to
afford a melancholy proof how little those men stick at any thing who,
in raising the war-whoop of liberty and equality, tear open the very
bowels of order, tranquillity, peace, and decorum! But, to the
subject. Let the catalogues of PUBLIC COLLECTIONS, when they are well
arranged, be received into your library. Of foreign PRIVATE
COLLECTIONS, the catalogues[162] of DU FRESNE, CORDES, HEINSIAS,
BALUZE, COLBERT, ROTHELIN, DE BOZE, PREFOND, POMPADOUR, GAIGNAT,
GOUTTARD, BUNAU, SOUBISE, LA VALLIERE, CREVENNA, LAMOIGNON, and of
several other collections, with which my memory does not just now
serve me, will enable you to form a pretty correct estimate of the
_marketable value_ of certain rare and sumptuous publications.
Catalogues are, to bibliographers, what _Reports_ are to lawyers: not
to be read through from beginning to end--but to be consulted on
doubtful points, and in litigated cases. Nor must you, after all,
place too strong a reliance upon the present prices of books, from
what they have produced at former sales; as nothing is more
capricious and unsettled than the value of books at a public auction.
But, in regard to these catalogues, if you should be fortunate enough
to possess any which are printed upon _Large Paper, with the Names of
the Purchasers, and the Prices_ for which each set of books was sold,
thrice and four times happy may you account yourself to be, my good
Lisardo!

[Footnote 162: As it would have required more breath than
usually falls to the lot of an individual, for Lysander to
have given even a rough sketch of the merits, demerits, and
rarity of certain foreign catalogues of public and private
collections--in his discourse with his friends--I have
ventured to supply the deficiency by subjoining, in the
ensuing _tolerably copious_ note, a list of these
catalogues, alphabetically arranged; as being, perhaps, the
most convenient and acceptable plan. Such an attempt is
quite novel; and must be received, therefore, with many
grains of allowance. Although I am in possession of the
greater number (at least of two thirds) of the catalogues
described, I am aware that, in regard to the description of
those not in my own library, I subject myself to the lash of
P. Morhof. "Inepti sunt, qui librorum catalogos scribunt e
catalogis. Oculata fides et judicium praesens requiritur."
_Polyhist. Literar._, vol. i., 230. B