men. Books are not absolutely dead things, but doe contain a potencie
of life in them to be as active as that soule was whose progeny they
are: nay they do preserve as in a violl the purest efficacie and
extraction of that living intellect that bred them. Unlesse warinesse
be us'd, as good almost kill a Man as kill a good Book; who kills a
man kills a reasonable creature, God's Image; but Hee who destroys a
good Booke, kills reason itselfe, kills the image of God, as it were
in the eye."

In the garnering of book-treasures, some collectors are prompted
wholly by mercenary motives--most of them, fortunately, are not. There
are biblio-mercenaries of such sordid inclinations that they would
readily part with almost any book in their possession,--even inscribed
presentation copies!--if lightly tempted with money considerations.
Verily, these parsimonious traders would barter their own souls, if
they possessed any value.

I am indebted to the Secretary of a well-known book club for the
following facts, to confirm which I saw all the correspondence. A
certain book-buyer joined the club some time ago, and subscribed for
the first publication issued after he became a member. Upon receiving
the work he wrote: "I consider them among the most beautiful examples
of book-making that I have ever seen, and prize them above all other
books in my library." Six months later he sold the copy to a
book-agent for twice its original cost. He "passed" the next
publication issued by the club, as it did not interest him, but
appended a postscript to his letter, saying: "If any member wants an
extra copy, I have no objection to one being issued upon my membership
and turned over to him, provided I receive the increase in price."

The following humorous incident is recorded in the (1903) Year Book
of another prominent book club. It may be explained that the club
issued a very elaborate and beautiful publication, printed upon deckle
edge handmade paper, illustrated with remarque proof copperplate
etchings on Japanese vellum, and in duplicate without remarque on
Whatman paper: "One of the members upon receiving the first two
volumes of the ---- publication, writes: 'The Society starts out by
making the worst kind of a blunder. The man's picture in the front of
the volume is put in twice and on _two kinds of paper_. I could excuse
this error, but imagine my horror when upon turning to the back of the
volume I found the _same mistake repeated_.