In Chaucer's time, one would think that the fashionable binding for the books of young scholars was _various-coloured velvet_: for thus our poet describes the library of the Oxford Scholar:

A twenty bokes, clothed in black and red Of Aristotle----

(_Prolog. to Cant. Tales._)

We have some account of the style in which Chaucer's royal patron, Edward III., used to have his books bound; as the following extract (also furnished me by Mr. H. Ellis) will testify:----"To Alice Claver, for the making of XVI laces and XVI tasshels for the garnyshing of diuers of the Kings books, ij_s._ viij_d._----And to Robert Boillet for blac paper and nailles for closing and fastenyng of diuers cofyns of ffyrre wherein the Kings boks were conveyed and caried from the Kings grete warderobe in London vnto Eltham aforesaid, v_d._----Piers Bauduyn Stacioner for bynding gilding and dressing of a booke called Titus Liuius, xx_s_: for binding gilding and dressing of a booke called Ffrossard, xvj_s_: or binding gilding and dressing of a booke called the Bible, xvj_s_: for binding gilding and dressing of a booke called le Gouuernement of Kings and Princes, xvj_s._" "For the dressing of ij books whereof oon is called la forteresse de Foy and the other called the booke of Josephus, iij_s._ iiij_d._ And for binding gilding and dressing of a booke called the bible historial, xx_s._"

Among the expenses entered in the Wardrobe Accompts 20th Edw. III. I suspect that it was not 'till towards the close of the 15th century, when the sister art of painting directed that of engraving, that books were bound in thick boards, with leather covering upon the same; curiously stamped with arabesque, and other bizarre, ornaments. In the interior of this binding, next to the leaves, there was sometimes an excavation, in which a silver crucifix was safely guarded by a metal door, with clasps. The exterior of the binding had oftentimes large embossed ornaments of silver, and sometimes of precious stones [as a note in the Appendix to the _History of Leicester_, by Mr. Nichols, p.

102, indicates--and as Geyler himself, in his _Ship of Fools_, entitled "_Navicula, sive Speculum Fatuorum_," edit.

1511, 4to., thus expressly declares:--"sunt qui libros inaurunt et serica tegimenta apponunt preciosa et superba,"

sign. B. v. rev.], as well as the usual ornaments upon the leather; and two massive clasps, with thick metalled corners on each of the outward sides of the binding, seemed to render a book impervious to such depredations of time as could arise from external injury. Meantime, however the worm was secretly engendered within the wood: and his perforating ravages in the precious leaves of the volume gave dreadful proof of the defectiveness of ancient binding, beautiful and bold as it undoubtedly was! The reader is referred to an account of a preciously bound diminutive godly book (once belonging to Q. Elizabeth), in the first volume of my edition of the British _Typographical Antiquities_, p. 83; for which I understand the present owner asks the sum of 160_l._ We find that in the sixteenth year of Elizabeth's reign, she was in possession of "Oone Gospell booke covered with tissue and garnished on th' onside with the crucifix and the Queene's badges of silver guilt, poiz with wodde, leaves, and all, czij. oz." _Archaeologia_, vol. xiii., 221.

I am in possession of the covers of a book, bound (A.D.

1569) in thick parchment or vellum, which has the whole length portrait of Luther on one side, and of Calvin on the other. These portraits, which are executed with uncommon spirit and accuracy, are encircled with a profusion of ornamental borders of the most exquisite taste and richness.

We shall speak occasionally of more modern book-binding as we proceed. Meanwhile, let the curious bibliomaniac glance his eye upon the copper-plate print which faces this concluding sentence--where he will see fac-similes of the portraits just mentioned.]

[Footnote 184: See the recent very beautiful edition of Sir Ralph Sadler's _State Papers_, vol. ii., p. 590.]

[Footnote 185: See the _Catalogue of R. Smith's Books_, 1682, 4to., p. 199 (falsely numbered 275), no. 94.]

