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diff --git a/22605.txt b/22605.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c2a3de --- /dev/null +++ b/22605.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1825 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Book-Lovers, Bibliomaniacs and Book Clubs, by +Henry H. Harper + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Book-Lovers, Bibliomaniacs and Book Clubs + +Author: Henry H. Harper + +Release Date: September 15, 2007 [EBook #22605] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOOK-LOVERS, BIBLIOMANIACS... *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Lybarger, Christine D. and the +booksmiths at http://www.eBookForge.net + + + + + + + + + +BOOKLOVERS, BIBLIOMANIACS + +AND + +BOOK CLUBS + +[Illustration] + + + + + Book-Lovers + Bibliomaniacs + + and + + Book Clubs + +By + +HENRY H. HARPER + + Privately Printed + At The Riverside Press + Cambridge + + BOSTON + MDCDIV + +COPYRIGHT 1904 BY H. H. HARPER + +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + + + +PREFATORY + + +HAVING been asked to make a few remarks upon Book-loving, Book-buying, +and Book Clubs,--not for publication before the great audience of +readers, but for the exclusive use of the members of a private Book +Club,--I venture thus to offer my views, hoping that in the light of +my own personal experience I may be able to give a few useful hints +and suggestions to those who may peruse the pages which follow. + +If this little tome, in which are recorded the reflections of one who +for many years has mingled with publishers, booksellers, bibliophiles, +collectors, and bibliomaniacs, should prove to be of any interest or +service, and is found worthy of a small space in some sequestered nook +in the library, where it may in silent repose behold its more worthy +and resplendent companions, the fondest ambition of the author will be +gratified beyond peradventure. + +THE AUTHOR. + + + + +BOOKLOVERS, BIBLIOMANIACS + +AND + +BOOK CLUBS + + +BOOK-collecting is undeniably one of the most engaging pursuits in +which a refined and artistic taste may be indulged. From the earliest +times, and even before the days of printing, this pleasant diversion +has been pursued by persons of moderate means as well as by those of +wealth and distinction, and every succeeding generation of +book-collectors has exceeded its predecessors in numbers and in +enthusiasm. The alluring influences of bibliophilism, or book-loving, +have silently crept into thousands of homes, whether beautiful or +humble; for the library is properly regarded as one of the most +important features of home as well as mental equipment. + +In _The House Beautiful_ William C. Gannett emphasizes the importance +of considering the library as foremost in furnishing a home. He says: +"It means admission to the new marvels of science, if one chooses +admission. It means an introduction to the noblest company that all +the generations have produced, if we claim the introduction. +Remembering this, how can one help wishing to furnish his house with +some such furniture? A poet for a table piece! A philosopher upon the +shelf! Browning or Emerson for a fireside friend! + +"A family's rank in thought and taste can well be gauged by the books +and papers that lie upon the shelf or table of the library." + +Not many years ago, Mr. Howard Pyle said: "I sometimes think that we +are upon the edge of some new era in which the art of beautifying +books with pictures shall suddenly be uplifted into a higher and a +different plane of excellence; when ornate printed colour and perfect +reproduction shall truly depict the labour of the patient draughtsman +who strives so earnestly to beautify the world in which he lives, and +to lend a grace to the living therein." The prophecy is already +fulfilled, and a modern book, in order to win favor among present-day +bibliophiles, must embody an harmonious assimilation of many arts. + +The ardor of possessing books, commonly called bibliomania, also +styled bibliophilism and "biblio"--whatever else that has suggested +itself to the fruitful imaginations of dozens of felicitous writers +upon the subject,--is described by Dibdin as a "disease which grows +with our growth, and strengthens with our strength." Kings and queens +have not been immune from this prevalent though harmless malady. The +vast resources of Henry VII were employed in collecting a library of +which a modern millionaire collector might be justly proud. Many +specimens of his magnificent collection, bearing the royal stamp, are +now to be found in the British Museum. Queen Elizabeth and Lady Jane +Grey were submissive victims of the bibliomania. It is worthy of note +that while there were but few women book-collectors in the Elizabethan +period, there are at the present time in our own country almost as +many women as there are men engaged in this fascinating pursuit. As +late as 1843, Dibdin remarks that "it is a remarkable circumstance, +that the bibliomania has almost uniformly confined its attacks to the +_male_ sex, and among people in the higher and middling classes of +society. It has raged chiefly in palaces, castles, halls, and gay +mansions, and those things which in general are supposed not to be +inimical to health,--such as cleanliness, spaciousness, and splendour, +are only so many inducements to the introduction and propagation of +the bibliomania!" + +It should be remembered, however, that one possessing a fondness for +books is not necessarily a bibliomaniac. There is as much difference +between the inclinations and taste of a bibliophile and a bibliomaniac +as between a slight cold and the advanced stages of consumption. Some +one has said that "to call a bibliophile a bibliomaniac is to conduct +a lover, languishing for his maiden's smile, to an asylum for the +demented, and to shut him up in the ward for the incurables." _Biblio_ +relates to books, and _mania_ is synonymous with madness, insanity, +violent derangement, mental aberration, etc. A bibliomaniac, +therefore, might properly be called an insane or crazy bibliophile. It +is, however, a harmless insanity, and even in its worst stages it +injures no one. Rational treatment may cure a bibliomaniac and bring +him (or her) back into the congenial folds of bibliophilism, unless, +perchance, the victim has passed beyond the curative stages into the +vast and dreamy realms of extra-illustrating, or "grangerizing." +People usually have a horror of insane persons, and one might well +beware of indulging a taste for books, if there were any reasonable +probability that this would lead to mental derangement. There could be +furniture-maniacs, rug-maniacs, and china-maniacs just as well as +book-maniacs, but people do not generally hesitate to purchase +furniture, rugs, and china for fear of going crazy on the subject, and +no more reason is there why rational persons should hesitate to make a +collection of good books for a library, for fear of being called +bibliomaniacs. In _Sesame and Lilies_ Ruskin says: "If a man spends +lavishly on his library, you call him mad--a bibliomaniac. But you +never call one a horse-maniac, though men ruin themselves every day by +their horses, and you do not hear of people ruining themselves by +their books." + +This is preeminently the age of collectors, and scarcely a week passes +without the discovery of some new dementia in this direction. Only a +few days ago I read of a new delirium which threatens disaster to the +feline progeny; it may be called the _cat-tail mania_, seeing that its +victims possess an insatiable desire for amputating and preserving the +caudal appendages of all the neighborhood cats. A self-confessed +member of this cult was recently arrested in one of the eastern +States. + +There are several species of bibliophiles; there are _many_ species +of bibliomaniacs. Some admire books for what they contain; others for +their beautiful type, hand-made paper, artistic illustrations, ample +margins, untrimmed edges, etc.; and there are others who attach more +importance to the limited number of copies issued than to either the +contents or workmanship. + +If a book is to attain any considerable commercial value and increase +in worth year after year, it is of first importance that the number of +copies issued be actually limited; and the greater the restriction the +more likelihood that the monetary value will be steadily enhanced. But +it must not be forgotten that the mere "limitation" will not of itself +create a furore among judicious book-buyers; the book, or set of +books, should rest upon some more secure basis of valuation than that +of scarcity. + +Dibdin says in his _Bibliomania_, issued in 1811: "About twelve years +ago I was rash enough to publish a small volume of poems, with my name +affixed. They were the productions of my juvenile years; and I need +hardly say at this period how ashamed I am of their authorship. The +monthly and analytical reviews did me the kindness of just tolerating +them, and of warning me not to commit any future trespass upon the +premises of Parnassus. I struck off five hundred copies, and was glad +to get rid of half of them as wastepaper; the remaining half has been +partly destroyed by my own hands, and has partly mouldered away in +oblivion amidst the dust of booksellers' shelves. My only consolation +is that the volume is _exceedingly rare_!" + +The contents, first to be considered, should be worthy of +preservation; next in importance is the selection of appropriate type, +and the size and style of page, which should be determined by the nature +of the work and the period in which it was written. The size of the book +and the margins of the page must be carefully considered in order to +harmonize with the text-page. In choosing illustrations it is important +to determine whether they should be ornate and illustrative, or classic +and emblematical in design. The paper should be handmade, to order, and +of such correct size as not to lose the deckle edges in cutting; and the +printing should be done in "forms" of not more than eight. The paper +should be scientifically moistened before printing, and