  IF Aldine collectors were at one time numerous and enthusiastic, amateurs who affected the Elzevir press, and were never tired of extolling the excellence of the little books which issued therefrom, were more so. Long before the death of the last member of the great printing family, a whole mass of rules, some of them arbitrary, others founded on subtle distinctions, were already regarded as binding on the community of bibliomaniacs which looked upon L'Aimable MÈre de JÉsus as their pole-star, and Le Pastissier FranÇois as something to be seen only on rare occasions, and to be touched, if touched at all, with bated breath. There is something harsh, comparatively speaking, about Aldus and his works. He was the taciturn, frugal-living man of letters, who for five years, as he himself confesses, never spent a single peaceful hour save when he was asleep. His very doors were barred with the inscription—
Compared with this grim old editor-printer of a bygone age, the Elzevirs one and all were literary children, playing with their master's text—children who never grew old, and whose many liberties were not only endured, but excused out of consideration for their engaging ways. They were pirates, too, without exception, but they turned you out well. If they mutilated your text, they at any rate supplied you with the best of paper, ornaments and type; from their hands you emerged a well-dressed gentleman, a little ignorant perhaps, but decidedly aristocratic. A short sketch of the history of the Elzevir family will be found useful for reference:— The founder of the family, Louis, was born at Louvain in 1540, and, curiously enough, as in the case of Aldus Manutius, did not establish himself at the scene of his future labours until he was forty years old. In 1580 he started as a bookbinder and bookseller at the University city of Leyden, and at first confined his attention entirely to retailing such works as fell into his hands. Three years later, however, he set up a press and printed his first book, the Drusii Ebraicarum quÆstionum ac responsionum, 8vo, 1583, which, though desirable, is not to be compared, either in intrinsic merit or in value, with some of the latter productions of the press; in fact, what are known as the "good dates" do not commence until the latter portion of the year 1625. Louis died in 1617, and is remarkable only as the founder of a famous family of printers; not one of his 123 different books can be considered important from a collector's point of view; and although a specialist would no doubt endeavour to make his collection as complete as possible, and with that object might be disposed to pay more for these early examples than anyone else might think it worth his while to pay, even he, if well advised, would draw the line at anything like lavish expenditure. Louis left five sons, whom, with a view to further development, it is necessary to bear in mind—Matthieu, Louis, Gilles (Giles), Joost (Justus), and Bonaventure. The last-named son—Bonaventure—commenced business on his own account as a printer in 1608, and on the death of his father in 1617 he took the management of the Elzevir press. In 1626 he took into partnership Abraham, a son of Matthieu, and the newly-constituted firm, which continued to exist until 1652, are entitled to most of the credit which attaches to the name of Elzevir. Though the Greek and Hebrew works issued by this firm are inferior to those of Aldus and the Estiennes, their small editions of the Latin and French Classics in 12mo, 16mo, and 24mo cannot be surpassed for elegance of design, neatness, clearness, and regularity of type, as well as for the beauty of the paper which they used. Mention may be made especially of the Novum Testamentum GrÆcum, 1624 and 1633; the Psalterium Davidis, 1635 and 1653; the Virgil of 1636; and the ComediÆ of Terence, 1635; though the works which gave the press its chief It seems to be an almost universal belief that all the works issued