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BOOKS OF SECRETS.

A PAPER READ BEFORE THE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY,

APRIL 21, 1913.

BY

PROFESSOR FERGUSON.

LONDON :

REPRINTED BY BLADES, EAST & BLADES, FROM

THE SOCIETY'S TRANSACTIONS.

1914.

BOOKS OF SECRETS.

BOOKS OF SECRETS.

A PAPER READ BEFORE THE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY,

APRIL 21, 1913.

BY

PROFESSOR FERGUSON.

LONDON :

REPRINTED BY BLADES, EAST & BLADES, FROM

THE SOCIETY'S TRANSACTIONS.

1914.

BOOKS OF SECRETS.

By professor FERGUSON.
Read April 21st, igij.

•F this theme had not, in a manner, been prescribed to
me by our Secretary, I myself should hardly have
selected it for presentation to the Society. It is true
that I have been rummaging among these books for a
good many years past, from time to time have printed
some results, and ought to be able to say something about them, but I
am so far from having exhausted the material which has gathered, that
I am hardly prepared as yet to pass a judgment on this branch — historical,
I may remind you — of scientific, or rather technological, literature. I
repeat technological, for the aim of the greater part of it is not to speculate,
or discuss, or describe, but to give directions how to do something, how
to produce something tangible, a practical result for human use or con-
venience. Hence " secrets," as they are called, have, from this point of
view, no reference to religious, or philosophical, or masonic, or other
mysteries, but simply denote "receipts," which are used even now for
effecting certain purposes.

It is unnecessary to dwell on the name. We may, however, deduce
from it, that, at one time or other, the artist or craftsman had special
knowledge gained by practice and experience which was personal and
which he, intentionally or unintentionally, kept to himself. This accu-
mulated skill constituted the "secrets" of his art or craft, and whoever

6 BOOKS OF SECRETS.

wished to acquire these "secrets" had to serve an apprenticeship to the
master, and be initiated by him. That it was personal one can com-
prehend, for when the productions of different men, with the same
material and with the same processes for the same ends are compared, the
difference in the results is sufficiently marked. The work of Peter Vischer,
for example, or of Benvenuto Cellini, or of Bernard Palissy, stands out
conspicuously among that of their contemporaries, to go no farther,
through their " secret," or personal skill and knowledge.

Even after the processes had been published and the "secrets"
divulged, it did not follow by any means that anyone, still less everyone,
could carry out the directions accurately, not to speak of the results
achieved by their authors. Something more is wanted than the written
or spoken word, for as Opie showed long ago the brains and conscience
of the artist are not negligible components of success.

By degrees, presumably, the "secrets" oozed out and were disseminated
among the craftsmen and were finally collected and published. They
retained their distinctive name, however, for though now displayed to
common view, they had been " secrets " once and might bear that title still.

My acquaintance with these books began when I was engaged with a
different subject, and I was disposed at first to resent their intrusion, but
■ as their numbers increased and the use made of them in the past became
more obvious by the variety of topics dealt with and the number of
editions, they acquired a practical importance and a bibliographical
interest, not to say significance, and I drifted into the examination of
them, without anticipating in what it might uhimately involve me. That,
however, is the usual course of research and one of its charms, and I have
yielded to it. So starting witii a score or two of treatises and editions,
I have been led on to an examination and recording of books of which
previously I had no knowledge, and which, so far as I know, have never
been brought together and catalogued before. After all, the number of
them which have passed through my hands is but a small one, a couple

BOOKS OF SECRETS. 7

of thousand at the outside, and even that number would have been
reduced, had I adhered to my original intention. I certainly began the
survey, over thirty years ago, with an attempted restriction of the lists to
books specifically labelled "secrets." But it was almost immediately
apparent that the limitation was artificial and impossible to enforce, that
consideration of the mere title must be discarded and the inquiry based
on the broader foundation of the theme. So from the very first were
included books of receipts in general, even though not designated
"secrets."

From these, however, have been deliberately omitted books on
gardening, cookery, occult science, and old chemistry.' These truly are
all books of receipts and are replete with secrets, but they have been often
dealt with and I have had no desire to compete with the lists already
published, when there are extensive subjects for investigation to which no
attention has been paid.

Again, while there are many books of receipts which are not styled
"secrets," there are also books of "secrets" which contain no receipts.
These have been included in virtue of their name rather than of their
contents, it may be thought unduly. They profess to reveal some obscure
or unknown matter which does not necessarily entail any practical
application or result. The term is especially applied to natural phenomena.
Natural History as it might be called now, but then, the secrets, wonders
or marvels of Nature. The contemplation of these marvels was very like
what it is with the ordinary man now. The daily routine of Nature passes
without remark ; no one, for instance, is conscious of what Father Beccaria
called "the mild and slow electricity which prevails in the atmosphere
during serene weather," but when anything out of the common happens,
a tempest, a flood, a snowstorm, an earthquake, thunder and lightning.

(1) Nevertheless circumstances have again been too strong for me, and have com-
pelled me to admit some books on these topics, because they were in the company of
others which fell within my prescribed area, or were written by authors of whose works
it w;is an object of mine to make as complete an enumeration as possible.

B 2

8 BOOK'S OF SECRETS.

that is at once talked about. So in the earlier times the unusual events
were noticed, but defective observation and partial ignorance of their
causes coupled with superstitious fears, led to their being credited with
sinister significance, and being assigned to malign agencies.

Books of Secrets, therefore, are of diverse sorts, and I have not
hesitated about including all the varieties attainable. But just on that
account the theme is so extensive and can be contemplated from so many
points of view that it is impossible to include them all within a single
paper. Attention, consequently, may be restricted to one or two aspects.
One, for example, which concerns the Society more particularly, deals with
the characteristics of the books themselves ; another with their contents,
but I shall not attempt to keep these separate. As books they are in all
languages, they are of all dates, sizes, and qualities of paper, printing and
binding, and they are in every kind of condition, good, bad and indifferent.
There are the books which were in everybody's hands, and those which
can never have been used at all. In such cases it is not always easy to
see what was the merit which carried a book through many editions, when
others, seemingly as good, if not better, were quite unsuccessful. That,
however, is not now a topic for discussion.

Prior to the sixteenth century there is little in printed form that can
be brought into the category of Books of Secrets. The encyclopaedias
which remain, notably those of Isidorus, of Bartholomaeus de Glanvilla
and Vincentius Bellovacensis, even though they glance at practical matters,
are too comprehensive to be included under such a limited designation.
But that collections of technical receipts were in use is shown by the work
of Theophilus, which was known only in manuscript till it was printed
in French in 1843, ^"d afterwards in English in 1847. This work contains
receipts for colours, glass, enamel and metal w^ork. Other manuscripts on
colours, painting, glass and other arts of the Middle Ages were published
by Mrs. Merrifield in 1849, and the work on colours by Heraclius was edited
in 1873 by Albert Ilg, who also began an edition of Theophilus the next
year.

