ILLUSTRATIONS

English Illumination, 14th Century. From Queen Mary’s Psalter, Brit. Mus. Royal MS. 2B vii (in colors and gold)[Frontis.]
John Gutenberg. From Engraving by Alphonse Descaves. Bibliothèque Nationale, Parispage [6]
Aldus Manutius. From Engraving at the British Museum [10]
Dott. Comm. Guido Biagi. Seated at one of the plutei in the Laurenziana Library, Florence (1906) [14]
Hand-written Humanistic Characters. From Sinibaldi’s Virgil, 1485. Laurenziana Library, Florence [16]
Specimen Page of proposed Edition of Dante. To be printed by Bertieri, of Milan, in Humanistic Type [19]
Jenson’s Roman Type. From Cicero: Rhetorica, Venice, 1470 [22]
Emery Walker’s Doves Type. From Paradise Regained, London, 1905 [23]
Autograph Letter from Charles Eliot Norton [31]
Illuminated Page of Petrarch’s Triumphs. Set in Humanistic Type designed by the Author [32]
Autograph Page of Eugene Field Manuscript. From Second Book of Verse, New York, 1892 [39]
Autograph Verse in Field’s own Copy of Trumpet and Drum [41]
John Wilson in 1891. Master-Printer [42]
Page of Horace Fletcher Manuscript [77]
Giambattista Bodoni. From Engraving at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris [78]
The Bodoni Letter compared with the Didot Letter [81]
Horace Fletcher in 1915 [82]
Autograph Letter from Henry James to Horace Fletcher [87]
Mirror Title. From Augustinus: Opera. 1485. Laurenziana Library, Florence [94]
T. J. Cobden-Sanderson. From Etching by Alphonse Legros, 1893 [96]
Carved Ivory Binding, Jeweled with Rubies and Turquoises. From Psalter (12th Century). Brit. Mus. Eger. MS. 1139 [112]
Byzantine Illumination (11th Century). Psalter in Greek. Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 19352 [118]
Celtic Illumination (8th Century). Lindisfarne Gospels. Brit. Mus. Cotton MS. Nero D. iv [124]
Carolingian Handwriting (9th Century). Alcuin Bible. Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 10546 [126]
Carolingian Illumination (9th Century). Golden Gospels of St. Médard. Bibl. Nat. MS. Lat. 8850 [128]
Gothic Illumination (13th Century). Miniature Page from the Psalter of St. Louis. Bibl. Nat. MS. Lat. 10525 [130]
Gothic Illumination (13th Century). Text Page from the Psalter of St. Louis. Bibl. Nat. MS. Lat. 10525 [132]
English Illumination (14th Century). Queen Mary’s Psalter. Brit. Mus. Royal MS. 2B. vii [134]
French Illumination (15th Century). Bedford Book of Hours. Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 18850 [136]
French Renaissance Illumination (15th Century). Antiquities of the Jews. Bibl. Nat. MS. Français 247 [138]
Flemish Illumination (15th Century). Miniature Page from the Grimani Breviary. Bibl. S. Marco, Venice [142]
Flemish Illumination (15th Century). Text Page from the Grimani Breviary. Bibl. S. Marco, Venice [144]
Italian Illumination (15th Century). Book of Hours, by Francesco d’Antonio. R. Lau. Bibl. Ashb. 1874 [146]
French Illumination (16th Century). Miniature from Hours of Anne of Brittany. Bibl. Nat. MS. Lat. 9474 [148]
French Illumination (16th Century). Text Page from Hours of Anne of Brittany. Bibl. Nat. MS. Lat. 9474 [150]
Order for Payment of 1050 livres tournois to Jean Bourdichon for the Hours of Anne of Brittany, 1508 [152]
Autograph Letter from Maurice Hewlett [161]
Autograph Poem by Austin Dobson [167]
Mark Twain. At the Villa di Quarto, Florence, 1904. From a Snap-shot [170]
Autograph Letter from Mark Twain. With Snap-shot of Villa di Quarto [172]
Autograph Letter from William Dean Howells [185]
Part of a Page from the Vellum Copy of the Gutenberg Bible. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris [195]
Rubricator’s Mark at end of First Volume of a Defective Copy of the Gutenberg Bible, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris [196]
Rubricator’s Mark at end of Second Volume of a Defective Copy of the Gutenberg Bible, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris [197]
Gutenberg, Fust, Coster, Aldus Manutius, Froben. From Engraving by Jacob Houbraken (1698–1780) [198]
