e folio in delicate and beautifully formed minuscule characters,
with the beginnings of chapters in fine uncials, written in two columns
on the purest vellum. If this magnificent manuscript were now offered
for sale, it would probably realize at least L3,000.

The rise in the value of the First Folio Shakespeare only dates back for
about a century. Beloe, writing in 1806, states that he remembers the
time when a very fine copy could be purchased for five guineas. He
further observes, 'I could once have purchased a superb one for 9
guineas'; and (apparently) this 'superb' example realized 13 guineas at
Dr. Monro's sale in 1792. At the end of the last century it was thought
to have realized the 'top' price with 36 guineas. Dr. Askew had a fine
copy of the Second Folio, which realized at his sale, in 1775, L5
10s.--it had cost 2-1/2 guineas at Dr. Mead's sale--the purchaser being
George Steevens. In this book Charles I. had written these words: 'DUM
SPIRO, SPERO, C. R.,' and Sir Thomas Herbert, to whom the King presented
it the night before his execution, had also written: 'Ex dono
serenissimi Regis Car. servo suo Humiliss. T. Herbert.' Steevens
regarded the amount which he paid for it as 'enormous,' but at his sale
it realized 18 guineas, and was purchased for the King's library, and is
now, with some other books bought by George III., at Windsor. Steevens
supposes that the original edition could not have exceeded 250 copies,
and that L1 was the selling price. Its rarity ten or a dozen years after
its first appearance may be gauged by the fact that Charles I. was
obliged to content himself with a copy of the Second Folio; its rarity
at the present moment will be readily comprehended when it is stated
that during the past ninety years only five or six irreproachable
examples have occurred for sale. The copy for which the Duke of
Roxburghe gave 34 guineas, realized at his sale L100, and passed into
the library of the Duke of Devonshire. The example in the possession of
the Baroness Burdett-Coutts is a very fine one; it was formerly George
Daniel's copy, and realized 682 guineas at his sale in 1864. Height
makes a great difference in the price of a book of this sort. For
example, a good sound example measuring 12-1/4 inches by 8 inches is
worth about L136; another one measuring 13-1/8 by 8-3/8 inches would be
worth L300, and perhaps more. Dibdin, with his usual prophetic
inaccuracy, described the amount (L121 6s.) at which Mr