V // b-^ PRIVATE LIBRARIES OF NEW YORK EDITION LIMITED TO THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY NUMBERED COPIES N°y/, Copyright, 1895, ^'^ DUPRAT & Co. I The DeVinne Press. CONTENTS PAGE Introductory i The Manuscripts 9 Incunabula 45 Printed Books of Hours 6«; Aldines 77 Elzevirs 93 Books of France 109 English Books 153 Miscellanea and Bindings 203 ^O' INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Border from "Commentaires sur la Bible," Antwerp, 1638. Title Headpiece from "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili," Aldus. 1499. vii Vignette from "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili," Aldus, 1499. xii The Book-Hunter, from original water-color by G. David . xiv viii ILLUSTRATIONS A corner of the Library, after a drawing by L. C. Vogt. en- graved on wood by C. W. Chadwick Initial letter from Aldine publication Another corner of the Library, after a drawing by L, C Vogt, engraved on wood by C. W. Chadwi.k Border from manuscript Suetonius, fifteenth century Fifteenth-century manuscript on vellum, open, showing miniature, borders, text, and initial letters "The Nine Muses," miniature from fifteenth-century vel lum manuscript of Juvenal ..... From Ovid's "Epistres," vellum manuscript, about 1300 From Ovid's "Epistres," vellum manuscript, about 1500 Miniature from fifteenth-century manuscript of Petrarch Page from Book of Hours, fifteenth-century manuscript Painting of the Nativity in fifteenth-century manuscript Horae from the library of the Duke of Sussex Page of Calendar from fifteenth-century manuscript . Miniature from Hours of Anne de Beaujeu, fifteenth century Miniature from Hours of Anne de Beaujeu, fifteenth century Miniature from Hours of Anne de Beaujeu, fifteenth century Miniature from Hours of Anne de Beaujeu, fifteenth century Painting from Flemish Book of Devotion, fifteenth-century manuscript ....... Painting from Flemish Book of Devotion, fifteenth-century manuscript ....... Page from fifteenth-century Horae, sanctioned by the In quisition ........ Page from Heures de Nostre Dame, sixteenth-century manu script ........ Legend of St. Nicholas from fifteenth-century manuscript Horae ........ Text and miniature from manuscript by Nicolas Jarry Page from the Touranian Missal, sixteenth-century manu script ........ Page from the Pembroke Hours, English manuscript, fif- teenth century ....... PAGE I I 7 9 10 12 13 14 16 18 20 21 23 24 25 26 3« 32 33 34 36 37 39 41 ILLUSTRATIONS ix PAGE Miniature from eighteenth-century Persian manuscript . 42 Miniature from fifteenth-century manuscript . . -43 Vignette from "Stultifera Navis," Basel, 1497 . . 4^ Woodcut from Aesop, printed by Koburger, about 1476 . 47 Page from the Latin "Lives," by Cornelius Nepos, printed by Jenson, 1471 . . . , . . . .48 Page from Aretino's "Italian War against the Goths," printed by Jenson, 1471 ...... si Page from the first edition of Euclid, Venice, 1482 . -51 Woodcut from Ketham's "Fasciculus," Venice, 1493 . 53 Page with miniature from the unique copy on vellum of "Cleriadus et Meliadice," printed for Verard, 1495 . 35 Miniature from " Lorloge de sapience," printed for Verard, 1493 .......... 57 Text and woodcut from Caxton's "Golden Legend," 1483. 61 Woodcut from " Fioretto della Bibia," Venice, 1494 . . 64 Border from Hours, printed for Jehan Pychore and Remy de Laistre, 1 503 . . . . . . . • ^3 The "Anatomical Man," from Hours printed for Simon Vostre, about 1 500 ....... 66 Design by Geofroy Tory, from Hours printed forSimon Vostre. 69 Rebus from Hours printed for Guillaume Godard . -71 Design by Geofroy Tory from Horae, i 549 . . -74 Vignette from border to Horae printed for Simon Vostre . 76 Vignette from "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili," Aldus, 1499. 77 Initial letter from " Hypnerotomachia Poliphili," Aldus. 1499. 77 Text and vignette from Greek Book of Hours, Aldus, 1497. 79 Vignette, text, and initial letter from "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili," Aldus, 1499 • • • • • .81 Miniature, text, and borderof vellum Petrarch, Aldus, 1301. 82 Title from publication of Aldus Manutius the younger . 89 Vignette of Aldine anchor and dolphin, from Demosthenes' "Orationes," i^^^i . . . . . . -91 Vignette from title-page of " Les Oeuvres diverses de Balzac," Elzevir, 1664 . . . . . -93 Title from Horace, Elzevir, 1629 . . . . -95 X ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Title from Virgil, Elzevir, 1636 , . . . .98 Title from Justin, Elzevir, 1640 . . . . -99 Title from " Le Pastissier fran^ois," Elzevir, 1655 . . loi Title from '-Histoire du roy Henry le Grand," Elzevir, 1679. 