Philobiblon sive De Amore Librorvm.
Oxford, J. Barnes 1599.
4to (172 x 124 mm.). [iix], 62, [2 blank], [8]p.
19th-century gilt-ruled glazed tan calf (Pratt), spine and red morocco label gilt, all edges gilt.
This, the fourth edition overall, contains “THE FIRST ‘UNION’ CATALOG EVER ATTEMPTED” (Pforzheimer), that of manuscripts in Oxford colleges, compiled by Bodley’s librarian, Thomas James (1573-1629). HE WAS THE FIRST TO EDIT BURY’S TEXT USING MULTIPLE MANUSCRIPTS.
Bury combines practical guidance with profound bibliophily. He treats the intellectual importance of books, the respect due them, their prices, finding and acquiring books, the value of contemporary works, grammatical treatises and fables, the writing of new texts and the copying of old ones, the intellectual and social benefits of an extensive library open to all, the state of scholarship, the lending of books and so on.
He also discusses theft, the loss of books in war, how to handle books without harming them, their safe storage and the repair of damage, particularly that caused by young and careless scholars — dripping noses, food smears, saliva, wet or dirty hands and text defacement.
Bury served as a diplomat, administrator, churchman and scholar. He tutored Edward III (1312-77), was Keeper of the Privy Seal and held other high offices, which offered regular opportunities to travel to the Continent and visit libraries and booksellers. His personal library, numbering in the hundreds of volumes, was sold after his death to meet his debts.
THIS COPY BELONGED TO JOHN BELLINGHAM INGLIS (1780-1870), TRANSLATOR OF THE FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH (1832) which remains the standard today. The pastedowns bear witness to his “peculiar mania” (de Ricci) of cutting out and pasting onto the endleaves images from other books. It subsequently passed to bibliographer James P.R. Lyell (1871-1948; bookplate), then archaeologist and historian James Stevens Cox (1910-97; bookplate). In good condition (three headlines and one shoulder note shaved, minor ink spots), some fifty marginal manuscript corrections.
¶Basbanes, A Gentle Madness 83-7; Bury, Philobiblon: A Treatise on the Love of Books tr. Inglis; Pforzheimer Library: English Literature, 1475-1700 21; Putnam, Books and their Makers during the Middle Ages I: 44, 218, 228, 233 & 296; Madan, The Early Oxford Press: A Bibliography I: 47 “Rare”; ESTC S104430; Pollard & Redgrave, STC 959; de Ricci, English Collectors of Books and Manuscripts 97-8.
Price: $44,000.00