Lunn at £15. 15s. another copy, in very fine condition, sold at Dr. Heath's sale, (No. 3344.) for £23. 10s.

ANACREONTIS Odæ, præfixo commentario, additis variis lectionibus. 4to. Parmæ, 1785.

This is one of the finest specimens of Bodoni's typographical skill; a more elegant and exquisitely furnished production (Mr. Dibdin remarks) cannot be conceived.

APOLLONII Rhodii Argonautica, Gr. cum scholiis. 4to. Florence, MCCCCLXXXVI.

A fine copy of this rare book sold at Dr. Heath's sale (No. 3480.) for £10.

CALLIMACHI Hymni Gr. cum scholiis græcis, cura Johannis Lascaris. 4to. No date, but supposed, from similarity of its types to those of the Anthologia, to have been executed by the same printer, and at Florence, about the year 1494. EURIPIDIS Tragoedia, (containing the Medea, Hippolytus, Alcestis and Andromache) Gr. cura Jo. Lascaris. The preceding remark applies to this work.

To this class may be referred, the early productions of the British press, printed in black letter, and which have brought such large sums at recent sales'. Books, the text of which is engraved, also belong to this class: from the splendour of their execution, and their consequent high prices, these works are only to be found in the libraries of the most opulent. Peignot has written a special Bibliography on books of this description, to which the student is referred: the following instances, however, may be given in illustration.

ANACREONTIS Symposiaca semi-ambia, græcè, tabulis æneis incisa, et iconibus ornata, edente Josepho Spaletti. Rome, 1781. This splendid volume is dedicated to Don Gabriel the then infant of Spain: it consists of only 17

1

pages

ex

Particularly at the sales of the Roxburghe and Alchorne Collections; of which a short notice will be found, infra, Part III. Chap. V. Sect. IV.

hibiting the text of the Vatican MS. (now deposited in the Imperial Library at Paris.) On the critical merits of this edition, see Dibdin's Intr. to Classics, I. 151.

Quinti HORATII Flacci Opera, Londini, æneis tabulis incidit Johannes Pine, 1733-1737. 2 vols. 8vo. The text of this elegantly engraved edition, (which is in great request) is taken from the 8vo Cambridge edition of 1701. Proof impressions are greatly valued, from some of the plates having been injured after a few copies had been struck off. In vol. II. of the genuine edition, p. 108, the medal of Cæsar exhibits the words Post. est; which in the copies subsequently taken off are corrected. A copy of this work, at La Valliere's sale, was sold for 107 livres, 1 sou.

Publii VIRGILII Maronis Bucolica et Georgica, tabulis æneis olim a Joh. Pine illustrata, opus paternum in lucem profert Robertus Edge Pine. Londini, 8vo. 2 vols. 1774. This is executed in the same style of elegance as the preceding. The Æneid never appeared.

V. EDITIONS PUBLISHED IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

It is natural that such editions should be of as rare occurrence among us, as our editions are in foreign countries: of this description are the works executed in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, and particularly in Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, Transylvania, Turkey, &c. The existing political relations of the governments of the respective countries also affect the prices of foreign books; which are always dearer in time of war than during peace, on account of the increased difficulty of intercourse, and consequent hazard in procuring importations of foreign works.

vi. EDITIONS NEVER EXPOSED TO SALE.

Such are the works which are issued from royal presses, and from those of private individuals. For instance,

the writings of cardinal Quirini will never be much known; because they were printed at his own expense, have never been exposed to sale, and were distributed by himself as presents.

The duodecimo edition, in 1718, of the Amours pastorales de Daphnis et Chloe, with engravings after the designs of Philip Duke of Orleans, Regent of France, is likewise exceedingly scarce; it was never exposed to sale, though this book is common enough in various other editions and sizes'. In our own country, the productions of the Strawberry Hill press, belonging to the late Lord Orford, have always been rare, and produce enormous prices.-Lists of them may be seen in Lemoine's Typographical Antiquities, pp. 91-94, and in Mr. Dibdin's Bibliomania, pp. 716-725.

vii. EDITIONS WHICH HAVE BEEN SOLD UNDER

DIFFERENT TITLES.

When booksellers or authors wish to disguise a work, which they cannot sell publicly, or the sale of which they wish to promote, they have recourse to the stratagem of giving it a new title; and thus obtain a sale for a work which perhaps is unworthy of circulation. The Matanasiana is an instance of this manœuvre. It was originally published at the Hague in 1716, under the title of Mémoires littéraires, historiques, et critiques: as the work did not sell, the title of "Matanasiana ou Mémoires littéraires, historiques, et critiques, du Docteur Matanasius, S. D. L. R. G.;" (by Themiseul de Saint Hyacinthe,) La Haye 1740, 2 vols. 12mo.—was given to it twenty-four years afterwards. This work contains a

The edition was limited to 250. A copy in Messrs. Lackington's catalogue for 1812, (No. 10211.) is marked at £4. 14s. 6d.

few good passages; but something better was to be expected from the ingenious author of Chef d'œuvre d'un inconnu. (Peignot, Bib. Spec. 236.)

SECTION IV.

Prices of Books.

THE Various circumstances which render books scarce, also contribute to enhance their prices, particularly when a work possesses any degree of interest.

Before the invention of printing, manuscripts were the only current books, and in general bore such excessive prices, that few beside the most opulent could acquire a library. Some few data remain, which serve to shew us the esteem entertained by the most able connoisseurs of antiquity, from the large sums which they paid for the best books. Thus, it is recorded of Plato, that, notwithstanding he had a very small paternal inheritance, he bought three books of Philolaus the Pythagorean, at the price of ten thousand denarii (about £300 sterling). It is also said that Aristotle bought a few books belonging to Speusippus the philosopher, after his decease, for three attic talents (about £581. 5s.').

In after times St. Jerome almost ruined him'Aulus Gellius, Noct. Att. 1. 1. c. 17. See also p. xiii. note, supra.

self, in order to purchase the works of Origen: and during the dark or middle ages the prices of books became so high, that persons of a moderate fortune could not afford to purchase them. Towards the close of the seventh century, Benedict Biscop, founder of the monastery of Weremouth in Northumberland, made no fewer than five journies to Rome, to purchase books, vessels, vestments, and other ornaments for his monastery. Thus he collected a very valuable library; for one book out of which (a volume on Cosmography) king Alfred gave him an estate of eight hides, or as much land as eight ploughs could labour. The bargain was concluded by Benedict with the king, a little before his death, A. D. 690: and the book was delivered, and the estate received by his successor, Abbot Ceolfred. At this rate, (observes Dr. Henry) none but kings, bishops, and abbots, could be possessed of any books; which is the reason, that there were then no schools but in kings' palaces, bishops' sees, or monasteries'.

Even monasteries of some consideration frequently had only a missal. Muratori relates that Lupus, abbot of Ferrieres, earnestly besought the pope, in a letter written in 825 to lend him a copy of Cicero's treatise de Oratore, and Quinctilian's Institutes: for, said he, though we have 'Henry's Hist. of Britain, vol. iv. p. 21.