BOOKS OF SECRETS. 9

But the outstanding book of Secrets of the earlier time is that ascribed
to Albertus Magnus and, curiously enough, it was the first book of the
kind which came into my possession. That copy is a quaint little
volume, printed at Lyons in 1566, and it contains the three tracts,
Secreta Mulierum, Liber Aggregationis, and De Mirabilibus Mundi. The
popularity of these tracts down to the eighteenth century is extraordinary.
Hain enumerates forty-six editions before 1500, and there are some
which have escaped his notice, such as those printed in London by
Machlinia, and an Italian translation of the Liber Aggregationis at Milan
in 1495. Many followed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, so
that as dealing with the secrets of generation, the properties of stones,
plants and animals, and the marvels of the universe, no book had such a
circulation in Europe. Whoever has given any attention to medieval
literature must have encountered it at some time or other.

Intimately connected with it by subject, and often by publication, was
the analogous work De Physiognomia of the senior contemporary of
Albertus, Michael Scotus, round whom so much romance has been woven,
but a consideration of that book would involve a monograph so as to do
it and its author justice.

After 1500 books on the present subject made their appearance
in greater abundance. Notable rarities are among them and many
printed in the earlier part of the sixteenth century are not devoid
of bibliographical attractions. Among those in English are many on
medicine, such as the editions of "The Treasure of pore men," "The
Myrrour or Glasse of helth," " The treasury of healthe," written by Petrus
Hispanus, afterwards Pope John XXI, and translated by Humfre Lloyde.
There were the works edited or translated by John Hester, "The JoyfuU
Jewell," "Secrets of Chirurgery," "The Excellence of Physick and
Chirurgery," "Three curious Pieces of Secrets," "The Order to distill
oyles," " The Key of Philosophie " ; Baker's " The Newe Jewell of
Health " ; Vicary's " Englishman's Treasure " ; " An Hospital for the
Diseased " ; "A Rich Store-house or Treasury for the Diseased " ;

lo BOOKS OF SECRETS.

" Prcepositas his Practice " by Leonard Mascall, and others. There was
no lack of guides to health, if it could be attained or preserved by secrets
and receipts.

Mascall wrote other books on practical affairs such as the planting and
grafting of trees, "The Bookc of Cattell" concerning the management
of live stock, horses, oxen, sheep, goats, hogs, " The Governmente of
Poultrie," probably the earliest treatise on the subject in English, "A
profitable Boke to take out spottes and staines," which is one of a set of
books to which reference is made below. To these may be added the
works on gardening by Thomas Hill, his " Parfite orderinge of Bees,"
his " Physiognomy," and other works. Another little tract similar to some
of these is "The Booke of Thrift, containing a perfite order, ... to profite
lands, and other things belonging to Husbandry," printed at London by
John Wolfe, in 1589.

In the seventeenth century the output of these books was greater than
ever. Occasionally they were respectable small quarto volumes, while
those in small octavo were for the most part chap-books. But though
cheaply got up they were sometimes decorated, if one may say so, with
a woodcut portrait or title-page, or frontispiece. Among the quartos may
be mentioned the late reprints of Hill's and Mascall's books on gardening,
on cattle and arboriculture, and Gervase Markham's works on farming, and
household economy. In this century too appeared Hill's " Legerdemain,"
which ran through so many editions that one might suppose the art of
conjuring was a much cultivated profession. Works on the secrets of
medicine were not wanting ; Brugis' " Marrow of Physic," Levens' " Path-
way to Health," Bonham's " Chyrurgian's Closet," the " Dispensatory " of
the two quacks, Salvator Winter and Francisco Dickinson, and reprints
of earlier treatises may serve as examples.

Of the little octavos and duodecimos which flowed from the press in a
copious stream, mention can be made of only a few that are more or less
typical. There were tlie works of John White, " lover of artificial

BOOKS OF SECRETS. ii

conclusions," as he styled himself, "Arts Masterpiece," "Arts Treasury
of Rarities and curious Inventions," which went through six editions at
least, "A rich Cabinet with variety of Inventions," which was in vogue
from 1651 to 1689, and " Hocus-Pocus," another book of tricks. There
were : "A choice Manual of rare and select Secrets in Physick and
Chyrurgery" by Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Kent, which, between
1653 and 1708 went through twenty-one editions; the parallel collection
of Queen Henrietta Maria, entitled "The Queen's Closet opened," with
about sixteen editions between 1655 and 17 13, and a certain T. P. who
compiled "The Accomplished Lady's Delight in Preserving, Physick,
Beautifying and Cookery" which ran from 1672 or 1673 to 1719, and had
ten editions. Salmon's " Polygraphice," a collection of receipts for a
number of Arts, was issued eight times between 1672 and 1701. Besides
these, reference may be made to Mrs. Hannah Wolley, or Woolley,
an entertaining person, and an adept in all feminine accomplishments,
who was the authoress of "The Cooks Guide," "The Gentlewomans
Companion," "The Ladies Delight, or a Rich Closet of Choice Experi-
ments and Curiosities," "The Ladies Directory," "The Queen-like
Closet," of which there were certainly five editions, all these books
appearing between 1664 and 1684. Nor should Sir Kenelm Digby be
forgotten, and his operator George Hartman, who between them published
"Chymical Secrets," "The Closet opened," "Choice and experimented
Receipts in Physick and Chyrurgery." There was also the revelation of
a thorough-going secret in his famous " Discourse on the Powder of
Sympathy," delivered at Montpellier and first printed in Enghsh in 1658,
a book said to be of the greatest rarity. The second edition appeared in
the same year, others came later and, with other books of Digby's, it was
translated into Dutch, French and German. Hartman compiled "A
Choice Collection of rare Secrets and Experiments," " The true Preserver
and Restorer of Health," " The Family Physitian, . . . containing some
hundreds of considerable Receipts and Secrets of great Value " which was
printed by Henry Hills in 1696, and from which we gather that the author

J 2 BOOKS OF SECKEl'S.

lived at Rotherhithe. There was Owen Wood's "An Alphabetical Book
of Physicall Secrets," of which five editions appeared between 1632 and
1656, when it was issued under the name of the Duchess of Lenox. This
book has caused me trouble, for Owen Wood has never got credit for his
labour, such as it was.

A representative book of Secrets is that by Thomas Lupton, "A
thousand notable things of sundry sorts," which was published in London
in 1596 and was often reprinted, the last issue I know of being dated
1815 ! What was the secret, or receipt, to which this book owed its
longevity, does not appear, but one would like to know it. It cannot
be owing to its intrinsic merit, for the book is a rifacimento of the
extravagancies of the old marvel-mongers.

