BOOKS FATAL TO THEIR AUTHORS

BY
P. H. DITCHFIELD




TO THE MEMORY OF
JOHN WALTER, ESQ., M.A., J.P.,
OF BEARWOOD, BERKS,
THIS VOLUME
IS
RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.




PREFACE.

TO THE BOOK-LOVER.


_To record the woes of authors and to discourse_ de libris fatalibus
_seems deliberately to court the displeasure of that fickle mistress who
presides over the destinies of writers and their works. Fortune awaits the
aspiring scribe with many wiles, and oft treats him sorely. If she enrich
any, it is but to make them subject of her sport. If she raise others, it
is but to pleasure herself with their ruins. What she adorned but
yesterday is to-day her pastime, and if we now permit her to adorn and