books and bookmen(书籍和书人)

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BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

BOOKS AND

BOOKMEN

Andrew Lang

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

TO THE VISCOUNTESS

WOLSELEY

Madame, it is no modish thing, The bookman's tribute that I bring; A

talk of antiquaries grey, Dust unto dust this many a day, Gossip of texts

and bindings old, Of faded type, and tarnish'd gold!

Can ladies care for this to-do With Payne, Derome, and Padeloup? Can

they resign the rout, the ball, For lonely joys of shelf and stall?

The critic thus, serenely wise; But you can read with other eyes,

Whose books and bindings treasured are 'Midst mingled spoils of peace

and war; Shields from the fights the Mahdi lost, And trinkets from the

Golden Coast, And many things divinely done By Chippendale and

Sheraton, And trophies of Egyptian deeds, And fans, and plates, and

Aggrey beads, Pomander boxes, assegais, And sword-hilts worn in

Marlbro's days.

In this pell-mell of old and new, Of war and peace, my essays, too, For

long in serials tempest-tost, Are landed now, and are not lost: Nay, on your

shelf secure they lie, As in the amber sleeps the fly. 'Tis true, they are not

"rich nor rare;" Enough, for me, that they are--there!

A. L

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

PREFACE

The essays in this volume have, for the most part, already appeared in

an American edition (Combes, New York, 1886). The Essays on 'Old

French Title-Pages' and 'Lady Book-Lovers' take the place of 'Book

Binding' and 'Bookmen at Rome;' 'Elzevirs' and 'Some Japanese Bogie-

Books' are reprinted, with permission of Messrs. Cassell, from the

Magazine of Art; 'Curiosities of Parish Registers' from the Guardian;

'Literary Forgeries' from the Contemporary Review; 'Lady Book-Lovers'

from the Fortnightly Review; 'A Bookman's Purgatory' and two of the

pieces of verse from Longman's Magazine--with the courteous permission

of the various editors. All the chapters have been revised, and I have to

thank Mr. H. Tedder for his kind care in reading the proof sheets, and Mr.

Charles Elton, M.P., for a similar service to the Essay on 'Parish Registers.'

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

ELZEVIRS

The Countryman. "You know how much, for some time past, the

editions of the Elzevirs have been in demand. The fancy for them has

even penetrated into the country. I am acquainted with a man there who

denies himself necessaries, for the sake of collecting into a library (where

other books are scarce enough) as many little Elzevirs as he can lay his

hands upon. He is dying of hunger, and his consolation is to be able to

say, 'I have all the poets whom the Elzevirs printed. I have ten examples

of each of them, all with red letters, and all of the right date.' This, no

doubt, is a craze, for, good as the books are, if he kept them to read them,

one example of each would be enough."

The Parisian. "If he had wanted to read them, I would not have

advised him to buy Elzevirs. The editions of minor authors which these

booksellers published, even editions 'of the right date,' as you say, are not

too correct. Nothing is good in the books but the type and the paper.

Your friend would have done better to use the editions of Gryphius or

Estienne."

This fragment of a literary dialogue I translate from 'Entretiens sur les

Contes de Fees,' a book which contains more of old talk about books and

booksellers than about fairies and folk-lore. The 'Entretiens' were

published in 1699, about sixteen years after the Elzevirs ceased to be

publishers. The fragment is valuable: first, because it shows us how

early the taste for collecting Elzevirs was fully developed, and, secondly,

because it contains very sound criticism of the mania. Already, in the

seventeenth century, lovers of the tiny Elzevirian books waxed pathetic

over dates, already they knew that a 'Caesar' of 1635 was the right 'Caesar,'

already they were fond of the red-lettered passages, as in the first edition

of the 'Virgil' of 1636. As early as 1699, too, the Parisian critic knew that

the editions were not very correct, and that the paper, type, ornaments, and

FORMAT were their main attractions. To these we must now add the

rarity of really good Elzevirs.