Towards the close of the century a good many of the books of Secrets
were published by G. Conyers at the Ring in Little Britain, but with the
unpardonable omission of the date. Other publishers were John Starkey,
Edward Brewster, N. Boddington, T. Salusbury, T. Sowle, Andrew Sowle,
T. Passenger, W. Whitwood, N. Crouch, Gartrude Dawson, E. Tracy,
Charles Tyus, J. Blare, and many others. Among the chap-books were
"The way to save Wealth," attributed to Thomas Tryon, the author of
several curious essays, who in some of his ideas was far ahead of his time,
"The Complete Husbandman," "A New Book of Knowledge" full of
curious information and actually with a date, 1697. There were also more
receipt books for ladies, such as John Shirley's "AccompHshed Ladies
Rich Closet of Rarities," which enjoyed some popularity, "The Ladies
Companion, or Modern Secrets and Curiosities, never before made
Publick " concerned mainly with toilet secrets, " The Accomplished
Female Instructor," dated 1704, and "Arts Compleat Master-Piece,"
containing receipts for all sorts of purposes, and sold by James Hodges
at the Looking-glass on London Bridge.

On passing into the eighteenth century one encounters books different
in style and to some extent different in theme. Collections of medical

BOOKS OF SECRETS. 13

secrets almost disappear, but there are more on strictly practical subjects.
The term " secrets " is dropped, though it may occur in the course of a title.
But the titles now become of prodigious length and take the form of a table
of contents. They may have been handy for the readers of a hundred and
fifty or two hundred years ago, but they try the patience of the bibliographer
of the present time, who has to copy them. As might be expected too the
books are not attractive. There is a pretence at ornament which is not
only unnecessary, but is ugly.

There was a second flood of manuals of legerdemain, with the name of
H. Dean. At first the books were well enough, but as time went on the
issues became so bad that some were illegible.

Directions for the ladies and the good wives were supplied in such works
as "The whole Duty of a Woman," "The complete Housewife," which, more
by merit than looks, managed to reach the fifteenth edition, "The Com-
plete Family Piece," which, in a duodecimo of six hundred pages, with an
overwhelming title-page for length and detail, gives a history of the active
side of country life in England a hundred and seventy years ago, and "The
Lady's Companion, or an infallible Guide to the Female Sex." "The
Young Ladies School of Arts " dealt with the refinements rather than the
necessities of daily life and is the converse of " The Farmers Wife or the
complete Country Housewife." This last contains directions about poultry,
about the preparing of pork, bacon and sausages, making wine, cyder, perry,
mum, mead, and so on, directions for the dairy, etc., etc., and then the
author blossoms into rhyme, like Mascall in his book on cattle :

Instructions full and plain we give

To teach the Farmer's wife
With satisfaction how to live

The happy country life.

There were other books on the fine arts : " The Handmaid to the Arts"
is mostly about painting ; "Valuable Secrets concerning Arts and Trades" is
also largely about painting though other topics are included. There are at
least half a dozen editions of this book. "The School of Wisdom" contains
a survey of the arts in general. All these books have ponderous title-pages

,4 BOOKS OF SECRETS.

and are disagreeable examples of typograi)hy. There are more of the same
kind. " The Fountain of Knowledge or Complete Family Guide," which
begins with the Indian way of marking silk, linen or woollen, tells how to
breed game-cocks and singing birds, to restore an apparently drowned
person to life, gives rules for nursing, a cure for the small pox and a receipt
to remove freckles. This pamphlet is by " Sarah vSaunders, Mother of
seventeen Children, and brought them through all Diseases incident to
Children '" ; an excellent mother but weak in syntax. I have seen the first
edition, besides the sixth, which is in the British Museum. Amongst other
things it contains a description of the "expeditious or fountain pen," which
is, therefore, an old invention.

There were also "The New Handmaid to the Arts," "The School of
Arts," and " The Laboratory or School of Arts," this last adapted from the
German.

In the first quarter or so of the last century books after the old fashion
still appeared, as, for example, "The Painters and Varnishers Guide," 1804,
from the French; the seventh edition in i8ioof"The Laboratory," just
mentioned ; " The Female Instructor," on manners, medicine, cookery and
domestic economy : " The Family Receipt-book," undated, a quarto of six
hundred pages in double columns, with an appalling title-page ; " 500
Useful and amusing Experiments in the Arts and Manufactures," by
George G. Cary. Books on fireworks, on conjuring, on the toilet, are
among the receipt books of the time.

All these and many more are of such a quality that interest in them falls
to a minimum, whether as regards their contents or their execution.

When, leaving chronology, we examine the contents of the books, they
appear to be about as varied as human wants and desires themselves, and to
be ready to provide efficient practical guidance for most of the contingencies
of every day life. A brief notice of a few of the subjects may be given.

The section of the literature which deals with the Secrets of Nature is a
remarkable one, for in it we see the method of descriptive Natural History

BOOKS OF SECRETS. I5

in its widest aspect, previous to the introduction of the more recent system
of observation and experiment. To the ordinary man the world is full of
marvels and secrets which he does not understand and of forces which he
cannot always control. These phenomena in the course of time were
observed, sometimes accurately, and interpreted in many ways, not always
conclusively. The famiUar authorities from classical times are, of course,
Aristotle, Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Pliny, Seneca and others. For the
medieval writers, Pliny was the chief guide, but all sources were drawn upon
by those who compiled, for popular delectation, narratives of strange appear-
ances and events. Such were the "Liber Aggregationis" of Albertus Magnus,
already alluded to, and in the sixteenth century the "Prodigies" of
Polydore Vergil and of JuHus Obsequens, the " Histoires Prodigieuses " of
Boaistuau, the "Occulta Naturae Miracula " of Levinus Lemnius of
Zierikzee, Johnson's " Cornucopise," and the "Secrets and Wonders of
the World abstracted out of Pliny" in English in 1587.

At the same time Arthur Golding translated Solinus and Pomponius
Mela, both of whose histories are storehouses of marvels. There were the
" Contemplation of Mysteries " compiled by Thomas Hill and printed by
Denham about 157 1, and the natural history of John Maplet of Cambridge,
called "A greene Forest," published in 1567. As early as 1563,
Dr. William Fulke, the controversialist and divine, wrote a book about
meteors. What is called the second edition appeared at London long after
in 1634 in a little black letter volume entitled " A most pleasant Prospect
into the Garden of Naturall Contemplation." It is divided- into five
sections and describes meteors, fiery meteors, ayry impressions, watry
impressions, such as clouds, rain, snow, springs, lakes, rivers, the sea, and
earthly meteors, such as metals and stones. Hill's book resembles Fulke's
sufficiently to make it worth while comparing them.

A century later, about 1670, came the popular manuals with the initials
R.B., or the name R. Burton, published by Nath. Crouch and indeed
assigned to Crouch himself as the author.

l6 BOOKS OF SECRE7S.

The self-assigned task of all the writers was to record astonishing and
unusual events, signs and wonders in the heavens above and in the earth
and sea below, portents, the birth and prophesyings of monsters, and such
like. The writers did not seek to verify their reports, or, if they ran
counter to ordinary experience and observation, to criticize them, but set
them down for what they were worth, to be accepted or rejected. Such
collections, if we may judge by their number and variety, were popular and
must have supplied what was required, strange and startling narratives, true
or not did not matter, just as one accepts an impossible romance now for
the passive excitement it affords.

