CHAPTER XXII.

LIBRARY OF THOMAS RUSSELL, ESQ., CLEVEDEN, KELVINSIDE, AND ASCOG, BUTE; ONE OF THE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT FOR THE CITY OF GLASGOW.

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General Remarks--Printed Catalogue of the Collection'Ship of Fools"-Chaucer's Works-" Rede me," etc., no other copy-Spenser's "Fairy Queen"-Douglas's Translation of Virgil-Chapman's Translation of the Iliad and Odyssey-Shakespeare's Poems, first edition, 1640—First Edition of "Paradise Lost Autograph of Milton-Hannay's "Nightingale". "Vision of Piers Plowman"-First Edition of Lithgow's Travels-Southwell's "St. Peter's Complaint"-Gascoigne, Churchyard, and other early writers-Coleridge-Life and Acts of Bruce-Burns

Wallace Songs-Collier's Reprints - Nugae Derelictae-First Edition of Hollinshed's Chronicle -Boyd's "Last Battell of the Soule in Death,' with rare 1628 title-page-Boyd's "Four Letters of Comfort"-Glasgow Books-Ruskin-Conclusion.

THIS is a library having much in common with that of Mr. Alexander Young, described further on. The two collections, while differing in many respects as to individual books, are alike in subject and about co-equal in extent. First and early editions of the popular literature of England and Scotland have been the principal quest of Mr. Russell, and he has been rewarded with a very considerable measure of success.

His collection contains some very rare volumes and some very fine ones. The greater number are handsomely bound, some are printed on vellum, and some on

satin. Nearly the whole library is at Cleveden, only a few general books remaining at Ascog. The most valuable works and a selection of those most handsome in appearance are located in an elegant room on the ground floor, in closed bookcases of fine workmanship.

In 1870 Mr. Russell printed a catalogue of his books, and subsequent additions becoming numerous, he had a new catalogue prepared in 1883. This latter lies before us. It is a small quarto of 129 pages, printed in the "Buteman" office, Rothesay.

Some manuscripts are in the library. They are chiefly Books of Hours done about the beginning of the sixteenth century, and are all very beautifully executed and bound.

So large is the collection of sixteenth and seventeenth century works that we have been obliged to single out for mention only those books which are of more than common interest; and of so little moment is it to divide the early popular literature into classes, while the advantage of keeping it together is clear, that we have also chosen to deal with early editions, irrespective of subject or manner of treatment.

The earliest printed volume in the library is the first Latin edition of Sebastian Brandt's "Ship of Fools," called in Latin, "Stultifera Navis," and printed by De Olpe at Basle in 1497. It is a small quarto, in black letter, and is rare. The first English edition is also here. It came from the press of the famous London printer, Richard Pynson, in 1509, and is a most notable and rare black-letter folio. Mr. Russell has also Cawood's edition, London, 1570, which is also in black letter. Chaucer is here in four fine old folios, all in black letter. The first was printed in 1542 by John Reynes, "dwellynge at the synge of saynte George in Pauls church-yarde"; the second in 1561, by Iohn Kyngston; the third in 1598, by George Bishop; and the fourth in 1602, by Adam Islip.

A work of which we have not been able to trace

another

copy has found a place in Mr. Russell's collection. The title is in verse, and reads—

"Rede me, and be not wrothe,

For I speke no thynge but trothe."

The book bears no name or date, but the author was one William Roy, and the edition is supposed to be that printed at Worms in 1526. It consists of 72 leaves, and has a satirical woodcut on the title, displaying the arms of Cardinal Wolsey. On the last page are the arms of the Pope. Mr. Hazlitt ("Handbook to Pop. Lit."), who does not mention having seen a copy, quotes the title, and says that the work appears in a list of books (preserved among the manuscripts at Lambeth) proscribed in 1531. This сору, if it be that printed at Worms, and there is reason to think so, may therefore be unique. Another edition of what is evidently the same book appeared at Wesel in 1546. A copy of it sold in 1845 at £25.

