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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1302 ***
+
+THE ENEMIES OF BOOKS
+
+By William Blades
+
+
+_Revised and Enlarged by the Author_
+
+SECOND EDITION
+
+LONDON ELLIOT STOCK, 62 PATERNOSTER ROW
+
+1888
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+  ae, L, e, <_:>, OE, <_/_>, '0, and n  "Larsen" encodes.
+  eS = superscripted e (16th cent. english on p9 needs proofed!)
+  <oe > denotes words in 'olde englishe font'
+  "Emphasis" _italics_ have a * mark.
+  Footnotes [#] have not been re-numbered, they are moved to EOParagraph.
+  Greek letters are encoded in <gr > brackets, and the letters are
+  based on Adobe's Symbol font.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+  CHAPTER I.
+
+  FIRE.
+
+  Libraries destroyed by Fire.--Alexandrian.--St. Paul's destruction
+  of MSS., Value of.--Christian books destroyed by Heathens.--Heathen
+  books destroyed by Christians.--Hebrew books burnt at Cremona.--Arabic
+  books at Grenada.--Monastic libraries.--Colton library.--Birmingham
+  riots.--Dr. Priestley's library.--Lord Mansfield's books.--Cowper.
+  --Strasbourg library bombarded.--Offor Collection burnt.--Dutch
+  Church library damaged.--Library of Corporation of London.
+
+  CHAPTER II.
+
+  WATER.
+
+  Heer Hudde's library lost at sea.--Pinelli's library captured
+  by Corsairs.--MSS. destroyed by Mohammed II--Books damaged by
+  rain.--Woffenbuttel.--Vapour and Mould.--Brown stains.--Dr.
+  Dibdin.--Hot water pipes.--Asbestos fire.--Glass doors to bookcases.
+
+  CHAPTER III.
+
+  GAS AND HEAT.
+
+  Effects of Gas on leather.--Necessitates re-binding.--Bookbinders.--Electric
+  light.--British Museum.--Treatment of books.--Legend of Friars and
+  their books.
+
+  CHAPTER IV.
+
+  DUST AND NEGLECT.
+
+  Books should have gilt tops.--Old libraries were neglected.--Instance
+  of a College library.--Clothes brushed in it.--Abuses in French
+  libraries.--Derome's account of them.--Boccaccio's story of
+  library at the Convent of Mount Cassin.
+
+  CHAPTER V.
+
+  IGNORANCE AND BIGOTRY.
+
+  Destruction of Books at the Reformation.--Mazarin library.--Caxton
+  used to light the fire.--Library at French Protestant Church,
+  St. Martin's-le-Grand.--Books stolen.--Story of books from Thonock
+  Hall.--Boke of St. Albans.--Recollet Monks of Antwerp.--Shakespearian
+  "find."--Black-letter books used in W.C.--Gesta Romanorum.--Lansdowne
+  collection.--Warburton.--Tradesman and rare book.--Parish Register.--Story
+  of Bigotry by M. Muller.--Clergymen destroy books.--Patent Office sell
+  books for waste.
+
+  CHAPTER VI.
+
+  THE BOOKWORM.
+
+  Doraston.--Not so destructive as of yore.--Worm won't eat
+  parchment.--Pierre Petit's poem.--Hooke's account and image.--Its
+  natural history neglected.--Various sorts--Attempts to breed
+  Bookworms.--Greek worm.--Havoc made by worms.--Bodleian and Dr.
+  Bandinel.--"Dermestes."--Worm won't eat modern paper.--America
+  comparatively free.--Worm-hole at Philadelphia.
+
+  CHAPTER VII.
+
+  OTHER VERMIN.
+
+  Black-beetle in American libraries.--germanica.--Bug Bible.--Lepisma.
+  --Codfish.--Skeletons of Rats in Abbey library, Westminster.--Niptus
+  hololeucos.--Tomicus Typographicus.--House flies injure books.
+
+  CHAPTER VIII.
+
+  BOOKBINDERS.
+
+  A good binding gives pleasure.--Deadly effects of the "plough" as used
+  by binders.--Not confined to bye-gone times.--Instances of injury.--De
+  Rome, a good binder but a great cropper.--Books "hacked."--Bad
+  lettering--Treasures in book-covers.--Books washed, sized, and
+  mended.--"Cases" often Preferable to re-binding.
+
+  CHAPTER IX.
+
+  COLLECTORS.
+
+  Bagford the biblioclast.--Illustrations torn from MSS.--Title-pages
+  torn from books.--Rubens, his engraved titles.--Colophons torn out of
+  books.--Lincoln Cathedral--Dr. Dibdin's Nosegay.--Theurdanck.--Fragments
+  of MSS.--Some libraries almost useless.--Pepysian.--Teylerian.--Sir
+  Thomas Phillipps.
+
+  CHAPTER X.
+
+  SERVANTS AND CHILDREN.
+
+  Library invaded for the purpose of dusting.--Spring clean.---Dust to be
+  got rid of.--Ways of doing so.--Carefulness praised.--Bad nature of
+  certain books--Metal clasps and rivets.--How to dust.--Children
+  often injure books.--Examples.--Story of boys in a country library.
+
+  POSTSCRIPTUM.
+
+  Anecdote of book-sale in Derbyshire.
+
+  CONCLUSION.
+
+  The care that should be taken of books.--Enjoyment derived from them.
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+  SERVANT USING A "CAXTON" TO LIGHT THE FIRE --- _Frontispiece_,
+
+  PIRATES THROWING LIBRARY OVER-BOARD ---------- page 19
+
+  FRIARS AND THEIR ASS-LOAD -------------------- 35
+
+  BRUSHING CLOTHES IN A COLLEGE LIBRARY -------- 45
+
+  BOOKWORMS ------------------------------------ 73
+
+  RATS DESTROYING BOOKS ------------------------ 99
+
+  HOUSEHOLD FLY-DAMAGE ------------------------- 102
+
+  BOYS RAMPANT IN LIBRARY ---------------------- 141
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ENEMIES OF BOOKS.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. FIRE.
+
+THERE are many of the forces of Nature which tend to injure Books; but
+among them all not one has been half so destructive as Fire. It would
+be tedious to write out a bare list only of the numerous libraries and
+bibliographical treasures which, in one way or another, have been
+seized by the Fire-king as his own. Chance conflagrations, fanatic
+incendiarism, judicial bonfires, and even household stoves have, time
+after time, thinned the treasures as well as the rubbish of past ages,
+until, probably, not one thousandth part of the books that have been are
+still extant. This destruction cannot, however, be reckoned as all loss;
+for had not the "cleansing fires" removed mountains of rubbish from our
+midst, strong destructive measures would have become a necessity from
+sheer want of space in which to store so many volumes.
+
+Before the invention of Printing, books were comparatively scarce; and,
+knowing as we do, how very difficult it is, even after the steam-press
+has been working for half a century, to make a collection of half a
+million books, we are forced to receive with great incredulity the
+accounts in old writers of the wonderful extent of ancient libraries.
+
+The historian Gibbon, very incredulous in many things, accepts without
+questioning the fables told upon this subject. No doubt the libraries
+of MSS. collected generation after generation by the Egyptian Ptolemies
+became, in the course of time, the most extensive ever then known;
+and were famous throughout the world for the costliness of their
+ornamentation, and importance of their untold contents. Two of these
+were at Alexandria, the larger of which was in the quarter called
+Bruchium. These volumes, like all manuscripts of those early ages, were
+written on sheets of parchment, having a wooden roller at each end
+so that the reader needed only to unroll a portion at a time. During
+Caesar's Alexandrian War, B.C. 48, the larger collection was consumed
+by fire and again burnt by the Saracens in A.D. 640. An immense loss was
+inflicted upon mankind thereby; but when we are told of 700,000, or even
+500,000 of such volumes being destroyed we instinctively feel that such
+numbers must be a great exaggeration. Equally incredulous must we be
+when we read of half a million volumes being burnt at Carthage some
+centuries later, and other similar accounts.
+
+Among the earliest records of the wholesale destruction of Books is that
+narrated by St. Luke, when, after the preaching of Paul, many of the
+Ephesians "which used curious arts brought their books together, and
+burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and
+found it 50,000 pieces of silver" (Acts xix, 19). Doubtless these books
+of idolatrous divination and alchemy, of enchantments and witchcraft,
+were righteously destroyed by those to whom they had been and might
+again be spiritually injurious; and doubtless had they escaped the fire
+then, not one of them would have survived to the present time, no MS. of
+that age being now extant. Nevertheless, I must confess to a certain
+amount of mental disquietude and uneasiness when I think of books worth
+50,000 denarii--or, speaking roughly, say L18,750,[1] of our modern
+money being made into bonfires. What curious illustrations of early
+heathenism, of Devil worship, of Serpent worship, of Sun worship, and
+other archaic forms of religion; of early astrological and chemical
+lore, derived from the Egyptians, the Persians, the Greeks; what
+abundance of superstitious observances and what is now termed
+"Folklore"; what riches, too, for the philological student, did those
+many books contain, and how famous would the library now be that could
+boast of possessing but a few of them.
+
+
+[1] The received opinion is that the "pieces of silver" here mentioned
+were Roman denarii, which were the silver pieces then commonly used in
+Ephesus. If now we weigh a denarius against modern silver, it is exactly
+equal to ninepence, and fifty thousand times ninepence gives L1,875.
+It is always a difficult matter to arrive at a just estimate of the
+relative value of the same coin in different ages; but reckoning that
+money then had at least ten times the purchasing value of money now, we
+arrive at what was probably about the value of the magical books burnt,
+viz.: L18,750.
+
+The ruins of Ephesus bear unimpeachable evidence that the City was very
+extensive and had magnificent buildings. It was one of the free cities,
+governing itself. Its trade in shrines and idols was very extensive,
+being spread through all known lands. There the magical arts were
+remarkably prevalent, and notwithstanding the numerous converts made by
+the early Christians, the <gr 'Efesia grammata>, or little scrolls upon
+which magic sentences were written, formed an extensive trade up to
+the fourth century. These "writings" were used for divination, as a
+protection against the "evil eye," and generally as charms against all
+evil. They were carried about the person, so that probably thousands of
+them were thrown into the flames by St. Paul's hearers when his glowing
+words convinced them of their superstition.
+
+Imagine an open space near the grand Temple of Diana, with fine
+buildings around. Slightly raised above the crowd, the Apostle,
+preaching with great power and persuasion concerning superstition, holds
+in thrall the assembled multitude. On the outskirts of the crowd are
+numerous bonfires, upon which Jew and Gentile are throwing into
+the flames bundle upon bundle of scrolls, while an Asiarch with his
+peace-officers looks on with the conventional stolidity of policemen
+in all ages and all nations. It must have been an impressive scene, and
+many a worse subject has been chosen for the walls of the Royal Academy.
+
+Books in those early times, whether orthodox or heterodox, appear to
+have had a precarious existence. The heathens at each fresh outbreak of
+persecution burnt all the Christian writings they could find, and the
+Christians, when they got the upper hand, retaliated with interest upon
+the pagan literature. The Mohammedan reason for destroying books--"If
+they contain what is in the Koran they are superfluous, and if they
+contain anything opposed to it they are immoral," seems, indeed,
+_mutatis mutandis_, to have been the general rule for all such
+devastators.
+
+The Invention of Printing made the entire destruction of any author's
+works much more difficult, so quickly and so extensively did books
+spread through all lands. On the other hand, as books multiplied, so did
+destruction go hand in hand with production, and soon were printed books
+doomed to suffer in the same penal fires, that up to then had been fed
+on MSS. only.
+
+At Cremona, in 1569, 12,000 books printed in Hebrew were publicly burnt
+as heretical, simply on account of their language; and Cardinal Ximenes,
+at the capture of Granada, treated 5,000 copies of the Koran in the same
+way.
+
+At the time of the Reformation in England a great destruction of books
+took place. The antiquarian Bale, writing in 1587, thus speaks of the
+shameful fate of the Monastic libraries:--
+
+
+"A greate nombre of them whyche purchased those superstycyouse mansyons
+(_Monasteries_) reserved of those librarye bookes some to serve their
+jakes, some to scoure theyr candelstyckes, and some to rubbe theyr
+bootes. Some they solde to the grossers and sope sellers, and some they
+sent over see to yeS booke bynders, not in small nombre, but at tymes
+whole shyppes full, to yeS, wonderynge of foren nacyons. Yea yeS.
+Universytees of thys realme are not alle clere in thys detestable fact.
+But cursed is that bellye whyche seketh to be fedde with suche ungodlye
+gaynes, and so depelye shameth hys natural conterye. I knowe a merchant
+manne, whych shall at thys tyme be namelesse, that boughte yeS contentes
+of two noble lybraryes for forty shyllynges pryce: a shame it is to be
+spoken. Thys stuffe hathe heoccupyed in yeS stede of greye paper, by
+yeS, space of more than these ten yeares, and yet he bathe store ynoughe
+for as manye years to come. A prodygyous example is thys, and to be
+abhorred of all men whyche love theyr nacyon as they shoulde do. The
+monkes kepte them undre dust, yeS, ydle-headed prestes regarded them
+not, theyr latter owners have most shamefully abused them, and yeS
+covetouse merchantes have solde them away into foren nacyons for
+moneye."
+
+
+How the imagination recoils at the idea of Caxton's translation of the
+Metamorphoses of Ovid, or perhaps his "Lyf of therle of Oxenforde,"
+together with many another book from our first presses, not a fragment
+of which do we now possess, being used for baking "pyes."
+
+At the Great Fire of London in 1666, the number of books burnt was
+enormous. Not only in private houses and Corporate and Church libraries
+were priceless collections reduced to cinders, but an immense stock
+of books removed from Paternoster Row by the Stationers for safety was
+burnt to ashes in the vaults of St. Paul's Cathedral.
+
+Coming nearer to our own day, how thankful we ought to be for the
+preservation of the Cotton Library. Great was the consternation in the
+literary world of 1731 when they heard of the fire at Ashburnham House,
+Westminster, where, at that time, the Cotton MSS. were deposited. By
+great exertions the fire was conquered, but not before many MSS. had
+been quite destroyed and many others injured. Much skill was shown
+in the partial restoration of these books, charred almost beyond
+recognition; they were carefully separated leaf by leaf, soaked in a
+chemical solution, and then pressed flat between sheets of transparent
+paper. A curious heap of scorched leaves, previous to any treatment, and
+looking like a monster wasps' nest, may be seen in a glass case in the
+MS. department of the British Museum, showing the condition to which
+many other volumes had been reduced.
+
+Just a hundred years ago the mob, in the "Birmingham Riots," burnt the
+valuable library of Dr. Priestley, and in the "Gordon Riots" were burnt
+the literary and other collections of Lord Mansfield, the celebrated
+judge, he who had the courage first to decide that the Slave who reached
+the English shore was thenceforward a free man. The loss of the latter
+library drew from the poet Cowper two short and weak poems. The poet
+first deplores the destruction of the valuable printed books, and then
+the irretrievable loss to history by the burning of his Lordship's many
+personal manuscripts and contemporary documents.
+
+      "Their pages mangled, burnt and torn,
+          The loss was his alone;
+      But ages yet to come shall mourn
+          The burning of his own."
+
+
+The second poem commences with the following doggerel:--
+
+      "When Wit and Genius meet their doom
+          In all-devouring Flame,
+      They tell us of the Fate of Rome
+          And bid us fear the same."
+
+
+The much finer and more extensive library of Dr. Priestley was left
+unnoticed and unlamented by the orthodox poet, who probably felt a
+complacent satisfaction at the destruction of heterodox books, the owner
+being an Unitarian Minister.
+
+The magnificent library of Strasbourg was burnt by the shells of the
+German Army in 1870. Then disappeared for ever, together with other
+unique documents, the original records of the famous law-suits between
+Gutenberg, one of the first Printers, and his partners, upon the right
+understanding of which depends the claim of Gutenberg to the invention
+of the Art. The flames raged between high brick walls, roaring louder
+than a blast furnace. Seldom, indeed, have Mars and Pluto had so dainty
+a sacrifice offered at their shrines; for over all the din of battle,
+and the reverberation of monster artillery, the burning leaves of the
+first printed Bible and many another priceless volume were wafted into
+the sky, the ashes floating for miles on the heated air, and carrying
+to the astonished countryman the first news of the devastation of his
+Capital.
+
+When the Offor Collection was put to the hammer by Messrs Sotheby and
+Wilkinson, the well-known auctioneers of Wellington Street, and when
+about three days of the sale had been gone through, a Fire occurred in
+the adjoining house, and, gaining possession of the Sale Rooms, made a
+speedy end of the unique Bunyan and other rarities then on show. I was
+allowed to see the Ruins on the following day, and by means of a ladder
+and some scrambling managed to enter the Sale Room where parts of the
+floor still remained. It was a fearful sight those scorched rows of
+Volumes still on the shelves; and curious was it to notice how the
+flames, burning off the backs of the books first, had then run up behind
+the shelves, and so attacked the fore-edge of the volumes standing upon
+them, leaving the majority with a perfectly untouched oval centre of
+white paper and plain print, while the whole surrounding parts were but
+a mass of black cinders. The salvage was sold in one lot for a small
+sum, and the purchaser, after a good deal of sorting and mending and
+binding placed about 1,000 volumes for sale at Messrs. Puttick and
+Simpson's in the following year.
+
+So, too, when the curious old Library which was in a gallery of the
+Dutch Church, Austin Friars, was nearly destroyed in the fire which
+devastated the Church in 1862, the books which escaped were sadly
+injured. Not long before I had spent some hours there hunting for
+English Fifteenth-century Books, and shall never forget the state of
+dirt in which I came away. Without anyone to care for them, the books
+had remained untouched for many a decade-damp dust, half an inch thick,
+having settled upon them! Then came the fire, and while the roof was
+all ablaze streams of hot water, like a boiling deluge, washed down upon
+them. The wonder was they were not turned into a muddy pulp. After all
+was over, the whole of the library, no portion of which could legally be
+given away, was _lent for ever_ to the Corporation of London. Scorched
+and sodden, the salvage came into the hands of Mr. Overall, their
+indefatigable librarian. In a hired attic, he hung up the volumes that
+would bear it over strings like clothes, to dry, and there for weeks and
+weeks were the stained, distorted volumes, often without covers, often
+in single leaves, carefully tended and dry-nursed. Washing, sizing,
+pressing, and binding effected wonders, and no one who to-day looks
+upon the attractive little alcove in the Guildhall Library labelled
+<oe "Bibliotheca Ecclesiae Londonino-Belgiae"> and sees the rows of
+handsomely-lettered backs, could imagine that not long ago this, the
+most curious portion of the City's literary collections, was in a state
+when a five-pound note would have seemed more than full value for the
+lot.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. WATER.
+
+NEXT to Fire we must rank Water in its two forms, liquid and vapour, as
+the greatest destroyer of books. Thousands of volumes have been actually
+drowned at Sea, and no more heard of them than of the Sailors to whose
+charge they were committed. D'Israeli narrates that, about the year
+1700, Heer Hudde, an opulent burgomaster of Middleburgh, travelled for
+30 years disguised as a mandarin, throughout the length and breadth of
+the Celestial Empire. Everywhere he collected books, and his extensive
+literary treasures were at length safely shipped for transmission to
+Europe, but, to the irreparable loss of his native country, they never
+reached their destination, the vessel having foundered in a storm.
+
+In 1785 died the famous Maffei Pinelli, whose library was celebrated
+throughout the world. It had been collected by the Pinelli family for
+many generations and comprised an extraordinary number of Greek, Latin,
+and Italian works, many of them first editions, beautifully illuminated,
+together with numerous MSS. dating from the 11th to the 16th century.
+The whole library was sold by the Executors to Mr. Edwards, bookseller,
+of Pall Mall, who placed the volumes in three vessels for transport from
+Venice to London. Pursued by Corsairs, one of the vessels was captured,
+but the pirate, disgusted at not finding any treasure, threw all the
+books into the sea. The other two vessels escaped and delivered
+their freight safely, and in 1789-90 the books which had been so near
+destruction were sold at the great room in Conduit Street, for more than
+L9,000.
+
+These pirates were more excusable than Mohammed II who, upon the capture
+of Constantinople in the 15th century, after giving up the devoted city
+to be sacked by his licentious soldiers, ordered the books in all
+the churches as well as the great library of the Emperor Constantine,
+containing 120,000 Manuscripts, to be thrown into the sea.
+
+In the shape of rain, water has frequently caused irreparable injury.
+Positive wet is fortunately of rare occurrence in a library, but is very
+destructive when it does come, and, if long continued, the substance of
+the paper succumbs to the unhealthy influence and rots and rots until
+all fibre disappears, and the paper is reduced to a white decay which
+crumbles into powder when handled.
+
+Few old libraries in England are now so thoroughly neglected as they
+were thirty years ago. The state of many of our Collegiate and Cathedral
+libraries was at that time simply appalling. I could mention many
+instances, one especially, where a window having been left broken for
+a long time, the ivy had pushed through and crept over a row of books,
+each of which was worth hundreds of pounds. In rainy weather the water
+was conducted, as by a pipe, along the tops of the books and soaked
+through the whole.
+
+In another and smaller collection, the rain came straight on to a
+book-case through a sky-light, saturating continually the top shelf
+containing Caxtons and other early English books, one of which, although
+rotten, was sold soon after by permission of the Charity Commissioners
+for L200.
+
+Germany, too, the very birth-place of Printing, allows similar
+destruction to go on unchecked, if the following letter, which appeared
+about a Year ago (1879) in the _Academy_ has any truth in it:--
+
+
+"For some time past the condition of the library at Wolfenbuttel has
+been most disgraceful. The building is in so unsafe a condition
+that portions of the walls and ceilings have fallen in, and the many
+treasures in Books and MSS. contained in it are exposed to damp and
+decay. An appeal has been issued that this valuable collection may not
+be allowed to perish for want of funds, and that it may also be now at
+length removed to Brunswick, since Wolfenbuttel is entirely deserted as
+an intellectual centre. No false sentimentality regarding the memory of
+its former custodians, Leibnitz and Lessing, should hinder this project.
+Lessing himself would have been the first to urge that the library and
+its utility should be considered above all things."
+
+
+The collection of books at Wolfenbuttel is simply magnificent, and I
+cannot but hope the above report was exaggerated. Were these books to
+be injured for the want of a small sum spent on the roof, it would be a
+lasting disgrace to the nation. There are so many genuine book-lovers
+in Fatherland that the commission of such a crime would seem incredible,
+did not bibliographical history teem with similar desecrations.[1]
+
+
+[1] This was written in 1879, since which time a new building has been
+erected.
+
+
+Water in the form of vapour is a great enemy of books, the damp
+attacking both outside and inside. Outside it fosters the growth of a
+white mould or fungus which vegetates upon the edges of the leaves, upon
+the sides and in the joints of the binding. It is easily wiped off, but
+not without leaving a plain mark, where the mould-spots have been. Under
+the microscope a mould-spot is seen to be a miniature forest of lovely
+trees, covered with a beautiful white foliage, upas trees whose roots
+are embedded in the leather and destroy its texture.
+
+Inside the book, damp encourages the growth of those ugly brown spots
+which so often disfigure prints and "livres de luxe." Especially
+it attacks books printed in the early part of this century, when
+paper-makers had just discovered that they could bleach their rags,
+and perfectly white paper, well pressed after printing, had become the
+fashion. This paper from the inefficient means used to neutralise the
+bleach, carried the seeds of decay in itself, and when exposed to any
+damp soon became discoloured with brown stains. Dr. Dibdin's extravagant
+bibliographical works are mostly so injured; and although the Doctor's
+bibliography is very incorrect, and his spun-out inanities and
+wearisome affectations often annoy one, yet his books are so beautifully
+illustrated, and he is so full of personal anecdote and chit chat, that
+it grieves the heart to see "foxey" stains common in his most superb
+works.
+
+In a perfectly dry and warm library these spots would probably remain
+undeveloped, but many endowed as well as private libraries are not in
+daily use, and are often injured from a false idea that a hard frost and
+prolonged cold do no injury to a library so long as the weather is dry.
+The fact is that books should never be allowed to get really cold, for
+when a thaw comes and the weather sets in warm, the air, laden with
+damp, penetrates the inmost recesses, and working its way between the
+volumes and even between the leaves, deposits upon their cold surface
+its moisture. The best preventative of this is a warm atmosphere during
+the frost, sudden heating when the frost has gone being useless.
+
+Our worst enemies are sometimes our real friends, and perhaps the best
+way of keeping libraries entirely free from damp is to circulate our
+enemy in the shape of hot water through pipes laid under the floor. The
+facilities now offered for heating such pipes from the outside are so
+great, the expense comparatively so small, and the direct gain in the
+expulsion of damp so decided, that where it can be accomplished without
+much trouble it is well worth the doing.
+
+At the same time no system of heating should be allowed to supersede the
+open grate, which supplies a ventilation to the room as useful to the
+health of the books as to the health of the occupier. A coal fire is
+objectionable on many grounds. It is dangerous, dirty and dusty. On the
+other hand an asbestos fire, where the lumps are judiciously laid,
+gives all the warmth and ventilation of a common fire without any of its
+annoyances; and to any one who loves to be independent of servants, and
+to know that, however deeply he may sleep over his "copy," his fire will
+not fail to keep awake, an asbestos stove is invaluable.
+
+It is a mistake also to imagine that keeping the best bound volumes in
+a glass doored book-case is a preservative. The damp air will certainly
+penetrate, and as the absence of ventilation will assist the formation
+of mould, the books will be worse off than if they had been placed in
+open shelves. If security be desirable, by all means abolish the glass
+and place ornamental brass wire-work in its stead. Like the writers of
+old Cookery Books who stamped special receipts with the testimony of
+personal experience, I can say "probatum est."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. GAS AND HEAT.
+
+WHAT a valuable servant is Gas, and how dreadfully we should cry out
+were it to be banished from our homes; and yet no one who loves his
+books should allow a single jet in his library, unless, indeed he can
+afford a "sun light," which is the form in which it is used in some
+public libraries, where the whole of the fumes are carried at once into
+the open air.
+
+Unfortunately, I can speak from experience of the dire effect of gas
+in a confined space. Some years ago when placing the shelves round the
+small room, which, by a euphemism, is called my library, I took the
+precaution of making two self-acting ventilators which communicated
+directly with the outer air just under the ceiling. For economy of space
+as well as of temper (for lamps of all kinds are sore trials), I had a
+gasalier of three lights over the table. The effect was to cause great
+heat in the upper regions, and in the course of a year or two the
+leather valance which hung from the window, as well as the fringe which
+dropped half-an-inch from each shelf to keep out the dust, was just like
+tinder, and in some parts actually fell to the ground by its own weight;
+while the backs of the books upon the top shelves were perished, and
+crumbled away when touched, being reduced to the consistency of Scotch
+snuff. This was, of course, due to the sulphur in the gas fumes. I
+remember having a book some years ago from the top shelf in the library
+of the London Institution, where gas is used, and the whole of the back
+fell off in my hands, although the volume in other respects seemed quite
+uninjured. Thousands more were in a similar plight.
+
+As the paper of the volumes is uninjured, it might be objected that,
+after all, gas is not so much the enemy of the book itself as of its
+covering; but then, re-binding always leaves a book smaller, and often
+deprives it of leaves at the beginning or end, which the binder's wisdom
+has thought useless. Oh! the havoc I have seen committed by binders.
+You may assume your most impressive aspect--you may write down your
+instructions as if you were making your last will and testament--you may
+swear you will not pay if your books are ploughed--'tis all in vain--the
+creed of a binder is very short, and comprised in a single article, and
+that article is the one vile word "Shavings." But not now will I follow
+this depressing subject; binders, as enemies of books, deserve, and
+shall have, a whole chapter to themselves.
+
+It is much easier to decry gas than to find a remedy. Sun lights require
+especial arrangements, and are very expensive on account of the quantity
+of gas consumed. The library illumination of the future promises to be
+the electric light. If only steady and moderate in price, it would be a
+great boon to public libraries, and perhaps the day is not far distant
+when it will replace gas, even in private houses. That will, indeed, be
+a day of jubilee to the literary labourer. The injury done by gas is so
+generally acknowledged by the heads of our national libraries, that
+it is strictly excluded from their domains, although the danger from
+explosion and fire, even if the results of combustion were innocuous,
+would be sufficient cause for its banishment.
+
+The electric light has been in use for some months in the Reading Room
+of the British Museum, and is a great boon to the readers. The light is
+not quite equally diffused, and you must choose particular positions
+if you want to work happily. There is a great objection, too, in the
+humming fizz which accompanies the action of the electricity. There is a
+still greater objection when small pieces of hot chalk fall on your
+bald head, an annoyance which has been lately (1880) entirely removed
+by placing a receptacle beneath each burner. You require also to become
+accustomed to the whiteness of the light before you can altogether
+forget it. But with all its faults it confers a great boon upon
+students, enabling them not only to work three hours longer in the
+winter-time, but restoring to them the use of foggy and dark days, in
+which formerly no book-work at all could be pursued.[1]
+
+
+[1] 1887. The system in use is still "Siemens," but, owing to long
+experience and improvements, is not now open to the above objections.
+
+Heat alone, without any noxious fumes, is, if continuous, very injurious
+to books, and, without gas, bindings may be utterly destroyed by
+desiccation, the leather losing all its natural oils by long exposure
+to much heat. It is, therefore, a great pity to place books high up in
+a room where heat of any kind is as it must rise to the top, and if
+sufficient to be of comfort to the readers below, is certain to be hot
+enough above to injure the bindings.
+
+The surest way to preserve your books in health is to treat them as
+you would your own children, who are sure to sicken if confined in an
+atmosphere which is impure, too hot, too cold, too damp, or too dry. It
+is just the same with the progeny of literature.
+
+If any credence may be given to Monkish legends, books have sometimes
+been preserved in this world, only to meet a desiccating fate in the
+world to come. The story is probably an invention of the enemy to throw
+discredit on the learning and ability of the preaching Friars, an Order
+which was at constant war with the illiterate secular Clergy. It runs
+thus:--"In the year 1439, two Minorite friars who had all their lives
+collected books, died. In accordance with popular belief, they were at
+once conducted before the heavenly tribunal to hear their doom, taking
+with them two asses laden with books. At Heaven's gate the porter
+demanded, 'Whence came ye?' The Minorites replied 'From a monastery of
+St. Francis.' 'Oh!' said the porter, 'then St. Francis shall be your
+judge.' So that saint was summoned, and at sight of the friars and their
+burden demanded who they were, and why they had brought so many books
+with them. 'We are Minorites,' they humbly replied, 'and we have brought
+these few books with us as a solatium in the new Jerusalem.' 'And you,
+when on earth, practised the good they teach?' sternly demanded the
+saint, who read their characters at a glance. Their faltering reply
+was sufficient, and the blessed saint at once passed judgment as
+follows:--'Insomuch as, seduced by a foolish vanity, and against your
+vows of poverty, you have amassed this multitude of books and thereby
+and therefor have neglected the duties and broken the rules of your
+Order, you are now sentenced to read your books for ever and ever in
+the fires of Hell.' Immediately, a roaring noise filled the air, and a
+flaming chasm opened in which friars, and asses and books were suddenly
+engulphed."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. DUST AND NEGLECT.
+
+DUST upon Books to any extent points to neglect, and neglect means more
+or less slow Decay.
+
+A well-gilt top to a book is a great preventive against damage by dust,
+while to leave books with rough tops and unprotected is sure to produce
+stains and dirty margins.
+
+In olden times, when few persons had private collections of books, the
+collegiate and corporate libraries were of great use to students.
+The librarians' duties were then no sinecure, and there was little
+opportunity for dust to find a resting-place. The Nineteenth Century
+and the Steam Press ushered in a new era. By degrees the libraries which
+were unendowed fell behind the age, and were consequently neglected.
+No new works found their way in, and the obsolete old books were left
+uncared for and unvisited. I have seen many old libraries, the doors of
+which remained unopened from week's end to week's end; where you inhaled
+the dust of paper-decay with every breath, and could not take up a book
+without sneezing; where old boxes, full of older literature, served as
+preserves for the bookworm, without even an autumn "battue" to thin the
+breed. Occasionally these libraries were (I speak of thirty years ago)
+put even to vile uses, such as would have shocked all ideas of propriety
+could our ancestors have foreseen their fate.
+
+I recall vividly a bright summer morning many years ago, when, in search
+of Caxtons, I entered the inner quadrangle of a certain wealthy College
+in one of our learned Universities. The buildings around were charming
+in their grey tones and shady nooks. They had a noble history, too, and
+their scholarly sons were (and are) not unworthy successors of their
+ancestral renown. The sun shone warmly, and most of the casements were
+open. From one came curling a whiff of tobacco; from another the hum
+of conversation; from a third the tones of a piano. A couple of
+undergraduates sauntered on the shady side, arm in arm, with broken caps
+and torn gowns--proud insignia of their last term. The grey stone walls
+were covered with ivy, except where an old dial with its antiquated
+Latin inscription kept count of the sun's ascent. The chapel on one
+side, only distinguishable from the "rooms" by the shape of its windows,
+seemed to keep watch over the morality of the foundation, just as the
+dining-hall opposite, from whence issued a white-aproned cook, did
+of its worldly prosperity. As you trod the level pavement, you passed
+comfortable--nay, dainty--apartments, where lace curtains at the
+windows, antimacassars on the chairs, the silver biscuit-box and the
+thin-stemmed wine-glass moderated academic toils. Gilt-backed books on
+gilded shelf or table caught the eye, and as you turned your glance from
+the luxurious interiors to the well-shorn lawn in the Quad., with its
+classic fountain also gilded by sunbeams, the mental vision saw plainly
+written over the whole "The Union of Luxury and Learning."
+
+Surely here, thought I, if anywhere, the old world literature will be
+valued and nursed with gracious care; so with a pleasing sense of the
+general congruity of all around me, I enquired for the rooms of the
+librarian. Nobody seemed to be quite sure of his name, or upon whom the
+bibliographical mantle had descended. His post, it seemed, was honorary
+and a sinecure, being imposed, as a rule, upon the youngest "Fellow."
+No one cared for the appointment, and as a matter of course the keys
+of office had but distant acquaintance with the lock. At last I was
+rewarded with success, and politely, but mutely, conducted by the
+librarian into his kingdom of dust and silence. The dark portraits of
+past benefactors looked after us from their dusty old frames in dim
+astonishment as we passed, evidently wondering whether we meant "work";
+book-decay--that peculiar flavour which haunts certain libraries--was
+heavy in the air, the floor was dusty, making the sunbeams as we passed
+bright with atoms; the shelves were dusty, the "stands" in the middle
+were thick with dust, the old leather table in the bow window, and
+the chairs on either side, were very dusty. Replying to a question,
+my conductor thought there was a manuscript catalogue of the Library
+somewhere, but thought, also, that it was not easy to find any books
+by it, and he knew not at the minute where to put his hand upon it. The
+Library, he said, was of little use now, as the Fellows had their own
+books and very seldom required 17th and 18th century editions, and no
+new books had been added to the collection for a long time.
+
+We passed down a few steps into an inner library where piles of early
+folios were wasting away on the ground. Beneath an old ebony table were
+two long carved oak chests. I lifted the lid of one, and at the top
+was a once-white surplice covered with dust, and beneath was a mass of
+tracts--Commonwealth quartos, unbound--a prey to worms and decay. All
+was neglect. The outer door of this room, which was open, was nearly on
+a level with the Quadrangle; some coats, and trousers, and boots were
+upon the ebony table, and a "gyp" was brushing away at them just within
+the door--in wet weather he performed these functions entirely within
+the library--as innocent of the incongruity of his position as my guide
+himself. Oh! Richard of Bury, I sighed, for a sharp stone from your
+sling to pierce with indignant sarcasm the mental armour of these
+College dullards.
+
+Happily, things are altered now, and the disgrace of such neglect no
+longer hangs on the College. Let us hope, in these days of revived
+respect for antiquity, no other College library is in a similar plight.
+
+Not Englishmen alone are guilty, however, of such unloving treatment
+of their bibliographical treasures. The following is translated from an
+interesting work just published in Paris,[1] and shows how, even at this
+very time, and in the centre of the literary activity of France, books
+meet their fate.
+
+
+[1] Le luxe des Livres par L. Derome. 8vo, Paris, 1879.
+
+M. Derome loquitur:--
+
+
+"Let us now enter the communal library of some large provincial town.
+The interior has a lamentable appearance; dust and disorder have made it
+their home. It has a librarian, but he has the consideration of a porter
+only, and goes but once a week to see the state of the books committed
+to his care; they are in a bad state, piled in heaps and perishing in
+corners for want of attention and binding. At this present time (1879)
+more than one public library in Paris could be mentioned in which
+thousands of books are received annually, all of which will have
+disappeared in the course of 50 years or so for want of binding; there
+are rare books, impossible to replace, falling to pieces because no care
+is given to them, that is to say, they are left unbound, a prey to dust
+and the worm, and cannot be touched without dismemberment."
+
+"All history shows that this neglect belongs not to any particular age or
+nation. I extract the following story from Edmond Werdet's Histoire du
+Livre."[1]
+
+
+[1] "Histoire du Livre en France," par E. Werdet. 8vo, Paris, 1851.
+
+
+"The Poet Boccaccio, when travelling in Apulia, was anxious to visit the
+celebrated Convent of Mount Cassin, especially to see its library, of
+which he had heard much. He accosted, with great courtesy, one of
+the monks whose countenance attracted him, and begged him to have the
+kindness to show him the library. 'See for yourself,' said the monk,
+brusquely, pointing at the same time to an old stone staircase, broken
+with age. Boccaccio hastily mounted in great joy at the prospect of a
+grand bibliographical treat. Soon he reached the room, which was
+without key or even door as protection to its treasures. What was his
+astonishment to see that the grass growing in the window-sills actually
+darkened the room, and that all the books and seats were an inch thick
+in dust. In utter astonishment he lifted one book after another.
+All were manuscripts of extreme antiquity, but all were dreadfully
+dilapidated. Many had lost whole sections which had been violently
+extracted, and in many all the blank margins of the vellum had been cut
+away. In fact, the mutilation was thorough.
+
+"Grieved at seeing the work and the wisdom of so many illustrious men
+fallen into the hands of custodians so unworthy, Boccaccio descended
+with tears in his eyes. In the cloisters he met another monk, and
+enquired of him how the MSS. had become so mutilated. 'Oh!' he replied,
+'we are obliged, you know, to earn a few sous for our needs, so we cut
+away the blank margins of the manuscripts for writing upon, and make of
+them small books of devotion, which we sell to women and children."
+
+As a postscript to this story, Mr. Timmins, of Birmingham, informs me
+that the treasures of the Monte Cassino Library are better cared for now
+than in Boccaccio's days, the worthy prior being proud of his valuable
+MSS. and very willing to show them. It will interest many readers to
+know that there is now a complete printing office, lithographic as well
+as typographic, at full work in one large room of the Monastery, where
+their wonderful MS. of Dante has been already reprinted, and where other
+fac-simile works are now in progress.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. IGNORANCE AND BIGOTRY.
+
+IGNORANCE, though not in the same category as fire and water, is a great
+destroyer of books. At the Reformation so strong was the antagonism of
+the people generally to anything like the old idolatry of the Romish
+Church, that they destroyed by thousands books, secular as well as
+sacred, if they contained but illuminated letters. Unable to read, they
+saw no difference between romance and a psalter, between King Arthur
+and King David; and so the paper books with all their artistic ornaments
+went to the bakers to heat their ovens, and the parchment manuscripts,
+however beautifully illuminated, to the binders and boot makers.
+
+There is another kind of ignorance which has often worked destruction,
+as shown by the following anecdote, which is extracted from a
+letter written in 1862 by M. Philarete Chasles to Mr. B. Beedham, of
+Kimbolton:--
+
+
+"Ten years ago, when turning out an old closet in the Mazarin Library,
+of which I am librarian, I discovered at the bottom, under a lot of old
+rags and rubbish, a large volume. It had no cover nor title-page, and
+had been used to light the fires of the librarians. This shows how great
+was the negligence towards our literary treasure before the Revolution;
+for the pariah volume, which, 60 years before, had been placed in the
+Invalides, and which had certainly formed part of the original Mazarin
+collections, turned out to be a fine and genuine Caxton."
+
+
+I saw this identical volume in the Mazarin Library in April, 1880. It is
+a noble copy of the First Edition of the "Golden Legend," 1483, but of
+course very imperfect.
+
+Among the millions of events in this world which cross and re-cross one
+another, remarkable coincidences must often occur; and a case exactly
+similar to that at the Mazarin Library, happened about the same time
+in London, at the French Protestant Church, St. Martin's-le-Grand. Many
+years ago I discovered there, in a dirty pigeon hole close to the grate
+in the vestry, a fearfully mutilated copy of Caxton's edition of the
+Canterbury Tales, with woodcuts. Like the book at Paris, it had long
+been used, leaf by leaf, in utter ignorance of its value, to light the
+vestry fire. Originally worth at least L800, it was then worth half,
+and, of course, I energetically drew the attention of the minister in
+charge to it, as well as to another grand Folio by Rood and Hunte, 1480.
+Some years elapsed, and then the Ecclesiastical Commissioners took the
+foundation in hand, but when at last Trustees were appointed, and the
+valuable library was re-arranged and catalogued, this "Caxton," together
+with the fine copy of "Latterbury" from the first Oxford Press, had
+disappeared entirely. Whatever ignorance may have been displayed in the
+mutilation, quite another word should be applied to the disappearance.
+
+The following anecdote is so _apropos_, that although it has lately
+appeared in No. 1 of _The Antiquary_, I cannot resist the temptation of
+re-printing it, as a warning to inheritors of old libraries. The account
+was copied by me years ago from a letter written in 1847, by the Rev. C.
+F. Newmarsh, Rector of Pelham, to the Rev. S. R. Maitland, Librarian to
+the Archbishop of Canterbury, and is as follows:--
+
+
+"In June, 1844, a pedlar called at a cottage in Blyton and asked an old
+widow, named Naylor, whether she had any rags to sell. She answered, No!
+but offered him some old paper, and took from a shelf the 'Boke of St.
+Albans' and others, weighing 9 lbs., for which she received 9_d_. The
+pedlar carried them through Gainsborough tied up in string, past a
+chemist's shop, who, being used to buy old paper to wrap his drugs in,
+called the man in, and, struck by the appearance of the 'Boke,' gave him
+3_s_. for the lot. Not being able to read the Colophon, he took it to an
+equally ignorant stationer, and offered it to him for a guinea, at which
+price he declined it, but proposed that it should be exposed in his
+window as a means of eliciting some information about it. It was
+accordingly placed there with this label, 'Very old curious work.'
+A collector of books went in and offered half-a-crown for it, which
+excited the suspicion of the vendor. Soon after Mr. Bird, Vicar of
+Gainsborough, went in and asked the price, wishing to possess a very
+early specimen of printing, but not knowing the value of the book. While
+he was examining it, Stark, a very intelligent bookseller, came in, to
+whom Mr. Bird at once ceded the right of pre-emption. Stark betrayed
+such visible anxiety that the vendor, Smith, declined setting a price.
+Soon after Sir C. Anderson, of Lea (author of Ancient Models), came in
+and took away the book to collate, but brought it back in the morning
+having found it imperfect in the middle, and offered L5 for it. Sir
+Charles had no book of reference to guide him to its value. But in the
+meantime, Stark had employed a friend to obtain for him the refusal of
+it, and had undertaken to give for it a little more than any sum Sir
+Charles might offer. On finding that at least L5 could be got for it,
+Smith went to the chemist and gave him two guineas, and then sold it to
+Stark's agent for seven guineas. Stark took it to London, and sold it at
+once to the Rt. Hon. Thos. Grenville for seventy pounds or guineas.
+
+"I have now shortly to state how it came that a book without covers of
+such extreme age was preserved. About fifty years since, the library
+of Thonock Hall, in the parish of Gainsborough, the seat of the Hickman
+family, underwent great repairs, the books being sorted over by a most
+ignorant person, whose selection seems to have been determined by
+the coat. All books without covers were thrown into a great heap, and
+condemned to all the purposes which Leland laments in the sack of the
+conventual libraries by the visitors. But they found favour in the eyes
+of a literate gardener, who begged leave to take what he liked home.
+He selected a large quantity of Sermons preached before the House of
+Commons, local pamphlets, tracts from 1680 to 1710, opera books, etc.
+He made a list of them, which I found afterwards in the cottage. In
+the list, No. 43 was 'Cotarmouris,' or the Boke of St. Albans. The old
+fellow was something of a herald, and drew in his books what he held
+to be his coat. After his death, all that could be stuffed into a large
+chest were put away in a garret; but a few favourites, and the 'Boke'
+among them remained on the kitchen shelves for years, till his son's
+widow grew so 'stalled' of dusting them that she determined to sell
+them. Had she been in poverty, I should have urged the buyer, Stark, the
+duty of giving her a small sum out of his great gains."
+
+Such chances as this do not fall to a man's lot twice; but Edmond Werdet
+relates a story very similar indeed, and where also the "plums" fell
+into the lap of a London dealer.
+
+In 1775, the Recollet Monks of Antwerp, wishing to make a reform,
+examined their library, and determined to get rid of about 1,500
+volumes--some manuscript and some printed, but all of which they
+considered as old rubbish of no value.
+
+At first they were thrown into the gardener's rooms; but, after some
+months, they decided in their wisdom to give the whole refuse to the
+gardener as a recognition of his long services.
+
+This man, wiser in his generation than these simple fathers, took the
+lot to M. Vanderberg, an amateur and man of education. M. Vanderberg
+took a cursory view, and then offered to buy them by weight at sixpence
+per pound. The bargain was at once concluded, and M. Vanderberg had the
+books.
+
+Shortly after, Mr. Stark, a well-known London bookseller, being in
+Antwerp, called on M. Vanderberg, and was shown the books. He at once
+offered 14,000 francs for them, which was accepted. Imagine the surprise
+and chagrin of the poor monks when they heard of it! They knew they had
+no remedy, and so dumbfounded were they by their own ignorance, that
+they humbly requested M. Vanderberg to relieve their minds by returning
+some portion of his large gains. He gave them 1,200 francs.
+
+The great Shakespearian and other discoveries, which were found in a
+garret at Lamport Hall in 1867 by Mr. Edmonds, are too well-known and
+too recent to need description. In this case mere chance seems to have
+led to the preservation of works, the very existence of which set the
+ears of all lovers of Shakespeare a-tingling.
+
+In the summer of 1877, a gentleman with whom I was well acquainted took
+lodgings in Preston Street, Brighton. The morning after his arrival,
+he found in the w.c. some leaves of an old black-letter book. He asked
+permission to retain them, and enquired if there were any more where
+they came from. Two or three other fragments were found, and the
+landlady stated that her father, who was fond of antiquities, had at one
+time a chest full of old black-letter books; that, upon his death, they
+were preserved till she was tired of seeing them, and then, supposing
+them of no value, she had used them for waste; that for two years and
+a-half they had served for various household purposes, but she had
+just come to the end of them. The fragments preserved, and now in my
+possession, are a goodly portion of one of the most rare books from the
+press of Wynkyn de Worde, Caxton's successor. The title is a curious
+woodcut with the words "Gesta Romanorum" engraved in an odd-shaped black
+letter. It has also numerous rude wood-cuts throughout. It was from this
+very work that Shakespeare in all probability derived the story of the
+three caskets which in "The Merchant of Venice" forms so integral a
+portion of the plot. Only think of that cloaca being supplied daily with
+such dainty bibliographical treasures!
+
+In the Lansdowne Collection at the British Museum is a volume containing
+three manuscript dramas of Queen Elizabeth's time, and on a fly-leaf
+is a list of fifty-eight plays, with this note at the foot, in the
+handwriting of the well-known antiquary, Warburton:
+
+
+"After I had been many years collecting these Manuscript Playes, through
+my own carelessness and the ignorance of my servant, they was unluckely
+burned or put under pye bottoms."
+
+
+Some of these "Playes" are preserved in print, but others are quite
+unknown and perished for ever when used as "pye-bottoms."
+
+Mr. W. B. Rye, late Keeper of the Printed Books at our great National
+Library, thus writes:--
+
+
+"On the subject of ignorance you should some day, when at the British
+Museum, look at Lydgate's translation of Boccaccio's 'Fall of Princes,'
+printed by Pynson in 1494. It is 'liber rarissimus.' This copy when
+perfect had been very fine and quite uncut. On one fine summer afternoon
+in 1874 it was brought to me by a tradesman living at Lamberhurst. Many
+of the leaves had been cut into squares, and the whole had been rescued
+from a tobacconist's shop, where the pieces were being used to wrap up
+tobacco and snuff. The owner wanted to buy a new silk gown for his wife,
+and was delighted with three guineas for this purpose. You will notice
+how cleverly the British Museum binder has joined the leaves, making it,
+although still imperfect, a fine book."
+
+
+Referring to the carelessness exhibited by some custodians of Parish
+Registers,
+
+Mr. Noble, who has had great experience in such matters, writes:--
+
+
+"A few months ago I wanted a search made of the time of Charles I in
+one of the most interesting registers in a large town (which shall be
+nameless) in England. I wrote to the custodian of it, and asked him
+kindly to do the search for me, and if he was unable to read the names
+to get some one who understood the writing of that date to decipher the
+entries for me. I did not have a reply for a fortnight, but one morning
+the postman brought me a very large unregistered book-packet, which I
+found to be the original Parish Registers! He, however, addressed a note
+with it stating that he thought it best to send me the document itself
+to look at, and begged me to be good enough to return the Register to
+him as soon as done with. He evidently wished to serve me--his ignorance
+of responsibility without doubt proving his kindly disposition, and on
+that account alone I forbear to name him; but I can assure you I was
+heartily glad to have a letter from him in due time announcing that
+the precious documents were once more locked up in the parish chest.
+Certainly, I think such as he to be 'Enemies of books.' Don't you?"
+
+
+Bigotry has also many sins to answer for. The late M. Muller, of
+Amsterdam, a bookseller of European fame, wrote to me as follows a few
+weeks before his death:--
+
+
+"Of course, we also, in Holland, have many Enemies of books, and if I
+were happy enough to have your spirit and style I would try and write
+a companion volume to yours. Now I think the best thing I can do is
+to give you somewhat of my experience. You say that the discovery of
+printing has made the destruction of anybody's books difficult. At this
+I am bound to say that the Inquisition did succeed most successfully, by
+burning heretical books, in destroying numerous volumes invaluable for
+their wholesome contents. Indeed, I beg to state to you the amazing fact
+that here in Holland exists an Ultramontane Society called 'Old
+Paper,' which is under the sanction of the six Catholic Bishops of the
+Netherlands, and is spread over the whole kingdom. The openly-avowed
+object of this Society is to buy up and to destroy as waste paper all
+the Protestant and Liberal Catholic newspapers, pamphlets and books,
+the price of which is offered to the Pope as 'Deniers de St. Pierre.'
+Of course, this Society is very little known among Protestants, and
+many have denied even its existence; but I have been fortunate enough
+to obtain a printed circular issued by one of the Bishops containing
+statistics of the astounding mass of paper thus collected, producing in
+one district alone the sum of L1,200 in three months. I need not tell
+you that this work is strongly promoted by the Catholic clergy. You can
+have no idea of the difficulty we now have in procuring certain books
+published but 30, 40, or 50 years ago of an ephemeral character.
+Historical and theological books are very rare; novels and poetry of
+that period are absolutely not to be found; medical and law books are
+more common. I am bound to say that in no country have more books been
+printed and more destroyed than in Holland. W. MULLER."
+
+The policy of buying up all objectionable literature seems to me, I
+confess, very short-sighted, and in most cases would lead to a greatly
+increased reprint; it certainly would in these latitudes.
+
+From the Church of Rome to the Church of England is no great leap, and
+Mr. Smith, the Brighton bookseller, gives evidence thus:--
+
+
+"It may be worth your while to note that the clergy of the last two
+centuries ought to be included in your list (of Biblioclasts). I have
+had painful experience of the fact in the following manner. Numbers of
+volumes in their libraries have had a few leaves removed, and in many
+others whole sections torn out. I suppose it served their purpose thus
+to use the wisdom of greater men and that they thus economised their own
+time by tearing out portions to suit their purpose. The hardship to the
+trade is this: their books are purchased in good faith as perfect, and
+when resold the buyer is quick to claim damage if found defective, while
+the seller has no redress."
+
+
+Among the careless destroyers of books still at work should be classed
+Government officials. Cart-loads of interesting documents, bound and
+unbound, have been sold at various times as waste-paper,[1] when modern
+red-tape thought them but rubbish. Some of them have been rescued and
+resold at high prices, but some have been lost for ever.
+
+
+[1] Nell Gwyn's private Housekeeping Book was among them, containing
+most curious particulars of what was necessary in the time of Charles I
+for a princely household. Fortunately it was among the rescued, and is
+now in a private library.
+
+
+In 1854 a very interesting series of blue books was commenced by the
+authorities of the Patent Office, of course paid for out of the national
+purse. Beginning with the year 1617 the particulars of every important
+patent were printed from the original specifications and fac-simile
+drawings made, where necessary, for the elucidation of the text. A
+very moderate price was charged for each, only indeed the prime cost
+of production. The general public, of course, cared little for such
+literature, but those interested in the origin and progress of any
+particular art, cared much, and many sets of Patents were purchased by
+those engaged in research. But the great bulk of the stock was, to some
+extent, inconvenient, and so when a removal to other offices, in 1879,
+became necessary, the question arose as to what could be done with them.
+These blue-books, which had cost the nation many thousands of pounds,
+were positively sold to the paper mills as wastepaper, and nearly 100
+tons weight were carted away at about L3 per ton. It is difficult to
+believe, although positively true, that so great an act of vandalism
+could have been perpetrated, even in a Government office. It is true
+that no demand existed for some of them, but it is equally true that
+in numerous cases, especially in the early specifications of the
+steam engine and printing machine, the want of them has caused great
+disappointment. To add a climax to the story, many of the "pulped"
+specifications have had to be reprinted more than once since their
+destruction.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. THE BOOKWORM.
+
+      THERE is a sort of busy worm
+      That will the fairest books deform,
+          By gnawing holes throughout them;
+      Alike, through every leaf they go,
+      Yet of its merits naught they know,
+          Nor care they aught about them.
+
+      Their tasteless tooth will tear and taint
+      The Poet, Patriot, Sage or Saint,
+          Not sparing wit nor learning.
+      Now, if you'd know the reason why,
+      The best of reasons I'll supply;
+          'Tis bread to the poor vermin.
+
+      Of pepper, snuff, or 'bacca smoke,
+      And Russia-calf they make a joke.
+          Yet, why should sons of science
+      These puny rankling reptiles dread?
+      'Tis but to let their books be read,
+          And bid the worms defiance."
+                              J. DORASTON.
+
+A most destructive Enemy of books has been the bookworm. I say "has
+been," because, fortunately, his ravages in all civilised countries have
+been greatly restricted during the last fifty years. This is due partly
+to the increased reverence for antiquity which has been universally
+developed--more still to the feeling of cupidity, which has caused
+all owners to take care of volumes which year by year have become more
+valuable--and, to some considerable extent, to the falling off in the
+production of edible books.
+
+The monks, who were the chief makers as well as the custodians of books,
+through the long ages we call "dark," because so little is known of
+them, had no fear of the bookworm before their eyes, for, ravenous as
+he is and was, he loves not parchment, and at that time paper was not.
+Whether at a still earlier period he attacked the papyrus, the paper of
+the Egyptians, I know not--probably he did, as it was a purely vegetable
+substance; and if so, it is quite possible that the worm of to-day, in
+such evil repute with us, is the lineal descendant of ravenous ancestors
+who plagued the sacred Priests of On in the time of Joseph's Pharaoh, by
+destroying their title deeds and their books of Science.
+
+Rare things and precious, as manuscripts were before the invention of
+typography, are well preserved, but when the printing press was invented
+and paper books were multiplied in the earth; when libraries increased
+and readers were many, then familiarity bred contempt; books were packed
+in out-of-the-way places and neglected, and the oft-quoted, though
+seldom seen, bookworm became an acknowledged tenant of the library, and
+the mortal enemy of the bibliophile.
+
+Anathemas have been hurled against this pest in nearly every European
+language, old and new, and classical scholars of bye-gone centuries have
+thrown their spondees and dactyls at him. Pierre Petit, in 1683, devoted
+a long Latin poem to his dis-praise, and Parnell's charming Ode is well
+known. Hear the poet lament:--
+
+ "Pene tu mihi passerem Catulli,
+ Pene tu mihi Lesbiam abstulisti."
+
+and then--
+
+ "Quid dicam innumeros bene eruditos
+ Quorum tu monumenta tu labores
+     Isti pessimo ventre devorasti?"
+
+while Petit, who was evidently moved by strong personal feelings against
+the "invisum pecus," as he calls him, addresses his little enemy as
+"Bestia audax" and "Pestis chartarum."
+
+But, as a portrait commonly precedes a biography, the curious reader
+may wish to be told what this "Bestia audax," who so greatly ruffles
+the tempers of our eclectics, is like. Here, at starting, is a serious
+chameleon-like difficulty, for the bookworm offers to us, if we are
+guided by their words, as many varieties of size and shape as there are
+beholders.
+
+Sylvester, in his "Laws of Verse," with more words than wit, described
+him as "a microscopic creature wriggling on the learned page, which,
+when discovered, stiffens out into the resemblance of a streak of dirt."
+
+The earliest notice is in "Micrographia," by R. Hooke, folio, London,
+1665. This work, which was printed at the expense of the Royal Society
+of London, is an account of innumerable things examined by the author
+under the microscope, and is most interesting for the frequent accuracy
+of the author's observations, and most amusing for his equally frequent
+blunders.
+
+In his account of the bookworm, his remarks, which are rather long
+and very minute, are absurdly blundering. He calls it "a small white
+Silver-shining Worm or Moth, which I found much conversant among books
+and papers, and is supposed to be that which corrodes and eats holes
+thro' the leaves and covers. Its head appears bigg and blunt, and its
+body tapers from it towards the tail, smaller and smaller, being
+shap'd almost like a carret.... It has two long horns before, which are
+streight, and tapering towards the top, curiously ring'd or knobb'd and
+brisled much like the marsh weed called Horses tail.... The hinder part
+is terminated with three tails, in every particular resembling the two
+longer horns that grow out of the head. The legs are scal'd and hair'd.
+This animal probably feeds upon the paper and covers of books, and
+perforates in them several small round holes, finding perhaps a
+convenient nourishment in those husks of hemp and flax, which have
+passed through so many scourings, washings, dressings, and dryings as
+the parts of old paper necessarily have suffer'd. And, indeed, when I
+consider what a heap of sawdust or chips this little creature (which is
+one of the teeth of Time) conveys into its intrals, I cannot chuse but
+remember and admire the excellent contrivance of Nature in placing in
+animals such a fire, as is continually nourished and supply'd by the
+materials convey'd into the stomach and fomented by the bellows of the
+lungs." The picture or "image," which accompanies this description, is
+wonderful to behold. Certainly R. Hooke, Fellow of the Royal Society,
+drew somewhat upon his imagination here, having apparently evolved both
+engraving and description from his inner consciousness.[1]
+
+
+[1] Not so! Several correspondents have drawn my attention to the
+fact that Hooke is evidently describing the "Lepisma," which, if not
+positively injurious, is often found in the warm places of old houses,
+especially if a little damp. He mistook this for the Bookworm.
+
+
+Entomologists even do not appear to have paid much attention to the
+natural history of the "Worm." Kirby, speaking of it, says, "the
+larvae of Crambus pinguinalis spins a robe which it covers with its own
+excrement, and does no little injury." Again, "I have often observed the
+caterpillar of a little moth that takes its station in damp old books,
+and there commits great ravages, and many a black-letter rarity, which
+in these days of bibliomania would have been valued at its weight in
+gold, has been snatched by these devastators," etc., etc.
+
+As already quoted, Doraston's description is very vague. To him he is
+in one verse "a sort of busy worm," and in another "a puny rankling
+reptile." Hannett, in his work on book-binding, gives "Aglossa
+pinguinalis" as the real name, and Mrs. Gatty, in her Parables,
+christens it "Hypothenemus cruditus."
+
+The, Rev. F. T. Havergal, who many years ago had much trouble with
+bookworms in the Cathedral Library of Hereford, says they are a kind of
+death-watch, with a "hard outer skin, and are dark brown," another sort
+"having white bodies with brown spots on their heads." Mr. Holme, in
+"Notes and Queries" for 1870, states that the "Anobium paniceum" has
+done considerable injury to the Arabic manuscripts brought from Cairo,
+by Burckhardt, and now in the University Library, Cambridge. Other
+writers say "Acarus eruditus" or "Anobium pertinax" are the correct
+scientific names.
+
+Personally, I have come across but few specimens; nevertheless, from
+what I have been told by librarians, and judging from analogy, I imagine
+the following to be about the truth:--
+
+There are several kinds of caterpillar and grub, which eat into books,
+those with legs are the larvae of moths; those without legs, or rather
+with rudimentary legs, are grubs and turn to beetles.
+
+It is not known whether any species of caterpillar or grub can live
+generation after generation upon books alone, but several sorts of
+wood-borers, and others which live upon vegetable refuse, will attack
+paper, especially if attracted in the first place by the real wooden
+boards in which it was the custom of the old book-binders to clothe
+their volumes. In this belief, some country librarians object to opening
+the library windows lest the enemy should fly in from the neighbouring
+woods, and rear a brood of worms. Anyone, indeed, who has seen a hole
+in a filbert, or a piece of wood riddled by dry rot, will recognize a
+similarity of appearance in the channels made by these insect enemies.
+
+Among the paper-eating species are:--
+
+1. The "Anobium." Of this beetle there are varieties, viz.: "A.
+pertinax," "A. eruditus," and "A. paniceum." In the larval state they
+are grubs, just like those found, in nuts; in this stage they are too
+much alike to be distinguished from one another. They feed on old dry
+wood, and often infest bookcases and shelves. They eat the wooden boards
+of old books, and so pass into the paper where they make long holes
+quite round, except when they work in a slanting direction, when the
+holes appear to be oblong. They will thus pierce through several volumes
+in succession, Peignot, the well-known bibliographer, having found
+27 volumes so pierced in a straight line by one worm, a miracle of
+gluttony, the story of which, for myself, I receive "_cum grano salis_."
+After a certain time the larva changes into a pupa, and then emerges as
+a small brown beetle.
+
+2. "Oecophora."--This larva is similar in size to that of Anobium, but
+can be distinguished at once by having legs. It is a caterpillar, with
+six legs upon its thorax and eight sucker-like protuberances on its
+body, like a silk-worm. It changes into a chrysalis, and then assumes
+its perfect shape as a small brown moth. The species that attacks books
+is the OEcophora pseudospretella. It loves damp and warmth, and eats any
+fibrous material. This caterpillar is quite unlike any garden species,
+and, excepting the legs, is very similar in appearance and size to the
+Anobium. It is about half-inch long, with a horny head and strong jaws.
+To printers' ink or writing ink he appears to have no great dislike,
+though I imagine that the former often disagrees with his health, unless
+he is very robust, as in books where the print is pierced a majority of
+the worm-holes I have seen are too short in extent to have provided food
+enough for the development of the grub. But, although the ink may be
+unwholesome, many grubs survive, and, eating day and night in silence
+and darkness, work out their destiny leaving, according to the strength
+of their constitutions, a longer or shorter tunnel in the volume.
+
+In December, 1879, Mr. Birdsall, a well-known book-binder of
+Northampton, kindly sent me by post a fat little Worm, which had been
+found by one of his workmen in an old book while being bound. He bore
+his journey extremely well, being very lively when turned out. I placed
+him in a box in warmth and quiet, with some small fragments of paper
+from a Boethius, printed by Caxton, and a leaf of a seventeenth century
+book. He ate a small piece of the leaf, but either from too much fresh
+air, from unaccustomed liberty, or from change of food, he gradually
+weakened, and died in about three weeks. I was sorry to lose him, as I
+wished to verify his name in his perfect state. Mr. Waterhouse, of the
+Entomological department of the British Museum, very kindly examined him
+before death, and was of opinion he was OEcophora pseudospretella.
+
+In July, 1885, Dr. Garnett, of the British Museum, gave me two worms
+which had been found in an old Hebrew Commentary just received from
+Athens. They had doubtless had a good shaking on the journey, and one
+was moribund when I took charge, and joined his defunct kindred in a
+few days. The other seemed hearty and lived with me for nearly eighteen
+months. I treated him as well as I knew how; placed him in a small box
+with the choice of three sorts of old paper to eat, and very seldom
+disturbed him. He evidently resented his confinement, ate very little,
+moved very little, and changed in appearance very little, even when
+dead. This Greek worm, filled with Hebrew lore, differed in many
+respects from any other I have seen. He was longer, thinner, and more
+delicate looking than any of his English congeners. He was transparent,
+like thin ivory, and had a dark line through his body, which I took
+to be the intestinal canal. He resigned his life with extreme
+procrastination, and died "deeply lamented" by his keeper, who had long
+looked forward to his final development.
+
+The difficulty of breeding these worms is probably due to their
+formation. When in a state of nature they can by expansion and
+contraction of the body working upon the sides of their holes, push
+their horny jaws against the opposing mass of paper. But when freed from
+the restraint, which indeed to them is life, they CANNOT eat although
+surrounded with food, for they have no legs to keep them steady, and
+their natural, leverage is wanting.
+
+Considering the numerous old books contained in the British Museum, the
+Library there is wonderfully free from the worm. Mr. Rye, lately
+the Keeper of the Printed Books there, writes me "Two or three were
+discovered in my time, but they were weakly creatures. One, I remember,
+was conveyed into the Natural History Department, and was taken into
+custody by Mr. Adam White who pronounced it to be Anobium pertinax. I
+never heard of it after."
+
+The reader, who has not had an opportunity of examining old libraries,
+can have no idea of the dreadful havoc which these pests are capable of
+making.
+
+I have now before me a fine folio volume, printed on very good
+unbleached paper, as thick as stout cartridge, in the year 1477, by
+Peter Schoeffer, of Mentz. Unfortunately, after a period of neglect in
+which it suffered severely from the "worm," it was about fifty years ago
+considered worth a new cover, and so again suffered severely, this time
+at the hands of the binder. Thus the original state of the boards is
+unknown, but the damage done to the leaves can be accurately described.
+
+The "worms" have attacked each end. On the first leaf are 212 distinct
+holes, varying in size from a common pin hole to that which a stout
+knitting-needle would make, say, <1/16> to <1/23> inch. These holes run
+mostly in lines more or less at right angles with the covers, a very few
+being channels along the paper affecting three or four sheets only. The
+varied energy of these little pests is thus represented:--
+
+    On folio 1 are 212 holes.  On folio 61 are 4 holes.
+        "   11  "   57   "         "    71  "  2   "
+        "   21  "   48   "         "    81  "  2   "
+        "   31  "   31   "         "    87  "  1   "
+        "   41  "   18   "         "    90  "  0   "
+        "   51  "    6   "
+
+
+These 90 leaves being stout, are about the thickness of 1 inch. The
+volume has 250 leaves, and turning to the end, we find on the last leaf
+81 holes, made by a breed of worms not so ravenous. Thus,
+
+      From end                |         From end.
+ On folio 1 are 81 holes.     |    On folio 66 is 1 hole.
+     "   11 "   40   "        |         "   69   "   0   "
+
+
+It is curious to notice how the holes, rapidly at first, and then slowly
+and more slowly, disappear. You trace the same hole leaf after leaf,
+until suddenly the size becomes in one leaf reduced to half its normal
+diameter, and a close examination will show a small abrasion of the
+paper in the next leaf exactly where the hole would have come if
+continued. In the book quoted it is just as if there had been a race. In
+the first ten leaves the weak worms are left behind; in the second ten
+there are still forty-eight eaters; these are reduced to thirty-one in
+the third ten, and to only eighteen in the fourth ten. On folio 51 only
+six worms hold on, and before folio 61 two of them have given in.
+Before reaching folio 7, it is a neck and neck race between two sturdy
+gourmands, each making a fine large hole, one of them being oval in
+shape. At folio 71 they are still neck and neck, and at folio 81 the
+same. At folio 87 the oval worm gives in, the round one eating three
+more leaves and part way through the fourth. The leaves of the book are
+then untouched until we reach the sixty-ninth from the end, upon which
+is one worm hole. After this they go on multiplying to the end of the
+book.
+
+I have quoted this instance because I have it handy, but many worms
+eat much longer holes than any in this volume; some I have seen
+running quite through a couple of thick volumes, covers and all. In the
+"Schoeffer" book the holes are probably the work of Anobium pertinax,
+because the centre is spared and both ends attacked. Originally, real
+wooden boards were the covers of the volume, and here, doubtless, the
+attack was commenced, which was carried through each board into the
+paper of the book.
+
+I remember well my first visit to the Bodleian Library, in the year
+1858, Dr. Bandinel being then the librarian. He was very kind, and
+afforded me every facility for examining the fine collection of
+"Caxtons," which was the object of my journey. In looking over a parcel
+of black-letter fragments, which had been in a drawer for a long time, I
+came across a small grub, which, without a thought, I threw on the floor
+and trod under foot. Soon after I found another, a fat, glossy fellow,
+so long ---, which I carefully preserved in a little paper box,
+intending to observe his habits and development. Seeing Dr. Bandinel
+near, I asked him to look at my curiosity. Hardly, however, had I turned
+the wriggling little victim out upon the leather-covered table, when
+down came the doctor's great thumb-nail upon him, and an inch-long smear
+proved the tomb of all my hopes, while the great bibliographer, wiping
+his thumb on his coat sleeve, passed on with the remark, "Oh, yes! they
+have black heads sometimes." That was something to know--another fact
+for the entomologist; for my little gentleman had a hard, shiny, white
+head, and I never heard of a black-headed bookworm before or since.
+Perhaps the great abundance of black-letter books in the Bodleian may
+account for the variety. At any rate he was an Anobium.
+
+I have been unmercifully "chaffed" for the absurd idea that a
+paper-eating worm could be kept a prisoner in a paper box. Oh, these
+critics! Your bookworm is a shy, lazy beast, and takes a day or two to
+recover his appetite after being "evicted." Moreover, he knew his own
+dignity better than to eat the "loaded" glazed shoddy note paper in
+which he was incarcerated.
+
+In the case of Caxton's "Lyf of oure ladye," already referred to, not
+only are there numerous small holes, but some very large channels at the
+bottom of the pages. This is a most unusual occurrence, and is probably
+the work of the larva of "Dermestes vulpinus," a garden beetle, which is
+very voracious, and eats any kind of dry ligneous rubbish.
+
+The scarcity of edible books of the present century has been mentioned.
+One result of the extensive adulteration of modern paper is that the
+worm will not touch it. His instinct forbids him to eat the china clay,
+the bleaches, the plaster of Paris, the sulphate of barytes, the scores
+of adulterants now used to mix with the fibre, and, so far, the wise
+pages of the old literature are, in the race against Time with the
+modern rubbish, heavily handicapped. Thanks to the general interest
+taken in old books now-a-days, the worm has hard times of it, and
+but slight chance of that quiet neglect which is necessary to his,
+existence. So much greater is the reason why some patient entomologist
+should, while there is the chance, take upon himself to study the habits
+of the creature, as Sir John Lubbock has those of the ant.
+
+I have now before me some leaves of a book, which, being waste, were
+used by our economical first printer, Caxton, to make boards, by pasting
+them together. Whether the old paste was an attraction, or whatever the
+reason may have been, the worm, when he got in there, did not, as usual,
+eat straight through everything into the middle of the book, but worked
+his way longitudinally, eating great furrows along the leaves without
+passing out of the binding; and so furrowed are these few leaves by long
+channels that it is difficult to raise one of them without its falling
+to pieces.
+
+This is bad enough, but we may be very thankful that in these temperate
+climes we have no such enemies as are found in very hot countries, where
+a whole library, books, bookshelves, table, chairs, and all, may be
+destroyed in one night by a countless army of ants.
+
+Our cousins in the United States, so fortunate in many things, seem very
+fortunate in this--their books are not attacked by the "worm"--at any
+rate, American writers say so. True it is that all their black-letter
+comes from Europe, and, having cost many dollars, is well looked after;
+but there they have thousands of seventeenth and eighteenth century
+books, in Roman type, printed in the States on genuine and wholesome
+paper, and the worm is not particular, at least in this country, about
+the type he eats through, if the paper is good.
+
+Probably, therefore, the custodians of their old libraries could tell
+a different tale, which makes it all the more amusing to find in
+the excellent "Encyclopaedia of Printing,"[1] edited and printed by
+Ringwalt, at Philadelphia, not only that the bookworm is a stranger
+there, for personally he is unknown to most of us, but that his
+slightest ravages are looked upon as both curious and rare. After
+quoting Dibdin, with the addition of a few flights of imagination of his
+own, Ringwalt states that this "paper-eating moth is supposed to have
+been introduced into England in hogsleather binding from Holland." He
+then ends with what, to anyone who has seen the ravages of the worm in
+hundreds of books, must be charming in its native simplicity. "There is
+now," he states, evidently quoting it as a great curiosity, "there is
+now, in a private library in Philadelphia, a book perforated by this
+insect." Oh! lucky Philadelphians! who can boast of possessing the
+oldest library in the States, but must ask leave of a private collector
+if they wish to see the one wormhole in the whole city!
+
+
+[1] "American Encyclopaedia of Printing": by Luther Ringwalt. 8vo.
+Philadelphia, 1871.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. OTHER VERMIN.
+
+BESIDES the worm I do not think there is any insect enemy of books worth
+description. The domestic black-beetle, or cockroach, is far too modern
+an introduction to our country to have done much harm, though he will
+sometimes nibble the binding of books, especially if they rest upon the
+floor.
+
+Not so fortunate, however, are our American cousins, for in the "Library
+Journal" for September, 1879, Mr. Weston Flint gives an account of a
+dreadful little pest which commits great havoc upon the cloth bindings
+of the New York libraries. It is a small black-beetle or cockroach,
+called by scientists "Blatta germanica" and by others the "Croton
+Bug." Unlike our household pest, whose home is the kitchen, and whose
+bashfulness loves secrecy and the dark hours, this misgrown flat
+species, of which it would take two to make a medium-sized English
+specimen, has gained in impudence what it has lost in size, fearing
+neither light nor noise, neither man nor beast. In the old English Bible
+of 1551, we read in Psalm xci, 5, "Thou shalt not nede to be afraied
+for eny Bugges by night." This verse falls unheeded on the ear of the
+Western librarian who fears his "bugs" both night and day, for they
+crawl over everything in broad sunlight, infesting and infecting each
+corner and cranny of the bookshelves they choose as their home. There
+is a remedy in the powder known as insecticide, which, however, is very
+disagreeable upon books and shelves. It is, nevertheless, very fatal to
+these pests, and affords some consolation in the fact that so soon as
+a "bug" shows any signs of illness, he is devoured at once by his
+voracious brethren with the same relish as if he were made of fresh
+paste.
+
+There is, too, a small silvery insect (Lepisma) which I have often
+seen in the backs of neglected books, but his ravages are not of much
+importance.
+
+Nor can we reckon the Codfish as very dangerous to literature,
+unless, indeed, he be of the Roman obedience, like that wonderful
+Ichthiobibliophage (pardon me, Professor Owen) who, in the year 1626,
+swallowed three Puritanical treatises of John Frith, the Protestant
+martyr. No wonder, after such a meal, he was soon caught, and became
+famous in the annals of literature. The following is the title of a
+little book issued upon the occasion: "Vox Piscis, or the Book-Fish
+containing Three Treatises, which were found in the belly of a Cod-Fish
+in Cambridge Market on Midsummer Eve, AD 1626." Lowndes says (see
+under "Tracey,") "great was the consternation at Cambridge upon the
+publication of this work."
+
+Rats and mice, however, are occasionally very destructive, as the
+following anecdote will show: Two centuries ago, the library of the Dean
+and Chapter of Westminster was kept in the Chapter House, and repairs
+having become necessary in that building, a scaffolding was erected
+inside, the books being left on their shelves. One of the holes made in
+the wall for a scaffold-pole was selected by a pair of rats for their
+family residence. Here they formed a nest for their young ones by
+descending to the library shelves and biting away the leaves of various
+books. Snug and comfortable was the little household, until, one day,
+the builder's men having finished, the poles were removed, and--alas!
+for the rats--the hole was closed up with bricks and cement. Buried
+alive, the father and mother, with five or six of their offspring, met
+with a speedy death, and not until a few years ago, when a restoration
+of the Chapter House was effected, was the rat grave opened again for a
+scaffold pole, and all their skeletons and their nest discovered. Their
+bones and paper fragments of the nest may now be seen in a glass case in
+the Chapter House, some of the fragments being attributed to books from
+the press of Caxton. This is not the case, although there are pieces of
+very early black-letter books not now to be found in the Abbey library,
+including little bits of the famous Queen Elizabeth's Prayer book, with
+woodcuts, 1568.
+
+A friend sends me the following incident: "A few years since, some rats
+made nests in the trees surrounding my house; from thence they jumped on
+to some flat roofing, and so made their way down a chimney into a
+room where I kept books. A number of these, with parchment backs, they
+entirely destroyed, as well as some half-dozen books whole bound in
+parchment."
+
+Another friend informs me that in the Natural History Museum of the
+Devon and Exeter Institution is a specimen of "another little pest,
+which has a great affection for bindings in calf and roan. Its
+scientific name is Niptus Hololeucos." He adds, "Are you aware that
+there was a terrible creature allied to these, rejoicing in the name
+of Tomicus Typographus, which committed sad ravages in Germany in
+the seventeenth century, and in the old liturgies of that country is
+formally mentioned under its vulgar name, 'The Turk'?" (See Kirby and
+Spence, Seventh Edition, 1858, p. 123.) This is curious, and I did not
+know it, although I know well that Typographus Tomicus, or the "cutting
+printer," is a sad enemy of (good) books. Upon this part of our subject,
+however, I am debarred entering.
+
+The following is from W. J. Westbrook, Mus. Doe., Cantab., and
+represents ravages with which I am personally unacquainted:
+
+
+"Dear Blades,--I send you an example of the 'enemy'-mosity of an
+ordinary housefly. It hid behind the paper, emitted some caustic fluid,
+and then departed this life. I have often caught them in such holes.'
+30/12/83." The damage is an oblong hole, surrounded by a white fluffy
+glaze (fungoid?), difficult to represent in a woodcut. The size here
+given is exact.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. BOOKBINDERS.
+
+IN the first chapter I mentioned bookbinders among the Enemies of Books,
+and I tremble to think what a stinging retort might be made if some
+irate bibliopegist were to turn the scales on the printer, and place HIM
+in the same category. On the sins of printers, and the unnatural neglect
+which has often shortened the lives of their typographical progeny, it
+is not for me to dilate. There is an old proverb, "'Tis an ill bird
+that befouls its own nest"; a curious chapter thereupon, with many
+modern examples, might nevertheless be written. This I will leave, and
+will now only place on record some of the cruelties perpetrated upon
+books by the ignorance or carelessness of binders.
+
+Like men, books have a soul and body. With the soul, or literary
+portion, we have nothing to do at present; the body, which is the outer
+frame or covering, and without which the inner would be unusable, is the
+special work of the binder. He, so to speak, begets it; he determines
+its form and adornment, he doctors it in disease and decay, and, not
+unseldom, dissects it after death. Here, too, as through all Nature, we
+find the good and bad running side by side. What a treat it is to
+handle a well-bound volume; the leaves lie open fully and freely, as
+if tempting you to read on, and you handle them without fear of their
+parting from the back. To look at the "tooling," too, is a pleasure, for
+careful thought, combined with artistic skill, is everywhere apparent.
+You open the cover and find the same loving attention inside that has
+been given to the outside, all the workmanship being true and thorough.
+Indeed, so conservative is a good binding, that many a worthless book
+has had an honoured old age, simply out of respect to its outward
+aspect; and many a real treasure has come to a degraded end and
+premature death through the unsightliness of its outward case and the
+irreparable damage done to it in binding.
+
+The weapon with which the binder deals the most deadly blows to books
+is the "plough," the effect of which is to cut away the margins, placing
+the print in a false position relatively to the back and head, and often
+denuding the work of portions of the very text. This reduction in size
+not seldom brings down a handsome folio to the size of quarto, and a
+quarto to an octavo.
+
+With the old hand plough a binder required more care and caution to
+produce an even edge throughout than with the new cutting machine. If a
+careless workman found that he had not ploughed the margin quite square
+with the text, he would put it in his press and take off "another
+shaving," and sometimes even a third.
+
+Dante, in his "Inferno," deals out to the lost souls various tortures
+suited with dramatic fitness to the past crimes of the victims, and
+had I to execute judgment on the criminal binders of certain precious
+volumes I have seen, where the untouched maiden sheets entrusted to
+their care have, by barbarous treatment, lost dignity, beauty and value,
+I would collect the paper shavings so ruthlessly shorn off, and roast
+the perpetrator of the outrage over their slow combustion. In olden
+times, before men had learned to value the relics of our printers, there
+was some excuse for the sins of a binder who erred from ignorance which
+was general; but in these times, when the historical and antiquarian
+value of old books is freely acknowledged, no quarter should be granted
+to a careless culprit.
+
+It may be supposed that, from the spread of information, all real danger
+from ignorance is past. Not so, good reader; that is a consummation as
+yet "devoutly to be wished." Let me relate to you a true bibliographical
+anecdote: In 1877, a certain lord, who had succeeded to a fine
+collection of old books, promised to send some of the most valuable
+(among which were several Caxtons) to the Exhibition at South
+Kensington. Thinking their outward appearance too shabby, and not
+knowing the danger of his conduct, he decided to have them rebound
+in the neighbouring county town. The volumes were soon returned in a
+resplendent state, and, it is said, quite to the satisfaction of his
+lordship, whose pleasure, however, was sadly damped when a friend
+pointed out to him that, although the discoloured edges had all been
+ploughed off, and the time-stained blanks, with their fifteenth century
+autographs, had been replaced by nice clean fly-leaves, yet, looking at
+the result in its lowest aspect only--that of market value--the books
+had been damaged to at least the amount of L500; and, moreover,
+that caustic remarks would most certainly follow upon their public
+exhibition. Those poor injured volumes were never sent.
+
+Some years ago one of the most rare books printed by Machlinia--a thin
+folio--was discovered bound in sheep by a country bookbinder, and cut
+down to suit the size of some quarto tracts. But do not let us suppose
+that country binders are the only culprits. It is not very long since
+the discovery of a unique Caxton in one of our largest London libraries.
+It was in boards, as originally issued by the fifteenth-century binder,
+and a great fuss (very properly) was made over the treasure trove. Of
+course, cries the reader, it was kept in its original covers, with
+all the interesting associations of its early state untouched? No such
+thing! Instead of making a suitable case, in which it could be preserved
+just as it was, it was placed in the hands of a well-known London
+binder, with the order, "Whole bind in velvet." He did his best, and
+the volume now glows luxuriously in its gilt edges and its inappropriate
+covering, and, alas! with half-an-inch of its uncut margin taken off all
+round. How do I know that? because the clever binder, seeing some MS.
+remarks on one of the margins, turned the leaf down to avoid cutting
+them off, and that stern witness will always testify, to the observant
+reader, the original size of the book. This same binder, on another
+occasion, placed a unique fifteenth century Indulgence in warm water,
+to separate it from the cover upon which it was pasted, the result being
+that, when dry, it was so distorted as to be useless. That man soon
+after passed to another world, where, we may hope, his works have not
+followed him, and that his merits as a good citizen and an honest man
+counterbalanced his de-merits as a binder.
+
+Other similar instances will occur to the memory of many a reader, and
+doubtless the same sin will be committed from time to time by certain
+binders, who seem to have an ingrained antipathy to rough edges and
+large margins, which of course are, in their view, made by Nature as
+food for the shaving tub.
+
+De Rome, a celebrated bookbinder of the eighteenth century, who was
+nicknamed by Dibdin "The Great Cropper," was, although in private life
+an estimable man, much addicted to the vice of reducing the margins of
+all books sent to him to bind. So far did he go, that he even spared
+not a fine copy of Froissart's Chronicles, on vellum, in which was the
+autograph of the well-known book-lover, De Thou, but cropped it most
+cruelly.
+
+Owners, too, have occasionally diseased minds with regard to margins. A
+friend writes: "Your amusing anecdotes have brought to my memory several
+biblioclasts whom I have known. One roughly cut the margins off his
+books with a knife, hacking away very much like a hedger and ditcher.
+Large paper volumes were his especial delight, as they gave more paper.
+The slips thus obtained were used for index-making! Another, with the
+bump of order unnaturally developed, had his folios and quartos all
+reduced, in binding, to one size, so that they might look even on his
+bookshelves."
+
+This latter was, doubtless, cousin to him who deliberately cut down all
+his books close to the text, because he had been several times annoyed
+by readers who made marginal notes.
+
+The indignities, too, suffered by some books in their lettering! Fancy
+an early black-letter fifteenth-century quarto on Knighthood, labelled
+"Tracts"; or a translation of Virgil, "Sermons"! The "Histories of
+Troy," printed by Caxton, still exists with "Eracles" on the back, as
+its title, because that name occurs several times in the early chapters,
+and the binder was too proud to seek advice. The words "Miscellaneous,"
+or "Old Pieces," were sometimes used when binders were at a loss for
+lettering, and many other instances might be mentioned.
+
+The rapid spread of printing throughout Europe in the latter part of
+the fifteenth century caused a great fall in the value of plain
+un-illuminated MSS., and the immediate consequence of this was the
+destruction of numerous volumes written upon parchment, which were used
+by the binders to strengthen the backs of their newly-printed rivals.
+These slips of vellum or parchment are quite common in old books.
+Sometimes whole sheets are used as fly-leaves, and often reveal the
+existence of most valuable works, unknown before--proving, at the same
+time, the small value formerly attached to them.
+
+Many a bibliographer, while examining old books, has to his great
+puzzlement come across short slips of parchment, nearly always from some
+old manuscript, sticking out like "guards" from the midst of the leaves.
+These suggest, at first, imperfections or damage done to the volume; but
+if examined closely it will be found that they are always in the middle
+of a paper section, and the real reason of their existence is just the
+same as when two leaves of parchment occur here and there in a paper
+volume, viz.: strength--strength to resist the lug which the strong
+thread makes against the middle of each section. These slips represent
+old books destroyed, and like the slips already noticed, should always
+be carefully examined.
+
+When valuable books have been evil-entreated, when they have become
+soiled by dirty hands, or spoiled by water stains, or injured by
+grease spots, nothing is more astonishing to the uninitiated than the
+transformation they undergo in the hands of a skilful restorer. The
+covers are first carefully dissected, the eye of the operator keeping
+a careful outlook for any fragments of old MSS. or early printed books,
+which may have been used by the original binder. No force should be
+applied to separate parts which adhere together; a little warm water
+and care is sure to overcome that difficulty. When all the sections are
+loose, the separate sheets are placed singly in a bath of cold water,
+and allowed to remain there until all the dirt has soaked out. If not
+sufficiently purified, a little hydrochloric or oxalic acid, or caustic
+potash may be put in the water, according as the stains are from grease
+or from ink. Here is where an unpractised binder will probably injure a
+book for life. If the chemicals are too strong, or the sheets remain too
+long in the bath, or are not thoroughly cleansed from the bleach before
+they are re-sized, the certain seeds of decay are planted in the paper,
+and although for a time the leaves may look bright to the eye, and even
+crackle under the hand like the soundest paper, yet in the course of a
+few years the enemy will appear, the fibre will decay, and the existence
+of the books will terminate in a state of white tinder.
+
+Everything which diminishes the interest of a book is inimical to its
+preservation, and in fact is its enemy. Therefore, a few words upon the
+destruction of old bindings.
+
+I remember purchasing many years ago at a suburban book stall, a perfect
+copy of Moxon's Mechanic Exercises, now a scarce work. The volumes were
+uncut, and had the original marble covers. They looked so attractive in
+their old fashioned dress, that I at once determined to preserve it. My
+binder soon made for them a neat wooden box in the shape of a book,
+with morocco back properly lettered, where I trust the originals will be
+preserved from dust and injury for many a long year.
+
+Old covers, whether boards or paper, should always be retained if in
+any state approaching decency. A case, which can be embellished to any
+extent looks every whit as well upon the shelf! and gives even greater
+protection than binding. It has also this great advantage: it does not
+deprive your descendants of the opportunity of seeing for themselves
+exactly in what dress the book buyers of four centuries ago received
+their volumes.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. COLLECTORS.
+
+AFTER all, two-legged depredators, who ought to have known better, have
+perhaps done as much real damage in libraries as any other enemy. I do
+not refer to thieves, who, if they injure the owners, do no harm to the
+books themselves by merely transferring them from one set of bookshelves
+to another. Nor do I refer to certain readers who frequent our public
+libraries, and, to save themselves the trouble of copying, will cut out
+whole articles from magazines or encyclopaedias. Such depredations are
+not frequent, and only occur with books easily replaced, and do not
+therefore call for more than a passing mention; but it is a serious
+matter when Nature produces such a wicked old biblioclast as John
+Bagford, one of the founders of the Society of Antiquaries, who, in the
+beginning of the last century, went about the country, from library to
+library, tearing away title pages from rare books of all sizes. These
+he sorted out into nationalities and towns, and so, with a lot of
+hand-bills, manuscript notes, and miscellaneous collections of all
+kinds, formed over a hundred folio volumes, now preserved in the British
+Museum. That they are of service as materials in compiling a general
+history of printing cannot be denied, but the destruction of many
+rare books was the result, and more than counter-balanced any benefit
+bibliographers will ever receive from them. When here and there
+throughout those volumes you meet with titles of books now either
+unknown entirely, or of the greatest rarity; when you find the Colophon
+from the end, or the "insigne typographi" from the first leaf of a rare
+"fifteener," pasted down with dozens of others, varying in value, you
+cannot bless the memory of the antiquarian shoemaker, John Bagford. His
+portrait, a half-length, painted by Howard, was engraved by Vertue, and
+re-engraved for the Bibliographical Decameron.
+
+A bad example often finds imitators, and every season there crop up for
+public sale one or two such collections, formed by bibliomaniacs, who,
+although calling themselves bibliophiles, ought really to be ranked
+among the worst enemies of books.
+
+The following is copied from a trade catalogue, dated April, 1880, and
+affords a fair idea of the extent to which these heartless destroyers
+will go:--
+
+"MISSAL ILLUMINATIONS.
+
+FIFTY DIFFERENT CAPITAL LETTERS _on_ VELLUM; _all in rich Gold and
+Colours. Many 3 inches square: the floral decorations are of great
+beauty, ranging from the XIIth to XVth century. Mounted on stout
+card-board_. IN NICE PRESERVATION, L6 6_s_.
+
+
+ These beautiful letters have been cut from precious
+     MSS., and as specimens of early art are extremely
+     valuable, many of them being worth 15_s_. each."
+
+
+Mr. Proeme is a man well known to the London dealers in old books. He is
+wealthy, and cares not what he spends to carry out his bibliographical
+craze, which is the collection of title pages. These he ruthlessly
+extracts, frequently leaving the decapitated carcase of the books, for
+which he cares not, behind him. Unlike the destroyer Bagford, he has
+no useful object in view, but simply follows a senseless kind of
+classification. For instance: One set of volumes contains nothing but
+copper-plate engraved titles, and woe betide the grand old Dutch folios
+of the seventeenth century if they cross his path. Another is a volume
+of coarse or quaint titles, which certainly answer the end of showing
+how idiotic and conceited some authors have been. Here you find Dr.
+Sib's "Bowels opened in Divers Sermons," 1650, cheek by jowl with the
+discourse attributed falsely to Huntington, the Calvinist, "Die and
+be damned," with many others too coarse to be quoted. The odd titles
+adopted for his poems by Taylor, the water-poet, enliven several pages,
+and make one's mouth water for the books themselves. A third volume
+includes only such titles as have the printer's device. If you shut
+your eyes to the injury done by such collectors, you may, to a certain
+extent, enjoy the collection, for there is great beauty in some titles;
+but such a pursuit is neither useful nor meritorious. By and by the end
+comes, and then dispersion follows collection, and the volumes, which
+probably Cost L200 each in their formation, will be knocked down to a
+dealer for L10, finally gravitating into the South Kensington Library,
+or some public museum, as a bibliographical curiosity. The following has
+just been sold (July, 1880) by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, in
+the Dunn-Gardinier collection, lot 1592:--
+
+"TITLEPAGES AND FRONTISPIECES.
+
+
+_A Collection of upwards of_ 800 ENGRAVED TITLES AND FRONTISPIECES,
+ENGLISH AND FOREIGN (_some very fine and curious) taken from old books
+and neatly mounted on cartridge paper in 3 vol, half morocco gilt. imp.
+folio_."
+
+
+The only collection of title-pages which has afforded me unalloyed
+pleasure is a handsome folio, published by the directors of the Plantin
+Museum, Antwerp, in 1877, just after the purchase of that wonderful
+typographical storehouse. It is called "Titels en Portretten gesneden
+naar P. P. Rubens voor de Plantijnsche Drukkerij," and it contains
+thirty-five grand title pages, reprinted from the original seventeenth
+century plates, designed by Rubens himself between the years 1612 and
+1640, for various publications which issued from the celebrated Plantin
+Printing Office. In the same Museum are preserved in Rubens' own
+handwriting his charge for each design, duly receipted at foot.
+
+I have now before me a fine copy of "Coclusiones siue decisiones antique
+dnor' de Rota," printed by Gutenberg's partner, Schoeffer, in the year
+1477. It is perfect, except in a most vital part, the Colophon, which
+has been cut out by some barbaric "Collector," and which should read
+thus: "Pridie nonis Januarii Mcccclxxvij, in Civitate Moguntina,
+impressorie Petrus Schoyffer de Gernsheym," followed by his well-known
+mark, two shields.
+
+A similar mania arose at the beginning of this century for collections
+of illuminated initials, which were taken from MSS., and arranged on
+the pages of a blank book in alphabetical order. Some of our cathedral
+libraries suffered severely from depredations of this kind. At Lincoln,
+in the early part of this century, the boys put on their robes in the
+library, a room close to the choir. Here were numerous old MSS.,
+and eight or ten rare Caxtons. The choir boys used often to amuse
+themselves, while waiting for the signal to "fall in," by cutting out
+with their pen-knives the illuminated initials and vignettes, which they
+would take into the choir with them and pass round from one to another.
+The Dean and Chapter of those days were not much better, for they let
+Dr. Dibdin have all their Caxtons for a "consideration." He made
+a little catalogue of them, which he called "A Lincolne Nosegaye."
+Eventually they were absorbed into the collection at Althorp.
+
+The late Mr. Caspari was a "destroyer" of books. His rare collection of
+early woodcuts, exhibited in 1877 at the Caxton Celebration, had been
+frequently augmented by the purchase of illustrated books, the plates
+of which were taken out, and mounted on Bristol boards, to enrich
+his collection. He once showed me the remains of a fine copy of
+"Theurdanck," which he had served so, and I have now before me several
+of the leaves which he then gave me, and which, for beauty of engraving
+and cleverness of typography, surpasses any typographical work known to
+me. It was printed for the Emperor Maximilian, by Hans Schonsperger, of
+Nuremberg, and, to make it unique, all the punches were cut on purpose,
+and as many as seven or eight varieties of each letter, which, together
+with the clever way in which the ornamental flourishes are carried above
+and below the line, has led even experienced printers to deny its being
+typography. It is, nevertheless, entirely from cast types. A copy in
+good condition costs about L50.
+
+Many years since I purchased, at Messrs. Sotheby's, a large lot of MS.
+leaves on vellum, some being whole sections of a book, but mostly single
+leaves. Many were so mutilated by the excision of initials as to be
+worthless, but those with poor initials, or with none, were quite good,
+and when sorted out I found I had got large portions of nearly twenty
+different MSS., mostly Horae, showing twelve varieties of fifteenth
+century handwriting in Latin, French, Dutch, and German. I had each sort
+bound separately, and they now form an interesting collection.
+
+Portrait collectors have destroyed many books by abstracting the
+frontispiece to add to their treasures, and when once a book is made
+imperfect, its march to destruction is rapid. This is why books
+like Atkyns' "Origin and Growth of Printing," 4o, 1664, have become
+impossible to get.
+
+When issued, Atkyns' pamphlet had a fine frontispiece, by Logan,
+containing portraits of King Charles II, attended by Archbishop Sheldon,
+the Duke of Albermarle, and the Earl of Clarendon. As portraits of
+these celebrities (excepting, of course, the King) are extremely rare,
+collectors have bought up this 4o tract of Atkyns', whenever it has been
+offered, and torn away the frontispiece to adorn their collection.
+
+This is why, if you take up any sale catalogue of old books, you are
+certain to find here and there, appended to the description, "Wanting
+the title," "Wanting two plates," or "Wanting the last page."
+
+It is quite common to find in old MSS., especially fifteenth century,
+both vellum and paper, the blank margins of leaves cut away. This will
+be from the side edge or from the foot, and the recurrence of this
+mutilation puzzled me for many years. It arose from the scarcity of
+paper in former times, so that when a message had to be sent which
+required more exactitude than could be entrusted to the stupid memory of
+a household messenger, the Master or Chaplain went to the library, and,
+not having paper to use, took down an old book, and cut from its broad
+margins one or more slips to serve his present need.
+
+I feel quite inclined to reckon among "enemies" those bibliomaniacs and
+over-careful possessors, who, being unable to carry their treasures into
+the next world, do all they can to hinder their usefulness in this. What
+a difficulty there is to obtain admission to the curious library of old
+Samuel Pepys, the well-known diarist. There it is at Magdalene College,
+Cambridge, in the identical book-cases provided for the books by Pepys
+himself; but no one can gain admission except in company of two Fellows
+of the College, and if a single book be lost, the whole library goes
+away to a neighbouring college. However willing and anxious to oblige,
+it is evident that no one can use the library at the expense of the
+time, if not temper, of two Fellows. Some similar restrictions are in
+force at the Teylerian Museum, Haarlem, where a lifelong imprisonment is
+inflicted upon its many treasures.
