VIRGILIUS. Rom? (Sweynheym et Pannartz), 1469 (?). Most valuable of all the first editions. Hopetoun House, 1889, slightly damaged and slightly wormed, ?2000. The previous occasion on which a copy was sold was at the La Valli?re sale, 1784, when an imperfect copy fetched 4101 francs.

---- Venet. Vindelin de Spira, 1470, folio, first edition with a date, printed on vellum. A copy sold for twenty-five guineas at Consul Smith?s sale, 1773; Sunderland, ?810. A copy on paper was sold in 1889. Hopetoun, ?590.

---- Venet. in ?dibus Aldi, 1501, 8vo, first Aldine edition, and the first book printed with the italic type invented by Aldus.

Sunderland, ?65; copy printed on vellum (Askew, ?74, 11s.) now in the Althorpe library.

ITALIAN CLa.s.sICS

ARIOSTO. Orlando Furioso. Ferrara, 1516, with William Cecil?s (Lord Burghley) autograph. Sunderland, 1881, ?300.

BOCCACCIO. In the catalogue of the Sunderland library (1881) eight pages are devoted to the description of various editions of his works. One of these, ?De la Ruine des n.o.bles Hommes et Femmes,?

Bruges Colard Mansion, 1476, realised ?920. An imperfect copy of the celebrated first edition of the ?Decameron? (C. Valdarfer, 1471) fetched ?585. This was the copy possessed by Lord Blandford when he bought the complete Roxburghe copy. The imperfect copy was afterwards sold in the Lakelands sale (W. H.

Crawford) for ?230, and is now in the British Museum.

The latter book will always hold a high position in the annals of bibliography, from the fact that when a perfect copy in the Roxburghe library was sold in 1812, it was bought by the Marquis of Blandford after a hard struggle with Earl Spencer for ?2260, the highest price ever paid for a book up to that date, and for many years afterwards. It had originally been added to the Roxburghe library at a cost of one hundred guineas. Seven years afterwards Messrs. Longman bought this same book at the White Knights sale for ?918 for Lord Spencer.

DANTE. First edition of Landino?s Commentary, Firenze, 1481; very large copy, with twenty rare engravings, purple morocco, by Lewis. Duke of Hamilton, 1884, ?380.

W. H. Crawford, 1891, with the engravings by Bacio Baldini from designs of Botticelli, ?360.

PETRARCA. I Triumphi. Venetia, per Bernardino da Novara, 1488, with two sets of six ill.u.s.trations, one on metal and one on wood.

Sunderland, 1882, ?1950.

---- Second Aldine edition, printed on vellum, 1514. Hanrott, ?73; Beckford, 1883, ?66.

POLIPHILI Hypnerotomachia. Venetiis (Aldus), 1499. Sykes, part 2, beautiful copy, in yellow morocco by Roger Payne, ?21; Watson Taylor (on vellum), ?82, 19s.; Sir C. Price, ?53, 10s.; Howell Wills, ?30; Luke Price, ?49; Beckford, 1883 (Crozat?s copy, red morocco, richly tooled), ?130; Duke of Hamilton, 1884, ?80; Earl of Crawford, 1887, ?86; W. H. Crawford (Lakelands), 1891 (some of the woodcuts partially coloured, wanting leaf with imprint), ?19; Earl of Ashburnham, 1897 (Emperor Charles V.?s copy, in stamped calf, with his figure in medallion), ?151.

---- Hypnerotomachie, 1561. [French translation.] F. Hockley, 1887, ?8; W. H. Crawford (Lakelands), 1891, ?6, 10s.; Earl of Ashburnham, 1897, ?15.

A copy bound with ?Le Roy, De la Vicissitude des Choses,? 1577, in blue morocco, magnificently tooled by Nicolas Eve for Louise de Lorraine, realised ?220 at the Beckford sale, 1897.

