f by strange descriptions and burlesque sallies of humour in the
pulpit,' and that his works exhibit 'great fire and rapidity in their
style.'[68] At all events he lived to be seventy-six, which is some
consolation to those who seek to impart originality to their work by this
means.

Here is another volume that I should like to possess, from the same
catalogue.

The Court Gamester: Or, Full and Easy Instructions for playing
the Games now in vogue, after the best Method, as they are Played
at Court, and in the Assemblies, viz. Ombre, Picquet, and the
Royal Game of Chess. Wherein the Frauds in Play are detected, and
the Laws of each Game annex'd, to prevent Disputes. _Written for
the Use of the young Princesses._[69] By Richard Seymour, Esq.
price 2s.

Evidently Richard Seymour, Esq., had some experience of the young
princesses' play. One wonders whether the disputes were frequent and
heated, and whether Richard was the detector or detected with regard to
the 'Frauds in Play'!

Enough, however, of examples: you will find abundance in these old
catalogues to keep you interested and amused for many an hour. Moreover,
your natural inquisitiveness will enable you to discover a great deal
about books and authors which you would otherwise never, perhaps, come
across. For certain titles will excite your interest and curiosity, so
that you will 'look up' the volume in your bibliography. Then you will
turn to your biographical dictionary and find out all that you can about
the author. So it is that your knowledge of books and their writers will
grow. It is a pleasant pastime, this fireside book-hunting, and of the
greatest value to the collector. Let me add, as a note, that you will
find the 'Cambridge History of English Literature' valuable for acquiring
a _contemporary_ knowledge of books.

With regard to book-auctions (which seem to have been introduced into
Europe by the Elzeviers) and sale-catalogues, you will find all the
information that you may require upon this subject in so far as Great
Britain is concerned, in Mr. John Lawler's excellent little volume 'Book
Auctions in England in the Seventeenth Century,' of which a new edition
was published in 1906. The fashion of selling books to the highest bidder
is, in this country, of comparatively recent date; for the first auction
of books held in London was presided over in 1676 by one William Cooper,
an enterprising bookseller, who disp