Chapter X: Part 10

Another form of subscription book, now fortunately obsolete, was the book in "parts." A "part" consisted of some twenty-four or forty-eight pages, or more, in paper covers. These were delivered and paid for by the buyer in instalments of one or two at a time until the entire work was complete. Then the binding order was solicited. It was an expensive and unsatisfactory makeshift, intended to reach those who could pay only a dollar or two a month. The theory was that the people could not be trusted, and therefore the book must be cut up and delivered in pieces. Later the publishers learned that "most people are honest," and the modern method is to deliver the complete publication and collect the price in monthly instalments. This plan has proved far more economical both to subscribers and publishers, and the losses are few if the management is careful and conservative. One house which carefully scrutinizes its orders has suffered losses of less than one per cent on a business of several millions of dollars covering a period of fifteen years.

In late years by far the greatest part of the subscription-book business has been done with complete sets of books, usually the writings of the leading standard authors. These books are sold directly to the subscriber who gives a signed order, and the publisher makes the delivery, pays the agent a cash commission, and collects the payments as they fall due. The old, worthless, "made-up" books are rapidly disappearing, and the subscription-book of to-day is as a rule a vastly superior article to that of a score of years ago. In fact some of the oldest and most reliable publishing houses in America now offer their choicest output by subscription. A large investment of capital in plates, illustrations, editorial work, etc., such as is necessary in many of the extensive editions of standard works, could not be made unless there, were an assured return. The subscription method of selling makes such undertakings possible, and the result of its adoption has been the issue of many superb publications which never would or could have been undertaken, had the retail book store been the only outlet to the market. The subscription business has in this way proved a marked benefit to the lovers of fine editions of their favorite authors. The book-lover has been benefited, too, in the matter of prices. The agent's commission under the modern methods is no greater than the bookseller's profit, and no extraordinary allowance is made for losses, as many imagine, for the losses are comparatively small. The desire to extend his business leads the publisher to make his books more attractive, while there is plenty of competition to keep the prices down. It is a fact that the buyer is to-day getting a far better book for his money than ever before.

The personnel of the canvassing force has also undergone a change. A business such as the best houses are now doing requires agents of intelligence, tact, and judgment. The callow youth cannot succeed as he did once. The man who has failed at everything else will fail here. There are now men and women engaged in selling books by subscription, who possess business ability of a high order. Many of them have well-established lines of trade,--regular customers who depend upon them to supply their wants and keep them informed. The old jibes about the book-agent fall flat when applied to them. They do not bore their customers or tire them out. They serve them, and the customers are glad to be served by them.

I have taken care to point out that these observations apply to the business as conducted by the older and more conservative book publishers, who value their reputation. In a consideration of the subject a sharp distinction should be drawn between such publishers and a class of irresponsible schemers who by various ingenious devices seek to gain the public ear and then proceed to impose upon their victims to the full extent of their credulity. In recent years many schemes have been devised,--a few honest, some about half honest, and the rest miserable "fakes."

One of the earliest and most successful "schemes," not dishonest but certainly ingenious, was that of a publisher who had a large stock of unmarketable books whose retail price was $6 a volume. He organized an association and sold memberships at $10, the membership entitling the subscriber to one of the $6 books and the privilege of buying miscellaneous books at a discount. The discounts really were no greater than could have been obtained in any department store, but the "association" thought it had a great concession and multiplied so rapidly that the unmarketable book had to be reprinted again and again.

The next "scheme" to come into prominence was the so-called "raised contract." The process was simple. The order blank read, for example, $5 a volume, but the publisher wanted "a few influential citizens like yourself" to write testimonials, and had a few copies for sale to such people--only a very few--at $3, merely the cost of the paper and binding. By paying cash you could get another reduction, and as a special favor from the agent still another, and so on, until you found the price whittled down to the ridiculously low sum of $2.65. When the customer woke up and found that all his neighbors were also "influential citizens" who had bought at the same price or possibly less, and that the book would be dear at $2, he mentally resolved to "buy no more from that house." The figures are given merely to illustrate the idea and are not quoted from any particular proposition. It is unfortunately true, however, that the plan here illustrated is now in daily use by many concerns, although there are indications that it is gradually dying as the result of overwork!

