Prices of Books

–– Hypnerotomachie, 1561. [French translation.] F. Hockley, 1887, £8; W. H. Crawford (Lakelands), 1891, £6, 10s.; Earl of Ashburnham, 1897, £15.

A copy bound with “Le Roy, De la Vicissitude des Choses,” 1577, in blue morocco, magnificently tooled by Nicolas Eve for Louise de Lorraine, realised £220 at the Beckford sale, 1897.

An English translation of the first book by R. D. was published in 1592, which is excessively scarce. Mr. Andrew Lang reprinted this in Mr. Nutt’s Tudor Library, 1890, from the copy in the Bodleian Library. There is no copy in the British Museum, and in the introduction to his reprint Lang tells a story against himself. He bought at Toovey’s a poor copy of this book for £1, but shortly afterwards he found that it wanted the last five pages, and exchanged it for “Les Mémoires de la Reine Marguerite,” Paris, 1661, in yellow morocco. He regretted his exchange when he discovered its great rarity. M. Claude Popelin, who had long been lying in wait for this book, bought this copy at a London sale-room “à un de ces prix qu’on n’avoue pas à sa ménagère.”

Vigilles des Mors. Paris, par A. Verard, printed on vellum, with thirty miniatures finely illuminated in gold and colours, blue morocco by De Rome. This copy sold for 150 francs in the La Vallière sale, for 220 francs in the MacCarthy, and for £20 in Hibbert’s. In the fourth portion of the Beckford library Mr. Quaritch bought it for £345.

Tristan. Chevalier de la Table Ronde. Two parts in one. Second edition, by Verard. Fine copy, with rough leaves, morocco super extra by Thouvenin. Duriez, 560 francs; same copy, Prince of Essling, 505 francs; same copy, Duke of Hamilton, 1884, £108.

Augustinus. De Civitate Dei. Venet. Nic. Jenson, on vellum, first page elaborately painted, and illuminated initials. Sunderland, 1881, £1000—bought by Mr. Quaritch amid shouts of applause.

CHAPTER IX

PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE

No class of books has advanced in value of late years to so great an extent as the chief examples of old English literature, and of this class the books printed by our earliest printer, Caxton, stand in a foremost position. It is proposed in this chapter to give a general idea of the variations in price of all the books printed by Caxton which have been sold by public auction. The number attached to each entry is that given by Mr. Blades in his great work, and it is hoped that few sales of these books have been left unmentioned.[53 - Mr. Blades has given full particulars of all the sales in his “Life and Typography of William Caxton” (1863); but there have been many sales since the publication of his great work, and particulars of these are given chiefly from two valuable articles, entitled Caxtoniana, by Mr. Frederic Norgate, which were published in The Library, Nos. 8 and 9 (August and September 1889). That accurate bibliographer has kindly allowed the author to see and use his manuscript corrections and additions to these articles.]

We learn from Mr. Blades that there was no fixed published price for these books, but the sellers obtained the best price they could for them. In 1496 the churchwardens of St. Margaret, Westminster, were possessed of fifteen copies of “The Golden Legend,” bequeathed by Caxton. Ten of these took five years to sell. In 1496 one copy was sold for 6s. 8d., and in 1500 the price had gone down to 5s. In 1510 R. Johnson, M.D., bought five Caxtons (“Godefroy of Boleyn,” “Eneydos,” “Faytes of Arms,” “Chastising,” and “Book of Fame”) for a total expenditure of 6s. 8d. These are now in the University Library, Cambridge. In the sale of 1678, to which the name of Voetius is attached, three Caxtons sold for 7s. 10d. At the sale of Secondary Richard Smith’s library (1682) eleven Caxtons realised £3, 4s. 2d.; at Dr. Francis Bernard’s sale (1697), ten for £1, 15s. 4d. There were a considerable number of Caxtons in the Harleian Library, and several of these were duplicates. They do not appear to have sold very readily, and they occur in several of Osborne’s catalogues at a fairly uniform price of one guinea for the folios and 15s. for the quartos. At the Hon. Bryan Fairfax’s sale (1756) nine Caxtons sold for £33, 4s. At James West’s sale (1773) the price had considerably advanced, and thirty-four Caxtons realised £361, 4s. 6d. John Ratcliffe’s forty-eight Caxtons brought £236, 5s. 6d. At Dr. Richard Farmer’s sale (1798) five sold for £19, 11s. 6d. An astonishing advance in price is found at the Duke of Roxburghe’s sale (1812), where fourteen fine Caxtons brought £3002, 1s. At the sale of Stanesby Alchorne’s library in 1813 nine fetched £666, 15s. Ralph Willett’s seven brought in 1813 £1319, 16s. John Towneley’s nine sold in 1814 for £1127. The Marquis of Blandford’s (White Knights) eighteen Caxtons brought in 1819 £1316, 12s. 6d. At Watson Taylor’s sale in 1823 nine brought £319, 14s. 6d.; John Inglis (1826), thirteen for £431, 15s. 6d.; John Dent (1827), four for £162, 16s. 6d.; George Hibbert (1829), five for £339, 13s. 6d.; P. A. Hanrott (1833), six for £180, 16s.; R. Heber (1834), six for £219, 16s.; Thomas Jolley (1843-51), six for £325, 15s.; E. V. Utterson (1852), three for £116; J. D. Gardner (1854), seven for £739.

