LYSAND. The longest life were hardly able to make the collection of Hogarth's prints complete! The late Mr. Ireland has been the Linnaeus to whom we are indebted for the most minute and amusing classification of the almost innumerable varieties of the impressions of Hogarth's plates.[439]

[Footnote 439: The Marquis of Bute has, I believe, the most extraordinary and complete collection of HOGARTH'S PRINTS that is known. Of the _Election Dinner_ there are six or seven varieties; gloves, and no gloves; hats, from one to the usual number; lemon, and no lemon; punch bowl, and no punch bowl. But of these _varying_ prints, the most curious is the one known by the name of _Evening_: with a little boy and girl, crying, in the back-ground. At first, Hogarth did _not_ paint _the girl_, and struck off very few impressions of the plate in this state of the picture. A friend observing to him that the boy was crying with no apparent cause of provocation, Hogarth put in the little girl tantalizing him. But--happy he! who has the print of the 'Evening' _without_ the little girl: fifteen golden guineas (rare things now to meet with!) ought not to induce him to part with it. Of the copper-plate portraits by Hogarth, the original of '_Sarah Malcolm, executed_ 1732,' is among the very rarest; a copy of this selling for 7_l._ 17_s._ 6_d._ at Barnard's sale. The reader has only to procure that most interesting of all illustrative works, _Hogarth Illustrated by John Ireland_, 1793, (2d edit.) 3 vols., 8vo.; and, for a comparatively trifling sum, he may be initiated into all the mysteries of Hogarthian _virt_. The late Right Hon. W.

Wyndham's collection of Hogarth's prints, bequeathed to him by Mr. George Steevens, was _bought in_ for little more than 300 guineas.]

LIS. I will stick to Rembrandt and leave Hogarth at rest. But surely, this rage for _Portrait Collecting_ cannot be of long duration. It seems too preposterous for men of sober sense and matured judgment to yield to.

LYSAND. So think _you_--who are no Collector! But had you accompanied me to Mr. Christie's on Friday[440] last, you would have had convincing evidence to the contrary. A little folio volume, filled with one hundred and fifty-two prints, produced--

[Footnote 440: If the reader casts his eye upon pages 505-6 he will find that the ardour of print and portrait collecting has not abated since the time of Sir W. Musgrave.

As a corroboration of the truth of Lysander's remark, I subjoin a specimen (being only four articles) of the present rage for 'curious and rare' productions of the _burin_--as the aforesaid Grangerite (p. 507) terms it.

NO. 54. The Right Honourable and truly generous Henry Veere, Earl of Oxford, Viscount Bulbeck, &c. Lord High Chamberlain of England. J. Payne sculp. With a large hat and feather, small, in a border with many figures. Will. Passo, sculp.

Tho. Jenner exc. On distinct plates. _The most brilliant impression of a print of the greatest rarity._ 30 9_s._ 0_d._

63. Generall (Edward) Cecyll son to the Right Honourable the Earle of Exeter, &c. In an oval; in armour. Simmon Passaes, sculp. Anno 1618. Sould in Pope's Head Alley, also by John Sudbury and George Humble. _Most brilliant impression of a print of the greatest rarity._ 34 2 6

90. The true Portraicture of Richard Whitington, thrise Lord Mayor of London, a vertuous and godly man, full of good workes (and those famous) &c. R. Elstracke sculp. Are to be sold by Compton Holland over against the Exchange: _First impression with the hand on a skull. Extra fine and rare._ 10 10 0

152. Mull'd Sack; a fantastic and humourous Chimney-Sweeper, so called: with cap, feather, and lace band: cloak tuck'd up; coat ragged; scarf on his arm; left leg in a fashionable boot, with a spur; on his right foot a shoe with a rose; sword by his side, and a holly bush and pole on his shoulder; in his left hand, another pole with a horn on it; a pipe, out of which issues smoke, is in his right hand; at the bottom are eight verses (as given in Granger, vol. ii., p. 61). Are to be sold by Compton Holland over against the Exchange, with further manuscript account by a provost of Eton. _Considered Unique_ [but not so]. 42 10 6]

LIS. Perhaps, Three Hundred Guineas?

LYSAND. Just double the sum, I believe.

LIS. O rare JAMES GRANGER--thy immortality is secured! But we forget our symptoms of the Bibliomania.

BELIN. As I am the examiner, I here demand of you, Sir, what may be the meaning of the _fourth symptom_ of the bibliomaniacal disease, which you call UNIQUE COPIES?