Another scheme is to advertise a "a few slightly damaged" copies of a book for sale at barely the cost of the sheets--to save rebinding. A publisher once confided to me that he was doing a "land-office business" selling "slightly damaged stock." "How do you damage the stock," I asked,--"throw the books across the room?" "No," he replied, laughing, "we haven't time to do that."

Some of the schemes are so ludicrous as to cause one to wonder how anybody can be made to believe the story. Such was the one which soberly informed the prospective customer that he had been selected by a committee of Congress as one of a few representative citizens to whom the United States government would be willing to sell some of its precious documents. He was not asked to subscribe, but merely to "let us know" if he didn't want it, for "another gentleman" was quite anxious to secure his copy, etc. Of course the fortunate representative citizen made haste to secure the copy which Congress intended him to have. I am told that the originator of this scheme made a fortune out of it.

All these schemes, from the laughably absurd to the contemptibly mean, should be regarded merely as an excrescence upon the legitimate subscription-book business. They are like the "get-rich-quick" and "wildcat" banking schemes which flourish in prosperous times, but have nothing whatever in common with legitimate financial affairs. It is unfortunate for the book trade that these schemers selected books as the particular kind of merchandise upon which to exercise their ingenuity. They admit that their agents are expected not to canvass the merits of the book, but to "sell their story." They might have done the same thing had they chosen jewelry, bric-a-brac, rugs, paintings, stocks, bonds, or anything else as the subject for their exploitation. The reliable publishers are hoping that at no distant date the schemers will take up some of these other lines, although they bear no grudge against the latter.

If any prejudice exists in the public mind against subscription books, it is caused by the illegitimate use of books as a means of "fooling" if not of swindling the people. There are many honorable men and many houses of the highest class who are engaged in the subscription-book business. These should no more be classed with such schemers as I have described than Tiffany's with the diamond merchants who ornament the fronts of their stores with the three balls. The leading legal lights of the world and the gentry who frequent the police courts are all called lawyers; the eminent surgeon who performs marvellous operations involving incredible knowledge and skill and the half-breed who used to pull teeth in front of the circus, the brass band drowning the shrieks of his victims, are both called doctors. The eminent divine and his ignorant colored brother may both be preachers. Intelligent people know how to discriminate between these, and do not condemn the one for the faults of the others. And so the intelligent and honorable book agent who represents a thoroughly reliable publishing house deserves to be differentiated from the fellow who comes with a lie on his tongue, for which an unscrupulous schemer is directly responsible.

The subscription-book business, in the hands of honorable men, has performed a great service to the whole country, by putting good books into thousands and hundreds of thousands of homes, where, but for them, there would be little to read beyond the newspaper or the magazine. The best publishers have found it the most practicable method of distribution for their more extensive productions, and thousands of thoughtful men are glad of the opportunity to receive the representatives of such houses and to have the best of the new publications promptly brought to their attention.

SELLING AT AUCTION

By John Anderson, Jr.

While the auctioneer is admitted to be an important factor in the handling of a book once it has become a finished product, his relations to it are not clearly understood, even by many of those who avail themselves of his services as a medium of sale or purchase. An endeavor shall therefore be made to present here, in the simplest possible way, some facts which may prove both pertinent and enlightening.

It is to be presumed that the auctioneering of books began at the time when it first became apparent to the owners of libraries that a necessity existed for the establishment of a system by which they could reach the largest number of buyers, and bring about the quickest sales and returns, for these are, admittedly, the distinguishing features of the auction method, as opposed to all others.[4] Selling to the highest bidder proved the happy solution of the problem, and to this day it has been universally recognized as the most satisfactory method of dispersion. To quote a book as having sold for so much at auction gives it in the minds of all true bookmen the best possible criterion of value. The prices obtained, though variable, represent a consensus of opinion, and may be considered as standards.

[Footnote 4: "But it was soon perceived, that when
necessity or inclination determined the disposal of
libraries, the auction method was on the whole by
far the best, producing as it did, and still does,
competition amongst a larger circle of intending
purchasers, with a better result than would have
been obtained by selling _en bloc_."--JOHN LAWLER,
in "Book Auctions in England in the Seventeenth
Century."]

