Bibliomania; or Book-Madness - A Bibliographical Romance

Thomas Frognall Dibdin

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• Publié par: vuwyer
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 47
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg
eBook of Bibliomania; or
Book-Madness, by
Thomas Frognall Dibdin
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Title: Bibliomania; or Book-Madness
A Bibliographical Romance
Author: Thomas Frognall Dibdin
Release Date: April 8, 2009 [eBook #28540]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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BIBLIOMANIA; OR BOOK-MADNESS***
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Transcriber's Notes
Thomas Frognall Dibdin's Bibliomania was originally
published in 1809 and was re-issued in several
editions, including one published by Chatto & Windus
in 1876. This e-book was prepared from a reprint of
the 1876 edition, published by Thoemmes Press and
Kinokuniya Company Ltd. in 1997. Where the reprint
was unclear, the transcriber consulted the actual 1876
edition. All color images were scanned from the 1876
edition.
The original contains numerous footnotes, denoted by
numbers in the section entitled The Bibliomania, and
by symbols in the remainder of the book. All of the
footnotes are consecutively numbered in this e-book;
footnotes within footnotes are lettered.
Some phrases are rendered in the original in
blackletter; they are rendered in bold italic in this e-
book.
This e-book contains passages in ancient Greek,which may not display properly in some browsers,
depending on what fonts the reader has installed.
Hover the mouse over the Greek to see a pop-up
transliteration, e.g. βιβλος.
Spelling and typographical errors are retained as they
appear in the original. They are underlined in red, with
a popup Transcriber's Note containing the correct
spelling. Minor punctuation and font errors have been
corrected without note. Inconsistent diacriticals and
hyphenation have been retained as they appear in the
original.
There are frequent inconsistencies in the spelling of
certain proper names. These have been retained as
they appear in the original, for example:
Bibliothèque/Bibliothéque
Boccaccio/Bocaccio/Boccacio
De Foe/Defoe
Français/François
Loménie/Lomenie
Montfauçon/Montfaucon
Roxburgh/Roxburghe
Shakspeare/Shakespeare
Spenser/Spencer
Tewrdannckhs/Tewrdranckhs/Teurdanckhs (and
other variations)
Vallière/Valliere
The original pagination used two sets of Roman
numerals and two sets of Arabic numerals. To
distinguish between them, in this e-book the Roman-
numeral pages in the Indexes are preceded by "I." TheArabic-numeral pages in the section entitled The
Bibliomania are preceded by "B." Some page numbers
are skipped due to blank pages.
Page references, including those in the Indexes, do
not distinguish between references appearing in the
main text and those appearing in footnotes. Therefore,
in this e-book, where the referenced matter does not
appear in the main text on the linked page, it can be
found in the nearest footnote.

Link to CONTENTS.