An English translation of the first book by R. D. was published in 1592, which is excessively scarce. Mr. Andrew Lang reprinted this in Mr. Nutt?s Tudor Library, 1890, from the copy in the Bodleian Library. There is no copy in the British Museum, and in the introduction to his reprint Lang tells a story against himself. He bought at Toovey?s a poor copy of this book for ?1, but shortly afterwards he found that it wanted the last five pages, and exchanged it for ?Les M?moires de la Reine Marguerite,? Paris, 1661, in yellow morocco. He regretted his exchange when he discovered its great rarity. M. Claude Popelin, who had long been lying in wait for this book, bought this copy at a London sale-room ?? un de ces prix qu?on n?avoue pas ? sa m?nag?re.?

VIGILLES des Mors. Paris, par A. Verard, printed on vellum, with thirty miniatures finely illuminated in gold and colours, blue morocco by De Rome. This copy sold for 150 francs in the La Valli?re sale, for 220 francs in the MacCarthy, and for ?20 in Hibbert?s. In the fourth portion of the Beckford library Mr.

Quaritch bought it for ?345.

TRISTAN. Chevalier de la Table Ronde. Two parts in one. Second edition, by Verard. Fine copy, with rough leaves, morocco super extra by Thouvenin. Duriez, 560 francs; same copy, Prince of Essling, 505 francs; same copy, Duke of Hamilton, 1884, ?108.

AUGUSTINUS. De Civitate Dei. Venet. Nic. Jenson, on vellum, first page elaborately painted, and illuminated initials. Sunderland, 1881, ?1000--bought by Mr. Quaritch amid shouts of applause.

FOOTNOTES:

[54] F. Norgate, in _The Library_, vol. iii. p. 329.

[55] Dibdin?s ?Reminiscences,? vol. i. p. 206 (note).

[56] _Gomecius (Gomez) de rebus gestis a Francisco Ximinis Cisnerio_, 1569, quoted in Dibdin?s ?Reminiscences,? vol. i. p. 211.

CHAPTER IX

PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE

No cla.s.s of books has advanced in value of late years to so great an extent as the chief examples of old English literature, and of this cla.s.s the books printed by our earliest printer, Caxton, stand in a foremost position. It is proposed in this chapter to give a general idea of the variations in price of all the books printed by Caxton which have been sold by public auction. The number attached to each entry is that given by Mr. Blades in his great work, and it is hoped that few sales of these books have been left unmentioned.[57]

We learn from Mr. Blades that there was no fixed published price for these books, but the sellers obtained the best price they could for them. In 1496 the churchwardens of St. Margaret, Westminster, were possessed of fifteen copies of ?The Golden Legend,? bequeathed by Caxton. Ten of these took five years to sell. In 1496 one copy was sold for 6s. 8d., and in 1500 the price had gone down to 5s. In 1510 R.

Johnson, M.D., bought five Caxtons (?G.o.defroy of Boleyn,? ?Eneydos,?

?Faytes of Arms,? ?Chastising,? and ?Book of Fame?) for a total expenditure of 6s. 8d. These are now in the University Library, Cambridge. In the sale of 1678, to which the name of Voetius is attached, three Caxtons sold for 7s. 10d. At the sale of Secondary Richard Smith?s library (1682) eleven Caxtons realised ?3, 4s. 2d.; at Dr. Francis Bernard?s sale (1697), ten for ?1, 15s. 4d. There were a considerable number of Caxtons in the Harleian Library, and several of these were duplicates. They do not appear to have sold very readily, and they occur in several of Osborne?s catalogues at a fairly uniform price of one guinea for the folios and 15s. for the quartos. At the Hon. Bryan Fairfax?s sale (1756) nine Caxtons sold for ?33, 4s. At James West?s sale (1773) the price had considerably advanced, and thirty-four Caxtons realised ?361, 4s. 6d. John Ratcliffe?s forty-eight Caxtons brought ?236, 5s. 6d. At Dr. Richard Farmer?s sale (1798) five sold for ?19, 11s. 6d. An astonishing advance in price is found at the Duke of Roxburghe?s sale (1812), where fourteen fine Caxtons brought ?3002, 1s.

