a work form what are called TRUE EDITIONS:
and as copies, with such variations (upon the same principle
as that of _Prints_; vide p. 501-2, ante) are rare, they are
of course sought after with avidity by knowing
bibliomaniacs. Thus speaks Ameilhon upon the
subject:--"pendant l'impression d'un ouvrage il est arrive
un accident qui, a telle page et a telle ligne, a occasione
un renversement dans les lettres d'un mot, et que ce
desordre n'a ete retabli qu'apres le tirage de six ou sept
exemplaires; ce qui rend ces exemplaires defectueux presque
uniques, et leur donne, a les entendre, une valeur
inappreciable; car voila un des grands secrets de cet art,
qui, au reste, s'acquiert aisement avec de la memoire."
_Mem. de l'Institut_: vol. ii., p. 485. The author of these
words then goes on to abuse the purchasers and venders of
these strange books; but I will not quote his saucy tirade
in defamation of this noble department of bibliomaniacism. I
subjoin a few examples in illustration of Lysander's
definition:--_Caesar. Lug. Bat._ 1636, 12mo. _Printed by
Elzevir._ In the Bibliotheca Revickzkiana we are informed
that the _true_ Elzevir edition is known by having the plate
of a buffalo's head at the beginning of the preface and body
of the work: also by having the page numbered 153, which
_ought_ to have been numbered 149. A further account is
given in my Introduction to the Classics, vol. i., p.
228.--_Horace_, Londini, 1733, 8vo., 2 vols. Published by
Pine. The _true_ edition is distinguished by having at page
108, vol. ii., the _incorrect_ reading "Post Est."--for
"Protest."--_Virgil._ Lug. Bat., 1636, 12mo. Printed by
Elzevir. The _true_ edition is known, by having at plate 1,
before the Bucolics, the following Latin passage _printed in
red ink_. "Ego vero frequentes a te literas accepi." Consul
de Bure, no. 2684.--_Idem._ Birmingh. 1763, 4to. Printed
by Baskerville. A particular account of the _true_ edition
will be found in the second volume of my "Introduction to
the Classics," p. 337--too long to be here
inserted.--_Bocaccio._ Il Decamerone, Venet. 1527, 4to.
Consult De Bure no. 3667; Bandini, vol. ii. 105, 211;
(who, however, is extremely laconic upon this edition, but
copious upon the anterior one of 1516) and Haym, vol. iii.,