y published on
large paper, the anxiety of each party to have the largest
copy is better conceived than described! How carefully, and
how adroitly, are the golden and silver rules then
exercised!]

II. _Uncut Copies._ Of all the symptoms of the Bibliomania, this is
probably the most extraordinary. It may be defined as a passion to
possess books of which the edges have never been sheared by the
binder's tools. And here, my dear Sir, I find myself walking upon
doubtful ground;--your UNCUT HEARNES rise up in "rough majesty" before
me, and almost "push me from my stool." Indeed, when I look around in
my book-lined tub, I cannot but be conscious that this symptom of the
disorder has reached my own threshold; but when it is known that a few
of my bibliographical books are left with the edges uncut _merely to
please my friends_ (as one must sometimes study their tastes and
appetites as well as one's own), I trust that no very serious
conclusions will be drawn about the probable fatality of my own case.
As to uncut copies, although their inconvenience [an uncut lexicon to
wit!] and deformity must be acknowledged, and although a rational man
can want for nothing better than a book _once well bound_, yet we find
that the extraordinary passion for collecting them not only obtains
with full force, but is attended with very serious consequences to
those "qui n'ont point des pistoles" (to borrow the language of
Clement; vol. vi. p. 36). I dare say an uncut _first Shakspeare_, as
well as an uncut _first Homer_[51] would produce a little annuity!

[Footnote 51: "Un superbe exemplaire de cette edition
_princeps_ a ete vendu, chez M. de Cotte, en 1804, la somme
de 3601 livres; mais il faut ajouter que cet exemplaire
tres-precieux est de la plus belle conservation; on dirait
qu'il sort dessous presse. De plus, il est peut-etre
_l'unique dont les marges n'ont pas ete rognees ni
coupees_!"

Peignot's _Curiosites Bibliographiques_, lxv-vi.]

III. _Illustrated Copies._ A passion for books illustrated or adorned
with numerous prints, representing characters or circumstances
mentioned in the work, is a very general and violent symptom of the
Bibliomania, which has been known chiefly within the last half
century. The origin, or first appearance, of this symptom has been
traced by some to the publication of Granger's "Biographical History
of England;" but whoever will be at the pai