LIS. You allude to the STRAWBERRY HILL Press?[457]

[Footnote 457: For the gratification of such desperately-smitten bibliomaniacs, who leave no stone unturned for the possession of what are called STRAWBERRY HILL _Pieces_, I subjoin the following list of books, printed at the celebrated seat of Sir Horace Walpole (afterwards Lord Orford) at Strawberry Hill: situated between Richmond and Twickenham, on the banks of the Thames.

This list, and the occasional bibliographical memoranda introduced, are taken from the collection of Strawberry Hill books in the library of the Marquis of Bute, at Luton; all of them being elegantly bound by Kalthoeber, in red morocco.----I. _Two Odes by Mr. Gray._ "[Greek: phonanta synetoisi]," Pindar Olymp. II. Printed for R. and J.

Dodsley, 1757, 4to., 19 pages, 1000 copies. In these copies there is sometimes (but very rarely) prefixed a short poem of six stanzas, in alternate rhyme, "To Mr. Gray, on his Poems." As there were _only six copies_ of these verses printed, I subjoin them:

Repine not, Gray, that our weak dazzled eyes Thy daring heights and brightness shun, How few can track the eagle to the skies, Or, like him, gaze upon the sun!

The gentle reader loves the gentle muse, That little dares, and little means, Who humbly sips her learning from _Reviews_, Or flutters in the _Magazines_.

No longer now from learning's sacred store, Our minds their health and vigour draw; HOMER and PINDAR are revered no more, No more the _Stagyrite is law_.

Though nurst by these, in vain thy muse appears To breathe her ardours in our souls; In vain to sightless eyes, and deaden'd ears, Thy lightning gleams, and thunder rolls!

Yet droop not GRAY, nor quit thy heav'n-born art: Again thy wondrous powers reveal, Wake slumb'ring virtue in the _Briton's_ heart.

And rouse us to _reflect_ and _feel_!

With antient deeds our long-chill'd bosoms fire, Those deeds which mark'd ELIZA'S reign!

Make _Britons_ Greeks again.--Then strike the lyre, And Pindar shall not sing in vain.

----II. _A journey into England_, originally written in Latin, _by Paul Hentzner_. In the year 1598. Printed 1757.

Advertisement of 10 pages in a fine large beautiful type, printed on paper of great delicacy. The body of the work, which is printed in a smaller type, occupies 126 double pages; on account of the Latin and English being on the opposite pages, each page is marked with the same number.

Only 220 copies of this curious and elegant work were printed.--III. _Fugitive Pieces in Verse and Prose. Pereunt et Imputantur._ MDCCLVIII. 8vo. Two pages of dedication "To the Honourable Major General HENRY SEYMOUR CONWAY:" two pages of a table of contents, body of the work 219 pages.

Printed with the small type: and only 200 copies struck off.--IV. _An account of Russia as it was in the year 1710.

By Charles Lord Whitworth._ Printed at S.H. MDCCLVIII, 8vo.

Advertisement 24 pages, body of this work 158--with a page of errata, 700 copies printed. This is an interesting and elegantly printed little volume.--V. _A parallel, in the manner of Plutarch, between a most celebrated man of Florence, and one scarce ever heard of in England. By the Reverend Mr. Spence_, 1758, 8vo. This is the beautiful and curious little volume, of which mention has already been made at p. 86, ante. Seven hundred copies of it were printed; and from a copy, originally in the possession of the late Mr. John Mann, of Durham, I learnt that "the clear profits arising from the sale of it being about 300_l._, were applied for the benefit of Mr. Hill and his family."

