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HANDBOUND 

AT  THE 


L'NIVMRSITY  OF 
TORONTO  PRPcc 


THE  LIBRARY. 


THE   LIBRARY 

A  QUARTERLY  REVIEW  OF  BIBLIOGRAPHY 
AND  LIBRARY  LORE 


EDITED  BY  J.  Y.  W.  MACALISTER  AND 
ALFRED  W.  POLLARD 


IN    COLLABORATION    WITH 


KONRAD   BURGER 
LEOPOLD   DELISLE  MELVIL  DEWEY 


NEW   SERIES 
VOLUME  IX 


LONDON 

ALEXANDER  MORING,  LIMITED 

32  GEORGE  STREET,  HANOVER  SQUARE,  W. 

1908 


THE  DE  LA  MORE  PRESS  !    ALEXANDER  MORING  LIMITED 
32  GEORGE  STREET,  HANOVER  SQUARE,  LONDON,  W. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

THE  ASSERTIO   SEPTEM   SACRAMENTORUM.     By  E. 

GORDON  DUFF          ......         i 

THE  WRITINGS  OF  OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES.     By 

JAMES  ORMEROD       .         .         .         .         .         .17 

A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY — 

GALLIOT  Du  PRE".  By  ARTHUR  TILLEY  .  36,  143 
A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY  AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  By  JOHN 

BALLINGER       ....         66,  173,  309,  353 

I.  The  News-Room  (66);  II.  Children  (173);  III. 
Lending  Libraries — Branches  (309) ;  IV.  The  Refer- 
ence Library  (353). 
RECENT    FOREIGN    LITERATURE.      By   ELIZABETH 

LEE 80,  1 86,  267,  369 

SIENESE  TAVOLETTE.     By  A.  W.  POLLARD     .         .       97 
ON    CERTAIN    FALSE    DATES    IN    SHAKESPEARIAN 

QUARTOS.  By  W.  W.  GREG  (Plates)  .  113,381 
ON  SOME  BOOKS  AND  THEIR  ASSOCIATIONS.  By 

AUSTIN  DOBSON        .         .         .         .         .         .132 

SOUVENIRS    DE   JEUNESSE.      From    the    French    of 

LEOPOLD  DELISLE  .....  201,  245 
HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER,  1566-83.  67  H.  R. 

PLOMER  ........     225 

NOTES   ON    STATIONERS   FROM    THE   LAY    SUBSIDY 

ROLLS  OF  1523-4.  By  E.  GORDON  DUFF  .  .  257 
A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR.  By  J.  H.  HESSELS  .  282 
RECENT  ENGLISH  PURCHASES  AT  THE  BRITISH 

MUSEUM.     By  A.  W.  POLLARD          .         .         .     323 
THE  LEGEND  OF  ARCHBISHOP  UDO.     By  VICTOR 

SCHOLDERER          ......     337 

THE  LIBRARY  ASSOCIATION  CONFERENCE          .         .410 
THE    CASKET    SONNETS.     Transcribed   by  ROBERT 

STEELE     ........     422 


vi  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

THE    CERVANTES    COLLECTION     IN    THE     BRITISH 

MUSEUM.  By  H.  THOMAS  ....  429 
NOTES  OF  BOOKS  AND  WORK  .  .  .  110,218 
REVIEWS.  By  A.  W.  POLLARD  .  104,  212,  333,  444 

Prince  d'Essling's  Livres  a  figures  v£nitiens  (104) ; 
The  Gorleston  Psalter  :  a  manuscript  of  the  beginning 
of  the  fourteenth  century  in  the  library  of  C.  W. 
Dyson  Perrins  (212) ;  Book-Prices  Current  (215) ;  The 
Bibliophile:  a  magazine  and  review  for  the  collector, 
student,  and  general  reader  (333) ;  The  Libraries  of 
London  :  a  guide  for  students  (336) ;  Haebler's  Typen- 
repertorium  der  Wiegendrucke  (444) ;  Burger's  Sup- 
plement zu  Hain  und  Panzer  (446) ;  Peddie's  Author- 
Index  to  Fifteenth  Century  Books  (448) ;  George 
Baxter,  Colour  Printer :  his  life  and  work  (450). 

INDEX 453 


New    Series, 

No.  33,  VOL.  IX.  JANUARY,  1908. 


THE  LIBRARY. 

THE    ASSERTIO    SEPTEM    SACRA- 
MENTORUM. 

iMONG  the  many  books  published 
in  England  during  the  first  quarter 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  none  per- 
haps is  more  celebrated  than  Henry 
the  Eighth's  work  against  Luther, 
which  earned  for  him  the  gratitude  of  the  Pope, 
and  for  the  English  sovereigns  the  title  of  c  Fidei 
Defensor.' 

It  would  be  thought  that  the  bibliography  of 
such  a  book  would  have  been  fully  worked  out  long 
ago,  but  this  does  not  seem  to  be  the  case,  and 
many  misleading  and  erroneous  statements  about  it 
are  to  be  found  even  in  the  most  recent  books. 

I  do  not  propose  to  enter  into  the  literary  history 
of  the  book,  whether  Fisher  wrote  it,  or  what 
share  Wolsey  had  in  its  production.  It  seems 
pretty  well  agreed  that  it  was  the  king's  own  work, 
though  he,  no  doubt,  wisely  sought  the  assistance  of 
some  of  his  skilled  councillors.  All  are  agreed  that 
he  was  a  singularly  well-educated  man,  and  keenly 
interested  in  the  ecclesiastical  turmoils  of  the  times. 
That  he  was  quite  competent  to  write  such  a  book 

IX.  B 


2  THE  ASSERTIO 

is  undoubted,  and  I  quite  accept  his  reply  to  Luther's 
impertinent  innuendo,  'Although  ye  fayne  your 
self  to  thynke  my  boke  nat  myne  owne,  yet  it  is 
well  knowen  for  myn,  and  I  for  myne  avowe  it.' 

The  Assertio  itself  was  issued  by  Pynson  on 
1 2th  July,  1521,  and  the  following  is  a  biblio- 
graphical description : 

Title,  [within  a  border]  ASSERTIO  SEPTEM  SA- 
|  cramentorum    aduersus    Martin.  |  Lutheru.    aedita   ab 
inuidtis-     simo  Angliae  et  Fran-  |  ciae  rege,  et  do.     Hy- 
|  berniae  Henri  |  co  eius  no-  |  minis  o-  [  dlauo.     Colo- 
phon, leaf  78  b  Apud  inclytam  urbem  Londinum  in  aedibus 
Pynso-  |  nianis.      AN.  M.  D.  XXI.  quarto  Idus  lulii.  | 
Cum  priuilegio  a  rege  indulto.  | 

Collation  :  A-V4 ;  80  leaves, 

Leaf  ia,  Title;    ib,  blank;  2a-y7b,  Text;  78%  Errata; 

78b,  Colophon;  79,  80,  blank. 

The  title  is  enclosed  in  a  broad  border  frame 
with  figures  of  Mutius  and  Porsenna  at  the  bottom. 
The  initials  H.H.  for  Hans  Holbein  occur  on  a 
shield  at  the  side,  and  the  whole  border  is  a  very 
exact  copy  of  one  used  by  Froben  at  Basle. 

This  title-page  is  a  good  example  of  the  lack  of 
appreciation  of  good  spacing  shown  by  the  early 
printers.  Of  the  ten  lines  of  the  title,  seven  end 
with  part  of  a  word,  while  a  very  little  care  would 
have  procured  the  same  effect  with  the  words 
undivided. 

The  number  of  copies  printed  of  this  first  edition 
was  no  doubt  very  large,  and  copies  are  compara- 
tively common  ;  the  British  Museum,  for  example, 
has  three,  and  the  Bodleian  six.  The  combined 


SEPTEM  SACRAMENTORUM.          3 

Royal  authorship  and  the  subject  would  occasion 
a  great  demand  for  the  book,  and  copies  were 
no  doubt  soon  dispersed  over  Europe.  On  23rd 
August,  Erasmus  wrote  to  Pace  that  he  had  seen 
a  copy  of  the  book  in  the  hands  of  the  papal  nuncio 
Marini,  and  in  a  letter  to  Warham  of  the  same 
date,  complained  that  he  had  received  no  copy  of 
the  book  in  spite  of  Wolsey 's  promises. 

Now  for  some  time  Henry  had  coveted  a  new 
honour.  He  alone  amongst  the  sovereigns  of 
Europe  was  undistinguished  by  any  title  connected 
with  the  prevailing  religion.  In  June,  1521, 
Wolsey  had  applied  through  Cardinal  Campeggio 
to  the  College  of  Cardinals  for  some  such  recogni- 
tion, but  nothing  had  been  determined.  The  pub- 
lication of  the  Assertio  seemed  to  offer  an  excellent 
means  of  procuring  the  honour  which  the  Con- 
sistory seemed  unwilling  to  bestow. 

As  soon,  therefore,  as  the  book  was  ready,  Henry 
set  to  work  to  have  it  formally  presented  to  the  Pope. 
At  the  end  of  July,  Wolsey  wrote  to  the  king: 

'Si*, 

These  shall  be  onely  to  advertise  your  Grace  that 
at  this  present  Tyme  I  do  send  Mr  Tate  unto  your 
Highnes  with  the  booke  bounden  and  dressed,  which  ye 
purpose  to  send  to  the  Pope's  Holynes,  with  a  Memoriall 
of  such  other,  as  be  allso  to  be  sent  by  him  with  his 
autentique  Bulles  to  all  other  Princes  and  Universities. 
And  albeit  Sr  this  Booke  is  right  honorable,  pleasant  and 
fair,  yet  I  assure  your  Grace,  that  which  Hall  hath  written 
(which  within  4  Days  wol  be  parfited)  is  ferre  more  excel- 
lent and  princely :  And  shall  long  contynue  for  your 
perpetual  Memory  whereof  your  Grace  shall  be  more 
plenarlye  Informed  by  the  said  Mr  Tate.  I  do  send  also 


4  THE  ASSERTIO 

unto  your  Highnes  the  Choyse  of  certyne  Versis  to  be 
written  in  the  Booke  to  be  sent  to  the  Pope  of  your  owne 
Hande ;  With  the  Subscription  of  your  Name  to  remain 
in  Archivis  Eccl'ie  ad  perpetuam  &  Immortalem  vestre 
Magestatis  gloriam,  Laudem  &  memoriam,  by  your 
Most  humble  Chaplain 

<T.  CARLIS  EBOR.' 

The  verses  which  were  to  pass  as  Henry's  own 
were  duly  inscribed  in  the  presentation  copies. 
Montaigne,  in  the  account  of  his  voyage  to  Italy 
in  1 58 1,  wrote:  'I  saw  the  original  of  the  book 
that  the  King  of  England  composed  against  Luther, 
which  he  sent  about  fifty  years  since  to  Pope  Leo  X., 
subscribed  of  his  proper  hand,  with  this  beautiful 
Latin  distich,  also  of  his  hand : 

Anglorum  rex  Henricus,  Leo  decime,  mittit 
Hoc  opus,  et  fidei  testem  et  amicitiae.' 

On  25th  August,  Wolsey  wrote  to  Clerk,  the 
ambassador  at  Rome,  giving  full  instructions  about 
the  presentation  of  the  book  to  the  Pope.  He  was 
to  present  it  in  the  following  form,  declaring  the 
king's  resolution  to  support  the  Church  and  ex- 
tinguish heresy  by  the  sword  and  pen.  He  was 
then  to  deliver  the  book  privately,  covered  with 
cloth  of  gold,  subscribed  by  the  king's  hand, 
'wherein  the  king's  grace  hath  devised  and  made 
two  verses,  inserted  in  the  said  book  by  the  king's 
own  hand,'  and  if  on  perusal  it  be  approved  by  the 
Pope,  he  is  to  have  it  sent  forth  with  the  Pope's 
authority,  and  request  leave  to  present  it  publicly 
in  full  consistory,  there  to  receive  the  papal 
sanction,  and  furthermore,  '  The  King's  grace  by 


SEPTEM  SACRAMENTORUM.          5 

th'  advice  of  his  counsaill  hath  made  a  memoriall  of 
such  titles  as  he  thought  most  convenient.' 

With  this  letter  twenty-seven  copies  of  the  book 
were  sent  for  distribution.  On  i4th  September, 
Clerk  wrote  an  answer  to  Wolsey's  letter,  saying  he 
had  received  the  twenty-eight  copies  of  the  book. 
He  had  '  delyvered  his  Holines  ij  bokes,  [one]  of 
them  covered  with  clothe  of  gold,  the  other  with 
b  .  .  .  .  and  his  Holynes  ....  and  with  a  very 
amyabill  .  .  .  .'  the  said  bokys  of  me,  and  beholding 
the  porteur,  fashion  and  pryme  deckyng  of  the  said 
bokis  (whiche  he  semyd  to  like  veray  well)  openyd 
the  boke  coverd  with  clothe  of  gold,  and  begynnyng 
the  prohem  redde  thereof  successively  v  lefes  with- 
out interruption.  His  Holynes  in  redyng,  at  such 
placeis  as  he  lykyed  (and  that  seemyd  to  be  att  every 
second  lyne)  made  ever  some  demonstracion,  vel 
nutu  vel  verbo.'  Clerk  wished  to  read  to  the  Pope 
the  verses  written  by  the  king,  c  and  by  cause  the 
King's  Grace  had  wryten  the  sayd  versis  with  a  very 
small  penne,  and  by  cause  I  knew  the  Pope  to  be 
of  a  very  dull  sight,  I  wold  have  redde  unto  his 
Holynes  the  said  versis  aloud  but  his  Holynes, 
quada'  aviditate  legendi,  toke  the  boke  from  me  and 
redd  the  sayd  versis  iij  tymes  very  promptly,  to  my 
great  merval  and  commendyng  them  singlarly.' 

The  Pope  approved  of  its  being  presented  in  the 
consistory,  and  desired  five  or  six  more  to  deliver 
them  to  the  Cardinals.  He  approved  of  their  being 
sent  to  divers  Christian  princes,  and  liked  the  king's 
new  title.  Clerk  ended  his  letter  by  saying  that 

1  MS.  Vitellius,  B.  iv.  165.  The  portions  indicated  by  dots  are 
illegible. 


6  THE  ASSERTIO 

he  had  asked  the  Pope  to  fix  a  day  for  the  con- 
sistory, and  would  have  his  own  oration  ready  in  a 
fortnight,  and  would  forward  it  to  Wolsey. 

At  the  end  of  September  Clerk  informed  the 
Pope  that  his  oration  was  ready,  and  asked  for  a 
public  consistory  for  presenting  the  king's  book. 
The  Pope  promised  to  do  all  that  was  necessary  to 
declare  his  approbation  of  the  book,  and  asked 
Clerk  for  the  substance  of  his  oration,  that  his 
holiness  might  be  ready  with  an  answer  [Responsio 
Roman.  Pont,  extempore  facia !]. 

On  Wednesday,  and  October,  the  Pope  sum- 
moned the  consistory.  He  sat  upon  a  raised  throne 
beneath  a  cloth  of  state  with  the  cardinals  on  stools 
before  him.  Clerk,  having  kissed  the  Pope's  foot, 
proceeded  to  kiss  him  on  either  cheek,  and  then 
kneeling  before  him,  delivered  the  oration.  This 
done,  he  presented  the  book  and  received  the  Pope's 
thanks  in  Latin. 

On  nth  October  was  issued  the  Bull  of  Leo  X., 
conferring  upon  the  king,  in  full  consistory,  the 
title  of  Fidei  Defensor.  The  original,  signed  by 
the  Pope  and  cardinals,  is  preserved  in  the  British 
Museum  [Vit.  B.  iv.  226]. 

On  4th  November,  Leo  wrote  to  Henry,  stating 
that  he  had  received  from  Clerk,  dean  of  the 
Chapel,  in  consistory,  the  king's  work  against 
Luther.  He  gives  the  king  infinite  thanks,  '  O 
fidei  defensor ! '  and  has  conferred  this  title  upon 
him,  as  he  will  learn  by  his  letters  £  sub  plumbo,' 
for  his  services  to  the  holy  See. 

Cardinal  Campeggio  was  also  loud  in  his  praise 
of  the  book,  '  nothing  could  be  better  expressed  or 


SEPTEM  SACRAMENTORUM.          7 

argued,  and  the  king  seems  to  have  been  inspired 
more  by  an  angelic  and  celestial  than  by  a  human 
spirit.  We  can  hereafter  truly  call  him  "  Luthero- 


mastica." 


There  seems  to  be  a  certain  amount  of  confusion 
amongst  writers  on  the  subject  as  to  the  identity  of 
the  book  presented  to  the  Pope,  some  speaking  of 
it  as  a  manuscript  and  some  as  a  printed  book. 
The  kindness  of  my  friend,  the  Rev.  H.  M. 
Bannister,  who  obtained  for  me  information  about 
the  copies  in  the  Vatican,  enables  the  question  to 
be  fairly  definitely  settled.  The  two  copies  pre- 
sented to  the  Pope,  which  are  referred  to  in  Clerk's 
and  Wolsey's  letters,  are  still  preserved  in  the 
Vatican  Library.  One  is  a  manuscript  [Vatic,  lat. 
3731],  presumably  'that  which  Hall  hath  written,' 
the  other  a  copy  of  the  book  printed  upon  vellum 
[Memb.  III.  4],  and  both  contain  the  written 
verses  '  Anglorum  Rex,'  and  the  royal  autograph. 

Unfortunately  both  these  copies  are  in  compara- 
tively modern  binding.  Pastor  states  ['Geschichte 
den  Papste,'  Band  IV.,  Abteilung  I.,  1906]  that  it 
is  said  that  the  original  binding  of  the  manuscript 
was  stolen  in  the  siege  of  Rome  in  1527,  and 
perhaps  that  of  the  printed  copy  was  lost  at  the 
same  time.  Two  copies  were  sent  to  the  Pope, 
one  as  a  personal,  the  other  as  an  official  gift,  and 
from  the  wording  of  Wolsey's  letter,  it  seems  most 
probable  that  the  manuscript  copy  was  the  one 
formally  presented  in  consistory  on  and  October, 
to  remain  '  in  archivis  ecclesiae.'  It  contains  a 
manuscript  note  stating  that  it  was  given  by  the 
Pope  on  1 2th  October,  1521,  to  the  two  librarians 


8  THE  ASSERTIO 

of  the  Vatican  '  cum  aliis  asservandum  et  custodi- 
endum.' 

It  seems  probable  that  the  copies  sent  by  Henry 
to  the  various  sovereigns,  and  perhaps  some  to  the 
more  important  cardinals,  were  printed  on  vellum, 
while  those  sent  to  the  Universities  and  lesser  digni- 
taries were  on  paper  with  the  royal  signature  written 
or  stamped. 

Of  the  five  copies  on  vellum  at  present  known, 
four  are  in  the  Vatican : 

Memb.  III.  i.  This  copy  contains  no  inscription 
of  any  kind,  but  is  in  a  splendid  old  binding  of  red 
velvet  studded  with  small  gold  stars  and  with  solid 
gold  clasps. 

Memb.  III.  2.  Has  the  name  'Henry  rex' 
printed  from  a  stamp  on  page  2.  The  binding  is 
modern,  and  the  copy  is  said  to  be  that  sent  to  the 
King  of  Portugal. 

Memb.  III.  3.  Has  also  the  name  printed  from 
a  stamp.  The  binding  is  old,  and  has  upon  it  the 
arms  of  Paul  III.  [Alexander  Farnese,  1534-49]. 

Memb.  III.  4.  This  is  the  copy  sent  to  the  Pope. 
It  contains  the  verse  and  the  signature,  but  has  in 
addition  the  king's  name  printed  from  the  stamp 
above  the  verse. 

The  fifth  copy  is  in  the  Rylands  Library,  and 
was  formerly  in  the  Spencer  collection.  It  seems 
to  have  been  purchased  from  Edwards  the  book- 
seller, and  is  in  an  eighteenth  century  calf  binding 
with  the  arms  of  Pius  VI.  [John  Angelo  Braschi, 
1775-99].  It  has  been  roughly  illuminated,  and 
has  coloured  borders  to  every  page,  executed  in  a 
very  poor  and  tawdry  manner.  At  the  beginning 


SEPTEM  SACRAMENTORUM.          9 

is  the  inscription  '  Regi  Dacie,'  probably  in  Henry's 
own  hand. 

Though  the  Bull  confirming  Henry  in  his  title 
of  Fidei  Defensor  was  issued  on  i  ith  October,  there 
was  considerable  delay  in  its  transmission  to  England, 
a  delay  further  increased  by  the  death  of  Pope 
Leo  X.  on  ist  December,  1521,  and  it  was  not  till 
after  this  date  that  Wolsey  made  his  speech  to  the 
king,  in  which  he  congratulated  him  on  the  honour 
paid  him  by  the  Pope,  and  himself  on  having  in- 
duced him  to  undertake  the  work.  That  the  king 
was  much  aided  by  Wolsey  may  be  judged  from  his 
words  reported  by  Pace  to  Wolsey,  '  that  though 
God  hath  sent  unto  him  a  little  learning  whereby 
he  hath  attempted  to  write  against  the  erroneous 
opinions  and  heresies  of  the  said  Luther,  yet  he 
never  intended  so  to  do  afore  he  was  by  your  grace 
moved  and  led  thereunto.  Wherefore  his  higness 
saith  that  your  grace  must  of  good  congruity  be 
partner  of  all  the  honour  and  glory  he  hath  obtained 
by  that  acV 

In  December,  1521,  an  edition  was  issued  at 
Rome,  whose  description  follows : 

Title  [within  a  border]  LIBRVM  HVNC  INVICTISS. 
|  ANGLLE  REGIS  FIDEI  DE-  |  FENSORIS  CON- 
TRA   MART.  LVTHERVM  |  LEGENTIBVS,   DE- 
CEM  ANNORVM  ET  TOTIDEM  |  XL.  INDVL- 
GENTIA    APOSTOLICA   |   AVTHORITATE   | 
CONCESSA  EST.  |  Cum   Gratia  |  et  priuilegio.  |  Leaf 
5a  [within  a  border]  ASSERTIO  SE-  |  pte  Sacramentoraw 
ad-  |  uersus  Marti.  Lu-  j  therum,  aedita  ab  in-  |  uidlissimo 
An-  |  gliae  &  Franciae  |  rege,  &  do.  |  Hyberniae  Henrico 
|  eius  nominis  |  odauo.  |  Colophon.  Leaf  Byb  ^  Romae, 


io  THE  ASSERTIO 

opera  Stephani  GuilHreti,  |  mense  Decembri.  M.D.  |  XXI. 
apostolica  |  Sede  vacan-  |  te.  | 

Collation:   [#  ']  A-V< X6 Y< Z2 ;  96  leaves. 
Leaf  ia,  Indulgence  ;   ib,  Verses;  2a-4%  Brief  of  Leo  X. ; 
4b,  blank ;  5%  Title ;  5",  blank ;  6a,  8b,  Henry's  addresses 
to  Leo  X.  and  the  readers;   9a-89b,  Text;   90,  blank; 
9ia-96a,  Oration  of  Clerk;  96b,  Answer  of  Leo  X. 

This  edition  is  generally  supposed  to  have  been 
issued  under  special  papal  influence,  and  the  pre- 
fatory matter,  with  Clerk's  oration  and  the  answer 
of  Leo,  may  have  appeared  here  before  Pynson 
issued  his  supplement.  A  quarto  edition  of  1521 
is  stated  to  have  been  printed  at  Paris  by  Claude 
Chevallon,  but  I  can  trace  no  copy  of  it. 

About  the  same  time  Pynson  issued  in  London 
two  supplements,  of  twelve  leaves  and  eight  leaves  : 

Title  [within  a  border]  LIBELLO  HV  |  1C  REGIO 
HAEC  |  INSVNT.  |  Oratio  loannis  Clerk  apud  Ro. 
pon.  in  exhibitione  operis  regii.  |  Responsio  roman. 
pont.  ad  eandam  ex  |  tempore  facta.  |  Bulla  ro.  pon. 
ad  regiam  maiestatam,  |  pro  eius  operis  confirmatione. 
|  Summa  indulgentiaru,  libellum  ipsum  |  regium  legen- 
tibus,  concessarum.  iLibellus  regius  aduersus  Mar- 
tinum  |  Lutherum  haeresiarchon,  |  Epistola  regia  ad 
illustrissimos  |  Saxoniae  duces  pia  admonitoria.  | 

Collation:  A-C4;   12  leaves,  28  lines. 
Leaf  ia,  Title;   ib,  blank;  2a-ya,  Oration  of  Clerk;  7b, 
Answer  of  Leo  X. ;  8a,  Latin  verses;  8b,  Title  of  Bull; 
9a-na,  Bull;   1 1 b,  Indulgence;  12,  blank. 

On  this  title-page  mention  is  made  of  the  Epistola 


SEPTEM  SACRAMENTORUM.         n 

ad  Saxonias  duces,  and  this  was  printed  as  a  supple- 
ment of  eight  leaves,  to  follow  the  text  of  the 
Assertio : 

Title  [within  a  border]  EPISTOLA  |  REGIA  AD 
ILLVSTRIS-  S1MOS  SAXONIAE  |  DVCES  PIE 
AD-  |  MONITO-  |  RIA.  |  ^  \ 

Collation:  ab4 ;  8  leaves,  28  lines. 

Leaf  ia,  Title;    ib,   blank;   2a-6b,   Text  of  Letter;    7% 

Errata ;   yb,  8,  blank. 

Thus  Pynson's  edition  (cp.  page  2),  with  the  two 
supplements,  should  contain  one  hundred  leaves, 
leaves  12,  91,  92,  and  100  being  blank.  This  last 
supplement,  being  bound  at  the  end  of  the  book 
instead  of  with  the  other  at  the  beginning,  is  very 
often  missing.  Several  separate  editions  of  this 
letter,  with  the  answer  of  Duke  George,  edited  by 
Hieronymus  Emser,  were  printed  abroad  in  1523. 

In  January,  1522,  Pynson  published  another 
edition  of  the  Assertio,  but  the  type  appears  to  have 
been  only  partly  reset,  several  sheets  having  the 
same  errors  and  typographical  defects  as  are  found 
in  the  first.  The  first  sheet,  however,  has  been 
reset,  and  the  last  two  gatherings  of  four  leaves 
each  (t,  v4)  of  the  first  edition,  have  been  com- 
pressed into  one  gathering  of  six  leaves  (t6),  so  that 
this  second  edition  consists  of  78  leaves  with  one 
blank  leaf  at  end  in  place  of  the  80  leaves,  with 
two  blank  leaves  at  end  of  the  first  edition.  The 
second  edition  ends  on  the  verso  of  leaf  77  :  '  Lon- 
dini  in  sedibus  Pynsonianis.  AN.  M.D.XXII.  | 
xvii  Kalendas  Februarii.  Cum  pri-  uilegio  a  rege 
indulto.' 


12  THE  ASSERTIO 

Now  it  is  quite  clear  that  the  Assertio  by  itself, 
without  the  supplements,  is  a  complete  book ;  pro- 
bably most  of  the  first  edition  was  -dispersed  long 
before  they  were  printed,  so  that  it  is  incorrect  to 
describe  it  when  without  the  supplements,  as  is 
often  done,  as  imperfect.  The  papal  approval  and 
indulgences,  and  the  Bull  announcing  the  king's 
new  title,  must  have  caused  a  new  demand  for 
copies  of  the  book,  so  that  when  Pynson  had 
printed  his  supplements,  he  added  them  to  all 
copies  of  the  original  issue  which  still  remained  in 
stock,  and  printed  off  a  new  issue  of  the  Assertio 
to  meet  the  increased  demand. 

Even  copies  of  the  re-issue  do  not  always  occur 
with  the  supplements.  The  copy  in  the  library  of 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  has  them  added  in 
manuscript. 

Such  examples  as  I  have  seen  of  Pynson's  Assertio 
in  the  original  binding  have  all  been  ornamented 
with  the  same  panels,  and  have  been  bound  by 
John  Reynes.  The  panels  are  not  those  he  gener- 
ally made  use  of,  but  have  no  binder's  trade-mark 
or  initials  upon  them,  and  may  perhaps  have  been 
specially  prepared  for  this  work. 

One  has  a  shield  bearing  quarterly  I  and  4 
France,  2  and  3  England,  supported  by  a  dragon 
and  greyhound,  with  the  sun  and  moon,  and  shields 
of  St.  George  and  the  city  of  London  in  the  upper 
corners.  The  other  has  the  Tudor  rose  between 
two  ribbons  supported  by  angels,  and  bearing  the 
distich : 

Hec  rosa  virtutis  de  celo  missa  sereno 
Eternum  florens,  regia  sceptra  feret. 


SEPTEM  SACRAMENTORUM.         13 

In  the  upper  corners  are  the  sun  and  moon,  and 
below  the  rose  a  branch  of  pomegranate  [Weale, 
p.  121,  No.  109]. 

Though  these  panels  have  no  binder's  mark  or 
initials,  we  can  identify  their  owner  by  the  roll 
sometimes  used  with  them.  On  the  two  copies  in 
the  libraries  of  Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge,  and 
J.  Pierpont  Morgan  the  panels  are  separated  by  a 
piece  of  roll-produced  ornament,  in  both  cases 
having  the  mark  of  John  Reynes. 

Probably  some  of  the  twenty-seven  copies  for- 
warded to  Rome  for  dispersal  were  in  this  binding ; 
certainly  some  copies  thus  bound  and  with  the  royal 
autograph  remain  in  foreign  libraries.  One  is  at 
Bologna ;  another,  sold  in  the  Yemeniz  sales  in  1 867, 
was  in  this  binding  and  had  Henry's  signature.  It 
had  also  the  inscription,  4  Collegii  Anglicani  ex 
dono  illmi  Guilielmi  Alani  cardinalis  Angliae  an. 
1521"'  [?  1571],  and  was  purchased  by  the  Abbe 
Bossuet  for  5600  francs.  The  copy  in  the  Fitz- 
william  Museum,  with  Henry's  signature  and  in 
the  original  binding,  was  bought  in  Rome  by  a 
Mr.  Woodburn,  who  presented  it  to  the  University. 
An  interesting  copy,  now  in  a  private  library,  which 
has  passed  through  the  collections  of  Herbert, 
Bindley,  Hibbert  and  Wilks,  belonged  to  Cranmer, 
and  contains  his  notes. 

The  Fitzwilliam  copy  was  the  subjecl:  of  a  very 
curious  legend.  It  was  picked  up  by  Mr.  Wood- 
burn  for  a  trifle  from  a  bookstall  in  Rome,  and 
from  the  fa6t  that  it  contained  the  king's  signature 
and  had  the  Royal  arms  on  the  binding,  the  happy 
purchaser  jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  the 


i4  THE  ASSERTIO 

identical  copy  presented  by  Henry  to  the  Pope, 
and  no  doubt  looted  from  the  Vatican  by  the  French 
in  1798.  What  added  to  the  interest  of  this  copy 
was  the  fa6l  that  Leo  X.,  on  reading  it  through, 
had  carefully  struck  his  pen  through  the  words 
'  Fidei  defensor '  whenever  they  occurred.  This 
bubble  was  pricked  by  Sir  F.  Madden,  who,  in  a 
most  able  letter  to  'Notes  and  Queries'  [Series  I., 
Vol.  12,  p.  i],  pointed  out  amongst  many  other 
excellent  reasons  why  the  volume  could  never  have 
belonged  to  Leo  and  have  been  annotated  by  him, 
that  all  those  portions  in  which  the  words  '  Fidei 
Defensor '  occur  were  not  in  print  until  after  Leo's 
death. 

The  copy  in  Mr.  Morgan's  collection,  formerly 
in  the  library  of  Lord  Gosford  and  Mr.  Toovey, 
was  said  to  have  formerly  belonged  to  Queen 
Elizabeth,  but  there  seem  to  be  no  valid  grounds 
for  this  assertion. 

Two  other  editions. appeared  in  1522  : 

Assertio  Septem  Sacramentorum  adversus  Martinum 
Lutherum,  aedita  ab  Invictissimo  Angliae  rege  Henrico 
VIII.  Antverpiae  in  aedibus  Michaelis  Hillenii.  Ann. 
MD.XXII.  4to.  76!!.  B.M.  [Panzer,  VI.,  p.  8, 
50]. 

Assertio  septem  Sacramentorum  aduersus  Martinum 
Lutherum  aedita  ab  inuictissimo  Angliae  et  Franciae  rege 
et  dno  Hyberniae  Heinrico  eius  nominis  octavo ;  cum 
registro  nuper  addito  atque  D.  Erasm.  Rothe.  epistola 
huius  operis  commendaticia.  Impress.  Argentine  per 
honestum  virum  Johannem  Grieninger  in  vigilia  sancti 
Laurentii  anno  salutis  nostre  millesimo  quingentesimo 


SEPTEM  SACRA  MENTORUM.        15 

vigesimo    secundo.      4to.      50  11.     B.M.    [Panzer,    VI., 
p.  98,  612]. 

Later  editions  are : 

1523.  Assertio  VII  Sacramentorum  adversus  Lutherum, 
edita  ab  Invictissimo  Angliae  et  Franciae  rege  Henrico 
VIII  cum  praefatione  eiusdem  ad  Leonem  X.  S.L  et 
Typ  N.  4to.  [Panzer,  IX.,  p.  133,  252]. 

[1523].   Assertio  septem  |  Sacramentorum  Aduersus  | 
Martinum   Lutherum  |  Henrico   Octauo  |  Angliae    Regi 
|  Adscri-  |  pta.  |  [Device  of  B.  Rembolt].     On  the  last 
leaf  the   device    of  C.    Chevallon.      4to.       [Stonyhurst 
College]. 

Apparently  printed  to  accompany  Fisher's  f  Confutatio ' 
of  1523. 

1543.     Assertio     Septem    |    sacrametorum     aduersus 

Martin  Lutherum,  edita  ab  inuidis-  |  simo  Angliae   & 

Fran-  |  ciae  rege  &  domi-  |  no  Hyberniae  |  Henrico  eius 

|  nominis  octa-  |  uo.  |  Romae  |  Apud  F.  Priscianensem 

Flo-  |  rentinum     MD.XLIII.     4to.     78  leaves. 

The  title  is  enclosed  in  a  fine  woodcut. 

1562.  Assertio  Septem  Sacramentorum  .  .  .  cui  sub- 
nexa  est  ejusdem  Regis  epistola,  Assertionis  ipsius  .  .  . 
defensoria.  Accedit  quoque  R.P.D.  Johan  Roffen.  Epis- 
copi  contra  Lutheri  Captivitatem  Babylonicam,  Asser- 
tionis Regiae  defensio.  [edited  by  J.  Romberts].  16°. 
G.  Desboys.  Paris.  1562.  B.M. 

A  copy  of  this  edition  in  a  beautiful  binding  by 
Cloris  Eve  for  Marguerite  de  Valois,  sold  in  the 
Turner  sale  (1888)  for  /n8. 

V  /  7^3 


1 6  THE  ASSERTIO. 

Finally  the  book  appeared  in  an  English  trans- 
lation in  1687 : 

Assertion  of  the  Seven  Sacraments,  with  his  Epistle 
to  the  Pope,  Mr.  John  Clark's  Oration,  the  Pope's 
Answer  and  Bull,  &c.  Translated  by  T.  W.  London. 
1687.  4to. 

E.  GORDON  DUFF. 


THE  WRITINGS  OF  OLIVER  WEN- 
DELL   HOLMES. 

T  is  generally  recognised  by  statisti- 
cians and  students  of  literature  that 
certain  counties  and  towns  have  raised 
up  more  than  an  average  number  of 
men  and  women  of  genius.  Why  this 
extraordinary  concentration  of  great  men  should 
take  place  in  certain  localities  it  is  difficult  to  say ; 
but  that  there  has  been  such  concentration  is 
indisputable.  Mr.  Havelock  Ellis,  in  his  sugges- 
tive 'Study  of  British  Genius,"  states  that  the 
district  of  East  Anglia  has  produced  the  greatest 
number  of  English  geniuses.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
the  Eastern  and  Midland  Counties  are  noted  for 
their  great  writers.  Lincolnshire  has  its  Tennyson; 
Suffolk,  its  Edward  FitzGerald  and  Sir  Thomas 
Browne ;  Warwick,  its  Shakespeare,  Landor,  and 
George  Eliot.  Of  English  towns,  London  is  not 
only  the  metropolis  but  the  brain :  in  it  or  its 
environs  have  been  born  most  of  our  best  writers, 
among  whom  may  be  mentioned  Chaucer,  Spenser, 
Ben  Jonson,  Milton,  Pope,  Browning,  Ruskin, 
Arnold,  Morris,  and  Swinburne. 

If  this  is  true  of  England,  it  is  not  less  true  of 
America.  Ever  since  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  landed 
at  Plymouth  Bay,  the  State  of  Massachusetts  has 
been  the  most  hallowed  part  of  the  American 
continent,  and  the  towns  of  Boston  and  Cambridge 
ix.  c 


1 8  THE  WRITINGS  OF 

the  most  interesting  places  in  that  State.  At 
Boston  was  held  that  memorable  'tea-party'  which 
signalized  the  outbreak  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion ;  and  here  were  born  Emerson,  Motley, 
Franklin,  and  Poe.  Cambridge,  distant  not  very 
far  from  Boston,  is  the  home  of  Harvard  Univer- 
sity, from  which  there  graduated  in  the  early  years 
of  the  last  century,  a  group  of  scholars  and  poets 
whose  influence  on  American  literature  was  very 
great  indeed.  Three  of  these — Henry  Wadsworth 
Longfellow,  James  Russell  Lowell,  and  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes — won  international  fame  ;  and  a 
fourth — Professor  C.  E.  Norton — has  endeared 
himself  to  all  Dante  students  by  his  translation 
of  the  '  Commedia.' 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  was  born  at  Cambridge 
in  1809,  and  came  of  the  'Brahmin  caste  of  New 
England,'  his  father,  the  Rev.  Abiel  Holmes,  being 
a  descendant  of  the  Puritans  who  colonized  the 
province.  Graduating  at  Harvard  in  what  became 
the  famous  '  Class  of  29,'  he  began  the  study  of  the 
law,  but  gave  it  up  at  the  end  of  a  year  for  the 
more  congenial  profession  of  medicine.  After  the 
usual  course  he  spent  two  years  at  Paris,  walking 
the  hospitals,  and  attending  the  lectures  of  Louis 
and  others.  On  his  return  to  America  he  set  up 
his  red  lamp,  and  obtained  the  chair  of  Anatomy 
and  Physiology  at  Dartmouth  College ;  vacating 
this  in  1 847  for  a  similar  position  at  Harvard.  As 
an  instructor  he  was  highly  respected  and  beloved; 
but  as  time  went  on  he  became  less  of  a  physician 
and  more  of  a  man  of  letters ;  and  it  is  as  a  writer 
that  he  is  remembered  at  the  present  day. 


OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES.        19 

At  a  very  early  date  Dr.  Holmes,  unlike  most 
members  of  his  profession,  turned  to  poetry.  As 
an  undergraduate  he  had  a  reputation  for  writing 
clever  comic  verses ;  but,  outside  the  college  class- 
rooms, he  was  practically  unknown  till  he  published, 
in  the  year  of  his  graduation,  the  stirring  ballad  of 
'Old  Ironsides.'  The  patriotic  fervour  of  these 
lines  electrified  the  public  at  once,  and  had  the 
desired  effecl  of  postponing  the  breaking  up  of  the 
old  frigate  'Constitution'  for  a  number  of  years. 
While  in  the  law  school,  he  contributed  occasional 
pieces  to  the  'Collegian,'  a  students'  paper;  and  in 
after  years  read  poems  before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
Society,  of  which  he  was  a  life-long  member,  and 
at  the  annual  gatherings  of  '  the  boys.'  Whether 
these  effusions,  or  the  more  serious  compositions 
of  his  prime  bear  the  marks  of  the  highest  poetry 
remains  to  be  seen. 

Matthew  Arnold  in  a  well-known  essay  avers 
that  'the  greatness  of  a  poet  lies  in  his  powerful 
and  beautiful  application  of  ideas  to  life,'  and  in 
another  equally  well-known  paper,  he  says  that 
'Poetry  is  interpretative  both  by  having  natural 
magic  in  it,  and  by  having  moral  profundity.' 
Judged  by  these  standards,  much  of  Holmes's 
poetry  is  found  wanting ;  but  if  the  lesser  standard 
of  its  power  to  amuse  and  please  be  admitted,  it 
will  pass.  Professor  Beers — a  sound  critic — says  : 
'  It  is  mostly  on  the  colloquial  level,  excellent 
society  verse,  but  even  in  its  serious  moments  too 
smart  and  too  pretty  to  be  taken  very  gravely  ; 
with  a  certain  glitter,  knowingness,  and  flippancy 
about  it,  and  an  absence  of  that  self-forgetfulness 


20  THE  WRITINGS  OF 

and  intense  absorption  in  its  theme  which  charac- 
terize the  work  of  the  higher  imagination.     This 
is  rather  the  product  of  fancy  and  wit.'     Above 
all  things  Holmes  is  a  humorist  in  his  verse,  and  a 
a    humorist  of  a    delicate    titillating   kind.     This 
quality  is  writ  large  in  such  pieces  as  '  My  Aunt,' 
'The    Stethoscope    Song,'     'The    Ballad    of    the 
Oysterman,'    '  The    Deacon's    Masterpiece,'    '  Rip 
Van  Winkle,  M.D.,'  and  'The  Last  Leaf;  passing  " 
in  the  last  from  laughter  to  tears.     Poets  do  not 
often    range    from  rollicking   humour   to  pathetic 
humour;   yet  this  is  what  Holmes  does  in  'The 
Height  of  the  Ridiculous,'   and  '  The  Last  Leaf.' 
The  story  of  the  servant  who  bursts  five  buttons  off 
his  waistcoat  with  laughing  at  his  master's  merry 
lines  has  evoked  many  a  laugh,  and  the  picture  of 
the  funny  old  man  in  his  queer  breeches  and  three- 
cornered   hat,  dreaming   of  past   days  and  old  re- 
nown, has  often  released  a  tear.     This  specifically 
human    element — 'the    sense    of   tears    in    human 
things' — is   never    far   from    Holmes's   verse.      It 
is  present  in  'The  Voiceless,'  that  tender  lament 
for  the  unloved  ones  of  the  world ;  in  '  Under  the 
Violets';  and  to  an  affecting  degree  in  'Homesick 
in  Heaven,'  a  poem  in  which  the  yearning  of  the 
departed    for    their    bereaved    parents,  wives,   and 
children,  is  touchingly  expressed. 

In  one  department  of  poetry  Dr.  Holmes  stands 
at  the  head  of  American  and  English  writers — 'the 
poetry  of  festival  and  compliment.'  For  half  a 
century  he  continued  to  write,  with  undiminished 
energy  and  unfaltering  touch,  poems  to  be  read  or 
sung  at  all  kinds  of  meetings,  public  and  private, 


OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES.        21 

commencements,  inaugurations,  centennials ;  meet- 
ings of  medical  societies,  Burns'  clubs,  agricultural 
societies ;  dinners  of  welcome  or  farewell  to 
Bryant,  Dickens,  Lowell,  Whittier,  Longfellow, 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  Grand-Duke  Alexis ; 
layings  of  foundation-stones,  dedication  of  ceme- 
teries, birthday  celebrations,  and  funeral  orations. 
In  short,  he  performed  the  duties  of  an  official 
Laureate  of  the  American  people,  receiving  instead 
of  crowns  and  Canary  wine,  the  wages  of  love 
and  regard. 

This  kind  of  poetry  may  seem  impermanent 
when  compared  with  that  of  Milton  and  Brown- 
ing, but  it  is  excellent  of  its  kind ;  and  though 
it  does  not  pretend  to  justify  the  ways  of  God 
to  men,  it  assuredly  justifies  the  ways  of  man  to 
man,  in  his  friendlier  moments  at  least ;  and  this 
is  something. 

As  a  prose-writer  Holmes  made  his  debut  in  the 
pages  of  the  '  Atlantic  Monthly.'  When  Lowell 
became  the  editor  of  that  magazine  in  1857, 
he  made  it  a  condition  of  his  acceptance  that 
Holmes  should  be  put  on  the  staff.  This  gave  the 
genial  Doctor  his  chance,  and  he  was  not  slow  to 
avail  himself  of  it.  The  twelve  numbers  of  'The 
Autocrat  at  the  Breakfast  Table'  began  to  appear 
in  the  'Atlantic,'  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say 
that  they  contributed  in  no  small  degree  to  the 
success  of  that  brilliant  periodical.  Elated  with 
the  reception  given  to  the  'Autocrat,'  he  continued 
the  talks  in  '  The  Professor  at  the  Breakfast  Table ' 
in  the  following  year ;  and  twelve  years  later  the 
last  oozings  of  the  grapes  were  served  up  in 


22  THE  WRITINGS  OF 

'The  Poet.'  In  his  old  age  the  Do6tor  tried  to 
repeat  his  early  triumphs  in  'Over  the  Teacups'; 
but  the  result  was  hardly  encouraging. 

These  four  volumes  of  table-talk  (for  that  is 
what  they  contain)  are  remarkable,  not  so  much 
for  their  uniqueness  as  for  their  originality  and 
real  human  interest.  Other  and  greater  men  have 
written  something  of  the  sort ;  but  no  one  has 
quite  succeeded  in  combining  knowledge,  criticism, 
epigrammatic  wit,  and  sentiment  so  well  and  so 
abundantly.  This  he  is  able  to  do  by  the  simple 
device  of  selecting  his  talkers  from  different  orders 
of  society,  and  grouping  them  together  at  the 
breakfast-table  of  a  city  boarding-house.  In  this 
way  we  are  introduced  to  a  dozen  or  more  persons 
of  varying  physiognomies  and  accomplishments, 
ranging  from  the  garrulous  landlady  and  her 
daughter  to  the  Professor,  the  crab-souled  divinity- 
student,  and  the  beetle-loving  Scarabee.  Besides 
the  male  boarders  there  are  others  of  the  opposite 
sex;  and  it  is  around  three  of  these — the  shy  school- 
mistress, the  amber-eyed,  tremulous-souled  Iris, 
and  the  lonely  Young  Lady — that  the  emotional 
interest  of  the  reader  gathers.  Few  love-idylls 
have  been  so  delicately  recorded  as  that  in  which 
the  Autocrat  and  the  schoolmistress  agree  to  take 
the  '  long  path '  together  on  one  of  their  little 
walks  from  the  boarding-house  to  the  school : 

'At  last  I  got  out  the  question,  "Will  you  take  the 
long  path  with  me?"  "Certainly,"  said  the  School- 
mistress, "with  much  pleasure."  "Think,"  I  said, 
"  before  you  answer :  if  you  take  the  long  path  with 
me  now,  I  shall  interpret  it  that  we  are  to  part  no 


OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES.        23 

more ! "  The  Schoolmistress  stepped  back  with  a  sudden 
movement,  as  if  an  arrow  had  struck  her. 

One  of  the  long  granite  blocks  used  as  seats  was  hard 
by, — the  one  you  may  still  see  by  the  Gingko  tree. 
"Pray  sit  down,"  I  said.  "No,  no,"  she  answered  softly, 
"I  will  walk  the  long  path  with  you!" 

The  old  gentleman  who  sits  opposite  met  us  walking 
arm  in  arm,  about  the  middle  of  the  long  path,  and  said 
very  charmingly,  "  Good  morning,  my  dears!" 

Of  the  innumerable  topics  discussed  at  the 
breakfast-table  by  the  Autocrat  and  his  successors, 
none  occupies  so  much  space  or  is  so  important  as 
that  of  religion.  This  is  not  to  be  wondered  at, 
if  we  remember  that  Holmes  was  the  son  of  a 
Cambridge  minister,  and  had  an  hereditary  as  well 
as  an  acquired  interest  in  divinity.  Though  a 
doctor  by  profession,  he  frequently  ascended  the 
secular  pulpit  as  a  lay  preacher,  and  served  his  time 
and  generation  in  a  way  in  which  only  we,  who 
have  inherited  the  doctrine  of  evolution  and  the 
historical  and  psychological  criticism  of  the  Bible, 
are  in  a  position  to  appreciate. 

In  his  day  the  rigid  Calvinism  of  the  orthodox 
multitudes  forbade  all  discussion  of  religion ;  like 
the  divinity-student  they  said  that  c  there  was 
danger  in  introducing  discussions  or  allusions  re- 
lating to  matters  of  religion  into  common  discourse.' 
Holmes,  on  the  contrary,  held  that  religion,  like 
politics,  should  be  Americanized.  '  When  the 
people  of  New  England  stop  talking  politics  and 
theology,'  he  makes  the  Professor  say,  '  it  will  be 
because  they  have  got  an  Emperor  to  teach  them 
the  one,  and  a  Pope  to  teach  them  the  other!' 


24  THE  WRITINGS  OF 

He  likened  those  obscurantists  who  stuck  to  their 
fixed  creeds  and  formulas  to  tadpoles  under  water 
in  the  dark :  removed  from  the  natural  stimulus  of 
light,  they  swelled  into  larger  tadpoles,  instead  of 
developing  legs  and  lungs,  and  becoming  frogs. 
He,  at  any  rate,  preferred  the  whole  range  of  the 
earth  to  the  narrow  circle  of  a  stagnant  pond,  and 
he  could  certainly  see  farther  and  better  than  those 
who  refused  to  be  free.  He  believed  that  there 
was  much  to  be  discovered  in  religion  which  the 
orthodox  did  not  dream  of,  and  which  they  tried 
to  prevent  others  from  suspecting : 

*  I  find  that  there  is  a  very  prevalent  opinion  among 
the  dwellers  on  the  shores  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  "  Ocean 
of  Truth,"  that  salt  fish,  which  have  been  taken  from  it  a 
good  while,  split  open,  cured,  and  dried,  are  the  only 
proper  and  allowable  food  for  reasonable  people.  I 
maintain,  on  the  other  hand,  that  there  are  a  number  of 
live  fish  still  swimming  in  it,  and  that  every  one  of  us  has 
a  right  to  see  if  he  cannot  catch  some  of  them.  Some- 
times I  please  myself  with  the  idea  that  I  have  landed  an 
actual  living  fish,  small  perhaps,  but  with  rosy  gills  and 
silvery  scales.  Then  I  find  the  consumers  of  nothing  but 
the  salted  and  dried  article  insist  that  it  is  poisonous, 
simply  because  it  is  alive,  and  cry  out  to  people  not  to 
touch  it.  I  have  not  found,  however,  that  people  mind 
them  much.' 

This  is  iconoclastic  no  doubt,  but  it  is  not  irre- 
ligious. Holmes  had  as  strong  a  belief  in  the 
immutability  of  the  religious  instinct  as  most  folk ; 
but  he  held  that  adaptation  was  as  necessary  to  its 
health  and  life  as  it  is  to  the  life  of  the  body. 
'  What  we  want  in  the  religious  and  in  the 
political  organism,'  he  wrote,  'is  just  that  kind  of 


OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES.        25 

vital  change  which  takes  place  in  our  bodies — 
interstitial  disintegration  and  reintegration.'  He 
therefore,  was  not  surprised  to  find  that  every  man 
had  a  religion  peculiar  to  himself: 

'Iron  is  essentially  the  same  everywhere  and  always; 
but  the  sulphate  of  iron  is  never  the  same  as  the  car- 
bonate of  iron.  Truth  is  invariable  ;  but  the  Smithate 
of  truth  must  always  differ  from  the  Brownate  of  truth.' 

Such  was  his  general  attitude  to  sacred  things. 
But  this  was  not  all :  he  made  some  pregnant 
observations  and  suggestions  which  influenced 
thinkers  and  scholars  who  came  after  him,  as  '  that 
the  heart  makes  the  theologian';  'that  theology 
must  be  studied  through  anthropology,  and  not 
anthropology  through  theology';  and  that  'sin 
must  be  studied  as  a  section  of  anthropology.' 

This  last  axiom  he  proceeded  to  exemplify  in 
two  '  medicated '  novels,  published  during  the 
period  that  elapsed  between  the  writing  of  the 
'  Professor '  and  the  '  Poet.'  In  the  '  Autocrat '  he 
averred  that  every  man  had  the  stuff  of  one  novel 
in  him ;  and  the  idyll  of  the  schoolmistress,  above 
referred  to,  proved  that  he  at  any  rate  had  the 
talent  and  the  sympathy  to  write  one.  But  few,  I 
imagine,  were  prepared  for  such  a  singular  and 
moving  tale  as  '  Elsie  Venner,'  whose  heroine 
united  with  her  wild  beauty  and  fascinating  ways 
something  of  the  serpentine  nature  of  Coleridge's 
'Geraldine'  and  Keats's  'Lamia';  her  mother 
having  been  bitten  by  a  rattlesnake  a  little  while 
before  the  birth  of  the  girl,  and  kept  alive  in  the 
meantime  by  powerful  antidotes.  As  Elsie  grew  up 


26  THE  WRITINGS  OF 

she  showed  unmistakable  signs  of  her  serpent  ways  : 
biting  her  cousin  suddenly ;  dancing  in  wild 
ecstasy,  and  making  a  noise  like  a  rattlesnake's 
tail  with  her  castanets ;  curling  herself  up  on  mats 
and  under  trees ;  and  staying  out  all  night  on 
Rattlesnake  Ledge  with  the  ophidians  she  had 
learnt  to  charm.  Myrtle  Hazard,  the  heroine 
of  '  The  Guardian  Angel,'  had  nothing  of  the 
reptile  in  her,  but  she  was  not  less  lawless  than 
Elsie,  having  Indian  blood  in  her  veins.  When 
only  fifteen  years  old  she  ran  away  from  home, 
and  sailed  down  the  river  in  a  canoe  in  the  night, 
just  as  her  painted  and  plumed  ancestors  had  done 
before  her.  Later,  at  school,  whilst  acting  in  an 
Indian  play,  she  threatened  to  stab  a  girl  who  had 
torn  a  wreath  off  her  head  in  a  fit  of  jealousy. 

Both  these  books  are  studies  in  spiritual  path- 
ology, and  preach  Dr.  Holmes's  favourite  doctrines 
of  heredity  and  the  limitation  of  free-will  by 
transmitted  tendencies — doctrines  which  all  must 
accept  in  part  of  necessity,  but  which  most  of  us, 
especially  theologians  and  practical  moralists,  feel 
to  be  dangerous.  He  makes  Dr.  Honeywood,  the 
warm-hearted  preacher,  say  : 

'  He  did  not  believe  in  the  responsibility  of  idiots. 
He  did  not  believe  a  new-born  infant  was  morally 
answerable  for  other  people's  ads.  He  thought  that  a 
man  with  a  crooked  spine  should  never  be  called  to 
account  for  not  walking  erect.  He  thought  if  the  crook 
was  in  his  brain,  instead  of  his  back,  he  could  not  fairly 
be  blamed  for  any  consequences  of  this  natural  defect, 
whatever  lawyers  or  divines  might  call  it.' 

This  all  doctors  believe,  and  most  laymen  not  bred 


OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES.        27 

in  Geneva  reluctantly  admit — reluctantly,  because 
they  know  that  to  tell  the  drunken  son  of  a 
drunken  father  he  is  not  responsible  for  his  weak- 
ness is  to  become  an  advocate  of  the  devil  and  a 
destroyer  of  mankind.  Holmes  himself  felt  this, 
and  warned  his  readers  not  to  abuse  the  doctrine 
by  ascribing  all  their  sins  to  their  grandfathers. 
He  did  not  deny  the  sovereignty  of  the  conscience 
where  it  was  active  and  healthy ;  but  he  knew 
that  in  a  great  many  cases  the  human  will  was 
'  tied  up  and  darkened  by  inferior  organization,  by 
disease,  and  by  all  sorts  of  crowding  interferences.' 
No  doubt  he  insisted  too  much  on  these  limita- 
tions ;  but  being  a  doctor,  he  could  not  help  seeing 
that  sin  bears  a  strong  likeness  to  disease,  and  that 
the  sinner,  like  the  sick  patient,  is  not  always 
responsible  for  the  disturbance.  At  any  rate  he 
showed,  what  some  theologians  are  only  just  dis- 
covering, that  'sin  is  in  the  will,'  and  that  where 
the  will  is  weak  and  puny  it  needs  food  and 
medicine,  not  hell-fire  and  damnation.  Instead 
of  the  devil's  blast-furnace  and  lethal  chamber, 
he  wished  to  set  up  a  dispensary  and  a  school. 

All  this,  of  course,  occurs  incidentally  in  '  Elsie 
Venner '  and  '  The  Guardian  Angel,'  and  is  appro- 
priately put  into  the  mouths  of  old  Dr.  Kittredge, 
Elsie's  physician,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Honeywood,  and 
Byles  Gridley,  A.M.,  author  of  '  Thoughts  on  the 
Universe.'  The  real  interest  of  the  stories  is 
human  and  not  theological.  If  Holmes  had  not 
made  his  heroes  and  heroines  beautiful  and  love- 
able,  and  their  trials  many  and  real,  his  books 
would  have  been  dropped  in  Time's  waste-paper 


28  THE  WRITINGS  OF 

basket,  as  Gifted  Hopkin's  poems  were  dropped  by 
the  publisher's  'butcher.'  As  it  is,  he  has  been 
accused  by  the  critics  of  caricaturing  the  Yankee 
characters,  and  overdrawing  the  satirical  pictures 
of  New  England  country  life.  Certainly  he  seems 
to  come  perilously  near  caricature  in  Colonel 
Sprowle,  Silas  Peckham,  and  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Bellamy  Stoker ;  but  doubtless  such  persons  lived 
then  as  now,  and  it  is  a  pardonable  offence  in  an 
author  to  pillory  them  when  he  finds  them. 

In  his  purely  biographical  work,  however, 
Dr.  Holmes  was  as  painstaking  and  impartial  a 
recorder  as  the  best ;  and  though  he  had  no  great 
talent  for  this  kind  of  writing  he  acquitted  himself 
well,  as  he  was  bound  to  do.  His  Lives  of  John 
Lothrop  Motley  and  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  are 
admirable  if  not  finished  studies  of  two  of  America's 
greatest  writers. 

Of  the  brilliant  historian  of  the  Dutch  Republic 
he  knew  a  great  deal.  They  were  fellow-students 
at  Harvard,  and  corresponded  with  each  other 
during  Motley's  absence  in  Europe  as  the  Am- 
bassador of  America,  and  after  his  shameful  recall 
from  Vienna.  When,  therefore,  he  was  asked  to 
write  a  memoir  of  Motley  for  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society,  he  came  forward  as  the  late 
Ambassador's  apologist  and  defender ;  and  though 
he  was  a  devoted  citizen  of  the  Republic,  he  did  not 
hesitate  to  condemn,  in  the  strongest  terms  he  could 
command,  a  government  that  could  insult  its  minister 
—and  that  minister  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
of  its  great  men,  and  one  of  the  most  confirmed 
believers  in  its  institutions — by  asking  him  to 


OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES.        29 

refute  the  charges  of  a  pseudonymous  spy.  But 
this  was  not  all.  Three  years  after  the  Vienna 
affair,  Motley  was  recalled  from  the  London 
Embassy  by  President  Grant,  ostensibly  for  mis- 
representing his  Government  on  the  Alabama 
question,  but  really  for  supporting  one  of  the 
President's  political  opponents.  As  Motley's  con- 
fidant, Dr.  Holmes  exposed  the  whole  pitiful 
business,  bitterly  lamenting  that  the  accredited 
representative  of  a  people  should  be  sacrificed  to 
the  hatred  of  a  political  seel.  To  him  the  affair 
seemed  monstrously  unjust ;  and  he  firmly  believed 
that  Motley's  untimely  death  was  accelerated  by 
the  President's  undignified  and  unchivalrous 
conduct. 

Happily  he  had  no  such  painful  task  to  perform 
in  writing  his  '  Life  of  Emerson.'  The  Concord 
sage  never  aspired  to  ambassadorial  rank,  and  con- 
sequently never  had  an  enemy ;  and  if  he  had  so 
aspired,  there  is  no  doubt  he  would  soon  have 
resigned  any  local  or  national  position  for  the 
more  important  one  of  God's  ambassador  to  the 
world.  For  such  Emerson  was,  and  as  such 
Dr.  Holmes  reports  him  in  his  monograph. 
'Every  human  soul,'  he  says,  'leaves  its  port  with 
sealed  orders.'  That  Emerson's  'sealed  orders' 
instructed  him  to  be  a  mystic,  an  optimist,  a  lover 
of  the  truth,  '  a  gentle  iconoclast,'  a  hater  of  cant 
and  hypocrisy,  a  believer  in  personalities — whole 
men,  not  fragments  of  men — he  has  no  difficulty 
in  showing,  and  does  not  stop  to  discuss.  Emer- 
son, according  to  the  Doclor,  expounded  no 
consistent  system  of  philosophy  like  Kant,  Hegel, 


3o  THE  WRITINGS  OF 

or  Spencer ;  but  studied  how  to  '  free,  arouse, 
dilate.'  When  he  has  said  this  Holmes  has 
finished.  He  is  not  so  much  an  apostle  of 
Emerson  as  a  catechist — a  Silas,  not  a  Paul.  '  He 
presented,'  says  Mr.  Stedman,  'with  singular  clear- 
ness and  with  an  epigrammatic  genius  at  white 
heat,  if  not  the  esoteric  view  of  the  Concord 
Plotinus,  at  least  what  could  enable  an  audience 
to  get  at  the  mould  of  that  serene  teacher,  and 
make  some  fortunate  surmise  of  the  spirit  that 
ennobled  it.'  Nor  was  he  very  critical  of  Emer- 
son's writings.  He  recognised  his  mysticism,  and 
if  he  did  not  always  agree  with  it,  he  took  care  to 
show  that  it  was  more  intellectual  than  emotional. 
'  Emerson,'  he  says,  '  never  let  go  the  string  of  his 
balloon,'  except  in  the  poem  of  '  Brahma '  which 
he  pronounces  'the  nearest  approach  to  a  Torri- 
cellian vacuum  of  intelligibility'  he  knows.  He  is 
not  so  lenient,  however,  with  the  minor  Trans- 
cendentalists,  calling  them  a  'Noah's  ark  full  of 
idealists,'  and  pointing  out  that  there  was  occasion- 
ally an  air  of  bravado  in  some  of  them  '  as  if  they 
had  taken  out  a  patent  for  some  knowing  machine 
which  was  to  give  them  a  monopoly  of  its  products.' 
We  have  all  met  these  amateur  philosophers  and 
self-advertised  initiates  of  Heaven,  and  can  smile 
at  the  witty  Doctor's  satire,  knowing  that  no 
patent  Absolutometer  will  ever  register  the  multi- 
tudinous thoughts  of  God.  Emerson  himself,  the 
Doctor  tells  us,  made  no  such  oracular  claims  as 
his  disciples,  but  was  content  to  diffuse  that 
'genial  atmosphere'  and  odour  of  piety  which 
flowed  into  him  from  above. 


OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES.        31 

Here,  I  think,  we  may  pause.  Having  reviewed 
Holmes's  chief  writings,  in  the  order  in  which 
they  naturally  fall,  we  can  go  on  to  discuss  their 
style,  and  to  estimate  their  influence  on  American 
life  and  letters. 

Omitting  his  poems,  which  have  been  dealt 
with  in  the  first  part  of  this  paper,  we  come  to  his 
prose.  With  regard  to  this,  Time,  I  think,  has 
confirmed  the  opinion  of  Holmes's  contemporaries 
in  adjudging  'The  Autocrat  at  the  Breakfast  Table' 
and  its  two  successors  his  best  and  most  charac- 
teristic work.  There  is  nothing  in  his  later  works 
that  is  not  contained  in  these ;  hence  all  criticism 
of  his  style  must  necessarily  be  a  criticism  of 
these.  And  what  a  style  it  is ! — racy  and  fluid  as 
Addison's  conversational  prose,  and  splendid  with 
some  of  the  colour — though  with  little  of  the 
pomp — of  Sir  Thomas  Browne !  It  is  not  in- 
variable ;  but  at  its  best  it  is  extraordinarily 
brilliant,  scintillating  with  imagination  and  jewelled 
thought.  The  fa6t  is,  whether  discussing  poetry 
or  Puritanism,  pun-making  or  divinity,  phrenology 
or  the  Great  Secret,  Holmes's  prose  spurts  up  like 
a  fountain,  so  to  speak,  breaking  into  a  shower  of 
gleaming  amethysts,  rubies,  emeralds,  and  pearls. 
Here,  as  elsewhere,  one  cannot  help  noticing  his 
tenderness  and  grave  wit ;  the  felicity  and  propriety 
of  his  similes,  metaphors,  and  apologues;  and  his 
natural  aptitude  for  turning  epigrams  and  proverbs. 
Of  his  beautiful  and  apposite  similes  there  is  to  my 
mind,  no  finer  specimen  than  that  in  which  he  de- 
scribes the  super-abundant  wealth  of  the  poet.  I  give 
it  here  because  it  illustrates  better  than  anything 


32  THE  WRITINGS  OF 

else  I  know   the   Doctor's  habit  of  loading   every 
rift  with  ore : 

'Life  is  so  vivid  to  the  poet,  that  he  is  too  eager  to 
seize  and  exhaust  its  multitudinous  impressions.  Like 
Sinbad  in  the  valley  of  precious  stones,  he  wants  to  fill  his 
pockets  with  diamonds,  but,  lo !  there  is  a  great  ruby  like 
a  setting  sun  in  its  glory,  like  Bryant's  blue  gentian, 
seems  to  have  dropped  from  the  cerulean  walls  of  heaven, 
and  a  nest  of  pearls  that  look  as  if  they  might  be  un- 
hatched  angels'  eggs,  and  so  he  hardly  knows  what  to 
seize,  and  tries  for  too  many,  and  comes  out  of  the  en- 
chanted valley  with  more  gems  than  he  can  carry,  and 
those  that  he  lets  fall  by  the  wayside  we  call  his  poems.' 

It  is  not  as  a  clever  writer  of  vers  de  societe,  or 
as  a  vivacious  retailer  of  after-dinner  oratory,— 
that  Holmes  will  come  to  be  valued,  though 
these  things  will  always  attract  the  majority  of 
readers — but  as  a  New  England  prophet  of  'sweet- 
ness and  light.' 

We  have  seen  that  under  Calvinism  religion  in 
Massachusetts  had  become  as  hard,  unlovely,  and 
illiberal  as  the  Inquisition  itself.  Discussion  was  for- 
bidden, and  all  scientific  study  of  Scripture  savagely 
condemned.  Like  Canute,  to  quote  Lowell  on 
Theodore  Parker,  the  orthodox  bore 

'  With  sincerest  conviction  their  chairs  to  the  shore ; 

They  brandished  their  worn  theological  birches, 

Bade  natural  progress  keep  out  of  the  Churches, 

And  expected  the  lines  they  had  drawn  to  prevail, 

With  the  fast  rising  tide  to  keep  out  of  their  pale; 

They  had  formerly  damned  the  Pontifical  See, 

And  the  same  thing,  they  thought,  would  do  nicely  for  P.' 

Holmes  in  calling  for  the  Americanizing  of  religion 


OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES.        33 

was  only  doing  what  had  already  been  done  at  the 
Reformation  and  the  Revolution  by  the  fathers  of 
those  who  anathematized  him.  His  demands,  no 
doubt,  seemed  heretical  and  subversive  to  them ; 
but  they  were  essentially  national  and  republican, 
and  were  bound  to  prevail  in  the  end.  Just  as  the 
people  of  the  United  States  had  demanded  liberty 
to  make  their  own  laws  and  impose  their  own  taxes, 
he  demanded  freedom  to  think  his  own  thoughts, 
and  worship  in  his  own  way.  Having  won  this 
right  for  himself,  he  proceeded  to  cut  off  the 
excrescences,  and  to  excise  the  morbid  growths  of 
religion  as  if  he  were  at  work  in  his  surgery.  As 
a  doftor  he  saw  that  theology  needed  its  epidermis 
to  be  cleaned  of  superstition  and  lichened  dogma, 
and  as  a  man  that  it  wanted  'de-diabolizing.'  In 
the  one  operation  he  used  the  strigil  of  his  keen 
intellect  and  caustic  wit,  and  in  the  other  he 
injected  some  of  his  own  rich  heart-blood  and 
generous  heat.  That  theology  needed  humanizing 
no  one  who  has  read  the  lurid  and  pitiless  sermons 
of  Jonathan  Edwards  will  deny.  Not  content 
with  cursing  the  wicked  and  the  unconverted,  he 
damned  the  souls  of  innocent  children,  showing 
immeasurably  less  mercy  to  the  unbaptized  than 
even  that  'stern  Tuscan,'  Dante.  Driven  by  the 
terrible  logic  of  his  creed,  Edwards  saw  in  God  a 
beast  with  bloody  maw,  not  the  merciful  Father 
of  us  all.  Holmes  showed  that  this  conception  of 
God  was  an  obsession  of  the  logical  intellect,  and 
was  at  bottom  as  barbarous  as  that  held  by  the 
dragon-worshipping  Chinese.  Religion  to  him 
was  primarily  an  affair  of  the  heart — a  thing  of 

IX.  D 


34  THE  WRITINGS  OF 

sentiment  and  emotion.  Professional  theologians, 
equipped  with  the  camera  and  the  geologist's 
hammer,  made  prospecting  expeditions  into  the 
Kingdom  of  God ;  Holmes  went  on  a  pilgrimage. 
He  held  that  not  by  searching,  but  by  yearning 
and  agonizing,  could  men  find  their  way  into  the 
holy  place.  The  information  that  the  searchers 
could  give  might  be  very  necessary,  but  it  was 
hardly  what  the  soul  desired.  He  knew  that 
sentiment  was  the  source  of  life  and  the  director 
of  conduct :  and  if  he  placed  it  before  reason  and 
will  in  his  psychology  of  religion,  he  had  the 
experience  of  the  whole  race  of  believers  to  justify 
him.  This  emotional  attitude  led  him  to  say 
that  'the  real  religion  of  the  world  comes  from 
women — from  mothers  most  of  all,  who  carry  the 
key  of  our  souls  in  their  bosoms.  It  is  in  their 
hearts  that  the  "sentimental"  religion  some  people 
are  so  fond  of  sneering  at,  has  its  source.'  Above 
the  noisy  disputations  of  Churches  and  Theologians 
he  heard  the  ineffable  words  of  Jesus,  c  Come  unto 
Me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest.' 

This  then  was  his  purpose :  like  Luther  he 
called  upon  men  to  think  for  themselves,  knowing 
that  the  active  mind  of  the  century  was  tending 
more  and  more  to  the  two  poles,  '  Rome  or 
Reason,  the  sovereign  Church  or  the  free  soul, 
authority  or  personality,  God  in  us  or  God  in  our 
masters.'  In  the  New  Reformation  which  was 
then  opening  in  America  and  Europe,  and  which 
is  now  moving  slowly  on  to  a  consummation,  he 
fought  not  with  the  heated  dialectic  of  Luther, 


OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES.        35 

but  with  the  incisive  wit  and  deep  common-sense 
of  Erasmus.  Humaneness  and  truth,  'sweetness  and 
light' — these  qualities  inspired  his  writings  and 
guided  his  conduct ;  and  if  at  any  time  there  has 
been  any  progress  made  in  the  'Liberation  War 
of  humanity,'  it  has  been  and  will  continue  to  be, 
by  the  virtue  of  these. 

JAMES  ORMEROD. 


A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF  THE 
SIXTEENTH  CENTURY— GALLIOT 
DU  PRE. 

MONG  the  sources  of  information 
available  for  the  study  of  literary  his- 
tory, the  annals  of  the  press  have  a 
certain  importance.  They  help  us  to 
realise  for  a  given  age  what  its  literary 
tastes  really  were.  They  enable  us  to  follow,  year 
by  year,  the  changes  of  fashion  in  literary  taste. 
They  recall  the  memories  of  books,  now  long  for- 
gotten, but  which  in  their  day  enjoyed  great  popu- 
larity. It  was  doubtless  the  feeling  that  much  may 
be  learnt  from  a  simple  chronological  record  of 
the  productions  of  the  press  that  inspired  Panzer, 
4  the  one  true  naturalist  among  general  biblio- 
graphers,' as  Bradshaw  calls  him,  to  accomplish 
his  great  work,  which  covers  the  whole  field  of 
European  literature  from  the  invention  of  printing 
to  the  year  1536.  The  interest  of  Panzer's  achieve- 
ment, not  only  for  the  scientific  bibliographer,  but 
also  for  the  student  of  literature,  suggested  to  me 
that  a  record  of  the  books  of  an  individual  pub- 
lisher might  serve  to  throw  light  on  the  literary 
history  of  his  country  during  the  period  of  his 
career.  It  might  also,  I  hoped,  furnish  some 
material  for  the  solution  of  one  or  two  problems 
connected  with  the  exercise  of  his  profession. 


A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER.  37 

With  the  object,  then,  of  illustrating  that  in- 
teresting period  in  French  literature  when  the 
Middle  Ages  were  slowly  and  gradually  dissolving 
into  the  light  of  the  Renaissance,  I  selected  the 
Paris  bookseller  and  publisher,  Galliot  Du  Pre, 
whose  career  extended  from  1512  to  1560.  He 
seemed  to  me  to  combine  several  advantages  for  my 
purpose.  His  career  was  a  long  one.  He  was  not 
a  printer,  but  a  bookseller  and  publisher  pure  and 
simple,  so  that  the  inquiry  would  not  involve  me  in 
the  discussion  of  typographical  problems,  which 
are  beyond  my  competence.  Lastly,  except  for 
a  decided  bias  in  the  direction  of  history,  he  was 
not  a  specialist.  He  did  not  confine  himself  to 
romances  of  chivalry,  or  books  of  Hours,  or  books 
with  woodcuts.  He  did  not,  like  the  Estiennes 
and  Simon  de  Colines,  cater  especially  for  scholars, 
nor  like  Jean  Trepperel  did  he  produce  cheap  and 
popular  books  for  the  lowest  class  of  readers.  His 
public  was  that  of  the  better  educated  classes, — 
princes,  nobles,  and  bourgeois,  who  were  not 
humanists,  and  whose  reading  was  chiefly  confined 
to  the  national  literature.  This  public,  at  any 
rate  for  the  first  half  of  his  career,  he  carefully 
studied,  adapting  himself  to  their  needs,  and  chang- 
ing when  they  changed.  But  he  had  enterprise  as 
well  as  judgment,  and  the  publisher  of  the  first 
edition  of  Commines's  '  Memoirs '  and  the  '  Life 
of  Bayard,'  by  Le  loyal  Serviteur,  deserves  the 
gratitude  of  posterity. 

In  one  respect  my  choice  proved  to  be  a  fortu- 
nate one,  for  soon  after  I  had  begun  my  investiga- 
tions, I  learned  that  M.  Paul  Delalain  had  some 


38  A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

years  ago  made  Galliot  Du  Pre  the  subject  of 
two  notices,  in  which  a  considerable  number 
of  his  publications  were  duly  chronicled.1  By 
consulting  other  means  of  information,  I  have 
been  able  to  add  to  the  books  in  M.  Delalain's 
lists,  and  though  my  information,  partly  from  the 
imperfection  of  my  researches,  partly  because 
doubtless  many  of  the  less  important  works  pub- 
lished by  Galliot  Du  Pre  have  been  entirely  lost, 
does  not  pretend  to  be  anything  like  complete,  it 
is  probably  complete  enough  for  my  special  pur- 
pose, that  of  throwing  light  on  the  literary  tastes 
of  the  period.2 

Galliot  Du  Pre  was,  as  I  have  said,  a  publisher 
and  bookseller,  and  not  a  printer.  In  the  Middle 
Ages  the  libraire  (librarius)  or  bookseller  was,  as  a 
rule,  the  mere  commission  agent  of  the  ecrhain 
(stationarius)  or  copyist.  The  term  libraire^  how- 

1  *  Notice  sur  Galliot  du  Pre,'  Paris,  1890,  and  'Notice  comple- 
mentaire  sur  Galliot  du  Pr6,'  ib.  1891. 

2  The  following  sale  catalogues  have  been  helpful :  La  Valliere, 
MacCarthy,  Yemeniz,  A.  F.  Didot  (1878  and  1879),  Sunderland, 
Renard,    Seilliere    (London,    1887,    and    Paris,    1900),    Turner, 
Lakelands,  Ruble.     A  good  many  titles  have  been  furnished  by 
Panzer,  and  some,  for  the  years  after  1536,  by  Maittaire.      In 
Quaritch's  *  General  Catalogue,'  Vol.  VI.,  a  certain  number  of 
Du  Pre's  publications  are  recorded.     Brunei,  of  course,  has  been 
of  great  help,  and  so  has  Van  Praet,  whose  descriptions  are  some- 
times fuller  than  Brunet's.     Moreover,  the  second  part  of  his  work, 
which  deals  with  other  libraries  than  the  Royal  Library,  is  furnished 
with  an  index  of  printers  and  booksellers.     As  regards  the  books 
themselves,  I  have  examined  about  thirty,  either  in   the  British 
Museum  or  in  Cambridge  libraries.     For  those  in  the  far  richer 
store  of  the  '  Bibliotheque  Nationale'  I  have  had  to  be  content 
with  the  descriptions  in  Van  Praet,  or  in  the  catalogue,  so  far  as  it 
is  printed. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.         39 

ever,  was  used  in  common  speech  to  denote  the 
ecrrvain,  as  well  as  the  libraire  proper.1  Both  classes 
alike,  together  with  the  parchment-sellers  (parche- 
miniers],  illuminators  (enlumineurs)^  and  bookbinders 
(re/ieurs)  were  officers  of  the  University,  and  as  such 
were  subject  to  its  jurisdiction,  and  enjoyed  the 
same  privileges  as  its  masters  and  scholars.  Before 
being  appointed  they  had  to  give  evidence  of  their 
qualification  for  the  post,  and  to  be  sworn  before 
the  Rector  of  the  University.  Hence  they  were 
called  libraires  jures.  Out  of  their  number  four 
grands  libraires  were  appointed,  whose  duty  it  was 
to  fix  the  price  of  books,  and  to  exercise  a  general 
supervision  over  their  brethren. 

The  introduction  of  printing  does  not  seem  to 
have  made  much  difference  at  first  in  the  position 
of  the  booksellers.  For  the  majority  of  the  early 
printers,  like  the  copyists  before  them,  sold  the 
books  which  they  printed,  either  themselves  or 
through  the  agency  of  some  privileged  bookseller. 
Nor  were  the  copyists  at  once  driven  from  the 
field.  For  some  fifteen  to  twenty  years  after  the 
introduction  of  the  new  art  to  Paris,  they  con- 
tinued to  produce  richly  illuminated  manuscripts 
for  wealthy  patrons.  Antoine  Verard,  originally 
a  calligrapher  and  miniaturist  by  profession,  follow- 
ing the  examples  set  by  Fichet  and  Heynlin,  was 
the  first  publisher  to  realise  that  the  illuminator's 
art  might  be  adapted  on  a  large  scale  to  the  new 
conditions.  His  famous  editions  de  /uxe,  printed  on 
vellum  and  illustrated  with  woodcuts,  which  were 

1  'Stationarii  qui  vulgo  librarii  appellantur'  (University  Statutes 
of  6th  December,  1275). 


40  A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

illuminated  by  hand  with  greater  richness  than 
taste,  cut  severely  into  the  trade  of  the  ordinary 
copyist.  Henceforth  only  Hours  and  Greek  texts 
were  multiplied  by  hand. 

The  decline  of  the  copyists  and  the  growing  im- 
portance of  the  booksellers  is  shown  by  the  royal 
edict  of  March,  1489.  For  while  the  number  of 
libraires  jures  was  fixed  at  twenty-four,  only  two 
copyists,  together  with  two  illuminators  and  two 
bookbinders,  were  allowed  to  enjoy  the  privileges 
of  the  University.  Save  that  in  1533  the  eminent 
printer  and  engraver,  Geofroy  Tory,  was  by  special 
favour  admitted  as  a  twenty-fifth,1  the  number  or 
privileged  booksellers  remained  at  twenty-four. 
The  non-privileged  booksellers  (libraires  non-jures] 
were,  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  still  sub- 
jected by  the  University  to  various  restrictions. 
They  might  not  sell  books  for  more  than  a  certain 
price,  and  they  might  only  sell  them  at  open 
stalls. 

The  majority  of  the  early  Parisian  printers  were, 
as  we  have  seen,  also  booksellers,  but  as  a  natural 
result  of  the  expansion  of  business,  the  two  trades 
tended  to  become  more  and  more  distinct.  There 
grew  up  an  important  class  of  men,  who  not  being 
printers  themselves,  employed  various  presses  in  the 
production  of  books.  In  other  words,  they  were 
publishers.  Whether  Verard  was  a  printer  at  all 
is  a  question  which  experts  have  not  decided,  but 
in  any  case  his  main  business  was  that  of  a  book- 
seller and  publisher.  Of  the  brothers  De  Marnef, 
Simon  Vostre,  Guillaume  Eustace  and  Denys  Roce, 
1  A.  Bernard,  *  Geofroy  Tory,'  p.  372. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.         41 

all  of  whom  began  to  issue  books  before  the  close 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  it  may  be  said  with  almost 
complete  certainty  that  they  were  not  printers. 
Jean  Petit,  who,  during  his  long  and  useful 
career  as  a  publisher  (1495-1536),  employed  at 
least  twenty-eight  presses,  never  describes  himself 
as  a  printer. 

The  rapid  expansion  of  the  book-trade  in  Paris, 
which  followed  the  publication  of  the  first  French 
book,  '  Les  grandes  chroniques  de  France,'  by 
Pasquier  Bonhomme,  brought  a  golden  harvest  to 
the  more  successful  publishers.  Simon  Vostre  be- 
came, like  Caxton,  a  man  of  substance,  owning 
at  his  death  (c.  1520)  six  houses.  The  chief  print- 
ing and  publishing  establishments  passed  from  father 
to  son  for  several  generations.  Pasquier  Bon- 
homme was  succeeded  by  his  son  Jean  I.,  his 
grandson  Jean  II.,  and  his  great-grandson  Jean  III., 
while  his  daughter  Yolande,  by  her  marriage  with 
Thielman  Kerver,  became  the  ancestress  of  another 
line  of  distinguished  printers  and  publishers.  Jean 
Petit  was  the  founder  of  a  dynasty  which  flourished 
for  more  than  a  century.  Of  the  two  publishing 
houses  which  made  a  speciality  of  the  more  popular 
romances  of  chivalry  and  other  favourite  works 
in  the  vernacular,  that  of  the  Ecu  de  France,  in 
the  rue  Neuve  de  Notre-Dame,  was  carried  on 
by  Jean  Trepperel  and  his  successors  from  the 
beginning  till  after  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century,1  while  the  rival  establishment  at  the  sign 
of  St.  Nicholas,  in  the  same  street,  after  passing 
through  the  hands  of  Jean  Saint-Denys  (1525-31), 
1  H.  Harrisse,  '  Excerpta  Columbiniana,'  pp.  xli.  ff. 


42  A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

his  widow  Claude,  and  Pierre  Sergent,  with  whom 
was  associated  Vincent  Sertenas,  became  the  pro- 
perty of  Sergent's  son-in-law,  Jean  Bonfons,  and 
remained  in  his  family  till  well  into  the  seventeenth 
century.1 

M.  Harrisse,  to  whom  we  owe  our  knowledge 
of  the  chronological  succession  of  these  two  houses, 
has  pointed  out  that  an  important  part  was  often 
played  by  widows  in  the  transmission  of  a  printing 
and  bookselling  business.  It  was  a  tradition,  he 
says,  down  to  the  Revolution,  that  the  widows  of 
printers  and  booksellers  should  succeed  to  their 
husbands'  business,  even  when  their  sons  had  already 
attained  their  majority,  and  he  adds  that  '  they 
acquitted  themselves  in  their  task  with  the  zeal  and 
intelligence  which  has  always  been  characteristic  of 
Parisian  wives  of  men  of  business.'2  The  most 
illustrious  female  printer  of  the  sixteenth  century 
was  Charlotte  Guillard,  the  wife,  first  of  Bertholdt 
Remboldt,  and  then  of  Claude  Chevallon.  She 
exercised  her  trade  for  fifty-four  years  (1502-56), 
during  sixteen  of  which  she  was  a  widow.  It  was 
not  uncommon  for  the  widow  of  a  printer  or  book- 
seller to  take  a  second  husband  of  the  same  pro- 
fession. Thus  Guyonne  Viart,  after  the  death  of 
her  first  husband,  Jean  Higman,  married  succes- 
sively Henri  Estienne  and  Simon  de  Colines.  She 
had  no  children  by  her  third  husband,  but  by 
her  first  she  became  the  ancestress  of  three 
well-known  families  of  booksellers  and  printers, 
Chaudiere,  Cavellat,  and  Mace,  while  by  her 

1  H.  Harrisse,  'Excerpta  Columbiniana,'  pp.  Ixi.ff. 

2  Ib.t  p.  300. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.        43 

second  she  became  the  mother  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  French  sixteenth-century  printers, 
Robert  Estienne.1  Robert  Estienne  himself  mar- 
ried Perrette,  the  daughter  of  the  well-known 
scholar  and  printer,  Josse  Bade,  two  of  whose 
other  daughters  were  married  to  men  of  high  dis- 
tinction in  the  same  profession,  Jean  de  Roigny 
and  Michel  de  Vascosan. 

With  these  preliminary  observations  I  will  pro- 
ceed to  give  an  account  in  chronological  order  of 
Galliot  Du  Pre's  publications.  He  began  his 
career,  so  far  as  we  know,  in  the  year  1 5 1 2,2  pub- 
lishing in  that  year  two  Latin  works.  One  of 
these — an  Eutropius  with  the  continuation  by 
Paulus  Diaconus — I  have  not  seen.3  There  is  a 
copy  of  the  other  in  the  Cambridge  University 
Library,  and  as  except  for  a  reference  in  Panzer 
to  a  copy  in  the  'Bibliotheca  Telleriana'  this  is 
the  only  mention  of  it  that  I  have  come  across, 
I  will  give  its  title  in  full.  It  runs  as  follows : 
'Johannis  Surgeti  nationis  galli  Suessionensis 
diocesis  in  legibus  licentiati  militaris  discipline 
Enchiridion  in  quo  varie  iuris  materie  et  peregrine 
questiones  continentur,  cuius  finis  est  pacis 
persuasio  inter  principes  christianos  et  belli  ex- 
hortatio  in  saracenos  et  infideles  hostes  religionis 
catholice.'  Below  the  title  is  the  mark  of  Jean 
Petit,  and  his  address  alone  appears  on  the  title- 

1  Ph.  Renouard,  *  Documents  sur  les  Imprimeurs,'  pp.  128-30. 

2  He    was   no    relation   of  Jean    Du    Pre",    whose    real    name 
M.  Renouard  has  discovered  to  be  Larcher. 

3  Delalain,  '  Notice  Compl.  (from  Cat.  E.  Piot).     It  is  printed 
by  Gilles  de  Gourmont. 


44  A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

page,  but  in  the  colophon  we  learn  that  Galliot 
Du  Pre  shared  in  the  expense  of  publication  and 
that  the  work  was  for  sale  at  the  '  Golden  Lily ' 
(the  sign  of  Jean  Petit)  and  'at  the  second  pillar 
of  the  hall  of  the  Palace,  at  the  shop  of  the  said 
Galliot  Du  Pre.'  The  book  is  undated,  but  as  the 
privilege  is  of  6th  April,  1511  (i.e.  151^)  it  may 
be  presumed  that  the  book,  being  a  small  one, 
appeared  not  long  after  this,  especially  as  Jean 
de  Ganaye,  the  Chancellor  of  France,  to  whom 
it  is  dedicated,  died  before  June,  I5I2.1 

It  was  a  common  practice  with  the  book- 
sellers of  this  period  to  have,  in  addition  to  their 
regular  places  of  business  where  they  lived,  open 
stalls  or  lean-to's,  either  inside  or  outside  the 
Palais  de  Justice.  Those  inside  were  placed  either 
in  one  of  the  corridors  or  galleries  leading  from 
one  part  of  the  building  to  another,  where  they 
vied  in  attraction  with  the  stalls  of  the  mercers  and 
the  drapers,2  or  on  the  steps  which  led  up  to  the 
Great  Hall,  or  in  the  Hall  itself  by  the  pillars 
which  supported  its  two  huge  vaults.3  There 
were  eight  of  these,  but,  as  a  rule,  only  the  first 
three  were  occupied  by  book-stalls,  two  at  each 

1  Finding  that  Archbishop  Le  Tellier  bequeathed  all  his  books 
to  the  abbey  of  Sainte-Genevieve,  I  thought  that  the  copy  of  this 
work  mentioned  by  Panzer  might   be  in  the   library  of  Sainte- 
Genevieve.     But  the  director,  M.  Kohler,  informs  me  that  though 
it  is  mentioned  in  a  manuscript  catalogue  of  about   1752,  it  is  no 
longer  in  the  catalogue  drawn  up  about  1 800,  and  that  he  can  find 
no  trace  of  it. 

2  See  Corneille's  *  La  Galerie  du  Palais,'  especially  Act  I.,  Sec. 

4-7- 

3  See  'Paris  a  travers  les   &ges,'  I.,   16,  with  a  contemporary 
illustration  (p.  7). 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.         45 

pillar.  Sometimes  the  same  bookseller  had  a  stall 
at  two  pillars,  and  at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth 
century  we  find  Nicolas  Bonfons,  the  head  of  the 
well-known  house  'At  the  Sign  of  Saint  Nicholas/ 
established  not  only  at  all  the  first  three  pillars  but 
at  the  fourth  as  well.1 

I  have  found  no  publication  of  Galliot  Du  Pre 
for  the  year  1513,  but  in  1514  he  issued  four 
works  of  considerable  size  and  importance ;  the 
'Grand  Coustumier  de  France,'  and  'Les  grandes 
chroniques,'  both  of  these  being  first  editions ; 
'Les  grandes  chroniques  de  Bretaigne,'  by  Alain 
Bouchard,2  a  work  of  considerable  popularity  and 
of  some  value  for  the  later  history ;  and  Montjoye's 
'Le  pas  des  armes.'  This  last  is  an  account  by 
the  chief  herald  of  the  jousts  held  on  the  occasion 
of  the  marriage  of  Louis  XII.  with  Mary  of  Eng- 
land. The  printing  was  finished  on  24th  Decem- 
ber, just  a  week  before  the  King's  death.3 

'Les  grandes  chroniques'4  is  a  translation,  with 
additions,  by  Pierre  Desrey  of  the  well-known 
'Compendium  super  Francorum  gestis'  of  Robert 
Gaguin.  Based,  like  the  longer  work  of  Nicole 
Gilles,  on  the  great  collection  of  chronicles  at 
Saint-Denis,  it  shared  its  popularity  through- 
out at  least  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
It  was  published  by  Du  Pre  in  conjunction 


1  Renouard,  '  Imprimeurs  parisiens,'  pp.  401-2. 

2  With  woodcuts,  Cat.  of  ' Bib.  Nat.' ;  « Bibl.  Sund.,'  L,  No. 
1854;  Quaritch,  'General  Catalogue,'  VI.,  p.  3792. 

3  Delalain,  *  Notice  compl.' ;  Brunet,  s.  v.  *  Entree.' 

4  Fitzwilliam  Museum,  Cambridge ;  Van  Praet,  2nd  part,  III., 
No.  95. 


46          A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

with  'Poncet  Le  Preux,'  one  of  the  four  '•grands 
libraires  juresj  whose  device  appears  on  the  title- 
page.  The  publication  was  evidently  a  success, 
for  in  the  following  year  they  issued  a  new 
edition.1 

It  was  doubtless  the  result  of  these  publications 
which  on  i6th  May,  1515,  led  Galliot  Du  Pre 
to  take  the  step  of  renting  a  house  on  the  Pont 
Notre-Dame.2  This  new  bridge,  connecting  the 
island  of  the  Cite  with  the  north  bank  of  the 
Seine,  had  been  completed  in  1506,  to  take  the 
place  of  the  old  one  which  had  collapsed  in  1499. 
At  this  period  there  were  two  districts  of  Paris  to 
which  the  booksellers  and  printers  were  in  practice, 
though  not  legally,  confined, — the  neighbourhood 
of  Notre-Dame  in  the  Cite  and  the  quarter  of  the 
University.  The  latter  district,  the  limits  of 
which  are  roughly  marked  by  the  Church  of 
Saint  Severin,  the  Place  Maubert,  the  Pantheon 
and  the  Place  de  la  Sorbonne,  was  considerably 
the  larger.  The  printers  and  booksellers  were 
here  conveniently  situated  under  the  eye  of  the 
University,  whose  colleges  spread  over  the  whole 
district.  The  principal  street  was  the  rue  Saint- 
Jacques,  which  extended  from  the  Petit  Pont  to 
the  Porte  Saint-Jacques,  a  distance  of  rather  more 
than  half  a  mile.  In  its  middle  portion  every 
house  was  occupied  by  booksellers,  and  those  of 
kindred  professions.  M.  Renouard  has  counted 
over  a  hundred  and  sixty  establishments  occu- 
pying some  eighty  houses.  They  greatly  varied 

1  Van  Praet,  /'£.,  No.  96. 

2  Renouard,  'Documents  sur  les  Imprimeurs,'  p.  81. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.         47 

in  size,  from  that  of  Jean  Petit,  who  occupied 
two  whole  houses,  the  Silver  Lion  and  the 
Golden  Fleur-de-Lys,  to  the  small  establish- 
ments in  different  stories  of  the  same  house. 
Other  booksellers'  streets  in  this  quarter  were  the 
rue  des  Carmes,  the  rue  du  Mont  Saint-Hilaire, 
the  rue  Saint-Jean  de  Beauvais,  and  the  rue  Saint- 
Jean  de  Latran. 

The  other  booksellers'  district  consisted  of  a  few 
streets  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  Notre- 
Dame,  the  chief  being  the  rue  du  Marche-Palu 
(the  continuation  of  the  rue  Saint-Jacques  across 
the  Petit  Pont)  with  its  continuation  the  rue  de 
la  Juiverie,  and  the  rue  Neuve  Notre-Dame, 
which  ran  from  the  Marche-Palu  to  the  Parvis 
Notre-Dame.  This  quarter  was  chiefly  occupied 
by  those  who  specialised  in  religious  books,  par- 
ticularly Books  of  Hours,  in  romances  of  chivalry, 
or  in  cheap  popular  works.1  As  we  shall  see, 
Galliot  Du  Pre  did  not  belong  to  any  of  these 
classes,  certainly  not  to  the  first. 

As  is  well  known,  houses  in  those  days  were  dis- 
tinguished not  by  numbers,  but  by  signs.  On  a 
change  of  occupation,  the  old  sign  was  generally 
retained,  but  sometimes  the  new  occupier  intro- 
duced a  new  one.  Thus  Galliot  Du  Pre,  by  way 
of  a  play  upon  his  name,  took  for  his  sign  a  galley. 
He  does  not  appear  to  have  used  his  new  abode  as 
a  shop,  for  throughout  his  career  his  books  are 
offered  for  sale  only  at  one  of  the  pillars  in  the 
hall  of  the  Palais  de  Justice. 

In  1516,  the  year  after  his  instalment  in  the 
1  Renouard,  '  Imprimeurs  Parisians,'  p.  xii. 


48  A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

house  on  the  Pont  Notre-Dame,  he  published  a  new 
edition  of  the  '  Grand  Coustumier,' l  and  the  editio 
princeps  of  the  Latin  version  of  the  '  Songe  du 
Verdier,'  under  the  title  of  'Aureus  (de  utraque 
potestate  temporali  et  spirituali)  libellus  ad  hunc 
usque  diem  non  vivus.  Somnium  viridarii  vulgariter 
nuncupatus.' 2  It  was  edited  by  Gilles  d'Aurigny  of 
Beauvais,  a  young  licentiate  of  law,  who  thirty 
years  later  published  a  volume  of  poetry  of  some 
merit,  entitled  'Tuteur  d' Amour.  In  this  year,  too, 
Galliot  Du  Pre  shared  with  two  other  booksellers 
in  the  publication  of  the  first  edition  of  the  romance 
of 'Saint  Graal.'  3 

His  productions  for  the  year  1517  were  '  Mirouer 
historial,'  a  compilation  from  various  authors,4  and 
a  work  by  that  worthy  lawyer  and  pedestrian  poet, 
Jean  Bouchet,  entitled  '  Temple  de  bonne  re- 
nommee.5  It  was  a  panegyric  in  verse  on  Charles 
de  La  Tremoille,  who  had  been  mortally  wounded 
at  Marignano.  Another  volume  published  by  Du 
Pre  in  the  same  year  contains  three  pieces  by 
Bouchet,  '  L'instruclion  du  jeune  prince,'  in  prose, 

1  28th  March  (after  Easter). 

2  British  Museum. 

3  Quaritch,  *  General  Catalogue,' VI.,  p.  3781.     On  the  title- 
page  the  book  is  said  to  be  on  sale  by  Philippe  Le  Noir  (son  of 
Michel  Le  Noir),  and  in  the  colophon  it  is  said  to  be  printed  by 
(par)  Jean  Petit,  Galliot  Du  Pr<§,  and  Michel  Le  Noir.     Neither 
Petit  nor  Du  Pr£  was  a  printer,  and  the  statement,  as  in  the  case 
of  Verard,  Vostre,  and  others,  only  implies  that  they  shared  in  the 
expense.     I  have  not  seen  the  book,  but  probably  it  was  printed  by 
Michel  Le  Noir. 

4  February,  1516  (probably  15  if). 

s  2nd  January,  i5Jf  (the  privilege  is  dated  loth  January,  151-?'). 
E.  Picot,  'Cat.  Rothschild,'  L,  No.  505. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.        49 

*  Le  Chapelet  des  Princes,'  composed  of  fifty  ron- 
deaux  and  five  ballades  addressed  to  the  same  Charles 
de  La  Tremoille,  and  an  Epistle  in  verse  purporting 
to  be  written  by  the  widow  of  Louis  XII.  to  her 
brother,  Henry  VIII.  The  first  piece  in  thevolume 
is  a  prose  work  by  Georges  Chastelain,  entitled 
'  Le  temple  de  Jehan  Boccace.'1 

Another  work  must  almost  certainly  be  assigned 
to  this  year,  namely  the  French  translation  by 
Mathurin  Du  Redouer,  licentiate  of  law,  of  the 
'  Paesi  novamente  retrovati  e  Novo  Mondo  da 
Alberico  Vesputio  Florentine  intitulato,'  that  first 
collection  of  voyages,  edited  by  Fracanzio  da 
Montalboddo,  which  had  been  published  at  Vicenza 
in  1507.  There  is  no  date  to  the  book,  but  as  the 
privilege  is  dated  loth  January,  15^,  and  the 
book  has  only  132  leaves  of  text,  the  presump- 
tion is  that  it  was  published  at  any  rate  before 
the  end  of  the  year.  It  is  entitled  '  Le  nouveau 
Monde  et  Navigations  faites  par  Emeric  de  Vespuce 
Florentin,'  and  thus  gives  even  greater  prominence 
to  the  name  of  Vespucci  than  the  original  does.2 

1  Picot,  I.,  No.  506. 

2  There  was  a  copy  in  the  Didot  library  (Catalogue  of  1881, 
No.  472).     See  also  '  Raccolta  di  document!  e  studi  pubblicata  dalla 
Commissione  Columbiana,'  VI.,  154-5.     ^n  Quaritch's  'General 
Catalogue,'  VI.,  3793,  it  is  claimed  that  this  is  the  first  edition  of 
the  French  translation  on  the  ground  first,  that  it  has  a  privilege, 
and  secondly,  that  it  has  in  Vespucci's  third  voyage  three  diagrams 
of  southern  constellations  which  are  wanting  in  the  other  early 
editions.     This  is,  doubtless,  a  just  claim.     The  only  two  editions 
that  could  possibly  be  earlier  both  bear  the  name  and  mark  of  the  Ecu 
de  France.     One  of  these  has  also  the  sign  of  Jehan  Janot,  and  was 
printed   by   him.     It   therefore   belongs  to  the  period,    1512-22, 
during  which  he  was  associated  with  his  mother-in-law,  the  widow 

IX.  E 


5o          A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

Finally  in  this  year  Galliot  Du  Pre  completed 
the  first  half  of  the  most  important  work,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  size,  that  he  had  yet  taken  in 
hand.  This  was  the  publication  in  four  volumes 
of  'La  mer  des  histoires  et  croniques  de  France.' 
The  printing  of  the  first  volume  was  finished  on 
3ist  October,  1517,  and  that  of  the  second  on 
29th  October,  1517,  the  printer  of  both  being 
Michel  Le  Noir.1  They  probably  were  published 
together  as  soon  as  they  were  both  ready.  The 
third  volume  has  the  mark  of  Jean  Petit,  and  we 
learn  from  the  imprint  of  the  fourth  volume  that 
it  was  finished  on  roth  March,  1518,*  I  should 
conjecture  that  Jean  Petit  made  himself  responsible 
for  the  two  latter  volumes,  but  without  having 
seen  the  book  it  is  impossible  to  form  a  definite 
opinion.  As  regards  the  work  itself  it  begins  with 
two  books  (I.  pp.  1-270)  compiled  from  'La  mer 
des  histoires'  and  the  rest  is  taken  from  'Les 
grandes  croniques.' 

In  the  year  1518  Galliot  Du  Pre  published  a 
translation  of  'Apuleius'  by  Guillaume  Michel  of 
Tours,  an  industrious  poet  and  translator  of  the 
grand  rhetoriqueur  school,*  and  the  'De  institutione 
reipublicae  libri  novem'  of  Francesco  Patrizzi.4 

of  Jean  Trepperel.  The  other,  which  has  no  printer's  name,  but 
only  the  mark  and  name  of  the  Ecu  de  France,  is  in  the  same  type, 
but  the  type  is  thicker  and  less  clear,  and  the  capitals  are  less 
elaborate.  For  an  account  of  the  original  Italian  work  see  *  The 
Modern  Language  Review'  for  July,  1907. 

1  Harrisse,  *  Exc.  Colomb.,'  pp.  xiii.-xiv. 

2  Van  Praet,  2nd  part,  III.,  No.  16. 

3  *  Cat.  La  Valliere,'  II.,  No.  3842.     For  a  specimen  of  Michel's 
prose  style  see  Viollet  Le  Due,  '  Bibliotheque  poetique,'  p.  153. 

4  Cambridge  University  Library. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.        51 

This  was  followed  in  1519  by  the  publication  of 
the  same  writer's  'Enneas  de  regno  et  regis  insti- 
tutione'  and  in  1520  by  that  of  a  French  trans- 
lation of  his  former  work  under  the  title  of  'Livre 
tres  fruclueux  et  utile  a  toute  personne  de  1'insti- 
tution  et  administration  de  la  chose  publicque.'1 
The  author  was  banished  from  his  native  city  of 
Siena  in  1457,  an<^  m  l4-6°  was  made  Bishop  of 
Gaeta  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  where  he  died 
in  1494.  His  two  works  continued  in  repute 
throughout  the  sixteenth  century.  Elyot's  <Gov- 
ernour'  owes  much  to  the  '  De  regno,'  and  it  was 
edited  in  1567  by  the  well-known  scholar  Denys 
Lambin.  In  1519  Galliot  Du  Pre  also  published 
a  French  translation,  by  Pierre  Desrey,  of  Platina's 
4  Lives  of  the  Popes.'  2 

From  the  title-page  of  the  'Livre  tres  fruclueux' 
we  learn  that  Du  Pre  had  transferred  his  stall 
from  the  second  to  the  third  pillar  of  the  Great 
Hall  of  the  Palais  de  Justice.  Another  public- 
ation of  the  year  1520  is  a  French  version  of  the 
'Moriae  Encomium,'  probably  the  garbled  one 
by  Georges  Haloin  of  which  Erasmus  complains 
in  one  of  his  letters.3  In  February,  1521,  ap- 
peared a  translation  of  'Suetonius,'  by  Guillaume 
Michel,4  from  which  we  learn  that  Galliot  Du 
Pre  had  been  appointed  one  of  the  libraires  jures. 
At  the  following  midsummer  he  renewed  the 

1  3<Dth  April. 

2 '  Genealogies  faits  et  gestes  des  saints  peres  Papes '  (British 
Museum ;  Van  Praet,  V.,  No.  23).  It  is  ascribed  to  Desrey  by 
Du  Verdier. 

3  <  Opera,'  III.,  275. 

4  i6th  February,  152^.     Delalain,  'Notice  Compl.' 


52          A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

lease  of  his  house  on  the  Pont  Notre-Dame,  but 
in  September  of  the  next  year  (1522)  he  moved 
to  the  rue  des  Marmouzets,  a  short  street  which 
ran  from  the  rue  de  la  Juiverie  (now  the  rue  de 
la  Cite)  to  the  archway  leading  into  the  cloister 
of  Notre-Dame.  His  house  is  described  as  being 
near  to  the  Church  of  La  Madeleine,  which 
was  in  the  rue  de  la  Juiverie.1  According  to 
M.  Renouard's  list  of  addresses,  he  was  the  only 
bookseller  in  the  street,  for  Gilles  Corrozet  did  not 
go  there  till  after  Du  Pre's  death,  and  Jean  de 
La  Garde,  who  was  burnt  in  April,  1538,  for 
having  bought  some  heretical  books  from  Jean 
Morin,  the  printer  of  the  'Cymbalum  Mundi,'2 
had  left  it  in  1512.  Du  Pre  transferred  his  old 
sign  of  a  galley  to  his  new  abode. 

In  February  of  the  following  year  (1523)  he 
issued  an  Epitome  in  French  of  Bude's  'De  Asse,' 
a  little  book  with  79  leaves  of  text  and  about 
170  words  to  a  page.  It  is  printed  in  Roman 
type  by  Pierre  Vidoue.3  To  the  year  1523  also 
may  be  assigned  the  editio  princeps  of  '  Ysaie  le 
triste,'4  a  late  fifteenth  century  prose  romance 
which  relates  the  fortunes  of  the  son  of  Tristan 
and  Yseult  of  Cornwall.  The  book  is  undated, 
but  as  the  privilege  was  granted  in  November, 

1  See  G.  Corrozet, '  La  fleur  des  antiques  de  Paris,'  ed.  P.  Lacroix, 
1874,  pp.  103  and  1 05,  and  the  map  of  Paris  by  Truschet  and  Hoyau 
(1552),  part  of  which   is  reproduced    by   M.   Delalain,    'Notice 
Compl.,'  p.  9. 

2  See  Herminjard,  *  Correspondance  des  reYormateurs,'  IV.,  41 8-20. 

3  British  Museum. 

4  Delalain,  'Notice  compl.'  (Cat.  Techener,   1886,   No.  465). 
Panzer  assigns  it  to  1522. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.        53 

1522,  it  doubtless  appeared  in  the  course  of  the 
following  year. 

Du  Pre  now  changed  his  stall  for  the  second 
time,  moving  to  the  first  pillar,  and  it  was  here 
that  he  offered  for  sale  in  March,  1524,'  a  trans- 
lation of  Petrarch's  Latin  treatise  'De  remediis 
utriusque  fortunae.'  In  the  dedicatory  epistle 
addressed  to  Charles,  Due  de  Vendome,  he  attri- 
butes the  translation  to  Nicolas  Oresme,  the 
well-known  translator,  through  Latin  versions,  of 
the  'Ethics'  and  £  Polities'  of  Aristotle.  But  M. 
Leopold  Delisle  has  shewn  that  it  is  really  the 
work  of  Jean  Daudin,  a  canon  of  the  Sainte- 
Chapelle.2  The  preface,  it  may  be  noted,  is 
written  in  the  latinised  style,  with  its  lumbering 
sentences  and  redundant  vocabulary,  of  the  average 
writer  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  is  the  style 
of  the  grand  rhetoriqueurs  without  their  worst  affec- 
tations. In  another  preface  to  one  of  Galliot  Du 
Pre's  books,  that  to  Meliadus  (1528),  the  style  is 
much  simpler.  It  is  possible  that  he  did  not  write 
his  own  prefaces. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year  1524,  Du  Pre 
published  a  greatly  enlarged  edition  of  Andre 
Tiraqueau's  '  De  legibus  connubialibus,'3  in  the  pre- 
paration of  which  the  author  was  in  all  likelihood 


1  1 5th    March,   1523,  avant  Pasques.     The  privilege   is  dated 
23rd  March,  1524,  avant  Pasques,  the  4  being  evidently  a  misprint 
for  2. 

2  *  Notices  et  extraits  des  manuscrits  de  la  bibliotheque  nationale 
et  autres  bibliotheques.'     XXXIIL,  pp.  273  ff. 

3  Printed  in  Roman  type  by  Pierre  Vidoue,  the  printing  being 
finished  30th  November,  1524.  Cambridge  University  Library.  For 


54  A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

assisted  by  his  friend  Rabelais.  In  its  new  form 
the  book  had  a  remarkable  success. 

But  Du  Pre's  most  noteworthy  publication  during 
the  year  1524  was  the  first  edition  of  the  '  Cronique 
et  histoire '  of  Philippe  de  Commines.  The  date 
of  the  privilege  is  3rd  February,  152^,  and  the 
printing  was  finished  on  26th  April.1  It  was 
followed  by  a  new  edition  in  September,2  by  a  third 
in  the  following  September  (15 25),  and  by  a  fourth 
and  fifth  in  January  and  February,  1526.  All 
these  editions  contain  only  six  books,  relating  to 
the  reign  of  Louis  XI.  The  last  two  books,  which 
Commines  probably  wrote  during  his  retirement 
at  Argenton  (1498-1511),  and  which  deal  with 
the  Italian  expedition  of  Charles  VIII.  (1494-5), 
were  not  printed  till  1528.  Du  Pre  published 
editions  of  the  complete  work  in  1546  and  1552,* 
both  in  association  with  Jean  de  Roigny.  He 
began  another  in  1560,  but  he  did  not  live  to  see 
it  completed,  and  it  appeared,  after  his  death,  in 
1561. 

The  most  extensive  work  published  by  Du  Pre 
in  1525  was  4  Les  tres  elegantes  tres  veridiques  et 
et  copieuses  annales,'  of  Nicole  Gilles  in  two  folio 
volumes,  a  work  which,  as  I  have  said,  became 
equally  popular  with  Desrey's  translation  of  Gaguin's 
'Compendium.'  Du  Pre  republished  it  no  less  than 

the  book  itself  see  J.  Barat  in  'Revue  des  6tudes  rabelaisiennes,' 
III.,  I58ff.,  253 ff.  The  second  edition  (1515)  contained  only 
33  leaves,  the  new  one  276. 

1  The  date  of  the  first  edition  is  sometimes  wrongly  given  as  1523. 

2  British  Museum. 

3  Library  of  King's  College,  Cambridge.     This  and  the  next 
were  edited  by  Denis  Sauvage. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.        55 

four  times.  The  edition  of  1525  is  the  oldest  that 
exists,  but  the  statement  in  the  title  that  the  chro- 
nicles have  been  carried  down  to  1520  would  seem 
to  imply  an  edition  of  that  year.  Lelong  mentions 
editions  of  1492  and  1498,  but  Brunet  supposes 
these  to  be  different  works.  To  the  year  1525 
belongs  also  '  La  Catalogue  des  Saints  et  Saintes 
traduit  du  Latin  de  Pierre  des  Natales  par  Guy 
Breslay.'  2  vols.1  Guy  Breslay  was  a  jurist  and 
humanist  of  considerable  distinction,  who  became 
President  of  the  Great  Council.  The  editio  princeps 
of  the  prose  romance  of  'Mabrian'  is  assigned  in 
the  Didot  catalogue  to  1525,*  but  as  the  privilege 
is  dated  8th  November  of  that  year,  it  probably  did 
not  appear  till  1526.  It  is  a  fifteenth  century  con- 
tinuation of  '  Maugis  d'Augrement,'  which  was  not 
printed  till  1527. 

Early  in  1526  Du  Pre  brought  out  a  volume 
containing  works  by  Chastelain,  Molinet,  and 
Cretin,  the  three  successive  chiefs  of  the  rhetoriqueur 
school,  and  by  Jean  Le  Maire  de  Beiges,  the 
nephew  and  disciple  of  Molinet.  They  are  all 
in  verse  except  Chastelain's  c  Epitaphes  de  Hector 
et  Achilles,'  which  is  partly  in  prose  and  partly  in 
verse.3  The  volume  opens  with  'Trois  contes 
intitules  de  Cupido  et  Atropos,  traduits  de  1'italien 
de  Seraphin,  le  second  et  tiers  de  1'invention  de 
Jean  Le  Maire.'  As  a  matter  of  facl,  the  first  of 

1  3rd  March,  152^  (avant  Pasques).     See  Van  Praet,  2nd  part, 
III.,  No.  26. 

2  1878,  No.  563. 

3  Picot,  *  Cat.  Rothschild,'  I.,  No.  487.     The  edition  mentioned 
by  Panzer  under  the  date  of  1521  is  clearly  the  same  as  this. 


56  A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

these  is  not  a  translation  from  Serafino  da  Aquila, 
but  an  original  poem  founded  on  one  of  his  sonnets. 
It  is  written,  it  may  be  noticed,  in  terza  rima.  The 
second  conte  is  a  continuation  of  the  same  story, 
while  the  third  is  not  by  Jean  Le  Maire.1  Serafino 
of  Aquila,  who  died  young  in  1500,  had  a  great 
contemporary  reputation,  especially  for  his  stram- 
botti^  short  poems  full  of  conceits  and  extravagance, 
which  he  used  to  sing  to  the  accompaniment  of 
his  lute.  A  performance  which  he  gave  before 
Charles  VIII.  at  Milan  favourably  impressed  the 
French  courtiers  who  were  present,  and  he  had  a 
great  reputation  in  France.  Dante,  Petrarch,  Boc- 
caccio, Filelfo^  Serafino^  these,  according  to  Jean 
Le  Maire,  were  the  writers  whom  Italy  could 
match  against  Jean  de  Meung,  Froissart,  Chartier, 
Meschinot,  the  two  Grebans,  Millet,  Molinet,  Chas- 
telain,  and  others  '  whose  memory  is,  and  long  will 
be  on  the  lips  of  men,  without  mentioning  those  who 
are  still  living  and  flourishing,  of  whom  Master 
Guillaume  Cretin  is  the  prince.'2  Serafino's  repu- 
tation survived  throughout  the  first  half  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  his  poetry  had  a  certain 
influence  in  France.  There  are  traces  of  it  in 
Marot  and  Saint-Gelais's  poems,  but  the  poet  whom 
it  most  affected  was  Maurice  Sceve.3 

Du  Pre  also  published  in  1526  works  by  two 
other  writers  in  Jean  Le  Maire's  list,  '  Les  faiclz 
et  diclz,'  of  Alain  Chartier,  and  the  '  Roman  de  la 

1  A.  Becker,  'Jean  Lemaire.'     Strasburg,  1893,  pp.  254 ff. 

2  Prologue  to  *  La  Concorde  des  deux  langages.' 

3  See  J.  Vianey,  *  L'influence  italienne  chez  les  pre"curseurs  de  la 
Pleiade'  in  the  'Bulletin  italien,'  III.,  85  ff. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY,         57 

Rose,'  the  latter  edited  and  rejuvenated  by  Clement 
Marot.1  One  other  publication  belongs  to  the 
year  1526,  'La  prison  d'amours,'  a  translation  of 
Diego  de  San  Pedro's  sentimental  love-story, '  Carcel 
de  Amor,'  which  attained  considerable  popularity 
in  France.2 

For  the  year  1527  I  have  seven  publications  to 
notice,  a  reprint  of  Nicole  Gilles,  and  six  new 
works:  (i)  '  Rondeaux  au  nombre  de  trois  cent 
cinquante,  singuliers  et  a  tout  propos,'  of  which  the 
authorship  has  been  attributed  to  Gringore;3  (2) 
'  Dialogue  tres  elegant  intitule  Le  Peregrin,'  a 
translation  by  Fran9ois  Dassy  of  Caviceo's  '  Libro 
del  peregrine,'  a  prolix  love-story  first  printed  at 
Parma  in  1508  ;4  (3)  The  c  Celestina,'  a  translation 
through  the  Italian  of  the  famous  Spanish  play  of 
'  Calisto  y  Melibea ;  5  (4)  <  The  Life  of  Bayard,'  by 
the  anonymous  secretary  who  calls  himself  le  loyal 
Serviteur -^  (5)  '  Chantz  royaulx  oraisons  et  aultres 
petits  traiclez,'  by  Guillaume  Cretin.  This  last 
representative  of  the  rhetoriqueur  school,  whom 
Clement  Marot  addressed  as  Souverain  poetefran$ois, 

1  Undated,  but  the  privilege  is  of  iQth  April,  1526.     British 
Museum.     Petit's  name  appears  on  the  title-page  of  some  copies 
('Cat.  Didot,'  1878,  No.  131). 

