one on wood. Sunderland, 1882, 
 
 Second Aldine edition, printed on vellum, 15 14. 
 
 Hanrott, £t5; Beckford, 1883, ;£66. 
 
 PoLiPHiLi Hypnerotomachia. Venetiis (Aldus), 1499. 
 Sykes, part 2, beautiful copy, in yellow morocco by 
 Roger Payne, ^2 1 ; Watson Taylor (on vellum), 
 ;^82, 19s. ; Sir C. Price, ^53, los. ; Howell Wills, 
 £30; Luke Price, ;^49 3 Beckford, 1883 (Crozat's 
 copy, red morocco, richly tooled), ^130; Duke of 
 Hamilton, 1884, ;^8o ; Earl of Crawford, 1887, 
 £86; W. H. Crawford (Lakelands), 1891 (some of 
 the woodcuts partially coloured, wanting leaf with 
 imprint, ;^i9 ; Earl of Ashburnham, 1897 (Emperor 
 Charles V.'s copy, in stamped calf, with his figure in 
 medallion), ;^isi. 
 
 Hypnerotomachie, 1561. [French translation.] F. 
 
 Hockley, 1887, £8; W. H. Crawford (Lakelands), 
 1891, £6, los. j Earl of Ashburnham, 1897, ;£^i5. 
 
 A copy bound with "Le Roy, De la Vicissitude 
 des Choses," 1577, in blue morocco, magnificently 
 tooled by Nicolas Eve for Louise de Lorraine, 
 realised ^220 at the Beckford sale, 1897. 
 
 An English translation of the first book by R. D. 
 was pubHshed in 1592, which is excessively scarce. 
 Mr. Andrew Lang reprinted this in Mr. Nutt's 
 Tudor Library, 1890, from the copy in the Bodleian 
 Library. There is no copy in the British Museum, 
 and in the introduction to his reprint Lang tells a 
 story against himself. He bought at Toovey's a 
 poor copy of this book for £i, but shortly after- 
 wards he found that it wanted the last five pages, 
 and exchanged it for " Les M^moires de la Reine 
 
192 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Marguerite,'' Paris, 1661, in yellow morocco. He 
 regretted his exchange when he discovered its great 
 rarity. M. Claude Popelin, who had long been 
 lying in wait for this book, bought this copy at a 
 London sale-room " k un de ces prix qu'on n'avoue 
 pas k sa mdnagere.'' 
 
 ViGiLLES des Mors. Paris, par A. Verard, printed on 
 vellum, with thirty miniatures finely illuminated in 
 gold and colours, blue morocco by De Rome. This 
 copy sold for 150 francs in the La Vallifere sale, for 
 220 francs in the MacCarthy, and for ^£^20 in 
 Hibbert's. In the fourth portion of the Beckford 
 library Mr. Quaritch bought it for ;^34S. 
 
 Tristan. Chevalier de la Table Ronde. Two parts in one. 
 Second edition, by Verard. Fine copy, with rough 
 leaves, morocco super extra by Thouvenin. Duriez, 
 560 francsj same copy, Prince of Essling, 505 francs; 
 same copy, Duke of Hamilton, 1884, ;^io8. 
 
 AuGusTiNus. De Civitate Dei. Venet. Nic. Jenson, 
 on vellum, first page elaborately painted, and illumi- 
 nated initials. Sunderland, 1881, ;^iooo — bought 
 by Mr. Quaritch amid shouts of applause. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE 
 
 No class of books has advanced in value of late 
 years to so great an extent as the chief examples of 
 old English literature, and of this class the books 
 printed by our earliest printer, Caxton, stand in a 
 foremost position. It is proposed in this chapter to 
 give a general idea of the variations in price of all 
 the books printed by Caxton which have been sold 
 by public auction. The number attached to each 
 entry is that given by Mr. Blades in his great work, 
 and it is hoped that few sales of these books have 
 been left unmentioned.^ 
 
 We learn from Mr. Blades that there was no fixed 
 published price for these books, but the sellers 
 obtained the best price they could for them. In 
 1496 the churchwardens of St. Margaret, West- 
 minster, were possessed of fifteen copies of "The 
 Golden Legend," bequeathed by Caxton. Ten of 
 
 1 Mr. Blades has given full particulars of all the sales in his " Life 
 and Typography of W^illiam Caxton" (1863); but there have been 
 many sales since the publication of -his great work, and particulars of 
 these are given chiefly from two valuable articles, entitled Caxtoniana, 
 by Mr. Frederic Norgate, which were published in The Library, Nos. 8 
 and 9 (August and September 1889). That accurate bibliographer 
 has kindly allowed the author to see and use his manuscript corrections 
 and additions to these articles. 
 
 193 N 
 
194 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 these took five years to sell. In 1496 one copy was 
 sold for 6s. 8d., and in 1500 the price had gone 
 down to 53. In 1510 R. Johnson, M.D., bought 
 five Caxtons (" Godefroy of Boleyn," " Eneydos," 
 " Faytes of Arms/' " Chastising," and " Book of 
 Fame") for a total expenditure of 6s. 8d. These 
 are now in the University Library, Cambridge, 
 In the sale of 1678, to which the name of Voetius 
 is attached, three Caxtons sold for 7s. lod. At the 
 sale of Secondary Richard Smith's library (1682) 
 eleven Caxtons realised £2,, 4s. 2d.; at Dr. Francis 
 Bernard's sale (1697), ten for ^i, 15s. 4d. There 
 were a considerable number of Caxtons in the Har- 
 leian Library, and several of these were dupHcates. 
 They do not appear to have sold very readily, and 
 they occur in several of Osborne's catalogues at a 
 fairly uniform price of one guinea for the folios and 
 15s. for the quartos. At the Hon. Bryan Fairfax's 
 sale (1756) nine Caxtons sold for ;£33, 4s. At James 
 West's sale (1773) the price had considerably ad- 
 vanced, and thirty-four Caxtons realised ;£36i, 
 4s. 6d. John Ratchffe's forty-eight Caxtons brought 
 ■£236, 5s. 6d. At Dr. Richard Farmer's sale (1798) 
 five sold for ^19, lis. 6d. An astonishing advance 
 in price is found at the Duke of Roxburghe's sale 
 (1812), where fourteen fine Caxtons brought ;£3002, 
 IS. At the sale of Stanesby Alchorne's library in 
 1813 nine fetched ;£666, 15s. Ralph Willett's seven 
 brought in 1813 ^1319, i6s. John Towneley's nine 
 sold in 1814 for £112']. The Marquis of Blandford's 
 (White Knights) eighteen Caxtons brought in 1819 
 ^1316, i2S. 6d. At Watson Taylor's sale in 1823 
 
PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE I95 
 
 nine brought ;^3i9, 14s. 6d. ; John IngUs (1826), 
 thirteen for ;£43i, 15s. 6d. ; John Dent (1827), four 
 for ;^i62, i6s. 6d. ; George Hibbert (1829), five for 
 :£339» 13s- 6d. ; P. A. Hanrott (1833), six for £180, 
 i6s. ; R. Heber (1834), six for ;£2i9, i6s. ; Thomas 
 JoUey (1843-51), six for ;£325, 15s. ; E. V. Utterson 
 (1852), three for £116; J. D. Gardner (1854), seven 
 for ;£739. 
 
 It will be seen from these totals that the present 
 high prices did not rule at the sales in the middle 
 of the present century. 
 
 In 1897 the total for the ten Caxtons in the first 
 portion of the Ashburnham library reached ^5622, 
 and the six in the second portion fetched ^4264. 
 
 The following list contains paiiiculars of the sale 
 prices of some of the chief issues of Caxton's press : — 
 
 The Recuyell of the Histories of Troy (i). 
 
 Dr. Bernard (1698), 3s.; Bryan Fairfax (1756), 
 ^8, 8s. This perfect copy was bought by Francis 
 Child, and at the sale of the Earl of Jersey's library 
 in 1885 it was sold to Mr. Quaritch for ;^i82o. 
 
 J. West's imperfect copy was sold in 1773 to 
 George III. for £,^2, iis., and it was perfected 
 afterwards. 
 
 J. Lloyd of Wygfair (18 16), ^126. This copy 
 was bought by G. Hibbert, and at his sale in 1829 
 J. Wilks bought it for ^^157, los. ; at Wilks's sale in 
 1847 E. V. Utterson bought it for ;^i65 ; at Utter- 
 son's sale in 1852 the Earl of Ashburnham bought 
 it for ;^5S— not ;^iS5, as stated by Blades. This 
 was described in Hibbert's and Wilks's catalogues 
 as having " six whole leaves and parts of four others 
 supplied in facsimile," but at Utterson's sale it was 
 
196 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Stated to want no less than forty-seven leaves. At 
 the Ashburnham sale (part 2), 1897, it was said 
 to want forty-nine leaves. It fetched £<)So. 
 
 The Game and Play of the Chess, first edition (2). 
 
 R. Smith (1682), 13s. 2d.; J. West (1773), sold 
 to George III. for ;^32, os. 6d. ; S. Alchorne (1813), 
 ^54, I2S.— J. Inglis. J. Inglis (1826), ^31, los. 
 — Lord Audley. Lord Audley (1855), ;£6o, los. 
 — H. Cunliffe. 
 
 White Knights (1819), jQid, 15s.' — Duke of 
 Devonshire. This copy, sold for ;^42, was found 
 on collation after the sale to want three leaves 
 instead of only two, as stated in the catalogue ; 
 it was therefore returned, and sold for ;^36, 15s. 
 
 Sir H. Mainwaring (1837), ;£ioi — J. Holford. 
 This may be the same copy as R. Smith's, as it 
 has on a fly-leaf in manuscript, " Ex dono ThomK 
 Delves, Baronett, 1682." 
 
 Old Essex library (Lord Petre), 1886, ;£64S — 
 Quaritch (perfect, excepting only the blanks). Earl 
 of Hardwicke (1888), wanting the Prologue and 
 three other leaves, ^^260 — Quaritch. 
 
 It is necessary to quote from Scott's "Antiquary" 
 a well-known passage, because, as Mr. Blades says, 
 " not a single statement is founded on fact." The 
 particulars are so circumstantial, that they have 
 possibly deceived many readers, more especially as 
 Scott himself vouches for the anecdote as literally 
 true. " Snuffy Davy bought the ' Game of Chesse,' 
 1474, the first book ever printed in England, from 
 a stall in Holland for about 2 groschen, or two- 
 pence of our money. He sold it to Osborne for 
 ;^2o and as many books as came to £,iq more. 
 Osborne resold this inimitable windfall to Dr. Askew 
 
PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE 197 
 
 for 60 guineas. At Dr. Askew's sale this inestimable 
 treasure blazed forth in its true value, and was 
 purchased by Royalty itself for one hundred and 
 seventy pounds." It may be added that Askew 
 never had a copy. 
 
 Chesse, second edition (34). 
 
 Dr. Bernard's copy (1698) sold for is. 6d. 
 
 J. Ratcliffe's (1776) was bought for £,16 by R. 
 Willett; and at his sale in 1813, the Duke of Devon- 
 shire bought it for ;^i73, 5s. 
 
 Le Recueil des Histoires de Troyes (3). 
 
 James (1760), ^£2, 12s. 6d. — Jacob Bryant. This 
 copy was presented by Bryant to George III., and 
 made perfect with a few leaves presented by the 
 Duke of Roxburghe. It was retained by George IV. 
 when the Kings' Library was presented to the nation, 
 and is now at Windsor Castle. 
 
 Payne, bookseller (1794), £^, 5s. — sold to the 
 Duke of Roxburghe, at whose sale in 181 2 it fetched 
 ;£^i 1 6, I IS. It has been sold several times since, each 
 time for less money. Among Lord Spencer's dupli- 
 cates (1823), for ^73, los., to J. Dent; at Dent's 
 sale in 1827, for ;^36, los., to P. A. Hanrott; at 
 Hanrott's sale in 1833, to the Earl of Ashburnham, 
 for ;^27. Second part of Ashburnham sale (1897), 
 _;£6oo. Wanting thirty-three leaves. 
 
 G. Watson Taylor (1823), ^205, i6s. — Earl 
 Spencer (perfect, and uncut). 
 
 G. Libri (1844), ;^2oo (a perfect and unusually 
 fine copy) — sold to British Museum. 
 
 The copy, slightly imperfect, in the National 
 Library, Paris, was purchased at Brussels in the 
 early part of the century by M. de la Serna for 150 
 francs. 
 
igS PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Les fats du Jason (4). 
 
 The perfect copy in the National Library, Paris, 
 was purchased in 1808 by M. de la Serna for 2 louis 
 from a stranger, who had obtained it for half that 
 sum. 
 
 Propositio Johannis Russell (7). 
 
 The Althorpe copy formerly belonged to John 
 Brand, and at the sale of his library the Marquis 
 of Blandford bought it for ;^2, 5s. At the White 
 Knights sale in 18 19 Lord Spencer bought it for 
 ;^i2 6. The Earl of Leicester has the only other 
 known copy. Both copies are perfect. 
 
 Infancia Salvatoris (8). 
 
 The only existing copy known is in the Royal 
 University Library, Gottingen. It was from the 
 Harleian Library, and was purchased from Osborne 
 in 1746 for 15s. 
 
 The History of Jason (9). 
 
 Richard Smith (1682), 5s. id. ; Dr. Bernard 
 (1698), 3S. 6d. 
 
 J. West's copy was sold in 1773 for 4 guineas to 
 J. RatcHffe, at whose sale in 1776 it fetched ^'^, los. 
 
 John Erskine's copy was bought in 181 7 by G. 
 Watson Taylor for ;^i62, 15 s., but at his sale in 
 1823 it only brought ;^95, iis., Richard Heber 
 being the purchaser. At Heber's sale (1834) it was 
 bought by Payne the bookseller for ;^87. This 
 uncut copy, which is the finest known, came after- 
 wards into the possession of the Earl of Ashburnham. 
 It sold at the second part of the Ashburnham sale 
 (1897) for _;^2ioo. 
 
 The White Knights copy (Marquis of Blandford) 
 
PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH- LITERATURE 199 
 
 was sold (1819) for ^85, is. At W. S. Higgs's 
 sale (1831) it was bought by J. Wilks for £,?>t, 3s., 
 and at his sale (1847) it was bought by J. Dunn 
 Gardner for ;^i2i. This copy was returned as 
 wanting a leaf, and resold for ;^io5. Gardner 
 bought it afterwards from Pickering, who had in the 
 meantime supplied the leaf from another copy. At 
 Gardner's sale (1854) it was bought for Mr. Lenox 
 for pTios. 
 
 The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers, first edition 
 
 Francis Child bought his imperfect copy at Bryan 
 Fairfax's sale (1756) for £^(1. It was bound with 
 "Moral Proverbs," and was one of the copies from 
 the Harleian Library. At the Earl of Jersey's sale 
 (1885) it brought ^141. 
 
 John Ratclifife's copy was bought by Ralph 
 Willett in 1776 for 15 guineas, and at his own sale 
 in 1813 it brought ;!^262, los. 
 
 Sales since the publication of Blades's book : — 
 Rev. T. Corser (1868), ^100. C. H. Crawford 
 (1876), ;^87 (Corser's copy). Duke of Buccleuch 
 (1889), j[,i>S°- Earl of Ashburnham, 1897 (one of 
 four complete copies), ;^i320 — Quaritch. 
 
 Second edition (28). 
 
 James West (1773), :^2i — George III. John 
 Towneley (18 14), ^^189 — Duke of Devonshire 
 (erroneously described in the catalogue as "first 
 edition "). 
 
 Third edition (83). 
 
 John Munro (1792), £,\(>, i6s. Dr. Vincent 
 (18 1 6), ;^99, 15s. — Singer, for Marquis of Bland- 
 ford. In 1840 some books were turned out of the 
 
200 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Blenheim Library, and sent for sale at Oxford. The 
 Bodleian Library bought this copy at that sale for 
 £50. Blades was misled into saying that the Bod- 
 leian gave ;^i99, iss., by the fact, in this copy some 
 irresponsible person has altered the price it fetched 
 at Vincent's sale to £igg, 15s. by the addition of 
 the figure 1. Fuller Maitland (1885), ;£i6s — 
 Quaritch (described as a second edition in the cata- 
 logue, three leaves in facsimile). 
 
 Chaiccer's Canterbury Tales, first edition (12). 
 
 J. West (1773), ;^47> 15s.— George IIL J. 
 Ratclifife (1776), ;£'6. White Knights supplementary 
 sale (1820), ;^3i, los. — T. Payne (imperfect); not 
 recorded by Blades. 
 
 The highest price recorded -by Blades is ;^3oo, 
 given by Mr. Huth at Lilly's sale, 1861. In 1896 
 two copies (both imperfect) were sold for over 
 ;^iooo ; Mrs. Corbet's (Barlaston Hall), wanting 
 nineteen leaves, _;^ic2o; R. E. Saunders (wanting 
 only two leaves, a few wormed, lower margins in 
 Melibeus mended), ;^i88o. Earl of Ashburnham 
 (1897), £,120 — Pickering & Chatto (imperfect, also 
 some leaves from a shorter copy). 
 
 Second edition (57). 
 
 Brand's imperfect copy (1807) was bought by 
 Heber for 10 guineas ; it was sold at his sale in 
 1834 to the Earl of Ashburnham for ;^78, 15s. 
 Lord Ashburnham (1897), ;^3oo — Pickering and 
 Chatto (wanting twenty-eight leaves). 
 
 Boethius de Consolacione Philosophice, translated by 
 Chaucer (25). 
 
 B. Worsley (1678), 53. J. West (1773), ^5, los. 
 — G. Mason. J. Ratclifife (1776), ^^4, 6s. — George 
 
PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE 201 
 
 III. S. Alchorne (1813), bought by the Marquis 
 of Blandford (Spencer duplicate, imperfect) for 
 ;^53, IIS.; sold to Watson Taylor, at his sale in 
 1819, for jQ22, IIS. 6d. ; at Taylor's sale (;^i823) 
 Thorpe bought it for £,\ 3, 53. 
 
 Thorpe bought a copy in old Oxford calf from 
 Browne Willis's library, " without the slightest defect 
 or repair," for ;!^S9 in July 1849, and he sold it in 
 December of the same year for ^105. 
 
 The Grenville (very fine, clean, and perfect) copy 
 was purchased for £,^1, los. ; Duke of Hamilton 
 (1884), ;!f 160 (perfect, stained and mended) ; noble- 
 man (Earl of Westmoreland), 1887, ;^is6 (perfect, 
 excepting the blank); Earl of Ashburnham (1897), 
 ;^5io (two leaves in facsimile). 
 
 Cor dy ale, or the four last things (26). 
 
 Osborne (1748), £1, 2s. J. West (i773)> £'^A— 
 W. Hunter. Stanesby Alchorne bought W. Flete- 
 wode's copy in 1774 for ;^6, 12s. 6d., and at his 
 sale in 1813 George III. bought it for £12"], is. 
 Dr. Valpy's copy, bought in 1832 by Henry G. 
 Bohn for ^^26, 15s. 6d., is not mentioned by Blades ; 
 Valpy is said to have given £?,'] for it. Earl of 
 Ashburnham (1897), £'](io — Pickering & Chatto 
 (wanting eight leaves). 
 
 The Mirrour of the World, first edition (31). 
 
 R. Smith (1682), 5s. F. Child bought Bryan 
 Fairfax's perfect copy in 1756 for £t,\ this was 
 sold to Mr. Quaritch at the Earl of Jersey's sale 
 (1885) for ^^195. J. West had two copies, which 
 were sold in 1773 — a perfect one to George III. for 
 12 guineas, and a very imperfect one to Richard 
 
202 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Gough for £,2, 13s. The latter sold at Gough's 
 sale (1810) for £/^, 14s. 6d. Mr. Cracherode's 
 perfect copy (now in the British Museum) was 
 bought by him at RatclifFe's sale (1776) for £,2, 15s. 
 The Duke of Roxburghe's fine and perfect copy, 
 for which he gave 9 guineas, was sold at his sale 
 (1812) to the Duke of Devonshire for ;^35i, 153. 
 