102 Title from " Le Theatre de P. Corneille," 1664 . 103 Vignette from ''Savilius in Tacitum," Amsterdam, 1649 . 108 Vignette from Boccaccio's " Le Decameron," Paris, 1545. 109 Miniature from Monstrelet's " Chronicles," printed for Antoine Verard, about i 500, upon vellum . . -113 Woodcut from ' ' Les Illustrations de Gaule," Lyons, i 309. 1 1 5 Frontispiece from " Cupid and Psyche," Paris, 1346 . 118 Engraving from "La Toison dor," Paris, 1517 . . 120 Frontispiece from first edition ' ' Recueil general des Caquets de I'Acouchee," Paris, 1623 ..... 123 Frontispiece from Boileau's "Satires," Paris, 1666 . 125 Frontispiece from Ovid's "Metamorphoses," Paris, 1767-71 ......... 129 Engraving from Ovid's "Metamorphoses," Paris, 1767-71 131 Portrait of La Borde a la Lyre, " Choix de chansons," Paris, 1773 135 Dedication from "Choix de chansons," Paris, 1773 . 139 Frontispiece " CEuvres de M. de Saint Marc," Paris, 177s. 143 Engraving from "Iconologie par Figures," Paris, n. d. . 146 Miniature from Juvenal's "Satires," Paris, 1796 . -149 Engraving from "La tribu indienne," Paris, 1799 . 150 Vignette by Choffard from "Contes de La Fontaine, " Amsterdam (Paris), 1762 . . . . . • i^i Border from frontispiece to Ames's "Typographical Anti- quities," 1749 . . . . . . . • 1 53 Title from "The boke of good maners," Wynkyn de Worde, 1507 . . . . . . . • • 55 Page from Prologue to Lydgate's "Siege of Troy," Richard Pynson, 15 13 . . . . . -157 Title from Lydgate's version of Boccaccio's •'Fall of Princes," Pynson, 1527 . . . . . -159 ILLUSTRATIONS xi PAGE Title from "The workes of Sir Thomas More," London, 1557 ......... 161 Title from "A Booke of Christian Prayers," London, 1^78. 163 Title from " Troia Britanica," by Thomas Heywood, London, 1609 . . . . . . . .167 Title from "If you know not me, You know no body," London, 1623, with portrait of Queen Elizabeth . 171 Title to "LXXX Sermons," by John Donne, London, n. d. 17^ Title from "A preparation to the Psalter," by George Wither, London, 1619 ...... 179 Frontispiece from Cowley's " Poetical Blossomes," London, 1633 • • • ■ , ^^^ Title from Habington's "Castara," London. 1640 . .185 Title from Sir Thomas Browne's " Religio Medici," 1642. 188 Titlefrom James Howell's "Dodona'sGrove," London, 1 640. 1 89 Title from "The Academy of Love," London, 1641 . 193 From original drawing byMortimer for Prior's poem "Henry and Emma" ........ 194 Design from Blake's " Milton " . . . . • '99 Title to "Times Whirligig," 1647 .... 201 Woodcut from the Prologues of the I 561 Chaucer . . 202 Headpiece from Ruscelli's "Le Impresi lUustri," Venice, 1557 • .203 Initial letter from "Vita di Cosimo de' Medici," Bologna. 1 586 . 203 Woodcut from the Latin Comedies of Roswitha, Nurem- berg, 1 501 ........ 20s Binding to Paulus Jovius. Florence, i^'^o, from Maioh's library ......... 207 Woodcut from the "Emblems" of De Bry . . . 208 Title from " Vivae Imagines Partium Corporis Humani," Plantin, 1566 209 Binding to " Spectaculorum in Susceptione Philippi — Ap- paratus," from Grolier's library . . . . .211 Title from Erasmus's " Farrago Epistolarum," printed by Froben . . . . . . . . .213 xu ILLUSTRATIONS Binding to "La Poetica," by Bernardino Daniello, Venice, 1336. supposed to be from the library of Canevari Title from ' ' Libro d'Antonio Labacco appartenente a I'archi- tettura," Venice, 1552 ...... Binding to " Les Illustrations de Gaule," Diane de Poitiers' copy ......... Title from Spanish version of Petrarch's " De Remediis utriusque fortunae," Saragossa, I 318 . . . , Binding to "Cosmographie universelle,'" Basel, 1556, exe- cuted for Henry 11. ...... . Vignette from Farley's "Emblems" . . . . The artotypes have been printed by E. Bierstadt. PAGE 217 219 22 1 223 224 THE LIBRARY OF ROBERT HOE INTRODUCTORY ^ [ '^'^^^^ ' J"*^^-! ? ^ ^ history of bibliophilism in America, and especially upon Manhattan Island, will be an interesting book of the future. Thus far such a work has never been attempted, and nothing more has been contributed toward it than a few scattered essays. Although Diedrich Knickerbocker, and the other possibly more veracious but less entertaining chroniclers of New York, have little to impart concerning the bibliophiles of the past, it may be assumed that the metropolis has never been without its collectors and collections of books. Before Henry Hudson in the Half Moon happened upon these shores, the Indians inhabiting them converted the primitive forest into a sort of library