Anecdotes*: but our present object is to appreciate the merits of an account of a more comprehensive nature. Mr. Beloe was contented with telling us something of scarce books, and their possessors; and Mr. Dibdin (his bibliographical brother) gives us a larger portion of general knowlege on the same or similar subjects, while he also furnishes us with an original dialogue on the rise, progress, and cure of Book-Madness.' This dialogue forms the text, or "body of the work," and the matters of information mentioned above are thrown into copious and really instructive notes. We say really instructive notes, addressing ourselves to those who are most likely to peruse this volume, namely the Bibliomaniacs themselves, who are the subjects of its ironical commendation: but when we thus praise Mr. Dibdin'snotification,' (as he ludicrously, though with a lamentable seriousness, intitles it, page 703.) we must enter our most strenuous protest against the heaviness of his text. "Some authors," as Goldsmith observes, " are good at the body of the work;"-others succeed in hitting off an index; this for a preface; that for a table of contents; Mr. Dibdin for notifica tion.' That we may at once prove to our readers how correctly we have discriminated between the successful and the unsuccessful efforts of the present author, and shew them that we are impartial judges of the truth when we allow Mr. Dibdin much bibliography and little humour, we shall offer them, in this early part of our critique, an ample extract from a portion of the volume that perhaps as much as any other displays the difference which we regret being compelled to specify. The selection is from the sixth and last department of the volume, called the Alcove ;' and the characters in the dialogue are Lysander, Lisardo, Philemon, Almansa, and Belindat. Lysand. You wish to know what are the SYMPTOMS OF THE BIBLIOMANIA?-what are the badges, or livery marks, in a library, of the owner of the collection being a bibliomaniac? Alman. Even so. My question yesterday evening, was - if I remember well-whether a mere collector of books was necessarily a bibliomaniac? * See M. R. Vol. Ixiii. N. S. page 1. + It is obvious, even to book-collectors, that the present volume wants a key. We have heard the name of sundry of the real characters (where such are intended) who are made to bear the fictitious title of the Dramatis Persona. Thus, for instance, Lisardo has been mentioned to us as Mr. Heathcote; Hortensius as Mr. Bolland; At: ticus as Mr. Heber; Rinaldo as Mr. Edwards; and Monalcas as Mr. Drury; with what degree of correctness, we presume not to affirm. Lysand. DOCKET, a short memorandum or summary affixed to larger papers, or a bill of direction tied to goods, shewing the place where," and the person to whom, they are to be delivered. Striking a docket is when a creditor gives bond to the Lord Chancellor, proving his debtor to be a bankrupt. • LOMBARD, a bank for lending money on pawn, so called from the Lombards, a people of Italy, who, in former times, followed this trade in different parts of Europe. MANIFEST, a paper containing the particulars of a ship and cargo, which paper must be signed by the master of the vessel, before any of the goods can be landed. RESPONDENTIA, a bond or contract by which money is borrowed on the security of goods, the same as in bottomry on the security of ships. TONTINE, a loan raised on life annuities with the benefit of survivorship. Thus, an annuity after a certain rate of interest is granted to a number of subscribers, who are divided into classes according to their ages; and annually the whole fund of each class is shared among its survivors, till at last it falls to one, and on his death it reverts to the power that first established the Tontine. The term is derived from the name of the inventor.' We are now to take leave of Dr. Kelly; and this we do with a conviction that his Cambist' will be an useful appendage to the counting-houses of our merchants. Being apparently unacquainted with political economy, he does not shine on such subjects as the principles of exchange; nor can we, notwithstanding the favourable alteration produced in our ideas by the examination of the performance, pronounce it equal on the whole to the character which the author seems anxious to give it in the preface but it has considerable value as a practical work, as well for the purpose of reference on the part of the experienced merchant, as for exercise to his juvenile assistants. It is time. that our merchants should know that the acquisitions of young men in counting-houses may be greatly quickened by the use of books; and that such works as Kelly's Cambist and Booth's Book-keeping present in one view a mass of information, which it would require many years of practice in business to collect. ART. VI. Bibliomania; or Book Madness; A Bibliographical Romance, in Six Parts. Illustrated with Cuts. By the Rev, Thomas Frognall Dibdin. Large 8vo. pp. 800. 