time. For some years
there was a period of depression, which perhaps was at the lowest
between 1830 and 1850, but the desire to acquire rare books appears
never to have been greater than at the present day, and for the choicest
examples collectors are willing to give sums which dwarf into
insignificance the prices which excited the astonishment of our fathers.
These high prices may possibly be somewhat due to the spirited bidding
of the great bookseller we have recently lost, and to the competition of
our American cousins; but they are also distinct evidences that the
beautiful and interesting volumes which issued from the presses of the
old printers have not lost their charm for the bibliophiles of our own
time. They have the advantage, too, of causing these treasures to be
more valued, and consequently better treated, for it has been well said
that nothing tends to the preservation of anything so much as making it
bear a high price.

A chronological arrangement of the collectors has been adopted for
several reasons as the preferable one, but an alphabetical list of their
names will be found at the beginning of the volume. It ought also to be
observed that accounts of the different libraries rarely mention the
number of books contained in them, but when they have been sold by
auction I have found by a careful examination of the sale catalogues
that on an average each lot may be reckoned as consisting of about a
volume and a half.

'For out of the olde feldes, as men saythe,
Cometh al this newe come fro yere to yere,
And out of olde bokes, in good faythe,
Cometh al this newe science that men lere.'

CHAUCER.--_Parlement of Foules._

W.Y.F.

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF COLLECTORS

PAGE

Arundel, Henry Fitzalan, Earl of, 30
Ashburnham, Bertram, Earl of, 382
Askew, Dr. Anthony, 219
Bagford, John, 129
Banks, Sir Joseph, Bart., 270
Beauclerk, Hon. Topham, 251
Beckford, William, 317
Bernard, Dr. Francis, 111
Bindley, James, 244
Brand, Rev. John, 274
Bridges, John, 156
Buckingham, Rich