of a Literary Family_, 1897, and in
my _Confessions of a Collector_, 1897, so far as they concern the
immediate subject-matter.

W. C. H.

BARNES COMMON, SURREY,
_October 1904_.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See the writer's _Shakespear, Himself and his Work: A Study from
New Points of View_, second edition, revised, with important
additions, and several facsimiles, 8vo, 1903.

HISTORY OF BOOK-COLLECTING

CHAPTER I

The plan--The writer's practical career--Deficiency of a general
knowledge of the subject--The Printed Book and the Manuscript
independent branches of study--The rich and the poor
collector--Their relative systems and advantages--Great results
achieved by persons of moderate fortune--The Rev. Thomas
Corser--Lamb and Coleridge--Human interest resident in
collections formed by such men, and the genuine pleasure
experienced by the owners--A case or two stated--The Chevalier
D'Eon--The contrary practice--Comparatively early culture in the
provinces and interchange of books--Lady collectors--Rarity of
hereditary libraries--The alterations in the aspect of books--The
Mill a fellow-labourer with the Press--A word about values and
prices--Our social institutions answerable for the difference of
feeling about book-collecting--Districts formerly rich in
libraries--Distributing centres--Possibility of yet unexplored
ground--The Universities and Inns of Court--Successful
book-hunting in Scotland and Ireland--Present gravitation of all
valuable books to London.

A MANUAL for the more immediate and especial use of English-speaking
inquirers is bound to limit itself, in the first place, mainly to the
literary products of the three kingdoms and the colonies; and,
secondly, to a broad and general indication of the various paths which
it is open to any one to pursue according to his tastes or
possibilities, with clues to the best sources of intelligence and
guidance. The English collector, where he crosses the border, as it
were, and admits works of foreign origin into his bookcase, does not
often do so on a large scale; but he may be naturally tempted to make
exceptions in favour of certain _chefs-d'oeuvre_ irrespective of
nationality. There are books and tracts which commend themselves by
their typographical importance, by their direct bearing on maritime
discovery, by their momentous relation to the fine arts, o