A copy bound with “Le Roy, De la Vicissitude des Choses,” 1577, in blue morocco, magnificently tooled by Nicolas Eve for Louise de Lorraine, realised £220 at the Beckford sale, 1897.
An English translation of the first book by R. D. was published in 1592, which is excessively scarce. Mr. Andrew Lang reprinted this in Mr. Nutt’s Tudor Library, 1890, from the copy in the Bodleian Library. There is no copy in the British Museum, and in the introduction to his reprint Lang tells a story against himself. He bought at Toovey’s a poor copy of this book for £1, but shortly afterwards he found that it wanted the last five pages, and exchanged it for “Les Mémoires de la Reine Marguerite,” Paris, 1661, in yellow morocco. He regretted his exchange when he discovered its great rarity. M. Claude Popelin, who had long been lying in wait for this book, bought this copy at a London sale-room “à un de ces prix qu’on n’avoue pas à sa ménagère.”
Vigilles des Mors. Paris, par A. Verard, printed on vellum, with thirty miniatures finely illuminated in gold and colours, blue morocco by De Rome. This copy sold for 150 francs in the La Vallière sale, for 220 francs in the MacCarthy, and for £20 in Hibbert’s. In the fourth portion of the Beckford library Mr. Quaritch bought it for £345.
Tristan. Chevalier de la Table Ronde. Two parts in one. Second edition, by Verard. Fine copy, with rough leaves, morocco super extra by Thouvenin. Duriez, 560 francs; same copy, Prince of Essling, 505 francs; same copy, Duke of Hamilton, 1884, £108.
Augustinus. De Civitate Dei. Venet. Nic. Jenson, on vellum, first page elaborately painted, and illuminated initials. Sunderland, 1881, £1000—bought by Mr. Quaritch amid shouts of applause.