Phil. You have at length reached the close of the 17th century; but my limited knowledge of bibliographical literature supplies me with the recollection of two names which you have passed over: I mean, Thomas Blount and Antony-a-wood. There is surely something in these authors relating to editions of the works of the learned.
Lysand. You have anticipated me in the mention of these names. I had not forgotten them. With the former,[128] I have no very intimate acquaintance; but of the latter I could talk in commendation till dinner time. Be sure, my good Lisardo, that you obtain both editions of the Athenæ Oxoniensis.[129]
[128] Sir Thomas Pope Blount's "Censura Celebriorum Authorum," Londini, 1690, folio, is unquestionably a learned work—the production of a rural and retired life—"Umbraticam enim vitam et ab omni strepitu remotam semper in delitiis habui,"—says its author, in the preface. It treats chiefly of the most learned men, and sparingly of the English. His "Remarks upon Poetry," Lond., 1694, 4to. (in English) is more frequently read and referred to. It is a pity that he had not left out the whole of what relates to the Greek and Latin, and confined himself entirely to the English, poets. A life of Sir Thomas Pope Blount will be found in the new edition of the Biographia Britannica.
[129] The first, and, what Hearne over and over again calls the genuine edition of the Athenæ Oxoniensis, was published in two folio volumes, 1691, 1692. That a third volume was intended by the author himself may be seen from Hearne's remarks in his Thom. Caii. Vind. Antiq. Oxon., vol. i., p. xliii. For the character of the work consult his Rob. de Avesb., pp. xxvi, xxxiii. After the lapse of nearly half a century, it was judged expedient to give a new edition of these valuable biographical memoirs; and Dr. Tanner, afterwards bishop of St. Asaph, was selected to be the editor of it. It was well known that Wood had not only made large corrections to his own printed text, but had written nearly 500 new lives—his MS. of both being preserved in the Ashmolean Museum. This new edition, therefore, had every claim to public notice. When it appeared, it was soon discovered to be a corrupt and garbled performance; and that the genuine text of Wood, as well in his correctness of the old, as in his compositions of the new, lives, had been most capriciously copied. Dr. Tanner, to defend himself, declared that Tonson "would never let him see one sheet as they printed it." This was sufficiently infamous for the bookseller; but the editor ought surely to have abandoned a publication thus faithlessly conducted, or to have entered his caveat in the preface, when it did appear, that he would not be answerable for the authenticity of the materials: neither of which were done. He wrote, however, an exculpatory letter to Archbishop Wake, which the reader may see at length in Mr. Beloe's Anecdotes of Literature, vol. ii., p. 304. Consult the life of the author in Mr. Gutch's valuable reprint of Wood's "History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford," 1792, 4to., 2 vols.: also, Freytag's Analect. Literar., vol. ii., 1105. I have great pleasure in closing this note, by observing that Mr. Philip Bliss, of St. John's College, Oxford, is busily engaged in giving us, what we shall all be glad to hail, a new and faithful edition of Wood's text of the Athenæ Oxoniensis, in five or six quarto volumes.
We have now reached the boundaries of the 17th century, and are just entering upon the one which is past: and yet I have omitted to mention the very admirable Polyhistor. Literarius of Morhof:[130] a work by which I have been in a great measure guided in the opinions pronounced upon the bibliographers already introduced to you. This work, under a somewhat better form, and with a few necessary omissions and additions, one could wish to see translated into our own language. The name of Maittaire strikes us with admiration and respect at the very opening of the 18th century. His elaborate Annales Typographici have secured him the respect of posterity.[131] Le Long, whose pursuits were chiefly biblical and historical, was his contemporary; an able, sedulous, and learned bibliographer. His whole soul was in his library; and he never spared the most painful toil in order to accomplish the various objects of his inquiry.[132] And here, my dear friends, let me pay a proper tribute of respect to the memory of an eminently learned and laborious scholar and bibliographer: I mean John Albert Fabricius. His labours[133] shed a lustre upon the scholastic annals of the 18th century; for he opened, as it were, the gates of literature to the inquiring student; inviting him to enter the field and contemplate the diversity and beauty of the several flowers which grew therein—telling him by whom they were planted, and explaining how their growth and luxuriancy were to be regulated. There are few instructors to whom we owe so much; none to whom we are more indebted. Let his works, therefore, have a handsome binding, and a conspicuous place in your libraries: for happy is that man who has them at hand to facilitate his inquiries, or to solve his doubts. While Fabricius was thus laudably exercising his great talents in the cause of ancient literature, the illustrious name of Leibnitz[134] appeared as author of a work of essential utility to the historian and bibliographer. I allude to his Scriptores Rerum Brunwicensium, which has received a well pointed compliment from the polished pen of Gibbon. After the successful labours of Fabricius and Leibnitz, we may notice those of Struvius! whose Historical Library[135] should be in every philological collection.
