Prices of Books

Marguerite de Valois. Carmina illustrium Poetarum Italorum, 1579, 2 vols. Old brown morocco, covered with the arms and devices of Marguerite de Valois.

Beckford (1882), £242.

Diane de Poictiers. Le Livre des Statuts et Ordonances de l’Ordre de Sainct Michel (Paris, 1550), printed on vellum. A beautiful specimen of the library of Diane de Poictiers, in old brown morocco, ornamented with the arms of Henry II. of France, the crescent, bows and quivers of Diana, and fleurs de lis.

Beckford (1882), £155.

Grolier. I. Aurelius Augurellus (Venetiis: Aldus, 1505). Brown morocco, beautiful specimen of Grolier’s library.

Beckford (1882), £250.

–– Lucanus cura Aldi Romani (Venetiis: Aldus, 1515). Grolier’s copy, covered with scroll tooling.

Beckford (1882), £290.

–– Another copy, veau fauve, with Grolier tooling, £120.

Grolier and Thuanus. Lucanus de Bello Civili (Lutetiæ: R. Stephanus, 1545). Brown morocco, covered with Grolier tooling; apparently bound for Grolier, and subsequently possessed by Thuanus.

Beckford (1882), £135.

–– Franchini Poemata (Romæ, 1554). Red morocco, covered with Grolier tooling, and monogram of the Marquis de Menars on back, from the libraries of Grolier and Thuanus.

Beckford (1882), £230.

Grolier and Thuanus. Buchanani Psalmorum Paraphrasis Poetica (apud H. et R. Stephanum, s.a.). Olive morocco, sides and back covered with gold tooling in the Grolier style, the first arms of Thuanus forming the centre ornament.

Beckford (1882), £310.

Louis XIII. and Anne of Austria. Sainct Johan Zebedee L’Apocalypse, Mystère (Paris, 1541). Blue morocco, richly ornamented with gold tooling and the crowned cyphers of Louis XIII. and Anne of Austria, by A. Ruette.

Beckford (1882), £255.

Demetrio Canevari, Physician to Urban VIII. Tirante il Bianco (Vinegia, 1538). A perfect specimen of Canevari’s library, in Venetian red morocco, with his device.

Beckford (1883), £111.

Du Fresnoy. Lucanus de Bello Civili (Lugd. Bat., 1658). Red morocco, richly ornamented with gold tooling, with arms and monogram of H. Petit Du Fresnoy stamped on the sides and back, by Boyet.

Beckford (1882), £84.

Marguerite de Montmorency, Dame de Fosseteau. Duchesne, Histoire genealogique de la maison de Montmorency et de Laval, 2 vols. in 1 (Paris, 1624). Old olive morocco, the sides and back covered with the MF and device (the Marguerite) of Marguerite de Montmorency.

Beckford (1882), £120.

A few instances of the work of the great French binders follow, and it will be seen that the work of no binder is more appreciated by collectors than that of Monnier:—

Clovis Eve. Coloured Drawings of Maps and Plans of places in France, executed in 1602 and 1603 for Henry IV.’s own use. Olive morocco, covered with fleurs de lis, the King’s arms forming the centre ornament, with his crowned H at each corner. A magnificent specimen of Clovis Eve’s art.

Beckford (1882), £375.

Boyet. In the second portion of the Sunderland library there was a small volume in old crimson morocco (Cicero, De Officiis, Amst. ex off. Elzeviriani, 1677), which was not specially described, nor the title printed in capitals. It did not look worth many pounds, but Mr. Quaritch obtained it after an exciting contest with Mr. Morgand for £120. The cause of the excitement was this: from the character of the end papers it was judged that the book had been bound by the French binder Boyet. Specimens of his handiwork are very rare, and hence the great price.

Deseuil (or Du Seuil). In the second portion of the Beckford library was a copy of the Leyden edition of Macrobius (1670), bound in red morocco doublé by Deseuil. This fetched £39, while another copy in vellum only realised 16s.

