Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-19
VALUABLE BOOKS.
Picked Up by Accident by Men Who
Knew Their Worth.


OF the romance of book finding as of the
making OF books there is apparently mo
end 1t is only a few weeks since a copy
of the first edition of Shakes?eare's Rich
ard ill'' was discovered in a remarkable
manner at house at Great Mlssenden. in
Bucknghamshre. The house Is a perfect
museum of rare old china and silver. but
even its owner scarcely aware of the
existence OF a number OF mus.y old vol
umes which had Tor years been lying dust
covered and unnoticed on a shelf and it
was by the puiest accident that they were
taken down one da.' and this rare volume,
worth at least s1,0,o. brought to light.
And now we learn that IN a cottage in
the same village four Snakes:eare quarto
plays have tecn discovered "a copy OF
king Lear, dated lJlS; 1GGJ imprint OF
The Iragedie of King Richard the Sec
ond;' the 1GAS FIRST Par. of Henry the
Fourth. any one of which the great Will
liam may conceivaby have held in his
hands. and 1GL2 imprint of The Most
Excellent Historic of the Merchant OF
Venice, with the Extreame Cruelty of Shy
locke. the Jew. toward the said Merchant,
IN cutting a just pound of his flesh and
the obtaining of Portia by the choice of
three Chests
There are few stories more romantic than
those OF tie discovery OF literary treasure
troTe, which. however little known, are
numerous enough to fill goodly and most
fascinating volume.
1t Is but short time since an ardent
book lover entered small tobacco shop in
the east end at the moment when its pro-
prietress was tearing leaves from black
letter book which proved to be the .Goode
Housewives Jewell published when Eliza
beth was queen. An offer of a shilling
cured the treasure and pint of beer
apiece rescued the missing leaves from
three recent purchasers of a halfporth OF
Irish roll"
About four years ago blacksmith invest
ed penny IN an old book when attracted
his attention second hand book stall in
Camden Town. He made a praise worthy
effort 10 read 1t, but found it SO unpala table
that he threw the book down In disgust.
A little later the volume was picked up by
one of the blacksmith's dodgers. who, no
ticing that it bore the date 1850 and think
ing that 1t might possibly be valuable, took
1t to the British Museum. where to his
amaZement he was able to negotiate sale,
on behalf Of his landlord for $50. The vol
ume which had caused the blacksmith to
regret his indiscreet penny investment was
the first volume that came from Guten-
bergS press, and was thus almost price
less.
few months ago a collector had a most
annoying experience. Turning over a bun
die of books, loosely tied with string in a
SaleToom on the day before an auction sale
he discovered copy of ''Fiore ct Zephyr"
hackeray's most rare volume, which con-
tainS some OF his earliest drawings. Re
placing the volume and saying nothing
of his discovery. he attended the sale On the
following day and was made brilliantly
happy by securing the bundle for 5 shil-
lings. But, alas! for the vanity Of human
expectations. When he united his bundle
the book missing: and by Iavishing
brides among the saleroom attendants he
learned that one of them, wanting a light
for his pipe. had torn a page from the
missing volume and thrown the rest aside.
What became of it is not known to this
day. ali the collector was able to recover
after diligent search among the sweepings
were a couple of plates. which he uti-
nlately sold for a Go NOTE.
OF the wonderful bargains TO be picked
up occasionally by the lucky and discern
ing on book sellers barrows the following
are a few recent examples. A short time
ago 1t came to the of book seller
that man had just picked up a rare copy
of Cato Ma tor on Old Age" on a barrow
in the Harrington road, In a few moments
the book seller had hailed a cab and was
racing as fast as a horses legs could take
him to the scene of the discovery. where
he arrived just in time to catch the finder.
An offer of ego secured the treasure the
cheQue was written on neighboring apple
stall, and before the book seller went to bed
that night he had resold his bargain for
$40 profit
In another case an amateur was turing
over the contents of Aldgate barrow
when he came across a brace of literary
treasures. which he purchased for penny
apiece. One of them was Elyots "Casteu
of Health" and the other first edition of
''Bradshaw's Railway Guide" each of them
worth, at a low estimate. five Go notes
A collector secured for twopence the eleven
numbers of Thackerays "Snob Papers,
just the proprietor of the barrow was
tearing off one of the pages for pipe light
and another lucky book hunters attention
was drawn to old volume which
neighbor at the barrow had thrown down
in evident disgust. A glance revealed Its
value to his trained eyes. and. handing
over the penny demanded. he rushed away
with the volume as ar he confessed
later, Il had stolen it, 1t was none other
than a first edition of "Lycidas," and we'll
worth 10000 times the sum ne had paid
for II.