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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0ba779a --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #66552 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66552) diff --git a/old/66552-0.txt b/old/66552-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index b3b0d2f..0000000 --- a/old/66552-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1347 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Bibliomaniac, by Charles Nodier - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Bibliomaniac - -Author: Charles Nodier - -Translator: Mabel Osgood Wright - -Illustrator: Maurice Leloir - -Contributor: René Vallery-Radot - -Release Date: October 17, 2021 [eBook #66552] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Tim Lindell, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was - produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital - Library.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIBLIOMANIAC *** - - - - - [Illustration: - - _The - Bibliomaniac_ - - _By Charles Nodier_ - - - _New-York - J. O. Wright & Co. - 1894_ - ] - - One hundred and fifty copies printed on Japan paper, of which this is - No. 48 - - [Illustration: Charles Nodier] - - - - - THE BIBLIOMANIAC - - [Illustration] - - BY CHARLES NODIER - - [Illustration] - - WITH FORTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DESIGNS - BY MAURICE LELOIR, ENGRAVED ON WOOD BY - F. NOEL, AND A PREFACE BY R. VALLERY-RADOT - - TRANSLATED BY - MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT - - [Illustration] - - J. O. WRIGHT & COMPANY - NEW-YORK · MDCCCXCIV - - Copyright, 1894, by - J. O. WRIGHT & COMPANY - - [Illustration] - - - - -PREFACE - - -“Good, amiable Nodier,” are the words by which the world, apart from -scholars, characterizes Charles Nodier. He is portrayed with a flowered -vest, and a frock-coat with great lapels, finished by one of those -collars which, by an easy play upon words, are called _les cols -(l’école) des vieillards_. Nodier’s collar, which turned up slightly at -the points in a Prudhommesque manner, touched the corners of his -refined, kindly mouth; but it is difficult immediately to associate the -remembrance of certain books with this 1835 face, for time obliterates -everything. - -If Nodier belonged by right of his first literary impressions to the -classical school, his liberal spirit soon identified itself with that of -the romanticists. His face, full of genial originality, bore the -characteristics of a man living between two literary epochs; but history -little by little soon effaced all these tints and shades. Nodier was -also one of those improvisators who talked their books. Contemporaries, -in reading them, seemed to hear him speak, and a little imagination -added to the surprises of these written conversations; but when the -voice ceases the charm vanishes. - -It is certain that the reader of to-day is somewhat at a loss in the -company of a book of Nodier’s, and feels very much as when, in a -military panorama, he sees the wheel of a real caisson, and often a -veritable cannon and cannon-ball, which at first sight blend with the -painted canvas, until it is difficult to say where the actual ends and -the illusion begins. If we read his reminiscences and studies of his own -time in a credulous spirit, we shall constantly say, “Nodier is -mistaken; what he tells us is not only wholly improbable but impossible, -and is completely at variance with history”--until the wise reader -decides that Nodier’s entire writings should bear the title of one of -his books, “Contes et Fantaisies.” - -Perhaps it would be interesting to separate the true from the false in -these works of Nodier, and to show how the thread of truth disappears -under his embroidery. In confining the investigation to this little -book, “The Bibliomaniac,” taken from “Les Contes de la Veillée,”[1] and -rejuvenated by the illustrations of Maurice Leloir, one may have the -pleasure of bringing to light, by the aid of letters and comparisons, -the best and most absorbing passion that controlled Nodier. Is it not a -summary of his passion, from the first lines? If he left the Arsenal -Library, where he had been appointed librarian at the end of the year -1823 by a bibliographical minister, M. de Corbière, it was to stroll -among the old book-dealers. If he wrote to the friend of his childhood, -who became his lifelong confidant, his fellow-countryman of -Franche-Comté, Charles Weiss, it was a litany of bibliographical -enthusiasm. Small as his means were, Nodier had the incurable mania of -book-buying. The noun and the adjective are his own words. But, he said -one day, this craze is no more vain in its final results than any other -of the illusions of life. Also, in perusing the sayings of the hero of -this story, Theodore, we feel that Nodier sympathizes with him from the -bottom of his heart. Theodore sometimes resembles him like a brother, -and we cannot help regretting that Nodier could not wholly make up his -mind to amuse himself fully at his own expense, or to take from real -life a man he knew very well, rather than treat him incidentally. - -This original and true bibliomaniac, for Nodier’s Theodore is merely a -degenerate bibliophile, was celebrated at the time of the Restoration. -He was a lawyer named Boulard, who, instead of admiring an imposing row -of books in his cabinet, like his fellows, only took pleasure in -arranging them on the shelves, or in piling them up in his closets. His -library was scattered everywhere in this strange study, which overflowed -with cheap literature from auction sales. Finally, there was such an -invasion of books that Boulard, becoming the owner of the house in which -he lived, expelled all his tenants in turn, and took possession himself -of floor after floor for the storage of his books. After this he bought -six other houses which he turned into depositories for books. One day, -when Nodier asked him for a certain book, Boulard, going from one house -to another, struck the stacks, the walls, the ramparts, of books with -his cane, saying in triumphant irony, “It is either here or there.” -Boulard, growing ill, and no longer able to go out, had the books -brought to his bed. He handled them, asked their price, and held them up -with admiring affection. As his memory became more and more impaired, he -would buy the same book three or four times over. His family, worried at -his growing mania, and not desiring to oppose the fervor of his wishes, -which were turning violently to certain fixed ideas, conceived the plan -of showing him a great part of his own books, which he no longer -recognized, as if they were new acquisitions. This gave him a joyous -surprise at every moment, and Boulard, having thus delightfully reviewed -all his past life, went to sleep forever, over a book, in 1825. - -The remembrance of his death doubtless inspired Nodier with the -half-sad, half-amusing ending of his Bibliomaniac. Boulard was the type -of bibliomaniac whose progressive malady would be the most interesting -to study. What was Nodier’s object, then, in searching here and there -for materials with which to sketch an imaginary figure, when the notary -was at hand? Nodier always followed the plan of taking his imagination -as a guide; but imagination has also its moods and caprices, and it is a -mistake for an author to be so fanciful that he ceases to follow the -simple and fertile lead of nature. - -Nodier could have chosen still another original, the Dutch baron -Westreeven van Tiellandt. This extraordinary person kept his library -under triple lock for forty years. One day, however, in an access of -good feeling, he said to two of his best friends: “You have often -expressed a desire to see my books. I want to oblige you both, but you -must submit to certain conditions: before entering my library you must -each put on a dressing-gown which I have expressly prepared, because -your clothes might be saturated with a smell which is bad for books; and -you must wear the slippers that I have provided, because your shoes -might be full of dangerous dust.” The baron, however, invariably found -an excuse for postponing the visit to his library, and died without -having kept his promise. As the baron survived Nodier some years, this -last feature could not have been portrayed with its attendant moral. The -“Bulletin du Bibliophile,” which owed its existence in part to Nodier, -took upon itself the baron’s funeral oration and reproduced his will. In -leaving his library to the city of The Hague, the baron stipulated that -it should be open only on the first and third Thursdays of each month, -and only to people who had been provided the preceding day with cards of -admission. “Never,” he said, “under any pretext, shall the books or -manuscripts be taken outside the reading-room.” No further purchases -were to be made, except to complete the collections which he had himself -begun--he whose restless and jealous spirit wished to hover around his -books. - -Avarice, either in the Latin sense of the word or in its more modern -meaning, is the agony of a man who is made to tremble by every trifle -when he contemplates his possessions. Some of these bibliomaniacs are -like very rich people, of whom it is said, “They leave a great fortune.” -The verb “to leave” has here rather an ironical meaning. It is as much -as saying that they have amassed wealth without having been themselves -the gainers thereby. - -The book-collector belongs to a race of refined egotists. He knows and -tastes the subtle, intense joy which comes from the sight and possession -of a fine book. Even before opening it, he handles it caressingly, -touching its pages lightly as he would the wings of a butterfly. - -In order not to stray too far from the pictures of other days which -Nodier evoked, let us look at the charming type of a book-collector who -was worthy of the name: Silvestre de Sacy. During the eighteen years of -the reign of Louis Philippe, Sacy might have been seen lounging along -the quays, on his way to the Palais Bourbon, where he followed the -parliamentary debates in his journalistic vocation, carrying almost -always a selection of Madame de Sévigné’s letters in his hand. When he -returned home it was to take Montaigne, Bossuet, or some other classic, -clothed in bindings worthy of them, from a shelf close at hand. By this -daily reading he added to his mixture of Christianity and philosophy; -but as he cared only for the best editions, he was afraid of rich men, -and regarded them as the absorbers of fine books. _Multi vocati, pauci -lecti_,--many are called, but few read,--was what D’Argenson had -already proposed as an inscription for the library of a _fermier -général_.[2] Sacy, when he dreamed, on the eve of a book sale, of this -or that volume which he coveted, and which he feared he might not be -able to hold successfully against the fancy or caprice of some -financier, would have palpitation of the heart. Prévost-Paradol wrote of -him: “This Christian, whom some would like to call austere, if the word -austerity could cover so much forbearance and perfect gentleness, became -a sort of epicure in all that concerned his reading.” - -The love of books was such a part of his life that when some one asked -for his autograph, to add to one of his lithographic portraits,--a -picture in which he lives again, peaceful, mischievous, and benevolent, -all at the same time, like a citizen of the true, liberal, and literary -race,--he could not refrain from declaring, in a half page which is -reproduced in facsimile, that of all passions that of the book-collector -is ever the best. Even though his eyes suffered severely from fatigue, -it did not discourage his ardent affection for his books. Has he not -said in one of those confidences in which lies the charm of his -criticisms, “If I become blind I think I shall still take pleasure in -holding a beautiful book in my hand. I shall at least feel the softness -of its binding, and imagine that I can see it: I have seen so many!” - -“O my beloved books,” he wrote in connection with the dispersion of a -library, “some day you will also be exhibited in an auction-room, when -you will pass into other hands, owners perhaps less worthy of you than -your present master. Yet these books that I have selected, one by one, -are truly mine, collected by the sweat of my brow; and I love them so, -that it seems to me they have become a part of my very soul by such a -long and precious intercourse.” - -There speaks the bibliophile, who loves books as they ought to be loved, -who lives with them, asks their advice, and cherishes and protects them -against their numerous enemies. An English typographer[3] thus -enumerates the enemies of books: “Fire, water, gas, heat, dust, neglect, -ignorance, rats, mice, and finally bookbinders,”--adding the last with -the sudden anger of a man who has suffered by having some fine book -hopelessly cut down. He might have mentioned an enemy still more -dangerous, the most difficult of all to vanquish--an enemy of every day -and hour, ever present, and ready alike for open warfare or for -subterfuge: woman. - -With a few rare and conspicuous exceptions, women are anti-bibliophiles -or book-haters. A book in their eyes is merely a newspaper: they crease -and crumple it as they turn its leaves. Lacking a paper-knife to cut the -edges, they use a card, a pin, or even a hair-pin. If a rare book is -under discussion, they appear more interested in the smallest trifle -than in all the first editions that exist. They prefer a scrap of ribbon -to the most exquisite binding. If you take from its shrine a miniature -volume, unique enough to make a book-lover turn pale with delight, do -not trust it to a woman, for in opening it she will split its back. The -best of husbands may give the key of his safe to his wife, but he must -not give her, even for one moment, the key of his library. A woman -should never be left alone with a book, and such in fact should be the -rule with all married book-lovers. - -Nodier said that, after woman, books are the most delightful things in -the world. Why do not women comprehend this, and increase their -influence by their appreciation of books? - -Following the bibliomaniac who hoards, and the bibliophile who collects, -according to the very correct terms of Nodier, come the amateurs of the -old book-cult. Nodier and Sacy give them the incorrect title of -_bouquiniste_ (dealer in old books), when their knowledge as -Academicians should have made them use the word _bouquineur_ (old-book -hunter) in order to avoid confusion. To their ears _bouquiniste_ -evidently had a pleasing sound. How Sacy despised the collector of -dirty, damaged books, which were fit only to be sent to a book-hospital, -supposing such a place to exist! - -“I know him!” cried Sacy in a rage,--“this amateur who buys books for -three or five cents, or in a moment of folly even paying as much as six -cents. In other things he is a man of wit and taste, a polite man and a -good companion, whose only depravity is concerning books.” - -If you have the curiosity to learn the identity of this charming man -with the single unpardonable fault, it can be found in a little book of -memoirs by Étienne Delécluze, an editor of the “Journal des Débats.” He -says that nothing was more amusing than the quarrels which arose between -Sacy and Saint-Marc Girardin on the subject of books--the one being -unable to find either text or binding of sufficient beauty to express -the admiration inspired by the writings of Cicero and Molière, Fénelon -and Montaigne; the other careless about the exterior condition of a -book, but eager to know its contents. These two charming minds have -created laughter more than once when, in answer to the tantalizing tone -in which Saint-Marc uttered the word _bibliophile_ (collector of best -editions), Sacy would reply with humorous gaiety, “You are only a -_bouquiniste_” (old-book dealer). - -While these figures float and vanish, between the lines of the -bibliomaniac appears the figure of a philosophic _bouquineur_, who comes -closer to us, and who has often been seen by the frequenters of the -quays. It is Xavier Marmier. He walked from box to box with short steps, -his only journeys then being among the trays of the book-dealers--this -man who in former times had been such a great traveller. A little broken -by his eighty years, and his lower lip drooping, his expression at the -same time was kindly and intelligent, bearing the marks both of easy -skepticism and extreme good will. He would turn the books over, ask the -price, and slip two or three volumes into the deep pockets of his blue -coat. - -One day he said to me, with an air of triumph, “I have just bought the -first edition of one of my own books. This fact of its being the first -edition, however, does not add much to the value of the book; but these -‘Lettres sur le Nord’ have shivered so long in the box, and have spent -so many weeks in the same place, that I took pity on them.” - -Then Marmier told me with provincial gaiety that the seller--a gamin -who, strangely enough, did not know him--had asked him two francs for -the copy. - -“Two francs!” exclaimed Marmier. - -“Yes, sir; that is what it is worth. It is by Marmier.” - -“Hum! hum! I know that it is by Marmier, but that does not make it worth -two francs.” - -“But, sir, he is an Academician.” - -“]Are you sure of that?” - -“Yes, sir; it says so on the cover.” - -“But has he not been dead a long time?” - -“That I do not know, but it is possible that he has.” - -“See here,” said Marmier, “dead or alive he is not worth more than -thirty sous.” - -“Well, then, you may have it.” - -And Marmier, very happy, took the book, intending to give it to some old -friend, “who perhaps will not sell it before to-morrow,” he said. - -Dear, good man, who from searching in many boxes had found true -wisdom--not to be deceived, and to be lenient. “Ah! book-hunting is the -best passion that I can wish you,” he said, the last time that I saw -him, when he was weak, and walked with difficulty, but looked calmly -into the face of death. - -Bouquinistes, bibliophiles, and bibliomaniacs all live happily because -of this passion, and bless it. Charles Nodier knew its delightful -anxieties so well that, a few hours before he died, his last thought--so -his daughter Madame Mennessier-Nodier writes, in the book that she has -affectionately consecrated to him--was to dictate an account of a few -trifling debts that he owed his binders and the booksellers. - - R. VALLERY-RADOT. - - - - -THE BIBLIOMANIAC - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -THE BIBLIOMANIAC - - -You all know Theodore. I have come to strew some flowers upon his grave, -praying heaven that the earth may touch him lightly. - -These two familiar phrases will tell you plainly that I am about to -consecrate some pages to him as an obituary notice or funeral oration. - -It is twenty years since Theodore retired from the world, to work or to -be idle: which of the two was a great secret. He dreamed, and no one -knew what he dreamed about. He passed his life surrounded by books, and -occupied himself with nothing else, which gave some people the idea that -he was writing a book which would supersede all other books; but they -were evidently mistaken. - -Theodore had studied too much not to know that this book had been -written three hundred years ago. It was the thirteenth chapter of the -first book of Rabelais. - -Theodore no longer talked, nor laughed, neither played cards or gambled, -nor ate, no longer went to balls or to the theatre. The women whom he -had loved in his youth no longer attracted him, or at most he looked -only at their feet; and when some elegant and brilliantly colored -footgear caught his attention, alas! he would say, heaving a sigh from -the depths of his chest, there is a great waste of good morocco! He had -formerly followed the fashions. Those who remember the time, tell us -that he was the first to tie his cravat on the left side, -notwithstanding the dictum of Garat, who tied his on the right, and in -spite of the common herd, who still continue to tie theirs in the -middle. - -[Illustration] - -Theodore was no longer worried by the fashions. He had only one dispute -with his tailor during twenty years: “Sir,” he said to him one day, “it -will be the last coat I shall take from you, if you again forget to make -my pockets in quarto.” - -[Illustration] - -Politics, by whose vagaries so many fools have made their fortunes, had -never tempted him from his reveries for more than a moment. Politics -put him in a bad temper. After Napoleon’s futile enterprise in the -North, which raised the price of russia leather, he welcomed the French -intervention in the Spanish revolution. “This,” he said, “is a good -chance to bring chivalric romances and the _Cancioneros_ from the -Peninsula.” But the expeditionary army did not think of it, and he was -vexed. When any one said _Trocadero_ to him, he would reply ironically, -_Romancero_, which made him pass for a Liberal. - -M. de Bourmont’s campaign on the African coast transported him with joy. -“Thank heaven!” he said, rubbing his hands; “we shall have cheap levant -morocco.” This made him pass for a Carlist. - -He was walking one summer’s day in a crowded street, collating a book, -when some men, who were coming with a staggering gait from a saloon, -commanded him, knife at throat, to cry in the name - -[Illustration] - -of liberty, “Long live the Poles!” “I ask nothing better,” said -Theodore, whose perpetual thought was an eternal cry in favor of the -human race; “but may I ask why?” “Because we declare war against -Holland, who oppresses Poland under the pretext that they do not like -the Jesuits,” replied the friend of light, who was a rude geographer and -a fearless logician. “God forgive us!” muttered our friend, crossing his -hands piteously. “Shall we not in this case be obliged to use M. -Montgolfier’s imitation Holland paper?” - -[Illustration] - -The product of modern civilization answered by breaking Theodore’s leg -with a blow of his stick. - -Theodore stayed in his bed for three months, examining book-catalogues. -Always disposed to carry his feelings to extremes, this reading fevered -his blood. - -Even in his convalescence his sleep was horribly uneasy. One night his -wife roused him from the tortures of the nightmare. “You came just in -time,” he said, embracing her, “to save me from dying of grief and fear. -I was surrounded by monsters who would give me no quarter.” - -“What monsters do you dread, my dear?” she said,--“you who have never -injured any one.” - -“It was, if I remember rightly, the ghost of Purgold whose fatal shears -devoured an inch and a half of the margins of my uncut Aldus, while the -shade of Heudier pitilessly plunged my most beautiful _editio princeps_ -into a devouring acid, withdrawing it entirely bleached; but I have -good reason to think that they are at least both in purgatory.” - -[Illustration] - -His wife thought that he was talking Greek, because he knew a little -Greek, and as a proof of his knowledge three shelves in his library were -filled with Greek books with uncut leaves. He never opened them either, -but was satisfied to show them by the side or back to his most intimate -acquaintances, telling with calm assurance the place where they were -printed, the date, and the printer’s name. The simple-minded considered -him a sorcerer. But about this there is a difference of opinion. - -[Illustration] - -As he was wasting away under their very eyes, his family called in a -physician, who was both a philosopher and a man of intelligence. - -You will discover if this was the case. This physician saw that -congestion of the brain was imminent, and made an elaborate report of -this disease in the “Journal des Sciences Médicales,” where it figures -under the name of morocco monomania or bibliomaniac’s typhus; but it was -not a question for the Academy of Sciences, because the illness was in -conjunction with cholera morbus. - -They advised him to take exercise; and, as the idea amused him, we -started out early one day, for I could not trust him to go a step alone. -We turned toward the quays, and I was rejoicing because I thought that -the sight of the river would revive him; but he never took his eyes from -the level of the parapets. They were as free from show-cases as if they -had been visited early in the morning by the public censor, who in -February had sent the archiepiscopal library in swimming.[4] We were -more fortunate at the Quai aux Fleurs, where books were in profusion. -But what books! All the works which the newspapers had puffed during the -last month, and which had gone from the - -[Illustration] - -publisher’s office, or the bookseller, into the ten-cent box. Authors of -every kind and sort, philosophers, historians, poets, novelists, who -could not be wafted to immortality by the most alluring advertisements, -and whose works go unheeded from the shelves of the store to the banks -of the Seine, a deep Lethe, where they contemplate, while decaying, the -certain end of their presumptive flight. I turned over there the pages -of some of my octavos, which were placed between those of five or six of -my friends. - -Theodore sighed, but it was not because he saw the works of my brain -exposed to the rain, owing to the scanty protection of an oil-cloth -cover. - -“What has become of the golden age of the outdoor venders of old books? -It was here, certainly, that my famous friend Barbier collected his -treasures until he was able to make a precise bibliography of several -thousand items. It was here that Monmerqué, on his way to the Palais, -and wise Labouderie, while leaving the city, walked for hours with -instruction and profit. It was from here that old Boulard carried away -daily a yard of rarities, measuring them with his surveyor’s -cane,--volumes for which there was no place reserved in his six houses -stuffed with books. How often on such occasions had he desired the -modest _angulus_[5] of Horace, or the elastic cover of the fairies’ -tent, which if necessary could shield the whole army of Xerxes, and -which might be carried as easily in one’s belt as the knife-sheath of -Jeannot’s grandfather. Now, more’s the pity, you see only fragments of -modern literature which will never become ancient, whose life will have -evaporated in twenty-four hours, like that of the flies of the river -Hypanis: a literature worthy in truth of the charcoal ink and pulp paper -used by mercenary printers, who are almost as foolish as the books. It -is profaning the name of books to give it to these black-blotted rags, -whose destinies have not even changed in leaving the basket on the -rag-picker’s shoulders. The quays henceforth are the morgue for -contemporary celebrities.” - -[Illustration] - -He sighed again, and I sighed too, but it was for a different reason. - -I was in a hurry to lead him away, because his increasing excitement -seemed to threaten him at any moment with a fatal attack. It must have -been an unlucky day, for everything combined to increase his melancholy. - -[Illustration] - -“See,” he said, in passing the showy shop-front of Ladvocat, “the -_Galliot du Pré_[6] of the debased literature of the nineteenth -century; a liberal, industrious bookseller, who deserved to have been -born in a better time, but whose deplorable activity has cruelly -multiplied new books, to the everlasting injury of the old; an -unpardonable patron of cotton-made paper, of incorrect spelling, and of -stilted illustrations; a fatal protector of academic prose and -fashionable poetry: as if France had produced any poetry since Ronsard, -or any prose after Montaigne! This bookseller’s palace is like the -Trojan horse that held the thieves of the Palladium--like Pandora’s box, -which let loose all the evils of the earth. But yet I like this -cannibal, and I shall be a chapter in his book, but I shall not see him -again!” - -“Look,” he continued, “there is Crozet’s store with the green walls. He -is the most agreeable of our young booksellers, the man of all Paris who -can best distinguish between a binding by Derome the elder and Derome -the younger, and the last hope of a passing generation of amateurs, if -the cult of old books should return in the midst of our barbarity. But I -shall not enjoy his conversation to-day, even though I always learn -something from it. He is in England, where he is competing, by the right -of retaliation, with the greedy usurers of Soho Square and Fleet Street -for the precious fragments of the monuments of our beautiful language -which have been forgotten for two centuries on the ungrateful soil that -produced them. _Macte animo, generoso puer!