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Henry B. Wheatley examines the historical fluctuations in the prices of books as an indicator of broader economic and intellectual development. The text analyzes how factors such as scarcity, mechanical innovation, and changing social values influence the market value of printed works over time.

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CHAPTER IX PRICES OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE

large paper in Beckford’s sale, part 4 (1883), olive morocco, index inlaid, £25; blue morocco, £38.

Wycliffe.

Mr. Addington bought at the Dix sale four unique tracts of Wycliffe for £400, and expressed his opinion that they would have been cheap at any price, but at his own sale (1886) they only realised £133—viz., Crede, &c., £37; Consolation, £27; Testament of Moyses, £36; Small Prayers to Common People, £33.

Americana is a class of book which has grown enormously in price. Anything published in America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries now fetches a price.

Smith’s Virginia, 1624.

Dr. F. Bernard (1698), 4s. 2d. Hunter (1813), £27, 6s.

A large paper copy sold at the Beckford sale (1883) for £605 (dedication copy to the Duchess of Richmond, in old brown morocco, covered

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