ther world, where, we may hope, his works have not
followed him, and that his merits as a good citizen and an honest man
counterbalanced his de-merits as a binder.

Other similar instances will occur to the memory of many a reader, and
doubtless the same sin will be committed from time to time by certain
binders, who seem to have an ingrained antipathy to rough edges and
large margins, which of course are, in their view, made by Nature as
food for the shaving tub.

De Rome, a celebrated bookbinder of the eighteenth century, who was
nicknamed by Dibdin "The Great Cropper," was, although in private life
an estimable man, much addicted to the vice of reducing the margins of
all books sent to him to bind. So far did he go, that he even spared
not a fine copy of Froissart's Chronicles, on vellum, in which was the
autograph of the well-known book-lover, De Thou, but cropped it most
cruelly.

Owners, too, have occasionally diseased minds with regard to margins. A
friend writes: "Your amusing anecdotes have brought to my memory several
biblioclasts whom I have known. One roughly cut the margins off his
books with a knife, hacking away very much like a hedger and ditcher.
Large paper volumes were his especial delight, as they gave more paper.
The slips thus obtained were used for index-making! Another, with the
bump of order unnaturally developed, had his folios and quartos all
reduced, in binding, to one size, so that they might look even on his
bookshelves."

This latter was, doubtless, cousin to him who deliberately cut down all
his books close to the text, because he had been several times annoyed
by readers who made marginal notes.

The indignities, too, suffered by some books in their lettering! Fancy
an early black-letter fifteenth-century quarto on Knighthood, labelled
"Tracts"; or a translation of Virgil, "Sermons"! The "Histories of
Troy," printed by Caxton, still exists with "Eracles" on the back, as
its title, because that name occurs several times in the early chapters,
and the binder was too proud to seek advice. The words "Miscellaneous,"
or "Old Pieces," were sometimes used when binders were at a loss for
lettering, and many other instances might be mentioned.

The rapid spread of printing throughout Europe in the latter part of
the fifteenth century caused a great fall in the value of plain
un-illuminated MSS., and the immediate consequence of this was the
destruction of numerous volumes written upon parc