Prices of Books

John Munro (1792), £16, 16s. Dr. Vincent (1816), £99, 15s.—Singer, for Marquis of Blandford. In 1840 some books were turned out of the Blenheim Library, and sent for sale at Oxford. The Bodleian Library bought this copy at that sale for £50. Blades was misled into saying that the Bodleian gave £199, 15s., by the fact, in this copy some irresponsible person has altered the price it fetched at Vincent’s sale to £199, 15s. by the addition of the figure 1. Fuller Maitland (1885), £165—Quaritch (described as a second edition in the catalogue, three leaves in facsimile).

Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, first edition (12).

J. West (1773), £47, 15s.—George III. J. Ratcliffe (1776), £6. White Knights supplementary sale (1820), £31, 10s.—T. Payne (imperfect); not recorded by Blades.

The highest price recorded by Blades is £300, given by Mr. Huth at Lilly’s sale, 1861. In 1896 two copies (both imperfect) were sold for over £1000; Mrs. Corbet’s (Barlaston Hall), wanting nineteen leaves, £1020; R. E. Saunders (wanting only two leaves, a few wormed, lower margins in Melibeus mended), £1880. Earl of Ashburnham (1897), £720—Pickering & Chatto (imperfect, also some leaves from a shorter copy).

–– Second edition (57).

Brand’s imperfect copy (1807) was bought by Heber for 10 guineas; it was sold at his sale in 1834 to the Earl of Ashburnham for £78, 15s. Lord Ashburnham (1897), £300—Pickering and Chatto (wanting twenty-eight leaves).

Boethius de Consolacione Philosophiæ, translated by Chaucer (25).

B. Worsley (1678), 5s. J. West (1773), £5, 10s.—G. Mason. J. Ratcliffe (1776), £4, 6s.—George III. S. Alchorne (1813), bought by the Marquis of Blandford (Spencer duplicate, imperfect) for £53, 11s.; sold to Watson Taylor, at his sale in 1819, for £22, 11s. 6d.; at Taylor’s sale (£1823) Thorpe bought it for £13, 5s.

Thorpe bought a copy in old Oxford calf from Browne Willis’s library, “without the slightest defect or repair,” for £59 in July 1849, and he sold it in December of the same year for £105.

The Grenville (very fine, clean, and perfect) copy was purchased for £52, 10s.; Duke of Hamilton (1884), £160 (perfect, stained and mended); nobleman (Earl of Westmoreland), 1887, £156 (perfect, excepting the blank); Earl of Ashburnham (1897), £510 (two leaves in facsimile).

Cordyale, or the four last things (26).

Osborne (1748), £2, 2s. J. West (1773), £14—W. Hunter. Stanesby Alchorne bought W. Fletewode’s copy in 1774 for £6, 12s. 6d., and at his sale in 1813 George III. bought it for £127, 1s. Dr. Valpy’s copy, bought in 1832 by Henry G. Bohn for £26, 15s. 6d., is not mentioned by Blades; Valpy is said to have given £87 for it. Earl of Ashburnham (1897), £760—Pickering & Chatto (wanting eight leaves).

The Mirrour of the World, first edition (31).

R. Smith (1682), 5s. F. Child bought Bryan Fairfax’s perfect copy in 1756 for £3; this was sold to Mr. Quaritch at the Earl of Jersey’s sale (1885) for £195. J. West had two copies, which were sold in 1773—a perfect one to George III. for 12 guineas, and a very imperfect one to Richard Gough for £2, 13s. The latter sold at Gough’s sale (1810) for £4, 14s. 6d. Mr. Cracherode’s perfect copy (now in the British Museum) was bought by him at Ratcliffe’s sale (1776) for £2, 15s. The Duke of Roxburghe’s fine and perfect copy, for which he gave 9 guineas, was sold at his sale (1812) to the Duke of Devonshire for £351, 15s.

The following copies (in addition to the Earl of Jersey’s, mentioned above) have been sold since the publication of Mr. Blades’s book:—

In 1877 Mr. Quaritch had a copy for sale with a vi, a viii, and the last leaf in facsimile, which he priced £200.

Sir John Thorold (1884), £335—Quaritch (perfect, excepting the blanks). Earl of Hardwicke (1888), £60—Quaritch (very imperfect). W. H. Crawford (1891), £160 (perfect, with the exception of one blank). Earl of Ashburnham (part 2, 1897), £225 (leaves in facsimile).

The Mirrour of the World, second edition (84).

West’s perfect copy was bought by Willett in 1773 for £9, 15s.; at his sale (1813) it was bought for Lord Spencer for £136, 10s.

A perfect copy, very clean and large, was sold in 1844 with the library of Calwick Hall, Staffordshire, to Rodd for £41. Thorpe gave Rodd £94 for it, but sold it to Mr. C. Hurt for £90. At Hurt’s sale in 1855 Sir William (then Mr.) Tite bought it for £105. At his sale in 1874 it realised £455.

