of John Nichols, John Ames, Sir Peter Thompson, and M. C. Tutet. At the sale of the latter’s library in 1786 it was bought by Samuel Tyssen for seven guineas. Another copy, which had formed part of the library of Mr. P. Le Neve, was sold at Dr. Mead’s sale (1754) for four or five guineas.56 The price has not gone down, as Oldys supposed it would, for at the Dunn Gardner sale (1880) a copy brought £20, 15s., and another, at the Duke of Hamilton’s sale (1884), sold for £18, 10s.
There is a larger circle of bibliophiles in France than in England, and they are more willing to pay high prices for out-of-the-way books. The early editions of Molière and Rabelais, like those of Shakespeare, are sold for large sums, and early French literature generally, like our own, has greatly advanced in price of late years.
Two instances of the great advance that has