(Magliabechi was "the man of Florence;" and Hill "the one scarce ever heard of in England.") A copy of this edition, with MS. notes by Mr. Cole, was purchased by Mr. Waldron, at the sale of George Steevens's books, for 3_l._6_s._ It was reprinted by Dodsley: but the curious seek only the present edition.----VI. _Lucani Pharsalia_, MDCCLX, 4to. This is the most beautiful volume, in point of printing, which the Strawberry Hill press ever produced. A tolerably copious account of it will be found in my _Introduction to the Classics_, vol. ii., p. 53. Kirgate the printer (recently deceased) told me that uncommon pains were taken with its typographical execution.----VII. _Anecdotes of Painting in Englaud_ [Transcriber's Note: England]; MDCCLXI. four volumes; _Catalogue of Engravers_, 4to., one volume. This is the _first_, and, on account of having the earliest impressions of the plates, the _best_ edition of this amusing, and once popular work. It was reprinted in quarto, in 1765; of which edition I believe 600 copies were struck off. Again, in 1786, crown 8vo., five volumes, without the plates.----VIII. _The Life of Edward Lord Herbert of Cherbury_, written by himself. Printed in the year MDCCLXIX, 4to. Dedication of two pages to Lord Powis. Advertisement six pages, not numbered. After this, there should be a "Genealogical Table of the family of Herbert," which is very scarce, on account of its being suppressed by Mr. Walpole, for its inaccuracy. The life occupied 171 pages. "Mr.

Walpole," says the late Mr. Cole, "when I was with him in the autumn of 1763, at which time the book was partly printed, told me that either one or two hundred copies were to be printed; half to be sent to the Earl of Powis, and the other half he was to reserve for himself, as presents to his friends; so that, except the book is reprinted by some bookseller, privately, as probably it will, it will be a curiosity. It was not published till the end of June, 1764, when the honourable editor sent it to me.----IX. _Poems by Anna Chambers_, Countess Temple. MDCCLXIV, 4to. This volume, containing 13 poems on various subjects, is printed in 34 pages, with a large, but not very elegant type. Only 100 copies were struck off.----X. _The Mysterious Mother._ A Tragedy, by Mr. Horace Walpole. Sit mihi fas audita loqui.

Virg. Printed at S.H., MDCCLXVIII. 8vo. No vignette on the back. First leaf, errata, and "persons" [of the play.]

Printed with the small type on 120 pages; after which follows a "postscript" of 10 pages. Only 50 copies printed.

An uncut copy was recently sold for 6_l._ 15_s._----XI.

_Cornelie vestale. Tragedie._ Imprimee a S.H. MDCCLXVIII, 8vo., 200 copies. The title-page is followed by a letter "a Mons. Horace Walpole." A page of the names of the actors forms the commencement of the work, which contains 91 pages, neatly printed. Only 200 copies printed, of which 150 were sent to Paris.----XII. _Poems by the Reverend Mr. Hoyland_, MDCCLXIX, 8vo. The advertisement ends at p. iv.; the odes occupy 19 pages. Although this little volume is not printed with the usual elegance of the S.H. press, it is valuable from its scarcity, on account of its never having been re-printed. Only 300 copies were struck off.----XIII.

_Original Letters from K. Edward VI. to Barnaby Fitzpatrick_, 1772, 4to. I am not acquainted with any circumstance, intrinsic or extrinsic, that renders this small volume sought after.----XIV. _Miscellaneous Antiquities, or a collection of curious papers_: either republished from scarce tracts, or now first printed from original MSS. Two numbers printed by Thomas Kirgate, MDCCLXXII, 4to. No. I. Advertisement of two pages, ending p.

iv. The number contains besides: CONTENTS. Chap. I. "An account of some Tournaments and other martial Diversions."

This was reprinted from a work written by Sir William Segar, Norroy; and is called by the author, Honour, Military and Ceuill, printed at London in 1602. Chap. II. Of "Justs and Tournaments," &c., from the same. Chap. III. "A Triumph in the Reigne of King Richard the Second, 1390," from the same.

Chap. IV. "A Militarie Triumph at Brussels, Anno 1549," from the same. Chap. V. "Of Justs and Tourneaments," &c., from the same. Chap. VI. "Triumphes Military, for honour and loue of Ladies: brought before the Kings of England," from the same. Chap. VII. "Of the life and actions in Armes since the reigne of Queene Elizabeth," from the same. Chap. VIII. "The original occasions of the yeerely Triumph in England." All these tracts are taken from the above work. No. II. Second leaf, a plate of a head from the original wood-cut by Hans Holbein. CONTENTS. This number is almost entirely occupied by the "Life of Sir Thomas Wyat, the elder," copied by Mr.

