The Book-Hunter in London: Historical and Other Studies of Collectors and CollectingRoberts, W. (William)
History
The Book-Hunter in London: Historical and Other Studies of Collectors and Collecting
Roberts, W. (William)
Bibliomania; Book collecting; Booksellers and bookselling -- England -- London
The Marquis of Salisbury possesses, at Hatfield, a fine library, which,
like that of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth, is rather the
accumulation of centuries than the formation of any particular head of
the house. Many of the oldest and rarest books were at one time the
properties of either Lord Burghley, Sir Robert Cecil, or of some other
distinguished member of the family. We may mention a few of the
_incunabula_: AEneas Silvius, 'Epistolae,' 1496; St. Augustine, 'De
Civitate Dei,' 1477; a copy of the magnificently-printed edition of
Aulus Gellius, 'Noctes Atticae,' Jenson, 1477, a very rare work; Cicero,
'Ad Atticum,' 1470, also printed by Jenson; an example of the _editio
princeps_ Homer, Florence, 1488; Juvenal, 'Satyrae,' 1474; the very rare
second edition of Lactantius, 'Opera,' printed at Rome by Sweynheym and
Parmartz, 1468; Livy, 'Historiarum Romanorum,' printed by Zarothus,
1480; Pomponius Mela, 'Cosmographia,' 1482; Ruffus, 'Opera,' 1472. Lord
Salisbury's library includes several books which once belonged to Roger
Ascham, notably a copy of Aristophanes, 'Comodiae,' 1532; Aristotle,
'Opera,' 1531; Peter Martyr, 'Tractatio et Disputatio de Sacramento
Eucharistiae,' etc., 1549, one of the only two copies of which we have
any record, the other example being in the Lambeth Library; and a large
number of tracts of the time of Henry VIII. Of about 200 books which
belonged to Sir Robert Cecil, we may mention two editions of Aristotle,
'Ethica,' 1572 and 1575; Baret, 'An Alvearie, or triple Dictionarie,' in
English, Latin, and French, 1573; French Bible, 1546; Bodin, 'La
Demonomanie des Sorciers,' 1580; Brache, 'Epistolarium Astronomicorum,'
1596; 'Astronomiae Instauratae,' 1602, and 'De Mundi AEtherei,' 1603; two
editions of Cicero, 'Rhetorica,' 1552, 1562; Henning's 'Theatrum
Genealogicum,' 1598; Galen, 'De Alimentis,' 1570; three editions of
'Natura Brevium,' one of 1566, and two of 1580; Ubaldino, 'Lo Stata
Della Tre Corti,' 1594. The books of Lord Burghley include Aristotle,
'Ethica,' 1535; 'Opera,' 1539; 'Politica,' 1543; Ashley, 'Mariner's
Mirror,' 1586; Basilius, 'Homiliae,' 1528, and 'Opera,' 1551; Beda,
'Historia Ecclesiastica'; St. Chrysostom, 'Opera,' 1536; Cyrillus,
'Opera,' 1528; Demosthenes, 'Orationes,' 1528. The edition of
Dioscorides, 'Opera,' 1529, belonged, respectively, to Lord Burghley and
Sir John Cheke.
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