d the sixteenth century, from the accession of
Henry VIII.--when books became the organs of the passions of mankind--to
the death of Elizabeth, is full of intense interest. The old order had
changed; the world itself had made an entirely fresh start. Men and
events of the previous two or three centuries were almost as antique
then as they are to-day, and perhaps in many respects they were
infinitely less clearly understood. As the century grew in age, so the
number of book-collectors increased. The hobby became first a passion
with the few, and then the fashion with the many. Henry VIII. was
perhaps a passive rather than an active collector, with a distinct
leaning in favour of beautiful books. His three children, who followed
him on the throne of England, were collectors of books, and the majority
of their purchases must have been made in London. Many of these books
have, at some time or other, drifted from private hands into the
sale-rooms, but perhaps the majority of those now existing are to be
found within the walls of our public institutions. For example, at the
sale of Dr. Askew's MSS., in 1775, a very interesting item was purchased
by a Mr. Jackson, a Quaker, and a dealer in wine and spirits, with whom
book-collecting was a passion. The MS. proved to be in the handwriting
of Edward VI.; it was in French, and dealt with his opinion of his right
to the title of Supreme Head of the Church. At Jackson's sale the MS.
became the property of the British Museum. As another illustration, we
may refer to the copy of the 'Flores Historiarum per Matthaeum
Westmonasteriensem,' etc., 1570, in the British Museum (Cracherode
Collection) which is the identical one presented by Archbishop Parker
(by whose authority it was published) to Queen Elizabeth. It afterwards
fell into the hands of Francis, Earl of Bedford, who bequeathed it, with
the furniture of a little study, to his secretary. It was subsequently
in the possession of Ritson. And yet again, in the Eton College Library,
there is a copy of the 'Missale Romanum,' printed at Paris by Hardouyn,
1530, which belonged to Mary, with a sentence in her handwriting; this
volume afterwards came into the possession of Mary of Este, Queen of
James II., and subsequently into the hands of a London bookseller, from
whom it was purchased for fifty-three shillings by Bishop Fleetwood, and
presented to the college library. Indeed, a large volume might be
compiled on the Adventures of Some Fam