In this pell-mell of old and new,
Of war and peace, my essays, too,
For long in serials tempest-tost,
Are landed now, and are not lost:
Nay, on your shelf secure they lie,
As in the amber sleeps the fly.
’Tis true, they are not “rich nor rare;”
Enough, for me, that they are—there!
A. L
PREFACE.
The essays in this volume have, for the most part, already appeared in an American edition (Combes, New York, 1886). The Essays on ‘Old French Title-Pages’ and ‘Lady Book-Lovers’ take the place of ‘Book Binding’ and ‘Bookmen at Rome;’ ‘Elzevirs’ and ‘Some Japanese Bogie-Books’ are reprinted, with permission of Messrs. Cassell, from the Magazine of Art; ‘Curiosities of Parish Registers’ from the Guardian; ‘Literary Forgeries’ from the Contemporary Review; ‘Lady Book-Lovers’ from the Fortnightly Review; ‘A Bookman’s Purgatory’ and two of the pieces of verse from Longman’s Magazine—with the courteous permission of the various editors. All the chapters have been revised, and I have to thank Mr. H. Tedder for his kind care in reading the proof sheets, and Mr. Charles Elton, M.P., for a similar service to the Essay on ‘Parish Registers.’
CONTENTS.
| PAGE | |
| Elzevirs | [3] |
| Ballade of the Real and Ideal | [18] |
| Curiosities of Parish Registers | [20] |
| The Rowfant Books | [36] |
| To F. L. | [38] |
| Some Japanese Bogie-books | [40] |
| Ghosts in the Library | [66] |
| Literary Forgeries | [69] |
| Bibliomania in France | [90] |
| Old French Title-pages | [109] |
| A Bookman’s Purgatory | [121] |
| Ballade of the Unattainable | [133] |
| Lady Book-lovers | [135] |
ILLUSTRATIONS.
| PAGE | |
| Elzevir Spheres | [5] |
| Elzevir title-page of the ‘Imitation’ of Thomas à Kempis | [8] |
| Elzevir ‘Sage’ | [12] |
| Japanese Children. Drawn by Hokusai | [41] |
| A Storm-fiend | [45] |
| A Snow-bogie | [51] |
| The Simulacrum Vulgare | [55] |
| A Well and Water bogie | [57] |
| Raising the Wind | [61] |
| A Chink and Crevice Bogie | [63] |
| Fac-simile of binding from the Library of Grolier | [100] |
| Binding with the arms of Madame de Pompadour | [108] |
| Old French title-pages | [110], [111], [113]–16, [119] |
ELZEVIRS.
The Countryman. “You know how much, for some time past, the editions of the Elzevirs have been in demand. The fancy for them has even penetrated into the country. I am acquainted with a man there who denies himself necessaries, for the sake of collecting into a library (where other books are scarce enough) as many little Elzevirs as he can lay his hands upon. He is dying of hunger, and his consolation is to be able to say, ‘I have all the poets whom the Elzevirs printed. I have ten examples of each of them, all with red letters, and all of the right date.’ This, no doubt, is a craze, for, good as the books are, if he kept them to read them, one example of each would be enough.”