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BIBLIOMANCY BIBLIOMANIA. 



det Ommtges anonymcs et pseudonymes (Paris. 

 1800-9, 4 vols.), which is valuable lor its accuracy 

 (l)iit it contains only French and Latin work-). We 

 need not observe, what an important source of infor- 

 mation in the department of bibliography, are literary 

 journals. See Itibiiomanin. 



BiHi.ioMANcr ; divination performed by means of 

 the Hible ; also called tortes iiblictr, or torte* sancto- 

 toruM. It consisted in taking passages at Imzanl, 

 and drawing indications tlienct- concerning things 

 future. It was ninch uscU at the coiisecnition of 

 bishops. It was a practice adopletl fmni the hea- 

 thens, who drew the same kind of prognostications 

 from the works of Homer and Virgil. In 4Go, the 

 council of Vannes condemned all who practised this 

 art to be cast out of the communion of the church ; 

 as did the councils of Agile and Auxerre. But, in 

 the 12th century, we find it employed as a mode of 

 delecting heretics. In the Gallican church, it was 

 long prari'iM'd in the election of bishops ; children 

 being employed, on behalf of each candidate, to draw 

 slips of paper with texts on them, anil that winch was 

 thought most favourable decided the choice. A 

 similar mode was pursued at the installation of abbots, 

 and the reception of canons ; and this custom is said 

 to have continued in the cathedrals of Ypres, St 

 Omer, and Boulogne, as late as the year 1744. In 

 the Greek church, we read of the prevalence of this 

 custom as eariy as the consecration of Athanasius, on 

 whose behalf the presiding prelate, Caracalla, arch- 

 bishop of Nicomedia, opened the Gospels at the 

 words, " For the devil and his angels." Matt. xxv. 

 41. The bishop of Nice first saw them, and adroitly 

 turned over the leaf to another verse, which was in- 

 stantly read aloud : " The birds of the air came and 

 lodged in the branches thereof." Matt. xiii. 32. But, 

 this passage appearing irrelevant to the ceremony, 

 the first became gradually known, and the church of 

 Constantinople was violently agitated by the most 

 fatal divisions during the patriarchate. 



BIBLIOMANIA is a word lately formed from the 

 Greek, and signifies a passion for possessing curious 

 books. The true bibliomanist is determined in the 

 purchase of books, less by the value of their contents, 

 than by certain accidental circumstances attending 

 them. To be valuable in his eyes, they must be- 

 long to particular classes, be made of singular mate- 

 rials, or have something remarkable in their history. 

 Some books acquire the character of belonging to 

 particular classes, from treating of a particular snb- 

 *ect of interest to the bibliomanist; others from 

 something peculiar in their mechanical execution, or 

 from the circumstance of having issued from a press 

 of uncommon eminence, or because they once be- 

 longed to the library of an eminent man. Some of 

 these collections are of much intrinsic value. Among 

 them are, various editions of the Bible (the most 

 complete is at Stuttgart) ; collections of editions of 

 single classics (e. g., those of Horace and Cicero in 

 the city library at Leipsic) ; the editions in itsuni 

 Dclphini and cum nods variorum; the editions of 

 Italian classics printed by the academy della C'rusca ; 

