The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Private Library, by Arthur L. Humphreys

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Title: The Private Library
What We Do Know, What We Don't Know, What We Ought to Know
About Our Books

Author: Arthur L. Humphreys

Release Date: February 24, 2009 [EBook #28174]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE PRIVATE LIBRARY

_WHAT WE DO KNOW
WHAT WE DON'T KNOW
WHAT WE OUGHT TO KNOW
ABOUT OUR BOOKS_

BY

ARTHUR L. HUMPHREYS

_Fourth Edition._

LONDON: STRANGEWAYS & SONS

SOLD BY
HATCHARDS, 187 PICCADILLY, W.
MDCCCC

_PREFACE_

_WITH all the literature published on behalf of Free
Libraries--institutions which, after all, are of doubtful good--no one
so far has written a book to assist in making THE PRIVATE LIBRARY
combine practical useful qualities with decorative effect._

_For many years I have had opportunities of inspecting and reporting
upon Collections of Books in numerous Country Houses, and I must say
that the condition of books in the greater number of them is chaotic. A
man will talk about all his possessions--his pictures, his objets d'art,
his horses, his garden, and his bicycle, but rarely will he talk about
his books; and if he does so, all his geese are swans, or just as often,
all his swans are geese. There are servants in every house qualified to
do everything except handle a book. There is no reason why the Library
should not be just as much a place of amusement as the billiard-room,
where the men are usually to be found. Books are much more amusing than
billiards, and you may learn to play in jest or work in earnest with
books just as you take to any other amusement. The whole truth is that
at present books do not get a proper share of attention, and it is with
the desire to remedy such a condition of things that I have printed this
little volume, containing things that we do know, that we don't know,
and that we ought to know about our books._

_A. L. H._

187 PICCAD