FOOTNOTES:
[52] Of this book, published in octavo in 1893, it is impossible to speak too highly. Both as a text-book for the student and a reference book for the collector it is invaluable. The other two volumes by Mr. Duff are also of the greatest assistance. 'The Printers, Stationers, and Bookbinders of Westminster and London from 1476 to 1535' was published in 1906, and 'The English Provincial Printers, Stationers, and Bookbinders to 1557' in 1912—both by the Cambridge University Press. They are still (1921) in print, and cost six and five shillings respectively.
[53] A stereotyped reprint of the revised edition published between 1857 and 1864. Each of the first five volumes is in two parts, often bound separately. Vol. 6 is an appendix.
[54] Brockhaus of Leipzig has also (1921) published a facsimile reprint of this work—price £12.
[55] The term Incunabula is now applied to all books printed before the year 1500. It is a vast study in itself, this bibliography of fifteenth-century books; and thanks to the labours of a small group of men who have devoted their lives to the subject, it is now upon a definite scientific basis. Carefully prepared monographs are issued from time to time, dealing with the different founts used by the early printers; but as this subject is unlikely to engage the attentions of those for whom this work is written (who, like the writer, are of modest means), I forbear to enter upon it in detail.
[56] It is a tedious game, but a very necessary one, and is a service due to an author. In entering a long list of errata in a folio book which has many lines to the page (Cotton's 'Monluc' has 62 lines, and the 1707 edition of Sandford's 'Genealogical History of the Kings and Queens of England' has nearly 150 errata!) the following method saves a lot of time. Take a strip of paper about an inch wide, place it on a page, and make a dash on the strip at every fifth line of text, numbering the dashes 5, 10, 15, 20, etc. This measurer saves one counting the lines every time.
[57] Dr. John North.
[58] For Schoeffer's list, see Mr. E. G. Duff's 'Early Printed Books,' 1893, p. 31, where there is also an illustration of it. For Caxton's advertisement, see an excellent article upon these early catalogues, by Mr. A. W. Pollard, in 'The Bibliophile' for March 1908 (vol. 1. No. i, p. 22).
[59] Mr. E. G. Duff, op. cit., p. 513.
[60] A collection of thirty-two facsimiles of these fifteenth-century book advertisements was published by Herr Konrad Burger in 1908.
[61] This is not strictly accurate, for there were agents or booksellers (call them what you will) who bought and sold manuscripts at Rome in very early times. A document dated 1349 (quoted by Laborde, 'Les Ducs de Bourgogne,' tom. 1, p. 459) mentions one Thomas de Maubeuge, 'bookseller at Paris,' who sold a volume to the Duke of Normandy for fourteen florins of gold.
[62] Beckmann, op. cit.
[63] Mr. E. G. Duff, op. cit. Beckmann has 12,475, quoting Fabricius' 'Bibliotheca Latina,' ed. 1772, vol. iii. p. 898, where the document is printed in full.
[65] For more upon this subject, with regard to this country, see The Camb. Hist. Eng. Lit. vol. iv. chap, xviii., 'The English Book-trade,' by Mr. H. G. Aldis.
[66] Curwen's 'History of Booksellers,' 8vo, 1873, deals chiefly with the later English houses; while Mr. E. Marston's 'Sketches of Booksellers of Other Days,' 12mo, 1901, is concerned only with eight London booksellers, from Tonson to Lackington. Mr. F. A. Mumby's 'The Romance of Bookselling,' 8vo, 1910, contains a bibliography of the subject, but says little about the early continental book-marts. Mr. W. Roberts' 'Earlier History of English Bookselling,' 8vo, 1892, deals with London alone, and does not help us. There is a short article on the Frankfort Fairs, by Mr. G. Smith, in 'The Library,' 1900, pp. 167-179.
[67] This was one of the five publications on account of which Curll was set in the pillory in 1725.
[68] L'Advocat: Dict. Histor.
[69] The italics are not mine.
[70] Beckmann, op. cit.
[71] Like many of these rarissima it has been reprinted in facsimile—crown 8vo, 100 copies only, 1898.
[72] The various editions and impressions of this book have given rise to confused accounts respecting them. The British Museum Catalogue gives five distinct impressions of the third edition and five of the fourth edition. Of the fourth edition, some large-paper copies were issued; they are scarce and worth thirty shillings or more. The first edition is undated, but the paper is water-marked '1805'. A copy of this last, in the original boards uncut, realised 205 dollars in New York in March, 1920. It usually fetches about £5 in England.
[73] The three copies which were sold between Dec. 1919 and June 1920, however, fetched 2,200 dollars, £410, and £600. The last was in the original sheepskin.
