His portrait, a half-length, painted by Howard,
was engraved by Vertue, and re-engraved for the Bibliographical Decameron.
A bad example often finds imitators, and every season there crop up
for public sale one or two such collections, formed by bibliomaniacs,
who, although calling themselves bibliophiles, ought really to be ranked
among the worst enemies of books.
The following is copied from a trade catalogue, dated April, 1880, and
affords a fair idea of the extent to which these heartless destroyers will
go:--
"MISSAL ILLUMINATIONS.
FIFTY DIFFERENT CAPITAL LETTERS _on_ VELLUM; _all in rich Gold
and Colours. Many 3 inches square: the floral decorations
are of great beauty, ranging from the XIIth to XVth century.
Mounted on stout card-board_. IN NICE PRESERVATION, L6 6_s_.
These beautiful letters have been cut from precious
MSS., and as specimens of early art are extremely
valuable, many of them being worth 15_s_. each."
Mr. Proeme is a man well known to the London dealers in old books.
He is wealthy, and cares not what he spends to carry out his
bibliographical craze, which is the collection of title pages.
These he ruthlessly extracts, frequently leaving the decapitated
carcase of the books, for which he cares not, behind him.
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