The Book-Hunter at Home Part 14

[48] But as the shelves are not fixed to the uprights, it is a simple matter to remove each shelf in turn from the room, and brush out the dust with a stiff clothes-brush.

[49] It does not represent the Roman Venus, and there is no place named 'Milo.' Were the statue anywhere else than in the Louvre, probably it would be known generally (as it is to scholars) by its proper name--the Aphrodite of Melos.

[50] The writer possesses a copy of the first edition of "Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour," which is a perfect museum. At some period of its existence it was relegated to the harness-room; and its leaves bear the insignia of almost every known preparation used in dressing boots, harness, saddles, buckles, dogs, horses' hoofs, and human hair. Not for all the wealth of the Indies would he remove a single stain. Most of them have been identified by his friends (it is feared with more regard for humour than accuracy) in marginal notes. Sherlock Holmes would certainly have considered it worthy of a monograph.

[51] I will not venture to suggest that you follow the example of a book-collecting acquaintance who has an extra heading for 'Books that I have _acquired_!'

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER VII

BOOKS OF THE COLLECTOR

'To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.'--PROVERBS, i. 4.

JUST as anyone who sets out to collect prints or antiques must provide himself at the outset with certain books necessary for obtaining a knowledge of the subject, so the book-collector must gather to himself those works which, if studied carefully, will enable him to become thoroughly conversant with the objects of his favourite pursuit. To the real collector there is no more delightful reading than the literature which deals with the subject he has made his own; and the more ample and specialised it be, the greater will be his delight.

What bibliophile has not read, and read again, such delightful works as Burton's 'Book Hunter,' Blades' 'Enemies of Books' and 'Life and Typography of William Caxton,' 'The Library' and 'Books and Bookmen' by Andrew Lang, Harrison's 'Choice of Books' and 'Among my Books,' Clark's 'Care of Books,' Edwards' 'Libraries and Founders of Libraries,' and many others of equal charm? Indeed, these volumes may well be among the first that he who embarks upon the peaceful sea of book-collecting gathers to himself. Nor is there any less fascination in the more specialised works, such as Mr. Gordon Duff's 'Early Printed Books,'[52] 'English Provincial Printers,' and 'The Printers of Westminster and London to 1535,'

Bradshaw's 'Collected Papers,' Mr. A. W. Pollard's 'Early Ill.u.s.trated Books,' Wheatley's 'Prices of Books,' Professor Ferguson's 'Aspects of Bibliography,' and the publications of the Bibliographical Society. All these and many others are necessary if we are to acquire a thorough knowledge of old books. They are, or should be, in every large public library; and we may read them through and through at our leisure, learning more from each perusal.

There are certain works, however, which the book-collector should himself possess, for he will have continual recourse to them throughout his book-collecting career. Doubtless some of them will make an inroad upon his purse, but it will be money well spent, and the knowledge which he will gain from them will save him many a s.h.i.+lling. Their acquisition must be looked upon in the same light as the shelves and fittings of the library.

[Sidenote: General Bibliographies.]

First of all we will take those bibliographies which deal with books published in the English language, and there are certain of these volumes that are indispensable to the book-collector. Among them are Lowndes'

'Bibliographer's Manual,' in six octavo volumes, last published in 1869[53] (alas! sadly deficient, but still of considerable use), which one can have for about a pound, and Hazlitt's valuable 'Bibliographical Collections and Notes on Early English Literature,' complete in eight octavo volumes, published between 1867 and 1903. The Bibliographical Society's publications, from 1893 onwards, are of the greatest value, comprising lists of English printers, early editions of rare books, lists of early English plays, tales, and prose romances, with numerous bibliographies. For recourse to these, probably it will be necessary to visit the nearest important public library, though one may purchase individual numbers from time to time at the second-hand booksellers'.

Arber's 'Term Catalogues,' published in three quarto volumes between 1903 and 1906, gives a complete list of works entered at Stationers' Hall from 1668 to 1709. It followed the same author's 'Transcripts of the Registers of the Wors.h.i.+pful Company of Stationers of London, 1554-1640,' which was privately printed in five volumes between 1875 and 1894. A second 'Transcript' of these registers, from 1640 to 1708, was issued similarly in 1913-14, in three more volumes.

