How to Collect Books. By J. Herbert Slater. (G. Bell
and Sons. es. net.)—Mr. Slater naturally begins his treatise with "Hints to Beginners." One of these, and possibly the most valuable, suggests the variety of taste and fashion. The two staples of -the library of the past were the Classics and the Fathers. Both have lost their place. Of the Classics, only the editionesprincipes, and here and there a rare specimen of typography, retain their value; the Fathers, in their stately folios, are little more than .ornaments. A well-ordered library has its folio shelves, and these must be filled. Then come various details, measurements, signa- tures, modes of repairing. Manuscripts, paper-marks (a very interesting chapter), the title-page and colophon, the early printers, illustrated books (illustrations came into use very soon after books were first printed), celebrated printers and presses (from the Aldine down to the Kelmscott and Walpole Presses), bookbinding, great collectors, and sales and catalogues are successively dealt with, while there is a final chapter on "Early Editions and Strange Books." The sales chapter is interesting, but melancholy, enforcing the old Horatian moral, exstructis in altum divitlis potietur haeres," "potietur et dissi- pabit." In the decade 1895-1904 there were sold twenty-four great libraries, realising a total of nearly 9.300,000. The list is headed by the Ashburnham Library, sold in three parts, and bringing in £62,700; next comes the Blenheim Library, with a total of .2.56,000. Some way ahead of these is the Beckford sale. This fetched .273,700. This took place in 1882-83. Some of Beckford's books had been sold sixty-years before for £15,500. If any one should ask, What-shall I collect ? one might answer, Anything you like if your means are unlimited, other- wise fix on one book, and make your collection as nearly complete an possible. Mr. Waterton collected the "De Imitatione," of which he had eight hundred copies ; the late Mr. R. C. Christie had more than that number of " Horaces." The book chosen must not be too famous or too obscure. Pindar (who has been more talked about than read), Propertius, or Claudia.n, not to go beyond the classics, would serve sufficiently well.—We may mention at the same time Vol. III. (" Lapham" to "Richards") of Auction Prices of Books (Dodd, Mead, and Co., -e8 8s. for 4 vols.) There is nothing very remarkable in this portion. Under the "New Testament" we have Tyndale's New Testament fetching £230, and Coverdale's £50. Some of the Edgar Allan Poe prices are curious. The list occupies more than seven columns, and the items leave our own early "Dickens" and " Thackoray" far behind. Of "Al Aaraf, dre." (1829), three copies sold for £220, .2260, and £365; Griswold's copy of "Eureka," with corrections in Poe's handwriting, figures for £106; a presentation copy of "The Raven," with autographs, £120; and " Tamerlane " (the Morton copy), £410. Among the classics, " Pliny's Natural History" seems to hold its place. The top price was reached at the Sunderland sale, £220. Thirty copies fetched an average of more than ..e30 each. But, then, Pliny's is a rare book. It would take some trouble even to find a copy for sale.
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