DUODECIMOS
Walton’s “Complete Angler,” first published in 1653, was issued at one shilling and sixpence, as appears from the following contemporary advertisement, quoted by Hone in his “Every-Day Book”: “There is published a Booke of Eighteen-pence price, called ‘The Compleat Angler; or, The Contemplative Man’s Recreation,’ being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing. Not unworthy the perusall. Sold by Richard Marriot at S. Dunstan’s Churchyard, Fleet Street.”
In 1663 Pepys bought the first part of Butler’s “Hudibras” for two shillings and sixpence, and sold it again for one shilling and sixpence. The Master of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, gave at 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 Molière, 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 12mo, “on a fine paper and Elzevir letter,” and published by B. Lintott for fifteen shillings (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 certain books by subscription, and this plan was therefore frequently adopted.
Dr. Brian Walton’s Polyglot Bible (six vols. folio, 1657, £10) 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 commenced by Bernard Lintott in May 1714 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 lines and added several Tales never yet printed, by which alterations, amendments, and additions, the work is in a manner become 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 50s. per book, and those on the finest demy at 30s. Half to be paid in hand. Subscriptions are taken in by the Undertaker, Bernard Lintott 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 subscription 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 subscribed 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 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 kingdom, 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 published 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 £25.
Publishers occasionally reduce the price of a book after publication, but this is seldom a successful operation. The selling-off of remainders has been the means of distributing books to the public 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 Fitzgerald’s wonderful version of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam, the first edition of which was published 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.[37]
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 William 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 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 Menæchmus, ... when will be sold slaves, household goods,” &c.; and the next quotation 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 more 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 Northumberland. 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 Restoration he was ejected both from his living and from the Mastership of Peterhouse. He died at his house 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 interesting 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 Nonconformist 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.” Seaman was the author of “A Vindication of the Judgement of the Reformed Churches, &c., concerning Ordination, &c.,” 1647, and the 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 numbered between five and six thousand, and the amount realised by the sale was a little over £700, 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, like 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 reference 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 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 ædibus Ferdinandi Stable, Coffipolæ, ad insigne Capitis Turcæ). 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 they (as well as we) may in time reap thereby. Wherefore we are resolved (Deo volente) to make a fourth triall with the Library of Dr. Tho. Manton, which is not contemptible either for the Value, Condition, or Number, as will appear upon a sight thereof, which is free for any Gentleman 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 £1, 3s. 6d.; Ben Jonson’s Works (1640), £1, 13s. 6d.; Shakespeare, second folio, 16s., and third folio, £1, 8s. 6d. The auctioneers were John Dunsmore and Richard Chiswell, 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 Philosophiæ 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 month of November 1678 an attempt was made at rigging a sale; the booksellers were so well satisfied 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 executors 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 William Cooper sold the libraries of Stephen Watkins 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 Molière. 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 12mo. But it went for six guineas. People are in love with good binding more than good reading.”[38]
The British Museum Library contains a valuable collection of early sale catalogues, and one of the volumes, containing the first eleven sales from Seaman to Bysshe, is of considerable interest from having the following note in Richard Heber’s handwriting—
“This volume, which formerly belonged to Narcissus Luttrell, and since to Mr. Gough, is remarkable for containing 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 injury. This has been remedied by giving the whole a strong coat of size. At Willett’s sale, Booth, the bookseller 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, £21 (6823). It contained merely the eight which stand first in the present collection, of which Greenhill’s and Godolphin’s were not priced at all; and Voet’s and Sangar’s only partially. However, it enabled me to fill up a few omissions 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 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. Delisle,[39] Sir Kenelm’s books eventually reached the French national library. The proceeds of the sale of 3878 lots was only £908, 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 probably 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 perhaps 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 “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 intelligent 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 the differences of editions; concerning which and the like cases, he has entered memorable and very useful remarks upon very many of the books under his own hand: observations wherein, certainly never man was more diligent and industrious. Thus much was thought fit to be communicated 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 bookseller’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.’”[40]
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 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. VIII., 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.”[41]
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.”[42]
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 VIIth and VIIIth, 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 sixpence.
