Bibliomania; or Book-Madness: A Bibliographical RomanceDibdin, Thomas Frognall
History
Bibliomania; or Book-Madness: A Bibliographical Romance
Dibdin, Thomas Frognall
Bibliography; Bibliomania; Book collecting; Books -- Prices
[Footnote 142: The principal biographical labours of this
clever man have the following titles: "_Histoire de
l'Imprimerie_," La Haye, 1740, 4to.--an elegant and
interesting volume, which is frequently consulted by
typographical antiquaries. Of MERCIER'S supplement to it,
see note in the ensuing pages under the word "Mercier." His
"_Dictionnaire Historique, ou Memoires Critiques et
Litteraires_," in two folio volumes, 1758, was a posthumous
production; and a very extraordinary and amusing
bibliographical common-place book it is! My friend Mr.
Douce, than whom few are better able to appreciate such a
work, will hardly allow any one to have a warmer attachment
to it, or a more thorough acquaintance with its contents,
than himself--and yet there is no bibliographical work to
which I more cheerfully or frequently turn! In the editor's
advertisement we have an interesting account of Marchand:
who left behind, for publication, a number of scraps of
paper, sometimes no bigger than one's nail; upon which he
had written his remarks in so small a hand-writing that the
editor and printer were obliged to make use of a strong
magnifying glass to decypher it--"et c'est ici (continues
the former) sans doute le premier livre qui n'ait pu etre
imprime sans le secours continuel du Microscope." Marchand
died in 1753, and left his MSS. and books, in the true
spirit of a bibliomaniac, to the University of Leyden. I
see, from the conclusion of this latter authority, that a
new edition of Marchand's History of Printing was in
meditation to be published, after the publication of the
Dictionary. Whether Mercier availed himself of Marchand's
corrected copy, when he put forth his supplement to the
latter's typographical history, I have no means of
ascertaining. Certainly there never was a second edition of
the _Histoire de l'Imprimerie_, by Marchsnd [Transcriber's
Note: Marchand].]
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