Project Gutenberg's English Book Collectors, by William Younger Fletcher

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Title: English Book Collectors

Author: William Younger Fletcher

Editor: Alfred Pollard

Release Date: April 6, 2008 [EBook #25000]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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ENGLISH BOOK COLLECTORS

[Illustration: GEORGE JOHN, SECOND EARL SPENCER.]

EDITED BY ALFRED POLLARD

ENGLISH BOOK COLLECTORS

BY

WILLIAM YOUNGER FLETCHER F.S.A.

LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUeBNER
AND COMPANY, LIMITED
1902

The English Bookman's Library

Edinburgh: T. and A. CONSTABLE, (late) Printers to Her Majesty

[Transcriber's note:

Letters that could not be properly displayed in the e-text are represented
as follows:

1. a letter with a macron is represented by an =, as in [=a]
2. the letter h with a line through the top is represented as [=h]
3. a letter with a tilde is represented by an ~, as in [~m]]

PREFACE

My principal object in compiling this work on English Book Collectors
has been to bring together in a compact and convenient form the
information respecting them which is to be found scattered in the works
of many writers, both old and new. While giving short histories of the
lives of the collectors, and some description of their libraries, I have
also endeavoured to show what manner of men the owners of these
collections were. In doing this I have sought, where practicable, to let
the accounts be told as much as possible in the words of their
biographers, as their narratives are often not only full of interest,
but are also couched in delightfully quaint language. As it would not be
possible in a volume of this size to furnish satisfactory notices of all
the Englishmen who have formed large libraries, I have selected some of
those who appear to possess special claims to notice, either on the
ground of their interesting personality, or the exceptional importance
of their collections. I have not given any account of the collectors who
lived