“I have been considering and re-considering the plan
of a Critical Catalogue. On the scale which you propose, it approaches so
nearly to what we had formerly projected as a complete Bibliotheca Britannica,
that I should be loth to go so near it, and yet stop short. On the present
scale (and were you
| 108 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 33. |
“Of the possible size of such a work I cannot form
even a decent conjecture. Scarce books are more numerous than good ones, have
longer titles, and require sometimes a long description. Perhaps the best way
would be to begin with a chronological list of all that have been printed
before the accession of Henry VIII., when
printing may be said to have become common. All these books have a great value
from their scarcity,—indeed, their main value,—and better be
classed together than under any separate heads. A complete list might be
furnished by Mr. Dibdin, who must
already have collected all the necessary knowledge for his edition of Ames. Mr.
Park could supply the poets, and, indeed, manage the whole
better than any other person. I could give a better opinion of works than he
could, and believe that I know more of them: but there is a sort of title-page
and colophon knowledge—in one word, bibliology,—which is exactly
what is wanted for this purpose, and in which he is very much my superior. The
way in which I could be best employed would be in looking over the MS., adding
to it anything in my knowledge, if anything there might be, which had escaped
| Ætat. 33. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 109 |
“Any such assistance I should willingly give; but upon slow and frequent consideration, I certainly think the whole may be better executed in London than here, and by many others than by me; for of all sorts of work it is that in which there must be most transcription, and in which it will be most inconvenient to employ an amanuensis.
“The extent of such a book will probably be wholly immaterial to its sale. None but those who have libraries will buy it; and all those may almost be calculated upon. There will also be some sale for it abroad, more than is usual for English books. The one thing In which it seems possible to improve upon the best catalogue is, by arranging the books In every subdivision chronologically, according to the time when they were written. . . . .
