Story of the most noble and worthy Kynge Arthur, black letter, woodcuts, the title and several leaves in fac-simile, morocco extra, 1557, sm. folio, £10; another copy, quite perfect, £30.
The right plesaunt and goodly Historie of the foure sonnes of Aimon, black letter, woodcuts, the title and several leaves in fac-simile, no date or name, but printed by W. Copland in 1554, small folio, £14.
Hystorie of the two Valyaunte Brethren, Valentyne and Orson, black letter, woodcuts, a defective copy, several leaves having been repaired, no date, small 4to, £21.
Among the other old English printers, whose names frequently appear on the title-pages of books, may be mentioned:—
Walter Lynne, 1548-50, whose Cattechismus, in small 8vo, 1548, brought £59 in June, 1889.
Richard Jugge, 1548-77, The Holie Bible, Bishops' Version, black letter, 1568, folio, £70.
Thomas Marshe, 1549-87, Certaine Tragicall Discourses, black letter, 1567, 4to, £15; also Heywoode's Woorkes, 1576-77, 4to, £9 9s.
John Cawood, 1550-72, who printed the first collected edition of Sir Thomas More's Works, 1557, now worth from £15 to £20, the Stultifera Navis of Brant, black letter, woodcuts, folio, 1570, £12, and many others.
Richard Tottel, 1553-94.
Hugh Singleton, 1553-88, The Supplication of Doctour Barnes, &c., black letter, morocco extra, by Rivière, no date, 8vo, £10.
John Kyngston, 1553-84, the printer of the best folio edition of Fabian's Chronicle, 1559.
Rowland Hall, 1559-63.
John Allde, 1561-96.
Robert Redborne (cir. 1576), whose only known work is entitled The history of the moost noble and valyaunt knyght, Arthur, of lytell brytayne, folio, no date, but about 1576. Of this work only two perfect copies are known. One sold at the Crawford sale in June, 1889, for £27 10s.
Thomas Est (cir. 1592), Whole Booke of Psalmes, 1592, 8vo, £15 10s. Wilbye's Second Set of Madrigales, half morocco, 1609, 4to, £6. Yonge's Musica Transalpina, 1588, 4to, £7. Yonge's Musica Transalpina, the seconde booke, half morocco, 1597, 4to, £11.
With the advent of the seventeenth century presses became very numerous all over England. Christopher and Robert Barker at London, and John Field at Cambridge, are perhaps the best known printers of that era, but the importance and value of their works depend upon circumstances, and cease to exist as a matter of course. It is indeed from this point that the study of English bibliography becomes more difficult and confusing, and here precisely that the young collector is apt to go astray.
The most famous English printer of modern times was undoubtedly John Baskerville; in fact, he seems to have been the only one possessed of exceptional merit. Everyone has heard of Baskerville: he rises the one solitary genius out of the multitude of labourers in the same field, and towers so high above the rest as to eclipse them entirely. Baskerville started as a printer in Birmingham in 1756, having spent hundreds of pounds in the experimental casting of type, which he ultimately brought to the highest state of perfection. Every book printed by him is a masterpiece: his paper is clear and elegant and of a very fine quality, while the uniformity of colour throughout testifies to the care taken in printing every sheet. At one time works from the Birmingham press, presided over by Baskerville, were much sought after, but of late years the fashion has changed and prices have consequently much diminished. The splendid edition of Addison's works, 4 vols., 4to, with portraits and plates, 1761, a beautiful copy bound by Derome in red morocco, brought £10 a short time ago, a depreciation of at least a third in the value, while in some other instances the fall is much more marked. Baskerville appears at one time to have studied the workmanship of the Elzevirs, and on one or two of his books, notably the Elegantiæ Latini Sermonis of Meursius, 1757, he has dated the title-page as from Lugd. Bat. Typis Elzevirianis. This little volume is a fit tribute to a family of famous printers of the seventeenth century, from a no less excellent workman of the eighteenth, and I feel certain that some day collectors will again vie with each other in collecting choice examples from his press.
CHAPTER X.
ON BINDINGS OLD AND NEW.
BOOKS cannot live long without being bound, and the more expensive and artistic the appearance of the binding, the greater the chance of preservation for the whole. A book is sometimes handled gently, not because of any merits of its own, but simply on account of its cover, which thus becomes its protector in a double sense. Like those old earthen boxes, which on being broken are found to contain the clay tablets of Assyria, many of which run as far back as 1500 years before the Christian era, bindings were doubtless originally intended to act the part of preservatives; beauty of design and even neatness would be after-considerations, and entirely subservient to the sole object, that of protection. By degrees the book lover made demands upon art, and, in obedience to an universal law, the supply answered to his call. Cicero, we are told, was a connoisseur of bindings, and himself employed famous workmen to glorify his rolls of papyrus and vellum, or to bind up his diptychs in the manner of our modern books, but more expensively, if the tastes of the old Roman are not belied, than the majority of book lovers can afford to do in these latter days.