2  6th  March,   152!     This  privilege  is  dated  8th  May,  1525. 
See  Picot,  II.,  No.  6747. 

3  Picot,  II.,  No.  1744;  'Lakelands  Cat.,1  No.  651. 

t  Delalain,  *  Notice  Compl.,  p.  24 ;  '  Crawford  Cat.,'  No.  272. 
This  is  the  oldest  known  edition,  but  M.  Roman,  the  modern  editor 
of  the  work,  thinks  that  there  was  an  earlier  one  published  in  1524, 
the  year  of  Bayard's  death. 

5  In  one  of  the  two  copies  in  the  Seilliere  collection  (*  Cat. 
Seilliere,'  Paris,  1890,  Nos.  597  and  598),  the  words  translate 
dytalien  tnfraitfoit  are  omitted  on  the  title-page. 


58  A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

and  Geofroy  Tory  compared  with  Homer,  Virgil, 
and  Dante,  had  died  some  time  between  1523  and 
February,  1526,  for  in  the  volume  of  that  date 
mentioned  above  he  is  alreadv  described  as  c  feu 

j 

Cretin.'  This  posthumous  edition  of  his  poetry 
was  edited  by  his  friend,  Fran£ois  Charbonnier, 
Vicomte  d'Arques,  and  dedicated  by  him  to  Mar- 
garet of  Navarre.  The  Didot  copy  was  the  one 
which  the  editor  presented  to  Margaret,  and  which 
she,  perhaps  not  appreciating  Cretin's  poetry, 
handed  on  to  her  secretary,  the  poet,  Victor 
Brodeau.1  The  sixth  is  of  a  very  different  char- 
acler,  namely,  a  narrative  by  Nicolas  de  Volcyre  of 
the  brutal  slaughter  of  the  peasants  in  Lorraine  by 
the  troops  of  Duke  Anthony.  The  title  is  instruc- 
tive, for  it  runs, l  L'histoire  et  reueil  de  triumphante 
et  glorieuse  vicloire  obtenue  centre  les  seduycls 
et  abusez  lutheriens  mescreans  de  pays  Daulsays  et 
autres,'  etc.,2  and  thus  confirms  Mr.  A.  F.  Pollard's 
statement  that  the  Duke  <  regarded  the  suppression 
of  the  revolt  in  the  light  of  a  crusade  against 
Luther.' 3  The  book  is  adorned  with  seven  wood- 
cuts. 

Du  Pre  began  the  year  1528  with  the  pub- 
lication of  a  new  work  by  Pierre  Gringore,  entitled 
'Notables  enseignemens  adages  et  proverbes  faitz 
et  composez  par  Pierre  Gringore  dit  Vauldemont 
herault  darmes  de  hault  et  puissant  seigneur  mon- 

14  Cat.  Didot,'  1878,  No.  176. 

2  The    privilege    is    dated     I2th    January,     1527.      Delalain, 
'  Notice  Compl.' ;  Van  Praet,  V.,  30  ;  Bernard,  *  Geofroy  Tory,' 
p.  244. 

3  'Cambridge  Modern  History,'  II.,  195. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.        59 

sieur  le  due  de  Lorraine.'1  It  is  written  in  eight- 
lined  stanzas.  Early  in  the  reign  of  Francis  I., 
Gringore  had  retired  to  the  court  of  Lorraine, 
where  instead  of  satirical  plays  he  produced 
courtly  and  religious  poetry  for  his  highly  ortho- 
dox master,  Duke  Anthony.  His  office  of  herald 
was  nearly  fatal  to  him  in  the  Peasants'  War,  for 
on  being  sent  to  the  invaders  with  articles  of 
capitulation  they  fired  at  him  and  killed  his 
trumpeter.  In  a  wood-cut  which  adorns  Du 
Pre's  edition  he  is  represented  as  offering  his  book 
to  Francis  I.  The  publication  was  a  success,  for 
within  a  year  Du  Pre  issued  another  and  more 
complete  edition.2 

The  year  1528  was  a  prolific  one  with  Du  Pre. 
To  begin  with,  he  issued  three  romances  of  chivalry ; 
one  of  them  a  work  of  considerable  size.  The 
first  to  appear  was  'La  conqueste  de  grece.  Faicle 
par  le  tres  preux  et  redouble  en  cheualerie  Philippe 
de  madien  Aultrement  dit  le  chevalier  a  lesparvier 
blanc.'3  It  is  a  fifteenth  century  version  of  the 
original  romance,  now  lost,  by  Perrinet  Du  Pin. 
It  was  succeeded  by  '  Perceforest,'  in  six  volumes 
(28th  May),  and  by  '  Meliadus  de  Leonnoys'  (3oth 
November),  both  printed  by  Nicolas  Couteau.4 

1  1st  February,  I52|.     A  privilege  dated  I5th  November,  1527, 
was  granted  to  Gringore  (see  Picot,  L,  No.  500);  'Cat.  Didot' 
(1878),  No.  192  ;  Delalain,  '  Notice  Compl.' ;  A.  Bernard,  'Geofroy 
Tory'  (2nd  ed.,  1865),  p.  255. 

2  26th  January,  152^. 

3  8th   February,    152$    (privilege  of  4th   February,    I52|).     It 
is  printed  by  Jacques  'Nyverd.     There  is  a  good  wood-cut  on  the 
title-page.     British  Museum. 

4  The  privilege  for  'Perceforest'  is  dated   loth  March,   152^, 
and  that  for  'Meliadus,'  5th  March,  152^.     In  'Meliadus'  the 


60  A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

'  Perceforest '  had  been  refashioned  in  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  century  by  Daniel  Aubert,  librarian 
to  Philip  the  Good,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  from 
an  older  fourteenth v  century  romance  in  prose. 
M.  Hugues  Vaganay  has  recently  reproduced  for 
private  circulation  the  first  chapters  with  a  fac- 
simile of  the  title-page  of  Du  Pre's  edition. 
'  Meliadus '  represents  the  first  half,  as  '  Giron  le 
Courtois'  represents  the  second,  of  the  poetical 
romance  of  'Palamede'  as  abridged  by  Rusticien 
of  Pisa.1 

Two  more  works  remain  to  be  mentioned  for 
the  year  1528.  One  is  '  Les  lunettes  des  princes. 
Ensemble  plusieurs  additions  et  ballades  par  noble 
homme  Jean  Meschinot.'2  The  author,  a  native 
of  Nantes,  died  in  1509,  after  sixty  years'  service 
as  maitre  d' hotel  to  the  Dukes  of  Brittany  and  their 
last  representative,  Anne  of  Brittany.  His  chief 
poem  'Les  lunettes  des  princes',  first  published  at 
Nantes  in  1493,  was  extremely  popular  and  went 
through  at  least  fifteen  editions  in  the  course  of  the 
next  twelve  years.  After  1505  no  more  editions, 
or  at  most  only  one,  were  published  till  about 
1520,  when  a  new  one  appeared,  followed  by  at 
least  eight  others  between  that  date  and  1540. 
The  other  work  is  Oclovien  de  Saint-Gelais's 
translation  of  Ovid's  'Epistles.'3  In  the  next 


printer's  name  is  not  given,  but  the  type  is  the  same  as  that 
used  for  *  Perceforest.'  There  are  copies  of  both  in  the  British 
Museum. 

1  Ward,  '  Catalogue  of  Romances,'  I.,  364-9. 

2 'Cat.  Didot,'  1878,  No.  160. 

*  'Cat.  Yemeniz,'  No.  1495  ;  Delalain,  'Notice  Compl.' 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.        61 

year  Du  Pre  published  the  same  writer's  trans- 
lation of  the  'Aeneid'  in  a  volume  with  Guillaume 
Michel's  version  of  the  'Eclogues'  and  'Georgics.' 

His  most  noteworthy  publication  for  1529  was 
Guevara's  'Libro  aureo  de  Marco  Aurelio,'1  a 
reprint  of  the  unauthorised  edition  which  had  been 
surreptitiously  published  at  Seville  in  1529.  It 
was  by  no  means  the  only  Spanish  book  published 
in  France  at  this  period.  The  'Celestina,'  the 
poems  of  Boscan  and  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,  and 
other  works,  were  all  printed  either  at  Paris  or 
Lyons  in  their  original  tongue.  The  question 
naturally  arises,  were  they  intended  for  the  home 
or  the  Spanish  market  ?  Probably  for  the  latter, 
as  the  number  of  Frenchmen  at  this  period  who 
understood  Spanish  must  have  been  small.  We 
have  parallel  cases  on  a  larger  scale  in  the  Service 
books  which  the  French  printers  and  booksellers 
produced  both  for  the  English  and  the  Spanish 
market.2 

Other  publications  of  Galliot  Du  Pre's  for  the 
year  1529  were  new  editions  of  the  'Roman  de  la 
la  Rose,'s  'Alain  Chartier,'4  and  the  Epitome  of 
Bude's  'De  Asse.'  He  also  shewed  his  continued 
interest  in  history  by  publishing  Lapo  Birago's 
Latin  version  of  'Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus,' 
first  printed  at  Treviso  in  1480,  and  'L'histoire 


1  Delalain,  *  Notice  Compl.' 

2  See  E.  G.  Duff,  *  The  Printers,  Stationers,  and  Bookbinders  of 
Westminster  and  London  from  1476  to  1535,'  Cambridge,  1906, 
pp.  205  ff. 

3  Trinity  College,  Cambridge. 
*  British  Museum. 


62  A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

agregative  des  annales  et  croniques  d'Anjou '  by 
Jean  de  Bourdigne,  a  member  of  the  same  family 
as  Charles  de  Bourdigne,  the  author  of  the  'Legende 
Pierre  Faifeu.  He  associated  himself  in  the  publi- 
cation of  the  'Dionysius'  with  Pierre  Vidoue,  and  in 
that  of 'L'histoire  d'Anjou'  with  two  publishers  of 
Angers.  In  the  same  year  he  published  conjointly 
with  Josse  Bade  a  curious  collection  of  three  Latin 
theological  treatises:  'tria  aurea  opuscula,'1  by 
Jean  Bertaud.  The  first  is  entitled  'Encomium 
triarum  Mariarum  cum  earundem  cultus  defensione 
adversus  Lutheranos' ;  the  second  is  an  office  for 
their  worship  ;  the  third  treats  of  their  relationship 
with  St.  John  the  Baptist.2  The  three  Maries  are 
the  Virgin  Mary,  Mary  the  wife  of  Cleopas,  and 
Salome  the  wife  of  Zebedee,  who,  according  to  the 
orthodox  belief  of  that  time,  was  originally  called 
Mary,  and,  together  with  the  wife  of  Cleopas, 
was  supposed  to  be  half-sister  to  the  Virgin. 
But  Lefevre  d' 'Etaples,  in  the  same  treatise  (1517), 
in  which  he  denied  the  identity  of  Mary  the  sister 
of  Lazarus  with  Mary  Magdalene  and  'the  woman 
who  was  a  sinner,'  also  questioned  the  received 
view  about  the  three  Maries.  He  was  answered 
in  both  points  by  Noel  Bedier,  the  well-known 
champion  of  the  Sorbonne,  whose  second  treatise 
'Apologia  pro  filiabus  et  nepotibus  beatae  Annae' 
appeared  in  February,  1520,  just  after  the  writings 

1  Van  Praet,  V.,  No.  139 ;  'Cat.  Bibl.  Nat.'  The  author  died 
in  1545. 

2 'Cat.  Didot,'  1879,  No-  468  5  A.Bernard,  <  Geofroy  Tory,' 
259  ff.  The  Bibl.  Nat.  has  three  copies  and  the  Bibl.  Mazarine 
two. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.         63 

of  Luther  had  begun  to  circulate  widely  in  Paris. 
Thus  the  cult  of  the  three  Maries  came  to  be 
regarded  as  a  sign  of  orthodoxy. 

I  have  found  seven  publications,  all  in  French, 
for  the  year  1530,  three  being  translations  and 
four  original  works.  The  translations  include 
Josephus's  'Jewish  War'  made  from  the  Latin  and 
attributed  to  Claude  de  Seyssel,1  and  'Singulier 
Traicte,  contenant  la  propriete  des  Tortues,  Escar- 
gots,  Grenoilles  .  .  .  compose  par  Estienne  D'aigue 
escuyer,  seigneur  de  Beauvais  en  Berry.'2  This  is 
evidently  an  extract  rendered  into  French  from  the 
author's  Latin  commentary  on  Pliny.  Estienne  de 
L'Aigue,  as  his  real  name  was  (in  Latin  Aqueus), 
was  often  employed  on  diplomatic  missions  by  Fran- 
cis I.  He  was  in  London  in  1533  with  Guillaume 
Du  Bellay,  and  on  Shrove  Tuesday  (25th  February) 
was  entertained  by  Henry  VIII.  at  a  banquet  at 
which  Anne  Boleyn  sat  in  the  Queen's  place.3  The 
secret  marriage  had  taken  place  a  month  previously. 
It  was  doubtless  Aigue's  humanistic  attainments 
which  had  made  him  acceptable  to  Francis  I., 
but  his  career  was  cut  short  in  1538,  when  he 
died  at  Avignon  in  the  arms  of  his  friend  Claude 
Cottereau.4  In  1538  Du  Pre  and  Poncet  Le  Preux 
published  his  translation  of  Caesar's '  Commentaries 

1  With    Poncet    Le    Preux  and    Claude  Chevallon.     Delalain, 
'Notice  Compl.'  (from  « Cat.  Didot,'  1881,  No.  483). 

2  Delalain,  *  Notice  Compl.'     To  this  year  also  belongs  a  trans- 
lation by  Jean  de  La  Forest,  afterwards  ambassador  to  the  Sultan, 
of  an    Italian    oration    delivered    at   Florence    by    Bartolommeo 
Cavalcanti  (V.  L.  Bourrilly,  in  *  Rev.  hist.,'  XVI.,  302). 

3  V.  L.  Bourrilly,  *  Guillaume  Du  Bellay,'  1905,  p.  142. 
«#.  «V.,  p.  319. 


64  A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

on  the  Civil  Wars '  in  a  volume  with  Gaguin's 
version  of  the  'Gallic  Wars.'1 

The  four  original  works  of  1530  are  all  of 
considerable  interest.  The  largest  is  'Froissart'  in 
four  volumes  folio,  published  jointly  with  Jean 
Petit.2  Another  joint  publication  is  'Perceval  le 
Gallois,'3  shared  with  Jean  Longis  and  Jean  de 
Saincl-Denys,  the  latter  being  the  predecessor  of 
Pierre  Sergent  and  the  Bonfons  family  at  the 
sign  of  St.  Nicholas  in  the  rue  Neuve  Notre- 
Dame.  This  is  the  only  known  edition  of  this 
romance. 

The  remaining  two  were  published  by  Du  Pre 
alone.  One  of  these  entitled  c  Contreditz  de  Songe- 
creux,'  is  a  satirical  poem  of  much  vigour,  formerly 
attributed  to  Gringore,  but  now  proved  to  be  the 
work  of  his  rival  at  the  Court  of  Lorraine,  Jehan  du 
Pontalais,  who  was  known  by  the  soubriquet  of 
Songecreux.  A  considerable  share  of  the  author's 
satire  is  directed  against  women.  It  was  therefore 
only  fair  that  Du  Pre  should  publish  in  the  same 
year  the  '  Champion  des  dames'  of  Martin  Le 
Franc.4  This  long  poem  which  its  author,  who 
was  secretary  to  the  anti-Pope,  Felix  V.,  presented 
to  Philip  the  Good,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  in  1442, 
was  first  printed  at  Lyons  about  1490,5  but  met 
with  little  success.  Its  re-publication  was  no  doubt 
suggested  by  the  fact  that  the  time-honoured 

1  Van  Praet,  2nd  part,  III.,  No.  59. 

2 1  have  seen  a  copy  of  Volumes  I.  and  II.  (in  the  possession  of 
Mr.  E.  Ph.  Goldschmidt),  with  only  the  name  of  G.  Du  Pre". 
3  British  Museum.  4  Ibid. 

5  M.  Pellechet,  *  Incunables  de  Lyon,'  1893. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.        65 

controversy  on  the  subject  of  women,  having 
received  a  fresh  impetus  from  the  'Sylva  nuptialis' 
of  Giovanni  Nevizano  (1521)  and  the  new  edition 
of  Tiraqueau's  'De  legibus  connubialibus'  referred 
to  above,  was  once  more  in  full  activity. 

ARTHUR  TILLEY. 


(T'o  be  concluded.) 


IX. 


66 


A  MUNICIPAL    LIBRARY  AND   ITS 
PUBLIC. 


I.— THE   NEWS-ROOM. 

&ANY  readers  of  'THE  LIBRARY'  re- 
member with  pleasure  a  series  of 
articles,  by  Mr.  Crunden,  of  the  St. 
i  Louis  Public  Library,  which  appeared 
I  in  the  first  and  second  volumes  (New 
Series)  1899-1900,  under  the  title,  'How  things 
are  done  in  one  American  Library.'  The  auto- 
biographical method,  if  it  may  be  so  described,  was 
welcome  not  only  for  its  freshness,  but  also  for  the 
amount  of  information  conveyed.  The  informal 
style  adopted  enabled  Mr.  Crunden  to  describe 
things,  interesting  to  librarians  and  the  public, 
which  are  not  usually  written  about. 

The  Editors  of  '  THE  LIBRARY  '  have  invited  me 
to  write  a  series  of  papers  of  the  same  informal 
kind,  on  a  slightly  different  theme ;  an  invitation 
accepted  with  some  misgivings,  and  at  the  same 
time  with  satisfaction,  for  I  welcome  the  oppor- 
tunity of  putting  down  in  a  rambling  way  thoughts 
and  observations  on  the  relations  between  libraries 
and  the  public.  It  need  hardly  be  said  that  neither 
the  invitation  nor  its  acceptance  implies  any  sugges- 
tion that  other  librarians  should  come  and  sit  at  my 
feet.  The  invitation  addressed  to  me  is  only  one 


A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY.  67 

more  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Editors  to  win 
the  sympathy  of  book-lovers  for  the  work  which 
the  municipal  libraries  are  trying,  however  im- 
perfectly, to  perform,  and  the  object  of  these 
articles  is  to  show  just  what  one  library  is  actually 
doing — not  by  any  means  to  hold  up  that  library 
as  especially  worthy  of  admiration  or  sympathy. 

Much  has  been  written  about  libraries  during 
the  last  twenty  years,  especially  about  municipal 
libraries.  A  feeling  exists  that  there  is  nothing 
more  to  be  said  on  the  subject.  That  is  not  my 
opinion.  I  think  that  the  writing  has  been  too 
much  about  the  work  and  aims  of  librarians ;  while 
the  other  side,  the  relations  of  the  public  with  the 
libraries,  has  been  neglected.  I  cannot  recall  any 
attempt  to  survey  the  whole  field  of  a  library's 
service  to  the  public.  After  all  it  is  for  the  public 
that  the  libraries  exist,  and  if  there  is  failure  of 
understanding  on  one  side  or  the  other,  the  best 
possible  has  not  been  attained.  The  clientele  of  a 
public  library  has  many  minds,  many  wants,  many 
aspirations,  and  more  than  a  sprinkling  of  critics. 
This  many-sidedness  must  be  borne  in  mind  in 
formulating  a  scheme  of  work  for  a  library.  The 
critics  may  be  ignored  to  some  extent ;  grumblers 
are  everywhere :  yet  a  distinction  can  readily  be 
made  between  the  growl  of  the  chronic  complainer 
and  a  public  want  finding  expression.  There  has 
lately  been  a  movement  amongst  librarians  for 
abolishing  newspapers  from  the  reading  rooms. 
The  conditions  vary,  no  doubt,  especially  as  between 
London  and  the  Provinces,  and  a  plausible  case 
may  be  made  for  abolition.  There  is,  however, 


68  A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

another  side — a  wide  public  which  finds  uses  in  a 
well-selected  series  of  newspapers,  whether  for 
reference,  or  for  mere  reading — idling,  some  people 
will  say. 

The  question  may  be  one  of  locality,  so  I  will 
set  down  some  points  about  the  Cardiff  reading- 
rooms,  and  not  argue  the  matter. 

Years  ago  our  reading-room  at  the  Central 
Library  was  much  too  small,  and  overcrowded  with 
papers  and  readers.  We  had  little  or  no  super- 
vision, and  it  was  practically  given  over  to  loafers 
and  undesirables.  Why  ?  An  initial  mistake  was 
made  by  giving  the  reading-room  a  separate 
entrance,  in  order  to  keep  the  idle,  unwashed 
loungers  separate  from  the  more  respectable  people 
who  read  books.  This  last  description  is  a  para- 
phrase of  the  reason  assigned  for  the  separate 
entrance  twenty-seven  years  ago.  It  is  worth 
recalling,  because  it  shows  what  wrong  ideas  pre- 
vailed, and  how  a  false  start  put  everything  wrong 
until  an  opportunity  came  for  beginning  again. 

An  extension  of  the  buildings  gave  the  oppor- 
tunity. The  extensions  were  to  include  a  new 
reading  room  for  newspapers,  and  weekly  and  other 
periodicals.  The  first  principle  laid  down  was, 
that  to  ensure  supervision  only  one  public  entrance 
to  all  departments  should  be  provided ;  the  second, 
that  the  entrance  to  the  main  reading-room  should 
be  near  the  front  door,  thus  diverting  a  large  per- 
centage of  people  immediately  on  entering.  Other 
principles  laid  down  were,  that  the  room  was  to 
be  so  large  as  to  allow  of  every  newspaper  and 
periodical  having  a  fixed  place,  with  plenty  of  space 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  69 

for  readers  to  move  about  without  knocking  against 
chairs,  jostling  other  readers,  and  generally  making 
things  uncomfortable  ;  also  that  a  few  seats  and  tables 
should  be  provided  where  people  might  sit  to  write, 
to  read  odd  papers  not  given  a  fixed  location,  papers 
brought  in  by  themselves,  or,  if  they  wished,  to 
idle,  neither  reading  nor  writing,  but  just  resting. 
Finally,  an  attendant  was  always  to  be  on  duty  to 
overlook  everything  and  everybody,  to  help  those 
in  search  of  information  or  back  numbers,  to  direcl 
strangers,  and  to  prevent  any  abuses.  With  these 
lines  laid  down,  the  committee  expected  the  reading 
room  to  assume  a  new  character,  to  become  of  real 
service  to  the  citizens.  And  so  it  has  proved. 

The  newspapers  are  selected  to  cover  a  wide 
range  of  interests, — some  immediately  local,  others 
of  neighbouring  towns  and  districts,  representative 
journals  from  the  chief  centres  of  Wales  and  the 
border  counties ;  London  dailies  of  course  ;  papers 
published  in  the  chief  centres  of  the  coal  and  iron 
trade,  and  a  representative  selection  from  the  chief 
population  centres  of  the  kingdom — Scotland,  Ire- 
land, the  Midlands,  Liverpool,  Manchester,  York- 
shire, the  West  of  England,  Bristol,  and  so  on. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  enumerate  all  the  purposes 
for  which  this  wide  selection  of  newspapers  is  used 
by  the  public.  The  first  notion  that  strikes  one  is 
that  people  in  search  of  employment  use  them  to 
ascertain  the  demand  for  various  kinds  of  labour 
over  a  wide  area.  This  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the 
uses ;  but  there  are  others  even  more  important. 
People  from  various  parts  of  the  country  use  the 
newspapers  to  get  home  news ;  other  people  use 


70  A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

them  to  find  out  the  state  of  the  markets  and  the 
prices  of  commodities.  It  is,  however,  impossible 
to  set  down  in  anything  like  an  adequate  form  the 
various  purposes  for  which  newspapers  are  required 
by  the  public.  One  thing  is  certain,  that  these  uses 
are  sufficiently  important  to  cause  much  inconveni- 
ence and  annoyance  if  any  irregularity  occurs  in  the 
supply  of  the  papers.  Indeed,  if  a  paper  like  the 
'  Manchester  Guardian '  is  only  an  hour  late,  the 
reading-room  attendant  receives  at  least  half  a  dozen 
enquiries  as  to  the  reason. 

In  a  seaport  town  special  attention  has  to  be 
given  to  everything  relating  to  shipping.  We 
take  five  copies  of  the  'Shipping  Gazette,'  two 
for  the  Central  Library  and  three  for  the  branch 
libraries,  and  these  are  kept  on  file  for  some  time, 
the  back  numbers  being  constantly  used.  This 
paper  is  used  not  only  by  men  but  largely  by 
women  seeking  information  as  to  the  whereabouts 
of  husband,  son,  brother  or  sweetheart.  If  it 
were  not  for  the  public  reading-rooms  the  only 
place  where  they  would  be  able  to  use  the  'Ship- 
ping Gazette'  would  be  in  certain  public  houses 
where  it  is  taken  in  order  to  attracl  custom.  We 
also  take  other  papers  such  as  the  'Sunderland 
Echo'  and  the  'Liverpool  Journal  of  Commerce' 
which  afford  useful  information  on  shipping 
matters. 

Another  shipping  item, — the  Berthing  Lists  of 
the  local  ports  (Cardiff,  Barry,  Penarth  and  New- 
port) are  posted  daily  at  three  branch  libraries  in 
districts  inhabited  by  coal  trimmers  and  others 
engaged  in  loading  and  discharging  vessels.  It  is 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  71 

perhaps  necessary  to  explain  that  a  berthing  list 
is  a  document  issued  by  dock  companies  daily 
about  10  a.m.  containing  a  list  of  all  the  ships  in 
dock  with  their  positions.  The  value  of  the  list 
lies  in  the  facility  it  affords  for  people  who  have 
to  do  with  shipping  to  find  out  at  once  where  a 
particular  vessel  is  located.  A  ship  may  come  in 
to-day  and  be  lying  in  one  of  the  basins  waiting 
for  a  berth.  To-morrow  it  may  be  berthed  at  con- 
siderable distance  from  the  basin.  If  it  were  not  for 
the  exhibition  of  the  Berthing  Lists  in  the  reading- 
rooms  people  would  have  to  go  to  the  Dock 
Offices  of  the  different  docks  before  they  would  be 
able  to  get  this  information.  We  make  special 
arrangements  for  the  collection  of  these  lists  as 
soon  as  they  are  issued,  and  for  their  immediate 
despatch  to  the  three  reading-rooms.  This  is  not 
a  very  striking  form  of  public  service,  but  its 
utility  in  the  course  of  a  year  to  a  large  number 
of  people  is  very  great. 

In  the  selection  of  newspapers  and  periodicals 
preference  is  always  given  to  the  more  expensive 
publications.  We  are  shy,  for  instance,  of  half- 
penny dailies  and  of  the  cheaper  weekly  and 
monthly  publications.  Rigid  supervision  is  also 
exercised  over  the  admission  of  periodicals  offered 
for  presentation.  As  far  as  possible  all  faddist 
publications  and  periodicals  issued  exclusively  to 
advertise  particular  firms  or  articles  are  rejected. 
If  we  accepted  all  the  self-advertising,  religious 
and  faddist  publications  offered,  there  would  be  no 
room  in  our  main  reading-room,  large  as  it  is, 
for  anything  else.  With  regard  to  periodicals 


72  A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

dealing  with  religious  matters  a  strict  rule  has 
been  in  operation  for  something  like  thirty 
years — excluding  all.  This  was  arrived  at  after 
long  and  bitter  controversy  as  to  what  religious 
denominations  should  be  represented  amongst  the 
papers  taken.  The  Committee  was  packed  from 
year  to  year  with  representatives  of  various  religious 
bodies  who  cared  little  for  the  welfare  of  the 
library,  but  much  for  the  search  after  religious 
equality.  Finally  it  was  decided  that  religious 
equality  could  best  be  attained  by  excluding  all 
denominational  papers,  and  for  thirty  years  there 
has  been  peace,  though  efforts  have  been  made 
from  time  to  time  by  individuals  interested  in 
particular  forms  of  religion  to  get  the  rule  broken 
down. 

We  also  refuse  all  offers  to  give  us  something  for 
nothing  in  the  shape  of  book-markers,  magazine 
covers,  volumes  of  music,  and  other  articles  covered 
over  with  advertisements.  Efforts  are  constantly 
made  by  canvassing  members  of  the  Committee, 
and  in  other  ways,  to  annex  the  reading-rooms  to 
various  advertising  firms,  so  far  I  am  glad  to  say, 
without  success. 

Our  expenditure  on  newspapers  and  periodicals 
is  £360  a  year.  The  number  of  daily  visits  to  the 
Central  and  six  branch  reading-rooms  is  about 
10,000.  We  get,  of  course,  a  certain  proportion 
of  betting  men  and  other  undesirables,  mostly  at 
the  Central  Reading-room.  They  are,  however, 
made  to  conform  strictly  to  the  rules  and  being 
well  known  to  the  Reading-room  Attendant,  are 
kept  under  observation  and  we  have  very  little  to 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  73 

complain  about  in  this  direction.  The  sleeping 
and  loafing,  about  which  so  much  is  heard  in  some 
libraries,  do  not  trouble  us.  The  presence  of  an 
attendant  and  the  facl  that  we  don't  allow  anyone 
to  occupy  a  chair  unless  he  is  reading  the  periodi- 
cal to  which  the  chair  belongs,  help  to  keep  these 
difficulties  under.  I  have  already  explained  that  if 
a  man  simply  wants  to  sit  and  rest  provision  is 
made  for  him  at  a  spare  table. 

For  some  years  we  have  adopted  a  system  of 
interchange  of  the  more  expensive  papers  and 
magazines  between  the  different  reading-rooms  so 
as  to  secure  a  wider  supply  for  each  branch.  For 
instance,  the  *  Nineteenth  Century,'  after  doing 
duty  for  a  month  in  one  reading-room,  is  sent  a 
month  late  to  another.  Where  a  periodical  is 
supplied  second-hand  a  label  is  pasted  inside  the 
cover  of  the  reading-case  stating  that  it  is  supplied 
a  month  late  and  giving  a  list  of  reading-rooms 
where  the  current  number  may  be  seen.  Most  of 
the  leading  reviews  and  the  expensive  weeklies  such 
as  the  '  Spectator,'  '  Saturday  Review,'  '  Nation,' 
'Outlook,'  and  the  expensive  technical,  scientific, 
literary  and  trade  organs  are  made  to  do  double 
duty.  Four  copies  of  the  'Athenaeum'  serve  seven 
reading-rooms,  and  a  complete  file  is  always  avail- 
able for  reference  at  the  Central  Library.  All 
papers  are  of  course  supplied  first  hand  to  the 
Central  Reading-rooms. 

The  arrangements  for  reference  to  back  numbers 
have  been  the  subject  of  a  good  deal  of  care. 
Enamelled  plates  are  fixed  to  the  reading-stands 
and  labels  are  placed  inside  reading-cases,  stating 


74  A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

how  far  back  numbers  are  available.  Over  the 
c  Times,'  for  instance,  are  two  enamelled  plates 
lettered  as  follows : — 

1  The  numbers  of  this  paper  for  one  week  back  may  be 
consulted  on  application  to  the  Reading-room  Attendant.' 

*  A  file  of  this  paper  from  the  year  1861  may  be  con- 
sulted in  the  Reference  Library.' 

Another  matter  to  which  we  have  given  some 
attention  is  the  utilisation  of  surplus  papers.  For 
some  years  we  sent  parcels  regularly  to  the  light- 
houses and  lightships,  through  the  agency  of  the 
Trinity  House  steamer  which  carried  supplies  and 
relief.  This,  however,  broke  down  after  a  success- 
ful career  of  some  years,  owing  to  some  difficulty 
on  the  steamer,  and  our  surplus  newspapers  and 
periodicals  are  now  sent  to  the  fire-brigade  men, 
the  workhouse,  and  similar  institutions.  Old  maga- 
zines not  needed  for  binding,  and  books  withdrawn 
from  circulation  are  given  to  the  sailors'  institutes 
connected  with  the  port,  where  they  are  made  up 
into  bags  and  put  on  board  outward-bound  ships 
for  the  use  of  sailors.  In  the  case  of  books  we  find 
it  necessary  to  stamp  them,  '  Withdrawn  from  cir- 
culation and  not  to  be  returned  to  the  library,' 
because  in  times  past  books  have  been  returned  to 
us  from  South  America,  and  other  remote  parts  of 
the  world,  by  people  who  imagined  they  had  been 
stolen. 

Directories  and  similar  works  of  reference,  for- 
merly kept  in  the  reference-room,  were  transferred 
to  the  news-room  a  few  years  ago.  At  first  they 
were  handed  out  for  consultation  only  on  written 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  75 

application  slips,  but  later  they  were  placed  in 
rows  on  a  special  stand,  with  a  ledge  in  front  upon 
which  the  volumes  can  be  laid  open  for  use.  A 
table  is  also  provided  for  people  who  desire  to  make 
more  than  a  brief  reference,  or  who  prefer  to  sit  for 
other  reasons.  The  abolition  of  the  application 
slip  has  been  followed  by  a  very  greatly  increased 
use,  the  number  of  consultations  averaging  from 
500  to  600  daily.  It  has  also  been  followed  by 
mutilations,  which  have  hitherto  baffled  all  efforts 
at  detection.  The  mutilations  are  almost  wholly 
confined  to  directories  of  one  class,  those  published 
by  firms  charging  for  the  insertion  of  names  of 
business  people  up  and  down  the  country.  The 
mutilations  are  the  work  of  canvassers  seeking 
custom  for  other  directories  of  the  same  class,  many 
of  them  bogus,  and  most  of  them  worthless  so  far 
as  any  benefit  to  people  who  pay  for  the  insertion 
of  their  names  is  concerned. 

The  Committee  have  just  decided  to  overcome 
the  difficulty  by  withdrawing  directories  of  this 
class  from  the  room,  and  refusing  to  accept  them 
in  future  if  offered.  If  other  libraries  would  adopt 
the  same  course  it  would  cripple  the  bogus  directory 
canvassers. 

Another  step  has  just  been  taken  to  make  this 
section  of  greater  service  to  the  community.  We 
undertake  to  make  brief  references  to  directories, 
telegraph  codes,  and  similar  books  in  response  to 
telephone  calls,  and  to  reply  by  telephone  as  soon 
as  the  information  asked  for  is  found.  It  is  absurd 
to  put  a  business  house  to  the  waste  of  time  and 
trouble  of  sending  to  the  library,  perhaps  a  couple 


76  A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

of  miles,  for  a  single  address  out  of  a  directory,  a 
telegraphic  address,  or  the  meaning  of  a  code  word, 
when  the  information  could  be  asked  for  and  given 
in  a  few  minutes  by  means  of  the  telephone.  We 
have  printed  7500  copies  of  a  special  eight-page 
bulletin  for  business  men,  briefly  explaining  the 
system,  and  giving  a  list  of  directories  and  works 
of  reference  of  that  class  to  be  found  at  the  Central 
Library.  A  copy  of  this  bulletin  was  addressed 
and  delivered  to  every  name  in  the  National  and 
Post  Office  telephone  lists  for  the  Cardiff  area,  just 
over  5000.  The  result  has  been  entirely  satis- 
factory. We  get  about  a  dozen  inquiries  daily,  a 
number  which  we  expect  will  largely  increase  as 
the  facilities  offered  become  better  known.  A 
telephone-room  and  office  near  the  news-room  has 
been  arranged,  two  clerical  assistants  follow  their 
ordinary  duties  in  this  office,  and  attend  to  inquiries, 
one  being  always  on  duty.  If  the  demand  for  this 
class  of  service  grows,  the  Committee  are  prepared 
to  increase  the  staff  to  meet  it. 

Some  attempts  at  abuse  of  these  facilities  were 
anticipated,  but  so  far  there  have  been  none.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  inquiries  made  are  mainly  of 
the  kind  we  were  prepared  for,  and  some  reveal 
unforeseen  lines  of  usefulness  which  will  increase 
the  value  of  the  libraries  to  the  community.  All 
inquiries  are  treated  as  strictly  confidential,  and 
I  cannot  therefore  give  actual  examples.  As  an 
illustration  I  may  mention  an  inquiry  made  by  a 
large  wholesale  dealer,  who  wished  to  know  the 
difference  between  two  articles  used  in  manufacture, 
nearly  akin,  but  differing  in  quality  and  value. 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  77 

A  dictionary  of  applied  chemistry  supplied  exactly 
the  information  required,  the  descriptions  of  each 
being  read  out  over  the  telephone  and  taken  down 
in  shorthand  at  the  other  end  of  the  wire.  Tele- 
graph codes  are  regularly  called  for,  and  many 
inquirers  wish  to  obtain  addresses  of  business 
houses  of  a  particular  class  in  various  parts  of  the 
country. 

If  the  inquiry  is  of  such  a  nature  that  a  brief 
reply  cannot  be  given,  arrangements  are  made  for 
the  necessary  books  to  be  ready  for  consultation  at 
a  stated  time.  The  telephone  is  already  largely 
used  in  many  libraries.  The  establishment  of  a 
regular  telephone  inquiry-office  as  a  part  of  the 
library  service  in  large  towns  is  only  a  question  of 
time,  and  opens  the  way  to  a  wide  sphere  of  use- 
fulness for  libraries,  on  lines  as  yet  barely  touched. 

Speaking  on  news-rooms  in  1901,  Professor  S.  J. 
Chapman  of  Owen's  College  said  that  newspapers 
enable  people  to  do  what  Alice's  fellow-passengers 
did  in  the  train  e  through  the  looking-glass,'  namely 
to  think  in  chorus.  An  objector  may  say,  with  the 
ingenious  creator  of  Alice  and  her  adventures, 
'If  you  know  what  that  means,  it  is  more  than  I 
do.'  Of  course,  striclly  it  is  an  absurdity,  but 
broadly  it  conveys  a  deep  truth.  The  parts  of  our 
complicated  social  machine  have  to  acl:  in  chorus 
or  face  disaster;  members  of  Parliament  of  one 
party  have  to  talk  in  chorus,  or  else  cease  to  be  a 
party ;  and  their  constituents  have  to  think  in 
chorus,  or  else  the  notion  of  representation  is  non- 
sense and  democracy  a  sham.  It  is  the  nature  of 
the  machine,  its  democratic  organisation,  which 


78  A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

makes  this  impossibility  necessary.  And  its  neces- 
sity is  no  new  discovery.  Rousseau,  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  argued  that  political  organisa- 
tion implied  a  general  will,  apart  from  individual 
wills ;  in  facl:  not  merely  a  thinking  in  chorus,  but 
a  willing  in  chorus.  And  what  on  earth  has 
thinking  in  chorus  to  do  with  newspapers  ?  Just 
this  much,  that  in  a  large  society,  such  as  ours,  it 
is  impossible  without  newspapers.  There  can  be 
no  'public  opinion,'  no  'national  resentment,'  no 
'social  conscience,'  nor  such  a  thing  as  a  conscious 
social  organism  at  all,  unless  individuals  have 
presented  to  them  the  same  facls,  the  same  fictions, 
and  the  same  thoughts,  at  approximately  the  same 
time.  By  the  newspapers,  it  is  as  if  each  were 
given  a  thousand  eyes  and  ears  in  different  localities. 
Just  as  the  public  meeting-place  was  an  essential  fea- 
ture of  the  small  ancient  democracies,  so  the  essential 
of  modern  democracy  is  the  newspaper ;  which 
means,  some  will  say,  that  every  man  must  buy  his 
penny  or  halfpenny  paper,  as  he  can  well  afford 
to  do.  True,  but  remember  that  (amazing  as  it 
may  appear)  a  love  for  these  fascinating  journals 
is  not  born  with  a  man  ;  and  further,  that  some  of 
the  least  trustful  readers  like  to  compare  reports 
and  judgments.  The  public  news-room  makes  the 
home  newspaper-reader,  and  the  comparison  made 
in  the  news-room  prevents  him  from  being  the 
slave  of  one  newspaper. 

Developments  have  taken  place  in  the  jour- 
nalistic world  since  Professor  Chapman  made  these 
observations.  Comparison  is  more  necessary  than 
ever  to  enable  newspaper  readers  to  escape  from 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  79 

*  always  peeping  out  at  one  hole/  Thus  access  to 
a  choice  of  papers  is  essential  to  correct  the  hurried 
scanning  of  headlines,  which  destroys  the  power  to 
read  and  think. 

The  news-room  may  be  approached  from  two 
points  of  view.  It  may  be  regarded  as  an  evil 
and  left  to  its  fate  with  some  attempt  to  overcome 
abuses ;  or  the  difficulties  may  be  overcome  by 
making  it  a  useful  adjunct  to  the  other  departments 
in  meeting  the  needs  of  the  public.  We  have 
taken  the  latter  course,  with  the  result  that  the 
closing  of  the  room  for  renovation  causes  serious 
inconvenience  to  a  large  number  of  business  men 
— any  attempt  to  close  it  altogether,  or  to  modify 
its  present  basis,  would  be  met  by  a  public  protest 
which  would  not  easily  be  forgotten. 

All  classes  use  the  Reading-rooms,  for  business 
inquiries,  for  information  on  current  questions,  for 
4  a  quiet  read  '  when  the  day's  work  is  done.  Our 
efforts  have  been  directed  to  killing  the  notion  that 
it  is  a  place  for  one  class  only,  and  we  have  suc- 
ceeded. Working  men  in  plenty  will  be  found 
there,  and  also  business  and  professional  men,  and 
a  sprinkling  of  idlers  and  ne'er-do-weels,  but  these 
two  last  are  in  so  great  a  minority  that  they  do  not 
count  for  much,  and  if  they  are  dirty  or  misbehave, 
they  are  at  once  excluded. 

JOHN  BALLINGER. 


8o 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

lIME  was  when  to  contemplate  the 
cover  of  a  new  volume  by  Anatole 
France  was  a  feast  of  anticipation,  but 
the  perusal  of  his  latest  book  '  Les 
desirs  de  Jean  Servien,'  proved  for  me 
the  sadness  of  realisation.  The  material  is  promis- 
ing enough,  but  little  is  made  of  it.  The  hero  is 
a  youth,  a  poor  futile  sort  of  creature,  lacking 
talent  and  energy,  and  educated  above  his  station. 
He  emerges  from  boyhood  with  a  desire  for  beauty 
but  only  in  the  more  voluptuous  sense  of  the 
term,  a  state  of  mind  that  culminates  in  a  hopeless 
1  grande  passion '  for  a  third-rate  '  tragedienne.' 
The  young  man  dies  an  ignoble  death  at  the  hands 
of  a  woman,  a  '  cantiniere '  of  the  c  Vengeurs  de 
Lutece,'  during  the  Commune.  The  best-drawn 
character  in  the  book  is  the  youth's  father,  a  work- 
ing bookbinder,  a  man  who  steadily  performed  his 
daily  work,  and  did  as  he  thought,  the  best  for  his 
son.  Tudesco,  the  boy's  first  tutor,  is  an  amusing 
vagabond  of  the  type  Anatole  France  paints  so 
inimitably. 

'J'ai  traduit  (he  says)  la  Jerusalem  liberata,  le  chef- 
d'oeuvre  immortel  de  Torquato  Tasso.  Oui,  Monsieur, 
j'ai  consacre  mes  veilles  a  cette  tache  glorieuse  et  ingrate. 
Sans  famille,  sans  patrie,  j'ai  ecrit  ma  traduction  dans  des 
soupentes  obscures  et  glacdes,  sur  du  papier  a  chandelle, 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    81 

sur  des  cartes  a  jouer,  sur  des  cornets  a  tabac.  .  .  .  Oui, 
Monsieur,  j'ai  souvent  dejeun£  d'une  page  de  Tacite  et 
soup6  d'une  satire  de  Juvenal.' 

During  the  siege  Tudesco  develops  into  an  '  in- 
genieur  au  service  de  la  Commune,  avec  le  grade  de 
colonel,'  and  when  surprise  is  expressed  that  he 
should  have  attained  such  a  post,  he  coolly  observes: 
4  La  science  !  Les  etudes !  Quelle  puissance  !  Savoir, 
c'est  pouvoir.  Pour  vaincre  les  satellites  du  des- 
potisme,  il  faut  la  science.  C'est  pourquoi  je  suis 
ingenieur  avec  le  grade  de  colonel.'  But  in  spite 
of  Tudesco,  the  hand  that  wrote  '  Le  Crime  de 
Sylvestre  Bonnard '  and  the  series  beginning  with 
'  L'orme  du  mail,'  seems  to  have  lost  some  of  its 
cunning. 

Much  in  the  same  way  '  Le  ble  qui  leve,'  Rene 
Bazin's  new  novel,  interesting  as  its  point  of  view 
is,  scarcely  reaches  the  level  of  '  Les  Oberle,'  and 
4  La  terre  qui  meurt.'  It  is  a  sad  story  in  which 
Bazin  preaches  religion  and  resignation  to  the  agri- 
cultural labourer,  and  assures  him  that  with  all  the 
trade  unions  and  socialism,  he  is  less  well  off  than 
when  he  was  under  the  direct  care  of  his  employer, 
the  squire,  the  owner  of  the  land,  and  when  he 
joined  hands  with  the  church. 

The  most  remarkable  chapters  in  the  book  are 
those  describing  a  '  maison  de  retraite '  in  Belgium 
just  across  the  French  frontier,  where  certain  work- 
men and  labourers  are  in  the  habit  of  spending  two 
or  three  days  once  or  twice  a  year. 

The  priests  attempt  to  introduce  the  ideal  into 
the  men's  more  or  less  prosaic  lives. 

IX.  G 


82   RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

'  L'int6r£t  est  triste,  toujours;  il  est  mecontent,  toujours. 
.  .  .  Vous  n'6tes  que  moitie  d'hommes,  parcequ'on  vous 
a  renfermes  dans  la  vie  pr£sente  avec  defense  d'en  sortir 
par  la  pensee.  Et  vous  1'avez  souffert  !  Vous  e"  tes  bien 
plus  pauvres  que  vous  ne  le  supposez.  Vous  n'avez  plus 
la  terre,  et  vous  n'avez  plus  le  ciel. 

.  .  .  Mon  pauvre  frere,  pourvu  que  tu  le  veuilles,  tu 
es  riche.  Ton  travail  est  une  priere,  et  1'appel  a  la  justice, 
me"me  quand  il  se  trompe  de  temple,  en  est  une  autre.  Tu 
leves  ta  be~che,  et  les  anges  te  voient  ;  tu  es  envelope 
d'amis  invisibles  ;  ta  peine  et  ta  fatigue  germent  en  moisson 
de  gloire.  Oh  !  quelle  joie  de  ne  pas  £tre  juge  par  les 
hommes  !  ' 

It  is  undoubtedly  an  error  to  deprive  the  people 
of  anything  that  awakens  their  imagination,  but 
whether  the  practice  of  occasionally  going  into 
retreat  is  likely  to  keep  the  imagination  alive  is  too 
large  a  subject  to  discuss  here. 


In  German  fiction  there  is  nothing  to  take  the 
world  by  storm,  but  I  have  been  much  delighted 
with  Georg  Hermann's  'Jettchen  Gebert.'  It  is  a 
love-tale  of  much  pathos  and  sadness,  told  with 
sympathy  and  with  great  charm  of  style,  and,  unlike 
most  modern  novels,  can  be  safely  put  into  the 
hands  of  all.  The  scene  is  laid  in  the  Berlin  of 
1840.  Jettchen,  a  Jewess,  niece  and  adopted 
daughter  of  a  wealthy  cloth-merchant,  falls  in  love 
with  Dr.  Kossling,  a  Protestant,  and  an  impecu- 
nious author.  Her  family  object  to  the  union 
chiefly  on  account  of  Kossling's  poverty  and  lack  of 
prospects,  and  perhaps  a  little  from  racial  prejudice. 
Neither  of  the  lovers  has  the  courage  to  take  matters 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    83 

into  their  own  hands,  nor  to  wait  patiently  in  the 
hope  of  a  happy  solution.  Jettchen  feels  so  bound 
to  her  uncle  and  aunt  for  their  kindness  that  she 
considers  it  her  duty  to  marry  the  husband  they 
have  chosen  for  her,  a  connection  of  the  family,  and 
in  a  similar  business  to  her  uncle.  Another  uncle, 
a  man  of  refinement  and  culture,  who  is  very  fond 
of  Jettchen  and  in  Kossling's  confidence,  has  not 
however  the  energy  to  assist  them,  and  advises 
Kossling  to  keep  away,  and  so  help  Jettchen  to 
forget  him.  The  manner  in  which  the  family  set 
about  subduing  the  girl's  will  is  very  subtle :  they 
simply  ignore  the  love-affair. 

'  They  did  not  speak  about  it ;  they  were  unwilling 
even  to  think  about  it.  Time  would  set  all  right,  and  she 
would  get  over  it  like  a  sensible  girl.  The  best  thing 
was  to  ad;  as  if  they  knew  nothing  about  it.  And  they 
treated  Jettchen  with  incredible  kindness.  Her  uncle 
became  almost  affectionate,  and  her  aunt  behaved  as  if  the 
assistance  Jettchen  gave  her  in  the  household  was  a  gift 
for  which  she  could  not  be  sufficiently  grateful.  Scarcely 
a  hard  word  had  been  uttered  over  the  whole  matter. 

'And  it  was  exactly  this  attitude  that  broke  Jettchen's 
quiet  resistance ;  for  the  worst  tyranny  is  where  there  are 
no  disagreeable  words  and  no  commands.  It  is  as  easy  to 
resist  when  the  others  are  hard  and  unkind,  as  it  is  diffi- 
cult when  they  are  gentle  and  amiable.  And  it  is  as  easy 
to  remain  firm  in  one's  own  will  when  resistance  has  to 
be  met,  as  it  is  difficult  to  do  anything  on  one's  own 
responsibility  when  there  is  no  opposition.  .  .  . 

1  And  although  Jettchen's  nights  were  at  first  sleepless, 
and  her  lonely  hours  filled  with  weeping,  life  came  again 
each  morning  and  demanded  its  rights;  it  came  with  a 
hundred  people  who  spoke  to  Jettchen  and  expected  an 
answer  ;  it  came  with  the  housekeeping,  which  fell  entirely 


84   RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

on  Jettchen's  shoulders ;  it  came  with  walks  and  concerts 
when  she  had  to  accompany  her  aunt ;  it  came  with 
needlework  for  birthday  presents,  and  with  newspapers, 
and  gossip,  and  books. 

'  And  what  could  she  have  said  to  her  uncle  ?  That 
someone  had  come ;  that  they  had  met  a  few  times ;  had 
confessed  that  they  loved  each  other ;  that  then  he  had 
gone  away,  and  she  had  heard  nothing  more  from  him.' 

And  the  irony  is  that  Kossling  meanwhile  secures 
a  post  in  the  Royal  Library :  his  hopes  revive. 
But  he  learns  that  Jettchen's  wedding  is  to  take 
place  in  a  couple  of  days,  and  although  the  lovers 
have  one  more  interview,  they  agree  that  submis- 
sion to  fate  is  the  only  way.  And  so  for  lack  of 
courage  and  some  plain-speaking  a  life  is  wrecked. 
The  story  ends  on  her  wedding  day  (and  a  tragic 
day  it  is  for  the  bride),  and  we  are  left  to  gather 
that  she  does  not  long  survive  it,  if  at  all. 

'Gegen  den  Strom.  Eine  weltliche  Kloster- 
geschichte,'  by  Paul  Heyse,  is  a  rather  dull  novel, 
but  written  in  the  beautiful  German  of  which 
Heyse  is  master.  Several  men  whose  careers  have 
somehow  been  wrecked  retire  from  the  world 
and  live  together  in  a  sort  of  monastic  community. 
But  finally  through  the  benign  influence  of  women 
they  emerge  again  into  the  world.  It  is  a  vast 
pity  that  a  most  unnecessary  episode  dragged  in 
near  the  end,  renders  it  impossible  to  recommend 
the  book  for  general  reading.  When  such  episodes 
help  the  story  or  the  characterisation,  or  serve 
some  real  artistic  purpose,  it  would  be  absurd  to 
objecl:  to  them,  but  when  as  here  they  are  quite 
needless,  the  unity  of  the  story  is  spoiled. 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    85 

In  'Der  Amerikaner,'  Gabriele  Reuter  seeks  to 
show  the  contrast  between  the  slow-moving  Ger- 
man country  gentry  and  the  Americanised  German. 
He  is  described  as  cool  and  very  sure  of  himself, 
although  his  methods  of  getting  on  are  dubious. 
He  knocks  down  the  obstacles  in  his  way  without 
regard  for  the  feelings  of  others,  and  has  no  respect 
for  tradition  or  rooted  prejudice.  The  book  is 
inartistic  and  dull,  and  more  inclined,  I  think,  to 
make  the  reader  prefer  the  society  of  the  stay-at- 
homes  to  the  slap- dash  representative  of  scr-called 
modernism. 

I  confess  it  is  somewhat  of  a  relief  to  turn  to 
Wildenbruch's  'Lucrezia'  and  its  old-fashioned 
onslaught  (so  I  suppose  it  would  be  characterised) 
on  the  modern  young  woman.  It  comes,  of 
course,  from  a  man,  but  there  is,  I  feel,  something 
to  be  said  from  his  point  of  view.  The  heroine,  a 
beautiful  girl,  believes  she  is  a  genius  and  is  kept 
in  the  false  illusion  by  her  lover  to  whom,  con- 
temning marriage  and  its  conventionalities,  she 
gives  herself  in  so-called  free  love.  She  finally 
discovers  the  hollowness  of  such  a  philosophy  of 
life,  repents  too  late,  and  too  weak  to  bear  her 
punishment  kills  herself.  A  tremendous  invective 
is  put  into  the  mouth  of  Lucrezia's  mother,  who 
frankly  says  what  she  thinks  of  the  new  fighting 
woman,  whom  she  considers  a  pure  materialist, 
lacking  charm,  refinement  and  delicacy.  Here  are 
a  few  sentences : 

*A  plaything  for  his  senses?  A  whipping  boy  for  his 
bad  temper?  The  boredom  of  marriage?  Are  these 
the  expressions  with  which  you  dispose  of  what  held  two 


86    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

creatures  together  for  a  lifetime,  during  which  they  have 
grown  together,  and  in  consequence  of  the  companionship 
have  become  ever  greater,  better,  and  happier.  .  .  .  Shall 
I  tell  you  the  fact  as  it  is  ?  A  few,  among  the  women 
who  talk  like  that,  are  really  talented,  have  really  a  head 
of  their  own,  with  their  own  thoughts  in  it ;  and  they 
preach  their  wisdom  to  you,  and  although  it  is  false  and 
bad  wisdom,  still  it  is  their  own.  But  the  rest  of  you, 
that  is  ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  of  you,  have  no 
ideas  of  your  own.  You  try  to  form  yourselves  on  the 
few  talented  women  among  you.  It's  only  vanity  that 
inflames  you.  You  write  poems  and  stories  that  are  like 
heated  stoves  of  sensuality,  while  in  fact  you  yourselves 
are  cold,  and  incapable  of  falling  sincerely  and  honourably 
in  love.' 

There  are  here  some  elements  of  truth  in  spite  of 
the  exaggeration. 

***** 

The  most  interesting  book  in  '  Belles  Lettres ' 
that  has  come  my  way  lately  is  Joachim  Merlant's 
1  Senancour  (1770-1846))  poete,  penseur  religieux 
et  publiciste.  Sa  vie,  son  oeuvre,  son  influence.' 
The  aim  of  the  book  is  to  make  known  a  writer 
who  deserves  more  recognition  than  he  has  hitherto 
had,  the  author  of  'Obermann' — 'un  des  esprits  les 
plus  extraordinaires  de  cette  epoque.'  It  was 
Matthew  Arnold  who  appreciated  him  as  one  who 
had  well  scanned  '  the  hopeless  tangle  of  our  age.' 
Senancour  the  man  may  be  described  in  a  couple 
of  lines,  as  one  who  sought  happiness  and  did  not 
find  it ;  who  sought  truth,  and  in  seeking  it  found 
all  the  happiness  for  which  he  was  born. 

His  works  are  of  very  high  value  in  psychology 
and  in  ethical  history.  They  all  breathe  faith  in 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    87 

the  virtue  of  intelligence,  and  reverence  for  a  type 
of  truth  purely  intellectual.  They  had  a  very  great 
influence  on  such  writers  as  Ste.-Beuve,  George 
Sand  (Lelia  was  the  daughter  or  sister  of  Ober- 
mann),  Alfred  de  Vigny,  Maurice  de  Guerin,  and 
Amiel.  The  author  goes  deeply  into  the  evolution 
of  Senancour's  mind,  and  a  very  fascinating  study 
it  is,  for  all  who  are  interested  in  human  psychology. 
Maxims  that  give  food  for  thought  abound  in 
Senancour's  writings.  Here  are  some  examples : 

*  La  vie  est  un  laborieux  mouvement  d'esperance.' 

4  Qui  n'a  pas  pleinement  aime,  n'a  pas  possede  sa  vie.' 
'  Observez    la    maladie :     elle   parait  affreuse,   elle    est 

bienfaisante,  c'est  elle  qui  a  le  pouvoir  de  soumettre  le 

corps  a  1'ame.' 

That  the  last  observation  is  true  is  known  to  all 
who  have  passed  through  a  period  of  serious  illness. 
It  is  only  through  physical  suffering  that  we  realise 
our  soul  as  an  independent  power. 

In  the  following  passage  Senancour  sums  up, 
I  think,  a  great  truth,  inasmuch  without  the 
'  inquietude '  and  its  results,  which  he  describes, 
human  beings  would  accomplish  nothing. 

*  L'homme  reel  est  tine  creature  inquiete,  et  qui  ne  peut 
se  passer  de  son  inquietude,  a  qui,  tout  divertissement 
quelqu'il  soit,  rouler  une  brouette  comme  fait  Obermann 
aux  vendanges,  ou  s'aventurer  dans  1'occultisme,  ou  re"ver 
d'immenses    desseins,    ou    s'enchanter   d'un    inaccessible 
amour,  enfin  toute  curiosite  et  toute  action  valent  mieux 
que  la  serenite  d'une  mort  anticipee.' 

To  do  full  justice  to  Merlant's  book  a  whole 
article  would  be  required,  and  so  I  must  here 


88    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

content  myself  with  quoting  a  passage  from  the 
conclusion : 

*  Tout  en  admettant  de  plus  en  plus  que  1'individu  isole 
n'est  qu'une  abstraction,  et  qu'a  s'obstiner  dans  la  solitude 
une  ame  n 'aspire  qu'a  se  nier  elle-me'me,  il  a  cru,  d'accord 
avec  les  plus  hautes  doctrines,  que  la  solitude,  si  elle  n'est 
un  but,  est  un  moyen  eminent  de  culture  interieure,  un 
aliment  d'energie  spirituelle,  et  qu'  enfin  les  hommes  les 
plus  grands,  les  plus  nobles  repr£sentants  de  1'espece,  les 
plus  utiles  a  la  vie  g6nerale,  sont  aussi  les  plus  recueillis, 
les  plus  fervents  a  se  refaire  sans  cesse  eux-memes,  et, 
non-contents  de  subsister  sur  les  forces  communes,  les 
plus  aptes  a  decouvrir  dans  l'humanit£,  au  prix  d'un 
constant  labeur  sur  soi,  des  forces  nouvelles.  .  .  . 

'  Aristocrate  et  cosmopolite,  il  n'est  ni  probable,  ni 
desirable,  qu'il  atteigne  jamais  le  grand  public.  Qu'on 
veuille  reconnaitre  en  lui  le  precurseur  malheureux  d'une 
humanite  superieure.  .  .  .  Ses  livres  ne  peuvent  manquer 
d'apparaitre  comme  les  symboles,  souvent  complexes  et 
souvent  obscurs,  de  la  generation  qui,  form6e  par  les 
Philosophes  et  par  Rousseau,  vecut  dans  le  trouble, 
1'effort  et  la  recherche,  et  ne  se  crut  justifiee  par  aucun 
echec  a  bruler  aucune  de  ses  premieres  idoles.' 

There  are  some  interesting  essays  in  Baldensper- 
ger's  'Etudes  d'Histoire  Litteraire.'  The  volume 
deals  more  or  less  with  subjects  belonging  to  com- 
parative literature.  '  Young  et  ses  "  nuits "  en 
France '  is  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  history 
of  our  own  literature.  The  critic  here  describes 
Young  as  4  un  des  poetes  etrangers  qui  ont  le  plus 
contribue  a  initier  notre  xvme  siecle  a  des  nou- 
veautes  fecondes.'  To  the  French  critics  of  1823, 
the  early  poems  of  Lamartine  and  Victor  Hugo  re- 
called the  manner  of  the  English  poet.  Young  was 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    89 

read  in  France,  both  in  the  original  and  in  transla- 
tion. There  were  several  French  versions.  Young 
was  a  favourite  poet  with  Robespierre,  Camille 
Desmoulins,  Lucien  Bonaparte  and  Mme.  Recamier. 
The  poetry  of  Lamartine  and  the  prose  of  Chateau- 
briand undoubtedly  owe  something  to  that  of 
Young,  but  after  1825  his  vogue  and  his  influence 
waned,  and  from  one  of  the  foreign  poets  who  had 
in  the  eighteenth  century  the  widest  European 
fame,  he  became  c  ce  fossoyeur  ambitieux,'  '  mono- 
tone et  faclice.'  The  essay  on  the  universality  of 
the  French  language  is  an  ingenious  plea  that 
France  more  than  any  other  country  c  semble 
hospitalier  a  1'ideal  d'humaine  culture,  de  developpe- 
ment  varie,  de  curiosite  et  de  communication 
raisonnables,'  and  that  French  is  the  best  language 
for  the  expression  of  those  things.  The  preface 
contains  some  pregnant  observations  on  methods  of 
presenting  literary  history.  f 

The  fourth  series  of  Emile  Faguet's  '  Propos 
Litteraires '  contains,  as  such  books  by  Frenchmen 
invariably  do,  delightful  reading.  One  of  the  most 
engaging  essays  is  on  suicide,  a  propos  of  Durk- 
heim's  volume,  '  Le  Suicide.'  There  we  learn  that 
those  who  commit  suicide  least  are  married  men 
and  married  women  with  children.  The  married 
woman,  however,  who  is  childless,  kills  herself 
more  than  the  celibate  woman,  and  Faguet  com- 
ments on  the  fact  thus : 

*  Ah !  Ceci,  Messieurs,  ne  serait  pas  a  notre  honneur. 
II  prouverait  qufce  n'est  pas  nous  qui  sommes  capables  de 
rendre  la  femme  heureuse,mais  les  enfants;  et  que,sans  eux, 
elle  est  plus  malheureuse  avec  nous  qu'  a  rester  toute  seule.' 


9o    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

And  this  is  really  quite  natural,  for  it  is  solitude 
that  kills,  and  the  married  woman  without  children 
is  more  lonely  than  the  celibate  woman,  who,  even  if 
she  lives  alone,  lives  less  solitarily  than  the  childless 
wife.  The  celibate  woman  has  friends  and  neigh- 
bours and  makes  herself  a  little  circle.  The  child- 
less wife  has  only  her  husband,  and  he,  either  for 
business  or  pleasure,  or  merely  because  it  is  man's 
nature,  is  always  out.  And  a  husband,  M.  Faguet 
declares,  by  his  very  existence  prevents  his  wife 
from  forming  a  circle  for  herself.  He  dislikes,  when 
he  does  come  home,  to  find  his  house  full  of  visitors, 
or  to  find  his  wife  out,  and  so  the  husband  instead 
of  being  '  une  compagnie  '  becomes  '  un  isolateur.' 


A  work  of  unique  importance  to  students  of 
medieval  history  has  just  been  issued  in  the  two 
volumes  of  '  Acla  Aragoniensia.  Quellen  zur 
deutschen,  italienischen,  franzosischen,  spanischen 
Kirchen-  und  Kulturgeschichte  aus  der  diplo- 
matischen  Korrespondenz  Jaymes  II.  1291-1327).' 
It  is  edited  by  Dr.  Heinrich  Finke  and  dedicated 
to  the  Director  of  the  Crown  Archives  at  Bar- 
celona, who  gave  the  author  access  to  the  documents 
here  printed  and  commented  on.  Everyone  re- 
quiring information  about  the  period  of  Philip  the 
Fair,  Robert  of  Naples,  Frederick  of  Sicily,  the 
German  Emperors  and  Kings,  Jaymes  II.,  the 
contemporary  Popes,  and  the  most  distinguished 
Cardinals  and  Prelates,  will  in  future  be  obliged 
to  consult  the  'A6la  Aragoniensia,'  which  offers 
for  the  first  time  a  complete  diplomatic  corres- 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    91 

pondence  for  the  middle  ages.  Not  only  is  it 
concerned  with  Europe,  but  we  learn  something 
of  places  outside  that  continent.  There  are  de- 
scriptions of  Morocco,  of  the  pilgrimage  to  'beata 
Maria'  at  Nazareth,  and  to  the  holy  places  of 
Jerusalem ;  and  it  is  surprising  what  a  stream  of 
modern  feeling  runs  through  this  real  mediaeval 
epoch. 

The  second  edition  of  Dr.  Richard  Wiilker's 
'  Geschichte  der  Englischen  Literatur '  contains 
a  long  account  by  Dr.  Groth  of  contemporary 
English  Literature.  He  deals  with  poetry,  ficlion 
and  drama.  The  survey  is  introduced  by  a  series 
of  paragraphs  demonstrating  the  influence  of  the 
growth  of  the  Imperialist  spirit  on  our  present-day 
literature.  He  has  much  to  say  that  is  true  of  our 
contemporary  novels,  and  deprecates  our  English 
hesitation  to  pronounce  judgment  on  an  author  in 
his  lifetime,  a  practice  that  prevents  a  standard  of 
criticism  in  literary  questions.  It  is  indeed  matter 
for  regret  that  our  literary  reviews  should  have 
become  little  more  than  synopses  of  the  contents 
of  poems  or  plays  or  novels,  but  after  all  the  final 
verdict  may  safely  be  left  to  posterity.  Yet,  if  the 
critics  were  really  critical,  their  influence  might 
mitigate  the  evils  of  the  large  output  of  mediocre 
work  that  surely  helps  to  obscure  much  of  the  really 
excellent  work  that  is  being  produced.  Dr.  Groth 
considers  R.  L.  Stevenson  one  of  the  most  charm- 
ing figures  in  this  period  of  our  literature,  warns 
us  against  over-rating  Kipling,  and  devotes  seven 
out  of  the  140  pages  of  his  survey  to  Bernard 
Shaw,  whom  he  characterises  as  'unquestionably 


92    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

one  of  the  most  intellectual,  witty  and  ruthless 
writers  of  the  present  day,'  better  appreciated 
in  Germany  than  in  his  own  country.  There 
is  some  curious  nomenclature :  many  of  us  would 
find  a  difficulty  in  realizing  who  was  meant  by 
Henry  Dobson ;  there  are  some  omissions :  thus 
among  the  poets  Herbert  Trench  and  Alfred  Noyes 
are  ignored ;  but  on  the  whole  it  is  well  done 
and  we  know  of  no  one  English  book  in  which 
such  a  succinct  account  could  be  found. 
The  following  books  deserve  attention : 

Memoires  sur  Lazare  Carnot  1753-1823.  Par 
Hippolyte  Carnot,  1 801-88. 

This  is  a  new  edition  of  the  *  Memoirs  of  Carnot,'  by  his  son,  at 
which  the  latter  had  been  working  for  some  time  before  his  death 
in  1888.  All  the  additions  and  corrections  to  which  he  had  given 
a  definite  character  are  included  here,  and  it  is  illustrated  in  accord- 
ance with  his  intentions. 

Campagne  de  I'Empereur  Napoleon  en  Espagne 
(1808-9).  Par  1£  Commandant  brevete  Balagny. 
Vol.  V. 

This  volume  deals  with  Almaraz,  Ucles,  and  the  departure  of 
Napoleon.  It  consists  of  documents  and  letters  with  a  running 
narration  by  the  author. 

Eugene  Etienne.  Son  ceuvre :  coloniale,  alge- 
rienne  et  politique  (1881-1906).  2  vols. 

A  collection  of  speeches  and  memoranda  on  colonial  and  Algerian 
questions,  and  on  foreign  and  domestic  politics  by  a  former  Under 
Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies,  and  Minister  of  War  and 
for  Home  Affairs.  The  book  is  published  under  his  authorisation, 
and  forms  a  useful  survey  of  recent  French  politics. 

Journal  Inedit  du  Due  de  Croy,  1718-84. 
Public  d'apres  le  manuscrit  autographe  conserve  a 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    93 

la  bibliotheque  de  1'institut,  avec  introduction, 
notes  et  index.  Par  le  Vicomte  de  Grouchy  et 
Paul  Cottin.  4  vols. 

Of  great  importance  for  the  history  of  the  reigns  of  Louis  XV. 
and  XVI.  The  Due  says  himself:  '  Mon  ouvrage  contiendra  une 
suite  d'histoire  v£ridique,  que  Ton  ne  trouvera  peut-e'tre  pas  inutile, 
un  jour ! ' 

La  Societe  fran9aise  pendant  le  consulat.  Serie 
V.  Les  beaux-arts.  Serie  VI.  L'armee — le  clerge 
— la  magistrature — Instruction  publique.  Par 
Gilbert  Stenger. 

These  volumes  complete  the  work.  It  ends  with  a  'jugement' 
on  Bonaparte,  the  First  Consul,  inspired  by  the  ten  years  of  reading 
whence  the  book  had  its  being. 

La  bourgeoisie  Francaise  au  XVIIe  Siecle.  La 
vie  publique — Les  idees  et  les  actions  politiques 
1604-61.  Etude  sociale.  Par  Charles  Normand. 

A  very  full  and  careful  history  of  the  subjedl. 

Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte  et  la  revolution  de 
1848  avec  des  documents  et  des  Portraits  inedits. 
Par  Andre  Lebey. 

Richelieu  et  la  maison  de  Savoie.  L'Ambassade 
de  Particelli  d'Hemery  en  Piemont.  Par  Gabriel 
de  Mun. 

Cardinal  Retz  called  Particelli  *  le  plus  corrompu  de  son  siecle.' 
The  book  gives  an  excellent  survey  of  the  inner  life  of  Italian 
courts,  and  proves  that  Richelieu  was  scarcely  as  all-powerful  as  he 
is  said  to  have  been. 

Histoire  de  Bourbilly.  Par  le  Comte  de  Fran- 
queville. 

A  very  interesting  record  of  a  country  house  which  prior  to  1032 
was  part  of  the  royal  domain,  and  then  became  the  property  of  the 


94   RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

Dukes  of  Burgundy.  Since  1213  it  has  been  in  the  hands  of  five 
families,  and  is  now  owned  by  the  author  of  the  book.  Memories 
of  Mme.  de  Sevign£  and  her  daughter,  Mme.  de  Grignan,  are 
closely  connected  with  this  house. 

La  Provence  a  travers  les  siecles.  Par  Emile 
Caman. 

A  learned  and  exhaustive  work  dealing  with  the  periods  of  the 
Roman  domination  and  the  Christian  civilisation. 

Etudes  de  Litterature  Canadienne  Frar^aise. 
Nouvelles  Etudes  de  Litterature  Canadienne  Fran- 
9aise.  Par  Charles  ab  der  Halden. 

The  first  series  contains  an  introductory  essay  on  the  French 
language  and  literature  in  Canada  by  Louis  Herbette.  The  studies 
open  up  a  new  subject,  and  in  fadl,  reveal  the  existence  of  a  new 
literature. 

Causeries  d'Egypte.     Par  G.  Maspero. 

Articles  reprinted  from  the  'Journal  des  Debats,'  1893-1907. 
They  were  written  with  a  view  to  popularising  sciences  regarded  as 
incomprehensible  except  to  the  expert,  and  make  capital  reading  for 
the  layman  interested  in  the  progress  of  Egyptology. 

La  Civilisation  Pharaonique.      Par  Albert  Gazet. 

A  very  interesting  and  well-executed  sketch  of  the  civilization 
of  Egypt  before  it  came  under  the  Graeco-Roman  influence,  while 
its  aim  was  '  se  renfermer  dans  le  domaine  des  idees.' 

Etudes  sur  1'ancien  poeme  fran9ais  du  voyage 
de  Charlemagne  en  orient.  Par  Jules  Coulet. 

A  recent  publication  of  the  '  Societe  pour  1'etude  des  langues 
Romaines.'  It  treats  of  the  date,  nature,  and  legend  of  the  poem, 
and  ends  with  a  chapter  on  the  place  of  the  poem  in  mediaeval 
literature. 

Le  Romantisme  et  la  Critique.  La  Presse  lit- 
teraire  sous  la  Restauration,  1815-30.  Par  Ch.-M. 
Des  Granges. 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    95 

The  author  opens  with  a  chapter  on  the  utility  of  the  newspaper 
in  literary  history,  and  concludes  his  volume  with  the  conviction 
that  from  the  newspapers  and  periodicals  of  the  period  may  be 
learned  best  the  invasion  of  the  foreign  element  into  French  litera- 
ture. He  promises  a  volume  on  *  Shakespeare  et  le  Romantisme.' 

La  Vie  d'un  poete.  Coleridge.  Par  Joseph 
Aguard. 

A  well-written  biography  of  the  poet,  with  prose  versions  of 
those  poems  which  specially  bear  on  the  poet's  life. 

Camille  Desmoulins.  Par  Jules  Claretie.  Illus- 
trated. 

A  poignant  history  that  *  garde  comme  un  reflet  de  le"gende,' 
of  a  *  personnage  de  roman.' 

L'armee  et  les  institutions  militaires  de  la  Con- 
federation suisse  au  debut  de  1907.  Par  H. 
Lemant. 

A  most  useful  volume  for  those  studying  various  military  systems. 

L'Education  de  la  Femme  Moderne.  Par 
J.-L.  de  Lanessan. 

An  account  of  the  education  of  the  modern  woman  in  early 
childhood  and  in  the  primary  and  secondary  schools,  and  of  her  role 
in  modern  life.  The  author  deplores  the  necessity  for  women 
to  work  in  competition  with  men. 

Geschichte  der  Koniglich  Deutschen  Legion, 
1803-16.  Von  Bernhard  Schwertfeger.  2  vols. 

A  full  account  of  all  the  campaigns  in  which  the  legion  took  part. 

Die  Frauenfrage  in  den  Romanen  Englischer 
Schriftstellerinnen  der  Gegenwart.  Von  Dr.  Ernst 
Foerster. 

The  English  authoresses  chosen  are  George  Egerton,  Mona 
Caird,  and  Sarah  Grand. 


96    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

Jean  Paul.  Der  Verfasser  der  Levana.  Von 
Dr.  Wilhelm  Munch. 

A  volume  of  a  series  entitled,  'Die  Grossen  Erzieher,' among  whom 
the  only  Englishman  is  Herbert  Spencer.  Dr.  Munch  says  that  few 
books  on  education  contain  so  much  deep  thought  as  the  4  Levana.' 

Ludwig  Uhland.  Die  Entwicklung  des  Lyri- 
kers  und  die  Genesis  des  Gedichtes.  Von  Hans 
Haag. 

An  interesting  and  detailed  aesthetic  study  of  Uhland. 

Georg  Christoph  Lichtenberg.  Gedanken, 
Satiren,  Fragmente.  Herausgegeben  von  Wilhelm 
Herzog.  2  vols. 

A  delightful  little  volume  in  which  to  begin  acquaintance  with 
Lichtenberg.  It  contains  aphorisms  which  are  valuable  contribu- 
tions to  such  subjects  as  the  psychology  of  love  and  marriage, 
politics,  anthropology,  physiognomy,  the  drama,  painting,  pedagogy, 
ancient  and  modern  literature;  and  the  ideas  are  as  fresh  to-day 
as  they  were  in  1799. 

Berthold  Auerbach.  Der  Mann,  sein  Werk, 
sein  Nachlass.  Von  Anton  Bettelheim.  * 

Most  valuable  perhaps  on  the  critical  side,  which  shows  Auer- 
bach as  the  forerunner  of  Anzengruber  and  Rosegger,  of  Tolstoy 
and  BjSrnson. 

ELIZABETH  LEE. 


97 


SIENESE    TAVOLETTE. 

ISITORS  to  Italy  are  so  fond  of  bring- 
ing home  with  them  some  object  of 
art  as  a  memento  of  their  holiday, 
that  the  not  infrequent  substitution  of 
forgeries  for  genuine  works  may  pos- 
sibly be  regarded  by  the  vendors  as  part  of  a 
national  scheme  of  self-defence.  A  few  years  ago 
among  the  commonest  subjects  of  forgery  were  the 
painted  wooden  covers  of  the  municipal  account- 
books  of  Siena.  So  many  purchases  of  these  were 
made  by  English  tourists,  and  so  many  of  the 
purchases  were  brought  to  the  British  Museum  for 
verification,  that  the  nature  of  the  contents  of  thin 
brown-paper  parcels  of  a  certain  shape  was  some- 
times successfully  guessed  before  the  string  was 
untied.  The  '  tavolette,'  as  they  are  called,  were 
thus  not  the  least  among  the  attractions  which 
Siena  offered  me  during  a  recent  short  stay  there. 
After  inspecting  them  for  myself  in  the  gallery  ot 
the  Palazzo  Piccolomini,  in  which  they  are  pre- 
served, I  found  that  they  had  been  made  the 
subject  of  a  sumptuous  monograph l  by  the  Director 

1  *  Le  tavolette  dipinte  di  Biccherna  e  di  Gabella  del  R.  Archivio 
di  Stato  in  Siena.  Con  illustrazione  storica  del  Direttore  dell' 
Archivio  Cav.  Alessandro  Lisini.  Siena,  Stab.  Foto-Litografico. 
Sordi-Muti.  1901.  (The  imprint  deserves  note,  as  one  of  the 
worthiest  of  Siena's  worthies,  Tommaso  Pendola,  was  an  early 
worker  for  the  deaf-mutes,  and  directed  for  many  years  the  institute 
of  which  the  '  stabilimento  foto-litografico '  is  an  offshoot.) 

IX.  H 


98  SIENESE  TAVOLETTE. 

of  the  Archivio  Civile,  the  information  in  which  is 
so  full  as  to  leave  no  room  for  any  further  research. 
Short  notices  of  the  '  tavolette '  have  also  appeared 
in  several  French,  German,  and  Italian  magazines. 
In  England,  on  the  other  hand,  little  or  no  study 
has  been  made  of  them,  which  perhaps  may  account 
for  the  ready  sale  which  the  forgeries  seem  to  have 
found  among  English  visitors.  Thus  it  seems 
worth  while  to  put  together  a  few  notes  on  the 
subject,  despite  the  little  room  left  for  any  original 
treatment  of  it. 

In  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  when 
these  painted  bindings  begin,  Siena  sought  financial 
safety  by  changing  the  controllers  of  its  treasury 
every  half-year,  and  requiring  them  to  submit  their 
accounts  to  a  double  audit.  The  treasury,  or 
4  Biccherna '  as  it  was  called,  a  word  of  unknown 
origin,  was  governed  by  a  Chamberlain  ('  Camer- 
lingo')  and  four  Supervisors  ('  Provveditori '). 
Their  books  of  accounts  were  liable  to  be  inspected 
at  any  moment  by  three  commissioners  ('  terziari '), 
and  after  the  six-months'  term  of  office  they  had  to 
be  submitted  for  formal  audit  within  thirty  days  to 
three  other  good,  sufficient,  and  lawful  men  ('altri  tre 
uomini,  buoni,  sufficenti  e  legali').  The  accounts 
seem  to  have  been  kept  in  duplicate,  one  book 
being  in  Latin  and  the  other  in  Italian,  and  to 
compensate  the  officials  for  their  trouble  and  for 
the  perils  of  the  double  audit,  they  seem  to  have 
been  allowed  to  spend  ten  soldi  on  having  a  com- 
memorative picture  painted  on  the  upper  cover  as 
a  record  of  their  term  of  office.  Ten  soldi,  how- 
ever, was  the  maximum,  and  the  price  was  subse- 


SIENESE  TAVOLETTE.  99 

quently  lowered  to  eight,  and  then  to  seven.  The 
volume  commemorating  the  Chamberlain  mostly 
shows  a  picture  of  that  official,  seated  at  a  table, 
with  money,  or  a  money-bag,  in  front  of  him. 
The  figure  of  the  Chamberlain  himself,  though 
probably  no  very  careful  portrait,  partook  so  far  of 
that  character  as  to  show  that  he  was  mostly,  if 
not  always,  a  member  of  a  religious  order.  In  the 
case  of  the  Provveditori,  four  portraits  would  have 
been  too  great  a  strain  on  the  artist's  imagination, 
and  he  was  therefore  permitted  to  substitute  four 
shields  bearing  their  arms.  On  the  earlier  c  tavo- 
lette  '  of  both  series  the  picture  was  mostly  followed 
by  an  inscription,  which  may  either  record  the 
names  of  the  officials,  or  enable  them  to  be  ascer- 
tained from  the  mention  of  the  Podesta  under  whom 
they  held  office.  Thus  the  earliest  ctavoletta'  now 
in  the  Archivio  shows  a  Cistercian  monk,  Frate 
Ugo,  of  the  abbey  of  S.  Galgano,  Chamberlain  of 
the  Republic  of  Siena,  seated  at  a  table  holding  a 
book,  on  the  pages  of  which  can  be  read  the  date, 
1 1.A.D.'  (in  anno  domini)  '  MCCLVIII  mese  iulii.' 
while  above  and  beside  the  picture  is  the  inscription, 
in  white  letters  on  a  red  ground  (contractions  ex- 
panded) :  £  Liber  Camerarii  tempore  domini  Boni- 
fatii  domini  Castellani  de  Bononia  senensis  potestatis 
in  ultimis  sex  mensibus  sui  regiminis. 

The  second1  '  tavoletta '  in  the  series  commemo- 
rates the  first  four  Provveditori  of  1263,  and  bears 
their  coats  of  arms  with  the  inscription  :  c  Hie  est 
liber  dominorum  Bartalomei  Orlandi  Istielli  iudicis, 
domini  Ghinibaldi  Ildibrandini  Salvani,  Bartalomei 
1  This  is  not  an  original,  but  a  copy. 


ioo  SIENESE  TAVOLETTE. 

Bencivenni  Mancini,  domini  NicholeRoczi,quatuor 
Provisorum  Communis  Senarum  tempore  domini 
Inghirami  de  Gorzano,  Dei  et  Regia  gratia  Senarum 
Potestatis,  in  primis  sex  mensibus  sui  regiminis.' 

Besides  the  two  covers  painted  each  half-year 
for  the  Chamberlain  and  Provveditori,  another 
commemorated  the  term  of  office  of  the  '  Esecutori 
di  Gabella '  (Commissioners  of  Customs),  and  the 
tenth  cover  of  the  series  exhibited,  that  of  the 
Gabella  for  1 290,  is  still  attached  to  portions  of 
the  original  book  to  which  it  belonged,  while  the 
archives  record  the  fa<5t  that  seven  sols  were  paid  to 
the  painter  Massarucio  for  painting  it. 

As  time  went  on,  a  more  ambitious  style  of 
decoration  was  adopted.  Thus  when  the  first  com- 
missioner was  a  monk  of  the  abbey  of  S.  Galgano, 
a  picture  of  the  saint  appears  on  the  cover.  On 
the  cover  of  an  early  Gabella-book  we  find  an 
imitation  of  part  of  the  famous  fresco,  an  allegory 
of  Good  Government,  painted  by  Lorenzetti  in  the 
town-hall.  A  few  c  tavolette  '  were  themselves  the 
work  of  well-known  painters,  such  as  Sano  di 
Pietro,  though  even  these  have  no  great  artistic 
merit. 

Whereas  in  the  thirteenth  century  three  '  tavo- 
lette '  had  been  painted  each  half-year,  in  the 
fourteenth  only  two  were  executed,  the  Italian  copy 
of  the  Biccherna  accounts  being  bound  in  parch- 
ment, while  the  Latin  copy  was  permitted  to  retain 
its  antique  covers.  By  1445  the  accounts  of  Siena 
were  becoming  too  complicated  to  be  recorded  in 
volumes  of  the  traditional  size.  Larger  account- 
books  were  needed,  and  the  commemorative  painting 


SIENESE  TAVOLETTE.  101 

was  no  longer  attached  to  them.  For  a  time 
frescoes  were  used,  but  as  these  threatened  to  take 
up  too  much  room,  small  separate  paintings  were 
substituted.  Of  the  ninety-two  '  tavolette  '  illus- 
trated in  Signer  Lisini's  monograph,  sixty-one 
belong  to  this  later  period,  and  only  thirty-one  to 
to  the  years  1258-1445,  out  of  a  total  of  eight  or 
nine  hundred  which  must  have  been  produced 
during  that  period,  on  the  supposition  that  there 
were  no  breaks  in  the  series.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  eighteenth  century  the  number  preserved  in 
the  Office  of  the  Chamberlain  of  the  Biccherna 
must  have  been  nearly  treble  as  many,  for  in  1724 
the  Abate  Galgano  Bichi  compiled  an  heraldic  index 
to  them,  still  preserved  in  the  Archivio,1  and  in 
this  references  are  given  to  no  fewer  than  fifty- 
eight  examples  not  in  the  exhibition.  A  highly 
misleading  sentence  in  Baedeker's  Guide  to  Central 
Italy,  where  the  '  tavolette '  are  briefly  mentioned, 
accounts  for  these  disappearances  by  regretting 
that  '  the  collection  has  unfortunately  been  much 
reduced  by  sales  to  foreigners.'  In  so  far  as  recent 
years  are  concerned  it  would  be  more  accurate  to 
say  that  c  the  collection  has  been  fortunately 
increased  by  repurchases  and  donations.'  The 
depredations  seem  to  have  taken  place  at  a  much 
earlier  period.  The  Archives  of  Siena  are  lodged 
in  the  Palazzo  Piccolomini,  and  at  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century  a  member  of  the  Piccolomini 

1  *  Copia  dell'  armi  gentilizie  e  dell'  iscrizioni  che  son  espresse 
nelle  Tavolette  che  gia  servirono  per  coperte  de'  libri  del  Magis- 
trate della  Magnifica  Biccherna  di  Siena  et  ora  trovansi  staccate  da 
medesimi.' 


102  SIENESE  TAVOLETTE. 

family  removed  fourteen  of  the  '  tavolette,'  which 
commemorated  the  financial  services  of  his  ancestors, 
to  the  papal  palace  at  Pienza,  whence  they  were 
subsequently  returned.  The  chief  profiter  by  the 
depredations  was  a  painter  of  Cologne  named 
Ramboux,  who  formed  a  collection  of  these  '  tavo- 
lette,' and  subsequently  sold  them,  or  permitted 
them  to  be  sold  after  his  death.  That  he  was  a 
bad  man  may  be  suspected  from  the  fact  that  a 
cover  which  belonged  to  1262,  was  ascribed  in  the 
catalogue  to  the  humorously  early  date  1053; 
while  a  painting,  of  which  the  archives  record  that 
it  was  painted  for  eight  sols  by  Dietisalve  di  Speme, 
is  assigned  to  Duccio  di  Buoninsegna,  the  most 
famous  of  the  primitive  Sienese  masters. 

The  sentence  in  Baedeker  is  regrettable  for 
another  reason  than  the  slur  which  it  might  be 
understood  to  pass  on  the  present  management  of 
the  Archivio,  for  its  mention  of  '  sales  to  foreigners ' 
suggests  possibilities  of  purchase  which  may  account 
for  the  supply  of  forgeries  to  which  I  have  already 
alluded.  I  can  place  the  date  at  which  I  first  saw 
one  of  these  at  about  1895,  because  I  was  then 
editing  l  Bibliographica,'  and  very  nearly  committed 
myself  to  giving  an  illustration  of  it  in  that  periodi- 
cal, under  the  impression  that  to  the  many  other 
charms  which  it  undoubtedly  possessed  it  added 
that  of  antiquity — which  was  far  from  being  the 
case.  Fortunately  for  me  the  forgery  was  still 
unsold  in  the  hands  of  a  dealer,  and  a  not  unreason- 
able objection  to  advertising  anything  in  this  con- 
dition stood  me  instead  of  erudition.  During  the 
next  eight  or  nine  years  I  saw  several  others,  but  it 


SIENESE  TAVOLETTE.  103 

is  some  time  now  since  a  new  example  has  been 
shown  to  me,  so  that  I  presume  that  the  stock  is 
exhausted.  The  workmen  employed  in  producing 
it  must  have  been  men  of  considerable  skill  and 
taste,  and,  at  least  in  some  cases,  the  prices  asked  for 
the  bindings  were  no  more  than  they  were  worth — 
as  new  work.  To  anyone  who  knew  the  originals 
their  beauty  indeed  was  their  chief  condemnation, 
for  every  inch  of  them  was  painted  in  gold  and 
colours,  and  the  central  figure,  usually  that  of  a 
saint,  was  far  more  freely  handled  than  is  common 
in  early  Sienese  pictures,  and  quite  unlike  the  stiff 
figures  on  the  '  tavolette.'  Moreover  the  forgers, 
if  my  memory  serves  me,  never  ventured  on  names 
or  inscriptions,  and  I  should  be  greatly  surprised  if 
they  troubled  themselves  to  suit  the  arms  on  the 
binding  to  the  office-holders  of  any  particular  year. 
In  some  cases,  moreover,  both  covers  were  richly 
decorated,  whereas  in  the  genuine  c  tavolette '  only 
the  upper  cover  was  painted.  As  I  have  said,  the 
supply  of  these  handsome  impostures  seems  to  have 
stopped.  I  saw  none  in  shop-windows  at  Siena 
during  my  recent  visit.  But  if  any  collector  should 
chance  to  be  offered  the  painted  cover  of  a  Sienese 
account-book,  he  will  be  well  advised  to  consult 
Signer  Lisini's  monograph  before  making  a  purchase. 

ALFRED  W.    POLLARD. 


REVIEW. 

* 

Prince  d'lLs  sling.  Etudes  sur  fart  de  la  gravure  sur 
bois  a  Venise.  Les  /ivres  a  figures  venitiens  de  la 
Jin  du  XV e  siecle  et  du  commencement  du  XVIe . 
Premiere  partie.  Tome  I.  Outrages  imprimis 
de  1450  a  1490  et  leurs  editions  successive*  jusqu* 
a  1525.  Florence,  L.  S.  Olschki;  Paris^  H. 
Leclerc. 

N  1892  the  Due  de  Rivoli,  as  the 
Prince  d'Essling  was  then  entitled, 
published  what  he  now  describes  as 
'notre  premier  essai,  tres  incomplet,' 
on  Venetian  illustrated  books.  After 
fifteen  years  of  diligent  collecting  and  research  he 
has  again  taken  up  the  same  subject,  this  time  with 
a  wealth  of  detail  and  of  illustration,  which  must 
reduce  any  further  attempt  to  deal  with  it  to  the 
insignificance  of  an  appendix.  The  arrangement 
of  the  book  is  the  same  as  that  of  its  predecessor. 
Works  are  described  in  the  order  of  their  first 
illustrated  editions,  and  all  subsequent  editions 
within  the  period  follow  immediately  upon  the 
first.  The  principle  of  this  arrangement  seems 
quite  sound.  To  keep  all  the  editions  of  the  same 
work  in  an  uninterrupted  sequence  is  not  so  much 
an  advantage  as  a  necessity  for  effective  study  of 
their  relations,  and  the  weight  allowed  to  the  date 


REVIEW.  105 

at  which  a  work  first  began  to  be  illustrated  pre- 
serves the  chronological  feeling  more  adequately 
than  might  have  been  anticipated.  While,  how- 
ever, we  heartily  uphold  the  general  arrangement 
of  the  book,  in  one  special  group  of  instances  it 
seems  to  us  to  have  been  wrongly,  or  at  least 
doubtfully,  applied.  During  the  years  1469-1472, 
and  in  a  few  later  cases,  the  work  of  the  illuminator 
at  Venice  was  facilitated  by  the  employment  of  a 
wood-cut  foundation  over  which  the  artist  painted. 
Only  a  few  copies  out  of  an  edition  were  illu- 
minated in  this  way,  and  the  existence  of  the 
wood-cut  substratum  for  borders  and  initials  was  a 
new  discovery  at  the  time  that  the  Prince  pub- 
lished his  first  essay. .  In  some  cases  different  border- 
pieces  were  used  in  decorating  different  copies  of 
the  same  book.  The  same  border-piece  is  also 
occasionally  found  in  books  published  by  different 
printers.  It  thus  appears  probable  that  the  decora- 
tion was  the  work  of  a  firm  of  illuminators  rather 
than  of  the  printers,  and  in  any  case  the  existence 
of  a  majority  of  copies  unilluminated  would  seem 
to  forbid  us  to  reckon  a  book  as  a  'livre  a  figures' 
because  of  the  occurrence  of  the  borders  in  one 
or  more  special  copies.  The  Prince,  however,  has 
taken  the  opposite  view,  and  thus,  in  the  forefront 
of  his  arrangement,  we  find  a  whole  series  of 
classical  works  which  were  never  really  illustrated 
until  in  the  early  years  of  the  sixteenth  century 
illustration  had  become  such  a  habit  with  Venetian 
publishers  that  few  books  could  escape  it.  It 
would  have  been  better,  we  think,  to  have  treated 
the  border-pieces  by  themselves  and  have  based  the 


106  REVIEW. 

arrangement  of  the  book  solely  on  such  illustrations 
and  decorations  as  form  an  essential  and  integral 
part  of  the  editions  in  which  they  occur.  We 
must  own,  however,  to  a  sense  of  ingratitude  in 
urging  this  objection,  as  the  liberality  with  which 
the  use  of  these  borders  has  been  illustrated  is  of  a 
kind  to  disarm  criticism. 

The  book  opens  with  an  excellent  account  of 
the  Venetian  block-book  of  the  Passion  on  which 
the  Prince  d'Essling  has  already  written  separately. 
After  this,  putting  aside  the  interpolated  classics, 
we  come  upon  the  'Trionfi'  of  Petrarch  and  the 
Italian  version  of  The  Bible,  both  of  them  pulled 
forward  several  years,  by  the  chance  occurrence  of 
a  border  in  one  or  more  copies  of  the  Petrarch,  and 
of  six  little  wood-cuts  in  the  John  Rylands  copy 
of  the  'Bible'  of  ist  October,  1471.  The  discovery, 
by  the  way,  of  the  wood-cut  substratum  to  the 
little  coloured  pictures  was  made  and  communi- 
cated to  the  present  writer  by  Mr.  Gordon  Duff, 
during  his  tenure  of  office  at  Manchester,  so  that  it 
should  not  be  ascribed,  as  is  here  done,  to  the 
present  librarian.  As  regards  the  Bible  of  1490,  the 
first  illustrated  edition  properly  so-called,  the  Prince 
d'Essling  records  in  a  foot-note  an  interesting  sugges- 
tion by  Mr.  Fairfax  Murray,  that  the  illustrations 
may  have  been  the  work  of  the  miniaturist,  Benedetto 
Bordone.  With  the  thoroughness  which  distin- 
guishes every  section  of  the  book,  two  specimens 
of  Bordone's  work  are  reproduced,  and  certainly 
shew  that  he  and  the  illustrator  of  the  Bible 
belonged  to  the  same  school,  and  that  their  methods 
of  arranging  their  little  pi6tures  were  closely  akin. 


REVIEW.  107 

As  is  well  known,  several  of  the  Bible  cuts  were 
suggested  by  the  much  larger  illustrations  in  the 
Bibles  printed  at  Cologne,  by  Quentell,  about  1480, 
and  speedily  imitated  at  Nuremberg  and  elsewhere. 
In  another  footnote  we  are  reminded  that  this  debt 
was  repaid  in  a  curious  manner,  some  of  the  Vene- 
tian wood-cuts  having  been  copied,  in  1516,  in  a 
Bible  printed  at  Lyons  by  Jacques  Sacon,  for  sale 
not  in  France,  but  by  Koberger  at  Nuremberg. 
Altogether  nearly  a  hundred  pages  are  devoted  to 
biblical  illustrations  at  Venice,  and  the  numerous 
facsimiles  bring  the  whole  series  under  the  reader's 
review.  As  he  turns  over  the  leaves  he  can  hardly 
fail  to  be  especially  struck  by  the  wood-cuts  repro- 
duced from  the  'Epistole  and  Evangelii'  of  1512, 
which  range  from  a  very  fine  folio-page  cut  of 
Christ  and  S.  Thomas,  bearing  the  device  of  Marc 
Antonio  Raimondi,  to  the  St.  James  the  Greater 
which  looks  as  if  it  had  come  out  of  a  cheap 
Greek  service-book  of  the  late  seventeenth  or  early 
eighteenth  century.  The  relation  between  Diirer's 
Apocalypse  and  the  Venetian  edition  of  1516  is 
another  point  illustrated  with  great  lavishness,  the 
suggestion  being  made  that  Domenico  Campagnola 
may  perhaps  have  collaborated  with  Zoan  Andrea 
in  making  the  copies.  In  the  'Opere  noua  con- 
templatiua,'  the  late  Venetian  block-book,  published 
by  Giovanni  Andrea  Vavassore,  about  1530,  Diirer's 
Little  Passion,  of  1510,  was  laid  under  contribution 
for  the  representation  of  Christ  cleansing  the 
Temple  and,  as  usual,  both  wood-cuts  are  here 
reproduced. 
If  the  hundred  pages  devoted  to  Biblical  wood-cuts 


io8  REVIEW. 

may  be  cited  as  an  example  of  how  exhaustively 
the  Prince  d'Essling  has  treated  his  larger  headings, 
his  work  is  no  less  valuable  for  the  success  with 
which  he  has  hunted  down  hitherto  unregistered 
books  of  extraordinary  rarity,  and  made  them 
known  to  students  by  an  accurate  description  and 
facsimiles  of  the  wood-cuts  which  give  them  their 
value.  As  the  present  volume  approaches  its  limit, 
in  1490  and  the  years  which  immediately  preceded 
it,  these  finds  become  important.  Such,  for  ex- 
ample, are  the  1486  '  Doclrinale '  of  Alexander 
Grammaticus,  published  by  Pietro  Cremonese,  with 
a  singularly  graceful  decorative  title-page  ;  the  1487 
'  Fior  di  Virtu '  of  Cherubino  da  Spoleto,  with  a 
title-cut  which  evidently  inspired,  though  it  was 
far  surpassed  by,  that  of  the  edition  of  1490;  the 
1487  '  Meditationi '  of  St.  Bonaventura,  with  some 
of  the  cuts  from  the  early  block-book  of  the  Passion, 
and  the  1488  l  Opusculum  de  Esse  et  Essentiis '  of 
S.  Thomas  Aquinas,  with  a  title-cut  of  a  boy  light- 
ing a  fire  by  means  of  a  burning-glass.  This  last 
book  was  produced  '  impressione  loannis  Lucilii 
santriter  de  fonte  salutis  et  Hieronymi  de  Sanctis 
Veneti  sociorum,'  and  by  comparison  with  the 
same  printer's  '  Sphaera  Mundi '  of  the  same  year, 
the  Prince  reaches  the  conclusion  that  Hieronymus 
de  Sanctis  was  the  cutter  of  the  wood-cut.  The 
evidence  for  this  is  quite  sound,  for  in  some  crabbed 
verses  in  praise  of  the  printers  it  is  said  that  the 
c  schemata '  of  the  c  Sphaera  Mundi '  were  '  reperta ' 
by  Santritter : 

Nee  minus  haec  tibi  de  Sanctis  hieronyme  debent 
Quam  socio  ;  namque  hie  invenit :  ipse  secas, 


REVIEW.  109 

and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  illustrations 
are  by  the  same  hands.  It  is  a  little  surprising, 
however,  to  find  the  Prince  paraphrasing  the  last 
line  of  verse :  '  il  est  dit  tres  precisement  que 
lohann  Santritter  a  donne  1'idee  des  figures  qui 
illustrent  ce  traite  d'astronomie  et  que  Hieronimo 
de  Sancti  les  a  executees.'  The  word  '  invenit ' 
usually  means  much  more  than  the  '  giving  ideas,' 
it  means  specifically  'designed,'  and  conversely  cseco' 
means  much  less  than  '  execute,'  it  means  specific- 
ally '  cut.'  Now  in  mentioning  the  miniaturist 
Benedetto  Bordone  in  connection  with  the  Bible  of 
1490  the  Prince  seems  to  hold  the  view  that  there 
was  an  artist  who  designed  illustrations  as  well  as  a 
cutter  who  cut  them,  and  if  this  is  so  it  is  as  a 
skilful  cutter  rather  than  as  '  le  plus  remarquable  de 
tous  les  illustrateurs  de  livres,  a  Venise,  dans  les 
dernieres  annees  du  XVe  siecle '  that  Hieronimo 
must  be  honoured.  The  high  praise  which  the 
Prince  bestows  on  him  is  based  mainly  on  a 
'Horae'  which  issued  from  his  press  in  1494,  one 
of  the  illustrations  in  which,  an  Annunciation, 
seems  to  us  to  deserve  the  eulogy,  while  the  merits 
of  the  others  are  less  conspicuous.  From  the  evi- 
dence before  us  we  should  be  inclined  to  attribute 
only  the  Annunciation  to  Hieronimo,  and  at  least 
to  leave  it  open  whether  he  should  be  ranked  as  a 
designer  as  well  as  a  cutter.  Hitherto,  however, 
no  one  has  done  him  justice  in  either  capacity. 

The  'Horae'  of  1494,  of  which  we  have  been 
speaking,  finds  its  chronological  place  in  an  article 
on  the  Venetian  'Books  of  Hours,'  which  extends 
to  ninety  pages  and  is  crowded  with  facsimiles,  not 


no  REVIEW. 

only  of  Venetian  cuts,  but  of  those  in  the  early 
Paris  editions  which  were  largely  borrowed  or 
imitated  in  Venice.  Coming,  as  it  does,  almost  at 
its  close,  this  exhaustive  article  completes  the  im- 
pression which  every  page  of  the  volume  suggests, 
that  here  we  have  a  book  in  which  enthusiasm  and 
knowledge,  conception  and  execution,  have  gone 
hand  in  hand  almost  to  the  utmost  possible  limit. 
It  is  obvious  that  no  pains,  and  no  expense  have 
been  spared  to  make  this  great  monograph  adequate 
to  the  point  of  finality,  and  fortunately,  it  is  equally 
obvious  that  both  the  pains  and  the  expenditure 
have  been  skilfully  and  successfully  directed  to 
their  end. 

A.W.P. 


NOTES  OF  BOOKS  AND  WORK.  The 
following  summary  of  a  paper  by  Mr.  W. 
W.  GREG,  read  last  year  at  a  Literary  Congress  in 
Switzerland,  will  be  of  interest  to  anyone  desiring 
information  as  to  the  Malone  Society.  It  should 
be  stated,  however,  that  it  is  unofficial  and  has  not 
been  revised  by  Mr.  Greg  himself. 

Some  five-and-twenty  years  ago,  German  editors  first 
insisted  that  a  critical  edition  should  retain  as  much  as 
possible  of  the  character  of  the  originals  upon  which  it 
was  based.  They  thus  combined  the  English  antiquarian 
reprint,  which  is  sometimes  accurate  and  often  useful, 
and  the  English  literary  edition,  which  such  works  as  the 
'Cambridge  Shakespeare,'  Dyce's  'Beaumont and  Fletcher,' 


NOTES  OF  BOOKS  AND  WORK,    in 

and  Bullen's  4Peele'  show  to  be  at  times  a  production  of 
laborious  scholarship  and  real  ability.  Valuable  results 
were  thus  achieved,  nevertheless  the  combination  is  not 
satisfactory.  Thus  in  such  an  excellent  example  as 
Breymann's  edition  of  'Faustus'  in  the  space  of  five 
lines  we  find  two  full  stops,  one  exclamation,  one  query 
mark,  one  comma,  and  one  numeral,  all  inserted  within 
brackets,  besides  two  asterisks  of  which  the  meaning  has 
to  be  discovered.  We  are  also  informed  that  where  the 
Editor  had  printed  'When'  and  'shal'  the  first  quarto 
read  'when'  and  'shal'and  the  second  'When'  and  'shall.' 
In  a  word  we  have  not  a  readable  text,  but  a  wonderful 
collection  of  materials  towards  a  text.  Less  logical 
editors  have  tried  to  preserve  typographical  amenity  by 
refusing  to  follow  the  method  to  its  conclusion,  and  the 
modern  critical  edition  is  essentially  a  compromise  between 
the  incompatible  claims  of  philologists  and  literary  stu- 
dents, useless  to  those  who  wish  to  do  independent  work 
on  the  text  and  yet  full  of  what  to  the  unphilological 
seem  pedantries.  If  the  Malone  Society  can  carry  out  its 
design,  editors  will  no  longer  have  to  distract  the  attention 
of  their  readers  by  the  record  of  obvious  errors  or  insig- 
nificant idiosyncracies  in  their  originals,  because  they  will 
know  that  any  serious  student  can  work  on  the  very 
materials  they  themselves  have  used,  not  as  now  in  a  dozen 
different  libraries,  but  in  his  own  study.  Each  generation 
must  be  left  to  make  its  own  critical  editions  according  to 
its  own  taste  and  knowledge,  but  it  ought  not  to  be  im- 
possible to  produce  reprints  of  the  original  texts  which 
shall  be  for  practical  purposes  final.  It  may  be  thought 
that  these  could  best  be  made  by  photography.  But 
photography  is  not  only  expensive,  it  is  also  open  to  the 
grave  objection  that  where  an  original  is  faulty  it  exag- 
gerates its  defects,  often  to  the  point  of  illegibility, 
whereas  an  editor  by  comparing  two  or  more  copies  may 
be  able  to  state  the  true  reading  quite  decidedly.  For 
the  Malone  Society  reprints  a  type  is  chosen  representing 


ii2    NOTES  OF  BOOKS  AND  WORK. 

as  closely  as  possible  that  of  the  original,  and  in  this  type 
the  text  is  reprinted,  letter  for  letter,  word  for  word, 
line  for  line,  page  for  page,  and  sheet  for  sheet,  the  proofs 
being  read  with  the  originals  at  every  stage  by  at  least  two 
persons.  The  only  alterations  allowed  are  the  correction 
of  slight  irregularities  in  indentation  and  spacing  not  affect- 
ing the  typographical  arrangement  or  division  of  words, 
disregard  of  wrong  founts,  and  setting  right  turned  letters. 
Collotype  facsimiles  are  added  reproducing  the  title-page, 
any  ornaments  or  ornamental  initials  in  the  original,  and 
enough  of  the  text  to  show  the  type  and  general  arrange- 
ment. A  brief  introduction  states  the  known  external 
facts  concerning  the  play  reprinted,  and  these  only.  This 
is  followed  by  a  list  of  doubtful  or  irregular  readings  to 
show  that  their  occurrence  in  the  reprint  is  not  due  to 
oversights,  suggestions  as  to  the  right  reading  being  some- 
times added  in  a  parenthesis.  Readings  are  also  given 
when  variations  have  been  noticed  between  different  copies 
of  the  same  edition,  and  where  necessary  a  second  list  is 
added,  recording  the  more  important  variations  between 
different  editions. 

While  the  production  of  these  texts  is  the  main  object 
of  the  Malone  Society,  it  will  also  in  its  *  Collections ' 
print  inedited  records  and  documents  illustrating  the 
history  of  the  drama  and  the  stage,  and  notes  as  to  new 
facts.  Subscribers  for  1907  have  already  received  four 
plays  ;  a  fifth  play  and  a  first  instalment  of  '  Collections  ' 
are  still  to  come. 


New   Series, 

No.  34,  VOL.  IX.  APRIL,  1908. 


THE  LIBRARY. 

ON    CERTAIN    FALSE    DATES     IN 
SHAKESPEARIAN   QUARTOS. 

N  the  library  of  Mr.  Marsden  Perry 
at  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  there  is 
a  volume  containing  ten  Shakespearian 
and  pseudo-Shakespearian  plays,  in  a 
seventeenth  century  binding  bearing 
the  name  of  a  contemporary  collector,  Edward 
Gwynn,  on  the  cover.  The  plays  are  :  *  Merchant 
of  Venice,'  1600  ('Roberts'  quarto)  ;  'Midsummer 
Night's  Dream,'  1600  ('Roberts'  quarto);  'Sir 
John  Oldcastle,'  1600  ('T.  P.'  quarto);  'King  Lear,' 
1608  ('N.  Butter'  quarto);  'Henry  V,'  1608; 
'Yorkshire  Tragedy,'  1619;  'Merry  Wives  of 
Windsor,'  1619;  two  parts  of  the  'Contention  of 
York  and  Lancaster'  [1619]  ;  and  'Pericles,' 


1  I  should  explain  at  once  that  in  four  cases  there  are  twin  editions 
of  these  plays,  dated  the  same  year.  These  are  :  '  Merchant  of 
Venice,'  1600  ('Hayes'  quarto,  bearing  that  publisher's  name,  but 
also  printed  by  Roberts,  and  bearing  his  initials  '  I.  R.')  ;  *  Mid- 
summer Night's  Dream,'  1600  ('Fisher'  quarto,  bearing  that  pub- 
lisher's name  and  device,  sometimes  said,  on  quite  insufficient 
evidence,  to  have  been  also  printed  by  Roberts);  'Sir  John  Old- 
castle,'  1600  ('V.  S.'  quarto,  bearing  the  name  of  the  publisher, 
Thomas  Pavier,  and  the  initials  of  the  printer,  Valentine  Symmes)  ; 
and  'King  Lear,'  1608  ('Pide  Bull'  quarto,  also  bearing  the  name 
of  the  publisher,  Nathaniel  Butter,  but  distinguished  by  the  addition 
of  his  sign). 

IX.  I 


ii4       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

The  copies  of  the  same  ten  quartos  belonging  to 
Mr.  Edward  Hussey  were,  until  shortly  before 
they  came  up  for  sale  in  June,  1906,  also  bound 
together,  though  not  in  the  same  order  as  Mr. 
Perry's.  The  Capell  copies  of  the  same  plays  at 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  now  form  two  volumes 
standing  together.  Their  uniform  measurement  of 
7i  ^7  5f  inches — an  unusually  large  one — and  other 
internal  evidence,  makes  it,  however,  practically 
certain  that  they  were  originally  bound  together. 
The  Garrick  copies  of  the  same  plays  at  the  British 
Museum  are  all  bound  separately,  but  here  also 
their  uniform  size,  which  agrees  closely  with  that 
of  the  Capell  copies,  points  to  their  having  at  one 
time  formed  parts  of  a  single  volume. 

Attention  was  called  to  these  facts  in  an  article 
in  the  'Academy'  for  2nd  June,  1906,  by  Mr. 
Alfred  Pollard,  who  based  on  them  a  theory  that, 
owing  to  the  publication  of  two  editions  of  the 
'  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,'  the  '  Merchant  of 
Venice,'  and  '  Sir  John  Oldcastle  '  in  1600,  and  or 
4  King  Lear'  in  1608,  one  edition  in  each  case 
failed  to  sell  out,  and  that  in  1619  Thomas  Pavier 
bought  up  the  '  remainders,'  and  made  them  more 
saleable  by  combining  them  in  a  volume  with  the 
unsold  copies  of  his  own  edition  of  c  Henry  V,' 
printed  in  1608,  and  with  other  plays  which  he 
was  then  reprinting. 

This  theory  caused  the  minimum  of  disturbance 
to  accepted  views  on  the  relations  of  the  quartos 
necessitated  by  Mr.  Pollard's  discovery  of  a  collec- 
tion of  1619.  I  have,  however,  his  authority  for 
stating  that  he  has  now  abandoned  it  in  favour  or 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    115 

the  more  revolutionary  hypothesis  which  it  is  the 
object  of  this  article  to  advance. 

Nothing,  I  think,  but  the  hypnotic  influence 
that  traditionally  accepted  facts  exercise  even  over 
the  most  critical  mind  can  have  prevented  Mr. 
Pollard  from  suspecting  that  the  ten  quartos  in 
question  were  not  merely  collected  and  published 
in  one  composite  volume  in  1619,  but  that,  what- 
ever the  dates  that  appear  on  the  title-pages,  the 
whole  set  was  actually  printed  by  one  printer  at 
that  one  date.  This  suggestion  may  seem  an  offence 
to  the  orthodox ;  but  if  they  will  bear  with  me  to 
the  end,  I  think  that  I  shall  be  able  to  show  that  a 
careful  and  critical  consideration  of  the  evidence 
can  lead  to  no  other  conclusion. 

The  fact  that  nearly  all  the  copies  of  Pavier's 
collection  have  passed  through  the  auction  room 
and  been  split  up  into  their  component  parts,  the 
individual  plays  usually  falling  to  different  pur- 
chasers, has  tended  to  obscure  certain  otherwise 
obvious  points.  A  short  description  of  a  compara- 
tively undisturbed  copy  may  therefore  prove  useful. 
As  I  write  I  have  before  me  that  which  once  be- 
longed to  Edward  Capell,  and  was  presented  by 
him  to  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  As  already 
mentioned,  it  is  now  in  two  volumes,  having  been 
rebound  when  it  came  into  his  possession.  This, 
to  judge  from  the  style  of  the  handwriting  of  certain 
notes  of  his  which  it  contains,  it  did  not  later  than 
about  1750.  The  edges  of  the  leaves  are  stained 
green,  and  must  have  been  in  that  condition  when 
it  came  into  his  hands,  for  although  he  invariably 
rebacked  and  nearly  always  rebound  the  books  he 


ii6       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

placed  among  his  '  Shakespeariana,'  he  never  by  any 
chance  touched  the  edges.  -I  imagine  that  the 
plays  when  he  acquired  them  were  in  a  single 
volume,  and  that  he  divided  them  into  two  for ' 
convenience  of  handling ;  he  is  unlikely  to  have 
made  any  other  change.  The  original  volume, 
therefore,  we  may  assume  to  have  been  a  fair-sized 
quarto  measuring  7^  by  5|  inches,  and  about  ij 
inches  thick,  with  green  edges,  and  containing  the 
plays  in  the  following  order  :  '  Yorkshire  Tragedy,' 
1  Merry  Wives,'  '  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,' 
'King  Lear,'  'Merchant  of  Venice,'  'Sir  John  Old- 
castle,'  'Henry  V,'  'Pericles,'  i  and  2  'Contention.' 
One  peculiarity  of  the  volume  should  be  noticed. 
While  the  first  seven  plays  are  all  independent,  the 
last  three,  the  two  parts  of  the  'Contention'  and 
'  Pericles,'  have  continuous  signatures.  These  begin 
with  the  title-page  to  the  '  Contention,'  and  run  on 
to  the  end  of  '  Pericles.'  Thus  it  is  clear  that 
'  Pericles '  ought  to  follow  the  '  Contention,'  and  of 
this  fadt,  as  his  notes  testify,  Capell  was  well  aware. 
He  cannot  consequently  be  held  responsible  for  the 
present  false  order,  which,  moreover,  I  believe  to 
have  been  original.  I  may  also  observe  that  the 
title-page  to  '  Pericles '  is  printed  on  a  single  leaf 
inserted  between  sheets  Q  and  R,  and  that  that  to 
the  '  Yorkshire  Tragedy  '  is  on  a  single  leaf  inserted 
at  the  beginning  of  that  play,  the  text  of  which 
begins  with  sheet  A.  In  all  other  cases  the  title 
is  printed  on  sig.  A  I. 