+
+Some centuries ago a valuable collection of books was left to the
+Guildford Endowed Grammar School. The schoolmaster was to be held
+personally responsible for the safety of every volume, which, if lost,
+he was bound to replace. I am told that one master, to minimize his risk
+as much as possible, took the following barbarous course:--As soon as
+he was in possession, he raised the boards of the schoolroom floor, and,
+having carefully packed all the books between the joists, had the boards
+nailed down again. Little recked he how many rats and mice made their
+nests there; he was bound to account some day for every single volume,
+and he saw no way so safe as rigid imprisonment.
+
+The late Sir Thomas Phillipps, of Middle Hill, was a remarkable instance
+of a bibliotaph. He bought bibliographical treasures simply to bury
+them. His mansion was crammed with books; he purchased whole libraries,
+and never even saw what he had bought. Among some of his purchases was
+the first book printed in the English language, "The Recuyell of the
+Histories of Troye," translated and printed by William Caxton, for the
+Duchess of Burgundy, sister to our Edward IV. It is true, though almost
+incredible, that Sir Thomas could never find this volume, although it
+is doubtless still in the collection, and no wonder, when cases of books
+bought twenty years before his death were never opened, and the only
+knowledge of their contents which he possessed was the Sale Catalogue or
+the bookseller's invoice.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. SERVANTS AND CHILDREN.
+
+READER! are you married? Have you offspring, boys especially I mean, say
+between six and twelve years of age? Have you also a literary workshop,
+supplied with choice tools, some for use, some for ornament, where you
+pass pleasant hours? and is--ah! there's the rub!--is there a special
+hand-maid, whose special duty it is to keep your den daily dusted and
+in order? Plead you guilty to these indictments? then am I sure of a
+sympathetic co-sufferer.
+
+Dust! it is all a delusion. It is not the dust that makes women anxious
+to invade the inmost recesses of your Sanctum--it is an ingrained
+curiosity. And this feminine weakness, which dates from Eve, is a common
+motive in the stories of our oldest literature and Folk-lore. What made
+Fatima so anxious to know the contents of the room forbidden her by
+Bluebeard? It was positively nothing to her, and its contents caused not
+the slightest annoyance to anybody. That story has a bad moral, and it
+would, in many ways, have been more satisfactory had the heroine been
+left to take her place in the blood-stained chamber, side by side with
+her peccant predecessors. Why need the women-folk (God forgive me!)
+bother themselves about the inside of a man's library, and whether
+it wants dusting or not? My boys' playroom, in which is a carpenter's
+bench, a lathe, and no end of litter, is never tidied--perhaps it can't
+be, or perhaps their youthful vigour won't stand it--but my workroom
+must needs be dusted daily, with the delusive promise that each book and
+paper shall be replaced exactly where it was. The damage done by such
+continued treatment is incalculable. At certain times these observances
+are kept more religiously than others; but especially should the
+book-lover, married or single, beware of the Ides of March. So soon as
+February is dead and gone, a feeling of unrest seizes the housewife's
+mind. This increases day by day, and becomes dominant towards the middle
+of the month, about which period sundry hints are thrown out as to
+whether you are likely to be absent for a day or two. Beware! the fever
+called "Spring Clean" is on, and unless you stand firm, you will rue it.
+Go away, if the Fates so will, but take the key of your own domain with
+you.
+
+Do not misunderstand. Not for a moment would I advocate dust and dirt;
+they are enemies, and should be routed; but let the necessary routing be
+done under your own eye. Explain where caution must be used, and in
+what cases tenderness is a virtue; and if one Eve in the family can
+be indoctrinated with book-reverence you are a happy man; her price is
+above that of rubies; she will prolong your life. Books MUST now and
+then be taken clean out of their shelves, but they should be tended
+lovingly and with judgment. If the dusting can be done just outside the
+room so much the better. The books removed, the shelf should be lifted
+quite out of its bearings, cleansed and wiped, and then each volume
+should be taken separately, and gently rubbed on back and sides with a
+soft cloth. In returning the volumes to their places, notice should be
+taken of the binding, and especially when the books are in whole calf
+or morocco care should be taken not to let them rub together. The best
+bound books are soonest injured, and quickly deteriorate in bad company.
+Certain volumes, indeed, have evil tempers, and will scratch the faces
+of all their neighbours who are too familiar with them. Such are books
+with metal clasps and rivets on their edges; and such, again, are those
+abominable old rascals, chiefly born in the fifteenth century, who are
+proud of being dressed in REAL boards with brass corners, and pass their
+lives with fearful knobs and metal bosses, mostly five in number, firmly
+fixed on one of their sides. If the tendencies of such ruffians are not
+curbed, they will do as much mischief to their gentle neighbours as when
+a "collie" worries the sheep. These evil results may always be minimized
+by placing a piece of millboard between the culprit and his victim. I
+have seen lovely bindings sadly marked by such uncanny neighbours.
+
+When your books are being "dusted," don't impute too much common sense
+to your assistants; take their ignorance for granted, and tell them at
+once never to lift any book by one of its covers; that treatment is sure
+to strain the back, and ten to one the weight will be at the same time
+miscalculated, and the volume will fall. Your female "help," too, dearly
+loves a good tall pile to work at and, as a rule, her notions of the
+centre of gravity are not accurate, leading often to a general
+downfall, and the damage of many a corner. Again, if not supervised and
+instructed, she is very apt to rub the dust into, instead of off, the
+edges. Each volume should be held tightly, so as to prevent the leaves
+from gaping, and then wiped from the back to the fore-edge. A soft brush
+will be found useful if there is much dust. The whole exterior should
+also be rubbed with a soft cloth, and then the covers should be opened
+and the hinges of the binding examined; for mildew WILL assert itself
+both inside and outside certain books, and that most pertinaciously. It
+has unaccountable likes and dislikes. Some bindings seem positively to
+invite damp, and mildew will attack these when no other books on the
+same shelf show any signs of it. When discovered, carefully wipe it
+away, and then let the book remain a few days standing open, in the
+driest and airiest spot you can select. Great care should be taken not
+to let grit, such as blows in at the open window from many a dusty road,
+be upon your duster, or you will probably find fine scratches, like an
+outline map of Europe, all over your smooth calf, by which your heart
+and eye, as well as your book, will be wounded.
+
+"Helps" are very apt to fill the shelves too tightly, so that to extract
+a book you have to use force, often to the injury of the top-bands.
+Beware of this mistake. It frequently occurs through not noticing that
+one small book is purposely placed at each end of the shelf, beneath the
+movable shelf-supports, thus not only saving space, but preventing the
+injury which a book shelf-high would be sure to receive from uneven
+pressure.
+
+After all, the best guide in these, as in many other matters, is "common
+sense," a quality which in olden times must have been much more "common"
+than in these days, else the phrase would never have become rooted in
+our common tongue.
+
+Children, with all their innocence, are often guilty of book-murder. I
+must confess to having once taken down "Humphrey's History of Writing,"
+which contains many brightly-coloured plates, to amuse a sick daughter.
+The object was certainly gained, but the consequences of so bad a
+precedent were disastrous. That copy (which, I am glad to say, was
+easily re-placed), notwithstanding great care on my part, became soiled
+and torn, and at last was given up to Nursery martyrdom. Can I regret
+it? surely not, for, although bibliographically sinful, who can weigh
+the amount of real pleasure received, and actual pain ignored, by the
+patient in the contemplation of those beautifully-blended colours?
+
+A neighbour of mine some few years ago suffered severely from a
+propensity, apparently irresistible, in one of his daughters to tear his
+library books. She was six years old, and would go quietly to a shelf
+and take down a book or two, and having torn a dozen leaves or so down
+the middle, would replace the volumes, fragments and all, in their
+places, the damage being undiscovered until the books were wanted for
+use. Reprimand, expostulation and even punishment were of no avail; but
+a single "whipping" effected a cure.
+
+Boys, however, are by far more destructive than girls, and have,
+naturally, no reverence for age, whether in man or books. Who does not
+fear a schoolboy with his first pocket-knife? As Wordsworth did not
+say:--
+
+              "You may trace him oft
+     By scars which his activity has left
+     Upon our shelves and volumes. * * *
+     He who with pocket-knife will cut the edge
+     Of luckless panel or of prominent book,
+     Detaching with a stroke a label here, a back-band there."
+                             _Excursion III, 83_.
+
+Pleased, too, are they, if, with mouths full of candy, and sticky
+fingers, they can pull in and out the books on your bottom shelves,
+little knowing the damage and pain they will cause. One would fain cry
+out, calling on the Shade of Horace to pardon the false quantity--
+
+     "Magna movet stomacho fastidia, si puer unctis
+     Tractavit volumen manibus."  _Sat. IV_.
+
+
+What boys CAN do may be gathered from the following true story, sent me
+by a correspondent who was the immediate sufferer:--
+
+One summer day he met in town an acquaintance who for many years had
+been abroad; and finding his appetite for old books as keen as ever,
+invited him home to have a mental feed upon "fifteeners" and other
+bibliographical dainties, preliminary to the coarser pleasures enjoyed
+at the dinner-table. The "home" was an old mansion in the outskirts
+of London, whose very architecture was suggestive of black-letter and
+sheep-skin. The weather, alas! was rainy, and, as they approached the
+house, loud peals of laughter reached their ears. The children were
+keeping a birthday with a few young friends. The damp forbad all outdoor
+play, and, having been left too much to their own devices, they had
+invaded the library. It was just after the Battle of Balaclava, and the
+heroism of the combatants on that hard-fought field was in everybody's
+mouth. So the mischievous young imps divided themselves into two
+opposing camps--Britons and Russians. The Russian division was just
+inside the door, behind ramparts formed of old folios and quartos taken
+from the bottom shelves and piled to the height of about four feet.
+It was a wall of old fathers, fifteenth century chronicles, county
+histories, Chaucer, Lydgate, and such like. Some few yards off were the
+Britishers, provided with heaps of small books as missiles, with which
+they kept up a skirmishing cannonade against the foe. Imagine the
+tableau! Two elderly gentlemen enter hurriedly, paterfamilias receiving,
+quite unintentionally, the first edition of "Paradise Lost" in the
+pit of his stomach, his friend narrowly escaping a closer personal
+acquaintance with a quarto Hamlet than he had ever had before. Finale:
+great outburst of wrath, and rapid retreat of the combatants, many
+wounded (volumes) being left on the field.
+
+
+
+POSTSCRIPTUM.
+
+ALTHOUGH, strictly speaking, the following anecdote does not illustrate
+any form of real injury to books, it is so racy, and in these days of
+extravagant biddings so tantalizing, that I must step just outside the
+strict line of pertinence in order to place it on record, It was sent
+to me, as a personal experience, by my friend, Mr. George Clulow,
+a well-known bibliophile, and "Xylographer" to "Ye Sette of ye Odde
+Volumes." The date is 1881. He writes:--
+
+"_Apropos_ of the Gainsborough 'find,' of which you tell in 'The Enemies
+of Books,' I should like to narrate an experience of my own, of some
+twenty years ago:
+
+"Late one evening, at my father's house, I saw a catalogue of a sale of
+furniture, farm implements and books, which was announced to take place
+on the following morning at a country rectory in Derbyshire, some four
+miles from the nearest railway station.
+
+"It was summer time--the country at its best--and with the attraction
+of an old book, I decided on a day's holiday, and eight o'clock the next
+morning found me in the train for C----, and after a variation in
+my programme, caused by my having walked three miles west before I
+discovered that my destination was three miles east of the railway
+station, I arrived at the rectory at noon, and found assembled some
+thirty or forty of the neighbouring farmers, their wives, men-servants
+and maid-servants, all seemingly bent on a day's idling, rather than
+business. The sale was announced for noon, but it was an hour later
+before the auctioneer put in an appearance, and the first operation in
+which he took part, and in which he invited my assistance, was to make
+a hearty meal of bread and cheese and beer in the rectory kitchen. This
+over, the business of the day began by a sundry collection of pots,
+pans, and kettles being brought to the competition of the public,
+followed by some lots of bedding, etc. The catalogue gave books as the
+first part of the sale, and, as three o'clock was reached, my patience
+was gone, and I protested to the auctioneer against his not selling in
+accordance with his catalogue. To this he replied that there was not
+time enough, and that he would sell the books to-morrow! This was too
+much for me, and I suggested that he had broken faith with the buyers,
+and had brought me to C---- on a false pretence. This, however, did not
+seem to disturb his good humour, or to make him unhappy, and his answer
+was to call 'Bill,' who was acting as porter, and to tell him to give
+the gentleman the key of the 'book room,' and to bring down any of the
+books he might pick out, and he 'would sell 'em.' I followed 'Bill,' and
+soon found myself in a charming nook of a library, full of books,
+mostly old divinity, but with a large number of the best miscellaneous
+literature of the sixteenth century, English and foreign. A very short
+look over the shelves produced some thirty Black Letter books, three or
+four illuminated missals, and some book rarities of a more recent date.
+'Bill' took them downstairs, and I wondered what would happen! I was
+not long in doubt, for book by book, and in lots of two and three, my
+selection was knocked down in rapid succession, at prices varying from
+1_s_. 6_d_. to 3_s_. 6_d_., this latter sum seeming to be the utmost
+limit to the speculative turn of my competitors. The _bonne bouche_ of
+the lot was, however, kept back by the auctioneer, because, as he said,
+it was 'a pretty book,' and I began to respect his critical judgment,
+for 'a pretty book' it was, being a large paper copy of Dibdin's
+Bibliographical Decameron, three volumes, in the original binding.
+Suffice it to say that, including this charming book, my purchases did
+not amount to L13, and I had pretty well a cart-load of books for my
+money--more than I wanted much! Having brought them home, I 'weeded them
+out,' and the 'weeding' realised four times what I gave for the whole,
+leaving me with some real book treasures.
+
+"Some weeks afterwards I heard that the remainder of the books were
+literally treated as waste lumber, and carted off to the neighbouring
+town, and were to be had, any one of them, for sixpence, from a cobbler
+who had allowed his shop to be used as a store house for them. The news
+of their being there reached the ears of an old bookseller in one of
+the large towns, and he, I think, cleared out the lot. So curious an
+instance of the most total ignorance on the part of the sellers, and
+I may add on the part of the possible buyers also, I think is worth
+noting."
+
+How would the reader in this Year of Grace, 1887, like such an
+experience as that?
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+IT is a great pity that there should be so many distinct enemies at
+work for the destruction of literature, and that they should so often be
+allowed to work out their sad end. Looked at rightly, the possession of
+any old book is a sacred trust, which a conscientious owner or guardian
+would as soon think of ignoring as a parent would of neglecting his
+child. An old book, whatever its subject or internal merits, is truly
+a portion of the national history; we may imitate it and print it in
+fac-simile, but we can never exactly reproduce it; and as an historical
+document it should be carefully preserved.
+
+I do not envy any man that absence of sentiment which makes some people
+careless of the memorials of their ancestors, and whose blood can
+be warmed up only by talking of horses or the price of hops. To them
+solitude means _ennui_, and anybody's company is preferable to their
+own. What an immense amount of calm enjoyment and mental renovation
+do such men miss. Even a millionaire will ease his toils, lengthen his
+life, and add a hundred per cent. to his daily pleasures if he becomes
+a bibliophile; while to the man of business with a taste for books,
+who through the day has struggled in the battle of life with all its
+irritating rebuffs and anxieties, what a blessed season of pleasurable
+repose opens upon him as he enters his sanctum, where every article
+wafts to him a welcome, and every book is a personal friend!
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+   _Academy, The_, 23.
+   Acanis eruditus, 77, 78.
+   Acts of the Apostles, quoted, 4.
+   Aglossa pinguinalis, 76.
+   Albermarle (Duke of), portrait by Logan, 126.
+   Althorp library, 124.
+   Anderson (Sir C.), 55.
+   Anobium paniceum, 77, 78.
+   Anobium pertinax, 77, 78, 87, 88.
+   Antiquary, The, 54.
+   Antwerp, Monks at, 57, 58.
+   Asbestos fire, 27.
+   Ashburnham House, Westminster, 10.
+   Asiarch, an, 7.
+   Athens, Bookworm from, 81.
+   Atkyns' Origin and Growth of Printing, 126.
+   Auctioneer, story of, 145.
+   Austin Friars, 15.
+   Bagford (John), the biblioclast, r: 18.
+   Balaclava, battle of, 143.
+   Bale, the antiquary, 9.
+   Bandinel (Dr.), 87, 88.
+   Beedham, B., 52.
+   Bible, the first printed, burnt at Strasbourg, 13.
+    -- the "bug" edition, 95.
+   Bibliophile, pleasures of a, 153.
+   Bibliotaph, a, 129.
+   Bibliotheca Ecclesiae Londino-Belgicae, 16.
+   Binder's creed, 31.
+    -- plough, 105.
+   Binding, care to be taken of, 134.
+    -- quality of good, 104.
+   Bird (Rev. -), 55.
+   Birdsall (Mr.), bookbinder, 80.
+   Birmingham Riots, 11.
+   Black-beetles, enemies of books, 94.
+   Black-letter books in United States, 91.
+   Blatta germanica, 65.
+   Boccaccio, 48-50.
+   Bodleian, hookworms at, 87.
+   Bookbinders as enemies of books, 103.
+   Books, absurd lettering, 111.
+    -- burnt at Carthage; at Ephesus, 4.
+    -- burnt in Fire of London, 10.
+    -- burnt by Saracens, 3.
+    -- captured by Corsairs, 18.
+    -- cleaning of, 114.
+    -- deprived of title pages, 118, 119.
+   Books destroyed at the Reformation, Si.
+    -- dried in an attic, 16.
+    -- examination of old covers, 116.
+    -- how to dust them, 134.
+    -- injured by hacking, i x i.
+    -- lost at sea, 17, 18.
+    -- margin reduced to size, 111.
+    -- mildew in, 136.
+    -- from monasteries destroyed, 9.
+    -- restoration when injured, 114.
+    -- restored after a fire, 15.
+    -- scarce before printing, 2.
+    -- sold to a cobbler, 52, 149.
+    -- too tight on shelves, 137.
+    -- their claims to be preserved, 151.
+    -- used to bake "pyes," 10.
+    -- which scratch one another, 134.
+   Book-sale in Derbyshire, 145.
+   Bookworm, the, 67-93.
+    -- attempt to breed, 81-3.
+    -- from Greece, 82.
+    -- in paper box, 89.
+    -- in United States, 91.
+   Bookworms' progress through books, 84.
+    -- race by, 86.
+   Bosses on books, 135.
+   Boys injuring books, 139.
+    -- in library, story of, 140.
+   Brighton, black letter fragments, 59.
+   British Museum, Boccaccio's Fall of Princes, 61.
+   British Museum free from the "worm," 83.
+    -- burnt book exhibited at, 11.
+   Brown spots in books, 24.
+   Bruchium, 3.
+   Burckhardt's Arabic MSS., 77.
+   "Bug" Bible, 95.
+   Burgundy (Duchess of), 130.
+
+   Cambridge Market, 97.
+   Caskets (the three), Shakspeare, 60.
+   Caspari (Mr.), a collector, 124.
+   Cassin (Convent of Mount), 49.
+   Caxton, William, 130.
+    --his use of waste leaves, 90.
+    --Canterbury Tales, used to light a fire, 53.
+    -- Golden Legend, ditto, 52.
+    --Lyf of oure Ladye, 89.
+   Caxtons saturated by rain, 22.
+    --spoilt in binding, 107.
+    --discovered in British Museum, 108.
+   Charles II, portrait by Logan, 126.
+   Chasles (Philarete), 52.
+   Child tearing books, 139.
+   Children as enemies of books, 138.
+   Choir boys injuring MSS., 124.
+   Christians burnt heathen MSS., 7.
+   early, 6.
+   Clarendon (Earl of), portrait by Logan, 126.
+   Clasps on books, injury from, 135.
+   Clergymen as biblioclasts, 64.
+   Clulow (Mr. George), 144.
+   Coal fires objectionable in libraries, 27.
+   Codfish, book eaten by a, 96.
+   Cold injures books, 26.
+   Collectors as enemies of books, 117.
+   College quadrangle, 41.
+   Colophon in Schoeffer's book, 123.
+   Colophons (collections of), I IS.
+   Commonwealth quartos, 44.
+   Communal libraries in France, 48.
+   Cotton library; partially burnt, 10.
+   Cowper, the poet, on burnt libraries, 12.
+   Crambus pinguinalis, 76.
+   Cremona, books destroyed at, 8.
+   Croton bug, 95.
+
+   Damp, an enemy of books, 24.
+   Dante, 50.
+    -- The Inferno, 106.
+   Derbyshire, book sale in, 145.
+   Dermestes vulpinus, 89.
+   De Rome, the binder, 47, 48, 110.
+   De Thou, 110.
+   Devil worship, 5.
+   Devon and Exeter Museum, 101.
+   Diana, Temple of, 6.
+   Dibdin (Dr.), 110.
+    --sale of his Decameron, 148.
+    --his books, 25.
+   D'Israeli (B.), 17.
+   Doraston (J.), Poem on Bookworne, 67, 76.
+   Dust, an enemy of books, 39.
+    -- and neglect in a library, 39-50, 133.
+   Dusting books-how to do it, 136.
+   Dutch Church burnt, 15.
+    -- library at Guildhall, 16.
+
+   Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 53.
+   Edmonds (Mr.), bookseller, 58.
+   Edward IV, 130.
+   Edwards (Mr.), bookseller, 18.
+   Electric light in British Museum, 32.
+   Ephesus, 5.
+   "Eracles," 111.
+   "Evil eye," the, 6.
+   "Excursion, The," 139.
+
+   Fire, an enemy of books, 1-16.
+    -- of London, 10.
+   Flint (Weston), account of black-beetles in New York
+   libraries, 95.
+   Folklore, ancient, 5.
+   "Foxey" books, 25.
+   Francis (St.) and the friars, 37.
+   French Protestant Church, 53.
+   Frith (John), 96.
+   Froissart's Chronicles, 110.
+   Frost in a library, 26.
+
+   Garnett (Dr.), 81.
+   Gas injurious, 29-38,
+   Gatty's (Mrs.) Parables, 76.
+   German Army at Strasburg, U.
+   Gesta Romanorum, 66.
+   Gibbon, the historian, 2.
+   Glass cases preservative of books, 27.
+   Golden Legend, by Caxton, 52.
+   Gordon Riots, 11.
+   Government officials as biblioclasts, 65.
+   Grenville (Rt. Hon. Thos.), 56.
+   Guildford, library at school, 129.
+   Guildhall, London, library at, 0.
+   Gutenberg, 123.
+    -- documents concerning, burnt, 13,
+   Gwyn, Nell, housekeeping book of, 65.
+   "Gyp" brushing clothes in a library, 44.
+
+   Hannett, on bookbinding, 76.
+   Havergal (Rev. F. T.), 76.
+   Heathens burnt Christian MSS., 7.
+   Heating libraries, 27.
+   Hebrew books burnt, 8.
+   Hereford Cathedral library, 76.
+   Hickman family, 56.
+   Histories of Troy, 111.
+   Holme (Mr.), 77.
+   Hooke (R.), his Micrographia, 71-75.
+   Horace's Satires, 140.
+   Hot water pipes for libraries, 26.
+   House-fly, an enemy of books, 102.
+   Hudde, Heer, a story of, 17.
+   Hwqhrey's History of Writing, 138.
+   Hypothenemus eruditus, 76.
+
+   Ignorance and Bigotry, P-66.
+   Illuminated letters fatal to books, 51.
+    -- initials, collections of, 123.
+   Indulgence of 15th Century spoilt by a binder, 109.
+   Inquisition in Holland, 63.
+
+   Kirby and Spence on Entomologists, 75, 101.
+   Knobs of metal on bindings, 135.
+   Koran, The, 7.
+
+   Lamberhurst, 61.
+   Lamport Hall, 58.
+   Lansdowne Collection of MSS., 60.
+   Latterbury, copy of, at St. Martin's, 54.
+   Leather destroyed by gas, 30.
+   Lepisma, 96.
+    -- mistaken for bookworm, 75.
+   Libraries
+    burnt: by Caesar, 3.
+     --- at Dutch Church, 15.
+     --- at Strasbourg, 13.
+    neglected in England, 15, 22, 40.
+    at Alexandria, 3.
+    of the Ptolemies) 3.
+   Library Journal, The, 94.
+   Lincoln Cathedral MSS., 124.
+   Lincolne Nosegaye, 124.
+   London Institution, 31.
+   Lubbock (Sir J.), 90.
+   Luke's, St., account of destruction of books, 4.
+   Luxe des Livres, 47.
+   Luxury and learning, 42.
+
+   Machlinia, book printed by, 106.
+   Magdalene College, Cambridge, 128.
+   Maitland (Rev. S. R.), 54.
+   Mansfield (Lord), ij.
+   MS. Plays burnt, 60.
+   Manuscripts, fragments of, 126.
+   Margins of books cut away, 49, 127.
+   Maximilian (The Emperor), 125.
+   Mazarin library, Caxton in, 52.
+   Metamorphoses of Ovid, by Caxton, 10.
+   Micrographia, by R. Hooke, 71.
+   Middleburgh, 17.
+   Mildew in books, 136.
+   Minorite friars, 37.
+   Missal illuminations, sale of, 119.
+   Mohammed's reason for destroying books, 7.
+   Mohammed II throws books into the sea, 21.
+   Monks at Monte Cassino, 49.
+   Mould in books, 24.
+   Mount Cassin, library at, 50.
+   Moxon's Mechanic Exercises, 115.
+   Muller (M.), of Amsterdam, 62.
+
+   Newmarsh (Rev. C. F.), 54.
+   Niptus Hololeucos, 101.
+   Noble (Mr.), on Parish Registers, 61.
+   Notes and Queries, 77.
+
+   Oak Chest, 44.
+   OEcophora pseudospretella, 79.
+   Offer Collection of Bunyans, 14.
+   On, Priests of, 69.
+   Overall (Mr.), Librarian at Guildhall, 16.
+   Ovid, Metamorphoses by Caxton, 10.
+   Oxenforde, Lyf of therle, 10.
+
+   Paper improperly bleached, 25.
+   Papyrus, 68.
+   Paradise Lost, 142.
+   Parchment, slips of, in old books, 112.
+   Parish Registers, carelessness, 62.
+   Parnell's Ode, 70.
+   Patent Office, destruction of literature at, 65.
+   Paternoster Row, io.
+   Paul, St., 6.
+   Pedlar buying old books, 54, 55.
+   Peignot and hookworms, 79.
+   Pepys (Samuel), his library, 128.
+   Petit (Pierre), poem on bookworm, 70.
+   Philadelphia, wormhole at, 92.
+   Phillipps (Sir Thos.), 129.
+   Pieces of silver or denarii, 5.
+   Pinelli (Maffei), library of, 18.
+   Plantin Museum, 122.
+   policemen in Ephesus, 7.
+   Portrait collectors, 127.
+   Priestley (Dr.), library burnt, 11, 12.
+   Printers, the first, 13.
+   Printers' marks, collection of, 119.
+   -- ink and bookworms, 80.
+   Probrue (Mr.), 120.
+   Ptolemies, the Egyptian, 3.
+   Puttick and Simpson, 15.
+   Pynson's Fall of Princes, 61.
+
+   Queen Elizabeth's prayer-book, 98.
+   Quaint titles, collections of, 121.
+   Quadrangle of an old College described) 41.
+
+   Rain an enemy to books, 21.
+   Rats eat books, 97.
+   Recollet monks of Antwerp, 57.
+   -Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, 130.
+   Reformation, destruction of books at, 9.
+   Restoration of burnt books, 11.
+   Richard of Bury, 47.
+   Ringwalt's Encyclopaedia, 92.
+   Rivets on books, 135.
+   Rood and Hunte, 53.
+   Rot caused by rain, 21.
+   Royal Society, London, 71.
+   Rubens' engraved titles in Plantin Museum, 122.
+    -- autograph receipts, 122.
+   Ruins of fire at Sotheby and Wilkinson's, 14.
+   Rye (W. B.), 61, 83.
+   St. Albans, Boke of, 54.
+   St. Martin's-le-Grand, French church, 53.
+   St. Paul's Cathedral, books burnt in vaults of, 10.
+   Sale catalogues, extracts from, 119.
+   Schoeffer (P.), 123.
+   Schonsperger (Hans), 125.
+   Schoolmaster and endowed library, 129.
+   Scorched book at British Museum, 11.
+   Scrolls of magic, 6.
+   Serpent worship, 5.
+   Servants and children as enemies of books, 131-144.
+   Shakesperian discoveries, 58.
+   "Shavings" of binders, 31.
+   Sheldon (Archbishop), portrait by Logan, 126.
+   Sib's Bowels opened, 121.
+   Smith (Mr.), Brighton bookseller, 64.
+   Sotheby and Wilkinson, 125.
+    -- fire at their rooms, 14.
+   Spring clean, horrors of, 133.
+   Stark (Mr.), bookseller, 55-58.
+   Stealing a Caxton, 54.
+   Steam press, 40.
+   Strasbourg, siege of, 13.
+   Sun-light of gas, 29, 32.
+   Sun worship, 5.
+   Sylvester's Laws of Verse, 71.
+
+   Taylor, the water-poet, 121.
+   Teylerian Museum, Haarlem, 128.
+   Theurdanck, prints in, 125.
+   Thonock Hall, library Of, 56.
+   Timmins (Mr.), 50.
+   Title-pages, collections sold, 122.
+    -- volumes of, 118.
+   Title-pages, old Dutch, 120.
+   Tomicus Typographus, iox.
+
+   Utramontane Society, called "Old paper," 63,
+   Unitarian library, 13,
+   Universities destroy books, 9.
+
+   Value of books burnt by St. Paul, 4.
+   Vanderberg (M.), 57.
+   Vermin book-enemies, 94-102.
+   Pox Piscis, 96.
+
+   Washing old books, x6.
+   Water an enemy of books, 17-28.
+   Waterhouse (Mr.), Si.
+   Werdet (Edmond), 48, 57.
+   Westbrook (W. J.), 102.
+   Westminster Chapter-house, 97.
+    -- skeletons of rats, 97.
+   White (Adam), 83.
+   Wolfenbuttel, library at, 23.
+   Woodcuts, a Caxton celebration, 124.
+   Wynken de Worde, fragment, 59.
+
+   Ximenes (Cardinal) destroys copies of the Koran, 8.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Enemies of Books, by William Blades
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1302 ***
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+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      The Enemies of Books, by William Blades
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+    
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
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+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
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+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+    
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1302 ***</div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE ENEMIES OF BOOKS
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      By William Blades
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h4>
+      <i>Revised and Enlarged by the Author</i>
+    </h4>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h5>
+      SECOND EDITION <br /> <br /> LONDON ELLIOT STOCK, 62 PATERNOSTER ROW <br />
+      <br /> 1888
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="mynote">
+      <p>
+        Transcriber's Note:
+      </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  ae, L, e, [:], OE, [/], '0, and n  "Larsen" encodes.
+  eS = superscripted e (16th cent. english on p9 needs proofed!)
+  [oe ] denotes words in 'olde englishe font'
+  "Emphasis" <i>italics</i> have a * mark.
+  Footnotes (#) have not been re-numbered, they are moved to EOParagraph.
+  Greek letters are encoded in [gr ] brackets, and the letters are
+  based on Adobe's Symbol font.
+</pre>
+      <br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      Contents
+    </h2>
+    <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_TOC"> DETAILED CONTENTS. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> THE ENEMIES OF BOOKS. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. FIRE. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. WATER. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. GAS AND HEAT. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. DUST AND NEGLECT. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. IGNORANCE AND BIGOTRY. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. THE BOOKWORM. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. OTHER VERMIN. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. BOOKBINDERS. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. COLLECTORS. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. SERVANTS AND CHILDREN. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_CONC"> CONCLUSION. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> INDEX. </a>
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_TOC" id="link2H_TOC">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CONTENTS.
+    </h2>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p>
+        CHAPTER I. <br /> FIRE. <br /> Libraries destroyed by Fire.&mdash;Alexandrian.&mdash;St.
+        Paul's destruction <br /> of MSS., Value of.&mdash;Christian books
+        destroyed by Heathens.&mdash;Heathen <br /> books destroyed by
+        Christians.&mdash;Hebrew books burnt at Cremona.&mdash;Arabic <br />
+        books at Grenada.&mdash;Monastic libraries.&mdash;Colton library.&mdash;Birmingham
+        <br /> riots.&mdash;Dr. Priestley's library.&mdash;Lord Mansfield's
+        books.&mdash;Cowper. <br /> &mdash;Strasbourg library bombarded.&mdash;Offor
+        Collection burnt.&mdash;Dutch <br /> Church library damaged.&mdash;Library
+        of Corporation of London. <br /> CHAPTER II. <br /> WATER. <br /> Heer
+        Hudde's library lost at sea.&mdash;Pinelli's library captured <br /> by
+        Corsairs.&mdash;MSS. destroyed by Mohammed II&mdash;Books damaged by
+        <br /> rain.&mdash;Woffenbuttel.&mdash;Vapour and Mould.&mdash;Brown
+        stains.&mdash;Dr. <br /> Dibdin.&mdash;Hot water pipes.&mdash;Asbestos
+        fire.&mdash;Glass doors to bookcases. <br /> CHAPTER III. <br /> GAS AND
+        HEAT. <br /> Effects of Gas on leather.&mdash;Necessitates re-binding.&mdash;Bookbinders.&mdash;Electric
+        <br /> light.&mdash;British Museum.&mdash;Treatment of books.&mdash;Legend
+        of Friars and <br /> their books. <br /> CHAPTER IV. <br /> DUST AND
+        NEGLECT. <br /> Books should have gilt tops.&mdash;Old libraries were
+        neglected.&mdash;Instance <br /> of a College library.&mdash;Clothes
+        brushed in it.&mdash;Abuses in French <br /> libraries.&mdash;Derome's
+        account of them.&mdash;Boccaccio's story of <br /> library at the Convent
+        of Mount Cassin. <br /> CHAPTER V. <br /> IGNORANCE AND BIGOTRY. <br />
+        Destruction of Books at the Reformation.&mdash;Mazarin library.&mdash;Caxton
+        <br /> used to light the fire.&mdash;Library at French Protestant Church,
+        <br /> St. Martin's-le-Grand.&mdash;Books stolen.&mdash;Story of books
+        from Thonock <br /> Hall.&mdash;Boke of St. Albans.&mdash;Recollet Monks
+        of Antwerp.&mdash;Shakespearian <br /> "find."&mdash;Black-letter books
+        used in W.C.&mdash;Gesta Romanorum.&mdash;Lansdowne <br /> collection.&mdash;Warburton.&mdash;Tradesman
+        and rare book.&mdash;Parish Register.&mdash;Story <br /> of Bigotry by M.
+        Muller.&mdash;Clergymen destroy books.&mdash;Patent Office sell <br />
+        books for waste. <br /> CHAPTER VI. <br /> THE BOOKWORM. <br /> Doraston.&mdash;Not
+        so destructive as of yore.&mdash;Worm won't eat <br /> parchment.&mdash;Pierre
+        Petit's poem.&mdash;Hooke's account and image.&mdash;Its <br /> natural
+        history neglected.&mdash;Various sorts&mdash;Attempts to breed <br />
+        Bookworms.&mdash;Greek worm.&mdash;Havoc made by worms.&mdash;Bodleian
+        and Dr. <br /> Bandinel.&mdash;"Dermestes."&mdash;Worm won't eat modern
+        paper.&mdash;America <br /> comparatively free.&mdash;Worm-hole at
+        Philadelphia. <br /> CHAPTER VII. <br /> OTHER VERMIN. <br /> Black-beetle
+        in American libraries.&mdash;germanica.&mdash;Bug Bible.&mdash;Lepisma.
+        <br /> &mdash;Codfish.&mdash;Skeletons of Rats in Abbey library,
+        Westminster.&mdash;Niptus <br /> hololeucos.&mdash;Tomicus Typographicus.&mdash;House
+        flies injure books. <br /> CHAPTER VIII. <br /> BOOKBINDERS. <br /> A good
+        binding gives pleasure.&mdash;Deadly effects of the "plough" as used
+        <br /> by binders.&mdash;Not confined to bye-gone times.&mdash;Instances
+        of injury.&mdash;De <br /> Rome, a good binder but a great cropper.&mdash;Books
+        "hacked."&mdash;Bad <br /> lettering&mdash;Treasures in book-covers.&mdash;Books
+        washed, sized, and <br /> mended.&mdash;"Cases" often Preferable to
+        re-binding. <br /> CHAPTER IX. <br /> COLLECTORS. <br /> Bagford the
+        biblioclast.&mdash;Illustrations torn from MSS.&mdash;Title-pages <br />
+        torn from books.&mdash;Rubens, his engraved titles.&mdash;Colophons torn
+        out of <br /> books.&mdash;Lincoln Cathedral&mdash;Dr. Dibdin's Nosegay.&mdash;Theurdanck.&mdash;Fragments
+        <br /> of MSS.&mdash;Some libraries almost useless.&mdash;Pepysian.&mdash;Teylerian.&mdash;Sir
+        <br /> Thomas Phillipps. <br /> CHAPTER X. <br /> SERVANTS AND CHILDREN.
+        <br /> Library invaded for the purpose of dusting.&mdash;Spring clean.&mdash;-Dust
+        to be <br /> got rid of.&mdash;Ways of doing so.&mdash;Carefulness
+        praised.&mdash;Bad nature of <br /> certain books&mdash;Metal clasps and
+        rivets.&mdash;How to dust.&mdash;Children <br /> often injure books.&mdash;Examples.&mdash;Story
+        of boys in a country library. <br /> POSTSCRIPTUM. <br /> Anecdote of
+        book-sale in Derbyshire. <br /> CONCLUSION. <br /> The care that should be
+        taken of books.&mdash;Enjoyment derived from them. <br /> ILLUSTRATIONS.
+        <br /> SERVANT USING A "CAXTON" TO LIGHT THE FIRE &mdash;- <i>Frontispiece</i>,
+        <br /> PIRATES THROWING LIBRARY OVER-BOARD &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
+        page 19 <br /> FRIARS AND THEIR ASS-LOAD &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
+        35 <br /> BRUSHING CLOTHES IN A COLLEGE LIBRARY &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
+        45 <br /> BOOKWORMS &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
+        73 <br /> RATS DESTROYING BOOKS &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
+        99 <br /> HOUSEHOLD FLY-DAMAGE &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
+        102 <br /> BOYS RAMPANT IN LIBRARY &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
+        141 <br />
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE ENEMIES OF BOOKS.
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I. FIRE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      THERE are many of the forces of Nature which tend to injure Books; but
+      among them all not one has been half so destructive as Fire. It would be
+      tedious to write out a bare list only of the numerous libraries and
+      bibliographical treasures which, in one way or another, have been seized
+      by the Fire-king as his own. Chance conflagrations, fanatic incendiarism,
+      judicial bonfires, and even household stoves have, time after time,
+      thinned the treasures as well as the rubbish of past ages, until,
+      probably, not one thousandth part of the books that have been are still
+      extant. This destruction cannot, however, be reckoned as all loss; for had
+      not the "cleansing fires" removed mountains of rubbish from our midst,
+      strong destructive measures would have become a necessity from sheer want
+      of space in which to store so many volumes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before the invention of Printing, books were comparatively scarce; and,
+      knowing as we do, how very difficult it is, even after the steam-press has
+      been working for half a century, to make a collection of half a million
+      books, we are forced to receive with great incredulity the accounts in old
+      writers of the wonderful extent of ancient libraries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The historian Gibbon, very incredulous in many things, accepts without
+      questioning the fables told upon this subject. No doubt the libraries of
+      MSS. collected generation after generation by the Egyptian Ptolemies
+      became, in the course of time, the most extensive ever then known; and
+      were famous throughout the world for the costliness of their
+      ornamentation, and importance of their untold contents. Two of these were
+      at Alexandria, the larger of which was in the quarter called Bruchium.
+      These volumes, like all manuscripts of those early ages, were written on
+      sheets of parchment, having a wooden roller at each end so that the reader
+      needed only to unroll a portion at a time. During Caesar's Alexandrian
+      War, B.C. 48, the larger collection was consumed by fire and again burnt
+      by the Saracens in A.D. 640. An immense loss was inflicted upon mankind
+      thereby; but when we are told of 700,000, or even 500,000 of such volumes
+      being destroyed we instinctively feel that such numbers must be a great
+      exaggeration. Equally incredulous must we be when we read of half a
+      million volumes being burnt at Carthage some centuries later, and other
+      similar accounts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among the earliest records of the wholesale destruction of Books is that
+      narrated by St. Luke, when, after the preaching of Paul, many of the
+      Ephesians "which used curious arts brought their books together, and
+      burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found
+      it 50,000 pieces of silver" (Acts xix, 19). Doubtless these books of
+      idolatrous divination and alchemy, of enchantments and witchcraft, were
+      righteously destroyed by those to whom they had been and might again be
+      spiritually injurious; and doubtless had they escaped the fire then, not
+      one of them would have survived to the present time, no MS. of that age
+      being now extant. Nevertheless, I must confess to a certain amount of
+      mental disquietude and uneasiness when I think of books worth 50,000
+      denarii&mdash;or, speaking roughly, say L18,750, (1) of our modern money
+      being made into bonfires. What curious illustrations of early heathenism,
+      of Devil worship, of Serpent worship, of Sun worship, and other archaic
+      forms of religion; of early astrological and chemical lore, derived from
+      the Egyptians, the Persians, the Greeks; what abundance of superstitious
+      observances and what is now termed "Folklore"; what riches, too, for the
+      philological student, did those many books contain, and how famous would
+      the library now be that could boast of possessing but a few of them.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ (1) The received opinion is that the "pieces of silver" here mentioned
+were Roman denarii, which were the silver pieces then commonly used in
+Ephesus. If now we weigh a denarius against modern silver, it is exactly
+equal to ninepence, and fifty thousand times ninepence gives L1,875.
+It is always a difficult matter to arrive at a just estimate of the
+relative value of the same coin in different ages; but reckoning that
+money then had at least ten times the purchasing value of money now, we
+arrive at what was probably about the value of the magical books burnt,
+viz.: L18,750.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The ruins of Ephesus bear unimpeachable evidence that the City was very
+      extensive and had magnificent buildings. It was one of the free cities,
+      governing itself. Its trade in shrines and idols was very extensive, being
+      spread through all known lands. There the magical arts were remarkably
+      prevalent, and notwithstanding the numerous converts made by the early
+      Christians, the [gr 'Efesia grammata], or little scrolls upon which magic
+      sentences were written, formed an extensive trade up to the fourth
+      century. These "writings" were used for divination, as a protection
+      against the "evil eye," and generally as charms against all evil. They
+      were carried about the person, so that probably thousands of them were
+      thrown into the flames by St. Paul's hearers when his glowing words
+      convinced them of their superstition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Imagine an open space near the grand Temple of Diana, with fine buildings
+      around. Slightly raised above the crowd, the Apostle, preaching with great
+      power and persuasion concerning superstition, holds in thrall the
+      assembled multitude. On the outskirts of the crowd are numerous bonfires,
+      upon which Jew and Gentile are throwing into the flames bundle upon bundle
+      of scrolls, while an Asiarch with his peace-officers looks on with the
+      conventional stolidity of policemen in all ages and all nations. It must
+      have been an impressive scene, and many a worse subject has been chosen
+      for the walls of the Royal Academy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Books in those early times, whether orthodox or heterodox, appear to have
+      had a precarious existence. The heathens at each fresh outbreak of
+      persecution burnt all the Christian writings they could find, and the
+      Christians, when they got the upper hand, retaliated with interest upon
+      the pagan literature. The Mohammedan reason for destroying books&mdash;"If
+      they contain what is in the Koran they are superfluous, and if they
+      contain anything opposed to it they are immoral," seems, indeed, <i>mutatis
+      mutandis</i>, to have been the general rule for all such devastators.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Invention of Printing made the entire destruction of any author's
+      works much more difficult, so quickly and so extensively did books spread
+      through all lands. On the other hand, as books multiplied, so did
+      destruction go hand in hand with production, and soon were printed books
+      doomed to suffer in the same penal fires, that up to then had been fed on
+      MSS. only.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At Cremona, in 1569, 12,000 books printed in Hebrew were publicly burnt as
+      heretical, simply on account of their language; and Cardinal Ximenes, at
+      the capture of Granada, treated 5,000 copies of the Koran in the same way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the time of the Reformation in England a great destruction of books
+      took place. The antiquarian Bale, writing in 1587, thus speaks of the
+      shameful fate of the Monastic libraries:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "A greate nombre of them whyche purchased those superstycyouse mansyons (<i>Monasteries</i>)
+      reserved of those librarye bookes some to serve their jakes, some to
+      scoure theyr candelstyckes, and some to rubbe theyr bootes. Some they
+      solde to the grossers and sope sellers, and some they sent over see to yeS
+      booke bynders, not in small nombre, but at tymes whole shyppes full, to
+      yeS, wonderynge of foren nacyons. Yea yeS. Universytees of thys realme are
+      not alle clere in thys detestable fact. But cursed is that bellye whyche
+      seketh to be fedde with suche ungodlye gaynes, and so depelye shameth hys
+      natural conterye. I knowe a merchant manne, whych shall at thys tyme be
+      namelesse, that boughte yeS contentes of two noble lybraryes for forty
+      shyllynges pryce: a shame it is to be spoken. Thys stuffe hathe heoccupyed
+      in yeS stede of greye paper, by yeS, space of more than these ten yeares,
+      and yet he bathe store ynoughe for as manye years to come. A prodygyous
+      example is thys, and to be abhorred of all men whyche love theyr nacyon as
+      they shoulde do. The monkes kepte them undre dust, yeS, ydle-headed
+      prestes regarded them not, theyr latter owners have most shamefully abused
+      them, and yeS covetouse merchantes have solde them away into foren nacyons
+      for moneye."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How the imagination recoils at the idea of Caxton's translation of the
+      Metamorphoses of Ovid, or perhaps his "Lyf of therle of Oxenforde,"
+      together with many another book from our first presses, not a fragment of
+      which do we now possess, being used for baking "pyes."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the Great Fire of London in 1666, the number of books burnt was
+      enormous. Not only in private houses and Corporate and Church libraries
+      were priceless collections reduced to cinders, but an immense stock of
+      books removed from Paternoster Row by the Stationers for safety was burnt
+      to ashes in the vaults of St. Paul's Cathedral.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Coming nearer to our own day, how thankful we ought to be for the
+      preservation of the Cotton Library. Great was the consternation in the
+      literary world of 1731 when they heard of the fire at Ashburnham House,
+      Westminster, where, at that time, the Cotton MSS. were deposited. By great
+      exertions the fire was conquered, but not before many MSS. had been quite
+      destroyed and many others injured. Much skill was shown in the partial
+      restoration of these books, charred almost beyond recognition; they were
+      carefully separated leaf by leaf, soaked in a chemical solution, and then
+      pressed flat between sheets of transparent paper. A curious heap of
+      scorched leaves, previous to any treatment, and looking like a monster
+      wasps' nest, may be seen in a glass case in the MS. department of the
+      British Museum, showing the condition to which many other volumes had been
+      reduced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just a hundred years ago the mob, in the "Birmingham Riots," burnt the
+      valuable library of Dr. Priestley, and in the "Gordon Riots" were burnt
+      the literary and other collections of Lord Mansfield, the celebrated
+      judge, he who had the courage first to decide that the Slave who reached
+      the English shore was thenceforward a free man. The loss of the latter
+      library drew from the poet Cowper two short and weak poems. The poet first
+      deplores the destruction of the valuable printed books, and then the
+      irretrievable loss to history by the burning of his Lordship's many
+      personal manuscripts and contemporary documents.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+      "Their pages mangled, burnt and torn,
+          The loss was his alone;
+      But ages yet to come shall mourn
+          The burning of his own."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The second poem commences with the following doggerel:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+      "When Wit and Genius meet their doom
+          In all-devouring Flame,
+      They tell us of the Fate of Rome
+          And bid us fear the same."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The much finer and more extensive library of Dr. Priestley was left
+      unnoticed and unlamented by the orthodox poet, who probably felt a
+      complacent satisfaction at the destruction of heterodox books, the owner
+      being an Unitarian Minister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The magnificent library of Strasbourg was burnt by the shells of the
+      German Army in 1870. Then disappeared for ever, together with other unique
+      documents, the original records of the famous law-suits between Gutenberg,
+      one of the first Printers, and his partners, upon the right understanding
+      of which depends the claim of Gutenberg to the invention of the Art. The
+      flames raged between high brick walls, roaring louder than a blast
+      furnace. Seldom, indeed, have Mars and Pluto had so dainty a sacrifice
+      offered at their shrines; for over all the din of battle, and the
+      reverberation of monster artillery, the burning leaves of the first
+      printed Bible and many another priceless volume were wafted into the sky,
+      the ashes floating for miles on the heated air, and carrying to the
+      astonished countryman the first news of the devastation of his Capital.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the Offor Collection was put to the hammer by Messrs Sotheby and
+      Wilkinson, the well-known auctioneers of Wellington Street, and when about
+      three days of the sale had been gone through, a Fire occurred in the
+      adjoining house, and, gaining possession of the Sale Rooms, made a speedy
+      end of the unique Bunyan and other rarities then on show. I was allowed to
+      see the Ruins on the following day, and by means of a ladder and some
+      scrambling managed to enter the Sale Room where parts of the floor still
+      remained. It was a fearful sight those scorched rows of Volumes still on
+      the shelves; and curious was it to notice how the flames, burning off the
+      backs of the books first, had then run up behind the shelves, and so
+      attacked the fore-edge of the volumes standing upon them, leaving the
+      majority with a perfectly untouched oval centre of white paper and plain
+      print, while the whole surrounding parts were but a mass of black cinders.
+      The salvage was sold in one lot for a small sum, and the purchaser, after
+      a good deal of sorting and mending and binding placed about 1,000 volumes
+      for sale at Messrs. Puttick and Simpson's in the following year.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So, too, when the curious old Library which was in a gallery of the Dutch
+      Church, Austin Friars, was nearly destroyed in the fire which devastated
+      the Church in 1862, the books which escaped were sadly injured. Not long
+      before I had spent some hours there hunting for English Fifteenth-century
+      Books, and shall never forget the state of dirt in which I came away.
+      Without anyone to care for them, the books had remained untouched for many
+      a decade-damp dust, half an inch thick, having settled upon them! Then
+      came the fire, and while the roof was all ablaze streams of hot water,
+      like a boiling deluge, washed down upon them. The wonder was they were not
+      turned into a muddy pulp. After all was over, the whole of the library, no
+      portion of which could legally be given away, was <i>lent for ever</i> to
+      the Corporation of London. Scorched and sodden, the salvage came into the
+      hands of Mr. Overall, their indefatigable librarian. In a hired attic, he
+      hung up the volumes that would bear it over strings like clothes, to dry,
+      and there for weeks and weeks were the stained, distorted volumes, often
+      without covers, often in single leaves, carefully tended and dry-nursed.
+      Washing, sizing, pressing, and binding effected wonders, and no one who
+      to-day looks upon the attractive little alcove in the Guildhall Library
+      labelled [oe "Bibliotheca Ecclesiae Londonino-Belgiae"] and sees the rows
+      of handsomely-lettered backs, could imagine that not long ago this, the
+      most curious portion of the City's literary collections, was in a state
+      when a five-pound note would have seemed more than full value for the lot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II. WATER.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      NEXT to Fire we must rank Water in its two forms, liquid and vapour, as
+      the greatest destroyer of books. Thousands of volumes have been actually
+      drowned at Sea, and no more heard of them than of the Sailors to whose
+      charge they were committed. D'Israeli narrates that, about the year 1700,
+      Heer Hudde, an opulent burgomaster of Middleburgh, travelled for 30 years
+      disguised as a mandarin, throughout the length and breadth of the
+      Celestial Empire. Everywhere he collected books, and his extensive
+      literary treasures were at length safely shipped for transmission to
+      Europe, but, to the irreparable loss of his native country, they never
+      reached their destination, the vessel having foundered in a storm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In 1785 died the famous Maffei Pinelli, whose library was celebrated
+      throughout the world. It had been collected by the Pinelli family for many
+      generations and comprised an extraordinary number of Greek, Latin, and
+      Italian works, many of them first editions, beautifully illuminated,
+      together with numerous MSS. dating from the 11th to the 16th century. The
+      whole library was sold by the Executors to Mr. Edwards, bookseller, of
+      Pall Mall, who placed the volumes in three vessels for transport from
+      Venice to London. Pursued by Corsairs, one of the vessels was captured,
+      but the pirate, disgusted at not finding any treasure, threw all the books
+      into the sea. The other two vessels escaped and delivered their freight
+      safely, and in 1789-90 the books which had been so near destruction were
+      sold at the great room in Conduit Street, for more than L9,000.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These pirates were more excusable than Mohammed II who, upon the capture
+      of Constantinople in the 15th century, after giving up the devoted city to
+      be sacked by his licentious soldiers, ordered the books in all the
+      churches as well as the great library of the Emperor Constantine,
+      containing 120,000 Manuscripts, to be thrown into the sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the shape of rain, water has frequently caused irreparable injury.
+      Positive wet is fortunately of rare occurrence in a library, but is very
+      destructive when it does come, and, if long continued, the substance of
+      the paper succumbs to the unhealthy influence and rots and rots until all
+      fibre disappears, and the paper is reduced to a white decay which crumbles
+      into powder when handled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Few old libraries in England are now so thoroughly neglected as they were
+      thirty years ago. The state of many of our Collegiate and Cathedral
+      libraries was at that time simply appalling. I could mention many
+      instances, one especially, where a window having been left broken for a
+      long time, the ivy had pushed through and crept over a row of books, each
+      of which was worth hundreds of pounds. In rainy weather the water was
+      conducted, as by a pipe, along the tops of the books and soaked through
+      the whole.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In another and smaller collection, the rain came straight on to a
+      book-case through a sky-light, saturating continually the top shelf
+      containing Caxtons and other early English books, one of which, although
+      rotten, was sold soon after by permission of the Charity Commissioners for
+      L200.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Germany, too, the very birth-place of Printing, allows similar destruction
+      to go on unchecked, if the following letter, which appeared about a Year
+      ago (1879) in the <i>Academy</i> has any truth in it:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "For some time past the condition of the library at Wolfenbuttel has been
+      most disgraceful. The building is in so unsafe a condition that portions
+      of the walls and ceilings have fallen in, and the many treasures in Books
+      and MSS. contained in it are exposed to damp and decay. An appeal has been
+      issued that this valuable collection may not be allowed to perish for want
+      of funds, and that it may also be now at length removed to Brunswick,
+      since Wolfenbuttel is entirely deserted as an intellectual centre. No
+      false sentimentality regarding the memory of its former custodians,
+      Leibnitz and Lessing, should hinder this project. Lessing himself would
+      have been the first to urge that the library and its utility should be
+      considered above all things."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The collection of books at Wolfenbuttel is simply magnificent, and I
+      cannot but hope the above report was exaggerated. Were these books to be
+      injured for the want of a small sum spent on the roof, it would be a
+      lasting disgrace to the nation. There are so many genuine book-lovers in
+      Fatherland that the commission of such a crime would seem incredible, did
+      not bibliographical history teem with similar desecrations. (1)
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ (1) This was written in 1879, since which time a new building has been
+erected.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Water in the form of vapour is a great enemy of books, the damp attacking
+      both outside and inside. Outside it fosters the growth of a white mould or
+      fungus which vegetates upon the edges of the leaves, upon the sides and in
+      the joints of the binding. It is easily wiped off, but not without leaving
+      a plain mark, where the mould-spots have been. Under the microscope a
+      mould-spot is seen to be a miniature forest of lovely trees, covered with
+      a beautiful white foliage, upas trees whose roots are embedded in the
+      leather and destroy its texture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inside the book, damp encourages the growth of those ugly brown spots
+      which so often disfigure prints and "livres de luxe." Especially it
+      attacks books printed in the early part of this century, when paper-makers
+      had just discovered that they could bleach their rags, and perfectly white
+      paper, well pressed after printing, had become the fashion. This paper
+      from the inefficient means used to neutralise the bleach, carried the
+      seeds of decay in itself, and when exposed to any damp soon became
+      discoloured with brown stains. Dr. Dibdin's extravagant bibliographical
+      works are mostly so injured; and although the Doctor's bibliography is
+      very incorrect, and his spun-out inanities and wearisome affectations
+      often annoy one, yet his books are so beautifully illustrated, and he is
+      so full of personal anecdote and chit chat, that it grieves the heart to
+      see "foxey" stains common in his most superb works.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a perfectly dry and warm library these spots would probably remain
+      undeveloped, but many endowed as well as private libraries are not in
+      daily use, and are often injured from a false idea that a hard frost and
+      prolonged cold do no injury to a library so long as the weather is dry.
+      The fact is that books should never be allowed to get really cold, for
+      when a thaw comes and the weather sets in warm, the air, laden with damp,
+      penetrates the inmost recesses, and working its way between the volumes
+      and even between the leaves, deposits upon their cold surface its
+      moisture. The best preventative of this is a warm atmosphere during the
+      frost, sudden heating when the frost has gone being useless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our worst enemies are sometimes our real friends, and perhaps the best way
+      of keeping libraries entirely free from damp is to circulate our enemy in
+      the shape of hot water through pipes laid under the floor. The facilities
+      now offered for heating such pipes from the outside are so great, the
+      expense comparatively so small, and the direct gain in the expulsion of
+      damp so decided, that where it can be accomplished without much trouble it
+      is well worth the doing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the same time no system of heating should be allowed to supersede the
+      open grate, which supplies a ventilation to the room as useful to the
+      health of the books as to the health of the occupier. A coal fire is
+      objectionable on many grounds. It is dangerous, dirty and dusty. On the
+      other hand an asbestos fire, where the lumps are judiciously laid, gives
+      all the warmth and ventilation of a common fire without any of its
+      annoyances; and to any one who loves to be independent of servants, and to
+      know that, however deeply he may sleep over his "copy," his fire will not
+      fail to keep awake, an asbestos stove is invaluable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is a mistake also to imagine that keeping the best bound volumes in a
+      glass doored book-case is a preservative. The damp air will certainly
+      penetrate, and as the absence of ventilation will assist the formation of
+      mould, the books will be worse off than if they had been placed in open
+      shelves. If security be desirable, by all means abolish the glass and
+      place ornamental brass wire-work in its stead. Like the writers of old
+      Cookery Books who stamped special receipts with the testimony of personal
+      experience, I can say "probatum est."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III. GAS AND HEAT.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      WHAT a valuable servant is Gas, and how dreadfully we should cry out were
+      it to be banished from our homes; and yet no one who loves his books
+      should allow a single jet in his library, unless, indeed he can afford a
+      "sun light," which is the form in which it is used in some public
+      libraries, where the whole of the fumes are carried at once into the open
+      air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Unfortunately, I can speak from experience of the dire effect of gas in a
+      confined space. Some years ago when placing the shelves round the small
+      room, which, by a euphemism, is called my library, I took the precaution
+      of making two self-acting ventilators which communicated directly with the
+      outer air just under the ceiling. For economy of space as well as of
+      temper (for lamps of all kinds are sore trials), I had a gasalier of three
+      lights over the table. The effect was to cause great heat in the upper
+      regions, and in the course of a year or two the leather valance which hung
+      from the window, as well as the fringe which dropped half-an-inch from
+      each shelf to keep out the dust, was just like tinder, and in some parts
+      actually fell to the ground by its own weight; while the backs of the
+      books upon the top shelves were perished, and crumbled away when touched,
+      being reduced to the consistency of Scotch snuff. This was, of course, due
+      to the sulphur in the gas fumes. I remember having a book some years ago
+      from the top shelf in the library of the London Institution, where gas is
+      used, and the whole of the back fell off in my hands, although the volume
+      in other respects seemed quite uninjured. Thousands more were in a similar
+      plight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the paper of the volumes is uninjured, it might be objected that, after
+      all, gas is not so much the enemy of the book itself as of its covering;
+      but then, re-binding always leaves a book smaller, and often deprives it
+      of leaves at the beginning or end, which the binder's wisdom has thought
+      useless. Oh! the havoc I have seen committed by binders. You may assume
+      your most impressive aspect&mdash;you may write down your instructions as
+      if you were making your last will and testament&mdash;you may swear you
+      will not pay if your books are ploughed&mdash;'tis all in vain&mdash;the
+      creed of a binder is very short, and comprised in a single article, and
+      that article is the one vile word "Shavings." But not now will I follow
+      this depressing subject; binders, as enemies of books, deserve, and shall
+      have, a whole chapter to themselves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is much easier to decry gas than to find a remedy. Sun lights require
+      especial arrangements, and are very expensive on account of the quantity
+      of gas consumed. The library illumination of the future promises to be the
+      electric light. If only steady and moderate in price, it would be a great
+      boon to public libraries, and perhaps the day is not far distant when it
+      will replace gas, even in private houses. That will, indeed, be a day of
+      jubilee to the literary labourer. The injury done by gas is so generally
+      acknowledged by the heads of our national libraries, that it is strictly
+      excluded from their domains, although the danger from explosion and fire,
+      even if the results of combustion were innocuous, would be sufficient
+      cause for its banishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The electric light has been in use for some months in the Reading Room of
+      the British Museum, and is a great boon to the readers. The light is not
+      quite equally diffused, and you must choose particular positions if you
+      want to work happily. There is a great objection, too, in the humming fizz
+      which accompanies the action of the electricity. There is a still greater
+      objection when small pieces of hot chalk fall on your bald head, an
+      annoyance which has been lately (1880) entirely removed by placing a
+      receptacle beneath each burner. You require also to become accustomed to
+      the whiteness of the light before you can altogether forget it. But with
+      all its faults it confers a great boon upon students, enabling them not
+      only to work three hours longer in the winter-time, but restoring to them
+      the use of foggy and dark days, in which formerly no book-work at all
+      could be pursued. (1)
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ (1) 1887. The system in use is still "Siemens," but, owing to long
+experience and improvements, is not now open to the above objections.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Heat alone, without any noxious fumes, is, if continuous, very injurious
+      to books, and, without gas, bindings may be utterly destroyed by
+      desiccation, the leather losing all its natural oils by long exposure to
+      much heat. It is, therefore, a great pity to place books high up in a room
+      where heat of any kind is as it must rise to the top, and if sufficient to
+      be of comfort to the readers below, is certain to be hot enough above to
+      injure the bindings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The surest way to preserve your books in health is to treat them as you
+      would your own children, who are sure to sicken if confined in an
+      atmosphere which is impure, too hot, too cold, too damp, or too dry. It is
+      just the same with the progeny of literature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If any credence may be given to Monkish legends, books have sometimes been
+      preserved in this world, only to meet a desiccating fate in the world to
+      come. The story is probably an invention of the enemy to throw discredit
+      on the learning and ability of the preaching Friars, an Order which was at
+      constant war with the illiterate secular Clergy. It runs thus:&mdash;"In
+      the year 1439, two Minorite friars who had all their lives collected
+      books, died. In accordance with popular belief, they were at once
+      conducted before the heavenly tribunal to hear their doom, taking with
+      them two asses laden with books. At Heaven's gate the porter demanded,
+      'Whence came ye?' The Minorites replied 'From a monastery of St. Francis.'
+      'Oh!' said the porter, 'then St. Francis shall be your judge.' So that
+      saint was summoned, and at sight of the friars and their burden demanded
+      who they were, and why they had brought so many books with them. 'We are
+      Minorites,' they humbly replied, 'and we have brought these few books with
+      us as a solatium in the new Jerusalem.' 'And you, when on earth, practised
+      the good they teach?' sternly demanded the saint, who read their
+      characters at a glance. Their faltering reply was sufficient, and the
+      blessed saint at once passed judgment as follows:&mdash;'Insomuch as,
+      seduced by a foolish vanity, and against your vows of poverty, you have
+      amassed this multitude of books and thereby and therefor have neglected
+      the duties and broken the rules of your Order, you are now sentenced to
+      read your books for ever and ever in the fires of Hell.' Immediately, a
+      roaring noise filled the air, and a flaming chasm opened in which friars,
+      and asses and books were suddenly engulphed."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV. DUST AND NEGLECT.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      DUST upon Books to any extent points to neglect, and neglect means more or
+      less slow Decay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A well-gilt top to a book is a great preventive against damage by dust,
+      while to leave books with rough tops and unprotected is sure to produce
+      stains and dirty margins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In olden times, when few persons had private collections of books, the
+      collegiate and corporate libraries were of great use to students. The
+      librarians' duties were then no sinecure, and there was little opportunity
+      for dust to find a resting-place. The Nineteenth Century and the Steam
+      Press ushered in a new era. By degrees the libraries which were unendowed
+      fell behind the age, and were consequently neglected. No new works found
+      their way in, and the obsolete old books were left uncared for and
+      unvisited. I have seen many old libraries, the doors of which remained
+      unopened from week's end to week's end; where you inhaled the dust of
+      paper-decay with every breath, and could not take up a book without
+      sneezing; where old boxes, full of older literature, served as preserves
+      for the bookworm, without even an autumn "battue" to thin the breed.
+      Occasionally these libraries were (I speak of thirty years ago) put even
+      to vile uses, such as would have shocked all ideas of propriety could our
+      ancestors have foreseen their fate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I recall vividly a bright summer morning many years ago, when, in search
+      of Caxtons, I entered the inner quadrangle of a certain wealthy College in
+      one of our learned Universities. The buildings around were charming in
+      their grey tones and shady nooks. They had a noble history, too, and their
+      scholarly sons were (and are) not unworthy successors of their ancestral
+      renown. The sun shone warmly, and most of the casements were open. From
+      one came curling a whiff of tobacco; from another the hum of conversation;
+      from a third the tones of a piano. A couple of undergraduates sauntered on
+      the shady side, arm in arm, with broken caps and torn gowns&mdash;proud
+      insignia of their last term. The grey stone walls were covered with ivy,
+      except where an old dial with its antiquated Latin inscription kept count
+      of the sun's ascent. The chapel on one side, only distinguishable from the
+      "rooms" by the shape of its windows, seemed to keep watch over the
+      morality of the foundation, just as the dining-hall opposite, from whence
+      issued a white-aproned cook, did of its worldly prosperity. As you trod
+      the level pavement, you passed comfortable&mdash;nay, dainty&mdash;apartments,
+      where lace curtains at the windows, antimacassars on the chairs, the
+      silver biscuit-box and the thin-stemmed wine-glass moderated academic
+      toils. Gilt-backed books on gilded shelf or table caught the eye, and as
+      you turned your glance from the luxurious interiors to the well-shorn lawn
+      in the Quad., with its classic fountain also gilded by sunbeams, the
+      mental vision saw plainly written over the whole "The Union of Luxury and
+      Learning."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Surely here, thought I, if anywhere, the old world literature will be
+      valued and nursed with gracious care; so with a pleasing sense of the
+      general congruity of all around me, I enquired for the rooms of the
+      librarian. Nobody seemed to be quite sure of his name, or upon whom the
+      bibliographical mantle had descended. His post, it seemed, was honorary
+      and a sinecure, being imposed, as a rule, upon the youngest "Fellow." No
+      one cared for the appointment, and as a matter of course the keys of
+      office had but distant acquaintance with the lock. At last I was rewarded
+      with success, and politely, but mutely, conducted by the librarian into
+      his kingdom of dust and silence. The dark portraits of past benefactors
+      looked after us from their dusty old frames in dim astonishment as we
+      passed, evidently wondering whether we meant "work"; book-decay&mdash;that
+      peculiar flavour which haunts certain libraries&mdash;was heavy in the
+      air, the floor was dusty, making the sunbeams as we passed bright with
+      atoms; the shelves were dusty, the "stands" in the middle were thick with
+      dust, the old leather table in the bow window, and the chairs on either
+      side, were very dusty. Replying to a question, my conductor thought there
+      was a manuscript catalogue of the Library somewhere, but thought, also,
+      that it was not easy to find any books by it, and he knew not at the
+      minute where to put his hand upon it. The Library, he said, was of little
+      use now, as the Fellows had their own books and very seldom required 17th
+      and 18th century editions, and no new books had been added to the
+      collection for a long time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We passed down a few steps into an inner library where piles of early
+      folios were wasting away on the ground. Beneath an old ebony table were
+      two long carved oak chests. I lifted the lid of one, and at the top was a
+      once-white surplice covered with dust, and beneath was a mass of tracts&mdash;Commonwealth
+      quartos, unbound&mdash;a prey to worms and decay. All was neglect. The
+      outer door of this room, which was open, was nearly on a level with the
+      Quadrangle; some coats, and trousers, and boots were upon the ebony table,
+      and a "gyp" was brushing away at them just within the door&mdash;in wet
+      weather he performed these functions entirely within the library&mdash;as
+      innocent of the incongruity of his position as my guide himself. Oh!
+      Richard of Bury, I sighed, for a sharp stone from your sling to pierce
+      with indignant sarcasm the mental armour of these College dullards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Happily, things are altered now, and the disgrace of such neglect no
+      longer hangs on the College. Let us hope, in these days of revived respect
+      for antiquity, no other College library is in a similar plight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not Englishmen alone are guilty, however, of such unloving treatment of
+      their bibliographical treasures. The following is translated from an
+      interesting work just published in Paris, (1) and shows how, even at this
+      very time, and in the centre of the literary activity of France, books
+      meet their fate.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ (1) Le luxe des Livres par L. Derome. 8vo, Paris, 1879.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      M. Derome loquitur:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Let us now enter the communal library of some large provincial town. The
+      interior has a lamentable appearance; dust and disorder have made it their
+      home. It has a librarian, but he has the consideration of a porter only,
+      and goes but once a week to see the state of the books committed to his
+      care; they are in a bad state, piled in heaps and perishing in corners for
+      want of attention and binding. At this present time (1879) more than one
+      public library in Paris could be mentioned in which thousands of books are
+      received annually, all of which will have disappeared in the course of 50
+      years or so for want of binding; there are rare books, impossible to
+      replace, falling to pieces because no care is given to them, that is to
+      say, they are left unbound, a prey to dust and the worm, and cannot be
+      touched without dismemberment."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "All history shows that this neglect belongs not to any particular age or
+      nation. I extract the following story from Edmond Werdet's Histoire du
+      Livre." (1)
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ (1) "Histoire du Livre en France," par E. Werdet. 8vo, Paris, 1851.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      "The Poet Boccaccio, when travelling in Apulia, was anxious to visit the
+      celebrated Convent of Mount Cassin, especially to see its library, of
+      which he had heard much. He accosted, with great courtesy, one of the
+      monks whose countenance attracted him, and begged him to have the kindness
+      to show him the library. 'See for yourself,' said the monk, brusquely,
+      pointing at the same time to an old stone staircase, broken with age.
+      Boccaccio hastily mounted in great joy at the prospect of a grand
+      bibliographical treat. Soon he reached the room, which was without key or
+      even door as protection to its treasures. What was his astonishment to see
+      that the grass growing in the window-sills actually darkened the room, and
+      that all the books and seats were an inch thick in dust. In utter
+      astonishment he lifted one book after another. All were manuscripts of
+      extreme antiquity, but all were dreadfully dilapidated. Many had lost
+      whole sections which had been violently extracted, and in many all the
+      blank margins of the vellum had been cut away. In fact, the mutilation was
+      thorough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Grieved at seeing the work and the wisdom of so many illustrious men
+      fallen into the hands of custodians so unworthy, Boccaccio descended with
+      tears in his eyes. In the cloisters he met another monk, and enquired of
+      him how the MSS. had become so mutilated. 'Oh!' he replied, 'we are
+      obliged, you know, to earn a few sous for our needs, so we cut away the
+      blank margins of the manuscripts for writing upon, and make of them small
+      books of devotion, which we sell to women and children."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As a postscript to this story, Mr. Timmins, of Birmingham, informs me that
+      the treasures of the Monte Cassino Library are better cared for now than
+      in Boccaccio's days, the worthy prior being proud of his valuable MSS. and
+      very willing to show them. It will interest many readers to know that
+      there is now a complete printing office, lithographic as well as
+      typographic, at full work in one large room of the Monastery, where their
+      wonderful MS. of Dante has been already reprinted, and where other
+      fac-simile works are now in progress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V. IGNORANCE AND BIGOTRY.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      IGNORANCE, though not in the same category as fire and water, is a great
+      destroyer of books. At the Reformation so strong was the antagonism of the
+      people generally to anything like the old idolatry of the Romish Church,
+      that they destroyed by thousands books, secular as well as sacred, if they
+      contained but illuminated letters. Unable to read, they saw no difference
+      between romance and a psalter, between King Arthur and King David; and so
+      the paper books with all their artistic ornaments went to the bakers to
+      heat their ovens, and the parchment manuscripts, however beautifully
+      illuminated, to the binders and boot makers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is another kind of ignorance which has often worked destruction, as
+      shown by the following anecdote, which is extracted from a letter written
+      in 1862 by M. Philarete Chasles to Mr. B. Beedham, of Kimbolton:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ten years ago, when turning out an old closet in the Mazarin Library, of
+      which I am librarian, I discovered at the bottom, under a lot of old rags
+      and rubbish, a large volume. It had no cover nor title-page, and had been
+      used to light the fires of the librarians. This shows how great was the
+      negligence towards our literary treasure before the Revolution; for the
+      pariah volume, which, 60 years before, had been placed in the Invalides,
+      and which had certainly formed part of the original Mazarin collections,
+      turned out to be a fine and genuine Caxton."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I saw this identical volume in the Mazarin Library in April, 1880. It is a
+      noble copy of the First Edition of the "Golden Legend," 1483, but of
+      course very imperfect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among the millions of events in this world which cross and re-cross one
+      another, remarkable coincidences must often occur; and a case exactly
+      similar to that at the Mazarin Library, happened about the same time in
+      London, at the French Protestant Church, St. Martin's-le-Grand. Many years
+      ago I discovered there, in a dirty pigeon hole close to the grate in the
+      vestry, a fearfully mutilated copy of Caxton's edition of the Canterbury
+      Tales, with woodcuts. Like the book at Paris, it had long been used, leaf
+      by leaf, in utter ignorance of its value, to light the vestry fire.
+      Originally worth at least L800, it was then worth half, and, of course, I
+      energetically drew the attention of the minister in charge to it, as well
+      as to another grand Folio by Rood and Hunte, 1480. Some years elapsed, and
+      then the Ecclesiastical Commissioners took the foundation in hand, but
+      when at last Trustees were appointed, and the valuable library was
+      re-arranged and catalogued, this "Caxton," together with the fine copy of
+      "Latterbury" from the first Oxford Press, had disappeared entirely.
+      Whatever ignorance may have been displayed in the mutilation, quite
+      another word should be applied to the disappearance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following anecdote is so <i>apropos</i>, that although it has lately
+      appeared in No. 1 of <i>The Antiquary</i>, I cannot resist the temptation
+      of re-printing it, as a warning to inheritors of old libraries. The
+      account was copied by me years ago from a letter written in 1847, by the
+      Rev. C. F. Newmarsh, Rector of Pelham, to the Rev. S. R. Maitland,
+      Librarian to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and is as follows:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "In June, 1844, a pedlar called at a cottage in Blyton and asked an old
+      widow, named Naylor, whether she had any rags to sell. She answered, No!
+      but offered him some old paper, and took from a shelf the 'Boke of St.
+      Albans' and others, weighing 9 lbs., for which she received 9<i>d</i>. The
+      pedlar carried them through Gainsborough tied up in string, past a
+      chemist's shop, who, being used to buy old paper to wrap his drugs in,
+      called the man in, and, struck by the appearance of the 'Boke,' gave him 3<i>s</i>.
+      for the lot. Not being able to read the Colophon, he took it to an equally
+      ignorant stationer, and offered it to him for a guinea, at which price he
+      declined it, but proposed that it should be exposed in his window as a
+      means of eliciting some information about it. It was accordingly placed
+      there with this label, 'Very old curious work.' A collector of books went
+      in and offered half-a-crown for it, which excited the suspicion of the
+      vendor. Soon after Mr. Bird, Vicar of Gainsborough, went in and asked the
+      price, wishing to possess a very early specimen of printing, but not
+      knowing the value of the book. While he was examining it, Stark, a very
+      intelligent bookseller, came in, to whom Mr. Bird at once ceded the right
+      of pre-emption. Stark betrayed such visible anxiety that the vendor,
+      Smith, declined setting a price. Soon after Sir C. Anderson, of Lea
+      (author of Ancient Models), came in and took away the book to collate, but
+      brought it back in the morning having found it imperfect in the middle,
+      and offered L5 for it. Sir Charles had no book of reference to guide him
+      to its value. But in the meantime, Stark had employed a friend to obtain
+      for him the refusal of it, and had undertaken to give for it a little more
+      than any sum Sir Charles might offer. On finding that at least L5 could be
+      got for it, Smith went to the chemist and gave him two guineas, and then
+      sold it to Stark's agent for seven guineas. Stark took it to London, and
+      sold it at once to the Rt. Hon. Thos. Grenville for seventy pounds or
+      guineas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I have now shortly to state how it came that a book without covers of
+      such extreme age was preserved. About fifty years since, the library of
+      Thonock Hall, in the parish of Gainsborough, the seat of the Hickman
+      family, underwent great repairs, the books being sorted over by a most
+      ignorant person, whose selection seems to have been determined by the
+      coat. All books without covers were thrown into a great heap, and
+      condemned to all the purposes which Leland laments in the sack of the
+      conventual libraries by the visitors. But they found favour in the eyes of
+      a literate gardener, who begged leave to take what he liked home. He
+      selected a large quantity of Sermons preached before the House of Commons,
+      local pamphlets, tracts from 1680 to 1710, opera books, etc. He made a
+      list of them, which I found afterwards in the cottage. In the list, No. 43
+      was 'Cotarmouris,' or the Boke of St. Albans. The old fellow was something
+      of a herald, and drew in his books what he held to be his coat. After his
+      death, all that could be stuffed into a large chest were put away in a
+      garret; but a few favourites, and the 'Boke' among them remained on the
+      kitchen shelves for years, till his son's widow grew so 'stalled' of
+      dusting them that she determined to sell them. Had she been in poverty, I
+      should have urged the buyer, Stark, the duty of giving her a small sum out
+      of his great gains."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such chances as this do not fall to a man's lot twice; but Edmond Werdet
+      relates a story very similar indeed, and where also the "plums" fell into
+      the lap of a London dealer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In 1775, the Recollet Monks of Antwerp, wishing to make a reform, examined
+      their library, and determined to get rid of about 1,500 volumes&mdash;some
+      manuscript and some printed, but all of which they considered as old
+      rubbish of no value.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At first they were thrown into the gardener's rooms; but, after some
+      months, they decided in their wisdom to give the whole refuse to the
+      gardener as a recognition of his long services.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This man, wiser in his generation than these simple fathers, took the lot
+      to M. Vanderberg, an amateur and man of education. M. Vanderberg took a
+      cursory view, and then offered to buy them by weight at sixpence per
+      pound. The bargain was at once concluded, and M. Vanderberg had the books.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shortly after, Mr. Stark, a well-known London bookseller, being in
+      Antwerp, called on M. Vanderberg, and was shown the books. He at once
+      offered 14,000 francs for them, which was accepted. Imagine the surprise
+      and chagrin of the poor monks when they heard of it! They knew they had no
+      remedy, and so dumbfounded were they by their own ignorance, that they
+      humbly requested M. Vanderberg to relieve their minds by returning some
+      portion of his large gains. He gave them 1,200 francs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great Shakespearian and other discoveries, which were found in a
+      garret at Lamport Hall in 1867 by Mr. Edmonds, are too well-known and too
+      recent to need description. In this case mere chance seems to have led to
+      the preservation of works, the very existence of which set the ears of all
+      lovers of Shakespeare a-tingling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the summer of 1877, a gentleman with whom I was well acquainted took
+      lodgings in Preston Street, Brighton. The morning after his arrival, he
+      found in the w.c. some leaves of an old black-letter book. He asked
+      permission to retain them, and enquired if there were any more where they
+      came from. Two or three other fragments were found, and the landlady
+      stated that her father, who was fond of antiquities, had at one time a
+      chest full of old black-letter books; that, upon his death, they were
+      preserved till she was tired of seeing them, and then, supposing them of
+      no value, she had used them for waste; that for two years and a-half they
+      had served for various household purposes, but she had just come to the
+      end of them. The fragments preserved, and now in my possession, are a
+      goodly portion of one of the most rare books from the press of Wynkyn de
+      Worde, Caxton's successor. The title is a curious woodcut with the words
+      "Gesta Romanorum" engraved in an odd-shaped black letter. It has also
+      numerous rude wood-cuts throughout. It was from this very work that
+      Shakespeare in all probability derived the story of the three caskets
+      which in "The Merchant of Venice" forms so integral a portion of the plot.
+      Only think of that cloaca being supplied daily with such dainty
+      bibliographical treasures!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the Lansdowne Collection at the British Museum is a volume containing
+      three manuscript dramas of Queen Elizabeth's time, and on a fly-leaf is a
+      list of fifty-eight plays, with this note at the foot, in the handwriting
+      of the well-known antiquary, Warburton:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "After I had been many years collecting these Manuscript Playes, through
+      my own carelessness and the ignorance of my servant, they was unluckely
+      burned or put under pye bottoms."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of these "Playes" are preserved in print, but others are quite
+      unknown and perished for ever when used as "pye-bottoms."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. W. B. Rye, late Keeper of the Printed Books at our great National
+      Library, thus writes:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "On the subject of ignorance you should some day, when at the British
+      Museum, look at Lydgate's translation of Boccaccio's 'Fall of Princes,'
+      printed by Pynson in 1494. It is 'liber rarissimus.' This copy when
+      perfect had been very fine and quite uncut. On one fine summer afternoon
+      in 1874 it was brought to me by a tradesman living at Lamberhurst. Many of
+      the leaves had been cut into squares, and the whole had been rescued from
+      a tobacconist's shop, where the pieces were being used to wrap up tobacco
+      and snuff. The owner wanted to buy a new silk gown for his wife, and was
+      delighted with three guineas for this purpose. You will notice how
+      cleverly the British Museum binder has joined the leaves, making it,
+      although still imperfect, a fine book."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Referring to the carelessness exhibited by some custodians of Parish
+      Registers,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Noble, who has had great experience in such matters, writes:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "A few months ago I wanted a search made of the time of Charles I in one
+      of the most interesting registers in a large town (which shall be
+      nameless) in England. I wrote to the custodian of it, and asked him kindly
+      to do the search for me, and if he was unable to read the names to get
+      some one who understood the writing of that date to decipher the entries
+      for me. I did not have a reply for a fortnight, but one morning the
+      postman brought me a very large unregistered book-packet, which I found to
+      be the original Parish Registers! He, however, addressed a note with it
+      stating that he thought it best to send me the document itself to look at,
+      and begged me to be good enough to return the Register to him as soon as
+      done with. He evidently wished to serve me&mdash;his ignorance of
+      responsibility without doubt proving his kindly disposition, and on that
+      account alone I forbear to name him; but I can assure you I was heartily
+      glad to have a letter from him in due time announcing that the precious
+      documents were once more locked up in the parish chest. Certainly, I think
+      such as he to be 'Enemies of books.' Don't you?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bigotry has also many sins to answer for. The late M. Muller, of
+      Amsterdam, a bookseller of European fame, wrote to me as follows a few
+      weeks before his death:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Of course, we also, in Holland, have many Enemies of books, and if I were
+      happy enough to have your spirit and style I would try and write a
+      companion volume to yours. Now I think the best thing I can do is to give
+      you somewhat of my experience. You say that the discovery of printing has
+      made the destruction of anybody's books difficult. At this I am bound to
+      say that the Inquisition did succeed most successfully, by burning
+      heretical books, in destroying numerous volumes invaluable for their
+      wholesome contents. Indeed, I beg to state to you the amazing fact that
+      here in Holland exists an Ultramontane Society called 'Old Paper,' which
+      is under the sanction of the six Catholic Bishops of the Netherlands, and
+      is spread over the whole kingdom. The openly-avowed object of this Society
+      is to buy up and to destroy as waste paper all the Protestant and Liberal
+      Catholic newspapers, pamphlets and books, the price of which is offered to
+      the Pope as 'Deniers de St. Pierre.' Of course, this Society is very
+      little known among Protestants, and many have denied even its existence;
+      but I have been fortunate enough to obtain a printed circular issued by
+      one of the Bishops containing statistics of the astounding mass of paper
+      thus collected, producing in one district alone the sum of L1,200 in three
+      months. I need not tell you that this work is strongly promoted by the
+      Catholic clergy. You can have no idea of the difficulty we now have in
+      procuring certain books published but 30, 40, or 50 years ago of an
+      ephemeral character. Historical and theological books are very rare;
+      novels and poetry of that period are absolutely not to be found; medical
+      and law books are more common. I am bound to say that in no country have
+      more books been printed and more destroyed than in Holland. W. MULLER."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The policy of buying up all objectionable literature seems to me, I
+      confess, very short-sighted, and in most cases would lead to a greatly
+      increased reprint; it certainly would in these latitudes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the Church of Rome to the Church of England is no great leap, and Mr.
+      Smith, the Brighton bookseller, gives evidence thus:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It may be worth your while to note that the clergy of the last two
+      centuries ought to be included in your list (of Biblioclasts). I have had
+      painful experience of the fact in the following manner. Numbers of volumes
+      in their libraries have had a few leaves removed, and in many others whole
+      sections torn out. I suppose it served their purpose thus to use the
+      wisdom of greater men and that they thus economised their own time by
+      tearing out portions to suit their purpose. The hardship to the trade is
+      this: their books are purchased in good faith as perfect, and when resold
+      the buyer is quick to claim damage if found defective, while the seller
+      has no redress."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among the careless destroyers of books still at work should be classed
+      Government officials. Cart-loads of interesting documents, bound and
+      unbound, have been sold at various times as waste-paper, (1) when modern
+      red-tape thought them but rubbish. Some of them have been rescued and
+      resold at high prices, but some have been lost for ever.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ (1) Nell Gwyn's private Housekeeping Book was among them, containing
+most curious particulars of what was necessary in the time of Charles I
+for a princely household. Fortunately it was among the rescued, and is
+now in a private library.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      In 1854 a very interesting series of blue books was commenced by the
+      authorities of the Patent Office, of course paid for out of the national
+      purse. Beginning with the year 1617 the particulars of every important
+      patent were printed from the original specifications and fac-simile
+      drawings made, where necessary, for the elucidation of the text. A very
+      moderate price was charged for each, only indeed the prime cost of
+      production. The general public, of course, cared little for such
+      literature, but those interested in the origin and progress of any
+      particular art, cared much, and many sets of Patents were purchased by
+      those engaged in research. But the great bulk of the stock was, to some
+      extent, inconvenient, and so when a removal to other offices, in 1879,
+      became necessary, the question arose as to what could be done with them.
+      These blue-books, which had cost the nation many thousands of pounds, were
+      positively sold to the paper mills as wastepaper, and nearly 100 tons
+      weight were carted away at about L3 per ton. It is difficult to believe,
+      although positively true, that so great an act of vandalism could have
+      been perpetrated, even in a Government office. It is true that no demand
+      existed for some of them, but it is equally true that in numerous cases,
+      especially in the early specifications of the steam engine and printing
+      machine, the want of them has caused great disappointment. To add a climax
+      to the story, many of the "pulped" specifications have had to be reprinted
+      more than once since their destruction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI. THE BOOKWORM.
+    </h2>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+      THERE is a sort of busy worm
+      That will the fairest books deform,
+          By gnawing holes throughout them;
+      Alike, through every leaf they go,
+      Yet of its merits naught they know,
+          Nor care they aught about them.
+
+      Their tasteless tooth will tear and taint
+      The Poet, Patriot, Sage or Saint,
+          Not sparing wit nor learning.
+      Now, if you'd know the reason why,
+      The best of reasons I'll supply;
+          'Tis bread to the poor vermin.
+
+      Of pepper, snuff, or 'bacca smoke,
+      And Russia-calf they make a joke.
+          Yet, why should sons of science
+      These puny rankling reptiles dread?
+      'Tis but to let their books be read,
+          And bid the worms defiance."
+                              J. DORASTON.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      A most destructive Enemy of books has been the bookworm. I say "has been,"
+      because, fortunately, his ravages in all civilised countries have been
+      greatly restricted during the last fifty years. This is due partly to the
+      increased reverence for antiquity which has been universally developed&mdash;more
+      still to the feeling of cupidity, which has caused all owners to take care
+      of volumes which year by year have become more valuable&mdash;and, to some
+      considerable extent, to the falling off in the production of edible books.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The monks, who were the chief makers as well as the custodians of books,
+      through the long ages we call "dark," because so little is known of them,
+      had no fear of the bookworm before their eyes, for, ravenous as he is and
+      was, he loves not parchment, and at that time paper was not. Whether at a
+      still earlier period he attacked the papyrus, the paper of the Egyptians,
+      I know not&mdash;probably he did, as it was a purely vegetable substance;
+      and if so, it is quite possible that the worm of to-day, in such evil
+      repute with us, is the lineal descendant of ravenous ancestors who plagued
+      the sacred Priests of On in the time of Joseph's Pharaoh, by destroying
+      their title deeds and their books of Science.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Rare things and precious, as manuscripts were before the invention of
+      typography, are well preserved, but when the printing press was invented
+      and paper books were multiplied in the earth; when libraries increased and
+      readers were many, then familiarity bred contempt; books were packed in
+      out-of-the-way places and neglected, and the oft-quoted, though seldom
+      seen, bookworm became an acknowledged tenant of the library, and the
+      mortal enemy of the bibliophile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Anathemas have been hurled against this pest in nearly every European
+      language, old and new, and classical scholars of bye-gone centuries have
+      thrown their spondees and dactyls at him. Pierre Petit, in 1683, devoted a
+      long Latin poem to his dis-praise, and Parnell's charming Ode is well
+      known. Hear the poet lament:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ "Pene tu mihi passerem Catulli,
+ Pene tu mihi Lesbiam abstulisti."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      and then&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ "Quid dicam innumeros bene eruditos
+ Quorum tu monumenta tu labores
+     Isti pessimo ventre devorasti?"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      while Petit, who was evidently moved by strong personal feelings against
+      the "invisum pecus," as he calls him, addresses his little enemy as
+      "Bestia audax" and "Pestis chartarum."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But, as a portrait commonly precedes a biography, the curious reader may
+      wish to be told what this "Bestia audax," who so greatly ruffles the
+      tempers of our eclectics, is like. Here, at starting, is a serious
+      chameleon-like difficulty, for the bookworm offers to us, if we are guided
+      by their words, as many varieties of size and shape as there are
+      beholders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sylvester, in his "Laws of Verse," with more words than wit, described him
+      as "a microscopic creature wriggling on the learned page, which, when
+      discovered, stiffens out into the resemblance of a streak of dirt."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The earliest notice is in "Micrographia," by R. Hooke, folio, London,
+      1665. This work, which was printed at the expense of the Royal Society of
+      London, is an account of innumerable things examined by the author under
+      the microscope, and is most interesting for the frequent accuracy of the
+      author's observations, and most amusing for his equally frequent blunders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In his account of the bookworm, his remarks, which are rather long and
+      very minute, are absurdly blundering. He calls it "a small white
+      Silver-shining Worm or Moth, which I found much conversant among books and
+      papers, and is supposed to be that which corrodes and eats holes thro' the
+      leaves and covers. Its head appears bigg and blunt, and its body tapers
+      from it towards the tail, smaller and smaller, being shap'd almost like a
+      carret.... It has two long horns before, which are streight, and tapering
+      towards the top, curiously ring'd or knobb'd and brisled much like the
+      marsh weed called Horses tail.... The hinder part is terminated with three
+      tails, in every particular resembling the two longer horns that grow out
+      of the head. The legs are scal'd and hair'd. This animal probably feeds
+      upon the paper and covers of books, and perforates in them several small
+      round holes, finding perhaps a convenient nourishment in those husks of
+      hemp and flax, which have passed through so many scourings, washings,
+      dressings, and dryings as the parts of old paper necessarily have
+      suffer'd. And, indeed, when I consider what a heap of sawdust or chips
+      this little creature (which is one of the teeth of Time) conveys into its
+      intrals, I cannot chuse but remember and admire the excellent contrivance
+      of Nature in placing in animals such a fire, as is continually nourished
+      and supply'd by the materials convey'd into the stomach and fomented by
+      the bellows of the lungs." The picture or "image," which accompanies this
+      description, is wonderful to behold. Certainly R. Hooke, Fellow of the
+      Royal Society, drew somewhat upon his imagination here, having apparently
+      evolved both engraving and description from his inner consciousness. (1)
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ (1) Not so! Several correspondents have drawn my attention to the
+fact that Hooke is evidently describing the "Lepisma," which, if not
+positively injurious, is often found in the warm places of old houses,
+especially if a little damp. He mistook this for the Bookworm.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Entomologists even do not appear to have paid much attention to the
+      natural history of the "Worm." Kirby, speaking of it, says, "the larvae of
+      Crambus pinguinalis spins a robe which it covers with its own excrement,
+      and does no little injury." Again, "I have often observed the caterpillar
+      of a little moth that takes its station in damp old books, and there
+      commits great ravages, and many a black-letter rarity, which in these days
+      of bibliomania would have been valued at its weight in gold, has been
+      snatched by these devastators," etc., etc.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As already quoted, Doraston's description is very vague. To him he is in
+      one verse "a sort of busy worm," and in another "a puny rankling reptile."
+      Hannett, in his work on book-binding, gives "Aglossa pinguinalis" as the
+      real name, and Mrs. Gatty, in her Parables, christens it "Hypothenemus
+      cruditus."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The, Rev. F. T. Havergal, who many years ago had much trouble with
+      bookworms in the Cathedral Library of Hereford, says they are a kind of
+      death-watch, with a "hard outer skin, and are dark brown," another sort
+      "having white bodies with brown spots on their heads." Mr. Holme, in
+      "Notes and Queries" for 1870, states that the "Anobium paniceum" has done
+      considerable injury to the Arabic manuscripts brought from Cairo, by
+      Burckhardt, and now in the University Library, Cambridge. Other writers
+      say "Acarus eruditus" or "Anobium pertinax" are the correct scientific
+      names.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Personally, I have come across but few specimens; nevertheless, from what
+      I have been told by librarians, and judging from analogy, I imagine the
+      following to be about the truth:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are several kinds of caterpillar and grub, which eat into books,
+      those with legs are the larvae of moths; those without legs, or rather
+      with rudimentary legs, are grubs and turn to beetles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is not known whether any species of caterpillar or grub can live
+      generation after generation upon books alone, but several sorts of
+      wood-borers, and others which live upon vegetable refuse, will attack
+      paper, especially if attracted in the first place by the real wooden
+      boards in which it was the custom of the old book-binders to clothe their
+      volumes. In this belief, some country librarians object to opening the
+      library windows lest the enemy should fly in from the neighbouring woods,
+      and rear a brood of worms. Anyone, indeed, who has seen a hole in a
+      filbert, or a piece of wood riddled by dry rot, will recognize a
+      similarity of appearance in the channels made by these insect enemies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among the paper-eating species are:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      1. The "Anobium." Of this beetle there are varieties, viz.: "A. pertinax,"
+      "A. eruditus," and "A. paniceum." In the larval state they are grubs, just
+      like those found, in nuts; in this stage they are too much alike to be
+      distinguished from one another. They feed on old dry wood, and often
+      infest bookcases and shelves. They eat the wooden boards of old books, and
+      so pass into the paper where they make long holes quite round, except when
+      they work in a slanting direction, when the holes appear to be oblong.
+      They will thus pierce through several volumes in succession, Peignot, the
+      well-known bibliographer, having found 27 volumes so pierced in a straight
+      line by one worm, a miracle of gluttony, the story of which, for myself, I
+      receive "<i>cum grano salis</i>." After a certain time the larva changes
+      into a pupa, and then emerges as a small brown beetle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      2. "Oecophora."&mdash;This larva is similar in size to that of Anobium,
+      but can be distinguished at once by having legs. It is a caterpillar, with
+      six legs upon its thorax and eight sucker-like protuberances on its body,
+      like a silk-worm. It changes into a chrysalis, and then assumes its
+      perfect shape as a small brown moth. The species that attacks books is the
+      OEcophora pseudospretella. It loves damp and warmth, and eats any fibrous
+      material. This caterpillar is quite unlike any garden species, and,
+      excepting the legs, is very similar in appearance and size to the Anobium.
