Wheatley Henry Benjamin
Prices of Books
CHAPTER IX
PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE
No class of books has advanced in value of late years to so great an extent as the chief examples of old English literature, and of this class the books printed by our earliest printer, Caxton, stand in a foremost position. It is proposed in this chapter to give a general idea of the variations in price of all the books printed by Caxton which have been sold by public auction. The number attached to each entry is that given by Mr. Blades in his great work, and it is hoped that few sales of these books have been left unmentioned.53
We learn from Mr. Blades that there was no fixed published price for these books, but the sellers obtained the best price they could for them. In 1496 the churchwardens of St. Margaret, Westminster, were possessed of fifteen copies of “The Golden Legend,” bequeathed by Caxton. Ten of these took five years to sell. In 1496 one copy was sold for 6s. 8d., and in 1500 the price had gone down to 5s. In 1510 R. Johnson, M.D., bought five Caxtons (“Godefroy of Boleyn,” “Eneydos,” “Faytes of Arms,” “Chastising,” and “Book of Fame”) for a total expenditure of 6s. 8d. These are now in the University Library, Cambridge. In the sale of 1678, to which the name of Voetius is attached, three Caxtons sold for 7s. 10d. At the sale of Secondary Richard Smith’s library (1682) eleven Caxtons realised £3, 4s. 2d.; at Dr. Francis Bernard’s sale (1697), ten for £1, 15s. 4d. There were a considerable number of Caxtons in the Harleian Library, and several of these were duplicates. They do not appear to have sold very readily, and they occur in several of Osborne’s catalogues at a fairly uniform price of one guinea for the folios and 15s. for the quartos. At the Hon. Bryan Fairfax’s sale (1756) nine Caxtons sold for £33, 4s. At James West’s sale (1773) the price had considerably advanced, and thirty-four Caxtons realised £361, 4s. 6d. John Ratcliffe’s forty-eight Caxtons brought £236, 5s. 6d. At Dr. Richard Farmer’s sale (1798) five sold for £19, 11s. 6d. An astonishing advance in price is found at the Duke of Roxburghe’s sale (1812), where fourteen fine Caxtons brought £3002, 1s. At the sale of Stanesby Alchorne’s library in 1813 nine fetched £666, 15s. Ralph Willett’s seven brought in 1813 £1319, 16s. John Towneley’s nine sold in 1814 for £1127. The Marquis of Blandford’s (White Knights) eighteen Caxtons brought in 1819 £1316, 12s. 6d. At Watson Taylor’s sale in 1823 nine brought £319, 14s. 6d.; John Inglis (1826), thirteen for £431, 15s. 6d.; John Dent (1827), four for £162, 16s. 6d.; George Hibbert (1829), five for £339, 13s. 6d.; P. A. Hanrott (1833), six for £180, 16s.; R. Heber (1834), six for £219, 16s.; Thomas Jolley (1843-51), six for £325, 15s.; E. V. Utterson (1852), three for £116; J. D. Gardner (1854), seven for £739.
It will be seen from these totals that the present high prices did not rule at the sales in the middle of the present century.
In 1897 the total for the ten Caxtons in the first portion of the Ashburnham library reached £5622, and the six in the second portion fetched £4264.
The following list contains particulars of the sale prices of some of the chief issues of Caxton’s press:—
The Recuyell of the Histories of Troy (1).
Dr. Bernard (1698), 3s.; Bryan Fairfax (1756), £8, 8s. This perfect copy was bought by Francis Child, and at the sale of the Earl of Jersey’s library in 1885 it was sold to Mr. Quaritch for £1820.
J. West’s imperfect copy was sold in 1773 to George III. for £32, 11s., and it was perfected afterwards.
J. Lloyd of Wygfair (1816), £126. This copy was bought by G. Hibbert, and at his sale in 1829 J. Wilks bought it for £157, 10s.; at Wilks’s sale in 1847 E. V. Utterson bought it for £165; at Utterson’s sale in 1852 the Earl of Ashburnham bought it for £55—not £155, as stated by Blades. This was described in Hibbert’s and Wilks’s catalogues as having “six whole leaves and parts of four others supplied in facsimile,” but at Utterson’s sale it was stated to want no less than forty-seven leaves. At the Ashburnham sale (part 2), 1897, it was said to want forty-nine leaves. It fetched £950.