One of the most singular of these collections is in French and it
appeared in 1504, entitled " Le livre des Merveilles du Monde," the book
of the wonders of the world. It went through some six or seven editions
which search for many years has shown me are of rare occurrence. It is
divided into two parts; the first is arranged by the countries of the old
world, and the wonders of each are enumerated, the second deals with
the wonders of beasts, birds, plants, stones, and man, and is arranged by
subject. The compiler has withheld his name unfortunately, so he cannot
get credit and commendation for his production, but he has been wise
and considerate enough to mention his authorities for the marvels he has
amassed, so that we can judge of their probability and authenticity and
confirm them if so disposed. SoHnus's " Polyhistor " is one of his main
sources, but, on the whole, the most attractive stories are derived from the
collection which Gervasius, called of Tilbury, made for the recreation and
edification of the Emperor Otto IV, a book of which there is no proper
edition. One can imagine how the Emperor, when he was off duty (the
work is entided " Otia Imperialia," "an Emperor's half holiday") would
recline luxuriously and purr while Gervasius tickled the imperial ears with
his amazing narratives. It is no exaggeration to call them so, for even
the compiler is forced to say about some of them that they "are hard for
a man like myself of uncultivated understanding to believe, for in truth
without the honour of the deeply learned doctor Gervasius the marvels

BOOKS OF SECRETS. 17

seem to me impossible to believe according to nature, for Aristotle
relates nothing like them. But it may well be that those to whom these
marvellous events happened, were cheated by some diabolical illusions
or otherwise."

One feels disposed to agree with the compiler and to say of Gervasius
what King James VI said of the witches of Tranent, that ''they were all
extream lyars," though the editor here rather spoils his Higher Criticism
by quoting Aristotle and the devil. But " otherwise " is good ; it is such
a roomy alternative.

In this book the stories are told at some length, but in others they
are reduced to the smallest dimensions and only the essential part is
preserved. Such is the treatment of the subject in Thomas Johnson's
"Cornucopiae," a thin black letter pamphlet of 24 leaves, printed at
London in 1596, and in the translation of Pierre de Changy's abstract of
Pliny, printed at London in 1587. As it contains only thirty-six leaves
in small 4to, the barest outline of Pliny's thirty-seven books in folio is
the result, but the wonders have been culled with due attention to their
exceptional character.

Of equal interest and curiosity is the collection of Pierre Boaistuau,
which was put out in English as an original work by Edward Fenton in
1569. It too contains remarkable stories and it possesses an unusual
feature in the form of woodcuts illustrating different narratives. These
do ample justice to the text, and are highly creditable to the imagination
of the artist. The author describes monstrous men and animals, but
what he says would not be intelligible without the pictures. People were
much exercised in those times about the origin of monsters, and small
wonder considering the appearance of those depicted and described.
There was always a doubt too about the share devils had in producing
them, and whether in general devils could have families. Then there are
accounts of natural wonders : great floods, burning mountains, including
the eruption in which Pliny perished, with a woodcut of the catastrophe ;

,g BOOKS OF SECRETS.

marvellous appearances in the heavens, comets, dragons, flames, blazing
stars, torches, fire forks, pillours, lances, bucklers, two suns and two moons
at one instant, and many more, "which whosoever would recompte by
order, those which onely have appeared sithens the nativitie of Jesus
Christ, together, searching the causes of their beginnings and births, the
life of a man would not performe the same," and then the author gives
details of some of these portents with their dates and their significations.
Some of them must have been frightsome enough, if they at all corres-
ponded to their description and picture. The secrets and wonders of
Nature in the sixteenth century were calculated to inspire far more wide-
spread interest and alarm than they do now, for by following the
prescription of Albertus Magnus, we have lost the capacity for wonder.

Mizaldus, in the sixteenth century, was a successful collector of natural
secrets. He read extensively and noted the wonderful things he met with
about the world, about beasts, birds, fishes and reptiles, about men and
women, children born and unborn, about the virtues of plants and
minerals and the cure of diseases. His collections he arranged in nine
centuries, with a rough sort of classification. His book is not common
and the Cologne editions of 1572, 1573, 1574, are of rarity. A more
curious and uncommon book by him is entitled " Secrets de la Lune," in
which he points out its connection with and influence upon the sun,
women, certain beasts, birds, fishes, stones, trees, plants, diseases, sick
people, etc., etc.

Founded upon Mizaldus's book and taken in part from it, is Lupton's
book already alluded to : "A Thousand notable things of Sundry Sorts."

Bodin and Cardan made contributions to this literature, and there may
be quoted two much less known works than theirs.

One is "Idea del Giardino del Mondo " by Thomaso Thomai of
Ravenna. It was published at Venice in 1593 and often afterwards.
Notwithstanding its small bulk it is comprehensive ; begins witli the earth,
deals with all its products, animal, vegetable and mineral ; with men.

BOOKS OF SECRETS. 19

women, monsters ; with the preservation of health ; with the air, the winds,
and aerial demons, comets and other alarming signs in the heavens,
thunder and lightning, the rainbow ; with fire, animals that live in it, and
fiery demons ; the seven planets, the signs of the zodiac, and the crystalline
sky. His authorities are classical for the most part, but he has got
interesting material from some later writers, mostly Italian.

The other is entitled "Jardin de Flores Curiosas," by Antonio de
Torquemada. The earliest edition seems to be that published at
Salamanca in 1570, and it was printed several times thereafter. It was
turned into French by the well known Gabriel de Chappuys under the
title Hexameron, at Paris, 1582 ; into Italian by Celio Malespina, Giardino
di Fiori Curiosi, Vinegia, 1591 ; into English under the curious title
The Spanish Mandevik of Miracles, London, 1600, and again in 16 18,
and into German, Hexameron, oder Sechs Tage-Zeiten, Cassel, 1652.

It gets the name Hexameron from its being the report of a six days'
conversation on the wonders and secrets of Nature and the topics discussed
are recondite and almost incredible.

On the first day the discourses are appropriately inaugurated by stories
about strange and abnormal births, monsters, satyrs, pigmies, giants,
amazons, tailed men, dog-headed men, tall men, strong men, mermaids,
mermen, long livers, people who have renewed their youth, others who
have changed their sex, centaurs and such like.

The second conversation turns upon rivers, fountains and lakes, and
the unexpected properties which some of these display, and the dis-
cussion naturally includes the four rivers of Paradise and its locality,
the flood, and winds up with some account of idolatry and heresies of
various sorts.

The third discourse is about visions, enchanters, witchcraft, and
contains matter which the author himself calls delightful and necessary
to be known. It is, quite.

20 BOOKS OF SECRETS.

The fourth conversation is somewhat discursive, treats of good and
bad fortune, of the influences of the heavenly bodies and of many singular
occurrences.

The fifth conversation is about the lands near and around the North
Pole, the variation in the length of the day and night, the inhabitants, the
climate, and similar details.

The last discussion is about the animals that live in the Northern
regions, wolves, hares which become white when snow begins, trees that
remain green all the year and other curiosities.

The whole book is an excellent summary. I hope here be truths.

