SEVENTH MAXIM.

Who dares to "write me down an ass,"

When, spying through the curious mass, I rub my hands, and wipe my glass, If, chance, an _error_ bless my notice-- Will prize when drill'd into his duty, These lovely warts of ugly beauty; For books, when _false_ (it may be new t'ye), Are "TRUE EDITIONS:"--odd,--but _so_ 'tis.

Let us proceed to see whether this biting satire be founded upon truth, or not. Accidental variations from the common impressions of a work form what are called TRUE EDITIONS: and as copies, with such variations (upon the same principle as that of _Prints_; vide p. 501-2, ante) are rare, they are of course sought after with avidity by knowing bibliomaniacs. Thus speaks Ameilhon upon the subject:--"pendant l'impression d'un ouvrage il est arrive un accident qui, a telle page et a telle ligne, a occasione un renversement dans les lettres d'un mot, et que ce desordre n'a ete retabli qu'apres le tirage de six ou sept exemplaires; ce qui rend ces exemplaires defectueux presque uniques, et leur donne, a les entendre, une valeur inappreciable; car voila un des grands secrets de cet art, qui, au reste, s'acquiert aisement avec de la memoire."

_Mem. de l'Institut_: vol. ii., p. 485. The author of these words then goes on to abuse the purchasers and venders of these strange books; but I will not quote his saucy tirade in defamation of this noble department of bibliomaniacism. I subjoin a few examples in illustration of Lysander's definition:--_Caesar. Lug. Bat._ 1636, 12mo. _Printed by Elzevir._ In the Bibliotheca Revickzkiana we are informed that the _true_ Elzevir edition is known by having the plate of a buffalo's head at the beginning of the preface and body of the work: also by having the page numbered 153, which _ought_ to have been numbered 149. A further account is given in my Introduction to the Classics, vol. i., p.

228.--_Horace_, Londini, 1733, 8vo., 2 vols. Published by Pine. The _true_ edition is distinguished by having at page 108, vol. ii., the _incorrect_ reading "Post Est."--for "Protest."--_Virgil._ Lug. Bat., 1636, 12mo. Printed by Elzevir. The _true_ edition is known, by having at plate 1, before the Bucolics, the following Latin passage _printed in red ink_. "Ego vero frequentes a te literas accepi." Consul de Bure, no. 2684.--_Idem._ Birmingh. 1763, 4to. Printed by Baskerville. A particular account of the _true_ edition will be found in the second volume of my "Introduction to the Classics," p. 337--too long to be here inserted.--_Bocaccio._ Il Decamerone, Venet. 1527, 4to.

Consult De Bure no. 3667; Bandini, vol. ii. 105, 211; (who, however, is extremely laconic upon this edition, but copious upon the anterior one of 1516) and Haym, vol. iii., p. 8, edit. 1803. Bibl. Paris., no. 408. Clement. (vol.

iv. 352,) has abundance of reference, as usual, to strengthen his assertion in calling the edition "_fort rare_." The reprint, or spurious edition, has always struck me as the prettier book of the two. These examples appeared in the first edition of this work. I add to them what of course I was not enabled to do before. In the second edition of _The Bibliomania_, there are some variations in the copies of the small paper; and one or two decided ones between the small and large. In the small, at page 13, line 2, we read

"beat with perpetual _forms_."

in the large, it is properly

"beat with perpetual _storms_."

Which of these is indicative of the _true_ edition? Again: in the small paper, p. 275, line 20, we read properly

"Claudite jam rivos pueri, sat _prata_ biberunt."

in the large paper,

"Claudite jam rivos pueri, sat _parta_ biberunt."

