Introduction to Bibliography. It includes an edition of Sterne s Sentimental Journey, three copies only of which were printed at Paris in 1802, on rose-coloured paper, and the complete Works of Voltaire, edited by Beaumarchais (Kehl, 1785), twenty-five copies of which were struck off on blue paper, after some had been requested by Frederick the Great for his own use, on account of the weakness of his eyesight. Vellum copies, again, have been much prized by collectors. They belong to the early days of printing, especially co the Alcline, Verard, and Giunti presses, and to those of the first English printers. Few were made between the latter half of the 1 6th and the beginning of the last century; but the art was revived in France by Didot and Bodoni, and the folio Horace of 1799 by the former is a chef d ceuvre of its kind. The Royal Library at Paris has a sumptuous collection of vellum copies, which have been elaborately described by Van Praet.[1] At the sale of the M Carthy library, the Psalter of Fust and Schoffer on vellum was bought by Louis XVIII. for 12,000 francs. The libraries of Earl Spencer and the duke of Devonshire contain the finest specimens in this country. The relative rarity of books is due to a variety of causes, chiefly con nected with the peculiar nature of their contents. Among works of this kind, generally speaking, are local histories, lives of learned men, books of antiquities, or of curious arts, those written in languages little known, macaronic treatises, and catalogues of private libraries. Works like the Acta Sanctorum, in 53 volumes, however accessible in public though not in private libraries, are rare in this sense of the term. The cla^s of publications known as Ana, con taining the sayings and doings of men great in their day, has become comparatively scarce. The first of these was the Sealigerana of 1666. The public fastened upon them at first with avidity, but the number of such productions created in time a distaste for them (see ANA, vol. i., pp. 784-5). Burton s Anatomy of Melancholy, which fascinated Dr Johnson, is an instance of undeserved neglect. For a long time it fell into disuse, and from being a waste-paper book, became extremely rare, until reprinted in recent times. Fugitive pieces, like political broadsides, share the penal ties of an ephemeral interest. The King s Pamphlets, so called from having been presented by George III. to the British Museum, are the largest collection of this kind in England. It owes its origin to the industry of the book
seller Thomason.[2]In a literary sense, a book, to deserve the title of rare, should be a work of some merit, and not one whose obscurity is due to its worthlessness. Curious books, however, depend very much on the pleasure of the curious ; and the follies and caprice of collectors are summed up in the word Bibliomania. Some copies of Tuberville s Boole of Hunting, 1611, were bound in deer-skin; Mr Jeffery, the bookseller, enclosed Mr Fox s historical work in fox s- skiu ; and a story is told of Dr Askew having caused a book to be bound in human skin, for the payment of which he was prosecuted by the binder. German bibliographers reproach us with an undue passion for book curiosities. Bibliomania forms the title of an amusing work by Dr Dibdin, who, though accused of a leaning to this weakness, knew well how to value the intelligent study of books. The practice was satirized as early as the time of Brandt, (see his Ship of Fools.} It prevailed in England chiefly during last century, and reached its height at the sale of the duke of Roxburghe s library in 1812.[3] The time, however, has passed away when the passion for collecting rare and curious books, without regard to their usefulness, merit, or beauty, was too often a failing with well-educated persons. The love of uncut and large-paper copies of vellum and first editions, and of illustrated books, has been better regulated since book-madness was attacked by the Abb6 Rive, Dibdin, Dr Ferrier, and the Rev. James Beresford; and modern book-clubs like the Rox- burghe (1812), the Bannatyne (1823), the Maitland (1823), and the Surtees (1834) Societies, the Abbotsford Club (1834), and the Early English Text Society, have done important service to bibliography by reprinting scarce old books.
