The Book-Hunter at Home Part 16

Elton's Art Military, in folio.

Sir Kenelm Digby's two excellent Books of Receipts; one of Physick and Chirurgery; the other of Cookery and Drinks, with other Curiosities.

The Exact Constable, price 8d., useful for all Gentlemen.

Toleration Discussed, by Mr. L'Estrange.

The Lord c.o.ke's Inst.i.tutes, in four parts.

Dr. Heylin on the Creed, in folio, price 15s.

Who could hesitate to a.s.sign a period to these? Is not 'The Civil War and Restoration' writ big about them all? Plainer, indeed, would it be were we to a.n.a.lyse each separate item; for the tastes of the age and trend of men's thoughts as depicted in the pages of Master Pepys are amply reflected here.

Beware, however, lest you come across a catalogue of some such rogue as Edmund Curll, that shameless rascal who gloried in the obscene productions of his minions, hesitating not to a.s.sign them to the greatest writers of the day. Though fined and pilloried for his scandalous publications, he regarded such 'accidents' merely as a medium of advertis.e.m.e.nt, and had no hesitation in calling attention to the fact that he had suffered corporal punishment on account of a book that he wished to sell.

In the course of his crooked career he fell foul of Pope by publishing a book ent.i.tled 'Court Poems,' which he ascribed to 'the laudable translator of Homer.' Pope promptly retorted by putting forth an essay with the delightful t.i.tle 'A Full and True Account of a Horrid and Barbarous Revenge by Poison on the Body of Mr. Edmund Curll, Bookseller; with a faithful copy of his Last Will and Testament.' Neither words nor deeds, however, could repress a man so dest.i.tute of moral worth; and, later, he came once more under the poet's lash in the 'Dunciad,' where we read--

'Obscene with filth the miscreant lies bewray'd.'

Yet even the devil must have his due, and Curll certainly was concerned in the production of a number of works of general and abiding interest.

Here is a curious example of his wares, from one of his catalogues dated 1726. It is a version of Sallengre's 'L'Elogie de l'Ivresse,' a humorous (and scarce) little volume first published in 1714.

Ebrietatis Encomium--or, The Praise of Drunkenness. Wherein is authentically and most evidently proved the Necessity of frequently getting drunk; and that the practice of getting drunk is most Ancient, Primitive, and Catholic. Confirm'd by the example of Heathens, Turks, Infidels, Primitive Christians, Saints, Popes, Bishops, Doctors, Philosophers, Poets, Free-Masons, and other Men of Learning in All Ages. By a Person of Honour, price 2s. 6d.[67]

How it intrigues one to know who were the Saints, Popes, and Bishops thus addicted to tippling! Truly a _chronique scandaleuse_, and one which would surely have appealed to Louis Maimbourg, that ingenious Jesuit historian, had it but appeared in his day. We are told that he never took up his pen till he had heated his imagination by wine, nor ever attempted to describe a battle till he had drunk two bottles--lest, as he said jestingly, the horrors of the combat should enfeeble his style! Perhaps this trait in his character also explains how it was that 'he signalised himself by strange descriptions and burlesque sallies of humour in the pulpit,' and that his works exhibit 'great fire and rapidity in their style.'[68] At all events he lived to be seventy-six, which is some consolation to those who seek to impart originality to their work by this means.

Here is another volume that I should like to possess, from the same catalogue.

The Court Gamester: Or, Full and Easy Instructions for playing the Games now in vogue, after the best Method, as they are Played at Court, and in the a.s.semblies, viz. Ombre, Picquet, and the Royal Game of Chess. Wherein the Frauds in Play are detected, and the Laws of each Game annex'd, to prevent Disputes. _Written for the Use of the young Princesses._[69] By Richard Seymour, Esq.

price 2s.

Evidently Richard Seymour, Esq., had some experience of the young princesses' play. One wonders whether the disputes were frequent and heated, and whether Richard was the detector or detected with regard to the 'Frauds in Play'!

Enough, however, of examples: you will find abundance in these old catalogues to keep you interested and amused for many an hour. Moreover, your natural inquisitiveness will enable you to discover a great deal about books and authors which you would otherwise never, perhaps, come across. For certain t.i.tles will excite your interest and curiosity, so that you will 'look up' the volume in your bibliography. Then you will turn to your biographical dictionary and find out all that you can about the author. So it is that your knowledge of books and their writers will grow. It is a pleasant pastime, this fireside book-hunting, and of the greatest value to the collector. Let me add, as a note, that you will find the 'Cambridge History of English Literature' valuable for acquiring a _contemporary_ knowledge of books.

