man who ventured to
assert that the present prices of the first editions of the Victorian
authors may be considered as stable. Bargains are bargains, and the
temptation to buy is often great. But what constitutes a bargain from the
collector's point of view? You cannot define it without reference to
price, worth, or value; and if these be unstable it cannot constitute a
bargain. 'An advantageous purchase' say the dictionaries; but if the
price drop subsequently is it advantageous to _you_? You may think to
play the wise man by collecting early editions of your own or your
father's contemporaries, but it is odds on that you will burn your
fingers. Yet the works of those great writers, those immortals

'On Fame's eternall beadroll worthie to be fyled'

are stable in our affections as is the sun in the firmament. Whatever
fortune may overtake the works of those ephemerals whom by mere fashion
we applaud to-day and neglect to-morrow, the works of those great writers
who have been accorded a niche in the hall of Fame will ever command our
purses no less than our respect.

FOOTNOTES:

[52] Of this book, published in octavo in 1893, it is impossible to speak
too highly. Both as a text-book for the student and a reference book for
the collector it is invaluable. The other two volumes by Mr. Duff are
also of the greatest assistance. 'The Printers, Stationers, and
Bookbinders of Westminster and London from 1476 to 1535' was published in
1906, and 'The English Provincial Printers, Stationers, and Bookbinders
to 1557' in 1912--both by the Cambridge University Press. They are still
(1921) in print, and cost six and five shillings respectively.

[53] A stereotyped reprint of the revised edition published between 1857
and 1864. Each of the first five volumes is in two parts, often bound
separately. Vol. 6 is an appendix.

[54] Brockhaus of Leipzig has also (1921) published a facsimile reprint
of this work--price L12.

[55] The term _Incunabula_ is now applied to all books printed before the
year 1500. It is a vast study in itself, this bibliography of
fifteenth-century books; and thanks to the labours of a small group of
men who have devoted their lives to the subject, it is now upon a
definite scientific basis. Carefully prepared monographs are issued from
time to time, dealing with the different founts used by the early
printers; but as this subject is unlikely to engage the attentions of
those for whom this work is wri