Now  the  most  obvious  point  that  must  strike 
anyone  who  turns  over  the  leaves  of  this  volume, 
is  the  curious  similarity  in  style  of  the  various  title- 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    117 

pages.  Eight  out  of  the  nine '  have  the  same  device, 
with  the  motto  '  Heb  Ddieu  Heb  Ddim '  (With- 
out God,  Without  All),  while  the  remaining  one 
('Midsummer  Night's  Dream')  has  another  device, 
with  the  motto  'Post  Tenebras  Lux'  (Geneva 
arms;  per  pale,  half-eagle  and  key).  The  type 
used  for  the  imprints  is  the  same  throughout,  and 
the  singularly  laconic  form  of  the  imprints  is  also 
noticeable.  It  may,  of  course,  reasonably  be  argued 
that  Roberts,  in  the  five  quartos  dated  1600  and 
i6o8,2  started  a  style  of  his  own,  and  that  when 
Pavier  acquired  the  remainder-stock  of  these  plays 
and  caused  others  to  be  printed  to  match,  he 
naturally  instructed  the  printer  to  imitate  Roberts' 
style.  That  printer  was  William  Jaggard,  and 
since  Jaggard  was  Roberts'  successor  and  had  taken 
over  his  stock,  it  need  not  surprise  us  to  find 
both  printers  using  the  same  ornaments.  There 
are,  however,  certain  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
this  explanation.  To  begin  with  the  type  of  the 
imprints  includes  a  fount  of  peculiarly  large  and 
distinctive  numerals,  which  are  by  no  means  of 
common  occurrence.  They  were  used,  however, 
by  Jaggard  in  the  pagination  of  some  portions  of 

1  There  is  only  one  title-page  to  the  two  parts  of  the  '  Conten- 
tion.' 

2 1  give  the  argument  the  benefit  of  assuming  that  Roberts  was 
still  printing  in  1608.  It  has  been  usual  to  suppose  that  he 
continued  at  work  till  1615,  but  this  belief  is  based  on  a  miscon- 
ception. The  entry  of  1615  in  the  Stationers'  Register  (2Qth 
October;  Arber,  III.  575)  merely  speaks  of  copies  'which  were 
heretofore  entered  to  James  Robertes.'  In  point  of  fact  Roberts 
ceased  printing  in  1606,  and  sold  his  business  to  Jaggard  in  1608, 
as  appears  below. 


n8       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

the  First  Folio  in  1623,  and  are  also  known  to  have 
been  employed  by  Nicholas  Okes.  I  have  had  the 
opportunity  of  examining  a  large  number  of  books 
printed  by  the  men  in  question,  both  at  the  British 
Museum,  the  University  Library,  Cambridge,  and 
elsewhere,  and  can  state  with  some  assurance  that 
these  numerals  appear  in  no  book  ostensibly  printed 
by  Roberts  except  the  plays  in  present  dispute, 
that  Okes  first  used  them  in  1610  (R.  Field's 
'Fifth  Book  of  the  Church'  pagination),  and 
Jaggard  in  1617  (Sir  W.  Raleigh's  'History  of  the 
World,'  pagination  and  colophon).  If  Roberts 
possessed  them  in  1600,  how  comes  it  that  Jaggard, 
who  took  over  Roberts'  stock  in  1606,'  never  used 
the  fount  till  1617,  but  after  that  used  it  freely  ? 

Still  greater  difficulties  occur  in  connection  with 
the  devices.  The  'Heb  Ddieu'  device  is  originally 
known  as  the  appropriate  property  of  Richard 
Jones — or  Johnes,  as  he  more  often  spelt  his  name — 
as  early  as  1593,  and  was  used  by  him  repeatedly 
till  1596.  In  1598  his  business  and  that  of  his 
partner,  W.  Hill,  was  sold  to  William  White.2 

1  Roberts,  who  had  bought  his  business  of  Charlewood's  execu- 
tors in  1589,  sold  it  to  Jaggard  in    1608   (State  Papers,  Dom. 
Charles  I.,  Vol.  307,  Art.  87 ;  Arber,  III.  702).     But  the  last 
entry  of  a  book  to  Roberts  is  dated   loth  July,  1606  (Arber,  III. 
326),  and  the  same  year  we  find  Roberts'  ornament  of  the  'puffing 
boy'  (see  Lyly,  'Euphues,'  1597?)  use(^  by  Jaggard  (W.  Attersoll, 
*  Badge  of  Christianity  ').    The  actual  transfer  had  therefore  taken 
place  before  the  registration  of  the  sale. 

2  State  Papers,  Dom.  Charles  I.,  Vol.  307,  Art.  87  (Arber,  III. 
702).     On  1 7th  January,  1598/9  White  took  over  Jones'  appren- 
tice, Richard  Cowper,  for  the  remainder  of  his  term  (Arber,  II.  233). 
But  Jones  took  another  apprentice  on  7th  May  following  (Arber, 
II.  235),  and  there  is  no  break  in  his  list  of  entries  till  after 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    119 

With  the  exception  of  the  plays  in  question  I  can 
find  no  record  of  the  re-appearance  of  this  device 
till  1610,  when  it  was  used  by  Jaggard  (Sir  T. 
Elyot's  t  Castle  of  Health/  without  printer's  name, 
but  containing  Jaggard's  ornaments).  It  can  with 
reasonable  confidence  be  asserted  that  it  was  never 
used  in  any  book  undoubtedly  printed  by  either 
Roberts  or  White.  So  again  with  the  *Post 
Tenebras  Lux'  device.  It  belonged  originally  to 
Rowland  Hall,  who  had  printed  at  Geneva,  and 
took  the  Half-Eagle  and  Key  as  his  sign  after  he 
moved  to  London,  and  is  found  on  a  book  of  his 
in  1562  (' Secrets  or  soveraigne  receipts').  The 
same  sign  was  later  adopted  by  John  Charlewood, 
and  we  find  him  using  the  device  from  about 
1582  onwards.1  Before  his  death,  however,  it 
seems  to  have  passed  to  Richard  Jones  who  used  it 
in  1591  and  again  in  1594  (both  times  in  U.  Regius' 
c  Solace  of  Sion  ').  After  this  I  can  find  no  unques- 
tioned record  of  it  till  1605,  when  it  was  used  by  an 
unnamed  printer  (A.  Dent's  *  Plain  Man's  Pathway 
to  Heaven,'  sig.  Ccyv).2  Jaggard  used  it  in  1617 

4th  June,  1602  (Arber,  III.  206).  One  solitary  entry  of  a  later 
date,  iQth  March,  1610/1,  is  presumably  an  error  (Arber,  III-  456). 
On  the  other  hand,  the  extant  books  between  1598  and  1602 
which  bear  his  name  are  few.  Most  of  his  entries  are  of  ballads. 

1  John  Northbrooke,  *  Spiritus  est  vicarius  Christi  in  terra ;  A 
brief  and  pithy  sum  of  the  Christian  faith,'  n.  d.,  but  c.  1582.     It 
occurs  again  in  Edward  Dering's  sermon  on  John  vi.  34,  preached 
nth  December,  1569,  and  printed  in  1584. 

2  Printed  for  the  Stationers'  Company.     The  following  entry 
occurs  in  the  Register  under  the  date  yth  October,  1605  :  'Edward 
Byshop      Entred  for  his  copye  A  booke  called  the  playne  man's 
pathway.     The  whiche  is  graunted  vnto  him  by  a  full  Court  holden 
this  Day  being  quarter  Day.  provided  that  he  shall  not  refuse  to 


120       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

(R.  Wimbledon's  Sermon  on  Luke  xvi.  3,  at  end), 
while  as  early  as  1 609  he  showed  that  he  regarded 
it  as  a  distinctive  device  of  his,  by  including  a  copy 
of  it  in  a  large  composite  ornament  (T.  Heywood's 
'  Troia  Britanica').  But  the  important  point  is  this. 
The  block  was  a  wood  block  and  early  showed 
signs  of  splitting,  and  a  glance  at  the  accompanying 
illustrations  will  show  that  the  split  near  the  top 
on  the  right,  as  well  as  the  break  in  the  rim  lower 
down  on  the  same  side,  are  less  in  the  book  of 
1605  than  in  the  quarto  of  the  'Midsummer 
Night's  Dream'  dated  i6oo.x  This  is  pretty 
strong  evidence  that  that  date  cannot  be  correct. 

So  far  it  is  possible  to  arrive  from  a  consideration 
of  the  typographical  evidence.  The  dates  of  the 
quartos  have  been  shown  to  be  open  to  very  grave 
suspicion,  and  we  may  now  complete  the  proof  by 
a  different  method.  A  happy  inspiration  led  me  to 
examine  the  paper  upon  which  the  quartos  are 
printed,  and  I  at  once  noticed  a  circumstance  which 
I  think  puts  beyond  doubt  the  fact  of  their  having 
all  been  printed  within  quite  a  short  period  of  time. 
The  question  is  of  rather  a  technical  character,  but 
I  think  that,  with  a  little  patience  on  the  reader's 
part,  I  shall  be  able  to  make  it  tolerably  clear. 

There  has  recently  appeared  at  Paris  a  great  work 
by  Monsieur  C.  M.  Briquet,  entitled  '  Les  Fili- 

exchang  these  Bookes  with  the  Company  for  other  good  Wares ' 
(Arber,  III.  303).  Edward  Bishop  was  a  bookseller.  There  is  on 
the  title-page  a  small  device  of  Peace  and  Plenty,  bearing  the  initials 
T.  P.,  which  might  stand  either  for  Thomas  Purfoot  or  Thomas 
Pavier.  This  device  does  not  seem  otherwise  known. 

1  Even  in  the  sermon  of  1617,  mentioned  above,  the  breaks  are 
less  noticeable  than  in  the  play. 


A 

Midfommer  nights 
dreame. 

As  it  hath  bcene  fundry  times  pub- 

li{ely  afled,  by  the  T^ight  Honowa* 

ble,  the  Lord  Chamberlaine  his 

fcruants. 

Written  \>y  VPHHm  Sb 


Printed  by  lames  Ifyberts,  1600* 


The  Table. 

confcicnccjbcwaileih  his  former  life,  rcpentetli  earneft- 
ly  for  bis  finnc  and  ignorance,  &  defircib  fpmtuall  phy- 
fick  and  comfort  ofthc  Preacher.  374 

THc  Preacher  miniftrcth  vnto  him  much  fpirituall  com- 
fort, and  dooth  in  ample  manner  lay  open  vnto  him  all 
thefwcet  promifcs  ofthc  Gofpcll,  &  the  infinite  mercy 
of  God  in  Chnll,to  all  truc,pcnitcnta  aad  broken  hatted 
finncrs.  37  J 

The  ignorant  man,  beeing  afflicted  in  his  confcience ,  is 
exceedingly  comfoncd  with  the  bearing  of  Gods  abun- 
<Iant  mercy  preached  vnto  him,  and  thercuppon  dooih 
gather  great  inward  peace ,  conuerteth  vnto  God  with 
all  his  hart,  and  doth  exceedingly  bkflc  G  O  D  for  the 
Preachers  counfcll.  39 1 

FINIS. 


DENT,  'PLAIN  MAN'S  PATHWAY,'  1605  (SIG.  Cc;v). 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    121 

granes,  dictionnaire  historique  des  marques  du 
papier,  des  leur  apparition,  vers  1282,  jusqu'en 
1600.'  To  the  work  itself,  the  reproduction  of  over 
16,000  water-marks  with  analytical  index,  are  pre- 
fixed some  very  valuable  observations  on  the  history 
of  paper-making.  One  of  the  questions  discussed 
is  the  length  of  life  of  the  frames  upon  which  hand- 
made paper  is  prepared,  and  the  time  which  it 
usually  took  for  the  stock  of  a  given  paper  to  be 
exhausted.  With  regard  to  the  first  of  these, 
technical  evidence  goes  to  show  that  with  care  a 
pair  of  frames  could  perhaps  be  made  to  last  two 
years,  but  that  even  so  the  mark  would  probably 
have  to  be  renewed  in  the  meanwhile.  Since,  of 
course,  no  two  hand-woven  marks  are  ever  iden- 
tical, it  follows  that  if  two  sheets  of  paper  have  the 
same  mark  one  must  suppose  them  to  have  been 
manufactured  within  a  period  of  not  much  more 
than  a  year.  The  question  of  the  stock  is  more 
complicated.  Some  years  ago,  Monsieur  N.  P. 
LikhatschefF  estimated  at  ten  years  the  maximum 
time  which  could  reasonably  be  supposed  to  elapse 
between  the  manufacture  and  the  use  of  a  sheet  of 
paper.  The  immense  collections  made  by  Monsieur 
Briquet  enable  him  to  arrive  at  a  far  more  authori- 
tative, though  not  widely  dissimilar,  result.  He 
has  discovered  twenty-nine  dated  marks  ranging 
from  1545  to  1599,  and  he  has  found  these  marks 
occurring  in  ninety-five  dated  documents.  One 
mark  has,  however,  to  be  disregarded,  since  there 
is  reason  to  suppose  that  the  date  it  contains  is  not 
that  of  manufacture.  It  is  found  that  in  nearly  25 
per  cent,  of  the  cases  the  document  is  dated  the 


122       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

same  year  as  the  paper,  while  the  greatest  disparity 
observed  is  twenty-three  years.  Of  the  stock  50 
per  cent,  would  be  used  up  in  a  little  over  three 
years,  while  at  the  end  of  nine  years  not  more  than 
8  per  cent,  would  remain.  Calculations  based  on 
a  smaller  number  of  marks  collected  from  the 
eighteenth  century  give  as  the  average  life  of  a 
make  of  paper  only  a  trifle  over  fifteen  months,  and 
fix  the  extreme  limit  at  ten  years.  Other  calcula- 
tions made  on  a  different  basis,  and  ranging  over 
the  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  and  sixteenth  centuries, 
show  that  of  ordinary  sizes  of  paper  54  per  cent, 
was  exhausted  in  five  years,  80  per  cent,  in  ten 
years,  and  90  per  cent,  in  fifteen  years.  Monsieur 
Briquet  very  rightly  warns  us  not  to  press  these 
figures,  but  their  general  significance  is  obvious, 
and  it  may  safely  be  said  that  except  in  isolated 
cases  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  assume  that  more  than 
fifteen  years  at  the  outside  elapsed  between  the 
manufacture  and  the  use  of  a  sheet  of  paper. 

Now,  these  calculations  have  a  direct  and  im- 
portant bearing  upon  the  matter  in  hand.  For  the 
fact  which  I  noticed  when  I  examined  the  paper 
of  Pavier's  volume  was  that,  though  a  number  of 
distinct  water-marks  were  found,  they  occurred 
quite  indifferently  in  the  various  portions  of  the 
volume,  so  that  there  was  no  play,  or  group  of 
plays,  which  did  not  contain  at  least  one  water- 
mark found  elsewhere.  But  we  have  just  seen 
that  the  appearance  of  a  single  make  of  paper  in 
one  play  dated  1600,  and  in  another  dated  1619 
would  of  itself  suffice  to  call  these  dates  in  serious 
question.  When  we  are  faced  not  with  one 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    123 

make,  but  with  a  number  of  distinct  makes  of 
paper,  occurring  in  the  plays  of  different  dates,  the 
difficulty  in  the  way  of  accepting  these  dates  as 
genuine  is  infinitely  increased.  I  give  below  a 
table  showing  the  water-marks  as  they  occur  in 
the  Capell  copy,  and  need  only  add  that,  while  in 
this  instance  the  evidence  of  a  single  copy  is  as 
good  as  that  of  a  whole  edition,  the  other  copies 
that  I  have  examined  exhibit  the  same  general 
features.1 


Marks. 

I 
^? 

.3° 

1 

5ff 

w 

3 
BJ 

4 

5 

d 

B 
> 

6 

_« 

to  o 
o  «i5 

7 

**  8 

9          10 

«-••         ~ 
c           d 
JJ          JJ 
n          a 

1 

jj 

3 

i 

O 

X 

S, 

3      S 

M                   M 

•t 

2 

^^  —  ^ 

i     pot            ... 

2 

2     pot  L  M  ... 

I 

I 

3 

l 

2 

... 

... 

4 

4     pot  LI     ... 

1 

5     pot  R  P    ... 

2 

6     pot  G  L   ... 
7     pot  D  V  ... 

... 

I 

I 

3 

... 

i 

8   pot  YPD... 

1 

q     pot  L  C    . 

10     pot  L  E    ... 

1  1     fleur-de-lys 

... 

... 

... 

I 

2 

4 

... 

... 

12     pot  G  G  ... 

2 

t 

1  3     amorphous 

14     shield 

4. 

15     shield 

i 

I 

1  6     pot  f.-d.-l. 

I 

17     fleur-de-lys 

1  8     amorphous 

J 

19     pot  S  P    ... 

20     pot  PA    ... 

i 

16 

It  will  be  seen  that  no  less  than  twenty  different 
water-marks  occur   in   this  volume,  besides   some 

1  I  may  remark  that  none  of  the  twin  editions  of  1600  and  1608, 
four  in  all,  and  one  of  them  certainly  printed  by  Roberts,  contain 
any  of  the  same  marks  as  the  Pavier  volume,  or  as  one  another. 


i24       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

sheets  having  no  mark  at  all.  The  cpot'  is  of 
course  the  ornamental  vase  which  figures  so  largely 
in  paper  marks  and  is  supposed  to  give  its  name  to 
one  of  the  modern  sizes.  The  letters  following 
are  those  appearing  on  the  body  of  the  *  pot,' 
the  meaning  of  which  has  never  been  explained. 
The  figures  in  the  table  represent  the  number 
of  sheets  of  each  particular  make  occurring  in 
each  play. 

For  the  purposes  of  argument  it  will  be  sufficient 
to  confine  our  attention  to  a  group  of  three  plays, 
either  the  'Midsummer  Night's  Dream,'  'Lear,' 
and  the  'Merry  Wives,'  or  else  the  'Merchant  of 
Venice,' '  Lear,'  and  '  Pericles.'  Here  we  have  three 
quartos  bearing  the  dates  respectively,  1600,  1608, 
and  1619.  The  number  of  different  papers  used  in 
each  play  varies  from  three  to  seven,  and  yet  there 
are  two  papers  common  to  all  three  plays.  If  the 
plays  were  really  printed,  even  at  the  same  printing- 
house,  at  these  different  dates,  is  it  conceivable 
that  this  should  occur  ?  Can  we  form  any  hypo- 
thesis to  explain  the  facts  regarding  the  paper,  on 
the  assumption  that  the  dates  are  correct  ?  We 
shall  have  to  assume  that  in  1600  Roberts  had  a 
job  stock  of  paper  containing  a  number  of  different 
makes,  and  that  he  used  it  to  print  editions  of  three 
plays  that  year,  though  not,  remember,  a  duplicate 
edition  of  one  of  the  same  plays ;  that  Jaggard, 
having  inherited  Roberts'  business,  and  having 
occasion  to  print  two  plays  for  different  publishers 
in  1608,  happened  to  use  for  the  purpose  some  of 
this  same  job  lot  of  paper;  that  in  1619,  Pavier, 
having  somehow  on  his  hands  the  remainders  of 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    125 

these  five  plays,  only  one  of  which  had  been 
printed  for  him,  commissioned  Jaggard  to  print 
five  other  plays  to  form  with  those  remainders  a 
composite  volume,  and  that  Jaggard  once  more 
happened  to  lay  his  hand  on  this  very  same 
stock  of  mixed  papers.  This  is,  no  doubt,  ab- 
stractly conceivable :  if  anyone  is  prepared  to 
believe  that  it  actually  happened,  great  indeed  is 
his  faith. 

What  is  the  explanation  of  the  various  dates  in 
Pavier's  volume  ?  Imitation  is  clearly  in  part  the 
cause.  It  will  noticed  that,  though  the  title-pages 
offer  striking  points  of  similarity,  the  texts  of  the 
plays  are  more  conspicuous  by  their  diversity  of 
style.  Two  sizes  of  type  are  used ;  the  measure 
and  the  number  of  lines  to  a  page  vary  considerably, 
and,  most  noticeable  of  all,  the  head-lines  present 
almost  every  conceivable  variety.  These  facts  have 
doubtless  tended  to  obscure  the  common  origin  of 
the  quartos,  and  they  are  at  first  sight  a  little  diffi- 
cult to  account  for,  supposing  the  whole  volume  to 
have  been  printed  at  one  date.  A  very  little  investi- 
gation, however,  will  show  that  with  few  excep- 
tions all  these  peculiarities  are  due  to  the  printer 
having  imitated  the  previous  edition  which  he 
used  as  copy.  The  roman  head-line  of  the  '  Mid- 
summer Night's  Dream '  is  copied  from  Fisher's 
quarto  of  1 600 ;  the  wider  measure  and  smaller 
type  or  '  King  Lear '  agree  with  the  c  Pied  Bull ' 
quarto  of  1608;  the  large  type  and  small  page  ot 
the  '  Yorkshire  Tragedy '  follow  Pavier's  earlier 
edition,  also  of  1608.  This,  of  course,  is  to  some 
extent  what  one  would  expect ;  but  it  is  carried 


126       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

through  with  a  consistency  which  can  hardly  be 
due  to  chance,  and  when  we  find  the  printer 
actually  placing  at  the  end  of  the  '  Merchant  of 
Venice 'the  identical  ornament  that  Roberts  had 
placed  at  the  end  of  the  edition  which  he  really 
did  print  for  Hayes  in  1600,  it  becomes  pretty 
clear  that  the  imitation  was  of  set  purpose.  And 
this  intentional  following  of  the  copy  extended 
itself  now  and  again  to  the  imprints.  While  reduc- 
ing these  to  a  common  and  simple  form,  the  printer 
in  some  cases  retained  the  date  as  it  appeared  in  his 
copy.  This  happened  in  the  '  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream,'  '  Merchant  of  Venice,'  '  Sir  John  Old- 
castle,'  and  '  King  Lear.'  In  other  cases  he  placed 
on  the  title-page  the  genuine  date,  1619.  But 
what  of c  Henry  V,' dated  1608?  This  I  believe 
to  be  a  slip  for  1600.  It  is  noteworthy  that  the 
quarto  is  printed  from  that  of  1600  and  not  from 
that  of  1602,  although  the  latter  had  been  published 
by  Pavier,  and  the  former,  which  was  surreptitious, 
had  not.  The  printer,  I  imagine,  having  had  in 
one  case  to  put  a  false  date  of  1608,  and  in  others 
false  dates  of  1600,  became  confused  when  he  got 
to  'Henry  V,'  and  put  1608  whereas  he  ought  to 
have  put  1600. 

But  why  should  the  printer  have  sometimes 
put  the  correct  dates,  and  sometimes  false  ones  ? 
To  this  question  I  have  no  very  satisfactory  answer 
to  give,  but  there  are  one  or  two  fragments  of  evi- 
dence which  may  possibly  suggest  a  clue.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  the  signatures  are  continuous 
throughout  the  two  parts  of  the  'Contention'  and 
'  Pericles.'  A  glance  at  the  table  of  water-marks 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    127 

will  further  show  that  in  the  '  Contention '  the 
paper  is  all  of  one  make,  and  that  this  make  extends 
into  c  Pericles,'  but  no  further.  It  seems  pretty 
clear  that  Jaggard  ran  out  of  his  stock,  and  had  to 
make  it  up  with  the  remainders  of  a  number  of 
other  lots  which  he  had  on  his  hands.  It  would, 
therefore,  seem  that  this  group  of  three  plays  was 
the  first  printed.  Again,  we  have  noted  that  the 
printer  omitted  the  title-page  to  '  Pericles,'  and 
that  this  had  later  to  be  supplied  by  the  insertion 
of  a  single  leaf,  and  that  the  same  thing  happened 
in  the  case  of  the  *  Yorkshire  Tragedy.'  It  seems 
likely,  therefore,  that  this  latter  was  the  next  play 
to  be  printed.  We  may  then  infer  that  the  re- 
maining play  dated  1619,  the  '  Merry  Wives,'  was 
also  printed  before  any  of  those  bearing  false  dates. 
Why  the  change  ?  Pavier  must  for  some  reason 
have  become  nervous  about  his  undertaking  and 
have  determined  to  issue  the  rest  of  the  plays  he 
was  reprinting  under  the  guise  of  remainders 
of  earlier  editions.  An  entry  in  the  Stationers' 
4  Register '  may  possibly  throw  light  on  the  point. 
On  the  8th  July,  1619,  namely,  Lawrence  Hayes, 
with  the  consent  of  a  full  court,  entered  as  his  copy 
the  '  Merchant  of  Venice,'  formerly  the  property 
of  his  father,  Thomas  Hayes  (Arber,  III.  65 1).1 
That  this  entry  bears  some  relation  to  Pavier's 
venture  hardly  admits  of  reasonable  doubt,  but 

1  There  is  something  suspicious  about  this  entry,  for  it  also  in- 
cluded Heliodorus'  'Ethiopian  History,'  which  had  been  entered  by 
Thomas  Hayes,  with  the  consent  of  Coldocke,  on  6th  September, 
1602,  but  had  subsequently  been  transferred  by  his  widow  to 
William  Cotton,  2ist  May,  1604. 


128       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

what  exactly  that  relation  is  must  for  the  present 
be  left  an  open  question.  It  serves,  indeed,  to 
show  that  Pavier  was  not  able  to  carry  through 
what  must,  in  any  case,  have  been  a  rather  shady 
bit  of  business,  wholly  without  protest  from  those 
who  conceived  their  rights  to  have  been  invaded. 
Since,  however,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  no  trouble  of 
a  public  nature  ensued,  we  may  take  it  that  Pavier's 
device  of  falsifying  the  dates  served  its  immediate 
purpose.  How  successful  it  has  proved  in  mysti- 
fying posterity  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  his 
fraud  has  been  accepted  without  question  by 
collectors  and  bibliographers  alike  for  close  on 
three  centuries. 

The  final  question  that  presents  itself  is  this : 
What  is  the  literary  bearing  of  these  new  facts  ? 
What  is  the  disturbance  caused  to  received  opinion 
with  regard  to  the  text  ?  The  answer  is :  Practi- 
cally none.  The  order  of  the  editions  is  affedled 
in  one  case  only,  and  that  an  unimportant  one. 
The  editions  of  the  'Midsummer  Night's  Dream' 
and  'King  Lear'  in  Pavier's  volume  are  admit- 
tedly second  editions,  and  a  very  cursory  inspec- 
tion of  'Sir  John  Oldcastle '  will  show  that  this 
too  is  a  reprint.  It  so  happens  that  it  does  not 
matter  whether  'Henry  V.'  was  printed  in  1608 
or  1619,  though  it  would  have  made  a  difference 
had  it  been  dated  1600.  The  one  case  in  which  a 
revision  of  the  orthodox  view  becomes  necessary  is 
that  of  the  '  Merchant  of  Venice.'  The  divergence 
between  the  two  quartos  dated  1600  (the  'Hayes' 
and  the  'Roberts'  quartos),  now  one  and  now  the 
other  of  which  appears  to  preserve  the  correct  read- 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    129 

ing,  induced  the  Cambridge  editors  to  assume  that 
neither  was  printed  from  the  other.  The  question 
of  priority  thus  became  of  less  consequence,  but 
they  accepted  the  arguments  put  forward  by  Mr. 
B.  Corney  in  c  Notes  and  Queries '  (Series  II. 
Vol.  X.  p.  21)  in  favour  of  Roberts'  having  been 
the  earlier.  It  is  reluctantly,  and  only  as  the  result 
of  careful  investigation  that  I  differ  from  such 
authority  as  theirs,  but  in  the  present  case  there  is  no 
choice.  In  the  first  place  it  should  be  remarked, 
that  though,  assuming  the  dates  to  be  genuine,  the 
arguments  for  precedence,  based  on  the  entries  in 
the  Stationers'  Register,  are  fairly  conclusive,  once 
those  dates  are  called  in  question  they  become 
wholly  irrelevant.  We  must,  therefore,  rely  on 
internal  evidence  alone.  It  will  be  noticed  that, 
though  the  Cambridge  editors  regard  the  two  texts 
as  independent,  they  add :  '  But  there  is  reason  to 
think  that  they  were  printed  from  the  same  MS. 
[or  perhaps  copies  of  the  same  MS.].  Their  agree- 
ment in  spelling  and  punctuation  and  in  manifest 
errors  is  too  close  to  admit  of  any  other  hypothesis/ 
But  this  agreement  is  even  better  accounted  for  by 
supposing  that  one  edition  was  printed  from  the 
other,  while  the  differences  observed  can  be  readily 
explained  on  the  hypothesis  that  the  earlier  edition 
received  manuscript  corrections  which  were  incor- 
porated in  the  later,  though  this  in  its  turn  intro- 
duced corruptions  of  its  own.  This,  of  course,  is 
conjectural ;  but  there  is  more  tangible  evidence 
behind.  I  think,  namely,  that  it  can  be  shown, 
quite  apart  from  any  question  of  date,  that  one 
quarto  actually  was  printed  from  the  other.  Thus 

IX.  K 


1 30       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

there  are,  amid  the  general  disparity,  certain  small 
points  of  agreement  between  the  quartos  which 
cannot  be  explained  by  their  being  printed  from 
the  same,  much  less  from  copies  of  the  same, 
manuscript,  and  which  it  would  be  absurd  to  ascribe 
to  coincidence.  The  most  striking  is  the  arrange- 
ment of  I.  iii.  1-14,'  especially  the  portion  of 
the  word  'and'  in  1.  10.  Another  point  is  the 
wrong  indentation  of  I.  ii.  2  in  both  quartos.  The 
instances  are  not  many,  but  they  are  significant.2 
If  it  be  admitted  that  one  edition  is  printed  from 
the  other,  there  can,  I  think,  be  little  doubt  as  to 
which  is  the  original :  a  very  casual  inspection  is 
needed  to  reveal  the  archaic  character  of  the  '  Hayes ' 
quarto.  Indeed,  to  my  mind,  a  collation  of  these 
two  quartos  should  alone  suffice  to  show  that  the 
received  view  that  they  both  issued  from  the  same 
printing-house  in  the  same  year  is  a  moral  impossi- 
bility. 

It  may  be  desirable  to  summarize  as  briefly  as 
possible  the  arguments  set  forth  more  fully  above. 
I  claim  that  the  dates c  1600'  and  c  1608'  in  Pavier's 
collection  are  proved  to  be  false  dates,  and  the 
whole  volume  shown  to  have  been  produced  at 


1  For  these  references  see  the  facsimiles  of  the  quartos  in  question 
produced    by   Griggs  and    Praetorius,   with   *  forewords '   by    Dr. 
Furnivall.     The  texts  in  this  series  are  very  inaccurate,  but  I  have 
checked  the  points  mentioned  by  comparison  with  the  originals. 

2  Other  points  might  be  added,  such  as  the  printing  in  full  of  the 
speaker's  name  in  I.  ii.  82,  and  the  solitary  occurrence  of  *  GOD ' 
in  II.  ii.  74,  by  the  side  of 'God'  in  II.   ii.  47,   54-5,  69;  but 
these,  though  they  support  the  former  evidence,  might  conceivably 
be  due  to  a  common  manuscript  source,  and  must  therefore  not  be 
pressed. 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    131 

one  time,  namely  in   1619,  by  the  following  con- 
siderations : 

(1)  That    certain  large  numerals  appearing  in 
the  imprints  are  not  elsewhere  found  before  1610; 

(2)  That  the  '  Heb  Ddieu'  device  on  two  title- 
pages  dated  1600  (one  purporting  to  be  printed  by 
Roberts)    and   two   dated    1608,   is   not   otherwise 
known    between    1596    and    1610,    and    does    not 
occur  in  any  other  book  bearing  Roberts'  name ; 

(3)  That  the  'Post  Tenebras  Lux'  device,  found 
on  one   title-page  dated   1600  and  purporting  to 
be   printed  by  Roberts,   is   not   otherwise   known 
between    1594  and   1605,  and  does   not  occur  in 
any  other  book  bearing  Roberts'  name,  and,  more- 
over, that  the  impression  on  the  title-page  dated 
1600  shows  the  block  in  a  more  damaged  condi- 
tion than  other  impressions  dated  1605  and  1617; 

(4)  That  the  whole  volume  is  printed  on  one 
mixed  stock  of  paper,  and  that  this  could  not  have 
been   the   case  if  the  individual    plays   had    been 
printed  at  different  dates  extending  over  a  period 
of  twenty  years. 

In  conclusion,  I  wish  to  record  how  much  assist- 
ance I  have  received  in  the  preparation  of  this 
article  from  Mr.  Alfred  Pollard,  whose  discovery 
of  Pavier's  volume  formed  the  starting-point  of  my 
inquiry,  and  whose  ready  knowledge  and  generous 
help  have  contributed  to  the  solution  of  most  of 
the  typographical  problems. 

In  a  subsequent  article  I  hope  to  treat  of  the 
false  imprints  in  plays  other  than  Shakespeare's. 

W.  W.  GREG. 


132 


ON     SOME     BOOKS     AND     THEIR 
ASSOCIATIONS. 

EW  books  can  have  few  associations. 
They  may  come  to  us  on  the  best 
deckle-edged  Whatman  paper,  in  the 
newest  founts  of  famous  presses,  with 
backs  of  embossed  vellum,  with  tasteful 
tasselled  strings  ;  and  yet  be  no  more  to  us  than  the 
constrained  and  uneasy  acquaintances  of  yesterday. 
Friends  they  may  become  to-morrow,  the  day 
after, — perhaps  hunc  in  annum  et  plures.  But  for 
the  time  being,  they  have  no  part  in  our  past  of 
retrospect  and  suggestion.  Of  what  we  were,  of 
what  we  like  or  liked,  they  know  nothing ;  and  we 
— if  that  can  be  possible — know  even  less  of  them. 
Whether  familiarity  will  breed  contempt,  or 
whether  they  will  come  home  to  our  business  and 
bosom — these  are  things  that  lie  on  the  lap  of  the 
future. 

But  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  associations  of 
old  books,  as  of  new  books,  are  not  always  exclu- 
sively connected  with  their  text  or  format, — are 
sometimes,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  independent  of  both. 
Often  they  are  memorable  to  us  by  length  ot 
tenure,  by  propinquity, — even  by  their  patience 
under  neglect.  We  may  never  read  them,  and  yet 
by  reason  of  some  wholly  external  and  accidental 
characteristic,  it  would  be  a  wrench  to  part  with 
them  if  the  moment  of  separation — the  'inevitable 


ON  SOME  BOOKS.  133 

hour ' — should  come  at  last.  Here,  to  give  an 
instance  in  point,  is  a  stained  and  battered  French 
folio,  with  patched  corners, — Mons.  N.  Renouard's 
translation  of  the  'Metamorphoses  d'Ovide,'  1637, 
enrichies  de  figures  a  chacune  fable  (very  odd  figures 
some  of  them  are!),  and  to  be  bought  chez  Pierre 
Billaine^  rue  St.  'Jacques^  a  la  Bonne  Foy^  devant  St. 
Ives.  It  has  held  no  honoured  place  upon  the 
shelves ;  it  has  even  resided  au  rez  de  c/iaussee, 
—that  is  to  say,  upon  the  floor ;  but  it  is  not 
less  dear, — not  less  desirable.  For  at  the  back 
of  the  c  Dedication  to  the  King '  (Lewis  XIII., 
to  wit)  is  scrawled  in  a  slanting,  irregular  hand : 
'  Pour  mademoiselle  de  mons  Son  tres  humble  et 
tres  obeissant  Serviteur  St.  Andre.'  Between  the 
fourth  and  fifth  word,  some  one,  in  a  writing  of 
later  date,  has  added  par,  and  after  St.  Andre,  the 
signature  Vandeuvre.  In  these  impertinent  inter- 
polations I  take  no  interest.  But  who  was  Mile, 
de  Mons  ?  As  Frederick  Locker  sings  : 

*  Did  She  live  yesterday  or  ages  back  ? 

What  colour  were  the  eyes  when  bright  and  waking  ? 
And  were  your  ringlets  fair,  or  brown,  or  black, 

Poor  little  Head  !  that  long  has  done  with  aching ! ' ' 

'  Ages  back '  she  certainly  did  not  live,  for  the  book 
is  dated  '  1637,'  and  'yesterday'  is    absurd.     But 

1  This  quatrain  has  the  distinction  of  having  been  touched  upon 
by  Thackeray.     When  Mr.  Locker's   manuscript  went   to   the 
'Cornhill  Magazine'  in  1860,  it  ran  thus: 
'  Did  she  live  yesterday,  or  ages  sped  ? 

What  colour  were  the  eyes  when  bright  and  waking  ? 
And  were  your  ringlets  fair  ?     Poor  little  head  ! 
Poor  little  heart !  that  long  has  done  with  aching ! ' 


i34  ON  SOME  BOOKS  AND 

that  her  eyes  were  bright, —  nay,  that  they  were 
unusually  lively  and  vivacious,  even  as  they  are  in 
the  sanguine  sketches  of  M.  Antoine  Watteau  a 
hundred  years  after,  I  am  '  confidous ' — as  Mrs. 
Slipslop  would  say.  For  my  theory  (in  reality  a 
foregone  conviction  which  I  shrink  from  disturb- 
ing) is,  that  Mile,  de  Mons  was  some  delightful 
seventeenth-century  French  child  to  whom  the 
big  volume  had  been  presented  as  a  piclure-book. 
I  can  imagine  the  alert,  strait-corsetted  little  figure, 
with  ribboned  hair,  eagerly  craning  across  the  tall 
folio ;  and  following  curiously  with  her  finger  the 
legends  under  the  copper  £  figures,' — '  Narcisse  en 
fleur,'  * Ascalaphe  en  hibou,'  'Jason  endormant  le 
dragon,' — and  so  forth,  with  much  the  same  wonder 
that  the  Sinne-Beelden  of  '  Vader  Cats '  stirred  in 
the  little  Dutchwomen  of  Middleburgh,  or  that 
filled  the  child  Charles  Lamb  when  he  peered  at 
the  'Witch  of  Endor  page'  in  Stackhouse's  'History 
of  the  Bible.'  There  can  be  no  Mile,  de  Mons  but 
this,  and  for  me  she  can  never  grow  old ! 

Sometimes  it  comes  to  pass  that  the  association 
is  of  a  more  far-fetched  and  fanciful  kind.  In  the 
great  '  Ovid '  it  lies  in  an  inscription  :  in  my  next 
case  it  is  '  another  guess  matter.'  The  folio  this 
time  is  the  '  Sylva  Sylvarum '  of  the  Right  Hon. 
Francis,  Lo.  Verulam,  Viscount  St.  Alban,  whom 
some  people  still  speak  of  as  Lord  Bacon.  'Tis 
only  the  '  sixt  Edition  ; '  but  it  was  to  be  bought  at 
the  Great  Turk's  Head,  'next  to  the  MytreTaverne' 
(not  the  modern  pretender,  be  it  observed),  which  is 
in  itself  a  feature  of  interest.  A  former  possessor, 
from  his  notes,  appears  to  have  been  largely  pre- 


THEIR  ASSOCIATIONS.  135 

occupied  with  that  ignoble  clinging  to  life  which 
so  exercised  Matthew  Arnold,  for  they  relate  chiefly 
to  laxative  simples  for  medicine ;  and  he  comforts 
himself,  in  April,  1695,  by  transcribing  Bacon's 
reflection  that  *  a  life  led  in  Religion  and  in  Holy 
Exercises '  conduces  to  Longevity, — an  aphorism 
which,  however  useful  as  an  argument  for  length 
of  days,  is  a  rather  remote  reason  for  religion.  But 
what  to  me  is  always  most  seductive  in  the  book  is, 
that  to  this  edition  (not  copy,  of  course)  of  1650 
Master  Izaak  Walton,  when  he  came,  in  his  c  Com- 
pleat  Angler'  of  1653,  to  discuss  such  abstract 
questions  as  the  transmission  of  sound  under  water, 
and  the  ages  of  carp  and  pike,  must  probably  have 
referred.  He  often  mentions  '  Sir  Francis  Bacon's ' 
'History  of  Life  and  Death,'  which  is  included  in  the 
volume.  No  doubt  it  would  be  more  reasonable 
and  more  c  congruous '  that  Bacon's  book  should 
suggest  Bacon.  But  there  it  is.  That  illogical 
c  succession  of  ideas '  which  puzzled  my  Uncle  Toby, 
invariably  recalls  to  me,  not  the  imposing  folio  to 
be  purchased  'next  to  the  Mytre  Taverne'  in  Fleet 
Street,  but  the  unpretentious  eight een-penny  octavo 
which,  three  years  later,  was  on  sale  at  Marriot's  in 
St.  Dunstan's  churchyard  hard  by,  and  did  no  more 
than  borrow  its '  scatter'd  sapience  '  from  the  riches 
of  the  Baconian  storehouse. 

Life,  and  its  prolongation,  is  again  the  theme  of 
the  next  book  (also  mentioned,  by  the  way,  in 
Walton)  which  I  take  up,  though  unhappily  it  has 
no  inscription.  It  is  a  little  old  calf-clad  copy  of 
Cornaro's  '  Sure  and  Certain  Methods  of  Attaining 
along  and  healthful  Life,'  4th  ed.,  241110,  1727; 


136  ON  SOME  BOOKS  AND 

and  was  bought  at  the  Bewick  sale  of  February, 
1884,  as  having  once  belonged  to  Robert  Elliot 
Bewick,  only  son  of  the  famous  old  Newcastle  wood- 
engraver.  As  will  be  shown  later,  it  is  easy  to  be 
misled  in  these  matters,  but  I  cannot  help  believing 
this  volume,  which  looks  as  if  it  had  been  re-bound, 
is  the  one  to  which  Thomas  Bewick  refers  in  his 
4  Memoir '  as  having  been  his  companion  in  those 
speculative  wanderings  over  the  Town  Moor  or  the 
Elswick  Fields,  when,  as  an  apprentice,  he  planned 
his  future  a  la  Franklin,  and  devised  schemes  for  his 
conduct  in  life.  In  attaining  Cornaro's  tale  ot 
years  he  did  not  succeed ;  though  he  seems  to  have 
faithfully  practised  the  periods  of  abstinence  en- 
joined (but  not  observed)  by  another  of  the  c  noble 
Venetian's  '  professed  admirers,  Mr.  Addison  of  the 
'  Spectator.' 

If  I  have  admitted  a  momentary  misgiving  as  to 
the  authenticity  of  the  foregoing  relic  of  the  c  father 
of  white  line,'  there  can  be  none  about  the  next  item 
to  which  I  now  come.  Once,  on  a  Westminster 
bookstall,  long  since  disappeared,  I  found  a  copy  of 
a  seventh  edition  of  the  '  Pursuits  of  Literature  '  of 
T.  J.  Mathias,  Queen  Charlotte's  Treasurer's  Clerk. 
Ruthlessly  cut  down  by  the  binder,  that  durus  arator 
had  unexpectedly  spared  a  solitary  page  for  its 
manuscript  comment,  which  was  thoughtfully 
turned  up  and  folded  in.  It  was  a  note  to  this 
couplet  in  Mathias,  his  Dialogue  II. : 

*  From  Bewick's  magick  wood  throw  borrow'd  rays 
O'er  many  a  page  in  gorgeous  Bulmer's  blaze, — ' 

'  gorgeous  Buhner '  (the  epithet  is  unhappy  !)  being 


THEIR  ASSOCIATIONS.  137 

the   William    Bulmer    who,   in    1795,   issued    the 
*  Poems  of  Goldsmith  and  Parnell.' 

*  I '  (says  the  writer  of  the  MS.  note)  'was  chiefly  instru- 
mental to  this  ingenious  artist's  [Bewick's]  excellence  in  this 
art.  I  first  initiated  his  master,  Mr.  Ra.  Beilby  (of  New- 
castle) into  the  art,  and  his  first  essay  was  the  execution  of 
the  cuts  in  my  Treatise  on  Mensuration,  printed  in  4to, 
1770.  Soon  after  I  recommended  the  same  artist  to 
execute  the  cuts  to  Dr.  Horsley's  edition  of  the  works  of 
Newton.  Accordingly  Mr.  B.  had  the  job,  who  put  them 
into  the  hands  of  his  assistant  Mr.  Bewick,  who  executed 
them  as  his  first  work  in  wood,  and  that  in  a  most  elegant 
manner,  tho'  spoiled  in  the  printing  by  John  Nichols, 
the  Black-letter  priuter.  C.H.  1798.' 

'C.H.'  is  Dr.  Charles  Hutton,  the  Woolwich 
mathematician.  His  note  is  a  little  in  the  vaunting 
vein  of  that  '  founder  of  fortunes,'  the  excellent 
Uncle  Pumblechook  of'  Great  Expectations,'  for  his 
services  scarcely  amounted  to  '  initiating '  Bewick 
or  his  master  into  the  art  of  engraving  on  wood. 
Moreover,  his  memory  must  have  failed  him,  for 
Bewick,  and  not  Beilby,  did  the  majority  of  the  cuts 
to  the  '  Mensuration,'  including  a  much-praised 
diagram  of  the  tower  of  St.  Nicholas  Church  at 
Newcastle,  afterwards  often  a  familiar  object  in  the 
younger  man's  designs  and  tail-pieces.  Be  this  as 
it  may,  Dr.  Hutton's  note  was  surely  worth  saving 
from  the  pitiless  binder's  plough. 

Between  the  work  of  Thomas  Bewick  and  the 
work  of  Samuel  Pepys,  it  is  idle  to  attempt  any  in- 
genious connecting  link,  save  the  fact  that  they  both 
wrote  autobiographically.  The  '  Pepys '  in  question 
here,  however,  is  not  the  famous  '  Diary,'  but  the 


138  ON  SOME  BOOKS  AND 

Secretary  to  the  Admiralty's  c  only  other  acknow- 
ledged work/  namely,  the  privately  printed  '  Me- 
moires  Relating  to  the  State  of  the  Royal  Navy  of 
England,  for  Ten  Years,'  1690;  and  this  particular 
copy  may  undoubtedly  lay  claim  to  exceptional  in- 
terest. For  not  only  does  it  comprise  those  manu- 
script corrections  in  the  author's  handwriting,  which 
Dr.  Tanner  reproduces  in  his  excellent  Clarendon 
Press  reprint  of  last  year,  but  it  includes  the  two 
portrait  plates  of  Robert  White  after  Kneller.  The 
larger  is  bound  in  as  a  frontispiece ;  the  smaller  (the 
book-plate)  is  inserted  at  the  beginning.  The  chief 
attraction  of  the  book  to  me,  however,  is  its  previous 
owners — one  especially.  My  immediate  predecessor 
was  a  well-known  collector,  Professor  Edward  Solly, 
at  whose  sale  in  1886  I  bought  it ;  and  he  in  his 
turn  had  acquired  it  in  1877,  at  Dr.  Rimbault's  sale. 
Probably  what  drew  us  all  to  the  little  volume 
was  not  so  much  its  disclosure  of  the  lamentable 
state  of  the  Caroline  navy,  and  of  the  monstrous 
toadstools  that  flourished  so  freely  in  the  ill-venti- 
lated holds  of  His  Majesty's  ships-of-war,  as  the  fact 
that  it  had  once  belonged  to  that  brave  old  philan- 
thropist, Captain  Thomas  Coram  of  the  Foundling 
Hospital.  To  him  it  was  presented  in  March,  1723, 
by  one  C.  Jackson ;  and  he  afterwards  handed  it  on 
to  a  Mr.  Mills.  Pasted  at  the  end  of  the  book  is 
Coram's  autograph  letter,  dated  'June  loth,  1746.' 
4  To  Mr.  Mills  These.  Worthy  Sir  I  happend  to 
find  among  my  few  Books  Mr.  Pepys  his  memoires, 
wch  I  thought  might  be  acceptable  to  you  &  there- 
fore pray  you  to  accept  of  it.  I  am  wth  much  Respect 
Sir  your  most  humble  Ser'.  THOMAS  CORAM.' 


THEIR  ASSOCIATIONS.  139 

At  the  Foundling  Hospital  is  a  magnificent  full- 
length  of  Coram,  with  curling  white  locks  and  kindly, 
weather-beaten  face,  from  the  brush  of  his  friend 
and  admirer,  William  Hogarth.  It  is  to  Hogarth 
and  his  fellow-Governor  at  the  Foundling,  John 
Wilkes,  that  my  next  jotting  relates.  These  strange 
colleagues  in  charity — as  is  well  known — afterwards 
quarrelled  bitterly  over  politics.  Hogarth  carica- 
tured Wilkes  in  the  '  Times  ' :  Wilkes  replied  by  a 
*  North  Briton'  article  (No.  17)  so  scurrilous  and 
malignant  that  Hogarth  was  stung  into  rejoining 
with  that  famous  squint-eyed  semblance  of  his 
former  crony,  which  has  handed  him  down  to 
posterity  more  securely  than  the  portraits  of  Zoffany 
and  Earlom.  Wilkes's  action  upon  this  was  to 
reprint  his  article  with  the  addition  of  a  bulbous- 
nosed  woodcut  of  Hogarth  c  from  the  Life.'  These 
facts  lent  piquancy  to  an  entry  which  for  years 
had  been  familiar  to  me  in  the  Sale  Catalogue  of 
Mr.  H.  P.  Standly,  and  which  ran  thus :  *  The 
"North  Briton,"  No.  17,  with  a  Portrait  of 
Hogarth,  in  wood ;  and  a  severe  critique  on  some 
of  his  works :  in  Ireland's  handwriting  is  the  follow- 
ing— "  This  paper  was  given  to  me  by  Mrs. 
Hogarth,  Aug.  1782,  and  is  the  identical  North 
Briton  purchased  by  Hogarth,  and  carried  in  his 
pocket  many  days  to  show  his  friends."  The 
Ireland  referred  to  (as  will  presently  appear)  was 
Samuel  Ireland  of  the  c  Graphic  Illustrations.' 
When,  in  1892,  dispersed  items  of  the  famous  Joly 
collection  began  to  appear  sporadically  in  the 
second-hand  catalogues,  I  found  in  that  of  a 
well-known  London  bookseller,  an  entry  plainly 


140  ON  SOME  BOOKS  AND 

describing  this  one,  and  proclaiming  that  it  came 
'  from  the  celebrated  collection  of  Mr.  Standly,  of 
St.  Neots/  Unfortunately,  the  scrap  of  paper 
connecting  it  with  Mrs.  Hogarth's  present  to 
Ireland  had  been  destroyed.  Nevertheless  I  secured 
my  prize;  had  it  fittingly  bound  up  with  the 
original  number  which  accompanied  it ;  and  here 
and  there,  in  writing  about  Hogarth,  bragged  con- 
sequentially about  my  fortunate  acquisition.  Then 
came  a  day — a  day  to  be  marked  with  a  black 
stone  ! — when  in  the  British  Museum  Print  Room, 

and  looking  through  the  ' Collection,'  for  the 

moment  deposited  there,  I  came  upon  another  copy 
of  the  c  North  Briton,'  bearing  in  Samuel  Ireland's 
writing  a  notification  to  the  effect  that  it  was  the 
identical  No.  17,  etc.  etc.  Now,  which  is  the 
right  one  ?  Is  either  the  right  one  ?  I  inspect 
mine  distrustfully.  It  is  soiled,  and  has  evidently 
been  folded  ;  it  is  scribbled  with  calculations ;  it 
has  all  the  aspect  of  a  c  venerable  vetuste.'  That  it 
came  from  the  Standly  collection,  I  have  not  the 
slightest  doubt.  But  that  other  pretender  in  the 

(now  dispersed)  ' Collection  '  ?     And  was  not 

Samuel  Ireland  (nomen  invisum  /)  the,  if  not  fraudu- 
lent, at  least  too-credulous  father  of  one  William 
Henry  Ireland,  who,  at  eighteen,  wrote  c  Vortigern 
and  Rowena,'  and  palmed  it  off  as  Shakespeare  ? 
I  fear  me — I  much  fear  me — that,  in  the  words 
of  the  American  showman,  I  have  been  '  weeping 
over  the  wrong  grave.' 

It  would  not  be  difficult  to  prolong  these  vagrant 
adversaria.  Here,  for  example,  dated  1779,  are 
the  'Coplas'  of  the  poet  Don  Jorge  Manrique, 


THEIR  ASSOCIATIONS.  141 

which,  having  no  Spanish,  I  am  constrained  to 
study  in  the  renderings  of  Longfellow.  Don  Jorge 
was  a  Spaniard  of  the  Spaniards,  Commendador  of 
Montizon,  Knight  of  the  Order  of  Santiago,  Cap- 
tain of  a  company  in  the  Guards  of  Castille,  and 
withal  a  valiant  soldado^  who  died  of  a  wound  re- 
ceived in  battle.  But  the  attraction  of  my  copy  is, 
that,  at  the  foot  of  the  title-page,  in  beautiful  neat 
script,  appear  the  words,  c  Robert  Southey.  Paris. 
17  May  1817,'  being  the  year  in  which  Southey 
stayed  at  Como  with  Walter  Savage  Landor.  Here 
is  the  chronicle  of  another  '  ingenious  hidalgo^  the 
'Don  Quixote'  of  Shelton,  1652,  where,  among 
other  names  with  which  it  is  liberally  overscrawled, 
occurs  that  of  Lackington  the  bookseller,  whose 
queer  '  Memoirs '  and  '  Confessions '  still  keep  a 
faded  interest.  Here  again  is  an  edition  (the  first) 
of  Hazlitt's  '  Lectures  on  the  English  Comic 
Writers,'  annotated  copiously  in  MS.  by  a  con- 
temporary reader  who  was  certainly  not  an  admirer  ; 
and  upon  whom  W.  H.'s  cockneyisms,  Gallicisms, 
egotisms,  and  '  /7/^-isms '  generally,  seem  to  have 
had  the  effect  of  a  red  rag  upon  a  particularly 
insular  bull.  '  A  very  ingenious  but  pert,  dogmati- 
cal, and  Prejudiced  Writer ' — is  the  unflattering 
addition  to  the  author's  name  on  the  title-page. 
Then  here  is  Cunningham's  'Goldsmith,'  of  1854, 
vol.  i.,  castigated  with  equal  energy  by  that  egre- 
gious Alaric  A.  Watts,  of  whose  comments  upon 
Wordsworth  we  read  not  long  since  in  the  c  Corn- 
hill  Magazine,'  and  who  will  not  allow  Goldsmith 
to  say,  in  the  '  Haunch  of  Venison,' c  the  porter  and 
eatables  followed  behind.'  'They  could  scarcely 


1 42  ON  SOME  BOOKS. 

have  followed  before/  he  objects,  in  the  very 
accents  of  Boeotia.  Nor  will  he  pass  '  the  hollow- 
sounding  bittern '  of  the  '  Deserted  Village.'  A 
barrel  may  sound  hollow,  but  not  a  bird,  according 
to  this  sagacious  critic.  Had  the  gifted  author  of 
'  Lyrics  of  the  Heart '  never  heard  of  rhetorical 
figures  ?  But  his  strenuous  editorial  efforts  might 
well  furnish  forth  a  separate  paper.  Which  re- 
minds me  that  this  one  already  grows  too  long ; 
and  justifies  me  in  bringing  it  abruptly  to  a  close. 

AUSTIN  DOBSON. 


A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF  THE 
SIXTEENTH  CENTURY— GALLIOT 

DU    PR£. 

(Conclusion.) 

URING  the  year  1531  Galliot  Du  Pre 
seems  to  have  been  particularly  active. 
His  publications  include  three  original 
works,  five  translations  from  Latin, 

Spanish,   and   Italian,   and  three    new 

editions  of  works  which  he  had  previously  pub- 
lished, namely,  the  '  Chroniques '  of  Nicole  Gilles,1 
Bouchard's '  Chroniques  de  Bretaigne'  (now  entitled 
'  Les  croniques  annales  des  pays  Dangleterre  et  Bre- 
taigne'),2 and  the  '  Roman  de  la  Rose.' 3  The  two 
latter  were  published  in  association  with  Jean  Petit. 
The  translations  are  '  Le  Mirouer  historial,' Jean  de 
Vignay's  version  of  Vincent  de  Beauvais' '  Speculum 
historiale; ' '  Les  ditz  moraulxdes  philosophies,'  trans- 
lated from  the  Latin  by  Guillaume  de  Tignonville, 
Provost  of  Paris  in  1408;*  c  Quinte-Curce,'  trans- 
lated for  Charles  the  Bold  by  Vasco  Fernandez, 
Conde  de  Lucena,  a  Portuguese  nobleman,  who 
was  as  familiar  with  French  as  with  his  native 

1  Delalain,  *  Notice  Compl.' 

2  'Bibl.  Sunderlandiana,'  I.,  No.  1855. 

3  British  Museum ;    Fitzwilliam  Museum,  Cambridge ;    *  Cat. 
Didot,'  1878,  No.  132  (with  Petit's  name  on  the  title-page). 

4  This  is  the  work  which  Earl  Rivers  translated  into  English. 


144         A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

tongue ;  '  Treize  questions  d'amour,'  a  rendering  of 
the  fourth  book  of  Boccaccio's  '  II  Filocolo ; l  and 
4  Le  livre  d'or,'  translated  from  Guevara's  t  Libro 
aureo,'  by  Rene  Bertaut  de  la  Grise. 

The  three  original  works  are  Jean  Le  Maire's 
4  Illustrations  de  Gaule ; '  the  '  Speculum  principum  ' 
of  Pedro  Belluga,  a  lawyer  of  Valencia,  who  died 
in  1468  ;2  and  that  curious  mediaeval  work,  usually 
called  c  Sydrach,  la  fontaine  de  toutes  sciences,' 
which  Ward  succinctly  describes  as  '  a  catechism  of 
mediaeval  science,' 3  and  which  in  this  edition  is 
entitled  '  Mil  et  quatre  vingtz  et  quatre  demandes 
avec  les  solutions  et  responses  a  tous  propoz,  ceuvre 
curieux  et  moult  recreatif,  selon  le  saige  Sidrach.' 

Nor  does  this  complete  the  tale  of  Galliot  Du 
Pre's  activity  for  1531,  for  he  also  published  in  this 
year,  sharing  the  undertaking  with  Fran9ois  Reg- 
nault,  the  first  volume  of  the  '  Illustrations  de  la 
Gaule  belgique,'  an  abridgment  from  the  Latin 
work  of  Jacques  de  Guyse,  a  Franciscan  who  died 
in  1398.  It  was  followed  by  a  second  and  third 
volume  (1532),  but  though  it  was  intended  to  be 
in  four  volumes,  the  fourth  never  appeared.4  To 
1532  also  belongs  an  historical  book  of  much  smaller 
dimensions,  a  French  abridgment  of  the  *  Cronica 
Cronicorum,'  entitled  *  Registre  des  ans  passez  et 
choses  dignes  de  memoire  aduenues  puis  la  creation 
du  monde  jusques  a  1'annee  presente,  Mil  cinq  cens 

1  A  complete  translation  of  the  'Filocolo'  did  not  appear  till  1542. 

2  See  FusteY,  'Bibl.  Valenciana,'  Valencia,  1827. 

3  *  Catalogue  of  Romances,'  L,  903  ff.     It  was  first  published  by 
Verard,  2Oth  February,  1487. 

•*  Van  Praet,  V.,  No.  137;  Delalain,  *  Notice  Compl.' 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.       145 

XXXIII.' '  Du  Pre  also  published  in  this  year  a 
new  edition  of  the  first  guide-book  to  Paris,  c  La 
Fleur  des  antiquites  singularites,  et  excellences  de  la 
noble  et  triumphante  ville  et  cite  de  Paris,'  of  which 
the  author  was  Gilles  Corrozet,  poet,  antiquary, 
and  bookseller.  The  first  edition  of  the  work  had 
been  published  by  Denys  Janot  earlier  in  the  year. 
In  the  new  edition  the  chronological  narrative  is 
followed  by  a  list  of  streets  and  churches  arranged 
according  to  quarters.  There  is  a  modern  edition, 
based  on  this,  by  Bibliophile  Jacob,  who  says  that 
Corrozet  married  a  daughter  of  Galliot  Du  Pre. 
This  seems  to  be  a  mistaken  inference  from  the  facl: 
that  he  had  a  son  named  Galliot. 

In  October  of  this  year,  Du  Pre  published  a  work 
of  considerable  importance,  namely,  a  reprint  of  the 
*  Novus  Orbis '  of  Simon  Grynaeus  (as  it  is  always 
called,  though  Grynaeus  only  contributed  a  preface), 
first  published  at  Basle  in  the  preceding  March. 
Du  Pre  substituted  for  the  map  by  Sebastian 
Miinster  a  far  superior  one  by  Oronce  Fine,  but 
made  no  changes  in  the  text.  I  have  discussed 
elsewhere  Rabelais'  debt  to  this  work.2  I  have 
left  to  the  last  in  my  record  for  the  year  1532  four 
little  works  of  great  interest,  editions  of  Villon,3 
Coquillart, '  Pathelin,'  and  Gringore's  '  Le  Chasteau 
de  Labour,'4  all  in  an  uniform  series.  They  are 
in  small  o6tavo,  and  are  printed  in  roman  type. 

11  Cat.    Yemeniz,'   No.    2655;    «  Lakelands  Cat.'  (No.  725); 
Delalain,  *  Notice  Compl.'  (from  *  Cat.  Baillieu '). 
3  'The  Modern  Language  Review/  for  July,  1907. 

3  British  Museum. 

4  Picot,  I.,  No.  493. 

IX.  L 


146         A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

Moreover,  as  M.  Picot  points  out,  in  order  to 
increase  the  attraction,  some  new  matter  is  added 
to  each  volume,  except  4  Pathelin,' — the  '  Franc 
archier  de  Baignollet '  and '  Le  Dyalogue  des  seigneurs 
de  Mallepaye  et  Baillevent '  (both  spurious)  to  the 
volume  of  Villon,  and  '  Les  faintises  du  monde,' 
which  is  of  doubtful  authenticity,  to  that  of  Grin- 
gore;  Coquillart  also  is  furnished  with  some 
spurious  additions.  All  these  works  were  of  tried 
popularity,  especially  4  Le  Chasteau  de  Labour,'  of 
which  there  are  fourteen  editions,  says  M.  Picot, 
in  Gothic  type.1  That  Du  Pre,  who  catered 
for  what  may  be  called  the  ordinary  educated 
public,  and  who  a  few  years  earlier  was  publishing 
the  stilted  poetry  of  the  grand  rhetoriqueur  school, 
should  have  brought  out  in  one  year  four  books 
written  in  a  natural  style,  two  of  them  being 
of  real  genius,  is  a  fact  of  considerable  significance. 
It  is  a  sign  that  the  popularity  of  the  older  school 
was  fast  declining.  The  year  1532  was,  indeed, 
a  memorable  one  in  the  history  of  French  litera- 
ture. It  was  the  year  in  which  the  first  works 
of  real  literary  genius  that  had  appeared  in  France 
for  at  least  sixty  years,  the  first  since  Villon's  '  Le 
grand  testament '  and  c  Pathelin '  were  given  to  the 
world.  It  was  the  year  of  the  publication  of  the 
first  collected  edition  of  Marot's  poems  and  of 
'  Pantagruel.' 

1  See  also  Alexander  Barclay,  *  The  Castell  of  Labour,'  edited 
for  the  Roxburghe  Club  by  A.  W.  Pollard,  1905.  As  is  well 
known  to  bibliographers,  a  leaf  of  the  first  edition  of  this  translation 
of  Gringore's  poem,  which  was  printed  in  Paris  for  V£rard  about 
1503,  was  discovered  some  years  ago  by  Mr.  E.  Gordon  Duff. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.       147 

In  the  following  year,  1533,  Marot,  under  the 
auspices  of  Galliot  Du  Pre,  happily  associated 
his  name  with  that  of  Villon,  by  editing  a  new 
edition  of  Villon's  works.  He  carefully  purified 
the  corrupt  text  of  the  earlier  editions,  and  omitted 
all  the  spurious  pieces.  The  volume  was  printed  in 
roman  type,  and  was  of  the  same  size  as  that  of  the 
preceding  year.1  In  his  preface  Marot  expresses 
his  warm  admiration  for  Villon,  and  acknowledges 
his  indebtedness  to  him.  Rabelais,  too,  was  a  warm 
admirer  of  the  mediaeval  poet,  as  he  was  of'  Pathelin,' 
and  he  was  familiar  with  Coquillart's  poems.  The 
four  writers  whom  Galliot  Du  Pre  published  in 

1532,  were  by  their  national  feeling,  their  direct- 
ness of  utterance,  and  their  raciness  of  expression, 
the  true  predecessors  not  only  of  Marot,  but  of 
Rabelais. 

With  the  exception  of  Marot's  edition,  I  have 
found  no  publications  of  Galliot  Du  Pre's  which  can 
be  assigned  with  certainty  to  the  year  1533.  This 
is  doubtless  due  to  the  incompleteness  of  my  re- 
searches. There  are,  however,  three  works  which 
have  the  date  either  of  January  or  of  February, 

1533,  m  tne  colophon,  and  which  may  therefore 
possibly  belong  to  that  year  according  to  the  modern 
reckoning.    Any  one  who  has  had  to  do  with  French 
books  of  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  knows 
how  difficult  it  often  is  to  determine  the  date  of  a 
book  published  before  Easter.     For  the  new  method 
of  beginning  the  year  on  the  ist  January,  while  it 
did  not  come  into  legal  force  till  ist  January,  1565, 
began  to  be  used  by  printers  and  booksellers  soon 

1  British  Museum. 


148         A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

after  the  year  1500,  at  first  only  sparingly,  but  as 
the  years  went  on  with  increasing  frequency.  The 
question  becomes  doubly  difficult  when  we  are 
dealing  with  books,  like  Galliot  Du  Pre's,  which 
were  printed  by  one  man  and  sold  by  another.  The 
only  way  of  arriving  at  any  light  on  the  subject  is 
to  give  the  facls  as  they  stand,  classifying  them  as 
far  as  possible.  In  the  first  place,  then,  we  have  a 
group  of  cases  in  which  the  date  is  definitely  stated 
to  be  before  or  after  Easter,  such  as  '  Les  grandes 
chroniques'  (April,  1514,  after  Easter),  'Genea- 
logies des  Rois  de  France'  (2oth  March,  1520, 
before  Easter),  '  Petrarcque  des  remedes'  (i5th 
March,  1523,  before  Easter), '  Catalogue  des  Saints 
et  des  Saintes'  (3rd  March,  1524,  before  Easter). 
In  none  of  these  instances  is  the  printer's  name 
given.  Then  we  have  the  single  case  of  the  '  De 
Regno '  of  F.  Patricius,  in  which  it  is  stated  in  the 
colophon  that  the  printing  was  finished  on  i6th 
April,  1519,  ad  romanum  calculum^  Easter-day  in 
1519  being  on  24th  April.  The  printer  was  Pierre 
Vidoue,  and  we  find  him  using  the  same  formula 
in  the  '  Hours  of  the  Virgin,'  which  he  printed  for 
Guillaume  Godard  in  1523.'  Yet  in  the  'Aristo- 
phanes/ which  he  printed  for  Gilles  de  Gourmont 
in  152^,  he  begins  his  year  at  Easter.  Other  in- 
stances might  easily  be  adduced  to  show  that  the 
printers  and  booksellers  varied  in  their  practice. 
Sometimes,  indeed,  the  same  man  would  use  both 
methods  in  the  same  book.  For  instance,  in  the 
'  Apologia  pro  filiabus  et  nepotibus  beatae  Annae ' 
of  Noel  Bedier,  to  which  I  have  referred  above, 
1  'Cat.  Didot,'  1879,  No.  140. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.      149 

Josse  Bade,  who  both  printed  and  sold  the  book, 
puts  the  year  1519  on  the  title-page,  and  the  year 
1520  in  the  colophon. 

In  several  books  of  Galliot  Du  Pre's  the  contrary 
method  is  adopted.  On  the  title-page  of*  La  prison 
d'amours '  the  date  is  1526,  and  in  the  colophon, 
6th  March,  1525;  in  the  French  c  Lactantius  *  we 
have  1543  on  the  title-page,  and  9th  February, 
1 542,  in  the  colophon ;  in  one  of  the  editions  of 
Nicole  Gilles,  1553  on  the  title-page,  and  1552  at 
the  end  of  the  book;  in  the  'Chronique  du  tres 
chrestien  et  victorieux  Louis  XI.'  (known  as  the 
'  Chronique  scandaleuse '),  1558  on  the  title-page, 
and  1557  at  the  end.  Unfortunately  in  only  one 
of  these  books  is  the  printer's  name  given,  namely 
in  the  Nicole  Gilles,  which  was  printed  by  Rene 
Avril.  This  practice  is  more  intelligible  than  the 
contrary  instance  of  Josse  Bade,  for  the  publishers 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  like  their  modern  suc- 
cessors, naturally  preferred  to  put  the  latest 
possible  date  on  their  title-pages.  Indeed,  some- 
times in  their  eagerness  to  take  time  by  the  forelock, 
in  this  also  resembling  their  successors,  they  made 
the  year  begin  even  before  the  ist  of  January. 
For  instance  a  *  Grand  Coustumier '  of  Du  Pre's 
has  2oth  October,  1535,  in  the  colophon,  and  1536 
on  the  title-page. 

Thus  in  the  absence  of  any  available  criterion, 
we  are  compelled  to  deal  with  each  case  as  a 
separate  problem.  Sometimes  this  is  solved  by  the 
mention  in  the  preface  or  body  of  the  book  of  some 
historical  event.  Sometimes  we  are  enlightened 
by  some  fact  connected  with  the  life  of  the  book- 


150         A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

seller  or  printer.  For  instance,  the  qualification  of 
Galliot  Du  Pre  as  libraire  jure  on  the  title-page  of 
the  c  Suetone,'  printed  by  Pierre  Vidoue,  shows 
that  the  date  in  the  colophon,  of  i6th  February, 
1520,  must  be  referred  to  the  year  152^,  for  on 
2oth  April,  1520,  as  we  know  from  *  Le  livre  tres 
fruclueux,'  he  was  not  a  libraire  jure. 

Another  available  help  is  the  privilege,  if  there 
is  one.  It  was  the  usual  practice  for  publishers  to 
apply  for  a  privilege  as  soon  as  the  book  was  ready 
for  press,  and  to  begin  printing  almost  immediately 
after  it  was  granted.  The  speed  at  which  the 
books  were  printed  naturally  varied.  Thus  while 
the  two  volumes  of  the  c  Catalogue  des  Saints  et 
Saintes '  were  finished  about  a  year  from  the  grant- 
ing of  the  privilege,  the  same  interval  elapsed  in 
the  case  of  the  '  Temple  de  bonne  renommee,'  with 
ninety  leaves,  and  the  c  Genealogies  des  Rois  de 
France '  with  only  seven.  *  Percival  le  Gallois,' 
with  220  leaves,  was  ready  in  less  than  five  and  a 
half  months  from  the  date  of  the  privilege  ;  but  ten 
months  were  spent  over '  La  prison  d'amours,'  which 
contains  only  eighty-seven  leaves.  The  shortest 
relative  interval  between  the  privilege  and  the 
completion  of  the  book  that  I  have  noticed  in  Du 
Pre's  publications,  is  thirty-nine  days  for  the  £  Life 
of  Bayard '  with  ninety-eight  leaves.  It  was  not 
indeed  a  universal  practice  to  wait  for  the  privilege 
before  beginning  to  print  a  book,  and  I  have  found 
one  or  two  instances  in  which  the  date  of  the 
privilege  is  only  a  few  days  earlier,  and  in  one  case 
even  a  few  days  later,  than  that  of  the  completion 
of  the  book.  Thus  the  privilege  for  'La  conqueste 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.      151 

de  Grece'  is  dated  4th  February,  152!,  but  the 
printing  was  finished  on  8th  February,  I52|. 
There  was,  however,  a  special  reason  for  this,  as 
Du  Pre  had  already  been  granted  a  privilege  for 
the  work  in  November,  1525,  and  this  new 
privilege  was  in  place  of  the  old  one.T  A  similar 
instance,  without  any  obvious  explanation,  is  the 

*  Temple  de  bonne  renommee '  in  which  the  book 
is  dated  eight   days   after   the   completion  of  the 
privilege. 

Fortunately,  so  far,  I  have  been  able  by  means 
of  the  privilege  to  determine  the  year  in  all  the 
doubtful  cases  ('Temple  de  bonne  renommee,' 

*  Prison  d'amours,'  and  the  two  editions  of  Grin- 
gore's   'Adages')    except  one — the  'Mirouer  his- 
torial.'     But  for  three  works  with  the  imprint  of 
January  or  February,  1533,  I  have  no  such  guide. 
In  the  descriptions  of  them — for  I  have  not  seen 
any  of  them — there  is  no  mention  of  a  privilege. 
Two  of  them  relate  to  agriculture,  one  being  an 
edition  of  the  c  Libri  de  re  rustica,'  published  jointly 
with  Jean  Petit,2  and  the  other  an  edition  of  the 
French  translation  of  the  '  Opus  ruralium  commo- 
dorum,'  of  Piero  Crescenzi  of  Bologna.     Made  for 
Charles  V.,  in  1 373,  the  latter  was  first  published  by 
Verard  under  the  title  of'  Livre  des  prouffits  cham- 
pestres.'     Du  Pre's  edition,  which  has  on  the  title- 
page  a  wood-cut  of  the  publisher  offering  the  work 

1  This  appearance  of  the  six  volumes  of  Perceforest  within 
fifteen  months  of  the  privilege,  is  probably  to  be  accounted  for 
by  the  fact  that  the  printing  was  begun  before  the  privilege  was 
granted. 

2 4th  February,  1533.     Delalain,  'Notice  Compl.' 


1 52         A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

to  Francis  I.,  is  entitled  4Le  bon  Mesnager.'1  Bear- 
ing almost  the  same  date  is  a  curious  collection  of 
miscellaneous  treatises  by  Guillaume  Telin,  a  gentle- 
man of  Auvergne,  entitled  '  Bref  sommaire  des  sept 
vertus,  sept  arts  liberaux,  etc.'  As  up  till  now  we 
have  had  only  one  instance  of  the  new  method  of 
beginning  the  year  being  used  in  the  colophon 
of  Galliot  Du  Pre's  books,3  there  is  a  strong 
presumption  in  favour  of  all  these  three  books 
belonging  to  the  year  1534.  It  is,  however,  just 
possible  that  the  'Libri  de  re  rustica'  may  be  dated 
according  to  the  new  method :  firstly,  because  it  is 
in  Latin ;  secondly,  because  it  was  published  in 
partnership  with  Jean  Petit,  whom  I  find  using 
the  Roman  method  in  a  preface  as  early  as  1 507.* 
These,  however,  are  very  slight  reasons  for  aban- 
doning the  natural  presumption. 

Three  publications  by  Galliot  Du  Pre  certainly 
belong  to  the  year  1534,  a  translation  of  Josephus's 
'Jewish  Antiquities,'  by  Guillaume  Michel,  and 
new  editions  of  Patricius,  '  De  institutione 
reipublicae '  and  the  '  Cosmographia '  of  Pius  II. 
under  the  title  of  'Asiae  Europaeque  elegantissima 

1  1 5th  January,  1533. 

2  1 2th  February,  1533.     The  full  title  may  be  read  in  Brunet; 
his  copy  came  later  into  the  possession  of  the  late  Baron  de  Ruble 
(Catalogue  No.  688). 

3  I  ought  to  mention  one  other  possible  exception.     In  Bour- 
dignd's  'Histoire  d'Anjou,'  printed  by  Antoine  Cousteau,  the  date 
in  the  colophon  of  the  ordinary  paper  copies  is  January,  1529,  but 
in  a  vellum  copy  ('Bib.  Nat.')  October,  1529.     Unless  the  latter 
was  printed  first,  which  is  unlikely,  the  dating  of  the  paper  copies 
must  be  according  to  the  new  method. 

4  '  Opus  quadragesimale  Oliverii  Maillardi.'     The  date  in  the 
colophon  is  ist  February,  1506. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.       153 

descriptio.'  This  last  was  published  in  partnership 
with  Claude  Chevallon.1 

The  close  of  the  year  1534  marks  a  distinct 
turning-point  in  Galliot  Du  Pre's  career.  After 
this  his  publications  became  less  numerous,  and 
their  character  far  less  interesting  and  instructive. 
At  this  point,  therefore,  it  will  be  convenient  to 
consider  the  character  of  his  publications  as  a 
whole,  and  to  discuss  one  or  two  general  questions 
which  arise  out  of  them. 

In  the  first  place  it  will  be  noticed  that,  as  I 
said  at  the  outset,  our  publisher  shews  a  decided 
predilection  for  history.  He  publishes  not  only 
popular  and  uncritical  compilations  like  'La  mer 
des  histoires,'  Desrey's  translation  of  Gaguin's 
'Compendium,'  and  especially  the  'Chroniques'  of 
Nicole  Gilles,  of  which  he  issued  altogether  four 
editions,  but  he  introduces  the  e  Memoirs '  of 
Commines  to  the  world,  and  reprints  them  several 
times.  Further,  he  shares  in  the  publication  of 
a  new  edition  of  £  Froissart,'  and  he  shews  his 
interest  in  the  cognate  subject  of  political  science, 
by  publishing  the  works  of  Patricius,  the  Latin 
version  of  the  c  Songe  du  Verdier '  and  the  *  Specu- 
lum principum.'  It  was  he,  too,  who  published, 
if  not  the  first,  at  any  rate  the  oldest  existing 
edition  of  that  delightful  work,  the  £  Life  of 
Bayard,'  by  Le  loyal  Serviteur.  The  poetry  pub- 
lished by  him  comprises  the  '  Roman  de  la  Rose,' 
'  Champion  des  dames,'  Alain  Chartier,  works  or 

1  The  British  Museum  has  two  copies  with  different  title  pages; 
one  with  the  name  of  Chevallon,  and  the  other  with  that  of 
Du  Pr6. 


i54        A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

the  rhetoriqueur  school,  including  several  works 
by  Jean  Bouchet,  and  at  a  later  period,  Villon, 
Coquillart,  and  Gringore.  He  published  seven 
romances  of  chivalry,  five  of  them  being  printed 
for  the  first  time.  Two  of  these  4  Meliadus '  and 
c  Perceforest,'  owing  to  the  prominent  part  played 
in  them  by  tournaments,  were  especially  suited  to 
the  prevailing  taste  for  the  trappings  and  outward 
semblance  of  chivalry.  It  is  further  to  be  noted 
that  all  the  romances  published  by  Du  Pre,  except 
two,  belong  to  the  Arthurian  cycle,  the  representa- 
tions of  which,  with  the  possible  exception  of  £  Le 
petit  Artus '  (the  connexion  of  which  with  the 
cycle  is  extremely  slight)  never  descended  in  the 
form  of  popular  chap-books  to  the  lowest  stratum 
of  French  readers.  This  choice  of  romances  is,  in 
itself,  enough  to  show  that  Galliot  Du  Pre  did  not 
cater  for  the  popular  taste,  but  for  the  nobles  and 
the  better  class  of  bourgeois. 

Besides  the  romances,  mediaeval  prose  is  repre- 
sented by  such  favourite  works  as  '  Sydrach,'  '  Le 
Mirouer  historial,'  and  '  Les  ditz  moraulx  des 
philosophies.'  The  beginnings  of  Renaissance  prose 
are  marked  by  Jean  Le  Maire's  '  Illustrations  de 
Gaule,'  but  its  publication  by  Du  Pre,  as  well  as  its 
general  popularity,  was  probably  due  more  to  its 
historical  character  than  to  its  real  merits  of  style. 

Of  translations,  which  played  so  considerable  a 
part  in  the  revival  of  learning  and  literature,  we 
have  Caesar,  Cicero,1  Virgil,  Ovid,  Quintus  Curtius, 
Suetonius,  Apuleius,  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus, 

1  In  1529  Du  Prd  published  a  translation  of  Cicero's  'De  Officiis' 
(Brunet,  II.,  52). 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.       155 

and  Josephus,  both  these  last  through  Latin  ver- 
sions ;  a  single  work  of  Petrarch,  an  extract 
from  Boccaccio's  c  II  Filocolo,'  '  Le  Peregrin,'  *  II 
libro  aureo,'  *  II  carcel  de  amor,'  and  the  '  Celes- 
tina.'  But  all  these  translations  were  more  or  less 
unskilful  and  inadequate,  and  were  soon  afterwards 
superseded. 

Classical  authors  in  their  original  tongue  are 
conspicuously  absent.  There  is  not  a  single  Greek 
book,  and  classical  Latin  is  represented  only  by 
Eutropius  (with  Paulus  Diaconus)  and  the  Scrip- 
tores  de  re  rustica.  Erasmus  and  Bude,  the  rivals 
for  the  primacy  of  European  scholarship,  appear 
respectively  in  a  garbled  translation  of  the  '  Enco- 
mium Moriae,'  and  an  epitome  in  French  of  the 
*  De  Asse.' 

Geographical  discovery, —  the  discovery  of  the 
world,  as  humanism  was  the  discovery  of  man, — 
is  represented  by  two  works,  '  Le  nouveau  Monde ' 
and  the  £  Novus  Orbis.'  But  in  this  timid  and 
tentative  attitude  towards  the  Renaissance,  Galliot 
Du  Pre  accurately  reflected  the  literary  tastes  of  the 
ordinary  educated  Frenchman  of  his  day.  The  study 
of  the  classics  was  still  confined  to  a  select  circle  of 
humanists;  it  was  only  in  1529  that  the  victory  of 
Greek  was  assured,  and  it  had  not  had  time  yet  to 
bear  fruit.  Such  translations  from  the  Greek  as 
had  appeared  hitherto  were  all  made  from  Latin 
versions.  Of  translations  from  the  Latin  the  only 
one  of  any  literary  merit  was  Marot's  verse  render- 
ing of  two  books  of  the  'Metamorphoses'  (1532). 
The  Italian  works  which  most  influenced  the  French 
Renaissance,  the  '  Cortegiano,'  the  '  Arcadia,'  the 


156        A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

c  Principe,'  Ariosto's  Comedies,  and  '  Orlando 
Furioso,'  were  still  untranslated.  The  c  Decameron  ' 
was  still  represented  by  the  mediaeval  paraphrase — 
for  it  was  little  more — of  Laurent  Du  Premierfait. 
Nor  had  the  vernacular  literature  put  forth  as  yet 
many  original  blossoms.  It  was  only  in  this  very 
year  1534,  at  which  we  have  arrived,  that  Marot's 
second  volume,  *  Suite  de  1'Adolescence,'  appeared, 
and  that  'Pantagruel'  was  followed  by  'Gargantua.' 
Thus  Galliot  Du  Pre  was  influenced  in  his  choice 
of  works  for  publication  by  sound  business  instincts, 
by  a  legitimate  desire  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the 
'  general  reader '  of  his  day.  And  within  his  field 
of  operation  he  showed  not  only  judgment  but 
enterprise,  publishing  several  new  works  which  hit 
the  public  taste  and  put  money  into  his  pocket. 

Another  source  of  profit  besides  the  ordinary  sale 
of  books,  of  which  publishers  availed  themselves  at 
this  period,  was  the  production  of  special  copies, 
printed  on  vellum  and  adorned  with  illuminated 
woodcuts.  In  a  few  cases  they  were  in  the  strict 
sense  presentation  copies,  but  as  a  rule,  they  were 
destined  for  noble  patrons  who,  judging  by  an 
extant  bill  sent  in  by  Verard,  paid  for  them  pretty 
heavily.  Du  Pre  adopted  this  practice  almost  at 
the  outset  of  his  career,  by  printing  copies  on  vellum 
of  the  two  editions  of  Desrey's '  Chroniques,'  which 
he  publishe4  in  1514  and  1515.  Van  Praet  men- 
tions three  copies  of  the  former,  one  of  which  has 
twenty  miniatures,  and  another  Sixteen.1  Another 
early  vellum  copy  of  Du  Pre's  production  is  that  of 
*  Le  temple  de  Jehan  Boccace,'  adorned  with  three 

1  2nd  part,  III.,  No.  95. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY        157 

miniatures,  one  of  which  represents  the  author  (?) 
offering  his  book  to  Francis  I.1  Special  mention 
must  also  be  made  of  the  vellum  copies  of  the 
'  Encomium  trium  Mariarum ' ;  they  contain  a  full- 
page  woodcut  of  the  three  Marys,  which  is  absent 
from  the  paper  copies.2 

To  the  year  1522  belongs  the  unique  '  Les  cous- 
tumes  du  pays  et  duche  de  Bourbonnoys,'  with 
illuminated  initials  and  an  elaborate  frontispiece  on 
which  are  the  initials  of  Pierre  de  Beaujeu,  his  wife 
Anne,  the  able  and  ambitious  daughter  of  Louis  XL, 
and  their  son-in-law,  Charles  de  Bourbon,  Constable 
of  France  since  1515.  The  work  is  dedicated  to 
Anne  de  Beaujeu  by  her  Chancellor,  Pierre  Papillon, 
and  this  particular  copy,  the  only  one  that  is  known 
— probably  very  few  copies  were  printed — was  evi- 
dently destined  either  for  Anne  or  her  son.  3  Other 
notable  vellum  copies  produced  by  Galliot  Du  Pre 
are  those  of  the  French  translation  of'  Platina,'  with 
228  portraits  in  the  initial  letters ;  4  the  '  Roman  de 
la  Rose  '  of  1526,  with  ninety-five  miniatures ;  5  the 
'Nicole  Gilles'  of  1525,  with  fourteen  miniatures, 
and  with  the  arms  of  Charles,  Due  de  Vendome,  to 
whom  the  work  is  dedicated,  on  the  first  leaf  of  each 


1  Van  Praet,  V.,  No.  91. 

2  Bernard,  '  Geofroy  Tory,'  pp.  359  ff. ;  Brunet;  <  Cat.  of  Bibl. 
Nat.'     There  is  a  vellum  copy  in  the  Bibl.  Mazarin. 

3 1  have  taken  this  description  from  a  note  in  the  '  Monmerque' 
Catalogue'  (1851),  which  has  been  copied  into  both  the  'Yemeniz* 
and  'Didot'  (1879)  Catalogues.  The  book  is  undated,  but  as  it 
contains  an  extract  from  the  registers  of  the  Parlement,  dated  20th 
March,  152^  (Brunet),  and  Anne  died  in  November,  1522,  it 
certainly  belongs  to  that  year. 

"»  Van  Praet,  V.,  No.  23.  *  Ibid.,  IV.,  No.  1623. 


158         A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

volume  ; l  the  '  Triumphante  et  glorieuse  vicloire  ' 
(i526),2  with  nine  miniatures;  the  '  Virgile ' 
(1529),  with  thirty-one. ^  Du  Pre's  chief  patron 
was  Charles  d'Urfe  (grandfather  of  the  author  of 
'L'Astree'),  for  whom  five  of  his  extant  vellum 
copies  were  executed.  Head  of  an  ancient  family 
of  La  Forez,  he  was  squire  in  ordinary  to  Francis  I., 
who  in  1535  appointed  him  '  bailli '  of  his  native  pro- 
vince. It  was  not  till  the  next  reign  that  he  became 
really  prominent,  being  successively  envoy  to  the 
Council  of  Trent  (1548),  ambassador  to  the  Holy 
See  (1549-53),  and  governor  to  the  Dauphin  and 
his  brothers.  He  had  a  fine  library,  part  of  which 
he  had  inherited  from  his  mother-in-law,  Mme. 
d'Entragues.4  Du  Pre's  connection  with  him 
appears  to  date  from  1531,  when  he  produced  for 
him  a  vellum  copy  of  Bouchard's  '  Grandes  chro- 
niques  de  Bretaigne.'*  The  arms  of  the  same  patron 
are  also  found  on  vellum  copies  of  the  French  *  Lac- 
tantius '  of  1 543, 6  of  a  *  Nicole  Gilles '  of  1 547  (with 
sixty-five  miniatures),7  of '  Instructions  sur  le  faicl 
de  la  guerre'  (1548),  and  of  Jean  Bouchet's  '  Les 
triumphes  de  la  noble  et  amoureuse  dame'  (1535). 8 
Of  two  vellum  copies  of  Josephus's  'Jewish  Anti- 
quities,' which  were  in  the  Due  de  la  Valliere's 
library,  one,  which  bore  D'Urfe's  arms,  has  dis- 
appeared, but  the  other,  which  has  numbered 
among  its  possessors  Francis  I.,  Diane  de  Poitiers, 

1  Van  Praet,  V.,No.  1525.   2  /£.,  V.,  No.  48.   3  /£.,IV.,No.  102. 

4  A.  Bernard,  <  Les  D'Urfe" '  (1839),  pp.  45-51. 

s  Van  Praet,  V.,  No.  168.  6  Ibid.,  I.,  No.  375. 

i  'Cat.  MacCarthy,'  II.,  No.  4525. 

8  'Cat.  La  Valliere,'  II.,  No.  3001. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.       159 

and  Count  d'Hoym,  is  now  in  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationale.1 

I  need  not  enumerate  all  the  other  vellum  copies 
produced  by  Du  Pre.  About  a  dozen  more  are 
recorded  by  Van  Praet,  and  there  were  two,  '  Le 
Peregrin '  and  '  Quinte-Curce,'  in  the  Harleian 
library.2  They  serve  to  show  that  Du  Pre  had 
numerous  patrons  among  princes  and  nobles,  and 
that  consequently,  in  his  choice  of  works  of  publi- 
cation, he  doubtless  consulted  their  taste. 

It  will  have  been  noticed  that  several  of  Du  Pre's 
publications,  more  especially  those  of  considerable 
size,  were  published  by  him  in  temporary  partner- 
ship with  other  booksellers.  We  find  him  associ- 
ated in  this  way  with  many  of  the  leading  men  of 
his  profession,  with  Jean  Petit,  with  Josse  Bade,  and 
with  his  two  sons-in-law,  Michael  de  Vascosan  and 
Jean  de  Roigny,  with  Poncet  Le  Preux,  whose  career 
extended  to  fifty-eight  years,  with  Simon  de  Colines, 
with  Jean  Longis,  and  with  Pierre  Vidoue,  and  on 
one  occasion  with  two  provincial  publishers.  Some- 
times in  these  joint  publications  each  partner  had  a 
different  title-page  for  the  copies  sold  by  him;  thus 
in  some  of  the  cases  referred  to  above  Galliot  Du 
Pre  and  his  associate  are  both  represented  by  the 
extant  copies  of  the  book.  In  other  cases,  chiefly 
with  books  published  near  the  beginning  of  his 
career,  Du  Pre's  name  only  appears  in  the  colophon, 
and  not  on  the  title-page.  The  reason  for  this 
may  either  be  that  he  occupied  a  subordinate 
position  in  the  partnership,  or  that  all  the  copies 

1  'Cat.  La  Valltere,'  III.,  No.  4806;  Van  Praet,  IV.,  No.  53. 

2  'Bib.  Had.,'  III.,  Nos.  3201  and  3218. 


160        A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

in  which  his  name  appears  on  the  title-page  have 
disappeared. 

Numerous  printers  were  employed  by  him  in  the 
course  of  his  long  career,  but  during  that  period  of 
it  which  we  are  now  considering,  three  especially 
enjoyed  his  favour.  These  are  Pierre  Vidoue,  and 
the  brothers  Nicolas  and  Antoine  Cousteau.  Pierre 
Vidoue  was  a  man  of  real  distinction  in  his  pro- 
fession, whose  work  amply  justified  the  qualifica- 
tion which  he  assumes  of  4  Chalcographiarie  artis 
peritissimus.'  He  began  to  exercise  his  art,  accord- 
ing to  M.  Renouard,  in  1 5 1  o.  It  is  in  1 5 1 8  that  we 
first  find  him  working  for  Galliot  Du  Pre,  and  from 
that  date  down  to  1524  he  printed  for  him  various 
works/including  the  c  Coustumes  de  Bourbonnoys,' 
'  Ysaie  le  triste,'  the  Epitome  of  Bude's  '  De  Asse,' 
and  Tiraqueau's  '  De  legibus  connubialibus.'  In 
1521  he  made  his  first  appearance  as  a  Greek  printer, 
with  an  impression  of  the  curious  and  popular 
'  Hieroglyphica '  of  Horapollo  in  Greek  and  Latin. 
But  the  most  remarkable  production  of  his  Greek 
press  is  the  complete  series  of  Aristophanes'  'Come- 
dies/ edited  by  Jean  Cheradame,  which  he  printed 
for  Gilles  de  Gourmont  from  November,  1528,  to 
March,  1529.  At  this  time  he  possessed  some 
Hebrew  type,  for  the  verse  of  the  3/th  Psalm,  c  I 
have  been  young,  and  now  am  old :  yet  have  I  not 
seen  the  righteous  forsaken,  nor  his  seed  begging 
his  bread'  is  printed  in  Hebrew  as  well  as  Greek  on 
the  title-page  of  each  play.  In  1529  he  also  printed 
Demosthenes'  c  Olynthiac  orations.'  In  1538  he 
printed  Guillaume  Postel's  first  work,  the  alphabets 
of  eleven  languages.  His  connexion  with  Galliot  Du 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.       161 

Pre  seems  to  have  temporarily  ceased  after  1 524,  but 
from  1528  to  1531  he  was  again  employed  by  him, 
printing  for  him  in  1530  the  long  poem  of  Martin 
Le  Franc,  and  in  1531  the  translation  of  Caesar. 

During  the  years  1524  to  1527  Du  Pre  chiefly 
employed  either  Nicolas  or  Antoine  Cousteau. 
They  were  sons  of  Gilles  Cousteau,  Nicolas,  who 
succeeded  to  his  father's  stall  in  the  Palais  de  Justice, 
being  apparently  the  elder.1  It  was  Antoine  who 
printed  for  Du  Pre  the  first  three  editions  of  Corn- 
mines  and  the  Nicole  Gilles  of  1 5  25,  while  to  Nicolas 
he  entrusted  '  Le  loyal  Serviteur,'  the  '  Celestina,' 
'  Meliadus,'  and  '  Perceforest.'  In  1529  and  1530 
Antoine  was  employed  by  him  concurrently  with 
Pierre  Vidoue,  and  printed  the  '  Froissart '  of  1530, 
and  at  a  later  period  we  find  Du  Pre  entrusting 
more  work  to  Nicolas,  the  French  Josephus  and 
two  other  books  in  1 534,  and  4  La  mer  des  histoires ' 
in  1536. 

Among  the  printers  whom  he  employed  only 
occasionally  were  Jacques  Nyverd,  who,  together 
with  another  bookseller,  Jean  Andre,  acted  as  the 
spy  and  bloodhound  of  the  terrible  First  President 
of  the  Paris  Parlement,  Pierre  Lizet.  He  printed 
for  Du  Pre  two  romances,  '  Mabrian '  and  '  La 
conqueste  de  Grece,'  the  former,  presumably,  in 
1526,  and  the  latter  in  1528.  He  lived  in  the  rue 
de  la  Juiverie,  near  the  Pont  Nostre-Dame,  and 
therefore  not  far  from  Du  Pre  in  the  rue  des  Mar- 
mouzets.  With  such  a  neighbour  it  was  lucky 
for  our  publisher  that  his  orthodoxy  was  above 
suspicion,  and  that  in  the  year  1529,  when  French 
1  Renouard,  op.  cit. 

IX.  M 


162         A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

Protestantism  suffered  so  severe  a  blow  by  the 
death  of  Berquin,  he  published  so  meritorious  a 
work  in  the  eyes  of  Pierre  Lizet  and  Noel  Bedier 
as  the  '  Encomium  triarum  Mariarum.' 

Two  of  the  printers  whom  he  employed  suffered 
for  their  religious  opinions,  namely,  Simon  Du  Bois 
and  Antoine  Augereau.  The  former  printed  for 
him  the  posthumous  volume  of  Cretin  (1527), 
and  Gringore's  'Notables  enseignemens'  (January, 
152!).  At  the  outset  of  his  career  he  had  been 
bold  enough  to  print,  in  the  dangerous  year  1525, 
Lefevre's  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  and  in 
April,  1529,  when  Berquin  suffered  at  the  stake,  he 
was  engaged  in  printing  the  '  Livre  de  vraye  et 
parfaite  oraison,'  a  translation  of  one  of  Luther's 
writings,  which  is  possibly  from  Berquin's  pen. 
In  the  following  year  he  fled  to  Alen9on,  the 
capital  of  Margaret's  duchy,  where  he  printed  her 
*  Miroir  de  1'ame  pecheresse '  in  1 5  3 1 .  In  1 5  3  3  he 
returned  to  Paris,  but  after  the  Affair  of  the  Placards 
his  name  figured  on  the  list  of  suspect  Lutherans 
who  had  fled  from  Paris  (25th  January,  1535),  and 
he  disappears  from  our  view.1  About  the  fate  of 
his  fellow-Protestant,  Antoine  Augereau,  the  printer 
of  Gringore's  '  Chasteau  de  Labour'  (1532),  the 
c  Libri  de  re  rustica  '  (1534),  and  the  '  Novus  Orbis ' 
(1534),  there  is  no  obscurity.  On  Christmas  Eve, 
1534,  two  months  after  the  printing  of  this  last 
book  was  finished,  he  was  hanged  and  burnt  in  the 
Place  Maubert.  His  offence  was  grave  indeed  ;  he 

1  See  M.  Weiss  in  *  Bulletin  de  la  Soc.  de  1'hist.  du  protestantism 
fran?ais,'  XXXVI.  (1887),  669  ff.,  and  XXXVII.  (1 
432  if.,  500  ff. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.      163 

had  not  only  printed  two  editions  of  *  Le  Miroir,' 
but  the  second  of  these  had  included  Marot's  trans- 
lation of  Psalm  VI.  I1 

Such  were  the  dangers  to  which  booksellers  and 
printers  were  exposed  in  France  in  the  winter  of 
1534-5.  The  Affair  of  the  Placards  had  thoroughly 
frightened  the  king,  and  had  alienated  the  whole 
body  of  moderate  reformers,  and  though  in  the 
summer  of  1536  Francis  returned  for  a  time  to  a 
milder  mood,  this  was  mainly  due  to  the  war  with 
Charles  V.,  which  had  broken  out  in  the  preceding 
April  and  left  him  no  leisure  to  deal  with  heretics. 
But  after  the  truce  of  Nice  and  the  interview  with 
the  emperor  at  Aigues-Mortes,  in  July,  1538,  he 
adopted  a  policy  of  rigorous  suppression,  which  he 
maintained  with  unwonted  consistency  till  his  death, 
and  which  was  continued  by  his  successor.  Mean- 
while, one  of  the  immediate  effects  of  the  Placards 
was  that  on  I3th  January,  1535,  the  Father  of 
Letters  issued  letters-patent  forbidding  any  book  to 
be  printed  in  France  under  the  pain  of  death. 
Fortunately,  the  Parliament  declined  to  register 
this  extraordinary  edict,  and  there  was  substituted 
for  it  another  in  which  it  was  enacted  that  c  the 
Parliament  should  choose  twenty-four  persons  duly 
qualified  and  provided  with  sureties,  out  of  whom 
the  king  would  select  twelve,  and  that  these,  and 
no  others,  should  print  in  Paris,  but  nowhere  else, 
books  approved  and  necessary  for  the  public  welfare, 
without  printing  any  new  composition,  under  pain 
of  punishment'  (23rd  February,  I535).2  This 

1  Harrisse,  <Exc.  Coloml.,'  p.  129. 

2  *  Catalogue  des  Aftes  de  Frai^ois  I.,'  III.,  23. 


1 64         A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

edict,  however,  which  was  hardly  less  absurd  and 
arbitrary  than  its  predecessor,  remained  a  dead 
letter.  A  milder  form  of  censorship  was  prescribed 
by  an  edict  of  28th  December,  1537,  by  which  it 
was  enacted  that  no  book  should  be  offered  for  sale 
until  a  copy  of  it  had  been  given  to  Mellin  de 
Saint-Gelais,  keeper  of  the  royal  library  at  Blois, 
'  in  order  to  prevent  the  propagation  of  erroneous 
doctrines.' l  In  the  face  of  these  enactments  it  is 
amusing  to  find  Francis  I.,  in  an  edict  issued  from 
Villers-Cotterets  on  3ist  August,  1539,  on  the 
occasion  of  a  threatened  strike  of  the  Paris  journey- 
men printers,  declaring  that  he  had  always 4  favoured 
and  supported  the  art  of  printing  good  books  and 
good  literature.'  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  censor- 
ship of  the  press  became  more  and  more  severe. 
We  have  seen  how  the  bookseller  Jean  de  La  Garde 
was  burnt  in  April,  1538,  for  his  connection  with 
the  '  Cymbalum  Mundi.'  In  1539  both  the  printer 
and  the  bookseller  were  required  to  put  their  names 
in  books.2  In  1542  the  University  forbade  the 
booksellers  to  expose  any  books  for  sale  until  they 
had  been  examined,  and  in  the  same  year  the  Parlia- 
ment ordered  an  inspection  of  all  the  bookshops  and 
printing-houses  with  a  view  to  the  seizure  of  all 
heretical  works. 

This  more  rigorous  attitude  of  Francis  I.  towards 
Protestantism  and  the  press  seems  to  have  had  a 
decided  effect  upon  Galliot  Du  Pre.  After  the 
year  1534  his  productions  become  far  less  interest- 

1  *  Catalogue  des  Aftes  de  Frar^ois  I.,'  III.,  426. 

2  H.  Hauser,  '  Une  greve  d'imprimeurs  parisiens  au  XVIe  si£cle.' 
1895. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.       165 

ing,  chiefly  because  they  are  no  longer  representa- 
tive of  the  literary  taste  of  his  age.  Though,  when 
he  died  in  1560,  a  literature  in  which  the  spirit  of 
the  Renaissance  was  making  itself  more  and  more 
manifest  had  been  flourishing  for  over  twenty  years, 
though  the  new  school  of  the  Pleiad  poets  had 
firmly  established  itself,  and  one  of  its  members, 
Joachim  Du  Bellay,  had  predeceased  him,  his 
publications  reflect  little  of  the  new  movement. 
They  continue  to  be,  with  few  exceptions,  purely 
mediaeval  in  character.  Moreover,  they  are  less 
numerous  than  they  were  in  the  full  years  from 
1524  to  1534,  and  a  far  greater  proportion  are 
joint  speculations  with  other  publishers.  I  shall 
therefore  only  notice  those  that  have  any  special 
interest. 

During  the  years  1535  to  1537  the  author  whom 
Du  Pre  specially  favoured  was  Jean  Bouchet.  Thus 
he  published  in  1 535  his  '  Les  triumphes  de  la  noble 
et  amoureuse  dame,'  a  mystical  work  of  great  popu- 
larity, of  which  three  editions  had  already  appeared 
at  Poitiers;  in  1536  a  new  edition  of  his  4  Les 
anciennes  et  modernes  genealogies  des  Rois  de 
France' ; '  and  in  1537  a  new  edition  of  his  most 
important  work,  *  Les  Annales  d'Aquitaine.'  In 
1536  he  published  'La  mer  des  histoires'  in  two 
volumes,  saying  in  the  preface  that  it  was  written 
in  Latin  in  1480  by  Brocardus,  and  translated 
into  French  by  a  native  of  the  Beauvaisin.  The 
translator,  in  fact,  was  a  canon  of  Mello,  near  Beau- 
vais,  but  the  Latin  original — the  c  Rudimentum 

1  First  published  at  Poitiers  in  January,  1527  (152!?). 


1  66         A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

noviciorum  '  —  was  not  written  by  Brocardus  or  Bur- 
chard,  a  German  Dominican,  who  spent  ten  years  in 
the  monastery  of  Mount  Sion,  and  who  only  wrote 
the  description  of  the  Holy  Land  which  forms  part 
of  the  work.  At  the  very  beginning  of  1537,  the 
printing  having  been  finished  on  1  5th  December, 
1536,  appeared  the  'Somme  rurale'  of  Jean  Bou- 
tillier,1  a  summary  of  French  customary  law  written 
in  the  early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century,  which 
enjoyed  a  high  reputation  even  with  the  great 
jurists  of  the  humanistic  school.  It  was  first  printed 
at  Bruges  by  Colard  Mansion  in  1479,  and  it  was 
the  first  book  printed  at  Abbeville  (1486).  In  title 
and  scope  it  closely  resembles  '  Le  Grand  Coustu- 
mier,'  which  Du  Pre  published  in  1514,  and  La 
Caille,  in  a  passage  quoted  by  M.  Delalain,  has 
confused  the  two  works. 

Du  Pre  evidently  had  a  certain  legal  and  official 
connexion,  and  various  royal  Ordinances  were  en- 
trusted to  him  for  publication.  Thus,  in  1528  he 
was  the  publisher  of  a  collection  of  Ordinances 
made  by  successive  kings  from  Charles  VII.  to 
Francis  I.,  and  it  was  he  who  published  in  con- 
junction with  Jean  Bonhomme  and  Jean  Andre  the 
very  important  Ordinances  on  the  reform  of  justice 
which  Francis  I.  issued  from  Villers-Cotterets  in 

'539- 

From  1537  to  1541  he  published  several  works 

of  a  theological  character,  including  the  Epistles 
of  St.   Paul   (two   editions,    1538   and   1539),  and 


1  *  Le  grand  coustumier  general  de  pra&ique  oultrement  appelle" 
Somme  rurale  '  (Cat.  of  Bibl.  Nat.). 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.      167 

the  Bible  in  Latin  (1541) — both  these  with 
Simon  de  Colines1 — and  two  posthumous  works 
by  Guillaume  Petit,  the  king's  confessor,  '  Hortus 
fidei  apostolorum '  (1537),  and 'La  formation  de 
Thomme,'  with  other  treatises  (1538).  He  still 
continued  his  interest  in  history,  publishing  in  1535 
the  '  Supplementum  Chronicorum,'  a  history  of  the 
world  by  Filippo  Foresti  of  Bergamo  (this  in  con- 
junction with  Simon  de  Colines),  and  issuing  new 
editions  of  Nicole  Gilles  (1547,  1549,  I553),2and 
as  we  have  seen,  of  Commines.  To  these  he  added 
the  first  history  of  France  that  was  written  after 
classical  models,  the  '  De  rebus  gestis  Francorum 
libri  X.,'  by  Paolo  Emilio,  of  Verona,  originally 
published,  in  four  books  only,  in  1517.  This  was 
the  first  edition  of  the  complete  work.  Another 
humanist  who,  like  Paolo  Emilio,  illustrates  the 
intellectual  relations  which  were  established  between 
France  and  the  north  of  Italy  as  a  result  of  the  wars 
of  Charles  VIII.  and  Louis  XII.,  was  Claude  de 
Seyssel,  a  native  of  Savoy,  who,  coming  to  France 
in  1498,  did  good  service  as  a  statesman  and  diplo- 
matist, and  after  taking  orders  became  bishop  of 
Marseilles,  and  'finally  archbishop  of  Turin.  He 
was  an  eager  student,  and  his  translations  with  the 
help  of  Latin  versions  of  the  principal  Greek  his- 
torians, did  much  to  promote  true  historical  study 
in  France.  In  1541,  and  again  in  1558,  Galliot 
Du  Pre  reprinted  his  c  La  Grande  Monarchic  de 


1  See  M.  Renouard,  *  Bibliographic  des  editions  de  Simon  de 
Colines,'  1894. 

2  With  J.  de  Roigny.     See  *  Gibson  Craig  Cat.,'  No.  1093. 


1 68         A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

France,'1  written  at  the  beginning  of  1515,  and 
first  printed  in  1519,  a  year  before  the  author's 
death.  This  little  volume  of  1541,  which  also 
contains  a  treatise  on  the  Salic  law  by  some  un- 
known author,  has  two  features  of  interest  apart 
from  its  contents.  In  the  first  place,  the  printer 
uses  a  barred  c  e,'  though  by  no  means  consis- 
tently, for  c  e '  mute,  and  this  nine  years  before 
Jacques  Peletier  (who  is  said  to  have  invented  it) 
published  his  c  Dialogue  de  1'Ortografe  e  Pronon- 
ciacion '  (1550).  Secondly,  its  title-page  has  a 
charming  architectural  border  representing  an  arch 
supported  by  classical  columns,  between  the  bases 
of  which  are  seated  a  pair  of  lovers,  with  a  lute  near 
them.  The  printer  was  Denys  Janot,  who,  from 
1539  to  his  death  in  1545,  issued  books  which  are 
remarkable  for  the  excellence  of  their  woodcuts. 
One  of  these,  also  printed  for  Du  Pre  in  1539  or 
1541,  is  a  volume  containing  the  '  De  Officiis'  and 
four  other  treatises  of  Cicero  in  French.  Each 
part  has  a  charming  title-page.2 

Galliot  Du  Pre's  title-pages,  though  inferior  in 
beauty  to  those  of  many  of  his  contemporaries,  some- 
times show  much  elegance  and  good  taste.  The  title 
is  often  effectively  printed  in  red  and  black.  His 
favourite  mark  or  device  is  a  galley,  which  appears 
in  two  forms :  a  large  one,  in  which  it  is  rowed  by 
monks,  and  a  smaller  one,  in  which  the  oarsmen  are 
black.  Both  have  the  motto,  Vogue  la guallee.  The 

1  The  Cambridge  University  Library  has  a  copy  of  the  1541 
edition,  of  which  the  printing  (by  Denys  Janot)  was  finished  on 
3 1st  December  [1540]. 

2  Brunet,  II.,  54. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.       169 

larger  device  is  rarely,  if  ever,  placed  on  the  title- 
page,  but  is  printed  on  a  separate  page,  usually  at 
the  end  of  the  volume.  Sometimes  he  employs  a 
third  mark,  that  of  a  horse,  but  always  in  conjunction 
with  an  architectural  border  composed  of  four 
separate  pieces.  This  is  a  common  form  of  title- 
page  for  his  folios.  In  the  'Froissart'  of  1530, 
printed  by  Antoine  Cousteau,  the  small  galley  is 
used  as  well  as  this  border,  and  the  whole  title-page, 
which  is  printed  in  red  and  black,  has  a  stately  and 
dignified  appearance.  Other  noteworthy  title-pages 
are  those  of  the  'Roman  de  la  Rose'  of  1531,  a 
small  folio,  which  has  a  charming  border,  the 
'Roman  de  la  Rose  '  of  1529,'  with  a  delightful 
woodcut  of  a  man  picking  roses,  and  the  'Chartier' 
of  the  same  year.2 

A  few  publications  still  remain  to  be  noticed. 
We  have  seen  that  in  1531  Du  Pre  published  a 
French  translation  of  the  unauthorised  version  of 
Guevara's  '  Libro  aureo.'  In  1 540  he  issued  under 
the  title  of'  L'horloge  des  princes,' 3  a  version  made 
from  the  enlarged  and  first  authentic  edition,  which 
bore  the  additional  title  of '  El  relox  de  principes.'  In 
1544  he  published  in  a  single  volume,  '  Du  mepris 
de  la  Court,'  a  translation,  by  Antoine  Aleigre,  of 
Guevara's  '  Menosprecio  de  la  Corte,'  and  several 
poems  on  the  subject  of  love,  which,  mainly  under 
the  inspiration  of  Margaret  of  Navarre,  was  a 

1  Library  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge ;  reproduced  in  A.  Lang's 
*  The  Library.' 

2  Reproduced  in  A.  Lang's  *  Books  and  Bookmen.' 

3  This  volume  has  a  large  woodcut  representing  Francis  I.  sur- 
rounded by  his  Court  ('Cat.  Didot,'  1879,  No.  224). 


170         A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER  OF 

favourite  topic  at  this  time.  So  too,  'L'institution 
de  la  femme  chrestienne,'  a  French  translation  by 
Pierre  de  Changy  of  the  '  De  institutione  chris- 
tianae  foeminae '  of  Louis  Vives,1  which  Du  Pre 
published  in  the  following  year  (1545),  has  a  dis- 
tin£t  bearing  on  the  general  question  of  the  character 
of  women.  In  the  following  year,  it  may  be  noted, 
Rabelais  published  the  '  Third  Book  of  Pantagruel,' 
in  which  this  time-honoured  topic  is  handled  with 
consummate  wit  and  considerable  impartiality.2 

In  1541  Du  Pre  published  two  Latin  works,  the 
£De  magistratibus  atheniensium  liber,'  of  Guillaume 
Postel,  and  c  Historiae  Ecclesiasticae  scriptores 
Latini,'  sharing  the  latter  publication  with  Fran£ois 
Regnault  the  younger,  the  bookseller  and  printer 
who  had  poured  so  many  service-books  into  the 
English  market.3  This  was  probably  Regnault's  last 
publication,  for  he  died  between  23rd  November, 
1540,  and  2 1  st  June,  1541.* 

In  1543  Du  Pre  published  a  French  translation 
of  Laclantius  by  Rene  Fame,  and  in  the  following 
year  c  Le  Guidon  des  gens  de  guerre/  by  Michel 
d'Amboise  (L'Esc/ave  fortune).'^  Of  greater  in- 
terest is  another  work  on  the  art  of  war,  which  he 
published  jointly  with  Michael  Vascosan  in  1548,  for 
in  the  preface  the  authorship  is  attributed  to  Guil- 
laume Du  Bellay,  amongst  whose  papers  the  manu- 

1  First  published  in  1524.     The  French  translation  was  first 
printed  in  1543.     There  is  also  a  Lyons  edition  of  1545. 

2  See  for  the  whole  subject  Abel  Lefranc  in  '  Revue  des  6tudes 
rabelaisiennes,'  II.,  iff.  and  ySff. 

3  See  E.  G.  Duff,  op.  cit.,  pp.  207-8. 
•»  Renouard,  *  Imprimeurs  Parisiens.' 

5  1 5th  March,  1543  (154!  ?).     There  is  a  modern  reprint  of  this. 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.       171 

script  was  found.  It  is  entitled  *  Instructions  sur 
le  faict  de  la  guerrre.' '  A  second  edition,  published 
in  1549,  has  the  additional  words,  '  extraicles  des 
livres  de  Polybe,  Frontin,  Vegece,  Cornazan, 
Machiavelle  et  plusieurs  autres  bons  auteurs.'2  M. 
Bourrilly  has  shown  that  the  author  is  certainly  not 
Du  Bellay,  but  in  all  probability  Raimond  de  Rouer, 
sieur  de  Fourquevaux.3  Du  Pre  and  Vascosan 
issued  a  third  edition  in  1553. 

Finally,  in  1559,  Du  Pre  brought  out  the  col- 
lected writings  of  Georges  de  Selve,  Bishop  of 
Lavaur,  a  diplomatist  of  some  distinction,  who  with 
the  help  of  his  friend  and  protege^  and  successor  in 
the  bishopric,  Pierre  Danes,  had  translated  eight  of 
Plutarch's  £  Lives,'  and  who  had  died  two  years 
previously.  The  privilege  for  this  publication  is 
dated  ist  August,  1559,  so  that  it  presumably  ap- 
peared before  the  end  of  the  year,  or  at  latest  early 
in  I56o.4  In  April  of  that  year  Galliot  Du  Pre 
died,  and  a  perpetual  mass  was  founded  for  the 
repose  of  his  soul,  facts  which  are  recorded  on  a 
votive  stone,  now  in  the  Musee  de  Cluny,  but 
formerly  placed  in  the  church  where  the  mass  was 
to  be  said.  The  church  nearest  to  Du  Pre's  house 
in  the  rue  des  Marmouzets  was  La  Madeleine,  but 

1  Van  Praet,  III.,  No.  81. 

2  <La  Seilliere  Cat.,'  No.  581. 

3  *  Guillaume  Du  Bellay,'  pp.  324-6. 

4  I  may  mention  here  that  *  L'ordre  tenu  en  I'assemble'e  des  trois 
Estats  convoquez  en  la  ville  de  Tours  par  Charles  VIII.,'  which  in 
the  catalogue  of  the  library  of  Jean  de  Cor  des,  cited  by  M.  Delalain, 
is  assigned  to  the  year  1518,  really  belongs  to  1558,  on  the  first  day 
of  which  the  Estates  were  opened.     The  privilege  is  dated  3151 
December,  1557. 


172  A  PARIS  BOOKSELLER. 

the  inscription  as  well  as  a  carving  on  the  stone 
seem  to  show  that  the  church  in  question  was 
Notre-Dame.  He  left  several  sons,  of  whom  two, 
Pierre  I.  and  Galliot  II.,  succeeded  to  their  father's 
business,  and  for  a  time  carried  it  on  together. 
Then  they  separated,  Pierre  retaining  the  stall  in 
the  Palais  de  Justice,  and  Galliot  taking  a  house  in 
the  rue  Saint-Jacques,  with  the  sign  of  the  Golden 
Galley.  Pierre  died  in  1570  or  1571,  and  in  1572 
his  widow,  after  publishing  in  that  year  a  book  on 
her  own  account,  transferred  her  affections  and  her 
business  to  Abel  L'Angelier,  the  publisher  of  the 
1588  edition  of  Montaigne's  'Essays.'  Galliot  II., 
who  was  appointed  a  libralre  jure,  exercised  his 
profession  till  1580.' 

