£s.d.
Æschylus, Stanley, London, 1664100
Ascham's 'Toxophilus,' 1545014
Barclay's 'Ship of Fools,' 1570044
Bible of the Douay Translation, with the Rhenish Testament, 3 vols., 4to., 1633150
Chaucer's Works, folio, 15970128
Dugdale's 'Monasticon Anglicanum,' 3 vols., 1655, etc.660
Fabyan's 'Chronicle,' London, 1559074
Hollinshed's 'Chronicle,' London, 1577080
Homerus cum comment. Eustathii, 4 vols., folio, corio turcico et folio deaur. Romæ, 1542700
Milton's 'Paradise Lost,' London, 1668021
'P. Plowman's Vision,' London, 1550017
Purchas's 'Pilgrims and Pilgrimage,' 5 vols., 1625-66356
Shakespeare's Works, London, 1632 (second edition)0140

A comparison of the foregoing prices with those which the books would realize to-day will suggest some interesting conclusions; but as the means of doing this are in the hands of everyone, it is not necessary to discuss them here. In the Bodleian Library there is an exceedingly interesting letter from R. Scott, the bookseller, to Samuel Pepys, dated June 30, 1688. Scott writes: 'Having at length procured Campion, Hanmer and Spencer's Hist. of Ireland, fol. (which I think you formerly desired), I here send itt you, with 2 very scarce bookes besides, viz. Pricæi Defensio Hist. Britt. 4o and old Harding's Chronicle, as alsoe the Old Ship of Fooles in verse by Alex. Berkley, priest; which last, though nott scarce, yet so very fayre and perfect, that seldome comes such another; the Priceus you will find deare, yett I never sold it under 10s., and att this tyme can have it of a person of quality; butt without flattery, I love to find a rare book for you, and hope shortly to procure for you a perfect's Hall's Chronicle.' With the books Scott sent his statement of account as follows:

£s.d.
Campion, Hanmer and Spenser, fol.0120
Harding's 'Chronicle,' 4to.060
'Pricæi Defens. Hist. Brit.'080
'Shipp of Fooles,' fol.080
————
1140

Whether Scott obtained these items at the Digby sale or not, we cannot say; it is by no means unlikely, and if so, his desire to do Mr. Pepys a good turn may be estimated by the fact that he made a profit of 3s. 8d. over the last item in the bill, and the profit on the others would doubtless be arranged on a similar scale. The second and the fourth items, however, would be now worth from 15 to 20 guineas. Both Sir John Price's 'Historiæ Britannicæ,' 1573, and the histories of Ireland by Hanmer, Campion and Spenser, 1633, are very rare and very important books, and would not be dear now at as many guineas as Scott has charged shillings.

Book-auctions were not, however, unmixed blessings, and, as a fact, they provoked a good many curses from the poorer collectors. Here is one phase which concerns the sale of the library of John Bridges,[121:A] the Northamptonshire historian, in 1726. This auction is interesting, not so much on account of the books which were knocked down, or of the prices which they realized, but as being the genesis of the knock-out system. We have, fortunately, a very vivid picture of this sale from the pen of Humfrey Wanley, who wished to obtain some of the items for the library of Lord Oxford. In his 'Diary,' under date February, 1726, we read: 'Went to Mr. Bridges' Chamber [No. 6, Lincoln's Inn] to see the three fine MSS. again, the doctor, his brother, having locked them up. He openly bids for his own books, merely to enhance their price, and the auction proves to be, what I thought it would become, very knavish.' And again: 'Yesterday, at five, I met Mr. Noel, and tarried long with him; we settled then the whole affair touching his bidding for my Lord at the roguish sale of Mr. Bridges' books. The Rev. Doctor, one of the brothers, hath already displayed himself so remarkably as to be both hated and despised; and a combination amongst the booksellers will soon be against him and his brother the lawyer. They are men of the keenest avarice, and their very looks (according to what I am told) dart out harping irons. I have ordered Mr. Noel to drop every article in my Lord's Commission when they shall be hoisted up to too high a price.'

