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Sir, although Edinburgh be a city as "renowned in story" as any other modern city in Europe, your countrymen are rarely affected by those agitations in the book-world which shake your southern neighbours to their very centres. Even if the Advocates' Library had been sold by auction, the week after the conclusion of the Duke of Roxburgh's sale, and Mr Evans had received a special retainer" for its disposal, it may be questioned whether there would have been such capering and curvetting such winks and wiles-such manoeuvring and marplotting, as undoubtedly distinguished the dispersion of the Roxburgh collection.

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The fever, or the MANIA, of that sale, has, I think, subsided for ever. If a yet more copious shower of uncut Wynkyns, and unknown Pynsons, were to fall upon the heads of those thirsty souls who flocked round the desk of Mr Evans; I have strong reasons for believing, that such a shower would not now penetrate [the pockets] in the manner in which it did then. The famous Boccaccio of 1471, which was knocked down to the Marquis of Blandford, (the present Duke of Marlborough), and from the stunning effects of which I doubt whether his Grace have yet recovered, was sold for less than one half of the Roxburgh price, and a desultory and languid contest took place ere it reached the sum of 900 guineas. The rash but venial ambition of one great house in the bookselling trade, deprived Lord Spencer, for a short time, of the laurels for which he had formerly so vigorously contended; but the wise reflection of a few fortyeight hours, warned the purchasers of the hazard of a long detention; and the noble Earl now "revels" (as the phrase is) in the possession of such a treasure. Mr Dibdin has given us a lively and curious account of the sale of the Roxburgh library, in his Bibliographical Decameron,*

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• Vol. iii. p. 49.-I remember being present at this sale, and hearing a gentleman exclaim, pointing to the reverend author of the Bibliomania, who was then about to quit the room-" 'Drabbit the little fellow-I wish he had published his work a year before I had sold my fine collection to Mr: I might have then

as well as of the sales of the Edwards and Stanley collections, upon neither of which latter is it necessary to say a word here. Only it should seem, from the authority just quoted, that the Roxburgh fever had not, at these sales, very much abated.

Early in the year 1818 appeared the BIOGRAPHICAL DECAMERONvery much eclipsing, in extent, in variety, in erudition-and, above all, in the exquisite beauty of paper, type, printing, and engravings-its Bibliomaniacal precursor. Perhaps it is the most perfectly-executed work (with reference to the extraordinary variety of embellishments) of the British press. In this work another effort was made another kind and helping hand was given, to spread far and wide the BOOK FEVER; but the mighty battle, and the still mightier victory of Waterloo, had taken place; and Peace had spread her wings over an hitherto-distracted world. With Peace came an intercourse of visitors, and an interchange of commerce. Moralities, Mysteries, Chronicles, and Romances, were sought after by our countrymen with a diligence, enthusiasm, and success, that scarcely left a corner in the Fauxbourg St Germain unexplored. The feeling was reciprocal: for the Bibliomanes of Paris, astounded (as they well might be) at the enormous sums given for their early Froissarts, Fabliaux, and Facetic, hurried the exportation of bales and boxes, fitted with choice copies of these, and of similar works, from the libraries of their most celebrated ancient and modern collectors. Mr Lang, of Portland Place, has perhaps the

touched another hundred or two!" This gentleman had, in fact, sold a very choice collection of books (chiefly topographical) about nine months before the appearance of Mr D.'s Bibliomania; but it may be doubted whether he would have "touched" an additional bank-note in consequence of having delayed the sale nine months after the publication. He who made the purchase was an honest and competent judge, and would not have run riot, as "the little fellow" above mentioned sometimes does in the sportive pages of his Bibliographical Romance. N. B. Mr D. is not so very diminutive-being a full-sized King John's man.

richest private library in Europe of articles in all the classes of books just mentioned. We believe that that gentleman sighs for a new (old) work, connected with mysteries and tales, as heavily as my Lord Spencer does for an Editio Princeps of an ancient classical author: and we also believe that both are likely to sigh in vain for several years to come.

