FIRST GERMAN BIBLE; supposed to have been _printed by Mentelin_; without date: Folio. Towards the latter half of this copy, there are some interesting embellishments, in outline, in a bistre tint. The invention and execution of many of them are admirable. Where they are _coloured_, they lose their proper effect. An illumination, at the beginning of the book of _Esther_, bears the unequivocal date of 1470: but the edition was certainly four or five years earlier. This Bible is considered to be the earliest German version: but it is not so.
LATIN BIBLE, BY MENTELIN: in his second character. This Bible I saw for the first time; but Panzer is decidedly wrong in saying that the types resemble the larger ones in Mentelin"s _Valerius Maximus_, _Virgil_ and _Terence_: they may be nearly as tall, but are not so broad and large. From a ms.
note, the 402d leaf appears to be wanting. This copy is a singularly fine one. It is white, and large, and with rough edges throughout. It is also in its first binding, of wood.
LATIN BIBLE; _printed by Eggesteyn_. Here are several editions, and a duplicate of the first--which is printed in the second smallest character of Eggesteyn.[219] The two copies of this first edition are pretty much alike for size and condition: but _one_ of them, with handsome illuminations at the beginning of each volume, has the precious coeval ms.
date of 1468--as represented by the fac-simile of it in _Schoepflin"s Vind.
Typog. Tab. V._ Probably the date of the printing might have been at least a year earlier.
LATIN BIBLE: _printed by Jenson_, 1479. Folio. A fine copy, upon paper. The first page is illuminated.
To this list of impressions of the SACRED TEXT, may be added a fine copy of the SCLAVONIAN BIBLE of 1584, folio, with wood cuts, and another of the HUNGARIAN Bible of 1626, folio: the latter in double columns, with a crowdedly-printed margin, and an engraved frontispiece.
As to books upon miscellaneous subjects, I shall lay before you, without any particular order, my notes of the following: Of the _Speculum Morale_ of P. Bellovacensis, here said to be printed by Mentelin in 1476, in double columns, roman type, folio--there is a copy, in one volume, of tremendously large dimensions; as fine, clean, and crackling as possible. Also a copy of the _Speculum Judiciale_ of Durandus, _printed at Strasbourg by Hussner and Rekenhub_, in 1473, folio. Hussner was a citizen of Strasbourg, and his a.s.sociate a priest at Mentz. Here is also a perfect copy of the Latin PTOLEMY, of the supposed date of 1462, with a fine set of the copper-plates.
But I must make distinct mention of a _Latin Chronicle, printed by Gotz de Sletztat_ in 1474, in folio. It is executed in a coa.r.s.e, large gothic type, with many capital roman letters. At the end of the alphabetical index of 35 leaves, we read as follows:
DEO GRATIAS.
_A tpe ade vsqz ad annos cristi 1474 Acta et gesta hic suffitienter nuclient Sola spes mea. In virginis gracia Nicholaus Gotz. De Sletzstat._
The preceding is on the recto; on the reverse of the same leaf is an account of Inventors of _arts_: no mention is made of that of _printing_.
Then the prologue to the Chronicle, below which is the device of Gotz;[220]
having his name subjoined. The text of the Chronicle concludes at page CCLx.x.x--printed numerals--with an account of an event which took place in the year 1470. But the present copy contains another, and the concluding leaf--which may be missing in some copies--wherein there is a particular notice of a splendid event which took place in 1473, between Charles Duke of Burgundy, and Frederick the Roman Emperor, with Maximilian his Son; together with divers dukes, earls, and counts attending. The text of this leaf ends thus;
_SAVE GAIRT VIVE BVRGVND._
Below, within a circle, "Sixtus quartus." This work is called, in a ms.
prefix, the _Chronicle of Foresius_. I never saw, or heard of, another copy. The present is fine and sound; and bound in wood, covered with leather.
Here are two copies of St. _Jerom"s Epistles, printed by Schoeffher_ in 1470; of which that below stairs is one of the most magnificent imaginable; in two folio volumes. Hardly any book can exceed, and few equal it, in size and condition--unless it be the theological works of ARCHBISHOP ANTONIUS, _printed by Koeberger_, in 1477, in one enormous folio volume. As a specimen of Koeberger"s press, I am unable at the present moment to mention any thing which approaches it. I must also notice a copy of the _Speculum Humanae Salvationis, printed at Basle, by Richel_, in 1476, folio. It is a prodigious volume, full of wood cuts, and printed in double columns in a handsome gothic type. This work seems to be rather a _History of the Bible_; having ten times the matter of that which belongs to the work with this t.i.tle usually prefixed. The copy is in its original wooden binding.