the ink allowed +several weeks in which to dry before handling the printed sheets. The +bindings should harmonize with interiors, and due care taken against +over-decoration of the covers. These few technical hints will serve to +acquaint the book-lover with some at least of the many important +features which must be regarded in the preparation of a fine book,--a +book fitted to demand and merit a place upon the library shelves of +discriminating bibliophiles, and as well increase in demand and price +whenever thereafter its copies may "turn up" for sale. + +Next in importance, after considering literary and mechanical fitness, +and the limitation of the work, is the question of distribution; its +scope, and the class of subscribers. The stock of a corporation, if +limited to a reasonable number of shares and issued only to a few expert +investors of high standing, and for tangible considerations, will +obviously be considered a safer and more attractive investment than if +it be scattered indiscriminately among a class of professional +manipulators for stock-jobbing purposes. With such a stock where thus +closely held for investment purposes, an order for a few shares may +largely elevate its market value. But if the stock were issued in +unlimited quantities, the monetary value would be entirely lost. Again, +if the stock had no corporeal assets as a basis for its issue, the +"limited and registered" clause could not sustain it in the market. + +So it is with books: if the number of copies issued be held within a +reasonable constraint, consistent with the price charged per copy, and +if they are subscribed for by book-lovers who prize them for their +literary or historic value and luxurious appearance no less than for +pecuniary values, they are not likely to find their way into the +bookstalls, or to be "picked up" in auction rooms at less than their +original price. This condition applies particularly to legitimate club +editions and privately printed editions. If an edition of five hundred +copies is widely distributed throughout the country, it is reasonable +to assume that the speculative market therefor would be less apt to +suffer from congestion than if the sale of the whole number of sets +were confined to one locality. + +[Illustration] + +Passing now to those who, in one way or another, are to meet with +and handle the completed book, we may begin with a class of _literary +barnacles_ who stick about the libraries of their friends and of the +public institutions, and feed their bibliophilistic appetites on what +others have spent much time and money in collecting. These may perhaps +more appropriately be called biblio-spongers, and are of all ranks in +the community, many even owning beautiful homes, and having ample +resources at command; but while enjoying the congenial atmosphere of a +well-furnished library, and the delights of caressing the precious and +wisely selected tomes of others, they are still of such temperaments +that they would no more think of _buying_ books than would another of +buying an opera-house in order to satisfy theatre-going propensities. +These people should be taught that fine books, like friends, are not +loanable or exchangeable chattels. They will argue that there is no +use spending money for books, because they reside within easy reach of +a public library where such books as they desire are readily +obtainable, or perhaps suggest that "I have free access to my friend +Smith's library; he scarcely ever uses it;" without reflecting that +Smith would probably use it more, if his friends used it less. And yet +such folk will still incur the needless expense of providing their own +homes with chairs, unless, haply, such homes may chance to be within +convenient reach of some park or public institution where _free_ seats +are provided. + +Most of us are disposed to idealize a besotted bibliomaniac as a +harmless being whose companionship and favor are neither to be courted +nor particularly avoided,--a sort of shellfish basking on the bank of +life's flow in whatever sunshine it may absorb, and paying little heed +to the thoughts or actions of others. + +The following curious inscription which is found on an old +copperplate print of the famous bibliomaniac, John Murray, will +illustrate one of the varieties:-- + + Hoh Maister John Murray of Sacomb, + The Works of old Time to collect was his pride, + Till Oblivion dreaded his Care: + Regardless of Friends, intestate he dy'd, + So the Rooks and the Crows were his Heir. + +Mr. Nathan Haskell Dole, President of The Bibliophile Society, aptly +describes a miserly bibliomaniac as a + + Victim of a frenzied passion, + He is lean and lank and crusty; + Naught he cares for dress or fashion + And his rusty coat smells musty; + +while in characterizing the natural impulses of true bibliophilism, he +says that + + Bibliophiles take pride in showing + All the gems of their collections; + They are generous in bestowing, + They have genuine affections. + +Peignot says a bibliomaniac is one who has "a passion for possessing +books; not so much to be instructed by them as to gratify the eye by +looking on them." This presumption is about as reasonable as it would +be to say that a man is a monomaniac because he gets married when he +is in no special need of a house-servant, or body-guard. + +In his _Bibliomania_ Dibdin enumerates eight symptoms of this "darling +passion or insanity," in the following order: "A passion for +large-paper copies, uncut copies, extra-illustrated copies, unique +copies, copies printed on vellum, first editions, true editions, and +black-letter copies." + +The first of these should be omitted from the symptomatic category: +it would be fallacy to assume that one is a maniac because one admires +the ample margins and paramount qualities of these large-paper copies, +which Dibdin himself says are "printed upon paper of a larger +dimension and superior quality than the ordinary copies. The presswork +and ink are always proportionately better in these copies, and the +price of them is enhanced according to their beauty and rarity. . . . +That a volume so published has a more pleasing aspect cannot be +denied." He adds that "this symptom of the bibliomania is at the +present day both general and violent." No wonder! And yet the charming +Dr. Ferriar dips his pen in gall and writes the following satirical +lines upon this highly commendable "weakness:"-- + + But devious oft, from every classic Muse, + The keen collector, meaner paths will choose. + And first the margin's breadth his soul employs, + Pure, snowy, broad, the type of nobler joys. + In vain might Homer roll the tide of song, + Or Horace smile, or Tully charm the throng, + If, crost by Pallas' ire, the trenchant blade + Or too oblique or near the edge invade, + The Bibliomane exclaims with haggard eye, + "No margin!"--turns in haste, and scorns to buy. + +Dibdin ventures to further assert that "the day is not far distant +when _females_ will begin to have as high a relish for large-paper +copies of every work as their male rivals." If he could return to this +sphere and behold the enormously increased number of women +bibliophiles in our country at the present time, the subject would +doubtless furnish him with a congenial theme for another of his +rambling discourses, this time perhaps under the caption of +_Bibliowomania_. He was far in advance of the age in which he lived; +for although he had very little upon which to base the prediction, he +yet prophesied that not many years would lapse before women would +invade the fields of book-collecting and prove themselves valiant +competitors in the market. This, in fact, is now common enough, and I +myself have known of many instances in auction-rooms where a small +army of rampant bibliomaniacs have been obliged to retreat and to +abandon their pursuit of some coveted treasure, on finding it boldly +covered by a _carte-blanche_ order from a feminine competitor. Women +rarely appear in the book auction-room, but leave their orders to be +executed through a trusted broker, and many a collector has found +himself suddenly obliged to soar aloft to dizzy heights in quest of +some prize, on being thus lifted and pursued by one of the +representatives of an unseen and unknown member of the gentler sex. + +Many people suppose the term "uncut," characteristic of Dibdin's +second "symptom," to signify that the leaves of such volume as may be +concerned have never been severed, whether for convenience of reading +or otherwise. "Uncut," however, in its technical sense does not imply +that the sheets are folded and bound just as they came from the press. +The leaves may all be cut, and the tops trimmed, and even gilded, +without striking terror to the heart of the bibliomaniac. Dibdin, +indeed, treats this last mentioned symptom in merely a superficial way +and dismisses it with a few cursory remarks, viz: "It may be defined a +passion to possess books of which the edges have never been sheared by +the binder's tools." This definition is vague and unsatisfactory. Mr. +Adrian H. Joline (_Diversions of a Booklover_, Harper & Bros., New +York, 1903,--a charming book that should be read by every +book-fancier) discourses upon the subject more intelligently; he +observes that the word _uncut_ appears to be a stumbling-block to the +unwary, and says: "The casual purchaser is sometimes deceived by it, +for he thinks that it means that the leaves have not been severed by +the paper-knife. I have read with much glee divers indignant letters +in the very interesting 'Saturday Review' of one of our best New York +journals, in which the barbarian writers have denounced the _uncut_, +and have assailed in vigorous but misguided phrases those who prefer +to have their books in that condition. Henry Stevens tells us that +even such a famous collector as James Lenox, founder of the splendid +library into whose magnificent mysteries so few of us dare to +penetrate, was misled by the word _uncut_, and chided Stevens for +buying an _uncut_ book whose pages were all open. He says: 'Again when +his tastes had grown into the mysteries of _uncut_ leaves, he returned +a very rare, early