The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-11-26
THE nook COLLECTORS or Paris.
The Remarkable Recent Development or
One of the Most ReMsonnble OF Maniac.

PARIS, Nov. lO.-Rchard de Bury, Bishop
OF Durham. being charged by King Edward ILL.,.
OF eternal memory. with frequent embassies, |
was sent on account OF manifold affairs OF State |
and In perious tines now to the Holy 500, now |
To tho court Of France. now to other countries.
Fverywhore the worthy Bishop carried with |
him his passion for books. passion so ardent |
he says that all the waters in the world could
not havo oxtinguishcd 1t. But what JOY when
Diplomatic business brings him to Paris! 20
bossed God of gods in Xionl cxcln'n;S tho OK
cellcnt Bishop. what II torrent OF delight re-
joced our heart whenever we havn had leisure
to visit Paris. that paradise of tho universal
There the ardor OF our passion causod the days
TO slip away too quickly. there exist libraries
far moro agreeable than vases filed with pcr-
fumes: thcre orchards abundant in al kinds OF
books: there academic meadows and 80 there
we drew upon our treasures and gladly looscncd
the strings Of our purse; We scattered our
money by handfuls. and we rescued from miro
and dust books Of ncstimab!c value"
Tho bbophilic exploits Of Richard do Bury
belong TO the first half OF the fourteenth CEN
fury. Then as now. Paris was the paradise OF
book lovers: 1t was. rs a monkish rhymestcr put
1t. Dlt'ris PU'isus. pdrPns sine pare, SOhd
sc'O'arijus bona lot pardre. But Richard dc
Bury lived before the invention Of printing:
he was collector Of manuscripts, and while
tho modern bibliophile respects and sympa-
thizes with the passion OF Richard dc Bury. he
does not regard Richard rs one OF his ancestors
in bibliophism. The passion for books in its
modern development goes back to the Renais-
sance only. to tho time when the inventions Of
printing and Of paper transformed the bulky
manuscripts OF the middle ages into portable
volumes. This revolution brought into exist
once a race Of bibiophilcs. who concerned
themselves about the material beauty and cor
rectness of the interior OF books and about the
Bolidity and artistic decoration of tho envelope
destined to preserve them from the ravages OF
time. Hence the class OF books which we call
Editions de lure. and hence the modern art OF
bookbnding. the two main sources OF the
bibliophie's Joy. The modern bibliophile. there
FORE traces back his spiritual ancestry to the
great collectors of the sixteenth century. the
Italians Maioli. Cardinal Bonelli. DR..
Demotro Canevari. the Dogo Ccogna. to
Oh, Treasurer Jean Groer. President do
Thou. and to those right royal col
lectors Francois l.. Henri H.. Diane
do Poitiers Catherine de Mcdicis. Henri III
and Henri ". The bibiophile is not happy UNI
less he possesses some volumes with the bind
ings. arms. or motto of these famous book
lovers and in himself encouraging the pro-
,duction OF beautiful books he is only continu-
ing the traditions Of Grolier and OF Mao in
their relations with the great old printers Of
Venice Rome and Paris The old connoisseurs
used to have paper and fine vellum made
specially for them. 1t was they who invented
magma ctdrtd or large paper" 1t was Grolier
among others. who used to insist upon having
wide margins. This care for fine editions.
broad margins; choice paper and elegant bind
superiority Of these two countries and more
especially Of Francs; In all that relates to the
manned ever since pronounced and so indis-
putabs that some Of the chiefest ornament. Of
and Austria are French books. whiis in
syerythng relating to bibioeraphy the e, French
lish manuals. for instance, from Dibdin down
Asrsw I s sr full of TIL the
is mainly shamelcss compilation from the
books Of Jann Uzanne. and Rouyeyre.
teenth and eighteenth centuries is too vast a
subject even to be- touched upon here. 1t suf-
came extinct. there is ~ lacunn between the
connoisseurs OF the sixteenth and those OF tho
IN ali senses the golden Of and
reality this golden age began some seventy
years ago. and reaches its acme at the present
day. The era Of what may be called = fancy
prices" for books began about bout isGp r. viii he
seen.h cnntu n.y. century i When Europe was
poor. we find hardly any book collectors. Fur
books as a peculiarly futile WITTY. In short
in the seventeenth century books had no COM
they formed part Of the furniture Of a house.
and whom parysnu set Up an e, It;
sosss The the T@S
pieces are now paid for in I'd, ,h.ir weight
pe n s4.san n"e and It is eny by c
that some few Of their names have been rescued
from oblivion In the eikhtsemth century I y books
or Instruments OF intel lectun warfare; Notaire
Proclais rars books to be OF no value oSsc Th n,
ridicuic A proof OF tho small commercial value
attached to books in those days compared with
their value nowadays il furnished by the sale
catalogues Of the epoch; The Conte dHoym,s
collection Of books. all sr!snddIy bound in
instance. tile edition Of Marot of 1885 and =
copy of the adolescence C!enentine Of l5Ss
sold together for three livr',s, the liSre CORE
Villon il, round letters, printed hnf,re lj4o,
OF each Of these books now is $500. 50 Al the
eS!est"rs Of 'hnt time Gssrn%y 1thsn
tho matter Of books. and the, prices they give
seem 10 us rdculo,Isly small.
In presence Of the immense sums paid nova
days for old books, one naturally ask, What is
pIanaion IS simply the fact that there exist
only ANAL number Of books Worth huyin n;
necessarily remain more or les. stationary
while, on the other hand, the bibliophilcs arr
tsnt tent and more wealthy seeing that the pres
en century is rsh,r ,hnm al v rrGfnS op
tanes tends to rise progressiveiy An authority
on such matters, n. Paul Lacr9iiH, M learned
bibliophilc jacob ranks the bibIiorhilrs ol to-
distS S~ AND d distant. ' III" 5 $780, Gn
bert 0s l1NrfDcOurt NOllpr, D' tilhy, t!'
others of the beginning of the century who dc
much toward revivns bil.ii"phism, hat
very inferior Libraries. Their copies, tleil
bindings their tastes. could not sta.d com
garrison with those Of the mon Of to-day
Pixer'court : library sold for $l2 800. Nniicr'
for $l2UOD tho immense dramati, library q
Soloinne ipT t2s ,ooO In recent yrnt' tie cot, COZ
each sold for $50 900. The first safe Of the Am
broise Firmin Didot library fetched slSSon,
and the whole collection will certainly fetch
14O00DO Compare these figures With the j,iGS
articles OF the Due de Ia nacrcs library. SOLD
IN 1888 for n total of AGA 81 lilrrs.
This comparison leads Ms Ia establish another
point of contrast between tn" French b'hio
philes Of to-day and those not only Of past cen
turtles but even Of forty years ago. The mod
ern biblophios are better Judges. more de- li''ntc
connoisseurs. and therefore more exclusive
than their predecessors. They are truly bihlio.
phes rather than book collectors: they s.el
quality not quantity. and where their prsde-
cesSOrs counted their books hy thousands they
count their treasures at the utmost by TN
score | have before me an anonymous cata
loguo. Mes livres." 1864 10, consisting OF >:
volumes which cost their owner s3n.ODO. Tn,
f.a, IL. n,,tl. bad in