Chapter 9

'The road lies plain before me; 'tis a themeSingle and of determined bounds.'—Wordsworth.

ostbook-collectors embark upon their life-long hobby without any clearly defined scheme of collecting, buying just those books which take their fancy, and in many cases not realising that they have caught the dread contagion of bibliomania until they suddenly find that more shelf-room is required for their books, and that the expenditure upon their hobby is growing out of all proportion to their means. It is then generally too late to stop, and although they may avoid the book-stalls for some days, nay even weeks, the passion of collecting is only dormant, and will break out with renewed vigour either upon a sudden (though perhaps only temporary) condition of affluence, or upon the receipt of that most insidious of all temptations, a bookseller's catalogue—especially if it be a 'clearance' one.

This passion for collecting books resolves itself at length into two categories. Either the patient grows rapidly worse and plunges headlong into the vortex of auctions, catalogues, and bibliographies, amassing during the process a vast nondescript collection of books; or else he improves slowly but surely, growing daily shrewder in his purchases. So that at length, having completely recovered his composure, he finds himself the possessor of a collection of books valuable alike from commercial and utilitarian standpoints.

The former of these collectors is generally said to suffer from acute bibliomania. His knowledge of books is vast but of a general kind, and for practical purposes it cannot compare with that acquired by his fellow-collector who had seen the folly of a headlong course. His complaint is well known; indeed it was recognised in the first century of our era, when Seneca condemned the rage for mere book-collecting, and rallied those who were more pleased with the outsides than the insides of their volumes. Lucian, too, in the next century, employed his prolific pen in exposing this then common folly.

Even the wise collector, however, runs some risk of being engulfed by his hobby and swept away by the flood of books. There is but one remedy, or rather alleviation, for book-collecting is quite incurable and follows a man to his grave (unless, of course, he be cast upon a desert island), and that isspecialism.

Every collector should become a specialist. It will give him a definite ambition, something to look for among other books, something to complete; and there is a thousand times more satisfaction in possessing a select collection of works of a definite class or upon a definite subject, than in the accumulation of a vast heterogeneous mass of books. He will get to know the greater part of the works upon his own subject, become an authority upon it in time, and perhaps will even attempt a bibliography if it be an out-of-the-way subject. He will know precisely what he wants, what to search for, and what price to pay. In short, he will be lifted out of the fog of miscellaneous books into the clear atmosphere of a definite and known class of works.

It is such an easy step, and such an immensely important one, this determination to confine one's collecting activitiesto a certain class of books. 'What a blessing it is,' said a book-loving friend not long ago, 'not to have to worry about all sorts of books. I have never ceased congratulating myself that I took the resolution to confine myself entirely to Herbals. Before, I had a vast but untrustworthy knowledge of titles and editions which a bad memory did not assist. Now, thank goodness, I have forgotten all that, but I flatter myself that I really do know something about Herbals.'

And what a profitless occupation is the aimless collecting of heterogeneous books. If bibliographical knowledge be our aim, their very diversity tends to confuse us. If recreation be our object, better far to join a circulating library than garner volumes which, once read, are never to be opened again. Learning and study cannot be intended, for the formation of a library of nondescript books collected upon no system or plan can, at best, endow us with but a smattering of knowledge.

There was once a certain bishop who used continually to collect useless luxuries. The Emperor Charlemagne, perceiving this, ordered a merchant who traded in rare and costly objects to paint a common mouse with different colours and to offer it to the bishop, as being a rare and curious animal which he had just brought from Palestine. The bishop is transported with delight at the sight of it, and immediately offers the merchant three silver pounds for such a treasure. But the merchant, acting on his instructions, bargains with the bishop, saying that he would rather throw it into the sea than sell it for so little. Finally the bishop offers twenty pounds for it. The merchant, wrapping up the 'ridiculus mus' in precious silk, is going away when the collector, unable to bear the thought of losing so great a curio, calls him back and says that he will give him a bushel of silver for it. This the merchant accepts: the money is paid; and the merchant returns to the Emperor to give him an account of the transaction.

Then Charlemagne convokes the bishops and priests of allthe province, and placing before them the money which the mouse has fetched, reads them a homely lesson on the foolishness of collecting profitless trifles. Sternly he enjoins them in future to use their money in administering to the wants of the poor rather than to throw it away on such unprofitable baubles as a painted mouse. The guilty bishop, now become the laughing-stock of the province, is permitted to depart without punishment.