 The following copies (in addition to the Earl of 
 Jersey's, mentioned above) have been sold since the 
 publication of Mr. Blades's book : — 
 
 In 1877 Mr. Quaritch had a copy for sale with 
 a vi, a viii, and the last leaf in facsimile, which he 
 priced ;!^2oo. 
 
 Sir John Thorold (1884), ;!^33S — Quaritch (per- 
 fect, excepting the blanks). Earl of Hardwicke 
 (1888), ;i^6o— Quaritch (very imperfect). W. H. 
 Crawford (1891), ;^i66 (perfect, with the exception 
 of one blank). Earl of Ashburnham (part 2, 1897), 
 ;^2 2 5 (leaves in facsimile). 
 
 The Mirrour of the World, second edition (84). 
 
 West's perfect copy was bought by Willett in 1773 
 for _;^9, 153.; at his sale (181 3) it was bought for 
 Lord Spencer for £,\z^, los. 
 
 A perfect copy, very clean and large, was sold in 
 1 844 with the library of Calwick Hall, Staffordshire, 
 to Rodd for ;^4i. Thorpe gave Rodd ;£94 for 
 it, but sold it to Mr C. Hurt for £,()o. At 
 Hurt's sale in 1855 Sir William (then Mr.) Tite 
 bought it for ;^io5. At his sale in 1874 it realised 
 
 ^455- 
 
 A perfect copy in the original binding of oak, 
 covered with stamped leather, and almost uncut, is 
 in the library of the Baptist College at Bristol, 
 having been presented by A. Gifford, D.D. It 
 
PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE 203 
 
 has the following notes on a fly-leaf in Dr. Gifford's 
 autograph : — 
 
 " Memoranda. Pd. Simco . . jQ2 1 2 6 
 Another at Mr. Ratcliffe's 
 
 sales to perfect y^ . . 2160 
 Repairing and gilding, &c. . 026 
 
 S II o 
 Mem. Mr. White gave for another perfect 
 
 one at Ratcliffe's sale ;^8, 8s. 
 Mem. 2. No copy of this in Museum." 
 
 The following sales, in addition to Sir William 
 Tite's, mentioned above, have taken place since the 
 publication of Blades's book : — 
 
 Sale at Puttick & Simpson's (1884) — a very poor 
 copy, wanting eleven leaves, was sold for ^8. Rev. 
 Fuller Russell (1885), ;^265 (Hibbert's copy, which 
 sold in 1829 for ;^36, 4s. 6d. ; Hibbert had given 
 ^55, 13s. at the Marquis of Blandford's sale in 
 1819). Hardwicke (Wimpole), 1888, ;^6o (with 
 "Cicero de Amicitia"). F. Perkins (1889), ;!^ioo 
 (two leaves of Table in MS.). Birket Foster (1894), 
 _;^77 (wanting eighteen leaves). 
 
 The History of Reynard the Fox, first edition (32). 
 
 J. Ratcliffe (1776), ^^, los. — George III. J. 
 Inghs (1826), ;^i84, i6s.— T. Grenville. J. D. 
 Gardner (1854), ;^i9S — Duke of Newcastle. (All 
 three copies are perfect.) 
 
 Second edition. 
 
 One copy only — that in the Pepysian Library, 
 Cambridge — is known to exist. 
 
 Tully of Old Age, etc. (33). 
 
 Dr. Bernard (1698), 4s. 2d. Francis Child bought 
 Bryan Fairfax's perfect copy in 1756 for 2 guineas. 
 
204 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 In 1885 this was sold at the Earl of Jersey's sale 
 (1885) for ^350. 
 
 Dr. Askew bought T. Rawlinson's perfect copy 
 in 1756 for ;£i, 5s., and at Askew's sale (1775) 
 Willett gave 1 3 guineas for it. At Willett's sale ( 1 8 1 3 ) 
 it was sold to the Marquis of Blandford for ;^2io. 
 At the Marquis's sale (18 19) T. Brockett gave 
 ;^87, 3s. for it. At Brockett's sale (1823) Watson 
 Taylor bought it for ;£47, 5s. Thorpe bought it 
 at Watson Taylor's sale (1823) for ^47, 15s. 6d. 
 The "Marly" copy turned up again in 1857, when 
 it was sold to Mr. F. Huth for ^275. 
 
 The Duke of Roxburghe's imperfect copy was 
 bought in 18 12 by the Duke of Devonshire for 
 
 Since Blades's book was published — the Rev. T. 
 Corser (1868), £<)6 ("Old Age" only); Mr. Severne 
 (1885), ;^2So (perfect); Earl of Crawford (1889), 
 ^320 (perfect); Earl of Ashburnham (1897), ;^i02 
 — Pickering & Chatto {Dedamatio only). 
 
 Tke Chronicles of England, first edition (39). 
 
 R. Smith (1682), 3s. 6d. ; Dr. Bernard (1691), 4s.; 
 J. Ratcliffe (1776), £e^, 5s.; S. Alchorne (1813), 
 £6^ — Duke of Devonshire. 
 
 J. Roberts's copy (18 15) was bought for ;^io5 by 
 John Milner, at whose sale in 1829 W. S. Higgs 
 bought it for ;^7o, 7s. ; at Higgs's sale (1830) it 
 realised £tz> ios- 
 
 The following sales have taken place since the 
 publication of Blades's book ; — 
 
 Mr. Rainy, Bath (1883), ;^i6o — British Museum 
 (poor copy, and imperfect). J. Hirst (1887), £6'] 
 (imperfect). Duke of Buccleuch (1889), ^^470 — 
 Quaritch (perfect blanks excepted). 
 
PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE 205 
 
 The Chronicles of England, second edition (43). 
 
 Bryan Fairfax's imperfect copy was sold in 1756 
 to Francis Child for ^5. In 1885 it sold for £^0 
 at the sale of the Earl of Jersey's library. 
 
 J. Ratcliffe's imperfect copy was sold (1776) to 
 George III. for £/^, 53. 
 
 An imperfect copy was bought by the Earl of 
 Ashburnham in i860 for^^iSo. It was added to 
 the sale after the library of E. A. Crowninshield, of 
 Boston, U.S., had been brought to England. This 
 copy, bound in new brown morocco, with " Descrip- 
 tion of Britain " (three leaves in facsimile), sold at 
 Lord Ashburnham's sale (1897) for ;^6io — Picker- 
 ing & Chatto. 
 
 Mr. Quaritch bought the Duke of Buccleuch's 
 copy in 1889 for ;^4S. This was wrongly described 
 in the catalogue as wanting only " fourteen leaves, 
 of which two are blank," whereas it not only wanted 
 the first fourteen printed leaves as well as the two 
 blanks, but also the last six. 
 
 The Description oj Britain (40). 
 
 J. Towneley's imperfect copy was bought by 
 George III. in 1814 for £?>'^, is. 
 
 The Duke of Buccleuch's copy was bought by Mr. 
 Quaritch in 1889 for ;!^i9S. It was made up from 
 two imperfect copies, with some leaves inlaid, but 
 otherwise complete. 
 
 The History of Godfrey of JBoloyne (42). 
 
 R. Smith (1682), i8s. 2d.— Earl of Peterborough. 
 Dr. Bernard (1698), 4s. J. West (1773), ^10, los. 
 —George III. J. Ratcliffe (1776), ^6, i6s. 6d.— 
 W. Hunter. Dr. Vincent (1816), ^215, 5s., bought 
 by Singer, but Blades says the Marquis of Bland- 
 
206 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 ford; but Mr. Norgate thinks this is a mistake, as 
 there was no copy in the White Knights sale. Mr. 
 Holford's copy and that in the British Museum were 
 the only known perfect copies until 1884, when Mr. 
 Quaritch announced in his catalogue (No. 21,842) a 
 "very fine copy, quite perfect, with all the blanks, 
 and in the original binding,'' priced _j^iooo. Mr. 
 Norgate suggests that this may be Dr. Vincent's 
 copy. 
 
 Polycronicon (44). 
 
 R. Mead (1755), ^3, 13s. 6d. Joseph Ames 
 (1760), two copies; one sold for 7s., and the other 
 for 14s. J. West (1773), £\(>, ss. 6d. 
 
 There were three copies in Ratcliffe's sale (1775) ; 
 one sold for 3s. 3d., another for 2s. 3d., and a third 
 
 for ^5. 153- 6d. 
 
 Heber bought S. Tyssen's copy in 1801 for ;Q'^ ; 
 at his own sale it fetched £,'i.o, 15s. 
 
 The White Knights perfect copy was bought by 
 Payne in 1819 for ^{^94, los. It is now in the Gren- 
 ville Library. (Blades overlooked this.) 
 
 Dent's perfect copy was bought by Perkins in 
 1827 for ;^io3, 19s.; at the latter's sale (1873) it 
 was bought by Mr. Quaritch for ;£365. 
 
 Lord Charlemont (1865), ;£'477 — Walford (want- 
 ing two leaves). This copy went to New York, 
 and was sold immediately for 6750 dollars ( = about 
 ^^1380). T. Edwards (187 1), wanting seven leaves, 
 ^^34 — Quaritch. This copy was sold at the Earl 
 of Aylesford's sale (1888) for £\\o, also to Mr. 
 Quaritch. The seven leaves were supplied in 
 facsimile. Ten were mounted, and a few others 
 mended. 
 
 Sir W. Tite's copy, with a 2, 3, 4, 8 in facsimile, 
 
PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE 207 
 
 realised in 1874 _;^iso. Ashburnham copy (1897), 
 wanting forty-six leaves, ;^2oi. 
 
 Other copies sold since the publication of 
 Blades's book were mere fragments, and only realised 
 small sums. 
 
 The Pilgrimage of the Soul (45). 
 
 R. Smith (1682), ss. J. West (1773), £%, 17s. 6d. 
 J. Ratcliffe (1776), jQj,, 17s. At the Marquis of 
 Blandford's sale (1819) Earl Spencer bought it for 
 ;^ 1 5 2, 5s. He perfected it with three leaves from 
 a copy formerly belonging to Heber, and sold it 
 in 1821, when Heber bought it again for ^^26, 
 155. 6d., but at his sale in 1834 it only realised 18 
 guineas. 
 
 The Festial, first edition (47). 
 
 J. RatcUffe had two copies : J. Edwards bought 
 one for jQt,, 2s., and Dr. Farmer the other for 
 ^3. In 1796 the latter bought Herbert's copy for 
 £2, 2s., and made a perfect copy from the two. 
 Lord Spencer bought this at Farmer's sale in 1798 
 for ^5. 
 
 Second edition (88). 
 
 The Duke of Roxburghe's copy was bought by 
 Earl Spencer for ^105. Only one has occurred for 
 sale since, viz., Rev. E. James (1854), ^27, now 
 in the British Museum. 
 
 Confessio Amantis (50). 
 
 F. Child bought B. Fairfax's beautiful and perfect 
 copy for £z in 1756, and at the Earl of Jersey's 
 sale in 1885 it realised ;^8io. It is now in the 
 United States. George III. bought West's imper- 
 
208 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 feet and cropped copy for 9 guineas. Topham Beau- 
 clerk's copy, wanting ten leaves, sold in 1781 for 
 ;2^2, 4S. ; in 1881 it was sold at Mr. G. L. Way's sale 
 for £,11- The Duke of Roxburghe's perfect copy 
 was bought by the Duke of Devonshire for ^^33 6. 
 
 Willett's copy has been sold several times, and 
 each time for a lower price than before. In 181 3 
 the Marquis of Blandford bought it at Willett's sale 
 in 18 1 3 for ;i£'3iS. At the White Knights sale 
 (1819) it was described as "remarkably fine and 
 perfect," and was sold to G. Watson Taylor for 
 ;^2o5, 1 6s. On being collated it was found to 
 want six leaves, and was consequently returned, and 
 resold to Mr. Watson Taylor for ^(^131, 5s. At his 
 sale in 1823 it only realised £sit ^S^- 
 
 W. Haggard (1867), ;;^i8s (wanting several 
 leaves). Lord Selsey's perfect copy sold in 1872 
 for ^670. H. Perkins (1873), £2^^^ (six leaves in 
 facsimile). Ashburnham (part 2, 1897), imperfect, 
 
 ;^I88. 
 
 The Knight of the Tower (51). 
 
 R. Smith (1682), 5s. id. J. Brand's perfect 
 copy was bought by Earl Spencer in 1807 for 
 ;£'iii, 6s. 
 
 G. Watson Taylor bought the Marquis of Bland- 
 ford's perfect copy (without blanks) in 1819 for 
 ^85, IS. At his sale in 1823 Jolley bought it for 
 ;£52, I OS. Rodd bought it for Corser, at Jolley's 
 sale in 1843, for £,<)o. At Corser's sale (1868) Mr. 
 Quaritch bought it for ^^560. 
 
 Caton (52). 
 
 R. Smith(i682),4S. 2d.; Dr.Bernard(i698), is. lod. 
 
 The Duke of Devonshire's fine and perfect copy 
 
 has the Earl of Oxford's autograph — " I bought this 
 
PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE 209 
 
 book at Edinburgh and paid for it the price of 
 ;^3, 3s. to Mr. Alex. Seymmer Bookseller in the 
 parliament close May 24 1725." In another hand, 
 "Ex Bib: Harl : £1, is., Feb. 1745." It was 
 bought from Messrs. Arch for ;^io5. 
 
 The sale of Watson Taylor's copy (1823) to 
 Barclay for £2,0, 19s. 6d. is not recorded by Blades. 
 
 Earl of Ashburnham (1897), ;!^295 — Pickering 
 and Chatto (imperfect). 
 
 T/ie Golden Legend, first edition (53). 
 
 West's imperfect copy was bought (1773) by Dr. 
 Hunter for ;^i2, 15s., and is now at Glasgow. 
 Ratcliffe's imperfect copy was bought by George III. 
 (1776) for ;!^5, 15s. 6d. The highest price recorded 
 by Blades at which a copy has sold is £,z 30, bought by 
 the Due d'Aumale in 1854 at J. Dunn Gardner's sale. 
 This copy wants the last leaf in the Table and Biiij, 
 the latter supplied in facsimile. Corser's imperfect 
 copy sold in 1869 for ^147. It is now in the Huth 
 library. W. H. Crawford's imperfect copy sold in 
 1891 for ^465. 
 
 Second edition (66). 
 
 There are no records of sales. 
 
 Third edition (93). 
 
 Printed by Wynkyn de Worde. 
 
 The Order of Chivalry (56). 
 
 J. West (1773), ^5, Ss.— G. Mason. J. Ratcliffe 
 (1776), ^2, 8s. — George III. (imperfect). Lord 
 Lovat (1852), ^55, los. — Earl of Ashburnham 
 (imperfect). Lord Ashburnham (1897), ^£'345 — 
 Pickering & Chatto (imperfect). 
 
 O 
 
210 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Troylus and Creside (60). 
 
 West's perfect copy was bought by George III. 
 in 1773 for 10 guineas. Ratcliffe's large and clean, 
 but imperfect, copy has been sold several times at 
 very varying prices. Herbert bought it in 1776 for 
 £2. At Towneley's sale in 1814 the Marquis of 
 Blandford bought it for ;£252, 2s. At the White 
 Knights sale in 1819 Watson Taylor gave ;^i62, 
 15s. for it. Thomas Grenville bought it for;/^66, 3s. 
 at Watson Taylor's sale in 1823. 
 
 The Life of our Lady (61). 
 
 Earl Spencer gave ^^130 for his imperfect copy. 
 The highest sale price recorded by Blades is ;^49 
 for the Duke of Roxburghe's copy. The Rev. T. 
 Corser's imperfect copy, for which he gave ^^32 at 
 Utterson's sale in 1852, sold for ;^ii3 in 1868. Sir 
 William Tite's very imperfect copy (wanting thirty 
 leaves) belonged to West, and was bought at his 
 sale by Herbert for ^2, 12s. 6d. Tite bought it in 
 1859 for £,\\, and at his sale it sold for ;^54. The 
 Earl of Devon's quite perfect copy (with the blanks) 
 was bought by Mr. Quaritch for p^88o in 1883. 
 
 The Noble Histories of King Arthur (63). 
 
 The only known perfect copy was in the Harleian 
 Library, and was sold by Osborne in 1748 to Bryan 
 Fairfax for £^i^. At Fairfax's sale in 1756 Francis 
 Child bought it for two guineas and a half, and in 
 1885 it was sold at the Earl of Jersey's sale to Mr. 
 Quaritch for ;^i95o. It is now in New York. 
 
 The Life of Charles the Great (64). 
 
 The only known copy which is perfect is now in 
 the King's Library, British Museum. Ratclifife bought 
 it at West's sale (1773) for ^13, and at Ratcliffe's 
 sale (1776) George III. obtained it for 4 guineas. 
 
PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE 211 
 
 The Knight Paris and the Fair Vienne (65). 
 
 The only known copy, in the King's Library, is 
 perfect. It was bought at West's sale by George III. 
 for ;^i4. 
 
 The Royal Book (67). 
 
 West's imperfect copy was bought by George III. 
 for ;^io. Gustavus Brander bought Ratcliffe's im- 
 perfect copy in 1777 for £2, 13s., but at his own 
 sale it only brought 15s. It was sold in 1864 to 
 Lilly for £,(^2. 
 
 The Althorpe perfect and beautiful copy was 
 bought by the Marquis of Blandford at Louis 
 Goldsmid's sale (1815) for ;^8s, is. At the Mar- 
 quis's sale (1819) George Hibbert bought it for 
 £tI, ios., and at Hibbert's sale (1829) Lord 
 Spencer obtained it for £()\, 19s. 
 
 The Duke of Buccleuch's copy (wanting a. i, 
 with two very slight defects, both repaired) is not 
 mentioned by Blades. It was bought by Mr. 
 Quaritch at the Duke's sale (1889) for £jfi^. 
 
 Speculum Vitce Christi (70). 
 
 West's copy was bought by Ratcliffe, who had 
 three imperfect copies; at his sale in 1776 George 
 III. bought one for ;^3, 3s., Dr. Hunter another for 
 the same amount, and the third sold for ^3, los. 
 Earl Spencer bought two copies — one at J. Allen's 
 sale (179s) for 11 guineas, and the^other at the Rox 
 burghe sale for ;^4S ; he completed the latter with two 
 leaves taken from the former. The duplicate was sold 
 and came into the possession of Sir Francis Freeling ; 
 at his sale in 1836 Mr. Corser bought it for £2^^, los., 
 and at Corser's sale (1868) it realised £6t. 
 
 Two copies are known on vellum — one, in very 
 poor condition, is in the Royal Library at Windsor ; 
 
212 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 the other, in the British Museum, was bought in 
 1864 for _^iooo. 
 
 The Doctrinal of Sapience (71)- 
 
 The Duke of Devonshire gave £,']i>, 153. for the 
 Spencer duplicate (perfect) in Alchorne's sale (18 13). 
 Dawson Turner's copy (wanting six leaves) was 
 bought by T. Bateman in 1859 for £,2%; at his 
 sale in 1893 it realised ;^58. Earl of Ashburnham's 
 copy (first and last leaf in facsimile), 1897, sold for 
 ;i/J'66o — Quaritch (for the British Museum). The 
 last Earl gave ^^150 for this copy. 
 
 Servitium de Transfiguratione Jhesu Ckrisii {"j^). 
 
 The only known copy was bought for the British 
 Museum at a sale at Puttick's in 1862 for ;^2oo. 
 It was found in a volume of Theological Tracts 
 presented to the Congregational Library, Blomfield 
 Street, by Joshua Wilson of Tunbridge Wells in 1831. 
 
 The Fayts of Arms (74). 
 
 The largest amount paid for a copy at a public 
 sale is ;£336, which the Duke of Devonshire gave 
 for the Roxburghe copy (with a few lines of the last 
 leaf in facsimile). 
 
 Bryan Fairfax's imperfect copy was bought by 
 Francis Child for £^\, iis. 6d. At the sale of 
 Lord Jersey's library in 1885 it sold for ;^7i. 
 
