The Book-Hunter at Home Part 15

'Folio, russia (joints broken), has the 270 ll. of text complete, but wants the 10 ll. unnumbered, of preliminary matter.'

In other words, one copy is a very choice specimen of the book, tall, clean, and perfect; while the other is an undesirable copy of ordinary size, imperfect, and in poor condition.

There is another point also. The London dealer specialises in such books, in fact deals only in ancient and scarce works, and has a definite _clientele_ of rich and well-known collectors. He can 'place' certain rare books at once, for he knows the _desiderata_ of each of his customers and the deficiencies of their collections. The countryman, on the other hand, deals in all manner of books, ancient and modern, has few rich purchasers among his customers, and knows nothing whatever of their book-buying propensities. Any volume that he offers for sale may remain on his hands for an indefinite time.

Then there are such volumes as 'a.s.sociation books,' by which is meant books possessing an additional interest by reason of their former a.s.sociation with some notability, such a.s.sociation being evident by autographs, corrections, annotations, additions, or binding. Such volumes often exceed enormously the price of ordinary copies. The first Edinburgh edition (1787) of Burns' Poems is worth usually about 5; but a copy realised 75 at auction a few years ago. The reason for this extraordinary price was that in this volume all those lines in which asterisks occur were filled in with the full names in the handwriting of the poet. Moreover it contained an additional stanza on 'Tam Samson' in Burns' autograph. For such a jewel one cannot consider the figure excessive, and it will doubtless run well into three figures if it ever appear in the sale-room again. Similarly, each year witnesses the sale of certain of these 'a.s.sociation' volumes; and unless you are aware of the reasons causing these high prices to rule, such records will be worse than useless to you. A superficial study of all auction-sale prices is apt to be intensely misleading. Unless you are actually on the spot or have handled the volume in question, the price that it realises will tell you little as to the stable value of the work. A torn page, a shaved headline, the underlining of a line or two with ink, a 'mounted'

frontispiece, a missing plate, or even a worn impression of it, all these things affect the price of a volume.

Then there are considerations outside the book itself. A scarce volume included in a sale of unimportant books is unlikely to realise so high a price as it might have done had it appeared in a Huth or Ashburnham sale; for important books attract important bidders. The prices paid for poor copies at the Frere sale in 1896 were enormous; the reason being, probably, that this library had long been known to contain _desiderata_ for which public and private collections alike had hitherto thirsted in vain; the sale was something of a _battue_, and the room was thronged with buyers from all parts of the kingdom.

It is a ticklish question, this matter of the price which the collector pays, and should pay, for his books, and one that may not be resolved early in his career. In addition to exercising your memory when perusing the catalogues which reach you, you will do well to obtain and study 'Prices of Books: an Enquiry into the Changes in the Price of Books which have occurred in England at Different Periods,' an interesting volume by that great connoisseur, Henry B. Wheatley. It was published in octavo in 1898.

Most of the catalogues that one receives from the booksellers are of little use when read, and no useful purpose is served by preserving them.

But there are certain dealers who specialise in a definite cla.s.s of books, and their catalogues are always of value, for they contain only works upon a definite subject or of a definite cla.s.s. Such catalogues form most useful reference works, and even bibliographies of that particular subject. By all means preserve them; you may have them plainly bound in buckram (when you have collected a sufficient number of them) at the cost of a s.h.i.+lling or two, or you may keep them in a small portfolio on your shelf.

Sotheby's auction-sale catalogues are also valuable. They are nicely produced, and have fine margins for making notes. It is well worth obtaining these regularly, which one may do by paying a small subscription. Most of them contain a miscellaneous a.s.sortment of books, and are not worth keeping, but on the other hand most of the famous libraries that are dispersed in this country pa.s.s through the Bond Street house, and the catalogues of these are of the greatest value.

