Descriptive Catalogue 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 C^rfee iAxni 
 
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 First portrait of Lamb engraved {from the Maclise 
 portrait) in America. Philadelphia^ 1835. 
 
Descriptive Catalogue 
 
 OF 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 C^rfee iAmS 
 
 ^ 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 1897 
 
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 CHARLES LAMB'S LIBRARY 
 
 Charles Lamb at his death bequeathed to his 
 life -long friend, Edward Moxon, the well- 
 known London publisher, his curious collec- 
 tion of books. Moxon, it seems, did not claim 
 his inheritance until after the death of Mary 
 Lamb, during whose last long illness the collec- 
 tion of books, that had formed the solace and 
 delight of her brother's life, had met with 
 neglect and partial dispersion, chiefly among 
 his friends. After her death Moxon selected 
 upwards of sixty volumes from the mass as 
 worthy of presentation because of the notes, 
 etc., which they contained, by Lamb and his 
 friends, and then destroyed the remainder of 
 the library. Charles Welford, then of the firm 
 of Bartlett & Welford, an intimate friend of 
 Moxon's, on learning that the collection was to 
 be sold induced Moxon to let him carry off the 
 prize to America. The books were brought to 
 this country early in 1848, and were placed on 
 exhibition in the store of Bartlett & Welford at 
 Nos. 2 and 4 Barclay Street, in the Astor 
 House, New York. Therethey were sold piece- 
 meal to the many admirers of the " gentle Elia," 
 who had come from California and Oregon as 
 well as from the Eastern States, and from 
 Labrador to Mexico. 
 
 710 
 
The following list of the books, with notes 
 of the marginalia by Lamb and his friends, was 
 made by Charles Welford* and was first printed 
 in The Literary World, of New York, with an 
 introduction by George L. Duyckinck: 
 
 " And you, my midnight darlings, my folios, must I 
 part with the intense delight of having you (huge arm- 
 luls) in my embrace ; must knowledge come to me, if 
 it come at all, by some awkward experiment of intui- 
 tion, and no longer by this familiar process of read- 
 ing ? "—Eli A. 
 
 (i) Auli Gelliiy Noctes Atticae, Amst., Elz., 
 1651. 24mo. 
 
 " This book was bought at Mr. J. Home Tooke's 
 sale, and the marginal references are from his pen." — 
 C. L.'s MS. Note. 
 
 (2) Art of Living in London {The), A Poem, 
 Lond., 1805. i2mo. 
 
 With long MS. note on the author, Mr. Wm. Cooke. 
 " Goldsmith gave the title to the Art and revised it all, 
 from Jacky Taylor," and other notes and remarks MS. 
 
 (3) Bourne {v.), Poemata, Latine, partim red- 
 dita, partim scripta, Lond., 1750. i2mo. 
 
 With several Latin poetical extracts, &c., on the fly 
 leaves, and an original Latin poem of six lines, " Stium 
 Cuique,^'' signed C. L., printed in Talfourd's life ; " the 
 only Latin verse I have made for 40 years. From 
 thence I turned to V. Bourne, what a sweet, unpretend- 
 ing, pretty mannered, matterful creature. Bless him ! 
 Latin wasn't good enough for him, why wasn't he con- 
 tent with the language which Gay and Prior wrote in." 
 — Letter to Southey, 1815. 
 
 (4) Burney {James), Essay on the Game of 
 Whist, Lond., 1821. i2mo. 
 
 " Martin Charles Burney, from the author " (the 
 M. B. of Eha). 
 
 (5) Bacon's {Lord), ^Nor\iS, Lond., 1629. Small 
 4to. 
 
 " This book contains Advancement of Learning (ist 
 edition, 1629), and Essays by Lord Bacon." — MS. Note. 
 
 * The names of the present owners, and notes of the 
 sale of Charles W. Frederickson's library, excepted. 
 
(6) Cities Great Concern {The), A Question of 
 Honor and Arms, whether Apprentiship ex- 
 tinguisheth Gentry, Lend., 1674. iSmo. 
 
 " This treatise was written by John Philpot, Somer- 
 set Herald, died 1645," and MS. copy of title page on 
 fly leaf. 
 
