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Bibliomania; or Book-Madness, by
Thomas Frognall Dibdin
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Title: Bibliomania; or Book-Madness
A Bibliographical Romance
Author: Thomas Frognall Dibdin
Release Date: April 8, 2009 [eBook #28540]
Language: English
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BOOK-MADNESS***
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Transcriber's Notes
Thomas Frognall Dibdin's Bibliomania was originally published in 1809 and was re-
issued in several editions, including one published by Chatto & Windus in 1876. This e-
book was prepared from a reprint of the 1876 edition, published by Thoemmes Press
and Kinokuniya Company Ltd. in 1997. Where the reprint was unclear, the transcriber
consulted the actual 1876 edition. All color images were scanned from the 1876 edition.
The original contains numerous footnotes, denoted by numbers in the section entitled The
Bibliomania, and by symbols in the remainder of the book. All of the footnotes are
consecutively numbered in this e-book; footnotes within footnotes are lettered.
Some phrases are rendered in the original in blackletter; they are rendered in bold italic
in this e-book.
This e-book contains passages in ancient Greek, which may not display properly in some
browsers, depending on what fonts the reader has installed. Hover the mouse over the
Greek to see a pop-up transliteration, e.g. βιβλος.
Spelling and typographical errors are retained as they appear in the original. They are
underlined in red, with a popup Transcriber's Note containing the correct spelling. Minor
punctuation and font errors have been corrected without note. Inconsistent diacriticals
and hyphenation have been retained as they appear in the original.
There are frequent inconsistencies in the spelling of certain proper names. These have
been retained as they appear in the original, for example:
Bibliothèque/Bibliothéque
Boccaccio/Bocaccio/Boccacio
De Foe/Defoe
Français/François
Loménie/Lomenie
Montfauçon/Montfaucon
Roxburgh/Roxburghe
Shakspeare/Shakespeare
Spenser/Spencer
Tewrdannckhs/Tewrdranckhs/Teurdanckhs (and other variations)
Vallière/Valliere
The original pagination used two sets of Roman numerals and two sets of Arabic
numerals. To distinguish between them, in this e-book the Roman-numeral pages in the
Indexes are preceded by "I." The Arabic-numeral pages in the section entitled The
Bibliomania are preceded by "B." Some page numbers are skipped due to blank pages.
Page references, including those in the Indexes, do not distinguish between references
appearing in the main text and those appearing in footnotes. Therefore, in this e-book,
where the referenced matter does not appear in the main text on the linked page, it can
be found in the nearest footnote.
Link to CONTENTS.
B I B L I O M A N I A.
Libri quosdam ad Scientiam, quosdam ad insaniam, deduxêre.
Geyler: Navis Stultifera: sign. B. iiij. rev.
T.F. DIBDIN, D.D.
T.F. DIBDIN, D.D.
Engraved by James Thomson from the
Original Painting by T. Phillips, Esq . R.A.
PUBLISHED BY THE PROPRIETORS (FOR THE NEW EDITION) OF THE REV. D . DIBDINS BIBLIOMANIA 1840.
r
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[Enlarge]
B I B L I O M A N I A;
OR
Book-Madness;
A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ROMANCE.
ILLUSTRATED WITH CUTS.
BY THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN, D.D.
New and improved Edition,
TO WHICH ARE ADDED
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS, AND A SUPPLEMENT INCLUDING A KEY
TO THE ASSUMED CHARACTERS IN THE DRAMA.
London:
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
MDCCCLXXVI.
Dedication
[Enlarge]
TO
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE EARL OF P OWIS,
PRESIDENT OF
The Roxburgh Club,
THIS
NEW EDITION
OF
B I B L I O M A N I A
IS
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY
THE AUTHOR.
vii
T
ADVERTISEMENT.
HE public may not be altogether unprepared for
the re-appearance of the Bibliomania in a more
attractive
garb
than
heretofore;—and,
in
consequence, more in uniformity with the
previous publications of the Author.