Detached notices of rare and curious books are to be found in the catalogues of private libraries, especially those compiled by French writers during the last century. Beloe s Anecdotes of Literature contains much interesting matter on scarce books and their prices. The following, however, are the chief works on this subject: Hal- lervord s Bibliotheca curiosa, Frankfort, 1687 ; Beyer s Memories historico-criticce librorum rariorum, Dresden and Leipsic, 1734 ; Vogt s Catalogus historico-criticus librorum rariorum, the best edition of which appeared at Frankfort in 1793. The author applies the epithet rare with more judgment than his predecessors. A supplement to his work was the Florilegium historico-criticum librorum rariorum of Gerdesius, first published in 1740, and again in 1763. The Bibliotheque curieuse, ou Catalogue raisonne des livres rares et difficiles a trouver, by D. Clement, Gbttingen, 1750- 60, is compiled on a more extensive plan than any of the preceding. Although consisting of 9 volumes 4to, it only extends to the letter H, terminating there in consequence of the author s death. Clement is generally blamed for a very profuse and inaccurate ap plication of his own nomenclature; his notes, moreover, are crammed with citations, and tediously minute, but they abound with curious morsels of literary history, and it is to be regretted that the work was not completed. S. Engel, Bibliotheca Selectissima, Bern, 8vo, 1743 ; T. Sinceri, Notitiahistorico-critica librorum rariorum, Frank fort, 1753; Bibliographic Instructive, ou Traite de la connaissance des livres rares et singuliers, by W. F. De Bure, Paris, 1763-68, 7 vols. This work did much to popularize bibliography in France. The author criticizes parts of Clement s dictionary, but recognizes the general merit of that work. De Bure published a supplement in 1769, containing a catalogue of rare and curious books in the library of Gaignat. Dictionnaire typographique, historique, et critique, des livres rares, estimes, et recherches en tons genres, par J. B. L. Osmont, 2 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1768. This work contains a fuller account of Italian books than the preceding. Dictionnaire bibliographique, historique, et critique, des livres rares, precieiix, singuliers, etc., by Andre Charles Cailleau, 3 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1790. This work was compiled, according to M. Barbier and others, by the Abbe Duclos, and was republished in 1800, with a supple mentary volume, by M. Brunet. Notes are affixed to unpriced books, stating their value. Bibliotheca Librorum rariorum Univer- sali-s, by Jo. Jac. Bauer, 7 vols. 8vo., 1770-91. Peignot in his Repertoire des Bibliographies speciales, curieuses, et instructives, 8vo, Paris, 1810, has written on the elements of rarity, and the different classes of rare books.
IV. The Classics.
the discovery of printing coincided very closely with the full development of that zeal for classical learning, which had begun with the 15th century.[4] To Italy belongs the chief glory of first embodying, in an imperishable form, those materials which the industry of Poggio and others had rescued from the dust of monastic libraries. In rapid succession the first editions of the classics issued from Italian presses; no less than fifty of these are enumerated by Panzer. Apuldus, Aulus Gellius, Ccesar, Livy, Lucan, Virgil, and portions of Cicero, were printed by Sweynheim and Pannartz at Rome before 1470; while the rival press
of the Spiras at Venice boasted of Plautus, Tacitus,- ↑ Catalogue des livres imprimes sur Velin de la Bibliotheque du Roi, 1822-28, 6 vols. See his supplemental catalogue of similar books in other libraries, 1824, 4 vols. royal 8vo. Panzer, as he informs us in his Essaisur VHistoire du Parcheminet du Velin, 1812, intended, but did not execute, a comprehensive work on vellum curiosities. See also Schelhorn s Amosn. Litter., vol. i.
- ↑ See Oldys s Dissertation on Pamphlets, and the Icon Libellorum of Myles Davis, a resume of which is given in Disraeli s Amenities of Literature. Aungervyle de Bury admitted Panjleti exigui into his library.
- ↑ At this sale the Valdarfer Boccaccio of 1471 fell to the Marquis of Blandford, after a spirited competition with Earl Spencer, for 2260.
- ↑ Hallam s Lit. of Europe, i. 146 ; Roscoe s Lorenzo de Mcdid.
