Their bones and paper fragments
of the nest may now be seen in a glass case in the Chapter House,
some of the fragments being attributed to books from the press
of Caxton. This is not the case, although there are pieces of very
early black-letter books not now to be found in the Abbey library,
including little bits of the famous Queen Elizabeth's Prayer book,
with woodcuts, 1568.
A friend sends me the following incident: "A few years since,
some rats made nests in the trees surrounding my house;
from thence they jumped on to some flat roofing, and so made
their way down a chimney into a room where I kept books.
A number of these, with parchment backs, they entirely destroyed,
as well as some half-dozen books whole bound in parchment."
Another friend informs me that in the Natural History Museum of the
Devon and Exeter Institution is a specimen of "another little pest,
which has a great affection for bindings in calf and roan.
Its scientific name is Niptus Hololeucos." He adds, "Are you aware
that there was a terrible creature allied to these, rejoicing in
the name of Tomicus Typographus, which committed sad ravages in Germany
in the seventeenth century, and in the old liturgies of that country
is formally mentioned under its vulgar name, `The Turk'?" (See Kirby
and Spence, Seventh Edition, 1858, p.
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