The Book-Hunter at Home Part 20

There are other interesting sixteenth-century works by Abraham de Bruyn, Nicolas de Nicolay, Cesare Vecellio, Pietro Bertelli, Ferdinand Bertelli, and others, all with copper and wood engravings.

[Sidenote: Crime.]

16. Books dealing with Crimes and Prisons are cla.s.sed generally under the heading _Curiosa_ (22); but accounts of murders, rogueries, piracies, etc., are so common and so frequently engage the attentions of specialists that I have thought fit to place this subject in a cla.s.s by itself. Needless to say the majority of works on this subject are in the shape of pamphlets or tracts, though some (such as the 'Trial of Queen Caroline') run to more than one thick volume. You must not expect to come across many of Samuel Rowlands' tracts on roguery, (1600-1620), for they are worth literally their weight in gold, and more. Many of them, however, have been reprinted by the Hunterian Club (1872-86). Nor will you find readily 'The Blacke Dogge of Newgate' by Luke Hutton, which appeared first about 1600, though 'The Life and Death of Gamaliel Ratsey, a Famous Thief of England,' was reprinted by Payne Collier. Mr. F. W.

Chandler's two volumes on 'The Literature of Roguery,' published in 1907, will be of great a.s.sistance to you here; whilst Payne Collier's 'Ill.u.s.trations of Early English Popular Literature' contains several murder pamphlets. The Newgate Calendar is well known and may be had, in varying states of completeness, of the booksellers from time to time, together with the many accounts of famous murders and trials.

[Sidenote: Dictionaries.]

17. Dictionaries and Etymologies are subjects which generally engross the attentions of 'curious antiquaries.' Some of the older dictionaries are of great interest. A few years ago our book-hunter purchased in London for half a crown a copy of Cooper's 'Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et Britanniae,' a thick folio printed at London by Henry Bynneman in 1584.

It is bound in the original sheepskin, a portion of a vellum psalter having been used to strengthen the joints. The worthy bishop's text is delightful (Cooper died bishop of Winchester in 1594), the interpretations being in black letter, and it is full of quaint conceits.

At the end is a biographical dictionary which certainly contains some startling statements. Baret's 'Alvearie or Triple Dictionarie,' 1573, and Rider's 'Bibliotheca Scholastica,' 1589, you may still come across, but do not set your heart upon acquiring a copy of Huloet's 'Abcedarium Anglico-Latinum' put forth at London in 1552. Perhaps the finest collection of dictionaries ama.s.sed by any one collector in this country was that of the reverend Dr. Skeat of Cambridge; but alas! at his death it was partly dispersed.

[Sidenote: Drama.]

18. Shakespeareana has already been dealt with under heading No. 9, and the bibliography of the Drama is a voluminous one. You will find the following works of value to you at the outset, if this be the subject of your choice. Hazlitt's 'Manual for the Collector and Amateur of Old English Plays' was issued in 1892, whilst Mr. F. E. Sch.e.l.ling's 'Elizabethan Drama, 1558-1642,' appeared in two volumes, New York, in 1908. The second volume contains a useful bibliography. Mr. W. W. Greg's 'List of English Plays written before 1643 and printed before 1770' was published by the Bibliographical Society in 1900. There is a supplementary volume which deals with Masques, Pageants, and some additional plays; it appeared in 1902. The bibliography to Chapter IV. in the tenth volume of the 'Cambridge History of English Literature'

contains useful lists of works on the drama. The office-book of Sir Henry Herbert, Master of the Revels, 1623 to 1673, was edited by Professor Quincy Adams and published by the Yale University Press ('Cornell Studies in English,' vol. iii.) in 1917. It is the chief source of information about English plays and playwrights from 1623 until the Civil War, and the doc.u.ments of the period 1660-73 are important to students of the Restoration Drama.

[Sidenote: Early-Printed Books.]

