BOO 



667 



BOO 



Book, ly- written on vellum ; and, independent of their anti- 

 -v quity and rarity, cannot fail to be prized for the mi- 

 niatures and gold, i letters with which they are adorn- 

 ed, and the excellent order in which they are pre- 

 served. 



Under the second class, or books of relative scar- 

 city, are comprehended such as excite little inte- 

 rest, or are too extensive for the purchase of indi- 

 viduals. Under this head, therefore, we may class, 



1. Great works, such as the Acta Sanctorum, the 

 Councils, the Grand Library of the Fathers, the 

 Bibliotheca Maxima Pontifica of Rucaberti, and the 

 Gallia Christiana, and others of a similar description. 



2. Fugitive pieces, the interest of which dies with 

 the occasion which gave them birth. 3. Histories of 

 particular towns, which can be valued properly by 

 the inhabitants alone. 4. Histories of academies and 

 literary societies, the subject of which is too parti- 

 cular to excite general attention. 5. Lives of learn- 

 ed men, which, like other private histories, excite 

 only a partial and transient interest. 6. Catalogues 

 of public and private libraries, which can be valued 

 only by those who have access to them, and of which, 

 in consequence, only a few copies are printed. 7. 

 Books of pure criticism, which, as they suit the 

 taste of critics alone, who form but a very small pro- 

 portion of the reading world, are scattered into dif- 

 ferent countries, and at last become very rare. 8. 

 Books of antiquity, which, being generally adorned 

 with numerous plates of urns, statues, medals, &c. 

 are at first exceedingly expensive, and cannot be re- 

 printed without much difficulty. 9. Books which 

 treat of the curious arts, such as music, painting, and 

 sculpture, which are suited to the taste only of ar- 

 tists or amateurs, among whom, when they are once 

 dispersed, they cannot easily be recovered. The 4th 

 volume of Bibliotheque des Philosophes Alchymiqucs 

 on Hermetiques, in 12mo, is now so rare, that it is 

 sold for sixty French livres. The cause of this scar- 

 city is, that a thousand copies were printed of the 

 three first volumes, and only five hundred ,of the 

 fourth. 10. Books written in languages little known, 

 or those whose style is caricatured, or intentionally 

 corrupted. 



Particular editions of books likewise acquire great 

 value for their relative scarcity. Of this kind are, 

 I. Editions printed from ancient manuscripts. 2. The 

 first edition printed in a particular town. 3. Edi- 

 tions which have issued from the presses of celebra- 

 ted printers. 4. Editions distinguished by any pe- 

 culiar and extraordinary letters or characters. 5. E- 

 ditions published in foreign countries. 6. Editions 

 which have never been exposed to sale. 7. Editions 

 which have been sold under different titles. To 

 what an enthusiastic height some bibliographers have 

 earned their fondness for early editions, the follow- 

 ing facts will most strikingly illustrate. Ten guineas 

 were paid for four odd leaves of an early edition of 

 some of the works of Cicero. A first edition of 

 Suetonius is valued at 100 guineas, and the Floren- 

 tine Homer was recently purchased for 9.5 sterling. 

 The M.izarine Bible was sold in Edinburgh, in 1806, 

 for 150 guineas ; and the first edition of Shakespeare, 

 published in 1623, is valued nearly as high. 



For furthr particulars on the subject of books, 



the reader may consult Peignot Dictionnaire Rai- Bout, 

 sonne de Bibliologie, 3 torn. Peignot Dictionnaire Book- bin*. 

 des principas livres condamnes au feu supprimes ou 

 censures. Peignot Essai de Curiosites bibliographiques. 

 Dictionnaire Bibliograpkique, 4 torn. Paris, 1790 

 1802. Fournier, Nouveau Dictionnaire Portatifde 

 Bibliographic. Clarke's Bibliographical Dictionary, 

 Barbier Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes ou Pseu- 

 donymes. Miglius et Stollius Bibliotheca anonymo- 

 rum et pseudonymorum. Clement Bibliotheque des 

 livres d/ffici/es a trouver. Haym Bibliotheca Italia- 

 na. Debure Bibliographic Instructif. Bandini Ca- 

 talogus Codicum bibliothecce Mediccm Laurentiantf. 

 Heineken Idee generate d'unc collection d'Estampes. 

 Panzer Annales Typographici. Mattaire Annates 

 Typographici. Meerman Origines Typographici. 

 Brandolese Serie dell' edizione Aldine. Renouard 

 Annales de I' imprimerie des Aides. AudifFredi Ca- 

 talogtts Romanorum editionum seculi xv. Harwood, 

 View of the various editions of Greek and Roman 

 Classics. Dibdin, Introduction to the rare and va- 

 luable Greek and Latin Classics. Amos and Her- 

 bert, Typographical Antiquities of Great Britain and 

 Ireland. Salden De usu et abusu librorum. Bartho- 

 linus De Libris legendis. (c) (k) 



BOOK-Binding, the art of sewing together the 

 sheets of a book, and securing them with a back and 

 side boards. Binding is distinguished from stitching, 

 which is merely sewing the leaves, without bands or 

 backs ; and from half binding, which consists in se- 

 curing the back only with leather, the pasteboard 

 sides being covered with blue or marbled paper ; 

 whereas, in binding, both the back and sides are co- 

 vered with leather. 



At what time the art of book-binding was first in- 

 vented it is impossible to ascertain ; but Phillatius, a 

 learned Athenian, was the first who pointed out the 

 use of a particular kind of glue for fastening the 

 leaves of a book together ; an invention which his 

 countrymen thought of such importance as to entitle 

 him to a statue. The most ancient mode of binding 

 consisted in gluing the different leaves together, and 

 attaching them to cylinders of wood, round which 

 they were rolled. This is called Egyptian binding ; 

 and continued to be practised long after the age of 

 Augustus. It is now wholly disused, except in ori- 

 ental countries, and in the Jewish synagogues, where 

 they still continue to write the books of the law on- 

 slips of vellum sewed together, so as to form only one 

 long page, with a roller at each extremity, furnished 

 with clasps of gold or silver. The square form of 

 binding which is now universally practised, at least 

 in Europe, is said to have been first invented by one 

 of the kings of Pergamus, the same to whom we owe 

 the invention of parchment. See Book. 



Book-binding, according to the present mode, is 

 performed in the following manner : The sheets are 

 first folded into a certain number of leaves, according 

 to the form in which the book is to appear; viz. two 

 leaves for folios, four for quartos, eight for octavos, 

 twelve for duodecimos, &c. This is done with a slip 

 of ivory or boxwood, called a folding stick ; and in 

 the arrangement of the sheets, the workmen are di- 

 rected by the catchwords and signatures at the bot- 

 tom of the pages. When the leaves are thu folded 



