BIBLIA LATINA. _Printed by Fust and Schoiffher: Without Date, but supposed to be in the year 1455 or 1456_. Folio. 2 vols. For the last dozen years of my life, I had earnestly desired to see this copy: not because I had heard much of its beauty, but because it is the _identical_ copy which gave rise to the calling of this impression the MAZARINE BIBLE.[102] Certainly, all those copies which I had previously seen--and they cannot be fewer than ten or twelve--were generally superior; nor must this edition be henceforth designated as "of the very first degree of rarity."
BIBLIA LATINA. _Printed by the Same_, 1462. Folio. 2 vols. A fair, sound, large copy: UPON VELLUM. The date is printed in red, at the end of each volume--a variety, which is not always observable. This copy is in red morocco binding.
BIBLIA ITALICA. _Printed by Vindelin de Spira, Kalend. August. 1471_.
Folio. 2 vols. A fine copy of an extremely rare edition; perhaps the rarest of all those of the early Italian versions of the Bible. It is in calf binding, but cropt a little.
LEGENDA SANCTORUM. Italice. "_Impresse per Maestro Nicolo ienson, &c.
Without Date_. Folio. The author of the version is _Manerbi_: and the present is the _first impression_ of it. It is executed in double columns, in the usually delicate style of printing by Jenson: and this volume is doubtless among the rarer productions of the printer.
SERVIUS IN VIRGILIUM. _Printed by Ulric Han. Without Date_. Folio. This is a volume of the most unquestionable rarity; and _such_ a copy of it as that now before me, is of most uncommon occurrence.[103] Can this be surprising, when I tell you that it once belonged to Henri II. and Diane de Poictiers!
The leaves absolutely talk to you, as you turn them over. Yet why do I find it in my heart to tell you that, towards the middle, many leaves are stained at the top of the right margin?! There are also two worm holes towards the end. But what then? The sun has its spots.
PLAUTUS. 1472. Folio. Editio Princeps. Although _this_ volume came also from the collection of the _ill.u.s.trious Pair_ to whom the previous one belonged, yet is it unworthy of such owners. I suspect it has been cropt in its second binding. It is stained all through, at top, and the three introductory leaves are cruelly repellent.
CaeSAR. 1469. Folio. Editio Princeps. A very fine, genuine copy; in the original binding--such as all Sweynheym and Pannartz"s _ought_ to be. It is tall and broad: but has been unluckily too much written upon.
LACTANTIUS. 1470. _By the same Printers_. Perhaps, upon the whole, the finest copy of this impression which exists. Yet a love of truth compels me to observe--only in a very slight sound, approaching to a whisper--that there are indications of the ravages of the worm, both at the beginning and end; but very, very trivial. It is bound like the preceding volume; and measures thirteen inches and nearly three quarters, by about nine inches and one eighth.
CICERO DE OFFICIIS. 1466. 4to. Second Edition, upon paper; and therefore rare. But this copy is sadly stained and wormed.
CICERO DE NATURA DEORUM, &c. _Printed by Vindelin de Spiraa_. 1471. Folio.
A fine sound copy, in the original binding.
SILIUS ITALICUS. _Printed by Laver_. 1471. Folio. A good, sound copy; and among the very rarest books from the press of Laver, in such condition.
CATULLUS, TIBULLUS, ET PROPERTIUS. 1472. Folio. The knowing, in early cla.s.sical bibliography, are aware that this _Editio Princeps_ is perhaps to be considered as only _one_ degree below the first impressions of Lucretius and Virgil in rarity. The longest life may pa.s.s away without an opportunity of becoming the purchaser of such a treasure. The present is a tall, fair copy; quite perfect. In red morocco binding.
DANTE. _Printed by Numeister_. 1472. Folio. Considered to be the earliest impression. This is rather a broad than a tall copy; and not free from stain and the worm. But it is among the very best copies which I have seen.
