[Illustration: _The Bibliomaniac_ _By Charles Nodier_ _New-York J. O. Wright & Co. 1894_ ] One hundred and fifty copies printed on Japan paper, of which this is No. 48 [Illustration: Charles Nodier] THE BIBLIOMANIAC [Illustration] BY CHARLES NODIER [Illustration] WITH FORTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DESIGNS BY MAURICE LELOIR, ENGRAVED ON WOOD BY F. NOEL, AND A PREFACE BY R. VALLERY-RADOT TRANSLATED BY MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT [Illustration] J. O. WRIGHT & COMPANY NEW-YORK · MDCCCXCIV Copyright, 1894, by J. O. WRIGHT & COMPANY [Illustration] PREFACE “Good, amiable Nodier,” are the words by which the world, apart from scholars, characterizes Charles Nodier. He is portrayed with a flowered vest, and a frock-coat with great lapels, finished by one of those collars which, by an easy play upon words, are called _les cols (l’école) des vieillards_. Nodier’s collar, which turned up slightly at the points in a Prudhommesque manner, touched the corners of his refined, kindly mouth; but it is difficult immediately to associate the remembrance of certain books with this 1835 face, for time obliterates everything. If Nodier belonged by right of his first literary impressions to the classical school, his liberal spirit soon identified itself with that of the romanticists. His face, full of genial originality, bore the characteristics of a man living between two literary epochs; but history little by little soon effaced all these tints and shades. Nodier was also one of those improvisators who talked their books. Contemporaries, in reading them, seemed to hear him speak, and a little imagination added to the surprises of these written conversations; but when the voice ceases the charm vanishes.