Miscellaneous. NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. The Book-Hunter. By John Hill Burton. Edited by J. Herbert Slater. (Routledge & Sons.) THERE was never a time in which book-hunting and the pleasures of bibliography were so widely followed as to-day; thus it is odd that there are so few books available on such pursuits. With the exception of Mr. Andrew Lang's 'The Library,' and the pleasant collection of 'Bouquiniana' which came to us a few years ago from M. B. H. Gausseron, we recall no volumes of bookish gossip, no records of the many happy wanderers who seek and ponder over the bargains now best displayed in Charing Cross Road, since Booksellers' Row is no more. If there are no new books, it is well to revive the old, and Burton's not less than classic volume makes a very welcome reappearance in a series which has given us many delightful books, "The London Library." Mr. J. Herbert Slater is the editor of this issue, and lends his expert hand to various brief foot-notes. We are rather disappointed, however, that he has no introductory words concerning the author, who has his place in the Dictionary of National Biography,' but is, we feel sure, little known to latter-day searchers after literary treasures. A memoir by Mrs. Burton was prefixed to the large-paper edition of 'The Book-Hunter' (1882), and he was eminent as a writer apart from this, his most successful book. The dignity of history, which he was abused for sacrificing in his more serious work, is now less considered than the qualities of accuracy and research, in which he was probably ahead of his time. To the vivid account of Papaverius (De Quincey) the editor adds the note that "De Quincey was always being 'snowed up,' as he called it; that is to say, choked in his lodgings with accumulated piles of papers and manuscripts. When that happened, he simply locked the door of his room, walked out, and secured another. Six of these storehouses existed at the time of his death." The existence of a recent edition of the 'Cena Trimalchionis' is mentioned; there have been at least three published of late years. Those dumpy little books the Elzevirs have, the editor notes, "with a very few exceptions......fallen to abysmal depths in the estimations of literary Nimrods." The Shakespearian correction on p. 44 exhibits the casual methods of Burton. The celebrated emendation concerning Dame Quickly's account of Falstaff's end is mentioned. If we had been editing the book, we should have added the reference (King Henry V.,' Act II. sc. iii., near the beginning); the name of the emender, Warburton; and the right text, which is not a "Table of Greenfield," but of green fields," so that only the first word has to be altered. The whole passage is exhaustively discussed in Prof. Lounsbury's 'The First Editors of Shakespeare, Pope and Theobald' (Nutt, 1906). Burton has also misquoted Wordsworth on p. 255, and he or the printer is a little slack in matters of Latin. As regards misprints, it is noted by Burton that they are the cause of detecting plagiarisms. This is sometimes the case to-day where a scholar pretends to reprint a text from the original MS., and copies a printed transcript which contains, as 66 a sufferer complained to us, copyright errors." The folly which makes stupid errors of printing valuable in first editions is indefensible, but will always, it seems, be rampant, collectors of books chiefly for title-pages and a possession which does being often people, as Burton hints, who care not go so far as perusal. The editor explains in a foot-note that books do not, as a rule, become more important by reason of the errors noticeable in them, unless such errors constitute the distinguishing marks of an earlier issue than the one commonly recognized as such, and the book itself is of sufficient importance to render such distinction a matter of exceptional interest." But in many cases, we imagine, the error must have been discovered in the course of printing, so that it only indicates the earlier part of a first edition. We have, personally, no desire to possess a rarity noted in the Catalogue of the Dickens Exhibition now on show in Piccadilly-a first edition of 'Martin Chuzzlewit' in which "100£" is printed on the title-page, instead of "£100." The notes add some interesting details as to the prices realized by famous book-sales. That of Heber's collection in 1834 occupied 202 days, and thus is still what is vulgarly called a "record" for the number of books dispersed; but the sum total realized has been passed by the Libraries of Beckford and the Earl of Ashburnham. In the section on 'The Gleaner and his Harvest' a note points out that Ruskin's On the Construction of Sheepfolds' still deceives farmers into buying it. Finds in the way of old books are nowadays rarer than they were; indeed, the notes remark that "the publicity given to the discovery or sale of a really rare or valuable book is so widespread that the old-fashioned Book-hunter can hardly be said to exist. His knowledge is available to all who read the newspapers or the reports of the auction sales, and there is little or no room for