ARTHUR  TILLEY. 


See  Renouard  and  Delalain. 


'73 


A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY  AND  ITS 
PUBLIC. 

II.— CHILDREN. 

N. 

N  no  direction  has  the  public  library 
made  greater  advances  of  recent  years 
than  in  the  attention  given  to  the  needs 
of  children ;  not  merely  to  the  supply 
__  of  books  suitable  for  children,  but  to 

the  relation  of  public  libraries  to  other  educational 
institutions.  This  movement  is  in  its  infancy,  yet 
already  the  re-actionaries  are  at  work  disparaging 
the  efforts  of  those  who  are  bold  enough  to  try 
experiments. 

I  propose  to  set  down  the  steps  we  have  taken 
to  provide  for  the  reading  of  children,  with  the 
reasons  for  the  methods  adopted. 

Like  many  other  public  libraries  we  tried  to 
provide  books  for  boys  and  girls  through  the 
ordinary  lending  library — at  that  time  we  had  no 
branches.  The  efforts  made  met  with  instantane- 
ous appreciation.  Directly  school-hours  were  over 
our  counters  were  crowded  with  eager  boys  and 
girls.  Every  Saturday,  and  during  the  holidays, 
we  were  overwhelmed  with  these  youthful  readers. 
It  was  evident  that  there  was  urgent  need  of 
proper  arrangements  for  supplying  books  to  chil- 
dren. It  was  also  clear  that  some  other  means 
than  the  public  library  must  be  brought  into  action, 


i74          A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

or  the  adults  would  be  driven  from  the  use  of  the 
lending  libraries  on  account  of  the  crowds  of  chil- 
dren constantly  at  the  counters.  A  separate  counter 
only  met  the  difficulty  to  a  limited  extent.  The 
purchase  of  suitable  books  to  meet  the  heavy 
demand,  the  cost  of  repairs,  rebinding,  renewals, 
and  of  the  extra  staff,  threatened  to  swamp  the 
book-fund  available  under  the  limited  rate. 

It  was  also  evident  that  restraint  was  desirable  as 
to  the  number  of  books  a  child  might  borrow,  and 
that  some  guiding  influence  must  be  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  children's  reading,  if  the  best  results 
were  to  be  obtained. 

An  appeal  to  the  School  Board  to  relieve  the 
situation  by  providing  libraries  in  the  schools  met 
with  a  cold  refusal,  and  for  a  time  we  were  non- 
plussed. Yet  we  struggled  on. 

Our  next  step  was  to  put  forward  a  scheme  for 
a  closer  union  between  the  library  and  the  schools. 
In  the  autumn  of  the  year  1896  a  conference  was 
held  with  the  head  teachers  of  the  public  schools, 
to  discuss  the  possibility  of  using  the  library  as  an 
aid  to  the  schools.  To  demonstrate  the  feasibility 
of  the  proposals  it  was  agreed  that  every  school 
should  send  to  the  library,  once  in  the  year,  a  party 
of  forty  children,  selected  from  the  upper  standards, 
to  receive  a  lesson  illustrated  with  such  books  as 
the  library  then  possessed.  This  subject  has  been 
fully  dealt  with  in  two  papers  written  at  the  time.1 

1 1  The  Public  Libraries  and  the  Schools :  an  Experiment.' — 
('The  Library,'  ist  Series,  Vol.  IX.,  239.)  'School  Children  in 
the  Public  Libraries :  a  Sequel.' — ('  Library  Association  Record,' 
February,  1899.)  The  two  PaPers  were  reprinted  and  published 
by  Sotheran  &  Co.,  1899.  Price  is.  6d. 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  175 

This  system  was  continued  for  some  years.  It 
was  a  strain  to  give  the  demonstration  on  four  days 
in  each  week  for  a  period  of  about  six  months  in 
each  year,  but  I  was  struggling  to  establish  a 
principle  in  library  work,  and  the  strong  support 
of  the  Libraries'  Committee,  the  teachers,  and  the 
Chief  Inspector  of  schools,  was  a  great  encourage- 
ment ;  and  when,  later,  the  School  Board  expressed 
approval,  I  felt  that  the  efforts  had  been  worth  the 
labour.  The  fathers  and  mothers  of  the  children 
also  appreciated  what  was  being  done,  and  in  the 
end  a  solid  body  of  opinion  was  created  in  favour  of 
the  library,  which  has  never  been  lost.  The  people 
realised  as  they  had  never  done  before  that  the 
library  was  a  valuable  factor  in  the  life  of  the  town. 

Within  three  years  a  second  appeal  was  made  to 
the  School  Board  to  assist  in  establishing  school 
libraries,  and  this  time  with  a  very  different  result. 
A  sub-committee  of  the  School  Board  was  appointed 
to  confer  with  the  Public  Libraries'  Committee. 
At  the  outset  of  the  conference  the  School  Board 
representatives  stated  that  they  recognised  the 
Public  Library  as  the  successor  of  the  schools 
in  carrying  on  the  work  of  education,  and  that 
it  was  of  the  utmost  importance  to  put  children 
into  close  touch  with  the  Public  Library  before  they 
left  school,  in  order  that  they  might  move  easily 
from  the  one  to  the  other.  This  statement  cleared 
the  way.  A  joint  scheme  of  organisation  for  the 
school  libraries  was  agreed  to,  the  School  Board  to 
defray  the  cost  of  books,  bookcases,  stationery,  and 
bookbinding,  the  Public  Library  to  find  the  service 
for  organisation,  direction,  and  supervision,  while 


176          A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

the  distribution  of  the  books  to  the  children  was 
to  be  made  by  the  teachers. 

Various  attempts  had  been  made  from  time  to 
time  by  enthusiastic  teachers  to  provide  school 
libraries.  From  concerts,  subscriptions,  and  other 
sources,  funds  were  obtained  to  purchase  books, 
and  as  long  as  the  books  lasted  these  voluntary 
libraries  were  successful.  They  failed,  however, 
when  the  books  fell  to  pieces,  as  there  were  no 
funds  for  repairs  and  rebinding ;  and  when  the 
books  had  been  read  to  death,  there  was  no  money 
to  replace  them.  The  life  of  a  teacher  in  a  public 
school  is  a  busy  one ;  there  is  nothing  to  spare  in 
the  way  of  energy  for  extras ;  and  the  school  library 
under  the  voluntary  principle  was  an  extra  of  a 
trying  nature. 

If  the  system  of  school  libraries  was  to  be  per- 
manent, and  such  as  would  not  break  down  by  its 
own  weight,  it  was  clear  that  a  regular  fund  for 
maintenance  must  be  forthcoming,  and  that  as 
little  as  possible  of  the  work  entailed  must  fall  upon 
the  teachers. 

To  meet  the  financial  difficulty  the  School  Board 
agreed  to  adopt  a  principle  well  known  in  the 
South  Wales  coal  trade,  the  sliding  scale.  Six- 
pence per  scholar  per  annum,  calculated  upon  the 
average  attendance  at  all  schools  (except  infants) 
under  the  Board  was  the  basis  adopted.  What 
were  then  called  Voluntary  Schools  were  not  in- 
cluded at  first,  though  they  came  in  later  under  the 
Education  Act  of  1902.  An  extra  grant  of  £200 
was  made  in  the  first  year  to  defray  the  cost  of 
library  cupboards,  and  other  initial  expenses. 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  177 

To  avoid  throwing  undue  extra  work  upon  the 
the  teachers,  it  was  agreed  that  the  staff  of  the 
Public  Library  should,  under  the  direction  of  a 
ioint  committee,  do  all  the  work  of  organisation 
up  to  the  point  where  the  books  were  ready  for 
distribution  to  the  children.  Each  school  library 
was  therefore  handed  over  to  the  teachers  ready  for 
work,  the  teachers  undertaking  to  give  out  books  for 
home  reading  on  one  afternoon  in  each  week,  regis- 
tering the  books  as  they  went  out  and  came  back. 

All  repairs  and  rebinding,  the  renewal  of  worn- 
out  books,  an  annual  stock-taking,  and  a  report  on 
the  work  of  the  year,  were  undertaken  by  the 
library  staff.  In  addition  to  this,  in  the  early 
years  the  groups  were  exchanged  between  the 
different  schools,  so  that  each  school  received  a 
fresh  group  yearly.  This  sounds  very  attractive, 
but  it  was  found  to  have  serious  drawbacks. 
Teachers  complained  loudly  if  a  group  which  had 
done  service  in  a  rough  district  was  sent  to  a  better 
district,  while  after  the  second  year  it  was  found  to 
be  impracticable  to  trace  careless  usage  of  the 
books.  The  teachers  in  increasing  numbers  re- 
quested to  be  allowed  to  retain  the  same  library 
year  after  year,  and  at  the  end  of  five  years  the 
committee  decided  to  discontinue  the  exchange 
plan.  Every  library  was  increased  to  a  minimum 
of  200  books ;  in  large  schools  over  500  books  are 
necessary  in  each  department.  To  provide  some 
variety  of  choice  it  was  decided  to  replace  '  worn- 
outs  '  by  substituting  other  books.  A  few  teachers 
still  express  a  desire  for  the  exchange  system,  but 
on  the  whole  the  non-exchange  plan  works  best. 

IX.  N 


178          A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

A  point  which  caused  some  difficulty  at  the 
outset  was  whether  one  library  would  serve  both 
departments  of  a  school,  boys  and  girls.  There 
was  no  precedent  to  guide  the  committee,  but  a 
careful  consideration  of  the  school  organisation  led 
to  a  decision  in  favour  of  separate  libraries,  and 
experience  has  shown  the  conclusion  arrived  at  to 
be  correct. 

During  the  first  sixteen  months  (1899-1900)  the 
number  of  books  lent  to  children  through  the 
school  libraries  was  116,353.  This  was  the 
experimental  period  for  us  all,  children,  teachers, 
and  library  staff.  By  the  following  year  we  had 
settled  down  steadily  to  our  work,  which  went 
quite  smoothly,  the  loans  for  the  year  (September, 
1900  to  July,  1901)  being  153,528. 

Compare  this  with  the  circulation  of  juvenile 
books  from  the  public  library  for  the  year  preceding 
the  opening  of  the  libraries  in  the  schools,  31,419, 
and  the  efficiency  of  the  school  method  of  distri- 
bution is  self-evident. 

During  the  last  school  year  (September,  1906 
to  July,  1907)  the  circulation  through  the  schools 
was  252,771.  After  the  passing  of  the  Education 
A6t,  1902,  the  school  library  system  was  extended 
to  cover  all  public  schools,  except  the  Technical 
Schools,  and  the  boys' and  girls'  Intermediate  Schools 
established  under  the  Welsh  Intermediate  Edu- 
cation A6t;  these  being  already  provided  with 
libraries  of  their  own.  At  the  present  time,  there- 
fore, the  entire  public  school  system  of  Cardiff  is 
supplied  with  libraries.  In  the  Elementary  Schools 
one  book  per  scholar  in  average  attendance  is 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  179 

taken  as  the  basis  of  supply,  except  in  small 
schools,  where  a  minimum  of  200  books  is 
allowed. 

The  main  purpose  at  this  stage  is  to  foster  a  love 
of  good  reading,  to  keep  children  from  pernicious 
literature,  by  supplying  books  well  selected,  and  to 
so  accustom  the  children  to  the  best  reading  from 
the  time  they  first  learn  to  read,  that  they  will 
reject  the  mischievous  and  poor  stuff  which  would 
otherwise  be  their  chief  supply.  Guidance  and 
help  at  the  beginning  is  so  much  better  and  easier 
than  correction  later.  To  teach  all  children  to 
read,  and  then  to  turn  them  loose  to  exercise  their 
new-found  power  at  will  is  a  wasteful  proceeding — 
more,  it  is  dangerous,  as  numerous  reports  in  the 
newspapers  from  time  to  time  attest. 

The  local  newspapers  constantly  contain  reports 
of  cases  where  boys  have  got  into  mischief,  ending 
in  the  Police  Court,  through  reading  trashy  litera- 
ture, but  since  the  school  libraries  were  first  started 
in  Cardiff,  not  a  single  such  case  has  occurred 
within  the  area  supplied  with  libraries.  From 
surrounding  towns  they  are  frequently  cropping 
up.  A  very  significant  fact. 

What  kind  of  books  do  we  send  to  the  elemen- 
tary schools  ?  Stories  of  course,  plenty  of  them — 
fairy  tales.,  tales  of  adventure,  school  tales,  the 
classic  tales  for  boys  and  girls.  Childhood  is  the 
time  for  romance,  for  the  feeding  of  the  imagina- 
tion and  the  raising  of  ideals,  and  to  try  to  get 
away  from  this  would  only  result  in  making  prigs 
of  a  few  children  and  failing  with  the  others. 
The  influence  of  good  story  books  in  the  formation 


i8o          A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

of  character  is  very  great.  We  supply  also  other 
books.  Histories,  biographies,  nature  books  in 
plenty,  travel,  elementary  books  describing  engines 
and  other  mechanical  things  which  boys  love, 
books  about  games,  and,  in  fact,  any  sound  healthy 
book  likely  to  appeal  to  a  boy  or  a  girl.  Tastes 
and  inclinations  differ  so  much  that  a  great  variety 
of  dishes  is  essential.  A  few  read  poetry,  not 
many,  alas,  and  we  find  that  volumes  of  selections 
are  the  most  acceptable.  One  thing  the  teachers 
have  told  me  again  and  again.  The  children  who 
read  are  easier  to  teach.  They  have  a  wider 
vocabulary,  can  think  things  out,  grasp  more 
readily  the  meanings  of  lessons,  and  express  them- 
selves better  both  in  speech  and  in  writing. 

In  the  Secondary  and  Pupil  Teachers'  Schools 
the  libraries  are  something  more  than  recreative. 
They  are  planned  to  bear  directly  upon  the  work 
of  the  school,  to  enable  the  teachers  to  use  them 
as  a  supplementary  means  of  enriching  the  lessons. 
Just  as  a  university  without  a  library  would  be  an 
absurdity,  so  is  it  in  a  lesser  degree  with  a  secondary 
school,  and  indeed  with  all  schools.  The  selection 
therefore  includes  a  wider  range  of  books  in  history, 
literature  (including  poetry),  biography,  travel,  and 
geography,  and  the  chief  works  of  the  great  writers 
of  fiction,  as  well  as  popular  works  of  science. 

Some  extensions  not  contemplated  in  the  begin- 
ning have  been  found  necessary  or  desirable.  To 
counteract  the  influence  of  the  poor  pictures  so 
generally  found  in  children's  books,  each  infant 
school  has  a  group  of  well-illustrated  books,  and 
colledtions  of  simple  fairy  tales,  nursery  rhymes, 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  181 

and  other  literature  suitable  for  very  young  children. 
These  are  read  or  shown  to  the  children  on  one 
afternoon  in  each  week.  The  infant  school  collec- 
tions include  the  picture-books  of  Kate  Greenaway 
and  Randolph  Caldecott ;  the  delightful  oblong 
books  containing  tales  in  verse  by  Mrs.  Ewing, 
and  coloured  pictures  by  Andre — most  fascinating 
books  for  little  children — the  selections  in  simple 
language  from  the  Andrew  Lang  fairy  books,  and 
simplified  versions  of  Grimm  and  Hans  Andersen, 
with  plenty  of  illustrations. 

The  success  of  this  part  of  the  scheme  varies  with 
the  teachers.  In  some  schools  the  books  are  con- 
stantly used  and  much  appreciated,  and  in  a  few 
cases,  I  regret  to  say,  the  teachers  quite  fail  to 
grasp  the  value  of  the  idea,  and  the  books  are  kept 
in  a  cupboard  from  one  stocktaking  to  the  next, 
being  never  used. 

It  was  also  found  necessary  to  make  special  pro- 
for  the  Blind,  for  Defective  Children,  and  for  the 
Oral  School  for  the  Deaf.  The  blind  are  supplied 
with  embossed  books  for  home  reading,  selected 
from  the  stock  at  the  public  library  and  lent  through 
the  teacher.  This  has  not  altogether  been  sufficient, 
as  the  public  library  books  for  the  blind  were 
selected  with  a  view  to  adults,  and  the  solution 
will  probably  be  found  by  subscribing  to  the 
National  Lending  Library  for  the  Blind.  This 
proposal  is,  however,  in  abeyance  for  the  moment, 
as  the  continuance  of  the  School  for  the  Blind  on 
its  present  basis  is  uncertain. 

With  regard  to  the  centres  for  the  deaf  and  for 
defective  children,  special  attention  has  been  given 


1 82          A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

to  the  sele6tion  of  books  illustrated  in  such  a  way 
as  to  be  a  help  to  the  teachers  in  the  very  difficult 
task  of  dealing  with  these  two  classes  of  children. 
It  has  been  found  in  practice  that  pictures  of 
common  objects,  accurately  drawn  and  coloured, 
are  of  the  greatest  use,  and  many  of  the  books  sup- 
plied to  the  infant  schools  have  been  included. 
The  number  of  books  at  present  in  these  sections 
is  about  eighty  each. 

With  the  extensions  rendered  possible  by  the 
Education  Act  of  1902,  the  scheme  for  supplying 
reading  to  children  attending  school  is  complete, 
and  enabled  the  Public  Libraries'  Committee  and 
the  Education  Committee  to  agree  i  that  children 
attending  public  schools  supplied  with  libraries  be 
not  in  future  allowed  to  hold  borrowing  tickets 
from  the  public  libraries,  except  upon  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  head  teachers  of  the  schools  which 
the  children  attend.' 

To  facilitate  the  transfer  of  children  from  the 
school  library  to  the  public  library,  either  when 
they  leave  school,  or  earlier  if  the  head  teacher 
thinks  fit,  each  head  teacher  is  supplied  with  a 
books  of  forms  for  recommending  children  as  bor- 
rowers at  the  public  libraries,  and  the  presentation 
of  one  of  these  forms  duly  signed  by  the  teacher 
entitles  the  child  to  a  borrowing  ticket,  which 
remains  in  force  for  a  year.  The  recommendation 
of  the  teacher  does  not  involve  any  guarantee,  the 
responsibility  being  accepted  by  the  libraries.  For 
the  ten  years  that  this  system  has  been  in  operation 
only  two  or  three  books  of  trifling  value  have  been 
lost  through  holders  of  such  tickets. 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  183 

Thus  far  have  we  gone  in  organizing  the  supply 
of  home  reading  for  children  in  Cardiff.  The 
adoption  of  the  minute  just  quoted  brings  the 
home  reading  of  children  under  the  control  of  the 
teachers,  so  long  as  the  children  remain  in  school, 
and  prevents  the  over-lapping  of  the  two  sources 
of  supply.  At  the  same  time  it  gives  the  teachers 
full  power  to  transfer  children  to  the  Public  Library 
when  desirable.  With  the  present  excellent  school 
libraries  most  children  will  find  sufficient  reading 
for  the  full  term  of  school  life,  and  they  will  better 
appreciate  the  wider  choice  of  the  public  library 
on  leaving  school.  It  also  leaves  the  public 
libraries  clear  for  other  work,  by  relieving  the 
pressure  on  the  Juvenile  department. 

By  placing  the  reading  of  school  children  under 
the  control  of  the  teachers,  instead  of  the  library 
staff,  a  valuable  point  has  been  gained.  The 
teachers  know  the  children  individually.  Each 
teacher  has  only  a  limited  number  of  children 
to  deal  with,  and  knows  every  one  of  them.  A 
librarian  could  never  know  more  than  one  here 
and  there,  and  having  to  deal  with  such  large 
numbers,  guidance  would  be  impossible,  and 
restraint  difficult,  because  a  child  may  get  one 
book  per  day  from  the  public  library,  while  in  the 
school  one  book  per  week  is  the  limit.  The 
exceptional  child  can,  with  the  sanction  of  the 
head-teacher,  be  allowed  a  more  liberal  supply  by 
transfer  to  the  public  library. 

Of  course  the  Public  Library  retains  the  Juvenile 
department  in  each  lending  library  for  the  supply 
of  books  to  young  people  who  have  left  school, 


1 84          A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

and  for  those  who  do  not  attend  public  schools. 
The  circulation  of  juvenile  books  for  home  rerding 
from  the  Central  Library  and  five  branches  last 
year  was  rather  more  than  double  what  it  was  the 
year  before  the  school  libraries  were  instituted. 

From  the  teachers  we  have  always  had  very 
loyal  support.  It  is  largely  due  to  their  recom- 
mendations that  the  supply  has  gradually  been 
extended  to  cover  the  entire  school.  At  first  it 
was  thought  that  children  below  Standard  IV. 
need  not  be  provided  for.  This  was  theory. 
Experience  has  shown  that  to  be  really  effective, 
good  reading  must  be  available  from  the  time  the 
child  is  able  to  read.  If  not,  the  Saturday  penny 
goes  to  swell  the  pockets  of  purveyors  of  literature, 
which  I  would  certainly  not  allow  my  own  children 
to  read. 

We  have  also  found  by  experience,  that  a 
number  of  children  have  few  or  no  opportunities 
of  reading  at  home,  that  they  are  driven  into  the 
streets  evening  after  evening,  in  all  weathers,  where 
they  contract  bad  habits,  bad  morals,  and  bad 
health.  To  meet  this  we  have  erected  Children's 
Halls  as  part  of  two  branch  libraries.  These  were 
started  a  year  ago,  and  they  are  open  from  4.30 
to  8  on  five  days,  and  from  2.30  to  8  on  Saturdays. 
They  are  each  in  charge  of  a  Lady  Superintendent, 
who  also  devotes  a  couple  of  hours  daily  to  visiting 
the  schools  in  her  district,  arranging  for  illustrated 
lessons,  for  books  to  be  lent  to  teachers  bearing  on 
school  work,  and  in  other  ways  promoting  that 
union  between  schools  and  libraries,  which  it  has 
been  our  aim  to  create. 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  185 

It  is  too  soon  yet  to  say  much  about  the  work 
of  the  Children's  Halls.  So  far,  they  have  done 
just  what  we  expected.  The  attendance  each  day 
ranges  from  80  to  200  at  each  hall,  varying  with 
the  weather,  which  is  in  itself  an  excellent  thing, 
because  we  do  not  seek  to  draw  children  from 
healthy  out-door  recreations.  The  illustrated 
lessons  given  to  classes  from  the  schools  during  the 
morning  hours  have  worked  well  in  one  district, 
and  indifferently  in  the  other.  Saturday  is  the 
slackest  day  in  each  district,  and  such  lectures  as 
are  arranged  for  children  are  given  on  the  evening 
of  that  day  from  7  to  8.  We  arranged  for  this 
winter  eight  lectures  at  each  hall,  admitting  by 
tickets  only  distributed  through  the  teachers. 
This  was  necessary  in  order  to  keep  the  numbers 
within  the  accommodation.  The  lectures  are  very 
popular ;  a  lantern  is  always  used. 

Through  the  accident  of  good  fortune  we  have 
been  able  to  try  experiments  in  Cardiff  which  have 
some  bearing  upon  the  development  of  the  library 
system.  I  feel  that  in  time  it  will  be  generally 
recognised  that  the  work  of  the  Public  Libraries 
must  begin  where  the  Public  Schools  cease,  with 
such  dovetailing  as  will  make  the  passage  from  one 
to  the  other  easy,  and  more  or  less  sure.  The  pro- 
vision of  books  for  children  attending  school  forms 
part  of  the  work  entrusted  to  the  education  autho- 
rities, under  whose  auspices  children  are  taught  to 
read,  and  whose  teachers  are  best  qualified  to  guide 
and  restrain  their  pupils. 

JOHN  BALLINGER. 


i86 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

i  HE  excursion  of  Anatole  France 
into  history  has  been  looked  for  with 
the  greatest  interest.  The  first  volume 
of  his  'Vie  de  Jeanne  d'Arc'  is  now 
before  the  public.  It  takes  us  to  the 
coronation  of  Charles  VII.  at  Reims. 

Not  the  least  interesting  part  of  the  book  is  the 
preface.  It  opens  with  a  careful  survey  of  the 
works  already  published  on  the  subject — c  une 
opulente  bibliotheque.'  What  M.  France  chiefly 
gathers  from  them  is  that  Joan  of  Arc  in  her  life- 
time was  only  known  by  fables,  and  that  she  was 
already  a  saint,  with  all  the  attributes  of  saintship, 
in  the  fifteenth  century.  She  belonged,  indeed,  to 
that  religious  group  of  visionaries  or  mystics  of 
which,  perhaps,  St.  Catherine  of  Siena  may  be 
taken  as  a  type.  M.  France  considers  Joan  abso- 
lutely sincere,  and  that  astonishing  and  extra- 
ordinary as  was  the  mission  with  which  she 
believed  herself  entrusted,  and  to  which  she 
devoted  her  life,  it  was  not  more  extraordinary 
than  things  that  had  already  been  attempted  by 
saints  in  the  order  of  human  affairs. 

A  few  paragraphs  are  devoted  to  following  the 
Maid's  memory  through  the  ages.  He  sums  up 
thus : — 

*  Les  figures  de  la  poesie  et  de  Thistoire  ne  vivent  dans 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.     187 

la  pense"e  des  peuples  qu'a  la  condition  de  se  transformer 
sans  cesse.  La  foule  humaine  ne  saurait  s'interesser  a  un 
personnage  des  vieux  ages  si  elle  ne  lui  pr£tait  pas  ses 
propres  sentiments  et  ses  propres  passions.  Apres  avoir 
etc  associ£e  a  la  monarchic  de  droit  divin,  la  m£moire  de 
Jeanne  d'Arc  fut  rattachee  a  I'unit6  nationale  que  cette 
monarchic  avait  pr£paree;  elle  devint,  dans  la  France 
imp^riale  et  republicaine,  le  symbole  de  la  patrie.  Certes, 
la  fille  d'Isabelle  Rom6e  n'avait  pas  plus  l'id£e  de  la  patrie 
telle  qu'on  le  consoit  aujourd'hui,  qu'elle  n'avait  1'idee 
de  la  propri6t6  fonciere  qui  en  est  la  base ;  elle  ne  se 
figurait  rien  de  semblable  a  ce  que  nous  appelons  la 
nation ;  c'est  une  chose  toute  moderne ;  mais  elle  se 
figurait  1'heritage  des  rois  et  le  domaine  de  la  Maison  de 
France.  Et  c'est  bien  la  tout  de  me'me,  dans  ce  domaine 
et  dans  cet  heritage,  que  les  Fran9ais  se  rdunirent  avant 
de  se  reunir  dans  la  patrie. 

c  Les  plus  hautes  entreprises  perissent  dans  leur  deTaite 
et  plus  surement  encore,  dans  leur  victoire.  Le  devoue- 
ment  qui  les  inspira  demeure  en  immortel  exemple.  .  .  . 
Sa  folie  fut  plus  sage  que  la  sagesse,  car  ce  fut  la  folie  du 
martyre,  sans  laquelle  les  hommes  n'ont  encore  rien  fonde 
de  grand  et  d'utile  dans  le  monde.' 

The  reflections  on  the  '  art  malaise  *  of  writing 
history  are  fresh  and  original.  In  order  to  feel  the 
spirit  of  a  past  age,  to  become  the  contemporary  of 
men  of  a  bygone  era,  the  historian,  according  to 
M.  France,  should  make  a  very  leisurely  study,  and 
bestow  on  it  loving  care.  The  difficulty,  however, 
lies  not  so  much  in  what  it  is  necessary  to  know,  as 
in  what  it  is  necessary  to  forget. 

*  Si  vraiment  nous  voulons  vivre  au  XVe  siecle,  que  de 
choses  nous  devons  oublier :  sciences,  m6thodes,  toutes 
les  acquisitions  qui  fcfnt  de  nous  des  modernes  1  Nous 
devons  oublier  que  la  terre  est  ronde  et  que  les  £toiles 


1 88    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

sont  des  soleils,  et  non  des  lampes  suspendues  a  une 
voute  de  cristal,  oublier  le  systeme  du  monde  de  Laplace 
pour  ne  croire  qu'a  la  science  de  Saint  Thomas,  de  Dante, 
et  de  ces  cosmographes  du  moyen  age  qui  nous  enseign- 
ent  la  creation  en  sept  jours  et  la  fondation  des  royaumes 
par  les  fils  de  Priam,  apres  la  destruction  de  Troye  la 
Grande.  Tel  historien,  tel  paleographe  est  impuissant  a 
nous  faire  comprendre  les  contemporains  de  la  Pucelle. 
Ce  n'est  pas  le  savoir  qui  lui  manque,  c'est  1'ignorance, 
1'ignorance  de  la  guerre  moderne,  de  la  politique  moderne, 
de  la  religion  moderne.' 

But,  he  continues,  when  once  we  have  forgotten 
as  completely  as  possible  everything  that  has 
happened  since  the  youth  of  Charles  VII.,  we 
require  all  our  intellectual  resources  '  pour  em- 
brasser  1'ensemble  des  evenements  et  decouvrir 
l'enchainement  des  effets  et  des  causes,'  which 
would  have  escaped  the  contemporaries  of  those 
events.  An  historian  must,  turn  by  turn,  enlarge 
and  diminish  his  view ;  he  should  be  at  one  and 
the  same  time  the  man  of  the  past  and  the  man  of 
the  present.  M.  France  tells  us  that  this  is  what 
he  has  attempted.  He  has  visited  the  towns  and 
villages  where  the  events  he  relates  took  place,  and 
has  imagined  them  as  they  were  500  years  ago. 
He  has  studied  the  old  monuments,  images,  and 
miniatures.  He  has  tried  to  live  the  life  of  men 
long  since  passed  away,  to  penetrate  their  souls, 
and  to  reveal  the  spirit,  the  manners,  and  the  beliefs 
of  their  time. 

In  style  and  diction  M.  France  preserves  as  far 
as  possible  the  tone  of  the  epoch,  and  employs 
archaic  forms  by  preference,  provided  they  are 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    189 

intelligible,  and  he  does  this,  he  says,  because 
modern  terms  cannot  be  substituted  for  the  old 
ones  without  changing  sentiment  and  characler. 
The  style  is  colloquial  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word, 
and  of  enchanting  lucidity.  Its  simplicity  recalls 
Keats's  phrase,  '  that  large  utterance  of  the  early 
gods/  The  following  passage  will,  it  is  hoped, 
serve  as  an  illustration,  but  the  book  is  not  one  that 
readily  lends  itself  to  quotation,  so  skilfully  is  the 
unity  of  the  composition  preserved. 

*  Les  Orl£anais,  en  attendant  le  jour  incertain  et  lointain 
oil  ils  seraient  ainsi  garde's,  continuerent  a  se  garden  eux- 
me'mes  de  leur  mieux.  Mais  ils  6taient  soucieux  et  non 
sans  raison.  Car  s'ils  veillaient  a  ce  que  1'ennemi  ne 
put  entrer,  ils  ne  de"couvraient  aucun  moyen  de  le  chasser 
bientot.  ...  Ils  voyaient  le  siege  se  poursuivre  avec 
une  terrible  rigueur.  Agites  de  doutes  et  de  craintes, 
bruits  d'inquidtude,  sans  sommeil,  sans  repos,  et  n'avan- 
9ant  a  rien,  ils  commensaient  a  ddsesperer.  Tout  a  coup, 
nait,  s'6tend,  grandit  une  rumeur  Strange. 

On  apprend  que  par  la  ville  de  Sien  a  passe"  nouvelle- 
ment  une  pucelle  annongant  qu'elle  se  rendait  a  Chinon 
aupres  du  gentil  dauphin  et  se  disant  envoye'e  de  Dieu 
pour  faire  lever  le  siege  d'Orl£ans  et  sacrer  le  roi  a  Reims. 

Dans  le  langage  familier,  une  pucelle  £tait  une  fille 
d'humble  condition,  gagnant  sa  vie  a  travailler  de  ses 
mains,  et  particulierement  une  servante.  Aussi  nommait- 
on  pucelles  les  fontaines  de  plomb  dont  on  se  servait  dans 
les  cuisines.  Le  terme  e"tait  vulgaire  sans  doute ;  mais  il 
ne  se  prenait  pas  en  mauvais  part.  II  s'appliquait  a  une 
fille  sage,  de  bonne  vie  et  moeurs. 

Cette  nouvelle,  qu'une  petite  sainte  d'humble  condition, 
une  pauvresse  du  Notre-Seigneur,  apportait  secours  divin 
aux  Orl£anais  frappa  vivement  les  esprits  que  la  peur 
tournait  a  la  deVotion  et  qu'exaltait  la  fievre  du  siege.  .  .  . 


1 90    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

Pucelle  guerriere  et  pacifique,  beguine,  prophetesse, 
magicienne,  ange  du  Seigneur,  ogresse,  chacun  dans  le 
peuple  la  voit  a  sa  fagon,  la  r6ve  a  son  image.  Les  aTnes 
pieuses  lui  pretent  une  invincible  douceur  et  les  tresors 
divins  de  la  charite ;  les  simples  la  font  simple  comme 
eux ;  les  hommes  violents  et  grossiers  se  la  representent 
ainsi  qu'une  geante  burlesque  et  terrible.  Pourra-t-on 
desormais  apercevoir  quelques  traits  de  son  veritable 
visage?  La  voila  des  la  premiere  heure  et  pour  toujours, 
peut-£tre,  enfermee  dans  le  buisson  fleuri  des  legendes ! 

It  would  not  be  just  to  discuss  the  value  of  this 
book  as  a  contribution  to  history  until  it  is  finished, 
but  that  it  is  a  piece  of  literature  of  the  highest 
charm  must  be  admitted  by  all  who  read  it.1 

3jf  3|f  $jf  $fc  T& 

Colette  Yver's  novel  'Princesses  de  Science'  has 
made  a  great  sensation  in  Paris.  It  has  sold  in  its 
thousands  and  has  been  awarded  a  prize  by  the 
newspaper  '  La  Vie  Heureuse.'  It  is  written  to 
demonstrate  that  married  women  should  not 
practice  professions.  The  heroine,  a  very  clever 

1  In  quitting  his  'Vie  de  Jeanne  d'Arc'  I  desire  to  offer  my 
apologies  to  M.  Anatole  France  for  having  in  the  last  number  of 
*  The  Library '  spoken  of  '  Les  d£sirs  de  Jean  Servien '  as  a  new 
book.  It  first  appeared  as  long  ago  as  1882,  and  thus  preceded  its 
author's  best  period.  The  error  was  due  to  the  practice  of  certain 
publishers  (and  to  them  I  emphatically  do  not  apologize)  of 
neglecting  to  date  the  title-pages  of  the  books  they  issue,  or  to 
state  on  them  that  the  volume  is  a  re-issue  of  an  old  book. 
Rumours  reach  me  that  representations  are  being  sent  from 
librarians  to  publishers  asking  that  all  books  may  be  honestly  dated, 
and  bear  also  on  the  back  of  their  title-page  the  date  of  their 
original  issue.  Several  firms  already  attend  to  these  points  but  it  is 
much  to  be  wished  that  their  example  should  be  more  generally 
followed  in  France  as  well  as  in  England. 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.     191 

and  successful  woman-doctor,  is  married  to  a  man 
of  the  same  profession.  Absorbed  in  her  work, 
she  neglects  him,  regards  motherhood  as  a  tiresome 
interruption  (her  child  dies  because  of  her  refusal 
to  nurse  him  herself),  and  lets  her  household  go  to 
pieces.  In  the  end  she  gives  up  her  profession, 
but  only  just  in  time  to  save  her  husband's  love. 
In  another  household  where  the  wife  practises 
medicine,  the  husband  takes  to  drink  and  the 
children  are  victims  of  terrible  accidents.  The 
book  is  really  a  'tract'  in  favour  of  the  old  order 
of  things,  in  condemnation  of  the  'femme  cere- 
brale'  (a  horrible  phrase  now  commonly  current  in 
France)  as  wife  and  mother.  As  a  novel  it  is  poor 
stuff.  The  plot  is  common-place,  the  characters 
lifeless  and  the  conversations  very  dull.  No  one 
wins  our  sympathy  unless  it  be  Madame  Jourdeaux, 
the  object  of  the  neglected  husband's  '  amitie 
amoureuse.'  She  has  charm  and  attraction.  The 
problem  should  certainly  lend  itself  to  treatment 
in  a  novel  but  it  cannot  be  said  that  this  author 
has  succeeded  in  using  successfully  the  material 
offered. 

Tired  perhaps  of  translations,  English  publishers 
are  beginning  to  issue  works  by  French  writers  in 
the  original.  The  Oxford  University  Press  has 
just  issued  an  admirably  representative  anthology  of 
French  verse  from  Guillaume  de  Machault  to 
Verlaine.  With  the  critical  introduction  by  Mr.  St. 
John  Lucas  I  am  not  wholly  in  agreement.  I  fancy 
there  is  something  more  in  French  poetry  than 
*  symmetry,  comely  order,  harmony  in  construction, 
and  clearness  in  idea.'  English  critics  always  seem 


1 92    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

to  be  apologizing  for  French  poetry.  Mr.  Bailey 
did  much  the  same  in  his  recent  book.  The  atti- 
tude of  mind  arises,  I  think,  from  the  habit  of 
seeking  in  French  poetry  for  something  that  can- 
not naturally  be  there. 

Two  novels  of  George  Sand  have  lately  appeared 
in  handsome  garb.  They  form  volumes  in  a  series 
under  the  direction  of  Mr.  D.  S.  O'Connor,  and 
are  furnished  with  prefaces  by  distinguished  French 
critics. 

4  Les  Maitres  Sonneurs '  and  '  La  Mare  au  Diable  ' 
are  two  of  the  best  of  George  Sand's  novels  of 
peasant  life.  Emile  Faguet  in  his  preface  to  the 
former  volume  characterises  the  author  as  c  une 
paysanne  qui  avait  du  genie,'  and  declares  that  her 
originality  resided  in  her  c  sentiment  profond  de  la 
nature  rustique.'  He  regards  the  two  novels  men- 
tioned above,  with  c  La  petite  Fadette,'  as  '  des 
chefs-d'ceuvre  incomparables  de  la  litterature  fran- 
9aise,  parcequ'ils  sont — ecrits  par  un  grand  poete — 
les  ouvrages  les  plus  sinceres,  les  plus  personnels,  les 
plus  intimes  qui  aient  ete  ecrits  en  langue  fran9aise.' 
Her  manner  of  seeing  nature,  the  result  of  living 
with  it,  as  it  were,  in  close  intimacy,  places  her 
beside  La  Fontaine  and  Rousseau.  '  La  Fontaine 
est  un  ami  de  la  nature,  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau  en 
est  un  adorateur,  George  Sand  en  est  amoureuse.' 
'  Les  Maitres  Sonneurs '  is,  I  venture  to  think,  less 
well-known  in  this  country  than  it  deserves  to  be. 
I  do  not  hesitate  to  call  '  cette  epopee  rustique, 
cette  Iliade  berrichonne '  a  masterpiece  among 
novels  of  rustic  life.  Rene  Bazin  at  his  best  owes 
not  a  little  to  George  Sand. 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    193 

Far  too  much  has  been  written  of  late  about  George 
Sand's  love  affairs.  Books  of  this  class  are  to  be  de- 
precated. I  have  now  come  across  a  volume  en- 
titled 'Alfred  de  Musset  Intime,'  which  contains  the 
souvenirs  of  his  housekeeper  during  the  last  ten  years 
of  his  life.  She  is  still  living,  and  at  ninety  years  of 
age  her  memory  permits  her  to  write  this  book.  But 
we  could  have  spared  the  details  of  the  poet's  illnesses, 
and  of  some  more  or  less  sordid  love  affairs.  Except 
in  very  rare  cases  a  servant  only  sees  the  little 
things,  the  great  things  it  is  not  in  his  or  her 
power  to  see.  I  am  far  from  denying  that  such 
records  form  an  interesting,  even  an  instructive, 
chapter  in  the  psychology,  or  should  I  say  the 
physiology,  of  the  emotions,  but  writers  would 
perform  a  nobler  and  more  useful  task  if  in  such 
cases  they  directed  the  attention  of  the  public  to 
the  artist  rather  than  to  the  man  or  woman. 

A  book  of  somewhat  similar  character  but 
much  more  attractively  written  is  Leon  Seche's 
'Hortense  Allart  de  Meritens  dans  ses  rapports 
avec  Chateaubriand,  Beranger,  Lamennais,  Sainte- 
Beuve,  G.  Sand,  Mme.  d'Agoult  (Documents 
inedits).'  Hortense  Allart  c  cette  femme  a  la 
Stael'  as  Sainte-Beuve  called  her,  deserves  a  place 
among  the  '  muses  romantiques.'  Among  her 
friends  were  Beranger,  Chateaubriand,  Thiers,  Libri, 
Merimee,  Lamennais,  and  Sainte-Beuve.  Some  of 
them  were  also  her  lovers.  She  actually  pub- 
lished an  account  of  her  relations  with  Chateau- 
briand in  c  Les  Enchantements  de  Prudence.' 

Leon  Seche  has  also  just  edited  her  'Lettres 
inedites  a  Sainte-Beuve  (1841-48)  '  with  an  intro- 

ix.  o 


i94    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

duclion  and  notes.  The  letters  make  good  reading 
and  show  Hortense  both  on  her  intellectual  and 
sentimental  sides.  The  letters  also  serve  to  throw 
light  on  some  points  in  Sainte-Beuve's  career  and 
character. 

The  c  Memoires  du  Baron  Fain,  premier  Secre- 
taire du  Cabinet  de  1'Empereur,'  is  in  its  way  a 
piece  of  'la  vie  intime'  of  Napoleon,  but  on  the 
right  lines.  For  we  see  here  for  the  first  time 
in  Napoleonic  literature,  not  the  warrior  nor  the 
conqueror,  but  the  'moine  militaire'  governing 
and  administering  a  vast  empire  from  his  private 
study.  The  customs  and  methods  that  did  not  pass 
beyond  the  doors  of  the  study  are  disclosed  here 
with  the  sureness  and  detail  of  one  initiated. 
Meneval  has  given  a  slight  sketch  of  the  kind 
elsewhere,  but  Fain  paints  a  finished  and  vivacious 
picture.  We  are  taken  through  a  whole  day  of 
the  Emperor's  life.  His  secretaries  must  have  had 
a  severe  time,  for  when  Napoleon  dictated,  he 
seemed,  we  are  told,  to  be  conversing  with  an  in- 
visible interlocutor,  isolating  himself  in  an  imaginary 
tete-a-tete  that  no  interrupter  dared  break,  and  often 
pursuing  it  far  into  the  night. 

Frederic  Masson's  latest  contribution  to  Napo- 
leonic literature  is  'Le  sacre  et  couronnement 
de  Napoleon.'  Masson  declares  that  the  more 
Napoleon  is  studied  the  more  difficult  it  is  to  form 
any  opinion  on  his  motives.  He  claims  in  this 
volume  to  have  discovered  some  fresh  ones. 

'  Les  Evangiles  Synoptiques,'  by  Alfred  Loisy: 
published  by  himself,  ('Chez  1'auteur')  is  likely 
to  make  a  stir  in  certain  circles.  The  book 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.     195 

presents,  in  a  purely  scientific  method,  a  translation 
of,  and  commentary  on  the  Gospels.  The  intro- 
duction discusses  the  traditional  testimony  concern- 
ing the  synoptical  gospels,  and  modern  criticism  on 
the  subject,  the  origin  and  composition  of  Mark, 
Matthew  and  Luke,  the  character  and  the  develop- 
ment of  the  tradition  of  the  Gospels,  the  career  of 
Christ  and  his  teaching.  The  literary  form  of  the 
three  Gospels  is  touched  on,  as  well  as  the  preserva- 
tion of  their  text  and  their  principal  interpreters. 

The  study  of  mysticism  offers  great  attraction 
to  many  minds,  and  those  desirous  of  increasing 
their  knowledge  should  turn  to  Henri  Delacroix's 
4  Etudes  d'histoire  et  de  psychologic  du  Mysticisme. 
Les  Grands  Mystiques  Chretiens.'  Three  examples 
are  chosen,  St.  Theresa  and  Spanish  mysticism  of 
the  sixteenth  century  ;  Mme.  Guyon  and  French 
quietism  of  the  seventeenth  century  ;  and  Suso  and 
the  German  school  of  the  fourteenth  century. 
Delacroix  takes  a  material  view  of  the  subject, 
for  he  believes  that  the  most  sublime  conditions  of 
mysticism  do  not  go  beyond  the  power  of  nature. 
Religious  genius  is  sufficient  to  explain  its  strength, 
as  disease  may  explain  its  weakness. 


So  far  as  we  know  Georg  Misch's  *  Geschichte 
der  Autobiographic  '  is  the  first  attempt  at  a 
systematic  history  of  a  very  interesting  literary 
form.  Autobiography  proper  perhaps  did  not 
begin  until  the  eighteenth  century  with  Rousseau, 
Gibbon,  Herder,  and  Goethe.  But  Benvenuto 
Cellini  and  Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury  offer  notable 


196    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

examples  in  an  earlier  period.  Misch  shows  how 
the  autobiographical  form  was  in  some  measure 
developed  among  oriental  nations,  and  certainly 
among  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  The  writing  of 
this  work  was  suggested  by  the  Prussian  Academy 
of  Sciences.  The  first  volume  deals  with  '  Das 
Altertum ' ;  the  second,  to  be  issued  very  soon, 
traces  the  development  of  the  form  among  modern 
nations  to  the  seventeenth  century ;  the  third  will 
come  down  to  the  present  time. 

It  is  impossible  to  deal  adequately  with  a  work 
of  this  kind  in  a  short  space.  Misch  makes  it 
clear  from  the  outset  that  he  takes  autobiography 
in  its  very  widest  meaning.  He  regards  it  as  a 
1  life  utterance,'  bound  to  no  definite  form.  It  is 
rich  in  new  beginnings,  the  outcome  of  real  life ; 
for  different  ages  create  different  forms  of  existence 
with  which  the  individual  is  compelled  to  sympa- 
thize. Therefore  he  is  forced  to  represent  himself 
either  in  political  or  forensic  areas,  in  the  confes- 
sional, in  intercourse  with  cultured  friends,  or  in 
the  domestic  records  of  a  civic  aristocracy.  Indeed 
no  form  is  excluded.  Prayer,  soliloquy,  statement 
of  acts  performed,  invented  orations,  lyric  verse, 
literary  confessions  or  portraits,  family  chronicles, 
court  memoirs,  any  sort  of  historical  narrative, 
novels,  biography  proper,  epics,  and  even  drama, 
each  and  all  present  some  autobiographical  features. 

The  reasons  that  impel  men  and  women  to  write 
about  themselves  are  carefully  considered,  and 
Misch  declares  that  even  those  autobiographies 
that  are  more  read  than  praised  have  high  psycho- 
logical, and  sometimes  even  historical,  value.  It 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.     197 

is  a  pity  that  he  has  not  presented  his  very  interest- 
ing matter  in  a  more  attractive  fashion.  A  certain 
wordiness  and  the  very  long  paragraphs  make  the 
book  difficult  to  read.  But  the  mass  of  information 
contained  in  it  should  well  repay  detailed  study  and 

analysis. 

***** 

4  Kaiser  Karls  Geisel,'  the  new  play  by  Gerhart 
Hauptmann  has  been  severely  condemned  by  the 
German  critics.  The  love  of  a  man,  struggling, 
as  it  were,  with  old  age  for  a  girl  of  fifteen  is 
scarcely  a  pleasing  subject  for  a  poetical  drama, 
even  when  the  hero  is  no  less  a  person  than 
Charlemagne.  Yet  the  charm  of  Hauptmann's 
verse  makes  as  strong  an  appeal  as  ever,  and  we 
read  the  play  not  wholly  without  pleasure,  at  least 
in  the  form  and  language.  The  handling  of  the 
character  of  Alcuin  is  disappointing :  he  appears 
in  the  drama  as  a  colourless  person,  introduced, 
as  indeed  are  most  of  the  other  personages,  to 
listen  to  the  Emperor's  long  speeches.  It  is 
disconcerting  to  find  that  apparently  both  Haupt- 
mann and  Sudermann  have  done  their  best  work, 
and  that  no  younger  dramatists  are  taking  their 
places.  For  the  moment  there  is  as  great  a  dearth 
of  new  plays  in  Germany  as  in  Great  Britain. 


The  following  recently  published  books  deserve 
attention : — 

Le  Veritable  'Voyage  en  orient '  de  Lamartine 
d'apres  les  manuscrits  originaux  de  la  Bibliotheque 


198    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

Nationale     (documents    inedits).       Par    Christian 
Marechal. 

An  example  of  the  minute  critical  studies  that  are  becoming 
more  and  more  the  fashion  in  France  and  Germany.  It  is 
doubtful,  perhaps,  if  Lamartine  is  great  enough  to  demand  such 
treatment. 

La  technique  du  livre.  Par  Albert  Maire 
(Librarian  of  the  University  of  Paris). 

A  useful  work,  containing  in  small  compass  much  information 
under  the  four  heads :  *  Typographic ' ;  '  Illustration  ' ;  '  Reliure  * ; 
*  Hygiene.' 

Etudes  de  Diplomatique  Anglaise  de  1'Avene- 
ment  d'Edouard  ier  a  celui  de  Henri  VII.,  1272- 
1485.  Par  Eugene  Deprez. 

The  author  deals  with  *Le  sceau  prive,'  Me  sceau  secret,'  Me 
signet.' 

Etienne  Dolet.     Par  Octave  Galtier. 

In  discussing  the  life,  work,  character  and  beliefs  of  Dolet,  the 
author  attempts  to  steer  a  middle  course  between  excessive  praise 
and  blame. 

Femmes  inspiratrices  et  Poetes  annonciateurs. 
Par  Edouard  Schure. 

An  account  of  Mathilde  Wesendorck,  Cosima  Liszt,  and 
Marguerite  Albana  who,  it  is  here  contended,  inspired  'pensees- 
meres  dans  1'amour  et  par  1'amour.'  Their  passion  {se  traduisit 
puissamment  dans  1'oeuvre  de  I'homme  aime.' 

Bismarck  et  son  Temps.  Triomphe,  splendeur 
et  declin,  1870-98.  Par  Paul  Matter. 

Spicheren     (6    Aout    1870).      Par    Lieut.-Col. 
Maistre. 
A  detailed  study  of  one  event  of  the  Franco-German  war. 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    199 

Un  page  de  Louis  XV.  Lettres  de  Marie- 
Joseph  de  Lordat  a  son  oncle,  1740-7. 

These  letters  are  collected  and  published  by  the  Marquis  de 
Lordat  and  the  Chanoine  Charpentier.  Never  intended  for  publica- 
tion, they  offer  a  true  picture  of  a  bygone  society. 

Rameau.     Par  Louis  Laloy. 

A  volume  of  the  very  useful  series,  *  Les  maitres  de  la  Musique.' 

La  Sonate  pour  Clavier  avant  Beethoven.  Par 
Henri  Michel. 

Lectures  delivered  as  an  introduction  to  the  study  of  Beethoven's 
pianoforte  sonatas. 

La  Dependance  de  la  Morale  et  1'independance 
des  Moeurs.  Par  Jules  de  Gaultier. 

Gaultier  here  develops  further  the  ideas  set  forth  in  *  Le 
Bovarysme  and  in  'La  fiction  universelle,'  but  the  arguments  are 
more  technical  and  less  easily  followed  by  the  general  reader. 

Aus  der  Gedankenwelt  grosser  Geister.  Eine 
Sammlung  von  Auswahlbanden. 

These  are  delightful  little  volumes,  edited  by  Lothar  Brieger- 
Wasservogel,  of  selections  from  such  thinkers  as  Lessing,  Hegel, 
Schopenhauer,  and  Frederick  the  Great.  Not  only  Germans  are 
included :  Napoleon  and  Emerson  find  a  place,  and  others  are 
promised. 

Handbuch  iiber  die  Organisation  und  Verwaltung 
der  offentlichen  preussischen  Unterrichtsanstalten. 
Edited  by  T.  Heinemann. 

The  information  is  arranged  lexicon  fashion,  and  the  volume  is 
most  useful  for  reference. 

Russland  in  XX.  Jahrhundert.  Von  Dr.  Martin 
Ludwig  Schlesinger. 

The  result  of  the  personal  observations  of  the  author  in  Russia. 
He  takes  a  hopeful  view  of  the  prevailing  conditions. 


200    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

Shakespeare :  der  Dichter  und  sein  Werk.  Von 
Dr.  Max  J.  Wolff. 

The  second  and  final  volume  of  Dr.  Wolff's  study  of  Shakes- 
peare, the  first  part  of  which  appeared  in  the  summer  of  1907. 
Here  the  author  deals  with  the  dramatist's  life  and  career  from 
1 60 1  onwards,  and  furnishes  a  careful  and  detailed  study  of  the 
plays  produced  during  these  years.  An  interesting  chapter  attempts 
to  account  for  the  abrupt  transition  from  comedy  to  tragedy  at  the 
beginning  of  this  period.  Dr.  Wolff  believes  Shakespeare's  choice 
of  subjects  in  his  later  plays  to  have  been  largely  influenced  by 
contemporary  events. 

Ferdinand  Freiherr  von  Richthofen.  Tage- 
biicher  aus  China.  2  vols.  Selected  and  edited 
by  E.  Tiessen. 

The  publication  of  such  a  book  was  always  desired  and  intended 
by  Richthofen  but  he  did  not  live  to  do  it  himself.  It  is  of  the 
greatest  interest,  and  many  of  the  illustrations  are  by  himself. 

Osterreich  von  1848  bis  1860.  Von  Heinrich 
Friedjung.  Vol.  I. 

This  volume,  by  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  younger  Austrian 
historians  covers  the  years  of  revolution  and  reform  from  1848  to 
1851.  All  Friedjung's  work  is  of  great  excellence,  and  deserves 
attention  from  writers  and  students  of  history  in  this  country. 

Briefwechsel  des  Herzogs  Friedrich  Christian  zu 
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg  mit 
Konig  Friedrich  VI.  von  Danemark  und  dem 
Thronfolger  Christian  Friedrich.  Edited  by  Hans 
Schulz. 

The  letters  extend  from  1799  to  1813. 

ELIZABETH  LEE. 


201 


SOUVENIRS    DE  JEUNESSE. 

From  the  French  of  M.  Leopold  Delisle.1 

p 

T  was  on   nth  December,  1857, 

I  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Academic 

des  Inscriptions  et  Belles-lettres. 

My  titles  to  that  honour  were  not 
very  considerable,  neither — I  say  it 
quite  sincerely — were  my  first  Ambitions  very  high. 
I  had  been  educated  at  the  Ecole  des  Freres  de  la 
Doctrine  chretienne,  and  had  studied  also  at  the 
very  unpretentious  college  in  my  native  town,  that 
college  of  which  the  old  students  have  quite  re- 
cently presented  the  oldest  of  their  number  with  a 
touching  mark  of  friendship. 

Whilst  I  was  still  a  pupil  I  attracted  the  notice 
of  an  old  man,  Charles  Duherissier  de  Gerville,  who 
had  passed  his  youth  as  an  emigre  in  England.  He 
had  supported  himself  there  by  giving  French 
lessons,  and  had  brought  back  thence  a  fairly  wide 
acquaintance  with  natural  history  and  archaeology. 
On  his  return  to  France  he  became  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Societe  des  Antiquaires  de  Nor- 
mandie,  and  to  him  is  due  the  credit  of  being  one 

1  Written  by  Monsieur  Delisle  to  be  presented  to  members  of 
the  Academic  des  Inscriptions  at  the  celebration  of  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  his  election,  and  printed  as  a  preface  to  his 
*  Recherches  sur  la  librairie  de  Charles  V.' 


202  LEOPOLD  DELISLE 

of  the  first  in  France  to  apply  to  our  mediaeval 
monuments  the  methods  of  work  which  he  had 
learnt  during  his  exile.  His  interest  was  quickened, 
his  tastes  confirmed,  and  his  erudition  was  gradually 
built  up  by  the  help  of  books  which  the  poverty  of 
his  young  days  had  prevented  him  from  consulting. 
Above  all,  he  increased  his  knowledge  by  the 
examination  and  comparison  of  many  already  half- 
ruined  monuments,  and  he  even  succeeded  occasion- 
ally in  saving  some  of  them  from  complete  destruc- 
tion. He  gained  also  by  contact  with  those  English 
savants  whom  the  wars  of  the  Empire  had  kept 
away  from  France,  and  who,  when  peace  was  once 
more  established,  had  hastened  to  Normandy.  His 
reputation  spread  beyond  the  borders  of  his  own 
province.  To  him  the  great  English  families 
applied  for  information  concerning  the  cradle  of 
their  ancestors.  It  was  his  guidance  that  anti- 
quaries sought  in  their  visits  to  the  churches 
and  abbeys  of  Normandy,  without  a  knowledge 
of  which  they  could  not  complete  their  studies 
of  the  English  religious  monuments,  which  go 
back  to  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries.  His 
services  were  recognized  also  by  the  '  savants  de 
Paris,'  as  he  called  the  members  of  the  Institute, 
whom  he  treated  with  great  respect,  and  he  was 
deeply  touched,  as  well  as  surprised,  on  hearing  of 
his  election  as  a  Corresponding  Member  of  the 
Academic  des  Inscriptions.  He  was  equally  worthy 
of  serving  the  Academic  des  Sciences  in  the  same 
capacity,  for  as  far  as  his  strength  allowed  he 
studied  the  quarries  of  Cotentin  with  as  much 
interest  and  intelligence  as  the  churches,  the 


SOUVENIRS  DE  JEUNESSE.         203 

old  castles,  and  the  smallest  vestiges  of  antiquity 
in  all  the  communes  of  the  department  of  La 
Manche. 

Whilst  I  was  at  college,  M.  de  Gerville  used  to 
take  me  to  his  house,  and  kept  me  perhaps  some- 
what too  long,  to  the  detriment  of  my  exercises 
as  a  student,  thus  occasionally  causing  some  dis- 
quietude to  my  parents.  He  made  me  read  English 
books  to  him  and  talked  to  me  about  everything  that 
interested  him.  I  was  no  less  enthusiastic  than  my 
teacher,  and  he  had  very  little  trouble  in  making  me 
share  his  tastes,  and  if  I  may  venture  to  say  so,  his 
passion  for  the  study  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and 
above  all,  of  mediaeval  Normandy.  Taken  alto- 
gether, it  was  by  no  means  lost  time.  It  was  at  his 
house  that  I  learnt  of  the  existence  of  an  Academic 
des  Inscriptions,  and  also,  and  this  was  somewhat 
of  a  mystery  to  me,  of  an  Ecole  des  Chartes.  One 
day,  when  he  had  given  me  some  vague  idea  of 
what  could  be  done  at  this  school,  he  proposed 
to  give  me  a  first  lesson  in  reading  ancient  hand- 
writings, and  fetched  from  the  corner  of  his  library 
an  old  register  which  he  told  me  was  the  Chartulary 
of  the  Abbaye  de  Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte.  After 
having  explained  to  me  the  usual  contents  of  a 
Chartulary,  he  made  me  read  at  the  beginning  of  his 
manuscript  some  lines  written  in  beautiful  Gothic 
characters.  It  was  a  charter  of  Henry  II.,  king  of 
England.  The  task  did  not  seem  to  me  beyond  my 
powers,  and  I  was  delighted  at  obtaining  permis- 
sion to  take  the  Chartulary  home  to  my  own  little 
study ;  in  fa6l,  for  a  whole  summer  my  favourite 
recreation  was  copying  a  great  part  of  the  Chartu- 


204  LEOPOLD  DELISLE 

lary,  which  my  first  master  in  paleography  deposited 
shortly  afterwards  amongst  the  archives  of  the 
department  of  La  Manche. 

My  small  college  had  attached  to  it  a  library, 
which  was  housed  in  an  old  church,  and  seemed 
to  me  enormous.  It  contained  nothing  but  old 
printed  books,  many  in  Gothic  character,  which  I 
have  since  learnt  are  called  Incunabula,  and  I  still 
remember  my  astonishment  on  opening  a  volume 
of  one  of  the  first  editions  of  the  Speculum  of 
Vincent  de  Beauvais. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  1845  mv  parents  took  me 
to  Paris,  where  I  was  to  follow  Bourses  of  study  at 
the  Ecole  des  Chartes  and  the  Ecole  de  Droit.  I 
had  amongst  my  luggage  three  most  precious  trea- 
sures, letters  addressed  by  M.  de  Gerville  to  his 
friends  Charles  Le  Normant,  Keeper  of  the  Royal 
Library,  and  member  of  the  Academic  des  Inscrip- 
tiones,  Auguste  Le  Prevost,  deputy  of  the  Eure 
and  honorary  member  of  the  same  Academy,  and 
Jules  Desnoyers,  who  also  afterwards  became  an 
honorary  member  of  our  Academy.  The  effect  of 
these  letters  was  marvellous.  From  the  reception 
given  to  them  I  seemed  to  see  my  future  assured, 
especially  when  M.  Desnoyers  placed  me  under 
the  special  protection  of  his  best  friends,  Benjamin 
Guerard  and  Natalis  de  Wailly,  who  shared  with 
him  the  direction  of  the  Societe  de  1'Histoire  de 
France. 

The  three  years  that  I  passed  at  the  Ecole  des 
Chartes  were  broken  by  some  unusual  events,  and  I 
had  plenty  of  leisure,  all  the  more  so  because  with 
the  consent  of  my  parents  I  had,  after  only  a  few 


SOUVENIRS  DE  JEUNESSE.         205 

months,  ceased  my  attendance  at  the  Ecole  de 
Droit. 

In  1846  I  had  to  attend  only  a  single  set  of 
lectures,  given  by  M.  Guerard  in  the  attics  of  the 
Royal  Library,  and  which  he  had  to  interrupt  re- 
peatedly on  account  of  his  health.  In  1847  the 
reorganisation  of  the  school,  and  its  transference 
to  the  Archives  du  Royaume,  into  quarters  already 
partly  appropriated,  reduced  the  length  of  the 
courses  to  three  months.  The  events  of  1848 
caused  the  school  to  be  closed  for  a  considerable 
time. 

The  gaps  in  my  studies  for  my  degree,  and  the 
three  years  which  followed  the  delivery  of  my 
thesis  before  I  entered  the  National  Library,  left  me 
ample  time  to  follow  both  at  Paris  and  in  Normandy 
the  particular  kind  of  studies  to  which  I  intended 
to  devote  myself. 

M.  de  Gerville  had  not  succeeded  in  inoculating 
me  with  his  numismatic  and  antiquarian  tastes. 
He  realised  in  good  time  that  my  predilections 
were  fixed  not  on  metal  and  stone,  but  on  parch- 
ment and  old  paper.  He  grieved  over  the  condi- 
tion of  the  records,  and  had  stigmatized  many  times 
with  regard  to  them  acls  of  vandalism  of  which  he 
had  been  the  indignant  but  helpless  witness.  He 
had,  however,  succeeded  in  getting  the  records  of 
his  department  placed  in  the  charge  of  one  of  his 
pupils  and  secretaries,  Nicolas  Dubosc,  who  has 
accomplished  some  very  useful  work,  and  has  put 
an  end  to  many  abuses.  He  thought  that  I  could 
become  Keeper  of  the  Records  of  one  of  the  other 
departments  of  Normandy,  and  had  mentioned  this 


206  LEOPOLD  DELISLE 

idea  to  his  friend,  Auguste  Le  Prevost,  one  of  the 
influential  members  of  the  Commission  on  Records 
which  since  1 840  had  been  attached  to  the  Ministere 
de  1'  Interieur. 

The  idea  attracted  me  ;  it  tallied  perfectly  with 
my  liking  for  provincial  history  and  I  thought 
myself  fairly  well  fitted  to  manage  a  depot  of 
Norman  Records.  I  had  in  fact,  for  the  purposes 
of  my  first  work,  which  the  Academy  rewarded 
with  a  generosity  far  beyond  my  hopes,  examined 
nearly  all  the  ancient  collections  in  the  departments 
of  Seine  Inferieure,  Eure,  Calvados  and  La  Manche, 
as  well  as  the  series  of  Norman  charters  preserved 
at  Paris  in  the  Record  Office  and  in  the  National 
Library. 

My  researches  at  the  National  Library  I  had 
been  able  to  carry  to  some  effect,  thanks  to  the 
influence  of  Guerard  and  to  the  inexhaustible 
kindness  of  a  modest  librarian,  Charles-Clement 
Claude,  who  served  as  a  catalogue.  None  of 
you,  alas !  can  have  known  M.  Claude,  but 
his  memory  remained  green  amongst  those  older 
scholars  who  frequented  the  department  of  manu- 
scripts in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  a  time, 
when  no  catalogue  was  available  for  the  use  of 
the  public.  In  the  National  Record  Office,  where 
most  often  I  was  the  only  stranger  admitted  to 
work,  my  task  was  lightened  by  M.  de  Wailly, 
and  I  was  very  soon  treated  as  a  friend  and  comrade 
by  the  officials  of  the  historical  section,  especially 
by  Douet  d'Arcq.  As  for  the  Norman  records 
they  were  thrown  open  to  me  in  such  a  liberal 
manner  that  had  I  been  more  experienced  I  should 


SOUVENIRS  DE  JEUNESSE.         207 

have  been  quite  alarmed  at  it.  In  most  cases,  at 
Rouen  and  at  Caen,  I  could  get  myself  shut  up  in 
the  Record  Room  of  the  Prefecture  in  the  morning, 
and  stay  there  the  whole  day  alone  without  a 
single  soul  coming  to  the  door  to  ask  admission. 

It  is  in  this  way  that  ever  since  before  1852  I 
have  been  possessed  of  copies  of  most  of  the 
Norman  records  earlier  than  the  conquest  of 
Philippe-Auguste. 

In  1851  the  posts  of  Keeper  of  the  Records 
both  for  Le  Calvados  and  for  the  Seine  Inferieure 
were  about  to  fall  vacant,  and  I  was  informed  that 
I  might  present  myself  as  a  candidate.  At  the 
same  time  my  patron,  M.  Le  Prevost,  who  had 
just  commissioned  me  to  finish  his  edition  of 
Ordericus  Vitalis,  informed  me  that  the  Prefect  of 
the  Seine  Inferieure  was  willing  to  nominate  me 
Keeper  of  the  Records  of  his  department.  I  was 
fascinated  by  the  prospects  which  seemed  opening 
out  to  me,  but  I  would  not  accept  the  post  offered 
me  without  consulting  my  master,  M.  Guerard. 
At  the  very  first  word  of  our  interview  he  'forbade' 
me  to  leave  Paris,  where,  said  he,  my  work  was 
already  cut  out  for  me;  he  added  that  I  should 
have  no  reason  to  regret  having  followed  his 
advice.  I  regretted  it  all  the  less  because  in 
giving  my  answer  to  M.  Le  Prevost  I  persuaded 
him  to  recommend  to  the  Prefect  the  candidature 
of  my  best  friend,  Charles  de  Beaurepaire,  who 
has  proved  himself  in  all  respects  the  model  of  a 
Record  Keeper  trained  at  the  Ecole  de  Chartes. 
He  retired  from  office  two  years  ago  and  is  now 
the  doyen  of  the  Correspondents  of  the  Academic 


208  LEOPOLD  DELISLE 

des  Inscriptions.     It  was  thus  that  in  1851  I  found 
myself  fixed  in  Paris. 

The  following  year  Guerard  became  head  of  the 
Department  of  Manuscripts,  and  at  the  same  time 
I  was  attached  to  the  department  as  an  assistant. 
The  day  after  our  appointment  my  chief  made  me 
come  to  his  house.  He  explained  to  me  at  great 
length  the  plans  of  work  of  which  he  had  so  long 
dreamt,  should  he  ever  be  called  upon  to  introduce 
into  the  Department  of  Manuscripts  reforms  which 
for  long  years  had  been  known  to  be  absolutely 
necessary ;  he  rejected  sweeping  and  revolutionary 
measures,  but  he  intended  to  make  short  work  of 
the  abuses  and  irregularities  over  which  he  had 
often  groaned.  In  his  opinion  all  the  contents  of 
the  department  ought  to  be  catalogued,  at  least 
summarily ;  all  should  have  definite  press-marks, 
as  simple  as  possible  and  absolutely  unalterable. 
Classifications  sanctified  by  customs  must  be  strictly 
respected ;  those  which  had  been  made  defective 
by  excessive  and  irregular  intercalations,  or  for  any 
other  reason,  were  never  to  be  replaced  unless  cross- 
references  were  given  to  enable  the  student  to  pass 
at  once  from  the  old  number  to  the  new. 

Guerard  especially  grieved  over  the  actual  con- 
dition of  the  collections  Confided  to  his  care. 
There  were  at  that  time  amongst  the  attics  of 
the  National  Library  considerable  masses  of  papers 
of  which  the  classification  and  the  binding  had 
been  neglected  for  want  of  money.  There  were 
heaps  of  parchments  to  be  seen,  which  had  been 
sold  by  weight  under  the  ancien  regime  by  the 
Chamber  of  Accounts,  and  the  intercalation  of  these 


SOUVENIRS  DE  JEUNESSE.         209 

in  the  genealogical  se<5Hons  had  been  interrupted 
at  the  time  when  there  was  reason  to  fear  such  a 
clearance  as  that  of  1792,  which  resulted  in  the 
burning  in  the  Place  Vendome  of  more  than  half 
the  invaluable  collection  de  Clairambault.  There 
were  volumes  also  which  had  never  been  entered 
in  the  catalogues,  some  being  considered  of  in- 
sufficient interest,  and  others  on  the  contrary  of 
such  importance  that  they  had  been  placed  in 
special  cases  whence  the  attendants  could  easily 
fetch  them  when  they  were  needed.  It  was  even 
said  that  some  precious  manuscripts  had  been 
hidden  away  because  the  National  Library  doubted 
its  right  to  them.  The  first  professors  of  the 
Ecole  des  Chartes,  the  abbe  Lespine  and  Guerard, 
had  also  acquired,  often  at  the  price  of  their  weight 
as  so  many  pounds  of  parchment,  a  certain  number 
of  charters  which  were  used  for  teaching  purposes 
in  the  school,  without  ever  having  received  a  class- 
mark. 

All  this  was  very  irregular.  Guerard  meant  to 
do  away  with  these  disorders  as  soon  as  possible ;  it 
was  imperative  to  get  to  work  at  once,  without 
however  being  too  hasty ;  he  impressed  upon  me 
that  such  operations  were  very  delicate  and  in 
order  to  avoid  regrettable  accidents  it  would  be 
necessary  to  acquire  a  very  precise  knowledge  of 
the  manner  in  which  the  collections  had  been 
formed  and  of  how  they  had  been  treated,  both 
before  and  after  their  arrival  at  the  Library.  A 
thorough  acquaintance  with  the  history  of  the 
Library  was  absolutely  necessary  and  one  should  be 
able  also  to  recognise  the  writing  and  marks  of 

IX.  P 


210  LEOPOLD  DELISLE 

former  owners,  especially  the  handwriting  and 
figures  of  former  librarians. 

We  must  not  run  the  risk  of  confusing  copies 
of  documents  made  by  ordinary  scribes  with  the 
transcripts,  the  extracls,  the  analyses  and  the 
simple  notes  made  by  experts  such  as  the  brothers 
Dupuy,  Du  Cange,  Gaignieres,  Baluze,  Clairam- 
bault,  Anselme  Le  Michel,  Mabillon,  Martene,  etc. 

Every  assistant  should  know  the  history  of  the 
Library  thoroughly;  and  I  must  procure  for  my- 
self at  once,  the  little  book  which  Le  Prince  had 
published  on  the  subject  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century. 

Nothing  could  have  been  more  useful  than  this 
advice,  by  which  my  conduct  has  always  been 
guided,  and  which  later  on  I  constantly  recom- 
mended for  use  in  all  departments  of  the  library. 

Such  teaching  as  this  helped  to  develop  in  me 
the  tastes  of  the  true  bibliophile ;  I  became  more 
and  more  keen  to  know  by  whom  and  for  whom 
manuscripts  had  been  made,  from  what  countries 
they  originally  came,  at  what  periods  they  had 
been  copied,  revised  or  completed ;  what  artists 
had  decorated  them,  whose  hands  had  handled 
them,  what  dangers  they  had  escaped,  what 
scholars  had  used  them,  by  what  strange  adven- 
tures different  parts  of  certain  manuscripts  had 
been  scattered  to  countries  far  apart,  what  altera- 
tions had  been  made  in  them  and  what  disfigure- 
ments they  had  suffered  at  the  hands  of  forgers, 
sometimes  for  the  purpose  of  giving  them  an 
imaginary  value  and  sometimes  to  disguise  theft. 
What  care  must  be  taken  not  to  allow  oneself  to 


SOUVENIRS  DE  JEUNESSE.         211 

be  led  astray  by  false  witnesses !  A  little  biblio- 
graphical adventure  connected  with  Guerard's  name 
shows  to  what  dangers  one  is  exposed  in  trying  to 
solve  some  problems  as  they  arise. 


(To  be  concluded.) 


212 


REVIEWS. 

T'he  Gorleston  Psalter :  a  manuscript  of  the  beginning 
of  the  fourteenth  century  in  the  library  of  C.  W. 
Dyson  Perrins.  Described  in  relation  to  other 
East  Anglian  books  of  the  period  by  Sydney  C. 
CockerelL  London:  printed  at  the  Chiswick 
Press,  1907.  49  />/>.,  with  21  plates. 

i  HIS  is  not  only  a  delightful  monograph 
of  itself,  but  deserves  special  notice  as 
an  example  of  a  method  of  studying 
manuscripts  which  has  made  great 
progress  of  late  years,  but  of  which  this 
may  still  be  reckoned  among  the  first-fruits.  At 
the  outset  of  the  study  of  early  printing  a  book  by 
Schoeffer  was  a  book  by  Schoeffer,  and  an  anony- 
mous piece  of  fine  printing  was  an  anonymous 
piece  of  fine  printing,  and  there  in  each  case  was 
an  end  of  it.  During  the  last  quarter  of  a  century 
extant  incunabula,  signed  and  unsigned,  have  been 
almost  exhaustively  sorted  out  under  countries  and 
places,  and  the  process  of  assigning  them  to  indi- 
vidual printers  is  only  a  little  less  advanced.  The 
corresponding  process  in  the  case  of  manuscripts  is 
far  more  difficult  as  regards  plain  texts,  for  lack  of 
enough  rallying-points  of  the  names  of  scribes,  but 
where  the  manuscripts  are  illuminated,  and  more 
especially  where  they  are  illuminated  in  the  finest 
style,  a  whole  class  of  other  evidence  becomes  avail- 
able, the  arms  and  names  of  original  owners,  the 


REVIEWS.  213 

prominence  given  to  particular  saints,  and  (more 
valued  than  any  of  these  by  the  connoisseur)  the  in- 
numerable little  similarities  and  differences  of  style 
which  enable  the  work  of  pupils  to  be  ranged 
round,  and  yet  kept  distinct  from  that  of  their 
master.  As  regards  English  illuminated  manu- 
scripts, so  long  absurdly  ignored  and  only  of  late 
years  recognized  as,  at  their  best,  second  to  none  in 
Europe,  Dr.  Montagu  James  has  been  a  leading  in- 
vestigator on  these  lines,  and  Mr.  Sidney  Cockerell, 
to  whom  we  owe  this  monograph,  is  not  far  behind 
him. 

Mr.  Cockerell  begins  with  a  specification  of  the 
four  important  types  of  pictured  manuscripts  which 
may  be  regarded  as  specially  English:  (i.)  the  Psalters 
of  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  mostly  from 
Winchester ;  (ii.)  the  Bestiaries  of  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries,  perhaps  from  York ;  (iii.)  the 
Apocalypses  of  the  thirteenth  century,  some  of  them 
at  least  from  Canterbury  and  St.  Albans ;  and  (iv.) 
the  large  and  richly  painted  Psalters,  mostly  of  the 
first  half  of  the  fourteenth  century,  which  have  no 
Continental  counterpart,  and  which  are  the  special 
glory  of  the  East  Anglian  school. 

This  East  Anglian  school,  which  comprised  the  great 
monastic  centres  of  Norwich,  Ely,  Ramsey,  and  Bury  St. 
Edmunds,  and  must  also  be  held  to  include  Peterborough, 
though  this  was  just  outside  the  old  East  Anglian  boun- 
dary, developed  towards  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
and  no  doubt  owed  some  of  its  vitality  to  influences  from 
across  the  Channel,  its  sympathy  with  the  vigorous  schools 
of  Artois  and  French  Flanders  being  clearly  shown  in  its 
fondness  for  marginal  grotesques.  It  is,  nevertheless, 


214  REVIEWS. 

like  the  church  architecture  of  the  district,  essentially  and 
characteristically  English.  Its  main  features  are  the  state- 
liness  of  the  writing  and  the  lavishness  of  the  ornament 
which  is  gay  in  colour  and  virile,  if  somewhat  irrespon- 
sible, in  design.  The  margins  are  decorated  with  borders, 
half-borders,  and  a  variety  of  drolleries.  Leaves  of  vine 
and  oak,  red  or  green,  and  sometimes  holly,  are  largely 
employed  with  sprays  of  daisies,  marigolds,  and  pimpernels, 
and  with  a  long  serrated  leaf,  usually  blue,  which  though 
sometimes  in  profile,  sometimes  expanded,  is  seldom  dis- 
engaged from  an  irregular  background  of  colour  or  dotted 
gold.  Birds  and  beasts  are  often  introduced  with  much 
spirit,  and  if  the  figure-work  has  little  of  the  tender  de- 
votional expressiveness  found  in  the  Apocalypses  above 
referred  to,  it  is  nearly  always  lively  and  strong,  and  in 
more  than  one  book  marvellously  delicate. 

Taking  them  in  their  order,  the  examples  of  these 
East  Anglian  Psalters  which  Mr.  Cockerell  enu- 
merates are  the  Duke  of  Rutland's  (1250-70)  ;  the 
first  quire  of  the  Tenison  Psalter  in  the  British 
Museum  (1281-4);  two  Psalters  written  at  Peter- 
borough about  1300,  one  now  at  Brussels,  the  other 
at  Bodley  ;  the  two  imperfect  Psalters  at  the  British 
Museum,  known  conjointly  as  the  Arundel  Psalter  ; 
a  Sarum  Breviary  (c.  1322),  also  at  the  British 
Museum  ;  a  large  Sarum  Missal  of  about  the  same 
date,  now  belonging  to  Mr.  Morgan ;  the  famous 
Ormesby  Psalter  at  Oxford  ;  and  lastly,  passing  over 
some  minor  examples,  a  magnificent  Psalter  at 
Douai,  and  another,  known  as  the  St.  Omer  Psalter, 
now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Yates  Thompson. 

It  is  with  the  Sarum  Breviary  at  the  British 
Museum  and  the  Douai  and  St.  Omer  Psalters  that 
the  Gorleston  Psalter  exhibits  the  closest  affinities, 


REVIEWS.  215 

and  in  addition  to  fourteen  plates  illustrating  the 
book  itself,  seven  others  are  here  given  from  kindred 
works  to  show  its  connections.  In  addition  to  this 
all  the  miniatures  and  decorations  are  minutely  de- 
scribed and  the  history  of  the  book  carefully  traced. 
There  are  thus  all  the  materials  provided  for  careful 
comparative  study,  and  the  monograph  offers  a 
substantial  contribution  to  one  phase  of  English  art, 
and  that  no  unimportant  one.  Of  the  manuscript 
itself,  with  its  splendid  initial  B.,  its  fine  borders, 
and  charming  marginal  grotesques,  it  is  difficult  to 
speak  too  highly. 

Book-Prices  Current.     1907.     Elliot  Stock. 

We  are  late  in  noticing  the  annual  volume  of 
Mr.  Slater's  *  Book-Prices  Current,'  the  space  avail- 
able for  reviews  being  always  liable  to  be  encroached 
on  by  other  matter.  As  far  as  the  execution  goes, 
the  new  volume  is  very  like  its  predecessors.  We 
will  make  our  usual  complaint  this  time  in  the  form 
of  a  question.  There  is  a  book  in  this  register  in  a 
binding  by  Clovis  Eve.  It  fetched  £660,  and  Mr. 
Slater  remarks :  *  This  appears  to  be  the  highest 
price  ever  realised  at  a  public  sale  for  a  leather 
binding,  E  D.'  Thus  we  have  the  editorial  affirma- 
tion that  the  £660  was  paid  not  for  the  book  itself, 
but  for  its  cover.  Yet  will  anybody  engage  to  find 
this  book  by  means  of  any  help  Mr.  Slater  gives  in 
his  index  ?  We  have  searched  for  it  under  '  Eve.' 
We  have  searched  for  it  under  '  Binding.'  In  both 
cases  we  have  searched  in  vain.  Yet  alike  from 
the  point  of  view  of  students  and  of  the  trade  the 


216  REVIEWS. 

omission  is  serious.  The  value  of  Mr.  Slater's  index 
might  be  doubled  if  he  would  give  references  to 
important  printers,  illustrators,  binders,  and  former 
owners.  They  would  be  easy  to  make  and  take 
very  little  room.  And  yet,  year  after  year, '  Book- 
Prices  Current '  appears  without  this  absolutely 
necessary  provision. 

In  other  respects  Mr.  Slater's  work  is  not  perfect, 
but  it  is  good  enough  to  be  very  serviceable.  If  a 
cataloguer  makes  a  mistake  Mr.  Slater  is  almost 
certain  to  repeat  it.  By  an  extraordinary  blunder 
the  copy  of  Sidney's  '  Defence  of  Poesie '  in  the  Van 
Antwerp  sale  was  entered  as  '  probably  unique/ 
despite  the  fa6l  that  another  (and  better)  copy  had 
been  sold  in  the  same  rooms  in  1901,  and  recorded 
in  'Book-Prices  Current,'  No.  4971,  for  that  year. 
The  mistake  was  pointed  out,  before  the  sale,  in 
the  '  Athenaeum,'  yet  Mr.  Slater  here  repeats  it. 

Again,  one  of  Sotheby's  cataloguers  has  obviously 
been  the  viclim  of  a  joke,  for  he  twice  refers  to  the 
*  Specula'  of  Vincent  de  Beauvais  as  his  'Big  Works,' 
and  this  irreverent  nickname  is  each  time  repeated  by 
Mr.  Slater  as  if  it  were  a  normal  and  reasonable  title. 

On  the  other  hand,  this  volume,  like  its  prede- 
cessors, is  excellently  printed,  and  as  far  as  authors 
are  concerned  well  indexed,  and  after  using  it  to 
ascertain  in  ten  minutes  the  comparative  frequency 
with  which  the  various  Shakespeare  Quartos  have 
come  under  the  hammer  during  the  last  twenty 
years,  we  should  be  ingrates  indeed  if  we  under- 
valued Mr.  Slater's  work.  This  particular  quest 
was  started  by  the  fa6l  that  under  his  numbers 
3010-12  and  3014-17  he  records  the  sale  of  a  set 


REVIEWS.  217 

of  eight  of  the  ten  Shakespearian  Quartos,  about 
which  Mr.  Greg  is  writing  in  this  number  of 'THE 
LIBRARY,'  and  under  the  number  5339-45  another 
set  of  eight.  The  contents  of  the  two  sets  are  not 
the  same,  the  first  wanting  c  Henry  V.'  and  the 
c  Merry  Wives,'  and  the  second  l  The  Merchant  of 
Venice'  and  the  'Yorkshire  Tragedy.'  Moreover, 
while  the  first  set,  which  belonged  to  Birket  Foster 
and  were  sold  at  his  sale  in  1894,  may  conceivably 
have  come  from  a  single  source  (?  George  Daniel), 
the  Van  Antwerp  copies  came  variously  from  the 
Roxburghe,  Sykes,  Rowfant,  and  Lakelands  collec- 
tions. All  that  they  prove,  therefore,  is  that  these 
plays  are  the  ones  which  it  is  easiest  to  pick  up  in 
a  hurry,  as  would  naturally  be  the  case  if  they  had 
been  preserved  in  volumes  until  the  eighteenth 
century.  A  survey  of  the  entire  record  of  c  Book- 
Prices  Current '  confirms  the  impression  that  they 
are  more  common  than  any  other,  but  not  very 
strikingly  so. 

As  regards  the  finance  of  the  auction-room  Mr. 
Slater  reports  that  all  records  have  been  broken  by 
the  attainment  of  an  average  of  £4  4-r.  2d.  a  lot 
over  the  whole  season,  the  total  being  £134,000 
for  31,800  works,  whereas  for  the  last  three  years 
it  had  fallen  considerably  below  £3.  The  occur- 
rence in  the  same  year  of  the  Samuel  and  Van 
Antwerp  sales,  in  each  of  which  the  average  was 
over  £40,  gave  a  good  lift  to  the  record,  and  we 
fancy  also  that  Mr.  Slater  is  more  liberal  than  he 
used  to  be  in  including  manuscripts  in  his  reckon- 
ing, though  he  still,  for  what  reason  we  know  not, 
professes  to  exclude  illuminated  manuscripts,  while 


2i  8  REVIEWS. 

admitting  those  of  literary  interest.  But  if  any  one 
doubts  that  the  value  of  the  best  things  has  risen 
enormously,  a  comparison  of  the  prices  fetched  at  the 
Hodson  sale  with  those  at  the  Bennett-Morris  sale 
at  which  the  purchases  were  made  will  surely  con- 
vince him.  There  was  every  reason  for  the  Morris 
books  and  manuscripts  which  Mr.  Bennett  put  on 
the  market  fetching  high  prices,  and  it  was  thought 
at  the  time  that  the  prices  were  very  high  indeed. 
Yet  one  after  another  of  Mr.  Hodson's  purchases  at 
that  sale  are  now  recorded  as  having  sold  for  two 
and  three  times  what  he  gave  for  them. 

A.  W.  P. 


NOTES  OF  BOOKS  AND  WORK.  The 
Belgian  Government  has  lately  done  Mr. 
James  Duff  Brown  of  the  Islington  Public  Library 
the  signal  honour  of  asking  him  to  lecture  in  Ant- 
werp and  Brussels  on  the  work  of  British  municipal 
libraries.  By  Mr.  Duff  Brown's  kindness  we  are 
enabled  to  give  the  following  epitome  of  the  greater 
part  of  his  lecture : 

The  British  municipal  library  system  came  into  exist- 
ence in  1850,  when  a  special  Act  of  Parliament  was  passed 
empowering  town  councils  to  establish  libraries,  and  levy 
a  tax  on  the  inhabitants  for  their  support.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  note  that  the  movement  in  favour  of  municipal 
libraries  in  America  took  its  rise  about  the  same  time.  In 
both  countries  the  feeling  in  favour  of  popular  libraries, 
managed  by  the  citizens  or  their  representatives,  has  always 
been  strong. 

One  of  the  principal  things  which  strikes  a  travelling 


NOTES  OF  BOOKS  AND  WORK.    219 

British  librarian  is  the  comparative  absence  of  such  libraries 
on  the  Continent  of  Europe. 

The  statutes  under  which  our  municipal  libraries  may 
be  established  empower  the  local  authorities  to  erect  and 
equip  libraries,  museums,  art  galleries,  and  schools  for 
science  and  art,  out  of  a  rate  or  tax,  which,  in  most  cases, 
is  strictly  limited  to  one  penny  in  the  pound  on  the  rental 
value  of  the  town.  That  is  to  say,  if  the  annual  rents  of 
all  the  property  of  a  town  amount  to  £360,000,  that,  or  a 
smaller  number  of  pennies,  equalling  a  total  income  of 
£1,500,  is  all  the  Government  allows  for  carrying  on  these 
various  and  expensive  public  institutions.  This  is  the 
weak  part  of  British  legislation  on  behalf  of  municipal 
libraries — the  Government  give  power  to  create  useful 
educational  institutions,  but  stultify  the  good  intention  by 
withholding  the  necessary  money.  In  consequence  of  this, 
most  towns  are  forced  to  confine  their  attention  to  the 
library  side  of  the  work,  leaving  museums,  art  galleries, 
and  schools  to  be  provided  by  other  means. 

Five  hundred  and  eighty  towns  and  districts,  of  all  kinds 
and  sizes,  have  adopted  the  Public  Libraries'  Acts,  and  527 
of  these  are  actively  carrying  on  public  library  work. 
Counting  branch-libraries  and  small  reading-rooms,  but 
excluding  mere  book-delivery  stations,  they  muster  among 
them  906  separate  library  buildings.  In  round  figures 
these  libraries  contain  over  4,000,000  volumes  of  works  of 
reference,  and  rather  more  than  8,000,000  volumes  avail- 
able for  lending  to  borrowers  for  home-reading  purposes. 
In  the  reference  libraries  all  the  books  are  educational  or 
intended  for  purposes  of  research,  while  in  the  lending 
libraries  about  one-fifth  of  the  stock  is  represented  by  light 
literature,  or  fiction. 

It  is  satisfactory  to  find  that  11,000,000  of  reference 
books  are  consulted  annually,  without  counting  an  almost 
equal  number  of  references  to  works  placed  on  open  shelves 
for  the  free  and  unrestricted  use  of  the  public.  The  books 
issued  for  home  reading  reach  the  enormous  total  of 


220   NOTES  OF  BOOKS  AND  WORK. 

60,000,000,  and  of  these  about  35,000,000  are  fiction  and 
the  balance  non-fiction,  making,  with  the  recorded  reference 
issues,  about  50  per  cent,  for  each  class. 

The  number  of  enrolled  borrowers  in  1907  was  nearly 
2,500,000,  or  about  5^  per  cent,  of  the  total  population  of 
the  United  Kingdom,  a  high  percentage  considering  that, 
as  yet,  the  library  movement  has  not  been  extended  in  any 
large  degree  to  rural  districts. 

In  this  enumeration  of  stock  and  issues,  no  account  is 
taken  of  the  work  accomplished  in  reading-rooms  and  news- 
rooms, which  are  frequented  by  millions  of  readers  yearly. 

REFERENCE  LIBRARIES. — The  most  important  depart- 
ment of  the  British  municipal  library  is  undoubtedly  the 
reference  library,  in  which  the  best  books  are  generally 
stored,  and  most  of  the  research  work  and  study  accom- 
plished. Every  student  of  science  or  history  makes  use 
of  them,  while  the  shopkeeper  in  search  of  an  address,  or 
the  schoolboy  wanting  the  rules  of  the  game  of  cricket  are 
equally  well  served.  Practically  every  library  possesses 
what  is  known  as  a  '  quick-reference '  collection,  to  which 
readers  are  freely  admitted  without  formality  of  any  kind, 
and  where  they  may  handle  and  examine  the  books  without 
previously  writing  application  forms.  Connected  with 
reference  and  research  work  are  enquiry  desks  and  special 
collections.  Only  a  few  towns  have  established  enquiry 
desks  apart  from  the  reference  departments,  but  no  doubt 
the  provision  will  be  extended  as  its  value  is  more  appre- 
ciated. Any  one  may  go  to  the  enquiry  desk  of  a  public 
library  and  ask  for  information  on  any  subject  which  can 
be  answered  by  reference  to  books  or  special  collections. 
Everything  from  the  time  of  a  railway  train  to  that  of  an 
eclipse  of  the  moon  is  asked  about  at  these  desks,  and  if 
the  information  cannot  be  given  off-hand,  a  more  leisured 
search  in  the  reference  department  usually  discovers  it. 

READING-ROOMS  AND  NEWS-ROOMS. — In  addition  to  the 
reading-halls  attached  to  reference  libraries,  many  towns 
possess  general  reading-rooms,  in  which  are  displayed  the 

" 


MR.  BROWN'S   LECTURE.          221 

current  numbers  of  periodicals  and  magazines  of  all  kinds. 
The  object  of  these,  although  at  present  not  properly 
recognized,  is  really  to  supplement  the  book  departments 
of  the  library,  by  supplying  the  freshest  and  most  up-to- 
date  information  on  every  subject  of  current  interest. 
Text-books  of  science,  for  example,  very  soon  get  out-of- 
date,  and  in  a  well-equipped  reading-room  the  student 
should  be  able  to  ascertain  the  latest  movements  and 
discoveries  in  his  own  branch  of  knowledge. 

Most  of  the  libraries,  in  addition  to  a  selection  of  high- 
class  periodicals,  also  provide  a  number  of  daily  and  weekly 
newspapers.  These  latter  are  usually  placed  on  special 
stands  for  which  no  seats  are  provided,  and  it  must  be 
admitted  that  they  attract  a  very  mixed  and  sometimes  un- 
desirable class  of  readers.  This  fact,  and  the  use  made  of 
betting  and  sporting  news  by  many  persons,  has  led  some 
library  authorities  to  obliterate  such  portions  of  the  news- 
papers with  the  blacking-brush.  Other  authorities  limit 
the  daily  newspapers  to  those  published  locally  and  the 
*  Times,'  and  spend  the  money  so  saved  on  increasing  the 
provision  of  high-class  magazines. 

LENDING  LIBRARIES. — As  already  stated,  the  lending 
departments  of  British  municipal  libraries  have  an  annnal 
circulation  of  some  60,000,000  volumes.  To  facilitate 
this  huge  output  various  ingenious  mechanical  methods, 
consisting  of  screens  of  numbers  representing  books,  have 
been  invented,  by  means  of  which  borrowers  have  to  ascer- 
tain if  a  book  is  in  the  library  before  applying  for  it.  This 
is  effected  in  various  ways,  but  generally,  if  a  book- number 
appears  on  the  screen  in  a  blue  colour,  it  is  indicated  as 
available,  but  if  in  a  red  colour,  it  is  indicated  as  already 
borrowed  and  not  available.  These  pieces  of  mechanism, 
called  indicators,  consist  of  columns  of  numbers  in  the 
form  of  blocks  or  very  small  slides,  with  the  book-numbers 
printed  in  different  colours  on  each  end,  so  that  when 
reversed  in  the  frame,  they  indicate  books  '  in '  or  '  out,' 
as  explained  before.  There  are  many  forms  of  indicators, 


222   NOTES  OF  BOOKS  AND  WORK. 

and  they  are  still  in  use  in  a  majority  of  British  libraries. 
During  the  past  fourteen  years,  however,  many  libraries 
have  adopted  the  plan  of  admitting  the  borrowers  direct 
to  the  bookshelves,  there  to  make  choice  of  books  after 
actual  examination.  For  this  purpose,  the  books  are  very 
carefully  classified  and  arranged,  so  that  all  the  books  on  a 
special  subject  are  brought  together.  The  libraries  which 
have  adopted  this  system  are  very  much  used,  and  one  of 
them,  the  North  Islington  Branch,  circulates  more  books 
annually  than  many  considerable  provincial  towns.  The 
dangers  of  admitting  the  public  to  their  own  books  have 
been  greatly  exaggerated,  and  the  experience  of  all  the  exist- 
ing open-access  libraries  is  that  losses  and  misplacements  are 
insignificant  ;  while  the  borrowers  have  improved  greatly 
in  intelligence  and  ability  to  handle  and  select  books. 

CHILDREN'S  LIBRARIES  AND  ROOMS. — Nearly  every 
library  has  a  collection  of  children's  books,  comprising  in 
addition  to  tales  and  romances,  poetry  and  nursery  rhymes, 
biography,  history,  elementary  science,  and  games  and 
sports,  and  in  a  few  of  the  later  libraries,  books  in  the 
French  and  German  languages,  with  collections  of  music 
and  pictures.  In  some  towns  the  libraries  and  the  schools 
work  hand  in  hand ;  in  others  special  reading-rooms  are 
provided,  and  also  special  rooms  for  delivering  books  for 
home  reading.  In  this  work  Cardiff,  in  Wales,  has  been 
specially  distinguished,  but  the  task  of  familiarising  chil- 
dren with  the  uses  of  books  and  how  to  find  information 
for  themselves  is  now  becoming  quite  a  common  feature 
in  British  library  administration.  In  some  reading-rooms 
collections  of  encyclopaedias,  dictionaries,  atlases,  bio- 
graphical dictionaries,  and  other  reference  books  are  sup- 
plied for  the  use  of  children,  and  much  useful  information 
is  circulated  by  this  means.  In  many  British  children's 
libraries,  moreover,  it  is  usual  for  the  assistants  to  train 
boys  and  girls  how  to  use  reference  books,  and  to  hold 
classes  for  teaching  them  the  method  of  using  the  lending 
department. 


MR.  BROWN'S  LECTURE          223 

LECTURES  AND  Music. — A  feature  of  British  library- 
work  which  is  gradually  becoming  universal  is  the  pro- 
vision of  courses  of  lectures  on  topics  connected  with  the 
collections  of  books  kept  by  the  libraries.  Many  libraries 
also  give  periodical  exhibitions  of  fine  and  useful  books  to 
enable  readers  to  become  acquainted  with  the  treasures  and 
knowledge  stored  up  in  great  reference  works.  Others 
publish  reading  lists  on  topics  of  current  interest,  and  a 
general  feature  of  nearly  all  the  libraries  is  a  collection  of 
musical  texts  and  books  about  music.  These  musical 
collections  are  extremely  popular,  and  in  proportion  to 
their  extent,  are  the  most  used  of  any  class  of  books,  not 
excepting  fiction. 

STAFF. — Most  of  the  librarians  and  assistants  engaged 
in  conducting  this  varied  and  extensive  range  of  work  are 
educated  men  and  women.  Some  hold  university  degrees, 
others  have  been  specially  trained.  A  large  proportion  of 
the  assistants  are  studying  for  the  professional  certificates 
of  the  Library  Association  in  literary  history,  bibliography, 
classification,  cataloguing,  and  library  economy,  and  library 
authorities  in  numerous  cases  require  such  certificates 
before  they  will  make  appointments  or  grant  promotion. 
Women  are  employed  as  chief  librarians  in  a  number  ot 
the  smaller  towns,  while  in  great  cities  like  Glasgow, 
Manchester,  Bristol,  and  elsewhere,  they  are  exclusively 
employed  for  all  the  junior  positions. 

CO-ORDINATION  WITH  OTHER  INSTITUTIONS. — Although 
there  is  no  organized  or  official  system  of  co-operation 
between  municipal  libraries  and  those  of  the  state,  the 
universities,  and  scientific  institutions  generally,  there  is, 
nevertheless,  a  most  cordial  degree  of  sympathy  and  co- 
ordination, owing  to  the  fact  that  most  of  the  officers 
and  many  of  the  trustees  of  such  institutions  are  members 
of  the  Library  Association.  These  officers  and  managers 
are  continually  meeting  with  each  other  and  working  out 
problems  together,  and  as  a  general  rule,  the  librarians 
of  scientific  institutions  are  exceedingly  courteous  and 


224   NOTES  OF  BOOKS  AND  WORK. 

willing  to  give  any  expert  information  required  by  the 
municipal  librarians.  The  state  libraries,  like  the  British 
Museum  and  the  Patent  Office,  distribute  their  publica- 
tions among  the  municipal  libraries,  and  are  thus  brought 
into  touch  with  the  great  mass  of  the  people  all  over  the 
country.  Then,  as  regards  universities,  many  libraries 
have  courses  of  university  extension  lectures  in  their  own 
buildings,  or  in  connection  with  the  libraries,  and  for  these 
courses  they  generally  procure  all  the  text-books  which  are 
prescribed.  The  universities,  or  some  of  them,  also  send 
their  calendars  and  other  publications  to  the  libraries,  so 
that  the  two  bodies  are  mutually  helpful.  The  municipal 
libraries  have  also  co-operated  with  the  scholastic  profes- 
sions through  their  various  societies,  and  here  again  the 
school  and  library  authorities  are  working  hand  in  hand  all 
over  the  country,  particularly  with  regard  to  the  provision 
of  good  reading  matter  for  children,  and  also  the  supply 
of  material  required  by  teachers  in  their  profession.  When- 
ever a  course  of  lectures  is  given  by  scientific  societies  or 
any  other  institution,  the  public  library,  as  far  as  possible, 
endeavours  to  obtain  the  best  books  on  the  subjects  dealt 
with,  and  this  has  the  effect  of  enabling  persons  who  attend 
the  lectures  to  follow  the  subjects  with  more  intelligence, 
and  also  tends  to  improve  the  representation  of  such 
subjects  on  the  shelves  of  the  library.  Most  municipal 
libraries  arrange  for  the  interchange  of  books  among  them- 
selves, for  the  benefit  of  readers,  and  it  is  generally  easy 
to  obtain  special  works  from  a  large  scientific  library,  on 
the  municipal  librarian  offering  to  become  security  for 
their  safe-keeping  and  due  return. 

Thus  it  may  perhaps  be  fairly  claimed  that  in  the  popu- 
larising of  the  book  as  a  vehicle  for  conveying  instruction, 
amusement,  and  conserving  record,  something,  however 
little,  may  be  learned  from  the  work  of  British  municipal 
libraries. 


New    Series, 

No.  35,  VOL.  IX.  JULY,  1908. 


THE  LIBRARY. 

HENRY    BYNNEMAN,    PRINTER, 
1566-83. 

i  HE  printer,  whose  work  is  the  subject 
of  the  following  article,  was  one  of 
a  little  group  to  whom  Archbishop 
Parker  extended  his  patronage  and 
encouragement  between  the  year  1560 
and  his  death  in  1575,  and  whose  claim  to  that 
patronage  rested  solely  upon  their  excellence  as 
craftsmen  in  the  art  of  printing. 

Foremost  in  that  group  was  John  Day,  who  ever 
since  1559  had  been  turning  out  books,  the  like  of 
which,  for  beauty  of  type  and  decoration,  had  not 
been  produced  in  England  since  the  days  of  Richard 
Pynson,  and  who,  at  the  Archbishop's  desire,  had 
cast  a  fount  of  Saxon  type,  a  feat  never  hitherto 
attempted  in  this  country. 

Although  overshadowed  by  his  great  contempo- 
rary, Henry  Bynneman  deserved  the  praise  and 
merited  the  support  of  the  scholarly  archbishop, 
for  he  printed  good  literature  and  he  printed  it 
well.  His  work  shows  that  he  took  a  pride  in  the 
appearance  of  his  books.  The  arrangement  of  his 
title-pages  was  invariably  artistic.  His  setting  and 

IX.  Q 


226    HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER. 

spacing,  and  the  use  which  he  made  of  printers' 
ornaments  in  the  divisions  of  chapters  and  as  borders, 
shew  him  to  have  been  a  careful  workman.  In 
short,  Bynneman  was  one  of  the  few  English  printers 
of  the  sixteenth  century  whose  work  merits  special 
notice. 

The  first  recorded  fa6t  about  Henry  Bynneman 
is  the  entry  in  the  Registers  of  the  Company  of 
Stationers  of  his  apprenticeship  for  eight  years 
from  the  24th  June,  1559,  to  Richard  Harrison, 
a  printer  in  London. 

The  earliest  entries  of  apprenticeship,  unlike  the 
later  ones,  do  not  give  either  the  parentage  or  the 
locality  from  which  the  apprentice  came,  and  no 
light  can  be  thrown  on  these  details  of  Bynneman's 
history.  His  master,  Richard  Harrison,  was  for  a 
short  time  in  partnership  with  Reginald  Wolfe,  the 
printer  in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  but  subsequently 
set  up  for  himself  in  White  Cross  Street,  Cripple- 
gate,  where  he  published  an  edition  of  the  Bible  in 
1562,  :and  where  he  died  in  the  following  year. 
An  interesting  memento  of  Bynneman's  connection 
with  Richard  Harrison  is  preserved  in  the  British 
Museum  in  the  shape  of  a  copy  of  Harrison's 
Bible,  on  the  title-page  of  which  below  the  frame 
is  printed  the  words,  '  Meus  possessor  verus  est 
Henricus  Binnem[annus],'  the  letters  in  brackets 
having  been  erased. 

Bynneman  had  yet  four  years  of  his  apprentice- 
ship to  complete  at  the  time  of  Harrison's  death, 
and  Herbert  suggests  that  he  transferred  his  services 
to  Reginald  Wolfe.  While  there  is  much  that 
can  be  said  in  support  of  this,  there  is  as  much 


HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER.    227 

that  may  be  said  against  it.  In  the  first  place, 
there  is  no  evidence  that  Bynneman  transferred  his 
services  to  anybody.  It  was  usual  in  such  cases  to 
make  an  entry  in  the  Registers,  and  there  is  no  such 
entry.  Again,  if  the  excellence  of  his  presswork 
be  taken  as  evidence,  we  should  be  inclined  to 
assign  his  transfer  to  John  Day  rather  than  to 
Reginald  Wolfe.  Finally,  we  have  the  fact  that 
the  first  issue  from  his  press  bore  the  address  of  the 
Black  Boy  in  Paternoster  Row,  the  house  of  Henry 
Sutton,  who,  though  he  appears  to  have  left  off 
printing  in  1563,  was  certainly  taking  apprentices 
as  late  as  1571. 

But  whatever  may  have  been  Bynneman's  move- 
ments after  the  death  of  Richard  Harrison  until  the 
1 5th  August,  1566,  when  he  took  up  his  freedom, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  he  had  become  a  skilled 
workman. 

His  first  issue  was  Robert  Crowley's  *  Apologie, 
or  Defence  of  Predestination,'  a  quarto,  bearing  the 
imprint,  '  Imprinted  at  London,  in  Paternoster 
Rowe,  at  the  signe  of  the  blacke  boy,  by  Henry 
Binneman.  Anno  1566,  Oclobris  14.' 

The  copyright  of  this  work  appears  to  have  been 
shared  by  Henry  Bynneman  and  Henry  Denham, 
as  some  copies  bear  the  latter  printer's  name  and 
address  in  the  imprint,  though  the  presswork  is  the 
same  in  all,  the  only  other  difference  between  them 
being  that  Bynneman's  copies  want  the  list  of  errata. 
The  chief  typographical  features  of  the  book  may 
be  briefly  noticed. 

The  title-page  is  surrounded  by  a  border  of 
printers'  ornaments,  technically  termed  a  c  lace ' 


228    HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER. 

border.  The  epistle  c  To  the  Reader '  has  a  large 
fourteen-line  wood-cut  initial  B,  with  flowers  and 
foliage  conventionally  treated.  The  text  is  printed 
in  a  clear,  sharp  fount  of  black  letter,  with  roman 
and  italic  as  supplementary  types,  and  the  com- 
positors' work  throughout  is  excellent. 

Our  knowledge  of  the  rest  of  Bynneman's  work 
in  1566  is  confined  to  the  entries  that  occur  under 
his  name  in  the  Stationers'  Registers,  and  we  must 
therefore  judge  his  work  and  see  how  his  printing- 
office  was  furnished,  by  the  books  that  came  from 
his  press  in  the  succeeding  twelve  months. 

Copies  of  eight  books  printed  by  Bynneman  in 
1567  have  been  found,  three  of  them  quartos  of 
some  size  and  the  remainder  small  octavos.  The 
quartos  are  (i)  Boccaccio's  '  Philocopo,'  a  series  of 
disputations  about  love,  translated  from  the  Italian 
under  the  title  of '  A  pleasante  Disporte  of  Divers 
Noble  Personages,'  entered  in  the  Register  by 
Richard  Smyth,  before  the  22nd  July,  1567,  and 
printed  for  Richard  Smyth  and  Nicholas  England ; 

(2)  the    second   volume    of  Painter's   '  Palace    of 
Pleasure,'  a  collection  of  tales  from  the  best  French 
and  Italian  authors  which  Bynneman  printed  for 
Nicholas  England  and  finished  on  8th  November ; 

(3)  Jewel's  c  Confutation  of  M.   Dorman,'  a  theo- 
logical work  of  upwards  of  four  hundred  folios, 
which  was  finished  on  24th  November,  1567. 

The  most  interesting  of  these  is  the  '  Palace  ot 
Pleasure.'  In  this,  as  in  Crowley's  'Apologie,'  we 
see  the  title-page  set  in  a  deep  '  lace '  border.  Each 
novel  or  tale  was  commenced  with  a  decorative 
wood-cut  initial  of  the  same  size  and  character  as 


HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER.    229 

that  seen  in  Crowley's  c  Apologie.'  At  the  first 
glance  these  letters  appear  to  be  identical  with  a 
set  used  by  Richard  Jugge  at  this  time,  but  a  care- 
ful comparison  has  been  made  and  proves  that  they 
were  a  distinctive  set.  As  a  matter  of  fa<5t,  no  less 
than  four  other  printers  besides  Bynneman  are 
found  to  have  used  a  similar  set  of  initials,  John 
Day,  Henry  Denham,  Richard  Jugge,  and  Reginald 
Wolfe,  and  the  resemblance  between  these  sets  in 
size  and  appearance  is  so  close  that  nothing  short 
of  actual  comparison  and  measurement  serves  to 
distinguish  them.  Those  used  by  Bynnemann  were 
apparently  his  own  property,  and  he  continued  to 
use  them  throughout  his  career. 

The  Boccaccio  is  printed  with  the  same  type  and 
ornaments,  but  the  imprint  runs,  l  Imprinted  at 
London,  in  Pater-Noster  Rowe  at  the  signe  of  the 
Marmayd,  by  H.  Bynnemann  for  Richard  Smyth 
and  Nicholas  England  Anno  Domini  1567  ;  and  the 
printer's  device,  showing  the  sea-maiden  combing 
her  tresses  by  the  aid  of  a  hand  mirror,  makes  an 
effective  ornament  to  the  title-page.  Bynneman 
may  have  adopted  this  sign  without  moving  from 
the  premises  from  which  he  had  issued  Crowley's 
'Apologie,'  and  it  is  quite  possible  also  that  Painter's 
'  Palace  of  Pleasure '  was  printed  at  the  Mermaid. 

Amongst  the  oclavos  of  the  year  1567,  the  most 
interesting  were  a  selection  from  the  Greek  author, 
Epictetus,  translated  by  James  Sandford,  and  printed 
for  Leonard  Mayler  or  Maylard,  a  bookseller  living 
at  the  sign  of  the  Cock  in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard, 
and  a  selection  from  the  Latin  poet,  Baptista 
Mantuanus,  turned  into  English  verse  by  George 


230    HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER. 

Turberville,  both  of  which  books  bore  on  the  title- 
page  the  device  of  the  Mermaid. 

In  addition  to  these  eight  books,  Bynneman 
printed  towards  the  latter  end  of  1567  several  pro- 
clamations concerning  a  public  lottery.  The  first 
and  largest  of  these,  nearly  three  feet  long,  was 
surrounded  by  a  border  of  printers'  ornaments,  and 
was  headed  by  a  large  and  roughly  executed  wood- 
cut of  the  prizes.  The  Grenville  copy  of  this  pro- 
clamation has  not  the  woodcut,  which  is  only  known 
from  a  unique  copy  in  the  library  of  the  late  James 
More  Molyneux  at  Losely  House,  in  Surrey,  and 
the  reproduction  in  the  catalogue  and  description 
of  the  manuscripts  by  Alfred  John  Kempe,  F.S.A., 
in  1836  (B.M.  807,  d.  10). 

This  lottery  was  made  by  the  Queen's  command, 
and  its  object:  was  to  raise  money  '  for  the  repair 
of  the  havens  and  strengthe  of  the  realme,  and 
towardes  such  other  publique  good  workes.'  Four 
hundred  thousand  lots  of  the  value  of  ten  shillings 
each  were  issued,  and  the  prizes  consisted  of  ready 
money,  plate,  and  linen.  The  first  prize  was  of 
the  value  of  five  thousand  pounds,  the  second  three 
thousand  five  hundred  pounds,  the  third  three 
thousand.  There  were  nine  thousand  prizes  of 
fourteen  shillings  each,  and  every  adventurer, 
whether  he  won  a  prize  or  not,  was  to  receive  two 
shillings  and  sixpence.  The  prizes  were  on  view 
at  a  goldsmith's  shop  in  Cheapside  known  as  the 
Queens  Majesties  Armes.  This  proclamation  bore 
the  imprint  of  Paternoster  Row,  but  the  second 
issue,  which  gave  an  extension  of  time,  was  dated 
from  '  Knightrider  Street  at  the  signe  of  the 


HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER.    231 

Mermaide,  anno  1567,  Januarii  3  '  (in  other  words, 
3rd  January,  156!),  showing  that  the  printer  had 
again  changed  his  address. 

Settled  in  his  new  premises,  Bynneman's  business 
rapidly  increased.  During  the  year  1568,  we  find 
him  printing  for  John  Wight,  Thomas  Hacket, 
and  Leonard  Mayler  or  Maylard.  For  the  first- 
named  he  printed  in  quarto  an  edition  of  a  very 
popular  medical  work,  l  The  Secrets  of  Alexis,'  in 
which  a  few  new  founts  of  type  are  noticeable  on 
the  title-page,  the  first  line  of  which  is  printed  in 
German  text  letters.  Also  above  the  imprint  is 
seen  the  block  of  a  figure  with  horses,  and  the 
motto  '  Armi-potenti  Angliae,'  generally  associated 
with  the  publisher  Nicholas  England,  who  may 
have  had  some  share  in  the  venture.  The  book  is 
further  interesting,  as  having  at  the  end  of  the  first 
part  below  the  colophon,  a  small  form  of  Bynne- 
man's device,  measuring  only  54  by  43  mm.,  not 
found,  as  far  as  we  know,  in  any  other  book. 

For  Thomas  Hacket,  Bynneman  printed  a  trans- 
lation of  Andrew  Thevet's  c  Singularitez  de  la 
France  Antarclique,'  under  the  title  of '  The  New 
Found  Worlde,  or  Antarclike,'  a  quarto  of  nearly  a 
hundred  and  fifty  folios.  In  this  a  great  primer 
black,  a  handsome  letter,  makes  its  appearance  in 
the  preliminary  matter,  the  rest  of  the  types  being 
those  already  noticed. 

Another  quarto  of  the  greatest  interest,  that 
came  from  Bynneman's  press  in  1568,  is  the  old 
play  or  interlude  of 'Jacob  and  Esau.'  This  fur- 
nishes another  link  in  Bynneman's  connection  with 
Henry  Sutton,  as  it  was  one  of  Sutton's  copyrights, 


232    HENRY   BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER. 

and  had  been  entered  by  him  in  the  Register  ten 
years  before.  The  play  was  written  for  eleven  per- 
formers, and  is  described  by  J.  P.  Collier  in  his 
'  History  of  Dramatic  Poetry '  as  superior  to  any- 
thing of  the  kind  which  had  preceded  it.  It  was 
printed  throughout  in  pica  black  letter  with  a  few 
founts  of  roman  and  italic  for  running  title,  head- 
ings to  acts  and  scenes  and  marginalia,  and  with 
the  exception  of  a  small  wood-cut  initial  at  the 
beginning  of  the  prologue,  was  without  ornament 
of  any  kind. 

But  the  book  of  the  year  1568  was  undoubtedly 
Dr.  John  Caius'  £  De  Antiquitate  Cantabrigiensis 
Academiae,'  a  work  of  considerable  antiquarian 
interest,  which  came  from  Bynneman's  press  in 
August.  As  a  piece  of  printing  the  book,  an 
octavo  of  nearly  four  hundred  pages,  is  notable  as 
being  set  up  throughout  in  pica  italic  type,  with 
marginalia  in  roman.  Here  and  there  a  fount  of 
Anglo-Saxon  is  introduced,  which  was  undoubtedly 
borrowed  from  John  Day,  who  printed  subsequent 
editions  of  the  work.  Finally,  this  book,  unlike 
most  of  those  hitherto  printed  by  Bynneman,  was 
paged  throughout  instead  of  only  the  leaves  being 
numbered.  To  the  c  De  Antiquitate '  was  added 
4  Assertio  antiquitatis  Oxoniensis  Academic,'  a 
work  of  sixteen  leaves  or  thirty-two  pages,  which 
differs  from  the  '  De  Antiquitate '  by  being  printed 
throughout  in  nonpareil  roman,  with  italic  for 
marginalia.  The  printer's  large  device  occupies 
the  recto  of  the  last  leaf. 