So far as can be traced, the earliest known book auctions took place in Holland. The library of Marnix of St. Aldegonde was sold by Christopher Poret at Leyden, July 6, 1599, this being the earliest recorded sale. The first English book sale is supposed to have been that held on October 31, 1676, when the library of the then lately deceased Rev. Lazarus Seaman was sold at his residence in Warwick Court, Warwick Lane, London, by William Cooper. The earliest known sale in America occurred at the Crown Coffee House in Boston, on July 2, 1717, and succeeding days, when was dispersed the library of the famous early New England divine, Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton. Philadelphia held book auction sales many years in advance of New York, the earliest known being that of the library of Charles Read, in 1737. The date of the first sale in New York is unknown, as is the name of the auctioneer, but an advertisement of McLaughlin & Blakely, of 41 Maiden Lane, in a paper of May 4, 1825, reads as follows, "From the long acquaintance of Mr. McLaughlin with the book auction business, he trusts that the firm will receive a consequent share of public patronage." It is known that McLaughlin & Co. held unimportant book sales at 78 Maiden Lane in 1824, and late though this date is, it will have to stand as representing the earliest book auction sale in New York until newly discovered evidence reveals an earlier recorded one.[5]

[Footnote 5: "Seventy Years of Book Auctions in New
York," Robert F. Roden.]

It rarely happens that a really great collection of books is sold otherwise than at auction. The collector recognizes that the taste and judgment displayed by him in the acquirement of his library will, by the medium of the auctioneer's carefully prepared catalogue, be made evident to all succeeding generations of book lovers. How many would to-day know the names of George Brinley, John Allan, and William Menzies, were it not for the sale catalogues of their collections? They attained book-fame without having sought it.

In this connection, an extract may be quoted from the will of Edmond de Goncourt, the distinguished French writer and collector:--

"My wish is that my Drawings, my Prints, my Curiosities, my
Books--in a word, these things of Art which have been the
joy of my life--shall not be consigned to the cold tomb of a
Museum, and subjected to the stupid glance of the careless
passer-by; but I require that they shall all be dispersed
under the hammer of the auctioneer, so that the pleasure
which the acquiring of each one of them has given me shall
be given again, in each case, to some inheritor of my own
tastes."

A list of those whose libraries have been dispersed at public auction would contain an astonishing proportion of names great in the world's history. Even in cases where the collections were not directly dispersed by the auction method, it will be found that the bulk of the more important works contained therein had, at some previous period, passed through the auctioneer's hands.

To unthinking minds, there exist certain prejudices against the auction method, doubtless due to a want of discrimination between the many who faithfully pursue their calling, and the few who by questionable dealings have dishonored and discredited themselves rather than their craft. Benjamin Franklin is only one among many of the American book auctioneers whose names were synonymous with integrity during the long period--nearly two hundred years--in which their services were employed in the dispersal of libraries. The long and honorable careers of certain of the English book auction houses--notably that of Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, founded in 1744--shows conclusively that the business itself has been accepted by the public, as forming an essential part in disseminating the world's literature.

The auctioneer is in a position to extend many exceptional advantages to his customers.

The quantity and variety of the books offered is far greater than is possible to be found in the stock of any dealer, being subject to constant additions and changes. The average quality is high where the auctioneer makes the sales of private collections a specialty, and much inferior where dependence is placed upon the sale of material received from the booksellers which they have been unable to sell after repeated efforts. Naturally, the better items are reserved for their own shelves. Among the leaders in the book auction trade, it will be found that a very large proportion of the material offered by them comes from authentic private sources, though, in many cases, there is a disinclination on the part of the owner to allow the use of his or her name in connection with the sale.

The prices obtained for books at sales held by regular book auctioneers (no pretence of recognition need be accorded furniture and bric-a-brac auctioneers, who occasionally secure consignments of books from parties unaware of the existence of an establishment devoted exclusively to their sale) are necessarily variable, being governed, as is everything else, by the law of demand and supply. A particularly choice item will command about the same price whenever offered,--generally an increasing one,--but the ordinary book can often be obtained at bargain figures. This element of uncertainty goes far toward making the auction sale so attractive to collectors with slender purses, as also to those who may be designated "moral book-gamblers," always ready to take a chance where the outcome is problematical. Many fine collections have been gathered by well-informed private buyers, who made a point of attending auction sales, and purchasing desirable items, when for some reason the prices were lower than usual. Some of these collections have since been sold at auction, and the owners have netted a handsome profit on their investments.