While these writers are mere compilers of strange stories about Nature,
others endeavoured to treat Natural History from a common sense point
of view. They could not free themselves altogether from the marvellous,
but they tried to keep that element within bounds and to give rational
descriptions.

One of them was Joannes Jonstonus, who wrote a review of the subject
under these heads : the heavens, the four elements, meteors, fossils
(mineral substances), plants, birds, quadrupeds, bloodless animals (insects),
fishes, man. The classification is a cross one, lizards, for instance, are
put among quadrupeds, but the attempt at a classification at all, based
upon observation of characters, represents a marked advance, and indicates
that the old kind of Natural History was passing away.

Other books that may be noticed in this connection are Robert Lovel's
" Panbotanologia," and " Panzooryctologia," the former a treatise on
British plants, the latter on animals and minerals. They contain much
information, not very critically sifted, with a view specially to pharmacy
and therapeutics. Though of little service in that way now, they are not
to be despised in connection with the history of medicine and more
particularly of medical folk-lore, a branch of the subject of which the
significance and value are now fully recognised by historians in Germany.

BOOKS OF SECRETS. 21

Lovel's aggregations may serve as a transition to those on medicine
itself, with its related and ancillary sciences. They are in all languages, of
all degrees of merit, and treat of different sections of the subject. Leaving
out the medical authorities of the Middle Ages, Galen and Avicenna, and
the protagonists of the revolution of the sixteenth century, Paracelsus and
Erastus, with their respective followers and disciples, attention must be
confined to the books written for popular use, many of which went by the
name of secrets. They were not systematic but practical ; their aim was to
cure, not to theorize or expound ; and the remedies given were as straight-
forward and simple as possible. They therefore took the form of receipts,
which dictated to the patient, or nurse, the drugs to be used, or the course
of treatment to be followed, or the diet most suitable, without troubling him
about the origin or nature of the disorder. The author probably thought
that the patient had trouble enough with the disease itself, and his drugs,
without adding knowledge of the cause of it, always supposing that he
knew it himself, which was doubtful. In these times, so far as one can
gather, the practice of medicine by licensed persons with such training as
could be had, was restricted to populous centres, but in country districts
few physicians or surgeons were available, and, from what is stated here
and there, when they were, they charged large, if not prohibitive fees. So
it came about that the treatment of disease had to be managed by each
household for itself. As the men were occupied otherwise, it fell almost
inevitably into the hands of the women to attend to the health of the
children, as well as their own, and to that of the men folks who might be
ill or have met with an accident. The necessary knowledge they had to
acquire as best they could by experience and trial and from the skill of
their elder neighbours. It was for their use largely that the books of
medical receipts were compiled and they were often dedicated to ladies
and gentlewomen distinguished by their care of the sick, and especially of
the sick poor round about them, who could obtain no medical advice or
attention. A survival of these times was the manual of our grandmothers
and great-grandmothers, Buchan's " Domestic Medicine."

23 /iOOAS OF SECRETS.

The ladies and housewives had not only the nursing to do, but they
had to prepare the medicines also, and as by tradition these were almost
exclusively vegetable, it followed that in every garden were cultivated
familiar medicinal herbs, which were supplemented by others that grew
naturally in the woods and fields, by the roadsides and ditches.

This gave rise to another branch of medical literature, the pharma-
ceutical, and one of its earliest forms was the " herbal," of which there
were many varieties, and which in recent years have afforded much sport
to collectors, and especially to booksellers.

As a consequence, part of the equipment of a house of any size was a
" still " room, in which were prepared the spirits, oils, extracts, cordials,
perfumes, essences and medicines in common use. The products were
more or less secret and were kept in a special room, the " Closet " as it
seems to have been called, access to which the lady reserved to herself,
perhaps because some of her preparations were too active — shall we
say ? — to fall into either ignorant or too skilful hands, or because some
of the preparations were scarce, or costly, or of her own invention, and
she had no mind to disclose them. They were her " Secrets," in fact.

These developments were not without their influence upon the litera-
ture, not merely of medicine, but of connected subjects. As illustrations
of the herbal for popular use may be cited that ascribed to Aemilius Macer,
though it is not the work of Virgil's predecessor or elder contemporary, but
is of a later period. It was translated into English and published by Banckes
in 1525, then in 1526, and by several others immediately afterwards. There
were Jerome Brunswick's " Vertuose boke of Distyllacyon of the waters of all
maner of Herbes," printed by Lawrence Andrewe at London in 1527; the
"Treasure" of Evonymus, published in 1552 in Latin, translated into Eng-
lish and published by Day about 1559, with plates of the plants and distil-
ling apparatus. It was one of the most popular of the books and appeared
in various editions in Latin and in translations in French, German and
Italian. The bibliography which 1 have investigated is interesting.

BOOKS OF SECRETS. 23

After the herbals came books on gardening, and, in at least some of
them, attention is bestowed on the cultivation of medicinal plants. There
is space for only one example. Thomas Hill, Londoner, of whose life
nothing definite is known, not even the dates of his birth and death, in
addition to a number of other works already referred to, wrote one entitled
"The Profitable Arte of Gardening," 1568. In it he not only lays down
rules for planting and tending the flowers, vegetables and herbes, but to
each appends a paragraph headed "The physicke helpes," that is, its use in
medicine. In " The Gardeners Labyrinth " by Didymus Mountain,
commonly identified with Thomas Hill, though the accuracy of so doing
may be doubted, there are similar sections in the second part of the book
where the individual plants are described. The point to be noticed,
however, is that in these and similar books there is an overlapping of the
subjects of gardening, pharmacy and medicine.

There is still another connection which displayed itself in a marked
way in the manuals written by ladies, or under their name. In them, as in
the Countess of Kent's "Manual," or in "The Queen's Closet opened," or
in " The Queen-like Closet " of Mrs. WoUey, Physicke and Chyrurgerie
came to be associated with Conserving and Preserving, and ultimately with
Cookery. Such collections appeared frequently, and their popularity is
exhibited by those just mentioned having passed through many editions, as
has been exhibited above.

Of more interest, perhaps, than some of these books, may be those
about the mysteries of reproduction. Here again we meet with works
which have been long current, such as the Secreta Mulierum of Albertus,
and the Physionomia of Michael Scotus. But a book much better known
now than either of these passes under the name of The Compltte Masferpiece
and is ascribed to Aristotle. Such books were the instructors of people in
all that pertained to the subject, theoretical and practical, and one has
heard occasionally views expressed the source of which could be found in
them. That is not surprising, for the " Masterpiece " has been " Printed

c 2

24 BOOKS OF SECRETS.

for the Booksellers" and in popular circulation for over two hundred
years. In fact, the book along with other tracts of similar tenour can be
purchased in the year of grace 191 3 in shops which deal in a certain class
of literature. One of the other tracts, also ascribed to Aristotle, is known
as the " Problemata." It was printed as early as 147 1, went through
several editions before 1500 and ever so many after. It is a sort of
catechism of the secrets of the human body and questions are asked to
which no reasonable answer could be given, nor would it matter whether
they could be answered or not. A supplement, or sort of commentary upon
it, was written by Alexander Aphrodisiensis and another by Zimara, and as
affording insight into the most recondite secrets of nature, secreta secretorum,
all these works must have been much esteemed.