by inscribing their rudely pictured writings on the bark of the trees. That these birch-bark books were unap- preciated by the old Dutch settlers resulted undoubtedly from their aversion to hieroglyphic literature treating of war-dances, 2 INTRODUCTORY scalps, and tomahawks. Unmindful of these records, the com- fortable burghers of New Amsterdam probably added occasionally to the bliss of their pipes by dipping into vellum-bound folios fresh from old Amsterdam. They do not, however, appear to have been either very ardent readers or collectors of books. The English colonial gentry were more addicted to literature, and eclipsed the Dutchmen in this as in other pursuits. People struggling for possession and establishment in a new country are like trees planted in fresh soil, which must take root and grow before producing fruit. It is not so very long since English critics were pleased to say that the United States had no literature. Time has changed this, and America has now not only authors, but public collections and private libraries vying with the best of those abroad. In a series of newspaper articles. Dr. James Wynne undertook to describe some of the noteworthy book collections of his time in this city, and these articles were, in i860, reprinted in an octavo volume entitled " Private Libraries of New York." It is hardly a generation ago that this book was published, but it reads already like ancient history, so important have been the acquisi- tions made since then. Many of the collectors enumerated in it have passed away, and their bibliographical possessions been either absorbed by public libraries or dispersed. More remarkable still is the great change which the present generation has seen come over the spirit of the bibliophile's dream. The bookish man of the old time was prone, as is his brother of to-day, to acquire first of all the volumes absolutely demanded by his studies or profession, and then perhaps he indulged in standard works "such as no gentleman's library should be without," in inter- minable sets of old magazines, or those stately tomes of natural history and the fine arts that present the most imposing appear- ance on the shelves. Exceptionally, and as a rare luxury, he sometimes allowed himself to be infected with one of the symp- toms mentioned by Dibdin in his diagnosis of bibliomania, and succumbed to a passion for large-paper, uncut, illustrated, unique, or vellum copies, for first or true editions, or for books printed INTRODUCTORY ^ in the black-letter. The bibliophile of the latter part of the nine- teenth century is far more painstaking and fastidious, if not more intelligent, than his predecessor, and has a serious view of his mission in life. In the beginning he may seek the latest editions of his favorite authors, naturally supposing them the best. Ex- perience, however, soon teaches him that editions printed under the author's own eyes, and receiving his personal revision, are incomparably more valuable, since they do away with the editor or middle-man, and bring the reader into direct touch with the writer. So the taste for first editions has a logical foundation. And, as infinitely more of genius incarnate lies buried in the earth than walks upon its face, the lover of literature is impelled to revere the past rather than the present, to seek preferably in old books for " the spirit breathed from dead men to their kind." The study of the book-making arts leads the modern biblio- phile also to search for the best those arts have hitherto achieved. Manuscripts, the only species of books during centuries, are pe- culiarly attractive; incunabula delight him, as the first-born of the press ; he loves to gather the works of famous printers, books remarkably illustrated, or clad by masters of bibliopegy, and such precious volumes as have become historic relics from their possession by some dead and gone celebrity. William Blades wrote that "even a millionaire will add a hundred per cent, to his daily pleasures if he becomes a bibliophile," and the assertion seems none too extravagant, considering in what a multitude of ways book-collecting may prove interesting. Eager to promote the arts entering into the production of books, the amateur of the present is ever ready to extend hearty support to the finest modern work. In a mercantile age, and amid the universal scramble for money, book-making would speedily sink into a slough of cheapness and vileness, if enlight- ened collectors did not come forward to preach, and pay for, a high standard of literary and artistic