In the year 1699, for example, a book was published, entitled _Entretiens sur les Contes de Fées_, in which one of the characters is described as saying, "For some time past you know to what an extent the editions of the Elzevirs have been in demand. The fancy for them has penetrated far and wide to such an extent, indeed, that I know a man who starves himself for the sake of accumulating as many of these books as he can lay his hands on." In the chapter devoted to the Elzevir press, these important publications are treated as fully as space permits, so that at present it will be sufficient to say that for nearly 200 years many generations of collectors have made painstaking attempts to form a complete library of these little books, which, after all, excel only in the quality of the paper and the beauty of the type. For real scholarly merit the editions of Gryphius or Estienne are much to be preferred, but this makes no difference. The Elzevirs were fashionable, much more so than they are now, and accordingly they were valued. It is, moreover, quite possible that they may again rise in popular favour, in which event those far-seeing individuals who are even now imitating the example of the collector mentioned in the _Entretiens_ will reap a rich harvest in case they choose to avail themselves of it. The great guide-book on the productions of this famous press is that by Alphonse Willems, entitled _Les Elzevier, Histoire et Annales Typographiques_, published at Brussels in 1880, with the _Etudes sur la Bibliographie Elzevirienne_ of Dr. G. Berghman, a kind of supplement to it, published at Stockholm in 1885.[3]
Each publication is given in the order in which it was issued, and what will be found especially useful is an appendix containing a list of the spurious Elzevirs issued from the Dutch presses and of the forgeries which have from time to time been foisted on the confiding amateur. With the assistance of this work, the Elzevir collector cannot go very far wrong, though he will undoubtedly have much to learn from his own practical experience. He will become more or less perfect in his lesson in time, and may take comfort in the reflection that nothing so quickly ensures perfection as a limited series of bad mistakes. As examples of the Elzevir press are of "right" and "wrong" editions, with and without red lines, and are, moreover, usually measured in millimetres with the assistance of a rule which the enthusiastic collector invariably carries about with him wherever he goes, it is evident that there is much to learn and a great deal to be carried in the memory before the amateur can trust himself to become his own mentor.