New England tract, expensively bound, because it +did not answer the description of _uncut_ in the invoice, for the +leaves had manifestly been cut open and read.' When it was explained +to him that in England the term _uncut_ signified only that the edges +were not _trimmed_, he shelved the rarity with the remark that he +'learned something every day.' . . . Perhaps the Caxton Club of +Chicago is wise in describing its productions as 'with edges +untrimmed.' Even a Philistine ought to be able to comprehend that +description, although I once knew a man who supposed that a book +'bound in boards' had sides composed of planking." + +Dr. Ferriar's satirical lines in his _Second Maxim_ will find +sympathizers among admirers of uncuts:-- + + Who, with fantastic pruning-hook, + Dresses the borders of his book, + Merely to ornament its look-- + Amongst philosophers a fop is: + What if, perchance, he thence discover + Facilities in turning over, + The virtuoso is a lover + Of coyer charms in "uncut copies." + +I have been requested to "explain the reason, if there be any, for +leaving leaf-edges fastened [unopened]--even in evanescent +magazines--and why people keep books in this condition, without +looking at the contents." The reason why the binder does not open all +the leaves is that it involves additional labor and expense which the +publisher usually does not care to incur, as it does not essentially +add to the selling value. Indeed, some collectors hesitate to open the +leaves of their books with the paper-knife, for fear that the selling +price would be thereby depreciated. This is an entirely mistaken idea, +though it prevails very generally among those who do not understand +the real meaning of the term "uncut." Most booksellers prefer having +the leaves of the volumes all opened, as many buyers and readers +object to the nuisance of cutting them open. Some of the magazine +publishers have modern folding machines equipped with blades for +severing all the leaves. In fine book-making, however, most of the +folding and cutting is done by hand. + +The third "symptom" defined by Dibdin, viz: "extra-illustrating," +commonly called _grangerizing_, is really so far removed from the +indicative stages of bibliomania as to render it entirely +inappropriate as a proper single characteristic; it is the whole +disease in its worst form. Fortunately, it is not a frequent infirmity +among our present day bibliomaniacs. I cannot refrain from quoting Mr. +William P. Cutter's vehement denunciation of the class of literary +foragers who are thus affected. He observes that "this craze for +'extra-illustrating' seizes remorselessly the previously harmless +bibliophile, and leads him to become a wicked despoiler and mutilator +of books. The extra-illustrator is nearly always the person +responsible for the decrepit condition of many of the books which +'unfortunately lack the rare portrait,' or have, 'as usual,' some +valuable plate or map lacking. Were this professional despoiler, or +his minions, the ruthless booksellers, to destroy the sad wrecks which +result from their piratical depredations, all would be well. But they +set these poor maimed hulks adrift again, to seek salvage from some +deluded collector, or some impoverished or ignorant librarian. + +"It is curious that the very volume in which our reverend friend +Dibdin so heartily condemns these inexcusable bandits, should be +seized on as a receptacle for their ill-gotten prizes. May the spectre +of Thomas Frognall Dibdin haunt the souls of these impious rascals, +and torture them with never-ceasing visions of unobtainable and rare +portraits, non-existent autographs, and elusive engravings in general! +They even dare to profane your sacred work, the _Biblia_ of +book-lovers, by the 'insertion' of crudities invented by their +fiendish imagination. They have committed the 'unpardonable sin' of +bibliophilism. Not only do they carry on this wicked work, but +actually flaunt their base crimes in the face of their innocent +brethren. Hearken to this:-- + +"DIBDIN, T.F. _Bibliomania._ London, 1811. Extended to five volumes, +with extra printed titles, and having eight hundred engravings +inserted, comprising views, old titles(!), vignettes, and six hundred +and seventy-five portraits of authors, actors, poets, sovereigns, +artists, prelates, &c., &c., 250 guineas." + +Limited space prevents me from making any remarks upon the other five +"symptoms," none of which are of any special interest, except to +collectors to whose eccentricities they particularly relate. + +As to "Autograph Editions," the craze for these continues without +abatement. To me, this has always been one of the unsolved mysteries +of the book-mania. I can readily appreciate how a collector would +prize an author's inscribed copy of some choice edition, but why +intelligent people should be allured into the belief that an author's +stereotyped autograph displayed upon a front page gives any added +value to a set of subscription books, will to me, I fear, forever +remain a disentangled enigma. I was once applied to by an agent +representing a $6000 "Autograph Edition" of Jean Jacques Rousseau. +Having never seen Rousseau's autograph, I asked that it be shown me. +"Oh," said the agent, "Rousseau himself don't sign the copies, but the +set will be signed by the publishers." Would not a much less expensive +and more expeditious way of obtaining publishers' autographs be found +in writing a postal card of inquiry for the "prices and terms" on +their publications? + +Gilpin has left the following quaint account of the eccentric old +bibliomaniac, Henry Hastings, the uncompanionable neighbor of Anthony +Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury. The accompanying pen-and-ink sketch +represents Louis Maynelle's idealization of this interesting +character; it was made especially for this volume:-- + +"Mr. Hastings was low of stature, but strong and active, of a ruddy +complexion, with flaxen hair. His clothes were always of green cloth. +His house was of the old fashion; in the midst of a large park, well +stocked with deer, rabbits, and fish-ponds. He had a long narrow +bowling green in it, and used to play with round sand bowls. Here too +he had a banqueting room built, like a stand in a large tree. + +[Illustration] + +"He kept all sorts of hounds that ran buck, fox, hare, otter, and +badger; and had hawks of all kinds, both long and short winged. His +great hall was commonly strewed with marrow-bones, and full of +hawk-perches, hounds, spaniels, and terriers. The upper end of it was +hung with fox-skins of this and the last year's killing. Here and +there a polecat was intermixed and hunter's poles in great abundance. +The parlour was a large room, completely furnished in the same style. +On a broad hearth, paved with brick, lay some of the choicest +terriers, hounds and spaniels. One or two of the great chairs had +litters of cats in them, which were not to be disturbed. Of these, +three or four always attended him at dinner, and a little white wand +lay by his trencher, to defend it if they were too troublesome. In the +windows, which were very large, lay his arrows, cross-bows, and other +accoutrements. The corners of the room were filled with his best +hunting and hawking poles. His oyster table stood at the lower end of +the room, which was in constant use twice a day, all the year round; +for he never failed to eat oysters both at dinner and supper, with +which the neighbouring town of Pool supplied him. + +"At the upper end of the room stood a small table with a double desk, +one side of which held a church Bible; the other the _Book of +Martyrs_. On different tables in the room lay hawks' hoods, bells, old +hats with their crowns thrust in, full of pheasant eggs, tables, dice, +cards, and store of tobacco pipes. At one end of this room was a door, +which opened into a closet, where stood bottles of strong beer and +wine, which never came out but in single glasses, which was the rule +of the house, for he never exceeded himself nor permitted others to +exceed. + +"Answering to this closet was a door into an old chapel, which had +been long disused for devotion; but in the pulpit, as the safest +place, was always to be found a cold chine of beef, a venison pasty, a +gammon of bacon, or a great apple-pye, with thick crust, well baked. +His table cost him not much, though it was good to eat at. His sports +supplied all but beef and mutton, except on Fridays, when he had the +best of fish. He never wanted a London pudding, and he always sang it +in with 'My part lies therein-a.' He drank a glass or two of wine at +meals; put syrup of gilly-flowers into his sack, and had always a tun +glass of small beer standing by him, which he often stirred about with +rosemary. He lived to be an hundred, and never lost his eyesight, nor +used spectacles. He got on horseback without help, and rode to the +death of the stag till he was past four-score." + +It is said of George Steevens, the famous Shakespearian collector, +that he "lived in a retired and eligibly situated house, just on the +rise of Hampstead Heath. It was paled in, and had immediately before +it a verdant lawn skirted with a variety of picturesque trees. Here +Steevens lived, embosomed in books, shrubs and trees, being either too +coy or too unsociable to mingle with his neighbours. His habits were +indeed peculiar: not much to be envied or imitated, as they sometimes +betrayed the flights of a madman and sometimes the asperities of a +cynic. His attachments were warm but fickle both in choice and +duration. He would frequently part from one with whom he had lived on +terms of close intimacy, without any assignable cause, and his +enmities once fixed were immovable. There was indeed a kind of venom +in his antipathies, nor would he suffer his ears to be assailed or his +heart to relent in favour of those against whom he entertained +animosities, however capricious and unfounded. In one pursuit only was +he consistent: one object only did he woo with an inflexible +attachment; and that object was Dame Drama." + +In Dibdin's Bibliomaniacal romance, "Philemon" is credited with the +following narrative concerning one who was probably a bibliomaniac in +all that the compound sense of the term implies:-- + +"You all know my worthy friend Ferdinand, a very _helluo librorum_. +It was on a warm evening in summer, about an hour after sunset, that +Ferdinand made his way towards a small inn or rather village alehouse +that stood on a gentle eminence skirted by a luxuriant wood. He +entered, oppressed with heat and fatigued, but observed, on walking up +to the porch 'smothered with honeysuckles,' as I think Cowper +expresses it, that everything around bore the character of neatness +and simplicity. The hollyhocks were tall and finely variegated in +blossom, the pinks were carefully tied up, and roses of all colours +and fragrance stood around in a compacted form like a body-guard +forbidding the rude foot of trespasser to intrude. Within, Ferdinand +found corresponding simplicity and comfort. + +"The 'gude man' of the house was spending the evening with a +neighbour, but poached eggs and a rasher of bacon, accompanied with a +flagon of sparkling ale, gave our guest no occasion to doubt the +hospitality of the house on account of the absence of its master. A +little past ten, after reading some dozen pages in a volume of Sir +Edgerton Brydges's _Censura Literaria_, which he happened to carry +about him, and partaking pretty largely of the aforesaid eggs and ale, +Ferdinand called for his candle and retired to repose. His bedroom was +small but neat and airy; at one end and almost facing the window there +was a pretty large closet with the door open; but Ferdinand was too +fatigued to indulge any curiosity about what it might contain. + +"He extinguished his candle and sank upon his bed to rest. The heat +of the evening seemed to increase. He became restless, and throwing +off his quilt and drawing his curtain aside, turned towards the window +to inhale the last breeze which yet might be wafted from the +neighbouring heath. But no zephyr was stirring. On a sudden a broad +white flash of lightning--nothing more than summer heat--made our +bibliomaniac lay his head upon his pillow and turn his eyes in an +opposite direction. The lightning increased; and one flash more vivid +than the rest illuminated the interior of the closet and made manifest +an old mahogany book-case stored with books. Up started Ferdinand and +put his phosphoric treasures into action. He lit his match and trimmed +his candle and rushed into the closet, no longer mindful of the +heavens, which now were in a blaze with the summer heat. + +"The book-case was guarded both with glass and brass wires; and the +key--nowhere to be found! Hapless man! for to his astonishment he saw +_Morte d'Arthur_, printed by Caxton--_Richard Coeur de Lion_, by W. de +Worde--_The Widow Edyth_, by Pynson--and, towering above the rest, a +large-paper copy of the original edition of _Prince's Worthies of +Devon_, while lying transversely at the top reposed John Weever's +_Epigrams_! + +"'The spirit of Captain Cox is here revived,' exclaimed Ferdinand; +while on looking above he saw a curious set of old plays with _Dido, +Queen of Carthage_, at the head of them! What should he do? No key! No +chance of handling such precious tomes till the morning light with the +landlord returned! + +"He moved backwards and forwards with a hurried step, prepared his +pocketknife to cut out the panes of glass and untwist the brazen +wires; but a 'prick of conscience' made him desist from carrying his +wicked design into execution. Ferdinand then advanced towards the +window, and, throwing it open and listening to the rich notes of a +concert of nightingales, forgot the cause of his torments--his +situation reminded him of _The Churl and the Bird_--he rushed with +renewed madness into the cupboard, then searched for the bell, but +finding none, he made all sorts of strange noises. The landlady rose, +and, conceiving robbers to have broken into the stranger's room, came +and demanded the cause of the disturbance. + +"'Madam,' said Ferdinand, 'is there no possibility of inspecting the +books in the cupboard? Where is the key?' + +"'Alack, sir,' rejoined the landlady, 'what is there that thus +disturbs you in the sight of those books? Let me shut the closet-door +and take away the key of it, and you will then sleep in peace.' + +"'Sleep in peace!' resumed Ferdinand; 'Sleep in wretchedness, you +mean! I can have no peace unless you indulge me with the key of the +book-case. To whom do such gems belong?' + +"'Sir, they are not stolen goods!' + +"'Madam, I ask pardon. I did not mean to question their being honest +property, but'-- + +"'Sir, they are not mine or my husband's.' + +"'Who, madam, who is the lucky owner?' + +"'An elderly gentleman of the name of--sir, I am not at liberty to +mention his name, but they belong to an elderly gentleman.' + +"'Will he part with them? Where does he live? Can you introduce me to +him?' + +"The good woman soon answered all Ferdinand's rapid queries, but the +result was by no means satisfactory to him. + +"He learnt that these uncommonly scarce and precious volumes belonged +to an ancient gentleman whose name was studiously concealed, but who +was in the habit of coming once or twice a week, during the autumn, to +smoke his pipe and lounge over his books, sometimes making extracts +from them and sometimes making observations in the margin with a +pencil. Whenever a very curious passage occurred, he would take out a +small memorandum book and put on a pair of large tortoise-shell +spectacles with powerful magnifying glasses in order to insert this +passage with particular care and neatness. He usually concluded his +evening amusements by sleeping in the very bed in which Ferdinand had +been lying. + +"Such intelligence only sharpened the curiosity and increased the +restlessness of poor Ferdinand. He retired to his bibliomaniacal bed, +but not to repose. The morning sunbeams, which irradiated the bookcase +with complete effect, shone upon his pallid countenance and thoughtful +brow. He rose at five, walked in the meadows till seven, returned and +breakfasted, stole upstairs to take a farewell peep at his beloved +_Morte d'Arthur_, sighed 'three times and more,' paid his reckoning, +apologized for the night's adventure, told the landlady he would +shortly come and visit her again and try to pay his respects to the +anonymous old gentleman. + +"'Meanwhile,' said he, 'I will leave no bookseller's shop in the +neighbourhood unvisited till I gain intelligence of his name and +character.' + +"The landlady eyed him steadily, took a pinch of snuff with a +significant air, and returning with a smile of triumph to her kitchen, +thanked her stars that she had got rid of such a madman!" + +To return, however, to the subject more immediately in hand, it +will be observed that the present age is more prolific of bibliophiles +than any preceding one, and that the growing interest in collecting +fine books is attended by a relatively increasing demand for a higher +standard of excellency of manufacture. A few years ago, there were +only two or three publishers in this country who "specialized" in fine +editions, while at present there are no less than thirty publishing +houses, large and small, and as many more "private presses" engaged in +the production of beautiful books to appease the demands of +book-buyers. Many of these are well established and conducted upon +thoroughly honest business principles; some, unfortunately, are not. +The publication and sale of books--especially the so-called "de luxe" +editions--is, like some other branches of industry, beset with +numerous evils; so many sharp practices, indeed, having been resorted +to by a few conscienceless publishers, and by a certain class of +unscrupulous agents, that buyers have become wary, not to say weary, +of being made the victims of their deceptive inventions. It is indeed +lamentable that a few such pestiferous schemers should thus bring a +certain degree of reproach upon the entire publishing business. It is +a common practice among these _soi-disant_ publishers--many of whom +possess neither capital, credit, nor sense of honor--to buy some lot +of etchings or old prints from a junk-shop, or second-hand dealer, at +a trifling price, and thereupon work the same off on credulous +admirers of rare prints for possibly a thousand times their real +value. And it is a common practice for these insidious sharks further +to prey upon unsuspecting book-buyers by obtaining publications of +reputable houses and falsifying them by the insertion of spurious +titles calculated to delude the buyer into the belief that there are +"only fifty copies issued." Many of them are ostracized book-salesmen +who have at some previous time enjoyed the confidence of their +employers, but have been ex-communicated by all honest publishers and +booksellers on account of dishonest proclivities. They are therefore +set adrift to prey upon the public, and are a constant menace to both +publishers and buyers. I shall pay my further respects to these +counterfeiters later on when I come to the subject of Book Clubs; in +the mean while, it need hardly be pointed out that reprehensible +methods of this kind are uniformly condemned among all respectable +publishers and book-dealers, and that buyers should cautiously +discriminate against those who practice them. It is not surprising +that even the honest publishers and dealers themselves are +occasionally made the scapegoats of these obnoxious parasites; but the +astute collector is rarely "caught" by their schemes; and after a +book-buyer has passed the primary or "experience" stages of +book-collecting, he (or she) is designated as a "dead one," in the +common parlance of the underground trade here referred to. Fortunate, +indeed, are the bibliophiles who have passed unscathed into the +category of "dead ones." + +That my present condemnatory observations are not directed against +that great majority of publishers, booksellers, and agents whose +methods in business are founded upon sincerity and integrity, will, I +take it, be clearly understood; and I am, indeed, forced partially to +disagree with Mr. Joline in his vigorous and