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 1683 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 Sturbitchiana). In 1686 two sales occurred at Trumpington (Obadiah Sedgwick in March, and William Whitwood 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 shillings.[43] In 1685 and 1686 occurred the famous sales of the stock of Richard Davis, the Oxford bookseller, which was satirised in the Auctio Davisiana, noticed in an earlier chapter.
In 1682 William Cooper published a list of book-sales up to that date, and again a fuller list in 1687, which contained a note of seventy-four sales in the ten years 1676-86. The following note is printed on the back of page 33 of Catalogus Librorum Bibliothecæ 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 libraries 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 Jacombiana), which realised £1300; 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 England (Bibliotheca Mascoviana).
T. Bentley and B. Walford sold in November 1687 an interesting library of an anonymous but distinguished 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 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 between 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.
Millington continued his travels in the country, and sold, among others, the library of Mrs. Elizabeth 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. Bartholomew’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 to the Reader prefixed to the catalogue is of considerable 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 Catalogue, 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 collected 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 thought could be any ways instructive to him; and having the felicity of a memory always faithful, always officious, which never forsook 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 “Anatomie of Abuses” (1585), for 8d.; and Tusser’s “Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry” (1590) for 4d. In spite of these low prices, the total amount of the sale was £1600, 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 Bullord at Tom’s Coffee-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 peculiarities 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. 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 Conditions of Sale printed in the Catalogue of Seaman’s library we read—
“That the Auction will begin the 31st of October at the Deceased Dr’s 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 institution 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 commendable and serviceable a way of sale (as this of Auction is) to the great purposes of promoting Learning and Knowledge. 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 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.”[44]
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 interested 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 of the lots, you only find the number of folios in the sale. Millington found that it was not advisable 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.”[45]
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, 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 century 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 1711 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’ 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 bibliography. 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 century, 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 1711, 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.”
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 worthiness 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 London 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 London House.”[46]
He did, in fact, commence the sale of his library before his death, and the first part was sold in 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.’”[47]
On 10th 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.”[48]
It is worthy of mention here that Dr. Rawlinson purchased Hearne’s Diaries for a hundred guineas from the widow and executrix of Dr. William Bedford, to whom they had been given by Hearne,[49] and he bequeathed them with other property to the University of Oxford. The auctioneers who dispersed 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 £4001. 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. 11, 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 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.”[50]
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, Δρυὸς πεσούσης πᾶς ἀνὴρ ξυλεύεται, 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.”[51]
Besides the sale catalogue, there was a catalogue raisonné 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 shillings, and the latter styles it a happy day when he received it.
In 1731 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 1 of the catalogue contained 3451 lots, and part 2, 3442.
The sale of Dr. Thomas Pellet’s library in 1744 is 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 advertisement of the former is from the Daily Advertiser of 26th October 1748—
“To be sold by auction, by Messrs. Cock and Langford, in ye Great Piazza, Covent Garden, this and ye following evening, the curious and entire libraries of ye ingenious architect Sir Christopher Wren, Knt., and Christopher Wren, Esq., his son, late of Hampton Court; both deceased. Consisting of great variety of Books of Architecture, 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 ye Great Piazza aforesaid, till ye time of sale, which will begin each evening at 5 o’clock precisely. Catalogues of which may be had gratis at ye 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 £700. 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 condition 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 and labour in collecting) the entire library of Mr. Maittaire, whose judgement in the choice of books as it ever was confessed, 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 value, 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 conclusion, he says, “Such a collection was never before exhibited for public sale, and perhaps never will again.”