With regard to book-auctions (which seem to have been introduced into Europe by the Elzeviers) and sale-catalogues, you will find all the information that you may require upon this subject in so far as Great Britain is concerned, in Mr. John Lawler's excellent little volume 'Book Auctions in England in the Seventeenth Century,' of which a new edition was published in 1906. The fashion of selling books to the highest bidder is, in this country, of comparatively recent date; for the first auction of books held in London was presided over in 1676 by one William Cooper, an enterprising bookseller, who disposed in this manner of the library belonging to the Rev. Dr. Lazarus Seaman. With regard to the book-auctions held by the Elzeviers, you must consult that great authority, M. Alphonse Willems.

Before leaving this subject of catalogues I cannot forbear quoting from one to whom I am already indebted:

'In perusing these old catalogues one cannot help being astonished at the sudden and great increase of books; and when one reflects that a great, perhaps the greater, part of them no longer exists, this perishableness of human labours will excite the same sensations as those which arise in the mind when one reads in a church-yard the names and t.i.tles of persons long since mouldered into dust. In the sixteenth century there were few libraries, and these, which did not contain many books, were in monasteries, and consisted princ.i.p.ally of theological, philosophical, and historical works, with a few, however, on jurisprudence and medicine: while those which treated of agriculture, manufactures, and trade, were thought unworthy of the notice of the learned and of being preserved in large collections. The number of these works was, nevertheless, far from being inconsiderable; and at any rate many of them would have been of great use, as they would have served to ill.u.s.trate the instructive history of the arts. Catalogues, which might have given occasion to inquiries after books that may be still somewhere preserved, have suffered the fate of tomb-stones, which, being wasted and crumbled to pieces by the destroying hand of time, become no longer legible. A complete series of them, perhaps, is now nowhere to be found.'[70]

There is yet another side of book-collecting with which it is essential that the bibliophile become acquainted, and that is a knowledge of the scarce and valuable editions of the more modern cla.s.sic writers. By 'modern' I intend those authors who flourished during the nineteenth and latter part of the eighteenth centuries, and include such writers as Arnold, the Brontes, the Brownings, Burns, Byron, Carlyle, Coleridge, d.i.c.kens, Keats, Lamb, Sh.e.l.ley, Stevenson, Swinburne, Tennyson, Thackeray, and other famous contemporaries. You may meet with their works continually, and many a prize may slip through your hands unless you are acquainted with the collector's _desiderata_ regarding each of these authors. Many of them, perhaps the majority, published their earliest works anonymously or under a _nom de plume_, and when once you have become aware of the t.i.tles of such books or their writers' pseudonyms, you are not likely to forget them.

A few years ago (1911) Messrs. Hodgson the auctioneers discovered a thin folio consisting of an ill.u.s.trated t.i.tle-page and eight lithographed plates depicting scenes in the life of a ballet-girl, among a portfolio of engravings which had been sent to them for disposal. There was no letterpress, but the t.i.tle ran 'Flore et Zephyr, Ballet Mythologique par Theophile Wagstaffe,' and it was published in London and Paris, 1836. The owner thought it unworthy of notice in a lengthy catalogue of his books, but in spite of its Gallic t.i.tle its author was none other than Thackeray, and it was one of his first publications. On being offered for sale, it was knocked down at 226.

'Poems by Two Brothers,' a small octavo published at London in 1827, will bring you twenty pounds if you are so fortunate as to come across it. The brothers were Alfred and Charles Tennyson. Then there is a slim octavo of some 150 pages which appeared at Newark in 1807, ent.i.tled 'Poems on Various Occasions.' It is by Lord Byron, and is worth fifty pounds at least; if in the original boards, more than double that amount. 'King Glumpus: an Interlude in one Act,' a pamphlet consisting of some twenty pages, was probably by John Barrow; but it was ill.u.s.trated by Thackeray, and is usually to be found under the heading 'Thackerayana.' It was printed in 1837, on blue writing paper, and issued privately in buff wrappers. Recently it has fetched 153, but you may have a hundred for it any day.[71]

Sh.e.l.ley's 'Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats' was first published at Pisa in 1821, a large quarto in blue wrappers. It has recently fetched 2,050 dollars in America, and you may have even more for a perfect copy, in the original state, of his 'Queen Mab,' printed by the author at 23, Chapel Street, Grosvenor Square, in 1813. Both are exceedingly scarce. Another rare book of Sh.e.l.ley's is 'Original Poetry,'

by Victor and Cazire, which was put forth at Worthing in 1810. The poet wrote it in his youth, and although it was known that such a volume had been printed and that it had been suppressed by its author immediately before publication, it was considered a lost work until its rediscovery in 1897.

