It is worthy of note that Samuel Pepys was a subscriber to the lottery, and obtained the “Æsop” and the “Coronation,” which cost him £4 (Feb. 19, 1665-66).
Ogilby issued a Proposal for a second lottery, which was reprinted in the Gentleman’s Magazine (1814, part 1, pp. 646-48).31 This is valuable as containing the prices at which the books are valued, viz.—
| £ | |
|---|---|
| An imperial Bible, with chorographical and an hundred historical sculps | 25 |
| “Virgil,” translated, with sculps and annotations | 5 |
| Homer’s “Iliads,” adorned with sculps | 5 |
| Homer’s “Odysseys,” adorned with sculps | 4 |
| “Æsop’s Fables,” paraphrased and sculped | 3 |
| “His Majestie’s Entertainment” | 2 |
In 1689 St. John’s College, Cambridge, gave £10, 15s. for David Loggan’s Cantabrigia illustrata, 1688, but this probably included a present to the author; for in 1690 Eton College paid £4 for Cantabrigia illustrata and Oxonia illustrata, 1675, two volumes together, so that we may suppose the published price of each to be £2.
The Rev. John Flavel’s Works, in two volumes folio, was published in 1700 for forty shillings, which shows that the price of an illustrated volume in folio was still about £1.
Colin Campbell’s Vitruvius Britannicus, a handsome work containing a large number of fine architectural plates, was published at a very reasonable price. The first and second volumes, published in 1715 and 1717 respectively, were sold for four guineas on imperial paper, and three guineas on royal paper.