Here is another instance of the increased value of a copy of a book bound by a good binder. A copy of Montaigne, Essais, 3 vols. 8vo (Amst.: Elzevir, 1659), bound in red morocco double by Deseuil, brought £200, while another copy, bound by Roger Payne in red morocco, only sold for £12, 10s.

A small duodecimo volume bound by Deseuil (Longus, Les Amours Pastorales de Daphnis et Chloe, Paris, 1788) was sold at G. Daniel’s sale in 1864 for £92.

Monnier. Decor Puellarum (Venetia: N. Jenson, 1471). Girardot de Prefond’s copy, a magnificent specimen of Monnier’s binding, in blue morocco, ornamented with flowers worked on variegated leathers, and stamped in gold.

Beckford (1883), £530.

–– De l’Imitation de Jesus Christ traduction nouvelle (Paris, 1690). Large paper. Citron morocco, magnificent specimen of Monnier’s binding.

Beckford (1882), £356.

–– Corneille, Rodogune. Au Nord [Versailles], 1760. Madame de Pompadour’s own copy, printed under her eyes in a northern apartment of the Palace of Versailles, in yellow morocco; fine specimen of Monnier’s binding.

Beckford (1882), £325.

It has hitherto been the fine French and Italian bindings that have fetched the high prices, but now some of the beautiful English bindings of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are coming in for their share of consideration. At the Earl of Orford’s sale (1895) R. Wood’s “Essay on Homer” (1785), bound by Roger Payne by order of Wood’s widow for presentation to Horace Walpole, sold for ten guineas. There is an interest in this book as having fallen into the hands of Goethe when his powers were first developing themselves, and it strongly interested him. Robert Wood was Under-Secretary of State in 1762, and he related an affecting anecdote of Lord Granville, a statesman known now only to the few. Wood was directed to wait upon the President of the Council (Lord Granville) a few days before he died with the preliminary articles of the Treaty of Paris. “I found him,” he continued, “so languid that I proposed postponing my business for another time; but he insisted that I should stay, saying that it could not prolong his life to neglect his duty,” adding a quotation from Homer, which may be found in Mr. Matthew Arnold’s discourses on Homeric translations.

EARLY EDITIONS OF MODERN AUTHORS

The last five-and-twenty years has seen the rise of a new taste in early editions of the works of modern authors, and a new class of bibliographers has arisen to describe these books.

Mr. J. H. Slater (the editor of “Book Prices Current”) has published a useful guide to this subject, entitled “Early Editions: a Bibliographical Survey of the Works of some popular Modern Authors. London, 1894.”

I have taken some particulars from this book, and supplemented them with a note of the prices realised at the remarkable sale of Mr. Alfred Crampton’s collection in 1896. I have also added a few books sold since that date.

Among the first of modern books to sell for high prices were the illustrated novels of Dickens and Thackeray, and to be valuable these must be in perfect condition, with the original wrappers, &c. After these come the other books illustrated by Cruikshank, “Phiz,” Leech, and others, viz., Ainsworth’s and Lever’s novels, Surtees’ Sporting novels—“Sponge’s Sporting Tour,” “Jorrocks’s Jaunts,” “Handley Cross,” &c.

Of poets, Shelley’s pieces were among the first to attain high prices, and Byron’s among the last.

Arnold.—Matthew Arnold’s “Strayed Reveller. By A.,” 1849, and “Empedocles on Etna,” 1852, have long been classed among the rare books. The former was published at 4s. 6d., and its usual price now is £4, but a copy has fetched £7. The latter was published at 6s., and is now valued at from £3, 10s. to £6.

Beckford, Poetical Sketches.

Gaisford (1890), £40.

Blake (W.), Songs of Innocence and of Experience [1789]. Engraved and coloured by Blake, in green morocco by Lewis.

Sir W. Tite, £61. Lord Beaconsfield, £85. Beckford (1882), £146.

–– Milton: a Poem. Engraved throughout, and ornamented with designs by Blake, blue morocco by Mackenzie.

Beckford (1882), £230.