It was in my power to have cancelled the leaf in the large paper as well as in the small; but I thought it might thereby have taken from the former the air of a _true_ edition; and so the blunder (a mere transposition of the letters _ar_) will go down to a future generation in the large paper. There is yet another slight variation between the small and large. At p. 111, in the account of the catalogue of Krohn's books, the concluding sentence wholly varies: but I believe there is not an _error_ in either, to entitle one to the rank of _Truism_ more than another.[H]]

[Footnote H: During the youth of the printer of this book, a curious mistake occurred: a splendid folio work was going on for Dr. Bonnell Thornton; in a certain page, as printers technically say, _a space stood up_; the Dr. (not understanding printers' marks) wrote on a head page "take out horizontal line at p. so and so"--the compositor inserted these words as a _displayed line_ in the head-page whereon they were written--the reader passed it in the revise--and it was so worked off! Being eventually detected--the leaf was of course cancelled.]

ALMAN. It seems to me to be downright idiotism. But I suspect you exaggerate?

LYSAND. In sober truth, I tell you only what every day's experience in the book-market will corroborate.

BELIN. Well!--what strange animals are you bibliomaniacs. Have we any other symptom to notice? Yes, I think Lysander made mention of an _eighth_; called a passion for THE BLACK-LETTER. Can any eyes be so jaundiced as to prefer volumes printed in this crabbed, rough, and dismal manner?

LOREN. Treason--downright treason! Lisardo shall draw up a bill of indictment against you, and Lysander shall be your judge.

BELIN. My case would then be desperate; and execution must necessarily follow.

LIS. I shall be better able to form an opinion of the expediency of such a measure after Lysander has given us his definition of this eighth and last symptom. Proceed, my friend.

LYSAND. Of all symptoms of the Bibliomania, this _eighth_ symptom is at present the most powerful and prevailing. Whether it was imported into this country, from Holland, by the subtlety of Schelhorn[454] (a knowing writer upon rare and curious books) may be a point worthy of consideration. But whatever be its origin, certain is that books printed in the =black-letter=, are now coveted with an eagerness unknown to our collectors in the last century. If the spirits of West, Ratcliffe, Farmer, and Brand, have as yet held any intercourse with each other, in that place "from whose bourne no traveller returns,"

which must be the surprise of the three former, on being told, by the latter, of the prices given for some of the books at the sale of his library!

[Footnote 454: His words are as follows: "Ipsa typorum ruditas, ipsa illa atra crassaque literarum facies _belle tangit sensus_," _&c._ Was ever the black-letter more eloquently described: see his _Amoentates [Transcriber's Note: Amoenitates] Literariae_, vol. i., p. 5. But for the last time, let us listen to the concluding symptomatic stanza of an "aspirant;"

EIGHTH MAXIM.

Who dreams the _Type_ should please us all, That's not too thin, and not too tall, Nor much awry, nor over small, And, if but ROMAN, asks no better-- May die in darkness:--I, for one, Disdain to tell the barb'rous Hun That Persians but adore the sun Till taught to know _our_ God--=Black-Letter=.

_Bibliosophia_: p. vii.

However cruel may be the notes of one poet, it seems pretty clear that the glorious subject, or bibliomaniacal symptom, of which we are treating, excited numbers of a softer character in the muse of Dr. Ferriar: for thus sings he--inspired by the possession of _black-letter_ tomes:

In red morocco drest, he loves to boast the bloody murder, or the yelling ghost; or dismal ballads, sung to crowds of old, now cheaply bought for thrice their weight in gold.

v. 62-65.

Ev'n I, debarr'd of ease and studious hours, Confess, mid' anxious toil, its lurking pow'rs.

How pure the joy, when first my hands unfold The small, rare volume, black with tarnished gold!

_The Bibliomania_, l. 135-8.

But let us attend to a more scientific illustration of this eighth symptom. 'BLACK-LETTER, which is used in England, descends from the Gothic characters; and is therefore called _Gothic_ by some, _old English_ by others; but printers give it the name of _Black-Letter_, because its face taking in a larger compass than Roman or Italic of the same body, the full and spreading strokes thereof appear more _black_ upon paper than common.' _Smith's Printer's Grammar_; edit. 1755, p. 18. The same definition is given in a recent similar work; with the addition that 'black-letter is more expensive than Roman or Italic, its broad face requiring an extraordinary quantity of ink, which always gives the best coloured paper a yellow cast, unless worked upon that of a superior quality. It has a good effect in a title-page, if disposed with taste.' Stower's _Printer's Grammar_; 1808, p.