It will be seen from these totals that the present high prices did not rule at the sales in the middle of the present century.

In 1897 the total for the ten Caxtons in the first portion of the Ashburnham library reached £5622, and the six in the second portion fetched £4264.

The following list contains particulars of the sale prices of some of the chief issues of Caxton’s press:—

The Recuyell of the Histories of Troy (1).

Dr. Bernard (1698), 3s.; Bryan Fairfax (1756), £8, 8s. This perfect copy was bought by Francis Child, and at the sale of the Earl of Jersey’s library in 1885 it was sold to Mr. Quaritch for £1820.

J. West’s imperfect copy was sold in 1773 to George III. for £32, 11s., and it was perfected afterwards.

J. Lloyd of Wygfair (1816), £126. This copy was bought by G. Hibbert, and at his sale in 1829 J. Wilks bought it for £157, 10s.; at Wilks’s sale in 1847 E. V. Utterson bought it for £165; at Utterson’s sale in 1852 the Earl of Ashburnham bought it for £55—not £155, as stated by Blades. This was described in Hibbert’s and Wilks’s catalogues as having “six whole leaves and parts of four others supplied in facsimile,” but at Utterson’s sale it was stated to want no less than forty-seven leaves. At the Ashburnham sale (part 2), 1897, it was said to want forty-nine leaves. It fetched £950.

The Game and Play of the Chess, first edition (2).

R. Smith (1682), 13s. 2d.; J. West (1773), sold to George III. for £32, 0s. 6d.; S. Alchorne (1813), £54, 12s.—J. Inglis. J. Inglis (1826), £31, 10s.—Lord Audley. Lord Audley (1855), £60, 10s.—H. Cunliffe.

White Knights (1819), £36, 15s.—Duke of Devonshire. This copy, sold for £42, was found on collation after the sale to want three leaves instead of only two, as stated in the catalogue; it was therefore returned, and sold for £36, 15s.

Sir H. Mainwaring (1837), £101—J. Holford. This may be the same copy as R. Smith’s, as it has on a fly-leaf in manuscript, “Ex dono Thomæ Delves, Baronett, 1682.”

Old Essex library (Lord Petre), 1886, £645—Quaritch (perfect, excepting only the blanks). Earl of Hardwicke (1888), wanting the Prologue and three other leaves, £260—Quaritch.

It is necessary to quote from Scott’s “Antiquary” a well-known passage, because, as Mr. Blades says, “not a single statement is founded on fact.” The particulars are so circumstantial, that they have possibly deceived many readers, more especially as Scott himself vouches for the anecdote as literally true. “Snuffy Davy bought the ‘Game of Chesse,’ 1474, the first book ever printed in England, from a stall in Holland for about 2 groschen, or twopence of our money. He sold it to Osborne for £20 and as many books as came to £20 more. Osborne resold this inimitable windfall to Dr. Askew for 60 guineas. At Dr. Askew’s sale this inestimable treasure blazed forth in its true value, and was purchased by Royalty itself for one hundred and seventy pounds.” It may be added that Askew never had a copy.