 (7) Cieaveland {J.), Poems, Orations, and Epis- 
 tles, and others of his Genuine, Incomparable 
 Pieces, ist edit., Lond., 1662. i2mo. 
 
 MS. notice of the author from Fuller's Worthies. 
 
 (8) Cieaveland (/.), Poems, Orations, and Epis- 
 tles, and others of his Genuine, Incomparable 
 Pieces, Lond., 1668. i2mo. 
 
 MS. notes, and additional poems. 
 
 (9) Chaucer {Jeffrey)^ The Works of our Ancient 
 and Learned English Poet, and Lidgate's 
 Story of Thebes, Speght's Edition, Lond., 
 1598, Black-Letter, good sound copy. Folio. 
 
 MS. notes and extracts on the fly leaves. •' I have 
 not a black-letter book amongst mine, old Chaucer ex- 
 cepted." — Letter to Ai?tsworth, 1823. 
 
 Bought at the sale of Charles W. Frederickson's li- 
 brary, by Charles Scribner's Sons, for $340. 
 
 (10) Ozf/^>'(y^.), The Works of, complete, Lond., 
 1693. Folio. 
 
 Three folio pages of additions and extracts, marginal 
 corrections, MS. 
 
 (11) Dunciad {The),V2iX\ornm, Lond., 1729. 8vo. 
 " This book contains the Dunciad as at first written, 
 
 with Theobald for hero, and the Art ofjPolitics, in imi- 
 tation of Horace's Ars Poet." 
 
 (12) Dennis {Mr.), Original Letters, Familiar, 
 Moral, and Critical, by, Lond., 1726. 8vo. 
 
 MS. notes and additions. 
 
 (13) Drayton {Michael), The Works of, contain- 
 ing Poly Olbion, The Barons' War, England's 
 Heroical Epistles, &c., i vol., best Edition, 
 Lond., 1748. Large folio. 
 
 The blank leaves are literally crowded with illustra- 
 tive extracts from Elizabethan authors, additional 
 
poems, &c., including the whole of Skelton's Philip 
 Sparrow, in C. Lamb's " most clerkly" hand writing-. 
 
 Bought at the sale of Charles W, Frederickson's li- 
 brary by Henry B. Smith, the librettist and composer, 
 for $250. 
 
 (14) Euripidis Tragoediarum, interp. Lat., 
 Oxonii, 1821. 8vo. 
 
 " C. & M. Lamb from H. F. Gary," on fly leaf, and a 
 few marginal corrections of the text in C. Lamb's hand. 
 
 (15) Edwards {Jonathan). 8vo. 
 
 " Edwards on Free Will, and Priestley on Necessity, 
 are bound together in this volume." — MS. Note. 
 
 " Priestley, whom I sin in almost adoring." — Letter 
 to Coleridge y 1797. 
 
 (16) Fulke Greville (Lord Brooke), Certain 
 Learned and Elegant Works of, written in 
 his Youth, and Familiar Exercise with Sir 
 Philip Sidney, containing Treatise of Humane 
 Learning, of Warres, Tragedie of Alaham, 
 &c., &c., Lond., 1633. Small folio. 
 
 Long extracts relative to Ld. Brooke, marginal cor- 
 rections, and note on the suppression of one of his 
 works. 
 
 " Whether we look into his plays or his most pas- 
 sionate love poems, we find all frozen and |made rigid 
 with intellect." — Dramatic Specimens. 
 
 (17) Guardian {The), vol. I, Lond., 1750. i2mo. 
 Vol. 2, Lond., 1734. 24mo. 
 
 In vol. I are the autographs, " John Lamb, 1756," 
 " Charles Lamb," in a child's and an older hand. 
 This set, of which the first volume had belonged to his 
 father, and the second was picked up at some stall, was 
 Chas. Lamb's only copy of " The Guardian." 
 
 (18) Hudibras, in Three Parts, with Annota- 
 tions, Lond., 1726. i2mo. 
 
 On the Title, " Mr. John Lamb," and various mar- 
 ginal corrections, &c., in his son's hand. 
 
 {ici) Hymens Fraludia ; or. Loves Masterpiece, 
 that so much admired Romance of Cleopatra, 
 translated by R. Loveday, Lond., 1698. Folio. 
 MS. note on Title 
 
(20) Jonson's {Ben) Works complete in i vol., 
 Lond., 1692. Folio. 
 