It will not be necessary to select more flowers from this choice corner of the tenth and last room of the upper suite of apartments: nor am I sure that, upon further investigation, the toil would be attended with any very productive result. Yet I ought not to omit observing to you that this Library owes its chief celebrity to the care, skill, and enthusiasm of the famous _Gabriel Naude_, the first librarian under the Cardinal its founder.
Of Naude, you may have before read somewhat in certain publications;[104]
where his praises are set forth with no sparing hand. He was perhaps never excelled in activity, bibliographical _diplomacy_, or zeal for his master; and his expressive countenance affords the best index of his ardent mind.
He purchased every where, and of all kinds, of bodies corporate and of individuals. But you must not imagine that the _Mazarine Library_, as you now behold it, is precisely of the same dimensions, or contains the same books, as formerly. If many rare and precious volumes have been disposed of, or are missing, or lost, many have been also procured. The late librarian was LUCAS JOSEPH HOOKE, and the present is Mons. PEt.i.t RADEL.[105] We will descend, therefore, from these quiet and congenial regions; and pa.s.sing through the lower rooms, seek the _other_ collection of books attached to this establishment.
The library, which is more immediately appropriated to the INSt.i.tUTE OF FRANCE, may consist of 20,000 volumes,[106] and is contained in a long room--perhaps of one hundred feet--of which the further extremity is supposed to be _adorned_ by a statue of VOLTAIRE. This statue is raised within a recess, and the light is thrown upon it from above from a concealed window. Of all deviations from good taste, this statue exhibits one of the most palpable. Voltaire, who was as thin as a hurdle, and a mere bag of bones, is here represented as an almost _naked_ figure, sitting: a slight mantle over his left arm being the only piece of drapery which the statue exhibits. The poet is slightly inclining his head to the left, holding a pen in his right hand. The countenance has neither the fire, force, nor truth, which Denon"s terra-cotta head of the poet seems to display. The extremities are meagre and offensive. In short, the whole, as it appears to me, has an air approaching the burlesque. Opposite to this statue are the colossal busts of LA-GRANGE and MALESHERBES; while those of PEIRESC and FRANKLIN are nearly of the size of nature. They are all in white marble. That of Peiresc has considerable expression.
This may be called a collection of _Books of Business_; in other words, of books of almost every day"s reference--which every one may consult. It is particularly strong in _Antiquities_ and _History_: and for the latter, it is chiefly indebted to Dom Brial--the living father of French history[107]--that excellent and able man (who is also one of the Secretaries of the Inst.i.tute) having recommended full two-thirds of the _long sets_ (as they are called) which relate to ancient history. The written catalogue is contained in fourteen folio volumes, interleaved; there being generally only four articles written in a page, and those four always upon the recto of each leaf. This is a good plan: for you may insert your acquisitions, with the greatest convenience, for a full dozen years to come. No _printed_ catalogue of either of these libraries, or of those of the a.r.s.enal and Ste. Genevieve, exists: which I consider to be a _stain_--much more frightful than that which marks the copy of the "_Servius in Virgilium_," just before described!
It remains now to make mention of a _third_ Collection of Books--which may be considered in the light both of a public and a private Library. I mean, the Collection appropriated more particularly for the _King"s private use_,[108] and which is deposited beneath the long gallery of the Louvre.
Its local is as charming as it is peculiar. You walk by the banks of the Seine, in a line with the south side of the Louvre, and gain admittance beneath an archway, which is defended by an iron grating. An attendant, in the royal livery, opens the door of the library--just after you have ascended above the entresol. You enquire "whether Monsieur BARBIER, the chief Librarian, be within?" "Sir, he is never absent. Be pleased to go straight forward, as far as you can see."[109] What a sight is before me!
Nothing less than _thirteen_ rooms, with a small arched door in the centre, through which I gaze as if looking through a tube. Each of these rooms is filled with books; and in one or the other of them are a.s.sembled the several visitors who come to read. The whole is perfectly magical.
