Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-08-28
dNuttester 9atlg SPY.
BIBLIOMANIA.

most as respectable as that of the Gascon gen.
ueman, who claimed descent from an original
lnhabitant of the Garden of Eden, looked
down In secret scorn upon the large body of
mankind who came from ''that parvenu Adj
am. History, from age to age, gives us casu-
al gnmpses of the libraries of DAYS gone by,
from the countless tones of the Ptolemies
down to those few choice Volumes valued at
more than kings ransom, which the royal
care OF the great Alfred gathered together on
the soil of Britain. The phrase attributed to
the emperor Julan-''Alii uuidem eouos am
ant ALI ayes, ALI feras mihi vero a puerulo
mirandum acquirendi ct possidendi libros in
sedit desiderium"-wel expresses the feeling
of genuine collector. And we are all famii-
lar with Chaucer'S description of a biblioDhile
of his own days, who
Would rather have at his bedhead
A twenty books, clothed in black or red
OfAristotle and his philosophy
Than robes rich, rebeck, psaltery.
1t was not, however, until the habit of col
lecting books and forming libraries had be-
come well established, and, so to speak. fash
lonable, that the extreme refnements of bibli-
ography came into vogue. In Great Britain
the birth of the new ''science" as it is fondly
styled by its votaries, may be dated from the
carrier part of the last century, when Mead,
Harley, and Sir Hans Sloane, and Others laid
the foundations of collections that have ever
since become of national Importance. tits to
the last FAMED for instance, that we owe the
origin of the British museum. Foremost a.
mongst these virtuosi was the celebrated DR..
Askew, who, in reality, was the man, as far as
we Know, that collected upon the received
principles of the present day. His immense
library was rich to excess in COPIES printed
on vellum and on large paper, of the rarest
editions, particularly of the classics: and
long after his death on Oh
was sure to bring its full price in market. We
believe his Aldine plato-editio pyinceps of
1913, in two volumes foio-printed in the
purest vellum, is still regarded as one of the
choicest books in the world. The sale of his
library ''apud S. Baker and G. Leigh, in vico
dicto York street, Convent garden February,
l775," occupied twenty days, and it brought
what were then considered high prices; one
of the highest, we believe, being that paid for
the Tezeide of BoccacciO, printed at Ferrara,
in 1475, which sold for eighty-five pounds
Many amusing anecdotes are still told of As
kews singularities. So chary was he of his
dearly beloved volumes that he would suffer
no hand but his own to unlock the cases in
which they were kept. Perched upon the
ladder he would thus exhibit some unique
volume to the envious eyes of a less fortunate
brother, who might indeed read it in that posi-
ton, but could never hope to hold it in his
own hands
In the formation, indeed, of so many choice
libraries, discrimination in the selection of
the best and rarest editions was at once a nat
ural result; and the consequence is obvious
From the contentious Of two rival amateurs
arose the most celebrated collection of its day
in England. When Harley Earl of Oxford,
was forming his famous library, hundred
and fifty years ago, a bookseller brought to
him one morning book Of undoubted rarity,
the DecGmeron of BOccacio, printed at Ven
ice, by Christofer Valdarfar, in 147l, being
the first edition printed with date. For this
volume, then--so late as 1907, enormously
supposed to be unique-he demanded the
modest little sum of one hundred guineas.
Lord Oxford, like Mrs. Centlivre's 'phioso-
phical girl, was doubtless willing to accede to
any demand "dictated by good sense, and
comprehended within the bounds of elocu-
ton !" but he did not look upon the price de-
manded in that light, and fatty refused to pay
it. The dealer then offered it to Lord Sun
derland, Harley's rival collector, and with as
little success Accident, however, threw him
in the way of Robert the second Duke OF RoX-
burghe, who had Just succeeded to his title,
and to an ample estate that had been long at
nurse, and who, caring probably as little for
this edition of Boccaccio as for an old alma
ton. for the mere qualification perhaps of buy
ing what was beyond the reach of the dstin
guished Earl of Oxford and Mortimer. Hav
ing thus laid out his hundred guineas, he has
tened to invite Oxford and Sunderland to dine
with him, and their conversation naturally
turning on the unique volume they had seen
that morning, and which each hoped to buy at
cheaper rate, their host quietly pointed out
to them the identical book upon his window
sill;* zee qui fut,' says honest Brunei, ''pour
ces bibliomanes parcimonieuX un veritable
creve-cGur."
This is said to have been the beginning of
that princely collection which, on the death
of John, the third Duke of Roxburghe, was
brought, in 1872, to the hammer. A few
wears before Belize had predicted that, if ever
this volume was exposed to sale, it would
bring at least five hundred pounds. Two
other copies were subsequently discovered,
both imperfect-one in the Ambrosan library
at Milan. wanting one leaf, and one in the BIZ
bliotheuue Royale at Paris, wanting three
But the Roxburghe copy, which was in perfect
order, far outran even the anticipations OF Its
reverend historian, being finally knocked
down to the Marquis of Bandford, afterwards
Duke of Marlborough, at the price OF two
thousand two hundred and sixty pounds His
unsuccessful opponent was Earl Spencer,
who, however, lost nothing by waiting, since,
in June, 1919, he bought the identical copy,
at the Marlborough sale, for only nine hun
dred and eighteen pounds fifteen shillings /:
ice qui est encore un priX fort honnete," as
M. Brunei again naivey observes.
From the number of distinguished anna
teurs who met in London on the occasion of
the Roxburghe sale was formed the we'll
known Roxburghe Club, an election into
which was so highly priced by Sir Walter
Scott, and which undoubtedly has suggested
the host of printing clubs that have arisen in
later years--the Bannatyne, the Maitland the
Spauiding, the Camden, the Shakespeare, the
Percy. the Hakluyt, and score more OF like
learned associations for the preservation OF
such rare information as stands in Likelihood
of loss or destruction by reason of its beng
in a unioue COPY. Certainly, whatever opln-
ion philosopher may entertain OF blDhoma-
MIA in the abstract, no one Will deny tiat' III
many of its results, it has been practically OF
the first service to the cause of letters
To define in what this "science" consists is
a task that might well puzzle more eruldlte
photographer than old Scaliger himself One
favored votary, however-himself no undis-
tinguished son of the Muses-paints, with the
licensed freedom of successful lover, the
various charms which cause the bare sight OF
The small dark volume, rich with furnished gold,
bearing the mystic colophon of Caxton, a
Pynson, or a Wynken de Worde, to make the
heart leap for joy and the purse-srings relax,
till the precious tome-rGJHs, rGrtSStmus, or
unique