11. is. Boards. Longman and Co. 1811. W E have expressed our sentiments on the dignity of the book-collector, compared with other literary characters, in our review of Mr. Beloe's last volume of bibliographical Anecdotes: Anecdotes*: but our present object is to appreciate the merits of an account of a more comprehensive nature. Mr. Beloe was contented with telling us something of scarce books, and their possessors; and Mr. Dibdin (his bibliographical brother) gives us a larger portion of general knowlege on the same or similar subjects, while he also furnishes us with an original dialogue on the rise, progress, and cure of Book-Madness.' This dialogue forms the text, or "body of the work;" and the matters of information mentioned above are thrown into copious and really instructive notes. We say really instructive notes, addressing ourselves to those who are most likely to peruse this volume, namely the Bibliomaniacs themselves, who are the subjects of its ironical commendation: but when we thus praise Mr. Dibdin'snotification,' (as he ludicrously, though with a lamentable seriousness, intitles it, page 703.) we must enter our most strenuous protest against the heaviness of his text. "Some authors," as Goldsmith observes, " are good at the body of the work ;"-others succeed in hitting off an index; this for a preface; that for a table of contents; Mr. Dibdin for notification.' That we may at once prove to our readers how correctly we have discriminated between the successful and the unsuccessful efforts of the present author, and shew them that we are impartial judges of the truth when we allow Mr. Dibdin much bibliography and little humour, we shall offer them, in this early part of our critique, an ample extract from a portion of the volume that perhaps as much as any other displays the difference which we regret being compelled to specify. The selection is from the sixth and last department of the volume, called the Alcove ;' and the characters in the dialogue are Lysander, Lisardo, Philemon, Almansa, and Belindat. Lysand. You wish to know what are the SYMPTOMS OF THE BIBLIOMANIA?-what are the badges, or livery marks, in a library, of the owner of the collection being a bibliomaniac? Alman. Even so. My question yesterday evening, was if I remember well-whether a mere collector of books was necessarily a bibliomaniac? * See M. R. Vol. Ixiii. N. S. page 1. It is obvious, even to book-collectors, that the present volume wants a key. We have heard the name of sundry of the real characters (where such are intended) who are made to bear the fictitious title of the Dramatis Persona. Thus, for instance, Lisardo has been mentioned to us as Mr. Heathcote; Hortensius as Mr. Bolland; Atticus as Mr. Heber; Rinaldo as Mr. Edwards; and Menalcas as Mr. Drury; with what degree of correctness, we presume not to affirm. Lysand. Lysand. Yes; and to which-if I also recollect rightly—I re plied that, the symptoms of the disease, and the character of a biblio. maniac, were discoverable in the very books themselves! Lis. How is this? Alman. & Belin. Do pray let us hear! Phil. At the outset, I entreat you, Lysander, not to overcharge the coloring of your picture. Respect the character of your auditors; and above all things have mercy upon the phlogistic imagination of Lisardo! Lysand. I will endeavor to discharge the important office of a bibliomaniacal Mentor, or, perhaps, Esculapius, to the utmost of my power: and, at all events, with the best possible intentions. • Before we touch upon the Symptoms, it may be as well to say a few words respecting the General Character of the BOOK DISEASE. The ingenious Peignot* defines the bibliomania to be a passion for possessing * LA BIBLIOMANIE est la fureur de posséder des livres, non pas tant pour s'instruire, que pour les avoir et pour en repaître sa vue. Le bibliomane ne connait ordinairement les livres que par leur titre, leur frontispiece, et leur date; il s'attache aux bonnes éditions et les poursuit à quelque titre que ce soit ; la reliure le seduit aussi, soit par son ancienneté, soit par sa beauté,' &c. Dictionnaire de Bibliologie; vol. i. p. 51. This is sufficiently severe; see also