 Libri's .perfect, but mended and washed, copy, 
 which he had bought in very poor condition from 
 Mario the great tenor, was sold in 1862 to Mr. F. 
 Huth for £2'^^. 
 
 Mr. Corser's perfect copy was bought in 1868 by 
 Mr. Quaritch for ;^25o. 
 
 Sir W. Tite's copy (with the first tWo leaves in 
 facsimile) sold in 1874 for ^^190. This copy was 
 
PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE 2 13 
 
 bought by Tite at the Rev. C. H. Crauford's sale in 
 1854 for ;^77. Crauford bought it at Wilks's sale 
 (1847) for ^54. 
 
 The Earl of Crawford's perfect copy, with Table 
 inlaid, sold in 1889 for ^235. R. Lindsay, in 
 Philadelphia, had this copy in his catalogue (June 
 1893) for £^2S. 
 
 The History of Blanchardin and Eglantine {■jS). 
 
 The only known copy, which is imperfect, is in 
 the Althorpe library. This copy was bought at 
 RatchfTe's sale by G. Mason for ^^3, 6s. ; at Mason's 
 sale (1799) the Duke of Roxburghe bought it for 
 ^21. Earl Spencer gave ;^2i5, ss. for it at the 
 Roxburghe sale. 
 
 Eneydos (81). 
 
 R. Smith (1682), 3s. Walter Rea (1682), is. 6d. 
 
 F. Child gave 30s. for B. Fairfax's perfect copy, 
 
 which sold at the Earl of Jersey's sale (1885) for 
 
 Hanrott's imperfect copy was bought in 1833 by 
 Lord Auckland for ;^43, is. ; at his sale two years 
 afterwards H. Holland bought it for ^24. At 
 Holland's sale (i860) Mr. H. Huth bought it for 
 ;^84. 
 
 Mr. Quaritch had a copy in 1875 with two leaves 
 in facsimile, otherwise a fine copy, which he marked 
 
 £zo°- 
 
 The Art and Craft to Know Well to Die (86). 
 
 West's perfect copy was bought by Ratcliffe for 
 ;^S, 2S. 6d. ; at Ratclifie's sale George IIL bought 
 it for 4 guineas. 
 
 Mr. C. Tutet's copy was bought in 1786 by Payne 
 for 2 guineas ; probably this is the perfect copy 
 
214 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 which Payne sold to the National Library, Paris, 
 for 10 guineas. 
 
 The Chastising of God's Children (90). 
 
 R. Smith (1682), 53. Dr. Bernard (1698), is. lod. 
 Osborne (1751), 153. 
 
 The Roxburghe copy (perfect) was bought by 
 Lord Spencer for ^140. 
 
 The Earl of Aylesford bought the Marquis of 
 Blandford's copy (bound with "Treatise of Love," 
 No. 91) for ;£^32, los., and at his sale in 1888 it 
 realised ^305. F. Perkins (1889), ;^ioo. 
 
 S. Alchorne's copy sold in 18 13 for ;^94, los. ; 
 Valentine's copy in 1842 for ^5. Blades describes 
 this last in his catalogue list as Alchorne's ; but this 
 is probably a mistake, as Valentine bought J. Inglis's 
 copy (1826) for ;^i7, los. 
 
 Sex perelegantissinice. Epistolce (1483). 
 
 24 leaves. The only copy known of this tract was 
 discovered in 1874 by Dr. G. Konnecke, archivist of 
 Marburg, in an old volume of seventeenth-century 
 divinity in the Hecht-Heinean Library at Halber- 
 stadt. The discovery was described by Mr. Blades 
 at the time in the Athenceum (Feb. 27, 1875). This 
 copy was bought by the British Museum in 1890 
 for ^250. 
 
 Almost as scarce and valuable as Caxtons are the 
 books printed at St. Albans : — 
 
 The Chronicle of St. Albans (circa 1484), the second 
 book printed at St. Albans, and the first edition of 
 the Chronicle, was sold at the Earl of Ashburnham's 
 sale (1897) to Messrs. J. & J. Leighton for ;£i8o. It 
 wasimperfect,but no absolutely perfect copyis known. 
 
PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE 215 
 
 In Quaritch's catalogue, 1884 (No. 355), a copy 
 with five leaves in facsimile and twenty-two others 
 deficient, was marked ;i^3oo. 
 
 The Boke of St. A/batis (1486), a copy perfected in MS., 
 was sold at the Roxburghe sale for ^147. It was 
 resold at the White Knights sale for ;,^84. In March 
 1882 Mr. Quaritch bought it at Christie's for 600 
 guineas. The Grenville copy now in the British 
 Museum has gone through many vicissitudes, which 
 were graphically described by Dr. Maitland in 1847. 
 It appears that at the end of the last century the library 
 of Thonock Hall, in the parish of Gainsborough, the 
 seat of the Hickman family, was sorted out by an 
 ignorant person who threw into a condemned heap 
 all books without covers. A gardener who took an 
 interest in heraldry begged permission to take home 
 what he liked from this heap, and he chose among 
 other books The Book of St. Albans. This remained 
 in his cottage till June 1844, when his son's widow 
 sold 9 lbs. of books to a pedlar for gd. The pedlar 
 sold the lot for 3s. to a chemist in Gainsborough, 
 who was rather struck by Tke Book of St. Albans, 
 and tried to sell it, but the neighbours did not wish 
 to buy it. Eventually he obtained £^2, 2%. for it 
 from a man who expected to sell it to advantage. 
 The purchaser sold it to Stark the bookseller for 
 ;^7, 7s. Stark took it to London and sold it to 
 the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville for seventy or 
 eighty guineas. Mr. Blades communicated this 
 account to Notes and Queries (3rd Series, iv. 369). 
 
 A copy was sold at the Earl of Ashburnham's sale 
 (1897), which was stated to be the Roxburghe copy, 
 completed by the Earl from another copy. Mr. 
 Quaritch bought this for ;^385. 
 
2l6 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Still rarer than this is one of the treatises in a 
 separate form, and printed in the next century : — 
 
 Juliana Barnes's Treatyse of Fysshynge with an Angle. 
 London : Wynkyn de Worde (1532). First separate 
 edition, unique. 
 
 In the Harleian Library, afterwards in Gulston's 
 collection, who sold it to J. RatclifFe, bought at 
 his sale by White the bookseller, sold by him to Mr. 
 Haworth, at whose sale it sold for 19 guineas (un- 
 bound). Earl of Ashburnham (1897), green morocco, 
 
 A few prices may now be given of some of the 
 most interesting publications of the old English 
 press, consisting of the works of poets, travellers, 
 &c., all of which have greatly increased in value, 
 and will probably increase still more :— 
 
 King Arthur, W. Coplande, 1557. 
 
 Dent, £^20, 9s. 6d., fine copy, in olive morocco 
 
 by Lewis. H. Perkins (1873), ^£^120 (same copy). 
 Bancroft's (T.) Two Bookes of Epigrammes and Epitaphs, 
 
 1639. Rare Books and MSS. (Sotheby, March 
 
 1897), fine uncut copy, £^'2. 
 Barnfield's (Richard) Encomion of Lady Pecunia, 1598. 
 Malone bought Farmer's copy for 19s. Ouvry 
 
 (1882), ^105. 
 Bradshaw's (Henry) holy lyfe and history of Saynt Wer- 
 
 burghe (Pynson, 15 21, 4°, pp. 294). 
 
 Only three copies known : (i) Gough's, now in 
 
 the Bodleian ; (2) Heber's, sold in 1834 iox ;£\<), 5s.; 
 
 (3) copy in Longman's catalogue (Bibl. Anglo- 
 
 Poetica), 1815, marked £(>2,. 
 
PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE 217 
 
 The prices of Caxton's two editions of Chaucer's 
 "Canterbury Tales" are recorded on a previous page 
 of this chapter. Imperfect copies of Pynson's first 
 and second editions were marked ^25 in Longman's 
 catalogue (1815). The first edition (fifty-four leaves 
 inlaid and two leaves in facsimile) fetched at the 
 Heber sale;^6o,i8s.,and at the Earl of Ashburnham's, 
 £222- The second edition (1526) sold at the Rox- 
 burghe sale for ^^30, 9s., and an imperfect copy at 
 the Ashburnham sale for ^26. 
 
 Wynkyn de Worde's edition is as valuable as a 
 Caxton, and a fine and perfect copy sold at the 
 Ashburnham sale for ^^looo. 
 
 Cutwode's (T.) Caltha Poetarum ; or, Bumble Bee, 1599. 
 
 Three copies only known : (i) Malone's, now in 
 the Bodleian; (2) Heber's, from which the Roxburghe 
 Club reprint was made, sold in 1834 for ^2>i i^^- J 
 (3) a copy which belonged successively to Steevens, 
 Caldecott, and Freeling. Steevens' sale (1800), 
 £2, I2S. 6d. j Freeling (1836), ;^ii, iss. 
 
 According to Ritson, this book " was staid at the 
 press by order of the Archbishop of Canterbury and 
 Bishop of London ; and such copies as could be 
 found or were already taken were to be presently 
 brought to the Bishop of London to be burnt." 
 Dibdin gives an amusing account of the Roxburghe 
 Club reprint (1815) in his "Reminiscences" (vol. i. 
 p. 465, note) : — "A bet was laid (the winner of the 
 bet to give the Roxburghe Club a dinner) between 
 Sir M. M. Sykes and Mr. Dent whether the anniver- 
 sary meeting of 1815 was the third or fourth of the 
 club. Mr. Dent was the loser, when Mr. Heber 
 promised to present the club with a reprint of the 
 
2l8 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 above poem at the extra dinner in contemplation. 
 Only nine days intervened, but within that period 
 the reprint was transcribed, superintended at the 
 press by Mr. Haslewood (without a single error), 
 bound by Charles Lewis, and presented to the 
 members on sitting down to dinner. Mr. Hasle- 
 wood was reported to have walked in his sleep with 
 a pen in his hand during the whole period of its 
 preparation." 
 
 Drummond of Hawthornden's Forth Feasting, 1617, 
 bought by Ouvry at Sotheby's in 1858 for £,?>, 15s. 
 (bound in morocco), fetched ;£(iO at Ouvry's sale 
 in 1882. 
 
 Fabyan's Chronicles (Pynson, 15 16), first edition. 
 
 Dr. F. Bernard (1698), 4s. 8d. 
 
 Roberts (1815), ;^84— North. John North (1819), 
 ^92. (Perfect.) 
 
 Samuel Lysons (1820), £^t,<^ — Lord Aylesford. 
 Lord Aylesford (1888), ;^2 50— Christie Miller. 
 (Completed by leaves from another edition.) 
 
 Foxe's Acts and Monuments (John Daye, 1562-63), first 
 edition, complete. 
 
 Earl of Ashburnham (1897), £,^^0. 
 
 Frobisher's Three Voyages of Discoverie, 1578, with 
 Keymis's Second Voyage to Guiana, 1596, in one 
 vol., calf gilt, by Kalthoeber. 
 
 Beckford (1882), ;^30o. 
 
 Ouvry's copy of Frobisher, wanting the maps, sold 
 for ^68. 
 
 Froissart's Cronycles (Pynson, 1523-25), two vols, folio. 
 G. Mason (1798), ;^36, 15s. Roxburghe (1812), 
 ;^63. Towneley (1814), ;^42 (title of vol. i. a 
 reprint). W. H. Crawford (Lakelands), 1891, ;^25. 
 
PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE 219 
 
 Hakluyt's Principal Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries 
 of the English Nation, 1589, with rare map, fine 
 copy, in pigskin. 
 
 Jadis, ;^26, ss. Same copy, Duke of Hamilton 
 (1884), £2^. 
 
 Hariot (T.), Merveilleux el estrange Rapport . . . Fran- 
 cofurti, 1590. 
 
 Duke of Hamilton (1884), fine copy, in morocco 
 by Lewis, ^g^j. 
 
 Linschoten's Voyages into the Easte and West Indies, 
 1598, maps and plates from the Dutch edition, title 
 inlaid, and last leaf mended. 
 
 Roxburghe, jQ\o, 15s. Same copy, Beckford 
 (1882), £ii,. Colonel Stanley, ;^22. 
 
 Lodge's (Thomas) Rosalynde, 1598. 
 
 Longman (18 15), ;^2o (imperfect). Heber, ^^5, 
 los. Ouvry (1882), £,(^2,. 
 
 Lok's (Henry) Ecclesiastes (London : Richard Field, 
 
 1597)- 
 
 Longmans (1815), ;^28. Sotheby's (March 1817), 
 £b, 1 6s. G. Daniel, ^^38, los. 
 
 The first editions of Milton's works have greatly 
 increased in price. Not many years ago a copy of 
 the first edition of the "Paradise Lost" could be 
 obtained for about five pounds, but now a good 
 copy is worth at least four times as much. The 
 prices vary considerably with the date of the title- 
 page, of which there are several issues. G. Daniel's 
 fine copy sold in 1864 for £2%, los. 
 
220 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Milton's Maske {Comus), 1637. 
 
 Loscombe, £2^^. G. Daniel, ^36. 
 
 Poems, 1645, first edition, with portrait by Marshall. 
 
 G. Daniel, ;^5, 15s. Rare Books and MSS. 
 (Sotheby, March 1897), fine uncut copy, £^2A, los. 
 
 Purchas his Pilgrimes, five vols., 1625-26. 
 
 Digby (1680), ^3, 5s. 6d. H. Perkins, 1873, 
 fine copy, ^86. Beckford, 1883, fine copy, ;^63. 
 Earl of Gosford (1884), ^^82 (crimson morocco). 
 Earl of Crawford (1887), ;^6o. 
 
 Rhodes (Hugh), Bake of Nurture, 1577. 
 
 Steevens (1800), .^2, 2s. Longmans (1815), 
 
 Ricraft's Peculiar Characters of the Oriental Languages, 
 sm. 4to. 
 
 Bindley, ^19, 19s. Same copy, bound afterwards 
 in russia extra by Lewis, who charged £,1, 5s. for 
 the binding, sold in Beckford sale (1883) for ;£8, 
 17s. 6d. 
 
 Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1584. 
 
 Boswell, ^3, 3s. Comerford (1881), ^^25, los. 
 (citron morocco). 
 
 It is interesting to notice that in the old sales of 
 the seventeenth century the folios of Shakespeare, 
 Beaumont and Fletcher, and Ben Jonson all sold 
 for about the same price. Those of the first now 
 sell for one hundred and two hundred times what 
 they brought then, while those of the second and 
 third do not bring ten times. 
 
PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE 221 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher's WorkSj 1647. 
 
 Sir Edward Bysshe (1679), 13s. 6d. Smallwood 
 (1684), 8s. A. Young and others (Puttick's), 1875, 
 ^^5. Alfred Crampton (1896), 10 guineas. 
 
 Jonson's (Ben) Works, 1640. 
 
 Benj. Worsley (1678), £,1, 13s. 6d. Sir Edward 
 Bysshe (1677), £1, los. Lord Bateman (1896), 
 ^8, 5S. 
 
 Spenser's Faerie Queene, 1590-96, first edition. 
 
 Sir Edward Bysshe (1679), ^s. 2d. Lloyd and 
 Raymund (1685), is. Ouvry (1882), ;^33. Alfred 
 Crampton (161 1), 1896, with additional leaves, ^85. 
 
 'Wee.ytx's Funeral Monuments, 1631. 
 
 Two copies on large paper in Beckford's sale, 
 part 4 (1883), olive morocco, index inlaid, ^25; 
 blue morocco, ^£38. 
 
 Wyclifife. 
 
 Mr. Addington bought at the Dix sale four unique 
 tracts of Wycliffe for .^^400, and expressed his opinion 
 that they would have been cheap at any price, but 
 at his own sale (1886) they only reahsed ^133 — 
 viz., Crede, &c., £2,T, Consolation, ^27; Testa- 
 ment of Moyses, ^^36 ; Small Prayers to Common 
 People, ^33- 
 
 Americana is a class of book which has grown 
 enormously in price. Anything published in Ame- 
 rica in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 
 now fetches a price. 
 
 Smith's Virginia, 1624. 
 
 Dr. F. Bernard (1698), 4s. 2d. Hunter (1813), 
 ^27, 6s. 
 
222 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 A large paper copy sold at the Beckford sale 
 (1883) for ;£'6o5 (dedication copy to the Duchess 
 of Richmond, in old brown morocco, covered with 
 gold tooling, with the Duchess's arms forming the 
 centre ornaments). 
 
 Eliot Bible of 1661-63. 
 
 Dr. L. Seaman (1676), 19s. Wimpole library 
 (Lord Chancellor Hardwicke), 1888, ;^s8o — 
 Quaritch. 
 
 At this Wimpole sale (Christie's) a volume of 
 twelve tracts of the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 
 turies relating to America sold for ;!{^5SS- 
 
 A curious incident occurred at Messrs. Sotheby's 
 in July 1897, during the sale of the library of Mr. 
 Cyril Dunn Gardner. A volume of Sermons, which 
 included "A Sermon preached at Plimmoth in New 
 England, Dec. 9, 1621," was put up, and the biddings, 
 commencing at 5s., were carried on till £1, 17s. was 
 reached, when the lot was knocked down at that 
 amount. A dispute arising, it was put up again, 
 and was eventually bought by Messrs. H. Stevens 
 and Son for ;^87. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 PRICES OF SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS 
 
 The first edition of Shakespeare's Plays (folio, 1623) 
 has been rising in price from the commencement of 
 the nineteenth century ; but the enormous prices 
 now paid do not date further back than 1864, when 
 a specially fine copy was bought by the Baroness 
 Burdett-Coutts at George Daniel's sale for £']i(>, 2s. 
 This amount was paid on account of the height of 
 the book and of its great beauty, and possibly the 
 circumstance of the year being the tercentenary of 
 Shakespeare's birth had something to do with it, 
 but this sale had the effect of raising the price of 
 all copies permanently. 
 
 Beloe, writing in 1807 ("Anecdotes," vol. i. p. 36), 
 said, " Perhaps there is no book in the English 
 language which has risen so rapidly in value as the 
 first edition of the works of our great national poet. 
 I can remember a very fine copy to have been sold 
 for five guineas. I could once have purchased a 
 superb one for nine guineas." This statement can 
 be corroborated; for the Cracherode copy in the 
 British Museum, one of the few really fine copies, 
 has the price ;^8, i8s. 6d. marked in it. Richard 
 Wright's copy sold in 1787 for ;^io, Allen's in 1795 
 
224 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 for 1 8 guineas. Farmer's copy (wanting title, and 
 with the last leaf in MS.) sold for ^7. Garrick 
 bought his copy from Payne for -^i, i6s. Jolley 
 obtained it at Garrick's sale in 1823 for ^34, 2s. 6d., 
 and at Jolley's sale in 1844 it realised ^^84. Lord 
 Denbigh's fine copy sold in 1825 for ^^89, 5s., 
 and Broadley's in 1832 for ^^51 ; William Combes's 
 copy (wanting title-page and all prefatory leaves, 
 but with the text of the Plays complete) fetched 
 8 guineas in 1837 ; Bright's copy (1845), with title 
 repaired, verses from another edition, and some 
 leaves inlaid, brought ^^31, los. The Stowe copy 
 (1849), with verses inlaid, £'](> ; Hawtrey's (1853), 
 with some leaves mended, £6'}. In 1824 Mr. Thorpe 
 the bookseller advertised a set of the four folios — 
 first, ^^65 ; second, 10 guineas ; third, £2^ ; and the 
 fourth, 6 guineas, or the four for ;£ioo. About the 
 same time Mr. Pickering marked a similar set ;^95. 
 
 Copies of the first folio are so constantly sold that 
 one might suppose it to be a common book, but this 
 may be accounted for by the fact that they are con- 
 stantly changing hands. There are only a few copies 
 absolutely perfect, but others are made up from 
 various copies, or with pages in facsimile. This 
 makes the most imperfect copies of value, because 
 they can be used to perfect others. 
 