_...” - -“Here,” he said, retracing his steps,--“here is the Pont-des-Arts, with -its useless side-rails only a few centimeters wide, affording no support -for the noble folios of three centuries, majestic volumes with pigskin -covers and bronze clasps, which have delighted the eyes of ten -generations. This is truly an emblematic bridge, leading from the Palais -to the Institute by a path which is not the path of science. I do not -know whether I am mistaken, but the invention of a bridge of this kind -should be a startling illustration to the erudite of the decadence of -good literature.” - -[Illustration] - -“There,” said Theodore, passing the white sign of an active and -ingenious bookseller in the Place du Louvre, “that sign has made my -heart palpitate for a long time; but I no longer see it without a -sensation of pain, since Techener has reprinted with Tastu’s characters, -on showy paper, and under an enticing cover, the gothic marvels of Jehan -Bonfons of Paris, Jehan Mareschal of Lyons, and Jehan de Chaney of -Avignon, unobtainable trifles until he produced them in delightful -facsimile. Snow-white paper fills me with horror, my friend; and there -is nothing that I like less, except this same paper when it has received -from the stroke of a cruel pressman, the deplorable imprint of the -visions and idiocies of this iron age.” - -Theodore sighed more frequently, and was rapidly growing worse. - -We thus came in the Rue des Bons-Enfants, to the literary bazaar where -Silvestre held his auction sales. It was a place honored by learned men, -which has seen more priceless curios during a quarter of a century than -the library of the Ptolemies ever held (which library perhaps was not -burned by Omar, whatever our twaddling historians may say). I had never -seen so many splendid books on exhibition. - -[Illustration] - -“Unfortunate people who have to sell them,” I said to Theodore. - -“They are dead,” he said, “or it would kill them.” - -But the hall was empty. No one was to be seen except the indefatigable -M. Thour, who was patiently cataloguing upon cards the titles of the -books which had escaped his notice the previous day. The happiest among -all men is he who has at his command, and accurately arranged, a -faithful transcription of the title-pages of all known books. It is -nothing to him if all the productions of printing are destroyed in the -next revolution which the perfection of progress promises us. He can -leave to posterity the complete catalogue of the universal library. He -would have admirable forethought in seeing from afar the necessity for -compiling this inventory of civilization. A few years more, and -civilization will be no longer spoken about. - -“God forgive me, Theodore,” said Silvestre; “you have mistaken the day. -Those books that you see were sold yesterday in the last session, and -are waiting for the porter to deliver them.” Theodore reeled and turned -pale. His face assumed the tint of old citron morocco. I felt the blow -that had struck him, to the bottom of my own heart. - -[Illustration] - -“It is no matter,” he said, with an altered manner. “I recognize only my -usual ill luck in this bad news. But to whom do these things belong, -these pearls and diamonds, these wonderful riches in which the -libraries of de Thou and Grolier would have gloried?” - -“As usual, sir,” Silvestre answered, “these original editions of the -classics, these perfect old copies with the autographs of celebrated -scholars, these piquant philological curiosities, of which academy and -university have never heard, rightfully revert to Richard Heber.[7] It -is the British lion’s share, to whom we are willing to surrender, with -good grace, the Greek and Latin classics which we have ceased to -understand. These fine collections of natural history, these -masterpieces of workmanship and pictorial art, belong to Prince ----, who -uses his studious tastes to still further enhance his great fortune. -These mysteries of the middle ages, these phœnix-like precepts whose -counterpart[8] is no longer in existence, these curious dramatic -attempts of our ancestors, will swell the model library of M. de -Soleine. These well-preserved facetiæ, so strikingly subtle and -enjoyable, have been purchased by your friend M. Aimé-Martin. I need not -tell you to whom these fresh, brilliant morocco bindings belong, with -the triple fillets, wide dentelle, and sumptuous panels. He is the -Shakespeare among the minor collectors, the Corneille of melodrama, the -graceful and often eloquent interpreter of the feelings and virtues of -the populace, who, after having depreciated the value of books in the -morning, bought them for their weight in gold in the evening, not, -however, without grinding his teeth like a mortally wounded boar, and -turning a tragic eye, veiled by black eyebrows, upon his rivals.” - -Theodore had ceased to listen. He was handling a beautiful volume that -he - -[Illustration] - -hurriedly measured with his Elzevirometer, a six-inch measure divided -almost to infinity, by which he regulated the price, and, alas! the -intrinsic merit also, of his books. He measured the accursed book ten -times and as many times verified the troublesome calculation, muttered -some words that I did not understand, finally changed color, and -fainted in my arms. I had great difficulty in getting him into a passing -carriage. - -[Illustration] - -For a long time my attempts to learn the cause of his sudden grief were -futile. He did not speak. He did not hear my words. It is the typhus -fever, I thought, and the crisis of the fever. - -I held him in my arms. I continued to question him. At last he spoke. - -“You see in me,” he said, “the most unhappy of men. That book is the -1676 Virgil, on large paper, of which I thought that I had the best -example known, and yet this is taller than mine, by the third of a -line.[9] Prejudiced or spiteful minds might even call it half a line. A -third of a line, good God!” - -I was confounded. I saw that the delirium was increasing. - -“A third of a line,” he repeated, shaking his fist furiously in the air -like Ajax or Capaneus. All my limbs trembled. - -He gradually fell into a state of deep depression. - -The poor man lived only to suffer. He repeated from time to time, “The -third of a line!” and wrung his hands, while I kept saying, in an -undertone, “Confusion to books and typhus fever!” - -“Calm yourself, my friend,” I whispered gently in his ear, each time the -paroxysm was renewed. “A third of a line is not much, even in the most -particular things of life.” - -“Not much?” he cried; “a third of a line in the 1676 Virgil! It was the -third of a line that raised the price of the Nerli Homer at M. de -Cotte’s[10] a hundred louis. A third of a line! Ah! would you count the -third of a line nothing in the length of a dagger that pierced your -heart?” - -His expression again wholly changed, his arms became rigid, his legs -were seized with cramps as in a vise. The typhus was visibly reaching -the extremities. I did not desire to lengthen by even the third of a -line the short distance that separated us from the house. - -At last we arrived there. - -“A third of a line,” he said to the concierge. - -“A third of a line,” he said to the cook, who opened the door. - -“A third of a line,” he said to his wife, with a flood of tears. - -“My parrot has flown away!” cried his little girl, likewise weeping. - -“Why did you leave the cage open?” replied Theodore. “A third of a -line!” - -[Illustration] - -“There is an uprising in the South and in the Rue du Cadran,” said the -old aunt, who was reading the evening paper. - -“What the devil are the people meddling with?” answered Theodore. “A -third of a line!” - -“Your farm at la Beauce has been burned,” said his servant in putting -him to bed. - -[Illustration] - -“It must be rebuilt,” said Theodore, “if it is worth the trouble. A -third of a line!” - -“Do you think that this is serious?” the nurse asked me. - -“Your question proves, my good woman, that you have not read the -‘Journal des Sciences Médicales.’ Why do you delay in getting a priest?” - -Happily at that minute the curé came in to converse, as was his custom, -about the thousand and one literary and bibliographical trifles from -which his breviary had not wholly distracted him; but he forgot them all -when he felt Theodore’s pulse. - -“Alas! my child,” he said, “the life of man is only a journey, and even -the world itself is not set upon everlasting foundations. It must end -like everything that has a beginning.” - -“Have you read, on this subject,” said Theodore, “the ‘Treatise on the -World, its Origin and its Antiquity’?” - -“I learned all that I know from the book of Genesis,” said the -conservative pastor; “but I have heard it said that M. de Mirabeau, a -sophist of the last century, had written a book upon this subject.” - -“_Sub judice lis est_,” Theodore interrupted brusquely. “I have proved -in my ‘Stromates’ that the first two parts of ‘Le Monde’ were by that -dreadfully pedantic Mirabeau, and the third was by the Abbé Lemascrier.” - -[Illustration] - -“Ah! my goodness,” said the old aunt, taking off her spectacles; “then -who was it that made America?” - -“This is not the question now,” continued the abbé. “Do you believe in -the Trinity?” - -“How could I disbelieve the famous volume of Servetus, ‘De Trinitate,’” -said Theodore, half raising himself on his pillow, “when I have seen an -example go, _ipsissimis oculis_, for the trifling sum of two hundred and -fifteen francs at the MacCarthy sale, while at the dispersal of the La -Vallière collection it brought seven hundred?”[11] - -“We are straying from the point,” exclaimed the priest, a little -disconcerted. “I wish to know, my son, what you think of the divinity of -Jesus Christ.” - -“Well!” said Theodore, “it depends upon what you mean by it. I shall -maintain against every one that the ‘Toldos-Jeschu,’ which was written -by that ignorant railler Voltaire, who wasted on it a lot of foolish -fables worthy of the ‘Thousand and One Nights,’ is nothing but evil -rabbinesque nonsense, unworthy to be placed in the library of a -scholar.” - -“That is well!” sighed the worthy ecclesiastic. - -“At least,” Theodore continued, “unless some one should discover the -large-paper copy, of which there is a hint, if my memory serves me, in -the bibliographic jumble of David Clement.”