general proscription of +"subscription book-agents," for experience shows that there are many +worthy people of this class, however much they may suffer by the sins +of some of their kind. An acquaintance once said to me that he would +"_never buy another book_," because he had been "buncoed" by a +book-agent, to whom he otherwise referred with an uncomplimentary +adjective. But this did not convince me that his position was more +logical than that of the man who declared he would never take another +bath because a watch had been stolen from his pocket while he was in +bathing at some beach resort. It is incomprehensible that any one +could imagine that our paper currency system is fraudulent because +there are a few "green-goods" men in the country, or because +counterfeit bills appear every now and then. + +We read so much in the papers nowadays of the extravagant sums paid +for rare books by our modern millionaire bibliomaniacs that one is apt +to become somewhat panic-stricken upon experiencing the first symptoms +of the bibliomania. While these more opulent victims of book-madness +vie with one another in the auction-room, the rational bibliophile +sits in the gallery and views with silent awe and amazement the +scrimmage over some apparently trifling volume that wouldn't fetch ten +cents, but for the fact that it is "unique," and that so and so paid a +stupendous sum for it at some previous sale. Despair not, dear +bibliophile, of never being able to join in the mad scramble for these +"uniques;" nor need you feel that they are essential to the formation +of a library. They possess no virtues perceptible to the ordinary +bibliophile, and it requires all the eloquence of a Cicero to +elucidate their charms when displaying them to friends. For after all, +the chief point of interest in such books is their cost price, and +this you may be obliged to refrain from mentioning for fear you will +be accused of being mentally unbalanced. + +It is not necessary to squander a fortune in collecting a library, +nor to be hasty in buying every book you come across. Better go slowly +and select wisely; you will derive more enjoyment from it, and in +later years have less to charge to "experience account." + +There are a few "busy" book-collectors who intrust the selection of +their books to secretaries or librarians, and thus sacrifice the +keenest enjoyment of this captivating pursuit. Of all absurdities, +this seems the most insupportable. It would be far more sensible to +have your secretary select your friends, because if you should happen +not to like these, you could abandon them without ceremony or expense. +Why not also attend the opera and your various social functions by +proxy, through your secretary? If he were as good a courtier as he is +"literary adviser," he might succeed in getting as much enjoyment out +of the receptions and dinners as you would, if you were to attend in +person. Then, think of the _time_ you would save! We frequently hear +the remark: "I have no time to devote to my library. I am very fond of +books, but haven't time to collect or read them." And yet seeing what +may be done in this regard by care and system, and that the greatest +readers have been the busiest men, it seems strange that persons of +intelligence should thus express themselves; should admit such obvious +fatuity of view and procedure. + +In referring to this class of book-buyers, Roswell Field says, "The +book-lover, so-called, who lacks any of the thrills that go with the +_establishment_ as well as the enjoyment of a library in all of its +appointments has deprived himself of many of the most pleasurable +literary and semi-literary emotions. That bibliophile never pats his +horse or his dog. To him his books are merely tools of trade, +accessories to knowledge, to be pawed over, thrown away and replaced +by new copies when worn out. He glories in the fact that his books are +his servants rather than his companions, and he affects to despise and +laugh at the sentimental relation which others have established with +their books. Look out for that man! He is not of us; he is not of the +elect; there is as little of warmth and the genial glow of fellowship +in his library as in the middle gallery of the catacombs in the Appian +Way. His very books cry out against him; but he hears them not, for he +is deaf as well as blind." + +One of the busiest men in New York City, whose name is familiar in +financial circles throughout the civilized world, is one of the most +voracious collectors of the age. He probably transacts more business +in a day than half a dozen ordinarily busy men, and yet finds time to +give his personal attention to every minute detail of his vast +collections, to which are added hundreds, and probably thousands, of +items every year. This is only one of many such examples among our +busiest men. + +I have often heard persons lament in a pensive and apologetic sort of +way, "Yes, I have a great weakness for fine books." The very presence +of this mis-called weakness, however, is unmistakable proof of great +mental strength, and those who suffer from it may find solace in the +fact that the giants of commerce, leading statesmen, and great men of +affairs in general are frequently thus afflicted all through the +periods of their greatest activity and success. What can possibly +afford a more agreeable relaxation from the toils and perplexities of +the day than to recline in an easy chair before an open grate fire in +the library, surrounded by the silently reposing tomes which record +and preserve the noblest thoughts of past and present generations? +Surely no enjoyment in the home or office can be more delectable and +unfailing in assuaging the worry and solicitude of a strenuous life +than the silent companionship of books. It is a noteworthy fact that a +large percentage of the leading stock brokers, bankers, active +statesmen, and sedulous lawyers are bibliophiles. I attribute this to +the fact that all of these vocations are extremely taxing upon the +nervous system, and those men who are busily engaged in them are, +during the intermittent hours of rest and recreation, naturally +inclined to seek the most enjoyable and refreshing diversions; for, as +Horace says,-- + + . . . nunc veterum libris, nunc somno et inertibus horis + Ducere sollicitae jocunda oblivia vitae. + + Along with old books, or a nap, and divine hours of leisure-- + To taste thus forgetfulness--sweet, in the midst of life's troubles. + +In an article written for The Bibliophile Society's (1903) Year +Book, Caroline Ticknor says, "The true book-lover loves his books for +their helpfulness, for their companionship; but he regards them as +well for their elegant settings." She also observes that "strange as +the anomaly may seem, there are still many persons of ample means, and +some education, who, although they would be horrified at the very +thought of admitting to the home a cheap rug or vase, to destroy the +harmony and bring discord and confusion into the luxuriance of the +furnishings, yet will nonchalantly tolerate the incongruity of a +miserable fragment of a library made up of the cheapest and meanest +editions to be found in the market, such as would be scorned by those +of the most limited means and plebeian tastes. These will be found +inappropriately housed amid the most sumptuous surroundings. A single +rug to adorn the floor, or a single vase resting on a mantle, will +often be found to have cost ten times as much as the whole home +library. And yet the intellects of these people have been nurtured and +trained in their youth by the brilliant thoughts of ancient and modern +writers! Even the favorite author, be it Shakespeare, Dickens, +Longfellow, Tennyson, or some other, is frequently represented by a +half dozen or so disconsolate-looking volumes, the remainder of the +set either never having been bought, or else, if bought, thrown aside, +or strewn around the attic, or abandoned as a child would discard a +toy which afforded it no further amusement. + +"It is worthy of remark, however, that the enormously increased +demand of late for beautiful books evinces the fact that cultured and +wealthy people are growing to appreciate the importance not only of +having a good library, but that its quality should embody a degree of +estheticism to correspond with the surroundings." + +Many of the most delightful persons, well read and competent to +discourse intelligently upon the merits of books and authors, have +never experienced a single pulsation of true bibliophilism; they have +never known the joy of possessing and admiring a beautiful book, and +that the attachment one bears for such a treasure is wholly +reciprocal. They have not learned that fine books, like human beings, +are capable of mutual affection, and that it is not necessary to +devour them in order to value their charms. "We do not gather books to +read them, my Boeotian friend," says Mr. Joline; "the idea is a +childish delusion. 