ll, a London
bookseller, collected upwards of a thousand volumes issued in this
manner, and published a catalogue of his collection, with interesting
notes. This collection was finally sold _en bloc_ to the Library of
Congress at Washington, U.S.A., in 1913. J. Martin's 'Bibliographical
Catalogue of Privately Printed Books' was published first in 1834, two
volumes; but a second edition appeared twenty years later.

[Sidenote: School Books.]

49. The collecting of old School Books is a branch of our hobby that
seldom engages the bibliophile's attention. Doubtless the recollection of
many painful hours spent in their company is responsible for their
neglect. Yet there is a charm about the early-printed Mentors of our
youth which it is impossible to deny, and there is a growing demand for
them--as the booksellers will tell you. The number that has disappeared
from the ken of bibliographer must be large, for it is difficult to
imagine a more unpopular type of book--at least with those who are
obliged to use them; and if your taste has altered to such an extent that
you now desire them above all things, you may reasonably hope to unearth
many a curio.

Our earliest printers were concerned with such works. In 1483 John
Anwykyll's Latin Grammar was printed at Oxford, and we must not forget
Caxton's 'Stans Puer ad Mensam,' put forth in 1478. Pynson issued a
'Promptorium Puerorum sive Medulla Grammaticae' in 1499, and De Worde
printed others. Most of the productions of the famous St. Albans press
were school books, to the annoyance of the boys at the Grammar School
there. Hoole's 'New Discovery of the Old Art of Teaching School' is
understood to have been a most unpopular discovery among his scholars. It
was first printed at London in 1660, and was reprinted in facsimile at
the University Press, Liverpool, in 1913. At the end of this reprint is a
useful bibliography of ancient school books, from the fifteenth to the
eighteenth century.

Hoole's pupils must have been somewhat out of the ordinary. 'N.B.,' he
remarks in 'The Usher's Duty,' 'Those children that are more
industriously willing to thrive, may advantage themselves very much by
perusal of _Gerards Meditations_, _Thomas de Kempis_, _St. Augustins
Soliloquies_, or his _Meditations_, or the like pious and profitable
Books, which they may buy both in English and Latine, and continually
bear about in their pockets, to read on at spare times.' Upon enquiry at
one of our l