rices realised were not merely high, but outrageous. Yet, after all,
prices are a figure of speech and a relative term. To a wealthy
Manchester manufacturer a thousand pounds are nothing more than four
figures on a piece of paper instead of one or two, and the sole
difference between L1000 and L2000 is the substitution of one numeral
for another.

It was known, in a few cases, what the noble owner had given for the
articles. His _Jason_, printed by Caxton, cost L87 _plus_ commission,
and produced L2100. The _Merlin_ of 1498 was bought for 30 guineas,
and realised L760. A little French volume by Jean Maugin, _Les Amours
de Cupidon et de Psiche_, 1546, was carried to L60, having been
acquired for half-a-crown. Certain other antecedent quotations were
left far behind, as in the _Canterbury Tales_ of 1498, which at
Dunn-Gardner's sale in 1854 brought L245, and now went up to L1000,
and in the Antonius Andreas of 1486, which was thought worth L231, as
probably the earliest volume issued in the City of London.

There was a notable drop in the biddings for the imperfect copies of
Chaucer from Caxton's press, and a host of items went for next to
nothing, which in an inferior sale would have realised far more. It is
ever so; and of course there was half a century's interest on the
outlay. Still what an intense pleasure beyond money it had afforded
the nobleman who formed it! And let us think, again, to how long a
succession of holders the same beautiful or rare book has been a
friend and a companion, a source of delight and pride!

It was remarked in the room that the present Earl had enlarged his
father's possessions only to the extent of ONE VOLUME (No. 2748), for
which he gave L4, and which yielded him L7. He had no right to
complain so far.

Concurrently with the Ashburnham episode in 1897, there came upon us
all, like a shell, the extraordinary report, which proved too true,
not only that the representative of Johnson of Spalding had
determined to part with the valuable library preserved in the house
since at least the time of the Stuarts, if not of the Tudors, but that
Mrs. Johnson had actually called in a local clergyman to select what
books he deemed worthy of being sent up to London for sale, and had
committed the residue to a local auctioneer. _The catalogues were
partly distributed before the books were added_, and very few
booksellers were even aware of the matter, till the sale was over. Not
more than three or