Burton and Taylor in Doctor Faustus (1967)

Last night I watched the 1967 film adaptation of Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, featuring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. I wasn't very impressed. The lame special effects and studio sets are mostly dated without being cheesy-fun (as they are in some Hammer and low-budget films.)

Also, neither of the lead actors were really at their best. Burton was simply unconvincing at the start and by the time his performance improved, particularly in his depiction of Faust's growing world weariness and desperation, the constant presence of Elizabeth Taylor had become so distracting and aggravating that it was hard to enjoy the rest.

I must say I have never really understood the appeal of Elizabeth Taylor. She plays about a dozen different parts in the film, including Helen of Troy, constantly popping up like a jack in the box. In fact, just about every woman turn out to be Taylor. It would take someone of extraordinary beauty and charisma to carry this off, and Taylor doesn't.

Also, there was simply no chemistry between Burton and Taylor, who had been married for four years when the film was made and simply appear bored with each other.

I was surprised by how much of Marlowe's text was retained, and how little of the text was changed. Although, when changes were made they were rarely for the better. The scene depicting the Seven Deadly Sins was simply deadly boring (and it omitted one of the sins: lechery); the Pope scene came after the Emperor scene instead of before it, which is neither here nor there, but neither scene offered the light relief it ought to have had.

The highlights? Faust's study (above picture) and Mephistopheles as a black cat (but them I am fond of black cats).

* * * * *

BTW: While looking for the above photo I happened on this list of ten Demonic Pact films—of which, I have only watched five (marked *). I don't think I could watch another Nicholas Cage film (marked †) but I will hunt out the other four.

The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
Ghost Rider (2007)†
Shortcut To Happiness (2004)
Bedazzled (2000)*
Deal Of A Lifetime (1999)
The Devil's Advocate (1997)*
Angel Heart (1987)*
Spawn (1997)*
Doctor Faustus (1967)*
Damn Yankees (1958)

Macmillan's New Cranford Series and Illustrated Standard Novels

[Twelve Illustrated Standard Novels listed on a bookmark (dated 10 September 1895) found in my copy of Gryll Grange (1896)]

Below is a complete list of Macmillan’s "New Cranford Series" (1890–96) and "Illustrated Standard Novels" (1895–1901). I compiled a draft of this list at least three years ago (the oldest version of the file) or, more likely, nine years ago (when I bought my copy of no. 35: Thomas Love Peacock's Gryll Grange). I have since updated it by trawling the internet for any reference to the series: there are surprisingly few. In the end I compiled it from original advertisements in Macmillan publications (as here, here and here).

John Chidley, Discovering Book Collecting (1998), 95, describes the Cranford Series thus:

The Cranford series is the name given, in retrospect, to a number of distinctive reprints of classic tales by Macmillan, who commissioned some fine artists to illustrate them. They are recognisable by the dark green cloth bindings with gilt edges, which have full and rich gilt pictorial blocking on the covers and spine. The first in the series are two Washington Irving titles, Old Christmas (1875) and Bracebridge Hall (1876), both illustrated by Randolph Caldecott, although the volume which gave its name to the series, Cranford, illustrated by Hugh Thomson, was not published until 1891.

This appears mostly right. It appears that Macmillan, aware of the popularity of some of its illustrated classics, began advertising volumes as "uniform with" previous titles that had been successful. The name that stuck was Cranford (thus, "Cranford Series") but The Vicar of Wakefield appears to have been even more commonly mentioned in advertisements in the mid-1890s.

So, for example, in New Outlook: A Family Paper 48 (16 December 1893): 1151, Macmillan advertised under the heading "New Illustrated Books for the Holiday Season." the following:

"Our Village … illustrations by Hugh Thomson, Crown 8vo cloth gilt, or edges uncut … Also an Edition du Luxe, limited, super royal 8vo, hand-made paper, uniform with 'Cranford'"

"Coaching Days and Coaching Ways … illustrations by Herbert Railton and Hugh Thomson. Uniform with 'Cranford,' 'The Vicar of Wakefield,' 'Old Christmas,' and 'Bracebridge Hall.' Crown 8vo ornamental cloth gilt, gilt edges, or uncut, with paper label … Also an Edition du Luxe, limited, super royal 8vo, hand-made paper, uniform with 'Cranford'"

"The Humorous Poems of Thomas Hood" illustrations by Charles E. Brock. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt or edges uncut … Also an Edition du Luxe, limited, hand-made paper, Just Ready" etc.

