Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-08-28

1nere was, 1t seemed, no peculiar distinction
however tritiing or minute, which might not
give value to volume, provided the indies
pensible quality of scarcity or rare occur
renee was attached to it. In the conclusion
OF the last paragraph lies, doubtless, the root
of the whole matter.
Of the eXtremities to which collectors are
often carried in their zeal to procure the vol
ume ''ra7IsSinaus" of Burnet or Lowndes,
there are examples innumerable. Witness
the charming little tale of Charles Nodier,
the most tasteful of amateurs, the most grace
full of modern French writers witness the
ftrOre with which Mr.. Jonathan Oldbuck de-
scants upon the story of CaXton's 'EBook of
the Chess"-the first book printed in Eng
land-how ''Snuffy Davy" bought it at stall
In Holland for two pence; how it came to DR..
Askew's hands for sixty guineas; and how, at
has sale, ''this inestimable treasure blaZed
forth in its full value, and was purchased by
royalty itself for one hundred and seventy
pounds" Witness the price paid in lS47 at
Leigh's auction room for a Mazarine Bible
namely, five hundred pounds; while three
hundred pounds were freely offered at the
same time for copy on vellum of Tully's
"Offices,' printed in 1865.
There is a very considerable difference not
only between the principle which govern the
SOllCCllOll VI DOOhS Ill anu Ill
but also in the character of the collectors.
In the one country it is taste that is, in gen
eral, not much INDUCED but by gentlemen of
hereditary fortunes, whose position in society
is assured, and whose hobby is to lay out for
ty or fifty Thousand pounds upon a library.
In France, on the contrary-though of
course, there are numerous exceptions to
these rules on either side OF the Strait of Do
ver-the principal collectors are men of let
tiers, whose incomes are derived from no fixed
capital, and to whom, therefore, the practice
OF selling off, from time to time, so much of
their libraries as may be convenient or neces-
sary, is not discreditable. Again, there are
refinements in French collections that are
not yet entirely in vogue in England. The
distinction between a plain copy of a rare
edition, on ordinary paper with fair margins,
and modestly bound, and another fresh and
clean as when it first left the press, on Hol-
land paper or on vellum, spotless and I'M
cut, and sumptuously bound in the most ex
pensive style, is much less marked in the
former country than in the latter In
France, the process of genorating books is
carried to an extreme. Two or three imper-
feet copies, for instance, of the same edition
will be brought together; taking part from
this and part from that, complete set of
the most perfect leaves will be formed Then
passes under the hands of person whose
business 1t is, by means of washing it with
certain preparations, by careful erasures, by
sizing, and by a thousand other modes, to
cleanse each page from every stain or blot
that it has received Should part of a leaf
be gone, he finds paper precisely similar to
that on which the book is printed lin a case of
the last necessity taking a fiy-leaf from the
book itself), and prints the missing portion in
type of the same character-joining the
whole together so artfully that the most prac-
ticed eye is often deceived. By this process
(formerly called biblioguidncie, but which is
now known as la bibliGldtrique), perfect cop
les of the rarest works are constantly produc-
ed, and our readers may judge of the skill
with which this is performed, when we assure
them that thousand francs are not unfre-
quently paid for such restoration of single
volume. From the hands Of the restorer, the
renovated treasure goes to those of the binder,
and here again is a field for the indulgence of
taste and expense. Scores of pounds may be
spent in giving to an octave or quarto its cost
ly garb of morocco and gold; so that by the
time the collector has filled single shelf, he
may easily have expended moderate for
tune. 1t is true that in these last two arts
France has, it seems to US, the decided advan-
tage over the rest of the world. Highly as
we rate the abilities of our own London bind
ers, of Riviere, of Hayday, of Mackenzie, or
of Clarke and Bedford, we must confess that
we have never seen binding of a living work.
man equal to that of Bauzonnet; but whose
desires specimens of his best workmanship
may well count over his sovereigns very care
fully ere he sends them on such flight
*Sir Walter Scott, in his essay bn Pitcairn's Grim
inal Trials tells this story in somewhat different
fashion. In the version in the text the writer has
followed Brunei and Belize.