 works printed by the Elzevirs, by Aldus, Comino in 

 Padua, and Bodoni (the most complete collection of 

 Bodoni's editions is in the library of the duchess d'A- 

 brantes) ; the classics edited by Maittaire, Foul is, 

 Barbou, Brindley, and others, and the celebrated 

 Bipont editions, with others. It was more customary 

 in former times than at present to make collections 

 of books which have something remarkable in their 

 history, e. g., books which have become very scarce, 

 and such as have been prohibited. Of the first soil, 

 the collections of Engel and Salthon were formerly 

 among the' most considerable. The one at Dresden 

 is among the largest now existing. Books distin- 



guished for remarkable mutilations have also been 

 ta;erly sought for. Those which appeared in the 

 infancy of typography, called iiiciinn/nila, from the 

 Latin nnur, a cradle, principally the first editions 

 (I'tlitiunes principcs) of the ancient classics, are still in 

 general request. Much of the value of a book, in 

 the eyes of a bibliomanist, depends upon the mate- 

 rial of which it is composed. An enormous price is 

 frequently given for splendid proof impressions of 

 copperplate engravings, and for coloured impressions, 

 for works adorned with miniatures and illuminated ini- 

 tial letters ; likewise for such as are printed upon vel- 

 lum. Works printed upon paper of uncommon 

 materials (e. g., (Muvrcs du Marr/itis tic f'illelo, Lond. 

 1786, 16mo), or various substitutes for pa'per, (e. g., 

 E. Bnickmann's Natural History of Asbestos, upon 

 paper made of asbestos, Brunswick, 1727, 4to), have. 

 been much sought after ; likewise those printed upon 

 coloured paper. Jn Italy, the colour of books of 

 this sort is commonly blue ; in France, rose colour ; 

 in some ancient German books, the colour is yellow ; 

 sometimes, though rarely, green. A list of books of 

 this class is to be found in Peignot's Repertoire des 

 Bibliographies speciales, Paris, 1810. 



Other books, in high esteem among bibliomanists, 

 are those which are printed on large paper, with 

 very wide margins. True bibliomanists often mea- 

 sure the margin by inches 'and lines. In English 

 advertisements of rare books, some one is often men- 

 tioned as particularly valuable on account of its being 

 " a tall copy." If the leaves happen to be uncut, 

 the value of the copy is much enhanced. Other 

 works, highly valued by bibliomanists, are those 

 which are printed with letters of gold or silver, or 

 ink of singular colour ; e. g., I. Fasti Kapolionei, 

 Paris, 1804, 4to, a copy on blue vellum paper, with 

 golden letters ; 2. Magna Chartu, London, Whitaker, 

 1816, folio, three copies upon purple-coloured vellum, 

 with golden letters ; also books printed from copper- 

 plates. Catalogues of these have been made by 

 Peignot and others. 



In France and England, the bibliomania often ex- 

 tends to the binding. In France, the bindings ct 

 Derome and Bozerian are most valued ; in England, 

 those of Charles Lewis and Roger Payne, several 

 specimens of whose skill are to be seen in the library 

 of lord Spencer ; among others, the Glasgow edition 

 of ^Eschylus, 1795, the binding of which cost 1 6, Is. 

 sterling. Payne is said to have sometimes received 

 from twenty to thirty guineas for binding a single 

 volume. This species of luxury is carried to such a 

 height in London, that a copy of Macklin's Bible (4 

 vols. in folio), in red or blue morocco leather, costs 

 seventy-five guineas, and BoydelPs large edition of 

 Shakspeare (9 vols. with large engravings) 132 

 sterling. Even the edges of books are often adorned 

 with fine paintings. Many devices have been adopted 

 to give a factitious value to bindings. Jeffery, a 

 London bookseller, had Fox's History of King James 

 II. bound in fox-skin, in allusion to the name of the 

 author ; and the famous English bibliomanist Askew 

 even had a book bound in human skin. In the li- 

 brary of the castle of Konigsberg are twenty books 

 bound in silver (commonly called the silver Mtntnfy. 

 These are richly adorned with large and beautifully 

 engraved gold plates, in the middle and on the cor- 

 ners. To the exterior decorations of books belongs 

 the bordering of the pages with single or double lines, 

 drawn with the pen (exemplaire regie), commonly of 

 red colour a custom which we find adopted in the 

 early age of printing, in the works printed by Ste- 

 phens. The custom of colouring engravings has been 

 dropped, except in eases where the subject particu- 

 larly requires it (for instance, in works on natural 

 history, or the costumes of ditierent natior.s), because 



