Suppressed Plates, Wood-engravings, &c

Suppressed Plates, Wood-engravings, &c. - Together with Other Curiosities Germane Thereto; Being an Account of Certain Matters Peculiarly Alluring to the Collector

NO one who has the itch for book-collecting will deny that suppressed book illustrations are, what the forbidden fruit was to our mother Eve, irresistible. Whether such appetite represents the very proper ambition to have at his elbow the earliest states of beautiful or interesting books, of which the subsequently suppressed plate or wood engraving is in general a sort of guarantee, or the less defensible desire to possess what our neighbour does not, must be settled by the conscience of each. The fact remains that such rarities are peculiarly alluring to those whom Wotton calls the lickerish chapmen of all such ware. {2} There are, of course, ridiculous1 people who value such books as the first issue of the first edition of Dickenss American Notes just because there is a mistake in the pagination; or a first edition of Disraelis Lothair because the prototype of Monsignor Catesby is divulged by misprinting the name Capel; or Poems by Robert Burns, first Edinburgh Edition, because in the list of subscribers The Duke of Roxborough appears as The Duke of Boxborough; or Barkers Breeches Bible of 1594, because on the title-page of the New Testament the figures are transposed to 1495; or the first edition in French of Washington Irvings Sketch Book, because the translator, maltreating the authors name, has declared the book to be traduit de lAnglais de M. Irwin Washington, and in the dedication has labelled Sir Walter Scott, Barronnet; or indeed a book of my own, in which I described as since dead a gifted and genial gentleman who I am glad to think still gives the lie to my inexcusable carelessness. {3} ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 55710
Author: Layard, George Somes
Release Date: Oct 8, 2017
Format: eBook
Language: English