19. By the term 'early-printed books' the bookseller generally means fifteenth-century works, or _incunabula_ as they are now called. You must needs be a rich man if this be your hobby, for every volume issued prior to the year 1500--however worthless as literature or useless from a bibliographical standpoint--is now worth at least a couple of pounds, provided it is complete and in good condition. You _may_ pick up an example or two of early printing for a few s.h.i.+llings on your rambles, but every day the chance of a bargain in this direction is smaller. There is not a bookseller throughout the kingdom who is not aware of the minimum value of _any_ volume printed in the fifteenth century, and a private purchase and treasure trove are the only sources available to the 'incunabulist' to-day. As regards works of reference on this subject, such books have already been dealt with in the chapter on the Books of the Collector.

[Sidenote: Early Romances.]

20. Early Romances, too, will tax your exchequer somewhat heavily, for these glorious folio and quarto examples of early woodcut engraving are eagerly snapped up whenever they appear in the market. One of the finest collections of these fascinating volumes in recent times was that ama.s.sed by Baron Achille Seilliere. A portion of it was sold at Sotheby's in February 1887. Most of these treasures were exquisitely bound by the great French masters of book-binding, and the sale of 1147 lots realised 14,944, an average of about 13 a volume. Yet it is safe to a.s.sert that the same collection to-day would fetch more than double that amount.[81]

The first folio edition (_Lyon_, 1477) of Honore Bonnor's 'L'Arbre des Batailles' realised only 30. At the Fairfax Murray sale in 1918 the quarto Lyons edition (1510) made 130. The Lisbon edition of 'Le Triomphe des Neuf Preux' (1530) brought 83. The same copy at the Fairfax Murray sale realised 135. A second portion of this fine collection afterwards came under the hammer in Paris, and realised similar prices.

There is a numerous bibliography. Mr. A. Esdaile's 'List of English Tales and Prose Romances' was published by the Bibliographical Society in 1912, as was Mr. F. W. Bourdillon's 'Early Editions of the Roman de la Rose.'

The second edition of W. J. Thom's 'Early English Prose Romances'

appeared in three small octavo volumes in 1858, whilst Quaritch's 'Catalogue of Mediaeval Literature, especially the Romances of Chivalry'

was issued--large octavo--in 1890. Mr. H. L. D. Ward's 'Catalogue of Mediaeval Romances in the British Museum,' in three volumes, was completed in 1910. For foreign Romances Lenglet du Fresnoy's 'Bibliotheque des Romans,' is useful. The Comte de Tressan's 'Corps d'Extraits des Romans de Chevalerie,' published in twelve volumes in 1787, has exquisite plates by Marillier. It is an interesting compendium of all the most famous romances of chivalry. The Early English Text Society has published a large number of old English romances both in verse and prose.

[Sidenote: Facetiae, Curiosa.]

22. Facetiae, Curiosa--a somewhat broad subject which would include Chapbooks, Broadsides, Jest Books, as well as those works which treat of 'Gallantry' and subjects generally not alluded to in polite society! The literature upon all these topics is so large that it is impossible to attempt a resume of it here, but you will find a very useful bibliography in the fourth volume of the 'Cambridge History of English Literature,'

pages 514 to 536. Carew Hazlitt's 'Fugitive Tracts' (1875) and 'Studies in Jocular Literature' (1890) are both useful; and Mr. G. F. Black has recently (1909) printed a bibliography of _Gipsies_. Witchcraft, sometimes cla.s.sed under this heading, shall be dealt with when we consider the Occult.

[Sidenote: Fine Arts.]

23. Works upon the Fine Arts are, like books on Architecture, chiefly ill.u.s.trated. Doubtless such books are collected generally by students and craftsmen, but under this heading must be included books on gems, ancient statuary, and ceramics, cameos, rings, and the like. There is a large number of works which treat of these from the sixteenth century onwards, and many are to be had for a few s.h.i.+llings.

FOOTNOTES:

[74] Or turn to the index.

[75] Quarto. It was abridged in octavo the same year.