The Game and Play of the Chess, first edition (2).
R. Smith (1682), 13s. 2d.; J. West (1773), sold to George III. for £32, 0s. 6d.; S. Alchorne (1813), £54, 12s.—J. Inglis. J. Inglis (1826), £31, 10s.—Lord Audley. Lord Audley (1855), £60, 10s.—H. Cunliffe.
White Knights (1819), £36, 15s.—Duke of Devonshire. This copy, sold for £42, was found on collation after the sale to want three leaves instead of only two, as stated in the catalogue; it was therefore returned, and sold for £36, 15s.
Sir H. Mainwaring (1837), £101—J. Holford. This may be the same copy as R. Smith’s, as it has on a fly-leaf in manuscript, “Ex dono Thomæ Delves, Baronett, 1682.”
Old Essex library (Lord Petre), 1886, £645—Quaritch (perfect, excepting only the blanks). Earl of Hardwicke (1888), wanting the Prologue and three other leaves, £260—Quaritch.
It is necessary to quote from Scott’s “Antiquary” a well-known passage, because, as Mr. Blades says, “not a single statement is founded on fact.” The particulars are so circumstantial, that they have possibly deceived many readers, more especially as Scott himself vouches for the anecdote as literally true. “Snuffy Davy bought the ‘Game of Chesse,’ 1474, the first book ever printed in England, from a stall in Holland for about 2 groschen, or twopence of our money. He sold it to Osborne for £20 and as many books as came to £20 more. Osborne resold this inimitable windfall to Dr. Askew for 60 guineas. At Dr. Askew’s sale this inestimable treasure blazed forth in its true value, and was purchased by Royalty itself for one hundred and seventy pounds.” It may be added that Askew never had a copy.
Chesse, second edition (34).
Dr. Bernard’s copy (1698) sold for 1s. 6d.
J. Ratcliffe’s (1776) was bought for £16 by R. Willett; and at his sale in 1813, the Duke of Devonshire bought it for £173, 5s.
Le Recueil des Histoires de Troyes (3).
James (1760), £2, 12s. 6d.—Jacob Bryant. This copy was presented by Bryant to George III., and made perfect with a few leaves presented by the Duke of Roxburghe. It was retained by George IV. when the Kings’ Library was presented to the nation, and is now at Windsor Castle.
Payne, bookseller (1794), £5, 5s.—sold to the Duke of Roxburghe, at whose sale in 1812 it fetched £116, 11s. It has been sold several times since, each time for less money. Among Lord Spencer’s duplicates (1823), for £73, 10s., to J. Dent; at Dent’s sale in 1827, for £36, 10s., to P. A. Hanrott; at Hanrott’s sale in 1833, to the Earl of Ashburnham, for £27. Second part of Ashburnham sale (1897), £600. Wanting thirty-three leaves.
G. Watson Taylor (1823), £205, 16s.—Earl Spencer (perfect, and uncut).
G. Libri (1844), £200 (a perfect and unusually fine copy)—sold to British Museum.
The copy, slightly imperfect, in the National Library, Paris, was purchased at Brussels in the early part of the century by M. de la Serna for 150 francs.
Les fais du Jason (4).
The perfect copy in the National Library, Paris, was purchased in 1808 by M. de la Serna for 2 louis from a stranger, who had obtained it for half that sum.
Propositio Johannis Russell (7).
The Althorpe copy formerly belonged to John Brand, and at the sale of his library the Marquis of Blandford bought it for £2, 5s. At the White Knights sale in 1819 Lord Spencer bought it for £126. The Earl of Leicester has the only other known copy. Both copies are perfect.
Infancia Salvatoris (8).
The only existing copy known is in the Royal University Library, Göttingen. It was from the Harleian Library, and was purchased from Osborne in 1746 for 15s.
The History of Jason (9).
Richard Smith (1682), 5s. 1d.; Dr. Bernard (1698), 3s. 6d.