Byron's 'English Bards and Scotch Reviewers' one can purchase in the second, third, or fourth editions (all in octavo) in the original boards, for as many pence; though the first edition, in duodecimo, undated, is scarce. It was published in 1809, and has but fifty-four pages of verse.

The fourth edition appeared in 1811, though some copies are dated 1810, and has one thousand and fifty-two lines of verse in eighty-five pages.

But the next year another edition was put forth containing eighteen additional lines. For this (fifth) edition the t.i.tle-page of the fourth edition was used. It was not merely rigidly suppressed by the author, but immediately prior to publication it was destroyed by him, and, so far as I am aware, only one copy has, till now, been recovered.[72]

For Burns' 'Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect,' published at Kilmarnock in 1786, you may have two hundred pounds at least; if in the original boards, and perfect, considerably more. A copy has changed hands at a thousand. Of Sh.e.l.ley's 'Alastor: or the Spirit of Solitude, and other Poems,' octavo 1816, Keats' 'Endymion,' 1818, Fitzgerald's 'Omar Khayyam,' published by Quaritch in 1859, and a large number of others, you will learn from time to time. Mr. J. H. Slater's 'Early Editions ... of Modern Authors,' which appeared in 1894, will be of value to you, though like all works which deal with current prices it now needs revision. From the bibliographical standpoint it is excellent, but the safest guides to mere market values are the quarterly records of auction-sale prices ent.i.tled 'Book-Auction Records,' and the bi-monthly publication known as 'Book-Prices Current' issued by Mr. Elliot Stock. In addition there are bibliographies of almost all the greatest Victorian writers.

There is no doubt that the early editions of the English cla.s.sics will get more and more valuable as time goes on. In the case of many it may be years before any decided rise in their sale-room price takes place; but as the number of book-collectors increases with the population, while the number of copies of these _desiderata_ tends to become less owing to the absorption of certain of them in the public libraries, so it is only natural that increased compet.i.tion should result in a corresponding increase in their value.

The early editions of Ma.s.singer, Beaumont and Fletcher, and of the later Elizabethan and Stuart dramatists, which command but a few pounds to-day, will run, in all probability, well into three figures during the next half-century. A good copy of the first issue of Milton's 'Comus,' printed in 1637, could be had for 36 in 1864. In 1898 one with the t.i.tle-page mended brought 150. Ten years later 317 was not thought excessive for it, whilst in 1916 a fine and perfect copy made 800. $14,250 was the ransom of a copy at New York in 1919.

Other books there are which have had similar meteoric rises in value. The first edition of Walton and Cotton's 'Compleat Angler' was published in 1653 at one and sixpence. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the average price for a fine copy seems to have been between three and four pounds. In 1850 so much as fifteen pounds was paid for a copy in a similar state. Thirty years later it had risen to eighty-five pounds, and during the few years following, the demand for it seems to have increased its value considerably, for in 1887 a copy realised no less than 200.

But eight years later even this sum was easily doubled. Then came the Van Antwerp sale at Sotheby's. A perfect copy, in the original sheepskin binding, was offered; the hammer fell at the enormous figure of 1,290.

This sum has not yet (1921) been eclipsed; but that it was not a fancy price[73] is shown by the fact that in 1909 a copy _not_ in the original binding realised no less than 1,085.

In the collection of these early impressions of the great writers, however, you must exercise considerable caution and judgment. The examples which I have quoted will show you that it is not always immediately, nor even within a lifetime from their death, that the works of our greatest authors become valuable. 'Fame is a revenue payable only to our ghosts,' wrote Sir George Mackenzie, and for literary fame Time is indeed the ordeal by fire. We may look upon the auction-room as a Court of Claims to Literary Fame, but it is public opinion, backing the authorities who sit round the table, that determines each claimant's case. It is the book that makes the price, not the price that makes the book. Doubtless those who, relying upon their own judgment alone, gave fifty pounds for Tennyson's 'Helen's Tower' (1861) some twenty years ago, thought they were safe in their investment. Yet twelve years later it could be had for thirty shillings. Fitzgerald's 'Polonius,' 1852, was once thought cheap at five guineas. To-day you may buy it for little more than a sovereign.

