[120] He published a work entitled "De scriptoribus non-ecclesiasticis," 1648, vol. i., 1649, vol. ii., folio: in which his opinions upon authors are given in the most jejune and rash manner. His other works, which would form a little library, are reviewed by Leti with sufficient severity: but the poor man was crack brained! And yet some curious and uncommon things, gleaned from MSS. which had probably never been unrolled or opened since their execution, are to be found in this "Sciolum Florentinum," as Labbe calls him. Consult the Polyhist. Literar., vol. i., p. 175.
[121] Magliabechi put Cinelli upon publishing his Bibliotheca Volante, 1677, 8vo., a pretty work, with a happy title!—being an indiscriminate account of some rare books which the author picked up in his travels, or saw in libraries. It was republished, with valuable additions, by Sancassani, at Venice, in 1734, 4to. See Cat. de Lomenie, No. 2563. Works of this sort form the Ana of bibliography! Conringius compiled a charming bibliographical work, in an epistolary form, under the title of Bibliotheca Augusta; which was published at Helmstadt, in 1661, 4to.—being an account of the library of the Duke of Brunswick, in the castle of Wolfenbuttle. Two thousand manuscripts, and one hundred and sixteen thousand printed volumes, were then contained in this celebrated collection. Happy the owner of such treasures—happy the man who describes them! Lomeier's, or Lomejer's "De Bibliothecis Liber singularis," Ultraj, 1669-1680, 8vo., is considered by Baillet among the best works upon the subject of ancient and modern libraries. From this book, Le Sieur Le Gallois stole the most valuable part of his materials for his "Traité des plus belles Bibliothéques de l'Europe," 1685, 1697—12mo.: the title at full length (a sufficiently imposing one!) may be seen in Bibé. Crevenn., vol. v., p. 281; upon this latter treatise, Morhof cuttingly remarks—"Magnos ille titulus strepitus facit: sed pro thesauris carbones." Polyhist. Literar., vol. i., p. 191. See also "Jugemens des Savans," vol. ii., p. 152. Gallois dispatches the English libraries in little more than a page. I possess the second edition of Lomeier's book (1680—with both its title pages), which is the last and best—and an interesting little volume it is! The celebrated Grævius used to speak very favourably of this work.
Lis. Pray discuss their works, or merits, seriatim, as the judges call it; for I feel overwhelmed at the stringing together of such trisyllabic names. These gentlemen, as well as almost every one of their predecessors, are strangers to me; and you know my bashfulness and confusion in such sort of company.
Lysand. I hope to make you better acquainted with them after a slight introduction, and so rid you of such an uncomfortable diffidence. Let us begin with Labbe,[122] who died in the year 1667, and in the sixtieth of his own age; a man of wonderful memory and of as wonderful application—whose whole life, according to his biographers, was consumed in gathering flowers from his predecessors, and thence weaving such a chaplet for his own brows as was never to know decay. His Nova Bibliotheca, and Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum Manuscriptorum, are the principal works which endear his memory to bibliographers. More learned than Labbe was Lambecius;[123] whose Commentarii de Bibliotheca Cæsareâ-Vindobonensis, with Nesselius's supplement to the same, [1696, 2 vols. fol.] and Kollarius's new edition of both, form one of the most curious and important, as well as elaborate, productions in the annals of literature and bibliography. Less extensive, but more select, valuable, and accurate, in its choice and execution of objects, is the Bibliotheca Hispana Vetus et Nova of Nicholas Antonio;[124] the first, and the best, bibliographical work which Spain, notwithstanding her fine palaces and libraries, has ever produced. If neither Philemon nor yourself, Lisardo, possess this latter work [and I do not see it upon the shelves of this cabinet], seek for it with avidity; and do not fear the pistoles which the purchase of it may cost you. Lipenius[125] now claims a moment's notice; of whose Bibliotheca Realis Morhof is inclined to speak more favourably than other critics. 'Tis in six volumes; and it appeared from the years 1679 to 1685 inclusive. Not inferior to either of the preceding authors in taste, erudition, and the number and importance of his works, was Adrien Baillet;[126] the simple pastor of Lardiéres, and latterly the learned and indefatigable librarian of Lamoignon. His Jugemens des Savans, edited by De la Monnoye, is one of those works with which no man, fond of typographical and bibliographical pursuits, can comfortably dispense. I had nearly forgotten to warn you against the capricious works of Beughem; a man, nevertheless, of wonderful mental elasticity; but for ever planning schemes too vast and too visionary for the human powers to execute.[127]
[122] "Vir, qui in texendis catalogis totam pene vitam consumpsit." "Homo ad Lexica et Catalogos conficiendos a naturâ factus." Such is Morhof's account of Labbe; who, in the works above-mentioned, in the text, has obtained an unperishable reputation as a bibliographer. The Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum, thick duodecimo, or crown octavo, has run through several impressions; of which the Leipsic edit. of 1682, is as good as any; but Teisser, in his work under the same title, 1686, 4to., has greatly excelled Labbe's production, as well by his corrections of errata as by his additions of some hundreds of authors. The Bibliotheca Nummaria is another of Labbe's well-known performances: in the first part of which he gives an account of those who have written concerning medals—in the second part, of those who have publishe separate accounts of coins, weights, and measures. This is usually appended to the preceding work, and is so published by Teisser. The Mantissa Suppellectilis was an unfinished production; and the Specimen novæ Bibliothecæ Manuscriptorum Librorum, Paris, 1653, 4to., is too imperfectly executed for the exercise of rigid criticism; although Baillet calls it 'useful and curious.' Consult the Polyhist. Literar., vol. i., 197, 203: and Jugemens des Savans, vol. ii., pt. 1, p. 24, edit. 1725. A list of Labbe's works, finished, unfinished, and projected, was published at Paris, in 1656 and 1662. He was joint editor with Cossart of that tremendously voluminous work—the "Collectio Maxima Conciliorum"—1672, 18 volumes, folio.
[123] Lambecius died at, one may almost say, the premature age of 52: and the above work (in eight folio volumes), which was left unfinished in consequence, (being published between the years 1665-79 inclusive) gives us a magnificent idea of what its author would have accomplished [see particularly Reimanni Bibl. Acroamatica, p. 51] had it pleased Providence to prolong so valuable an existence. It was originally sold for 24 imperiali; but at the commencement of the 18th century for not less than 80 thaleri, and a copy of it was scarcely ever to be met with. Two reasons have been assigned for its great rarity, and especially for that of the 8th volume; the one, that Lambecius's heir, impatient at the slow sale of the work, sold many copies of it to the keepers of herb-stalls: the other, that, when the author was lying on his death-bed, his servant maid, at the suggestion and from the stinginess of the same heir, burnt many copies of this eighth volume [which had recently left the press] to light the fire in the chamber. This intelligence I glean from Vogt, p. 495: it had escaped Baillet and Morhof. But consult De Bure, vol. vi., Nos. 6004-5. Reimannus published a Bibliotheca Acroamatica, Hanov., 1712, 8vo., which is both an entertaining volume and a useful compendium of Lambecius's immense work. But in the years 1766-82, Kollarius published a new and improved edition of the entire commentaries, in six folio volumes; embodying in this gigantic undertaking the remarks which were scattered in his "Analecta Monumentorum omnis ævi Vindobonensia," in two folio volumes, 1761. A posthumous work of Kollarius, as a supplement to his new edition of Lambecius's Commentaries, was published in one folio volume, 1790. A complete set of these volumes of Kollarius's bibliographical labours, relating to the Vienna library, was in Serna Santander's catalogue, vol. iv., no. 6291, as well as in Krohn's: in which latter [nos. 3554, 3562] there are some useful notices. See my account of [M. Denis]: post. Critics have accused these "Commentaries concerning the MSS. in the imperial library at Vienna," as containing a great deal of rambling and desultory matter; but the vast erudition, minute research, and unabateable diligence of its author, will for ever secure to him the voice of public praise, as loud and as hearty as he has received it from his abridger Reimannus. In these volumes appeared the first account of the Psalter, printed at Mentz in 1457, which was mistaken by Lambecius for a MS. The reader will forgive my referring him to a little essay upon this and the subsequent Psalters, printed at Mentz, in 1459, 1490, &c., which was published by me in the 2nd volume of the Athenæum, p. 360, 490.
