The Book-Hunter in London Part 17

When Sir Walter Scott lent a book, he put in its place a wooden block bearing the name of the borrower and the date of the loan. Charles Lamb, tired of lending his books, threatened to chain Wordsworth's poems to his shelves, adding, 'For of those who borrow, some read slow; some mean to read, but don't read; and some neither read nor mean to read, but borrow to give you an opinion of their sagacity. I must do my money-borrowing friends the justice to say that there is nothing of this caprice or wantonness of alienation in them. When they borrow money they never fail to make use of it.'

Just as the difference between the book-thief and the book-borrower is of too slight a nature to warrant independent chapters, so the hero who indulges in the luxury of a 'knock-out' is more or less of a thief, and this company is, essentially, a very proper place in which to find him.

A 'knock-out,' it may be briefly explained to the uninitiated, is a system by which two or more booksellers--or, for the matter of that, any other tradesmen--combine to procure certain books at a lower than normal auction value. An American paper stated, some time ago, and among many other remarkable things, that 'a private buyer cannot obtain a book by auction in London at any price.' The extreme foolishness of such a statement need not be enlarged upon in this place. That the knock-out system does exist in London no one but a fool would deny. That it does occur now and then at such places as Sotheby's, Christie's, Puttick and Simpson's and Hodgson's, is without any manner of doubt, but not to any extent worth mentioning. Where the system is in vogue is at sales held in private houses, and at auction-rooms where books are not generally sold. At such places books are usually knocked down at absurdly low figures, until the private person steps in, when the prices begin to go up with a bound; they then realize oftentimes figures far above those at which they may be acquired at the shops. After the private bidder has been excited into paying an excessive price for his lots, he realizes that he is doing a foolish thing, and resigns the game into the hands of the trade, when the prices again begin to a.s.sume their former very low levels. The knock-out books are taken away by their nominal purchaser, and in a convenient back parlour of some handy 'pub' they are put up again for compet.i.tion among the clique, when all profits realized are thrown into a pool, and afterwards equally divided.

'The two books you commissioned me to get were knocked down at 1 15s.

and 10s. respectively,' said a bookseller to a well-known collector only the other day; 'and if you insist upon having them at these prices, plus the commission, you must have them. But as a matter of fact they cost me 1 over and above the total of 2 5s.' The reply to the collector's demand for an explanation was, 'Smith agreed to let me have these two books if I did not oppose his bidding for the Fielding.' It is scarcely necessary to say that the total cost, with the 1 thrown in, was much below the original commission, whilst the Fielding ran up to considerably over the price Smith intended to have given. By striking a balance, the two cronies each obtained what he wanted. An arrangement of this sort is nearly invariably the explanation of two extreme prices being paid for equally good copies of one book in a single season.

In 1781 a portion of the library formed by Ralph Sheldon, of Weston, Warwickshire, chiefly in the third quarter of the seventeenth century, was sold at Christie's, but the auctioneer throughout appears to have been victimized by the knock-out system. One of the lots, comprising a large collection of scarce old plays in fifty-six volumes, quarto, was knocked down to one bookseller for 5 5s.; he then pa.s.sed it on to another for 18, and the collection was sold on the spot to Henderson the actor for 31 10s. At this same sale the English Bible, 1537, realized 13s.; two copies of the Common Prayer Book, 1552, 8s.; the First Folio Shakespeare, with two other books, 2 4s.; the 'Legenda Aurea,' printed by Notary, 1503, 10s. 6d. It would not be difficult to extend this list of ill.u.s.trations, but perhaps one example is as good as a hundred.

