The Romance of Book-Collecting

Cover art
THE ROMANCE
BOOK-COLLECTING.
J. H. SLATER,
EDITOR OF 'BOOK PRICES CURRENT;' AUTHOR OF 'EARLY EDITIONS,' 'ROUND AND ABOUT THE BOOKSTALLS,' 'THE LIBRARY MANUAL,' 'ENGRAVINGS AND THEIR VALUE,' ETC., ETC.
NEW YORK: FRANCES P. HARPER. 1898.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER.
CHAPTER I.
IN EULOGY OF CATALOGUES.
There are plenty of people—in fact, they are in the great majority even among bookish men—who regard antiquated sale-catalogues in the light of so much rubbish, and yet, when intelligently consulted, these memorials of a bygone day not only have their uses, but are positively interesting. Truly enough they are not popular, like the last new novel which, for one reason or another, has taken the town by storm, and it would not pay to reprint a single one of them, even the best or most important that has ever held the frequenters of auction-rooms spell-bound.
Sometimes a 'parcel' will be sold for what it will fetch, and on investigation may prove to contain a few simple-minded pamphlets on subjects of no importance, 'and others,' the latter consisting of book-catalogues of the last or the earlier portion of the present century. This happens sufficiently often to make it possible for a bookish enthusiast of an antiquarian turn of mind to lose himself with marvellous rapidity in a maze of old-time dispersions. But the enthusiast, unless very determined indeed, knows better than to choke his library with such material. He is aware that an exhaustive index is indispensable to the proper appreciation of such literature, and to make that would occupy his nights indefinitely.