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diff --git a/1302-0.txt b/1302-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4c141ff --- /dev/null +++ b/1302-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2744 @@ +*** 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 *** |