Bibliomania
Transcriber's Note: Some typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected. A complete list follows the text. Words in Greek in the original are transliterated and placed between +plus signs+. Words italicized in the original are surrounded by _underscores_.
For some years Farringdon Road has enjoyed the distinction of being the best locality in London for bookstalling. Its stalls are far more numerous, and the quality of the books...
6. Part 6One of the most remarkable collections of books ever made by a private individual was that known as the Sunderland Library. It was formed, not only in the short space of twelve...
4. Part 4The only incident which calls for special mention in the two next short reigns is a law, 1 Richard III., 1483, by which it was enacted that if any of the printers or sellers of...
3. Part 3Half a century ago one of the most inveterate frequenters of book-auctions was a certain Dr. G., of diminutive stature, on account of an awkward deviation of the spine. At that...
24. Part 24The remarkable fact is that book-thieves are nearly always well-to-do people; if hunger induced them to steal a book to get a dinner, they would come in the category of ordinary...
22. Part 22The two great second-hand booksellers of the Piccadilly of the latter half of the present century are James Toovey and Bernard Quaritch. Toovey's shop at 177, Piccadilly (once o...
17. Part 17So far as the East End of London is concerned, there is not, perhaps, very much to say. The second-hand bookselling trade for the past half-century has been confined in a large...
8. Part 8The primary aim and object of the Roxburghe Club were clearly enough indicated in the first list of members, for the association of men with kindred tastes is at all times a hig...
18. Part 18Indeed, nearly every by-street,[202:A] as well as the public highway in and around Holborn, has had its bookseller ever since the beginning of the century. Lord Macaulay, C. W....
2. Part 2Cousin Pons and Don Vincente are extreme instances of bibliomaniacs to whom the possession of a book was the supreme happiness of life. The man of Fiction and the man of Fact we...
26. Part 26Just as the minds of no two men run in precisely similar grooves, so no two libraries are found to be identical. Many bear a very striking resemblance to one another, but in mor...
12. Part 12Thirteen years after the above-mentioned books changed hands at prices which can now only be described as heartbreaking, the first auction-sale took place. It is noteworthy--as...
14. Part 14Goldsmith's 'Vicar of Wakefield' sixty years ago was 'uncollected'; a quarter of a century ago it sold for £5; ten years ago it was worth £10; in 1891 a remarkably tall and clea...
11. Part 11The firm of Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge is, by nearly half a century, the _doyen_ of London auctioneers. One hundred and fifty years is a long life for one firm, but Sotheby's...
13. Part 13Although for several centuries one of the most popular of books, some of the earlier editions of Pliny's 'Historia Naturalis' do not keep up their price. The second edition, Rom...
9. Part 9In an edition of Donne [? 1669] which belonged to Lamb, Coleridge scrawled: 'I shall die soon, my dear Charles Lamb, and then you will not be vexed that I have be-scribbled your...
27. Part 27The libraries of Mr. Thomas J. Wise and Mr. Walter Slater may be bracketed together, partly because they have been formed side by side. They differ in many respects, however. Mr...
7. Part 7The tenth Duke of Hamilton was one of the most distinguished bibliophiles of his time, and commenced purchasing whilst yet Marquis of Douglas. A large portion of his library was...
25. Part 25Just as the difference between the book-thief and the book-borrower is of too slight a nature to warrant independent chapters, so the hero who indulges in the luxury of a 'knock...
23. Part 23The Marquis of Salisbury's library at Hatfield contains a number of books which belonged to two distinguished ladies of the Elizabethan period. Lady M. Burghley's many book-trea...
28. Part 28Shakespeare, W., 19, 70, 72, 74, 75, 91, 92, 93, 141-143 First Folio (1623), 42, 72, 87, 92, 95, 114, 141, 222, 291, 303, 311, 322 Second Folio (1632), 42, 75, 87, 95, 120, 141-...
20. Part 20More rare and interesting books have been picked up in this street during the past forty years than in any other locality. Rumour, which sometimes tells the truth, says that She...
19. Part 19The Churchyard is, of course, the home of bookselling, but, as we have seen, as time went on, its children, so to speak, repudiated their birthplace. In the middle of the sixtee...
16. Part 16One of the most frequent visitors to Bateman's shop was Thomas Britton, 'the small-coal man,' who died in September, 1714. His knowledge of books, of music and chemistry was cer...
5. Part 51 Nash's Ha' wee you to Saffron Walden 00 02 06 1 Greene's Arcadia } { 1 Farewell to Folly } { 1 Tullies' Love } These nine Bookes { 1 Lady Fitzwater's Nightingale } were delive...
21. Part 21Among the most famous of the Strand booksellers of the earlier part of the present century were Rivington and Cochran, of No. 148 (near Somerset House), and Thomas Thorpe, of 38...
10. Part 10The dispersals of book-collections in 1890 included a few of considerable note. The exceedingly extensive one, for example, of the late Sir Edward Sullivan, Bart., Lord Chancell...
1. Part 1Transcriber's Note: Some typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected. A complete list follows the text. Words in Greek in the original are transliterated and placed...
29. Part 29'The work is always learned, and (what is not so easy) always light. Everybody who is the least of a book-hunter ought to read it at once, or rather, ought to hunt for it first;...