em finely bound. This afternoon
I was told of a gentleman of All Souls' College, I suppose Dr. Clarke,
that gave a commission of 8s. for an Homer in 2 vols., a small 8 deg. if not
12 deg.. But it went for six guineas. People are in love with good binding
more than good reading.' Humphrey Wanley, who was a buyer at the sale
for Lord Oxford's library, was much dissatisfied with the large sums
which the books fetched, and suspected there was a conspiracy to run up
the prices. He writes in his _Diary_ (February 9, 1725-26): 'Went to Mr.
Bridges's chambers, but could not see the three fine MSS. again, the
Doctor his brother having locked them up. He openly bid for his own
books, merely to enhance their price, and the auction proves to be, what
I thought it would become, very knavish'; and on the 11th of February he
adds: 'Yesterday at five I met Mr. Noel and tarried long with him; we
settled then the whole affair touching his bidding for my Lord [Oxford]
at the roguish auction of Mr. Bridges's books. The Reverend Doctor one
of the brothers hath already displayed himself so remarkably as to be
both hated and despised, and a combination among the booksellers will
soon be against him and his brother-in-law, a lawyer. These are men of
the keenest avarice, and their very looks (according to what I am told)
dart out harping-irons. I have ordered Mr. Noel to drop every article in
my Lord's commissions when they shall be hoisted up to too high a price.
Yet I desired that my Lord may have the Russian Bible, which I know full
well to be a very rare and a very good book.'

A copy of the sale catalogue, with the prices in manuscript, is
preserved in the library of the British Museum.

Bridges expended several thousand pounds in making collections for his
_History of Northamptonshire_, which, after many delays, was published
under the editorship of the Rev. Peter Whalley in 1791.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 63: Description of library in sale catalogue.]

JOHN MURRAY, 1670-1748

John Murray of Sacombe in Hertfordshire, who was born on the 24th of
January 1670, and died on September 13, 1748, was an indefatigable
collector of books. In the _Account of London Libraries_, by Bagford and
Oldys, we read that he 'made scarce publications of English authors his
inquiry all his life,' and that he had been 'a collector above forty
years at all sales, auctions, shops, and stalls, partly for his own
curiosity, and partly to oblige such auth