Later writers seem to have adopted its method and copied its matter, for
similar productions of equal imbecility appeared in the seventeenth century,
such as that by Scipion Dupleix and his translator Robert Bassett.

Here then is the natural history of at least four hundred and fifty years
ago — but it must be far more since the compilation was made — current in
the year 191 3, with hardly a change of word or notion, as if our knowledge
of the Universe had been stagnant all that time ; and the rest of the book,
though it has undergone considerable alteration, is equally unsatisfactory.
The ramifications of the bibliography of this book are not without interest,
but this is not the time for such divagations.

It is difficult to get away from books of medical secrets and it must
suffice to mention those of Falloppio, the discoverer of the organs which
bear his name, Valescus of Taranta, Varignana, author of the " Philonium,"
Fioravanti, a quack it may be, but a man of strong individuality, several of
whose works were translated into English by John Hester, Riverius,
Zapata, Bairo, Venturini, Auda, and ever so many more. There are two
authors, however, that may be noticed in passing.

One is an undiscoverable person called Raoul du Mont Verd, whose
name is attached to a little book called "Les Fleurs et Secrets de

BOOKS OF SECRETS. 25

Medecine," dating from early in the sixteenth century. Brunet enumerates
a number of editions ; there are some — not in Brunet— in the British
Museum ; I have one or two in neither, so we may infer that there were a
good many issues, that it must have been in demand, and that, as the
surviving copies demonstrate, the book got hard usage.

It gives directions how and when to bleed, an art almost forgotten ;
how to manage sick people in the months of the year \ how to treat
various diseases ; it describes the virtues of certain plants and how to
make waters from them, and gives numerous medical receipts. This is
followed by an astrology for shepherds, a treatise on comets and their
significance according to the signs of the zodiac in which they appear, a
section on the magnitude of the Universe, and the book concludes with a
description of hell, deep down in the earth, dark, cloudy, redolent of
sulphur and other bad smells and enveloped in nine kinds of fire.

This is a real book of secrets, but its origin is obscure. It is said to
be compiled by Master Raoul du Mont Verd ; translated from Latin
into French, the which book Hippocrates sent to Jalius, who was ill of
various maladies external and internal. In another place, however,
it is said that the book was sent by "Hippocrates to Galen, . . . and
that the contained receipts were afterwards approved by Galen." These
statements are hard to reconcile, and one would gladly know how
Hippocrates bridged the gap of some five hundred years between himself
and Galen.

The other book is also of the sixteeenth century and is " The Myrrour
or Glasse of helth," usually ascribed to Thomas Moulton. It is a little
black letter octavo and deals especially with the plague, the causes of it,
how to avoid it, and how to treat one who is attacked by it. Then follow
the influences of the planets in the days of the week, and the signs of the
zodiac in the months of the year from March to February, and remedies
"for dyvers Infyrmytes and dyseases, that hurteth the bodye of man." It
has some analogy therefore to the preceding volume.

26 BOOA'S OF SECRETS.

The history of this book is curious, for it appeared in two distinct
forms and with different title-pages. Examination of the two raises doubts
about Thomas Moulton, of whom nothing is recorded, so far as I have
ascertained, except that he was a Dominican friar, and was urged to
compose this tract. In the other issue part of Moulton's work is omitted
and some of the remainder is claimed by one who speaks of having been
in medical practice for many years. This subject, however, must be
discussed elsewhere, along with the other contemporary medical works
quo'ted above, such as the "Treasure of Pore Men" and the "Treasury of
Health."

The books of receipts for arts and manufactures are in great numbers.
Some of them are general and contain directions for all kinds of practical
purposes, while others take up one topic only but with fuller detail.

Amongst the general collections, there is one of the sixteenth century
which is too conspicuous to be passed over. It is that which goes by the
name of Alexis, or Alessio, of Piedmont.' It presents problems as to its
origin and history, it went through quite a number of editions and trans-
lations and in its final form contained a great deal of matter. It was the
model which subsequent compilers followed and was a reservoir of
information which could be drawn on if required, so that in a way the
book is one of the classics of the subject. It is a remarkable gathering,
for though it is not devoid of many singular notions, disagreeable remedies,
superstitious beliefs, all the more does it throw light on the state of
knowledge and skill at the time, the demand there was for information and
guidance, and the practical methods which must have been current, and of
which, it is likely, only samples found a place in the book.

It first appeared in 1555, in Italian, and consisted only of the first
part or division in six books. A second division followed, possibly by the

(l) Some years ago I discussed the author and the bibliography of the book in a
paper read to the Society of Antiquaries, but as the printing of it was postponed and has
never been carried out, I am unable to refer to the lists I then drew up.

BOOKS OF SECRETS. 27

same author, and then divisions three and four which, almost certainly,
are not by Alexis. They were translated into English at different times
and published, the earlier ones separately, and latterly all four together.
The English version of the first part appeared in 1558, and is rare. The
last collected edition in English is of 161 5. The authorship is usually
assigned with great confidence to Girolamo Ruscelli, and the name Don
Alessio is considered a pseudonym. This view, however much it may
seem to be confirmed by Ruscelli himself, Sansovino and Muzio, intro-
duces so much contradiction and confusion that one can arrive at no
satisfactory result. It is an obscure subject and would take too much
time to discuss now, but this question of authorship does not affect the
book and its contents.

The First division contains a variety of receipts. The first book
furnishes preparations for cure of diseases and healing of sores ; the
second how to make fragrant and essential oils, perfumes, powders, soaps ;
next a few receipts for toilet purposes, beautifying the skin, dyeing the
hair, preserving the teeth, etc., etc. ; the fifth book shows how to make
inks and colours, and the sixth book deals with salts, metals, gilding,
precious stones, true and false. The Second division contains such a
miscellaneous accumulation of receipts, that it is impossible to classify
them. To the Third division are assigned medical, sanitary, and cosmetic
secrets, but at the end there is the collection of receipts from the German
to which reference is made later on. The Fourth division is occupied
entirely with medical receipts and preparations.

As can be easily understood it is difficult either to describe, or to
criticize, or to appraise the value of the hundreds of secrets, so called, in
such an aggregation as this famous book is. On looking over it one can
see that some directions are empirically sound, that drugs employed for
certain diseases then, are or could be employed still, and that methods of
preparation then, attained the same ends as now, but with an expenditure
of time and labour which has been reduced to smaller compass by a fuller
understanding both of the materials and of the necessary processes.

28 BOOK'S OF SECRETS.

A noticeable feature of these books is the constancy with which the
receipts both for medicine and for everyday wants are repeated without
alteration in one edition after another. Apparently, the secrets gained in
authority by repetition, and if they had stood the test of time and had
yielded the expected result, there was no reason why they should be
changed or superseded.

As instances of receipt books concerned with one topic only, examples
may be selected again from the Italian.