A striking instance of the absurdly low prices obtained for the books is that of Homeri Batrachomyomachia (Venet. per Leonicum Cretensem, 1486, 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 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 (Venet. 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, 18s. 6d. The second sale consisted of 6741 lots in 29 days, realising £3033, 1s. 6d., making the totals for the two sales, 57 days, 10,021 lots, amount of sale £5509. 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 auction 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 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 in 1755. The sale consisted of 653 lots, occupied four nights, and realised £364.
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 £1200.
The year 1756 was remarkable for the sale of the library of Martin Folkes by Samuel Baker. It consisted of 5126 lots, and realised £3091. 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 pretensions to the chair of the Royal Society, but his contemporaries 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 he himself was so frequently prevented by indisposition; 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. Baptistæ 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 described as being “in the finest preservation, and consisting of the very best and scarcest editions of the Latin, Italian, and French authors, from the Invention of Printing, with manuscripts and missals upon vellum, finely illuminated.” 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,” £10, 10s.; “Book of Fame,” £4, 5s.; “Gower de Confessione Amantis,” 1483, £9, 9s.
Dibdin has given a very full analysis of this fine 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 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 between the two sales.
Mr. Christie sold in March 1776 the valuable library of a very remarkable book-collector, John Ratcliffe, 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, Rotherhithe, 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 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.[52]
There were nine days’ sale of 1675 lots. The Caxtons numbered thirty, and realised an average of £9 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 important 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 following digest of his excellent library, in which no pains have been spared to render it worthy the character of the collector, 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 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 Portuguese 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 collector (Joseph Gulston), which contained a considerable 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 £1750. 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 £100. 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 £1827. When Askew died in 1774 they were offered to a collector for two thousand guineas, but the price was considered too large.
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 £36, 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 augmented by his descendants (the last possessor was Maffeo Pinelli, a learned printer at Venice, who died in 1785), was bought in 1788 by Messrs. Robson & Edwards, booksellers, for about £7000; 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 library was very rich in Greek and Latin classics, and Italian literature generally. The chief lot was the Complutensian Polyglot (6 vols. folio, 1514-17), 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 even in our own day. The title of the English 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 vellum, 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 condition, 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. 9d., or a little over eleven pounds per lot. One of the most beautiful books in the sale was the Opere of Petrarch, 1514, 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, fabulous histories, and various compositions of the greatest ingenuity. This splendid folio volume fetched £116, 11s. A similar book, but apparently much less elaborate, a vellum Aristotle, recently fetched £800 at the Ashburnham sale.
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 mentioned in the Gentleman’s Magazine. The number of lots was 1441, which realised £3700. 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 £4000 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 £3470. It was a ten days’ sale.
The first part of Thomas Allen’s library was dispersed 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 £5737.
The sale of the library of George Mason commenced in January 1798, and continued till 1807, when the fifth part was sold. The first part contained 497 lots (three days), which realised £620; the second part 480 lots (three days), £784; the third part 547 lots (three days), £670; the fourth part, sold in 1799, 338 lots (two days), £586. 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, contained 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 purchasers. 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 £500.
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 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 collection, O rare Richard Farmer?—of thy scholarship, acuteness, 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 considered as an essay towards a perfect Library; the circumstances 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 English literature.—R. Farmer.”
CHAPTER VII
AUCTION SALES IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
The sales of the nineteenth century are so numerous, 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 George Steevens, the Shakespearian commentator, which commenced on 13th May 1800, and continued 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 Repertorium 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 Shakespeare 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 £7000. 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 collection of books, comprising a very extraordinary assemblage of the Greek and Roman classics, and other books in the English, French, and Italian languages; 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 £3361.
The second part was described as “a portion of the singularly elegant library, late the property of a 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 £1246. 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 £3135.
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 collection 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 selection from his library, which was described as “a most splendid and valuable collection of books, superb missals, original drawings, &c., the genuine property of a gentleman of distinguished taste, retiring into the country.” There were only 339 lots, which fetched £4640, or nearly £14 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 £8421, 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, documents, and pamphlets relating to the French Revolution, in more than 280 volumes, which sold for £168. In 1807 the Marquis’s collection of manuscripts were catalogued for sale, but they never came to auction, as they were purchased by Parliament for the British Museum for £6000.
