will go very far toward enlarging any collection in the
most desirable directions.

Compare for a moment with the results stated of the Astor Library's early
purchases, the average prices paid by British Libraries for books
purchased from 1826 to 1854, as published in a parliamentary return. The
average cost per volume varied from 16_s_ or about $4 a volume, for the
University Library of Edinburgh, to 4_s_ 6_d_, or $1.10 a volume for the
Manchester Free Library. The latter, however, were chiefly popular new
books, published at low prices, while the former included many costly old
works, law books, etc. The British Museum Library's average was 8_s_ 5_d_
or about $2.00 per volume. Those figures represent cloth binding, while
the Astor's purchases were mostly in permanent leather bindings.

Averages are very uncertain standards of comparison, as a single book
rarity often costs more than a hundred volumes of the new books of the
day; but in a library filled with the best editions of classical and
scientific works, and reference books, I presume that two dollars a
volume is not too high an estimate of average cost, in these days
represented by the last twenty years. For a circulating library, on the
other hand, composed chiefly of what the public most seek to read, half
that average would perhaps express the full commercial value of the
collection. Of its intrinsic value I will not here pause to speak.

There are many methods of book buying, of which we may indicate the
principal as follows:

1. By direct orders from book dealers.
2. By competition on select lists of wants.
3. By order from priced catalogues.
4. By purchase at auction sales.
5. By personal research among book stocks.
6. By lists and samples of books sent on approval.

Each of these methods has its advantages--and, I may add, its
disadvantages likewise. The collector who combines them, as opportunity
presents, is most likely to make his funds go the farthest, and to enrich
his collection the most. Direct orders for purchase are necessary for
most new books wanted, except in the case of the one government library,
which in most countries, receives them under copyright provision. An
advantageous arrangement can usually be made with one or more
book-dealers, to supply all new books at a fairly liberal discount from
retail prices. And it is wise management to distribute purchases where
good terms are made, as thereby the trade will