Appendix, the before-noticed treatises of Geisler and Decker with the relative letters of Vindingius and Bayle, and the Dissertation of Mayer. This elaborate work con tains notices of six thousand books or authors ; but it is ill-arranged and frequently inaccurate, besides being cumbered, with citations and extracts, equally useless and
fatiguingThe subject of false and fanciful names attached to books had been undertaken in France by Adrien Baillet, nearly about the same period that Placcius commenced his inquiries. In 1690 this author published his Auteurs Deguises ; but this is little more than an introduction to an intended catalogue which Baillet never completed, being deterred, as Niceron says, by the fear lest the expo sure of concealed authors should in some way or other involve him in trouble. In this piece, which was reprinted in the sixth volume of De La Monnoye s edition of Baillet s Jugemens des Savans, there are some curious literary anecdotes, especially with reference to the passion which prevailed after the revival of letters for assuming classi cal names. In Italy these names were so generally introduced into families, that the names of the saints, hitherto the common appellatives, almost disappeared from that country. A similar rage for assuming the names of celebrated authors was common among French writers in the 18th century.
The taste for this kind of research, which the work of Placcius had diffused in Germany, produced several supple ments to it in that country. In the De Libris anonymis et pscudonymis Schediasma, published by Christopher Augustus Neumann in 1711, there is a dissertation on the question, Whether it is lawful for an author either to withhold or disguise his name] which question he decides in the affirmative But the most considerable of these sup plements was that published in 1740 by John Christopher Mylius, librarian at Hamburg. It contains a reprint of the Schediasma of Neumann, with remarks, and a list of 3200 authors, in addition to those noticed by Placcius. The notices of Mylius, however, are limited to books in Latin, French, and German. The younger De Bure occupied himself partially with these researches : his omissions were supplied by M. Ne e de la Rochelle in his Table destinee a la Recherche des Livres anonymes qui out ete annonces dans la Bibliographie Instructive, Paris, 1782. The names of several anonymous writers were discovered by Rollin in his Traite des Etudes, by Jordan in his Illstoire d un voyage Utter ai re fait en 1783; and by Bayle in his Reponse aux Questions d un provincial. In 1758 the Abbd de la Porte published his France litteraire,[1] which was republished with large additions in 1769 by the Abbe" de Hebrail. Both editions contain numerous errors, many of which, unfortunately, were reproduced by Ersch, librarian of the university at Jena, in his enlarged publication of 1797-1806, a work in other respects of solid merit and utility. The Dictionnaire des Anonymes of the Abbd Duclos is serviceable but incomplete ; it has been abridged by Fournier in his Dictionnaire portatif de Bibliographie, Paris, 1805.
Among later authorities may be mentioned Weller s Maskirte Literatur der dlteren und neueren Sprachen, Leipsic, 1858, and Die falschen und fingirten Druclcorte, 1858, and the Dictionnaire des Pseudonymes, by G. Heilly, 1869. Conspicuous in merit is the Dictionnaire des Ouvrages Anonymes et Pseudonymes, by M. Barbier, librarian to Napoleon I., the last edition of which is as recent as 1872. It comprises a vast number of articles, but the plan does not extend to foreign productions, except those which have been translated into French. His labours have been supplemented and improved upon by De Manne, in his Nouveau Dictionnaire of 1868, and by Querard in his Supercheries litteraires devoilees 1847-53. The list of anonymous writers in France includes Pascal, La Roche foucauld, and Cardinal Richelieu. The authorship of Montesquieu s Esprit des Lois was disguised, on its appearance in 1748, as was the Anti-Machiavd, written by Frederick II. of Prussia, and published by Voltaire, who himself wrote several works anonymously. For Italian literature there are Vine. Lancetti s Pseudonima, published at Milan in 1836; and Melzi s Dizionario di Opere Anonime-ePseudonime di Scrittori Italiani, Milan, 1 848-5 9.[2] In England the practice of anonymous writing, in spite of the example of journalism, has never largely prevailed ; but the Letters of Junius are a conspicuous example of authorship successfully concealed. The Ecce Homo is a recent instance among the works of current celebrity. The Handbook of Fictitious Names, by Olphar Hamst, London, 1868, is a useful and amusing guide, especially to English authors of the lighter literature of this century. Works of this class, however, are most applicable to countries in which the liberty of the press has been most restricted.
VI. Condemned and Prohibited BooJcs.
religion, or morality have been sometimes condemned to the names, sometimes censured by particular tribunals, and sometimes suppressed. Such methods of destruction have been followed in various countries, with regard both to their own and to foreign productions ; and lists have been published from time to time of the works so interdicted. Heathen antiquity supplies some instances of the burning of obnoxious books, such as the reported destruction of the works of Piotagoras at Athens, and of astrological works, as well as the writings of Labienus, by Augustus at Rome. Some Greek works, alleged to have been found in the tomb of Numa in 181 B.C., and ascribed to him, were burnt by order of the Senate ; the story of their discovery, however, is a mere fabrication. Tacitus mentions a History by Cretnutius Cordus, which the Senate, to flatter Tiberius, condemned, because it designated C. Cassius the last of the Romans.[3] Diocletian, according to Eusebius, caused the Scriptures to be burnt, but the early Christian Church was not slow in following the example of intolerance, and the charge of heresy was a ready instrument for putting down works alleged to be injurious to the faith. The first recorded instance is that of Arius, whose writings were condemned to the flames at the Council of Nica^a, Constan- tine himself threatening with death those who should harbour any copies. The same fate befell the works of Nestorius at the Council of Ephesus, and those of Eutyches at Chalcedon. Pagan works were prohibited at the Council of Carthage in 400. Aristotle was forbidden by the church in the 13th century, but the restriction was relaxed in favour of the universities by Pope Nicholas V. A list of prohibited books is found in a decree of a council at Rome as early as 494.[4] But the chief rigours of persecu tion began with the Inquisition, and the crusade against literature increased in severity with the multiplication of books through the press. In 1515 the Council of Lateran at Rome appointed clerical censors to examine all works before publication, as if, to use Milton s indignant remon
strance, " St Peter had bequeathed to them the keys of the