the extracts from the Mémoires de l'Institut: p. 32, ante. The more ancient foreign writers have not scrupled to call the BIBLIOMANIA by very caustic and merciless terms: thus speaks the hard-hearted Geyler: Tertia nola est, multos libros coacervare propter animi voluptatem curiosam. Fastidientis stomachi est multa degustare, ait Seneca. Isti per mul tos libros vagant legentes assidue: nimirum similes fatuis illis, qui in urbe circumeunt domos singulas, et earum picturas dissutis malis con tuentur: sicque curiositate trahuntur, &c. Contenti in hâc animi voluptate, quam pascunt per volumina varia devagando et liguriendo. Itaque gaudent hic de larga librorum copia, operosa utique sed delectabilis sarcina, et animi jucunda distractio : imo est hæc ingens librorum copia ingens simul et laboris copia, et quietis inopia-huc illuc que circum agendum ingenium: his atque illis pregravanda memoria. Navicula sive Speculum Fatuorum; 1511, 4to. sign. B. iiij. rev. Thus speaks Sebastian Brandt upon the subject, through the me dium of our old translation: Styll am I besy bokes assemblynge For to have plenty it is a plesaunte thynge In my conceyt, and to have them ay in honde: Shyp of Folys; see p.274 ante: There is a short, but smart and interesting, article on this head in Mr. D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature; vol. i. 1c. "Bruyere has touched on this mania with humour; of such a collector, (one who is fond of superb bindings only) says he, as soon as I enter his house, possessing books; not so much to be instructed by them as to gratify the eye by looking on them.' This subject has amused the pens of foreigners; although we have had nothing in our own language, writ ten expressly upon it, 'till the ingenious and elegantly-composed poem of Dr. Ferriar appeared; after which, as you well know, our friend put forth his whimsical brochure*. • Whether I am ready to faint on the stair-case from a strong smell of Russia and Morocco leather. In vain he shews me fine editions, gold leaves, Etruscan bindings, &c.-naming them one after another, as if he were shewing a gallery of pictures!" Lucian has composed a biting invective against an ignorant possessor of a vast library. "One who opens his eyes with an hideous stare at an old book; and after turning over the pages, chiefly admires the date of its publication." But all this, it may be said, is only general declamation, and means nothing! *The first work, I believe, written expressly upon the subject above discussed, was a French publication, entitled La Bibliomanie Of the earliest edition I am uninformed; but one was published at the Hague in 1762, 8vo. Dr. Ferriar's poem upon the subject, being an epistle to Richard Heber, Esq. and which is rightly called by Lysander ingenious and elegant' was published in 1809, 4to: PP. 14. but not before an equally ingenious, and greatly more interesting, performance, by the same able pen, had appeared in the Trans. of the Manchester Literary Society, vol. iv. p. 45-87. entitled Comments upon Sterne;' which may be fairly classed among the species of bibliomaniacal composition; inasmuch as it shews the author to be well read in old books; and, of these, in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy in particular. Look for half a minute at P. 376, ante. In the same year of Dr. Ferriar's publication of the Bibliomania, appeared the Voyage autour de ma bibliothèque; Roman Bibliographique: by Ant. Caillot; in three small duodecimo volumes. There is little ingenuity and less knowledge in these meagre volumes. My own superficial work, entitled, Bibliomania, or Book-Madness: containing some account of the History, Symptoms, and Cure of this fatal Disease; in an epistle addressed to Richard Heber, Esq.' quickly followed Dr. Ferriar's publication. It contained 82 pages, with a tolerably copious sprinkling of notes: but it had many errors and omissions, which it has been my endeavour to correct and supply in the present new edition, or rather newly-constructed work. Vide preface; p. vi. Early in the ensuing year (namely, in 1810.) appeared Bibliosophia, or Book-Wisdom: containing some account of the Pride, Pleasure, and Privileges of that glorious Vocation, Book-Collecting. By an Aspirant. Also; The Twelve Labours of an Editor, separately pitted against those of Hercules,' 12mo. This is a good humored and tersely written composition; being a sort of Commentary upon my own performance. In the ensuing pages will be found some amusing poetical extracts from it. And thus take we leave of PUBLICATIONS UPON THE BIBLIOMANIA!' |