+      It is about half-inch long, with a horny head and strong jaws. To
+      printers' ink or writing ink he appears to have no great dislike, though I
+      imagine that the former often disagrees with his health, unless he is very
+      robust, as in books where the print is pierced a majority of the
+      worm-holes I have seen are too short in extent to have provided food
+      enough for the development of the grub. But, although the ink may be
+      unwholesome, many grubs survive, and, eating day and night in silence and
+      darkness, work out their destiny leaving, according to the strength of
+      their constitutions, a longer or shorter tunnel in the volume.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In December, 1879, Mr. Birdsall, a well-known book-binder of Northampton,
+      kindly sent me by post a fat little Worm, which had been found by one of
+      his workmen in an old book while being bound. He bore his journey
+      extremely well, being very lively when turned out. I placed him in a box
+      in warmth and quiet, with some small fragments of paper from a Boethius,
+      printed by Caxton, and a leaf of a seventeenth century book. He ate a
+      small piece of the leaf, but either from too much fresh air, from
+      unaccustomed liberty, or from change of food, he gradually weakened, and
+      died in about three weeks. I was sorry to lose him, as I wished to verify
+      his name in his perfect state. Mr. Waterhouse, of the Entomological
+      department of the British Museum, very kindly examined him before death,
+      and was of opinion he was OEcophora pseudospretella.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In July, 1885, Dr. Garnett, of the British Museum, gave me two worms which
+      had been found in an old Hebrew Commentary just received from Athens. They
+      had doubtless had a good shaking on the journey, and one was moribund when
+      I took charge, and joined his defunct kindred in a few days. The other
+      seemed hearty and lived with me for nearly eighteen months. I treated him
+      as well as I knew how; placed him in a small box with the choice of three
+      sorts of old paper to eat, and very seldom disturbed him. He evidently
+      resented his confinement, ate very little, moved very little, and changed
+      in appearance very little, even when dead. This Greek worm, filled with
+      Hebrew lore, differed in many respects from any other I have seen. He was
+      longer, thinner, and more delicate looking than any of his English
+      congeners. He was transparent, like thin ivory, and had a dark line
+      through his body, which I took to be the intestinal canal. He resigned his
+      life with extreme procrastination, and died "deeply lamented" by his
+      keeper, who had long looked forward to his final development.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The difficulty of breeding these worms is probably due to their formation.
+      When in a state of nature they can by expansion and contraction of the
+      body working upon the sides of their holes, push their horny jaws against
+      the opposing mass of paper. But when freed from the restraint, which
+      indeed to them is life, they CANNOT eat although surrounded with food, for
+      they have no legs to keep them steady, and their natural, leverage is
+      wanting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Considering the numerous old books contained in the British Museum, the
+      Library there is wonderfully free from the worm. Mr. Rye, lately the
+      Keeper of the Printed Books there, writes me "Two or three were discovered
+      in my time, but they were weakly creatures. One, I remember, was conveyed
+      into the Natural History Department, and was taken into custody by Mr.
+      Adam White who pronounced it to be Anobium pertinax. I never heard of it
+      after."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The reader, who has not had an opportunity of examining old libraries, can
+      have no idea of the dreadful havoc which these pests are capable of
+      making.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have now before me a fine folio volume, printed on very good unbleached
+      paper, as thick as stout cartridge, in the year 1477, by Peter Schoeffer,
+      of Mentz. Unfortunately, after a period of neglect in which it suffered
+      severely from the "worm," it was about fifty years ago considered worth a
+      new cover, and so again suffered severely, this time at the hands of the
+      binder. Thus the original state of the boards is unknown, but the damage
+      done to the leaves can be accurately described.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The "worms" have attacked each end. On the first leaf are 212 distinct
+      holes, varying in size from a common pin hole to that which a stout
+      knitting-needle would make, say, [1/16] to [1/23] inch. These holes run
+      mostly in lines more or less at right angles with the covers, a very few
+      being channels along the paper affecting three or four sheets only. The
+      varied energy of these little pests is thus represented:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+    On folio 1 are 212 holes.  On folio 61 are 4 holes.
+        "   11  "   57   "         "    71  "  2   "
+        "   21  "   48   "         "    81  "  2   "
+        "   31  "   31   "         "    87  "  1   "
+        "   41  "   18   "         "    90  "  0   "
+        "   51  "    6   "
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      These 90 leaves being stout, are about the thickness of 1 inch. The volume
+      has 250 leaves, and turning to the end, we find on the last leaf 81 holes,
+      made by a breed of worms not so ravenous. Thus,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+      From end                |         From end.
+ On folio 1 are 81 holes.     |    On folio 66 is 1 hole.
+     "   11 "   40   "        |         "   69   "   0   "
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      It is curious to notice how the holes, rapidly at first, and then slowly
+      and more slowly, disappear. You trace the same hole leaf after leaf, until
+      suddenly the size becomes in one leaf reduced to half its normal diameter,
+      and a close examination will show a small abrasion of the paper in the
+      next leaf exactly where the hole would have come if continued. In the book
+      quoted it is just as if there had been a race. In the first ten leaves the
+      weak worms are left behind; in the second ten there are still forty-eight
+      eaters; these are reduced to thirty-one in the third ten, and to only
+      eighteen in the fourth ten. On folio 51 only six worms hold on, and before
+      folio 61 two of them have given in. Before reaching folio 7, it is a neck
+      and neck race between two sturdy gourmands, each making a fine large hole,
+      one of them being oval in shape. At folio 71 they are still neck and neck,
+      and at folio 81 the same. At folio 87 the oval worm gives in, the round
+      one eating three more leaves and part way through the fourth. The leaves
+      of the book are then untouched until we reach the sixty-ninth from the
+      end, upon which is one worm hole. After this they go on multiplying to the
+      end of the book.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have quoted this instance because I have it handy, but many worms eat
+      much longer holes than any in this volume; some I have seen running quite
+      through a couple of thick volumes, covers and all. In the "Schoeffer" book
+      the holes are probably the work of Anobium pertinax, because the centre is
+      spared and both ends attacked. Originally, real wooden boards were the
+      covers of the volume, and here, doubtless, the attack was commenced, which
+      was carried through each board into the paper of the book.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I remember well my first visit to the Bodleian Library, in the year 1858,
+      Dr. Bandinel being then the librarian. He was very kind, and afforded me
+      every facility for examining the fine collection of "Caxtons," which was
+      the object of my journey. In looking over a parcel of black-letter
+      fragments, which had been in a drawer for a long time, I came across a
+      small grub, which, without a thought, I threw on the floor and trod under
+      foot. Soon after I found another, a fat, glossy fellow, so long &mdash;-,
+      which I carefully preserved in a little paper box, intending to observe
+      his habits and development. Seeing Dr. Bandinel near, I asked him to look
+      at my curiosity. Hardly, however, had I turned the wriggling little victim
+      out upon the leather-covered table, when down came the doctor's great
+      thumb-nail upon him, and an inch-long smear proved the tomb of all my
+      hopes, while the great bibliographer, wiping his thumb on his coat sleeve,
+      passed on with the remark, "Oh, yes! they have black heads sometimes."
+      That was something to know&mdash;another fact for the entomologist; for my
+      little gentleman had a hard, shiny, white head, and I never heard of a
+      black-headed bookworm before or since. Perhaps the great abundance of
+      black-letter books in the Bodleian may account for the variety. At any
+      rate he was an Anobium.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have been unmercifully "chaffed" for the absurd idea that a paper-eating
+      worm could be kept a prisoner in a paper box. Oh, these critics! Your
+      bookworm is a shy, lazy beast, and takes a day or two to recover his
+      appetite after being "evicted." Moreover, he knew his own dignity better
+      than to eat the "loaded" glazed shoddy note paper in which he was
+      incarcerated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the case of Caxton's "Lyf of oure ladye," already referred to, not only
+      are there numerous small holes, but some very large channels at the bottom
+      of the pages. This is a most unusual occurrence, and is probably the work
+      of the larva of "Dermestes vulpinus," a garden beetle, which is very
+      voracious, and eats any kind of dry ligneous rubbish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The scarcity of edible books of the present century has been mentioned.
+      One result of the extensive adulteration of modern paper is that the worm
+      will not touch it. His instinct forbids him to eat the china clay, the
+      bleaches, the plaster of Paris, the sulphate of barytes, the scores of
+      adulterants now used to mix with the fibre, and, so far, the wise pages of
+      the old literature are, in the race against Time with the modern rubbish,
+      heavily handicapped. Thanks to the general interest taken in old books
+      now-a-days, the worm has hard times of it, and but slight chance of that
+      quiet neglect which is necessary to his, existence. So much greater is the
+      reason why some patient entomologist should, while there is the chance,
+      take upon himself to study the habits of the creature, as Sir John Lubbock
+      has those of the ant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have now before me some leaves of a book, which, being waste, were used
+      by our economical first printer, Caxton, to make boards, by pasting them
+      together. Whether the old paste was an attraction, or whatever the reason
+      may have been, the worm, when he got in there, did not, as usual, eat
+      straight through everything into the middle of the book, but worked his
+      way longitudinally, eating great furrows along the leaves without passing
+      out of the binding; and so furrowed are these few leaves by long channels
+      that it is difficult to raise one of them without its falling to pieces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This is bad enough, but we may be very thankful that in these temperate
+      climes we have no such enemies as are found in very hot countries, where a
+      whole library, books, bookshelves, table, chairs, and all, may be
+      destroyed in one night by a countless army of ants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our cousins in the United States, so fortunate in many things, seem very
+      fortunate in this&mdash;their books are not attacked by the "worm"&mdash;at
+      any rate, American writers say so. True it is that all their black-letter
+      comes from Europe, and, having cost many dollars, is well looked after;
+      but there they have thousands of seventeenth and eighteenth century books,
+      in Roman type, printed in the States on genuine and wholesome paper, and
+      the worm is not particular, at least in this country, about the type he
+      eats through, if the paper is good.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Probably, therefore, the custodians of their old libraries could tell a
+      different tale, which makes it all the more amusing to find in the
+      excellent "Encyclopaedia of Printing," (1) edited and printed by Ringwalt,
+      at Philadelphia, not only that the bookworm is a stranger there, for
+      personally he is unknown to most of us, but that his slightest ravages are
+      looked upon as both curious and rare. After quoting Dibdin, with the
+      addition of a few flights of imagination of his own, Ringwalt states that
+      this "paper-eating moth is supposed to have been introduced into England
+      in hogsleather binding from Holland." He then ends with what, to anyone
+      who has seen the ravages of the worm in hundreds of books, must be
+      charming in its native simplicity. "There is now," he states, evidently
+      quoting it as a great curiosity, "there is now, in a private library in
+      Philadelphia, a book perforated by this insect." Oh! lucky Philadelphians!
+      who can boast of possessing the oldest library in the States, but must ask
+      leave of a private collector if they wish to see the one wormhole in the
+      whole city!
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ (1) "American Encyclopaedia of Printing": by Luther Ringwalt. 8vo.
+Philadelphia, 1871.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII. OTHER VERMIN.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      BESIDES the worm I do not think there is any insect enemy of books worth
+      description. The domestic black-beetle, or cockroach, is far too modern an
+      introduction to our country to have done much harm, though he will
+      sometimes nibble the binding of books, especially if they rest upon the
+      floor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not so fortunate, however, are our American cousins, for in the "Library
+      Journal" for September, 1879, Mr. Weston Flint gives an account of a
+      dreadful little pest which commits great havoc upon the cloth bindings of
+      the New York libraries. It is a small black-beetle or cockroach, called by
+      scientists "Blatta germanica" and by others the "Croton Bug." Unlike our
+      household pest, whose home is the kitchen, and whose bashfulness loves
+      secrecy and the dark hours, this misgrown flat species, of which it would
+      take two to make a medium-sized English specimen, has gained in impudence
+      what it has lost in size, fearing neither light nor noise, neither man nor
+      beast. In the old English Bible of 1551, we read in Psalm xci, 5, "Thou
+      shalt not nede to be afraied for eny Bugges by night." This verse falls
+      unheeded on the ear of the Western librarian who fears his "bugs" both
+      night and day, for they crawl over everything in broad sunlight, infesting
+      and infecting each corner and cranny of the bookshelves they choose as
+      their home. There is a remedy in the powder known as insecticide, which,
+      however, is very disagreeable upon books and shelves. It is, nevertheless,
+      very fatal to these pests, and affords some consolation in the fact that
+      so soon as a "bug" shows any signs of illness, he is devoured at once by
+      his voracious brethren with the same relish as if he were made of fresh
+      paste.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is, too, a small silvery insect (Lepisma) which I have often seen in
+      the backs of neglected books, but his ravages are not of much importance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nor can we reckon the Codfish as very dangerous to literature, unless,
+      indeed, he be of the Roman obedience, like that wonderful
+      Ichthiobibliophage (pardon me, Professor Owen) who, in the year 1626,
+      swallowed three Puritanical treatises of John Frith, the Protestant
+      martyr. No wonder, after such a meal, he was soon caught, and became
+      famous in the annals of literature. The following is the title of a little
+      book issued upon the occasion: "Vox Piscis, or the Book-Fish containing
+      Three Treatises, which were found in the belly of a Cod-Fish in Cambridge
+      Market on Midsummer Eve, AD 1626." Lowndes says (see under "Tracey,")
+      "great was the consternation at Cambridge upon the publication of this
+      work."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Rats and mice, however, are occasionally very destructive, as the
+      following anecdote will show: Two centuries ago, the library of the Dean
+      and Chapter of Westminster was kept in the Chapter House, and repairs
+      having become necessary in that building, a scaffolding was erected
+      inside, the books being left on their shelves. One of the holes made in
+      the wall for a scaffold-pole was selected by a pair of rats for their
+      family residence. Here they formed a nest for their young ones by
+      descending to the library shelves and biting away the leaves of various
+      books. Snug and comfortable was the little household, until, one day, the
+      builder's men having finished, the poles were removed, and&mdash;alas! for
+      the rats&mdash;the hole was closed up with bricks and cement. Buried
+      alive, the father and mother, with five or six of their offspring, met
+      with a speedy death, and not until a few years ago, when a restoration of
+      the Chapter House was effected, was the rat grave opened again for a
+      scaffold pole, and all their skeletons and their nest discovered. Their
+      bones and paper fragments of the nest may now be seen in a glass case in
+      the Chapter House, some of the fragments being attributed to books from
+      the press of Caxton. This is not the case, although there are pieces of
+      very early black-letter books not now to be found in the Abbey library,
+      including little bits of the famous Queen Elizabeth's Prayer book, with
+      woodcuts, 1568.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A friend sends me the following incident: "A few years since, some rats
+      made nests in the trees surrounding my house; from thence they jumped on
+      to some flat roofing, and so made their way down a chimney into a room
+      where I kept books. A number of these, with parchment backs, they entirely
+      destroyed, as well as some half-dozen books whole bound in parchment."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another friend informs me that in the Natural History Museum of the Devon
+      and Exeter Institution is a specimen of "another little pest, which has a
+      great affection for bindings in calf and roan. Its scientific name is
+      Niptus Hololeucos." He adds, "Are you aware that there was a terrible
+      creature allied to these, rejoicing in the name of Tomicus Typographus,
+      which committed sad ravages in Germany in the seventeenth century, and in
+      the old liturgies of that country is formally mentioned under its vulgar
+      name, 'The Turk'?" (See Kirby and Spence, Seventh Edition, 1858, p. 123.)
+      This is curious, and I did not know it, although I know well that
+      Typographus Tomicus, or the "cutting printer," is a sad enemy of (good)
+      books. Upon this part of our subject, however, I am debarred entering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following is from W. J. Westbrook, Mus. Doe., Cantab., and represents
+      ravages with which I am personally unacquainted:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Dear Blades,&mdash;I send you an example of the 'enemy'-mosity of an
+      ordinary housefly. It hid behind the paper, emitted some caustic fluid,
+      and then departed this life. I have often caught them in such holes.'
+      30/12/83." The damage is an oblong hole, surrounded by a white fluffy
+      glaze (fungoid?), difficult to represent in a woodcut. The size here given
+      is exact.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII. BOOKBINDERS.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      IN the first chapter I mentioned bookbinders among the Enemies of Books,
+      and I tremble to think what a stinging retort might be made if some irate
+      bibliopegist were to turn the scales on the printer, and place HIM in the
+      same category. On the sins of printers, and the unnatural neglect which
+      has often shortened the lives of their typographical progeny, it is not
+      for me to dilate. There is an old proverb, "'Tis an ill bird that befouls
+      its own nest"; a curious chapter thereupon, with many modern examples,
+      might nevertheless be written. This I will leave, and will now only place
+      on record some of the cruelties perpetrated upon books by the ignorance or
+      carelessness of binders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Like men, books have a soul and body. With the soul, or literary portion,
+      we have nothing to do at present; the body, which is the outer frame or
+      covering, and without which the inner would be unusable, is the special
+      work of the binder. He, so to speak, begets it; he determines its form and
+      adornment, he doctors it in disease and decay, and, not unseldom, dissects
+      it after death. Here, too, as through all Nature, we find the good and bad
+      running side by side. What a treat it is to handle a well-bound volume;
+      the leaves lie open fully and freely, as if tempting you to read on, and
+      you handle them without fear of their parting from the back. To look at
+      the "tooling," too, is a pleasure, for careful thought, combined with
+      artistic skill, is everywhere apparent. You open the cover and find the
+      same loving attention inside that has been given to the outside, all the
+      workmanship being true and thorough. Indeed, so conservative is a good
+      binding, that many a worthless book has had an honoured old age, simply
+      out of respect to its outward aspect; and many a real treasure has come to
+      a degraded end and premature death through the unsightliness of its
+      outward case and the irreparable damage done to it in binding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The weapon with which the binder deals the most deadly blows to books is
+      the "plough," the effect of which is to cut away the margins, placing the
+      print in a false position relatively to the back and head, and often
+      denuding the work of portions of the very text. This reduction in size not
+      seldom brings down a handsome folio to the size of quarto, and a quarto to
+      an octavo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With the old hand plough a binder required more care and caution to
+      produce an even edge throughout than with the new cutting machine. If a
+      careless workman found that he had not ploughed the margin quite square
+      with the text, he would put it in his press and take off "another
+      shaving," and sometimes even a third.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dante, in his "Inferno," deals out to the lost souls various tortures
+      suited with dramatic fitness to the past crimes of the victims, and had I
+      to execute judgment on the criminal binders of certain precious volumes I
+      have seen, where the untouched maiden sheets entrusted to their care have,
+      by barbarous treatment, lost dignity, beauty and value, I would collect
+      the paper shavings so ruthlessly shorn off, and roast the perpetrator of
+      the outrage over their slow combustion. In olden times, before men had
+      learned to value the relics of our printers, there was some excuse for the
+      sins of a binder who erred from ignorance which was general; but in these
+      times, when the historical and antiquarian value of old books is freely
+      acknowledged, no quarter should be granted to a careless culprit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It may be supposed that, from the spread of information, all real danger
+      from ignorance is past. Not so, good reader; that is a consummation as yet
+      "devoutly to be wished." Let me relate to you a true bibliographical
+      anecdote: In 1877, a certain lord, who had succeeded to a fine collection
+      of old books, promised to send some of the most valuable (among which were
+      several Caxtons) to the Exhibition at South Kensington. Thinking their
+      outward appearance too shabby, and not knowing the danger of his conduct,
+      he decided to have them rebound in the neighbouring county town. The
+      volumes were soon returned in a resplendent state, and, it is said, quite
+      to the satisfaction of his lordship, whose pleasure, however, was sadly
+      damped when a friend pointed out to him that, although the discoloured
+      edges had all been ploughed off, and the time-stained blanks, with their
+      fifteenth century autographs, had been replaced by nice clean fly-leaves,
+      yet, looking at the result in its lowest aspect only&mdash;that of market
+      value&mdash;the books had been damaged to at least the amount of L500;
+      and, moreover, that caustic remarks would most certainly follow upon their
+      public exhibition. Those poor injured volumes were never sent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some years ago one of the most rare books printed by Machlinia&mdash;a
+      thin folio&mdash;was discovered bound in sheep by a country bookbinder,
+      and cut down to suit the size of some quarto tracts. But do not let us
+      suppose that country binders are the only culprits. It is not very long
+      since the discovery of a unique Caxton in one of our largest London
+      libraries. It was in boards, as originally issued by the fifteenth-century
+      binder, and a great fuss (very properly) was made over the treasure trove.
+      Of course, cries the reader, it was kept in its original covers, with all
+      the interesting associations of its early state untouched? No such thing!
+      Instead of making a suitable case, in which it could be preserved just as
+      it was, it was placed in the hands of a well-known London binder, with the
+      order, "Whole bind in velvet." He did his best, and the volume now glows
+      luxuriously in its gilt edges and its inappropriate covering, and, alas!
+      with half-an-inch of its uncut margin taken off all round. How do I know
+      that? because the clever binder, seeing some MS. remarks on one of the
+      margins, turned the leaf down to avoid cutting them off, and that stern
+      witness will always testify, to the observant reader, the original size of
+      the book. This same binder, on another occasion, placed a unique fifteenth
+      century Indulgence in warm water, to separate it from the cover upon which
+      it was pasted, the result being that, when dry, it was so distorted as to
+      be useless. That man soon after passed to another world, where, we may
+      hope, his works have not followed him, and that his merits as a good
+      citizen and an honest man counterbalanced his de-merits as a binder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Other similar instances will occur to the memory of many a reader, and
+      doubtless the same sin will be committed from time to time by certain
+      binders, who seem to have an ingrained antipathy to rough edges and large
+      margins, which of course are, in their view, made by Nature as food for
+      the shaving tub.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Rome, a celebrated bookbinder of the eighteenth century, who was
+      nicknamed by Dibdin "The Great Cropper," was, although in private life an
+      estimable man, much addicted to the vice of reducing the margins of all
+      books sent to him to bind. So far did he go, that he even spared not a
+      fine copy of Froissart's Chronicles, on vellum, in which was the autograph
+      of the well-known book-lover, De Thou, but cropped it most cruelly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Owners, too, have occasionally diseased minds with regard to margins. A
+      friend writes: "Your amusing anecdotes have brought to my memory several
+      biblioclasts whom I have known. One roughly cut the margins off his books
+      with a knife, hacking away very much like a hedger and ditcher. Large
+      paper volumes were his especial delight, as they gave more paper. The
+      slips thus obtained were used for index-making! Another, with the bump of
+      order unnaturally developed, had his folios and quartos all reduced, in
+      binding, to one size, so that they might look even on his bookshelves."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This latter was, doubtless, cousin to him who deliberately cut down all
+      his books close to the text, because he had been several times annoyed by
+      readers who made marginal notes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The indignities, too, suffered by some books in their lettering! Fancy an
+      early black-letter fifteenth-century quarto on Knighthood, labelled
+      "Tracts"; or a translation of Virgil, "Sermons"! The "Histories of Troy,"
+      printed by Caxton, still exists with "Eracles" on the back, as its title,
+      because that name occurs several times in the early chapters, and the
+      binder was too proud to seek advice. The words "Miscellaneous," or "Old
+      Pieces," were sometimes used when binders were at a loss for lettering,
+      and many other instances might be mentioned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rapid spread of printing throughout Europe in the latter part of the
+      fifteenth century caused a great fall in the value of plain un-illuminated
+      MSS., and the immediate consequence of this was the destruction of
+      numerous volumes written upon parchment, which were used by the binders to
+      strengthen the backs of their newly-printed rivals. These slips of vellum
+      or parchment are quite common in old books. Sometimes whole sheets are
+      used as fly-leaves, and often reveal the existence of most valuable works,
+      unknown before&mdash;proving, at the same time, the small value formerly
+      attached to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many a bibliographer, while examining old books, has to his great
+      puzzlement come across short slips of parchment, nearly always from some
+      old manuscript, sticking out like "guards" from the midst of the leaves.
+      These suggest, at first, imperfections or damage done to the volume; but
+      if examined closely it will be found that they are always in the middle of
+      a paper section, and the real reason of their existence is just the same
+      as when two leaves of parchment occur here and there in a paper volume,
+      viz.: strength&mdash;strength to resist the lug which the strong thread
+      makes against the middle of each section. These slips represent old books
+      destroyed, and like the slips already noticed, should always be carefully
+      examined.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When valuable books have been evil-entreated, when they have become soiled
+      by dirty hands, or spoiled by water stains, or injured by grease spots,
+      nothing is more astonishing to the uninitiated than the transformation
+      they undergo in the hands of a skilful restorer. The covers are first
+      carefully dissected, the eye of the operator keeping a careful outlook for
+      any fragments of old MSS. or early printed books, which may have been used
+      by the original binder. No force should be applied to separate parts which
+      adhere together; a little warm water and care is sure to overcome that
+      difficulty. When all the sections are loose, the separate sheets are
+      placed singly in a bath of cold water, and allowed to remain there until
+      all the dirt has soaked out. If not sufficiently purified, a little
+      hydrochloric or oxalic acid, or caustic potash may be put in the water,
+      according as the stains are from grease or from ink. Here is where an
+      unpractised binder will probably injure a book for life. If the chemicals
+      are too strong, or the sheets remain too long in the bath, or are not
+      thoroughly cleansed from the bleach before they are re-sized, the certain
+      seeds of decay are planted in the paper, and although for a time the
+      leaves may look bright to the eye, and even crackle under the hand like
+      the soundest paper, yet in the course of a few years the enemy will
+      appear, the fibre will decay, and the existence of the books will
+      terminate in a state of white tinder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Everything which diminishes the interest of a book is inimical to its
+      preservation, and in fact is its enemy. Therefore, a few words upon the
+      destruction of old bindings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I remember purchasing many years ago at a suburban book stall, a perfect
+      copy of Moxon's Mechanic Exercises, now a scarce work. The volumes were
+      uncut, and had the original marble covers. They looked so attractive in
+      their old fashioned dress, that I at once determined to preserve it. My
+      binder soon made for them a neat wooden box in the shape of a book, with
+      morocco back properly lettered, where I trust the originals will be
+      preserved from dust and injury for many a long year.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Old covers, whether boards or paper, should always be retained if in any
+      state approaching decency. A case, which can be embellished to any extent
+      looks every whit as well upon the shelf! and gives even greater protection
+      than binding. It has also this great advantage: it does not deprive your
+      descendants of the opportunity of seeing for themselves exactly in what
+      dress the book buyers of four centuries ago received their volumes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX. COLLECTORS.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      AFTER all, two-legged depredators, who ought to have known better, have
+      perhaps done as much real damage in libraries as any other enemy. I do not
+      refer to thieves, who, if they injure the owners, do no harm to the books
+      themselves by merely transferring them from one set of bookshelves to
+      another. Nor do I refer to certain readers who frequent our public
+      libraries, and, to save themselves the trouble of copying, will cut out
+      whole articles from magazines or encyclopaedias. Such depredations are not
+      frequent, and only occur with books easily replaced, and do not therefore
+      call for more than a passing mention; but it is a serious matter when
+      Nature produces such a wicked old biblioclast as John Bagford, one of the
+      founders of the Society of Antiquaries, who, in the beginning of the last
+      century, went about the country, from library to library, tearing away
+      title pages from rare books of all sizes. These he sorted out into
+      nationalities and towns, and so, with a lot of hand-bills, manuscript
+      notes, and miscellaneous collections of all kinds, formed over a hundred
+      folio volumes, now preserved in the British Museum. That they are of
+      service as materials in compiling a general history of printing cannot be
+      denied, but the destruction of many rare books was the result, and more
+      than counter-balanced any benefit bibliographers will ever receive from
+      them. When here and there throughout those volumes you meet with titles of
+      books now either unknown entirely, or of the greatest rarity; when you
+      find the Colophon from the end, or the "insigne typographi" from the first
+      leaf of a rare "fifteener," pasted down with dozens of others, varying in
+      value, you cannot bless the memory of the antiquarian shoemaker, John
+      Bagford. His portrait, a half-length, painted by Howard, was engraved by
+      Vertue, and re-engraved for the Bibliographical Decameron.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A bad example often finds imitators, and every season there crop up for
+      public sale one or two such collections, formed by bibliomaniacs, who,
+      although calling themselves bibliophiles, ought really to be ranked among
+      the worst enemies of books.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following is copied from a trade catalogue, dated April, 1880, and
+      affords a fair idea of the extent to which these heartless destroyers will
+      go:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "MISSAL ILLUMINATIONS.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      FIFTY DIFFERENT CAPITAL LETTERS <i>on</i> VELLUM; <i>all in rich Gold and
+      Colours. Many 3 inches square: the floral decorations are of great beauty,
+      ranging from the XIIth to XVth century. Mounted on stout card-board</i>.
+      IN NICE PRESERVATION, L6 6<i>s</i>.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ These beautiful letters have been cut from precious
+     MSS., and as specimens of early art are extremely
+     valuable, many of them being worth 15<i>s</i>. each."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Proeme is a man well known to the London dealers in old books. He is
+      wealthy, and cares not what he spends to carry out his bibliographical
+      craze, which is the collection of title pages. These he ruthlessly
+      extracts, frequently leaving the decapitated carcase of the books, for
+      which he cares not, behind him. Unlike the destroyer Bagford, he has no
+      useful object in view, but simply follows a senseless kind of
+      classification. For instance: One set of volumes contains nothing but
+      copper-plate engraved titles, and woe betide the grand old Dutch folios of
+      the seventeenth century if they cross his path. Another is a volume of
+      coarse or quaint titles, which certainly answer the end of showing how
+      idiotic and conceited some authors have been. Here you find Dr. Sib's
+      "Bowels opened in Divers Sermons," 1650, cheek by jowl with the discourse
+      attributed falsely to Huntington, the Calvinist, "Die and be damned," with
+      many others too coarse to be quoted. The odd titles adopted for his poems
+      by Taylor, the water-poet, enliven several pages, and make one's mouth
+      water for the books themselves. A third volume includes only such titles
+      as have the printer's device. If you shut your eyes to the injury done by
+      such collectors, you may, to a certain extent, enjoy the collection, for
+      there is great beauty in some titles; but such a pursuit is neither useful
+      nor meritorious. By and by the end comes, and then dispersion follows
+      collection, and the volumes, which probably Cost L200 each in their
+      formation, will be knocked down to a dealer for L10, finally gravitating
+      into the South Kensington Library, or some public museum, as a
+      bibliographical curiosity. The following has just been sold (July, 1880)
+      by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, in the Dunn-Gardinier collection,
+      lot 1592:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "TITLEPAGES AND FRONTISPIECES.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>A Collection of upwards of</i> 800 ENGRAVED TITLES AND FRONTISPIECES,
+      ENGLISH AND FOREIGN (<i>some very fine and curious) taken from old books
+      and neatly mounted on cartridge paper in 3 vol, half morocco gilt. imp.
+      folio</i>."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The only collection of title-pages which has afforded me unalloyed
+      pleasure is a handsome folio, published by the directors of the Plantin
+      Museum, Antwerp, in 1877, just after the purchase of that wonderful
+      typographical storehouse. It is called "Titels en Portretten gesneden naar
+      P. P. Rubens voor de Plantijnsche Drukkerij," and it contains thirty-five
+      grand title pages, reprinted from the original seventeenth century plates,
+      designed by Rubens himself between the years 1612 and 1640, for various
+      publications which issued from the celebrated Plantin Printing Office. In
+      the same Museum are preserved in Rubens' own handwriting his charge for
+      each design, duly receipted at foot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have now before me a fine copy of "Coclusiones siue decisiones antique
+      dnor' de Rota," printed by Gutenberg's partner, Schoeffer, in the year
+      1477. It is perfect, except in a most vital part, the Colophon, which has
+      been cut out by some barbaric "Collector," and which should read thus:
+      "Pridie nonis Januarii Mcccclxxvij, in Civitate Moguntina, impressorie
+      Petrus Schoyffer de Gernsheym," followed by his well-known mark, two
+      shields.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A similar mania arose at the beginning of this century for collections of
+      illuminated initials, which were taken from MSS., and arranged on the
+      pages of a blank book in alphabetical order. Some of our cathedral
+      libraries suffered severely from depredations of this kind. At Lincoln, in
+      the early part of this century, the boys put on their robes in the
+      library, a room close to the choir. Here were numerous old MSS., and eight
+      or ten rare Caxtons. The choir boys used often to amuse themselves, while
+      waiting for the signal to "fall in," by cutting out with their pen-knives
+      the illuminated initials and vignettes, which they would take into the
+      choir with them and pass round from one to another. The Dean and Chapter
+      of those days were not much better, for they let Dr. Dibdin have all their
+      Caxtons for a "consideration." He made a little catalogue of them, which
+      he called "A Lincolne Nosegaye." Eventually they were absorbed into the
+      collection at Althorp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The late Mr. Caspari was a "destroyer" of books. His rare collection of
+      early woodcuts, exhibited in 1877 at the Caxton Celebration, had been
+      frequently augmented by the purchase of illustrated books, the plates of
+      which were taken out, and mounted on Bristol boards, to enrich his
+      collection. He once showed me the remains of a fine copy of "Theurdanck,"
+      which he had served so, and I have now before me several of the leaves
+      which he then gave me, and which, for beauty of engraving and cleverness
+      of typography, surpasses any typographical work known to me. It was
+      printed for the Emperor Maximilian, by Hans Schonsperger, of Nuremberg,
+      and, to make it unique, all the punches were cut on purpose, and as many
+      as seven or eight varieties of each letter, which, together with the
+      clever way in which the ornamental flourishes are carried above and below
+      the line, has led even experienced printers to deny its being typography.
+      It is, nevertheless, entirely from cast types. A copy in good condition
+      costs about L50.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many years since I purchased, at Messrs. Sotheby's, a large lot of MS.
+      leaves on vellum, some being whole sections of a book, but mostly single
+      leaves. Many were so mutilated by the excision of initials as to be
+      worthless, but those with poor initials, or with none, were quite good,
+      and when sorted out I found I had got large portions of nearly twenty
+      different MSS., mostly Horae, showing twelve varieties of fifteenth
+      century handwriting in Latin, French, Dutch, and German. I had each sort
+      bound separately, and they now form an interesting collection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Portrait collectors have destroyed many books by abstracting the
+      frontispiece to add to their treasures, and when once a book is made
+      imperfect, its march to destruction is rapid. This is why books like
+      Atkyns' "Origin and Growth of Printing," 4o, 1664, have become impossible
+      to get.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When issued, Atkyns' pamphlet had a fine frontispiece, by Logan,
+      containing portraits of King Charles II, attended by Archbishop Sheldon,
+      the Duke of Albermarle, and the Earl of Clarendon. As portraits of these
+      celebrities (excepting, of course, the King) are extremely rare,
+      collectors have bought up this 4o tract of Atkyns', whenever it has been
+      offered, and torn away the frontispiece to adorn their collection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This is why, if you take up any sale catalogue of old books, you are
+      certain to find here and there, appended to the description, "Wanting the
+      title," "Wanting two plates," or "Wanting the last page."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is quite common to find in old MSS., especially fifteenth century, both
+      vellum and paper, the blank margins of leaves cut away. This will be from
+      the side edge or from the foot, and the recurrence of this mutilation
+      puzzled me for many years. It arose from the scarcity of paper in former
+      times, so that when a message had to be sent which required more
+      exactitude than could be entrusted to the stupid memory of a household
+      messenger, the Master or Chaplain went to the library, and, not having
+      paper to use, took down an old book, and cut from its broad margins one or
+      more slips to serve his present need.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I feel quite inclined to reckon among "enemies" those bibliomaniacs and
+      over-careful possessors, who, being unable to carry their treasures into
+      the next world, do all they can to hinder their usefulness in this. What a
+      difficulty there is to obtain admission to the curious library of old
+      Samuel Pepys, the well-known diarist. There it is at Magdalene College,
+      Cambridge, in the identical book-cases provided for the books by Pepys
+      himself; but no one can gain admission except in company of two Fellows of
+      the College, and if a single book be lost, the whole library goes away to
+      a neighbouring college. However willing and anxious to oblige, it is
+      evident that no one can use the library at the expense of the time, if not
+      temper, of two Fellows. Some similar restrictions are in force at the
+      Teylerian Museum, Haarlem, where a lifelong imprisonment is inflicted upon
+      its many treasures.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some centuries ago a valuable collection of books was left to the
+      Guildford Endowed Grammar School. The schoolmaster was to be held
+      personally responsible for the safety of every volume, which, if lost, he
+      was bound to replace. I am told that one master, to minimize his risk as
+      much as possible, took the following barbarous course:&mdash;As soon as he
+      was in possession, he raised the boards of the schoolroom floor, and,
+      having carefully packed all the books between the joists, had the boards
+      nailed down again. Little recked he how many rats and mice made their
+      nests there; he was bound to account some day for every single volume, and
+      he saw no way so safe as rigid imprisonment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The late Sir Thomas Phillipps, of Middle Hill, was a remarkable instance
+      of a bibliotaph. He bought bibliographical treasures simply to bury them.
+      His mansion was crammed with books; he purchased whole libraries, and
+      never even saw what he had bought. Among some of his purchases was the
+      first book printed in the English language, "The Recuyell of the Histories
+      of Troye," translated and printed by William Caxton, for the Duchess of
+      Burgundy, sister to our Edward IV. It is true, though almost incredible,
+      that Sir Thomas could never find this volume, although it is doubtless
+      still in the collection, and no wonder, when cases of books bought twenty
+      years before his death were never opened, and the only knowledge of their
+      contents which he possessed was the Sale Catalogue or the bookseller's
+      invoice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X. SERVANTS AND CHILDREN.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      READER! are you married? Have you offspring, boys especially I mean, say
+      between six and twelve years of age? Have you also a literary workshop,
+      supplied with choice tools, some for use, some for ornament, where you
+      pass pleasant hours? and is&mdash;ah! there's the rub!&mdash;is there a
+      special hand-maid, whose special duty it is to keep your den daily dusted
+      and in order? Plead you guilty to these indictments? then am I sure of a
+      sympathetic co-sufferer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dust! it is all a delusion. It is not the dust that makes women anxious to
+      invade the inmost recesses of your Sanctum&mdash;it is an ingrained
+      curiosity. And this feminine weakness, which dates from Eve, is a common
+      motive in the stories of our oldest literature and Folk-lore. What made
+      Fatima so anxious to know the contents of the room forbidden her by
+      Bluebeard? It was positively nothing to her, and its contents caused not
+      the slightest annoyance to anybody. That story has a bad moral, and it
+      would, in many ways, have been more satisfactory had the heroine been left
+      to take her place in the blood-stained chamber, side by side with her
+      peccant predecessors. Why need the women-folk (God forgive me!) bother
+      themselves about the inside of a man's library, and whether it wants
+      dusting or not? My boys' playroom, in which is a carpenter's bench, a
+      lathe, and no end of litter, is never tidied&mdash;perhaps it can't be, or
+      perhaps their youthful vigour won't stand it&mdash;but my workroom must
+      needs be dusted daily, with the delusive promise that each book and paper
+      shall be replaced exactly where it was. The damage done by such continued
+      treatment is incalculable. At certain times these observances are kept
+      more religiously than others; but especially should the book-lover,
+      married or single, beware of the Ides of March. So soon as February is
+      dead and gone, a feeling of unrest seizes the housewife's mind. This
+      increases day by day, and becomes dominant towards the middle of the
+      month, about which period sundry hints are thrown out as to whether you
+      are likely to be absent for a day or two. Beware! the fever called "Spring
+      Clean" is on, and unless you stand firm, you will rue it. Go away, if the
+      Fates so will, but take the key of your own domain with you.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Do not misunderstand. Not for a moment would I advocate dust and dirt;
+      they are enemies, and should be routed; but let the necessary routing be
+      done under your own eye. Explain where caution must be used, and in what
+      cases tenderness is a virtue; and if one Eve in the family can be
+      indoctrinated with book-reverence you are a happy man; her price is above
+      that of rubies; she will prolong your life. Books MUST now and then be
+      taken clean out of their shelves, but they should be tended lovingly and
+      with judgment. If the dusting can be done just outside the room so much
+      the better. The books removed, the shelf should be lifted quite out of its
+      bearings, cleansed and wiped, and then each volume should be taken
+      separately, and gently rubbed on back and sides with a soft cloth. In
+      returning the volumes to their places, notice should be taken of the
+      binding, and especially when the books are in whole calf or morocco care
+      should be taken not to let them rub together. The best bound books are
+      soonest injured, and quickly deteriorate in bad company. Certain volumes,
+      indeed, have evil tempers, and will scratch the faces of all their
+      neighbours who are too familiar with them. Such are books with metal
+      clasps and rivets on their edges; and such, again, are those abominable
+      old rascals, chiefly born in the fifteenth century, who are proud of being
+      dressed in REAL boards with brass corners, and pass their lives with
+      fearful knobs and metal bosses, mostly five in number, firmly fixed on one
+      of their sides. If the tendencies of such ruffians are not curbed, they
+      will do as much mischief to their gentle neighbours as when a "collie"
+      worries the sheep. These evil results may always be minimized by placing a
+      piece of millboard between the culprit and his victim. I have seen lovely
+      bindings sadly marked by such uncanny neighbours.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When your books are being "dusted," don't impute too much common sense to
+      your assistants; take their ignorance for granted, and tell them at once
+      never to lift any book by one of its covers; that treatment is sure to
+      strain the back, and ten to one the weight will be at the same time
+      miscalculated, and the volume will fall. Your female "help," too, dearly
+      loves a good tall pile to work at and, as a rule, her notions of the
+      centre of gravity are not accurate, leading often to a general downfall,
+      and the damage of many a corner. Again, if not supervised and instructed,
+      she is very apt to rub the dust into, instead of off, the edges. Each
+      volume should be held tightly, so as to prevent the leaves from gaping,
+      and then wiped from the back to the fore-edge. A soft brush will be found
+      useful if there is much dust. The whole exterior should also be rubbed
+      with a soft cloth, and then the covers should be opened and the hinges of
+      the binding examined; for mildew WILL assert itself both inside and
+      outside certain books, and that most pertinaciously. It has unaccountable
+      likes and dislikes. Some bindings seem positively to invite damp, and
+      mildew will attack these when no other books on the same shelf show any
+      signs of it. When discovered, carefully wipe it away, and then let the
+      book remain a few days standing open, in the driest and airiest spot you
+      can select. Great care should be taken not to let grit, such as blows in
+      at the open window from many a dusty road, be upon your duster, or you
+      will probably find fine scratches, like an outline map of Europe, all over
+      your smooth calf, by which your heart and eye, as well as your book, will
+      be wounded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Helps" are very apt to fill the shelves too tightly, so that to extract a
+      book you have to use force, often to the injury of the top-bands. Beware
+      of this mistake. It frequently occurs through not noticing that one small
+      book is purposely placed at each end of the shelf, beneath the movable
+      shelf-supports, thus not only saving space, but preventing the injury
+      which a book shelf-high would be sure to receive from uneven pressure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After all, the best guide in these, as in many other matters, is "common
+      sense," a quality which in olden times must have been much more "common"
+      than in these days, else the phrase would never have become rooted in our
+      common tongue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Children, with all their innocence, are often guilty of book-murder. I
+      must confess to having once taken down "Humphrey's History of Writing,"
+      which contains many brightly-coloured plates, to amuse a sick daughter.
+      The object was certainly gained, but the consequences of so bad a
+      precedent were disastrous. That copy (which, I am glad to say, was easily
+      re-placed), notwithstanding great care on my part, became soiled and torn,
+      and at last was given up to Nursery martyrdom. Can I regret it? surely
+      not, for, although bibliographically sinful, who can weigh the amount of
+      real pleasure received, and actual pain ignored, by the patient in the
+      contemplation of those beautifully-blended colours?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A neighbour of mine some few years ago suffered severely from a
+      propensity, apparently irresistible, in one of his daughters to tear his
+      library books. She was six years old, and would go quietly to a shelf and
+      take down a book or two, and having torn a dozen leaves or so down the
+      middle, would replace the volumes, fragments and all, in their places, the
+      damage being undiscovered until the books were wanted for use. Reprimand,
+      expostulation and even punishment were of no avail; but a single
+      "whipping" effected a cure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Boys, however, are by far more destructive than girls, and have,
+      naturally, no reverence for age, whether in man or books. Who does not
+      fear a schoolboy with his first pocket-knife? As Wordsworth did not say:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+              "You may trace him oft
+     By scars which his activity has left
+     Upon our shelves and volumes. * * *
+     He who with pocket-knife will cut the edge
+     Of luckless panel or of prominent book,
+     Detaching with a stroke a label here, a back-band there."
+                             <i>Excursion III, 83</i>.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Pleased, too, are they, if, with mouths full of candy, and sticky fingers,
+      they can pull in and out the books on your bottom shelves, little knowing
+      the damage and pain they will cause. One would fain cry out, calling on
+      the Shade of Horace to pardon the false quantity&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Magna movet stomacho fastidia, si puer unctis
+     Tractavit volumen manibus."  <i>Sat. IV</i>.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      What boys CAN do may be gathered from the following true story, sent me by
+      a correspondent who was the immediate sufferer:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One summer day he met in town an acquaintance who for many years had been
+      abroad; and finding his appetite for old books as keen as ever, invited
+      him home to have a mental feed upon "fifteeners" and other bibliographical
+      dainties, preliminary to the coarser pleasures enjoyed at the
+      dinner-table. The "home" was an old mansion in the outskirts of London,
+      whose very architecture was suggestive of black-letter and sheep-skin. The
+      weather, alas! was rainy, and, as they approached the house, loud peals of
+      laughter reached their ears. The children were keeping a birthday with a
+      few young friends. The damp forbad all outdoor play, and, having been left
+      too much to their own devices, they had invaded the library. It was just
+      after the Battle of Balaclava, and the heroism of the combatants on that
+      hard-fought field was in everybody's mouth. So the mischievous young imps
+      divided themselves into two opposing camps&mdash;Britons and Russians. The
+      Russian division was just inside the door, behind ramparts formed of old
+      folios and quartos taken from the bottom shelves and piled to the height
+      of about four feet. It was a wall of old fathers, fifteenth century
+      chronicles, county histories, Chaucer, Lydgate, and such like. Some few
+      yards off were the Britishers, provided with heaps of small books as
+      missiles, with which they kept up a skirmishing cannonade against the foe.
+      Imagine the tableau! Two elderly gentlemen enter hurriedly, paterfamilias
+      receiving, quite unintentionally, the first edition of "Paradise Lost" in
+      the pit of his stomach, his friend narrowly escaping a closer personal
+      acquaintance with a quarto Hamlet than he had ever had before. Finale:
+      great outburst of wrath, and rapid retreat of the combatants, many wounded
+      (volumes) being left on the field.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      POSTSCRIPTUM.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      ALTHOUGH, strictly speaking, the following anecdote does not illustrate
+      any form of real injury to books, it is so racy, and in these days of
+      extravagant biddings so tantalizing, that I must step just outside the
+      strict line of pertinence in order to place it on record, It was sent to
+      me, as a personal experience, by my friend, Mr. George Clulow, a
+      well-known bibliophile, and "Xylographer" to "Ye Sette of ye Odde
+      Volumes." The date is 1881. He writes:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "<i>Apropos</i> of the Gainsborough 'find,' of which you tell in 'The
+      Enemies of Books,' I should like to narrate an experience of my own, of
+      some twenty years ago:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Late one evening, at my father's house, I saw a catalogue of a sale of
+      furniture, farm implements and books, which was announced to take place on
+      the following morning at a country rectory in Derbyshire, some four miles
+      from the nearest railway station.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It was summer time&mdash;the country at its best&mdash;and with the
+      attraction of an old book, I decided on a day's holiday, and eight o'clock
+      the next morning found me in the train for C&mdash;&mdash;, and after a
+      variation in my programme, caused by my having walked three miles west
+      before I discovered that my destination was three miles east of the
+      railway station, I arrived at the rectory at noon, and found assembled
+      some thirty or forty of the neighbouring farmers, their wives,
+      men-servants and maid-servants, all seemingly bent on a day's idling,
+      rather than business. The sale was announced for noon, but it was an hour
+      later before the auctioneer put in an appearance, and the first operation
+      in which he took part, and in which he invited my assistance, was to make
+      a hearty meal of bread and cheese and beer in the rectory kitchen. This
+      over, the business of the day began by a sundry collection of pots, pans,
+      and kettles being brought to the competition of the public, followed by
+      some lots of bedding, etc. The catalogue gave books as the first part of
+      the sale, and, as three o'clock was reached, my patience was gone, and I
+      protested to the auctioneer against his not selling in accordance with his
+      catalogue. To this he replied that there was not time enough, and that he
+      would sell the books to-morrow! This was too much for me, and I suggested
+      that he had broken faith with the buyers, and had brought me to C&mdash;&mdash;
+      on a false pretence. This, however, did not seem to disturb his good
+      humour, or to make him unhappy, and his answer was to call 'Bill,' who was
+      acting as porter, and to tell him to give the gentleman the key of the
+      'book room,' and to bring down any of the books he might pick out, and he
+      'would sell 'em.' I followed 'Bill,' and soon found myself in a charming
+      nook of a library, full of books, mostly old divinity, but with a large
+      number of the best miscellaneous literature of the sixteenth century,
+      English and foreign. A very short look over the shelves produced some
+      thirty Black Letter books, three or four illuminated missals, and some
+      book rarities of a more recent date. 'Bill' took them downstairs, and I
+      wondered what would happen! I was not long in doubt, for book by book, and
+      in lots of two and three, my selection was knocked down in rapid
+      succession, at prices varying from 1<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>. to 3<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>.,
+      this latter sum seeming to be the utmost limit to the speculative turn of
+      my competitors. The <i>bonne bouche</i> of the lot was, however, kept back
+      by the auctioneer, because, as he said, it was 'a pretty book,' and I
+      began to respect his critical judgment, for 'a pretty book' it was, being
+      a large paper copy of Dibdin's Bibliographical Decameron, three volumes,
+      in the original binding. Suffice it to say that, including this charming
+      book, my purchases did not amount to L13, and I had pretty well a
+      cart-load of books for my money&mdash;more than I wanted much! Having
+      brought them home, I 'weeded them out,' and the 'weeding' realised four
+      times what I gave for the whole, leaving me with some real book treasures.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Some weeks afterwards I heard that the remainder of the books were
+      literally treated as waste lumber, and carted off to the neighbouring
+      town, and were to be had, any one of them, for sixpence, from a cobbler
+      who had allowed his shop to be used as a store house for them. The news of
+      their being there reached the ears of an old bookseller in one of the
+      large towns, and he, I think, cleared out the lot. So curious an instance
+      of the most total ignorance on the part of the sellers, and I may add on
+      the part of the possible buyers also, I think is worth noting."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How would the reader in this Year of Grace, 1887, like such an experience
+      as that?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_CONC" id="link2H_CONC">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CONCLUSION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      IT is a great pity that there should be so many distinct enemies at work
+      for the destruction of literature, and that they should so often be
+      allowed to work out their sad end. Looked at rightly, the possession of
+      any old book is a sacred trust, which a conscientious owner or guardian
+      would as soon think of ignoring as a parent would of neglecting his child.
+      An old book, whatever its subject or internal merits, is truly a portion
+      of the national history; we may imitate it and print it in fac-simile, but
+      we can never exactly reproduce it; and as an historical document it should
+      be carefully preserved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I do not envy any man that absence of sentiment which makes some people
+      careless of the memorials of their ancestors, and whose blood can be
+      warmed up only by talking of horses or the price of hops. To them solitude
+      means <i>ennui</i>, and anybody's company is preferable to their own. What
+      an immense amount of calm enjoyment and mental renovation do such men
+      miss. Even a millionaire will ease his toils, lengthen his life, and add a
+      hundred per cent. to his daily pleasures if he becomes a bibliophile;
+      while to the man of business with a taste for books, who through the day
+      has struggled in the battle of life with all its irritating rebuffs and
+      anxieties, what a blessed season of pleasurable repose opens upon him as
+      he enters his sanctum, where every article wafts to him a welcome, and
+      every book is a personal friend!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      INDEX.
+    </h2>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   <i>Academy, The</i>, 23.
+   Acanis eruditus, 77, 78.
+   Acts of the Apostles, quoted, 4.
+   Aglossa pinguinalis, 76.
+   Albermarle (Duke of), portrait by Logan, 126.
+   Althorp library, 124.
+   Anderson (Sir C.), 55.
+   Anobium paniceum, 77, 78.
+   Anobium pertinax, 77, 78, 87, 88.
+   Antiquary, The, 54.
+   Antwerp, Monks at, 57, 58.
+   Asbestos fire, 27.
+   Ashburnham House, Westminster, 10.
+   Asiarch, an, 7.
+   Athens, Bookworm from, 81.
+   Atkyns' Origin and Growth of Printing, 126.
+   Auctioneer, story of, 145.
+   Austin Friars, 15.
+   Bagford (John), the biblioclast, r: 18.
+   Balaclava, battle of, 143.
+   Bale, the antiquary, 9.
+   Bandinel (Dr.), 87, 88.
+   Beedham, B., 52.
+   Bible, the first printed, burnt at Strasbourg, 13.
+    &mdash; the "bug" edition, 95.
+   Bibliophile, pleasures of a, 153.
+   Bibliotaph, a, 129.
+   Bibliotheca Ecclesiae Londino-Belgicae, 16.
+   Binder's creed, 31.
+    &mdash; plough, 105.
+   Binding, care to be taken of, 134.
+    &mdash; quality of good, 104.
+   Bird (Rev. -), 55.
+   Birdsall (Mr.), bookbinder, 80.
+   Birmingham Riots, 11.
+   Black-beetles, enemies of books, 94.
+   Black-letter books in United States, 91.
+   Blatta germanica, 65.
+   Boccaccio, 48-50.
+   Bodleian, hookworms at, 87.
+   Bookbinders as enemies of books, 103.
+   Books, absurd lettering, 111.
+    &mdash; burnt at Carthage; at Ephesus, 4.
+    &mdash; burnt in Fire of London, 10.
+    &mdash; burnt by Saracens, 3.
+    &mdash; captured by Corsairs, 18.
+    &mdash; cleaning of, 114.
+    &mdash; deprived of title pages, 118, 119.
+   Books destroyed at the Reformation, Si.
+    &mdash; dried in an attic, 16.
+    &mdash; examination of old covers, 116.
+    &mdash; how to dust them, 134.
+    &mdash; injured by hacking, i x i.
+    &mdash; lost at sea, 17, 18.
+    &mdash; margin reduced to size, 111.
+    &mdash; mildew in, 136.
+    &mdash; from monasteries destroyed, 9.
+    &mdash; restoration when injured, 114.
+    &mdash; restored after a fire, 15.
+    &mdash; scarce before printing, 2.
+    &mdash; sold to a cobbler, 52, 149.
+    &mdash; too tight on shelves, 137.
+    &mdash; their claims to be preserved, 151.
+    &mdash; used to bake "pyes," 10.
+    &mdash; which scratch one another, 134.
+   Book-sale in Derbyshire, 145.
+   Bookworm, the, 67-93.
+    &mdash; attempt to breed, 81-3.
+    &mdash; from Greece, 82.
+    &mdash; in paper box, 89.
+    &mdash; in United States, 91.
+   Bookworms' progress through books, 84.
+    &mdash; race by, 86.
+   Bosses on books, 135.
+   Boys injuring books, 139.
+    &mdash; in library, story of, 140.
+   Brighton, black letter fragments, 59.
+   British Museum, Boccaccio's Fall of Princes, 61.
+   British Museum free from the "worm," 83.
+    &mdash; burnt book exhibited at, 11.
+   Brown spots in books, 24.
+   Bruchium, 3.
+   Burckhardt's Arabic MSS., 77.
+   "Bug" Bible, 95.
+   Burgundy (Duchess of), 130.
+
+   Cambridge Market, 97.
+   Caskets (the three), Shakspeare, 60.
+   Caspari (Mr.), a collector, 124.
+   Cassin (Convent of Mount), 49.
+   Caxton, William, 130.
+    &mdash;his use of waste leaves, 90.
+    &mdash;Canterbury Tales, used to light a fire, 53.
+    &mdash; Golden Legend, ditto, 52.
+    &mdash;Lyf of oure Ladye, 89.
+   Caxtons saturated by rain, 22.
+    &mdash;spoilt in binding, 107.
+    &mdash;discovered in British Museum, 108.
+   Charles II, portrait by Logan, 126.
+   Chasles (Philarete), 52.
+   Child tearing books, 139.
+   Children as enemies of books, 138.
+   Choir boys injuring MSS., 124.
+   Christians burnt heathen MSS., 7.
+   early, 6.
+   Clarendon (Earl of), portrait by Logan, 126.
+   Clasps on books, injury from, 135.
+   Clergymen as biblioclasts, 64.
+   Clulow (Mr. George), 144.
+   Coal fires objectionable in libraries, 27.
+   Codfish, book eaten by a, 96.
+   Cold injures books, 26.
+   Collectors as enemies of books, 117.
+   College quadrangle, 41.
+   Colophon in Schoeffer's book, 123.
+   Colophons (collections of), I IS.
+   Commonwealth quartos, 44.
+   Communal libraries in France, 48.
+   Cotton library; partially burnt, 10.
+   Cowper, the poet, on burnt libraries, 12.
+   Crambus pinguinalis, 76.
+   Cremona, books destroyed at, 8.
+   Croton bug, 95.
+
+   Damp, an enemy of books, 24.
+   Dante, 50.
+    &mdash; The Inferno, 106.
+   Derbyshire, book sale in, 145.
+   Dermestes vulpinus, 89.
+   De Rome, the binder, 47, 48, 110.
+   De Thou, 110.
+   Devil worship, 5.
+   Devon and Exeter Museum, 101.
+   Diana, Temple of, 6.
+   Dibdin (Dr.), 110.
+    &mdash;sale of his Decameron, 148.
+    &mdash;his books, 25.
+   D'Israeli (B.), 17.
+   Doraston (J.), Poem on Bookworne, 67, 76.
+   Dust, an enemy of books, 39.
+    &mdash; and neglect in a library, 39-50, 133.
+   Dusting books-how to do it, 136.
+   Dutch Church burnt, 15.
+    &mdash; library at Guildhall, 16.
+
+   Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 53.
+   Edmonds (Mr.), bookseller, 58.
+   Edward IV, 130.
+   Edwards (Mr.), bookseller, 18.
+   Electric light in British Museum, 32.
+   Ephesus, 5.
+   "Eracles," 111.
+   "Evil eye," the, 6.
+   "Excursion, The," 139.
+
+   Fire, an enemy of books, 1-16.
+    &mdash; of London, 10.
+   Flint (Weston), account of black-beetles in New York
+   libraries, 95.
+   Folklore, ancient, 5.
+   "Foxey" books, 25.
+   Francis (St.) and the friars, 37.
+   French Protestant Church, 53.
+   Frith (John), 96.
+   Froissart's Chronicles, 110.
+   Frost in a library, 26.
+
+   Garnett (Dr.), 81.
+   Gas injurious, 29-38,
+   Gatty's (Mrs.) Parables, 76.
+   German Army at Strasburg, U.
+   Gesta Romanorum, 66.
+   Gibbon, the historian, 2.
+   Glass cases preservative of books, 27.
+   Golden Legend, by Caxton, 52.
+   Gordon Riots, 11.
+   Government officials as biblioclasts, 65.
+   Grenville (Rt. Hon. Thos.), 56.
+   Guildford, library at school, 129.
+   Guildhall, London, library at, 0.
+   Gutenberg, 123.
+    &mdash; documents concerning, burnt, 13,
+   Gwyn, Nell, housekeeping book of, 65.
+   "Gyp" brushing clothes in a library, 44.
+
+   Hannett, on bookbinding, 76.
+   Havergal (Rev. F. T.), 76.
+   Heathens burnt Christian MSS., 7.
+   Heating libraries, 27.
+   Hebrew books burnt, 8.
+   Hereford Cathedral library, 76.
+   Hickman family, 56.
+   Histories of Troy, 111.
+   Holme (Mr.), 77.
+   Hooke (R.), his Micrographia, 71-75.
+   Horace's Satires, 140.
+   Hot water pipes for libraries, 26.
+   House-fly, an enemy of books, 102.
+   Hudde, Heer, a story of, 17.
+   Hwqhrey's History of Writing, 138.
+   Hypothenemus eruditus, 76.
+
+   Ignorance and Bigotry, P-66.
+   Illuminated letters fatal to books, 51.
+    &mdash; initials, collections of, 123.
+   Indulgence of 15th Century spoilt by a binder, 109.
+   Inquisition in Holland, 63.
+
+   Kirby and Spence on Entomologists, 75, 101.
+   Knobs of metal on bindings, 135.
+   Koran, The, 7.
+
+   Lamberhurst, 61.
+   Lamport Hall, 58.
+   Lansdowne Collection of MSS., 60.
+   Latterbury, copy of, at St. Martin's, 54.
+   Leather destroyed by gas, 30.
+   Lepisma, 96.
+    &mdash; mistaken for bookworm, 75.
+   Libraries
+    burnt: by Caesar, 3.
+     &mdash;- at Dutch Church, 15.
+     &mdash;- at Strasbourg, 13.
+    neglected in England, 15, 22, 40.
+    at Alexandria, 3.
+    of the Ptolemies) 3.
+   Library Journal, The, 94.
+   Lincoln Cathedral MSS., 124.
+   Lincolne Nosegaye, 124.
+   London Institution, 31.
+   Lubbock (Sir J.), 90.
+   Luke's, St., account of destruction of books, 4.
+   Luxe des Livres, 47.
+   Luxury and learning, 42.
+
+   Machlinia, book printed by, 106.
+   Magdalene College, Cambridge, 128.
+   Maitland (Rev. S. R.), 54.
+   Mansfield (Lord), ij.
+   MS. Plays burnt, 60.
+   Manuscripts, fragments of, 126.
+   Margins of books cut away, 49, 127.
+   Maximilian (The Emperor), 125.
+   Mazarin library, Caxton in, 52.
+   Metamorphoses of Ovid, by Caxton, 10.
+   Micrographia, by R. Hooke, 71.
+   Middleburgh, 17.
+   Mildew in books, 136.
+   Minorite friars, 37.
+   Missal illuminations, sale of, 119.
+   Mohammed's reason for destroying books, 7.
+   Mohammed II throws books into the sea, 21.
+   Monks at Monte Cassino, 49.
+   Mould in books, 24.
+   Mount Cassin, library at, 50.
+   Moxon's Mechanic Exercises, 115.
+   Muller (M.), of Amsterdam, 62.
+
+   Newmarsh (Rev. C. F.), 54.
+   Niptus Hololeucos, 101.
+   Noble (Mr.), on Parish Registers, 61.
+   Notes and Queries, 77.
+
+   Oak Chest, 44.
+   OEcophora pseudospretella, 79.
+   Offer Collection of Bunyans, 14.
+   On, Priests of, 69.
+   Overall (Mr.), Librarian at Guildhall, 16.
+   Ovid, Metamorphoses by Caxton, 10.
+   Oxenforde, Lyf of therle, 10.
+
+   Paper improperly bleached, 25.
+   Papyrus, 68.
+   Paradise Lost, 142.
+   Parchment, slips of, in old books, 112.
+   Parish Registers, carelessness, 62.
+   Parnell's Ode, 70.
+   Patent Office, destruction of literature at, 65.
+   Paternoster Row, io.
+   Paul, St., 6.
+   Pedlar buying old books, 54, 55.
+   Peignot and hookworms, 79.
+   Pepys (Samuel), his library, 128.
+   Petit (Pierre), poem on bookworm, 70.
+   Philadelphia, wormhole at, 92.
+   Phillipps (Sir Thos.), 129.
+   Pieces of silver or denarii, 5.
+   Pinelli (Maffei), library of, 18.
+   Plantin Museum, 122.
+   policemen in Ephesus, 7.
+   Portrait collectors, 127.
+   Priestley (Dr.), library burnt, 11, 12.
+   Printers, the first, 13.
+   Printers' marks, collection of, 119.
+   &mdash; ink and bookworms, 80.
+   Probrue (Mr.), 120.
+   Ptolemies, the Egyptian, 3.
+   Puttick and Simpson, 15.
+   Pynson's Fall of Princes, 61.
+
+   Queen Elizabeth's prayer-book, 98.
+   Quaint titles, collections of, 121.
+   Quadrangle of an old College described) 41.
+
+   Rain an enemy to books, 21.
+   Rats eat books, 97.
+   Recollet monks of Antwerp, 57.
+   -Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, 130.
+   Reformation, destruction of books at, 9.
+   Restoration of burnt books, 11.
+   Richard of Bury, 47.
+   Ringwalt's Encyclopaedia, 92.
+   Rivets on books, 135.
+   Rood and Hunte, 53.
+   Rot caused by rain, 21.
+   Royal Society, London, 71.
+   Rubens' engraved titles in Plantin Museum, 122.
+    &mdash; autograph receipts, 122.
+   Ruins of fire at Sotheby and Wilkinson's, 14.
+   Rye (W. B.), 61, 83.
+   St. Albans, Boke of, 54.
+   St. Martin's-le-Grand, French church, 53.
+   St. Paul's Cathedral, books burnt in vaults of, 10.
+   Sale catalogues, extracts from, 119.
+   Schoeffer (P.), 123.
+   Schonsperger (Hans), 125.
+   Schoolmaster and endowed library, 129.
+   Scorched book at British Museum, 11.
+   Scrolls of magic, 6.
+   Serpent worship, 5.
+   Servants and children as enemies of books, 131-144.
+   Shakesperian discoveries, 58.
+   "Shavings" of binders, 31.
+   Sheldon (Archbishop), portrait by Logan, 126.
+   Sib's Bowels opened, 121.
+   Smith (Mr.), Brighton bookseller, 64.
+   Sotheby and Wilkinson, 125.
+    &mdash; fire at their rooms, 14.
+   Spring clean, horrors of, 133.
+   Stark (Mr.), bookseller, 55-58.
+   Stealing a Caxton, 54.
+   Steam press, 40.
+   Strasbourg, siege of, 13.
+   Sun-light of gas, 29, 32.
+   Sun worship, 5.
+   Sylvester's Laws of Verse, 71.
+
+   Taylor, the water-poet, 121.
+   Teylerian Museum, Haarlem, 128.
+   Theurdanck, prints in, 125.
+   Thonock Hall, library Of, 56.
+   Timmins (Mr.), 50.
+   Title-pages, collections sold, 122.
+    &mdash; volumes of, 118.
+   Title-pages, old Dutch, 120.
+   Tomicus Typographus, iox.
+
+   Utramontane Society, called "Old paper," 63,
+   Unitarian library, 13,
+   Universities destroy books, 9.
+
+   Value of books burnt by St. Paul, 4.
+   Vanderberg (M.), 57.
+   Vermin book-enemies, 94-102.
+   Pox Piscis, 96.
+
+   Washing old books, x6.
+   Water an enemy of books, 17-28.
+   Waterhouse (Mr.), Si.
+   Werdet (Edmond), 48, 57.
+   Westbrook (W. J.), 102.
+   Westminster Chapter-house, 97.
+    &mdash; skeletons of rats, 97.
+   White (Adam), 83.
+   Wolfenbuttel, library at, 23.
+   Woodcuts, a Caxton celebration, 124.
+   Wynken de Worde, fragment, 59.
+
+   Ximenes (Cardinal) destroys copies of the Koran, 8.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </p>
+  <div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1302 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #1302 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1302)
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+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      The Enemies of Books, by William Blades
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+    
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+    
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Enemies of Books, by William Blades
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Enemies of Books
+
+Author: William Blades
+
+Release Date: August 26, 2008 [EBook #1302]
+Last Updated: January 25, 2013
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENEMIES OF BOOKS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Keller, and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE ENEMIES OF BOOKS
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      By William Blades
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h4>
+      <i>Revised and Enlarged by the Author</i>
+    </h4>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h5>
+      SECOND EDITION <br /> <br /> LONDON ELLIOT STOCK, 62 PATERNOSTER ROW <br />
+      <br /> 1888
+    </h5>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="mynote">
+      <p>
+        Transcriber's Note:
+      </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  ae, L, e, [:], OE, [/], '0, and n  "Larsen" encodes.
+  eS = superscripted e (16th cent. english on p9 needs proofed!)
+  [oe ] denotes words in 'olde englishe font'
+  "Emphasis" <i>italics</i> have a * mark.
+  Footnotes (#) have not been re-numbered, they are moved to EOParagraph.
+  Greek letters are encoded in [gr ] brackets, and the letters are
+  based on Adobe's Symbol font.
+</pre>
+      <br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      Contents
+    </h2>
+    <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_TOC"> DETAILED CONTENTS. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> THE ENEMIES OF BOOKS. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. FIRE. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. WATER. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. GAS AND HEAT. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. DUST AND NEGLECT. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. IGNORANCE AND BIGOTRY. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. THE BOOKWORM. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. OTHER VERMIN. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. BOOKBINDERS. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. COLLECTORS. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. SERVANTS AND CHILDREN. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_CONC"> CONCLUSION. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> INDEX. </a>
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_TOC" id="link2H_TOC">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CONTENTS.
+    </h2>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p>
+        CHAPTER I. <br /> FIRE. <br /> Libraries destroyed by Fire.&mdash;Alexandrian.&mdash;St.
+        Paul's destruction <br /> of MSS., Value of.&mdash;Christian books
+        destroyed by Heathens.&mdash;Heathen <br /> books destroyed by
+        Christians.&mdash;Hebrew books burnt at Cremona.&mdash;Arabic <br />
+        books at Grenada.&mdash;Monastic libraries.&mdash;Colton library.&mdash;Birmingham
+        <br /> riots.&mdash;Dr. Priestley's library.&mdash;Lord Mansfield's
+        books.&mdash;Cowper. <br /> &mdash;Strasbourg library bombarded.&mdash;Offor
+        Collection burnt.&mdash;Dutch <br /> Church library damaged.&mdash;Library
+        of Corporation of London. <br /> CHAPTER II. <br /> WATER. <br /> Heer
+        Hudde's library lost at sea.&mdash;Pinelli's library captured <br /> by
+        Corsairs.&mdash;MSS. destroyed by Mohammed II&mdash;Books damaged by
+        <br /> rain.&mdash;Woffenbuttel.&mdash;Vapour and Mould.&mdash;Brown
+        stains.&mdash;Dr. <br /> Dibdin.&mdash;Hot water pipes.&mdash;Asbestos
+        fire.&mdash;Glass doors to bookcases. <br /> CHAPTER III. <br /> GAS AND
+        HEAT. <br /> Effects of Gas on leather.&mdash;Necessitates re-binding.&mdash;Bookbinders.&mdash;Electric
+        <br /> light.&mdash;British Museum.&mdash;Treatment of books.&mdash;Legend
+        of Friars and <br /> their books. <br /> CHAPTER IV. <br /> DUST AND
+        NEGLECT. <br /> Books should have gilt tops.&mdash;Old libraries were
+        neglected.&mdash;Instance <br /> of a College library.&mdash;Clothes
+        brushed in it.&mdash;Abuses in French <br /> libraries.&mdash;Derome's
+        account of them.&mdash;Boccaccio's story of <br /> library at the Convent
+        of Mount Cassin. <br /> CHAPTER V. <br /> IGNORANCE AND BIGOTRY. <br />
+        Destruction of Books at the Reformation.&mdash;Mazarin library.&mdash;Caxton
+        <br /> used to light the fire.&mdash;Library at French Protestant Church,
+        <br /> St. Martin's-le-Grand.&mdash;Books stolen.&mdash;Story of books
+        from Thonock <br /> Hall.&mdash;Boke of St. Albans.&mdash;Recollet Monks
+        of Antwerp.&mdash;Shakespearian <br /> "find."&mdash;Black-letter books
+        used in W.C.&mdash;Gesta Romanorum.&mdash;Lansdowne <br /> collection.&mdash;Warburton.&mdash;Tradesman
+        and rare book.&mdash;Parish Register.&mdash;Story <br /> of Bigotry by M.
+        Muller.&mdash;Clergymen destroy books.&mdash;Patent Office sell <br />
+        books for waste. <br /> CHAPTER VI. <br /> THE BOOKWORM. <br /> Doraston.&mdash;Not
+        so destructive as of yore.&mdash;Worm won't eat <br /> parchment.&mdash;Pierre
+        Petit's poem.&mdash;Hooke's account and image.&mdash;Its <br /> natural
+        history neglected.&mdash;Various sorts&mdash;Attempts to breed <br />
+        Bookworms.&mdash;Greek worm.&mdash;Havoc made by worms.&mdash;Bodleian
+        and Dr. <br /> Bandinel.&mdash;"Dermestes."&mdash;Worm won't eat modern
+        paper.&mdash;America <br /> comparatively free.&mdash;Worm-hole at
+        Philadelphia. <br /> CHAPTER VII. <br /> OTHER VERMIN. <br /> Black-beetle
+        in American libraries.&mdash;germanica.&mdash;Bug Bible.&mdash;Lepisma.
+        <br /> &mdash;Codfish.&mdash;Skeletons of Rats in Abbey library,
+        Westminster.&mdash;Niptus <br /> hololeucos.&mdash;Tomicus Typographicus.&mdash;House
+        flies injure books. <br /> CHAPTER VIII. <br /> BOOKBINDERS. <br /> A good
+        binding gives pleasure.&mdash;Deadly effects of the "plough" as used
+        <br /> by binders.&mdash;Not confined to bye-gone times.&mdash;Instances
+        of injury.&mdash;De <br /> Rome, a good binder but a great cropper.&mdash;Books
+        "hacked."&mdash;Bad <br /> lettering&mdash;Treasures in book-covers.&mdash;Books
+        washed, sized, and <br /> mended.&mdash;"Cases" often Preferable to
+        re-binding. <br /> CHAPTER IX. <br /> COLLECTORS. <br /> Bagford the
+        biblioclast.&mdash;Illustrations torn from MSS.&mdash;Title-pages <br />
+        torn from books.&mdash;Rubens, his engraved titles.&mdash;Colophons torn
+        out of <br /> books.&mdash;Lincoln Cathedral&mdash;Dr. Dibdin's Nosegay.&mdash;Theurdanck.&mdash;Fragments
+        <br /> of MSS.&mdash;Some libraries almost useless.&mdash;Pepysian.&mdash;Teylerian.&mdash;Sir
+        <br /> Thomas Phillipps. <br /> CHAPTER X. <br /> SERVANTS AND CHILDREN.
+        <br /> Library invaded for the purpose of dusting.&mdash;Spring clean.&mdash;-Dust
+        to be <br /> got rid of.&mdash;Ways of doing so.&mdash;Carefulness
+        praised.&mdash;Bad nature of <br /> certain books&mdash;Metal clasps and
+        rivets.&mdash;How to dust.&mdash;Children <br /> often injure books.&mdash;Examples.&mdash;Story
+        of boys in a country library. <br /> POSTSCRIPTUM. <br /> Anecdote of
+        book-sale in Derbyshire. <br /> CONCLUSION. <br /> The care that should be
+        taken of books.&mdash;Enjoyment derived from them. <br /> ILLUSTRATIONS.
+        <br /> SERVANT USING A "CAXTON" TO LIGHT THE FIRE &mdash;- <i>Frontispiece</i>,
+        <br /> PIRATES THROWING LIBRARY OVER-BOARD &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
+        page 19 <br /> FRIARS AND THEIR ASS-LOAD &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
+        35 <br /> BRUSHING CLOTHES IN A COLLEGE LIBRARY &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
+        45 <br /> BOOKWORMS &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
+        73 <br /> RATS DESTROYING BOOKS &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
+        99 <br /> HOUSEHOLD FLY-DAMAGE &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
+        102 <br /> BOYS RAMPANT IN LIBRARY &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
+        141 <br />
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE ENEMIES OF BOOKS.
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I. FIRE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      THERE are many of the forces of Nature which tend to injure Books; but
+      among them all not one has been half so destructive as Fire. It would be
+      tedious to write out a bare list only of the numerous libraries and
+      bibliographical treasures which, in one way or another, have been seized
+      by the Fire-king as his own. Chance conflagrations, fanatic incendiarism,
+      judicial bonfires, and even household stoves have, time after time,
+      thinned the treasures as well as the rubbish of past ages, until,
+      probably, not one thousandth part of the books that have been are still
+      extant. This destruction cannot, however, be reckoned as all loss; for had
+      not the "cleansing fires" removed mountains of rubbish from our midst,
+      strong destructive measures would have become a necessity from sheer want
+      of space in which to store so many volumes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before the invention of Printing, books were comparatively scarce; and,
+      knowing as we do, how very difficult it is, even after the steam-press has
+      been working for half a century, to make a collection of half a million
+      books, we are forced to receive with great incredulity the accounts in old
+      writers of the wonderful extent of ancient libraries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The historian Gibbon, very incredulous in many things, accepts without
+      questioning the fables told upon this subject. No doubt the libraries of
+      MSS. collected generation after generation by the Egyptian Ptolemies
+      became, in the course of time, the most extensive ever then known; and
+      were famous throughout the world for the costliness of their
+      ornamentation, and importance of their untold contents. Two of these were
+      at Alexandria, the larger of which was in the quarter called Bruchium.
+      These volumes, like all manuscripts of those early ages, were written on
+      sheets of parchment, having a wooden roller at each end so that the reader
+      needed only to unroll a portion at a time. During Caesar's Alexandrian
+      War, B.C. 48, the larger collection was consumed by fire and again burnt
+      by the Saracens in A.D. 640. An immense loss was inflicted upon mankind
+      thereby; but when we are told of 700,000, or even 500,000 of such volumes
+      being destroyed we instinctively feel that such numbers must be a great
+      exaggeration. Equally incredulous must we be when we read of half a
+      million volumes being burnt at Carthage some centuries later, and other
+      similar accounts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among the earliest records of the wholesale destruction of Books is that
+      narrated by St. Luke, when, after the preaching of Paul, many of the
+      Ephesians "which used curious arts brought their books together, and
+      burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found
+      it 50,000 pieces of silver" (Acts xix, 19). Doubtless these books of
+      idolatrous divination and alchemy, of enchantments and witchcraft, were
+      righteously destroyed by those to whom they had been and might again be
+      spiritually injurious; and doubtless had they escaped the fire then, not
+      one of them would have survived to the present time, no MS. of that age
+      being now extant. Nevertheless, I must confess to a certain amount of
+      mental disquietude and uneasiness when I think of books worth 50,000
+      denarii&mdash;or, speaking roughly, say L18,750, (1) of our modern money
+      being made into bonfires. What curious illustrations of early heathenism,
+      of Devil worship, of Serpent worship, of Sun worship, and other archaic
+      forms of religion; of early astrological and chemical lore, derived from
+      the Egyptians, the Persians, the Greeks; what abundance of superstitious
+      observances and what is now termed "Folklore"; what riches, too, for the
+      philological student, did those many books contain, and how famous would
+      the library now be that could boast of possessing but a few of them.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ (1) The received opinion is that the "pieces of silver" here mentioned
+were Roman denarii, which were the silver pieces then commonly used in
+Ephesus. If now we weigh a denarius against modern silver, it is exactly
+equal to ninepence, and fifty thousand times ninepence gives L1,875.
+It is always a difficult matter to arrive at a just estimate of the
+relative value of the same coin in different ages; but reckoning that
+money then had at least ten times the purchasing value of money now, we
+arrive at what was probably about the value of the magical books burnt,
+viz.: L18,750.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The ruins of Ephesus bear unimpeachable evidence that the City was very
+      extensive and had magnificent buildings. It was one of the free cities,
+      governing itself. Its trade in shrines and idols was very extensive, being
+      spread through all known lands. There the magical arts were remarkably
+      prevalent, and notwithstanding the numerous converts made by the early
+      Christians, the [gr 'Efesia grammata], or little scrolls upon which magic
+      sentences were written, formed an extensive trade up to the fourth
+      century. These "writings" were used for divination, as a protection
+      against the "evil eye," and generally as charms against all evil. They
+      were carried about the person, so that probably thousands of them were
+      thrown into the flames by St. Paul's hearers when his glowing words
+      convinced them of their superstition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Imagine an open space near the grand Temple of Diana, with fine buildings
+      around. Slightly raised above the crowd, the Apostle, preaching with great
+      power and persuasion concerning superstition, holds in thrall the
+      assembled multitude. On the outskirts of the crowd are numerous bonfires,
+      upon which Jew and Gentile are throwing into the flames bundle upon bundle
+      of scrolls, while an Asiarch with his peace-officers looks on with the
+      conventional stolidity of policemen in all ages and all nations. It must
+      have been an impressive scene, and many a worse subject has been chosen
+      for the walls of the Royal Academy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Books in those early times, whether orthodox or heterodox, appear to have
+      had a precarious existence. The heathens at each fresh outbreak of
+      persecution burnt all the Christian writings they could find, and the
+      Christians, when they got the upper hand, retaliated with interest upon
+      the pagan literature. The Mohammedan reason for destroying books&mdash;"If
+      they contain what is in the Koran they are superfluous, and if they
+      contain anything opposed to it they are immoral," seems, indeed, <i>mutatis
+      mutandis</i>, to have been the general rule for all such devastators.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Invention of Printing made the entire destruction of any author's
+      works much more difficult, so quickly and so extensively did books spread
+      through all lands. On the other hand, as books multiplied, so did
+      destruction go hand in hand with production, and soon were printed books
+      doomed to suffer in the same penal fires, that up to then had been fed on
+      MSS. only.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At Cremona, in 1569, 12,000 books printed in Hebrew were publicly burnt as
+      heretical, simply on account of their language; and Cardinal Ximenes, at
+      the capture of Granada, treated 5,000 copies of the Koran in the same way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the time of the Reformation in England a great destruction of books
+      took place. The antiquarian Bale, writing in 1587, thus speaks of the
+      shameful fate of the Monastic libraries:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "A greate nombre of them whyche purchased those superstycyouse mansyons (<i>Monasteries</i>)
+      reserved of those librarye bookes some to serve their jakes, some to
+      scoure theyr candelstyckes, and some to rubbe theyr bootes. Some they
+      solde to the grossers and sope sellers, and some they sent over see to yeS
+      booke bynders, not in small nombre, but at tymes whole shyppes full, to
+      yeS, wonderynge of foren nacyons. Yea yeS. Universytees of thys realme are
+      not alle clere in thys detestable fact. But cursed is that bellye whyche
+      seketh to be fedde with suche ungodlye gaynes, and so depelye shameth hys
+      natural conterye. I knowe a merchant manne, whych shall at thys tyme be
+      namelesse, that boughte yeS contentes of two noble lybraryes for forty
+      shyllynges pryce: a shame it is to be spoken. Thys stuffe hathe heoccupyed
+      in yeS stede of greye paper, by yeS, space of more than these ten yeares,
+      and yet he bathe store ynoughe for as manye years to come. A prodygyous
+      example is thys, and to be abhorred of all men whyche love theyr nacyon as
+      they shoulde do. The monkes kepte them undre dust, yeS, ydle-headed
+      prestes regarded them not, theyr latter owners have most shamefully abused
+      them, and yeS covetouse merchantes have solde them away into foren nacyons
+      for moneye."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How the imagination recoils at the idea of Caxton's translation of the
+      Metamorphoses of Ovid, or perhaps his "Lyf of therle of Oxenforde,"
+      together with many another book from our first presses, not a fragment of
+      which do we now possess, being used for baking "pyes."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the Great Fire of London in 1666, the number of books burnt was
+      enormous. Not only in private houses and Corporate and Church libraries
+      were priceless collections reduced to cinders, but an immense stock of
+      books removed from Paternoster Row by the Stationers for safety was burnt
+      to ashes in the vaults of St. Paul's Cathedral.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Coming nearer to our own day, how thankful we ought to be for the
+      preservation of the Cotton Library. Great was the consternation in the
+      literary world of 1731 when they heard of the fire at Ashburnham House,
+      Westminster, where, at that time, the Cotton MSS. were deposited. By great
+      exertions the fire was conquered, but not before many MSS. had been quite
+      destroyed and many others injured. Much skill was shown in the partial
+      restoration of these books, charred almost beyond recognition; they were
+      carefully separated leaf by leaf, soaked in a chemical solution, and then
+      pressed flat between sheets of transparent paper. A curious heap of
+      scorched leaves, previous to any treatment, and looking like a monster
+      wasps' nest, may be seen in a glass case in the MS. department of the
+      British Museum, showing the condition to which many other volumes had been
+      reduced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just a hundred years ago the mob, in the "Birmingham Riots," burnt the
+      valuable library of Dr. Priestley, and in the "Gordon Riots" were burnt
+      the literary and other collections of Lord Mansfield, the celebrated
+      judge, he who had the courage first to decide that the Slave who reached
+      the English shore was thenceforward a free man. The loss of the latter
+      library drew from the poet Cowper two short and weak poems. The poet first
+      deplores the destruction of the valuable printed books, and then the
+      irretrievable loss to history by the burning of his Lordship's many
+      personal manuscripts and contemporary documents.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+      "Their pages mangled, burnt and torn,
+          The loss was his alone;
+      But ages yet to come shall mourn
+          The burning of his own."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The second poem commences with the following doggerel:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+      "When Wit and Genius meet their doom
+          In all-devouring Flame,
+      They tell us of the Fate of Rome
+          And bid us fear the same."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The much finer and more extensive library of Dr. Priestley was left
+      unnoticed and unlamented by the orthodox poet, who probably felt a
+      complacent satisfaction at the destruction of heterodox books, the owner
+      being an Unitarian Minister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The magnificent library of Strasbourg was burnt by the shells of the
+      German Army in 1870. Then disappeared for ever, together with other unique
+      documents, the original records of the famous law-suits between Gutenberg,
+      one of the first Printers, and his partners, upon the right understanding
+      of which depends the claim of Gutenberg to the invention of the Art. The
+      flames raged between high brick walls, roaring louder than a blast
+      furnace. Seldom, indeed, have Mars and Pluto had so dainty a sacrifice
+      offered at their shrines; for over all the din of battle, and the
+      reverberation of monster artillery, the burning leaves of the first
+      printed Bible and many another priceless volume were wafted into the sky,
+      the ashes floating for miles on the heated air, and carrying to the
+      astonished countryman the first news of the devastation of his Capital.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the Offor Collection was put to the hammer by Messrs Sotheby and
+      Wilkinson, the well-known auctioneers of Wellington Street, and when about
+      three days of the sale had been gone through, a Fire occurred in the
+      adjoining house, and, gaining possession of the Sale Rooms, made a speedy
+      end of the unique Bunyan and other rarities then on show. I was allowed to
+      see the Ruins on the following day, and by means of a ladder and some
+      scrambling managed to enter the Sale Room where parts of the floor still
+      remained. It was a fearful sight those scorched rows of Volumes still on
+      the shelves; and curious was it to notice how the flames, burning off the
+      backs of the books first, had then run up behind the shelves, and so
+      attacked the fore-edge of the volumes standing upon them, leaving the
+      majority with a perfectly untouched oval centre of white paper and plain
+      print, while the whole surrounding parts were but a mass of black cinders.
+      The salvage was sold in one lot for a small sum, and the purchaser, after
+      a good deal of sorting and mending and binding placed about 1,000 volumes
+      for sale at Messrs. Puttick and Simpson's in the following year.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So, too, when the curious old Library which was in a gallery of the Dutch
+      Church, Austin Friars, was nearly destroyed in the fire which devastated
+      the Church in 1862, the books which escaped were sadly injured. Not long
+      before I had spent some hours there hunting for English Fifteenth-century
+      Books, and shall never forget the state of dirt in which I came away.
+      Without anyone to care for them, the books had remained untouched for many
+      a decade-damp dust, half an inch thick, having settled upon them! Then
+      came the fire, and while the roof was all ablaze streams of hot water,
+      like a boiling deluge, washed down upon them. The wonder was they were not
+      turned into a muddy pulp. After all was over, the whole of the library, no
+      portion of which could legally be given away, was <i>lent for ever</i> to
+      the Corporation of London. Scorched and sodden, the salvage came into the
+      hands of Mr. Overall, their indefatigable librarian. In a hired attic, he
+      hung up the volumes that would bear it over strings like clothes, to dry,
+      and there for weeks and weeks were the stained, distorted volumes, often
+      without covers, often in single leaves, carefully tended and dry-nursed.
+      Washing, sizing, pressing, and binding effected wonders, and no one who
+      to-day looks upon the attractive little alcove in the Guildhall Library
+      labelled [oe "Bibliotheca Ecclesiae Londonino-Belgiae"] and sees the rows
+      of handsomely-lettered backs, could imagine that not long ago this, the
+      most curious portion of the City's literary collections, was in a state
+      when a five-pound note would have seemed more than full value for the lot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II. WATER.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      NEXT to Fire we must rank Water in its two forms, liquid and vapour, as
+      the greatest destroyer of books. Thousands of volumes have been actually
+      drowned at Sea, and no more heard of them than of the Sailors to whose
+      charge they were committed. D'Israeli narrates that, about the year 1700,
+      Heer Hudde, an opulent burgomaster of Middleburgh, travelled for 30 years
+      disguised as a mandarin, throughout the length and breadth of the
+      Celestial Empire. Everywhere he collected books, and his extensive
+      literary treasures were at length safely shipped for transmission to
+      Europe, but, to the irreparable loss of his native country, they never
+      reached their destination, the vessel having foundered in a storm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In 1785 died the famous Maffei Pinelli, whose library was celebrated
+      throughout the world. It had been collected by the Pinelli family for many
+      generations and comprised an extraordinary number of Greek, Latin, and
+      Italian works, many of them first editions, beautifully illuminated,
+      together with numerous MSS. dating from the 11th to the 16th century. The
+      whole library was sold by the Executors to Mr. Edwards, bookseller, of
+      Pall Mall, who placed the volumes in three vessels for transport from
+      Venice to London. Pursued by Corsairs, one of the vessels was captured,
+      but the pirate, disgusted at not finding any treasure, threw all the books
+      into the sea. The other two vessels escaped and delivered their freight
+      safely, and in 1789-90 the books which had been so near destruction were
+      sold at the great room in Conduit Street, for more than L9,000.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These pirates were more excusable than Mohammed II who, upon the capture
+      of Constantinople in the 15th century, after giving up the devoted city to
+      be sacked by his licentious soldiers, ordered the books in all the
+      churches as well as the great library of the Emperor Constantine,
+      containing 120,000 Manuscripts, to be thrown into the sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the shape of rain, water has frequently caused irreparable injury.
+      Positive wet is fortunately of rare occurrence in a library, but is very
+      destructive when it does come, and, if long continued, the substance of
+      the paper succumbs to the unhealthy influence and rots and rots until all
+      fibre disappears, and the paper is reduced to a white decay which crumbles
+      into powder when handled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Few old libraries in England are now so thoroughly neglected as they were
+      thirty years ago. The state of many of our Collegiate and Cathedral
+      libraries was at that time simply appalling. I could mention many
+      instances, one especially, where a window having been left broken for a
+      long time, the ivy had pushed through and crept over a row of books, each
+      of which was worth hundreds of pounds. In rainy weather the water was
+      conducted, as by a pipe, along the tops of the books and soaked through
+      the whole.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In another and smaller collection, the rain came straight on to a
+      book-case through a sky-light, saturating continually the top shelf
+      containing Caxtons and other early English books, one of which, although
+      rotten, was sold soon after by permission of the Charity Commissioners for
+      L200.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Germany, too, the very birth-place of Printing, allows similar destruction
+      to go on unchecked, if the following letter, which appeared about a Year
+      ago (1879) in the <i>Academy</i> has any truth in it:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "For some time past the condition of the library at Wolfenbuttel has been
+      most disgraceful. The building is in so unsafe a condition that portions
+      of the walls and ceilings have fallen in, and the many treasures in Books
+      and MSS. contained in it are exposed to damp and decay. An appeal has been
+      issued that this valuable collection may not be allowed to perish for want
+      of funds, and that it may also be now at length removed to Brunswick,
+      since Wolfenbuttel is entirely deserted as an intellectual centre. No
+      false sentimentality regarding the memory of its former custodians,
+      Leibnitz and Lessing, should hinder this project. Lessing himself would
+      have been the first to urge that the library and its utility should be
+      considered above all things."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The collection of books at Wolfenbuttel is simply magnificent, and I
+      cannot but hope the above report was exaggerated. Were these books to be
+      injured for the want of a small sum spent on the roof, it would be a
+      lasting disgrace to the nation. There are so many genuine book-lovers in
+      Fatherland that the commission of such a crime would seem incredible, did
+      not bibliographical history teem with similar desecrations. (1)
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ (1) This was written in 1879, since which time a new building has been
+erected.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Water in the form of vapour is a great enemy of books, the damp attacking
+      both outside and inside. Outside it fosters the growth of a white mould or
+      fungus which vegetates upon the edges of the leaves, upon the sides and in
+      the joints of the binding. It is easily wiped off, but not without leaving
+      a plain mark, where the mould-spots have been. Under the microscope a
+      mould-spot is seen to be a miniature forest of lovely trees, covered with
+      a beautiful white foliage, upas trees whose roots are embedded in the
+      leather and destroy its texture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inside the book, damp encourages the growth of those ugly brown spots
+      which so often disfigure prints and "livres de luxe." Especially it
+      attacks books printed in the early part of this century, when paper-makers
+      had just discovered that they could bleach their rags, and perfectly white
+      paper, well pressed after printing, had become the fashion. This paper
+      from the inefficient means used to neutralise the bleach, carried the
+      seeds of decay in itself, and when exposed to any damp soon became
+      discoloured with brown stains. Dr. Dibdin's extravagant bibliographical
+      works are mostly so injured; and although the Doctor's bibliography is
+      very incorrect, and his spun-out inanities and wearisome affectations
+      often annoy one, yet his books are so beautifully illustrated, and he is
+      so full of personal anecdote and chit chat, that it grieves the heart to
+      see "foxey" stains common in his most superb works.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a perfectly dry and warm library these spots would probably remain
+      undeveloped, but many endowed as well as private libraries are not in
+      daily use, and are often injured from a false idea that a hard frost and
+      prolonged cold do no injury to a library so long as the weather is dry.
+      The fact is that books should never be allowed to get really cold, for
+      when a thaw comes and the weather sets in warm, the air, laden with damp,
+      penetrates the inmost recesses, and working its way between the volumes
+      and even between the leaves, deposits upon their cold surface its
+      moisture. The best preventative of this is a warm atmosphere during the
+      frost, sudden heating when the frost has gone being useless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our worst enemies are sometimes our real friends, and perhaps the best way
+      of keeping libraries entirely free from damp is to circulate our enemy in
+      the shape of hot water through pipes laid under the floor. The facilities
+      now offered for heating such pipes from the outside are so great, the
+      expense comparatively so small, and the direct gain in the expulsion of
+      damp so decided, that where it can be accomplished without much trouble it
+      is well worth the doing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the same time no system of heating should be allowed to supersede the
+      open grate, which supplies a ventilation to the room as useful to the
+      health of the books as to the health of the occupier. A coal fire is
+      objectionable on many grounds. It is dangerous, dirty and dusty. On the
+      other hand an asbestos fire, where the lumps are judiciously laid, gives
+      all the warmth and ventilation of a common fire without any of its
+      annoyances; and to any one who loves to be independent of servants, and to
+      know that, however deeply he may sleep over his "copy," his fire will not
+      fail to keep awake, an asbestos stove is invaluable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is a mistake also to imagine that keeping the best bound volumes in a
+      glass doored book-case is a preservative. The damp air will certainly
+      penetrate, and as the absence of ventilation will assist the formation of
+      mould, the books will be worse off than if they had been placed in open
+      shelves. If security be desirable, by all means abolish the glass and
+      place ornamental brass wire-work in its stead. Like the writers of old
+      Cookery Books who stamped special receipts with the testimony of personal
+      experience, I can say "probatum est."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III. GAS AND HEAT.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      WHAT a valuable servant is Gas, and how dreadfully we should cry out were
+      it to be banished from our homes; and yet no one who loves his books
+      should allow a single jet in his library, unless, indeed he can afford a
+      "sun light," which is the form in which it is used in some public
+      libraries, where the whole of the fumes are carried at once into the open
+      air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Unfortunately, I can speak from experience of the dire effect of gas in a
+      confined space. Some years ago when placing the shelves round the small
+      room, which, by a euphemism, is called my library, I took the precaution
+      of making two self-acting ventilators which communicated directly with the
+      outer air just under the ceiling. For economy of space as well as of
+      temper (for lamps of all kinds are sore trials), I had a gasalier of three
+      lights over the table. The effect was to cause great heat in the upper
+      regions, and in the course of a year or two the leather valance which hung
+      from the window, as well as the fringe which dropped half-an-inch from
+      each shelf to keep out the dust, was just like tinder, and in some parts
+      actually fell to the ground by its own weight; while the backs of the
+      books upon the top shelves were perished, and crumbled away when touched,
+      being reduced to the consistency of Scotch snuff. This was, of course, due
+      to the sulphur in the gas fumes. I remember having a book some years ago
+      from the top shelf in the library of the London Institution, where gas is
+      used, and the whole of the back fell off in my hands, although the volume
+      in other respects seemed quite uninjured. Thousands more were in a similar
+      plight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the paper of the volumes is uninjured, it might be objected that, after
+      all, gas is not so much the enemy of the book itself as of its covering;
+      but then, re-binding always leaves a book smaller, and often deprives it
+      of leaves at the beginning or end, which the binder's wisdom has thought
+      useless. Oh! the havoc I have seen committed by binders. You may assume
+      your most impressive aspect&mdash;you may write down your instructions as
+      if you were making your last will and testament&mdash;you may swear you
+      will not pay if your books are ploughed&mdash;'tis all in vain&mdash;the
+      creed of a binder is very short, and comprised in a single article, and
+      that article is the one vile word "Shavings." But not now will I follow
+      this depressing subject; binders, as enemies of books, deserve, and shall
+      have, a whole chapter to themselves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is much easier to decry gas than to find a remedy. Sun lights require
+      especial arrangements, and are very expensive on account of the quantity
+      of gas consumed. The library illumination of the future promises to be the
+      electric light. If only steady and moderate in price, it would be a great
+      boon to public libraries, and perhaps the day is not far distant when it
+      will replace gas, even in private houses. That will, indeed, be a day of
+      jubilee to the literary labourer. The injury done by gas is so generally
+      acknowledged by the heads of our national libraries, that it is strictly
+      excluded from their domains, although the danger from explosion and fire,
+      even if the results of combustion were innocuous, would be sufficient
+      cause for its banishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The electric light has been in use for some months in the Reading Room of
+      the British Museum, and is a great boon to the readers. The light is not
+      quite equally diffused, and you must choose particular positions if you
+      want to work happily. There is a great objection, too, in the humming fizz
+      which accompanies the action of the electricity. There is a still greater
+      objection when small pieces of hot chalk fall on your bald head, an
+      annoyance which has been lately (1880) entirely removed by placing a
+      receptacle beneath each burner. You require also to become accustomed to
+      the whiteness of the light before you can altogether forget it. But with
+      all its faults it confers a great boon upon students, enabling them not
+      only to work three hours longer in the winter-time, but restoring to them
+      the use of foggy and dark days, in which formerly no book-work at all
+      could be pursued. (1)
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ (1) 1887. The system in use is still "Siemens," but, owing to long
+experience and improvements, is not now open to the above objections.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Heat alone, without any noxious fumes, is, if continuous, very injurious
+      to books, and, without gas, bindings may be utterly destroyed by
+      desiccation, the leather losing all its natural oils by long exposure to
+      much heat. It is, therefore, a great pity to place books high up in a room
+      where heat of any kind is as it must rise to the top, and if sufficient to
+      be of comfort to the readers below, is certain to be hot enough above to
+      injure the bindings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The surest way to preserve your books in health is to treat them as you
+      would your own children, who are sure to sicken if confined in an
+      atmosphere which is impure, too hot, too cold, too damp, or too dry. It is
+      just the same with the progeny of literature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If any credence may be given to Monkish legends, books have sometimes been
+      preserved in this world, only to meet a desiccating fate in the world to
+      come. The story is probably an invention of the enemy to throw discredit
+      on the learning and ability of the preaching Friars, an Order which was at
+      constant war with the illiterate secular Clergy. It runs thus:&mdash;"In
+      the year 1439, two Minorite friars who had all their lives collected
+      books, died. In accordance with popular belief, they were at once
+      conducted before the heavenly tribunal to hear their doom, taking with
+      them two asses laden with books. At Heaven's gate the porter demanded,
+      'Whence came ye?' The Minorites replied 'From a monastery of St. Francis.'
