manuscripts. Yet printed books must almost always make the greater
part of a collection, and it may be well to give some rules as to
the features that distinguish the productions of the early press.
But no amount of "rules" is worth six months' practical experience
in bibliography. That experience the amateur, if he is wise, will
obtain in a public library, like the British Museum or the Bodleian.
Nowhere else is he likely to see much of the earliest of printed
books, which very seldom come into the market.

Those of the first German press are so rare that practically they
never reach the hands of the ordinary collector. Among them are the
famous Psalters printed by Fust and Schoffer, the earliest of which
is dated 1457; and the bible known as the Mazarine Bible. Two
copies of this last were in the Perkins sale. I well remember the
excitement on that occasion. The first copy put up was the best,
being printed upon vellum. The bidding commenced at 1000 pounds,
and very speedily rose to 2200 pounds, at which point there was a
long pause; it then rose in hundreds with very little delay to 3400
pounds, at which it was knocked down to a bookseller. The second
copy was on paper, and there were those present who said it was
better than the other, which had a suspicion attaching to it of
having been "restored" with a facsimile leaf. The first bid was
again 1000 pounds, which the buyer of the previous copy made
guineas, and the bidding speedily went up to 2660 pounds, at which
price the first bidder paused. A third bidder had stepped in at
1960 pounds, and now, amid breathless excitement, bid 10 pounds
more. This he had to do twice before the book was knocked down to
him at 2690 pounds.

A scene like this has really very little to do with book-collecting.