ll decay, and the existence
of the books will terminate in a state of white tinder.

Everything which diminishes the interest of a book is inimical to its
preservation, and in fact is its enemy. Therefore, a few words upon the
destruction of old bindings.

I remember purchasing many years ago at a suburban book stall, a perfect
copy of Moxon's Mechanic Exercises, now a scarce work. The volumes were
uncut, and had the original marble covers. They looked so attractive in
their old fashioned dress, that I at once determined to preserve it. My
binder soon made for them a neat wooden box in the shape of a book,
with morocco back properly lettered, where I trust the originals will be
preserved from dust and injury for many a long year.

Old covers, whether boards or paper, should always be retained if in
any state approaching decency. A case, which can be embellished to any
extent looks every whit as well upon the shelf! and gives even greater
protection than binding. It has also this great advantage: it does not
deprive your descendants of the opportunity of seeing for themselves
exactly in what dress the book buyers of four centuries ago received
their volumes.

CHAPTER IX. COLLECTORS.

AFTER all, two-legged depredators, who ought to have known better, have
perhaps done as much real damage in libraries as any other enemy. I do
not refer to thieves, who, if they injure the owners, do no harm to the
books themselves by merely transferring them from one set of bookshelves
to another. Nor do I refer to certain readers who frequent our public
libraries, and, to save themselves the trouble of copying, will cut out
whole articles from magazines or encyclopaedias. Such depredations are
not frequent, and only occur with books easily replaced, and do not
therefore call for more than a passing mention; but it is a serious
matter when Nature produces such a wicked old biblioclast as John
Bagford, one of the founders of the Society of Antiquaries, who, in the
beginning of the last century, went about the country, from library to
library, tearing away title pages from rare books of all sizes. These
he sorted out into nationalities and towns, and so, with a lot of
hand-bills, manuscript notes, and miscellaneous collections of all
kinds, formed over a hundred folio volumes, now preserved in the British
Museum. That they are of service as materials in compiling a general
history of printing cannot be denied, but the destruction of