Humphrey Wanley was
disappointed in his commissions, and called it a roguish sale; of the
vendors he remarked 'their very looks, according to what I am told, dart
out harping-irons.' Tom Hearne went to Mr. Bridges' chambers to see the
sale, and descanted upon the fine condition of the lots: 'I was told of a
gentleman of All Souls that gave a commission of eight shillings for an
Homer, but it went for six guineas; people are in love with good binding
rather than good reading.' Some of the entries in the catalogue are of
great interest. The first edition of Homer, printed at Florence in 1488
on large paper, went for about a quarter of the price of an Aldine Livy.
Lord Oxford secured a 'Lucian' in uncial characters, and a splendid
Missal illuminated for Henry VII. There was a large-paper 'Politian' in
two volumes, very carelessly described as 'finely bound by Grolier and
his friends'; but the best of all was the MS. Horace, with an exquisite
portrait of the poet, 'from the library of Matthias Corvinus, King of
Hungary.'
Dr. Mead was a collector of the same kind. All that was beautiful came
naturally to this great man, of whom it was said that he lived 'in the
full sunshine of human existence.' He was the owner of a very fine
library, which he had 'picked up at Rome.' He had a great number of
early-printed classics, which fetched high prices at his sale in 1754;
his French books, according to Dibdin, and all his works upon the fine
arts 'were of the first rarity and value,' and were sumptuously bound.
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