Produced by Suzanne Lybarger, Brian Janes and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: The Great Book-Collectors Charles & Mary Elton] [Illustration: FABRI DE PEIRESC.] The Great Book-Collectors By Charles Isaac Elton Author of 'Origins of English History' 'The Career of Columbus,' etc. & Mary Augusta Elton [Illustration] London Kegan Paul, Trench, Truebner & Co., Ltd. MDCCCXCIII Contents PAGE CHAPTER I. CLASSICAL 1 CHAPTER II. IRELAND--NORTHUMBRIA 13 CHAPTER III. ENGLAND 27 CHAPTER IV. ITALY--THE AGE OF PETRARCH 41 CHAPTER V. OXFORD--DUKE HUMPHREY'S BOOKS--THE LIBRARY OF THE VALOIS 53 CHAPTER VI. ITALY--THE RENAISSANCE 63 CHAPTER VII. ITALIAN CITIES--OLYMPIA MORATA--URBINO--THE BOOKS OF CORVINUS 76 CHAPTER VIII. GERMANY--FLANDERS--BURGUNDY--ENGLAND 87 CHAPTER IX. FRANCE: EARLY BOOKMEN--ROYAL COLLECTORS 99 CHAPTER X. THE OLD ROYAL LIBRARY--FAIRFAX--COTTON--HARLEY--THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE 111 CHAPTER XI. BODLEY--DIGBY--LAUD--SELDEN--ASHMOLE 124 CHAPTER XII. GROLIER AND HIS SUCCESSORS 139 CHAPTER XIII. LATER COLLECTORS: FRANCE--ITALY--SPAIN 158 CHAPTER XIV. DE THOU--PINELLI--PEIRESC 169 CHAPTER XV. FRENCH COLLECTORS--NAUDE TO RENOUARD 183 CHAPTER XVI. LATER ENGLISH COLLECTORS 202 INDEX 221 List of Illustrations PORTRAIT OF PEIRESC _Frontispiece_ (From an engraving by Claude Mellan.) INITIAL LETTER FROM THE 'GOSPELS OF ST. CUTHBERT' 18 SEAL OF RICHARD DE BURY 38 PORTRAIT OF THE DUKE OF BEDFORD PRAYING BEFORE ST. GEORGE 59 (From the Book of Hours commonly known as the 'Bedford Missal.') PORTRAIT OF MAGLIABECCHI 74 (From an engraving in the British Museum.) BINDING EXECUTED FOR QUEEN ELIZABETH 112 (English jeweller's-work on a cover of red velvet. From a copy of 'Meditationum Christianarum Libellus,' Lyons, 1570, in the British Museum.) PORTRAIT OF SIR ROBERT COTTON 117 (From an engraving by R. White after C. Jonson.) PORTRAIT OF SIR THOMAS BODLEY 126 (From an engraving in the British Museum.)