y he was fired
with enthusiasm for books, and determined to form a great library in
which every branch of human knowledge in every language should have a
place. He began collecting about 1826, shortly after going to Eton, and
continued most assiduously to gather of all that was best until his
death in 1880. His success may be judged in some measure by the
remarkable collections dispersed in 1887 and 1889, which together
consisted of three thousand two hundred and fifty-four lots, and
realised twenty-six thousand three hundred and ninety-seven pounds,
fourteen shillings. Family burdens rendered it needful for the present
possessor of the library to put his hands on some available assets, and
this necessity coming at a period of great commercial depression, a
portion of the literary treasures unfortunately suffered. But the work
was again renewed, and the present state of the library will not compare
ignobly with its past. The number of manuscripts is very considerable,
probably about six thousand, not a few of which are of the greatest
interest and value, many of them having covers of the precious metals or
carved ivory, enriched with gems and crystals. There are also many
papyri, a great number of Oriental manuscripts, collections of French
autograph letters of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods, and of
English autograph letters. The printed books amount to about one hundred
thousand, and among them are to be found several block-books and a large
number of incunabula, including books printed by Caxton, Machlinia,
Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, Rood, and other early English printers. The
library is particularly rich in the productions of the early Italian
presses, especially those of Rome and Venice; and it also contains a
fine collection of rare works on the languages of North and South
America, many of them printed in Mexico and Lima, and a series of books
printed in Aberdeen from 1622 to 1736. Of other printed matter there are
collections of broadside ballads; broadside proclamations illustrative
of English, French, Dutch, German and Italian history; a long series of
Papal Bulls; early English newspapers from 1631 to the Restoration;
Civil War tracts; tracts by, for and against Martin Luther; newspapers
and periodicals published during the various French revolutions; and a
large number of caricatures issued in France and Germany during the
Second Empire and the Commune.

It is not an easy task to pick out the choicest