More than thirty years have elapsed since the last
edition; an edition, which has become so scarce
that there seemed to be no reasonable objection
why the possessors of the other works of the
Author should be deprived of an opportunity of
adding the present to the number: and although this re-impression may, on first
glance, appear something like a violation of contract with the public, yet, when the
length of time which has elapsed, and the smallness of the price of the preceding
impression, be considered, there does not appear to be any very serious obstacle to
the present republication; the more so, as the number of copies is limited to five
hundred.
Another consideration deeply impressed itself upon the mind of the Author. The
course of thirty years has necessarily brought changes and alterations amongst "men
and things." The dart of death has been so busy during this period that, of the
Bibliomaniacs so plentifully recorded in the previous work, scarcely three,—
including the Author—have survived. This has furnished a monitory theme for the
Appendix; which, to the friends both of the dead and the living, cannot be perused
without sympathising emotions—
"A sigh the absent claim, the dead a tear."
The changes and alterations in "things,"—that is to say in the Bibliomania itself—
have been equally capricious and unaccountable: our countrymen being, in these
days, to the full as fond of novelty and variety as in those of Henry the Eighth. Dr.
Board, who wrote his Introduction of Knowledge in the year 1542, and dedicated it
to the Princess Mary, thus observes of our countrymen:
I am an Englishman, and naked do I stand here,
Musing in my mind what raiment I shall wear;
For now I will wear this, and now I will wear that,
Now I will wear—I cannot tell what.
This highly curious and illustrative work was reprinted, with all its wood-cut
embellishments, by Mr. Upcott. A copy of the original and most scarce edition is
among the Selden books in the Bodleian library, and in the Chetham Collection at
Manchester. See the Typographical Antiquities, vol. iii. p. 158-60.
But I apprehend the general apathy of Bibliomaniacs to be in a great measure
attributable to the vast influx of Books, of every description, from the Continent—
owing to the long continuance of peace; and yet, in the appearance of what are
viii
ix
called English Rarities, the market seems to be almost as barren as ever. The wounds,
inflicted in the Heberian contest, have gradually healed, and are subsiding into
forgetfulness; excepting where, from collateral causes, there are too many striking
reasons to remember their existence.
Another motive may be humbly, yet confidently, assigned for the re-appearance of
this Work. It was thought, by its late proprietor,—Mr. Edward Walmsley
—to whose
cost and liberality this edition owes its appearance—to be a volume, in itself, of
pleasant and profitable perusal; composed perhaps in a quaint and original style,
but in accordance with the characters of the Dramatis Personæ. Be this as it may, it
is a work divested of all acrimonious feeling—is applicable to all classes of society,
to whom harmless enthusiasm cannot be offensive—and is based upon a foundation
not likely to be speedily undermined.
T.F. DIBDIN.
May 1, 1842.
[1] Mr. Edward Walmsley, who died in 1841, at an advanced age, had been long
known to me. He had latterly extensive calico-printing works at Mitcham, and
devoted much of his time to the production of beautiful patterns in that
fabrication; his taste, in almost every thing which he undertook, leant towards the
fine arts. His body was in the counting-house; but his spirit was abroad, in the
studio of the painter or engraver. Had his natural talents, which were strong and
elastic, been cultivated in early life, he would, in all probability, have attained a
considerable reputation. How he loved to embellish—almost to satiety—a favourite
work, may be seen by consulting a subsequent page towards the end of this
volume. He planned and published the Physiognomical Portraits, a performance not
divested of interest—but failing in general success, from the prints being, in many
instances, a repetition of their precursors. The thought, however, was a good one;
and many of the heads are powerfully executed. He took also a lively interest in
Mr. Major's splendid edition of Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting in England, a work,
which can never want a reader while taste has an abiding-place in one British
bosom.
Mr. Walmsley possessed a brave and generous spirit; and I scarcely knew a man
more disposed to bury the remembrance of men's errors in that of their
attainments and good qualities.
[1]
x
xi
second title page
[Enlarge]
THE BIBLIOMANIA;
OR
Book-Madness;
CONTAINING SOME ACCOUNT OF THE
HISTORY, SYMPTOMS, AND CURE OF
THIS FATAL DISEASE.
