New-York tribune., 1885-01-09
THE MAZARIN BIBLE.
INCIDENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE FINEST
BOOK IN THE WORLD.


Tho sale of a copy of the so-called Mazarin Bible
ls always an event. and that of Saturday was, in
one respect, the most remarkable in the annals OF
photography. No such sum of money has ever be-
fore been paid for any printed book whatever. For
more than half century the valdarfer Boccaccio
Venice, 1471,) enjoyed proud pre-eminence OF
price. The f2.280 paid for that book IN 1872 by
the Marquis of Blandford, afterward Duke of Mari
borough. at the sale of the Duke Of RoxburgRs
books (sec what brilliant company we are fn), re-
mained unequalled and unapproached down to the
date of the Perkins sale IN 1878. 1t was then
eclipsed. Twice in one day the - figure
which, since the invention of printing,
moro than 400 years ago, had been the
highest that any man had been found to offer for
any production of any press, was surpassed On
one sunny afternoon, AMID green fields and the
song of birds, little company of dealers In books
and few lovers of them. gathered in pleasant
country house, saw, within quarter OF an hour
two books sold for sums thatwere then Thought
likely to remain for another century the high-water
mark OF what the Phillstine calls bibiomania. 1t
is worth noticing that the books then and still
thus dividing the sutfrages of the book-buying
world and competing with each other for the honor
of the first place, were Bocoaccio and Bible. 1t
Is not often that those two books have been brack-
eted together for any purpose Yet in such narrow
CllClcS UO run, usiiu oh Sa'"-
day 1T happened that next after the Bibles sold
that afternoon. it was again Boccaccio for which
more money was bid than for any other book. The
Perkins copy of the Mazarn Bible. on
paper. fetched $4,000; was bought by Mr.. Quar-
itch and sold by him latter long
interval and for less, It is said. than the auction
price, to the late Mr.. Henry Huth, of whose lib ary
1t is still the chief ornament The copy on vellum
was bought for S3. 400 by Mr.. Ellis on commission
for the late Earl of Ashburnham and remains in
the library at Ashburnham Place. out of which the
present Earl has sold treasures in manuscript moro
precious still. During the intervening eleven
years. and down to Saturday December 13, 1884,
no book has been sold by auction for an equal or
approximate amount. But again Mazarin Biblc
comes to the hammer. and this time is knocked
down for the unheard Of sum of $4,000.
! Rare as the Mazarin Bible Is, it is not among the
rarest books in the world. Seven copies ON vellum
and twenty on paper are known to exist. The
British Museum possesses one of each so does the
BiblotheQue Rationale at Paris. A Latin inscrip-
ton at the end of the second volume Of the copy on
paper in this library has done something to fix the
date of the book. The inscription Is to the ofoct
that one Henri Cremer finished the work OF illu-
minating and binding that copy in the month OF
August, 1850. Itis only In recent times that the
price Of the book has risen to anything like Its
present height copy was sold less than 100 years
ago for f76; others for ESQ and f100 each. There
lie some reason to believe that the present Syston
COPY may be the one formerly owned by Mr.. Hib-
bert and sold ia his sale in 1928 for S2l5. If so 1t
has now, after lapse of less than sixty years.
brought moro than eighteen times It's former price.
The Brindley copy-a fine was supplied to Its
late owner by Mr.. Henry Stevens for, i think,
ES00 and was sold IN his sale not long after for
SS 900, or twice the cost price.
This Bible, which for convenience sake has been
known as the Mazarin Bible ever since copy was
discovered in the Mazarin Library at Paris. is de-
scribed as "Biblia Sacra Latina Q verslOne ct cum
Prefatione s. Hieronymi two vols. folio, without
date or place. but believed to be printed at May
ence by Gutenberg and Fust 1450-'55 In double
columns of AZ lines each, except the first pages.
which have 40. 0.andthe 9th aud 1Oth;which have Al
each in large gothic characters, the first volume
containing 324 and the second 3l7 leaves"
It is not to any superiority tho Perkins copy
In respect Of condition that the Syston Park copy
owes its increase Of price. Probably no finer book
exists than that OF which Mr.. Perkins and Ir.
Henry Huth were succossively the owners 1t
was so extraordinarily large that experts dis
posed to regard it as almost uncut 1T was pure
and perfect throughout. The paper had not
STAN, nor q rent, nor q woTm-hoe. The evenness
and brilliancy Of the impression were remarkable,
even for the Mazarin Bible. which. though the frst
book ever printed with movable metal types,remains
to this day. the waole, the finest and most admir-
able example of the typographical art. No modern
book can for one moment be compared with it as
specimen of printing. The Syston Park copy is
Inferior in every respect to tn, Perkins-Huth
copy. 1t is cortaiuly an inch and half shorter
Eleven years is a long time to carry in ones mind
the measurement and appearance of printed page
But If l may trust my memory i am undertaking
the difference In size between these two Bibles
The Syston Park book has been so mercilessly cut
BY the binder to look short copy. The proper
tjon which the artist who planned this perfect page
mcant to be observed between print and margin
has been impaired. The type is now too large for
the page or the margln too narrow for the size OF
the type and for tho space covered by print. The
paper is discolored. Leaves have been torn and
mended and the mutilatIon extends in some cases
to the text. The binding Is dreadful piece of
work, apparently put on 10 the early part OF this
century = 1t would be bad on any book; on a book
which is the most splendid known monument of
carly printing it Is outrage OF the blue morocco
In which these volumes are clad scarcely glimpse
can be got beneath the heavy and barbarous gd-
ing with which it is smeared all over. The IN
side borders and the liDlugs OF staring
red silk surpass the exterior IN hdeousness.
The world exclaimed Prosper Merimee, In
moment of anguish. will never breathe freely till
binder shall have been we'll hanged. Pity they
could not have begun with the ruflian who ruined
this noble book. The collection now on sale con-
tains many melancholy examples Of the ravages
wrought by binders. The Sir john Thorold who
formed 1t must have been an odd character. Never
can he rank amoag great bbophiles. He certain
iy cared, in way, for bindings. for he had on his
shelves some very lovely work OF the great mon of
- Tlnrc
are books which belonged to Marguerite de Valois,
TO Diana de Poictiers. to Grolier, to Maoi and to
many another famous owner, in bindings which
are the admiration and the despair of the book
lovers of to-day. He owned sundry Aidinos IN
beanriful cnyers and on ono of the most beautiful