Sir Egerton Brydges' 'British Bibliographer' (in which he was a.s.sisted by Joseph Haslewood) was published in four octavo volumes, 1810-14, and is an entertaining work, though not one which it is necessary that the collector should acquire. The second edition of his 'Censura Literaria'

appeared in ten volumes in 1815, and the 'Rest.i.tuta; or t.i.tles, Extracts, and Characters of Old Books in English Literature revived,' was published in four volumes, 1814-16. All these afford interesting reading; but they are for the armchair and fireside rather than the desk: and the information that they contain must not always be regarded as infallible.

Payne Collier's 'Account of the Rarest Books in the English Language,'

which appeared in two volumes in 1865, is rather more dull than its t.i.tle suggests. Karslake's 'Notes from Sotheby's' is useful, being a compilation of 2032 notes from catalogues of book-sales between 1885 and 1909.

Quaritch's 'General Catalogue of Books' is useful for reference. It comprises short descriptions of more than 38,000 works, and was published in 1887 in six volumes. An additional volume containing an index to the whole was issued in 1892. The catalogue of the Huth Library, five large octavo volumes published in 1880, is also valuable. Then there is, of course, the British Museum catalogue, which was printed in 1884 under the t.i.tle 'A Catalogue of Books in the Library of the British Museum, printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of Books in English printed abroad, to the year 1640': three octavo volumes.

For an actual list of the published works of all British authors of note, one must consult the 'Dictionary of National Biography': while the more detailed bibliographies to each volume of the 'Cambridge History of English Literature' are of great a.s.sistance, though they vary considerably, and do not pretend to be complete. Allibone's 'Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors,' in three volumes, was published by Lippincott (Philadelphia) between 1859 and 1871. There is a supplement to it by J. F. Kirk, which appeared in two volumes in 1891. It is a work of considerable value to the bibliographer.

With regard to the books printed abroad (as well as in England), it is essential that the collector procure a copy of Brunet's 'Manuel de Libraire et de l'Amateur de Livres,' a most valuable work dealing with the literature of all countries. The last (fifth) edition of this great work was published in six octavo volumes at Paris, 1860-65. In 1870 a companion volume by Pierre Deschamps was issued, ent.i.tled 'Dictionnaire de Geographie Ancienne et Moderne a l'Usage du Libraire,' a dictionary of the Latin and Greek names of places with their modern equivalents and some account of the first presses at those places. There is a modern-ancient index. A supplement to the 'Manuel' was published by MM.

P. Deschamps and Gustave Brunet in two volumes, 1878 and 1880. The complete work, in all nine large octavo volumes, 1860-1880, cost formerly about 18; however, a reprint of the fifth edition--an exact facsimile in type and size--was issued by Brockhaus of Leipzig (at ten pounds the set) in 1920. Graesse's 'Tresor de Livres Rares et Precieux' is also valuable. It comprises books in all tongues and contains a ma.s.s of bibliographical information. Published in six quarto volumes (vol. 6 is in two parts) between 1859 and 1867, a supplement was issued in 1869: in all seven volumes.[54]

Of all the older general bibliographies, however, there are few that can compare with old David Clement's 'Bibliotheque Curieuse Historique et Critique, ou Catalogue Raisonne de Livres Dificiles a Trouver.' Not, I hasten to add, for its accuracy or even the amount of information it contains. But there is a charm about these nine old quarto volumes with their handsome type and t.i.tle-pages in red and black that appeals irresistibly to the collector. He was a true bibliophile, this worthy Lutheran pastor, and his gradations of rarity are delightfully expressive and concise. 'Rare,' 'tres-rare,' 'fort-rare,' he describes his treasures, and occasionally 'peu-commun'; but he does not hesitate to condemn as 'rare et mauvaise' an edition that disturbs his bibliographical soul. Alas! his work was only carried as far as the letter H (Hesiod).

[Sidenote: Early-Printed Books.]

For early-printed books the collector will require Ludwig Hain's 'Repertorium Bibliographic.u.m ... usque ad annum 1500,' which was published at Stuttgart in four octavo volumes, 1826-38, and is still the standard work upon this subject. For those who collect fifteenth-century books this work is essential, for all catalogues and descriptions of books of that period refer to it. Generally the mere number of the work in Hain's monumental list is referred to, such as 'H 3234,' which means that the volume offered for sale is as described by Hain, number 3234 in the 'Repertorium.' In 1891 Dr. Konrad Burger added an Index of Printers to this great work, while between 1898 and 1902 Dr. W. Copinger published a supplement, adding some 7,000 new entries to Hain's 16,299. Dr. Burger added a further supplement in 1908, and between 1905 and 1910 Dr.