[12] - -The curé groaned audibly, and, rising from his chair, bent over Theodore -to make him clearly understand, without ambiguity or equivocation, that -he was in the last stage of the bibliomaniac’s typhus which is spoken of -in the “Journal des Sciences Médicales,” and that he should not think of -anything but his salvation. - -Theodore had never intrenched himself behind that insolent negation of -unbelievers which is the science of fools; but the dear man had pushed -the useless study of the letter, in books, too far to comprehend the -spirit. In a perfect state of health a doctrine of any kind would give -him a fever, or a dogma induce lockjaw. In a theological matter he would -have lowered his colors before a Saint-Simonian. He turned his face to -the wall. - -A long time passed without a word, and we should have thought that he -was dead, except as I bent close to him I heard him murmur feebly, “A -third of a line! God of goodness and justice! but where will you give me -back that third of a line, and how far can your omnipotence retrieve the -irreparable error of that binder?” - -One of his friends, a bibliophile, came in a minute later. They told him -that Theodore was in the last agony; that he was delirious to the point -of thinking that the Abbé Lemascrier had made the third part of the -world; and that he had lost his power of speech a quarter of an hour -before. - -[Illustration] - -“I am going to make sure of it,” said the amateur. “By what mistake in -pagination do we recognize the genuine 1635 Elzevir edition of Cæsar?” -he asked Theodore. - -“153 for 149.” - -“Very good. And of the Terence of the same year?” - -“108 for 104.” - -“The devil!” I said; “the Elzevirs played in bad luck with their figures -that year. They were wise not to choose it for the printing of their -logarithms.” - -“Wonderful!” continued Theodore’s friend. “If I had listened to these -people here, I should have believed that you were at the point of -death.” - -“A third of a line,” replied Theodore, whose voice was failing by -degrees. - -“I know your story, but it is nothing in comparison with mine. Think -what I lost, eight days ago, in one of those bastard, nameless sales -which are advertised only by a placard on the door,--a Boccaccio of -1527,[13] as beautiful as your own, the binding of Venetian vellum, -with the pointed a’s proved throughout, and not a leaf repaired.” - -All Theodore’s faculties concentrated in one idea. - -“Are you very sure that the a’s were pointed?” - -“As pointed as the iron tip of a lancer’s halberd.” - -“It was then, doubtless, the ‘Vintisettine’ itself.” - -[Illustration] - -“Its very self. We had a jolly dinner that day: charming women, fresh -oysters, intelligent people, and champagne. I reached the sale three -minutes after the hammer fell.” - -“Sir,” cried Theodore in a fury, “when the ‘Vintisettine’ is to be sold, -one does not dine!” - -[Illustration] - -His vitality, which had been sustained by the excitement of the -conversation, as the bellows revives a dying spark, was exhausted by -his last effort. His lips muttered once more, “A third of a line!” but -they were his last words. - -At the time that we gave up all hope of his recovery, we moved his bed -near to his book-shelves, from which we took down, one by one, every -book for which he seemed to ask with his eyes, letting him look the -longest at those that we thought would please him the most. - -[Illustration] - -He died at midnight, lying between a Du Seuil and a Padeloup, his hands -lovingly clasping a Thouvenin. - -The next day we followed his hearse, at the head of a great crowd of -sorrowful morocco-finishers, and we sealed his tomb with a stone bearing -the following inscription, which he had parodied for himself from -Franklin’s epitaph: - -[Illustration: - - HERE LIES, IN - ITS WOODEN BINDING, - A FOLIO COPY OF THE BEST - EDITION OF MAN, WRITTEN IN - THE LANGUAGE OF A GOLDEN - AGE, WHICH THE WORLD - NO LONGER UNDERSTANDS. - TO-DAY - IT IS A SPOILED - OLD BOOK, - STAINED AND - IMPERFECT, LACKING THE TITLE-PAGE, - WORM-EATEN AND INJURED - BY DECAY. WE - DARE NOT ANTICIPATE - FOR IT THE USELESS - HONOR OF A - REPRINT. -] - - - - -NOTES - - -[1] In the bibliography of Nodier’s writings, published with the -catalogue of his library, Paris, 1844, the first edition of “Le -Bibliomane” is registered 1832-1833, as in tome I of “Livre des Cent et -un.” - -[2] Fermier général. An association existed in France, from the reign -of Philip the Fair until the Revolution of 1789, possessing the right, -by purchase, to levy taxes on various articles of consumption. These -“farmers” were mostly uneducated parvenus, and their extortions were -so great that though they paid no less than one hundred and eighty -millions of francs for the monopoly the last year of its existence, -immense fortunes were made by all concerned. The Revolution caused the -abolition of the privilege, and all the “farmers” were executed. - -[3] “The Enemies of Books,” by William Blades. - -[4] During the riots of February, 1831, a mob of self-elected “public -censors” attacked the palace of the Archbishop of Paris at Notre Dame, -destroyed many valuable paintings, ruined the furniture, and threw a -large part of the library into the Seine. - -[5] ANGULUS. A secret nook or corner, meaning, in this instance, the -Sabine farm presented to Horace by Mæcenas, which the poet declared in -his “Odes” to be all-sufficient for his needs. - -[6] Galliot du Pré flourished in Paris during the middle of the -sixteenth century. His publications, for the most part, bear the device -of a galley propelled by sails and oars, with the legend “Vogue la -Gualee.” - -[7] The library of Richard Heber was sold a few years after this -supposed incident. The various sessions of the auction occupied -portions of two hundred days, from 1834 to 1836. - -[8] Nodier used the term “ménecheme,” or twin brother, a word taken -from a comedy by Plautus. - -[9] The thirty-sixth part of an inch. - -[10] “HOMERI OPERA, græce. Florentiæ, sumptibus Bern. et Nerii -Nerliorum. 1488.” Two volumes, folio. The first edition of Homer, -printed at the expense of the brothers Nerli, after a copy prepared -by Demetrius Chalcondyles of Athens. The De Cotte copy was uncut, and -sold for 3601 francs. It was bought by M. Caillard, and passed into -the Bibliothèque du Roi after his death, where it replaced a vellum -copy that the French were constrained to return to the library of Saint -Marc, Venice. - -[11] The “Trinitate” of Servetus: a small octavo, printed in 1531. A -copy was sold as indicated. See Brunet’s “Manuel du Libraire.” - -[12] “BIBLIOTHÈQUE CURIEUSE, ou catalogue raisonné de livres difficiles -à trouver. Par David Clement. Göttingen, 1750-1760.” Nine volumes, 4to. -Many of the books described in this catalogue, which was carried only -to the letter H, have yet to be found; in fact, it is largely conceded -that they do not--perhaps never did--exist. - -[13] The Giunta edition of Boccaccio, printed at Firenze, 1527, is -esteemed the best edition of this famous book. A so-called facsimile -was printed at Venice in 1729, but the counterfeit is discovered by the -formation of the a, as indicated. - -[Illustration: THE DE VINNE PRESS] - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIBLIOMANIAC *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Bibliomaniac</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Charles Nodier</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Translator: Mabel Osgood Wright</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: Maurice Leloir</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Contributor: René Vallery-Radot</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: October 17, 2021 [eBook #66552]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Tim Lindell, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIBLIOMANIAC ***</div> -<hr class="full" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/cover.jpg"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" height="500" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/title.png"> -<img src="images/title.png" height="500" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_1" id="page_1">{1}</a></span> </p> - -<p class="c"><i>The<br /> -Bibliomaniac</i><br /><br /> -<i>By Charles Nodier</i><br /><br /> -<i>New-York<br /> -J. O. Wright & Co.<br /> -1894</i> -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_2" id="page_2">{2}</a></span> </p> - -<p class="c">One hundred and fifty copies printed on Japan paper, of which this is No. 48</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_3" id="page_3">{3}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_4" id="page_4">{4}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_5" id="page_5">{5}</a></span> </p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_frontispiece.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_frontispiece.jpg" -height="550" -alt="[The image of Charles nodier is unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<h1>THE BIBLIOMANIAC</h1> - -<p class="cb"> -<img src="images/bycharles.png" -width="400" -alt=" -BY CHARLES NODIER" /> -<br /><br /> -WITH FORTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DESIGNS<br /> -BY MAURICE LELOIR, ENGRAVED ON WOOD BY<br /> -F. NOEL, AND A PREFACE BY R. VALLERY-RADOT<br /> -<br /><br /> -TRANSLATED BY<br /><big> -MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT</big><br /> -<br /><br /> -<img src="images/colophon.png" -width="125" -alt="[Image unavailable.]" /> -<br /><br /> - -J. O. WRIGHT & COMPANY<br /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_6" id="page_6">{6}</a></span> -NEW-YORK · MDCCCXCIV<br /> -<br /> -Copyright, 1894, by<br /> -<span class="smcap">J. O. Wright & Company</span><br /> -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_7" id="page_7">{7}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_8" id="page_8">{8}</a></span> </p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_008.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_008.jpg" width="443" height="584" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_9" id="page_9">{9}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">“G</span><span class="smcap">ood, amiable Nodier</span>,” are the words by which the world, apart from -scholars, characterizes Charles Nodier. He is portrayed with a flowered -vest, and a frock-coat with great lapels, finished by one of those -collars which, by an easy play upon words, are called <i>les cols -(l’école) des vieillards</i>. Nodier’s collar, which turned up slightly at -the points in a Prudhommesque manner, touched the corners of his -refined, kindly mouth; but it is difficult immediately to associate the -remembrance of certain books with this 1835 face, for time obliterates -everything.</p> - -<p>If Nodier belonged by right of his first<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_10" id="page_10">{10}</a></span> literary impressions to the -classical school, his liberal spirit soon identified itself with that of -the romanticists. His face, full of genial originality, bore the -characteristics of a man living between two literary epochs; but history -little by little soon effaced all these tints and shades. Nodier was -also one of those improvisators who talked their books. Contemporaries, -in reading them, seemed to hear him speak, and a little imagination -added to the surprises of these written conversations; but when the -voice ceases the charm vanishes.</p> - -<p>It is certain that the reader of to-day is somewhat at a loss in the -company of a book of Nodier’s, and feels very much as when, in a -military panorama, he sees the wheel of a real caisson, and often a -veri<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_11" id="page_11">{11}</a></span>table cannon and cannon-ball, which at first sight blend with the -painted canvas, until it is difficult to say where the actual ends and -the illusion begins. If we read his reminiscences and studies of his own -time in a credulous spirit, we shall constantly say, “Nodier is -mistaken; what he tells us is not only wholly improbable but impossible, -and is completely at variance with history”—until the wise reader -decides that Nodier’s entire writings should bear the title of one of -his books, “Contes et Fantaisies.”</p> - -<p>Perhaps it would be interesting to separate the true from the false in -these works of Nodier, and to show how the thread of truth disappears -under his embroidery. In confining the investigation to this little -book, “The Bibliomaniac,” taken from<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_12" id="page_12">{12}</a></span> “Les Contes de la Veillée,”<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and -rejuvenated by the illustrations of Maurice Leloir, one may have the -pleasure of bringing to light, by the aid of letters and comparisons, -the best and most absorbing passion that controlled Nodier. Is it not a -summary of his passion, from the first lines? If he left the Arsenal -Library, where he had been appointed librarian at the end of the year -1823 by a bibliographical minister, M. de Corbière, it was to stroll -among the old book-dealers. If he wrote to the friend of his childhood, -who became his lifelong confidant, his fellow-countryman of -Franche-Comté, Charles Weiss, it was a litany of bibliographical -enthusiasm. Small as his means were, Nodier had the incurable mania of -book-buying. The noun and the adjective are his own words. But,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_13" id="page_13">{13}</a></span> he said -one day, this craze is no more vain in its final results than any other -of the illusions of life. Also, in perusing the sayings of the hero of -this story, Theodore, we feel that Nodier sympathizes with him from the -bottom of his heart. Theodore sometimes resembles him like a brother, -and we cannot help regretting that Nodier could not wholly make up his -mind to amuse himself fully at his own expense, or to take from real -life a man he knew very well, rather than treat him incidentally.