49. The collecting of old School Books is a branch of our hobby that seldom engages the bibliophile's attention. Doubtless the recollection of many painful hours spent in their company is responsible for their neglect. Yet there is a charm about the early-printed Mentors of our youth which it is impossible to deny, and there is a growing demand for them—as the booksellers will tell you. The number that has disappeared from the ken of bibliographer must be large, for it is difficult to imagine a more unpopular type of book—at least with those who are obliged to use them; and if your taste has altered to such an extent that you now desire them above all things, you may reasonably hope to unearth many a curio.
Our earliest printers were concerned with such works. In 1483 John Anwykyll's Latin Grammar was printed at Oxford, and we must not forget Caxton's 'Stans Puer ad Mensam,' put forth in 1478. Pynson issued a 'Promptorium Puerorum sive Medulla Grammaticæ' in 1499, and De Worde printed others. Most of the productions of the famous St. Albans press were school books, to the annoyance of the boys at the Grammar School there. Hoole's 'New Discovery of the Old Art of Teaching School' is understood to have been a most unpopular discovery among his scholars. It was first printed at London in 1660, and was reprinted in facsimile at the University Press, Liverpool, in 1913. At the end of this reprint is a useful bibliography of ancient school books, from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century.
Hoole's pupils must have been somewhat out of the ordinary. 'N.B.,' he remarks in 'The Usher's Duty,' 'Those children that are more industriously willing to thrive, may advantage themselves very much by perusal of Gerards Meditations, Thomas de Kempis, St. Augustins Soliloquies, or his Meditations, or the like pious and profitable Books, which they may buy both in English and Latine, and continually bear about in their pockets, to read on at spare times.' Upon enquiry at one of our larger public schools, however, I find that the number of children—even those who are more industriously willing to thrive—who advantage themselves by continually bearing these pious books in their pockets is not large.
Sport.
50. The next heading in our list, Sports, Games, and Pastimes, naturally comprises a large number of sub-headings. The term 'sport' may be confined[88] conveniently to those subjects which have to do with animals, such as Angling, Coaching, Cock-fighting, Coursing, Falconry, Hunting, Horses, Racing, Steeplechasing, and Shooting. Other subjects, chiefly of an outdoor nature, may be classed as Pastimes, such as Archery, Boxing, Fencing, Mountaineering, Skating, and Yachting. Then there are the diversions of short duration governed by rules, which we call games, such as Cricket, Curling, Bowls, Football, Cards, Chess, etc. There are bibliographies of almost all these, which you will find in Mr. Courtney's work. If you are fond of hunting you will enjoy Mr. Baillie-Grohman's edition of the famous 'Livre de Chasse' of Gaston Phœbus, Comte de Foix. It was translated into English by Edward, Duke of York, between 1406 and 1413, under the title 'The Master of Game'; and to this reprint of 1909 is added a list of old hunting books, and a valuable glossary of ancient hunting terms and phrases. 'La Chasse de Loup,' a small quarto printed at Paris in 1576, is a scarce work. It consists of but 22 folios, and has 14 large woodcuts, and it is by Jean de Clamorgan, Seigneur de Saane. But you will find this treatise in La Maison Rustique.
Books on cock-fighting are not very numerous, nor of frequent occurrence. A number of such works are mentioned by Mr. Harrison Weir in that part of 'Our Poultry' which deals with game-fowl. 'The Royal Pastime of Cockfighting,' by R. H. (i.e. Robert Howlet), a duodecimo printed at London in 1709, is now very scarce and valuable; but a facsimile reprint (100 copies) was issued in 1899. 'The Cocker,' by 'W. Sketchly, gent.,' is of fairly frequent appearance, though a copy will cost you four or five pounds. But it has been reprinted at least twice. A small volume entitled 'Cocking and its Votaries' by S. A. T[aylor] was put forth in 1880, but our book-hunter has not yet been so fortunate as to come across a copy.[89] It was, I believe, privately printed. Old Roger Ascham was a keen devotee of this sport, and wrote a volume entitled 'The Book of the Cockpit'; but no copy of this work is known (at least to bibliographers) to exist at the present day. 'But of all kinds of pastimes fit for a Gentleman,' he writes in 'The Scholemaster,' 'I will, God willing, in a fitter place more at large declare fully, in my Book of the Cockpit; which I do write to satisfy some.' From which it seems that he was actually engaged upon the book. Apparently there is no record of its publication, though an old devotee of the sport once told Mr. Harrison Weir that he had seen a copy. 'The Commendation of Cockes and Cock-fighting; Wherein is shewed, that Cocke-fighting was before the comming of Christ,' by George Wilson, the sporting Vicar of Wretton, was printed in black letter by Henry Tomes 'over against Graies Inne Gate, in Holbourne,' in 1607. I wish you luck, brother collector, but I cannot be sanguine that you will ever come across a copy though it was many times reprinted. The tenth edition is dated 1655.
Under this heading also are included books on Dogs, Cats and Bees (!) though the inclusion of the latter reminds one of the story of the imported tortoise, which the customs officials (after much debate) decided was an insect, and therefore not liable to quarantine! Then there are books of sporting memoirs, sporting dictionaries, sport in particular countries, as well as works which treat of Maypoles and Mumming, Festivals, and old English pastimes.
Books upon Dancing, Cards, Chess, and other games all have their devotees. 'A Bibliography of Works in English on Playing Cards and Gaming,' by Mr. Frederic Jessel, appeared in 1905, octavo. The library of M. Preti of Paris, a well-known chess-player who devoted his attention to the history of the game, was sold at Sotheby's early in 1909. It included 362 lots, comprising some 1600 volumes; but the entire collection realised only £355. The sale catalogue is a useful one—if you are so fortunate as to come across it. But there is a numerous bibliography and you will find a list of such volumes in Mr. W. P. Courtney's 'Register of National Bibliography.'
Theology.
51. Theology and the Lives of the Fathers of the Early Christian Church is a field of such magnitude that we may divide it conveniently into periods or countries or controversies. Books on the Council of Trent engage the attentions of some, others are attracted by the history of the Waldenses or the Byzantine Churches. Some again specialise in the writings of certain great characters, such as Bonaventura, Augustine, or Erasmus. A 'Bibliotheca Erasmiana, ou Repertoire des Œuvres d'Erasme' appeared at Ghent in 1893 and was followed four years later by a new edition. Similarly there are now accounts of the writings of almost all the great Churchmen, such as Cranmer, Latimer, Tindale, Laud, Ken, etc. The only bibliography of Knox with which I am acquainted is that appended to the six volumes of Laing's edition of his works, published at Edinburgh 1846-64.