 The blank leaves, margins, &c., are filled with ex- 
 tracts from the old Dramatists and early English 
 Writers, with additional poems, corrections of the Text, 
 &c., in Charles Lamb's early hand-writing, forming a 
 most curious and valuable memento of his favorite 
 studies. 
 
 Bought at the sale of Charles W. Frederickson's li- 
 brary, by Charles Scribner's Sons, for $375. 
 
 (21) Lucan's Pharsalia; or, the Civil Wars of 
 Rome. Englished by Thomas May. With 
 continuation to the death of Julius Caesar, 
 Lond., 1635. i2mo. 
 
 Bears marks of careful reading with the favorite 
 passages and epithets underscored, 
 
 (22) More {Dr. Henry), Philosophical Poems, 
 Platonic Song of the Soul, &c., Cambridge, 
 1647. i2mo. 
 
 Fine copy, gilt edges, with additional Poems and few 
 MS. notes and corrections. 
 
 Bought at the sale of Charles W. Frederickson's li- 
 brary, by George D. Smith, for $170. 
 
 (23) More {Dr. Henry), Collection of the Philo- 
 sophical Writings of, Lond., 1712. Folio. 
 
 On fly leaf, "Mr. Lamb, 20 Russell street, Covent 
 Garden, corner of Bow street ; in the autumn of this 
 year (1817) he and his sister removed to lodgings in 
 Russell street, Covent Garden, delightfully situated 
 between the two great Theatres." — TalfourcVs Life. 
 See Letter to Miss Wordsworth, Nov. 21, 1817, in do. 
 
 (24) More {Dr. Henry), Explanation of the Grand 
 Mystery of Godliness, Lond., 1660. Folio. 
 
 " Lamb, Colebrook Cottage, end of Colebrook Ter- 
 race, left hand," apparently a direction for the delivery 
 of the book, written inside. [Coleridge, who, it is sup- 
 posed, borrowed this volume from Lamb, wrote of 
 this work : " Contains more enlarged and elevating 
 views of the Christian Dispensation than I have met 
 with in any other single volume ; for More had both 
 the Philosophical and Poetic genius, supported by im- 
 mense erudition."] 
 
 Now in the collection of A. GrowoU. 
 
(25) Minor Poets, The V^orks of , vol. i, Lend., 
 1749. i2mo. 
 
 *' Wentworth, Lord Roscommon, Charles, Earl of 
 Dorset, Lord Halifax, Sir Samuel Garth." MS. note 
 on fly leaf. 
 
 (26) Miscellanies, in one vol., containing five 
 Tracts. 8vo. 
 
 " This volume contains Antonio : a Tragedy by Wm. 
 Godwin ; Remorse : a Tragedy, by S. T.C.; Antiquity: 
 a Farce, by B(aron) Field," &c. MS. list of Contents. 
 Outside the cover is written, "The Remainder of 
 Christ's Hospital,— return the volume when done with. 
 C. L. for L. Hunt, Esq." 
 
 Bought at the sale of Charles W. Frederickson's li- 
 brary, by Dodd, Mead & Co., for $300. 
 
 (27) Miscellany Letters, Collection of, selected 
 out of Mist's Weekly Journal, 2 vols., Lond., 
 1722. 8vo. 
 
 On the cover of vol. i is a curious list of Lamb's 
 friends and acquaintances with their address as " God- 
 win, 44 Gower Place, Fen wick " (the Bigod of Elia). 
 " Bond street. New York, and Niagara, Upper Canada. 
 Talfourd, Moxon," &c. 
 
 (28) Newcastle (Margaret Cavendish, Duchess 
 of), Works, I vol., Lond., 1664. Folio. 
 
 " This volume contains, besides Philosophical Let- 
 ters, The Life of the Duke of Newcastle, by the Duch- 
 ess," MS. note. Such a book, for instance, as the Life 
 of the Duke of Newcastle, by his Duchess,— no casket 
 is rich enough, no casing sufficiently durable to honor 
 and keep safe such a jewel." — Elia. 
 