41. To these authorities we may add, from Rowe Mores, that 'Wynkyn de Worde's letter was of _The Square English_ or _Black face_, and has been the pattern for his successors in the art.' _Of English Founders and Foundries_; 1778, 8vo. p.

4, 5. 'The same black-letter printer,' says Palmer or Psalmanaazar, 'gave a greater scope to his fancy, and formed such a variety of sorts and sizes of letter that, for several years after him, none of his successors attempted to imitate him therein.' _General History of Printing_; p. 343.

It is not necessary to collect, in formal array, the authorities of foreigners upon this important subject; although it may be as well to notice the strange manner in which Momoro, in his _Traite elementaire de L'Imprimerie_, p. 185, refers us to an elucidation of the Gothic letter ('appele du nom de certains peuples qui vinrent s'etablir dans la Gothie, plus de quatre cens ans avant J.C.') in one of the plates of Fournier's _Dictionnaire Typographique_: vol. ii. p. 205--which, in truth, resembles anything but the Gothic type, as understood by modern readers.--Smith and Mr.

Stower have the hardihood to rejoice at the present general extinction of the black-letter. They were not, probably, aware of Hearne's eulogy upon it--'As it is a reproach to us (says this renowned antiquary) that the Saxon language should be so forgot as to have but few (comparatively speaking) that are able to read it; so 'tis a greater reproach that the BLACK-LETTER, which was the character so much in use in our grandfathers' days, should be now (as it were) disused and rejected; especially when we know the best editions of our English Bible and Common-Prayer (to say nothing of other books) are printed in it.' _Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle_: vol. i., p. LXXXV. I presume the editor and publisher of the forth-coming fac-simile re-impression of Juliana Barnes's Book of Hawking, Hunting, &c., are of the same opinion with Hearne: and are resolved upon eclipsing even the black-letter reputation of the afore-named Wynkyn De Worde.--A pleasant black-letter anecdote is told by Chevillier, of his having picked up, on a bookseller's stall, the first edition of the _Speculum Salutis_ sive _Humanae Salvationis_ (one of the rarest volumes in the class of those printed in the middle of the fifteenth century) for the small sum of four livres!

_L'Origine de l'Imprimerie_; p. 281. This extraordinary event soon spread abroad, and was circulated in every bibliographical journal. Schelhorn noticed it in his _Amoenitates Literariae_: vol. iv. 295-6: and so did Maichelius in his _Introd. ad Hist. Lit. et Praecip. Bibl.

Paris_, p. 122. Nor has it escaped the notice of a more recent foreign bibliographer. Ameilhon makes mention of Chevillier's good fortune; adding that the work was 'un de ces livres rares au premier degre, qu' un BON BIBLIOMANE ne peut voir sans trepigner de joie, si j'ose m'exprimer ainsi.' _Mem. de l'Institut_. vol. ii. 485-6. This very copy, which was in the Sorbonne, is now in the Imperial, library at Paris. _Ibid._ A similar, though less important, anecdote is here laid before the reader from a communication sent to me by Mr. Wm. Hamper of Birmingham. '"_Tusser's Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, black-letter, sewed_," was valued at SIXPENCE, in a catalogue of a small Collection of Books on the sale at the shop of Mr. William Adams, Loughborough, in the year 1804: and, after in vain suing the coy collector at this humble price, remained unsold to the present year, 1809, when (thanks to your _Bibliomania_!) it brought A GOLDEN GUINEA.'--I have myself been accused of 'an admiration to excess' of black-letter lore; and of recommending it in every shape, and by every means, directly and indirectly. Yet I have surely not said or done any thing half so decisive in recommendation of it as did our great moralist, Dr. Johnson: who thus introduces the subject in one of his periodical papers.--'The eldest and most venerable of this society, was HIRSUTUS: who, after the first civilities of my reception, found means to introduce the mention of his favourite studies, by a severe censure of those who want the due regard for their native country. He informed me that he had early withdrawn his attention from foreign trifles, and that since he begun to addict his mind to serious and manly studies, he had very carefully amassed all the _English books_ that were printed in the =Black-Letter=. This search he had pursued so diligently that he was able to show the deficiencies of the best catalogues.