 Dibdin described thirty copies of the first folio in 
 his " Library Companion," and these he arranged 
 in three classes. In the first class he placed three 
 copies, belonging respectively to Mr. Cracherode, 
 the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville, and Mr. Daniel 
 Moore. The first two are now in the British 
 
PRICES OF SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS 225 
 
 Museum, and the third is the Daniel copy, for 
 which Lilly the bookseller offered ;£30o. 
 
 " These have size, condition, and the genuine properties 
 of a true copy. They are thirteen inches in height, eight 
 and a half in width, have the true portrait and title-page, 
 with the genuine verses in the centre of the leaf facing the 
 title-page. They have no spurious leaves foisted in from 
 other edidons. ... Of these three copies, that in the 
 Cracherode collection is the most objectionable, as the 
 commendatory verses of Ben Jonson, facing the title-page, 
 are, although genuine, inlaid." 
 
 Mr. Granville's copy was bought at Saunders's sale 
 in 1818 for ;£i2i, i6s., which was then thought to 
 be a great sum, and Dibdin makes the unfortunate 
 prophecy that this was "the highest price ever 
 given, or likely to be given, for the volume." Mr. 
 Grenville told Dibdin that an ancestor of Sir Watkin 
 Williams Wynn possessed an uncut copy of the first 
 folio. " It was lying on the table in that condition 
 when, in a luckless moment, a stationer in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Wynnstay came in. The book was 
 given to him to be bound, and off went not only 
 the edges, but half of the margins." Another piece 
 of vandalism was the inlaying the leaves of the book 
 and binding them in three volumes. This was 
 Henderson the actor's copy, which sold at Reed's 
 sale for ;^38. In the second class were included 
 some very good copies. 
 
 " Lord Spencer's copy had every leaf picked by the 
 experienced hands of the late George Steevens. The verses 
 opposite are genuine, but inlaid, and there are many tender 
 
 P 
 
226 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 leaves throughout. There are also in the centre of some of the 
 pages a few greasy-looking spots, which might have originally 
 received the ' flakes of pie-crust ' in the servants' hall, as noti- 
 fied by Steevens.i But it is a beautiful and desirable copy." 
 
 The price mentioned by Steevens is that which 
 the Duke of Roxburghe gave for his copy in 1790, 
 respecting which Dibdin relates an anecdote that 
 took his fancy so much, that he tells the story both 
 at the beginning and at the end of his Bibliomania. 
 
 "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." 
 
 ^ Steevens's remarks, given in another page of Dibdin's " Library 
 Companion," are worth quoting here, more particularly as that 
 Shakesperian commentator gives his opinion of what was a high price 
 for the first folio : " I have repeatedly met with thin flakes of pie- 
 crust between the leaves of our author. These unctuous fragments, 
 remaining long in close confinement, communicated -their grease to 
 
 several pages deep on each side of them Most of the first folios 
 
 now extant are known to have belonged to ancient families resident in 
 the country. Since our breakfasts have become less gross, our favourite 
 authors have escaped with fewer injuries. ... I claim the merit of 
 being the first commentator on Shakespeare who strove with becoming 
 seriousness to account for the present stains that disgrace the earliest 
 folio edition of his plays, which is now become the most expensive 
 single book in our language ; for what other English volume without 
 plates, and printed since the year 1600, is known to have sold, more 
 than once, for £,'},^, 14s. ?" 
 
PRICES OF SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS 227 
 
 A rather different version of this story of Nicol's 
 purchase for the Duke is given in Martin's "Pri- 
 vately Printed Books." 
 
 This copy sold at the Roxburghe sale for ;£ioo, 
 and is now in the Duke of Devonshire's library. 
 Dibdin had a commission from Sir Mark Master- 
 man Sykes to give £"]<,. 
 
 Hibbert's copy was pronounced by Mr. Amyot 
 to be the best copy he had seen after those placed 
 in the first class. It belonged to " Dog " Jennings, 
 and was purchased of Mr. Payne for 70 guineas. 
 At Hibbert's sale it fetched 81 guineas, and was 
 resold in 1847 at Wilks's sale for £1^^- ^^ again 
 occurred at Dunn Gardner's sale (1854), when it 
 was bought by Mr. H. Huth for ;£25o. 
 
 Dent's copy was a tall copy, identical in measure- 
 ment with Daniel's, and with some rough leaves, 
 but the title and verses were pasted down. It 
 was bought by H. Perkins for ;£iio, 5s., and at 
 Perkins's sale it realised ;£s85, los. 
 
 John Kemble's copy was inlaid on large paper, 
 and bound by Mackinlay. It was purchased by 
 Mr. Boswell for ;^ii2, 7s., and at his sale it bi'ought 
 
 In the third class are the following : — 
 Steevens's copy was given to him by Jacob Tonson 
 in 1765, and it had passed through the hands of 
 Theobald and Dr. Johnson, the "latter not having 
 improved its condition." It wants the title and 
 portrait, the latter being supplied by a facsimile 
 drawing by Steevens. The verses are from the 
 second edition. Dr. Charles Burney bought this 
 
228 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 at the sale of Steevens's library for ^11. It is now 
 in the British Museum. Nassau's copy was perfect, 
 with the exception that the verses were from the 
 second edition. It was bought by Mr. Thorpe for 
 
 E. V. Utterson's copy was fair, with title and 
 portrait mounted, verses inlaid, and several leaves 
 mended. It sold for ^£49 in 1852. 
 
 Colonel Stanley's copy was in fair condition, but 
 wanted the original verses and title-page. It was 
 bought at Stanley's sale by Mr. North for £y], i6s., 
 and at North's sale it realised ;^39, i8s. 
 
 Heber gave 10 guineas for his copy, which wanted 
 verses, list of actors, &c., title a reprint from the 
 second edition, some leaves stained, and others 
 mutilated. This sold at Heber's sale (1834) for 
 
 £si, iss. 
 
 A copy of the first folio is now looked upon as a. 
 necessary addition to a first-class library, but there 
 was no copy in the libraries of the Earl of Oxford, 
 Dr. Mead, West, Askew, Crofts, Beauclerk, Heath, 
 Willett, Bindley, or in the Sunderland or Hamilton 
 Palace libraries. 
 
 Mr. Robert Holford is said to have given £,2<fi 
 for his tall copy. 
 
 The following is a list of some of the copies which 
 have been sold since the famous Daniel copy : — 
 
 In 1882 Beresford-Hope's copy, with verses inlaid, 
 title repaired, in morocco by Clarke, fetched £,22,^ ; 
 and Ouvry's sound copy, in red morocco by Clarke 
 and Bedford, sold for ^^420. 
 
 The Earl of Gosford's copy, perfect, with title 
 
PRICES OF SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS 229 
 
 and verses mounted, and margins of leaves slightly 
 mended, was sold in 1884 for ;£47o. 
 
 Hartley's copy was in poor condition, although 
 very tall (13! by 8f), title with portrait wanting, page 
 with verses mutilated, and some leaves mended. 
 It sold in 1887 for ^255. Hartley gave ;£soo 
 for it to those who had bought it at a knock-out 
 for £75. 
 
 The Earl of Aylesford's copy, wanting title, with 
 verses from second edition, and five leaves stained, 
 sold in 1888 for ;^2oo. 
 
 In 1889 F. Perkins's copy, with title and verses 
 mounted, sold for;^4i5; and Halliwell Phillipps's 
 poor copy, with portrait, verses, preliminary and last 
 leaf in facsimile, for j£gS- 
 
 W. H. Crawford's imperfect copy, with title, verses, 
 prefatory matter, and " Cymbeline " reprinted in fac- 
 simile, sold in 1891 for ;!^i6, 10s. 
 
 In this same year Brayton Ives's copy, perfect, but 
 rather short, was sold in New York for 4200 dollars 
 (;^84o_). 
 
 Addington's copy, with verses inlaid, in good con- 
 dition, but short (i2| by 8^), fetched ^^280. 
 
 A copy, with title in facsimile, leaf containing 
 verses, last leaf and a few others mended in the 
 margin, was sold in a sale of Early English Poetry 
 (Sotheby, 1892) for _;^'2o8. 
 
 Birket Foster's copy sold in 1894 for ^255 ; and 
 Mr. Toovey's, with title and verses in facsimile, for 
 ^169. 
 
230 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 SECOND FOLIO, 1632. 
 
 The most interesting copy of the second folio is 
 in the King's Library. It belonged to Dr. Mead, at 
 whose sale it was bought by Askew for £2., 12s. 6d. 
 At Askew's sale it was bought by Steevens for ^^5, 
 los., an amount which he styled enormous. At 
 Steevens's sale this copy was bought for George 
 III. for eighteen guineas.. It formerly belonged to 
 Charles I., who wrote in it, " Dum spiro spero, C.R." 
 The King presented it the night before his execu- 
 tion to Sir Thomas Herbert, who had written, " Ex 
 dono serenissimi Regis Car. Servo suo Humiliss. 
 T. Herbert." Steevens mistook the identity of 
 this Herbert, and wrote, " Sir Thomas Herbert 
 was Master of the Revels to King Charles the 
 First." George III. wrote beneath Steevens's 
 note, "This is a mistake, he (Sir Thomas Herbert) 
 having been Groom of the Bed-Chamber to King 
 Charles I., but Sir Henry Herbert was Master of 
 the Revels." 
 
 Dibdin made the same mistake with respect to 
 this price that he did with respect to the price of 
 the Grenville first folio. He wrote, ";^i8, i8s. — the 
 largest sum ever given, or likely to be given, for the 
 book." Now in 1895, at the Earl of Orford's sale, 
 the largest and finest copy known of the second 
 folio, in the original calf binding, sold for the 
 enormous sum of ;£540. This is out of all propor- 
 tion to the price of the first folio, and a ridiculous 
 amount to pay for a volume of little interest by 
 
PRICES OF SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS 231 
 
 itself, and only of value as one of the four original 
 editions. 
 
 The next largest price realised for a second folio 
 was ;^I48 for Daniel's copy, which has some rough 
 leaves, and was bought by Daniel from Thorpe, who 
 bought it at the Nevill Holt sale for £28, is. 
 
 The Earl of Aylesford's copy, with title laid down, 
 and without verses (131^ in. by 8| in.), sold in 1888 
 for ;^i4o. Brayton Ives's perfect copy was sold in 
 New York in 1891 for 400 dollars (j^8o). Birket 
 Foster's copy sold in 1894 for £c,6. 
 
 It is only lately that such high prices have been 
 obtained for this edition. The following is a list of 
 some of the prices given at an earlier date : — 
 
 B. Worsley (1678), i6s. Digby (1680), 14s. 
 Richard Wright, M.D. (1787), £2, 9s. and £1, 6s. 
 Allen (1795), £4, 4S. Stanley (1813), ;^i3, 2s. 6d. 
 Heber, Part i, ^10, 5s. ; Part 4, wanting verses 
 opposite title-page, and last leaf inlaid, £s, 7 s. 
 Valpy (1832), £18; resold to Broadley (1832), 
 £12, 5s. Stowe (1849), ^ii> Ss- 
 
 Cop'es Sold within the Last Twenty-five Years :— 
 
 H. Perkins (1873), ^44 (fine copy). Well- 
 known collector (Sotheby's), 1880, £x2, iss. (verses 
 from fourth edition printed, part of title in facsimile 
 reprint). Quvry (1882), £a^- Beresford-Hope 
 (1882), £z'~,, los. (title mended). 
 
 Standard English Works (Puttick's), 1886, ^19. 
 F. Perkins (1889), large copy, but worm-hole through 
 half the volume, £\1. W. H. Crawford (1891), 
 wanting verses, ;^i9, los. Smithson and others, 
 1896 (Puttick's), p^i8, Ss. (verses and several pages 
 
232 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 wanting, and a few worm-holes). Jack, Halliday, 
 &c. (Sotheby, July 1897), £55 (fine copy, portrait 
 and verses mended). 
 
 Sir Henry Irving gave ;£'ioo for Dr. Johnson's 
 copy of the second folio, which contains many notes 
 in the margin by Theobald and Johnson. Osborn 
 the bookseller bought it at Theobald's death and 
 presented it to Johnson. Samuel Ireland gave £1 
 for it at Johnson's sale in 1785. It wants title and 
 part of another leaf ^ 
 
 THIRD FOLIO, 1664 (some copies dated 1663). 
 
 This edition is scarcer than the second, owing to 
 the copies having been destroyed in the Fire of 
 London. The title-page of 1663 has the portrait, 
 and that of 1664 is without it. Mr. Thorpe, in one 
 of his catalogues, said that he had "refused ^10 
 for the title of 1663." Mr. Quaritch gave ;^ii for 
 one in 1895 at Sotheby's. 
 
 The following is a list of the prices that some 
 copies have realised : — 
 
 B. Worsley (1678), £1, 8s. 6d. Smallwood (1684), 
 iSs. 6d. Richard Wright, M.D. (1787), £1, is. 
 Allen (1795), £6, 6s. Steevens (1800), ;^8, 8s. 
 Roxburghe (1812), ;^35. Stanley (1813), ;!^i6, i6s. 
 Broadley (1832), ;^ii, 5s. William Combes (1837), 
 ;^5, 7s. 6d. (some leaves inlaid). Stowe (Duke of 
 Buckingham), i849,;!^35 (margin of portrait mended, 
 title lined). Lord Stuart de Rothesay, ;!^So (tall 
 
 ^ " Talk about Autographs,'' by George Birkbeck Hill, London, 
 1896, p. 69. 
 
PRICES OF SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS 233 
 
 copy, with duplicate titles). Miss Currer (1862), 
 ;^43, los. (original calf). Addington, ;£'i3o (large 
 and fine copy). S. Daniel (1864), £ifi. H. 
 Perkins (1873), £^0^^ (|-inch taller than Daniel's 
 copy). Beresford-Hope (1882), ^^72, los. (portrait 
 and title inlaid). Ouvry (1882), £\\(). Earl of 
 Aylesford (1888), ^^93 (13^ in. by 8 in.). F. 
 Perkins (1889), i^ioo. Halliwell Phillipps (1889), 
 ;^24 (title mounted, portrait, verses, and last leaf 
 mounted). Brayton Ives (1891), 950 dollars (^^190), 
 portrait from fourth edition. Hawley (1894), ^^205. 
 Hildyard, 1895 (with two tide-pages), ;^28o. Misc. 
 Coll. (Sotheby's), 1895, original calf, ;^3So. 
 
 FOURTH FOLIO, 1685. 
 
 Dibdin says of this that it "has little to recom- 
 mend it, either on the score of rarity or intrinsic 
 worth." Even now the prices are not very high, 
 and it is only required to complete the set of 
 folios. 
 
 The following are some of the prices that this 
 volume has realised : — 
 
 Richard Wright, M.D. (1787), £,i, is. Steevens 
 (1800), p^2, I2S. 6d. Roxburghe (1812), £fi, 6s. 
 Broadley (1832), ^£2, 2s. William Combes (1837), 
 ;£2, ss. Stowe (Duke of Buckingham), 1849, jP^\, 
 6s. Daniel (1864), £2\, los. H. Perkins (1873), 
 ;^22. Beresford-Hope (1882), ;^24. Ouvry (1882), 
 £2%. Choice library of a gentleman (1882), ;^i7, 
 los. Chevalier de Chatelain (1882), £^1, 5s. (im- 
 perfections supplied in MS.). Addington (1886), 
 ;^23, los. (good tall copy). Old Essex library 
 
234 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 (Lord Petre), 1886, ;^3i, los. (old calf). Earl of 
 Aylesford (1888), £2() (14^ in. by 9^ in.). F. Perkins 
 (1889), ;^i4 (portrait and last two leaves slightly 
 repaired). Halliwell Phillipps (1889), ^^30 (perfect 
 copy, in original calf). Brayton Ives (1891), New 
 York, 210 dollars (^42). Early English Poetry 
 (Sotheby, 1892), ^31. Birket Foster (1894), £2^. 
 Alfred Crampton (1896), £/^2 (14! in. by 9^ in.). 
 
 SEPARATE PLAYS. 
 
 Alts Well that Ends Well, Antony and Cleopatra, As 
 You Like It, Comedy of Errors, Coriolanus, Cym- 
 beline, first editions in first folio. 
 
 Hamlet (Printed for N. L. and John Trundell), 1603, two 
 copies known. 
 
 (i) Duke of Devonshire, purchased of Payne and 
 Foss, 1825 (in vol. containing twelve early editions 
 of this play), for ;^2 5o (wanting last leaf). 
 
 (2) British Museum, wanting title-page. Bought 
 by Mr. Rooney of Dublin in 1856 for small sum, 
 sold to Boone for £10, purchased of them by Halli- 
 well Phillipps for ^120. It was sold subsequently 
 to the British Museum. 
 
 . (L. R. for N. L.) 1604. 
 
 (i) Duke of Devonshire. (2) Earl Howe. (3) 
 H. Huth. 
 
 Henry IV., Part i (P. S. for Andrew Wise), 1598. 
 
 (S. S. for Andrew Wise), 1599. 
 
 Steevens, £t„ ios. Roxburghe, £(>, 6s. White 
 Knights, ;^i8, 7s. 6d. Utterson, ;^i4. Halliwell 
 (May 1857), £t^- G- Daniel (1864), ^115, los. 
 
PRICES OF SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS 235 
 
 Henry TV., Part 2 (V. S. for A. Wise and W. Apsley), 
 1600. 
 
 Steevens, two copies (Dibdin, "Library Com- 
 panion," 80s), £z, 13s., ^2, 15s. Smyth (1797), 
 ^8, 8s. Roxburghe, £2. 4s. Heber (Part 2), ^^40. 
 Utterson (1852), £\^, los. Halliwell Phillipps, 
 ^100 — sold to Mr. Huth. F. Perkins, 1889 
 (Heber's copy), ^225. 
 
 Henry K, "Chronicle History" (Thomas Creede for 
 T. Millington & J. Burby), 1600. 
 
 Steevens (inlaid), ^27, 6s. Kemble, resold 
 (Sotheby, April 1821), ^18, 7s. 6d. Heber (Part 2), 
 ^24, 3s. — bought by Mr. Daniel. Bought at Daniel's 
 sale (1864) for 220 guineas by Lilly. (Fine copy.) 
 
 Henry VI., Parts i and 2, first editions in folio. Part 3 
 (" The true Tragedie of Richard, Duke of York "), 
 P.S. for T. Millington, 1595. 
 Chalmers (Part i), ^£^131. 
 
 (W. W. for T. Millington), 1600. 
 
 Steevens, £1, i6s. Rhodes, £5, 7s. 6d. (one 
 leaf MS.). Jolley, pg'io, los. Halliwell (1857), 
 
 Henry VIII., Julius Coesar, King John, first editions in 
 folio. 
 
 True Chronicle Historie of King lear (Nathaniel Butter, 
 St. Paul's Churchyard), 1608. 
 
 Steevens, ^28. Dent, ;^i4, ss. Strettell, ^15. 
 Edwards (1804), ^15, 4s. 6d. Heber (Part 2), ^32. 
 Halliwell (1856), ;^22, los.— bought for Mr. Huth. 
 Birket Foster (1894), ;£ioo. 
 
236 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 There were second and third editions published 
 in the same year with Butter's name, but without 
 place. 
 
 Lov^s Labour Lost (W. W. for Cuthbert Burby), 1598. 
 Dent, ^26. Bindley, ^40, los. Rhodes, ;^53, 
 IIS. Heber (Part 2), _j^4o (Bindley's copy) ; came 
 into the possession of George Daniel, who valued it 
 at ^200. It sold for 330 guineas at Daniel's sale. F. 
 Perkins (1859), ^^o (headlines cut into, and last 
 leaf mended). Thomas Gaisford (1890), ^140. 
 
 Macbeth, Measure for Measure, first editions in folio. 
 
 Merchant of Venice (J. Roberts), 1600. 
 
