' Renouard began life as a manufacturer. His
father made gauze stuffs, and kept a shop in the Rue Apolline. In 1787
the Abbe le Blond, the librarian of the College Mazarin, heard that
Molini had sold a fine Aldine Horace to a shopkeeper. 'The next day,'
says Renouard, 'Le Blond came into my library. "Oh! I shall not have the
book," he exclaimed, and when I looked round, he said, "I beg your
pardon, I hoped to tempt you with a few _louis_ for your bargain, but I
have given up the idea at once, and I only ask the double favour of
seeing the book and of being allowed to make your acquaintance."'
Renouard was the historian of the House of Aldus, and naturally became
the possessor of some of Grolier's finest books. During his career as a
bookseller he parted with most of them; and at the sale of his library in
1854 the 'Lucretius,' the 'Virgil,' and the 'Erasmus,' were all that
remained in his collection.
CHAPTER XVI.
LATER ENGLISH COLLECTORS.
In describing the English collections of the eighteenth century we have
the advantage of using the memoranda of William Oldys for the earlier
part of the period. D'Israeli deplored the carelessness which led the
'literary antiquary' to entrust his discoveries and reminiscences to the
fly-leaves of notebooks, to 'parchment budgets,' and paper-bags of
extracts. He expressed especial disappointment at the loss of the
manuscript on London Libraries, with its anecdotes of book-collectors and
remarks on booksellers and the first publishers of catalogues.
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