Prices of Books: An Inquiry into the Changes in the Price of Books which have occurred in England at different PeriodsWheatley, Henry B. (Henry Benjamin)
History
Prices of Books: An Inquiry into the Changes in the Price of Books which have occurred in England at different Periods
Wheatley, Henry B. (Henry Benjamin)
Books -- Prices -- History
POLIPHILI Hypnerotomachia. Venetiis (Aldus), 1499. Sykes, part 2,
beautiful copy, in yellow morocco by Roger Payne, £21; Watson
Taylor (on vellum), £82, 19s.; Sir C. Price, £53, 10s.; Howell
Wills, £30; Luke Price, £49; Beckford, 1883 (Crozat’s copy, red
morocco, richly tooled), £130; Duke of Hamilton, 1884, £80; Earl
of Crawford, 1887, £86; W. H. Crawford (Lakelands), 1891 (some
of the woodcuts partially coloured, wanting leaf with imprint),
£19; Earl of Ashburnham, 1897 (Emperor Charles V.’s copy, in
stamped calf, with his figure in medallion), £151.
---- Hypnerotomachie, 1561. [French translation.] F. Hockley, 1887,
£8; W. H. Crawford (Lakelands), 1891, £6, 10s.; Earl of
Ashburnham, 1897, £15.
A copy bound with “Le Roy, De la Vicissitude des Choses,” 1577,
in blue morocco, magnificently tooled by Nicolas Eve for Louise
de Lorraine, realised £220 at the Beckford sale, 1897.
An English translation of the first book by R. D. was published
in 1592, which is excessively scarce. Mr. Andrew Lang reprinted
this in Mr. Nutt’s Tudor Library, 1890, from the copy in the
Bodleian Library. There is no copy in the British Museum, and in
the introduction to his reprint Lang tells a story against
himself. He bought at Toovey’s a poor copy of this book for £1,
but shortly afterwards he found that it wanted the last five
pages, and exchanged it for “Les Mémoires de la Reine
Marguerite,” Paris, 1661, in yellow morocco. He regretted his
exchange when he discovered its great rarity. M. Claude Popelin,
who had long been lying in wait for this book, bought this copy
at a London sale-room “à un de ces prix qu’on n’avoue pas à sa
ménagère.”
VIGILLES des Mors. Paris, par A. Verard, printed on vellum, with
thirty miniatures finely illuminated in gold and colours, blue
morocco by De Rome. This copy sold for 150 francs in the La
Vallière sale, for 220 francs in the MacCarthy, and for £20 in
Hibbert’s. In the fourth portion of the Beckford library Mr.
Quaritch bought it for £345.
TRISTAN. Chevalier de la Table Ronde. Two parts in one. Second
edition, by Verard. Fine copy, with rough leaves, morocco super
extra by Thouvenin. Duriez, 560 francs; same copy, Prince of
Essling, 505 francs; same copy, Duke of Hamilton, 1884, £108.
AUGUSTINUS. De Civitate Dei. Venet. Nic. Jenson, on vellum, first
page elaborately painted, and illuminated initials. Sunderland,
1881, £1000--bought by Mr. Quaritch amid shouts of applause.
FOOTNOTES:
[54] F. Norgate, in _The Library_, vol. iii. p. 329.
[55] Dibdin’s “Reminiscences,” vol. i. p. 206 (note).
[56] _Gomecius (Gomez) de rebus gestis a Francisco Ximinis Cisnerio_,
1569, quoted in Dibdin’s “Reminiscences,” vol. i. p. 211.
CHAPTER IX
PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE
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