Many book buyers entertain erroneous ideas regarding the condition of the volumes sold at leading auction houses, confounding them with those sold at storage warehouses, furniture auction rooms, etc. The fact is, a very large proportion of the books, even of the older species, are in fine, clean condition, many being in choice bindings, and equal to the most fastidious requirement.

An indication of the important relation of the book auctioneer to the market, as a source of supply, may be judged from the issue of a bulletin by the American Library Association during the past year, calling attention of the three thousand or more public libraries of the country to the advantages of purchasing at auction sales, recommending certain named houses, and outlining the mode of procedure in sending bids. It took years of hard and discouraging labor to bring about conditions that would warrant this recognition.

The great majority of buyers at book auctions reside in localities widely removed from the cities where the sales are held, and it is, of course, necessary that these customers should be given equal advantages with the home buyers in effecting purchases at sales. The printed catalogue is made the medium of this accomplishment. The books are described in detail, mention being made of the author's name, the title, size, binding, place, and date of publication, and condition (if either above or below the average). If the edition is special, or it is a large paper copy, this is duly set forth in the description. All imperfections are carefully noted. The aim of the auctioneer is to bring the book or set of books so clearly before the mind of the prospective buyer as to gain his confidence. An express stipulation is made in the conditions of sale that any book found to be otherwise than as described may be returned, but as the auctioneer desires to avoid this contingency, he is generally careful in his descriptions, and they may, as a rule, be depended upon.

A printed slip is enclosed in each catalogue on which the intending purchaser notes the numbers of the lots he desires and the limit of price to which he is prepared to go. It is then forwarded by mail to the auction house, where the slips are tabulated by a clerk, the names and amounts being placed against each item in a specially prepared catalogue. Incidentally, it may be stated that all bids are considered as strictly confidential.

At the time of sale, the principal of the establishment, or one of his chief assistants, takes his place in the audience on an even footing with all other buyers, and uses the bids, as enrolled, in competition with such as may be offered by other attendants at the sale.

Where two or more bids have been received on any item, the competition is first narrowed by the elimination of all except the two highest ones, and then the start is made at a figure just beyond the second highest. The battle between the auctioneer, acting as the representative of the out-of-town bidder, and some ardent book lover personally attending the sale, for the possession of a particularly coveted work, often provokes genuine enthusiasm. It is finally knocked down to the highest bidder at the point where competition ceases, and this is often much below the limit named by the buyer. The wise purchaser at auction, when assured of the honorable standing of the house with which he deals, will not hesitate in sending liberal bids, for by so doing he will gain much and lose little.

The methods of conducting sales and handling bids differ somewhat in the various cities, but that, as above outlined, is adopted by the leading houses. In some concerns, the auctioneer himself executes the commissions from the rostrum, but when this is done, even though he may be a man of the strictest integrity, the method is open to criticism, it being well understood that the reputation of an auctioneer is largely dependent on the high prices he obtains.

There is a material difference between the English and American methods of cataloguing books for sale at auction. In England the charges are inclusive, the cost of printing, postage, etc., being assumed by the auctioneer, so that he finds it to his interest to compress catalogue descriptions into the narrowest possible compass, to minimize the distribution of the catalogue, and to spend as small an amount of money in advertising as possible. In America, the charges are exclusive, the commission representing the auctioneer's only interest, and the incidental expenses of printing, etc., are paid by the consignor. Because of this, a more liberal policy is pursued as to expenditures. Many good titles that are bunched in lots in the London sales are here separately catalogued, mention is made of all defects, and, on the average, more careful attention is paid to the details of the descriptions. Catalogues are given a wider circulation in America, and more dependence is placed on the receipt of bids from out-of-town buyers. New methods and channels of advertising are being constantly considered and utilized. It is believed that these elements, combined, conduce to the benefit of the consignor, when the material offered possesses real interest and value.

