70
NOTES AND QUERIES. t9*s.i. JAN. 22, '98,
ask permission to quote a passage, relating
to Mr. Daniel's copy, from Mr. F. S. Ellis's
capital account of that gentleman's books in
part x. of Mr. Quaritch's ' Dictionary of
English Book-Collectors ' :
" Another of Daniel's favourite book legends was the story of his acquisition of his first folio Shake- speare from Mr. William Pickering. Though, as is usual with books, its pedigree did not extend very far, it was less plebeian than most rare volumes in that respect. At the end of the eighteenth century Or the beginning of the nineteenth it had belonged to one Daniel Moore, F.S.A., and by him was bequeathed to a Mr. W. H. Booth, who in his turn left it to Mr. John Gage Rokewode, the well-known antiquary, from whom Mr. Pickering purchased it. As Mr. Gage Rokewode died in 1842, it must have been before that year that it came into Daniel's possession for the sum of 100., esteemed a very high price in those days. He would describe how, when the bargain was concluded, Pickering essayed to put up the volume in paper; but he exclaimed, 'No, no ! nothing less than silk ! Fetch me one of your best silk handkerchiefs.' Securely tied in this, a hackney coach was called, and he drove home to Islington in triumph. It is assuredly a very fine copy of this book, free from reparation, and measuring 13 by 8J. There is probably no copy of this book in existence in absolutely perfect condition, for to be so it should be in its first binding, with the original fly-leaves not pasted down. This copy, fine as it is, has been bound in russia, with blue edges, and the title is decidedly tender with handling. The finest copy known is that in the library of Capt. Holford but the original end-papers have been replaced and the title mounted on a guard at the back minor defects, it is true, but defects nevertheless. Probably no copy exists in that irreproachable state of preservation in which other old books of the same date, but of minor interest, frequently occur."
This fact is a curious one, and points to a much earlier appreciation of Shakespeare than modern writers are generally disposed to grant. Many people believe that Shake- speare was only " invented " at the beginning of the last century, when Addison expatiated on his beauties, and Rowe, Theobald, and the other commentators began to take him in hand ; but the dilapidated condition of nine- tenths of the copies of the first folio edition which are now in existence certainly indicates the measure of popularity which we accord to our favourite novels when they finally return to their home in New Oxford Street, minus title and last pages and a goodly share of their contents. A pure and undenled copy of an Elizabethan poet, in its limp vellum wrapper, with its silk ties unimpaired, and its fly-leaves defaced no more than by an unfinished sonnet to the eyebrow of a Vernon or a Throckmorton, is truly an object to make that afternoon seem fairer on which one's eye first drank in its unsullied beauties. W. F. PRIDEAUX.
To complete the list of known copies of the
first folio of Shakspere, it may be mentioned
that there is also at least one copy in
Australia. This is in the Sydney Public
Library, to which it was given by a public-
spirited colonist, who, if I remember rightly,
paid something like 800/. for it. He presented
at the same time, for its safe keeping, a
handsome carved case, made from an oak tree
which grew in the Forest of Arden.
In the library of this college there is a copy of the second folio, in excellent condi- tion but for the loss of the portrait. We are indebted for this treasure to the generosity of Mr. G. W. Rusden, author of the ' History of Australia.' It would be interesting to Shaksperians if one of your correspondents would do for the second folio what MR. INGLEBY has done for the first. Is it known of how many copies the first folio edition consisted? ALEX. LEEPER.
Trinity College, Melbourne.
Doubtless several copies of the Shake- spearian folio of 1623 may be discovered in Rome. Many tourists who visit the Barberini Palace wonder at the marble corkscrew stair- case, the finest in Rome, but climb only thirteen of its steps for entering the picture gallery to gaze on Guide's ' Beatrice Cenci.' In December, 1867, I wended my winding way up to the uppermost story. I there saw many treasures mentioned in Baedeker, and among those he does not mention a first folio of Shakespeare. My only memories of it, besides a certain passage I wished to examine, are that it was in a white binding, and appeared in perfect preservation.
JAMES D. BUTLER.
Madison, Wis., U.S.
MR. INGLEBY, in his list of the Shakespeare first folios published in your issue of 18 Sep- tember last, mentions but three as being in the United States, viz., those belonging to Mr. Augustin Daly, Mr. Robert Hoe, and the Lenox Library. I send herewith a list of nineteen other copies which are in this country.
In 1888 I prepared a bibliography of the first folios in the city of New York. That paper was read before the Shakespeare Society of this city, and afterwards published in Shakespeariana for March, 1888.
At that time I found in this city thirteen copies of the first folio, as follows : Lenox Library, 2 ; Library of Columbia College, 1 ; Astor Library, 1 Mr. Chas. H. Kalbfleisch, 1 ; Mr. Chas. W. Frederickson, 1 ; Mr. Robert Lenox Kennedy, 1 ; Mr. Brayton Ives, 1 ; Mr. Elihu Chauncey, 1 ; Mr. Robert Hoe, 1 ; Mr.