[76] Similarly, a quarto volume containing an account of the second voyage, 'Drawn up from Authentic Papers,' appeared anonymously in 1776; an octavo 'Journal' having appeared, also anonymously, the previous year.

[77] It was a cropped copy. The one in the Wilton Park library, sold at Sotheby's in March, 1920, lacked two blank leaves and was unbound; but it was a fine large copy and fetched 660.

[78] He was a contemporary of Geoffroi de La Tour Landry, who relates a pleasing story of his amours in Chapter xxiii. of the book which he wrote for the delectation of his three daughters.

[79] Du Guesclin gave striking proofs of courage in his childhood, and at 16 won a prize at a tournament (where he was unknown and against his father's will). He spent most of his life fighting the English, gained several victories over them, and recovered Poitou, Limousin, and many towns in Normandy and Brittany. Charles V. created him Constable of France in 1370, and he died in 1380 in harness, at the ripe age of 66, while besieging a town in Languedoc. He was buried in the Abbey of St.

Denis, at the feet of the royal master whom he had served so well. It is said that he could neither read nor write (which is probably incorrect), but his life and deeds were recorded shortly after his death (as in the case of Bayard) by a 'loyal serviteur'--folio, Gothic letter, printed by Guillaume Le Roy at Lyons about 1480. Of this there does not appear to be any English version. (See also footnote on page 92.)

[80] Melchior Cano, a later Provincial of his Order, is reported to have said concerning this book, 'The author of this Legend had surely a mouth of iron, a heart of lead, and but little wisdom or soundness of judgment'; for it abounds with the most puerile and ridiculous fables and absurdities. But of course 'Voragine' wrote in accordance with the fas.h.i.+on and beliefs of his time.

[81] The portion of the Sudbury Hall Library sold at Sotheby's in June 1918 realised 20,201, 10s. There were 526 lots, an average of more than 38 a volume. The prices realised at the sale of that part of the Britwell Court Library dispersed at Sotheby's in December 1919, however, far exceeded any hitherto obtained. 108 lots brought 110,356--an average of nearly 1,022 a volume. But in this case every book was _rarissimus_.

A small volume containing the only known copy of the fourth edition of Shakespeare's 'Venus and Adonis' (1599), the first edition of 'The Pa.s.sionate Pilgrim' (1599--one other copy known), and 'Epigrammes and Elegies' by Davies and Marlow (_circa_ 1598), realised 15,100--and departed forthwith to the United States.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER IX

A PLEA FOR SPECIALISM--(_Continued_)

'Like s.h.i.+ps before whose keels, full long embayed In polar ice, propitious winds have made Unlooked-for outlet to an open sea.'

WORDSWORTH.

[Sidenote: First Editions.]

TO most of us it matters but little what becomes of our books when we are dead. We garner them for our own use and benefit absolutely, and when we are gone they may well be distributed among other book-lovers for aught we care. No doubt a considerable zest is added to collecting in the case of those lucky ones who, being established in the land, purpose to 'lay down' a library for their posterity. In such cases almost invariably there must be a thought of future value. It is but natural. Whether he lay down wine or books no man is so foolish as to lay down trash. Such schemes, however, do not always result in that success which their owner intended. Like wine, the value of books may 'go off.'

There are two cla.s.ses of books, however, that he who is wealthy enough to lay down a library may acquire with perfect a.s.surance. They are, in fact, gilt-edged securities. One is the original editions of _famous_ Elizabethan and early Stuart authors, the other, the more estimable _incunabula_. Just as the population of the world increases yearly, so every year there are more and more book-collectors, and, consequently, more compet.i.tion to acquire rarities. Every day, too, the chances of further copies coming to light are more remote. Books are not everlasting, and there will come a time when the only fifteenth-century volumes in existence will be those treasured in velvet-lined boxes and gla.s.s cases.

There can be little doubt that in fifty years' time a collection of Beaumont and Fletcher's or Ma.s.singer's plays in the original quartos will be worth not merely double its present value, but quadruple and more.