Space  and  time  alike  prevent  us  from  doing  more 
than  enumerate  some  of  the  other  interesting  issues 


HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER.    233 

of  the  year  1568.  The  'Plain  Path  to  perfect 
Vertue '  was  a  translation  by  George  Turberville 
of  the  old  moral  treatise  of  Mancinus  known  as 
4  The  Mirrour  of  good  maners,'  first  translated  by 
Alexander  Barclay,  and  printed  many  years  before 
both  by  Wynkyn  de  Worde  and  Richard  Pynson. 
Turberville's  attempt  to  dress  it  in  jingling  rhyme 
was  hardly  a  success.  c  The  Enemy  of  Idleness '  of 
William  Fulwood  was  a  work  treating  of  the  art  of 
letter  writing,  with  examples  from  French,  Italian, 
and  classical  models.  An  English  translation  of 
the  Histories  of  Polybius,  made  by  Christopher 
Watson,  was  another  of  the  important  oclavos,  and 
was  published  by  Thomas  Hacket,  and  two  Dutch 
pamphlets  on  religious  questions  were  also  amongst 
the  curiosities  of  Bynneman's  press  in  1568. 

During  the  1569  Matthew  Parker  exerted  him- 
self actively  on  the  printer's  behalf.  On  the  9th 
August,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Lord  Burghley,  in 
which  the  following  passage  occurred : 

Sir,  I  am  styl  sued  onto  bi  the  prynter  bineman,  to 
entreate  yor  honor  to  optayne  for  hym  a  privilege  for 
prynting  two  or  iii  vsual  bokes  for  grammarians,  as 
Therence,  Virgile  or  Tullye's  office,  etc.  he  feareth  that 
he  shal  susteyne  great  loss  of  hys  prynted  bokes  of  the 
Lotarye.  I  thinke  he  shulde  do  this  thing  aptly  inough, 
and  better  cheape  then  they  may  be  bought  fro  beyond  the 
seas,  standyng  the  paper  and  goodnes  of  his  prynt,  and  it 
wer  not  amys  to  set  our  own  contrymen  on  werke,  as 
they  wold  be  diligent,  and  take  good  correctors.  He  hath 
brought  me  a  litle  pece  of  his  workmanship  in  a  tryall, 
wcb  he  desiereth  to  be  sent  to  yor  honor,  to  see  the  forme 
&  order  of  his  prynt.  (Lansdowne  MS.,  XI.  art.  62.) 


234    HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER. 

This  letter  has  often  been  quoted,  but  always 
wrongly,  the  word  '  characters '  being  substituted 
for  '  correctors.'  Matthew  Parker  was  insisting 
upon  a  correct  text,  rather  than  a  well-printed 
book,  being  perfectly  satisfied  that  on  the  latter 
score  he  could  depend  upon  Bynneman's  workman- 
ship. As  some  doubt  has  been  expressed  as  to  the 
meaning  of  the  passage  referring  to  c  hys  prynted 
bokes  of  the  Lotarye,'  I  may  say  that  Mr.  Robert 
Steele,  who  knows  more  about  English  proclama- 
tions than  any  one  else,  believes  it  to  refer  to  the 
broadside  proclamations  already  referred  to  and  not 
to  books  as  we  understand  the  word. 

Though  no  official  record  of  any  such  grant  in 
1 569  has  been  found,  Parker's  efforts  were  evidently 
successful,  as  several  of  the  books  printed  by  Byn- 
neman  within  the  next  two  years  bore  the  words 
'  Cum  privilegio '  or  '  Cum  privilegio  ad  impri- 
mendum  solum.'  They  are  found  in  the  two  most 
notable  books  that  came  from  his  press  in  that  year, 
Johan  Van  der  Noot's  '  Theatre  for  Worldlings,' 
always  to  be  remembered  as  containing  the  first 
printed  verse  of  Edmund  Spenser,  and  'Volusianus, 
Epistolas  Dua?  .  .  .  de  Celibatu  Cleri,'  the  colo- 
phon of  which  states  that  the  printing  was  finished 
on  23rd  August,  i.e.  a  fortnight  after  the  date  of 
the  archbishop's  letter. 

Of  the  three  books  particularly  mentioned  in 
that  letter  those  of  Terence  and  Virgil  were  entered 
by  Bynneman  in  the  Registers  before  the  22nd  July, 
1570,  and  the  British  Museum  possesses  an  o6tavo 
edition  of  Virgil's  Opera  from  his  press,  dated  in 
that  year,  but  without  the  privilege  clause. 


HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER.    235 

Another  issue  of  the  year  1569  that  is  biblio- 
graphically  interesting  is  Thomas  Norton's  'Warn- 
ing against  the  dangerous  Practices  of  Papists  and 
specially  of  Partners  of  the  late  Rebellion,'  one  of 
the  many  tracts  called  forth  by  the  recent  trouble 
in  the  north  of  England.  A  copy  of  this  tract 
with  Bynneman's  name  as  printer  was  noticed  in 
the  'Gentleman's  Magazine'  for  1828  (Pt.  II., 
p.  502).  Two  other  editions,  both  without  date, 
were  printed  by  John  Day,  and  copies  of  these  are 
in  the  British  Museum,  but  no  other  copy  printed 
by  Bynneman  appears  to  be  known. 

As  in  the  two  preceding  years,  so  in  1569 
Bynneman  entered  a  large  number  of  books  in  the 
Registers,  which  are  either  lost  altogether,  or  only 
known  from  fragments.  Some  of  these  were  per- 
haps ventures  of  his  own,  or  work  undertaken 
directly  for  the  authors.  But  for  the  bulk  of  his 
business  he  was  dependent  on  the  publishers,  and 
this  branch  of  his  trade  was  steadily  growing  every 
year.  Thus  amongst  those  whose  names  are  met 
with  in  books  from  his  press  during  the  next  two 
or  three  years  are  George  Bishop,  Francis  Coldocke, 
Thomas  Racket,  Lucas  Harrison,  William  Norton, 
Richard  Smith,  Humphry  Toy,  and  Richard 
Watkins.  A  further  indication  of  his  prosperity 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  in  1572,  in  addition  to 
his  printing-office  in  Knightrider  Street,  he  had 
a  bookseller's  shop  or  shed  at  the  north-west  door 
of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  which  bore  the  sign  of  the 
Three  Wells,  and  is  definitely  mentioned  in  the 
imprint  to  '  The  Survey  of  the  Worlde,'  translated 
by  Thomas  Twine  from  the  Latin  of  Dionysius. 


236    HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER. 

Hitherto  we  have  seen  Henry  Bynneman  as  a 
careful  workman,  earning  commendation  from 
those  in  high  places,  and  winning  the  confidence 
of  the  first  booksellers  of  the  day  by  reason  of  the 
excellence  of  his  work. 

But  about  1572  or  1573  he  was  employed  by 
Richard  Smith  the  publisher  to  print  an  edition  of 
the  poems  of  George  Gascoigne,  the  manuscript  for 
which  we  may  assume  was  supplied  by  the 
publisher.  The  volume  when  issued  formed  a 
bulky  quarto,  and  was  entitled  c  A  Hundreth 
sundrie  Flowers  bounde  up  in  one  small  Posie,' 
etc. 

This  book  is  one  of  those  bibliographical  eccen- 
tricities which  it  seems  hopeless  to  explain.  A  very 
few  moments'  examination  shows  that  its  arrange- 
ment is  *  mixed.'  To  begin  with,  the  first  two 
leaves  in  signature  B  of  the  first  alphabet  are 
wanting.  The  pagination  skips  in  one  instance 
from  36  to  45,  and  in  another  from  164  to  201. 
There  is  a  colophon  in  the  middle  of  the  book  and 
another  at  the  end.  On  the  third  leaf  is  found  a 
note  from  the  Printer  to  the  Reader,  in  which  he 
says, c  Master  H.  W.  in  the  beginning  of  this  worke, 
hath  in  his  letter  (written  to  the  Reader),  etc.,  etc.' 
There  is  no  such  letter  at  the  beginning  of  the  work, 
but  the  reader  finds  it  in  the  middle  of  the  book, 
immediately  after  the  first  colophon,  and  forming 
part  of  the  preliminary  matter  to  the  miscellaneous 
poems,  whereas  it  was  clearly  intended,  both  by  the 
tone  of  the  letter  itself  and  from  the  printer's 
evidence,  that  it  should  come  at  the  beginning  of 
the  book. 


HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER.    237 

This  is  so  unlike  Bynneman's  method  of  doing 
his  work,  that  evidently  something  happened  while 
this  book  was  passing  through  the  press  to  cause 
confusion,  and  thus  resulted  in  the  present  chaotic 
make-up  of  the  volume. 

It  is  generally  admitted  now,  that,  so  far  from 
this  being  an  unauthorized  edition  of  the  poet's 
works,  George  Gascoigne  gave  the  publisher  the 
manuscript,  and  knew  perfectly  well  that  it  was 
being  printed.  But  on  the  I9th  March,  157!,  ^e 
left  England  to  serve  as  a  soldier  of  fortune  in  the 
Low  Countries.  That  he  was  still  in  correspond- 
ence with  his  publisher  is  made  clear  by  his  sending 
over  the  manuscript  of  a  poem  describing  his 
voyage,  to  be  included  in  the  published  volume, 
and  it  is  possible  that  some  of  the  proofs  were  sent 
to  him  for  correction,  thus  causing  delay.  Mean- 
while the  printers  had  started  to  set  up  the  two 
plays,  for  which  two  hundred  pages  were  allowed. 
The  inclusion  of  the  preliminary  matter  in  the 
second  part  was  undoubtedly  due  to  carelessness  on 
the  part  of  those  who  gave  out  the  work,  and  the 
whole  having  been  paged  throughout,  it  became 
impossible  to  rectify  the  error.  As  regards  the 
date  of  printing,  it  was  late  in  1573,  if  not  even 
some  time  in  1574,  as  the  black  letter  type  shows 
signs  of  wear,  and  there  are  initials  used  in  it  that 
we  are  inclined  to  think  belong  to  a  later  date. 

Bynneman  did  just  at  this  time  procure  a  new 
fount  of  type.  On  the  26th  August,  1573,  the 
Company  of  Stationers,  after  infinite  trouble,  had 
run  to  earth  at  Hempstead  or  Hemel  Hempstead, 
the  secret  press  at  which  Cartwright  and  his  friends 


238    HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER. 

had  been  printing  their  attacks  upon  the  Bishops. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  Bynneman  had  in  any 
way  helped  in  the  capture  of  the  press,  but  in  the 
registers  of  the  year  1574-5,  is  this  entry: 

Item,  Receyvd  of  Master  Bynneman  for  wearing 

the  lettre  that  came  from  Hempstead        -  xvj. 

Mr.  Arber  construes  the  word  *  wearing  *  as 
meaning  '  using,'  but  the  expression  is  a  peculiar 
one,  and  raises  a  doubt  as  to  whether  the  printer 
purchased  the  type  outright,  or  whether  the  Com- 
pany only  lent  it  to  him. 

This  fount  was  a  small  Gothic  black,  either 
brevier  or  long  primer,  and  Bynneman  first  used  it 
to  print  the  preface  to  a  sermon  preached  by  the 
Bishop  of  Chichester  before  the  Queen  at  Green- 
wich on  the  1 4th  of  March,  157!,  anc^  published 
after  the  6th  April. 

The  year  1 574  opens  a  new  era  in  the  history  of 
the  printer.  Up  to  this  time  he  ihas  moved  along 
with  a  stock  of  letter  restricted  to  a  few  good  founts, 
most  of  which  were  getting  somewhat  worn,  while 
his  device  of  the  Mermaid  and  the  set  of  large  wood- 
cut initials,  to  which  attention  has  been  drawn, 
formed  his  chief  material  for  decoration.  But  all 
this  was  now  changed.  In  the  closing  days  of 
1573,  the  great  antiquary,  bookseller  and  printer, 
Reginald  Wolfe,  of  the  Brazen  Serpent  in  St.  Paul's 
Churchyard,  had  died,  and  six  months  later  his 
widow  followed  him,  leaving  the  business  in  the 
hands  of  her  executors,  to  do  with  as  they  thought 
best,  provided  that  in  the  event  of  its  being  sold, 


HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER.    239 

her  servant  John  Sheppard  was  to  have  the  first 
refusal.  We  can  only  judge  what  actually  took 
place  from  the  facts  before  us.  John  Sheppard's 
name  occurs  in  the  imprints  of  books  down  to  1577, 
and  in  some  he  claims  to  be  the  printer ;  but  when 
we  find  all  Reginald  Wolfe's  devices,  and  almost 
every  one  of  his  initial  letters  and  ornaments  in 
Bynneman's  possession  before  the  end  of  1 574,  we 
feel  sure  that  the  st6ck  of  printing  materials  at  the 
Brazen  Serpent  was  disposed  of  for  some  reason  or 
another.  The  business  of  Jugge  and  Cawood  had 
also  undergone  changes,  by  the  death  of  John 
Cawood  in  1572,  and  five  years  later  by  that  of 
Richard  Jugge.  The  great  stock  of  printing 
'  stuff '  in  that  office  was  released,  and  Bynneman 
secured  a  share.  The  result  was  an  improvement 
and  development  of  the  printer's  business.  For  the 
first  time  in  his  history  he  began  to  print  books  in 
folio.  Four  books  of  that  size  bear  the  date  1 574, 
and  were  therefore  printed  between  July  of  that 
year  and  the  25th  March,  157-5.  Two  of  these 
were  different  editions  of  Calvin's  Sermons  on  Job, 
translated  by  Arthur  Golding ;  the  others  were 
Walsingham's  '  Historia  Brevis,'  and  Whitgift's 
'  Defence  of  the  Aunswer  to  the  Admonition,'  and 
all  of  them  are  excellent  examples  of  Bynneman's 
printing.  The  title-pages  to  the  last  two  are 
within  a  woodcut  border  of  conventional  design, 
evidently  cut  specially  for  Bynneman,  having  a 
figure  of  a  Mermaid  embodied  in  it.  This  border 
was  modelled  on  that  used  by  Reginald  Wolfe  when 
he  printed  the  '  Historia  Major '  of  Matthew  Paris 
in  1571. 


24o    HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER. 

These  folios  were  followed  in  1575  by  an  edition 
of  the  Bible.  No  printer's  name  appears  in  this, 
it  being  a  venture  shared  by  several  booksellers  and 
printers,  some  copies  being  found  with  William 
Norton's  name,  others  with  that  of  Lucas  Harrison, 
and  it  is  preceded  by  the  Order  of  Morning  and 
Evening  Prayer,  which  has  Richard  Jugge's  im- 
print. The  editors  of  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society's  Catalogue,  while  recognising  that 
the  whole  impression  is  alike,  ascribe  it  to  the  press 
of  Richard  Jugge.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
this  Bible  was  printed  by  Bynneman.  Not  only 
are  all  the  title-pages  in  what  I  may  call  the 
Mermaid  border,  but  many  of  the  pictorial  initials, 
tail-pieces,  etc.,  can  be  recognized  as  having  ap- 
peared in  the  smaller  of  Bynneman's  two  editions 
of  Calvin's  Sermons  printed  in  the  preceding  year, 
and  were  evidently  part  of  the  stock  that  formerly 
belonged  to  Reginald  Wolfe.  A  new  fount  of  black 
letter,  of  a  larger  and  thinner  face  and  more  clumsy 
casting  than  any  which  Bynneman  had  previously 
used,  makes  its  first  appearance  in  this  Bible. 

Archbishop  Parker  did  not  live  to  see  the  publi- 
cation of  this  first  small  folio  edition  of  the  Bishop's 
Bible,  in  the  revision  of  which  he  took  so  large  a 
part,  as  he  died  on  the  ijth  May,  1575.  Bynne- 
man and  his  brother  printers  must  have  grieved  for 
many  a  long  day  over  the  loss  of  such  a  patron  ;  but 
Bynneman  appears  to  have  soon  found  another  in 
the  person  of  Sir  Christopher  Hatton,  the  Vice- 
Chancellor  and  favourite  of  Elizabeth,  whose 
'  servant '  he  styles  himself  in  some  of  his  later 
imprints. 


HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER.    241 

Bynneman  at  this  time  reached  the  high  water- 
mark of  excellence  in  his  book  production.  His 
editions  of  the  classics,  of  which  he  printed  large 
numbers,  were  issued  in  a  handy  form,  and  in  clear 
readable  type,  generally  italic,  and  he  had  also  a 
miniature  Greek  fount,  very  clearly  and  regularly 
cast,  used  in  his  edition  of  the  '  Dialectics  of  La 
Ramee,'  published  in  1583. 

His  title-pages  were  quite  the  most  artistic  of 
any  that  issued  from  the  London  press  at  that  time. 
As  a  rule,  he  continued  the  custom  of  placing  his 
titles  within  a  border  of  printer's  ornaments,  but  in 
addition  to  this,  he  rarely  let  a  book  go  out  without 
some  additional  ornament  upon  it,  sometimes  a  cut 
of  the  Royal  Arms,  sometimes  Wolfe's  small 
'  charity '  device,  or  the  lesser  of  the  c  Serpent ' 
devices,  but  more  often  the  crest  and  motto  either 
of  his  patron,  Sir  Christopher  Hatton,  or  some 
other  nobleman.  He  still  continued  to  use  the 
Mermaid  device,  but  rarely,  often  substituting  for 
it  one  or  other  of  the  Serpent  marks.  Nor  were 
these  the  only  form  of  book  decoration  he  adopted, 
many  of  his  books  bearing  the  coats  of  arms  of  those 
to  whom  they  were  dedicated,  or  of  one  or  other 
of  the  great  court  favourites,  and  heralds  and 
genealogists  might  do  worse  than  consult  them  for 
information.  On  one  occasion  we  find  him  using 
the  large  and  effective  initial  C,  showing  Elizabeth 
on  her  throne,  which  had  been  used  by  John  Day 
in  printing  Foxe's  '  Book  of  Martyrs.' 

New  types  also  make  their  appearance  in  his 
books  at  this  time,  and  the  frequent  repetition  of 
the  large  wood-cut  initials  which  marked  his  earlier 

IX.  R 


242    HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER. 

work  gives  place  to  a  great  variety  of  pictorial 
initials  which,  if  smaller  in  size,  are  much  more 
attractive. 

Bynneman's  greatest  work  during  the  last  years 
of  his  life  was  the  printing  of  Holinshead's  '  Chro- 
nicles '  in  1 577.  This  work  was  Reginald  Wolfe's 
bequest  to  the  nation.  With  infinite  toil  and 
patience  he  had  collected  during  his  life  the 
materials,  and  at  his  death  he  left  instructions  that 
Raphaell  Holinshead  should  arrange  and  publish 
them.  The  complete  work  makes  two  bulky  folio 
volumes,  which  with  indexes  and  preliminary 
matter  fill  nearly  two  thousand  pages.  No  printer's 
name  appears  anywhere  about  them,  but  the  types 
and  ornaments  are  enough  to  identify  Bynneman, 
and  all  the  title-pages  have  the  '  Mermaid '  border. 
The  work  is  also  profusely  illustrated,  and  the  in- 
troduction of  so  many  wood  blocks  must  not  only 
have  added  largely  to  the  labour  of  printing  the 
work,  but  must  also  have  greatly  added  to  the  cost. 
The  editors  admitted  that  this  last  consideration 
had  greatly  hampered  their  work,  and  this  may 
account  for  the  sale  of  Reginald  Wolfe's  printing 
materials  to  Bynneman,  who  may  have  made  a 
bargain  with  the  executors  as  to  printing  the  work, 
at  the  time  of  Wolfe's  death. 

The  chief  events  in  the  short  remaining  period 
of  the  printer's  life  need  not  occupy  much  space. 
About  the  year  1579  he  moved  into  Thames  Street, 
near  Baynard's  Castle.  In  the  same  year  he  was 
granted  a  patent  for  printing  certain  books.  The 
grant,  which  is  enrolled  on  the  patent  rolls,  is 
curiously  worded,  beginning  with  a  long  rambling 


HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER.    243 

statement  about  a  previous  grant  made  to  Thomas 
Cooper,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  to  print  an  edition  of 
Elyot's  Dictionary,  and  going  on  to  say  that  in 
order  that  the  work  may  be  well  and  truly  printed, 
and  c  having  credible  information  of  the  dexteritie 
and  skill  of  our  loving  subject  Henry  Bynneman,' 
proceeds  to  grant  him  a  license  for  the  sole  printing 
of  that  book,  and  a  '  chronicle '  set  forth  by  the 
same  author,  besides  all  other  dictionaries  and 
chronicles  that  might  be  published  within  the  next 
twenty-one  years. 

In  1580  Bynneman  was  in  serious  trouble,  and 
suffered  imprisonment  for  printing  a  libellous  letter 
sent  from  one  member  of  Parliament  to  another. 
The  story  is  told  at  some  length  in  Thurloe's  State 
Papers. 

This  was  the  only  time  he  offended  the  autho- 
rities. On  the  other  hand,  we  find  him  serving  as 
'  constable '  to  the  parish  of  St.  Bennet,  Paul's 
Wharf,  and  collecting  various  sums  of  money  for 
the  poor,  and  we  should  be  inclined  to  sum  up  his 
character  as  that  of  a  loyal  and  God-fearing  man. 

In  May,  1583,  he  was  returned  as  possessing 
three  presses,  this  number  being  only  exceeded  by 
Christopher  Barker,  who  had  five,  and  by  John 
Day  and  Henry  Denham,  each  of  whom  had  four, 
and  there  were  only  five  other  men  who  had  an 
equal  number,  Richard  Tottell,  Henry  Marshe, 
Henry  Middleton,  Thomas  Dawson,  and  John 
Wolfe. 

Bynneman  died  before  the  end  of  the  year  1583, 
as  on  the  8th  January,  158!,  Ralph  Newberry  and 
Henry  Denham  delivered  up  to  the  Company 


244    HENRY  BYNNEMAN,  PRINTER. 

certain  copies  that  had  belonged  '  to  Henry  Bynne- 
man  deceased.'  He  left  a  widow  and  several 
children,  one  of  whom,  Christopher  Bynneman, 
was  in  1600  apprenticed  for  seven  years  to  Thomas 
Dawson,  but  nothing  more  is  heard  of  him.  The 
business  passed  into  other  hands,  and  the  Mermaid 
device  is  found  years  afterwards  in  the  hands  of 
Humphrey  Lownes,  while  the  Mermaid  border, 
minus  the  Mermaid,  is  found  used  in  books  printed 
for  the  Company  of  Stationers  during  the  first  half 
of  the  seventeenth  century. 

HENRY  R.  PLOMER. 


245 


SOUVENIRS    DE   JEUNESSE. 

From  the  French  of  M.  Leopold  Delisle. 
(Concluded.) 

SHORT  time  after  I  took  up  my 
duties  Guerard  opened  for  me  a  little 
seledl  case  where  were  collected  some 
precious  manuscripts  not  issued  to 
students  without  a  special  authorisa- 
tion from  the  Keeper,  and  which  had  not  all  been 
entered  in  the  catalogue.  I  was  to  enter  them 
briefly  in  the  inventory  of  the  Latin  Supplement 
where  they  naturally  belonged.  My  attention 
was  specially  drawn  to  one  of  these  manuscripts. 
4  There,'  said  Guerard, '  is  one  of  our  most  valuable 
manuscripts,  the  copy  of  Nithardus,  which  contains 
the  Strasburg  Oaths,  the  oldest  French  text  which 
has  come  down  to  us.'  It  is  a  volume,  from  the 
Library  of  the  Vatican,  which  was  handed  over  to 
us  in  1797  by  the  treaty  of  Tolentino.  In  1815 
the  Papal  Commission  claimed  its  restitution,  but 
it  had  disappeared  from  the  Library,  probably  in 
consequence  of  its  having  been  sent  to  a  draughts- 
man for  the  facsimile  of  the  text  of  the  famous 
Oaths  that  was  then  being  made.  The  volume 
reappeared  again  some  time  after,  but  nothing  was 
said  about  it  in  order  not  to  provoke  a  claim  from 
the  Vatican. 


246  LEOPOLD  DELISLE 

Things  were  at  this  point,  when  Pertz,  who 
had  come  to  Paris  to  prepare,  amongst  other 
works  destined  to  form  part  of  the  '  Monumenta 
Germanic  historica,'  a  new  edition  of  the  History 
of  Nithardus,  asked  to  collate  the  manuscript  of 
this  author  which  we  had  received  from  the 
Vatican.  Orders  were  given  to  say  that  the  manu- 
script must  have  been  given  back  to  the  Papal 
Commissioner  in  1815.  Pertz  renewed  the  attack 
after  having  made  a  fruitless  application  at  the 
Vatican.  '  But,'  said  Guerard,  '  I  had  taken  my 
precautions.  I  had  collated  the  manuscript  most 
carefully  with  the  edition  of  Dom  Bouquet,  and 
when  Pertz  reappeared  I  told  him,  that  whilst 
looking  through  some  papers  belonging  to  one  of 
the  Keepers  at  the  time  when  the  Vatican  manu- 
scripts were  at  Paris,  I  had  found  a  collation  of 
Nithardus  which  seemed  to  have  been  made  with 
the  most  scrupulous  attention  to  detail,  and  that  in 
default  of  the  original  I  could  place  this  collation 
at  his  disposal.  Pertz  accepted  with  gratitude.' 
In  finishing  his  recital  Guerard  told  me  to  look  at 
the  '  Monumenta '  and  see  how  the  incident  had 
been  reported.  It  is  worth  while  reproducing  the 
exacT:  text  of  the  learned  German  : 

Codex  seculo  xvii  bibliothecas  palatinae  Vaticanae  sub 
numero  1964  inlatus,  bello  ultimo  Parisius  rediit,  ibique 
a  cl.  Roquefort  evolutus  et  ab  alio  viro  docto,  cujus 
nomen  ignore,  rei  tamen  diplomaticae  peritissimo,  cum 
editione  bouquetiana  diligentissime  collatus  est.  Mox 
Italiae  redditus,  Romae  latet,  nee  vel  maxima  cura  nostra 
adhibita  iterum  emersit.  Sed  quo  plurimum  gratu- 
landum  nobis  censemus,  collationem  istam,  in  qua  nihi 


SOUVENIRS  DE  JEUNESSE.         247 

desiderari  posse  videtur,  flagitantibus  nobis  summa  cum 
benivolentia  transmisit  V.  cl.  Guerard  Bibliothecae  regiae 
Parisiensi  adscriptus,  quern  futurum  gloriae  suae  diplo- 
maticae  vindicem  Gallia  jam  jamque  sperat  et  expectat.1 

I  have  read  and  re-read  these  lines  more  than 
once  in  the  fine  copy  of  the  '  Monumenta '  which 
became  mine  after  having  belonged  first  to  Guerard 
and  then  to  Natalis  de  Wailly.  It  is  the  very  copy 
which  Pertz  gave  to  his  friend,  and  in  which  he 
inserted  his  own  portrait.  It  is  the  most  valuable 
book  in  the  collection  which  my  wife  and  I  have 
thought  it  right  to  make  over  to  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationale. 

But  the  story  I  have  just  told  is  not  the  most 
dramatic  part  of  the  history  of  the  manuscript  of 
Nithardus.  Guerard  never  knew  what  really  took 
place  in  1 8 1 5  at  the  time  of  the  claim  made  by  the 
Papal  Commissioners ;  he  had  not  been  told  the 
details  by  the  authorities  of  the  Library  who  took 
part  in  the  negociations.  It  was  only  in  1884,  by 
the  posthumous  publication  of  a  report  by  Marini, 
the  chief  Papal  Commissioner,  that  the  secrets  of 
this  affair  were  revealed  in  all  their  detail. 

It  had  been  necessary  in  1815  to  submit  to  the 
wholesale  restitution  of  the  manuscripts  surrendered 
to  France  in  virtue  of  the  treaty  of  Tolentino, 
although  there  had  been  no  stipulation  on  the 
subject  in  the  treaties  concluded  with  the  Allies  in 
1815.  Some  few  exceptions,  however,  had  been 
allowed  in  order  to  lessen  the  rigour  of  the  restitu- 
tions, and  the  affair  seemed  almost  settled,  except 

1  '  Scriptores,'  II.,  650. 


248  LEOPOLD  DELISLE 

with  regard  to  two  manuscripts  about  which  Dacier 
tried  to  soften  the  hearts  of  the  papal  representa- 
tives. These  were  the  manuscript  of  Nithardus 
and  an  ancient  copy  of  Virgil,  decorated  with 
paintings,  which  had  come  from  the  Abbey  of 
S.  Denis.  Marini  was  implored  to  refer  the 
matter  again  to  the  Pope.  The  reply  was  not  at 
all  of  a  kind  to  please  us ;  in  spite  of  the  regard 
which  Pius  VII.  was  said  to  have  for  M.  Dacier, 
Marini  did  not  think  himself  authorized  to  give 
up  either  the  Nithardus  or  the  Virgil.  In  the  end, 
however,  he  accepted  in  exchange  for  Nithardus  a 
Greek  manuscript,  in  the  belief,  as  he  boasted  later 
on,  that  he  had  made  a  very  good  bargain  for  the 
Vatican.  But  he  was  adamant  with  regard  to  the 
Virgil.  He  even  pretended  that  he  was  compro- 
mised by  leaving  the  Nithardus  at  Paris.  As  a 
matter  of  facl:  his  Holiness,  '  in  order  not  to  hurt 
M.  Dacier's  feelings,'  had  authorized  his  agent  to 
give  up  both  the  manuscripts.  This  happened  in 
1815,  and  less  than  twelve  years  later  the  story  of 
the  temporary  disappearance  of  the  Nithardus  had 
been  pieced  together  with  enough  consistency  to 
be  accepted  by  Guerard  and  embodied  by  Pertz  in 
a  volume  printed  in  1829!  It  still  figures  in 
some  excellent  and  learned  works  of  a  date  subse- 
quent to  the  publication  of  the  report  of  Marini's 
mission. 

But  I  have  been  too  prolix  over  a  matter  of 
secondary  importance,  and  I  must  excuse  myself 
for  having  been  carried  away  by  the  wish  to  record 
the  very  flattering  testimony  which  the  illustrious 
Pertz  published  in  1829  with  regard  to  the  promis- 


SOUVENIRS  DE  JEUNESSE.         249 

ing  young  assistant  at  the  Bibliotheque.  The 
perusal  of  the  little  book  recommended  to  me  by 
Guerard,  and  especially  also  the  study  of  a  resume 
of  the  researches  of  Boivin,  published  by  the  abbe 
Jourdain  in  1739,  at  the  beginning  of  the  first 
volume  of  the  Catalogue  of  printed  books  of  the 
Royal  Library,  had  made  me  fairly  well  acquainted 
with  the  main  points  of  the  history  of  the  Biblio- 
theque Nationale,  but  I  had  still  made  little  pro- 
gress with  the  work  of  clearing  and  verification 
with  which  I  had  been  charged,  a  work  which  often 
brought  me  pleasant  surprises,  as,  for  instance,  the 
discovery  of  the  letter  of  a  burgess  of  La  Rochelle 
to  Queen  Blanche,  which  I  was  allowed  to  submit 
to  the  Academic  during  the  summer  of  1856. 
This  was  the  first  time  that  I  had  had  the  honour 
of  speaking  before  this  friendly  audience.  Guerard 
was  no  longer  there  to  hear  me.  A  premature 
death  had  carried  him  off  on  loth  March,  1854, 
barely  two  years  after  he  became  Keeper  of  the 
Department  of  Manuscripts. 

The  loss  of  such  a  chief  and,  I  may  say,  of  such 
a  friend,  was  a  great  sorrow,  a  sorrow  somewhat 
softened  to  me  by  the  appointment  of  his  successor, 
Natalis  de  Wailly,  in  whom  I  was  to  find  the  same 
qualities — the  same  learning,  the  same  wisdom,  the 
same  afFeclion.  An  intimate  friend  of  Guerard  he 
was  thoroughly  acquainted  with  his  views,  and 
had  often  discussed  them  with  him ;  for  more  than 
fourteen  years  he  worked  hard  to  carry  them  out, 
and  the  principles  which  these  two  illustrious 
masters  introduced  into  the  Department  of  Manu- 
scripts are  still  in  force  there,  while  the  same 


250  LEOPOLD  DELISLE 

principles  have  inspired  many  of  the  reforms  which 
have  since  been  carefully  and  gradually  introduced 
in  the  other  departments. 

A  short  time  after  his  appointment  to  the 
Bibliotheque  Nationale,  Natalis  de  Wailly  arranged 
with  his  colleague,  confrere  and  friend,  Charles 
Le  Normant,  to  introduce  me  to  Mme.  Eugene 
Bournouf,  assuring  her  that  I  should  make  as  good 
a  husband  as  a  librarian.  This  lady,  both  courag- 
eous and  distinguished,  so  worthy  of  the  name  of 
the  great  orientalist  which  she  bore,  graciously 
suffered  herself  to  be  convinced,  and  lost  no  time 
in  causing  me  to  be  received  by  her  eldest  daughter, 
Laure  Bournouf.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a 
happiness  which  lasted  for  me  forty-seven  years. 

The  companion  who  gave  herself  to  me  with 
such  good  grace  had  been  brought  up  in  the  studies 
of  her  grandfather  and  father.  The  grandfather 
prided  himself  on  having  produced  a  pupil  who, 
after  but  a  few  years,  duly  wrote  the  same  Latin 
proses  as  the  members  of  the  class  of '  Rhetoric  '  of 
the  Lycee  de  Charlemagne,  and  who  admired  her 
father's  genius,  not  merely  upon  trust,  but  with 
some  insight  into  the  difficulties  of  the  task  which 
he  had  set  himself,  and  of  the  importance  of  the 
results  which  were  to  be  reached  in  the  course  of 
a  career  cut  short  so  prematurely.  The  dream  of 
her  girlhood  would  naturally  have  been  to  marry 
an  orientalist,  but  she  was  good  enough  to  find  in 
me  two  merits :  I  was  born  close  to  the  original 
home  of  the  Bournouf  family,  and  I  came  from  the 
Ecole  des  Chartes,  of  which  Eugene  Bournouf  was 
one  of  the  first  and  most  brilliant  scholars. 


SOUVENIRS  DE  JEUNESSE.         251 

My  wife  had  thus  a  double  reason  for  her  attach- 
ment to  the  Ecole  des  Chartes  and  for  interesting 
herself  in  the  work  done  there.  She  never  dis- 
guised her  affection  for  the  school  any  more  than 
she  hid  the  pleasure  she  took  in  the  illuminations 
of  mediaeval  manuscripts.  She  was  the  better  able 
to  appreciate  these  from  the  fact  that  she  had  her- 
self practised  the  art  of  a  miniaturist  with  some 
success.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  she 
allowed  herself  to  be  attracted  by  paleography. 
In  a  short  time  she  acquired  in  a  study  quite  new 
to  her  sufficient  skill  to  decipher  readily  and  very 
correctly  mediaeval  handwritings,  and  even  to  assign 
dates  to  them.  It  was  a  real  delight  to  her  to 
copy  charters,  despite  the  occasional  shocks  she 
received  from  a  style  of  Latin  a  little  different  from 
that  taught  her  by  her  grandfather.  How  many 
pieces  has  she  transcribed  for  me  with  the  utmost 
accuracy,  in  that  beautiful  hand  which  recalled  the 
fine  copies  made  by  her  father  and  given  by  her 
to  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale  !  What  manuscripts 
we  have  collated  together !  She  shared  all  my 
tastes,  took  part  in  all  my  work,  and  would  not 
remain  unfamiliar  with  any  question  which  I  was 
led  to  investigate.  Her  modesty  was  so  great  that 
she  never  wished  anyone  even  to  suspect  the  share 
in  my  published  works  which  really  belonged  to 
her.  What  papers  she  read  and  analysed,  pen  in 
hand ;  what  books  she  searched  through ;  what 
translations  she  made  for  me ;  what  letters  she 
wrote ;  what  errors — and  not  errors  of  the  press 
only — did  she  not  save  me  from  making  by  going 
over  my  proofs,  which  she  never  liked  to  be  sent  to 


252  LEOPOLD  DELISLE 

press  until  she  had  re-read  them  !  How  delighted 
I  was  at  the  wicked  pleasure  she  took  in  pointing 
out  the  misprints  I  had  allowed  to  pass  when  they 
were  staring  me  in  the  face. 

As  time  went  by  and  our  hopes  of  founding  a 
family  disappeared,  her  devotion  to  work  increased  ; 
and  when  towards  the  end  of  her  life  illness  kept  her 
confined  to  the  house,  it  became  even  greater  still. 

My  marriage  was  closely  followed  by  my  election 
to  the  Academy,  and  the  memory  of  my  father-in- 
law  played  not  a  small  part  in  my  success.  It 
must  be  said,  too,  that  the  road  leading  to  the 
Academy  was  not  then  as  beset  with  difficulties  as 
it  is  now,  and  if  I  reached  the  goal  so  quickly, 
I  owed  it  to  the  really  excessive  praise  which  my 
patrons,  Guerard,  Le  Prevost,de  Wailly  and  Wallon, 
were  good  enough  to  bestow  on  my  first  efforts. 
They  promised  in  my  name  important  works  on  the 
history  of  Normandy  and  the  reign  of  Philippe 
Auguste,  but  they  had  over-estimated  my  powers 
and  had  not  foreseen  the  change  of  direction  which 
my  entrance  into  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale  was 
bound  to  give  to  my  studies.  Resolved  to  devote 
my  life  to  the  Library,  I  was  bound  to  give  myself 
up  to  bibliographical  and  paleographical  work. 
Above  all  I  had  to  busy  myself  with  our  dear 
manuscripts.  I  loved  them  passionately,  and  my 
passion  was  shared  by  my  wife.  What  pleasure 
those  manuscripts  gave  us !  What  delightful  even- 
ings we  spent  in  our  own  home  in  talking  over 
various  specimens  of  which  I  had  seen  the  import- 
ance when  accident  brought  them  to  my  notice ! 
What  memories  abide  with  me  of  those  days ! 


SOUVENIRS  DE  JEUNESSE.         253 

I  still  laugh  at  the  enthusiasm  with  which  I 
came  home  one  day  in  the  summer  of  1867  and 
told  my  wife  that  a  notary  had  let  me  handle — 
under  his  inspection,  and  then  only  for  a  short  half 
hour — a  splendid  psalter,  which  I  had  recognized 
as  having  been  made  for  Queen  Ingeborg  of 
Denmark,  a  facl:  which  no  one  had  hitherto  sus- 
pected. We  little  thought  then  that  twenty  years 
later  this  psalter  would  be  acquired  by  Son  Altesse 
Royal,  le  due  d'Aumale,  and  that  we  should  both 
have  the  opportunity  of  examining  it  at  our  leisure 
in  the  Library  of  Chantilly. 

How  lucky  we  were  also  that  same  year,  when 
at  the  exhibition  in  the  Champs-de-Mars  we 
studied  with  admiration  a  manuscript  sent  from 
Soissons,  and  I  discovered  in  it  undoubted  evidences 
of  royal  origin  !  It  was,  in  fact,  one  of  the  most 
precious  books  of  the  fourteenth  century,  which 
King  John  had  lost  with  his  baggage  at  Poitiers. 
Charles  V.  bought  it  back  from  the  English  as  a 
gift  for  his  brother  the  due  de  Berri,  the  greatest 
bibliophile  of  the  Middle  Ages.  I  do  not  know, 
alas !  what  destiny  is  reserved  for  this  chef-d'oeuvre 
both  of  writing  and  illumination  of  which  we 
were  the  custodians  in  the  Salon  of  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationale  in  1904,  after  the  exhibition  of  original 
manuscripts  of  Early  French  Art  (Exposition  des 
Primitifs)  was  closed.  It  was  at  this  time  that 
I  prepared  a  detailed  description  of  it  for  inclusion 
in  my  c  Recherches  sur  la  librairie  de  Charles  W 

A  little  later,  in  1878, 1  found  myself  once  more 
in  the  library  at  Lyons,  sitting  by  the  side  of  my 
wife,  whom  I  startled  by  jumping  up  suddenly ; 


254  LEOPOLD  DELISLE 

the  sight  of  a  manuscript,  devoid  of  binding,  and 
all  tattered  and  torn,  had  recalled  to  my  memory 
a  vision  of  the  quires  of  the  Pentateuch,  in  three 
columns,  and  in  uncial  letters,  which  the  old  Earl 
of  Ashburnham  had  published  with  a  facsimile  in 
1868.  I  found  myself  unexpectedly  face  to  face 
with  one  half  of  an  apparition  well  known  to  me, 
although  I  had  never  seen  the  other  half.  The 
apparition  seemed  to  be  an  answer  to  the  invoca- 
tion of  the  lamented  Gaston  Paris,  who,  in  the 
4  Revue  Critique,'  in  1868,  after  remarking  on  the 
importance  of  the  fragments  recently  published, 
deplored  the  loss  of  the  rest  of  the  manuscript,  and 
ended  with  some  almost  prophetic  words  :  '  Happy,' 
said  he,  '  will  be  the  student  who  puts  his  hand  on 
this  treasure,  hidden  perhaps  in  the  depths  of  some 
provincial  library  ! ' 

What  a  joy  it  was  to  me  a  little  later  to  replace 
in  their  rightful  position  these  quires  which  had 
been  stranded  in  England  for  more  than  thirty 
years. 

I  have  not  forgotten  either  the  anxious  times  we 
had  during  the  campaigns  which  I  had  the  honour 
to  direct  for  making  good  the  losses  which  our 
collections  had  suffered  during  the  eighteenth  and 
nineteenth  centuries.  But  what  happiness  followed 
on  these  anxieties  when,  thanks  to  the  kindness  of 
our  friends  at  the  British  Museum,  Mr.  Bond  and 
Sir  Edward  Thompson,  we  saw  restored  to  France 
the  leaves  torn  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  from 
the  Bible  belonging  to  Charles  Le  Chauve,  and  the 
1 66  valuable  manuscripts  stolen  from  our  libraries 
to  adorn  the  collections  of  Libri  and  Barrois.  The 


SOUVENIRS  DE  JEUNESSE.         255 

former  came  back  to  us  in  1876  and  the  latter  in 
1887.  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  recording  this 
last  success  in  a  book  on  the  history  of  the  Biblio- 
theque Nationale  dedicated  to  the  Academic  des 
Inscriptions. 

These  successes  have  been  in  great  measure 
due  to  the  help  given  me  by  this  same  institution. 
It  was  the  support  which  it  lent  to  my  demonstra- 
tion, on  23rd  February,  1883,  of  the  fraudulent 
origin  of  many  of  the  precious  manuscripts  con- 
veyed to  Lord  Ashburnham  by  Libri  and  Barrois 
in  1847  and  1849,  that  won  the  adhesion  of  the 
Trustees  of  the  British  Museum,  and  of  the  represen- 
tative of  the  Italian  Government,  Professor  Villari. 
The  Academic  extended  to  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationale  the  same  kind  of  patronage  as  that 
exercised  by  Louis  XVII.  when,  in  1785,  he 
ordered  it  to  draw  up  an  account  of  the  principal 
manuscripts.  That  the  Library  has  never  ceased 
to  fulfil  this  command  is  amply  proved  by  the 
thirty-nine  volumes  published  between  1787  and 
the  present  time,  under  the  title  of  '  Notices  et 
extraits  des  manuscrits  de  la  Bibliotheque  Nationale 
et  autres  bibliotheques.' 

Faithful  to  the  advice  of  Guerard,  of  which  I 
have  spoken  above,  I  have  always  been  keenly  alive 
to  the  origins  of  our  manuscripts  and  the  vicissi- 
tudes through  which  they  have  passed.  Shortly 
before  1868  I  decided  that  I  had  collected  enough 
material  to  begin  the  publication  of  a  work  which 
should  contain  the  history  of  our  Department  of 
Manuscripts.  This  somewhat  bold  undertaking 
was  finished  in  1881.  At  the  present  time  the 


256  LEOPOLD  DELISLE. 

work  should  really  be  recast  on  a  much  larger  basis, 
and  furnished  throughout  with  illustrative  extracts. 
But  for  myself,  I  have  long  known  that  I  must 
give  up  a  task  beyond  my  strength.  Since,  how- 
ever, saying  good-bye  to  the  Bibliotheque,  I  have 
begun  to  put  in  order  my  notes  on  what  may  be 
called  the  '  Infancy  '  of  the  institution.  They  treat 
of  the  books  collected  by  Charles  V.  and  dispersed 
after  the  death  of  Charles  VI.  These  notes  form 
but  a  very  small  part  of  the  first  volume  published 
in  1868,  under  the  title  of  '  Le  cabinet  des  manu- 
scrits  de  la  Bibliotheque  imperiale.'  The  questions 
I  had  to  examine  have  necessarily  taken  a  much 
larger  form  owing  to  the  new  researches  made 
during  nearly  forty  years.  In  1868  I  only  knew  of 
about  thirty  manuscripts  which  had  formed  part 
of  a  collection  of  nearly  1,200  volumes,  brought 
together  in  the  time  of  Charles  V.  and  Charles  VI. 
in  the  tower  of  the  Louvre  and  in  the  various 
royal  residences.  To-day  I  can  point  to  a  hundred. 
Let  us  hope  that  the  documents  published  in  the 
second  part  of  my  '  Recherches '  will  result  in  a 
still  further  increase  in  their  number. 


257 


NOTES  ON  STATIONERS  FROM  THE 
LAY  SUBSIDY  ROLLS  OF  1523-4. 

RESERVED  in  the  Public  Record 
Office  in  London  is  a  long  series  of 
documents  throwing  a  good  deal  of 
light  on  the  careers  of  ou1*  early  printers, 
but  which  no  historian  of  printing,  so 
far  as  I  am  aware,  has  yet  made  use  of:  I  refer  to 
the  *  Accounts  of  the  Lay  Subsidies.' 

Whilst  working  on  my  '  Century  of  the  English 
Book-trade,'  I  had  frequent  occasion  to  consult 
the  valuable  c  Returns  of  Aliens '  published  by  the 
Huguenot  Society.  These  have  been  extracted 
from  the  '  Lay  Subsidies,'  and  it  seemed  probable 
that  the  same  source  would  supply  considerable  in- 
formation about  the  native  printers. 

On  the  occasion  of  my  next  visit  to  London,  I 
took  the  opportunity  of  examining  some  of  these 
documents,  and  the  results  were  even  more  valuable 
than  I  anticipated. 

The  earliest  series  relates  to  the  subsidy  of  1523 
levied  by  Henry  VIII.  and  Wolsey  to  raise  £8  00,000. 
Unfortunately,  the  documents  relating  to  the  London 
assessment  seem  to  have  been  only  partly  preserved, 
but  what  remain  are  full  of  interest.  They  have, 
too,  a  very  great  advantage  over  the  later  returns, 
for  in  almost  every  case  the  occupation  of  each 
person  is  mentioned.  The  names  are  arranged  by 

ix.  s 


258  NOTES  ON  STATIONERS 

wards  and  parishes,  and  their  order  probably  repre- 
sents a  house-to-house  visitation. 

Taking  the  people  in  whom  we  are  interested  as 
they  come,  the  first  is  Walter  Smyth,  Stacyoner,  in 
the  parish  of  St.  Benett  Fynke,  Bradstrete  Ward, 
who  is  valued  at  £40.  This  stationer,  hitherto 
unknown,  may  perhaps  have  a  certain  claim  to 
distinction.  Several  small  works,  in  prose  and 
poetry,  composed  by  early  stationers  and  printers, 
have  come  down  to  us,  such  as  Copland's  c  Hye 
Way  to  the  Spyttel  House'  or  'Jyl  of  Breyntford's 
Testament,'  and  so  perhaps  this  stationer  may  be 
the  Walter  Smyth  who  wrote  the  '  Twelve  Merry 
Jests  of  the  Widow  Edith.'  The  book  was  printed 
by  Rastell,  Sir  Thomas  More's  brother-in-law,  and 
some  of  the  jests  were  played  on  members  of 
More's  household.  It  is  quite  likely  that  Rastell's 
fellow  stationer  may  have  heard  the  stories  from 
him,  and  written  the  little  book.  The  next  entry 
is  Richard  Banks,  bokebynder,  of  St.  Mildred's 
parish,  Chepe  Ward,  valued  at  £5.  In  this  very 
year  [1523]  he  issued  his  first  book,  'The  IX 
Drunkardes,'  from  '  the  long  shop  in  the  poultry 
next  St.  Mildred's  Church,'  but  the  entry  in  the 
roll  seems  to  show  that  he  commenced  in  business 
as  a  bookbinder. 

In  the  parish  of  St.  Nicholas  Shambles,  Farring- 
don  Within,  we  find  another  hitherto  unknown 
stationer,  Thomas  Snape,  valued  at  £20.  A  later 
roll  of  1544  enters  him  in  '  Rose  Alley'  with  goods 
worth  £40,  and  in  the  same  year  he  is  mentioned 
as  guardian  to  the  orphan  of  John  Welles,  tailor. 
The  parish  of  St.  Faith,  comprising  the  area  round 


FROM  LAY  SUBSIDY  ROLLS.       259 

St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  does  not  supply  as  many  names 
as  might  be  expected.  First  comes  Thomas  Kele, 
stationer,  valued  at  £5.  All  hitherto  known  of  him 
was  that  about  1526  he  occupied  for  a  short  time 
part  of  a  shop  named  the '  Mermaid,'  as  under-tenant 
to  John  Rastell  ['  Bibliographica '  II.  439].  Next 
comes  Henry  Pepwell,  a  well-known  printer  and 
stationer,  valued  at  £40,  and  he  is  followed.by  Simon 
Coston,  e  Proctor  of  the  arches,'  worth  £13  6s.  8</., 
a  most  legal  valuation.  Coston,  like  several  other 
Proctors  of  the  Arches,  was  a  member  of  the 
Stationers'  Company,  and  was  sixth  on  the  charter- 
list.  Thomas  Docwra,  '  marbiller,'  valued  at  £50, 
comes  next.  He  is  presumably  the  Thomas 
Dockwray,  afterwards  the  first  Master  of  the  new 
Stationers'  Company,  who  died  in  1559. 

Henry  Dabbe,  stationer,  who  follows,  is  valued 
at  £6  1 3-r.  4*/.  He  was  a  well-known  printer  and 
stationer,  who  died  in  1548.  He  is  followed  by 
John  Reynes,an  equally  well-known  stationer,  valued 
at  £40  3-r.  4^. 

The  next  entry  is  very  interesting, '  Julyan  Notary, 
boke  seller,  £36.  6.  8.'  Hitherto  the  last  date  con- 
nected with  Notary  was  1520,  when  he  issued  his 
1  Life  of  St.  Erasmus,'  but  this  reference  takes  him 
on  three  years.  By  some  unfortunate  chance  his 
tax  is  not  mentioned,  since,  had  it  been,  it  would 
have  settled  the  doubtful  point  whether  he  was  an 
Englishman  or  a  foreigner,  the  foreigner  paying  a 
double  tax. 

George  Pilgryme,  stationer,  valued  at  £i  3  6s.  8d., 
who  follows,  is  another  stationer  hitherto  unknown. 
A  Joyce  Pelgrim  had  been  a  stationer  in  St.  Paul's 


260          NOTES  ON  STATIONERS 

Churchyard  at  an  earlier  period  ;  and  in  the  country 
subsidies  for  1 5  2  3  we  find  a  Gerard  Pilgrim,  stationer 
in  Oxford,  and  a  Nicholas  Pilgrim,  stationer  in  Cam- 
bridge. 

Henry  Harman,  the  last  stationer  mentioned  in 
St.  Faith's  parish,  we  find  mentioned  again  in  the 
assessment  of  1541,  in  which  year  he  was  still  in 
business  in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  acting  as  factor 
for  that  ubiquitous  stationer  and  printer,  Arnold 
Birckman,  of  Cologne. 

The  parish  of  St.  Michael's  in  the  Querne  supplies 
one  stationer,  John  Rastell,  whose  goods  amounted 
only  to  the  value  of  £6  1 3-r.  4^.  This  entry  is  of 
value,  as  considerable  doubt  exists  as  to  the  various 
places  where  Rastell  lived  and  the  dates  of  his  re- 
movals. 

Coming  next  to  the  ward  of  Farringdon  Without, 
another  new  stationer  is  found,  William  Casse, 
valued  at  £5,  belonging  to  the  parish  of  St.  Martin's 
without  Ludgate ;  and  in  St.  Bride's  parish  is  John 
Gowgh,  bokeseller,  valued  at  the  same  amount. 
When,  in  1528,  he  was  examined  on  suspicion  of 
dealing  in  heretical  books,  he  stated  that  he  had 
only  been  in  business  for  two  years,  and  before  that 
was  servant  to  another.  The  present  entry  seems 
to  show  that  Gowgh's  evidence  was  not  strictly  re- 
liable. 

On  a  second  sheet  of  vellum  we  find  four  addi- 
tional entries  of  the  highest  importance.  In  the 
parish  of  St.  Faith  occurs  John  Taverner,  stationer, 
valued  at  £307.  The  only  reference  to  him  which 
I  had  found  previously  was  in  1 521,  in  the  *  Letters 
and  Papers  of  Henry  VIII.'  [Vol.  III.  p.  1545]. 


FROM  LAY  SUBSIDY  ROLLS.       261 

'To  John  Taverner,  stationer  of  London,  by  the 
serjeant  of  the  vestry  for  binding,  clasping  and 
covering  41  books  for  the  King's  chapel,  4^.'  His 
great  wealth,  far  beyond  that  of  any  other  stationer 
of  the  time,  points  to  a  very  important  position, 
and  he  may  have  been  stationer  and  bookbinder  to 
the  King.  He  appears  to  have  died  in  1531. 

The  two  next  entries  are  '  Wynken  de  worde, 
enprenter,'  in  St.  Bride's  parish,  and  'Richard  Pyn- 
son  enprenter,'  in  St.  Dunstan's  in  the  West ;  the 
former  valued  at  £201  us.  id.  and  the  latter  at 

£60. 

These  two  sums  are  in  curious  contrast,  and 
appear  to  emphasize  the  relative  value  of  the  popular 
and  learned  book-trade  of  that  period.  Pynson, 
even  with  the  power  of  the  court  at  his  back  and 
his  official  position  as  King's  Printer,  cannot  com- 
pete with  his  rival  who  has  more  accurately  gauged 
the  popular  taste. 

The  fourth  on  this  sheet  is  a  stationer  from  the 
parish  of  St.  Dunstan's  in  the  East,  Tower  Ward, 
Richard  Neale,  who,  an  almost  unknown  man,  is 
valued  at  £100,  £40  more  than  Pynson.  Neale 
was  made  free  of  the  Stationers'  Company  on 
3rd  August,  1510,  but  becoming  for  some  reason 
dissatisfied,  was  transferred  to  the  Company  of 
Ironmongers  in  1525.  Another  sheet  of  vellum, 
still  referring  to  the  levy  of  the  1523  subsidy,  is 
dated  loth  December,  XVI.  Henry  VIII.  [1524], 
and  this  contains  some  additional  names.  In  the 
parish  of  St.  Clement  Danes  we  find  Robert  Redman 
with  goods  valued  at  £10,  and  Sampson  Awdeley, 
the  father  of  John  Awdley  or  Sampson  the  printer, 


262  NOTES  ON  STATIONERS 

assessed  on  £2.  The  elder  Awdley  was  verger  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  and  died  in  1560.  There  is 
also  a  John  Burtoft  valued  at  £2,  who  is  probably 
the  stationer  of  that  name  who  was  an  original 
member  of  that  Company,  and  is  last  mentioned 
in  1561. 

The  last  entry,  occurring  in  the  parish  of  St. 
Martin  in  the  Fields,  is  a  very  remarkable  one. 
'Pro  Roberto  Wyre  prynter  pro  iiii^T  in  bonis,  iij.' 
In  spite  of  the  considerable  attention  paid  of  late 
years  to  the  work  of  Wyer,  no  trace  of  his  existence 
as  stationer  or  printer  had  been  found  previous  to 
1530;  yet  here  he  is  definitely  given  as  a  printer 
six  years  earlier.  A  good  deal  of  information  re- 
lating 'to  himself  and  his  family  has  lately  been 
made  available  by  the  publication  of  the  '  Accounts 
of  the  churchwardens  of  the  parish  of  St.  Martin- 
in-the-Fields,  1525-1603,'  edited  by  J.  V.  Kitto, 
1901. 

Now  the  information  which  I  have  set  down 
as  derived  from  this  subsidy  account,  though  it  may 
not  appear  very  considerable  in  quantity  is  very  note- 
worthy in  quality.  In  the  first  place,  we  learn  of 
the  existence  of  four  hitherto  unknown  stationers, 
and  new  discoveries  of  this  kind  are  few  and  far 
between.  The  valuations  bring  into  prominence 
another  stationer,  hitherto  but  a  name,  John 
Taverner,  whom  we  thus  learn  to  have  been 
one  of  the  most  important,  certainly  the  richest 
member  of  the  trade  of  the  period.  They  throw 
also  a  curious  light  on  the  relative  positions  of 
Wynkyn  de  Worde  and  Pynson.  Pynson,  with  a 
University  education,  his  position  as  King's  printer, 


FROM  LAY  SUBSIDY  ROLLS.       263 

his  title  of  Esquire  and  right  to  bear  arms,  has  little 
more  than  a  quarter  of  the  possessions  of  Wynkyn 
de  Worde,  who  prints  for  the  people.  The  poverty 
which  overtook  Rastell  in  his  old  age  would  seem 
to  be  commencing,  for  his  goods  are  only  valued 
at  between  six  and  seven  pounds,  due  perhaps  to 
his  fondness  for  stage  plays  and  his  frequent 
journeys  into  the  country,  and  consequent  neglecl 
of  business. 

We  are  also  able  to  supply  new  dates  in  the 
career  of  fairly  well-known  men.  Redman  is 
settled  in  St.  Clement's  parish  in  1524,  a  year 
before  his  first  book  was  issued,  for  the  1523  book, 
often  quoted  by  bibliographers  as  his  first,  is  mis- 
dated. To  Julyan  Notary's  existence  we  can  add 
three  years,  and  fix  Robert  Wyer  definitely  as  a 
printer  at  Charing  Cross  no  less  than  seven  years 
earlier  than  the  issue  of  his  first  dated  book. 

There  is  one  point  especially  in  these  entries 
which,  much  as  we  would  value  an  explanation, 
can  never  be  explained.  What  meanings  did  the 
assessors  attach  to  the  words  Stationer,  Printer, 
Bookseller,  Bookbinder  ?  Pynson  and  W.  de 
Worde  we  should  naturally  class  as  printers,  but 
why  should  Notary  be  called  a  bookseller  and 
Pepwell  a  stationer,  when  both  also  were  printers  ? 
It  cannot  refer  to  the  Company,  and  any  distinction 
between  Notary  and  Pepwell  would  be  hard  to 
define.  It  may,  of  course,  be  their  own  definition 
of  themselves.  The  entries  would  appear  to  have 
been  taken  down  by  word  of  mouth  from  door  to 
door,  and  thongh  the  names  in  the  present  subsidy 
rolls  are  fairly  accurate,  in  the  later  ones  they  run 


264  NOTES  ON  STATIONERS 

through  every  variety  of  spelling.  Here  are  the 
consecutive  entries  of  one  man :  Bringmarshen, 
Vrymors,  Frinnorren,  Fremorshem,  Formishaa, 
Frymorsham,  Fremersson  ! 

The  subsidy  rolls  of  1 537  are  few  in  number,  and 
those  of  St.  Bride's,  St.  Dunstan's,  St.  Sepulchre's, 
and  St.  Andrew's  parishes  only  are  preserved.  In 
them  the  inhabitants  are  arranged  in  order  of 
wealth. 

When  we  come  to  the  very  full  records  of  1 543-4, 
the  entries  are  apparently  made  according  to  the 
order  in  which  the  persons  lived  in  the  street. 
From  them  we  can  draw  out  an  accurate  directory 
of  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  which  can  be  confirmed 
occasionally  from  other  sources.  In  the  1544  roll 
Thomas  Petyt  is  entered  next  to  Robert  Toye,  and 
Robert  Toye  in  his  will  bequeathed  to  his  wife  his 
'  shoppe  withe  the  signe  of  the  bell  nexte  adjoininge 
to  Master  Petitt's  house.' 

I  think  that  the  results  I  have  set  down  from  the 
examination  of  one,  manifestly  very  incomplete, 
subsidy  return  will  be  sufficient  to  draw  attention 
to  their  very  great  value  for  the  personal  history  of 
printers.  They  give  absolutely  definite  information 
where  a  printer  was  located  at  a  particular  date,  a 
point  often  of  great  importance  in  settling  the  order 
of  particular  groups  of  his  books. 

Though  the  records  of  the  1523  subsidy  are  very 
incomplete  as  regards  London,  and  what  are  pre- 
served seem  more  like  a  first  draft,  the  accounts 
of  the  succeeding  subsidies  are  very  much  fuller. 
They  have,  however,  one  great  drawback,  the  occu- 
pations of  the  various  persons  are  not  stated,  so  that 


FROM  LAY  SUBSIDY  ROLLS.       265 

information  can  only  be  found  about  stationers 
whom  we  know  from  other  sources  to  have  been 
stationers.  There  is  nothing  to  help  us  to  identify 
unknown  stationers. 

One  series  of  entries,  however,  occasionally  fur- 
nish clues.  After  all  the  dwellers  in  the  various 
wards  have  been  entered  there  follows  a  list  of  all 
the  guardians  of  orphan  children,  and  here  the 
trades  are  mentioned,  the  entries  running  in  the 
following  form :  '  William  Bonham,  stacioner, 
guardian  for  the  orphan  of  William  Robinson ; 
Thomas  Snape,  stacioner,  guardian  for  one  orphan 
of  John  Welles,  tailor.' 

It  seems  very  strange,  considering  the  amount  of 
historical  and  genealogical  information  contained  in 
these  documents  that  they  have  never  been  printed. 
To  copy  out  and  print  the  rolls  of  the  subsidies 
relating  to  London  levied  in  the  sixteenth  century 
would  not  be  too  heavy  a  task  for  an  enterprising 
society. 

One  word  of  warning  and  advice  I  would  offer 
out  of  my  own  slight  experience.  The  work  of 
examining  these  subsidy  rolls  is  a  severe  mental  and 
physical  task.  No  one  who  has  not  experienced  it 
can  imagine  the  trouble  of  consulting  a  collection 
of  twenty  or  more  large  sheets  of  parchment,  all 
stitched  together  at  the  top  after  the  manner  of 
the  patterns  of  cloth  exhibited  by  the  tailor  or  wall- 
papers by  the  decorator,  and  which,  in  addition  to 
this,  have  been  rolled  up  in  a  tight  bundle  for 
hundreds  of  years  and  have  acquired  a  facility  for 
curling  up  which  requires  considerable  force  to 
frustrate. 


266          NOTES  ON  STATIONERS. 

The  assessments  were  in  most  cases  made  by  a 
house-to-house  visitation  by  parishes  and  wards, 
and  since  it  is  not  possible  to  retain  in  one's  memory 
the  names  of  the  five  or  six  hundred  stationers  who 
may  be  met  with,  and  as  in  the  later  subsidy  rolls 
the  occupations  are  never  entered,  it  is  as  well  to 
have  a  handy  list  to  refer  to,  of  all  known  stationers 
arranged  by  their  addresses,  under  their  parish  and 
ward.  Such  a  list  I  have  made  out  for  my  own  use 
in  case  I  should  be  able  to  examine  these  records 
more  fully,  but  I  should  be  happy  to  lend  it  to  any 
one  interested  in  the  subject  who  has  the  oppor- 
tunity, which  I  am  sorry  to  say  occurs  to  me  but 
rarely,  of  working  in  the  Record  Office. 

E.  GORDON  DUFF. 


267 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

i HE  aim  of  present-day  teachers  of 
foreign  tongues  is  to  be  severely  prac- 
tical :  the  pupil  must  learn  to  speak 
before  he  can  read,  and  must  be 
speedily  supplied  with  a  vocabulary 
of  the  necessaries  of  every-day  life.  Translation 
from  classical  French  or  German  or  Italian  authors 
is  tabooed  :  if  a  book  is  read,  it  must  be  one  written 
with  a  practical  purpose,  describing  a  day  in  Paris 
or  a  journey  up  the  Rhine.  This  is  praiseworthy, 
and  doubtless  useful.  But,  as  a  fact,  it  is  given  to 
few  of  us  to  speak  a  foreign  language  really  well 
without  being  constantly  in  the  society  of  persons 
who  can  neither  speak  nor  understand  ours,  and  I 
sometimes  wonder  if  for  the  small  practical  gain  it 
is  worth  while  to  sacrifice  the  poetry  and  charm 
that  hung  about  the  old-fashioned  procedure.  My 
French  teacher,  after  a  very  few  lessons,  put  Racine's 
'Athalie'  into  my  hands  and  set  me  to  learn  from 
it  long  passages  by  heart.  We  also  translated  it  in 
class,  and  I  can  still  remember  the  delight  I  took  in 
it.  It  was  my  first  introduction  to  French  poetry, 
and  imbued  me  with  a  love  of  it  that  still  endures. 
When  I  opened  Jules  Lemaitre's  new  book  on 
'  Jean  Racine,'  I  turned  instinctively  to  the  pages  on 
'Athalie,'  and  at  once  found  again  the  impression 
of  my  early  years.  I  thought  it  then  a  wonderful 


268    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

thing,  and  M.  Lemaitre,  with  all  his  matured 
wisdom  and  knowledge  and  trained  critical  insight, 
only  endorses  the  feeling  it  awoke  in  an  uncritical 
girl  of  fourteen:  'Athalie  rejoint  les  plus  grandes 
plus  ceuvres  et  les  religieuses,  du  theatre  grec  .  .  . 
Athalie  est  unique  chez  nous.' 

Although  perhaps  the  '  Racine '  is  less  interesting 
than  the  same  author's  '  Rousseau,'  it  is  an  admirable 
and  suggestive  piece  of  criticism,  full  of  thought 
and  feeling,  of  fresh  and  original  ideas.  While 
demonstrating  that  the  work  of  Racine  combines 
the  two  most  beautiful  traditions  of  our  humanity: 
the  Hellenic  and  the  Christian,  and  claiming  for 
his  plays  *  plus  d'ordre  et  de  mouvement  interieur, 
plus  de  verite  psychologique,  et  plus  de  poesie,' 
than  is  to  be  found  in  the  plays  of  any  other 
dramatist,  he  considers  that  Racine's  dramas  espe- 
cially express  the  genius  of  the  French  race — 
'  ordre,  raison,  sentiment  mesure  et  force  sous  la 
grace.'  He  continues : 

f  Les  tragedies  de  Racine  supposent  une  tres  vieilJe 
patrie.  Dans  cette  poesie,  a  la  fois  si  ordonnee  et  si 
6mouvante,  c'est  nous-memes  que  nous  aimons  ;  c'est — 
comme  chez  La  Fontaine  et  Moliere,  mais  dans  un  exem- 
plaire  plus  noble — notre  sensibilit£  et  notre  esprit  a  leur 
moment  le  plus  heureux.' 

In  criticising  '  Phedre,'  perhaps  Racine's  master- 
piece, Lemaitre  demonstrates  what  constitutes  the 
interest  of  the  great  French  classical  tragedies : 

*  Comme  le  fond  en  est,  si  je  puis  dire,  de  beaucoup, 
anterieur  a  la  forme,  elles  embrassent  d'immenses  parties 
de  1'histoire  des  hommes  et  presentent  simultanement,  a 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    269 

des  plans  divers,  1'image  de  plusieurs  civilisations.  Phedre 
a  peut-e'tre  quatre  mille  ans  par  le  Minotaure  et  les  ex- 
ploits de  Th6s£e  ;  elle  a  vingt-quatre  siecles  par  Euripide; 
elle  en  a  dix-huit  par  S£neque ;  elle  en  a  deux  par  Racine, 
et  enfin  elle  est  d'hier  par  tout  ce  qu'elle  nous  suggere 
et  que  nous  y  mettons.  Elle  est  de  toutes  les  6poques  a 
la  fois ;  elle  est  eternelle,  entendez  contemporaine  de  notre 
race  a  toutes  les  p£riodes  de  son  deVeloppement.  Et 
voyez  quelle  grandeur  et  quelle  profondeur  donne  a 
1'oeuvre  la  mythologie  primitive  dont  elle  est  toute 
p£n6tr£e.  Quand  Phedre  nomme  son  a'feul  le  Soleil, 
quand  Aricie  nomme  son  ai'eule  la  terre,  nous  nous 
rappelons  soudain  nos  lointaines  origines,  et  que  la  terre 
et  le  Soleil  sont  en  effet  nos  ai'eux,  que  nous  tenons  a 
Cybele  par  le  fond  mysteVieux  de  notre  £tre,  et  que  nos 
passions  ne  sont  en  somme  que  la  transformation  derniere 
de  forces  naturelles  et  fatales  et  comme  leur  affleurement 
d'une  minute  a  la  surface  de  ce  monde  de  ph£nomenes.' 

Many  French  critics  are  inclined  to  ascribe  to 
Racine  the  empire  '  de  la  femme  dans  la  litterature,' 
and  in  an  eloquent  passage  M.  Lemaitre  agrees 
with  them : 

'  Quand  nous  pensons  a  ce  theatre,  ce  qui  en  effet  nous 
apparait  tout  de  suite,  ce  sont  ses  femmes :  les  disciplines, 
les  pudiques,qui  n'en  sentent  pasmoins  profond£ment  pour 
cela :  Andromaque,  Junie,  B£r6nice,  Atalide,  Monime, 
Iphig6nie, — et  les  effr6n£es  surtout ;  les  effr£n£es  d'ambi- 
tion :  Agrippine,  Athalie ;  et  plus  encore  les  effrene"es 
d'amour :  Hermione,  Roxane,  Eriphile,  Phedre ;  celles 
que  1'amour  pousse  irrdsistiblement  au  meurtre  et  au 
suicide,  a  travers  un  flux  et  un  reflux  de  pensdes  con- 
traires,  par  des  alternatives  d'espoir,  de  crainte,  de  colere, 
de  jalousie,  parmi  des  raffinements  douloureux  de  sensi- 
bilit^,  des  ironies,  des  clairvoyances  soudaines,  puis  des 
abandons  desesperes  a  la  passion  fatale,  une  incapacite 


27o    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

pour  leur  "  triste  coeur  "  de  "  recueillir  le  fruit "  des  crimes 
dont  elles  sentent  la  honte, — tout  cela  exprim£  dans  une 
langue  qui  est  comme  crdatrice  de  clarte,  par  ou,  dementes 
lucides,  elles  continuent  de  s'analyser  au  plus  fort  de  leurs 
agitations,  et  qui  revet  d'harmonieuse  beaut£  leurs  d£s- 
ordres  les  plus  furieux :  au  point  qu'on  ne  sait  si  on  a 
peur  de  ces  femmes  ou  si  on  les  adore ! ' 

Racine's  dramas  are  everywhere  pervaded  with 
true  humanity,  and  it  should  be  noted  that  his 
representation  of  the  passion  of  love  is  more 
truthful  than  that  of  any  modern  dramatist.  He 
never  directly  describes  its  sensual  side ;  he  paints 
rather  its — 

*  Facult^  d'illusion,  son  aveuglement,  sa  cruaute ;  ses 
souffrances,  ses  fureurs,  son  m£canisme  psychologique.  .  .  . 
Les  vari6t6s  essentielles  de  1'amour,  depuis  le  plus  pur,  le 
plus  sain,  jusqu'au  plus  criminel  et  au  plus  morbide,  sont 
dans  les  tragedies  de  Racine,  peintes,  on  peut  le  croire, 
une  fois  pour  toutes.' 

Adapting  sentiment  and  phraseology  from  Gerard 
de  Nerval's  criticism  of  the  old  songs  of  Le  Valois, 
where  Racine  was  born,  his  latest  critic  declares  in 
conclusion  that  his  tragedies — 

'  Dansent  en  rond  sur  la  pelouse  et  dans  le  jardin  du 
roi,  en  chantant  des  airs  que  viennent  de  tres  loin  dans  le 
temps  et  dans  1'espace,  mais  d'un  franfais  si  naturellement 
pur  que  c'est  en  les  e'coutant  qu'on  se  sent  le  mieux  vivre 
en  France,  et  avec  le  plus  de  fiert6  intime  et  d'attendrisse- 
ment.' 

The  second  volume  of  Anatole  France's  'Jeanne 
d'Arc '  is  perhaps  scarcely  as  interesting  as  the  first, 
but  it  contains  some  very  curious  chapters  dealing 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    271 

with  the  c  Saintes  femmes,'  who  followed  the  army 
and  made  lun  beguinage  volant.'  All  these  women 
had  marvellous  visions,  and  Jeanne  even  feared  a 
rival,  for  any  of  them  might  easily  have  been  turned 
to  similar  uses  to  those  which  she  served : 

1  Une  inspire,  alors,  etait  bonne  a  tout,  a  1'edification 
du  peuple,  a  la  reforme  de  1'Eglise,  a  la  conduite  des  gens 
d'armes,  a  la  circulation  des  monnaies,  a  la  guerre,  a  la 
paix ;  des  qu'il  en  paraissait  une,  chacun  la  tirait  a  soi.' 

One  of  them,  named  Catherine  de  la  Rochelle, 
had  special  revelations  in  the  matter  of  finance ; 
indeed,  she  had  '  une  mission  tresoriere,'  as  Jeanne 
had  '  une  mission  guerriere.'  It  seemed  that  one 
use  a  saint  had  in  the  army  was  as  '  queteuse,'  and 
judging  by  what  is  known  of  Catherine,  *les  in- 
spirations de  cette  sainte  dame  n'etaient  ni  tres 
hautes  ni  tres  ordonnees,  ni  tres  profondes.' 

There  are  many  notable  passages  in  the  book ; 
for  example,  an  extraordinarily  vivid  description  of 
fifteenth  century  Paris  in  few  words  in  Chapter  III., 
and  another  on  Jeanne  and  her  relations  with  the 
University  of  Paris.  Notwithstanding  the  fulness 
of  detail,  the  careful  research,  and  the  historical 
sense  of  the  author,  there  will,  it  would  seem, 
always  be  much  that  is  vague  and  legendary  sur- 
rounding the  life  of  Joan  of  Arc. 

A  very  valuable  piece  of  critical  work  will  be 
found  in  Pierre  Villey's  '  Les  sources  et  1'evolution 
des  essais  de  Montaigne.'  The  first  volume  deals 
with  the  sources  and  chronology  of  the  essays,  the 
second  with  their  evolution.  The  role  of  Mon- 
taigne in  the  movement  of  moral  ideas  in  the 


272    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

sixteenth  century  forms  the  subject  of  a  well-written 
introduction.  The  author  declares  that  in  treating 
of  the  evolution  of  the  essays,  he  is  not  aiming  at 
literary  criticism  but  at  history,  and  simply  to 
understand,  and  to  help  others  to  understand  the 
formation  of  Montaigne's  work.  He  divides  it 
into  three  stages :  the  impersonal  essays,  the  con- 
quest of  personality,  the  personal  essays.  The 
chief  qualities  that  made  Montaigne's  influence 
so  great  are,  '  son  sentiment  de  la  vie,  son  bon 
sens,  sa  sagesse,  ses  manieres  polies.'  Although  his 
'  methode '  greatly  struck  his  contemporaries  and 
prepared  the  way  for  that  of  Bacon,  and  in  a  certain 
sense,  perhaps,  for  that  of  Descartes,  Villey  says, 
and  I  think,  rightly,  that  at  the  present  time  it  is 
the  artist  in  Montaigne,  and  not  the  thinker  that 
attracts.  No  student  who  desires  to  understand 
thoroughly  the  reasons  of  Montaigne's  greatness 
can  afford  to  neglect  Villey's  historical  study  of  the 
first  and  perhaps  the  greatest  essayist. 

Ernest  Seilliere's  '  Le  Mai  Romantique.  Essai 
sur  1'imperialisme  irrationel,'  is  an  original  study 
of  the  romantic  in  life  and  literature,  from  the 
time  of  Rousseau  who  inaugurated  it  onwards 
through  the  five  generations  that  have  descended 
from  him.  The  book  is  divided  into  two  parts, 
'  Le  Romantisme  des  pauvres,'  associated  with  the 
name  of  Charles  Fourrier,  and  '  Le  Romantisme  des 
riches,'  associated  with  that  of  Stendhal-Beyle. 
The  first  depends  upon  a  '  mysticisme  social J  upon 
'  la  bonte  naturelle,'  and  leads  to  the  reign  of 
anarchy  in  the  sense  that  the  reign  of  reason 
renders  all  coercive  authority  superfluous.  The 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    273 

second  depends  upon  a  c  mysticisme  aesthetique* 
upon  '  la  beaute.'  The  reign  of  both  together 
makes  for  perfection.  It  is  an  interesting  and 
original  presentment  of  the  subject.  The  second 
part  of  the  book  is  well  worth  reading  for  its  own 
intrinsic  interest,  and  will  be  found  very  suggestive 
for  critics  or  students  of  the  literary  movements 
of  the  later  and  eighteenth  and  earlier  nineteenth 
century. 

A  somewhat  startling  critical  theory  is  put  forth 
by  Ugo  Gaede  in  *  Schiller  und  Nietzsche  als  Ver- 
kiinder  der  tragischen  Kultur."  It  is  difficult  to 
say  whether  it  is  worthy  of  serious  consideration. 
Gaede  declares  that  Schiller  and  Nietzsche  are  each 
representatives  of  the  two  types  of  the  subjective 
age,  and  that  as  Schiller's  problem  begins  where 
that  of  science  ends,  he  is  as  modern  as  if  he  had 
only  begun  to  write  in  the  present  age.  Schiller 
announced  that  '  all  the  gods  are  dead/  and  in  his 
latest  critic's  idea  that  was  as  good  as  saying, 
'  therefore,  now,  long  live  super-man  ! '  It  is  a 
strange  age,  at  least,  so  it  seems  to  me,  that,  before 
admiring  the  great  classical  poets,  must  find  excuse 
for  their  existence  in  that  they  had  some  of  the 
qualities  and  ideas  of  their  very  inferior  successors. 
But  such  books  have  their  uses,  for  they  often 
send  us  back  to  the  older  authors  we  so  wrongly 
neglect,  and  force  us  to  acknowledge  how  great 
they  are  and  always  will  be. 

***** 

In  the  realms  of  fiction  there  are  one  or  two 
quite  excellent  books  among  those  recently  pub- 
lished. Henry  Bordeaux  may  always  be  counted 

IX.  T 


274    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

on  for  distinguished  work,  and  in  his  latest  novel, 
4  Les  Yeux  qui  s'ouvrent,'  he  has  not  disappointed 
us.  It  is  an  illuminating  study  of  married  life, 
showing  how  serious  difficulties  may  arise  when  a 
wife  neglects  to  take  an  interest  in  her  husband's 
pursuits  and  aims.  A  young  woman,  not  unintel- 
ligent, attra6live,  well  placed  in  worldly  circum- 
stances, marries  a  distinguished  historian,  a  man  of  no 
family,  owing  his  high  position  entirely  to  his  own 
talents.  The  wife  is  an  excellent  housekeeper  and 
mother,  performs  her  social  duties  with  most  ap- 
proved punctilio,  takes  her  husband's  affection  for 
granted,  and  never  imagines  that  it  might  be  her 
duty  to  try  and  give  him  the  companionship  of 
soul  he  desires.  The  result  is  that  the  husband 
seeks  sympathy  elsewhere  and  finds  it.  The  wife 
leaves  her  husband  and  demands  a  divorce.  The 
husband's  friends  try  to  avert  it,  and  point  out  to 
the  wife  that  perhaps  she  is  not  altogether  blame- 
less in  the  matter ;  she  surely  had  some  part  and 
responsibility  in  their  mutual  happiness,  perhaps, 
as  some  one  says  to  her,  'votre  bonheur  demandait- 
il  quelque  surveillance.'  It  is  also  wisely  pointed 
out  that : 

*  Nous  sommes  beaucoup  plus  responsables  des  petites 
choses  que  des  grandes  ou  les  circonstances  ont  plus  de 
part,  et  que  c'est  a  nous  jour  a  jour,  a  fixer  la  chaine, 
facile  a  briser,  de  notre  bonheur.' 

If  only  the  elements  of  the  art  of  life  could  be 
taught  in  the  schools,  all  the  great  human  relation- 
ships would  work  more  smoothly.  Experience 
does  something,  of  course,  but  it  is  always  neces- 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    275 

sarily  a  lengthy  process,  and  there  are  many  people 
who  go  through  life  without  learning  anything 
from  it.  The  way  in  which  the  wife's  eyes  are 
gradually  opened  to  the  meaning  of  life  is  very 
delicately  implied,  the  two  main  factors  being  her 
husband's  mother,  a  charming  character,  and  a  diary 
kept  by  her  husband  during  their  married  life  that 
she  is  persuaded  to  read  by  his  best  friend.  The 
man  here  perhaps  expects  too  much  from  the 
woman  he  has  chosen,  but  in  any  relationship 
between  a  man  and  woman  it  would  be  well  if 
both  remembered  that  '  le  bonheur  s'acquiert  ou 
se  perd  chaque  jour  et  reclame  des  soins  constants, 
une  attention  permanente  .  .  .  savoir  demeurer  en 
etat  de  veille,  c'est  la  moitie  de  1'art  de  vivre.' 

In  another  passage  a  great  truth  is  expressed, 
though  one  perhaps  that  is  seldom  acknowledged : 

4  Aimer  quand  on  vous  aime,  qu'on  vous  6vite  tout 
effort,  toute  peine,  qu'on  aplanait  votre  vie  comme  une 
grande  route  ou  rien  ne  heurte  la  marche,  la  belle  affaire ! 
Par  quoi  prouve-t-on  son  amour  ?  Aimer  quand  on  est 
d£laiss6,  oubK6,  quand  on  vous  laisse  seul,  aux  prises  avec 
toutes  les  difficult£s,  ou  me'me  quand  on  vous  marche  sur 
le  coeur,  cela,  oui,  c'est  aimer.' 

It  is  a  fine  book,  finely  conceived  and  finely 
written.  The  situation  is  one  that  might  quite 
well  occur  in  real  life,  and  is  here  treated  with  a 
delicacy  and  refinement  as  rare  as  it  is  delightful. 

In  '  L'amour  qui  pleure,'  Marcelle  Tinayre  gives 
us  four  stories  of  unhappy  love.  Only  one  of  them, 
'  Robert-Marie/  rises  to  the  level  to  be  expected 
from  the  author  of '  La  Rebelle '  and  '  La  Maison 


276    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

du  PecheV  It  has  literary  form,  charm,  and  pathos. 
4  Le  fantome,'  the  description  of  a  sort  of  spiritual- 
istic seance,  is  surely  unworthy  of  so  gifted  a 
writer. 

'  Lettres  a  deux  femmes,'  by  J.  A.  Coulangheon, 
is  a  strange  book,  but  full  of  interest  and  attraction. 
Coulangheon  was  under  sentence  of  death  from  con- 
sumption, and  sought  distraction  by  corresponding 
with  two  women,  one  of  whom  he  did  not  know. 
His  motto  was  the  old  nursery  song: 

*  Avant  de  nous  s£parer 
II  faut  rire,  il  faut  rire, 
Avant  de  nous  separer 
II  faut  rire  et  s'amuser.' 

The  older  lady  was  a  '  railleuse  personne  revenue 
de  bien  des  choses,'  the  younger  'jeune  creature 
aspirant  a  la  joie  de  tout  entendre.'  He  seems  un- 
consciously perhaps,  and  almost  against  his  will,  to 
get  more  and  more  interested  in  the  younger  lady. 
His  views  of  things  are  original,  always  unorthodox, 
and  with  the  older  lady  he  frankly  discusses  subjects 
that  an  Englishman  would  ignore  in  writing  or 
talking  to  a  woman.  Love  and  friendship,  pain 
and  pleasure,  life  and  death,  art  and  nature,  litera- 
ture are  among  the  subjects  treated,  often  with 
pathetic  charm  and  deep  insight.  Great  truths 
also  are  often  finely  expressed.  The  book,  unfor- 
tunately, does  not  lend  itself  to  quotation  ;  a  phrase 
taken  from  its  context  loses  its  fine  flavour.  Cou- 
langheon was  a  friend  and  disciple  of  Anatole 
France,  and  there  are  many  -delightful  references 
to  him. 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    277 

The  history  of  the  development  of  a  town  is 
always  fascinating,  and  Frankfurt-  am-Main  is  in 
many  ways  one  of  the  best  subjects  of  the  kind. 
It  was  the  coronation  town  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Emperors  of  Germany ;  it  was  Goethe's  birth- 
place ;  and  in  surveying  the  fine  modern,  wealthy, 
and  prosperous  city  it  is  to-day,  we  are  apt  to 
forget  its  intimate  association  with  the  history  of 
the  past.  Goethe  called  a  town  c  a  comrade  of  the 
great  problems  of  fate,'  and  although  Veit  Valentin 
in  his  '  Frankfurt-am-Main  und  die  Revolution  von 
1 848-9 '  only  deals  actually  with  a  few  years  in  the 
life  of  the  town,  the  sketch  at  the  beginning  of 
earlier  times  and  at  the  end  of  the  later  makes  it 
almost  a  continuous  history. 


The  following  recently  published  books  deserve 

attention : — 

i 

Correspondance.      Les  lettres  et  les  arts.     Par 
Emile  Zola. 

Forms  the  second  volume  of  Zola's  correspondence,  and  covers 
the  years  1863-1902;  it  contains  much  about  Zola's  own  work 
and  that  of  his  correspondents,  who  include  most  of  the  great 
French  writers  of  his  day. 

Fernando    de    Herrera    (El    Divino),    1534-97. 
Par  Adolphe  Coster. 

A  very  full  account  of  the  poet,  who  may  perhaps  be  compared 
with  the  French  writer  Malherbe.  Herrera  realised  the  type  of 
the  man  of  letters.  Literature  was  a  real  profession  for  him,  an 
unique  fact  in  his  time,  specially  in  his  native  country. 


278    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

La  Litterature  Hongroise  d'aujourd'hui.  Etude 
suivie  des  notices  biographiques.  Par  J.  Kont. 

One  of  a  series  of  little  books  (1/6  each)  entitled  'Collection 
d'e'tudes  6trangeres.'  The  volume  before  us  makes  an  excellent 
supplement  to  Riedl's  admirable  *  History  of  Hungarian  Literature.' 

Walt  Whitman.  L'homme  et  son  ceuvre.  Par 
Leon  Bazalgette. 

Considers  Whitman  the  greatest  of  the  four  universal  geniuses 
given  to  the  world  by  America,  Poe,  Emerson,  and  Thoreau  being 
the  others.  The  author  ventures  to  think  that  some  would 
characterise  Whitman  as  <  le  poete  le  plus  puissant  et  le  plus  neuf 
du  siecle  dix-neuvieme  dans  son  ensemble.' 

Le  Siege  de  Genes  ( 1 800) .     Par  Edouard  Gachot. 

Contains  chapters  on  *  La  Guerre  dans  1'Apennin. — Journal  du 
Blocus. — Les  Operations  de  Suchet.' 

L'Ancienne  Egypte  d'apres  les  Papyrus  et  les 
Monuments.  Par  Eugene  Revillont.  Vol.  I. 

A  very  interesting  volume  treating  of  '  Le  Roman  de  Chevalerie 
et  les  Chansons  de  geste  dans  1'ancienne  Egypte,'  as  well  as  *  Le 
Roman  historique,'  *  L' Apologue,'  and  lastly  '  Polychromie  dans 
1'art  Egyptien.' 

Di&ionnaire  des  Comediens  Fran$ais  (ceux 
d'hier)  biographic,  bibliographic,  iconographie. 
Par  Henry  Lyonnet.  Vol.  L,  Abadie-Duval. 

The  first  work  of  the  kind.  Contains  biographies  (accompanied 
by  500  portraits,  autographs,  views  and  scenes)  of  French  adtors 
and  actresses,  from  the  most  famous  to  the  simple  *  M'as-tu-vu?' 

Bibliographic  Fran9aise.  Vol.  L,  1900-4. 
Deuxieme  serie. 

The  works  are  arranged  in  one  alphabet  under  order  of  authors, 
names,  titles,  subjects  (by  means  of  catch-words). 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    279 

Le  Violon.  Par  Alberto  Bachmann.  With 
preface  by  Henry  Gauthier-Villars. 

The  book  is  divided  into  three  parts,  'Lutherie,  oeuvres,  bio- 
graphies,' and  forms  a  useful  guide  both  for  professionals  and 
amateurs.  Especially  helpful  is  the  list  of  composers  and  their 
works. 

Les  jours  s'allongent.     Par  Paul  Margueritte. 

Another  instalment  of  his  *  Souvenirs  de  Jeunesse,'  describing 
his  life  as  a  boy  of  10-17  at  a  school  for  the  sons  of  military  officers, 
a  *  prison  d'enfants '  as  he  calls  it.  There  is  nothing  inspiring  in 
the  reminiscences. 

L'Ideal  Moderne.     Par  Paul  Gaultier. 

The  author  deals  with  '  La  question  morale ;  la  question  sociale ; 
la  question  religieuse.'  His  attitude  to  those  matters  may  be  found 
in  the  phrase,  *  II  est  moins  celui-la  que  nous  vivons  que  celui 
qu'il  me  semble  possible  et  souhaitable  que  nous  vivions.' 

New  volumes  in  the  Bibliotheque  de  Philosophic 
Contemporaine  are : — 

Esquisse  d'une  Esthetique  musicale  scientifique. 
Par  Charles  Lalo. 

An  argument  for  the  application  of  a  rational  method  to 
aesthetic  fadts. 

Sociologie  de  1'aclion.  La  genese  sociale  de  la 
raison  et  les  origines  rationelles  de  Faction.  Par 
Eugene  de  Roberty. 

Concludes  the  series  iof  his  essays  on  *  La  morale  considered 
comme  sociologie  £l£mentaire.' 

Etudes  d'histoire  des  Sciences  et  d'histoire  de  la 
Philosophic.  Par  A.  Mannequin.  Prefaced  by  an 
article  on  Hannequin  and  his  work  by  J.  Grosjean. 

Contains  articles  on  Spinoza,  Leibniz,  Descartes,  and  Hobbes. 


28o    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

Die  Parteien  des  deutschen  Reichstags.  Von 
Chr.  Grotewold. 

The  first  volume  of  a  series  'Die  Politik  des  deutschen  Reichs 
in  Einzeldarstellungen,'  invaluable  for  those  wishing  to  follow 
contemporary  German  politics.  Other  subjects  to  be  treated  are, 

*  Die    Geschichte   und    Ziele   des   deutschen    Sozialpolitik,'    von 
Martin    Wenck;    'Die    Gewerbepolitik,'    von    Bruno    Volger; 

*  Deutschland  als  Seemacht,'  von  Vice-Admiral  z.  D.  Valois. 

Deutschland  und  die  grosse  Politik.  Anno  1907. 
Von  Dr.  Th.  Schiemann. 

The  former  volumes  cover  the  years  1901-6. 

Arabia  Petraea.  Von  Alois  Musil.  Part  III. 
(Issued  under  the  auspices  of  the  Vienna  Imperial 
Academy  of  Science.) 

An  ethnological  account  of  a  journey  in  biblical  countries,  by  a 
great  authority  on  such  subjects. 

Das  Kind  in  der  altfranzosischen  Literatur. 
Von  Ferd.  Fellinger. 

Contains  a  large  amount  of  curious  information  probably  not  to 
be  found  elsewhere  in  any  one  place. 

Beitrage  und  Studien  zur  englischen  Kultur- 
und  Literaturgeschichte.  Von  J.  Schipper. 

A  selection  of  essays,  ledtures,  etc.,  already  published  in  periodi- 
cals. There  are  articles  on  the  Universities  of  Oxford,  Cambridge, 
Dublin,  Edinburgh,  and  Aberdeen  ;  a  review  of  Raleigh's  *  Shakes- 
peare,' and  a  fine  appreciation  of  Burns,  who  is  characterized  as 
one  of  the  greatest  lyric  poets,  perhaps  the  greatest  of  modern 
times.  He  quotes  Goethe's  lines : 

Es  kann  die  Spur  von  deinen  Erdentagen 
Nicht  in  Aeonen  untergeh'n. 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.     281 

Chronik  des  Weimarischen  Hof theaters  1817- 
1907.  Festschrift  zur  Einweihung  des  neuen  Hof- 
theater-Gebaudes,  n.  Januar,  1908.  Von  Adolf 
Bartels. 

A  chronological  list  of  all  the  plays  performed  at  the  Weimar 
Theatre  between  those  dates.  It  forms  a  most  interesting  and 
valuable  record,  and  is  indeed  an  important  document  for  the 
history  of  the  drama  in  Germany. 

Kulturaufgaben  der  Reformation.  Einleitung  in 
einer  Lutherbiographie.  Von  Arnold  Berger. 

A  new,  revised,  and  enlarged  edition  of  the  book  which  was 
first  published  in  1894. 

ELIZABETH  LEE. 


282 


A    BIBLIOGRAPHICAL   TOUR. 


i  HE  above  heading  may  seem  pre- 
sumptuous, as  there  are  few  traces  of 
bibliography  in  the  following  lines. 
Yet  my  tour,  of  which  I  venture  to 
give  some  account,  was  undertaken 
solely  for  the  examination  and  collation  -  of  the 
copies,  or  fragments  of  copies,  still  existing  of  the 
several  editions  of  the  famous  c  Speculum  humanae 
Salvationist  presumably  printed  at  Haarlem  in  the 
fifteenth  century. 

In  May,  1906,  the  editor  of  the  forthcoming  new 
edition  of  the  'Encyclopaedia  Britannica'  asked  me 
to  bring  up  to  date  the  historical  part  of  the  article 
4  Typography,'  written  by  me  for  the  last  edition 
of  that  work  in  or  about  1888,  which  mainly  dealt 
with  the  controversy  as  to  when,  where,  and  by 
whom  the  art  of  printing  with  moveable  metal 
types  was  invented. 

I  hardly  liked  to  take  this  subject  up  again.  But 
this  opportunity  for  restating  once  more  my  views 
on  it  was,  I  thought,  too  favourable  to  let  slip, 
especially  as  I  was  not  aware  of  anything  having 
occurred  since  1888  to  change  my  conviction  that 
the  honour  of  the  invention  must  be  ascribed  to 
Haarlem  and  its  citizen,  Lourens  Janszoon  Coster, 


A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR.       283 

and  not  to  Johann  Gutenberg  of  Mainz.  Great 
celebrations  in  honour  of  the  latter  had,  indeed, 
taken  place  in  Germany  in  1900,  the  supposed 
5ooth  anniversary  of  his  birth.  And  on  that  occa- 
sion the  foremost  bibliographers  and  scholars  of 
Germany  published  valuable  books  and  pamphlets 
on  Gutenberg's  life,  his  relatives  and  parentage,  and 
on  some  of  the  incunabula  supposed  to  have  been 
printed  by  him.  A  Gutenberg  Museum  was  also 
established  at  Mainz  on  a  large  scale,  as  a  repository 
for  all  obtainable  books,  documents,  etc.,  bearing 
on  Gutenberg's  claims  to  the  honour  of  the  inven- 
tion. 

These  new  publications,  however,  though  far 
superior  to  anything  hitherto  published  on  the  sub- 
ject, contain  no  evidence  for  Gutenberg's  claims, 
unless  we  set  aside  those  of  Haarlem,  which  such 
thorough  and  fair-minded  investigators  as  Dr. 
Schwenke  and  Dr.  Zedler,  the  librarians  of  the 
Berlin  and  Wiesbaden  Libraries,  have  begun  to 
appreciate,  if  not  to  accept. 

It  had  long  seemed  to  me  that  reading  and 
studying  the  four  different  texts  (two  Latin  and  two 
Dutch)  found  in  as  many  separate  editions  of  the 
4  Speculum,'  and  an  examination  of  the  woodcuts, 
which  are  the  same  in  all  the  four,  might  give  us 
a  clue  to  the  chronological  order  in  which  these 
editions  should  be  placed,  and,  consequently,  to  the 
approximate  period  to  be  assigned  to  them  and  the 
other  Costeriana.  Hitherto  the  authors  who  have 
treated  of  this  work  have  been  far  from  unanimous 
as  to  this  order.  The  systems  of  a  few  of  the  best 
known  (Meerman,  Heinecken,  Koning,  Ottley, 


284      A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR. 

Bernard,  Sotheby,  and  Schreiber,  the  latest)  placed 
side  by  side,  show  this : 


MEERMAN 

HEINECKEN 

KoNING 

OTTLEY  (1816), 

BERNARD 

(1765) 

(1770 

(1815) 

SCHREIBER 
(1902) 

(1853) 

I.  D.  unmixed 

L.  mixed 

D.  unmixed 

L.  unmixed 

L.  mixed 

II.  L.  mixed 

L.  unmixed 

L.  unmixed 

D.  mixed 

L.  unmixed 

III.  D.  mixed 

D.  unmixed 

D.  flZ/Att/ 

L.  mixed 

D.  mixed 

IV.  L.  unmixed 

D.  mixed 

L.  mixed 

D.  unmixed 

D.  unmixed 

Want  of  space  prevents  me  from  explaining  in 
detail  the  reasons  for  these  different  systems. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  Heinecken  placed  the  Dutch 
after  the  Latin  editions,  merely  because  he  regarded 
the  printed  Dutch  texts  as  translations  from  the 
printed  Latin  texts.  Bernard  was  uncertain  as  to 
the  order  in  which  to  place  them.  Ottley,  Sotheby 
and  Schreiber,  who  agree  in  their  order,  take  as 
guides  the  absence  or  presence  of  breakages  and 
other  peculiarities  in  the  woodcuts.  These  and 
other  points,  mentioned  casually  below,  could  only 
be  verified  by  an  examination  of  the  texts  and 
woodcuts  of  all  the  copies  of  the  book,  now  scat- 
tered over  nearly  the  half  of  Europe. 

There  being  no  copy  of  the  book  at  Cambridge, 
I  prepared  myself  for  my  visits  to  the  European 
libraries  by  copying  the  text  of  the  mixed  Latin 
edition,  with  all  its  contractions  and  mistakes,  from 
J.  Ph.  Berjeau's  facsimile,  published  in  1 86 1 .  Mean- 
time, our  librarian  (Mr.  Jenkinson)  requested  Lord 
Pembroke  to  send  the  two  editions  (mixed  Latin 
and  unmixed  Dutch)  in  his  possession  to  the  Uni- 


A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR.      285 

versity  Library  for  my  use,  which  his  Lordship 
readily  did,  kindly  adding  his  three  Blockbooks 
(4Ars  moriendi,'  'Apocalypse,'  and  '  Biblia  Pau- 
perum'). 

Autograph  notes  in  the  Pembroke  (Dutch)  copy 
show  that  it  has  been  in  the  possession  of  the  cele- 
brated Antwerp  geographer,  Abraham  Ortelius, 
and  after  his  death  in  1598  passed  into  the  hands 
of  his  nephew  Jacobus  Colius  Ortelianus,  a  Dutch 
(Flemish)  merchant  settled  in  London.  At  the 
latter's  house,  Emmanuel  Demetrius,  the  historian, 
in  his  History  published  in  1612  states  that  he  had 
seen  it,  and  it  may  be  supposed  that  the  copy  re- 
mained in  Cole's  possession  till  his  death  in  1628. 
Since  then  it  has  probably  belonged  to  the  Pem- 
broke family,  as  their  copy  of  the  '  Apocalypse  * 
also  has  Cole's  autograph.  Some  of  Cole's  books, 
however,  which  he  had  received  or  inherited  from 
his  uncle,  came  into  Bishop  Moore's  library,  and 
from  thence  into  the  Cambridge  University  Library, 
and  Ortelius'  Album  is  in  the  Library  of  Pembroke 
College. 

The  Pembroke  Dutch  text,  though  slightly  im- 
perfect, I  copied  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  not  with  such 
facility  as  Berjeau's  Latin  text,  as  its  printing  is 
rather  primitive,  and  has  more  numerous  and 
puzzling  contractions.  With  the  Pembroke  Latin 
text  I  collated  the  one  copied  from  Berjeau's  fac- 
simile. 

At  the  end  of  1906  I  went  to  Manchester  to 
examine  the  copies  of  the  mixed  Latin  and  mixed 
Dutch  editions  preserved  in  the  Spencer  collection 
of  the  John  Rylands  Library.  Here  Mr.  Henry 


286      A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR. 

Guppy,  the  librarian,  gave  me  every  facility  in  his 
power  for  copying  the  text  of  the  Dutch  edition, 
which  differs  so  much  from  that  of  the  other  (un- 
mixed) Dutch  edition,  that  merely  taking  notes  of 
the  variants  would  not  have  sufficed.  This  work, 
and  other  matters  connected  with  it,  took  me  four 
weeks,  and  as  the  Rylands  Library  contained  many 
other  treasures  relating  to  the  controversy  of  the 
invention,  which  were  all  placed  at  my  disposal,  I 
might  have  passed  there  another  month  or  two, 
if  Manchester's  damp,  smoky,  black  atmosphere, 
which  necessitated  my  working  every  day  by  eleclric 
light,  had  not  compelled  me  to  defer  the  remainder 
of  my  task  (the  collation  of  the  Latin  copy  and  the 
examination  of  the  Blockbooks)  to  a  more  favour- 
able season. 

But  even  the  little  I  had  hitherto  done  gave  me 
already  some  idea  of  the  order  in  which,  at  least, 
three  of  the  *  Speculum '  editions  (the  mixed  Latin 
and  the  two  Dutch)  should  be  placed.  I  explained 
this  to  a  meeting  of  the  London  Bibliographical 
Society,  on  the  2Oth  of  February,  and  showed  at 
the  same  time  'photographs  of  two  of  the  pages  of 
Lord  Pembroke's  Dutch  edition,  taken  with  his 
consent,  as  well  as  the  photograph,  which  Mr. 
Guppy  had  taken  for  me,  of  one  of  the  two  pages 
in  the  Spencer-Rylands  Dutch  edition  printed  in  a 
different  type  from  the  rest  of  the  book.  But  my 
explanation  was  still  incomplete,  as  I  had  never  yet 
seen  a  copy  of  the  unmixed  Latin  edition,  and  was 
not  likely  to  see  one  till  I  could  go  to  the  Continent. 

Towards  the  end  of  April  I  collated  the  Douce 
copy  of  the  mixed  Latin  edition  in  the  Bodleian, 


A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR.      287 

which  is  in  fine  condition,  exhibited  in  one  of  the 
show-cases.  Towards  the  end  of  June  Lord  Pem- 
broke's books  were  returned,  and  the  time  for  my 
tour  had  come.  For  various  purposes  I  intended 
to  visit  the  libraries,  museums,  or  archives  at  Paris, 
Strassburg,  Geneva,  Florence,  Munich,  Vienna, 
Leipzig,  Berlin,  Hanover,  Frankfurt  -  on  -  Main, 
Darmstadt,  Mainz,  Wiesbaden,  Cologne,  Utrecht, 
Haarlem,  Leiden,  the  Hague,  Antwerp,  Brussels, 
and  Lille.  The  well-known  publication  *  Minerva  ' 
gave  me,  in  most  instances,  the  desired  information 
as  regards  the  Directors  or  Librarians  of  all  the 
Institutions  to  be  visited,  and  anticipating  no  diffi- 
culties in  obtaining  admission  anywhere,  I  provided 
myself  with  no  introductions.  But  some  ten  or 
twelve  days  before  I  started,  when  I  casually  told 
a  friend  that,  according  to  Bernard  and  Holtrop, 
there  was  a  copy  of  the  c  Speculum '  in  the  Pitti 
Palace  at  Florence,  he  expressed  a  doubt  as  to 
whether  this  could  be  corredt,  as  the  Palace  con- 
tained pictures,  no  books.  But  the  c  Speculum ' 
being  famous  for  its  engravings,  was  it  not  possible 
that  for  this  reason  it  had  strayed  into  a  collection 
of  pictures  ?  Still,  I  requested  the  Director  of  the 
Palace  to  let  me  know,  and  the  reply-postcard  which 
I  had  sent  came  back  with  the  official  answer  that 
4  among  the  collection  of  prints  of  the  Gallery 
Uffizi  the  work  "  Speculum  humanae  Salvationis  " 
did  not  exist.'  As  the  book  might  have  disappeared 
from  Florence  since  Bernard  and  Holtrop's  time,  I 
requested  the  British  Consul-General  at  Florence 
(Major  W.  P.  Chapman)  to  make  inquiries  for  me, 
and  I  record  with  much  pleasure  the  promptitude 


288      A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR. 

with  which  this  gentleman  ascertained  that  *  the 
"Speculum"  was  preserved  in  the  Palatina  Library 
once  at  the  Pitti  Palace  and  now  in  the  Royal 
National  Library.' 

Meantime  I  had  bought  tickets  for  all  the  places 
mentioned  above  (and  a  few  others  to  be  visited  for 
private  purposes)  from  the  'Belgian  State  Railways' 
at  their  London  office,  72  Regent  Street.  And  I 
can  recommend  other  intending  travellers  to  do  the 
same,  if  they  will  limit  their  luggage  to  so  much  as 
can  be  carried  by  hand,  and  dispense  with  the  ser- 
vices of  guides,  interpreters,  etc.,  supplied  by  other 
tourist-agencies.  At  least,  my  tickets  have  carried 
me,  without  any  trouble,  to  all  the  places  I  wanted 
to  go  to,  and  were,  I  believe,  10  per  cent,  cheaper 
than  those  of  other  agencies. 

On  the  9th  July  I  began  my  work  on  the  Con- 
tinent by  the  collation  of  the  two  copies  of  the 
mixed  Latin  '  Speculum  '  in  the  Paris  National 
Library,  which  Campbell,  and  after  him  Conway, 
erroneously  describe  as  copies  of  the  Latin  unmixed 
edition.  In  the  copy  that  had  formerly  belonged 
to  the  Sorbonne  Library  is  pasted  a  slip  of  paper, 
on  which  S.  Leigh  Sotheby  wrote  in  1858  that 
this  edition  was  the  third  edition  of  the  'Speculum' 
or  second  Latin  (see  above),  and  referred  to  his 
4  Principia  Typographical  Vol.  I.,  pp.  152-67,  and 
Plates  xxxv.  and  xxxvi.,  as  '  showing  that  the  texts 
in  block-type  in  this  edition  are  facsimiles  of  those 
in  the  ifirst  edition,  thus  satisfactorily  proving  the 
order  of  their  issue.'  I  hope  to  show  in  another 
treatise  that  Sotheby's  '  order '  and  'proofs'  are  not 
so  satisfactory  as  he  thought  them  to  be. 


A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR.      289 

The  various  fragments  of  the  Costerian  c  Dona- 
tuses '  and  '  Doclrinales,'  as  well  as  the  blockbooks 
in  the  Paris  Library,  were  all  readily  placed  at  my 
disposal,  and  described  by  me  for  future  use.  Inci- 
dentally I  may  refer  here  to  a  curious  omission 
in  the  heading  of  the  celebrated  passage  in  the 
'Cologne  Chronicle'  of  1499  (on  W*0  31 1  b)  on 
the  invention  of  printing.  I  had  noticed  that  in 
the  copy  of  the  Cambridge  University  Library  this 
heading  reads :  '  Wanne  wae  ind  durch  wen  is 
vonden  dye  onvyfTprechlich  [end  of  line]  kunst 
boicher  tzo  drucken.'  This  was  wrong,  as  the  word 
before  '  kunst '  being  an  adverb  could  not  govern  a 
substantive.  Moreover,  I  remembered  that  some 
authors  quote  the  word  '  nutze '  before  '  kunst.' 
But  the  two  copies  in  the  Library  of  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge,  read  like  the  University  Library 
copy ;  so  also  the  British  Museum  copy.  When, 
therefore,  M.  Viennot,  one  of  the  librarians  of  the 
Paris  Library,  kindly  showed  me  the  inner  library, 
and  asked  me  whether  I  wished  to  see  any  par- 
ticular book,  I  mentioned  the  '  Chronicle.'  We 
found  three  copies  of  the  book  on  one  shelf,  all 
reading  like  the  four  just  mentioned,  but  a  fourth 
copy  had  '  nutze '  duly  printed  at  the  beginning  of 
the  line  before  c  kunst.'  Afterwards  I  saw  copies 
in  the  Munich  University  Library,  the  town  library 
at  Haarlem,  and  the  private  library  of  Messrs. 
Enschede,  all  having  c  nutze ' ;  hence  it  is  clear  that 
the  omission  of  this  adjective  was  noticed  and 
rectified  in  KoelhofFs  office  after  a  number  of 
copies  had  been  sold.  Of  course,  its  omission  does 
not  afFecl:  the  testimony  of  the  c  Chronicle '  as 

ix.  u 


290      A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR. 

regards  the  invention  of  printing,  but  it  is  remarkable 
that  the  heading  of  such  a  celebrated  passage  has 
been  quoted  and  translated,  sometimes  with,  and 
sometimes  without  the  adjective,  for  more  than 
four  hundred  years  without  the  discrepancy  having 
been  observed. 

On  the  1 8th  July  I  went  to  Strassburg,  where  I 
arrived  too  late  in  the  day  to  go  to  the  library  or  to 
the  archives,  but  early  enough  to  ascertain  that  the 
old  MS.  Registers  belonging  to  the  St.  Thomas 
Stift,  which  contain  important  entries  relating  to 
Gutenberg,  are  now  deposited  for  public  use  in  the 
'  Stadt-Archiv.'  Here  Dr.  Jacob  Bernays  much 
facilitated  my  work  by.remaining  at  his  post  several 
hours  after  the  official  time  for  closing,  and  treated 
me,  moreover,  at  his  house  with  great  hospitality. 
To  my  disappointment,  Dr.  K.  Schorbach,  the 
librarian  of  the  Kais.  Univers.  Bibliothek,  was  on 
his  holiday  when  I  arrived.  In  his  work  on  the 
documents  relating  to  Gutenberg's  life  and  work, 
published  by  the  Gutenberg-Gesellschaft  on  the 
occasion  of  the  Gutenberg  festivities  of  1900,  he 
speaks  of  me  as  an  obstinate  opponent  of  Guten- 
berg, and  of  Dr.  Van  der  Linde,  and  gives  his 
readers  to  understand  that,  in  my  book  on  Guten- 
berg, I  suppressed  all  evidence  that  seemed  to  be  in 
favour  of  Gutenberg,  or  regarded  it  as  forged.  I 
had  wished  to  explain  to  him  verbally,  what  I  have 
said  two  or  three  times  in  print,  that  it  would  not 
be  worth  any  one's  while  to  take  this  course,  seeing 
that  the  Gutenberg  documents,  so  far  as  we  know 
them,  show  him  to  have  been  a  printer,  perhaps 
the  first  printer  in  Germany,  but  not  the  inventor 


A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR.      291 

of  printing ;  that  this  distinction  is  suggested  not 
merely  by  Gutenberg's  own  silence  as  to  any  in- 
vention, but  also  by  that  of  his  contemporaries, 
who  ought  to  have  spoken  of  him  as  the  inventor, 
and  would  and  could  have  done  so,  if  he  had  in- 
vented anything ;  and  that,  in  its  turn,  this  silence 
harmonises  with  Ulr.  Zell's  refutation  or  qualifica- 
tion of  the  rumours  about  a  Gutenberg  invention, 
and  with  Junius'  advocacy  in  favour  of  a  Haarlem 
invention,  both  corroborated  by  the  circumstantial 
evidence  found  in  the  Costeriana,  which  point  to  a 
stage  of  printing  anterior  to  that  of  Mainz. 

As  there  are  no  Costeriana  at  Strassburg,  and  a 
cursory  examination  of  the  St.  Thomas  Registers 
showed  me  that  Dr,  Schorbach's  treatise  on  the 
Gutenberg  documents  was  sufficiently  clear,  I 
limited  my  work  in  this  beautiful  town  to  a  de- 
scription of  the  *  Biblia  Pauperum,'  to  which  Dr. 
Braunholtz,  the  assistant  librarian,  called  my  atten- 
tion. 

On  the  aist  July  I  arrived  at  Geneva  for  the 
collation  of  the  copy  of  the  mixed  Dutch  '  Specu- 
lum' preserved  in  the  Public  Library.  It  wants 
the  leaves  I  to  7,  16,  17,  and  62,  and  the  binder  has 
cut  away  the  margins  close  to  the  letter-press  and 
woodcuts,  and  in  this  condition  the  leaves  have 
been  pasted  on  large  sheets  of  thick  light  brown 
paper,  so  that  neither  the  water-marks  nor  any 
rubbings  of  the  frotton  can  be  seen.  But  as  far  as 
the  printing  of  text  and  figures  is  concerned  it  is 
one  of  the  best  copies  I  have  seen.  In  1761  it 
was  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Marcus  at  Amsterdam, 
and  a  note  in  the  book  informs  us  that  in  the 


292      A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR. 

eighteenth  century  it  was  presented  to  the  Geneva 
Library  by  Dr.  Tronchin. 

From  Geneva  I  went  on  the  24th  of  July  to 
Florence,  where  I  had  to  collate  the  copy  of  the 
unmixed  Latin  '  Speculum,'  preserved  in  the  National 
Library.  It  only  wants  the  first  (blank)  leaf,  and 
bears  the  pressmark  E.  6.  7.  15  (Old  Palat.  Libr. 
B.  A.  q.  630),  not,  as  Schreiber  says,  D.  7.  5.  2B., 
which  is  that  of  a  copy  of  the  '  Speculum  humanae 
vitae.'  I  had  never  yet  seen  a  copy  of  this  un- 
mixed edition,  except  the  one  at  the  Hague  for  a 
few  minutes  years  ago. 

Ottley,  Sotheby,  Holtrop,  and  Schreiber  (1902), 
regard  this  edition  as  thejirst  because,  they  say,  (i) 
the  twenty  xylographic  pages  in  the  mixed  we,  fac- 
similes of  the  same  pages,  type-printed,  of  the  unmixed 
Latin  edition  ;  (2)  a  comparison  of  the  composition 
of  the  remaining  pages,  all  type-printed  in  both 
editions,  points  to  the  unmixed  having  served  as 
model  to  the  compositor  of  the  mixed  edition  ;  (3) 
the  absence  of  breakages  in  some  of  the  woodcuts 
of  the  unmixed  Latin,  show  that  it  was  printed 
prior  to  the  other  three  editions,  in  which  the 
same  woodcuts  are  defective ;  and  (4)  the  facl  that 
the  scrolls  in  the  last  woodcut  in  some  of  the  copies 
of  the  unmixed  Latin  edition  have  a  black  ground, 
but  are  blank  in  other  copies  and  in  all  the  other 
editions,  proves  that  the  unmixed  Latin  is  the 
earliest  of  all. 

As  regards  the  first  point,  I  found,  indeed,  such 
a  close  agreement  between  the  text  of  the  twenty 
xylographic  pages  of  the  mixed  Latin  edition  and 
that  of  the  corresponding  type-printed  pages  of  the 


A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR.       293 

unmixed  Latin  edition,  that,  after  having  copied 
one  or  two  pages  of  the  Florence  copy,  I  aban- 
doned this  work,  and  merely  noted  the  differences 
between  its  text  and  that  of  the  mixed  edition. 
These  differences,  however,  make  it  clear  that  the 
latter  is  not  a  facsimile  of  the  unmixed  Latin,  but 
rather  the  reverse,  as  I  hope  to  explain  in  another 
treatise,  when  dealing  with  the  other  three  points 
referred  to  above.  The  Florence  copy  has  blank 
scrolls  in  the  last  woodcut,  not  black  as  in  some 
other  copies  of  this  edition,  as  noted  above. 