JUNIa.n.u.s MAIUS. _De Propriet. Priscor. Verborum, printed at Treviso by Bernard de Colonia_, 1477, folio. I do not remember to have before seen any specimen of this printer"s type: but what he has done here, is sufficient to secure for him typographical immortality. This is indeed a glorious copy--perfectly large paper--of an elegantly printed book, in a neat gothic type, in double columns. The first letter of the text is charmingly illuminated. I shall conclude these miscellaneous articles by the notice of two volumes, in the list of ROMANCES, of exceedingly rare occurrence. These romances are called _Tyturell_ and _Partzifal_. The author of them was _Wolfram von Escenbach_. They are each of the date of 1477, in folio. The Tyturell is printed prose-wise, and the Partzifal in a metrical form.
We now come to the Roman CLa.s.sICS, (for of the Greek there are _few or none_)--before the year 1500. Let me begin with _Virgil_. Here is _Mentelin"s_ very rare edition; but cropt, scribbled upon, and wanting several leaves. However, there is a most n.o.ble and perfect copy of Servius"s Commentary upon the same poet, _printed by Valdarfer_ in 1471, folio, and bound in primitive boards. There are two perfect copies of _Mentelin"s_ edition (which is the first) of VALERIUS MAXIMUS, of which one is wormed and cropt. The _other_ Mentelin copy of the Valerius Maximus, without the Commentary, is perhaps the largest I ever saw--with the ancient ms. signatures at the bottom-corners of the leaves. Unluckily, the margins are rather plentifully charged with ms. memoranda.
Of CICERO, there are of course numerous early editions. I did not see the _De Officiis_ of 1465, or of 1466, of which Hermann speaks, and to which he affixes the _novel_ date of 1462:--but I did see the _De Oratore_, printed by _Vindelin de Spira_ without date; and _such_ a copy I shall probably never see again! The colour and substance of the paper are yet more surprising than the size.
It is hardly possible to see a finer copy of the _Scriptores Hist. Augustae, printed by P. de Lavagna_ in 1475, folio. It possesses all the legitimate evidences of pristine condition, and is bound in its first coat of oak.
Here is a very fine copy of the _Plutarchi Vitae Paralellae_, printed in the letter R, in two large folio volumes, bound in wood, covered by vellum of the sixteenth century. But, if of _any_ book, it is of the first edition of _Catullus Tibullus et Propertius_, of 1472, folio--that this Library has just reason to be proud. Here are in fact _two_ copies, equally sound, pure and large: but in _one_ the _Propertius_ is wanting;[221] in lieu of which, however, there is the first edition of JUVENAL and PERSIUS by V. de Spira-- in equal purity of condition. The perfect copy has the SYLVae of STATIUS subjoined. It should seem, therefore, that the Juvenal and Persius had supplied the place of the Propertius and Statius, in one copy. You are well aware of the extreme rarity of this first edition of Catullus Tibullus et Propertius.
I now take leave of the _Public Library of Strasbourg_; not however without mentioning rather an amusing anecdote connected with some of the books just described; nor without an observation or two upon the present state of the library. The anecdote is thoroughly bibliographical. After having examined some of the finer books before mentioned, and especially having dwelt upon the Latin Bible of Mentelin, and a few copies of the rarer Cla.s.sics, I ventured to descant upon the propriety of _parting_ with those for which there was _no use_, and which, without materially strengthening their own collection, might, by an advantageous sale, enable them to enrich their collection by valuable modern books: of which they obviously stood in _need_. I then proposed so many hundred francs, for such and such volumes.
Messrs. Schweighaeuser, jun. Dahler, and several other professors were standing round me--when I made this proposition. On the conclusion of it, professor Dahler put his hand upon my shoulder--stooped down--(for I was sitting the whole time)--and looking half archly, replied thus: "Monsieur le Bibliographe, vous raisonnez bien: mais--nous conserverons nos anciens livres." These st.u.r.dy conservators were not to be shaken; and none but _duplicates_ were to be parted with.[222]
The next observation relates to the collection. Never did a collection stand in greater need of being weeded. There are medical books sufficient to supply six copies for the library of every castellated mansion along the Vosges[223]--should any of them ever be repaired and put in order.
