RANGERISING" is a term familiar enough to the initiated, but possibly a mystery to "the general." There is many a book which a nice instinct feels ought to be illustrated, such as histories, accounts of persons and places. Hence it is that certain ingenious persons, with plenty of money and more idle time on hand, have devoted their lives to the Grangerising some favourite work. To this pursuit they have devoted energy and purpose, hunting up and hunting down, tearing and cutting out, ransacking generally, until they have secured what they desired. It is in this way, as Mr. Blades shows, that fearful havoc has been wrought, and thousands of fine books mutilated and destroyed by the Grangerites. And why Grangerites? It seems that a Rev. Mr. Granger came into the world specially for the benefit of these Attilas, having written an enormous "History of England,” in which he made allusion to every celebrated person and place connected with the chronicles of England. It may be conceived what welcome volumes these were to the collecting "Grangerite," and from that

time to the present there have always been a number of persons diligently engaged in the task. Some of these collections have cost fortunes. The "Bindley Granger" was celebrated. The late Mr. John Forster had two Grangerised copies of "Granger," one in fourteen folio volumes, the other in seventeen. Together they contain between five and six thousand portraits, many of which are singularly rare and costly, and might count as originals. The incidental expenses of Grangerising are serious, owing to the nice "laying down" of the prints on extra fine paper, and of the "inlaying to folio size" of small printed pages, which is an expensive operation.

Dr. Dibdin, in his most sarcastic vein, gives a happy instance of this mania. "Take this passage," he says, "from Speed: 'Henry Le Spencer, the warlike Bishop of Norwich, being drawn on by Pope Urban to preach a crusade, and to be general against Clement,' To be properly illustrated, (1) Procure all the portraits, at all periods of his life, of Henry Le Spencer. (2) Obtain every view, ancient or modern, like or unlike, of the city of Norwich, and, if fortune favour you, of every bishop of the See. (3) Every portrait of Pope Urban must be procured, and as many prints and drawings as will give a notion of the Crusade. (4) You must search high and low, early and late, for every print of Clement. (5) Procure, or you will be wretched, as many fine prints of cardinals and prelates, singly or in groups, as will impress you with a proper idea of a conclave. The result, gentle reader, will be that you will have work enough cut out to occupy you for one whole month at least." He then adds that "a late distinguished and highly respectable female collector, who

had commenced an illustrated 'Bible, procured for the illustration of verses 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25 of chapter i. of Genesis no less than 700 prints!"

It will be a surprise to know that even in the present time there is sometimes a wealthy amateur who, with a love or passion for a particular subject, determines to adorn it in a special fashion, and gives an order for a superb memorial to be prepared, set off with exquisite writing, a series of drawings and watercolours, the whole being bound with all the luxury "the bibliopegistic art" can furnish. It is thus that we find many a superb volume prepared, to celebrate this generous ardour.

One of the most tastefully printed modern works is Doré's famous Bible published at Tours, the English edition having but small pretensions. It is adorned with a vast number of illustrations; but an enterprising Grangerite has gathered every Scripture print procurable, including all the most famous line engravings, each of which is a thing of cost and rarity, and has thus enlarged the work from two to ten sumptuous volumes.

Men the most unlikely have engaged in this fascinating craze. In the last century there was a Mr. Storer, one of the wild set led by the Duke of Queensberry, who never flagged in collecting, and left the result of his labours to his University.

An extraordinary monument of pains, patience, and expense in this direction is "Clutterbuck's History of Hertfordshire," which an enthusiast adorned and expanded in this fashion, regardless of expense. Starting with some fifty plates of its own of antiquities, seats, castles, plans, &c., proof impressions, superb copy on large paper, it was enlarged

from three volumes to ten volumes, folio, and “illustrated by eleven hundred original landscapes, architectural views, and portraits, beautifully painted in water-colours by Buckler, Harding, and other eminent artists; also fourteen hundred drawings of coats of arms, beautifully emblazoned by Dowse, and nearly six hundred additional engravings, comprising views, old buildings, antiquities, portraits, &c., by Houbraken, &c., fine and large mezzotints and brilliant India proofs in folio, russia extra, gilt edges, by Holloway." This, we are told, was a magnificent monument of industry and liberality, and the finest copy which has ever been offered for sale. The work of many years, it was executed regardless of expense, and cost thousands of pounds to produce." The name of this Grangerite was John Morice, Esq., F.S.A. Eight hundred guineas was asked for this treasure by Messrs. Robson & Kerslake, the vendors.

Another of these costly and stupendous enterprises was the copy of "Pennant's London," illustrated by a Mr. Crowle, and bequeathed by that gentleman to the British Museum, where it now reposes. Pennant is a favourite subject, as the prints of London buildings and London streets are to be found in enormous abundance. But what was this to the prodigious "Clarendon and Burnet," a collection of illustrative pictures formed by Mr. Sutherland of Gower Street, and continued by his widow, and by her presented to the Bodleian Library? It has been said that this is the richest and most extensive pictorial history in existence, or ever likely to be in existence; and this will be admitted when it is stated that there are nearly 19,000 prints and drawings. The scale on which it is carried out may be conceived when we

find it contains no less than 731 portraits of Charles I., 518 of Charles II., 352 of Cromwell, 273 of James II., and 420 of William III. If we only think how few are the portraits of Charles I. that we ourselves have seen, mostly copies after Vandyke, we shall have an idea of the labour and exploration necessary to gather up the 731. Think also of the labour, pains, and cost in cleaning, "laying down," "insetting," and "inlaying" these portraits, the binding, arranging, &c., and we shall not be surprised to learn that this folly occupied the eccentric and fanatical Sutherland forty precious years of his life; that it fills sixty-seven huge volumes, and cost twelve thousand pounds! We may conceive all the visitings of print-shops, the turning over boxes of prints, the visiting of wynds and lanes, the correspondence, and the endless paying of money. Το give a finish to his labours, a catalogue was prepared of all the engravings, and which fills two great quartos.

Portraits en masse have little value, as they are mostly copies one from another. "There is a charm," it has been said, "in collections of the human face divine," though it must needs be powerful to call forth, as it does, twenty or thirty or fifty guineas from a collector's pocket for a coarsely executed cut of some Meg Merrilees, or a condemned criminal of which the only value is being "mentioned by Granger." The illustrator of Boswell's "Johnson" will find allusions to a malefactor called Rann, otherwise "Sixteen-String Jack,” and to Johnson, a circus-rider, whom Johnson admired for driving or riding several horses at a time. There are actually in existence some cheap common sketches