J. West’s copy was sold in 1773 for 4 guineas to J. Ratcliffe, at whose sale in 1776 it fetched £5, 10s.
John Erskine’s copy was bought in 1817 by G. Watson Taylor for £162, 15s., but at his sale in 1823 it only brought £95, 11s., Richard Heber being the purchaser. At Heber’s sale (1834) it was bought by Payne the bookseller for £87. This uncut copy, which is the finest known, came afterwards into the possession of the Earl of Ashburnham. It sold at the second part of the Ashburnham sale (1897) for £2100.
The White Knights copy (Marquis of Blandford) was sold (1819) for £85, 1s. At W. S. Higgs’s sale (1831) it was bought by J. Wilks for £87, 3s., and at his sale (1847) it was bought by J. Dunn Gardner for £121. This copy was returned as wanting a leaf, and resold for £105. Gardner bought it afterwards from Pickering, who had in the meantime supplied the leaf from another copy. At Gardner’s sale (1854) it was bought for Mr. Lenox for £105.
The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers, first edition (10).
Francis Child bought his imperfect copy at Bryan Fairfax’s sale (1756) for £6. It was bound with “Moral Proverbs,” and was one of the copies from the Harleian Library. At the Earl of Jersey’s sale (1885) it brought £141.
John Ratcliffe’s copy was bought by Ralph Willett in 1776 for 15 guineas, and at his own sale in 1813 it brought £262, 10s.
Sales since the publication of Blades’s book:—Rev. T. Corser (1868), £100. C. H. Crawford (1876), £87 (Corser’s copy). Duke of Buccleuch (1889), £650. Earl of Ashburnham, 1897 (one of four complete copies), £1320—Quaritch.
–– Second edition (28).
James West (1773), £21—George III. John Towneley (1814), £189—Duke of Devonshire (erroneously described in the catalogue as “first edition”).
–– Third edition (83).
John Munro (1792), £16, 16s. Dr. Vincent (1816), £99, 15s.—Singer, for Marquis of Blandford. In 1840 some books were turned out of the Blenheim Library, and sent for sale at Oxford. The Bodleian Library bought this copy at that sale for £50. Blades was misled into saying that the Bodleian gave £199, 15s., by the fact, in this copy some irresponsible person has altered the price it fetched at Vincent’s sale to £199, 15s. by the addition of the figure 1. Fuller Maitland (1885), £165—Quaritch (described as a second edition in the catalogue, three leaves in facsimile).
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, first edition (12).
J. West (1773), £47, 15s.—George III. J. Ratcliffe (1776), £6. White Knights supplementary sale (1820), £31, 10s.—T. Payne (imperfect); not recorded by Blades.
The highest price recorded by Blades is £300, given by Mr. Huth at Lilly’s sale, 1861. In 1896 two copies (both imperfect) were sold for over £1000; Mrs. Corbet’s (Barlaston Hall), wanting nineteen leaves, £1020; R. E. Saunders (wanting only two leaves, a few wormed, lower margins in Melibeus mended), £1880. Earl of Ashburnham (1897), £720—Pickering & Chatto (imperfect, also some leaves from a shorter copy).
–– Second edition (57).
Brand’s imperfect copy (1807) was bought by Heber for 10 guineas; it was sold at his sale in 1834 to the Earl of Ashburnham for £78, 15s. Lord Ashburnham (1897), £300—Pickering and Chatto (wanting twenty-eight leaves).
Boethius de Consolacione Philosophiæ, translated by Chaucer (25).
B. Worsley (1678), 5s. J. West (1773), £5, 10s.—G. Mason. J. Ratcliffe (1776), £4, 6s.—George III. S. Alchorne (1813), bought by the Marquis of Blandford (Spencer duplicate, imperfect) for £53, 11s.; sold to Watson Taylor, at his sale in 1819, for £22, 11s. 6d.; at Taylor’s sale (£1823) Thorpe bought it for £13, 5s.
Thorpe bought a copy in old Oxford calf from Browne Willis’s library, “without the slightest defect or repair,” for £59 in July 1849, and he sold it in December of the same year for £105.
The Grenville (very fine, clean, and perfect) copy was purchased for £52, 10s.; Duke of Hamilton (1884), £160 (perfect, stained and mended); nobleman (Earl of Westmoreland), 1887, £156 (perfect, excepting the blank); Earl of Ashburnham (1897), £510 (two leaves in facsimile).
