ulloigne' selling for 18s., 'being K. Edwarde the IVth's owne
booke,' and the 'Booke of Good Manners,' for 2s.; the highest price in
the entire sale being given for Holinshed's 'Chronicle,' 'with the
addition of many sheets that were castrated, being . . . not allowed to
be printed,' L7. Smith left an interesting and valuable obituary list of
certain of his bibliopolic friends (which is reprinted in _Willis'
Current Notes_, February, 1853), one of whom, according to him, was
'buried at St. Bartholomew's, without wine or wafers, only gloves and
rosemary.'

[Illustration: _Little Britain in 1550._]

Dr. Francis Bernard, chief physician to James II., was an indefatigable
book-hunter; being 'a person who collected his books, not for
ostentation or ornament, he seemed no more solicitous about their dress
than his own, and, therefore, you'll find that a gilt back or a large
margin was very seldom an inducement for him to buy. 'Twas sufficient
for him that he had the book.' His library was sold in 1698, and
realized the then enormous sum of L2,000. John Bridges, of Lincoln's
Inn, the historian of Northamptonshire, was a collector who read as well
as bought books; his collection was sold at auction in 1726, when 4,313
lots realized L4,001. Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, was a collector
with comprehensive tastes and almost unlimited means. His collection is
now in the British Museum, and is computed to have numbered about 26,000
volumes, on the binding of only a portion of which he is said to have
expended L18,000, besides a mass of 350,000 pamphlets. Thomas Baker
(1625-1690) bequeathed a portion of his library to St. John's College,
Cambridge, notwithstanding the fact that he was ejected therefrom. He
was an unceasing collector, but his finances were scanty, and, worst of
all, he had to contend with collectors of greater wealth, or
'purse-ability' as Bodley calls it. Writing to Humfrey Wanley, he says:
'I begin to complain of the men of quality who lay out so much for
books, and give such prices that there is nothing to be had for poor
scholars, whereof I have found the effects. When I bid a fair price for
an old book, I am answered, the "quality" will give twice as much, and
so I have done. I have had much ado to pick up a few old books at
tolerable prices, and despair of any more.' About 2,000 of his books
went to St. John's College, and the others were sold by auction, many
bearing the inscription 'Thomas Baker, socius ejec