But to return. In consequence of the interchange above alluded to, the whole book-market was deluged not with "a shower of uncut Wynkyns, and unknown Pynsons," it is true but it was deluged or glutted with foreign books of almost every description. Vellum-paper copies of the Leipsic and Strasbourg Classics Picturesque - Voyages-Montfaucon and Buffon, in every form and binding Perraults and Picarts, out of number-Voltaire, 66 even to nausea" -together with Raccine, Corneille, and all the nobler French Classics, seemed to groan upon the shelves of every book-auction. Meanwhile, a twofold re-action had taken place at home. There was less money, and a different fashion had started up. Those who were once breathless with extacy to possess a Caxton beneath the sum of 100 guineas, now turned their ungrateful backs upon the venerable father of the English press; and little fugitive poetical pieces (with doubtful ryhme, and still more doubtful reason) during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., became the order of the "Table Ronde" at the Clarendon Hotel. The sale of Mr Bindley's very extraordinary library (dispersed beneath the hasta of Mr Evans) afforded an opportunity of satisfying most of the wants of this whimsical body of collectors.

But the Bibliomaniacal Mercury continued to fall most strikingly in regard to the passion for possessing early Greek and Latin Classics. A marvellous depreciation took place in this department of books, in which, in truth, there always has been a very limited class of purchasers. If Lord Spencer, Mr Grenville, Mr Hibbert, Mr Heber, and Mr H. Drury,* were

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taken out of the market, for whom would booksellers speculate, by becoming purchasers? And why already groan the shelves of Messrs Payne and Foss with one of the noblest classical collections in Europe, as booksellers? Literally, from the want of a general good feeling and good taste among collectors of all ages and appetites. If I were a father, or a tutor of one of the largest colleges at Oxford or Cambridge, I would say to my son, or pupils, thus:-"Remember, let the first object of your ambition be a good library, and don't complain of want of opportunities to become masters of such a thing, till you have tried what may be obtained among the London booksellers. Order boldly in the shops of Messrs Payne, Cochrane, Arch, Priestley, Triphook, and Cuthell; but bid cautiously in the sale-rooms of Messrs Sotheby and Evans, because, in the former case, you may rely upon the judgment of others; in the latter, you must act upon your own. Where you know that a choice article is going at only two-thirds of its value, muster up your energies, raise your voice, and let the bystanders be convinced that you are not to be cowed from obtaining the darling object of your wishes. As an Oxford man, make the recent edition of the Athena Oxonienses* the sub

it was quite delightful to see these two book-heroes fighting with all the alacrity and desperation of thorough-bred combatants, for the possession of an uncol lated Archilochus, or an unthumbed Empedocles-for a Lucretius, such as neither Havercamp nor Wakefield had notedand for a Callimachus, of which Spanheim had never dreamt, nor Bloomfield dared to hope for. In every point of view, I recommend the combatting for MSS.; and therefore cannot but highly applaud Mr Dent, M. P., for purchasing one of the Liber Regalis, (lately so much talked about,) and to which he means to devote the long vacation, in order to give us a new edition, with new readings.

capacity, why this work, so admirably *It is quite inconceivable to my finite edited, and so generally interesting and useful, should be so depreciated in price, and of such comparatively common occurrence. No young gentleman, verging upon twenty, should quit the University of Oxford, without receiving almost the

stratum of your biographical collection. As a Cambridge man, devote the next dozen years of your life to the production of a work which shall make your Attic Cantabs hold up their heads in the like manner." I wish admonitions of this kind were instilled into the minds of susceptible young gentlemen, on their leaving college to mix with the world at large. It would save many a parent a broken heart, and many a son a life of misery and degradation. The English are, generally speaking, a thinking, and a reading nation; but perhaps the passion of Book-Collecting does not become firmly fixed-" alta mente reposta"-till towards the thirtieth year. A sudden, violent, and yet vacillating attachment, in young men, is much to be suspected, if not dreaded; and those who become masters of a great collection, by purchase or by descent, at an early period of life, frequently sicken, and become indifferent, in the further cultivation of the Bibliomania.

Another word respecting Editiones Principes. There are those who vaunt aloud that we shall have a Decameron, a Virgil, a Lucretius, and what not, of a similar description, in the course of a very few years, for a very few score pounds. But this is talking from what they wish, rather than from what they know. Mr J. Boswell gave a loose to his imagination, his ambition, and his purse-strings, by purchasing the first Shakespeare for some five-score pounds; but what was commendable in this gentleman, as an editor of our immortal Dramatist, would be censurable in another purchaser. And yet, for one first Virgil, or first Lucretius, I will shew you sir first Shakspeares:

commands of his tutor to purchase a copy of it. Even if it were confined to Oxford

men, which it is not, it should be of rare occurrence; because a reprint of it can

never be in the contemplation of its pub

lishers, and because it is really possessed of most accurate and curious information. The editor was, it is reported, presented with a small and curiously-wrought piece of old plate, (upon the ornaments of which the hand of Benevento Cellini could be traced,) from the joint colleges, as a mark of approbation of the manner in which he had executed his task.

and, after all, you have got a sorrilyprinted, ungainly folio; preceded by impressions of most of the plays, in a quarto form, of general accuracy of execution, and of absolute rarity of occurrence. Low as has fallen the Bibliomaniacal Mercury of late years, or late months, most of the rarer articles in the recent sale of Lord Spencer's duplicates were sold for potent prices. I have no room, and less inclination, to give examples. They are familiar to the "upper class of Collectors."

