are, according to Dibdin, but two known copies extant is a little black-letter tome of 1586, entitled, "A discourse of Englishe Poetrie," etc., one of which was sold in the Duke of Roxburgh's col lection for £64. We might amuse the reader by citing a few of the quaint and alliterative titles of some of the books of these times. Take the following for instance: "A Footpath to Felicitie," "Guide to Godlinesse," " Swarme of Bees," "Plante of Pleasure and Grove of Graces,"-1586. These were most rife in the days of Cromwell. There were many bordering closely on the ludicrous, such as the one styled, "A Pair of Bellows to Blow off the Dust cast upon John Fry;" and a Quaker whese outward man the powers thought proper to imprison, published "A Sigh of Sorrow for the sinners of Zion, breathed out of a hole in the Wall of an Earthen Vessel, known among men by the name of Samuel Fish!" We might multiply the numbers ad libitum; but must content ourselves with adding one or two more. "A Reaping Hook well tempered for the stubburn Ears of the coming Crop, or Biscuits baked in the oven of Charity, carefully conserved for the Chickens of the Church, the Sparrows of the Spirit, and the Sweet Swallows of Salvation." To another we have the following copious description: "Seven Sobs of a Sorrowful Soul for Sin, or the Seven Penitential Psalms of the Princely Prophet David, whereunto are also annexed William Humuis's handful of Honeysuckles, and divers Godly and pithy Ditties, now newly augmented."

An amusing anecdote is recorded of Sixtus V., proving the solecism of Pontifical infallibility:-it ascribes to the pompous edition of the Bible, printed under the immediate inspection of the Pope, in 1590, over two thousand typographical errors, notwithstanding every sheet was submitted to the careful revision of his holiness' infallible eye! Moreover, a severe anathema was by himself appended to the first volume, against any person who should alter or change any portion of the supposed immaculate text, yet so glaring and notorious became the errors aforesaid in process of time, that his successor, Clement VII., first had corrected slips

pasted over them, and afterwards actually had the temerity to cor rect and thoroughly revise the whole in a new edition, thereby virtually ensuring his own excommunication; in addition to which he also annexed another anathema to the like effect.

The Mazarin Bible, so called, on account of its having been found in Cardinal Mazarin's library, is considered to be the very first book ever printed with metal types. The first Bible, of 1462, is an edition which exhibits a matchless effort in the art of printing.

It is a remarkable and interesting fact, that the very first use to which the discovery of printing was applied was the production of the Holy Bible. This was accomplished at Mentz, between the years 1450 and 1455. Gutenberg was the inventor of the art, and Faust, a goldsmith, furnished the necessary funds. This Bible was in two folio volumes, which have been justly praised for the strength and beauty of the paper, the exactness of the register, and the lustre of the ink. The work contained twelve hundred and eighty-two pages, and for a long time after it had been finished and offered for sale, not a human being, save the artists themselves, knew how it had been accomplished. Of the printed Bible, eighteen copies are now known to be in existence, four of which are printed on vellum. Two of these are in England, one being in the Grenville collection. Of the fourteen remaining copies, ten are in England, there being a copy in the libraries of Oxford, Edinburgh, and London, and seven in the collections of different noblemen. The vellum copy has been sold as high as $1300.

There is a Bible still preserved, written on palm-leaves, in the Unviversity of Gottingen, containing 5376 leaves. Another Bible, of the same material, is at Copenhagen. There were also, in Sir Hans Sloane's collection, more than twenty manuscripts, in various languages, on the same material.

At the Chapter House may be seen Doomsday Book, or the Survey of England, made by William the Conqueror, two volumes on vellum of unequal size; deed of resignation of the Scottish Crown to Edward II.; the Charter granted by Alfonso of Castile

to Edward I., on his marriage with Eleanor of Castile, with a solid seal of gold attached; a Treaty of Peace between Henry VIII. and Francis I. of France, with the gold seal attached in high relief, and undercut, supposed to be the work of Benvenuto Cellini. The first book which bears the name of the place where it was printed, and those of the printers, (Faust and Shoeffer, 1457,) was the celebrated Psalter, printed from large cut type. The Litera Indulgentiarum Nicholai V., on a single piece of parchment, was issued two years previously, and is the first instance of a printed book, bearing date: a copy of this work, which is said by Dr. Dibdin to be of inconceivable beauty, is to be found in the celebrated Library at Blenheim.