The auctioneer who conducts a modern high-class establishment, where a guaranty of intelligent service is given, can employ only the best available talent for cataloguing purposes, either men of proved ability and special knowledge, or those that show a decided aptitude for the work and give promise of attainment.

Most book auction houses in this country are obliged to call in the services of an interpreter when a book in other than the English or French language is to be catalogued, but in Europe the force employed is, as a rule, equal to all emergencies. To illustrate the variety of demand made upon the modern auctioneer, in this line, it may be stated that the establishment with which the writer is connected, can catalogue items in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Greek, Dutch, Swedish, and Danish; in fact, nearly all of the European, and some of the Oriental Languages, without calling upon outside help.

A book auctioneer would find it as impossible to properly handle books without the use of a suitable reference library, as for a carpenter to work without tools. In a live, up-to-date auction house, every bibliographical work of real value not already possessed is secured when found in the open markets, and consulted frequently. These collections often represent an expenditure of thousands of dollars. Some single works call for the outlay of hundreds, but they are essential for the use of the expert cataloguer.

The labor involved in handling books in connection with their sale at auction is very heavy. Supposing that a library of, say, five thousand volumes is offered for sale. It is packed by the owner, or under his directions, and is forwarded to the auctioneer. The boxes are opened and the contents placed in a special compartment. They are then catalogued, each item being separately handled. Another clerk then arranges them for exhibition on the shelves, where they remain until the time of sale. During the sale, they are again exhibited, and handled, and after it are laid aside in groups, according to their newly acquired ownership. When shipment is made the following day, or later, another handling is required. No scheme can be devised that will admit of less than four handlings of the entire lot. When we consider that in some establishments nearly a million separate items are received and sold each season, some idea may be formed of the labor involved.

The auctioneer has been obliged to either adapt his business to modern conditions, even though it entails heavy expense and added burdens, or take a rear place in the procession. Business cannot be transacted now as it was even five years ago, though many attempt to do it by the antiquated methods of the times "befo' de war." More books are sold by auction each successive year; and with the wonderful progress being made in the literary development of this great country, it is likely that the auctioneer will become in the near future an even more important factor in the formation and dissemination of libraries than ever before.

The following extract from a magazine article on "The Book Auction," written years ago by Joel Benton, may be deemed a fitting conclusion. He said:--

"In no one place are there so many eager patrons of the book
auction as in New York. Here are men who can give thousands
of dollars for a single book, if they choose, and add it to
an already extremely valuable collection.

"It is pleasant to see these men and their representatives
sitting in the auction room, and poring, over their
catalogues. There are times when they must not be disturbed,
or spoken to. Great issues depend upon their utmost
attention. Not Izaak Walton, the many rare editions of whose
one great book they rapturously fish for, ever fished more
intently for trout and grayling than they for the beauties
of thought and of the printer's art.

"No idyls of the brook call your chronic book buyer to bask
in green meadows, and under cerulean skies while the auction
season lasts. The pine floor, the gaslight, and the voice of
the auctioneer hold him. His house may overflow with
thousands of unshelved volumes. Naught cares he. It is not
because he is short of reading that he buys. It is because
he is drawn by that fascinating, never-to-be-accounted-for,
and inexpressible ardor of the pursuit. I have a friend who
says he would rather attend a book auction than spend an
evening with the President, or with our greatest general, or
with a literary lion like Tennyson or Browning."

SELECTING FOR A PUBLIC LIBRARY

By Arthur E. Bostwick.