A perfect copy in the original binding of oak, covered with stamped leather, and almost uncut, is in the library of the Baptist College at Bristol, having been presented by A. Gifford, D.D. It has the following notes on a fly-leaf in Dr. Gifford’s autograph:—

The following sales, in addition to Sir William Tite’s, mentioned above, have taken place since the publication of Blades’s book:—

Sale at Puttick & Simpson’s (1884)—a very poor copy, wanting eleven leaves, was sold for £8. Rev. Fuller Russell (1885), £265 (Hibbert’s copy, which sold in 1829 for £36, 4s. 6d.; Hibbert had given £55, 13s. at the Marquis of Blandford’s sale in 1819). Hardwicke (Wimpole), 1888, £60 (with “Cicero de Amicitia”). F. Perkins (1889), £100 (two leaves of Table in MS.). Birket Foster (1894), £77 (wanting eighteen leaves).

The History of Reynard the Fox, first edition (32).

J. Ratcliffe (1776), £5, 10s.—George III. J. Inglis (1826), £184, 16s.—T. Grenville. J. D. Gardner (1854), £195—Duke of Newcastle. (All three copies are perfect.)

–– Second edition.

One copy only—that in the Pepysian Library, Cambridge—is known to exist.

Tully of Old Age, etc. (33).

Dr. Bernard (1698), 4s. 2d. Francis Child bought Bryan Fairfax’s perfect copy in 1756 for 2 guineas. In 1885 this was sold at the Earl of Jersey’s sale (1885) for £350.

Dr. Askew bought T. Rawlinson’s perfect copy in 1756 for £1, 5s., and at Askew’s sale (1775) Willett gave 13 guineas for it. At Willett’s sale (1813) it was sold to the Marquis of Blandford for £210. At the Marquis’s sale (1819) T. Brockett gave £87, 3s. for it. At Brockett’s sale (1823) Watson Taylor bought it for £47, 5s. Thorpe bought it at Watson Taylor’s sale (1823) for £47, 15s. 6d. The “Merly” copy turned up again in 1857, when it was sold to Mr. F. Huth for £275.

The Duke of Roxburghe’s imperfect copy was bought in 1812 by the Duke of Devonshire for £115.

Since Blades’s book was published—the Rev. T. Corser (1868), £96 (“Old Age” only); Mr. Severne (1885), £250 (perfect); Earl of Crawford (1889), £320 (perfect); Earl of Ashburnham (1897), £102—Pickering & Chatto (Declamatio only).

The Chronicles of England, first edition (39).

R. Smith (1682), 3s. 6d.; Dr. Bernard (1691), 4s.; J. Ratcliffe (1776), £5, 5s.; S. Alchorne (1813), £63—Duke of Devonshire.

J. Roberts’s copy (1815) was bought for £105 by John Milner, at whose sale in 1829 W. S. Higgs bought it for £70, 7s.; at Higgs’s sale (1830) it realised £73, 10s.

The following sales have taken place since the publication of Blades’s book:—

Mr. Rainy, Bath (1883), £160—British Museum (poor copy, and imperfect). J. Hirst (1887), £67 (imperfect). Duke of Buccleuch (1889), £470—Quaritch (perfect, blanks excepted).

The Chronicles of England, second edition (43).

Bryan Fairfax’s imperfect copy was sold in 1756 to Francis Child for £5. In 1885 it sold for £40 at the sale of the Earl of Jersey’s library.

J. Ratcliffe’s imperfect copy was sold (1776) to George III. for £4, 5s.

An imperfect copy was bought by the Earl of Ashburnham in 1860 for £180. It was added to the sale after the library of E. A. Crowninshield, of Boston, U.S., had been brought to England. This copy, bound in new brown morocco, with “Description of Britain” (three leaves in facsimile), sold at Lord Ashburnham’s sale (1897) for £610—Pickering & Chatto.

Mr. Quaritch bought the Duke of Buccleuch’s copy in 1889 for £45. This was wrongly described in the catalogue as wanting only “fourteen leaves, of which two are blank,” whereas it not only wanted the first fourteen printed leaves as well as the two blanks, but also the last six.

The Description of Britain (40).

J. Towneley’s imperfect copy was bought by George III. in 1814 for £85, 1s.

The Duke of Buccleuch’s copy was bought by Mr. Quaritch in 1889 for £195. It was made up from two imperfect copies, with some leaves inlaid, but otherwise complete.

The History of Godfrey of Boloyne (42).

R. Smith (1682), 18s. 2d—Earl of Peterborough. Dr. Bernard (1698), 4s. J. West (1773), £10, 10s.—George III. J. Ratcliffe (1776), £6, 16s. 6d.—W. Hunter. Dr. Vincent (1816), £215, 5s., bought by Singer, but Blades says the Marquis of Blandford; but Mr. Norgate thinks this is a mistake, as there was no copy in the White Knights sale. Mr. Holford’s copy and that in the British Museum were the only known perfect copies until 1884, when Mr. Quaritch announced in his catalogue (No. 21,842) a “very fine copy, quite perfect, with all the blanks, and in the original binding,” priced £1000. Mr. Norgate suggests that this may be Dr. Vincent’s copy.

Polycronicon (44).

R. Mead (1755), £3, 13s. 6d. Joseph Ames (1760), two copies; one sold for 7s., and the other for 14s. J. West (1773), £16, 5s. 6d.

There were three copies in Ratcliffe’s sale (1775); one sold for 3s. 3d., another for 2s. 3d., and a third for £5, £5s. 6d.