'In early life,' says Walter Bagehot, 'there is an +opinion that the obvious thing to do with a horse is to ride it; with +a cake, to eat it; with a sixpence to spend it.' A few boyish persons +carry this further, and think that the natural thing to do with a book +is to read it. The mere reading of a rare book is a puerility, an +idiosyncrasy of adolescence; it is the _ownership_ of the book which +is the matter of distinction. The collector of coins does not +accumulate his treasures for the purpose of ultimately spending them +in the marketplace. The lover of postage-stamps, small as his horizon +may be, does not hoard his colored bits of paper with the intent to +employ them in the mailing of letters. When some one complained to +Bedford that a book which he had bound did not shut properly, he +exclaimed, 'Why, bless me, sir, you've been _reading_ it!'" + +Herrick says that "the truest owner of a library is he who has bought +each book for the love he bears to it; who is happy and content to +say, 'Here are my jewels, my choicest possessions!'" Seneca, the great +Roman philologer, wrote: "If you are fond of books, you will escape +the _ennui_ of life; you will neither sigh for evening, disgusted with +the occupations of the day, nor will you live dissatisfied with +yourself or unprofitable with others." "I am quite transported and +comforted in the midst of my books," says the younger Pliny, who was +an ardent book-fancier; "they give a zest to the happiest and assuage +the anguish of the bitterest moments of existence. Therefore, whether +distracted by the cares or losses of my family or my friends, I fly to +my library as the only refuge in distress: here I learn to bear +adversity with fortitude." + +Southey thus immortalizes his speechless, yet beloved, library +companions: + + My never failing friends are they, + With whom I converse day by day. + +Balfour is no less eloquent in paying worthy tribute to his library: +"The world may be kind or hostile; it may seem to us to be hastening +on the wings of enlightenment and progress to an imminent millennium, +or it may weigh us down with the sense of insoluble difficulty and +irremediable wrong; but whatever else it may be, so long as we have +good health and a library, it can never be dull." + +"Bookes," said the immortal Milton, "demeane themselves as well as +men. Books are not absolutely dead things, but doe contain a potencie +of life in them to be as active as that soule was whose progeny they +are: nay they do preserve as in a violl the purest efficacie and +extraction of that living intellect that bred them. Unlesse warinesse +be us'd, as good almost kill a Man as kill a good Book; who kills a +man kills a reasonable creature, God's Image; but Hee who destroys a +good Booke, kills reason itselfe, kills the image of God, as it were +in the eye." + +In the garnering of book-treasures, some collectors are prompted +wholly by mercenary motives--most of them, fortunately, are not. There +are biblio-mercenaries of such sordid inclinations that they would +readily part with almost any book in their possession,--even inscribed +presentation copies!--if lightly tempted with money considerations. +Verily, these parsimonious traders would barter their own souls, if +they possessed any value. + +I am indebted to the Secretary of a well-known book club for the +following facts, to confirm which I saw all the correspondence. A +certain book-buyer joined the club some time ago, and subscribed for +the first publication issued after he became a member. Upon receiving +the work he wrote: "I consider them among the most beautiful examples +of book-making that I have ever seen, and prize them above all other +books in my library." Six months later he sold the copy to a +book-agent for twice its original cost. He "passed" the next +publication issued by the club, as it did not interest him, but +appended a postscript to his letter, saying: "If any member wants an +extra copy, I have no objection to one being issued upon my membership +and turned over to him, provided I receive the increase in price." + +The following humorous incident is recorded in the (1903) Year Book +of another prominent book club. It may be explained that the club +issued a very elaborate and beautiful publication, printed upon deckle +edge handmade paper, illustrated with remarque proof copperplate +etchings on Japanese vellum, and in duplicate without remarque on +Whatman paper: "One of the members upon receiving the first two +volumes of the ---- publication, writes: 'The Society starts out by +making the worst kind of a blunder. The man's picture in the front of +the volume is put in twice and on _two kinds of paper_. I could excuse +this error, but imagine my horror when upon turning to the back of the +volume I found the _same mistake repeated_. This is too much.' He +closed by expressing a desire to resign, saying that he did not know +he 'was joining a faddists club,' and takes occasion to remark further +that 'the books are cheaply finished, not even being trimmed and +gilded;' also that he 'can buy better books in the stores, _with full +gilt edges_, for less money.'" + +So much has been written about the vagaries of book-collectors and +bibliomaniacs that the subject has long since become threadbare, and +about the only unexplored field of labor left to the choice of him who +would gain a hearing with the reader--if one can be found who is not +already weary of reading what the wags think of his (or her) own +peculiar whims--is to fall in with the spirit of the age and compile +an "International Library of the World's Greatest Gibberish about +Bibliomaniacs." We have the "World's Greatest" everything else in +book-lore, and I shall not be surprised if some enterprising publisher +gets out a "definitive" _de luxe_ edition of the "World's Greatest +Dictionaries." Indeed, the Holy Bible itself has not escaped, for they +are now making a "de luxe" edition, in fourteen volumes! to be sold by +subscription. It will not be an "Autograph Edition," however. + +The freaks and fancies of capricious book-gatherers and bibliomaniacs +have undergone so few changes in the last hundred years that modern +writers on Bibliomania, after vainly searching the horizon for some new +development in the way of symptoms of the disease, or characteristics of +those afflicted, have wandered off into the verdure of adjacent fields +to avoid repetition. Some of them, from sheer lack of anything new to +say, have set upon each other in the most unflattering terms. Many of +the writers on the delectable "Joys of a Book-buyer," or "Habits of a +Bibliomaniac," etc., evidently appreciate the fact that these much +persecuted human beings have other pastimes and habits than collecting +books, and that they really inhabit the earth in all its civilized parts +and partake unstintedly of its many pleasurable diversions. But again, +there is another extreme, for I once read a book issued under the +misleading title of "Pleasures of a Book-collector," or something of the +sort, which might have been more appropriately called the "Pleasures of +a Single Man," seeing that the work had more to do with the hero's +hopeless love for a fair damsel, and his hours at clubs, cafes, and +other places of amusement in which I had no special interest, than it +did with the acquirement of literature. Thus, with the delusive idea +that I was to be ushered into some of the secret enjoyments of the +pleasing diversion of book-buying, I presently found myself more +familiar with the habits, vices, and various unimportant matters of the +author's conception--points, in short, having no bearing whatever upon +the subject under consideration--than with the pleasures of a +book-collector. The book was not badly written, nor wholly +uninteresting; but if a man buys a ticket to the opera, he doesn't go +prepared to see a cock-fight. + +For literary scoffers and malcontents who find fault with everything +and everybody, who even scold publishers because their own books bring +but meagre royalties, who fuss and fume over the harmless foibles of +the very ones upon whom they depend for their audience, and like an +ungrateful dog fasten their teeth in the charitable hand that offers +them food, there can be but small sympathy. One is tempted to enlarge +upon this familiar type, but here I am digressing from my subject, and +am committing much the same offence as that of which I have elsewhere +accused others. + +I have been asked to include within the scope of my article a few +remarks about Book Clubs and Book Societies. In presuming to trespass +upon sacred yet inviting ground of this character, I must be +understood as approaching the subject with due reverence and apology. +It is an indisputable fact that among the agencies that have +contributed to the advancement and ennobling of the bookmaker's art in +the past twenty years, the legitimate Book Club has been one of the +most potential. We have only to refer to _Growell's American Book +Clubs_ in order to learn of the many clubs and societies of this kind +which have arisen in the past few years, with varying degrees of +success and failure,--success, when intelligently conducted upon +honest cooeperative principles, and failure, if irrationally directed, +without regard to the maxims upon which successful clubs are managed. +The province of these worthy accessories in the world of fine +bookmaking has not been free from invasion by sharks and charlatans, +some of whom have succeeded for a time under the guise of honest and +reciprocal motives. + +In this country there are private book clubs and societies that have +won places of enviable distinction both here and abroad, and naturally +among the foremost of these are the ones which have been pestered by +"imitators." The following significant remarks are taken from the +president's annual address to the members of an old and honored book +club:-- + +"Fame brings its penalties, and during the last year many of us have +suffered considerable annoyance, both individually and as members of +the Club, through the exploitation of books advertised sometimes as +publications of The ---- Club, and more often as publications of the +---- Society. These have usually been offered in connection with works +of distinguished authors in numerous volumes, stated, as a rule, to be +limited to a thousand copies, and described as the contents of the +private library of a lady, which the agent declares to have been +placed in his hands to dispose of as quickly as possible, regardless +of cost. No widow's cruse, apparently, could be more unfailing in its +supply than this 'private library.' While annoying, the device of a +'---- Society,' though manifestly designed to confuse the public mind +and trade on the reputation of this Club, can scarcely deceive our +members or even the book-loving public. It, nevertheless, is an +annoyance, and the more vexatious because scarcely calling for other +remedy than exposure. + +"It is possible, however, that harm to the good name of the Club may +be wrought through the advertisement, in an English newspaper, to +which my attention has been drawn, of a so-called '---- Society of +Great Britain,' which is declared to have been recently formed in +conjunction with the '---- Society of the United States,' which is +described as having been established