[Footnote D: Since created a Knight.]

LIS. You allude to a late sale in Pall Mall, of one of the choicest and most elegant libraries ever collected by a man of letters and taste?

"I do, Lisardo--but see we are just entering the smoke and bustle of London; and in ten minutes shall have reached the scene of action."

PHIL. How do you feel?

LIS. Why, tolerably calm. My pulse beats as leisurely as did my Lord Strafford's at his trial--or (to borrow Hamlet's phrase)

--as yours, it doth temperately keep time, And makes as healthful music.

PHIL. Ninety-five to the minute! You are just now in a fit frame of mind to write a political pamphlet. Pray consider what will be the issue of this madness?

LIS. No more! Now for my catalogue; and let me attend to my marks. But our friend is not forgetful of his promise?

PHIL. I dare say he will assist us in regulating the prices we ought to give--and more particularly in making us acquainted with the most notable book-collectors.

Upon my readily acquiescing in their demand, we leapt from the chaise (giving orders for it to attend by three o'clock) and hurried immediately up stairs into THE AUCTION ROOM.

The clock had struck twelve, and in half an hour the sale was to begin. Not more than nine or ten gentlemen were strolling about the room: some examining the volumes which were to be sold, and making hieroglyphical marks thereupon, in their catalogues: some giving commissions to the clerk who entered their names, with the sums they intended staking, in a manner equally hieroglyphical. Others, again, seemed to be casting an eye of vacancy over the whole collection; or waiting till a book friend arrived with whom they might enter into a little chat. You observe, my friends, said I, softly, yonder active and keen-visaged gentleman? 'Tis LEPIDUS. Like Magliabechi, content with frugal fare and frugal clothing[186] and preferring the riches of a library to those of house-furniture, he is insatiable in his bibliomaniacal appetites. "Long experience has made him sage:" and it is not therefore without just reason that his opinions are courted, and considered as almost oracular. You will find that he will take his old station, commanding the right or left wing of the auctioneer; and that he will enliven, by the gaiety and shrewdness of his remarks, the circle that more immediately surrounds him. Some there are who will not bid 'till Lepidus bids; and who surrender all discretion and opinion of their own to his universal book-knowledge. The consequence is that Lepidus can, with difficulty, make purchases for his own library; and a thousand dexterous and happy manoeuvres are of necessity obliged to be practised by him, whenever a rare or curious book turns up. How many fine collections has this sagacious bibliomaniac seen disposed of! Like Nestor, who preaches about the fine fellows he remembered in his youth, Lepidus (although barely yet in his grand climacteric!) will depicture, with moving eloquence, the numerous precious volumes of far-famed collectors, which he has seen, like Macbeth's witches,

"Come like shadows, so depart!"

[Footnote 186: Tenni cultu, victuque contentus, quidquid ei pecuniae superaret in omnigenae eruditionis libros comparandos erogabat, selectissimamque voluminum multitudinem ea mente adquisivit, ut aliquando posset publicae utilitati--dicari, _Praef. Bibl. Magliab. a Fossio_, p. x.]

And when any particular class of books, now highly coveted, but formerly little esteemed, comes under the hammer, and produces a large sum,--ah then! 'tis pleasant to hear Lepidus exclaim--

O mihi praeteritos referat si Jupiter annos!

Justly respectable as are his scholarship and good sense, he is not what you may call a _fashionable_ collector; for old chronicles and romances are most rigidly discarded from his library. Talk to him of Hoffmen, Schoettgenius, Rosenmuller, and Michaelis, and he will listen courteously to your conversation; but when you expatiate, however learnedly and rapturously, upon Froissart and Prince Arthur, he will tell you that he has a heart of stone upon the subject; and that even a clean uncut copy of an original impression of each, by Verard or by Caxton, would not bring a single tear of sympathetic transport in his eyes.

