University of Virginia Library

The personages above-mentioned were very celebrated handlers of the burin. Of the Passes who were Hollanders, there was a family, consisting of Simon, Crispin, William, and Magdalena, all of whom were engravers, and flourished during the reign of James the First. Hollar, whose industry was almost without a parallel, lived during the reigns of Charles the First and Second, while Faithorne displayed his matchless glossy stroke during the period of the Commonwealth. The major part of the productions of these respective artists are very rare, and produce high prices.

The late Mr. Chr---st---e was most renowned for the fluency of his tongue, a convincing proof of which the above instance will fully make manifest, the facts being as follow: Mr. C--- had a dwelling to dispose of, situated at some distance from Town, which was any thing but picturesque, as a gibbet was in view, while a miserable ditch skirted the garden. In the course of his flourishing description, he literally denominated the former a beautiful Hanging Wood, while the latter was transmogrified into a fine meandring stream of water, which, together with many other flights of poetic prose, so completely worked upon the mind of a gentleman present, that without having visited the premises he became the purchaser. I leave to the reader to form an opinion of his astonishment on viewing the spot in question. The Auctioneer's rhetoric proved however of no effect, as the gentleman ultimately compelled Mr. C--- to resell the mansion, with all its concomitant beauties. Neither was this gentleman ever surpassed in the essential art of picture puffing: one instance of which I cannot help recording, having been present upon the occasion. A painting, possessing no one attribute that could entitle it to commendation, being put up, and no individual feeling a relish for the lot, our auctioneer, in order to palm it if possible upon the company, expressed himself in the following terms: “It wants nothing but a touch of the Promethean fire to start from the canvas and fall a-bidding.”

Whether any personal allusion be intended by selecting an individual of the above trade, the writer leaves the Chalcographimanians to discover.

That this circumstance did occur to a tradesman, the writer most solemnly declares, and that from the moment he beheld the reflected Hock of Bacon, he became a red-hot Collector; his first purchase being a most vile copy of Rubens' celebrated picture of the Tribute Money. This mania was ultimately attended with very disastrous consequences, as the individual alluded to was in the end reduced from a state of comparative affluence to absolute beggary.

Fortuna nimium quem fovet stultum facit.

Lest the reader should erroneously be led to infer that the head-covering in question is after the modern fashionable shape, it is but needful that I should place matters in a just point of view; therefore, I beg leave to acquaint him that the beaver of our Catalogus is framed after the fashion of those gilt gingerbread hats which are annually strung up at Bartholomew Fair.

Digito monstrari et dicier hic est.

The foundation of S---r W---ll---m M---sgr---v---'s collection was the purchase of the stores of Mr. Throsby, the historian of Leicester, which were procured for a very mediocre price; whereas at the sale of the M---sgr---ve effects by R---ch---rds---n, they produced the most enormous sums.

This personage, concerning whom more will be said in the progress of the poem, is very justly esteemed one of the best judges of old portraits now living.

As it is more that probable that this volume may fall into the hands of many individuals unconnected with Chalcographimanian pursuits, I think it necessary to state that the Mania has for many years existed among collectors of illustrating the four above-mentioned works with portraits and views; the volumes in question being either interleaved with folio paper, or else inlaid upon sheets of the largest atlas size, in order to admit decorative prints of all dimensions, without being compelled to double them.

Few persons connected with the printselling trade are more deserving approbation than Mr. T. Sm---th, whose assiduous research into every thing connected with the antiquities of our metropolis, justly entitle him to the applause of every Topographical Collector, independent of which, as the father, of a family, his conduct is deserving the warmest commendation.

This most respectable individual is allied to the niece of the late Ald---rm---n B---yd---ll, who is herself a great portrait collector; indeed, so universally is the integrity of Mr. N---ch---ls established among the trade, that in case any variance occurs in affairs connected with bookselling, both parties are usually satisfied by nominating Mr. N. as umpire, whose fiat is deemed at all times conclusive. Far different however was the conduct of another bookseller named N---c---ll, who has long since been a bankrupt, and was indebted for his first rise in the world to the following circumstance: S---r J---hn Ing---lby, of R---pl---y castle, who was residing in Switzerland at the period alluded to, had a very extensive and valuable library of the choices old literature, which the B---r---n---t's steward, not conceiving of any value, took upon himself without consulting his absent master, to dispose of to the last mentioned Mr. N. who, in exchange, furnished the library with modern works, to the no small discomfiture of S---r J---hn, who found upon his return to England that all the Black Letter Lore was non est inventus.

