We know not whether the late Mr. HEBER ever read
all his books, but there are many who would deem the mere examination of their catalogue no slight undertaking. Here is the Fifth Vo- lume as yet extant upon the subject; and from the unfinished manner in which it closes, we opine that other sections of the Bibliotheca Heberiana are yet to come. We have run over this "Part the Fifth, removed from his house at Pimlico,"—for RICHARD HEBER would not limit himself to libraries, nor, like the Mace- donian weeping for another world to conquer, could he be satisfied with one house,— and find that its contents chiefly consist of the Classics, and of the literature of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. The worth of the last class of works to the bibliographer depends upon their rarity, this being again modified by the state of the copy : the man of sense values them for the light they throw upon the opinions of the age and the history of the period ; often for the immense erudition they contain ; sometimes for their intrinsic merit. The purchaser of the Classics will want no critical obsermtion : many of the edi- tions are rare and early, but few, apparently, in fine condition. For purposes of bibliographical luxury, this is a drawback, but of no coasequence as regards their use. A stained or worm-eaten copy will throw just us much I,ght upon the progress of the typo- graphical art as it' it were unsullied and uncut ; and for the assist- ance it may yield to the classical editor in enabling him to purify the text of his author, it is almost equally useful.
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