li,
the author of 'Curiosities of Literature,' in 1849, and his unsparing
critic, Bolton Corney, in 1871; S. W. Singer, in four parts, 1860; J.
Orchard Halliwell (afterwards Halliwell-Phillipps), in 1856, 1857, and
1859; and the Rev. Dr. Hawtrey, part of whose books were sold, far below
their worth, in 1853, and the rest nine years later. Many of the
foregoing were literary men, who aimed rather at getting together a
useful library than one of rarities. The sale of all such libraries
makes a very sorry show beside that of the more ostentatious
collections. For instance, the books which Macaulay used with such
brilliant effect, and including among them an extraordinary number of
tracts, many excessively rare, only realized L426 15s. 6d., when sold in
1863 in 1,011 lots. Douglas Jerrold's little library, sold in August,
1859, in 307 lots, only fetched L173 3s. In very strong contrast to
these is the remarkable little library, formed between 1820 and 1830 by
Henry Perkins, of Hanworth Park, Feltham, a member of the brewing firm.
This collection comprised only 865 lots, but when sold at Sotheby's in
June, 1873, the total was found to be close on L26,000! There was a
copy each of the 42-line and 40-line Gutenberg Bible--the former is now
in the Huth Library, and the latter in the Ashburnham Library; several
other very early printed Bibles, including Coverdale's, Matthews', and
Cranmer's, two works printed by Caxton, with many other important books
were sold.

[Illustration: _J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps._]

The late George Daniel (who was born about 1790) may be regarded as the
connecting link between the collectors of the early part of the present
century and those of to-day. When, for example, Perry and Bindley left
off, Daniel commenced. There was no great rush after Shakespeare quartos
in the earlier part of the present century, and book-collecting for a
time ceased to be the pet hobby of wealthy members of the peerage. When
George Daniel, a critic and bibliographer of exceptional abilities,
began to collect, he soon made Shakespeare, as well as the earlier
English poets, objects of solicitude. He resided for many years in the
historic old red-brick tower at Canonbury.[72:A] The sale of Daniel's
extraordinary collection was held at Sotheby's in July, 1864, when a
First Folio, one of the finest in the world--now in the possession of
Baroness Burdett-Coutts--sold for L716 2s., and when twenty of the
Shakespeare quartos real