even leaves cruelly scribbled upon ... not fewer than
_three thousand three hundred livres_ were given--at the sale of Cardinal
Lomenie's library, about thirty years ago! It is even so. And wherefore?
Because only _one_ other copy of it is known:--and that "other" is luckily
reposing upon the mahogany shelves in St. James's Place. The present copy
measures ten inches seven eighths, by eight inches.

VOCABULARIUS. _Printed by Bechtermuntze_; 1467. Quarto. EDITIO PRINCEPS--
one of the rarest books in the world. Indeed I apprehend this copy to be
absolutely UNIQUE. This work is a Latin and German Vocabulary, of which a
good notion may be formed by the account of the _second_ edition of it, in
1469, in a certain descriptive catalogue.[57] To be perfect, there should
be 215 leaves. A full page has thirty-five lines. This copy is in as fine,
clean, and crackling condition, as is that of Lord Spencer of the second
impression. It is eight inches and a half in height, by five inches and
five eighths in width.

HARTLIEB'S BOOK OF CHIROMANCY. _Supposed to have been printed with wooden
blocks_. Folio. You may remember the amusement which you said was afforded
you by the account of, and the fac-similes from, this very strange and
bizarre production--in the _Bibliographical Decameron_. The copy before me
is much larger and finer than that in Lord Spencer's collection. The figure
of the Doctor and of the Princess Anna are also much clearer in their
respective impressions; and the latter has really no very remote
resemblance to what is given in the _Bibl. Spenceriana_[58] of one of the
Queens of Hungary. If so, perhaps the period of its execution may not be
quite so remote as is generally imagined: for the Hungarian Chronicle, from
which that regal figure was taken, is of the date of 1485.

HISTORIA BEATAE VIRGINIS. _Without date_. This is doubtless rather an
extraordinary volume. The text is printed only on one side of the leaf: so
as to leave, alternately, the reverses and rectos blank--facing each other.
But this _alone_ is no proof of its antiquity; for, from the character both
of the wood cuts and the type, I am quite persuaded that this volume could
not have been executed much before the year 1480. It is not improbable that
this book might have been printed at _Ulm_. It is a very beautiful copy,
and bound in blue morocco.

VIRGILIUS. _Printed by Sweynheym and Pannartz_. 1469. Folio. EDITIO
PRINCEPS. The enormous worth and rarit