Dietrich Reichling published appendices, additions and emendations to all of these, adding an index thereto in 1911. For early German books, Panzer's 'Annalen der altern Deutschen Litteratur' to 1526, which appeared at Nurnberg in two volumes between 1788 and 1805, has not yet been entirely superseded; though considerable additions have been made by Mozler, Weller, and Petzholdt.

Mr. C. E. Sayle's 'List of Early English Printed Books in the University Library at Cambridge, 1475 to 1640,' in four octavo volumes, was published by that university between 1900 and 1907; while for books printed at Oxford from the establishment of the first press there in 1478 to 1640, you must consult Mr. Falconer Madan's 'The Early Oxford Press,'

published in 1895.

Blades' 'Life and Typography of William Caxton' I have already mentioned; and although many of us may never behold a Caxton save through a sheet of gla.s.s, yet every book-collector should be acquainted with the work of this great father of the English press. Blades' work first appeared in two quarto volumes, published respectively in 1861 and 1863, and is much to be preferred to 'The Biography and Typography of William Caxton' which is practically a reprint in a cheaper form issued in one octavo volume in 1877. A second edition of this last appeared in 1882. In the Preface to the 1877 reprint, Blades states that 'only one additional fact of any importance has been added, viz. that Caxton was married ...' and that 'the bibliography has been curtailed.'

Proctor's 'Index to the Early Printed Books in the British Museum from the Invention of Printing to the Year MD.,' begun in 1898, was cut short by his untimely death. The Museum authorities have now in course of publication an important work ent.i.tled 'A Catalogue of Books printed in the Fifteenth Century now in the British Museum,' which is being compiled by Mr. A. W. Pollard and his a.s.sistants; it will be completed in six folio (really atlas quarto) volumes. Of these the first part, dealing with block-books and the productions of German presses, appeared in 1908; Part II., also German-printed books, in 1912; Part III., Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Hungary, in 1913: while Part IV., the productions of Italy, appeared in 1916. Parts V. and VI. will contain the works of England, France, and other countries, Part VI. also containing a general index to the entire work. The Introduction to Part I. gives a valuable resume of the study of scientific bibliography from Panzer in 1793. Mr. Gordon Duff's great work on the English incunabula, 'Fifteenth Century Books,' was issued by the Bibliographical Society in 1917. It contains fifty-three facsimiles, and records the existence of 439 books or fragments issued in English, or by the printers in this country, before the end of the year 1500.

In France much valuable work has been done on the early presses of that country. M. Anatole Claudin has put forth some extremely useful books on the early printers of Poitiers, Limoges, Rheims, and of many other towns; whilst for the Exposition Universelle of 1900 he prepared a monumental work upon the early printers of Paris. This sumptuous book, ent.i.tled 'Histoire de l'Imprimerie en France au XV^e et au XVI^e Siecle,' was printed in two large quarto (atlas quarto) volumes, copiously adorned with illuminated and other ill.u.s.trations. The chapter on Antoine Verard is delightful.

There is a large number of books, too, on the incunabula of various European towns and districts, such as Augsburg, Bavaria, Belgium, Bohemia, Ferrara, Mainz, Lyons, Mantua, Nurnberg, Rome, Rouen, Toulouse, to mention only a few. For the incunabula printed with Greek characters Legrand's 'Bibliographie h.e.l.lenique,' which appeared in two octavo volumes in 1885, is useful.

For a description of the early 'block-books,' the prototype of printing, the collector must have recourse to Sotheby's beautiful work ent.i.tled 'Principia Typographica,' published in three large quarto volumes in 1858. It contains no less than a hundred and twenty full-page facsimiles, some in colour, of block-books, early types, paper-marks, etc., and is one of the most important works on the history of printing that has ever been produced.[55] He will do well also to acquire Bigmore and Wyman's 'Bibliography of Printing,' a valuable work which appeared in three quarto volumes, 1880-86; and there is an immense amount of information concerning individual printers and stationers with their productions in 'The Library' (in progress), the three large volumes of 'Bibliographica' published in twelve parts between 1895 and 1897, and the transactions of the Bibliographical Society.

[Sidenote: Engravings.]

