nowledged, and although a rational man
can wish for nothing better than a book _once well bound_, yet we find
that the extraordinary passion for collecting them not only obtains
with full force, but is attended with very serious consequences to
those "que n'out point des pistoles" (to borrow the idea of Clement;
vol. vi. p. 36). I dare say an uncut _first Shakspeare_, as well as an
_uncut vellum Aldus_[432] would produce a little annuity!

[Footnote 432: I doubt of the existence of an uncut _first
Shakspeare_; although we have recently had evidence of an
uncut _first Homer_; for thus speaks Peignot: "A superb copy
of this Editio Princeps was sold at the sale of M. de
Cotte's books, in 1804, for 3601 livres: but it must be
remarked that this copy was in the most exquisite
preservation, as if it had just come from the press.
Moreover, it is probably the only one the margins of which
have never been either 'shaven or shorn.'" _Curiosites
Bibliographiques_, p. lxv. vi.; see also p. 79, ante. Dr.
Harwood, at page 338, of his _View of the Editions of the
Classics_, speaks of an uncut vellum Aldus, of 1504, 8vo.
"Mr. Quin shewed me a fine copy of it printed in vellum with
the _leaves uncut_, which he bought of Mr. Egerton at a very
moderate price. It is, perhaps (adds he), the only _uncut_
vellum Aldus in the world." From the joyous strain of this
extract, the Doctor may be fairly suspected of having
strongly exhibited this second symptom of the Bibliomania!]

BELIN. 'Tis very strange'--as Hamlet says at the walking of his
father's ghost! But now for your ILLUSTRATED COPIES!

LYSAND. You have touched a vibrating string indeed!--but I will
suppress my own feelings, and spare those of my friend. A passion for
books _illustrated_, or adorned with _numerous Prints_[433]
representing characters, or circumstances, mentioned in the work, is a
very general and violent symptom of the Bibliomania. The origin, or
first appearance, of this symptom, has been traced by some to the
publication of the Rev. ---- GRANGER'S "_Biographical History of
England_;" but whoever will be at the pains of reading the preface of
that work will see that Granger shelters himself under the authorities
of EVELYN, ASHMOLE, and others; and that he _alone_ is not to be
considered as responsible for all the mischief which this passion for
collecting prints has occasioned.