As you can see, some are listed as uniform with Cranford and other publications, some are not, though they are clearly identical in binding options. Two years later, in The Publishers Weekly 48 (December 1895): 151, Macmillan advertised under the heading "Cranford Series.—New Volumes." as follows:

Marmontel's Moral Tales, Selected by George Saintsbury and illustrated by Chris Hammond, in 12mo "cloth extra, gilt edges … Uniform with 'The Vicar of Wakefield,' 'Cranford' etc"

Mary Russell Mitford's Country Stories, Illustrated by George Morrow in Crown 8vo "cloth, gilt edges … Uniform with 'Our Village' in the same Series"

The Spectator in London illustrated by Ralf Cleaver "Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt edges … Uniform with 'The Vicar of Wakefield,' 'Cranford' and other volumes in the same Series" etc.

Again, some are listed as "uniform with" Cranford and other publications, but now the other publications are called a "series." Compiling a complete list of these Cranford-like volumes (which might be called the original Cranford series) would be time consuming, requiring a trawl through all Macmillan advertisements that use the phrase "Uniform with" in connection with either Cranford or The Vicar of Wakefield, or a volume that was elsewhere advertised as "Uniform with …"

* * * * *

Rather than do that, what I have done is compile a list of all the titles that are advertised as belonging to the much-more-clearly-defined "New Cranford Series" (1890–96) and the "Illustrated Standard Novels" series (1895–1901).

There are sixteen titles in the "New Cranford Series"—mostly published between 1892–94 [1890(1); 1891(1); 1892(3); 1893(5); 1894(3); 1895(1); 1896(2)] and there are forty titles in the "Illustrated Standard Novels" series—mostly published between 1895–97 [1895(12); 1896(13); 1897(10); 1898(1); 1899(0); 1900(3); 1901(1)].

I am most familiar with the "Illustrated Standard Novels" series, particularly with the Thomas Love Peacock volumes. I was a serious collector of Thomas Love Peacock for a long time with the intention of compiling a complete bibliography of his works, including all reprints up to 2000. Since I could not afford the first (and some of the earliest) editions of his works, I sought copies of all of the nineteenth-century reprints in original bindings and all of the early twentieth-century reprints in dust wrappers. (I also bought later editions, but I did not have to try hard to do that!) My enthusiasm to do another bibliography waned in the end and I have not updated either my 125-item shelf list, or my draft SOHO-style Bibliography since 2007.

At some stage prior to buying my copy of Peacock's Gryll Grange and, in the midst of my enthusiasm for collecting bibliographical information concerning all of the Peacock reprints, I noted that, according to Eric Quayle, The Collector’s Book of Books (London: Studio Vista, 1971), 112, all of the volumes in "the Cranford Series" first appeared in dust wrappers. So, I went looking and, eventually, found one of the Macmillan Illustrated Standard Novels editions of Peacock: the copy of Gryll Grange that illustrates my previous post.

I also collected information, and examples of, all of the different bindings that appeared on the Macmillan set of Peacock's works: there are at least three, and possibly four, of these. (I will post photos of these—and other bindings I can find good images of—later.) These bindings are:

[A] UK edition: red cloth blind stamped with a floriated M pattern, untrimmed edges. All copies with surviving dustwrappers are bound thus. [See first image above; advertised in 1906 as "ornamental cloth binding, 2s 6d"]

[B] UK edition: blue cloth with a gilt peacock pattern, gilt edges. [Advertised in 1906 as "cloth elegant, gilt edges (Peacock edition), 3s 6d"]

[C] US edition: grey/blue cloth blind stamped with a floriated M pattern, trimmed edges. I have only one volume bound thus.

[D] large paper and limited editions: I have seen copies described by booksellers as "large-paper" in editions limited to 200 to 250 copies—the "Editions du Luxe" in the 1893 advertisement quoted above. But, not having seen one, I am not sure of the actual appearance and size of the binding.

Francis Edwin Murray, A Bibliography of Austin Dobson (1900), 26–27 (item XV) [= a volume in "The New Cranford Series"] records eight printings/binding combinations for Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield (1890), which appear to represent the three binding possibilities advertised (so closely do they match that I suspect the description is based on advertisements alone):

[A] no. 2. green cloth/untrimmed edges; ditto 5 (1891: 2nd ed.); ditto no. 7 (1892: reprint); ditto no. 8 (1892: reprint)

[B] no. 1. green cloth/gilt edges; ditto no. 4 (1891: 2nd ed.); ditto no. 6 (1892: reprint)

[D] no. 3. red cloth/untrimmed edges; Murray describes his no. 3 as "large paper. Imp. 8vo. Hand-made paper. Red buckram, paper label, edges untrimmed."

