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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: discovered there, in a dirty pigeon hole close to the grate in the vestry,
a fearfully mutilated copy of Caxton's edition of the Canterbury Tales,
with woodcuts. Like the book at Paris, it had long been used,
leaf by leaf, in utter ignorance of its value, to light the vestry fire.
Originally worth at least L800, it was then worth half, and, of course,
I energetically drew the attention of the minister in charge to it, as well
as to another grand Folio by Rood and Hunte, 1480. Some years elapsed,
and then the Ecclesiastical Commissioners took the foundation in hand,
but when at last Trustees were appointed, and the valuable library was
re-arranged and catalogued, this "Caxton," together with the fine copy
of "Latterbury" from the first Oxford Press, had disappeared entirely.
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