 (29) Newcastle (Margaret Cavendish, Duchess 
 of), The World's Olio, vsrritten by the Thrice 
 noble historian and most excellent Princess, 
 the Duchess of Newcastle, Lond., 1671. Folio. 
 
 Bears marks of careful reading, with many marginal 
 MS. notes, comments, &c. 
 
 (30) Newcastle (Margaret Cavendish, Duchess 
 of), Nature's Pictures, drawn by Fancies 
 Pencil, the Duchess of Newcastle, — her Ex- 
 cellency's Comical Tales in Verse, — do. do. in 
 Prose, Lond., 1656. Folio. 
 
 MS. marginal notes and corrections. 
 
(3i) Osborne {Francis)^ The Works of, Memoirs 
 of Queen Elizabeth and King James, &c., 
 Lond., 1689. 8vo. 
 Few MS. references, &c. 
 
 (32) Old Plays, A Collection of rare old quarto 
 Plays ; original editions, by Nat. Lee, Shad- 
 well, Settle, Mrs. Bohn, Tom Durfey, Crowne, 
 &c., II in No., bound in i vol. 410. 
 
 MS. list of contents. 
 
 (33) Old Plays, A Collection of rare old quarto 
 Plays ; original editions, by Wycherley, Dry- 
 den, Shadwell, &c., with Dryden's Essay on 
 Dramatic Poetry, 12 plays in i vol. 4to. 
 
 MS. list of contents. 
 
 Now in the collection of John Austin Stevens, Jr. 
 
 (34) Minor Poets, the Works of, by Vanbrugh, 
 Farquhar, Settle, &c., and curious Tracts by 
 A. Marvell, C. Cotton, Motteux, &c. i vol. 
 4to. 
 
 15 Tracts, with MS. List of Contents. 
 Now in the Astor Library. 
 
 (35) Minor Poets, the Works of, contain "The 
 Duchess of Marly," by John Webster (with 
 numerous marginal corrections ; no doubt the 
 copy used for the "Dramatic Specimens"). 
 The Rehearsal of the Duke of Buckingham, 
 and others by Etheredge, Otway, Wycherley, 
 &c. I vol. 4to. 
 
 MS. Contents. 
 
 Now in the Astor Library. 
 
 (36) Poetical Tracts, original 4to, Editions, 
 Mason's English Garden, 1772, View of Cov- 
 ent Garden Theatre, curious plate. The Thea- 
 tres, ditto, 1772. I vol. 4to. 
 
 MS. List of Contents, 7 Tracts. 
 
 (37) Poetical Tracts, Poems by Charles Lloyd, 
 1795 ; Lines on the Fast by ditto, 1799 ; 
 
*' Charles Lloyd to Charles: " Coleridge's France; 
 Fears in Solitude, &c. ; Wordsworth's De- 
 scriptive Sketches, &c. All original editions. 
 I vol. 8vo. 
 
 Full of corrections and variations of the Text, MS. 
 Contents, &c., by C. L. 
 
 Now in the collection of Charles Eliot Norton, of 
 Cambridge, Mass. 
 
 (38) Prior (M.), Miscellaneous Works of , Lond., 
 1740. Svo. 
 
 Numerous MS. Additions, Extracts, &c. 
 
 (39) Flays. I vol. Svo. 
 
 " This Book contains Wallenstein, a drama, in two 
 parts, translated by S. T. Coleridge, from Schiller, 
 Plays by Joanna Baillie." MS. notes. 
 
 (40) Philips {Mrs. Katharine), The Poems of, 
 the Matchless Orinda, Lond., 1678. Folio. 
 
 MS. critical note and emendations, &c. 
 
 (41) Pelation of the Fearful Estate of Francis 
 Spira. i2mo. 
 
 " This Book was written by one Springer, a lawyer." 
 MS. note. 
 
 ". . . Francis Spira, an Advocate of Padua Ann. 
 1545, that being desperate, by no counsel of learned 
 men could be comforted ; he felt (as he said) the pains 
 of hell in his soul, in all other things he discoursed 
 aright, but in this most mad." — Barton, "Anatomy of 
 Melancholy." Cure of Despair. Pt. III. Sec. IV. p. 466. 
 