He had long since completed his _Caxton_, had three sheets of _Treveris_, unknown to antiquaries, and wanted to a perfect [collection of] _Pynson_ but two volumes: of which one was promised him as a legacy by its present possessor, and the other he was resolved to buy at whatever price, when Quisquilius' library should be sold. Hirsutus had no other reason for the valuing or slighting a book than that it was printed in the Roman or the Gothick letter, nor any ideas but such as his favourite volumes had supplied: when he was serious, he expatiated on the narratives of JOHAN DE TREVISA, and, when he was merry, regaled us with a quotation from the _Shippe of Fools_.' RAMBLER, no. 177.--Nor was the Doctor himself quite easy and happy 'till he had sold, in the character of a BOOKSELLER, a few volumes--probably of black-letter celebrity. Mr. Boswell relates that 'During the last visit which the Doctor made to Litchfield, the friends, with whom he was staying missed him one morning at the breakfast table. On inquiring after him of the servants, they understood that he had set off from Litchfield at a very early hour, without mentioning to any of the family whither he was going. The day passed without the return of the illustrious guest, and the party began to be very uneasy on his account, when, just before the supper hour, the door opened, and the Doctor stalked into the room. A solemn silence of a few minutes ensued; nobody daring to enquire the cause of his absence, which was at length relieved by Johnson addressing the lady of the house as follows: "Madam, I beg your pardon for the abruptness of my departure this morning, but I was constrained to it by my _conscience_.

Fifty years ago, Madam, on this day, I committed a breach of filial piety, which has ever since lain heavy on my mind, and has not until this day been expiated. My father, you recollect, was a bookseller, and had long been in the habit of attending _Walsall Market_; and opening a stall for the sale of his books during that day. Confined to his bed by indisposition, he requested of me, this time fifty years ago, to visit the market, and attend the stall in his place.

But, Madam, my pride prevented me from doing my duty, and I gave my father a refusal. To do away the sin of this disobedience, I this day went in a post-chaise to Walsall, and going into the market at the time of high business, uncovered my head, and stood with it bare an hour before the stall which my father had formerly used, exposed to the sneers of the by-standers, and the inclemency of the weather: a penance, by which I have propitiated Heaven for this only instance, I believe, of contumacy towards my father."'--Is it not probable that Dr. Johnson himself might have sold for SIXPENCE, a _Tusser_, which now would have brought a 'GOLDEN GUINEA?']

A perusal of these prices may probably not impress the reader with any lofty notions of the superiority of the black-letter; but this symptom of the Bibliomania is, nevertheless, not to be considered as incurable, or wholly unproductive of good. Under a proper spirit of modification, it has done, and will continue to do, essential service to the cause of English literature. It guided the taste, and strengthened the judgment, of Tyrwhitt in his researches after Chaucerian lore. It stimulated the studies of Farmer and Steevens, and enabled them to twine many a beauteous flower round the brow of their beloved Shakspeare.

It has since operated, to the same effect, in the labour of Mr.

Douce,[455] the PORSON of old English and French Literature; and in the editions of Milton and Spenser, by my amiable and excellent friend Mr. Todd, the public have had a specimen of what the _Black-Letter_ may perform, when temperately and skilfully exercised.

[Footnote 455: In the criticisms which have passed upon Mr.

DOUCE'S "_Illustrations of Shakspeare and Ancient Manners_,"

it has not, I think, been generally noticed that this work is distinguished for the singular diffidence and urbanity of criticism, as well as depth of learning, which it evinces; and for the happy illustrations of the subjects discussed by means of fac-simile wood-cuts.]

