he held so
eminent a position. It is illustrated throughout with portraits, some of
which are very rare; it contains all the letters which the editor
received in relation to it from the eminent literary antiquarians of his
day; and not only these, but all the collations and memoranda of any
consequence which were made for him during its progress, frequently by
men of literary distinction. To these are added all the announcements of
the work, together with the impressions of twelve cancelled pages,
printed four in one form and eight in another, apparently by way of
experiment, with other cancelled matter; tracings of the facsimile
woodcuts of the title to Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie, with a
proof of it on India paper, and three impressions of this title, one all
in black, one with the letter in black and the device in red, and the
third _vice versa_; tracings for, and proofs of, other woodcuts; an
impression of a leaf printed to be put into a single copy of the work,
&c. &c.; for we must stop, although we have but indicated the nature
rather than the quantity of the matter, all of it unique, which gives
this book its peculiar value. But it should be remarked besides, that
the editorial part of the work is interleaved for the purpose of
receiving Mr Hazlewood's explanations and corrections, and those that he
received from literary friends, which alone would give this copy a
singular interest. It is bound by Clarke in maroon morocco."]

In these revelations we find how long a probation the system of book
clubs had to pass through, before it shook off the convivial
propensities which continued to cluster round the normal notion of a
club, and reached the dry asceticism and attention to the duties of
printing and editing, by which the greater number of book clubs are
distinguished. It was at first a very large allowance of sack to the
proportion of literary food, and it was sarcastically remarked that the
club had spent a full thousand pounds in guzzling before it had produced
a single valuable volume. We have some of the bills of fare at the
"Roxburghe Revels," as they were called. In one, for instance, there may
be counted, in the first course, turtle cooked five different ways,
along with turbot, john dory, tendrons of lamb, souchee of haddock, ham,
chartreuse, and boiled chickens. The bill amounted to L5, 14s. a-head;
or, as Hazlewood expresses it, "according to the long-established
principles of 'Maysterre Cocke