John Ogilby, who was one of the first projectors of grand illustrated books in large folio, found himself burthened with a heavy stock of expensive books which did not sell, so he hit upon the expedient of getting rid of them by means of a lottery, licensed by the Duke of York and the Assistants of the Corporation of the Royal Fishery. These books were an illustrated Bible, printed by John Field at Cambridge in 1660, two volumes folio; the “Works of Virgil,” translated by Ogilby, 1654; Homer’s “Iliads,” translated by Ogilby, 1660; Homer’s “Odysseys,” 1665. Pope frequently spoke in later life of the great pleasure Ogilby’s “Homer” gave him when a boy at school. “Æsop’s Fables paraphrased by Ogilby,” 1665; and Ogilby’s “Entertainment of Charles II. in his Passage through the City of London to his Coronation,” 1662--a splendid book, which is said to have proved of great service in succeeding coronations. It is worthy of note that Samuel Pepys was a subscriber to the lottery, and obtained the “Æsop” and the “Coronation,” which cost him £4 (Feb. 19, 1665-66). Ogilby issued a Proposal for a second lottery, which was reprinted in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ (1814, part 1, pp. 646-48).[36] This is valuable as containing the prices at which the books are valued, viz.-- An imperial Bible, with chorographical £ and an hundred historical sculps 25 “Virgil,” translated, with sculps and annotations 5 Homer’s “Iliads,” adorned with sculps 5 Homer’s “Odysseys,” adorned with sculps 4 “Æsop’s Fables,” paraphrased and sculped 3 “His Majestie’s Entertainment” 2 In 1689 St. John’s College, Cambridge, gave £10, 15s. for David Loggan’s _Cantabrigia illustrata_, 1688, but this probably included a present to the author; for in 1690 Eton College paid £4 for _Cantabrigia illustrata_ and _Oxonia illustrata_, 1675, two volumes together, so that we may suppose the published price of each to be £2. The Rev. John Flavel’s Works, in two volumes folio, was published in 1700 for forty shillings, which shows that the price of an illustrated volume in folio was still about £1. Colin Campbell’s _Vitruvius Britannicus_, a handsome work containing a large number of fine architectural plates, was published at a very reasonable price. The first and second volumes, published in 1715 and 1717 respectively, were sold for four guineas on imperial paper, and three guineas on royal paper. The price of Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language, two volumes folio, was in 1755 four guineas in sheets, and £4, 15s. in boards. Folios are so completely out of fashion now, except for gorgeously illustrated books, or for facsimiles of books and documents, that it is scarcely worth while to carry the inquiry to a later period. QUARTOS