BOOKSELLER, one who trades in books, whe-ther he prints them himself, or gives them to be print-ed by others. Bookfellers, among us, are the same with the biblio-pole of the ancients, whose office was distinct fromthat of librarii. Petty dealers, or vendors of smallware, were distinguished by the diminutive appella-tion libellones. At Rome, the Argiletum was themart of books, as Paul's Church-yard, or Fleet-street,and Paternoster-row, have been in London: whencethat of Martial. Argiletonas maxis habitare tabernac,Cum tibi, parve liber, serinia nostra vacent. Bookfellers in many places are ranked among the mem-bers of universities, and entitled to the privileges of stu-dents: as at Tubingen, Saltzburg, and Paris, wherethey have always been distinguished from the vulgarand mechanical traders, and exempted from diverstaxes and impositions laid on other companies. Formerly, the offices of bookfellers and printerswere united in the same persons. Labbe gives a list oflearned bookfellers; most of whom were also authors.Of late, bookfellers have drawn their business into lesscompass, and leaving the labour of composing booksto one set of persons, and that of printing them to an-other, content themselves with the gainful part; thusministering to the republic of letters not with the heador the hand, but the purse only. In this view, theyhave been very important and useful agents betweenauthors and the public; and have contributed, in nosmall degree, to the encouragement of genius and lite-rary industry, and the spread of science. There are fewauthors, who have undertaken the printing and publish-ing of any work likely to be transmitted to posterity,without being connected with some bookfeller, or book-fellers, eminent in their profession. The fairs of Francfort and Leipzig are famous forthe resort of bookfellers, not only from all parts of theempire, but Holland, Flanders, &c. They have eachtheir shop or warehouse, over which is inscribed the name of some celebrated bookfeller of former times; Bookfeller.Officina Elzeviriana, Frobeniana, Morelliana, Jansoni-ana, &c. An acquaintance with the bookfellers marks or signs,frequently expressed on the title-pages of their books,is of some use; because many books, especially in thelast century, have no other designation either of printer,bookfeller, or even city. The anchor is the mark ofRaphaelengius at Leyden; and the same with a dolphintwisted round it, of the Manutii at Venice and Rome;the Arion denotes a book printed by Oporinus at Ba-sil; the caduceus, or Pegasus, by the Wecheluses atParis and Francfort; the cranes, by Cramoisy; thecompass, by Plantin at Antwerp; the fountain, byValcofan at Paris; the sphere in a balance, by Jan-son or Blaeu, at Amsterdam; the lily, by the Juntas atVenice, Florence, Lyons, and Rome; the mulberry-tree, by Morel at Paris; the olive-tree, by the Ste-phenes at Paris and Geneva, and the Elzeviers at Am-sterdam and Leyden; the bird between two serpents,by the Frobenius at Basil; the truth, by the Com-melins at Heidelberg and Paris; the Saturn, by Coli-nensis; the printing-press, by Badius Ascencius, &c. The traffic of books was anciently very inconsider-able, inasmuch that the book-merchants of England,France, Spain, and other countries, were distinguishedby the appellation of stationers, as having no shops,but only stalls and stands in the streets. During thisstate, the civil magistrates took little notice of the book-fellers, leaving the government of them to the univer-sities, to whom they were supposed more immediateretainers; who accordingly gave them laws and regu-lations, fixed prices on their books, examined theircorrectness, and punished them at discretion. Butwhen, by the invention of printing, books and book-fellers began to multiply, it became a matter of moreconsequence; and the sovereigns took the direction ofthem into their own hands, giving them new statutes,appointing officers to fix prices, and granting licenses,privileges, &c.