Doubtless the great majority of book-collectors are not specialists. They may set greater store by a certain class of works which appeals to them from some whimsical reason, but until they have grown middle-aged in their pursuit most of them are butdilettanti.

'Yes,' I can hear you exclaim, 'but if your collecting propensities are to be curbed and countless books passed by, books which your very instinct urges you to acquire, surely you will lose most of the charm of collecting? How dull to be obliged to purchase only those works to which you have vowed to confine yourself.'

Dull! No. I can assure you from my own experience that this restraint will but serve to redouble your eagerness, to sharpen an appetite in danger of becoming blunted by a plethora ofdesiderataand a shrinkage of your purse. So that whereas before, a short stroll about the book-shops would discover to you abundance, or at least plenty, of books that you would like casually to possess, now that you have become a specialist you must go further afield. Often you will return empty-handed from your rambles, and your sanctum (to the delight of the housemaid) will not be invaded quite so often by stacks of 'dirty old books.' Order will come out of chaos; many works bought upon impulse because they appealed to you at the moment will be weeded out and discarded. Moreover the shillings which this process yields will enable you to send that priceless gem, thechef d'œuvreof your collection, to the binder's, that its extrinsic appearance may be fashioned in keeping with its intrinsic worth.

More important still, you will become a known man. The booksellers will remember you, and one day when you reach home from a long and barren ramble, you will find a postcard awaiting you, announcing the discovery of some book for which you have long sought.

'Sir,—I have found a copy of the Vitruvius fo. Venice, 1535, that you asked me for some time ago. You can have it for 10s. (vellum, clean copy). Shall I send it?—Yours respectfully,John Brown.'

Your ramble may have been on a cold winter's afternoon, it may have been raining and muddy underfoot, but will not this cheer you up and warm you better than any cup of tea? And what will be your sensations as you undo the parcel, take out the treasure (which you once saw in Johnson's catalogue for £3), turn eagerly to its title-page, and collate it as gently as though you were handling some priceless work of art? Don't tell me! The specialist gets a thousand times more pleasure out of his hobby than ever did casual buyer. Besides, what rapture will be his whenever he chance upon some book for which he has long been searching, or upon some work on his very subject and yet unknown to him; for book-collecting is full of surprises.

Some of the booksellers will ask you for a list of your wants. You may safely supply them with one, and it is not necessary to state the maximum price which you are prepared to pay for each. Should you do so, probably it will be taken to indicate that you are prepared to pay the price named, and the book when found will be offered to you at that price (or a few shillings less to give the idea of a bargain) when you might have had it at a considerably lower figure. Remember also that the very fact of a book being sought for enhances its price. Suppose that a country bookseller sees an advertisement in the trade journal asking for a copy of a certain obscure sixteenth-century work, and that he recollects he has a copy somewhere in stock. He finds it among his shelvesmarked, possibly, five shillings. When he answers the advertisement it is more than likely that he will ask a pound or even two for it. At the same time, however, you must consider whether or not the book is worth as much to you. It may be a little known and, to the world at large, a valueless book, and you may have to wait some years before you are able to secure a copy; whereas by advertising for it you may procure a copy almost immediately. Do you prefer to take the chance of having to wait years for a book which you urgently want, or to pay a longish price and possess it at once?

There is another point to be considered. Should you ever part with your collectionen bloc, or should your executors dispose of it, this volume will be an item of the collection of works in which you specialise. As such it will be much more likely to realise the larger than the smaller price, especially as the disposal of a collection of books upon a definite subject attracts to the rostrum other collectors of a like class of works.

Surely every book-collector is in his heart of hearts a specialist. Have you ever taken into your hands some choice gem of your collection without wishing that there were others in your library of the same genus? Is there not some one volume among your books that demands your first consideration when new shelving is put up, when your books are re-arranged; the volume to which you would fly first of all if a fire broke out in your sanctum? Brother bookman, I can almost hear you turn in your chair at the awful prospect of having to make choice between your beloved tomes! Indeed I am with you whole-heartedly, for there are two books, two priceless gems, rescued (the one from Austria, the other France) after years of patient search, two books which ever strive for the ascendancy in my bibliophilic affections. Far from me be it to make distinction between them. Granted, however, that you have made up your mind as to the identity ofthetreasure, do you not wish to possess other equally choice works of the sameclass, on the same subject? Suppose some distant relative of yours with great propriety should die, bequeathing you all unexpectedly far more worldly goods than you had ever hoped to possess; supposing also that you were 'without encumbrances' or ties of any description, and that your sole aim and ambition in this world was the collecting unto yourself of the choicest fruits of master minds: what would be your first act, in so far as your hobby is concerned?