I could bring to your recollection other instances; but your own memories will better furnish you with them. Let me not, however, omit remarking that the beautiful pages of the '_Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_' and '_Sir Tristrem_' exhibit, in the notes, (now and then thickly studded with black-letter references) a proof that the author of '_The Lay_,' '_Marmion_,' and '_The Lady of the Lake_,' has not disdained to enrich his stores with such intelligence as black-letter books impart. In short, although this be a strong and general symptom of the Bibliomania, it is certainly not attended with injurious effects when regulated by prudence and discretion. An undistinguishable voracious appetite to swallow _every thing_, because printed in the black-letter, must necessarily bring on an incurable disease, and, consequently, premature dissolution.

There is yet one other, and a somewhat generally prevailing, symptom, indicative of the prevalence of the Bibliomania; and this consists in a fondness for books which have been printed for PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION[456] only, or at a PRIVATE PRESS. What is executed for a few, will be coveted by many; because the edge of curiosity is whetted, from a supposition that something very extraordinary, or very curious, or very uncommon, is propagated in this said book, so partially distributed. As to works printed at a _Private Press_, we have had a very recent testimony of the avidity with which certain volumes, executed in this manner, and of which the impression has been comparatively limited, have been sought after by book _Cognoscenti_.

[Footnote 456: The reader may not object to be made acquainted with a few distinguished productions, printed for PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION. The reader is indebted to Mr. Bulmer, at whose elegant press these works were printed, for the information which follows:--MUSEUM WORSLEYANUM; by Sir _Richard Worsley_; 1798, 1802, Atlas Folio, 2 vols. The first volume of this work, of which 200 copies were printed, was finished in May, 1798, and circulated, with the plates only of vol. ii., amongst the chosen friends of Sir Richard Worsley, the author; who was, at that time, the diplomatic Resident at Venice from our Court. The second volume, with the letter-press complete, of which only 100 copies were printed, was finished in 1802. The entire expense attending this rare and sumptuous publication (of which a copy is in the library of the Royal Institution) amounted to the enormous sum of 27,000_l._ and from the irregularity of delivering the second volume of plates, in the first instance, without the letter-press, many of the copies are incomplete.----THE FATHER'S REVENGE; _by the Earl of Carlisle, K.G._ &c., 1800, 4to. A limited impression of this very beautiful volume, decorated with engravings from the pencil of Westall, was circulated by the noble author among his friends. I saw a copy of it, bound in green morocco, with the original letter of the donor, in the library of Earl Spencer at Althorp.----MOUNT ST. GOTHARD: _By the late Duchess of Devonshire_, folio. Only fifty copies of this brilliant volume were printed; to a few of which, it is said, Lady Diana Beauclerc lent the aid of her ornamental pencil, in some beautiful drawings of the wild and romantic scenery in the neighbourhood of Mount St.

Gothard.----DISSERTATION ON ETRUSCAN VASES; _by Mr.

Christie_. Imperial 4to. With elegant Engravings. Only 100 copies of this truly classical volume were printed. From the death of one or two of the parties, who became originally possessed of it, as a present from the author, it has fallen to the lot of Mr. Christie to become, professionally, the vender of a work which he himself never meant to be sold. A copy was very lately disposed of, in this manner, for 14_l._----BENTLEII EPISTOLae; _Edited by_ [the Rev.] _Dr.

Charles Burney_: 1807, 4to. This is one of the most beautiful productions of the Shakspeare press; nor are the intrinsic merits of the volume inferior to its external splendour. The scarcer copies of it are those in medium quarto; of which only 50 were printed: of the imperial quarto, there were 150 executed.--I add two more similar examples, which were not printed at the Shakspeare press:--LORD BALTIMORE'S _Gaudia Poetica_; Lat. Angl. et Gall. with plates. (No date). Large quarto. Only ten copies of this rare volume were printed, and those distributed among the author's friends: a copy of it was sold for 6_l._ 10_s._ at the sale of Mr. Reed's books: see Bibl. Reed, no. 6682. It was inserted for sale in the catalogue of Mr. Burnham, bookseller at Northampton, A.D. 1796--with a note of its rarity subjoined.----VIEWS IN ORKNEY and on the NORTH-EASTERN COAST OF SCOTLAND. Taken in 1805. Etched 1807.