At the sale of Stanesby Alchorne?s library in 1813 nine fetched ?666, 15s. Ralph Willett?s seven brought in 1813 ?1319, 16s. John Towneley?s nine sold in 1814 for ?1127. The Marquis of Blandford?s (White Knights) eighteen Caxtons brought in 1819 ?1316, 12s. 6d. At Watson Taylor?s sale in 1823 nine brought ?319, 14s. 6d.; John Inglis (1826), thirteen for ?431, 15s. 6d.; John Dent (1827), four for ?162, 16s. 6d.; George Hibbert (1829), five for ?339, 13s. 6d.; P. A. Hanrott (1833), six for ?180, 16s.; R. Heber (1834), six for ?219, 16s.; Thomas Jolley (1843-51), six for ?325, 15s.; E. V. Utterson (1852), three for ?116; J.

D. Gardner (1854), seven for ?739.

It will be seen from these totals that the present high prices did not rule at the sales in the middle of the present century.

In 1897 the total for the ten Caxtons in the first portion of the Ashburnham library reached ?5622, and the six in the second portion fetched ?4264.

The following list contains particulars of the sale prices of some of the chief issues of Caxton?s press:--

_The Recuyell of the Histories of Troy_ (1).

Dr. Bernard (1698), 3s.; Bryan Fairfax (1756), ?8, 8s. This perfect copy was bought by Francis Child, and at the sale of the Earl of Jersey?s library in 1885 it was sold to Mr.

Quaritch for ?1820.

J. West?s imperfect copy was sold in 1773 to George III. for ?32, 11s., and it was perfected afterwards.

J. Lloyd of Wygfair (1816), ?126. This copy was bought by G.

Hibbert, and at his sale in 1829 J. Wilks bought it for ?157, 10s.; at Wilks?s sale in 1847 E. V. Utterson bought it for ?165; at Utterson?s sale in 1852 the Earl of Ashburnham bought it for ?55--not ?155, as stated by Blades. This was described in Hibbert?s and Wilks?s catalogues as having ?six whole leaves and parts of four others supplied in facsimile,? but at Utterson?s sale it was stated to want no less than forty-seven leaves. At the Ashburnham sale (part 2), 1897, it was said to want forty-nine leaves. It fetched ?950.

_The Game and Play of the Chess_, first edition (2).

R. Smith (1682), 13s. 2d.; J. West (1773), sold to George III.

for ?32, 0s. 6d.; S. Alchorne (1813), ?54, 12s.--J. Inglis. J.

Inglis (1826), ?31, 10s.--Lord Audley. Lord Audley (1855), ?60, 10s.--H. Cunliffe.

White Knights (1819), ?36, 15s.--Duke of Devonshire. This copy, sold for ?42, was found on collation after the sale to want three leaves instead of only two, as stated in the catalogue; it was therefore returned, and sold for ?36, 15s.

Sir H. Mainwaring (1837), ?101--J. Holford. This may be the same copy as R. Smith?s, as it has on a fly-leaf in ma.n.u.script, ?Ex dono Thom? Delves, Baronett, 1682.?

Old Ess.e.x library (Lord Petre), 1886, ?645--Quaritch (perfect, excepting only the blanks). Earl of Hardwicke (1888), wanting the Prologue and three other leaves, ?260--Quaritch.

It is necessary to quote from Scott?s ?Antiquary? a well-known pa.s.sage, because, as Mr. Blades says, ?not a single statement is founded on fact.? The particulars are so circ.u.mstantial, that they have possibly deceived many readers, more especially as Scott himself vouches for the anecdote as literally true.

?Snuffy Davy bought the ?Game of Chesse,? 1474, the first book ever printed in England, from a stall in Holland for about 2 groschen, or twopence of our money. He sold it to Osborne for ?20 and as many books as came to ?20 more. Osborne resold this inimitable windfall to Dr. Askew for 60 guineas. At Dr. Askew?s sale this inestimable treasure blazed forth in its true value, and was purchased by Royalty itself for one hundred and seventy pounds.? It may be added that Askew never had a copy.

_Chesse_, second edition (34).