ber,
punctually at Nine of the Clock in the Morning, and Two in the
afternoon, and this to continue daily until all the Books be
Sold; Wherefore it is desired, that the Gentlemen, or those
deputed by them, may be there precisely the Hours appointed,
lest they should miss the opportunity of Buying those Books,
which either themselves or their Friends desire."

In 1682 Thomas Parkhurst, in offering for sale the libraries of
several eminent men, announces that the catalogues might be had
_gratis_ at the Bible on London Bridge (his place of business as a
bookseller), and he takes occasion to introduce (perhaps for the first
time) that courageous form of statement so popular to this day among
the fraternity as to the collection being the finest ever sold or to
be sold, and the opportunity by consequence being one which would
never probably recur.

But the present writer does not enter minutely into this branch of the
subject, which Mr. Lawler has made his own.

It has always been, and must always remain, a mystery whence the
Harleian exemplars of a large number of unique or almost unique
volumes belonging to the early vernacular literature of Great Britain
were obtained. In some cases they are traceable to anterior owners and
catalogues; but a considerable residue first come to the front here,
and the explanation seems to be that the practice of registering
unregarded trifles, as they were then deemed to be, in large parcels
was necessarily fatal to individuality and to the survival of clues.
To a certain extent the same disappointment awaits us in more recent
days, till, in fact, the demand for old poetry, romances, and plays
made the few extant copies objects of interest to the trade
sufficient to entitle them to prominence in their lists and in those
published by the auctioneers. It may have been the catalogue of Joseph
Ames, 1760, which was among the earliest to raise such items to the
dignity of separate lots, thought by the purchasers at the time worth
a shilling or two; but the noted sale of Mr. West in 1773 is entitled
to rank as the foremost in those days, where the books and tracts,
long since discovered to be represented by one or two accidental
survivors, and grown dearer than gold a hundredfold, began to draw
figures indicative of increased curiosity and appreciation.

The most eminent of the earlier race of auctioneers in London, who
confined their attention to properties belo