It is a risky business, this collecting of the early editions of authors dead but a generation ago; and he would be a bold man who ventured to a.s.sert that the present prices of the first editions of the Victorian authors may be considered as stable. Bargains are bargains, and the temptation to buy is often great. But what const.i.tutes a bargain from the collector's point of view? You cannot define it without reference to price, worth, or value; and if these be unstable it cannot const.i.tute a bargain. 'An advantageous purchase' say the dictionaries; but if the price drop subsequently is it advantageous to _you_? You may think to play the wise man by collecting early editions of your own or your father's contemporaries, but it is odds on that you will burn your fingers. Yet the works of those great writers, those immortals

'On Fame's eternall beadroll worthie to be fyled'

are stable in our affections as is the sun in the firmament. Whatever fortune may overtake the works of those ephemerals whom by mere fashion we applaud to-day and neglect to-morrow, the works of those great writers who have been accorded a niche in the hall of Fame will ever command our purses no less than our respect.

FOOTNOTES:

[52] Of this book, published in octavo in 1893, it is impossible to speak too highly. Both as a text-book for the student and a reference book for the collector it is invaluable. The other two volumes by Mr. Duff are also of the greatest a.s.sistance. 'The Printers, Stationers, and Bookbinders of Westminster and London from 1476 to 1535' was published in 1906, and 'The English Provincial Printers, Stationers, and Bookbinders to 1557' in 1912--both by the Cambridge University Press. They are still (1921) in print, and cost six and five shillings respectively.

[53] A stereotyped reprint of the revised edition published between 1857 and 1864. Each of the first five volumes is in two parts, often bound separately. Vol. 6 is an appendix.

[54] Brockhaus of Leipzig has also (1921) published a facsimile reprint of this work--price 12.

[55] The term _Incunabula_ is now applied to all books printed before the year 1500. It is a vast study in itself, this bibliography of fifteenth-century books; and thanks to the labours of a small group of men who have devoted their lives to the subject, it is now upon a definite scientific basis. Carefully prepared monographs are issued from time to time, dealing with the different founts used by the early printers; but as this subject is unlikely to engage the attentions of those for whom this work is written (who, like the writer, are of modest means), I forbear to enter upon it in detail.

[56] It is a tedious game, but a very necessary one, and is a service due to an author. In entering a long list of errata in a folio book which has many lines to the page (Cotton's 'Monluc' has 62 lines, and the 1707 edition of Sandford's 'Genealogical History of the Kings and Queens of England' has nearly 150 errata!) the following method saves a lot of time. Take a strip of paper about an inch wide, place it on a page, and make a dash on the strip at every fifth line of text, numbering the dashes 5, 10, 15, 20, etc. This measurer saves one counting the lines every time.

[57] Dr. John North.

[58] For Schoeffer's list, see Mr. E. G. Duff's 'Early Printed Books,'

1893, p. 31, where there is also an ill.u.s.tration of it. For Caxton's advertis.e.m.e.nt, see an excellent article upon these early catalogues, by Mr. A. W. Pollard, in 'The Bibliophile' for March 1908 (vol. 1. No. i, p.

22).

[59] Mr. E. G. Duff, _op. cit._, p. 513.

[60] A collection of thirty-two facsimiles of these fifteenth-century book advertis.e.m.e.nts was published by Herr Konrad Burger in 1908.

[61] This is not strictly accurate, for there were agents or booksellers (call them what you will) who bought and sold ma.n.u.scripts at Rome in very early times. A doc.u.ment dated 1349 (quoted by Laborde, 'Les Ducs de Bourgogne,' tom. 1, p. 459) mentions one Thomas de Maubeuge, 'bookseller at Paris,' who sold a volume to the Duke of Normandy for fourteen florins of gold.

[62] Beckmann, _op. cit._

[63] Mr. E. G. Duff, _op. cit._ Beckmann has 12,475, quoting Fabricius'

'Bibliotheca Latina,' ed. 1772, vol. iii. p. 898, where the doc.u.ment is printed in full.

[64] See p. 155.