Gray from the originals in the Harleian Collection, now in the British Museum. This extends to p. 54, after which is an Appendix of eight pages on a few miscellaneous subjects.

Five hundred copies were printed.----XV. _Memoirs du Comte de Grammont_, par Monsieur le Comte Antoine Hamilton.

Nouvelle edition, Augumentee denotes et eclaircissemens necessaires. Par M. HORACE WALPOLE. MDCCLXXII, 4to. The title-page is succeeded by a dedication "a Madame ----," in six lines and a half, printed in a very large type. Then follows an "Avis de L'Editour," and "Avertissement,"

occupying three pages. An "Epitre a Monsieur le Comte de Grammont,' continues to p. xxi: then a "Table des Chapitres," to p. xxiii., on the back of which are the errata. The body of the work extends to 290 pages; which are succeeded by "Table des Personnes," or index, in three pages. These memoirs are printed with the middle size type; but neither the type nor paper are so beautiful as are those of Hentzner's Travels, or the comparison between Magliabechi and Hill. PORTRAITS. 1. Le Comte Antoine Hamilton, faces the title page. 2. Philibert, Comte de Grammont, opposite the "Epitre:" badly executed. 3. A portrait of Miss Warminster, opposite p. 85, in the style of Worlidge's gems. 4.

Mademoiselle d'Hamilton, Comtesse de Grammont, faces p. 92.

This engraving, by G. Powle, is executed in a style of beauty and spirit that has seldom been surpassed. 5. Lord Chesterfield, second Earl, in the style of the preceding; very beautiful. There were only 100 copies of this edition printed, of which 30 were sent as presents to Paris.----XVI.

_The Sleep Walker, a Comedy_: in two acts. Translated [by Lady Craven] from the French, in March. Printed by T.

Kirgate, MDCCLXXVIII, 8vo. It is printed in the small type on 56 pages, exclusively of viii. introductory ones, of "prologues" and "persons," &c. Only 75 copies were printed: and of these, one was sold for 4_l._ in the year 1804, at a public auction.----XVII. _A Letter to the Editor of the Miscellanies of Thomas Chatterton._ Printed by T. Kirgate.

MDCCLXXIX, 8vo. This title is preceded by what is called a bastard title: and is followed by 55 pages of the work, not very elegantly printed. Only 200 copies.----XVIII. _The Muse Recalled_, an ode occasioned by the nuptials of Lord Viscount Althorp (the late Earl Spencer) and Miss Lavinia Bingham, eldest daughter of Charles, Lord Lucan, March vi., MDCCLXXXI. By William Jones, Esq. Printed by Thomas Kirgate, MDCCLXXXI. 4to. Eight pages, exclusively of the title-page.

Printed in the middle size type; but neither the paper nor typographical execution are in the best style of the S.H.

press. Only 250 copies printed.----XIX. _A Description of the Villa of Mr. Horace Walpole, youngest son of Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford, at Strawberry Hill, near Twickenham, Middlesex._ With an inventory of the Furniture, Pictures, Curiosities, &c. Printed by Thomas Kirgate, MCCLXXXIV, 4to. This book contains 96 pages in the whole. It was preceded by a small quarto impression of MDCCLXXIV: which is scarce; and of which there are large paper copies.

The work entitled _aedes Walpolianae_ was printed in MDCCLXVII.

Plates to the edition of 1784.

