One day, in 1847, Nephew Charles was invited to call upon Sara Coleridge, who wished to consult him about a second edition of the "Biographia Literaria," which her father, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, had written, and which his cousin, her husband, Henry Nelson Coleridge, had partly prepared for publication. Henry having died, the task of completing the project fell to his widow, who indited a defense of her father's opinions to the extent of nearly two hundred pages in the "Biographia." Whittingham, 't is said, looked forward gloomily to business discussion with a woman. He had always ungallantly confessed a small opinion of the executive talents of the sex. But from the interview with Mrs. Coleridge he returned in a state of elation. "Why!" exclaimed he, "Mrs. Coleridge is the only intellectual woman I have met. Her face is like alabaster for smoothness and whiteness, and her dark eyes flash with an intelligence beyond anything I ever saw. But, dear me, she comes of such an unhealthy family!"

Nephew Charles left Took's Court in 1849, his lease having expired. During the next three years all his printing was done at Chiswick.

AIR Chiswick entertained the press but three years, on this removal, and then the quiet old place on the suburban river-bank was finally abandoned. Nephew Charles had succeeded in purchasing the freehold of his former premises in Took's Court, and there, in January, 1852, he returned with all the impedimenta of his "art and mystery," and there the Chiswick Press abides to this day.

Between Sylvain Van der Weyer, the Belgian minister at the Court of St. James, and Nephew Whittingham there was a feeling of cordial respect. The two men were often brought together in consultation. Van der Weyer was a connois

seur whose judgment was highly valued in the book world. He had served with Whittingham on the printing jury at the Great Exhibition. He had married the daughter of Joshua Bates, who was the American partner in London of Baring's bank, and practically the founder of the Boston Public Library. Mrs. Van der Weyer, by reason of her own charms of character and person, not less than by her husband's eminence in diplomatic circles, was, until her death, honored by the close friendship of Queen Victoria, who reposed in her the utmost confidence, and who, it is thought, was greatly influenced by her during the American Civil War, when her Majesty's personal influence did so much to prevent England's recognition of the Confederacy. Van der Weyer was a member of the Philobiblon Society. Whittingham was the Society's printer.

The Philobiblon was a small and select body which came into being in 1854. It was "composed of persons interested in the collection and peculiarities of old books." There were some thirty-five of these associated enthusiasts, and the chief result of their joint endeavor seems to have been the issue of a volume of biographical miscellanies once or twice in a twelvemonth. The first patron of the society was His Royal Highness Prince Albert, the Queen's Consort. The earliest members were the Duc d'Aumale, the Earl of