Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/349

 10 s. VIIL OCT. 12, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

287

put up at Sotheby's, and the bidding only ceased when the sum of 1,0351. had been reached.

Ackermann's ' London,' 1811, 21. 12s. 6d. and 19Z.

Boydell's 'Thames,' 1794-6, 31. 3s. and 111. 10s.

Alken's National Sports,' 1823, 36s. and .361.

Ainsworth's 'Jack Sheppard, 3 vols., 1839, 10s. 6d. and 8Z. 17s. 6d. 'Miser's Daughter,' 3 vols., 1842, 10s. 6d. and 51. 5s.

A fall in price has taken place with Billings's ' Baronial Antiquities,' 4 vols., 4to, 61. 6s. and 21. 6s.

Borrow's ' The Romany Bye,' 2 vols., 1857, 8s. 6d. and 31.

The first edition of Burton's ' Anatomy of Melancholy,' 1621, original stamped calf, a fine copy, 21. 12s. ; the same in old vellum, 401.

A few Cruikshank notes show the follow- ing results : ' My Sketch-Book,' 8 parts, 1834, 16s. ; 9 parts complete, 9Z. ' Table- Book,' 1845, 12s. and 31. 12s.

Under Dante I find the rare Aldine edition, 1502, 1Z. 5s. and 11.

The Christmas Books of Dickens, 5 vols., 15s. 6d. ; a set containing the two issues of 'TheBattle of Life,' SI. 15s. Sketches by Boz,'

3 vols., cloth, 1837, 15s. and 20Z. Memoirs of Grimaldi,' 2 vols. 1838, 8s. 6d. and 21. 15s. ' Oliver Twist,' 3 vols., 1838, 14s. and 21. 18s,

Pierce Egan's ' Life in London,' 9s. and 41. 16s.

Under Thackeray I note ' Vanity Fair,' 1848, 11. Is. and 61. 6s. ' Esmond,' 3 vols., 1852, 16s. and 31. 6s.

The most wonderful increase in price of all has been in the first edition of Lamb's

4 Rosamund Gray,' 1798, from 3s. to!22Z.

Edmund Hodgson's ancestors belonged to Dent Dale, where they ranked as " States- men." A great many Hodgsons are buried in Dent Churchyard. An excellent likeness of Edmund Hodgson is given in the com- memorative booklet. His calm, earnest face is brought vividly to me as I remember him when he used to sell under the stationer's shop at the corner of Chancery Lane. The room, or rather cellar, was dark and gloomy, but Edmund Hodgson, with his genial, pleasant manners, made buyers forget this. Very different was it from the present hand- some room at 115, Chancery Lane, where the auctions are now held. A notice at the corner of Chancery Lane still indicates the position of the former premises.

It is not generally known that Hay garth

Taylor Hodgson, the father of Edmund, was also a bookseller and stationer at Great Marylebone Street, where he had a British and Foreign Library. It is curious to read in his circular: ''Improved portable pens, warranted cut by hand with a knife.''

Edmund Hodgson was one of those who took a leading part in the foundation of the Booksellers' Provident Institution, which to-day has much extended its usefulness, thanks to the time and care bestowed upon it by its President, Mr. Charles James Longman. When he retired the business passed into the charge of his two sons, Barnard and Henry Hill. In 1871 Barnard also retired, and the latter had entire control until 1900, when he handed over the active management to his sons, John Edmund and Sidney. Henry Hill Hodgson still takes active interest in all trade matters, and is in the present year Master of the Stationers Company. There is an excellent likeness of him in the booklet, as well as an illustration of the room in which the sales are now held. Honour- able reference is made to those employed by the firm, a note as to their services bringing the interesting booklet to a close. JOHN C. FRANCIS.

SQUIRE BANCROFT. To those interested in dramatic matters the following extract from Canon Beck's ' History of Rother- hithe,' p. 122, may be of interest :

" 1841, Sept. 12. Squire Bancroft, son of Secundus Bancroft White and Julia Butterfield, Oak Cottage, Merchant [baptized]."

The date of Sir Squire Bancroft's birth in ' Who 's Who ' is given as 14 May, 1841, and the place London. AYEAHR.

SIR WILLIAM TRELOAR AND B. L. FAR- JEON. Early in the seventies B. L. Farjeon published two Christmas stories entitled Blade p' Grass ' and ' Golden Grain,' in which he projected the establishment of a "home" for the regeneration of the " waifs and strays " of London life, and so foreshadowed the scheme with which the name of Sir William Treloar will be per- manently identified. M. L. R. BRESLAR.

"DiABOLo": "LoRio." -- I have no 1 , seen it remarked that the game played by those of us who were young in the late forties, which was virtually identical with the now maddening '' Diabolo," was then called " Lorio." The construction was pre- cisely the same, but in those precelluloid days the double cone was made of the humbler tin. J. ELIOT HODGKIN.