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
250. Virgilii Opera, 1789, 4to. 33 12 0
251. Somervile's Chase, 1796, 4to. 15 4 6
252. Poems by Goldsmith and Parnell, 1795, 4to. 15 15 0
253. The Gardens, by Abbe Delille, 1798, 4to. 14 3 6
254. Castle of Otranto, printed by Bodoni, 1791, 4to. 13 2 6
260. La Guirlande Julie, 1784, 8vo. 37 17 6
263. Economy of Human Life, 1795, 8vo. 15 15 0
See "_Catalogue of a most splendid and valuable Collection
of Books, Superb Missals, &c._," sold by Mr. Christie, on
April 24, 1804. But the reader should procure the Catalogue
of Mr. Paris's Books, sold in the year 1790, which, for the
number of articles, is unrivalled. The eye is struck, in
every page, with the most sumptuous copies on VELLUM, AND
LARGE PAPER.]
[Footnote 61: See page 5, ante, for some account of this
curious work.]
VI. _First Editions._ From the time of Ancillon[62] to Askew, there
has been a very strong desire expressed for the possession of original
or first published editions of works, as they are in general
superintended and corrected by the author himself; and, like the first
impressions of prints, are considered more valuable. Whoever is
possessed with a passion for collecting books of this kind may
unquestionably be said to exhibit a strong symptom of the Bibliomania;
but such a case is not quite hopeless, nor is it deserving of severe
treatment or censure. All bibliographers have dwelt on the importance
of these editions, for the sake of collation with subsequent ones, and
detecting, as is frequently the case, the carelessness displayed by
future[63] editors. Of such importance is the _first edition of
Shakspeare_[64] considered, that a fac-simile reprint of it has been
published with success. In regard to the Greek and Latin Classics, the
possession of these original editions is of the first consequence to
editors who are anxious to republish the legitimate text of an author.
Wakefield, I believe always regretted that the first edition of
Lucretius had not been earlier inspected by him. When he began _his_
edition, the Editio Princeps was not (as I have understood) in the
library of Earl Spencer--the storehouse of almost every thing that is
exquisite and rare in ancient classical literature!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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