s
head in Mr. D'Israeli's _Curiosities of Literature_: vol. i.
10. "Bruyere has touched on this mania with humour; of such
a collector (one who is fond of superb bindings only), says
he, as soon as I enter his house, I am ready to faint on the
stair-case from a strong smell of Russia and Morocco
leather. In vain he shews me fine editions, gold leaves,
Etruscan bindings, &c.--naming them one after another, as if
he were shewing a gallery of pictures!" Lucian has composed
a biting invective against an ignorant possessor of a vast
library. "One who opens his eyes with an hideous stare at an
old book; and after turning over the pages, chiefly admires
_the date_ of its publication." But all this, it may be
said, is only general declamation, and means nothing!]

[Footnote 428: The first work, I believe, written expressly
upon the subject above discussed was a French publication,
entitled _La Bibliomanie_. Of the earliest edition I am
uninformed; but one was published at the Hague in 1762, 8vo.
Dr. Ferriar's poem upon the subject, being an epistle to
Richard Heber, Esq.--and which is rightly called by Lysander
'ingenious and elegant'--was published in 1809, 4to.: pp.
14: but not before an equally ingenious, and greatly more
interesting, performance, by the same able pen, had appeared
in the Trans. of the Manchester Literary Society, vol. iv.,
p. 45-87--entitled _Comments upon Sterne_; which may be
fairly classed among the species of bibliomaniacal
composition; inasmuch as it shews the author to be well read
in old books; and, of these, in Burton's Anatomy of
Melancholy in particular. Look for half a minute at p. 286,
ante. In the same year of Dr. Ferriar's publication of the
Bibliomania, appeared the _Voyage autour de ma bibliotheque
Roman Bibliographique_: by Ant. Caillot; in three small
duodecimo volumes. There is little ingenuity and less
knowledge in these meagre volumes. My own superficial work,
entitled, _Bibliomania_, or _Book-Madness: containing some
account of the History, Symptoms and Cure of this fatal
Disease; in an epistle addressed to Richard Heber, Esq._,
quickly followed Dr. Ferriar's publication. It contained 82
pages, with a tolerably copious sprinkling of notes: but it
had many errors and omissions, which it has b