Cordyale, or the four last things (26).
Osborne (1748), £2, 2s. J. West (1773), £14—W. Hunter. Stanesby Alchorne bought W. Fletewode’s copy in 1774 for £6, 12s. 6d., and at his sale in 1813 George III. bought it for £127, 1s. Dr. Valpy’s copy, bought in 1832 by Henry G. Bohn for £26, 15s. 6d., is not mentioned by Blades; Valpy is said to have given £87 for it. Earl of Ashburnham (1897), £760—Pickering & Chatto (wanting eight leaves).
The Mirrour of the World, first edition (31).
R. Smith (1682), 5s. F. Child bought Bryan Fairfax’s perfect copy in 1756 for £3; this was sold to Mr. Quaritch at the Earl of Jersey’s sale (1885) for £195. J. West had two copies, which were sold in 1773—a perfect one to George III. for 12 guineas, and a very imperfect one to Richard Gough for £2, 13s. The latter sold at Gough’s sale (1810) for £4, 14s. 6d. Mr. Cracherode’s perfect copy (now in the British Museum) was bought by him at Ratcliffe’s sale (1776) for £2, 15s. The Duke of Roxburghe’s fine and perfect copy, for which he gave 9 guineas, was sold at his sale (1812) to the Duke of Devonshire for £351, 15s.
The following copies (in addition to the Earl of Jersey’s, mentioned above) have been sold since the publication of Mr. Blades’s book:—
In 1877 Mr. Quaritch had a copy for sale with a vi, a viii, and the last leaf in facsimile, which he priced £200.
Sir John Thorold (1884), £335—Quaritch (perfect, excepting the blanks). Earl of Hardwicke (1888), £60—Quaritch (very imperfect). W. H. Crawford (1891), £160 (perfect, with the exception of one blank). Earl of Ashburnham (part 2, 1897), £225 (leaves in facsimile).
The Mirrour of the World, second edition (84).
West’s perfect copy was bought by Willett in 1773 for £9, 15s.; at his sale (1813) it was bought for Lord Spencer for £136, 10s.
A perfect copy, very clean and large, was sold in 1844 with the library of Calwick Hall, Staffordshire, to Rodd for £41. Thorpe gave Rodd £94 for it, but sold it to Mr. C. Hurt for £90. At Hurt’s sale in 1855 Sir William (then Mr.) Tite bought it for £105. At his sale in 1874 it realised £455.
A perfect copy in the original binding of oak, covered with stamped leather, and almost uncut, is in the library of the Baptist College at Bristol, having been presented by A. Gifford, D.D. It has the following notes on a fly-leaf in Dr. Gifford’s autograph:—
The following sales, in addition to Sir William Tite’s, mentioned above, have taken place since the publication of Blades’s book:—
Sale at Puttick & Simpson’s (1884)—a very poor copy, wanting eleven leaves, was sold for £8. Rev. Fuller Russell (1885), £265 (Hibbert’s copy, which sold in 1829 for £36, 4s. 6d.; Hibbert had given £55, 13s. at the Marquis of Blandford’s sale in 1819). Hardwicke (Wimpole), 1888, £60 (with “Cicero de Amicitia”). F. Perkins (1889), £100 (two leaves of Table in MS.). Birket Foster (1894), £77 (wanting eighteen leaves).
The History of Reynard the Fox, first edition (32).
J. Ratcliffe (1776), £5, 10s.—George III. J. Inglis (1826), £184, 16s.—T. Grenville. J. D. Gardner (1854), £195—Duke of Newcastle. (All three copies are perfect.)
–– Second edition.
One copy only—that in the Pepysian Library, Cambridge—is known to exist.
Tully of Old Age, etc. (33).
Dr. Bernard (1698), 4s. 2d. Francis Child bought Bryan Fairfax’s perfect copy in 1756 for 2 guineas. In 1885 this was sold at the Earl of Jersey’s sale (1885) for £350.
Dr. Askew bought T. Rawlinson’s perfect copy in 1756 for £1, 5s., and at Askew’s sale (1775) Willett gave 13 guineas for it. At Willett’s sale (1813) it was sold to the Marquis of Blandford for £210. At the Marquis’s sale (1819) T. Brockett gave £87, 3s. for it. At Brockett’s sale (1823) Watson Taylor bought it for £47, 5s. Thorpe bought it at Watson Taylor’s sale (1823) for £47, 15s. 6d. The “Merly” copy turned up again in 1857, when it was sold to Mr. F. Huth for £275.
