"
Some of these "Playes" are preserved in print, but others are quite
unknown and perished for ever when used as "pye-bottoms."
Mr. W. B. Rye, late Keeper of the Printed Books at our great
National Library, thus writes:--
"On the subject of ignorance you should some day, when at the
British Museum, look at Lydgate's translation of Boccaccio's `Fall
of Princes,' printed by Pynson in 1494. It is `liber rarissimus.'
This copy when perfect had been very fine and quite uncut.
On one fine summer afternoon in 1874 it was brought to me by a
tradesman living at Lamberhurst. Many of the leaves had been cut
into squares, and the whole had been rescued from a tobacconist's shop,
where the pieces were being used to wrap up tobacco and snuff.
The owner wanted to buy a new silk gown for his wife, and was delighted
with three guineas for this purpose. You will notice how cleverly the
British Museum binder has joined the leaves, making it, although still
imperfect, a fine book."
Referring to the carelessness exhibited by some custodians
of Parish Registers,
Mr. Noble, who has had great experience in such matters, writes:--
"A few months ago I wanted a search made of the time of Charles I in
one of the most interesting registers in a large town (which shall be
nameless) in England.
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