I know what our book-hunter would do under such conditions. He would take the next train to Paris, proceed to a certain shop not a great distance from the Rue St. Honoré, mount the step-ladder and hand down to the delighted Henri just precisely what he fanciedin his own particular line. This process he would continue elsewhere until he had formed a goodly nucleus round which to amass still scarcer volumes as they came to hand. And I venture to think that you would do the same, though not necessarily in Paris.

What is it that makes a man a specialist? Is it a particular knowledge of a certain subject? Do all book-collecting doctors garner only herbals and early medical works? Does the poet-collector specialise in poetry, the freemason in masonic books, the angler in works dealing only with his pastime?

Not always, perhaps; but doubtless this is the case with the great majority of collectors. Sometimes a chance purchase may shape the entire course of a man's collecting, sometimes he is led to the subject to which he devotes his collecting energies by devious byways. Our book-hunter has a friend who began to collect old French books on Chivalry through a touch of influenza. When convalescent his doctor ordered him a sea-voyage. An hour after the advice was given he met a shipping friend, who offered him a cabin in a ship just about to start on a trading voyage in the Mediterranean. At Crete the ship was detained for some repairs, so he took the opportunity to visit Rhodes in a coasting vessel. He was much struck with the famous Street of the Knights and ancientbuildings of the great military Order that once owned the island, and regretted that he knew so little about it. Nor did his scanty knowledge of these things enable him to appreciate to the full the buildings of the Order at Malta.

On his return to this country he spent some time at the British Museum, delving into these knightly records of the past, but was unable even then to discover all that he wished to know. So for a time he took up his abode in Paris, working daily at the Archives, the Arsenal Library, and Bibliothèque Nationale. Then came the Library of the Vatican. To-day his collection of ancient works on La Chevalerie, in most of the languages of Europe, is a thing to be proud of, and his sub-collection on the Hospitallers and their commanderies is especially rich. Probably there are few works upon this subject with which he is unacquainted, and the bibliography upon which he is at work bids fair to become the standard volume.

What an immense part Chance plays in all our lives. Some of the most momentous events in the world's history have turned upon the most trivial happenings. Had not a wild boar run in a certain direction, probably there would have been no Norman Conquest of England! Robert of Normandy, out hunting with his friends, roused a boar which, running a certain course, necessitated the duke's return through the village street where he saw and fell in love with the burgess's daughter who became the mother of William the Conqueror. Had the boar run north instead of south, probably Robert would never have seen Arlette, and William would never have been born. Olaf of Norway, the great sea-king whose name was feared from Brittany to the Orkneys, was converted to Christianity by a chance landing at the Scilly Isles, where haply he visited the cell of a holy man that dwelt there.

Let us now draw up a list of those subjects which generally engage the attention of specialists. The list is a lengthy one and offers an infinite variety. Each heading will comprise various sub-headings, and of these I shall speak more in detail.

From this list are purposely omitted books printed upon vellum, Books of Hours of the Virgin Mary, and illuminated books; for these are rarities within reach of the wealthy only. Nor is 'bindings' included, for the man who collects these is no book-lover in the truest sense of the word, and his hobby does not fall properly within the category of book-collecting, being classed rather under the heading Art and Vertu, Bric-à-Brac, or what you will. Naturally all book-collectors (save perhaps the 'original-boards-uncut' man) are sensible to the charm of a choicely bound copy, provided always that the binding be appropriate and that it is impossible to obtain the book in its original covers; but it is for something more than the mere outsides of his treasures that the real book-lover cares.

Needless to say, there are other subjects which have their devotees. Some collectors specialise in large-paper copies, some prefer certain editions which contain matter suppressed later. Others collect early children's books, gipsy literature, Egyptology, books on inventions, ballooning, etc. But most of these are more in the nature of sub-headings to the subjects in our list, and offer a more restricted field of collecting. Indeed I am in some doubt as to whether the large-paper collector should be included here, for his penchant is as far removed from true book-collecting as is that of the specialist in bindings. His hobby can have nothing to do with literature, since it is only the external characteristics of a book which appeal to him. He may be 'wise in his generation,' but his pursuit approaches closely to bibliomania. This objection may perhaps also be urged against one other subject in our list, namely, privately-printed books. But here thereis an ulterior interest beyond the mere singularity of their production; for there are very many books of great merit, chiefly memoirs and family histories, which their authors have designed, from personal and contemporary reasons, to come only into the hands of their own families and acquaintances.

