'My library,' he said, 'is very small,
but it is too large for me to fill it with good books.' He would not have
the first editions of the classics, because they were generally printed
on bad paper which it was disagreeable to touch, with the exception of
works produced by the Aldine Press. Nor would he buy mere curiosities,
says Guigard, but left them to persons who cared for empty display, 'like
one who proudly exhibits his patents of nobility without being able to
point to any distinguished action of his ancestors.' He was the owner of
many choice books that had belonged to Gaignat and Charron de Menars, or
had been bound for Madame de Pompadour, or to the undiscriminating Du
Barry. In 1782, we are told, he despatched the best part of his library
to America, but had the grief of learning soon afterwards that they had
been captured at sea by the English. His philosophical temper was shown
in his reply to the bad news: 'I have but one wish upon the subject; I
hope that the person who gets this part of the booty will be able to
comprehend the value of the treasure that has come to his hands.'
The elder Mirabeau was a collector of another type. The 'friend of
mankind' intended to gather together the best and largest library in the
world. He cared nothing for the scarcity or the external adornments of a
volume; but he had a huge appetite for knowledge, and he longed to have
the means of referring to all that could illustrate the progress of the
race.
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