ds! So much for the ugly duckling.

What an absorbing topic is that of 'lost books'! There is a fascination
about the subject that every bibliophile must have experienced. 'Hope
springs eternal in the human breast,' and it is impossible to read of
books long lost without making a mental note of their titles in the hope
that some day we may come across them. Perhaps it is these memories,
pigeon-holed in our mind, that add a zest to anticipation whenever we go
book-hunting on our travels. But alas! the reward for the bibliophile's
hope in this direction is rare as the blossoming of the aloe.

It is curious to think of the thousands of books that have completely
disappeared. Nowadays the Act which assures the preservation in our
greater libraries of every book published in this country will doubtless
prevent the disappearance of a good many English books of lesser
importance, such as school books and other works that are quickly
superseded. But before the passing of this Act there was nothing to
prevent an unpopular or useless work from becoming extinct, and vast
numbers must have disappeared in this country alone. There are many
books, however, important books even, and books which we know to have
been immensely popular in their day, of which so much as a glimpse has
been denied us. The 1606 octavo of 'The Passionate Pilgrim,' the first
issue of John Barclay's satirical romance 'Euphormionis Lusinini
Satyricon,' published at London in 1603, the 'Famous Historie of the
Vertuous and Godly Woman Judith,' London, 1565 (of which a title-page has
been preserved), what would not every book-collector give for copies of
these?

Then there are such early-printed works as Caxton's translation of the
Metamorphoses of Ovid, probably published by him about 1480, 'The Life of
St. Margaret' (known by three leaves preserved in the Bodleian), the
'goste of guido' or Ghost of Guy, and the Epitaph of the King of
Scotland, all printed by Pynson, as well as that mysterious volume
ycleped 'The Nigramansir,' said to be by John Skelton the poet-laureate
who lived under five kings and died in 1529. Many of Skelton's works,
perhaps even the majority of his writings, are known to us by title and
hearsay alone; but who shall say that his 'Speculum Principis,' or 'the
Commedy Achademios callyd by name,' which he himself mentions, are lost
beyond all hope of recovery? 'The Nigramansir' was actually seen by
Thomas Warton, the poet-laureate, in the 'fi