</p> - -<p>This original and true bibliomaniac, for Nodier’s Theodore is merely a -degenerate bibliophile, was celebrated at the time of the Restoration. -He was a lawyer named Boulard, who, instead of admiring an imposing row -of books in his cabinet, like<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_14" id="page_14">{14}</a></span> his fellows, only took pleasure in -arranging them on the shelves, or in piling them up in his closets. His -library was scattered everywhere in this strange study, which overflowed -with cheap literature from auction sales. Finally, there was such an -invasion of books that Boulard, becoming the owner of the house in which -he lived, expelled all his tenants in turn, and took possession himself -of floor after floor for the storage of his books. After this he bought -six other houses which he turned into depositories for books. One day, -when Nodier asked him for a certain book, Boulard, going from one house -to another, struck the stacks, the walls, the ramparts, of books with -his cane, saying in triumphant irony, “It is either here or there.” -Boulard,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_15" id="page_15">{15}</a></span> growing ill, and no longer able to go out, had the books -brought to his bed. He handled them, asked their price, and held them up -with admiring affection. As his memory became more and more impaired, he -would buy the same book three or four times over. His family, worried at -his growing mania, and not desiring to oppose the fervor of his wishes, -which were turning violently to certain fixed ideas, conceived the plan -of showing him a great part of his own books, which he no longer -recognized, as if they were new acquisitions. This gave him a joyous -surprise at every moment, and Boulard, having thus delightfully reviewed -all his past life, went to sleep forever, over a book, in 1825.</p> - -<p>The remembrance of his death doubt<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_16" id="page_16">{16}</a></span>less inspired Nodier with the -half-sad, half-amusing ending of his Bibliomaniac. Boulard was the type -of bibliomaniac whose progressive malady would be the most interesting -to study. What was Nodier’s object, then, in searching here and there -for materials with which to sketch an imaginary figure, when the notary -was at hand? Nodier always followed the plan of taking his imagination -as a guide; but imagination has also its moods and caprices, and it is a -mistake for an author to be so fanciful that he ceases to follow the -simple and fertile lead of nature.</p> - -<p>Nodier could have chosen still another original, the Dutch baron -Westreeven van Tiellandt. This extraordinary person kept his library -under triple lock for forty years.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_17" id="page_17">{17}</a></span> One day, however, in an access of -good feeling, he said to two of his best friends: “You have often -expressed a desire to see my books. I want to oblige you both, but you -must submit to certain conditions: before entering my library you must -each put on a dressing-gown which I have expressly prepared, because -your clothes might be saturated with a smell which is bad for books; and -you must wear the slippers that I have provided, because your shoes -might be full of dangerous dust.” The baron, however, invariably found -an excuse for postponing the visit to his library, and died without -having kept his promise. As the baron survived Nodier some years, this -last feature could not have been portrayed with its attendant moral. The -“Bulletin du<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_18" id="page_18">{18}</a></span> Bibliophile,” which owed its existence in part to Nodier, -took upon itself the baron’s funeral oration and reproduced his will. In -leaving his library to the city of The Hague, the baron stipulated that -it should be open only on the first and third Thursdays of each month, -and only to people who had been provided the preceding day with cards of -admission. “Never,” he said, “under any pretext, shall the books or -manuscripts be taken outside the reading-room.” No further purchases -were to be made, except to complete the collections which he had himself -begun—he whose restless and jealous spirit wished to hover around his -books.</p> - -<p>Avarice, either in the Latin sense of the word or in its more modern -meaning, is the agony of a man who is made to trem<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_19" id="page_19">{19}</a></span>ble by every trifle -when he contemplates his possessions. Some of these bibliomaniacs are -like very rich people, of whom it is said, “They leave a great fortune.” -The verb “to leave” has here rather an ironical meaning. It is as much -as saying that they have amassed wealth without having been themselves -the gainers thereby.</p> - -<p>The book-collector belongs to a race of refined egotists. He knows and -tastes the subtle, intense joy which comes from the sight and possession -of a fine book. Even before opening it, he handles it caressingly, -touching its pages lightly as he would the wings of a butterfly.</p> - -<p>In order not to stray too far from the pictures of other days which -Nodier evoked, let us look at the charming type of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_20" id="page_20">{20}</a></span> book-collector who -was worthy of the name: Silvestre de Sacy. During the eighteen years of -the reign of Louis Philippe, Sacy might have been seen lounging along -the quays, on his way to the Palais Bourbon, where he followed the -parliamentary debates in his journalistic vocation, carrying almost -always a selection of Madame de Sévigné’s letters in his hand. When he -returned home it was to take Montaigne, Bossuet, or some other classic, -clothed in bindings worthy of them, from a shelf close at hand. By this -daily reading he added to his mixture of Christianity and philosophy; -but as he cared only for the best editions, he was afraid of rich men, -and regarded them as the absorbers of fine books. <i>Multi vocati, pauci -lecti</i>,—many are called, but few read,—was what<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_21" id="page_21">{21}</a></span> D’Argenson had -already proposed as an inscription for the library of a <i>fermier -général</i>.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Sacy, when he dreamed, on the eve of a book sale, of this -or that volume which he coveted, and which he feared he might not be -able to hold successfully against the fancy or caprice of some -financier, would have palpitation of the heart. Prévost-Paradol wrote of -him: “This Christian, whom some would like to call austere, if the word -austerity could cover so much forbearance and perfect gentleness, became -a sort of epicure in all that concerned his reading.”</p> - -<p>The love of books was such a part of his life that when some one asked -for his autograph, to add to one of his lithographic portraits,—a -picture in which he lives again, peaceful, mischievous, and be<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_22" id="page_22">{22}</a></span>nevolent, -all at the same time, like a citizen of the true, liberal, and literary -race,—he could not refrain from declaring, in a half page which is -reproduced in facsimile, that of all passions that of the book-collector -is ever the best. Even though his eyes suffered severely from fatigue, -it did not discourage his ardent affection for his books. Has he not -said in one of those confidences in which lies the charm of his -criticisms, “If I become blind I think I shall still take pleasure in -holding a beautiful book in my hand. I shall at least feel the softness -of its binding, and imagine that I can see it: I have seen so many!”</p> - -<p>“O my beloved books,” he wrote in connection with the dispersion of a -library, “some day you will also be exhibited in an auction-room, when -you will pass into<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_23" id="page_23">{23}</a></span> other hands, owners perhaps less worthy of you than -your present master. Yet these books that I have selected, one by one, -are truly mine, collected by the sweat of my brow; and I love them so, -that it seems to me they have become a part of my very soul by such a -long and precious intercourse.”</p> - -<p>There speaks the bibliophile, who loves books as they ought to be loved, -who lives with them, asks their advice, and cherishes and protects them -against their numerous enemies. An English typographer<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> thus -enumerates the enemies of books: “Fire, water, gas, heat, dust, neglect, -ignorance, rats, mice, and finally bookbinders,”—adding the last with -the sudden anger of a man who has suffered by having some fine book -hopelessly cut<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_24" id="page_24">{24}</a></span> down. He might have mentioned an enemy still more -dangerous, the most difficult of all to vanquish—an enemy of every day -and hour, ever present, and ready alike for open warfare or for -subterfuge: woman.</p> - -<p>With a few rare and conspicuous exceptions, women are anti-bibliophiles -or book-haters. A book in their eyes is merely a newspaper: they crease -and crumple it as they turn its leaves. Lacking a paper-knife to cut the -edges, they use a card, a pin, or even a hair-pin. If a rare book is -under discussion, they appear more interested in the smallest trifle -than in all the first editions that exist. They prefer a scrap of ribbon -to the most exquisite binding. If you take from its shrine a miniature -volume, unique enough to make<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_25" id="page_25">{25}</a></span> a book-lover turn pale with delight, do -not trust it to a woman, for in opening it she will split its back. The -best of husbands may give the key of his safe to his wife, but he must -not give her, even for one moment, the key of his library. A woman -should never be left alone with a book, and such in fact should be the -rule with all married book-lovers.</p> - -<p>Nodier said that, after woman, books are the most delightful things in -the world. Why do not women comprehend this, and increase their -influence by their appreciation of books?</p> - -<p>Following the bibliomaniac who hoards, and the bibliophile who collects, -according to the very correct terms of Nodier, come the amateurs of the -old book-cult. Nodier and Sacy give them the incorrect title of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_26" id="page_26">{26}</a></span> -<i>bouquiniste</i> (dealer in old books), when their knowledge as -Academicians should have made them use the word <i>bouquineur</i> (old-book -hunter) in order to avoid confusion. To their ears <i>bouquiniste</i> -evidently had a pleasing sound. How Sacy despised the collector of -dirty, damaged books, which were fit only to be sent to a book-hospital, -supposing such a place to exist!</p> - -<p>“I know him!” cried Sacy in a rage,—“this amateur who buys books for -three or five cents, or in a moment of folly even paying as much as six -cents. In other things he is a man of wit and taste, a polite man and a -good companion, whose only depravity is concerning books.”</p> - -<p>If you have the curiosity to learn the identity of this charming man -with the single unpardonable fault, it can be found<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_27" id="page_27">{27}</a></span> in a little book of -memoirs by Étienne Delécluze, an editor of the “Journal des Débats.” He -says that nothing was more amusing than the quarrels which arose between -Sacy and Saint-Marc Girardin on the subject of books—the one being -unable to find either text or binding of sufficient beauty to express -the admiration inspired by the writings of Cicero and Molière, Fénelon -and Montaigne; the other careless about the exterior condition of a -book, but eager to know its contents. These two charming minds have -created laughter more than once when, in answer to the tantalizing tone -in which Saint-Marc uttered the word <i>bibliophile</i> (collector of best -editions), Sacy would reply with humorous gaiety, “You are only a -<i>bouquiniste</i>” (old-book dealer).<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_28" id="page_28">{28}</a></span></p> - -<p>While these figures float and vanish, between the lines of the -bibliomaniac appears the figure of a philosophic <i>bouquineur</i>, who comes -closer to us, and who has often been seen by the frequenters of the -quays. It is Xavier Marmier. He walked from box to box with short steps, -his only journeys then being among the trays of the book-dealers—this -man who in former times had been such a great traveller. A little broken -by his eighty years, and his lower lip drooping, his expression at the -same time was kindly and intelligent, bearing the marks both of easy -skepticism and extreme good will. He would turn the books over, ask the -price, and slip two or three volumes into the deep pockets of his blue -coat.</p> - -<p>One day he said to me, with an air of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_29" id="page_29">{29}</a></span> triumph, “I have just bought the -first edition of one of my own books. This fact of its being the first -edition, however, does not add much to the value of the book; but these -‘Lettres sur le Nord’ have shivered so long in the box, and have spent -so many weeks in the same place, that I took pity on them.”</p> - -<p>Then Marmier told me with provincial gaiety that the seller—a gamin -who, strangely enough, did not know him—had asked him two francs for -the copy.</p> - -<p>“Two francs!” exclaimed Marmier.