excellence. With a truly reverent spirit the contemporary bibliophile puts his books above himself, and plans for their survival after he shall have done with life. Some he may have rescued like 4 INTRODUCTORY brands from the burning or the paper-mill, and he regards them as existing not for his temporary satisfaction alone, but rather as a sacred heritage to be handed on to future generations. As the custodian of his treasures, he repairs the ravages of time, and as- sures their future preservation by robing them in substantial and beautiful bindings. Though they may not be destined to re- main together in the same collection, the beautifying care thus bestowed gives them a better chance to pass unscathed through a long period of the future struggle for existence. The kalei- doscope of time may incessantly change the combinations of li- braries without harm, if only the individual books are saved in one library or another. The world acknowledges its gratitude to the cloistered monks, and rare literary men, who kept aglow the torch of learning through the dark ages, and will not posterity be thankful to the collector in this utilitarian time for preserving the comparatively few fine old books that still survive? Studying the book-producing arts of the past, promoting those of the present, and acting as the custodian of literature for the future, the bibliophile of to-day is, therefore, an active and use- ful member of society. He is likewise enjoying himself in a truly rational and refined manner, showing the measure of his capacity, and advancing on the road to learning. Rightly per- formed, the gathering of a library will furnish never-ending occupation and pleasure, and its accomplishment will prove an education. The collector of books is sure to leave the impress of his indi- viduality upon his collection. Back of the library is always the mind that inspired its formation ; the intellectual evolution of the bibliophile is clearly indexed by the volumes he prizes ; and, un- consciously to himself, his mental physiognomy is writ large on the catalogue of his bibliographical possessions. One cannot abide for long amid the wisdom enshrined in books without absorbing from them something of good, and without grow- ing in intellectual stature. Assuredly it is possible to know a man by his books, and his library may justly be regarded as the speculum mentis siice. INTRODUCTORY 5 If this be so, who would not wish to see himself reflected in such a mental mirror as the splendid library to a very inadequate account of which these pages are devoted ? Its chief character- istic is its many-sidedness, and it is as cosmopolitan as the me- tropolis of America, where it has been coming to maturity during thirty years or more. Unlike many others, this library is not dwarfed to a single specialty, as if its creator were a bibliophi- listic mole, burrowing so long through one small section of the world of literature that he is blind to everything else. It is a carefully chosen collection of a large portion of the world's lit- erary masterpieces, in the best editions and the finest possible condition and state of preservation. Although the owner may not have imitated Bacon, and taken all knowledge for his prov- ince, he has certainly been an all-round collector to an uncommon degree. No one feature has been allowed to obscure the rest of the collection. It is not a solo upon one bibliographical string or instrument, but it is a complete and harmonious symphony of books — a library so nearly perfect as to make it a heaven upon earth to the bibliophile. After the pleasure of possessing books, Charles Nodier thought there was hardly anything pleasanter than to talk about them ; nevertheless, the satisfactory description of a large library is always a difficult matter. Fascinating enough is a desultory ramble through it, here and there picking out and discoursing upon a literary gem, a rare and beautiful edition, or an artistic binding ; but the resulting impression is often misty. An at- tempt to introduce a little more method is made in the descrip- tion of this collection. Without counting each and every book and pamphlet, it may be roughly estimated to comprise about fifteen thousand vol- umes. Of early manuscripts upon vellum and paper there is an unusually large number, even for so extensive a library, and to these hundred or more rarities the first attention is given. Then the early typographers of Germany, Italy, France, Switz- erland, the Low Countries, and England are represented by some of their