A dining club which for a time attracted considerable attention was the Roxburghe, which originated under the following circumstances: The Duke of Roxburghe was a noted bibliophile; the sale of his library, which excited great interest in 1812, lasted for forty-two days, and on the evening when the sale had been concluded the club was formed by about sixteen bibliomaniacs, after a dinner at the St. Albans Tavern, Lord Spencer being in the chair. The Roxburghe consisted mostly of men devoted to rare books. Tomes containing alterations in the title-page, or in a leaf, or in any trivial circumstance, were bought by these collectors at £100, £200, or £300, though the copies were often of small intrinsic worth. Specimens of first editions of all authors, and editions by the early printers, were never sold for less than £50, £100, or £200. So great became this mania that, in order to gratify the members of the club, facsimile copies of clumsy editions of trumpery books were reprinted. In some cases, indeed, it became worth the while of unscrupulous people to palm off forgeries upon the more credulous of these collectors. The club issued various publications, but its costly dinners attracted more attention than anything else. On one occasion the bill was above £5 10s. per head, and the list of toasts included the “immortal memory” not only of John, Duke of Roxburghe, but of William Caxton, Dame Juliana Berners, Wynkyn de Worde, Richard Pynson, the Aldine family, and “The Cause of Bibliomania all over the World.” In one year, when Lord Spencer presided over the club feast, the “Roxburghe Revels” thus recorded the fact: “Twenty-one members met joyfully, dined comfortably, challenged eagerly, tippled prettily, divided regretfully, and paid the bill most cheerfully.” The bill of one of the dinners of the Roxburghe Club held at Grillion’s Hotel has been preserved. Its curious phraseology is due to the French waiter who made it out: DINNER (_sic_) DU 17 JUIN, 1815.