LYSAND. A passion for a book of which only one copy was printed, or which has any peculiarity about it[441] by either, or both, of the foregoing methods of illustration--or which is remarkable for its size, beauty, and condition--or has any embellishment, rare, precious and invaluable--which the researches of the most sedulous bibliomaniac, for three and thirty long years, would not be able to produce--is indicative of a rage for _unique copies_; and is unquestionably a strong prevailing symptom of the Bibliomania. Let me therefore urge every sober and cautious collector not to be fascinated by the terms "_Curious and rare_;" which 'in slim italics' (to copy Dr. Ferriar's happy expression[442]) are studiously introduced into Booksellers' catalogues to lead the unwary astray. Such a Collector may fancy himself proof against the temptation; and will, in consequence, call _only to look at_ this unique book, or set of books; but--led away by the passion which inflamed BERRYER and CAILLARD[443]--when he views the morocco binding, silk water-tabby lining, blazing gilt edges; when he turns over the white and unspotted leaves; gazes on the amplitude of margin; on a rare and lovely print introduced; and is charmed with the soft and coaxing manner in which, by the skill of Herring, Mackinlay, Rodwell, Lewis, or Faulkener, "leaf succeeds to leaf"--he can no longer bear up against the temptation; and, confessing himself vanquished, purchases, and retreats--exclaiming with Virgil's shepherd----

Ut vidi, ut perii--ut me malus abstulit error!

[Footnote 441: Let us again quote a stanza from the 'Aspirant:'

FOURTH MAXIM.

Who in _all_ copies finds delight-- The wrong not scenting from the right-- And, with a choiceless appetite, Just comes to _feed_, ... like Soph, or Templar, Out on his iron stomach!--_we_ Have rarities we merely _see_, Nor taste our Phoenix though it be ...

Serv'd up in the "UNIQUE EXEMPLAR,"

_Bibliosophia_, p. v.

One of the most curious proofs of the seductive popularity of unique copies may be drawn from the following excerpt from a catalogue of a Library sold at Utrecht in 1776; which was furnished me by Mr. H. Ellis from a copy of the catalogue in the possession of Mr. Cayley of the Augmentation Office.

NO. 6870. Les Avantures de Telemaque, 8o. Rotterd. _av.

fig. en cart._ 'Cet exemplaire est tout _barbouille_. Mais il est _de la main de la jeune Princesse Wilhelmine Auguste de Saxe-Weimar, qui y a appris le Francois en_ 1701!!!'

I will mention a unique copy of a somewhat different cast of character. Of the magnificent and matchless edition of Shakspeare, printed by Mr. Bulmer and published by Mr.

Nicols, between the years 1790 and 1805, there were one hundred copies, of the first six plays only, struck off upon imperial folio, or _Colombier paper_; in which the large engravings, published at the Shakspeare Gallery (now the British Institution) might be incorporated and bound up. The late George Steevens undertook the revision of the text, intending to complete the entire plays in a similar form; but the trouble and expense attending this part of the undertaking were so great that the further prosecution of it was abandoned. Mr. Bulmer preserved the whole of the proof-sheets of this partial Colombier impression; and to form a '_unique_ edition' (these are his own words) he bound them up in the exact order in which the plays were printed.

On the margins of many of the sheets, besides the various corrections, emendations, and notes to the printer, by Mr.

Steevens, there are some original sonnets, a scene for a burlesque tragedy, and other happy effusions from the pen of the same elegant and learned editor. Need I ask the reader, whether he would have the _barbouille_ (unique) copy of Telemaque of the young Princesse Wilhelmine Auguste de Saxe-Weimar (like the Vicar of Wakefield, I like to give the full name) or Mr. Bulmer's similar copy of Shakspeare? The difference would soon be found in King Street or the Strand!

I must mention one more example--of a nature different from both the preceding--of what Lysander has above, elaborately, and perhaps, a little confusedly, described as unique copies. It is Colonel Stanley's copy of _De Bry_ (see a superb one before noticed) which is bound in seven folio volumes, in blue morocco, by Padaloup, and is considered superior to every known copy. It contains all the maps and prints, with their variations, according to the _Bibliographie Instructive_, no. 4230, _Cat. de Paris de Meyzieu_, 1790; no. 486, _Cat. de Santander_, no.

3690; and _Camus sur les Collections des Grands et Petits Voyages_, 1802, 4to.: with both editions of the first nine parts of the West Indies, and duplicates of parts x. and xi.

It has also a considerable number of duplicate plates, where a superior impression could be procured at any expense. The owner of this unique copy, of a work unrivalled for its utility and elegance, is distinguished for a noble collection, bound by our choicest binders, in whatever is splendid and precious in the Belles Lettres, Voyages, and Travels. Take two more illustrations, kind-hearted reader!----_Goldsmith's Deserted Village_, 1802. Mr. Bulmer printed a single copy of this beautiful poem, in quarto, UPON SATIN--picked and prepared in a very curious manner. It was purchased by a foreigner. His impressions UPON VELLUM are noticed, post.----_Falconer's Shipwreck_, 1804, 8vo. Mr.