* * * * *

There is practically nothing in the way of scholarship on this series. But, it appears that the series is discussed in—though I have not seen—Michael Sadleir, XIX Century Fiction: A Bibliographical Record Based On His Own Collection, vol. 2 (1969), 140ff [no. 3750], who cites Thomas Balston, “Illustrated Series of the Nineties,” Book-Collector’s Quarterly 3 [Part IX] (January–March 1933) and 4 [Part XIV] (April–June 1934). References to the five known wrappers are from G. Thomas Tanselle, "A List of Examples, 1891–1900, of British and American Publishers' Printed Book- Jackets, Boxes, and other Detachable Coverings" in "Book-Jackets of the 1890s," Studies in Bibliography 58 (2007–8 [issued 2010]), pp. 224–304.

* * * * *

New Cranford Series (1892–96)
16 titles (listed alphabetically, by Author)
[NB: see update below]

1. Joseph Addison et al., Days with Sir Roger de Coverley (1892), illus. by Hugh Thomson.

2. Austin Dobson, Coridon’s Song and Other Verses from Various Sources (1894) Introduction by Austen Dobson, illus. By Hugh Thomson.

3. Elizabeth Gaskell, Cranford, With a Preface by Anne Thackeray Ritchie (1891), illus. Hugh Thomson.

4. Oliver Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield (1890), Preface by Austen Dobson, illus. Hugh Thompson.

5. Bothers Grimm, Household Stories, trs. Lucy Crane (1893), illus. Walter Crane.

6. Thomas Hood, Humerous Poems (1893), Preface by Alfred Ainger, illus. by C. E. Brock.

7. Washington Irving, Bracebridge Hall (1892), illus. by Randolph Caldecott.

8. Washington Irving, Old Christmas (1892), illus. by Randolph Caldecott.

9. Washington Irving, Rip Van Winkle and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1893), Introduction by George H. Boughton, illus. by George H. Boughton.

10. Washington Irving, The Alhambra (1896), Introduction by E. R. Pennell, illus. J. Pennell.

11. Joseph Jacobs, ed., The Fables of Æsop (1894), illus. R. Heighway.

12. Joseph Jacobs, ed., The Most Delectable History of Reynard the Fox (1895), illus. W. Frank Calderon.

13. Mary Russell Mitford, Our Village (1893), illus. by Hugh Thomson.

14. R. B. Sheridan, The School for Scandal and The Rivals (1896), Introduction by A. Birrell, illus. by Edmund J. Sullivan.

15. Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (1894), Introduction by Sir Henry Craik, illus. C. E. Brock.

16. W. Outram Tristram, Coaching Days and Coaching Ways (1893), illus. Herbert Railton and Hugh Thomson.

* * * * *

[Sixteen Illustrated Standard Novels—"issued monthly"—listed on Gryll Grange (1896)]

Macmillan’s Illustrated Standard Novels (1895–1901)
40 titles (in alphabetical order, by Author)

1. Jane Austen, Emma (1896), Introduction by Austin Dobson, illus. Hugh Thompson. [Tanselle 86.94 (UCLA)]

2. Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (1897), Introduction by Austin Dobson, illus. Hugh Thompson.

3. Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion (1897), Introduction by Austin Dobson, illus. Hugh Thompson.

4. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1895), Introduction by Austen Dobson, illus. Charles E. Brock.

5. Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (1896), Introduction by Austin Dobson, illus. Hugh Thompson.

6. George Borrow, Lavengro, The Scholar, The Gipsy, The Priest (1896), Introduction by Augustine Birrell, illus. J. Sullivan.

7. J. Fenimore Cooper, The Deerslayer (1900), illus. H. M. Brock.

8. J. Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans (1898), Introduction by Mowbray Morris, illus. H. M. Brock.

9. J. Fenimore Cooper, The Pathfinder; Or, The Inland Sea (1900), illus. C. E. Brock.

10. J. Fenimore Cooper, The Pioneers (1901), illus. H. M. Brock.

11. J. Fenimore Cooper, The Prairie (1900), illus. C. E. Brock.

12. Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil, Or, The Two Nations (1895), Introduction by H. D. Trail, illus. E. Pegram.

