is not only a large, but a difficult and costly
field. It is, notwithstanding, a not unusual circumstance for a
beginner, and not a rich one, to start by making himself master of a
few examples of our first printers; and this arises from the fact that
among the remains in such a line of collecting are pieces of no high
interest or character, and copies whose condition does not attract the
riper connoisseur. At the same time it arises from the feeling of the
period which witnessed the dawn of the art, that a heavy percentage of
the output of the printers of all countries amounts to little more
than typographical curiosities, which may be substantially possessed
in the form of an example of moderate cost. The novice generally
selects books and tracts of foreign origin, and of a theological or
technical complexion. Perhaps he goes further--even so far as to
discard his earlier purchases; perhaps he does not. It is a matter of
taste and money. If he does not seek the finest and rarest specimens,
especially in the English series, it is not too much to say that L500
spread over a career would suffice to procure one a fair
representation in which Fust and Schoeffer, Gutenberg, Mentelin, and
Caxton might appear in the form of a leaf--possibly a damaged one. Yet
there would be a chronological view in actual originals of the art of
printing from the commencement in all countries. We go for our facts
on this subject to Panzer, Hain, Brunet, the British Museum Catalogue,
&c.

_British History_ and _Topography_ are alike departments which can
scarcely be regarded as specialities without questionable fitness. For
when we survey the catalogues of those who have professedly restricted
their aim to these two ranges, and reflect that all such collections
are, by the light of bibliographical authorities, more or less
tentative and imperfect, we are brought to the conclusion that there
would be, in a thoroughly exhaustive treatment of the matter, less
left outside than could be found within. Of the divisions which
present themselves above so much is capable of being drawn into the
two other series. Numerically an assemblage of ancient and modern
books in these classes would be by possibility immense. But the
attendant outlay, unless certain signal rarities were included, or it
was deemed necessary to comprise all the poetical relics with a
historical or a topographical side, ought not to be relatively so high
as that on the preceding cat