The Rev. Jonathan Boucher (1738-1804) possessed a large library, which was sold by Leigh & Sotheby in three parts for a total of £4510. Part 1, 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 £815. Part 3, 29th May 1809 and three following days, 857 lots sold for £704. 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 1, in May and June 1807, 8611 lots and MSS. 294 lots, in thirty-seven days, sold for £4300. Part 2, February 1808, 4064 lots sold for £1851. 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 £630. 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.
On the twenty-fourth day’s sale Dr. Gosset found in one of the volumes of Menage’s French Dictionary sixty-five pounds in bank-notes, and a rare portrait of Margaret Smith, engraved by W. Marshall, which was subsequently sold for twenty-seven guineas. Previous to the removal of the library from Somerset House, where Brand lived as secretary 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 & Lochée 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 £2000.
In June 1809 Leigh & Sotheby sold the library of Richard Porson, which consisted of 1931 lots, and realised £1254. A list of the prices given for the principal classics in this sale is printed in the Classical Journal (i. 385-90).
The eminent antiquary Richard Gough bequeathed 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, 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 bibliomaniacal 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 philological work, although printed in the Latin or Italian language—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 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.[53]
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 £546. 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 require, and added to the sale some of his own duplicates. There were only 187 lots in this sale, and they sold for £1769.
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 £13,508. 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 collector (John Hunter) was sold in this same year by Leigh & Sotheby, in a three days’ sale, with 405 lots, which realised £1344.
Messrs. King & Lochée sold the library of John Horne Tooke, 1813. There were four days, and 1813 lots, which fetched £1250.
In 1814 and 1815 the library of John Towneley was sold by Evans. Part 1 in June 1814, seven days, 904 lots, amount of sale £5890. Part 2, June 1815, ten days, 1703 lots, amount of sale £2707, or a total for the two parts of £8597. The Towneley Mysteries sold for £147. 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 £1414, and a collection of the works of Hollar, also by Mr. King, in May 1818 for £2108.
In 1816 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, 1176 lots, which sold for £1390; and the library of Marshal Junot, which consisted chiefly of books printed on vellum—the 139 lots sold for £1397; but this fact by itself is misleading, insomuch that the books of more than half that value were bought in, viz., £779, making those sold amount only to £618.
Messrs. Leigh & Sotheby sold in 1816 the library of Prince Talleyrand, which was described as Bibliotheca 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 £1539. 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, 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 £5150.
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 catalogue. 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 £726.
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 succinctly.
The sale of Edmond Malone’s library at Sotheby’s in 1818 occupied eight days, and brought £1649.
The great sale by Evans of James Bindley’s library, which was particularly rich in early English literature, was spread over several years. Part 1, December 1818, twelve days, 2250 lots, amount of sale £3046. Part 2, January 1819, twelve days, 2588 lots, amount realised £4631. 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 £2253. [Part 5] omissions, January 1821, five days, 1092 lots [no totals given].
Bindley’s portraits, prints and drawings, and medals were sold by Sotheby in 1819. Part 1, 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 1, nine days, 1497 lots, £4285. Part 2, twelve days, 2175 lots, £5679. Part 3, four days, 842 lots, £2842. Total, £12,806.
Evans sold George Watson Taylor’s library in 1823. Part 1, six days, 965 lots, £3850. Part 2, eight days, 1207 lots, £4926.
The great Fonthill Abbey sale (Beckford’s collection) 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 1, twelve days, 2603 lots, £4894. Part 2, eight days, 1661 lots, £3611.
A still finer library than this was sold in the same year by Evans, that of Sir Mark Masterman Sykes, Bart. Part 1, eleven days, 1676 lots, £9505. Part 2, six days, 825 lots, £4580. Part 3, eight days, 1190 lots, £4644, making a total of 3691 lots, which realised £18,729.