13. Maria Edgeworth, Belinda (1896), Introduction by Anne Thackeray Ritchie, illus. Chris Hammond

14. Maria Edgeworth, Castle Rackrent and The Absentee (1895), Introduction by Anne Thackeray Ritchie, illus. Chris Hammond.

15. Maria Edgeworth, Helen (1896), Introduction by Anne Thackeray Ritchie, illus. Chris Hammond

16. Maria Edgeworth, Ormond (1895), Introduction by Anne Thackeray Ritchie, illus. Carl Schloesser.

17. Maria Edgeworth, Parent’s Assistant; Or, Stories for Children (1897), Introduction by Anne Thackeray Ritchie, illus. Chris Hammond.

18. Maria Edgeworth, Popular Tales (1895), Introduction by Anne Thackeray Ritchie, illus. Chris Hammond.

19. John Galt, The Annals of the Parish and The Ayrshire Legatees (1895), Introduction by Alfred Ainger, illus. Charles E. Brock.

20. Charles Kingsley, Westward Ho! (1896), 2 vols., illus. C. E. Brock. [Tanselle 86.95 (Godburn)]

21. Samuel Lover, Handy Andy (1896), Introduction by Charles Whibley, ills. H. M. Brock.

22. Captain Marryat, Frank Mildmay; Or, The Naval Officer (1897), Introduction by David Hannay, illus. by H. R. Millar.

23. Captain Marryat, Jacob Faithful (1895), Introduction by David Hannay, illus. by Henry M. Brock.

24. Captain Marryat, Japhet in Search of Father (1895), Introduction by David Hannay, Illusrated by H. M. Brock.

25. Captain Marryat, The King’s Own (1896), Introduction by David Hannay, illus. by F. H. Townsend.

26. Captain Marryat, Masterman Ready; Or, The Wreck of the Pacific. Written for Young People (1897), Introduction by David Hannay, illus. by Fred Pegram.

27. Captain Marryat, Midshipman Easy (1896), Introduction by David Hannay, illus. by Fred Pegram.

28. Captain Marryat, Newton Forster, Or, The Merchant Service (1897), Introduction by David Hannay, illus. by E. Sullivan.

29. Captain Marryat, Peter Simple (1895), Introduction by David Hannay, illus. By J. Ayton Symington.

30. Captain Marryat, The Phantom Ship (1896), Introduction by David Hannay, illus. by H. R. Millar.

31. Captain Marryat, The Pirate and the Three Cutters (1897), Introduction by David Hannay, illus. by Edmund J. Sullivan.

32. Captain Marryat, Poor Jack (1897), Introduction by David Hannay, illus. by Fred Pegram.

33. Captain Marryat, The Snarleyyow (1897), Introduction by David Hannay, illus. by H. R. Millar.

34. James Morier, The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan (1895), Introduction by the Hon. George Curzon, illus. H. R. Millar.

35. Thomas Love Peacock, Gryll Grange (1896), Introduction by George Sainsbury, illus. F. H. Townsend. [Tanselle 96.88 (Spedding)]

36. Thomas Love Peacock, Headlong Hall and Nightmare Abbey (1896), Introduction by George Sainsbury, illus. F. H. Townsend. [Tanselle 96.89 (UCLA)]

37. Thomas Love Peacock, Maid Marian and Crotchet Castle (1895), Introduction by George Sainsbury, illus. F. H. Townsend.

38. Thomas Love Peacock, Melincourt (1896), Introduction by George Sainsbury, illus. F. H. Townsend. [Tanselle 96.90 (UCLA)]

39. Thomas Love Peacock, The Misfortunes of Elphin and Rhododaphne (1897), Introduction by George Sainsbury, illus. F. H. Townsend.

40. Michael Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log (1895), Introduction by Mowbrey Morris, illus. J. Ayton Symington.

[UPDATE 9 February 2015: a collector of the New Cranford Series has been in contact with me (thanks Rebecca!) to inform me that there are three more titles in this series, which are not in my list (Tom Brown’s School Days, Tales of the Punjab and Shakespeare’s England). As I stated above, there were numerous titles which were advertised as "uniform" with the New Cranford Series, and it could be an endless task identifying them all. This is what makes collecting so much fun! But as a guide to those looking for a longer list of titles to collect, further digging produced a December 1898 list of 25 Cranford Novels:

The list appears in Book Reviews, 6, no. 6 (December 1898): 25 [Macmillan advertising supplement, "Christmas, 1898. A Select List of Books, Especially Suitable for Holiday Presents"]). It omits some of those that I listed above but adds eight more titles. Combining Rebecca's three with these eight adds the following eleven titles for the collector:

17. Joseph Addison et al., The Spectator in London (1896), illus. by Ralph Cleaver.

18. Austin Dobson, Old English Songs (1894), Introduction by Austen Dobson, illus. By Hugh Thomson.

19. Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days (1896), illus. By Edmund J. Sullivan.