Of very high value and interest is the first edition of Spenser's great poem, the Fairy Queen. It was issued in two parts, the first in 1590, and the second six years afterwards. A copy of it was among the books of Ireland, the Shakespeare forger, and was the subject of much interest when exposed for sale. Spenser annotated by Shakespeare would have been indeed a treasure. A few great books stand out from the crowd of minor ones, and temptingly allure the collector. Such are the first folio Shakespeare, the first edition of Burns, and the first edition of Spenser's Fairy Queen. The present is in every respect a complete and fine copy. Some others of Spenser's works are also in the library, including the first and only separate editions of "Colin Clout's come Home again," London, 1595, and "The Fowre Hymmes," London, 1596.

Another great book, hardly inferior in importance to any of the above three, save the Shakespeare folio, is the first edition of Virgil's " Æneid," 1553, translated out of

Latin into Scottish metre, by Gawain Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld, and as the title quaintly puts it, "vnkil to the erle of Angus." It was the first translation of a classic into a British tongue, preceding any translation into English, and was the work of a scholar in a turbulent time and an ignorant age. It is a rare book, and a precious one. The fine edition brought out by the celebrated Scottish scholar, Thomas Ruddiman, in 1710, is also here. Another important translation was George Chapman's version of the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer. Fine copies of both are in the library. They are undated, but are supposed to have been published about 1610. The former was printed for Nathaniel Butter and the latter by Richard Field for the same. Mr. Hazlitt relates ("Handbook to Pop. Lit.") that Steevens bought of a bookseller, for five shillings, Chapman's own copy, with his corrections, and also that Pope's copy, which cost him three shillings, and afterwards belonged to Warton, was sold in 1869 at £12 5s. Mr. Russell has also the "Whole Works" of Homer issued about 1616, and containing the Iliad and the Odyssey in one. Of Chapman's own works several are in the library. Amongst them the "Funeral Song on the Death of the Prince of Wales," 1612; the first and only edition of the "Widowe's Teares," 1612; and Ovid's "Banquet of Sense," a coronet for his "Mistress Philosophy" and his "Amorous Zodiake," 1595.

The rare first edition of Shakespeare's Poems, 1640, is in this collection. It has besides the usual title the undated one, and also the eleven leaves after the word Finis, containing some poems by others. The present is a fine large copy. The "Rape of Lucrece," London, 1665, is also here, with the rare frontispiece. A copy was sold in 1856 at £25 10s.

Quite a number of valuable editions of Milton's works are in the library. The first edition of Milton's "Paradise Lost," London, 1667, is present, with the

first title-page. There were several title-pages printed, all bearing the same year. Editions of 1668 and 1669, and the beautiful folio produced by the Foulises, are also here. The first and second editions of Milton's Poems, London, 1645 and 1671; the first edition of "Paradise Regained," London, 1671; the first edition. of "Comus," London, 1637; and the first edition of the "Lycidas," which is at the end of a collection of poetical tributes to the memory of Mr. Edward King, who was drowned, published at Cambridge, 1638, are also in the library. This latter volume bears Milton's autograph-one of rare occurrence.

A volume of extraordinary rarity is Patrick Hannay's "The Nightingale Sheretine and Mariana,' London, 1622. Of this there are only about six perfect copies, and several of them are in public libraries. This copy has the engraved title which is wanting in some of the copies. The title is divided into compartments. In the upper is a portrait of Queen Anne of Denmark, and in the lower a portrait of the author. Mr. Hazlitt says ("Pop. Lit."), 1867, " Bindley's copy, which sold at his sale for £35 14s., cost him 6s.; Archdeacon Wrangham's fetched £40, and he gave 12s. for it.... Altogether, perhaps, six perfect copies may be in existence." A reprint of this volume, edited by Dr. David Laing, was presented to the Hunterian Club by Mr. Russell. Two copies were printed on vellum, one of which is here. Another interesting book, or rather morsel of a book, for it is but a fragment of four leaves, is "Adam Bel, Clym of the Cloughe and Wyllyam of Cloudesle." It has no date or imprint, but is supposed to be about 1557. "The voyce of the laste trumpet, blowen by the seventh Angel (as is mentioned in the eleventh of the Apocalips) callyng at estate of men to the to the ryght path of theyr vocation; wherein are conteyned xii. lessons to twelve severall estats of men; which if they learne and folowe, al shall be wel, and nothing amis." This work