Henry Wheatley - Prices of Books

Mr. Blades printed in his Life of Caxton an inventory of the library of Jean, Duc de Berri, at the château of Mohun sur Yevre, 1416. At the death of the duke the library contained one hundred and sixty-two volumes, valued at 14,909 livres.

In 1443 twenty-seven volumes were purchased by the authorities of King’s Hall, Cambridge, from the executors of John Paston (who had been their steward), at a cost of £8, 17s. 4d. In 1447 the same college bought a Psalter for three shillings and eightpence, and a Donatus for one shilling.

In 1449 twenty new Processionals cost All Souls College one hundred and thirteen shillings and fourpence, and in 1453 a book of Wycliffe’s was bought for seven shillings and sixpence, and one written against him for three shillings and sixpence. 16 16 Rogers’s “Agriculture and Prices,” vol. iv. pp. 509-604. A manuscript of 157 leaves, containing some of the works of St. Gregory, was bought in 1455 for £3, 6s. 8d.

In 1459 Fastolfe’s books were highly priced; thus a fair Mass book was fixed at ten pounds, and a Holy Legend at the same sum, while two new great Antiphons were together £13, 6s. 8d.

One of St. Augustine’s Epistles, containing 179 leaves, sold sometime after 1468 for £1, 13s. 4d., and about the same time one of St. Bernard’s Treatises, written on 211 leaves, was bought by Richard Hopton from the executors of a former possessor for twenty shillings.

Perhaps a rather more accurate idea of the cost of manuscript books can be obtained from a consideration of the cost of materials and the pay of the scribes, and, fortunately, particulars have come down to us which allow of a comparison of the various expenses.

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A still more elaborate edition was published by the Grolier Club in 1889. This was edited by Professor A. F. West, and printed in three volumes small quarto. It was issued in a small edition, and a sight of it is therefore difficult to obtain.

From Ernest C. Thomas’s translation, 1888.

Dibdin’s Bibliomania , Part V.

The versions given in Noble’s Continuation of Granger are inferior to the above, which were taken from an old MS. by the Rev. Cecil Moore, and are believed by him to be the originals. See “Bibliographer,” vol. vi. p. 92.

William Oldys’s “Choice Notes,” 1862, p. 38.

Ibid. p. 92.

Bliss’s Reliquiæ Hearnianæ , 1869, vol. i. pp. 206, 207.

“Letters from the Bodleian,” vol. i. p. 214.

Dibdin’s “Reminiscences,” vol. i. p. 356 (note).

Bibliomania , Part V.

An annotated translation of Auctio Davisiana was published in “Book-Lore,” vol. iii. p. 166; vol. iv. p. 1. The translator possesses a copy formerly belonging to Bishop Wordsworth of Lincoln, in which is written, in a contemporary hand, ex dono Bibliopolæ Ric Davis .

Reliquiæ Hearnianæ , 1869, vol. ii. p. 172.

Leader Scott’s “Renaissance of Art in Italy,” 1883, p. 193.

“Letters from the Bodleian,” vol. i. p. 279 (note).

Putnam’s “Books and their Makers,” 1897, vol. i. p. 159.

Rogers’s “Agriculture and Prices,” vol. iv. pp. 509-604.