Schoepflin"s library furnishes many duplicates both in history and theology; and in _Cla.s.sics_ they should at least make good their series of the more important _first Editions_. The want of a perfect _Virgil_ by _Mentelin_, and the want of a _first Terence_, by the same printer--their boasted townsman--are reproachful wants. At any rate, they should not let slip any opportunity of purchasing the first _Ovid, Horace, Ausonius_, and _Lucretius_. No man is more deeply impressed with a conviction of these wants, than the present chief librarian, the younger Schweighaeuser; but, unfortunately, the pecuniary means of supplying them are slender indeed. I find this to be the case wherever I go. The deficiency of funds, for the completion of libraries, may however be the cry of _other_ countries besides _France_.
As to booksellers, for the sale of modern works, and for doing, what is called "a great stroke of business," there is no one to compare with the house of TREUTTEL and WuRTZ--of which firm, as you may remember, very honourable mention was made in one of my latter letters from Paris. Their friendly attention and hospitable kindness are equal to their high character as men of business. It was frequently in their shop that I met with some of the savants of Strasbourg; and among them, the venerable and amiable LICHTENBERGER, author of that very judicious and pains taking compilation ent.i.tled _Initia Typographica_. I was also introduced to divers of the learned, whose names I may be pardoned for having forgotten. The simplicity of character, which here marks almost every man of education, is not less pleasing than profitable to a traveller who wishes to make himself acquainted with the literature of the country through which he pa.s.ses.
[203] _Alsatia Ill.u.s.trata_, 1751-61, folio, two volumes.
[204] In the middle of the fifteenth century there were not fewer than nine princ.i.p.al gates of entrance: and above the walls were built, at equal distances, fifty-five towers--surmounted, in turn, by nearly thirty towers of observation on the exterior of the walls. But in the beginning of the sixteenth century, from the general adoption of gunpowder in the art of war, a different system of defence was necessarily adopted; and the number of these towers was in consequence diminished. At present there are none. They are supplied by bastions and redoubts, which answer yet better the purposes of warfare.
[205] This work is ent.i.tled "_Notices Historiques, Statistiques et Litteraires, sur la Ville de Strasbourg_." 1817, 8vo. A second volume, published in 1819, completes it. A more judicious, and, as I learn, faithful compilation, respecting the very interesting city of which it treats, has not yet been published.
[206] I had before said 530 English feet; but a note in M. c.r.a.pelet"s version (supplied, as I suspect, by my friend M. Schweighaeuser,) says, that from recent strict trigonometrical measurement, it is 437 French feet in height.
[207] The _Robertsau_, about three quarters of a mile from Strasbourg, is considered to be the best place for a view of the cathedral. The Robertsau is a well peopled and well built suburb. It consists of three nearly parallel streets, composed chiefly of houses separated by gardens--the whole very much after the English fashion. In short, these are the country houses of the wealthier inhabitants of Strasbourg; and there are upwards of seventy of them, flanked by meadows, orchards, or a fruit or kitchen garden. It derives the name of _Robertsau_ from a gentleman of the name of _Robert,_ of the ancient family of _Bock_. He first took up his residence there about the year 1200, and was father of twenty children. Consult _Hermann_; vol. i. p. 209.
[208] "The engineer Specklin, who, in order to complete his MAP of ALSACE, traversed the whole chain of the VOSGES, estimates the number of these castles at little short of _two hundred_: and pushes the antiquity of some of them as far back as the time of the Romans." See _Hermann_; vol. i. p. 128, note 20: whose compressed account of a few of these castellated mansions is well worth perusal, I add this note, from something like a strong persuasion, that, should it meet the eye of some enterprising and intelligent English antiquary, it may stimulate him--within the waning of two moons from reading it, provided those moons be in the months of Spring--to put his equipage in order for a leisurely journey along the VOSGES!
[209] This was formerly called the bell of the HOLY GHOST. It was cast in 1427, by John Gremp of Strasbourg. It cost 1300 florins; and weighs eighty quintals;, or 8320 lb.: nearly four tons. It is twenty-two French feet in circ.u.mference, and requires six men to toll it. In regard to the height, I must not be supposed to speak from absolute data. Yet I apprehend that its alt.i.tude is not much over-rated.
Grandidier has quite an amusing chapter (p. 241, &c.) upon the thirteen bells which are contained in the tower of this cathedral.
[210] It was necessary, on the part of my friend, to obtain the consent of the Prefect to make these drawings. A moveable scaffold was constructed, which was suspended from the upper parts--and in this _nervous_ situation the artist made his copies--of the size of the foregoing cuts. The expense of the scaffold, and of making the designs, was very inconsiderable indeed. The worthy Prefect, or Mayor, was so obliging as to make the scaffold a mere gratuitous affair; six francs only being required for the men to drink! [Can I ever forget, or think slightly of, such kindness? Never.]