 Steevens, ^^2, 2s., jQt. (two copies, both inlaid). 
 Roxburghe, ^2, 14s. ; resold to Jadis, ^d, 6s. ; re- 
 sold to Holland (i860), ;£i5. Heber (Part 2), ;^i2. 
 Jolley, ;^i4. Utterson (1852), ;!^i6. Halliwell 
 (1859), ^21. F. Perkins (1889), ^121. W. H. 
 Crawford (1891), ;^iii. Sir Cecil Domville, 1897, 
 (fine copy), p^3 1 5. 
 
 (J. R. for Thomas Heyes), 1600. 
 
 Duke of Grafton, ^^9, 9s. Bindley, £,21, is. 
 Roxburghe, ^10. Heber (Part 2), ;^33, los. 
 Field, £\T„ 155. Gardner (1854), ;!^32— bought by 
 Mr. Tite. Halliwell (1856), ;£37— bought by Mr. 
 Huth. Daniel, ;^99, 15s. F. W. Cosens (1890), 
 ^270. W. H. Crawford (1891), ^iii. Birket 
 Foster (1894), ;^i46. 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor (T. C. for Arthur Johnson), 
 1602. 
 
 Bindley, ;^i8. Steevens, ^^28 — purchased by 
 Malone; resold to Heber. Heber (Part 2), ^^40; 
 
PRICES OF SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS 237 
 
 bought by G. Daniel; sold at his sale in 1864 for 
 330 guineas to Lilly. Thomas Gaisford (1890), 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, for Arthur Johnston, 161 9. 
 Roxburghe, ^^i, 3s. Steevens, ^1, 4s. Dent, 
 ;^8. Heber (Part 2), ;^7. Halliwell (1856), ;^i6 
 —bought by Mr. Tite. Halliwell (1858), £1^. 53. 
 
 Midsummer Nighfs Dreame (Thomas Fisher), 1 600. 
 
 Steevens (part of a leaf wanting), £2<„ los. 
 Bindley, ;j^2 2, los. fleber (Part 2, very fine), 
 ^^36 — bought by Daniel; sold at his sale in 1864 
 for 230 guineas to Lilly. Brayton Ives (New York), 
 1891, 725 dollars. Birket Foster (1894), £\22 
 (large copy). 
 
 (James Roberts), 1600. 
 
 Boswell, £2, IS. Roxburghe, ^^3, 3s. Duke of 
 Grafton, £\, 8s. Dent, ^4, los. Heber (Part 4, 
 fine), £^ — bought by Daniel; sold at his sale for 
 ^36 — bought by Lilly. Gardner (1854), £12, 15s. 
 Sotheby, 1857 (Berry), £21. F. Perkins (1889), 
 £(i\ (three headlines shaved). 
 
 Much Ado about Nothing (V. S. for A. Wise and W. 
 Apsley), 1600. 
 
 Smyth (1797), £l, los. Steevens, £2, 12s. 6d. 
 Roxburghe, £2, 17s. Broadley (1832), £2, 19S. 
 Bindley, ;^ 17, 17s. 
 
 Heber, Part 2 (finest copy known, with rough 
 edges), £1^ — bought by Daniel; sold at his sale 
 ( 1 864) for 2 s 5 guineas — Toovey. Halliwell (1857), 
 ^65— bought by Mr. Huth. Halliwell Phillipps 
 (1889), £i,o (several leaves in facsimile). F. Perkins 
 (1889), £1^ (headlines cut into). Thomas Gaisford 
 
 (1890), ;^I30. 
 
238 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Othello (N. O. for T. Walkley), 1622. 
 
 Steevens (with MS. notes), jQ^^, 8s. Gilclirist, 
 £\<^, I OS. Dent, £22. Bindley, ;^56, 14s.; re- 
 sold Heber (Part 2), for £,2%; bought by Daniel; 
 sold at his sale for ;^i55 to Lilly. William Combes 
 (1837), i^iS, 5s- F. Perkins (1889), ^^130. 
 
 Pericles (H. Gosson), 1609. 
 
 Steevens, £1, 2s. Roxburghe, £\, 153. 
 
 Heber, Part 2, £\% — bought by Daniel; sold at 
 his sale for £?>A' • 
 
 F. Perkins, 1889 (Steevens's copy, with his auto- 
 graph), £bo. HaUiwell Phillipps (1889), £io 
 (title reprinted, and two leaves wanting). 
 
 J. T. Frere, 1896, ^^lyi. 
 
 Richard II. (Valentine Simmes for Andrew Wise), 1597. 
 Daniel's was the first copy brought to auction. 
 Bought by Lilly (1864) for 325 guineas. 
 
 (Val. Simmes for Andrew Wise), 1598. 
 
 Steevens, £/i„ 14s. 6d. Roxburghe, £1, 7s. 
 White Knights, £\o. Heber, £\, 14s. 6d. Bright 
 (1845), £,'^Zi i°s- Daniel (1864), 103 guineas — 
 Halliwell. 
 
 Richard III. (Valentine Sims for Andrew Wise), 1597. 
 _, Nixon (1818), ;!^33; resold to Heber. Heber 
 
 (Part 2), £^T., 9s. 6d. ; bought by Daniel ; sold at 
 his sale for 335 guineas to Lilly. 
 
 Romeo and Juliet (John Danter), 1597. 
 
 Heber, Part 2 (wanting title, and cut into the 
 text), £\, IS. 
 
 Kemble gave Stace the bookseller ;^3o for his 
 copy, now in the library of the Duke of Devon- 
 shire. 
 
PRICES OF SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS 239 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, second or first complete edition 
 (T. Crede for C. Burby), 1599. 
 
 Steevens, £(>. Roxburghe, £1, los. White 
 Knights, ^10, los. Heber, ^5, 153. 6d. Daniel, 
 £'-,2, los. F. Perkins (1889), ^164, (headlines cut 
 into, and title mounted). 
 
 Taming of the Shrew, Tempest, Timon of Athens, first 
 editions in folio. 
 
 Titus Andronicus (Edward White), 1611. 
 Daniel (1864), ^31, los. 
 
 F. Perkins (1889), ^35 (margin of title re- 
 paired). 
 
 Troilus and Cressida (G. Eld for R. Bonian & H. 
 Walley), 1609. 
 
 Boswell, 13s. Steevens, ^^5, los. Roxburghe, 
 ;,^5, 5s. Heber (Part 2), £16. Daniel (1864), 
 109 guineas; this fine copy, with second title, 
 cost him ;^so. F. Perkins (1889), ^^30 (headhnes 
 cut off). 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, Winter's Tale, first editions in 
 folio. 
 
 Venus and Adonis (Richard Field), 1593. 
 
 Malone gave ^25 for his unique copy, now in 
 the Bodleian. 
 
 (Richard Field), 1594. 
 
 JoUey (1844), £106 (close cut, and mended); 
 now in the Grenville Library. Daniel (1864), 
 ;^24o — Lilly ; finest copy known. 
 
240 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Fenus and Adonis (R. F. for John Harrison), 1596. 
 
 Sir W. Holland (1840), ^91— Bright; Bright's 
 sale (184s), ;^9i, los. — Daniel; Daniel's sale 
 (1864), 300 guineas — Boone. 
 
 Lucrece (Richard Field for John Harrison), 1594. 
 
 Baron Bolland (1840), ;,^io5. Bright, £'^Z 
 (top margin repaired). Daniel (1864), 150 guineas 
 —Lilly. W. H. Crawford (1891), ^^250. Mr. Hol- 
 ford is said to have given ;^ioo for his copy. F. 
 Perkins (1899), ;^2oo (small hole burnt in two 
 leaves). 
 
 Sonnets (G. Eld for T. T.), 1600. 
 
 Steevens, ^^3, 19s.; this copy cost Narcissus 
 Luttrell IS.; at Daniel's sale (1864) it realised 215 
 guineas. Edwards (1804), _;^8. Longman's Cata- 
 logue, ;^3o. Roxburghe, ^21. Chalmers (1841), 
 ^105. Halliwell (1856), £,d,\ — bought by Mr. 
 Tite. Halliwell (1858), ;^iS4, 7s.— bought by Mr. 
 Huth. 
 
 Poems (Thomas Cotes), 1640. 
 
 Collins (1683), 6d. Lloyd & Raymond (1685), 
 6d. Field, ;^2, 5s. Nassau, ;^3, 13s. 6d. Bindley, 
 ^5, 15s. Longman's Catalogue, ;^8, i8s. 6d. ; 
 another copy, ^10, los. Stowe, j[^i, los. Bright, 
 ^15. Daniel (1864), ^44. F. W. Cosens (1890), 
 
 i:6i. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 PRICES OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF BOOKS 
 
 In this chapter some account will be given of a 
 few of the various classes of literature which have 
 not previously been alluded to ; but to give a 
 general idea of some of these books which bring 
 a high price, it will be necessary to be brief. 
 
 Oldys refers to the sale of a book which he 
 supposes to have been erroneously valued, but 
 he was not quite correct in his statement. He 
 wrote, "The atheistical book of Giordano Bruno 
 sold at Paul's Coffee-house for ^^30 in 1709; it 
 has scarcely sold for so many pence since." ^ 
 
 The book referred to was — Giordano Bruno, 
 Spaccio de la Bestia Trionfante. Parigi (Londra : 
 T. VautroUier 1584), the sale of which is com- 
 mented upon in The Spectator, No. 389. The sale 
 at which this book occurred was that of Charles 
 Bernard in 171 1, and the amount was really ^^28. 
 The purchaser was Walter Clavel, and this copy 
 was successively in the possession of John Nichols, 
 John Ames, Sir Peter Thompson, and M. C. Tutet. 
 At the sale of the latter's library in 1786 it was 
 bought by Samuel Tyssen for seven guineas. 
 
 1 " Memoir of William Oldys," 1862, p. 104. 
 
242 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Another copy, which had formed part of the library 
 of Mr. P. Le Neve, was sold at Dr. Mead's sale 
 (1754) for four or five guineas.* The price has 
 not gone down, as Oldys supposed it would, for 
 at the Dunn Gardner sale (1880) a copy brought 
 ;^20, 15s., and another, at the Duke of Hamilton's 
 sale (1884), sold for ;^i8, los. 
 
 There is a larger circle of bibliophiles in France 
 than in England, and they are more willing to pay 
 high prices for out-of-the-way books. The early 
 editions of Moliere and Rabelais, like those of 
 Shakespeare, are sold for large sums, and early 
 French literature generally, like our own, has 
 greatly advanced in price of late years. 
 
 Two instances of the great advance that has 
 occurred may be given : — 
 
 Perrault, Coxites de ma Mere Loye, 1697, wanting 
 leaf of errata, a fine copy, in blue morocco by 
 Bauzonnet, sold at Charles Nodier's sale for 112 
 francs. The same copy at the Duke of Hamilton's 
 sale brought ^^85. 
 
 Gringoire, Les Fantasies de Mere Sote (Paris, 1516), 
 a copy in blue morocco by Padeloup, sold at 
 Hibbert's sale for nine guineas. The same copy 
 brought the large sum of ;^i8o at Beckford's sale. 
 One can understand such high prices as these, 
 which arise from the revived interest felt in this 
 kind of book, but the high price of Le Pastissier 
 Francois (Amsterdam : L. & D. Elzevier, 1655) 
 seems absurd. Such a book can be of little 
 
 ' Nichols's "Literary Anecdotes," vol. i. p. 593. 
 
PRICES OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF BOOKS 243 
 
 interest to English buyers, although certainly Mr. 
 Andrew Lang grows enthusiastic over it in his 
 " Books and Bookmen." In an early edition of his 
 Manuel ij.Zzx) Brunet wrote; — 
 
 " Till now I have disdained to admit this book into my 
 work, but I have yielded to the prayers of amateurs. 
 Besides, how could I keep out a volume which was sold 
 for one hundred and one francs in 1 8 1 9 ? " 
 
 The book has greatly increased in value since 
 then, and, as a consequence, copies not hitherto 
 known have come into the market. Berard only 
 knew of two copies. Pietiers, writing on the El- 
 zevirs in 1843, could cite only five, and in his 
 Annales he had found out but five more. Willems, 
 on the other hand, enumerates some thirty, not in- 
 cluding Motteley's.^ Mr. Lang himself calculates 
 the number of Pastissiers now existing at forty, and 
 gives a good many prices to show how the book 
 has increased in value. A copy was sold in 1780 
 for 4 francs. Sensier's copy sold for 128 francs 
 in 1828, and for 201 francs in 1837. It was after- 
 wards bound by Trautz-Bauzonnet, and sold with 
 Potier's books in 1870 for 2910 francs. At the 
 Benzon sale (1875) it fetched 3255 francs, and was 
 sold again in 1877 for 2200 francs. Mr. Lang 
 further says that a copy was marked in Bachelin- 
 Deflorenne's catalogue at ;^240, and that Morgand 
 and Fatout sold an uncut copy for ;£4oo. The 
 Earl of Orford's copy sold in 1895 for ;^ioo. 
 
 ' Lang's "Books and Bookmen," p. 13. 
 
244 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 This is one of the very few books that are abso- 
 lutely valueless, except in regard to such value as it 
 gains from its rarity and association with a great 
 firm of printers ; yet Mr. Lang says that " there are 
 at least four thousand people who would greatly 
 rejoice to possess a Pastissier, and some of these 
 desirous ones are very wealthy." This is amazing, 
 but I suppose it would scarcely be polite to refer to 
 Carlyle's verdict as to what the mass of people are. 
 
 Another scarce book, which is stupid, and of no 
 interest in itself, is Horace Walpole's "Hieroglyphic 
 Tales" (1785). The British Museum does not possess 
 a perfect copy, but it has some of Walpole's own 
 corrected proofs bound up in a volume. The Earl 
 of Orford's copy, interleaved and bound in morocco 
 by Roger Payne, sold in 1895 for £y]. 
 
 County histories vary in price, but they must 
 always hold their ground and sell well, on account 
 of the value of the information contained in their 
 pages, which cannot easily be found elsewhere. 
 They may be considered as eminently safe property. 
 The following are the prices of a few of these : — 
 
 Atkyns's (Sir R.) Gloucestershire, folio, 171 2. Large paper 
 (first and best edition). 
 
 Bryant (1807), ^17, 17s. Dent (1827), £\i^, 
 14s. Sykes, ;!^i6. Nassau, 15 guineas. H 
 Perkins (1873), ;£2q. Comerford (1881), ;^4i. 
 Beresford-Hope (1882), £2>^. Beckford (1882), 
 
 Aubrey's Surrey, 5 vols., 17 19. Large paper. 
 
 Dent, ^£'19, ss. H. Perkins (1873), ^32, 10s. 
 
PRICES OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF BOOKS 245 
 
 Blomefield's Norfolk, 5 vols., 1739-75. 
 
 Comerford (1881), ^^160 (illustrated). Earl of 
 Gosford (1884), £,%■] (drawings by Cotman inserted). 
 William Brice, &c (1887), ;^2o. 
 
 Drake's (T.) Eboracum, History of the City of York, 1736. 
 Large paper, proof-plates coloured, in red morocco 
 by Kalthoeber. 
 
 H. Perkins (1873), £2^,. Beckford (1882), ^63. 
 
 Dugdale's (Sir W.) Antiquities of Warwickshire, 1656. 
 First edition, and the only one admitted as evidence 
 in a court of law. 
 
 Bindley, £\o, los. Sykes, £\t, iis. Comer- 
 ford, £\2., los. Beckford (1882), ;£2o. Sunder- 
 land (1882), ^15. 
 
 Dugdale's Warwickshire, 2 vols., 1730. Large paper. 
 
 Dent, ^33. Sykes, ^39, 8s. Heath, £(>\, is. 
 Nassau, ;^33. Willett, ^52, los. H. Perkins 
 (1873), ^fi^ (red morocco by Derome). 
 
 Gough's Sepulchral Monuments, 5 vols., 1786-96. 
 
 Fonthill, ;^92, 8s. Beckford (1882), ;^3i. (Same 
 copy.) 
 
 Loggan (D.), Oxonia illustrata, 1675. 
 
 Beckford (1882), £\/s, (old red morocco). 
 
 Cantabrigia illustrata, 1688. 
 
 Beckford (1882), ;^ii (old red morocco). 
 
 Nichols's Leicestershire, four vols, in eight, 17 95-1 8 15. 
 Large paper (original edition of vol. iv., part i), russia 
 extra. 
 
 H. Perkins (1873), ^260. Earl of Gosford (1884), 
 
246 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Ormerod's Cheshire, 3 vols., 1819. Large paper. 
 
 H. Perkins (1873), plates in three states-etchings, 
 proofs, and proofs on India paper, morocco extra by 
 Lewis, one of six copies, ;^iS5. 
 
 Plot's Oxfordshire, 1677. Large paper. 
 
 Beckford (1883), ;^8, 15s. (old red morocco). 
 
 Staffordshire, 1686. Large paper. 
 
 Beckford (1883), ;^40, los. (old black morocco). 
 
 Thoroton's Nottinghamshire, 1677. 
 
 Heber (part 9), £,\ i, 5s. Beresford-Hope (1882), 
 ;^ii. Beckford (1883), ;^i4, los. 
 
 First editions of our English classics have in- 
 creased greatly in price of late years. Many of 
 Defoe's works are very scarce, and bring good prices. 
 The late Mr. James Crossley had a fine collection 
 of these, but his library was in such poor condi- 
 tion that the books did not sell well. The British 
 Museum bought at his sale, June 20, 1885, the auto- 
 graph manuscript of Defoe's " Compleat English 
 Gentleman," which had never been printed until 
 Mr. Nutt issued it to subscribers in 1890. The 
 manuscript remained in the possession of Defoe's 
 relations, the Baker family, for more than a hundred 
 years, as Dawson Turner bought it in 1831 from 
 the Rev. H. D. F. Baker, the descendant of Henry 
 Baker, son-in-law of Defoe, for ^69. In 1859, at 
 the sale of Turner's MSS., Crossley bought the 
 book for ;^75, 8s. 
 
 Robinson Crusoe, first edition, 2 vols., 17 19. 
 
 Roxburghe (1812), £^\, 4s. Sotheby's (1846), £,\, 
 i6s. (with "Serious Reflections," 3 vols., 1719-20). 
 Alfred Crampton, 1896 (3 vols.), £,1S- 
 Sir Cecil Domvile, 1897 (part i), ;^45, los. 
 
PRICES OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF BOOKS 247 
 
 Walton's Angler, 1653, first edition. 
 
 Rev. J. Brand (1807), ^3, 3s. (fine copy). 
 Hunter (1813), £•;, los. Utterson (1852), £11, 
 153. Beckford (1883), fine copy, in green morocco, 
 ;^87— Bain." Gibson-Craig (1887), ^^195 (morocco). 
 Gibson-Craig (1888), £27, (imperfect, sold with all 
 faults). G. Wood (Sotheby, 1891), ;^3io (clean, 
 in original sheepskin). Sotheby (December 1895), 
 
 Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield, 1766, first edition. 
 
 Mansfield - Mackenzie (1889), £6"]. T. B. T. 
 Hildyard (1895), ^^56 (original calf). Alfred 
 Crampton (1896), £6$ (morocco extra by Bed- 
 ford). Rare Books and MSS. (Sotheby, March 1897), 
 £60 (original calf). 
 
 BOOKS ON VELLUM 
 
 Collectors have always had a fancy for these very 
 choice books, and that the taste has not yet died 
 out is seen from the fact that the late William 
 Morris printed copies of the beautiful books issued 
 from the Kelmscott Press on vellum, and was parti- 
 cularly careful in the selection of the skins, which 
 he obtained at first from Italy. A complete set of 
 all the books on vellum (including Chaucer), forty- 
 nine volumes, were offered at the Kelmscott Press 
 for £6^0, and have been sold at that price. 
 