If early wood-engravings interest you, there are several works to which you may turn for guidance. Lippman's 'Wood Engraving in Italy in the Fifteenth Century,' of which an English edition was published in 1888, and Kristeller's 'Early Florentine Woodcuts' which appeared in 1897, treat of ill.u.s.trated Italian books. Venetian books of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are dealt with by Prince d'Essling in his 'Bibliographie des Livres a Figures Venitiens 1469-1525,' of which a new edition appeared in 1906. The works of Dutch and Belgian artists are dealt with by Sir W. M. Conway in 'The Woodcutters of the Netherlands in the Fifteenth Century.' This was published in 1884. M. Claudin's 'Histoire de l'Imprimerie en France' contains many ill.u.s.trations of early Parisian woodcuts and illuminations, while m.u.t.h.e.r's 'Die Deutsche Bucherill.u.s.tration der Gothik und Fruhrenaissance,' published in 1884, is also useful. For English engravers you will find Sir Sidney Colvin's 'Early Engraving and Engravers in England' (1905) useful, as well as Lewine's 'Bibliography of Eighteenth Century Art and Ill.u.s.trated Books,'

which appeared in 1898. A very delightful work on the eighteenth-century French engravers is M. H. Cohen's 'Guide de l'Amateur de Livres a Gravures du XVIII^e Siecle,' of which the fifth edition was published in 1886. Bewick's work has been dealt with by Mr. Austin Dobson in his 'Thomas Bewick and his Pupils,' octavo, 1884; and 'A Descriptive and Critical Catalogue of Works Ill.u.s.trated by Thomas and John Bewick' was published by E. J. Selwyn in 1851. Mr. A. W. Pollard's 'Early Ill.u.s.trated Books,' of which a new edition appeared in 1917, is of value from the historical point of view.

[Sidenote: Place-Names and Dates.]

Cotton's 'Typographical Gazetteer,' of which the second (and better) edition was printed at Oxford in 1831, is valuable for the identification of ancient Latin place-names. A second series was published in 1866. J.

Hilton's 'Chronograms' (1882) and 'Chronograms Continued' (1885) are often of great a.s.sistance with regard to dates. In 1895 this indefatigable collector published a third volume, quarto, containing more than four thousand additional examples. For mere lists of works upon definite subjects one may consult Sargant and Whishaw's 'Guide-Book to Books' (1891) and 'The Best Books,' by W. S. Sonnenschein.

[Sidenote: Pseudonyms.]

For the identification of authors who wrote under a pseudonym you will find 'A Handbook of Fict.i.tious Names,' by 'Olphar Hamst' (which was the pseudonym of Ralph Thomas) useful. It was published in 1868. But this has been partly superseded by Cus.h.i.+ng's 'Initials and Pseudonyms,' large octavo, London, 1886; and the valuable work of Emil Weller, ent.i.tled 'Lexicon Pseudonymorum,' of which the second edition was published at Regensburg the same year, in octavo. This contains thousands of pseudonyms of all nations and all ages. Cus.h.i.+ng also published 'A Dictionary of Revealed Authors.h.i.+p,' in two volumes, 1890. Then there is the valuable 'Dictionary of the Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature of Great Britain,' by Halkett and Laing, which appeared in four octavo volumes between 1882 and 1888. Mr. F. Marchmont's 'Concise Handbook of Literature issued Anonymously under Pseudonyms or Initials,' appeared in 1896.

Antoine Barbier's 'Dictionnaire des Ouvrages Anonymes et Pseudonymes' was published first in four octavo volumes at Paris so long ago as 1806-8. A second edition was put forth in 1822-27. But between 1869 and 1879 a third edition, revised and enlarged, was incorporated with 'Les Supercheries Litteraires Devoilees' of Joseph Marie Querard (the second edition), the whole being edited by MM. Gustave Brunet and Olivier Barbier, and issued in seven large octavo volumes. The first three volumes (1869-70) appeared under the t.i.tle of Querard's work, the last four (1872-9) under that of Barbier. Querard's work, which first appeared in four octavo volumes, 1847-52, is, as its t.i.tle indicates, a dictionary of those books in French which have been published under fict.i.tious names, are spurious, or have been wrongly ascribed. It is valuable for the identification of many fict.i.tious memoirs and like books. Barbier's work deals with French anonymous and pseudonymous books. De Manne's 'Nouveau Dictionnaire des Ouvrages Anonymes et Pseudonymes,' octavo, Lyon, 1862, deals chiefly with contemporary French works. For pseudonymous books in Italian one must consult the work of Vincenzo Lancetti, which appeared at Milan, in octavo, 1836, as well as the 'Dizionario di Opere Anonime e Pseudonime di Scrittori Italiani,' by G.