[124] Morhof considers the labours of Antonio as models of composition in their way. His grand work began to be published in 1672, 2 vols., folio—being the Bibliotheca Hispana Nova: this was succeeded, in 1696, by the Bibliotheca Hispana Antiqua—in two folio volumes: the prefaces and indexes contain every thing to satisfy the hearts of Spanish Literati. A new edition of the first work was published at Madrid, in 1783, 2 vols., folio; and of the latter work, in 1788, 2 vols., folio.—These recent editions are very rarely to be met with in our own country: abroad, they seem to have materially lowered the prices of the ancient ones, which had become excessively scarce. See Polyhist Literar., vol. i., 203-4: Dictionn. Bibliogr., vol. iv., p. 22: and Mem. de l'Inst., vol. i., 651. Let us here not forget the learned Michael Casiri's Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana Escorialensis, published in two superb folio volumes at Madrid in 1760. All these useful and splendid works place the Spaniards upon a high footing with their fellow-labourers in the same respectable career. De La Serna Santander tells us that Casiri's work is dear, and highly respected by the Literati. See Cap. de Santander, vol iv., no. 6296.
[125] The Bibliotheca Realis, &c., of Lipenius contains an account of works published in the departments of Jurisprudence, Medicine, Philosophy, and Theology: of these, the Bibliotheca Theologica, et Philosophica, are considered by Morhof as the best executed. The Bibl. Juridica was, however, republished at Leipsic in two folio volumes, 1757, with considerable additions. This latter is the last Leipsic reprint of it. Saxius notices only the re-impressions of 1720, 1736, 1742. See his Onomast. Lit., vol. v., 588. I will just notice the Bibliotheca Vetus et Recens of Koenigius, 1678, folio—as chart-makers notice shoals—to be avoided. I had long thrown it out of my own collection before I read its condemnation by Morhof. Perhaps the following account of certain works, which appear to have escaped the recollection of Lysander, may not be unacceptable. In the year 1653, Father Raynaud, whose lucubrations fill 20 folio volumes, published a quarto volume at Lyons, under the title of "Erotemata de malis ac bonis Libris, deque justa aut injusta eorum conditione;" which he borowed in part from the "Theotimus, seu de tollendis et expurgandis malis libris," (Paris, 1549, 8vo.) of Gabriel Puhtherb. Of these two works, if were difficult to determine which is preferable. The bibliographer need not deeply lament the want of either: consult the Polyhist. Literar., vol. i., 177. In the year 1670, Vogler published a very sensible "Universalis in notitiam cujusque generis bonorum Scriptorum Introductio"—of this work two subsequent editions, one in 1691, the other in 1700, 4to., were published at Helmstadt. The last is the best; but the second, to him who has neither, is also worth purchasing. The seven dissertations "De Libris legendis" of Bartholin, Hafniæ, 1676, 8vo., are deserving of a good coat and a front row in the bibliographer's cabinet. "Parvæ quidem molis liberest, sed in quo quasi constipata sunt utilissima de libris monita et notitiæ ad multas disciplinas utiles." So speaks Morhof.
