EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
613
traett, it will be enough to say tbere axe 238 volumes of sermons and tracts, published during the civil war of Charles I., of which the sermons preached before the parliament fill 32 volumes. Among the early editions may be enumerated the SMthury IMurgy, 1630, finely illuminated ; and the Howi of the Virgim, printed at Paris, in 1498, of which the printing and wood-cuts are finely executed. Of the costly works, it will be sufficient tu mention the classic pages of Grteviu* and Gronomus, extending through more than 30 folios, with that great and national work, Rymer'i Feedera, in 20 vols, folio. Amongst the manuscripts, are a beautifully illuminated Bible; and a well written copy of Wiclif's Testament.
Dr. Williams's library has received many valu- able additions, by the munificence of several eminent ministers and laymen of the " Three Denominations," among whom Dr. William Harris stands pre-eminent, having bequeathed a noble collection of 240 folio, 364 quarto, and 1365 octavo volumes to the trustees. Its increase has, however, been gradual; for, unlike the libraries of the universities, and other privileged bodies connected with the national ecclesiastical establishment, it does not augment its volumes at the expense of authors and publishers, but simplv by the voluntary donations of those indi- ▼iduals who can appreciate the importance of such an institution to the dissenters of London.
I7I6. Died, Benjamin Tucke, (who after- waids wrote his name Tooke,) a celebrated bookseller in London. He was born about the year 1642, and is supposed to have been the son of the rev. Thomas Tuke, vicar of St. Olave's, Old Jewry, London. After having served an ap- prenticeship to John Crooke, he was admitted a freeman and liveryman of the stationers' com- pany, in Feb. 1666-6. He was for some years steward, and afterwards treasurer of St. Bar- tholomew's hospital. In 1696, he was clerk of the stationers' company pro tern., and treasurer of the same from 1677 to 1702, when he resigned in favour of Mr. Joseph Collyer.
1716, Jan.-Feb. The severity of the frost occa- sioned the river Thames to be one solid block of ice ; and shops of almost every description were erected on the surface.* Amongst these, printers and booksellers were also found pursuing their profession ; for in some lines printed thereon we find the following intimation :
In ibis place Bowyer plies j that's Uotot's stand.
Whether this was Mr. William Bowyer, printer, or Jonah Bowyer, the bookseller, is unknown.
It appears that John Bagford did not confine himself to the theory of printing: for by two cards printed on the frozen river Thames, Jan. 18, among the Harleian manuscripts, 6936, on the first of which, he is styled " Dr. John Brad- ford,f patron of learning, Jan. 1716-16. Printed
- See Malcolm's Anteiota of tke Uiumert and Customs
o/lMulon in the Eighteenth Centum, 1808, page 3as.
1 1 follow Dr. Calder's words ; but this ftnt card conld scarcely have been intended for BAaroto.— Nichols.
at his Miyesty's printing office in Black Friars." Round this card are prints of the heads of John Guttenberg and Caxton, with other devices, the royal arms, and the city of London below, &c. The second card is as follows : " The noble art and mystery of printing, being invented and practised by John Gottenburg, a soldier at Har- lem in Holland, anno 1440, King Henry VI. anno 1469, sent two private messengers, with 1600 mark£, to procure one of the workmen. They prevailed on one Frederic Corseilis to leave the printing office in disguise, who immediately came over with them, and first instructed the English in this famous art at Oxford, the same year, 1469." In the area of the card, in capital letters, "Ma. John Bagford," and the four following lines are printed :
All yon that walk npon the Thames, Step in this booth and print your names. And lay it by, that aces yet to come. May see what things npon the Thames were done, Printed on the frozen river Thames Jan. 18, 1710.
1716, May 16. Died, John Bagford an in- dustrious antiquaiy, bookseller, and printer, in London. He was born some time in 1675, in the parish of St. Anne, Black Friars, London ; and, it seems, he was bred to the business of a shoemaker ; for he acknowledges that he prac- tised, or had practised, " the gentle craft," as he calls it, in a little curious and entertaining tract on the fashions of shoes, &c. and the art of making them, now in the British museum. He seems to have been led very early, by the turn of his mind, to inquire into the antiquities of his own country, and the origin and progress of its literature. By such inquiries be acquired a great knowledge of old English books, prints, and other literary curiosities, which he carefully picked up at low prices, and ie.«old honestly at moderate profits. In this kind of curious but ungainly traffic, he appears tu have passed much of his life ; being more of a book broker, rather than a bookseller, and a most proper and honest person to employ in the purchase of scarce and curious books, prints, &c. on moderate terms. In the prosecution of his design, he visited the continent several times, receiving commissions from eminent booksellers, and persons of learn- ing, particularly the earl of Oxford, and Dr. John Moore, bishop of Norwich,* to enrich their libraries; and was presented by the latter with a smallplace in the charter house. It is evident that Bagford had taken extraordinary pains to inform himself in the history of printing, and of all the arts immediately, or more remotely, con- nected with it. He published, in the Philoso- phical Transactions, in 1707, his Proposals for a History of Printing, Printers, Illuminators,
- Dr. John Moore was bishop of Norwich, and after-
wards of Ely : he died Jniy 3i, 1714. His books and manoscriiits consisted of 3000 volumes, which had been collected at immense expense, and were offered to the earl of Oxford ; bnt were purchased by George I. for jffiOOO, and presented to the university of Cambridge. In his library was the celebrated Paris bible, with the forged date, which has caused so much controversy among the learned.— Sec Uailtaire, Palmer, and Nichols.
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