for the quartos. At the Hon. Bryan Fairfax’s sale (1756) nine Caxtons sold for £33, 4s. At James West’s sale (1773) the price had considerably advanced, and thirty-four Caxtons realised £361, 4s. 6d. John Ratcliffe’s forty-eight Caxtons brought £236, 5s. 6d. At Dr. Richard Farmer’s sale (1798) five sold for £19, 11s. 6d. An astonishing advance in price is found at the Duke of Roxburghe’s sale (1812), where fourteen fine Caxtons brought £3002, 1s. At the sale of Stanesby Alchorne’s library in 1813 nine fetched £666, 15s. Ralph Willett’s seven brought in 1813 £1319, 16s. John Towneley’s nine sold in 1814 for £1127. The Marquis of Blandford’s (White Knights) eighteen Caxtons brought in 1819 £1316, 12s. 6d. At Watson Taylor’s sale in 1823 nine brought £319, 14s. 6d.; John Inglis (1826), thirteen for £431, 15s. 6d.; John Dent (1827), four for £162, 16s. 6d.; George Hibbert (1829), five for £339, 13s. 6d.; P. A. Hanrott (1833), six for £180, 16s.; R. Heber (1834), six for £219, 16s.; Thomas Jolley (1843-51), six for £325, 15s.; E. V. Utterson (1852), three for £116; J. D. Gardner (1854), seven for £739.
It will be seen from these totals that the present high prices did not rule at the sales in the middle of the present century.
In 1897 the total for the ten Caxtons in the first portion of the Ashburnham library reached £5622, and the six in the second portion fetched £4264.
The following list contains particulars of the sale prices of some of the chief issues of Caxton’s press:—
The Recuyell of the Histories of Troy (1).
Dr. Bernard (1698), 3s.; Bryan Fairfax (1756), £8, 8s. This perfect copy was bought by Francis Child, and at the sale of the Earl of Jersey’s library in 1885 it was sold to Mr. Quaritch for £1820.
J. West’s imperfect copy was sold in 1773 to George III. for £32, 11s., and it was perfected afterwards.