The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1897-07-29
A LOST VOLUME.
The "PRradice of Dainty Devices" Bsoh
That Shakespeare Knew.

The s'PRradice of Dainty Devices" Bsoh
That Shakespeare Knew.
Occasionally, after years of disap
pearance on the musty shelves of some
book antiquarian, forgotten volume
room or by some less conspicuous route
to the stock of the rare bookseller,
when it becomes again an article of
commerce. When this happens, it Is
more than likely that the years have
added at marvellous ratio of accumulat
ton to the value of the book. and the
bookseller, being the first man to find
this out, derives from it the reward of
his peculiar knowledge and discrimina
ton.
In 1906 Edward Ande, London pub
Usher, printed for Edward White, then
dwelling at the little north doore of
Saint Paul's church, book which
has had that kind of history, since it
came the other day, laden with value
many hundreds of times above its orig
ina1 publication price, into the hands
of George D. Smith. 1t is called the
s'Paradice of Dainty Devices" an i'm
portant volume of early English poetry,
from which William Shakespeare de-
rived at least one idea and one form of
poetical expression.
Describing the volume, the editor
speaks of the work 'as containeing
sundry pithi precepts" and excellent
inventions" and as being "a learned
counsailer and right pleasant and profit
able for all estates. 1t was, says the
editor, devised and written for the
most part by Mr.. Edwards, sometimes
of Her Majesty's chappil; the rest by
sundry learned gentlemen of honor and
worship, whose names hereafter follow,
whereunto is added sundry new inven-
lions very pleasant and delightful - In
the succeeding pages there follows what
critics with four centuries of wisdom
subsequently acquired say is really de-
lightful reading
One leaf of the volume, lost some
where many years ago, has been sup
piled in manuscript by Brand, a former
owner. The title has been mended and
the last leaf inlaid. Otherwise it is in
good condition and legible throughout
Corser, the authority ON rare books,
says: ''It seems remarkable that, not
withstanding the editions which were
published, so few copies should now &C.
known and about half of these being
imperfect. OF some editions only one
copy is known to exist, and yet few of
our earlier collections of poetry are
more valuable. - The rarity which Cor
ser describes is even better attested by
the fact that an example of the editions
of 1877, in which one leaf was supplied
in facsimile from later issue, was sold
few years ago by New York dealer
for $4,000.
This resurrected copy varies from the
preceding and other impressions, accord.
ing to Corser, in having two fresh
poems inserted in the place of the nine.
ty-seventh, HE Bewaileth His Mis-
happe.'' Three others are added at the
end, one of them being ''Maister Ed
wards His L May Not - In Shakes
peare's Romeo and Juliet" (act 4,
scene 81 the poem, No. So in this vol
ume of Dainty Devices, is quoted and
used in the action of the play.
Nobody knows where this little vol
ume has Travelled in the past 400 years.
though part of it's movements have been
traced by the experts in early English
literature and its genuineness establish
ed by the descriptions published from
time to time. Some rich collector of
New York will perhaps get it, and then
1t will disappear for perhaps another
century, to accumulate with age add
sional value to another collector