. Books and bookmen ... those useful ivory-handled kniveson which the French measures are marked, andthus he will at once be able to satisfy himself asto the exact height of any example which heencounters. Let us now assume that the amateur quiteunderstands what a proper Elzevir should be:tall, clean, well bound if possible, and of thegood date. But we have still to learn what thegood dates are, and this is matter for the studyand practice of a well-spent life. We maygossip about a few of the more famous Elzevirs,those without which no collection is all Elzevirs the most famous and
. Books and bookmen ... those useful ivory-handled kniveson which the French measures are marked, andthus he will at once be able to satisfy himself asto the exact height of any example which heencounters. Let us now assume that the amateur quiteunderstands what a proper Elzevir should be:tall, clean, well bound if possible, and of thegood date. But we have still to learn what thegood dates are, and this is matter for the studyand practice of a well-spent life. We maygossip about a few of the more famous Elzevirs,those without which no collection is all Elzevirs the most famous and the most ELZEVIRS. expensive is an old cookery book, Le PastissierFrancois. Wherein is taught the way to makeall sorts of pastry, useful to all sorts of the manner of preparing all manner ofeggs, for fast-days, and other days, in more thansixty fashions. Amsterdam, Louys, and DanielElsevier. 1665. The mark is not the old Sage, but the Minerva with her owl. Nowthis book has no intrinsic value any more than. a Tauchnitz reprint of any modern volume oncooking. The Pastissier is cherished becauseit is so very rare. The tract passed into thehands of cooks, and the hands of cooks aredetrimental to literature. Just as nursery books,fairy tales, and the like are destroyed fromgeneration to generation, so it happens withbooks used in the kitchen. The Pastissier,to be sure, has a good frontispiece, a scene ina T>ow Country kitchen, among the dead game 12 BOOKS AND BOOKMEN. and the dainties. The buxom cook is makinga game pie ; a pheasant pie, decorated with thebirds head and tail-feathers, is already made.^ Not for these charms, but for its rarity, is the Pastissier coveted. In an early edition of theManuel (1821) Brunet says, with a feignedbrutality (for he dearly loved an Elzevir), Tillnow I have disdained to admit this book intomy work, but I have yielded to the prayers ofamateurs. Besides, how could I keep out avolume which was sold for one hundred and onefrancs in 1
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Keywords: ., bo, bookauthorlangandrew18441912, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890
