Various state library commissions have issued helpful lists. Wisconsin’s “Suggestive list of books for a small library” is a good specimen. The “Fiction catalog” published by H. W. Wilson Co., Minneapolis, is useful as a check list and contains many excellent titles. In the same way the lists of the 100 and of the 1000 best novels issued by the Free Library of Newark, N. J., are worth studying. Various lists of best books, like Sir John Lubbock’s famous “hundred best books,” or Dr. Eliot’s “five foot library,” are to be found in a pamphlet “The World’s best books,” which is to be had free of charge from the Globe Wernicke Co., Cincinnati.
For additional titles see “Aids in book selection” by Alice B. Kroeger and Sarah W. Cattell (A. L. A. Publishing board, 1908.)
Bookbuying.—If it is desired to buy a special list of books, already selected, it is usually best to place the order with one of the large houses which make a specialty of library trade or with a local dealer, if the proper service and discounts are assured. Cost of carriage may total up high enough to offset a special discount, and so should be considered in comparing prices offered by two different dealers. In scanning a list of books to be bought, attention should be paid to
1. Those titles which are to be had in reinforced bindings.
2. Titles which are to be had in special editions, as in Everyman’s Library.
3. Titles which are to be had from dealers in remainders and are likely to be offered at bargain prices.
The “List of editions selected for economy in book buying,” compiled by Leroy Jeffers, and published by the American Library Association (25 cts.) is well worth studying.
The selection of books to be bought at any one time will be determined by the prices at which they can be secured and consequently it is desirable to constantly study dealers’ catalogs. Worn copies of popular titles or copies that are loose in their bindings are not ordinarily wise purchases, as they soon require rebinding, and thus make the total cost exceed the first cost of a copy in reinforced binding.
Subscription books are rarely worth anything like the money asked for them. If wanted they can frequently be bought from dealers in second hand books, or from jobbers in remainders and surplus stock.
Books should not be bought from traveling agents. There are only a few publishing houses who employ them who would not supply their books through the regular channels of trade. “Editions de luxe” are now generally understood to be for looks only, and “library editions” are frequently so called because they are for the private and not for the public library, being put up in a way not warranted to withstand wear and tear.