M. (Gaetano de' Conti Melzi), also published at Milan in three octavo volumes, 1848-59. A supplement, by G. Pa.s.sano, was issued at Ancona in 1887.

Dibdin's rather sumptuously produced works are perhaps of more interest than bibliographical value, though his edition (vols. 1-4, 1810-19) of the 'Typographical Antiquities,' begun by Ames (1749), and augmented by Herbert (3 vols., 1785-90), is useful, in spite of the fact that it was never completed. For ill.u.s.trations of the early printers' devices you must still have recourse to the 'Bibliographical Decameron,' three large octavo volumes, published in 1817. For the devices of French printers there is a more recent work ent.i.tled 'Marques Typographiques des Libraires et Imprimeurs de France, 1470-1600,' by M. Silvestre, which was printed in two octavo volumes at Paris, 1853-1867. It contains ill.u.s.trations of more than 1300 devices. Every year witnesses the production of these indispensable aids to book-collecting, and the modern trend of such works is towards a constricted specialism. By this means it is possible to realise a minuteness and accuracy un.o.btainable in wider fields. The 'Bibliografia Aragonesa del Siglo XVI' of Senor Sanchez, a sumptuous work with ill.u.s.trations of t.i.tle-pages, colophons, etc., which was published in two folio volumes in 1913-14, is a striking example of this.

There are bibliographies of almost every cla.s.s of books, and a great number dealing with the works of individual authors and printers of renown; but these are in the domain of the specialist. There are certain works, however, which will be of a.s.sistance to the collector in compiling a list of authorities upon his special subject. Dr. Julius Petzholdt's 'Bibliotheca Bibliographica' was published at Leipzig so long ago as 1866; Sabin's 'Bibliography of Bibliographies' appeared at New York in 1877; while Vallee's 'Bibliographie des Bibliographies' (though neither very accurate nor complete) was published at Paris, in large octavo, in 1883. A supplement to this last was issued in 1887. For the large number of bibliographical works which have issued from the press since that date you must consult Mr. W. P. Courtney's invaluable 'Register of National Bibliography,' in three volumes, 1905 to 1912; which, indeed, for modern purposes has superseded the above-mentioned works. In pa.s.sing we would remark that the 'national' of its t.i.tle-page is in the wider sense of the term.

And here a word of warning. Always make a point of entering the _errata_ with a pencil in the margins of every reference-book that you acquire. Do this before you a.s.sign a place to the volume on the shelf; otherwise you may quote or condemn a pa.s.sage or date which has been rendered wrongly owing to a clerical or printer's error, and has been put right in the _errata_.[56] Need we say that this practice should not necessarily be confined to works of reference? One may even find some amus.e.m.e.nt here.

Was it not Scarron who wrote a poem, 'A Guillemette, chienne de ma soeur,' but quarrelling with his sister just as the volume was about to appear, put in the _errata_, 'For _chienne de ma soeur_ read _ma chienne de soeur_'!

All these works will a.s.suredly impart to the book-collector much knowledge of ancient books and their attributes, but he will still be at sea with regard to that most necessary part of their collection, namely, their commercial value. There is only one way in which this knowledge may be obtained, and that is by the study of catalogues. To arrive at a proper estimate of a book's value from the purely financial point of view, a close study of booksellers' catalogues and auction-sale prices through many years is necessary. The divergence in price of identical works is somewhat disturbing at first to the novice, and it is only after some considerable experience and the actual handling of books that one is enabled to arrive at a proper estimate of their worth. 'Continual use gives men a judgment of things comparatively, and they come to fix on what is most proper and easy, which no man, upon cursory view, would determine.'[57]

Before the writer are two catalogues, one from a country bookseller, the other from a well-known London house. Each contains a copy of the 'Thesaurus Cornucopiae et Horti Adonidis,' printed by Aldus Manutius in 1496. The former offers it for 25s., the latter for 25. Why this extraordinary difference in price?

The reasons are ample. The London copy has this description:

'Fol.; 16th cent. English binding of brown calf, gilt borders and centre-pieces, g.e. (by THOMAS BERTHELET, the Royal binder), in fine condition: beautiful copy, perfectly clean and large, 320 215 m.m., enclosed in case.'

The country bookseller's copy, on the other hand, is described as follows: