BIBLIOGRAPHIANA.

I AM not aware of the sale of any curious or elegant collection of books, since that of Dr. Rawlinson's, before the year 1764; when the collection of Sir Clement Cottrell Dormer was disposed of. The catalogue was published under the following title:

'A Catalogue of the genuine and elegant Library of the late

Sir C. C. DORMER,

Collected by Lieutenant General James Dormer; which will be sold, &c. by Samuel Baker, at his house in York Street, Covent Garden; to begin on Monday, February the 20th, 1764, and to continue the nineteen following evenings. At the end of the catalogue we are told that the books were in general of the best cditions, and in the finest condition, many of them in large paper, bound in morocco, gilt leaves, &c.'

This was a very choice collection of books, consisting almost entirely of

French, Greek, Latin, Italian, and Spanish. The number of articles did not exceed 3082, and of volumes, probably not 7000. The catalogue is neatly printed, and copies of it on large paper are exceedingly scarce. Among the most curious and valuable articles are the following:

No. 599. Les Glorieuses Conquestes de Louis le Grand, par Pontault, en maroquin. Paris,

1678.

N.B. In this copy, many very fine and rare portraits are added, engraved by the most eminent

masters.

No. 604. Recueil des Maisons Royales, fort bien gravés par Sylvestre, &c.

N.B. In the book was the following note. Ce recueil des Maisons Royales n'est pas seulement complet, en toutes manières, mais on y a ajouté de plusieurs plans, que l'on ne trouvent que très rarement. No. 731. Fabian's Chronicle. 1559. 752. Hall's ditto. 1548.

751. Higden's Polychronicon. 1527.

I should suspect that Dr. Askew purchased the large paper Hutchinson's Xenophon, and Hudson's Thucydides. Nos. 2246, 2585,

No. 2249. Don Quixote, por Cervantes. Madr. 4to. 1605. In hoc libro hæc nota est.

• Cecy est l'edition originale; il y a une autre du mesme année, imprimée en quarto, a Ma

drid, mais imprimée apres cecy. J'ay veu l'autre et je les ay comparez avec deux autres editions du mesme année, 1605; une imprimée a Lisbonne en 4to. l'autre en Valentia, en Svo.'

No. 2590. Thuanus by Buckley, on large paper, in 14 volumes, folio; a magnificent copy, illustrated with many beautiful and rare

portraits of eminent characters, mentioned by De Thou.

From No. 2680 to the end of the catalogue (401 articles) there appears a choice collection of Italian and Spanish books.

WITHIN five years after the sale of Sir C. C. Dormer's books, was sold the collection of

ROBERT HOBLYN, ESQ.

The title to the catalogue is as follows: 'Bibliotheca Hoblyniana; sive Catalogus Librorum, juxta exemplar, quod manu sua maxima ex parte descriptum reliquit Robertus Hoblyn, Armiger, de Nanswidden, in comitatu Cornubiæ. Londini, apud J. Murray. MDCCLXIX.'

Few catalogues contain a more sensible

and useful collection of books, or are more judiciously compiled, than the above. The Tituli Generales' immediately follow the title page, and are well deserving of notice by those who are busied in the formation or arrangement of libraries. The order is lucid, and the general heads do not exceed eighteen in number. The catalogue is very neatly printed, on excellent paper, in two parts, or volumes, containing in the whole 650 pages. head of Hoblyn is usually prefixed; and large paper copies are nearly as common as small.

A

I AM now, in the chronological order of booksales, to notice a collection of books, in ENGLISH LITERATURE, which for their rarity and value, in a proportionate number, have never been equalled; I mean the library of

JAMES WEST, Esq.

President of the Royal Society.

The sale commenced on March 29, 1773, and continued for the twenty-three following days. The catalogue was digested

by SAMUEL PATERSON, a man, whose ability in such undertakings has been generally allowed. The title was as follows:

BIBLIOTHECA WESTIANA; A Catalogue of the curious and truly valuable library of the late James West, Esq. President of the Royal Society, deceased: comprehending a choice collection of books in various languages, and upon most branches of polite literature: more especially such as relate to the history and antiquities of Great Britain and Ireland; • their early navigators, discoverers, and improvers, and the ancient English literature of which there are a great number of uncommon books and tracts, elucidated by MS. notes and original letters, and embellished with scarce portraits and devices, rarely to be found: including the works of CAXTON, LETTOU, MACHLINIA, the anonymous St. ALBANS Schoolmaster, WYNKYN DE WORDE, PYNSON, and the rest of the old English typographers. Digested by