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His Grace the Duke of Devonshire has, of late years, placed himself "hors de combat" in the bookfighting field. He has good reason to be satisfied with his noble library, and to repose upon his laurels. His efforts in the great "Roxburgh day" were stupendous; and his subsequent purchase of the late Bishop of Ely's library made his shelves run to repletion. In consequence, he necessarily became, in turn, a seller. The sale of his duplicates gave almost the first weighty blow to the pecuniary worth of early classics: But then, it must be remembered, that the word duplicate implies an inferior copy-and most people attend sales with the notion, or at least in the hope, of purchasing absolutely good copies. They will not judge from positive, but from a supposed relative, worth: not from what is placed before them, but from what is kept behind them. This is an injury-working prejudice attending all sales of duplicates. But, with the exception of his Uncle's sale, last April, the Duke may challenge the united capitals of Europe to enroll and auction duplicates like his own. I hope, however, that, if he be tired, he will soon be refreshed: "rejoicing like a giant to run his course.' If Chatsworth may not vie with Althorp, I wish it no greater disgrace than that its library may equal its gallery of drawings. There is witchery in the name of BURLINGTON, and magnificence is attached to that of CAVENDISH *.

* Chatsworth boasts of a very fine li brary; perhaps the third after those of Althorp and Store. In the scientific department, it may be superior; as the whole of the library of the late Hon,

In one department of the Biblio mania there is a palpable falling off. It is in that of large paper copies, especially of folio publications; and among these, none have fared more cruelly than County Histories. In short, the small paper of these works is generally of no very moderate dimensions; and provided the impressions of the plates be good, an ordinary, and, I might add, a sensible collector, contents himself with a copy of the smaller sized. The same objection holds in Quarto Publications; and even of Mr Dibdin's own Typographical Antiquities (of which the large paper is undoubtedly among the most splendid productions of the press, and of which, such copies were once contended for with an avidity bordering upon insanity) there has been recently a decided depreciation; so that, if I mistake not, a copy of this work, upon large paper, may now be obtained at the original cost *. The book is equally beautiful, and

T. Cavendish (distinguished throughout Europe for his scientific researches) is now deposited at Chatsworth. Report says, that his Grace is about to make improvements and enlargements in his chateau, there; and that a room, precisely upon the model of the Giant's room, (as it is called), at Hardwicke, is to be built at Chatsworth. I can never pronounce the name of this latter place with ordinary sensations of delight. It is one of the choicest mansions in the kingdom: temp. Eliz. Reg: and has been but coldly treated in the new edition of the Magna Britannica. This proud mansion stands entire, as it did in the year 1598. The picture gallery, with a stone floor, about 160 feet in length, is a non-pareil of domestic architecture. But I humbly entreat his Grace of Devonshire to form a library here, however small, of books printed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth: it would be at once opportune and appropriate. A report has been long prevalent of certain

vellum-coated tiny quartos, of that period, having been found in a cupboard of the refectory. Note further. It was not in this, but in the adjacent old mansion, (now perfectly in ruins, but containing the above-mentioned Giant's room), wherein Mary Queen of Scots is supposed to have been detained.

* I believe that as much as twenty-five guineas were once given for the first two volumes, which are comparatively (especially the first) scarce.

the number of copies has not been augmented; but the taste of the public is changed. Works of an octavo form appear to maintain all their original consequence upon large paper; for this simple reason, they occupy less room. Hence the increasing value of Mr Clarke's Repertorium Bibliographicum-when fortunately found upon the largest scale!