 We can understand the early printed books being 
 struck off upon vellum, as the printers appreciated 
 that material on account of its use by the scribes 
 in the production of the beautiful manuscripts of a 
 
248 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 former age, but it is surely infinitely more con- 
 venient to have a book printed on good paper 
 rather than on such a refractory material as vellum. 
 Some collectors have been so jnfatuated as to 
 confine 'their libraries to books printed on vellum, 
 and the French Marshal Junot was one of them. 
 Modern books were printed for him on this sub- 
 stance ; but when they came to be sold it was found 
 that the public did not care much for his books, and 
 more than half of them were bought in. One of the 
 lots illustrates in a remarkable manner the advance 
 in prices at the present time. The book was Lon- 
 gus's Pastoralia, printed by Didot in 1802. One 
 copy only was pulled on vellum for the Marshal, 
 and this volume contained the original drawings of 
 Praudhon, and a set of proof impressions of the 
 engravings. At the Junot sale in 1816 this book 
 only realised £y], ids. ; at the Beckford sale it 
 brought £f)00. One of the most charming of 
 Junot's books was the Didot Horace of 1799 folio, 
 a volume which contained the original drawings 
 from which the copperplate vignettes were exe- 
 cuted. This was bought by George Hibbert for 
 
 Of old books, mention may be made of the 
 dedication copy to James V. of John Bellenden's 
 translation of Hector Boece's "Cronikles of Scot- 
 land" (1536), which was printed on vellum, and 
 which, in a fine old binding, realised at the Duke 
 of Hamilton's sale (1884), ;£8oo. 
 
 Dibdin styled this hobby of collectors the fifth 
 symptom of the bibliomania, and he gave a list of 
 
PRICES OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF BOOKS 249 
 
 the vellum -printed books in Count MacCarthy's 
 and James Edwards's libraries. In the latter col- 
 lection was a copy of Martin Luther's German 
 Bible (Augsburg, 1535, two vols, folio), which sold 
 for the reasonable price of ^52, los. These copies 
 on vellum were printed at the charge of John 
 Frederick, Elector of Saxony. 
 
 Edwards employed Bodoni to print for him six 
 copies of the edition of the " Castle of Otranto " 
 (Parma, 1791) on vellum, and his own copy, made 
 up with a selection of the best sheets, sold at his 
 sale in 1815 for ^29, 8s. 
 
 At Watson Taylor's sale Pope's "Essay on Man" 
 (1819), printed on vellum, sold for ;£io. 
 
 Mention has already been made of the grand 
 copies on vellum of the earliest productions of the 
 printing-press — the Mazarin Bible, &c. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BOOKS 
 
 Good illustrated books, which are an ornament to 
 any library, are now high priced, and are not likely 
 to fall in value. Such books as Dibdin's biblio- 
 graphical works, Rogers's " Italy " and " Poems," 
 and many other books of a like kind, must always 
 be a delight to the esthetic collector. 
 
 Collections of engraved portraits have realised 
 great prices, such jas Holland's Basiliwlogia (1618), 
 which sold for ;^6oo at Christie's in 181 1 ; and his 
 Herwologia (1620), which sold for ;^I7 at the 
 Beckford sale, ^^28, ids. at the Earl of Crawford's 
 sale (1887), and £,!(), 15s. at W. H. Crawford's 
 
250 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 (Lakelands) sale (1891) ; and the superb series of 
 Vandyck's etchings, which sold for ;£285o at the 
 Beckford sale. 
 
 Great prices have also been paid for extra illus- 
 trated books ; but it is useless to record the prices 
 given for them, unless a list of the contents is given 
 also. Grangerising has been ridiculed with much 
 justice, and some of the bulky works which have 
 been produced, such as the illustrated Bibles and 
 Shakespeares, are instances of a very absurd mania. 
 Dr. Hill Burton gave an amusing and by no 
 means exaggerated sketch in his " Book Hunter " 
 of how the compiler set about his work. Now in 
 England Grangerising is mostly confined within 
 the limits of illustrating topographical works with 
 views and historical books with portraits, but in 
 the United States the old plan is said to be still 
 in force. 
 
 BINDINGS 
 
 In no class of books have prices more conspi- 
 cuously advanced than in the case of bindings, and 
 in many sales that have taken place of late years 
 fine specimens have been brought to the hammer ; 
 but no sale could compare with that of the Beckford 
 library in this respect. Good examples of the libraries 
 of Margaret of Valois, Maioli, Grolier, Thuanus, 
 and Canevari are eagerly sought after, and the 
 following prices of some of the choicest of these 
 bindings will give readers an idea of the current 
 values of these charming books : — 
 
PRICES OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF BOOKS 25 1 
 
 Marguerite de Valois. Carmina illustrium Poetarum 
 Italorum, 1579, 2 vols. Old brown morocco, 
 covered with the arms and devices of Marguerite 
 de Valois. 
 
 Beckford (1882), ;!{^242. 
 
 Diane de Poictiers. Le Livre des Statuts et Ordonances 
 de rOrdre de Sainct Michel (Paris, 1550), printed 
 on vellum. A beautiful specimen of the library of 
 Diane de Poictiers, in old brown morocco, orna- 
 mented with the arms of Henry II. of France, the 
 crescent, bows and quivers of Diana, and fleurs 
 de lis. 
 
 Beckford (1882), £\Si. 
 
 Grolier. I. Aurelius Augurellus (Venetiis : Aldus, 1505). 
 Brown morocco, beautiful specimen of Grolier's 
 library. 
 
 Beckford (1882), ;^2So. 
 
 Lucanus cura Aldi Romani (Venetiis: Aldus, 1515). 
 
 Grolier's copy, covered with scroll tooling. 
 Beckford (1882), £2^0. 
 
 Another copy, veau fauve, with Grolier tooling, 
 
 Grolier and Thuanus. Lucanus de Bello Civili (Lutetise : 
 R. Stephanus, 1545). Brown morocco, covered with 
 Grolier tooling; apparently bound for Grolier, and 
 subsequently possessed by Thuanus. 
 Beckford (1882), ^135. 
 
 Franchini Poemata (Romse, 1554)- Red morocco, 
 
 covered with Grolier tooling, and monogram of the 
 Marquis de Menars on back, from the libraries of 
 Grolier and Thuanus. 
 Beckford (1882), ^230. 
 
252 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Grolier and Thuanus. Buchanan! Psalmorum Para- 
 phrasis Poetica (apud H. et R. Stephanum, s.a.). 
 Olive morocco, sides and back covered with gold 
 tooling in the Grolier style, the first arms of 
 Thuanus forming the centre ornament. 
 Beckford (1882), £2,10. 
 
 Louis XIII. and Anne of Austria. Sainct Johan Zebedee 
 L' Apocalypse, Mystere (Paris, 1541). Blue morocco, 
 richly ornamented with gold tooling and the crowned 
 cyphers of Louis XIII. and Anne of Austria, by A. 
 Ruette. 
 
 Beckford (1882), £2^$. 
 
 Demetrio Canevari, Physician to Urban VIII. Tirante 
 il Bianco (Vinegia, 1538). A perfect specimen of 
 Canevari's library, in Venetian red morocco, with 
 his device. 
 
 Beckford (1883), ;!^iii. 
 
 Du Fresnoy. Lucanus de Bello CiviH (Lugd. Bat., 1658). 
 Red morocco, richly ornamented with gold tooling, 
 with arms and monogram of H. Petit Du Fresnoy 
 stamped on the sides and back, by Boyet. 
 Beckford (1882), ^^84. 
 
 Marguerite de Montmorency, Dame de Fosseteau. Du- 
 chesne, Histoire genealogique de la maison de 
 Montmorency et de Laval, 2 vols, in i (Paris, 
 1624). Old olive moroccOj the sides and back 
 covered with the MF and device (the Marguerite) 
 of Marguerite de Montmorency. 
 Beckford (1882), ;^i2o. 
 
 A few instances of the work of the great French 
 binders follow, and it will be seen that the work of 
 
PRICES OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF BOOKS 253 
 
 no binder is more appreciated by collectors than 
 that of Monnier: — 
 
 Clovis Eve. Coloured Drawings of Maps and Plans of 
 places in France, executed in 1602 and 1603 for 
 Henry IV.'s own use. Olive morocco, covered with 
 fleurs de lis, the King's arms forming the centre 
 ornament, with his crowned H at each corner. 
 A magnificent specimen of Clovis Eve's art. 
 Beckford (1882), ^^375. 
 
 Boyet. In the second portion of the Sunderland library 
 there was a small volume in old crimson morocco 
 (Cicero, De Officiis, Amst. ex off. Elzeviriani, 1677), 
 which was not specially described, nor the title 
 printed in capitals. It did not look worth many 
 pounds, but Mr. Quaritch obtained it after an ex- 
 citing contest with Mr. Morgand for ^£^120. The 
 cause of the excitement was this: from the character 
 of the end papers it was judged that the book had 
 been bound by the French binder Boyet. Speci- 
 mens of his handiwork are very rare, and hence the 
 great price. 
 
 Deseuil (or Du Seuil). In the second portion of the 
 Beckford library was a copy of the Leyden edition 
 of Macrobius (1670), bound in red morocco doubM 
 by Deseuil. This fetched ;£39, while another copy 
 in vellum only reahsed i6s. 
 
 Here is another instance of the increased value of 
 a copy of a book bound by a good binder. A copy 
 of Montaigne, Essais, 3 vols. 8vo (Amst. : Elzevir, 
 1659), bound in red morocco doubM by Deseuil, 
 brought ;£2oo, while another copy, bound by Roger 
 Payne in red morocco, only sold for ;!^i2, los. 
 
254 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 A small duodecimo volume bound by Deseuil 
 (Longus, Les Amours Pastorales de Daphnis at 
 Chloe, Paris, 1788) was sold at G. Daniel's sale 
 in 1864 for ;^92. 
 
 Monnier. Decor Puellarum (Venetia : N. Jenson, 147 i). 
 Girardot de Prefond's copy, a magnificent specimen 
 of Monnier's binding, in blue morocco, ornamented 
 with flowers worked on variegated leathers, and 
 stamped in gold. 
 
 Beckford (1883), ;^S3o. 
 
 De rimitation de Jesus Christ traduction. nouvelle 
 
 (Paris, 1690). Large paper. Citron morocco, mag- 
 nificent specimen of Monnier's binding. 
 Beckford (1882), ^356. 
 
 Corneille, Rodogune. Au Nord [Versailles], 1760. 
 
 Madame de Pompadour's own copy, printed under 
 her eyes in a northern apartment of the Palace of 
 Versailles, in yellow morocco ; fine specimen of 
 Monnier's binding. 
 
 Beckford (1882), ^325. 
 
 It has hitherto been the fine French and Italian 
 bindings that have fetched the high prices, but now 
 some of the beautiful English bindings of the seven- 
 teenth and eighteenth centuries are coming in for 
 their share of consideration. At the Earl of Orford's 
 sale (1895) R. Wood's "Essay on Homer" (1785), 
 bound by Roger Payne by order of Wood's widow 
 for presentation to Horace Walpole, sold for ten 
 guineas. There is an interest in this book as having 
 fallen into the hands of Goethe when his powers 
 were first developing themselves, and it strongly 
 
PRICES OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF BOOKS 255 
 
 interested him. Robert Wood was Under-Secretary 
 of State in 1762, and he related an affecting anecdote 
 of Lord Granville, a statesman known now only to 
 the few. Wood was directed to wait upon the 
 President of the Council (Lord Granville) a few 
 days before he died with the preliminary articles of 
 the Treaty of Paris. " 1 found him/' he continued, 
 " so languid that I proposed postponing my business 
 for another time ; but he insisted that I should stay, 
 saying that it could not prolong his life to neglect 
 his duty," adding a quotation from Homer, which 
 may be found in Mr. Matthew Arnold's discourses 
 on Homeric translations. 
 
 EARLY EDITIONS OF MODERN AUTHORS 
 
 The last five-and-twenty years has seen the rise of 
 a new taste in early editions of the works of modern 
 authors, and a new class of bibliographers has arisen 
 to describe these books. 
 
 Mr. J. H. Slater (the editor of "Book Prices 
 Current ") has published a useful guide to this sub- 
 ject, entitled " Early Editions : a Bibliographical 
 Survey of the Works of some popular Modern 
 Authors. London, 1894." 
 
 1 have taken some particulars from this book, 
 and supplemented them with a note of the prices 
 realised at the remarkable sale of Mr. Alfred 
 Crampton's collection in 1896. I have also added 
 a few books sold since that date. 
 
 Among the first of modern books to sell for high 
 prices were the illustrated novels of Dickens and 
 
256 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 Thackeray, and to be valuable these must be in 
 perfect condition, with the original wrappers, &c. 
 After these come the other books illustrated by 
 Cruikshank, " Phiz," Leech, and others, viz., Ains- 
 worth's and Lever's novels, Surtees' Sporting novels 
 — "Sponge's Sporting Tour," "Jorrocks's Jaunts," 
 " Handley Cross," &c. 
 
 Of poets, Shelley's pieces were among the first to 
 attain high prices, and Byron's among the last. 
 
 Arnold.— Matthe-w Arnold's "Strayed Reveller. 
 By A.," 1849, and " Empedocles on Etna," 1852, 
 have long been classed among the rare books. The 
 former was published at 4s. 6d., and its usual price 
 now is £^, but a copy has fetched £'y. The latter 
 was published at 6s., and is now valued at from 
 £3, los- to £6. 
 
 Beckford, Poetical Sketches. 
 
 Gaisford (1890), ;^4o. 
 
 Blake (W.), Songs of Innocence and of Experience [1789]. 
 Engraved and coloured by Blake, in green morocco 
 by Lewis. 
 
 Sir W. Tite, ;^6i. Lord Beaconsfield, ;^85. 
 Beckford (1882), ^146. 
 
 Milton : a Foetn. Engraved throughout, and orna- 
 mented with designs by Blake, blue morocco by 
 Mackenzie. 
 
 Beckford (1882), ^^230. 
 
 Browning. — Robert Browning's first publication, 
 which appeared when its author was in his twenty- 
 first year, is a great rarity. 
 
PRICES OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF BOOKS 257 
 
 " Pauline ; a Fragment of a Confession. 'Plus ne 
 suis ce que j'ai 6te, Et ne le S9aurois jamais gtre.' 
 — Marot. London : Saunders & Otley, Conduit 
 Street, 1833." 
 
 Mr. Slater says that there are about eight copies 
 known, and that it was supposed to be worth ^^40 
 or ^50. A copy, with an autograph note by the 
 author, was sold at Alfred Crampton's sale for 
 ;^i45. Mr. Thomas J. Wise printed a facsimile 
 reprint in 1886, which has been used by the forger 
 to deceive. Mr. Slater had seen a "doctored" 
 copy of this reprint, in which Wise's title and pre- 
 fatory note were removed, the paper was rotted to 
 make it porous, and the leaves were smoked to give 
 them a mellow appearance. Mr. Wise's paper is 
 thicker than the original, and Mr. Slater gives a 
 hint how to distinguish the two : — 
 
 "On the final page (71) appear the words — 'Richmond, 
 October 22, 1832.' If the word 'October' is printed in 
 thin italics the book is without doubt a reprint. So far as 
 I am aware, there is no other difference between Mr. Wise's 
 excellent reprint and the original (the paper excepted)." 
 
 Burns. — The most amazing price ever realised 
 for a modern book was that of ^^572 for " Poems 
 chiefly in the Scottish dialect. By Robert Burns. 
 Kilmarnock, 1786." The original price of this 
 octavo volume was three shillings. The history 
 of the very fine copy sold in Edinburgh in Feb- 
 ruary 1898 is traced back about eighty years by 
 a writer in Literature. In 1870 it was sold for six 
 guineas to G. B. Simpson, of Dundee, who sold it 
 
258 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 in 1879, with some other books, to A. C. Lamb for 
 £12^. The price of the Kilmarnock Burns has 
 steadily advanced from £2, los. in 1858 to ;£iii 
 in 1888, and then it made the immense leap to 
 
 £S72. 
 
 Byron. — "Poems on Various Occasions" (Newark, 
 1807, 8vo) sold at Alfred Crampton's sale for ^£45. 
 "The Waltz" (1813, pp. 27), published without a 
 wrapper at 3s., sold at the same sale for ;^55. Mr. 
 Slater says that an uncut copy has been sold by 
 auction for ;^86. 
 
 Meredith. — A fine uncut copy of George Mere- 
 dith's Poems, 185 1, sold at a sale of Rare Books 
 and Manuscripts (Sotheby, March 1897) fo'" £'^ly 
 IDS. Another copy with alterations in the author's 
 autograph (Sotheby, June 1897) sold for £'2<,. 
 
 Morris. — The beautiful issues of William Morris's 
 Kelmscott Press advanced in price in many in- 
 stances before publication, and are likely, now that 
 the supply has ceased, to advance still more ; but 
 they vary very much according to the literary rank 
 of the books. The edition of Keats, published at 
 30s., was sold lately for ^^12. Shelley's Poetical 
 Works, in three volumes 8vo, was sold at Sotheby's 
 early in 1898 for ;^8. Chaucer's Works, folio, is 
 out of print, and was marked by Messrs. J. & J. 
 Leighton at ;^30. 
 
 Rossetti. — The first printed work of Dante G. 
 Rossetti is of great rarity. The poet was thirteen 
 years old when the lines were composed, and 
 
PRICES OF VARIOUS CLASSES OP^ BOOKS 259 
 
 fifteen when they were printed. The title is " Sir 
 Hugh the Heron : a Legendary Tale, in four parts. 
 G. Polidori's Private Press, 15 Park Village East, 
 1843. Private Circulation only," pp. 24. A copy was 
 sold at Sotheby's in 1890 for ;£i6. Miss Christina 
 Rossetti's first poems, privately printed at the same 
 press, have brought seven guineas. 
 
 Ruskin. — " Poems by J. R., collected in 1850 for 
 private circulation only," a foolscap octavo volume 
 of 283 pages, is valued at £%o or £bo. The value 
 of his sumptuous books, " The Stones of Venice," 
 the " Seven Lamps of Architecture," and " Modern 
 Painters," is known to all, and when in good con- 
 dition they look their value. The original editions 
 of the first, 1851 to 1853, are valued at from £11 
 to ;£i5. The first edition of the " Seven Lamps," 
 1849, at £\, and the second edition, 1855, at 
 ^4, los. The " Modern Painters," 5 vols., early 
 editions, from £20 to £1^^. 
 
 Shelley. — The early editions of Shelley's Poems 
 and Prose Treatises were amongst the first of this 
 class of books to attain high prices. Some may 
 be noted here in chronological order : — 
 
 "Zastrozzi : a Romance," 1810, was published at 
 5s. Bound and cut copies have sold for ^£5, 15s., 
 and £^1, 5s. An uncut copy, in calf, fetched £\i, 
 5s. in 1890, and an uncut copy in morocco brought 
 fifteen guineas in 1897 (Sir C. S. Forbes). 
 
 The most interesting of these pamphlets is the 
 one which was the cause of its author being expelled 
 from University College, Oxford. 
 
26o PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 " The Necessity of Atheism. Worthing. Printed 
 by E. & W. Phillips. Sold in London ^nd Oxford," 
 n.d. [1811] f. 8vo, pp. 13. 
 
 Nearly all the copies were destroyed by the 
 printers, and Mr. Slater values a clean copy at 
 about ;£20, but probably it would realise much 
 more than that. 
 
 "St. Irvyne," 1811, morocco uncut. Sir C. S. 
 Forbes, 1897, ;^i6, los. 
 
 "An Address to the Irish People" (Dublin, 1812) 
 was published at 5d., and Mr. Slater values a copy 
 at ;^8 to £12, but one was sold at Alfred Cramp- 
 ton's sale, 1896, for £^2. 
 
 "Queen Mab," 1813, in the original boards, was 
 sold in 1 891 for ^22, los. 
 
 "The Refutation of Deism," 1814, fetched ^^33 at 
 an auction in 1887. 
 
 The largest price, however, given for one of 
 these pamphlets was ;^i3o for "CEdipusTyrannus," 
 1820, at Crampton's sale. The entire impression 
 was destroyed except seven copies, only two or 
 three of which are known to exist, but a re- 
 print on vellum appeared in 1876. The British 
 Museum possesses a copy, presented by Lady 
 Shelley. 
 
 Tennyson. — The first editions of Tennyson's 
 Poems bring high prices, and the scarcest is the 
 famous " Poems by Two Brothers," 1827, published 
 for 5s., and large paper for 7s. The present value 
 of the former is about ;^i5 to ;^20. 
 