In selecting books for a public library, the two things generally taken into account are the public desire and the public need. The different values attached to each of these two factors may be said to determine the policy of the library in book-buying. The extreme cases, where full force is given to one factor while the other is entirely disregarded, do not, of course, exist. Libraries do not purchase every book that is asked for, without considering whether such purchases are right and proper. Nor do they, on the other hand, disregard popular demand altogether and purchase from a list made up solely with regard to what the community ought to read rather than what it wants to read. Between these two extremes, however, there may be an indefinite number of means. A librarian may, for instance, purchase chiefly books in general demand, exercising judgment in disregarding such requests as he may deem improper. Or he may buy chiefly those books that in his opinion should be read in his community, listening to the voice of the public only when it becomes importunate. Several considerations may have part in influencing his course in this regard. In the first place, a library with plenty of money at command may in a measure follow both plans; in other words, it may buy not only all the good books that the public wants to read, but those also that it should read. The more limited the appropriation for book purchase, the more pressing becomes the need that the librarian should decide on a precise policy. Again, a library whose books are for general circulation would naturally give more heed to popular demand than a reference library used chiefly by students. Further, an endowed institution, not dependent on public support, could afford to disregard the public wishes to an extent impossible in the case of a library whose expenses are paid by the municipality from the proceeds of taxation. Above and beyond all these considerations, the personal equation comes in, sometimes very powerfully. It often seems as if some library authorities regard popular favor as an actual mark of discredit, while others look upon it almost as a condition precedent to purchase. Take, as an example, the so-called "fiction question," over which most libraries, and some of their patrons, are at present more or less exercised. There can be no doubt of the popular regard for this form of literature, especially for the current novel or romance. Some libraries would sternly discourage this preference and refuse to purchase fiction less than one year old, while others do not hesitate to buy, within the limits of their purses, all such books as would be likely to interest or entertain the average reader of taste and intelligence. The views of the selector regarding the relative importance of the library's duties as an educator and an entertainer must also affect his views.

It has been tacitly assumed that the selection is made by one person. As a matter of fact, however, the final approval is generally given by a book committee of some kind, usually a committee of the library trustees or persons responsible to them, often with the help of outside advisers. The weight of the librarian's views with this body will depend on various circumstances. Sometimes he has his own way; sometimes his wishes are practically disregarded. Moreover, the composition of such a body varies so that any continuous policy is difficult for it.

Owing to all these facts, it is probable that no two libraries in the United States, even when they are closely related by classification, as when both are branch libraries for circulation, state libraries, public reference libraries, or university libraries, are pursuing exactly the same policy in book purchase, although, as has been said, their various policies are always compounded of different proportions of these two factors,--regard for the wishes and demands of their users, and consideration of what is right and proper for those users, from whatever standpoint. The stickler for uniformity will lament this diversity, but it is probably a good thing. In many libraries, there are as many minds as there are men, and it cannot be and ought not to be otherwise.

Now, how does the person, or the body, that is responsible for the selection of books for a library ascertain the facts on which, as has been said, the selection must be based? It is usually not difficult to find out what the public wants. Its demands almost overwhelm the assistant at the desk. Some libraries provide special blank forms on which these requests may be noted. They are often capricious; sometimes they do not represent the dominant public wish. The voice of one insistent person asking for his book day after day may impress itself on the mind more forcibly than the many diffident murmurs of a considerable number. In libraries that possess a system of branches, there is little difficulty in recognizing a general public demand. Such a demand will be reported from a large number of branch libraries at once, in which case the chances of mistake will be small. In the New York Public Library many useful suggestions are gained through the operation of the inter-branch loan system, whereby a user of one branch may send for a book contained in any other branch. Books so asked for are reported at the central headquarters, and if they are not in the library at all, the request is regarded as a suggestion for purchase. Should such requests come from users of several branches at once, the desired book is very likely to be purchased. Often the demand is general rather than specific, as for "a book about the Caucasus" or for "more works on surveying," and sometimes they are vague or misleading, titles being wrong and authors' names spelled phonetically; yet the work made necessary in looking up these demands is more than repaid by the knowledge that it may result in making the library of more value to the public.

In some cases the librarian desires not only to respond to the public want, but even to anticipate it. He does not wait to see whether a new book on Japan will be in demand, because he is sure that such will be the case. He does not hesitate to order a new book by Kipling or Mrs. Humphry Ward as soon as he sees its title in the publisher's announcements. The necessity for some other anticipatory orders may be less evident, and this kind of work requires good judgment and discrimination; but in general if a book is to be purchased on publication, it cannot be on the library shelves too soon after the date of issue. In any case, where it is desirable and proper to please the public, double pleasure can be given by promptness; hence the importance of being a little before, rather than a little behind, the popular desire.