But a yet more "palpable falling off" may be traced in the passion for reprints especially in the black letter. And when I think, Mr Editor, of the Juliana Berners and Pierce Ploughman, republished in this manner, my very heart sinks within me. Those publications, for the first of which my father gave eleven, and for the second of which he gave seven, guineas, may now be had for

but I lack the courage to pronounce the sum. As for the Palace of Pleasure, and Mirrour for Magistrates, reprinted in the Roman Letter, whether the price has much fallen or not, I cannot pretend to determine but this I know, that they are most faithfully, as well as beautifully, executed, and may be considered as critical editions, by containing various readings. They are, indubitably, the editiones optima; and no well-chosen collection can be complete without them-let Mr Joseph Haslewood say to the contrary

--if he dare!

A yet more dismal and spiritdamping obstacle to the spreading of the Book Mania, is the general depreciation, and perhaps the general want, of MONEY. A torpor and listlessness pervade all ranks, in this respect. Men scarcely vouchsafe a glance upon what, formerly, would have made their hearts leap within them. The curiously-stamped embossed cover of oak-the sleeky morocco surcotes of Du Sueil and Padaloup even the arabesque charms of Grolier and De Thou copies-now But there is a point, they say, in the pass by unheeded and unpossessed. political, religious, and moral, as well as physical, world, so thoroughly low and abject, that, as all atoms must be in a state of perpetual motion-(nature abhorring a vacuum)

and as such atoms cannot descend lower, a re-action must, of necessity,

take place.

Thus I augur of the BOOK-WORLD. We are now at our lowest ebb. A return-the "Saturnian age" may be quickly expected; and I hail Mr Thorpe as its harbinger. I love his countenance, and Mr Evans loves his biddings. He has the proper feeling, the true kidney, of a spirited and hot-purchasing bookseller. The celerity with which his purchases are resold-the magical alembic in which his books are transferred into the precious metal-may be matter of astonishment, and even envy, to the most exalted of his brethren. Such men do the Bibliomaniac's heart good.

I had intended, Mr Editor, to have gone a little at large into the consequences of the fall of the Bibliomania; but, on revision, I find that my statement of a few of the causes has led me to a most unconscionable length; and so I hasten to subscribe myself, Your constant Reader, MELMOTH. From my Chambers in the Temple, near unto a Squirt; called, in this Country-a Fountain. Sept. 1, 1821.

MR EDITOR,

OF Bacon's three exercises for the improvement of the mind, reading, writing, and discourse, we certainly owe most to the last. Methodical and studied compositions address us in an avowed and didactic form; and, therefore, dispose us to believe that we are indebted for instruction chiefly to the formal lessons which they impart; while we forget the gradual and less perceptible accumulation of ideas, and enrichment of intellect, proceeding from that barter of thought which we are almost constantly carrying on in our intercourse with others. If it were possible to collect all the interesting or useful remarks which have been verbally thrown out in a single day, how much would they exceed, both in quantity and value, alt that has on that day been committed to writing! The former, to be sure, are surrounded, as the picture by its frame, with much nugatory matter, and to separate from the rest what deserves attention is a laborious task. But I believe there is no man somewhat advanced

in life, who will not acknowledge, that if, from his youth, he had submitted to this task, and recorded, every evening, the best extracts from the conversation of the day, his store of information, and of materials, on which the mind could work, would have been mightily increased. The pleasure, too, of resorting to these records would be great. They would bring before him the scene-the speakers-and the emotions of the moment with an interesting and lively distinctness; and would enable him almost to live over again any of his former days which he might be disposed to select. I have tried the experiment in a single instance, and if you think the result likely to be acceptable to any of your readers, it is at your service.

Villiers Street, 14th May.

G. RELTON.

THE CHANCE DINNER.

GOING down Charing-cross a few days ago, I was met by my friend Carter, on his return from Westminster Hall, where he had been attending, with his usual zeal and ability, to the interests of his clients. I readily complied with his proposal, to take a walk in the Park, where the prompt and easy flow of conversation into which we fell, soon discovered to us that both were in that disengaged and active state of spirits which naturally produces this effect. Every one must have felt, that, after a day of temperance, and a night of repose, he rises with a sensation of vigour and elasticity, both in mind and body, which is the most pleasing of all sensations, as it begets confidence in ourselves, and a conscious security that we are ready for performing every duty, and relishing every enjoyment, in the most perfect manner of which our constitution is capable. It was merely this healthy condition of frame, and not any previous exhilarating incident, which was enabling us to derive pleasure from our slight exertions of mind and body, and even from an enlivened and corroborated sense of existence itself. We had not proceeded far, when the following dialogue took place:

C. I am glad we have met, while I feel myself in a humour, after a busy, but satisfactory morning, to

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