ason for the cheapness of his bargains (!) some
time later. A friend has also suffered from his attentions. I need hardly
add that his shop is now avoided, by two book-hunters at least, as
something unclean.

Occasionally, also, one comes across scarce volumes bereft of
title-pages, these having been torn out by some vampire to adorn his
scrapbook. Surely no fate can be too bad for the man who dismembers
books. His proper place is certainly in the Inferno, where, in company
with Bertrand de Born, he will be condemned for ever to carry his own
head, after it has been separated from his body, in the shape of a
lantern.[46]

As soon as ever you reach home with your purchases from a ramble along
the bookstalls, and whenever you receive books that you have ordered
through a bookseller's catalogue, collate your acquisitions carefully.
Whenever it is possible refer to a bibliography to see that your copy is
all that it should be. Nothing is more annoying than to discover, perhaps
years afterwards, that your copy of a rare book, which you fondly
imagined to be a fine one in every respect, lacks a page or so, or a leaf
of index or errata, or a plate. It is a good plan to make a point of
keeping books upon your table until they have been properly collated and
catalogued, when--and not before--they may be placed upon the shelves.

Frequently you will discover that a second book, or even a third, has
been bound up with your volume, and you would have overlooked these but
for collating. It was a common practice at one time (as, indeed, it is
with some collectors nowadays) to bind up thin books with thicker ones to
save the expense of binding. Probably this is the reason why certain
sixteenth and seventeenth century works which consist of but fifty or
sixty leaves are so hard to find, being bound at the end of larger works
and thus commonly escaping the cataloguer's eye.

It is necessary for the collector to exercise the greatest caution in
acquiring a valuable old book from any but a reputable bookseller. The
fabrication of a page or so--especially a title-page--is a comparatively
small matter to the nefarious dealer who hopes by this means to obtain
for his copy the price which a perfect one would command. 'Perfect'
copies of rare fifteenth-century works are made up from two or more
imperfect ones, title-pages and leaves are reproduced in facsimile, blank
leaves and engravings are inserted: for all these the collector must be
c