choicest productions, and the study of these in- 6 INTRODUCTORY cunabula traces the diffusion of printing from one country to another, and exemplifies what manner of Hterature the taste of the times fiwored. These stately old volumes are neither foxed, cropped, nor wormed, but, sound and perfect as such venerable patriarchs can possibly be, they have been robed by skilful binders in garbs of substantial beauty, which ought to make them endure forever. A link between the manuscript and the printed book is formed by the Books of Hours issued from the Parisian presses late in the fifteenth and early in the sixteenth century. Often on vellum, and sometimes illuminated in imitation of manuscripts, they are interesting specimens also of early typography and en- graving, as is sufficiently manifest by examples of the best of them here preserved. There is also a remarkable gathering of Aldine editions. Could Aldus Manutius realize the honor done his memory in distant America, he would rest more blissfully conscious that not in vain did he cause the sun of Hellenism to rise in Venice just four hundred years ago. The choicest work accomplished by the ablest members of the Elzevir family may be studied in this many-sided library almost as satisfactorily as in Holland itself. Small volumes are these precious Elzevirs, exquisitely printed and ornamented, and they have been selected with a fastidious attention to date and size that would content the most exacting Elzeviriomaniac. Several thousand volumes of the collection are devoted to the brilliant literature of France. Rare and interesting books of the Renaissance epoch, Rabelais, Montaigne, and other authors of that vigorous spring-tide of learning ; Moliere and his classic brethren of the age of Louis XIV ; the dainty vignettists and the witty philosophers who ushered in the French Revolution ; the Romanticists with Victor Hugo at their head, and the naturalistic writers of the nineteenth century's end, — they form altogether a long and fascinating procession. English literature occupies the prominent place in this library due to its merits, and first editions of the best authors abound. INTRODUCTORY 7 Black-letter Chaucers jostle Shakespeare folios on these crowded shelves ; the Elizabethan worthies hobnob with the dramatists of the Restoration; and the masters of English thought and speech in the eighteenth century are side by side with the literary lumi- naries of the Victorian era. Just as a man occasionally owes his figure in the world to his tailor, some books derive their chief value from the clothes made for them by one famous binder or another. Here are congre- gated notable bindings of all styles, and the ancient and modern bibliopegistic masters are represented by specimens of their best work. Outside of the lines enumerated are not a few miscellaneous subjects, and the panorama of art as found in books may be here thoroughly studied. With such a magnificent private library the bibliophile might well say : "I will bury myself in my books, and the Devil may pipe to his own." Its charm is as great and exhaustless as that of nature herself. r(^ THE MANUSCRIPTS i*^'i'»-0 c'ttc (trtcrtr w U'V .<• ttr»» «cnr ^ttg fc^il 6?k>»^ \»nlmt i I. t C £. tec From Ovid's *' Epistres." Manuscript on Vellum, about i ^oo. THE MANUSCRIPTS 15 An interesting manuscript is a folio on vellum, dating certainly as far back as the fourteenth century. It comprises the Vener- able Bede's work on the " Acts of the Apostles," and his com- mentary on the seven Canonical Epistles of the New Testament, all in Latin. The Incipits and Explicits are in red ink, a few initials elaborated in red and blue ; otherwise the book is aus- terely devoid of ornament. Its script, however, is singularly black and distinct, considering that it has been exposed to the ravages of half a thousand years. The book is picturesquely bound in oaken boards with a leather covering. Upon this leather some of the animal's hair still remains, and. to judge from its color, the skin may have been that of a deer, which per- haps roamed through the forest surrounding the convent where the manuscript was produced. Occasionally it was the custom for a monastic community to exact a tax of a portion of the game killed within its domains, in order to secure the skins for binding. The original brass bosses and a fastening-strap are yet attached to the volume. Manuscripts such as this may be safely attributed to the medieval monks, whose patience was schooled by listening to stories like that recorded in the pages of