All this calls for little but quick and discriminating observation,--the ability to feel and read the public pulse in matters literary. It is in regard to the second and more important factor that failure waits most insistently on the librarian. What are the public's needs, as distinguished from its desires? What ought it to read? Here steps in the "categorical imperative" with a vengeance. The librarian, when he thinks of his duty along this line, begins to shudder as he realizes his responsibility as an educator, as a mentor, as a trainer of literary taste. Probably in some instances he takes himself too seriously. But, no matter how lightly he may bear these responsibilities, every selector of books for a public library realizes that he must give some consideration to this question. In the first place, there are general needs; there are certain standard books that must be on the shelves of every well-ordered library, no matter whether they are read or not. It is his business to provide and recommend them. What are these standards? No two lists are alike. They start together: "the Bible and Shakespeare"--and then off they go in divergent paths! Secondly, there are special needs dependent on locality or on the race or temperament of the users of a particular library. The determination of these needs in itself is a task of no small magnitude; their legitimate satisfaction is sometimes difficult in the extreme. To take a concrete instance, the librarian may discover that there is in his vicinity a little knot of people who meet occasionally to talk over current questions, not formally, but half by accident. They would be benefited, and would be greatly interested, in the right sort of books on economics, but they have scarcely heard that there is such a subject. That the public library might be interested in them and might aid them would never occur to any of them. The discovery of such people, the determination of just what books they need, and the successful bringing together of man and book--all these are the business of the librarian, and it is a part of his work that cannot be separated from that of book selection.

In much of this work the librarian of a large library must depend to a great extent on others. Both the desires and the needs of those who use his library he must learn from the reports of subordinates and from outside friends. The librarian of a small library can ascertain much personally; but both librarians are largely dependent upon expert opinion in their final selections. After concluding that the library must have an especially full and good collection of books on pottery, the selector must go to some one who knows, to find out what are the best works on this subject. When there is a good list, he must know where to find it, or at least where to go to find out where it is. He must consult all the current publishers' lists as they appear, and scan each catalogue of bargains. His list of books wanted for purchase should far exceed his ability to buy, for then he must, perforce, exercise his judgment and pick out the best. If, after all, the collection of books in his library is not such as to meet the approval of the public, he must bow meekly under the weight of its scorn.

The deluge of books that falls daily from the presses is almost past comprehension. The number of intelligent readers, thanks to the opportunities given by our public libraries, is increasing in due proportion. To select from the stream what is properly fitted to the demands of this rapidly growing host is a task not to be lightly performed. That the authorities of our libraries do not shrink from it is fortunate indeed; that the result is no worse than it is, is a fact on which the reading public must doubtless be congratulated.

RARE AND SECOND-HAND BOOKS

By Charles E. Goodspeed.

Books are much more indestructible than is generally supposed. Furniture, clothing, and most of the appurtenances of the house disappear rapidly with time, but books, by the nature of their component material and construction, have a longer life. At least this may be said of books printed before the present era of paper making. Since the invention of printing in the fifteenth century, the product of the myriad presses, principally in Europe, has been enormous, and the output of books in the four hundred odd years of printing defies computation. While many have been destroyed by use, fire, or other agencies, an immense number exists at the present time, and their disposal, made necessary through death or the breaking up of households, is a matter of practical consideration. As it is usually impossible for the owner to find individual customers, the second-hand book-dealer becomes a necessity. The usefulness of the dealer to the community depends upon his honesty, intelligence, and industry; upon his honesty, in giving a fair price to the owner, on his intelligence in finding customers for books apart from general interest, and on his industry in so conducting his business that his stock may not become a mass of ill-assorted rubbish.

The small collection of books in the ordinary household (averaging usually not over a few hundred volumes), contains, it is safe to say, a large percentage of no commercial value. The rest may be valued either for rarity, for the place which they may fill in some collection, or for the intrinsic excellence of the edition. Customers for the rarities are found amongst numerous collectors, and to a more limited extent in the large public libraries. Many individual buyers prefer the sterling editions printed on rag paper by the old masters of the craft to books of modern production, and so create a market for good old editions. Modern editions of standard authors are produced so cheaply, however, that an old edition will bring but a small price unless it has some distinguishing merit.

These points should be borne in mind by those who have books to sell. They should remember, also, that the public is to-day no longer interested in many subjects on which books were printed in the past. It should also be known that the arts, the sciences, and the professions, have made such advances that old books on these subjects are of little more value than waste paper, excepting in the few notable cases of books which are of historical importance to the student as landmarks of progress. The omission of these works, of obsolete fiction, and the books of the hour, reduce the bulk of the ordinary collection to a small value.