The Duke of Roxburghe’s imperfect copy was bought in 1812 by the Duke of Devonshire for £115.
Since Blades’s book was published—the Rev. T. Corser (1868), £96 (“Old Age” only); Mr. Severne (1885), £250 (perfect); Earl of Crawford (1889), £320 (perfect); Earl of Ashburnham (1897), £102—Pickering & Chatto (Declamatio only).
The Chronicles of England, first edition (39).
R. Smith (1682), 3s. 6d.; Dr. Bernard (1691), 4s.; J. Ratcliffe (1776), £5, 5s.; S. Alchorne (1813), £63—Duke of Devonshire.
J. Roberts’s copy (1815) was bought for £105 by John Milner, at whose sale in 1829 W. S. Higgs bought it for £70, 7s.; at Higgs’s sale (1830) it realised £73, 10s.
The following sales have taken place since the publication of Blades’s book:—
Mr. Rainy, Bath (1883), £160—British Museum (poor copy, and imperfect). J. Hirst (1887), £67 (imperfect). Duke of Buccleuch (1889), £470—Quaritch (perfect, blanks excepted).
The Chronicles of England, second edition (43).
Bryan Fairfax’s imperfect copy was sold in 1756 to Francis Child for £5. In 1885 it sold for £40 at the sale of the Earl of Jersey’s library.
J. Ratcliffe’s imperfect copy was sold (1776) to George III. for £4, 5s.
An imperfect copy was bought by the Earl of Ashburnham in 1860 for £180. It was added to the sale after the library of E. A. Crowninshield, of Boston, U.S., had been brought to England. This copy, bound in new brown morocco, with “Description of Britain” (three leaves in facsimile), sold at Lord Ashburnham’s sale (1897) for £610—Pickering & Chatto.
Mr. Quaritch bought the Duke of Buccleuch’s copy in 1889 for £45. This was wrongly described in the catalogue as wanting only “fourteen leaves, of which two are blank,” whereas it not only wanted the first fourteen printed leaves as well as the two blanks, but also the last six.
The Description of Britain (40).
J. Towneley’s imperfect copy was bought by George III. in 1814 for £85, 1s.
The Duke of Buccleuch’s copy was bought by Mr. Quaritch in 1889 for £195. It was made up from two imperfect copies, with some leaves inlaid, but otherwise complete.
The History of Godfrey of Boloyne (42).
R. Smith (1682), 18s. 2d—Earl of Peterborough. Dr. Bernard (1698), 4s. J. West (1773), £10, 10s.—George III. J. Ratcliffe (1776), £6, 16s. 6d.—W. Hunter. Dr. Vincent (1816), £215, 5s., bought by Singer, but Blades says the Marquis of Blandford; but Mr. Norgate thinks this is a mistake, as there was no copy in the White Knights sale. Mr. Holford’s copy and that in the British Museum were the only known perfect copies until 1884, when Mr. Quaritch announced in his catalogue (No. 21,842) a “very fine copy, quite perfect, with all the blanks, and in the original binding,” priced £1000. Mr. Norgate suggests that this may be Dr. Vincent’s copy.
Polycronicon (44).
R. Mead (1755), £3, 13s. 6d. Joseph Ames (1760), two copies; one sold for 7s., and the other for 14s. J. West (1773), £16, 5s. 6d.
There were three copies in Ratcliffe’s sale (1775); one sold for 3s. 3d., another for 2s. 3d., and a third for £5, £5s. 6d.
Heber bought S. Tyssen’s copy in 1801 for £5; at his own sale it fetched £10, 15s.
The White Knights perfect copy was bought by Payne in 1819 for £94, 10s. It is now in the Grenville Library. (Blades overlooked this.)
Dent’s perfect copy was bought by Perkins in 1827 for £103, 19s.; at the latter’s sale (1873) it was bought by Mr. Quaritch for £365.