Folio. _By the Marchioness of Stafford._--The letter-press consists of twenty-seven pages: the first of which bears this unassuming designation; "Some Account of the Orkney Islands, extracted from Dr. Barry's History, and Wallace's and Brand's Descriptions of Orkney." To this chapter or division is prefixed a vignette of _Stroma_; and the chapter ends at p. 5. Then follow four views of the Orkney Islands.--The next chapter is entitled "The Cathedral of Kirkwall," which at the beginning exhibits a vignette of the _Cathedral of St. Magnus_, and at the close, at p. 9, a vignette of a _Tomb in the Cathedral_. To these succeed two plates, presenting Views of the _Inside of the Cathedral_, and an _Arch in the Cathedral_.--The third chapter commences at p. 11, with "The Earl of Orkney's Palace," to which a vignette of a _Street in Kirkwall_ is prefixed. It ends at p. 12, and is followed by a plate exhibiting a view of the _Door-way of the Earl's Palace_; by another of the _Hall of the Earl's Palace_; and by a third containing two Views, namely, the _Inside of the Hall_, and, upon a larger scale, the _Chimney in the Hall_.--"The Bay of the Frith" is the subject of the fourth chapter; which exhibits at the beginning a vignette of the _Hills of Hoy_. It closes at p.

14, with a vignette of _The Dwarfy Stone_. Then follow six plates, containing a view of the _Bay of Frith_, a _View from Hoy_, two views of the _Eastern and Western Circles of the Stones of Stennis_, and two views of _Stromness_.--The next chapter is entitled "Duncansbay or Dungsby-head," which bears in front a vignette of _Wick_, and at the end, in p.

16, a vignette of the _Castle of Freswick_. Three plates follow: the first presenting a view of _Duncansbay-Head_: the second, Views of the _Stacks of Hemprigs_ and the _Hills of Schrabiner or Schuraben_; the third, a View of _The Ord_.--"The Castle of Helmsdale" is the title of the succeeding chapter, to which is prefixed a vignette of _Helmsdale Castle_. It ends at p. 19, with a vignette of the _Bridge of Brora_. Then follow two plates, presenting Views of _Helmsdale Castle_, and the _Coast of Sutherland_.--The subject of the next chapter is "Dunrobin Castle," (the ancient seat of her Ladyship's ancestors, and now a residence of her Ladyship,) which presents, at the beginning, a vignette of _Dunrobin Castle_, and after the close of the chapter, at p. 23, four plates; the first of which is a View of _Dunrobin Castle_ and the surrounding scenery; the second, a smaller View of the _Castle_: the third, a View of _Druid Stones_, with another of _Battle Stones in Strathflete_: and the fourth, _Dornoch, with the Thane's Cross_.--The last chapter is entitled "The Chapel of Rosslyn," to which is prefixed a vignette of _Rosslyn Chapel_. It is followed by four plates; the first exhibiting a View of a _Column in Rosslyn Chapel_; the second, a _Door-way in the Chapel_; the third, the _Tomb of Sir William St. Clair_; and the fourth, _Hawthornden_, the residence of the elegant and plaintive Drummond; with whose beautiful Sonnet, to this his romantic habitation, the volume closes:

"Dear wood! and you, sweet solitary place, Where I estranged from the vulgar live," &c.

Of the volume which had been thus described, only 120 copies were printed. The Views were all drawn and etched by her Ladyship: and are executed with a spirit and correctness which would have done credit to the most successful disciple of Rembrandt. A copy of the work, which had been presented to the late Right Hon. C.F. Greville, produced, at the sale of his books, the sum of sixteen guineas.]