 Now in the Duyckinck collection in the Lenox Li- 
 brary. 
 
 (42) ReliqziicB Wottoniance, A Collection of Lives, 
 Letters, Poems, and Characters (by Sir Henry 
 Wotton, Dr. Donne, etc.), edited by Izaacke 
 Walton. Best edition. Lond., 1672. Svo. 
 
 Additional Poems by Wotton, and few notes, MS. 
 
 (43) Richardson {John), Explanatory Notes and 
 Remarks on Milton's Paradise Lost, Lond., 
 1734. Svo. 
 
 MS. Notes and Extracts on the Fly Leaves. 
 
Engraved by G. B. Ellis. 
 
(44) Review of the Text of the Twelve Books of 
 Milton's Paradise Lost, in which Dr. Bentley's 
 emendations arc considered, Lond., 1733. 
 8vo. 
 
 *♦ By Dr. Zachary Pearce, Bishop of Rochester." 
 MS. note. 
 
 (45) Shakspeare' s Poems, Venus and Adonis, 
 Tarquinand Lucrece, &c., Lond., 1714- i2mo. 
 
 With several pages of poetical extracts, poems 
 ascribed to Shakspeare, &c., and frequent marginal 
 corrections of the Text, references, &c., as The Amor- 
 ous Epistle of Helen to Paris. " By Thomas Hey wood, 
 not Sh," &c. 
 
 Bought at the sale of Charles W. Frederickson's li- 
 brary, by Charles Scribner's Sons, for $210. 
 
 (46) Spectator {The), Vol. 9th and last. 4th 
 edition, rare. Lond., 1724. i2mo. 
 
 "By Wm. Bond, associate with Aaron Hill in the 
 Plain Dealer." MS. note. 
 
 (47) Swiff s IVorks, Vol. 5, Dublin, 1759. i2mo. 
 Six pages of Poetical Extracts on the fly leaves, 
 
 margin, &c. 
 
 (48) Suckling {Sir John), Fragmenta Aurea. A 
 Collection of the incomparable pieces of, 
 Lond., 1646. 8vo. 
 
 MSS. Extracts from Aubrey's Lives, Notes, &c. 
 
 Bought at the sale of Charles W. Frederickson's li- 
 brary, by Dodd, Mead & Co., for $270. Portrait by 
 Marshall is missing from this copy, and title-page of 
 " The Goblins " is mutilated. 
 
 (49) Sewel {Wm.), The History of the Rise and 
 Progress of the people called Quakers, Lond., 
 1722. Folio. 
 
 MS. reference, &c., on fly leaf. " Reader, if you are 
 not acquainted with it, I would recommend to you 
 above all Church Narratives to read Sewel's History of 
 the Quakers." — Elia. 
 
 (50) Tryon { Thos.), of the Knowledge of a Man's 
 Self. 8vo. 
 
 Curious MS. Account of the Author of this singular 
 work. 
 
(5i) Tale of a Tub {The), and Battle of the 
 Books, Lond., 1710. 8vo. 
 Few MS. marginal Notes. 
 
 (52) Tracts, Miscellaneous, The Spleen, by Mr. 
 Matthew Green, 1737, Dissertation on the 
 Inlets to Human Knowledge, 1739, The Un- 
 certainty of Physic, 1739, &c., bound in i 
 vol. 8vo. 
 
 MS. list of Contents. 
 
 (53) Tracts, Miscellaneous, 11 curious Tracts. 
 The Clouds of Aristophanes, translated by J. 
 White and 10 others, rare, with MS. List of 
 Contents, i vol. 8vo. 
 
 (54) Tracts, Miscellaneous, Descriptive Cata- 
 logue of Pictures and Poetical, and Historical 
 Inventions, by William Blake, 1809, Lord 
 Rochester's Poems, Lady Winchelsea's Po- 
 ems, C. Lamb's Confessions of a Drunkard, 
 with Corrections, &c., Southey's Wat Tyler, 
 &c., I thick vol. i2mo. 
 
 12 Tracts, with MS. List of Contents. 
 
 (55) Waller {Mr.), The Second Part of his Poems, 
 containing his alterations of the Maid's Trag- 
 edy, &c., Lond., 1690. 8vo. 
 