Though Elzevirs have been more fashionable than at present, they are

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

still regarded by novelists as the great prize of the book collector. You

read in novels about "priceless little Elzevirs," about books "as rare as an

old Elzevir." I have met, in the works of a lady novelist (but not

elsewhere), with an Elzevir 'Theocritus.' The late Mr. Hepworth Dixon

introduced into one of his romances a romantic Elzevir Greek Testament,

"worth its weight in gold." Casual remarks of this kind encourage a

popular delusion that all Elzevirs are pearls of considerable price. When

a man is first smitten with the pleasant fever of book-collecting, it is for

Elzevirs that he searches. At first he thinks himself in amazing luck. In

Booksellers' Row and in Castle Street he "picks up," for a shilling or two,

Elzevirs, real or supposed. To the beginner, any book with a sphere on

the title-page is an Elzevir. For the beginner's instruction, two copies of

spheres are printed here. The second is a sphere, an ill-cut, ill-drawn

sphere, which is not Elzevirian at all. The mark was used in the

seventeenth century by many other booksellers and printers. The first, on

the other hand, is a true Elzevirian sphere, from a play of Moliere's,

printed in 1675. Observe the comparatively neat drawing of the first

sphere, and be not led away after spurious imitations.

Beware, too, of the vulgar error of fancying that little duodecimos with

the mark of the fox and the bee's nest, and the motto "Quaerendo," come

from the press of the Elzevirs. The mark is that of Abraham Wolfgang,

which name is not a pseudonym for Elzevir. There are three sorts of

Elzevir pseudonyms. First, they occasionally reprinted the full title-page,

publisher's name and all, of the book they pirated. Secondly, when they

printed books of a "dangerous" sort, Jansenist pamphlets and so forth, they

used pseudonyms like "Nic. Schouter," on the 'Lettres Provinciales' of

Pascal. Thirdly, there are real pseudonyms employed by the Elzevirs.

John and Daniel, printing at Leyden (1652-1655), used the false name

"Jean Sambix." The Elzevirs of Amsterdam often placed the name

"Jacques le Jeune" on their title-pages. The collector who remembers

these things must also see that his purchases have the right ornaments at

the heads of chapters, the right tail-pieces at the ends. Two of the most

frequently recurring ornaments are the so-called "Tete de Buffle" and the

"Sirene." More or less clumsy copies of these and the other Elzevirian

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

ornaments are common enough in books of the period, even among those

printed out of the Low Countries; for example, in books published in

Paris.

A brief sketch of the history of the Elzevirs may here be useful. The

founder of the family, a Flemish bookbinder, Louis, left Louvain and

settled in Leyden in 1580. He bought a house opposite the University,

and opened a book-shop. Another shop, on college ground, was opened

in 1587. Louis was a good bookseller, a very ordinary publisher. It was

not till shortly before his death, in 1617, that his grandson Isaac bought a

set of types and other material. Louis left six sons. Two of these,

Matthew and Bonaventure, kept on the business, dating ex officina

Elzeviriana. In 1625 Bonaventure and Abraham (son of Matthew) became

partners. The "good dates" of Elzevirian books begin from 1626. The

two Elzevirs chose excellent types, and after nine years' endeavours turned

out the beautiful 'Caesar' of 1635.

Their classical series in petit format was opened with 'Horace' and

'Ovid' in 1629. In 1641 they began their elegant piracies of French plays

and poetry with 'Le Cid.' It was worth while being pirated by the

Elzevirs, who turned you out like a gentleman, with fleurons and red

letters, and a pretty frontispiece. The modern pirate dresses you in rags,

prints you murderously, and binds you, if he binds you at all, in some

hideous example of "cloth extra," all gilt, like archaic gingerbread.

Bonaventure and Abraham both died in 1652. They did not depart before

publishing (1628), in grand format, a desirable work on fencing, Thibault's

'Academie de l'Espee.' This Tibbald also killed by the book. John and

Daniel Elzevir came next. They brought out the 'Imitation' (Thomae a

Kempis canonici regularis ord. S. Augustini De Imitatione Christi, libri

iv.); I wish by taking thought I could add eight millimetres to the stature of

my copy. In 1655 Daniel joined a cousin, Louis, in Amsterdam, and John

stayed in Leyden. John died in 1661; his widow struggled on, but her

son Abraham (1681) let all fall into ruins. Abraham died 1712. The

Elzevirs of Amsterdam lasted till 1680, when Daniel died, and the

business was wound up. The type, by Christopher Van Dyck, was sold in

1681, by Daniel's widow. Sic transit gloria.

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

After he has learned all these matters the amateur has still a great deal

to acquire. He may now know a real Elzevir from a book which is not an

Elzevir at all. But there are enormous differences of value, rarity, and

excellence among the productions of the Elzevirian press. The bookstalls

teem with small, "cropped," dingy, dirty, battered Elzevirian editions of

the classics, NOT "of the good date." On these it is not worth while to

expend a couple of shillings, especially as Elzevirian type is too small to

be read with comfort by most modern eyes. No, let the collector save his

money; avoid littering his shelves with what he will soon find to be

rubbish, and let him wait the chance of acquiring a really beautiful and

rare Elzevir.