Almost a rival to this was the sale by Evans in 1827 of the library of John Dent, F.R.S. Part 1, nine days, 1502 lots, £6278. Part 2, nine days, 1474 lots, £8762. Totals, 2976 lots, and £15,040.
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 8511 lots, and the total amount realised was £12,175. These totals were made up as follows:—Part 1 (1828), nine days, 1788 lots, £1665. Part 2 (1829), six days, 1459 lots, £1757. Part 3 (1829), three days, 740 lots, £880. Manuscript (1830), five days, 679 lots, £4441. Library from Corfu: Part 1 (1830), five days, 1124 lots, £998. Part 2 (1831), four days, 722 lots, £678. Remaining portion (1835), eight days, 1999 lots, £1756.
The great sale of George Hibbert’s library by Evans was commenced in 1829, forty-two days’ sale, 8794 lots, £6816.
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 £5160.
In 1832 Evans sold the library of Philip Hurd for £5545. There were 1464 lots, which occupied eight days in selling.
In this same year the choicer portion of John Broadley’s library 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 £3707.
Joseph Haslewood’s library was sold by Evans in 1833. This was an eight days’ sale, consisting of 1855 lots; which realised £2471. 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 1 (1833), twelve days, 2504 lots, £7487. Part 2 (1833), twelve days, 2574 lots, £5161. Part 3 (1834), twelve days, 2753 lots, £5727. Part 4 (1834), six days, 1489 lots, £2845. Part 5 (1834), five days, 1506 lots, £1189.
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 £56,774. The proportionate total cost to Mr. Heber of the library is put at £77,750. The following are the particulars of the various parts:—Part 1, 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, £5958. Part 3, November (Sotheby), seventeen days, 5055 lots, £2116. 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, £6771. 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, £2117. 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, £780. 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 contained 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 £2261. 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 “a distinguished collector.” There were 952 lots, sold in five days for £3188.
The Hon. Baron (Sir William) Bolland’s library was sold by Evans in 1840. The sale consisted of 2940 lots, and occupied thirteen days, realising £3019. 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 £1424.
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 1, September and October 1841, nine days, 2292 lots, £2190. Part 2, March 1842, six days, 1514 lots, £1918. Part 3, November 1842, eight days, 1966 lots, £2081.
Horace Walpole’s collections were sold at Strawberry 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., forming the seventh and eighth days’ sale, were withdrawn, 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 £6726.
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 £19,148. The sale was divided into six parts, as follows:—Part 1, 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, topography, 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 1845, poetry, drama, polygraphy, Latin classics, belles-lettres, &c., twelve days, 2956 lots, £2649. Part 6, August 1845, four days, 926 lots, £718.
The library of Mr. B. H. Bright was sold at Sotheby’s in three divisions in 1845, and the total amount realised was £8997.
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 6211 lots, and the total amount realised for library and prints was £14,155. 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.
Messrs. Sotheby sold in 1851 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 £4087; in 1854 the private library of William Pickering for £10,700; in 1857 the library of the Earl of Shrewsbury 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 1861 the mathematical and general library was sold. Part 1, 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 £10,328, or an average of over £14 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 occupied ten days, and realised £15,865.
At the same auction rooms were sold in 1865 the library of J. B. Nicholl, in two parts, for £6175; 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 £19,781.
The library, engravings, and autographs of John Dillon were sold by the same firm in 1869, during twelve days, for £8700.
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 opportunity 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 £19,943.
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 £16 per lot, the day’s sale consisting of only 117 lots.
In 1879, 1880, and 1881 the fine library of Dr. David Laing, of the Signet Library, Edinburgh, was sold at Sotheby’s in four portions, which realised a total of £16,536, 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 £2130, 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, £1687; library of a collector (Mr. Gulston), £1173.