This bookseller had the good fortune to purchase, by mere chance, a unique tract from the press of Caxton, not mentioned by Ames, or any other typographist. The subject of this curious specimen was a Latin oration of the Duke of Burgundy of that æra, upon his investiture with the Order of the Garter. Mr. Tr---ph---k caused fac-similes of the type to be cast, and then had a few copies struck off, which he sold at good prices, after realizing a round sum by the original specimen.

The above man, whose butcher-like person is the precise type of his mental endowments, which rank upon a par with those of the b---e creation, was for a series of years the companion of and caterer for the D---ke of N---rf---lk, nor did his grace scruple to visit this dealer, when immured within the walls of the Fleet prison; there is however nothing very astonishing in this predilection, as he no less made a crony of the late St---n---y B---w---s, of Str---thm---re renown, who paraded the rules of the Bench for a series of years. This B---t procured a large sum of money from St---w---rt the auctioneer, upon a collection of works, which when disposed of did not net the sum advanced by several hundreds, notwithstanding which the creditor has in vain sought to recover the amount, B---t putting off payment by the litigious expedient of removing the action from court to court, so that it is more than probable the Auctioneer at length harassed out, will relinquish his claim altogether. To this circumstance we may subjoin another illustrative of this man's character. He had bargained for a book with Fl---y---r of the Strand, who possessed two copies of the work in question, one being in much finer condition than the other. B---t however, not choosing to give the sum required for the best, paid for the inferior copy, but on conveying his purchases to the hackney-coach, took especial care to carry the highest prized volume in lieu of that which be had actually paid for; nor could the bookseller ever procure the smallest remuneration.

This Irish Catholic collector, whose relationship to a late M---rch---ness, procured him for a period the countenance of the M---rq---s of B---ck---ngh---m, after trafficking in pl---s, editing the Or---cle newspaper, in conjunction with P---t---r St---w---rt, buying and selling books and prints, and lastly, flying paper kites, that is to say, carrying on a promissory note traffic, was at length compelled to retire from the gay scenes of the metropolis, and assume a false appellation, leaving his name upon the ledgers of numerous dealers, who, to the present hour, have just cause to regret their connection with this universal empiric, who saved his Bacon by sojourning at Ham.

The shameful practice of mutilating old books, which continued unabated for a series of years, has at length subsided, the generality of collectors being now just as eager to restore the heads to their mutilated works, as they were formerly eager to tear them from the volumes in question.

I cannot better evince the comparative value of prints, according to the state of the impressions than by instancing a small portrait of the Marchioness of Buckingham, of the period of James the First, engraved by Magdalena Passe, a common specimen of which is not worth five shillings; whereas a fine head from the same plate will bring ten guineas, and if a proof could be produced it would in all probability realize-twenty.

I now deem it necessary to remark that my wonder has uniformly been excited upon inspecting illustrated Grangers, to observe heads inserted which in all probability did not bear a trace of the personages whom they are stated to represent; that a writer so competent should therefore have enrolled these abortions upon his biographic page is wonderful. In addition however to such pretended likenesses as Selman the pickpocket, Nell Rummin the ale-wife, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, Bull and Farnham the weavers, and countless others, I shall quote two cases where the portrait of one man is assigned as the resemblance of another; instance Caxton and Pinson, the printers, the former being the likeness of an Italian poet, and the latter a copy of a folio wood-cut, representing a foreign man of literature.

Si fovet in terris rideret Heraclitus.

This volume, although incomplete, is a proof of infinite perseverance and industry, and well deserves the commendation of every Chalcographimanian.

Strutt's Dictionary of Engravers, which now produces a very exorbitant price, is a specimen of infinite ingenuity; indeed, all the productions of this writer are of invaluable utility for the curious matter they contain, and are very justly appreciated by the antiquarian and every lover of Virtu.

The discovery of Chalcography, like many other useful arts, proved to be the mere result of chance. Thomas Finiguerra, a native of Florence, who was a goldsmith, and flourished in the fifteenth century, is the personage handed down to posterity, as the original discoverer of engraving, which is said to owe its origin to one of the following circumstances, though the latter appears to me as being by far the most natural, and consequently bears the greater resemblance to truth. Finiguerra it is stated, chanced to let a piece of copper fall into some melted sulphur, where the ink with which he had filled the incisions made upon the plate left the impression of his work upon the mineral in question. The other narrative states that a washerwoman happened to leave some damp linen upon a plate whereon the artist had been working, when a faint impression upon the cloth happening to meet Finiguerra's observation, he tried the experiment on moistened paper, the satisfactory result of which led him to prosecute the Chalcographian Art.