</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir; that is what it is worth. It is by Marmier.”</p> - -<p>“Hum! hum! I know that it is by Marmier, but that does not make it worth -two francs.”</p> - -<p>“But, sir, he is an Academician.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_30" id="page_30">{30}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“]Are you sure of that?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir; it says so on the cover.”</p> - -<p>“But has he not been dead a long time?”</p> - -<p>“That I do not know, but it is possible that he has.”</p> - -<p>“See here,” said Marmier, “dead or alive he is not worth more than -thirty sous.”</p> - -<p>“Well, then, you may have it.”</p> - -<p>And Marmier, very happy, took the book, intending to give it to some old -friend, “who perhaps will not sell it before to-morrow,” he said.</p> - -<p>Dear, good man, who from searching in many boxes had found true -wisdom—not to be deceived, and to be lenient. “Ah! book-hunting is the -best passion that I can wish you,” he said, the last time<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_31" id="page_31">{31}</a></span> that I saw -him, when he was weak, and walked with difficulty, but looked calmly -into the face of death.</p> - -<p>Bouquinistes, bibliophiles, and bibliomaniacs all live happily because -of this passion, and bless it. Charles Nodier knew its delightful -anxieties so well that, a few hours before he died, his last thought—so -his daughter Madame Mennessier-Nodier writes, in the book that she has -affectionately consecrated to him—was to dictate an account of a few -trifling debts that he owed his binders and the booksellers.</p> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">R. Vallery-Radot.</span><br /> -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_32" id="page_32">{32}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_33" id="page_33">{33}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_34" id="page_34">{34}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_35" id="page_35">{35}</a></span> </p> - -<h1>THE BIBLIOMANIAC</h1> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_035.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_035.jpg" width="363" height="213" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<h2>THE BIBLIOMANIAC</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">Y</span><span class="smcap">ou</span> all know Theodore. I have come to strew some flowers upon his grave, -praying heaven that the earth may touch him lightly.</p> - -<p>These two familiar phrases will tell you plainly that I am about to -consecrate some pages to him as an obituary notice or funeral oration.</p> - -<p>It is twenty years since Theodore retired from the world, to work or to -be<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_36" id="page_36">{36}</a></span> idle: which of the two was a great secret. He dreamed, and no one -knew what he dreamed about. He passed his life surrounded by books, and -occupied himself with nothing else, which gave some people the idea that -he was writing a book which would supersede all other books; but they -were evidently mistaken.</p> - -<p>Theodore had studied too much not to know that this book had been -written three hundred years ago. It was the thirteenth chapter of the -first book of Rabelais.</p> - -<p>Theodore no longer talked, nor laughed, neither played cards or gambled, -nor ate, no longer went to balls or to the theatre. The women whom he -had loved in his youth no longer attracted him, or at most he looked -only at their feet; and when some elegant and brilliantly colored -footgear caught his attention, alas! he would say, heaving a sigh from -the depths of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_37" id="page_37">{37}</a></span> chest, there is a great waste of good morocco! He had -formerly followed the fashions. Those who remember the time, tell us -that he was the first to tie his cravat on the left side, -notwithstanding the dictum of Garat, who tied his on the right, and in -spite of the common herd, who still continue to tie theirs in the -middle.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_037.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_037.jpg" width="318" height="326" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p>Theodore was no longer worried by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_38" id="page_38">{38}</a></span> fashions. He had only one dispute -with his tailor during twenty years: “Sir,” he said to him one day, “it -will be the last coat I shall take from you, if you again forget to make -my pockets in quarto.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_038.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_038.jpg" width="303" height="363" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p>Politics, by whose vagaries so many fools have made their fortunes, had -never tempted him from his reveries for more<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_39" id="page_39">{39}</a></span> than a moment. Politics -put him in a bad temper. After Napoleon’s futile enterprise in the -North, which raised the price of russia leather, he welcomed the French -intervention in the Spanish revolution. “This,” he said, “is a good -chance to bring chivalric romances and the <i>Cancioneros</i> from the -Peninsula.” But the expeditionary army did not think of it, and he was -vexed. When any one said <i>Trocadero</i> to him, he would reply ironically, -<i>Romancero</i>, which made him pass for a Liberal.</p> - -<p>M. de Bourmont’s campaign on the African coast transported him with joy. -“Thank heaven!” he said, rubbing his hands; “we shall have cheap levant -morocco.” This made him pass for a Carlist.</p> - -<p>He was walking one summer’s day in a crowded street, collating a book, -when some men, who were coming with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_40" id="page_40">{40}</a></span> staggering gait from a saloon, -commanded him, knife at throat, to cry in the name</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_040.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_040.jpg" width="367" height="360" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p class="nind">of liberty, “Long live the Poles!” “I ask nothing better,” said -Theodore, whose perpetual thought was an eternal cry in favor of the -human race; “but may I ask why?” “Because we declare war against -Holland, who oppresses Poland under the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_41" id="page_41">{41}</a></span> pretext that they do not like -the Jesuits,” replied the friend of light, who was a rude geographer and -a fearless logician. “God forgive us!” muttered our friend, crossing his -hands piteously. “Shall we not in this case be obliged to use M. -Montgolfier’s imitation Holland paper?”</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_041.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_041.jpg" width="358" height="320" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p>The product of modern civilization answered by breaking Theodore’s leg -with a blow of his stick.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_42" id="page_42">{42}</a></span></p> - -<p>Theodore stayed in his bed for three months, examining book-catalogues. -Always disposed to carry his feelings to extremes, this reading fevered -his blood.</p> - -<p>Even in his convalescence his sleep was horribly uneasy. One night his -wife roused him from the tortures of the nightmare. “You came just in -time,” he said, embracing her, “to save me from dying of grief and fear. -I was surrounded by monsters who would give me no quarter.”</p> - -<p>“What monsters do you dread, my dear?” she said,—“you who have never -injured any one.”</p> - -<p>“It was, if I remember rightly, the ghost of Purgold whose fatal shears -devoured an inch and a half of the margins of my uncut Aldus, while the -shade of Heudier pitilessly plunged my most beautiful <i>editio princeps</i> -into a devouring acid, withdrawing it entirely bleached; but I<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_43" id="page_43">{43}</a></span> have -good reason to think that they are at least both in purgatory.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_043.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_043.jpg" width="369" height="424" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p>His wife thought that he was talking Greek, because he knew a little -Greek, and as a proof of his knowledge three shelves in his library were -filled with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_44" id="page_44">{44}</a></span> Greek books with uncut leaves. He never opened them either, -but was satisfied to show them by the side or back to his most intimate -acquaintances, telling with calm assurance the place where they were -printed, the date, and the printer’s name. The simple-minded considered -him a sorcerer. But about this there is a difference of opinion.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 243px;"> -<a href="images/i_044.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_044.jpg" width="243" height="324" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p>As he was wasting away under their very eyes, his family called in a -physician, who was both a philosopher and a man of intelligence.</p> - -<p>You will discover if this was the case. This physician saw that -congestion of the brain was imminent, and made an elabo<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_45" id="page_45">{45}</a></span>rate report of -this disease in the “Journal des Sciences Médicales,” where it figures -under the name of morocco monomania or bibliomaniac’s typhus; but it was -not a question for the Academy of Sciences, because the illness was in -conjunction with cholera morbus.</p> - -<p>They advised him to take exercise; and, as the idea amused him, we -started out early one day, for I could not trust him to go a step alone. -We turned toward the quays, and I was rejoicing because I thought that -the sight of the river would revive him; but he never took his eyes from -the level of the parapets. They were as free from show-cases as if they -had been visited early in the morning by the public censor, who in -February had sent the archiepiscopal library in swimming.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> We were -more fortunate at the Quai aux Fleurs, where books were in profusion.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_46" id="page_46">{46}</a></span> -But what books! All the works which the newspapers had puffed during the -last month, and which had gone from the</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_046.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_046.jpg" width="348" height="347" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p class="nind">publisher’s office, or the bookseller, into the ten-cent box. Authors of -every kind and sort, philosophers, historians, poets, novelists, who -could not be wafted to immortality by the most alluring advertisements, -and whose works go unheeded<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_47" id="page_47">{47}</a></span> from the shelves of the store to the banks -of the Seine, a deep Lethe, where they contemplate, while decaying, the -certain end of their presumptive flight. I turned over there the pages -of some of my octavos, which were placed between those of five or six of -my friends.</p> - -<p>Theodore sighed, but it was not because he saw the works of my brain -exposed to the rain, owing to the scanty protection of an oil-cloth -cover.</p> - -<p>“What has become of the golden age of the outdoor venders of old books? -It was here, certainly, that my famous friend Barbier collected his -treasures until he was able to make a precise bibliography of several -thousand items. It was here that Monmerqué, on his way to the Palais, -and wise Labouderie, while leaving the city, walked for hours with -instruction and profit. It was from here that old Boulard<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_48" id="page_48">{48}</a></span> carried away -daily a yard of rarities, measuring them with his surveyor’s -cane,—volumes for which there was no place reserved in his six houses -stuffed with books. How often on such occasions had he desired the -modest <i>angulus</i><a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> of Horace, or the elastic cover of the fairies’ -tent, which if necessary could shield the whole army of Xerxes, and -which might be carried as easily in one’s belt as the knife-sheath of -Jeannot’s grandfather. Now, more’s the pity, you see only fragments of -modern literature which will never become ancient, whose life will have -evaporated in twenty-four hours, like that of the flies of the river -Hypanis: a literature worthy in truth of the charcoal ink and pulp paper -used by mercenary printers, who are almost as foolish as the books. It -is profaning the name of books to give it to these black-blotted rags, -whose des<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_49" id="page_49">{49}</a></span>tinies have not even changed in leaving the basket on the -rag-picker’s shoulders. The quays henceforth are the morgue for -contemporary celebrities.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_049.