him." This There is nothing really surprising in the changes of prices for books: they follow the laws of demand and supply, like other things, apart from the value attached to mere rarity by bibliomaniacs. value is often absurd in the case of suppressed pamphlets, or works whose limited issue or private printing was justified by their unimportance. A small proportion of book-hunters have real literary taste, and no desire to possess first editions which they cannot read with comfort. There is one rise in price in modern times which indicates a literary discovery, but two poets and two scholars-gentry a good deal rarer than book-lovers-were concerned in it. In his account of FitzGerald's 'Omar Khayyam' (Edward FitzGerald' in "English Men of Letters") Mr. A. C. Benson quotes the following from Mr. Swinburne : "Two friends of Rossetti's-Mr. Whitley Stokes and Mr. Ormsby-told him (he told me) of this wonderful little pamphlet for sale on a stall in St. Martin's Lane, to which Mr. Quaritch, finding that the British public unanimously declined to give a shilling for it, had relegated it to be disposed of for a penny. Having read it, Rossetti and I invested upwards of sixpence apiece-or possibly threepence-I would not wish to exaggerate our extravagance-in copies at that not exorbitant price. Next day we thought we might get some more presents among our friends, but the man at the stall asked twopence! Rossetti expostulated with him in terms of such humorously indignant remonstrance as none but he could ever have commanded. We took a few, and left him. In a week or two, if I am not much mistaken, the remaining copies were sold at a guinea; I have since as I dare say you have seen copies offered for still more absurd prices. I have kept my pennyworth (the tidiest copy of the lot), and have it still." The Edinburgh Review. July. (Longmans & Co.) 'HYMNOLOGY, CLASSIC AND ROMANTIC,' is an excel lent paper. During the last century several collections of medieval Latin hymns were compiled, but, as was to be expected, they have not obtained the attention of the general reader. Riming Latin verse does not win appreciation in this country. It should also be remembered that Missals, or indeed church service books of any sort, are not the only places where such verses occur. We do not think the grand hymn in honour of Charlemagne beginning Urbs Aquensis, urbs regalis, in which the great emperor is invoked as mainly commercial. They have a right to be proud The 'Port Royal' is a paper conspicuous for its fairness. This is commendable, for there linger even yet in the minds of some the unhappy remains of old prejudices. "The Question of Life on Mars' is not the less valuable because no decision is forthcoming. Eventually we may know all, but the time has not yet arrived. We are in agreement with those who hold it to be extremely probable that there is no animal life on Mars, and that, if there be, it is widely different from that on our own planet. FREDERIC NORGATE.-Mr. Norgate died on the 10th inst. in his ninetieth year. The Times in an obituary notice on the 13th said: "Mr. Norgate for many years made a special study of the bibliography of Caxton's press, and contributed to The Library of 1889 two long and important papers under the though it is in several modern collections, is title of 'Caxtoniana,' in which he made considerable to be found in the approved service books. At additions to the bibliography of the subject as comthe end of Rishanger's Chronicle' (published his facts from an exhaustive examination of the old piled by the late William Blades, obtaining most of by the Camden Society) occurs a hymn to Simon auction sale catalogues. Of these latter he also de Montfort, who was popularly regarded as made a special study, contributing to The Library a saint. These verses are, we may be sure, of 1891 two excellent articles in the form of alphaoutside Church authority, but of great interest. betical lists of the sales respectively held at Much more might have been said with advantage of Sotheby's and at Evans's. He also wrote much on these medieval hymns, though all we have is excel-recondite matters for Notes and Queries." Several lent. The hymns of more recent days are also very contributions will be found under his name in the well treated. Protestant hymns differ widely from General Index to the Ninth Series. those of the Middle Ages, not only because they are of a later type, but also because the individualistic element enters into them much more fully. Religious poetry of every degree of merit was not uncommon in England from the Reformation downwards, but the hymn, properly so called, was rare before the time of Dr. Watts, many of whose hymns are still regarded as classic, and we think it highly probable that Charles Wesley was stimulated by them to write those pieces which have found their way into many modern hymn-books. The writer dwells also on the hymns of the Moravian Brethren, which seem to have little relation to those that went before them, and never to have had much influence beyond the members of their own body. The paper on Liverpool shows how a few houses, little