in 1884, and to have occupied its +own Club House since 1888, and to have published handsomely printed +books for sale exclusively to the members. It is announced, however, +that the '---- Society of Great Britain,' although intending to act in +conjunction with the American society, 'will work upon somewhat +different lines, at any rate at first.' It may well be that this +cleverly deceptive advertisement will require some attention from us, +either directly or through members resident abroad. + +"This, however, seems to be the only fly in our ointment, and we may +congratulate ourselves that there is nothing more serious to disturb +our enjoyment of the anniversary which we now celebrate." + +Another and more palpable fraud has been perpetrated in copying the +name of The Bibliophile Society, but with a slight prefix, just enough +to afford a loop-hole through which to escape legal prosecution. Not +enough, however, to enable the public to distinguish between the +spurious and the genuine, and even the members themselves have +sometimes been deceived by unscrupulous agents representing their +wares as the regular productions of the valid society. The audacious +promoters of this so-called Society had the boldness not only to +pilfer the name of the legitimate society, but also the name of its +president, which was ostentatiously printed upon their letter heads, +together with the name of Dr. Richard Garnett. Both of these gentlemen +have recently published their denunciations through the columns of the +press, and protested vigorously against this unauthorized use of their +names. + +The _modus operandi_ of this pestiferous concern is to send numbered +"complimentary certificates" throughout the country to persons whose +names are obtainable from directories, and when acknowledgment cards +are received from those who deign to accept the exalted compliment, +they are forthwith called upon, usually by some "officer" of the +Society,--sometimes the "President," but usually the "Treasurer," +"Secretary," or "Registrar." + +Some time ago I was honored by a call from one of these circumventive +"Treasurers," but happened to be conveniently busy at the time, and so +made an appointment with him to meet me at my office the next day. +Meanwhile, I prepared to have his statements reduced to writing by a +stenographer, anticipating that it might be necessary to refresh my +memory upon certain passages that I might fail to remember verbatim. +The following is the substance of the "canvass" as taken by the +stenographer in an adjoining room, the door of which was wide open:-- + +"I am the Treasurer of the ---- Society, with headquarters in +London. By a special grant from the English Government, we have +recently been permitted to extend our membership into this country, +and three hundred life members are to be admitted under this +enlargement of our constitutional privileges. It may interest you, +first, to know something of the origin of this Society. It was +organized in London about three hundred years ago by the Duke of +Roxburghe [who was not born until more than a hundred years later], +and was originally composed of about thirty members of the royal +family. The original charter limited the membership to fifty members, +and in less than a month the limit was reached. Through the powerful +influence of the royal family the Society had easy access to all the +great repositories of unpublished manuscripts, and the most valuable +and interesting of them were selected for publication. These +publications became so enormously valuable that it stimulated a desire +on the part of others to join the Society, and particularly, some of +the nobility of France and Germany. It was decided to increase the +membership to three hundred, and to take in a few members from France, +Germany, Italy, and Russia. The Society thrived for about a thousand +years [this is either a stenographic error, or else he meant to say a +hundred]; then there was a period of inactivity, and later on it was +revived again, and the membership limit increased to five hundred. +Last year we obtained permission to again increase the membership by +taking in three hundred prominent people in America. I am over here to +arrange for three vice-presidents,--two for the East and one for the +West. I have a special commission to ask you to become one of the +honorary vice-presidents and to offer you a life membership for less +than half the regular fee, viz., $225.00; the usual fee for life +membership is $500.00, but you get it for $225.00 on account of acting +as our honorary vice-president for this territory. Of course you would +have no regular duties to perform. You would sign all the membership +certificates in your district, and in case of the death of any member, +you would have the privilege of naming his successor. + +"The Society issues every year a volume giving all the price +currents for the year, and keeps the members posted on the advance or +decline in the value of all important publications. We also give you +in confidence the ratings of various publishers, and print reports to +members exposing all the frauds in the book business. Upon payment of +the fee of $225.00, you receive all of this material free, for the +balance of your life, and in addition all of the Society's regular +publications, including the present one, consisting of ---- volumes +[here he produced the customary specimen sheets]. You see this one +work alone is worth the full amount you pay for life membership [here +occurred a "special offer" of some sort, given in a low monotone which +the stenographer was unable to hear; and I must confess that I was so +stupefied by this astounding fabrication that I myself have not the +faintest recollection of what this "special offer" consisted]. We are +very anxious to have your name as our honorary vice-president here, +because you will not only be an honor to the Society, but the Society +will be an honor to you." + +Here my Treasurer friend produced a regular form of subscription +contract for a set of books; but it contained no clause about life +membership, or any other membership, and included no promise of +anything further than the delivery of the books. + +The honor of such a vice-presidency being thrust upon me was indeed a +thrilling sensation, and the story was told in a fluent, cohesive, and +logical manner; so well, in fact, that had I not known in advance that +it was purely imaginary from beginning to end, I could scarcely have +avoided giving it full acceptance. But I had heard of the story +before, and although partially prepared, it staggered me surprisingly. +I afterwards learned that every one else canvassed by my interviewer +was equally offered one of the "three vice-presidencies." + +There appears to be no defense for book clubs against these bogus +impersonations. The injured club, or society, can sustain no claim for +any special damage, because, as not offering its publications in the +open market, it actually suffers no ascertainable loss of patronage. +The principal damage results to those who are thus victimized in +permitting themselves to be deluded into the belief that they are +acquiring the valid editions of reputable clubs. When club +publications come into the open market they are usually picked up with +avidity by collectors, and they have thus grown into very general +favor among book-lovers. Indeed, the high esteem in which they have +come to be regarded offers a productive field for a few crafty +publishers to ply their wily designs in. The audacity of these +schemers carries them to such incredible measures that they sometimes +buy sheet-stock from reputable publishing houses, change the name of +the edition, and deliberately manufacture new titles on which they +print the name of some book club or society. These counterfeits are +sold to the unsuspecting book-buyer, who often imagines he has landed +a prize. Later, he is likely to become disillusioned. There can be no +doubt that the contemptible practice of thus mutilating and garbling +books should be defined as a felony and made punishable by fine or +imprisonment. Book-buyers, however, can in a measure help the +situation and protect themselves by not dealing with such people; they +should particularly remember that creditable book clubs _never_ employ +soliciting agents, and rarely, if ever, offer their publications for +sale outside of the membership. Any one, therefore, representing +himself as an authorized agent of a book club may usually be branded +as an impostor. Most book clubs print only such number of copies of +each publication as are subscribed and paid for by members in advance, +and the funds thus advanced are used to pay the cost of the edition. + +Notwithstanding the evils referred to, the book club is with us to +stay, and the very fact that it is continually pestered by these +hangers-on is conclusive proof of its potency and usefulness; features +which insure its secure foundation in the community. + +Very few people are able to appreciate the amount of gratuitous labor +performed by the officers and committees of private book clubs. It is +erroneous to suppose that beautiful books are a purely natural +offspring of the book club. The preparation of the material for +publication and successfully following it through all the various +stages of manufacture requires an enormous amount of detail work, as +well as an accurate knowledge of bookmaking. The president of a +prominent book club recently said, in his annual address to the +members:-- + +"I wish that our members could be witnesses at the many conferences +held by the Committee on Publications and by the Council; of the +various experiments needed to settle upon the size and shape of the +book, the size of its page and its margins, the style of type, the +initial letters, head-bands, tail-pieces, engravings, etc. etc.; of +the printer's endless proofs, the making of a special paper (which +sometimes proves to be unsuited), and, finally, the style of binding. +What material, color, and general make-up shall it have? If our +members could thus follow the progress of the work from beginning to +finish they would