Bibliomania. 85 



One Bibliomaniac once said of another: "He knows nothing at all 

 of books, I assure you, unless perhaps of their insides." And in one 

 of the dialogues of Dibdin's Bibliomania, "I will frankly confess," 

 rejoined Lysander, "that I am an arrant Bibliomaniac —"that I love 

 books dearly — that the very sight, touch, and mere perusal " — " Hold 

 my friend," again exclaimed Philemon, " you have renounced your pro- 

 fession — you talk of reading books — do Bibliomaniacs ever read 

 books ? " There is one class who buy solely on account of the paper ; 

 of these, one collects only books on thick paper, another only those on 

 thin : one acquires only those of ample margins, or technically speak- 

 ing, large paper; one prefers coarse, another fine, one drawing, 

 another India paper; while the neplus ultra in this direction is vellum. 



Another class prize the book only on account of its binding ; of 

 these one dotes on full-bound books, with gilt edges, while another 

 tolerates nothing but half-binding, gilt tops, and rough or uncut 

 edges ; and another and very slovenly species care nothing for the 

 leather, provided only the edges of the leaves are un trim mod. Another 

 geuus look only to the name of the binder, and still another to that of 

 the publisher; to the first, a tome clothed by Hayday, Eiviere, Cape, 

 or Matthews, and to the latter, a volume printed by Aldus, Elzevir, 

 Pickering, or Munsell, has peculiar charms. One person seeks only 

 ancient books; another those of limited editions; another those 

 privately printed; a fourth wants nothing but presentation copies; 

 yet another only those which have belonged to famous men ; and still 

 another, illustrated or illuminated books. There is a perfectly rabid 

 and incurable class, of whom the most harmless are devoted to pam- 

 phlets ; another, rather more dangerous, to incorrect, or suppressed 

 editions ; and a third, stark mad, to play-bills and portraits. One man 

 affects folios, another searches for bijou editions, and another, quite 

 sensible, will tolerate neither folio nor quarto. Another class, espe- 

 cially rabid, accept .mainly nothing but first editions, technically 

 known as principes; or sometimes only fif teeners, alias inciuwljnht. — 

 that is books printed in the fifteenth century, the first century of 

 printing. Others, styled Rubricists, have a rage for books with the 

 contents and marginal references printed in red ink. One patronizes 

 the drama, one poetry, one the fine arts; another books about books 

 and their collectors ; and a very recherchtf class devote themselves to 

 works on playing cards, angling, magic, or chess, or the jest-books 

 and facetiae. We have reserved for last mention those unhappy 

 beings who run up and down for duplicates, searching for every edition 

 of their favorite authors. Of course tastes differ as to the size 

 of the collection. One seeks to form a small and select library, an- 



