Books And Books.

BOOKS AND BOOKS .

'jiHOSE of us who collect books are well aware how the value of certain -- * works is increased by the often life-labour of those who seek to g ive a special value to favourite books by illustrating them . Many , for instance , will devote time and money and labour without hesitation to obtaining portraits , views , drawings , engravings , to illustrate a given book which , of much or little value in itself , as the case may be , is increased tenfold , nay a hundredfold , in value b y this process , which has , no doubt , much interest for

the loving book possessor , and is of greater still to the eager book collector . In All the Year Bound for June appears an article on this subject , entitled "A Revived Hobby , " which deserves reading "in extenso , " ancl as we agree with it entirel y from personal interest in the subject , we cull a few passages from it to g ive point to our ow n remarks on a subject which is full of interest to many , well , if yon like , " bibliomaniacs " ( a hardish word , my masters )

amongst us . The writer of that article describes so well this process of book addition , development , ancl illustration , that we prefer to take his lucid words to using our own duller descri ption . Before we close , one word as to the " revived hobby . " The present form of it is , however , very much in advance of any previous fancy or "labour of love , " as the older system of book illustration onl y took the operation , to a great extent at any rate , of inserting plates . Now anything that illustrates the work is made use of . Let us listen then to the vivid descri p tion of this peculiar process : —

Ihe first step will bo to secure , say the large quarto edition in two volumes , which will be put into the hands of a professional person to inlay—that is , to insert each leaf in a large margin ; a very nice and delicate process , done in a hot press ; the edges being first given " a feather edge " —that is , fined down to about half their thickness , so that the joinings shall offer no " ridge . " This converts the book into large handsome volumes , so that prints of large size can be used . When all is tolerably complete , the book , now swollen to five or six times its original bulkmust be divided into portionseach portion becoming a volume . Nexttitle- are

, , , pages specially printed , with Vol I ., Vol . II ., etc ., and the whole maybe bound temporarily in boards , which will admit of further additions ; but it is generally nanded over to Riviere , or some master , and sumptuously and stoutly bound . The effect of turning-over the pages is sometimes dazzling , and no modern illustrated book can compete with it . All these little loose prints and scraps that have floated down to us on the surface of the waters , escaping destruction so wonderfully , belong to their age , and are insignificant , but fixed in their place , and part of a collection , they became full of meaning .

In the market such works , when directed by taste and labour , are worth great prices ; and , indeed , there is a great aud special value in them . There are legends in the business of some prodigious efforts in this direction . The most remarkable and gigantic was the copy of Pennant's History of London , which was bequeathed to the British Museum by Mr . Crowle , and cost that gentleman seven thousand pounds ; and the Illustrated Clarendon and Burnet , formed by the late Mr . Sutherland , of Gower Street , and continued by Ms widow , who has munificently pi-esented it to the Bodleian Library , cost

upwards of twelve thousand pounds . This , perhaps the richest pictorial history which exists , or is likely to exist , deserves more than a passing notice . It contains nearly nineteen thousand prints and drawings . There are seven hundred and thirty-one portraits of Charles the First , five hundred and eighteen of Charles the Second , three hundred and fifty-two of Cromwell , two hundred and seventy-three of James the Second , and four hundred and twenty of William the Third . The collection fills sixty-seven largo volumes . Forty years were spent in this pursuit . The catalogue of the illustrations , of which a few copies only were printed for distribution as presents by Mrs . Sutherland , fills two large quarto volumes .

We take a descri ption of a similar work in a book catalogue of 1810 , at the sale of Emperor Woodford ' s library b y Leigh and Southeb y : — ORNITHOIOGY : A magnificent and unique collection of ornithology , consisting of 1800 drawing's and prints of birds , by Lewin , Sydney Edwards , and Keinagle ; twelve large volumes , folio , with Button ' s " Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux . " Grand papier . 12 torn . Paris , 1770 . These volumes fetched the large price of £ 678 .