 The original MS. was sold in December 1892 to 
 
PRICES OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF BOOKS 261 
 
 Messrs. Macmillan & Bowes of Cambridge for £^So. 
 After a facsimile had been taken, it was resold to 
 an American collector. 
 
 Dickens.— " Sund3.y under Three Heads" was one 
 of the first of the novelist's works to sell for a high 
 price. As it is a very small book, it is not saying 
 much to describe it as selling for its weight in gold ; 
 in point of fact, it sells for more. Mr. F. C. Kitten 
 gives the market value of the various novels in 
 his "Novels of Charles Dickens," 1897. The first 
 edition of the " Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi " sold 
 in July 1897 at Sotheby's (Jack, Halliday, &c.) for 
 ;^8, 17s. 6d. 
 
 Thackeray. — Thackerayana is very high priced, 
 and the following two instances of sales in 1897 
 show that the tendency is still upwards: — Two 
 incomplete sets of "The Snob," ten numbers and 
 thirteen numbers, 1829-30, fetched at Sotheby's 
 (Parlane & Dasent) ;^89. The eleven numbers 
 complete, with seventeen numbers of the "Gowns- 
 man," sold at the Mansfield-Mackenzie sale, 1889, 
 
 for £2^. 
 
 "The Fox and the Cat," final proof-sheets of a 
 story apparently intended for the Cornhill Maga- 
 zine, but never published, revised by the author, 
 with numerous corrections and additions in his 
 autograph, sold by Sotheby's in March 1897 (Rare 
 Books and MSS.) for £\% bought by Messrs. Smith, 
 Elder, & Co. 
 
 The price of the first editions of Sir Walter Scott's 
 
262 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 novels have been long in rising, but good fresh 
 copies fetch a good price now. 
 
 The most remarkable price for a three-volume 
 novel was obtained in July 1897 at Sotheby's (Jack, 
 Halliday, &c.), when the first edition of " Jane 
 Eyre " sold for seventeen guineas. 
 
 The question naturally occurs. Will such prices 
 as this continue ? but it is a question very difficult 
 to answer. All that can be said is, that in this class 
 of books there is the most uncertainty as to the 
 high prices being sustained. 
 
 Depreciation is a factor which must be taken into 
 consideration, but it is not at present very wide- 
 spread. It is quite easy to understand why editions 
 of the classics and Thomas Hearne's editions of 
 " Chronicles," &c., have gone down in price, 
 because the publication of superior texts has 
 partially superseded them ; but one can scarcely 
 explain why the set of " Byzantine Historians " 
 should fall so much in price, for these ponderous 
 volumes have not been superseded. At the Hamil- 
 ton sale in 1884 a fine large paper set of these 
 " Historians," 1645-1777, eighteen volumes in red 
 morocco by Ruelle, and five in calf, only brought 
 £4, los. 
 
 Mezeray's Histoire de France, 3 vols, folio, bound 
 in blue morocco by Derome, which sold for- 
 merly for ;£io5, only sold for -^33 at the Beckford 
 sale. 
 
 A large paper set of Hearne's Works, bound in 
 red morocco, was bought at Mead's sale for fifty 
 
PRICES OF VARIOUS CLASSES OK BOOKS 263 
 
 guineas by an ancestor of Meerman the biblio- 
 grapher. It continued at the Hague with Meer- 
 man's library until the sale of the latter in 1822, 
 when it was bought by a London bookseller for 
 ^200. Pickering purchased it, and sold it to 
 Hanrott for ^£500 ; at his sale in 1836 it was bought 
 by the Duke of Buccleuch for ;£4oo. At Watson 
 Taylor's sale a set fetched -^200. At the Beckford 
 sale, the set of Hearne's Works were all on small 
 paper, with the exception of " Camden," " Annales,'' 
 1717, "Fordun's Scoticronicon," 1722, and "History 
 and Antiquities of Glastonbury," 1722. The twenty- 
 seven lots only brought altogether ^^41, los. 
 
 In conclusion, there remain two points to lay 
 stress upon and to reiterate — 
 
 (i) That price depends largely upon condition. 
 This every one connected with book-buying knows, 
 but the fact is almost entirely overlooked by those 
 who know but little of books. Constantly when a 
 very high price is announced in the papers some 
 person finds that he has a copy of the identical 
 book, for which he expects to obtain an identical 
 price, and he cannot understand when he is told 
 that his copy is practically valueless, because it is 
 in bad condition. 
 
 If a book is unique, he who wants it must take it 
 as it is, and make the best of the missing leaves, 
 the worm-holes, or the stained pages ; but if several 
 copies still exist, it will be found that the price of 
 the bad copy bears no proportion to that of the 
 good one. 
 
264 PRICES OF BOOKS 
 
 (2) The forger is abroad whenever prices rule 
 high. We have seen how facsimiles have been sold 
 as the originals, and bindings have often been 
 doctored, Maioli's and Grolier's being manufac- 
 tured for the ever greedy demand. Fortunately, 
 however cleverly the frauds may be produced, the 
 expert is pretty sure to notice something that makes 
 him suspicious, and suspicion will soon be turned 
 to certainty ; but the public are easily gulled by that 
 to which they are unaccustomed. 
 
 Groliers may be imitated to deceive even the 
 expert, but in respect to more elaborate toolings, 
 such as those of Le Gascon, we are safe, because 
 to imitate these successfully would cost so great 
 an expenditure of time, that the forgery would be 
 worth almost as much as the original. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Adam the royal goldsmith, 58 
 ^sopus (1485), 185 
 Albani Missal, vicissitudes of, 75 
 Alchorne (Stanesby), his library, 
 
 purchased by Lord Spencer, 154 
 Allen (Thomas), his library, 144 
 Althorpe library purchased by Mrs. 
 
 Rylands, 16 
 Americana, growth in value, 221 
 Anacreon, 1554, 185 
 Apponyi (Count Louis), his library, 
 
 173 
 Ariosto (1516), 190 
 Aristoteles (1483), 185 ; copy on 
 
 vellum, 143 
 Arnold's (Matthew) poems, 256 
 "Arthur (King)," 1557, 216 
 Ashbumham (Earl of), sale of his 
 library, 174, 176 ; Ashburnham 
 MSS., 70 
 Ashmole's (EUas) library, 9 
 Ashwell (Rev. George), sale of his 
 
 library, 119 
 Askew (Anthony), sale of his library, 
 
 138; MSS., 141 
 Astle (Edward), his library, 156 
 Atkyns's 'Gloucestershire,' 244 
 Aubrey's 'Surrey,' 244 
 Auchinleck library, 173 
 Auction, use of the word, 105 
 Auction sales : 
 
 In the seventeenth century, 
 
 104-125 
 In the eighteenth century, 126- 
 
 146 
 In the nineteenth century, 147- 
 178 
 
 Auctioneer, print of, by NichoUs, 
 
 45 
 Auctioneers, 37-48 
 Augustinus, ' De Civitate Dei,' 
 
 192 
 Aungerville (Richard) = Richard de 
 
 de Bury, 3 
 Authors, remuneration of, 2, 14 
 Averages of book sales, 177 
 Aylesford (Earl of), his library, 171, 
 
 176 
 
 Bacon's Henry VII. , price, 94 
 Baker (Samuel), auctioneer, 134 
 Ballard (Thomas), auctioneer, 128, 
 
 130 
 Bancroft's (T. ) epigrams (1639), 
 
 216 
 Barnes's (Juliana) ' Treatyse of 
 
 Fysshynge,' 216 
 Barnfield's (R. ) 'Lady Pecunia' 
 
 (1598), 2l6 
 Barrois collection of MSS. , 72 
 Bateman (Lord), his library, 174 
 Bateman heirlooms, 173 
 Beauclerk (Topham), sale of his 
 
 library, 140 
 Beaumont and Fletcher's works, 
 
 221 
 Beckford (William), sales (1823) 158, 
 
 (1882-3) 166, 175 
 ' Poetical Sketches, ' 256 
 Bedford Missal, 75 
 Bedford (Francis), his library, 170 
 Beloe (William), 20 
 Bentley (T.), auctioneer, 118 
 Bent's ' General Catalogue,' 93 
 
266 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Beresford-Hope (Rt. Hon. A. J, B,), 
 
 his library, 170 
 Berri {Jean Due de), inventory of 
 
 his library, 56 
 Berri (Duchesse de), her library, 
 
 159 
 Bernard (Charles), sale of his library, 
 
 127 
 Bernard (Dr. Francis), sale of his 
 
 library, 119, 126 
 Berwick (Lord), his library, 162 
 Bible : 
 
 ' Biblia Sacra Latina,' Guten- 
 berg & Fust, price of, 182 
 ' Biblia Sacra Latina, ' Fust & 
 
 Schoeffer, price of, 182 
 
 Latin version of the Psalms, 
 
 Fust & Schoeffer (1459), price 
 
 of, 182 
 
 ' Biblia Latina,' N. Jensen, 183 
 
 In Enghsh, by Coverdale (1535), 
 
 183 
 Tyndale's New Testament 
 
 (1526), 1B3 
 Complutensian Polyglot (1514- 
 
 17), 142, 183 
 Plantin Polyglot, 1B4 
 Walton's Polyglot, 185 
 (Alcuin's), at the British 
 
 Museum, 74 
 (Eliot), 222 
 Bindings, sale of, in ; specimens 
 
 of, 250-255 
 Bindley (James), his library, 157, 
 
 175 ; his portraits, &c. , 158 
 Blake's poems, 256 
 Blew (Rev. W. J.), his library, 174 
 Block books, price of, 181 
 Blomefield's ' Norfolk,' 245 
 Boccaccio, 190 ; Valdarfer edition 
 
 (1471), 154 
 Boece's ' Cronikles,' translated by 
 
 Bellenden, on vellum, 248 
 Bohn (Henry G. ), bookseller, 35; 
 
 sale of his 'Epoch,' 176 
 Bolland (Baron), his library, 162 
 Book-collecting as an investment, 
 19 
 
 Book sales in the nineteenth century 
 which have realised over ^^10,000, 
 
 175 
 Book trade circa 1525, 85 
 Books : 
 
 Imported into England, 81 
 Not to be sold at too high a 
 
 price, 82 
 Sellers of, 26-48 
 Borromeo (Count), his library, 157 
 Botticelli's drawings in illustration 
 
 of Dante, 69 
 Boucher (Rev. Jonathan), his library, 
 
 151 
 
 Boyet, specimens of his binding, 253 
 
 Brabourne (Lord), his library, 173 
 
 Bradshaw (Henry), ' St. Werburghe' 
 (1521), 216 
 
 Bradshaw (Henry), Notes on 
 Dome's Day-Book, 84 
 
 Brand (Rev. John), his library, 151 
 
 Bridges (John), sale of his library, 
 III 
 
 Bright (B. H.), his library, 163 
 
 British Museum : 
 
 Library of the^kings and queens 
 
 of England, 6 
 Manuscript collections at, 67 
 
 Britton (Thomas), sale of his books, 
 128 
 
 Broadley (John), his library, 160 
 
 Bronte's 'Jane Eyre,' 262 
 
 Browne (Sir Thomas) on the in- 
 crease of books, 10 
 
 Browning's (Robert) ' PauHne,' 256 
 
 Bruno (Giordano), ' Spaccio de la 
 Bestia Trionfante,' 241 
 
 Brydges (Sir Egerton), his list of 
 book prices (1564), 88 
 
 Buccleuch (Duke of), his library, 
 172 
 
 Buckingham (Duke of), Stowe lib- 
 rary, 163, 175; MSS. , 163 
 
 Buckley (Rev. W. E.), his library, 
 
 173 
 BuUord (John), auctioneer, 44, 121 ; 
 confused with Ballard by Nichols, 
 44 
 
INDEX 
 
 267 
 
 Bunbury (Sir E. H. ), his library, 
 
 174 
 Burgess (Fred), his library, 173 
 Burney (Dr. Charles), purchase of 
 
 his library for the British Museum, 
 
 67 
 Burns, Kilmarnock edition of his 
 
 Poems (1786), 257 
 Burton (J. Hill) on collecting as an 
 
 investment, 19 
 Bury (Richard de) and his ' Philo- 
 
 biblon,' 2-5 
 Bute's (Earl of) botanical library, 
 
 144 
 Butler's 'Hudibras,' published price, 
 
 98 
 Byron's Poems, 258 
 Bysshe (Sir Edward), sale of his 
 
 library, in 
 Byzantine historians, 262 
 
 'C^SAR,' edited by Dr. Samuel 
 Clarke, large paper, fall in price, 
 181 
 Campbell's (Colin) ' Vitruvius Bri- 
 
 tannicus,' published price, 95 
 Canevari (Demetrio), specimen of 
 
 binding from his library, 252 
 Carr (Samuel), auctioneer, 117 
 Cassano library bought by Lord 
 
 Spencer, 15 
 Castell (Dr. Edmond), sale of his 
 library, 117 ; his ' Lexicon Hepta- 
 glotton,' 14 
 Catalogue (monthly) of books, 
 
 100 
 Caxton : 
 
 Changes in the value of the 
 productions of his press, 193- 
 214 
 Chaucer's translation of Boe- 
 
 thius, 109 
 ' Golden Legend,' its original 
 
 price, 83 
 Caxtons, 1^37, 140; at Dr. 
 Francis Bernard's sale, 121 
 Chalmers (George), his library, 
 162 
 
 Chaucer's * Canterbury Tales, ' 2, 
 (Caxton) 199, (Pynson) 217, 
 (Wynkyn de Worde) 217 ; sub- 
 scription for Urry's edition, 100 
 
 Chiswell (Richard), auctioneer, 43, 
 109, III, 113 
 
 Christie and Manson , auctioneers, 48 
 
 Church books, 85 
 
 Cicero ; 
 
 ' Opera Omnia' (1483), 185 
 ' Epistolas ad familiares ' (1467), 
 
 'Epistolse' (1471), 186 
 ' Orationes " ( 1472) , 186 
 Clare (Earl of), his library, 166 
 Clarke (Dr. Hyde), his library, 174 
 Classics, editiones principes of the, 
 185 ; fall in the price of other 
 editions, 180 
 Claudianus (1482), 186 
 Clavel's ( R. ) catalogue of new books , 
 
 93 
 Cock (Mr.), auctioneer, 130, 132 
 Colard Mansion, a scribe before he 
 
 turned printer, 67 
 Coleridge (Lord), his library, 174 
 Collins (Anthony), sale of his library, 
 
 131 
 
 Comerford (James), his library, 160 
 
 Cooper (William), first English auc- 
 tioneer, 37, 104, 117 
 
 Copland's (R.) reference to the price 
 of books, 8s 
 
 Corser (Rev. T.), his library, 165, 
 
 17s 
 Cosens (Frederick William), his 
 
 library, 172 
 Crampton (Alfred), his library, 174, 
 
 255 
 Crauford (Rev. C. H.), his library, 
 
 16s 
 Crawford (Earl of), his library, 171, 
 
 17s 
 Crawford (W. H.), Lakelands 
 
 library, 173, 176 
 Crofts (Rev. Thomas), sale of his 
 
 library, 140 
 Crossley (James), his library, 170 
 
268 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Cuner (Miss Richardson), her 
 
 library, 164 
 Cutwode's (T. ) ' Caltha Poetarum,' 
 
 217 
 
 Daly (Right Hon. Denis), his 
 
 library, 144 
 Dampier's (Bishop) library bought 
 
 by the Duke of Devonshire, 16 
 Daniel (George), sale of his library, 
 
 164, 175 
 Dante, 190 ; ' Divina Commedia ' 
 
 illustrated by Botticelli, 69 
 Davis (Charles), auctioneer, 130 
 Davis (Richard) : 
 
 'Auctio Davisiana,' 37 
 Sale of his stock, 117 
 Defoe's ' Robinson Crusoe,' 246 
 Delisle (Leopold), his claim for 
 
 stolen MSS. , 72 
 Dent (John), his Ubrary, 159, 175 
 Deseuil (or Du Seuil), specimens of 
 
 his binding, 253 
 D'Ewes's(SirSymonds)MSS. bought 
 
 by Harley, 11 
 Diane de Poictiers, specimen of 
 
 binding from her library, 251 
 Dibdin (Dr. T. F.), 21, 32 
 Dickens's Novels, &c. , 255, 261 
 Digby (Sir Kenelm), sale of his 
 
 library, 112 
 Dillon (John), his library, 165 
 Domville (Sir Cecil), his library, 174 
 Dome's (John) Day-Book, 84 
 Drake's ' Eboracum,' 245 
 Drummond of Hawthornden's 
 
 ' Forth Feasting,' 218 
 Du Fresnoy (H. Petit), specimen of 
 
 binding from his library, 252 
 Dugdale's 'Warwickshire,' 245 
 Dunsmore (John), 109, in 
 Dunton's (John) account of the 
 
 booksellers of his time, 29 
 D'Urfey's (T.) ' Pills to Purge Mel- 
 ancholy,' published price, 99 
 Dyneley (R. D.), his library, 172 
 Dyson (Humphrey), sale of his 
 
 books, 115 
 
 East, destruction of MSS. in the, 
 
 55 
 Ebesham (William), 61 
 Edwards (James), his library, 149 
 Ellis's (F. S.) stock, sale of, 176 
 Evans (Robert H.), bookseller and 
 
 auctioneer, 34; 154 
 Eve (Clovis), specimen of his bind- 
 ing. 253 
 
 Fabyan's ' Chronicles,' 218 
 Fagel (Greffier), his Ubrary, 148 
 Farmer (Richard), D.D. , sale of his 
 
 library, 145 
 Fashion in the prices of books, 17 
 Fastolfe's books (1459), 57 
 Fielding's (Henry) library, 135 
 Flavel's (Rev. John) Works, pub- 
 lished price, 95 
 Fletewode (William), sale of his 
 
 library, 138 
 Folkes (Martin), sale of his library, 
 
 135 
 Fonthill Abbey sale, 158 
 Forbes (Sir Charles Stewart), his 
 
 library, 174 
 Foster (Birket), his hbrary, 173 
 Foxe's ' Acts and Monuments,' 218 
 Frere (John Tudor), his library, 174 
 Frobisher's ' Three Voyages,' 218 
 Froissart's *Cronycles,' 218 
 
 Gaisford (Thomas), his library, 
 
 172 
 Gardner (Cecil Dunn), his library, 
 
 166 
 Gelhus (Aulus), 1469, 186; 1472, 
 
 186 
 Gennadius (John), his library, 173 
 Gibson-Craig (James T. ), his library, 
 
 171. 17s 
 Godolphin (John), sale of his library, 
 
 109 
 Goldsmith (Oliver) : 
 
 Sale of his library, 138 
 ' Vicar of Wakefield, ' 247 
 Gordon (Sir Robert), Gordonstoun 
 library, 156 v 
 
INDEX 
 
 269 
 
 Gosford (Earl of), his library, 170, 
 
 I7S 
 Gosset (Isaac), his hbrary, 155 
 Gough, Richai-d ; 
 
 His library, 152 
 
 ' Sepulchral Monuments,' 245 
 Gramont Memoirs, published price, 
 
 97 
 Grangerising, 250 
 Greenhill (Thomas), sale of his 
 
 library, 108 
 Greenwood (Jonathan), auctioneer, 
 
 43 
 Gringoire, ' Les Fantasies de Mere 
 
 Sote.' 242 
 Grolier, specimens of binding from 
 
 his library, 251 
 Guilford (Earl of), his library, 159, 
 
 I7S 
 Gulston (Joseph), sale of his hbrary, 
 
 141, 166 
 Gurney (David), his library, i56 
 
 Hailstone (Edward), Walton Hall 
 library, 173 
 
 Hakluyt's ' Navigations,' 219 
 
 Halliwell-Phillipps (J. O.), his lib- 
 rary, 177 
 
 Hamilton Palace MSS. sold to the 
 German Government, 69, i6g, 
 176 
 
 Hamilton's (Duke of) library, 169, 
 
 175 
 Hampton (Lord), his library, 166 
 Hanrott (P. A.), his library, 160, 
 
 175 
 
 Hardwicke (Lord Chancellor), his 
 
 library, 172 
 
 Harleian MSS. bought for the 
 British Museum, 12 
 
 Harley library bought by T. Os- 
 borne, 13, 30 
 
 Harriot (T.), ' Merveilleux et es- 
 trange Rapport,' 219 
 
 Hartley (Leonard L.), his library, 
 
 171. 17s 
 Haslewood (Joseph), his library, 
 
 160 
 
 Hawkins (Rev. W. B. L.), his 
 
 library, 174 
 Hearne (Thomas) : 
 
