The book has greatly increased in value since then, and, as a consequence, copies not hitherto known have come into the market. Berard only knew of two copies. Pietiers, writing on the Elzevirs in 1843, could cite only five, and in his _Annales_ he had found out but five more. Willems, on the other hand, enumerates some thirty, not including Motteley’s.[62] Mr. Lang himself calculates the number of _Pastissiers_ now existing at forty, and gives a good many prices to show how the book has increased in value. A copy was sold in 1780 for 4 francs. Sensièr’s copy sold for 128 francs in 1828, and for 201 francs in 1837. It was afterwards bound by Trautz-Bauzonnet, and sold with Potier’s books in 1870 for 2910 francs. At the Benzon sale (1875) it fetched 3255 francs, and was sold again in 1877 for 2200 francs. Mr. Lang further says that a copy was marked in Bachelin-Deflorenne’s catalogue at £240, and that Morgand and Fatout sold an uncut copy for £400. The Earl of Orford’s copy sold in 1895 for £100. This is one of the very few books that are absolutely valueless, except in regard to such value as it gains from its rarity and association with a great firm of printers; yet Mr. Lang says that “there are at least four thousand people who would greatly rejoice to possess a _Pastissier_, and some of these desirous ones are very wealthy.” This is amazing, but I suppose it would scarcely be polite to refer to Carlyle’s verdict as to what the mass of people are. Another scarce book, which is stupid, and of no interest in itself, is Horace Walpole’s “Hieroglyphic Tales” (1785). The British Museum does not possess a perfect copy, but it has some of Walpole’s own corrected proofs bound up in a volume. The Earl of Orford’s copy, interleaved and bound in morocco by Roger Payne, sold in 1895 for £37. County histories vary in price, but they must always hold their ground and sell well, on account of the value of the information contained in their pages, which cannot easily be found elsewhere. They may be considered as eminently safe property. The following are the prices of a few of these:-- Atkyns’s (Sir R.) _Gloucestershire_, folio, 1712. Large paper (first and best edition). Bryant (1807), £17, 17s. Dent (1827), £14, 14s. Sykes, £16. Nassau, 15 guineas. H. Perkins (1873), £29. Comerford (1881), £41. Beresford-Hope (1882), £38. Beckford (1882), £52. Aubrey’s _Surrey_, 5 vols., 1719. Large paper. Dent, £19, 5s. H. Perkins (1873), £32, 10s. Blomefield’s _Norfolk_, 5 vols., 1739-75. Comerford (1881), £160 (illustrated). Earl of Gosford (1884), £87 (drawings by Cotman inserted). William Brice, &c. (1887), £20. Drake’s (T.) _Eboracum_, _History of the City of York_, 1736. Large paper, proof-plates coloured, in red morocco by Kalthoeber. H. Perkins (1873), £25. Beckford (1882), £63.