Meantime, and before we come to describe Elzevirs of the first flight,

let it be remembered that the "taller" the copy, the less harmed and nipped

by the binder's shears, the better. "Men scarcely know how beautiful fire

is," says Shelley; and we may say that most men hardly know how

beautiful an Elzevir was in its uncut and original form. The Elzevirs we

have may be "dear," but they are certainly "dumpy twelves." Their fair

proportions have been docked by the binder. At the Beckford sale there

was a pearl of a book, a 'Marot;' not an Elzevir, indeed, but a book

published by Wetstein, a follower of the Elzevirs. This exquisite pair of

volumes, bound in blue morocco, was absolutely unimpaired, and was a

sight to bring happy tears into the eyes of the amateur of Elzevirs. There

was a gracious svelte elegance about these tomes, an appealing and

exquisite delicacy of proportion, that linger like sweet music in the

memory. I have a copy of the Wetstein 'Marot' myself, not a bad copy,

though murderously bound in that ecclesiastical sort of brown calf antique,

which goes well with hymn books, and reminds one of cakes of chocolate.

But my copy is only some 128 millimetres in height, whereas the uncut

Beckford copy (it had belonged to the great Pixerecourt) was at least 130

millimetres high. Beside the uncut example mine looks like Cinderella's

plain sister beside the beauty of the family.

Now the moral is that only tall Elzevirs are beautiful, only tall Elzevirs

preserve their ancient proportions, only tall Elzevirs are worth collecting.

Dr. Lemuel Gulliver remarks that the King of Lilliput was taller than any

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

of his court by almost the breadth of a nail, and that his altitude filled the

minds of all with awe. Well, the Philistine may think a few millimetres,

more or less, in the height of an Elzevir are of little importance. When he

comes to sell, he will discover the difference. An uncut, or almost uncut,

copy of a good Elzevir may be worth fifty or sixty pounds or more; an

ordinary copy may bring fewer pence. The binders usually pare down

the top and bottom more than the sides. I have a 'Rabelais' of the good

date, with the red title (1663), and some of the pages have never been

opened, at the sides. But the height is only some 122 millimetres, a mere

dwarf. Anything over 130 millimetres is very rare. Therefore the

collector of Elzevirs should have one of those useful ivory-handled knives

on which the French measures are marked, and thus he will at once be able

to satisfy himself as to the exact height of any example which he

encounters.

Let us now assume that the amateur quite understands what a proper

Elzevir should be: tall, clean, well bound if possible, and of the good

date. But we have still to learn what the good dates are, and this is matter

for the study and practice of a well-spent life. We may gossip about a

few of the more famous Elzevirs, those without which no collection is

complete. Of all Elzevirs the most famous and the most expensive is an

old cookery book, "'Le Pastissier Francois.' Wherein is taught the way to

make all sorts of pastry, useful to all sorts of persons. Also the manner of

preparing all manner of eggs, for fast-days, and other days, in more than

sixty fashions. Amsterdam, Louys, and Daniel Elsevier. 1665." The

mark is not the old "Sage," but the "Minerva" with her owl. Now this

book has no intrinsic value any more than a Tauchnitz reprint of any

modern volume on cooking. The 'Pastissier' is cherished because it is so

very rare. The tract passed into the hands of cooks, and the hands of

cooks are detrimental to literature. Just as nursery books, fairy tales, and

the like are destroyed from generation to generation, so it happens with

books used in the kitchen. The 'Pastissier,' to be sure, has a good

frontispiece, a scene in a Low Country kitchen, among the dead game and

the dainties. The buxom cook is making a game pie; a pheasant pie,

decorated with the bird's head and tail-feathers, is already made. {1}

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

Not for these charms, but for its rarity, is the 'Pastissier' coveted. In

an early edition of the 'Manuel' (1821) Brunet says, with a feigned

brutality (for he dearly loved an Elzevir), "Till now I have disdained to

admit this book into my work, but I have yielded to the prayers of

amateurs. Besides, how could I keep out a volume which was sold for

one hundred and one francs in 1819?" One hundred and one francs! If

I could only get a 'Pastissier' for one hundred and one francs! But our

grandfathers lived in the Bookman's Paradise. "Il n'est pas jusqu'aux

Anglais," adds Brunet--"the very English themselves--have a taste for the

'Pastissier.'" The Duke of Marlborough's copy was actually sold for 1

pound 4s. It would have been money in the ducal pockets of the house of

Marlborough to have kept this volume till the general sale of all their

portable property at which our generation is privileged to assist. No

wonder the 'Pastissier' was thought rare. Berard only knew two copies.