+      'Oh!' said the porter, 'then St. Francis shall be your judge.' So that
+      saint was summoned, and at sight of the friars and their burden demanded
+      who they were, and why they had brought so many books with them. 'We are
+      Minorites,' they humbly replied, 'and we have brought these few books with
+      us as a solatium in the new Jerusalem.' 'And you, when on earth, practised
+      the good they teach?' sternly demanded the saint, who read their
+      characters at a glance. Their faltering reply was sufficient, and the
+      blessed saint at once passed judgment as follows:&mdash;'Insomuch as,
+      seduced by a foolish vanity, and against your vows of poverty, you have
+      amassed this multitude of books and thereby and therefor have neglected
+      the duties and broken the rules of your Order, you are now sentenced to
+      read your books for ever and ever in the fires of Hell.' Immediately, a
+      roaring noise filled the air, and a flaming chasm opened in which friars,
+      and asses and books were suddenly engulphed."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV. DUST AND NEGLECT.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      DUST upon Books to any extent points to neglect, and neglect means more or
+      less slow Decay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A well-gilt top to a book is a great preventive against damage by dust,
+      while to leave books with rough tops and unprotected is sure to produce
+      stains and dirty margins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In olden times, when few persons had private collections of books, the
+      collegiate and corporate libraries were of great use to students. The
+      librarians' duties were then no sinecure, and there was little opportunity
+      for dust to find a resting-place. The Nineteenth Century and the Steam
+      Press ushered in a new era. By degrees the libraries which were unendowed
+      fell behind the age, and were consequently neglected. No new works found
+      their way in, and the obsolete old books were left uncared for and
+      unvisited. I have seen many old libraries, the doors of which remained
+      unopened from week's end to week's end; where you inhaled the dust of
+      paper-decay with every breath, and could not take up a book without
+      sneezing; where old boxes, full of older literature, served as preserves
+      for the bookworm, without even an autumn "battue" to thin the breed.
+      Occasionally these libraries were (I speak of thirty years ago) put even
+      to vile uses, such as would have shocked all ideas of propriety could our
+      ancestors have foreseen their fate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I recall vividly a bright summer morning many years ago, when, in search
+      of Caxtons, I entered the inner quadrangle of a certain wealthy College in
+      one of our learned Universities. The buildings around were charming in
+      their grey tones and shady nooks. They had a noble history, too, and their
+      scholarly sons were (and are) not unworthy successors of their ancestral
+      renown. The sun shone warmly, and most of the casements were open. From
+      one came curling a whiff of tobacco; from another the hum of conversation;
+      from a third the tones of a piano. A couple of undergraduates sauntered on
+      the shady side, arm in arm, with broken caps and torn gowns&mdash;proud
+      insignia of their last term. The grey stone walls were covered with ivy,
+      except where an old dial with its antiquated Latin inscription kept count
+      of the sun's ascent. The chapel on one side, only distinguishable from the
+      "rooms" by the shape of its windows, seemed to keep watch over the
+      morality of the foundation, just as the dining-hall opposite, from whence
+      issued a white-aproned cook, did of its worldly prosperity. As you trod
+      the level pavement, you passed comfortable&mdash;nay, dainty&mdash;apartments,
+      where lace curtains at the windows, antimacassars on the chairs, the
+      silver biscuit-box and the thin-stemmed wine-glass moderated academic
+      toils. Gilt-backed books on gilded shelf or table caught the eye, and as
+      you turned your glance from the luxurious interiors to the well-shorn lawn
+      in the Quad., with its classic fountain also gilded by sunbeams, the
+      mental vision saw plainly written over the whole "The Union of Luxury and
+      Learning."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Surely here, thought I, if anywhere, the old world literature will be
+      valued and nursed with gracious care; so with a pleasing sense of the
+      general congruity of all around me, I enquired for the rooms of the
+      librarian. Nobody seemed to be quite sure of his name, or upon whom the
+      bibliographical mantle had descended. His post, it seemed, was honorary
+      and a sinecure, being imposed, as a rule, upon the youngest "Fellow." No
+      one cared for the appointment, and as a matter of course the keys of
+      office had but distant acquaintance with the lock. At last I was rewarded
+      with success, and politely, but mutely, conducted by the librarian into
+      his kingdom of dust and silence. The dark portraits of past benefactors
+      looked after us from their dusty old frames in dim astonishment as we
+      passed, evidently wondering whether we meant "work"; book-decay&mdash;that
+      peculiar flavour which haunts certain libraries&mdash;was heavy in the
+      air, the floor was dusty, making the sunbeams as we passed bright with
+      atoms; the shelves were dusty, the "stands" in the middle were thick with
+      dust, the old leather table in the bow window, and the chairs on either
+      side, were very dusty. Replying to a question, my conductor thought there
+      was a manuscript catalogue of the Library somewhere, but thought, also,
+      that it was not easy to find any books by it, and he knew not at the
+      minute where to put his hand upon it. The Library, he said, was of little
+      use now, as the Fellows had their own books and very seldom required 17th
+      and 18th century editions, and no new books had been added to the
+      collection for a long time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We passed down a few steps into an inner library where piles of early
+      folios were wasting away on the ground. Beneath an old ebony table were
+      two long carved oak chests. I lifted the lid of one, and at the top was a
+      once-white surplice covered with dust, and beneath was a mass of tracts&mdash;Commonwealth
+      quartos, unbound&mdash;a prey to worms and decay. All was neglect. The
+      outer door of this room, which was open, was nearly on a level with the
+      Quadrangle; some coats, and trousers, and boots were upon the ebony table,
+      and a "gyp" was brushing away at them just within the door&mdash;in wet
+      weather he performed these functions entirely within the library&mdash;as
+      innocent of the incongruity of his position as my guide himself. Oh!
+      Richard of Bury, I sighed, for a sharp stone from your sling to pierce
+      with indignant sarcasm the mental armour of these College dullards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Happily, things are altered now, and the disgrace of such neglect no
+      longer hangs on the College. Let us hope, in these days of revived respect
+      for antiquity, no other College library is in a similar plight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not Englishmen alone are guilty, however, of such unloving treatment of
+      their bibliographical treasures. The following is translated from an
+      interesting work just published in Paris, (1) and shows how, even at this
+      very time, and in the centre of the literary activity of France, books
+      meet their fate.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ (1) Le luxe des Livres par L. Derome. 8vo, Paris, 1879.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      M. Derome loquitur:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Let us now enter the communal library of some large provincial town. The
+      interior has a lamentable appearance; dust and disorder have made it their
+      home. It has a librarian, but he has the consideration of a porter only,
+      and goes but once a week to see the state of the books committed to his
+      care; they are in a bad state, piled in heaps and perishing in corners for
+      want of attention and binding. At this present time (1879) more than one
+      public library in Paris could be mentioned in which thousands of books are
+      received annually, all of which will have disappeared in the course of 50
+      years or so for want of binding; there are rare books, impossible to
+      replace, falling to pieces because no care is given to them, that is to
+      say, they are left unbound, a prey to dust and the worm, and cannot be
+      touched without dismemberment."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "All history shows that this neglect belongs not to any particular age or
+      nation. I extract the following story from Edmond Werdet's Histoire du
+      Livre." (1)
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ (1) "Histoire du Livre en France," par E. Werdet. 8vo, Paris, 1851.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      "The Poet Boccaccio, when travelling in Apulia, was anxious to visit the
+      celebrated Convent of Mount Cassin, especially to see its library, of
+      which he had heard much. He accosted, with great courtesy, one of the
+      monks whose countenance attracted him, and begged him to have the kindness
+      to show him the library. 'See for yourself,' said the monk, brusquely,
+      pointing at the same time to an old stone staircase, broken with age.
+      Boccaccio hastily mounted in great joy at the prospect of a grand
+      bibliographical treat. Soon he reached the room, which was without key or
+      even door as protection to its treasures. What was his astonishment to see
+      that the grass growing in the window-sills actually darkened the room, and
+      that all the books and seats were an inch thick in dust. In utter
+      astonishment he lifted one book after another. All were manuscripts of
+      extreme antiquity, but all were dreadfully dilapidated. Many had lost
+      whole sections which had been violently extracted, and in many all the
+      blank margins of the vellum had been cut away. In fact, the mutilation was
+      thorough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Grieved at seeing the work and the wisdom of so many illustrious men
+      fallen into the hands of custodians so unworthy, Boccaccio descended with
+      tears in his eyes. In the cloisters he met another monk, and enquired of
+      him how the MSS. had become so mutilated. 'Oh!' he replied, 'we are
+      obliged, you know, to earn a few sous for our needs, so we cut away the
+      blank margins of the manuscripts for writing upon, and make of them small
+      books of devotion, which we sell to women and children."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As a postscript to this story, Mr. Timmins, of Birmingham, informs me that
+      the treasures of the Monte Cassino Library are better cared for now than
+      in Boccaccio's days, the worthy prior being proud of his valuable MSS. and
+      very willing to show them. It will interest many readers to know that
+      there is now a complete printing office, lithographic as well as
+      typographic, at full work in one large room of the Monastery, where their
+      wonderful MS. of Dante has been already reprinted, and where other
+      fac-simile works are now in progress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V. IGNORANCE AND BIGOTRY.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      IGNORANCE, though not in the same category as fire and water, is a great
+      destroyer of books. At the Reformation so strong was the antagonism of the
+      people generally to anything like the old idolatry of the Romish Church,
+      that they destroyed by thousands books, secular as well as sacred, if they
+      contained but illuminated letters. Unable to read, they saw no difference
+      between romance and a psalter, between King Arthur and King David; and so
+      the paper books with all their artistic ornaments went to the bakers to
+      heat their ovens, and the parchment manuscripts, however beautifully
+      illuminated, to the binders and boot makers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is another kind of ignorance which has often worked destruction, as
+      shown by the following anecdote, which is extracted from a letter written
+      in 1862 by M. Philarete Chasles to Mr. B. Beedham, of Kimbolton:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ten years ago, when turning out an old closet in the Mazarin Library, of
+      which I am librarian, I discovered at the bottom, under a lot of old rags
+      and rubbish, a large volume. It had no cover nor title-page, and had been
+      used to light the fires of the librarians. This shows how great was the
+      negligence towards our literary treasure before the Revolution; for the
+      pariah volume, which, 60 years before, had been placed in the Invalides,
+      and which had certainly formed part of the original Mazarin collections,
+      turned out to be a fine and genuine Caxton."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I saw this identical volume in the Mazarin Library in April, 1880. It is a
+      noble copy of the First Edition of the "Golden Legend," 1483, but of
+      course very imperfect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among the millions of events in this world which cross and re-cross one
+      another, remarkable coincidences must often occur; and a case exactly
+      similar to that at the Mazarin Library, happened about the same time in
+      London, at the French Protestant Church, St. Martin's-le-Grand. Many years
+      ago I discovered there, in a dirty pigeon hole close to the grate in the
+      vestry, a fearfully mutilated copy of Caxton's edition of the Canterbury
+      Tales, with woodcuts. Like the book at Paris, it had long been used, leaf
+      by leaf, in utter ignorance of its value, to light the vestry fire.
+      Originally worth at least L800, it was then worth half, and, of course, I
+      energetically drew the attention of the minister in charge to it, as well
+      as to another grand Folio by Rood and Hunte, 1480. Some years elapsed, and
+      then the Ecclesiastical Commissioners took the foundation in hand, but
+      when at last Trustees were appointed, and the valuable library was
+      re-arranged and catalogued, this "Caxton," together with the fine copy of
+      "Latterbury" from the first Oxford Press, had disappeared entirely.
+      Whatever ignorance may have been displayed in the mutilation, quite
+      another word should be applied to the disappearance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following anecdote is so <i>apropos</i>, that although it has lately
+      appeared in No. 1 of <i>The Antiquary</i>, I cannot resist the temptation
+      of re-printing it, as a warning to inheritors of old libraries. The
+      account was copied by me years ago from a letter written in 1847, by the
+      Rev. C. F. Newmarsh, Rector of Pelham, to the Rev. S. R. Maitland,
+      Librarian to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and is as follows:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "In June, 1844, a pedlar called at a cottage in Blyton and asked an old
+      widow, named Naylor, whether she had any rags to sell. She answered, No!
+      but offered him some old paper, and took from a shelf the 'Boke of St.
+      Albans' and others, weighing 9 lbs., for which she received 9<i>d</i>. The
+      pedlar carried them through Gainsborough tied up in string, past a
+      chemist's shop, who, being used to buy old paper to wrap his drugs in,
+      called the man in, and, struck by the appearance of the 'Boke,' gave him 3<i>s</i>.
+      for the lot. Not being able to read the Colophon, he took it to an equally
+      ignorant stationer, and offered it to him for a guinea, at which price he
+      declined it, but proposed that it should be exposed in his window as a
+      means of eliciting some information about it. It was accordingly placed
+      there with this label, 'Very old curious work.' A collector of books went
+      in and offered half-a-crown for it, which excited the suspicion of the
+      vendor. Soon after Mr. Bird, Vicar of Gainsborough, went in and asked the
+      price, wishing to possess a very early specimen of printing, but not
+      knowing the value of the book. While he was examining it, Stark, a very
+      intelligent bookseller, came in, to whom Mr. Bird at once ceded the right
+      of pre-emption. Stark betrayed such visible anxiety that the vendor,
+      Smith, declined setting a price. Soon after Sir C. Anderson, of Lea
+      (author of Ancient Models), came in and took away the book to collate, but
+      brought it back in the morning having found it imperfect in the middle,
+      and offered L5 for it. Sir Charles had no book of reference to guide him
+      to its value. But in the meantime, Stark had employed a friend to obtain
+      for him the refusal of it, and had undertaken to give for it a little more
+      than any sum Sir Charles might offer. On finding that at least L5 could be
+      got for it, Smith went to the chemist and gave him two guineas, and then
+      sold it to Stark's agent for seven guineas. Stark took it to London, and
+      sold it at once to the Rt. Hon. Thos. Grenville for seventy pounds or
+      guineas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I have now shortly to state how it came that a book without covers of
+      such extreme age was preserved. About fifty years since, the library of
+      Thonock Hall, in the parish of Gainsborough, the seat of the Hickman
+      family, underwent great repairs, the books being sorted over by a most
+      ignorant person, whose selection seems to have been determined by the
+      coat. All books without covers were thrown into a great heap, and
+      condemned to all the purposes which Leland laments in the sack of the
+      conventual libraries by the visitors. But they found favour in the eyes of
+      a literate gardener, who begged leave to take what he liked home. He
+      selected a large quantity of Sermons preached before the House of Commons,
+      local pamphlets, tracts from 1680 to 1710, opera books, etc. He made a
+      list of them, which I found afterwards in the cottage. In the list, No. 43
+      was 'Cotarmouris,' or the Boke of St. Albans. The old fellow was something
+      of a herald, and drew in his books what he held to be his coat. After his
+      death, all that could be stuffed into a large chest were put away in a
+      garret; but a few favourites, and the 'Boke' among them remained on the
+      kitchen shelves for years, till his son's widow grew so 'stalled' of
+      dusting them that she determined to sell them. Had she been in poverty, I
+      should have urged the buyer, Stark, the duty of giving her a small sum out
+      of his great gains."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such chances as this do not fall to a man's lot twice; but Edmond Werdet
+      relates a story very similar indeed, and where also the "plums" fell into
+      the lap of a London dealer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In 1775, the Recollet Monks of Antwerp, wishing to make a reform, examined
+      their library, and determined to get rid of about 1,500 volumes&mdash;some
+      manuscript and some printed, but all of which they considered as old
+      rubbish of no value.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At first they were thrown into the gardener's rooms; but, after some
+      months, they decided in their wisdom to give the whole refuse to the
+      gardener as a recognition of his long services.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This man, wiser in his generation than these simple fathers, took the lot
+      to M. Vanderberg, an amateur and man of education. M. Vanderberg took a
+      cursory view, and then offered to buy them by weight at sixpence per
+      pound. The bargain was at once concluded, and M. Vanderberg had the books.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shortly after, Mr. Stark, a well-known London bookseller, being in
+      Antwerp, called on M. Vanderberg, and was shown the books. He at once
+      offered 14,000 francs for them, which was accepted. Imagine the surprise
+      and chagrin of the poor monks when they heard of it! They knew they had no
+      remedy, and so dumbfounded were they by their own ignorance, that they
+      humbly requested M. Vanderberg to relieve their minds by returning some
+      portion of his large gains. He gave them 1,200 francs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great Shakespearian and other discoveries, which were found in a
+      garret at Lamport Hall in 1867 by Mr. Edmonds, are too well-known and too
+      recent to need description. In this case mere chance seems to have led to
+      the preservation of works, the very existence of which set the ears of all
+      lovers of Shakespeare a-tingling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the summer of 1877, a gentleman with whom I was well acquainted took
+      lodgings in Preston Street, Brighton. The morning after his arrival, he
+      found in the w.c. some leaves of an old black-letter book. He asked
+      permission to retain them, and enquired if there were any more where they
+      came from. Two or three other fragments were found, and the landlady
+      stated that her father, who was fond of antiquities, had at one time a
+      chest full of old black-letter books; that, upon his death, they were
+      preserved till she was tired of seeing them, and then, supposing them of
+      no value, she had used them for waste; that for two years and a-half they
+      had served for various household purposes, but she had just come to the
+      end of them. The fragments preserved, and now in my possession, are a
+      goodly portion of one of the most rare books from the press of Wynkyn de
+      Worde, Caxton's successor. The title is a curious woodcut with the words
+      "Gesta Romanorum" engraved in an odd-shaped black letter. It has also
+      numerous rude wood-cuts throughout. It was from this very work that
+      Shakespeare in all probability derived the story of the three caskets
+      which in "The Merchant of Venice" forms so integral a portion of the plot.
+      Only think of that cloaca being supplied daily with such dainty
+      bibliographical treasures!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the Lansdowne Collection at the British Museum is a volume containing
+      three manuscript dramas of Queen Elizabeth's time, and on a fly-leaf is a
+      list of fifty-eight plays, with this note at the foot, in the handwriting
+      of the well-known antiquary, Warburton:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "After I had been many years collecting these Manuscript Playes, through
+      my own carelessness and the ignorance of my servant, they was unluckely
+      burned or put under pye bottoms."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of these "Playes" are preserved in print, but others are quite
+      unknown and perished for ever when used as "pye-bottoms."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. W. B. Rye, late Keeper of the Printed Books at our great National
+      Library, thus writes:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "On the subject of ignorance you should some day, when at the British
+      Museum, look at Lydgate's translation of Boccaccio's 'Fall of Princes,'
+      printed by Pynson in 1494. It is 'liber rarissimus.' This copy when
+      perfect had been very fine and quite uncut. On one fine summer afternoon
+      in 1874 it was brought to me by a tradesman living at Lamberhurst. Many of
+      the leaves had been cut into squares, and the whole had been rescued from
+      a tobacconist's shop, where the pieces were being used to wrap up tobacco
+      and snuff. The owner wanted to buy a new silk gown for his wife, and was
+      delighted with three guineas for this purpose. You will notice how
+      cleverly the British Museum binder has joined the leaves, making it,
+      although still imperfect, a fine book."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Referring to the carelessness exhibited by some custodians of Parish
+      Registers,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Noble, who has had great experience in such matters, writes:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "A few months ago I wanted a search made of the time of Charles I in one
+      of the most interesting registers in a large town (which shall be
+      nameless) in England. I wrote to the custodian of it, and asked him kindly
+      to do the search for me, and if he was unable to read the names to get
+      some one who understood the writing of that date to decipher the entries
+      for me. I did not have a reply for a fortnight, but one morning the
+      postman brought me a very large unregistered book-packet, which I found to
+      be the original Parish Registers! He, however, addressed a note with it
+      stating that he thought it best to send me the document itself to look at,
+      and begged me to be good enough to return the Register to him as soon as
+      done with. He evidently wished to serve me&mdash;his ignorance of
+      responsibility without doubt proving his kindly disposition, and on that
+      account alone I forbear to name him; but I can assure you I was heartily
+      glad to have a letter from him in due time announcing that the precious
+      documents were once more locked up in the parish chest. Certainly, I think
+      such as he to be 'Enemies of books.' Don't you?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bigotry has also many sins to answer for. The late M. Muller, of
+      Amsterdam, a bookseller of European fame, wrote to me as follows a few
+      weeks before his death:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Of course, we also, in Holland, have many Enemies of books, and if I were
+      happy enough to have your spirit and style I would try and write a
+      companion volume to yours. Now I think the best thing I can do is to give
+      you somewhat of my experience. You say that the discovery of printing has
+      made the destruction of anybody's books difficult. At this I am bound to
+      say that the Inquisition did succeed most successfully, by burning
+      heretical books, in destroying numerous volumes invaluable for their
+      wholesome contents. Indeed, I beg to state to you the amazing fact that
+      here in Holland exists an Ultramontane Society called 'Old Paper,' which
+      is under the sanction of the six Catholic Bishops of the Netherlands, and
+      is spread over the whole kingdom. The openly-avowed object of this Society
+      is to buy up and to destroy as waste paper all the Protestant and Liberal
+      Catholic newspapers, pamphlets and books, the price of which is offered to
+      the Pope as 'Deniers de St. Pierre.' Of course, this Society is very
+      little known among Protestants, and many have denied even its existence;
+      but I have been fortunate enough to obtain a printed circular issued by
+      one of the Bishops containing statistics of the astounding mass of paper
+      thus collected, producing in one district alone the sum of L1,200 in three
+      months. I need not tell you that this work is strongly promoted by the
+      Catholic clergy. You can have no idea of the difficulty we now have in
+      procuring certain books published but 30, 40, or 50 years ago of an
+      ephemeral character. Historical and theological books are very rare;
+      novels and poetry of that period are absolutely not to be found; medical
+      and law books are more common. I am bound to say that in no country have
+      more books been printed and more destroyed than in Holland. W. MULLER."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The policy of buying up all objectionable literature seems to me, I
+      confess, very short-sighted, and in most cases would lead to a greatly
+      increased reprint; it certainly would in these latitudes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the Church of Rome to the Church of England is no great leap, and Mr.
+      Smith, the Brighton bookseller, gives evidence thus:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It may be worth your while to note that the clergy of the last two
+      centuries ought to be included in your list (of Biblioclasts). I have had
+      painful experience of the fact in the following manner. Numbers of volumes
+      in their libraries have had a few leaves removed, and in many others whole
+      sections torn out. I suppose it served their purpose thus to use the
+      wisdom of greater men and that they thus economised their own time by
+      tearing out portions to suit their purpose. The hardship to the trade is
+      this: their books are purchased in good faith as perfect, and when resold
+      the buyer is quick to claim damage if found defective, while the seller
+      has no redress."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among the careless destroyers of books still at work should be classed
+      Government officials. Cart-loads of interesting documents, bound and
+      unbound, have been sold at various times as waste-paper, (1) when modern
+      red-tape thought them but rubbish. Some of them have been rescued and
+      resold at high prices, but some have been lost for ever.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ (1) Nell Gwyn's private Housekeeping Book was among them, containing
+most curious particulars of what was necessary in the time of Charles I
+for a princely household. Fortunately it was among the rescued, and is
+now in a private library.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      In 1854 a very interesting series of blue books was commenced by the
+      authorities of the Patent Office, of course paid for out of the national
+      purse. Beginning with the year 1617 the particulars of every important
+      patent were printed from the original specifications and fac-simile
+      drawings made, where necessary, for the elucidation of the text. A very
+      moderate price was charged for each, only indeed the prime cost of
+      production. The general public, of course, cared little for such
+      literature, but those interested in the origin and progress of any
+      particular art, cared much, and many sets of Patents were purchased by
+      those engaged in research. But the great bulk of the stock was, to some
+      extent, inconvenient, and so when a removal to other offices, in 1879,
+      became necessary, the question arose as to what could be done with them.
+      These blue-books, which had cost the nation many thousands of pounds, were
+      positively sold to the paper mills as wastepaper, and nearly 100 tons
+      weight were carted away at about L3 per ton. It is difficult to believe,
+      although positively true, that so great an act of vandalism could have
+      been perpetrated, even in a Government office. It is true that no demand
+      existed for some of them, but it is equally true that in numerous cases,
+      especially in the early specifications of the steam engine and printing
+      machine, the want of them has caused great disappointment. To add a climax
+      to the story, many of the "pulped" specifications have had to be reprinted
+      more than once since their destruction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI. THE BOOKWORM.
+    </h2>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+      THERE is a sort of busy worm
+      That will the fairest books deform,
+          By gnawing holes throughout them;
+      Alike, through every leaf they go,
+      Yet of its merits naught they know,
+          Nor care they aught about them.
+
+      Their tasteless tooth will tear and taint
+      The Poet, Patriot, Sage or Saint,
+          Not sparing wit nor learning.
+      Now, if you'd know the reason why,
+      The best of reasons I'll supply;
+          'Tis bread to the poor vermin.
+
+      Of pepper, snuff, or 'bacca smoke,
+      And Russia-calf they make a joke.
+          Yet, why should sons of science
+      These puny rankling reptiles dread?
+      'Tis but to let their books be read,
+          And bid the worms defiance."
+                              J. DORASTON.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      A most destructive Enemy of books has been the bookworm. I say "has been,"
+      because, fortunately, his ravages in all civilised countries have been
+      greatly restricted during the last fifty years. This is due partly to the
+      increased reverence for antiquity which has been universally developed&mdash;more
+      still to the feeling of cupidity, which has caused all owners to take care
+      of volumes which year by year have become more valuable&mdash;and, to some
+      considerable extent, to the falling off in the production of edible books.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The monks, who were the chief makers as well as the custodians of books,
+      through the long ages we call "dark," because so little is known of them,
+      had no fear of the bookworm before their eyes, for, ravenous as he is and
+      was, he loves not parchment, and at that time paper was not. Whether at a
+      still earlier period he attacked the papyrus, the paper of the Egyptians,
+      I know not&mdash;probably he did, as it was a purely vegetable substance;
+      and if so, it is quite possible that the worm of to-day, in such evil
+      repute with us, is the lineal descendant of ravenous ancestors who plagued
+      the sacred Priests of On in the time of Joseph's Pharaoh, by destroying
+      their title deeds and their books of Science.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Rare things and precious, as manuscripts were before the invention of
+      typography, are well preserved, but when the printing press was invented
+      and paper books were multiplied in the earth; when libraries increased and
+      readers were many, then familiarity bred contempt; books were packed in
+      out-of-the-way places and neglected, and the oft-quoted, though seldom
+      seen, bookworm became an acknowledged tenant of the library, and the
+      mortal enemy of the bibliophile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Anathemas have been hurled against this pest in nearly every European
+      language, old and new, and classical scholars of bye-gone centuries have
+      thrown their spondees and dactyls at him. Pierre Petit, in 1683, devoted a
+      long Latin poem to his dis-praise, and Parnell's charming Ode is well
+      known. Hear the poet lament:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ "Pene tu mihi passerem Catulli,
+ Pene tu mihi Lesbiam abstulisti."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      and then&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ "Quid dicam innumeros bene eruditos
+ Quorum tu monumenta tu labores
+     Isti pessimo ventre devorasti?"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      while Petit, who was evidently moved by strong personal feelings against
+      the "invisum pecus," as he calls him, addresses his little enemy as
+      "Bestia audax" and "Pestis chartarum."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But, as a portrait commonly precedes a biography, the curious reader may
+      wish to be told what this "Bestia audax," who so greatly ruffles the
+      tempers of our eclectics, is like. Here, at starting, is a serious
+      chameleon-like difficulty, for the bookworm offers to us, if we are guided
+      by their words, as many varieties of size and shape as there are
+      beholders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sylvester, in his "Laws of Verse," with more words than wit, described him
+      as "a microscopic creature wriggling on the learned page, which, when
+      discovered, stiffens out into the resemblance of a streak of dirt."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The earliest notice is in "Micrographia," by R. Hooke, folio, London,
+      1665. This work, which was printed at the expense of the Royal Society of
+      London, is an account of innumerable things examined by the author under
+      the microscope, and is most interesting for the frequent accuracy of the
+      author's observations, and most amusing for his equally frequent blunders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In his account of the bookworm, his remarks, which are rather long and
+      very minute, are absurdly blundering. He calls it "a small white
+      Silver-shining Worm or Moth, which I found much conversant among books and
+      papers, and is supposed to be that which corrodes and eats holes thro' the
+      leaves and covers. Its head appears bigg and blunt, and its body tapers
+      from it towards the tail, smaller and smaller, being shap'd almost like a
+      carret.... It has two long horns before, which are streight, and tapering
+      towards the top, curiously ring'd or knobb'd and brisled much like the
+      marsh weed called Horses tail.... The hinder part is terminated with three
+      tails, in every particular resembling the two longer horns that grow out
+      of the head. The legs are scal'd and hair'd. This animal probably feeds
+      upon the paper and covers of books, and perforates in them several small
+      round holes, finding perhaps a convenient nourishment in those husks of
+      hemp and flax, which have passed through so many scourings, washings,
+      dressings, and dryings as the parts of old paper necessarily have
+      suffer'd. And, indeed, when I consider what a heap of sawdust or chips
+      this little creature (which is one of the teeth of Time) conveys into its
+      intrals, I cannot chuse but remember and admire the excellent contrivance
+      of Nature in placing in animals such a fire, as is continually nourished
+      and supply'd by the materials convey'd into the stomach and fomented by
+      the bellows of the lungs." The picture or "image," which accompanies this
+      description, is wonderful to behold. Certainly R. Hooke, Fellow of the
+      Royal Society, drew somewhat upon his imagination here, having apparently
+      evolved both engraving and description from his inner consciousness. (1)
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ (1) Not so! Several correspondents have drawn my attention to the
+fact that Hooke is evidently describing the "Lepisma," which, if not
+positively injurious, is often found in the warm places of old houses,
+especially if a little damp. He mistook this for the Bookworm.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Entomologists even do not appear to have paid much attention to the
+      natural history of the "Worm." Kirby, speaking of it, says, "the larvae of
+      Crambus pinguinalis spins a robe which it covers with its own excrement,
+      and does no little injury." Again, "I have often observed the caterpillar
+      of a little moth that takes its station in damp old books, and there
+      commits great ravages, and many a black-letter rarity, which in these days
+      of bibliomania would have been valued at its weight in gold, has been
+      snatched by these devastators," etc., etc.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As already quoted, Doraston's description is very vague. To him he is in
+      one verse "a sort of busy worm," and in another "a puny rankling reptile."
+      Hannett, in his work on book-binding, gives "Aglossa pinguinalis" as the
+      real name, and Mrs. Gatty, in her Parables, christens it "Hypothenemus
+      cruditus."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The, Rev. F. T. Havergal, who many years ago had much trouble with
+      bookworms in the Cathedral Library of Hereford, says they are a kind of
+      death-watch, with a "hard outer skin, and are dark brown," another sort
+      "having white bodies with brown spots on their heads." Mr. Holme, in
+      "Notes and Queries" for 1870, states that the "Anobium paniceum" has done
+      considerable injury to the Arabic manuscripts brought from Cairo, by
+      Burckhardt, and now in the University Library, Cambridge. Other writers
+      say "Acarus eruditus" or "Anobium pertinax" are the correct scientific
+      names.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Personally, I have come across but few specimens; nevertheless, from what
+      I have been told by librarians, and judging from analogy, I imagine the
+      following to be about the truth:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are several kinds of caterpillar and grub, which eat into books,
+      those with legs are the larvae of moths; those without legs, or rather
+      with rudimentary legs, are grubs and turn to beetles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is not known whether any species of caterpillar or grub can live
+      generation after generation upon books alone, but several sorts of
+      wood-borers, and others which live upon vegetable refuse, will attack
+      paper, especially if attracted in the first place by the real wooden
+      boards in which it was the custom of the old book-binders to clothe their
+      volumes. In this belief, some country librarians object to opening the
+      library windows lest the enemy should fly in from the neighbouring woods,
+      and rear a brood of worms. Anyone, indeed, who has seen a hole in a
+      filbert, or a piece of wood riddled by dry rot, will recognize a
+      similarity of appearance in the channels made by these insect enemies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among the paper-eating species are:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      1. The "Anobium." Of this beetle there are varieties, viz.: "A. pertinax,"
+      "A. eruditus," and "A. paniceum." In the larval state they are grubs, just
+      like those found, in nuts; in this stage they are too much alike to be
+      distinguished from one another. They feed on old dry wood, and often
+      infest bookcases and shelves. They eat the wooden boards of old books, and
+      so pass into the paper where they make long holes quite round, except when
+      they work in a slanting direction, when the holes appear to be oblong.
+      They will thus pierce through several volumes in succession, Peignot, the
+      well-known bibliographer, having found 27 volumes so pierced in a straight
+      line by one worm, a miracle of gluttony, the story of which, for myself, I
+      receive "<i>cum grano salis</i>." After a certain time the larva changes
+      into a pupa, and then emerges as a small brown beetle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      2. "Oecophora."&mdash;This larva is similar in size to that of Anobium,
+      but can be distinguished at once by having legs. It is a caterpillar, with
+      six legs upon its thorax and eight sucker-like protuberances on its body,
+      like a silk-worm. It changes into a chrysalis, and then assumes its
+      perfect shape as a small brown moth. The species that attacks books is the
+      OEcophora pseudospretella. It loves damp and warmth, and eats any fibrous
+      material. This caterpillar is quite unlike any garden species, and,
+      excepting the legs, is very similar in appearance and size to the Anobium.
+      It is about half-inch long, with a horny head and strong jaws. To
+      printers' ink or writing ink he appears to have no great dislike, though I
+      imagine that the former often disagrees with his health, unless he is very
+      robust, as in books where the print is pierced a majority of the
+      worm-holes I have seen are too short in extent to have provided food
+      enough for the development of the grub. But, although the ink may be
+      unwholesome, many grubs survive, and, eating day and night in silence and
+      darkness, work out their destiny leaving, according to the strength of
+      their constitutions, a longer or shorter tunnel in the volume.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In December, 1879, Mr. Birdsall, a well-known book-binder of Northampton,
+      kindly sent me by post a fat little Worm, which had been found by one of
+      his workmen in an old book while being bound. He bore his journey
+      extremely well, being very lively when turned out. I placed him in a box
+      in warmth and quiet, with some small fragments of paper from a Boethius,
+      printed by Caxton, and a leaf of a seventeenth century book. He ate a
+      small piece of the leaf, but either from too much fresh air, from
+      unaccustomed liberty, or from change of food, he gradually weakened, and
+      died in about three weeks. I was sorry to lose him, as I wished to verify
+      his name in his perfect state. Mr. Waterhouse, of the Entomological
+      department of the British Museum, very kindly examined him before death,
+      and was of opinion he was OEcophora pseudospretella.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In July, 1885, Dr. Garnett, of the British Museum, gave me two worms which
+      had been found in an old Hebrew Commentary just received from Athens. They
+      had doubtless had a good shaking on the journey, and one was moribund when
+      I took charge, and joined his defunct kindred in a few days. The other
+      seemed hearty and lived with me for nearly eighteen months. I treated him
+      as well as I knew how; placed him in a small box with the choice of three
+      sorts of old paper to eat, and very seldom disturbed him. He evidently
+      resented his confinement, ate very little, moved very little, and changed
+      in appearance very little, even when dead. This Greek worm, filled with
+      Hebrew lore, differed in many respects from any other I have seen. He was
+      longer, thinner, and more delicate looking than any of his English
+      congeners. He was transparent, like thin ivory, and had a dark line
+      through his body, which I took to be the intestinal canal. He resigned his
+      life with extreme procrastination, and died "deeply lamented" by his
+      keeper, who had long looked forward to his final development.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The difficulty of breeding these worms is probably due to their formation.
+      When in a state of nature they can by expansion and contraction of the
+      body working upon the sides of their holes, push their horny jaws against
+      the opposing mass of paper. But when freed from the restraint, which
+      indeed to them is life, they CANNOT eat although surrounded with food, for
+      they have no legs to keep them steady, and their natural, leverage is
+      wanting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Considering the numerous old books contained in the British Museum, the
+      Library there is wonderfully free from the worm. Mr. Rye, lately the
+      Keeper of the Printed Books there, writes me "Two or three were discovered
+      in my time, but they were weakly creatures. One, I remember, was conveyed
+      into the Natural History Department, and was taken into custody by Mr.
+      Adam White who pronounced it to be Anobium pertinax. I never heard of it
+      after."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The reader, who has not had an opportunity of examining old libraries, can
+      have no idea of the dreadful havoc which these pests are capable of
+      making.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have now before me a fine folio volume, printed on very good unbleached
+      paper, as thick as stout cartridge, in the year 1477, by Peter Schoeffer,
+      of Mentz. Unfortunately, after a period of neglect in which it suffered
+      severely from the "worm," it was about fifty years ago considered worth a
+      new cover, and so again suffered severely, this time at the hands of the
+      binder. Thus the original state of the boards is unknown, but the damage
+      done to the leaves can be accurately described.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The "worms" have attacked each end. On the first leaf are 212 distinct
+      holes, varying in size from a common pin hole to that which a stout
+      knitting-needle would make, say, [1/16] to [1/23] inch. These holes run
+      mostly in lines more or less at right angles with the covers, a very few
+      being channels along the paper affecting three or four sheets only. The
+      varied energy of these little pests is thus represented:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+    On folio 1 are 212 holes.  On folio 61 are 4 holes.
+        "   11  "   57   "         "    71  "  2   "
+        "   21  "   48   "         "    81  "  2   "
+        "   31  "   31   "         "    87  "  1   "
+        "   41  "   18   "         "    90  "  0   "
+        "   51  "    6   "
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      These 90 leaves being stout, are about the thickness of 1 inch. The volume
+      has 250 leaves, and turning to the end, we find on the last leaf 81 holes,
+      made by a breed of worms not so ravenous. Thus,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+      From end                |         From end.
+ On folio 1 are 81 holes.     |    On folio 66 is 1 hole.
+     "   11 "   40   "        |         "   69   "   0   "
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      It is curious to notice how the holes, rapidly at first, and then slowly
+      and more slowly, disappear. You trace the same hole leaf after leaf, until
+      suddenly the size becomes in one leaf reduced to half its normal diameter,
+      and a close examination will show a small abrasion of the paper in the
+      next leaf exactly where the hole would have come if continued. In the book
+      quoted it is just as if there had been a race. In the first ten leaves the
+      weak worms are left behind; in the second ten there are still forty-eight
+      eaters; these are reduced to thirty-one in the third ten, and to only
+      eighteen in the fourth ten. On folio 51 only six worms hold on, and before
+      folio 61 two of them have given in. Before reaching folio 7, it is a neck
+      and neck race between two sturdy gourmands, each making a fine large hole,
+      one of them being oval in shape. At folio 71 they are still neck and neck,
+      and at folio 81 the same. At folio 87 the oval worm gives in, the round
+      one eating three more leaves and part way through the fourth. The leaves
+      of the book are then untouched until we reach the sixty-ninth from the
+      end, upon which is one worm hole. After this they go on multiplying to the
+      end of the book.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have quoted this instance because I have it handy, but many worms eat
+      much longer holes than any in this volume; some I have seen running quite
+      through a couple of thick volumes, covers and all. In the "Schoeffer" book
+      the holes are probably the work of Anobium pertinax, because the centre is
+      spared and both ends attacked. Originally, real wooden boards were the
+      covers of the volume, and here, doubtless, the attack was commenced, which
+      was carried through each board into the paper of the book.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I remember well my first visit to the Bodleian Library, in the year 1858,
+      Dr. Bandinel being then the librarian. He was very kind, and afforded me
+      every facility for examining the fine collection of "Caxtons," which was
+      the object of my journey. In looking over a parcel of black-letter
+      fragments, which had been in a drawer for a long time, I came across a
+      small grub, which, without a thought, I threw on the floor and trod under
+      foot. Soon after I found another, a fat, glossy fellow, so long &mdash;-,
+      which I carefully preserved in a little paper box, intending to observe
+      his habits and development. Seeing Dr. Bandinel near, I asked him to look
+      at my curiosity. Hardly, however, had I turned the wriggling little victim
+      out upon the leather-covered table, when down came the doctor's great
+      thumb-nail upon him, and an inch-long smear proved the tomb of all my
+      hopes, while the great bibliographer, wiping his thumb on his coat sleeve,
+      passed on with the remark, "Oh, yes! they have black heads sometimes."
+      That was something to know&mdash;another fact for the entomologist; for my
+      little gentleman had a hard, shiny, white head, and I never heard of a
+      black-headed bookworm before or since. Perhaps the great abundance of
+      black-letter books in the Bodleian may account for the variety. At any
+      rate he was an Anobium.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have been unmercifully "chaffed" for the absurd idea that a paper-eating
+      worm could be kept a prisoner in a paper box. Oh, these critics! Your
+      bookworm is a shy, lazy beast, and takes a day or two to recover his
+      appetite after being "evicted." Moreover, he knew his own dignity better
+      than to eat the "loaded" glazed shoddy note paper in which he was
+      incarcerated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the case of Caxton's "Lyf of oure ladye," already referred to, not only
+      are there numerous small holes, but some very large channels at the bottom
+      of the pages. This is a most unusual occurrence, and is probably the work
+      of the larva of "Dermestes vulpinus," a garden beetle, which is very
+      voracious, and eats any kind of dry ligneous rubbish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The scarcity of edible books of the present century has been mentioned.
+      One result of the extensive adulteration of modern paper is that the worm
+      will not touch it. His instinct forbids him to eat the china clay, the
+      bleaches, the plaster of Paris, the sulphate of barytes, the scores of
+      adulterants now used to mix with the fibre, and, so far, the wise pages of
+      the old literature are, in the race against Time with the modern rubbish,
+      heavily handicapped. Thanks to the general interest taken in old books
+      now-a-days, the worm has hard times of it, and but slight chance of that
+      quiet neglect which is necessary to his, existence. So much greater is the
+      reason why some patient entomologist should, while there is the chance,
+      take upon himself to study the habits of the creature, as Sir John Lubbock
+      has those of the ant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have now before me some leaves of a book, which, being waste, were used
+      by our economical first printer, Caxton, to make boards, by pasting them
+      together. Whether the old paste was an attraction, or whatever the reason
+      may have been, the worm, when he got in there, did not, as usual, eat
+      straight through everything into the middle of the book, but worked his
+      way longitudinally, eating great furrows along the leaves without passing
+      out of the binding; and so furrowed are these few leaves by long channels
+      that it is difficult to raise one of them without its falling to pieces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This is bad enough, but we may be very thankful that in these temperate
+      climes we have no such enemies as are found in very hot countries, where a
+      whole library, books, bookshelves, table, chairs, and all, may be
+      destroyed in one night by a countless army of ants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our cousins in the United States, so fortunate in many things, seem very
+      fortunate in this&mdash;their books are not attacked by the "worm"&mdash;at
+      any rate, American writers say so. True it is that all their black-letter
+      comes from Europe, and, having cost many dollars, is well looked after;
+      but there they have thousands of seventeenth and eighteenth century books,
+      in Roman type, printed in the States on genuine and wholesome paper, and
+      the worm is not particular, at least in this country, about the type he
+      eats through, if the paper is good.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Probably, therefore, the custodians of their old libraries could tell a
+      different tale, which makes it all the more amusing to find in the
+      excellent "Encyclopaedia of Printing," (1) edited and printed by Ringwalt,
+      at Philadelphia, not only that the bookworm is a stranger there, for
+      personally he is unknown to most of us, but that his slightest ravages are
+      looked upon as both curious and rare. After quoting Dibdin, with the
+      addition of a few flights of imagination of his own, Ringwalt states that
+      this "paper-eating moth is supposed to have been introduced into England
+      in hogsleather binding from Holland." He then ends with what, to anyone
+      who has seen the ravages of the worm in hundreds of books, must be
+      charming in its native simplicity. "There is now," he states, evidently
+      quoting it as a great curiosity, "there is now, in a private library in
+      Philadelphia, a book perforated by this insect." Oh! lucky Philadelphians!
+      who can boast of possessing the oldest library in the States, but must ask
+      leave of a private collector if they wish to see the one wormhole in the
+      whole city!
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ (1) "American Encyclopaedia of Printing": by Luther Ringwalt. 8vo.
+Philadelphia, 1871.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII. OTHER VERMIN.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      BESIDES the worm I do not think there is any insect enemy of books worth
+      description. The domestic black-beetle, or cockroach, is far too modern an
+      introduction to our country to have done much harm, though he will
+      sometimes nibble the binding of books, especially if they rest upon the
+      floor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not so fortunate, however, are our American cousins, for in the "Library
+      Journal" for September, 1879, Mr. Weston Flint gives an account of a
+      dreadful little pest which commits great havoc upon the cloth bindings of
+      the New York libraries. It is a small black-beetle or cockroach, called by
+      scientists "Blatta germanica" and by others the "Croton Bug." Unlike our
+      household pest, whose home is the kitchen, and whose bashfulness loves
+      secrecy and the dark hours, this misgrown flat species, of which it would
+      take two to make a medium-sized English specimen, has gained in impudence
+      what it has lost in size, fearing neither light nor noise, neither man nor
+      beast. In the old English Bible of 1551, we read in Psalm xci, 5, "Thou
+      shalt not nede to be afraied for eny Bugges by night." This verse falls
+      unheeded on the ear of the Western librarian who fears his "bugs" both
+      night and day, for they crawl over everything in broad sunlight, infesting
+      and infecting each corner and cranny of the bookshelves they choose as
+      their home. There is a remedy in the powder known as insecticide, which,
+      however, is very disagreeable upon books and shelves. It is, nevertheless,
+      very fatal to these pests, and affords some consolation in the fact that
+      so soon as a "bug" shows any signs of illness, he is devoured at once by
+      his voracious brethren with the same relish as if he were made of fresh
+      paste.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is, too, a small silvery insect (Lepisma) which I have often seen in
+      the backs of neglected books, but his ravages are not of much importance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nor can we reckon the Codfish as very dangerous to literature, unless,
+      indeed, he be of the Roman obedience, like that wonderful
+      Ichthiobibliophage (pardon me, Professor Owen) who, in the year 1626,
+      swallowed three Puritanical treatises of John Frith, the Protestant
+      martyr. No wonder, after such a meal, he was soon caught, and became
+      famous in the annals of literature. The following is the title of a little
+      book issued upon the occasion: "Vox Piscis, or the Book-Fish containing
+      Three Treatises, which were found in the belly of a Cod-Fish in Cambridge
+      Market on Midsummer Eve, AD 1626." Lowndes says (see under "Tracey,")
+      "great was the consternation at Cambridge upon the publication of this
+      work."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Rats and mice, however, are occasionally very destructive, as the
+      following anecdote will show: Two centuries ago, the library of the Dean
+      and Chapter of Westminster was kept in the Chapter House, and repairs
+      having become necessary in that building, a scaffolding was erected
+      inside, the books being left on their shelves. One of the holes made in
+      the wall for a scaffold-pole was selected by a pair of rats for their
+      family residence. Here they formed a nest for their young ones by
+      descending to the library shelves and biting away the leaves of various
+      books. Snug and comfortable was the little household, until, one day, the
+      builder's men having finished, the poles were removed, and&mdash;alas! for
+      the rats&mdash;the hole was closed up with bricks and cement. Buried
+      alive, the father and mother, with five or six of their offspring, met
+      with a speedy death, and not until a few years ago, when a restoration of
+      the Chapter House was effected, was the rat grave opened again for a
+      scaffold pole, and all their skeletons and their nest discovered. Their
+      bones and paper fragments of the nest may now be seen in a glass case in
+      the Chapter House, some of the fragments being attributed to books from
+      the press of Caxton. This is not the case, although there are pieces of
+      very early black-letter books not now to be found in the Abbey library,
+      including little bits of the famous Queen Elizabeth's Prayer book, with
+      woodcuts, 1568.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A friend sends me the following incident: "A few years since, some rats
+      made nests in the trees surrounding my house; from thence they jumped on
+      to some flat roofing, and so made their way down a chimney into a room
+      where I kept books. A number of these, with parchment backs, they entirely
+      destroyed, as well as some half-dozen books whole bound in parchment."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another friend informs me that in the Natural History Museum of the Devon
+      and Exeter Institution is a specimen of "another little pest, which has a
+      great affection for bindings in calf and roan. Its scientific name is
+      Niptus Hololeucos." He adds, "Are you aware that there was a terrible
+      creature allied to these, rejoicing in the name of Tomicus Typographus,
+      which committed sad ravages in Germany in the seventeenth century, and in
+      the old liturgies of that country is formally mentioned under its vulgar
+      name, 'The Turk'?" (See Kirby and Spence, Seventh Edition, 1858, p. 123.)
+      This is curious, and I did not know it, although I know well that
+      Typographus Tomicus, or the "cutting printer," is a sad enemy of (good)
+      books. Upon this part of our subject, however, I am debarred entering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following is from W. J. Westbrook, Mus. Doe., Cantab., and represents
+      ravages with which I am personally unacquainted:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Dear Blades,&mdash;I send you an example of the 'enemy'-mosity of an
+      ordinary housefly. It hid behind the paper, emitted some caustic fluid,
+      and then departed this life. I have often caught them in such holes.'
+      30/12/83." The damage is an oblong hole, surrounded by a white fluffy
+      glaze (fungoid?), difficult to represent in a woodcut. The size here given
+      is exact.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII. BOOKBINDERS.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      IN the first chapter I mentioned bookbinders among the Enemies of Books,
+      and I tremble to think what a stinging retort might be made if some irate
+      bibliopegist were to turn the scales on the printer, and place HIM in the
+      same category. On the sins of printers, and the unnatural neglect which
+      has often shortened the lives of their typographical progeny, it is not
+      for me to dilate. There is an old proverb, "'Tis an ill bird that befouls
+      its own nest"; a curious chapter thereupon, with many modern examples,
+      might nevertheless be written. This I will leave, and will now only place
+      on record some of the cruelties perpetrated upon books by the ignorance or
+      carelessness of binders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Like men, books have a soul and body. With the soul, or literary portion,
+      we have nothing to do at present; the body, which is the outer frame or
+      covering, and without which the inner would be unusable, is the special
+      work of the binder. He, so to speak, begets it; he determines its form and
+      adornment, he doctors it in disease and decay, and, not unseldom, dissects
+      it after death. Here, too, as through all Nature, we find the good and bad
+      running side by side. What a treat it is to handle a well-bound volume;
+      the leaves lie open fully and freely, as if tempting you to read on, and
+      you handle them without fear of their parting from the back. To look at
+      the "tooling," too, is a pleasure, for careful thought, combined with
+      artistic skill, is everywhere apparent. You open the cover and find the
+      same loving attention inside that has been given to the outside, all the
+      workmanship being true and thorough. Indeed, so conservative is a good
+      binding, that many a worthless book has had an honoured old age, simply
+      out of respect to its outward aspect; and many a real treasure has come to
+      a degraded end and premature death through the unsightliness of its
+      outward case and the irreparable damage done to it in binding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The weapon with which the binder deals the most deadly blows to books is
+      the "plough," the effect of which is to cut away the margins, placing the
+      print in a false position relatively to the back and head, and often
+      denuding the work of portions of the very text. This reduction in size not
+      seldom brings down a handsome folio to the size of quarto, and a quarto to
+      an octavo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With the old hand plough a binder required more care and caution to
+      produce an even edge throughout than with the new cutting machine. If a
+      careless workman found that he had not ploughed the margin quite square
+      with the text, he would put it in his press and take off "another
+      shaving," and sometimes even a third.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dante, in his "Inferno," deals out to the lost souls various tortures
+      suited with dramatic fitness to the past crimes of the victims, and had I
+      to execute judgment on the criminal binders of certain precious volumes I
+      have seen, where the untouched maiden sheets entrusted to their care have,
+      by barbarous treatment, lost dignity, beauty and value, I would collect
+      the paper shavings so ruthlessly shorn off, and roast the perpetrator of
+      the outrage over their slow combustion. In olden times, before men had
+      learned to value the relics of our printers, there was some excuse for the
+      sins of a binder who erred from ignorance which was general; but in these
+      times, when the historical and antiquarian value of old books is freely
+      acknowledged, no quarter should be granted to a careless culprit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It may be supposed that, from the spread of information, all real danger
+      from ignorance is past. Not so, good reader; that is a consummation as yet
+      "devoutly to be wished." Let me relate to you a true bibliographical
+      anecdote: In 1877, a certain lord, who had succeeded to a fine collection
+      of old books, promised to send some of the most valuable (among which were
+      several Caxtons) to the Exhibition at South Kensington. Thinking their
+      outward appearance too shabby, and not knowing the danger of his conduct,
+      he decided to have them rebound in the neighbouring county town. The
+      volumes were soon returned in a resplendent state, and, it is said, quite
+      to the satisfaction of his lordship, whose pleasure, however, was sadly
+      damped when a friend pointed out to him that, although the discoloured
+      edges had all been ploughed off, and the time-stained blanks, with their
+      fifteenth century autographs, had been replaced by nice clean fly-leaves,
+      yet, looking at the result in its lowest aspect only&mdash;that of market
+      value&mdash;the books had been damaged to at least the amount of L500;
+      and, moreover, that caustic remarks would most certainly follow upon their
+      public exhibition. Those poor injured volumes were never sent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some years ago one of the most rare books printed by Machlinia&mdash;a
+      thin folio&mdash;was discovered bound in sheep by a country bookbinder,
+      and cut down to suit the size of some quarto tracts. But do not let us
+      suppose that country binders are the only culprits. It is not very long
+      since the discovery of a unique Caxton in one of our largest London
+      libraries. It was in boards, as originally issued by the fifteenth-century
+      binder, and a great fuss (very properly) was made over the treasure trove.
+      Of course, cries the reader, it was kept in its original covers, with all
+      the interesting associations of its early state untouched? No such thing!
+      Instead of making a suitable case, in which it could be preserved just as
+      it was, it was placed in the hands of a well-known London binder, with the
+      order, "Whole bind in velvet." He did his best, and the volume now glows
+      luxuriously in its gilt edges and its inappropriate covering, and, alas!
+      with half-an-inch of its uncut margin taken off all round. How do I know
+      that? because the clever binder, seeing some MS. remarks on one of the
+      margins, turned the leaf down to avoid cutting them off, and that stern
+      witness will always testify, to the observant reader, the original size of
+      the book. This same binder, on another occasion, placed a unique fifteenth
+      century Indulgence in warm water, to separate it from the cover upon which
+      it was pasted, the result being that, when dry, it was so distorted as to
+      be useless. That man soon after passed to another world, where, we may
+      hope, his works have not followed him, and that his merits as a good
+      citizen and an honest man counterbalanced his de-merits as a binder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Other similar instances will occur to the memory of many a reader, and
+      doubtless the same sin will be committed from time to time by certain
+      binders, who seem to have an ingrained antipathy to rough edges and large
+      margins, which of course are, in their view, made by Nature as food for
+      the shaving tub.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Rome, a celebrated bookbinder of the eighteenth century, who was
+      nicknamed by Dibdin "The Great Cropper," was, although in private life an
+      estimable man, much addicted to the vice of reducing the margins of all
+      books sent to him to bind. So far did he go, that he even spared not a
+      fine copy of Froissart's Chronicles, on vellum, in which was the autograph
+      of the well-known book-lover, De Thou, but cropped it most cruelly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Owners, too, have occasionally diseased minds with regard to margins. A
+      friend writes: "Your amusing anecdotes have brought to my memory several
+      biblioclasts whom I have known. One roughly cut the margins off his books
+      with a knife, hacking away very much like a hedger and ditcher. Large
+      paper volumes were his especial delight, as they gave more paper. The
+      slips thus obtained were used for index-making! Another, with the bump of
+      order unnaturally developed, had his folios and quartos all reduced, in
+      binding, to one size, so that they might look even on his bookshelves."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This latter was, doubtless, cousin to him who deliberately cut down all
+      his books close to the text, because he had been several times annoyed by
+      readers who made marginal notes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The indignities, too, suffered by some books in their lettering! Fancy an
+      early black-letter fifteenth-century quarto on Knighthood, labelled
+      "Tracts"; or a translation of Virgil, "Sermons"! The "Histories of Troy,"
+      printed by Caxton, still exists with "Eracles" on the back, as its title,
+      because that name occurs several times in the early chapters, and the
+      binder was too proud to seek advice. The words "Miscellaneous," or "Old
+      Pieces," were sometimes used when binders were at a loss for lettering,
+      and many other instances might be mentioned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rapid spread of printing throughout Europe in the latter part of the
+      fifteenth century caused a great fall in the value of plain un-illuminated
+      MSS., and the immediate consequence of this was the destruction of
+      numerous volumes written upon parchment, which were used by the binders to
+      strengthen the backs of their newly-printed rivals. These slips of vellum
+      or parchment are quite common in old books. Sometimes whole sheets are
+      used as fly-leaves, and often reveal the existence of most valuable works,
+      unknown before&mdash;proving, at the same time, the small value formerly
+      attached to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many a bibliographer, while examining old books, has to his great
+      puzzlement come across short slips of parchment, nearly always from some
+      old manuscript, sticking out like "guards" from the midst of the leaves.
+      These suggest, at first, imperfections or damage done to the volume; but
+      if examined closely it will be found that they are always in the middle of
+      a paper section, and the real reason of their existence is just the same
+      as when two leaves of parchment occur here and there in a paper volume,
+      viz.: strength&mdash;strength to resist the lug which the strong thread
+      makes against the middle of each section. These slips represent old books
+      destroyed, and like the slips already noticed, should always be carefully
+      examined.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When valuable books have been evil-entreated, when they have become soiled
+      by dirty hands, or spoiled by water stains, or injured by grease spots,
+      nothing is more astonishing to the uninitiated than the transformation
+      they undergo in the hands of a skilful restorer. The covers are first
+      carefully dissected, the eye of the operator keeping a careful outlook for
+      any fragments of old MSS. or early printed books, which may have been used
+      by the original binder. No force should be applied to separate parts which
+      adhere together; a little warm water and care is sure to overcome that
+      difficulty. When all the sections are loose, the separate sheets are
+      placed singly in a bath of cold water, and allowed to remain there until
+      all the dirt has soaked out. If not sufficiently purified, a little
+      hydrochloric or oxalic acid, or caustic potash may be put in the water,
+      according as the stains are from grease or from ink. Here is where an
+      unpractised binder will probably injure a book for life. If the chemicals
+      are too strong, or the sheets remain too long in the bath, or are not
+      thoroughly cleansed from the bleach before they are re-sized, the certain
+      seeds of decay are planted in the paper, and although for a time the
+      leaves may look bright to the eye, and even crackle under the hand like
+      the soundest paper, yet in the course of a few years the enemy will
+      appear, the fibre will decay, and the existence of the books will
+      terminate in a state of white tinder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Everything which diminishes the interest of a book is inimical to its
+      preservation, and in fact is its enemy. Therefore, a few words upon the
+      destruction of old bindings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I remember purchasing many years ago at a suburban book stall, a perfect
+      copy of Moxon's Mechanic Exercises, now a scarce work. The volumes were
+      uncut, and had the original marble covers. They looked so attractive in
+      their old fashioned dress, that I at once determined to preserve it. My
+      binder soon made for them a neat wooden box in the shape of a book, with
+      morocco back properly lettered, where I trust the originals will be
+      preserved from dust and injury for many a long year.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Old covers, whether boards or paper, should always be retained if in any
+      state approaching decency. A case, which can be embellished to any extent
+      looks every whit as well upon the shelf! and gives even greater protection
+      than binding. It has also this great advantage: it does not deprive your
+      descendants of the opportunity of seeing for themselves exactly in what
+      dress the book buyers of four centuries ago received their volumes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX. COLLECTORS.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      AFTER all, two-legged depredators, who ought to have known better, have
+      perhaps done as much real damage in libraries as any other enemy. I do not
+      refer to thieves, who, if they injure the owners, do no harm to the books
+      themselves by merely transferring them from one set of bookshelves to
+      another. Nor do I refer to certain readers who frequent our public
+      libraries, and, to save themselves the trouble of copying, will cut out
+      whole articles from magazines or encyclopaedias. Such depredations are not
+      frequent, and only occur with books easily replaced, and do not therefore
+      call for more than a passing mention; but it is a serious matter when
+      Nature produces such a wicked old biblioclast as John Bagford, one of the
+      founders of the Society of Antiquaries, who, in the beginning of the last
+      century, went about the country, from library to library, tearing away
+      title pages from rare books of all sizes. These he sorted out into
+      nationalities and towns, and so, with a lot of hand-bills, manuscript
+      notes, and miscellaneous collections of all kinds, formed over a hundred
+      folio volumes, now preserved in the British Museum. That they are of
+      service as materials in compiling a general history of printing cannot be
+      denied, but the destruction of many rare books was the result, and more
+      than counter-balanced any benefit bibliographers will ever receive from
+      them. When here and there throughout those volumes you meet with titles of
+      books now either unknown entirely, or of the greatest rarity; when you
+      find the Colophon from the end, or the "insigne typographi" from the first
+      leaf of a rare "fifteener," pasted down with dozens of others, varying in
+      value, you cannot bless the memory of the antiquarian shoemaker, John
+      Bagford. His portrait, a half-length, painted by Howard, was engraved by
+      Vertue, and re-engraved for the Bibliographical Decameron.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A bad example often finds imitators, and every season there crop up for
+      public sale one or two such collections, formed by bibliomaniacs, who,
+      although calling themselves bibliophiles, ought really to be ranked among
+      the worst enemies of books.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following is copied from a trade catalogue, dated April, 1880, and
+      affords a fair idea of the extent to which these heartless destroyers will
+      go:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "MISSAL ILLUMINATIONS.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      FIFTY DIFFERENT CAPITAL LETTERS <i>on</i> VELLUM; <i>all in rich Gold and
+      Colours. Many 3 inches square: the floral decorations are of great beauty,
+      ranging from the XIIth to XVth century. Mounted on stout card-board</i>.
+      IN NICE PRESERVATION, L6 6<i>s</i>.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ These beautiful letters have been cut from precious
+     MSS., and as specimens of early art are extremely
+     valuable, many of them being worth 15<i>s</i>. each."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Proeme is a man well known to the London dealers in old books. He is
+      wealthy, and cares not what he spends to carry out his bibliographical
+      craze, which is the collection of title pages. These he ruthlessly
+      extracts, frequently leaving the decapitated carcase of the books, for
+      which he cares not, behind him. Unlike the destroyer Bagford, he has no
+      useful object in view, but simply follows a senseless kind of
+      classification. For instance: One set of volumes contains nothing but
+      copper-plate engraved titles, and woe betide the grand old Dutch folios of
+      the seventeenth century if they cross his path. Another is a volume of
+      coarse or quaint titles, which certainly answer the end of showing how
+      idiotic and conceited some authors have been. Here you find Dr. Sib's
+      "Bowels opened in Divers Sermons," 1650, cheek by jowl with the discourse
+      attributed falsely to Huntington, the Calvinist, "Die and be damned," with
+      many others too coarse to be quoted. The odd titles adopted for his poems
+      by Taylor, the water-poet, enliven several pages, and make one's mouth
+      water for the books themselves. A third volume includes only such titles
+      as have the printer's device. If you shut your eyes to the injury done by
+      such collectors, you may, to a certain extent, enjoy the collection, for
+      there is great beauty in some titles; but such a pursuit is neither useful
+      nor meritorious. By and by the end comes, and then dispersion follows
+      collection, and the volumes, which probably Cost L200 each in their
+      formation, will be knocked down to a dealer for L10, finally gravitating
+      into the South Kensington Library, or some public museum, as a
+      bibliographical curiosity. The following has just been sold (July, 1880)
+      by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, in the Dunn-Gardinier collection,
+      lot 1592:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "TITLEPAGES AND FRONTISPIECES.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>A Collection of upwards of</i> 800 ENGRAVED TITLES AND FRONTISPIECES,
+      ENGLISH AND FOREIGN (<i>some very fine and curious) taken from old books
+      and neatly mounted on cartridge paper in 3 vol, half morocco gilt. imp.
+      folio</i>."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The only collection of title-pages which has afforded me unalloyed
+      pleasure is a handsome folio, published by the directors of the Plantin
+      Museum, Antwerp, in 1877, just after the purchase of that wonderful
+      typographical storehouse. It is called "Titels en Portretten gesneden naar
+      P. P. Rubens voor de Plantijnsche Drukkerij," and it contains thirty-five
+      grand title pages, reprinted from the original seventeenth century plates,
+      designed by Rubens himself between the years 1612 and 1640, for various
+      publications which issued from the celebrated Plantin Printing Office. In
+      the same Museum are preserved in Rubens' own handwriting his charge for
+      each design, duly receipted at foot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have now before me a fine copy of "Coclusiones siue decisiones antique
+      dnor' de Rota," printed by Gutenberg's partner, Schoeffer, in the year
+      1477. It is perfect, except in a most vital part, the Colophon, which has
+      been cut out by some barbaric "Collector," and which should read thus:
+      "Pridie nonis Januarii Mcccclxxvij, in Civitate Moguntina, impressorie
+      Petrus Schoyffer de Gernsheym," followed by his well-known mark, two
+      shields.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A similar mania arose at the beginning of this century for collections of
+      illuminated initials, which were taken from MSS., and arranged on the
+      pages of a blank book in alphabetical order. Some of our cathedral
+      libraries suffered severely from depredations of this kind. At Lincoln, in
+      the early part of this century, the boys put on their robes in the
+      library, a room close to the choir. Here were numerous old MSS., and eight
+      or ten rare Caxtons. The choir boys used often to amuse themselves, while
+      waiting for the signal to "fall in," by cutting out with their pen-knives
+      the illuminated initials and vignettes, which they would take into the
+      choir with them and pass round from one to another. The Dean and Chapter
+      of those days were not much better, for they let Dr. Dibdin have all their
+      Caxtons for a "consideration." He made a little catalogue of them, which
+      he called "A Lincolne Nosegaye." Eventually they were absorbed into the
+      collection at Althorp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The late Mr. Caspari was a "destroyer" of books. His rare collection of
+      early woodcuts, exhibited in 1877 at the Caxton Celebration, had been
+      frequently augmented by the purchase of illustrated books, the plates of
+      which were taken out, and mounted on Bristol boards, to enrich his
+      collection. He once showed me the remains of a fine copy of "Theurdanck,"
+      which he had served so, and I have now before me several of the leaves
+      which he then gave me, and which, for beauty of engraving and cleverness
+      of typography, surpasses any typographical work known to me. It was
+      printed for the Emperor Maximilian, by Hans Schonsperger, of Nuremberg,
+      and, to make it unique, all the punches were cut on purpose, and as many
+      as seven or eight varieties of each letter, which, together with the
+      clever way in which the ornamental flourishes are carried above and below
+      the line, has led even experienced printers to deny its being typography.
+      It is, nevertheless, entirely from cast types. A copy in good condition
+      costs about L50.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many years since I purchased, at Messrs. Sotheby's, a large lot of MS.
+      leaves on vellum, some being whole sections of a book, but mostly single
+      leaves. Many were so mutilated by the excision of initials as to be
+      worthless, but those with poor initials, or with none, were quite good,
+      and when sorted out I found I had got large portions of nearly twenty
+      different MSS., mostly Horae, showing twelve varieties of fifteenth
+      century handwriting in Latin, French, Dutch, and German. I had each sort
+      bound separately, and they now form an interesting collection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Portrait collectors have destroyed many books by abstracting the
+      frontispiece to add to their treasures, and when once a book is made
+      imperfect, its march to destruction is rapid. This is why books like
+      Atkyns' "Origin and Growth of Printing," 4o, 1664, have become impossible
+      to get.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When issued, Atkyns' pamphlet had a fine frontispiece, by Logan,
+      containing portraits of King Charles II, attended by Archbishop Sheldon,
+      the Duke of Albermarle, and the Earl of Clarendon. As portraits of these
+      celebrities (excepting, of course, the King) are extremely rare,
+      collectors have bought up this 4o tract of Atkyns', whenever it has been
+      offered, and torn away the frontispiece to adorn their collection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This is why, if you take up any sale catalogue of old books, you are
+      certain to find here and there, appended to the description, "Wanting the
+      title," "Wanting two plates," or "Wanting the last page."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is quite common to find in old MSS., especially fifteenth century, both
+      vellum and paper, the blank margins of leaves cut away. This will be from
+      the side edge or from the foot, and the recurrence of this mutilation
+      puzzled me for many years. It arose from the scarcity of paper in former
+      times, so that when a message had to be sent which required more
+      exactitude than could be entrusted to the stupid memory of a household
+      messenger, the Master or Chaplain went to the library, and, not having
+      paper to use, took down an old book, and cut from its broad margins one or
+      more slips to serve his present need.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I feel quite inclined to reckon among "enemies" those bibliomaniacs and
+      over-careful possessors, who, being unable to carry their treasures into
+      the next world, do all they can to hinder their usefulness in this. What a
+      difficulty there is to obtain admission to the curious library of old
+      Samuel Pepys, the well-known diarist. There it is at Magdalene College,
+      Cambridge, in the identical book-cases provided for the books by Pepys
+      himself; but no one can gain admission except in company of two Fellows of
+      the College, and if a single book be lost, the whole library goes away to
+      a neighbouring college. However willing and anxious to oblige, it is
+      evident that no one can use the library at the expense of the time, if not
+      temper, of two Fellows. Some similar restrictions are in force at the
+      Teylerian Museum, Haarlem, where a lifelong imprisonment is inflicted upon
+      its many treasures.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some centuries ago a valuable collection of books was left to the
+      Guildford Endowed Grammar School. The schoolmaster was to be held
+      personally responsible for the safety of every volume, which, if lost, he
+      was bound to replace. I am told that one master, to minimize his risk as
+      much as possible, took the following barbarous course:&mdash;As soon as he
+      was in possession, he raised the boards of the schoolroom floor, and,
+      having carefully packed all the books between the joists, had the boards
+      nailed down again. Little recked he how many rats and mice made their
+      nests there; he was bound to account some day for every single volume, and
+      he saw no way so safe as rigid imprisonment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The late Sir Thomas Phillipps, of Middle Hill, was a remarkable instance
+      of a bibliotaph. He bought bibliographical treasures simply to bury them.
+      His mansion was crammed with books; he purchased whole libraries, and
+      never even saw what he had bought. Among some of his purchases was the
+      first book printed in the English language, "The Recuyell of the Histories
+      of Troye," translated and printed by William Caxton, for the Duchess of
+      Burgundy, sister to our Edward IV. It is true, though almost incredible,
+      that Sir Thomas could never find this volume, although it is doubtless
+      still in the collection, and no wonder, when cases of books bought twenty
+      years before his death were never opened, and the only knowledge of their
+      contents which he possessed was the Sale Catalogue or the bookseller's
+      invoice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X. SERVANTS AND CHILDREN.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      READER! are you married? Have you offspring, boys especially I mean, say
+      between six and twelve years of age? Have you also a literary workshop,
+      supplied with choice tools, some for use, some for ornament, where you
+      pass pleasant hours? and is&mdash;ah! there's the rub!&mdash;is there a
+      special hand-maid, whose special duty it is to keep your den daily dusted
+      and in order? Plead you guilty to these indictments? then am I sure of a
+      sympathetic co-sufferer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dust! it is all a delusion. It is not the dust that makes women anxious to
+      invade the inmost recesses of your Sanctum&mdash;it is an ingrained
+      curiosity. And this feminine weakness, which dates from Eve, is a common
+      motive in the stories of our oldest literature and Folk-lore. What made
+      Fatima so anxious to know the contents of the room forbidden her by
+      Bluebeard? It was positively nothing to her, and its contents caused not
+      the slightest annoyance to anybody. That story has a bad moral, and it
+      would, in many ways, have been more satisfactory had the heroine been left
+      to take her place in the blood-stained chamber, side by side with her
+      peccant predecessors. Why need the women-folk (God forgive me!) bother
+      themselves about the inside of a man's library, and whether it wants
+      dusting or not? My boys' playroom, in which is a carpenter's bench, a
+      lathe, and no end of litter, is never tidied&mdash;perhaps it can't be, or
+      perhaps their youthful vigour won't stand it&mdash;but my workroom must
+      needs be dusted daily, with the delusive promise that each book and paper
+      shall be replaced exactly where it was. The damage done by such continued
+      treatment is incalculable. At certain times these observances are kept
+      more religiously than others; but especially should the book-lover,
+      married or single, beware of the Ides of March. So soon as February is
+      dead and gone, a feeling of unrest seizes the housewife's mind. This
+      increases day by day, and becomes dominant towards the middle of the
+      month, about which period sundry hints are thrown out as to whether you
+      are likely to be absent for a day or two. Beware! the fever called "Spring
+      Clean" is on, and unless you stand firm, you will rue it. Go away, if the
+      Fates so will, but take the key of your own domain with you.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Do not misunderstand. Not for a moment would I advocate dust and dirt;
+      they are enemies, and should be routed; but let the necessary routing be
+      done under your own eye. Explain where caution must be used, and in what
+      cases tenderness is a virtue; and if one Eve in the family can be
+      indoctrinated with book-reverence you are a happy man; her price is above
+      that of rubies; she will prolong your life. Books MUST now and then be
+      taken clean out of their shelves, but they should be tended lovingly and
+      with judgment. If the dusting can be done just outside the room so much
+      the better. The books removed, the shelf should be lifted quite out of its
+      bearings, cleansed and wiped, and then each volume should be taken
+      separately, and gently rubbed on back and sides with a soft cloth. In
+      returning the volumes to their places, notice should be taken of the
+      binding, and especially when the books are in whole calf or morocco care
+      should be taken not to let them rub together. The best bound books are
+      soonest injured, and quickly deteriorate in bad company. Certain volumes,
+      indeed, have evil tempers, and will scratch the faces of all their
+      neighbours who are too familiar with them. Such are books with metal
+      clasps and rivets on their edges; and such, again, are those abominable
+      old rascals, chiefly born in the fifteenth century, who are proud of being
+      dressed in REAL boards with brass corners, and pass their lives with
+      fearful knobs and metal bosses, mostly five in number, firmly fixed on one
+      of their sides. If the tendencies of such ruffians are not curbed, they
+      will do as much mischief to their gentle neighbours as when a "collie"
+      worries the sheep. These evil results may always be minimized by placing a
+      piece of millboard between the culprit and his victim. I have seen lovely
+      bindings sadly marked by such uncanny neighbours.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When your books are being "dusted," don't impute too much common sense to
+      your assistants; take their ignorance for granted, and tell them at once
+      never to lift any book by one of its covers; that treatment is sure to
+      strain the back, and ten to one the weight will be at the same time
+      miscalculated, and the volume will fall. Your female "help," too, dearly
+      loves a good tall pile to work at and, as a rule, her notions of the
+      centre of gravity are not accurate, leading often to a general downfall,
+      and the damage of many a corner. Again, if not supervised and instructed,
+      she is very apt to rub the dust into, instead of off, the edges. Each
+      volume should be held tightly, so as to prevent the leaves from gaping,
+      and then wiped from the back to the fore-edge. A soft brush will be found
+      useful if there is much dust. The whole exterior should also be rubbed
+      with a soft cloth, and then the covers should be opened and the hinges of
+      the binding examined; for mildew WILL assert itself both inside and
+      outside certain books, and that most pertinaciously. It has unaccountable
+      likes and dislikes. Some bindings seem positively to invite damp, and
+      mildew will attack these when no other books on the same shelf show any
+      signs of it. When discovered, carefully wipe it away, and then let the
+      book remain a few days standing open, in the driest and airiest spot you
+      can select. Great care should be taken not to let grit, such as blows in
+      at the open window from many a dusty road, be upon your duster, or you
+      will probably find fine scratches, like an outline map of Europe, all over
+      your smooth calf, by which your heart and eye, as well as your book, will
+      be wounded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Helps" are very apt to fill the shelves too tightly, so that to extract a
+      book you have to use force, often to the injury of the top-bands. Beware
+      of this mistake. It frequently occurs through not noticing that one small
+      book is purposely placed at each end of the shelf, beneath the movable
+      shelf-supports, thus not only saving space, but preventing the injury
+      which a book shelf-high would be sure to receive from uneven pressure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After all, the best guide in these, as in many other matters, is "common
+      sense," a quality which in olden times must have been much more "common"
+      than in these days, else the phrase would never have become rooted in our
+      common tongue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Children, with all their innocence, are often guilty of book-murder. I
+      must confess to having once taken down "Humphrey's History of Writing,"
+      which contains many brightly-coloured plates, to amuse a sick daughter.
+      The object was certainly gained, but the consequences of so bad a
+      precedent were disastrous. That copy (which, I am glad to say, was easily
+      re-placed), notwithstanding great care on my part, became soiled and torn,
+      and at last was given up to Nursery martyrdom. Can I regret it? surely
+      not, for, although bibliographically sinful, who can weigh the amount of
+      real pleasure received, and actual pain ignored, by the patient in the
+      contemplation of those beautifully-blended colours?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A neighbour of mine some few years ago suffered severely from a
+      propensity, apparently irresistible, in one of his daughters to tear his
+      library books. She was six years old, and would go quietly to a shelf and
+      take down a book or two, and having torn a dozen leaves or so down the
+      middle, would replace the volumes, fragments and all, in their places, the
+      damage being undiscovered until the books were wanted for use. Reprimand,
+      expostulation and even punishment were of no avail; but a single
+      "whipping" effected a cure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Boys, however, are by far more destructive than girls, and have,
+      naturally, no reverence for age, whether in man or books. Who does not
+      fear a schoolboy with his first pocket-knife? As Wordsworth did not say:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+              "You may trace him oft
+     By scars which his activity has left
+     Upon our shelves and volumes. * * *
+     He who with pocket-knife will cut the edge
+     Of luckless panel or of prominent book,
+     Detaching with a stroke a label here, a back-band there."
+                             <i>Excursion III, 83</i>.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Pleased, too, are they, if, with mouths full of candy, and sticky fingers,
+      they can pull in and out the books on your bottom shelves, little knowing
+      the damage and pain they will cause. One would fain cry out, calling on
+      the Shade of Horace to pardon the false quantity&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Magna movet stomacho fastidia, si puer unctis
+     Tractavit volumen manibus."  <i>Sat. IV</i>.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      What boys CAN do may be gathered from the following true story, sent me by
+      a correspondent who was the immediate sufferer:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One summer day he met in town an acquaintance who for many years had been
+      abroad; and finding his appetite for old books as keen as ever, invited
+      him home to have a mental feed upon "fifteeners" and other bibliographical
+      dainties, preliminary to the coarser pleasures enjoyed at the
+      dinner-table. The "home" was an old mansion in the outskirts of London,
+      whose very architecture was suggestive of black-letter and sheep-skin. The
+      weather, alas! was rainy, and, as they approached the house, loud peals of
+      laughter reached their ears. The children were keeping a birthday with a
+      few young friends. The damp forbad all outdoor play, and, having been left
+      too much to their own devices, they had invaded the library. It was just
+      after the Battle of Balaclava, and the heroism of the combatants on that
+      hard-fought field was in everybody's mouth. So the mischievous young imps
+      divided themselves into two opposing camps&mdash;Britons and Russians. The
+      Russian division was just inside the door, behind ramparts formed of old
+      folios and quartos taken from the bottom shelves and piled to the height
+      of about four feet. It was a wall of old fathers, fifteenth century
+      chronicles, county histories, Chaucer, Lydgate, and such like. Some few
+      yards off were the Britishers, provided with heaps of small books as
+      missiles, with which they kept up a skirmishing cannonade against the foe.
+      Imagine the tableau! Two elderly gentlemen enter hurriedly, paterfamilias
+      receiving, quite unintentionally, the first edition of "Paradise Lost" in
+      the pit of his stomach, his friend narrowly escaping a closer personal
+      acquaintance with a quarto Hamlet than he had ever had before. Finale:
+      great outburst of wrath, and rapid retreat of the combatants, many wounded
+      (volumes) being left on the field.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      POSTSCRIPTUM.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      ALTHOUGH, strictly speaking, the following anecdote does not illustrate
+      any form of real injury to books, it is so racy, and in these days of
+      extravagant biddings so tantalizing, that I must step just outside the
+      strict line of pertinence in order to place it on record, It was sent to
+      me, as a personal experience, by my friend, Mr. George Clulow, a
+      well-known bibliophile, and "Xylographer" to "Ye Sette of ye Odde
+      Volumes." The date is 1881. He writes:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "<i>Apropos</i> of the Gainsborough 'find,' of which you tell in 'The
+      Enemies of Books,' I should like to narrate an experience of my own, of
+      some twenty years ago:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Late one evening, at my father's house, I saw a catalogue of a sale of
+      furniture, farm implements and books, which was announced to take place on
+      the following morning at a country rectory in Derbyshire, some four miles
+      from the nearest railway station.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It was summer time&mdash;the country at its best&mdash;and with the
+      attraction of an old book, I decided on a day's holiday, and eight o'clock
+      the next morning found me in the train for C&mdash;&mdash;, and after a
+      variation in my programme, caused by my having walked three miles west
+      before I discovered that my destination was three miles east of the
+      railway station, I arrived at the rectory at noon, and found assembled
+      some thirty or forty of the neighbouring farmers, their wives,
+      men-servants and maid-servants, all seemingly bent on a day's idling,
+      rather than business. The sale was announced for noon, but it was an hour
+      later before the auctioneer put in an appearance, and the first operation
+      in which he took part, and in which he invited my assistance, was to make
+      a hearty meal of bread and cheese and beer in the rectory kitchen. This
+      over, the business of the day began by a sundry collection of pots, pans,
+      and kettles being brought to the competition of the public, followed by
+      some lots of bedding, etc. The catalogue gave books as the first part of
+      the sale, and, as three o'clock was reached, my patience was gone, and I
+      protested to the auctioneer against his not selling in accordance with his
+      catalogue. To this he replied that there was not time enough, and that he
+      would sell the books to-morrow! This was too much for me, and I suggested
+      that he had broken faith with the buyers, and had brought me to C&mdash;&mdash;
+      on a false pretence. This, however, did not seem to disturb his good
+      humour, or to make him unhappy, and his answer was to call 'Bill,' who was
+      acting as porter, and to tell him to give the gentleman the key of the
+      'book room,' and to bring down any of the books he might pick out, and he
+      'would sell 'em.' I followed 'Bill,' and soon found myself in a charming
+      nook of a library, full of books, mostly old divinity, but with a large
+      number of the best miscellaneous literature of the sixteenth century,
+      English and foreign. A very short look over the shelves produced some
+      thirty Black Letter books, three or four illuminated missals, and some
+      book rarities of a more recent date. 'Bill' took them downstairs, and I
+      wondered what would happen! I was not long in doubt, for book by book, and
+      in lots of two and three, my selection was knocked down in rapid
+      succession, at prices varying from 1<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>. to 3<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>.,
+      this latter sum seeming to be the utmost limit to the speculative turn of
+      my competitors. The <i>bonne bouche</i> of the lot was, however, kept back
+      by the auctioneer, because, as he said, it was 'a pretty book,' and I
+      began to respect his critical judgment, for 'a pretty book' it was, being
+      a large paper copy of Dibdin's Bibliographical Decameron, three volumes,
+      in the original binding. Suffice it to say that, including this charming
+      book, my purchases did not amount to L13, and I had pretty well a
+      cart-load of books for my money&mdash;more than I wanted much! Having
+      brought them home, I 'weeded them out,' and the 'weeding' realised four
+      times what I gave for the whole, leaving me with some real book treasures.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Some weeks afterwards I heard that the remainder of the books were
+      literally treated as waste lumber, and carted off to the neighbouring
+      town, and were to be had, any one of them, for sixpence, from a cobbler
+      who had allowed his shop to be used as a store house for them. The news of
+      their being there reached the ears of an old bookseller in one of the
+      large towns, and he, I think, cleared out the lot. So curious an instance
+      of the most total ignorance on the part of the sellers, and I may add on
+      the part of the possible buyers also, I think is worth noting."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How would the reader in this Year of Grace, 1887, like such an experience
+      as that?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_CONC" id="link2H_CONC">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CONCLUSION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      IT is a great pity that there should be so many distinct enemies at work
+      for the destruction of literature, and that they should so often be
+      allowed to work out their sad end. Looked at rightly, the possession of
+      any old book is a sacred trust, which a conscientious owner or guardian
+      would as soon think of ignoring as a parent would of neglecting his child.
+      An old book, whatever its subject or internal merits, is truly a portion
+      of the national history; we may imitate it and print it in fac-simile, but
+      we can never exactly reproduce it; and as an historical document it should
+      be carefully preserved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I do not envy any man that absence of sentiment which makes some people
+      careless of the memorials of their ancestors, and whose blood can be
+      warmed up only by talking of horses or the price of hops. To them solitude
+      means <i>ennui</i>, and anybody's company is preferable to their own. What
+      an immense amount of calm enjoyment and mental renovation do such men
+      miss. Even a millionaire will ease his toils, lengthen his life, and add a
+      hundred per cent. to his daily pleasures if he becomes a bibliophile;
+      while to the man of business with a taste for books, who through the day
+      has struggled in the battle of life with all its irritating rebuffs and
+      anxieties, what a blessed season of pleasurable repose opens upon him as
+      he enters his sanctum, where every article wafts to him a welcome, and
+      every book is a personal friend!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      INDEX.
+    </h2>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   <i>Academy, The</i>, 23.
+   Acanis eruditus, 77, 78.
+   Acts of the Apostles, quoted, 4.
+   Aglossa pinguinalis, 76.
+   Albermarle (Duke of), portrait by Logan, 126.
+   Althorp library, 124.
+   Anderson (Sir C.), 55.
+   Anobium paniceum, 77, 78.
+   Anobium pertinax, 77, 78, 87, 88.
+   Antiquary, The, 54.
+   Antwerp, Monks at, 57, 58.
+   Asbestos fire, 27.
+   Ashburnham House, Westminster, 10.
+   Asiarch, an, 7.
+   Athens, Bookworm from, 81.
+   Atkyns' Origin and Growth of Printing, 126.
+   Auctioneer, story of, 145.
+   Austin Friars, 15.
+   Bagford (John), the biblioclast, r: 18.
+   Balaclava, battle of, 143.
+   Bale, the antiquary, 9.
+   Bandinel (Dr.), 87, 88.
+   Beedham, B., 52.
+   Bible, the first printed, burnt at Strasbourg, 13.
+    &mdash; the "bug" edition, 95.
+   Bibliophile, pleasures of a, 153.
+   Bibliotaph, a, 129.
+   Bibliotheca Ecclesiae Londino-Belgicae, 16.
+   Binder's creed, 31.
+    &mdash; plough, 105.
+   Binding, care to be taken of, 134.
+    &mdash; quality of good, 104.
+   Bird (Rev. -), 55.
+   Birdsall (Mr.), bookbinder, 80.
+   Birmingham Riots, 11.
+   Black-beetles, enemies of books, 94.
+   Black-letter books in United States, 91.
+   Blatta germanica, 65.
+   Boccaccio, 48-50.
+   Bodleian, hookworms at, 87.
+   Bookbinders as enemies of books, 103.
+   Books, absurd lettering, 111.
+    &mdash; burnt at Carthage; at Ephesus, 4.
+    &mdash; burnt in Fire of London, 10.
+    &mdash; burnt by Saracens, 3.
+    &mdash; captured by Corsairs, 18.
+    &mdash; cleaning of, 114.
+    &mdash; deprived of title pages, 118, 119.
+   Books destroyed at the Reformation, Si.
+    &mdash; dried in an attic, 16.
+    &mdash; examination of old covers, 116.
+    &mdash; how to dust them, 134.
+    &mdash; injured by hacking, i x i.
+    &mdash; lost at sea, 17, 18.
+    &mdash; margin reduced to size, 111.
+    &mdash; mildew in, 136.
+    &mdash; from monasteries destroyed, 9.
+    &mdash; restoration when injured, 114.
+    &mdash; restored after a fire, 15.
+    &mdash; scarce before printing, 2.
+    &mdash; sold to a cobbler, 52, 149.
+    &mdash; too tight on shelves, 137.
+    &mdash; their claims to be preserved, 151.
+    &mdash; used to bake "pyes," 10.
+    &mdash; which scratch one another, 134.
+   Book-sale in Derbyshire, 145.
+   Bookworm, the, 67-93.
+    &mdash; attempt to breed, 81-3.
+    &mdash; from Greece, 82.
+    &mdash; in paper box, 89.
+    &mdash; in United States, 91.
+   Bookworms' progress through books, 84.
+    &mdash; race by, 86.
+   Bosses on books, 135.
+   Boys injuring books, 139.
+    &mdash; in library, story of, 140.
+   Brighton, black letter fragments, 59.
+   British Museum, Boccaccio's Fall of Princes, 61.
+   British Museum free from the "worm," 83.
+    &mdash; burnt book exhibited at, 11.
+   Brown spots in books, 24.
+   Bruchium, 3.
+   Burckhardt's Arabic MSS., 77.
+   "Bug" Bible, 95.
+   Burgundy (Duchess of), 130.
+
+   Cambridge Market, 97.
+   Caskets (the three), Shakspeare, 60.
+   Caspari (Mr.), a collector, 124.
+   Cassin (Convent of Mount), 49.
+   Caxton, William, 130.
+    &mdash;his use of waste leaves, 90.
+    &mdash;Canterbury Tales, used to light a fire, 53.
+    &mdash; Golden Legend, ditto, 52.
+    &mdash;Lyf of oure Ladye, 89.
+   Caxtons saturated by rain, 22.
+    &mdash;spoilt in binding, 107.
+    &mdash;discovered in British Museum, 108.
+   Charles II, portrait by Logan, 126.
+   Chasles (Philarete), 52.
+   Child tearing books, 139.
+   Children as enemies of books, 138.
+   Choir boys injuring MSS., 124.
+   Christians burnt heathen MSS., 7.
+   early, 6.
+   Clarendon (Earl of), portrait by Logan, 126.
+   Clasps on books, injury from, 135.
+   Clergymen as biblioclasts, 64.
+   Clulow (Mr. George), 144.
+   Coal fires objectionable in libraries, 27.
+   Codfish, book eaten by a, 96.
+   Cold injures books, 26.
+   Collectors as enemies of books, 117.
+   College quadrangle, 41.
+   Colophon in Schoeffer's book, 123.
+   Colophons (collections of), I IS.
+   Commonwealth quartos, 44.
+   Communal libraries in France, 48.
+   Cotton library; partially burnt, 10.
+   Cowper, the poet, on burnt libraries, 12.
+   Crambus pinguinalis, 76.
+   Cremona, books destroyed at, 8.
+   Croton bug, 95.
+
+   Damp, an enemy of books, 24.
+   Dante, 50.
+    &mdash; The Inferno, 106.
+   Derbyshire, book sale in, 145.
+   Dermestes vulpinus, 89.
+   De Rome, the binder, 47, 48, 110.
+   De Thou, 110.
+   Devil worship, 5.
+   Devon and Exeter Museum, 101.
+   Diana, Temple of, 6.
+   Dibdin (Dr.), 110.
+    &mdash;sale of his Decameron, 148.
+    &mdash;his books, 25.
+   D'Israeli (B.), 17.
+   Doraston (J.), Poem on Bookworne, 67, 76.
+   Dust, an enemy of books, 39.
+    &mdash; and neglect in a library, 39-50, 133.
+   Dusting books-how to do it, 136.
+   Dutch Church burnt, 15.
+    &mdash; library at Guildhall, 16.
+
+   Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 53.
+   Edmonds (Mr.), bookseller, 58.
+   Edward IV, 130.
+   Edwards (Mr.), bookseller, 18.
+   Electric light in British Museum, 32.
+   Ephesus, 5.
+   "Eracles," 111.
+   "Evil eye," the, 6.
+   "Excursion, The," 139.
+
+   Fire, an enemy of books, 1-16.
+    &mdash; of London, 10.
+   Flint (Weston), account of black-beetles in New York
+   libraries, 95.
+   Folklore, ancient, 5.
+   "Foxey" books, 25.
+   Francis (St.) and the friars, 37.
+   French Protestant Church, 53.
+   Frith (John), 96.
+   Froissart's Chronicles, 110.
+   Frost in a library, 26.
+
+   Garnett (Dr.), 81.
+   Gas injurious, 29-38,
+   Gatty's (Mrs.) Parables, 76.
+   German Army at Strasburg, U.
+   Gesta Romanorum, 66.
+   Gibbon, the historian, 2.
+   Glass cases preservative of books, 27.
+   Golden Legend, by Caxton, 52.
+   Gordon Riots, 11.
+   Government officials as biblioclasts, 65.
+   Grenville (Rt. Hon. Thos.), 56.
+   Guildford, library at school, 129.
+   Guildhall, London, library at, 0.
+   Gutenberg, 123.
+    &mdash; documents concerning, burnt, 13,
+   Gwyn, Nell, housekeeping book of, 65.
+   "Gyp" brushing clothes in a library, 44.
+
+   Hannett, on bookbinding, 76.
+   Havergal (Rev. F. T.), 76.
+   Heathens burnt Christian MSS., 7.
+   Heating libraries, 27.
+   Hebrew books burnt, 8.
+   Hereford Cathedral library, 76.
+   Hickman family, 56.
+   Histories of Troy, 111.
+   Holme (Mr.), 77.
+   Hooke (R.), his Micrographia, 71-75.
+   Horace's Satires, 140.
+   Hot water pipes for libraries, 26.
+   House-fly, an enemy of books, 102.
+   Hudde, Heer, a story of, 17.
+   Hwqhrey's History of Writing, 138.
+   Hypothenemus eruditus, 76.
+
+   Ignorance and Bigotry, P-66.
+   Illuminated letters fatal to books, 51.
+    &mdash; initials, collections of, 123.
+   Indulgence of 15th Century spoilt by a binder, 109.
+   Inquisition in Holland, 63.
+
+   Kirby and Spence on Entomologists, 75, 101.
+   Knobs of metal on bindings, 135.
+   Koran, The, 7.
+
+   Lamberhurst, 61.
+   Lamport Hall, 58.
+   Lansdowne Collection of MSS., 60.
+   Latterbury, copy of, at St. Martin's, 54.
+   Leather destroyed by gas, 30.
+   Lepisma, 96.
+    &mdash; mistaken for bookworm, 75.
+   Libraries
+    burnt: by Caesar, 3.
+     &mdash;- at Dutch Church, 15.
+     &mdash;- at Strasbourg, 13.
+    neglected in England, 15, 22, 40.
+    at Alexandria, 3.
+    of the Ptolemies) 3.
+   Library Journal, The, 94.
+   Lincoln Cathedral MSS., 124.
+   Lincolne Nosegaye, 124.
+   London Institution, 31.
+   Lubbock (Sir J.), 90.
+   Luke's, St., account of destruction of books, 4.
+   Luxe des Livres, 47.
+   Luxury and learning, 42.
+
+   Machlinia, book printed by, 106.
+   Magdalene College, Cambridge, 128.
+   Maitland (Rev. S. R.), 54.
+   Mansfield (Lord), ij.
+   MS. Plays burnt, 60.
+   Manuscripts, fragments of, 126.
+   Margins of books cut away, 49, 127.
+   Maximilian (The Emperor), 125.
+   Mazarin library, Caxton in, 52.
+   Metamorphoses of Ovid, by Caxton, 10.
+   Micrographia, by R. Hooke, 71.
+   Middleburgh, 17.
+   Mildew in books, 136.
+   Minorite friars, 37.
+   Missal illuminations, sale of, 119.
+   Mohammed's reason for destroying books, 7.
+   Mohammed II throws books into the sea, 21.
+   Monks at Monte Cassino, 49.
+   Mould in books, 24.
+   Mount Cassin, library at, 50.
+   Moxon's Mechanic Exercises, 115.
+   Muller (M.), of Amsterdam, 62.
+
+   Newmarsh (Rev. C. F.), 54.
+   Niptus Hololeucos, 101.
+   Noble (Mr.), on Parish Registers, 61.
+   Notes and Queries, 77.
+
+   Oak Chest, 44.
+   OEcophora pseudospretella, 79.
+   Offer Collection of Bunyans, 14.
+   On, Priests of, 69.
+   Overall (Mr.), Librarian at Guildhall, 16.
+   Ovid, Metamorphoses by Caxton, 10.
