the artist's character or name subjoined,-whether the head of the print be without the body or the body without the head, &c. &c.'. Books of this description bring the most arbitrary and extravagant prices: a few instances may be seen in the Appendix, No. V.

10. Books which are become rare through Decay or Waste.

The mere lapse of time, in connexion with the various accidents from fire, damps and worms, to which paper, the frail material of books, is exposed, is unquestionably one of the most operative causes of their rarity. If, indeed, the first specimens of printing had not been executed on a paper much superior to that in modern use; and had not the binding been, as it literally was, of boards united with strong ligatures of skin, it would be difficult to imagine how so many perfect volumes could have survived the use and abuse of between three and four centuries.

Some books have also sunk into total disuse, în consequence of their real or supposed want of merit, or from their having been supplanted by others that were cheaper, or more common in their form, or in some other respect better adapted to general use. Others have been rendered imperfect by the frequent and careless waste of them: and of both these descriptions of books, such numbers have from time to time been wasted, as unworthy of being preserved, that a copy is scarcely if at all to be procured. The literature of our own country will supply an instance in Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy;"

'Dibdin's Bibliomania, pp. 672, 685. Mr. D. has given a lively picture of the Bibliomaniac, who is touched with the passion for collecting illustrated books.

a treatise which was commended and brought into notice by Dr. Johnson, and which, after being a waste paper book for many years, has lately been reprinted '.

SECTION III.

Of Books, whose Rarity is relative.

THIS question divides itself into three classes: 1. Books which are interesting only to a few persons, or to some particular individuals.

2. Books condemned.

3. Editions whose scarcity is relative.

§ 1. Of Books which are interesting only to a few Persons, or to some particular Individuals.

i. LARGE WORKS.

Large or voluminous works are commonly found in great libraries; but, as the knowledge of most of our savans is more extensive than their fortune, there are few who have the means or the desire of purchasing them. Such are the Acta Sanctorum of the Bollandists, the Councils, the Great Bibliotheca Patrum, the Bibliotheca Maxima Pontificia of Rucaberti, the Gallia Christiana, the Collection of Byzantine Historians, Thesaurus Antiquitatum Græcarum et Romanarum of Grævius and Gronovius, with the Supplements of Polenus and Sallengrè, and other similar works".

'Gent. Mag. vol. lxxxiv. Part I. p. 34. 2 See Appendix, (No. IX.) for an account of the principal collections of large works.

ii. FUGITIVE PIECES.

As soon as they are published, fugitive pieces are dispersed: they ought therefore to be collected in public Libraries, to prevent their destruction. Such are old Newspapers, detached tracts relative to the civil wars, electioneering placards, and similar ephemeral publi

cations.

One of the rarest collections of this sort is that usually designated by the name of "THE KINGS PAMPHLETS," and now preserved in the British Museum. The collection at present consists of nearly two thousand volumes, (containing more than 30,000 tracts) uniformly bound and numbered; the whole relate to the times of Charles I., and nearly one hundred of them are in MS. all or most of them on that king's behalf, which no man' could venture then to publish, without endangering his ruin. This collection was formed at an immense expense, and after various revolutions was purchased by his Majesty George III., and by him presented to the British Museum'.

iii. THE HISTORY OF PARTICULAR TOWNS.

The history of a particular town is interesting to few, besides its inhabitants, and consequently finds but few admirers among strangers: it is in general very rare everywhere else.

The topographies of particular counties and places in our own country abundantly verify this remark: the prices they have brought at various modern sales are exorbitant in the extreme.

1 Beloe's Anecdotes, vol. ii. pp. 348-356, in which an interesting account is given of the formation and journeyings of this matchless collection of historical and political tracts.

iv. THE HISTORIES OF ACADEMIES AND LITERARY

SOCIETIES.

The histories of such societies do not suit every taste, the subject being of too limited a nature. A good account of the principal academies and literary societies, as well as of their transactions, is a desideratum in the annals of literature.

V. THE LIVES OF LEARNED MEN.

Biographies of literary men are either fugitive pamphlets which are soon lost, or bulky volumes which meet with only a few purchasers. Their sale is necessarily slow; they gradually disappear, and in the course of a few years are with difficulty to be found. This circumstance obviously gives them a high claim to a place in every public Library.

vi. CATALOGUES OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIBRARIES.

The catalogues of private libraries fall into the hands of so many persons, who have no taste for them, as to render it almost impossible for them to be preserved entire: we must however except the priced catalogues of celebrated libraries, which are always of a certain value in the estimation of amateurs and bibliographers. Folio catalogues of public libraries find a place in all great libraries; but having only a few admirers among private individuals, they gradually become rare: to this we may add that small impressions only are printed, which are seldom, and sometimes never exposed to sale'.

A list of the principal catalogues of public and private Libraries, together with some account of the Libraries themselves, occurs infra, Part III: Chap. V. Sect. II. III. IV. V. and VI.

vii. WORKS STRICTLY CRITICAL.

As the number of critics is very small, it happens that books, written exclusively for them, are widely dispersed, and at length most of them become very rare.

viii. BOOKS OF ANTIQUITIES.

Works, which treat on antiquities, are usually enriched with engravings of vases, statues, medals, &c. &c. which (especially when they are proofs) considerably enhance their price. After the plates have been used, they are retouched, and then become of very little value, so that such works are with great difficulty reprinted. To which we must add, that the number of engravings and books, generally struck off, depends on the taste and number of the purchasers; and consequently they become more or less rare. The antiquarian works of Montfaucon, Piranesi, Overbeke, Sir William Hamilton, Wood and Dawkins, Stuart, &c. &c. abundantly verify the correctness of this remark.

ix. BOOKS THAT TREAT ON CURIOUS ARTS.

Books on music, painting, sculpture, alchymy, &c. are interesting only to a few curious persons: they are dispersed among families where these arts are cultivated; and at length disappear from commerce; so that when once scattered, they are only to be obtained with the greatest difficulty. The fourth volume of the Bibliothèque des Philosophes Alchymiques ou Hermetiques, in 12mo. is so scarce that it costs 60 livres '. The cause

1 In France. In a note to the Essai de Bibliographie (Dict. Bibliog. Hist. et Crit. tom. 3. p. 498.) a new edition of the Bibliothèque des Philosophes