The Book-Hunter at Home | Page 7

and the 1609
and 1612 quartos of Ben Jonson's 'Epicoene or the Silent Woman.' This
last was seen by William Gifford a century ago, but neither is now
known to exist. Or is a copy extant of Horace's 'Art of Poetry' english'd
by Jonson and published so late as 1640. Alas! the list of works by 'rare
Ben Jonson' now lost to us, it is feared, for ever, is quite a lengthy one.
Who has seen the original issue of 'Gude and Godlie Ballatis,' printed at
Edinburgh in 1546? Of this book it has been said that, after the Bible, it
did more for the spread of Reformation doctrines in Scotland than any
other volume; so presumably a fairly large edition was printed.
That the editions of some of these early-printed books, now with us no
more, were of considerable size may be judged from contemporary
evidence of their widespread popularity. Speaking of the 'Morte
d'Arthur,' Mr. E. G. Duff remarks: 'Of the popularity of the book we
have striking evidence. Of Caxton's edition two copies are known, of
which one is imperfect.[4] The second edition, printed by Wynkin de
Worde in 1498, is known from one copy only, which is imperfect;
while the third edition, also printed by de Worde is, again, only known
from one imperfect copy. It may well be, considering these facts, that
there were other intervening editions which have entirely disappeared.'
Of the thirteen early editions of Shakespeare's 'Venus and Adonis' only
twenty-two copies have so far been traced. Yet if each of these editions
comprised only 250 copies, the tale of survivors is not large out of a
total of 3,250. 'Printers and publishers . . . strained their resources to
satisfy the demands of eager purchasers,' remarks Sir Sidney Lee; so
presumably the estimate of 250 per edition is a conservative one.
Where are these volumes now? It is difficult to believe they have been
utterly destroyed, leaf by leaf, so that no vestige of them any longer

exists. Surely they will turn up at an auction sale some day, for they
may well be safely ensconced, at this very moment, on the shelves of
some neglected country library. Mr. Duff himself records the discovery
recently of a copy of Caxton's 'Speculum,' 'amongst some rubbish in the
offices of a solicitor at Birkenhead.'
What a vast number of books there is, also, of which only one copy is
known to exist. Of the early editions of Shakespeare's plays alone,
more than a dozen are known by solitary examples. Of such books
Hazlitt remarks that he 'has met in the course of a lengthened career
with treasures which would make a small library, and has beheld no
duplicates.' Probably many of these incognita and rarissima perished in
the great fire of London; others again met their fate solely through their
own popularity, being 'thumbed' to pieces. In 1494 Pynson thought well
enough to reprint Caxton's 'Book of Good Manners'; but of this once
popular book one copy only--that which was formerly in the Amherst
Library--now survives.
Then there is that ancient romance of European popularity 'The four
Sons of Aymon.' One of the great cycle of Charlemagne romances,
such was its popularity that by the end of the thirteenth century it had
penetrated even to Iceland. Many and various were the editions that
issued from the early presses. Caxton printed it about 1489, but of this
thick quarto impression one imperfect copy only has survived. A
second edition, as we learn from the colophon of the third edition, was
'imprinted at London by Wynken de Worde, the viii daye of Maye, and
the year of our lorde M.CCCCC. iiii'; but a solitary leaf, discovered in
the binding of an ancient book, is the sole representative of an edition
that ran probably into several hundreds.
In the case of some at least of these early books there is another reason
for their disappearance and scarcity. Stephen Vaughan, the
indefatigable agent of Mr. Secretary Cromwell, writing to his master
from Antwerp, mentions that he is 'muche desirous t'atteyne the
knowlage of the Frenche tonge,' but that he is unable to obtain a copy
of the only primer which he knows to exist. This volume, called
'L'Esclarcissement de la Langue Francoyse,' was 'compose par Maistre

Jehan Palsgraue, Angloys, natyf de Londres et gradue de Paris,' and
was printed by Pynson, though it was finished and published by
Hawkins in 1530.
Palsgrave, the author, seems to have been determined that his book
should not fall into the hands of other teachers of French (he was
'scolemaster' to the Princess Mary, sister of Henry VIII., in 1513, at a
stipend of £6 13s. 4d.); and although Vaughan writes that he 'made not
a letle labour to Mr. Palsgrave to have one