+   Oxenforde, Lyf of therle, 10.
+
+   Paper improperly bleached, 25.
+   Papyrus, 68.
+   Paradise Lost, 142.
+   Parchment, slips of, in old books, 112.
+   Parish Registers, carelessness, 62.
+   Parnell's Ode, 70.
+   Patent Office, destruction of literature at, 65.
+   Paternoster Row, io.
+   Paul, St., 6.
+   Pedlar buying old books, 54, 55.
+   Peignot and hookworms, 79.
+   Pepys (Samuel), his library, 128.
+   Petit (Pierre), poem on bookworm, 70.
+   Philadelphia, wormhole at, 92.
+   Phillipps (Sir Thos.), 129.
+   Pieces of silver or denarii, 5.
+   Pinelli (Maffei), library of, 18.
+   Plantin Museum, 122.
+   policemen in Ephesus, 7.
+   Portrait collectors, 127.
+   Priestley (Dr.), library burnt, 11, 12.
+   Printers, the first, 13.
+   Printers' marks, collection of, 119.
+   &mdash; ink and bookworms, 80.
+   Probrue (Mr.), 120.
+   Ptolemies, the Egyptian, 3.
+   Puttick and Simpson, 15.
+   Pynson's Fall of Princes, 61.
+
+   Queen Elizabeth's prayer-book, 98.
+   Quaint titles, collections of, 121.
+   Quadrangle of an old College described) 41.
+
+   Rain an enemy to books, 21.
+   Rats eat books, 97.
+   Recollet monks of Antwerp, 57.
+   -Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, 130.
+   Reformation, destruction of books at, 9.
+   Restoration of burnt books, 11.
+   Richard of Bury, 47.
+   Ringwalt's Encyclopaedia, 92.
+   Rivets on books, 135.
+   Rood and Hunte, 53.
+   Rot caused by rain, 21.
+   Royal Society, London, 71.
+   Rubens' engraved titles in Plantin Museum, 122.
+    &mdash; autograph receipts, 122.
+   Ruins of fire at Sotheby and Wilkinson's, 14.
+   Rye (W. B.), 61, 83.
+   St. Albans, Boke of, 54.
+   St. Martin's-le-Grand, French church, 53.
+   St. Paul's Cathedral, books burnt in vaults of, 10.
+   Sale catalogues, extracts from, 119.
+   Schoeffer (P.), 123.
+   Schonsperger (Hans), 125.
+   Schoolmaster and endowed library, 129.
+   Scorched book at British Museum, 11.
+   Scrolls of magic, 6.
+   Serpent worship, 5.
+   Servants and children as enemies of books, 131-144.
+   Shakesperian discoveries, 58.
+   "Shavings" of binders, 31.
+   Sheldon (Archbishop), portrait by Logan, 126.
+   Sib's Bowels opened, 121.
+   Smith (Mr.), Brighton bookseller, 64.
+   Sotheby and Wilkinson, 125.
+    &mdash; fire at their rooms, 14.
+   Spring clean, horrors of, 133.
+   Stark (Mr.), bookseller, 55-58.
+   Stealing a Caxton, 54.
+   Steam press, 40.
+   Strasbourg, siege of, 13.
+   Sun-light of gas, 29, 32.
+   Sun worship, 5.
+   Sylvester's Laws of Verse, 71.
+
+   Taylor, the water-poet, 121.
+   Teylerian Museum, Haarlem, 128.
+   Theurdanck, prints in, 125.
+   Thonock Hall, library Of, 56.
+   Timmins (Mr.), 50.
+   Title-pages, collections sold, 122.
+    &mdash; volumes of, 118.
+   Title-pages, old Dutch, 120.
+   Tomicus Typographus, iox.
+
+   Utramontane Society, called "Old paper," 63,
+   Unitarian library, 13,
+   Universities destroy books, 9.
+
+   Value of books burnt by St. Paul, 4.
+   Vanderberg (M.), 57.
+   Vermin book-enemies, 94-102.
+   Pox Piscis, 96.
+
+   Washing old books, x6.
+   Water an enemy of books, 17-28.
+   Waterhouse (Mr.), Si.
+   Werdet (Edmond), 48, 57.
+   Westbrook (W. J.), 102.
+   Westminster Chapter-house, 97.
+    &mdash; skeletons of rats, 97.
+   White (Adam), 83.
+   Wolfenbuttel, library at, 23.
+   Woodcuts, a Caxton celebration, 124.
+   Wynken de Worde, fragment, 59.
+
+   Ximenes (Cardinal) destroys copies of the Koran, 8.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Enemies of Books, by William Blades
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+</pre>
+  </body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Enemies of Books, by William Blades
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Enemies of Books
+
+Author: William Blades
+
+Posting Date: August 26, 2008 [EBook #1302]
+Release Date: May, 1998
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENEMIES OF BOOKS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Keller
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ENEMIES OF BOOKS
+
+By William Blades
+
+
+_Revised and Enlarged by the Author_
+
+SECOND EDITION
+
+LONDON ELLIOT STOCK, 62 PATERNOSTER ROW
+
+1888
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+  ae, L, e, <_:>, OE, <_/_>, '0, and n  "Larsen" encodes.
+  eS = superscripted e (16th cent. english on p9 needs proofed!)
+  <oe > denotes words in 'olde englishe font'
+  "Emphasis" _italics_ have a * mark.
+  Footnotes [#] have not been re-numbered, they are moved to EOParagraph.
+  Greek letters are encoded in <gr > brackets, and the letters are
+  based on Adobe's Symbol font.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+  CHAPTER I.
+
+  FIRE.
+
+  Libraries destroyed by Fire.--Alexandrian.--St. Paul's destruction
+  of MSS., Value of.--Christian books destroyed by Heathens.--Heathen
+  books destroyed by Christians.--Hebrew books burnt at Cremona.--Arabic
+  books at Grenada.--Monastic libraries.--Colton library.--Birmingham
+  riots.--Dr. Priestley's library.--Lord Mansfield's books.--Cowper.
+  --Strasbourg library bombarded.--Offor Collection burnt.--Dutch
+  Church library damaged.--Library of Corporation of London.
+
+  CHAPTER II.
+
+  WATER.
+
+  Heer Hudde's library lost at sea.--Pinelli's library captured
+  by Corsairs.--MSS. destroyed by Mohammed II--Books damaged by
+  rain.--Woffenbuttel.--Vapour and Mould.--Brown stains.--Dr.
+  Dibdin.--Hot water pipes.--Asbestos fire.--Glass doors to bookcases.
+
+  CHAPTER III.
+
+  GAS AND HEAT.
+
+  Effects of Gas on leather.--Necessitates re-binding.--Bookbinders.--Electric
+  light.--British Museum.--Treatment of books.--Legend of Friars and
+  their books.
+
+  CHAPTER IV.
+
+  DUST AND NEGLECT.
+
+  Books should have gilt tops.--Old libraries were neglected.--Instance
+  of a College library.--Clothes brushed in it.--Abuses in French
+  libraries.--Derome's account of them.--Boccaccio's story of
+  library at the Convent of Mount Cassin.
+
+  CHAPTER V.
+
+  IGNORANCE AND BIGOTRY.
+
+  Destruction of Books at the Reformation.--Mazarin library.--Caxton
+  used to light the fire.--Library at French Protestant Church,
+  St. Martin's-le-Grand.--Books stolen.--Story of books from Thonock
+  Hall.--Boke of St. Albans.--Recollet Monks of Antwerp.--Shakespearian
+  "find."--Black-letter books used in W.C.--Gesta Romanorum.--Lansdowne
+  collection.--Warburton.--Tradesman and rare book.--Parish Register.--Story
+  of Bigotry by M. Muller.--Clergymen destroy books.--Patent Office sell
+  books for waste.
+
+  CHAPTER VI.
+
+  THE BOOKWORM.
+
+  Doraston.--Not so destructive as of yore.--Worm won't eat
+  parchment.--Pierre Petit's poem.--Hooke's account and image.--Its
+  natural history neglected.--Various sorts--Attempts to breed
+  Bookworms.--Greek worm.--Havoc made by worms.--Bodleian and Dr.
+  Bandinel.--"Dermestes."--Worm won't eat modern paper.--America
+  comparatively free.--Worm-hole at Philadelphia.
+
+  CHAPTER VII.
+
+  OTHER VERMIN.
+
+  Black-beetle in American libraries.--germanica.--Bug Bible.--Lepisma.
+  --Codfish.--Skeletons of Rats in Abbey library, Westminster.--Niptus
+  hololeucos.--Tomicus Typographicus.--House flies injure books.
+
+  CHAPTER VIII.
+
+  BOOKBINDERS.
+
+  A good binding gives pleasure.--Deadly effects of the "plough" as used
+  by binders.--Not confined to bye-gone times.--Instances of injury.--De
+  Rome, a good binder but a great cropper.--Books "hacked."--Bad
+  lettering--Treasures in book-covers.--Books washed, sized, and
+  mended.--"Cases" often Preferable to re-binding.
+
+  CHAPTER IX.
+
+  COLLECTORS.
+
+  Bagford the biblioclast.--Illustrations torn from MSS.--Title-pages
+  torn from books.--Rubens, his engraved titles.--Colophons torn out of
+  books.--Lincoln Cathedral--Dr. Dibdin's Nosegay.--Theurdanck.--Fragments
+  of MSS.--Some libraries almost useless.--Pepysian.--Teylerian.--Sir
+  Thomas Phillipps.
+
+  CHAPTER X.
+
+  SERVANTS AND CHILDREN.
+
+  Library invaded for the purpose of dusting.--Spring clean.---Dust to be
+  got rid of.--Ways of doing so.--Carefulness praised.--Bad nature of
+  certain books--Metal clasps and rivets.--How to dust.--Children
+  often injure books.--Examples.--Story of boys in a country library.
+
+  POSTSCRIPTUM.
+
+  Anecdote of book-sale in Derbyshire.
+
+  CONCLUSION.
+
+  The care that should be taken of books.--Enjoyment derived from them.
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+  SERVANT USING A "CAXTON" TO LIGHT THE FIRE --- _Frontispiece_,
+
+  PIRATES THROWING LIBRARY OVER-BOARD ---------- page 19
+
+  FRIARS AND THEIR ASS-LOAD -------------------- 35
+
+  BRUSHING CLOTHES IN A COLLEGE LIBRARY -------- 45
+
+  BOOKWORMS ------------------------------------ 73
+
+  RATS DESTROYING BOOKS ------------------------ 99
+
+  HOUSEHOLD FLY-DAMAGE ------------------------- 102
+
+  BOYS RAMPANT IN LIBRARY ---------------------- 141
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ENEMIES OF BOOKS.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. FIRE.
+
+THERE are many of the forces of Nature which tend to injure Books; but
+among them all not one has been half so destructive as Fire. It would
+be tedious to write out a bare list only of the numerous libraries and
+bibliographical treasures which, in one way or another, have been
+seized by the Fire-king as his own. Chance conflagrations, fanatic
+incendiarism, judicial bonfires, and even household stoves have, time
+after time, thinned the treasures as well as the rubbish of past ages,
+until, probably, not one thousandth part of the books that have been are
+still extant. This destruction cannot, however, be reckoned as all loss;
+for had not the "cleansing fires" removed mountains of rubbish from our
+midst, strong destructive measures would have become a necessity from
+sheer want of space in which to store so many volumes.
+
+Before the invention of Printing, books were comparatively scarce; and,
+knowing as we do, how very difficult it is, even after the steam-press
+has been working for half a century, to make a collection of half a
+million books, we are forced to receive with great incredulity the
+accounts in old writers of the wonderful extent of ancient libraries.
+
+The historian Gibbon, very incredulous in many things, accepts without
+questioning the fables told upon this subject. No doubt the libraries
+of MSS. collected generation after generation by the Egyptian Ptolemies
+became, in the course of time, the most extensive ever then known;
+and were famous throughout the world for the costliness of their
+ornamentation, and importance of their untold contents. Two of these
+were at Alexandria, the larger of which was in the quarter called
+Bruchium. These volumes, like all manuscripts of those early ages, were
+written on sheets of parchment, having a wooden roller at each end
+so that the reader needed only to unroll a portion at a time. During
+Caesar's Alexandrian War, B.C. 48, the larger collection was consumed
+by fire and again burnt by the Saracens in A.D. 640. An immense loss was
+inflicted upon mankind thereby; but when we are told of 700,000, or even
+500,000 of such volumes being destroyed we instinctively feel that such
+numbers must be a great exaggeration. Equally incredulous must we be
+when we read of half a million volumes being burnt at Carthage some
+centuries later, and other similar accounts.
+
+Among the earliest records of the wholesale destruction of Books is that
+narrated by St. Luke, when, after the preaching of Paul, many of the
+Ephesians "which used curious arts brought their books together, and
+burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and
+found it 50,000 pieces of silver" (Acts xix, 19). Doubtless these books
+of idolatrous divination and alchemy, of enchantments and witchcraft,
+were righteously destroyed by those to whom they had been and might
+again be spiritually injurious; and doubtless had they escaped the fire
+then, not one of them would have survived to the present time, no MS. of
+that age being now extant. Nevertheless, I must confess to a certain
+amount of mental disquietude and uneasiness when I think of books worth
+50,000 denarii--or, speaking roughly, say L18,750,[1] of our modern
+money being made into bonfires. What curious illustrations of early
+heathenism, of Devil worship, of Serpent worship, of Sun worship, and
+other archaic forms of religion; of early astrological and chemical
+lore, derived from the Egyptians, the Persians, the Greeks; what
+abundance of superstitious observances and what is now termed
+"Folklore"; what riches, too, for the philological student, did those
+many books contain, and how famous would the library now be that could
+boast of possessing but a few of them.
+
+
+[1] The received opinion is that the "pieces of silver" here mentioned
+were Roman denarii, which were the silver pieces then commonly used in
+Ephesus. If now we weigh a denarius against modern silver, it is exactly
+equal to ninepence, and fifty thousand times ninepence gives L1,875.
+It is always a difficult matter to arrive at a just estimate of the
+relative value of the same coin in different ages; but reckoning that
+money then had at least ten times the purchasing value of money now, we
+arrive at what was probably about the value of the magical books burnt,
+viz.: L18,750.
+
+The ruins of Ephesus bear unimpeachable evidence that the City was very
+extensive and had magnificent buildings. It was one of the free cities,
+governing itself. Its trade in shrines and idols was very extensive,
+being spread through all known lands. There the magical arts were
+remarkably prevalent, and notwithstanding the numerous converts made by
+the early Christians, the <gr 'Efesia grammata>, or little scrolls upon
+which magic sentences were written, formed an extensive trade up to
+the fourth century. These "writings" were used for divination, as a
+protection against the "evil eye," and generally as charms against all
+evil. They were carried about the person, so that probably thousands of
+them were thrown into the flames by St. Paul's hearers when his glowing
+words convinced them of their superstition.
+
+Imagine an open space near the grand Temple of Diana, with fine
+buildings around. Slightly raised above the crowd, the Apostle,
+preaching with great power and persuasion concerning superstition, holds
+in thrall the assembled multitude. On the outskirts of the crowd are
+numerous bonfires, upon which Jew and Gentile are throwing into
+the flames bundle upon bundle of scrolls, while an Asiarch with his
+peace-officers looks on with the conventional stolidity of policemen
+in all ages and all nations. It must have been an impressive scene, and
+many a worse subject has been chosen for the walls of the Royal Academy.
+
+Books in those early times, whether orthodox or heterodox, appear to
+have had a precarious existence. The heathens at each fresh outbreak of
+persecution burnt all the Christian writings they could find, and the
+Christians, when they got the upper hand, retaliated with interest upon
+the pagan literature. The Mohammedan reason for destroying books--"If
+they contain what is in the Koran they are superfluous, and if they
+contain anything opposed to it they are immoral," seems, indeed,
+_mutatis mutandis_, to have been the general rule for all such
+devastators.
+
+The Invention of Printing made the entire destruction of any author's
+works much more difficult, so quickly and so extensively did books
+spread through all lands. On the other hand, as books multiplied, so did
+destruction go hand in hand with production, and soon were printed books
+doomed to suffer in the same penal fires, that up to then had been fed
+on MSS. only.
+
+At Cremona, in 1569, 12,000 books printed in Hebrew were publicly burnt
+as heretical, simply on account of their language; and Cardinal Ximenes,
+at the capture of Granada, treated 5,000 copies of the Koran in the same
+way.
+
+At the time of the Reformation in England a great destruction of books
+took place. The antiquarian Bale, writing in 1587, thus speaks of the
+shameful fate of the Monastic libraries:--
+
+
+"A greate nombre of them whyche purchased those superstycyouse mansyons
+(_Monasteries_) reserved of those librarye bookes some to serve their
+jakes, some to scoure theyr candelstyckes, and some to rubbe theyr
+bootes. Some they solde to the grossers and sope sellers, and some they
+sent over see to yeS booke bynders, not in small nombre, but at tymes
+whole shyppes full, to yeS, wonderynge of foren nacyons. Yea yeS.
+Universytees of thys realme are not alle clere in thys detestable fact.
+But cursed is that bellye whyche seketh to be fedde with suche ungodlye
+gaynes, and so depelye shameth hys natural conterye. I knowe a merchant
+manne, whych shall at thys tyme be namelesse, that boughte yeS contentes
+of two noble lybraryes for forty shyllynges pryce: a shame it is to be
+spoken. Thys stuffe hathe heoccupyed in yeS stede of greye paper, by
+yeS, space of more than these ten yeares, and yet he bathe store ynoughe
+for as manye years to come. A prodygyous example is thys, and to be
+abhorred of all men whyche love theyr nacyon as they shoulde do. The
+monkes kepte them undre dust, yeS, ydle-headed prestes regarded them
+not, theyr latter owners have most shamefully abused them, and yeS
+covetouse merchantes have solde them away into foren nacyons for
+moneye."
+
+
+How the imagination recoils at the idea of Caxton's translation of the
+Metamorphoses of Ovid, or perhaps his "Lyf of therle of Oxenforde,"
+together with many another book from our first presses, not a fragment
+of which do we now possess, being used for baking "pyes."
+
+At the Great Fire of London in 1666, the number of books burnt was
+enormous. Not only in private houses and Corporate and Church libraries
+were priceless collections reduced to cinders, but an immense stock
+of books removed from Paternoster Row by the Stationers for safety was
+burnt to ashes in the vaults of St. Paul's Cathedral.
+
+Coming nearer to our own day, how thankful we ought to be for the
+preservation of the Cotton Library. Great was the consternation in the
+literary world of 1731 when they heard of the fire at Ashburnham House,
+Westminster, where, at that time, the Cotton MSS. were deposited. By
+great exertions the fire was conquered, but not before many MSS. had
+been quite destroyed and many others injured. Much skill was shown
+in the partial restoration of these books, charred almost beyond
+recognition; they were carefully separated leaf by leaf, soaked in a
+chemical solution, and then pressed flat between sheets of transparent
+paper. A curious heap of scorched leaves, previous to any treatment, and
+looking like a monster wasps' nest, may be seen in a glass case in the
+MS. department of the British Museum, showing the condition to which
+many other volumes had been reduced.
+
+Just a hundred years ago the mob, in the "Birmingham Riots," burnt the
+valuable library of Dr. Priestley, and in the "Gordon Riots" were burnt
+the literary and other collections of Lord Mansfield, the celebrated
+judge, he who had the courage first to decide that the Slave who reached
+the English shore was thenceforward a free man. The loss of the latter
+library drew from the poet Cowper two short and weak poems. The poet
+first deplores the destruction of the valuable printed books, and then
+the irretrievable loss to history by the burning of his Lordship's many
+personal manuscripts and contemporary documents.
+
+      "Their pages mangled, burnt and torn,
+          The loss was his alone;
+      But ages yet to come shall mourn
+          The burning of his own."
+
+
+The second poem commences with the following doggerel:--
+
+      "When Wit and Genius meet their doom
+          In all-devouring Flame,
+      They tell us of the Fate of Rome
+          And bid us fear the same."
+
+
+The much finer and more extensive library of Dr. Priestley was left
+unnoticed and unlamented by the orthodox poet, who probably felt a
+complacent satisfaction at the destruction of heterodox books, the owner
+being an Unitarian Minister.
+
+The magnificent library of Strasbourg was burnt by the shells of the
+German Army in 1870. Then disappeared for ever, together with other
+unique documents, the original records of the famous law-suits between
+Gutenberg, one of the first Printers, and his partners, upon the right
+understanding of which depends the claim of Gutenberg to the invention
+of the Art. The flames raged between high brick walls, roaring louder
+than a blast furnace. Seldom, indeed, have Mars and Pluto had so dainty
+a sacrifice offered at their shrines; for over all the din of battle,
+and the reverberation of monster artillery, the burning leaves of the
+first printed Bible and many another priceless volume were wafted into
+the sky, the ashes floating for miles on the heated air, and carrying
+to the astonished countryman the first news of the devastation of his
+Capital.
+
+When the Offor Collection was put to the hammer by Messrs Sotheby and
+Wilkinson, the well-known auctioneers of Wellington Street, and when
+about three days of the sale had been gone through, a Fire occurred in
+the adjoining house, and, gaining possession of the Sale Rooms, made a
+speedy end of the unique Bunyan and other rarities then on show. I was
+allowed to see the Ruins on the following day, and by means of a ladder
+and some scrambling managed to enter the Sale Room where parts of the
+floor still remained. It was a fearful sight those scorched rows of
+Volumes still on the shelves; and curious was it to notice how the
+flames, burning off the backs of the books first, had then run up behind
+the shelves, and so attacked the fore-edge of the volumes standing upon
+them, leaving the majority with a perfectly untouched oval centre of
+white paper and plain print, while the whole surrounding parts were but
+a mass of black cinders. The salvage was sold in one lot for a small
+sum, and the purchaser, after a good deal of sorting and mending and
+binding placed about 1,000 volumes for sale at Messrs. Puttick and
+Simpson's in the following year.
+
+So, too, when the curious old Library which was in a gallery of the
+Dutch Church, Austin Friars, was nearly destroyed in the fire which
+devastated the Church in 1862, the books which escaped were sadly
+injured. Not long before I had spent some hours there hunting for
+English Fifteenth-century Books, and shall never forget the state of
+dirt in which I came away. Without anyone to care for them, the books
+had remained untouched for many a decade-damp dust, half an inch thick,
+having settled upon them! Then came the fire, and while the roof was
+all ablaze streams of hot water, like a boiling deluge, washed down upon
+them. The wonder was they were not turned into a muddy pulp. After all
+was over, the whole of the library, no portion of which could legally be
+given away, was _lent for ever_ to the Corporation of London. Scorched
+and sodden, the salvage came into the hands of Mr. Overall, their
+indefatigable librarian. In a hired attic, he hung up the volumes that
+would bear it over strings like clothes, to dry, and there for weeks and
+weeks were the stained, distorted volumes, often without covers, often
+in single leaves, carefully tended and dry-nursed. Washing, sizing,
+pressing, and binding effected wonders, and no one who to-day looks
+upon the attractive little alcove in the Guildhall Library labelled
+<oe "Bibliotheca Ecclesiae Londonino-Belgiae"> and sees the rows of
+handsomely-lettered backs, could imagine that not long ago this, the
+most curious portion of the City's literary collections, was in a state
+when a five-pound note would have seemed more than full value for the
+lot.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. WATER.
+
+NEXT to Fire we must rank Water in its two forms, liquid and vapour, as
+the greatest destroyer of books. Thousands of volumes have been actually
+drowned at Sea, and no more heard of them than of the Sailors to whose
+charge they were committed. D'Israeli narrates that, about the year
+1700, Heer Hudde, an opulent burgomaster of Middleburgh, travelled for
+30 years disguised as a mandarin, throughout the length and breadth of
+the Celestial Empire. Everywhere he collected books, and his extensive
+literary treasures were at length safely shipped for transmission to
+Europe, but, to the irreparable loss of his native country, they never
+reached their destination, the vessel having foundered in a storm.
+
+In 1785 died the famous Maffei Pinelli, whose library was celebrated
+throughout the world. It had been collected by the Pinelli family for
+many generations and comprised an extraordinary number of Greek, Latin,
+and Italian works, many of them first editions, beautifully illuminated,
+together with numerous MSS. dating from the 11th to the 16th century.
+The whole library was sold by the Executors to Mr. Edwards, bookseller,
+of Pall Mall, who placed the volumes in three vessels for transport from
+Venice to London. Pursued by Corsairs, one of the vessels was captured,
+but the pirate, disgusted at not finding any treasure, threw all the
+books into the sea. The other two vessels escaped and delivered
+their freight safely, and in 1789-90 the books which had been so near
+destruction were sold at the great room in Conduit Street, for more than
+L9,000.
+
+These pirates were more excusable than Mohammed II who, upon the capture
+of Constantinople in the 15th century, after giving up the devoted city
+to be sacked by his licentious soldiers, ordered the books in all
+the churches as well as the great library of the Emperor Constantine,
+containing 120,000 Manuscripts, to be thrown into the sea.
+
+In the shape of rain, water has frequently caused irreparable injury.
+Positive wet is fortunately of rare occurrence in a library, but is very
+destructive when it does come, and, if long continued, the substance of
+the paper succumbs to the unhealthy influence and rots and rots until
+all fibre disappears, and the paper is reduced to a white decay which
+crumbles into powder when handled.
+
+Few old libraries in England are now so thoroughly neglected as they
+were thirty years ago. The state of many of our Collegiate and Cathedral
+libraries was at that time simply appalling. I could mention many
+instances, one especially, where a window having been left broken for
+a long time, the ivy had pushed through and crept over a row of books,
+each of which was worth hundreds of pounds. In rainy weather the water
+was conducted, as by a pipe, along the tops of the books and soaked
+through the whole.
+
+In another and smaller collection, the rain came straight on to a
+book-case through a sky-light, saturating continually the top shelf
+containing Caxtons and other early English books, one of which, although
+rotten, was sold soon after by permission of the Charity Commissioners
+for L200.
+
+Germany, too, the very birth-place of Printing, allows similar
+destruction to go on unchecked, if the following letter, which appeared
+about a Year ago (1879) in the _Academy_ has any truth in it:--
+
+
+"For some time past the condition of the library at Wolfenbuttel has
+been most disgraceful. The building is in so unsafe a condition
+that portions of the walls and ceilings have fallen in, and the many
+treasures in Books and MSS. contained in it are exposed to damp and
+decay. An appeal has been issued that this valuable collection may not
+be allowed to perish for want of funds, and that it may also be now at
+length removed to Brunswick, since Wolfenbuttel is entirely deserted as
+an intellectual centre. No false sentimentality regarding the memory of
+its former custodians, Leibnitz and Lessing, should hinder this project.
+Lessing himself would have been the first to urge that the library and
+its utility should be considered above all things."
+
+
+The collection of books at Wolfenbuttel is simply magnificent, and I
+cannot but hope the above report was exaggerated. Were these books to
+be injured for the want of a small sum spent on the roof, it would be a
+lasting disgrace to the nation. There are so many genuine book-lovers
+in Fatherland that the commission of such a crime would seem incredible,
+did not bibliographical history teem with similar desecrations.[1]
+
+
+[1] This was written in 1879, since which time a new building has been
+erected.
+
+
+Water in the form of vapour is a great enemy of books, the damp
+attacking both outside and inside. Outside it fosters the growth of a
+white mould or fungus which vegetates upon the edges of the leaves, upon
+the sides and in the joints of the binding. It is easily wiped off, but
+not without leaving a plain mark, where the mould-spots have been. Under
+the microscope a mould-spot is seen to be a miniature forest of lovely
+trees, covered with a beautiful white foliage, upas trees whose roots
+are embedded in the leather and destroy its texture.
+
+Inside the book, damp encourages the growth of those ugly brown spots
+which so often disfigure prints and "livres de luxe." Especially
+it attacks books printed in the early part of this century, when
+paper-makers had just discovered that they could bleach their rags,
+and perfectly white paper, well pressed after printing, had become the
+fashion. This paper from the inefficient means used to neutralise the
+bleach, carried the seeds of decay in itself, and when exposed to any
+damp soon became discoloured with brown stains. Dr. Dibdin's extravagant
+bibliographical works are mostly so injured; and although the Doctor's
+bibliography is very incorrect, and his spun-out inanities and
+wearisome affectations often annoy one, yet his books are so beautifully
+illustrated, and he is so full of personal anecdote and chit chat, that
+it grieves the heart to see "foxey" stains common in his most superb
+works.
+
+In a perfectly dry and warm library these spots would probably remain
+undeveloped, but many endowed as well as private libraries are not in
+daily use, and are often injured from a false idea that a hard frost and
+prolonged cold do no injury to a library so long as the weather is dry.
+The fact is that books should never be allowed to get really cold, for
+when a thaw comes and the weather sets in warm, the air, laden with
+damp, penetrates the inmost recesses, and working its way between the
+volumes and even between the leaves, deposits upon their cold surface
+its moisture. The best preventative of this is a warm atmosphere during
+the frost, sudden heating when the frost has gone being useless.
+
+Our worst enemies are sometimes our real friends, and perhaps the best
+way of keeping libraries entirely free from damp is to circulate our
+enemy in the shape of hot water through pipes laid under the floor. The
+facilities now offered for heating such pipes from the outside are so
+great, the expense comparatively so small, and the direct gain in the
+expulsion of damp so decided, that where it can be accomplished without
+much trouble it is well worth the doing.
+
+At the same time no system of heating should be allowed to supersede the
+open grate, which supplies a ventilation to the room as useful to the
+health of the books as to the health of the occupier. A coal fire is
+objectionable on many grounds. It is dangerous, dirty and dusty. On the
+other hand an asbestos fire, where the lumps are judiciously laid,
+gives all the warmth and ventilation of a common fire without any of its
+annoyances; and to any one who loves to be independent of servants, and
+to know that, however deeply he may sleep over his "copy," his fire will
+not fail to keep awake, an asbestos stove is invaluable.
+
+It is a mistake also to imagine that keeping the best bound volumes in
+a glass doored book-case is a preservative. The damp air will certainly
+penetrate, and as the absence of ventilation will assist the formation
+of mould, the books will be worse off than if they had been placed in
+open shelves. If security be desirable, by all means abolish the glass
+and place ornamental brass wire-work in its stead. Like the writers of
+old Cookery Books who stamped special receipts with the testimony of
+personal experience, I can say "probatum est."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. GAS AND HEAT.
+
+WHAT a valuable servant is Gas, and how dreadfully we should cry out
+were it to be banished from our homes; and yet no one who loves his
+books should allow a single jet in his library, unless, indeed he can
+afford a "sun light," which is the form in which it is used in some
+public libraries, where the whole of the fumes are carried at once into
+the open air.
+
+Unfortunately, I can speak from experience of the dire effect of gas
+in a confined space. Some years ago when placing the shelves round the
+small room, which, by a euphemism, is called my library, I took the
+precaution of making two self-acting ventilators which communicated
+directly with the outer air just under the ceiling. For economy of space
+as well as of temper (for lamps of all kinds are sore trials), I had a
+gasalier of three lights over the table. The effect was to cause great
+heat in the upper regions, and in the course of a year or two the
+leather valance which hung from the window, as well as the fringe which
+dropped half-an-inch from each shelf to keep out the dust, was just like
+tinder, and in some parts actually fell to the ground by its own weight;
+while the backs of the books upon the top shelves were perished, and
+crumbled away when touched, being reduced to the consistency of Scotch
+snuff. This was, of course, due to the sulphur in the gas fumes. I
+remember having a book some years ago from the top shelf in the library
+of the London Institution, where gas is used, and the whole of the back
+fell off in my hands, although the volume in other respects seemed quite
+uninjured. Thousands more were in a similar plight.
+
+As the paper of the volumes is uninjured, it might be objected that,
+after all, gas is not so much the enemy of the book itself as of its
+covering; but then, re-binding always leaves a book smaller, and often
+deprives it of leaves at the beginning or end, which the binder's wisdom
+has thought useless. Oh! the havoc I have seen committed by binders.
+You may assume your most impressive aspect--you may write down your
+instructions as if you were making your last will and testament--you may
+swear you will not pay if your books are ploughed--'tis all in vain--the
+creed of a binder is very short, and comprised in a single article, and
+that article is the one vile word "Shavings." But not now will I follow
+this depressing subject; binders, as enemies of books, deserve, and
+shall have, a whole chapter to themselves.
+
+It is much easier to decry gas than to find a remedy. Sun lights require
+especial arrangements, and are very expensive on account of the quantity
+of gas consumed. The library illumination of the future promises to be
+the electric light. If only steady and moderate in price, it would be a
+great boon to public libraries, and perhaps the day is not far distant
+when it will replace gas, even in private houses. That will, indeed, be
+a day of jubilee to the literary labourer. The injury done by gas is so
+generally acknowledged by the heads of our national libraries, that
+it is strictly excluded from their domains, although the danger from
+explosion and fire, even if the results of combustion were innocuous,
+would be sufficient cause for its banishment.
+
+The electric light has been in use for some months in the Reading Room
+of the British Museum, and is a great boon to the readers. The light is
+not quite equally diffused, and you must choose particular positions
+if you want to work happily. There is a great objection, too, in the
+humming fizz which accompanies the action of the electricity. There is a
+still greater objection when small pieces of hot chalk fall on your
+bald head, an annoyance which has been lately (1880) entirely removed
+by placing a receptacle beneath each burner. You require also to become
+accustomed to the whiteness of the light before you can altogether
+forget it. But with all its faults it confers a great boon upon
+students, enabling them not only to work three hours longer in the
+winter-time, but restoring to them the use of foggy and dark days, in
+which formerly no book-work at all could be pursued.[1]
+
+
+[1] 1887. The system in use is still "Siemens," but, owing to long
+experience and improvements, is not now open to the above objections.
+
+Heat alone, without any noxious fumes, is, if continuous, very injurious
+to books, and, without gas, bindings may be utterly destroyed by
+desiccation, the leather losing all its natural oils by long exposure
+to much heat. It is, therefore, a great pity to place books high up in
+a room where heat of any kind is as it must rise to the top, and if
+sufficient to be of comfort to the readers below, is certain to be hot
+enough above to injure the bindings.
+
+The surest way to preserve your books in health is to treat them as
+you would your own children, who are sure to sicken if confined in an
+atmosphere which is impure, too hot, too cold, too damp, or too dry. It
+is just the same with the progeny of literature.
+
+If any credence may be given to Monkish legends, books have sometimes
+been preserved in this world, only to meet a desiccating fate in the
+world to come. The story is probably an invention of the enemy to throw
+discredit on the learning and ability of the preaching Friars, an Order
+which was at constant war with the illiterate secular Clergy. It runs
+thus:--"In the year 1439, two Minorite friars who had all their lives
+collected books, died. In accordance with popular belief, they were at
+once conducted before the heavenly tribunal to hear their doom, taking
+with them two asses laden with books. At Heaven's gate the porter
+demanded, 'Whence came ye?' The Minorites replied 'From a monastery of
+St. Francis.' 'Oh!' said the porter, 'then St. Francis shall be your
+judge.' So that saint was summoned, and at sight of the friars and their
+burden demanded who they were, and why they had brought so many books
+with them. 'We are Minorites,' they humbly replied, 'and we have brought
+these few books with us as a solatium in the new Jerusalem.' 'And you,
+when on earth, practised the good they teach?' sternly demanded the
+saint, who read their characters at a glance. Their faltering reply
+was sufficient, and the blessed saint at once passed judgment as
+follows:--'Insomuch as, seduced by a foolish vanity, and against your
+vows of poverty, you have amassed this multitude of books and thereby
+and therefor have neglected the duties and broken the rules of your
+Order, you are now sentenced to read your books for ever and ever in
+the fires of Hell.' Immediately, a roaring noise filled the air, and a
+flaming chasm opened in which friars, and asses and books were suddenly
+engulphed."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. DUST AND NEGLECT.
+
+DUST upon Books to any extent points to neglect, and neglect means more
+or less slow Decay.
+
+A well-gilt top to a book is a great preventive against damage by dust,
+while to leave books with rough tops and unprotected is sure to produce
+stains and dirty margins.
+
+In olden times, when few persons had private collections of books, the
+collegiate and corporate libraries were of great use to students.
+The librarians' duties were then no sinecure, and there was little
+opportunity for dust to find a resting-place. The Nineteenth Century
+and the Steam Press ushered in a new era. By degrees the libraries which
+were unendowed fell behind the age, and were consequently neglected.
+No new works found their way in, and the obsolete old books were left
+uncared for and unvisited. I have seen many old libraries, the doors of
+which remained unopened from week's end to week's end; where you inhaled
+the dust of paper-decay with every breath, and could not take up a book
+without sneezing; where old boxes, full of older literature, served as
+preserves for the bookworm, without even an autumn "battue" to thin the
+breed. Occasionally these libraries were (I speak of thirty years ago)
+put even to vile uses, such as would have shocked all ideas of propriety
+could our ancestors have foreseen their fate.
+
+I recall vividly a bright summer morning many years ago, when, in search
+of Caxtons, I entered the inner quadrangle of a certain wealthy College
+in one of our learned Universities. The buildings around were charming
+in their grey tones and shady nooks. They had a noble history, too, and
+their scholarly sons were (and are) not unworthy successors of their
+ancestral renown. The sun shone warmly, and most of the casements were
+open. From one came curling a whiff of tobacco; from another the hum
+of conversation; from a third the tones of a piano. A couple of
+undergraduates sauntered on the shady side, arm in arm, with broken caps
+and torn gowns--proud insignia of their last term. The grey stone walls
+were covered with ivy, except where an old dial with its antiquated
+Latin inscription kept count of the sun's ascent. The chapel on one
+side, only distinguishable from the "rooms" by the shape of its windows,
+seemed to keep watch over the morality of the foundation, just as the
+dining-hall opposite, from whence issued a white-aproned cook, did
+of its worldly prosperity. As you trod the level pavement, you passed
+comfortable--nay, dainty--apartments, where lace curtains at the
+windows, antimacassars on the chairs, the silver biscuit-box and the
+thin-stemmed wine-glass moderated academic toils. Gilt-backed books on
+gilded shelf or table caught the eye, and as you turned your glance from
+the luxurious interiors to the well-shorn lawn in the Quad., with its
+classic fountain also gilded by sunbeams, the mental vision saw plainly
+written over the whole "The Union of Luxury and Learning."
+
+Surely here, thought I, if anywhere, the old world literature will be
+valued and nursed with gracious care; so with a pleasing sense of the
+general congruity of all around me, I enquired for the rooms of the
+librarian. Nobody seemed to be quite sure of his name, or upon whom the
+bibliographical mantle had descended. His post, it seemed, was honorary
+and a sinecure, being imposed, as a rule, upon the youngest "Fellow."
+No one cared for the appointment, and as a matter of course the keys
+of office had but distant acquaintance with the lock. At last I was
+rewarded with success, and politely, but mutely, conducted by the
+librarian into his kingdom of dust and silence. The dark portraits of
+past benefactors looked after us from their dusty old frames in dim
+astonishment as we passed, evidently wondering whether we meant "work";
+book-decay--that peculiar flavour which haunts certain libraries--was
+heavy in the air, the floor was dusty, making the sunbeams as we passed
+bright with atoms; the shelves were dusty, the "stands" in the middle
+were thick with dust, the old leather table in the bow window, and
+the chairs on either side, were very dusty. Replying to a question,
+my conductor thought there was a manuscript catalogue of the Library
+somewhere, but thought, also, that it was not easy to find any books
+by it, and he knew not at the minute where to put his hand upon it. The
+Library, he said, was of little use now, as the Fellows had their own
+books and very seldom required 17th and 18th century editions, and no
+new books had been added to the collection for a long time.
+
+We passed down a few steps into an inner library where piles of early
+folios were wasting away on the ground. Beneath an old ebony table were
+two long carved oak chests. I lifted the lid of one, and at the top
+was a once-white surplice covered with dust, and beneath was a mass of
+tracts--Commonwealth quartos, unbound--a prey to worms and decay. All
+was neglect. The outer door of this room, which was open, was nearly on
+a level with the Quadrangle; some coats, and trousers, and boots were
+upon the ebony table, and a "gyp" was brushing away at them just within
+the door--in wet weather he performed these functions entirely within
+the library--as innocent of the incongruity of his position as my guide
+himself. Oh! Richard of Bury, I sighed, for a sharp stone from your
+sling to pierce with indignant sarcasm the mental armour of these
+College dullards.
+
+Happily, things are altered now, and the disgrace of such neglect no
+longer hangs on the College. Let us hope, in these days of revived
+respect for antiquity, no other College library is in a similar plight.
+
+Not Englishmen alone are guilty, however, of such unloving treatment
+of their bibliographical treasures. The following is translated from an
+interesting work just published in Paris,[1] and shows how, even at this
+very time, and in the centre of the literary activity of France, books
+meet their fate.
+
+
+[1] Le luxe des Livres par L. Derome. 8vo, Paris, 1879.
+
+M. Derome loquitur:--
+
+
+"Let us now enter the communal library of some large provincial town.
+The interior has a lamentable appearance; dust and disorder have made it
+their home. It has a librarian, but he has the consideration of a porter
+only, and goes but once a week to see the state of the books committed
+to his care; they are in a bad state, piled in heaps and perishing in
+corners for want of attention and binding. At this present time (1879)
+more than one public library in Paris could be mentioned in which
+thousands of books are received annually, all of which will have
+disappeared in the course of 50 years or so for want of binding; there
+are rare books, impossible to replace, falling to pieces because no care
+is given to them, that is to say, they are left unbound, a prey to dust
+and the worm, and cannot be touched without dismemberment."
+
+"All history shows that this neglect belongs not to any particular age or
+nation. I extract the following story from Edmond Werdet's Histoire du
+Livre."[1]
+
+
+[1] "Histoire du Livre en France," par E. Werdet. 8vo, Paris, 1851.
+
+
+"The Poet Boccaccio, when travelling in Apulia, was anxious to visit the
+celebrated Convent of Mount Cassin, especially to see its library, of
+which he had heard much. He accosted, with great courtesy, one of
+the monks whose countenance attracted him, and begged him to have the
+kindness to show him the library. 'See for yourself,' said the monk,
+brusquely, pointing at the same time to an old stone staircase, broken
+with age. Boccaccio hastily mounted in great joy at the prospect of a
+grand bibliographical treat. Soon he reached the room, which was
+without key or even door as protection to its treasures. What was his
+astonishment to see that the grass growing in the window-sills actually
+darkened the room, and that all the books and seats were an inch thick
+in dust. In utter astonishment he lifted one book after another.
+All were manuscripts of extreme antiquity, but all were dreadfully
+dilapidated. Many had lost whole sections which had been violently
+extracted, and in many all the blank margins of the vellum had been cut
+away. In fact, the mutilation was thorough.
+
+"Grieved at seeing the work and the wisdom of so many illustrious men
+fallen into the hands of custodians so unworthy, Boccaccio descended
+with tears in his eyes. In the cloisters he met another monk, and
+enquired of him how the MSS. had become so mutilated. 'Oh!' he replied,
+'we are obliged, you know, to earn a few sous for our needs, so we cut
+away the blank margins of the manuscripts for writing upon, and make of
+them small books of devotion, which we sell to women and children."
+
+As a postscript to this story, Mr. Timmins, of Birmingham, informs me
+that the treasures of the Monte Cassino Library are better cared for now
+than in Boccaccio's days, the worthy prior being proud of his valuable
+MSS. and very willing to show them. It will interest many readers to
+know that there is now a complete printing office, lithographic as well
+as typographic, at full work in one large room of the Monastery, where
+their wonderful MS. of Dante has been already reprinted, and where other
+fac-simile works are now in progress.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. IGNORANCE AND BIGOTRY.
+
+IGNORANCE, though not in the same category as fire and water, is a great
+destroyer of books. At the Reformation so strong was the antagonism of
+the people generally to anything like the old idolatry of the Romish
+Church, that they destroyed by thousands books, secular as well as
+sacred, if they contained but illuminated letters. Unable to read, they
+saw no difference between romance and a psalter, between King Arthur
+and King David; and so the paper books with all their artistic ornaments
+went to the bakers to heat their ovens, and the parchment manuscripts,
+however beautifully illuminated, to the binders and boot makers.
+
+There is another kind of ignorance which has often worked destruction,
+as shown by the following anecdote, which is extracted from a
+letter written in 1862 by M. Philarete Chasles to Mr. B. Beedham, of
+Kimbolton:--
+
+
+"Ten years ago, when turning out an old closet in the Mazarin Library,
+of which I am librarian, I discovered at the bottom, under a lot of old
+rags and rubbish, a large volume. It had no cover nor title-page, and
+had been used to light the fires of the librarians. This shows how great
+was the negligence towards our literary treasure before the Revolution;
+for the pariah volume, which, 60 years before, had been placed in the
+Invalides, and which had certainly formed part of the original Mazarin
+collections, turned out to be a fine and genuine Caxton."
+
+
+I saw this identical volume in the Mazarin Library in April, 1880. It is
+a noble copy of the First Edition of the "Golden Legend," 1483, but of
+course very imperfect.
+
+Among the millions of events in this world which cross and re-cross one
+another, remarkable coincidences must often occur; and a case exactly
+similar to that at the Mazarin Library, happened about the same time
+in London, at the French Protestant Church, St. Martin's-le-Grand. Many
+years ago I discovered there, in a dirty pigeon hole close to the grate
+in the vestry, a fearfully mutilated copy of Caxton's edition of the
+Canterbury Tales, with woodcuts. Like the book at Paris, it had long
+been used, leaf by leaf, in utter ignorance of its value, to light the
+vestry fire. Originally worth at least L800, it was then worth half,
+and, of course, I energetically drew the attention of the minister in
+charge to it, as well as to another grand Folio by Rood and Hunte, 1480.
+Some years elapsed, and then the Ecclesiastical Commissioners took the
+foundation in hand, but when at last Trustees were appointed, and the
+valuable library was re-arranged and catalogued, this "Caxton," together
+with the fine copy of "Latterbury" from the first Oxford Press, had
+disappeared entirely. Whatever ignorance may have been displayed in the
+mutilation, quite another word should be applied to the disappearance.
+
+The following anecdote is so _apropos_, that although it has lately
+appeared in No. 1 of _The Antiquary_, I cannot resist the temptation of
+re-printing it, as a warning to inheritors of old libraries. The account
+was copied by me years ago from a letter written in 1847, by the Rev. C.
+F. Newmarsh, Rector of Pelham, to the Rev. S. R. Maitland, Librarian to
+the Archbishop of Canterbury, and is as follows:--
+
+
+"In June, 1844, a pedlar called at a cottage in Blyton and asked an old
+widow, named Naylor, whether she had any rags to sell. She answered, No!
+but offered him some old paper, and took from a shelf the 'Boke of St.
+Albans' and others, weighing 9 lbs., for which she received 9_d_. The
+pedlar carried them through Gainsborough tied up in string, past a
+chemist's shop, who, being used to buy old paper to wrap his drugs in,
+called the man in, and, struck by the appearance of the 'Boke,' gave him
+3_s_. for the lot. Not being able to read the Colophon, he took it to an
+equally ignorant stationer, and offered it to him for a guinea, at which
+price he declined it, but proposed that it should be exposed in his
+window as a means of eliciting some information about it. It was
+accordingly placed there with this label, 'Very old curious work.'
+A collector of books went in and offered half-a-crown for it, which
+excited the suspicion of the vendor. Soon after Mr. Bird, Vicar of
+Gainsborough, went in and asked the price, wishing to possess a very
+early specimen of printing, but not knowing the value of the book. While
+he was examining it, Stark, a very intelligent bookseller, came in, to
+whom Mr. Bird at once ceded the right of pre-emption. Stark betrayed
+such visible anxiety that the vendor, Smith, declined setting a price.
+Soon after Sir C. Anderson, of Lea (author of Ancient Models), came in
+and took away the book to collate, but brought it back in the morning
+having found it imperfect in the middle, and offered L5 for it. Sir
+Charles had no book of reference to guide him to its value. But in the
+meantime, Stark had employed a friend to obtain for him the refusal of
+it, and had undertaken to give for it a little more than any sum Sir
+Charles might offer. On finding that at least L5 could be got for it,
+Smith went to the chemist and gave him two guineas, and then sold it to
+Stark's agent for seven guineas. Stark took it to London, and sold it at
+once to the Rt. Hon. Thos. Grenville for seventy pounds or guineas.
+
+"I have now shortly to state how it came that a book without covers of
+such extreme age was preserved. About fifty years since, the library
+of Thonock Hall, in the parish of Gainsborough, the seat of the Hickman
+family, underwent great repairs, the books being sorted over by a most
+ignorant person, whose selection seems to have been determined by
+the coat. All books without covers were thrown into a great heap, and
+condemned to all the purposes which Leland laments in the sack of the
+conventual libraries by the visitors. But they found favour in the eyes
+of a literate gardener, who begged leave to take what he liked home.
+He selected a large quantity of Sermons preached before the House of
+Commons, local pamphlets, tracts from 1680 to 1710, opera books, etc.
+He made a list of them, which I found afterwards in the cottage. In
+the list, No. 43 was 'Cotarmouris,' or the Boke of St. Albans. The old
+fellow was something of a herald, and drew in his books what he held
+to be his coat. After his death, all that could be stuffed into a large
+chest were put away in a garret; but a few favourites, and the 'Boke'
+among them remained on the kitchen shelves for years, till his son's
+widow grew so 'stalled' of dusting them that she determined to sell
+them. Had she been in poverty, I should have urged the buyer, Stark, the
+duty of giving her a small sum out of his great gains."
+
+Such chances as this do not fall to a man's lot twice; but Edmond Werdet
+relates a story very similar indeed, and where also the "plums" fell
+into the lap of a London dealer.
+
+In 1775, the Recollet Monks of Antwerp, wishing to make a reform,
+examined their library, and determined to get rid of about 1,500
+volumes--some manuscript and some printed, but all of which they
+considered as old rubbish of no value.
+
+At first they were thrown into the gardener's rooms; but, after some
+months, they decided in their wisdom to give the whole refuse to the
+gardener as a recognition of his long services.
+
+This man, wiser in his generation than these simple fathers, took the
+lot to M. Vanderberg, an amateur and man of education. M. Vanderberg
+took a cursory view, and then offered to buy them by weight at sixpence
+per pound. The bargain was at once concluded, and M. Vanderberg had the
+books.
+
+Shortly after, Mr. Stark, a well-known London bookseller, being in
+Antwerp, called on M. Vanderberg, and was shown the books. He at once
+offered 14,000 francs for them, which was accepted. Imagine the surprise
+and chagrin of the poor monks when they heard of it! They knew they had
+no remedy, and so dumbfounded were they by their own ignorance, that
+they humbly requested M. Vanderberg to relieve their minds by returning
+some portion of his large gains. He gave them 1,200 francs.
+
+The great Shakespearian and other discoveries, which were found in a
+garret at Lamport Hall in 1867 by Mr. Edmonds, are too well-known and
+too recent to need description. In this case mere chance seems to have
+led to the preservation of works, the very existence of which set the
+ears of all lovers of Shakespeare a-tingling.
+
+In the summer of 1877, a gentleman with whom I was well acquainted took
+lodgings in Preston Street, Brighton. The morning after his arrival,
+he found in the w.c. some leaves of an old black-letter book. He asked
+permission to retain them, and enquired if there were any more where
+they came from. Two or three other fragments were found, and the
+landlady stated that her father, who was fond of antiquities, had at one
+time a chest full of old black-letter books; that, upon his death, they
+were preserved till she was tired of seeing them, and then, supposing
+them of no value, she had used them for waste; that for two years and
+a-half they had served for various household purposes, but she had
+just come to the end of them. The fragments preserved, and now in my
+possession, are a goodly portion of one of the most rare books from the
+press of Wynkyn de Worde, Caxton's successor. The title is a curious
+woodcut with the words "Gesta Romanorum" engraved in an odd-shaped black
+letter. It has also numerous rude wood-cuts throughout. It was from this
+very work that Shakespeare in all probability derived the story of the
+three caskets which in "The Merchant of Venice" forms so integral a
+portion of the plot. Only think of that cloaca being supplied daily with
+such dainty bibliographical treasures!
+
+In the Lansdowne Collection at the British Museum is a volume containing
+three manuscript dramas of Queen Elizabeth's time, and on a fly-leaf
+is a list of fifty-eight plays, with this note at the foot, in the
+handwriting of the well-known antiquary, Warburton:
+
+
+"After I had been many years collecting these Manuscript Playes, through
+my own carelessness and the ignorance of my servant, they was unluckely
+burned or put under pye bottoms."
+
+
+Some of these "Playes" are preserved in print, but others are quite
+unknown and perished for ever when used as "pye-bottoms."
+
+Mr. W. B. Rye, late Keeper of the Printed Books at our great National
+Library, thus writes:--
+
+
+"On the subject of ignorance you should some day, when at the British
+Museum, look at Lydgate's translation of Boccaccio's 'Fall of Princes,'
+printed by Pynson in 1494. It is 'liber rarissimus.' This copy when
+perfect had been very fine and quite uncut. On one fine summer afternoon
+in 1874 it was brought to me by a tradesman living at Lamberhurst. Many
+of the leaves had been cut into squares, and the whole had been rescued
+from a tobacconist's shop, where the pieces were being used to wrap up
+tobacco and snuff. The owner wanted to buy a new silk gown for his wife,
+and was delighted with three guineas for this purpose. You will notice
+how cleverly the British Museum binder has joined the leaves, making it,
+although still imperfect, a fine book."
+
+
+Referring to the carelessness exhibited by some custodians of Parish
+Registers,
+
+Mr. Noble, who has had great experience in such matters, writes:--
+
+
+"A few months ago I wanted a search made of the time of Charles I in
+one of the most interesting registers in a large town (which shall be
+nameless) in England. I wrote to the custodian of it, and asked him
+kindly to do the search for me, and if he was unable to read the names
+to get some one who understood the writing of that date to decipher the
+entries for me. I did not have a reply for a fortnight, but one morning
+the postman brought me a very large unregistered book-packet, which I
+found to be the original Parish Registers! He, however, addressed a note
+with it stating that he thought it best to send me the document itself
+to look at, and begged me to be good enough to return the Register to
+him as soon as done with. He evidently wished to serve me--his ignorance
+of responsibility without doubt proving his kindly disposition, and on
+that account alone I forbear to name him; but I can assure you I was
+heartily glad to have a letter from him in due time announcing that
+the precious documents were once more locked up in the parish chest.
+Certainly, I think such as he to be 'Enemies of books.' Don't you?"
+
+
+Bigotry has also many sins to answer for. The late M. Muller, of
+Amsterdam, a bookseller of European fame, wrote to me as follows a few
+weeks before his death:--
+
+
+"Of course, we also, in Holland, have many Enemies of books, and if I
+were happy enough to have your spirit and style I would try and write
+a companion volume to yours. Now I think the best thing I can do is
+to give you somewhat of my experience. You say that the discovery of
+printing has made the destruction of anybody's books difficult. At this
+I am bound to say that the Inquisition did succeed most successfully, by
+burning heretical books, in destroying numerous volumes invaluable for
+their wholesome contents. Indeed, I beg to state to you the amazing fact
+that here in Holland exists an Ultramontane Society called 'Old
+Paper,' which is under the sanction of the six Catholic Bishops of the
+Netherlands, and is spread over the whole kingdom. The openly-avowed
+object of this Society is to buy up and to destroy as waste paper all
+the Protestant and Liberal Catholic newspapers, pamphlets and books,
+the price of which is offered to the Pope as 'Deniers de St. Pierre.'
+Of course, this Society is very little known among Protestants, and
+many have denied even its existence; but I have been fortunate enough
+to obtain a printed circular issued by one of the Bishops containing
+statistics of the astounding mass of paper thus collected, producing in
+one district alone the sum of L1,200 in three months. I need not tell
+you that this work is strongly promoted by the Catholic clergy. You can
+have no idea of the difficulty we now have in procuring certain books
+published but 30, 40, or 50 years ago of an ephemeral character.
+Historical and theological books are very rare; novels and poetry of
+that period are absolutely not to be found; medical and law books are
+more common. I am bound to say that in no country have more books been
+printed and more destroyed than in Holland. W. MULLER."
+
+The policy of buying up all objectionable literature seems to me, I
+confess, very short-sighted, and in most cases would lead to a greatly
+increased reprint; it certainly would in these latitudes.
+
+From the Church of Rome to the Church of England is no great leap, and
+Mr. Smith, the Brighton bookseller, gives evidence thus:--
+
+
+"It may be worth your while to note that the clergy of the last two
+centuries ought to be included in your list (of Biblioclasts). I have
+had painful experience of the fact in the following manner. Numbers of
+volumes in their libraries have had a few leaves removed, and in many
+others whole sections torn out. I suppose it served their purpose thus
+to use the wisdom of greater men and that they thus economised their own
+time by tearing out portions to suit their purpose. The hardship to the
+trade is this: their books are purchased in good faith as perfect, and
+when resold the buyer is quick to claim damage if found defective, while
+the seller has no redress."
+
+
+Among the careless destroyers of books still at work should be classed
+Government officials. Cart-loads of interesting documents, bound and
+unbound, have been sold at various times as waste-paper,[1] when modern
+red-tape thought them but rubbish. Some of them have been rescued and
+resold at high prices, but some have been lost for ever.
+
+
+[1] Nell Gwyn's private Housekeeping Book was among them, containing
+most curious particulars of what was necessary in the time of Charles I
+for a princely household. Fortunately it was among the rescued, and is
+now in a private library.
+
+
+In 1854 a very interesting series of blue books was commenced by the
+authorities of the Patent Office, of course paid for out of the national
+purse. Beginning with the year 1617 the particulars of every important
+patent were printed from the original specifications and fac-simile
+drawings made, where necessary, for the elucidation of the text. A
+very moderate price was charged for each, only indeed the prime cost
+of production. The general public, of course, cared little for such
+literature, but those interested in the origin and progress of any
+particular art, cared much, and many sets of Patents were purchased by
+those engaged in research. But the great bulk of the stock was, to some
+extent, inconvenient, and so when a removal to other offices, in 1879,
+became necessary, the question arose as to what could be done with them.
+These blue-books, which had cost the nation many thousands of pounds,
+were positively sold to the paper mills as wastepaper, and nearly 100
+tons weight were carted away at about L3 per ton. It is difficult to
+believe, although positively true, that so great an act of vandalism
+could have been perpetrated, even in a Government office. It is true
+that no demand existed for some of them, but it is equally true that
+in numerous cases, especially in the early specifications of the
+steam engine and printing machine, the want of them has caused great
+disappointment. To add a climax to the story, many of the "pulped"
+specifications have had to be reprinted more than once since their
+destruction.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. THE BOOKWORM.
+
+      THERE is a sort of busy worm
+      That will the fairest books deform,
+          By gnawing holes throughout them;
+      Alike, through every leaf they go,
+      Yet of its merits naught they know,
+          Nor care they aught about them.
+
+      Their tasteless tooth will tear and taint
+      The Poet, Patriot, Sage or Saint,
+          Not sparing wit nor learning.
+      Now, if you'd know the reason why,
+      The best of reasons I'll supply;
+          'Tis bread to the poor vermin.
+
+      Of pepper, snuff, or 'bacca smoke,
+      And Russia-calf they make a joke.
+          Yet, why should sons of science
+      These puny rankling reptiles dread?
+      'Tis but to let their books be read,
+          And bid the worms defiance."
+                              J. DORASTON.
+
+A most destructive Enemy of books has been the bookworm. I say "has
+been," because, fortunately, his ravages in all civilised countries have
+been greatly restricted during the last fifty years. This is due partly
+to the increased reverence for antiquity which has been universally
+developed--more still to the feeling of cupidity, which has caused
+all owners to take care of volumes which year by year have become more
+valuable--and, to some considerable extent, to the falling off in the
+production of edible books.
+
+The monks, who were the chief makers as well as the custodians of books,
+through the long ages we call "dark," because so little is known of
+them, had no fear of the bookworm before their eyes, for, ravenous as
+he is and was, he loves not parchment, and at that time paper was not.
+Whether at a still earlier period he attacked the papyrus, the paper of
+the Egyptians, I know not--probably he did, as it was a purely vegetable
+substance; and if so, it is quite possible that the worm of to-day, in
+such evil repute with us, is the lineal descendant of ravenous ancestors
+who plagued the sacred Priests of On in the time of Joseph's Pharaoh, by
+destroying their title deeds and their books of Science.
+
+Rare things and precious, as manuscripts were before the invention of
+typography, are well preserved, but when the printing press was invented
+and paper books were multiplied in the earth; when libraries increased
+and readers were many, then familiarity bred contempt; books were packed
+in out-of-the-way places and neglected, and the oft-quoted, though
+seldom seen, bookworm became an acknowledged tenant of the library, and
+the mortal enemy of the bibliophile.
+
+Anathemas have been hurled against this pest in nearly every European
+language, old and new, and classical scholars of bye-gone centuries have
+thrown their spondees and dactyls at him. Pierre Petit, in 1683, devoted
+a long Latin poem to his dis-praise, and Parnell's charming Ode is well
+known. Hear the poet lament:--
+
+ "Pene tu mihi passerem Catulli,
+ Pene tu mihi Lesbiam abstulisti."
+
+and then--
+
+ "Quid dicam innumeros bene eruditos
+ Quorum tu monumenta tu labores
+     Isti pessimo ventre devorasti?"
+
+while Petit, who was evidently moved by strong personal feelings against
+the "invisum pecus," as he calls him, addresses his little enemy as
+"Bestia audax" and "Pestis chartarum."
+
+But, as a portrait commonly precedes a biography, the curious reader
+may wish to be told what this "Bestia audax," who so greatly ruffles
+the tempers of our eclectics, is like. Here, at starting, is a serious
+chameleon-like difficulty, for the bookworm offers to us, if we are
+guided by their words, as many varieties of size and shape as there are
+beholders.
+
+Sylvester, in his "Laws of Verse," with more words than wit, described
+him as "a microscopic creature wriggling on the learned page, which,
+when discovered, stiffens out into the resemblance of a streak of dirt."
+
+The earliest notice is in "Micrographia," by R. Hooke, folio, London,
+1665. This work, which was printed at the expense of the Royal Society
+of London, is an account of innumerable things examined by the author
+under the microscope, and is most interesting for the frequent accuracy
+of the author's observations, and most amusing for his equally frequent
+blunders.
+
+In his account of the bookworm, his remarks, which are rather long
+and very minute, are absurdly blundering. He calls it "a small white
+Silver-shining Worm or Moth, which I found much conversant among books
+and papers, and is supposed to be that which corrodes and eats holes
+thro' the leaves and covers. Its head appears bigg and blunt, and its
+body tapers from it towards the tail, smaller and smaller, being
+shap'd almost like a carret.... It has two long horns before, which are
+streight, and tapering towards the top, curiously ring'd or knobb'd and
+brisled much like the marsh weed called Horses tail.... The hinder part
+is terminated with three tails, in every particular resembling the two
+longer horns that grow out of the head. The legs are scal'd and hair'd.
+This animal probably feeds upon the paper and covers of books, and
+perforates in them several small round holes, finding perhaps a
+convenient nourishment in those husks of hemp and flax, which have
+passed through so many scourings, washings, dressings, and dryings as
+the parts of old paper necessarily have suffer'd. And, indeed, when I
+consider what a heap of sawdust or chips this little creature (which is
+one of the teeth of Time) conveys into its intrals, I cannot chuse but
+remember and admire the excellent contrivance of Nature in placing in
+animals such a fire, as is continually nourished and supply'd by the
+materials convey'd into the stomach and fomented by the bellows of the
+lungs." The picture or "image," which accompanies this description, is
+wonderful to behold. Certainly R. Hooke, Fellow of the Royal Society,
+drew somewhat upon his imagination here, having apparently evolved both
+engraving and description from his inner consciousness.[1]
+
+
+[1] Not so! Several correspondents have drawn my attention to the
+fact that Hooke is evidently describing the "Lepisma," which, if not
+positively injurious, is often found in the warm places of old houses,
+especially if a little damp. He mistook this for the Bookworm.
+
+
+Entomologists even do not appear to have paid much attention to the
+natural history of the "Worm." Kirby, speaking of it, says, "the
+larvae of Crambus pinguinalis spins a robe which it covers with its own
+excrement, and does no little injury." Again, "I have often observed the
+caterpillar of a little moth that takes its station in damp old books,
+and there commits great ravages, and many a black-letter rarity, which
+in these days of bibliomania would have been valued at its weight in
+gold, has been snatched by these devastators," etc., etc.
+
+As already quoted, Doraston's description is very vague. To him he is
+in one verse "a sort of busy worm," and in another "a puny rankling
+reptile." Hannett, in his work on book-binding, gives "Aglossa
+pinguinalis" as the real name, and Mrs. Gatty, in her Parables,
+christens it "Hypothenemus cruditus."
+
+The, Rev. F. T. Havergal, who many years ago had much trouble with
+bookworms in the Cathedral Library of Hereford, says they are a kind of
+death-watch, with a "hard outer skin, and are dark brown," another sort
+"having white bodies with brown spots on their heads." Mr. Holme, in
+"Notes and Queries" for 1870, states that the "Anobium paniceum" has
+done considerable injury to the Arabic manuscripts brought from Cairo,
+by Burckhardt, and now in the University Library, Cambridge. Other
+writers say "Acarus eruditus" or "Anobium pertinax" are the correct
+scientific names.
+
+Personally, I have come across but few specimens; nevertheless, from
+what I have been told by librarians, and judging from analogy, I imagine
+the following to be about the truth:--
+
+There are several kinds of caterpillar and grub, which eat into books,
+those with legs are the larvae of moths; those without legs, or rather
+with rudimentary legs, are grubs and turn to beetles.
+
+It is not known whether any species of caterpillar or grub can live
+generation after generation upon books alone, but several sorts of
+wood-borers, and others which live upon vegetable refuse, will attack
+paper, especially if attracted in the first place by the real wooden
+boards in which it was the custom of the old book-binders to clothe
+their volumes. In this belief, some country librarians object to opening
+the library windows lest the enemy should fly in from the neighbouring
+woods, and rear a brood of worms. Anyone, indeed, who has seen a hole
+in a filbert, or a piece of wood riddled by dry rot, will recognize a
+similarity of appearance in the channels made by these insect enemies.
+
+Among the paper-eating species are:--
+
+1. The "Anobium." Of this beetle there are varieties, viz.: "A.
+pertinax," "A. eruditus," and "A. paniceum." In the larval state they
+are grubs, just like those found, in nuts; in this stage they are too
+much alike to be distinguished from one another. They feed on old dry
+wood, and often infest bookcases and shelves. They eat the wooden boards
+of old books, and so pass into the paper where they make long holes
+quite round, except when they work in a slanting direction, when the
+holes appear to be oblong. They will thus pierce through several volumes
+in succession, Peignot, the well-known bibliographer, having found
+27 volumes so pierced in a straight line by one worm, a miracle of
+gluttony, the story of which, for myself, I receive "_cum grano salis_."
+After a certain time the larva changes into a pupa, and then emerges as
+a small brown beetle.
+
+2. "Oecophora."--This larva is similar in size to that of Anobium, but
+can be distinguished at once by having legs. It is a caterpillar, with
+six legs upon its thorax and eight sucker-like protuberances on its
+body, like a silk-worm. It changes into a chrysalis, and then assumes
+its perfect shape as a small brown moth. The species that attacks books
+is the OEcophora pseudospretella. It loves damp and warmth, and eats any
+fibrous material. This caterpillar is quite unlike any garden species,
+and, excepting the legs, is very similar in appearance and size to the
+Anobium. It is about half-inch long, with a horny head and strong jaws.
+To printers' ink or writing ink he appears to have no great dislike,
+though I imagine that the former often disagrees with his health, unless
+he is very robust, as in books where the print is pierced a majority of
+the worm-holes I have seen are too short in extent to have provided food
+enough for the development of the grub. But, although the ink may be
+unwholesome, many grubs survive, and, eating day and night in silence
+and darkness, work out their destiny leaving, according to the strength
+of their constitutions, a longer or shorter tunnel in the volume.
+
+In December, 1879, Mr. Birdsall, a well-known book-binder of
+Northampton, kindly sent me by post a fat little Worm, which had been
+found by one of his workmen in an old book while being bound. He bore
+his journey extremely well, being very lively when turned out. I placed
+him in a box in warmth and quiet, with some small fragments of paper
+from a Boethius, printed by Caxton, and a leaf of a seventeenth century
+book. He ate a small piece of the leaf, but either from too much fresh
+air, from unaccustomed liberty, or from change of food, he gradually
+weakened, and died in about three weeks. I was sorry to lose him, as I
+wished to verify his name in his perfect state. Mr. Waterhouse, of the
+Entomological department of the British Museum, very kindly examined him
+before death, and was of opinion he was OEcophora pseudospretella.
+
+In July, 1885, Dr. Garnett, of the British Museum, gave me two worms
+which had been found in an old Hebrew Commentary just received from
+Athens. They had doubtless had a good shaking on the journey, and one
+was moribund when I took charge, and joined his defunct kindred in a
+few days. The other seemed hearty and lived with me for nearly eighteen
+months. I treated him as well as I knew how; placed him in a small box
+with the choice of three sorts of old paper to eat, and very seldom
+disturbed him. He evidently resented his confinement, ate very little,
+moved very little, and changed in appearance very little, even when
+dead. This Greek worm, filled with Hebrew lore, differed in many
+respects from any other I have seen. He was longer, thinner, and more
+delicate looking than any of his English congeners. He was transparent,
+like thin ivory, and had a dark line through his body, which I took
+to be the intestinal canal. He resigned his life with extreme
+procrastination, and died "deeply lamented" by his keeper, who had long
+looked forward to his final development.
+
+The difficulty of breeding these worms is probably due to their
+formation. When in a state of nature they can by expansion and
+contraction of the body working upon the sides of their holes, push
+their horny jaws against the opposing mass of paper. But when freed from
+the restraint, which indeed to them is life, they CANNOT eat although
+surrounded with food, for they have no legs to keep them steady, and
+their natural, leverage is wanting.
+
+Considering the numerous old books contained in the British Museum, the
+Library there is wonderfully free from the worm. Mr. Rye, lately
+the Keeper of the Printed Books there, writes me "Two or three were
+discovered in my time, but they were weakly creatures. One, I remember,
+was conveyed into the Natural History Department, and was taken into
+custody by Mr. Adam White who pronounced it to be Anobium pertinax. I
+never heard of it after."
+
+The reader, who has not had an opportunity of examining old libraries,
+can have no idea of the dreadful havoc which these pests are capable of
+making.
+
+I have now before me a fine folio volume, printed on very good
+unbleached paper, as thick as stout cartridge, in the year 1477, by
+Peter Schoeffer, of Mentz. Unfortunately, after a period of neglect in
+which it suffered severely from the "worm," it was about fifty years ago
+considered worth a new cover, and so again suffered severely, this time
+at the hands of the binder. Thus the original state of the boards is
+unknown, but the damage done to the leaves can be accurately described.
+
+The "worms" have attacked each end. On the first leaf are 212 distinct
+holes, varying in size from a common pin hole to that which a stout
+knitting-needle would make, say, <1/16> to <1/23> inch. These holes run
+mostly in lines more or less at right angles with the covers, a very few
+being channels along the paper affecting three or four sheets only. The
+varied energy of these little pests is thus represented:--
+
+    On folio 1 are 212 holes.  On folio 61 are 4 holes.
+        "   11  "   57   "         "    71  "  2   "
+        "   21  "   48   "         "    81  "  2   "
+        "   31  "   31   "         "    87  "  1   "
+        "   41  "   18   "         "    90  "  0   "
+        "   51  "    6   "
+
+
+These 90 leaves being stout, are about the thickness of 1 inch. The
+volume has 250 leaves, and turning to the end, we find on the last leaf
+81 holes, made by a breed of worms not so ravenous. Thus,
+
+      From end                |         From end.
+ On folio 1 are 81 holes.     |    On folio 66 is 1 hole.
+     "   11 "   40   "        |         "   69   "   0   "
+
+
+It is curious to notice how the holes, rapidly at first, and then slowly
+and more slowly, disappear. You trace the same hole leaf after leaf,
+until suddenly the size becomes in one leaf reduced to half its normal
+diameter, and a close examination will show a small abrasion of the
+paper in the next leaf exactly where the hole would have come if
+continued. In the book quoted it is just as if there had been a race. In
+the first ten leaves the weak worms are left behind; in the second ten
+there are still forty-eight eaters; these are reduced to thirty-one in
+the third ten, and to only eighteen in the fourth ten. On folio 51 only
+six worms hold on, and before folio 61 two of them have given in.
+Before reaching folio 7, it is a neck and neck race between two sturdy
+gourmands, each making a fine large hole, one of them being oval in
+shape. At folio 71 they are still neck and neck, and at folio 81 the
+same. At folio 87 the oval worm gives in, the round one eating three
+more leaves and part way through the fourth. The leaves of the book are
+then untouched until we reach the sixty-ninth from the end, upon which
+is one worm hole. After this they go on multiplying to the end of the
+book.
+
+I have quoted this instance because I have it handy, but many worms
+eat much longer holes than any in this volume; some I have seen
+running quite through a couple of thick volumes, covers and all. In the
+"Schoeffer" book the holes are probably the work of Anobium pertinax,
+because the centre is spared and both ends attacked. Originally, real
+wooden boards were the covers of the volume, and here, doubtless, the
+attack was commenced, which was carried through each board into the
+paper of the book.
+
+I remember well my first visit to the Bodleian Library, in the year
+1858, Dr. Bandinel being then the librarian. He was very kind, and
+afforded me every facility for examining the fine collection of
+"Caxtons," which was the object of my journey. In looking over a parcel
+of black-letter fragments, which had been in a drawer for a long time, I
+came across a small grub, which, without a thought, I threw on the floor
+and trod under foot. Soon after I found another, a fat, glossy fellow,
+so long ---, which I carefully preserved in a little paper box,
+intending to observe his habits and development. Seeing Dr. Bandinel
+near, I asked him to look at my curiosity. Hardly, however, had I turned
+the wriggling little victim out upon the leather-covered table, when
+down came the doctor's great thumb-nail upon him, and an inch-long smear
+proved the tomb of all my hopes, while the great bibliographer, wiping
+his thumb on his coat sleeve, passed on with the remark, "Oh, yes! they
+have black heads sometimes." That was something to know--another fact
+for the entomologist; for my little gentleman had a hard, shiny, white
+head, and I never heard of a black-headed bookworm before or since.
+Perhaps the great abundance of black-letter books in the Bodleian may
+account for the variety. At any rate he was an Anobium.
+
+I have been unmercifully "chaffed" for the absurd idea that a
+paper-eating worm could be kept a prisoner in a paper box. Oh, these
+critics! Your bookworm is a shy, lazy beast, and takes a day or two to
+recover his appetite after being "evicted." Moreover, he knew his own
+dignity better than to eat the "loaded" glazed shoddy note paper in
+which he was incarcerated.
+
+In the case of Caxton's "Lyf of oure ladye," already referred to, not
+only are there numerous small holes, but some very large channels at the
+bottom of the pages. This is a most unusual occurrence, and is probably
+the work of the larva of "Dermestes vulpinus," a garden beetle, which is
+very voracious, and eats any kind of dry ligneous rubbish.
+
+The scarcity of edible books of the present century has been mentioned.
+One result of the extensive adulteration of modern paper is that the
+worm will not touch it. His instinct forbids him to eat the china clay,
+the bleaches, the plaster of Paris, the sulphate of barytes, the scores
+of adulterants now used to mix with the fibre, and, so far, the wise
+pages of the old literature are, in the race against Time with the
+modern rubbish, heavily handicapped. Thanks to the general interest
+taken in old books now-a-days, the worm has hard times of it, and
+but slight chance of that quiet neglect which is necessary to his,
+existence. So much greater is the reason why some patient entomologist
+should, while there is the chance, take upon himself to study the habits
+of the creature, as Sir John Lubbock has those of the ant.
+
+I have now before me some leaves of a book, which, being waste, were
+used by our economical first printer, Caxton, to make boards, by pasting
+them together. Whether the old paste was an attraction, or whatever the
+reason may have been, the worm, when he got in there, did not, as usual,
+eat straight through everything into the middle of the book, but worked
+his way longitudinally, eating great furrows along the leaves without
+passing out of the binding; and so furrowed are these few leaves by long
+channels that it is difficult to raise one of them without its falling
+to pieces.
+
+This is bad enough, but we may be very thankful that in these temperate
+climes we have no such enemies as are found in very hot countries, where
+a whole library, books, bookshelves, table, chairs, and all, may be
+destroyed in one night by a countless army of ants.
+
+Our cousins in the United States, so fortunate in many things, seem very
+fortunate in this--their books are not attacked by the "worm"--at any
+rate, American writers say so. True it is that all their black-letter
+comes from Europe, and, having cost many dollars, is well looked after;
+but there they have thousands of seventeenth and eighteenth century
+books, in Roman type, printed in the States on genuine and wholesome
+paper, and the worm is not particular, at least in this country, about
+the type he eats through, if the paper is good.
+
+Probably, therefore, the custodians of their old libraries could tell
+a different tale, which makes it all the more amusing to find in
+the excellent "Encyclopaedia of Printing,"[1] edited and printed by
+Ringwalt, at Philadelphia, not only that the bookworm is a stranger
+there, for personally he is unknown to most of us, but that his
+slightest ravages are looked upon as both curious and rare. After
+quoting Dibdin, with the addition of a few flights of imagination of his
+own, Ringwalt states that this "paper-eating moth is supposed to have
+been introduced into England in hogsleather binding from Holland." He
+then ends with what, to anyone who has seen the ravages of the worm in
+hundreds of books, must be charming in its native simplicity. "There is
+now," he states, evidently quoting it as a great curiosity, "there is
+now, in a private library in Philadelphia, a book perforated by this
+insect." Oh! lucky Philadelphians! who can boast of possessing the
+oldest library in the States, but must ask leave of a private collector
+if they wish to see the one wormhole in the whole city!
+
+
+[1] "American Encyclopaedia of Printing": by Luther Ringwalt. 8vo.
+Philadelphia, 1871.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. OTHER VERMIN.
+
+BESIDES the worm I do not think there is any insect enemy of books worth
+description. The domestic black-beetle, or cockroach, is far too modern
+an introduction to our country to have done much harm, though he will
+sometimes nibble the binding of books, especially if they rest upon the
+floor.
+
+Not so fortunate, however, are our American cousins, for in the "Library
+Journal" for September, 1879, Mr. Weston Flint gives an account of a
+dreadful little pest which commits great havoc upon the cloth bindings
+of the New York libraries. It is a small black-beetle or cockroach,
+called by scientists "Blatta germanica" and by others the "Croton
+Bug." Unlike our household pest, whose home is the kitchen, and whose
+bashfulness loves secrecy and the dark hours, this misgrown flat
+species, of which it would take two to make a medium-sized English
+specimen, has gained in impudence what it has lost in size, fearing
+neither light nor noise, neither man nor beast. In the old English Bible
+of 1551, we read in Psalm xci, 5, "Thou shalt not nede to be afraied
+for eny Bugges by night." This verse falls unheeded on the ear of the
+Western librarian who fears his "bugs" both night and day, for they
+crawl over everything in broad sunlight, infesting and infecting each
+corner and cranny of the bookshelves they choose as their home. There
+is a remedy in the powder known as insecticide, which, however, is very
+disagreeable upon books and shelves. It is, nevertheless, very fatal to
+these pests, and affords some consolation in the fact that so soon as
+a "bug" shows any signs of illness, he is devoured at once by his
+voracious brethren with the same relish as if he were made of fresh
+paste.
+
+There is, too, a small silvery insect (Lepisma) which I have often
+seen in the backs of neglected books, but his ravages are not of much
+importance.
+
+Nor can we reckon the Codfish as very dangerous to literature,
+unless, indeed, he be of the Roman obedience, like that wonderful
+Ichthiobibliophage (pardon me, Professor Owen) who, in the year 1626,
+swallowed three Puritanical treatises of John Frith, the Protestant
+martyr. No wonder, after such a meal, he was soon caught, and became
+famous in the annals of literature. The following is the title of a
+little book issued upon the occasion: "Vox Piscis, or the Book-Fish
+containing Three Treatises, which were found in the belly of a Cod-Fish
+in Cambridge Market on Midsummer Eve, AD 1626." Lowndes says (see
+under "Tracey,") "great was the consternation at Cambridge upon the
+publication of this work."
+
+Rats and mice, however, are occasionally very destructive, as the
+following anecdote will show: Two centuries ago, the library of the Dean
+and Chapter of Westminster was kept in the Chapter House, and repairs
+having become necessary in that building, a scaffolding was erected
+inside, the books being left on their shelves. One of the holes made in
+the wall for a scaffold-pole was selected by a pair of rats for their
+family residence. Here they formed a nest for their young ones by
+descending to the library shelves and biting away the leaves of various
+books. Snug and comfortable was the little household, until, one day,
+the builder's men having finished, the poles were removed, and--alas!
+for the rats--the hole was closed up with bricks and cement. Buried
+alive, the father and mother, with five or six of their offspring, met
+with a speedy death, and not until a few years ago, when a restoration
+of the Chapter House was effected, was the rat grave opened again for a
+scaffold pole, and all their skeletons and their nest discovered. Their
+bones and paper fragments of the nest may now be seen in a glass case in
+the Chapter House, some of the fragments being attributed to books from
+the press of Caxton. This is not the case, although there are pieces of
+very early black-letter books not now to be found in the Abbey library,
+including little bits of the famous Queen Elizabeth's Prayer book, with
+woodcuts, 1568.
+
+A friend sends me the following incident: "A few years since, some rats
+made nests in the trees surrounding my house; from thence they jumped on
+to some flat roofing, and so made their way down a chimney into a
+room where I kept books. A number of these, with parchment backs, they
+entirely destroyed, as well as some half-dozen books whole bound in
+parchment."
+
+Another friend informs me that in the Natural History Museum of the
+Devon and Exeter Institution is a specimen of "another little pest,
+which has a great affection for bindings in calf and roan. Its
+scientific name is Niptus Hololeucos." He adds, "Are you aware that
+there was a terrible creature allied to these, rejoicing in the name
+of Tomicus Typographus, which committed sad ravages in Germany in
+the seventeenth century, and in the old liturgies of that country is
+formally mentioned under its vulgar name, 'The Turk'?" (See Kirby and
+Spence, Seventh Edition, 1858, p. 123.) This is curious, and I did not
+know it, although I know well that Typographus Tomicus, or the "cutting
+printer," is a sad enemy of (good) books. Upon this part of our subject,
+however, I am debarred entering.
+
+The following is from W. J. Westbrook, Mus. Doe., Cantab., and
+represents ravages with which I am personally unacquainted:
+
+
+"Dear Blades,--I send you an example of the 'enemy'-mosity of an
+ordinary housefly. It hid behind the paper, emitted some caustic fluid,
+and then departed this life. I have often caught them in such holes.'
+30/12/83." The damage is an oblong hole, surrounded by a white fluffy
+glaze (fungoid?), difficult to represent in a woodcut. The size here
+given is exact.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. BOOKBINDERS.
+
+IN the first chapter I mentioned bookbinders among the Enemies of Books,
+and I tremble to think what a stinging retort might be made if some
+irate bibliopegist were to turn the scales on the printer, and place HIM
+in the same category. On the sins of printers, and the unnatural neglect
+which has often shortened the lives of their typographical progeny, it
+is not for me to dilate. There is an old proverb, "'Tis an ill bird
+that befouls its own nest"; a curious chapter thereupon, with many
+modern examples, might nevertheless be written. This I will leave, and
+will now only place on record some of the cruelties perpetrated upon
+books by the ignorance or carelessness of binders.
+
+Like men, books have a soul and body. With the soul, or literary
+portion, we have nothing to do at present; the body, which is the outer
+frame or covering, and without which the inner would be unusable, is the
+special work of the binder. He, so to speak, begets it; he determines
+its form and adornment, he doctors it in disease and decay, and, not
+unseldom, dissects it after death. Here, too, as through all Nature, we
+find the good and bad running side by side. What a treat it is to
+handle a well-bound volume; the leaves lie open fully and freely, as
+if tempting you to read on, and you handle them without fear of their
+parting from the back. To look at the "tooling," too, is a pleasure, for
+careful thought, combined with artistic skill, is everywhere apparent.
+You open the cover and find the same loving attention inside that has
+been given to the outside, all the workmanship being true and thorough.
+Indeed, so conservative is a good binding, that many a worthless book
+has had an honoured old age, simply out of respect to its outward
+aspect; and many a real treasure has come to a degraded end and
+premature death through the unsightliness of its outward case and the
+irreparable damage done to it in binding.
+
+The weapon with which the binder deals the most deadly blows to books
+is the "plough," the effect of which is to cut away the margins, placing
+the print in a false position relatively to the back and head, and often
+denuding the work of portions of the very text. This reduction in size
+not seldom brings down a handsome folio to the size of quarto, and a
+quarto to an octavo.
+
+With the old hand plough a binder required more care and caution to
+produce an even edge throughout than with the new cutting machine. If a
+careless workman found that he had not ploughed the margin quite square
+with the text, he would put it in his press and take off "another
+shaving," and sometimes even a third.
+
+Dante, in his "Inferno," deals out to the lost souls various tortures
+suited with dramatic fitness to the past crimes of the victims, and
+had I to execute judgment on the criminal binders of certain precious
+volumes I have seen, where the untouched maiden sheets entrusted to
+their care have, by barbarous treatment, lost dignity, beauty and value,
+I would collect the paper shavings so ruthlessly shorn off, and roast
+the perpetrator of the outrage over their slow combustion. In olden
+times, before men had learned to value the relics of our printers, there
+was some excuse for the sins of a binder who erred from ignorance which
+was general; but in these times, when the historical and antiquarian
+value of old books is freely acknowledged, no quarter should be granted
+to a careless culprit.
+
+It may be supposed that, from the spread of information, all real danger
+from ignorance is past. Not so, good reader; that is a consummation as
+yet "devoutly to be wished." Let me relate to you a true bibliographical
+anecdote: In 1877, a certain lord, who had succeeded to a fine
+collection of old books, promised to send some of the most valuable
+(among which were several Caxtons) to the Exhibition at South
+Kensington. Thinking their outward appearance too shabby, and not
+knowing the danger of his conduct, he decided to have them rebound
+in the neighbouring county town. The volumes were soon returned in a
+resplendent state, and, it is said, quite to the satisfaction of his
+lordship, whose pleasure, however, was sadly damped when a friend
+pointed out to him that, although the discoloured edges had all been
+ploughed off, and the time-stained blanks, with their fifteenth century
+autographs, had been replaced by nice clean fly-leaves, yet, looking at
+the result in its lowest aspect only--that of market value--the books
+had been damaged to at least the amount of L500; and, moreover,
+that caustic remarks would most certainly follow upon their public
+exhibition. Those poor injured volumes were never sent.
+
+Some years ago one of the most rare books printed by Machlinia--a thin
+folio--was discovered bound in sheep by a country bookbinder, and cut
+down to suit the size of some quarto tracts. But do not let us suppose
+that country binders are the only culprits. It is not very long since
+the discovery of a unique Caxton in one of our largest London libraries.
+It was in boards, as originally issued by the fifteenth-century binder,
+and a great fuss (very properly) was made over the treasure trove. Of
+course, cries the reader, it was kept in its original covers, with
+all the interesting associations of its early state untouched? No such
+thing! Instead of making a suitable case, in which it could be preserved
+just as it was, it was placed in the hands of a well-known London
+binder, with the order, "Whole bind in velvet." He did his best, and
+the volume now glows luxuriously in its gilt edges and its inappropriate
+covering, and, alas! with half-an-inch of its uncut margin taken off all
+round. How do I know that? because the clever binder, seeing some MS.
+remarks on one of the margins, turned the leaf down to avoid cutting
+them off, and that stern witness will always testify, to the observant
+reader, the original size of the book. This same binder, on another
+occasion, placed a unique fifteenth century Indulgence in warm water,
+to separate it from the cover upon which it was pasted, the result being
+that, when dry, it was so distorted as to be useless. That man soon
+after passed to another world, where, we may hope, his works have not
+followed him, and that his merits as a good citizen and an honest man
+counterbalanced his de-merits as a binder.
+
+Other similar instances will occur to the memory of many a reader, and
+doubtless the same sin will be committed from time to time by certain
+binders, who seem to have an ingrained antipathy to rough edges and
+large margins, which of course are, in their view, made by Nature as
+food for the shaving tub.
+
+De Rome, a celebrated bookbinder of the eighteenth century, who was
+nicknamed by Dibdin "The Great Cropper," was, although in private life
+an estimable man, much addicted to the vice of reducing the margins of
+all books sent to him to bind. So far did he go, that he even spared
+not a fine copy of Froissart's Chronicles, on vellum, in which was the
+autograph of the well-known book-lover, De Thou, but cropped it most
+cruelly.
+
+Owners, too, have occasionally diseased minds with regard to margins. A
+friend writes: "Your amusing anecdotes have brought to my memory several
+biblioclasts whom I have known. One roughly cut the margins off his
+books with a knife, hacking away very much like a hedger and ditcher.
+Large paper volumes were his especial delight, as they gave more paper.
+The slips thus obtained were used for index-making! Another, with the
+bump of order unnaturally developed, had his folios and quartos all
+reduced, in binding, to one size, so that they might look even on his
+bookshelves."
+
+This latter was, doubtless, cousin to him who deliberately cut down all
+his books close to the text, because he had been several times annoyed
+by readers who made marginal notes.
+
+The indignities, too, suffered by some books in their lettering! Fancy
+an early black-letter fifteenth-century quarto on Knighthood, labelled
+"Tracts"; or a translation of Virgil, "Sermons"! The "Histories of
+Troy," printed by Caxton, still exists with "Eracles" on the back, as
+its title, because that name occurs several times in the early chapters,
+and the binder was too proud to seek advice. The words "Miscellaneous,"
+or "Old Pieces," were sometimes used when binders were at a loss for
+lettering, and many other instances might be mentioned.
+
+The rapid spread of printing throughout Europe in the latter part of
+the fifteenth century caused a great fall in the value of plain
+un-illuminated MSS., and the immediate consequence of this was the
+destruction of numerous volumes written upon parchment, which were used
+by the binders to strengthen the backs of their newly-printed rivals.
+These slips of vellum or parchment are quite common in old books.
+Sometimes whole sheets are used as fly-leaves, and often reveal the
+existence of most valuable works, unknown before--proving, at the same
+time, the small value formerly attached to them.
+
+Many a bibliographer, while examining old books, has to his great
+puzzlement come across short slips of parchment, nearly always from some
+old manuscript, sticking out like "guards" from the midst of the leaves.
+These suggest, at first, imperfections or damage done to the volume; but
+if examined closely it will be found that they are always in the middle
+of a paper section, and the real reason of their existence is just the
+same as when two leaves of parchment occur here and there in a paper
+volume, viz.: strength--strength to resist the lug which the strong
+thread makes against the middle of each section. These slips represent
+old books destroyed, and like the slips already noticed, should always
+be carefully examined.
+
+When valuable books have been evil-entreated, when they have become
+soiled by dirty hands, or spoiled by water stains, or injured by
+grease spots, nothing is more astonishing to the uninitiated than the
+transformation they undergo in the hands of a skilful restorer. The
+covers are first carefully dissected, the eye of the operator keeping
+a careful outlook for any fragments of old MSS. or early printed books,
+which may have been used by the original binder. No force should be
+applied to separate parts which adhere together; a little warm water
+and care is sure to overcome that difficulty. When all the sections are
+loose, the separate sheets are placed singly in a bath of cold water,
+and allowed to remain there until all the dirt has soaked out. If not
+sufficiently purified, a little hydrochloric or oxalic acid, or caustic
+potash may be put in the water, according as the stains are from grease
+or from ink. Here is where an unpractised binder will probably injure a
+book for life. If the chemicals are too strong, or the sheets remain too
+long in the bath, or are not thoroughly cleansed from the bleach before
+they are re-sized, the certain seeds of decay are planted in the paper,
+and although for a time the leaves may look bright to the eye, and even
+crackle under the hand like the soundest paper, yet in the course of a
+few years the enemy will appear, the fibre will decay, and the existence
+of the books will terminate in a state of white tinder.
+
+Everything which diminishes the interest of a book is inimical to its
+preservation, and in fact is its enemy. Therefore, a few words upon the
+destruction of old bindings.
+
+I remember purchasing many years ago at a suburban book stall, a perfect
+copy of Moxon's Mechanic Exercises, now a scarce work. The volumes were
+uncut, and had the original marble covers. They looked so attractive in
+their old fashioned dress, that I at once determined to preserve it. My
+binder soon made for them a neat wooden box in the shape of a book,
+with morocco back properly lettered, where I trust the originals will be
+preserved from dust and injury for many a long year.
+
+Old covers, whether boards or paper, should always be retained if in
+any state approaching decency. A case, which can be embellished to any
+extent looks every whit as well upon the shelf! and gives even greater
+protection than binding. It has also this great advantage: it does not
+deprive your descendants of the opportunity of seeing for themselves
+exactly in what dress the book buyers of four centuries ago received
+their volumes.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. COLLECTORS.
+
+AFTER all, two-legged depredators, who ought to have known better, have
+perhaps done as much real damage in libraries as any other enemy. I do
+not refer to thieves, who, if they injure the owners, do no harm to the
+books themselves by merely transferring them from one set of bookshelves
+to another. Nor do I refer to certain readers who frequent our public
+libraries, and, to save themselves the trouble of copying, will cut out
+whole articles from magazines or encyclopaedias. Such depredations are
+not frequent, and only occur with books easily replaced, and do not
+therefore call for more than a passing mention; but it is a serious
+matter when Nature produces such a wicked old biblioclast as John
+Bagford, one of the founders of the Society of Antiquaries, who, in the
+beginning of the last century, went about the country, from library to
+library, tearing away title pages from rare books of all sizes. These
+he sorted out into nationalities and towns, and so, with a lot of
+hand-bills, manuscript notes, and miscellaneous collections of all
+kinds, formed over a hundred folio volumes, now preserved in the British
+Museum. That they are of service as materials in compiling a general
+history of printing cannot be denied, but the destruction of many
+rare books was the result, and more than counter-balanced any benefit
+bibliographers will ever receive from them. When here and there
+throughout those volumes you meet with titles of books now either
+unknown entirely, or of the greatest rarity; when you find the Colophon
+from the end, or the "insigne typographi" from the first leaf of a rare
+"fifteener," pasted down with dozens of others, varying in value, you
+cannot bless the memory of the antiquarian shoemaker, John Bagford. His
+portrait, a half-length, painted by Howard, was engraved by Vertue, and
+re-engraved for the Bibliographical Decameron.
+
+A bad example often finds imitators, and every season there crop up for
+public sale one or two such collections, formed by bibliomaniacs, who,
+although calling themselves bibliophiles, ought really to be ranked
+among the worst enemies of books.
+
+The following is copied from a trade catalogue, dated April, 1880, and
+affords a fair idea of the extent to which these heartless destroyers
+will go:--
+
+"MISSAL ILLUMINATIONS.
+
+FIFTY DIFFERENT CAPITAL LETTERS _on_ VELLUM; _all in rich Gold and
+Colours. Many 3 inches square: the floral decorations are of great
+beauty, ranging from the XIIth to XVth century. Mounted on stout
+card-board_. IN NICE PRESERVATION, L6 6_s_.
+
+
+ These beautiful letters have been cut from precious
+     MSS., and as specimens of early art are extremely
+     valuable, many of them being worth 15_s_. each."
+
+
+Mr. Proeme is a man well known to the London dealers in old books. He is
+wealthy, and cares not what he spends to carry out his bibliographical
+craze, which is the collection of title pages. These he ruthlessly
+extracts, frequently leaving the decapitated carcase of the books, for
+which he cares not, behind him. Unlike the destroyer Bagford, he has
+no useful object in view, but simply follows a senseless kind of
+classification. For instance: One set of volumes contains nothing but
+copper-plate engraved titles, and woe betide the grand old Dutch folios
+of the seventeenth century if they cross his path. Another is a volume
+of coarse or quaint titles, which certainly answer the end of showing
+how idiotic and conceited some authors have been. Here you find Dr.
+Sib's "Bowels opened in Divers Sermons," 1650, cheek by jowl with the
+discourse attributed falsely to Huntington, the Calvinist, "Die and
+be damned," with many others too coarse to be quoted. The odd titles
+adopted for his poems by Taylor, the water-poet, enliven several pages,
+and make one's mouth water for the books themselves. A third volume
+includes only such titles as have the printer's device. If you shut
+your eyes to the injury done by such collectors, you may, to a certain
+extent, enjoy the collection, for there is great beauty in some titles;
+but such a pursuit is neither useful nor meritorious. By and by the end
+comes, and then dispersion follows collection, and the volumes, which
+probably Cost L200 each in their formation, will be knocked down to a
+dealer for L10, finally gravitating into the South Kensington Library,
+or some public museum, as a bibliographical curiosity. The following has
+just been sold (July, 1880) by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, in
+the Dunn-Gardinier collection, lot 1592:--
+
+"TITLEPAGES AND FRONTISPIECES.
+
+
+_A Collection of upwards of_ 800 ENGRAVED TITLES AND FRONTISPIECES,
+ENGLISH AND FOREIGN (_some very fine and curious) taken from old books
+and neatly mounted on cartridge paper in 3 vol, half morocco gilt. imp.
+folio_."
+
+
+The only collection of title-pages which has afforded me unalloyed
+pleasure is a handsome folio, published by the directors of the Plantin
+Museum, Antwerp, in 1877, just after the purchase of that wonderful
+typographical storehouse. It is called "Titels en Portretten gesneden
+naar P. P. Rubens voor de Plantijnsche Drukkerij," and it contains
+thirty-five grand title pages, reprinted from the original seventeenth
+century plates, designed by Rubens himself between the years 1612 and
+1640, for various publications which issued from the celebrated Plantin
+Printing Office. In the same Museum are preserved in Rubens' own
+handwriting his charge for each design, duly receipted at foot.