 Additional Poems, and Notes in MS. 
 
 BOOKS ViTITH NOTES BY S. T. COLERIDGE. 
 " Reader, lend thy books, but let it be to such a one as 
 S. T. C, he will return them (generally anticipating the 
 time appointed) with usury, enriched with annotations 
 tripling their value." — Elia. 
 
 (56) Buncle {John) the Life of. By Thomas 
 Amory, Lond. 8vo. 
 
 With very curious and characteristic introductory 
 critical Note by Coleridge, and marginal corrections 
 throughout. 
 
 Bought at the sale of Charles W. Frederickson's li- 
 brary, by Dodd, Mead & Co., for $55. 
 
 (57) Donne {^John) Dean of St. PauVs, Poems by, 
 Lond., 1669. i2mo. 
 
 The blank leaves and margins full of curious and 
 10 
 
valuable critical and illustrative notes, written while 
 reading the poems, most characteristic of Coleridge, in- 
 cluding an original Epigrammatic Poem by him &c., 
 &c., at the end is—*' I shall die soon, my dear Charles 
 Lamb, and then you will not be vexed that I have 
 scribbled your book. S. T. C, 2d May, 1811." 
 
 Bought at the sale of Charles W. Frederickson's li- 
 brary, by Dodd, Mead & Co., for $150. 
 
 (58) God's Revenge against the crying and ex- 
 ecrable sin of Murder. In 30 several Tragi- 
 cal Histories. By John Reynolds. Lond., 
 1651. Folio cuts. 
 
 With very long and curious critical and metaphysi- 
 cal notes by Coleridge, characterising the book of 
 "honest Murthereo-Maniacal John Reynolds." in an- 
 other he says, " O what a beautiful concordia discord- 
 antium is an unthinking good man's soul." 
 
 Bought at the sale of Charles W. Frederickson's li- 
 brary, by Charles Scribner's Sons, for $110. 
 
 (59) History {The) of Philip de Commines, 
 Knight, Lord of Argentan. Translated. 
 Lond., 1674. Folio. 
 
 With interesting MS. note by Charles Lamb, at the 
 commencement, and " Memorabilia," by Coleridge at 
 the end, on the free towns and republics of the Middle 
 Ages, &c. 
 
 Bought at the sale of Charles W. Frederickson's li- 
 brary, by Charles Scribner's Sons, for $180. 
 
 (60) Petwin {Rev. John), Letters concerning the 
 Mind, with a Sketch of Universal Arithmetic, 
 &c. Lond., 1750. 8vo. 
 
 Full of the most curious philosophic and abstruse 
 notes and remarks by Coleridge, written in Pencil dur- 
 ing his perusal of the book, and dated Oxford, October 
 19, 1820. 
 The notes, etc., by Coleridge mentioned above, are 
 
 entirely unpublished, and were entirely unknown to the 
 
 Editors of his Literary Remams. 
 
 The collection was disposed of in a short 
 time, and naturally caused considerable discus- 
 sion among the bookmen of this country. Tak- 
 ing advantage of the excitement, John Keese, 
 
of Cooley, Keese & Hill, a famous firm of auc- 
 tioneers at 191 Broadway, corner of Dey Street, 
 New York, induced a number of purchasers of 
 these volumes to offer them for sale at auction. 
 The sale took place on the evening of October 
 21, 1848, and was described by George L. 
 Duyckinck, in his Literary Worlds of November 
 4, 1848, as follows : 
 
 "One Saturday evening lately, Mr. Keese, 
 of the house of Cooley, Keese & Hill, was called 
 upon to wield his hammer over a lot of books 
 extraordinary, which for the moment put to rout 
 the usual decorum and well-understood proprie- 
 ties of the auction-room. Books beyond a cer- 
 tain investiture of raggedness and dilapidation, 
 backs without covers, mutilated title-pages, 
 and missing colophons, on ordinary occasions, 
 command those stimulating fractions of ad- 
 vance, a penny on a share, for instance, which 
 constitute liveliness on the exchange, but beget 
 only yawns and a distaste for his profession in 
 the jolliest of auctioneers. They are the per- 
 quisites of the basket and the street shelf; they 
 shrink into corners of out-of-the-way streets, 
 where they suffer a partial exposure to the 
 weather; they are cheapened from threepence 
 to twopence, and their last destiny is probably 
 to be boiled in soap-vats, a fate of which their 
 appearance is strikingly suggestive. They are 
 the ill odor of auction-rooms; the fly in the oint- 
 ment, the flaw in the vase, the stain on the gar- 
 ment of the happiest of all possible professions, 
 as illustrated by the eloquence of a Robbins or 
 the wit of a Keese. Over a lot of the shabbiest 
 of all known volumes the last-mentioned auc- 
 tioneer was administering, but they were the 
 books of Charles Lamb; a ragged remnant of 
 that library which once adorned (its nakedness 
 more attractive than the gilding of Lewis or the 
 