It may then properly be asked where the valuable books come from, and how are they obtained? It may safely be stated that most rarities to-day are discovered in out-of-the-way places, in old collections or libraries, attics, or from sources which have not been investigated by the keen-eyed collectors and dealers. There are comparatively few houses, at least in the most thickly settled parts of this country, which have no books, and in a considerable number of these collections there are at least some books which have a degree of rarity and a special commercial value. The large private libraries are also constantly being dispersed, and, excepting always the books which are being absorbed by the permanent collections of public institutions, form a constant supply, passing from the owner to dealer, from him to a new owner, only to find their way eventually to the market again.

Books are not valuable merely because of age (excepting those printed in the fifteenth century), nor solely on account of their rarity. It is quite apparent that a rare book for which there is no demand can have no value. It is the combination of desirability and rarity which gives value, and that value fluctuates with the demand, being subject to the caprice of the collector or the fashion of the day. This may be illustrated by the collecting of first editions. Thirty years ago the first editions of modern authors brought small prices; twenty years later they were eagerly sought for; while now a reaction is taking place, and only the great rarities in this line find a ready sale.

At the present time the books which are most quickly sold in this country are those relating to American history, particularly those on the discovery and settlement of the continent, the Indians, the American Revolution, navy, local history, and genealogy, etc. Books on these subjects which are really rare, find a ready sale.

First editions of the early books in _belles-lettres_, books with presentation inscriptions from their authors, books containing unusual examples of early engravers, or those made famous by the illustrative work of such artists as Rowlandson, Leech, and Cruikshank; these are a few of the lines in which there are numerous collectors, but it should be understood that they are only a few of the more conspicuous out of hundreds of similar lines of interest. The number of collectors is multiplying with the increase of the country's wealth, and there is a growing tendency for collectors to take up new subjects, which very much broadens the interest in the books of bygone days. To enumerate these subjects at length would be but to detail the personal interests and hobbies of thousands of cultivated collectors. It may be safely prophesied that books which are regarded to-day as rare and desirable by any considerable number of collectors will, on the whole, command a steady increase in value. The tendency, however, is strongly toward a decrease in the value of books of moderate value and a large increase in the value of especially desirable items. The accounts given in the daily press of the finding of valuable books are the innocent means of misleading a great many people, who labor under the delusion that because one early edition of a book commands a large price, another edition of about the same time must necessarily have the same value. This is one of many errors which the public entertains regarding rare books. Not only does a few years' difference in the date of publication mean the difference between a large value and none at all, but often two editions, apparently the same, bearing identical title-pages, possess differences in text, which are known only to the expert, but which make a vast difference in their value. Books otherwise valuable, but containing material defects (such as lack of pages or portions of pages), are thereby very much reduced in value; in fact, the value of an imperfect book is usually but a small fraction of that of a perfect example. Not only do these grosser defects reduce the value, but it sometimes happens that the mere absence of a half title, or advertising leaves, or even the flyleaves, will make a considerable difference. Such points also as the size of the copy, whether it is in original binding or not, or, if rebound, whether the edges have been trimmed by the binder,--these all have an important bearing upon prices. As a rule, the nearer the book is to the original state in which it left the publisher's hands, the more valuable it will be.

The art of the second-hand bookseller requires a knowledge of the science of bibliography, and painstaking attention to the details and orderly arrangement of stock, with a classification by subjects. Other things are desirable, but these are indispensable. The stock of second-hand books should be kept in such a manner that any book inquired for can be instantly located. Nothing is more irritating both to the dealer and to the customer than an unsuccessful search for a book known to be in stock. There are probably very few books which at some time will not be desired by some person; in fact, a large portion of the books in a dealer's stock would be instantly sold if he could understand the particular feature which would be of interest to the possible customer. Usually, the feature is there, and the customer exists. It is the bookseller's business to find both.

There is no business in which a thorough knowledge of the stock and a painstaking attention to small details are of more importance than in the selling of books, and without them the second-hand bookseller's establishment degenerates to the level of the junk shop.