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
The library was bought from the executors of Mons. Paris by M. Laurent
of Paris and Mr. James Edwards, and brought to London to be sold. There
were six days’ sale, and the 636 lots realised £7095, 17s. 9d., or a
little over eleven pounds per lot. One of the most beautiful books in
the sale was the _Opere_ of Petrarch, 1514, printed on vellum, with
charming miniatures attributed to Giulio Clovio. Six of these were the
Triumphs of Love, Chastity, Death, Fame, Time, and the Deity. The
borders of the pages were ornamented with 174 exquisite miniatures of
birds, beasts, fishes, monsters, fabulous histories, and various
compositions of the greatest ingenuity. This splendid folio volume
fetched £116, 11s. A similar book, but apparently much less elaborate, a
vellum Aristotle, recently fetched £800 at the Ashburnham sale.
The library of Michael Lort, D.D., F.R.S., was sold by Leigh & Sotheby
in this same year, 1791; it contained a large number of interesting
books, particularly those on English history and antiquities, many of
which were enriched with MS. notes by the Rev. George North. There were
6665 lots, which occupied twenty-five days in the selling, but the
amount realised (£1269) was not large for so considerable a collection.
In 1792 a great sale occurred at Dublin; it was of the library of the
Right Hon. Denis Daly, and was dispersed under the hammer of James
Vallance. There is a good description of the library in the _Gentleman’s
Magazine_ (1792, Part I., pp. 326-28), but although Dibdin gives in his
_Bibliomania_ a notice of some of the books, he does not record the
prices of several of the most interesting items mentioned in the
_Gentleman’s Magazine_. The number of lots was 1441, which realised
£3700. The library was purchased entire from the executors of Mr. Daly
by John Archer and William Jones, two Dublin booksellers, and the former
told Dibdin that Lord Clare offered £4000 for it before the auction
sale, but this offer was refused.
The Earl of Bute’s botanical library was sold by Leigh & Sotheby in 1794
for £3470. It was a ten days’ sale.
The first part of Thomas Allen’s library was dispersed in June 1795, and
the second part in 1799, both parts coming under the hammer of Leigh and
Sotheby. There were in all 3460 lots sold during nineteen days, which
realised £5737.
The sale of the library of George Mason commenced in January 1798, and
continued till 1807, when the fifth part was sold. The first part
contained 497 lots (three days), which realised £620; the second part
480 lots (three days), £784; the third part 547 lots (three days), £670;
the fourth part, sold in 1799, 338 lots (two days), £586. All were sold
by Leigh & Sotheby. The four parts contained 1862 lots, and the total
amount of the sale was £2663. The fifth part, sold in 1807, contained
few lots of any importance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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