IN AN EPISTLE ADDRESSED TO
R I C H AR D H E B E R, Esq.
BY THE
REV. THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN, F.S.A.
Styll am I besy bokes assemblynge,
For to have plenty it is a pleasaunt thynge
In my conceyt, and to have them ay in honde:
But what they mene I do nat understonde.
Pynson's Ship of Fools.
Edit. 1509.
A
L O N D O N :
REPRINTED FROM THE FIRST EDITION, PUBLISHED IN
1809.
Advertisement.
In laying before the public the following brief and superficial account of a disease,
which, till it arrested the attention of Dr. Ferriar, had entirely escaped the sagacity
of all ancient and modern physicians, it has been my object to touch chiefly on its
leading characteristics; and to present the reader (in the language of my old friend
Francis Quarles) with an "honest pennyworth" of information, which may, in the
end, either suppress or soften the ravages of so destructive a malady. I might easily
have swelled the size of this treatise by the introduction of much additional, and not
incurious, matter; but I thought it most prudent to wait the issue of the present
"recipe," at once simple in its composition and gentle in its effects.
Some apology is due to the amiable and accomplished character to whom my epistle
is addressed, as well as to the public, for the apparently confused and indigested
manner in which the notes are attached to the first part of this treatise; but, unless I
had thrown them to the end (a plan which modern custom does not seem to warrant),
it will be obvious that a different arrangement could not have been adopted; and
equally so that the perusal, first of the text, and afterwards of the notes, will be the
better mode of passing judgment upon both.
T.F.D.
Kensington, June 5, 1809.
TO THE READER.
SHORT time after the publication of the first
edition of this work, a very worthy and shrewd
Bibliomaniac,
accidentally
meeting
me,
exclaimed that "the book would do, but that there
was not gall enough in it." As he was himself a
Book-Auction-loving Bibliomaniac, I was resolved,
in a future edition, to gratify him and similar
Collectors by writing Part III. of the present
impression; the motto of which may probably
meet their approbation.
It will be evident, on a slight inspection of the
xiii
xiv
xv
present edition, that it is so much altered and enlarged as to assume the character of
a new work. This has not been done without mature reflection; and a long-cherished
hope of making it permanently useful to a large class of General Readers, as well as
to Book-Collectors and Bibliographers.
It appeared to me that notices of such truly valuable, and oftentimes curious and
rare, books, as the ensuing pages describe; but more especially a Personal History of
Literature, in the characters of Collectors of Books; had long been a desideratum
even with classical students: and in adopting the present form of publication, my
chief object was to relieve the dryness of a didactic style by the introduction of
Dramatis Personæ.
The worthy Gentlemen, by whom the Drama is conducted, may be called, by some,
merely wooden machines or pegs to hang notes upon; but I shall not be disposed to
quarrel with any criticism which may be passed upon their acting, so long as the
greater part of the information, to which their dialogue gives rise, may be thought
serviceable to the real interests of Literature and Bibliography.
If I had chosen to assume a more imposing air with the public, by spinning out the
contents of this closely-printed book into two or more volumes—which might have
been done without violating the customary mode of publication—the expenses of the
purchaser, and the profits of the author, would have equally increased: but I was
resolved to bring forward as much matter as I could impart, in a convenient and not
inelegantly executed form; and, if my own emoluments are less, I honestly hope the
reader's advantage is greater.
The Engraved Ornaments of Portraits, Vignettes, and Borders, were introduced, as
well to gratify the eyes of tasteful Bibliomaniacs, as to impress, upon the minds of
readers in general, a more vivid recollection of some of those truly illustrious
characters by whom the History of British Literature has been preserved.
It remains only to add that the present work was undertaken to relieve, in a great
measure, the anguish of mind arising from a severe domestic affliction; and if the
voice of those whom we tenderly loved, whether parent or child, could be heard from
the grave, I trust it would convey the sound of approbation for thus having filled a
part of the measure of that time which, every hour, brings us nearer to those from
whom we are separated.
