CHAPTER V. AUCTION SALES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
CHAPTER VI. AUCTION SALES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
CHAPTER VII. AUCTION SALES IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
CHAPTER VIII. PRICES OF EARLY PRINTED BOOKS
Editiones Principes of the Classics
Italian Classics
CHAPTER IX. PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE
CHAPTER X. PRICES OF SHAKESPEARE’S WORKS
SECOND FOLIO, 1632
THIRD FOLIO, 1664 (some copies dated 1663)
FOURTH FOLIO, 1685
SEPARATE PLAYS
CHAPTER XI. PRICES OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF BOOKS
BOOKS ON VELLUM
ILLUSTRATED BOOKS
BINDINGS
EARLY EDITIONS OF MODERN AUTHORS
Отрывок из книги
The subject of the prices of books is one which always exercises a certain fascination over the minds of book-lovers, although some have expressed their objection to any discussion of it, lest this should have the effect of enhancing prices.
In a single volume it is impossible to deal with so large a subject in any fulness of detail, and I have therefore endeavoured to give a general view, merely instancing a few cases in illustration of the whole, but making an exception in respect of two of the most interesting and high-priced classes of books in literature, namely, the productions of the press of Caxton, and the original editions of Shakespeare’s works.
.....
A similar case was that of Thomas Madox, the learned author of the “History of the Exchequer,” who wrote to Dr. Charlett requesting him to get his book into the College Libraries at Oxford, and explaining that the cost of the impression was £400 for paper and print, and as only 481 copies were printed, “when all the books shall be sold I shall be just able to pay the charges with a trifling over-plus.... This affair,” he adds, “has given me much perplexity, and perfectly cured me of scribbling.”8
Thomas Hearne was more fortunate, and amassed a small fortune by his publications. One thousand guineas were found in gold in his rooms at St. Edmund Hall after his death. His books were soon out of print, and fetched large prices even in his own lifetime.
