How to Form a Library, 2nd ed

by Henry B. Wheatley

2. It has hitherto been thought advisable to have one or more second-hand booksellers attached to an important library, from whom the librarian may naturally expect to obtain such books as he requires. Of course a man of knowledge and experience must be paid for the exercise of these qualities, but the price of books is so variable that it is quite possible that the bookseller, from his knowledge, may buy the required books cheaper than the librarian himself would pay for them. As far as it is possible to judge from the information given us respecting the collection of libraries, bookbuyers have little to complain of as to the price paid by them to such respectable booksellers as have acted as their agents. Perhaps too little stress has been laid upon that characteristic which is happily so common among honest men, viz. that the agent is as pleased to get wares cheap for a good customer as for himself. Mr. Tedder says in his letter, "For rarer books I still consider it safer and cheaper in the long run to cultivate business relations with one or more second-hand booksellers, and pay them for their knowledge and experience." But is this quite fair, and is it not likely that the rarer books will be supplied cheaper if the bookseller is allowed to pay himself partly out of the sale of the commoner books, which it is now proposed the librarian shall buy himself? My contention is that it is for the advantage of libraries that intelligent booksellers, ready to place their knowledge at the service of the librarians, should exist, and it is unwise and uneconomic to do that which may cause this class to cease to exist. Sellers of books must always exist, but it is possible to drive out of the trade those who do it the most honour. We see what has occurred in the new book trade, and there can be little doubt that the book-buyer loses much more than he gains by the present system of discount. When the bookseller could obtain sufficient profit by the sale of new books to keep his shop open, it was worth his while to take some trouble in finding the book required; but now that the customer expects to buy a book at trade price, he cannot be surprised if he does not give full particulars as to the publisher of the book he requires if it is reported to him as "not known." Those only who, by taking a large quantity of copies, obtain an extra discount, can make new bookselling pay.

3. There are a large number of books which, although real additions to literature, can only be expected to obtain a small number of readers and buyers. Some of these are not taken by the circulating libraries, and publishers, in making their calculations, naturally count upon supplying some of the chief libraries of the country. If these libraries wait till the book is second-hand, the number of sales is likely to be so much reduced that it is not worth while to publish the book at all, to the evident damage of the cause of learning.

It has been often suggested that an arrangement should be made by libraries in close proximity, so that the same expensive book should not be bought by more than one of the libraries. No doubt this is advantageous in certain circumstances, but in the case of books with a limited sale it would have the same consequence as stated above, and the book would not be published at all, or be published at a loss.

Selden wrote in his Table Talk: "The giving a bookseller his price for his books has this advantage; he that will do so, shall have the refusal of whatsoever comes to his hand, and so by that means get many things which otherwise he never should have seen." And the dictum is as true now as it was in his time.

Many special points arise for consideration when we deal with the question—How to buy at sales? and Mr. Edward Edwards gives the following four rules for the guidance of the young book-buyer (Memoirs of Libraries, vol. ii. p. 645):

1. The examination of books before the sale, not during it. 2. A steady unintermittent bidding up to his predetermined limit, for all the books which he wants, from the first lot to the last; and—if there be any signs of a "combination"—for a few others which he may not want. 3. Careful avoidance of all interruptions and conversation; with especial watchfulness of the hammer immediately after the disposal of those especially seductive lots, which may have excited a keen and spirited competition. (There is usually on such occasions a sort of "lull," very favourable to the acquisition of good bargains.) 4. The uniform preservation and storing up of priced catalogues of all important sales for future reference.

A case of conscience arises as to whether it is fit and proper for two buyers to agree not to oppose each other at a public sale. Mr. Edwards says, "At the sales Lord Spencer was a liberal opponent as well as a liberal bidder. When Mason's books were sold, for example, in 1798, Lord Spencer agreed with the Duke of Roxburghe that they would not oppose each other, in bidding for some books of excessive rarity, but when both were very earnest in their longings, "toss up, after the book was bought, to see who should win it." Thus it was that the Duke obtained his unique, but imperfect, copy of Caxton's Historye of Kynge Blanchardyn and Prince Eglantyne, which, however, came safely to Althorp fourteen years later, at a cost of two hundred and fifteen pounds; the Duke having given but twenty guineas."[13]

