The Book-Collector Part 19

P. 232. A good deal of information has gradually acc.u.mulated respecting the Venetian school of binding; but undoubted examples of early date remain singularly scarce. See my _Venetian Republic_, 1900, ii. 663, 728.

The older school of French binding resembled that of the finer porcelain of Chantilly and Sevres, where on a choice piece of the Louis XV. period are found, side by side, the separate marks of maker, painter, and gilder.

P. 244-5. _English Binders._ Add:--

Edmond Richardson of Scalding Alley.

Matthews. (Binder of the Hibbert, Wilkes, Gardner, and Huth copy of Shakespear, 1623.) Hayday. (Worked for W. Pickering.) Leighton.

J. & J. Leighton. (This firm still does business in Brewer Street.) Douglas c.o.c.kerell.

J. Larkins.

Miss Prideaux.

Sir Edward Sullivan.

R. Montague (1730-40), bookseller, publisher, and binder, had a place of business in 1732 at the corner of Great Queen Street, Drury Lane, and in 1740 in Great Wyld Street. He undertook to gild and letter books at his customers' own houses. John Bancks of Sunning was his journeyman. It was the late Mr. Huth who expressed to me the opinion that Bedford's brown calf should have been left to acquire a natural tone.

P. 248. _Books with Painted and Goffered Edges._--I have seen volumes belonging to the first quarter of the sixteenth century with the leaves goffered and ornamentally inscribed; but the painted edge, as we know it, was then already in existence in Italy, and the most eminent artists did not disdain to execute this kind of embellishment.

One family at Belluno long possessed numerous examples enriched by the hand of Cesare Vecellio. See my _Venetian Republic_, 1900, ii. 728.

The major part of a sale at Sotheby's a year or so ago consisted of books treated on this principle by the owner; and the commercial result was not joyous.

P. 253. _French and other Binders._ Add:--

Brodel Aine et fils.

Bisiques. (Famous for his Turkey leather.) Thouvenin.

L. Muller. (Thouvenin's successor.)

The house of Marius-Michel combined binding and gilding. Among the Rothschild MSS., now in the British Museum, is a Boccaccio bound by Thomas Berthelet before 1552 for the Protector Somerset. It is in gilt calf with the motto: _Foy povr Debvoir_.

P. 263. The catalogue of the Early English Books in the British Museum was mainly the work of Mr. Eccles, a late member of the staff. A new, enlarged, and much improved edition by Mr. Pollard is in progress.

P. 271. That fairly familiar term, _Unique_, has been very badly entreated. A late eminent auctioneer, who was not shy of using it, tried to bring into vogue the variant form, _Uni Que_.

P. 274. _Huth Catalogue._--My copy is full of corrections, the text abounding with errors, some of a very serious character. The late Mr.

F. S. Ellis was the responsible editor, and omitted at his discretion much interesting matter.

P. 275. _Bibliographical Works of Reference._--One of the best is d.i.c.kson and Edmond's _Annals of Scotish Printing_, 1890. The Rylands Catalogue proved a _fiasco_.

P. 298. Of course the notification in the press of a signally high price at an auction for a really important lot overwhelms the vendors with inquiries and offers--offers of similar treasures, which are extremely the reverse.

P. 307. Mr. Robert Hoe acquired the bulk or whole of Mr. Pope's books after his death, including the Caxton _Arthur_, 1485, and this gentleman continues to buy some of the most important items which occur for sale in London.

After all said, much as we at home here in Britain need to be better instructed in the art of Book-Collecting, our American cousins are still farther from having completed their education in this way--a few have not commenced it, I fancy. It is not generally realised in England that the American collector of loftier range is a type entirely distinct from the normal book-collector, whose limit is quickly reached. Those who buy books in the United States are by no means all Hoes and Morgans.

P. 311. _Early Catalogues of old Plays._--I should have added the so often quoted one annexed to the _Old Law_, 1656.

P. 314. _Inch of Candle._--This practice survived down to modern times both in France and England in the disposal or transfer of real property.

P. 315. _Lazarus Seaman._--This gentleman was a member of the a.s.sembly of Divines, and at one time chaplain to the Duke of Northumberland. He held the living of All Hallows, Bread Street, and became Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge. But he lost his clerical preferment at the Restoration, and chiefly resided in his later days in Warwick Lane, London, where he died in 1675.

P. 317. _Book Auctions._--It is at present, I believe, at the discretion of the auctioneer to postpone a sale, when the company is too small to promise a satisfactory result, yet I have known one carried out when not more than two influential bidders were present.

In a catalogue of 1681, however, there is a proviso that at least twenty gentlemen must attend.

P. 323. It is a powerful exemplification of the contrast between old times and ours, that Mr. Pierpont Morgan is credited with having acquired forty Caxtons at one swoop.

THE END