LIS. I will not fail to pay due attention to so extraordinary and interesting a character--for see, he is going to take his distinguished station in the approaching contest. The hammer of the worthy auctioneer, which I suppose is of as much importance as was Sir Fopling's periwig of old,[187] upon the stage--the hammer is upon the desk!--The company begin to increase and close their ranks; and the din of battle will shortly be heard. Let us keep these seats. Now, tell me who is yonder strange looking gentleman?

[Footnote 187: See Warburton's piquant note, in Mr. Bowles's edition of _Pope's Works_, vol. v., p. 116. "This remarkable _periwiy_ [Transcriber's Note: periwig] (says he) usually made its entrance upon the stage in a sedan chair, brought in by two chairmen with infinite approbation of the audience." The _snuff-box_ of Mr. L. has not a less imposing air; and when a high-priced book is balancing between 15_l._ and 20_l._ it is a fearful signal of its reaching an additional sum, if Mr. L. should lay down his hammer, and delve into this said crumple-horned snuff-box!]

"'Tis MUSTAPHA, a vender of books. Consuetudine invalescens, ac veluti callum diuturna cogitatione obducens,[188] he comes forth, like an alchemist from his laboratory, with hat and wig 'sprinkled with learned dust,' and deals out his censures with as little ceremony as correctness. It is of no consequence to him by whom positions are advanced, or truth is established; and he hesitates very little about calling Baron Heinecken a Tom fool, or ---- a shameless impostor. If your library were as choice and elegant as Dr. H----'s he would tell you that his own disordered shelves and badly coated books presented an infinitely more precious collection; nor must you be at all surprised at this--for, like Braithwait's Upotomis,

'Though weak in judgment, in opinion strong;'

or, like the same author's Meilixos,

'Who deems all wisdom treasur'd in his pate,'

our book-vender, in the catalogues which he puts forth, shews himself to be 'a great and bold carpenter of words;'[189] overcharging the description of his own volumes with tropes, metaphors, flourishes, and common-place authorities; the latter of which one would think had but recently come under his notice, as they had been already before the public in various less ostentatious forms."

[Footnote 188: The curious reader may see the entire caustic passage in Spizelius's _Infelix Literatus_, p. 435.]

[Footnote 189: _Coryat's Crudities_, vol. i., sign. (b. 5.) edit. 1776.]

PHIL. Are you then an enemy to booksellers, or to their catalogues when interlaced with bibliographical notices?

"By no means, Philemon. I think as highly of our own as did the author of the Aprosian library[190] of the Dutch booksellers; and I love to hear that the bibliographical labour bestowed upon a catalogue has answered the end proposed, by sharpening the appetites of purchasers.

But the present is a different case. Mustapha might have learnt good sense and good manners, from his right hand, or left hand, or opposite, neighbour; but he is either too conceited, or too obstinate, to have recourse to such aid. What is very remarkable, although he is constantly declaiming against the enormous sums of money given for books at public auctions, Mustapha doth not scruple to push the purchaser to the last farthing of his commission; from a ready knack which he hath acquired, by means of some magical art in his foresaid laboratory, of deciphering the same; thus adopting in a most extraordinary manner, the very line of conduct himself which he so tartly censures in others."

[Footnote 190: See pages 103-4, of Wolfius's edition of the _Bibliotheca Aprosiana_, 1734, 8vo. It is not because Mr.

Ford, of Manchester, has been kind enough to present me with one of the _six_ copies of his last catalogue of books, printed upon STRONG WRITING PAPER--that I take this opportunity of praising the contents of it,--but that his catalogues are to be praised for the pains which he exhibits in describing his books, and in referring to numerous bibliographical authorities in the description. While upon this subject, let me recommend the youthful bibliomaniac to get possession of Mr. Edwards's catalogues, and especially of that of 1794. If such a catalogue were but recently published, it would be one of the pleasantest breakfast lounges imaginable to _tick off_ a few of the volumes with the hope of possessing them at the prices therein afixed.]