BIBLIOMANIA.
Libri quosdam ad Scientiam, quosdam ad insaniam, d
eduxêre.
Geyler: Navis Stultifera: sign. B. iiij. rev.
T.F. DIBDIN, D.D.
T.F. DIBDIN, D.D.
Engraved by James Thomson from the
Original Painting by T. Phillips, Esqr. R.A.PUBLISHED BY THE PROPRIETORS (FOR THE
NEW EDITION) OF THE REV. Dr. DIBDINS
BIBLIOMANIA 1840.
title page - image credit: Engraved by S. Freeman.
[Enlarge]
BIBLIOMANIA;
OR
Book-Madness;
A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ROMANCE.
ILLUSTRATED WITH CUTS.
BY THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN, D.D.
New and improved Edition,
TO WHICH ARE ADDED
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS, AND A
SUPPLEMENT INCLUDING A KEY
TO THE ASSUMED CHARACTERS IN THE DRAMA.
London:
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
MDCCCLXXVI.Dedication
[Enlarge]
TO
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE EARL OF POWIS,
PRESIDENT OF
The Roxburgh Club,
THIS
NEW EDITION
OF
BIBLIOMANIA
IS
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY
THE AUTHOR.
ADVERTISEMENT.
THE public may not be altogether unprepared for the
re-appearance of the Bibliomania in a more attractivegarb than heretofore;—and, in consequence, more in
uniformity with the previous publications of the Author.
More than thirty years have elapsed since the last
edition; an edition, which has become so scarce that
there seemed to be no reasonable objection why the
possessors of the other works of the Author should be
deprived of an opportunity of adding the present to the
number: and although this re-impression may, on first
glance, appear something like a violation of contract
with the public, yet, when the length of time which has
elapsed, and the smallness of the price of the
preceding impression, be considered, there does not
appear to be any very serious obstacle to the present
republication; the more so, as the number of copies is
limited to five hundred.
Another consideration deeply impressed itself upon
the mind of the Author. The course of thirty years has
necessarily brought changes and alterations amongst
"men and things." The dart of death has been so busy
during this period that, of the Bibliomaniacs so
plentifully recorded in the previous work, scarcely
three,—including the Author—have survived. This has
furnished a monitory theme for the Appendix; which,
to the friends both of the dead and the living, cannot
be perused without sympathising emotions—
"A sigh the absent claim, the dead a tear."
The changes and alterations in "things,"—that is to say
in the Bibliomania itself—have been equally capricious
and unaccountable: our countrymen being, in these
days, to the full as fond of novelty and variety as inthose of Henry the Eighth. Dr. Board, who wrote his
Introduction of Knowledge in the year 1542, and
dedicated it to the Princess Mary, thus observes of
our countrymen:
I am an Englishman, and naked do I stand here,
Musing in my mind what raiment I shall wear;
For now I will wear this, and now I will wear that,
Now I will wear—I cannot tell what.
This highly curious and illustrative work was reprinted,
with all its wood-cut embellishments, by Mr. Upcott. A
copy of the original and most scarce edition is among
the Selden books in the Bodleian library, and in the
Chetham Collection at Manchester. See the
Typographical Antiquities, vol. iii. p. 158-60.
But I apprehend the general apathy of Bibliomaniacs
to be in a great measure attributable to the vast influx
of Books, of every description, from the Continent—
owing to the long continuance of peace; and yet, in the
appearance of what are called English Rarities, the
market seems to be almost as barren as ever. The
wounds, inflicted in the Heberian contest, have
gradually healed, and are subsiding into forgetfulness;
excepting where, from collateral causes, there are too
many striking reasons to remember their existence.
Another motive may be humbly, yet confidently,
assigned for the re-appearance of this Work. It was
thought, by its late proprietor,—Mr. Edward
Walmsley[1]—to whose cost and liberality this edition
owes its appearance—to be a volume, in itself, of
pleasant and profitable perusal; composed perhaps ina quaint and original style, but in accordance with the
characters of the Dramatis Personæ. Be this as it
may, it is a work divested of all acrimonious feeling—is
applicable to all classes of society, to whom harmless
enthusiasm cannot be offensive—and is based upon a
foundation not likely to be speedily undermined.
T.F. DIBDIN.
May 1, 1842.
[1] Mr. Edward Walmsley, who died in 1841, at an
advanced age, had been long known to me. He had
latterly extensive calico-printing works at Mitcham, and
devoted much of his time to the production of beautiful
patterns in that fabrication; his taste, in almost every
thing which he undertook, leant towards the fine arts.
His body was in the counting-house; but his spirit was
abroad, in the studio of the painter or engraver. Had
his natural talents, which were strong and elastic,
been cultivated in early life, he would, in all probability,
have attained a considerable reputation. How he loved
to embellish—almost to satiety—a favourite work, may
be seen by consulting a subsequent page towards the
end of this volume. He planned and published the
Physiognomical Portraits, a performance not divested
of interest—but failing in general success, from the
prints being, in many instances, a repetition of their
precursors. The thought, however, was a good one;
and many of the heads are powerfully executed. He
took also a lively interest in Mr. Major's splendid
edition of Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting in England,
a work, which can never want a reader while taste has