Ordericus Vitalis. He says that an abbot scribe of France used to warn his novices against idleness by telling them of a brother who repeatedly transgressed the monastic rule, but wrote diligently enough to copy a bulky volume of the Holy Scriptures. After death his soul was brought up for judgment. While the evil spirits re- called his misdeeds, the good angels counted letter for letter of the enormous volume against his sins. The letters having a majority of one, the devils relinquished their prey, and the Judge allowed the erring soul to return to the body and work out its salvation. Of the thirteenth century is a venerable "Psalterium," rather a small volume, rebound by Riviere in red and black morocco. It is beautified by sixteen miniatures in medallions, and by nine his- toriated initials on raised backgrounds of burnished gold. Time has not dimmed the luster of the gold, or the blackness of the letters, and the miniature of the psalmist playing his harp, and 14 THE MANUSCRIPTS Other figures, have a quaint fascination. This manuscript is a specimen of old English workmanship. Another antique manuscript is embodied in a thick little volume of over a thousand pages. It comprises the Psalms of David, a Roman Breviary, Feasts and Offices of the Saints, Prayers for various Festivals, and St. Jerome's Psalter. Each page has two columns, written in a beautiful hand, and the initial letters are illuminated. This Breviary is a remarkably perfect example. The work was executed at some period of the fourteenth cen- tury, before the gilds and the writing and illuminating laymen had encroached to any extent upon the monopoly of manuscript- making enjoyed by the monastic orders. In the scriptorium of some quiet monastery, remote from the wars and tumults of the feudal world outside, day after day saw this manuscript labori- ously advanced from beginning to end — from its Incipit to its Explicit. A spacious apartment it was, perhaps, with groined and fretted ceiling and ogival windows, and doubtless it had been solemnly consecrated to literature by the benediction to be found in the glossary of medieval Latinity and thus phrased: "Be pleased to bless, O Lord, this scriptorium of thy servants and all those abiding therein, so that whatsoever shall be read or writ- ten by them from the Holy Scriptures, they may take it into their understanding and bring their work to a happy ending." This conventual study was generally the library as well, and the walls were lined with cases and shelves full of manuscripts. Hither came every working-day a band of cowled and tonsured brethren : the dignitaries of the establishment, including the armarius, or librarian, and the monks most expert in the writing and decora- tion of books. After a brief orison, the workers sat down upon rude stools before their tables or desks, listened to the instruc- tions of the armarius, and then, with pen in one hand and eraser in the other, just as many a medieval miniature depicts them, they began to toil, patiently persevering until their task was done. It is no wonder that the monk occasionally gave expres- sion to his feelings, like a common mortal, when he came to the Explicit — the last few words announcing the end. In an Ex- ^^ <• »u* ixiis (Vnia^iKv fpioia ttitvlU* auoir -fci.inf mil t-ffivr tn itarffnulttY TVinnr ^J^vMUf u.ii" ituv iiutit* Jrtuf pititf loi I.a tmtv ♦• tout iVMiiOiuv iv>»nx>»«^ f*" vnirmi>ii i Ti gr - .-*jfeg ly ft 3 / ^ hlfl <"'. <^: 1^ 1 From Ovid's ••Epistres," Manuscript on Vellum, about 1500. THE MANUSCRIPTS 15 plicit quoted by M. Leopold Delisle, the monastic scribe remarks : "Oh, what a heavy burden is writing! It curves the back, makes the eyes dim, breaks the stomach and ribs." And an- other thus expresses himself: "Friendly reader, keep your fin- gers off, lest you suddenly rub out the letters, for the man who knows not how to write can have no idea what a labor it is, since, just as the harbor is sweet to the mariners, so is the last line to the writer. The reed is held with three fingers ; the whole body works." But for the scriptorium, ancient learning might have been extinguished by the medieval barbarians, and the mod- ern bibliophile could collect nothing earlier than Gutenberg. Ancient learning is represented in this library by several manuscripts of classical authors. A folio Horace, which was written on vellum in the fifteenth century, is an example of the best Italian work. The text is as plain as modern print, and the ornamentation consists of colored and gold headings, five illuminated