[130] Daniel George Morhof, professor of poetry, eloquence, and history, was librarian of the University of Khiel. He published various works, but the above—the best edition of which is of the date of 1747—is by far the most learned and useful—"liber non sua laude privandus; cum primus fere fuerit Morhofius qui hanc amœniorum literarum partem in meliorum redigerit." Vogt., pref. ix., edit. 1793. Its leading error is the want of method. His "Princeps Medicus," 1665, 4to., is a very singular dissertation upon the cure of the evil by the royal touch; in the efficacy of which the author appears to have believed. His "Epistola de scypho vitreo per sonum humanæ vocis rupto," Kiloni, 1703, 4to.—which was occasioned by a wine merchant of Amsterdam breaking a wine-glass by the strength of his voice—is said to be full of curious matter. Morhof died A.D. 1691, in his 53rd year: beloved by all who knew the excellent and amiable qualities of his head and heart. He was so laborious that he wrote during his meals. His motto, chosen by himself,—Pietate, Candore, Prudentia, should never be lost sight of by bibliomaniacs! His library was large and select. These particulars are gleaned from the Dict. Historique, Caen, 1789, vol. vi., p. 350.
[131] A compendious account of Maittaire will be found in the third edition of my Introduction to the Knowledge of rare and valuable Editions of the Greek and Latin Classics, vol. i., p. 148. See too Mr. Beloe's Anecdotes of Literature, &c., vol iii., p. ix. The various volumes of his Annales Typographici are well described in the Bibl. Crevenn., vol. v. p. 287. To these may be added, in the bibliographical department, his Historia Stephanorum, vitas ipsorum ac libros complectens, 1709, 8vo.—and the Historia Typographorum aliquot Parisiensium vitas et libros complectens, 1717, 8vo.—Of these two latter works, (which, from a contemporaneous catalogue, I find were originally published at 4s. the common paper,) Mr. T. Grenville has beautiful copies upon large paper. The books are rare in any shape. The principal merit of Maittaire's Annales Typographici consists in a great deal of curious matter detailed in the notes; but the absence of the "lucidus ordo" renders the perusal of these fatiguing and unsatisfactory. The author brought a full and well-informed mind to the task he undertook—but he wanted taste and precision in the arrangement of his materials. The eye wanders over a vast indigested mass; and information, when it is to be acquired with excessive toil, is, comparatively, seldom acquired. Panzer has adopted an infinitely better plan, on the model of Orlandi; and if his materials had been printed with the same beauty with which they appear to have been composed, and his annals had descended to as late a period as those of Maittaire, his work must have made us eventually forget that of his predecessor. The bibliographer is, no doubt, aware that of Maittaire's first volume there are two editions: why the author did not reprint, in the second edition (1733), the fac-simile of the epigram and epistle of Lascar prefixed to the edition of the Anthology, 1496, and the Disquisition concerning the ancient editions of Quintilian (both of which were in the first edition of 1719), is absolutely inexplicable. Maittaire was sharply attacked for this absurdity, in the "Catalogus Auctorum," of the "Annus Tertius Sæcularis Inv. Art. Typog.," Harlem, 1741, 8vo., p. 11. "Rara certe Librum augendi methodus! (exclaims the author) Satis patet auctorem hoc eo fecisse concilio, ut et primæ et secundæ Libri sui editioni pretium suum constaret, et una æque ac altera Lectoribus necessaria esset." Copies of the Typographical Antiquities by Maittaire, upon large paper, are now exceedingly scarce. The work, in this shape, has a noble appearance. While Maittaire was publishing his Typographical Annals, Orlandi put forth a similar work under the title of "Origine e Progressi