e sum, and cost Mr. Towneley 400 guineas. At its
sale in 1883 it realized L2,050. Two portions of the Towneley Library
were dispersed by Evans in 1814-15 (seventeen days), and realized over
L8,597, and other portions were sold in 1816 and 1817. Towneley himself
died in May, 1813, aged eighty-two. The remainder of his extensive
collection was sold at Sotheby's in 1883 (ten days). Wodhull, who died
November 10, 1816, aged seventy-six, had two sales during his lifetime,
first in 1801 (chiefly duplicates), and secondly in 1803 (chiefly Greek
and Roman classics). He, however, reserved for himself a library of
about 4,000, which, passing into the possession of Mr. F. E. Severne,
M.P., was sold at Sotheby's in January, 1886, and realized a total of
L11,973 4s. 6d. He is the Orlando of Dibdin's 'Bibliomania.' The Greek
and Roman classics formed the chief attraction of this _post-mortem_
sale, which is generally regarded as one of the most important of its
kind held during recent years. Most of the prizes were picked up in
France after 1803, and it was during one of his book-hunting expeditions
in Paris that Wodhull was detained by Napoleon.

Two other 'fashionable' or titled collectors may be here grouped
together. The fine library formed by William, Marquis of Lansdowne was
dispersed by Leigh and Sotheby in thirty-one days, beginning with
January 6, 1806, the 6,530 lots realizing L6,701 2s. 6d. The highest
amount paid for a single lot was for a very rare collection of tracts,
documents, and pamphlets, in over 280 volumes, illustrating the history
of the French Revolution, together with forty-nine volumes relative to
the transactions in the Low Countries between the years 1787 and 1792,
and their separation from the House of Austria. Wynkyn de Worde's
'Rycharde Cure de Lyon,' 1528, sold for L47 5s.; and a curious
collection of 'Masks' and 'Triumphs,' of the early seventeenth century,
mostly by Ben Jonson, realized L40. As a book-collector Sir Mark
Masterman Sykes is a much better remembered figure in the annals of
book-hunting than that of the Marquis of Lansdowne. The Sykes library
contained a number of the _editiones principes_ of the classics, some on
vellum, and also a number of Aldines in the most perfect condition.
There were also many highly curious and very rare pieces of early
English poetry. The collection was sold at Evans's in 1824, and the gems
of the collection were a copy of the Mazarin Bible, and the Latin
Psalt