Saturday,  the  3rd  of  August,  I  went  to  Munich, 
and  on  Monday,  the  5th,  began  to  collate  the  copy 
of  the  unmixed  Latin  edition  (pressmark  Xyl.  37) 
preserved  in  the  Hof-  und  Staats-Bibliothek.  It 
only  wants  the  first  (blank)  leaf,  but  most  of  the 
re&os  and  versos  of  the  other  leaves  left  blank  by  the 
printer,  are  pasted  together,  so  that  the  watermarks 
cannot  be  seen.  The  Munich  University  Library 
also  possesses  a  copy  (pressmark  Xyl.  i  o)  of  this 
same  edition,  which  is  slightly  imperfect,  as  it  wants 
the  leaves  54,  55  and  59.  But  it  is  most  valuable,  as 
having  the  scrolls  on  the  final  woodcut  (i  16)  black^ 
as  in  the  Vienna  and  John  Inglis  (now  in  New  York) 
copies,  and  not  blank  as  in  the  other  copies.  It 
bears,  moreover,  the  date  1471,  written  in  old  Arabic 
numerals,  in  minium  at  the  end  of  the  Prohemium, 
as  was  first  pointed  out  by  Dr.  W.  L.  Schreiber 
('  Centralblatt  f.  Bibliothekwesen,'  1895,  P-  2°8). 
Underneath  this  contemporary  date  the  same  date 
is  repeated,  apparently  for  the  sake  of  greater  clear- 
ness, in  numerals  of  the  eighteenth  century.  As  the 
librarian  of  the  University  Library  kindly  applied 


294      A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR. 

for  the  loan  of  the  copy  of  the  Hof-Bibliothek  for 
my  use  in  his  library,  I  was  able  to  study  and  com- 
pare the  two  Munich  copies  minutely,  the  result  of 
which  I  hope  to  give  in  another  place. 

On  the  1 3th  August  I  left  Munich  for  Vienna, 
arriving  there  the  following  morning  at  7.30. 
Prof.  Engelbrecht,  of  the  Vienna  University,  with 
whom  I  had  had  some  correspondence  three  or  four 
years  ago,  had,  at  my  request,  recommended  me  to 
the  director  of  the  Hof-Bibliothek,  and  as  Dr.  Kugel, 
the  custos  of  the  Library,  considerately  undertook 
to  be  in  the  Library  from  2  to  4  p.m.,  when  it  was 
usually  closed,  I  was  enabled  to  work  during  these 
two  hours,  as  well  as  from  9  to  1 2  in  the  morning. 
The  Vienna  copy  belongs  to  the  unmixed  Latin 
edition,  like  the  Florence  arcd  two  Munich  copies, 
and  bears  the  pressmark  '  Inc.  2  D  19.'  The  scrolls 
on  its  last  engraving  (116)  are  black,  like  those  in 
the  Munich  University  Library  copy,  and  in  the 
centre  scroll,  on  the  black  ground,  is  written  by  a 
hand  of  the  fifteenth  century,  l  Mane  teter  fares.' 
Unfortunately,  the  blank  verso  of  this  engraving  is 
pasted  on  to  a  modern  blank  leaf,  so  that  the  im- 
pression of  this  scroll  on  the  verso  cannot  be  seen. 
The  copy  formerly  belonged  to  the  Celestins  at 
Paris,  and  still  bears  their  name  (Celestinorum 
Parisiensium)  on  the  first  leaf.  The  Hof-Bibliothek 
bought  it  for  1,600  francs  at  the  La  Valliere  sale. 
The  same  Library  possesses  also  two  editions  of  the 
4  Biblia  Pauperum,'  one  with,  the  other  without 
signatures. 

From  Vienna  I  went  to  Leipzig,  where  no 
4  Costeriana,'  but  Klemm's  two  vellum  volumes  of 


A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR.      295 

the  42  line  Bible  are  preserved.  Herr  Heinrich 
Klemm  is  known  to  have  been  a  tailor  at  Dresden, 
and  to  have  published  books  on  tailoring.  His 
1  Museum '  of  Incunabula,  of  which  this  Bible 
forms  part,  was  bought  by  the  Saxon  Government 
in  1886  and  presented  to  the  *  Deutsches  Buch- 
gewerbemuseum '  at  Leipzig.  He  also  possessed 
Gutenberg's  *  Printing-Press '  bearing  the  date 
1441  (!),  discovered  (!)  at  Mainz  in  1856,  and 
other  rarities  of  a  similar  nature.  The  two  volumes 
of  the  Bible  are  ornamented  (?)  in  several  places 
with  miniatures  of  a  much  later  date  than  the 
Bible  itself.  Klemm  described  it  three  times,  in 
1883  and  1884,  and  calls  it  a  'real  unicum'  on 
account  of  these  miniatures,  which  he  says  were 
probably  executed  for  some  prince.  But  he  no- 
where speaks  of  the  date  *  1453,'  written  in  small 
Arabic  numerals  of  fifteenth  century  form,  at  the 
bottom  of  the  last  leaf  of  the  second  volume.  Yet 
Klemm  must  have  been  aware  that  the  earliest  date 
known  up  to  that  time  for  this  Bible  was  1456,  so 
that  his  earlier  date,  if  it  were  genuine,  was  of  the 
utmost  importance,  and  would  have  considerably 
enhanced  the  value  of  his  copy.  It  could,  more- 
over, have  assisted  him  in  his  Descriptive  Catalogue 
of  his  Museum  in  his  argument  against  those  who 
ascribe  the  Bible  to  Peter  Schoeffer.  His  silence, 
therefore,  is  suspicious,  and  the  doubt  is  increased 
by  the  date  being  written  quite  at  the  bottom  of 
the  last  leaf.  Otherwise,  in  the  date  itself  I  saw 
nothing  suspicious ;  it  is  perfectly  clear ;  but  it  is 
surrounded  by  traces  of  writing  now  scratched 
out,  and  no  doubt  these  traces  have  caused  the 


296      A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR. 

black  and  indistinct:  photograph  of  the  date  which 
Dziatzko  published  a  few  years  ago  ('  Sammlung,' 
VII.,  104). 

It  will,  perhaps,  not  seem  out  of  place  if  I  add 
a  few  words  on  Dr.  Dziatzko's  bibliographical  re- 
searches and  discoveries  regarding  this  Bible,  which 
he  published  at  Berlin  in  1890  under  the  title, 
'Gutenberg's  friiheste  Druckerpraxis'  (Gutenberg's 
earliest  work  as  printer).  In  1889  he  and  several 
of  his  pupils  had  elaborately  examined  and  com- 
pared the  42  and  36  line  Bibles,  and  found  that 
these  resembled  each  other  in  every  respect ;  their 
quires  and  divisions  into  volumes  were  alike 
(pp.  19-31);  paper  and  watermarks  were  alike 
(pp.  32-50) ;  the  types  (letters,  marks  of  punctua- 
tion, etc.)  were  alike,  only  those  of  636  were 
larger  than  those  of  B  42  (pp.  50-74).  Ergo,  he 
says,  the  two  Bibles  were  undoubtedly  printed  in 
one  and  the  same  office,  by  one  and  the  same 
printer,  who  was,  of  course,  John  Gutenberg. 
Therefore,  he  concluded:  (i)  Gutenberg  printed 
642  during  his  partnership  (1450-5)  with  Fust; 
(2)  he  superintended  the  manufacture  of  its  type, 
instructed  the  compositor  and  the  printer,  and 
hence  was  its  printer ;  (3)  Fust  supplied  the  money 
and  material,  and  took  part  in  the  printing  and  the 
revision  of  the  text,  and  had  an  important  share 
in  its  publication  ;  (4)  the  types  came  afterwards 
into  the  possession  of  Schoeffer;  (5)  B  36  is  a 
reprint  ('  Nachdruck ')  of  B  42,  but  Fust  had  no- 
thing to  do  with  it,  in  spite  of  its  type  and  work- 
manship being  similar  to  that  of  B  42 ;  therefore 
it  was  Gutenberg's  work ;  (6)  B  36  being  a  mere 


A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR.       297 

reprint  of  B  42,  with  the  exception  of  its  commence- 
ment, which  was,  perhaps,  set  up  from  a  MS.,  the 
printing  of  it  cannot  be  placed  before  1450;  (7) 
but,  as  the  types  of  B  36  existed  already  in  1454, 
Gutenberg  seems  to  have  been  preparing  this  new 
type  since  1453,  when  his  quarrels  with  Fust 
were  beginning,  and  to  have  printed  with  it  some 
Donatuses,  the  Indulgence  of  1454,  and  other  small 
books,  and  finally  636,  often  with  the  technical 
and  financial  assistance  of  Alb.  Pfister,  who  must 
have  acquired  636  and  its  printing-material  in  or 
shortly  before  1458  ;  (8)  Gutenberg  may  have  pre- 
pared the  types  for  636  before  1450,  therefore  a 
little  time  before  those  of  B  42  existed,  but  finding 
the  former  not  solid  enough  or  too  large,  he  began 
preparing  the  types  of  B  42,  and  then,  anticipating 
the  quarrels  with  Fust,  commenced  the  printing  of 
B  36  in  partnership  with  some  one  else,  using  his 
experience  gained  in  printing  B  42,  but  with  less 
care,  and  merely  reprinting  B  42,  chiefly  on  paper, 
and  therefore  with  less  cost.  And,  strange  to  say, 
(9)  the  Donatuses  of  Dutch  origin  cannot  be 
ascribed  to  an  earlier  date  than  those  attributed  to 
Mainz  and  Gutenberg,  because  he  (Dr.  Dziatzko) 
has  observed  a  peculiar  x  in  the  former,  which, 
unless  those  who  defend  the  Dutch  claims  prove 
it  to  be  national  Hollandish,  must  be  regarded  as 
an  imitation  of  the  same  x  in  the  Gutenberg  prints. 
It  is  difficult  to  reconcile  this  Gutenberg  activity, 
this  wholly  speculative  activity,  with  the  Helmas- 
perger  Instrument  of  6th  November,  1455,  which 
rather  shows  that  Gutenberg  had  as  yet  done  little. 
But  Dziatzko  says  nothing  on  this  point.  To  him 


298      A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR, 

the  only  remaining  question  was :  Which  of  the 
two  Bibles  was  the  earliest?  To  decide  it  he 
examined  most  minutely  both  texts,  counted  their 
lines,  noted  their  agreements,  contractions,  differ- 
ences, errors,  etc.,  and  found  unmistakeable  evidence 
of  B  36  being  a  reprint  of  B  42  (pp.  87  to  112). 

It  seems  never  to  have  occurred  to  Dr.  Dziatzko 
that  the  two  Bibles  could  have  been  printed  from 
two  different  MSS.,  and  that  the  difference  between 
their  respective  types  conclusively  shows  that  these 
at  any  rate  were  cut  after  different  MS.  models. 
Occasionally  he  speaks  of  MSS.,  but  if  I  understand 
him  correctly,  he  thinks  that  only  B  42  was  printed 
from  a  MS. ;  that  the  commencement  of  B  36 
might  have  been  printed  from  some  MS. ;  but  that 
no  MS.  was  used  in  the  printing  of  B  36  except 
where  the  latter  has  a  more  correct  reading  than 
B  42.  Differences  such  as  Moyses  and  Moises, 
ismahel  and  ysmahel,  he  regards  as  whims  of  the 
compositor. 

We  should  not  forget  that  to  the  correctness  of 
Bible-manuscripts  somewhat  more  attention  was 
paid  than  to  that  of  other  books.  Hence  their 
texts  are  not  likely  to  differ  from  each  other  so 
much  as  that  of  other  books,  especially  not  those 
written  in  such  large  letters  as  the  models  of  B  36 
and  B  42  must  have  been.  It  follows  that  the 
great  similarity  between  the  texts  of  these  two 
Bibles  does  not  necessarily  mean  that  the  one  must 
have  been  printed  from  the  other,  and  hence  it  is 
no  clue  to  the  priority  of  either  of  them  ;  the  simi- 
larity may  have  existed  in  the  MSS. ;  likewise  the 
differences  of  spelling  between  the  two  texts.  Even 


A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR.       299 

the  singular  cancel  in  the  Stuttgart  copy  (Dziatzko, 
p.  95)  may  be  owing  to  the  condition  of  the  MS., 
but,  not  having  seen  this  copy,  I  cannot  speak  with 
certainty  on  this  point.  A  further  examination  of 
the  two  Bibles  is  not  yet  superfluous. 

Dr.  Dziatzko's  ninth  point,  respecting  the  x  in 
the  Dutch  Donatuses,  we  may  pass  by.  If  he  had 
examined  Dutch  incunabula  or  Dutch  manuscripts 
he  would  have  seen  that,  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
the  Northern  Netherlands  had  their  own  national 
or  rather  provincial  handwritings  (including  the 
peculiar  x  mentioned  by  him),  like  the  Flemish  or 
Southern  Netherlands  and  Germany.  So  that  the 
printer  of  the  c  Speculum'  and  '  Donatuses,'  whose 
types  all  betray  the  bookhand  indigenous  to  his 
province  (Holland  proper),  could  not  have  felt 
under  the  necessity  of  borrowing  an  isolated  x 
or  any  other  letter  of  the  alphabet.  It  is  to  be 
regretted  that  Dr.  Schwenke  has,  to  some  extent, 
countenanced  this  x  theory. 

In  the  Royal  Library  at  Berlin  I  was  fortunate 
enough  to  find  the  librarian,  Dr.  Schwenke,  at  his 
post.  His  treatises  on  early  Mainz  printing  are 
models  of  clearness  and  preciseness,  and  should  be 
studied  by  all  who  wish  to  know  what  books  are 
now  attributed  to  Gutenberg.  The  Berlin  copy  of 
the  mixed  Latin  '  Speculum '  belonged  formerly  to 
Frid.  Jac.  Roloff;  it  is  imperfect,  and  its  leaves  do 
not  all  follow  in  due  order.  In  spite  of  this,  it  was 
to  me  as  important  as  the  Pembroke  copy,  on 
account  of  a  bibliographical  peculiarity  which  will 
be  explained  elsewhere. 

At  Hanover,  where  I  arrived  on  the   22nd  of 


300      A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR. 

August,  are  two  copies  of  the  c  Speculum,'  one 
(Bodemann,  2  B)  belonging  to  the  mixed  Latin, 
the  other  (Bodemann,  2  A.)  to  the  unmixed  Latin 
edition.  They  are  both  imperfect ;  the  mixed 
Latin  edition  wants  leaf  25,  instead  of  which  it  has 
a  duplicate  of  leaf  21,  and  it  wants  leaf  30,  for 
which  it  has  a  duplicate  of  leaf  34.  The  copy 
of  the  unmixed  Latin  edition  wants  leaves  i  to  4 
of  the  prefatory  matter,  while  leaves  5  and  6  come 
at  the  end  of  the  book  ;  it  further  wants  the  whole 
quire  d  (leaves  35  to  48),  and  the  pictures  Nos.  93 
to  100  come  after  No.  108.  It  has  blank  scrolls 
in  the  last  engraving,  but  in  the  central  scroll  is 
written  VERBVM  DOMINI. 

The  Hanover  Library  has  also  a  copy  of  the 
c  Biblia  Pauperum,'  of  which  a  note  in  the  book 
says  :  '  S.  Ansgarius  est  autor  huius  libri.'  Another 
note  in  the  book  says:  £N.B.  Hie  liber  est  de  iis 
qui  post  inventam  artem  impressoriam,  primo  est 
typis  divulgatus  a  Laurentio  Costero  Harlemensi 
anno  1428  usque  ad  annum  1440.  Vide  Monathl. 
Unterred.  de  anno  1698  mens.  Jul.  p.  m.  log.  ex  die 
oude  Chron.  ende  Hist,  van  Zeeland,  p.  m.  159 
in  4to.' 

I  stopped  a  night  at  Frankfurt  on  the  Maine, 
where,  on  my  arrival  in  an  hotel,  I  was  asked 
whether  I  was  a  Christian,  as  they  took  in  no 
Jews. 

At  Darmstadt  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  again 
the  archivist,  Dr.  Freih.  Schenk  zu  Schweinsberg, 
who  had  been  so  kind  and  hospitable  to  me  on  a 
former  visit,  and  whose  c  Genealogy  of  Gutenberg,' 
published  in  1900  in  the  'Festschrift,'  is  in  every 


A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR.      301 

way  clear,  elaborate,  and  accurate.  Dr.  Ad.  Schmidt, 
the  librarian,  not  only  gave  me  a  copy  of  all  that  he 
had  written  on  the  Gutenberg  question,  but  showed 
me,  in  the  few  hours  at  my  disposal,  many  of  the 
interesting  rarities  under  his  charge. 

At  Mainz,  the  librarians,  A.  Borckel,  H.  Heiden- 
heimer,  and  A.  Tronnier,  did  again  their  utmost  to 
make  my  short  visit  pleasant,  and  to  enlighten  me 
on  all  the  treasures  in  their  keeping ;  their  copy  of 
the  Laurentius  Valla,  ascribed  to  Coster,  is  bound 
up  with  four  or  five  MS.  treatises  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  ranging  from  1443  to  1472.  The  hand- 
some Gutenberg  Museum  at  Mainz  deserves  to  be 
visited,  and  should  be  imitated  or  excelled  by  a 
Coster  Museum  at  Haarlem. 

At  Wiesbaden,  the  librarian,  Prof.  Dr.  Zedler, 
who  has  contributed  so  much  to  the  Gutenberg 
literature,  showed  me  all  that  he  had  done  to 
initiate  himself  in  the  art  of  cutting  and  casting 
types ;  he  presented  me  with  several  photographs 
of  incunabula  taken  by  him,  and  kindly  sent  me 
after  my  return  from  my  tour,  two  leaves  of  a 
Costerian  Do6lrinale,  discovered  by  him,  for  my 
examination. 

At  Cologne  (3oth  August)  I  learnt  to  my  dis- 
appointment that,  owing  to  careless  custody,  the 
fragments  of  the  '  Donatuses '  and  l  Doclrinales,' 
formerly  preserved  in  the  library  of  the  Catholic 
Gymnasium,  had  already  been  missing  before  this 
library  was  incorporated  with  that  of  the  town. 
Some  other  fragments,  described  in  Ennen's  cata- 
logue as  being  in  the  town  library,  had  also  dis- 
appeared. Consequently  I  only  found  (i)  two 


302      A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR. 

leaves  of  a  27-line  Donatus  (=Ennen's  No.  i,  p.  7 
=No.  33  of  my  list  of  Costeriana),  but  not  printed 
in  any  Speculum,  or  any  other  Costerian  type ;  (2) 
two  leaves  of  a  24-line  Donatus,  in  the  Saliceto 
type  (=Ennen's  No.  3,  p.  7=my  No.  24)  ;  (3)  two 
leaves  of  a  24-line  Donatus  (=Ennen?s  No.  4, 
p.  7  =  my  No.  24?)  ;  (4)  two  leaves  of  a  29-line 
Doclrinale,  in  the  Saliceto  type  (=Ennen's  No.  5, 
and  my  No.  36)  ;  and  (5)  two  leaves  of  a  32-line 
Doclrinale  (=Ennen's  No.  6,  [and  my  No.  15)  in 
the  small  Speculum  type.  The  town  library  also 
possesses  an  edition  of  the  '  Biblia  Pauperum,'  and 
the  '  Apocalypse.' 

From  Cologne  I  went  (3Oth  August)  to  the 
University  Library  at  Utrecht,  to  examine  again 
the  fragments  of  the  French  Donatus  printed  in  the 
Speculum  type,  and  the  fragments  of  Lud.  Pontani 
de  Roma,  '  Singularia  Juris '  (my  No.  25),  and  the 
other  work  of  Pontanus,  which  latter  are  printed 
on  one  side  of  the  leaf  only  (see  my  No.  26). 
I  also  examined  half  a  dozen  MSS.,  written  at 
Utrecht  about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century 
(one  actually  dated  1458),  which  the  librarian,  Dr. 
Van  Someren,  kindly  looked  up  for  me,  to  see 
whether  their  handwritings  bore  any  resemblance 
to  the  Costerian  types,  or  could  support  the  theory 
that  the  Costeriana  might  have  been  printed  at 
Utrecht ;  but  I  found  in  none  of  them  any  such 
similarity.  I  also  perused  the  letters  written  by 
and  to  Hadrianus  Junius,  preserved  in  the  same 
university  library,  but  in  none  of  them  was  there 
any  allusion  to  his  account  of  the  invention  of 
printing. 


A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR.      303 

At  Utrecht  I  had  already  noticed  a  good  deal  of 
bunting  in  honour  of  Queen  Wilhelmina's  birthday 
(3ist  August),  and  on  my  arrival  at  Haarlem  in  the 
evening  the  whole  town  was  celebrating  the  event 
most  enthusiastically.  A  large  crowd  of  people 
thronged  the  brilliantly  illuminated  market-place, 
where  the  statue  of  Lourens  Janszoon  Coster  stood, 
for  that  evening,  in  darkness  behind  a  marquee  in 
which  a  military  band  were  playing. 

The  Haarlem  Town  Library  possesses  a  copy  of 
the  unmixed  Latin  *  Speculum,'  with  the  scrolls  of  the 
last  woodcut  left  blank  by  the  printer,  but  the  blank 
has  been  rilled  up  with  some  yellow  fluid.  The 
same  library  has  also  two  copies  of  the  so-called 
unmixed  Dutch  edition ;  in  one  of  them  two  sheets 
(leaves  24-27)  are  replaced  by  the  corresponding 
sheets  of  the  later  (or  mixed"]  Dutch  edition ;  the 
other  copy  is  all  in  loose  leaves,  mounted  on  other 
(modern)  paper.  But  in  spite  of  these  imperfec- 
tions, or  rather  on  account  of  them,  the  two  copies 
have  a  great  bibliographical  importance,  which  I 
also  hope  to  explain  elsewhere. 

I  also  examined  here  the  c  Genealogy  of  Coster,' 
which,  after  its  very  faulty  publication  by  Dr.  Van 
der  Linde  in  1870,  has  been  the  cause  of  a  good  deal 
of  controversy.  It  is  clear,  from  its  different  writ- 
ings, that  it  must  have  been  written  up  at  various 
times.  The  present  piece  of  parchment  was  evi- 
dently prepared  before  1559,  the  year  which  occurs 
in  its  fifth  division.  But  the  first  three  divisions  have 
all  been  written  by  one  hand,  in  Roman,  or  Karoline 
minuscules,  which  shows  that  these  divisions  were 
copied  straightway  from  some  earlier  genealogy  or 


304      A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR. 

other  document.  The  handwriting  changes  at  the 
fourth  division,  containing  only  the  names  of  Gerrit 
Thomass  (who  died  about  1563-4)  and  his  wife, 
Ermingaert  Jansdochter,  for  whom  the  'Genealogy' 
is  presumed  to  have  been  made.  It  then  continues 
till  the  fifth  entry  in  the  fifth  division,  at  the  end 
of  which  is  added,  '  Na  1559  den  Junii '  (after 
1559  the  of  June),  after  which  other  hands 
continue.  It  is  obvious  that,  the  first  three  parts 
of  this  '  Genealogy '  being  a  copy  of  some  earlier 
document  or  documents,  we  cannot  argue,  as  some 
authors  do,  that  the  '  Genealogy '  did  not  originate 
earlier  than  1520-60.  This  approximate  date  may 
be  assumed  with  respect  to  a  portion  or  portions 
that  follow  after  the  first  three  divisions,  but  to  the 
latter  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  assign  a  much  earlier 
date. 

At  the  Hague  the  Museum  Meerman-Westree- 
nianum  possesses  a  perfect  copy  of  the  mixed 
Dutch  Spiegel ;  an  imperfect  copy  of  the  mixed 
Latin  edition ;  the  single  leaf  46  of  the  unmixed 
Dutch  edition,  which  is  wanting  in  the  copy  of 
this  edition  preserved  at  Lille ;  and  a  copy  of  the 
unmixed  Latin  edition  which  only  wants  the  Pro- 
hemium ;  the  scrolls  in  the  last  woodcut  have  been 
left  blank  by  the  printer,  but  a  contemporary  hand 
has  filled  them  up  with  the  words  '  mane  thekel 
phares,'  and  the  interpretations  nus  apfefio  d]fio. 
After  having  made  descriptions  of  several  fragments 
of  Costerian  Donatuses  and  Doctrinales  belonging 
to  the  Royal  Library,  I  was  unable  to  finish  all  my 
collations,  as,  by  some  accident,  the  key  of  one  of 
the  presses  in  which  fragments  were  locked  up,  was 


A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR.      305 

not  accessible.  I  need  not  say  that  Dr.  Knuttel, 
the  curator  of  the  museum,  did  what  he  could 
to  further  my  work,  and  to  make  everything 
agreeable  to  me.  Of  the  leaf  of  the  l  Peniten- 
tial Psalms,'  printed  in  the  Speculum  type  on 
one  side  of  the  vellum,  the  librarian  allowed  me 
to  have  a  photograph  taken  for  future  use.  I 
found  another  copy  of  the  very  same  leaf  in  the 
Royal  Library  at  Brussels,  not  mentioned  by 
Campbell. 

Passing  rapidly  from  the  Hague  through  Delft, 
Rotterdam,  and  Antwerp,  I  was  collating,  on  the 
1 5th  September,  the  copy  of  the  unmixed  Latin 
4  Speculum '  preserved  in  the  Royal  Library  at 
Brussels.  It  is  imperfect,  wanting  leaves  8,  9,  18, 
19,  and  31,  while  most  of  the  other  leaves  are 
bound  in  an  irregular  order ;  its  scrolls  in  the  last 
engraving  are  blank.  I  naturally  examined  here 
again  the  Maria  engraving  of  1418,  for  which 
every  facility  was  given  me  by  the  keeper  of  the 
Print  Department,  M.  van  Bastelaer.  I  could  find 
no  trace  whatever  of  the  alleged  scratching  or  any 
other  tampering  with  the  date,  and  there  is  no  room 
for  an  L,  to  have  made  1468.  The  date  1418  is 
genuine  enough.  So  is  that  of  1440,  which  occurs 
twice  in  the  *  Pomerium  Spirituale,'  which  the 
conservateur  of  the  library  allowed  me  to  examine 
at  my  leisure.  We  know  already  from  Sir  Martin 
Conway's  description  that  the  text  of  this  work  was 
written  for  the  purpose  of  explaining  the  wood- 
engravings  now  pasted  on  to  the  leaves  of  text, 
that,  therefore,  these  engravings  could  not  be  later 
than  1440,  and  after  having  examined  the  book, 

IX.  X 


306      A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR. 

I  doubt  whether  any  one  could  come  to  any  other 
conclusion.  As  has  been  said  above,  I  found  here 
another  copy  of  the  same  leaf  of  the  '  Penitential 
Psalms,'  which  I  had  already  examined  at  the 
Hague. 

From  Brussels  I  went  to  Lille  to  examine  and 
collate  the  important  copy  of  the  unmixed  Dutch 
edition,  preserved  in  the  Town  Library.  Most  of 
the  peculiarities  have  already  been  described  by 
Bernard  (' Origine  de  rimprimerie,'  p.  20  sqq.), 
Holtrop  ('  Monum.')  and  others. 

But  these  isolated  descriptions  cannot  bring  out 
the  real  importance  of  this  copy  for  the  bibliography 
of  the  '  Speculum.'  Its  peculiarities  should  be 
examined  and  placed  side  by  side  with  those  in  the 
other  editions  of  the  work — it,  however,  cannot 
be  done  in  this  short  article. 

From  Lille  I  returned,  via  Calais  and  Dover,  to 
Cambridge,  on  the  2ist  September,  not  altogether 
sorry  that  this  eleven  weeks'  life  in  steamers,  trains, 
tunnels,  hotels,  motor  'buses,  trams,  restaurants, 
cafes,  etc.,  coupled  with  hard  work  (sometimes  from 
eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  till  six  or  seven  in  the 
evening)  in  libraries,  museums,  etc.,  had  come  to 
an  end  for  the  present. 

The  December  following,  I  requested  the  Earl  of 
Crawford  to  send  his  copy  of  the  mixed  Dutch 
c  Spiegel,'  which  formerly  belonged  to  the  Enschede 
family  at  Haarlem,  to  the  British  Museum,  where 
I  wished  to  examine  it  side  by  side  with  the  Gren- 
ville  copy  of  the  mixed  Latin  edition.  With  the 
director's  consent  and  ready  support  of  my  applica- 
tion, Lord  Balcarres,  in  the  absence  of  his  father, 


A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR.      307 

kindly  forwarded  the  book  to  the  Museum.  Some 
of  its  margins  are  tender  and  bear  traces  of  much 
wear  and  tear.  For  this  reason,  no  doubt,  it  was 
interleaved  by  M.  Enschede.  Otherwise  the  copy 
is  in  fine  condition,  and  the  text,  as  well  as  the 
woodcuts,  are  intact. 

As  far  as  I  know,  there  are  now  only  two 
copies  of  the  unmixed  Latin  c  Speculum '  which 
I  have  not  yet  seen :  one  which  formerly  be- 
longed to  Mr.  John  Inglis,  and  is  now  in 
the  Lennox  Library ;  another  is  in  the  Library 
at  Stuttgart ;  a  third  (mixed  Latin)  belongs  to 
Capt.  Holford.  The  latter  two  I  hope  to  collate 
shortly. 

I  need  not  point  out  to  those  who  have  had  the 
patience  to  read  the  above  lines  that  studies  of  this 
kind  are  interesting,  but  laborious  and  expensive,  as 
the  books  to  be  examined  are  scattered  over  nearly 
the  half  of  Europe.  I  gladly  record,  however,  the 
universal  readiness  of  librarians  and  directors  of 
libraries  and  museums  wherever  I  came  to  assist  me 
in  every  way,  and  even  to  give  me  special  facilities 
where  practicable.  I  started  on  my  tour  convinced 
that  the  claims  of  Haarlem  rested  on  firm  grounds, 
but,  with  the  desire  to  notice  and  work  out  anything 
that  might  tell  against  them.  I  have  returned  more 
convinced  than  ever  of  the  justness  of  these  claims, 
and  with  considerable  confidence  as  to  the  chrono- 
logical order  in  which  the  various  editions  and  issues 
of  the  'Speculum'  must  be  placed.  My  reasons  for 
this  confidence,  and  the  outcome  of  my  researches, 
I  hope  to  submit  to  those  who  take  an  interest  in 
these  studies  more  at  length  in  a  separate  work  on 


3o8      A  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  TOUR. 

the  invention  of  printing  to  be  published  before 
long,  and  in  my  article  for  the  new  edition  of  the 
'  Encyclopaedia  Britannica.' 

J.  H.  HESSELS. 
Cambridge, 
April,  1908. 


3°9 


A  MUNICIPAL    LIBRARY  AND   ITS 
PUBLIC. 

III.— LENDING  LIBRARIES— BRANCHES. 

i  HE  distribution  of  books  to  be  read  in 
the  homes  of  the  people  has  always 
been  one  of  the  principal  functions  of 
the  Public  Libraries.  Considerable  in- 
genuity has  been  displayed  in  devising 
methods  of  enabling  the  readers  to  find  books,  and 
the  staff  to  record  the  books  lent  with  a  view  to 
securing  their  prompt  return.  This  side  of  the 
subject  has  received  attention  some  of  which  would 
have  been  better  bestowed  in  considering  whether, 
under  all  the  circumstances,  the  best  provision 
possible  had  been  made  for  the  readers. 

Take  as  an  example  the  question  of  what  books 
should  go  into  the  lending  and  reference  depart- 
ments. In  one  very  important  town  with  a  fine 
system  of  libraries  I  was  told  some  years  ago  that 
the  supply  of  books  for  the  lending  libraries  was 
governed  by  the  cost.  No  book  which  cost  more 
than  six  shillings  was  lent  for  home  reading.  The 
plan  was  simple,  and  absurd.  It  has  most  likely 
been  abandoned  long  ago  in  favour  of  some  more 
reasonable  method,  and  I  only  mention  it  as  an 
illustration  of  the  gross  mistakes  which  have  been 
made  in  dealing  with  this  important  subject.  For 
a  national  library  like  the  British  Museum,  a  fixed 


310 


A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 


rule,  that  the  people  must  come  to  the  books,  is  in- 
evitable, and  no  person  capable  of  weighing  the 
circumstances  would  question  the  rule.  For  those 
readers  and  writers  unable  to  avail  themselves  of 
the  British  Museum,  the  London  Library,  St. 
James's  Square,  offers  facilities  for  obtaining  books 
for  home  use  which  have  been  a  boon  to  a  long 
roll  of  illustrious  authors.  These  two  libraries,  it 
seems  to  me,  offer  for  our  guidance  valuable  ex- 
perience. Every  book  in  the  British  Museum  is 
at  home  when  called  for;  a  reader  knows  that 
under  no  circumstances  will  he  find  the  book  away 
from  the  building.  The  London  Library,  on  the 
other  hand,  discovered  long  ago  that  there  is  a  very 
large  class  of  people  who  can  work  better  at  home 
than  in  a  public  library,  and  many  who  are  unable 
to  find  time  to  read  or  write  except  at  times  when 
the  library  is  closed. 

The  question  of  lending  and  reference  should,  I 
think,  be  approached  with  these  facts  and  experi- 
ences in  mind.  The  result  will  inevitably  be  to 
treat  the  supply  of  books  for  home  reading  in  a 
more  liberal  spirit. 

Years  ago,  when  the  Cardiff  Library  was  being 
starved  on  an  utterly  inadequate  income,  the  great 
desire  of  the  Committee,  or  at  any  rate  of  some  of 
the  most  active  members,  was  to  build  up  a  refer- 
ence library.     To  this  end,  purchases  were  made  of 
what  were  considered  desirable  books,  and  these 
were  duly  placed  upon  the  reference  shelves,  there 
to  remain,  unknown  and  unused,  from  year  to  year. 
They  were  dusted  occasionally,  and  checked  at  the 
stock-taking  to  make  sure  that  they  were  still  on 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  311 

the  shelves,  but  no  effort  was  made  to  bring  them 
into  use.  The  books  had,  in  fact,  been  purchased 
for  imaginary  readers  then  non-existent,  while  the 
wants  of  the  actually  existing  readers  who  held 
borrowers'  tickets  for  the  lending  library  were 
neglected,  and  to  some  extent  deliberately  over- 
ridden. There  seems  to  be  a  subtle  fascination  for 
some  minds  in  fixing  a  standard  of  reading  for  their 
neighbours.  It  is  so  comforting  when,  after  a  hard 
day's  work,  one  settles  down  to  forget  the  trials  of 
life  in  company  with  a  rousing  novel,  to  reflect 
that  the  right  books,  the  books  one  ought  to  read, 
have  been  duly  provided  for  other  people.  I  need 
hardly  say  that  the  desire  to  foster  a  love  of  good 
books  by  means  of  the  reference  library  was  a 
dismal  failure.  The  problem  was  then  approached 
from  another  point  of  view.  The  lending  library 
became  the  focus  of  the  Committee's  efforts,  and 
steps  were  taken  to  improve  the  supply  of  books 
for  home  reading,  and  to  make  the  public  ac- 
quainted with  what  was  being  done.  The  result 
was  almost  magical.  The  demand  grew  so  rapidly 
that  it  was  impossible  to  keep  pace  with  it.  Not 
only  was  the  lending  library  crowded  with  eager 
borrowers,  but  branch  libraries  in  the  suburbs  were 
loudly  called  for,  and  candidates  at  the  municipal 
elections  had  to  pledge  themselves  to  vote  for 
branch  libraries.  For  some  years  this  period  of 
strain  continued.  To  maintain  branches  out  of  the 
income  then  available  was  an  impossibility,  and 
would  result  in  crippling  all  round ;  yet,  behind 
the  fear  of  general  impoverishment  from  trying  to 
do  too  much  was  a  feeling  of  satisfaction  that  the 


3i2        A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

library  cause  was  gathering  strength,  combined 
with  a  confidence  that,  when  the  right  moment 
came,  the  ratepayers  would  settle  the  matter  in 
their  own  way. 

There  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  large  body 
of  ratepayers  have  always  been  in  advance  of  their 
elected  representatives  as  regards  liberality  to  the 
libraries.  I  suspect  it  is  so  in  a  great  many  places, 
but  in  Cardiff  it  was  strikingly  shown  when  the 
ratepayers  grasped  the  fact  that  if  the  work  of  the 
libraries  was  to  go  on  unimpaired,  the  statutory 
rate  must  be  increased  by  a  special  local  act.  The 
Corporation  reluctantly  inserted  a  clause  in  an 
omnibus  local  bill.  I  say  reluctantly  because, 
although  the  clause  was  agreed  to  unanimously  by 
the  Corporation,  it  was  the  driving-power  of  the 
ratepayers  which  made  several  members  agree  to  it. 
Then  came  the  necessary  public  meeting  to  approve 
or  otherwise  the  objects  of  the  bill,  which  included 
some  things  violently  opposed  by  railway  and  other 
large  vested  interests.  These  public  meetings  had 
hitherto  been  attended  by  a  handful  of  people. 
On  this  occasion  the  first  meeting  had  to  be 
adjourned  to  enable  the  largest  hall  in  Cardiff  to 
be  engaged ;  and  when  the  adjourned  meeting 
began  the  hall  was  packed  from  end  to  end,  and 
from  floor  to  ceiling.  Representative  leaders  of 
the  opposition  to  the  bill  were  present  in  force 
with  their  supporters,  and  a  stormy  time  was 
looked  for.  I  can  honestly  say  that  I  expected  the 
increase  of  the  library  income  would  be  relegated 
to  the  Greek  calends.  The  Mayor,  who  presided, 
took  a  different  and,  as  it  proved,  a  more  correct 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  313 

view  of  the  public  temper.  He  decided  that  the 
library  clause  should  be  the  first  to  be  submitted  to 
the  meeting,  and  I  shall  never  forget  the  ringing 
cheers  with  which  it  was  carried  without  a  dis- 
sentient voice  being  raised.  The  strength  of  public 
opinion  in  favour  of  the  libraries  was  a  revelation 
to  the  members  of  the  Corporation.  I  believe  that 
this  feeling,  perhaps  stronger,  still  exists,  and  that, 
if  it  becomes  necessary,  the  ratepayers  will  repeat 
the  demonstration  of  1897. 

This  strong  body  of  public  opinion  was  created 
because  we  tried  to  meet  the  need  which  existed, 
trusting  to  time  to  bring  about  an  appreciation  of 
the  highest  of  all  forms  of  library  work,  and  not 
trusting  in  vain,  as  I  hope  to  show  in  a  future 
article  dealing  with  the  reference  library. 

In  buying  books  for  the  lending  libraries  our 
plan  has  always  been  to  provide  adequately  for  the 
recreative  side ;  to  build  up  a  collection  answering 
the  immediate  needs  of  the  district ;  to  be  some 
way  in  front  of  the  public  taste  without  ignoring 
it ;  and  to  allow  the  people  to  borrow  books  which 
in  most  libraries  are  reserved  for  reference  use, 
when  it  can  be  done  without  interfering  with  the 
needs  of  others.  As  a  concrete  instance  Holtz- 
apffel's  book  on  '  Turning,'  in  five  volumes,  may  be 
mentioned.  For  over  twenty  years  that  work  has 
been  in  the  lending  library,  and  has  been  borrowed 
over  and  over  again  by  experts  in  that  craft,  who 
have  steadily  worked  through  it  volume  by  volume, 
often  with  the  book  open  at  the  lathe.  I  recall  a 
succession  of  brilliant  craftsmen,  and  at  least  one 
learned  amateur,  to  whom  the  privilege  of  being 


3 14          A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

able  to  borrow  and  renew  the  volumes  of  that  book 
has  been  an  inestimable  boon.  They  have  shown 
me  examples  of  their  work  from  time  to  time, 
and  talked  to  me  of  problems  to  be  mastered  and 
difficulties  overcome.  The  work  cost  £5  iis. ; 
the  use  which  has  been  made  of  it  fully  justifies  the 
expenditure. 

Many  other  instances  of  a  similar  kind  might  be 
cited.  One  other  must  suffice,  for  the  present  at 
any  rate :  Freeman's  c  History  of  the  Norman 
Conquest,'  a  book  of  special  interest  in  this  locality, 
for  historical  and  also  for  personal  reasons,  because 
Professor  Freeman  for  some  years  resided  at 
Lanrumney  Hall,  near  Cardiff,  and  studied  the 
Norman  Conquest  of  Wales  and  the  Borders  on 
the  spot,  besides  devoting  his  attention  to  the  rich 
archaeology  and  the  interesting  architecture  of 
Llandaff  Cathedral  and  other  sites  and  churches. 
'  The  History  of  the  Norman  Conquest '  has 
been  read  through  by  several  readers  who  could 
not  have  done  so  had  it  been  in  the  reference 
library. 

We  have  tried  in  dealing  with  the  lending 
libraries  to  carry  out,  as  far  as  circumstances  would 
allow,  the  spirit  of  the  London  Library.  Any 
books  with  which  a  man  or  woman  can  with 
greater  advantage  work  at  home  we  lend,  unless 
there  is  some  special  reason  for  withholding  it. 
It  would  be  unreasonable  to  lend  the  volumes  of 
the  '  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,'  for  ex- 
ample, though  occasionally  one  finds  people  un- 
reasonable enough  to  ask  it.  The  same  remark 
applies  naturally  to  manuscripts,  to  many  illustrated 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  315 

books,  to  rare  books,  and  works  the  value  of  which 
to  the  public  consists  in  the  fact:  that  they  are 
always  at  home  when  wanted. 

In  the  purchase  of  books  for  recreative  reading, 
the  Book  Selection  Committee  has  always  adhered 
to  the  principle  that  it  is  a  duty  and  a  privilege  to 
provide  healthy  reading  of  this  class,  but  that  it  is 
not  necessary  to  buy  the  latest  six-shilling  shocker, 
or  any  work  which  has  a  passing  vogue.  The  great 
masterpieces  of  literature  are  always  kept  supplied, 
and  as  often  as  worn  out  renewed  with  good 
editions.  Cheap  reprints  are  entirely  avoided. 
The  aesthetic  effect  of  good  print,  good  paper  and 
neat  binding  have  weight,  and  though  we  are 
compelled  by  the  exigencies  of  the  case  to  bind 
strongly  and  cheaply  books  constantly  in  circula- 
tion, and  regularly  worn  out  after  three  or  four 
years,  yet  wherever  possible,  books  for  the  lending 
libraries  are  bound  neatly  in  half  morocco. 

The  difficulties  of  book  selection  increase  year 
by  year.  The  rage  for  cheapness  and  for  illustra- 
tions, the  feverish  haste  with  which  books  are 
turned  out  by  authors  and  publishers,  can  only 
result  in  our  libraries  becoming,  in  a  few  years, 
literary  charnel-houses,  with  a  few  heaps  of  china 
clay,  some  sticky  straw-coloured  masses  of  pulpy 
matter  with  spots  of  black  resembling  printers'  ink, 
and  here  and  there  a  few  noble  volumes  to  deride 
the  makers  and  purchasers  of  the  heaps  of  books 
which  have  fallen  into  premature  decay.  It  is  a 
duty  owing  to  posterity  that  we  should  avoid 
books  made  up  of  bad  materials.  There  is  an  even 
stronger  reason  for  doing  so — the  duty  to  the 


316          A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

present  generation  of  readers.  Paper  having  a 
dead  white  surface,  highly  glazed  to  receive  the 
impressions  from  lightly  engraved  half-tone  blocks, 
is  to  be  avoided  because  of  its  liability  to  speedy 
decay,  and  should  be  avoided  even  more  because 
during  its  short  existence  it  may  be  the  means  of 
injuring  the  eyesight  of  those  who  read.  Some 
publishers  have  made  the  very  serious  mistake  of 
printing  books  throughout  on  coated  paper,  in 
order  to  work  the  half-tone  illustrations  with  the 
text.  An  important  and  interesting  book  of  travel, 
Miss  Lowthian  Bell's  '  Desert  and  the  Sown,'  re- 
cently issued,  is  a  case  in  point.  How  many 
people  have  been  able  to  read  that  book  through  ? 
I  tried  to  read  it,  and  found  the  effect  on  the  eyes 
so  injurious,  after  a  couple  of  pages,  that  the  effort 
was  abandoned.  We  do  not  intend  to  purchase 
books  such  as  this  for  the  libraries,  either  new  or 
second-hand.  However  excellent  they  may  be  in 
other  respects,  we  feel  it  would  be  wrong,  knowing 
their  injurious  effect  on  the  eyesight,  to  put  them 
into  the  hands  of  our  readers.  It  is  part  of  our 
policy  to  avoid  books  when  the  physical  constituents 
are  unsuitable.  I  must  resist  the  temptation  to 
arraign  further  those  who  are  doing  their  best  to 
ruin  our  books,  and  incidentally  bringing  about  a 
decrease  of  their  own  profits.  One  cannot,  how- 
ever, but  feel  a  pang  at  the  reflection  that  the 
blame  for  this  degradation  of  the  nobility  of  books 
rests  with  the  publishers,  who  for  four  centuries 
have  been  the  proud  conservators  of  the  world's 
literature.  It  is  odd,  too,  that  the  efforts  of  the 
Kelmscott,  the  Doves  and  other  famous  presses  to 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  317 

improve  the  standard,  have  been  followed  by  an 
accelerated  decline  in  other  quarters. 

Twenty  years  ago  this  difficulty  about  materials 
hardly  existed,  and  it  was  comparatively  easy  to  lay 
down  and  adhere  to  a  few  main  principles  for 
the  selection  of  books  for  lending  libraries.  The 
principles  are  still  followed,  though  less  closely,  by 
reason  of  the  complications  just  described.  Briefly, 
we  do  not  attempt  to  supply  new  novels,  the 
selection  being  confined  to  the  best,  and  to  the 
standard  novels  of  the  past.  An  important  work 
in  science,  history,  art,  or  which  bears  in  any  way 
on  the  industrial,  commercial,  educational  and  other 
activities  of  the  district,  is  purchased  at  once,  what- 
ever the  price.  The  bulky  volumes  of  reminis- 
cences, biography,  and  similar  works  issued  at  high 
prices  with  the  knowledge  that  but  a  brief  season 
awaits  them,  we  buy  second  hand,  or  not  at  all. 
The  distribution  of  books  for  home  reading  is 
now  made  from  six  centres,  the  chief  library  and 
five  branches.  The  school  distribution,  described 
in  a  former  article,  is  of  course  excluded  from  this 
article,  the  intention  being  to  deal  now  with  the 
library's  activities  on  behalf  of  adults,  though  some 
children  not  provided  for  through  public  schools 
are  admitted  to  the  lending  libraries. 

That  the  branch  libraries  were  the  result  of  a 
demand  on  the  part  of  the  ratepayers  for  greater 
facilities  to  obtain  the  loan  of  books  has  already 
been  explained.  Cardiff  is  divided  at  present  into 
ten  wards  for  municipal  representation  purposes, 
and  there  was  at  one  time  a  danger  of  every  ward 
being  made  the  unit  for  a  branch  library.  It  was 


3i8          A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

pointed  out  that  there  had  already  been  two  re- 
arrangements of  the  wards,  increasing  the  number 
from  three  to  five  and  from  five  to  ten.  The  adop- 
tion of  the  ward  system  of  branch  libraries  might 
therefore  result  in  complications.  A  study  of  the 
town  map,  taking  into  account  especially  the  ex- 
tent to  which  districts  were  cut  off  by  railways, 
rivers,  and  other  large  obstacles,  gave  six  districts, 
which  might  be  treated  as  library  units.  For  one 
of  these,  the  Docks,  a  good  reading-room  only  was 
necessary.  The  other  five  it  was  decided  to  supply 
with  libraries  as  well  as  reading-rooms.  In  most 
cases  the  reading-rooms  had  to  suffice  until  the 
funds  allowed  of  the  addition  of  libraries.  This 
was  done  gradually,  extending  over  a  period  of 
thirteen  years,  1894-1907.  The  development  of 
the  branches  has  been  full  of  interest  and  instruc- 
tion. Two  of  them  are  in  districts  having  residents 
entirely  of  the  working  class  except  the  shop- 
keepers, the  doctors,  and  the  clergy  and  ministers. 
The  bulk  of  the  grown-up  people  in  these  districts 
had  never  read  through  a  book  in  their  lives.  In 
both  districts  we  found  that  the  adults  seldom  came 
to  the  library  to  exchange  books,  though  we 
judged  from  the  books  borrowed  that  a  proportion 
were  for  adults.  In  one  of  the  districts  the  assist- 
ant in  charge  was  a  steady,  gentle,  and  kind-hearted 
young  man,  of  whom  no  borrower  need  be  afraid, 
yet  he  failed  to  attract  any  visitors  to  the  lending 
library  except  boys  and  girls.  When  an  oppor- 
tunity of  changing  came  we  sent  to  that  district  a 
well-educated  lady  of  exceptional  talent,  always  well 
and  smartly  dressed,  who  could  be  sharp  with  her 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  319 

speech  on  occasions,  but  full  of  loving  sympathy 
and  helpfulness,  and  a  believer  in  the  power  of 
literature  to  cheer  and  refine  the  dreary  lives  of  the 
hardworking  poor. 

The  scene  quietly  but  surely  changed,  until  in 
time  the  assistant  in  charge  of  the  library  was  the 
confidante  and  the  helper  of  numbers  of  women  and 
men  in  the  choice  of  books  ;  shy  women,  young 
and  old,  yearning  for  a  kindly  word  of  advice  and 
sympathy,  would  take  their  knitting  or  fancy  work 
to  the  library  to  be  inspected,  while  boys  and  girls 
would  take  drawings  or  other  results  of  their  handi- 
craft for  the  same  purpose.  It  was  this  lady  who 
discovered  for  me  that  people  who  have  reached 
middle  life  without  book-reading  are  frightened  by 
a  long  book  just  as  young  children  are,  only  the 
children  quickly  overcome  the  difficulty,  while 
very  often  the  older  people  do  not.  To  test  the 
truth  of  the  theory  a  number  of  small  volumes  of 
stories  were  sent  to  this  branch,  with  excellent 
results.  This  valuable  hint  is  always  kept  in  mind 
in  purchasing  books  for  use  in  such  districts. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  the  popularity  of  Mrs. 
Henry  Wood  and  other  writers  with  this  class  of 
reader  is  due  to  the  fact  that  they  write  about  in- 
cidents and  environments  which  can  be  easily  com- 
prehended and  in  a  simple  style.  The  popularity 
of  the  c  Family  Herald '  and  similar  publications  has 
been  explained  on  the  ground  that  they  take  people 
out  of  the  sordid  world  in  which  they  live  to  an 
ideal  world  where  dukes  marry  housemaids.  I 
should  be  inclined  to  attribute  a  large  measure  of 
the  success  of  these  weekly  journals  to  the  other 


32o          A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

factor  I  have  mentioned,  the  mental  difficulty  of 
facing  a  long  book,  which  disappears  when  the  book 
is  served  up  in  weekly  instalments. 

The  opening  of  branches  was  the  means  of  in- 
troducing the  libraries  to  an  entirely  new  set  of 
readers,  unaccustomed  to  access  to  any  large  number 
of  books,  and  for  various  reasons,  unable  to  borrow 
from  the  Central  Library.  It  was  a  surprise  to  me 
to  find  how  restricted  are  the  movements  of  large 
numbers  of  people  residing  in  the  suburbs.  They 
are  local  to  a  degree,  and  only  journey  to  the  centre 
of  the  town  on  rare  occasions.  These  are  the  very 
people  to  whom  the  lighter  side  of  the  library  is  a 
real  boon.  When  the  latest  of  our  branch  libraries 
was  opened  a  little  over  a  year  ago  in  a  suburb 
with  a  population  of  about  30,000  residing  from 
one  to  two  miles  from  the  Central  Library,  we  were 
very  much  struck  with  the  limited  knowledge  pos- 
sessed by  a  large  number  of  borrowers  with  regard 
to  books.  This  library  is  worked  on  the  safe- 
guarded open  access  principle  with  great  success, 
and  the  rapid  extension  of  the  borrowers'  knowledge 
of  books  is  very  noteworthy.  People  who,  before 
the  library  was  opened,  had  no  ideas  beyond  the 
titles  of  a  few  current  sensational  works  of  a  poor 
character,  have  since  discovered  the  wonderland  of 
the  great  English  writers,  a  fact  of  which  critics 
who  are  constantly  trying  to  disparage  the  work  of 
public  libraries  would  do  well  to  take  note. 

For  the  present  we  consider  that  our  scheme  of 
library  extension  is  complete,  and  our  efforts  are 
now  being  directed  to  working  the  whole  har- 
moniously, so  that  the  public  may  get  the  greatest 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  321 

advantage  at  the  least  expenditure,  or,  in  other 
words,  we  try  to  spread  the  book-purchasing  fund 
over  as  wide  a  field  of  selection  as  we  can.  If  one 
copy  of  a  book  can  be  made  to  serve  all  the  libraries, 
we  do  not  want  to  buy  a  second,  and  to  meet  this 
all  the  libraries  are  connected  up  to  the  telephone 
exchange.  Books  required  by  readers  are  requisi- 
tioned from  the  Central  Library  or  a  branch  as 
occasion  arises.  In  this  way  the  whole  of  the 
Central  Library  with  its  large  stock  supplements 
the  stock  of  each  branch,  and  in  fact  the  contents 
of  six  libraries  can  be  drawn  upon  at  any  one  of 
the  distributing  centres.  When,  however,  more 
than  one  copy  is  necessary  to  meet  the  demand, 
the  number  is  increased,  and  of  many  popular 
books  we  have  from  twenty  to  thirty  copies  in  the 
six  libraries. 

A  word  about  our  experience  with  the  telephone. 
The  rent  for  connecting  the  branches  to  the  tele- 
phone exchange  would  be  about  £48  per  annum, 
and  for  private  communication  with  the  Central 
Library  only,  rather  more.  By  an  arrangement 
with  the  National  Telephone  Co.  each  branch  has 
been  made  a  public  call-office  with,  in  two  cases, 
extensions  from  the  call-box  to  the  desk  in  the 
lending  department.  We  pay  thirty  shillings  per 
annum  for  these  extensions  and  a  penny  for  every 
message  sent  from  the  branches,  the  total  cost 
being  under  £10  per  annum.  For  the  Central 
Library  telephone  exchange  rent  is  paid,  and  we 
can  therefore  call  any  of  the  branches  without 
further  cost. 

We  do  not  restrict  readers  to  one  ticket,  nor  do 

IX.  Y 


322          A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

we  issue  a  second  ticket  for  any  one  library.  If  a 
reader  chooses  to  go  to  the  Central  Library  and  to 
each  of  the  five  branches  and  take  out  a  ticket,  he 
can  borrow  six  books  at  a  time.  The  tickets  are 
also  interchangeable  between  the  libraries,  provided 
no  reader  takes  two  books  in  his  own  name  from 
the  same  library.  This  seems  to  be  a  better  system 
than  the  '  student's  ticket '  of  meeting  the  needs  of 
readers  who  require  more  than  one  book.  In 
effect  it  is  working  out  that  a  reader  obtains  his 
recreative  reading  from  the  branch  nearest  his 
home,  and  resorts  to  the  Central  Library  for  his 
more  solid  reading,  and  we  hope  ultimately  to 
develop  this  to  such  an  extent  that  the  Central 
Library  will  do  only  a  limited  amount  of  work  in 
the  way  of  circulating  light  reading,  and  serve 
chiefly  as  a  library  for  those  who  require  the  best 
books.  For  a  long  time  this  development  can 
only  be  to  a  limited  extent. 

We  try  in  the  lending  libraries  to  embrace  the 
wants  of  all  the  residents  within  the  area  served. 
As  in  many  other  libraries,  music  is  an  important 
feature  with  us,  but  the  selection  is  confined  to 
high-class  music,  vocal  and  instrumental.  We  have 
recently  issued  a  catalogue,  eighty  pages,  of  this 
section.  We  have  a  large  number  of  books  for  the 
blind  in  Braille  and  Moon  characters,  and,  to  meet 
the  requirements  of  the  many  borrowers  who  read 
foreign  languages  either  for  study  or  recreation,  a 
strong  French  section  (added  to  from  time  to  time), 
a  German  section,  and  a  small  collection  of  books 
in  Spanish. 

JOHN-BALLINGER. 


RECENT  ENGLISH  PURCHASES  AT 
THE  BRITISH  MUSEUM. 

j  PREVIOUS  article  under  this  heading 
appeared  in  'THE  LIBRARY'  for  January, 
1905,  and  it  is  pleasant  to  note  that  in 
the  intervening  three  years  no  fewer 
than  222  English  books  printed  before 
the  close  of  the  year  1640  have  been  acquired  for 
the  British  Museum.  It  is  even  more  pleasing  to 
be  able  to  state  that  the  quality  of  these  purchases 
has  been  as  well  maintained  as  their  quantity.  In 
my  last  article  it  was  lamented  that  while  as  many 
as  five  Caxtons  had  been  purchased  during  the 
Keepership  of  Dr.  Garnett,  since  his  retirement  in 
1899,  not  a  single  book  by  that  printer  which  the 
Museum  lacked  had  come  into  the  market.  During 
the  last  three  years  two  new  Caxtons  have  been 
acquired, — the  Book  of  Good  Manners,  printed 
in  1487,  and  the  singular  issue  of  the  Indulgence 
of  1481.  The  Book  of  Good  Manners  belonged 
to  what  had  originally  been  a  very  fine  volume  in 
an  early  Cambridge  stamped  binding,  which  con- 
tained also  the  Royal  Book  and  the  Doctrinal  of 
Sapience,  and  was  sold  at  the  Whitley  Beaumont 
sale  at  Hodgson's  in  November,  1906.  While  in 
Yorkshire  it  had  lost  fifty-nine  leaves  of  the  Royal 
Book,  six  of  the  Book  of  Good  Manners,  and  thirty- 
nine  of  the  Doctrinal ;  and  the  margins  of  many 


324   RECENT  ENGLISH  PURCHASES 

others  had  been  cut  off,  by  some  one  in  need  ot 
blank  paper,  close  up  to  the  text.  The  volume  was 
knocked  down  to  Mr.  Quaritch  for  £470,  and  by 
an  arrangement  with  him,  the  Book  of  Good 
Manners  and  the  binding  passed  to  the  British 
Museum,  the  fragments  of  the  two  larger  books,  of 
both  of  which  the  Museum  possessed  copies,  re- 
maining in  his  hands.  The  volume  has  now  been 
made  up  to  its  original  size  with  blank  paper  and 
the  mutilated  leaves  skilfully  re-margined,  though, 
according  to  the  tradition  which  is  firmly  estab- 
lished at  the  Museum,  without  any  attempt  to  con- 
ceal what  has  been  done.  Only  three  other  copies 
of  the  Book  of  Good  Manners  are  known,  all  in 
public  libraries  (Lambeth,  Cambridge  University, 
and  Copenhagen),  and  it  was  thus  one  which  there 
seemed  little  hope  that  the  Museum  would  ever 
acquire.  To  obtain  sixty  out  of  its  sixty-six  leaves 
at  a  moderate  price  was  a  stroke  of  luck. 

The  singular  issue  of  the  Indulgence  of  1481  was 
the  second  of  the  two  copies  sold  by  the  Bedford 
Library  at  the  same  time  as  the  copy  of  the  Royal 
Book,  in  the  binding  of  which  they  had  been  pre- 
served. The  other  copy  was  acquired  by  Mr. 
Pierpoint  Morgan.  By  these  two  acquisitions  the 
primacy  which  the  British  Museum  had  gained  in 
the  matter  of  Caxtons  during  Dr.  Garnett's  tenure 
of  the  Keepership  of  Printed  Books  was  still  further 
strengthened. 

Besides  the  Caxtons  only  one  English  incunable 
has  been  added  to  the  library,  a  good  copy  of  the 
'Contemplacyon  of  Sinners,'  printed  by  Wynkyn 
de  Worde,  loth  July,  1499.  Herbert's  description 


AT  THE  BRITISH  MUSEUM.       325 

of  this  book  is  so  quaint  and  full  that  it  may  be 
quoted  in  place  of  any  more  modern  account : 

*  This  is  a  very  scarce  book,  and  composed  in  an  un- 
common  manner.      Here  are  seven  different  topics,  or 
meditations,  divided  according  to  the  seven  days  of  the 
week ;  consisting  of  brief  sentences,  because  the  life  of 
man  is  short ;  drawn  out  of  the  Scriptures,  moral  philo- 
sophers, fathers  and  Doctors  of  the  church,  all  in  Latin ; 
and,  that  it  may  appear  more  authentic,  the  author's  name 
is  quoted  to  each  sentence. 

'  Then  follows  a  paraphrasticall  translation  thereof,  or  a 
kind  of  concordance  in  English  verse.  Every  meditation 
has  a  wood-print  prefixed  to  it,  adapted  to  the  subject. 
The  first,  for  Monday,  sets  forth  the  vanity  of  this 
wretched  world.  The  figure,  as  described  in  the  table  of 
contents,  is  a  globe  in  the  sea ;  betokening  continual  peril 
and  trouble ;  but  to  the  copy  in  the  Harleian  Library,  it 
is  a  peasant,  with  a  spade  in  one  hand  and  a  whip  in  the 
other.  The  id  for  Tuesday  is  the  state  of  innocence, 
with  the  picture  of  Adam  and  Eve  in  paradise.  The  3d 
displays  the  state  of  deadly  sin,  with  the  figures  of  Death, 
&c.,  in  three  skeletons  terrifying  three  gallants  on  horse- 
back, and  an  old  hermit  pointing  to  a  crucifix  between 
them.  The  4th  is  a  remembrance  of  the  general  doom, 
with  a  print  of  the  final  punishment  and  reward  of  the 
departed  according  to  their  deserts  in  this  life.  The  5th, 
the  passion  of  our  Saviour,  with  the  print  thereof.  The 
6th,  hell  torments,  with  a  figure  of  them.  The  yth  repre- 
sents the  joys  of  heaven,  which  with  its  print  ends  the 
week's  meditations. 

*  There  is  also  at  the  beginning  and  end,  a  print  of  a 
bishop  sitting  and  giving  a  book  to,  or  receiving  it  from, 
a  priest  on  his  knees.     The  prologue  informs  us,  that 
"At   the   deuoute   &    dylygent    request   of    the    ryght 
reuerend  fader  in  God,  and  lorde  Rychard,  bysshop  of 
Dureham,  and  lorde  pryuy  scale  of  England,  this  lyttell 


326    RECENT  ENGLISH  PURCHASES 

boke  namyd  Contemplation  of  synners,  is  compylyd  and 
fynysshed.  The  sayd  blessyd  fader  in  God,  desyryng 
gretly  all  vertue  to  encrease  and  vyce  to  be  exiled,  hath 
caused  this  book  to  be  enprinted,  to  the  entente  that  oft 
redyng  this  may  surely  serche,  and  truly  knowe  the  state 
of  his  conscience." 

No  other  book  printed  by  De  Worde  has  been 
acquired,  and  only  one  Pynson,  a  hitherto  unre- 
corded issue  from  his  press,  '  Plutarchus  de  tuenda 
bona  valetudine,  Erasmo  Roterodamo  interprete,' 
dedicated  to  John  Young,  Warden  of  New  College, 
Oxford,  and  Archdeacon  of  London.  This  is  a 
small  quarto,  consisting  of  24  leaves  (A-D8-4), 
with  the  colophon :  '  Londini  in  edibus  Rychardi 
Pynson  impressoris  regij.  Anno  salutis  Millesimo. 
quingetesimo.  xiii  Qui  to  Caledas  Augustas,'  and 
Pynson's  device  3b.  Bound  with  it  are  eight  other 
works  printed  between  1506  and  1519  at  Cologne, 
Strassburg,  Tubingen,  Louvain,  and  Paris,  most  of 
them  unluckily  already  in  the  Museum. 

Another  Erasmus  book  from  an  early  press  is 
Leonard  Cox's  translation  of  his  'Paraphrase  upon 
ye  Epistle  of  Saint  Paule  vnto  his  discyple  Titus,' 
printed  by  John  Byddell.  Of  other  English  printers 
of  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Berthelet 
is  the  only  one  largely  represented,  among  the  books 
of  his  recently  acquired  being  Lupset's '  A  Treatise 
of  Charite '  and  *  The  Boke  for  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace,'  both  of  them  printed  in  1539,  and  each 
being  in  its  original  binding  with  other  pieces  of 
his  printing  unfortunately  already  in  the  Museum, 
an  undated  edition  of  the  'Disputitio  inter  cleri- 
cum  et  militem/  Xenophon's  'Treatise  of  Hous- 


AT  THE  BRITISH  MUSEUM.       327 

holde'  (1544),  and  'The  Decree  for  Tithes  to  be 
payed  in  London'  (1546).  Among  other  early 
books  may  be  mentioned  '  The  Order  of  the  Great 
Turkes  Court'  (Grafton,  1542),  CA  Christmas 
Banket,'  by  Theodore  Basilic,  the  pseudonym  of 
Thomas  Becon,  printed  by  Mayler  for  Gough 
(1542),  and  a  rare  edition  of  Alexander  Barclay's 
'Thre  Eclogs,'  printed  by  Humphrey  Powell 
(..1548). 

Typographical  interest  continues  somewhat  later 
in  Scotland  than  in  England,  and  the  Scottish 
books  purchased  have  been  unusually  numerous 
and  valuable.  Special  mention  may  be  made  of 
William  Lauder's  '  Ane  Compendious  and  Breve 
Tractate  concernyng  ye  office  and  dewtie  of  Kyngis,' 
printed  by  John  Scot  in  1556,  almost  certainly  at 
St.  Andrew's,  where  he  had  printed  the  first  book 
four  years  before.  Of  the  Tractate  only  one  other 
copy  is  recorded,  that  now  at  Britwell.  The  one 
acquired  for  the  Museum  was  David  Laing's,  and 
sold  at  his  sale  for  £77.  Another  St.  Andrews 
book,  of  which  Laing's  copy  has  been  acquired,  is 
Knox's  '  Answer  to  a  Letter  of  a  Jesuit  named 
Tyrie,'  printed  by  Lekpreuik  in  1572.  This  sold 
in  Laing's  sale  for  £53.  In  neither  case  has  the 
Museum  lost  anything  by  waiting,  as  the  compe- 
tition for  Laing's  books  when  they  first  came  into 
the  market  drove  them  up  to  prices  which  have 
not  been  maintained.  Besides  these  and  many 
other  purchases,  five  important  Scottish  proclama- 
tions, three  printed  by  Lekpreuik,  one  by  Bassan- 
dyne  and  one  by  Ros,  between  the  years  1567 
and  1574,  have  come  to  light  among  the  Cotton 


328    RECENT  ENGLISH  PURCHASES 

Manuscripts  and  been  entered  in  the  Catalogue  of 
Printed  Books. 

Among  books  printed  abroad  for  the  English 
market  we  may  note  a  Sarum  Horae  of  1510, 
printed  at  Paris  by  Thielmann  Kerver  for  William 
Bretton,  another  printed  at  Rouen  by  Nicolas  Le 
Roux  for  Jacques  Cousin  in  1537,  and  Knox's 
'  Copie  of  an  Epistle  vnto  the  inhabitants  of  New- 
castle,' prettily  printed  in  sextodecimo  at  Geneva 
in  1559.  Earlier  than  any  of  these  is  an  edition  of 
the  '  Multorum  vocabulorum  equiuocorum  inter- 
pretatio  Magistri  Johannis  de  Garlandia,'  printed 
'  secundum  ordinem  alphabeti  vnacum  interpreta- 
tione  Anglice  lingue,'  at  Paris  in  1502,  and  inter- 
esting as  containing  a  rather  fulsome  address  headed 
'Johannes  antonius  venetus  bibliopola  parisiensis 
adolescentibus  studiosis  in  anglia  salutem,'  in  which 
there  is  a  flattering  reference '  to  Frederick  Egmont, 
a  Paris  bookseller  in  England,  for  whom  several 
notable  book-lovers  have  a  special  regard. 

In  no  department  of  our  earlier  literature  is  the 
British  Museum  more  rich  than  in  the  quarto 
plays  printed  before  the  closing  of  the  theatres  in 
1642.  The  richer  a  collection  is  the  more  difficult 
is  it  to  add  to,  and  it  is  therefore  very  satisfactory 
that  as  many  as  nine  important  additions  have  been 
lately  acquired.  Seven  of  these  belonged  to  that 
remarkable  volume  of  plays  of  which  report  says 
that  it  came  over  to  Messrs.  Sotheby  by  post  from 
Ireland  without  even  a  paper  wrapper  round  it, 

1  Qui  cum  in  vestra  excellentissima  anglie  patria  et  librorum  sit 
fidelissimus  mercator  et  amicorum  suorum  amantissimus,  nullum 
vnquam  librum  ex  officina  sua  nisi  perquam  castigatum  emittit. 


AT  THE  BRITISH  MUSEUM.       329 

but  with  a  label  pasted  on  the  binding,  after  an 
opinion  that  it  was  worth  sending  had  been  elicited 
by  the  novel  device  of  tearing  out  a  leaf  and  send- 
ing it  as  a  specimen.  The  seven  plays  bought  by 
the  Museum  were : 

The  Enterlude  of  Johan  the  Evangelist.     John 

Waley.     [n.d.] 
An    Enterlude    of  Welth    and    Helth.      [John 

Waley.]      [n.d.] 
The  playe  of  the  Weather.     By  John  Heywoode. 

John  Awdely.      [n.d.] 
An    Enterlude   called    Lusty    Juuentus.      John 

Awdely.     [n.d.] 
A  pretie  Enterlude  called  Nice  Wanton.     John 

Allde.     [n.d.] 
A  newe  Interlude  of  Impacyente  poverte.     John 

King.      1560. 
A  preaty  new  Enterlude  of  the  Story  of  King 

Daryus.  Hugh  Jackson.  1 577. 
At  the  time  of  the  sale  no  other  copies  of  John 
the  Evangelist,  Wealth  and  Health,  or  Impacient 
Poverty  were  known,  and  Jackson's  edition  of 
King  Darius  and  Awdeley's  Lusty  Juventus  were 
also,  as  far  as  bibliographical  records  showed, 
'  unique.'  Considerable  interest  was  thus  taken  in 
the  Museum's  new  acquisitions,  two  and  three 
reprints  of  some  of  them  having  already  appeared. 
Nevertheless  another  copy  of  John  the  Evangelist 
and  another  issue  of  Wealth  and  Health  came 
on  the  market  within  a  twelvemonth,  and  were 
knocked  down  for  much  smaller  prices  than  the 
Museum  had  paid.  These  chances  have  to  be 
taken  philosophically,  and  in  this  case  philosophy 


33° 

was  rendered  pleasantly  easy  by  the  fac"l  that  the 
better  bargains  fell  to  one  of  the  few  collegers  who 
steadily  stand  aside,  no  matter  what  the  tempta- 
tion, when  they  know  that  the  British  Museum  is 
bidding.  It  was  at  the  same  sale  as  these  better 
bargains  were  made  that  the  eighth  play  was 
bought,  Colwell's  edition  of  Bales'  'Newe  Comedy 
or  Enterlude  concernyng  thre  lawes,  of  Nature, 
Moises  and  Christe'  (1562).  The  other  dramatic 
acquisition  was  a  much  later  one,  the  issue  of 
Chapman's  Csesar  and  Pompey,  in  which  the 
title  reads,  c  The  Warres  of  Pompey  and  Caesar ' 

(i63o- 

Of  other  purchases  of  literary  importance  the 
chief  are  c  Tarlton's  newes  out  of  Purgatorie,' 
printed  for  T.  G.  and  T.  N.,  1590;  the  first 
edition  of  Nash's  £  Pierce  Pennilesse,  his  supplica- 
tion to  the  Divell,'  printed  by  Richard  Jones,  1592  ; 
the  second  edition  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney's  '  Arcadia ' 
(W.  Ponsonby,  1593),  the  first  with  the  allegorical 
title-page,  of  which  Mr.  Mallock  published  so 
ludicrous  a  misinterpretation  a  few  years  ago,  and 
the  Rowfant  copy  of  Sidney's  £  Defence  of  Poesie,' 
printed  (by  Thomas  Creed)  for  William  Ponsonby 
in  1595.  Of  this  last  work  the  unauthorized 
edition  by  Olney,  in  which  it  is  called  l  An  Apologie 
for  Poetrie,'  was  already  in  the  Museum,  which 
now  only  needs  one  of  the  less  important  editions 
of  c  Astrophel  and  Stella '  to  complete  its  Sidney 
collection.  Yates's  c  Castle  of  Courtesie'  and 
4  Hould  of  Humilitie'  (John  Wolfe,  1582),  and 
4  Christes  Bloodie  Sweat,'  by  J.  F.  (1616),  besides 
the  edition  of  Barclay's  '  Thre  Eclogs,'  already 


AT  THE  BRITISH  MUSEUM.        331 

mentioned,  are  among  the  poetical  acquisitions  of 
minor  importance. 

This  survey,  which  necessarily  partakes  very 
much  of  a  catalogue,  is  already  long  enough,  and 
yet  of  the  222  earlier  English  acquisitions  men- 
tioned in  our  first  paragraph,  some  two  hundred 
remain  unsung.  To  the  sympathetic  student  few 
of  them  are  without  interest.  Many  of  them 
would  be  worth  buying  if  only  for  the  quaint 
felicity  of  their  titles :  '  The  Olive  Leafe,  or  Uni- 
versall  A  B  C,'  'The  Christians  Map  of  the  World,' 
'  The  Mirrour  or  Miracle  of  Gods  Love  unto  the 
World  of  His  Eled,' '  Doubling's  Downfall,' '  Seven 
Goulden  Candlesticks  houlding  the  seaven  greatest 
lights  of  Christian  Religion,'  c  A  Silver  Watch 
Bell,'  <  A  Fig  for  the  Spaniard,'  '  The  Drunkard's 
Cup,'  *  The  Soules  Alarum  bell,  '  The  Clearing  of 
the  Saints'  Sight,  'A  Jewell  for  the  Ear': — the 
books  thus  announced  may  not  greatly  appeal  to 
our  modern  taste,  but  the  titles  of  them  are  cer- 
tainly attractive.  Most  of  them,  of  course,  are 
theological,  and  indeed  of  the  two  hundred  books 
which  cannot  be  noticed  individually  theology 
accounts  probably  for  about  a  hundred  and  fifty, 
and  of  these  perhaps  as  many  as  half  are  sermons. 
The  appetite  for  sermons  must  indeed  have  been 
enormous.  We  have  noticed  above  three  cases  in 
which  the  Museum  has  had  to  acquire  a  whole 
volume  of  tracts  for  the  sake  of  one  or  two  which 
it  did  not  already  possess.  But  among  its  recent 
acquisitions  is  a  volume  containing  six  sermons 
published  between  1606  and  1620,  and  of  these 
six  sermons  not  one  was  already  on  its  shelves ! 


332   RECENT  ENGLISH  PURCHASES. 

Clearly  the  number  of  such  discourses  which  may 
still  be  acquired  is  enormous ;  but,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  theological  literature  which  bulks  largely  among 
recent  acquisitions  is  not  unaccompanied  by  more 
interesting  purchases,  and  the  two  Caxtons,  a 
fifteenth  century  De  Worde,  nine  early  plays,  and 
Sidney's  i  Defence  of  Poesie '  bring  up  the  average 
interest  of  the  earlier  English  purchases  during 
these  three  years  to  a  standard  of  which,  in  these 
days  of  high  prices,  and  less  money  than  it  used  to 
have  with  which  to  pay  them,  even  the  British 
Museum  need  not  be  discontented, 

ALFRED  W.  POLLARD. 


333 


REVIEWS. 

T'he  Bibliophile :  a  magazine  and  review  for  the  col-- 
leflor,  student^  and  general  reader.  'The  Biblio- 
phile Office,  Thanet  House  y  Strand.  Nos,  i — 4. 
Sixpence  each. 

O  one  has  yet  succeeded  in  firmly  es- 
tablishing a  popular  magazine  for  book- 
lovers  in  England,  We  hope  that  the 
4  Bibliophile,'  which  made  its  first 
appearance  last  March,  after  some  nine 
months  of  careful  preparation,  will  create  a  new 
record,  and  it  is  interesting  to  see  how  its  very  able 
managers  are  setting  about  it.  We  have  now  four 
numbers  before  us,  and  their  varied  contents  might 
be  criticized  from  many  different  standpoints. 
What  the  friendly  critic  has  to  recognize  is  that  if 
he  keep  to  any  one  standpoint  he  will  scarcely  find 
it  possible  to  do  justice.  For  the  problem  of  the 
c  Bibliophile '  is  not  unlike  that  which  is  supposed 
to  underlie  the  Arabian  Nights,  where  a  lady, 
whose  name  we  will  not  attempt  to  spell  from 
memory,  has  to  hold  the  attention  of  the  Sultan 
night  after  night  on  pain  of  losing  her  head.  Not 
all  of  our  own  articles  are  dull,  but  we  have  estab- 
lished our  right  to  be  as  dull  as  we  find  necessary, 
because  we  have  gradually  secured  the  support  of 
a  sufficient  number  of  hardened  book-lovers  to 


334  REVIEWS. 

keep  us  afloat,  and  the  hardened  book-lover  is  will- 
ing to  help  find  paper  and  print  for  facts  and 
theories  which  are  not  very  interesting  in  them- 
selves, because  they  will  ultimately  help  to  clear 
up  points  about  books  for  which  he  cares.  But  a 
popular  magazine  must  never  be  dull,  and  the 
editor  of  the  '  Bibliophile '  has  avoided  dullness 
with  as  much  ability  as  Scheherazade  (we  have 
looked  up  the  spelling)  herself.  Even  in  the  rare 
case  when  an  article  cannot  from  any  point  of  view 
be  called  good,  it  is  never  dull.  Thus  a  dissertation 
on  '  The  Romance  of  Papermarks,'  suggested  by 
M.  Briquet's  great  book  4  Les  filigranes/  is  mis- 
chievous and  misleading,  but  it  escapes  dullness  by 
the  very  wildness  of  its  imaginations,  and  the  editor 
can  hardly  be  blamed  for  having  put  his  faith  in 
a  writer  who  has  every  opportunity  for  being 
an  expert,  but  apparently  prefers  '  romance '  to 
history.  No  one  is  allowed  even  to  approach 
prolixity,  for  all  the  articles  are  kept  rigidly  short. 
Almost  every  article,  moreover,  is  illustrated,  and 
the  illustrations  are  well  chosen,  so  that  there 
is  always  something  pretty  for  the  eye  to  rest 
on.  Moreover,  it  has  been  realized  that  the  book- 
lover  in  his  earlier  stages  is  interested  in  many 
things  besides  books,  and  for  his  amusement  and 
relaxation  articles  are  provided  in  every  number  on 
a  variety  of  other  subjects,  notably  on  prints  and 
postage-stamps  and  old  furniture.  We  are  bold  to 
hope  that  soon  these  may  disappear,  and  that  the 
*  Bibliophile '  will  find  sufficient  supporters  who 
are  content  to  purchase  a  magazine  concerned  with 
books  and  books  only.  For  books  are  treated  here 


REVIEWS.  335 

not  only  for  their  printing,  illustration,  or  binding, 
or  for  curious  incidents  in  their  history,  but  also 
for  their  literary  qualities.  The  first  article  in 
each  number  is  specially  devoted  to  the  literary 
aspects  of  books,  the  four  contributors  being  Mr. 
Chesterton,  Mr.  Arthur  Symons,  Mr.  Hilaire 
Belloc,  and  Mr.  Austin  Dobson.  The  range  of 
books  reviewed,  moreover,  is  wide,  and  the  re- 
viewers are  for  the  most  part  men  who  have  earned 
the  right  to  speak  on  the  subjects  on  which  they 
write.  Of  the  longer  articles  on  topics  in  which 
'THE  LIBRARY  '  is  specially  interested,  the  excellent 
account  of  '  Breydenbach's  Pilgrimage,'  by  Mr. 
Esdaile  may,  perhaps,  be  selected  as  the  best,  for  it 
combines  the  merits  of  being  informative,  amusing, 
and  accompanied  by  delightful  illustrations.  Mr. 
Pollard  writes  about  '  Early  Book  Advertisements,' 
taking  unusual  pains  to  sweeten  information  with 
hilarity.  Mr.  Samuel  Clegg  has  a  good  account  of 
1  Thomas  Hollis  :  book-lover,  politician,  and  philan- 
thropist,' now  chiefly  remembered  by  his  book- 
bindings, which  are  duly  illustrated.  Mr.  Redgrave, 
as  a  Ratdolt  specialist,  writes  a  note  on  the  Ratdolt 
design,  which  has  been  borrowed  for  the  border  of 
the  magazine.  Miss  D.  G.  McChesney  gives  an 
account  of  '  Eikon  Basilike  Deutera,'  a  satire  on 
Charles  II.,  of  which  not  much  has  been  heard. 
Mrs.  Arthur  Bell  takes  for  her  subject  *  Finely 
Illustrated  Books,  and  borrows  from  them  many 
pretty  pictures.  It  is  obvious  that  the  '  Bibliophile ' 
has  set  itself  to  provide  something  for  all  tastes,  and 
a  man  must  be  hard  to  please  who  will  assert  that 
it  has  not  been  successful. 


336  REVIEWS. 

The  Libraries  of  London :  a  guide  for  students.     Pre- 
pared on   the  instruction    of  the   Senate   of  the 
University  of  London^  by  Reginald  Arthur  Rye, 
Goldsmiths'  Librarian  of  the  University  of  London. 
London :  published  by  the  University. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  overpraise  this  useful  and 
unpretentious  little  book.  Here  in  something  under 
a  hundred  pages  is  a  careful  stock-taking  of  the 
library  facilities  of  London.  After  a  brief  intro- 
duction, in  the  course  of  which  the  estimate  is  ad- 
vanced that  '  the  number  of  volumes  in  the  public 
and  administrative  libraries,  and  in  the  libraries  of 
societies  and  institutions  of  London  is  approximately 
8,000,000,'  we  have  annotated  lists  (i.)  of  the  general 
libraries  in  the  order  of  their  size ;  (ii.)  of  the  special 
libraries,  arranged  alphabetically  according  to  their 
subjecls;  (iii.)  of  libraries  connected  with  educational 
institutions,  arranged,  like  the  first  section,  accord- 
ing to  size.  The  notes,  both  as  to  the  histories  of 
the  libraries  and  as  to  the  classes  of  books  to  be  found 
in  them,  are  exactly  what  are  wanted,  and  as  far  as 
we  are  able  to  test  them,  they  prove  very  accurate. 
Any  one  who  possesses  this  little  manual  will  have  a 
better  knowledge  of  where  to  go  for  a  book  in 
London  than  it  has  hitherto  been  possible  to  obtain. 
Lest  the  fact  that  no  fewer  than  8,000,000  volumes 
are  available  for  readers  should  inspire  unseasonable 
pride,  or  no  less  unseasonable  lethargy,  Mr.  Rye 
points  out  that  Greater  London  is  thus  only  pro- 
vided with  a  little  over  one  volume  per  head  of  its 
population,  whereas  in  Berlin  they  have  two,  and  in 
Dresden  three.  So  there  is  still  need  for  progress. 


New    Series, 

No.  36,  VOL.  IX.  OCTOBER,  1908. 


THE  LIBRARY. 

THE   LEGEND   OF   ARCHBISHOP 
UDO. 

i  HE  fantastic  legend  of  Archbishop  Udo 
of  Magdeburg,  of  which  a  free  version 
is  offered  in  the  following  pages,  first 
came  to  my  notice  in  turning  over  the 
leaves  of  a  copy  of  the  '  Lauacrum 
Conscientiae  '  of  Jacobus  de  Gruytrode,  a  Carthusian 
monk,  who  flourished  about  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  This  book  consists  of  a  species 
of  Whole  Duty  of  Clerics,  with  stories  illustrative 
of  the  awful  consequences  that  await  unworthy 
priests.  The  most  elaborate  of  these  stories,  told 
in  chapter  xv.,  is  that  of  Archbishop  Udo.  When 
the  legend  has  been  narrated,  a  few  words  shall  be 
said  as  to  its  origin. 

THE  HORRIBLE  AND  APPALLING  HISTORY  OF  A  CERTAIN 
ARCHBISHOP  OF  MAGDEBURG  CALLED  UDO. 

IN  the  year  900,  when  Otto  III.  was  emperor, 
there  happened  in  the  city  of  Magdeburg  in  Saxony 
a  terrifying  and  unheard  of  portent.  The  manner 
of  its  happening  I  will  relate  simply  and  truly,  so 

ix.  z 


338  THE   LEGEND    OF 

that  all  may  learn  how  hazardous  and  damnable  it 
is  to  live  an  evil  life  in  an  exalted  station,  to 
diminish  wrongfully  the  patrimony  of  Christ  which 
is  the  well-being  of  the  Church,  to  corrupt  those 
of  inferior  degree  by  foul  and  scandalous  behaviour, 
and  to  make  nefarious  attempts  on  the  honour  of 
the  brides  of  God. 

There  was  in  the  aforesaid  city  a  certain  scholar 
of  the  liberal  arts  named  Udo,  whose  brain  was  so 
dull  and  heavy  that,  toil  as  he  might  over  his 
books,  he  made  no  progress  in  them  at  all,  and 
was  thus  frequently  subjected  to  the  stripes  and 
chastisement  of  his  master.  One  morning,  after 
he  had  received  a  most  intolerable  beating,  he 
betook  himself  straight  from  his  school  to  the 
great  minster  of  Magdeburg,  built  in  honour  of 
Saint  Maurice  and  his  holy  company.  There  he  cast 
himself  on  his  knees  before  the  altar  with  great 
fervour  and  many  tears,  and  implored  the  aid  of 
the  gracious  Queen  of  Heaven  and  of  Saint  Maurice 
that  they  would  be  pleased  to  lighten  the  darkness 
of  his  understanding.  And  as  he  knelt  thus  in 
deep  devotion  a  sudden  drowsiness  overcame  him, 
and  in  his  slumber  the  Mother  of  Mercies  appeared 
to  him,  and  said :  "  My  son,  I  have  heard  thy 
prayer  and  seen  thine  affliction.  Behold,  not  only 
is  the  gift  of  learning  and  letters  granted  thee,  but 
I  commend  moreover  to  thy  faithful  care  the  rule 
of  this  church  of  my  champion  Maurice  when  the 
present  archbishop  shall  have  died.  And  if  thou 
rule  it  well,  surely  there  awaits  thee  a  great  and 
rich  reward.  But  if  thou  rule  it  ill,  both  thy  soul 
and  thy  body  shall  be  given  to  destruction."  With 


ARCHBISHOP   UDO.  339 

these  words  the  blessed  Virgin  vanished ;  and  the 
youth,  starting  up  from  his  sleep,  gave  thanks  and 
returned  straightway  back  to  school.  And  when 
he  opened  his  mouth  to  speak,  his  reasonings  pro- 
ceeded so  subtly  that  he  refuted  and  silenced  all 
his  opponents  in  the  disputation,  and  showed  him- 
self in  every  subject  an  accomplished  scholar,  so 
that  his  former  acquaintance  who  heard  him  were 
amazed,  and  said :  "  Whence  has  this  youth  re- 
ceived all  his  knowledge  and  lore  of  a  sudden  ?  Is 
not  this  the  same  Udo  who  but  yesterday  was  used 
like  an  ox  under  the  lash  and  to-day  he  is  as  learned 
as  Albertus  himself  ?  " 

Two  years  after  these  happenings  the  Archbishop 
of  Magdeburg  died,  and  Udo,  such  was  his  renown 
for  learning,  was  elected  unanimously  to  fill  his 
place.  Now  for  a  short  while  after  he  had  first 
assumed  the  archiepiscopal  robes  he  lived  fairly 
and  honestly ;  but,  as  the  saying  goes,  '  Honours 
change  the  heart.'  In  course  of  time  he  grew  un- 
mindful of  the  counsel  which  the  Queen  of  Heaven 
had  given  him  and  of  his  own  salvation,  and  began 
to  seek  only  to  gratify  his  own  pleasures,  dissipating 
the  treasures  of  his  cathedral  and  going  about  to 
seduce  not  only  fair  women  of  the  laity,  but  even 
such  as  had  taken  the  veil  of  Christ.  Finally,  he 
put  away  from  him  utterly  all  fear  of  God,  and 
gave  free  rein  to  all  his  profane  and  wicked  lusts, 
until  his  life  became  a  horror  and  an  abomination 
—alas,  that  this  must  be  said  of  an  archbishop ! — 
and  for  many  years  the  very  air  of  Magdeburg,  as 
it  seemed,  was  polluted  by  the  enormities  of  this 
detestable  wretch. 


340  THE   LEGEND   OF 

Now  on  a  certain  night,  when  Udo  was  in  the 
company  of  the  abbess  of  Black  Nuns  at  Lilienfeld 
whom  he  had  debauched,  on  a  sudden  he  heard  a 
voice  proclaiming  in  dreadful  tones : 

*  Udo,  give  o'er  your  play, 
You've  played  enough  this  many  a  day ! ' 

But  the  awful  admonition  abashed  him  not  at  all, 
and  he  put  away  from  him  the  divine  warning, 
laughing  it  off  as  a  trick  that  some  sly  rogue  was 
playing  off  on  him,  and  returning  next  day  to  his 
usual  dissipations  and  delights.  .On  the  next  night, 
as  he  was  taking  his  disport  in  the  same  way,  he 
heard  the  same  voice  again  uttering  the  angry 
words ;  but  again  the  wretched  ingrate  contemned 
its  salutary  counsel  and  hardened  his  heart  to  stone, 
though  God  was  already  palpably  withdrawing  his 
hand  from  him.  On  the  third  night,  which  he 
was  once  more  spending  by  the  abbess's  side,  in  the 
midst  of  caresses  and  embraces,  the  aforesaid  voice 
began  once  more  in  thunderous  tones  to  exclaim  : 

'  Udo,  give  o'er  your  play, 
You've  played  enough  this  many  a  day ! ' 

At  this  repeated  warning  Udo  at  length  fell  into 
great  consternation,  and  was  fain  to  groan  with 
remorse  as  he  thought  of  his  flagitious  life ;  yet  he 
could  not  so  far  prevail  on  himself  as  to  return  to 
his  senses  and  repent,  but  on  the  very  brink  of 
damnation  repeated  the  old  croak  of  eras,  eras, 
which  has  undone  so  many  sinners. 

From  Udo's  final  end  which  now  follows,  all 
men  may  learn  that  God,  by  how  much  he  finds 
his  infinite  grace  and  clemency  set  at  naught,  by 


ARCHBISHOP    UDO.  341 

so  much  will  his  vengeance  be  more  terrific.  It  is 
a  strange  story,  but  true  for  all  that ;  and  if  the 
folk  of  Saxony,  among  whom  it  happened,  could 
be  silent  concerning  it,  yet  the  stones  themselves 
(as  the  sequel  will  show)  would  cry  it  out  aloud. 
Three  months  after  Udo  had  heard  the  divine 
warning,  a  certain  canon  of  the  aforementioned 
cathedral  of  Magdeburg,  named  Frederick,  a  good 
and  saintly  man,  was  passing  the  night  in  the  choir 
of  Saint  Maurice,  praying  fervently  for  holy  Church 
universal,  and  in  special  for  his  own  church  of 
Magdeburg,  that  the  righteous  Creator  of  all  things 
would  either  cut  off  its  diseased  head  altogether 
(meaning  thereby  Archbishop  Udo),  or  else  would 
bring  him  back  to  a  better  life.  The  prayers  of  a 
saintly  man  are  of  quick  effect ;  for  the  canon 
immediately,  being  rapt  in  spirit,  beheld  a  vision 
exceeding  awful  and  terrible  to  all  men,  but  par- 
ticularly so  to  all  prelates  and  rulers  of  the  Church 
who  neglect  the  flock  committed  by  heaven  to 
their  care,  and  by  their  evil  example  do  only  too 
often  drive  them  along  the  high  road  to  everlasting 
destruction.  Now  the  aforesaid  holy  man  looked, 
and  behold  a  violent  and  sudden  wind  blew  out  at 
once  all  the  lights  in  the  cathedral,  and  he  himself, 
seized  with  overmastering  terror,  remained  as  if 
rooted  to  the  floor,  unable  to  cry  out  or  move. 
Then  behold  there  came  two  youths  carrying 
candles  in  their  hands,  who  passed  on  to  the  altar 
and  took  their  places  one  on  each  side  of  it ;  after 
these  came  two  others,  one  of  whom  spread  cloths 
decently  before  the  altar,  while  the  other  set  two 
golden  chairs  thereon.  After  these  there  strode  in 


342  THE   LEGEND    OF 

one  in  the  harness  of  a  warlike  champion,  a  drawn 
sword  flashing  in  his  hand,  who  stood  in  the  midst 
of  the  cathedral,  and  cried  with  a  loud  voice : 
'  O  ye  saints,  as  many  as  are  here  honoured  in  your 
holy  relics,  I  charge  you,  arise  and  come  to  the 
judgment  of  God.'  At  these  words  the  canon 
beheld  a  great  shining  multitude,  both  men  and 
women,  some  in  warrior's  mail,  others  robed  and 
mitred,  who  passed  up  the  choir  and  ranged  them- 
selves on  either  side  of  it  in  order  of  their  age  and 
distinction.  After  these  came  twelve  venerable 
men  in  shining  raiment,  in  the  midst  of  whom 
walked  one  brighter  than  the  sun,  adorned  with 
the  royal  diadem  and  sceptre ;  these  were  the 
twelve  apostles,  and  with  them  Christ  himself,  lord 
and  creator  of  all  heaven  and  earth.  And  when 
they  saw  him  the  whole  company  of  saints  fell 
down  and  adored  him  with  deep  devotion,  and 
afterwards  made  him  to  sit  down  upon  one  of  the 
golden  chairs.  Lastly  entered  the  Queen  of  Heaven 
herself,  clearer  than  the  moon  and  stars,  and  a 
glorious  company  of  virgins  followed  after  her. 
And  she  was  received  by  all  the  saintly  throng  on 
bended  knees  with  great  honour  and  reverence, 
and  the  King  of  Kings  arose  to  meet  her,  and 
taking  her  by  the  hand  seated  her  by  his  side  upon 
the  chair  of  state.  Thereupon,  lo,  there  appeared 
the  holy  prince  and  martyr  Maurice  himself,  with 
his  warlike  legion  to  the  number  of  six  thousand 
six  hundred  and  sixty-six ;  and  all  these  with  one 
accord  bowed  themselves  before  the  Judge  and  his 
Queen  Mother  and  worshipped  him,  saying : 
4  O  Judge  most  just,  and  upholder  of  the  world 


ARCHBISHOP   UDO.  343 

from  age  to  age,  give  judgment  upon  Archbishop 
Udo  ! '  after  which  they  arose  and  stood  reverently 
awaiting  his  answer.  And  he  said  :  *  Your  request 
is  granted.  Let  the  Archbishop  be  brought  hither.' 
Immediately  one  went  and  dragged  the  wretched 
man  from  the  abbess's  side,  and  brought  him 
fast  bound  into  the  presence.  And  Saint  Maurice, 
looking  sternly  upon  him,  said :  '  Lord  God,  give 
judgment,  I  pray  thee :  behold,  here  is  this  Udo, 
not  a  bishop,  but  a  wolf;  not  a  shepherd,  but  a 
spoiler ;  not  a  cherisher,  but  a  defiler  and  a  de- 
vourer  of  thy  flock.  He  it  is  to  whom  thy  most 
holy  Mother  gave  wisdom  and  the  charge  of  this 
church  dedicated  in  my  honour  and  that  of  my 
companions,  telling  him  that  if  he  ruled  it  well  he 
would  receive  eternal  life,  if  ill,  death  of  body  and 
soul.  This  is  the  wretch  who,  though  warned 
once,  twice,  and  three  times,  refused  to  mend  his 
ways,  and  not  only  brought  shame  and  dishonour 
on  thy  holy  Church  and  himself,  but  even  out- 
raged thy  brides  dedicated  to  thee  by  the  veil.' 
When  Saint  Maurice  had  thus  spoken,  our  Lord 
turned  and  looked  round  upon  the  company  of 
saints,  saying :  '  What  is  your  judgment  with 
regard  to  this  Udo  ? '  Whereupon  the  champion 
pronounced  in  a  loud  voice :  c  His  doom  be  death.' 
And  the  great  Judge  said  :  '  Let  his  head  be  struck 
off — so  headless  has  been  his  life,  wallowing  in 
wickedness  and  filthy  conversation.'  Then  the 
champion  advanced  to  Udo,  and  bade  him  stretch 
forth  his  neck  :  which  Udo  doing,  and  as  the  other 
lifted  his  sword  to  strike,  Saint  Maurice  spoke  forth 
and  said :  '  Hold  thy  hand  awhile ;  first  let  the 


344  THE   LEGEND   OF 

relics  that  he  carries  be  taken  from  him.'  Then 
one  placed  a  chalice  before  the  wretched  Udo,  and 
the  champion  brought  down  his  fist  on  the  Arch- 
bishop's neck,  smiting  him  many  times,  and  at  each 
blow  a  polluted  wafer  leapt  from  Udo's  mouth  and 
dropped  into  the  chalice,  which  the  Queen  of 
Heaven  took  reverently,  and  after  washing  them 
carefully  placed  them  on  the  altar,  whereupon  she 
and  her  company  retired  with  a  fair  obeisance. 
Then  at  last  the  champion,  lifting  his  sword  once 
more,  struck  off  Udo's  head  at  a  single  blow,  and 
immediately  the  whole  saintly  company  vanished. 

The  aforementioned  canon,  who  had  seen  all 
this,  not  by  vision  in  his  sleep,  but  awake  and 
open-eyed,  lay  a  long  time  in  the  darkness  all  dazed 
and  trembling ;  but  at  length  seeing  a  light  still 
burning  in  the  crypt,  he  took  courage  to  rekindle 
the  lamps  in  the  church,  and  at  last  by  a  great 
effort,  to  put  an  end  to  his  doubts  and  fears, 
advanced  slowly  to  the  place  of  judgment,  where 
he  saw  the  chalice  full  of  wafers  on  the  altar,  and 
the  palpable  head  of  the  wretched  Archbishop 
lying  at  some  distance  from  the  trunk  in  a  pool  ot 
blood.  Then  with  many  sad  exclamations  and 
reflections  on  the  rigour  of  God's  judgment,  he 
closed  all  the  doors  of  the  cathedral  and  suffered 
no  one  to  enter  till  the  sun  had  risen,  when  he 
called  together  all  the  people,  both  cleric  and  lay, 
and  having  given  an  orderly  account  of  all  that  he 
had  heard  and  seen,  exhibited  to  them  the  signs  of 
divine  vengeance,  the  weltering  corpse  of  the 
miserable  Archbishop. 


ARCHBISHOP   UDO.  345 

On  the  same  day  as  these  things  took  place,  one 
of  the  chaplains  of  this  same  Udo,  named  Bruno, 
who  had  been  engaged  in  the  neighbourhood  on 
some  of  his  master's  crooked  business,  chanced  to 
be  returning  with  his  retinue  to  Magdeburg. 
And  as  he  was  approaching  the  city  alone,  his 
servants  having  somewhat  out-distanced  him,  the 
will  of  God  caused  a  deep  drowsiness  to  come  over 
him,  so  that  seeing  a  shady  tree  not  far  off  he  dis- 
mounted there,  and  tying  his  horse's  bridle  firmly 
to  his  arm  was  fain  to  lie  down  to  sleep.  And 
behold  a  vast  rout  of  unclean  spirits  approached 
the  place  where  he  was  sleeping,  blowing  horns 
and  beating  drums,  shouting  and  waving  swords 
and  cudgels;  and  when  they  had  all  gathered 
round,  one  of  their  number,  who  seemed  by  his 
tall  stature  and  the  dark  pride  of  his  countenance 
to  be  their  leader,  took  his  seat  upon  a  throne 
which  they  set  for  him  in  the  midst.  And  pre- 
sently another  vast  rabble,  yelling,  chuckling,  and 
leaping  for  joy,  was  seen  coming  from  the  city 
with  the  speed  of  the  wind,  and  the  fiends  that 
were  foremost  shouted  with  all  their  might : 
'  Room,  room ;  here  is  a  dear  friend  of  ours  come 
to  visit  us.'  Amid  these  clamours  the  satellites  of 
Satan  dragged  forward  the  miserable  Udo  in  his 
bodily  figure  by  a  fiery  chain  fastened  about  his 
neck,  and  stood  him  before  their  chief;  whereupon 
Satan  rose  up  and  saluted  him,  addressing  him  with 
mocking  words  of  friendship :  c  Welcome,  my 
lord,'  said  he,  '  at  all  times  the  faithful  upholder 
and  extender  of  our  dominion ;  you  behold  me  all 
eagerness  to  give  you  and  my  other  loyal  friends 


346  THE   LEGEND   OF 

the  reward  you  have  so  richly  deserved.'  And  as 
the  wretched  Udo,  bound  and  chained,  spoke  no 
word,  Satan  said  to  his  infernal  companions :  c  The 
journey  hither  has  wearied  my  good  lord ;  see  to 
it  that  he  have  some  refreshment.'  Immediately  a 
number  of  imps  seized  hold  of  him,  and  in  spite  of 
his  struggles  and  agonised  efforts  to  turn  away  his 
head,  crammed  toads  and  adders  forcibly  down  his 
throat,  and  washed  down  the  horrid  morsels  with 
draughts  of  boiling  sulphur.  Thereupon,  as  Udo 
was  still  silent,  Satan  continued :  '  Let  my  lord  be 
taken  to  the  bath  reserved  for  such  great  princes  as 
he ;  and  after  an  hour  let  him  be  brought  back 
with  all  due  observance.'  And  behold  not  far 
away  was  a  well  covered  over  with  a  lid,  and  when 
the  lid  was  taken  off  immediately  a  blaze  of  fire 
leapt  up  from  it  to  the  very  clouds,  searing  and 
consuming  all  trees,  shrubs  and  herbage  for  a  great 
space  around.  Into  this  well  the  demons  plunged 
the  soul  of  the  luckless  Udo,  and  after  an  hour's 
time  they  drew  him  forth  again  as  he  came  to  the 
surface,  and  stood  him  before  their  chief  all  white- 
hot  through  and  through.  And  Satan,  chuckling 
horribly,  said  to  him :  c  Well,  my  lord,  was  the 
bath  refreshing? ' 

Then  the  unhappy  Udo,  perceiving  himself  to 
be  damned  beyond  redemption,  began  to  blaspheme 
and  cry :  c  Cursed  be  thou,  Satan,  and  all  thy  crew, 
and  all  thy  promptings,  and  all  thy  dominion ; 
cursed  be  God  who  made  me  and  the  earth  that 
nourished  me,  and  the  parents  that  engendered  me : 
cursed  be  all  creation  in  heaven  and  upon  earth ! ' 
Thereupon  the  whole  hellish  rout  began  to  clap 


ARCHBISHOP   UDO.  347 

their  hands  in  glee  and  say  to  each  other :  '  Truly 
this  man  is  worthy  of  remaining  amongst  us  for 
evermore,  since  already  he  can  repeat  our  creed  so 
fluently  ;  let  him  be  sent  below  to  our  great  college 
of  instruction,  that  he  may  see,  hear,  and  feel,  and 
become  more  perfect  in  his  lesson,  and  may  con- 
tinue to  progress  therein  to  all  eternity.'  Hardly 
had  they  said  these  words  when  they  hurled  them- 
selves on  that  devoted  wretch  and  shot  him  down 
into  the  depths  of  the  hellish  gulf  of  everlasting 
torment  with  so  sudden  and  mad  a  rush  that  it 
seemed  as  if  the  sky  and  the  ground  and  all  the 
hills  were  rocking  to  their  fall.  The  sleeping 
chaplain  was  almost  dead  with  the  horror  of  all 
these  awful  sights  and  sounds,  when  the  Prince 
of  Darkness  pointed  his  finger  at  him  and  said  to 
his  ministering  devils :  '  Look  to  it  that  this  priest 
who  is  watching  us  escape  us  not,  for  he  has 
always  been  the  trusty  aid  and  abettor  of  that  other 
in  all  his  crimes,  and  as  he  shared  his  guilt  so  shall 
he  share  his  punishment.  Take  him  and  thrust 
him  into  the  pit  after  his  master.'  At  these  words 
all  the  crew  made  as  if  to  rush  upon  the  chaplain, 
and  as  he  turned  to  fly  he  awoke  in  the  midst  of 
his  terror  to  find  that  his  startled  horse  was  gallop- 
ing off  across  country  and  dragging  him  along 
by  the  arm  to  which  he  had  tied  the  reins.1  At 
last,  when  his  arm  was  nearly  torn  from  his  body, 

1  In  the  version  which  the  *  Magdeburger  Schoppenchronik ' 
gives  of  this  incident,  Satan,  as  the  chaplain  turns  to  fly,  calls  out : 
'  Throw  the  pilgrim's  rug  in  his  way.'  The  chaplain  falls  over 
the  rug  and  breaks  his  nose  and  teeth.  He  had  stolen  the  rug  from 
a  dying  pilgrim,  to  give  to  his  groom. 


348  THE   LEGEND   OF 

he  succeeded  in  stopping  the  horse,  and  mounting 
with  difficulty  upon  him  rode  into  Magdeburg  in 
an  agony  of  pain.  There  he  heard  of  his  master's 
death  at  the  very  hour  of  his  dream,  and  related  all 
his  prodigious  experience  to  the  people  as  well  as 
he  could  for  the  pain  and  terror  that  shook  him, 
showing  his  arm  battered  and  mangled,  and  his 
hair  grown  suddenly  grey,  in  warrant  of  his  good 
faith.  And  when  the  citizens  of  Magdeburg  had 
seen  and  heard  this  unexampled  judgment  of  God 
they  were  greatly  afraid,  and  took  up  Udo's  vile 
corpse  to  cast  it  into  a  bog  at  a  great  distance  from 
their  city.  There  it  was  immediately  received 
with  shouts  of  glee  by  a  rout  of  infernal  monsters, 
who  not  only  tore  it  up  into  little  pieces  with  their 
unclean  talons,  but  vexed  the  country  people  who 
dwelt  round  about  with  a  thousand  malicious  tricks 
and  injuries.  At  last  these  took  counsel  together, 
and  drawing  forth  the  accursed  carrion  from  the 
bog,  burnt  it,  and  strewed  the  ashes  into  the  river 
Elbe,  whereupon,  marvellous  to  relate,  all  the  fish 
in  the  river  turned  with  the  stream  and  went  down 
into  the  sea.  Not  till  ten  years  after,  when  the 
divine  wrath  had  been  appeased  with  prayer,  chant, 
and  fasting,  did  they  return  to  their  former  haunts. 
A  lasting  memorial  of  these  horrible  happenings 
is  left  by  a  dark  stain  of  Udo's  blood  spilt  at  his 
execution,  which  dyes  the  polished  pavement  of 
white  marble  in  the  cathedral,  and  adheres  so 
indelibly  to  it  that  it  seems  to  be  part  of  the 
marble  itself.  On  this  spot,  the  very  spot  of  God's 
iudgment,  carpets  are  kept  continually  spread  ;  and 
only  when,  according  to  the  use  of  the  church,  the 


ARCHBISHOP   UDO.  349 

Te  Deum  is  chanted  over  each  new  archbishop  at 
his  investiture  are  they  removed ;  and  the  arch- 
bishop kneels  there  to  pray  and  see  and  remember, 
and  order  his  ways  better  than  did  Udo  of  yore. 
And  indeed  his  story  is  an  awful  sign  and  warning 
of  the  divine  retribution,  not  only  to  the  arch- 
bishops of  Magdeburg,  but  also  to  the  prelates  and 
laity  of  Holy  Church  throughout  the  world. 

So  ends  the  legend ;  and  probably  no  reader  of 
it  will  be  greatly  surprised  to  learn  that  it  is  devoid 
of  any  historical  basis,1  inasmuch  as  there  never 
was  an  archbishop  of  Magdeburg  named  Udo,  and 
the  date  900  (in  other  editions  950)  given  at  the 
beginning  of  the  text  is  inconsistent  with  the 
statement  immediately  following  that  the  occur- 
rence took  place  during  the  reign  of  the  emperor 
Otto  III.  (996-1001).  It  is,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
a  compilation  of  two  several  legends  told  of  differ- 
ent archbishops,  together  with  elements  from  a 
miracle  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  which  occurs  in 
several  places  and  forms  elsewhere. 

(i.)  The  vision  seen  by  Canon  Frederick  in  the 
choir  of  Magdeburg  Cathedral  corresponds  to  an 
account  in  the  '  Magdeburger  Schoppenchronik ' 
(which  in  turn  rests  upon  the  '  Gesta  archiepis- 
copum  Magdeburgensium ')  of  how  a  priest  saw  in 

1  The  fails  here  set  down  with  regard  to  its  origin  and  develop- 
ment are  taken  from  the  exhaustive  monograph  of  Professor  A.  E. 
SchQnbach,  *  Studien  zur  Erza'hlungsliteratur  des  Mittelalters.  II. 
Die  Legende  von  Erzbischof  Udo  von  Magdeburg,'  published  in 
the  '  Sitzungsberichte  der  philologisch-historischen  Klasse  der 
kaiserlichen  Akademie  der  Wissenschaften,'  Bd.  144.  Wien, 
1902. 


350  THE   LEGEND   OF 

a  trance  Archbishop  Hartwig  brought  before  a 
heavenly  tribunal  on  the  charge  of  dissipating  the 
treasures  of  his  church,  spoiled  of  his  robes,  and 
expelled  from  the  sacred  building.  This  Arch- 
bishop Hartwig,  who  was  related  to  the  family  of 
the  counts  of  Spanheim,  was  elected  to  the  see  of 
Magdeburg  in  1079;  his  relations  with  the  Mar- 
chioness Beatrix  of  Schweinfurt,  which  caused  con- 
siderable scandal  at  the  time,  and  his  sudden  death 
after  a  banquet  given  in  the  lady's  honour,  no  doubt 
strongly  influenced  this  part  of  the  Udo  legend. 

(2.)  The  dream  dreamt  by  Udo's  chaplain  Bruno 
under  a  tree  corresponds  to  the  story  immediately 
following  that  already  mentioned  in  the  '  Schoppen- 
chronik,'  where,  however,  the  unhappy  victim  is 
Archbishop  Albrecht  of  Mainz ;  a  vicarius  in  his 
sleep  sees  the  archbishop's  soul  brought  before 
Satan,  greeted  with  sarcastic  cordiality,  and  forced 
to  drink  a  draught  of  liquid  fire,  the  flame  of  which 
bursts  forth  from  his  nose  and  ears.  The  vicarius, 
menaced  by  Satan,  turns  to  fly,  but  falls,  and  wakes 
up  to  find  himself  lying  on  the  floor  with  his  face 
cut.  The  archbishop  here  alluded  to  is  Adelbert 
(or  Albrecht)  I.,  count  of  Saarbriicken,  who  became 
archbishop  of  Mainz  in  August,  1 1 1 1,  and  died  in 
June,  1 137.  Though  popular  among  his  own  sub- 
jects, his  support  of  the  Papal  claims  against  the 
emperor  Henry  V.,  to  whom  he  owed  his  rise, 
was  bitterly  resented  in  Germany  as  a  piece  of 
black  ingratitude.  He  was  besides  commonly  ac- 
cused of  excessive  greed.  The  c  Schoppenchronik  ' 
has  taken  this  story  from  the  '  Sachsische  Welt- 
chronik,'  composed  ca.  1230-50. 


ARCHBISHOP    UDO.  351 

The  two  legends  are  again  found  in  consecutive 
order  in  the  '  Bonum  uniuersale  de  apibus '  of 
Thomas  Cantipratensis  (Jior.  1250),  but  with  the 
archiepiscopal  names  suppressed.  The  first  vision 
is  seen  by  c  Conradus,  Deo  dignus  Hildeshemensis 
episcopus ' ;  in  the  second  the  victim  is  merely 
'  quidam  archiepiscopus  Theutonie.' 

How  and  when  the  two  stories  were  concen- 
trated upon  the  legendary  Udo,  and  developed  into 
their  more  elaborate  form  is  obscure ;  in  Professor 
Schonbach's  opinion  the  final  redaction  of  the  Udo 
legend  is  to  be  assigned  to  the  fourth  decade  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  We  find  the  story  alluded  to 
in  the  '  Homilies '  of  Caesarius  of  Heisterbach  (who 
died  about  1240),  and  the  delightful  leonine  hexa- 
meter, 

1  Fac  finem  ludo,  iam  lusisti  satis,  Udo,' 

in  which  the  supernatural  warning  is  conveyed  to 
the  reprobate  archbishop,  is  quoted,  almost  as  a 
proverb,  by  the  famous  preacher  Berthold  of 
Regensburg  in  a  sermon  composed  about  the  year 
1260.  The  story  in  its  present  form  must  have 
been  extremely  popular.  It  is  found  incorporated 
not  only  in  the  c  Lauacrum  Conscientiae,'  but  also 
in  the  '  Speculum  Exemplorum,'  a  widely  read 
handbook  for  preachers,  compiled  in  the  last  half 
of  the  fifteenth  century  (dist.  ix.,  No.  clxxv.)  ;  it  is 
appended  to  an  edition  printed  about  1473  by  the 
4  Printer  of  Augustinus  de  Fide '  of  Pope  Innocent 
III.'s  '  de  miseria  humanae  conditionis,'  and  to  the 
'  Speculum  artis  bene  moriendi '  of  Domenico 
Capranica,  printed  by  Metlinger  at  Besan£on  in 


352  THE  LEGEND  OF  ARCHBISHOP  UDO. 

1488,  and  it  was  printed  as  a  separate  tra&  by 
Martin  Flach  at  Basel  about  1475.  It  is  from  this 
edition  that  the  present  version  has  been  made. 

Finally,  a  poem  of  some  eight  hundred  lines, 
written  in  the  Bavarian  dialed!,  and  consisting  of 
an  awkward  versification  of  the  Latin  legend,  was 
discovered  in  a  Munich  codex  and  published  by 
Karl  Helm  in  1897  (' Neue  Heidelberger  Jahr- 
biicher/  vii.). 

A  white  stone  slab  in  front  of  the  high  altar 
of  Magdeburg  Cathedral  is  still  known  as  '  der 
Udo'sche  Stein.' 

VICTOR  SCHOLDERER. 


353 


A   MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY  AND   ITS 
PUBLIC. 

IV.— THE  REFERENCE  LIBRARY. 

N  my  last  article  dealing  with  Lending 
Libraries  and  Branches,  I  referred  to  the 
premature  and  illstarred  effort  to  estab- 
lish a  Reference  Library  with  inadequate 
funds  and  before  the  public  mind  was 
properly  in  tune  for  this,  the  highest,  form  of  public 
library  service.  With  intense  dissatisfaction  on  all 
sides  at  the  totally  inadequate  nature  of  the  lending 
library,  it  was  unwise  to  impoverish  the  small  book 
fund  available  by  purchasing  books  for  which  there 
could  only  be  a  limited  and  somewhat  remote  use. 
The  public  had  not  yet  reached  the  stage  of  looking 
to  the  library  as  a  great  storehouse  of  knowledge 
and  information  upon  every  conceivable  subject, 
with  something  upon  nearly  everything,  much 
about  some  things,  and  in  essentials  provided  with 
the  most  recent  publications.  Even  the  current 
edition  of  the  local  directory  was  not  included  in 
the  reference  library  of  those  days. 

With  the  improvement  of  the  lending  library, 
however,  things  took  a  turn,  and  people  began  to 
look  to  the  library  as  a  source  of  information.  The 
main  idea  of  the  reference  library  was,  nevertheless, 
of  very  slow  growth,  and  for  a  long  time  people 
resented  having  to  consult  books  in  the  building, 

IX.  A  A 


354          A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

and  in  that  way  only.  This  feeling  still  exists  to 
some  extent,  though  it  is  quietly  wearing  off.  The 
introduction  of  the  telephone  system  of  answering 
inquiries  is  doing  much  to  break  down  this  resent- 
ment. Such  an  attitude  of  mind,  however  un- 
reasonable, is  not  altogether  unnatural  in  a  busy 
commercial  community.  Each  person  thinks  of 
his  own  wants  and  convenience,  and  pays  no  atten- 
tion to  those  of  his  neighbour.  Time  is  limited, 
things  have  to  be  done  in  a  hurry,  why  can't  a 
man  have  the  Clergy  List,  or  the  Oxford  English 
Dictionary  to  consult  in  his  office  ?  It  does  not 
occur  to  him  that  a  dozen  others  may  require  either 
of  those  books  while  out  on  loan  to  him,  still  less 
does  he  realise  that  if  they  were  lent  out,  they  pro- 
bably would  not  be  immediately  available  to  answer 
his  urgent  need  when  it  arises. 