The history of booksellers' catalogues is an interesting one, and as yet we have no authoritative work upon this intermediary between publisher and reader. The earliest catalogue so far known was printed at Mainz by Peter Schoeffer in 1469. It was a catalogue of books for sale by himself or his agent, and consisted of a single sheet, probably intended to be used as a poster. It is in abbreviated Latin, and comprises the t.i.tles of twenty-one books, being headed--

'Volentes sibi comparare infrascriptos libros magna c.u.m diligentia correctos, ac in huiusmodi littera moguntie impressos, bene continuatos, veniant ad loc.u.m habitationis infrascriptum.'

and at the foot is printed in large type--

'HEC EST LITTERA PSALTERII'

--a specimen of the type with which the Psalter mentioned in the list was printed. Beneath this would be written the name of the place where the books could be obtained, this being the case with the only copy of this advertis.e.m.e.nt that has come down to us, Schoeffer's traveller having written at the foot, 'Venditor librorum repertibilis est in hospicio dicto zum willden mann'--'the bookseller is to be found at the sign of the Wild Man.'

Caxton adopted the same expedient with regard to his _Sarum Ordinale_.

This advertis.e.m.e.nt, which is in English, is as follows:

'If it plese ony man spirituel or temporal to bye ony pyes of two and thre comemoracions of salisburi use enpryntid after the forme of this present lettre whiche ben wel and truly correct, late hym come to Westmonester in to the almonesrye at the reed pale and he shal haue them good chepe.'

At the foot of this was printed 'Supplico stet cedula'--Please don't tear down the bill. The 'pyes' of this advertis.e.m.e.nt (the English form of the Latin _Pica_) were the guides by which one might learn the proper combinations of collects and prayers for Saints' days, at certain epochs, according to the Salisbury Ritual. The 'reed pale,' or red pale, was the heraldic sign which Caxton adopted for his printing-house.[58]

Other printers soon followed Schoeffer's example; notably Johan Mentelin of Strasbourg. But these were mere lists of books, sometimes eulogies of an individual work, printed for the most part by one particular press and issued by the actual printer. In 1480 Anton Koberger of Nurnberg issued a catalogue of the books which he had for sale, twenty-two in all, though not all of them were printed by himself. Koberger was perhaps the most important printer and publisher of the fifteenth century. He is said to have employed twenty-four presses at Nurnberg, besides having books printed for him in other towns.[59] He it was who introduced the printing-press into Nurnberg in 1470. His enterprise, however, was not limited to the mere printing of books. He is said to have had sixteen shops where his books were sold, and agents in every city in Christendom!

Truly he was the father of booksellers.

Another German printer, Erhart Ratdolt, printed at Venice, before 1488, a handsome sheet in red and black in which he enumerates some forty-six books arranged under six headings, which he had for sale. They comprised the productions of several presses, the list being headed 'Libri venales Venetiis impressi.' Some thirty or more of these catalogues of German printers,[60] produced before the end of the fifteenth century, are known.

In 1485 Antoine Verard, one of the most important figures in the annals of French printing, began business at Paris by putting forth an edition of the Decameron. From this date he continued as a publisher, and has been called 'the most important Paris publisher of the fifteenth century.' So far as I am aware no catalogue of the books which he had for sale has yet been discovered; though from the fact that our King Henry VII. purchased a number of his volumes it would seem that his agents or travellers were in possession of lists.

Beckmann, in his 'History of Inventions and Discoveries,' says: 'It appears that the printers themselves first gave up the bookselling part of the business, and retained only that of printing; at least this is said to have been the case with that well-known bookseller John Rainman, who was born at Oehringen and resided at Augsburg'; and goes on to say that he was at first a printer and letter-founder, and supplied Aldus with his types. But this offset of the main business of book-production began still earlier: witness the catalogues of Koberger and Ratdolt already quoted. Many other printers also there were, before 1490, who were acting as agents or 'booksellers' to other firms. This was the case, too, with many of the Parisian houses.

'Printing therefore gave rise[61] to a new and important branch of trade, that of bookselling, which was established in Germany chiefly at Frankfort-on-the-Main, where, at the time of the fairs particularly, there were several large booksellers' shops in that street which still retains the name of "book street."'[62] This ancient custom of having bookstalls in the streets (particularly about the church or cathedral) upon fair-days still survives in more than one old-world town upon the Continent. Indeed it is this very custom that gave rise to the term 'stationer.' The early booksellers were wont to erect their stalls or 'stations' against the very walls of the cathedrals, whence they were known as 'stacyoneres.'