Meanwhile the nephew of M. Barbier walks quickly, but softly, from one room to another, to take down the several volumes enquired after. At length, having paced along upwards of 200 feet of glazed red tile, and wondering when this apparently interminable suite of apartments will end, I view my estimable friend, the HEAD LIBRARIAN deeply occupied in some correction of Bayle or of Moreri--sitting at the further extremity. His reception of me is more than kind. It is hearty and enthusiastic.
"Now that I am in this magical region, my good friend, allow me to inspect the famous PRAYER BOOK of CHARLEMAGNE?"--was my first solicitation to Mons.
Barbier. "Gently,"--said my guide. "You are almost asking to partake of forbidden fruit. But I suppose you must not be disappointed." This was only sharpening the edge of my curiosity--for "wherefore this mystery, good M.
Barbier?" "_That_ you may know another time. The book is here: and you shall immediately inspect it."--was his reply. M. Barbier unlocked the recess in which it is religiously preserved; took off the crimson velvet in which it is enveloped; and springing backward only two feet and a half, exclaimed, on presenting it, "Le voila--dans toute sa beaute pristine." I own that I even forgot _Charles the Bald_--and eke his imperial brother _Lotharius_,[110]--as I gazed upon the contents of it. With these contents it is now high time that you should be made acquainted.
EVANGELISTARIUM, or PRAYER BOOK--once belonging to CHARLEMAGNE. Folio. The subject-matter of this most precious book is thus arranged. In the first place, there are five large illuminations, of the entire size of the page, which are much discoloured. The first four represent the _Evangelists_: each sitting upon a cushion, not unlike a bolster. The fifth is the figure of our SAVIOUR. The back ground is purple: the pillow-like seat, upon which Christ sits, is scarlet, relieved by white and gold. The upper garment of the figure is dark green: the lower, purple, bordered in part with gold.
The foot-stool is gold: the book, in the left hand, is red and gold: the arabesque ornaments, in the border, are blue, red, and gold. The hair of our Saviour is intended to be flaxen.
The text is in double columns, upon a purple ground, within an arabesque border of red, purple, yellow, and bluish green. It is uniformly executed in letters of gold, of which the surface is occasionally rather splendid.
It consists of a series of gospel extracts, for the whole year, amounting to about two hundred and forty-two. These extracts terminate with "_Et ego resuscitabo eum in novissimo die. Amen_"
Next comes a Christian Calendar, from the dominical year Dcclxxv. to Dccxcvii. On casting the eye down these years, and resting it on that of Dcclx.x.xi, you observe, in the columns of the opposite leaf, this very important entry, or memorandum--in the undoubted writing of the time: "_In isto Anno ivit Dominus_, REX KAROLUS, _ad scm Petrvm et baptisatus est filius eius_ PIPPINUS _a Domino Apostolico_;" from which I think it is evident (as is observed in the account of this precious volume in the _Annales Encyclopediques_, vol. iii. p. 378) that this very book was commanded to be written chiefly to perpetuate a notice of the baptism, by Pope Adrian, of the emperor"s son PIPPIN.[111] There is no appearance whatever of fabrication, in this memorandum. The whole is coeval, and doubtless of the time when it is professed to have been executed. The last two pages are occupied by Latin verses, written in a lower-case, cursive hand; but contemporaneous, and upon a purple ground. From these verses we learn that the last scribe, or copyist, of the text of this splendid volume, was one G.o.dESCALE, or G.o.dSCHALCUS, a German. The verses are reprinted in the _Decades Philosophiques_.
