xtreme case, but you will find many
to match it. Another folio, Rochefort's History of the Caribby Islands,
was lettered "Davies' Carriby Islands," because the title bore the
statement "Rendered into English by John Davies." In another library, the
great work of the naturalist, Buffon, was actually lettered "Buffoon's
Natural History." Neither of these blunders was as bad as that of the
owner of an elegant black-letter edition of a Latin classic, which was
printed without title-page, like most fifteenth century books, and began
at the top of the first leaf, in large letters--"HOC INCIPIT," signifying
"This begins", followed by the title or subject of the book. The wiseacre
who owned it had the book richly bound, and directed it to be lettered on
the back--"Works of Hoc Incipit, Rome, 1490." This is a true story, and
the hero of it might perhaps, on the strength of owning so many learned
works, have passed for a philosopher, if he had not taken the pains to
advertise himself as a blockhead.

Some of the commonest blunders are stamping on the back the translator's
or the editor's name, instead of that of the author of the book; putting
on adjectives instead of substantives for titles; modernizing ancient and
characteristic spelling, found in the title, (the exact orthography of
which should always be followed); mixing up the number and the case of
Latin titles, and those in other foreign languages; leaving off entirely
the name of the writer; and lettering periodicals by putting on the
volume without the year, or the year, without the number of the volume.
"No one but an idiot", said Mr. C. Walford to the London Librarians'
Conference, "would send his books to the binder, without indicating the
lettering he desires on the backs." The only safe-guard is for the
librarian or owner to prescribe on a written slip in each volume, a title
for every book, before it goes to the binder, who will be only too glad
to have his own time saved--since time is money to him. I would not
underrate the book-binders, who are a most worthy and intelligent class,
numbering in their ranks men who are scholars as well as artists; but
they are concerned chiefly with the mechanics and not with the
metaphysics of their art, and moreover, they are not bound by that rigid
rule which should govern the librarian--namely--to have no ignoramus
about the premises.

In writing letterings (for I take it that no one would be guilty of
defacing his title-pag