1. Frontispiece, Gothic; motto on a scroll, "Fari quae sentiat."

2. North Front of Strawberry Hill.

3. Entrance of Strawberry Hill.

4. View of the Prior's Garden, at ditto.

5. Chimney in the Great Parlour.

6. Chimney in the China Room.

7. Chimney in the Yellow Bedchamber.

8. Do. ---- ---- Blue Bedchamber.

9. Staircase at Strawberry Hill.

10. Library at ditto.

11. Chimney Piece of the Holbein Chamber.

12. The Gallery.

13. Chimney in the Round Room.

14. The Cabinet.

15. View from the Great Bedchamber.

16. Garden Gate.

17. View of the Chapel in the Garden at Strawberry Hill.

18. The Shell Bench.

19. View from the Terrace at Strawberry Hill.

20. East View of the Cottage Garden at Strawberry Hill. There were only 200 copies of this edition printed.

The following may amuse the curious reader:

"Mr. Walpole is very ready to oblige any curious persons with the sight of his house and collection; but as it is situated so near to London, and in so populous a neighbourhood, and as he refuses a ticket to nobody that sends for one, it is but reasonable that such persons as send should comply with the rules he has been obliged to lay down for shewing it:--Any person, sending a day or two before may have a ticket for four persons for a day certain;--No Ticket will serve but on the day for which it is given. If more than four persons come with a ticket, the housekeeper has positive orders to admit none of them;--Every ticket will admit the company only between the hours of twelve and three before dinner, and only one company will be admitted on the same day;--The house will never be shewn after dinner, nor at all but from the first of May to the first of October;--As Mr. Walpole has given offence by sometimes enlarging the number o [Transcriber's Note: of] four, and refusing that latitude to others, he flatters himself that for the future nobody will take it ill that he strictly confines the number; as whoever desires him to break his rule does in effect expect him to disoblige others, which is what nobody has a right to desire of him;--Persons desiring a ticket may apply either to Strawberry Hill, or to Mr. Walpole's, in Berkeley Square, London. If any person does not make use of the ticket, Mr.

Walpole hopes he shall have notice: otherwise he is prevented from obliging others on that day, and thence is put to great inconvenience;--They who have tickets are desired not to bring children."----XX. _A copy of all the Works of Mr.

Walpole that were printed by him before his death_, 1784, 4to. This brochure, which has been called "rare" in book-auction catalogues, has been sold for upwards of two guineas.----XXI. _Postscript to the Royal and Noble Authors._ MDCCXXXVI, 8vo. There should be, before the title-page, an outline etching of "Reason, Rectitude, and Justice, appearing to Christin de Pisan, &c., from an illumination in the library of the King of France," which is exceedingly well engraved. The work contains only 18 pages: and there were but 40 copies printed. The _Royal and Noble Authors_ were first printed in 1759, 8vo. 2 vols.----XXII. _Essai sur l'Art des Jardins Modernes_, par M. Horace Walpole. Traduit en Francois, par M. Le Duc de Nivernois, en MDCCLXXXIV. _Imprime a S.H._ par T. Kirgate, MDCCLXXXV. With an opposite title in English, 4to. It contains 94 double pages, and every page of French has an opposite one of English. Not printed in the best manner of S.H. A copy of this book was sold for 3_l._; at a sale in 1804.----XXIII. _Bishop Banner's Ghost._ Printed by T.K. MDLCCXXXIX, 4to. On the first leaf is the following "Argument." "In the gardens of the palace of Fulham is a dark recess: at the end of this stands a chair, which once belonged to Bishop Bonner. A certain Bishop of London (the late Beilby Porteus) more than 200 years after the death of the aforesaid Bonner, just as the clock of the gothic chapel had struck six, undertook to cut, with his own hand, a narrow walk through this thicket, which is since called the _Monk's walk_. He had no sooner begun to clear the way, than lo!

suddenly up started from the chair, the ghost of Bishop Bonner, who, in a tone of just and bitter indignation, uttered the following verses." This curious publication contains only four pages of stanzas, written in alternate rhyme, of 8 and 6 feet metre.----XXIV. _The Magpie and her Brood_; a fable, from the tales of Bonaventure de Periers, valet de chambre to the Queen of Navarre; addressed to Miss Hotham. This is a very scarce poetical tract of four pages only; subscribed H.W.----XXV. _Fourteen different pieces, printed at Strawberry Hill, of verses, cards, &c._ This title I borrow from a book-auction catalogue. At a sale in 1804, these detached pieces were sold for 2_l._ 2_s._; but it is not in my power to identify them. Whether they be the same "_parcel of scraps, and loose leaves of poetry, epigrams_,"

_&c._ which, according to a daily newspaper, were sold at the commencement of this year "for 16 pounds," I am also equally ignorant. See _Kirgate's Catalogue_, 1810, no. 420.----XXVI.