Beckmann mentions two other of these early booksellers at Augsburg--Joseph Burglin and George Diemar. 'Sometimes,' he continues, 'they were rich people of all conditions, particularly eminent merchants, who caused books which they sold to be printed at their own expense.'

George Willer, a bookseller who kept a large shop at Augsburg, was the first, says, Beckmann, who hit upon the plan of causing a catalogue of all the new books to be printed, in which the size and printers' names were marked. His catalogues from 1564 to 1592 were printed by Nicholas Ba.s.se at Frankfort. Beckmann relates that a collection of these sixteenth-century German book-catalogues was in the library of Professor Baldinger of Gottingen; possibly it still reposes in the fine library of that university.

'In all these catalogues, which are in quarto and not paged,' continues Beckmann, 'the following order is observed. The Latin books occupy the first place ... and after these, books of jurisprudence, medicine, philosophy, poetry and music. The second place is a.s.signed to German works, which are arranged in the same manner.'

Ba.s.se's collection is ent.i.tled 'Collectio in unum corpus omnium librorum Hebraeorum, Graecorum, Latinorum necnon Germanice, Italice, Gallice, et Hispanice scriptorum, qui in nundinis Francofurtensibus ab anno 1564 usque ad nundinas Autumnales anni 1592 ... . desumpta ex omnibus Catalogis Willerianis singularum nundinarum, & in tres Tomos distincta .

... Plerique in aedibus Georgij Willeri ciuis & Bibliopole Augustani, venales habentur.' It was printed in quarto at Frankfort 'ex officina Typographica Nicolai Ba.s.saei, MDXCII.' Part 2 (which has a separate pagination and t.i.tle) is in German, and contains German books only. Part 3, also a distinct work, has a t.i.tle-page in both Latin and French, and contains books in Italian, Spanish, and French. This t.i.tle reads: 'Recueil en un corps des livres Italiens, Espagnols, et Francois, qui ont este exposez en vente en la boutique des Imprimeurs frequentans les foires de Francfort depuis l'an 1568 jusques a la foire de Septembre 1592. Extraict des Catalogues des dictes foires, et reduict en method conuenable, et tres utile.' An exceedingly interesting work, this last part.

A priced catalogue of the books printed by Christian Wechel is extant. It was printed at Paris in 1543, a duodecimo of twelve leaves, containing about three hundred books. These are cla.s.sed under the headings Grammatica, Dialectica, Rhetorica, Historica, Poetica, Moralia, Physica, et Mathematica, Theologia, Legalis, and Medica. Under each of these headings the books are divided into 'Graece' and 'Latine,' but 'Grammatica' and 'Theologia' have each the additional subheading 'Hebraice.' The prices are interesting. They vary from twopence (the _Ars versificatoria_ of Ulric von Hutten and a Nicholas Beroald) to 80s.--a _Hippiatria_ in French. There are six at 3d., ten at 4d., forty-five at 6d., none at 5d. or 7d., twenty-two at 8d., four at 9d., seventeen at 10d., and thirty-seven at 1s. There are ten at 1s. 3d., twenty-three at 1s. 6d., and twelve at 1s. 8d.; whilst from 2s. to 6s. the prices rise by 6d. But only one volume is priced at 4s. 6d., and two each at 5s. 6d. and 6s. There are from two to four volumes at 7s., 8s., 12s., 15s., 16s., and 18s.; whilst six are priced at 10s., and five at 20s.

The more expensive works are chiefly ill.u.s.trated 'standard' authors, such as Modestus ('De Vocabulis Rei Militaris,' 18s.), Vegetius (_gallice, c.u.m picturis_, 16s., or in Latin _permultis picturis_, 20s.), and several medical works such as Galen (two at 20s.) and Jo. Tagaultius (20s.). A Vegetius 'in minore forma' but also 'picturis' is priced at 4s. At the end is, in Latin: 'And these are the books, printed with our types, which we offer you. Moreover there are others of all kinds for sale in our shop (Taberna), both in Italian and German and French.' Then comes the announcement of a forthcoming edition of Eustathius' Commentary on the first book of Homer's Iliad.