Lord Charlemont (1865), £477—Walford (wanting two leaves). This copy went to New York, and was sold immediately for 6750 dollars (= about £1380). T. Edwards (1871), wanting seven leaves, £34—Quaritch. This copy was sold at the Earl of Aylesford’s sale (1888) for £110, also to Mr. Quaritch. The seven leaves were supplied in facsimile. Ten were mounted, and a few others mended.
Sir W. Tite’s copy, with a 2, 3, 4, 8 in facsimile, realised in 1874 £150. Ashburnham copy (1897), wanting forty-six leaves, £201.
Other copies sold since the publication of Blades’s book were mere fragments, and only realised small sums.
The Pilgrimage of the Soul (45).
R. Smith (1682), 5s. J. West (1773), £8, 17s. 6d. J. Ratcliffe (1776), £3, 17s. At the Marquis of Blandford’s sale (1819) Earl Spencer bought it for £152, 5s. He perfected it with three leaves from a copy formerly belonging to Heber, and sold it in 1821, when Heber bought it again for £26, 15s. 6d., but at his sale in 1834 it only realised 18 guineas.
The Festial, first edition (47).
J. Ratcliffe had two copies: J. Edwards bought one for £3, 2s., and Dr. Farmer the other for £3. In 1796 the latter bought Herbert’s copy for £2, 2s., and made a perfect copy from the two. Lord Spencer bought this at Farmer’s sale in 1798 for £5.
–– Second edition (88).
The Duke of Roxburghe’s copy was bought by Earl Spencer for £105. Only one has occurred for sale since, viz., Rev. E. James (1854), £27, now in the British Museum.
Confessio Amantis (50).
F. Child bought B. Fairfax’s beautiful and perfect copy for £3 in 1756, and at the Earl of Jersey’s sale in 1885 it realised £810. It is now in the United States. George III. bought West’s imperfect and cropped copy for 9 guineas. Topham Beauclerk’s copy, wanting ten leaves, sold in 1781 for £2, 4s.; in 1881 it was sold at Mr. G. L. Way’s sale for £77. The Duke of Roxburghe’s perfect copy was bought by the Duke of Devonshire for £336.
Willett’s copy has been sold several times, and each time for a lower price than before. In 1813 the Marquis of Blandford bought it at Willett’s sale in 1813 for £315. At the White Knights sale (1819) it was described as “remarkably fine and perfect,” and was sold to G. Watson Taylor for £205, 16s. On being collated it was found to want six leaves, and was consequently returned, and resold to Mr. Watson Taylor for £131, 5s. At his sale in 1823 it only realised £57, 15s.
W. Haggard (1867), £185 (wanting several leaves). Lord Selsey’s perfect copy sold in 1872 for £670. H. Perkins (1873), £245 (six leaves in facsimile). Ashburnham (part 2, 1897), imperfect, £188.
The Knight of the Tower (51).
R. Smith (1682), 5s. 1d. J. Brand’s perfect copy was bought by Earl Spencer in 1807 for £111, 6s.
G. Watson Taylor bought the Marquis of Blandford’s perfect copy (without blanks) in 1819 for £85, 1s. At his sale in 1823 Jolley bought it for £52, 10s. Rodd bought it for Corser, at Jolley’s sale in 1843, for £90. At Corser’s sale (1868) Mr. Quaritch bought it for £560.
Caton (52).
R. Smith (1682),4s. 2d.; Dr. Bernard (1698), 1s. 10d.
The Duke of Devonshire’s fine and perfect copy has the Earl of Oxford’s autograph—“I bought this book at Edinburgh and paid for it the price of £3, 3s. to Mr. Alex. Seymmer Bookseller in the parliament close May 24 1725.” In another hand, “Ex Bib: Harl: £1, 1s., Feb. 1745.” It was bought from Messrs. Arch for £105.
The sale of Watson Taylor’s copy (1823) to Barclay for £30, 19s. 6d. is not recorded by Blades.
Earl of Ashburnham (1897), £295—Pickering and Chatto (imperfect).
The Golden Legend, first edition (53).