And now, Benevolent Reader, in promising thee as much amusement and instruction
as ever were offered in a single volume, of a nature like to the present, I bid thee
farewell in the language of Vogt,
who thus praises the subject of which we are
about to treat:—"Quis non amabilem eam laudabit insaniam, quæ universæ rei
litterariæ non obfuit, sed profuit; historiæ litterariæ doctrinam insigniter
locupletavit; ingentemque exercitum voluminum, quibus alias aut in remotiora
Bibliothecarum publicarum scrinia commigrandum erat, aut plane pereundum, a
carceribus et interitu vindicavit, exoptatissimæque luci et eruditorum usui multiplici
felicitur restituit?"
T.F.D.
Kensington, March 25, 1811.
[2] Catalogus Librorum Rariorum, præf. ix. edit. 1793.
xvi
xvii
[2]
xviii
CONTENTS.
Part I. The Evening Walk. On the right uses of Literature
p. 3-20.
II. The Cabinet. Outline of Foreign and Domestic
Bibliography
p. 23-92.
III. The Auction-Room. Character of Orlando. Of ancient
Prices of Books, and of Book-Binding. Book-Auction
Bibliomaniacs
p. 103-139.
IV. The Library. Dr. Henry's History of Great Britain. A
Game at Chess. Of Monachism and Chivalry. Dinner at
Lorenzo's. Some Account of Book Collectors in England
p. 143-207.
V. The Drawing Room. History of the Bibliomania, or
Account of Book Collectors, concluded
p. 211-463.
VI. The Alcove. Symptoms of the Disease called the
Bibliomania. Probable Means of its Cure
p. 467-565.
Supplement.
Chronological Index.
Bibliographical Index.
General Index.
LUTHER.
LUTHER.
MELANCHTHON.
MELANCTHON.
PUBLISHED BY THE PROPRIETOR (FOR THE NEW EDITION) OF THE REV. D . DIBDINS BIBLIOMANIA, 1840.
The Bibliomania.
MY DEAR SIR,
When the poetical Epistle of Dr. Ferriar, under the popular title of "The Bibliomania,"
was announced for publication, I honestly confess that, in common with many of my
book-loving acquaintance, a strong sensation of fear and of hope possessed me: of
r
B. 1
fear, that I might have been accused, however indirectly, of having contributed
towards the increase of this Mania; and of hope, that the true object of book-collecting,
and literary pursuits, might have been fully and fairly developed. The perusal of this
elegant epistle dissipated alike my fears and my hopes; for, instead of caustic verses,
and satirical notes,
I found a smooth, melodious, and persuasive panegyric; unmixed,
however, with any rules for the choice of books, or the regulation of study.
[3] There are, nevertheless, some satirical allusions which one could have wished had
been suppressed. For instance:
He turns where Pybus rears his atlas-head,
Or Madoc's mass conceals its veins of lead;
What has Mr. Pybus's gorgeous book in praise of the late Russian Emperor Paul I.
(which some have called the chef-d'œuvre of Bensley's press
) to do with Mr.
Southey's fine Poem of Madoc?—in which, if there are "veins of lead," there are not a
few "of silver and gold." Of the extraordinary talents of Mr. Southey, the indefatigable
student in ancient lore, and especially in all that regards Spanish Literature and Old
English Romances, this is not the place to make mention. His "Remains of Henry Kirk
White," the sweetest specimen of modern biography, has sunk into every heart, and
received an eulogy from every tongue. Yet is his own life
"The more endearing song."
Dr. Ferriar's next satirical verses are levelled at Mr. Thomas Hope.
"The lettered fop now takes a larger scope,
With classic furniture, design'd by Hope.
(Hope, whom upholsterers eye with mute despair,
The doughty pedant of an elbow chair.")
