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
In this chapter some account will be given of a few of the various
classes of literature which have not previously been alluded to; but to
give a general idea of some of these books which bring a high price, it
will be necessary to be brief.
Oldys refers to the sale of a book which he supposes to have been
erroneously valued, but he was not quite correct in his statement. He
wrote, “The atheistical book of Giordano Bruno sold at Paul’s
Coffee-house for £30 in 1709; it has scarcely sold for so many pence
since.”[60]
The book referred to was--Giordano Bruno, _Spaccio de la Bestia
Trionfante. Parigi_ (Londra: T. Vautrollier 1584), the sale of which is
commented upon in _The Spectator_, No. 389. The sale at which this book
occurred was that of Charles Bernard in 1711, and the amount was really
£28. The purchaser was Walter Clavel, and this copy was successively in
the possession of John Nichols, John Ames, Sir Peter Thompson, and M. C.
Tutet. At the sale of the latter’s library in 1786 it was bought by
Samuel Tyssen for seven guineas. Another copy, which had formed part of
the library of Mr. P. Le Neve, was sold at Dr. Mead’s sale (1754) for
four or five guineas.[61] The price has not gone down, as Oldys supposed
it would, for at the Dunn Gardner sale (1880) a copy brought £20, 15s.,
and another, at the Duke of Hamilton’s sale (1884), sold for £18, 10s.
There is a larger circle of bibliophiles in France than in England, and
they are more willing to pay high prices for out-of-the-way books. The
early editions of Molière and Rabelais, like those of Shakespeare, are
sold for large sums, and early French literature generally, like our
own, has greatly advanced in price of late years.
Two instances of the great advance that has occurred may be given:--
Perrault, _Contes de ma Mere Loye_, 1697, wanting leaf of errata, a fine
copy, in blue morocco by Bauzonnet, sold at Charles Nodier’s sale for
112 francs. The same copy at the Duke of Hamilton’s sale brought £85.
Gringoire, _Les Fantasies de Mere Sote_ (Paris, 1516), a copy in blue
morocco by Padeloup, sold at Hibbert’s sale for nine guineas. The same
copy brought the large sum of £180 at Beckford’s sale. One can
understand such high prices as these, which arise from the revived
interest felt in this kind of book, but the high price of _Le Pastissier
François_ (Amsterdam: L. & D. Elzevier, 1655) seems absurd. Such a book
can be of little interest to English buyers, although certainly Mr.
Andrew Lang grows enthusiastic over it in his “Books and Bookmen.” In an
early edition of his _Manuel_ (1821) Brunet wrote--
“Till now I have disdained to admit this book into my work, but I
have yielded to the prayers of amateurs. Besides, how could I keep
out a volume which was sold for one hundred and one francs in 1819?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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