John Fust. From an Old Engraving [199]
Device and Explicit of Nicolas Jenson [203]
Jenson’s Gothic Type. From Augustinus: De Civitate Dei, Venice, 1475 [205]
Device of Aldus Manutius [208]
Grolier in the Printing Office of Aldus. After Painting by François Flameng. Through Courtesy the Grolier Club, New York City [208]
Text Page from Aldus’ Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Venice, 1499 [211]
Illustrated Page from Aldus’ Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Venice, 1499 [212]
Grolier Binding. Castiglione: Cortegiano. Aldine Press, 1518. Laurenziana Library, Florence [212]
Grolier Binding. Capella: L’Anthropologia. Aldine Press, 1533. Laurenziana Library, Florence [214]
Robert Étienne. From Engraving by Étienne Johandier Desrochers (c. 1661–1741) [217]
Title Page showing Étienne’s Royal Greeks, Paris, 1550 [220]
Text Page Showing Étienne’s Roman Face [222]
Text Page showing Étienne’s Royal Greeks, from Novum Jesu Christi D. N. Testamentum, Paris, 1550 [222]
Christophe Plantin. From Engraving by Edme de Boulonois (c. 1550) [225]
Title Page of Plantin’s Biblia Polyglotta, Antwerp, 1568 [228]
Page of Preface of Plantin’s Biblia Polyglotta, Antwerp, 1568 [229]
Text Pages of Plantin’s Biblia Polyglotta, Antwerp, 1568 [230]
Second Page of Plantin’s Biblia Polyglotta, Antwerp, 1568 [232]
Device of Christophe Plantin [236]
Title Page of Elzevir’s Terence, Leyden, 1635 [241]
Text Pages of Elzevir’s Terence, Leyden, 1635 [242]
John Baskerville [244]
Title Page of Baskerville’s Virgil, Birmingham, 1757 [247]
Text Page of Baskerville’s Virgil, Birmingham, 1757 [249]
Engraving from Didot’s Racine, Paris, 1801. By Prud’hon [253]
Title Page of Didot’s Racine, Paris, 1801 [253]
Opening Page of Didot’s Racine, Paris, 1801 [255]
Text Page of Didot’s Racine, Paris, 1801 [256]
Firmin Didot. From Engraving by Pierre Gustave Eugène Staal (1817–1882) [256]
William Morris. From Portrait by G. F. Watts, R. A., in the National Portrait Gallery, London. Painted in 1880 [258]
Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Bart. From a Photograph at the British Museum [260]
Text Page of Kelmscott Chaucer, 1896 [262]
Title Page of Doves Bible, London, 1905 [265]
Text Page of Doves Bible, London, 1905 [267]
The Sala Michelangiolo, in the Laurenziana Library, Florence [276]
Dott. Comm. Guido Biagi, in 1924 [278]
Vestibule of the Laurenziana Library, Florence [280]
Miniature Page from the Biblia Amiatina, R. Lau. Bibl. Cod. Amiatinus I [288]
Antonio Magliabecchi [293]
Library Slips used by George Eliot while working on Romola in Magliabecchian Library, Florence [296]

CHAPTER I

In Quest of the Perfect Book

I

IN QUEST OF THE PERFECT BOOK

“Here is a fine volume,” a friend remarked, handing me a copy of The Ideal Book, written and printed by Cobden-Sanderson at the Doves Press.

“It is,” I assented readily, turning the leaves, and enjoying the composite beauty of the careful typography, and the perfect impression upon the soft, handmade paper with the satisfaction one always feels when face to face with a work of art. “Have you read it?”

“Why—no,” he answered. “I picked it up in London, and they told me it was a rare volume. You don’t necessarily read rare books, do you?”

My friend is a cultivated man, and his attitude toward his latest acquisition irritated me; yet after thirty years of similar disappointments I should not have been surprised. How few, even among those interested in books, recognize the fine, artistic touches that constitute the difference between the commonplace and the distinguished! The volume under discussion was written by an authority foremost in the art of bookmaking; its producer was one of the few great master-printers and binders in the history of the world; yet the only significance it possessed to its owner was the fact that some one in whom he had confidence had told him it was rare! Being rare, he coveted the treasure, and acquired it with no greater understanding than if it had been a piece of Chinese jade.