PHIL. Was this the gentleman whose catalogue (as you shewed me) contained the fascinating colophon of Juliana Berner's book of hawking, hunting, and heraldry, printed in the year 1486, subjoined to a copy of the common reprint of it by Gervase Markham--thereby provoking a thousand inquiries after the book, as if it had been the first edition?

"The same," resumed I. "But let us leave such ridiculous vanity."

LIS. Who is that gentleman, standing towards the right of the auctioneer, and looking so intently upon his catalogue?

"You point to my friend BERNARDO. He is thus anxious, because an original fragment of the fair lady's work, which you have just mentioned, is coming under the hammer; and powerful indeed must be the object to draw his attention another way. The demure prioress of Sopewell abbey is his ancient sweetheart; and he is about introducing her to his friends, by a union with her as close and as honourable as that of wedlock. Engaged in a laborious profession (the duties of which are faithfully performed by him) Bernardo devotes his few leisure hours to the investigation of old works; thinking with the ancient poet, quoted by Ashmole, that

'----out of old fields as men saythe Cometh all this new corne fro yeare to yeare; And out of olde Bokes in good faythe Cometh all this scyence that men leare:'

or, with Ashmole himself; that 'old words have strong emphasis: others may look upon them as rubbish or trifles, but they are grossly mistaken: for what some light brains may esteem as foolish toys, deeper judgments can and will value as sound and serious matter.[191]'

[Footnote 191: _Theatrum Chemicum_: proleg. sign. A. 3.

rev.: B. 4. rect. The charms of ancient phraseology had been before not less eloquently described by Wolfius: "Habet hoc jucundi priscorum quorundam obsoleta dictio, ac suo quodam modo rudius comta oratio, ut ex ea plus intelligamus quam dicitur; plus significetur quam effertur." _Lect. Memorab.

Epist. Ded._ fol. xiv. rev. Of Wolfius, and of this his work, the reader will find some mention at page 110, ante.]

"If you ask me whether Bernardo be always successful in his labours, I should answer you, as I have told him, No: for the profit and applause attendant upon them are not commensurate with his exertions. Moreover, I do verily think that, in some few instances, he sacrifices his judgment to another's whim; by a reluctance to put out the strength of his own powers. He is also, I had almost said, the admiring slave of Ritsonian fastidiousness; and will cry 'pish' if a _u_ be put for a _v_, or a _single e_ for a _double one_: but take him fairly as he is, and place him firmly in the bibliographical scale, and you will acknowledge that his weight is far from being inconsiderable. He is a respectable, and every way a praise-worthy man: and although he is continually walking in a thick forest of black letter, and would prefer a book printed before the year 1550, to a turtle dressed according to the rules of Mr. Farley, yet he can ever and anon sally forth to enjoy a stroll along the river side, with Isaac Walton[192]

in his hand; when 'he hath his wholesome walk and merry, at his ease: a sweet air of the sweet savour of the mead flowers, that maketh him hungry.'[193]

[Footnote 192: "Let me take this opportunity of recommending the amiable and venerable ISAAC WALTON'S _Complete Angler_: a work the most singular of its kind, breathing the very spirit of contentment, of quiet, and unaffected philanthrophy, and interspersed with some beautiful relics of poetry, old songs, and ballads." So speaks the Rev. W.

Lisle Bowles, in his edition of _Pope's Works_, vol i., p.

135. To which I add--Let me take this opportunity of recommending Mr. Bagster's very beautiful and creditable reprint of Sir John Hawkin's edition of Walton's amusing little book. The plates in it are as true as they are brilliant: and the bibliomaniac may gratify his appetite, however voracious, by having copies of it upon paper of all sizes. Mr. Bagster has also very recently published an exquisite facsimile of the original edition of old Isaac.

Perhaps I ought not to call it a fac-simile, for it is, in many respects, more beautifully executed.]