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from the local circumstances, or, in other words, from the place of origin. A theological treatise, a Bible, a volume of prayers, or a law-book, published in England in the second half of the seventeenth century, may be worth from sixpence to a sovereign; if it bears the imprint of Boston, Cambridge (N.E.), New York, Philadelphia, or New London, its value may be computed in bank-notes. The _Laws of Massachusetts_, 1660, was lately sold for L109, and the _Papers Relating to Massachusetts Bay_, 1769, for L8, the latter in boards. The reason (so far as there is any) for this inflation is twofold: the patriotic sentiment which leads American amateurs to desire the oldest and most precious typographical and historical monuments of their country, and, secondly, the perhaps less justifiable enthusiasm of some Englishmen for books which, as they may plead, are the offspring of the States while they were still English settlements. A copious and fairly contemporary view of the extensive family of works belonging to the earlier Anglo-American library may be found in the bibliographies of Stevens, Sabin, and Harrisse, and in the Grenville, Huth, Lenox, and Tower catalogues. There is not only no line of collecting which is more difficult and more costly than the present, but none which, within the last twenty years, has, so far as first-rate rarities are concerned, more seriously advanced, even inferior copies of certain books fetching at times five times as much as good ones did in the seventies. Just lately the call appears to come from the other side of the Atlantic. There are two or three new bidders. That is sufficient. CHAPTER IX The Modern Side--Words of advice--The place and functions of Free Libraries--Coleridge and Byron period--Unhealthy state of the market--The Dickens and Thackeray movement--Fashions in books--A valuable suggestion--Slight actual demand for costly modern productions--Two often make a market--Effect of time in settling value--Forecast of the durability of a few names--A large-paper copy of Byron's poems, 1807--Cheap literature not a modern invention--The published price noted on the face of early volumes--An episode--Practical buyers not to be considered collectors--The first edition considered from editorial and other points of view. IN the acquisition of modern books, far greater caution is requisite than in that of the older literatu
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