della Stampa o sia dell' Arte Impressoria, e Notizie dell' Opere stampate dall' Anno 1462, sino all' Anno 1500." Bologna, 1722, 4to. Of this work, which is rather a compendious account of the several books published in the period above specified, there are copies upon strong writing paper—which the curious prefer. Although I have a long time considered it as superseded by the labours of Maittaire and Panzer, yet I will not withhold from the reader the following critique: "Cet ouvrage doit presque nécessairement être annexé à celui de Maittaire à cause de plusieurs notices et recherches, qui le rendent fort curieux et intéressant." Bibl. Crevenn., vol. v., 286-7. As we are upon publications treating of Typography, we may notice the "Annalium Typographicorum selecta quædam capita," Hamb., 1740, 4to., of Lackman; and Hirschius's supplement to the typographical labours of his predecessors—in the "Librorum ab Anno I. usque ad Annum L. Sec. xvi. Typis exscriptorum ex Libraria quadam supellectile, Norimbergæ collecta et observata, Millenarius I." &c. Noriberg, 1746, 4to. About this period was published a very curious, and now uncommon, octavo volume, of about 250 pages, by Seiz; called "Annus Tertius Sæcularis Inventæ Artis Typographicæ," Harlem, 1741—with several very interesting cuts relating to Coster, the supposed inventor of the art of printing. It is a little strange that Lysander, in the above account of eminent typographical writers, should omit to mention Chevillier—whose L'Origine de l'Imprimerie de Paris, &c., 1694, 4to., is a work of great merit, and is generally found upon every bibliographer's shelf. Baillet had supplied him with a pretty strong outline, in his short account of Parisian printers. All the copies of Chevillier's book, which I have seen, are printed upon what is called Foxey paper. I believe there are none upon large paper. We may just notice La Caille's Histoire de l'Imprimerie et de la Librarie, 1689, 4to., as a work full of errors. In order that nothing may be wanting to complete the typographical collection of the curious, let the "portraits of booksellers and printers, from ancient times to our own," published at Nuremberg, in 1726, folio—and "the Devices and Emblems" of the same, published at the same place, in 1730, folio, be procured, if possible. The Latin titles of these two latter works, both by Scholtzius, will be found in the Bibl. Crevenn. vol. v. 281. Renouard mentions the last in his "Annales de l'Imprimerie des Alde," vol. ii. p. 63. Meanwhile the Monumenta Typographica of Wolfius, Hamb., 1740, 2 vols., 8vo., embraces a number of curious and scattered dissertations upon this interesting and valuable art. It may be obtained for 8s. or 10s. at present! The Amœnitatus Literariæ, &c., of Schelhorn had like to have been passed over. It was published in 14 small octavo volumes, at Frankfort and Leipsic, from the year 1725 to 1731 inclusive. The Amœnitates Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ et Literariæ, of the same person, and published at the same place in two octavo volumes, 1738, should accompany the foregoing work. Both are scarce and sought after in this country. In the former there are some curious dissertations, with cuts, upon early printed books. Concerning the most ancient edition of the Latin Bibles, Schelhorn put forth an express treatise, which was published at Ulm in 1760, 4to. This latter work is very desirable to the curious in biblical researches, as one meets with constant mention of Schelhorn's bible. Let me not omit Zapf's Annales Typographiæ Augustanæ, Aug. Vindel., 1778; which was republished, with copious additions, at Augsbourg, in two parts, 1786, 4to.—but unluckily, this latter is printed in the German language. Upon Spanish Typography (a very interesting subject), there is a dissertation by Raymond Diosdado Caballero, entitled "De Prima Typographiæ Hispanicæ Ætate Specimen," Rome, 1793, 4to.
