SHORT time after the publication of the first edition of this work, a very worthy and shrewd Bibliomaniac, accidentally meeting me, exclaimed that ‘ the book would do, but that there was not gall enough in it.’ As he was himself a Book-Auction-loving Bibliomaniac, I was resolved, in a future edition, to gratify him and similar Collectors by writing Part III. of the present impression: the motto of which may probably meet their approbation.

It will be evident, on a slight inspection of the present edition, that it is so much altered and enlarged, as to assume the character of a new work. This has not been done without mature reflection; and a long-cherished hope of making it permanently useful to a large class of General Readers, as well as to Book-Collectors and Bibliographers.

It appeared to me, that notices of such truly valuable, and oftentimes curious and rare, books, as the ensuing pages describe; but more especially a Personal History of Literature, in the characters of Collectors of Books; had long been a desideratum even with classical students; and in adopting the present form of publication, my chief object was, to relieve the dryness of a didactic style by the introduction of Dramatis Personæ.