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
spices; and then the dances and the feast took an end as for
that night." _Hystorye of Olyuer of Castylle, and of the
fayre Helayne, &c._, 1518, 4to., sign. A. v. vj. This I
suppose to be the passage alluded to by Lysander. The
edition from which it is taken, and of which the title was
barely known to Ames and Herbert, is printed by Wynkyn De
Worde. Mr. Heber's copy of it is at present considered to be
unique. The reader will see some copious extracts from it in
the second volume of the _British Typographical
Antiquities_.]
"First, to enter the lists on foot, each armed in the manner he shall
please, having a dagger and sword attached to any part of his body,
and a battle-axe, with the handle of such length as the challenger
shall fix on. The combat to be as follows: ten strokes of the
battle-axe, without intermission; and when these strokes shall have
been given, and the judge shall cry out 'Ho!' ten cuts with the sword
to be given without intermission or change of armour. When the judge
shall cry out 'Ho!' we will resort to our daggers, and give ten stabs
with them. Should either party lose or drop his weapon, the other may
continue the use of the one in his hand until the judge shall cry out
'Ho!'" &c.[217] A very pretty specimen of honourable combat,
truly!--and a mighty merciful judge who required even more cuts and
thrusts than these (for the combat is to go on) before he cried out
"Ho!" Defend us from such ejaculatory umpires!--
[Footnote 217: See _Monstrelet's Chronicles_, translated by
Thomas Johnes, Esq., vol. i., p. 8, edit. 1809, 4to. Another
elegant and elaborate specimen of the Hafod press; whose
owner will be remembered as long as literature and taste
shall be cultivated in this country.]
LIS. Pray dwell no longer upon such barbarous heroism! We admit that
_Monachism_ may have contributed towards the making of bibliomaniacs
more effectually than _Chivalry_. Now proceed--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account