Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Bibliomania in the Present Day in France and England, or Some Account of Celebrated Recent Sales: Giving the Prices at Which the More Important Books Were Sold, Together With the Prices Brought by the Same Books in Previous Sales
The catalogue of an old sale is rarely preserved, unless it be by a few amateurs, who get it priced; we deem it opportune, therefore, to recapitulate the more important lots in the Turner and Didot sales - those fetching a thousand francs and over, and ranging up to twenty and even thirty thou sand francs at times. A few brief notes are added, and, in some instances, a list of prices, brought by the same books at preceding sales, is appended. Striking instances will be found here of the constant rise in value of rare books.
The enthusiasm of bibliomania, though at times exaggerated and perverted, we have no desire to condemn. We can comprehend the feverish rivalry of the auction-room, and share the transport of the amateur, who, placing on his shelves some long-coveted volume, exclaims: I have paid a little too dearly for it, perhaps, but, at all events, it is at length mine. Indeed, nowadays, it must be owned that, to possess a really precious book, in exceptional condition, you must be a man of fortune - in fact, a prince of finance.
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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