The W---db---rn family, consisting of four personages, which now blazes in every branch of the pictorial art, owes its origin to a sweeper of the streets, from which main stock has sprung this enlightened Quartetto, whose respective avocations are as follow: Printselling, Book-vending, Picture-dealing, and Frame-making. I have only to add that the Merchant of Old Canvas is much indebted for his rise to the patronage of the Duke of Hamilton and Earl Fitzwilliam.

N. B. The Chalcographian brother pretends that he can ascertain the precise age of paper by its taste.

In order to introduce the present note, I must acquaint my readers that Mr. D---bd---n, towards the termination of the first volume of Ames's Typography, at page 363, acquaints the public by way of supplementary note extraordinary, that he has made a most wonderful discovery in the Chalcographian art, which he introduces to notice in the following words:

“At page four it has been asserted, on the authority of Huber, that there is no engraving extant with the name of Finiguerra inscribed upon it. In a conversation with Mr. Woodburn, jun. of St. Martin's lane, (whose choice collection of early engravings and antiquarian knowledge of the art are equally conspicuous) and mentioning to him this dictum of Huber, I was not a little delighted, as well as surprised by his shewing me the original engraving, of which the opposite plate is a fac-simile, reduced to the exact proportion of one-half. Mr. Woodburn conjectures with good reason, that the reversed initials TFI were intended for Thomas Finiguerra Incidebat or Incisit. I need hardly inform the reader of the singular value of the original, which is in all probability unique, nor of the spirit and expression of the composition itself, considering the very early period of the art in which it was executed. Although such an ornament may be considered somewhat misplaced in a work which treats principally of Typography and Literature, I could not resist the temptation of gratifying the public with so important an acquisition to the History of Engraving.”

The subject represented in the engraving thus cited, is Hercules destroying the Hydra, which was purchased by W---db---n, of Thane the printseller. This most flourishing account was of course productive of vast effect upon the minds of green-horn collectors; but I must candidly avow, that from the very first moment I glanced upon the copy in question, I felt assured that its original was not produced from the burin of Finiguerra. Thus matters continued until the copy of an undoubted engraving by Finiguerra, preserved at Paris, made its appearance, thus setting the matter at rest; in addition to which I have since been favoured with the inspection of a still more beautiful specimen of this rare engraver's art in the possession of Mr. Ottley, a gentleman of refined taste, which affords the most incontestible proof that the boasted unique of D---bd---n is nothing more than mus in pice. During the progress of the B---bl---m---nia, this writer thought fit to level his shafts at Mr. G---rd---n---r, the bookseller, of Pall Mall, whose singularity of character is perfectly well known: that attack was manfully repelled to the discomfiture of the typographist, who, fired no doubt with this Finiguerra specimen of Chalcography, thought fit to issue into the printselling mart, which is already overstocked, a series of portraits, possessing but little, if any claim to the patronage of the Collector.

This work, which did not originally display any great degree of acumen, is even rendered less worthy of commendation, in consequence of the annotations of Mr. Fuseli, who edited the last edition. With respect to the disquisition on the arts written by Barry, and which contains much unjustifiable reprehension of his present Majesty's judgment, in countenancing Mr. West as an able painter; it is not universally known that this objectionable part, which proved highly detrimental to Barry, proceeded from the pen of Peter Pindar, otherwise Doctor W---lc---t, who never made known to Mr. Barry the substance of what he had inserted prior to the work being issued from the press. I should in this place deem myself extremely remiss, were I not to express in the warmest terms my respect for our Sovereign's taste, who, unlike his ancestor George the Second, when he thought fit to turn his back upon Hogarth, has never failed to evince the most pointed predilection for the arts, and has uniformly extended his patronage to every skilful practitioner of painting.

The above nobleman, who may be termed one of the first founders of the Chalcographian dynasty, was nevertheless no particular friend to genius, which his conduct to Chatterton sufficiently testifies; neither does he appear to have been more mindful of those persons who had every claim to his consideration, since Kirget, the printer of all his lucubrations, which issued from the private press at Strawberry Hill, after assiduously serving him for nearly thirty years, was at his lordship's death turned adrift, with a paltry legacy; whereas his French valet was rendered comfortable for life.

The individual here quoted, at the sale of S---r J---ms L---k---s prints, paid the above price for a portrait of Sir Henry Inglefield, engraved by Faithorne, which was not only a bad impression, but in very poor condition; and the same personage also paid nearly fifty pounds at Graves's sale for an equestrian print, representing the Earl of Oxford and Lord Southampton on horseback.

