Loren. "Chacun a son gout," yet it may be as well to possess them both. Indeed, I not only have these editions, but a great number of the early plays printed in quarto;[452] which are considered the ne plus ultra of Shakspearian bibliomaniacism.
[452] A pretty copious list of these valuable early plays will be found at pages [431-2-3-4], ante.
Belin. Much good may these wretchedly printed volumes do you! Now let me proceed with my pupil. Tell us, good Lysander, what can you possibly mean by the seventh symptom of the Bibliomania, called True Editions?
Lysand. My definition of this strange symptom will excite your mirth.[453] Some copies of a work are struck off with deviations from the usually received ones, and although these deviations have generally neither sense nor beauty to recommend them (and indeed are principally defects!), yet copies of this description are eagerly sought after by collectors of a certain class. What think you of such a ridiculous passion in the book-way?
[453] Observing the usual order of notification, we will first borrow the poetical aid of "an aspirant:"
SEVENTH MAXIM.
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Who dares to "write me down an ass," When, spying through the curious mass, I rub my hands, and wipe my glass, If, chance, an error bless my notice— Will prize when drill'd into his duty, These lovely warts of ugly beauty; For books, when false (it may be new t'ye), Are "True Editions:"—odd,—but so 'tis. |
Let us proceed to see whether this biting satire be founded upon truth, or not. Accidental variations from the common impressions of a work form what are called true editions: and as copies, with such variations (upon the same principle as that of Prints; vide [p. 501-2], ante) are rare, they are of course sought after with avidity by knowing bibliomaniacs. Thus speaks Ameilhon upon the subject:—"pendant l'impression d'un ouvrage il est arrivé un accident qui, à telle page et à telle ligne, a occasioné un renversement dans les lettres d'un mot, et que ce désordre n'a été rétabli qu'apres le tirage de six ou sept exemplaires; ce qui rend ces exemplaires défectueux presque uniques, et leur donne, â les entendre, une valeur inappréciable; car voila un des grands secrets de cet art, qui, au reste, s'acquiert aisément avec de la memoire." Mem. de l'Institut: vol. ii., p. 485. The author of these words then goes on to abuse the purchasers and venders of these strange books; but I will not quote his saucy tirade in defamation of this noble department of bibliomaniacism. I subjoin a few examples in illustration of Lysander's definition:—Cæsar. Lug. Bat. 1636, 12mo. Printed by Elzevir. In the Bibliotheca Revickzkiana we are informed that the true Elzevir edition is known by having the plate of a buffalo's head at the beginning of the preface and body of the work: also by having the page numbered 153, which ought to have been numbered 149. A further account is given in my Introduction to the Classics, vol. i., p. 228.—Horace, Londini, 1733, 8vo., 2 vols. Published by Pine. The true edition is distinguished by having at page 108, vol. ii., the incorrect reading "Post Est."—for "Protest."—Virgil. Lug. Bat., 1636, 12mo. Printed by Elzevir. The true edition is known, by having at plate 1, before the Bucolics, the following Latin passage printed in red ink. "Ego vero frequentes a te literas accepi." Consul de Bure, no. 2684.—Idem. Birmingh. 1763, 4to. Printed by Baskerville. A particular account of the true edition will be found in the second volume of my "Introduction to the Classics," p. 337—too long to be here inserted.—Bocaccio. Il Decamerone, Venet. 1527, 4to. Consult De Bure no. 3667; Bandini, vol. ii. 105, 211; (who, however, is extremely laconic upon this edition, but copious upon the anterior one of 1516) and Haym, vol. iii., p. 8, edit. 1803. Bibl. Paris., no. 408. Clement. (vol. iv. 352,) has abundance of reference, as usual, to strengthen his assertion in calling the edition "fort rare." The reprint, or spurious edition, has always struck me as the prettier book of the two. These examples appeared in the first edition of this work. I add to them what of course I was not enabled to do before. In the second edition of The Bibliomania, there are some variations in the copies of the small paper; and one or two decided ones between the small and large. In the small, at page 13, line 2, we read
"beat with perpetual forms."
in the large, it is properly