from the Elzevir press are small in bulk, and various terms, more or less foolish, have been invented by careless or incompetent persons to give expression to this idea. One of them, and perhaps the most hideous of them all, is "dumpy twelves". In the first place, works issued from the Elzevir press in 12mo are perfectly symmetrical in shape, and not at all dumpy; and, secondly, many books are in 4to, some even in folio, as, for example, the AcadÉmie de l'EspÉe, printed by Bonaventure and Abraham in 1628. The amateur must avoid being misled by the poetical effusions which from time to time make their appearance, and which for the most part are written by persons who know nothing whatever of the subject. To obtain a rhyme for "Elzevir" is difficult, but it has been done at much sacrifice of common-sense. Jean, the son of Abraham above mentioned, was introduced into the firm in 1647, five years before it came to an end through the death of the two partners in 1652. On this latter event taking place, he entered into partnership with Daniel, the son of Bonaventure, but the firm was not very successful, and was dissolved by mutual consent in 1655. Jean continued to trade on his own account until 1661, when he died, and Daniel joined Louis, the third of that name, and son of the second Louis, who had been printing at Amsterdam since 1638. From 1655 to 1666 Daniel and Louis printed a series of Latin Classics in various sizes. Louis died in 1670, and Daniel ten years later. We now come to the closing years of the press, though reference must be made en passant to Isaac, another son of Matthieu, who established a press at Leyden in 1616, and continued to print there until 1625. None of his editions, however, attained any fame. The last representatives of the Elzevir family were Peter, the grandson of Joost, who, during the years 1667-75, printed seven or eight volumes of little consequence, which were published at Utrecht, and Abraham, the grandson of the first Abraham, who, from 1681 to 1712, was University printer at Leyden. As the family pedigree is considerably involved, or, like most other pedigrees, appears to be so at first sight, I give
The number of works issued from the press of the Elzevirs, whether at Leyden, Amsterdam, or Utrecht, numbers, according to Willems, 1608 different publications, of which 1213 bear the name or mark of the firm which issued them. Of these latter, 968 are in Latin, 126 in French, and the remainder in Greek, Flemish, German, Italian, and Hebrew. There is also a single volume, printed in English, which seems to have escaped the notice of bibliographers. It is entitled "Confession As every amateur is aware, the Elzevirs frequently—but not always—marked their title-pages with devices, of which the most frequent were the Sphere, the Hermit, Minerva, and the Eagle on a cippus (low column) holding in its claws a sheaf of seven arrows. As each firm adopted or relinquished the family marks to suit its convenience at the time, it becomes necessary to tabulate them for the purpose of avoiding confusion. The number in brackets gives the total number of books, not including catalogues, produced by the firm to which it is annexed.
Louis Elzevir. 1583-1617 (102 books). Of the three marks mentioned above the first and last were more usually employed. Isaac Elzevir. 1617-1625.
Jean Elzevir. 1655-1661 (113 books). Of the books printed by this firm, some bear the imprint: "A Leide, chez Pierre Didier," and also "Ex Officina Danielis et Abrahami À Gaasbeeck". Abraham Elzevir. 1681-1712 (24 books). [The total number of books printed by the Leyden firm from 1583 to 1712 (129 years) is thus 938.]
Louis Elzevir II. 1590-1621 (9 books).
Louis Elzevir III. 1638-1655 (231 books). [A total of 658 books in 43 years.] After seven books had been published by the representative of Daniel Elzevir, the business was wound up. The ornamental punches, &c., by Christopher Van Dyck, were sold, and most probably melted down.