be reconciled to disappointment. At any rate it is +through their subscriptions that these experiments can be undertaken, +and it is by knowledge thus gained that the Club has won credit for +the Arts and Crafts of our country, and made an honorable record even +in other lands; so that to be a member of the Club has become an +enviable distinction." + +Owing to the tricks and stratagem practiced in _manufacturing_ "de +luxe" editions, some of our bibliophiles have taken matters of +bookmaking into their own hands, with the result that they have +organized clubs and societies, the members of which take much pleasure +in introducing to their library companions each year one or two +charming new acquaintances which come bearing the club's seal of +endorsement. A true bibliophile always feels a just pride in shelving +one of these book-treasures of his own club's production, and +thereafter displaying it before his friends, with the interesting bit +of information that "This is the latest production of _our Club_; it +is issued _only for members_." For obviously an owner's interest in +any work is increased many fold by the fact that he is a constituent +part of the organization which produced the same: the relationship to +the book in such a case is akin to the love of a parent for a child; +and the owner of a fine library will not unusually regard his Club +publications and privately printed books as the objects therein which +are entitled to his fondest consideration. + +I have recently taken occasion to examine with considerable care the +latest publications of the leading book clubs of this country, and to +compare them with some of the first issues of these same clubs. The +improvement in the later productions over the earlier ones astonished +me. There were as good artists, editors, binders, type, paper, ink, +and other accessories twenty years ago as we have now, and indeed it +is doubtful if our modern printing presses show much improvement in +the quality of work during that time; but it would seem that +persistent effort along the lines of experimental work has been +generously rewarded by a steady improvement in the general results now +attained. Nor is the situation injured by a slight tinge of friendly +rivalry among clubs, to lend an additional zest to their labors, and +to whet the praiseworthy ambition of each to make every succeeding +issue a little better than the last. There are many zealous +bibliophiles who belong to two or three book clubs at once, finding it +interesting to collect and compare the works produced by the several +clubs. + +Many of our great scholars as well as leading publishers are members +of these book clubs, and serve on the councils and various committees; +so it must not be supposed by skeptics that their publications are in +the slightest degree amateurish. They employ the best talent and +materials; the councils and publication committees, as well, being +composed of persons of unquestioned integrity, who possess an +intelligent understanding of bookmaking. + +Some of these clubs (particularly those whose membership is largely +local) have commodious quarters where the members may meet at all +times, whether to discuss matters of common business interest, to +exchange their latest jokes, or to generally discuss book-lore and +other congenial topics. The social features of some of the book clubs +are, however, reduced to the occasions of the annual meetings and +dinners. The "Club-Room Question," in one of these organizations +having a membership of five hundred, distributed in one hundred and +sixty-seven cities and towns in this country and abroad, was recently +reported upon by the Council as follows:-- + + The question of providing and maintaining club rooms and + establishing a suitable library for the Society has been more + or less discussed since its incorporation. The Council has not + found that spacious and luxuriously furnished rooms are an + important requisite in accomplishing the expressed purpose and + limitations of the Society. These, according to Article I. of + the Constitution and By-laws, are to be "the study and + promotion of the arts pertaining to fine bookmaking and + illustrating, and the occasional publication of specially + designed and illustrated books, for distribution among its + members at a minimum cost of production." + + Then, too, while our membership is entirely homogeneous in + bibliomaniacal spirit, it is so scattered over such a vast + expanse of territory that only a small percentage of the + members would be able to enjoy club-room privileges; even + those within easy reach of such rooms would probably not + frequent them enough to justify any considerable expense in + maintenance. It would be necessary, also, to change the + present constitution (and to assess the members for annual + dues in order to meet current expenses), should the club-room + idea be carried out. This would be objectionable on various + grounds, and amongst these, because a non-resident member + might thus be paying an annual fee without receiving any + corresponding benefit in return; a condition in such case + which would be tantamount to his meeting an increased charge + each year for the privilege of subscribing and paying for the + Society's publications. Hence, the Council do not see their + way to entertaining or recommending the club-room feature. But + it is not supposed that the spirit of fellowship among our + bibliophiles--naturally related as they are by a kindred + interest--will in any degree suffer because of the lack of + such facilities. A personal contact, however agreeable, does + not seem essential. Certainly the many charming letters + received from members whom we have never seen, go far to + relieve the present lack in this regard, so far as the + officers are concerned. + + As matters now stand, the Society has sufficiently comfortable + quarters in one of the offices of the Treasurer, where the + Council holds its meetings. These are found by experience to + be quite ample for all practical purposes and present needs. + +Collectors of manuscripts and of unique copies often furnish the book +clubs with valuable and otherwise unprocurable material to be printed +for the members. Last year one collector alone furnished gratuitously +to a society of which he is a member, many thousands of dollars' worth +of unpublished manuscripts of interesting historical matter to be +printed exclusively for its members. In this way much valuable +material is preserved in print, when it would otherwise remain forever +unpublished and unobtainable. + +During the past few years it has been my pleasant privilege to spend +many hours of each week in concurrent labor with the Council in the +preparation of the publications of The Bibliophile Society, in which +Council I have had the honor to serve continuously since its +organization. + +There is no pleasure more delectable, no joy more inspiring than that +of devising books which prove a delight to the eye and a satisfaction +to the artistic tastes of those who are competent to appreciate the +qualities that should characterize a perfectly made book. + +I now realize as never before why it is that our busiest men of +affairs, and scholars of renown, are actuated to serve so assiduously +in this labor of love; for surely no amount of effort, however +laborious, can be regarded as having been in any sense misguided or +wasted when it elicits such approbation as expressed in the following +letter from Charles A. Decker, Esq., a fellow member, of New York +City:-- + + March 15th, 1904. + + MR. H. H. HARPER, Treasurer, + The Bibliophile Society, + Colonial Building, Boston, Mass. + + DEAR MR. HARPER:-- + + My stock of superlatives is insufficient to adequately express + my appreciation of "Andre's Journal." Keats must have had a + psychic sense which enabled him to see the latest issue by our + Society, and he had this in view when he wrote the opening + line of _Endymion_. (Is n't "A thing of beauty," &c., the + opening line?) Such books as the Council has planned are an + education to bibliophiles; the work is progressive, for each + issue is finer than the one which preceded it. Can any book be + finer than "Andre's Journal"? If so, I can't conceive it. Such + noble types, the pages so perfectly balanced; the margins so + broad; the paper of such beautiful texture; the ink so + brilliantly black; the maps so marvelously reproduced; the + etchings so artistically conceived and executed and the title + page so beautifully engraved; then the binding--real + vellum--so rich, simple, and in such perfect taste; even the + box-cover is fitting in every sense. A perfect book, it seems + to me. If there are any shortcomings, and you know them, don't + tell me of them, that in my ignorance I may be content. + + Please thank all the members of the Council for me. Somebody + must have spent many, many hours in arriving at a final + judgment upon all the parts which make up such a beautiful + whole. + + I have yet to enjoy the pleasure of _reading_ the "Journal," + then I will be thankful to Mr. Bixby and to Senator Lodge. + + Yours sincerely, + (Signed) CHARLES A. DECKER. + +Mr. Decker is one of the many pleasant and appreciative members of +The Bibliophile Society whose personal acquaintance it has not been my +good fortune to make, but from whom the Society has received many +delightful and inspiring letters. The numerous communications thus +received from all quarters have been placed before the Council, with +the result that the individual interest of every worker has been +greatly augmented in the Society's welfare. Indeed, I attribute no +small measure of the success and the good name of the Society to the +indirect influence of such words of encouragement and expressions of +appreciation as have come from the members. + +I sincerely wish for health and continued success to our worthy Book +Clubs, and regret that there are not more of them. + + Sit bona librorum . . . copia. + +HENRY H. HARPER. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Book-Lovers, Bibliomaniacs and Book +Clubs, by Henry H. 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