, one of the founders of the Belgian monarchy, and for many years
Ambassador to the Court of St. James's. M. S. Van de Weyer, who was born
in 1802, and died in 1874, stood in the front rank of modern
bibliophiles, and the magnitude of his collections may be estimated from
the fact that, with town and country house full to overflowing, he had
30,000 volumes in the Pantechnicon when it was burnt down. He was an
indefatigable and discriminating reader as well as a munificent
purchaser. The library is rich in rare editions beautifully bound by men
whose names rank first in the art of bibliopegy. There is a wonderful
collection of fables, and a most complete library of _ana_. The
presentation copies of books are numerous and interesting, bearing as
they do the autographs of individuals famous in politics, literature,
and art. The present owner, who succeeded his father as a member of the
Roxburghe Club, has had the books in the library catalogued, and the
welfare of this noble collection is well thought of.

Both Lord Houghton and Lord Amherst of Hackney possess fine libraries of
rare and interesting books. That of the latter includes a Caxton, 'The
Laste Siege and Conquest of Jherusalem,' 1481; Henry VIII.'s copy of
Erasmus, 'Dialogi,' 1528; the same King's copy of Whytforde's 'The Boke
called the Pype or Toune of the Lyfe of Perfection,' 1532; Grolier's
copies of Stoplerinus, 'Elucidatio fabricae usuque Astrolabii,' 1524, and
of 'Prognosticatio Johannis Liechtenbergers,' 1526; Maioli's copy of
'Clitophonis Narratio Amatoria,' Lyons, 1544; books bound by Nicholas
Eve; early English bindings; and many others. Mr. C. I. Elton, Q.C.,
M.P., has a fine library, of which a _catalogue raisonne_ has been drawn
up and printed. Mr. Charles Butler and Mr. Ingram Bywater possess a
number of interesting and rare books. Many of the more notable specimens
of the bindings in the libraries of the three last-mentioned gentlemen
were exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1891, and are
described in the catalogue.

Mr. Andrew Lang is not only a distinguished bibliophile, but a prolific
writer on the subject of books. He is understood to have an extensive
library of an exceedingly miscellaneous character. He has an especial
liking for books which bear the traces of former distinguished owners.
He himself has pointed out that, 'as a rule, tidy and self-respecting
people do not even write their names on their fly-leaves, still less do
the