[126] Adrien Baillet was the eldest of seven children born in a second marriage. His parents were in moderate circumstances: but Adrien very shortly displaying a love of study and of book-collecting, no means, compatible with their situation, were left untried by his parents to gratify the wishes of so promising a child. From his earliest youth, he had a strong predilection for the church; and as a classical and appropriate education was then easily to be procured in France, he went from school to college, and at seventeen years of age had amassed, in two fair sized volumes, a quantity of extracts from clever works; which, perhaps having Beza's example in his mind, he entitled Juvenilia. His masters saw and applauded his diligence; and a rest of only five hours each night, during two years and a half of this youthful period, afforded Baillet such opportunities of acquiring knowledge as rarely fall to the lot of a young man. This habit of short repose had not forsaken him in his riper years: "he considered and treated his body as an insolent enemy, which required constant subjection; he would not suffer it to rest more than five hours each night; he recruited it with only one meal a day—drank no wine—never came near the fire—and walked out but once a week." The consequence of this absurd regime was that Baillet had ulcers in his legs, an erysipelatous affection over his body, and was, in other respects, afflicted as sedentary men usually are, who are glued to their seats from morn till night, never mix in society, and rarely breathe the pure air of heaven. These maladies shortened the days of Baillet; after he had faithfully served the Lamoignons as a librarian of unparalleled diligence and sagacity; leaving behind him a "Catalogue des Matieres," in 35 volumes folio. "All the curious used to come and see this catalogue: many bishops and magistrates requested to have either copies or abridgments of it." When Baillet was dragged, by his friend M. Hermant, from his obscure vicarage of Lardiéres, to be Lamoignon's librarian, he seems to have been beside himself for joy.—"I want a man of such and such qualities," said Lamoignon.—"I will bring one exactly to suit you," replied Hermant—"but you must put up with a diseased and repulsive exterior."—"Nous avons besoin de fond," said the sensible patron, "la forme ne m'embarasse point; l'air de ce pays, et un grain de sel discret, fera le reste: il en trouvera ici." Baillet came, and his biographer tells us that Lamoignon and Hermant "furent ravis de le voir." To the eternal honour of the family in which he resided, the crazy body and nervous mind of Baillet met with the tenderest treatment. Madame Lamoignon and her son (the latter, a thorough bred bibliomaniac; who, under the auspices of his master, soon eclipsed the book celebrity of his father) always took a pleasure in anticipating his wishes, soothing his irritabilities, promoting his views, and speaking loudly and constantly of the virtues of his head and heart. The last moments of Baillet were marked with true Christian piety and fortitude; and his last breath breathed a blessing upon his benefactors. He died A.D. 1706, ætatis 56. Rest his ashes in peace!—and come we now to his bibliographical publications. His "Jugemens des Savans," was first published in 1685, &c., in nine duodecimo volumes. Two other similar volumes of Anti Baillet succeeded it. The success and profits of this work were very considerable. In the year 1722, a new edition of it in seven volumes, quarto, was undertaken and completed by De La Monnoye, with notes by the editor, and additions of the original author. The "Anti Baillet" formed the 8th volume. In the year 1725, De La Monnoye's edition, with his notes placed under the text—the corrections and additions incorporated—and two volumes of fresh matter, including the Anti Baillet—was republished at Amsterdam, in eight duodecimo volumes, forming 16 parts, and being, in every respect, the best edition of the Jugemens des Savans. The curious, however, should obtain the portrait of Baillet prefixed to the edition of 1722; as the copy of it in the latter edition is a most wretched performance. These particulars, perhaps a little too long and tedious, are gleaned from the "Abregé" de la Vie de Baillet, printed in the two last editions of the work just described.
[127] It will not be necessary to notice all the multifarious productions, in MS. and in print, of this indefatigable bibliographer; who had cut out work enough for the lives of ten men, each succeeding the other, and well employed from morn 'till even, to execute. This is Marchand's round criticism: Dict. Hist. vol. i., p. 100. Beughem's Incunabula Typographica, 1688, 12mo., is both jejune and grossly erroneous. The "Bibliographia Eruditorum Critico-Curiosa," 1689, 1701, 4 vols., 12mo., being an alphabetical account of writers—extracts from whom are in the public literary Journals of Europe from 1665 to 1700—with the title of their works—is Beughem's best production, and if each volume had not had a separate alphabet, and contained additions upon additions, the work would have proved highly useful. His "Gallia Euridita," Amst., 1683, 12mo., is miserably perplexing. In addition to Marchand, consult the Polyhist. Literar. of Morhof, vol. i., p. 179; and the note therein subjoined. See also "Bibl. Creven.," vol. v., p. 298: Cat. de Santander, vol. iv., nos. 6273-4: 6281-2.