[47] Bibliotheca Ratcliffiana; or, "A Catalogue of the elegant and truly valuable Library of John Ratcliffe, Esq. late of Bermondsey, deceased. The whole collected with great judgment and expense, during the last thirty years of his life: comprehending a large and most choice collection of the rare old English black-letter, in fine preservation, and in elegant bindings, printed by Caxton, Lettou, Machlinia, the anonymous St. Albans Schoolmaster, Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, Berthelet, Grafton, Day, Newberie, Marshe, Jugge, Whytchurch, Wyer, Rastell, Coplande, and the rest of the Old English Typographers: several missals and MSS., and two Pedigrees on vellum, finely illuminated." The title page then sets forth a specimen of these black-lettered gems; among which our eyes are dazzled with a galaxy of Caxtons, Wynkyn de Wordes, Pynsons, &c. &c. The sale took place on March 27, 1776.

If ever there was a unique collection, this was one—the very essence of Old Divinity, Poetry, Romances, and Chronicles! The articles were only 1675 in number, but their intrinsic value amply compensated for their paucity.

The following is but an inadequate specimen.

NO. £s.d.
1315.Horace's Arte of Poetrie, Pistles and Satyres, by Drant. 1567, first English edition0166
1321.The Sheparde's Calender, 1579. Whetstone's Castle of Delight, 1576120
1392.The Pastyme of the People, printed by Rastell. Curious wood cuts. A copy of this book is not now to be procured. I have known £40 offered for it, and rejected with disdain770
1403.Barclay's Shyp of Folys, printed by Pynson, 1508, first edit. fine copy2100
1426.The Doctrinal of Sapyence, printed by Caxton, 1489880
1427.The Boke, called Cathon, ditto, 1483. Purchased by Dr. Hunter, and now in his Museum550
1428.The Polytyque Boke, named Tullius de Senectute, in Englishe, by Caxton, 1481. Purchased for his Majesty1400
1429.The Game of Chesse Playe. 14741600
1665.The Boke of Jason, printed by Caxton5100
1669.The Polychronicon of Ranulph Higden, printed by Caxton, 1482. Purchased by Dr. Hunter5156
1670.Legenda Aurea, or the Golden Legende 14839150
1674.Mr. Ratcliffe's MS. Catalogues of the rare old black letter, and other curious and uncommon books, 4 vols.7150
This would have been the most delicious article to my palate. If the present owner of it were disposed to part with it, I could not find it in my heart to refuse him compound interest for his money. As is the wooden frame-work to the bricklayer in the construction of his arch, so might Mr. Ratcliffe's MS. Catalogues be to me in the compilation of a certain magnum opus!

The memory of such a man ought to be dear to the "black-lettered dogs" of the present day; for he had [mirabile dictu!] upwards of Thirty Caxtons!

If I might hazard a comparison between Mr. James West's and Mr. John Ratcliffe's collections, I should say that the former was more extensive, the latter more curious: Mr. West's, like a magnificent champagne, executed by the hand of Claude or Both, and enclosing mountains, and meadows, and streams, presented to the eye of the beholder a scene at once extensive, luxuriant, and fruitful: Mr. Ratcliffe's, like one of those delicious pieces of scenery, touched by the pencil of Rysdael or Hobbima, exhibited to the beholder's eye a spot equally interesting, but less varied and extensive. The sweeping foliage and rich pasture of the former could not, perhaps, afford greater gratification than did the thatched cottage, abrupt declivities, and gushing streams of the latter. To change the metaphor—Mr. West's was a magnificent repository, Mr. Ratcliffe's a choice cabinet of gems.

Thirty years have been considered by Addison (somewhere in his Spectator) as a pretty accurate period for the passing away of one generation and the coming on of another. We have brought down our researches to within a similar period of the present times; but, as Addison has not made out the proofs of such assertion, and as many of the relatives and friends of those who have fallen victims to the Bibliomania, since the days of Ratcliffe, may yet be alive; moreover, as it is the part of humanity not to tear open wounds which have been just closed, or awaken painful sensibilities which have been well nigh laid to rest; so, my dear Sir, in giving you a further account of this fatal disorder, I deem it the most prudent method not to expatiate upon the subsequent examples of its mortality. We can only mourn over such names as Beauclerk, Crofts, Pearson, Lort, Mason, Farmer, Steevens, Woodhouse, Brand, and Reed! and fondly hope that the list may not be increased by those of living characters!

We are, in the second place, to describe the Symptoms of the Disease.

The ingenious Peignot, in the first volume of his 'Dictionnaire Bibliologie,' p. 51, defines the Bibliomania[48] to be "a passion for possessing books; not so much to be instructed by them, as to gratify the eye by looking on them. He who is affected by this mania knows books only by their titles and dates, and is rather seduced by the exterior than interior"! This is, perhaps, too general and vague a definition to be of much benefit in the knowledge, and consequent prevention, of the disease: let us, therefore, describe it more certainly and intelligibly.

[48] There is a short, but smart and interesting, article on this head in Mr. D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature, vol. 1. 10. "Bruyere has touched on this mania with humour; of such a collector (one who is fond of superb bindings only) says he, as soon as I enter his house, I am ready to faint on the stair-case from a strong smell of morocco leather. In vain he shows me fine editions, gold leaves, Etruscan bindings, &c.—naming them one after another, as if he were showing a gallery of pictures!" Lucian has composed a biting invective against an ignorant possessor of a vast library. "One who opens his eyes, with an hideous stare, at an old book, and, after turning over the pages, chiefly admires the date of its publication."