errors of their
predecessors, and superseded, by a great fund of additional matter,
the necessity of consulting them. Thus, not to mention other instances
(which present themselves while noticing the present one), all the
fine things which Colomies and Reimannus have said about the rarity of
La Croix du Maine's Bibliotheque, published in 1584, are now
unnecessary to be attended to, since the publication of the ample and
excellent edition of this work by De La Monnoye and Juvigny, in six
quarto volumes, 1772.

LIS. Upon the whole, I should prefer the best to the first edition;
and you, Lorenzo, may revel in the possession of your _first
Shakespeare_--but give me the last Variorum edition _in twenty-one
volumes_.

LOREN. "Chacun a son gout," yet it may be as well to possess them
_both_. Indeed, I not only have these editions, but a great number of
the early plays printed in quarto;[452] which are considered the _ne
plus ultra_ of Shakspearian bibliomaniacism.

[Footnote 452: A pretty copious list of these valuable early
plays will be found at pages 431-2-3-4, ante.]

BELIN. Much good may these wretchedly printed volumes do you! Now let
me proceed with my pupil. Tell us, good Lysander, what can you
possibly mean by the _seventh symptom_ of the Bibliomania, called TRUE
EDITIONS?

LYSAND. My definition of this strange symptom will excite your
mirth.[453] Some copies of a work are struck off with deviations from
the usually received ones, and although these deviations have
generally neither sense nor beauty to recommend them (and indeed are
principally _defects_!), yet copies of this description are eagerly
sought after by collectors of a certain class. What think you of such
a ridiculous passion in the book-way?

[Footnote 453: Observing the usual order of notification, we
will first borrow the poetical aid of "an aspirant:"

SEVENTH MAXIM.

Who dares to "write me down an ass,"
When, spying through the curious mass,
I rub my hands, and wipe my glass,
If, chance, an _error_ bless my notice--
Will prize when drill'd into his duty,
These lovely warts of ugly beauty;
For books, when _false_ (it may be new t'ye),
Are "TRUE EDITIONS:"--odd,--but _so_ 'tis.

Let us proceed to see whether this biting satire be founded
upon truth, or not. Accidental variations from the common
impressions of