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
R. Smith (1682),4s. 2d.; Dr. Bernard (1698), 1s. 10d.
The Duke of Devonshire’s fine and perfect copy has the Earl of
Oxford’s autograph--“I bought this book at Edinburgh and paid
for it the price of £3, 3s. to Mr. Alex. Seymmer Bookseller in
the parliament close May 24 1725.” In another hand, “Ex Bib:
Harl: £1, 1s., Feb. 1745.” It was bought from Messrs. Arch for
£105.
The sale of Watson Taylor’s copy (1823) to Barclay for £30, 19s.
6d. is not recorded by Blades.
Earl of Ashburnham (1897), £295--Pickering and Chatto
(imperfect).
_The Golden Legend_, first edition (53).
West’s imperfect copy was bought (1773) by Dr. Hunter for £12,
15s., and is now at Glasgow. Ratcliffe’s imperfect copy was
bought by George III. (1776) for £5, 15s. 6d. The highest price
recorded by Blades at which a copy has sold is £230, bought by
the Duc d’Aumale in 1854 at J. Dunn Gardner’s sale. This copy
wants the last leaf in the Table and Biiij, the latter supplied
in facsimile. Corser’s imperfect copy sold in 1869 for £147. It
is now in the Huth library. W. H. Crawford’s imperfect copy
sold in 1891 for £465.
---- Second edition (66).
There are no records of sales.
---- Third edition (93).
Printed by Wynkyn de Worde.
_The Order of Chivalry_ (56).
J. West (1773), £5, 5s.--G. Mason. J. Ratcliffe (1776), £2,
8s.--George III. (imperfect). Lord Lovat (1852), £55,
10s.--Earl of Ashburnham (imperfect). Lord Ashburnham (1897),
£345--Pickering & Chatto (imperfect).
_Troylus and Creside_ (60).
West’s perfect copy was bought by George III. in 1773 for 10
guineas. Ratcliffe’s large and clean, but imperfect, copy has
been sold several times at very varying prices. Herbert bought
it in 1776 for £2. At Towneley’s sale in 1814 the Marquis of
Blandford bought it for £252, 2s. At the White Knights sale in
1819 Watson Taylor gave £162, 15s. for it. Thomas Grenville
bought it for £66, 3s. at Watson Taylor’s sale in 1823.
_The Life of our Lady_ (61).
Earl Spencer gave £130 for his imperfect copy. The highest sale
price recorded by Blades is £49 for the Duke of Roxburghe’s
copy. The Rev. T. Corser’s imperfect copy, for which he gave
£32 at Utterson’s sale in 1852, sold for £113 in 1868. Sir
William Tite’s very imperfect copy (wanting thirty leaves)
belonged to West, and was bought at his sale by Herbert for £2,
12s. 6d. Tite bought it in 1859 for £41, and at his sale it
sold for £54. The Earl of Devon’s quite perfect copy (with the
blanks) was bought by Mr. Quaritch for £880 in 1883.
_The Noble Histories of King Arthur_ (63).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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