There is extant a list, printed in 1472, of books published at Subiaco and Rome by Sweynheim and Pannartz, the German printers who first established the printing-press in Italy. This list is contained in a letter written by the printers to Pope Sixtus IV., asking for a.s.sistance.

It mentions twenty-eight works, and comprises 11,475 volumes,[63] which looks as if the book-buyers of Rome had combined to procure a reduction in the price of books; and there were no booksellers at that time to whom the publishers could dispose of their volumes as 'remainders.' No wonder that they described themselves as struggling '_sub tanto cartharum fasce_'--beneath so great a load of paper. It must have been circ.u.mstances such as these that induced the early publishers to put forth a 'bad seller' from time to time adorned with a fresh t.i.tle-page.

Notices of such cases abound, and they are not entirely confined to the _first_ publishers. 'But,' invariably remarks the astute and relentless bibliographer, 'it is all the same edition.'

In 1602 there appeared a compilation from all the catalogues published at the different fairs in Germany from 1500 to 1602, by Johann Cless, and it was published in quarto at Frankfort. Unfortunately the original form of the catalogues from which this compilation was made was neglected, so that the work presents merely a list of books catalogued under their subjects; and only occasionally is the name of the printer given. The first volume consists of those published in Latin, the second volume those which appeared in the German tongue. The books are entered under the Christian name of the author, which does not facilitate reference; but date, place, and size are given. Another writer, George Draud, produced in 1611 a 'Bibliotheca Librorum Germanicorum Cla.s.sica'; but this also is merely a catalogue of all kinds of books printed in German up to 1610. This was republished in two quarto volumes at Frankfort in 1625.

Beckmann remarks, however, that many books are mentioned by Draud which never were printed, and many t.i.tles, names, and dates are given incorrectly. Grude's work, published in 1584, has already been mentioned.[64]

In the same way other countries were putting forth catalogues throughout the sixteenth century. Occasionally one comes across them bound with various works, and sometimes, more commonly, beneath the calf or vellum covers of the books of that period.

In this country for many decades after the introduction of printing, the output of the English presses was not sufficiently large to keep pace with the demand for books; so that there grew up a considerable trade in the importation of books from abroad. In London Francois Regnault received a continuous supply of foreign-printed works from his Paris shop, while others such as the Birckmanns, who had shops in Cologne, Antwerp, and other large towns, kept up the number.

Doubtless these, and many others like them, issued catalogues of the books they had for sale. In 1595 Andrew Maunsell published his Catalogue of English Printed Books in two parts, and in April 1617 John Bill, a leading London bookseller, issued the first number of his 'Catalogus Universalis,' a translation of the half-yearly Frankfort _Mess-Katalog_, and continued this enterprise twice a year for eleven years at least.

From October 1622 he added a supplement of books printed in English. A book-catalogue of William Jaggard of 1618 is also known. The t.i.tle of this catalogue states that--like Bill's--it is 'to be continued for every half-year,' but so far no further issue has come to light.[65] You will find a list of the catalogues published by English booksellers since 1595 in Mr. A. Growoll's 'Three Centuries of English Book-Trade Bibliography,'

which was issued in octavo at New York in 1903.

In 1628 Henry Fetherstone, another London stationer, published a catalogue of books which he had recently purchased in Italy. Among these was the famous library of Giacomo Barocci, a gentleman of Venice, consisting of two hundred and forty-two ma.n.u.script volumes, now in the Bodleian Library. Writing to the Archbishop of Armagh in 1629, Sir Henry Bourchier says, 'I doubt not but your Grace hath heard of the Greek Library brought from Venice by Mr. Fetherston, which the Earl of Pembroke hath bought for the University Library of Oxford; it cost him 700; there are of them two hundred and fifty volumes. Dr. Lindsell, now Dean of Litchfield, tells me that it is a great Treasure, far exceeding the catalogue.' As this collection formed but a part of the books which Fetherstone brought from Venice to this country, one cannot but marvel at such an intrepid stroke of business. Presumably the volumes were transported by s.h.i.+p.