A  public  reference  library  has  also  to  contend 
with  the  small  but  difficult  class  of  reader  who 
thinks  that  the  business  of  the  library  is  to  supply 
a  snug,  well-furnished  room  for  his  special  benefit, 
where  he  may  pursue  his  dilettante  studies  undis- 
turbed by  the  presence  of  other  readers,  except 
perhaps  a  select  few,  like-minded  with  himself,  with 
whom  he  may  while  away  the  time  in  gossip  when 
he  feels  disposed.  It  was  readers  such  as  these 
who  led  to  the  arrangement  of  our  old  reference 
room  with  bookcases  forming  a  series  of  alcoves, 
and  in  each  alcove  a  table  for  a  solitary  reader, 
Here  the  few  who  used  the  place  in  those  days 
pitched  their  tents,  and  if  a  luckless  assistant,  or 
even  the  librarian,  had  occasion  to  go  to  one  of 
these  retreats  to  get  a  book  or  series  of  books,  and 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  355 

still  more  if,  as  very  frequently  happened,  the  in- 
habitant had  to  be  disturbed  from  his  seat  to  get 
what  was  wanted,  black  looks  and  mutterings,  and 
even  open  railing,  were  the  portion  of  the  officials. 
Nor  was  this  the  worst.  Mutilations  were  fre- 
quent, and  easily  accomplished.  Readers  came  to 
look  upon  these  sanctums  as  peculiarly  their  own. 
Meals  were  partaken  of,  and  the  floor  bestrewed  with 
crumbs,  which  attracted  mice  from  the  adjoining 
churchyard.  However  necessary  it  might  be  for 
cross  ventilation  to  open  the  window  above  the 
sanctum,  the  reader  objected.  Sometimes  wives 
and  even  sweethearts  were  introduced  to  share  the 
retreat,  and  suppressed  conversation  with  occasional 
laughter  was  indulged  in.  One  reader  took  daily 
possession,  and  removing  his  boots,  perched  himselr 
with  his  feet  on  the  table  and  his  chair  tilted  back. 
Occasionally  he  came  to  grief,  to  the  annoyance  of 
other  readers,  but  he  calmly  resumed,  and  defied 
us  to  show  him  any  rule  forbidding  the  removal 
of  boots  in  the  library.  For  ten  years  the  iron 
of  this  ill-designed  room  entered  into  my  soul. 
Then  an  extension  of  the  buildings  swept  it  out 
of  existence  as  a  reference  library,  and  therewith 
most,  though  not  all,  of  the  difficulties  ^connected 
with  it. 

A  librarian  comes  up  against  a  lot  of  queer 
human  nature,  and  difficult  though  it  may  be  at 
times,  the  only  way  is  to  look  at  the  humorous 
side,  and  to  go  on  quietly  but  firmly  resisting.  I 
have  found  that  as  the  library  grows  the  difficulties 
decrease,  a  silent  testimony  to  the  civilising  influ- 
ence of  books. 


356        A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

Almost  the  first  sign  of  interest  manifested  by  the 
public  in  our  infant  reference  library  of  twenty-three 
years  ago,  was  a  deputation  asking  that  some  Welsh 
books  should  be  purchased.  Three  gentlemen,  all 
ardent  Welshmen,  with  that  intense  love  of  their 
country  and  its  literature  so  characteristic  of  the 
race,  had  been  deputed  by  the  local  Welsh  Society, 
the  Cymmrodorion,  then  recently  established,  to 
bring  before  the  Libraries  Committee  the  desira- 
bility of  adding  to  the  library  some  books  for  Welsh 
readers.  There  was  not  at  that  time  in  the  library 
a  single  book  representative  of  the  literature  of 
the  Welsh  people.  Looking  back  this  seems  almost 
incredible.  There  were  a  few  volumes  of  local 
topography, — at  most  a  couple  of  shelves  would 
have  held  them  all, — but  so  far  as  I  can  recall, 
not  a  single  volume  in  the  Welsh  language.  The 
demands  of  the  deputation  were  modest  to  a  degree. 
A  dozen  books,  or  at  most  a  score,  was  the  extent 
of  it.  Yet  from  that  meeting  the  idea  of  a  Welsh 
department  took  shape.  The  Libraries  Committee 
readily  assented  to  the  proposal,  and  at  the  same 
time  formulated  a  scheme  which  ultimately  de- 
veloped into  an  attempt  to  collect  a  complete  Welsh 
library.  It  is  not  yet  complete;  perhaps  it  never 
will  be,  for  many  of  the  earlier  books  have  either 
entirely  disappeared,  or  exist  in  limited  numbers 
in  collections  not  likely  to  be  dispersed.  Still  we 
have  done  fairly  well.  All  current  publications 
relating  to  Wales  and  the  Borders,  and  less  fully 
the  publications  in  other  Celtic  languages,  are 
added  as  they  appear,  while  the  older  books  are 
steadily  acquired  as  opportunities  occur  of  securing 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  357 

them.  The  number  of  printed  volumes,  including 
pamphlets,  in  our  Welsh  department  exceeds  45,000. 
At  this  moment  it  is  the  largest  in  existence,  though 
its  supremacy  will  be  challenged  by  the  National 
Library  of  Wales,  to  be  established  at  Aberystwyth 
shortly,  and  to  which  a  number  of  large  and  valuable 
collections  have  already  been  promised. 

Welsh  bibliography  is  still  a  chaos.  Until  we 
took  the  subject:  in  hand  there  was  no  opportunity  of 
studying  it.  In  the  British  Museum  Welsh  books 
are  not  catalogued  or  shelved  separately,  and  owing 
to  the  conditions  prevailing,  the  Museum  in  the 
past  has  been  unable  to  obtain  more  than  a  small 
proportion  of  the  books.  Welsh  publishing  and 
bookselling  is  a  thing  apart.  In  every  town,  almost, 
one  might  say,  in  every  village  in  Wales,  there  has 
been,  at  some  time  or  another,  a  printer  or  pub- 
lisher of  Welsh  books.  In  a  large  number  of 
instances  the  author  and  publisher  are  one ;  the 
printer  simply  prints  the  book  and  delivers  the 
sheets.  The  author  gets  them  bound,  and  sells 
them  to  his  friends,  and  to  such  others  as  may 
chance  to  hear  of  them  through  a  review  in  a 
Welsh  paper  or  magazine.  Ministers  used  to  go  on 
a  preaching  and  lecturing  tour  through  the  Princi- 
pality to  advertise  and  sell  a  book.  Editions  run- 
ning into  thousands  were  disposed  of  in  this  way  by 
popular  ministers.  Even  now  Welsh  books  rarely 
appear  in  the  English  Catalogue,  are  very  seldom 
registered  at  Stationers'  Hall,  and  until  recently 
many  of  them  were  never  heard  of  by  the  British 
Museum,  and  the  other  copyright  libraries. 

About  eight  years  ago  Professor  Heinrich  Zimmer, 


358          A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

who  is  an  ardent  Celtic  scholar,  suggested  to  me 
that  some  effort  should  be  made  to  record  all  the 
publications  of  the  Welsh  press.  I  put  the  matter 
before  my  Committee,  and  it  was  agreed  to  try 
what  could  be  done.  From  this  arose  the  '  Biblio- 
graphy of  Wales,'  which  we  now  issue  half-yearly  ; 
for  the  last  eight  years  this  covers  the  ground  fairly 
well.  Rowlands'  £  Cambrian  Bibliography  '  up  to 
the  year  1800  is  sadly  incomplete  and  inaccurate, 
though  having  regard  to  the  difficulties  under  which 
it  was  prepared  it  is  a  credit  to  its  compiler,  and  to 
the  late  Chancellor  Silvan  Evans  who  edited  it. 
The  late  Charles  Ashton  was  engaged  upon  a 
bibliography  for  the  nineteenth  century  in  con- 
tinuation of  Rowlands',  and  left  a  large  store  01 
material ;  part  of  it  has  been  printed,  but  not 
published.  A  co-ordinated  effort  to  cover  the 
whole  field,  under  the  direction  of  a  trained  biblio- 
grapher, is  much  wanted.  The  institution  of  the 
national  library  may  lead  to  something  in  this 
direction. 

The  price  of  Welsh  books  has  risen  considerably 
of  late.  Cardiff  had  the  good  luck  to  be  early  in 
the  field,  and  was  able  to  secure  lor  quite  small 
sums  books  now  very  difficult  to  meet  with.  We 
have  purchased  several  collections  out  and  out. 
The  first  of  these  was  the  library  of  the  Rees  family 
of  the  Tonn,  Llandovery,  purchased  in  1889.  Later 
we  acquired  the  complete  library  of  Mr.  David 
Lewis  Wooding,  who  kept  a  country  store  at 
Beulah,  a  remote  hamlet  amongst  the  Breconshire 
hills,  where  he  quietly  accumulated  a  tolerable 
fortune,  and  indulged  a  considerable  passion  for 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  359 

book  collecting.  Then  we  had  a  good  friend  in 
the  late  Mr.  William  Scott,  a  commercial  traveller, 
who  ranged  over  the  whole  of  Wales.  In  his 
travels  he  set  himself  to  secure  for  our  library  any 
Welsh  book  not  already  there,  and  brought  together 
over  2,000  books,  besides  some  manuscripts.  Once 
he  had  embarked  on  his  scheme  he  pursued  it  with 
ardour,  and  he  had  a  winning  way,  productive  of 
many  valuable  finds.  His  premature  death  was  a 
great  loss,  for  he  was  one  of  the  most  valuable 
helpers  we  have  had. 

In  the  development  of  this  side  of  the  library  the 
Committee  and  the  public  have  shown  considerable 
pride,  and  when,  in  1895,  it  became  known  that 
the  Welsh  portion  of  the  Phillipps  manuscripts  were 
for  sale,  it  was  resolved  to  make  a  strenuous  effort 
to  secure  it  for  Cardiff.  The  amount  required, 
about  £3,650  in  all,  was  quite  beyond  the  reach 
of  our  ordinary  funds.  An  offer  of  a  thousand 
pounds  from  the  late  Marquess  of  Bute,  and  of  five 
hundred  pounds  from  Mr.  John  Cory,  of  Dyffryn, 
with  substantial  sums  from  the  Earl  of  Plymouth 
(then  Lord  Windsor),  Viscount  Tredegar,  the 
Mackintosh  of  Mackintosh,  and  other  friends, 
brought  the  prize  within  our  reach,  and  we  were 
able  to  complete  the  purchase. 

This  placed  the  library  in  the  possession  of  many 
manuscripts  of  more  than  local  importance.  The 
extension  of  our  buildings,  including  the  provision 
of  a  fine  reference  room,  with  large  book  storage 
space,  was  completed  about  the  same  time,  and  the 
two  things  put  a  new  aspect  on  our  affairs.  We 
had  risen  above  the  position  of  a  municipal  library, 


360  A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

ministering  to  the  wants  of  local  readers.  From  all 
parts  of  Wales,  and  from  other  Celtic  centres, 
readers  were  attracted. 

It  may  be  well  at  this  point  to  say  something 
about  finances.  The  Libraries  Acts  were  adopted 
in  1862  with  only  one  dissentient,  a  gentleman 
who  in  after  years  became  one  of  the  most  active 
members  of  the  Libraries  Committee,  and  though 
his  conversion  was  slow,  yet  it  was  sure,  for  as  he 
grasped  the  good  work  we  were  doing  he  became 
a  loyal  supporter,  and  took  great  pride  in  the  success 
of  the  libraries.  The  adoption  of  the  Acts  was  the 
action  of  the  ratepayers,  the  Town  Council  of  those 
days,  and  for  many  years  after,  being  indifferent,  and 
to  some  extent  hostile.  The  annual  fund  for  the 
up-keep  was  doled  out  in  a  grudging  manner.  If 
the  penny  rate  yielded  £435  the  Council  voted 
£400  for  that  year,  thus  clipping  off  the  book  fund 
a  sum  that  was  vital.  For  the  first  fifteen  years  the 
amount  available  for  books  never  rose  above  £80 
in  any  year,  and  it  was  often  far  below  that  sum ; 
in  some  years  there  was  nothing  spent  on  books. 
This  was  partly  due  to  the  supporters  of  the  library. 
They  aimed  at  a  three-fold  institution, — library, 
schools  of  science  and  art,  and  museum, — all  sup- 
ported out  of  the  meagre  income  produced  by  the 
penny  rate.  It  was  a  difficult  time.  Side  by  side  the 
three  departments  struggled  on :  the  library  lacked 
books ;  the  staff  in  the  science  and  art  schools  were 
most  inadequately  remunerated  for  giving  instruc- 
tion which  enabled  a  large  number  of  young  men 
and  young  women  to  obtain  good  positions  in  life ; 
while  the  museum  collections  accumulated  with  no 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  361 

one  to  arrange  them  for  exhibition  to  the  public. 
Of  the  three  the  library  was  worst  off.  The 
museum  was  looked  after  by  a  small  band  of  scien- 
tific men,  and  its  local  geological  collection  was  very 
good.  The  science  and  art  schools  were  kept  going 
by  the  help  of  the  grants  from  the  Science  and  Art 
Department.  The  library  failed  to  attract  any  of 
those  gifts  which  some  towns  have  received  from 
patriotic  citizens.  Fifteen  years  after  the  adoption 
of  the  Acts  the  Town  Council  was,  in  1 877,  forced 
into  paying  the  full  product:  of  a  penny  rate,  less 
than  £700.  From  that  time  matters  improved 
slowly.  In  1884  the  rate  had  grown  to  £1,100, 
but  in  the  meantime  a  new  building  had  been 
erected  for  the  three  institutions,  and  £422  per 
annum  went  in  loan  charges  for  the  building.  The 
rateable  value  of  the  town  improved  rapidly  after 
1884;  the  demands  on  the  three  institutions  grew 
in  even  greater  ratio,  and  it  was  not  until  the  pass- 
ing of  the  Technical  Instruction  Act  of  1889  that 
any  real  relief  came,  and  two  or  three  years  later 
the  passing  of  the  Museums  Act  enabled  the  cost 
of  that  department  to  be  taken  off  the  library  fund. 
A  period  of  rapid  development  followed.  The 
raising  of  the  rate  by  a  local  act  to  three  halfpence 
in  the  pound  was  referred  to  in  my  third  article. 
The  rate  now  produces  £6,900,  but  of  this  sum 
£1,750  is  absorbed  by  loan  charges  on  the  buildings 
of  the  central  library  and  three  of  the  branches  ;  and 
but  for  the  timely  gift  by  Mr.  Carnegie  of  £10,000 
for  two  further  branch  buildings,  our  finances  would 
still  be  utterly  inadequate.  As  it  is,  we  are  in 
straitened  circumstances.  The  book  fund  for  all 


362          A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

the  libraries  does  not  exceed  £700  a  year :  it  ought 
to  be  at  least  double  that  sum,  and  we  have  arrears 
of  bookbinding  to  a  serious  extent.  The  library 
service,  too,  demands  attention.  The  amount  avail- 
able for  salaries  is  insufficient  to  enable  us  to  give 
the  public  the  assistance  of  a  trained  staff  equal  to 
the  importance  of  the  work  we  are  doing.  The 
payment  of  more  adequate  salaries  to  the  assistants 
will  become  urgent  in  the  near  future.  Instead  of 
training  assistants  who,  when  they  are  becoming 
really  useful,  have  to  seek  better-paid  positions  in 
other  libraries,  we  shall  be  compelled  in  the  public 
interest  to  pay  such  salaries  as  will  retain  the  ser- 
vices of  a  larger  number  of  trained  assistants  for  the 
benefit  of  our  own  readers.  In  no  other  depart- 
ments of  our  public  service  are  the  staffs  so  badly 
paid  as  in  the  libraries. 

This  digression  on  finance  is  necessary  in  order 
to  show  that  successful  as  we  have  been  in  many 
respects,  yet  we  have  had  difficulties  to  contend 
with  in  the  past,  and  that  our  troubles  are  by  no 
means  over.  If  our  buildings  were  clear  of  debt 
we  could  do  very  well  on  the  three-halfpenny  rate, 
but  the  annual  deduction  of  £1750  for  loan  charges 
cripples  us*  This  is  a  point  of  more  than  local 
interest.  A  bill  has  been  before  Parliament  for 
two  or  three  sessions  which  seeks  to  remove  the 
restriction  placed  upon  local  authorities  with  regard 
to  libraries.  It  is  strongly  supported  by  the  lead- 
ing cities  and  towns  throughout  the  kingdom,  but 
has  failed  so  far  owing  to  the  opposition  of  a  small 
minority.  I  have  said  that  we  could  go  on  quite 
well  on  a  three-halfpenny  rate  if  we  had  no  loan 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  363 

charges.  Less  than  a  twopenny  rate  would  meet  the 
loan  charges,  and  leave  us  with  an  adequate  income. 
There  may  be  a  few  towns  where  a  twopenny 
rate  would  barely  suffice  to  meet  all  library  charges, 
but  in  most  cases  it  would  be  ample,  and  it  is  not 
at  all  likely  that  local  authorities  would  break  out 
into  extravagance  if  the  limit  were  removed. 

Until  some  measure  of  relief  is  given  by  a  general 
a6l,  a  large  number  of  libraries  in  this  country 
must  continue  to  fail  in  giving  their  readers  the 
full  advantages  which  a  slight  increase  of  income 
would  enable  them  to  give,  and  the  library  services 
must  remain  a  sweated  industry. 

The  gifts  made  by  Mr.  Carnegie  for  library 
buildings  have  been  the  means  of  extending  the 
library  system  to  a  large  number  of  small  towns 
and  urban  districts,  which  without  his  assistance 
would  have  been  quite  unable  to  provide  buildings 
and  maintenance  for  them.  It  is  a  significant  fa6l 
that  the  outstanding  amount  of  the  loans  for  library 
buildings  as  given  in  the  annual  government  return 
shows  no  great  increase  since  Mr.  Carnegie  came 
to  the  help  of  British  libraries.  But  many  of  the 
older  libraries,  in  the  more  enterprising  places,  still 
groan  under  a  load  of  debt  incurred  before  his 
benefactions  commenced.  The  total  of  the  out- 
standing loans  is  just  over  a  million  sterling.  It 
only  that  load  were  removed  the  library  system  of 
the  country  would  respond  to  the  demands  made 
upon  it  in  a  way  which  would  surprise  many  people. 
Glasgow,  with  its  fine  series  of  libraries,  shows 
what  can  be  done  when  the  income  has  not  to  be 
mortgaged  to  provide  buildings. 


364        A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

Looking  back  upon  the  financial  difficulties  we 
have  had  to  face  it  is  surprising  how  much  has 
been  done  in  the  way  of  collecting  a  reference 
library.  One  point  is  of  special  importance.  In 
the  days  of  adversity  the  library  attracted  very  few 
gifts,  and  those  small.  As  things  improved,  and 
the  service  to  the  public  increased,  valuable  gifts 
flowed  in  to  enrich  the  collections.  One  of  the 
earliest  was  the  greater  part  of  the  scientific  library 
of  the  late  Professor  Kitchen  Parker,  F.R.S.,  pur- 
chased and  presented  by  Mr.  Herbert  Metford 
Thompson.  This  gift  struck  a  new  note.  It 
made  the  reference  library  rich  in  one  field, 
emphasising  its  bareness  in  other  directions.  Stren- 
uous efforts  were  made  to  bring  other  subjects  up 
to  the  same  level,  and  to  maintain  the  standard  of 
the  scientific  section.  To  acquire  the  indispens- 
able books  for  a  reference  library  was  the  chief 
aim  at  first,  and  gradually  to  specialize  in  the 
subjects  most  required  for  the  district.  A  good 
rule  adopted  about  this  time  was  to  acquire  each 
year  at  least  one  costly  book  or  set  of  books  of 
permanent  value,  and  likely  to  be  used.  Pursuing 
this  plan  the  Committee  have  purchased  valuable 
works  for  nearly  every  department.  The  great 
monograph  on  conchology,  for  example,  by  Mr. 
Lovell  Reeve,  thirty-five  volumes,  for  which  ^90 
was  paid ;  the  Gould  monographs  on  birds  (some 
of  which  we  still  require)  ;  the  great  books  on  art 
and  artists,  like  the  valuable  illustrated  work  on 
the  Wallace  Collection ;  sets  of  transactions  of 
societies,  in  which  we  were  sadly  deficient,  a  de- 
ficiency still  existing  in  a  lesser  degree,  and  many 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  365 

other  costly  books  such  as  form  the  backbone  of  a 
good  reference  library,  have  been  acquired  by  a 
steady  adherence  to  this  policy. 

In  the  early  days  of  my  librarianship  it  was 
extremely  difficult  to  get  a  book  costing  over  a 
pound  passed  by  the  Committee.  The  minds  of 
the  members  had  not  grasped  the  idea  of  a  great 
town  library — we  were  still  in  the  stage  when  the 
idea  was  to  dole  out  reading  as  a  semi-charity  to 
the  poor.  All  that  is  changed.  The  question 
when  a  costly  purchase  is  contemplated  is,  not 
"  What  do  we  want  it  for  ?  "  but  "  Can  we  manage 
it  ? "  The  changed  attitude  is  an  eloquent  testi- 
mony to  the  importance  of  possessing  valuable  and 
rare  books  which  give  distinction — an  atmosphere. 
In  course  of  time  such  an  environment  becomes 
reflected  in  the  Committee,  the  staff,  and  the 
public.  It  lifts  the  mind  to  a  higher  level,  and 
the  Committee,  the  officers,  and  the  public  view 
the  library  from  a  higher  plane  for  the  presence  of 
such  things. 

We  have  numerous  instances  of  this.  Over  and 
over  again  of  late  years  gifts  of  rare,  unique,  and 
valuable  books,  manuscripts,  prints,  drawings,  maps, 
and  other  things  have  been  made,  because  it  is 
known  that  they  will  be  taken  care  of,  and  be 
available  for  the  pleasure  and  profit  of  the  public. 
A  few  instances  only  can  be  cited.  In  1842 
Wordsworth  wrote  a  sonnet,  *  When  Severn's 
sweeping  flood  had  overflown,'  on  the  destruction 
of  an  old  Cardiff  church  by  a  great  flood  in  1607. 
The  autograph  manuscript  of  this  poem  was  offered 
to  Viscount  Tredegar,  best  of  neighbours  and  a 


366          A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY 

never-failing  friend  to  the  library,  who  promptly 
bought  it  and  sent  it  to  us  as  a  gift.  A  collection 
of  rare  and  beautiful  early  printed  books,  with  at 
least  one  example  from  the  earliest  press  of  nearly 
every  important  continental  town,  was  offered 
for  sale.  The  library  had  no  funds,  so  I  men- 
tioned the  matter  to  Mr.  John  Cory,  another 
reliable  friend,  and  he  at  once  sent  a  cheque  to 
pay  for  it. 

From  all  parts  of  Wales  we  are  constantly  receiv- 
ing gifts  of  recent  publications  and  or  rare  books 
from  people  who  have  tested  the  library,  and  from 
others  who  know  our  work  by  repute  only.  Such 
gifts  are  often  of  small  monetary  value,  but  they 
put  us  in  possession  of  many  things  difficult  to 
procure,  and  in  the  aggregate  of  great  importance. 
We  also  receive  constantly  gifts  of  books  from 
Welshmen  in  America.  Since  the  seventeenth 
century  there  has  been  considerable  emigration 
from  Wales  to  America,  and  many  settlers  took 
their  books  with  them.  These  have  to  some 
extent  found  their  way  back  to  us ;  while  we 
also  receive  evidences  of  the  literary  activity  of 
the  Welsh  in  America  at  the  present  day.  Men 
I  have  never  seen,  and  know  only  by  their  letters 
and  their  gifts,  continually  remind  me  of  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  Welsh  for  their  native  land. 

But  I  must  resist  the  temptation  to  go  on  writing 
about  the  collections,  and  say  something  of  the  use 
made  of  them  by  the  public.  In  the  first  place 
we  resist  attempts  to  use  the  reference  library  as  a 
place  for  idlers,  or  as  a  place  of  recreation.  Diffi- 
cult though  it  is  at  times  to  discriminate,  yet  it 


AND  ITS  PUBLIC.  367 

can  be  done.  The  appearance  of  the  room  dis- 
courages those  who  are  not  in  earnest.  There  are 
no  retreats  in  the  main  room,  while  there  is  such 
an  air  of  study  that  the  idler  instinctively  feels  him- 
self out  of  place.  An  inquiry  desk,  with  a  well 
qualified  assistant  always  on  duty  to  help  readers, 
checks  abuses.  The  average  attendance  is  between 
two  and  three  hundred  readers  daily,  a  number 
largely  increased  by  students  of  the  University 
College  during  term  time.  The  high  schools,  the 
technical  schools,  and  other  educational  institutions 
supply  a  constant  stream  of  students.  The  pro- 
fessional and  commercial  classes  not  only  from 
Cardiff,  but  from  a  wide  area  round,  keep  us 
regularly  employed.  It  may  be  a  lawyer  looking 
up  the  points  of  a  case  bristling  with  termino- 
logical or  technical  difficulties,  or  an  expert  from  a 
great  works  in  search  of  a  solution  to  some  scientific 
problem  arising  in  the  works,  or  seeking  a  descrip- 
tion of  some  new  process  or  piece  of  machinery. 
Then  we  always  have  a  certain  number  of  readers 
engaged  in  transcribing  manuscripts,  and  looking 
up  references  and  authorities  for  some  literary 
work.  These  last  are  drawn  from  far  and  near. 
Studious  men  from  all  over  Wales  spend  some 
portion  of  their  holidays  every  year  in  Cardiff  to 
enable  them  to  look  up  points  in  the  reference 
library.  Others  engaged  upon  literary  work  break 
the  ground  with  us,  and  go  on  to  the  British 
Museum  to  complete  their  labours. 

No  restriction  is  placed  on  the  admission  of  readers 
to  the  reference  library.  A  ticket,  filled  up  at  the 
time  for  each  book  required,  is  the  only  credential 


368  A  MUNICIPAL  LIBRARY. 

demanded.  Manuscripts  and  other  works  of  ex- 
ceptional value  are,  however,  not  lent  without 
reference  to  a  senior  officer,  and  in  most  cases  the 
applicant  is  given  a  table  in  an  inner  room  and 
every  precaution  is  taken  to  prevent  and  detect 
damage.  So  far  we  have  been  singularly  free  from 
abuses ;  I  cannot  recall  any  instance  of  a  manu- 
script being  injured. 

The  value  of  the  reference  library  to  the  public, 
and  the  important,  though  silent  part  it  fills  in  the 
everyday  life  of  the  district,  was  demonstrated  a 
couple  of  years  ago  when  it  had  to  be  closed  for  a 
month  for  some  repairs.  Every  day  brought  urgent 
requests  for  access  to  it  in  connection  with  some 
matter  of  importance,  and  so  persistently  did  these 
requests  come  day  after  day  that  we  had  to  arrange 
a  system  whereby  they  could  be  met  while  the 
reference  library  remained  closed.  The  absence  of 
any  other  reference  library  of  any  importance,  not 
only  in  Cardiff,  but  anywhere  near,  accentuates  the 
value  no  doubt ;  at  the  same  time  this  is  an  eloquent 
tribute  to  the  position  municipal  libraries  have 
attained  as  factors  in  the  life  of  the  community. 

In  a  fifth  and.  concluding  article  I  hope  to  say 
something  on  the  museum  side  of  the  library,  the 
collection  and  exhibition  of  examples  of  fine  print- 
ing, bookbinding,  portraits,  topographical  prints, 
drawings  and  photographs,  and  also  on  the  loan  of 
books  and  prints  for  teaching  purposes,  lectures  in 
the  branch  libraries,  the  publication  of  catalogues 
and  handlists  for  special  subjects,  and  other  activi- 
ties. 

JOHN  BALLINGER. 


369 


RECENT    FOREIGN    LITERATURE. 

N  '  Memoires  d'une  vieille  Fille,'  Rene 
Bazin  gives  a  fresh  setting  to  his  stories 
from  the  lives  of  the  poor.  He 
imagines  an  old  maid  by  vocation,  a 
very  different  person,  he  is  careful  to 
impress  on  us,  from  '  une  jeune  fille  non  mariee,' 
who  devotes  her  life  to  the  poor.  The  most  in- 
teresting part  of  the  book  is  the  opening  chapter, 
'  La  Vocation  d'une  vieille  Fille.'  The  origin  of 
the  species  is  thus  set  forth : 

*  Nous  avons  une  tres  longue  histoire,  et  tres  noble, 
qu'il  faut  continuer,  c'est  1'histoire  des  families  de  France. 
Elles  ont  £te,  en  notable  partie,  1'oeuvre  des  vieilles  filles, 
dont  la  France  d'autrefois  etait  plus  abondamment  pourvue. 
Quelle  est  celle  qui  n'avait  pas  sa  tante  Gothon,  sa  tante 
Marion,  sa  tante  Ursule?  Personne  n'heritait  en  bloc  de 
ces  femmes  habituellement  pauvres  ou  appauvries ;  mais 
il  y  a  I'heiitage  quotidien,  celui  que  distribuent  nos 
actions.  Tante  Gothon  filait,  tante  Marion  be^ait,  tante 
Ursule  enseignait  a  lire.  Les  meres,  tres  f^condes, 
trouvaient  de  1'aide  qui  ne  coutait  rien,  pour  clever  les 
petits.  II  y  avait  quatre,  six,  huit  bras  pour  endormir, 
plusieurs  voix  pour  chanter,  un  seul  cceur  pour  instruire. 
Les  tantes  se  repandaient  toujours  un  peu  hors  de  la 
maison,  et  c'est  ce  qu'il  faut  faire.  Que  j'aurais  voulu 
les  connaitre.  Elles  devaient  avoir  tant  de  recettes  et  de 
maximes  concernant  leur  etat.' 

IX.  B  B 


370    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

The  old  maid  who  has  almost  ceased  to  exist  in 
English  life,  and  therefore  in  English  fiction,  seems 
just  now  to  be  somewhat  in  the  ascendant  in 
French  novels.  In  '  Ce  qu'il  Fallait  Savoir  '  Ernest 
Tissot  relates  the  struggles  with  fortune  of  four 
sisters,  all  old  maids,  who  lose  their  money.  The 
book  is  not  remarkable,  though  there  are  amusing 
episodes.  A  passage,  however,  is  worth  quoting 
that  throws  some  light  on  the  conditions  of  trans- 
lating in  France,  and  the  reasons  for  the  many  bad 
translations  of  which  complaint  has  been  frequently 
made  of  late.  A  young  man  suddenly  finds  himself 
deprived  of  his  income  through  the  collapse  of  the 
mines  in  which  his  money  was  invested ;  he  is 
absolutely  unprepared  for  earning  a  livelihood,  and 
as  his  sole  stock  in  trade  is  an  excellent  knowledge 
of  foreign  tongues,  he  proposes  to  do  translations 
for  the  publishers.  The  friend  to  whom  he  confides 
his  plan  is  an  experienced  and  successful  literary 
man.  Here  is  his  reply : 

*  La  traduclion  ?  .mais  c'est  le  dernier  des  metiers. 
Travaillerais-tu  quatorze  heures  par  jour,  qu'il  ne  te 
donnerait  pas  de  quoi  manger  du  pain  sec  1  Depuis  que 
tout  le  monde  s'est  mis  a  faire  des  traductions,  c'est  un 
moyen  fini,  archifini.  Je  connais  un  hotel  du  noble  fau- 
bourg dont  tous  les  habitants  traduisent, — jusqu'au  con- 
cierge— tu  m'entends  ?  La  douairiere  race"e — oh  combienl 
— use  ses  lunettes  \  transcrire  les  meditations  des  nio- 
catholiques  de  New- York.  Elle  s'entend  ^  construire 
une  phrase  comme  moi  a  tirer  1'aiguille ;  il  lui  faut  un 
professeur  de  Facultd  pour  remettre  en  fran9ais  ses  ver- 
sions. La  fille  non  moins  race'e  s'est  mise  aux  romans 
italiens  qu'elle  a  soins  de  choisir  au  poivre  de  Cayenne ! 
Les  bureaux  de  redaction  sont  encombr^s  de  ses  manu- 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    371 

scrits  et  je  te  revelerai  qu'ils  sont  invariablement  rec,us, 
quitte  a  les  faire  reviser  par  les  secretaires,  car  cette  dame 
non  seulement  ne  reclame  aucuns  honoraires  mais,  par 
desir  de  publicite,  elle  va  jusqu'a  truffer  ses  cahiers  de 
billets  de  cent.  J'abregerai  Enumeration.  Le  gendre, 
socialiste,  par  snobisme,  s'occupe  de  divulguer  les  ouvrages 
de  la  Bibliotheque  Rouge,  et  comme  il  salt  a  peine  1'anglais 
et  pas  du  tout  1'allemand,  on  dit — mais  on  dit  tant  de 
choses ! — que  ce  n'est  point  pour  des  prunes  qu'il  engagea 
un  cocher  de  Londres  et  un  concierge  de  Pomeranie ! 
Jusqu'aux  fils  qui,  tout  potaches  qu'ils  sont,  feuillettent 
le  dictionnaire  ;  il  ne  s'agit  encore  que  de  textes  classiques, 
c'est  le  commencement!  La  maladie  de  la  famille  les 
guette  deja.' 

Remain  Rolland  is  continuing  at  great  length 
and  in  minute  detail  the  life  and  adventures  of  his 
4  Jean  Christophe.'  The  latest  volume  that  has 
come  my  way  deals  with  the  young  German 
musician's  arrival  in  Paris,  and  his  early  adventures 
there.  It  gives  a  very  pessimistic  picture  of  Paris 
at  the  present  time,  especially  of  the  artistic  life  of 
the  city.  Jean  Christophe  searches  everywhere  for 
art :  he  seeks  it  in  literature,  in  the  theatre,  in 
music,  in  painting.  The  result  is  seen  in  the  follow- 
ing words,  which  occur  at  the  end  of  the  book : 

* "  Ce  n'est  pas  tant  le  talent  qui  manque  a  votre  art," 
disait  Christophe  a  Sylvain  Kohn,  "  que  le  caractere. 
Vous  auriez  plus  besoin  d'un  grand  critique,  d'un 
Lessing,  d'un  .  .  ." 

c  "  D'un  Boileau  ?  "  dit  Sylvain  Kohn,  goguenardant. 

'  "  D'un  Boileau,  peut-e"tre  bien,  que  de  dix  artistes  de 
genie." 

* "  Si  nous  avions  un  Boileau,"  dit  Sylvain  Kohn,  "  on 
ne  1'ecouterait  pas." 


372    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

* "  Si  on  ne  1'ecoutait  pas,  c'est  qu'il  ne  serait  pas  un 
Boileau,"  repliqua  Christophe.  .  .  .  "  Ce  n'est  pas  possible. 
II  y  a  autre  chose." 

* "  Qu'est-ce  que  vous  voulez  de  plus  ? "  demanda 
Kohn. 

*  Christophe  r£p6ta  avec  opiniatrete  :  <c  La  France." : 

In  another  volume  of  the  series,  *  Antoinette,' 
Rolland  pursues  the  device  of  the  seventeenth 
century  writers  of  romance,  and  gives  in  full  the 
life-history  of  a  little  French  governess  with  whom 
Jean  Christophe  had  been  brought  in  contacl  for  a 
few  hours. 

'  Nietzscheenne,'  a  new  novel  by  the  lady  who 
calls  herself  '  Daniel  Lesueur,'  is  not  a  very  dis- 
tinguished piece  of  work.  A  big  motor  faclory,  a 
strike  of  the  workmen,  philanthropic  efforts  to 
improve  their  condition,  '  la  haute  finance '  on  a 
large  scale,  Parisian  smart  society,  form  the  setting 
for  the  intrigues  described.  The  heroine,  a  beauti- 
ful, accomplished,  unmarried  woman,  whose  youth 
has  been  somewhat  stormy,  rules  her  aclions  when 
she  has  emerged  into  calmer  regions  by  Nietzsche's 
philosophy ;  but  it  fails  to  help  her  when  she  falls 
in  love  with  a  married  man,  although  she  finally 
saves  his  life  at  the  expense  of  her  own. 

Edouard  Rod  calls  his  latest  novel,  £  Aloyse 
Valerien,'  '  une  etude  passionnelle.'  He  declares 
that  it  is  his  intention  in  such  studies  only  to 
describe  without  prejudice  '  les  troubles  semes  dans 
la  vie  humaine  par  les  jeux  cruels  de  la  passion.' 
He  also  desires  to  show  that  these  difficulties  are 
not  due  to  faults  in  institutions  and  laws,  but  to 
men's  own  natures  and  to  the  permanent  opposition 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    373 

between  their  individual  instincts  and  the  necessity 
of  conforming  to  the  laws  of  the  community.  I 
have  seen  this  book  praised  as  the  best  of  all  Rod 
has  written.  But  both  in  human  interest  and  in 
artistic  skill,  it  surely  falls  below  *  Michel  Teissier  ' 
and  '  L'ombre  s'etend  sur  la  montagne.'  '  Aloyse 
Valerien  '  is  the  story  of  an  erring  wife  who  suffered 
deeply  for  her  fault  (her  husband  was  killed  by 
her  lover  in  a  duel),  and  who  desired  to  save  her 
daughter  from  a  similar  fate.  Both  had  made  un- 
congenial marriages,  and  in  both  cases  the  husbands 
were  of  common  clay,  while  the  wives  were 
'  femmes  d'elite.'  It  would  seem  to  point  the 
moral  that  marriages  of  convenience  should  be 
made  with  caution. 


'  Du  Bartas  en  Angleterre'  by  H.  Ashton  is  an 
important  contribution  to  the  study  of  comparative 
literature.  The  author  shows  how  great  an  influence 
the  works  of  Du  Bartas,  through  Sylvester's  trans- 
lation, have  had  on  English  poets,  especially  on 
Milton  and  on  William  Browne.  Ashton  thinks 
that  Shakespeare  also  came  under  the  influence  of 
Du  Bartas,  and  attributes  the  wonderfully  beautiful 
epithets,  which  have  generally  been  ascribed  to 
Shakespeare's  acquaintance  with  translations  of  the 
Greek  poets,  notably  Homer,  to  Sylvester's  c  Du 
Bartas.' 

'Nous  avons  1'intime  conviftion  que  jamais  aucune 
tradu&ion  d'ceuvres  grecques  n'ont  la  vogue  de  1'ouvrage 
de  Sylvester  et  nous  demeurons  persuade,  qu'en  derniere 
analyse,  c'est  autant  a  Du  Bartas  qu'a  Homere  qu'il  fan- 


374    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

drait  remonter  pour  trouver  la  source  des  mots  composes 
Shakesperiens  le  plus  oses  (proud-pied  April^  heaven-kissing 
hill,  cloud-kissing)' 

Pleasure  is  always  to  be  found  by  those  who 
think,  and  who  care  for  ideas,  in  any  study  of 
Goethe  and  his  works.  A  French  critic  has  well 
said,  c  1'excellence  de  la  litterature  est  de  nous 
habituer  a  prendre  plaisir  aux  idees.'  Georges 
Dalmeyda,  assured  that  nothing  gives  that  pleasure 
in  so  high  a  degree  as  Goethe's  '  Essais  antiqui- 
sants,'  has  written  a  most  interesting  volume  on 
'  Goethe  et  le  drame  antique.'  All  lovers  of 
Goethe  will  appreciate  the  book,  and  give  it  the 
detailed  study  it  deserves.  It  is  divided  into  three 
parts:  (i)  c  Le  libre  apprentissage.  Vers  1'art 
antiquisant' ;  (2)  '  Drames  et  theories  classiques. 
Les  theories  et  la  pratique  du  theatre ;  (3)  c  Du 
classicisme  au  symbolisme.'  It  was  Goethe  who 
advised  us  '  to  be  Greeks  in  our  way,'  by  which  he 
meant  that  Greece  offers  an  eternal  lesson  not  only 
to  the  artist,  but  to  the  man.  Goethe  gives  the 
most  personal  and  most  free  interpretation  of  Greek 
tragedy.  Perhaps  the  lesson  his  work  contains  for 
the  artist  is — 

'  De  chercher  en  lui-meme  et  dans  I'experience  une 
sage  conception  de  la  vie,  et  de  lui  donner  la  forme  la  plus 
nettement  intelligible,  la  plus  harmonieusement  expressive; 
cette  sagesse,  Goethe  1'a  trouv£e  pour  lui-meme  dans  cette 
"  limitation,"  d'ou  sort  notre  libert£  veritable,  et  dans  la 
contemplation  des  rapports  eternels  des  choses,  qui  assure 
notre  propre  dternite.  Tel  est  1'enseignement  qu'il  tire 
de  1'art  grec,  et  particulierement  du  drame.' 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    375 

Everyone  knows  Tischbein's  famous  portrait  of 
'  Goethe  in  Italy.'  Goethe  made  the  painter's  ac- 
quaintance in  Rome,  and  was  so  much  attracted  by 
his  personality  that  he  went  to  live  in  the  same  house 
with  him ;  and  later  they  went  together  to  Naples. 
A  new  biography  of  this  remarkable  man  by  Franz 
Landsberger  is  very  welcome.  Tischbein  had  inter- 
course with  most  of  the  celebrated  men  and  women 
of  his  time  and  painted  their  portraits.  Besides 
Goethe  he  knew  and  painted,  among  others, 
Amalie,  Duchess  of  Weimar,  Canova,  Lady  Hamil- 
ton, Heine,  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington.  Tisch- 
bein undoubtedly  influenced  and  assisted  Goethe  in 
the  art  studies  he  made  while  in  Italy,  studies  which 
resulted  later  in  many  important  works.  What  he 
saw  in  Italy  satisfied  his  'burning  thirst  for  true  art,' 
and  he  not  only  became  acquainted  there  with  the 
true  art  for  which  he  longed,  but  he  mastered  it, 
and  was  thus  enabled  to  produce  such  masterpieces 
as  his  *  Iphigenie,'  his  '  Tasso,'  and  his  '  Faust.' 

Excellent  criticism  and  wise  thought  are  con- 
tained in  Rene  Doumic's  c  Le  Theatre  Nouveau,' 
where  he  sums  up  ten  years  of  dramatic  activity 
in  France.  If  those  who  are  contemplating  the 
establishment  of  a  national  theatre  in  England 
would  read  this  volume,  they  would  see  how  very 
different  is  the  position  of  the  theatre  in  France 
compared  with  its  position  in  England,  and  how 
the  difference  is  due  to  temperament  in  the  first 
place,  and  in  the  second  to  social  conditions  that 
do  not  prevail  in  this  country.  Doumic  says  : 
'  Ne  dites  pas  de  mal  du  theatre :  c'est  la  derniere 
religion  de  la  France.'  There  is  the  whole  matter 


376    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

in  a  nutshell.  He  divides  the  theatre  into:  (i) 
4  le  theatre  gai ' ;  (2)  '  le  theatre  de  predication 
sociale;  (3)  'le  theatre  d'idees,'  and  criticises  in 
detail  the  plays  that  have  appeared  in  each  *  genre.' 
Naturally  all  the  most  important  of  these  have  been 
described  in  my  articles  here. 

Doumic  makes  some  very  pregnant  remarks  on 
the  '  theatre  d'idees,'  which  might  well  be  taken 
to  heart  by  some  of  our  younger  dramatists.  He 
says  that  a  piece  which  contains  ideas  must  be  a 
play  all  the  same,  and  must  not  cause  the  audience 
to  yawn.  He  scarcely  believes  in  the  opinion 
sometimes  expressed  that  the  public  gets  the  plays 
it  demands.  He  declares  that : 

*  Le  public  n'a  jamais  impose  aucune  forme  d'art :  il 
prend  ce  qu'on  lui  donne.  II  est  docile :  il  a  besom 
d'etre  guide.  II  en  a  plus  grand  besoin  que  jamais,  par 
ce  qu'il  devient  plus  nombreux  :  il  ne  1'a  jamais  ete  moins 
que  maintenant.' 

The  book  includes  an  essay  on  suicide  on  the 
stage,  a  feature  of  a  large  number  of  our  modern 
comedies.  Doumic  reminds  us  that — 

c  L'objet  de  la  comedie  de  moeurs  n'est  pas  le  meme  que 
celui  de  la  tragedie.  La  tragedie  nous  met  sous  les  yeux 
les  effets  de  la  passion  portee  a  son  paroxysme  ;  la  comedie 
a  pour  objet  de  nous  montrer  le  train  de  la  vie  ordinaire ; 
elle  ne  doit  done  pas  donner  au  "  fait  divers  "  plus  d'im- 
portance  et  plus  de  frequence  qu'il  n'en  a  reellement. 
Que  dans  certains  cas,  et  dans  les  concours  de  circon- 
stances  ou  il  faillit  du  sujet  meme,  le  denouement  par  le 
suicide  en  vaille  un  autre,  cela  n'est  pas  impossible.  La 
plupart  du  temps,  il  n'est  qu'un  expedient.' 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.     377 

In  fa6l  suicide  on  the  stage  is '  un  coup  de  deses- 
poir,'  a  confession  of  weakness  on  the  part  of  the 
dramatist — his  last  resource  when  at  a  loss  for  a 
conclusion. 

Under  the  title4  Les  Muses  Fran9aises.  Antho- 
logie  des  Femmes-Poetes,'  Alphonse  Seche  has 
selected  and  edited  with  biographical  notices  poems 
by  French  women  poets  from  Marie  de  France 
to  Therese  Maquet  (1200-1891).  It  is  fairly  re- 
presentative, but  ceasing  arbitrarily  in  1891  it 
could  not  include  the  work  of  the  Comtesse  de 
Noailles,  the  most  distinguished  French  poetess  of 
to-day.  Seche  gives  an  excellent  appreciation  of 
Madame  Desbordes-Valmore,  who  is  perhaps  the 
most  remarkable  woman  lyric  poet  of  modern 
times,  and  too  little  known  or  read  in  this  country. 
She  was  contemporary  with  Mrs.  Browning,  and  a 
comparative  study  of  the  two  poets  is  interesting 
both  in  the  light  of  literary  movements  and  de- 
velopments, and  in  that  of  the  woman's  outlook  on 
life  which  is  and  must  be  essentially  different  from 
that  of  men.  In  most  of  the  arts  it  is  unnecessary 
and  even  rather  absurd  to  make  distinctions  between 
the  work  of  the  sexes,  but  if  such  separation  is  to 
be  made,  there  is  more  reason  for  it  in  lyric  poetry 
than  anywhere  else.  It  would  have  been  better,  I 
think,  if  M.  Seche  had  not  included  poems  by 
George  Sand,  Madame  de  Stael,  and  Eugenie  de 
Guerin,  all  of  whom  are  very  distinguished  prose- 
writers,  but  very  minor  poets. 

#  #  *  #  # 

The  following  recently  published  books  deserve 
attention : — 


378    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

Theodore  II.  Lascaris,  Empereur  de  Nicee.  Par 
Jean  Pappadopoulos. 

A  contribution  to  Byzantine  history. 

Les  Fetes  et  les  Chants  de  la  Revolution  fran- 
9aise.  Par  Julien  Tiersot. 

A  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  French  Revolution  written  to 
support  the  thesis  that  a  nation's  amusements  and  methods  of  re- 
joicing afford  insight  into  its  character. 

La  Campagne  de  1800  a  1'armee  des  Grisons. 
Par  le  Lieutenant  Henri  Leplus. 

A  contribution  to  the  history  of  the  Napoleonic  wars. 

Itineraire  general  de  Napoleon  Ier.  Par  Albert 
Schuermans.  With  a  preface  by  Henry  Houssaye. 

A  detailed  itinerary  with  most  excellent  and  illuminating  notes. 
Houssaye  reminds  us  that  Sainte-Beuve  described  the  notes  to  a 
historical  work  as  *  le  livre  d'en  bas.' 

Le  Tribunal  Revolutionnaire  (1793-5).  Par 
G.  Lenotre. 

A  volume  of  the  series  entitled  *  Memoires  et  souvenirs  sur  la 
Revolution  et  1'Empire  public's  avec  des  documents  inedits.'  It 
offers  a  genre  pifture,  not  a  fresco  painting,  of  the  life  of  the  Palais 
during  the  evil  days  of  the  Revolution.  It  is  based  on  contem- 
porary documents,  and  attempts  to  disprove  Descartes's  dictum, 
*  S'ils  ne  changent  ni  augmentent  les  choses  pour  les  rendre  plus 
dignes  d'etre  lues,  les  historiens  en  omettent,  presque  toujours,  les 
plus  basses  et  les  moins  illustres,  d'ou  vient  que  le  reste  ne  parait 
pas  ce  qu'il  est.* 

L'Assistance  et  1'Etat  en  France  a  la  veille  de  la 
Revolution  (Generalites  de  Paris,  Rouen,  Alenfon, 
Orleans,  Chalons,  Soissons,  Amiens),  1764-90.  Par 
Camille  Bloch. 


RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE.    379 

An  interesting  account  of  the  ideas  prevailing  about  philanthropy 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  when  charity  began  to  be  regarded  as  a 
duty  of  man,  and  '  bienfaisance  publique '  as  a  duty  of  nations 

Le  poete  J.  Fr.  Regnard  en  son  Chasteau  de 
Grillon.  Par  Joseph  Guyot. 

Throws  some  new  light  on  Regnard's  personality. 

Textes  Choisis.  Leonard  de  Vinci.  Pensees, 
theories,  preceptes,  fables,  et  faceties.  With  intro- 
duction by  Peladan,  and  thirty-one  facsimiles. 

Those  who  read  French  and  not  Italian,  and  fear  to  attack 
Richter's  English  translation  of  the  whole  of  Leonardo's  literary 
works,  can  gather  here  some  idea  of  the  great  painter's  writings. 

Voyage  au  Thibet  par  la  Mongolie.  De  Pekin 
aux  Indes.  Par  le  Comte  de  Lesdain. 

Lesdain  and  his  wife  claim  to  be  the  first  Europeans  to  have 
crossed  the  great  table-land  of  Thibet  from  north  to  south  without 
having  been  obliged  to  turn  back  on  reaching  Lhassa.  The  author 
considers  it  a  case  of  fortune  favouring  the  bold.  He  has  written 
a  very  interesting  travel-book. 

La  Vie  politique  dans  les  deux  mondes.  Pub- 
lished under  the  direction  of  Achille  Viallate,  with 
a  preface  by  Anatole  Leroy-Beaulieu.  First  year : 
ist  October,  1906 — 3oth  September,  1907. 

A  useful  work  of  reference  for  contemporary  history.  It  gives 
an  account  of  the  political  events  in  the  two  hemispheres  during 
the  period  named. 

Briefwechsel  Friedrichs  des  Grossen  mit  Voltaire. 
Edited  by  Reinhold  Koser  and  Hans  Droysen. 

This  is  the  first  part,  and  contains  the  correspondence  of  the 
Crown  Prince  from  1736  to  1740,  giving  both  his  letters  and  those 
of  Voltaire  arranged  in  order. 


380    RECENT  FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

Hebbels  Briefe.     Ausgewahlt  und  biographisch 
verbunden  von  Kurt  Kiichler. 

Hebbel  the  dramatist  is  known  and  admired  by  all  lovers  of 
German  literature,  but  Hebbel  the  man  is  less  appreciated.  In 
these  capitally  chosen  letters  he  writes,  as  it  were,  his  own  bio- 
graphy. His  acquaintance  is  well  worth  making,  and  no  better 
way  can  be  imagined  than  through  this  volume. 

Die  Melodien  der  Troubadours.     Von  Dr.  J.  B. 
Beck. 

The  melodies  are  taken  from  contemporary  manuscripts,  and  are 
transcribed  into  modern  notation.  They  are"  accompanied  by  an 
essay  on  the  development  of  musical  notation  up  to  1250. 

Geschichte  der  Motette.  Von  Hugo  Leichten- 
tritt. 

The  second  volume  of  the  series  entitled  *  Kleine  Handbtlcher 
der  Musikgeschichte  nach  Gattungen,'  edited  by  Hermann  Kret- 
schmar.  The  series  promises  to  be  most  useful  and  interesting. 

ELIZABETH  LEE. 


DESIGNS    USED    IN    SHAK 


NO 

WATI  R 
MARK 


0 


16 


NOTES 

These  marks  are 
reproduced  from  free- 
hand drawings,  and 
must,  therefore,  not  be 
taken  as  accurate  re- 
presentations. They 
are  much  reduced  and 
only  roughly  to  scale. 


It  is  not  absolutely 
certain  whether  Nos. 
i  and  14,  and  24  and 
27  are  really  distinct 
or  not. 

On  the  other  hand, 
Nos.  1 8  and  20  may 
be  capable  of  being  re- 
solved. 


ESPEARE    WATERMARKS. 


3.  The  foot  bends  and 
finally  breaks  up. 

5.  The  B  gradually 
breaks  so  as  to  re- 
semble an  R,  and 
the  bends  in  the 
foot  also  vary  con- 
siderably. 

7.  The  top  bends  and 
breaks. 

8.  The  E  bends  so  as 
finally  to  resemble 
a  Y. 


10 


2.1 


j.\ry 


y.    Tin-    bends 
good  deal. 

i  5  and  l  6  may  best  !KJ 
distinguished  by 
the  circle  or  eclipse 
below  the  heart.  I  8 
is  really  consider- 
ably larger. 

22.  The  B  almost   re- 
sembles   an     M     at 
times. 

23.  The  bends  .ire  con- 
siderable    in     some 

Cases. 


2.5 


TABLE  I. 

TABLE  II. 

1 

1 

ON 

ON 

ON 

ON 

SHEET 

A 

B 

C 

D 

E 

F 

G 

H 

I 

K 

L 

NO 

NO 

NO 

NO 

>' 

Q 

2- 

1 

oo 
O 

NO 

•T 

S? 

e" 

C 

ON 

NO 

>     c. 

2 

6 

i 

H 

2 

6 

6 

'4 

H 

8 

rt 

c 
— 

E 

<? 

>f 

cc 
O 

| 

H 

u 

c 
u 

O               /"> 
*-•    O        vJ. 

c     O 

I 

i 

7 

H 

9? 

2 

3 

H 

6 

8? 

I 

u 

3 

u 

C 

j? 

C 

s 

0 

(j 

0 

(J 

"o 

-i-  M. 

u. 

2 

18 

7 

'4 

9 

6 

3 

H 

6 

8 

i 

5 

S 

O 

I 

•J 

s 

O 

N 

_p 

I       H. 

2 

18 

7 

14 

9 

2 

6 

H 

6 

8 

0 

I 

7 

10 

q       C. 

6 

7 

8 

5 

9 

2 

2 

2 

i 

3 

I 

i 

3 

3? 

•  o    G. 

E  o 

7 

5 

5 

5 

i 

24 

6 

2 

2 

6 

9 

7 

4 

8 

17 

2^   M. 

"O 

6 

o 

27 

5 

7 

2 

2 

2 

3 

2 

4 

6 

5 

4? 

5 

9 

2 

6 

2 

4 

i? 

6? 

C. 

15 

16 

17 

18 

16 

IS 

5 

15 

15 

5 

5 

6 

7 

3 

9 

so    G. 

a    o 

15 

15 

*7 

16 

16 

16 

5 

15 

15 

5 

6 

8 

5 

i 

i 

2? 

4 

^   M. 

o 

«S 

16 

17 

16 

15 

15 

5 

15 

15 

5 

7 

3 

3 

i 

2 

3 

H. 

15 

17 

17 

IS 

16 

15 

21 

15 

15 

5 

8 

4? 

i 

I 

C. 

i9 

20 

21 

22 

o 

16 

0 

9 

3? 

2 

^ 

12 

5 

5 

22 

16 

15 

0 

10 

3 

5^   M. 

IS 

'9 

20? 

5 

21 

•? 

15 

0 

1  1 

3 

H. 

19 

2O 

o 

22 

o 

16 

o 

I  2 

i 

5 

C. 

i 

2 

6 

10 

1  1 

12 

o 

12 

0 

13 

0 

'3 

3 

U.  00         G. 

n    o 

2 

2 

25 

I  I 

IO 

'9 

o 

'9 

20 

13 

o 

14 

9 

i 

I 

2 

2? 

J^   M. 

2 

H 

2 

I  I 

26 

!9 

o 

12 

21 

o 

21 

15 

18 

2 

H. 

2 

2 

7 

10 

0 

12 

o 

12 

0 

13 

21 

16 

8 

3 

S         v^. 

3 

2 

4 

4 

5 

6 

4 

17 

5 

|     ON       G. 

3 

H 

7 

4? 

5 

5 

5 

18 

2 

i 

^    M. 

3 

2 

3 

7 

5 

5 

2 

'9 

3 

3 

i     H. 

8 

2 

4 

4 

5 

5 

5 

20 

3- 

i 

tub           *-'• 

i 

I 

2 

? 

2  I 

i 

2 

3 

re 

H     ON       G. 

2 

2 

2 

6? 

22 

3 

-S'S   M. 

2 

2 

2 

6 

23 

32 

32 

4 

o 

>       H. 

H 

H 

I 

2 

24 

2  5 

I 

i 

SHEET 

A-Q 

R 

S 

T 

V 

X 

Y 

Z 

2A 

2B 

26 

i 

S        C. 

23 

2 

23 

2 

2 

23 

6 

2 

I? 

? 

cu 

27 

I 

23 

2 

23 

2 

I 

7 

6 

I 

23 

2 

I-   M. 

23 

2 

2 

2 

2 

7 

6 

2 

14? 

? 

I       H. 

23 

2 

2 

2 

2 

7 

6 

2 

H 

? 

The  watermark  numbers  refer  to  the  ac- 

This table  shows  the  watermark  found  in  each  sheet 

companying    plate.      The   numbers    in    the 

of  each   play   accord  ng  to   the  four  copies   examined. 

table  indicate  the  number  of  times  the  mark 

C  =  Capell  copy  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge;  G  = 

occurs  in   the  four  copies  of  each  play  ex- 

Garrick  copy   at  the    British   Museum;    M  =  Malone 

amined. 

copy  at  the  Bodleian;  H  =  the  copy  in  the  possession 

of  Mr.  Huth. 

ON    CERTAIN     FALSE    DATES    IN 
SHAKESPEARIAN    QUARTOS. 

II. 

i HE  theory  advanced  in  a  former 
number  of  the  LIBRARY,  according 
to  which  certain  Shakespearian  quartos 
bearing  the  dates  1600  and  1608  were 
really  printed  in  1619,  while  it  has 
been  accepted  by  several  of  the  authorities  whose 
judgement  I  most  value,  has  not  altogether  escaped 
criticism.  Mr.  Sidney  Lee,  writing  in  'Athenaeum,' 
and  Mr.  John  Phin,  in  the  New  York  '  Nation,' 
fix  upon  the  evidence  of  the  '  Post  Tenebras  Lux ' 
device,  while  Mr.  A.  H.  Huth,  in  the  c  Academy,' 
attacks  the  much  more  important  question  of  the 
watermarks.  Of  this  later:  first  I  have  certain 
things  to  say  with  regard  to  the  device. 

The  only  point  at  which  Mr.  Lee  endeavours  to 
meet  the  evidence  adduced  is  in  the  remark  :  '  Nor 
would  Mr.  Greg  appear  to  have  made  allowance 
for  ...  the  recurrence  and  duplication  of  printers' 
marks  and  blocks  in  Elizabethan  and  Jacobean 
books.'  I  do  not  know  how  much  attention  Mr. 
Lee  has  himself  given  to  this  important  and  diffi- 
cult subje<5t,  a  subject  upon  which  no  one  whose 
opinion  is  worth  having  will  be  inclined  to  speak 
ofF-hand.  But  if  he  has  ever  considered  the  matter 
carefully  he  will  know  that  two  sorts  of  blocks 


382       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

were  in  use,  metal  and  wood.  He  will  know, 
moreover,  that  the  former  of  these,  though  in 
earlier  days  they  often  bent  and  broke,  in  Eliza- 
bethan times  seldom  show  any  specific  breaks  at 
all,  but  merely  general  wear  and  tear  of  the  face ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  wood  blocks  are  easily 
distinguished,  not  only  by  specific  breaks  in  later 
times,  but  throughout  by  their  habit  of  cracking 
along  the  grain.  Further  than  this,  he  will  know 
that  the  difference  between  the  earlier  and  later 
metal  blocks  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  former 
were  cut  on  soft  metal  plates,  while  the  latter  were 
cast  in  hard  type-metal,  and  that  of  these  con- 
sequently any  number  of  duplicates  may  exist. 
What  I  do  not  fancy  that  Mr.  Lee  knows  is  any 
evidence  that  would  lead  one  to  imagine  that  wood 
blocks  ever  were,  or  at  that  time  could  be,  re-cut 
or  in  any  way  reproduced  so  as  to  be  indistinguish- 
able from  the  originals.  There  are  plenty  of 
instances  of  both  wood  and  metal  blocks  being 
re-cut,  but  the  new  blocks  can  be  distinguished  at 
a  glance  from  the  originals.  If  wood  blocks  were 
ever  duplicated  so  as  to  be  indistinguishable,  the 
fact  ought  to  be  easily  demonstrable  in  the  same 
way  as  is  the  duplication  of  metal  blocks — it  is 
only  a  matter  of  a  little  careful  research.  Perhaps 
Mr.  Lee  will  supply  the  evidence. 

All  this,  however,  is  beside  the  point.  Even 
were  Mr.  Lee  able  to  prove  the  duplication  of 
wood  blocks,  he  would  be  no  nearer  to  getting  rid 
of  the  evidence  adduced.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  the  '  Post  Tenebras  Lux '  device,  an  unques- 
tionable wood  block,  exhibits  certain  splits  and 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    383 

breaks,  and  that  these  are  more  noticeable  in  one 
of  the  plays  dated  1600  than  in  another  book  dated 
1605.  To  account  for  this  on  the  supposition  of 
re-cutting  Mr.  Lee  would  have  to  argue  that  two 
blocks  independently  cut  on  different  pieces  of 
wood  proceeded  to  crack  and  chip  in  use  in  an 
identical  manner,  though  to  a  different  extent ! 

There  is  not  the  smallest  doubt  possible  that  the 
two  impressions  of  the  device  in  question  are  from 
one  and  the  same  block.  Mr.  Phin  fully  realises 
this.  His  suggestion  is  as  follows :  '  Bearing  in 
mind  that  the  wood  block  had  been  used  from  1593 
to  1596,'  let  us  suppose  that  it  had  begun  to  split 
after  being  used  in  1596,  but  that  the  printer  had 
not  taken  the  trouble  to  repair  it,  and  had  used  it 
in  the  quartos  of  1600  just  as  it  was,  for  these 
quartos  were  probably  produced  as  cheaply  as  pos- 
sible. In  these  quartos  the  split  or  crack  is  quite 
prominent,  but  in  1605,  when  they  came  to  use 
the  block  in  Dent's  book,  the  split  had  opened  so 
that  the  block  was  no  longer  available  without 
repair.  They  therefore  resorted  to  a  very  common 
device ;  they  bored  one  or  more  holes  horizontally 
through  the  block,  and  through  each  hole  they 
passed  an  iron  bolt  with  a  screw  and  nut  on  the 
end,  and  in  this  way  they  actually  made  the  block 
better  than  it  was  in  1600.'  Mr.  Phin  thinks, 
therefore,  that  the  evidence  of  the  block  '  would 
not  have  been  offered  by  Mr.  Greg  if  due  con- 
sideration had  been  given  to  the  technique  of 

1  Mr.  Phin  is  in  error  here.  These  dates  apply  to  the  *  Heb 
Ddieu '  device.  The  '  Post  Tenebras  Lux '  block,  which  is  the 
one  in  question,  was  used  from  1562  onwards. 


384       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

wood-engraving  and  printing.'  Although  I  am 
not,  like  Mr.  Phin,  an  expert  engraver,  I  am  well 
aware  of  the  method  he  describes,  a  method  com- 
monly practised  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and  I 
dare  say  earlier.  But  I  have  never  come  across 
any  evidence  that  it  was  known  as  early  as  1600, 
nor  even,  which  is  not  the  same  thing,  any  state- 
ment to  that  effe6t.  Moreover,  Mr.  Phin's  theory 
only  accounts  for  the  splits  and  not  for  the  breaks. 
But  although  I  do  not  think  that  either  of  the 
explanations  advanced  by  Mr.  Lee  and  Mr.  Phin 
will  bear  examination,  they  were  yet  quite  right  in 
attacking  my  evidence.  That  evidence  is  invalid, 
though  not  for  the  reasons  they  supposed,  and  I 
have  to  thank  my  friend  Mr.  Pollard  for  a  severe 
shock  to  the  theory  he  was  himself  so  helpful  in 
elaborating.  Perhaps  it  was  an  exces  de  ze/e  that 
led  him  to  collect  all  the  instances  of  the  c  Post 
Tenebras  Lux  '  device  that  he  could  find.  Among 
others  he  discovered  one  in  a  book  printed  by 
Roberts,  which  was,  to  say  the  least,  superfluous  from 
the  point  of  view  of  our  theory.  This  impression, 
moreover,  closely  resembled  that  of  *  1 600 '  in  the 
breaks,  and  the  volume  in  which  it  occurred 
(Wimbledon's  Sermon)  bore  the  date  1593  on 
the  title-page  and  1599  in  the  colophon.  This 
was  distinctly  annoying ;  but  it  is  clear  that  a  book 
that  cannot  make  up  its  mind  within  six  years 
when  it  was  printed  is  a  bad  authority,  and  I  was 
quite  prepared  to  argue  that  this  was  only  another 
of  Jaggard's  irregularities.  However,  an  examina- 
tion of  further  instances  only  confirmed  the  dis- 
quieting discovery,  and  established  the  astonishing 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    385 

fact  that  the  cracks  in  the  block  opened  and  closed 
and  the  breaks  grew  greater  and  less  quite  irre- 
spe6Hve  of  the  date  of  printing. 

I  think  this  will  come  as  no  less  of  a  surprise  to 
other  bibliographers  than  it  did  to  me.  The  fact 
itself  being  undoubted,  less  interest  attaches  to  the 
explanation,  but  I  can  only  suppose  that  the  size  of 
the  cracks  varies  indirectly  with  the  dampness  of 
the  block,  and  possibly,  though  less  probably,  with 
the  tightness  of  the  locking,  and  that  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  breaks  depends  on  the  amount  of 
pressure,  which  itself  may  again  depend  on  the 
dampness  of  the  block.  It  is  usual  to  assume  that 
the  sheets  were  printed  wet. 

I  may  say  at  once  that  this  discovery,  however 
unwelcome,  does  not  in  any  way  shake  my  belief 
in  the  substantial  accuracy  of  the  theory  put  for- 
ward in  my  former  article.  The  breaks  in  the 
device  were  the  last  piece  of  evidence  I  came 
across, , long  after  I  had  made  up  my  mind  on  the 
main  question.  I  regret  having  to  relinquish  this 
evidence,  because  it  seemed  to  supply  the  most 
obvious  and  the  most  easily  explained  proof  of  the 
theory,  but  I  never  myself  regarded  it  as  either  the 
most  fundamental  or  the  most  weighty  of  the 
arguments.  Of  the  typographical  evidence  there 
still  remains  the  general  similarity  of  the  title- 
pages,  the  fact  that  the  '  Heb  Ddieu '  device  has  not 
yet  been  found  in  any  book  of  Roberts',  and  the 
fact  that  the  large  numerals  are  first  found  in  1610. 
These  considerations  are  not  to  be  neglected, 
but  it  is  clear  that  as  evidence  they  are  at 
the  mercy  of  any  chance  discovery  in  the  future. 

ix.  c  c 


386       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

The  foundation  of  my  case  remains  the  water- 
marks. 

This  brings  me  to  Mr.  Huth's  criticisms.  He 
writes :  '  Mr.  Greg  alleges  that  the  watermarks  in 
all  the  quartos — both  those  professing  to  be  printed 
in  1600  and  those  dated  1619 — show  the  paper  to 
belong  to  one  batch ;  and  since  the  wires  get  worn 
out  within  one  year,  the  paper  must  have  been 
made  about  the  same  time,  and  it  is  impossible  that 
Paviour  [or  rather  Jaggard,  the  printer]  could  have 
got  hold  of  the  same  batch  of  paper  in  1619  that 
Roberts  used  in  1600.  I  venture  to  think,  how- 
ever, that  if  Mr.  Greg  carefully  measures  water- 
marks which  appear  to  the  eye  to  be  identical,  he 
will  find  that  they  are  not.  To  take  the  "  Pot " 
mark  marked  "  L  M,"  for  instance,  the  first  I  found 
in  my  copies  that  occurred  in  (i)  "The  Merchant 
of  Venice,"  1600;  (2)  "King  Lear,"  1608;  and 
(3)  "  Merry  Wives,"  1619,  the  measurement  of 
the  base  at  the  greatest  breadth  is  in  (i)  140101., 
in  (2)  i5'5mm.,  in  (3)  14*50101.;  and  there  are 
also  variations  in  the  form  of  the  mark  itself,  which 
show  that  the  paper  in  these  editions  did  not  come 
from  the  same  wire.' 

Now  it  will  be  noticed  that  a  slight  difference 
in  the  size  of  the  marks  is  easily  accounted  for  by 
the  varying  shrinkage  of  different  sheets  in  drying, 
and  differences  of  form  by  the  bending  of  the  wire 
in  the  frame.  Of  course,  if  it  could  be  shown,  as 
Mr.  Huth  seems  to  imply,  that  all  L  M  pots  in 
1600  quartos  measure  140101.,  all  in  1608  quartos 
i5'5mm.,  and  all  in  1619  quartos  14*5  mm.,  one 
might  fairly  conclude  that  the  marks  were  not  the 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    387 

same.  This,  however,  cannot  be  maintained.  The 
mark  in  question  occurs  twelve  times  in  the  Capell 
copies  of  the  plays.  The  variations  are  only  from 
14*5  to  15  mm.  In  plays  dated  1600  it  occurs  five 
times,  four  15  and  one  14*5;  in  those  dated  1608 
only  once,  measuring  14*5;  in  those  dated  1619 
six  times,  three  15  and  three  14*5.  If,  therefore, 
we  are  to  conclude  that  there  is  more  than  one 
mark  we  shall  nevertheless  have  to  admit  that  each 
occurs  in  plays  dated  1600  and  1619 — which  leaves 
the  question  exaclly  where  it  was. 

I  have  recently  had  the  opportunity  of  discussing 
the  whole  matter  personally  with  Mr.  Huth,  to 
whom  I  am  much  indebted,  both  for  his  criticism 
of  my  theory  and  for  his  kindness  in  allowing  me 
access  to  his  copies  of  the  original  quartos.  His 
view  is  that  the  wire  which  produces  what  is  called 
the  watermark  was  fashioned  in  a  mould,  and  was 
then  in  some  way  hammered  or  soldered  into  the 
wire  frame.  This  would  certainly  prevent  more 
than  a  very  slight  amount  of  variation  between 
sheets  made  from  the  same  frame,  while  a  number 
of  different  frames  might  have  the  same  mark  (that 
is,  a  mark  from  the  same  mould)  with  perhaps 
small  variations  due  to  the  wire  bending  while 
being  fastened  to  the  frame.  Whether  watermarks 
are  now  made  in  moulds  I  do  not  know,  and  whether 
they  were  so  made  in  Elizabethan  days  seems  to  me 
a  difficult,  perhaps  an  impossible,  question  to  answer. 
Such  is  certainly  not  the  view  of  M.  Briquet,  who 
gives  the  mark  a  shorter  life  than  the  frame,  and 
the  latter  no  more  than  two  years.  According  to 
Mr.  Huth,  though  the  frame  might  perish  the 


388       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

mould  for  the  mark  would  remain,  so  that  the 
mark  (with  possible  small  variations)  might  have 
an  almost  indefinite  life.1  In  favour  of  Mr.  Huth's 
view  is  the  facT:  that  some  marks  do  appear  to  bend 
not  only  to  varying  degrees  but  in  varying  manners 
in  different  instances.  Against  it  is  the  fact  that 
other  marks  seem  to  bend  progressively.  To  be 
certain,  here,  on  which  side  lies  the  weight  of 
evidence  would  require  a  large  collection  of  clear 
examples  of  the  same  mark,  such  as  it  is  very  diffi- 
cult indeed  to  obtain.  Also  against  this  view  is 
the  enormous  number  of  extant  marks.  It  is, 
indeed,  comparatively  rare  to  find  the  same  mark 
occurring  in  two  independent  books.  I  recently 
purchased  eleven  quarto  pamphlets  printed  between 
1600  and  1625  for  the  express  purpose  of  examin- 
ing the  watermarks.  In  these  I  discovered  thirty 
different  marks,  of  which  four  only  occurred  in 
more  than  one.  I  have  also  examined  all  the  books 
in  the  British  Museum  printed  by  Roberts  or  the 
Jaggards.2  In  two  doubtful  instances  marks  of  the 
Shakespeare  quartos  appear  to  be  repeated  in 
volumes  printed  by  one  of  the  Jaggards  between, 
I  think,  1609  and  1625:  among  the  marks  in 
Roberts'  books  I  have  found  no  case  even  of 


1  Unfortunately  this  view  undermines  the  whole  of  M.  Briquet's 
argument  from  dated  marks,  since  these  would,  of  course,  be  dis- 
carded at  the  end  of  the  year,  while  there  would  be  no  reason  to 
destroy  the  moulds  of  undated  marks.     It  should  be  noted,  how- 
ever, that  M.  Briquet  also  made  calculations  based  on  other  data 
and  arrived  at  very  much  the  same  results. 

2  All,  that  is,  in  folio  or  quarto :  in  the  smaller  sizes  the  marks 
become  indistinguishable  owing  to  folding  and  cutting. 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    389 

resemblance.  Not  only  does  the  precise  combina- 
tion of  over  twenty  different  marks  in  the  Shake- 
speare volume  remain  a  thing  sui  generis,  but  even 
the  recurrence  of  individual  marks  elsewhere  appears 
to  be  rare,  if  not  unknown. 

But  I  am  not  particularly  concerned  to  maintain 
the  brevity  of  the  life  of  watermarks.  If  the 
frames  endured,  it  may  be  argued  that  in  1619  the 
printer  acquired  a  fresh  stock  of  paper  manufactured 
from  the  same  frames  as  had  done  duty  for  the 
stocks  of  1600  and  1608  :  if  they  perished,  then  it 
may  be  argued  that  the  printer  obtained  a  fresh 
supply  from  some  accidentally  unexhausted  stock. 
What  I  do  maintain  is  that  either  supposition 
involves  a  draft  upon  the  bank  of  coincidence 
which  that  valuable  institution  cannot  be  in  reason 
expected  to  honour. 

Suppose  for  a  moment  that  Mr.  Huth  were  right 
in  maintaining  that  the  L  M  pots  in  the  '  Merchant 
of  Venice,'  *  King  Lear,'  and  the  c  Merry  Wives ' 
were  from  three  distinct  frames  with  different 
measurements.  Would  it  not  be  a  most  remark- 
able occurrence  that  three  different  plays,  printed 
at  three  rather  widely  different  dates  by  two  dis- 
tinct: printers,  plays  which  it  happens  were  later 
gathered  together  and  issued  as  a  collected  volume 
by  an  independent  publisher,  should  contain  three 
watermarks  so  curiously  similar,  and  that,  more- 
over, not  one  of  these  marks  nor  any  resembling 
them  should  be  traceable  in  any  other  book  printed 
by  either  of  the  men  concerned  in  the  production 
of  these  plays  ?  Would  it  not  strain  coincidence 
beyond  the  bounds  of  belief?  It  is  evident  that 


390       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

upon  the  orthodox  theory  it  is  even  more  prepos- 
terous to  regard  the  marks  as  different  than  to 
regard  them  as  the  same. 

But  from  whatever  point  of  view  we  look  at  the 
question,  it  must  be  clear  that  the  miscellaneous 
collection  of  marks  found  in  the  paper  of  this  group 
of  plays — marks  practically  unique  as  far  as  the 
productions  of  any  of  the  printers  possibly  con- 
cerned have  come  down  to  us — is  absolutely  fatal 
to  the  orthodox  theory.  Whether  we  imagine 
Roberts,  and  after  him  Jaggard,  going  to  a  special 
stock  of  paper  for  just  these  plays  printed  at  various 
dates  between  1600  and  1620,  or  whether  we 
imagine  Roberts,  and  after  him  Jaggard,  going  to 
the  maker  and  obtaining  paper  from  the  same 
frames  just  for  these  said  plays,  the  transaction  is 
equally  unthinkable.  It  would  tax  the  capacity  of 
the  august  lady  who  was  in  the  habit  of  believing 
as  many  as  three  impossible  things  before  breakfast. 

The  main  facts  of  the  case  were  given  in  my 
former  article,  from  an  examination  of  the  copies 
of  the  plays  in  question  preserved  in  the  Capell 
collection  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  I  have 
since  examined  the  Garrick  copies  at  the  British 
Museum,  the  Malone  copies  at  the  Bodleian 
Library,  and  finally  those  in  the  possession  of  Mr. 
A.  H.  Huth.  I  am  in  consequence  in  a  position 
both  to  correct  in  some  respects  my  former  account 
and  also  somewhat  to  extend  the  discussion.  It 
must  be  borne  in  mind,  to  begin  with,  that  in  most 
books  of  the  period  we  either  find  a  single  water- 
mark running  through  all  the  sheets,  or  else  a 
mixture  of  perhaps  three  or  four  different  marks. 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    391 

This  suggests  that  paper  was  supplied  by  the 
makers  either  in  homogeneous  lots,  with  one  mark 
throughout,  or  else  in  lots  containing,  say,  from 
two  to  six  different  marks,  though  of  course  of  the 
same  quality  throughout.  I  have  never  come 
across  either  any  single  book  with  anything  like 
the  number  of  watermarks  found  in  these  plays,  or 
any  group  of  books  with  such  a  connected  series  of 
marks  running  through  them. 

The  mixture  of  marks  may  be  explained  in  one 
of  two  ways.  We  may  either  suppose  that  the 
maker  used  a  number  of  different  frames  in  the 
manufacture  of  one  batch  of  paper,  and  so  sent  out 
parcels  containing  a  large  number  of  different 
marks ;  or  else  that  the  mixture  resulted  from  the 
using  up  of  a  number  of  remnants  of  different 
parcels.  The  first  of  these  alternatives  is  rendered 
unlikely  by  the  fact  that  mixtures  of  such  a  large 
number  of  marks  do  not  elsewhere  occur.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  second  alternative  be  adopted, 
it  will  have  to  be  admitted  that  the  whole  group 
of  plays  in  which  the  marks  occur,  must  have  been 
printed  at  the  same  time.  Now  if  the  mixture 
originated  in  the  paper-mill,  the  different  marks 
will  be  found  mixed  up  anyhow  just  as  the  sheets 
happened  to  be  collected  after  drying.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  printer  was  using  up  a  number  of 
remnants,  the  different  papers  will  have  been  used 
up  in  batches,  and  the  marks  will  tend  to  be  the 
same  in  different  copies  of  the  same  sheet.  I  say 
will  tend,  because  the  result  will  only  be  approxi- 
mate ;  indeed  the  tendency  must  be  very  largely 
obscured.  The  reason  for  this  is,  in  the  first  place, 


392       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

that  some  of  the  remnants  used  themselves  probably 
contained  more  than  one  mark  ;  and,  secondly,  that 
during  the  printing  of  a  particular  sheet  the  pile 
of  paper  at  the  pressman's  side  would  sometimes 
run  out  and  be  replenished  from  a  different  stock.1 
I  think  that  in  spite  of  these  obscuring  causes,  such 
a  tendency  is  clearly  traceable. 

I  must  now  ask  the  reader  to  turn  to  the  accom- 
panying plates  and  tables.  The  former  attempt  a 
reproduction  of  all  the  marks  which  I  have  been 
able  to  distinguish  in  the  four  copies  of  the  plays 
hitherto  examined,  and  will  give  some  idea  of  their 
variety.  I  must  warn  readers,  however,  against 
placing  implicit  reliance  upon  these  reproductions. 
They  are  from  freehand  drawings,  and  I  am  by  no 
means  an  expert  draughtsman.  The  marks  are 
often  vague  and  indistinct ;  they  occur  in  the 
fold  of  the  paper  in  a  quarto  book,  and  are  there- 
fore often  difficult  to  see  clearly.  I  am  by  no 
means  prepared  to  stake  my  faith  upon  every  detail 
(for  instance  that  marks  i  and  14  may  not  be  the 
same,  or  that  under  18  I  may  not  have  confused 
two  distinct  marks),  but  I  do  not  think  that  any 
scepticism  as  to  the  general  results  would  be  justi- 
fied. The  first  table  corrects  and  enlarges  the 
table  given  in  my  previous  article.  I  there  dis- 
tinguished twenty  different  marks  in  the  Capell 

1  There  is  yet  another  cause,  which  may  have  played  an  important 
part.  The  two  formes  of  one  sheet  may  have  been  placed  simul- 
taneously upon  different  presses,  supplied  with  different  makes  of 
paper.  Then  those  sheets  begun  on  press  A  would  be  perfected 
on  press  B,  and  those  begun  on  press  B  would  be  perfected  on 
press  A.  This  would  result  in  half  the  edition  being  on  one 
paper,  and  half  on  another. 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    393 

copies;  I  now  distinguish  twenty-three,  and  add 
four  new  ones  from  the  Garrick  and  Malone  col- 
lections. The  second  table  is  the  one  to  which  I 
desire  for  the  moment  to  call  attention.  It  gives, 
for  the  four  copies  examined,  the  watermark  in 
every  sheet  of  every  play.  Of  course  it  would 
have  been  more  satisfactory  to  have  the  data  from 
a  larger  number  of  copies,  but  I  think  that  those 
provided  are  sufficient  for  our  immediate  purpose. 
Where  we  find  the  same  mark  in  all  four  copies  of 
a  particular  sheet,  we  may  take  it  as  probable  that 
there  was  at  least  no  large  admixture  of  any  other 
mark  in  the  whole  edition  of  that  sheet. 

The  most  obvious  instance  of  homogeneity  is 
supplied  by  the  two  parts  of  the  '  Contention/ 
which  have  one  mark  (23)  throughout.  It  seems 
pretty  clear  that  this  was  the  first  play  printed,  and 
that  it  all  but  exhausted  the  stock  or  remnant  of 
this  particular  paper,  for  we  only  find  a  few  odd 
instances  of  the  mark  recurring  in  'Pericles.'  This 
play  has  signatures  continuous  with  the  '  Conten- 
tion,' and  already  we  find  a  mixture  of  six  different 
marks,  clearly  showing  that  the  printer  was  using 
up  whatever  paper  he  could  lay  his  hand  on.  Two 
sheets  (R,  T),  however,  show  mark  2  throughout, 
and  two  more  with  only  a  small  intermixture  of 
mark  i.  Another  sheet  (Y)  shows  mark  6  in  all 
copies.  The  mixture  of  marks  I  and  2  also  occurs 
in  the  '  Yorkshire  Tragedy '  (C,  and  possibly  A 
and  B),  and  possibly  in  the  'Merry  Wives'  (B), 
all  dated  1619,  and  again  in  'Lear'  (A),  dated 
1608,  and  the  'Merchant  of  Venice'  (A),  dated 
1600,  while  mark  2  occurs  alone  in  one  sheet  (H) 


394       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

of  the  '  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,'  also  dated 
1600.  Mark  14  occurs  throughout  in  two  sheets 
(D,  H)  of  the  c  Merchant  of  Venice,'  which  may 
therefore  be  supposed  to  have  been  printed  on  the 
same  press.  The  same  play  has  another  sheet  (K) 
in  which  mark  8  apparently  occurs  alone.  Both 
'  Henry  V.'  and  *  Lear'  have  one  sheet  (G  in  each 
case)  in  which  no  mark  occurs  in  any  of  the  four 
copies.  '  Oldcastle '  is  a  particularly  interesting 
play.  One  sheet  (K)  has  mark  5  throughout, 
while  another  (G)  has  the  same  varied  only  by  the 
comparatively  rare  mark  21.  Homogeneous  5*5 
occur  also  in  the  'Midsummer  Night's  Dream'  (D) 
and  the  'Merry  Wives'  (E),  and  one  may  again 
suspect  that  only  one  press  was  used  for  these  sheets. 
'Oldcastle'  also  shows  one  homogeneous  17  (C), 
otherwise  only  known  from  a  solitary  occurrence 
in  an  adjacent  sheet  (B).  Again,  '  Oldcastle '  has 
three  homogeneous  15'$  (A,  H,  I),  and,  what  is 
more,  two  of  the  remaining  sheets  (E,  F)  show  a 
mixture  of  marks  15  and  16.  This  mixture  is  also 
found  in  '  Henry  V,'  dated  1608  (F).  This  is  one 
of  a  set  of  persistent  mixtures  that  merit  attention. 
The  case  of  marks  1 5  and  1 6  is  obvious.  So  is 
that  of  marks  12  and  19,  which  occur  three  times 
in  connection  with  one  another  ('  Henry  V.'  A, 
'Lear'  F,  H),  and  in  connection  with  no  other 
mark.  Less  obvious,  but  still  clear,  is  the  case  of 
marks  10  and  1 1,  which  occur  together  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  others  in  one  sheet  (D)  of '  Lear,'  and 
otherwise  only  mixed  with  the  unique  mark  26 
and  unmarked  paper  in  the  next  sheet.  The  in- 
teresting point  of  these  persistent  conjunctions  is 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.     395 

that  in  each  case  the  marks  are  similar :  marks  1 5 
and  1 6  are  both  shields  with  the  initials  RG,  12 
and  19  pots  with  the  initials  G  G,  10  and  n  (and 
26  ?)  fleurs-de-lys.  It  looks  singularly  as  though 
where  a  stock  contained  more  than  one  mark,  the 
marks  were  themselves  closely  related.  I  conclude, 
therefore,  that  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the 
mixture  of  twenty-eight  varieties  of  paper  in  the 
quartos  in  question  is  due  not  to  the  paper  manu- 
facturer, but  to  the  fact:  that  the  printer  was  using 
up  a  quantity  of  remnants.  It  follows  that  the 
quartos  must  have  been  printed  in  one  office  at  one 
date.1 

There  is  one  objection  which  may  reasonably  be 
brought  against  this  theory  of  remnants.  '  If,'  it 
may  be  argued,  '  the  printer  had  all  these  remnants 
lying  about  his  office,  he  must  have  been  using  the 
bulk  of  the  stock  in  a  number  of  different  books, 
and  it  ought  to  be  possible  to  find  at  least  some  of 
the  marks  used  consistently  in  works  printed  by 
him  during  the  previous  decade.'  I  confess  I  was 
astonished  at  being  unable  to  find  them.  I  think 
Mr.  Pollard  has  supplied  the  clue  to  the  puzzle. 
4  Have  we,'  he  asks,  c  merely  to  do  with  a  manu- 
facturer and  a  printer,  or  have  we  to  take  account 
of  a  middleman  ? '  I  think  there  can  be  very  little 
doubt  that  we  have.2  The  middleman  bought 

1  If  only  data  could  be  colledted  from  a  sufficient  number  of  copies 
(a  dozen  might  suffice),  it  ought  to  be  possible  to  determine  how 
many  batches  of  paper  were  used,  how  many  marks  there  were  in 
each  batch,  how  many  presses  were  used,  and  which  sheets  were 
printed  on  each  press. 

J  A  middleman  is  not  absolutely  necessary,  for  the  manufacturer 
may  have  done  his  distribution  himself.  The  argument  will  not  be 


396       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

large  stocks  of  paper  from  the  manufacturer  and 
sold  comparatively  small  parcels  of  various  sizes  to 
printers.  The  inevitable  result  was  that  he  was 
left  with  a  number  of  oddments,  remainders  of 
various  sizes,  on  his  hands.  These  he  simply  stacked 
together  and  sold  off  cheap.  Of  course  the  main 
stock  must  equally  have  been  used  up,  and  should 
be  traceable  somewhere,  but  it  may  have  been  sold 
to  a  different  printer,  and  even  a  different  town. 
Moreover,  the  middleman  would  not  sell  to  printers 
only.  The  time  was  yet  to  be  when  printing  and 
writing  paper  became  differentiated.  We  have  the 
whole  consumption  of  the  finer  sorts  of  paper 
throughout  the  whole  kingdom  to  take  into 
account.  No  wonder  that  a  particular  set  of 
marks  should  be  hard  to  trace. 

There  is  another  matter  upon  which  I  should 
like  to  say  a  few  words  before  passing  from  the 
consideration  of  this  group  of  plays.  I  purposely 
refrained  in  my  previous  article  from  discussing 
Pavier's  motives  in  placing  false  dates  on  his 
editions.  A  number  of  readers,  with  their  heads 
full  of  modern  book  prices,  jumped  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  I  must  mean  that  Pavier  was  endeavouring 
to  obtain  higher  prices  for  his  books  by  pretending 
that  they  were  first  editions,  and  they  hastened 
solemnly  to  inform  me  that  the  desire  for  first 
editions  was  inoperative  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
So  little  had  the  idea  been  in  my  mind  that  it 
never  occurred  to  me  that  any  reader  would 
suppose  me  guilty  of  such  an  outrageous  absurdity. 

altered  if  we  regard  a  retail  department  of  the  mill  as  doing  the 
work  of  the  middleman. 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    397 

It  is,  I  think,  not  difficult  to  guess,  though  very 
difficult  to  prove,  what  Pavier's  motives  may  have 
been.  One  thing  seems  pretty  certain,  namely, 
that  what  he  wanted  to  avoid  was  the  charge  of 
having  printed  plays,  to  the  copyright  of  some  of 
which  at  least  he  had  no  conceivable  right.  He 
placed  old  dates  on  the  title-pages  that  it  might 
appear  that  he  was  merely  selling  off  the  remainders 
of  editions  printed  years  before  for  other  publishers. 
He  had,  on  the  other  hand,  no  reason  to  make  his 
reprints  facsimiles  of  those  he  printed  from ;  the 
date  and  imprint,  together  with  a  general  typo- 
graphical resemblance  perhaps,  was  enough.  If 
we  may  suppose  some  impertinent  bibliographer  to 
have  pointed  out  that  the  edition  of  '  Lear '  dated 
1608  which  he  was  selling  differed  from  that 
which  was  known  to  have  issued  from  the  Pied 
Bull  in  that  year,  Pavier  no  doubt  replied: 
4  That  certainly  is  so,  sir ;  but  have  you  any  reason 
to  believe  that  there  were  not  two  editions  printed 
that  year  ?  If  you  have  heretofore  only  been  ac- 
quainted with  one,  allow  me  at  once  to  sell  you 
his  twin  brother.'  And  considering  that  the  world 
has  accepted  this  answer  for  just  on  three  centuries, 
I  fancy  our  bibliographer  would  have  gone  away 
satisfied. 


III. 

I  wish  now  to  inquire  what  cases  of  false  dates 
exist,  or  may  be  suspected  to  exist,  in  early  plays 
outside  the  particular  group  we  have  been  examin- 


398       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

ing.  For  this  purpose  I  propose  to  go  systematic- 
ally through  the  list  of  those  plays  of  which  we 
have  two  or  more  distinct  editions  bearing  the  same 
date,  and  to  ask  in  each  particular  instance  whether  it 
is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  more  than  one  edition 
was  really  published  that  year,  or  whether  one  of 
the  editions  is  in  this  respect  fraudulent. 

I  will  begin,  however,  by  a  brief  mention  of 
certain  cases,  not  of  individual  plays,  in  some  of 
which  there  can  be  no  question  whatever  of  the 
falseness  of  the  dates.  And  first  of  all  I  will  take 
the  case  which  first  opened  my  eyes  to  the  exist- 
ence of  this  particular  bibliographical  pit-fall — the 
reprinted  imprint.  It  is  an  edition  of  the  works  of 
Sir  John  Suckling.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
Suckling's  poems  were  collected  after  his  death 
under  the  title  of '  Fragmenta  Aurea,'  and  printed 
in  1 646.  There  are  a  number  of  special  title-pages 
to  various  parts  of  the  work.  This  volume  was 
reprinted  in  1648  and  1658,  while  some  additional 
*  Last  Remains'  appeared  in  1659.  In  all  these 
books  the  date  of  the  general  title-page  is  repeated 
on  the  special  title-pages.  There  is  also  an  edition 
of '  The  Works  of  Sir  John  Suckling'  of  1696,  in 
which  the  separate  title-pages  bear  the  date  1694. 
All  these  will  be  found  in  the  British  Museum. 
Some  years  ago  I  chanced  to  buy  an  edition  of 
'  The  Works,'  dated  1 676.  At  first  sight  I  thought 
that  it  must  be  made  up  from  fragments  of  earlier 
editions,  for  the  dates  on  the  several  title-pages 
varied  widely.  Investigation  soon  showed  that  this 
was  not  the  case.  The  book  is  a  genuine  edition, 
presumably  printed  in  1676,  in  which  various 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    399 

earlier  dates  have  been  retained.  The  '  Poems '  are 
dated  1648,  the  duplicate  fifth  act  of  'Aglaura,' 
1672,  the  three  title-pages  belonging  to  the  'Last 
Remains '  have  the  original  date  1659,  while  the 
rest  of  the  title-pages  occurring  in  the  volume,  five 
in  all,  are  dated  1658. 

Another  suspicious  case  among  collected  editions 
occurs  in  Randolph's  Poems.  I  mean  the  two 
editions  dated  1668.  Of  these  the  edition  reading 
4  Poems : '  is  the  later,  being  printed  from  that 
reading  'Poems'  (without  stop),  but  how  much 
later  it  is  impossible  to  say.  Considering  that  the 
previous  editions  are  dated  1638,  1640,  1643,  1652 
(two  issues,  but  only  one  edition),  and  1664,  it  is 
hardly  reasonable  to  suppose  that  two  distinct 
editions  should  have  been  required  in  1668  and 
then  no  further  edition  till  1875.  More  than  a 
strong  suspicion,  however,  the  evidence  does  not 
warrant. 

A  quite  clear  instance  may  be  quoted  from  a 
different  department  of  literature.  There  are  some 
seven  editions  of  the  Genevan  version  of  the  Bible, 
which  can  be  shown  with  varying  degrees  of 
cogency  to  have  been  printed  at  various  dates  at 
Amsterdam  and  Dort  (in  one  quite  indisputable 
instance  at  Amsterdam  as  late  as  1633),  but  which 
are  stated  on  their  title-pages  to  have  been  4  Im- 
printed at  London  by  the  Deputies  of  Christopher 
Barker  .  .  .  1599.'  This  example,  which  I  owe 
to  Mr.  Pollard,  is  given  on  the  authority  of  entries 
187-94  and  364  in  Darlow  and  Moule's  '  Historical 
Catalogue  of  printed  editions  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures in  the  library  of  the  British  and  Foreign 


400       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

Bible  Society.'  References  are  there  made  to  pre- 
vious investigations  by  Lea  Wilson  and  N.  Pocock. 
It  appears  to  be  thought  that  Barker  himself  was 
responsible  for  the  spurious  dating. 

I  now  proceed  to  the  discussion  of  dramatic 
quartos,  of  which  there  are  two  or  more  editions 
dated  the  same  year.  First : 

'  A  new  and  mery  Enterlude,  called  the  Trial  of 
Treasure,  newly  set  forth,  and  neuer  before  this 
tyme  imprinted.'  Thomas  Purfoote.  1567.  Two 
editions,  one  (B.M.)  with  colophon  and  two  im- 
pressions of  the  device,  the  other  (Bodl.)  with  one 
impression  of  the  device  and  no  colophon.  The 
former  has  just  been  facsimiled  by  Mr.  Farmer,  and 
a  comparison  with  the  Bodleian  copy  may  throw 
light  on  the  relationship,  but  at  present  I  have  no 
information  on  the  subject. 

Next  come  three  curious  cases  in  which  we  find 
two  distinct  editions  with  title-pages  printed  from 
one  setting  up  of  the  type. 

*  The  Return  from  Pernassus :  Or  The  Scourge 
of  Simony.  Publiquely  acted  by  the  Students  in 
Saint  lohns  Colledge  in  Cambridge.'  Printed  by 
G.  Eld  for  lohn  Wright,  1606.  S.R.  i6O6l.  1605. 
Two  editions,  one  with  collation  A-H4  I2,  the  other 
A-H4.  They  may  be  compared  either  at  the  Bod- 
leian or  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  No  doubt 
the  edition  which  wanders  into  a  ninth  sheet  is  the 
earlier.  In  each  case  the  title-leaf  actually  forms 
part  of  the  first  sheet. 

'The  Late  and  much  admired  Play  called  Pericles, 
Prince  of  Tyre,'  by  William  Shakespeare,  printed 
for  Henry  Gosson,  1609.  Two  editions,  known 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.   401 

respedively  as  the  < Enter'  (B.M.,  Bodl.,  T.C.C.) 
and  '  Eneer '  (B.M.)  editions.  The  former  is  sup- 
posed to  be  the  earlier ;  it  is  certainly  the  more 
common.  They  are  clearly  contemporary  and  are 
identical  in  style.  Both  have  a  mixed  set  of  water- 
marks, some  of  which  occur  in  both.  In  the 
'  Eneer '  edition  the  title-leaf  appears  to  form  part 
of  the  first  sheet.  In  the  Capell  copy  (T.C.C.)  of 
the  'Enter'  edition  I  do  not  think  it  does;  in  the 
British  Museum  copy  it  is  impossible  to  tell.  I 
have  not  examined  the  others. 

'Albumazar.  A  Comedy  presented  before  the 
Kings  Maiestie  at  Cambridge,  the  ninth  of  March, 

1614.  By  the   Gentlemen   of  Trinity  Colledge.' 
Anonymous,  but  known  to  be  by  Thomas  Tom- 
kis ;   printed  by  Nicholas  Okes  for  Walter  Burre, 

1615.  Two  editions,  one  with  the  collation  A2 
B-L4,   the    other   A-I4.     Both   in   the    University 
Library  at   Cambridge.     The  edition  in  ten   and 
a  half  sheets  is,  of  course,  the  earlier.     The  title- 
leaf,  the  verso  of  which  is  blank,  belongs  to  A*. 
In  the  nine-sheet  edition  the  dramatis  personae  and 
prologue  have  been  crowded  on  to  the  verso  of  the 
title. 

To  find  two  distincl  editions  with  identical  title- 
pages  is  certainly  curious.  But  it  should  be  re- 
membered that  there  is  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
title  of  a  book  was  sometimes  kept  in  type  for 
purposes  of  advertisement ; *  consequently,  if  a 
second  edition  were  unexpectedly  demanded  it 
might  not  be  necessary  to  reset  this  portion. 

1  I  owe  this  point  to  Mr.  R.  B.  McKerrow,  who  will,  I  hope, 
before  long,  publish  evidence  on  this  and  certain  similar  points. 

IX.  D  D 


402       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

We  now  come  to  a  number  of  what  appear  to 
be  genuine  cases  of  two  entirely  distin6t  editions 
appearing  the  same  year. 

'  The  Pleasant  History  of  the  two  angry  women 
of  Abington,'  by  Henry  Porter ;  printed  for  Joseph 
Hunt  and  William  Ferbrand,  1599.  Another 
edition  omits  Hunt's  name.  Copies  of  both  are 
in  the  British  Museum.  The  Hunt  edition  with 
the  collation  A2  B-L4  M2  is  almost  certainly  earlier 
than  the  other,  which  has  the  collation  A-K>,  but 
both  were  certainly  printed  by  the  same  printer 
about  the  same  time.  The  play  was  not  registered. 

'The  Malcontent.  By  lohn  Marston.  1604. 
Printed  at  London  by  V.  S.  for  William  Aspley, 
and  are  to  be  solde  at  his  shop  in  Paules  Church- 
yard.' (BodL,  Dyce.) 

'The  Malcontent.  By  lohn  Marston.  1604. 
At  London  Printed  by  V.  S.  for  William  Aspley, 
and  are  to  be  sold  at  his  shop  in  Paules  Church- 
yard.' (B.M.) 

'  The  Malcontent.  Augmented  by  Marston. 
With  the  additions  played  by  the  Kings  Maiesties 
servants.  Written  by  Ihon  Webster.  1604.  At 
London  Printed  by  V.  S.  for  William  Aspley,  and 
are  to  be  sold  at  his  shop  in  Paules  Church-yard.' 
(B.M.,  BodL,  Dyce.)  Entered  S.  R.  5  July  1604, 
to  Aspley  and  Thomas  Thorpe.  The  date  on  the 
title-pages,  it  will  be  noticed,  is  not  necessarily  that 
of  printing.  All  three  editions,  however,  were 
printed  by  the  same  printer  (Simmes)  about  the 
same  time.  That  with  the  additions  is  presumably 
the  latest.  I  should  place  the  British  Museum  un- 
enlarged  edition  next  to  it  on  the  strength  of  the 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    403 

similarity  of  imprint — indeed,   the   two   imprints 
seem  to  be  from  the  same  setting  up. 

4  Eastward  Hoe.  As  It  was  playd  in  the  Black- 
friers.  By  The  Children  of  her  Maiesties  Reuels. 
Made  by  Geo:  Chapman.  Ben  lonson.  loh: 
Marston.'  Printed  for  William  Aspley,  1605. 
Prologue,  1.  5,  reads  '  opposde.'  Another  edition 
reads c  opposd.'  (Both  B.M.  and  Bodl.)  Entered 
S.  R.  4  Sept.  1605,  to  Aspley  and  Thorpe.  Valen- 
tine Simmes  is  again  the  printer.  The  '  opposde ' 
edition  is  the  earlier.  This,  as  originally  issued, 
contained  an  offensive  passage  on  leaves  E  I  and  2. 
These  (found  in  the  Dyce  copy)  were  cancelled, 
and  other  leaves  (found  in  B.M.  and  Bodl.  copies), 
omitting  the  passage,  inserted  in  their  place.  But 
the  scandal  sold  out  the  edition,  and  the  play  was 
reprinted  as  amended. 

*  A  merrie  Dialogue,  Between  Band,  Cuffe,  and 
Ruffe :  Done  by  an  excellent  Wit,  And  Lately  acled 
in  a  shew  in  the  famous  Vniversity  of  Cambridge.' 
Printed  by  William  Stansby  for  Miles  Partrich,  1615. 

*  Exchange  Ware  at  the  second  hand,  Viz.  Band, 
Ruff,  and  Cuffe,  lately  out,  and  now  newly  dearned 
vp.     Or  Dialogue,  afted  in  a  Shew  in  the  famous 
Vniuersity  of  Cambridge.      The  second  Edition.' 
Printed  by  W.  Stansby  for  Myles  Partrich,  1615. 
There   are  copies  of  both  editions  at  the  British 
Museum.     There  is  obviously  no  reason  to  suspect 
the  date.     A  popular  university  skit  would  be  very 
likely  to  run  into  more  than  one  edition  in  a  year. 
The  same  remark  applies  to  the  next  item. 

'  Aristippus,  Or  The  louiall  Philosopher :  .  .  . 
To  which  is  added.  The  Conceited  Pedlar,'  anony- 


4o4       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

mous,  but  later  reprinted  among  Randolph's  poems. 
Printed  by  Thomas  Harper,  for  John  Marriot,  sold 
by  Richard  Mynne,  1 630.'  Another  edition  printed 
for  Robert  Allot.  Both  are  in  the  British  Museum. 
Entered  S.  R.  26  Mar.  1630,  to  Marriot;  trans- 
ferred, i  July  1637,  by  Allot's  widow  to  Legatt 
and  Crooke  '  saluo  Jure  cuiuscunque.'  Both  in- 
ternal and  external  evidence  point  to  Marriot's 
edition  being  the  earlier,  but  the  two  were  clearly 
printed  about  the  same  time. 

c  Mercurius  Britanicus,  or  The  English  Intelli- 
gencer. A  Tragic-Comedy  at  Paris.  Acled  with 
great  Applause.  Printed  in  the  year,  1641.'  There 
are  three  editions :  one  with  the  collation  A-D4  E2, 
another  A-D4,  and  a  third  bearing  the  words :  'Re- 
printed with  Sundry  Additions.'  That,  no  doubt, 
is  the  order.  The  British  Museum  has  all  three 
editions.  The  first  edition  has  an  epilogue  which 
is  not  found  in  either  of  the  copies  of  the  second, 
but  then  both  want  the  last  leaf.  It  is  found  in 
the  third  edition,  squeezed  in  on  the  verso  of  Da. 
The  additions  appear  to  have  been  really  made  in 
the  second,  not  the  third,  edition.  There  is  no 
particular  reason  to  question  any  of  the  dates,  but 
the  second,  and  still  more  the  third,  edition  does  look 
rather  later,  and  may  really  'have  been  printed  at 
any  time  during  the  Commonwealth.  There  is 
also  a  Latin  version  of  this  skit,  which  is  ascribed 
to  Richard  Brathwait. 

We  now  pass  to  those  cases  which  are  more  or 
less  open  to  suspicion.  And  first  we  have : 

'The  Comicall  Satyre  of  Euery  Man  out  of  his 
Humor.  As  it  was  first  composed  by  the  Author 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    405 

B.  Ifonson].  Containing  more  than  hath  been 
publikely  Spoken  or  Afted.  With  the  seuerall 
Character  of  euery  Person.  [Motto.]  London, 
Printed  for  William  Holme,  and  are  to  be  sold  at 
his  shoppe  at  Sarieants  Inne  gate  in  Fleetstreet. 
1600.'  Another  edition:  'London,  Printed  for 
Nicholas  Linge.  1600.'  The  two  editions  may  be 
seen  side  by  side  in  the  Dyce  collection.  The  play 
was  entered  to  Holme  in  the  Stationers'  Register, 
8  April  1600,  and  the  Holme  quarto  (printed  by 
Peter  Short)  is  undoubtedly  the  older,  and  the 
source  of  the  other,  but  there  can  be  no  very  great 
difference  of  date.  The  second  quarto  bears  both 
the  name  and  mark  of  Nicholas  Linge,  the  pub- 
lisher of  the  first  and  second  editions  of  Hamlet, 
who  later  on  acquired  an  interest  in  the  copyright 
of '  Romeo  and  Juliet,'  '  Love's  Labour's  Lost,'  and 
the  4  Taming  of  A  Shrew.'  These  with  thirteen 
other  books,  among  which  the  name  of  Jonson's 
play  does  not  appear,  he  transferred  to  Smethwick 
in  November  1607,  and  in  April  1638  we  find  a 
transfer  recorded  of '  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour ' 
from  Smethwick  to  Bishop.  The  absence  of  any 
transfer  from  Holme  to  Ling  or  from  Ling  to 
Smethwick  suggests  that  there  is  here  at  least  a 
case  for  investigation. 

c  Albumazar.  A  Comedy  presented  before  the 
King's  Maiesty  at  Cambridge.  By  the  Gentlemen 
of  Trinity  Colledge.  Newly  reuised  and  corrected 
by  a  special  Hand.  London,  Printed  by  Nicholas 
Okes  1634.'  Another  edition:  'revised.'  We 
have  already  considered  the  earlier  editions  of  this 
play  of  Thomas  Tomkis'  above.  The  editions  dated 


406       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

1634,  which  may  be  compared  at  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  are  by  the  same  printer,  and  can  hardly 
differ  widely  in  date.  It  is,  however,  noteworthy 
that  the  '  reuised'  edition  is  consistent  in  employing 
the  old,  and  the  '  revised '  the  modern,  conven- 
tion regarding  the  letters  '  u  '  and  c  v.'  The  play 
remained  popular  and  was  again  reprinted  in 
1668. 

'The  Knight  of  the  Burning  Pestle.  Full  of 
Mirth  and  Delight.  Written  by  Francis  Beau- 
mont and  lohn  Fletcher.  Gent.  As  it  is  now 
A6ted  by  Her  Maiesties  Servants  at  the  Private 
house  in  Drury  lane.  1635.  [Motto.]  London: 
Printed  by  N.  O.  for  I.  S.  1635.'  Another 
edition:  '  Beamount.'  (Both  in  B.  M.,  Bodl., 
T.C.C.)  The  play  was  originally  printed  for 
Walter  Burre  in  1613.  Of  the  two  later  editions 
the  c  Beaumont '  one  is  the  earlier,  retaining  the 
same  measure  and  typographical  arrangement  as 
the  original.  The  other  includes  its  misprints  and 
is  printed  from  it.  On  the  ground  of  general 
appearance  I  fancy  there  can  be  little  doubt  that 
the  *  Beamount '  edition  is  some  years  the  later :  I 
should  place  it  c.  1650. 

'The  ELDER  BROTHER  A  Comedie. 
Acted  at  the  Blacke  Friers,  by  his  Maiesties  Ser- 
vants. Printed  according  to  the  true  Copie. 
Written  by  lohn  Fletcher  Gent.  London,  Im- 
printed by  F.  K.  for  J.  W.  and  J.  B.  1637.' 
Another  edition  :  '  Elder  Brother.'  (Both  in  B.M. 
and  Dyce.)  That  the  former  is  the  earlier  and  the 
latter  a  reprint  is  shown  by  a  curious  reading  near 
the  end  of  the  play  (V.  ii.  72)  : 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    407 

though  you  dare  not  fight 

Yourself,  or  fright  a  foolish  officer,  young  Eustace 
Can  do  it  to  a  hair. 

In  the  first  edition  a  space  before  the  word  '  young ' 
has  worked  up  and  made  a  mark  above  the  line. 
This  caught  the  attention  of  the  observant,  but 
extraordinarily  dense  compositor  of  the  other 
quarto,  and  he  actually  printed  c  'young ' !  The 
play  was  entered  S.  R.  29  (?23)  Mar.  1637,  to 
Waterson  and  Benson  (the  J.  W.  and  J.  B.  of  the 
quartos).  Other  editions  appeared  in  1651,  1661, 
and  1678  before  the  play  was  included  in  the  folio 
of  1679.  The  edition  of  1651  is  printed  from  the 
first  edition  (with  certain  alterations)  ;  that  of  1661 
from  the  other  '  1637'  edition;  that  of  1678  from 
that  of  1 66 1,  but  reducing  the  whole  to  prose. 
There  is,  therefore,  no  reason,  so  far  as  the  text  is 
concerned,  why  the  second  c  1637'  edition  should 
not  have  been  printed  at  any  date  between  1637 
and  1 66 1,  and  there  is  very  considerable  reason  for 
supposing  it  to  have  originated  not  far  from  this 
latter  date.  Its  late  character  is  obvious  when 
compared  with  the  first  edition,  but  there  is  much 
more  definite  evidence  than  this.  The  types  of 
the  words  'Elder  Brother'  and  < COMEDY'  on 
the  title-page  are  identical  with  those  of  the  1661 
quarto ;  so  is  the  ornament  on  B  I  and  the  initial 
N  on  the  same  page.  All  these  are  different  in 
the  first  edition.  Moreover,  while  the  first  edition 
is  printed  throughout  on  one  make  of  paper  with- 
out watermark,  both  '1637'  and  1661  exhibit  a 
mixture  of  three  or  four  marks,  and  in  the  British 
Museum  copies  identically  the  same  mark  occurs 


4o8       ON  CERTAIN  FALSE  DATES 

in  sheet  G  of  '  1637'  and  sheet  F  of  1661.  This 
is  much  the  clearest  case  of  a  false  date  I  have 
come  across  among  non-Shakespearian  quartos. 

'  Loves  Mistresse :  or  The  Queenes  Masque  .  .  . 
The  second  Impression,  corrected  by  the  Author, 
Thomas  Heywood  .  .  .  London,  Printed  by  lohn 
Raworth,  for  lohn  Crouch,  1640.'  Another 
edition:  'Mistress.'  (Both  in  B.M.  and  Bodl.) 
The  former  has  the  collation  A-I4,  the  latter  A-G4. 
This  is  clearly  the  later  ;  it  converts  whole  speeches 
into  prose,  and  crowds  up  the  last  page  in  small 
type  to  get  it  into  the  reduced  number  of  sheets. 
From  its  general  appearance  I  should  imagine  it  to 
be  at  least  ten  years  younger. 

4  The  Scornfull  Ladie.  A  Comedie.  As  it  was 
Acled  (with  great  applause)  by  the  late  Kings 
Majesties  Servants,  at  the  Black  Fryers.  Written 
by  Francis  Beaumont,  and  John  Fletcher,  Gentle- 
men. The  sixt  Edition,  Corrected  and  amended.' 
Printed  for  Humphrey  Mosely,  1651.  (B.M.) 
Another  edition;  'The  Scornefull  Ladie';  also 
with  printer's  mark  ('  In  Domino  Confido ')  not  in 
the  above  (Bodl.,  Dyce).  As  I  happen  to  possess 
a  copy  of  the  '  Scornfull'  edition  I  have  been  able  to 
compare  the  two.  Mine  is,  I  think,  undoubtedly 
a  later,  though  a  very  close,  reprint,  probably  sur- 
reptitious. The  play  was  entered  S.R.,  19  Mar. 
1616,  to  Miles  Partrich,  but  had  long  wandered 
from  its  original  owner. 

Besides  these  cases  of  plays,  there  are  also  a  cer- 
tain number  to  be  found  among  masques.  There 
is,  however,  no  reason  to  suspecl:  a  fraud.  These 
polite  toys  must  often  have  had  a  considerable 


IN  SHAKESPEARIAN  QUARTOS.    409 

vogue  at  the  moment,  while  their  ephemeral  nature 
would  remove  all  temptation  to  fraudulent  reprints 
at  a  later  date. 

Of  course,  there  may  be  many  cases  of  '  twin ' 
editions  which  have  as  yet  escaped  bibliographical 
research.  Unless  copies  can  be  brought  side  by 
side  it  is  difficult  to  differentiate  them.  Photo- 
graphy, however,  and  cheap  methods  of  reproduc- 
tion are  placing  a  powerful  instrument  in  the  hands 
of  bibliographers,  and  we  may  expe6t  some  inter- 
esting discoveries.  In  some  cases  again  it  may 
happen  that  a  genuine  edition  has  wholly  disap- 
peared and  only  a  spurious  one  been  left.  Or  else 
a  surreptitious  printer  may  have  placed  on  his  title- 
page  a  wholly  fictitious  date — as  in  the  case  of 
4  Henry  V,'  1 608.  These  cases  will  probably  remain 
beyond  detection. 

W.  W.  GREG. 


410 


THE  LIBRARY  ASSOCIATION  CON- 
FERENCE. 

i HE  Conference  of  trie  Library  Associa- 
tion held  at  Brighton  in  the  last  week 
of  August  was  the  thirty-first  annual 
meeting,  and  the  tenth  since  the  Asso- 
ciation received  its  Royal  Charter. 
The  acceptance  of  an  invitation  to  hold  the  annual 
meeting  at  a  pleasure  resort,  at  a  time  of  year  when 
tens  of  thousands  of  other  visitors  are  there,  is  a  new 
experiment,  though  it  was  tried  under  other  con- 
ditions a  few  years  ago  when  the  Association  went 
to  Buxton  for  its  conference.  The  result  has  been 
a  success,  so  far  as  numbers  go,  beyond  all  prece- 
dent, for  over  400  were  entered  as  attending,  but 
the  attractions  of  Brighton  and  its  surroundings 
proved  too  strong  for  a  good  percentage,  and  the 
conference  room  saw  little  or  nothing  of  them.  It 
says  a  great  deal  for  the  hotels  and  other  places  that 
these  400  people  readily  found  quarters  on  terms 
which  were  quite  moderate.  Nor  did  the  absence 
of  those  who  preferred  the  sea-front  and  other 
attractions,  in  any  way  militate  against  the  success 
of  the  proceedings,  for  this  year's  conference  will 
stand  out  as  quite  one  of  the  most  useful  working 
meetings. 