One is upon dyeing, and is entitled : " Plictho, or the art of the dyer,
how to dye wool, silk, linnen." It was written by Gioanventura Rosetti
and published at Venice in 1540. It forms a thin small quarto of forty-
four leaves, and contains one or two woodcuts depicting parts of the
process. This is a collection of dyers' receipts and methods ; it describes
the quantity of the substances required, the length of time the fabric is to
be immersed in the colour bath and the whole treatment. The art of
dyeing is of great antiquity and the use of mordants to make colours fast,
for example, must have been known at an early period. Of this book
there were at least five editions, the first of 1540 already mentioned, the
fourth at Venice in 161 1, and the fifth in 1672, with some changes and
additions, but even with these, one hundred and thirty years is a good life
for such a book. Modern technical books are much more short-lived.

When engaged with dyeing one must not overlook receipts for making
inks and colours, for taking out spots and stains and for colouring wood,
bone, and feathers. These are chemical applications and as such I have
described them in a series of papers still in progress.' The earliest
collections of these receipts which I have seen are in German and of date
1 53 1, in following years tracts of similar character were associated with
them and translations of them were made. I have seen some fifty editions
of these books, but from internal evidence it is probable that that number

(i) Proceedings of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, from 1888 to 1913.

BOOKS OF SECRETS. 29

does not include all the editions which exist, but which have not yet come
to hght. Some of the ink and colour receipts taken from these books long
survived the originals, for they are to be found repeated verbatim late in
the eighteenth century.

Another subject which was the origin of some literature at a later time
was miniature painting, specimens of which are now collected with much
zeal. One of the most popular was the work ascribed to C. Ballard,
" Traite de Mignature," which consists of receipts about colours and their
use. It had a wide circulation and was translated into English and
Italian.

Another Italian book is the " Pirotechnia " or "Art of Fire," by
Vannuccio Biringuccio, a contemporary of Rosetti, for his book was also
pubUshed at Venice in 1540, and several times thereafter, one edition
appearing in 1678, another instance of a life of over 130 years. It was
translated into French and a small part relating to gold and silver was
included in Eden's version of Peter Martyr's "Decades of the New World,"
1555, This is a comprehensive treatise upon all the arts in which fire,
or, as we should say now, high temperatures are necessary. It therefore
includes metallurgy, the distillation of sulphur, the making of salts of
various kinds, the construction of furnaces, the manufacture of glass,
crucibles, and other vessels and apparatus, assaying, casting of cannon,
preparation of gunpowder, alloys, metal working, wire-drawing and similar
arts. Illustrations of apparatus and processes are included, and altogether
it is a book of importance for the history of metallurgy and chemistry.

Along with this may be taken another, even more specialised. In 161 2
Antonio Neri published his book " L'Arte Vitraria." He was in the works
at Murano and his book embodied his experience. It was translated into
Latin, into French by De Blancourt, into English by Christopher Merrett,
who added notes, and into German by Kunckel, who included Merrett's
notes as well. Illustrations were added, and it became a sort of text-book.
An encyclopaedic edition in French, under the editorship of Baron

30 BOOKS OF SECRETS.

d'Holhach, was published at Paris in 1752, and finally the English version
was printed privately at the Middlehill press in a ridiculous folio in 1826.
There are modern works on glass by Sauzay, Peligot and others.

Among the older writers, Babington, Nye, Hanzelet, Jones, have given
receipts for fireworks, and there are two or three on the same subject in
Dutch.

On a totally different subject from dyeing, Gioanventura Rosetti, the
author of " Plictho " above mentioned, published a little book in 1555 and
again in 1560. It is entitled " Notandissimi Secreti de I'arte profumatorio,"
and in it he gives receipts for preparing oils, waters, pastes, muscardines,
and what not, and all for the use of ladies.

This art was a favourite one and it would be easy to cite examples of
its literature from the days of Mercurialis, Liebaut, Le Fournier, to
Hugh Plat and his " Delights for Ladies," " The French Perfumer,"
Erresalde (De la Serre), Marinello, Jeamson and his " Artificial Embellish-
ments," and others down to Lola Montez and the present time. It is but
a few years since I picked up at the bookstall at Dover Station a new
pamphlet on the Secrets of the Toilet for one penny sterHng. There have
been others since then.

While some of the topics touched upon have been secret enough,
the most sombre quarter is occupied by books on magic, and especially
black magic. Luridly conspicuous among these is the popular French
"Dragon Rouge," and the secrets of Albertus Parvus, Le petit Albert,
where one can find how to fabricate the hand of glory which endows
its possessor with strange powers. There are the extraordinary revelations
contained in the " Magick of Kiranus, King of Persia, " and the
" Trinum Magicum " of Longinus. The volume on Occult Philosophy by
Cornelius Agrippa, which is full of mysteries, is less a treatise on magic
than an early attempt to construct a speculative Natural Philosophy, and
similar efforts were made by Cardan, Baptista Porta, Athanasius Kircher,
Hernando Castrillo, Zimara and others, who styled their subject Magia

BOOKS OF SECRETS. 31

Naturalis. Caspar Schott advanced a step farther, when he called his
books "Magia Universalis" and "Physica Curiosa" ; in these he gets rid to
a great extent of the " secret " element, and deals with physical phenomena
pure and simple. The subject, thereafter, developed along two lines, one
the scientific, the other the secret or occult, ending practically in leger-
demain and conjuring. An instance of transition of another sort was
displayed in the case of the graduation thesis of Martius, De Magia
Naturali, printed in 1700, which passed through a number of editions and
took the form more or less of a conjuring book. Then it worked gradually
into a book of experimental Physics, after which a volume containing an
account of all the newest discoveries appeared annually for nineteen
years.

Legerdemain, like other displays of manual dexterity, merits respect.
Its secret is the cultivation assiduously of certain endowments, physical
and mental. Conjuring, involving as it does certain appliances unknown
to the spectator, is one of the oldest of arts, for it is said that in the
Egyptian temples traces of the arrangements required to produce mysterious
effects are still to be found.

Modern conjuring literature, so far as it is known to me, began about
1630, or perhaps a little earlier, and has continued at intervals to the
present time. The earlier books, as was said above, bore the name of
Thomas Hill,' later ones in the eighteenth century that of H. Dean. There
was another crop early last century, and John Anderson, the famous
"Wizard of the North," published a handbook of Magic about 1850.
Quite recently came a set of books called "The Secret out" Series,
reviving thereby the old name, and at the present moment hand-books of
Parlour Magic can be readily procured, which profess to instruct the
aspirant in all the secrets of prestidigitation.

(l) Perhaps as one of the earliest specimens ought to be reckoned the translation
which Thomas Hill published in 1567, under the name of "Natural and Artificial
Conclusions," of the fatuous tricks compiled, it is s;iid, by sundry scholars of the
University of Padua, much to their discredit.