tooling of Hayday) the walls of the room in the 
 Temple where Hazlitt, Wordsworth, Coleridge, 
 and other choice spirits assembled, and where 
 from these very books Elia enforced lagging 
 conviction, on the back of a stammering argu- 
 ment, from divines and poets, wits and philoso- 
 phers, whose authority washottobe gainsayed. 
 That copy of Chaucer in black-letter was no 
 ordinary copy. It doubtless had its history. 
 Lamb had eyed it afar off, shedding its lumi- 
 nous rays of the spirit out of the reek and dingi- 
 ness of a London stall, hid from all other ob- 
 servers, even as a chiffonier has an apprecia- 
 tion of an invisible silver spoon in a gutter. 
 He had passed it and repassed it on his daily 
 walks, his conscience growing every day more 
 tender over its "unhoused" condition. He felt 
 for it as he would feel for mendicity. He could 
 bear those pangs no longer. The three and six- 
 pence which lurked in reluctant pockets must 
 come forth, and the black-letter victim of age 
 and destitution be borne to the warm shelves 
 of the Temple, its constitution hardened by the 
 fumigation of tobacco, its dry, worm-eaten 
 leaves moistened with ale as a libation, or hon- 
 ored with the ascending incense of the punch- 
 bowl and the kettle. There should it have 
 rested — but rest was not for its aged weari- 
 ness, which had long since exhibited itself 
 in yawns that would not contract, misanthrop- 
 ic turnings up of leaves which would not 
 be laid, and a protruding back bone from 
 which the calfskin had long since vanished. 
 For three centuries it had borne these dis- 
 honors ; in the third, narrowly escaping being 
 sold by the pound, to be consigned to American 
 shores. Verily, old Dan Chaucer must have 
 tingled somewhere in his ancient veins as the 
 warm-hearted youth and fusty old connoisseurs 
 13 
 
thronged around him in the auction-room in 
 Broadway, and bid for the honor of his com- 
 pany as rival families outvie each other in 
 Anniversary season for the company of a favor- 
 ite saint or clergyman. Old Jeffrey Chaucer, 
 the very copy of which Lamb wrote to Ainsworth 
 in 1823, "I have not a black-letter book amongst 
 mine, old Chaucer excepted," was knocked 
 down to Burton, probably a descendant of the 
 anatomist, for I25 ! The Hudibras, with the 
 autograph of John Lamb, the humorist's /aM^r, 
 an excellent copy, with the slight exception 
 that the covers had been torn off and the illus- 
 trations by Hogarth plucked out, went off for a 
 poor $3. A couple of volumes of "Miscellany 
 Letters " of the seventeenth century, with a 
 memorandum of the names and residences of 
 friends, "Godwin, 44 Gower Place, Fenwick, 
 Talfourd, Moxon," etc., brought $10.50. One 
 of the "Old Plays" was purchased by Dr. 
 Cogswell for $8 — may it rest at last in the Astor 
 Library ! The " Relation of the Fearfull Es- 
 tate of Francis Spira," with the note in the 
 clerkly hand of Elia — " This book was written 
 by one Springer, a lawyer," decorates, if such 
 a term can be applied to calfskin so far gone, 
 the shelves of our own library. If our readers 
 hold on to us, we may some day tell what the 
 fearful estate of Francis Spira was. But the 
 Coryphaeus of the collection was the stark folio 
 of Drayton, " Wars," " Heroical Epistles," the 
 grimness and stateliness of which Lamb had 
 relieved by copying the author's love songs 
 on the blank spaces — for example, this pretty 
 despair of a fond lover : * — 
 
 * That sold, by $5 bids, for $28. There were eighteen 
 lots of these choice volumes, and the price for which the 
 whole was sold was $122. 
 
