BOXBURGHE CLUB, a society of very considerable literary interest, called after John, duke of Roxburghe, the celebrated collector of ancient literature. After the death" of the duke, who died in 1805, his valuable library, rich in the old romances of chivalry and early English, poetry—a very tine treasury in its way—was, in brought to that hammer which almost always in an unmerciful manner scatters the gatherings of book collectors. and the large prices realized for some of the books were unprecedented. As a specimen, it may he stated that a copy of the first work printed by Caxton in 1471, the Ikenyell of Me Distoryes of Troye, sold for £1050 10s. The largest sum, however (and perhaps the greatest ever paid for a single printed volume up till that time), was given by the marquis of Blandford (afterward duke of Marlborough) for the first edition of Boccaccio's Decameron, which fetched ,-C2,260. In commemoration of the interest which the-sale of this collection occasioned among literary antiquaries, the Roxburghe club was instituted, for the purpose of printing a limited number of impressions of MSS. and rare
works for the use of its members, to whom they are strictly limited. The Roxburghe club has in this way issued upward of 80 very curious and interesting works, which are only, however, to he found in the collections of the members, or in a few' of the larger public libraries. On the anniversary (June 17) of the sale, of the copy'of Boccaccio's Deeameron, shove referred to, the club holds a symposium in London.
The Roxburghe club may be regarded as the parent of du any literary societies subse quently founded for similar purposes, among which may be mentioned the Camden, Percy. Shakespeare, Cheetham, Wharton, and Surtees societies in England: the Banna tyne, Maitland, Abbotsford, and Spalding clubs in Scotland; and the Celtic society in Ireland. The labors of these bodies in printing MSS. and fugitive black-letter tracts have added many important contributions to British literature.