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. Successive 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 1st 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 chief lots always resolved itself into a duel in the end. Those who expected the books to make a distinguished 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 hopelessly 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 £10 and upwards went on rapidly till £1000—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 1, December 1881, realised £19,373. Part 2, April 1882, £9376. Part 3, July, £7792. Part 4, November, £10,129. Each of these parts consisted of ten days’ sale. Part 5 (and last), March 1883, contained eleven days’ sale, and realised £9908. The lots were numbered throughout the parts, and amounted to 13,858. The total amount realised by the sale was £56,581, 6s.
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 celebrities, such as Francis I., Henri et Diane, and De Thou, and especially of choice old morocco bindings 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 £30,000, payable within a week; but although the Duke would willingly 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 £73,551. Part 1, June and July 1882, consisted of twelve days’ sale and 3197 lots, which realised £31,516. Part 2, December, twelve days, 2732 lots, £22,340. Part 3, July 1883, twelve days, 2781 lots, £12,852. Part 4 (and last), November, four days, 1127 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 £12,892. The most valuable portion of the Hamilton library was the collection of matchless manuscripts, which were kept distinct from the printed books, and sold to the German Government.
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 £8327.
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 £6169; and the choice library of a gentleman, £3366.
In March 1882 was sold a portion of the Right Hon. A. J. B. Beresford-Hope’s library (two days, £2316), 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, £10,028.
The Towneley Hall library, consisting of 2815 lots, in an eight days’ sale, realising £4616, 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), £28,001.
The Earl of Gosford’s library was sold by Puttick and Simpson in 1884, eleven days, 3363 lots, £11,318.
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 necessarily 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 1 (1884), seven days, 2824 lots. Part 2 (1885), nine days, 3119 lots, £4095.
The fine library of the Earl of Jersey at Osterley Park was sold by Sotheby’s in May 1885 for £13,007; 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 1 (1885) consisted of 2475 lots, occupying ten days in the selling, which realised £9636. Part 2 (1886), ten days’ sale of 2582 lots, £5258. Part 3 (1887), eight days’ sale of 2937 lots, £1635.
In January 1886 was sold the library of Mr. Wodhull, £11,972; and in November of the same year Edward Solly’s, F.R.S., £1544.
A selection from the magnificent library of the Earl of Crawford was sold at Sotheby’s in 1887 and 1889. Portion 1 (1887), ten days, 2146 lots, realised £19,073. 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 £6803. Second portion (1888), fifteen days, 5364 lots, £7907. Third portion (1888), three days, £809. The total amount realised for the three portions was £15,509.
A choice portion of Baron Seillière’s library was sold in February 1887 (1440 lots, £14,944). A second portion was afterwards sold in Paris.
In 1888 Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods sold the library of the Earl of Aylesford (£10,574); and the Wimpole library, which formerly belonged to Lord Chancellor Hardwicke (£3244).
In the same year the beautiful library of Mr. R. S. Turner was sold at Sotheby’s. Part 1, June 1888, twelve days, 2999 lots, £13,370. 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 collection of books in 774 lots, which realised the large sum of 319,100 francs (£12,764).
In February 1889 were sold at Sotheby’s the Earl of Hopetoun’s library of 1263 lots for £6117, 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, remarkable 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, £2557.
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, £5571); that of Sir Edward Sullivan (choicer portion), £11,002; that of Frank Marshall (six days, 1937 lots, £2187); that of Alexander Young, £2238; and that of T. H. Southby, £2241.
In 1891 were sold the libraries of Cornelius Paine (£3677); Edward Hailstone of Walton Hall:—Part 1, ten days, 2728 lots, £4738. Part 2, eight days, 2904 lots, £4252 (total, £8991); W. H. Crawford of Lakelands, county Cork, twelve days, 3428 lots, £21,255; J. Anderson Rose, £2450; and Lord Brabourne, 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 Wingfield Larking (three days, 946 lots, £3925); of Edwin Henry Lawrence (four days, 860 lots, £7409); of Joshua H. Hutchinson (832 lots, £2377); of Count Louis Apponyi, £3363; and of “a gentleman deceased” (418 lots, £2411)—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, £2525. At the same rooms the sale of the Rev. W. E. Buckley’s library was commenced. Part 1, 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, £5198.