The history of booksellers has been attempted more than once,[66] so I will content myself with remarking that in addition to being 'rich people of all conditions,' some at least of these early booksellers were--like the early printers--men of great learning. William Goeree, the bookseller of Amsterdam, was a student by nature, but it was his fortune to be brought up by a step-father to whom letters were unknown. His great desire, a university education, was denied him, and he was forced to choose some business. So he elected to embark upon a career where he would at least enjoy the conversation of the learned, and would be free to pursue his studies undisturbed by the strictures of his step-sire. As a bookseller he prospered, and profiting by the atmosphere of learning in which his paths lay, he found time between the hours of business to produce several valuable works upon such diverse subjects as Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Engraving, Botany, Physic, and Antiquities!

Fabert, the bookseller of Metz and author of 'Notes sur la Coutume de Lorraine,' which he published in folio in 1657, was esteemed so highly both for his learning and abilities, that his son Abraham Fabert was thought not unworthy of being educated with the Duc d'Epernon. Abraham rose to be Marshal of France: but in spite of his great talents and still greater attainments, the bookseller's son ever retained that natural modesty inherent only in great minds. Offered the Order of the Holy Ghost by Louis XIV. he refused it on the ground that it should be worn only by the ancient n.o.bility. Whereupon the King wrote to him 'No person to whom I may give this Order will ever receive more honour from it than you have gained by your n.o.ble refusal, proceeding from so generous a principle.'

One can only meditate _O si sic omnes_!

There are two reference-books that will be of use to you if you are interested in this subject. Both were published by the Bibliographical Society. The first, by Mr. Gordon Duff, is ent.i.tled 'A Century of the English Book Trade,' and is a list of early English stationers. It appeared in 1905. The other, compiled by nine members of the Society under the editors.h.i.+p of Mr. R. B. McKerrow, was published in 1910, and is called 'A Dictionary of Printers and Booksellers in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of Foreign Printers of English Books, 1557-1640.'

To the collector all catalogues are interesting, and although one may not readily come across publishers' catalogues of the sixteenth century, yet seventeenth-century ones are not so rare, and those of the eighteenth century comparatively common. What interesting reading these old catalogues provide! Often it is worth while purchasing the flotsam of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries from the penny tub merely for the sake of the catalogues which one frequently comes across bound at the end of such volumes. The desecration of a book is anathema to the bibliophile; but provided always that when you have paid your penny the volume proves to be but common trash and of no value whatever, you need not hesitate to remove the desired leaves and consign the wreckage to the waste-paper basket.

Perhaps nothing shows so clearly the change in manners and sentiments of each age as do these ancient catalogues. Doubtless many of the works therein described are to be found among the pages of any modern bookseller's list. But there they are scattered among works of all times, and strike the imagination as being merely the curiosities of a bygone age. Here, gathered together in one list, they are exhibited in company with their fellows, and there is little diversity of sentiment to distract one's attention. Though they treat of the most diverse subjects under the sun, yet there is a strange similitude about them which is characteristic of their age. And this impression is not due to the language in which their t.i.tles are couched; they are just the sort of books which we should expect our forefathers of that period to read.

Whatever their subjects, whatever their t.i.tles, they are clearly all birds of a feather.

Take the following, all of which occur in 'A Catalogue of some Books Printed for Henry Brome, since the Dreadful Fire of London.'

The History of the Life of the Duke Espernon, the great Favourite of France... .

Scarronides or Virgil Travesty . . by Charles Cotton, Esq.

Elvira, a Comedy, or The worst not alwaies true, by the Earl of Bristol.

Mr. Simpson's Division Viol, in folio, price 8s.

A Treatise wherein is demonstrated, that the Church and State of England are in equal danger with the Trade, in quarto, by Roger Cook, Esq.

Erasmus Colloquies, in English.

The Fair One of Tuis, a new Piece of Gallantry.