Miller caused _two_ copies only (is [Transcriber's Note: it]

is _almost_ unique!) of this beautiful edition, printed by Bensley, to be struck off UPON SATIN, in imperial 8vo. One of these copies now remains with him for sale.]

[Footnote 442: The passage, above alluded to, is as follows:

At ev'ry auction, bent on fresh supplies, He cons his catalogue with anxious eyes: Where'er the slim Italics mark the page, _Curious and rare_ his ardent mind engage.

_The Bibliomania_; v. 54.]

[Footnote 443: A slight mention of Mons. Berryer, the father-in-law of Lamoignon, is made at p. 84, ante. The reader is here presented with a more finished portrait of this extraordinary bibliomaniac: a portrait, which will excite his unbounded admiration, if not envy!--for such a careful and voluptuous collector, in regard to _binding_, was, I believe, never before known; nor has he been since eclipsed. 'M. Berryer, successivement Secretaire d'Etat au Departement de la Marne, Ministre, puis Garde des Sceaux de France, s'etoit occupe pendant pres de quarante annees a se former un cabinet des plus beaux livres grecs et latins, anciennes editions, soit de France, soit des pays etrangers, &c. Par un soin et une patience infatigables, a l'aide de plusieurs cooperateurs eclaires, savans meme en Bibliographie, qui connoissoient ses etudes, delassement de ses places, il avoit recueilli les plus belles editions; de telle sorte qu'il a toujours su se procurer un exemplaire parfait de chaque edition par un moyen simple quoique dispendieux. Si les Catalogues des ventes publiques lui apprenoient qu'il existoit un exemplaire _plus beau, plus grand de marge, mieux conserve_, de tout auteur, &c., que celui qu'il possedoit, il le fasoit acquerir sans s'embarrasser du prix, et il se defaisoit a perte de l'exemplaire moins beau. La majeure partie des auteurs anciens et modernes de son cabinet a ete changee huit ou dix fois de cette maniere. Il ne _s'arretoit_ qu'apres s'etre assure qu'il avoit _le plus bel exemplaire connu_, soit pour la marge, soit pour la force du papier, soit pour la magnificence de la conservation et _de la relieure_.' 'A l'egard des ouvrages d'editions modernes, meme celles faites en pays etranger, M. Berryer vouloit les avoir en feuilles: il en faisoit choisir, dans plusieurs exemplaires, un parfait, et il le faisoit relier _en maroquin de choix_; le Ministere de la Marne qu'il avoit rempli, lui ayant donne toutes les facilites d'en etre abondamment et fidelement pourvu dans toutes les Echelles du Levant. On collationnoit ensuite pour verifier s' il n'y avoit ni transposition, ni omission de feuilles ou de pages?!!' _Cat. M. Lamoignon_, 1791. pref. p. ij. iij. Berryer was slightly copied by Caillard (of whom see p. 76, ante) in the luxury of _book-binding_. 'M. Caillard avoit le soin _de faire satiner_ presque tous livres qu'il faisoit relier, et principalement les grands ouvrages; qu'il est difficile d'avoir parfaitement relies sans ce precede.' _Cat. de Caillard_; p. x. (avertisement.) But I know not whether Caillard did not catch the phrensy from the elder Mirabeau.

In the catalogue of his books, p. II., we are thus told of him:--'l'acquisition d'un _beau livre_ lui causoit des transports de joie inexprimables: il l'examinoit, l'admiriot [Transcriber's Note: l'admiroit]: il vouloit que chacun partageat avec lui le meme enthousiasme.' His biographer properly adds: 'De quelle surprise n'auroit-on pas ete, si l'on et su que c'etoit la le meme homme qui, du haut de la tribune, faisoit trembler les despotes et les factieux!'

Ponder here, gentle reader, upon the effects of a _beautiful_ book! Let no one, however, imagine that we _grave Englishmen_ are averse or indifferent to 'le luxe de la relieure'!! No: at this present moment, we have the best bookbinders in Europe; nor do we want good authority for the encouragement of this fascinating department relating to the Bibliomania. Read here what Mr. Roscoe hath so eloquently written in commendation of it: 'A taste for the exterior decoration of books has lately arisen in this country, in the gratification of which no small share of ingenuity has been displayed; but if we are to judge of the present predilection for learning by the degree of expense thus incurred, we must consider it as greatly inferior to that of the Romans during the times of the first Emperors, or of the Italians at the 15th century. And yet it is, perhaps, difficult to discover why a FAVOURITE BOOK should not be as proper an object of elegant ornament as the head of a cane, the hilt of a sword, or the latchet of a shoe.' _Lorenzo de Medici_; vol. ii., 79, 8vo. edition. Did Geyler allude to such bibliomaniacs in the following sentence? Sunt qui libros inaurant et serica tegimenta apponunt preciosa et superba. Grandis haec fatuitas! _Navicula, sive Speculum Fatuorum_; (Navis Stultifera) _sign. B. v. rev._]

BELIN. For the benefit--not of the 'Country Gentlemen,' but--of the 'Country Ladies,' do pray translate these Latin words. We are always interested about the pastoral life.