Then there are the famous prose authors of the early Stuart period, such as Bacon, Barclay, Robert Burton, Daniel, Donne, Drayton, Shelton, and even the prolific Gervase Markham, to mention only a few. All these are good investments, as regards their first editions, _for your children's children_.

As regards the first editions of more modern authors we are on much more delicate ground. First editions of really great men, such as Milton, Pope, or Dryden, probably will always command a high price not only on account of their scarcity but because they are sought for by all students who make a study of those authors. But when we come to those more modern writers concerning whose merits tastes differ, then the collector's activity becomes a gamble. The first editions of Thomas Hardy or Rudyard Kipling _may_ be worth more than their weight in gold in a hundred years, but it is also quite possible that succeeding generations will find in them more of the sentiments of the day than of those innate characteristics of the human mind which make a book really great, and will pa.s.s them by. This matter, however, has been dealt with in the chapter on the Books of the Collector, and with regard to bibliographies of the writings of the chief nineteenth-century authors, you will find mention of these in the appendices to the later volumes of the 'Cambridge History of English Literature.'

[Sidenote: Folk-Lore, Mysteries.]

25. Folk-lore, Fables, Fairy-Tales, Accounts of Mysteries and Miracle-Plays, Mummers, Minstrels and Troubadours, Pageants, Masques and Moralities: an interesting medley. Books of fables, whether by aesop, Bidpai, La Fontaine, Gay, or Kriloff, would form an interesting collection by themselves, and it would be amusing to trace the pedigree of some of the tales. Our national jokes are said to be very ancient in origin; possibly some day the Curate's Egg will be traced to a budding priest of Amen-Ra, lunching with the Hierophant. Then there are books of proverbs--more than one would think--and the folk-lore of all countries that provides fairy-tales more entertaining than ever came out of the head of Perrault or Andersen. Altogether a heading which contains some fascinating literature.

It is doubtful whether such books as the 'Arabian Nights,' Le Grand's collections of ancient Norman tales, and Balzac's 'Contes Drolatiques'

should be included here; perhaps _de natura_ they should be cla.s.sed rather with 'Facetiae and Curiosa.' The literature upon this subject is a large one, and there is an excellent list of writings upon Minstrels, Mysteries, Miracle Plays, and Moralities in the fifth volume of the 'Cambridge History of English Literature,' pages 385 to 394; as well as in Mr. Courtney's invaluable work.

[Sidenote: Freemasonry, etc.]

26. Freemasonry is another of those subjects (like Architecture, Law, and Early Science) which usually engage the attentions of those whose businesses lead, or have at one time led, them to those things. Some of the booksellers specialise in such works, and the older books on Freemasonry cannot be said to be of frequent occurrence in the ordinary booksellers' catalogues. The finest extant library of Masonic books in the English tongue is said to be at the Freemasons' Hall, in London, but it is accessible only to Freemasons. A catalogue of it was privately printed by H. W. Hemsworth in 1869, and more recently by W. J. Hughan in 1888; a supplement to this last appeared in 1895. The Masonic books at No. 33 Golden Square were also catalogued by Hemsworth (1870), and more recently by Mr. Edward Armitage--quarto, 1900.

[Sidenote: French Revolution.]

27. The mention of books on the French Revolution at once conjures up the name of that indefatigable collector and cabinet minister, John Wilson Croker. During his period of office at the Admiralty he ama.s.sed there more than ten thousand Revolutionary books, tracts, and writings; and when the accession of the Whigs drove him from his home there, he sold his entire library to the British Museum. But neither change of government nor loss of income could cure the fever of collecting and six years later he had ama.s.sed another collection as large as the first. This also was purchased by the Museum authorities. Before he died he had garnered a third collection as large as the two previous ones put together, and this also found a home in Bloomsbury. A 'List of the Contents' of these three collections was published by the Museum authorities in 1899. Croker's magnificent collection of letters and writings on the same period was sold for only 50 at his death; it went _en bloc_ to the library of Sir Thomas Phillips at Middle Hill.