Produced by Suzanne Lybarger, Jane Hyland, Brian Janes and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net ENGLISH BOOK COLLECTORS [Illustration: GEORGE JOHN, SECOND EARL SPENCER.] EDITED BY ALFRED POLLARD ENGLISH BOOK COLLECTORS BY WILLIAM YOUNGER FLETCHER F.S.A. LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUeBNER AND COMPANY, LIMITED 1902 The English Bookman's Library Edinburgh: T. and A. CONSTABLE, (late) Printers to Her Majesty [Transcriber's note: Letters that could not be properly displayed in the e-text are represented as follows: 1. a letter with a macron is represented by an =, as in [=a] 2. the letter h with a line through the top is represented as [=h] 3. a letter with a tilde is represented by an ~, as in [~m]] PREFACE My principal object in compiling this work on English Book Collectors has been to bring together in a compact and convenient form the information respecting them which is to be found scattered in the works of many writers, both old and new. While giving short histories of the lives of the collectors, and some description of their libraries, I have also endeavoured to show what manner of men the owners of these collections were. In doing this I have sought, where practicable, to let the accounts be told as much as possible in the words of their biographers, as their narratives are often not only full of interest, but are also couched in delightfully quaint language. As it would not be possible in a volume of this size to furnish satisfactory notices of all the Englishmen who have formed large libraries, I have selected some of those who appear to possess special claims to notice, either on the ground of their interesting personality, or the exceptional importance of their collections. I have not given any account of the collectors who lived prior to the reign of Henry VII., for until that time libraries consisted almost entirely of manuscripts; and I have also excluded men who, like Sir Thomas Bodley, collected books for the express purpose of forming, or adding to, public libraries. My friend, Mr. Walter Stanley Graves, has in an appendix to this volume compiled a list of the principal sales of libraries in this country from an early period to the present time, which will be found to supply useful information about many of those collectors who are not otherwise mentioned in the book.