New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-08-08
THE RECORD OF FIFTY YEARS
"REMINISCENCES OF A JOURNALIST.
By CHARLES T. CoNGpoN.
XXXV
BOOK COLLECTING

BOOK COLLECTING.
THE FIRST OLD BooK-CHARMs OF ANCIENT VOL
uMFs-s SCHOLARSHIP OF THE OLD WRITERS
AIDUs. FROZEN, sCHuFFER FIzEviH-pRzEs
LOTTERY ANNOTATED BOOKS AND
BOOKS WITH AUToGrA PHs- THE soLACR OF
READING.
As approach the end of this series, re-
membrring that the veteran may log super,
fuous on the stage, | may. naturally recall
the particular and personal pleasure which
has tempered the flag and difficulties OF my ca
reer. i do not know that the tact Is oil any
consequence to the reader. but TO me IT seems
merely decent courtesy that l should men
ton here those who have been my best friends
through all the tangle and trouble and toll
of life. Ii there be anything for which thank
Fortune profoundly. II is that early acquired
a taste for reading. and have always been
able to- find refuge from the dark austerl-
ties of the present in the spleDdors and Easel
nations of the past. | date my taste for old
books from a very early period in fact. from
the time when, only just breeched, | stood upon
q chair and found two OF three OF them IN my
= grandmOther's closet. One of these, as hap
pen to remember, was an account OF the Ll1e
and Travels OF Captain John Smith. IL has
been one of the miserieS of which have been
impatient, that have been unable to recall
the date of this my first rare book. Lacking
the date | am equally at loss for the title.
and when boOk-mansac knows neither date
nor title, lie may well De considered somewhat
at sea. All | know is, that the book was
Quarto that the date was sixteen hundred and
something that the smell OF the leatbern cover
made Il profound impression upon my nOstrlls;
and that | was forever looking ont for old
books afterwards. My strong conjecture is that
the volume in question must have been
Description of New Engand; or The Observa-
ton ana Discoveries OF Captain John smith
(Admirai OF that ConntIy),. III The North OF
that Country, III The ear OF our LcId lola.
London, 1Gl6, 4t0."
From that time forth | came near to dis
cardiDg nineteenth century books altogether;
| was repelied by Their rawness. They seemed
to me to be plebelanS. les ROreGaT richeS OF the
library, with their syllt cloth coats and pages
supeIabundantly white and black. The con-
tempt which l conceived for TINS haber-
dashery OF binding, good many years nave
been unable 10 eradicate. i recall Pleasantly
my first primer. for ii WAS literally IN boards
hot paste boards but wooden boardS-WIth ii
thin cover OF paper pasted upon the SIDES.
Since | early learned 10 smell the cid calf.
the finer fragrance OF kISSla, that unable
scent which an old book has when You put
your nose between the leaves and are Tejuve-
mated by its mnSiiness, i have often felt
sOrTy for several modern authors OF merit be-
cause they were born SO late. \ et WHY should |
extend to them my useless symplthyY III
they only hang together, III spite OF our
eXteml OraneOuS and extremely mtlficrent
binding. for IL hundred and fifty years, | am
not sure that they VIII rot be dear to the
collectors vet unborn. Only | cannot help my
doubts of their intrinsic value. Having read
many Old books, for which | trust That no
bibliomaniae will desnlse me, somehow | can
not heiD the feeling that often they are more
worthy Cf reading than the modern manufac-
lures. Typographical facilities have exceed
ingly multiplied. There are machines for
type-seIung, ion printing, iOr binding 1t Is
easier and cheaper to get tad book printed
and published than II Gnce was 30 II nap
pens thai books of the second and ihlrd-class,
printed as late as the sixteenth and seven
teenth centuries are fuller OF meat and mar
row, OF careful scholarship, deeeneIaiing, 1t
is True, sometimes INTO pedantlY. iiian
ours of the same Or"er row are. One
finds III them all manner OF eIudIte
oddntss and g9HteI, quaint knowledge.
An OLD DOCK HAY III many respects be pretty
hs& Bat BIT generally IT came from Il scholar who
garBisncd 1t WITH numbtTlcss scraps Of ancient
wisdom, and made IL pIeihOnc with notes and
rich III maTglnalla. People who fancy that
BuTton's Anatomy OF Melancholy Is the
only book of It's kind, have made bat limited
investigation. Burton has been the fashion and
has beena good deal m0le talked about than read.
But the ccluSe schOlarO1 CHRIST Chulch only car
red TO 81 noble eXCeSs the custom of the day.
Every writer OF his time lesOrttd to the great
mines % ancient leaInInc, ana was more Ia
milIar with Horace and Javenal and Martial
than We are with Pope ana Addison. Where
Gid Basi, ind out AL thai he knew or Mon
taicne or Jeremy IaYloF thibk ;hat these
men, VINO were not supposed TO haNc STUDIED
hard, studied harder tnan men 90 now. ii
you read one OF DIydens dramatic prciaccs-
much bctter worth Te.G ding Than tht dreadful
plays winch they pIoccue-yOu arc siI prlsed
by the scholarship, one WitO certainly never
had much lime for study. Ii Is 50 MIA all the
Old books, OF at leasi with many OF them.
There great DEBATE about the amount OF
classical knowledge winch Shakes cdie pos
sessed. Dui Is il not usually forgotten how
familiar The ancient WUtCS must have been
in his ,lIue 10 thOse even WHO cOuld ODIy read
the veIuacularl Laun then cou.d hardly be
called dead language. Ihe!e were DO Eng
llsh bOONS winch were not IUll OF II. wan
translations usually appended. Bur tins sug-
gests discussion INTO which do no, mean
TO enter | have only meant 10 alIude TO
cham OF the old books which nose WHO
love them can afford to hear laughed and
sneered at, as they OitcD 90. Let those laugh
who VIII.
There is nothing about which the generality
of manEiud Is mOlc ignorant than book col
lectiuS. There used TO be notion, which
have often heard, that blbliOmaniacs never
read their treasures. Now, IT so happens that !
j have never known an ardent collector who |
was NOT also great rcaGer. THIS, however |
may have been my luck. Alr. Burton, III
his pleasant volume, I" he Book Hunter"
all mteTmcddimg with the contents OF
books, bat III then external attributes !
his learning WAS marvellous" This was the
incl-ruie Inau, who Was always measuring !
margins and the height OF the binding. AprO- |
pos OF tins, MIR. Burton mentions the Elzevr |
Cesar OF 1855 i'll the imperial Library at |
Pans, of which Brunei informs us that it is
four inches and ten-tweltths III height, and !
is the tailest copy of that volume III the |
world. / suppose that the average height OF |
Elzeyirs is four inches and nine-tweliths-that !
is the height oi my EizevIr Status. ApropOs |
OF these little books, 1t nay be observed that |
most who want to show that they know
little about printing always say some
thing about EiZcvirs as IT they |
were scarce, whereas they are the easiest books
TO pick up III the world. Nor have l ever
been able TO regard EzevIrs rs particularly
well printed. In the middle OF the seven
teenth century, though the Typographical. ant
had made great advances, the pocket style
OF books being radically wrong one, the