borders, and historiated initial letters painted in that monochromatic manner known as camaieu, and bright- ened with gold. The original owner has left his arms at the bottom of the first page. Here is another copy of Horace in the original Latin. It was penned by some Italian scribe early in the fifteenth century upon vellum. The frontispiece is painted after the antique style of Mantegna, and shows in camaieu a fiiun and satyr extracting music from flutes, and standing beside a monument, on which an inscription in golden letters imports that the book was of old the property of the Venetian patrician Marc Antonio Morosini. This nobleman was the friend of Aldus Manutius, and to him, as an eqtiiti clarissimo, the printer dedicated his edition of Lucan in I S02, having used in its preparation a manuscript obtained from him. The Morosini arms appear on the second leaf. At the beginning of each division of Horace's poems occur fine borders and capitalized titles. The text is in Roman letters with explana- tory notes between the lines, and the wide margins contain the commentary of the scholiast Acron. There is at the end a brief life of Horace. l6 THE MANUSCRIPTS A folio Latin manuscript of Suetonius is on paper, differing in this respect from most of its companions here, which are written upon vellum. This fifteenth-century transcription of the "Lives of the Twelve Caesars" is in a half-cursive sort of handwriting, and has its first page surrounded by a beautifully ornamented border with subjects painted in medallions. At the bottom of the page is a coat of arms surmounted by a miter, prov- ing that some departed bishop once possessed the volume and found amusement in the Cassarana of the old Roman gossip. In another folio there is a superb fifteenth-century vellum manuscript of Juvenal in the original Latin. Besides numerous illuminated letters there is a large miniature, of exquisite con- ception and finish, representing the Nine Muses. The volume is resplendent in a modern binding by Mercier of dark-blue morocco, inlaid with other colors, and beautifully tooled, and doubled with vellum. The works of the epigrammatist Martial are here in the orig- inal Latin, the vellum manuscript containing them having been executed in Italy toward the end of the fifteenth century. This membranaceous treasure seems to have been much coveted by the clergy, for it was executed for an archbishop of the Magalotti family, bears the arms of a cardinal, and once belonged to a bishop of Rouen. On the first page is represented a sort of temple, with letters in gold and colors above, and in the center the initial S is painted as a miniature, with Cupids, and a female playing a musical instrument. The capital letters at the begin- ning of the different books are ornamented in exquisite taste, and the small folio has been bound by F. Bedford in red morocco with interlaced tooling. " Les XXI. Epistres des Dames Illustres, traduicttes d'Ovide par le Reverend Pere en Dieu Monseig. I'Evesque de Angou- lesme " is the title of a most fascinating vellum manuscript. This French poetical version of Ovid's " Heroides, or Epistles of the Heroines," was made by Octavian de Saint-Gelais, Bishop of An- gouleme, and the first printed edition of it appeared in i^oo. The versifier was excessively devoted to pleasure and poetry. Miniature from Fifteenth-century Vellum Manuscript of Petrarch. THE MANUSCRIPTS ly despite his being a prelate, and, besides this work, he translated Virgil's "y^neid," and indited considerable original verse. Dur- ing the middle ages the " Heroides " enjoyed repute as a work of edification, a character not entirely unmerited when it is com- pared with Ovid's other writings. These supposed letters of famous women to their absent husbands and lovers offer appro- priate subjects for illustration, and, in addition to a bust picture of the Roman poet, the volume contains a score of large portraits, three of men and the remainder of the fairer sex. It is rare to find anything but books of devotion so lavishly enriched with miniatures. Several of the heroines are portrayed in the act of writing, with a knife at hand to sharpen the quill ; one weeps by the side of water, where floats a swan ; another mourns behind a barred window ; and Leander is shown disrobing for his his- toric swim. These charming portraitures are painted in the best style of the French Renaissance, but, instead of attempting vainly to reproduce the men and women of classical antiquity, the artists have wisely chosen to represent their own contemporaries, so