We may, appropriately enough, conclude this brief but sufficiently lengthy notice of the knock-out system with an anecdote which shows that, in this case, a 'knock-out' would have been justifiable. At a certain famous book-sale a few years ago, a volume of no particular interest, except that it contained the autograph of the Earl of Derwent.w.a.ter, was possibly worth 5. But the bidding was brisk, two of the dealers being evidently bent on having the prize. To the astonishment of everybody, the price went up to about 120 guineas, when one of the dealers gave in. Taking the other man aside, he said, 'Who have you been bidding for?' 'Mr. So-and-So.' 'So have I.' Another ill.u.s.tration of the unexpected and incomprehensibly sudden rise in the auction value of books is explained in the following extract of a letter from Horace Walpole: 'I cannot conclude my letter without telling you what an escape I had, at the sale of Dr. Mead's library, which goes extremely dear. In the catalogue I saw Winstanley's "Views of Audley End," which I concluded was a thin dirty folio, worth about fifteen shillings. As I thought it might be scarce, it might run to two or three guineas; however, I bid Graham _certainly_ buy it for me. He came the next morning in a great fright, said he did not know whether he had done right or very wrong; that he had gone as far as _nine and forty guineas_. I started in such a fright! Another bookseller had, luckily, as unlimited a commission, and bid fifty. I shall never give an unbounded commission again.'

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SOME HUMOURS OF BOOK-CATALOGUES.

AN interesting and curious pendant to Mr. H. B. Wheatley's 'Literary Blunders' might be made up of the errors which have occurred from time to time in booksellers' catalogues. These errors are sometimes grotesquely amusing, and are perhaps as often attributable to the ingenuity of the printer as to the ignorance of the cataloguer.

Booksellers usually content themselves with seeing one proof of their catalogues, and as the variety of books dealt with is so great, it would need at least half a dozen careful revisions to secure anything like correctness. As a general rule, the catalogues of London booksellers are exceptionally free of blunders, provincial compilers (notably one or two in Birmingham) being far behind their Metropolitan rivals. The example of

'Mill, John S., On Liberty, " " On the Floss,'

is almost too well known to again bear repeating; the same may be said of the instance in which Ruskin's 'Notes on the Construction of Sheepfolds' was catalogued as a book for farmers, and of that in which Swinburne's 'Under the Microscope' was cla.s.sed among optical instruments. The cross-reference of

'G.o.d: _see_ Fiske, J.,'

is a gem of absent-mindedness. Here are four more gems which appeared in the catalogue of a public library:

'Aristophanes: The Clouds of the Greek Text.'

'Boy's Own Annual: Magazine of Gymnastics.'

'Swedenborg: Conjugal Love and its Opposite.'

'Tiziano (t.i.tian), Vicelli Da Cadore.'

The following is a good specimen of a bookseller's inspiration in reference to the entry 'Bible--2 vols., 12mo., _Edin._, 1811' in his catalogue: 'Sir Brunet and Dibdin in praise of this beautiful edition.

As most nearly approaching unimaculateness a better copy than the present one could not be found.' This example is on a par with that in which an early Missal is catalogued as an 'extremely rare old printing and engraved work,' its author being 'Horae B. V. Mariae and usum Romanum,' whilst it is stated to be bound by 'Chamholfen Duru,' whoever he may be. Equally intelligent is another item from the same source, 'Newcastle (Marguis de Methode, etc.), oeuvre auquel on apprende,' etc.

Perhaps it was the cheapness--sixpence each--which prevented two items from having fuller descriptions:

'Horace, the Poems of, very interesting.'

'Jokely, very interesting, 12 months.'

Perhaps '12 months' is the term of imprisonment which any bookseller deserves for publishing such absurdities. Another gem in the way of blunders is the following:

'There's (Lord and Lady) Legends of the Library at Lilies, 2 vols., 8vo., bds., 2s. 6d., 1832.'

The book catalogued in this puzzling manner is by Lord and Lady Nugent, and is ent.i.tled 'Legends of the Library at Lilies [the Nugents'

residence], by the Lord and Lady thereof.' A similar carelessness resulted in Sir Astley Cooper's 'Treatise on Dislocations,' 1822, being catalogued as follows: 'Bart (C. A.), a Treatise on Discolourations and Fractures of the Joints,' etc., and also of books by Sir James Y.

Simpson, Bart., as by 'Bart (S.)' and 'Bart (J.).' The following entries speak for themselves:

'Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Pottery.'

'The New Wig Guide.'

'The Rose and the Ring by R. Browing.'

'Marryat's "Pirate and Three Butlers."'

Under 'Devil, The,' we find the following entry: 'Le Deuil sou observation dans tous les Temps,' 1877; and under Numismatics the following delightful bull: 'Money, a comedy, a poor copy, 1s.'

