PAGE CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER II SELLERS OF BOOKS 26 CHAPTER III PRICES OF MANUSCRIPT BOOKS 49 CHAPTER IV PUBLISHED PRICES 79 CHAPTER V AUCTION SALES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 104 CHAPTER VI AUCTION SALES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 126 CHAPTER VII AUCTION SALES IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 147 CHAPTER VIII PRICES OF EARLY PRINTED BOOKS 179 CHAPTER IX PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE--CAXTONS, &c. 193 CHAPTER X PRICES OF SHAKESPEARE’S WORKS 223 CHAPTER XI PRICES OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF BOOKS 241 INDEX 265 PRICES OF BOOKS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The treatment of such a subject as the Prices of Books necessarily obliges us to range over a wide field, for books have been bought and sold far back in the historical period, and to books, both manuscript and printed, we have to refer largely for records of the past. It is, however, only possible in the space at our disposal to take a very general view of the subject; and it is to be hoped that, in recording the main points in the vicissitudes of prices, the information may not be deemed too desultory to be serviceable. We might go back to the earliest times, even to Job’s famous exclamation, but for our present purpose there would not be much advantage in roaming in this early period, as the results to be recorded would partake more of an archæological, than of a practical character. There is very little chance of a copy of the first book of Martial’s Epigrams (which, when first composed by the author, cost at Rome about three shillings and sixpence of our money) coming to auction, so that we are not likely to be able to record its present value. A consideration of the subject opens up a large number of interesting subjects, which can only casually be alluded to, such as the position of authors, and their remuneration. For several centuries monasteries were the chief producers of literature, and it seems probable that it was worth the while of the chiefs of some of these literary manufactories to pay a poet such as Chaucer something for a new Canterbury Tale, which they could copy and distribute over the country. We know by the number of manuscripts, and the different order in these, that several establishments were employed in the production of the manuscripts, and we may guess that there would probably be competition among them, which would naturally result in a settlement of some terms of payment.