20. Mary Russell Mitford, Country Stories (1893), illus. by George Morrow.

21. Baron de la Motte-Fouqué, Undine (1897), illus. by Rosie M. M. Pitman.

22. George Sainstbury, ed., Country Stories (1895), illus. by Chris Hammond.

23. Flora Annie Steel, Tales of the Punjab (1894), illus. By Lockwood Kipling.

24. W. M. Thankeray, ed., Henry Esmond (1896), illus. by T. H. Robinson.

25. Isaac Walton, ed., The Complete Angler (1896), Introduction by Andrew Lang, illus. by E. J. Sullivan.

26. William Winter, Grey Days and Gold: In England and Scotland (1896), "with numerous illustrations".

27. William Winter, Shakespeare's England (1893), "with 80 illustrations".

[UPDATE: 2 July 2016: After all my pictures disappeared again I decided to give up on external hosts for large versions (1000px) of my image files and, for now on, will stick with the smaller images (500px), which Blogger is prepared to host.

UPDATE: 11 July 2017. For more images of dust jackets for the Macmillan's New Cranford Series and Illustrated Standard Novels, see here]

Nineteenth-Century Dust Jackets

My copy of Script & Print arrived while I was neck-deep in marking last week, so I have only just started to read it. The first piece I looked at was Keith Maslen's review of volume 58 of Studies in Bibliography, which sent me off in search of the second part of G. Thomas Tanselle's study of "Book-Jackets of the 1890s."

Now that I am no longer editor of Script & Print I miss out on receiving, gratis, the latest issue of Studies in Bibliography, The Library, PBSA and Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada, and I haven't either got around to joining all these societies so that I can receive their journals, or got into the habit of browsing the latest issues as they arrive at Monash. (Something I will now no longer be able to do since the library has decided to discontinue print subscriptions of journals we have electronic access too. Grrr.) Anyway, since I wasn't sent Studies in Bibliography 58, I hadn't realised what I had missed out on in this issue (or "volume" I guess).

"Book-Jackets of the 1890s" is, like everything else by Tanselle, thorough and, although his list is likely to be quickly superseded, it is as complete a list as scholars and collectors can hope for now. I was prompted by Tanselle's first article—and the plans he announced in it to publish a list of dust jackets from the 1890s (the present article)—to contact him about the one nineteenth-century wrapper I have (more of which anon).

Not long afterward I heard from Mark R. Godburn concerning his plans to write a book under the title Nineteenth Century Dust Jackets: An Illustrated History—which prompted me to commission from him an article on the subject for Script & Print. In due course, Godburn's article appeared in Script & Print and this article and my nineteenth-century wrapper are both referenced in Tanselle's latest article. In the course of discussions concerning his proposed article Godburn requested some photos of my nineteenth-century wrapper, a few of which he published on his site. When he moved sites to his present blog these images were lost so I thought I'd repost them here with updated information from Tanselle's article.

* * * * *

(G. Thomas Tanselle, "A List of Examples, 1891–1900, of British and American Publishers' Printed Book- Jackets, Boxes, and other Detachable Coverings" in "Book-Jackets of the 1890s," Studies in Bibliography 58 (2007–8 [issued 2010]), pp. 224–304, item 96.88:

Macmillan (London). Thomas Love Peacock, Gryll Grange, ill. F. H. Townsend and introduction by George Saintsbury. Jacket reproduces illustration on p. 173. [Collection of Patrick Spedding, 2007.]

What is not mentioned here is that this is a volume from Macmillan's "Illustrated Standard Novels" series, which is known in the trade as the "Cranford Series." [For a list of titles in this series, see my next post.]

I included the bookmark that was in the book when I purchased it. The list of titles on the bookmark matches that on the wrapper: suggesting the bookmark was picked up at the time of purchase, placed in the volume, and never moved.

[front cover and front of book mark]

[front cover of book and wrapper side-by-side]

[front cover of wrapper and illustration it duplicates side-by-side (the volume in the fore-ground is another from the same series)]

[rear cover and verso of book mark]

[UPDATE: 11 July 2017. For my posts on the Macmillan's New Cranford Series and Illustrated Standard Novels, see here and here]

Mis Betsy Tatless: Paris or Munich?

