lassics; a large proportion of
them being printed on vellum. The volumes are almost always in faultless
condition, and beautifully bound. Many of them were once to be found in
such renowned collections as those of Grolier, Maioli, Henry II. of
France and Diana of Poitiers, Katharine de' Medici, De Thou,
Longepierre, Count von Hoym, etc.; and have bindings by Nicolas and
Clovis Eve, Le Gascon, Padeloup, Derome, and Roger Payne. Among them are
magnificent copies of the editions of _Pliny_ printed at Venice by
Joannes de Spira in 1469, and by Nicolas Jenson in 1476. The latter
formerly belonged to Grolier, and the binding bears his well-known
motto. A copy of the first edition of _AEsop's Fables_, printed at Milan
about 1480, and a very beautiful example of the first edition of the
_Greek Anthology_, on vellum, printed in capitals by Laurentius de Alopa
at Florence in 1494, in the original binding, are also deserving of
special notice. Other remarkable and interesting books are the _Greek
Grammar_ of Lascaris, printed at Milan in 1476; the _Liber Psalmorum_,
printed at Milan in 1481; Maioli's copy of the _Hypnerotomachia
Poliphili_, printed at Venice by Aldus in 1499; and a fine copy of
Petrarch's _Sonetti e Canzoni_, on vellum, printed by Aldus in 1501,
which formerly belonged to Isabella d'Este, wife of Gian-Francesco
Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua. This was the first Italian book printed in
italic type.

[Illustration: ARMORIAL BOOK-STAMP OF THE REV. C.M. CRACHERODE.]

The library contains three Caxtons: _Boethius de Consolatione
Philosophiae_, the _Mirrour of the World_, and the _Boke of Eneydos_.

A copy of Tyndale's New Testament on vellum, which once belonged to
Queen Anne Boleyn, with her arms emblazoned on the title-page, and the
words 'Anna Regina Angliae' painted in gold on the edges of the leaves,
and a handsome Shakespeare first folio, ought also to be mentioned.

Mr. Cracherode's classical attainments were by no means inconsiderable,
but his only writings were a Latin poem printed in the _Carmina
Quadragesimalia_ of 1748, and some Latin verses in the collection of the
University of Oxford on the death of Frederick, Prince of Wales, in
1751.

A portrait of Mr. Cracherode appears in Clarke's _Repertorium
Bibliographicum_, and in Dibdin's _Bibliographical Decameron_. This was
engraved, contrary to his express wishes, from a drawing made by Edridge
for Lady Spencer. An explanation is given by Dr. Dibdin of the