be obliged to purchase only those works to which
you have vowed to confine yourself.'

Dull! No. I can assure you from my own experience that this restraint
will but serve to redouble your eagerness, to sharpen an appetite in
danger of becoming blunted by a plethora of _desiderata_ and a shrinkage
of your purse. So that whereas before, a short stroll about the
book-shops would discover to you abundance, or at least plenty, of books
that you would like casually to possess, now that you have become a
specialist you must go further afield. Often you will return empty-handed
from your rambles, and your sanctum (to the delight of the housemaid)
will not be invaded quite so often by stacks of 'dirty old books.' Order
will come out of chaos; many works bought upon impulse because they
appealed to you at the moment will be weeded out and discarded. Moreover
the shillings which this process yields will enable you to send that
priceless gem, the _chef d'oeuvre_ of your collection, to the binder's,
that its extrinsic appearance may be fashioned in keeping with its
intrinsic worth.

More important still, you will become a known man. The booksellers will
remember you, and one day when you reach home from a long and barren
ramble, you will find a postcard awaiting you, announcing the discovery
of some book for which you have long sought.

'SIR,--I have found a copy of the Vitruvius fo. Venice, 1535,
that you asked me for some time ago. You can have it for 10s.
(vellum, clean copy). Shall I send it?--Yours respectfully, JOHN
BROWN.'

Your ramble may have been on a cold winter's afternoon, it may have been
raining and muddy underfoot, but will not this cheer you up and warm you
better than any cup of tea? And what will be your sensations as you undo
the parcel, take out the treasure (which you once saw in Johnson's
catalogue for L3), turn eagerly to its title-page, and collate it as
gently as though you were handling some priceless work of art? Don't tell
me! The specialist gets a thousand times more pleasure out of his hobby
than ever did casual buyer. Besides, what rapture will be his whenever he
chance upon some book for which he has long been searching, or upon some
work on his very subject and yet unknown to him; for book-collecting is
full of surprises.

Some of the booksellers will ask you for a list of your wants. You may
safely supply them with one, and it is not necessary to state the maximum
price w