e afforded or desired than the edition of Moliere, 1773,
which in contemporary morocco may be worth L100, and in calf or any
other ordinary dress a five-pound note. But after all, a still more
signal case is that of Laborde's _Chansons mises en Musique_,
published in the same year, which, even in thoroughly preserved
contemporary calf, brings under the hammer in proof state nearly
L200, while in modern morocco it is rather dear at a quarter of that
amount.

The extreme rarity of pure and genuine specimens of the work of the
earliest foreign binders--nay, of our own--has naturally produced a
large inheritance of imitations of varied character and degree. There
is nothing to save the amateur from deception but the same kind of
training which qualifies collectors in other departments to
distinguish what is true from what is false. A man who proposes to
himself to make Bindings a speciality, cannot do better than graduate
by studying the most trustworthy and contemporary guides on the
subject in different literatures, and then we should send him on a
tour round the great public and private libraries of Great Britain and
the Continent. This, of course, applies only where the undertaker is
in thorough earnest, and wishes to spare himself a good deal of
expense and a good deal of mortification. Illustrated catalogues are
of very indifferent value, especially those of auctioneers, which too
often offer the result of sophistication so cleverly disguised that to
an inexperienced eye the repair is not palpable. If one goes in search
of _desiderata_ to the trade, let it be to the dealer who knows his
business and charges his price, but who supplies the article, and not
to the empiric, who charges a price and does not supply it, for the
excellent reason (among others) that this party does not know a fine
binding when he sees it--or a spurious one.

In curiosities generally it is the safest plan for a private collector
to place himself more or less in the hands of the highest firms in the
particular line which he selects, provided that he is not one of a
hundred thousand, and is a mile or two ahead even of professional
experts. Then, wherever he goes and whatever he buys, he is always
armed _cap-a-pie_. To him, to him solely, are the lots almost as
precious as the purse of Fortunatus; he alone it is who may fall in
with Caxtons, Clovis Eves, Rembrandts, Syracusan medallions, for a
song, and carry them home without a qualm.

A cur