at of Rome, 1533, even the existence was hitherto unknown.
A perfect copy of the first complete edition of the _Morgante Maggiore_
of 1482, was also not known to exist before Mr. Grenville succeeded in
procuring his. Among the Spanish Romances, the copy of that of "Tirant
lo Blanch," printed at Valencia in 1490, is as fine, as clean, and as
white as when it first issued from the press; and no second copy of
this edition of a work professedly translated from English into
Portuguese, and thence into Valencian, is known to exist except in the
library of the Sapienza at Rome.

'But where there is nothing common, it is almost depreciating a
collection to enumerate a few articles as rare. It is a marked feature
of this library, that Mr. Grenville did not collect mere bibliographical
rarities. He never aimed at having a complete set of the editions from
the press of Caxton or Aldus; but Chaucer and Gower by Caxton were
readily purchased, as well as other works which were desirable on other
accounts, besides that of having issued from the press of that printer;
and, when possible, select copies were procured. Some of the rarest, and
these the finest, Aldine editions were purchased by him for the same
reasons. The Horae in Greek, printed by Aldus in 16mo in 1497, is a
volume which, from its language, size, and rarity, is of the greatest
importance for the literary and religious history of the time when it
was printed. It is, therefore, in Mr. Grenville's library. The Virgil of
1501 is not only an elegant book, but it is the first book printed with
that peculiar _Italic_, known as Aldine, and the first volume which
Aldus printed, "forma enchiridii," as he called it, being expressly
adapted to give poor scholars the means of purchasing for a small sum
the works of the classical writers. This also is, therefore, among Mr.
Grenville's books; and of one of the two editions of Virgil, both dated
the same year, 1514, he purchased a large paper copy, because it was the
more correct of the two.

'It was the merit of the work, the elegance of the volume, the "genuine"
condition of the copy, etc., which together determined Mr. Grenville to
purchase books printed on vellum, of which he collected nearly a
hundred. He paid a very large sum for a copy of the Furioso of 1532, not
because it was "on ugly vellum," as he very properly designated it, but
because, knowing the importance of such an edition of such a work, and
never having succeeded