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Dedication.

ΤΟ

JAMES BINDLEY, Esq.

DEAR SIR,

AN intimacy of many years standing, and the data of our births not being very far removed, prompts me to select you as the Personage best calculated to patronize this playful ebullition of my Hudibrastic Muse, which is solely intended to act as an wholesome corrective to individuals, whose

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faculties, diametrically opposite to your own, possess no one requisite necessary for the prosecution of that pursuit which they have most unthinkingly adopted, and for which you justly claim unrivalled pre-eminence; permit me, therefore, to subscribe myself, with every sentiment of respectful regard,

DEAR SIR,

Your most obedient and very

Humble Servant,

Cambridge, Aug. 30, 1813.

THE AUTHOR.

Preface.

NOTWITHSTANDING the playful vein of

ironical satire that characterizes the ensuing pages, I think it expedient to acquaint my readers that the information they contain is not the mere result of a few months enquiry, but owes its foundation to many years research into, and connexion with, the Mysteries of Chalcographian and other Manias.

From the nature of this work, it may very naturally be inferred, that I have been a constant attendant at print, and book sales, and

am perfectly well versed in all the intricacies

of Collecting, than which nothing is more certain, as I am not only personally known to the living tribe of Chalcographians, but was very closely connected with all the most celebrated personages that have figured in the Drama of Collecting, but who have now paid the last debt of nature, leaving the produce of their labours to the British Museum, or consigning them to the fate of the Hammer.

As secrecy is the main object, which I am desirous to accomplish, in offering this volume to the public, I must confess I have not only found it very difficult to select a channel applicable to my purpose, but was equally perplexed in adopting a style of writing that