This MS. was given to the _Abbey of St. Servin_, at Toulouse; and it was religiously preserved there, in a case of ma.s.sive silver, richly embossed, till the year 1793; when the silver was stolen, and the book carried off, with several precious relics of antiquity, by order of the President of the Administration, (Le Sieur S*****) and thrown into a magazine, in which were many other vellum MSS. destined ... TO BE BURNT! One"s blood curdles at the narrative. There it lay--- expecting its melancholy fate; till a Monsieur de Puymaurin, then detained as a prisoner in the magazine, happened to throw his eye upon the precious volume; and, writing a certain letter about it, to a certain quarter--(which letter is preserved in the fly leaves, but of which I was denied the transcription, from motives of delicacy--) an order was issued by government for the conveyance of the MS. to the metropolis. This restoration was effected in May 1811.[112] I think you must admit, that, in every point of view, THIS MS. ranks among the most interesting and curious, as well as the most ancient, of those in the several libraries of Paris.
But this is the _only_ piece of antiquity, of the book kind, in the Library. Of modern performances, I ought to mention a French version of OSSIAN, in quarto, which was the favourite reading book of the ex-Emperor; and to which Isabey, at his express command, prefixed a frontispiece after the design of Gerard. This frontispiece is beautifully and tenderly executed: a group of heroes, veiled in a mist, forms the back-ground. The only other modern curiosity, in this way, which I deem it necessary to notice, is a collection of ORIGINAL DRAWINGS of flowers, in water colours, by ReDOUTe, upon vellum: in seven folio volumes; and which cost 70,000 francs.[113] Nothing can exceed--and very few efforts of the pencil can equal--this wonderful performance. Such a collection were reasonable at the fore-mentioned price.
And now, my good friend, suppose I furnish you with an outline of the worthy head-librarian himself? A.A. BARBIER has perhaps not long "turned the corner" of his fiftieth year. Peradventure he may be fifty three.[114]
In stature, he is above the middle height, but not very tall. In form, he is robust; and his countenance expressive of great conciliatoriness and benignity. There is a dash of the "old school" about the attire of M.
Barbier, which I am Goth enough to admire: while his ardour of conversation, and rapidity of utterance, relieved by frequent and expressive smiles, make his society, equally agreeable and instructive. He is a literary bibliographer to the very back bone; and talks of what he has done, and of what he purposes to do, with a "gaiete de coeur" which is quite delightful. He is now engaged in an _Examen Critique et Complement des Dictionnaires Historiques les plus repandus_;[115] while his _Dictionnaire des Auteurs Anonymes et Pseudonymes_, in 4 vols. 8vo., and his _Bibliotheque d"un Homme de gout_," in five similar volumes, have already placed him in the foremost rank of French bibliographers. Such is his attention to the duties of his situation, as Librarian, that from one year"s end to the other, with the exception of Sundays, he has _no holiday_. His home-occupations, after the hours of public employment (from twelve to four) are over, are not less unintermitting--in the pursuits of literary bibliography.
It was at this home, that M. Barbier shewed me, in his library, some of the fruits of his long and vigorously pursued "travail." He possesses Mercier Saint Leger"s own copy of his intended _third_ edition of the _Supplement to Marchand"s History of Printing_. It is, in short, the second edition, covered with ms. notes in the hand-writing of Mercier himself.[117] He also possesses (but as the property of the Royal Library) the same eminent bibliographer"s copy of the _Bibliotheque Francaise De La Croix du Maine_, in six volumes, covered in like manner with ms. notes by the same hand. To a man of M. Barbier"s keen literary appet.i.te, this latter must prove an inexhaustible feast. I was shewn, in this same well-garnished, but unostentatious collection, GOUJET"S own catalogue of his own library. It is in six folio volumes; well written; with a ruled frame work round each page, and an ornamental frontispiece to the first volume. Every book in the catalogue has a note subjoined; and the index is at once full and complete.[118] M. Barbier has rather a high notion, and with justice, of Goujet: observing to me, that _five_ volumes, out of the _ten_ of the last edition of Moreri"s Dictionary--which were edited by Goujet--as well as his _Bibliotheque Francaise_, in eighteen duodecimo volumes--ent.i.tled him to the lasting grat.i.tude of posterity. On my remarking that the want of an index, to this _latter_ work, was a great drawback to the use which might be derived from it, M.B. readily coincided with me--and hoped that a projected new edition would remedy this defect. M.B. also told me that Goujet was the editor of the _Dictionnaire de Richelet_, of 1758, in three folio volumes--which had escaped my recollection.