It is possible that the entries in my Bibliography of Eliza Haywood for the French translation of Ab.67 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless are going to have to be as extensively revised as those for the French translation(s) of Ab.60 The Female Spectator. (Regarding which, Ab.60.11 and Ab.60.13 have been corrected and Ab.60.11A and Ab.60.11B have been added.)

As you can see, thanks to the Internet Archive, the following entry in Book-Prices Current 28 (1914), 240, lists a copy of L’Etourdie, ou Histoire de Mis Betsy Tatless with a Munich imprint, dated 1754. According to BPC, this copy sold at Sotheby on 11 December 1913 to Carrington for £3.00.

However, a bit more digging reveals that, what appears to be the same set, sold a year earlier (on 28 April 1912) to Harrison for £12.00—four times the price! According to the record in Book Auction Records 10 (1913), 334, the imprint was Paris not Munich, though BPC and BAR agree on the date. Unfortunately, the set has since disappeared so it is not clear which auction record is correct.

The only other authority is George Frisbie Whicher who records this set in an addendum to his bibliography of Haywood as a Paris printing, but Whicher was an American scholar, who wasn't much interested in translations, so it is unlikely that he either examined the set (which was in London) or sought extra information about it. That is, Whicher's evidence appears to be of no value. (See Whicher, The Life and Romances of Mrs. Eliza Haywood (1915), 185, No.21[ix].)

In my Bibliography I list this lost Barry set under Ab.67.11, the Paris edition of 1754 (on Whicher's authority, not having seen either auction record). I also record a "La Haye" edition of 1754 and Berlin editions of 1755 and 1756, among others. The Paris edition is quite common, but the other three are genuinely rare (there being only two, four and five copies known). So it is certainly possible that the lost Barry set had a Munich imprint (as Ab.67.13 and Ab.67.14 had a Berlin imprint) but—on the basis of surviving copies—it seems more likely that it was a Paris edition.

Some weight is given to this presumption from what we know of the du Barry collection. This particular copy was bound in red morocco for Madame du Barry (1743–93), mistress of Louis XV, with her arms stamped in gold on the covers. We are particularly well-informed concerning Madame du Barry's book collecting. Andrew Lang writes [Andrew Lang, The Library (London: Macmillan and Co., 1881), 116–18]:

Among the most interesting bibliophiles of the eighteenth century is Madame Du Barry. In 1771, this notorious beauty could scarcely read or write. She had rooms, however, in the Chateau de Versailles, thanks to the kindness of a monarch who admired those native qualities which education may polish, but which it can never confer.

At Versailles, Madame Du Barry heard of the literary genius of Madame de Pompadour. The Pompadour was a person of taste. Her large library of some four thousand works of the lightest sort of light literature was bound by Biziaux. Mr. Toovey possesses the Brantome of this dame galante. Madame herself had published etchings by her own fair hands; and to hear of these things excited the emulation of Madame Du Barry. She might not be clever, but she could have a library like another, if libraries were in fashion.

One day Madame Du Barry astonished the Court by announcing that her collection of books would presently arrive at Versailles. Meantime she took counsel with a bookseller, who bought up examples of all the cheap 'remainders,' as they are called in the trade, that he could lay his hands upon. The whole assortment, about one thousand volumes in all, was hastily bound in rose morocco, elegantly gilt, and stamped with the arms of the noble house of Du Barry.

The bill which Madame Du Barry owed her enterprising agent is still in existence. The thousand volumes cost about three francs each; the binding (extremely cheap) came to nearly as much. The amusing thing is that the bookseller, in the catalogue which he sent with the improvised library, marked the books which Madame Du Barry possessed before her large order was so punctually executed. There were two Memoires de Du Barry, an old newspaper, two or three plays, and L'Historie Amoureuse de Pierre le Long.

Louis XV. observed with pride that, though Madame Pompadour had possessed a larger library, that of Madame Du Barry was the better selected. Thanks to her new collection, the lady learned to read with fluency, but she never overcame the difficulties of spelling.

If the du Barry collection was put together in a hurry, in Paris, it seems more likely that the bookseller concerned would have obtained a Parisian edition than one from Munich.

As for "The bill which Madame Du Barry owed her enterprising agent" being "still in existence"—I can only hope that this is still the case one hundred and thirty years later. If it is, it may be possible to resolve the question: (known) Paris edition or (otherwise unknown) Munich edition?