Nicholas Poussin, which fetched one hundred and two pounds, eighteen
shillings.

Among the printed books were the Latin Bible, on vellum, printed at
Mentz, by Fust and Schoeffer, in 1462, which realised one hundred and
seventy-five pounds; and the first edition of Livy, also on vellum,
printed by Sweynheym and Pannartz at Rome about 1469. This copy, the
only one known on vellum, belonged to Pope Alexander VI., and was bought
by Sir M.M. Sykes for nine hundred and three pounds. It was afterwards
acquired by the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville, and bequeathed by him to
the British Museum. Luther's own copy of the first edition of his
translation of the Bible after his final revision, printed at Wittemberg
in 1541, with MS. notes by himself, Bugenhagen and Melanchthon, which is
also now in the British Museum, sold for eighty-nine pounds, five
shillings; and a splendid set of the _Opere di Piranesi_ for three
hundred and fifteen pounds. A fine and perfect block-book, the _Biblia
Pauperum_, was also among the treasures of the library, and was
purchased by the Duke of Devonshire for two hundred and ten pounds.

GEORGE HIBBERT, 1757-1837

George Hibbert was born at Manchester in the year 1757. His father was
Robert Hibbert, a West India merchant. Destined from his boyhood to a
commercial life, he was educated at a private school, and on leaving
Lancashire he joined a London firm engaged in the West India trade, in
which, first as a junior partner, and afterwards as the head of the
firm, he remained nearly half a century. In 1798 Mr. Hibbert was elected
an alderman, but resigned his gown in 1803, and in 1806 he entered
Parliament as one of the members for Seaford, Sussex, and sat for that
borough until 1812. He was also chairman of the West India merchants,
and agent for Jamaica. The construction of the West India Docks was
largely owing to his exertions, and as one of the original members of
the committee of the London Institution, he took a prominent part in its
foundation and management, and for many years he filled the office of
president. Mr. Hibbert was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in
1811, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in the following year.
He was also a Fellow of the Linnaean Society, and formed at his residence
at Clapham a large collection of exotic plants, many of which were first
introduced into this country by the agents he employed in almost every
part of the globe. He married Elizab