So here is your list, reader, take your choice. But perchance you are already numbered among the elect, one of thosemagiamong bibliophiles who are at once the despair of the booksellers and the wise men of their generation? Is it not to the specialists that we owe the bulk of our knowledge of old books—for who else is it that produce the bibliographies, numerous but not nearly numerous enough, that delight the heart of the collector? All praise to them, and, brother bibliophile, if you are not yet of their number in heart at least, read through the foregoing list once more and put a mark with your pencil against the heading which is most to your taste. If you do not see your chosen subject at once, a scrutiny will probably discover it for you included in another and wider subject.[74]For example, Astronomy and Astrology, inseparably bound up in the ancient works, are included in the heading 'Occult.' Herbals, which deal with the medicinal qualities of plants, you will find under 'Medical.'

Is your purse a long one? Would you not like to garner folios and quartos with weird and heavy types that speak of a craft yet in its infancy; books that perchance have seen or even been handled by the actual combatants of Barnet or of Bosworth Field; books with monstrous crude yet wholly delightful woodcuts that bring before us the actual appearance of our forebears under the King-maker, Richard Crouchback, and Harry Richmond? Or would you like to gather to yourself as many examples as you may, in the finest possible condition, of the exquisite art of Aldo Manuccio the elder? But perhaps the following, from a recent catalogue, represents a class (20) more to your palate.

L'Histoire du tres fameux et tres redoute Palmerin d'Olive . . . . traduite de Castillan en Francoys reueue et derechef mise en son entier, selon nostre vulgaire moderne et usite, par Jean Maugin, dit l'Angeuin.With45large spirited woodcuts (some being nearly full-page) representing duels, battles, etc., and132large ornamental initial letters. Folio, Paris, 1553.

Is your purse a light one? Then fifteenth-century books are denied you, as are all other esteemed works of the Middle Ages such as romances and classics. But there is hardly another heading in our list, save perhaps the first editions of the great authors, which you may not make your own. Almost every subject has its bibliography, and many fresh volumes are added yearly to the ever-increasing list of 'books about books.' You will find what bibliographies have appeared upon your particular subject, up to 1912, by referring to Mr. W. P. Courtney's 'Register of National Bibliography,' which should be (if indeed it is not) in every public library throughout the kingdom.

Some day an enterprising public body will purchase a building with fifty-five rooms (or thereabouts), each of which will contain a small and carefully selected collection of books on each one of these subjects. Each room will have its own catalogue and its own librarian, who will be an expert in the subject over which he presides. The rooms, of course, will vary in size according to the magnitude of the subject and the number of sub-headings which it comprises. Readers will have access to the shelves in almost every case, books of great value alone being kept under lock and key.

How invaluable such a library would be, and what a vast amount of time would all readers be saved! We should know instantly to whom to turn for expert advice upon any subject—for the sub-librarians would naturally be acquainted with more than the mere outsides of the volumes in their charge.We should be able to handle the latest works upon our subject immediately; and we should have, ready to our hand, a history of its literature from the earliest times to the present day.

As to whether the acquisition of knowledge by this method would not turn us all into journalists, however, is another matter.

With the first heading in our list shall be included several others, namely (2) Africa; (5) Australasia; (55) Travels and Explorations (which heading includes every land under the sun not specially mentioned in our list), and (56) Voyages and Shipwrecks; in short, all those subjects which concern 'foreign parts.' They are subjects which are most likely to engage the attentions of collectors who have been seafaring in their time, though, as has been shown inChapter II., it is not every traveller who has been far afield.

Books on Arctic and Antarctic exploration, as well as whaling voyages, comprise much reading that is as interesting to the landsman as to the sailor. Most of its literature is within easy reach of the collector of modest means, though the earlier volumes are naturally increasing gradually in price. One of the hardest to obtain is William Scoresby's 'Account of the Arctic Regions,' which was published in two octavo volumes at Edinburgh in 1820. You will be lucky if you find a clean sound copy of it with the plates unspotted. It is now getting very scarce, as is Weddell's 'Voyage towards the South Pole in 1822-24' (octavo, London, 1825).