Cicognara, in his _Storia della Scultura_, 1813, folio, has given but a very small portion of the above dance; which was taken from the upper part of a neighbouring house. It is consequently less faithful and less complete. [In the preceding edition of this work, there are not fewer than _eleven_ representations of these Drolleries.]
[211] I think this volume is of the date of 1580. CONRAD DASYPODIUS was both the author of the work, and the chief mechanic or artisan employed in making the clock--about which he appears to have taken several journeys to employ, and to consult with, the most clever workmen in Germany. The wheels and movements were made by the two HABRECHTS, natives of Schaffhausen.
[212] [The Reader may form some notion of its beauty and elaboration of ornament, from the OPPOSITE PLATE: taken from a print published about a century and a half ago.]
[213] See Grandidier, p. 177: where the Latin inscription is given. The _Ephemerides de l"Academie des Curieux de la Nature_, vol. ii. p.
400, &c. are quoted by this author--as a contemporaneous authority in support of the event above mentioned.
[214] My French translator will have it, that, "this composition, though not without its faults, is considered, in the estimation of all connoisseurs, as one of the finest funereal monuments which the modern chisel has produced." It may be, in the estimation of _some_--but certainly of a _very small_ portion of--Connoisseurs of first rate merit. Our Chantry would sicken or faint at the sight of such allegorical absurdity.
[215] [This avowal has subjected me to the gentle remonstrance of the Librarian in question, and to the tart censure of M. c.r.a.pelet in particular. "Voila le Reverend M. Dibdin (exclaims the latter) qui se croit oblige de declarer qu"il n"a rien derobe!" And he then quotes, apparently with infinite delight, a pa.s.sage from the _Quarterly Review_, (No. LXIII. June 1825) in which I am designated as having "extraordinary talents for ridicule!" But how my talents "for ridicule" (of which I very honestly declare my unconsciousness) can be supposed to bear upon the above "p.r.i.c.k of conscience," is a matter which I have yet to learn. My amiable friend might have perhaps somewhat exceeded the prescribed line of his duty in letting me have the key of the Library in question--but, can a declaration of such confidence not having been MISPLACED, justify the flippant remarks of my Annotator?]
[216] [It is now published in an entire state by the above competent Editor.]
[217] See the authorities quoted, and the subject itself handled, in the _Bibliographical Decameron_, vol. i. p. 316, &c.
[218] [Here again my sensitive Annotator breaks out into something little short of personal abuse, for my DARING to _doubt_ what all the world before had held in solemn _belief_! Still, I will continue to doubt; without wishing this doubt to be considered as "paroles d"Evangile"-- as M. c.r.a.pelet expresses it.]
[219] Fully described in the _Bibl. Spenceriana_, vol. i. p. 39, with a fac-simile of the type.
[220] A fac-simile of this device appears in a Latin Bible, without name of printer, particularly described in the _aedes Althorpianae_; vol. ii. p.
41. Hence we learn that the Bible in question, about the printer of which there appears to be some uncertainty among bibliographers, was absolutely printed by Gotz.
[221] The imperfect copy, being a duplicate, was disposed of for a copy of the _Bibl. Spenceriana_; and it is now in the fine library of the Rt. Hon. T. Grenville. The very first glance at this copy will shew that the above description is not overcharged.
[222] "These Duplicates related to some few articles of minor importance belonging to the library of the Public School, and which had escaped a former revision. The cession was made with due attention to forms, and with every facility." Such (as I have reason to believe) is the remark of M. Schweighaeuser himself. What follows--evidently by the hand of M.
c.r.a.pelet--is perfectly delicious ... of its kind. "That M. Dibdin should have preferred such an indiscreet request to the Librarians in question--impelled by his habitual vivacity and love of possessing books--is conceivable enough: but, that he should _publish_ such an anecdote--that he should delight in telling us of the rudeness which he committed in SITTING while the gentlemen about him were STANDING, is to affect a very uncommon singularity"!!! [Greek: o popoi!]
[223] There are yet libraries, and rare books, in the district. I obtained for my friend the Rev. H. Drury, one of the finest copies in England of the first edition of _Cicero"s Offices_, of 1465, 4to. UPON VELLUM--from the collection of a physician living in one of the smaller towns near the Vosges. This copy was in its ancient oaken attire, and had been formerly in a monastic library. For this acquisition my friend was indebted to the kind offices of the younger M. Schweighaeuser.