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_049.jpg" width="333" height="440" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p>He sighed again, and I sighed too, but it was for a different reason.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_50" id="page_50">{50}</a></span></p> - -<p>I was in a hurry to lead him away, because his increasing excitement -seemed to threaten him at any moment with a fatal attack. It must have -been an unlucky day, for everything combined to increase his melancholy.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_050.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_050.jpg" width="343" height="359" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p>“See,” he said, in passing the showy shop-front of Ladvocat, “the -<i>Galliot du Pré</i><a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> of the debased literature of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_51" id="page_51">{51}</a></span> nineteenth -century; a liberal, industrious bookseller, who deserved to have been -born in a better time, but whose deplorable activity has cruelly -multiplied new books, to the everlasting injury of the old; an -unpardonable patron of cotton-made paper, of incorrect spelling, and of -stilted illustrations; a fatal protector of academic prose and -fashionable poetry: as if France had produced any poetry since Ronsard, -or any prose after Montaigne! This bookseller’s palace is like the -Trojan horse that held the thieves of the Palladium—like Pandora’s box, -which let loose all the evils of the earth. But yet I like this -cannibal, and I shall be a chapter in his book, but I shall not see him -again!”</p> - -<p>“Look,” he continued, “there is Crozet’s store with the green walls. He -is the most agreeable of our young booksellers, the man of all Paris who -can best<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_52" id="page_52">{52}</a></span> distinguish between a binding by Derome the elder and Derome -the younger, and the last hope of a passing generation of amateurs, if -the cult of old books should return in the midst of our barbarity. But I -shall not enjoy his conversation to-day, even though I always learn -something from it. He is in England, where he is competing, by the right -of retaliation, with the greedy usurers of Soho Square and Fleet Street -for the precious fragments of the monuments of our beautiful language -which have been forgotten for two centuries on the ungrateful soil that -produced them. <i>Macte animo, generoso puer!</i>...”</p> - -<p>“Here,” he said, retracing his steps,—“here is the Pont-des-Arts, with -its useless side-rails only a few centimeters wide, affording no support -for the noble folios of three centuries, majestic volumes with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_53" id="page_53">{53}</a></span> pigskin -covers and bronze clasps, which have delighted the eyes of ten -generations. This is truly an emblematic bridge, leading from the Palais -to the Institute by a path which is not the path of science. I do not -know whether I am mistaken, but the invention of a bridge of this kind -should be a startling illustration to the erudite of the decadence of -good literature.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_053.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_053.jpg" width="346" height="149" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p>“There,” said Theodore, passing the white sign of an active and -ingenious bookseller in the Place du Louvre, “that sign has made my -heart palpitate for a long time; but I no longer see it without<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_54" id="page_54">{54}</a></span> a -sensation of pain, since Techener has reprinted with Tastu’s characters, -on showy paper, and under an enticing cover, the gothic marvels of Jehan -Bonfons of Paris, Jehan Mareschal of Lyons, and Jehan de Chaney of -Avignon, unobtainable trifles until he produced them in delightful -facsimile. Snow-white paper fills me with horror, my friend; and there -is nothing that I like less, except this same paper when it has received -from the stroke of a cruel pressman, the deplorable imprint of the -visions and idiocies of this iron age.”</p> - -<p>Theodore sighed more frequently, and was rapidly growing worse.</p> - -<p>We thus came in the Rue des Bons-Enfants, to the literary bazaar where -Silvestre held his auction sales. It was a place honored by learned men, -which has seen more priceless curios during a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_55" id="page_55">{55}</a></span> quarter of a century than -the library of the Ptolemies ever held (which library perhaps was not -burned by Omar, whatever our twaddling historians may say). I had never -seen so many splendid books on exhibition.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 236px;"> -<a href="images/i_055.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_055.jpg" width="236" height="434" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p>“Unfortunate people who have to sell them,” I said to Theodore.</p> - -<p>“They are dead,” he said, “or it would kill them.”</p> - -<p>But the hall was empty. No one was to be seen except the indefatigable -M. Thour, who was patiently cataloguing upon cards the titles of the -books which<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_56" id="page_56">{56}</a></span> had escaped his notice the previous day. The happiest among -all men is he who has at his command, and accurately arranged, a -faithful transcription of the title-pages of all known books. It is -nothing to him if all the productions of printing are destroyed in the -next revolution which the perfection of progress promises us. He can -leave to posterity the complete catalogue of the universal library. He -would have admirable forethought in seeing from afar the necessity for -compiling this inventory of civilization. A few years more, and -civilization will be no longer spoken about.</p> - -<p>“God forgive me, Theodore,” said Silvestre; “you have mistaken the day. -Those books that you see were sold yesterday in the last session, and -are waiting for the porter to deliver them.” Theodore reeled and turned -pale. His face assumed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_57" id="page_57">{57}</a></span> the tint of old citron morocco. I felt the blow -that had struck him, to the bottom of my own heart.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_057.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_057.jpg" width="359" height="331" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p>“It is no matter,” he said, with an altered manner. “I recognize only my -usual ill luck in this bad news. But to whom do these things belong, -these pearls and diamonds, these wonderful<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_58" id="page_58">{58}</a></span> riches in which the -libraries of de Thou and Grolier would have gloried?”</p> - -<p>“As usual, sir,” Silvestre answered, “these original editions of the -classics, these perfect old copies with the autographs of celebrated -scholars, these piquant philological curiosities, of which academy and -university have never heard, rightfully revert to Richard Heber.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> It -is the British lion’s share, to whom we are willing to surrender, with -good grace, the Greek and Latin classics which we have ceased to -understand. These fine collections of natural history, these -masterpieces of workmanship and pictorial art, belong to Prince ——, who -uses his studious tastes to still further enhance his great fortune. -These mysteries of the middle ages, these phœnix-like precepts whose -counterpart<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> is no longer in existence, these curious dramatic -attempts<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_59" id="page_59">{59}</a></span> of our ancestors, will swell the model library of M. de -Soleine. These well-preserved facetiæ, so strikingly subtle and -enjoyable, have been purchased by your friend M. Aimé-Martin. I need not -tell you to whom these fresh, brilliant morocco bindings belong, with -the triple fillets, wide dentelle, and sumptuous panels. He is the -Shakespeare among the minor collectors, the Corneille of melodrama, the -graceful and often eloquent interpreter of the feelings and virtues of -the populace, who, after having depreciated the value of books in the -morning, bought them for their weight in gold in the evening, not, -however, without grinding his teeth like a mortally wounded boar, and -turning a tragic eye, veiled by black eyebrows, upon his rivals.”</p> - -<p>Theodore had ceased to listen. He was handling a beautiful volume that -he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_60" id="page_60">{60}</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_060.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_060.jpg" width="362" height="319" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p class="nind">hurriedly measured with his Elzevirometer, a six-inch measure divided -almost to infinity, by which he regulated the price, and, alas! the -intrinsic merit also, of his books. He measured the accursed book ten -times and as many times verified the troublesome calculation, muttered -some words that I did not understand, finally changed color, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_61" id="page_61">{61}</a></span> -fainted in my arms. I had great difficulty in getting him into a passing -carriage.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_061.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_061.jpg" width="263" height="211" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p>For a long time my attempts to learn the cause of his sudden grief were -futile. He did not speak. He did not hear my words. It is the typhus -fever, I thought, and the crisis of the fever.</p> - -<p>I held him in my arms. I continued to question him. At last he spoke.</p> - -<p>“You see in me,” he said, “the most unhappy of men. That book is the -1676 Virgil, on large paper, of which I thought that I had the best -example known, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_62" id="page_62">{62}</a></span> yet this is taller than mine, by the third of a -line.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> Prejudiced or spiteful minds might even call it half a line. A -third of a line, good God!”</p> - -<p>I was confounded. I saw that the delirium was increasing.</p> - -<p>“A third of a line,” he repeated, shaking his fist furiously in the air -like Ajax or Capaneus. All my limbs trembled.</p> - -<p>He gradually fell into a state of deep depression.</p> - -<p>The poor man lived only to suffer. He repeated from time to time, “The -third of a line!” and wrung his hands, while I kept saying, in an -undertone, “Confusion to books and typhus fever!”</p> - -<p>“Calm yourself, my friend,” I whispered gently in his ear, each time the -paroxysm was renewed. “A third of a line is not much, even in the most -particular things of life.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_63" id="page_63">{63}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Not much?” he cried; “a third of a line in the 1676 Virgil! It was the -third of a line that raised the price of the Nerli Homer at M. de -Cotte’s<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> a hundred louis. A third of a line! Ah! would you count the -third of a line nothing in the length of a dagger that pierced your -heart?”</p> - -<p>His expression again wholly changed, his arms became rigid, his legs -were seized with cramps as in a vise. The typhus was visibly reaching -the extremities. I did not desire to lengthen by even the third of a -line the short distance that separated us from the house.</p> - -<p>At last we arrived there.</p> - -<p>“A third of a line,” he said to the concierge.</p> - -<p>“A third of a line,” he said to the cook, who opened the door.</p> - -<p>“A third of a line,” he said to his wife, with a flood of tears.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_64" id="page_64">{64}</a></span></p> - -<p>“My parrot has flown away!” cried his little girl, likewise weeping.</p> - -<p>“Why did you leave the cage open?” replied Theodore. “A third of a -line!”</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_064.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_064.jpg" width="346" height="366" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p>“There is an uprising in the South and in the Rue du Cadran,” said the -old aunt, who was reading the evening paper.</p> - -<p>“What the devil are the people med<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_65" id="page_65">{65}</a></span>dling with?” answered Theodore. “A -third of a line!”</p> - -<p>“Your farm at la Beauce has been burned,” said his servant in putting -him to bed.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_065.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_065.jpg" width="357" height="314" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p>“It must be rebuilt,” said Theodore, “if it is worth the trouble. A -third of a line!”</p> - -<p>“Do you think that this is serious?” the nurse asked me.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_66" id="page_66">{66}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Your question proves, my good woman, that you have not read the -‘Journal des Sciences Médicales.’ Why do you delay in getting a priest?”</p> - -<p>Happily at that minute the curé came in to converse, as was his custom, -about the thousand and one literary and bibliographical trifles from -which his breviary had not wholly distracted him; but he forgot them all -when he felt Theodore’s pulse.</p> - -<p>“Alas! my child,” he said, “the life of man is only a journey, and even -the world itself is not set upon everlasting foundations. It must end -like everything that has a beginning.”</p> - -<p>“Have you read, on this subject,” said Theodore, “the ‘Treatise on the -World, its Origin and its Antiquity’?”</p> - -<p>“I learned all that I know from the book of Genesis,” said the -conservative pastor; “but I have heard it said that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_67" id="page_67">{67}</a></span> M. de Mirabeau, a -sophist of the last century, had written a book upon this subject.”</p> - -<p>“<i>Sub judice lis est</i>,” Theodore interrupted brusquely. “I have proved -in my ‘Stromates’ that the first two parts of ‘Le Monde’ were by that -dreadfully pedantic Mirabeau, and the third was by the Abbé Lemascrier.”</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 238px;"> -<a href="images/i_067.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_067.jpg" width="238" height="264" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p>“Ah! my goodness,” said the old aunt, taking off her spectacles; “then -who was it that made America?”</p> - -<p>“This is not the question now,” continued the abbé. “Do you believe in -the Trinity?”</p> - -<p>“How could I disbelieve the famous<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_68" id="page_68">{68}</a></span> volume of Servetus, ‘De Trinitate,’<span class="lftspc">”</span> -said Theodore, half raising himself on his pillow, “when I have seen an -example go, <i>ipsissimis oculis</i>, for the trifling sum of two hundred and -fifteen francs at the MacCarthy sale, while at the dispersal of the La -Vallière collection it brought seven hundred?”<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> - -<p>“We are straying from the point,” exclaimed the priest, a little -disconcerted. “I wish to know, my son, what you think of the divinity of -Jesus Christ.”</p> - -<p>“Well!” said Theodore, “it depends upon what you mean by it. I shall -maintain against every one that the ‘Toldos-Jeschu,’ which was written -by that ignorant railler Voltaire, who wasted on it a lot of foolish -fables worthy of the ‘Thousand and One Nights,’ is nothing but evil -rabbinesque nonsense, unworthy to be placed in the library of a -scholar.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_69" id="page_69">{69}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“That is well!” sighed the worthy ecclesiastic.</p> - -<p>“At least,” Theodore continued, “unless some one should discover the -large-paper copy, of which there is a hint, if my memory serves me, in -the bibliographic jumble of David Clement.”<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> - -<p>The curé groaned audibly, and, rising from his chair, bent over Theodore -to make him clearly understand, without ambiguity or equivocation, that -he was in the last stage of the bibliomaniac’s typhus which is spoken of -in the “Journal des Sciences Médicales,” and that he should not think of -anything but his salvation.</p> - -<p>Theodore had never intrenched himself behind that insolent negation of -unbelievers which is the science of fools; but the dear man had pushed -the useless study of the letter, in books, too far to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_70" id="page_70">{70}</a></span> comprehend the -spirit. In a perfect state of health a doctrine of any kind would give -him a fever, or a dogma induce lockjaw. In a theological matter he would -have lowered his colors before a Saint-Simonian. He turned his face to -the wall.</p> - -<p>A long time passed without a word, and we should have thought that he -was dead, except as I bent close to him I heard him murmur feebly, “A -third of a line! God of goodness and justice! but where will you give me -back that third of a line, and how far can your omnipotence retrieve the -irreparable error of that binder?”</p> - -<p>One of his friends, a bibliophile, came in a minute later. They told him -that Theodore was in the last agony; that he was delirious to the point -of thinking that the Abbé Lemascrier had made the third part of the -world; and that he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_71" id="page_71">{71}</a></span> lost his power of speech a quarter of an hour -before.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_071.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_071.jpg" width="334" height="389" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p>“I am going to make sure of it,” said the amateur. “By what mistake in -pagination do we recognize the genuine 1635 Elzevir edition of Cæsar?” -he asked Theodore.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_72" id="page_72">{72}</a></span></p> - -<p>“153 for 149.”</p> - -<p>“Very good. And of the Terence of the same year?”</p> - -<p>“108 for 104.”</p> - -<p>“The devil!” I said; “the Elzevirs played in bad luck with their figures -that year. They were wise not to choose it for the printing of their -logarithms.”</p> - -<p>“Wonderful!” continued Theodore’s friend. “If I had listened to these -people here, I should have believed that you were at the point of -death.”</p> - -<p>“A third of a line,” replied Theodore, whose voice was failing by -degrees.</p> - -<p>“I know your story, but it is nothing in comparison with mine. Think -what I lost, eight days ago, in one of those bastard, nameless sales -which are advertised only by a placard on the door,—a Boccaccio of -1527,<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> as beautiful as your own, the binding of Venetian vellum,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_73" id="page_73">{73}</a></span> -with the pointed a’s proved throughout, and not a leaf repaired.”</p> - -<p>All Theodore’s faculties concentrated in one idea.</p> - -<p>“Are you very sure that the a’s were pointed?”</p> - -<p>“As pointed as the iron tip of a lancer’s halberd.”</p> - -<p>“It was then, doubtless, the ‘Vintisettine’ itself.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_073.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_073.jpg" width="341" height="266" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p>“Its very self. We had a jolly dinner that day: charming women, fresh -oysters,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_74" id="page_74">{74}</a></span> intelligent people, and champagne. I reached the sale three -minutes after the hammer fell.”</p> - -<p>“Sir,” cried Theodore in a fury, “when the ‘Vintisettine’ is to be sold, -one does not dine!”</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_074.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_074.jpg" width="345" height="347" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p>His vitality, which had been sustained by the excitement of the -conversation, as the bellows revives a dying spark, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_75" id="page_75">{75}</a></span> exhausted by -his last effort. His lips muttered once more, “A third of a line!” but -they were his last words.</p> - -<p>At the time that we gave up all hope of his recovery, we moved his bed -near to his book-shelves, from which we took down, one by one, every -book for which he seemed to ask with his eyes, letting him look the -longest at those that we thought would please him the most.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_075.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_075.jpg" width="344" height="196" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p>He died at midnight, lying between a Du Seuil and a Padeloup, his hands -lovingly clasping a Thouvenin.</p> - -<p>The next day we followed his hearse,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_76" id="page_76">{76}</a></span> at the head of a great crowd of -sorrowful morocco-finishers, and we sealed his tomb with a stone bearing -the following inscription, which he had parodied for himself from -Franklin’s epitaph:</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_076.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_076.jpg" width="342" height="499" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - -<p class="caption">HERE LIES, IN<br /> -ITS WOODEN BINDING,<br /> -A FOLIO COPY OF THE BEST<br /> -EDITION OF MAN, WRITTEN IN<br /> -THE LANGUAGE OF A GOLDEN<br /> -AGE, WHICH THE WORLD<br /> -NO LONGER UNDERSTANDS.<br /> -TO-DAY<br /> -IT IS A SPOILED<br /> -OLD BOOK,<br /> -STAINED AND<br /> -IMPERFECT, LACKING THE TITLE-PAGE,<br /> -WORM-EATEN AND INJURED<br /> -BY DECAY. WE<br /> -DARE NOT ANTICIPATE<br /> -FOR IT THE USELESS<br /> -HONOR OF A<br /> -REPRINT.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_77" id="page_77">{77}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="NOTES" id="NOTES"></a>NOTES</h2> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> In the bibliography of Nodier’s writings, published with -the catalogue of his library, Paris, 1844, the first edition of “Le -Bibliomane” is registered 1832-1833, as in tome I of “Livre des Cent et -un.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Fermier général. An association existed in France, from the -reign of Philip the Fair until the Revolution of 1789, possessing the -right, by purchase, to levy taxes on various articles of consumption. -These “farmers” were mostly uneducated parvenus, and their extortions -were so great that though they paid no less than one hundred and eighty -millions of francs for the monopoly the last year of its existence, -immense fortunes were made by all concerned. The Revolution caused the -abolition of the privilege, and all the “farmers” were executed.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> “The Enemies of Books,” by William Blades.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> During the riots of February, 1831, a mob of self-elected -“public censors” attacked the palace of the Archbishop of Paris at Notre -Dame, destroyed many valuable paintings, ruined the furni<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_78" id="page_78">{78}</a></span>ture, and -threw a large part of the library into the Seine.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <span class="smcap">Angulus.</span> A secret nook or corner, meaning, in this -instance, the Sabine farm presented to Horace by Mæcenas, which the poet -declared in his “Odes” to be all-sufficient for his needs.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Galliot du Pré flourished in Paris during the middle of the -sixteenth century. His publications, for the most part, bear the device -of a galley propelled by sails and oars, with the legend “Vogue la -Gualee.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> The library of Richard Heber was sold a few years after -this supposed incident. The various sessions of the auction occupied -portions of two hundred days, from 1834 to 1836.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Nodier used the term “ménecheme,” or twin brother, a word -taken from a comedy by Plautus.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> The thirty-sixth part of an inch.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> “<span class="smcap">Homeri Opera</span>, græce. Florentiæ, sumptibus Bern. et Nerii -Nerliorum. 1488.” Two volumes, folio. The first edition of Homer, -printed at the expense of the brothers Nerli, after a copy prepared by -Demetrius Chalcondyles of Athens. The De Cotte copy was uncut, and sold -for 3601 francs. It was bought by M. Caillard, and passed into the -Bibliothèque du Roi after his death, where it replaced a vellum copy -that the French were constrained to return to the library of Saint Marc, -Venice.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_79" id="page_79">{79}</a></span></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> The “Trinitate” of Servetus: a small octavo, printed in -1531. A copy was sold as indicated. See Brunet’s “Manuel du Libraire.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> “<span class="smcap">Bibliothèque Curieuse</span>, ou catalogue raisonné de livres -difficiles à trouver. Par David Clement. Göttingen, 1750-1760.” Nine -volumes, 4to. Many of the books described in this catalogue, which was -carried only to the letter H, have yet to be found; in fact, it is -largely conceded that they do not—perhaps never did—exist.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> The Giunta edition of Boccaccio, printed at Firenze, 1527, -is esteemed the best edition of this famous book. A so-called facsimile -was printed at Venice in 1729, but the counterfeit is discovered by the -formation of the a, as indicated.<span class="pagenum"> -<a name="page_80" id="page_80">{80}</a></span></p></div> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i_080.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_080.jpg" width="170" alt="THE DE VINNE PRESS" /></a> -</div> - -<hr class="full" /> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIBLIOMANIAC ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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