zed a total of L1,210 6s. 6d.

The splendid library of John Dent, of Hertford Street, sold by Evans in
1827, producing the sum of L15,040, had a curious history. The nucleus
of it was formed towards the close of the last century by Haughton
James, who, in a moment of conviviality, and without a due consideration
of its true value, transferred it to Robert Heathcote,[68:A] who made
several additions, and from whose possession it passed about 1807 into
that of John Dent. The sale of the Dent library is described by Dibdin
as exhibiting the 'first grand melancholy symptoms of the decay of the
Bibliomania.' The chief attraction was the Sweynheym and Pannartz Livy,
1469, on vellum, which fell (in more senses than one) under the hammer
for L262, Dent having paid L903 for it at Sir Mark Sykes' sale. Both the
purchasers, Payne and Foss, and Dibdin, made strenuous efforts to
persuade the Earl of Spencer to purchase it, but unsuccessfully; it
subsequently became the property of Grenville, and passed with his
collection into the British Museum. Dent is the Pontevallo of the
'Bibliomania,' and Baroccio of the 'Bibliographical Decameron,' and does
not seem to have been an altogether amiable specimen of the fraternity.
Canning used to say that he once found Dent deep in the study of an open
book which was upside down!

A much more genial bibliomaniac, Sir William Bolland, calls for notice;
he was one of the original members of the Roxburghe Club, which, in
fact, was first suggested at a dinner-party at his house, June 4, 1812.
He died May 14, 1840, aged sixty-eight, and his library, which comprised
2,940 lots, and realized L3,019, was sold by Evans, and included many
choice books. One of the greatest bargains which this distinguished
collector secured during his career became his property through the
medium of Benjamin Wheatley, who purchased a bundle of poetical tracts
from the Chapter Library at Lincoln for 80 guineas. When the inevitable
sale came, one of these trifles, 'The Rape of Lucrece,' alone realized
100 guineas.

George Chalmers (1742-1825), who is described as 'the most learned and
the most celebrated of all the antiquaries and historians of Scotland,'
was also one of the giant book-collectors of the present century, and
differed from the majority of collectors in being a prolific and
versatile author. At his death his nephew became the possessor of his
extensive library, but on the death of the nephew the books were pl