Each of these headings can be subdivided according to your requirements. Africa you may divide conveniently into West, South, East, and Central; North Africa being best classified under the various countries which it contains, namely, Algiers, Morocco, Tripoli, and Tunis. Egypt, of course, has a vast literature of its own. Similarly books on Australasia may be divided into those which deal with Polynesia, New Guinea, Australia (again divided into its states), Tasmania, and New Zealand; though, properly speaking, the first of these should be classified under the heading 'Voyages.'

There is little doubt that those collectors who have devoted their energies during the past twenty-five years to the collecting of books on Africa, especially the South, will prove at no very distant date to have been wise in their purchases. Just as early Americana are so eagerly bought by our neighbours across the Atlantic at immense prices, far and away out of all proportion to their intrinsic worth as literature or history, so will the day come when those of our kin whose fathers sought a home in the 'great dark continent' will go to any length to procure works which deal with the early history of that newer world; and this will be the case, perhaps even sooner, with our Australasian friends.

The early books on Australia are most interesting. Besides Governor Phillip's 'Voyage to Botany Bay' (1789) and his Letters therefrom (1791) there are such compilations as John Callander's version of the Comte de Tournay's 'Terra Australis Cognita,' or Voyages to the Southern Hemisphere during the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries, three octavo volumes published at Edinburgh between 1766 and 1768. Then there is Admiral Hunter's 'Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island' (1793).[75]Hunter sailed with the first fleet in 1787 under Arthur Phillip, the first governor of Botany Bay, as second in command of H.M.S.Sirius, and afterwards became governor-general of New South Wales in succession to Phillip. His journal gives a very valuable account of the early days of the Colony. Barrington's, Mitchell's, and Sturt's handsome volumes, all with fine plates, are still to be had for shillings. They seem a very good investment.

Books on the South Seas have a peculiar interest, for the subject at once conjures up the name of the immortal Captain Cook; and the accounts of his remarkable voyages between 1768 and 1779 are perhaps the most eagerly sought for of all books on Polynesia. The first voyage of discovery in whichthe great explorer took part was in the years 1768 to 1771. His ship, theEndeavour, was accompanied in the first part of the voyage by theDolphinandSwallow; and an account of theEndeavour'svoyage was published surreptitiously in 1771 by, it is said, certain of the petty officers of Cook's vessel.[76]But the compilation of an authentic account of the voyage, from the rough notes and diaries, was entrusted to Dr. Hawkesworth, and was published in 1773 in three quarto volumes. From this task Hawkesworth gleaned £6000, and although we are told that the book 'was read with an avidity proportioned to the novelty of the adventures which it recorded,' yet the compiler so far offended against the canons of good taste as to cause considerable offence. Cook gained such credit for his intrepidity that he was promptly promoted from lieutenant to commander.

A second expedition was soon planned, and in 1772 theResolutionand theAdventureset sail, the former returning to England in 1775. The results of this voyage were drawn up by Captain Cook himself, and published in 1777 in two quarto volumes. In 1776 he sailed once more in theResolution, but was destined never to return, for on St. Valentine's Day, 1779, he met his death at the hands of the natives of Hawaii. The expedition returned the next year, and the official account of it was published in 1784, in three quarto volumes, of which the first two were from the pen of Cook, the third volume being written by James King. The following year a second edition appeared, also in three quarto volumes. All these works have maps, charts, and folding plates, which are sometimes bound up separately into folio volumes. A few of these somewhat crude plates were engraved by Bartolozzi. Admiral James Burney's 'Chronological History of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Sea,' was published in five quarto volumes between 1803 and 1817.The author was one of Cook's officers, and the diary of the last voyage which he sailed in company with the great navigator is still (1921) in manuscript. His account of the death of Captain Cook, however, was published in the 'Cornhill Magazine' so lately as November 1914.

During the first half of the nineteenth century many handsome works upon these subjects issued from the press. For the most part they are sumptuous books, many of them having coloured plates and sometimes folding ones. They were published chiefly for subscribers at prices ranging from two guineas to fifteen; and during the last few years they have risen considerably in price. Until the decline of the coloured engraving in the 'fifties of last century they were legion in number, both quartos and octavos, and many are still to be had for a few shillings. But a study of booksellers' catalogues alone will give you an idea of their prices and values. Needless to say, works upon voyages, travels, and explorations issued in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are becoming increasingly scarce and valuable.

