d and show excellent pictorial scenes indicating villages, parks,
and country seats. Such maps are rare, but now and then really
interesting examples of needlework mapping are met with.

Collectors keep an eye on preservation, but they are keen on dated
specimens, and those with ornate and quaintly picturesque borders. The
condition adds to the beauty, but not always to the value, for many of
the older and less well-preserved samplers are now becoming scarce. They
have been retained by those who have no interest in antiques because
they bore the name of some fair ancestress who lived and worked on her
sampler more than a century ago, leaving it behind as a memorial of her
skill in the use of a needle for future generations to admire. How many
ladies of the twentieth century are preparing permanent records of their
skill in needlework for those who are to come to hand on to generations
unborn? is a question some may like to ponder.

XI

THE LIBRARY

CHAPTER XI

THE LIBRARY

From cover to cover--Old scrap books--Almanacs--The writing
table.

The library is usually where the master of the house conducts his
business correspondence and, if a student, spends much of his time among
his favourite books, or, perchance, engages in literary work. In days
gone by, when there were fewer opportunities of visiting public
libraries, and when circulating libraries were few and far between, the
man of letters accumulated around him standard works and ancient tomes,
possibly seldom read. When such a library, perhaps scarcely examined for
a century or more, comes to be dispersed, it often happens that
curiosities are brought to light.

The furniture of the library is full of interest, for a quaint writing
table, bureau, or desk full of oddments is an exceedingly prolific field
of research. In the following paragraphs a few of these curiosities are
referred to; there are others, however, that the collector will
discover, possibly one of the scarcer curios of the library, some of
which realize unexpectedly high prices when they are brought under the
hammer.

From Cover to Cover.

The books which constitute the library are often curious, and there is
much that receives its monetary value on account of its antiquity and
rarity. An old library will frequently include black-letter printing and
old volumes illustrated with wood blocks, and, perchance, illuminated
initial letters. Some of the volumes may be