It is easy to understand the inducement which made these two giants agree not to oppose each other, but the agreement was dangerously like a "knock-out." Mr. Henry Stevens (in his Recollections of Mr. James Lenox) boldly deals with this question, and condemns any such agreement. He writes, "Shortly after, in 1850, there occurred for sale at the same auction rooms a copy of 'Aratus, Phaenomena,' Paris, 1559, in 4^o, with a few manuscript notes, and this autograph signature on the title, 'Jo. Milton, Pre. 2s. 6d. 1631.' This I thought would be a desirable acquisition for Mr. Lenox, and accordingly I ventured to bid for it as far as £40, against my late opponent for the Drake Map, but he secured it at £40 10s., remarking that 'Mr. Panizzi will not thank you for, thus running the British Museum.' 'That remark,' I replied, 'is apparently one of your gratuities. Mr. Panizzi is, I think, too much a man of the world to grumble at a fair fight. He has won this time, though at considerable cost, and I am sure Mr. Lenox will be the first to congratulate him on securing such a prize for the British Museum.' 'I did not know you were bidding for Mr. Lenox.' 'It was not necessary that you should.' 'Perhaps at another time,' said he, 'we may arrange the matter beforehand, so as not to oppose each other.' 'Very well,' I replied, 'if you will bring me a note from Mr. Panizzi something to this effect: 'Mr. Stevens, please have a knock-out with the bearer, the agent of the British Museum, on lot **, and greatly oblige Mr. John Bull and your obdt. servant, A.P.,' I will consider the proposition, and if Mr. Lenox, or any other of my interested correspondents, is not unwilling to combine or conspire to rob or cheat the proprietors, the 'thing' may possibly be done. Meanwhile, until this arrangement is concluded, let us hold our tongues and pursue an honest course.' That man never again suggested to me to join him in a 'knock-out.'"

In another place Mr. Stevens relates his own experience as to holding two commissions, and the necessity of buying the book above the amount of the lowest of the two. The circumstance relates to a copy of the small octavo Latin edition of the Columbus Letter, in eight leaves, at the first Libri sale, Feb. 19, 1849. Mr. Stevens writes, "Mr. Brown ordered this lot with a limit of 25 guineas, and Mr. Lenox of £25. Now as my chief correspondents had been indulged with a good deal of liberty, scarcely ever considering their orders completely executed till they had received the books and decided whether or not they would keep them, I grew into the habit of considering all purchases my own until accepted and paid for. Consequently when positive orders were given, which was very seldom, I grew likewise into the habit of buying the lot as cheaply as possible, and then awarding it to the correspondent who gave the highest limit. This is not always quite fair to the owner; but in my case it would have been unfair to myself to make my clients compete, as not unfrequently the awarded lot was declined and had to go to another. Well, in the case of this Columbus Letter, though I had five or six orders, I purchased it for £16 10s., and, accordingly, as had been done many times before within the last five or six years without a grumble, I awarded it to the highest limit, and sent the little book to Mr. John Carter Brown. Hitherto, in cases of importance, Mr. Lenox had generally been successful, because he usually gave the highest limit. But in this case he rebelled. He wrote that the book had gone under his commission of £25, that he knew nobody else in the transaction, and that he insisted on having it, or he should at once transfer his orders to some one else. I endeavoured to vindicate my conduct by stating our long-continued practice, with which he was perfectly well acquainted, but without success. He grew more and more peremptory, insisting on having the book solely on the ground that it went under his limit. At length, after some months of negotiation, Mr. Brown, on being made acquainted with the whole correspondence, very kindly, to relieve me of the dilemma, sent the book to Mr. Lenox without a word of comment or explanation, except that, though it went also below his higher limit, he yielded it to Mr. Lenox for peace.... From that time I resorted, in cases of duplicate orders from them, to the expedient of always putting the lot in at one bid above the lower limit, which, after all, I believe is the fairer way in the case of positive orders. This sometimes cost one of them a good deal more money, but it abated the chafing and generally gave satisfaction. Both thought the old method the fairest when they got the prize. But I was obliged, on the new system of bidding, to insist on the purchaser keeping the book without the option of returning it." There can be no doubt that the latter plan was the most satisfactory.

Some persons appear to be under the impression that whatever a book fetches at a public sale must be its true value, and that, as the encounter is open and public, too much is not likely to be paid by the buyer; but this is a great mistake, and prices are often realized at a good sale which are greatly in advance of those at which the same books are standing unsold in second-hand booksellers' shops.