It has appeared to me that Mr. Hope's magnificent volume on "Household Furniture"
has been generally misunderstood, and, in a few instances, criticised upon false
principles.—The first question is, does the subject admit of illustration? and if so, has
Mr. Hope illustrated it properly? I believe there is no canon of criticism which forbids the
treating of such a subject; and, while we are amused with archæological discussions on
Roman tiles and tesselated pavements, there seems to be no absurdity in making the
decorations of our sitting rooms, including something more than the floor we walk upon,
a subject at least of temperate and classical disquisition. Suppose we had found such a
treatise in the volumes of Gronovius and Montfaucon? (and are there not a few,
apparently, as unimportant and confined in these rich volumes of the Treasures of
Antiquity?) or suppose something similar to Mr. Hope's work had been found among the
ruins of Herculaneum? Or, lastly, let us suppose the author had printed it only as a
private book, to be circulated as a present! In each of these instances, should we have
heard the harsh censures which have been thrown out against it? On the contrary, is it not
very probable that a wish might have been expressed that "so valuable a work ought to
be made public."
Upon what principle, a priori, are we to ridicule and condemn it? I know of none. We
admit Vitruvius, Inigo Jones, Gibbs, and Chambers, into our libraries: and why not Mr.
Hope's book? Is decoration to be confined only to the exterior? and, if so, are works,
which treat of these only, to be read and applauded? Is the delicate bas-relief, and
beautifully carved column, to be thrust from the cabinet and drawing room, to perish on
the outside of a smoke-dried portico? Or, is not that the most deserving of
commendation which produces the most numerous and pleasing associations of ideas? I
recollect, when in company with the excellent Dr. Jenner,
——[clarum et venerabile nomen
Gentibus, et multum nostræ quod proderat urbi]
and a half dozen more friends, we visited the splendid apartments in Duchess Street,
Portland Place, we were not only struck with the appropriate arrangement of every thing,
but, on our leaving them, and coming out into the dull foggy atmosphere of London, we
acknowledged that the effect produced upon our minds was something like that which
might have arisen had we been regaling ourselves on the silken couches, and within the
illuminated chambers, of some of the enchanted palaces described in the Arabian Nights'
[3]
B. 2
[A]
Entertainments. I suspect that those who have criticised Mr. Hope's work with asperity
have never seen his house.
These sentiments are not the result of partiality or prejudice, for I am wholly
unacquainted with Mr. Hope. They are delivered with zeal, but with deference. It is quite
consolatory to find a gentleman of large fortune, of respectable ancestry, and of classical
attainments, devoting a great portion of that leisure time which hangs like a leaden weight
upon the generality of fashionable people, to the service of the Fine Arts, and in the
patronage of merit and ingenuity. How much the world will again be indebted to Mr.
Hope's taste and liberality may be anticipated from the "Costume of the Ancients," a
work which has recently been published under his particular superintendence.
[A] This book is beautifully executed, undoubtedly, but being little more than a thin folio
pamphlet devoid of typographical embellishment—it has been thought by some hardly
fair to say this of a press which brought out so many works characterized by magnitude
and various elegance. B.B.
To say that I was not gratified by the perusal of it would be a confession contrary to
the truth; but to say how ardently I anticipated an amplification of the subject, how
eagerly I looked forward to a number of curious, apposite, and amusing anecdotes, and
found them not therein, is an avowal of which I need not fear the rashness, when the
known talents of the detector of Stern's plagiarisms are considered. I will not,
however, disguise to you that I read it with uniform delight, and that I rose from the
perusal with a keener appetite for
"The small, rare volume, black with tarnished gold."
Dr. Ferriar's Ep. v. 138.
[4] In the fourth volume of the Transactions of the Manchester Literary Society, part iv.,
p. 45-87, will be found a most ingenious and amusing Essay, entitled "Comments on
Sterne," which excited a good deal of interest at the time of its publication. This
discovery may be considered, in some measure, as the result of the Bibliomania. In my
edition of Sir Thomas More's Utopia, a suggestion is thrown out that even Burton may
have been an imitator of Boisatuau: see vol. II. 143.