West’s imperfect copy was bought (1773) by Dr. Hunter for £12, 15s., and is now at Glasgow. Ratcliffe’s imperfect copy was bought by George III. (1776) for £5, 15s. 6d. The highest price recorded by Blades at which a copy has sold is £230, bought by the Duc d’Aumale in 1854 at J. Dunn Gardner’s sale. This copy wants the last leaf in the Table and Biiij, the latter supplied in facsimile. Corser’s imperfect copy sold in 1869 for £147. It is now in the Huth library. W. H. Crawford’s imperfect copy sold in 1891 for £465.
–– Second edition (66).
There are no records of sales.
–– Third edition (93).
Printed by Wynkyn de Worde.
The Order of Chivalry (56).
J. West (1773), £5, 5s.—G. Mason. J. Ratcliffe (1776), £2, 8s.—George III. (imperfect). Lord Lovat (1852), £55, 10s.—Earl of Ashburnham (imperfect). Lord Ashburnham (1897), £345—Pickering & Chatto (imperfect).
Troylus and Creside (60).
West’s perfect copy was bought by George III. in 1773 for 10 guineas. Ratcliffe’s large and clean, but imperfect, copy has been sold several times at very varying prices. Herbert bought it in 1776 for £2. At Towneley’s sale in 1814 the Marquis of Blandford bought it for £252, 2s. At the White Knights sale in 1819 Watson Taylor gave £162, 15s. for it. Thomas Grenville bought it for £66, 3s. at Watson Taylor’s sale in 1823.
The Life of our Lady (61).
Earl Spencer gave £130 for his imperfect copy. The highest sale price recorded by Blades is £49 for the Duke of Roxburghe’s copy. The Rev. T. Corser’s imperfect copy, for which he gave £32 at Utterson’s sale in 1852, sold for £113 in 1868. Sir William Tite’s very imperfect copy (wanting thirty leaves) belonged to West, and was bought at his sale by Herbert for £2, 12s. 6d. Tite bought it in 1859 for £41, and at his sale it sold for £54. The Earl of Devon’s quite perfect copy (with the blanks) was bought by Mr. Quaritch for £880 in 1883.
The Noble Histories of King Arthur (63).
The only known perfect copy was in the Harleian Library, and was sold by Osborne in 1748 to Bryan Fairfax for £5. At Fairfax’s sale in 1756 Francis Child bought it for two guineas and a half, and in 1885 it was sold at the Earl of Jersey’s sale to Mr. Quaritch for £1950. It is now in New York.
The Life of Charles the Great (64).
The only known copy which is perfect is now in the King’s Library, British Museum. Ratcliffe bought it at West’s sale (1773) for £13, and at Ratcliffe’s sale (1776) George III. obtained it for 4 guineas.
The Knight Paris and the Fair Vienne (65).
The only known copy, in the King’s Library, is perfect. It was bought at West’s sale by George III. for £14.
The Royal Book (67).
West’s imperfect copy was bought by George III. for £10. Gustavus Brander bought Ratcliffe’s imperfect copy in 1777 for £2, 13s., but at his own sale it only brought 15s. It was sold in 1864 to Lilly for £62.
The Althorpe perfect and beautiful copy was bought by the Marquis of Blandford at Louis Goldsmid’s sale (1815) for £85, 1s. At the Marquis’s sale (1819) George Hibbert bought it for £73, 10s., and at Hibbert’s sale (1829) Lord Spencer obtained it for £61, 19s.
The Duke of Buccleuch’s copy (wanting a. i, with two very slight defects, both repaired) is not mentioned by Blades. It was bought by Mr. Quaritch at the Duke’s sale (1889) for £365.
Speculum Vitæ Christi (70).
West’s copy was bought by Ratcliffe, who had three imperfect copies; at his sale in 1776 George III. bought one for £3, 3s., Dr. Hunter another for the same amount, and the third sold for £3, 10s. Earl Spencer bought two copies—one at J. Allen’s sale (1795) for 11 guineas, and the other at the Roxburghe sale for £45; he completed the latter with two leaves taken from the former. The duplicate was sold and came into the possession of Sir Francis Freeling; at his sale in 1836 Mr. Corser bought it for £25, 10s., and at Corser’s sale (1868) it realised £67.
Two copies are known on vellum–one, in very poor condition, is in the Royal Library at Windsor; the other, in the British Museum, was bought in 1864 for £1000.
The Doctrinal of Sapience (71).