In 1895 were sold at Sotheby’s the libraries of Mons. John Gennadius, eleven days, 3222 lots, £5466; of Baron Larpent, £2630; of T. B. F. Hildyard, £4165; of the Earl of Orford, two days, 340 lots, £2609; of the Rev. W. J. Blew (liturgical), £2220; and of Dr. Hyde Clarke, £2598.
The library of the Rev. W. Bentinck L. Hawkins, F.R.S., was sold at Christie’s in the same year. First portion, three days, 747 lots, £1176. Second portion, two days, 471 lots, £833. Third and final portion, one day, 252 lots, £894. At the same rooms the library of William Stuart, 215 lots, £4296.
The sales at Sotheby’s in 1896 which realised £2000 and upwards were those of John Tudor Frere, £3747; Sir W. Pole, £4343; Adrian Hope, £3551; Lord Coleridge, £2845; Sir Thomas Phillipps (MSS.), £6988; Sir E. H. Bunbury, £2965, Lord Bateman, £2151; Alfred Crampton, £2492; fine bindings of a collector, £3613; books and MSS. from various collections, £8554.
The chief sales at Sotheby’s in 1897 have been as follows:—Sir Charles Stewart Forbes and others, five days, £5146; Beresford R. Heaton and others, three days, £4054; 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 £30,151, and in the second part 1208 lots for £18,649.
It is worthy of notice in the above list that the amounts realised 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, £73,551; Duke of Hamilton, £12,892).
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. Bonn’s stock, in three parts, for £13,333, and Mr. Lilly’s in 1871 and 1873, in five parts, for £13,080. In 1873 Mr. T. H. Lacy’s stock of theatrical portraits and books were sold at Sotheby’s for £5157.
Mr. F. S. Ellis’s stock was sold in November 1885 for £15,996, and Mr. Toovey’s in February 1893 for £7090. The latter’s sporting books realised £1031.
It is very much the fashion now to average the amounts realised at auctions, and to point out that at such a sale the amount obtained was about £10 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 £1 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 included. 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 individual 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 £30,151, 10s., 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 2110 lots brought £28,000, or £13, 5s. per lot, the next highest average being that of the Seillière library, sold in 1887, 1140 lots realising £14,944, or about £13, 2s. per lot. It is scarcely fair, however, to compare the Ashburnham collection with either of these two libraries, as the Seillière 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 £40 than £18.”
This is all very well in its way, but one lot fetched £4000, and such an amount would demoralise any average. Let us therefore see what are the particular points worthy of notice in the sums making up this large total of £30,151. We find that five lots realised £1000 and over each, and including these five lots, forty-two were over £100 each. Now the total for these forty-two lots is £20,348, which, if we deduct from the grand total, leaves 1641 lots for £9803, bringing our average down considerably.
This is not perhaps a quite fair system of striking 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 valuable 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 realising 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 Sunderland, the Hamilton Palace, and the Ashburnham libraries.
At the first of these the largest prices were obtained for the first editions of Bibles, classics, Italian poets, &c.; at the second, fine bindings took the lead; and at the third, Bibles and Caxtons, 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 likely to get books cheaper.
While the first editions of the classics will probably always keep up their price, later editions have experienced a fall from which they are never likely to recover. Scholarship and knowledge of manuscripts have so greatly advanced, that many of the old high-priced editions are now hopelessly out of date, and good German texts, which 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 “Cæsar” (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 £64, and Topham Beauclerk’s £44. 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 afterwards told by his bookseller that it was worth seventeen guineas, he sent the additional thirteen guineas to the lady. Certainly the Sunderland copy fetched £101 in 1881, but this was a special case, owing to the connection of the great Duke of Marlborough 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 £1050 at the Earl of Ashburnham’s sale. This same copy brought £257 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 magnificent books—the Mazarin Bible and the first Bible with a date—have realised:—
Biblia Sacra Latina (Moguntiæ, Gutenberg et Fust, circa 1450-55):—
On vellum—G. & W. Nicols, 1825, £504 (Messrs. Arch for H. Perkins). H. Perkins, 1873, £3400. Earl of Ashburnham, 1897, £4000.