LIS. It only means, Belinda, that this said shepherd was blockhead enough to keep gazing upon his beloved fair, although every glance shot him through the heart, and killed him a hundred times. Still he caressed the cause of his ruin. And so bibliomaniacs hug the very volumes of which they oftentimes know they cannot afford the purchase money! I have not forgotten your account of Dr. Dee:[444] but the ladies were then absent.

[Footnote 444: See p. 262, ante.]

BELIN. Well, let us now go on to the explanation of the _fifth symptom_ of the Bibliomania; which you have called, Copies PRINTED UPON VELLUM!

LYSAND. A desire for books printed in this manner[445] is an equally strong and general symptom of the Biblomania; but, as these works are rarely to be obtained of modern date, the collector is obliged to have recourse to specimens executed, three centuries ago, in the printing offices of Aldus, Verard, or the Giunti. Although the _Bibliotheque Imperiale_, at Paris, and the library of Count M'Carthy, at Toulouse, are said to contain the greatest number of books, printed upon vellum, yet, those who have been fortunate enough to see copies of this kind in the libraries of his Majesty, the Duke of Marlborough, Earl Spencer, Mr. Johnes, and the late Mr. Cracherode (which latter is now in the British Museum) need not travel on the Continent for the sake of being convinced of their exquisite beauty and splendour. An _unique_ copy of the first Livy, upon vellum, (of which the owner has excited the envy of foreigners) is a library of itself!--and the existence of vellum copies of Wynkyn De Worde's reprint of _Juliana Barnes's Book of Hawking, &c._, complete in every respect, (to say nothing of his Majesty's similar copy of Caxton's _Doctrinal of Sapience_, in the finest preservation) are sufficient demonstrations of the prevalance of this symptoms of the Bibliomania in the times of our forefathers; so that it cannot be said, as some have asserted, to have appeared entirely within the last half century.

[Footnote 445: William Horman, who was head master of Eton school at the opening of the sixteenth century, was, I apprehend, the earliest writer in this country who propagated those symptoms of the Bibliomania indicative of a passion for _large paper_ and _vellum_ copies; for thus writes the said Horman, in his _Vulgaria_, printed by Pynson, in folio, 1519: a book, curious and interesting upon every account. 'The greatest and highest of price, is _paper imperial_. (Herbert, vol i., p. 265.) _Parchment leaves_ be wont to be ruled, that there may be a _comely margent_: also, strait lines of equal distance be draw[en] within, that the writing may shew fair,' _fol._ 82. From these two sentences (without quoting Horman's praise of the presses of Froben and Aldus; fol. 87) I think it may be fairly inferred that a love of _large paper_ and _vellum_ copies was beginning to display itself in the period just mentioned.

That this love or passion is now eagerly and generally evinced, I shall proceed to give abundant proof; but first let me not forget our bibliomaniacal satirist:

FIFTH MAXIM.

Who blindly take the book display'd By pettifoggers in the trade.

Nor ask of what the leaf was made, That _seems like paper_--I can tell 'em, That though 'tis possible to squint Through any page with letters in't, No copy, though an angel print, Reads elegantly--but "on VELLUM."

_Bibliosophia_, p. VI.

I proceed to give evidence of the present passion which prevails, respecting books of the description of which we are now speaking, by extracting a few articles from the library of which such honourable mention was made at p.

448-9, ante. They are all

WORKS PRINTED UPON VELLUM.

NO. 241. Epistolae Beati Jeronimi. Impressio Moguntinae facta per Virum famatum in haec arte Petrum Schoiffer de Gernsheym, 2 vols., 1470. _A fine specimen of a grand book, superbly bound in blue turkey._ Folio. 28 _s._7 0_d._

242. Sexti Decretalium Opus praeclarum Bonifacii VII., Pont.

Max. In Nobili Urbe Moguncia non Atramento e plumali ereaque Penna Cannave per Petrum Schoiffer de Gernsheym consummatum.

A.D. 1476. _A most beautiful work, superbly bound in blue turkey._ 19 19 0

253. [Transcriber's Note: 243.] Constitutiones Clementis Papae Quinti, una cum apparatu Domini Joannis Andreae. Venetiis impress.

Ere atque Industria Nicolai Jenson Gallici, 1476. _A most beautiful specimen of clean vellum, with a fine illumination, bound in purple velvet._ Folio. 21 10 0