New-York tribune., 1885-01-16
THE SYSTON LIBRARY.
PRICES AND CONDITION OF THE BOOKS
NOTES ON ENGLISH BIBLIOGRAPHY.

pp1rrs aNn CONDITION OF THE BOOKS
NOTES ON ENGLISH BIBLlOGRAPHf'
tf"o" A LONDON, December -.
The sale of tie Syston Park Library, which came
IN an end last Saturday will long be memorable Tor
mora reasons than one II will of course be memor-
ae for the prodigious prices obtained for certain
books. So long as anybody cares for books the
story of the Mazarln Bible and OF the PsaImorum
Codex will be told and retoid. There Is nothng to
match it, if you look merely at the sums paiu-or'
to be accurate let say bid,-for these TWO oooAs'
The Mazarin Bible was sold last Saturday week 10
NJ, Quaritch for the highest price ever offered al
nnblic auction for q printed book t3,9OO. On
the Friday following the Psalmorum Codex, belong
ing to the same library, sold III the same room
by the same auctioneers, and bought by Tue same
dealer for sum- ei,950, just tl,Oo0 IN excess Oh
that bid for the Mazarin Bible. These prices may
he exceeded in the future, though nobody pretehds
now to predict that they will or VIII not but III
is unquestioned that they leave everything III tne
mast far in the rear in mere amount may, how
ever. remind you of what said lately about the
Perkins sale. where twice within ten minutes Two
copies of the Mazarln Bible were sold ian eveut
which of itself gives Perkins sale q pre-emi-
nence,. each in turn Leating the record. That was,
after all a moro dramatic and impressive incident
than ANYTHING that can be related OF the Syston
Park SALE
1t is to be said, further, that the total sum OBJ
tanned for the Syston Library, as whole, was
remarkable The dispersion of these books occupied
but eight days and produced f2S,OO1:lo6. Ihat
is as nearly as possible half the sum realized by the
Sunderland Library during sale which lasted
more than seven times as long; ffty-Seven days 1t
is much more than one-third OF the amount pro-
duced by the Hamilton-BeckiOrd auction extending
or hya I'M \
The Sunderland books yielded, to put it in another
way. Ell 900 day; the Hamilton Backford about
Ell $40: the Syston f3500. The average per lot
would be in nearly the same proportion but Is
easily surpassed by some smaller COLLECTIONS.
catalogue is in existence entitled Mes LiVrcs,
comprising 152 titles, belonging formerly to NJ
Quentin Bauchart These few books were sold for
l54,560 francs.-about $4,000. Much more
amazing is the story which frenchlnen are III the
habit of telling you with pride and Win uu'h'
that the late Baron James de Rothschlld had a
hundred volumes i'll his cases which cost MN Il
million of francs, ,-$20C.Oo0. These were but
small portion of his library, which have heard
estimated by the man who knew most about 1t at
6.OOoOOO francs-$1 200. .O00,-a figure that
makes the $685., 900 of the Hamilton Beckford
books look small. The Rothschild library is
preserved intact by the ROthschild family.
There were, equally of course, many very rare
books in the Syston Library, and that of itself is
title to distinction. There were certain num-
Der of volumes that had belonged to great colleo-
tions or to great historical personages. and num-
Der in addition that were or had once been, In
lovely bindings. The monuments of early typog-
raphy the precious volumes that have been rescued
by chance or by piOus care from the waste ana
wreck of tme the legaees of famous men and
women. the examples of art devoted to the orna
tl..an Lao tn moe
and all in some degree we're to be found in the
library which Sir John Thorold early in this
century brought together in Syston Park. But
when that has been said, all has been said and
some very distressing deductions have to be made
from this credit side of the account, some OF which
will mention presently.
Then il has TO be added that with all these claims
TO distinction the sale of the Syston Library
comes near to- if it does not quite touch, the low
water mark Of English photography. This is not
the opinion Of the English press. which has sung
paans loud aud long over the whole business
But the English press seldom troubles itself to
know much about books, or to know accurately
what it does know. The coarse measure of mere
price is enough for the writers of the articles which
have resounded through the London papers. The
onestion what the buyers of these Syston Park
books got for their money has hardly been dIs'
cussed The simple fact is that q great portion OF
the volumes which sold for the biggest sums OF
money were in depOrable condition. That Is the
reason or one of the reasons why say this sale is
no evidence of increasing knowled of books, but
the contrary Collecting based on ignorant
enthusiasm or uncritical knowledge will never
come to much. The present case scems to me worse
than that Of the Sunderland Library. The BOOKS
which passed from Bienhsm Palace to the auction
rooms in Leicester Square had suffered cruelty
oh Snth hqh sol
last week had suffered more cruelty still from
ignorant care Sir John ThOrold bought beautiful
books many of them undoubtedly in good condi
tioD and then handed them over to the local binder
TO be mut,lited as he saw tit. The havoc the local
binder has wrought must be seen to e believed
He spared nothing. Sometimes hc has wholly
rebound a book ruthIessly shearing OF margins,
and ruthlesslv setting his hoof on the whole
volume Sometimes he has been content I"
"restorer or reback. binding Sometimes he has
laid his clumsy hands characteristic peculiar
ties of the old and precious binding, as when he
tore ort tue end-papers of volumes on which Clovis
Eve or some artist of his period, had avished his
delicate SKILL and pasted ia others that better suited
the taste of Grantham- cum-Syston Park. The
catalogue abounds in instances of all these outrages
and of many moro | can cite bnt two or three.
The Horatii Carmina first edition. about l47O, one
of the rarest books known, was bought by Sir
John Thorold IN Hebers sale. As it then was. Mr..
Foss described II as the finest in the country with
the exception Of Lord Spencer's. 1t has now been
badly cut and appears in robe of vulgar scarlet
and gold. The so-callei morocco is poor the heavy
and hdeous tooling can only have been done on
the anvil In this state it fetched Ell. The editio
princeps of Homer is perhaps the shortest copy
ever seen (the catalogue calls 1t fne) and sold for
fs5. OF tho Mazarin Bible have said much In an
earlier letter. and l will only add that it is an
epitome of nearly all the faults and brutalites Of
u q ~.