My first visit to M. Barbier was concluded by his begging my acceptance of a copy of the _first edition of Phaedrus_, in 1596, 12mo.; which contained, bound up with it, a copy of the _second_ edition of 1600; with various readings to the _latter_, from a MS. which was burnt in 1774. This gift was expressly intended for Lord Spencer"s library, and in a few months from hence (as I have previously apprized his Lordship) it shall "repose upon the shelves" of his Collection.[119]
It is now high time to relieve you; as you must begin to be almost wearied with BIBLIOGRAPHY. You have indeed, from the tenor of these five last letters, been made acquainted with some of the chief treasures in the princ.i.p.al libraries of Paris. You have wandered with me through a world of books; and have been equally, with myself, astonished and delighted with what has been placed before you. Here, then, I drop the subject of bibliography--only to be resumed as connected with an account of book-men.
[91] [Because I have said that M. FLOCON was "from home" at the time I visited the library, and that M. Le CHEVALIER was rarely to be found abroad, M. c.r.a.pelet lets loose such a tirade of vituperation as is downright marvellous and amusing to peruse. Most a.s.suredly I was not to know M. Flocon"s bibliographical achievements and distinction by _inspiration_; and therefore I hasten to make known both the one and the other--in a version of a portion of the note of my sensitive translator: "M. Flocon is always at work; and one of the most zealous Librarians in Paris: he has worked twenty years at a Catalogue of the immense Library of Ste. Genevieve, of which the fruits are, twenty-four volumes--ready for press. a.s.suredly such a man cannot be said to pa.s.s his life away from his post." c.r.a.pELET, vol iv. p. 3, 4.
Most true--and who has said that HE DOES? Certainly not the Author of this Work. My translator must have here read without his spectacles.]
[92] _Editiones Italicae_; 1793. _Praef._
[93] Vol. i. p. 63-7. It is there observed that "there does not seem to be any reason for a.s.signing this edition, to a _Roman_ press."
[94] See page 116 ante
[95] See page 139 ante.
[96] See page 145 ante.
[97] [Now the property of the Right Hon. T. Grenville; having been purchased at the sale of Mr. Dent"s Library for 107_l_.]
[98] M. c.r.a.pelet doubts the truth of this story. He need not.
[99] [See the account of M. Barbier, post.]
[100] It is on a small piece of paper, addressed to M. Barbier: "Cherchez dans les depots bien soigneus.e.m.e.nt, tous les ouvrages d"ANDRE CIRINE: entr"autres ses _De Venatione libri ii: Messanae_ 1650. 8vo. _De natura et solertia Canum; Panormi_, 1653. 4to. _De Venatione et Natura Animalium Libri V. ibid_, 1653. 3 vol. in 4to.--tous avec figures gravees en bois. Peut etre dans la _Bibl. des Theatres_ y etoient-ils.
Je me recommande toujours a M, Barbier pour la _Scala Coeli_, in folio, pour les _Lettres de Rangouge_, et pour les autres livres qu"il a bien voulu se charger de rechercher pour moy." ST. LEGER.
[101] The Abbe Hooke preceded the abbe Le Blond; the late head librarian.
The present head librarian M. PEt.i.t RADEL, has given a good account of the Mazarine Library in his _Recherches sur les Bibliotheques_, &c.
1819, 8vo.; but he has been reproached with a sort of studied omission of the name of Liblond--who, according to a safe and skilful writer, may be well considered the SECOND FOUNDER of the Mazarine Library. The Abbe Liblond died at St. Cloud in 1796. In M. Renouard"s Catalogue of his own books, vol. ii. p. 253, an amusing story is told about Hooke"s successor, the Abbe Le Blond, and Renouard himself.
[102] _Bibl. Spenceriana_, vol. i. p. 3, &c. and page 154 ante.