On paper—Sykes, 1824, £199, 10s. (H. Perkins). Hibbert, 1829, £215. Bishop of Cashel, 1858, £595. H. Perkins, 1873, £2690. Thorold (Syston Park), £3900. Earl of Gosford, 1884 (vol. i. in original binding), £500. Earl of Crawford, 1887, £2650. Earl of Hopetoun, 1889 (one leaf injured, and slightly wormed), £2000.
Biblia Sacra Latina (Moguntiæ, Fust et Schoeffer, 1462) [first Latin Bible with a date]:—
On vellum—
| Duc de la Valliere, 4085 francs. |  | Same copy. |
| Count MacCarthy, 4750 francs. | ||
| Watson Taylor, 1823, £215. | ||
| Dent, 1827, £173. | ||
| H. Perkins, 1873, £780. | ||
| Earl of Crawford, 1887, £1025. |
The Lamoignon copy, bought by Mr. Cracherode for 250 guineas, is now in the British Museum. Sunderland, 1881, £1600. Thorold, £1000.
The Latin Version of the Psalms, in its second edition, by Fust and Schoeffer, 1459 (printed on vellum), sold at Sykes’s sale for £136, 10s. 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 3350 francs. The MacCarthy copy was bought by Hibbert, and at his sale in 1829 it became the property of Baron Westreenen.[54]
Biblia Latina, folio Venetiis (N. Jenson), 1476, printed on vellum, capital letters illuminated, in red morocco, sold at the Merly sale for £168. Beckford copy (supposed to be the same copy) sold in 1882 for £330. H. Perkins, 1873, £290.
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 £820. Dent’s copy £89 in 1827 (title and two leaves in facsimile). Freeling’s copy, £34, 10s. in 1836. Dunn Gardner’s, 1854 (with title and one leaf in facsimile), £365. H. Perkins, 1873 (title and two leaves in facsimile), £400. 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 15s. This was sold at Ames’s sale, 1760, to John White for £15, 14s. 6d. It was sold by White to the Rev. Dr. Gifford for twenty guineas, and bequeathed by Gifford, with the rest of his library, to the Baptists’ library at Bristol.
The Complutensian Polyglot (6 vols. folio, 1514-17) is said to have cost Cardinal Ximenes £40,000. 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—(1) Royal Library, Madrid; (2) Royal Library, Turin; (3) supposed to have been reserved for the Cardinal. Pinelli, 1789, £483, bought by MacCarthy. MacCarthy, 1817 £676 (16,000 francs), bought by Hibbert. Hibbert, 1829, £525.
On paper—Harleian copy, sold by Osborne for £42. Maittaire’s imperfect copy sold for 50s. Sunderland, £195. Earl of Crawford, 1887 (general title wanting), £56. Beresford Hope, 1882, £166. W. H. Crawford (Lakelands), 1891, £100.
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.[55]
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 difficulties of his political situation did not afford him half the solace which arose from the finishing of his Polyglot.[56] 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.
Walton’s Polyglot Bible, 6 vols. folio, 1657 (with Castell’s Lexicon), does not keep up its price.
Seaman, 1676, £8, 2s. Bernard, 1698, £10. Duke of Grafton (without Castell), £38, 13s. Edwards, £61. Heath, £73, 10s. (bought by the Earl of Essex). H. Perkins, 1873, £19, 15s. At the Wimpole library sale (Lord Chancellor Hardwicke), 1888, a copy of Walton without Castell fetched £9, 5s. The Ashburnham copy, which had belonged 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.