Book-prices Current: A Record of Prices at which Books Have Been Sold at Auction

INTRODUCTION.

As will be seen on a mere superficial glance at the contents of the following pages, the arrangement of this volume of BookPRICES CURRENT is radically different from any of the volumes that have preceded it. As is well known, the practice has hitherto been to report each sale as it took place, re-arranging the auctioneer's catalogue so as to present the chief entries in alphabetical order. This, of course, necessitated a very full and voluminous index, and possessed the advantage of keeping each sale distinct, and in that way earmarking by juxtaposition the whole of the books contained in it, or at least such of them as were considered worthy of special mention. That this method of arrangement had its merits I dispute in no way, but it has been felt that a system of alphabetical arrangement throughout more than compensates for the very slight advantage of giving to each sale a position of its own. To begin with, the majority of sales reported from time to time are of books gathered together from a variety of sources, the days of very large and important libraries being almost over, though the sales of several, as for example the fourth instalment of the Huth Library and a selected portion of the renowned library at Wilton House, Salisbury, the property of the Earl of Pembroke, are reported almost in their entirety in this volume. It would have been better, no doubt, if these very important collections could have been kept totally distinct, but the desirability of so doing has had to give way to the much greater advantage of displaying in one alphabetical index the activities of the whole season, thus dispensing with an index which, however useful in its place, has been more or less of a drag and a positive hindrance to quick reference, which for one reason or another is regarded as more essential than it used to be when BOOK-PRICES Current first made its appearance nearly thirty years ago.

On the whole, then, the system of continuous alphabetical arrangement appears to be better, and everything has been done to make that arrangement as satisfactory as possible by means of frequent cross references. There are many wellknown books which are not always quoted in accordance with their strict titles; others are assigned in popular terms to the

artist who illustrated them rather than to their authors, and others, again, are best known by their titles--in all these cases, and also in others that might be named, cross references are necessary, or at any rate advisable, so as to make research as easy as possible. The greatest care and discrimination has been exercised in this important matter in the belief that the innovation will be found a distinct asset, which would not willingly be discarded when once it has become familiar.

It will be noticed that the table of contents has been elaborated so as to aid in the furtherance of the new scheme, and that the abolition of the index has made it possible to include some thousands of additional entries, which, by the way, are not included with the mere object of swelling the number, regardless altogether of their importance or interest, but with a due regard to their utility in the broad and comprehensive outlook which it is the object of BOOK-PRICES CURRENT to take on the sales of each succeeding season.

Speaking generally, the season 1913-14 has been very important on account of the large number of valuable books that have been sold. These have at times realised extremely high prices, giving rise to the impression that hardly any amount is too much to pay for books that are urgently wanted. The number of available copies of such books is getting smaller, owing perhaps to their gradual absorption by the large public libraries of the world, and in a measure also to the energy of individual collectors who, bidding one against the other, secure them at any cost, and are satisfied to pay prices which at one time, and that not so long ago, would have been regarded as grossly excessive. On the other hand, books of an ordinary character, such as can be got with comparatively little trouble, when wanted, have fallen in price very greatly during the past ten years. Such books as these are the foundation of every modern library, and that they should be procurable at such low prices as now prevail will go a very long way to compensate for the virtual loss of many of the volumes which time and the hour have placed beyond the grasp of the vast majority of those who take an interest in books for what they contain, and therefore for what they teach us.

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