Here a word of warning. Before you purchase any of these illustrated volumes, make sure (by referring to a bibliography or standard collation if possible) that it is intact. Frequently a plate or a map is missing, and sometimes an unscrupulous seller will go so far as to remove the 'list of plates' in order that the blemish may remain undetected. With such defects, books of travel are generally of little worth.

Some of the byways included in these headings of Travel and Foreign Countries are of considerable interest for the bibliographer no less than for the traveller. Who has confined his attentions to the early Saracenic literature of North Africa? There is a number of works dealing with it, chiefly sixteenth-century Spanish books, and all are of considerable value. Luis del Marmol's 'Descripcion general del Affrica' is in three folio volumes, of which the first two were printed at Granada in 1573, the third volume being dated at Malaga, 1599. But though Marmol affixed his own name to it, thework is little more than a translation of the 'Description of Africa,' by Leo Africanus, a fellow-countryman of Marmol, who composed his work in Arabic. Marmol was certainly well qualified for his task, for he was taken prisoner by the Moors in 1546, and was eight years in captivity in Africa. Curio's 'Sarracenicae Historiae' was first published in folio at Basel in 1567; but it was English'd by T. Newton in 1575, quarto, black letter, London—if you are so lucky as to come across it. It is called 'A Notable Historie of the Saracens.' Dan's 'Histoire de la Barbarie,' folio, Paris, 1649, appears in the sale-room from time to time.

Americana.

3. Americana—what a vast subject in itself! Its very definition signifies the inclusion of everything upon any subject whatsoever that has ever been written upon the Americas! But in the bibliographer's reading this term is generally taken to imply those early works relating to the discovery and settlement of the United States and Canada, though not necessarily in the English language. For the purposes of our list, however, we will confine its meaning solely to the United States; classifying books upon Canada, Alaska, and Mexico under the heading Travels and Exploration. Under the latter heading also, of course, will come the various countries of Central and South America.

Many have been the collections upon the early history of New England, and you will do well to obtain the catalogues of the Huth, Church, Auchinleck, Winsor, Livingston, Grenville, and Hoe collections. The famous collection of Americana from the library at Britwell Court was to have been sold by auction at Sotheby's in August 1916; but it was purchaseden blocto go to New York, where it was dispersed by public auction the following January. The sale catalogue (Sotheby's) is an extremely good one, and contains a large number of works previously undescribed. The well-known library of Americana amassed by Dr. White Kennet, bishop of Peterborough during the latter part of the seventeenth century, and entrusted by him in 1712 to the keeping of theSociety for the Propagation of the Gospel 'for their perpetual use,' was sold by order of that Society at Sotheby's in August 1917 and realised very high prices, though most of the items were in poor condition. The gem of the collection, 'New England Canaan,' 1632, and most of the other important volumes (seventy-nine in all) had been presented previously by the Society to the British Museum. The highest price realised was £650, which was paid for 'A True Relation of the late Battell fought in New England between the English and the Salvages,' 1637, a small quarto of sixteen leaves, said to be by the Rev. Philip Vincent.[77]

There are two valuable bibliographies upon this subject, both necessarily large and important works. They are Sabin's 'Dictionary of Books relating to America,' in nineteen octavo volumes published at New York from 1868 to 1891, which, however, comprises only the headings from A to Simms: and Evans' 'American Bibliography,' privately printed in eight quarto volumes at Chicago, 1903 to 1914. Harrisse's 'Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima' (New York, 1866) with its supplement (Paris, 1872) is a bibliography of the rarest books concerning America that appeared between 1492 and 1551. Mr. W. H. Miner's 'The American Indians, North of Mexico,' published by the Cambridge University Press in 1917, contains a bibliography of works on the aboriginals.

Architecture.

4. Works upon Architecture are,de natura, for the greater part 'art books,' and comprise not only such large works as Furttenbach's massive tomes and the works of Britton and Billing, but the many beautifully illustrated books published by Ackermann at the beginning of last century. Most of them, English and foreign, are books of considerable value, for the plates were often produced by the great masters of engraving, and they readily command high prices whenever they appear in the market. But thereis a large and increasing number of smaller works which deal with buildings and designs, as well as those books concerning buildings of an historical interest. There does not seem to be any monumental bibliography of architectural books, but you will find useful lists in Mr. W. P. Courtney's volumes.

