collection--who died in the same year as the
sale.----MACARTHY. _Catalogue des livres rares et precieux
du cabinet de M.L.C.D.M._ (_M. Le Comte de Macarthy_),
Paris, 1779, 8vo. _Supplement au Catalogue des livres, &c._,
de M.L.C.D.M., Paris, 1779, 8vo. _Chez de Bure, fils aine._
These books were sold in January, 1780; and great things are
said, in the advertisement, of their rarity and beauty. The
Count Macarthy has, at this moment, one of the most
magnificent collections upon the continent. His books
printed UPON VELLUM are unequalled by those of any private
collection. Of the above catalogue, a copy upon strong
writing paper occurs in the _Cat. de Gouttard_, no.
1549.----MAGLIABECHI. _Catalogus Codicum Saeculo_ xv.
_Impressorum qui in publica Bibliotheca Magliabechiana
Florentiae adservantur. Autore Ferdinando Fossio; ejusd.
bibl. Praef._, Florent., 1793, folio, three vols. A
magnificent and truly valuable publication (with excellent
indexes) of the collection of the famous Magliabechi;
concerning whom the bibliographical world is full of curious
anecdotes. The reader may consult two volumes of letters
from eminent men to Magliabechi, published in 1745, &c.,
vide _Bibl. Pinell_, no. 8808, &c., edit. 1789: Wolfius's
edition of the _Bibliotheca Aprosiana_, p. 102; and the
Strawberry Hill[C] edition of the _Parallel between
Magliabechi and Mr. Hill_, 1758, 8vo.--an elegant and
interesting little volume. Before we come to speak of his
birth and bibliographical powers, it may be as well to
contemplate his expressive physiognomy.

[Illustration]

MAGLIABECHI was born at Florence October 29, 1633. His
parents, of low and mean rank, were well satisfied when they
got him into the service of a man who sold herbs and fruit.
He had never learned to read; and yet he was perpetually
poring over the leaves of old books that were used in his
master's shop. A bookseller, who lived in the neighbourhood,
and who had often observed this, and knew the boy could not
read, asked him one day "what he meant by staring so much on
printed paper?" Magliabechi said that "he did not know how
it was, but that he loved it of all things." The consequence
was that he was received, with tears of joy in his eyes,
into the bookseller's shop; and hence r