266
��NOTES BY THE WAY.
��Lamb's
1 Rosamund
Gray.'
��Edmund Hodgson.
��Alken's ' National Sports,' 1823, 36s. and 36Z.
Ainsworth's 'Jack Sheppard,' 3 vols., 1839, 10s. 6d. and 8/. 17s. Qd. ' Miser's Daughter,' 3 vols., 1842, 10s. Qd. and 51. 5s.
A fall in price has taken place with Billings's ' Baronial Anti- quities,' 4 vols., 4to, 6Z. 6s. and 21. 6s.
Sorrow's The Romany Rye,' 2 vols., 1857, 8s. Qd. and 31.
The first edition of Burton's ' Anatomy of Melancholy,' 1621, original stamped calf, a fine copy, 2,1. 12s. ; the same in old vellum, 40Z.
A few Cruikshank notes show the following results : ' My Sketch-Book,' 8 parts, 1834, 16s. ; 9 parts complete, 91. ' Table- Book,' 1845, 12s. and 31 12s.
Under Dante I find the rare Aldine edition, 1502, II. 5s. and 11.
The Christmas Books of Dickens, 5 vols., 15s. Qd. ; a set con- taining the two issues of ' The Battle of Life,' SI. 15s. ' Sketches by Boz,' 3 vols., cloth, 1837, 15s. and 20Z. ' Memoirs of Gri- maldi,' 2 vols., 1838, 8s. Qd. and 21. 15s. ' Oliver Twist,' 3 vols., 1838, 14s. and 21. 18s.
Pierce Egan's ' Life in London,' 9s. and 4Z. 16s.
Under Thackeray I note ' Vanity Fair,' 1848, II. Is. and 6f. 6s. ' Esmond,' 3 vols., 1852, 16s. and 31. 6s.
The most wonderful increase in price of all has been in the first edition of Lamb's ' Rosamund Gray,' 1798, from 3s. to 1221.
Edmund Hodgson's ancestors belonged to Dent Dale, where they ranked as " Statesmen." A great manyHodgsons are buried in Dent Churchyard. An excellent likeness of Edmund Hodgson is given in the commemorative booklet. His calm, earnest face is brought vividly to me as I remember him when he used to sell under the stationer's shop in the corner of Chancery Lane. The room, or rather cellar, was dark and gloomy, but Edmund Hodgson with his genial, pleasant manners, made buyers forget this. Very different was it from the present handsome room at 115, Chancery Lane, where the auctions are now held. A notice at the corner of Chancery Lane still indicates the position of the former premises.
Haygarth Taylor Hodgson, the father of Edmund, was also a bookseller and stationer at Great Marylebone Street, where he had a British and Foreign Library. It is curious to read in his circular : " Improved portable pens, warranted cut by hand with a knife."
Edmund Hodgson was one of those who took a leading part in the foundation of the Booksellers' Provident Institution, which to-day has much extended its usefulness, thanks to the time and care bestowed upon it by its President, Mr. Charles James Longman. When he retired the business passed into the charge of his two
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