The older books upon this subject are necessarily scarce: such as Alberti's 'Libri de Re Ædificatoria Decem,' which appeared first at Florence in 1485. This work, however, was reprinted at Paris in 1512, and you may have a copy of it for a couple of pounds, though the first French translation 'L'Architecture et Art de bien bastir, trad. par deffunct Jan Martin,' folio, Paris, 1553, with fine large woodcuts, will cost you four times as much. It is a fine book, and contains a portrait of the author as well as a three-page epitaph by Ronsard on the deffunct Jan Martin.

Bibles.

6. The collection of Bibles is perhaps one of the commonest subjects to engage the attention of specialists. There is a numerous bibliography, ranging from Anthony Johnson's little tract 'An Historical Account of the English Translations of the Bible,' printed in 1730, down to the Rev. J. L. Mombert's 'English Versions of the Bible,' of which a new edition appeared in 1907. You will find the volumes of Anderson, Cotton, Eadie, Loftie, Dore, Darlow and Moule, Stoughton, and Scrivener of assistance to you here, as well as Westcott's 'General View of the History of the English Bible,' of which a third and revised edition was published in 1905. It contains a useful list of English editions of the Holy Writ. The Huth Collection, that portion of it which was sold in 1911-12, was especially rich in Bibles, as was the Amherst Library, dispersed in 1908-09. This last contained editions from 1455 (the so-called 'Mazarin' Bible) to King Charles the First's own copy of the 1638 Cambridge edition. The sale catalogues of these will be of value to you.

7. Bibliography is perhaps the subject nearest to the heart of every bibliophile. But since the collection of 'books aboutbooks' must of necessity be the stepping-stone by which the book-lover attains his knowledge of the extrinsic attributes of his hobby, I have dealt with this subject at some length in the chapter wherein are treated the 'books of the collector.'

Biography.

8. Biography, Memoirs, Diaries: what a flood of names and memories occur to one under this heading! Not only the immortal Boswell and Pepys, but Fanny Burney, Alexandre Dumas, Mary Wortley-Montague, Lord Herbert of Cherbury,et permulti alii. Also, this heading will comprise that great series of mysterious and 'racy' books ycleped 'Court Memoirs,' and the somewhat less exciting but—to our book-hunter's mind at least—more interesting works which border on the domain of history, such as the Memoirs of Blaise de Montluc and Saint-Simon: works which bring home to us the everyday life of those far-off days more clearly than anything that has ever been written about them since.

How meagre is the stock of valuable historical memoirs with which we may furnish our libraries to-day! There is abundance to be had—after long searching, but the great Memoirs which we may have to hand, such as Froissart and Monstrelet, Waurin and La Marche, must number scarce a couple of dozen. Perhaps some day a philanthropic publisher will give us good editions (unabridged) of Sir James Melvil, Sir Philip Warwick, Edmund Ludlow, Bulstrode Whitlock, Sir Thomas Herbert, Robert Cary, Denzil Lord Holles, and many other valuable contemporary evidences now scarcely to be had, and when found usually in ancient tattered calf. Why is it, too, that the great mass of French chroniclers who bear witness to English doings in the wars of Normandy, Brittany, Burgundy, Anjou and Touraine remain still untranslated and almost unprocurable?

There are so many delightful Memoirs to which one would like to have access at will. Jean de Boucicault, Marshal of France, stands out as one of the most interesting figures inmediæval France and, indeed, Europe. Nicknamed 'le meingre,' he was Vicomte de Turenne, and bore arms at the age of ten. His father[78]also was a Marshal of France. Few men have lived such a stirring life as this paragon of knightly prowess. At Rosebeque in 1382 (where Philip van Artevelde and 20,000 Flemings were slain), being then a page of honour to Charlesvi., he fought at the King's side and acquitted himself so well that he received knighthood at the King's hands. Thenceforward he was fighting continually in Flanders, Normandy, Brittany, Languedoc—in short wherever there was fighting to be done. In 1396, marching with the flower of the French chivalry through Bulgaria against the Turks, he was one of the three thousand knights taken prisoner at the disastrous battle of Nicopoli; but was among the twenty-five whose lives were spared by the savage victor. Four years later he was defending Constantinople for the Emperor against his late captor, and here again he distinguished himself greatly by his bravery.