Pietiers, writing on the Elzevirs in 1843, could cite only five 'Pastissiers,'

and in his 'Annales' he had found out but five more. Willems, on the other

hand, enumerates some thirty, not including Motteley's. Motteley was an

uncultivated, untaught enthusiast. He knew no Latin, but he had a

FLAIR for uncut Elzevirs. "Incomptis capillis," he would cry (it was all

his lore) as he gloated over his treasures. They were all burnt by the

Commune in the Louvre Library.

A few examples may be given of the prices brought by 'Le Pastissier'

in later days. Sensier's copy was but 128 millimetres in height, and had

the old ordinary vellum binding,--in fact, it closely resembled a copy

which Messrs. Ellis and White had for sale in Bond Street in 1883. The

English booksellers asked, I think, about 1,500 francs for their copy.

Sensier's was sold for 128 francs in April, 1828; for 201 francs in 1837.

Then the book was gloriously bound by Trautz-Bauzonnet, and was sold

with Potier's books in 1870, when it fetched 2,910 francs. At the Benzon

sale (1875) it fetched 3,255 francs, and, falling dreadfully in price, was

sold again in 1877 for 2,200 francs. M. Dutuit, at Rouen, has a taller

copy, bound by Bauzonnet. Last time it was sold (1851) it brought 251

francs. The Duc de Chartres has now the copy of Pieters, the historian of

the Elzevirs, valued at 3,000 francs.

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

About thirty years ago no fewer than three copies were sold at

Brighton, of all places. M. Quentin Bauchart had a copy only 127

millimetres in height, which he swopped to M. Paillet. M. Chartener, of

Metz, had a copy now bound by Bauzonnet which was sold for four francs

in 1780. We call this the age of cheap books, but before the Revolution

books were cheaper. It is fair to say, however, that this example of the

'Pastissier' was then bound up with another book, Vlacq's edition of 'Le

Cuisinier Francois,' and so went cheaper than it would otherwise have

done. M. de Fontaine de Resbecq declares that a friend of his bought six

original pieces of Moliere's bound up with an old French translation of

Garth's 'Dispensary.' The one faint hope left to the poor book collector is

that he may find a valuable tract lurking in the leaves of some bound

collection of trash. I have an original copy of Moliere's 'Les Fascheux'

bound up with a treatise on precious stones, but the bookseller from whom

I bought it knew it was there! That made all the difference.

But, to return to our 'Pastissier,' here is M. de Fontaine de Resbecq's

account of how he wooed and won his own copy of this illustrious Elzevir.

"I began my walk to-day," says this haunter of ancient stalls, "by the Pont

Marie and the Quai de la Greve, the pillars of Hercules of the book-

hunting world. After having viewed and reviewed these remote books, I

was going away, when my attention was caught by a small naked volume,

without a stitch of binding. I seized it, and what was my delight when I

recognised one of the rarest of that famed Elzevir collection whose height

is measured as minutely as the carats of the diamond. There was no

indication of price on the box where this jewel was lying; the book, though

unbound, was perfectly clean within. 'How much?' said I to the

bookseller. 'You can have it for six sous,' he answered; 'is it too much?'

'No,' said I, and, trembling a little, I handed him the thirty centimes he

asked for the 'Pastissier Francois.' You may believe, my friend, that after

such a piece of luck at the start, one goes home fondly embracing the

beloved object of one's search. That is exactly what I did."

Can this tale be true? Is such luck given by the jealous fates

mortalibus aegris? M. de Resbecq's find was made apparently in 1856,

when trout were plenty in the streams, and rare books not so very rare.

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BOOKSANDBOOKMEN1BOOKSANDBOOKMENAndrewLangBOOKSANDBOOKMEN2TOTHEVISCOUNTESSWOLSELEYMadame,itisnomodishthing,Thebookman'stributethatIbring;Atalkofantiquariesgrey,Dustuntodustthismanyaday,Gossipoftextsandbindingsold,Offadedtype,andtarnish'dgold!Canladiescareforthisto-doWithPayne,Derome,andPadeloup?Canth...

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