ings
which otherwise he never should have seen." And the dictum is as true now
as it was in his time.

Many special points arise for consideration when we deal with the
question--How to buy at sales? and Mr. Edward Edwards gives the following
four rules for the guidance of the young book-buyer (_Memoirs of
Libraries_, vol. ii. p. 645):

1. The examination of books before the sale, not during it. 2. A steady
unintermittent bidding up to his predetermined limit, for all the books
which he wants, from the first lot to the last; and--if there be any signs
of a "combination"--for a few others which he may _not_ want. 3. Careful
avoidance of all interruptions and conversation; with especial
watchfulness of the hammer immediately after the disposal of those
especially seductive lots, which may have excited a keen and spirited
competition. (There is usually on such occasions a sort of "lull," very
favourable to the acquisition of good bargains.) 4. The uniform
preservation and storing up of priced catalogues of all important sales
for future reference.

A case of conscience arises as to whether it is fit and proper for two
buyers to agree not to oppose each other at a public sale. Mr. Edwards
says, "At the sales Lord Spencer was a liberal opponent as well as a
liberal bidder. When Mason's books were sold, for example, in 1798, Lord
Spencer agreed with the Duke of Roxburghe that they would not oppose each
other, in bidding for some books of excessive rarity, but when both were
very earnest in their longings, "toss up, after the book was bought, to
see who should win it." Thus it was that the Duke obtained his unique, but
imperfect, copy of Caxton's _Historye of Kynge Blanchardyn and Prince
Eglantyne_, which, however, came safely to Althorp fourteen years later,
at a cost of two hundred and fifteen pounds; the Duke having given but
twenty guineas."[13]

It is easy to understand the inducement which made these two giants agree
not to oppose each other, but the agreement was dangerously like a
"knock-out." Mr. Henry Stevens (in his _Recollections of Mr. James
Lenox_) boldly deals with this question, and condemns any such agreement.
He writes, "Shortly after, in 1850, there occurred for sale at the same
auction rooms a copy of '_Aratus, Phaenomena_,' Paris, 1559, in 4^o, with
a few manuscript notes, and this autograph signature on the title, 'Jo.
Milton, Pre. 2_s._ 6_d._ 1631.' This I thought would be a desirable
acquisition fo