The Duke of Devonshire gave £78, 15s. for the Spencer duplicate (perfect) in Alchorne’s sale (1813). Dawson Turner’s copy (wanting six leaves) was bought by T. Bateman in 1859 for £28; at his sale in 1893 it realised £58. Earl of Ashburnham’s copy (first and last leaf in facsimile), 1897, sold for £660—Quaritch (for the British Museum). The last Earl gave £150 for this copy.
Servitium de Transfiguratione Jhesu Christi (73).
The only known copy was bought for the British Museum at a sale at Puttick’s in 1862 for £200. It was found in a volume of Theological Tracts presented to the Congregational Library, Blomfield Street, by Joshua Wilson of Tunbridge Wells in 1831.
The Fayts of Arms (74).
The largest amount paid for a copy at a public sale is £336, which the Duke of Devonshire gave for the Roxburghe copy (with a few lines of the last leaf in facsimile).
Bryan Fairfax’s imperfect copy was bought by Francis Child for £1, 11s. 6d. At the sale of Lord Jersey’s library in 1885 it sold for £71.
Libri’s perfect, but mended and washed, copy, which he had bought in very poor condition from Mario the great tenor, was sold in 1862 to Mr. F. Huth for £255.
Mr. Corser’s perfect copy was bought in 1868 by Mr. Quaritch for £250.
Sir W. Tite’s copy (with the first two leaves in facsimile) sold in 1874 for £190. This copy was bought by Tite at the Rev. C. H. Crauford’s sale in 1854 for £77. Crauford bought it at Wilks’s sale (1847) for £54.
The Earl of Crawford’s perfect copy, with Table inlaid, sold in 1889 for £235. R. Lindsay, in Philadelphia, had this copy in his catalogue (June 1893) for £425.
The History of Blanchardin and Eglantine (78).
The only known copy, which is imperfect, is in the Althorpe library. This copy was bought at Ratcliffe’s sale by G. Mason for £3, 6s.; at Mason’s sale (1799) the Duke of Roxburghe bought it for £21. Earl Spencer gave £215, 5s. for it at the Roxburghe sale.
Eneydos (81).
R. Smith (1682), 3s. Walter Rea (1682), 1s. 6d.
F. Child gave 30s. for B. Fairfax’s perfect copy, which sold at the Earl of Jersey’s sale (1885) for £235.
Hanrott’s imperfect copy was bought in 1833 by Lord Auckland for £43, 1s.; at his sale two years afterwards H. Holland bought it for £24. At Holland’s sale (1860) Mr. H. Huth bought it for £84.
Mr. Quaritch had a copy in 1875 with two leaves in facsimile, otherwise a fine copy, which he marked £300.
The Art and Craft to Know Well to Die (86).
West’s perfect copy was bought by Ratcliffe for £5, 2s. 6d.; at Ratcliffe’s sale George III. bought it for 4 guineas.
Mr. C. Tutet’s copy was bought in 1786 by Payne for 2 guineas; probably this is the perfect copy which Payne sold to the National Library, Paris, for 10 guineas.
The Chastising of God’s Children (90).
R. Smith (1682). 5s. Dr. Bernard (1698), 1s. 10d. Osborne (1751), 15s.
The Roxburghe copy (perfect) was bought by Lord Spencer for £140.
The Earl of Aylesford bought the Marquis of Blandford’s copy (bound with “Treatise of Love,” No. 91) for £32, 10s., and at his sale in 1888 it realised £305. F. Perkins (1889), £100.
S. Alchorne’s copy sold in 1813 for £94, 10s.; Valentine’s copy in 1842 for £5. Blades describes this last in his catalogue list as Alchorne’s; but this is probably a mistake, as Valentine bought J. Inglis’s copy (1826) for £17, 10s.
Sex perelegantissimæ Epistolæ (1483).
24 leaves. The only copy known of this tract was discovered in 1874 by Dr. G. Könnecke, archivist of Marburg, in an old volume of seventeenth-century divinity in the Hecht-Heinean Library at Halberstadt. The discovery was described by Mr. Blades at the time in the Athenæum (Feb. 27, 1875). This copy was bought by the British Museum in 1890 for £250.
Almost as scarce and valuable as Caxtons are the books printed at St. Albans:—
