ffections. Far from me be it to make
distinction between them. Granted, however, that you have made up your
mind as to the identity of _the_ treasure, do you not wish to possess
other equally choice works of the same class, on the same subject?
Suppose some distant relative of yours with great propriety should die,
bequeathing you all unexpectedly far more worldly goods than you had ever
hoped to possess; supposing also that you were 'without encumbrances' or
ties of any description, and that your sole aim and ambition in this
world was the collecting unto yourself of the choicest fruits of master
minds: what would be your first act, in so far as your hobby is
concerned?

I know what our book-hunter would do under such conditions. He would take
the next train to Paris, proceed to a certain shop not a great distance
from the Rue St. Honore, mount the step-ladder and hand down to the
delighted Henri just precisely what he fancied _in his own particular
line_. This process he would continue elsewhere until he had formed a
goodly nucleus round which to amass still scarcer volumes as they came to
hand. And I venture to think that you would do the same, though not
necessarily in Paris.

What is it that makes a man a specialist? Is it a particular knowledge of
a certain subject? Do all book-collecting doctors garner only herbals and
early medical works? Does the poet-collector specialise in poetry, the
freemason in masonic books, the angler in works dealing only with his
pastime?

Not always, perhaps; but doubtless this is the case with the great
majority of collectors. Sometimes a chance purchase may shape the entire
course of a man's collecting, sometimes he is led to the subject to which
he devotes his collecting energies by devious byways. Our book-hunter has
a friend who began to collect old French books on Chivalry through a
touch of influenza. When convalescent his doctor ordered him a
sea-voyage. An hour after the advice was given he met a shipping friend,
who offered him a cabin in a ship just about to start on a trading voyage
in the Mediterranean. At Crete the ship was detained for some repairs, so
he took the opportunity to visit Rhodes in a coasting vessel. He was much
struck with the famous Street of the Knights and ancient buildings of
the great military Order that once owned the island, and regretted that
he knew so little about it. Nor did his scanty knowledge of these things
enable him to appreciate to the