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Excerpt from The Book Fancier: Or, the Romance of Book Collecting
Within the last few years there has been a revival of the old and elegant taste of the book-fancier, as well as of that passion or faith which is described with such amiable enthusiasm in the little tract of the worthy Bishop Richard of Bury. The history and pedigree of books, of printers, &c., has always been a favourite study with the learned, attested by the profound and scholarly treatises of the Panzers, Hains, de Bures, Brunets, and our own Lowndes. But this subject has its popular graces also, and there is a sort of romantic interest attached to all that is associated with books - the rare old edition, the old printer, the blear-eyed collector, the binder, the sale, and the stray survivor of a whole edition, by some miracle preserved to our time. These topics seemed to kindle such writers as the late Dr. Hill Burton - perhaps the first in our time to deal popularly with such matters; Mr. Andrew Lang being the latest to illustrate this subject from his abundant stores of knowledge. Having from the earliest date had a taste for this fascinating pursuit - and when a boy I formed a very respectable collection of Elzevirs, and looked on auction days as festivals - I have ventured to add my contribution to the rest. This little volume will be found to contain many curious and interesting things not readily accessible, and deals in some fashion with.
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