+
+I have now before me a fine copy of "Coclusiones siue decisiones antique
+dnor' de Rota," printed by Gutenberg's partner, Schoeffer, in the year
+1477. It is perfect, except in a most vital part, the Colophon, which
+has been cut out by some barbaric "Collector," and which should read
+thus: "Pridie nonis Januarii Mcccclxxvij, in Civitate Moguntina,
+impressorie Petrus Schoyffer de Gernsheym," followed by his well-known
+mark, two shields.
+
+A similar mania arose at the beginning of this century for collections
+of illuminated initials, which were taken from MSS., and arranged on
+the pages of a blank book in alphabetical order. Some of our cathedral
+libraries suffered severely from depredations of this kind. At Lincoln,
+in the early part of this century, the boys put on their robes in the
+library, a room close to the choir. Here were numerous old MSS.,
+and eight or ten rare Caxtons. The choir boys used often to amuse
+themselves, while waiting for the signal to "fall in," by cutting out
+with their pen-knives the illuminated initials and vignettes, which they
+would take into the choir with them and pass round from one to another.
+The Dean and Chapter of those days were not much better, for they let
+Dr. Dibdin have all their Caxtons for a "consideration." He made
+a little catalogue of them, which he called "A Lincolne Nosegaye."
+Eventually they were absorbed into the collection at Althorp.
+
+The late Mr. Caspari was a "destroyer" of books. His rare collection of
+early woodcuts, exhibited in 1877 at the Caxton Celebration, had been
+frequently augmented by the purchase of illustrated books, the plates
+of which were taken out, and mounted on Bristol boards, to enrich
+his collection. He once showed me the remains of a fine copy of
+"Theurdanck," which he had served so, and I have now before me several
+of the leaves which he then gave me, and which, for beauty of engraving
+and cleverness of typography, surpasses any typographical work known to
+me. It was printed for the Emperor Maximilian, by Hans Schonsperger, of
+Nuremberg, and, to make it unique, all the punches were cut on purpose,
+and as many as seven or eight varieties of each letter, which, together
+with the clever way in which the ornamental flourishes are carried above
+and below the line, has led even experienced printers to deny its being
+typography. It is, nevertheless, entirely from cast types. A copy in
+good condition costs about L50.
+
+Many years since I purchased, at Messrs. Sotheby's, a large lot of MS.
+leaves on vellum, some being whole sections of a book, but mostly single
+leaves. Many were so mutilated by the excision of initials as to be
+worthless, but those with poor initials, or with none, were quite good,
+and when sorted out I found I had got large portions of nearly twenty
+different MSS., mostly Horae, showing twelve varieties of fifteenth
+century handwriting in Latin, French, Dutch, and German. I had each sort
+bound separately, and they now form an interesting collection.
+
+Portrait collectors have destroyed many books by abstracting the
+frontispiece to add to their treasures, and when once a book is made
+imperfect, its march to destruction is rapid. This is why books
+like Atkyns' "Origin and Growth of Printing," 4o, 1664, have become
+impossible to get.
+
+When issued, Atkyns' pamphlet had a fine frontispiece, by Logan,
+containing portraits of King Charles II, attended by Archbishop Sheldon,
+the Duke of Albermarle, and the Earl of Clarendon. As portraits of
+these celebrities (excepting, of course, the King) are extremely rare,
+collectors have bought up this 4o tract of Atkyns', whenever it has been
+offered, and torn away the frontispiece to adorn their collection.
+
+This is why, if you take up any sale catalogue of old books, you are
+certain to find here and there, appended to the description, "Wanting
+the title," "Wanting two plates," or "Wanting the last page."
+
+It is quite common to find in old MSS., especially fifteenth century,
+both vellum and paper, the blank margins of leaves cut away. This will
+be from the side edge or from the foot, and the recurrence of this
+mutilation puzzled me for many years. It arose from the scarcity of
+paper in former times, so that when a message had to be sent which
+required more exactitude than could be entrusted to the stupid memory of
+a household messenger, the Master or Chaplain went to the library, and,
+not having paper to use, took down an old book, and cut from its broad
+margins one or more slips to serve his present need.
+
+I feel quite inclined to reckon among "enemies" those bibliomaniacs and
+over-careful possessors, who, being unable to carry their treasures into
+the next world, do all they can to hinder their usefulness in this. What
+a difficulty there is to obtain admission to the curious library of old
+Samuel Pepys, the well-known diarist. There it is at Magdalene College,
+Cambridge, in the identical book-cases provided for the books by Pepys
+himself; but no one can gain admission except in company of two Fellows
+of the College, and if a single book be lost, the whole library goes
+away to a neighbouring college. However willing and anxious to oblige,
+it is evident that no one can use the library at the expense of the
+time, if not temper, of two Fellows. Some similar restrictions are in
+force at the Teylerian Museum, Haarlem, where a lifelong imprisonment is
+inflicted upon its many treasures.
+
+Some centuries ago a valuable collection of books was left to the
+Guildford Endowed Grammar School. The schoolmaster was to be held
+personally responsible for the safety of every volume, which, if lost,
+he was bound to replace. I am told that one master, to minimize his risk
+as much as possible, took the following barbarous course:--As soon as
+he was in possession, he raised the boards of the schoolroom floor, and,
+having carefully packed all the books between the joists, had the boards
+nailed down again. Little recked he how many rats and mice made their
+nests there; he was bound to account some day for every single volume,
+and he saw no way so safe as rigid imprisonment.
+
+The late Sir Thomas Phillipps, of Middle Hill, was a remarkable instance
+of a bibliotaph. He bought bibliographical treasures simply to bury
+them. His mansion was crammed with books; he purchased whole libraries,
+and never even saw what he had bought. Among some of his purchases was
+the first book printed in the English language, "The Recuyell of the
+Histories of Troye," translated and printed by William Caxton, for the
+Duchess of Burgundy, sister to our Edward IV. It is true, though almost
+incredible, that Sir Thomas could never find this volume, although it
+is doubtless still in the collection, and no wonder, when cases of books
+bought twenty years before his death were never opened, and the only
+knowledge of their contents which he possessed was the Sale Catalogue or
+the bookseller's invoice.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. SERVANTS AND CHILDREN.
+
+READER! are you married? Have you offspring, boys especially I mean, say
+between six and twelve years of age? Have you also a literary workshop,
+supplied with choice tools, some for use, some for ornament, where you
+pass pleasant hours? and is--ah! there's the rub!--is there a special
+hand-maid, whose special duty it is to keep your den daily dusted and
+in order? Plead you guilty to these indictments? then am I sure of a
+sympathetic co-sufferer.
+
+Dust! it is all a delusion. It is not the dust that makes women anxious
+to invade the inmost recesses of your Sanctum--it is an ingrained
+curiosity. And this feminine weakness, which dates from Eve, is a common
+motive in the stories of our oldest literature and Folk-lore. What made
+Fatima so anxious to know the contents of the room forbidden her by
+Bluebeard? It was positively nothing to her, and its contents caused not
+the slightest annoyance to anybody. That story has a bad moral, and it
+would, in many ways, have been more satisfactory had the heroine been
+left to take her place in the blood-stained chamber, side by side with
+her peccant predecessors. Why need the women-folk (God forgive me!)
+bother themselves about the inside of a man's library, and whether
+it wants dusting or not? My boys' playroom, in which is a carpenter's
+bench, a lathe, and no end of litter, is never tidied--perhaps it can't
+be, or perhaps their youthful vigour won't stand it--but my workroom
+must needs be dusted daily, with the delusive promise that each book and
+paper shall be replaced exactly where it was. The damage done by such
+continued treatment is incalculable. At certain times these observances
+are kept more religiously than others; but especially should the
+book-lover, married or single, beware of the Ides of March. So soon as
+February is dead and gone, a feeling of unrest seizes the housewife's
+mind. This increases day by day, and becomes dominant towards the middle
+of the month, about which period sundry hints are thrown out as to
+whether you are likely to be absent for a day or two. Beware! the fever
+called "Spring Clean" is on, and unless you stand firm, you will rue it.
+Go away, if the Fates so will, but take the key of your own domain with
+you.
+
+Do not misunderstand. Not for a moment would I advocate dust and dirt;
+they are enemies, and should be routed; but let the necessary routing be
+done under your own eye. Explain where caution must be used, and in
+what cases tenderness is a virtue; and if one Eve in the family can
+be indoctrinated with book-reverence you are a happy man; her price is
+above that of rubies; she will prolong your life. Books MUST now and
+then be taken clean out of their shelves, but they should be tended
+lovingly and with judgment. If the dusting can be done just outside the
+room so much the better. The books removed, the shelf should be lifted
+quite out of its bearings, cleansed and wiped, and then each volume
+should be taken separately, and gently rubbed on back and sides with a
+soft cloth. In returning the volumes to their places, notice should be
+taken of the binding, and especially when the books are in whole calf
+or morocco care should be taken not to let them rub together. The best
+bound books are soonest injured, and quickly deteriorate in bad company.
+Certain volumes, indeed, have evil tempers, and will scratch the faces
+of all their neighbours who are too familiar with them. Such are books
+with metal clasps and rivets on their edges; and such, again, are those
+abominable old rascals, chiefly born in the fifteenth century, who are
+proud of being dressed in REAL boards with brass corners, and pass their
+lives with fearful knobs and metal bosses, mostly five in number, firmly
+fixed on one of their sides. If the tendencies of such ruffians are not
+curbed, they will do as much mischief to their gentle neighbours as when
+a "collie" worries the sheep. These evil results may always be minimized
+by placing a piece of millboard between the culprit and his victim. I
+have seen lovely bindings sadly marked by such uncanny neighbours.
+
+When your books are being "dusted," don't impute too much common sense
+to your assistants; take their ignorance for granted, and tell them at
+once never to lift any book by one of its covers; that treatment is sure
+to strain the back, and ten to one the weight will be at the same time
+miscalculated, and the volume will fall. Your female "help," too, dearly
+loves a good tall pile to work at and, as a rule, her notions of the
+centre of gravity are not accurate, leading often to a general
+downfall, and the damage of many a corner. Again, if not supervised and
+instructed, she is very apt to rub the dust into, instead of off, the
+edges. Each volume should be held tightly, so as to prevent the leaves
+from gaping, and then wiped from the back to the fore-edge. A soft brush
+will be found useful if there is much dust. The whole exterior should
+also be rubbed with a soft cloth, and then the covers should be opened
+and the hinges of the binding examined; for mildew WILL assert itself
+both inside and outside certain books, and that most pertinaciously. It
+has unaccountable likes and dislikes. Some bindings seem positively to
+invite damp, and mildew will attack these when no other books on the
+same shelf show any signs of it. When discovered, carefully wipe it
+away, and then let the book remain a few days standing open, in the
+driest and airiest spot you can select. Great care should be taken not
+to let grit, such as blows in at the open window from many a dusty road,
+be upon your duster, or you will probably find fine scratches, like an
+outline map of Europe, all over your smooth calf, by which your heart
+and eye, as well as your book, will be wounded.
+
+"Helps" are very apt to fill the shelves too tightly, so that to extract
+a book you have to use force, often to the injury of the top-bands.
+Beware of this mistake. It frequently occurs through not noticing that
+one small book is purposely placed at each end of the shelf, beneath the
+movable shelf-supports, thus not only saving space, but preventing the
+injury which a book shelf-high would be sure to receive from uneven
+pressure.
+
+After all, the best guide in these, as in many other matters, is "common
+sense," a quality which in olden times must have been much more "common"
+than in these days, else the phrase would never have become rooted in
+our common tongue.
+
+Children, with all their innocence, are often guilty of book-murder. I
+must confess to having once taken down "Humphrey's History of Writing,"
+which contains many brightly-coloured plates, to amuse a sick daughter.
+The object was certainly gained, but the consequences of so bad a
+precedent were disastrous. That copy (which, I am glad to say, was
+easily re-placed), notwithstanding great care on my part, became soiled
+and torn, and at last was given up to Nursery martyrdom. Can I regret
+it? surely not, for, although bibliographically sinful, who can weigh
+the amount of real pleasure received, and actual pain ignored, by the
+patient in the contemplation of those beautifully-blended colours?
+
+A neighbour of mine some few years ago suffered severely from a
+propensity, apparently irresistible, in one of his daughters to tear his
+library books. She was six years old, and would go quietly to a shelf
+and take down a book or two, and having torn a dozen leaves or so down
+the middle, would replace the volumes, fragments and all, in their
+places, the damage being undiscovered until the books were wanted for
+use. Reprimand, expostulation and even punishment were of no avail; but
+a single "whipping" effected a cure.
+
+Boys, however, are by far more destructive than girls, and have,
+naturally, no reverence for age, whether in man or books. Who does not
+fear a schoolboy with his first pocket-knife? As Wordsworth did not
+say:--
+
+              "You may trace him oft
+     By scars which his activity has left
+     Upon our shelves and volumes. * * *
+     He who with pocket-knife will cut the edge
+     Of luckless panel or of prominent book,
+     Detaching with a stroke a label here, a back-band there."
+                             _Excursion III, 83_.
+
+Pleased, too, are they, if, with mouths full of candy, and sticky
+fingers, they can pull in and out the books on your bottom shelves,
+little knowing the damage and pain they will cause. One would fain cry
+out, calling on the Shade of Horace to pardon the false quantity--
+
+     "Magna movet stomacho fastidia, si puer unctis
+     Tractavit volumen manibus."  _Sat. IV_.
+
+
+What boys CAN do may be gathered from the following true story, sent me
+by a correspondent who was the immediate sufferer:--
+
+One summer day he met in town an acquaintance who for many years had
+been abroad; and finding his appetite for old books as keen as ever,
+invited him home to have a mental feed upon "fifteeners" and other
+bibliographical dainties, preliminary to the coarser pleasures enjoyed
+at the dinner-table. The "home" was an old mansion in the outskirts
+of London, whose very architecture was suggestive of black-letter and
+sheep-skin. The weather, alas! was rainy, and, as they approached the
+house, loud peals of laughter reached their ears. The children were
+keeping a birthday with a few young friends. The damp forbad all outdoor
+play, and, having been left too much to their own devices, they had
+invaded the library. It was just after the Battle of Balaclava, and the
+heroism of the combatants on that hard-fought field was in everybody's
+mouth. So the mischievous young imps divided themselves into two
+opposing camps--Britons and Russians. The Russian division was just
+inside the door, behind ramparts formed of old folios and quartos taken
+from the bottom shelves and piled to the height of about four feet.
+It was a wall of old fathers, fifteenth century chronicles, county
+histories, Chaucer, Lydgate, and such like. Some few yards off were the
+Britishers, provided with heaps of small books as missiles, with which
+they kept up a skirmishing cannonade against the foe. Imagine the
+tableau! Two elderly gentlemen enter hurriedly, paterfamilias receiving,
+quite unintentionally, the first edition of "Paradise Lost" in the
+pit of his stomach, his friend narrowly escaping a closer personal
+acquaintance with a quarto Hamlet than he had ever had before. Finale:
+great outburst of wrath, and rapid retreat of the combatants, many
+wounded (volumes) being left on the field.
+
+
+
+POSTSCRIPTUM.
+
+ALTHOUGH, strictly speaking, the following anecdote does not illustrate
+any form of real injury to books, it is so racy, and in these days of
+extravagant biddings so tantalizing, that I must step just outside the
+strict line of pertinence in order to place it on record, It was sent
+to me, as a personal experience, by my friend, Mr. George Clulow,
+a well-known bibliophile, and "Xylographer" to "Ye Sette of ye Odde
+Volumes." The date is 1881. He writes:--
+
+"_Apropos_ of the Gainsborough 'find,' of which you tell in 'The Enemies
+of Books,' I should like to narrate an experience of my own, of some
+twenty years ago:
+
+"Late one evening, at my father's house, I saw a catalogue of a sale of
+furniture, farm implements and books, which was announced to take place
+on the following morning at a country rectory in Derbyshire, some four
+miles from the nearest railway station.
+
+"It was summer time--the country at its best--and with the attraction
+of an old book, I decided on a day's holiday, and eight o'clock the next
+morning found me in the train for C----, and after a variation in
+my programme, caused by my having walked three miles west before I
+discovered that my destination was three miles east of the railway
+station, I arrived at the rectory at noon, and found assembled some
+thirty or forty of the neighbouring farmers, their wives, men-servants
+and maid-servants, all seemingly bent on a day's idling, rather than
+business. The sale was announced for noon, but it was an hour later
+before the auctioneer put in an appearance, and the first operation in
+which he took part, and in which he invited my assistance, was to make
+a hearty meal of bread and cheese and beer in the rectory kitchen. This
+over, the business of the day began by a sundry collection of pots,
+pans, and kettles being brought to the competition of the public,
+followed by some lots of bedding, etc. The catalogue gave books as the
+first part of the sale, and, as three o'clock was reached, my patience
+was gone, and I protested to the auctioneer against his not selling in
+accordance with his catalogue. To this he replied that there was not
+time enough, and that he would sell the books to-morrow! This was too
+much for me, and I suggested that he had broken faith with the buyers,
+and had brought me to C---- on a false pretence. This, however, did not
+seem to disturb his good humour, or to make him unhappy, and his answer
+was to call 'Bill,' who was acting as porter, and to tell him to give
+the gentleman the key of the 'book room,' and to bring down any of the
+books he might pick out, and he 'would sell 'em.' I followed 'Bill,' and
+soon found myself in a charming nook of a library, full of books,
+mostly old divinity, but with a large number of the best miscellaneous
+literature of the sixteenth century, English and foreign. A very short
+look over the shelves produced some thirty Black Letter books, three or
+four illuminated missals, and some book rarities of a more recent date.
+'Bill' took them downstairs, and I wondered what would happen! I was
+not long in doubt, for book by book, and in lots of two and three, my
+selection was knocked down in rapid succession, at prices varying from
+1_s_. 6_d_. to 3_s_. 6_d_., this latter sum seeming to be the utmost
+limit to the speculative turn of my competitors. The _bonne bouche_ of
+the lot was, however, kept back by the auctioneer, because, as he said,
+it was 'a pretty book,' and I began to respect his critical judgment,
+for 'a pretty book' it was, being a large paper copy of Dibdin's
+Bibliographical Decameron, three volumes, in the original binding.
+Suffice it to say that, including this charming book, my purchases did
+not amount to L13, and I had pretty well a cart-load of books for my
+money--more than I wanted much! Having brought them home, I 'weeded them
+out,' and the 'weeding' realised four times what I gave for the whole,
+leaving me with some real book treasures.
+
+"Some weeks afterwards I heard that the remainder of the books were
+literally treated as waste lumber, and carted off to the neighbouring
+town, and were to be had, any one of them, for sixpence, from a cobbler
+who had allowed his shop to be used as a store house for them. The news
+of their being there reached the ears of an old bookseller in one of
+the large towns, and he, I think, cleared out the lot. So curious an
+instance of the most total ignorance on the part of the sellers, and
+I may add on the part of the possible buyers also, I think is worth
+noting."
+
+How would the reader in this Year of Grace, 1887, like such an
+experience as that?
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+IT is a great pity that there should be so many distinct enemies at
+work for the destruction of literature, and that they should so often be
+allowed to work out their sad end. Looked at rightly, the possession of
+any old book is a sacred trust, which a conscientious owner or guardian
+would as soon think of ignoring as a parent would of neglecting his
+child. An old book, whatever its subject or internal merits, is truly
+a portion of the national history; we may imitate it and print it in
+fac-simile, but we can never exactly reproduce it; and as an historical
+document it should be carefully preserved.
+
+I do not envy any man that absence of sentiment which makes some people
+careless of the memorials of their ancestors, and whose blood can
+be warmed up only by talking of horses or the price of hops. To them
+solitude means _ennui_, and anybody's company is preferable to their
+own. What an immense amount of calm enjoyment and mental renovation
+do such men miss. Even a millionaire will ease his toils, lengthen his
+life, and add a hundred per cent. to his daily pleasures if he becomes
+a bibliophile; while to the man of business with a taste for books,
+who through the day has struggled in the battle of life with all its
+irritating rebuffs and anxieties, what a blessed season of pleasurable
+repose opens upon him as he enters his sanctum, where every article
+wafts to him a welcome, and every book is a personal friend!
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+   _Academy, The_, 23.
+   Acanis eruditus, 77, 78.
+   Acts of the Apostles, quoted, 4.
+   Aglossa pinguinalis, 76.
+   Albermarle (Duke of), portrait by Logan, 126.
+   Althorp library, 124.
+   Anderson (Sir C.), 55.
+   Anobium paniceum, 77, 78.
+   Anobium pertinax, 77, 78, 87, 88.
+   Antiquary, The, 54.
+   Antwerp, Monks at, 57, 58.
+   Asbestos fire, 27.
+   Ashburnham House, Westminster, 10.
+   Asiarch, an, 7.
+   Athens, Bookworm from, 81.
+   Atkyns' Origin and Growth of Printing, 126.
+   Auctioneer, story of, 145.
+   Austin Friars, 15.
+   Bagford (John), the biblioclast, r: 18.
+   Balaclava, battle of, 143.
+   Bale, the antiquary, 9.
+   Bandinel (Dr.), 87, 88.
+   Beedham, B., 52.
+   Bible, the first printed, burnt at Strasbourg, 13.
+    -- the "bug" edition, 95.
+   Bibliophile, pleasures of a, 153.
+   Bibliotaph, a, 129.
+   Bibliotheca Ecclesiae Londino-Belgicae, 16.
+   Binder's creed, 31.
+    -- plough, 105.
+   Binding, care to be taken of, 134.
+    -- quality of good, 104.
+   Bird (Rev. -), 55.
+   Birdsall (Mr.), bookbinder, 80.
+   Birmingham Riots, 11.
+   Black-beetles, enemies of books, 94.
+   Black-letter books in United States, 91.
+   Blatta germanica, 65.
+   Boccaccio, 48-50.
+   Bodleian, hookworms at, 87.
+   Bookbinders as enemies of books, 103.
+   Books, absurd lettering, 111.
+    -- burnt at Carthage; at Ephesus, 4.
+    -- burnt in Fire of London, 10.
+    -- burnt by Saracens, 3.
+    -- captured by Corsairs, 18.
+    -- cleaning of, 114.
+    -- deprived of title pages, 118, 119.
+   Books destroyed at the Reformation, Si.
+    -- dried in an attic, 16.
+    -- examination of old covers, 116.
+    -- how to dust them, 134.
+    -- injured by hacking, i x i.
+    -- lost at sea, 17, 18.
+    -- margin reduced to size, 111.
+    -- mildew in, 136.
+    -- from monasteries destroyed, 9.
+    -- restoration when injured, 114.
+    -- restored after a fire, 15.
+    -- scarce before printing, 2.
+    -- sold to a cobbler, 52, 149.
+    -- too tight on shelves, 137.
+    -- their claims to be preserved, 151.
+    -- used to bake "pyes," 10.
+    -- which scratch one another, 134.
+   Book-sale in Derbyshire, 145.
+   Bookworm, the, 67-93.
+    -- attempt to breed, 81-3.
+    -- from Greece, 82.
+    -- in paper box, 89.
+    -- in United States, 91.
+   Bookworms' progress through books, 84.
+    -- race by, 86.
+   Bosses on books, 135.
+   Boys injuring books, 139.
+    -- in library, story of, 140.
+   Brighton, black letter fragments, 59.
+   British Museum, Boccaccio's Fall of Princes, 61.
+   British Museum free from the "worm," 83.
+    -- burnt book exhibited at, 11.
+   Brown spots in books, 24.
+   Bruchium, 3.
+   Burckhardt's Arabic MSS., 77.
+   "Bug" Bible, 95.
+   Burgundy (Duchess of), 130.
+
+   Cambridge Market, 97.
+   Caskets (the three), Shakspeare, 60.
+   Caspari (Mr.), a collector, 124.
+   Cassin (Convent of Mount), 49.
+   Caxton, William, 130.
+    --his use of waste leaves, 90.
+    --Canterbury Tales, used to light a fire, 53.
+    -- Golden Legend, ditto, 52.
+    --Lyf of oure Ladye, 89.
+   Caxtons saturated by rain, 22.
+    --spoilt in binding, 107.
+    --discovered in British Museum, 108.
+   Charles II, portrait by Logan, 126.
+   Chasles (Philarete), 52.
+   Child tearing books, 139.
+   Children as enemies of books, 138.
+   Choir boys injuring MSS., 124.
+   Christians burnt heathen MSS., 7.
+   early, 6.
+   Clarendon (Earl of), portrait by Logan, 126.
+   Clasps on books, injury from, 135.
+   Clergymen as biblioclasts, 64.
+   Clulow (Mr. George), 144.
+   Coal fires objectionable in libraries, 27.
+   Codfish, book eaten by a, 96.
+   Cold injures books, 26.
+   Collectors as enemies of books, 117.
+   College quadrangle, 41.
+   Colophon in Schoeffer's book, 123.
+   Colophons (collections of), I IS.
+   Commonwealth quartos, 44.
+   Communal libraries in France, 48.
+   Cotton library; partially burnt, 10.
+   Cowper, the poet, on burnt libraries, 12.
+   Crambus pinguinalis, 76.
+   Cremona, books destroyed at, 8.
+   Croton bug, 95.
+
+   Damp, an enemy of books, 24.
+   Dante, 50.
+    -- The Inferno, 106.
+   Derbyshire, book sale in, 145.
+   Dermestes vulpinus, 89.
+   De Rome, the binder, 47, 48, 110.
+   De Thou, 110.
+   Devil worship, 5.
+   Devon and Exeter Museum, 101.
+   Diana, Temple of, 6.
+   Dibdin (Dr.), 110.
+    --sale of his Decameron, 148.
+    --his books, 25.
+   D'Israeli (B.), 17.
+   Doraston (J.), Poem on Bookworne, 67, 76.
+   Dust, an enemy of books, 39.
+    -- and neglect in a library, 39-50, 133.
+   Dusting books-how to do it, 136.
+   Dutch Church burnt, 15.
+    -- library at Guildhall, 16.
+
+   Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 53.
+   Edmonds (Mr.), bookseller, 58.
+   Edward IV, 130.
+   Edwards (Mr.), bookseller, 18.
+   Electric light in British Museum, 32.
+   Ephesus, 5.
+   "Eracles," 111.
+   "Evil eye," the, 6.
+   "Excursion, The," 139.
+
+   Fire, an enemy of books, 1-16.
+    -- of London, 10.
+   Flint (Weston), account of black-beetles in New York
+   libraries, 95.
+   Folklore, ancient, 5.
+   "Foxey" books, 25.
+   Francis (St.) and the friars, 37.
+   French Protestant Church, 53.
+   Frith (John), 96.
+   Froissart's Chronicles, 110.
+   Frost in a library, 26.
+
+   Garnett (Dr.), 81.
+   Gas injurious, 29-38,
+   Gatty's (Mrs.) Parables, 76.
+   German Army at Strasburg, U.
+   Gesta Romanorum, 66.
+   Gibbon, the historian, 2.
+   Glass cases preservative of books, 27.
+   Golden Legend, by Caxton, 52.
+   Gordon Riots, 11.
+   Government officials as biblioclasts, 65.
+   Grenville (Rt. Hon. Thos.), 56.
+   Guildford, library at school, 129.
+   Guildhall, London, library at, 0.
+   Gutenberg, 123.
+    -- documents concerning, burnt, 13,
+   Gwyn, Nell, housekeeping book of, 65.
+   "Gyp" brushing clothes in a library, 44.
+
+   Hannett, on bookbinding, 76.
+   Havergal (Rev. F. T.), 76.
+   Heathens burnt Christian MSS., 7.
+   Heating libraries, 27.
+   Hebrew books burnt, 8.
+   Hereford Cathedral library, 76.
+   Hickman family, 56.
+   Histories of Troy, 111.
+   Holme (Mr.), 77.
+   Hooke (R.), his Micrographia, 71-75.
+   Horace's Satires, 140.
+   Hot water pipes for libraries, 26.
+   House-fly, an enemy of books, 102.
+   Hudde, Heer, a story of, 17.
+   Hwqhrey's History of Writing, 138.
+   Hypothenemus eruditus, 76.
+
+   Ignorance and Bigotry, P-66.
+   Illuminated letters fatal to books, 51.
+    -- initials, collections of, 123.
+   Indulgence of 15th Century spoilt by a binder, 109.
+   Inquisition in Holland, 63.
+
+   Kirby and Spence on Entomologists, 75, 101.
+   Knobs of metal on bindings, 135.
+   Koran, The, 7.
+
+   Lamberhurst, 61.
+   Lamport Hall, 58.
+   Lansdowne Collection of MSS., 60.
+   Latterbury, copy of, at St. Martin's, 54.
+   Leather destroyed by gas, 30.
+   Lepisma, 96.
+    -- mistaken for bookworm, 75.
+   Libraries
+    burnt: by Caesar, 3.
+     --- at Dutch Church, 15.
+     --- at Strasbourg, 13.
+    neglected in England, 15, 22, 40.
+    at Alexandria, 3.
+    of the Ptolemies) 3.
+   Library Journal, The, 94.
+   Lincoln Cathedral MSS., 124.
+   Lincolne Nosegaye, 124.
+   London Institution, 31.
+   Lubbock (Sir J.), 90.
+   Luke's, St., account of destruction of books, 4.
+   Luxe des Livres, 47.
+   Luxury and learning, 42.
+
+   Machlinia, book printed by, 106.
+   Magdalene College, Cambridge, 128.
+   Maitland (Rev. S. R.), 54.
+   Mansfield (Lord), ij.
+   MS. Plays burnt, 60.
+   Manuscripts, fragments of, 126.
+   Margins of books cut away, 49, 127.
+   Maximilian (The Emperor), 125.
+   Mazarin library, Caxton in, 52.
+   Metamorphoses of Ovid, by Caxton, 10.
+   Micrographia, by R. Hooke, 71.
+   Middleburgh, 17.
+   Mildew in books, 136.
+   Minorite friars, 37.
+   Missal illuminations, sale of, 119.
+   Mohammed's reason for destroying books, 7.
+   Mohammed II throws books into the sea, 21.
+   Monks at Monte Cassino, 49.
+   Mould in books, 24.
+   Mount Cassin, library at, 50.
+   Moxon's Mechanic Exercises, 115.
+   Muller (M.), of Amsterdam, 62.
+
+   Newmarsh (Rev. C. F.), 54.
+   Niptus Hololeucos, 101.
+   Noble (Mr.), on Parish Registers, 61.
+   Notes and Queries, 77.
+
+   Oak Chest, 44.
+   OEcophora pseudospretella, 79.
+   Offer Collection of Bunyans, 14.
+   On, Priests of, 69.
+   Overall (Mr.), Librarian at Guildhall, 16.
+   Ovid, Metamorphoses by Caxton, 10.
+   Oxenforde, Lyf of therle, 10.
+
+   Paper improperly bleached, 25.
+   Papyrus, 68.
+   Paradise Lost, 142.
+   Parchment, slips of, in old books, 112.
+   Parish Registers, carelessness, 62.
+   Parnell's Ode, 70.
+   Patent Office, destruction of literature at, 65.
+   Paternoster Row, io.
+   Paul, St., 6.
+   Pedlar buying old books, 54, 55.
+   Peignot and hookworms, 79.
+   Pepys (Samuel), his library, 128.
+   Petit (Pierre), poem on bookworm, 70.
+   Philadelphia, wormhole at, 92.
+   Phillipps (Sir Thos.), 129.
+   Pieces of silver or denarii, 5.
+   Pinelli (Maffei), library of, 18.
+   Plantin Museum, 122.
+   policemen in Ephesus, 7.
+   Portrait collectors, 127.
+   Priestley (Dr.), library burnt, 11, 12.
+   Printers, the first, 13.
+   Printers' marks, collection of, 119.
+   -- ink and bookworms, 80.
+   Probrue (Mr.), 120.
+   Ptolemies, the Egyptian, 3.
+   Puttick and Simpson, 15.
+   Pynson's Fall of Princes, 61.
+
+   Queen Elizabeth's prayer-book, 98.
+   Quaint titles, collections of, 121.
+   Quadrangle of an old College described) 41.
+
+   Rain an enemy to books, 21.
+   Rats eat books, 97.
+   Recollet monks of Antwerp, 57.
+   -Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, 130.
+   Reformation, destruction of books at, 9.
+   Restoration of burnt books, 11.
+   Richard of Bury, 47.
+   Ringwalt's Encyclopaedia, 92.
+   Rivets on books, 135.
+   Rood and Hunte, 53.
+   Rot caused by rain, 21.
+   Royal Society, London, 71.
+   Rubens' engraved titles in Plantin Museum, 122.
+    -- autograph receipts, 122.
+   Ruins of fire at Sotheby and Wilkinson's, 14.
+   Rye (W. B.), 61, 83.
+   St. Albans, Boke of, 54.
+   St. Martin's-le-Grand, French church, 53.
+   St. Paul's Cathedral, books burnt in vaults of, 10.
+   Sale catalogues, extracts from, 119.
+   Schoeffer (P.), 123.
+   Schonsperger (Hans), 125.
+   Schoolmaster and endowed library, 129.
+   Scorched book at British Museum, 11.
+   Scrolls of magic, 6.
+   Serpent worship, 5.
+   Servants and children as enemies of books, 131-144.
+   Shakesperian discoveries, 58.
+   "Shavings" of binders, 31.
+   Sheldon (Archbishop), portrait by Logan, 126.
+   Sib's Bowels opened, 121.
+   Smith (Mr.), Brighton bookseller, 64.
+   Sotheby and Wilkinson, 125.
+    -- fire at their rooms, 14.
+   Spring clean, horrors of, 133.
+   Stark (Mr.), bookseller, 55-58.
+   Stealing a Caxton, 54.
+   Steam press, 40.
+   Strasbourg, siege of, 13.
+   Sun-light of gas, 29, 32.
+   Sun worship, 5.
+   Sylvester's Laws of Verse, 71.
+
+   Taylor, the water-poet, 121.
+   Teylerian Museum, Haarlem, 128.
+   Theurdanck, prints in, 125.
+   Thonock Hall, library Of, 56.
+   Timmins (Mr.), 50.
+   Title-pages, collections sold, 122.
+    -- volumes of, 118.
+   Title-pages, old Dutch, 120.
+   Tomicus Typographus, iox.
+
+   Utramontane Society, called "Old paper," 63,
+   Unitarian library, 13,
+   Universities destroy books, 9.
+
+   Value of books burnt by St. Paul, 4.
+   Vanderberg (M.), 57.
+   Vermin book-enemies, 94-102.
+   Pox Piscis, 96.
+
+   Washing old books, x6.
+   Water an enemy of books, 17-28.
+   Waterhouse (Mr.), Si.
+   Werdet (Edmond), 48, 57.
+   Westbrook (W. J.), 102.
+   Westminster Chapter-house, 97.
+    -- skeletons of rats, 97.
+   White (Adam), 83.
+   Wolfenbuttel, library at, 23.
+   Woodcuts, a Caxton celebration, 124.
+   Wynken de Worde, fragment, 59.
+
+   Ximenes (Cardinal) destroys copies of the Koran, 8.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Enemies of Books, by William Blades
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+Project Gutenberg's Etext of Enemies of Books, by William Blades
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+Enemies of Books
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+Scanned by Charles Keller with OmniPage Professional OCR software
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+ENEMIES OF BOOKS
+
+BY
+
+WILLIAM BLADES
+
+
+
+
+_Revised and Enlarged by the Author_
+
+SECOND EDITION
+
+LONDON
+ELLIOT STOCK, 62 PATERNOSTER ROW
+
+1888
+
+
+
+{TOC and TO Illustrations needs cleaned up!}
+CONTENTS.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+FIRE.
+
+Libraries destroyed by Fire.--Alexandrian.  St. Paul's
+destruction of MSS., Value of.--Christian books destroyed
+by Heathens.--Heathen books destroyed by Christians.--Hebrew books
+burnt at Cremona.--Arabic books at Grenada.--Monastic libraries.--
+Colton library.--Birmingham riots.--Dr. Priestley's library.--
+Lord Mansfield's books.--Cowper.--Strasbourg library bombarded.--
+Offor Collection burnt.--Dutch Church library damaged.--
+Iibrary of Corporation of London.
+
+<p viii.> CHAPTER II.
+
+WATER.
+
+Heer Hudde's library lost at sea.--Pinelli's library captured
+by Corsairs.-MSS. destroyed by Afohammed 11-Books damaged by rain.-
+Woffenbuttel.- Vapour andMould.  -Brown stains.--Dr. Dibdin.-Hot
+water .pipes.-Asbestos fire.-Glass doors to bookcases.
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+GAS AND HEAT.
+
+Effects of Gas on leather.--Necessitates re-binding.--Bookbinders.--Electric
+light.--British Museum.-Treatment of books.- Legend of Friars and their books.
+
+<p ix.> CHAPTER IV.
+
+DUST AND NEGLECT.
+
+Books should have gilt tops.-Old libraries were neglected.--
+Instance of a College library.- Clothes brushed in it.-Abuses
+in French libraries.-Derome's account of them.--Boccaccio's story
+of library at the Convent of Mount Cassin.
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+IGNORANCE AND BIGOTRY.
+
+Destruction of Books at the Reformation.- Mazarin library.--
+Caxton used to light the fire.--Library at French Protestant Church,
+St. Martin's-le- Grand.- Books stolen.- Story of books from
+Thonock Hall.-Boke of St. Albans.--Recollet Monks of Antwerp.
+
+<p x.>--Shakespearian "find."--Black-letter books used in
+W.C.-Gesta Romanorum.--Lansdowne collection.--Warburton.--Tradesman and rare
+book.-Parish Register.-Story of Bigotry by M. Muller.--Clergymen destroy
+books.-Patent Office sell books for waste.
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE BOOKWORM.
+
+Doraston.-Not so destructive as of yore.--Worm won't eat
+parchment.-Pierre Petit's .poem.--Hooke's account and image.-Its
+natural history neglected.- Various sorts-Attempts to breed
+Bookworms.- Greek worm.--Havoc made by worms.--Bodleian and
+Dr. Bandinel.--"Dermestes."--Worm won't eat modern paper.--
+America comparatively free.--Worm-hole at Philadelphia.
+
+<p xi.> CHAPTER VII.
+
+OTHER VERMIN.
+
+Black-beetle in American libraries.  germanica.--Bug Bible.
+-.Lepisma.--Codfish.-Skeletons of Rats in Abbey library,
+Westminster.-Niptus hololeucos.--Tomicus Typographicus.-House
+flies injure books.
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+BOOKBINDERS.
+
+A good binding gives pleasure.--Deadly effects of the "plough"
+as used by binders.-Not confined to bye-gone times.
+-Instances of injury.-De Rome, a good binder but a great
+
+<p xii.> cropper.--Books "hacked."--Bad lettering.
+-Treasures in book-covers.--Books washed, sized, and mended.--"Cases"
+often Preferable to re-binding.
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+COLLECTORS.
+
+Bagford the biblioclast.--Illustrations torn from MSS.-Title-pages torn
+from books.--. Rubens, his engraved titles.--Colophons torn out of books.--
+Lincoln Cathedral--Dr. Dibdin's Nosegay.--Theurdanck.  -Fragments of MSS.-Some
+libraries almost useless.--Pepysian.--Teylerian.- Sir Thomas Phillipps.
+
+<p xiii.> CHAPTER X.
+
+SERVANTS AND CHILDREN.
+
+Library invaded for the purpose of dusting.--Spring clean.
+---Dust to be got rid of.--Ways of doing so.-Carefulness praised.--
+Bad nature of certain books--Metal clasps and rivets.--
+How to dust.- Children often injure books.--Examples.--Story of
+boys in a country library
+
+POSTSCRIPTUM.
+
+Anecdote of book-sale in Derbyshire.
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+The care that should be taken of books.--Enjoyment derived from them.
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+SERVANT USING A "CAXTON" TO LIGHT THE FIRE-----_Frontispiece_,
+
+PIRATES THROWING LIBRARY OVER-BOARD--------- page 19
+
+FRIARS AND THEIR ASS-LOAD-----35
+
+BRUSHING CLOTHES IN A COLLEGE LIBRARY--------45
+
+BOOKWORMS-----73
+
+RATS DESTROYING BOOKS 99
+
+HOUSEHOLD FLY-DAMAGE 102
+
+BOYS RAMPANT IN LIBRARY 141
+
+
+
+THE ENEMIES OF BOOKS.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+FIRE.
+
+THERE are many of the forces of Nature which tend to injure Books;
+but among them all not one has been half so destructive
+as Fire.  It would be tedious to write out a bare list only
+of the numerous libraries and bibliographical treasures which,
+in one way or another, have been seized by the Fire-king as his own.
+Chance conflagrations, fanatic incendiarism, judicial bonfires,
+and even household stoves have, time after time, thinned the treasures
+as well as the rubbish of past ages, until, probably, not one
+thousandth part of the books that have been are still extant.
+This destruction cannot, however, be reckoned as all loss;
+for had not the "cleansing fires" removed mountains of rubbish from
+our midst, strong destructive measures would have become a necessity
+from sheer want of space in which to store so many volumes.
+
+Before the invention of Printing, books were comparatively scarce;
+and, knowing as we do, how very difficult it is, even after
+the steam-press has been working for half a century, to make
+a collection of half a million books, we are forced to receive
+with great incredulity the accounts in old writers of the wonderful
+extent of ancient libraries.
+
+The historian Gibbon, very incredulous in many things,
+accepts without questioning the fables told upon this subject.
+No doubt the libraries of MSS.  collected generation after generation
+by the Egyptian Ptolemies became, in the course of time, the most extensive
+ever then known; and were famous throughout the world for the costliness
+of their ornamentation, and importance of their untold contents.
+Two of these were at Alexandria, the larger of which was in the quarter
+called Bruchium.  These volumes, like all manuscripts of those early ages,
+were written on sheets of parchment, having a wooden roller at each
+end so that the reader needed only to unroll a portion at a time.
+During Caesar's Alexandrian War, B.C. 48, the larger collection
+was consumed by fire and again burnt by the Saracens in A.D. 640.
+An immense loss was inflicted upon mankind thereby; but when we are
+told of 700,000, or even 500,000 of such volumes being destroyed we
+instinctively feel that such numbers must be a great exaggeration.
+Equally incredulous must we be when we read of half a million volumes
+being burnt at Carthage some centuries later, and other similar accounts.
+
+Among the earliest records of the wholesale destruction of Books
+is that narrated by St. Luke, when, after the preaching of Paul,
+many of the Ephesians "which used curious arts brought their
+books together, and burned them before all men:  and they
+counted the price of them, and found it 50,000 pieces of silver"
+(Acts xix, 19). Doubtless these books of idolatrous divination
+and alchemy, of enchantments and witchcraft, were righteously
+destroyed by those to whom they had been and might again be
+spiritually injurious; and doubtless had they escaped the fire then,
+not one of them would have survived to the present time, no MS.
+of that age being now extant.  Nevertheless, I must confess
+to a certain amount of mental disquietude and uneasiness when I
+think of books worth 50,000 denarii--or, speaking roughly,
+say L18,750,[1] of our modern money being made into bonfires.
+What curious illustrations of early heathenism, of Devil worship,
+of Serpent worship, of Sun worship, and other archaic forms
+of religion; of early astrological and chemical lore,
+derived from the Egyptians, the Persians, the Greeks;
+what abundance of superstitious observances and what is now termed
+"Folklore"; what riches, too, for the philological student,
+did those many books contain, and how famous would the library
+now be that could boast of possessing but a few of them.
+
+
+[1] The received opinion is that the "pieces of silver" here mentioned
+were Roman denarii, which were the silver pieces then commonly used
+in Ephesus.  If now we weigh a denarius against modern silver,
+it is exactly equal to ninepence, and fifty thousand times ninepence
+gives L1,875. It is always a difficult matter to arrive at a just
+estimate of the relative value of the same coin in different ages;
+but reckoning that money then had at least ten times the purchasing
+value of money now, we arrive at what was probably about the value
+of the magical books burnt, viz.: L18,750.
+
+The ruins of Ephesus bear unimpeachable evidence that the City
+was very extensive and had magnificent buildings.  It was one
+of the free cities, governing itself.  Its trade in shrines and
+idols was very extensive, being spread through all known lands.
+There the magical arts were remarkably prevalent, and notwithstanding
+the numerous converts made by the early Christians, the <gr
+'Efesia grammata>, or little scrolls upon which magic sentences
+were written, formed an extensive trade up to the fourth century.
+These "writings" were used for divination, as a protection
+against the "evil eye," and generally as charms against all evil.
+They were carried about the person, so that probably thousands
+of them were thrown into the flames by St. Paul's hearers when his
+glowing words convinced them of their superstition.
+
+Imagine an open space near the grand Temple of Diana, with fine
+buildings around.  Slightly raised above the crowd, the Apostle,
+preaching with great power and persuasion concerning superstition,
+holds in thrall the assembled multitude.  On the outskirts
+of the crowd are numerous bonfires, upon which Jew and Gentile
+are throwing into the flames bundle upon bundle of scrolls,
+while an Asiarch with his peace-officers looks on with the
+conventional stolidity of policemen in all ages and all nations.
+It must have been an impressive scene, and many a worse subject
+has been chosen for the walls of the Royal Academy.
+
+Books in those early times, whether orthodox or heterodox,
+appear to have had a precarious existence.  The heathens
+at each fresh outbreak of persecution burnt all the Christian
+writings they could find, and the Christians, when they got
+the upper hand, retaliated with interest upon the pagan literature.
+The Mohammedan reason for destroying books--"If they contain what is
+in the Koran they are superfluous, and if they contain anything
+opposed to it they are immoral," seems, indeed, _mutatis mutandis_,
+to have been the general rule for all such devastators.
+
+The Invention of Printing made the entire destruction of any author's
+works much more difficult, so quickly and so extensively did books
+spread through all lands.  On the other hand, as books multiplied,
+so did destruction go hand in hand with production, and soon
+were printed books doomed to suffer in the same penal fires,
+that up to then had been fed on MSS.  only.
+
+At Cremona, in 1569, 12,000 books printed in Hebrew were publicly
+burnt as heretical, simply on account of their language;
+and Cardinal Ximenes, at the capture of Granada, treated 5,000
+copies of the Koran in the same way.
+
+At the time of the Reformation in England a great destruction
+of books took place.  The antiquarian Bale, writing in 1587,
+thus speaks of the shameful fate of the Monastic libraries:--
+
+
+"A greate nombre of them whyche purchased those superstycyouse mansyons
+(_Monasteries_) reserved of those librarye bookes some to serve
+their jakes, some to scoure theyr candelstyckes, and some to rubbe
+theyr bootes.  Some they solde to the grossers and sope sellers,
+and some they sent over see to yeS booke bynders, not in small nombre,
+but at tymes whole shyppes full, to yeS, wonderynge of foren nacyons.
+Yea yeS.  Universytees of thys realme are not alle clere in thys
+detestable fact.  But cursed is that bellye whyche seketh to be
+fedde with suche ungodlye gaynes, and so depelye shameth hys
+natural conterye.  I knowe a merchant manne, whych shall at thys
+tyme be namelesse, that boughte yeS contentes of two noble
+lybraryes for forty shyllynges pryce : a shame it is to be spoken.
+Thys stuffe hathe heoccupyed in yeS stede of greye paper, by yeS,
+space of more than these ten yeares, and yet he bathe store ynoughe
+for as manye years to come.  A prodygyous example is thys, and to be
+abhorred of all men whyche love theyr nacyon as they shoulde do.
+The monkes kepte them undre dust, yeS, ydle-headed prestes regarded
+them not, theyr latter owners have most shamefully abused them,
+and yeS covetouse merchantes have solde them away into foren
+nacyons for moneye."
+
+How the imagination recoils at the idea of Caxton's translation of
+the Metamorphoses of Ovid, or perhaps his "Lyf of therle of Oxenforde,"
+together with many another book from our first presses, not a fragment
+of which do we now possess, being used for baking "pyes."
+
+At the Great Fire of London in 1666, the number of books burnt was enormous.
+Not only in private houses and Corporate and Church libraries were priceless
+collections reduced to cinders, but an immense stock of books removed from
+Paternoster Row by the Stationers for safety was burnt to ashes in the vaults
+of St. Paul's Cathedral.
+
+Coming nearer to our own day, how thankful we ought to be for
+the preservation of the Cotton Library.  Great was the consternation
+in the literary world of 1731 when they heard of the fire at
+Ashburnham House, Westminster, where, at that time, the Cotton MSS.
+were deposited.  By great exertions the fire was conquered, but not
+before many MSS.  had been quite destroyed and many others injured.
+Much skill was shown in the partial restoration of these books,
+charred almost beyond recognition; they were carefully separated
+leaf by leaf, soaked in a chemical solution, and then pressed
+flat between sheets of transparent paper.  A curious heap
+of scorched leaves, previous to any treatment, and looking like
+a monster wasps' nest, may be seen in a glass case in the MS.
+department of the British Museum, showing the condition to which
+many other volumes had been reduced.
+
+Just a hundred years ago the mob, in the "Birmingham Riots,"
+burnt the valuable library of Dr. Priestley, and in the "Gordon Riots"
+were burnt the literary and other collections of Lord Mansfield,
+the celebrated judge, he who had the courage first to decide that the Slave
+who reached the English shore was thenceforward a free man.  The loss
+of the latter library drew from the poet Cowper two short and weak poems.
+The poet first deplores the destruction of the valuable printed books,
+and then the irretrievable loss to history by the burning of his Lordship's
+many personal manuscripts and contemporary documents.
+
+ "Their pages mangled, burnt and torn,
+     The loss was his alone;
+ But ages yet to come shall mourn
+     The burning of his own."
+
+
+The second poem commences with the following doggerel:--
+
+ "When Wit and Genius meet their doom
+     In all-devouring Flame,
+ They tell us of the Fate of Rome
+     And bid us fear the same."
+
+
+The much finer and more extensive library of Dr. Priestley was left
+unnoticed and unlamented by the orthodox poet, who probably felt
+a complacent satisfaction at the destruction of heterodox books,
+the owner being an Unitarian Minister.
+
+The magnificent library of Strasbourg was burnt by the shells
+of the German Army in 1870.  Then disappeared for ever,
+together with other unique documents, the original records of
+the famous law-suits between Gutenberg, one of the first Printers,
+and his partners, upon the right understanding of which depends
+the claim of Gutenberg to the invention of the Art.  The flames raged
+between high brick walls, roaring louder than a blast furnace.
+Seldom, indeed, have Mars and Pluto had so dainty a sacrifice
+offered at their shrines; for over all the din of battle,
+and the reverberation of monster artillery, the burning
+leaves of the first printed Bible and many another priceless
+volume were wafted into the sky, the ashes floating for miles
+on the heated air, and carrying to the astonished countryman
+the first news of the devastation of his Capital.
+
+When the Offor Collection was put to the hammer by Messrs Sotheby
+and Wilkinson, the well-known auctioneers of Wellington Street,
+and when about three days of the sale had been gone through, a Fire
+occurred in the adjoining house, and, gaining possession of the Sale Rooms,
+made a speedy end of the unique Bunyan and other rarities then on show.
+I was allowed to see the Ruins on the following day, and by means
+of a ladder and some scrambling managed to enter the Sale Room
+where parts of the floor still remained.  It was a fearful sight
+those scorched rows of Volumes still on the shelves; and curious was it
+to notice how the flames, burning off the backs of the books first,
+had then run up behind the shelves, and so attacked the fore-edge
+of the volumes standing upon them, leaving the majority with a
+perfectly untouched oval centre of white paper and plain print,
+while the whole surrounding parts were but a mass of black cinders.
+The salvage was sold in one lot for a small sum, and the purchaser,
+after a good deal of sorting and mending and binding placed about 1,000
+volumes for sale at Messrs.  Puttick and Simpson's in the following year.
+
+So, too, when the curious old Library which was in a gallery
+of the Dutch Church, Austin Friars, was nearly destroyed
+in the fire which devastated the Church in 1862, the books
+which escaped were sadly injured.  Not long before I had spent
+some hours there hunting for English Fifteenth-century Books,
+and shall never forget the state of dirt in which I came away.
+Without anyone to care for them, the books had remained untouched for
+many a decade-damp dust, half an inch thick, having settled upon them!
+Then came the fire, and while the roof was all ablaze streams
+of hot water, like a boiling deluge, washed down upon them.
+The wonder was they were not turned into a muddy pulp.
+After all was over, the whole of the library, no portion of which
+could legally be given away, was _lent for ever_ to the Corporation
+of London.  Scorched and sodden, the salvage came into the hands
+of Mr. Overall, their indefatigable librarian.  In a hired attic,
+he hung up the volumes that would bear it over strings like clothes,
+to dry, and there for weeks and weeks were the stained,
+distorted volumes, often without covers, often in single leaves,
+carefully tended and dry-nursed. Washing, sizing, pressing,
+and binding effected wonders, and no one who to-day looks upon
+the attractive little alcove in the Guildhall Library labelled
+<oe "Bibliotheca Ecclesiae Londonino-Belgiae"> and sees the rows
+of handsomely-lettered backs, could imagine that not long ago this,
+the most curious portion of the City's literary collections,
+was in a state when a five-pound note would have seemed more than
+full value for the lot.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+WATER.
+
+NEXT to Fire we must rank Water in its two forms, liquid and vapour,
+as the greatest destroyer of books.  Thousands of volumes
+have been actually drowned at Sea, and no more heard of them
+than of the Sailors to whose charge they were committed.
+D'Israeli narrates that, about the year 1700, Heer Hudde,
+an opulent burgomaster of Middleburgh, travelled for 30 years
+disguised as a mandarin, throughout the length and breadth
+of the Celestial Empire.  Everywhere he collected books,
+and his extensive literary treasures were at length safely
+shipped for transmission to Europe, but, to the irreparable loss
+of his native country, they never reached their destination,
+the vessel having foundered in a storm.
+
+In 1785 died the famous Maffei Pinelli, whose library was
+celebrated throughout the world.  It had been collected
+by the Pinelli family for many generations and comprised
+an extraordinary number of Greek, Latin, and Italian works,
+many of them first editions, beautifully illuminated, together with
+numerous MSS.  dating from the 11th to the 16th century.
+The whole library was sold by the Executors to Mr. Edwards,
+bookseller, of Pall Mall, who placed the volumes in three vessels
+for transport from Venice to London.  Pursued by Corsairs,
+one of the vessels was captured, but the pirate, disgusted at
+not finding any treasure, threw all the books into the sea.
+The other two vessels escaped and delivered their freight safely,
+and in 1789-90 the books which had been so near destruction were
+sold at the great room in Conduit Street, for more than L9,000.
+
+These pirates were more excusable than Mohammed II who,
+upon the capture of Constantinople in the 15th century, after giving
+up the devoted city to be sacked by his licentious soldiers,
+ordered the books in all the churches as well as the great library
+of the Emperor Constantine, containing 120,000 Manuscripts,
+to be thrown into the sea.
+
+In the shape of rain, water has frequently caused irreparable injury.
+Positive wet is fortunately of rare occurrence in a library,
+but is very destructive when it does come, and, if long continued,
+the substance of the paper succumbs to the unhealthy influence and
+rots and rots until all fibre disappears, and the paper is reduced
+to a white decay which crumbles into powder when handled.
+
+Few old libraries in England are now so thoroughly neglected
+as they were thirty years ago.  The state of many of our Collegiate
+and Cathedral libraries was at that time simply appalling.
+I could mention many instances, one especially, where a window having
+been left broken for a long time, the ivy had pushed through and crept
+over a row of books, each of which was worth hundreds of pounds.
+In rainy weather the water was conducted, as by a pipe, along the tops
+of the books and soaked through the whole.
+
+In another and smaller collection, the rain came straight
+on to a book-case through a sky-light, saturating continually
+the top shelf containing Caxtons and other early English books,
+one of which, although rotten, was sold soon after by permission
+of the Charity Commissioners for L200.
+
+Germany, too, the very birth-place of Printing, allows similar destruction
+to go on unchecked, if the following letter, which appeared about a Year ago
+(1879) in the _Academy_ has any truth in it:--
+
+
+"For some time past the condition of the library at Wolfenbuttel
+has been most disgraceful.  The building is in so unsafe a
+condition that portions of the walls and ceilings have fallen in,
+and the many treasures in Books and MSS.  contained in it are
+exposed to damp and decay.  An appeal has been issued that this
+valuable collection may not be allowed to perish for want of funds,
+and that it may also be now at length removed to Brunswick,
+since Wolfenbuttel is entirely deserted as an intellectual centre.
+No false sentimentality regarding the memory of its former
+custodians, Leibnitz and Lessing, should hinder this project.
+Lessing himself would have been the first to urge that the library
+and its utility should be considered above all things."
+
+
+The collection of books at Wolfenbuttel is simply magnificent,
+and I cannot but hope the above report was exaggerated.
+Were these books to be injured for the want of a small sum spent
+on the roof, it would be a lasting disgrace to the nation.
+There are so many genuine book-lovers in Fatherland that
+the commission of such a crime would seem incredible, did not
+bibliographical history teem with similar desecrations.[1]
+
+
+[1] This was written in 1879, since which time a new building
+has been erected.
+
+
+Water in the form of vapour is a great enemy of books, the damp
+attacking both outside and inside.  Outside it fosters the growth
+of a white mould or fungus which vegetates upon the edges of the leaves,
+upon the sides and in the joints of the binding.  It is easily wiped off,
+but not without leaving a plain mark, where the mould-spots have been.
+Under the microscope a mould-spot is seen to be a miniature forest
+of lovely trees, covered with a beautiful white foliage, upas trees
+whose roots are embedded in the leather and destroy its texture.
+
+Inside the book, damp encourages the growth of those ugly brown
+spots which so often disfigure prints and "livres de luxe."
+Especially it attacks books printed in the early part of this century,
+when paper-makers had just discovered that they could bleach
+their rags, and perfectly white paper, well pressed after printing,
+had become the fashion.  This paper from the inefficient means used
+to neutralise the bleach, carried the seeds of decay in itself,
+and when exposed to any damp soon became discoloured with brown stains.
+Dr. Dibdin's extravagant bibliographical works are mostly so injured;
+and although the Doctor's bibliography is very incorrect, and his
+spun-out inanities and wearisome affectations often annoy one,
+yet his books are so beautifully illustrated, and he is so full
+of personal anecdote and chit chat, that it grieves the heart to see
+"foxey" stains common in his most superb works.
+
+In a perfectly dry and warm library these spots would probably
+remain undeveloped, but many endowed as well as private libraries are not
+in daily use, and are often injured from a false idea that a hard frost
+and prolonged cold do no injury to a library so long as the weather is dry.
+The fact is that books should never be allowed to get really cold,
+for when a thaw comes and the weather sets in warm, the air, laden with damp,
+penetrates the inmost recesses, and working its way between the volumes
+and even between the leaves, deposits upon their cold surface its moisture.
+The best preventative of this is a warm atmosphere during the frost,
+sudden heating when the frost has gone being useless.
+
+Our worst enemies are sometimes our real friends, and perhaps the best
+way of keeping libraries entirely free from damp is to circulate our
+enemy in the shape of hot water through pipes laid under the floor.
+The facilities now offered for heating such pipes from the outside
+are so great, the expense comparatively so small, and the direct gain
+in the expulsion of damp so decided, that where it can be accomplished
+without much trouble it is well worth the doing.
+
+At the same time no system of heating should be allowed to supersede
+the open grate, which supplies a ventilation to the room as useful
+to the health of the books as to the health of the occupier.  A coal fire
+is objectionable on many grounds.  It is dangerous, dirty and dusty.
+On the other hand an asbestos fire, where the lumps are judiciously laid,
+gives all the warmth and ventilation of a common fire without any of
+its annoyances; and to any one who loves to be independent of servants,
+and to know that, however deeply he may sleep over his "copy," his fire
+will not fail to keep awake, an asbestos stove is invaluable.
+
+It is a mistake also to imagine that keeping the best bound
+volumes in a glass doored book-case is a preservative.
+The damp air will certainly penetrate, and as the absence
+of ventilation will assist the formation of mould, the books
+will be worse off than if they had been placed in open shelves.
+If security be desirable, by all means abolish the glass
+and place ornamental brass wire-work in its stead.
+Like the writers of old Cookery Books who stamped special
+receipts with the testimony of personal experience, I can
+say "probatum est."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+GAS AND HEAT.
+
+WHAT a valuable servant is Gas, and how dreadfully we
+should cry out were it to be banished from our homes;
+and yet no one who loves his books should allow a single jet
+in his library, unless, indeed he can afford a "sun light,"
+which is the form in which it is used in some public libraries,
+where the whole of the fumes are carried at once into the open air.
+
+Unfortunately, I can speak from experience of the dire effect of gas
+in a confined space.  Some years ago when placing the shelves
+round the small room, which, by a euphemism, is called my library,
+I took the precaution of making two self-acting ventilators which
+communicated directly with the outer air just under the ceiling.
+For economy of space as well as of temper (for lamps of all kinds
+are sore trials), I had a gasalier of three lights over the table.
+The effect was to cause great heat in the upper regions,
+and in the course of a year or two the leather valance which hung
+from the window, as well as the fringe which dropped half-an-inch
+from each shelf to keep out the dust, was just like tinder,
+and in some parts actually fell to the ground by its own weight;
+while the backs of the books upon the top shelves were perished,
+and crumbled away when touched, being reduced to the consistency
+of Scotch snuff.  This was, of course, due to the sulphur in
+the gas fumes, which attack russia quickest, while calf and morocco
+suffer not quite so much.  I remember having a book some years
+ago from the top shelf in the library of the London Institution,
+where gas is used, and the whole of the back fell off in my hands,
+although the volume in other respects seemed quite uninjured.
+Thousands more were in a similar plight.
+
+As the paper of the volumes is uninjured, it might be objected that,
+after all, gas is not so much the enemy of the book itself as of its covering;
+but then, re-binding always leaves a book smaller, and often deprives
+it of leaves at the beginning or end, which the binder's wisdom has
+thought useless.  Oh! the havoc I have seen committed by binders.
+You may assume your most impressive aspect--you may write down your
+instructions as if you were making your last will and testament--
+you may swear you will not pay if your books are ploughed--'tis all in vain--
+the creed of a binder is very short, and comprised in a single article,
+and that article is the one vile word "Shavings."  But not now will I
+follow this depressing subject; binders, as enemies of books, deserve,
+and shall have, a whole chapter to themselves.
+
+It is much easier to decry gas than to find a remedy.
+Sun lights require especial arrangements, and are very expensive
+on account of the quantity of gas consumed.  The library
+illumination of the future promises to be the electric light.
+If only steady and moderate in price, it would be a great
+boon to public libraries, and perhaps the day is not far
+distant when it will replace gas, even in private houses.
+That will, indeed, be a day of jubilee to the literary labourer.
+The injury done by gas is so generally acknowledged by the heads
+of our national libraries, that it is strictly excluded from
+their domains, although the danger from explosion and fire,
+even if the results of combustion were innocuous, would be
+sufficient cause for its banishment.
+
+The electric light has been in use for some months in the Reading Room
+of the British Museum, and is a great boon to the readers.
+The light is not quite equally diffused, and you must choose particular
+positions if you want to work happily.  There is a great objection, too,
+in the humming fizz which accompanies the action of the electricity.
+There is a still greater objection when small pieces of hot
+chalk fall on your bald head, an annoyance which has been lately
+(1880) entirely removed by placing a receptacle beneath each burner.
+You require also to become accustomed to the whiteness of the light
+before you can altogether forget it.  But with all its faults it
+confers a great boon upon students, enabling them not only to work
+three hours longer in the winter-time, but restoring to them
+the use of foggy and dark days, in which formerly no book-work
+at all could be pursued.[1]
+
+
+[1] 1887.  The system in use is still "Siemens," but, owing to long
+experience and improvements, is not now open to the above objections.
+
+Heat alone, without any noxious fumes, is, if continuous, very injurious
+to books, and, without gas, bindings may be utterly destroyed by desiccation,
+the leather losing all its natural oils by long exposure to much heat.
+It is, therefore, a great pity to place books high up in a room where heat of
+any kind is us it must rise to the top, and if sufficient to be of comfort to
+the readers below, is certain to be hot enough above to injure the bindings.
+
+The surest way to preserve your books in health is to treat them as you
+would your own children, who are sure to sicken if confined in an
+atmosphere which is impure, too hot, too cold, too damp, or too dry.
+It is just the same with the progeny of literature.
+
+If any credence may be given to Monkish legends, books have
+sometimes been preserved in this world, only to meet a desiccating
+fate in the world to come.  The story is probably an invention
+of the enemy to throw discredit on the learning and ability
+of the preaching Friars, an Order which was at constant war
+with the illiterate secular Clergy.  It runs thus:--"In
+the year 1439, two Minorite friars who had all their lives
+collected books, died.  In accordance with popular belief,
+they were at once conducted before the heavenly tribunal to hear
+their doom, taking with them two asses laden with books.
+At Heaven's gate the porter demanded, `Whence came ye?'
+The Minorites replied `From a monastery of St. Francis.'  `Oh!' said
+the porter, `then St. Francis shall be your judge.'  So that saint
+was summoned, and at sight of the friars and their burden demanded
+who they were, and why they had brought so many books with them.
+`We are Minorites,' they humbly replied, `and we have brought
+these few books with us as a solatium in the new Jerusalem.'
+`And you, when on earth, practised the good they teach?'
+sternly demanded the saint, who read their characters at a glance.
+Their faltering reply was sufficient, and the blessed
+saint at once passed judgment as follows:--`Insomuch as,
+seduced by a foolish vanity, and against your vows of poverty,
+you have amassed this multitude of books and thereby and therefor
+have neglected the duties and broken the rules of your Order,
+you are now sentenced to read your books for ever and ever in
+the fires of Hell.'  Immediately, a roaring noise filled the air,
+and a flaming chasm opened in which friars, and asses and books
+were suddenly engulphed."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+DUST AND NEGLECT.
+
+DUST upon Books to any extent points to neglect, and neglect
+means more or less slow Decay.
+
+A well-gilt top to a book is a great preventive against damage by dust,
+while to leave books with rough tops and unprotected is sure to produce
+stains and dirty margins.
+
+In olden times, when few persons had private collections of books,
+the collegiate and corporate libraries were of great use to students.
+The librarians' duties were then no sinecure, and there
+was little opportunity for dust to find a resting-place.
+The Nineteenth Century and the Steam Press ushered in a new era.
+By degrees the libraries which were unendowed fell behind the age,
+and were consequently neglected.  No new works found their way in,
+and the obsolete old books were left uncared for and unvisited.
+I have seen many old libraries, the doors of which remained unopened
+from week's end to week's end; where you inhaled the dust of paper-decay
+with every breath, and could not take up a book without sneezing;
+where old boxes, full of older literature, served as preserves
+for the bookworm, without even an autumn "battue" to thin the breed.
+Occasionally these libraries were (I speak of thirty years ago)
+put even to vile uses, such as would have shocked all ideas
+of propriety could our ancestors have foreseen their fate.
+
+I recall vividly a bright summer morning many years ago, when,
+in search of Caxtons, I entered the inner quadrangle of a certain
+wealthy College in one of our learned Universities.  The buildings
+around were charming in their grey tones and shady nooks.
+They had a noble history, too, and their scholarly sons were
+(and are) not unworthy successors of their ancestral renown.
+The sun shone warmly, and most of the casements were open.
+From one came curling a whiff of tobacco; from another
+the hum of conversation; from a third the tones of a piano.
+A couple of undergraduates sauntered on the shady side, arm in arm,
+with broken caps and torn gowns--proud insignia of their last term.
+The grey stone walls were covered with ivy, except where an old dial
+with its antiquated Latin inscription kept count of the sun's ascent.
+The chapel on one side, only distinguishable from the "rooms"
+by the shape of its windows, seemed to keep watch over the morality
+of the foundation, just as the dining-hall opposite, from whence
+issued a white-aproned cook, did of its worldly prosperity.
+As you trod the level pavement, you passed comfortable--
+nay, dainty--apartments, where lace curtains at the windows,
+antimacassars on the chairs, the silver biscuit-box
+and the thin-stemmed wine-glass moderated academic toils.
+Gilt-backed books on gilded shelf or table caught the eye,
+and as you turned your glance from the luxurious interiors
+to the well-shorn lawn in the Quad., with its classic fountain
+also gilded by sunbeams, the mental vision saw plainly written
+over the whole "The Union of Luxury and Learning."
+
+Surely here, thought I, if anywhere, the old world literature
+will be valued and nursed with gracious care; so with a pleasing
+sense of the general congruity of all around me, I enquired
+for the rooms of the librarian.  Nobody seemed to be quite sure
+of his name, or upon whom the bibliographical mantle had descended.
+His post, it seemed, was honorary and a sinecure, being imposed,
+as a rule, upon the youngest "Fellow."  No one cared
+for the appointment, and as a matter of course the keys
+of office had but distant acquaintance with the lock.
+At last I was rewarded with success, and politely, but mutely,
+conducted by the librarian into his kingdom of dust and silence.
+The dark portraits of past benefactors looked after us from
+their dusty old frames in dim astonishment as we passed,
+evidently wondering whether we meant "work"; book-decay--
+that peculiar flavour which haunts certain libraries--
+was heavy in the air, the floor was dusty, making the sunbeams
+as we passed bright with atoms; the shelves were dusty,
+the "stands" in the middle were thick with dust, the old
+leather table in the bow window, and the chairs on either side,
+were very dusty.  Replying to a question, my conductor thought
+there was a manuscript catalogue of the Library somewhere,
+but thought, also, that it was not easy to find any books by it,
+and he knew not at the minute where to put his hand upon it.
+The Library, he said, was of little use now, as the Fellows
+had their own books and very seldom required 17th and 18th
+century editions, and no new books had been added to the collection
+for a long time.
+
+We passed down a few steps into an inner library where
+piles of early folios were wasting away on the ground.
+Beneath an old ebony table were two long carved oak chests.
+I lifted the lid of one, and at the top was a once-white
+surplice covered with dust, and beneath was a mass of tracts--
+Commonwealth quartos, unbound--a prey to worms and decay.
+All was neglect.  The outer door of this room, which was open,
+was nearly on a level with the Quadrangle; some coats,
+and trousers, and boots were upon the ebony table,
+and a "gyp" was brushing away at them just within the door--
+in wet weather he performed these functions entirely within
+the library--as innocent of the incongruity of his position
+as my guide himself.  Oh!  Richard of Bury, I sighed,
+for a sharp stone from your sling to pierce with indignant
+sarcasm the mental armour of these College dullards.
+
+Happily, things are altered now, and the disgrace of such neglect no longer
+hangs on the College.  Let us hope, in these days of revived respect
+for antiquity, no other College library is in a similar plight.
+
+Not Englishmen alone are guilty, however, of such unloving treatment
+of their bibliographical treasures.  The following is translated
+from an interesting work just published in Paris,[1] and shows how,
+even at this very time, and in the centre of the literary activity
+of France, books meet their fate.
+
+
+[1] Le luxe des Livres par L. Derome.  8vo, Paris, 1879.
+
+M. Derome loquitur:--
+
+
+"Let us now enter the communal library of some large provincial town.
+The interior has a lamentable appearance; dust and disorder have made
+it their home.  It has a librarian, but he has the consideration
+of a porter only, and goes but once a week to see the state of
+the books committed to his care; they are in a bad state, piled in
+heaps and perishing in corners for want of attention and binding.
+At this present time (1879) more than one public library in Paris
+could be mentioned in which thousands of books are received annually,
+all of which will have disappeared in the course of 50 years or so
+for want of binding; there are rare books, impossible to replace,
+falling to pieces because no care is given to them, that is to say,
+they are left unbound, a prey to dust and the worm, and cannot be
+touched without dismemberment."
+
+
+All history shows that this neglect belongs not to any
+particular age or nation.  I extract the following story from
+Edmond Werdet's Histoire du Livre."[1]
+
+
+[1] "Histoire du Livre en France," par E. Werdet.  8vo, Paris, 1851.
+
+
+"The Poet Boccaccio, when travelling in Apulia, was anxious to visit
+the celebrated Convent of Mount Cassin, especially to see its library,
+of which he had heard much.  He accosted, with great courtesy,
+one of the monks whose countenance attracted him, and begged him
+to have the kindness to show him the library.  `See for yourself,'
+said the monk, brusquely, pointing at the same time to an old
+stone staircase, broken with age.  Boccaccio hastily mounted
+in great joy at the prospect of a grand bibliographical treat.
+Soon he reached the room, which was without key or even door
+as protection to its treasures.  What was his astonishment to see
+that the grass growing in the window-sills actually darkened the room,
+and that all the books and seats were an inch thick in dust.
+In utter astonishment he lifted one book after another.  All were
+manuscripts of extreme antiquity, but all were dreadfully dilapidated.
+Many had lost whole sections which had been violently extracted,
+and in many all the blank margins of the vellum had been cut away.
+In fact, the mutilation was thorough.
+
+"Grieved at seeing the work and the wisdom of so many illustrious men
+fallen into the hands of custodians so unworthy, Boccaccio descended
+with tears in his eyes.  In the cloisters he met another monk,
+and enquired of him how the MSS.  had become so mutilated.
+`Oh!' he replied, `we are obliged, you know, to earn a few sous
+for our needs, so we cut away the blank margins of the manuscripts
+for writing upon, and make of them small books of devotion,
+which we sell to women and children."
+
+As a postscript to this story, Mr. Timmins, of Birmingham,
+informs me that the treasures of the Monte Cassino Library are
+better cared for now than in Boccaccio's days, the worthy prior
+being proud of his valuable MSS.  and very willing to show them.
+It will interest many readers to know that there is now a complete
+printing office, lithographic as well as typographic, at full work
+in one large room of the Monastery, where their wonderful MS.
+of Dante has been already reprinted, and where other fac-simile
+works are now in progress.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+IGNORANCE AND BIGOTRY.
+
+IGNORANCE, though not in the same category as fire and water,
+is a great destroyer of books.  At the Reformation so strong was
+the antagonism of the people generally to anything like the old
+idolatry of the Romish Church, that they destroyed by thousands books,
+secular as well as sacred, if they contained but illuminated letters.
+Unable to read, they saw no difference between romance and a psalter,
+between King Arthur and King David; and so the paper books with all
+their artistic ornaments went to the bakers to heat their ovens,
+and the parchment manuscripts, however beautifully illuminated,
+to the binders and boot makers.
+
+There is another kind of ignorance which has often worked destruction,
+as shown by the following anecdote, which is extracted from a letter
+written in 1862 by M. Philarete Chasles to Mr. B. Beedham, of Kimbolton:--
+
+
+"Ten years ago, when turning out an old closet in the Mazarin Library,
+of which I am librarian, I discovered at the bottom, under a lot
+of old rags and rubbish, a large volume.  It had no cover nor
+title-page, and had been used to light the fires of the librarians.
+This shows how great was the negligence towards our literary treasure
+before the Revolution; for the pariah volume, which, 60 years before,
+had been placed in the Invalides, and which had certainly formed
+part of the original Mazarin collections, turned out to be a fine
+and genuine Caxton."
+
+
+I saw this identical volume in the Mazarin Library in April, 1880.
+It is a noble copy of the First Edition of the "Golden Legend,"
+1483, but of course very imperfect.
+
+Among the millions of events in this world which cross and re-cross one
+another, remarkable coincidences must often occur; and a case exactly similar
+to that at the Mazarin Library, happened about the same time in London,
+at the French Protestant Church, St. Martin's-le-Grand. Many years ago I
+discovered there, in a dirty pigeon hole close to the grate in the vestry,
+a fearfully mutilated copy of Caxton's edition of the Canterbury Tales,
+with woodcuts.  Like the book at Paris, it had long been used,
+leaf by leaf, in utter ignorance of its value, to light the vestry fire.
+Originally worth at least L800, it was then worth half, and, of course,
+I energetically drew the attention of the minister in charge to it, as well
+as to another grand Folio by Rood and Hunte, 1480.  Some years elapsed,
+and then the Ecclesiastical Commissioners took the foundation in hand,
+but when at last Trustees were appointed, and the valuable library was
+re-arranged and catalogued, this "Caxton," together with the fine copy
+of "Latterbury" from the first Oxford Press, had disappeared entirely.
+Whatever ignorance may have been displayed in the mutilation, quite another
+word should be applied to the disappearance.
+
+The following anecdote is so _apropos_, that although it has lately
+appeared in No. 1 of _The Antiquary_, I cannot resist the temptation
+of re-printing it, as a warning to inheritors of old libraries.
+The account was copied by me years ago from a letter written
+in 1847, by the Rev. C. F. Newmarsh, Rector of Pelham, to the
+Rev. S. R. Maitland, Librarian to the Archbishop of Canterbury,
+and is as follows:--
+
+
+"In June, 1844, a pedlar called at a cottage in Blyton and asked an
+old widow, named Naylor, whether she had any rags to sell.  She answered,
+No! but offered him some old paper, and took from a shelf the `Boke
+of St. Albans' and others, weighing 9 lbs., for which she received 9_d_.
+The pedlar carried them through Gainsborough tied up in string, past a
+chemist's shop, who, being used to buy old paper to wrap his drugs in,
+called the man in, and, struck by the appearance of the `Boke,' gave
+him 3_s_.  for the lot.  Not being able to read the Colophon, he took it
+to an equally ignorant stationer, and offered it to him for a guinea,
+at which price he declined it, but proposed that it should be exposed
+in his window as a means of eliciting some information about it.
+It was accordingly placed there with this label, `Very old curious work.'
+A collector of books went in and offered half-a-crown for it,
+which excited the suspicion of the vendor.  Soon after Mr. Bird, Vicar
+of Gainsborough, went in and asked the price, wishing to possess a very
+early specimen of printing, but not knowing the value of the book.
+While he was examining it, Stark, a very intelligent bookseller, came in,
+to whom Mr. Bird at once ceded the right of pre-emption. Stark betrayed
+such visible anxiety that the vendor, Smith, declined setting a price.
+Soon after Sir C. Anderson, of Lea (author of Ancient Models), came
+in and took away the book to collate, but brought it back in the morning
+having found it imperfect in the middle, and offered L5 for it.
+Sir Charles had no book of reference to guide him to its value.
+But in the meantime, Stark had employed a friend to obtain for him
+the refusal of it, and had undertaken to give for it a little more than
+any sum Sir Charles might offer.  On finding that at least L5 could be
+got for it, Smith went to the chemist and gave him two guineas, and then
+sold it to Stark's agent for seven guineas.  Stark took it to London,
+and sold it at once to the Rt.  Hon. Thos.  Grenville for seventy
+pounds or guineas.
+
+"I have now shortly to state how it came that a book without covers
+of such extreme age was preserved.  About fifty years since,
+the library of Thonock Hall, in the parish of Gainsborough,
+the seat of the Hickman family, underwent great repairs,
+the books being sorted over by a most ignorant person,
+whose selection seems to have been determined by the coat.
+All books without covers were thrown into a great heap,
+and condemned to all the purposes which Leland laments
+in the sack of the conventual libraries by the visitors.
+But they found favour in the eyes of a literate gardener,
+who begged leave to take what he liked home.  He selected a large
+quantity of Sermons preached before the House of Commons,
+local pamphlets, tracts from 1680 to 1710, opera books, etc.
+He made a list of them, which I found afterwards in the cottage.
+In the list, No. 43 was `Cotarmouris,' or the Boke of
+St. Albans.  The old fellow was something of a herald, and drew
+in his books what he held to be his coat.  After his death,
+all that could be stuffed into a large chest were put away in a garret;
+but a few favourites, and the `Boke' among them remained
+on the kitchen shelves for years, till his son's widow grew
+so `stalled' of dusting them that she determined to sell them.
+Had she been in poverty, I should have urged the buyer, Stark,
+the duty of giving her a small sum out of his great gains."
+
+Such chances as this do not fall to a man's lot twice;
+but Edmond Werdet relates a story very similar indeed,
+and where also the "plums" fell into the lap of a London dealer.
+
+In 1775, the Recollet Monks of Antwerp, wishing to make a reform,
+examined their library, and determined to get rid of about 1,500 volumes--
+some manuscript and some printed, but all of which they considered
+as old rubbish of no value.
+
+At first they were thrown into the gardener's rooms; but, after some months,
+they decided in their wisdom to give the whole refuse to the gardener
+as a recognition of his long services.
+
+This man, wiser in his generation than these simple fathers,
+took the lot to M. Vanderberg, an amateur and man of education.
+M. Vanderberg took a cursory view, and then offered to buy them
+by weight at sixpence per pound.  The bargain was at once concluded,
+and M. Vanderberg had the books.
+
+Shortly after, Mr. Stark, a well-known London bookseller,
+being in Antwerp, called on M. Vanderberg, and was shown the books.
+He at once offered 14,000 francs for them, which was accepted.
+Imagine the surprise and chagrin of the poor monks when they heard of it!
+They knew they had no remedy, and so dumbfounded were they
+by their own ignorance, that they humbly requested M. Vanderberg
+to relieve their minds by returning some portion of his large gains.
+He gave them 1,200 francs.
+
+The great Shakespearian and other discoveries, which were
+found in a garret at Lamport Hall in 1867 by Mr. Edmonds,
+are too well-known and too recent to need description.
+In this case mere chance seems to have led to the preservation
+of works, the very existence of which set the ears of all lovers
+of Shakespeare a-tingling.
+
+In the summer of 1877, a gentleman with whom I was well acquainted
+took lodgings in Preston Street, Brighton.  The morning
+after his arrival, he found in the w.c. some leaves of an old
+black-letter book.  He asked permission to retain them,
+and enquired if there were any more where they came from.
+Two or three other fragments were found, and the landlady stated
+that her father, who was fond of antiquities, had at one time
+a chest full of old black-letter books; that, upon his death,
+they were preserved till she was tired of seeing them, and then,
+supposing them of no value, she had used them for waste;
+that for two years and a-half they had served for various
+household purposes, but she had just come to the end of them.
+The fragments preserved, and now in my possession, are a goodly
+portion of one of the most rare books from the press of Wynkyn
+de Worde, Caxton's successor.  The title is a curious woodcut
+with the words "Gesta Romanorum" engraved in an odd-shaped
+black letter.  It has also numerous rude wood-cuts throughout.
+It was from this very work that Shakespeare in all probability
+derived the story of the three caskets which in "The Merchant
+of Venice" forms so integral a portion of the plot.
+Only think of that cloaca being supplied daily with such
+dainty bibliographical treasures!
+
+In the Lansdowne Collection at the British Museum is a volume
+containing three manuscript dramas of Queen Elizabeth's time, and on
+a fly-leaf is a list of fifty-eight plays, with this note at the foot,
+in the handwriting of the well-known antiquary, Warburton:
+
+
+"After I had been many years collecting these Manuscript Playes,
+through my own carelessness and the ignorance of my servant,
+they was unluckely burned or put under pye bottoms."
+
+
+Some of these "Playes" are preserved in print, but others are quite
+unknown and perished for ever when used as "pye-bottoms."
+
+Mr. W. B. Rye, late Keeper of the Printed Books at our great
+National Library, thus writes:--
+
+
+"On the subject of ignorance you should some day, when at the
+British Museum, look at Lydgate's translation of Boccaccio's `Fall
+of Princes,' printed by Pynson in 1494.  It is `liber rarissimus.'
+This copy when perfect had been very fine and quite uncut.
+On one fine summer afternoon in 1874 it was brought to me by a
+tradesman living at Lamberhurst.  Many of the leaves had been cut
+into squares, and the whole had been rescued from a tobacconist's shop,
+where the pieces were being used to wrap up tobacco and snuff.
+The owner wanted to buy a new silk gown for his wife,
+and was delighted with three guineas for this purpose.
+You will notice how cleverly the British Museum binder has joined
+the leaves, making it, although still imperfect, a fine book."
+
+
+Referring to the carelessness exhibited by some custodians
+of Parish Registers,
+
+Mr. Noble, who has had great experience in such matters, writes:--
+
+
+"A few months ago I wanted a search made of the time of Charles I in one
+of the most interesting registers in a large town (which shall be nameless)
+in England.  I wrote to the custodian of it, and asked him kindly to do
+the search for me, and if he was unable to read the names to get some one
+who understood the writing of that date to decipher the entries for me.
+I did not have a reply for a fortnight, but one morning the postman brought
+me a very large unregistered book-packet, which I found to be the original
+Parish Registers!  He, however, addressed a note with it stating that
+he thought it best to send me the document itself to look at, and begged
+me to be good enough to return the Register to him as soon as done with.
+He evidently wished to serve me--his ignorance of responsibility without
+doubt proving his kindly disposition, and on that account alone I forbear
+to name him; but I can assure you I was heartily glad to have a letter
+from him in due time announcing that the precious documents were once more
+locked up in the parish chest.  Certainly, I think such as he to be `Enemies
+of books.'  Don't you?"
+
+
+Bigotry has also many sins to answer for.  The late M. Muller,
+of Amsterdam, a bookseller of European fame, wrote to me as follows
+a few weeks before his death:--
+
+
+"Of course, we also, in Holland, have many Enemies of books, and if I were
+happy enough to have your spirit and style I would try and write a companion
+volume to yours.  Now I think the best thing I can do is to give you
+somewhat of my experience.  You say that the discovery of printing has made
+the destruction of anybody's books difficult.  At this I am bound to say that
+the Inquisition did succeed most successfully, by burning heretical books,
+in destroying numerous volumes invaluable for their wholesome contents.
+Indeed, I beg to state to you the amazing fact that here in Holland exists an
+Ultramontane Society called `Old Paper,'which is under the sanction of the six
+Catholic Bishops of the Netherlands, and is spread over the whole kingdom.
+The openly-avowed object of this Society is to buy up and to destroy
+as waste paper all the Protestant and Liberal Catholic newspapers,
+pamphlets and books, the price of which is offered to the Pope as
+`Deniers de St. Pierre.'  Of course, this Society is very little known
+among Protestants, and many have denied even its existence; but I have been
+fortunate enough to obtain a printed circular issued by one of the Bishops
+containing statistics of the astounding mass of paper thus collected.
+producing in one district alone the sum of L1,200 in three months.  I need
+not tell you that this work is strongly promoted by the Catholic clergy.
+You can have no idea of the difficulty we now have in procuring certain
+books published but 30, 40, or 50 years ago of an ephemeral character.
+Historical and theological books are very rare; novels and poetry of that
+period are absolutely not to be found; medical and law books are more common.
+I am bound to say that in no country have more books been printed and more
+destroyed than in Holland.  W. MULLER."
+
+The policy of buying up all objectionable literature seems to me,
+I confess, very short-sighted, and in most cases would lead to a greatly
+increased reprint; it certainly would in these latitudes.
+
+From the Church of Rome to the Church of England is no great leap,
+and Mr. Smith, the Brighton bookseller, gives evidence thus:--
+
+
+"It may be worth your while to note that the clergy of the last two
+centuries ought to be included in your list (of Biblioclasts). I
+have had painful experience of the fact in the following manner.
+Numbers of volumes in their libraries have had a few leaves removed,
+and in many others whole sections torn out.  I suppose it served
+their purpose thus to use the wisdom of greater men and that they thus
+economised their own time by tearing out portions to suit their purpose.
+The hardship to the trade is this:  their books are purchased in good
+faith as perfect, and when resold the buyer is quick to claim damage
+if found defective, while the seller has no redress."
+
+
+Among the careless destroyers of books still at work should be
+classed Government officials.  Cart-loads of interesting documents,
+bound and unbound, have been sold at various times as
+waste-paper,[1] when modern red-tape thought them but rubbish.
+Some of them have been rescued and resold at high prices,
+but some have been lost for ever.
+
+
+[1] Nell Gwyn's private Housekeeping Book was among them,
+containing most curious particulars of what was necessary in
+the time of Charles I for a princely household.  Fortunately it
+was among the rescued, and is now in a private library.
+
+
+In 1854 a very interesting series of blue books was commenced
+by the authorities of the Patent Office, of course paid for out
+of the national purse.  Beginning with the year 1617 the particulars
+of every important patent were printed from the original specifications
+and fac-simile drawings made, where necessary, for the elucidation
+of the text.  A very moderate price was charged for each,
+only indeed the prime cost of production.  The general public,
+of course, cared little for such literature, but those interested
+in the origin and progress of any particular art, cared much,
+and many sets of Patents were purchased by those engaged in research.
+But the great bulk of the stock was, to some extent, inconvenient,
+and so when a removal to other offices, in 1879, became necessary,
+the question arose as to what could be done with them.
+These blue-books, which had cost the nation many thousands
+of pounds, were positively sold to the paper mills as wastepaper,
+and nearly 100 tons weight were carted away at about L3 per ton.
+It is difficult to believe, although positively true,
+that so great an act of vandalism could have been perpetrated,
+even in a Government office.  It is true that no demand existed
+for some of them, but it is equally true that in numerous cases,
+especially in the early specifications of the steam engine and
+printing machine, the want of them has caused great disappointment.
+To add a climax to the story, many of the "pulped" specifications
+have had to be reprinted more than once since their destruction.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE BOOKWORM.
+
+ THERE is a sort of busy worm
+ That will the fairest books deform,
+     By gnawing holes throughout them;
+ Alike, through every leaf they go,
+ Yet of its merits naught they know,
+     Nor care they aught about them.
+
+ Their tasteless tooth will tear and taint
+ The Poet, Patriot, Sage or Saint,
+     Not sparing wit nor learning.
+ Now, if you'd know the reason why,
+ The best of reasons I'll supply;
+     'Tis bread to the poor vermin.
+
+ Of pepper, snuff, or 'bacca smoke,
+ And Russia-calf they make a joke.
+     Yet, why should sons of science
+ These puny rankling reptiles dread?
+ 'Tis but to let their books be read,
+     And bid the worms defiance."
+                         J. DORASTON.
+
+A most destructive Enemy of books has been the bookworm.
+I say "has been," because, fortunately, his ravages in all civilised
+countries have been greatly restricted during the last fifty years.
+This is due partly to the increased reverence for antiquity which has
+been universally developed--more still to the feeling of cupidity,
+which has caused all owners to take care of volumes which year
+by year have become more valuable--and, to some considerable extent,
+to the falling off in the production of edible books.
+
+The monks, who were the chief makers as well as the custodians of books,
+through the long ages we call "dark," because so little is known of them,
+had no fear of the bookworm before their eyes, for, ravenous as he is
+and was, he loves not parchment, and at that time paper was not.
+Whether at a still earlier period he attacked the papyrus, the paper
+of the Egyptians, I know not--probably he did, as it was a purely
+vegetable substance; and if so, it is quite possible that the worm of to-day,
+in such evil repute with us, is the lineal descendant of ravenous ancestors
+who plagued the sacred Priests of On in the time of Joseph's Pharaoh,
+by destroying their title deeds and their books of Science.
+
+Rare things and precious, as manuscripts were before the invention
+of typography, are well preserved, but when the printing press
+was invented and paper books were multiplied in the earth;
+when libraries increased and readers were many, then familiarity
+bred contempt; books were packed in out-of-the-way places
+and neglected, and the oft-quoted, though seldom seen,
+bookworm became an acknowledged tenant of the library,
+and the mortal enemy of the bibliophile.
+
+Anathemas have been hurled against this pest in nearly every
+European language, old and new, and classical scholars of bye-gone
+centuries have thrown their spondees and dactyls at him.
+Pierre Petit, in 1683, devoted a long Latin poem to his
+dis-praise, and Parnell's charming Ode is well known.
+Hear the poet lament :--
+
+ "Pene tu mihi passerem Catulli,
+ Pene tu mihi Lesbiam abstulisti."
+
+and then--
+
+ "Quid dicam innumeros bene eruditos
+ Quorum tu monumenta tu labores
+     Isti pessimo ventre devorasti?
+
+while Petit, who was evidently moved by strong personal feelings against the
+"invisum pecus," as he calls him, addresses his little enemy as "Bestia audax"
+and "Pestis chartarum."
+
+But, as a portrait commonly precedes a biography, the curious
+reader may wish to be told what this "Bestia audax,"
+who so greatly ruffles the tempers of our eclectics, is like.
+Here, at starting, is a serious chameleon-like difficulty,
+for the bookworm offers to us, if we are guided by their words,
+as many varieties of size and shape as there are beholders.
+
+Sylvester, in his "Laws of Verse," with more words than wit, described him as
+"a microscopic creature wriggling on the learned page, which, when discovered,
+stiffens out into the resemblance of a streak of dirt."
+
+The earliest notice is in "Micrographia," by R. Hooke, folio, London, 1665.
+This work, which was printed at the expense of the Royal Society of London,
+is an account of innumerable things examined by the author under
+the microscope, and is most interesting for the frequent accuracy of the
+author's observations, and most amusing for his equally frequent blunders.
+
+In his account of the bookworm, his remarks, which are
+rather long and very minute, are absurdly blundering.
+He calls it "a small white Silver-shining Worm or Moth, which I
+found much conversant among books and papers, and is supposed to be
+that which corrodes and cats holes thro' the leaves and covers.
+Its head appears bigg and blunt, and its body tapers from it
+towards the tail, smaller and smaller, being shap'd almost like a
+carret. . . . It has two long horns before, which are streight,
+and tapering towards the top, curiously ring'd or knobb'd and
+brisled much like the marsh weed called Horses tail. . . . The
+hinder part is terminated with three tails, in every particular
+resembling the two longer horns that grow out of the head.
+The legs are scal'd and hair'd. This animal probably feeds upon
+the paper and covers of books, and perforates in them several
+small round holes, finding perhaps a convenient nourishment
+in those husks of hemp and flax, which have passed through so
+many scourings, washings, dressings, and dryings as the parts
+of old paper necessarily have suffer'd. And, indeed, when I
+consider what a heap of sawdust or chips this little creature
+(which is one of the teeth of Time) conveys into its intrals,
+I cannot chuse but remember and admire the excellent contrivance
+of Nature in placing in animals such a fire, as is continually
+nourished and supply'd by the materials convey'd into the stomach
+and fomented by the bellows of the lungs."  The picture or "image,"
+which accompanies this description, is wonderful to behold.
+Certainly R. Hooke, Fellow of the Royal Society, drew somewhat
+upon his imagination here, having apparently evolved both
+engraving and description from his inner consciousness.[1]
+
+
+[1] Not so!  Several correspondents have drawn my attention to
+the fact that Hooke is evidently describing the "Lepisma," which,
+if not positively injurious, is often found in the warm
+places of old houses, especially if a little damp.
+He mistook this for the Bookworm.
+
+
+Entomologists even do not appear to have paid much attention
+to the natural history of the "Worm."  Kirby, speaking of it,
+says, "the larvae of Crambus pinguinalis spins a robe which it
+covers with its own excrement, and does no little injury."
+Again, "I have often observed the caterpillar of a little moth
+that takes its station in damp old books, and there commits
+great ravages, and many a black-letter rarity, which in these days
+of bibliomania would have been valued at its weight in gold,
+has been snatched by these devastators," etc., etc.
+
+As already quoted, Doraston's description is very vague.
+To him he is in one verse "a sort of busy worm," and in another "a
+puny rankling reptile."  Hannett, in his work on book-binding,
+gives "Aglossa pinguinalis" as the real name, and Mrs. Gatty,
+in her Parables, christens it "Hypothenemus cruditus."
+
+The, Rev. F. T. Havergal, who many years ago had much trouble with bookworms
+in the Cathedral Library of Hereford, says they are a kind of death-watch,
+with a "hard outer skin, and are dark brown," another sort "having white
+bodies with brown spots on their heads."  Mr. Holme, in "Notes and Queries"
+for 1870, states that the "Anobium paniceum" has done considerable injury
+to the Arabic manuscripts brought from Cairo, by Burckhardt, and now in
+the University Library, Cambridge.  Other writers say "Acarus eruditus"
+or "Anobium pertinax" are the correct scientific names.
+
+Personally, I have come across but few specimens; nevertheless, from what
+I have been told by librarians, and judging from analogy, I imagine
+the following to be about the truth:--
+
+There are several kinds of caterpillar and grub, which eat into books,
+those with legs are the larvae of moths; those without legs, or rather
+with rudimentary legs, are grubs and turn to beetles.
+
+It is not known whether any species of caterpillar or grub
+can live generation after generation upon books alone,
+but several sorts of wood-borers, and others which live upon
+vegetable refuse, will attack paper, especially if attracted
+in the first place by the real wooden boards in which it was
+the custom of the old book-binders to clothe their volumes.
+In this belief, some country librarians object to opening the library
+windows lest the enemy should fly in from the neighbouring woods,
+and rear a brood of worms.  Anyone, indeed, who has seen
+a hole in a filbert, or a piece of wood riddled by dry rot,
+will recognize a similarity of appearance in the channels made
+by these insect enemies.
+
+Among the paper-eating species are:--
+
+1.  The "Anobium."  Of this beetle there are varieties, viz.:
+"A. pertinax," "A. eruditus," and "A. paniceum."  In the larval
+state they are grubs, just like those found, in nuts; in this stage
+they are too much alike to be distinguished from one another.
+They feed on old dry wood, and often infest bookcases and shelves.
+They eat the wooden boards of old books, and so pass into the paper
+where they make long holes quite round, except when they work
+in a slanting direction, when the holes appear to be oblong.
+They will thus pierce through several volumes in succession,
+Peignot, the well-known bibliographer, having found 27 volumes
+so pierced in a straight line by one worm, a miracle of gluttony,
+the story of which, for myself, I receive "_cum grano salis_."
+After a certain time the larva changes into a pupa, and then
+emerges as a small brown beetle.
