BOOKS, BOOKSELLERS, A3TD BIBLIOMANIACS. 



the value of literary labour. The 

 unpleasing exterior of ordinary Ger- 

 man printing, the coarse watery 

 paper, and worn-out types, must be 

 referred, in some measure, to the 

 same cause. The publisher, or au- 

 thor, naturally risks as little capital 

 as possible in the hazardous specu- 

 lation. Besides, it is his interest to 

 diminish the temptation to reprint, 

 by making his own edition as cheap 

 as may be. The system has shown 

 its effects, too, in keeping up the 

 frequency of publication by sub- 

 scription, even among authors of 

 the most settled and popular repu- 

 tation. Klopstock, after the Mes- 

 siah had fixed his name, published 

 in this way. There has been no 

 more successful publisher than Cot- 

 ta, and no German writer has been 

 so well repaid as GSthe, yet the last 

 Tiibingen edition of Gothe himself 

 is adorned with a long list of sub- 

 scribers. What would we think 

 of Byron or Campbell, of Scott or 

 Moore, publishing a new poem by 

 subscription? (Kussell's Tour in 

 Germany.) 



BINDING OF BOOKS. 



King Alphonsus, about to lay 

 the foundation of a castle at Naples, 

 called for Vitruvius, his booke of 

 architecture ; the booke was brought 

 in very bad case, all dustie and 

 without covers; which the king 

 observing said, "Hee that must 

 cover us all, must not goe uncovered 

 himselfe;" then commanded the 

 booke to bee fairely bound and 

 brought unto him. "So say I, suf- 

 fer them not to lie neglected, who 

 must make you regarded ; and goe 

 in torne coates, who must apparell 

 your minde with the ornaments of 

 knowledge, above the roabes and 

 riches of the most magnificent 

 princes. ( Peacham's Compleat 

 Gentleman, 1627.) 



PRESERVATION OF BINDINGS. 



It was supposed that a binding 

 of Eussian leather secured books 



against insects, but the contrary 

 was recently demonstrated at' Paris 

 by two volumes pierced in every 

 direction. The first bookbinder in 

 Paris, Bozerian, told me he knew 

 of no remedy except to steep the 

 blank leaves in muriatic acid. 

 (Pinker-ton's Eecoll. of Paris.) 



MODE OF PLACING BOOKS IN ANCIENT 

 LIBRARIES. 



It may not be known to those 

 who are not accustomed to meet 

 with old books in their original 

 bindings, or of seeing public libra- 

 ries of antiquity, that the volumes 

 were formerly placed on the shelves 

 with the leaves, not the back, in 

 front ; and that the two sides of 

 the binding were joined together 

 with neat silk or other strings, and 

 in some instances, where the books 

 were of greater value and curiosity 

 than common, even fastened with 

 gold or silver chains. (Philip Bliss, 

 Oxen.) 



EARLT ENGLISH LIBRARIES. 



Never had we been offended for 

 the loss of our libraries, being so 

 many in number, and in so desolate 

 places for the most part, if the 

 chief monuments and most notable 

 works of our excellent writers had 

 been reserved. If there had been 

 in every shire of England but one 

 Solempne Library, to the preserva- 

 tion of those noble works, and pre- 

 ferment of good learning in our 

 posterity, it had been yet some- 

 what. But to destroy all without 

 consideration is, and will be, unto 

 England for ever, a most horrible 

 infamy among the grave seniors of 

 other nations. A great number of 

 them which purchased those super- 

 stitious mansions, reserved of those 

 library-books, some to serve the 

 jakes, some to scour their candle- 

 sticks, and some to rub their boots. 

 Some they sold to the grocers and 

 soap-sellers; some they sent over 

 sea to the bookbinders, not in small 



