“Pauline; a Fragment of a Confession. ‘Plus ne suis ce que j’ai été, Et ne le sçaurois jamais être.’—Marot. London: Saunders & Otley, Conduit Street, 1833.”
Mr. Slater says that there are about eight copies known, and that it was supposed to be worth £40 or £50. A copy, with an autograph note by the author, was sold at Alfred Crampton’s sale for £145. Mr. Thomas J. Wise printed a facsimile reprint in 1886, which has been used by the forger to deceive. Mr. Slater had seen a “doctored” copy of this reprint, in which Wise’s title and prefatory note were removed, the paper was rotted to make it porous, and the leaves were smoked to give them a mellow appearance. Mr. Wise’s paper is thicker than the original, and Mr. Slater gives a hint how to distinguish the two:—
“On the final page (71) appear the words—‘Richmond, October 22, 1832.’ If the word ‘October’ is printed in thin italics the book is without doubt a reprint. So far as I am aware, there is no other difference between Mr. Wise’s excellent reprint and the original (the paper excepted).”
Burns.—The most amazing price ever realised for a modern book was that of £572 for “Poems chiefly in the Scottish dialect. By Robert Burns. Kilmarnock, 1786.” The original price of this octavo volume was three shillings. The history of the very fine copy sold in Edinburgh in February 1898 is traced back about eighty years by a writer in Literature. In 1870 it was sold for six guineas to G. B. Simpson, of Dundee, who sold it in 1879, with some other books, to A. C. Lamb for £124. The price of the Kilmarnock Burns has steadily advanced from £3, 10s. in 1858 to £111 in 1888, and then it made the immense leap to £572.
Byron.—“Poems on Various Occasions” (Newark, 1807, 8vo) sold at Alfred Crampton’s sale for £45. “The Waltz” (1813, pp. 27), published without a wrapper at 3s., sold at the same sale for £55. Mr. Slater says that an uncut copy has been sold by auction for £86.
Meredith.—A fine uncut copy of George Meredith’s Poems, 1851, sold at a sale of Rare Books and Manuscripts (Sotheby, March 1897) for £17, 10s. Another copy with alterations in the author’s autograph (Sotheby, June 1897) sold for £25.
Morris.—The beautiful issues of William Morris’s Kelmscott Press advanced in price in many instances before publication, and are likely, now that the supply has ceased, to advance still more; but they vary very much according to the literary rank of the books. The edition of Keats, published at 30s., was sold lately for £12. Shelley’s Poetical Works, in three volumes 8vo, was sold at Sotheby’s early in 1898 for £8. Chaucer’s Works, folio, is out of print, and was marked by Messrs. J. & J. Leighton at £30.
Rossetti.—The first printed work of Dante G. Rossetti is of great rarity. The poet was thirteen years old when the lines were composed, and fifteen when they were printed. The title is “Sir Hugh the Heron: a Legendary Tale, in four parts. G. Polidori’s Private Press, 15 Park Village East, 1843. Private Circulation only,” pp. 24. A copy was sold at Sotheby’s in 1890 for £16. Miss Christina Rossetti’s first poems, privately printed at the same press, have brought seven guineas.
Ruskin.—“Poems by J. R., collected in 1850 for private circulation only,” a foolscap octavo volume of 283 pages, is valued at £50 or £60. The value of his sumptuous books, “The Stones of Venice,” the “Seven Lamps of Architecture,” and “Modern Painters,” is known to all, and when in good condition they look their value. The original editions of the first, 1851 to 1853, are valued at from £12 to £15. The first edition of the “Seven Lamps,” 1849, at £4, and the second edition, 1855, at £4, 10s. The “Modern Painters,” 5 vols., early editions, from £20 to £25.
Shelley.—The early editions of Shelley’s Poems and Prose Treatises were amongst the first of this class of books to attain high prices. Some may be noted here in chronological order:—