 His remuneration, 15 
 
 Diaries sold for a hundred 
 
 guineas, 129 
 Editions, original subscription, 
 loi ; depreciation in price, 
 260 
 Heath (Rev. Benjamin, D.D.), his 
 
 library, 152 
 Heathcote (Robert), his library, 148 
 Heaton (Beresford R.), his library, 
 
 174 
 Heber (Richard): 
 
 Collection of early sale cata- 
 logues, 112 
 Sale of his library, 160, 175 
 Henley ('Orator'), sale of hislibrary, 
 
 136 
 Henry VIH., Act respecting im- 
 portation of books, 81 
 Hibbert (George), his library, 159 
 Hildyard (T. B. F.), his library, 
 
 174 
 Hill (Thomas), his library, 162 
 Hoare (Sir Richard Colt) , his library, 
 
 170, 17s 
 Holland (Henry) : 
 
 ' Basiliologia,' 249 
 ' Heroologia,' 249 
 Holmes's 'Life of the Queen,' en- 
 hanced price, 102 
 Homerus (1488), i86 
 Homer's ' Iliad ' ■ 
 MS. , 68 
 
 Subscription for Pope's transla- 
 tion, lOI 
 ' Batrachomyomachia ' ( i486) , 
 sold in Maittaire's library, 
 
 133 
 Hope (Adrian), his library, 174 
 Hopetoun (Earl of), his library, 172 
 Horatius (1470), 186; printed by 
 
 Didot (1799), on vellum, 248 
 Home (Rev. T. Hartwell) on MSS., 
 
 S3 
 Howell (John), auctioneer, 119 
 
270 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Hunt's (John) inventory of books 
 
 (1483), with prices, 84 
 Hunter (John), his library, 155 
 Hurd (Philip), his library, 159 
 Hutchinson (Joshua H.), his library, 
 
 173 
 
 Illustrated books, 249, 250 
 Italian classics, 190 
 
 JACOMB (Dr. Thomas), sale of his 
 
 library, 118 
 James I. as a book collector, 6 
 Jersey (Earl of), Osterley Park 
 
 library, 171, 17S 
 Johnson (Dr. Samuel) ; 
 
 His work on the ' Bibhotheca 
 
 Harleiana,' 31 
 English Dictionary, published 
 
 price, 96 
 Sale of his library, 141 
 Johnson's (Michael) address pre- 
 fixed to an auction catalogue, 46 
 Jonson's (Ben) Works, 221 
 Junot (Marshal), his library, 156 
 Justinus (1470), 186 
 Juvenalis et Persius, 187 
 
 KiDNER (Thomas), sale of his 
 
 library, 107 
 Kirton (Joseph), bookseller, ruined 
 
 by the Fire of London, 28 
 Kloss (Dr.), his library, 161 
 Knight (Charles), pioneer in the 
 
 cheapening of good literature, 28 
 ' Knocks-out,' dishonesty of, 124 
 
 Lacy's (T. H.) stock, sale of, 176 
 Laing (David), his library, 165, 175 
 Lakelands library, 173, 176 
 Lang (Andrew) on collecting as an 
 
 investment, 20 
 Langford, auctioneer, 137 
 Lansdowne (Marquis of), sale of his 
 
 library, 150; MSS., 137, 150 
 Larking (J. Wingfield), his library, 
 
 173 
 Larpent (Baron), his library, 174 
 
 Lawrence (Edwin H, ), his library, 
 
 173 
 Leicester (Eleanor de Montfort, 
 
 Countess of), pocket lectionary 
 
 made for her (1265), 57 
 Leland (John) saved MSS. from 
 
 destruction, 55 
 Libraries of the Middle Ages, de- 
 struction of, 5 
 Libri sales, 164, 175 ; collection of 
 
 MSS., 71 
 Lilly's stock, sale of, 176 
 Linschoten's 'Voyages,' 219 
 Livius (1469), 187, (1470) 187 
 Lloyd (Bishop), sale of his library, 
 
 121 
 Lodge's (T. ) 'Rosalynde,' 219 
 Loggan's 'Oxonia,'9S, 245 ; ' Can- 
 
 tabrigia,' 95, 245 
 Lok's (H. ) ' Ecclesiastes,' 219 
 London's (William) ' Catalogue of 
 
 Vendible Books,' 93 
 Longus, * Pastoralia,' on vellum, 
 
 248 
 Lort (Michael, M.D.), sale of his 
 
 library, 144 
 Louis XIII. and Anne of Austria, 
 
 specimens of binding from their 
 
 library, 252 
 Lucanus (1469), 187 
 Lucianus (1496), 188 
 Lyte (Rev. H. F.), his library, 163 
 
 Mackenzie (J. M.), his library, 172 
 Macready (W. C), his library, 
 
 i6s 
 Madan (Falconer) : 
 
 Account of the Thomason 
 
 Civil War Tracts, 6 
 Account of an historical mass- 
 book, purchased for the Bod- 
 leian Library at a cheap 
 price, 76 
 His edition of Dome's Day- 
 
 Book, 84 
 On cost of MSS., 59 
 On collections of MSS. , t"] 
 {note) 
 
INDEX 
 
 271 
 
 Madox's (Thomas) ' History of the 
 
 Exchequer,' 14 
 Maitland (Dr. S. R.) on prices of 
 books in the Middle Ages, 53, 
 58 
 
 Maittaire (Michael), sale of his 
 library, 132 
 
 Malmesbury MSS. destroyed, 54 
 
 Malone (Edmond), his library, 157 
 
 Manton (Thomas), sale of his lib- 
 rary, 108 
 
 Manuscript books, prices of, 49-78 
 
 Manuscripts in public libraries, 67 
 {no/e) 
 
 Marche (Richard du), illuminator, 
 S7 
 
 Margaret (St.) of Scotland, her 
 historical mass-book, 77 
 
 Marguerite de Montmorency, speci- 
 men of binding from her library, 
 252 
 
 Marguerite de Valois, specimen of 
 binding from her library, 251 
 
 Marshall (Frank), his library, 172 
 
 Martialis (1471), 188; 'Apud Vin- 
 delinum Spirensem,' sold in 
 Maittaire's library, 134 ; original 
 MS. copies of epigrams, sold for 
 3s. 6d. , I 
 
 Mason (George), his library, 145 
 
 Maunsell's (Andrew) Catalogue of 
 English Books, 90 
 
 Mead (Richard, M.D.), sale of his 
 library, 134, 139 
 
 Meredith's (George) Poems, 258 
 
 Merly library, 155, 175 
 
 Mezeray, ' Histoire de France,' 262 
 
 Middleton (Prof. J. H.) on MSS., 
 51, 58, 61, 63, 78 
 
 Millington (Edward), auctioneer, 37, 
 Ii3i "7; elegy, 40 
 
 Milton's ' Paradise Lost,' 219 ; pub- 
 lished price, 96; 'Comus,' 220; 
 Poems, 220 
 
 Minsheu's Dictionary, published by 
 subscription, 100 
 
 Molifere's Works, published price, 
 
 Monasteries as producers of books, 
 
 2 
 Money, change in the value of, as 
 
 a factor in the prices of books, 50, 
 
 63 
 Monnier, specimens of his binding, 
 
 254 
 
 Moore's (Bishop) library, 10 ; epi- 
 grams on its presentation to Cam- 
 bridge University, 11 
 
 Moore's (Thomas) Poems, profit- 
 able sale, 96 
 
 More (Sir William) of Loseley, his 
 librai-y, 87 
 
 Morris's (William) Kelmscott Press 
 publications, 247, 258 ; his collec- 
 tion of illuminated MSS. , 73 
 
 Nassau (George), his library, 158 
 Niccolo Niccoli, book collector, 64 
 NichoU (J. B.), his library, 165 
 Nichols's ' Leicestershire,' 245 
 Nicol (George), bookseller, 34 
 Noailles (Comte de), his library, 
 
 161 
 North (John), his library, 158, 175 
 
 Ogilby's (John) lottery of books, 
 
 94 
 Oliver (Mrs. Elizabeth), sale of her 
 
 library, 119 
 Omar Khayyam, translated by 
 
 Fitzgerald, 103 
 Orford (Earl of), his library, 174 
 Ormerod's ' Cheshire,' 246 
 Osborne (Thomas), bookseller, 13 
 Purchase of the Harley library, 
 
 30 
 Charge of over-pricing the books 
 unjust, 32 
 Ouvry (Frederick), his library, 169 
 Ovidius, 188 
 Oxford, book-sales at, 38 
 
 Paine (Cornelius), his library, 172 
 Paper, deterioration of, 24 
 Papillon's (David) purchase of 
 books, 13 
 
272 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Paris de Meyzieux, sale of his lib- 
 rary, 142 
 
 Pastissier (Le) Franfois (1655), 
 242 
 
 Paston (John), books sold by his 
 executors to King's Hall, Cam- 
 bridge, 56 
 
 'Paston Letters,' extracts from, re- 
 specting cost of MSS. , 60, 61 
 
 Patents for books, 89 
 
 Paterson (Samuel), auctioneer, 44, 
 136. 137. 138, 140. 148 
 
 Payne (J. T. ), his library, 165 
 
 Payne (Roger), specimen of his 
 binding, 254 
 
 Payne (Thomas), bookseller, 33 
 
 Payne & Foss's stock, sale of, 
 176 
 
 Pearson (Major Thomas), sale of 
 his library, 142 
 
 Pellet (Dr. Thomas), sale of his 
 library, 131 
 
 Penn (Granville), his library, 164 
 
 Penrhyn (Lord), his library, 152 
 
 Pepys (Samuel) : 
 
 On the increased price of books 
 after the Fire of London, 
 28 
 Subscriber to Ogilby's lottery, 
 
 94 
 Original published price of the 
 Diary, 97 
 Perkins (Frederick), his library, 
 
 172 
 Perkins (Henry), his library, 165, 
 
 17s 
 
 Perrault, 'ContesdemaMereLoye,' 
 242 
 
 Petrarca, 191 ; ' Opere ' (1514), 143 ; 
 his library, 54 
 
 Phillipps (Sir Thomas), his collec- 
 tion of MSS. , 73, 174 
 
 ' Philobiblon,' editions of, 3 
 
 Pickering (William), his private 
 library, 164, 175 
 
 Pinelli library, 142 
 
 Pitt (Moses), no 
 
 Plato (1513), 188 
 
 Plautus (1472), sold in Maittaire 
 library, 134 
 
 Plays, published price of, 96 
 
 Plinius, 188 
 
 Plot's ' Oxfordshire,' 246 ; 'Stafford- 
 shire,' 246 
 
 Poems printed in quarto, 96 
 
 Pole (Sir W.), his library, 174 
 
 ' Poliphili Hypnerotomachia,' 191 
 
 Pollard (Alfred W.): 
 
 On collecting as an investment, 
 
 20 
 On English book-sales, 106 
 
 Pope's ' Essay on Man,' on vellum, 
 249 
 
 Porson (Richard), his library, 152 
 
 Price (Sir Charles), his library, 
 
 165 
 Prices : 
 
 Vicissitudes of, 16 
 
 Causes of increase of price, 18, 
 
 21 
 Cautions respecting price, 263, 
 
 264 
 Depreciation, 262, 263 
 Of early printed books, 179- 
 
 192 
 Of early English literature, 193- 
 
 222 
 Of Shakespeare's Works, 223- 
 
 240 
 Of various classes of books, 
 
 241-264 
 County histories, 244-246 
 English classics, 246, 247 
 Books on vellum, 247-249 
 Illustrated books, 249, 250 
 Bindings, 250-255 
 Early editions of modern 
 authors, 255-262 
 Prust (John), Canon of Windsor, 
 
 58 
 Psalmanazar's (George) 'Formosa,' 
 
 published price, 98 
 Published prices, 79-103 
 Publishers and stationers, 27 
 ' Purchas his Pilgrimes,' price, 94, 
 220 
 
INDEX 
 
 273 
 
 Putnam (G. H.), his works on the 
 history of bookselling, 26, 79 
 
 Puttick & Simpson, auctioneers, 
 47 
 
 QuARiTCH (Bernard), 21, 36; his 
 remarkable catalogues, 36 ; cata- 
 logues of MSS. , 68 
 
 Quintilianus (1470), i8g 
 
 Ranew (Nathaniel), auctioneer, 
 
 no 
 Ratcliffe (John), sale of his library, 
 
 139 
 Rawlinson (Richard), sale of his 
 
 library, 135 
 Rawlinson (Thomas), sale of his 
 
 Ubrary, 126, 128 
 Reed (Isaac), his library, 152 
 Rees's ' Cyclopasdia,' published 
 
 price, 97 
 Reid (H. G.), his library, 173 
 Revicksky's (Count) library bought 
 
 by Lord Spencer, 15 
 Reynbold (John), scribe, 59 
 Rhodes (Hugh), ' Boke of Nurture,' 
 
 220 
 Richard III., Act respecting impor- 
 tation of books, 81 
 Ricraft's ' Oriental Languages,' 220 
 Rodd (Thomas), bookseller, 34 
 Rogers (Thorold) on the prices of 
 
 books, 55, 86 
 Roscoe (Wilham), his library, 157 
 Rose (J. Anderson), his library, 
 
 173 
 Rossetti (Dante G.), 'Sir Hugh the 
 
 Heron,' 258 
 ' Roxburghe Ballads,' 142 
 Roxburghe sale, an epoch in book 
 
 collecting, 17, 147, 153, 175 
 Ruskin's (John) plea for the pur- 
 chase of the Hamilton MSS. , 69 ; 
 
 his Works, 259 
 Russell (Rev. J. F.), his library, 
 
 171 
 Russia, libraries in, bought by the 
 
 yard, 14 
 
 ' St. Albans, Chronicle of,' 214 ; 
 
 ' Boke of,' 215 
 St. Paul's Cathedral library, loss of 
 
 MSS., 6 
 Sallustius (1470), 189 
 Salmond (W. D.), his library, 
 
 172 
 Sangar (Gabriel), sale of his library, 
 
 no 
 Scot's 'Discoverie of Witchcraft,' 
 
 220 
 Scott's (Sir Walter) Novels, 261 ; 
 
 published price of his Poems, 96 
 Seaman (Lazarus), saleof his library, 
 
 SeiUifere (Baron), his library, 171, 
 
 Selsey (Lord), his Ubrary, 165 
 Shakespeare's Works : 
 Prices of, 223-240 
 First folio, 223-229 
 Second folio, 230-^32 
 Third folio, 232 
 Fourth folio, 233 
 Separate plays, 234-239 
 Published price of separate 
 
 plays, 94-96 
 Poems, 239, 240 
 Shelley's Poems and Prose Treatises, 
 
 259 
 Shrewsbury (Earl of), his library, 
 
 164 
 Silius Italicus (1471), 189 
 Smalridge (George), 'Auctio Davi- 
 
 siana,' 37 
 Smith (Consul Joseph), his library 
 bought by George III., 136; his 
 second library sold by auction, 
 136 
 Smith's (Capt. J.) 'Virginia,' 221 
 Smith (Richard), sale of his library, 
 
 "3 
 
 Smollett's ' History of England ' 
 published by subscription, 102 
 
 Solly (Edward), his library, 171 
 
 Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, auc- 
 tioneers, 47 
 
 Southby (T. H. ), his library, 172 
 
274 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Spencer (Earl), purchase of Revick- 
 
 sky and Cassano libraries, 15 ; 
 
 sale of Althorpe library, 16 
 Spenser's ' Faerie Queene,' 221 
 Stanley (Colonel), his library, 154 
 Stationersin the time of Henry VIII., 
 
 80 
 Stationers' Company, 89 
 Steevens (George), his library, 148 
 Stevens (Henry), 21 
 Stourbridge Fair, sale of books 
 
 there, 117 
 Stourhead heirlooms, 170, 175 
 Stowe collection of MSS. , 70 
 Strawberry Hill sale, 162 
 Stuart (William), his library, 174 
 Sullivan (Sir Edward), his library, 
 
 172, 176 
 Sunderland library, 12, 166, 175 
 Sussex (Duke of), sale of his library, 
 
 162, 175 
 Sykes (Sir Mark Masterman), his 
 
 library, 158, 175 
 Syston Park library, 170, 175 
 
 Talleyrand (Prince), his library, 
 
 156 
 Taylor (Baron), his library, 164 
 Taylor (George Watson), his lib- 
 rary, 158 
 Tennyson's Poems, 260 
 Thackerayana, 261 
 Thackeray's Novels, 255 
 Thomas (Ernest) on Richard de 
 
 Bury, 3 
 Thomas, the limner, 60 
 Thomason's (George) Collection of 
 
 Civil War Tracts! 6-9 
 Thorold (Sir J. H.), Syston Park 
 
 library, 170, 175 
 Thoroton's ' Nottinghamshire,' 246 
 Thorpe (Thomas), bookseller, 34 ; 
 
 his catalogues, 35 
 Thuanus, specimens of binding 
 
 from his library, 251 
 Tite (Sir William), his library, 165, 
 
 175 
 Tooke (J. Home), his library, 155 
 
 Toovey's stock, sale of, 176 
 
 Towneley (John), his library, 155 ; 
 drawings, &c., 155 
 
 Towneley Hall library, 170; MSS., 
 170 
 
 Townshend (Marquis of), his lib- 
 rary, 154 
 
 'Tristan,' 192 
 
 Trithemius, his objections to print- 
 ing, 66 ; scolds his monks, 66 
 
 Turner (Dawson), his library, 164 
 
 Turner (R. S. ), his library, 172, 176 
 
 Utterson (E. v.), his library, 164 
 
 Valerius Maximus (1471), 189 
 Vellum, books printed on, 247-249 
 Vespasiano di Bisticci, book pro- 
 ducer, 64 
 ' Vigilles des Mors,' 192 
 Vincent (Dr.), his library, 156 
 Virgilius, 189 
 Vossius (Isaac), sale of his library, 12 
 
 Walford (B.), auctioneer, 118 
 
 Walpole's (Horace) ' Castle of 
 Otranto,' on vellum, 249; 'Hiero- 
 glyphic Tales,' 244 ; library, 162 
 
 Walton (Brian), Bishop of Chester, 
 sale of his library, 117 ; his Poly- 
 glot Bible published by subscrip- 
 tion, 100 
 
 Walton's ' Angler,' published price, 
 98 ; present price, 247 
 
 Wanley (Humphrey) on the sale 
 of Bridges' library, 130 
 
 Warwick (Earl of), sale of his lib- 
 rary, no 
 
 Way (G. L.), his library, 166 
 
 Weever's ' Funeral Monuments,' 
 221 
 
 West (James), sale of his library, 
 137 ; his MSS. sold to Lord Shel- 
 burne, 137 
 
 Willett (Ralph), Merly library, 155, 
 1 75 
 
INDEX 
 
 275 
 
 Wills (Howard), his library, 173 
 
 Wimpole library, 172 
 
 WodhuU (Michael), his library, 171, 
 
 I7S 
 Wolf (John), a pirate bookseller, 89 
 Wood's * Essay on Homer,' 254 
 Woodhouse (John), his library, 149 
 Wordsworth's 'Excursion,' pub- 
 lished price, 97 
 
 Worsley (Benjamin), sale of his 
 
 library, 109 
 Wren (Sir Christopher), sale of his 
 
 library, 132 
 W'ycliffe, uniqvie tracts, 221 
 
 YoHK.(Duke of), his library, 159 
 Young (Alexander), his library, 
 172 
 
 THE END 
 
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