The names of John Nicholls and John Boydell, who died about the year 1804, take prominent rank among the producers of splendid books ;-they have the credit of having expended the princely sum of £350,000 in fostering and improving the sister arts of painting and engraving. Their magnificent "Shakspeare Gallery" is even to this day a noble monument of their enterprise and skill. The gigantic speculation unfortunately failed, superinducing a loss to its projectors of over £100,000. Every one has heard of Dugdale's "Monasticon Anglicanum," in eight huge folios, which was originally published in fifty-four parts; the entire cost of a large paper copy was £238 10s. Lathan's "History of Birds" was also a very splendid work, in eleven royal quarto volumes, comprising descriptions of above four thousand specimens, illustrated by a series of over two hundred richly-colored embellishments the original publication price was about £50. Murphy's "Arabian Antiquities of Spain" was a beautiful specimen of art; its exquisite line engravings discover wonderful finish: it cost ten thousand guineas in its execution. Again, the splendid ceremonial of the coronation of George IV., under the superintendence of the late Sir George Naylor, of the Herald's College, furnishes another illustrious instance of costly bibliography. Notwithstanding the grant of the government of £5000 towards the expenses. the

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undertaking also was a great pecuniary failure. It contained a series of magnificent paintings of the royal procession, banquet, etc., etc., comprehending faithful portraits of the leading personages, all gorgeously tinted and emblazoned: the sub. scription price of the work was fifty guineas. We might allude to the progresses of Queen Elizabeth and James I., the former in three, and the other four, volumes, royal quarto, both works of repute: but the magnificent work of Pistolesi on the Vatican, in seven royal folios, containing seven hundred large and beautiful engravings, is a still more stupendous affair: as also Napoleon's great work on Egypt, which is a noble monument of art, there being no other of the same description in Europe which will bear any comparison with it. The size and execution of the engravings are such as must always excite admiration; many of the plates being the largest ever produced, and at no other establishment in Europe than the Imperial printing-press at Paris, could it have been brought out on the same gigantic scale.

The bibliographic connoisseur will remember the unique copy of Valdarfer's edition of "Il Decamerone di Boccaccio" of the Roxburgh collection, which once produced the almost incredible sum of over two thousand guineas; the celebrated edition of Livy, exquisitely printed on vellum by Sweynheim, in 1469, which was sold for four hundred and fifty guineas; and the far-famed Greek Testament of Erasmus, printed at Basil, 1519, of which but one copy is now known to exist, being in the cathedral of York, and of which that renowned collector, Sir Mark Sykes, was refused the purchase at the prodigious offer of one thousand guineas. Bodini, the great Italian printer, produced some splendid specimens of his art; some of which are said to be unexcelled by any subsequent efforts. His edition of Walpole's "Castle of Otranto," is one of the loveliest little gems extant; the plates are worked on white satin, and the text on the purest vellum. His chief d'œuvre was his "Homer," in three folio volumes: it was the work of six years.

Young's "Museum Worsleyanum" cost £27,000 in its production;

it was never published, although a copy has been purchased at £400. A few years ago, a typographical wonder was exhibited in London, being a sumptuous edition of the New Testament, printed in gold, on porcelain paper of most immaculate beauty, and, for the first time, on both sides. Two years were occupied in perfecting the work. Only one hundred copies were taken off.

An interesting specimen, which may be known to very few, and which is, for its kind, unsurpassed in the annals of literature, is the great historical work which has recently been completed by the late Mr. Wiffen, the admirable translator of Tasso, and other popular works, which comprises the Bedford Family Records of every descendant of the ancient and distinguished House of Russell, compiled from authentic sources, chiefly in the possession of the family. This very beautiful production, which includes the Portraits of every member of that Peerage, direct and collateral, painted by an artist of some celebrity in his day, (Harding,) is comprised in one folio volume, printed in a style of sumptuous magnificence; a very limited edition of which was printed. The unique bequest by the late Duke of Bedford, under whose personal superintendence it was commenced and completed, was designed by him as an heirloom in the family, and to be deposited in the Library at Woburn Abbey, from whence it was on no account to be removed.

The most costly undertaking ever attempted by a single individual, of a literary character, which unquestionably the world has yet seen, is the magnificent work on the "Aborigines of Mexico," by the late Lord Kingsborough. This stupendous work is said to have been produced at the enormous cost to the author of £30,000, or $150,000. It is comprised in seven immense folio volumes, embellished by about one thousand superb illustrations, colored so exquisitely as to represent the originals with the most faithful exactness. These volumes are of extraordinary dimensions. This unprecedented instance of munificence in the patronage of literature, is rendered the more astonishing from the lamentable fact of