As regards the first editions of more modern authors we are on much more delicate ground. First editions of really great men, such as Milton, Pope, or Dryden, probably will always command a high price not only on account of their scarcity but because they are sought for by all students who make a study of those authors. But when we come to those more modern writers concerning whose merits tastes differ, then the collector's activity becomes a gamble. The first editions of Thomas Hardy or Rudyard Kipling may be worth more than their weight in gold in a hundred years, but it is also quite possible that succeeding generations will find in them more of the sentiments of the day than of those innate characteristics of the human mind which make a book really great, and will pass them by. This matter, however, has been dealt with in the chapter on the Books of the Collector, and with regard to bibliographies of the writings of the chief nineteenth-century authors, you will find mention of these in the appendices to the later volumes of the 'Cambridge History of English Literature.'
Folk-Lore, Mysteries.
25. Folk-lore, Fables, Fairy-Tales, Accounts of Mysteries and Miracle-Plays, Mummers, Minstrels and Troubadours, Pageants, Masques and Moralities: an interesting medley. Books of fables, whether by Æsop, Bidpai, La Fontaine, Gay, or Kriloff, would form an interesting collection by themselves, and it would be amusing to trace the pedigree of some of the tales. Our national jokes are said to be very ancient in origin; possibly some day the Curate's Egg will be traced to a budding priest of Amen-Ra, lunching with the Hierophant. Then there are books of proverbs—more than one would think—and the folk-lore of all countries that provides fairy-tales more entertaining than ever came out of the head of Perrault or Andersen. Altogether a heading which contains some fascinating literature.
It is doubtful whether such books as the 'Arabian Nights,' Le Grand's collections of ancient Norman tales, and Balzac's 'Contes Drôlatiques' should be included here; perhaps de natura they should be classed rather with 'Facetiae and Curiosa.' The literature upon this subject is a large one, and there is an excellent list of writings upon Minstrels, Mysteries, Miracle Plays, and Moralities in the fifth volume of the 'Cambridge History of English Literature,' pages 385 to 394; as well as in Mr. Courtney's invaluable work.
Freemasonry, etc.
26. Freemasonry is another of those subjects (like Architecture, Law, and Early Science) which usually engage the attentions of those whose businesses lead, or have at one time led, them to those things. Some of the booksellers specialise in such works, and the older books on Freemasonry cannot be said to be of frequent occurrence in the ordinary booksellers' catalogues. The finest extant library of Masonic books in the English tongue is said to be at the Freemasons' Hall, in London, but it is accessible only to Freemasons. A catalogue of it was privately printed by H. W. Hemsworth in 1869, and more recently by W. J. Hughan in 1888; a supplement to this last appeared in 1895. The Masonic books at No. 33 Golden Square were also catalogued by Hemsworth (1870), and more recently by Mr. Edward Armitage—quarto, 1900.
French Revolution.
27. The mention of books on the French Revolution at once conjures up the name of that indefatigable collector and cabinet minister, John Wilson Croker. During his period of office at the Admiralty he amassed there more than ten thousand Revolutionary books, tracts, and writings; and when the accession of the Whigs drove him from his home there, he sold his entire library to the British Museum. But neither change of government nor loss of income could cure the fever of collecting and six years later he had amassed another collection as large as the first. This also was purchased by the Museum authorities. Before he died he had garnered a third collection as large as the two previous ones put together, and this also found a home in Bloomsbury. A 'List of the Contents' of these three collections was published by the Museum authorities in 1899. Croker's magnificent collection of letters and writings on the same period was sold for only £50 at his death; it went en bloc to the library of Sir Thomas Phillips at Middle Hill.
Gardens.
28. What book-lover does not love a garden? 'God first planted a garden: and indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man,' wrote Bacon. Whether it be the tranquil beauty of an old-world pleasaunce or the peaceful occupation of gardening that appeals to the temperament of the bibliophile, certain it is that the book-lover is invariably a lover of the garden also. To him the very mention of stone moss-grown walks, a sundial, roses, and green lawn conjures up a vision of delight. To talk of those who wrote of gardens would be to mention the literature of all time; for gardens are as old as the human race. Indeed, 'Gardens were before gardeners, and but some hours after the Earth,' says Sir Thomas Browne in that most delightful of discourses, 'The Garden of Cyrus.' A History of Gardening in England has been compiled by the Hon. Miss Alicia Amherst; a second edition was published in 1896, and an enlarged edition in 1910. Hazlitt's 'Gleanings in Old Garden Literature' (which contains a bibliography) appeared in 1887. The famous library of old gardening literature, said to be the most complete and extensive of its kind, amassed by M. Krelage, a bulb merchant of Haarlem, has recently been incorporated in the State Agricultural Library of Wageningen, Holland.[82]