+
+2.  "Oecophora."--This larva is similar in size to that of Anobium,
+but can be distinguished at once by having legs.  It is a caterpillar,
+with six legs upon its thorax and eight sucker-like protuberances
+on its body, like a silk-worm. It changes into a chrysalis,
+and then assumes its perfect shape as a small brown moth.
+The species that attacks books is the OEcophora pseudospretella.
+It loves damp and warmth, and eats any fibrous material.
+This caterpillar is quite unlike any garden species, and, excepting
+the legs, is very similar in appearance and size to the Anobium.  It is
+about half-inch long, with a horny head and strong jaws.
+To printers' ink or writing ink he appears to have no great dislike,
+though I imagine that the former often disagrees with his health,
+unless he is very robust, as in books where the print is pierced
+a majority of the worm-holes I have seen are too short in extent
+to have provided food enough for the development of the grub.
+But, although the ink may be unwholesome, many grubs survive,
+and, eating day and night in silence and darkness, work out their
+destiny leaving, according to the strength of their constitutions,
+a longer or shorter tunnel in the volume.
+
+In December, 1879, Mr. Birdsall, a well-known book-binder
+of Northampton, kindly sent me by post a fat little Worm,
+which had been found by one of his workmen in an old book
+while being bound.  He bore his journey extremely well,
+being very lively when turned out.  I placed him in a box in warmth
+and quiet, with some small fragments of paper from a Boethius,
+printed by Caxton, and a leaf of a seventeenth century book.
+He ate a small piece of the leaf, but either from too much
+fresh air, from unaccustomed liberty, or from change of food,
+he gradually weakened, and died in about three weeks.
+I was sorry to lose him, as I wished to verify his name in his
+perfect state.  Mr. Waterhouse, of the Entomological department
+of the British Museum, very kindly examined him before death,
+and was of opinion he was OEcophora pseudospretella.
+
+In July, 1885, Dr. Garnett, of the British Museum, gave me two worms which had
+been found in an old Hebrew Commentary just received from Athens.  They had
+doubtless had a good shaking on the journey, and one was moribund
+when I took charge, and joined his defunct kindred in a few days.
+The other seemed hearty and lived with me for nearly eighteen months.
+I treated him as well as I knew how; placed him in a small box with the choice
+of three sorts of old paper to eat, and very seldom disturbed him.
+He evidently resented his confinement, ate very little, moved very little,
+and changed in appearance very little, even when dead.  This Greek worm,
+filled with Hebrew lore, differed in many respects from any other I
+have seen.  He was longer, thinner, and more delicate looking than any
+of his English congeners.  He was transparent, like thin ivory, and had
+a dark line through his body, which I took to be the intestinal canal.
+He resigned his life with extreme procrastination, and died "deeply lamented"
+by his keeper, who had long looked forward to his final development.
+
+The difficulty of breeding these worms is probably due to their formation.
+When in a state of nature they can by expansion and contraction of
+the body working upon the sides of their holes, push their horny jaws
+against the opposing mass of paper.  But when freed from the restraint,
+which indeed to them is life, they CANNOT eat although surrounded
+with food, for they have no legs to keep them steady, and their natural,
+leverage is wanting.
+
+Considering the numerous old books contained in the British Museum,
+the Library there is wonderfully free from the worm.
+Mr. Rye, lately the Keeper of the Printed Books there,
+writes me "Two or three were discovered in my time, but they
+were weakly creatures.  One, I remember, was conveyed into
+the Natural History Department, and was taken into custody
+by Mr. Adam White who pronounced it to be Anobium pertinax.
+I never heard of it after."
+
+The reader, who has not had an opportunity of examining old libraries,
+can have no idea of the dreadful havoc which these pests are
+capable of making.
+
+I have now before me a fine folio volume, printed on very good
+unbleached paper, as thick as stout cartridge, in the year 1477,
+by Peter Schoeffer, of Mentz.  Unfortunately, after a period
+of neglect in which it suffered severely from the "worm," it
+was about fifty years ago considered worth a new cover, and so
+again suffered severely, this time at the hands of the binder.
+Thus the original state of the boards is unknown, but the damage
+done to the leaves can be accurately described.
+
+The "worms" have attacked each end.  On the first leaf are 212
+distinct holes, varying in size from a common pin hole to that which
+a stout knitting-needle would make, say, <1/16> to <1/23> inch.
+These holes run mostly in lines more or less at right angles with
+the covers, a very few being channels along the paper affecting
+three or four sheets only.  The varied energy of these little pests
+is thus represented:--
+
+     On folio 1 are 212 holes. On folio 61 are 4 holes.
+     "   11   "   57   "   "   71   "   2    "
+     "   21   "   48   "   "   81   "   2    "
+     "   31   "   31   "   "   87   "   1    "
+     "   41   "   18   "   "   90   "   0    "
+     "   51   "   6    "
+
+
+These 90 leaves being stout, are about the thickness of 1 inch.
+The volume has 250 leaves, and turning to the end, we find on the last
+leaf 81 holes, made by a breed of worms not so ravenous.  Thus,
+
+ From end                |         From end.
+ On folio 1 are 81 holes.     |    On folio 66 is 1 hole.
+     "   11 "     40   "   |    "   69   "   0    "
+
+
+It is curious to notice how the holes, rapidly at first,
+and then slowly and more slowly, disappear.  You trace
+the same hole leaf after leaf, until suddenly the size becomes
+in one leaf reduced to half its normal diameter, and a close
+examination will show a small abrasion of the paper in the next
+leaf exactly where the hole would have come if continued.
+In the book quoted it is just as if there had been a race.
+In the first ten leaves the weak worms are left behind;
+in the second ten there are still forty-eight eaters;
+these are reduced to thirty-one in the third ten, and to only
+eighteen in the fourth ten.  On folio 51 only six worms hold on,
+and before folio 61 two of them have given in.  Before reaching
+folio 7, it is a neck and neck race between two sturdy gourmands,
+each making a fine large hole, one of them being oval in shape.
+At folio 71 they are still neck and neck, and at folio 81 the same.
+At folio 87 the oval worm gives in, the round one eating
+three more leaves and part way through the fourth.
+The leaves of the book are then untouched until we reach
+the sixty-ninth from the end, upon which is one worm hole.
+After this they go on multiplying to the end of the book.
+
+I have quoted this instance because I have it handy, but many worms
+eat much longer holes than any in this volume; some I have seen
+running quite through a couple of thick volumes, covers and all.
+In the "Schoeffer" book the holes are probably the work of Anobium
+pertinax, because the centre is spared and both ends attacked.
+Originally, real wooden boards were the covers of the volume,
+and here, doubtless, the attack was commenced, which was carried
+through each board into the paper of the book.
+
+I remember well my first visit to the Bodleian Library,
+in the year 1858, Dr. Bandinel being then the librarian.
+He was very kind, and afforded me every facility for examining
+the fine collection of "Caxtons," which was the object of my journey.
+In looking over a parcel of black-letter fragments, which had been
+in a drawer for a long time, I came across a small grub, which,
+without a thought, I threw on the floor and trod under foot.
+Soon after I found another, a fat, glossy fellow, so long ---,
+which I carefully preserved in a little paper box, intending to
+observe his habits and development.  Seeing Dr. Bandinel near,
+I asked him to look at my curiosity.  Hardly, however, had I turned
+the wriggling little victim out upon the leather-covered table,
+when down came the doctor's great thumb-nail upon him,
+and an inch-long smear proved the tomb of all my hopes,
+while the great bibliographer, wiping his thumb on his coat sleeve,
+passed on with the remark, "Oh, yes! they have black heads sometimes."
+That was something to know--another fact for the entomologist;
+for my little gentleman had a hard, shiny, white head,
+and I never heard of a black-headed bookworm before or since.
+Perhaps the great abundance of black-letter books in the Bodleian
+may account for the variety.  At any rate he was an Anobium.
+
+I have been unmercifully "chaffed" for the absurd idea that a paper-eating
+worm could be kept a prisoner in a paper box.  Oh, these critics!
+Your bookworm is a shy, lazy beast, and takes a day or two to recover
+his appetite after being "evicted."  Moreover, he knew his own dignity
+better than to eat the "loaded" glazed shoddy note paper in which
+he was incarcerated.
+
+In the case of Caxton's "Lyf of oure ladye," already referred to,
+not only are there numerous small holes, but some very large channels
+at the bottom of the pages.  This is a most unusual occurrence,
+and is probably the work of the larva of "Dermestes vulpinus,"
+a garden beetle, which is very voracious, and eats any kind
+of dry ligneous rubbish.
+
+The scarcity of edible books of the present century has been mentioned.
+One result of the extensive adulteration of modern paper is that the worm
+will not touch it.  His instinct forbids him to eat the china clay,
+the bleaches, the plaster of Paris, the sulphate of barytes, the scores
+of adulterants now used to mix with the fibre, and, so far, the wise pages
+of the old literature are, in the race against Time with the modern rubbish,
+heavily handicapped.  Thanks to the general interest taken in old
+books now-a-days, the worm has hard times of it, and but slight chance
+of that quiet neglect which is necessary to his, existence.  So much
+greater is the reason why some patient entomologist should, while there
+is the chance, take upon himself to study the habits of the creature,
+as Sir John Lubbock has those of the ant.
+
+I have now before me some leaves of a book, which, being waste,
+were used by our economical first printer, Caxton, to make boards,
+by pasting them together.  Whether the old paste was an attraction,
+or whatever the reason may have been, the worm, when he got in there,
+did not, as usual, eat straight through everything into the middle
+of the book, but worked his way longitudinally, eating great furrows
+along the leaves without passing out of the binding; and so furrowed
+are these few leaves by long channels that it is difficult to raise
+one of them without its falling to pieces.
+
+This is bad enough, but we may be very thankful that in these temperate
+climes we have no such enemies as are found in very hot countries,
+where a whole library, books, bookshelves, table, chairs, and all,
+may be destroyed in one night by a countless army of ants.
+
+Our cousins in the United States, so fortunate in many things,
+seem very fortunate in this--their books are not attacked
+by the "worm"--at any rate, American writers say so.
+True it is that all their black-letter comes from Europe, and,
+having cost many dollars, is well looked after; but there they
+have thousands of seventeenth and eighteenth century books,
+in Roman type, printed in the States on genuine and wholesome paper,
+and the worm is not particular, at least in this country,
+about the type he eats through, if the paper is good.
+
+Probably, therefore, the custodians of their old libraries could tell
+a different tale, which makes it all the more amusing to find in the
+excellent "Encyclopaedia of Printing,"[1] edited and printed by Ringwalt,
+at Philadelphia, not only that the bookworm is a stranger there,
+for personally he is unknown to most of us, but that his slightest
+ravages are looked upon as both curious and rare.  After quoting Dibdin,
+with the addition of a few flights of imagination of his own,
+Ringwalt states that this "paper-eating moth is supposed to have been
+introduced into England in hogsleather binding from Holland."  He then
+ends with what, to anyone who has seen the ravages of the worm in hundreds
+of books, must be charming in its native simplicity.  "There is now,"
+he states, evidently quoting it as a great curiosity, "there is now,
+in a private library in Philadelphia, a book perforated by this insect."
+Oh! lucky Philadelphians! who can boast of possessing the oldest library
+in the States, but must ask leave of a private collector if they wish
+to see the one wormhole in the whole city!
+
+
+[1] "American Encyclopaedia of Printing": by Luther Ringwalt.
+8vo.  Philadelphia, 1871.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+OTHER VERMIN.
+
+BESIDES the worm I do not think there is any insect enemy of books
+worth description.  The domestic black-beetle, or cockroach,
+is far too modern an introduction to our country to have done
+much harm, though he will sometimes nibble the binding of books,
+especially if they rest upon the floor.
+
+Not so fortunate, however, are our American cousins, for in
+the "Library Journal" for September, 1879, Mr. Weston Flint
+gives an account of a dreadful little pest which commits
+great havoc upon the cloth bindings of the New York libraries.
+It is a small black-beetle or cockroach, called by scientists
+"Blatta germanica" and by others the "Croton Bug."  Unlike our
+household pest, whose home is the kitchen, and whose bashfulness
+loves secrecy and the dark hours, this misgrown flat species,
+of which it would take two to make a medium-sized English
+specimen, has gained in impudence what it has lost in size,
+fearing neither light nor noise, neither man nor beast.
+In the old English Bible of 1551, we read in Psalm xci, 5,
+"Thou shalt not nede to be afraied for eny Bugges by night."
+This verse falls unheeded on the ear of the Western librarian
+who fears his "bugs" both night and day, for they crawl over
+everything in broad sunlight, infesting and infecting each corner
+and cranny of the bookshelves they choose as their home.
+There is a remedy in the powder known as insecticide,
+which, however, is very disagreeable upon books and shelves.
+It is, nevertheless, very fatal to these pests, and affords
+some consolation in the fact that so soon as a "bug" shows
+any signs of illness, he is devoured at once by his voracious
+brethren with the same relish as if he were made of fresh paste.
+
+There is, too, a small silvery insect (Lepisma) which I have
+often seen in the backs of neglected books, but his ravages
+are not of much importance.
+
+Nor can we reckon the Codfish as very dangerous to literature, unless, indeed,
+he be of the Roman obedience, like that wonderful Ichthiobibliophage
+(pardon me, Professor Owen) who, in the year 1626, swallowed three Puritanical
+treatises of John Frith, the Protestant martyr.  No wonder, after such a meal,
+he was soon caught, and became famous in the annals of literature.
+The following is the title of a little book issued upon the occasion:
+"Vox Piscis, or the Book-Fish containing Three Treatises, which were found
+in the belly of a Cod-Fish in Cambridge Market on Midsummer Eve, A'0 1626."
+Lowndes says (see under "Tracey,") "great was the consternation at Cambridge
+upon the publication of this work."
+
+Rats and mice, however, are occasionally very destructive,
+as the following anecdote will show:  Two centuries ago, the library
+of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster was kept in the Chapter House,
+and repairs having become necessary in that building, a scaffolding
+was erected inside, the books being left on their shelves.
+One of the holes made in the wall for a scaffold-pole was
+selected by a pair of rats for their family residence.
+Here they formed a nest for their young ones by descending to
+the library shelves and biting away the leaves of various books.
+Snug and comfortable was the little household, until, one day,
+the builder's men having finished, the poles were removed, and--
+alas! for the rats--the hole was closed up with bricks and cement.
+Buried alive, the father and mother, with five or six of their
+offspring, met with a speedy death, and not until a few years ago,
+when a restoration of the Chapter House was effected, was the rat
+grave opened again for a scaffold pole, and all their skeletons
+and their nest discovered.  Their bones and paper fragments
+of the nest may now be seen in a glass case in the Chapter House,
+some of the fragments being attributed to books from the press
+of Caxton.  This is not the case, although there are pieces of very
+early black-letter books not now to be found in the Abbey library,
+including little bits of the famous Queen Elizabeth's Prayer book,
+with woodcuts, 1568.
+
+A friend sends me the following incident:  "A few years since,
+some rats made nests in the trees surrounding my house;
+from thence they jumped on to some flat roofing, and so made
+their way down a chimney into a room where I kept books.
+A number of these, with parchment backs, they entirely destroyed,
+as well as some half-dozen books whole bound in parchment."
+
+Another friend informs me that in the Natural History Museum of the
+Devon and Exeter Institution is a specimen of "another little pest,
+which has a great affection for bindings in calf and roan.
+Its scientific name is Niptus Hololeucos."  He adds, "Are you aware
+that there was a terrible creature allied to these, rejoicing in
+the name of Tomicus Typographus, which committed sad ravages in Germany
+in the seventeenth century, and in the old liturgies of that country
+is formally mentioned under its vulgar name, `The Turk'?" (See Kirby
+and Spence, Seventh Edition, 1858, p.  123.) This is curious,
+and I did not know it, although I know well that Typographus Tomicus,
+or the "cutting printer," is a sad enemy of (good) books.
+Upon this part of our subject, however, I am debarred entering.
+
+The following is from W. J. Westbrook, Mus.  Doe., Cantab., and represents
+ravages with which I am personally unacquainted:
+
+
+"Dear Blades,--I send you an example of the `enemy'-
+mosity of an ordinary housefly.  It hid behind the paper,
+emitted some caustic fluid, and then departed this life.
+I have often caught them in such holes.'  30/12/83." The damage
+is an oblong hole, surrounded by a white fluffy glaze
+(fungoid?), difficult to represent in a woodcut.
+The size here given is exact.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+BOOKBINDERS.
+
+IN the first chapter I mentioned bookbinders among the Enemies
+of Books, and I tremble to think what a stinging retort might be made
+if some irate bibliopegist were to turn the scales on the printer,
+and place HIM in the same category.  On the sins of printers,
+and the unnatural neglect which has often shortened the lives
+of their typographical progeny, it is not for me to dilate.
+There is an old proverb, " 'Tis an ill bird that befouls its
+own nest"; a curious chapter thereupon, with many modern examples,
+might nevertheless be written.  This I will leave, and will now
+only place on record some of the cruelties perpetrated upon books
+by the ignorance or carelessness of binders.
+
+Like men, books have a soul and body.  With the soul, or literary portion,
+we have nothing to do at present; the body, which is the outer
+frame or covering, and without which the inner would be unusable,
+is the special work of the binder.  He, so to speak, begets it;
+he determines its form and adornment, he doctors it in disease
+and decay, and, not unseldom, dissects it after death.
+Here, too, as through all Nature, we find the good and bad running
+side by side.  What a treat it is to handle a well-bound volume;
+the leaves lie open fully and freely, as if tempting you to read on,
+and you handle them without fear of their parting from the back.
+To look at the "tooling," too, is a pleasure, for careful thought,
+combined with artistic skill, is everywhere apparent.  You open
+the cover and find the same loving attention inside that has been
+given to the outside, all the workmanship being true and thorough.
+Indeed, so conservative is a good binding, that many a worthless
+book has had an honoured old age, simply out of respect to its
+outward aspect; and many a real treasure has come to a degraded end
+and premature death through the unsightliness of its outward case
+and the irreparable damage done to it in binding.
+
+The weapon with which the binder deals the most deadly blows to books
+is the "plough," the effect of which is to cut away the margins,
+placing the print in a false position relatively to the back and head,
+and often denuding the work of portions of the very text.
+This reduction in size not seldom brings down a handsome folio
+to the size of quarto, and a quarto to an octavo.
+
+With the old hand plough a binder required more care and caution
+to produce an even edge throughout than with the new cutting machine.
+If a careless workman found that he had not ploughed the margin quite square
+with the text, he would put it in his press and take off "another shaving,"
+and sometimes even a third.
+
+Dante, in his "Inferno," deals out to the lost souls various tortures
+suited with dramatic fitness to the past crimes of the victims,
+and had I to execute judgment on the criminal binders of certain
+precious volumes I have seen, where the untouched maiden sheets
+entrusted to their care have, by barbarous treatment, lost dignity,
+beauty and value, I would collect the paper shavings so ruthlessly shorn off,
+and roast the perpetrator of the outrage over their slow combustion.
+In olden times, before men had learned to value the relics of our printers,
+there was some excuse for the sins of a binder who erred from ignorance
+which was general; but in these times, when the historical and antiquarian
+value of old books is freely acknowledged, no quarter should be granted
+to a careless culprit.
+
+It may be supposed that, from the spread of information,
+all real danger from ignorance is past.  Not so, good reader;
+that is a consummation as yet "devoutly to be wished."
+Let me relate to you a true bibliographical anecdote:
+In 1877, a certain lord, who had succeeded to a fine collection
+of old books, promised to send some of the most valuable
+(among which were several Caxtons) to the Exhibition at
+South Kensington.  Thinking their outward appearance too shabby,
+and not knowing the danger of his conduct, he decided
+to have them rebound in the neighbouring county town.
+The volumes were soon returned in a resplendent state, and,
+it is said, quite to the satisfaction of his lordship,
+whose pleasure, however, was sadly damped when a friend
+pointed out to him that, although the discoloured edges had
+all been ploughed off, and the time-stained blanks, with their
+fifteenth century autographs, had been replaced by nice clean
+fly-leaves, yet, looking at the result in its lowest aspect only--
+that of market value--the books had been damaged to at least
+the amount of L500; and, moreover, that caustic remarks
+would most certainly follow upon their public exhibition.
+Those poor injured volumes were never sent.
+
+Some years ago one of the most rare books printed by Machlinia--
+a thin folio--was discovered bound in sheep by a country bookbinder,
+and cut down to suit the size of some quarto tracts.
+But do not let us suppose that country binders are the only culprits.
+It is not very long since the discovery of a unique Caxton
+in one of our largest London libraries.  It was in boards,
+as originally issued by the fifteenth-century binder, and a
+great fuss (very properly) was made over the treasure trove.
+Of course, cries the reader, it was kept in its original covers,
+with all the interesting associations of its early state untouched?
+No such thing!  Instead of making a suitable case, in which it
+could be preserved just as it was, it was placed in the hands of a
+well-known London binder, with the order, "Whole bind in velvet."
+He did his best, and the volume now glows luxuriously in its
+gilt edges and its inappropriate covering, and, alas! with
+half-an-inch of its uncut margin taken off all round.
+How do I know that? because the clever binder, seeing some MS.
+remarks on one of the margins, turned the leaf down to avoid
+cutting them off, and that stern witness will always testify,
+to the observant reader, the original size of the book.
+This same binder, on another occasion, placed a unique
+fifteenth century Indulgence in warm water, to separate
+it from the cover upon which it was pasted, the result
+being that, when dry, it was so distorted as to be useless.
+That man soon after passed to another world, where, we may hope,
+his works have not followed him, and that his merits as a
+good citizen and an honest man counterbalanced his de-merits
+as a binder.
+
+Other similar instances will occur to the memory of many a reader,
+and doubtless the same sin will be committed from time to time
+by certain binders, who seem to have an ingrained antipathy to rough
+edges and large margins, which of course are, in their view,
+made by Nature as food for the shaving tub.
+
+De Rome, a celebrated bookbinder of the eighteenth century,
+who was nicknamed by Dibdin "The Great Cropper," was, although in
+private life an estimable man, much addicted to the vice of reducing
+the margins of all books sent to him to bind.  So far did he go,
+that he even spared not a fine copy of Froissart's Chronicles,
+on vellum, in which was the autograph of the well-known book-lover,
+De Thou, but cropped it most cruelly.
+
+Owners, too, have occasionally diseased minds with regard to margins.
+A friend writes:  "Your amusing anecdotes have brought to my memory
+several biblioclasts whom I have known.  One roughly cut the margins off
+his books with a knife, hacking away very much like a hedger and ditcher.
+Large paper volumes were his especial delight, as they gave more paper.
+The slips thus obtained were used for index-making! Another, with the bump
+of order unnaturally developed, had his folios and quartos all reduced,
+in binding, to one size, so that they might look even on his bookshelves."
+
+This latter was, doubtless, cousin to him who deliberately cut
+down all his books close to the text, because he had been several
+times annoyed by readers who made marginal notes.
+
+The indignities, too, suffered by some books in their lettering!
+Fancy an early black-letter fifteenth-century quarto on Knighthood,
+labelled "Tracts"; or a translation of Virgil, "Sermons"! The "Histories
+of Troy," printed by Caxton, still exists with "Eracles" on
+the back, as its title, because that name occurs several times
+in the early chapters, and the binder was too proud to seek advice.
+The words "Miscellaneous," or "Old Pieces," were sometimes used
+when binders were at a loss for lettering, and many other instances
+might be mentioned.
+
+The rapid spread of printing throughout Europe in the latter part
+of the fifteenth century caused a great fall in the value of plain
+un-illuminated MSS., and the immediate consequence of this was the
+destruction of numerous volumes written upon parchment, which were used
+by the binders to strengthen the backs of their newly-printed rivals.
+These slips of vellum or parchment are quite common in old books.
+Sometimes whole sheets are used as fly-leaves, and often reveal
+the existence of most valuable works, unknown before-proving, at
+the same time, the small value formerly attached to them.
+
+Many a bibliographer, while examining old books, has to his great
+puzzlement come across short slips of parchment, nearly always from some
+old manuscript, sticking out like "guards" from the midst of the leaves.
+These suggest, at first, imperfections or damage done to the volume;
+but if examined closely it will be found that they are always in
+the middle of a paper section, and the real reason of their existence
+is just the same as when two leaves of parchment occur here and there
+in a paper volume, viz.: strength--strength to resist the lug
+which the strong thread makes against the middle of each section.
+These slips represent old books destroyed, and like the slips
+already noticed, should always be carefully examined.
+
+When valuable books have been evil-entreated, when they have become
+soiled by dirty hands, or spoiled by water stains, or injured
+by grease spots, nothing is more astonishing to the uninitiated than
+the transformation they undergo in the hands of a skilful restorer.
+The covers are first carefully dissected, the eye of the operator
+keeping a careful outlook for any fragments of old MSS.
+or early printed books, which may have been used by the original binder.
+No force should be applied to separate parts which adhere together;
+a little warm water and care is sure to overcome that difficulty.
+When all the sections are loose, the separate sheets are placed
+singly in a bath of cold water, and allowed to remain there until
+all the dirt has soaked out.  If not sufficiently purified,
+a little hydrochloric or oxalic acid, or caustic potash may be put
+in the water, according as the stains are from grease or from ink.
+Here is where an unpractised binder will probably injure a book for life.
+If the chemicals are too strong, or the sheets remain too long in
+the bath, or are not thoroughly cleansed from the bleach before they
+are re-sized, the certain seeds of decay are planted in the paper,
+and although for a time the leaves may look bright to the eye,
+and even crackle under the hand like the soundest paper,
+yet in the course of a few years the enemy will appear, the fibre
+will decay, and the existence of the books will terminate in a state
+of white tinder.
+
+Everything which diminishes the interest of a book is inimical
+to its preservation, and in fact is its enemy.  Therefore, a few
+words upon the destruction of old bindings.
+
+I remember purchasing many years ago at a suburban book stall,
+a perfect copy of Moxon's Mechanic Exercises, now a scarce work.
+The volumes were uncut, and had the original marble covers.
+They looked so attractive in their old fashioned dress,
+that I at once determined to preserve it.  My binder soon
+made for them a neat wooden box in the shape of a book,
+with morocco back properly lettered, where I trust the originals
+will be preserved from dust and injury for many a long year.
+
+Old covers, whether boards or paper, should always be retained if
+in any state approaching decency.  A case, which can be embellished
+to any extent looks every whit as well upon the shelf! and gives even
+greater protection than binding.  It has also this great advantage:
+it does not deprive your descendants of the opportunity of seeing
+for themselves exactly in what dress the book buyers of four centuries
+ago received their volumes.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+COLLECTORS.
+
+AFTER all, two-legged depredators, who ought to have known better,
+have perhaps done as much real damage in libraries as any other enemy.
+I do not refer to thieves, who, if they injure the owners, do no harm
+to the books themselves by merely transferring them from one set of
+bookshelves to another.  Nor do I refer to certain readers who frequent
+our public libraries, and, to save themselves the trouble of copying,
+will cut out whole articles from magazines or encyclopaedias.
+Such depredations are not frequent, and only occur with books easily
+replaced, and do not therefore call for more than a passing mention;
+but it is a serious matter when Nature produces such a wicked old
+biblioclast as John Bagford, one of the founders of the Society
+of Antiquaries, who, in the beginning of the last century, went about
+the country, from library to library, tearing away title pages from rare
+books of all sizes.  These he sorted out into nationalities and towns,
+and so, with a lot of hand-bills, manuscript notes, and miscellaneous
+collections of all kinds, formed over a hundred folio volumes,
+now preserved in the British Museum.  That they are of service as
+materials in compiling a general history of printing cannot be denied,
+but the destruction of many rare books was the result, and more than
+counter-balanced any benefit bibliographers will ever receive from them.
+When here and there throughout those volumes you meet with titles
+of books now either unknown entirely, or of the greatest rarity;
+when you find the Colophon from the end, or the "insigne typographi"
+from the first leaf of a rare "fifteener," pasted down with dozens of others,
+varying in value, you cannot bless the memory of the antiquarian shoemaker,
+John Bagford.  His portrait, a half-length, painted by Howard, was engraved
+by Vertue, and re-engraved for the Bibliographical Decameron.
+
+A bad example often finds imitators, and every season there crop up
+for public sale one or two such collections, formed by bibliomaniacs,
+who, although calling themselves bibliophiles, ought really to be ranked
+among the worst enemies of books.
+
+The following is copied from a trade catalogue, dated April, 1880, and affords
+a fair idea of the extent to which these heartless destroyers will go:--
+
+"MISSAL ILLUMINATIONS.
+
+
+FIFTY DIFFERENT CAPITAL LETTERS _on_ VELLUM; _all in rich Cold
+and Colours.  Many_ _3 inches square:  the floral decorations
+are of great beauty, ranging from the XIIth to XVth century.
+Mounted on stout card-board_. IN NICE PRESERVATION, L6 6_s_.
+
+
+ These beautiful letters have been cut from precious
+     MSS., and as specimens of early art are extremely
+     valuable, many of them being worth 15_s_. each."
+
+
+Mr. Proeme is a man well known to the London dealers in old books.
+He is wealthy, and cares not what he spends to carry out his
+bibliographical craze, which is the collection of title pages.
+These he ruthlessly extracts, frequently leaving the decapitated
+carcase of the books, for which he cares not, behind him.
+Unlike the destroyer Bagford, he has no useful object in view,
+but simply follows a senseless kind of classification.  For instance:
+One set of volumes contains nothing but copper-plate engraved titles,
+and woe betide the grand old Dutch folios of the seventeenth century
+if they cross his path.  Another is a volume of coarse or quaint titles,
+which certainly answer the end of showing how idiotic and conceited
+some authors have been.  Here you find Dr. Sib's "Bowels opened
+in Divers Sermons," 1650, cheek by jowl with the discourse attributed
+falsely to Huntington, the Calvinist, "Die and be damned,"
+with many others too coarse to be quoted.  The odd titles adopted
+for his poems by Taylor, the water-poet, enliven several pages,
+and make one's mouth water for the books themselves.  A third
+volume includes only such titles as have the printer's device.
+If you shut your eyes to the injury done by such collectors, you may,
+to a certain extent, enjoy the collection, for there is great beauty
+in some titles; but such a pursuit is neither useful nor meritorious.
+By and by the end comes, and then dispersion follows collection,
+and the volumes, which probably Cost L200 each in their formation,
+will be knocked down to a dealer for L10, finally gravitating
+into the South Kensington Library, or some public museum,
+as a bibliographical curiosity.  The following has just been sold
+(July, 1880) by Messrs.  Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge,
+in the Dunn-Gardinier collection, lot 1592:--
+
+"TITLEPAGES AND FRONTISPIECES.
+
+
+_A Collection of upwards of_ 800 ENGRAVED TITLES AND FRONTISPIECES,
+ENGLISH AND FOREIGN (_some very fine and curious) taken from
+old books and neatly mounted on cartridge paper in 3 vol,
+half morocco gilt.  imp.  folio_."
+
+
+The only collection of title-pages which has afforded me unalloyed pleasure is
+a handsome folio, published by the directors of the Plantin Museum, Antwerp,
+in 1877, just after the purchase of that wonderful typographical storehouse.
+It is called "Titels en Portretten gesneden naar P. P. Rubens voor de
+Plantijnsche Drukkerij," and it contains thirty-five grand title pages,
+reprinted from the original seventeenth century plates, designed by Rubens
+himself between the years 1612 and 1640, for various publications which
+issued from the celebrated Plantin Printing Office.  In the same Museum
+are preserved in Rubens' own handwriting his charge for each design,
+duly receipted at foot.
+
+I have now before me a fine copy of "Coclusiones siue decisiones antique dnor'
+de Rota," printed by Gutenberg's partner, Schoeffer, in the year 1477.
+It is perfect, except in a most vital part, the Colophon, which has been cut
+out by some barbaric "Collector," and which should read thus:  "Pridie nonis
+Januarii Mcccclxxvij, in Civitate Moguntina, impressorie Petrus Schoyffer
+de Gernsheym," followed by his well-known mark, two shields.
+
+A similar mania arose at the beginning of this century for
+collections of illuminated initials, which were taken from MSS.,
+and arranged on the pages of a blank book in alphabetical order.
+Some of our cathedral libraries suffered severely from depredations
+of this kind.  At Lincoln, in the early part of this century,
+the boys put on their robes in the library, a room close
+to the choir.  Here were numerous old MSS., and eight or ten
+rare Caxtons.  The choir boys used often to amuse themselves,
+while waiting for the signal to "fall in," by cutting out with their
+pen-knives the illuminated initials and vignettes, which they would
+take into the choir with them and pass round from one to another.
+The Dean and Chapter of those days were not much better, for they
+let Dr. Dibdin have all their Caxtons for a "consideration."
+He made a little catalogue of them, which he called
+"A Lincolne Nosegaye."  Eventually they were absorbed into
+the collection at Althorp.
+
+The late Mr. Caspari was a "destroyer" of books.  His rare collection
+of early woodcuts, exhibited in 1877 at the Caxton Celebration,
+had been frequently augmented by the purchase of illustrated books,
+the plates of which were taken out, and mounted on Bristol boards,
+to enrich his collection.  He once showed me the remains of a fine copy
+of "Theurdanck," which he had served so, and I have now before me several
+of the leaves which he then gave me, and which, for beauty of engraving
+and cleverness of typography, surpasses any typographical work known to me.
+It was printed for the Emperor Maximilian, by Hans Schonsperger,
+of Nuremberg, and, to make it unique, all the punches were cut on purpose,
+and as many as seven or eight varieties of each letter, which, together
+with the clever way in which the ornamental flourishes are carried
+above and below the line, has led even experienced printers to deny
+its being typography.  It is, nevertheless, entirely from cast types.
+A copy in good condition costs about L50.
+
+Many years since I purchased, at Messrs.  Sotheby's, a large lot of MS.
+leaves on vellum, some being whole sections of a book, but mostly
+single leaves.  Many were so mutilated by the excision of initials as to
+be worthless, but those with poor initials, or with none, were quite good,
+and when sorted out I found I had got large portions of nearly twenty
+different MSS., mostly Horae, showing twelve varieties of fifteenth
+century handwriting in Latin, French, Dutch, and German.  I had each sort
+bound separately, and they now form an interesting collection.
+
+Portrait collectors have destroyed many books by abstracting
+the frontispiece to add to their treasures, and when once
+a book is made imperfect, its march to destruction is rapid.
+This is why books like Atkyns' "Origin and Growth
+of Printing," 40, 1664, have become impossible to get.
+When issued, Atkyns' pamphlet had a fine frontispiece,
+by Logan, containing portraits of King Charles II,
+attended by Archbishop Sheldon, the Duke of Albermarle,
+and the Earl of Clarendon.  As portraits of these celebrities
+(excepting, of course, the King) are extremely rare, collectors have
+bought up this 40 tract of Atkyns', whenever it has been offered,
+and torn away the frontispiece to adorn their collection.
+This is why, if you take up any sale catalogue of old books,
+you are certain to find here and there, appended to the description,
+"Wanting the title," "Wanting two plates," or "Wanting
+the last page."
+
+It is quite common to find in old MSS., especially fifteenth century,
+both vellum and paper, the blank margins of leaves cut away.
+This will be from the side edge or from the foot, and the
+recurrence of this mutilation puzzled me for many years.
+It arose from the scarcity of paper in former times, so that when
+a message had to be sent which required more exactitude than could
+be entrusted to the stupid memory of a household messenger,
+the Master or Chaplain went to the library, and, not having
+paper to use, took down an old book, and cut from its broad
+margins one or more slips to serve his present need.
+
+I feel quite inclined to reckon among "enemies" those bibliomaniacs
+and over-careful possessors, who, being unable to carry their
+treasures into the next world, do all they can to hinder their
+usefulness in this.  What a difficulty there is to obtain admission
+to the curious library of old Samuel Pepys, the well-known diarist.
+There it is at Magdalene College, Cambridge, in the identical book-cases
+provided for the books by Pepys himself; but no one can gain admission
+except in company of two Fellows of the College, and if a single book
+be lost, the whole library goes away to a neighbouring college.
+However willing and anxious to oblige, it is evident that no one
+can use the library at the expense of the time, if not temper,
+of two Fellows.  Some similar restrictions are in force at
+the Teylerian Museum, Haarlem, where a lifelong imprisonment is
+inflicted upon its many treasures.
+
+Some centuries ago a valuable collection of books was left to
+the Guildford Endowed Grammar School.  The schoolmaster was to be
+held personally responsible for the safety of every volume, which,
+if lost, he was bound to replace.  I am told that one master,
+to minimize his risk as much as possible, took the following
+barbarous course:--As soon as he was in possession, he raised
+the boards of the schoolroom floor, and, having carefully packed
+all the books between the joists, had the boards nailed down again.
+Little recked he how many rats and mice made their nests there;
+he was bound to account some day for every single volume,
+and he saw no way so safe as rigid imprisonment.
+
+The late Sir Thomas Phillipps, of Middle Hill, was a remarkable instance
+of a bibliotaph.  He bought bibliographical treasures simply to bury them.
+His mansion was crammed with books; he purchased whole libraries,
+and never even saw what he had bought.  Among some of his purchases
+was the first book printed in the English language, "The Recuyell
+of the Histories of Troye," translated and printed by William Caxton,
+for the Duchess of Burgundy, sister to our Edward IV.  It is true,
+though almost incredible, that Sir Thomas could never find this volume,
+although it is doubtless still in the collection, and no wonder,
+when cases of books bought twenty years before his death were never opened,
+and the only knowledge of their contents which he possessed was
+the Sale Catalogue or the bookseller's invoice.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+SERVANTS AND CHILDREN.
+
+READER! are you married?  Have you offspring, boys especially
+I mean, say between six and twelve years of age?  Have you also
+a literary workshop, supplied with choice tools, some for use,
+some for ornament, where you pass pleasant hours? and is--
+ah! there's the rub!--is there a special hand-maid, whose
+special duty it is to keep your den daily dusted and in order?
+Plead you guilty to these indictments? then am I sure of
+a sympathetic co-sufferer.
+
+Dust! it is all a delusion.  It is not the dust that makes
+women anxious to invade the inmost recesses of your Sanctum--
+it is an ingrained curiosity.  And this feminine weakness,
+which dates from Eve, is a common motive in the stories
+of our oldest literature and Folk-lore. What made Fatima
+so anxious to know the contents of the room forbidden her
+by Bluebeard?  It was positively nothing to her, and its
+contents caused not the slightest annoyance to anybody.
+That story has a bad moral, and it would, in many ways, have been
+more satisfactory had the heroine been left to take her place in
+the blood-stained chamber, side by side with her peccant predecessors.
+Why need the women-folk (God forgive me!) bother themselves about
+the inside of a man's library, and whether it wants dusting or not?
+My boys' playroom, in which is a carpenter's bench, a lathe,
+and no end of litter, is never tidied--perhaps it can't be,
+or perhaps their youthful vigour won't stand it--but my workroom
+must needs be dusted daily, with the delusive promise that
+each book and paper shall be replaced exactly where it was.
+The damage done by such continued treatment is incalculable.
+At certain times these observances are kept more religiously
+than others; but especially should the book-lover, married
+or single, beware of the Ides of March.  So soon as February is
+dead and gone, a feeling of unrest seizes the housewife's mind.
+This increases day by day, and becomes dominant towards the middle
+of the month, about which period sundry hints are thrown out
+as to whether you are likely to be absent for a day or two.
+Beware! the fever called "Spring Clean" is on, and unless you
+stand firm, you will rue it.  Go away, if the Fates so will,
+but take the key of your own domain with you.
+
+Do not misunderstand.  Not for a moment would I advocate dust and dirt;
+they are enemies, and should be routed; but let the necessary routing
+be done under your own eye.  Explain where caution must be used,
+and in what cases tenderness is a virtue; and if one Eve in the family
+can be indoctrinated with book-reverence you are a happy man;
+her price is above that of rubies; she will prolong your life.
+Books MUST now and then be taken clean out of their shelves,
+but they should be tended lovingly and with judgment.
+If the dusting can be done just outside the room so much the better.
+The books removed, the shelf should be lifted quite out of its bearings,
+cleansed and wiped, and then each volume should be taken separately,
+and gently rubbed on back and sides with a soft cloth.  In returning
+the volumes to their places, notice should be taken of the binding,
+and especially when the books are in whole calf or morocco care
+should be taken not to let them rub together.  The best bound books
+are soonest injured, and quickly deteriorate in bad company.
+Certain volumes, indeed, have evil tempers, and will scratch
+the faces of all their neighbours who are too familiar with them.
+Such are books with metal clasps and rivets on their edges;
+and such, again, are those abominable old rascals, chiefly born
+in the fifteenth century, who are proud of being dressed in REAL
+boards with brass corners, and pass their lives with fearful knobs and
+metal bosses, mostly five in number, firmly fixed on one of their sides.
+If the tendencies of such ruffians are not curbed, they will do
+as much mischief to their gentle neighbours as when a "collie"
+worries the sheep.  These evil results may always be minimized
+by placing a piece of millboard between the culprit and his victim.
+I have seen lovely bindings sadly marked by such uncanny neighbours.
+
+When your books are being "dusted," don't impute too much common
+sense to your assistants; take their ignorance for granted,
+and tell them at once never to lift any book by one of its covers;
+that treatment is sure to strain the back, and ten to one the weight
+will be at the same time miscalculated, and the volume will fall.
+Your female "help," too, dearly loves a good tall pile to work at and,
+as a rule, her notions of the centre of gravity are not accurate,
+leading often to a general downfall, and the damage of many a corner.
+Again, if not supervised and instructed, she is very apt to rub the dust into,
+instead of off, the edges.  Each volume should be held tightly,
+so as to prevent the leaves from gaping, and then wiped from the back
+to the fore-edge. A soft brush will be found useful if there is much dust.
+The whole exterior should also be rubbed with a soft cloth, and then
+the covers should be opened and the hinges of the binding examined;
+for mildew WILL assert itself both inside and outside certain books,
+and that most pertinaciously.  It has unaccountable likes and dislikes.
+Some bindings seem positively to invite damp, and mildew will attack
+these when no other books on the same shelf show any signs of it.
+When discovered, carefully wipe it away, and then let the book remain
+a few days standing open, in the driest and airiest spot you can select.
+Great care should be taken not to let grit, such as blows in at the open
+window from many a dusty road, be upon your duster, or you will
+probably find fine scratches, like an outline map of Europe, all over
+your smooth calf, by which your heart and eye, as well as your book,
+will be wounded.
+
+"Helps" are very apt to fill the shelves too tightly, so that to extract
+a book you have to use force, often to the injury of the top-bands.
+Beware of this mistake.  It frequently occurs through not noticing
+that one small book is purposely placed at each end of the shelf,
+beneath the movable shelf-supports, thus not only saving space,
+but preventing the injury which a book shelf-high would be sure
+to receive from uneven pressure.
+
+After all, the best guide in these, as in many other matters,
+is "common sense," a quality which in olden times must have been
+much more "common" than in these days, else the phrase would
+never have become rooted in our common tongue.
+
+Children, with all their innocence, are often guilty of book-murder. I
+must confess to having once taken down "Humphrey's History of Writing,"
+which contains many brightly-coloured plates, to amuse a sick daughter.
+The object was certainly gained, but the consequences of so bad
+a precedent were disastrous.  That copy (which, I am glad to say,
+was easily re-placed), notwithstanding great care on my part,
+became soiled and torn, and at last was given up to Nursery martyrdom.
+Can I regret it? surely not, for, although bibliographically sinful,
+who can weigh the amount of real pleasure received, and actual pain ignored,
+by the patient in the contemplation of those beautifully-blended colours?
+
+A neighbour of mine some few years ago suffered severely from a propensity,
+apparently irresistible, in one of his daughters to tear his library books.
+She was six years old, and would go quietly to a shelf and take down
+a book or two, and having torn a dozen leaves or so down the middle,
+would replace the volumes, fragments and all, in their places,
+the damage being undiscovered until the books were wanted for use.
+Reprimand, expostulation and even punishment were of no avail;
+but a single "whipping" effected a cure.
+
+Boys, however, are by far more destructive than girls,
+and have, naturally, no reverence for age, whether in man or books.
+Who does not fear a schoolboy with his first pocket-knife?
+As Wordsworth did not say:--
+
+          "You may trace him oft
+ By scars which his activity has left
+ Upon our shelves and volumes. * * *
+ He who with pocket-knife will cut the edge
+ Of luckless panel or of prominent book,
+ Detaching with a stroke a label here, a back-band there."
+                         _Excursion III, 83_.
+
+Pleased, too, are they, if, with mouths full of candy,
+and sticky fingers, they can pull in and out the books on your
+bottom shelves, little knowing the damage and pain they will cause.
+One would fain cry out, calling on the Shade of Horace to pardon
+the false quantity--
+
+ "Magna movet stomacho fastidia, si puer unctis
+ Tractavit volumen manibus."  _Sat. IV_.
+
+
+What boys CAN do may be gathered from the following true story,
+sent me by a correspondent who was the immediate sufferer:--
+
+One summer day he met in town an acquaintance who for many years had
+been abroad; and finding his appetite for old books as keen as ever,
+invited him home to have a mental feed upon "fifteeners" and other
+bibliographical dainties, preliminary to the coarser pleasures enjoyed
+at the dinner-table. The "home" was an old mansion in the outskirts
+of London, whose very architecture was suggestive of black-letter
+and sheep-skin. The weather, alas! was rainy, and, as they
+approached the house, loud peals of laughter reached their ears.
+The children were keeping a birthday with a few young friends.
+The damp forbad all outdoor play, and, having been left too
+much to their own devices, they had invaded the library.
+It was just after the Battle of Balaclava, and the heroism of
+the combatants on that hard-fought field was in everybody's mouth.
+So the mischievous young imps divided themselves into two opposing camps--
+Britons and Russians.  The Russian division was just inside the door,
+behind ramparts formed of old folios and quartos taken from
+the bottom shelves and piled to the height of about four feet.
+It was a wall of old fathers, fifteenth century chronicles,
+county histories, Chaucer, Lydgate, and such like.  Some few yards off
+were the Britishers, provided with heaps of small books as missiles,
+with which they kept up a skirmishing cannonade against the foe.
+Imagine the tableau!  Two elderly gentlemen enter hurriedly,
+paterfamilias receiving, quite unintentionally, the first edition
+of "Paradise Lost" in the pit of his stomach, his friend narrowly
+escaping a closer personal acquaintance with a quarto Hamlet
+than he had ever had before.  Finale:  great outburst of wrath,
+and rapid retreat of the combatants, many wounded (volumes) being
+left on the field.
+
+
+
+POSTSCRIPTUM.
+
+ALTHOUGH, strictly speaking, the following anecdote does not
+illustrate any form of real injury to books, it is so racy,
+and in these days of extravagant biddings so tantalizing, that I
+must step just outside the strict line of pertinence in order
+to place it on record, It was sent to me, as a personal experience,
+by my friend, Mr. George Clulow, a well-known bibliophile,
+and "Xylographer" to "Ye Sette of ye Odde Volumes."  The date
+is 1881.  He writes:--
+
+"_Apropos_ of the Gainsborough `find,' of which you tell in `The Enemies
+of Books,' I should like to narrate an experience of my own, of some
+twenty years ago:
+
+"Late one evening, at my father's house, I saw a catalogue of a sale
+of furniture, farm implements and books, which was announced to take
+place on the following morning at a country rectory in Derbyshire,
+some four miles from the nearest railway station.
+
+"It was summer time--the country at its best--and with the attraction
+of an old book, I decided on a day's holiday, and eight o'clock
+the next morning found me in the train for C----, and after a
+variation in my programme, caused by my having walked three miles
+west before I discovered that my destination was three miles
+east of the railway station, I arrived at the rectory at noon,
+and found assembled some thirty or forty of the neighbouring farmers,
+their wives, men-servants and maid-servants, all seemingly bent
+on a day's idling, rather than business.  The sale was announced
+for noon, but it was an hour later before the auctioneer put
+in an appearance, and the first operation in which he took part,
+and in which he invited my assistance, was to make a hearty
+meal of bread and cheese and beer in the rectory kitchen.
+This over, the business of the day began by a sundry collection
+of pots, pans, and kettles being brought to the competition of
+the public, followed by some lots of bedding, etc.  The catalogue
+gave books as the first part of the sale, and, as three o'clock
+was reached, my patience was gone, and I protested to the auctioneer
+against his not selling in accordance with his catalogue.
+To this he replied that there was not time enough, and that
+he would sell the books to-morrow! This was too much for me,
+and I suggested that he had broken faith with the buyers,
+and had brought me to C---- on a false pretence.  This, however,
+did not seem to disturb his good humour, or to make him unhappy,
+and his answer was to call `Bill,' who was acting as porter,
+and to tell him to give the gentleman the key of the `book room,'
+and to bring down any of the books he might pick out, and he `would
+sell 'em.'  I followed `Bill,' and soon found myself in a
+charming nook of a library, full of books, mostly old divinity,
+but with a large number of the best miscellaneous literature of
+the sixteenth century, English and foreign.  A very short look over
+the shelves produced some thirty Black Letter books, three or four
+illuminated missals, and some book rarities of a more recent date.
+`Bill' took them downstairs, and I wondered what would happen!
+I was not long in doubt, for book by book, and in lots of two and three,
+my selection was knocked down in rapid succession, at prices
+varying from 1_s_.  6_d_.  to 3_s_.  6_d_., this latter sum seeming
+to be the utmost limit to the speculative turn of my competitors.
+The _bonne bouche_ of the lot was, however, kept back by
+the auctioneer, because, as he said, it was `a pretty book,'
+and I began to respect his critical judgment, for `a pretty book'
+it was, being a large paper copy of Dibdin's Bibliographical Decameron,
+three volumes, in the original binding.  Suffice it to say that,
+including this charming book, my purchases did not amount to L13,
+and I had pretty well a cart-load of books for my money--more than
+I wanted much!  Having brought them home, I `weeded them out,'
+and the `weeding' realised four times what I gave for the whole,
+leaving me with some real book treasures.
+
+"Some weeks afterwards I heard that the remainder of the books were
+literally treated as waste lumber, and carted off to the neighbouring town,
+and were to be had, any one of them, for sixpence, from a cobbler
+who had allowed his shop to be used as a store house for them.
+The news of their being there reached the ears of an old bookseller
+in one of the large towns, and he, I think, cleared out the lot.
+So curious an instance of the most total ignorance on the part of
+the sellers, and I may add on the part of the possible buyers also,
+I think is worth noting."
+
+How would the reader in this Year of Grace, 1887, like such
+an experience as that?
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+IT is a great pity that there should be so many distinct
+enemies at work for the destruction of literature, and that
+they should so often be allowed to work out their sad end.
+Looked at rightly, the possession of any old book is a sacred trust,
+which a conscientious owner or guardian would as soon think
+of ignoring as a parent would of neglecting his child.
+An old book, whatever its subject or internal merits, is truly
+a portion of the national history; we may imitate it and print
+it in fac-simile, but we can never exactly reproduce it ;
+and as an historical document it should be carefully preserved.
+
+I do not envy any man that absence of sentiment which makes some
+people careless of the memorials of their ancestors, and whose blood
+can be warmed up only by talking of horses or the price of hops.
+To them solitude means _ennui_, and anybody's company is preferable
+to their own.  What an immense amount of calm enjoyment and mental
+renovation do such men miss.  Even a millionaire will ease
+his toils, lengthen his life, and add a hundred per cent.
+to his daily pleasures if he becomes a bibliophile; while to the man
+of business with a taste for books, who through the day has struggled
+in the battle of life with all its irritating rebuffs and anxieties,
+what a blessed season of pleasurable repose opens upon him as
+he enters his sanctum, where every article wafts to him a welcome,
+and every book is a personal friend!
+
+
+
+{nearly raw OCR output below needs FIXED!}
+
+INDEX.
+
+ _Academy, The_, 23.
+ Acanis eruditus, 77, 78.
+ Acts of the Apostles, quoted, 4.
+ Aglossa pinguinalis, 76.
+ Albermarle (Duke of), portrait by Logan, 126.
+ Althorp library, 124.
+ Anderson (Sir C.), 55.
+ Anobium paniceum, 77, 78.
+ Anobium pertinax, 77, 78, 87, 88.
+ Antiquary, The, 54.
+ Antwerp, Monks at, 57, 58.
+ Asbestos fire, 27.
+ Ashburnham House, Westminster, 10.
+ Asiarch, an, 7.
+ Athens, Bookworm from, 81.
+ Atkyns' Origin and Growth of Printing, 126.
+ Auctioneer, story of, 145.
+ Austin Friars, 15.
+ Bagford (John), the biblioclast, r: 18.
+ Balaclava, battle of, 143.
+ Bale, the antiquary, 9.
+ Bandinel (Dr.), 87, 88.
+ Beedham, B., 52.
+ Bible, the first printed, burnt at Strasbourg, 13.
+--the "bug" edition, 95.
+ Bibliophile, pleasures of a, 153.
+ Bibliotaph, a, 129.
+ Bibliotheca Ecclesiae Londino-Belgicae, 16.
+ Binder's creed, 31.
+--plough, 105.  Binding, care to be taken of, 134.--quality of good, 104.
+ Bird (Rev. -), 55.
+ Birdsall (Mr.), bookbinder, 8o.
+ Birmingham Riots, 11.
+ Black-beetles, enemies of books, 94.
+ Black-letter books in United States, 91.
+ Blatta germanica, 65.
+ Boccaccio, 48-50.
+ Bodleian, hookworms at, 87.
+ Bookbinders as enemies of books, 103.
+ Books, absurd lettering, i i i.
+--burnt at Carthage; at Ephesus, 4.--burnt in Fire
+of London, 10.--burnt by Saracens, 3.--captured by Corsairs, 18.
+-cleaning of, 114.--deprived of title pages, i 18, 119.
+Books destroyed at the Reformation, Si.--dried in an attic, 16.--
+examination of old covers, i 16.--how to dust them, 134.
+-injured by hacking, i x i.--lost at sea, 17, 18.--margin reduced
+to size, i 11.--mildew in, 136.--from monasteries destroyed, 9.--
+restoration when injured, 114.--restored after a fire, 15.--
+scarce before printing, 2.--sold to a cobbler, 52, 149.--too tight
+on shelves, 137.--their claims to be preserved, 151.--used to bake
+"pyes," 10.--which scratch one another, 134.
+ Book-sale in Derbyshire, 145.
+ Bookworm, the, 67-93.
+--attempt to breed, 81-3.--from Greece, 82.--in paper box, 89.--
+in United States, gi.  Bookworms' progress through books, 84.--
+race by, 86.
+ Bosses on books, 135.
+ Boys injuring books, 139.
+--in library, story of, 140.
+ Brighton, black letter fragments, 59.
+ British Museum, Boccaccio's -Fall of Princes, 61.
+ British Museum free from the "worm," 83.
+ -burnt book exhibited at, I I.
+ Brown spots in books, 24.
+ Bruchium, 3.
+ Burckhardt's Arabic MSS., 77.
+ "Bug" Bible, 95.
+ Burgundy (Duchess of), 130.
+
+ Cambridge Market, 97.
+ Caskets (the three), Shakspeare, 6o.
+ Caspari (Mr.), a collector, 124.
+ Cassin (Convent of Mount), 49.
+ Caxton, William, 130.
+--his use of waste leaves, go.--Canterbury Tales, used to light
+a fire, 53.--Golden Legend, ditto, 52.--Lyf of oure Ladye, 89.
+Caxtons saturated by rain, 22.--spoilt in binding, 107.--
+discovered in British Museum, 108.
+ Charles II, portrait by Logan, 126.
+ Chasles (Philar6te), 52.
+ Child tearing books, 139.
+ Children as enemies of books, 138.
+ Choir boys injuring MSS., 124.
+ Christians burnt heathen MSS., 7.
+ early, 6.
+ Clarendon (Earl of), portrait by Logan, 126.
+ Clasps on books, injury from, 135.
+ Clergymen as biblioclasts, 64.
+ Clulow (Mr. George), 144.
+ Coal fires objectionable in libraries, 27.
+ Codfish, book eaten by a, 96.
+ Cold injures books, 26.
+ Collectors as enemies of books, I 17.
+ College quadrangle, 41.
+ Colophon in Schoeffer's book, 123.
+ Colophons (collections of), I IS.
+ Commonwealth quartos, 44.
+ Communal libraries in France, 48.
+ Cotton library; partially burnt, 10.
+ Cowper, the poet, on burnt libraries, 12.
+ Crambus pinguinalis, 76.
+ Cremona, books destroyed at, 8.
+ Croton bug, 95.
+
+ Damp, an enemy of books, 24.
+ Dante, 50.
+--The Inferno, 106.
+ Derbyshire, book sale in, 145.
+ Dermestes vulpinus, 89.
+ De Rome, the binder, 47, 48, 110.
+ De Thou, 110.
+ Devil worship, 5.
+ Devon and Exeter Museum, 101.
+ Diana, Temple of, 6.
+ Dibdin (Dr.), 110.
+--sale of his Decameron, 148.--his books, 25.
+ D'Israeli (B.), 17.
+ Doraston (J.), Poem on Bookworne, 67, 76.
+ Dust, an enemy of books, 39.
+--and neglect in a library, 39-50, 133.
+ Dusting books-how to do it, 136.
+ Dutch Church burnt, 15.
+--library at Guildhall, 16.
+
+ Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 53.
+ Edmonds (Mr.), bookseller, 58.
+ Edward IV, 130.
+ Edwards (Mr.), bookseller, 18.
+ Electric light in British Museum, 32.
+ Ephesus, 5.
+ "Eracles," 111.
+ "Evil eye," the, 6.
+ "Exciirsion, The," 139.
+
+Fire, an enemy of books, 1-16.--of London, 10.
+ Flint (Weston), account of black-beetles in New York
+ libraries, 95.
+ Folklore, ancient, 5.
+ "Foxey" books, 25.
+ Francis (St.) and the friars, 37.
+ French Protestant Church, 53.
+ Frith (John), 96.
+ Froissart's Chronicles, 110.
+ Frost in a library, 26.
+
+ Garnett (Dr.), 81.
+ Gas injurious, 29-38,
+ Gatty's (Mrs.) Parables, 76.
+ German Army at Strasburg, U.
+ Gesta Romanorum, 66.
+ Gibbon, the historian, 2.
+ Glass cases preservative of books, 27.
+ Golden Legend, by Caxton, 52.
+ Gordon Riots, 11.
+ Government officials as biblioclasts, 65.
+ Grenville (Rt. Hon. Thos.), 56.
+ Guildford, library at school, 129.
+ Guildhall, London, library at, 0.
+ Gutenberg, 123.
+--documents concerning, burnt, 13,
+ Gwyn, Nell, housekeeping book of, 65.
+ "Gyp" brushing clothes in a library, 44.
+
+ Hannett, on bookbinding, 76.
+ Havergal (Rev. F. T.), 76.
+ Heathens burnt Christian MSS., 7.
+ Heating libraries, 27.
+ Hebrew books burnt, 8.
+ Hereford Cathedral library, 76.
+ Hickman family, 56.
+ Histories of Troy, i i i.
+ Holme (Mr.), 77.
+ Hooke (R.), his Micrographia, 71-75.
+ Horace's Satires, i4o.
+ Hot water pipes for libraries, 26.
+ House-fly, an enemy of books, 102.
+ Hudde, Heer, a story of, 17.
+ Hwqhrey's History of Writing, 138.
+ Hypothenemus eruditus, 76.
+
+ Ignorance and Bigotry, P-66.
+ illuminated letters fatal to books, 51.
+--initials, collections of, 123.
+ Indulgence of I 5th Century spoilt by a binder, 109.
+ Inquisition in Holland, 63.
+
+ Kirby and Spence on Entomologists, 75, 101.
+ Knobs of metal on bindings, 135.
+ Koran, The, 7.
+
+ Lamberhurst, 61.
+ Lamport Hall, 58.
+ Lansdowne Collection of MSS., 60.
+ Latterbury, copy of, at St. Martin's, 54.
+ Leather destroyed by gas, 30.
+ Lepisma, 96.
+--mistaken for bookworm, 75.  Libraries burnt:  by Coesar, 3.---
+at Dutch Church, 15.--at Strasbourg, 13.
+ neglected in England, 15, 22, 40.
+ at Alexandria, 3.
+ of the Ptolemies) 3.
+ Library Journal, The, 94.
+ Lincoln Cathedral MSS., 124.
+ Lincolne Nosegaye, 124.
+ London Institution, 31.
+ Lubbock (Sir J.), go.
+ Luke's, St., account of destruction of books, 4.
+ L-uxe des Livres, 47.
+ Luxury and learning, 42.
+
+ Machlinia, book printed by, ioS.
+ Magdalene College, Cambridge, 128.
+ Maitland (Rev. S. R.), 54.
+ Mansfield (Lord), ij.
+ MS. Plays burnt, 6o.
+ Manuscripts, fragments of, 126.
+ Margins of books cut away, 49, 127.
+ Maximilian (The Emperor), 125.
+ Mazarin library, Caxton in, 52.
+ Metamorphoses of Ovid, by Caxton, io.
+ Aflcrogra.phia, by R. Hooke, 71.
+ Middleburgh, 17.
+ Mildew in books, 136.
+ Minorite friars, 37.
+ Missal illuminations, sale of, iig.
+ Mohammed's reason for destroying books, 7.
+ Mohammed II throws books into the sea, 21.
+ Monks at Monte Cassino, 49.
+ Mould in books, 24.
+ Mount Cassin, library at, 50.
+ Moxon's Mechanic Exercises, 115.
+ MUller (M.), of Amsterdam, 62.
+
+ Newmarsb (Rev. C. F.), 54.
+ Niptus Hololeucos, ioi.
+ Noble (Mr.), on Parish Registers, 61.
+ Notes and Queries, 77.
+
+ Oak Chest, 44.
+ (Ecophora pseudospretella, 79.
+ Offer Collection of Bunyans, 14.
+ On, Priests of, 69.
+ Overall (Mr.), Librarian at Guildhall, 16.
+ Ovid, Metamorphoses by Caxton, 10.
+ oxenforde, Lyf of therle, io.
+
+ Paper improperly bleached, 25.
+ Papyrus, 68.
+ Paradise Lost, 142.
+ Parchment, slips of, in old books, 112.
+ Parish Registers, carelessness, 62.
+ Parnell's Ode, 70.
+ Patent Office, destruction of literature at, 65.
+ Paternoster Row, io.
+ Paul, St., 6.
+ Pedlar buying old books, 54, 55.
+ Peignot and hookworms, 79.
+ Pepys (Samuel), his library, 128.
+ Petit (Pierre), poem on bookworm, 70.
+ Philadelphia, wormhole at, 92.
+ Phillipps (Sir Thos.), 129.
+ Pieces of silver or denarii, 5.
+ Pinelli (Maffei), library of, 18.
+ Plantin Museum, 122.
+ policemen in Ephesus, 7.
+ Portrait collectors, 127.
+ Priestley (Dr.), library burnt, 11, 12.
+ Printers, the first, 13.
+ Printers' marks, collection of, I 19.
+--ink and bookworms, 8o.
+ Probrue (Mr.), 120.
+ Ptolemies, the Egyptian, 3.
+ Puttick and Simpson, 15.
+ Pynson's Fall of P?inces, 6 1.
+
+ Queen Elizabeth's prayer-book, 98.
+ Quaint titles, collections of, 121.
+ Quadrangle of an old College described) 41.
+
+ Rain an enemy to books, 21.
+ Rats eat books, 97.
+ Recollet monks of Antwerp, 57.
+ -Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, 130.
+ Reformation, destruction of books at, 9.
+ Restoration of burnt books, 11.
+ Richard of Bury, 47.
+ Ringwalt's Encyclopadia, 92.
+ Rivets on books, 135.
+ Rood and Hunte, 53.
+ Rot caused by rain, 2 1.
+ Royal Society, London, 71.
+ Rubens' engraved titles in Plantin Museum, 122.
+--autograph receipts, 122.
+ Ruins of fire at Sotheby and Wilkinson's, 14.
+ Rye (W. B.), 61, 83.
+ St. Albans, Boke of, 54.
+ St. Martin's-le-Grand, French church, 53.
+ St. Paul's Cathedral, books burnt in vaults of, Io.
+ Sale catalogues, extracts from, 119.
+ Schoeffer (P.), 123.
+ Schonsperger (Hans), 125.
+ Schoolmaster and endowed library, 129.
+ Scorched book at British Museum, i i.
+ Scrolls of magic, 6.
+ Serpent worship, 5.
+ Servants and children as enemies of books, 131-144.
+ Shakesperian discoveries, 58.
+ "Shavings" of binders, 31.
+ Sheldon (Archbishop), portrait by Logan, 126.
+ Sib's Bowels opened, 121.
+ Smith (Mr.), Brighton bookseller, 64.
+ Sotheby and Wilkinson, 125.
+--fire at their rooms, 14.
+ Spring clean, horrors of, 133.
+ Stark (Mr.), bookseller, 55-58.
+ Stealing a Caxton, 54.
+ Steam press, 40.
+ Strasbourg, siege of, 13.
+ Sun-light of gas, 29, 32.
+ Sun worship, 5.
+ Sylvester's Laws of Verse, 71.
+
+ Taylor, the water-poet, 121.
+ Teylerian Museum, Haarlem, 128.
+ Theurdanck, prints in, 125.
+ Thonock Hall, library Of, 56.
+ Timmins (Mr.), 50.
+ Title-pages, collections sold, 122.
+--volumes of, 118.
+ Title-pages, old Dutch, 120.
+ Tomicus Typographus, iox.
+
+ Uliramontane Society, called "Old paper," 63,
+ Unitarian library, 13,
+ Universities destroy books, 9.
+
+ Value of books burnt by St. Paub 4.
+ Vanderberg (M.), 57.
+ Vermin book-enemies, 94-102.
+ Pox Piscis, 96.
+
+ Washing old books, x6.
+ Water an enemy of books, 17-28.
+ Waterhouse (Mr.), Si.
+ Werdet (Edmond), 48, 57.
+ Westbrook (W. J.), 102.
+ Westminster Chapter-house, 97.
+--skeletons of rats, 97.
+ White (Adam), 83.
+ Wolfenbuttel, library at, 23.
+ Woodcuts, a Caxton celebration, 124.
+ Wynken de Worde, fragment, 59.
+
+Ximenes (Cardinal) destroys copies of the Koran, 8.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of Enemies of Books, by William Blades
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Enemies of Books, by William Blades
+
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+Title: Enemies of Books
+
+Author: William Blades
+
+Release Date: May, 1998 [EBook #1302]
+[This edition 11 was first posted on September 22, 2003]
+
+Edition: 11
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENEMIES OF BOOKS ***
+
+
+
+
+Scanned by Charles Keller with OmniPage Professional OCR software
+
+
+
+
+
+ae, L, e, <_:>, OE, <_/_>, '0, and n  "Larsen" encodes.
+eS = superscripted e (16th cent. english on p9 needs proofed!)
+<oe > denotes words in `olde englishe font'
+"Emphasis" _italics_ have a * mark.
+Footnotes [#] have not been re-numbered, they are moved to EOParagraph.
+Greek letters are encoded in <gr > brackets, and the letters are
+based on Adobe's Symbol font.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+ENEMIES OF BOOKS
+
+BY
+
+WILLIAM BLADES
+
+
+
+
+_Revised and Enlarged by the Author_
+
+SECOND EDITION
+
+LONDON
+ELLIOT STOCK, 62 PATERNOSTER ROW
+
+1888
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+FIRE.
+
+Libraries destroyed by Fire.--Alexandrian.--St. Paul's destruction
+of MSS., Value of.--Christian books destroyed by Heathens.--Heathen
+books destroyed by Christians.--Hebrew books burnt at Cremona.--Arabic
+books at Grenada.--Monastic libraries.--Colton library.--Birmingham
+riots.--Dr. Priestley's library.--Lord Mansfield's books.--Cowper.
+--Strasbourg library bombarded.--Offor Collection burnt.--Dutch
+Church library damaged.--Library of Corporation of London.
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+WATER.
+
+Heer Hudde's library lost at sea.--Pinelli's library captured
+by Corsairs.--MSS. destroyed by Mohammed II--Books damaged by
+rain.--Woffenbuttel.--Vapour and Mould.--Brown stains.--Dr.
+Dibdin.--Hot water pipes.--Asbestos fire.--Glass doors to bookcases.
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+GAS AND HEAT.
+
+Effects of Gas on leather.--Necessitates re-binding.--Bookbinders.--Electric
+light.--British Museum.--Treatment of books.--Legend of Friars and
+their books.
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+DUST AND NEGLECT.
+
+Books should have gilt tops.--Old libraries were neglected.--Instance
+of a College library.--Clothes brushed in it.--Abuses in French
+libraries.--Derome's account of them.--Boccaccio's story of
+library at the Convent of Mount Cassin.
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+IGNORANCE AND BIGOTRY.
+
+Destruction of Books at the Reformation.--Mazarin library.--Caxton
+used to light the fire.--Library at French Protestant Church,
+St. Martin's-le-Grand.--Books stolen.--Story of books from Thonock
+Hall.--Boke of St. Albans.--Recollet Monks of Antwerp.--Shakespearian
+"find."--Black-letter books used in W.C.--Gesta Romanorum.--Lansdowne
+collection.--Warburton.--Tradesman and rare book.--Parish Register.--Story
+of Bigotry by M. Muller.--Clergymen destroy books.--Patent Office sell
+books for waste.
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE BOOKWORM.
+
+Doraston.--Not so destructive as of yore.--Worm won't eat
+parchment.--Pierre Petit's poem.--Hooke's account and image.--Its
+natural history neglected.--Various sorts--Attempts to breed
+Bookworms.--Greek worm.--Havoc made by worms.--Bodleian and Dr.
+Bandinel.--"Dermestes."--Worm won't eat modern paper.--America
+comparatively free.--Worm-hole at Philadelphia.
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+OTHER VERMIN.
+
+Black-beetle in American libraries.--germanica.--Bug Bible.--Lepisma.
+--Codfish.--Skeletons of Rats in Abbey library, Westminster.--Niptus
+hololeucos.--Tomicus Typographicus.--House flies injure books.
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+BOOKBINDERS.
+
+A good binding gives pleasure.--Deadly effects of the "plough" as used
+by binders.--Not confined to bye-gone times.--Instances of injury.--De
+Rome, a good binder but a great cropper.--Books "hacked."--Bad
+lettering--Treasures in book-covers.--Books washed, sized, and
+mended.--"Cases" often Preferable to re-binding.
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+COLLECTORS.
+
+Bagford the biblioclast.--Illustrations torn from MSS.--Title-pages
+torn from books.--Rubens, his engraved titles.--Colophons torn out of
+books.--Lincoln Cathedral--Dr. Dibdin's Nosegay.--Theurdanck.--Fragments
+of MSS.-Some libraries almost useless.--Pepysian.--Teylerian.--Sir
+Thomas Phillipps.
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+SERVANTS AND CHILDREN.
+
+Library invaded for the purpose of dusting.--Spring clean.---Dust to be
+got rid of.--Ways of doing so.--Carefulness praised.--Bad nature of
+certain books--Metal clasps and rivets.--How to dust.--Children
+often injure books.--Examples.--Story of boys in a country library.
+
+POSTSCRIPTUM.
+
+Anecdote of book-sale in Derbyshire.
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+The care that should be taken of books.--Enjoyment derived from them.
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+SERVANT USING A "CAXTON" TO LIGHT THE FIRE --- _Frontispiece_,
+
+PIRATES THROWING LIBRARY OVER-BOARD ---------- page 19
+
+FRIARS AND THEIR ASS-LOAD -------------------- 35
+
+BRUSHING CLOTHES IN A COLLEGE LIBRARY -------- 45
+
+BOOKWORMS ------------------------------------ 73
+
+RATS DESTROYING BOOKS ------------------------ 99
+
+HOUSEHOLD FLY-DAMAGE ------------------------- 102
+
+BOYS RAMPANT IN LIBRARY ---------------------- 141
+
+
+
+THE ENEMIES OF BOOKS.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+FIRE.
+
+THERE are many of the forces of Nature which tend to injure Books;
+but among them all not one has been half so destructive
+as Fire.  It would be tedious to write out a bare list only
+of the numerous libraries and bibliographical treasures which,
+in one way or another, have been seized by the Fire-king as his own.
+Chance conflagrations, fanatic incendiarism, judicial bonfires,
+and even household stoves have, time after time, thinned the treasures
+as well as the rubbish of past ages, until, probably, not one
+thousandth part of the books that have been are still extant.
+This destruction cannot, however, be reckoned as all loss;
+for had not the "cleansing fires" removed mountains of rubbish from
+our midst, strong destructive measures would have become a necessity
+from sheer want of space in which to store so many volumes.
+
+Before the invention of Printing, books were comparatively scarce;
+and, knowing as we do, how very difficult it is, even after
+the steam-press has been working for half a century, to make
+a collection of half a million books, we are forced to receive
+with great incredulity the accounts in old writers of the wonderful
+extent of ancient libraries.
+
+The historian Gibbon, very incredulous in many things, accepts without
+questioning the fables told upon this subject.No doubt the libraries of
+MSS. collected generation after generation by the Egyptian Ptolemies
+became, in the course of time, the most extensive ever then known; and
+were famous throughout the world for the costliness of their ornamentation,
+and importance of their untold contents. Two of these were at Alexandria,
+the larger of which was in the quarter called Bruchium.  These volumes,
+like all manuscripts of those early ages, were written on sheets of
+parchment, having a wooden roller at each end so that the reader needed
+only to unroll a portion at a time. During Caesar's Alexandrian War, B.C.
+48, the larger collection was consumed by fire and again burnt by the
+Saracens in A.D. 640. An immense loss was inflicted upon mankind thereby;
+but when we are told of 700,000, or even 500,000 of such volumes being
+destroyed we instinctively feel that such numbers must be a great
+exaggeration. Equally incredulous must we be when we read of half a
+million volumes being burnt at Carthage some centuries later, and other
+similar accounts.
+
+Among the earliest records of the wholesale destruction of Books
+is that narrated by St. Luke, when, after the preaching of Paul,
+many of the Ephesians "which used curious arts brought their books
+together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price
+of them, and found it 50,000 pieces of silver" (Acts xix, 19).
+Doubtless these books of idolatrous divination and alchemy, of
+enchantments and witchcraft, were righteously destroyed by those to
+whom they had been and might again be spiritually injurious; and
+doubtless had they escaped the fire then, not one of them would have
+survived to the present time, no MS.of that age being now extant.
+Nevertheless, I must confess to a certain amount of mental disquietude
+and uneasiness when I think of books worth 50,000 denarii--or, speaking
+roughly, say L18,750,[1] of our modern money being made into bonfires.
+What curious illustrations of early heathenism, of Devil worship, of
+Serpent worship, of Sun worship, and other archaic forms of religion;
+of early astrological and chemical lore, derived from the Egyptians,
+the Persians, the Greeks; what abundance of superstitious observances
+and what is now termed "Folklore"; what riches, too, for the philological
+student, did those many books contain, and how famous would the library
+now be that could boast of possessing but a few of them.
+
+
+[1] The received opinion is that the "pieces of silver" here mentioned
+were Roman denarii, which were the silver pieces then commonly used in
+Ephesus.  If now we weigh a denarius against modern silver, it is
+exactly equal to ninepence, and fifty thousand times ninepence gives
+L1,875. It is always a difficult matter to arrive at a just estimate of
+the relative value of the same coin in different ages; but reckoning
+that money then had at least ten times the purchasing value of money
+now, we arrive at what was probably about the value of the magical books
+burnt, viz.: L18,750.
+
+The ruins of Ephesus bear unimpeachable evidence that the City was very
+extensive and had magnificent buildings.  It was one of the free cities,
+governing itself.  Its trade in shrines and idols was very extensive,
+being spread through all known lands. There the magical arts were
+remarkably prevalent, and notwithstanding the numerous converts made by
+the early Christians, the <gr 'Efesia grammata>, or little scrolls upon
+which magic sentences were written, formed an extensive trade up to the
+fourth century. These "writings" were used for divination, as a protection
+against the "evil eye," and generally as charms against all evil.They
+were carried about the person, so that probably thousands of them were
+thrown into the flames by St. Paul's hearers when his glowing words
+convinced them of their superstition.
+
+Imagine an open space near the grand Temple of Diana, with fine buildings
+around.  Slightly raised above the crowd, the Apostle, preaching with
+great power and persuasion concerning superstition, holds in thrall the
+assembled multitude.  On the outskirts of the crowd are numerous bonfires,
+upon which Jew and Gentile are throwing into the flames bundle upon bundle
+of scrolls, while an Asiarch with his peace-officers looks on with the
+conventional stolidity of policemen in all ages and all nations. It must
+have been an impressive scene, and many a worse subject has been chosen
+for the walls of the Royal Academy.
+
+Books in those early times, whether orthodox or heterodox, appear to have
+had a precarious existence.  The heathens at each fresh outbreak of
+persecution burnt all the Christian writings they could find, and the
+Christians, when they got the upper hand, retaliated with interest upon
+the pagan literature. The Mohammedan reason for destroying books--"If
+they contain what is in the Koran they are superfluous, and if they contain
+anything opposed to it they are immoral," seems, indeed, _mutatis mutandis_,
+to have been the general rule for all such devastators.
+
+The Invention of Printing made the entire destruction of any author's
+works much more difficult, so quickly and so extensively did books
+spread through all lands.  On the other hand, as books multiplied, so
+did destruction go hand in hand with production, and soon were printed
+books doomed to suffer in the same penal fires, that up to then had been
+fed on MSS. only.
+
+At Cremona, in 1569, 12,000 books printed in Hebrew were publicly burnt as
+heretical, simply on account of their language; and Cardinal Ximenes, at
+the capture of Granada, treated 5,000 copies of the Koran in the same way.
+
+At the time of the Reformation in England a great destruction of books
+took place.  The antiquarian Bale, writing in 1587, thus speaks of the
+shameful fate of the Monastic libraries:--
+
+
+"A greate nombre of them whyche purchased those superstycyouse mansyons
+(_Monasteries_) reserved of those librarye bookes some to serve
+their jakes, some to scoure theyr candelstyckes, and some to rubbe
+theyr bootes.  Some they solde to the grossers and sope sellers,
+and some they sent over see to yeS booke bynders, not in small nombre,
+but at tymes whole shyppes full, to yeS, wonderynge of foren nacyons.
+Yea yeS. Universytees of thys realme are not alle clere in thys
+detestable fact.  But cursed is that bellye whyche seketh to be
+fedde with suche ungodlye gaynes, and so depelye shameth hys
+natural conterye.  I knowe a merchant manne, whych shall at thys
+tyme be namelesse, that boughte yeS contentes of two noble
+lybraryes for forty shyllynges pryce: a shame it is to be spoken.
+Thys stuffe hathe heoccupyed in yeS stede of greye paper, by yeS,
+space of more than these ten yeares, and yet he bathe store ynoughe
+for as manye years to come.  A prodygyous example is thys, and to be
+abhorred of all men whyche love theyr nacyon as they shoulde do.
+The monkes kepte them undre dust, yeS, ydle-headed prestes regarded
+them not, theyr latter owners have most shamefully abused them,
+and yeS covetouse merchantes have solde them away into foren
+nacyons for moneye."
+
+
+How the imagination recoils at the idea of Caxton's translation of
+the Metamorphoses of Ovid, or perhaps his "Lyf of therle of Oxenforde,"
+together with many another book from our first presses, not a fragment
+of which do we now possess, being used for baking "pyes."
+
+At the Great Fire of London in 1666, the number of books burnt was
+enormous. Not only in private houses and Corporate and Church libraries
+were priceless collections reduced to cinders, but an immense stock of
+books removed from Paternoster Row by the Stationers for safety was burnt
+to ashes in the vaults of St. Paul's Cathedral.
+
+Coming nearer to our own day, how thankful we ought to be for the
+preservation of the Cotton Library.  Great was the consternation in the
+literary world of 1731 when they heard of the fire at Ashburnham House,
+Westminster, where, at that time, the Cotton MSS. were deposited.  By
+great exertions the fire was conquered, but not before many MSS. had
+been quite destroyed and many others injured. Much skill was shown in
+the partial restoration of these books, charred almost beyond recognition;
+they were carefully separated leaf by leaf, soaked in a chemical solution,
+and then pressed flat between sheets of transparent paper.  A curious heap
+of scorched leaves, previous to any treatment, and looking like a monster
+wasps' nest, may be seen in a glass case in the MS. department of the
+British Museum, showing the condition to which many other volumes had been
+reduced.
+
+Just a hundred years ago the mob, in the "Birmingham Riots," burnt the
+valuable library of Dr. Priestley, and in the "Gordon Riots" were burnt
+the literary and other collections of Lord Mansfield, the celebrated judge,
+he who had the courage first to decide that the Slave who reached the
+English shore was thenceforward a free man.  The loss of the latter library
+drew from the poet Cowper two short and weak poems. The poet first deplores
+the destruction of the valuable printed books, and then the irretrievable
+loss to history by the burning of his Lordship's many personal manuscripts
+and contemporary documents.
+
+ "Their pages mangled, burnt and torn,
+     The loss was his alone;
+ But ages yet to come shall mourn
+     The burning of his own."
+
+
+The second poem commences with the following doggerel:--
+
+ "When Wit and Genius meet their doom
+     In all-devouring Flame,
+ They tell us of the Fate of Rome
+     And bid us fear the same."
+
+
+The much finer and more extensive library of Dr. Priestley was left
+unnoticed and unlamented by the orthodox poet, who probably felt
+a complacent satisfaction at the destruction of heterodox books,
+the owner being an Unitarian Minister.
+
+The magnificent library of Strasbourg was burnt by the shells
+of the German Army in 1870.  Then disappeared for ever,
+together with other unique documents, the original records of
+the famous law-suits between Gutenberg, one of the first Printers,
+and his partners, upon the right understanding of which depends
+the claim of Gutenberg to the invention of the Art.  The flames raged
+between high brick walls, roaring louder than a blast furnace.
+Seldom, indeed, have Mars and Pluto had so dainty a sacrifice
+offered at their shrines; for over all the din of battle,
+and the reverberation of monster artillery, the burning
+leaves of the first printed Bible and many another priceless
+volume were wafted into the sky, the ashes floating for miles
+on the heated air, and carrying to the astonished countryman
+the first news of the devastation of his Capital.
+
+When the Offor Collection was put to the hammer by Messrs Sotheby
+and Wilkinson, the well-known auctioneers of Wellington Street,
+and when about three days of the sale had been gone through, a Fire
+occurred in the adjoining house, and, gaining possession of the Sale Rooms,
+made a speedy end of the unique Bunyan and other rarities then on show.
+I was allowed to see the Ruins on the following day, and by means
+of a ladder and some scrambling managed to enter the Sale Room
+where parts of the floor still remained.  It was a fearful sight
+those scorched rows of Volumes still on the shelves; and curious was it
+to notice how the flames, burning off the backs of the books first,
+had then run up behind the shelves, and so attacked the fore-edge
+of the volumes standing upon them, leaving the majority with a
+perfectly untouched oval centre of white paper and plain print,
+while the whole surrounding parts were but a mass of black cinders.
+The salvage was sold in one lot for a small sum, and the purchaser,
+after a good deal of sorting and mending and binding placed about 1,000
+volumes for sale at Messrs. Puttick and Simpson's in the following year.
+
+So, too, when the curious old Library which was in a gallery
+of the Dutch Church, Austin Friars, was nearly destroyed
+in the fire which devastated the Church in 1862, the books
+which escaped were sadly injured.  Not long before I had spent
+some hours there hunting for English Fifteenth-century Books,
+and shall never forget the state of dirt in which I came away.
+Without anyone to care for them, the books had remained untouched for
+many a decade-damp dust, half an inch thick, having settled upon them!
+Then came the fire, and while the roof was all ablaze streams
+of hot water, like a boiling deluge, washed down upon them. The wonder
+was they were not turned into a muddy pulp. After all was over, the
+whole of the library, no portion of which could legally be given away,
+was _lent for ever_ to the Corporation of London.  Scorched and sodden,
+the salvage came into the hands of Mr. Overall, their indefatigable
+librarian.  In a hired attic, he hung up the volumes that would bear it
+over strings like clothes, to dry, and there for weeks and weeks were the
+stained, distorted volumes, often without covers, often in single leaves,
+carefully tended and dry-nursed. Washing, sizing, pressing,
+and binding effected wonders, and no one who to-day looks upon
+the attractive little alcove in the Guildhall Library labelled
+<oe "Bibliotheca Ecclesiae Londonino-Belgiae"> and sees the rows
+of handsomely-lettered backs, could imagine that not long ago this,
+the most curious portion of the City's literary collections,
+was in a state when a five-pound note would have seemed more than
+full value for the lot.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+WATER.
+
+NEXT to Fire we must rank Water in its two forms, liquid and vapour,
+as the greatest destroyer of books.  Thousands of volumes
+have been actually drowned at Sea, and no more heard of them
+than of the Sailors to whose charge they were committed.
+D'Israeli narrates that, about the year 1700, Heer Hudde,
+an opulent burgomaster of Middleburgh, travelled for 30 years
+disguised as a mandarin, throughout the length and breadth
+of the Celestial Empire.  Everywhere he collected books,
+and his extensive literary treasures were at length safely
+shipped for transmission to Europe, but, to the irreparable loss
+of his native country, they never reached their destination,
+the vessel having foundered in a storm.
+
+In 1785 died the famous Maffei Pinelli, whose library was celebrated
+throughout the world.  It had been collected by the Pinelli family for
+many generations and comprised an extraordinary number of Greek, Latin,
+and Italian works, many of them first editions, beautifully illuminated,
+together with numerous MSS. dating from the 11th to the 16th century.
+The whole library was sold by the Executors to Mr. Edwards, bookseller,
+of Pall Mall, who placed the volumes in three vessels for transport from
+Venice to London.  Pursued by Corsairs, one of the vessels was captured,
+but the pirate, disgusted at not finding any treasure, threw all the
+books into the sea. The other two vessels escaped and delivered their
+freight safely, and in 1789-90 the books which had been so near
+destruction were sold at the great room in Conduit Street, for more
+than L9,000.
+
+These pirates were more excusable than Mohammed II who, upon the capture
+of Constantinople in the 15th century, after giving up the devoted city
+to be sacked by his licentious soldiers, ordered the books in all the
+churches as well as the great library of the Emperor Constantine,
+containing 120,000 Manuscripts, to be thrown into the sea.
+
+In the shape of rain, water has frequently caused irreparable injury.
+Positive wet is fortunately of rare occurrence in a library,
+but is very destructive when it does come, and, if long continued,
+the substance of the paper succumbs to the unhealthy influence and
+rots and rots until all fibre disappears, and the paper is reduced
+to a white decay which crumbles into powder when handled.
+
+Few old libraries in England are now so thoroughly neglected
+as they were thirty years ago.  The state of many of our Collegiate
+and Cathedral libraries was at that time simply appalling.
+I could mention many instances, one especially, where a window having
+been left broken for a long time, the ivy had pushed through and crept
+over a row of books, each of which was worth hundreds of pounds.
+In rainy weather the water was conducted, as by a pipe, along the tops
+of the books and soaked through the whole.
+
+In another and smaller collection, the rain came straight on to a
+book-case through a sky-light, saturating continually the top shelf
+containing Caxtons and other early English books, one of which,
+although rotten, was sold soon after by permission of the Charity
+Commissioners for L200.
+
+Germany, too, the very birth-place of Printing, allows similar destruction
+to go on unchecked, if the following letter, which appeared about a Year
+ago (1879) in the _Academy_ has any truth in it:--
+
+
+"For some time past the condition of the library at Wolfenbuttel has
+been most disgraceful.  The building is in so unsafe a condition that
+portions of the walls and ceilings have fallen in, and the many
+treasures in Books and MSS. contained in it are exposed to damp and
+decay.  An appeal has been issued that this valuable collection may not
+be allowed to perish for want of funds, and that it may also be now at
+length removed to Brunswick, since Wolfenbuttel is entirely deserted as
+an intellectual centre.  No false sentimentality regarding the memory
+of its former custodians, Leibnitz and Lessing, should hinder this project.
+Lessing himself would have been the first to urge that the library and
+its utility should be considered above all things."
+
+
+The collection of books at Wolfenbuttel is simply magnificent,
+and I cannot but hope the above report was exaggerated.
+Were these books to be injured for the want of a small sum spent
+on the roof, it would be a lasting disgrace to the nation.
+There are so many genuine book-lovers in Fatherland that
+the commission of such a crime would seem incredible, did not
+bibliographical history teem with similar desecrations.[1]
+
+
+[1] This was written in 1879, since which time a new building
+has been erected.
+
+
+Water in the form of vapour is a great enemy of books, the damp
+attacking both outside and inside.  Outside it fosters the growth
+of a white mould or fungus which vegetates upon the edges of the leaves,
+upon the sides and in the joints of the binding.  It is easily wiped off,
+but not without leaving a plain mark, where the mould-spots have been.
+Under the microscope a mould-spot is seen to be a miniature forest
+of lovely trees, covered with a beautiful white foliage, upas trees
+whose roots are embedded in the leather and destroy its texture.
+
+Inside the book, damp encourages the growth of those ugly brown
+spots which so often disfigure prints and "livres de luxe."
+Especially it attacks books printed in the early part of this century,
+when paper-makers had just discovered that they could bleach
+their rags, and perfectly white paper, well pressed after printing,
+had become the fashion.  This paper from the inefficient means used
+to neutralise the bleach, carried the seeds of decay in itself,
+and when exposed to any damp soon became discoloured with brown stains.
+Dr. Dibdin's extravagant bibliographical works are mostly so injured;
+and although the Doctor's bibliography is very incorrect, and his
+spun-out inanities and wearisome affectations often annoy one,
+yet his books are so beautifully illustrated, and he is so full
+of personal anecdote and chit chat, that it grieves the heart to see
+"foxey" stains common in his most superb works.
+
+In a perfectly dry and warm library these spots would probably
+remain undeveloped, but many endowed as well as private libraries are not
+in daily use, and are often injured from a false idea that a hard frost
+and prolonged cold do no injury to a library so long as the weather is dry.
+The fact is that books should never be allowed to get really cold,
+for when a thaw comes and the weather sets in warm, the air, laden with
+damp, penetrates the inmost recesses, and working its way between the
+volumes and even between the leaves, deposits upon their cold surface its
+moisture. The best preventative of this is a warm atmosphere during the
+frost, sudden heating when the frost has gone being useless.
+
+Our worst enemies are sometimes our real friends, and perhaps the best
+way of keeping libraries entirely free from damp is to circulate our
+enemy in the shape of hot water through pipes laid under the floor.
+The facilities now offered for heating such pipes from the outside
+are so great, the expense comparatively so small, and the direct gain
+in the expulsion of damp so decided, that where it can be accomplished
+without much trouble it is well worth the doing.
+
+At the same time no system of heating should be allowed to supersede
+the open grate, which supplies a ventilation to the room as useful
+to the health of the books as to the health of the occupier.  A coal fire
+is objectionable on many grounds.  It is dangerous, dirty and dusty.
+On the other hand an asbestos fire, where the lumps are judiciously laid,
+gives all the warmth and ventilation of a common fire without any of
+its annoyances; and to any one who loves to be independent of servants,
+and to know that, however deeply he may sleep over his "copy," his fire
+will not fail to keep awake, an asbestos stove is invaluable.
+
+It is a mistake also to imagine that keeping the best bound volumes in
+a glass doored book-case is a preservative.  The damp air will certainly
+penetrate, and as the absence of ventilation will assist the formation of
+mould, the books will be worse off than if they had been placed in open
+shelves.  If security be desirable, by all means abolish the glass and
+place ornamental brass wire-work in its stead.  Like the writers of old
+Cookery Books who stamped special receipts with the testimony of personal
+experience, I can say "probatum est."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+GAS AND HEAT.
+
+WHAT a valuable servant is Gas, and how dreadfully we should cry out
+were it to be banished from our homes; and yet no one who loves his
+books should allow a single jet in his library, unless, indeed he can
+afford a "sun light," which is the form in which it is used in some
+public libraries, where the whole of the fumes are carried at once
+into the open air.
+
+Unfortunately, I can speak from experience of the dire effect of gas
+in a confined space.  Some years ago when placing the shelves round
+the small room, which, by a euphemism, is called my library, I took
+the precaution of making two self-acting ventilators which communicated
+directly with the outer air just under the ceiling. For economy of
+space as well as of temper (for lamps of all kinds are sore trials),
+I had a gasalier of three lights over the table. The effect was to
+cause great heat in the upper regions, and in the course of a year or
+two the leather valance which hung from the window, as well as the
+fringe which dropped half-an-inch from each shelf to keep out the dust,
+was just like tinder, and in some parts actually fell to the ground by
+its own weight; while the backs of the books upon the top shelves were
+perished, and crumbled away when touched, being reduced to the consistency
+of Scotch snuff.  This was, of course, due to the sulphur in the gas
+ fumes, which attack russia quickest, while calf and morocco suffer not
+quite so much.  I remember having a book some years ago from the top
+shelf in the library of the London Institution, where gas is used, and
+the whole of the back fell off in my hands, although the volume in other
+respects seemed quite uninjured.  Thousands more were in a similar plight.
+
+As the paper of the volumes is uninjured, it might be objected that,
+after all, gas is not so much the enemy of the book itself as of its
+covering; but then, re-binding always leaves a book smaller, and often
+deprives it of leaves at the beginning or end, which the binder's wisdom
+has thought useless.  Oh! the havoc I have seen committed by binders.
+You may assume your most impressive aspect--you may write down your
+instructions as if you were making your last will and testament--you may
+swear you will not pay if your books are ploughed--'tis all in vain--the
+creed of a binder is very short, and comprised in a single article,
+and that article is the one vile word "Shavings."  But not now will I
+follow this depressing subject; binders, as enemies of books, deserve,
+and shall have, a whole chapter to themselves.
+
+It is much easier to decry gas than to find a remedy.
+Sun lights require especial arrangements, and are very expensive
+on account of the quantity of gas consumed.  The library
+illumination of the future promises to be the electric light.
+If only steady and moderate in price, it would be a great
+boon to public libraries, and perhaps the day is not far
+distant when it will replace gas, even in private houses.
+That will, indeed, be a day of jubilee to the literary labourer.
+The injury done by gas is so generally acknowledged by the heads
+of our national libraries, that it is strictly excluded from
+their domains, although the danger from explosion and fire,
+even if the results of combustion were innocuous, would be
+sufficient cause for its banishment.
+
+The electric light has been in use for some months in the Reading Room
+of the British Museum, and is a great boon to the readers.
+The light is not quite equally diffused, and you must choose particular
+positions if you want to work happily.  There is a great objection, too,
+in the humming fizz which accompanies the action of the electricity.
+There is a still greater objection when small pieces of hot
+chalk fall on your bald head, an annoyance which has been lately
+(1880) entirely removed by placing a receptacle beneath each burner.
+You require also to become accustomed to the whiteness of the light
+before you can altogether forget it.  But with all its faults it
+confers a great boon upon students, enabling them not only to work
+three hours longer in the winter-time, but restoring to them
+the use of foggy and dark days, in which formerly no book-work
+at all could be pursued.[1]
+
+
+[1] 1887.  The system in use is still "Siemens," but, owing to long
+experience and improvements, is not now open to the above objections.
+
+Heat alone, without any noxious fumes, is, if continuous, very injurious
+to books, and, without gas, bindings may be utterly destroyed by
+desiccation, the leather losing all its natural oils by long exposure to
+much heat. It is, therefore, a great pity to place books high up in a room
+where heat of any kind is as it must rise to the top, and if sufficient to
+be of comfort to the readers below, is certain to be hot enough above to
+injure the bindings.
+
+The surest way to preserve your books in health is to treat them as
+you would your own children, who are sure to sicken if confined in an
+atmosphere which is impure, too hot, too cold, too damp, or too dry.
+It is just the same with the progeny of literature.
+
+If any credence may be given to Monkish legends, books have sometimes
+been preserved in this world, only to meet a desiccating fate in the
+world to come.  The story is probably an invention of the enemy to
+throw discredit on the learning and ability of the preaching Friars,
+an Order which was at constant war with the illiterate secular Clergy.
+It runs thus:--"In the year 1439, two Minorite friars who had all their
+lives collected books, died.  In accordance with popular belief, they
+were at once conducted before the heavenly tribunal to hear their doom,
+taking with them two asses laden with books. At Heaven's gate the porter
+demanded, `Whence came ye?' The Minorites replied `From a monastery of
+St. Francis.'  `Oh!' said the porter, `then St. Francis shall be your
+judge.'  So that saint was summoned, and at sight of the friars and
+their burden demanded who they were, and why they had brought so many
+books with them. `We are Minorites,' they humbly replied, `and we have
+brought these few books with us as a solatium in the new Jerusalem.'
+`And you, when on earth, practised the good they teach?' sternly
+demanded the saint, who read their characters at a glance. Their
+faltering reply was sufficient, and the blessed saint at once passed
+judgment as follows:--`Insomuch as, seduced by a foolish vanity, and
+against your vows of poverty, you have amassed this multitude of books
+and thereby and therefor have neglected the duties and broken the rules
+of your Order, you are now sentenced to read your books for ever and ever
+in the fires of Hell.'  Immediately, a roaring noise filled the air, and
+a flaming chasm opened in which friars, and asses and books were suddenly
+engulphed."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+DUST AND NEGLECT.
+
+DUST upon Books to any extent points to neglect, and neglect
+means more or less slow Decay.
+
+A well-gilt top to a book is a great preventive against damage by dust,
+while to leave books with rough tops and unprotected is sure to produce
+stains and dirty margins.
+
+In olden times, when few persons had private collections of books,
+the collegiate and corporate libraries were of great use to students.