TO HIS COY LOVE. 
 I. 
 I pray thee, leave, love me no more, 
 
 Call home the heart you gave me, 
 I but in vain that Saint adore. 
 
 That can, but will not save me : 
 These poor half kisses kill me quite ; 
 
 Was ever man thus served. 
 Amidst an ocean of delight 
 
 For pleasure to be sterved ? 
 II. 
 Shew me no more those snowy breasts, 
 
 With azure riverets blanched, 
 Where whilst mine eye with plenty feasts, 
 
 Yet is my thirst not stanched. 
 O Tantalus, thy pains ne'er tell, 
 
 By me thou art prevented ; 
 'Tis nothing to be plagued in hell. 
 
 But thus in heaven tormented. 
 III. 
 Clip me no more in those dear arms. 
 
 Nor thy life's comfort call me ; 
 O, these are but too powerful charms, 
 
 And do but more enthrall me,— 
 But see how patient I am grown, 
 
 In all tliis coyle about thee ; 
 Come, nice Thing, let this heart alone ; 
 
 I cannot live without thee. 
 
 Below is a list of the books sold, with the 
 numbers they bore in the sales catalogue, the 
 prices at which they were sold, and the names of 
 the buyers and their present owners, so far as 
 known : 
 {}>^^) Art of Living. %i. Thompson. 
 
 (360) Cities Great Concern. $1.75. Wood. 
 
 (361) Chaucer. $25. William Burton. 
 
 At the Burton sale this volume was bought by 
 Edward A. Crowninshield of Boston. When the 
 Crowninshield library was sold en bloc, in 1859, to 
 Henry Stevens, Charles W. Frederickson bought the 
 volume from Stevens. 
 
 (362) Dennis's Original Letters. $3. William 
 Burton. 
 
(363) Drayton's Works. $28. George Liver- 
 more. 
 
 (364) Hudibras. $3. Loder. 
 
 (365) Hymens Prceludia. $4. Edward Smith. 
 {-i^id) Minor Poets, $2.25. Astor Library. 
 (367) Miscellany Letters. $5.25. Mrs. Ives. 
 {2,^^) Minor Poets — Vanbrugh, tic. $8. Astor 
 
 Library. 
 {2>(ioi) Old Plays— Nat Lee, etc. $6. George H. 
 Moore. 
 
 (370) Old Plays— Wycherley, etc. $5.50. John 
 Austin Stevens, Jr. 
 
 (371) Poetical Tracts. $3.50. Meade. 
 
 (372) Poetical Tracts — Poems by Charles Lloyd. 
 $6.50. Charles Eliot Norton, of Cambridge. 
 
 {:im) Philips' s Poems. $4.50. Coggill. 
 
 (374) Relation of the Fearful Estate of Francis 
 Spira. $2. George L. Duyckinck. 
 
 (375) Tracts — 11 Curious tracts. $2.25. Sey- 
 mour. 
 
 (376) Tracts — Descriptive catalogue of the pict- 
 ures of Blake, e\.c. $4.25. Campbell. 
 
 The collection of Charles W. Frederickson, 
 sold by Bangs & Co., of New York City, May 
 24-28, contained the following book that was 
 also once owned by Charles Lamb: 
 
 Collier, J. Payne. The Poetical Decameron ; 
 or, Ten Conversations on English Poets and 
 Poetry. 2 vols. Crown 8vo, half morocco, 
 gilt tops, uncut. London, 1820. 
 
 Charles Lamb's copy. Presentation copy from the 
 author to Charles Lamb ; also, Lamb's autograph. 
 
 Bought at the sale of Charles W. Frederickson's li- 
 brary, by Hodge, for $22.50. 
 
 16 
 
One Hundred Copies of this pamphlet 
 
 were printed for The Dibdin Club, 
 
 by the Kay Printing House, 
 
 66 and 68 Centre Street, 
 
 New York City. 
 
 3 
 
 This copy is No ™- 
 
 ? 
 
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