The  selection  of  Mr.  Charles  Thomas-Stanford  as 
President  was  very  happy.     Not  only  is  he  closely 


ASSOCIATION  CONFERENCE.      411 

associated  with  Brighton,  where  he  has  a  residence, 
but  he  possesses  gifts  of  refined  scholarship,  and  is 
an  ardent  book  collector,  his  special  quest  being  fine 
copies  of  early  printed  books.  It  is  worth  men- 
tioning, too,  that  Mr.  Thomas-Stanford,  like  so 
many  other  owners  of  rare  books,  willingly  allows 
others  to  share  in  the  pleasure  and  instruction  to  be 
derived  from  his  treasures.  At  the  present  time  a 
collection  of  bindings  selected  to  show  the  progress 
of  the  art,  comprising  about  i  20  examples,  is  on 
exhibition  in  the  Brighton  Art  Gallery,  and  a  well 
arranged  and  annotated  catalogue,  with  some  illus- 
trations, and  an  introduction  by  Mr.  Thomas-Stan- 
ford, is  sold  for  the  modest  sum  of  twopence.  With 
this  catalogue,  and  the  excellent  examples  in  the 
cases,  it  is  possible  to  obtain  a  really  valuable  know- 
ledge of  the  history  of  bookbinding.  This  is  a 
supplementary  exhibition  to  one  held  a  year  ago  of 
books  printed  between  1462  and  1501,  of  which  a 
similar  catalogue  was  issued.  I  may  add  that  the 
usefulness  of  both  these  exhibitions  has  been  greatly 
increased  by  the  arrangements  made  for  conducting 
parties  of  visitors  over  them,  with  informal  explana- 
tions. 

The  fine  buildings  of  the  Public  Libraries, 
Museums,  and  Art  Galleries,  and  of  the  contiguous 
Royal  Pavilion,  offer  unequalled  facilities  for  hold- 
ing conferences  and  the  entertainments  usually 
associated  with  such  gatherings,  and  the  generous 
manner  in  which  these  buildings  were  placed  at  the 
service  of  the  Association  by  the  Corporation  added 
much  to  the  comfort  and  convenience  of  the  mem- 
bers. The  authorities  of  Brighton  deserve  warm 


4i2  THE  LIBRARY 

thanks  for  the  liberal  way  in  which  they  supported 
the  efforts  of  the  Local  Reception  Committee,  and 
its  Hon.  Sec.,  Mr.  H.  D.  Roberts,  Director  of  the 
Brighton  Libraries,  etc.,  whose  abilities  as  an  or- 
ganiser received  general  recognition. 

The  official  welcome  by  the  Mayor  (Alderman 
J.  P.  Slingsby  Roberts)  was  given  in  felicitous  terms 
on  the  Monday  evening  at  the  reception  in  the  Art 
Galleries.  This  left  the  first  morning  session  free 
for  the  immediate  business  of  the  conference,  com- 
mencing with  the  address  of  the  President.  Mr. 
Thomas-Stanford  devoted  the  major  part  of  his 
address  to  the  book-less  state  of  the  rural  districts 
in  Great  Britain,  a  condition  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  Libraries  Acts  now  on  the  statute  book  were 
framed  more  especially  to  meet  the  needs  of  Urban 
areas.  It  is  true  a  Parish  Council  may  put  the 
existing  A61s  into  operation,  but  the  product  of  the 
penny  rate  in  thousands  of  rural  parishes  is  so  small 
as  to  be  useless.  Much  has  been  done  in  a  few 
cases  by  the  aid  of  local  gentry,  by  Sir  Edmund 
Verney  and  his  family  at  Middle  Claydon  for  ex- 
ample. But,  as  the  President  very  truly  said,  '  such 
projects,  admirable  under  existing  circumstances  as 
they  are,  can,  I  fear,  only  be  rather  a  palliative  than 
a  cure  of  the  booklessness  of  the  country  which  we 
deplore  and  seek  to  remedy.  They  are  too  depen- 
dant on  the  accident  of  an  unusually  benevolent 
bishop,  or  an  uncommonly  large-minded  landowner. 
No  permanent  and  widespread  remedy  can  be 
found,  as  I  believe,  but  in  a  comprehensive  scheme 
worked  through  the  County  Councils.  We  have 
already  taken  the  control  of  education  from  the 


ASSOCIATION  CONFERENCE.     413 

village  school  boards,  and  constituted  the  County 
Councils  the  education  authority.  It  is  their 
business  to  look  after  the  training  of  the  young ; 
it  should  be  their  business  also  to  provide  those 
same  children  that  they  have  educated  with  the 
means  of  using  and  developing  that  education  in 
after  life.' 

All  that  is  excellently  said.  It  is  to  be  regretted 
that  the  President's  address  was  not  made  the  text 
for  a  debate  upon  the  question.  As  it  happened, 
the  subject  was  left  over  for  the  last  day,  when  two 
papers  dealing  with  interesting  experiments  in  the 
way  of  circulating  books  in  the  rural  districts  were 
read,  but  as  these  treated  of  details,  and  left  the 
larger  question  alone,  a  valuable  opportunity  was 
lost. 

The  President  also  touched  upon  the  importance 
of  the  collection  of  local  literature  in  the  libraries. 
'  Nothing  of  local  interest  should  be  considered  too 
trifling  to  preserve.  The  rubbish  of  one  generation 
is  the  treasure  of  the  next,  and  what  is  passing  almost 
unheeded  before  our  eyes  to-day  will  be  matter  for 
history  to-morrow.'  The  Horn  Books,  once  so 
common,  now  so  rare,  and  local  ballad  literature, 
often  of  historical  and  philological  value,  are  illus- 
trations of  the  truth  of  Mr.  Thomas-Stanford's 
remarks.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  not  all  public 
libraries  preserve  the  newspapers  of  their  district,  a 
want  of  foresight  for  which  they  will  surely  be  one 
day  called  to  account. 

A  paper  on  the  Brighton  Public  Library, 
Museum,  and  Fine  Arts  Galleries,  by  Mr.  Roberts, 
the  Director,  was  taken  as  read,  and  copies  will 


414  THE  LIBRARY 

in  due  course  be  printed  for  circulation, — a 
full  synopsis  of  it  was  published  in  the  local 
press. 

The  subject  of  Fiction  in  the  Public  Library  has 
long  been  a  standing  dish  at  these  conferences,  and 
both  the  members  and,  so  it  is  asserted  in  some 
quarters,  the  press,  are  heartily  sick  of  the  subject. 
I  have  my  doubts  about  the  press,  doubts  based  on 
the  eagerness  with  which  a  number  of  newspapers 
seized  upon  the  topic  for  comment,  and  incidentally 
for  having  a  fling  at  the  public  libraries.  The  truth 
is  that  the  reading  of  fiction  is  one  of  the  features 
of  the  age  in  which  we  live,  and  therefore  a  topic 
of  perennial  interest.  Many  editors,  recognising 
this,  wrote  leaders  discussing  the  matter  in  a  reason- 
able and  proper  spirit,  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that 
others  with  less  insight  looked  upon  the  occasion  as 
one  for  cheap  sneers. 

Mr.  A.  O.  Jennings,  Chairman  of  the  Brighton 
Library  Sub-Committee,  introduced  the  subject  in 
a  well-thought-out  paper,  designed  to  produce  a 
discussion  on  the  attitude  to  be  adopted  by  the 
Public  Libraries  in  purchasing  and  circulating  works 
of  fiction.  It  would  have  narrowed  the  subsequent 
discussion  down  to  the  main  points  of  the  paper  if 
Mr.  Jennings  had  omitted  all  reference  to  statistics, 
but  this  he  did  not  realise  in  time.  Still  the  debate, 
on  the  whole,  was  kept  fairly  well  to  the  points 
raised,  and  the  three  proposals  formulated  were 
adopted,  the  first  two  unanimously,  and  the  third 
with  only  one  dissentient.  These  conclusions  form 
a  valuable  basis  for  combined  action  in  dealing  with 
this  difficult  point  in  library  practice,  and  will  be 


ASSOCIATION  CONFERENCE.     415 

circulated    to    library    authorities.       They    are    as 
follows : — 

1.  That  the  function  of  a  Public  Lending  Library  is  to 

provide  good  literature  for  circulation  among  its 
readers,  and  that  the  same  test  must  be  applied  to 
its  works  of  fiction  as  to  the  books  in  its  other 
departments ;  they  must  have  literary  or  educa- 
tional value. 

2.  That  every  Public  Lending  Library  should  be  amply 

supplied  with  fiction  that  has  attained  the  position 
of  classical  literature,  such  as  the  works  of  Scott, 
Dickens,  Thackeray,  George  Eliot ;  and  among 
more  modern  writers  Stevenson,  Kipling,  Mere- 
dith, and  Hardy.  These  names  are,  of  course, 
merely  given  by  way  of  illustration,  and  each 
library  must  be  allowed  to  make  its  own  rules  as 
to  admission  into  the  charmed  circle,  provided 
that  it  can  satisfy  its  conscience  that  the  suggested 
test  has  been  applied. 

3.  That  the  purchase  of  mere  ephemeral  fiction  of  no 

literary  value,  even  if  without  offence,  is  not 
within  the  proper  province  of  a  Public  Lending 
Library. 

The  adoption  of  these  resolutions  as  a  definite 
basis  for  future  guidance,  is  a  practical  step,  and  if 
they  are  acled  upon  by  those  who  have  the  difficult 
task  of  selecting  novels  for  the  public  to  read,  there 
can  be  little  room  for  that  carping  criticism  so  freely 
poured  out  on  the  libraries.  I  believe  that  in  a  very 
large  degree  the  spirit,  of  the  resolutions  is  already 
followed,  and  that  it  is  rarely  the  case  that  the 
libraries  knowingly  buy  trashy  fiction.  In  the 
course  of  the  discussion  I  ventured  to  say,  as  I  have 


4i6  THE  LIBRARY 

said  before  in  the  pages  of  'THE  LIBRARY,'  that 
there  are  many  degrees  of  the  human  mind,  and 
this  factor  must  be  taken  into  account  in  selecting 
reading  for  the  public.  What  is  immoral  and 
vicious  should  be  avoided,  those  who  desire  to  read 
works  of  that  class  should  buy  or  hire  them ;  but 
an  analogy  may  be  drawn  from  music  when  con- 
sidering literary  value.  Not  every  one  can  ap- 
preciate a  sonata  of  Beethoven  or  the  music  of 
Wagner ;  it  would  be  absurd  to  deny  such  persons 
the  pleasure  and  profit  they  derive  from  other 
forms  of  music. 

At  the  afternoon  session  Mr.  W.  W.  Topley,  a 
member  of  the  Croydon  Libraries  Committee,  re- 
ported upon  the  present  position  of  the  net  books 
question.  The  publishers  were  quite  willing  to 
meet  the  public  libraries  in  a  reasonable  spirit  in 
the  matter  of  some  discount  off  net  books,  provided 
the  booksellers  agreed,  but  the  latter  had  refused  by 
a  large  majority  to  enter  into  the  question.  It  was 
hinted  that  the  booksellers  who  have  experience  of 
library  orders  were  willing  to  concede  reasonable 
terms,  but  that  they  were  a  minority,  and  out- 
voted by  the  booksellers  |who  do  not  know  what 
such  orders  mean.  The  position  is  one  of  great 
delicacy,  and  no  discussion  was  allowed.  Things 
cannot  be  allowed  to  go  on  as  they  tend  to  do 
at  the  present  time.  The  libraries  may  wisely 
spend  as  much  money  as  possible  in  building  up 
their  collections  of  important  books  which  can 
be  bought  in  the  second-hand  market,  purchasing 
only  essential  books  new.  It  would  be  good  for 
the  libraries,  and  salutary  for  those  who  will  miss 


ASSOCIATION  CONFERENCE.     417 

the  thousands  of  pounds  a  year  diverted  into  other 
pockets. 

Two  lantern  lectures  were  given  during  the  Con- 
ference. The  first,  a  continuation  of  Mr.  Cyril 
Davenport's  valuable  series  on  decorative  book- 
bindings, was  for  members  only,  the  subject  being 
English  Embroidered  Bookbindings.  The  lecture 
was  listened  to  with  eager  interest,  and  was  de- 
livered with  the  ease  which  comes  from  complete 
mastery  of  a  subject.  The  lantern  slides  were  of 
great  beauty,  made  and  coloured  by  Mr.  Daven- 
port himself.  The  other  lecture  was  given  in  the 
evening  to  an  audience  mainly  of  local  people,  by 
Mr.  Stanley  Jast,  Hon.  Secretary  of  the  Association, 
the  subject  being  Public  Library  work.  All  the 
varied  activities  of  the  public  libraries  in  Great 
Britain  were  passed  in  review,  illustrated  with  an 
excellent  series  of  lantern  slides.  The  review  of 
each  point  was  necessarily  brief,  yet  so  carefully 
was  the  lecture  prepared,  and  so  lucidly  delivered, 
that  the  audience  obtained  a  good  idea  of  the  aims 
of  the  libraries  and  their  administrators. 

The  Libraries  Acts  are  adopted  by  580  places, 
and  527  places  have  libraries  in  operation,  the 
number  of  buildings,  including  branches,  being 
906.  The  number  of  books  in  these  libraries  is 
12,000,000  (4,000,000  reference,  8,000,000  lend- 
ing), the  number  of  registered  borrowers  entitled 
to  take  books  home,  2,500,000.  The  estimated  use 
for  one  year  is  175,000,000,  made  up  of  reference 
libraries  20,000,000,  lending  libraries  60,000,000, 
and  reading-rooms  95,000,000.  These  figures  are 
only  approximate,  but  they  are  near  enough  to 

IX.  E  E 


4i 8  THE  LIBRARY 

give  some  idea  of  the  vast  amount  of  work  done. 
A  lecture  to  the  public  should  certainly  be  a  feature 
of  all  future  conferences. 

A  paper  by  Alderman  Plummer,  Chairman  of 
the  Manchester  Libraries  Committee,  gave  per- 
sonal impressions  of  American  Libraries,  formed 
during  the  recent  visit  of  a  deputation  whose  object 
was  to  acquire  information  in  view  of  the  intended 
new  buildings  for  the  Manchester  Reference  Library. 
The  paper  bristled  with  good  points,  and  was  written 
in  that  charming  style  which  makes  Alderman 
Plummer's  many  friends  regret  that  he  is  so  seldom 
heard  at  the  conferences.  The  three  main  ideas 
prevailing  in  America,  he  said,  are  space,  achieve- 
ment, and  the  boundless  possibilities  of  the  future. 
He  referred  to  the  co-operation  between  the 
schools  and  the  public  libraries  of  New  York  in 
their  endeavours  to  make  useful  citizens  of  the 
dregs  of  Europe,  a  process  usually  accomplished  in 
a  generation.  The  library  development  of  recent 
years,  its  wider  range,  its  more  splendid  activities, 
are  the  work  of  Mr.  Carnegie. 

Alderman  Plummer  brought  out  one  very  im- 
portant difference  between  English  and  American 
libraries.  The  governing  bodies  of  American 
libraries  are  entirely  distinct  from  the  municipali- 
ties, and  they  have  a  freedom  and  directness  of 
action  which  counts  heavily  in  their  success.  In 
this  country,  on  the  other  hand,  the  tendency  is  to 
bring  the  libraries  more  and  more  under  the  direct 
control  of  the  municipalities,  to  check  and  curtail 
the  committees. 

The  prominence  given  to  children's  libraries  in 


ASSOCIATION  CONFERENCE.     419 

America  was  dealt  with,  and  the  value  of  literature 
as  a  preserver  of  language  was  touched  upon.  In 
New  York  especially,  and  in  many  other  places, 
the  mixture  of  races  makes  it  highly  important  if 
the  English  language  is  to  be  kept  from  degrada- 
tion into  a  mere  jargon,  that  young  children  should 
be  taught  to  read  good  literature,  for  literature  is 
not  only  the  source  but  the  sustenance  of  a  langwage. 

The  discussion  on  Alderman  Plummer's  paper 
produced  some  supplementary  notes  by  Mr.  Sutton, 
Librarian  of  Manchester,  and  a  racy,  short  speech 
from  Dr.  Koch,  Librarian  of  Michigan  University, 
who  said  that  the  libraries  of  the  universities  were 
largely  managed  by  a  faculty,  and  the  librarian  was 
mainly  a  clerk.  The  college  libraries  were,  as  a 
rule,  full  of  books  good  to  look  at,  but  dull  as  daily 
reading.  He  had  tried  to  introduce  some  of  the 
progressive  spirit  of  the  public  libraries  into 
Michigan  University,  which  has  a  library  of 
250,000  volumes.  He  spoke  also  of  the  system  of 
state  supervision  of  small  libraries  adopted  in  Wis- 
consin, Iowa,  and  Michigan.  It  was  not  inter- 
ference, but  help.  By  warning  the  libraries  against 
books  vended  by  book  sharks,  by  helping  to  make 
up  sets  of  periodicals  and  other  books  from  the 
state  store  library,  a  central  depot  for  gifts  to  be 
distributed  where  most  needed,  in  these  and  other 
ways  state  supervision  was  very  helpful.  The  State 
Commission  on  Libraries  also  advised,  with  the 
help  of  a  consulting  architect,  on  buildings  for 
small  libraries. 

Dr.  Baker,  Librarian  of  Woolwich,  dealt  in  an 
able  paper  with  the  recent   developments  of  co- 


420  THE  LIBRARY 

operation  amongst  libraries.  Something  has  already 
been  achieved.  The  annual  publication,  *  The  Best 
Books,'  in  which  the  best  books  of  the  year  on 
every  subject  are  selected  and  in  some  cases  anno- 
tated by  a  number  of  experts,  is  now  a  standard 
annual  publication.  But  co-operative  catalogue 
work,  co-operative  book-buying  for  libraries,  the 
co-ordination  of  the  work  of  groups  of  libraries 
near  together,  and  many  other  desirable  objects  are 
still  only  in  the  air.  The  wastefulness  of  duplicat- 
ing costly  books  in  libraries  near  together  is  a 
striking  example  of  the  importance  of  the  subject. 
If  half  a  dozen  libraries  only  could  agree  to  exchange 
such  books  as  required,  the  combined  purchasing 
power  would  immensely  increase  the  range  of  books 
available ;  while  the  telephone  overcomes  many 
difficulties.  Such  an  experiment  might  well  be  made 
with  valuable  results.  Full  co-operation  between 
library  authorities  may  be  a  long  way  off,  but  co- 
operation on  some  points  ought  to  be  very  near. 

The  interior  decoration  of  libraries  was  advocated 
by  Mr.  Wilfrid  Walter  and  Mr.  C.  H.  Grinling,  of 
Woolwich,  in  a  paper  full  of  lofty  enthusiasm,  which 
many  of  us  fully  sympathised  with,  but,  alas,  pence 
are  few.  It  transpired,  however,  that  the  authors 
of  the  paper  have  undertaken  to  decorate  the  walls 
of  one  of  the  Woolwich  libraries  without  drawing 
upon  the  library  funds. 

The  Reports  of  the  several  Committees  on  Edu- 
cation, Legislation,  Publications,  Book  Production, 
and  Catalogue  Rules  were  brief,  and  except  the 
last,  did  not  indicate  great  progress.  The  cata- 
logue rules  agreed  on  between  America  and  this 


ASSOCIATION  CONFERENCE.     421 

country  are  in  print,  and  will  shortly  be  ready  for 
circulation.  The  Business  Meeting  was  more  or 
less  formal,  except  on  one  point,  the  old  vexed 
question  of  the  inability  of  the  country  members 
of  the  Council  to  take  part  in  transacting  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Association.  This  is  a  domestic  ques- 
tion of  considerable  difficulty,  and  common  to  most 
societies. 

A  Special  Committee  on  Registration  reported 
in  favour  of  a  scheme  for  a  register  of  qualified 
librarians  in  connection  with  the  Association,  but 
the  scheme  put  forward  was  strongly  opposed  by 
some  members  of  the  Library  Assistants'  Associa- 
tion, who  were  present  by  invitation  to  discuss  the 
question.  The  suggestion  for  a  register  emanated, 
I  believe,  from  the  junior  Association,  and  although 
the  proposals  of  the  Committee  were  carried  by  an 
overwhelming  majority — 94  to  14 — it  was  clear 
that  the  whole  matter  requires  to  be  very  fully 
considered  before  any  useful  result  can  be  achieved. 
At  present  it  looks  very  much  as  if  the  tail  wants 
to  wag  the  dog. 

J.B. 


422 


THE    CASKET    SONNETS. 

VER  since  their  first  publication  in 
1 569  the  text  of  these  sonnets  has  been 
printed  in  an  imperfect  form,  two  lines 
being  omitted — viz.  Sonnet  III.,  1.  13, 
and  VIII.,  1.  6.  The  English  transla- 
tion of  Buchanan  shows  that  he  had  a  complete 
text  before  him,  and  it  is  not  difficult  to  see  how 
the  lines  were  omitted  in  copying.  The  Lennox 
MS.  in  Cambridge  gives  for  these  lines  '  Et  toutes 
fois  mon  cceur  vous  doutez  ma  Constance '  and 
'  Pour  luy  ie  vieux  faire  teste  au  malheur.'  In 
view  of  its  close  correspondence  elsewhere  with  the 
Buchanan  text  of  1 572  it  seems  probable  that  the 
Lennox  MS.  is  copied  from  it,  these  lines  being  a 
conjectural  retranslation.  In  that  case,  the  evidence 
of  the  MS.  against  the  letters  is  greatly  weakened. 
The  copy  now  printed  from  the  Harleian  MS. 
787,  f.  44  was  evidently  taken  from  the  originals 
submitted  to  the  English  Commissioners  by  Mur- 
ray. It  accompanies  some  extracts  made  at  the 
same  time  from  the  translation  of  the  Casket  Letters. 
Another  Commissioner's  extracts  are  also  preserved 
in  the  British  Museum. 

As  to  the  authenticity  of  the  sonnets  nothing 
new  can  be  said.  The  text  here  presented  agrees 
very  well  with  such  of  Mary's  occasional  verse  as  we 
have,  and  is  quite  good  enough  for  a  Royal  lover. 

ROBERT  STEELE. 


THE  CASKET  SONNETS.  423 

The  Copye  of  a  Poeme  composed  by  Mary  Qu:  of 
Scotts  when  she  was  in  love  wth  Earle  Both  well,  &  found 
in  a  little  Trunke  of  his  wth  divers  other  Lre  (all  written 
wth  her  owne  hand)  at  Edenburgh  Castle.  The  Trunke 
was  garnished  in  divers  places  of  it  wth  a  great  F  &  a 
Crowne  over  it  &c.  In  memory  of  her  first  Husbd  Francis 
ye  2d. 

I. 

O  Dieux,  ayez  de  moy  compassion, 

Et  m'enseignez  quelle  preuve  certain 

Je  puis  donner  qui  ne  luy  semble  vain 

De  mon  Amour  et  ferme  affection, 

Las  !  n'est  il  pas  ja  en  possession 

Du  corps,  du  cceur  qui  ne  refuse  peine 

Ny  deshonneur,  en  la  vie  incertaine  ? 

Offense  de  Parentz,  ne  pire  affliction  ? 

Pour  luy  tous  mes  Amis  j'estime  moins  que  rien, 

Et  de  mes  Ennemis  je  veux  esperer  bien. 

J'ay  hazarde  pour  luy  et  nom  et  conscience : 

Je  veux  pour  luy  au  monde  renoncer : 

Je  veux  mourir  pour  luy  avancer. 

Que  reste  il  plus  pour  prouver  ma  Constance  ? 

II. 

Entre  ses  mains,  et  en  son  plein  pouvoir, 
Je  metz  mon  filz,  mon  honneur,  et  ma  vie, 
Mon  Pa'fs,  mes  Subjectz,  mon  Ame  assubjectie 
Et  tout  a  luy,  et  n'ay  autre  vouloir 
Pour  mon  object,  que  sans  le  decevoir 
Suivre  je  veux  malgre  toute  1'enuie 
Qu'issir  en  peult,  Car  je  n'ay  autre  envie 
Que  de  ma  foy  luy  faire  appercevoir 
Que  pour  tempeste  ou  bonnace  qui  face 
Jamais  ne  veux  changer  demeure  ou  place. 
Brief,  je  feray  de  ma  foy  telle  preuve 


424  THE  CASKET  SONNETS. 

Qu'il  cognoistra  sans  fainte  ma  Constance, 
Non  par  mes  pleurs  ou  feinte  obeissance, 
Comme  autres  ont  fait,  mais  par  divers  espreuve. 

III. 

Dame  Jane      Elle,  pour  son  honneur,  vous  doibt  obeissance 
Gourdon,        Moy,  vous  obeissant,  j'en  puis  recevoir  blasme, 

N'estant,  a  mon  regret,  comme  elle,  vostre  femme. 
Et  si  n'aura  pourtant  en  ce  point  preeminence. 
Pour  son  profit  elle  use  de  Constance, 
Car  ce  n'est  peu  d'honneur  d'estre  de  voz  biens  Dame  ; 
Et  moy,  pour  vous  aymer  j'en  puis  recevoir  blasme, 
Et  ne  luy  veux  ceder  en  toute  1'observance. 
Elle  de  vostre  mal  n'a  1'apprehension, 
Moy  je  n'ay  nul  repos,  tant  je  crains  1'apparence. 
Par  1'advis  de  Parentz,  ell'  cut  vostre  accointance, 
Moy  malgre  tous  les  miens  vous  porte  affection, 
Neantmoins  (mon  Coeur)  vouz  doubtez  ma  Constance, 
Et  de  sa  loyaulte  prenez  ferme  asseurance. 

IV. 

Par  vous  (mon  Coeur)  et  par  vostre  alliance 

Elle  a  remis  sa  Maison  en  honneur, 

Elle  a  jouy  par  vous  la  grandeur 

D'ont  tous  les  siens  n'ayent  nul  asseurance : 

De  vous  (mon  bien)  elle  a  eu  la  Constance, 

Et  a  gaign6  pour  un  temps  vostre  cosur, 

Par  vous  elle  a  eu  plaisir  et  bonheur, 

Et  par  vous  a  receu  honneur  et  reverence, 

Et  n'a  perdu,  sinon  la  jouissance 

D'un  fascheux  Sot  qu'elle  aymoit  cherement. 

Je  ne  la  plains  d'aymer  done  ardamment, 

Celuy  qui  n'a  en  sens,  ny  en  vaillance, 

En  beaute,  en  bonte,  ny  en  Constance, 

Point  de  seconde.     Je  vis  en  ceste  foy. 


THE  CASKET  SONNETS.  425 


V. 

Quant  vous  1'amiez,  elle  usoit  de  froideur : 
Si  vous  souffriez  pour  s'amour,  passion 
Qui  vient  d'aymer  de  trop  d'affection, 
Son  dueil  monstroit  la  tristesse  de  cceur, 
N'ayant  plaisir  de  vostre  grand  ardeur. 
En  ses  habitz  monstroit  sans  fiction 
Qu'elle  n'avoit  poeur  qu'imperfection 
Peust  1'efFacer  hors  de  ce  loyal  cceur. 
De  vostre  Mort  je  ne  vis  la  poeur 
Que  meriloit  tel  Mary  et  Seigneur. 
Somme,  de  vous  elle  a  eu  tout  son  bien, 
Et  n'a  prise  ny  jamais  estime 
Un  si  grand  heur,  sinon  puis  qu'il  n'est  sien, 
Et  maintenant,  dit  1'avoir  tant  ayme. 


VI. 

Et  maintenant,  elle  commence  a  voir 

Qu'elle  estoit  bien  de  mauvais  jugement 

De  n'estimer  1'amour  d'un  tel  Amant 

Et  voudroit  bien  mon  Amy  decevoir, 

Par  ses  Escrits  tout  fardez  de  s^avoir, 

Qui  pourtant  n'est  en  son  esprit  croissant 

Ains  emprunte  de  quelque  Autheur  luissant, 

A  feint  tresbien  un  Envoy  sans  1'avoir. 

Et  toutesfois  ses  parolez  fardez, 

Ses  pleurs,  ses  plaincts  remplis  de  fictions 

Et  ses  hautz  cris  et  lamentations 

Ont  tant  gaigne,  que  par  vous  sont  gardez 

Ses  Lettres  escriptez,  auxquelz  vous  donnez  foy, 

Et  si  1'aymez,  et  croyez  plus  que  moy. 


426 


THE  CASKET  SONNETS. 


The  Duke  of 
Norfolk  and 
Earl  of  Lei- 
cester were 
mentioned 
to  her  at  the 
same  time. 


VII. 

Vous  la  croyez  (las)  trop  je  1'apper^oy 

Et  vous  doubtez  de  ma  ferme  Constance, 

O  mon  seul  bien,  et  mon  seul  esperance, 

Et  ne  vous  puis  asseurer  de  ma  foy. 

Vous  m'estimez  legier,  que  le  voy, 

Et  si  n'avez  en  moy  nul  assurance, 

Et  soupgonnez  mon  Coeur  sans  apparence, 

Vous  deffiant  a  trop  grand  tort  de  moy. 

Vous  ignorez  I'amour  que  je  vous  porte, 

Vous  soup9onnez  que  autre  Amour  me  transporte, 

Vous  estimez  mes  parolles  du  vent, 

Vous  depeignez  de  cire  mon  las  coeur, 

Vous  me  pensez  femme  sans  jugement. 

Et  tout  cela  augmente  mon  ardeur. 


VIII. 

Mon  amour  croist  et  plus  en  plus  croistra 
Tant  que  je  vivray,  et  tiendray  a  grandheur, 
Tant  seulement  d'avoir  part  en  ce  Coeur, 
Vers  qui  en  fin  mon  Amour  paroistra 
Si  tres  a  clair  que  jamais  n'en  doubtera. 
Pour  luy  je  veux  encontrer  tout  malheur, 
Pour  luy  je  veux  rechercher  la  grandeur, 
Et  feray  tant  que  en  vray  cognoistera, 
Que  je  n'ay  bien,  heur,  ne  contentement, 
Qu'a  1'obeyr  et  servir  loyaument. 
Pour  luy  j 'attends  toute  bonne  fortune, 
Pour  luy  je  veux  garder  sante  et  vie. 
Pour  luy  tout  vertu  de  suyvre  j'ay  envie 
Et  sans  changer  me  trouvera  tout  une. 


THE  CASKET  SONNETS.  427 


IX. 

Pour  luy  aussi  je  jette  mainte  larme, 
Premier  quand  il  se  fist  de  ce  corps  possesseur, 
Duquel  alors  il  n'avoit  pas  le  coeur. 
Puis  me  donne  un'autre  dure  Alarme, 
Quand  il  versa  de  son  sang  mainte  dragme 
Dont  de  greif  il  me  vint  laisser  douleur, 
Qui  m'en  pensa  oster  la  vie,  et  frayeur 
De  perdre  (las)  le  seul  rempar  qui  m'arme. 
Pour  luy  depuis  j'ay  mesprise  1'honneur 
Ce  qui  nous  peult  seul  pourvoir  de  bonheur : 
Pour  luy  j'ay  hazarde  grandeur  et  conscience, 
Pour  luy  touts  mes  parentz  j'ay  quitte,  et  amis, 
Et  tous  autres  respectz  sont  a  part  mis ; 
Breif,  de  vous  seul  je  cerche  1'alliance. 


X. 

De  vous  (je  dis)  seul  soustein  de  ma  vie, 

Tant  seulement  je  cerche  m'asseurer 

Et  si  ose  de  moy  tant  presumer 

De  vous  gaigner  malgre  toute  1'envie. 

Car  c'est  le  seul  desir  de  vostre  chere  Amie, 

De  vous  servir  et  loyaument  aymer, 

Et  touts  malheurs  moins  que  rien  estimer, 

Et  vostre  volonte  de  la  mienne  suivre. 

Vous  cognoistrez  avecques  obeissance, 

De  mon  loyal  debvoir  n'omettant  la  science 

A  quoy  j'estudiray  pour  tousjours  vous  complaire 

Sans  aymer  rien  que  vous,  soubz  la  subjection 

De  qui  je  veux,  sans  nulle  fiction, 

Vivre  et  mourir ;  et  a  ce  j'obtempere. 


THE  CASKET  SONNETS. 


XI. 

Mon  Coeur,  mon  sang,  mon  ame,  et  mon  Soucy, 
Las,  vous  m'avcz  promis  qu'aurons  ce  plaisir 
De  deviser  avecquez  vous  a  loysir, 
Toute  la  nuid  ou  je  languis  icy 
Ayant  le  coeur  d  extreme  poeur  transy, 

:r  voir  absent  fc  but  de  mon  desir 
Crainte  d'oubHr  un  coup  me  vient  a  sa: 

:'antre  fbis  je  crains  que  rendurci 
Soit  contre  moy  vostre  amiable  coeur 
Par  qudque  dit,  d'un  meschant  rapporteur. 

autre  fbis  je  crains  quelque  aventure 
par  chemin  detouma  mon  Amant, 
Par  un  fnrhfui  et  nouveau  accident ; 
Dieu  dctourne  tout1  malheureux  augure ! 


XII. 

-QUS  vuyami  sek>n  qu'avez  promis, 
mis  la  main  au  Papier  pour  escrire 
D'un  different  que  je  voulu  transcrire, 
Je  ne  scay  pas  quel  sera  vostre  advis. 
Mais  je  scjay  bien  qui  mieux  aymer  scaura 
Vous  diriez  bien  qui  plus  y  gaignera. 


429 


THE  CERVANTES  COLLECTION  IN 
THE  BRITISH  MUSEUM. 

N  his  death  in  1900  Mr.  Henry 
Spencer  Ashbee,  himself  the  author 
of  several  useful  works  relating  to 
Cervantes,  bequeathed  to  the  British 
Museum  his  valuable  library,  a  special 
feature  of  which  was  an  extensive  Cervantes  collec- 
tion. The  incorporation  of  this  strengthened  the 
position  of  the  fine  collection  already  in  the  Mu- 
seum, and  it  is  now  undoubtedly  second  only  to  the 
two  great  Spanish  collections — those  of  Senor  Bon- 
soms,  in  Barcelona,  and  of  the  Biblioteca  Nacional, 
in  Madrid.  The  accession  of  numerous  titles  to 
the  catalogue,  consequent  upon  the  addition  of  so 
many  volumes  to  the  library,  made  it  necessary  to 
recast  and  reprint  the  heading  "Cervantes,"  and 
now  that  this  work  is  completed  it  is  easy  to 
review  the  extent  of  the  whole  collection.  For 
this  purpose  it  will  be  best  to  take  the  works  of 
Cervantes  in  their  order  of  interest,  making  use, 
as  a  standard  of  comparison,  of  the  recently  com- 
pleted bibliography  of  Cervantes  by  Leopoldo  Rius 
— based  upon  the  library  of  Senor  Bonsoms — 
though  it  must  be  remembered  that  nothing  of 
recent  date  will  be  found  mentioned  there,  while 
some  information  as  to  earlier  works  has  come  to 
light  since  the  bibliography  began  to  be  published 
in  1895. 


430  THE  CERVANTES  COLLECTION 

The  adoption  of  a  distin6Hve  press-mark  for  the 
Ashbee  bequest  makes  it  possible  for  those  possess- 
ing a  copy  of  the  reprinted  heading  (obtainable  at 
a  trifling  cost  as  an  excerpt  from  the  General  Cata- 
logue) to  judge  how  far  the  Museum  has  benefited 
by  the  Ashbee  contributions ;  but  another  of  these 
distinctive  press-marks  shows  that  the  pride  of  the 
collection — the  large  number  of  early  Spanish 
editions — is  mainly  due  to  the  famous  Grenville 
library.  It  is  the  Grenville  library,  for  instance, 
that  is  chiefly  responsible  for  a  particularly  brilliant 
page  in  the  catalogue,  that  devoted  to  the  early 
editions  of '  Don  Quixote  '  in  the  original  language. 
All  the  five  editions  of  Pt.  I.,  published  in  1605 — 
the  first  and  second  Madrid  editions,  two  Lisbon 
editions,  which  in  all  probability  immediately  fol- 
lowed them,  and  the  Valencia  edition — are  repre- 
sented, and  so  indeed  are  all  the  twelve  editions 
of  Pt.  I.  or  Pt.  II.  published  up  till  the  year  of 
Cervantes'  death,  1616,  and  half  of  them  occur  in 
duplicate.  It  should  be  added  that  Rius  makes 
thirteen  editions  by  including  an  issue  of  the 
Valencia  edition  of  1605  with  slight  variants,  while 
recently  a  similar  variety  of  the  Lisbon  quarto 
edition  of  the  same  year  has  been  unearthed ;  but 
the  variations  are  so  slight  that  the  absence  of  these 
copies  can  scarcely  be  regarded  as  creating  a  gap. 

The  first  real  gap  occurs  in  the  year  1617. 
During  that  year  there  appeared  a  Brussels  edition 
of  Pt.  I.,  a  Lisbon  edition  of  Pt.  II.,  and  an'edition 
of  both  parts  at  Barcelona,  described  by  Rius  as 
the  first  complete  edition  ;  for  although  the  two 
parts  are  by  different  printers,  the  same  publisher 


IN  THE  BRITISH  MUSEUM.       431 

is  given  in  each  case  in  the  imprint :  '  A  costa  de 
Raphael  Viues  mercader  de  libros.'  Of  the  above 
the  Museum  lacks  the  second  part  of  the  Barcelona 
edition,  and  it  should  further  be  observed  that  the 
Museum  copy  of  Pt.  I.  was  published  4  A  costa  de 
Miguel  Gracian.'  Of  the  remaining  editions  of 
the  seventeenth  century  three  are  absent ;  but  this 
leaves  twenty-three  editions  as  compared  with 
twenty-seven  mentioned  by  Rius,  a  proportion  with 
which  few  will  find  fault.  Of  the  eighteenth 
century  editions  the  Museum  possesses  twenty-six 
as  against  thirty-three  mentioned  by  Rius,  and  of 
those  published  during  the  '  nineteenth  century 
and  after '  one  hundred  and  ten,  as  against  the  one 
hundred  and  fifty-two  of  Rius,  though  of  course 
the  latter  figures  include  nothing  more  recent  than 
the  year  1890.  Mr.  Ashbee's  collection  is  re- 
sponsible for  two  new  entries  among  the  seventeenth 
century  editions,  twelve  among  the  eighteenth,  and 
fifty-five  among  the  nineteenth,  besides  providing 
duplicate  copies  under  many  of  the  other  existing 
entries.  Many  of  these  numerous  editions  are 
individually  of  very  slight  value ;  but  it  may  be 
well  to  call  attention  to  a  few  to  which  some  special 
interest  is  attached. 

The  early  seventeenth  century  editions,  which 
are  all  of  extreme  value,  it  is  unnecessary  to  discuss 
again.  From  Mr.  Ashbee's  collection  comes  a  copy 
of  the  1719  Antwerp  edition,  which  belonged  to 
Caroline,  wife  of  George  II.  It  is  in  an  eighteenth 
century  English  binding,  and  has  the  words  '  Caro- 
line Reine,'  with  a  floral  decoration,  painted  on 
the  fore-edge — which  was  quite  an  English  art. 


432  THE  CERVANTES  COLLECTION 

Another  luxury  is  the  Grenville  copy  of  Pellicer's 
edition  of  1797/8,  one  of  six  printed  on  vellum, 
supplementing  two  ordinary  copies  and  one  on 
large  paper  from  Mr.  Ashbee's  collection.  A  fac- 
simile of  the  first  edition  of  Parts  I.  and  II. 
(Madrid,  1605  and  1615)  published  in  1871-3  by 
F.  L6pez  Fabra,  is  interesting  as  claiming  to  be 
the  '  primera  obra  reproducida  en  el  mundo  por  la 
foto-tipografia.  Three  other  entries  are  of  particu- 
lar interest  to  Englishmen,  because  of  the  credit 
they  reflect  on  this  country.  First  come  an 
ordinary  and  a  large  paper  copy  of  the  1738 
London  edition  of  J.  and  R.  Tonson — Pope's  pub- 
lishers— the  first  worthy  edition  of  '  Don  Quixote  ' 
in  any  country  or  language,  and  containing  also 
the  first  life  of  Cervantes,  by  Gregorio  Mayans  y 
Siscar,  written  to  the  order  of  an  Englishman,  Lord 
Carteret.  England  is  also  credited  with  the  first 
annotated  edition  of  '  Don  Quixote,'  the  Rev.  John 
Bowie's  edition  of  1781,  printed  partly  in  London 
and  partly  in  Salisbury.  The  Museum  possesses 
two  duplicates  of  this  edition,  one  of  them — from 
Mr.  Ashbee's  collection — being  a  working  inter- 
leaved copy  formerly  belonging  to  the  late  Mr. 
A.  J.  Duffield,  one  of  the  recent  translators  of 
'  Don  Quixote,'  and  containing  numerous  manu- 
script notes  by  him.  Again  in  1898-9  (a  recent 
date  at  which  to  establish  a  record)  there  appeared 
from  the  London  firm  of  David  Nutt  the  first  critical 
edition,  by  J.  Fitzmaurice-Kelly  and  J.  Ormsby, 
the  former  the  most  successful  biographer  of  Cer- 
vantes, and  the  latter,  now  dead,  the  most  success- 
ful translator  of  '  Don  Quixote '  in  modern  times. 


IN  THE  BRITISH  MUSEUM.       433 

This  pleasant  habit  of  record-breaking  is  still 
with  us  when  we  come  to  the  English  translations 
of  '  Don  Quixote,'  which  are  naturally  well  repre- 
sented, especially  since  Mr.  Ashbee's  bequest  has 
rilled  up  several  lacunas,  notably  in  the  eighteenth 
century  editions.  All  the  editions  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  mentioned  by  Rius,  together  with 
an  additional  abridgment,  are  in  the  Museum. 
These  include,  of  course,  the  first  translation  into 
any  language  —  Shelton's  spirited  rendering  of 
1612-20 — with  two  subsequent  editions.  Among 
them,  too,  is  the  second  English  translation  of 
1687,  by  Milton's  nephew,  John  Philips,  which  is 
represented  by  a  single  edition,  like  the  fourth 
translation  of  171 1,  which  is  described  as  'merrily 
translated  into  Hudibrastick  verse,'  by  that  prolific 
writer,  '  the  London  Spy,'  Edward  Ward.  It  is 
gratifying  to  find  that  posterity  has  tried  to  atone 
for  the  publication  of  these  two  translations  by  ever 
afterwards  refraining  from  reprinting  them. 

From  1700  a  third  English  translation,  the 
second  in  popularity,  made  by  the  French  refugee 
Motteux,  competes  with  that  of  Shelton.  It  meets 
with  less  success  in  the  Museum  collection  than  it 
did  at  the  hands  of  contemporary  readers,  for  the 
first  edition  is  represented  only  by  a  made-up  set 
from  Mr.  Ashbee's  collection,  the  first  volume  out 
of  four  being  the  only  one  of  the  first  edition. 
The  second  and  sixth  editions  are  also  wanting. 
On  the  other  hand  the  most  popular  translation, 
that  of  Jarvis,  which  finally  drove  Shelton's  off  the 
field,  is  represented  by  the  first  four  and  numerous 
subsequent  editions — the  first  edition  of  1742  and 

IX.  F  F 


434  THE  CERVANTES  COLLECTION 

the  fourth  of  1766  being  from  Mr.  Ashbee's  col- 
lection. The  last  of  the  popular  translations,  by 
Smollett  the  novelist,  came  late  into  the  field  in 
1755,  but  it  had  a  great  vogue  during  the  next 
half  century,  the  Museum  possessing  eleven  editions 
for  that  period.  Its  popularity  was  waning,  how- 
ever, during  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  the 'Museum  has  no  edition  later  than 
1833,  when  it  was  issued  with  illustrations  by 
George  Cruikshank.  The  more  modern  transla- 
tions are  all  represented  by  their  first  editions, 
besides  reprints ;  so  that  with  the  exception  of  the 
first  edition  of  Motteux's  translation,  which  exists 
in  an  imperfect  set,  and  the  first  edition  of  the 
revision  of  Shelton's  translation  by  Capt.  John 
Stevens  in  1700,  all  the  thirteen  English  first 
editions  are  in  the  possession  of  the  Museum. 
The  following  table  will  give  an  idea  of  the  popu- 
larity of  the  different  English  translations,  as  re- 
vealed by  the  Museum  collection,  the  completeness 
of  which  can  also  be  judged  by  comparison  with 
the  figures  of  Rius's  summary. 


Shelton's 
Translation 

Motteux's 
Translation 

c 
o 

"""h 

Smollett's 
Translation 

Other  Translations 
(including  abridg- 
ments and  extracts) 

~a 

£ 

».w    c 

3  | 
Ǥ 

en 

Seventeenth  century  . 
Eighteenth  century    . 
Of  later  date     . 

Totals       . 

4 

4 

3 

7 
10 

«4 

II 

5 

4 

8 

38 

8 
34 

7 
45 

78 
(tin  1890 

only) 

n 

17 

39 

16 

5° 

133 

130 

IN  THE  BRITISH  MUSEUM.       435 

Mr.  Ashbee's  contribution  to  the  above  total 
comprises,  besides  duplicate  copies  of  other  entries, 
eight  new  entries  under  the  eighteenth,  and  twenty- 
four  under  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  section  devoted  to  French  translations  of 
4  Don  Quixote/  in  spite  of  a  very  large  number  of 
editions  of  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries 
received  from  Mr.  Ashbee,  is  much  less  satisfactory. 
True,  it  contains  the  first  (1613)  and  third  (1620) 
editions  of  the  earliest  translation  of  the  first  part, 
by  Cesar  Oudin ;  but  the  only  other  entry  of  the 
seventeenth  century  under  this  translation  is  an 
edition  of  the  complete  work  dated  1646.  Thus 
there  are  wanting  the  second  and  fourth  editions  of 
the  first  part  and  the  first  (1618)  and  second  (1622) 
editions  of  the  second  part  translated  by  F.  de 
Rosset,  as  well  as  three  other  editions  of  the  com- 
plete work  issued  in  the  seventeenth  century.  Of 
Filleau  de  Saint-Martin's  translation,  which  re- 
placed that  of  Oudin  and  Rosset,  no  earlier  copy 
than  the  Amsterdam  edition  of  1692  is  in  the 
Museum,  so  that  the  first  edition  of  1678  and  three 
succeeding  editions  are  wanting.  From  1692  to 
1 8  6 1 ,  however,  there  is  a  long  succession  of  editions, 
almost  all  received  from  Mr.  Ashbee.  Florian's 
translation  again,  first  published  in  1799,  is  ex- 
tremely well  represented  in  sixteen  editions,  all 
but  three  of  which  are  from  Mr.  Ashbee's  collec- 
tion, while  of  the  miscellaneous  translations  of  the 
nineteenth  century  all  are  represented  in  their  first 
editions  except  the  abridged  versions  of  Grand- 
maison  y  Bruno,  Rene  d'Isle,  and  G.  Chesnel.  Of 
the  total  of  eighteen  French  translations  Rius  men- 


436   THE  CERVANTES  COLLECTION 

tions  twenty-two  editions  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, thirty-seven  of  the  eighteenth,  and  ninety- 
nine  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  of  these  the 
Museum  possesses  respectively  eight,  twenty-five, 
and  sixty-four,  Mr.  Ashbee's  collection  being  re- 
sponsible for  the  large  proportion  of  two,  nineteen, 
and  forty-seven  under  the  different  centuries. 

German  translations  are  less  numerous  and  are 
also  less  well  represented  in  the  Museum  collection. 
The  first  and  second  (1621  and  1648)  editions  of 
the  first  translation  by  '  Pahsch  Bastel  von  der 
Sohle '  are  wanting,  the  third  edition  of  1669  being 
the  only  entry  of  the  seventeenth  century.  An 
anonymous  translation  of  1683,  and  a  translation 
by  Bots  of  1819,  are  absent;  but  the  remaining 
nine  translations  are  all  well  represented,  in  spite  of 
the  absence  of  the  first  editions  of  three  translations, 
the  anonymous  one  of  1734,  that  of  Ludwig  Tieck 
of  1799,  and  of  Soltau  of  1800.  Mr.  Ashbee  has 
provided  twenty-nine  editions  out  of  a  total  of 
thirty-seven,  as  against  fifty-one  mentioned  by 
Rius. 

Thanks  again  to  Mr.  Ashbee,  who  contributes 
ten  out  of  thirteen  entries,  no  omissions  occur 
among  the  Dutch  translations  till  the  year  1746, 
the  date  of  an  unrepresented  translation  by  Weyer- 
man.  The  first  editions  of  the  three  Italian  trans- 
lations are  included,  the  first  translation  by  Lorenzo 
Franciosini  being  dated  1622  (Pt.  I.)  and  1625 
(Pt.  II.).  Seven  out  of  a  total  of  eleven  entries  are 
derived  from  Mr.  Ashbee's  bequest. 

The  Russian  section  is  the  weakest  by  far  of  the 
whole  collection.  It  is  true  that  the  first  edition 


IN  THE  BRITISH  MUSEUM.       437 

(1769)  of  the  first  translation  is  in  the  King's 
Library ;  but  there  are  only  five  entries  to  divide 
among  the  remaining  nine  translations  known  to 
exist. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  other  languages  into 
which  '  Don  Quixote '  has  been  translated,  wholly 
or  in  part,  according  to  the  Museum  catalogue : 
Basque,  Bohemian,  Catalan,  Croatian,  Danish, 
Finnish,  Modern  Greek,  Hungarian,  Latin,  Portu- 
guese, Servian,  Swedish,  and  three  eastern  languages 
— Gujarati,  Hindustani,  and  Turkish.  The  majority 
of  the  different  editions  of  these  translations  are  in 
the  Museum  collection ;  but  there  are  no  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Polish  and  Roumanian  translations 
mentioned  by  Rius,  nor  does  the  recently  published 
Japanese  translation  (1896)  find  a  place.  To  con- 
clude the  subject  of  the  translations  of  *  Don 
Quixote,'  the  Museum  possesses  the  first  transla- 
tions in  twelve  out  of  the  twenty  cases  mentioned 
by  Rius,  the  defaulters  being  the  Bohemian, 
German,  Hungarian,  Japanese,  Polish,  Roumanian, 
Servian,  and  Swedish  versions. 

According  to  the  usual  system  of  the  Museum 
catalogue,  three  appendices  are  added  to  £  Don 
Quixote,'  containing  references  to  all  works  in  the 
Museum  treating  of  the  novel.  These  are  grouped 
under  three  heads :  Spurious  Continuations,  Imita- 
tions, etc. ;  Criticism,  and  Pictorial  Illustrations. 
Under  the  first,  which  contains  over  fifty  references, 
the  chief  place  must  be  accorded  to  Alonso  Fer- 
nandez de  Avellaneda's  continuation  of  the  first 
part,  which  was  published  in  1614,  before  Cervantes 
had  begun  his  own  second  part,  and  to  which  we 


438   THE  CERVANTES  COLLECTION 

owe  the  hurried  completion  of  the  genuine  con- 
clusion to  the  novel.  A  very  complete  set,  begin- 
ning with  the  original  Spanish  of  1614,  is  in  the 
Museum.  Other  entries  show  various  attempts  in 
various  languages  to  versify  and  to  dramatise  '  Don 
Quixote.'  Particular  interest  attaches  to  the  drama- 
tisation by  Thomas  D'Urfey  in  1694,  as  having 
been  the  cause  of  Jeremy  Collier's  '  Short  View  of 
the  Immorality  and  Profaneness  of  the  English 
Stage.'  A  modern  dramatisation,  written  in  1895 
by  G.  E.  Morrison,  was  recently  seen  on  the  stage. 
But  '  Don  Quixote '  does  not  lend  himself  to  suc- 
cessful dramatisation.  Under  the  heading  Criticism 
are  over  one  hundred  and  twenty  references,  some 
of  which  tend  to  make  Cervantes  a  rival  of  Shakes- 
peare as  a  universal  specialist ;  for  he  would  appear 
to  be  equally  and  supremely  learned  in  the  art  of 
invention,  in  geography,  jurisprudence,  practical 
medicine,  military  administration,  monomania, 
navigation,  philosophy,  political  reformation,  theo- 
logy, and  travelling.  Among  these  entries  another 
English  book  is  interesting,  as  the  first  of  its  kind : 
E.  Gayton's  '  Pleasant  Notes  upon  "Don  Quixot." 
The  twenty  entries  under  the  heading  Pictorial 
Illustrations  represent  only  separate  issues  of  plates, 
and  give  no  idea  of  the  extent  to  which  4  Don 
Quixote '  has  been  illustrated.  Almost  every  illus- 
trator of  note  has  tried  his  hand  ;  but  Don  Quixote 
has  proved  as  elusive  to  the  artist  as  to  the  drama- 
tist. And  yet  it  is  to  be  feared  that  pictorial 
illustrations  form  the  limit  of  most  people's  ac- 
quaintance with  the  immortal  novel. 

The    Exemplary   Novels   form    the    next    most 


IN  THE  BRITISH  MUSEUM.       439 

important  work  of  Cervantes,  both  from  their  in- 
trinsic value  and  from  the  fact  that  they  have  been 
freely  utilised  for  dramatic  purposes,  especially  in 
England  and  Germany.  Here  again  the  Museum 
collection  is  very  rich  in  early  editions  in  the 
original  language.  During  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury twenty-one  editions  were  published  according 
to  Rius,  and  of  these  the  Museum  possesses  fifteen, 
including  the  first  edition  of  1613,  and  the  other 
five  editions  published  during  Cervantes'  lifetime. 
Eleven  editions  published  in  the  eighteenth,  and 
forty  in  the  nineteenth  century  complete  the  col- 
lection, twenty-three  editions  coming  from  the 
Ashbee  bequest.  The  English  section  is,  as  indeed 
it  should  be,  very  complete,  beginning  from  the 
first  translation  of  1640,  when  six  of  the  novels 
were  *  turned  into  English  by  Don  Diego  Puede- 
Ser,'  a  facetious  pseudonym  which  can  scarcely  be 
said  to  conceal  that  delightful  translator,  James 
Mabbe,  although  subsequent  eighteenth  century 
editions  attribute  the  translation  to  Thomas  Shelton, 
of '  Don  Quixote '  fame.  The  total  for  the  nine 
translations  which  exist  comprises  two  editions  for 
the  seventeenth  century,  nine  for  the  eighteenth, 
and  seven  for  the  nineteenth  century,  four  new 
early  entries  coming  from  the  Ashbee  collection. 
The  only  important  absentee  is  the  selection  of 
1654,  entitled  'Delight  in  several  shapes,'  a  copy 
of  which  was  in  the  Bragge  collection,  which  was 
destroyed,  along  with  a  fine  Shakespeare  library, 
in  the  great  fire  at  the  Birmingham  Central  Free 
Library  in  1879.  Turning  to  the  French  section 
we  find  that  even  with  the  aid  of  eleven  new 


440  THE  CERVANTES  COLLECTION 

editions,  including  three  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, received  from  Mr.  Ashbee,  this,  as  in  the 
case  of '  Don  Quixote,'  is  far  from  being  complete. 
Thus  it  begins  with  the  second  edition  (1620-1)  of 
the  earliest  translation,  and  there  are  altogether 
seven  absentees  from  among  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury editions.  The  remaining  twelve  translations, 
however,  are  almost  all  well  represented,  and  pro- 
vide sufficient  material  to  enable  the  student  to 
follow  Mr.  Foulche-Delbosc's  able  elucidation  of 
the  difficult  bibliography  of  the  French  translations 
of  the  novels.  Among  the  later  entries  a  small 
volume  containing  a  translation  of  '  La  Ilustre 
Fregona,'  by  M.  de  Villebrune,  published  at  Lau- 
sanne in  1793,  is  said  to  be  unique.  The  twelve 
German  translations  are  but  poorly  represented, 
there  being  fewer  entries  in  the  Museum  catalogue 
than  there  are  versions,  and  the  earliest  being  under 
the  year  1753.  Of  translations  into  other  European 
languages,  the  Museum  possesses  examples  of  those 
in  Catalan,  Danish,  Dutch,  Italian,  Portuguese,  and 
Swedish.  Eight  entries  under  an  appendix  merely 
hint  at  the  extent  to  which  the  novels  have  been 
utilised  by  dramatists  of  different  countries,  the 
later  Elizabethan  dramatists  being  prominent  among 
the  number. 

The  remaining  works  of  Cervantes  are  of  less  im- 
portance, and  may  be  dealt  with  more  briefly.  The 
'  Trabajos  de  Persiles  y  Sigismunda '  is  extremely 
well  represented  in  the  early  editions,  both  in  the 
original  language  and  in  translations.  Published 
posthumously  in  1617,  it  went  through  six  editions 
in  that  year,  and  all  of  them  are  in  the  Museum. 


IN  THE  BRITISH  MUSEUM.       441 

There  is  another  edition,  dated  1617,  which  en- 
deavours to  pass  itself  off  as  the  first  edition  ;  but  its 
real  date  is  towards  the  end  of  the  century,  and  the 
clumsiness  of  the  counterfeit  may  be  judged  from 
the  fact  that  it  is  printed  in  double  columns,  while 
the  original  was  not.  Three  editions  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  in  the  original  language — Madrid, 
1619  and  1625,  and  Pamplona,  1631 — are  missing 
from  the  Museum  collection ;  but  the  four  transla- 
tions that  have  been  made  are  represented  by  their 
first  editions — French  of  1618,  English  of  1619, 
Italian  of  1626,  and  German  of  1746. 

All  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  century 
editions  of  the  '  Viaje  del  Parnaso  '  which  Rius 
mentions  are  contained  in  the  Museum  collection. 
There  are  also  translations  into  French,  English, 
and  Dutch,  all  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  '  Galatea,'  the  earliest  work  of  Cervantes,  is 
the  only  one  of  which  editions  were  published 
during  the  sixteenth  century.  Of  the  first  edition 
of  1585  only  some  half  dozen  copies  are  known  to 
exist,  none  of  them  being  in  the  Museum,  though 
one  is  in  England,  in  the  Huth  library.  Other 
absentees  from  the  Museum  collection  are  the 
edition  of  1590,  and  two  of  the  five  seventeenth 
century  editions.  Several  editions  and  translations 
of  the  French  adaptation  of  the  '  Galatea '  by 
Florian  are  in  the  Museum ;  but  it  has  only  been 
really  translated  into  one  language — English — and 
that  on  two  occasions.  In  1867  appeared  an 
astounding  translation  by  a  still  more  astounding 
translator,  one  James  Willoughby  Gordon  Gyll, 
while  recently  a  translation  by  H.  Oelsner  and 


442  THE  CERVANTES  COLLECTION 

A.  B.  Welford  has  been  added  to  the  English 
edition  of  the  complete  works  now  in  course  of 
publication. 

Among  the  various  collections  of  Cervantes' 
works  that  have  been  issued,  only  the  edition  of 
the  'Ocho  Comedias  y  ocho  Entremeses'  of  1615 
was  published  during  his  lifetime.  This  finds  a 
place  in  the  Museum  along  with  numerous  later 
editions,  as  well  as  translations  in  French,  German, 
and  English.  Larger  collections  of  works,  which 
exist  in  Spanish,  English,  French,  and  German, 
are  all  of  more  recent  date.  The  Museum  cata- 
logue reveals  the  fact  that  though  England  has 
so  often  been  a  pioneer  in  the  Cervantes  cause 
abroad,  no  attempt  was  made  up  till  the  present 
century  to  issue  a  complete  translation.  It  was  not 
till  1901  that  Messrs.  Gowans  &  Gray,  of  Glasgow, 
commenced  the  publication  of  'The  Complete 
Works,'  under  the  editorship  of  Mr.  Fitzmaurice- 
Kelly,  and  the  title  still  remains  to  be  justified. 

The  Museum  catalogue  closes  with  an  appendix 
containing  references  to  all  books  of  a  general 
character  dealing  with  Cervantes'  life  and  works. 
This  appendix  is  divided  into  four  headings : 
Anniversary  Celebrations,  Bibliography,  Biography 
and  Criticism,  and  Miscellaneous.  The  first  con- 
tains twenty-eight  entries,  mainly  referring  to  pro- 
ceedings published  on  the  occasion  of  celebrations 
which  it  is  customary  to  hold  yearly  in  different 
places  on  the  anniversary  of  Cervantes'  death. 
London  and  New  York  are  among  the  places  at 
which  such  gatherings  have  been  held.  The 
bibliographical  section  contains  fourteen  entries, 


IN  THE  BRITISH  MUSEUM.       443 

and  includes  the  work  in  three  volumes  by  Leo- 
poldo  Rius,  and  a  hand-list  of  the  unfortunate 
Bragge  collection.  The  seventy-five  entries  under 
Biography  and  Criticism  include  some  two  dozen 
actual  -lives  of  Cervantes,  a  third  of  them  being  in 
English.  The  last  heading  contains  twenty-five 
entries. 

To  provide  further  crumbs  for  any  one  whose 
appetite  for  statistics  has  not  yet  been  satisfied,  it 
may  be  stated  that  the  total  number  of  entries  for 
works  of  Cervantes  amounts  to  rather  more  than 
eight  hundred,  including  duplicate  copies,  as  com- 
pared with  three  hundred  and  eighty-seven  entries 
in  the  recently  published  volume  of  the  catalogue 
of  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale,  which,  however, 
does  not  include  so  many  duplicates.  The  total 
number  of  the  volumes  comprising  the  Museum 
Cervantes  collection  amounts  roughly  to  two  thou- 
sand five  hundred — a  very  respectable  library  in 
itself — and  of  these  rather  more  than  half  were 
received  under  the  Ashbee  bequest ;  though  it  was 
of  course  impossible  for  so  recent  a  collection  to  be 
as  good  in  quality  as  in  quantity. 

The  English  world  of  letters  has  borrowed  much 
from  Cervantes.  It  has  in  great  part  repaid  that 
debt  by  the  zeal  with  which  it  has  furthered  his 
interests  in  this  country  and  elsewhere.  The  per- 
manent establishment  of  this  magnificent  Cervantes 
collection  in  a  place  of  such  general  accessibility 
forms  not  the  least  worthy  of  a  long  series  of 
tributes  to  the  genius  of  the  *  Prince  of  Spanish 
Wits.' 

H.  THOMAS. 


444 


REVIEWS. 

T'ypenrepertorium  der  Wiegendrucke.     Abt.    II.     Von 
Konrad  Haebler.     Leipzig :  Rudolf  Haupt. 

TUDENTS  of  incunabula  all  over  the 
world  will  have  rejoiced  when  they 
found  that  the  second  instalment  of 
Dr.  Haebler's  c  Typenrepertorium,' 
instead  of  being  confined,  as  was  ex- 
peeled,  to  Italy,  gives  the  measurements  of  all  the 
types  known  to  have  been  used  during  the  fifteenth 
century  outside  Germany.  It  is  true  that  we  have 
to  wait  for  Dr.  Haebler's  valuable  notes  on  the  dis- 
tinctive characteristics  of  the  separate  types  under 
each  class,  but  the  delay  in  this  case  is  made  wel- 
come by  the  promise  that  the  characterizations  are 
to  be  brought  into  a  single  series,  so  that  one  con- 
sultation of  the  '  Repertorium '  will  start  the  student 
on  the  track  of  discovery,  instead  of  a  separate  type- 
index  having  to  be  consulted  for  each  country. 
In  his  brief  preface  Dr.  Haebler  offers  some  inter- 
esting notes.  He  will  have  none  of  the  advice 
which  the  present  writer,  perhaps  among  others, 
was  bold  enough  to  offer  him,  that  all  his  measure- 
ments should  be  expressed  in  terms  of  the  number 
of  millimetres  in  twenty  lines  of  type,  no  matter 
how  large  the  type  may  be.  It  is  quite  true  that 
in  the  larger  types  it  is  frequently  impossible  to 


REVIEWS.  445 

find  as  many  as  twenty  consecutive  lines  printed 
together,  and  that  it  is  in  some  respects  more  satis- 
factory to  indicate  this  by  giving  the  actual  meas- 
urement of  a  smaller  number  of  lines,  instead  of 
making  the  multiplication  necessary  to  give  the 
height  of  twenty.  On  the  other  hand,  as  all  type 
measurements  are  only  approximate,  the  slight  loss 
of  accuracy  which  may  be  involved  in  multiplica- 
tion seems  no  great  matter.  The  discovery  that 
type-measurements  are  more  liable  to  variation  than 
he  had  originally  reckoned  (he  is  certainly  right  in 
now  stating  the  limit  of  variation  as  more  than 
i  mm.  either  way)  seems  rather  to  have  disheartened 
Dr.  Haebler  as  to  the  usefulness  of  measurements. 
He  is  disposed  now  to  set  much  more  store  by  the 
statements  of  the  distinctive  features  of  each  type 
already  alluded  to.  For  the  final  identification  this 
is  certainly  right.  Are  there  not,  for  instance,  two 
types,  one  used  by  Priiss  at  Strassburg,  the  other 
by  Drach  at  Speier,  identical  in  height  and  in  every 
respect  save  that  one  has  a  broad  N  and  the  other 
a  narrow  ?  But  for  pointing  out  what  types  of 
different  printers  can  stand  in  any  relation  to  each 
other,  or  again  with  which  types  of  any  known 
printer  we  are  probably  confronted  in  an  un- 
described  book,  type-measurements  are  invaluable, 
as  long  as  they  are  used  with  reasonable  caution. 
As  soon  as  the  need  for  caution  is  understood 
notation  by  type-measurements  becomes  possible, 
and  one  of  its  advantages  over  the  chronological 
numeration  (Type  i,  Type  2,  etc.)  is  sufficiently 
demonstrated  by  Dr.  Haebler's  frequent  substitution 
of  new  numerations  in  the  case  of  France,  where 


446  REVIEWS. 

M.  Claudin's  researches,  and  in  the  case  of  Spain 
where  his  own,  have  added  so  largely  to  the  number 
of  types  known  to  Mr.  Proctor,  that  mere  inter- 
calation was  not  a  sufficient  remedy.  Probably  the 
new  numerations  will  now  easily  stand  the  brunt  of 
any  fresh  discoveries,  but  the  later  German  and 
Italian  printers,  of  whom  far  less  is  known  than  of 
the  early  ones,  will  probably  remain  in  a  state  of 
confusion  for  many  years,  whereas  the  adoption  of 
notation  by  measurement  admits  of  the  discovery 
of  any  number  of  new  types  without  any  need  for 
readjustment.  For  this  reason  it  may  well  be  that 
the  value  of  this  new  instalment  of  Dr.  Haebler's 
work  is  greater  than  he  himself  seems  inclined  to 
admit,  and  the  present  writer  expects  to  have 
reasons  to  be  grateful  to  him  for  it  nearly  every 
day  for  a  good  many  years. 


Supplement  zu  Ham  und  Panzer.  Beitrage  zur  In- 
kunabelbiblwgraphie.  Nummernconcordanz  -con 
Panzers  lateinischen  und  deutschen  Annalen  und 
Ludwig  Hams  Repertoriutn  bibliographicum,  be- 
arbeltet  von  Konrad  Burger.  Leipzig,  K.  W. 
Hiersemann. 

Herr  Konrad  Burger  is  certainly  a  prince  among 
index-makers.  His  first  index  to  Hain's  4  Reper- 
torium'  put  fresh  life  into  the  study  of  Incunabula. 
His  second  index,  issued  in  connection  with  Dr. 
Copinger's  Supplement,  offers  the  best  conspectus 
obtainable  of  the  work  of  each  fifteenth-century 
printer.  Now  he  attacks  the  subject  from  another 


REVIEWS.  447 

side,  and  shows  not  merely  the  relations  between 
Hain  and  Panzer,  as  his  title  suggests,  but  also  the 
relation  between  each  of  these  pioneers  and  all  the 
work  of  our  own  day.  Merely  as  a  kind  of  ready- 
reckoner  the  value  of  this  new  c  Concordance '  is 
very  great.  A  few  weeks  ago  an  American  col- 
lector wished  to  let  an  English  student  know  what 
incunabula  he  had  in  his  library.  He  wrote  down 
on  two  sheets  of  note-paper  some  four  hundred 
references  to  Hain  and  Panzer,  and  with  the  help 
of  Herr  Burger's  '  Concordance '  they  were  trans- 
lated by  a  few  hours'  work  into  four  hundred  short 
titles  arranged  in  the  order  of  Procter's  Index,  and 
with  references  on  each  slip  to  the  best  sources  of 
information  available  for  each  country  or  town. 
One  mistake  was  discovered  in  the  process.  Hain 
12,480  is  Proctor  991,  not  491,  but  with  this 
one  exception  every  reference  was  found  correct. 
Moreover,  though  this  is  a  good  example  of  one 
use  of  the  '  Concordance,'  it  is  only  the  humblest 
of  the  uses  to  which  it  can  be  put.  The  historian 
of  any  centre  of  printing  will  find  it  invaluable, 
and  it  is  also  an  important  contribution  to  that  pro- 
cess of  weeding  out  imaginary  or  wrongly  dated 
entries  from  Hain  and  Panzer  which  needs  to  be 
vigorously  pursued  unless  we  are  for  ever  to 
be  haunted  by  bibliographical  ghosts.  One  very 
ubiquitous  ghost  is  finally  laid  in  Herr  Burger's 
preface.  Despite  a  warning  note  in  Panzer,  not 
only  Hain  but  also  Charles  Schmidt  in  his  '  Reper- 
toire bibliographique  strassbourgeois '  took  over 
from  him  a  whole  series  of  entries  of  books  from 
the  press  of  Martin  Flach  of  Strassburg  spread 


448  REVIEWS. 

over  a  period  of  several  years  before  the  earliest 
date  in  any  book  of  his  that  can  now  be  traced. 
These  entries  are  now  credited  to  the  manuscript 
catalogue  of  the  monastery  of  Lilienfeld  and  to 
the  imagination  of  its  compiler,  P.  Chrysostomus 
Hanthaler,  and  in  Herr  Burger's  text  are  marked 
with  the  righteously  contemptuous  comment, c  Aus 
Lilienfeld  !  Existiert  nicht.'  Other  books  are 
marked  *  editio  dubia,'  and  in  the  portion  devoted 
to  Hain  excellent  work  is  done  in  pointing  out 
where  the  same  book  has  been  entered  twice, 
where  portions  of  a  book  have  been  entered  as 
separate  works,  and  where  sixteenth-century  books 
have  been  allowed  to  assume  the  airs  of  incunables. 
Many  of  these  notes  are  avowedly  reproduced  from 
Proctor's  Index  and  other  sources,  but  the  more 
they  are  brought  together  the  more  useful  do  they 
become,  and  Herr  Burger  has  once  again  laid 
bibliographers  under  a  great  obligation. 


Fifteenth  Century  Books.    An  author  index.    By  R.  A. 
Peddle. 

While  our  German  friends  are  thus  hard  at  work 
our  enterprising  contemporary,  '  The  Library 
World,'  has  entered  the  lists  with  two  instalments 
of  an  author-index  to  incunabula,  compiled  by 
Mr.  Peddie  of  the  St.  Bride  Foundation.  Mr. 
Peddie's  interest  in  fifteenth-century  books  has 
already  been  shown  by  his  excellent  monograph 
on  '  Printing  in  Brescia  in  the  Fifteenth  Century,' 
which  added  over  25  per  cent,  to  the  number  of 


REVIEWS.  449 

Brescia  incunabula.  The  scope  of  his  present  work 
may  best  be  shown  by  an  extract  from  his  intro- 
ductory note : 

The  position  of  the  bibliographer  wishing  to  identify 
a  fifteenth-century  book  is  rather  difficult.  There  are 
many  bibliographies,  but  no  general  index  to  them  except 
by  printers'  names.  The  index-catalogue  presented  here- 
with gives  in  the  shortest  possible  form,  under  the  author's 
name  or  other  heading  (as  a  general  rule  following  Hain's 
usage  in  this  matter),  the  whole  of  the  editions  of  the 
work.  Each  entry  is  composed  as  follows : — Under  the 
author's  name  is  found  the  title  of  the  book  dealt 
with;  then  follow  the  editions  commencing  with  those 
n.p.d.,  i.e.  without  place  or  date ;  after  these  come  those 
undated  editions  which  indicate  the  place  of  printing. 
This  name  is  given  in  the  vernacular  form  (i.e.  Koln,  not 
Coloniae :  Ntlrnb.  not  Norimb.)  and  if  it  is  enclosed  in 
brackets  [  ]  it  is  not  directly  mentioned,  but  is  proved  by 
a  printer's  name  or  mark.  After  these  come  the  dated 
editions  in  chronological  order.  References  are  given  to 
the  bibliographies  in  which  descriptions  of  the  work  or 
references  to  the  existence  of  copies  may  be  found. 
References  in  italics  indicate  that  a  facsimile  of  a  page  ot 
the  work  will  be  found. 

Mr.  Peddie's  entries  are  neatly  arranged  and  very 
clearly  printed.  They  give  references  to  a  con- 
siderable number  of  books  not  known  to  Hain,  and 
to  many  more  of  which  he  knew  only  at  second- 
hand. In  the  case  of  all  these  the  notes  of  existing 
descriptions,  or  of  the  whereabouts  of  copies  are 
distinctly  valuable.  As  a  preparation  for  the  new 
edition  of  Hain  which  Germany  is  to  give  us,  the 
work  is  admirable,  and  we  hope  that  the  '  Library 
World '  may  be  rewarded  for  its  enterprise  in  print- 

IX.  G  G 


450  REVIEWS. 

ing  it  by  so  many  new  subscribers  that  the  size  01 
the  instalments  may  be  doubled.  At  the  present 
rate  of  eight  pages  a  month,  the  Index  will  have  to 
be  c  continued  in  our  next '  for  several  years. 

George  Baxter,  Colour  Printer;  his  Life  and  Work. 
A  Manual  for  Gollettors.  By  C.  T*.  Courtney 
Lewis.  Sampson  Low. 

George  Baxter  was  the  second  son  of  John 
Baxter,  the  inventor  of  the  inking-roller,  which 
superseded  the  old  inking-balls  with  which  in  early 
pictures  of  printing  presses  the  pressmen  are  seen 
pummelling  the  forme.  He  worked  as  a  colour- 
printer  on  lines  similar  to  those  of  J.  B.  Jackson, 
apparently  without  being  aware  of  it,  and  attained 
extraordinary  proficiency.  As  Mr.  Lewis  writes : 

Baxter's  work  was  essentially  minute  and  painstaking — 
he  coloured  every  detail :  and  when  we  consider  that  the 
blocks  had  to  be  cut  so  as  to  fit  exactly  the  engraved  out- 
line, without  the  deviation  of  a  hair's  breadth ;  that  a 
separate  block  was  necessary  for  each  colour,  and  for 
every  shade  of  each  colour,  so  that  for  some  of  his 
prints  twenty  or  more  blocks  had  to  be  prepared ;  that 
each  block  demanded  a  separate  printing — twenty  blocks, 
twenty  printings;  and  that  Baxter's  presses  were  not 
elaborate  machines  working  with  undeviating  exactness, 
but  were  all  hand-presses,  as  a  perusal  of  the  catalogue  of 
his  plant  sold  in  1860  will  show,  we  may  then  marvel  at 
his  wonderful  register,  and  at  the  many  other  excellent 
qualities  of  his  prints. 

Baxter's  method  was  ultimately  driven  out  of 
the  market  by  chromolithography,  which  in  many 


REVIEWS.  451 

respects  works  on  the  same  lines,  only  on  stone 
instead  of  wood.  But  from  1834  (he  produced 
one  print  as  early  as  1829)  to  1850  it  was  increas- 
ingly popular,  and  Baxter  was  equally  the  favourite 
of  missionary  societies  and  of  royalty.  For  the 
former  he  produced  thrilling  scenes  of  missionary 
adventure,  for  the  latter  pictures  of  the  queen's 
coronation,  of  the  christening  of  the  present  king, 
and  other  more  or  less  gorgeous  ceremonials.  His 
work  is  as  good  as  the  art  of  the  period  allowed, 
technically  very  good  indeed,  and  it  has  lately 
attracted  the  notice  of  collectors.  The  more  thrill- 
ing missionary  scenes  are  valued  at  five  guineas 
apiece,  coronations  and  court  ceremonials  go  as 
high  as  £25  to  £35,  ordinary  subject-prints  may 
be  obtained  from  two  shillings  to  two  or  three 
pounds.  Mr.  Lewis,  though  not  possessed  of  a 
very  happy  style,  has  provided  an  excellent  hand- 
book in  which  collectors  of  Baxter-prints  will  find 
all  the  information  they  need. 

A.W.P. 


INDEX. 


Academic  des  Inscriptions,  relations 
of  Leopold  Delisle  with,  201, 
249,  255. 

'Albumazar,'  two  editions  of  dated 
1615,  401;  two  others  dated 
1634,  405. 

Allart,  Hortense,  L6on  Seche's 
life  of,  193. 

American  Libraries,  notice  of 
Alderman  Plummer's  paper  on, 
418  sqq. 

Antonius,  Joannes,  Venetus,  book- 
seller at  Paris,  his  address  to 
English  youths,  328. 

Apprenticeship  of  printers,  entries 
as  to,  226  sq. 

Arc,  Jeanne  d',  Anatole  France's 
book  on,  noticed,  186  sqq.,  270 
sqq. 

Ashbee,  H.  S.,  article  by  H. 
Thomas  showing  additions  made 
by  to  the  Cervantes  collection  at 
the  British  Museum,  429-43 

Ashburnham  MSS.,  thefts  in  Libri 
and  Barrois  collections  restored 
to  France,  254  tq. 

Ashburnham  Pentateuch,  L.  De- 
lisle's  discovery  of  the  missing 
portion  of,  254. 

Ashton,  C.,  his  materials  for  a 
bibliography  of  nineteenth  cen- 
tury Welsh  books,  358. 

Ashton,  H.,  his  'Du  Bartas  en 
Angleterre'  noticed,  373. 

Assertio  Septem  Sacramentorum, 
article  by  E.  G.  Duff  on  Henry 
VIII. 's,  1-16;  copies  of,  at  the 
Vatican,  7  iq, ;  its  binding,  12. 


Augereau,  Antoine,  French  printer, 
hanged  for  heresy,  162. 

Autobiography,  Georg  Misch's 
History  of,  noticed,  195. 

Awdeley,  Sampson,  verger,  father 
of  John  Awdeley,  1523  assess- 
ment of,  261. 

Bacon,  F.,  the  'Sylva  Sylvarum* 
and  Walton's  'Angler,'  134  sq. 

Baker,  E.,  report  of  paper  by  on 
Co-operation  among  Libraries, 
420  sq. 

Ballinger,  J.,  articles  by  on  A 
Municipal  Library  and  its  Pub- 
lic :  1.  The  Newsroom,  66-79 » 
II.  Children,  173-85511!.  Lend- 
ing Libraries,  309-22  ;  IV.  Re- 
ference Library,  353-68  ;  report 
of  Library  Association  Confer- 
ence by,  410-21. 

Banks,  Richard,  bookbinder  and 
printer,  his  assessment,  258. 

Barker,  Christopher,  Geneva  Bibles 
dated  1599  bearing  imprint  of 
his  deputies  printed  in  Holland 
at  later  dates,  399. 

Barrois  and  Libri  manuscripts  re- 
stored to  France,  254. 

Bazin,  Ren£,  criticism  of  his '  Le  bl£ 
qui  leve,'  8 1 ;  his  'Me'moires  d'une 
vieille  Fille'  noticed,  369  sq. 

Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  one  of  the 
1635  editions  of  '  The  Knight 
of  the  Burning  Pestle '  probably 
mis-dated,  406 ;  so  also  one  of 
the  1651  editions  of  'The 
Scornful  Lady,'  408. 


453 


454 


INDEX. 


Belgian  State  Railways,  advantages 
of  their  continental  tickets,  288. 

Berthelet,  Thomas,  books  printed 
by,  acquired  by  British  Museum, 
326  sq. 

Bertold  von  Regensburg,  quotes 
legend  of  Udo,  351. 

Bewick,  T.,  his  copy  of  Cornaro's 
'  Method  of  Attaining  Long 
Life,'  136;  Charles  Hutton's 
claim  to  have  helped  him,  137. 

Bible,  English,  the  date  1599  on 
some  editions  of  the  Geneva  ver- 
sion of  spurious,  399. 

Bible,  Latin,  the  36-line,  criticism 
of  Dr.  Dziatzko's  views  as  to, 
296  sqq. 

the  42-line,  the  date  1453 

written  in  Klemm's  copy  of, 
295  sq. ;  criticism  of  Dr.  Dziatz- 
ko's views  as  to,  296  sqq. 

Bibliographical  Tour,  account  of, 
by  J.  H.  Hessels,  282-308. 

'  Bibliophile,'  notice  of  the  '  Biblio- 
phile Magazine,'  333  sqq. 

Bibliotheque  Nationale,  Paris,  L. 
Delisle's  history  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  MSS.  at,  255  sq . ;  its 
Cervantes'  collection  compared 
with  that  at  the  British  Museum, 

443- 

Blind  children,  library  books 
needed  for,  181. 

Blocks,  engraved,  breaks,  cracks, 
and  bends  in,  382  iq.  \  date 
when  repair  by  bolting  was 
introduced,  384. 

Bonsoms,  Senor,  his  Cervantes  col- 
leftion,  429  sqq. 

Books  for  people  who  read  slowly 
must  be  short,  319. 

Book-seleftion,  pleasure  of  think- 
ing that  the  right  books  have 
been  provided  for  other  people, 
311;  difficulties  of,  315;  new 
novels  not  to  be  bought,  317. 


Bordeaux,  Henry,  his  '  Les  Yeux 
qui  s'ouvrent '  noticed,  273  sqq. 

Bordone,  Benedetto,  suggested 
authorship  of  woodcuts  in  Mal- 
erini  Bible,  1 06. 

Bouchet,  Jean,  Works  of,  published 
by  Du  Pr£,  165. 

Bournouf,  Laure,  her  marriage 
with  Leopold  Delisle,  250  sqq. 

Boutillier,  Jean,  editions  of  his 
'  Somme  Rurale,'  166. 

Brighton,  report  of  Library  Asso- 
ciation Conference  at,  410-21. 

Briquet,  M.,  his  book  on  '  Water- 
marks,' i2O/f. ;  380^. 

British  Museum,  account  by  A.  W. 
Pollard  of  recent  English  pur- 
chases for,  323-32. 

Brown,  J.  D.,  abstract  of  his  lefture 
on  English  Municipal  Libraries, 
218-24. 

Burger,  K.,  his'Nummernconcord- 
anz  of  Panzer  and  Hain '  re- 
viewed, 446  sq. 

Burghley,  Lord,  Archbishop  Par- 
ker's letter  to  about  Bynneman, 

233- 
Burtoft,  John,  1523  assessment  of, 

262. 
Bynneman,  Henry,  article  on,  225- 

44. 


Capell,  Edward,  Shakespearian 
quartos  owned  by,  1 1 4  sqq. 

Cardiff  Public  Library,  methods 
used  at  described  by  J.  Ballinger, 
in  articles  on  A  Municipal 
Library  and  its  Public,  66-79, 

i73-85»  3°9-22»  353-68. 

Carnegie,  Andrew,  his  gifts  for 
libraries,  361,  363. 

'  Casket  Sonnets,'  complete  text  of 
printed  by  R.  Steele,  422  sqq. 

Casse,  William,  stationer,  assess- 
ment of,  260. 


INDEX. 


455 


Caxtons  acquired  by  the  British 
Museum,  323  sq. 

Censorship  of  the  Press  in  France 
(1534-42),  163  tq. 

Cervantes,  M.,  article  by  H. 
Thomas  on  the  Cervantes  col- 
lection at  the  British  Museum, 

429-43- 

Children,  library-work  for  at  Car- 
diff, 173-85,  222. 

Claude,  Charles  Clement,  of  the 
Bibliotheque  Nationale,  206. 

Clerk,  John,  presents  Henry  Vlll.'s 
Assertio  Septem  Sacramentorum 
to  the  Pope,  4  sqq. 

Cockerell,  Sydney  C.,  his  mono- 
graph on  the  Gorleston  Psalter 
reviewed,  212  sq. 

Cologne,  loss  of  fragments  of  in- 
cunabula from,  301. 

'Cologne  Chronicle' (1499),  two 
readings  in  the  passage  on  the 
invention  of  printing  in,  289. 

Commines,  Philippe  de,  his  Chro- 
niques,  54. 

'  Contemplacyon  of  Sinners,'  Her- 
bert's description  of  quoted,  325. 

Cooper,  T.,  Bishop  of  Lincoln, 
privilege  granted  to,  243. 

Coram,  Thomas,  copy  of  Pepys' 
'  Memoirs  of  the  Navy '  given 
to,  138. 

Cornaro,  Bewick's  copy  of  his 
'Method  of  Attaining  Long 
Life,  135  tq. 

'  Correctors '  employed  by  Bynne- 
man,  misread  as  '  characters,' 

233  '?• 
Corrozet,   Gilles,   his   '  Antiques 

de  Paris,'  145. 
Cory,  J.,  his  gift  of  incunabula  to 

Cardiff,  366. 
Coster,  Lourens,  need  of  a  Coster 

Museum  at  Haarlem,  301  ;  his 

statue    at    Utrecht,    303 ;    the 

genealogy  of,  303  tq. 


Coston,     Simon,     assessed     as     a 

stationer,  259. 
Coulangheon,   J.  A.,  his  '  Lettres 

a  deux  femmes'  noticed,  276. 
Cousteau,    Antoine   and    Nicolas, 

printers  for  Galliot  Du  Prd,  161. 
Crescentiis,     Petrus    de,     French 

versions  of  his  '  Opus  ruralium 

commodorum,'  151. 
Cretin,    Guillaume,    his    writings, 

57/f- 

Cunningham's  '  Goldsmith,'  copy 
of,  annotated  by  A.  A.  Watts, 
141. 

Dabbe,    Henry,   stationer,    1523, 

assessment  of,  259. 
Dalmeyda,    Georges,    '  Goethe    et 

le  drame  antique '  by,  noticed, 

3.74- 

Dating  of  French  books  in  six- 
teenth century,  146  sqq. ;  mis- 
dates in  Shakesperian  quartos, 
tee  Greg. 

Day,  John,  initials  used  by,  229, 
241. 

Delisle,  Leopold,  Souvenirs  de 
Jeunesse,  by,  201-11,  245-56. 

Denham,  Henry,  Bynneman's  re- 
lations with,  227. 

Devices  used  by  Galliot  Du  Pre, 
1 68  tq. 

Directories  at  Cardiff  Libraries,  74 
tqq.\  bogus,  75. 

Dobson,  Austin,  article  on  Some 
Books  and  their  Associations, 
132-42. 

Dockwray  (Docwra),  Thomas,  1523 
assessment  of,  259. 

Doumic,  R.,  his  *  Le  theatre  nou- 
veau '  noticed,  375. 

Du  Bartas,  S.,  Ashton's  '  Du  Bar- 
tas  en  Angleterre'  noticed,  373 
tf. 

Du  Bellay,  Guillaume,  authorship 
of  '  Instructions  sur  le  faidt  de 


456 


INDEX. 


la  guerre '  wrongly  attributed  to, 

170  sq. 
Du  Bois,  Simon,  printed  heretical 

books  in  France,  162. 
Duff,    E.   G.,   article   on    Henry 

VIII.'s  Assertio  Septem  Sacra- 

mentorum,     1-16;     Notes    >on 

Stationers  from  the  Lay  Subsidy 

Rolls  by,  257-66. 
Du  Pre,  Galliot,  Paris  bookseller, 

articles  on  by  A.  Tilley,  36-65, 

H3-72- 

Dziatzko,  Dr.,  criticism  of  his 
theory  as  to  the  origin  of  the 
42-line  and  3  6-line  Latin  Bibles, 
296  sqq. 

East  Anglian  school  of  illumina- 
tion, 213. 

Easter,  French  year  before  1565 
often  reckoned  from,  147  sqq. 

Egmont,  Frederick,  allusion  to, 
328. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  her  portrait  in  an 
initial,  241. 

English  books  before  1640,  recent 
purchases  of  by  the  British 
Museum,  323-32. 

Essling,  Prince  d',  his '  Etudes  sur 
1'art  de  la  gravure  sur  bois  k 
V£nise'  reviewed,  104-110. 

Exchange-system  between  school 
libraries,  experience  of  at  Car- 
diff, 177. 

False  dates  in  Shakespearian  quartos, 
articles  on,  113-31,  381-409. 

Fidlion  in  Public  Libraries,  notice 
of  paper  on  by  A.  O.  Jennings, 
and  of  resolutions  adopted  by 
Library  Association,  414  iq. 

Fletcher,  John,  one  of  the  1637 
editions  of 'The  Elder  Brother,' 
by,  misdated,  406  sq. 

Fitzwilliam  Museum,  its  copy  of 


the  'Assertio  Septem  Sacramen- 

torum,'  13. 
Florence,     Biblioteca     Nazionale, 

Palatina    collection    transferred 

from  Pitti  Palace  to,  287  sq. 
Foreign  languages,  modern  methods 

of  teaching,  267. 
Forgeries  of  Sienese  Tavolette,  102 

If 
France,  Anatole,  his  '  Les  desirs  de 

Jean  Servien,'  80  sq.,  190  note; 

his 'Jeanne  d  Arc,'  186  sqq.,  270 

t#. 
French  literary  tastes  under  Francis 

I.,  153-6. 

French  poetry,  English  critics  in- 
clined to  apologize  for,  192. 
Froben,  Joh.,  border  used  by  copied 

for  'Assertio  Septem  Sacramen- 

torum,'  2. 
Fulwood,  William,  his  *  Enemy  of 

Idleness,'  233. 
Fust,  Johann,  probable  share  of  in 

42-line  Bible,  296  iqq. 

Gaede,  Ugo,  his  book  on  Schiller 

and  Nietzsche  noticed,  273. 
Garrick,      David,      Shakespearian 

quartos  owned  by,  1 14. 
Gascoigne,    George,     Bynneman's 

edition  of  his  poems,  236  sq. 
Gerville,  Charles   Duherissier  de, 

recollections   of,  by  L.  Delisle, 

201  sqq. 
Goethe,    J.    W.   von,    books   on 

noticed,  374  sq. 
Goldsmith,  Oliver,  notes  on,  by 

A.  A.  Watts,  142. 
Gorleston  Psalter,  S.  C.  Cockerell's 

monograph  on,  reviewed,  2 1 2  iq . 
Gough,  John,  1523,  assessment  of, 

260. 
Greg,   W.   W.,   on   certain    false 

dates  in   Shakespearian  quartos, 

113-31,381-409;   statement  ot 

aims  of  Malone  Society,  1 1  o  sqq . 


INDEX. 


457 


Gringore,  Pierre,  works  by,  58,  64, 
146. 

Grinling,  C.  H.,  on  the  decoration 
of  libraries,  420. 

Groth,  Dr.,  on  contemporary 
English  literature,  91. 

Grynaeus,  Simon,  Du  Pr6's  edition 
of  his  'Novus  Orbis,'  146. 

Gruytrode,  Jacobus  de,  legend  of 
Archbishop  Udo  in  his  '  Laua- 
crum  Conscientias,'  337. 

Guardians  of  orphan  children,  lists 
of  names  of,  265. 

Gu6rard,  Benjamin,  his  relation 
with  Leopold  Delisle,  204  sqq. ; 
his  work  at  the  Bibliotheque 
National,  208  sqq ;  his  dilemma 
as  to  the  manuscript  of  Nith- 
ardus,  245  sqq. 

Guevara,  Antonio,  French  edition 
of  works  by,  169. 

Gutenberg,  Johann,  Dr.  Hessels' 
view  as  to  what  importance  can 
be  claimed  for  him  in  the  history 
of  printing,  290  sr,q, ;  criticism 
of  Dr.  Dziatzko's  views  as  to  his 
part  in  the  42-line  Bible,  296^. 

Gwynn,  Edw-.d,  Shakespearian 
quartos  ow'ied  by,  113. 


Haebler,  K.,  his  '  Typenreperto- 
rium  der  Wiegendrucke '  re- 
viewed, 444  sqq. 

Hall,  Rowland,  his  device,  119. 

Harman,  Henry,  stationer,  assess- 
ments of,  260. 

Harrison,  Richard,  Bynneman  ap- 
prenticed to  and  possessed  a 
copy  of  his  Bible,  226. 

Hartwig,  Archbishop  of  Magde- 
burg, details  of  his  legend  trans- 
ferred to  Archbishop  Udo,  350. 

Hatton,  Sir  Christopher,  his  patron- 
age of  Bynneman,  240. 

Hayes,  Lawrence,  his  entry  as  to 


the  'Merchant  of  Venice*  in 
'Stationers'  Register,'  127. 

Hazlitt,  William,  annotated  copy 
of  his  '  Leftures  on  the  English 
Comic  Writers,'  141. 

Hemel  Hempstead,  secret  printing- 
press  seized  at,  237. 

Henry  VIII.,  article  on  his  'Assertio 
Septem  Sacramentorum,'  1-16. 

Hermann,  Georg,  notice  of  his 
'  Jettchen  Gebert,'  82  sqq. 

Hessels,  J.  H.,  account  of  a  biblio- 
graphical tour  by,  282-309. 

Heyse,  Paul,  notice  of  his  '  Gegen 
den  Strom,'  84. 

Hey  wood,  T.,  one  of  the  1640 
editions  of  his  'Loves  Mistresse' 
misdated,  408. 

Historical  books  published  by  Gal- 
liot Du  Pr£,  153  /?.,  167. 

Hogarth,  William,  his  copy  of  No. 
17  of  the  'North  Briton/  in 
which  he  was  attacked  by  Wilkes, 

139- 
Holinshead,  Raphael,  arrangements 

as  to  his  '  Chronicles,'  242. 
Holme,  W.,  his  '  1600'  edition  of 

'  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humor,' 

earlier  than  Ling's,  405. 
Holmes,   O.   W.,    article    by    J. 

Ormerod  on  his  writings,  17-35. 
Hussey,     Edward,    Shakespearian 

quartos  owned  by,  114. 
Huth,  A.  H.,  his  criticism  of  W. 

W.  Greg's  article  on  False  Dates 

in  Shakespearian  quartos,  381, 

387  sqq. 
Hutton,   Charles,   the   Woolwich 

mathematician,  his  claim  to  have 

helped  Bewick,  137. 


Illumination,  see  Manuscripts. 
Incunabula,  works   on,   reviewed, 

444   sqq. ;    gift   of,   to    Cardiff 

Public  Library,  366. 


INDEX. 


Ingeborg,  Queen  of  Denmark,  her 

psalter   discovered   by   Leopold 

Delisle,  253. 
Initials,  similarity  of  those  used  by 

Day,  Jugge,  Denham,  R.  Wolfe, 

and  Bynneman,  229. 
Ireland,  Samuel,  his  duplicate  notes 

as  to  copies  of  No.    17  of  the 

'North  Briton,'  139  sq. 

Jacob  and  Esau,  Bynneman's  edi- 
tion of  the  play  of,  231  sq. 

Jaggard,  William,  Shakespearian 
quartos  printed  by,  117  sq. 

James,  Montagu,  his  works  on 
English  manuscripts,  213. 

Jast,  S.,  notice  of  lefture  by,  on 
public  library  work,  417. 

Jennings,  A.  O.,  notice  of  his 
paper  on  fiction  in  the  public 
library,  414  sq. 

Jones,  Richard,  his  devices,  1 1 8. 

Jonson,  Ben,  Ling's  '1600*  edi- 
tion of  his  '  Every  Man  out  of 
his  Humor'  possibly  misdated, 
405  sq. 

Jugge,  R.,  initials  used  by,  229 ; 
disposal  of  his  stock,  239;  Bible 
attributed  to,  printed  by  Bynne- 
man, 240. 

Kele,  Thomas,  his  assessment,  259. 

Klemm,  Heinrich,  the  date  1453 
written  in  his  copy  of  the  42- 
line  Bible,  295., 

Koel,  Dr.,  report  of  speech  by,  on 
American  libraries,  419. 

L'Aigue,  Estienne  de,  work  and 
missions,  63. 

Landsberger,  F.,  his  biography  of 
Tischbein  noticed,  375. 

Lay  Subsidy  Rolls,  notes  from,  on 
printers,  by  E.  G.  Duff,  257-66. 

Lee,  Elizabeth,  articles  by  on  Re- 
cent Foreign  Literature,  80-96, 
186-200,  267-81,  369-80. 


Lee,  Sidney,  his  criticism  of  W.  W. 
Greg's  article  on  False  Dates  in 
Shakespearian  Quartos,  381  sqq. 

Le  Franc,  Martin,  his  '  Champion 
des  Dames,'  64. 

Lemaitre,  Jules,  his  book  on  Ra- 
cine noticed,  267  sqq. 

Leo  X.,  his  acceptance  of  the  'As- 
sertio  Septem  Sacramentorum/ 
^sqq.,  13  sq. 

Libraires  jures,  at  Paris,  38  sq. 

Libraries,  American,  notice  of 
Alderman  Plummer's  paper  on, 
418  sqq. 

Libraries,  Municipal,  articles  by 
J.  Ballinger,  '  On  a  Municipal 
Library  and  its  Public' :  I.  The 
Newsroom,  66-79  '•>  ^-  Children, 
173-85  ;  III.  Lending  Libraries, 
309-22 ;  IV.  The  Reference 
Library,  353-68;  abstract  of 
J.  D.  Brown's  lefture  on,  218- 
24  ;  co-operation  among,  report 
of  paper  on,  420  sq. ;  decoration 
of,  report  of  paper  on,  420 ; 
fidlion  in,  414  sq. ;  more  en- 
thusiasm for  among  ratepayers 
than  among  their  representatives, 
312;  notice  of  popular  ledlurer 
by  S.  Jast  on  Public  Library 
Work,  417;  need  of  in  rural 
districts,  412. 

Libraries  of  London,  R.  A.  Rye's 
book  on  noticed,  336. 

Librarians,  registration  of,  421. 

Library  Association,  report  of  the 
Brighton  Conference,  410-21 

Libri  and  Barrois  manuscripts  re- 
stored to  France,  254. 

Life,  the  prolongation  of,  135. 

Likhatscheff,  N.  P.,  his  calculations 
as  to  duration  of  watermarks, 

121 

Ling,  Nicholas,  his  edition  of  Jon- 
son's  '  Every  Man  out  of  his 
Humor,'  possibly  misdated,  405. 


INDEX. 


459 


Lisini,    Alessandro,   his   book   on 

Sienese  Tavolette,  97. 
Locker,  Frederick,  quotation  from, 

with  Thackeray's  touching,  133. 
London,  Libraries  of,  R.  A.  Rye's 

book  on,  noticed,  336. 
Lottery   of    1567,    proclamations 

concerning,  230,  233  sq. 

Malone  Society,  statement 'of  its 
aims,  1 10  sqq. 

Magdeburg,  legend  of  the  mythical 
Archbishop  Udo  of,  337-52 

'  Magdeburger  Schoeppenchronik,' 
analogues  to  legend  of  Arch- 
bishop Udo,  in,  349  sq. 

Mainz,  Albrecht  or  Adelbert, 
Archbishop  of,  details  of  his 
legend  transferred  to  Udo  of 
Magdeburg,  350. 

Manuscripts,  work  of  B.  Gue*rard 
as  keeper  of,  at  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationale,  208  sq. 

Manuscripts,  English  types  of  Il- 
luminated MSS.,  213. 

Marston,  John,  three  editions  of  his 

*  Malcontent,'  with  date    1604 
on  title,  402. 

Maries,  the  three,  cult  of,  62  sq., 

162. 
Marini,  G.  L.,  his  report  as  to  the 

return   of  Vatican   manuscripts 

from  Paris,  247  sq. 
Marot,   Cle*ment,   his    edition   of 

Villon's  poems,  147. 
Mary,  the  B.  V.,  authenticity  of 

the  date  1418  in  a  woodcut  of, 

SOS- 

Mary,  queen  of  Scots,  complete 
text  of  *  Casket  Sonnets  '  printed 
422  sqq. 

'  Mercurius  Britannicus,'  tragi- 
comedy, three  editions  dated 
1641,  404. 

Merlant,   Joachim,   notice   of  his 

*  Senancour,'  86  sq. 


Meschinot,  Jean,  his '  Lunettes  des 

princes,'  66. 
Michigan  University,  its  library, 

419. 
Misch,  Georg,  his  *  Geschichte  der 

Autobiographic '  noticed,  195. 
Mons,    Mile,    de,  who   was   she  ? 

133  sq. 
Montaigne,  Michel,  Pierre  Villey's 

'  Les  sources  de  Essais  de  Mon- 
taigne' noticed,  271. 
Municipal    Library,    A,    and    its 

Public,  articles  on    by   J.   Bal- 

linger.     See  Libraries. 

Napoleon  I.,  a  secretary's  view  of, 
194. 

Neale,  Richard,  stationer,  assess- 
ment of,  1523,  261. 

Net  Books,  Notice  of  report  to 
Library  Association  on,  416. 

Newsrooms,  article  on  development 
of  at  Cardiff,  66-79. 

Nithardus,  adventures  of  a  manu- 
script of,  245  sqq. 

Notary,  Julyan,  1523  assessment 
of,  259. 

Nyverd,  Jacques,  books  printed  by 
for  Galliot  Du  Pr6,  161. 

Open  Access  at  Cardiff,  320. 
Ormerod,  J.,  article  on  the  Writings 
of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  17- 

35- 

Ortelius,  Abraham,  his  copy  of  the 

Dutch  'Speculum  humanae  sal- 
uationis,'  285. 

Palais  de  Justice,  Paris,  bookstalls 
at  44,  51. 

Paper,  badness  of,  in  recent  books, 
315  sq. ;  printing  and  writing 
paper  not  distinguished  in 
Shakespeare's  time.  See  also 
Watermarks. 

Paris,  the  first  guide-book  to,  145. 


460 


INDEX. 


Paris  bookseller  of  the  sixteenth 
century  (Galliot  Du  Pre),  articles 
on,  by  A.  Tilley,  36-65,  143-72. 

Paris,  printing  at,  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  41  ;  printers'  quarter 
in,  46  sq. 

Parker,  Archbishop,  his  patronage 
of  H.  Bynneman,  225,  233,  240. 

Parker,  Prof.  K.,  his  scientific 
library  purchased  for  Cardiff, 

364- 

Patrizzi,  Francesco,  works  by,  50 
sq. 

Pavier,  Thomas,  false  dates  in 
Shakespearian  quartos  printed 
for,  113-31,  381-409;  his  pos- 
sible motive,  397. 

Peddie,  R.  A.,  his  '  Author  Index 
to  Fifteenth  Century  Books' 
reviewed,  448. 

Pembroke,  Earl  of,  his  copies  of 
early  block-books,  285  sqq. 

Penny  rate  for  library  purposes,  its 
insufficiency,  361  sqq. 

Pepys,  Samuel,  copy  of  his  *  Mem- 
oirs of  the  Navy '  given  by  C. 
Jackson  to  Thomas  Coram,  138 

Pertz,  G.  H.,  his  deception  as  to  a 
manuscript  of  Nithardus,  246. 

Perry,  Marsden,  Shakespearian 
quartos  owned  by,  113. 

Pfister,  Albrecht,  his  relations  with 
Gutenberg,  297. 

Phillipps  collection,  Welsh  manu- 
scripts in,  bought  for  Cardiff, 

359- 
Phin,  John,  his  criticism  of  W.  W. 

Greg's  article  on  False  Dates  in 
Shakespearian  Quartos,  381  sqq. 

Pilgrym,  George,  stationer,  1523 
assessment  of,  259. 

Pitti  Palace,  Palatina  collection 
transferred  to  the  National 
Library  at  Florence  from,  287  sq. 

Placards,  Affair  of  the,  its  influence 
in  France,  163. 


Plays,  early,  acquired  by  the  British 
Museum,  329. 

Plomer,  H.  R.,  article  on  Henry 
Bynneman  by,  225-44. 

Plummer,  Alderman,  notice  of  his 
paper  on  American  libraries,  418. 

Pollard,  A.  W.,  article  on  Sienese 
Tavolette,  97-103  ;  review  by, 
of  Prince  d'Essling's  '  Etudes  sur 
1'art  de  la  gravure  sur  bois  & 
Venise,'  104-10;  his  theory  as 
to  a  collected  edition  of  Shake- 
spearian quartos,  114;  suggests 
points  to  W.  W.  Greg,  131, 
384,  395  ;  notices  by,  212  sqq., 
333,  444;  on  Recent  English 
Purchases  at  the  British  Museum, 
323-32. 

'  Pomerium  Spirituale,'  authenti- 
city of  the  date  1440  in,  305. 

Pont  Notre  Dame,  at  Paris,  46. 

Pontalais,  Jehan  du,  author  of 
'  Contreditz  de  Songecreux,'  64. 

Porter,  Henry,  two  editions  of  his 
'  Two  Angry  Women  of  Abing- 
don,'  dated  1599,  402. 

Printers,  ecclesiastical  persecution 
of  in  France  (1534-5),  162  sq. 

Printing,  French  edift  of  1 53  5,  for- 
bidding any  book  to  be  printed 
under  pain  of  death,  163. 

Printing,  the  invention  of,  Dr. 
Hessels'  tour  of  investigation, 
282-308  ;  two  readings  in  the 
passage  in  the  '  Cologne  Chro- 
nicle' on,  289. 

Privileges  for  exclusive  printing, 
asked  for  Bynneman,  233  sq. ; 
in  French  books,  relation  of 
dates  in  those  in  colophons,  1 50. 

Publication,  temporary  partner- 
ships among  French  booksellers 
for,  159. 

Pynson,  R.,  his  editions  of  the  'As- 
sertio  Septem  Sacramentorum,'  2, 
I o  sqq. ;  1 5 2 3  assessment  of,  26 1 . 


INDEX. 


461 


Racine,  J.  old-fashioned  use  of 
in  teaching  French,  267 ;  Le- 
maitre's  book  on,  267  sqq. 

Randolph,  T.,  one  of  the  1668 
editions  of  his  'Poems'  probably 
misdated,  399;  two  1630  edi- 
tions of  his  '  Aristippus,'  404  sq. 

Rastell,  John,  assessment  of,  260. 

Recent  Foreign  Literature,  articles 
on  by  Elizabeth  Lee,  80-96, 
186-200,  267-81,  369-80. 

Redman,  Robert,  1523  assessment 
of,  261. 

Rees  Collection  of  Welsh  books  ac- 
quired by  Cardiff,  358. 

Religious  Newspapers  excluded 
from  Cardiff  if  denominational, 
72. 

Renaissance  literature,  French  atti- 
tude towards  exemplified  in  books 
of  Galliot  Du  Pre,  155. 

*  Return  from  Parnassus,'  two  edi- 

tions of,  dated  1606,  400. 
Reviews  and  Notices,  2 1 2  sqq.,  333 

'??•»  444  W- 
Reynes,  John,  copies  of  *  Assertio 

Septem  Sacramentorum '  bound 
by,  12  ;  1523  assessment  of,  259. 

Rius,  L.,  his  bibliography  of  Cer- 
vantes, 429  sqq. 

Roberts,  James,  Shakespearian 
quartos  attributed  to  his  press, 
117. 

Rouer,  Raimond  de,  real  author  of 
'  Instructions  sur  le  faict  de  la 
guerre,'  wrongly  attributed  to 
Du  Bellay,  1 70  sq. 

*  Rudimentum  noviciorum,'  author- 

ship of,  165  sq. 

Rural  districts,  need  of  libraries  in, 
412. 

Rye,  R.  A.,  his  book  on  the  libra- 
ries of  London  noticed,  336. 

St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  Bynneman's 
shop  at  north-west  choir  of,  235 


Sandtus,  Hieronymus  de,  suggestion 
that  he  was  a  wood-cutter,  1 08 
sq. 

Sand,  George,  books  about,  193 

Schiller,  W.,  Ugo  Gaede's  criticism 
of,  noticed,  273. 

Schoenbach,  A.  E.,  his  '  Die  Le- 
gende  von  Erzbischof  Udo  von 
Magdeburg*  quoted,  349. 

Scholderer,  Victor,  version  of  the 
legend  of  Archbishop  Udo  by, 

,   337-5*- 

School  Board,  relations  with  Library 
Committee  at  Cardiff,  1 74  sqq. 

School  libraries,  history  of  at  Car- 
diff, 174  sqq. 

Schorbach,  Dr.  K.,  Dr.  Hessels' 
complaint  of  his  misinterpreta- 
tion of  his  views  on  Gutenberg, 
290  sq. 

Schwenke,  Dr.,  his  treatises  on 
early  Mainz  printing,  299. 

Scott,  William,  his  zeal  for  Welsh 
bibliography,  359. 

Scottish  books  before  1640,  bought 
by  British  Museum,  327. 

S£ch6,  A.,  his  'Anthologie  des 
femmes  poetes'  noticed,  377. 

Sdche,  L.,  works  by  noticed,  193. 

Seilliere,  E.,  his  *  Le  mal  roman- 
tique '  noticed,  272. 

Selve,  Georges  de,  Bishop,  works 
by,  published  by  Galliot  Du 
Pr6,  171. 

Senancour,  E.,  notice  of  J.  Merlant's 
life  of,  86  sq. 

Serafino  of  Aquila,  his  strambotti, 
56. 

Seyssel,  Claude  de,  his  *  Grande 
Monarchic  de  France,'  168  sq. 

Shakespearian  Quartos,  articles  on 
Certain  False  Dates  in,  113-31, 
381-409. 

Shakespearian  Quartos,  the  com- 
parative frequency  of  their  oc- 
currence at  auction,  216. 


462 


INDEX. 


Sienese  Tavolette,  article  by  A.  W. 
Pollard  on,  97-103. 

Simmes,  Valentine,  printed  all 
three  editions  of  '  The  Mal- 
content,' 402. 

Slater,  H.,  his  '  Book  Prices  Cur- 
rent '  reviewed,  215  $qq. 

Smyth,  Walter,  his  assessment  in 
1523,  258  ;  'Jests  of  the  Widow 
Edith,'  ascribed  to,  ib. 

Snape,  Thomas,  stationer,  his  as- 
sessments, 258. 

Southey,  Robert,  his  copy  of  Man- 
rique's  '  Coplas,'  140  sq. 

Spanish  books  printed  in  France, 
61. 

'  Speculum  Exemplorum,'  legend 
of  Archbishop  Udo  found  in, 

35t- 

'  Speculum  humanae  saluationis,' 
Dr.  Hessels'  tour  to  collate  early 
editions  of,  282-308  ;  discussion 
as  to  their  probable  order,  292. 

Stationers,  notes  by  E.  G.  Duff  on, 
from  the  Lay  Subsidy  Rolls,  257 
sqq. 

Steele,  R.,  prints  complete  text  of 
the  'Casket  Sonnets,'  421  sq. 

Strassburg  Oaths,  in  manuscript  of 
Nithardus,  245. 

Suckling,  Sir  John,  special  title- 
pages  in  his  '  Fragmenta  Aurea ' 
differently  dated,  398. 

Sutton,  Henry,  Bynneman's  rela- 
tions with,  227,  231. 

Taverner,  John,  stationer,  high 
(1523)  assessment  of,  260. 

Tavolette,  see  Sienese  Tavolette. 

Telephone,  information  given  by, 
Cardiff  Library,  75-7;  connec- 
tion between  libraries,  321. 

Thackeray,  W.  M.,  improves  a 
stanza  of  F.  Locker's,  133. 

Thinking  in  chorus,  difficult  with- 
out newspapers,  77  sq. 


Thomas,  Henry,  article  by,  on 
the  Cervantes  collection  at  the 
British  Museum,  429-43. 

Thomas  Stanford,  C.,  President  of 
the  Library  Association,  410  sqq. 

Thompson,  H.  M.,  presents  Prof. 
Parker's  scientific  library  to  Car- 
diff, 364. 

Tilley,  Arthur,  articles  on  Galliot 
Du  Pre,  Paris  bookseller,  36-65, 

.H3-72- 

Tinayre,  Marcelle,  her  '  L' Amour 
qui  pleure'  noticed,  275  sq. 

Tischbein,  J.  H.  W.,  biography  of, 
noticed,  375. 

Tissot,  E.,  his  *Ce  qu'il  fallait 
savoir'  noticed,  370. 

Titles  of  Elizabethan  books,  their 
felicity,  331. 

Title-pages,  Bynneman's  success 
with,  225  sqq,  ;  characteristics  of 
those  of  Galliot  Du  Pre,  168  sq, ; 
instances  of  identity  in  different 
editions,  401  ;  used  as  advertise- 
ments, 401  ;  of  parts  of  Suck- 
ling's '  Fragmenta  Aurea  '  differ- 
ently dated,  398. 

Tolentino,  Treaty  of,  manuscripts 
transferred  to  Paris  by,  245. 

Tomkis,  Thomas,  author  of  '  Al- 
bumazar'  (q.v.),  405. 

Topley,  W.  W.,  notice  of  his  report 
to  Library  Association  on  the 
net  books  question,  416. 

Translation-work,  nothing  to  be 
earnt  by  in  France,  370^. 

Tredegar,  Viscount,  gives  auto- 
graph of  Wordsworth's  sonnet 
on  destruction  of  old  Cardiff 
Church  to  Cardiff  Library,  365 
sq. 

'Trial  of  Treasure,'  two  editions 
of  dated  1567,  400. 

Turbervile,  George,  his  Plain  Path, 
to  Perfe£t  Virtue,'  233. 

Types,  theory  of  early  types  being 


INDEX. 


463 


based  on  the  writing  of  the 
manuscript  printed,  298 ;  or 
of  that  of  the  place  of  imprint, 
302. 

u  and  v,  old  usage  of  in  one  of 
1634  editions  of  '  Albumazar,' 
modern  in  the  other,  406  sq. 

Udo,  Archbishop  of  Magdeburg 
(mythical),  version  of  the  legend 

of,  337-52- 

Utrecht,  style  of  handwriting  in 
use  at,  302. 

Vatican    Library,    restoration    in 

1815  of  manuscripts  taken  from 

in  1797,  2^sqq. 
Vellum  copies,  printed  by  Galliot 

Du  Pre",  156  sqq. 
Venetian   book-illustration,  review 

of  Prince  d'Essling's   book  on, 

104-110. 
Vespucci,  Amerigo,  accounts  of  his 

voyages,  49. 
Vidoue,  Pierre,  books  printed  by, 

1518-31,  for  Galliot  Du   Pre, 

1 60  sq. 
Villey,  Pierre,  his '  Les  Sources  des 

Essais  de  Montaigne '   noticed, 

271  sq. 
Villon,  Fran$ois,  Marot's  edition 

of,  147. 

Wailly,  Natalis  de,  appointed 
Keeper  of  MSS.  at  the  Biblio- 
theque  Nationale,  249. 

Walter,  W.,  on  the  decoration  of 
libraries,  420. 

Walton's  'Angler,'  and  Bacon's 
'  Sylva  Sylvarum,'  134  sq. 

Watermarks,  duration  of,  121  ; 
their  evidence  as  to  dates  of 
Shakespearian  quartos,  122  sqq., 
387  tqq. 

Watts,  A.  A.,  his  notes  on  Cun- 
ningham's '  Goldsmith,'  141. 


Welsh  bibliography,  reasons  of  its 
backward  condition,  357;  the 
bibliography  of  Wales,  358. 

Welsh  books,  history  of  the  collec- 
tion at  Cardiff,  356  sq. 

Widows,  their  part  in  the  trans- 
mission of  printing  businesses, 
42. 

Wildenbruch,  E.  von,  notice  of  his 
'  Lucrezia,'  85  sq. 

Wilkes,  John,  his  attack  on  Ho- 
garth in  the  'North  Briton,' 

139- 

Wolfe,  R.,  Bynneman  perhaps  ap- 
prenticed to,  226;  initials  used 
by,  229 ;  disposal  of  his  busi- 
ness, 238  sq.y  242  ;  border  used 
by»  239  »  arrangements  made  by, 
for  publication  of  the  'Chroni- 
cles,' 242. 

Wolsey,  Thomas,  letter  as  to  the 
'  Assertio  Septem  Sacramentor- 
um,'  3. 

Wooding,  D.  L.,  his  collection  of 
Welsh  books  acquired  by  Car- 
diff, 358. 

Worde,  Wynken  de,  1523  assess- 
ment of,  261. 

Wordsworth,  W.,  autograph  of  his 
sonnet  on  the  destruction  of  old 
Cardiff  church  presented  to  Car- 
diff, 365  sq. 

Wyer  (Wyre),  Robert,  1523  assess- 
ment of,  262. 

X,  Dr.  Dziatzko's  theory  as  to  a 
peculiar  x  imitated  in  the 
Netherlands  from  German  books, 
297-99. 

Year,  uncertainty  before   1565  as 

to  its  beginning  in  France,  147 

sqq. 
Young,    E.,    author     of    'Night 

Thoughts,'     his     influence    in 

France,  88  sq. 


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