+The librarians' duties were then no sinecure, and there
+was little opportunity for dust to find a resting-place.
+The Nineteenth Century and the Steam Press ushered in a new era.
+By degrees the libraries which were unendowed fell behind the age,
+and were consequently neglected.  No new works found their way in,
+and the obsolete old books were left uncared for and unvisited.
+I have seen many old libraries, the doors of which remained unopened
+from week's end to week's end; where you inhaled the dust of paper-decay
+with every breath, and could not take up a book without sneezing;
+where old boxes, full of older literature, served as preserves
+for the bookworm, without even an autumn "battue" to thin the breed.
+Occasionally these libraries were (I speak of thirty years ago)
+put even to vile uses, such as would have shocked all ideas
+of propriety could our ancestors have foreseen their fate.
+
+I recall vividly a bright summer morning many years ago, when,
+in search of Caxtons, I entered the inner quadrangle of a certain
+wealthy College in one of our learned Universities.  The buildings
+around were charming in their grey tones and shady nooks.  They had a
+noble history, too, and their scholarly sons were (and are) not unworthy
+successors of their ancestral renown. The sun shone warmly, and most of
+the casements were open. From one came curling a whiff of tobacco;
+from another the hum of conversation; from a third the tones of a piano.
+A couple of undergraduates sauntered on the shady side, arm in arm,
+with broken caps and torn gowns--proud insignia of their last term.
+The grey stone walls were covered with ivy, except where an old dial
+with its antiquated Latin inscription kept count of the sun's ascent.
+The chapel on one side, only distinguishable from the "rooms"
+by the shape of its windows, seemed to keep watch over the morality
+of the foundation, just as the dining-hall opposite, from whence
+issued a white-aproned cook, did of its worldly prosperity.  As you trod
+the level pavement, you passed comfortable--nay, dainty--apartments, where
+lace curtains at the windows, antimacassars on the chairs, the silver
+biscuit-box and the thin-stemmed wine-glass moderated academic toils.
+Gilt-backed books on gilded shelf or table caught the eye,
+and as you turned your glance from the luxurious interiors
+to the well-shorn lawn in the Quad., with its classic fountain
+also gilded by sunbeams, the mental vision saw plainly written
+over the whole "The Union of Luxury and Learning."
+
+Surely here, thought I, if anywhere, the old world literature
+will be valued and nursed with gracious care; so with a pleasing
+sense of the general congruity of all around me, I enquired
+for the rooms of the librarian.  Nobody seemed to be quite sure
+of his name, or upon whom the bibliographical mantle had descended.
+His post, it seemed, was honorary and a sinecure, being imposed,
+as a rule, upon the youngest "Fellow."  No one cared for the appointment,
+and as a matter of course the keys of office had but distant acquaintance
+with the lock.  At last I was rewarded with success, and politely, but
+mutely, conducted by the librarian into his kingdom of dust and silence.
+The dark portraits of past benefactors looked after us from
+their dusty old frames in dim astonishment as we passed,
+evidently wondering whether we meant "work"; book-decay--that peculiar
+flavour which haunts certain libraries--was heavy in the air, the floor
+was dusty, making the sunbeams as we passed bright with atoms; the
+shelves were dusty, the "stands" in the middle were thick with dust,
+the old leather table in the bow window, and the chairs on either side,
+were very dusty.  Replying to a question, my conductor thought
+there was a manuscript catalogue of the Library somewhere,
+but thought, also, that it was not easy to find any books by it,
+and he knew not at the minute where to put his hand upon it.
+The Library, he said, was of little use now, as the Fellows
+had their own books and very seldom required 17th and 18th
+century editions, and no new books had been added to the collection
+for a long time.
+
+We passed down a few steps into an inner library where
+piles of early folios were wasting away on the ground.
+Beneath an old ebony table were two long carved oak chests.
+I lifted the lid of one, and at the top was a once-white
+surplice covered with dust, and beneath was a mass of tracts--
+Commonwealth quartos, unbound--a prey to worms and decay.
+All was neglect.  The outer door of this room, which was open, was nearly
+on a level with the Quadrangle; some coats, and trousers, and boots were
+upon the ebony table, and a "gyp" was brushing away at them just within
+the door--in wet weather he performed these functions entirely within
+the library--as innocent of the incongruity of his position as my guide
+himself.  Oh!  Richard of Bury, I sighed, for a sharp stone from your
+sling to pierce with indignant sarcasm the mental armour of these College
+dullards.
+
+Happily, things are altered now, and the disgrace of such neglect no longer
+hangs on the College.  Let us hope, in these days of revived respect
+for antiquity, no other College library is in a similar plight.
+
+Not Englishmen alone are guilty, however, of such unloving treatment
+of their bibliographical treasures.  The following is translated
+from an interesting work just published in Paris,[1] and shows how,
+even at this very time, and in the centre of the literary activity
+of France, books meet their fate.
+
+
+[1] Le luxe des Livres par L. Derome.  8vo, Paris, 1879.
+
+M. Derome loquitur:--
+
+
+"Let us now enter the communal library of some large provincial town.
+The interior has a lamentable appearance; dust and disorder have made
+it their home.  It has a librarian, but he has the consideration
+of a porter only, and goes but once a week to see the state of
+the books committed to his care; they are in a bad state, piled in
+heaps and perishing in corners for want of attention and binding.
+At this present time (1879) more than one public library in Paris
+could be mentioned in which thousands of books are received annually,
+all of which will have disappeared in the course of 50 years or so
+for want of binding; there are rare books, impossible to replace,
+falling to pieces because no care is given to them, that is to say,
+they are left unbound, a prey to dust and the worm, and cannot be
+touched without dismemberment."
+
+
+All history shows that this neglect belongs not to any
+particular age or nation.  I extract the following story from
+Edmond Werdet's Histoire du Livre."[1]
+
+
+[1] "Histoire du Livre en France," par E. Werdet.  8vo, Paris, 1851.
+
+
+"The Poet Boccaccio, when travelling in Apulia, was anxious to visit
+the celebrated Convent of Mount Cassin, especially to see its library,
+of which he had heard much.  He accosted, with great courtesy,
+one of the monks whose countenance attracted him, and begged him
+to have the kindness to show him the library.  `See for yourself,'
+said the monk, brusquely, pointing at the same time to an old
+stone staircase, broken with age.  Boccaccio hastily mounted
+in great joy at the prospect of a grand bibliographical treat.
+Soon he reached the room, which was without key or even door
+as protection to its treasures.  What was his astonishment to see
+that the grass growing in the window-sills actually darkened the room,
+and that all the books and seats were an inch thick in dust.
+In utter astonishment he lifted one book after another.  All were
+manuscripts of extreme antiquity, but all were dreadfully dilapidated.
+Many had lost whole sections which had been violently extracted,
+and in many all the blank margins of the vellum had been cut away.
+In fact, the mutilation was thorough.
+
+"Grieved at seeing the work and the wisdom of so many illustrious men
+fallen into the hands of custodians so unworthy, Boccaccio descended
+with tears in his eyes.  In the cloisters he met another monk,
+and enquired of him how the MSS. had become so mutilated.
+`Oh!' he replied, `we are obliged, you know, to earn a few sous
+for our needs, so we cut away the blank margins of the manuscripts
+for writing upon, and make of them small books of devotion,
+which we sell to women and children."
+
+As a postscript to this story, Mr. Timmins, of Birmingham,
+informs me that the treasures of the Monte Cassino Library are
+better cared for now than in Boccaccio's days, the worthy prior
+being proud of his valuable MSS. and very willing to show them.
+It will interest many readers to know that there is now a complete
+printing office, lithographic as well as typographic, at full work
+in one large room of the Monastery, where their wonderful MS.
+of Dante has been already reprinted, and where other fac-simile
+works are now in progress.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+IGNORANCE AND BIGOTRY.
+
+IGNORANCE, though not in the same category as fire and water,
+is a great destroyer of books.  At the Reformation so strong was
+the antagonism of the people generally to anything like the old
+idolatry of the Romish Church, that they destroyed by thousands books,
+secular as well as sacred, if they contained but illuminated letters.
+Unable to read, they saw no difference between romance and a psalter,
+between King Arthur and King David; and so the paper books with all
+their artistic ornaments went to the bakers to heat their ovens,
+and the parchment manuscripts, however beautifully illuminated,
+to the binders and boot makers.
+
+There is another kind of ignorance which has often worked destruction,
+as shown by the following anecdote, which is extracted from a letter
+written in 1862 by M. Philarete Chasles to Mr. B. Beedham, of Kimbolton:--
+
+
+"Ten years ago, when turning out an old closet in the Mazarin Library,
+of which I am librarian, I discovered at the bottom, under a lot
+of old rags and rubbish, a large volume.  It had no cover nor
+title-page, and had been used to light the fires of the librarians.
+This shows how great was the negligence towards our literary treasure
+before the Revolution; for the pariah volume, which, 60 years before,
+had been placed in the Invalides, and which had certainly formed
+part of the original Mazarin collections, turned out to be a fine
+and genuine Caxton."
+
+
+I saw this identical volume in the Mazarin Library in April, 1880.
+It is a noble copy of the First Edition of the "Golden Legend,"
+1483, but of course very imperfect.
+
+Among the millions of events in this world which cross and re-cross one
+another, remarkable coincidences must often occur; and a case exactly
+similar to that at the Mazarin Library, happened about the same time in
+London, at the French Protestant Church, St. Martin's-le-Grand. Many years
+ago I discovered there, in a dirty pigeon hole close to the grate in the
+vestry, a fearfully mutilated copy of Caxton's edition of the Canterbury
+Tales, with woodcuts.  Like the book at Paris, it had long been used,
+leaf by leaf, in utter ignorance of its value, to light the vestry fire.
+Originally worth at least L800, it was then worth half, and, of course,
+I energetically drew the attention of the minister in charge to it, as well
+as to another grand Folio by Rood and Hunte, 1480.  Some years elapsed,
+and then the Ecclesiastical Commissioners took the foundation in hand,
+but when at last Trustees were appointed, and the valuable library was
+re-arranged and catalogued, this "Caxton," together with the fine copy
+of "Latterbury" from the first Oxford Press, had disappeared entirely.
+Whatever ignorance may have been displayed in the mutilation, quite another
+word should be applied to the disappearance.
+
+The following anecdote is so _apropos_, that although it has lately
+appeared in No. 1 of _The Antiquary_, I cannot resist the temptation
+of re-printing it, as a warning to inheritors of old libraries.
+The account was copied by me years ago from a letter written
+in 1847, by the Rev. C. F. Newmarsh, Rector of Pelham, to the
+Rev. S. R. Maitland, Librarian to the Archbishop of Canterbury,
+and is as follows:--
+
+
+"In June, 1844, a pedlar called at a cottage in Blyton and asked an
+old widow, named Naylor, whether she had any rags to sell.  She answered,
+No! but offered him some old paper, and took from a shelf the `Boke
+of St. Albans' and others, weighing 9 lbs., for which she received 9_d_.
+The pedlar carried them through Gainsborough tied up in string, past a
+chemist's shop, who, being used to buy old paper to wrap his drugs in,
+called the man in, and, struck by the appearance of the `Boke,' gave
+him 3_s_. for the lot.  Not being able to read the Colophon, he took it
+to an equally ignorant stationer, and offered it to him for a guinea,
+at which price he declined it, but proposed that it should be exposed
+in his window as a means of eliciting some information about it.
+It was accordingly placed there with this label, `Very old curious work.'
+A collector of books went in and offered half-a-crown for it,
+which excited the suspicion of the vendor.  Soon after Mr. Bird, Vicar
+of Gainsborough, went in and asked the price, wishing to possess a very
+early specimen of printing, but not knowing the value of the book.
+While he was examining it, Stark, a very intelligent bookseller, came in,
+to whom Mr. Bird at once ceded the right of pre-emption. Stark betrayed
+such visible anxiety that the vendor, Smith, declined setting a price.
+Soon after Sir C. Anderson, of Lea (author of Ancient Models), came
+in and took away the book to collate, but brought it back in the morning
+having found it imperfect in the middle, and offered L5 for it.
+Sir Charles had no book of reference to guide him to its value.
+But in the meantime, Stark had employed a friend to obtain for him
+the refusal of it, and had undertaken to give for it a little more than
+any sum Sir Charles might offer.  On finding that at least L5 could be
+got for it, Smith went to the chemist and gave him two guineas, and then
+sold it to Stark's agent for seven guineas.  Stark took it to London,
+and sold it at once to the Rt. Hon. Thos. Grenville for seventy
+pounds or guineas.
+
+"I have now shortly to state how it came that a book without covers
+of such extreme age was preserved.  About fifty years since, the
+library of Thonock Hall, in the parish of Gainsborough, the seat of
+the Hickman family, underwent great repairs, the books being sorted
+over by a most ignorant person, whose selection seems to have been
+determined by the coat.  All books without covers were thrown into a
+great heap, and condemned to all the purposes which Leland laments
+in the sack of the conventual libraries by the visitors.
+But they found favour in the eyes of a literate gardener,
+who begged leave to take what he liked home.  He selected a large
+quantity of Sermons preached before the House of Commons,
+local pamphlets, tracts from 1680 to 1710, opera books, etc.
+He made a list of them, which I found afterwards in the cottage.
+In the list, No. 43 was `Cotarmouris,' or the Boke of St. Albans.  The
+old fellow was something of a herald, and drew in his books what he held
+to be his coat.  After his death, all that could be stuffed into a large
+chest were put away in a garret; but a few favourites, and the `Boke'
+among them remained on the kitchen shelves for years, till his son's widow
+grew so `stalled' of dusting them that she determined to sell them.
+Had she been in poverty, I should have urged the buyer, Stark,
+the duty of giving her a small sum out of his great gains."
+
+Such chances as this do not fall to a man's lot twice; but Edmond
+Werdet relates a story very similar indeed, and where also the "plums"
+fell into the lap of a London dealer.
+
+In 1775, the Recollet Monks of Antwerp, wishing to make a reform, examined
+their library, and determined to get rid of about 1,500 volumes--some
+manuscript and some printed, but all of which they considered as old
+rubbish of no value.
+
+At first they were thrown into the gardener's rooms; but, after some
+months, they decided in their wisdom to give the whole refuse to the
+gardener as a recognition of his long services.
+
+This man, wiser in his generation than these simple fathers,
+took the lot to M. Vanderberg, an amateur and man of education.
+M. Vanderberg took a cursory view, and then offered to buy them
+by weight at sixpence per pound.  The bargain was at once concluded,
+and M. Vanderberg had the books.
+
+Shortly after, Mr. Stark, a well-known London bookseller,
+being in Antwerp, called on M. Vanderberg, and was shown the books.
+He at once offered 14,000 francs for them, which was accepted.
+Imagine the surprise and chagrin of the poor monks when they heard of it!
+They knew they had no remedy, and so dumbfounded were they
+by their own ignorance, that they humbly requested M. Vanderberg
+to relieve their minds by returning some portion of his large gains.
+He gave them 1,200 francs.
+
+The great Shakespearian and other discoveries, which were found in a
+garret at Lamport Hall in 1867 by Mr. Edmonds, are too well-known and
+too recent to need description. In this case mere chance seems to have
+led to the preservation of works, the very existence of which set the
+ears of all lovers of Shakespeare a-tingling.
+
+In the summer of 1877, a gentleman with whom I was well acquainted
+took lodgings in Preston Street, Brighton.  The morning
+after his arrival, he found in the w.c. some leaves of an old
+black-letter book.  He asked permission to retain them,
+and enquired if there were any more where they came from.
+Two or three other fragments were found, and the landlady stated
+that her father, who was fond of antiquities, had at one time
+a chest full of old black-letter books; that, upon his death,
+they were preserved till she was tired of seeing them, and then,
+supposing them of no value, she had used them for waste;
+that for two years and a-half they had served for various
+household purposes, but she had just come to the end of them.
+The fragments preserved, and now in my possession, are a goodly
+portion of one of the most rare books from the press of Wynkyn
+de Worde, Caxton's successor.  The title is a curious woodcut
+with the words "Gesta Romanorum" engraved in an odd-shaped
+black letter.  It has also numerous rude wood-cuts throughout.
+It was from this very work that Shakespeare in all probability
+derived the story of the three caskets which in "The Merchant
+of Venice" forms so integral a portion of the plot.  Only think of
+that cloaca being supplied daily with such dainty bibliographical
+treasures!
+
+In the Lansdowne Collection at the British Museum is a volume
+containing three manuscript dramas of Queen Elizabeth's time, and on
+a fly-leaf is a list of fifty-eight plays, with this note at the foot,
+in the handwriting of the well-known antiquary, Warburton:
+
+
+"After I had been many years collecting these Manuscript Playes,
+through my own carelessness and the ignorance of my servant,
+they was unluckely burned or put under pye bottoms."
+
+
+Some of these "Playes" are preserved in print, but others are quite
+unknown and perished for ever when used as "pye-bottoms."
+
+Mr. W. B. Rye, late Keeper of the Printed Books at our great
+National Library, thus writes:--
+
+
+"On the subject of ignorance you should some day, when at the
+British Museum, look at Lydgate's translation of Boccaccio's `Fall
+of Princes,' printed by Pynson in 1494.  It is `liber rarissimus.'
+This copy when perfect had been very fine and quite uncut.
+On one fine summer afternoon in 1874 it was brought to me by a
+tradesman living at Lamberhurst.  Many of the leaves had been cut
+into squares, and the whole had been rescued from a tobacconist's shop,
+where the pieces were being used to wrap up tobacco and snuff.
+The owner wanted to buy a new silk gown for his wife, and was delighted
+with three guineas for this purpose.  You will notice how cleverly the
+British Museum binder has joined the leaves, making it, although still
+imperfect, a fine book."
+
+
+Referring to the carelessness exhibited by some custodians
+of Parish Registers,
+
+Mr. Noble, who has had great experience in such matters, writes:--
+
+
+"A few months ago I wanted a search made of the time of Charles I in
+one of the most interesting registers in a large town (which shall be
+nameless) in England.  I wrote to the custodian of it, and asked him
+kindly to do the search for me, and if he was unable to read the names
+to get some one who understood the writing of that date to decipher the
+entries for me.  I did not have a reply for a fortnight, but one morning
+the postman brought me a very large unregistered book-packet, which I
+found to be the original Parish Registers!  He, however, addressed a note
+with it stating that he thought it best to send me the document itself to
+look at, and begged me to be good enough to return the Register to him as
+soon as done with.  He evidently wished to serve me--his ignorance of
+responsibility without doubt proving his kindly disposition, and on that
+account alone I forbear to name him; but I can assure you I was heartily
+glad to have a letter from him in due time announcing that the precious
+documents were once more locked up in the parish chest.  Certainly, I
+think such as he to be `Enemies of books.'  Don't you?"
+
+
+Bigotry has also many sins to answer for.  The late M. Muller,
+of Amsterdam, a bookseller of European fame, wrote to me as follows
+a few weeks before his death:--
+
+
+"Of course, we also, in Holland, have many Enemies of books, and if I
+were happy enough to have your spirit and style I would try and write a
+companion volume to yours.  Now I think the best thing I can do is to give
+you somewhat of my experience.  You say that the discovery of printing has
+made the destruction of anybody's books difficult.  At this I am bound to
+say that the Inquisition did succeed most successfully, by burning
+heretical books, in destroying numerous volumes invaluable for their
+wholesome contents.  Indeed, I beg to state to you the amazing fact that
+here in Holland exists an Ultramontane Society called `Old Paper,' which
+is under the sanction of the six Catholic Bishops of the Netherlands, and
+is spread over the whole kingdom. The openly-avowed object of this Society
+is to buy up and to destroy as waste paper all the Protestant and Liberal
+Catholic newspapers, pamphlets and books, the price of which is offered to
+the Pope as `Deniers de St. Pierre.'  Of course, this Society is very
+little known among Protestants, and many have denied even its existence;
+but I have been fortunate enough to obtain a printed circular issued by
+one of the Bishops containing statistics of the astounding mass of paper
+thus collected, producing in one district alone the sum of L1,200 in three
+months.  I need not tell you that this work is strongly promoted by the
+Catholic clergy.  You can have no idea of the difficulty we now have in
+procuring certain books published but 30, 40, or 50 years ago of an
+ephemeral character.  Historical and theological books are very rare;
+novels and poetry of that period are absolutely not to be found; medical
+and law books are more common.  I am bound to say that in no country have
+more books been printed and more destroyed than in Holland.  W. MULLER."
+
+The policy of buying up all objectionable literature seems to me,
+I confess, very short-sighted, and in most cases would lead to a greatly
+increased reprint; it certainly would in these latitudes.
+
+From the Church of Rome to the Church of England is no great leap,
+and Mr. Smith, the Brighton bookseller, gives evidence thus:--
+
+
+"It may be worth your while to note that the clergy of the last two
+centuries ought to be included in your list (of Biblioclasts). I
+have had painful experience of the fact in the following manner.
+Numbers of volumes in their libraries have had a few leaves removed,
+and in many others whole sections torn out.  I suppose it served
+their purpose thus to use the wisdom of greater men and that they thus
+economised their own time by tearing out portions to suit their purpose.
+The hardship to the trade is this:  their books are purchased in good
+faith as perfect, and when resold the buyer is quick to claim damage
+if found defective, while the seller has no redress."
+
+
+Among the careless destroyers of books still at work should be
+classed Government officials.  Cart-loads of interesting documents,
+bound and unbound, have been sold at various times as waste-paper,[1]
+when modern red-tape thought them but rubbish.  Some of them have been
+rescued and resold at high prices, but some have been lost for ever.
+
+
+[1] Nell Gwyn's private Housekeeping Book was among them,
+containing most curious particulars of what was necessary in
+the time of Charles I for a princely household.  Fortunately it
+was among the rescued, and is now in a private library.
+
+
+In 1854 a very interesting series of blue books was commenced
+by the authorities of the Patent Office, of course paid for out
+of the national purse.  Beginning with the year 1617 the particulars
+of every important patent were printed from the original specifications
+and fac-simile drawings made, where necessary, for the elucidation
+of the text.  A very moderate price was charged for each,
+only indeed the prime cost of production.  The general public,
+of course, cared little for such literature, but those interested
+in the origin and progress of any particular art, cared much,
+and many sets of Patents were purchased by those engaged in research.
+But the great bulk of the stock was, to some extent, inconvenient,
+and so when a removal to other offices, in 1879, became necessary,
+the question arose as to what could be done with them.  These blue-books,
+which had cost the nation many thousands of pounds, were positively sold
+to the paper mills as wastepaper, and nearly 100 tons weight were carted
+away at about L3 per ton.  It is difficult to believe, although
+positively true, that so great an act of vandalism could have been
+perpetrated, even in a Government office.  It is true that no demand
+existed for some of them, but it is equally true that in numerous cases,
+especially in the early specifications of the steam engine and
+printing machine, the want of them has caused great disappointment.
+To add a climax to the story, many of the "pulped" specifications
+have had to be reprinted more than once since their destruction.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE BOOKWORM.
+
+ THERE is a sort of busy worm
+ That will the fairest books deform,
+     By gnawing holes throughout them;
+ Alike, through every leaf they go,
+ Yet of its merits naught they know,
+     Nor care they aught about them.
+
+ Their tasteless tooth will tear and taint
+ The Poet, Patriot, Sage or Saint,
+     Not sparing wit nor learning.
+ Now, if you'd know the reason why,
+ The best of reasons I'll supply;
+     'Tis bread to the poor vermin.
+
+ Of pepper, snuff, or 'bacca smoke,
+ And Russia-calf they make a joke.
+     Yet, why should sons of science
+ These puny rankling reptiles dread?
+ 'Tis but to let their books be read,
+     And bid the worms defiance."
+                         J. DORASTON.
+
+A most destructive Enemy of books has been the bookworm.
+I say "has been," because, fortunately, his ravages in all civilised
+countries have been greatly restricted during the last fifty years.
+This is due partly to the increased reverence for antiquity which has
+been universally developed--more still to the feeling of cupidity,
+which has caused all owners to take care of volumes which year
+by year have become more valuable--and, to some considerable extent,
+to the falling off in the production of edible books.
+
+The monks, who were the chief makers as well as the custodians of books,
+through the long ages we call "dark," because so little is known of them,
+had no fear of the bookworm before their eyes, for, ravenous as he is
+and was, he loves not parchment, and at that time paper was not.
+Whether at a still earlier period he attacked the papyrus, the paper of
+the Egyptians, I know not--probably he did, as it was a purely vegetable
+substance; and if so, it is quite possible that the worm of to-day,
+in such evil repute with us, is the lineal descendant of ravenous ancestors
+who plagued the sacred Priests of On in the time of Joseph's Pharaoh,
+by destroying their title deeds and their books of Science.
+
+Rare things and precious, as manuscripts were before the invention
+of typography, are well preserved, but when the printing press was
+invented and paper books were multiplied in the earth; when libraries
+increased and readers were many, then familiarity bred contempt; books
+were packed in out-of-the-way places and neglected, and the oft-quoted,
+though seldom seen, bookworm became an acknowledged tenant of the library,
+and the mortal enemy of the bibliophile.
+
+Anathemas have been hurled against this pest in nearly every
+European language, old and new, and classical scholars of bye-gone
+centuries have thrown their spondees and dactyls at him.
+Pierre Petit, in 1683, devoted a long Latin poem to his
+dis-praise, and Parnell's charming Ode is well known.
+Hear the poet lament:--
+
+ "Pene tu mihi passerem Catulli,
+ Pene tu mihi Lesbiam abstulisti."
+
+and then--
+
+ "Quid dicam innumeros bene eruditos
+ Quorum tu monumenta tu labores
+     Isti pessimo ventre devorasti?"
+
+while Petit, who was evidently moved by strong personal feelings against
+the "invisum pecus," as he calls him, addresses his little enemy as
+"Bestia audax" and "Pestis chartarum."
+
+But, as a portrait commonly precedes a biography, the curious reader may
+wish to be told what this "Bestia audax," who so greatly ruffles the
+tempers of our eclectics, is like.
+Here, at starting, is a serious chameleon-like difficulty,
+for the bookworm offers to us, if we are guided by their words,
+as many varieties of size and shape as there are beholders.
+
+Sylvester, in his "Laws of Verse," with more words than wit, described
+him as "a microscopic creature wriggling on the learned page, which,
+when discovered, stiffens out into the resemblance of a streak of dirt."
+
+The earliest notice is in "Micrographia," by R. Hooke, folio, London, 1665.
+This work, which was printed at the expense of the Royal Society of London,
+is an account of innumerable things examined by the author under
+the microscope, and is most interesting for the frequent accuracy of the
+author's observations, and most amusing for his equally frequent blunders.
+
+In his account of the bookworm, his remarks, which are
+rather long and very minute, are absurdly blundering.
+He calls it "a small white Silver-shining Worm or Moth, which I
+found much conversant among books and papers, and is supposed to be
+that which corrodes and eats holes thro' the leaves and covers.
+Its head appears bigg and blunt, and its body tapers from it
+towards the tail, smaller and smaller, being shap'd almost like a
+carret. . . . It has two long horns before, which are streight,
+and tapering towards the top, curiously ring'd or knobb'd and
+brisled much like the marsh weed called Horses tail. . . . The
+hinder part is terminated with three tails, in every particular
+resembling the two longer horns that grow out of the head.
+The legs are scal'd and hair'd. This animal probably feeds upon
+the paper and covers of books, and perforates in them several
+small round holes, finding perhaps a convenient nourishment
+in those husks of hemp and flax, which have passed through so
+many scourings, washings, dressings, and dryings as the parts
+of old paper necessarily have suffer'd. And, indeed, when I
+consider what a heap of sawdust or chips this little creature
+(which is one of the teeth of Time) conveys into its intrals,
+I cannot chuse but remember and admire the excellent contrivance
+of Nature in placing in animals such a fire, as is continually
+nourished and supply'd by the materials convey'd into the stomach
+and fomented by the bellows of the lungs."  The picture or "image,"
+which accompanies this description, is wonderful to behold.
+Certainly R. Hooke, Fellow of the Royal Society, drew somewhat
+upon his imagination here, having apparently evolved both
+engraving and description from his inner consciousness.[1]
+
+
+[1] Not so!  Several correspondents have drawn my attention to
+the fact that Hooke is evidently describing the "Lepisma," which,
+if not positively injurious, is often found in the warm
+places of old houses, especially if a little damp.
+He mistook this for the Bookworm.
+
+
+Entomologists even do not appear to have paid much attention
+to the natural history of the "Worm."  Kirby, speaking of it,
+says, "the larvae of Crambus pinguinalis spins a robe which it
+covers with its own excrement, and does no little injury."
+Again, "I have often observed the caterpillar of a little moth
+that takes its station in damp old books, and there commits
+great ravages, and many a black-letter rarity, which in these days
+of bibliomania would have been valued at its weight in gold,
+has been snatched by these devastators," etc., etc.
+
+As already quoted, Doraston's description is very vague.
+To him he is in one verse "a sort of busy worm," and in another "a
+puny rankling reptile."  Hannett, in his work on book-binding,
+gives "Aglossa pinguinalis" as the real name, and Mrs. Gatty,
+in her Parables, christens it "Hypothenemus cruditus."
+
+The, Rev. F. T. Havergal, who many years ago had much trouble with
+bookworms in the Cathedral Library of Hereford, says they are a kind of
+death-watch, with a "hard outer skin, and are dark brown," another sort
+"having white bodies with brown spots on their heads."  Mr. Holme, in
+"Notes and Queries" for 1870, states that the "Anobium paniceum" has done
+considerable injury to the Arabic manuscripts brought from Cairo, by
+Burckhardt, and now in the University Library, Cambridge.  Other writers
+say "Acarus eruditus" or "Anobium pertinax" are the correct scientific
+names.
+
+Personally, I have come across but few specimens; nevertheless, from what
+I have been told by librarians, and judging from analogy, I imagine
+the following to be about the truth:--
+
+There are several kinds of caterpillar and grub, which eat into books,
+those with legs are the larvae of moths; those without legs, or rather
+with rudimentary legs, are grubs and turn to beetles.
+
+It is not known whether any species of caterpillar or grub can live
+generation after generation upon books alone, but several sorts of
+wood-borers, and others which live upon vegetable refuse, will attack
+paper, especially if attracted in the first place by the real wooden
+boards in which it was the custom of the old book-binders to clothe
+their volumes.  In this belief, some country librarians object to opening
+the library windows lest the enemy should fly in from the neighbouring
+woods, and rear a brood of worms.  Anyone, indeed, who has seen a hole
+in a filbert, or a piece of wood riddled by dry rot, will recognize a
+similarity of appearance in the channels made by these insect enemies.
+
+Among the paper-eating species are:--
+
+1.  The "Anobium."  Of this beetle there are varieties, viz.:
+"A. pertinax," "A. eruditus," and "A. paniceum."  In the larval
+state they are grubs, just like those found, in nuts; in this stage
+they are too much alike to be distinguished from one another.
+They feed on old dry wood, and often infest bookcases and shelves.
+They eat the wooden boards of old books, and so pass into the paper
+where they make long holes quite round, except when they work
+in a slanting direction, when the holes appear to be oblong.
+They will thus pierce through several volumes in succession,
+Peignot, the well-known bibliographer, having found 27 volumes
+so pierced in a straight line by one worm, a miracle of gluttony,
+the story of which, for myself, I receive "_cum grano salis_."
+After a certain time the larva changes into a pupa, and then
+emerges as a small brown beetle.
+
+2.  "Oecophora."--This larva is similar in size to that of Anobium,
+but can be distinguished at once by having legs.  It is a caterpillar,
+with six legs upon its thorax and eight sucker-like protuberances
+on its body, like a silk-worm. It changes into a chrysalis,
+and then assumes its perfect shape as a small brown moth.
+The species that attacks books is the OEcophora pseudospretella.
+It loves damp and warmth, and eats any fibrous material.
+This caterpillar is quite unlike any garden species, and, excepting
+the legs, is very similar in appearance and size to the Anobium.  It is
+about half-inch long, with a horny head and strong jaws.
+To printers' ink or writing ink he appears to have no great dislike,
+though I imagine that the former often disagrees with his health,
+unless he is very robust, as in books where the print is pierced
+a majority of the worm-holes I have seen are too short in extent
+to have provided food enough for the development of the grub.
+But, although the ink may be unwholesome, many grubs survive,
+and, eating day and night in silence and darkness, work out their
+destiny leaving, according to the strength of their constitutions,
+a longer or shorter tunnel in the volume.
+
+In December, 1879, Mr. Birdsall, a well-known book-binder of Northampton,
+kindly sent me by post a fat little Worm, which had been found by one of
+his workmen in an old book while being bound.  He bore his journey
+extremely well, being very lively when turned out.  I placed him in a
+box in warmth and quiet, with some small fragments of paper from a
+Boethius, printed by Caxton, and a leaf of a seventeenth century book.
+He ate a small piece of the leaf, but either from too much fresh air, from
+unaccustomed liberty, or from change of food, he gradually weakened, and
+died in about three weeks.  I was sorry to lose him, as I wished to verify
+his name in his perfect state.  Mr. Waterhouse, of the Entomological
+department of the British Museum, very kindly examined him before death,
+and was of opinion he was OEcophora pseudospretella.
+
+In July, 1885, Dr. Garnett, of the British Museum, gave me two worms
+which had been found in an old Hebrew Commentary just received from Athens.
+They had doubtless had a good shaking on the journey, and one was moribund
+when I took charge, and joined his defunct kindred in a few days.
+The other seemed hearty and lived with me for nearly eighteen months.
+I treated him as well as I knew how; placed him in a small box with the
+choice of three sorts of old paper to eat, and very seldom disturbed him.
+He evidently resented his confinement, ate very little, moved very little,
+and changed in appearance very little, even when dead.  This Greek worm,
+filled with Hebrew lore, differed in many respects from any other I
+have seen.  He was longer, thinner, and more delicate looking than any
+of his English congeners.  He was transparent, like thin ivory, and had
+a dark line through his body, which I took to be the intestinal canal. He
+resigned his life with extreme procrastination, and died "deeply lamented"
+by his keeper, who had long looked forward to his final development.
+
+The difficulty of breeding these worms is probably due to their formation.
+When in a state of nature they can by expansion and contraction of
+the body working upon the sides of their holes, push their horny jaws
+against the opposing mass of paper.  But when freed from the restraint,
+which indeed to them is life, they CANNOT eat although surrounded
+with food, for they have no legs to keep them steady, and their natural,
+leverage is wanting.
+
+Considering the numerous old books contained in the British Museum,
+the Library there is wonderfully free from the worm.
+Mr. Rye, lately the Keeper of the Printed Books there,
+writes me "Two or three were discovered in my time, but they
+were weakly creatures.  One, I remember, was conveyed into
+the Natural History Department, and was taken into custody
+by Mr. Adam White who pronounced it to be Anobium pertinax.
+I never heard of it after."
+
+The reader, who has not had an opportunity of examining old libraries,
+can have no idea of the dreadful havoc which these pests are
+capable of making.
+
+I have now before me a fine folio volume, printed on very good
+unbleached paper, as thick as stout cartridge, in the year 1477,
+by Peter Schoeffer, of Mentz.  Unfortunately, after a period
+of neglect in which it suffered severely from the "worm," it
+was about fifty years ago considered worth a new cover, and so
+again suffered severely, this time at the hands of the binder.
+Thus the original state of the boards is unknown, but the damage
+done to the leaves can be accurately described.
+
+The "worms" have attacked each end.  On the first leaf are 212
+distinct holes, varying in size from a common pin hole to that which
+a stout knitting-needle would make, say, <1/16> to <1/23> inch.
+These holes run mostly in lines more or less at right angles with
+the covers, a very few being channels along the paper affecting
+three or four sheets only.  The varied energy of these little pests
+is thus represented:--
+
+    On folio 1 are 212 holes.  On folio 61 are 4 holes.
+        "   11  "   57   "         "    71  "  2   "
+        "   21  "   48   "         "    81  "  2   "
+        "   31  "   31   "         "    87  "  1   "
+        "   41  "   18   "         "    90  "  0   "
+        "   51  "    6   "
+
+
+These 90 leaves being stout, are about the thickness of 1 inch.
+The volume has 250 leaves, and turning to the end, we find on the last
+leaf 81 holes, made by a breed of worms not so ravenous.  Thus,
+
+      From end                |         From end.
+ On folio 1 are 81 holes.     |    On folio 66 is 1 hole.
+     "   11 "   40   "        |         "   69   "   0   "
+
+
+It is curious to notice how the holes, rapidly at first, and then slowly
+and more slowly, disappear.  You trace the same hole leaf after leaf,
+until suddenly the size becomes in one leaf reduced to half its normal
+diameter, and a close examination will show a small abrasion of the paper
+in the next leaf exactly where the hole would have come if continued.
+In the book quoted it is just as if there had been a race.  In the first
+ten leaves the weak worms are left behind; in the second ten there are
+still forty-eight eaters; these are reduced to thirty-one in the third
+ten, and to only eighteen in the fourth ten.  On folio 51 only six worms
+hold on, and before folio 61 two of them have given in.  Before reaching
+folio 7, it is a neck and neck race between two sturdy gourmands,
+each making a fine large hole, one of them being oval in shape.
+At folio 71 they are still neck and neck, and at folio 81 the same.
+At folio 87 the oval worm gives in, the round one eating
+three more leaves and part way through the fourth.
+The leaves of the book are then untouched until we reach
+the sixty-ninth from the end, upon which is one worm hole.
+After this they go on multiplying to the end of the book.
+
+I have quoted this instance because I have it handy, but many worms
+eat much longer holes than any in this volume; some I have seen
+running quite through a couple of thick volumes, covers and all.
+In the "Schoeffer" book the holes are probably the work of Anobium
+pertinax, because the centre is spared and both ends attacked.
+Originally, real wooden boards were the covers of the volume,
+and here, doubtless, the attack was commenced, which was carried
+through each board into the paper of the book.
+
+I remember well my first visit to the Bodleian Library,
+in the year 1858, Dr. Bandinel being then the librarian.
+He was very kind, and afforded me every facility for examining
+the fine collection of "Caxtons," which was the object of my journey.
+In looking over a parcel of black-letter fragments, which had been
+in a drawer for a long time, I came across a small grub, which,
+without a thought, I threw on the floor and trod under foot.
+Soon after I found another, a fat, glossy fellow, so long ---,
+which I carefully preserved in a little paper box, intending to
+observe his habits and development.  Seeing Dr. Bandinel near,
+I asked him to look at my curiosity.  Hardly, however, had I turned
+the wriggling little victim out upon the leather-covered table,
+when down came the doctor's great thumb-nail upon him,
+and an inch-long smear proved the tomb of all my hopes,
+while the great bibliographer, wiping his thumb on his coat sleeve,
+passed on with the remark, "Oh, yes! they have black heads sometimes."
+That was something to know--another fact for the entomologist;
+for my little gentleman had a hard, shiny, white head,
+and I never heard of a black-headed bookworm before or since.
+Perhaps the great abundance of black-letter books in the Bodleian
+may account for the variety.  At any rate he was an Anobium.
+
+I have been unmercifully "chaffed" for the absurd idea that a paper-eating
+worm could be kept a prisoner in a paper box.  Oh, these critics!
+Your bookworm is a shy, lazy beast, and takes a day or two to recover
+his appetite after being "evicted."  Moreover, he knew his own dignity
+better than to eat the "loaded" glazed shoddy note paper in which
+he was incarcerated.
+
+In the case of Caxton's "Lyf of oure ladye," already referred to,
+not only are there numerous small holes, but some very large channels
+at the bottom of the pages.  This is a most unusual occurrence,
+and is probably the work of the larva of "Dermestes vulpinus,"
+a garden beetle, which is very voracious, and eats any kind
+of dry ligneous rubbish.
+
+The scarcity of edible books of the present century has been mentioned.
+One result of the extensive adulteration of modern paper is that the worm
+will not touch it.  His instinct forbids him to eat the china clay,
+the bleaches, the plaster of Paris, the sulphate of barytes, the scores
+of adulterants now used to mix with the fibre, and, so far, the wise pages
+of the old literature are, in the race against Time with the modern
+rubbish, heavily handicapped.  Thanks to the general interest taken in old
+books now-a-days, the worm has hard times of it, and but slight chance
+of that quiet neglect which is necessary to his, existence.  So much
+greater is the reason why some patient entomologist should, while there
+is the chance, take upon himself to study the habits of the creature,
+as Sir John Lubbock has those of the ant.
+
+I have now before me some leaves of a book, which, being waste,
+were used by our economical first printer, Caxton, to make boards,
+by pasting them together.  Whether the old paste was an attraction,
+or whatever the reason may have been, the worm, when he got in there,
+did not, as usual, eat straight through everything into the middle
+of the book, but worked his way longitudinally, eating great furrows
+along the leaves without passing out of the binding; and so furrowed
+are these few leaves by long channels that it is difficult to raise
+one of them without its falling to pieces.
+
+This is bad enough, but we may be very thankful that in these temperate
+climes we have no such enemies as are found in very hot countries,
+where a whole library, books, bookshelves, table, chairs, and all,
+may be destroyed in one night by a countless army of ants.
+
+Our cousins in the United States, so fortunate in many things,
+seem very fortunate in this--their books are not attacked
+by the "worm"--at any rate, American writers say so.
+True it is that all their black-letter comes from Europe, and,
+having cost many dollars, is well looked after; but there they
+have thousands of seventeenth and eighteenth century books,
+in Roman type, printed in the States on genuine and wholesome paper,
+and the worm is not particular, at least in this country,
+about the type he eats through, if the paper is good.
+
+Probably, therefore, the custodians of their old libraries could tell
+a different tale, which makes it all the more amusing to find in the
+excellent "Encyclopaedia of Printing,"[1] edited and printed by Ringwalt,
+at Philadelphia, not only that the bookworm is a stranger there,
+for personally he is unknown to most of us, but that his slightest
+ravages are looked upon as both curious and rare.  After quoting Dibdin,
+with the addition of a few flights of imagination of his own,
+Ringwalt states that this "paper-eating moth is supposed to have been
+introduced into England in hogsleather binding from Holland."  He then
+ends with what, to anyone who has seen the ravages of the worm in hundreds
+of books, must be charming in its native simplicity.  "There is now,"
+he states, evidently quoting it as a great curiosity, "there is now,
+in a private library in Philadelphia, a book perforated by this insect."
+Oh! lucky Philadelphians! who can boast of possessing the oldest library
+in the States, but must ask leave of a private collector if they wish
+to see the one wormhole in the whole city!
+
+
+[1] "American Encyclopaedia of Printing": by Luther Ringwalt.
+8vo.  Philadelphia, 1871.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+OTHER VERMIN.
+
+BESIDES the worm I do not think there is any insect enemy of books
+worth description.  The domestic black-beetle, or cockroach,
+is far too modern an introduction to our country to have done
+much harm, though he will sometimes nibble the binding of books,
+especially if they rest upon the floor.
+
+Not so fortunate, however, are our American cousins, for in
+the "Library Journal" for September, 1879, Mr. Weston Flint
+gives an account of a dreadful little pest which commits
+great havoc upon the cloth bindings of the New York libraries.
+It is a small black-beetle or cockroach, called by scientists
+"Blatta germanica" and by others the "Croton Bug."  Unlike our
+household pest, whose home is the kitchen, and whose bashfulness
+loves secrecy and the dark hours, this misgrown flat species,
+of which it would take two to make a medium-sized English
+specimen, has gained in impudence what it has lost in size,
+fearing neither light nor noise, neither man nor beast.
+In the old English Bible of 1551, we read in Psalm xci, 5,
+"Thou shalt not nede to be afraied for eny Bugges by night."
+This verse falls unheeded on the ear of the Western librarian
+who fears his "bugs" both night and day, for they crawl over
+everything in broad sunlight, infesting and infecting each corner
+and cranny of the bookshelves they choose as their home.
+There is a remedy in the powder known as insecticide, which,
+however, is very disagreeable upon books and shelves.
+It is, nevertheless, very fatal to these pests, and affords
+some consolation in the fact that so soon as a "bug" shows
+any signs of illness, he is devoured at once by his voracious
+brethren with the same relish as if he were made of fresh paste.
+
+There is, too, a small silvery insect (Lepisma) which I have
+often seen in the backs of neglected books, but his ravages
+are not of much importance.
+
+Nor can we reckon the Codfish as very dangerous to literature, unless,
+indeed, he be of the Roman obedience, like that wonderful
+Ichthiobibliophage (pardon me, Professor Owen) who, in the year 1626,
+swallowed three Puritanical treatises of John Frith, the Protestant
+martyr.  No wonder, after such a meal, he was soon caught, and became
+famous in the annals of literature. The following is the title of a
+little book issued upon the occasion: "Vox Piscis, or the Book-Fish
+containing Three Treatises, which were found in the belly of a Cod-Fish
+in Cambridge Market on Midsummer Eve, AD 1626."  Lowndes says (see
+under "Tracey,") "great was the consternation at Cambridge upon the
+publication of this work."
+
+Rats and mice, however, are occasionally very destructive,
+as the following anecdote will show:  Two centuries ago, the library
+of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster was kept in the Chapter House,
+and repairs having become necessary in that building, a scaffolding
+was erected inside, the books being left on their shelves.
+One of the holes made in the wall for a scaffold-pole was
+selected by a pair of rats for their family residence.
+Here they formed a nest for their young ones by descending to
+the library shelves and biting away the leaves of various books.
+Snug and comfortable was the little household, until, one day,
+the builder's men having finished, the poles were removed, and--
+alas! for the rats--the hole was closed up with bricks and cement.
+Buried alive, the father and mother, with five or six of their
+offspring, met with a speedy death, and not until a few years ago,
+when a restoration of the Chapter House was effected, was the rat
+grave opened again for a scaffold pole, and all their skeletons
+and their nest discovered.  Their bones and paper fragments
+of the nest may now be seen in a glass case in the Chapter House,
+some of the fragments being attributed to books from the press
+of Caxton.  This is not the case, although there are pieces of very
+early black-letter books not now to be found in the Abbey library,
+including little bits of the famous Queen Elizabeth's Prayer book,
+with woodcuts, 1568.
+
+A friend sends me the following incident:  "A few years since,
+some rats made nests in the trees surrounding my house;
+from thence they jumped on to some flat roofing, and so made
+their way down a chimney into a room where I kept books.
+A number of these, with parchment backs, they entirely destroyed,
+as well as some half-dozen books whole bound in parchment."
+
+Another friend informs me that in the Natural History Museum of the
+Devon and Exeter Institution is a specimen of "another little pest,
+which has a great affection for bindings in calf and roan.
+Its scientific name is Niptus Hololeucos."  He adds, "Are you aware
+that there was a terrible creature allied to these, rejoicing in
+the name of Tomicus Typographus, which committed sad ravages in Germany
+in the seventeenth century, and in the old liturgies of that country
+is formally mentioned under its vulgar name, `The Turk'?" (See Kirby
+and Spence, Seventh Edition, 1858, p. 123.) This is curious,
+and I did not know it, although I know well that Typographus Tomicus,
+or the "cutting printer," is a sad enemy of (good) books.
+Upon this part of our subject, however, I am debarred entering.
+
+The following is from W. J. Westbrook, Mus. Doe., Cantab., and represents
+ravages with which I am personally unacquainted:
+
+
+"Dear Blades,--I send you an example of the `enemy'-mosity of an
+ordinary housefly.  It hid behind the paper, emitted some caustic
+fluid, and then departed this life.  I have often caught them in
+such holes.'  30/12/83."   The damage is an oblong hole, surrounded
+by a white fluffy glaze (fungoid?), difficult to represent in a woodcut.
+The size here given is exact.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+BOOKBINDERS.
+
+IN the first chapter I mentioned bookbinders among the Enemies
+of Books, and I tremble to think what a stinging retort might be made
+if some irate bibliopegist were to turn the scales on the printer,
+and place HIM in the same category.  On the sins of printers,
+and the unnatural neglect which has often shortened the lives
+of their typographical progeny, it is not for me to dilate.
+There is an old proverb, " 'Tis an ill bird that befouls its
+own nest"; a curious chapter thereupon, with many modern examples,
+might nevertheless be written.  This I will leave, and will now
+only place on record some of the cruelties perpetrated upon books
+by the ignorance or carelessness of binders.
+
+Like men, books have a soul and body.  With the soul, or literary portion,
+we have nothing to do at present; the body, which is the outer
+frame or covering, and without which the inner would be unusable,
+is the special work of the binder.  He, so to speak, begets it;
+he determines its form and adornment, he doctors it in disease
+and decay, and, not unseldom, dissects it after death.
+Here, too, as through all Nature, we find the good and bad running
+side by side.  What a treat it is to handle a well-bound volume;
+the leaves lie open fully and freely, as if tempting you to read on,
+and you handle them without fear of their parting from the back.
+To look at the "tooling," too, is a pleasure, for careful thought,
+combined with artistic skill, is everywhere apparent.  You open
+the cover and find the same loving attention inside that has been
+given to the outside, all the workmanship being true and thorough.
+Indeed, so conservative is a good binding, that many a worthless
+book has had an honoured old age, simply out of respect to its
+outward aspect; and many a real treasure has come to a degraded end
+and premature death through the unsightliness of its outward case
+and the irreparable damage done to it in binding.
+
+The weapon with which the binder deals the most deadly blows to books
+is the "plough," the effect of which is to cut away the margins,
+placing the print in a false position relatively to the back and head,
+and often denuding the work of portions of the very text.
+This reduction in size not seldom brings down a handsome folio
+to the size of quarto, and a quarto to an octavo.
+
+With the old hand plough a binder required more care and caution
+to produce an even edge throughout than with the new cutting machine.
+If a careless workman found that he had not ploughed the margin quite
+square with the text, he would put it in his press and take off "another
+shaving," and sometimes even a third.
+
+Dante, in his "Inferno," deals out to the lost souls various tortures
+suited with dramatic fitness to the past crimes of the victims,
+and had I to execute judgment on the criminal binders of certain
+precious volumes I have seen, where the untouched maiden sheets
+entrusted to their care have, by barbarous treatment, lost dignity,
+beauty and value, I would collect the paper shavings so ruthlessly shorn
+off, and roast the perpetrator of the outrage over their slow combustion.
+In olden times, before men had learned to value the relics of our printers,
+there was some excuse for the sins of a binder who erred from ignorance
+which was general; but in these times, when the historical and antiquarian
+value of old books is freely acknowledged, no quarter should be granted
+to a careless culprit.
+
+It may be supposed that, from the spread of information,
+all real danger from ignorance is past.  Not so, good reader;
+that is a consummation as yet "devoutly to be wished."
+Let me relate to you a true bibliographical anecdote:
+In 1877, a certain lord, who had succeeded to a fine collection
+of old books, promised to send some of the most valuable
+(among which were several Caxtons) to the Exhibition at
+South Kensington.  Thinking their outward appearance too shabby,
+and not knowing the danger of his conduct, he decided
+to have them rebound in the neighbouring county town.
+The volumes were soon returned in a resplendent state, and,
+it is said, quite to the satisfaction of his lordship,
+whose pleasure, however, was sadly damped when a friend
+pointed out to him that, although the discoloured edges had
+all been ploughed off, and the time-stained blanks, with their
+fifteenth century autographs, had been replaced by nice clean
+fly-leaves, yet, looking at the result in its lowest aspect only--
+that of market value--the books had been damaged to at least
+the amount of L500; and, moreover, that caustic remarks
+would most certainly follow upon their public exhibition.
+Those poor injured volumes were never sent.
+
+Some years ago one of the most rare books printed by Machlinia--
+a thin folio--was discovered bound in sheep by a country bookbinder,
+and cut down to suit the size of some quarto tracts.
+But do not let us suppose that country binders are the only culprits.
+It is not very long since the discovery of a unique Caxton
+in one of our largest London libraries.  It was in boards,
+as originally issued by the fifteenth-century binder, and a
+great fuss (very properly) was made over the treasure trove.
+Of course, cries the reader, it was kept in its original covers,
+with all the interesting associations of its early state untouched?
+No such thing!  Instead of making a suitable case, in which it
+could be preserved just as it was, it was placed in the hands of a
+well-known London binder, with the order, "Whole bind in velvet."
+He did his best, and the volume now glows luxuriously in its
+gilt edges and its inappropriate covering, and, alas! with
+half-an-inch of its uncut margin taken off all round.
+How do I know that? because the clever binder, seeing some MS.
+remarks on one of the margins, turned the leaf down to avoid
+cutting them off, and that stern witness will always testify,
+to the observant reader, the original size of the book.
+This same binder, on another occasion, placed a unique
+fifteenth century Indulgence in warm water, to separate
+it from the cover upon which it was pasted, the result
+being that, when dry, it was so distorted as to be useless.
+That man soon after passed to another world, where, we may hope,
+his works have not followed him, and that his merits as a
+good citizen and an honest man counterbalanced his de-merits
+as a binder.
+
+Other similar instances will occur to the memory of many a reader,
+and doubtless the same sin will be committed from time to time
+by certain binders, who seem to have an ingrained antipathy to rough
+edges and large margins, which of course are, in their view,
+made by Nature as food for the shaving tub.
+
+De Rome, a celebrated bookbinder of the eighteenth century,
+who was nicknamed by Dibdin "The Great Cropper," was, although in
+private life an estimable man, much addicted to the vice of reducing
+the margins of all books sent to him to bind.  So far did he go,
+that he even spared not a fine copy of Froissart's Chronicles,
+on vellum, in which was the autograph of the well-known book-lover,
+De Thou, but cropped it most cruelly.
+
+Owners, too, have occasionally diseased minds with regard to margins.
+A friend writes:  "Your amusing anecdotes have brought to my memory
+several biblioclasts whom I have known.  One roughly cut the margins off
+his books with a knife, hacking away very much like a hedger and ditcher.
+Large paper volumes were his especial delight, as they gave more paper.
+The slips thus obtained were used for index-making! Another, with the bump
+of order unnaturally developed, had his folios and quartos all reduced,
+in binding, to one size, so that they might look even on his bookshelves."
+
+This latter was, doubtless, cousin to him who deliberately cut
+down all his books close to the text, because he had been several
+times annoyed by readers who made marginal notes.
+
+The indignities, too, suffered by some books in their lettering!
+Fancy an early black-letter fifteenth-century quarto on Knighthood,
+labelled "Tracts"; or a translation of Virgil, "Sermons"! The "Histories
+of Troy," printed by Caxton, still exists with "Eracles" on
+the back, as its title, because that name occurs several times
+in the early chapters, and the binder was too proud to seek advice.
+The words "Miscellaneous," or "Old Pieces," were sometimes used
+when binders were at a loss for lettering, and many other instances
+might be mentioned.
+
+The rapid spread of printing throughout Europe in the latter part
+of the fifteenth century caused a great fall in the value of plain
+un-illuminated MSS., and the immediate consequence of this was the
+destruction of numerous volumes written upon parchment, which were used
+by the binders to strengthen the backs of their newly-printed rivals.
+These slips of vellum or parchment are quite common in old books.
+Sometimes whole sheets are used as fly-leaves, and often reveal
+the existence of most valuable works, unknown before--proving, at
+the same time, the small value formerly attached to them.
+
+Many a bibliographer, while examining old books, has to his great
+puzzlement come across short slips of parchment, nearly always from some
+old manuscript, sticking out like "guards" from the midst of the leaves.
+These suggest, at first, imperfections or damage done to the volume;
+but if examined closely it will be found that they are always in
+the middle of a paper section, and the real reason of their existence
+is just the same as when two leaves of parchment occur here and there
+in a paper volume, viz.: strength--strength to resist the lug
+which the strong thread makes against the middle of each section.
+These slips represent old books destroyed, and like the slips
+already noticed, should always be carefully examined.
+
+When valuable books have been evil-entreated, when they have become
+soiled by dirty hands, or spoiled by water stains, or injured
+by grease spots, nothing is more astonishing to the uninitiated than
+the transformation they undergo in the hands of a skilful restorer.
+The covers are first carefully dissected, the eye of the operator
+keeping a careful outlook for any fragments of old MSS.
+or early printed books, which may have been used by the original binder.
+No force should be applied to separate parts which adhere together;
+a little warm water and care is sure to overcome that difficulty.
+When all the sections are loose, the separate sheets are placed
+singly in a bath of cold water, and allowed to remain there until
+all the dirt has soaked out.  If not sufficiently purified,
+a little hydrochloric or oxalic acid, or caustic potash may be put
+in the water, according as the stains are from grease or from ink.
+Here is where an unpractised binder will probably injure a book for life.
+If the chemicals are too strong, or the sheets remain too long in
+the bath, or are not thoroughly cleansed from the bleach before they
+are re-sized, the certain seeds of decay are planted in the paper,
+and although for a time the leaves may look bright to the eye,
+and even crackle under the hand like the soundest paper,
+yet in the course of a few years the enemy will appear, the fibre
+will decay, and the existence of the books will terminate in a state
+of white tinder.
+
+Everything which diminishes the interest of a book is inimical
+to its preservation, and in fact is its enemy.  Therefore, a few
+words upon the destruction of old bindings.
+
+I remember purchasing many years ago at a suburban book stall,
+a perfect copy of Moxon's Mechanic Exercises, now a scarce work.
+The volumes were uncut, and had the original marble covers.
+They looked so attractive in their old fashioned dress,
+that I at once determined to preserve it.  My binder soon
+made for them a neat wooden box in the shape of a book,
+with morocco back properly lettered, where I trust the originals
+will be preserved from dust and injury for many a long year.
+
+Old covers, whether boards or paper, should always be retained if
+in any state approaching decency.  A case, which can be embellished
+to any extent looks every whit as well upon the shelf! and gives even
+greater protection than binding.  It has also this great advantage:
+it does not deprive your descendants of the opportunity of seeing
+for themselves exactly in what dress the book buyers of four centuries
+ago received their volumes.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+COLLECTORS.
+
+AFTER all, two-legged depredators, who ought to have known better,
+have perhaps done as much real damage in libraries as any other enemy.
+I do not refer to thieves, who, if they injure the owners, do no harm
+to the books themselves by merely transferring them from one set of
+bookshelves to another.  Nor do I refer to certain readers who frequent
+our public libraries, and, to save themselves the trouble of copying,
+will cut out whole articles from magazines or encyclopaedias.
+Such depredations are not frequent, and only occur with books easily
+replaced, and do not therefore call for more than a passing mention;
+but it is a serious matter when Nature produces such a wicked old
+biblioclast as John Bagford, one of the founders of the Society
+of Antiquaries, who, in the beginning of the last century, went about
+the country, from library to library, tearing away title pages from rare
+books of all sizes.  These he sorted out into nationalities and towns,
+and so, with a lot of hand-bills, manuscript notes, and miscellaneous
+collections of all kinds, formed over a hundred folio volumes,
+now preserved in the British Museum.  That they are of service as
+materials in compiling a general history of printing cannot be denied,
+but the destruction of many rare books was the result, and more than
+counter-balanced any benefit bibliographers will ever receive from them.
+When here and there throughout those volumes you meet with titles
+of books now either unknown entirely, or of the greatest rarity;
+when you find the Colophon from the end, or the "insigne typographi"
+from the first leaf of a rare "fifteener," pasted down with dozens of
+others, varying in value, you cannot bless the memory of the antiquarian
+shoemaker, John Bagford.  His portrait, a half-length, painted by Howard,
+was engraved by Vertue, and re-engraved for the Bibliographical Decameron.
+
+A bad example often finds imitators, and every season there crop up
+for public sale one or two such collections, formed by bibliomaniacs,
+who, although calling themselves bibliophiles, ought really to be ranked
+among the worst enemies of books.
+
+The following is copied from a trade catalogue, dated April, 1880, and
+affords a fair idea of the extent to which these heartless destroyers will
+go:--
+
+"MISSAL ILLUMINATIONS.
+
+
+FIFTY DIFFERENT CAPITAL LETTERS _on_ VELLUM; _all in rich Gold
+and Colours.  Many 3 inches square: the floral decorations
+are of great beauty, ranging from the XIIth to XVth century.
+Mounted on stout card-board_. IN NICE PRESERVATION, L6 6_s_.
+
+
+ These beautiful letters have been cut from precious
+     MSS., and as specimens of early art are extremely
+     valuable, many of them being worth 15_s_. each."
+
+
+Mr. Proeme is a man well known to the London dealers in old books.
+He is wealthy, and cares not what he spends to carry out his
+bibliographical craze, which is the collection of title pages.
+These he ruthlessly extracts, frequently leaving the decapitated
+carcase of the books, for which he cares not, behind him.
+Unlike the destroyer Bagford, he has no useful object in view,
+but simply follows a senseless kind of classification.  For instance:
+One set of volumes contains nothing but copper-plate engraved titles,
+and woe betide the grand old Dutch folios of the seventeenth century
+if they cross his path.  Another is a volume of coarse or quaint titles,
+which certainly answer the end of showing how idiotic and conceited
+some authors have been.  Here you find Dr. Sib's "Bowels opened
+in Divers Sermons," 1650, cheek by jowl with the discourse attributed
+falsely to Huntington, the Calvinist, "Die and be damned,"
+with many others too coarse to be quoted.  The odd titles adopted
+for his poems by Taylor, the water-poet, enliven several pages,
+and make one's mouth water for the books themselves.  A third
+volume includes only such titles as have the printer's device.
+If you shut your eyes to the injury done by such collectors, you may,
+to a certain extent, enjoy the collection, for there is great beauty
+in some titles; but such a pursuit is neither useful nor meritorious.
+By and by the end comes, and then dispersion follows collection,
+and the volumes, which probably Cost L200 each in their formation,
+will be knocked down to a dealer for L10, finally gravitating
+into the South Kensington Library, or some public museum,
+as a bibliographical curiosity.  The following has just been sold
+(July, 1880) by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge,
+in the Dunn-Gardinier collection, lot 1592:--
+
+"TITLEPAGES AND FRONTISPIECES.
+
+
+_A Collection of upwards of_ 800 ENGRAVED TITLES AND FRONTISPIECES,
+ENGLISH AND FOREIGN (_some very fine and curious) taken from
+old books and neatly mounted on cartridge paper in 3 vol,
+half morocco gilt. imp. folio_."
+
+
+The only collection of title-pages which has afforded me unalloyed pleasure
+is a handsome folio, published by the directors of the Plantin Museum,
+Antwerp, in 1877, just after the purchase of that wonderful typographical
+storehouse.
+It is called "Titels en Portretten gesneden naar P. P. Rubens voor de
+Plantijnsche Drukkerij," and it contains thirty-five grand title pages,
+reprinted from the original seventeenth century plates, designed by Rubens
+himself between the years 1612 and 1640, for various publications which
+issued from the celebrated Plantin Printing Office.  In the same Museum
+are preserved in Rubens' own handwriting his charge for each design,
+duly receipted at foot.
+
+I have now before me a fine copy of "Coclusiones siue decisiones antique
+dnor' de Rota," printed by Gutenberg's partner, Schoeffer, in the year 1477.
+It is perfect, except in a most vital part, the Colophon, which has been
+cut out by some barbaric "Collector," and which should read thus:  "Pridie
+nonis Januarii Mcccclxxvij, in Civitate Moguntina, impressorie Petrus
+Schoyffer de Gernsheym," followed by his well-known mark, two shields.
+
+A similar mania arose at the beginning of this century for
+collections of illuminated initials, which were taken from MSS.,
+and arranged on the pages of a blank book in alphabetical order.
+Some of our cathedral libraries suffered severely from depredations
+of this kind.  At Lincoln, in the early part of this century,
+the boys put on their robes in the library, a room close
+to the choir.  Here were numerous old MSS., and eight or ten
+rare Caxtons.  The choir boys used often to amuse themselves,
+while waiting for the signal to "fall in," by cutting out with their
+pen-knives the illuminated initials and vignettes, which they would
+take into the choir with them and pass round from one to another.
+The Dean and Chapter of those days were not much better, for they
+let Dr. Dibdin have all their Caxtons for a "consideration."
+He made a little catalogue of them, which he called "A Lincolne
+Nosegaye."  Eventually they were absorbed into the collection at Althorp.
+
+The late Mr. Caspari was a "destroyer" of books.  His rare collection
+of early woodcuts, exhibited in 1877 at the Caxton Celebration,
+had been frequently augmented by the purchase of illustrated books,
+the plates of which were taken out, and mounted on Bristol boards,
+to enrich his collection.  He once showed me the remains of a fine copy
+of "Theurdanck," which he had served so, and I have now before me several
+of the leaves which he then gave me, and which, for beauty of engraving
+and cleverness of typography, surpasses any typographical work known to me.
+It was printed for the Emperor Maximilian, by Hans Schonsperger,
+of Nuremberg, and, to make it unique, all the punches were cut on purpose,
+and as many as seven or eight varieties of each letter, which, together
+with the clever way in which the ornamental flourishes are carried
+above and below the line, has led even experienced printers to deny
+its being typography.  It is, nevertheless, entirely from cast types.
+A copy in good condition costs about L50.
+
+Many years since I purchased, at Messrs. Sotheby's, a large lot of MS.
+leaves on vellum, some being whole sections of a book, but mostly
+single leaves.  Many were so mutilated by the excision of initials as to
+be worthless, but those with poor initials, or with none, were quite good,
+and when sorted out I found I had got large portions of nearly twenty
+different MSS., mostly Horae, showing twelve varieties of fifteenth
+century handwriting in Latin, French, Dutch, and German.  I had each sort
+bound separately, and they now form an interesting collection.
+
+Portrait collectors have destroyed many books by abstracting
+the frontispiece to add to their treasures, and when once
+a book is made imperfect, its march to destruction is rapid.
+This is why books like Atkyns' "Origin and Growth of Printing,"
+4o, 1664, have become impossible to get.
+
+When issued, Atkyns' pamphlet had a fine frontispiece, by Logan,
+containing portraits of King Charles II, attended by Archbishop
+Sheldon, the Duke of Albermarle, and the Earl of Clarendon.  As
+portraits of these celebrities (excepting, of course, the King)
+are extremely rare, collectors have bought up this 4o tract of Atkyns',
+whenever it has been offered, and torn away the frontispiece to adorn
+their collection.
+
+This is why, if you take up any sale catalogue of old books,
+you are certain to find here and there, appended to the description,
+"Wanting the title," "Wanting two plates," or "Wanting the last page."
+
+It is quite common to find in old MSS., especially fifteenth century,
+both vellum and paper, the blank margins of leaves cut away.
+This will be from the side edge or from the foot, and the
+recurrence of this mutilation puzzled me for many years.
+It arose from the scarcity of paper in former times, so that when
+a message had to be sent which required more exactitude than could
+be entrusted to the stupid memory of a household messenger,
+the Master or Chaplain went to the library, and, not having
+paper to use, took down an old book, and cut from its broad
+margins one or more slips to serve his present need.
+
+I feel quite inclined to reckon among "enemies" those bibliomaniacs
+and over-careful possessors, who, being unable to carry their
+treasures into the next world, do all they can to hinder their
+usefulness in this.  What a difficulty there is to obtain admission
+to the curious library of old Samuel Pepys, the well-known diarist.
+There it is at Magdalene College, Cambridge, in the identical book-cases
+provided for the books by Pepys himself; but no one can gain admission
+except in company of two Fellows of the College, and if a single book
+be lost, the whole library goes away to a neighbouring college.
+However willing and anxious to oblige, it is evident that no one
+can use the library at the expense of the time, if not temper,
+of two Fellows.  Some similar restrictions are in force at
+the Teylerian Museum, Haarlem, where a lifelong imprisonment is
+inflicted upon its many treasures.
+
+Some centuries ago a valuable collection of books was left to
+the Guildford Endowed Grammar School.  The schoolmaster was to be
+held personally responsible for the safety of every volume, which,
+if lost, he was bound to replace.  I am told that one master,
+to minimize his risk as much as possible, took the following
+barbarous course:--As soon as he was in possession, he raised
+the boards of the schoolroom floor, and, having carefully packed
+all the books between the joists, had the boards nailed down again.
+Little recked he how many rats and mice made their nests there;
+he was bound to account some day for every single volume,
+and he saw no way so safe as rigid imprisonment.
+
+The late Sir Thomas Phillipps, of Middle Hill, was a remarkable instance
+of a bibliotaph.  He bought bibliographical treasures simply to bury them.
+His mansion was crammed with books; he purchased whole libraries,
+and never even saw what he had bought.  Among some of his purchases
+was the first book printed in the English language, "The Recuyell
+of the Histories of Troye," translated and printed by William Caxton,
+for the Duchess of Burgundy, sister to our Edward IV.  It is true,
+though almost incredible, that Sir Thomas could never find this volume,
+although it is doubtless still in the collection, and no wonder,
+when cases of books bought twenty years before his death were never opened,
+and the only knowledge of their contents which he possessed was
+the Sale Catalogue or the bookseller's invoice.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+SERVANTS AND CHILDREN.
+
+READER! are you married?  Have you offspring, boys especially
+I mean, say between six and twelve years of age?  Have you also
+a literary workshop, supplied with choice tools, some for use,
+some for ornament, where you pass pleasant hours? and is--
+ah! there's the rub!--is there a special hand-maid, whose
+special duty it is to keep your den daily dusted and in order?
+Plead you guilty to these indictments? then am I sure of
+a sympathetic co-sufferer.
+
+Dust! it is all a delusion.  It is not the dust that makes
+women anxious to invade the inmost recesses of your Sanctum--
+it is an ingrained curiosity.  And this feminine weakness,
+which dates from Eve, is a common motive in the stories
+of our oldest literature and Folk-lore. What made Fatima
+so anxious to know the contents of the room forbidden her
+by Bluebeard?  It was positively nothing to her, and its
+contents caused not the slightest annoyance to anybody.
+That story has a bad moral, and it would, in many ways, have been
+more satisfactory had the heroine been left to take her place in
+the blood-stained chamber, side by side with her peccant predecessors.
+Why need the women-folk (God forgive me!) bother themselves about
+the inside of a man's library, and whether it wants dusting or not?
+My boys' playroom, in which is a carpenter's bench, a lathe,
+and no end of litter, is never tidied--perhaps it can't be,
+or perhaps their youthful vigour won't stand it--but my workroom
+must needs be dusted daily, with the delusive promise that
+each book and paper shall be replaced exactly where it was.
+The damage done by such continued treatment is incalculable.
+At certain times these observances are kept more religiously
+than others; but especially should the book-lover, married
+or single, beware of the Ides of March.  So soon as February is
+dead and gone, a feeling of unrest seizes the housewife's mind.
+This increases day by day, and becomes dominant towards the middle
+of the month, about which period sundry hints are thrown out
+as to whether you are likely to be absent for a day or two.
+Beware! the fever called "Spring Clean" is on, and unless you
+stand firm, you will rue it.  Go away, if the Fates so will,
+but take the key of your own domain with you.
+
+Do not misunderstand.  Not for a moment would I advocate dust and dirt;
+they are enemies, and should be routed; but let the necessary routing
+be done under your own eye.  Explain where caution must be used,
+and in what cases tenderness is a virtue; and if one Eve in the family
+can be indoctrinated with book-reverence you are a happy man;
+her price is above that of rubies; she will prolong your life.
+Books MUST now and then be taken clean out of their shelves,
+but they should be tended lovingly and with judgment.
+If the dusting can be done just outside the room so much the better.
+The books removed, the shelf should be lifted quite out of its bearings,
+cleansed and wiped, and then each volume should be taken separately,
+and gently rubbed on back and sides with a soft cloth.  In returning
+the volumes to their places, notice should be taken of the binding,
+and especially when the books are in whole calf or morocco care
+should be taken not to let them rub together.  The best bound books
+are soonest injured, and quickly deteriorate in bad company.
+Certain volumes, indeed, have evil tempers, and will scratch
+the faces of all their neighbours who are too familiar with them.
+Such are books with metal clasps and rivets on their edges;
+and such, again, are those abominable old rascals, chiefly born
+in the fifteenth century, who are proud of being dressed in REAL
+boards with brass corners, and pass their lives with fearful knobs and
+metal bosses, mostly five in number, firmly fixed on one of their sides.
+If the tendencies of such ruffians are not curbed, they will do
+as much mischief to their gentle neighbours as when a "collie"
+worries the sheep.  These evil results may always be minimized
+by placing a piece of millboard between the culprit and his victim.
+I have seen lovely bindings sadly marked by such uncanny neighbours.
+
+When your books are being "dusted," don't impute too much common
+sense to your assistants; take their ignorance for granted,
+and tell them at once never to lift any book by one of its covers;
+that treatment is sure to strain the back, and ten to one the weight
+will be at the same time miscalculated, and the volume will fall.
+Your female "help," too, dearly loves a good tall pile to work at and,
+as a rule, her notions of the centre of gravity are not accurate,
+leading often to a general downfall, and the damage of many a corner.
+Again, if not supervised and instructed, she is very apt to rub the dust
+into, instead of off, the edges.  Each volume should be held tightly,
+so as to prevent the leaves from gaping, and then wiped from the back
+to the fore-edge. A soft brush will be found useful if there is much dust.
+The whole exterior should also be rubbed with a soft cloth, and then
+the covers should be opened and the hinges of the binding examined;
+for mildew WILL assert itself both inside and outside certain books,
+and that most pertinaciously.  It has unaccountable likes and dislikes.
+Some bindings seem positively to invite damp, and mildew will attack
+these when no other books on the same shelf show any signs of it.
+When discovered, carefully wipe it away, and then let the book remain
+a few days standing open, in the driest and airiest spot you can select.
+Great care should be taken not to let grit, such as blows in at the open
+window from many a dusty road, be upon your duster, or you will
+probably find fine scratches, like an outline map of Europe, all over
+your smooth calf, by which your heart and eye, as well as your book,
+will be wounded.
+
+"Helps" are very apt to fill the shelves too tightly, so that to extract
+a book you have to use force, often to the injury of the top-bands.
+Beware of this mistake.  It frequently occurs through not noticing
+that one small book is purposely placed at each end of the shelf,
+beneath the movable shelf-supports, thus not only saving space,
+but preventing the injury which a book shelf-high would be sure
+to receive from uneven pressure.
+
+After all, the best guide in these, as in many other matters,
+is "common sense," a quality which in olden times must have been
+much more "common" than in these days, else the phrase would
+never have become rooted in our common tongue.
+
+Children, with all their innocence, are often guilty of book-murder. I
+must confess to having once taken down "Humphrey's History of Writing,"
+which contains many brightly-coloured plates, to amuse a sick daughter.
+The object was certainly gained, but the consequences of so bad
+a precedent were disastrous.  That copy (which, I am glad to say,
+was easily re-placed), notwithstanding great care on my part,
+became soiled and torn, and at last was given up to Nursery martyrdom.
+Can I regret it? surely not, for, although bibliographically sinful, who
+can weigh the amount of real pleasure received, and actual pain ignored,
+by the patient in the contemplation of those beautifully-blended colours?
+
+A neighbour of mine some few years ago suffered severely from a propensity,
+apparently irresistible, in one of his daughters to tear his library books.
+She was six years old, and would go quietly to a shelf and take down
+a book or two, and having torn a dozen leaves or so down the middle,
+would replace the volumes, fragments and all, in their places,
+the damage being undiscovered until the books were wanted for use.
+Reprimand, expostulation and even punishment were of no avail;
+but a single "whipping" effected a cure.
+
+Boys, however, are by far more destructive than girls,
+and have, naturally, no reverence for age, whether in man or books.
+Who does not fear a schoolboy with his first pocket-knife?
+As Wordsworth did not say:--
+
+          "You may trace him oft
+ By scars which his activity has left
+ Upon our shelves and volumes. * * *
+ He who with pocket-knife will cut the edge
+ Of luckless panel or of prominent book,
+ Detaching with a stroke a label here, a back-band there."
+                         _Excursion III, 83_.
+
+Pleased, too, are they, if, with mouths full of candy,
+and sticky fingers, they can pull in and out the books on your
+bottom shelves, little knowing the damage and pain they will cause.
+One would fain cry out, calling on the Shade of Horace to pardon
+the false quantity--
+
+ "Magna movet stomacho fastidia, si puer unctis
+ Tractavit volumen manibus."  _Sat. IV_.
+
+
+What boys CAN do may be gathered from the following true story,
+sent me by a correspondent who was the immediate sufferer:--
+
+One summer day he met in town an acquaintance who for many years had
+been abroad; and finding his appetite for old books as keen as ever,
+invited him home to have a mental feed upon "fifteeners" and other
+bibliographical dainties, preliminary to the coarser pleasures enjoyed
+at the dinner-table. The "home" was an old mansion in the outskirts
+of London, whose very architecture was suggestive of black-letter
+and sheep-skin. The weather, alas! was rainy, and, as they
+approached the house, loud peals of laughter reached their ears.
+The children were keeping a birthday with a few young friends.
+The damp forbad all outdoor play, and, having been left too
+much to their own devices, they had invaded the library.
+It was just after the Battle of Balaclava, and the heroism of
+the combatants on that hard-fought field was in everybody's mouth.
+So the mischievous young imps divided themselves into two opposing camps--
+Britons and Russians.  The Russian division was just inside the door,
+behind ramparts formed of old folios and quartos taken from
+the bottom shelves and piled to the height of about four feet.
+It was a wall of old fathers, fifteenth century chronicles,
+county histories, Chaucer, Lydgate, and such like.  Some few yards off
+were the Britishers, provided with heaps of small books as missiles,
+with which they kept up a skirmishing cannonade against the foe.
+Imagine the tableau!  Two elderly gentlemen enter hurriedly,
+paterfamilias receiving, quite unintentionally, the first edition
+of "Paradise Lost" in the pit of his stomach, his friend narrowly
+escaping a closer personal acquaintance with a quarto Hamlet
+than he had ever had before.  Finale:  great outburst of wrath,
+and rapid retreat of the combatants, many wounded (volumes) being
+left on the field.
+
+
+
+POSTSCRIPTUM.
+
+ALTHOUGH, strictly speaking, the following anecdote does not
+illustrate any form of real injury to books, it is so racy,
+and in these days of extravagant biddings so tantalizing, that I
+must step just outside the strict line of pertinence in order
+to place it on record, It was sent to me, as a personal experience,
+by my friend, Mr. George Clulow, a well-known bibliophile,
+and "Xylographer" to "Ye Sette of ye Odde Volumes."  The date
+is 1881.  He writes:--
+
+"_Apropos_ of the Gainsborough `find,' of which you tell in `The Enemies
+of Books,' I should like to narrate an experience of my own, of some
+twenty years ago:
+
+"Late one evening, at my father's house, I saw a catalogue of a sale
+of furniture, farm implements and books, which was announced to take
+place on the following morning at a country rectory in Derbyshire,
+some four miles from the nearest railway station.
+
+"It was summer time--the country at its best--and with the attraction
+of an old book, I decided on a day's holiday, and eight o'clock
+the next morning found me in the train for C----, and after a
+variation in my programme, caused by my having walked three miles
+west before I discovered that my destination was three miles
+east of the railway station, I arrived at the rectory at noon,
+and found assembled some thirty or forty of the neighbouring farmers,
+their wives, men-servants and maid-servants, all seemingly bent
+on a day's idling, rather than business.  The sale was announced
+for noon, but it was an hour later before the auctioneer put
+in an appearance, and the first operation in which he took part,
+and in which he invited my assistance, was to make a hearty
+meal of bread and cheese and beer in the rectory kitchen.
+This over, the business of the day began by a sundry collection
+of pots, pans, and kettles being brought to the competition of
+the public, followed by some lots of bedding, etc.  The catalogue
+gave books as the first part of the sale, and, as three o'clock
+was reached, my patience was gone, and I protested to the auctioneer
+against his not selling in accordance with his catalogue.
+To this he replied that there was not time enough, and that
+he would sell the books to-morrow! This was too much for me,
+and I suggested that he had broken faith with the buyers,
+and had brought me to C---- on a false pretence.  This, however,
+did not seem to disturb his good humour, or to make him unhappy,
+and his answer was to call `Bill,' who was acting as porter,
+and to tell him to give the gentleman the key of the `book room,'
+and to bring down any of the books he might pick out, and he `would
+sell 'em.'  I followed `Bill,' and soon found myself in a
+charming nook of a library, full of books, mostly old divinity,
+but with a large number of the best miscellaneous literature of
+the sixteenth century, English and foreign.  A very short look over
+the shelves produced some thirty Black Letter books, three or four
+illuminated missals, and some book rarities of a more recent date.
+`Bill' took them downstairs, and I wondered what would happen!
+I was not long in doubt, for book by book, and in lots of two and three,
+my selection was knocked down in rapid succession, at prices
+varying from 1_s_. 6_d_.  to 3_s_. 6_d_., this latter sum seeming
+to be the utmost limit to the speculative turn of my competitors.
+The _bonne bouche_ of the lot was, however, kept back by
+the auctioneer, because, as he said, it was `a pretty book,'
+and I began to respect his critical judgment, for `a pretty book'
+it was, being a large paper copy of Dibdin's Bibliographical Decameron,
+three volumes, in the original binding.  Suffice it to say that,
+including this charming book, my purchases did not amount to L13,
+and I had pretty well a cart-load of books for my money--more than
+I wanted much!  Having brought them home, I `weeded them out,'
+and the `weeding' realised four times what I gave for the whole,
+leaving me with some real book treasures.
+
+"Some weeks afterwards I heard that the remainder of the books were
+literally treated as waste lumber, and carted off to the neighbouring town,
+and were to be had, any one of them, for sixpence, from a cobbler
+who had allowed his shop to be used as a store house for them.
+The news of their being there reached the ears of an old bookseller
+in one of the large towns, and he, I think, cleared out the lot.
+So curious an instance of the most total ignorance on the part of
+the sellers, and I may add on the part of the possible buyers also,
+I think is worth noting."
+
+How would the reader in this Year of Grace, 1887, like such
+an experience as that?
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+IT is a great pity that there should be so many distinct
+enemies at work for the destruction of literature, and that
+they should so often be allowed to work out their sad end.
+Looked at rightly, the possession of any old book is a sacred trust,
+which a conscientious owner or guardian would as soon think
+of ignoring as a parent would of neglecting his child.
+An old book, whatever its subject or internal merits, is truly
+a portion of the national history; we may imitate it and print
+it in fac-simile, but we can never exactly reproduce it;
+and as an historical document it should be carefully preserved.
+
+I do not envy any man that absence of sentiment which makes some
+people careless of the memorials of their ancestors, and whose blood
+can be warmed up only by talking of horses or the price of hops.
+To them solitude means _ennui_, and anybody's company is preferable
+to their own.  What an immense amount of calm enjoyment and mental
+renovation do such men miss.  Even a millionaire will ease
+his toils, lengthen his life, and add a hundred per cent.
+to his daily pleasures if he becomes a bibliophile; while to the man
+of business with a taste for books, who through the day has struggled
+in the battle of life with all its irritating rebuffs and anxieties,
+what a blessed season of pleasurable repose opens upon him as
+he enters his sanctum, where every article wafts to him a welcome,
+and every book is a personal friend!
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+ _Academy, The_, 23.
+ Acanis eruditus, 77, 78.
+ Acts of the Apostles, quoted, 4.
+ Aglossa pinguinalis, 76.
+ Albermarle (Duke of), portrait by Logan, 126.
+ Althorp library, 124.
+ Anderson (Sir C.), 55.
+ Anobium paniceum, 77, 78.
+ Anobium pertinax, 77, 78, 87, 88.
+ Antiquary, The, 54.
+ Antwerp, Monks at, 57, 58.
+ Asbestos fire, 27.
+ Ashburnham House, Westminster, 10.
+ Asiarch, an, 7.
+ Athens, Bookworm from, 81.
+ Atkyns' Origin and Growth of Printing, 126.
+ Auctioneer, story of, 145.
+ Austin Friars, 15.
+ Bagford (John), the biblioclast, r: 18.
+ Balaclava, battle of, 143.
+ Bale, the antiquary, 9.
+ Bandinel (Dr.), 87, 88.
+ Beedham, B., 52.
+ Bible, the first printed, burnt at Strasbourg, 13.
+  -- the "bug" edition, 95.
+ Bibliophile, pleasures of a, 153.
+ Bibliotaph, a, 129.
+ Bibliotheca Ecclesiae Londino-Belgicae, 16.
+ Binder's creed, 31.
+  -- plough, 105.
+ Binding, care to be taken of, 134.
+  -- quality of good, 104.
+ Bird (Rev. -), 55.
+ Birdsall (Mr.), bookbinder, 80.
+ Birmingham Riots, 11.
+ Black-beetles, enemies of books, 94.
+ Black-letter books in United States, 91.
+ Blatta germanica, 65.
+ Boccaccio, 48-50.
+ Bodleian, hookworms at, 87.
+ Bookbinders as enemies of books, 103.
+ Books, absurd lettering, 111.
+  -- burnt at Carthage; at Ephesus, 4.
+  -- burnt in Fire of London, 10.
+  -- burnt by Saracens, 3.
+  -- captured by Corsairs, 18.
+  -- cleaning of, 114.
+  -- deprived of title pages, 118, 119.
+ Books destroyed at the Reformation, Si.
+  -- dried in an attic, 16.
+  -- examination of old covers, 116.
+  -- how to dust them, 134.
+  -- injured by hacking, i x i.
+  -- lost at sea, 17, 18.
+  -- margin reduced to size, 111.
+  -- mildew in, 136.
+  -- from monasteries destroyed, 9.
+  -- restoration when injured, 114.
+  -- restored after a fire, 15.
+  -- scarce before printing, 2.
+  -- sold to a cobbler, 52, 149.
+  -- too tight on shelves, 137.
+  -- their claims to be preserved, 151.
+  -- used to bake "pyes," 10.
+  -- which scratch one another, 134.
+ Book-sale in Derbyshire, 145.
+ Bookworm, the, 67-93.
+  -- attempt to breed, 81-3.
+  -- from Greece, 82.
+  -- in paper box, 89.
+  -- in United States, 91.
+ Bookworms' progress through books, 84.
+  -- race by, 86.
+ Bosses on books, 135.
+ Boys injuring books, 139.
+  -- in library, story of, 140.
+ Brighton, black letter fragments, 59.
+ British Museum, Boccaccio's Fall of Princes, 61.
+ British Museum free from the "worm," 83.
+  -- burnt book exhibited at, 11.
+ Brown spots in books, 24.
+ Bruchium, 3.
+ Burckhardt's Arabic MSS., 77.
+ "Bug" Bible, 95.
+ Burgundy (Duchess of), 130.
+
+ Cambridge Market, 97.
+ Caskets (the three), Shakspeare, 60.
+ Caspari (Mr.), a collector, 124.
+ Cassin (Convent of Mount), 49.
+ Caxton, William, 130.
+  --his use of waste leaves, 90.
+  --Canterbury Tales, used to light a fire, 53.
+  -- Golden Legend, ditto, 52.
+  --Lyf of oure Ladye, 89.
+ Caxtons saturated by rain, 22.
+  --spoilt in binding, 107.
+  --discovered in British Museum, 108.
+ Charles II, portrait by Logan, 126.
+ Chasles (Philarete), 52.
+ Child tearing books, 139.
+ Children as enemies of books, 138.
+ Choir boys injuring MSS., 124.
+ Christians burnt heathen MSS., 7.
+ early, 6.
+ Clarendon (Earl of), portrait by Logan, 126.
+ Clasps on books, injury from, 135.
+ Clergymen as biblioclasts, 64.
+ Clulow (Mr. George), 144.
+ Coal fires objectionable in libraries, 27.
+ Codfish, book eaten by a, 96.
+ Cold injures books, 26.
+ Collectors as enemies of books, 117.
+ College quadrangle, 41.
+ Colophon in Schoeffer's book, 123.
+ Colophons (collections of), I IS.
+ Commonwealth quartos, 44.
+ Communal libraries in France, 48.
+ Cotton library; partially burnt, 10.
+ Cowper, the poet, on burnt libraries, 12.
+ Crambus pinguinalis, 76.
+ Cremona, books destroyed at, 8.
+ Croton bug, 95.
+
+ Damp, an enemy of books, 24.
+ Dante, 50.
+  -- The Inferno, 106.
+ Derbyshire, book sale in, 145.
+ Dermestes vulpinus, 89.
+ De Rome, the binder, 47, 48, 110.
+ De Thou, 110.
+ Devil worship, 5.
+ Devon and Exeter Museum, 101.
+ Diana, Temple of, 6.
+ Dibdin (Dr.), 110.
+  --sale of his Decameron, 148.
+  --his books, 25.
+ D'Israeli (B.), 17.
+ Doraston (J.), Poem on Bookworne, 67, 76.
+ Dust, an enemy of books, 39.
+  -- and neglect in a library, 39-50, 133.
+ Dusting books-how to do it, 136.
+ Dutch Church burnt, 15.
+  -- library at Guildhall, 16.
+
+ Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 53.
+ Edmonds (Mr.), bookseller, 58.
+ Edward IV, 130.
+ Edwards (Mr.), bookseller, 18.
+ Electric light in British Museum, 32.
+ Ephesus, 5.
+ "Eracles," 111.
+ "Evil eye," the, 6.
+ "Excursion, The," 139.
+
+ Fire, an enemy of books, 1-16.
+  -- of London, 10.
+ Flint (Weston), account of black-beetles in New York
+ libraries, 95.
+ Folklore, ancient, 5.
+ "Foxey" books, 25.
+ Francis (St.) and the friars, 37.
+ French Protestant Church, 53.
+ Frith (John), 96.
+ Froissart's Chronicles, 110.
+ Frost in a library, 26.
+
+ Garnett (Dr.), 81.
+ Gas injurious, 29-38,
+ Gatty's (Mrs.) Parables, 76.
+ German Army at Strasburg, U.
+ Gesta Romanorum, 66.
+ Gibbon, the historian, 2.
+ Glass cases preservative of books, 27.
+ Golden Legend, by Caxton, 52.
+ Gordon Riots, 11.
+ Government officials as biblioclasts, 65.
+ Grenville (Rt. Hon. Thos.), 56.
+ Guildford, library at school, 129.
+ Guildhall, London, library at, 0.
+ Gutenberg, 123.
+  -- documents concerning, burnt, 13,
+ Gwyn, Nell, housekeeping book of, 65.
+ "Gyp" brushing clothes in a library, 44.
+
+ Hannett, on bookbinding, 76.
+ Havergal (Rev. F. T.), 76.
+ Heathens burnt Christian MSS., 7.
+ Heating libraries, 27.
+ Hebrew books burnt, 8.
+ Hereford Cathedral library, 76.
+ Hickman family, 56.
+ Histories of Troy, 111.
+ Holme (Mr.), 77.
+ Hooke (R.), his Micrographia, 71-75.
+ Horace's Satires, 140.
+ Hot water pipes for libraries, 26.
+ House-fly, an enemy of books, 102.
+ Hudde, Heer, a story of, 17.
+ Hwqhrey's History of Writing, 138.
+ Hypothenemus eruditus, 76.
+
+ Ignorance and Bigotry, P-66.
+ Illuminated letters fatal to books, 51.
+  -- initials, collections of, 123.
+ Indulgence of 15th Century spoilt by a binder, 109.
+ Inquisition in Holland, 63.
+
+ Kirby and Spence on Entomologists, 75, 101.
+ Knobs of metal on bindings, 135.
+ Koran, The, 7.
+
+ Lamberhurst, 61.
+ Lamport Hall, 58.
+ Lansdowne Collection of MSS., 60.
+ Latterbury, copy of, at St. Martin's, 54.
+ Leather destroyed by gas, 30.
+ Lepisma, 96.
+  -- mistaken for bookworm, 75.
+ Libraries
+  burnt: by Caesar, 3.
+   --- at Dutch Church, 15.
+   --- at Strasbourg, 13.
+  neglected in England, 15, 22, 40.
+  at Alexandria, 3.
+  of the Ptolemies) 3.
+ Library Journal, The, 94.
+ Lincoln Cathedral MSS., 124.
+ Lincolne Nosegaye, 124.
+ London Institution, 31.
+ Lubbock (Sir J.), 90.
+ Luke's, St., account of destruction of books, 4.
+ Luxe des Livres, 47.
+ Luxury and learning, 42.
+
+ Machlinia, book printed by, 106.
+ Magdalene College, Cambridge, 128.
+ Maitland (Rev. S. R.), 54.
+ Mansfield (Lord), ij.
+ MS. Plays burnt, 60.
+ Manuscripts, fragments of, 126.
+ Margins of books cut away, 49, 127.
+ Maximilian (The Emperor), 125.
+ Mazarin library, Caxton in, 52.
+ Metamorphoses of Ovid, by Caxton, 10.
+ Micrographia, by R. Hooke, 71.
+ Middleburgh, 17.
+ Mildew in books, 136.
+ Minorite friars, 37.
+ Missal illuminations, sale of, 119.
+ Mohammed's reason for destroying books, 7.
+ Mohammed II throws books into the sea, 21.
+ Monks at Monte Cassino, 49.
+ Mould in books, 24.
+ Mount Cassin, library at, 50.
+ Moxon's Mechanic Exercises, 115.
+ Muller (M.), of Amsterdam, 62.
+
+ Newmarsh (Rev. C. F.), 54.
+ Niptus Hololeucos, 101.
+ Noble (Mr.), on Parish Registers, 61.
+ Notes and Queries, 77.
+
+ Oak Chest, 44.
+ OEcophora pseudospretella, 79.
+ Offer Collection of Bunyans, 14.
+ On, Priests of, 69.
+ Overall (Mr.), Librarian at Guildhall, 16.
+ Ovid, Metamorphoses by Caxton, 10.
+ Oxenforde, Lyf of therle, 10.
+
+ Paper improperly bleached, 25.
+ Papyrus, 68.
+ Paradise Lost, 142.
+ Parchment, slips of, in old books, 112.
+ Parish Registers, carelessness, 62.
+ Parnell's Ode, 70.
+ Patent Office, destruction of literature at, 65.
+ Paternoster Row, io.
+ Paul, St., 6.
+ Pedlar buying old books, 54, 55.
+ Peignot and hookworms, 79.
+ Pepys (Samuel), his library, 128.
+ Petit (Pierre), poem on bookworm, 70.
+ Philadelphia, wormhole at, 92.
+ Phillipps (Sir Thos.), 129.
+ Pieces of silver or denarii, 5.
+ Pinelli (Maffei), library of, 18.
+ Plantin Museum, 122.
+ policemen in Ephesus, 7.
+ Portrait collectors, 127.
+ Priestley (Dr.), library burnt, 11, 12.
+ Printers, the first, 13.
+ Printers' marks, collection of, 119.
+ -- ink and bookworms, 80.
+ Probrue (Mr.), 120.
+ Ptolemies, the Egyptian, 3.
+ Puttick and Simpson, 15.
+ Pynson's Fall of Princes, 61.
+
+ Queen Elizabeth's prayer-book, 98.
+ Quaint titles, collections of, 121.
+ Quadrangle of an old College described) 41.
+
+ Rain an enemy to books, 21.
+ Rats eat books, 97.
+ Recollet monks of Antwerp, 57.
+ -Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, 130.
+ Reformation, destruction of books at, 9.
+ Restoration of burnt books, 11.
+ Richard of Bury, 47.
+ Ringwalt's Encyclopaedia, 92.
+ Rivets on books, 135.
+ Rood and Hunte, 53.
+ Rot caused by rain, 21.
+ Royal Society, London, 71.
+ Rubens' engraved titles in Plantin Museum, 122.
+  -- autograph receipts, 122.
+ Ruins of fire at Sotheby and Wilkinson's, 14.
+ Rye (W. B.), 61, 83.
+ St. Albans, Boke of, 54.
+ St. Martin's-le-Grand, French church, 53.
+ St. Paul's Cathedral, books burnt in vaults of, 10.
+ Sale catalogues, extracts from, 119.
+ Schoeffer (P.), 123.
+ Schonsperger (Hans), 125.
+ Schoolmaster and endowed library, 129.
+ Scorched book at British Museum, 11.
+ Scrolls of magic, 6.
+ Serpent worship, 5.
+ Servants and children as enemies of books, 131-144.
+ Shakesperian discoveries, 58.
+ "Shavings" of binders, 31.
+ Sheldon (Archbishop), portrait by Logan, 126.
+ Sib's Bowels opened, 121.
+ Smith (Mr.), Brighton bookseller, 64.
+ Sotheby and Wilkinson, 125.
+  -- fire at their rooms, 14.
+ Spring clean, horrors of, 133.
+ Stark (Mr.), bookseller, 55-58.
+ Stealing a Caxton, 54.
+ Steam press, 40.
+ Strasbourg, siege of, 13.
+ Sun-light of gas, 29, 32.
+ Sun worship, 5.
+ Sylvester's Laws of Verse, 71.
+
+ Taylor, the water-poet, 121.
+ Teylerian Museum, Haarlem, 128.
+ Theurdanck, prints in, 125.
+ Thonock Hall, library Of, 56.
+ Timmins (Mr.), 50.
+ Title-pages, collections sold, 122.
+  -- volumes of, 118.
+ Title-pages, old Dutch, 120.
+ Tomicus Typographus, iox.
+
+ Utramontane Society, called "Old paper," 63,
+ Unitarian library, 13,
+ Universities destroy books, 9.
+
+ Value of books burnt by St. Paul, 4.
+ Vanderberg (M.), 57.
+ Vermin book-enemies, 94-102.
+ Pox Piscis, 96.
+
+ Washing old books, x6.
+ Water an enemy of books, 17-28.
+ Waterhouse (Mr.), Si.
+ Werdet (Edmond), 48, 57.
+ Westbrook (W. J.), 102.
+ Westminster Chapter-house, 97.
+  -- skeletons of rats, 97.
+ White (Adam), 83.
+ Wolfenbuttel, library at, 23.
+ Woodcuts, a Caxton celebration, 124.
+ Wynken de Worde, fragment, 59.
+
+Ximenes (Cardinal) destroys copies of the Koran, 8.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Enemies of Books, by William Blades
+
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