this particularity; but depend upon it there are ruler-carrying collectors
who will thank me heartily for such a rigidly minute measurement.

STS. AUGUSTINUS DE CIVITATE DEI. _Printed in the Soubiaco Monastery_. 1467.
Folio. It always does the heart of a bibliographer good to gaze upon a fine
copy of this resplendent volume. It is truly among the master-pieces of
early printing: but what will be your notions of the copy NOW under
description, when I tell you, not only that it once belonged to our beloved
FRANCIS I., but that, for amplitude and condition, it rivals the copy in
the library at _St. James's Place_? In short, it was precisely between
_this very copy_, and that of my Lord Spencer, that M. Van Praet paused--
("J'ai balancé" were, I think, the words used to me by that knowing
bibliographer) and pondered and hesitated ... again and again ... ere he
could decide upon which of the two was to be parted with! But, supposing
the size and condition of each to be fairly "balanced" against the other,
M. Van Praet could not, in honour and conscience, surrender the copy which
had been formerly in the library of one of the greatest of the French
monarchs ... and so the spirit of Francis I. rests in peace ... as far as
the retention of this copy may contribute to its repose. It is doubtless
more brilliant and more attractive than Lord Spencer's--which, however, has
no equal on the _other_ side of the channel: but it is more beaten, and I
suspect, somewhat more cropt. I forgot to say, that there are several
capital initials in this copy tolerably well illuminated, apparently of the
time of Francis--who, I am persuaded, loved illuminators of books to his
heart.

I shall now continue literally as I began:--without any regard to dates, or
places where printed.

CATHOLICON. _Printed by Gutenburg_: 1460. Folio. 2 vols. This copy is UPON