Chesse, second edition (34).

Dr. Bernard’s copy (1698) sold for 1s. 6d.

J. Ratcliffe’s (1776) was bought for £16 by R. Willett; and at his sale in 1813, the Duke of Devonshire bought it for £173, 5s.

Le Recueil des Histoires de Troyes (3).

James (1760), £2, 12s. 6d.—Jacob Bryant. This copy was presented by Bryant to George III., and made perfect with a few leaves presented by the Duke of Roxburghe. It was retained by George IV. when the Kings’ Library was presented to the nation, and is now at Windsor Castle.

Payne, bookseller (1794), £5, 5s.—sold to the Duke of Roxburghe, at whose sale in 1812 it fetched £116, 11s. It has been sold several times since, each time for less money. Among Lord Spencer’s duplicates (1823), for £73, 10s., to J. Dent; at Dent’s sale in 1827, for £36, 10s., to P. A. Hanrott; at Hanrott’s sale in 1833, to the Earl of Ashburnham, for £27. Second part of Ashburnham sale (1897), £600. Wanting thirty-three leaves.

G. Watson Taylor (1823), £205, 16s.—Earl Spencer (perfect, and uncut).

G. Libri (1844), £200 (a perfect and unusually fine copy)—sold to British Museum.

The copy, slightly imperfect, in the National Library, Paris, was purchased at Brussels in the early part of the century by M. de la Serna for 150 francs.

Les fais du Jason (4).

The perfect copy in the National Library, Paris, was purchased in 1808 by M. de la Serna for 2 louis from a stranger, who had obtained it for half that sum.

Propositio Johannis Russell (7).

The Althorpe copy formerly belonged to John Brand, and at the sale of his library the Marquis of Blandford bought it for £2, 5s. At the White Knights sale in 1819 Lord Spencer bought it for £126. The Earl of Leicester has the only other known copy. Both copies are perfect.

Infancia Salvatoris (8).

The only existing copy known is in the Royal University Library, Göttingen. It was from the Harleian Library, and was purchased from Osborne in 1746 for 15s.

The History of Jason (9).

Richard Smith (1682), 5s. 1d.; Dr. Bernard (1698), 3s. 6d.

J. West’s copy was sold in 1773 for 4 guineas to J. Ratcliffe, at whose sale in 1776 it fetched £5, 10s.

John Erskine’s copy was bought in 1817 by G. Watson Taylor for £162, 15s., but at his sale in 1823 it only brought £95, 11s., Richard Heber being the purchaser. At Heber’s sale (1834) it was bought by Payne the bookseller for £87. This uncut copy, which is the finest known, came afterwards into the possession of the Earl of Ashburnham. It sold at the second part of the Ashburnham sale (1897) for £2100.

The White Knights copy (Marquis of Blandford) was sold (1819) for £85, 1s. At W. S. Higgs’s sale (1831) it was bought by J. Wilks for £87, 3s., and at his sale (1847) it was bought by J. Dunn Gardner for £121. This copy was returned as wanting a leaf, and resold for £105. Gardner bought it afterwards from Pickering, who had in the meantime supplied the leaf from another copy. At Gardner’s sale (1854) it was bought for Mr. Lenox for £105.

The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers, first edition (10).

Francis Child bought his imperfect copy at Bryan Fairfax’s sale (1756) for £6. It was bound with “Moral Proverbs,” and was one of the copies from the Harleian Library. At the Earl of Jersey’s sale (1885) it brought £141.

John Ratcliffe’s copy was bought by Ralph Willett in 1776 for 15 guineas, and at his own sale in 1813 it brought £262, 10s.

Sales since the publication of Blades’s book:—Rev. T. Corser (1868), £100. C. H. Crawford (1876), £87 (Corser’s copy). Duke of Buccleuch (1889), £650. Earl of Ashburnham, 1897 (one of four complete copies), £1320—Quaritch.

–– Second edition (28).

James West (1773), £21—George III. John Towneley (1814), £189—Duke of Devonshire (erroneously described in the catalogue as “first edition”).

–– Third edition (83).