more than huts, were the origin of one of the greatest of the world's seaports. When the Domesday survey was made, Liverpool was a hamlet in the hundred of West Derby. The Fitzwarrens seem to have been the first who held it in postNorman times. In the reign of King John, Henry Fitzwarren handed it over to the King, who created it a borough, and invited settlers to establish themselves in his new port. Such was the beginning of the city's commercial life. Throughout the Middle Ages the families of Molyneux, Ferrers, and Stanley bore sway there. The Stanleys had what was called the Liverpool Tower, while the fortress of the Ferrers was dignified by the name of castle. Neither of these interesting buildings now exists, both being unhappily swept away in the early years of the last century. The history of Liverpool is, however, for most of its inhabitants, Notices to Correspondents. We must call special attention to the following notices: ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately, of old books and other objects or as to the means of nor can we advise correspondents as to the value disposing of them. T. HOLMES ("Christening a Vessel with Wine").— See 9 S. i. 317, 373. JAPANESE ("Maru' in name of Japanese Vessels").-See the articles by MR. JAMES PLATT and MR. KUMAGUSU MINAKATA at 10 S. vii. 318; viii. 131, 376. Stowey").-There is an account of him in the NOTICE. Editorial communications should be addressed to "The Editor of 'Notes and Queries'"-Advertisements and Business Letters to "The Publishers" at the Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, E.C. THE ATHENÆUM JOURNAL OF ENGLISH AND FOREIGN LITERATURE, SCIENCE, THIS WEEK'S ATHENÆUM contains Articles on THE ALDERMEN OF THE CITY OF LONDON. GREATER ENGLISH POETS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. NOTES ON XENOPHON AND OTHERS. THE WASHBOURNE FAMILY OF LITTLE WASHBOURNE AND WICHENFORD IN THE COUNTY OF WORCESTER. THE LOVE THE HARVESTER. THE BLOTTING BOOK. 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HE exact form in which the nation's desire finally and fittingly to commemorate Shakespeare's supreme genius in London, the city of his dramatic triumphs, shall assume enduring shape in "brick and stone" is fair ground for deep consideration. No consideration is required, however, to grasp the simple fact that Shakespeare's genius has built its own memorial in the stupendous edifice of his Works. It has none the less remained a fact that until the present year no edition of has been generally available in England. To remedy this crying scandal, and generally to bring "his works exactly as he wrote them," together with "the sources from which this man of the people fashioned not the masterpiece of a people's dramatic literature, but the supreme expression of the world's literature," that veteran scholar Dr. F. J. Furnivall, D.Litt., seconded by Prof. I. Gollancz, Litt. D., Mr. Sidney Lee, Mr. W. W. Grey, Prof. Boas, Prof. P. G. Thomas, Mr. W. H. D. Rouse, Mr. Morton Luce, Mr. H. C. Hart, Mr. Tucker Brooke, and Mr. F. W. Clarke, has arranged with Messrs. Chatto & Windus to issue: THE SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY. The Shakespeare Library has been conceived on a scale which promises to make it the noblest Shakespeare Memorial of all time, for the Library aims at bringing home to every class, and to every age, within the English-speaking community the full understanding of the endless heritage of which the poet has made them his immortal heirs. The first section, The Old Spelling Shakespeare, as its title implies, has its text as nearly as possible in the exact form in which it left Shakespeare's own hand. In the second section, The Shakespeare Classics, is issued a series of reprints embodying the Romances, Novels, and Plays used by Shakespeare as the originals or direct sources of his plays. In the third section, The Lamb Shakespeare for Young People, based on Mary and Charles Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare, an attempt is made to insert skilfully within the setting of prose those scenes and passages from the Play with which the young reader should quite early become acquainted. In the concluding section-under the title of Shakespeare's England-will be grouped a series of Volumes illustrative of the life of England in Shakespeare's time, together with a new and most comprehensive anthology-The Book of Elizabethan Verse. Even this brief note readily shows the scale upon which the Library has been conceived. Unfortunately such a work cannot be wholly divorced from financial considerations; but the price of every item has been placed as low as is consistent with the stable scholarship, sound paper, good printing, and good binding in which The Shakespeare Library has been worthily dressed. Any person may, however, buy The Shakespeare Library on easy terms by undertaking to purchase the entire set of volumes one by one as issued. Such orders will be received by any Bookseller. A postcard will bring you the full Prospectus, post free. Address: The "Shakespeare Department," Messrs. CHATTO & WINDUS, 111, St. Martin's Lane, London, W.C. |