BOOKS.
BOOK-COLLECTORS.*
THE book-collector differs in intent very little from the hunter of postage-stamps. It is not his business to spoil his treasures by opening their pages. A rash desire to look beyond the binding and the title-page exposes a precious book to many a needless danger. A torn leaf or a blot of ink may do damage which is irreparable, and the most famous collectors have not
often incurred the charge savagely brought against one of "looking inside the books" which they purchase. At the
same time, the true collector must possess a rare and special knowledge. He must be learned in the art of printing, and in the history of the great Presses which have flourished since Gutenberg invented movable type. He must be able to dis- criminate in an instant between the true and the false ; even if he have forgotten all his classics, he must know which Elzevir Caesar has the wrong pagination; he must be quick to measure the height of a masterpiece from the Aldine Press. In other words, he need not be a scholar, save so far as the manufacture of books is concerned; but while he follows his craft with a proper devotion, he is the best friend that true scholarship will ever find.
And what a splendid career is his if money and oppor- tunity aid him ! No sportsman ever feels the delight of the chase more keenly than he. To wander among bookstalls, to pass an anxious finger along an unexplored shelf and to find thereon a curious tract, or a rare edition of a classic, is a joy which only the book-hunter knows. Not for him the solid and praiseworthy editions without which no gentleman's library is complete; he will not cumber his shelf with
Clarendon or Gibbon, but if only he can discover a tall copy of the Pastissier Francois printed by L. and D. Elzevir at
Amsterdam in 1655 he will think that be has done a good year's work. But let it not be supposed for a moment that his toil is idle. The delight, of which nothing can rob him, is not the sole end of his enterprise. In his own despite he per- forms an efficient service to the world. Had it not been for the wealthy collectors we might have lost much of the know-
ledge which is ours to-day. We are always bad judges of contemporary literature, and might let die what two years after our death would be priceless. Here the collector steps in, and esteeming a pamphlet more highly than a reverend history, preserves for all time what otherwise would be read to pieces or be burned in the fire. George Thomason is not commonly remembered to-day, yet had it not been for his energy in collecting the Civil War tracts we should know far less of an interesting period than we do. Nor was his collection made without sacrifice or difficulty: he was a poor man, and being a staunch Royalist, he was in constant fear of losing the treasures which his economy had amassed. The dread of the Parliamentary Army was always before him :— " Thprevent the discovery of his tracts," so he wrote, "when the army was northwards, he packed them up in several trunks, and by one or two in a week sent them to a trusty friend in Burry, who safely preserved them ; and when the army was westward, and fearing their return that way, they were sent to
London again and so, according as they lay near danger, still, by timely removing them, at a great charge, secured them, but continued effecting the work."
More than a century later the collection was purchased by King George III. for 2300, and is now properly treasured in the British Museum.
There was a time when gentlemen collected books as they collected wine, by a sort of obligation. Our English Kings, • English Book-Collectors. By W. Y. Fletcher, F.S.A. London; Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co. (Los. 641.3 whether they were devoted to literature or not, still had a clear view of their duty. Edward IV. was curious both in the collecting and binding of books. But Henry VII. was the first of our Kings who left behind him a dignified library's To this Henry VIII. made largo additions, being especially interested in the works of the Fathers. Elizabeth did not share her father's taste; but James I. was most zealous in the collection of books. At the age of twelve he already possessed some six hundred volumes, and he was so prudently advised by his librarian that, on the death of Isaac Casaubon, he purchased his whole library for £250. So the Royal library increased, chiefly by the energy of Charles II., until in 1757 it was presented to the nation by George IL There- fore when George III. came to the throne he found himself without a library, and he at once set himself to repair the loss. Though not deeply tinctured with learning, he under- stood this duty of a King, and he was wise enough to ask and to accept the advice of Dr. Johnson and other scholars. The Queen, we are told, took great interest in the enterprise, and even went so far, as to visit Holywell Street and Ludgate Hill, where the vendors of books kept their stalls. George IV. took no interest in his father's collection, and no sooner did he mount the throne than he attempted to sell it to the Emperor of Russia. His nefarious design was frustrated by Lord Farnborough and Richard Heber, and the books were bought for the nation by Lord Liverpool. But this fact did not prevent the King from declaring in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister that he had "resolved to present the collection to the British nation."
Another great collection, which can happily never be dispersed, was made by the second Earl Spencer, whose library first became famous by the purchase of Count Reviczky's collection. This he increased with such admir- able judgment that Renouard described it as "the most beauti- ful and richest private library in Europe." It was select rather than large; in 1892, when Mrs. Rylands purchased it, it nu m be red less than forty-two thousand volumes, but it was sold for a quarter of a million, and is now the property of Manchester. Another great collector was Richard Heber, of whom Sir Walter Scott said that "his library and cellar are superior to all others in the world." He indeed was a born collector, who made a catalogue at the age of eight. To him books were an absorbing passion. He would ride hundreds of miles to bid for one which be did not possess. Wherever he went he established a library. He had two in London, others at Oxford, Paris, Ghent, Brussels, and Antwerp; but the best of his books were housed at Hodnet, And he would often engage all the inside places of a coach to convey his treasures from London. It is said of him that he disliked the coxcombry of large-paper copies, which filled too much room on his shelves, and he was guilty not only of reading his books, but even of lend- ing them. "Why you see, Sir," he said, "no man can com- fortably do without three copies of a book. One he must have for his show copy, and he will probably keep it at his country house; another he will require for his own use and reference ; and unless he is inclined to part with this, which is very inconvenient, or risk the injury of his best copy, he must needs have a third at the service of his friends." But Heber was the most generous, as he was the most magnificent, of book-collectors, and he cannot be matched in the history of the library. Such are some typical book-hunters described, with many others, in Mr. Fletcher's interesting volume, a mine of curious and accurate information which sets before us the plain prose of a subject whose romance must be sought in the pages of Dibdin and Hill Burton.
Previous page