Not long after this he was appointed Governor of Genoa. In command of the Genoese fleet he undertook to chastise the Cypriots for an outrage on some Genoese gentlemen. But calling at Rhodes on the way, the Grand Master of the Hospitallers persuaded him to try the effect of mediation first of all, and proceeded to Cyprus himself for that purpose. Whereupon the Marshal, 'to beguile the time, and give employment to the fiery spirits on board his squadron' (says a later chronicler) 'ran down at a venture to the Syrian city of Scanderoon, which place he carried by assault and plundered.' Encouraged by this success, on the Grand Master's return he persuaded that great personage to accompany him on a further expedition, and together they harried the whole coast of Syria, the Hospitaller confining his attention to the Infidels whilst the Marshal razed thefactories which the Venetians (enemies to the Genoese) had established at Baruth and other places. Thus passing a very pleasant summer.

In Italy he took an active part in the turmoil betwixt Guelphs and Ghibellines, and seized Milan for the former (1409). At Agincourt in 1415 he commanded the vanguard of the French army, and was taken prisoner. Being sent to England, he remained there until his death six years later. This great soldier was a man of many accomplishments, an ardent musician as well as a poet; and his leisure was passed chiefly in composing ballads, rondeaux, and virelays. Yet his 'Livre des Faicts' remains unenglish'd.

Another truly great man of a later period was that great warrior of saintly life and death, Henri, Duc de Montmorency. After a long and noble career of arms in the service of his king no less than of his countrymen, he fell a victim to the jealousy of Cardinal de Richelieu. 'Dieu vouloit que sa mort fust aussi admirable que sa vie,' writes his biographer; 'que ses dernieres actions couronnassent toutes les autres; et que ses vertus Chrestiennes jettassent encor plus d'eclat que n'avoient fait les Heroiques.' Brought to the scaffold he refused to avail himself of the indulgence of having his hands at liberty. 'So great a sinner as I,' he said, 'cannot die with too much ignominy.' Of his own accord he took off his splendid dress. 'How can I,' said he, 'being so great a sinner go to my death in such attire when my guiltless Saviour died naked upon the Cross.' Yet save we are contented to turn to a poorly printed seventeenth-century edition of his Life, there is no place (to my knowledge at least) where we can read of this truly great man, and, of course, no version other than that in the French tongue.

Then there is that great and vivacious chronicle of the house of Burgundy during the fifteenth century, the Memoirs of Messire Olivier, Sieur de la Marche. No historian would write of the Flemish wars, from the Peace of Arras in 1435to the taking of Ghent by the Archduke Maximilian in 1491, without constant reference to this invaluable work, for la Marche was often an eye-witness of the events which he records. Yet so far it has not been rendered in English, and I know of no complete edition in modern French. It is the same with the memorials of Bouchet, Chartier, de Coussy, Crillon, Olivier de Clisson, and many other great soldiers, all of whom have much to say of the wars 'contre les Anglois.' The famous history of Bertrand du Guesclin[79]contained in 'Le Triomphe des Neuf Preux' does not seem to have been reprinted after its second appearance in Spanish at Barcelona in 1586, and there is no English version.

Why is it that biography has such a peculiar fascination for most men? Is it but curiosity to know how others have passed their lives, mere idle inquisitiveness? Or is it that we may store up in our minds what these great ones said and did upon occasions that may occur to us some day? This is, perhaps the more likely; for women dislike biographies, and women, we are told, care not a fig for examples, but act upon their native intuition. Be the reason what it may, the fact remains that for one man who looks to the future there are fifty who look to the past. Moreover the sages of all times encourage us to seek examples in the lives of other men, and examples are certainly of more value than idle speculations. 'With what discourses should we feed our souls?' asked one of that pleasant philosopher Maximus of Tyre. 'With those that lead the mindἐπὶ τὸν πρόσθεν χρόνον—towards formertimes,' replied the sage—those that exhibit the deeds of past ages.

Possibly it would be better to include biographical dictionaries under this heading than under 'Dictionaries.' Oettinger's 'Bibliographie Biographique Universelle,' published first in quarto at Leipzig, 1850, describes some 26,000 biographies, under their subjects' names. A second edition appeared in two octavo volumes at Brussels four years later. There is a useful catalogue of 174 biographical dictionaries in all languages at the end of the third volume of John Gorton's 'General Biographical Dictionary,' the 1833 edition.

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