containing a vast amount of bibliophilite lore. There is a copy in the Athenæum Library-the official one it may be called-which was presented to it by Messrs. Payne & Foss, the booksellers, who prepared it; and at the commencement is given an exhaustive MS. analysis of the prices, number of volumes, loss or gain on the sale of each volume, &c. From this it would seem that there were 119,613 volumes sold! which it required no less than two hundred and two days, or nearly seven months, to sell; and the sum realised was £56,774.

Few have a conception of what a serious thing a well-furnished library is, until he has turned over these marvellous pages; or even of a single department, in which there may be thousands of volumes whose titles he may have never seen or heard of before. Thus a volume was devoted to "early English" works-old quaint things of the sixteenth century, prose and poetry, masques, interludes, dramas, &c. Indeed "it may be asserted that so complete an assemblage of plays, extending from the earliest period at which they were printed down to the closing of the theatres in 1647, were never seen." The value and rarity of which may be conceived when it is stated that it is now difficult to procure an "interlude" or pageant—a single one of which may cost ten, twenty, or fifty pounds.

Book catalogues have ever a certain interest and fascination, they contain for the fanatically curious such an odd and heterogeneous amount of information. The odd notes, the prices, the glowing descriptions, all make these records pleasant reading, and form part of the romance of the saleroom. Some collectors write their own catalogue, as did Mr. Henry Huth, whose five magnificent volumes printed at the Chiswick Press "on hand-made paper and strongly bound in half

morocco, top edges gilt, Roxburgh syle," form a treatise on bibliography rather than a catalogue. Ten guineas is the price of this record, and the "impression," we are told, “has been almost disposed of."

Every collection seems to reflect its owner's character; and there is a curious interest in contrasting the different sides of character of men like George Steevens, Malone, Cole, George Daniel, and others, whose books and MSS. denote what is delicate and interesting, but whose character to the world was rough, violent, and insolent. George Steevens seemed indeed an odious person-truculent and malignant in his resentments, tortuous in his proceedings, and, as Miss Hawkins hints, reported to have died like one who had sold himself to the evil one. Yet among their books these men were all interesting. I own to a fancy for collecting the catalogues of certain famous menactors, poets, &c., which reveal by many little touches their characters. Thus I have the one of Garrick's, an elegant library in all the languages, showing the taste and accomplishments of the owner: Topham Beauclerk's, interesting to the Johnsonian (the owner is said to have departed but once from his inflexible rule of never lending a book); Kemble's, the junior James Boswell, a most interesting one full of records of the Doctor, the famous Perkins, Henderson the actor, the Stowe, Duke of Sussex, &c.

Among the famous sales were Dr. Meade's, in 1754; Mr. Woodhull's, in 1803, "rich in editiones principes" (he had thus a sale in his lifetime and one atter his death); the Lansdowne, in 1806, 31 days; Brand in 1807, 37 days, a remarkable assemblage on typography: "hundreds of uniques, Caxtons, Wynkyns, a most covetable tout ensemble; this glorious sale realised £17,000" (so sings our bookseller), Stanley's,

in 1813, which realised over £1000 a day, being rich in Italian and Spanish works ;" the Morley or Willet sale, in 1813, of block-printed chronicles, vellum and large paper copies, and other indescribable treasures ; Borromeo (good name of an owner of volumes), in 1817, "the rarest and most curious assemblage of early Italian volumes ever offered;" the Bindley, in 1818, a truly remarkable sale of "rare, curious, and early English literature"; the Fonthill, of 20,000 volumes, in 1823; the Hibbert, in 1829, a collection formed to illustrate the history of printing, and therefore offering the most splendid and unique examples; George Chalmers, in 1841; Bright, in 1845; Upcott, in 1846, remarkable for its works made up of "cuttings;" Bernal, in 1855; Sir M. Sykes, in 1824; Whiteknights, in 1829; G. Daniel, in 1864; to say nothing of innumerable others.

It is curious that within recent times there have been at least two casualties at auction-rooms which have wrought havoc on famous collections. Mr George Offers' collection was to be sold in 1865, and was one of the richest gatherings of early Scripture editions— Liturgies, Fathers, "Bunyaniana," Caxtons, Books of Hours, &c. There were to be eleven days' sale of these treasures; but the prices are only marked down to the end of the second day, when a conflagration took place at Sotheby's, which destroyed almost the whole. Many purchasers had left their books, but the wisely cautious book-buyer always takes his purchases away on the day he buys. The Charlemont collection was also partially burnt, and many works irreparably injured by water when they escaped the fire.

A great day or days at Sotheby's-not the sale days, which are theatrical, but the quiet or viewing days, when you can inspect and compare at leisure, for hours

if you will-furnishes a charm and instruction which would have delighted Doctor Dibdin himself, or the amazingly erudite author of "Mores Catholici."

The last four years have been notable for some famous sales, and opportunities, which will not occur again, have been offered of seeing some of the most famous books in the world. Indeed it might be said that all the Masterpieces of Printing have been laid open to view in the Sunderland, Hamilton, Beckford, and Syston Park sales.

The earlier months of the year 1881 were notable for an announcement that went forth, that the Blenheim Library was shortly to be sold. Already the fine collection known as the "Marlborough gems," which had been celebrated in a volume, had been disposed of en bloc to a private purchaser. The books were now to follow, while later in the year of grace 1884 the gems of the picture-gallery—great and famous works of Velasquez, Raphael, and Rubens-were sold to various purchasers. Soon the halls of the great palace will be left vacant and the walls stripped.

The news of the coming sale fluttered the book-collecting and bookselling circles all over the world, for it was known that this Sunderland Library was among the most famous, and stored with articles that would have rejoiced a Frognall Dibdin to celebrate. The sale was fixed for December 1, 1881, and occupied ten days, during which Messrs. Puttick's historical rooms were crowded with buyers from the chief capitals of Europe. The books themselves astonished many who were not curious or interested in such things, from their magnificent character, though it was remarked that the old calf bindings showed neglect, and were in rather sorry condition. For some time after were seen on the stalls many a stray volume, with the florid

arms and escutcheons of the ducal house on the sides, fallen from their high estate and palatial lodgment.

The first portion was announced as being "a remarkable collection of the Greek and Roman classical writers, in first, early, and rare editions, with a large series of early-printed Bibles, in various languages; rare editions of the great Italian writers, notably Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, and Ariosto; of chronicles in Spanish, Portuguese, English, and French; while there were many very curious tracts relating to English and French politics, with first editions of the writings of the chief French, Italian, and Spanish poets of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries." Here were also found the first editions (editiones principes), nearly eighty in number, of all the Greek and Roman classics and classical writers, besides numerous other early editions in profusion, innumerable Bibles, polyglot and others. But what this collection was chiefly remarkable for was the vast number of books printed upon vellum, and which, it was claimed, was unrivalled in this respect by any library in Europe. There were no less than fifty-eight of these choice and desirable works, most of them belonging to the "incunable,” or “cradle” category, dating from the fifteenth century-noble, splendid works, most of them set off with illuminated borderings on the front leaf, and with initials in gold and colour at the beginning of every chapter.

Here too were sold an Anacreon on vellum, "perhaps the only copy known," for £221; an Ariosto for £300; the Romance of King Arthur, a manuscript with annotations, for £535; and the "fourth printed book with a date," to wit "Balbus de Janua," for £285. There were no less than 166 rare Bibles set up for sale, of which Cardinal Ximenes' famous "Polyglot "