32 BOOKS OF SECRETS.

The books enumerated above have been for the most part in English,
but they form only one section of those which exist. They were produced
in abundance in Europe generally, in Latin, French, German, Italian,
Dutch and other languages, and translations from one language to another
were common enough. The same desire for knowledge seems to have
prevailed in other countries as in England, and the same methods were
adopted to satisfy it. There was no other source free to people anxious for
practical instruction and information, there was no technical education, and
only in such receipts and directions as could be obtained from the books
of " secrets" could people become acquainted with the properties and uses
of different substances.

The books are pretty much of the same character everywhere, though
they do not cover exactly the same ground. Thus in English medical
secrets predominate, while in other languages the collections are more
general. Italy, especially, was prolific in books of the kind and excelled in
the issue of small pamphlets of from four or eight to twelve or sixteen
pages, with florid titles and a little kernel of secrets of varied content. Of
these evanescent productions I have seen about thirty, but that must be a
fraction of those which have been in circulation. It is noteworthy that the
deterioration in the externals of the volumes is as patent in the books
produced on the Continent as here, showing that general causes were at
work, while in the matter of long-winded tide-pages and crude ornament
the books of the eighteenth century were the same everywhere.

In a review of these books during four centuries and a half, successive
styles of book production cannot escape notice. Those of the sixteenth
century are in black letter and are generally pleasing and sometimes even
handsome, though some by Wyer and others are not creditable to the
printer. For the majority of those produced in the seventeenth century
little that is favourable can be said ; the execution of the books gradually
deteriorated until, towards the end of that period, printing had fallen to
the lowest ebb. The books, even the best of them, are of inferior quality.
The paper is coarse, the printing rude, and the cover is a bit of brown

BOOKS OF SECRETS. 33

sheepskin, the boards that it is stretched over being left unUned. No
attempt was made to turn them out in an attractive shape. They were
not written by scholars for scholars, but were meant for common use and
were got up as economically as possible. With the exception of Albertus
Magnus and Aristotle and may be one or two others, there is not a single
author known outside the present connection. Thomas Hill, John Hester,
John White, Hannah WoUey, John Shirley, Robert Lovel, Edward Fenton,
Owen Wood, A. T., G. W., C. B., who were they ? Little or nothing is
known about them. Their names are attached in Catalogues to one or
more books, and some of them may have found their way into the
Dictionary of National Biography, but their names have not borne their
books into fame, any more than the fame of their books has perpetuated
their names.

But whatever the exterior may have been the contents seem to have
been sufficient, and the books served their day and generation. How
hard the service must have been is eloquently, if not pathetically, pro-
claimed by the few victims that have survived, and appeal to us for
sympathy. When it is remembered that the circulation must have been
enormous, that there was a market for every book of the kind written,
that of the popular books edition after edition followed at three or four
years' interval, and when after years on years of waiting not a single copy of
some of these editions ever appears, one can realise the consumption and
destruction that must have gone on and can understand how these books
are now so scarce. Sometimes one has the luck to light on a volume of
Secrets as fresh as if it had just come from the Looking-glass on London
Bridge, or from the Ring, or the Pelican in Little-Britain, or from Duck-
lane, but that is a phenomenal exception. For one cannot go into the
market and purchase whatever book one wants, and in the condition one
would prefer. Some might be acquired without much delay, but for others
one might have to wait a life-time. So there is nothing for it but to
watch, and when the desired object comes along to seize it. It may be
imperfect, it may be dirty, it may be in tatters, but it will be time enough

34 BOOKS OF SECRETS.

to think of that wlien another copy is found which satisfies our fastidious
taste. Besides, another copy may never appear, and that which was
secured may be the sole survivor of the edition. Moreover, supposing
there be another copy, instead of being in better state than that which
was despised and allowed to slip, it may be in worse ; the lesson whereof
is, let no opportunity pass.

When such rarities occur, a copy in unusually fine condition, a hitherto
unknown treatise or edition, it is customary to acclaim it as unique, but
that- is an epithet which should be taken with a lot of salt, for when once
the hunt is up it is surprising how other copies come to light and infringe
the monopoly. Still, among the books of Secrets there are a few which
are provisionally unique. The pursuit and acquisition of such specimens
afford some temporary amusement and gratification to the collector.

Research on this subject seemed at first simple, for all that had to be
done was to find the books and describe them. But, as has been shown
above and as anyone can prove who tries, the finding of the books involves
a tedious waiting on protracted time. There is besides the question of
cost, which is one of the most significant changes of these latter days.
There has been a steady advance in the price of the books as a whole,
and a preposterous rise in the case of some, such as gardening and
cookery. A raw curiosity is pursuing the old books, and as their number
is small and that of their hunters is growing the value of available copies
has been correspondingly enhanced. So it happens now that books
which were plentiful enough a generation or two ago when nobody cared
for them have disappeared from the market and cannot be got at all.

The description of them too is at first easy, and then as usual up
spring hydra-headed difficulties which are not despatched at one stroke.
There are doubts about authors, doubts about first and other editions.
There are different editions in the same year, not impossible with a speedy
sale ; there is the same edition in different years, or in different size and
form in the same year. There are doubts about readings, doubts about

BOOKS OF SECRETS. 35

meanings, doubts, grave doubts, about the veracity and trustworthiness
of editors, doubts about almost everything except the bare facts of paper,
printing and binding. These troubles are inherent in the books themselves
and in the motives of the publishers. Their aim was to push their wares.
It was not likely that the bibliographical minutiae which give the books
a fictitious, or adventitious, value in our eyes, ever entered the head of —
let us say— Nicholas Boddington, or of his chapmen, still less of the
goodwives with whom they chaffered, or that they bothered about whether
the editions were numbered or dated or not, which would have been so
useful to us now.

Thus the problems instead of being direct and obvious are often
crooked and refractory and from sheer want of data the solution must be
relegated to a better informed time. Perhaps the solution could be found
at once if it were only seen that the data are lying unrecognised and
unheeded at our hand. "All difficulties are but easy when they are
known."

The subject is not finished, but it is time to stop. From these random
selections it can be seen that it is a big one, even when limited. In one
aspect it is of no importance, and yet it attracts attention. " Secrets " of
course are always alluring, and the promise of a revelation of the hidden
meaning will draw many to listen. But the secrets these books disclose
are all done with long ago, and are not used for their purpose any more.
They can, however, serve another purpose. In short, the books are
historical documents and give insight into the knowledge and skill of the
times when they were composed. They throw light on the practical life,
as the literature illuminates the mental life of those days. From them we
can acquire notions of the beliefs and practice of the times and can
compare what the books tell us with what remains of the products. For
the study of the history of arts and manufactures these books are in-
dispensable, for however inaccurate or mistaken from our point of view
the authors may have been, at least the substances they employed were
the same as ours, and it is possible thereby to check their statements and

36

BOOR'S OF SECKETS.

detect where their knowledge was less extensive than ours and their
theories proportionally defective. These are the simultaneous stages of
error and amending progress in human comprehension of the outer world
and its multitudinous possibilities. Such too exist in our own epoch, and
it may be that our successors a couple of hundred years hence, or perhaps
in less time, will recognise more clearly than we, who are among the
eddies, can do, what a transitory stage it was, if ever they think about it
at all. " Let time shape, and there an end."

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