Peter Elzevir. 1667-1675 (10 books). [The total number of books produced by the whole family during 129 years amounts to 1618 works.] The above are the chief, but by no means the only, marks used by the various members of the family. The few which have not been noticed occur only at rare intervals, and are of but little importance. One device, representing a bees' nest, with a fox and the motto "Quaerendo," though frequently ascribed to the Elzevirs, is in reality none of theirs, being the mark of Abraham Wolfgang, a Dutch printer of considerable repute. The Elzevirs, as before stated, were pirates, who thought nothing of reproducing the full title-page, with the original publisher's name, and, when this is the case, it is often a matter of very great difficulty to distinguish between the original and the reprint. Again, when these printers did not wish to put their name to any particular work, for fear of embroiling themselves with the Government, they either marked it with the Sphere or else adopted a pseudonym. Thus Jean and Daniel frequently marked their title-pages "A Leyde, chez Jean Sambix," the Amsterdam printers occasionally adopted "Jacques le Jeune," while "Nic Schouter" was a favourite fictitious name. These pseudonyms are, however, much less numerous than was at one time supposed. The It will be readily seen that the knowledge requisite for a collector to possess, if indeed he wishes to become a master of his subject, is of no mean order, for not only must he have the family pedigree at his fingers' ends, and be capable of detecting a pseudonymous or pirated work, but he must also be in a position to appreciate the "right dates," and to detect an improper head or tail piece when he sees it. Some books which pass as Elzevirs are in reality spurious, even though marked with the "Sphere" or other device; others, though coming from the press, are inferior editions, "not of the right date," as the specialist puts it. One of the most beautiful little books ever issued from the Elzevir or any other press is the CÆsar of 1635, which, on referring to the table, we shall see must have been printed by Bonaventure and Abraham at Leyden. As previously stated, the "good dates" begin from 1625, the year when Bonaventure and Abraham went into partnership at Leyden, and any books dated from that year to 1655, when Jean and Daniel dissolved partnership, are most likely to be of value, provided only the right edition is forthcoming. Daniel was, however, by far the best printer in the family, though some make an exception in favour of Bonaventure and Abraham; and as he continued in business at Amsterdam, either by himself or in conjunction with Louis from 1655 to 1680, those dates must also be considered "good". From the Amsterdam press, in 1655, issued that prize of Elzevir collectors, the Pastissier FranÇois, and the splendid Virgil of 1676 in grand as well as petit format, or as we should say in English, on large and small paper. The halcyon days of the press at Leyden date from 1625 to 1655; those of the press at Amsterdam from 1655 to 1680. It is, of course, impossible for anyone, be he dealer or amateur, to carry in his head all these details and distinguishing marks, and reference in cases of doubt will have to be made to Willem's Les Elzevier, a work which has superseded all others on the subject. With this book at hand it is difficult to go wrong, as the minutest points of difference are chronicled with great fidelity. We will now take it for granted that the amateur is in full possession of, or can obtain, all the information necessary to enable him to distinguish between a right and a wrong date. He has still, however, to bear in mind that even a right-dated volume may be in such a wretched condition as to be hardly worth purchasing. If he will take a walk down Holywell Street he may frequently meet with genuine Elzevirs which the dealers will be only too glad to dispose of for a shilling or two each. The reason of this is that, not only are the works offered for sale not "of the good date" (i.e., inferior editions), As the measurement of these small books is always made in millimetres, 25·4 of which go to the inch, the enthusiastic collector carries with him an ivory rule on which the French measures are marked. The Ovid of 1629, 3 vols. 16mo, runs to 127 millimetres; the CÆsar of 1635 to 130 millimetres—anything below 125 millimetres is hardly worth looking at; the Virgil of 1676, if uncut, reaches as high as 148 millimetres, or, if in grand format, even to 184 millimetres. A book of high measurement, or entirely uncut, may be worth £100 or more, according to its quality; but if cropped below the fashionable height it would not bring as many shillings. A copy of Le Pastissier FranÇois, 128 millimetres high, was not long ago offered at 1500 francs, or £60; an entirely uncut copy brought 10,000 francs, or £400; and yet between the two there could not have been a greater difference in height than three, or at the most four, millimetres. The truth is that Elzevirs are measured with the same accuracy observable in the weighing of precious stones, and the 25th part of an inch makes a wonderful difference. That book collectors sometimes go to extreme lengths cannot be doubted by anyone who has spent much time in their company; but the English bibliophiles are not to be compared in this respect with their French brethren. The latter are the collectors of Elzevirs, and will frequently spend enormous sums on specimens which from their appearance and real practical utility are worth hardly anything at all. What can be more incorrect than the Leyden Virgil of 1636? It is literally crammed with the most shameful errors, so much so that Heyne says it is destitute of the slightest trace of any good quality. Yet the famous Charles Nodier spent nearly all his life searching for a genuine copy of the first edition, which, when obtained, filled a place purposely left vacant for it. Up to that time he had declined to "profane" his shelves with any Virgil at all. Thus much for the Elzevir press, which, like the Aldine, is not regarded with the same favour by collectors as it formerly was. Nevertheless there are many, particularly in France, who
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