so, and a few private persons, were present; the
volumes were made up in parcels and only one mentioned, and the
bidding did not exceed two or three shillings a lot. Supposing 2000
items, comprised in 100 bundles at 3s. each; the grand total would be
L15! Blades quotes the library as containing seven Caxtons, and the
late Mr. Henry Bradshaw thought it worth while to pay a visit to
Spalding to make notes, which he very kindly communicated to us. One
of the purchasers at the sale offered me two of his minor acquisitions
for L30. Although the library included a proportion of desirable
articles, many of the books were esteemed so worthless that the
acquirers removed the _ex libris_, and left the rest behind them!

Some of the Caxtons in the public library at Cambridge have belonged
to the Johnson family, and are supposed to have been formerly
presented to it by those of Spalding. They were acquired in the
earlier half of the reign of Henry VIII. by Martin Johnson at the
then current prices--from sixpence to a shilling or so; and a stray
or two from the same collection, long prior to the dispersion of 1897,
has occurred in the auction-rooms. I have to mention in particular the
_Spalding Chartulary_, sold in 1871. But a few still remained on the
old ground, and fortunately five were bound up together in one volume,
which was not comprised in the wretched _fiasco_ and anti-climax. This
precious collection was offered to Mr. Jacobus Weale, while he was
still curator at South Kensington, for L20, and declined, because, as
an officer of a public institution, he could not accept it at that
price, and was unable to pay the real value. Two, _Curia Sapientiae_,
by Lydgate, and _Parvus et Magnus Cato_, have since been acquired by
the British Museum, with five excessively rare specimens of the press
of Wynkyn de Worde. The National Library did not require the _Reynard
the Fox_ or the _Game of the Chess_.

The Spalding case was as unique as some of the books themselves. The
owner seems to have been grossly ignorant of their value, as well as
wholly indifferent to the property as heirlooms.

Except as a matter of record and history, the collector need not so
greatly concern himself with all those libraries which have been
scattered, and yet he finds it desirable to refer to the catalogues,
if they were publicly sold, in order to trace books from one hand to
another, till they return into the market and find a new
owner--perhaps himsel