As an instance of official cataloguing, it would be difficult to beat the following description of a familiar cla.s.sic which appeared in a list issued a few years ago (according to a writer in _Notes and Queries_) in a certain presidency of India, 'by order of the Right Hon. the Governor in Council':

't.i.tle--Commentarii (_sic_) De Bello Gallico in usum Scholarum, Liber Tirtius (_sic_).

Author--Mr. C. J. Caesoris. Subject--Religion.'

Nichols, in his 'Literary Anecdotes' (iv. 493), mentions that Dr.

Taylor, who about the year 1732 was librarian at Cambridge, used to relate of himself that one day throwing books in heaps for the purpose of cla.s.sing and arranging them, he put one among works on Mensuration, because his eye caught the word _height_ in the t.i.tle-page, and another which had the word _salt_ conspicuous he threw among books on Chemistry or Cookery. But when he began a regular cla.s.sification, it appeared that the former was 'Longinus on the Sublime,' and the other a 'Theological Discourse on the _Salt_ of the World, that good Christians ought to be seasoned with.' Thus, in a catalogue published about eighty years ago the 'Flowers of Ancient Literature' are found among books on Gardening and Botany, and Burton's 'Anatomy of Melancholy' is placed among works on Medicine and Surgery. Some blundering bibliographer has cla.s.sed the 'Fuggerarum Imagines,' the account of the once mighty Italian family, among botanical works, under the 'Resemblance of Ferns.' Dibdin states that he once saw the first Aldine Homer in a country bookseller's catalogue described as 'a beautiful copy of the _Koraun_.' The Rev. John Mitford sent to a Woodbridge bookseller for a copy of Sh.e.l.ley's 'Prometheus Unbound,' and received the answer that no copy of 'Prometheus' _in sheets_ could be obtained--a misconception which Bernard Barton promptly forwarded to London, to Charles Lamb's great content. We have heard of the following blunder, but have never actually seen it:

'Sh.e.l.lEY--Prometheus, unbound,' etc.

' ---- ---- another copy, olive morocco,' etc.

The nearest approach to it occurred a few years ago in a Glasgow auctioneer's catalogue: 'Lot 282, Sir Noel Paton's Ill.u.s.trations, Sh.e.l.ley's _Prometheus_, unbound, 12 plates, N.D.' As a matter of fact, the copy was bound in cloth. 'Please send the ax relating to a justus pease' is a phrase which will be remembered by readers of 'Guy Mannering.' Only recently a post-card reached Messrs. Smith, Elder and Co. requesting the immediate despatch of a copy of 'Hard on Horace,'

which was the inaccurate, or perhaps waggish, sender's rendering of the 'Hawarden Horace.' This will be remembered with the request for 'The Crockit Minister,' by Stickett, and 'Sheep that Pa.s.s in the Night.' Some of the foregoing budget can scarcely be placed to the discredit of the cataloguer, but they are sufficiently _apropos_ to be included here.

The following amusing entry occurs in the sale catalogue of the library of the late Mr. R. Montgomery, which was dispersed by auction at Antwerp the other day: 'Plain or Ringlets? by Alfred Tennyson, Poet Laureate, with ill.u.s.trations by John Leech. London, s.d., 8{o} d. rel. dos et coins chagr. rouge, tete doree, figg. coloriees et noires.' Messrs.

Longmans had a letter a few weeks ago asking for a copy of 'Chips from a German Workshop,' by Max Muller, for review in a trade paper dealing with carpentering, etc.! This reminds one of the story of Edwardes, the Republican bookseller of a century ago, who put a Government spy to confusion by re-binding a Bible and giving it the seditious t.i.tle, 'The Rights of Man.' Burke's 'Thoughts on the French Revolution' was advertised by him as 'The Gospel according to St. Burke.' Outside a certain bookseller's shop, Mr. R. C. Christie once saw a book in six duodecimo volumes, bound in dark antique calf, and lettered 'Calvini Opera.' Knowing of no edition of the works of Calvin in that form, Mr.

Christie took down a volume, and found it was 'Faublas!' It was the original edition in thirteen parts, with the seventeen engravings, and was so lettered, no doubt, by its former owner to shelter it from indiscreet curiosity!