This specimen of typography, of which there are only two copies existing, was stolen from the Vatican at Rome during the Gallic depredations committed in that celebrated city. This extreme rarity is owing to the conduct of the then wearer of the tiara, who condemned the whole edition to be burnt, on account of the licentiousness which pervades the whole work. At this momentous epoch in the annals of auctioneering, the great competitorship was between the M---rq---s and E---l Sp---nc---r, who possesses one of the most classic libraries in the kingdom. The sum at which this copy of the Decameron was knocked down proved £.2266.

Our noble M---rq---s has also a most incurable itch for books of emblems, which he will purchase at any price, and in regard to himself, he certainly may rank as the Emblem of Death, with which stricture I will now wind up my comment.

As a collector for Granger, Mr. B---ll deceased was very conspicuous; but on the score of his liberality, more this deponent saith not.

The lady here adverted to, who is now chronicled with the dead, possessed during her terrestrial pilgrimage a most violent cacoëthes for scriptural illustrations, in which pursuit she is now imitated by L---rd M---rk K---rr, respecting whose judgment more will be stated in the progress of my annotating pages.

No individual is more fond of increasing his collection than the nobleman above cited, who would no doubt drink a bottle of geneva with any two-penny printseller in order to purchase cheap. Having in a preceding note given specimens of his Grace's friendly predilections, I shall here subjoin a further instance of Br---nt's upright mode of dealing, which was rendered pre-eminently conspicuous in a public court of justice. The proof here adverted to, occurred before Sir James Mansfield, when St---ce the printseller, being interrogated as a witness, deposed to the following effect, when speaking as to Br---nt's character: “I am well acquainted with Br---nt, who carries his books for sale in a green bag, in order that he may pass for a lawyer. He one day came to my house in this manner, with one volume of a work which he was desirous of selling, the book in question being in very good condition. Now it so happened, my Lord Judge, that I had been at Wilson's, the bookbinder's, that very morning, and had there seen the other volume of the work, which was worm-eaten, and in a very bad state: in consequence of this, it occurred to me, that the book at the binder's was Br---nt's, wherefore I demanded of him whether Mr. Wilson was not his binder; to which he replied in the affirmative, thus affording a convincing proof that this man was desirous of deceiving me by producing the volume in good condition as a specimen of the work, as, after payment, he could have referred me to Mr. Wilson for the remaining volume, when I should have been the complete dupe of his artifice. In consequence of this, I ordered my maid to deny me at all times to the green bag man and his son, whensoever they should intrude themselves at my door.”

These noble personages are not only famed for their love of the Chalcographian Art, but are characterized by a spirit of liberality in accumulating their pictorial stores, which is deserving of the most unqualified commendation.

The particular predilection of the Marquis of B---te, who was the purchaser of Mr. B---ll's Granger, is for the productions of our pictorial satirist Hogarth, concerning whose genius and talents so much has been said by Messrs. John and Samuel Ireland, not to omit their predecessor Trusler, whose work, descriptive of his plates, is now become very valuable. It would be highly indecorous in me, were I to pass over the mention of this nobleman's taste and judgment, which are rendered conspicuous in every branch of his Chalcographian research.

I have been given to understand that this cumbersome commentator was in possession of a very curious manuscript relating to the stage, and the performers of the period of James the First, which was left to the College by Allen its founder. This theatric treasure was deposited in the above gentleman's hands by way of a loan, but from appearance it was more than probable the library of Dulwich would long continue divested of its just right. This circumstance brings to recollection the conduct of David Garrick, who, taking advantage of the stupidity which characterized the then Head of the College, procured from him all the rare old Quarto Plays, for which invaluable store he decorated the Library with some modern gay bound works by way of an equitable exchange.

The commentaries of this theatrical madman most forcibly remind me of the statutes at large, which are most tremendous in bulk, without possessing much internal acumen to compensate for the burthensome expenditure to which the purchaser of his lucubrations is necessarily subjected.

Our Thespian hero, who may well march hand in hand with the last mentioned annotator, has for a long series of years collected theatrical rarities with the most indefatigable industry; nor can it be denied that he has generally displayed a liberality of sentiment in the prosecution of his mania, which redounds much to his credit. If we regard him in the light of a scholar, he most indubitably possesses classical acquirements; but like many other schoolmen, by endeavouring to prove himself superior to others, he has over-leaped the boundaries of decency; for

This little gentleman, of whom I shall again have cause to speak in the course of my poem, was one of the most determined auction-goers, and from his ceaseless comments in favour of lots, one would have imagined that he was pensioned by the Auctioneer; in short, it appeared as if nature had moulded his tongue into the shape of a pretty copy.

Maximus in minimis.