Whoever undertakes to write down the follies which grow out of an excessive
attachment to any particular pursuit, be that pursuit horses,
hawks, dogs, guns, snuff
boxes,
old china, coins, or rusty armour, may be thought to have little consulted the
best means of ensuring success for his labours, when he adopts the dull vehicle of
Prose for the commnication of his ideas not considering that from Poetry ten thousand
bright scintillations are struck off, which please and convince while they attract and
astonish. Thus when Pope talks of allotting for
"Pembroke
Statues, dirty Gods and Coins;
Rare monkish manuscripts for Hearne
alone;
And books to Mead
and butterflies to Sloane,"
when he says that
These Aldus
printed, those Du Sūeil has bound
moreover that
For Locke or Milton
'tis in vain to look;
These shelves admit not any modern book;
he not only seems to illustrate the propriety of the foregoing remark, by shewing the
immense superiority of verse to prose, in ridiculing reigning absurdities, but he seems
to have had a pretty strong foresight of the Bibliomania which rages at the present day.
However, as the ancients tell us that a Poet cannot be a manufactured creature, and as
B. 3
[4]
B. 4
[5]
[6]
B. 5
B. 6
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
B. 7
B. 8
B. 9
[14]
I have not the smallest pretensions to the "rhyming art," [although in former times
I
did venture to dabble with it] I must of necessity have recourse to Prose; and, at the
same time, to your candour and forbearance in perusing the pages which ensue.
[5] It may be taken for granted that the first book in this country which excited a passion
for the Sports of the field was Dame Juliana Berners, or Barnes's, work, on Hunting
and Hawking, printed at St. Alban's, in the year 1486; of which Lord Spencer's copy is,
I believe, the only perfect one known. It was formerly the Poet Mason's, and is
mentioned in the quarto edition of Hoccleve's Poems, p. 19, 1786. See too Bibl. Mason.
Pt. iv. N . 153. Whether the forementioned worthy lady was really the author of the
work has been questioned. Her book was reprinted by Wynkyn de Worde in 1497, with
an additional Treatise on Fishing. The following specimen, from this latter edition,
ascertains the general usage of the French language with our huntsmen in the 15th
century.
Beasts of Venery.
Where so ever ye fare by frith or by fell,
My dear child, take heed how Trystram do you tell.
How many manner beasts of Venery there were:
Listen to your dame and she shall you lere.
Four manner beasts of Venery there are.
The first of them is the Hart; the second is the Hare;
The Horse is one of them; the Wolf; and not one mo.
Beasts of the Chace.
And where that ye come in plain or in place
I shall tell you which be beasts of enchace.
One of them is the Buck; another is the Doe;
The Fox; and the Marteron, and the wild Roe;
And ye shall see, my dear child, other beastes all:
Where so ye them find Rascal ye shall them call.
Of the hunting of the Hare.
How to speke of the haare how all shall be wrought:
When she shall with houndes be founden and sought.
The fyrst worde to the hoūdis that the hunter shall out pit
Is at the kenell doore whan he openeth it.
That all maye hym here: he shall say "Arere!"
For his houndes would come to hastily.
That is the firste worde my sone of Venery.
And when he hath couplyed his houndes echoon
And is forth wyth theym to the felde goon,
And whan he hath of caste his couples at wyll
Thenne he shall speke and saye his houndes tyll
"Hors de couple avant, sa avant!" twyse soo:
And then "So ho, so ho!" thryes, and no moo.
And then say "Sacy avaunt, so how," I thou praye, etc. The following are a few more
specimens—"Ha cy touz cy est yll—Venez ares sa how sa—La douce la eit a
venuz—Ho ho ore, swet a lay, douce a luy—So how, so how, venez acoupler!!!"
Whoever wishes to see these subjects brought down to later times, and handled with
considerable dexterity, may consult the last numbers of the Censura Literaria, with the
signature J.H. affixed to them. Those who are anxious to procure the rare books
mentioned in these bibliographical treatises, may be pretty safely taxed with being
infected by the Bibliomania. What apology my friend Mr. Haslewood, the author of
them, has to offer in extenuation of the mischief committed, it is his business, and not
mine, to consider; and what the public will say to his curious forthcoming reprint of the
ancient edition of Wynkyn De Worde on Hunting, Hawking, and Fishing, 1497 (with
wood cuts), I will not pretend to divine!
In regard to Hawking, I believe the enterprising Colonel Thornton in the only gentleman
of the present day who keeps up this custom of "good old times."
B. 9
[14]
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