The Book Sales of 1902. By Frank Binder. With Some
Notes by W. Carew Hazlitt. (Savile Publishing Company. 2s. net.)— This is the first number of the "Burlington Series for Collectors." Books, by which we mean books of the collector, not of the reader, are increasing in value. Whether this proves that there is more wealth or more wisdom in the world must be left un- Certain. Applying a somewhat rough test of average price, we find that in 1901, 18,106 lots averaged 46 16s. 9d. ; in 1902, 13,772 as much as 47 13s. 11d. The " Compleat Angler" (first edition) sold for 4222. This seems low, but then the copy was defective. "Omar Khayyam" (once in Quaritch's twopenny box) fetched X58, the previous maximum, 435. Shelley's "Adonais," sold in 1887 for 44 10s., brought 4270. Contrast with these "Dictionary of National Biography," published at 447 5s., and sold for X39. The top price of the year was £2,225 for "Caxton's Royal Book"; next comes "Shakespeare's First Folio," 41,050.
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