For many years I have had opportunities of inspecting and reporting upon Collections of Books in numerous Country Houses, and I must say that the condition of books in the greater number of them is chaotic. A man will talk about all his possessions—his pictures, his objets d'art, his horses, his garden, and his bicycle, but rarely will he talk about his books; and if he does so, all his geese are swans, or just as often, all his swans are geese. There are servants in every house qualified to do everything except handle a book. There is no reason why the Library should not be just as much a place of amusement as the billiard-room, where the men are usually to be found. Books are much more amusing than billiards, and you may learn to play in jest or work in earnest with books just as you take to any other amusement. The whole truth is that at present books do not get a proper share of attention, and it is with the desire to remedy such a condition of things that I have printed this little volume, containing things that we do know, that we don't know, and that we ought to know about our books.

A. L. H.

187 Piccadilly, W.

CONTENTS

PAGE
What is a Good Edition?[1]
What is a Fine Copy?[5]
Book Values[9]
On the Care of Books[15]
The Art of Reading[25]
Common-place Books[38]
Reference Books[42]
Boudoir Libraries[46]
Bookbinding[52]
Book Hobbies[65]
Old Country Libraries[68]
Weeding Out[80]
The Catalogue[81]
Classification of Books[87]
Bookcases[94]
Miscellaneous Appliances[103]
The Library Annexe[106]
A Librarian[115]
The Library Architecturally[119]
Munificent Book-buying[133]
The Medici and their Friends [137]
The Dukes of Urbino[144]
Pieresc[149]
Mr. Ruskin's Advice[150]
Index[153]

the
Private Library.