_Hieroglyphic Tales_, 8vo. Only seven copies printed; _idem_, no. 380. From newspaper authority, I learn that these tales formed "a small pamphlet of two sheets, crown 8vo.," which were sold for 16_l._; and I understand that the late Mr. G.

Baker was the purchaser. N.B. They are incorporated in the author's printed works; but this is not having the _first_ and _true edition_! There is nothing like the comfort of bleeding smartly for exhibiting these fourth and fifth symptoms of the Bibliomania! Vide pp. 521, 525, ante.----XXVII. _Additions to First Editions of Walpole's Lives of the Painters, sewed._----XXVIII. _The Press at Strawberry Hill to his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, a Poem._----XXIX. _The Master of Otranto in durance._----XXX.

_Air, a Poem._----XXXI. _A Poetical Epistle to Mrs.

Crewe._----XXXII. _A Poetical Epistle to Lady Horatio Waldegrave, on the Death of the Duke of Ancaster._----XXXIII.

_The Press at Strawberry Hill to Miss Mary and Miss Agnes Berry, a Poetical Epistle._ [These last seven articles are taken from Mr. Cuthell's catalogue of 1811.] I should add that a much more copious and complete list, though not possessing all the intelligence here communicated, was prepared by the late Mr. George Baker for press; and printed, since his decease, for donations to his particular friends.

Only twenty copies of this bibliographical brochure are said to have been executed. We will now take leave of the PRELUM WALPOLIANUM by subjoining a copy of the most elegant title-page vignette which ever issued from it.

[Illustration: FARI QUae SENTIAT]

Before the reader's eyes are finally turned from a contemplation of this elegant device--and as connected with the subject of PRIVATE PRESSES--let me inform him that the Marquis of Bute is in possession of a thin folio volume, exhibiting paintings, upon vellum, of the various devices used by Pope Sixtus V., in the frontispieces of the several works which issued from the APOSTOLICAL PRESS, while he filled the Papal Chair. To a tasteful bibliomaniac, few volumes would afford so much delight as a contemplation of the present one. It is quite a _keimelion_ in its way!]

LYSAND. I do; but I have not so ardent an admiration of these volumes, as the generality of collectors. On the contrary, I think that the _Hafod Press_ has, by one single production only, outweighed the whole of the _Walpolian_ lucubrations; at least on the score of utility.

I might here add, to the foregoing symptoms, a passion to possess works which have been _suppressed_, _condemned_, or _burnt_; but all these things rank under the head of _causes of the rarity_ of books; and as an entire volume might be written upon _this_ symptom _alone_, I can here only allude to to [Transcriber's Note: second 'to'

erroneous] the subject; hoping some diligent bibliographer will one day do for _us_ what foreigners have done for other nations.

Thus have I, rather slightly, discussed the _Symptoms of the Disease, called_ =The Bibliomania=. During this discussion, I see our friend has been busy, as he was yesterday evening, in making sketches of notes; and if you examine the finished pictures of which such outlines may be made productive, you will probably have a better notion of the accuracy of my classification of these symptoms.

It is much to be wished, whatever may be the whims of desperate book-collectors, that, in _some_ of those volumes which are constantly circulating in the bibliomaniacal market, we had a more clear and satisfactory account of the rise and progress of arts and sciences.

However strong may be my attachment to the profession of the cloth, I could readily exchange a great number of old volumes of polemical and hortatory divinity for interesting disquisitions upon the manners, customs, and general history of the times. Over what a dark and troublesome ocean must we sail, before we get even a glimpse at the progressive improvement of our ancestors in civilised life! Oh, that some judicious and faithful reporter had lived three hundred and odd years ago!--we might then have had a more satisfactory account of the _origin of printing with metal types_.