The practice of giving books of poetry, novels, etc., what may be described as floricultural t.i.tles, has landed cataloguers into an astonishing number and variety of errors, some of which have been pointed out by Mr. B. Daydon Jackson in the _Bibliographer_. The chief sinners have been foreign bibliographers, who, not being able to examine the books which they catalogue, depend entirely upon the t.i.tles. The same error occurs frequently here in this country. An English trade journal included Dr. Garnett's selection from Coventry Patmore's poems, 'Florilegium Amantis,' under 'Botany, Farming, and Gardening.' Two of Mayne Reid's novels, 'The Forest Exiles' and 'The Plant-Hunters,' have been included among scientific books, but in these cases the errors seem to have arisen from the misleadingly translated t.i.tles, the former in Italian ('Gli esuli nella foresta; cognizioni di scienza fiscia e naturale'), and the latter in French, 'Le Cha.s.seur de Plantes.' The learned Pritzel included among botanical treatises 'The Lotus, or Faery Flower of the Poets.' In the earlier part of the century a story was in circulation relative to an erudite collector who was accustomed to boast of his discoveries in Venetian history from the perusal of a rare quarto, 'De Re Venatica.' A brother bibliographer one day lowered his pretensions by gravely informing him that the historical discoveries to which he laid claim had been antic.i.p.ated by Mr. Beckford, who, towards the close of the last century, published them to the world under the a.n.a.logous t.i.tle of 'Thoughts on Hunting.'

There is a good deal of amus.e.m.e.nt to be got sometimes out of even such an unpromising source as an auctioneer's catalogue, especially when it includes books. The list of a miscellaneous lot of things lately sold at a South London depository comes in this category. One of the items, for example, is entered as 'd.i.c.kin's works bound in half,' but who Mr.

'd.i.c.kin' is, or was, or what the 'half' indicates, the reader is left to find out. 'Goldsmith lover' also seems a trifle confusing, until the lot is hunted up and the discovery made that Goldsmith's 'Works' is intended. Lytton's 'King John' suggests a work hitherto unknown to readers of the author of 'My Novel,' until examination proves it to be 'King Arthur,' and 'McCauley's History of England' is rather suggestive of a scathing indictment of English misrule by an author from the 'distressful country' than of the picturesque prose of the whilom Whig statesman and book-collector.

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SOME MODERN COLLECTORS.

WE have already referred, in a preceding chapter, to the origin and early history of the Roxburghe Club, and also to the disrepute in which its too zealous members, Hazlewood and Dibdin, contrived to place it.

The club still exists, and flourishes in a manner which renders it unique among book-clubs. A complete set of its privately-printed booklets is an almost impossible feat of book-collecting, and an expensive luxury in which but few can afford to indulge. The present const.i.tution of the club, the members of which dine together once a year, is as follows: President: The Marquis of Salisbury, K.G.; S.A.R.

le Duc D'Aumale; the Duke of Buccleuch, K.T.; the Duke of Devonshire, K.G.; the Marquis of Bute, K.T.; the Marquis of Lothian, K.T.; the Marquis of Bath; Earl Cowper, K.G.; Earl of Crawford; Earl of Powis; Earl of Rosebery; Earl of Cawdor; Lord Charles W. Brudenell Bruce; Lord Zouche; Lord Houghton; Lord Amherst of Hackney; the Lord Bishop of Peterborough; the Lord Bishop of Salisbury; the Right Hon. A. J.

Balfour, M.P.; Sir William R. Anson, Bart.; Charles Butler, Esq.; Ingram Bywater, Esq.; Richard Copley Christie, Esq.; Charles I. Elton, Esq.; Sir John Evans, K.C.B.; George Briscoe Eyre, Esq.; Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks; Thomas Gaisford, Esq.; Henry Hucks Gibbs, Esq.

(vice-president); Alban George Henry Gibbs, Esq.; A. H. Huth, Esq.

(treasurer); Andrew Lang, Esq.; J. Wingfield Malcolm, Esq.; John Murray, Esq.; Edward James Stanley, Esq.; Simon Watson Taylor, Esq.; Sir Edward Maunde Thompson (princ.i.p.al librarian of the British Museum); Rev. Edward Tindal Turner, Esq.; V. Bates Van de Weyer, Esq.; and W. Aldis Wright, Esq.