thoroughly individualized and true to life, that they cannot be mistaken for mere imaginary creations. Some of these lovely women were probably maids of honor at the French court. As the royal persons of Louis Xll and Anne of Brittany appear among the likenesses, it may be inferred that the manuscript was made especially for them, and after their marriage in January of 1499, so that, in execution and in provenance, it is indeed a royal vol- ume. The National Library of Paris possesses at least four man- uscripts of this translation of Ovid's "Heroides," and one of them belonged to Louis Xll, but they must all yield in interest to the sumptuous book prepared for the king and queen. When the reserved portion of the Libri collection was sold at London in 1862, this manuscript brought £,^^,0, and its acquisition for America should be a source of satisfaction to every patriotic bib- liophile. The portrait of the queen bears a very close resemblance to that painted in the renowned " Hours of Anne of Brittany," now preserved in the great library of Paris and justly regarded as the finest example of expiring French miniature art. it would 3 1 8 THE MANUSCRIPTS be pleasant to know which proved the more enjoyable reading to this fiimous consort of two kings of France — her Ovid or her Book of Hours. Another manuscript of Ovid forms a dainty vellum duodecimo, and contains his love-poems. In compact but distinct Roman handwriting, some Italian scribe of the early fifteenth century has copied in Latin the "Art of Love," "Remedies of Love," " Heroides, or Epistles of the Heroines," "Amours," and a few other genuine and doubtful opusciila. Such a collection of Ovid's most characteristic works is not often encountered in manu- script. It was executed with great care ; several pages have illuminated borders; and there are many small gold initials on colored backgrounds. "To be able to show a Corvinian book is a triumph even to collections rich in treasures," writes the best English historian of libraries, and here, almost as a matter of course, is a superb folio manuscript that once graced the noble library of King Mat- thias Corvinus of Hungary. It includes Theodorus Gaza's Latin translation of the Greek work by y^lianus, entitled "De Instru- endis Aciebus," and Onosander's treatise " De Optimo Impera- tore," turned from Greek into Latin by Nicolaus Secundinus (Saguntinus). Perhaps these two authors are more familiar to the professional student of military science than to the classical scholar. This fifteenth-century vellum manuscript is written as plainly as print, and adorned with miniatures, borders introducing children and birds, initial and capital letters, and numerous dia- grams in gold, silver, and colors, showing the arrangement of soldiers in ranks. It is bound in dark morocco, covering oak boards, and impressed with Medicean blind tooling. Certainly no modern military book was ever so sumptuously accoutred. Sumptuous, luxurious throughout, however, were all the vol- umes collected by Matthias Corvinus, and he was as enlightened a bibliophile as any of his contemporaries, the art-loving Italian princes of the Renaissance. Elected to the throne at the early age of fifteen, he manfully held his own through a constant succession of wars, plots, and rebellions. In time this great From Book of Hours. Manuscript on Vellum, Fifteenth Century. THE MANUSCRIPTS 19 ruler of little Hungary became one of the wealthiest monarchs of Europe, enjoying an annual income of from one to two million florins, and spending over thirty thousand florins of it — now equivalent to more than fifteen times as much — upon his books. He is said to have employed as many as thirty transcribers and illuminators at his court, and others in Florence and Venice. His royal library was kept in the castle of Budapest, the entrance to which commanded a beautiful view of the blue Danube. Two large halls contained the books on richly carved shelves behind cur- tains of purple velvet tapestry interwoven with gold. A histo- rian of the Magyars quaintly observes that learned men entering the library imagined themselves in the lap of Jupiter. The num- ber of manuscripts in this remarkable collection has often been stated at fifty thousand, but a more reasonable estimate places it at three or four thousand besides printed books. The Corvinian library was sadly neglected after its creator's death in 1490, and when at length the Turks captured the city in 1526, with char- acteristic ferocity they doomed its innocent books to destruction. About I