[132] From the Latin life of Le Long, prefixed to his Bibliotheca Sacra, we learn that he was an adept in most languages, ancient and modern; and that "in that part of literature connected with Bibliography (Typographorum et Librorum Historia), he retained every thing so correctly in his memory that he yielded to few literary men, certainly to no bookseller." Of the early years of such a man it is a pity that we have not a better account. His Bibliotheca Sacra, Paris, 1725, folio, has been republished by Masch and Boerner, in four volumes, 4to., 1778, and enriched with copious and valuable additions. This latter work is quite unrivalled: no young or old theologian, who takes any interest in the various editions of the Holy Scriptures, in almost all languages, can possibly dispense with such a fund of sacred literature. The Bibliothéque Historique de la France, 1719, folio, by the same learned and industrious bibliographer, has met with a fate equally fortunate. Fontette republished it in 1768, in five folio volumes, and has immortalized himself and his predecessor by one of the most useful and splendid productions that ever issued from the press. De Bure used to sell copies of it upon large paper, in sheets, for 258 livres: according to the advertisement subjoined to his catalogue of Count Macarty's books in 1779, 8vo. The presses of England, which groan too much beneath the weight of ephemeral travels and trumpery novels, are doomed, I fear, long to continue strangers to such works of national utility.
[133] The chief labours of Fabricius ("Vir ελληνίχώτατος"—as Reimannus truly calls him), connected with the present object of our pursuit, have the following titles: 1. "Bibliotheca Græca, sive Notitia Scriptorum Græcorum, &c.," Hamb. 1705-8-14-18, &c., 4to., 14 vols.—of which a new edition is now published by Harles, with great additions, and a fresh arrangement of the original matter: twelve volumes have already been delivered to the public. 2. Bibliotheca Latina; first published in one volume, 1703—then in three volumes, 1721, and afterwards in two volumes, 1728, 4to.;—but the last and best edition is that of 1773, in three vols. 8vo., published by Ernesti at Leipsic—and yet not free from numerous errors. 3. Bibliographia Antiquaria, 1716, 4to.: a new edition of Schaffshausen, in 1760, 4to., has superseded the old one. A work of this kind in our own language would be very useful, and even entertaining. Fabricius has executed it in a masterly manner. 4. Bibliotheca Ecclesiastica, in quâ continentur variorum authorum tractatus de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, Hamb., 1718, folio. An excellent work; in which the curious after theological tracts and their authors will always find valuable information. It is generally sharply contended for at book-auctions. 5. Bibliotheca Latina Mediæ et Infimæ Ætatis, &c., Leipsic, 1734, 6 vols. 8vo.—again, with Schoettgenius's supplement, in 1754, 4to., 6 vols. in 3. This latter is in every respect the best edition of a work which is absolutely indispensable to the philologist. A very excellent synopsis or critical account of Fabricius's works was published at Ams., 1738, in 4to., which the student should procure. Let me here recommend the Historia Bibliothecæ Fabricianæ, compiled by John Fabricius, 1717-24, 6 vols. 4to., as a necessary and interesting supplement to the preceding works of John Albert Fabricius. I have often gleaned some curious bibliographical intelligence from its copious pages. The reader may consult Bibl. Crevenn., vol. v., 272-3.
[134] He is noticed here only as the author of "Idea Bibliothecæ Publicæ secundum classes scientiarum ordinandæ, fusior et contractior," and of the "Scriptores Rerum Brunswicarum," Hanov., 1707, fol., 3 vols. "The antiquarian, who blushes at his alliance with Thomas Hearne, will feel his profession ennobled by the name of Leibnitz. That extraordinary genius embraced and improved the whole circle of human science; and, after wrestling with Newton and Clark in the sublime regions of geometry and metaphysics, he could descend upon earth to examine the uncouth characters and barbarous Latin of a chronicle or charter." Gibbon: Post. Works, vol. ii., 712. Consult also Mem. de l'Inst., vol. v., 648.