argins, unstained, uninjured;
and the impressions themselves, in every stage, bright, rich, and
perfect. The result of all the trouble and expence of 50 years toil of
collection is concentrated in this Collection." So says John Peter
Zoomer, the original collector and contemporary of Rembrandt. It
consisted of 394 original pieces: 3, attributed to Rembrandt, without
his name: 11, of John Lievens, Ferdinand Bol, and J.G. Villet: 11
copies: and 9 engraved in the manner of Rembrandt. The whole contained
in 3 large folio volumes, bound in red morocco.

No reasonable man will expect even a precis of the treasures of this
marvellous Collection: A glance of the text will justify every thing
to follow: but the "Advertisement" to the Catalogue prepares the
purchaser for the portrait of _Rembrandt with the bordered cloak_--
Ditto, _with the Sabre--Ephraim Bonus_ with the _black ring_--the
_Coppinol_, as above described--the _Advocate Tolling_--the
_Annunciation of Christ's Nativity to the Shepherds--the _Resurrection
of Lazarus--Christ healing the Sick_; called the _Hundred
Guilders_[H]--the _Astrologer asleep_--and several _Landscapes_ not
elsewhere to be found--of which one, called the _Fishermen_ (No. 456)
had escaped Bartsch, &c. &c. The descriptions of the several articles
of which this Collection was composed, occupy 47 pages of the
Catalogue. The three volumes were put up to sale--as a SINGLE LOT--at
the price of 50,000 francs:--and there was _no purchaser_. Of its
present destiny, I am ignorant: but there are those in this country,
who, to my knowledge, would have given 35,000 francs.

I ought to add, that M. Denon's collection of CALLOT'S WORKS, in three
large folio volumes,--bound in calf--also once the property of
Zanetti--and than which a finer set is supposed never to have been
exhibited for sale--produced 1000 francs: certainly a moderate sum, if
what Zanetti here says of it (in a letter to his friend Gaburri, of
the date of 1726) be true. "If ever you do this country (Venice) the
honour of a visit, you will see in my little cabinet a collection of
CALLOTS, such as you will not see elsewhere--not in the royal
collection at Paris, nor in the Prince Eugene's, at Vienna--where the
finest and rarest impressions are supposed to be collected. I possess
_every_ impression of the plates