We get another interesting view of the subject a year later. Hearne, the antiquary, writing to Dr. R. Rawlinson, the well-known book-collector, November 27, 1727, observes: 'I wanted much to hear from yourself how matters went in your auctions, and was glad at last to have one [letter], though I am very sorry to find you have had such bad usage, when you act so honourably. But I am too sensible, that booksellers and others are in a combination against you. Booksellers have the least pretence of any to act so. Your brother (whom I shall always call my friend) did them unspeakable kindness. By his generous way of bidding, and by his constant buying, he raised the value of books incredibly, and there is hardly such another left. The booksellers (who go so much by him) owe him a statue, the least they can do. But instead of that, they neither speak well of him, nor do you (as I verily believe) common justice.' In a letter from Benjamin Heath, the well-known book-collector, to 'Mr. John Mann, at the Hand in Hand Fire Office in Angel Court, on Snow Hill,' dated March 21, 1738, we get yet another glimpse of some phases of book-auctions in the earlier part of the last century. Fletcher Gyles, a bookseller of Holborn, published a catalogue of a book-auction which he purposed holding at his own place of business. 'Mr. Gyles,' writes Heath, 'has offered himself to act for me, but as I think 'tis too great a Trial to his Honesty to make him at the same time Buyer and Seller . . . I have been able to think of no Friend I could throw this trouble [of buying certain books] upon but you.' For this service, the collector 'would willingly allow 3 guineas, which, the Auction continuing 24 Days, is 3 shillings over and above half a Crown a Day.' The 'Auction requires the Attendance of the whole day, beginning at Eleven in the Morning, and Ending at two, and at five in the Afternoon, and Ending at Eight.'

A chronological account of the book-sales of London would be an important as well as an interesting contribution to the history of literature. But our space is limited, and only the chief features of such a history can be dealt with in this place. If one were asked to name the most famous book in the annals of book-sales, the answer would be at once forthcoming and emphatic—the Valdarfer Boccaccio, otherwise 'Il Decamerone di Messer Giovanni Boccaccio,' printed at Venice by Christopher Valdarfer in 1471, and published, it is thought, at about 10s. In stating that this book is the most famous one, it is almost unnecessary to explain that the Roxburghe copy is understood. By what means it got into the hands of a London bookseller (about the middle of the last century) is not known. It is certain, however, that even at that period he knew of its excessive rarity, for he offered it to the two great contemporary book-collectors, Lord Oxford and Lord Sunderland, for 100 guineas, an amount which at that time must have 'appeared enormously extravagant.' Whilst these two collectors were deliberating, an ancestor of the Duke of Roxburghe saw and purchased it. Shortly after this event the two noble collectors were dining with the Duke, and the subject of Boccaccio was purposely broached. Both Lord Oxford and Lord Sunderland began to talk of the particular copy which had been offered them. The Duke of Roxburghe told them that he thought he could show them a copy of this edition, which they doubted, but, to their mortification, the Duke produced the identical copy, over which both realized that he who hesitates is lost. Beloe, in relating this anecdote, which was told him by G. Nicol, the royal bookseller, predicted that if this copy came under the hammer it would produce 'not much less than £500.' As a matter of fact and of history, at the Roxburghe sale in 1812 it realized the then huge sum of £2,260, the buyer being the Marquis of Blandford, who, it is said, was prepared to go to £5,000. There were three noble candidates for this choice book, the Duke of Devonshire, Earl Spencer, and the Marquis of Blandford, whilst an agent of Bonaparte was known to be present. The Rev. Mr. Dibdin has given a very highly-coloured and vivid account of this famous incident in his 'Bibliographical Decameron,' and we need do no more than refer to the fact that 'the honour of making the first bid was due to a gentleman from Shropshire, who seemed almost surprised at his own temerity in offering 100 guineas.' It is a curious commentary on even the fame of rare books that this copy of the Valdarfer Boccaccio came again into the sale-room in 1819, when the Blandford library was sold, and when it became the property of Earl Spencer for £918. 'I will have it when you are dead,' was the savage retort of a defeated book-lover at an auction sale, and such perhaps was Earl Spencer's mental determination when his rival carried off the bargain—by waiting seven years he saved £1,242, as well as possessing himself of one of the greatest of bibliographical rarities.