, 1874-01-25

, an
effort to change your hole Tor home; md. II
you tctu you can do it. NM.
BooK-BuYING. :
8Y PRoF. WILLIAM MATHEWS, or THE Us1yEpzrrv
OF CHICAGO.
Reader, we're you ever afflicted With that hopo.
1essly-incurab!e disease, -yclept bi5lioma MD
that disease which sends its victim daily to Ap-
plctons' or Scribner's to
EMPTY HIS PocsEr-BooK FREELY
in the purchase OF rare and curious editions Or
perhaps, luxurious modern editions Of favorta
old authors, daunting in the bravery OF larse.
clear type, with snow-white paper,-a rivules Of
ink in meadow Of margin7 Do you know vh,s
it is to be drawn to the book ssles-room with an
attraction like that OF tho steel. to the magnet
and to find the tap Of the auctioneer's hammer
as Irresistible as is the roll Of the rouleta-bsl,o to
the gambler, or the music of cork-d.a7inp
to the topper? Did you ever stand for hours
wistfully turning over the pages Of some
coveted volume, vein1y 1acking your brains for
eome art by which, with your limited funds, to
make it your own? Did you ever feel your heart
Bink within you when, through your hesitation,
or, more likely, tho depletion Of your Purse.
some ardently-coveted volume; On which yoa
had fastened with longing eyes,-which in i'm
agination, you had already seen snugly slowed in
q corner Of your library, passed by the ine1ora-
Bile law Of the hammer to some luckier ind-
vidual2 Have you not deploscd THOUSAND
times the fatality that led you to haunt these
marts Of literature, and resolved, and rs-resol7-
ed, and resolved again, :
NEVER MORE TO BE sEpucED
BY the witchery Of tree-cal:, fine tooling, Or
luxurious type and paper?' And yet, if the
book-buying~ disease had fairly seized o.
you, did you ever succeed in e1tir-
pating it, stern as might be =: the
necessity for economy II you got it uni1a1 fc,
= week, or possibly q month. did you not in7a-
riably find, in the very ecstasy OF your triumph,
that it had temporarily abated only to break
forth with tenfold fury7
' II you have ever experienced the feelings We
have described, VIC can sympathize with you
We have been lifelong victim OF the disease,
which early became chronic and incurable. Our
ruin dated from the hour when va bought cur
first duplicate. This downward step, as John
Hill Burton says, is fraught with fearful consc-
quences it is like the first secret dram awal-
lowed IN the forenoon, OF the first pawning Of
the silver spoons; there ia no hope for the pa-
tfent after this ''It rends at onca the veil Of
decorum spun cut Of the f1imsy sophisrns By
which he has been deceiving his friends,
and partially decei7ing himself, into the
belief that his previous purchases we're neces.
Bary, or at all events. serviceable- Tor pro-
fessionh and literary purposes. -He~noW b.
comes
T. SHAMELESS AND HARDENED;
and it ia observable in the career Of this class ot
unfortunates, that the first act Of duplicity ia
Immediately followed by an access Of the dis
order, and reckless abandonment to it's pro-
pensitiea.'' -
: Shall We ever forget the evenings passed in
"1ang syne" at Leon.rd's, In the American
Athens; at Bsnga', in Gotham; or At Lords, in
the City OF Brotherly Love, mobs, and ftemea's
fights. in watching the sale Of those darlings in
calf or Turkey Morocco, on which re had set our
affections? How, like many lover by the zde
OF tlesh-and- blood mistresses, did We sigh for
wealth for their sake! Tho beauties! We would
have
EMBRACED THEM ALL
but, a1.s i! terrible presentiment weighed upon
our mind touching the plumber We ehouid ba
able to secure in the awful conflict Of the eyen-
ing! The Duke Of York, naming the select
courtiers whom lie wished to be saved from tho
wreck OF the Gloucester fngate, leaving thu rezss
to perish, Was but faint type OF our gloomy
self, deciding among scores Of coveted~yotume5
tho fow choicest and most fondly -prlzad ones
which ne we're most anxious to carry to the dry
lind Of cur OWL snug bookcase at home. Then
how anxiously ne weighed tho chanccs7-ho'
profoundly We estimated the probabllities-ot
securing, or not securing, the favoritesl- Per
haps our capital was enough only to warranttne
hope Of winning one goodly-aized volume =
fine old copy Of se1den, Fuller, Burton or Sir
Thomas Browne should We concentrate al ous
financial resources upon that, or should 10
divide our affections and our cash among two Of
three smaller yolumes? PeZhaps-ha.eful
thought the very book or books re yea1aec
for might be eyed and coveted by -
" SOME RICHER RIVAL,
who would ourbid us. The work came early IN
the catalogue; there would be few present; Il
would 20 cheap. It was in the middle Of tho
lisr-the very noon Of the sale; it would 60
dear. Oh! how we dreaded to geo certnin veil
known faces peering through the crovd Never
have wo had rivals whom We feared or hated mo1o
| than rival book-buyers. Even when we neither
| saw nor heard any person who had hxed n1s
| &1act100B On Lu6 DCok NO 1oohoo AoAt sA~A~
| sure to be Some lyn1-eyed Burnham Or otnet
! s.IAntique- -Bokestore" man, who would hght 70
the last dollar, or, at least, make US pay dea1H
for the treasure if VIC won it. With "hat per
feet malignity did We regard those cruel Re-
mo1seless, bnt crafty old felloWs,-these tJ7aD'S
who bid oil the precious volumes, not from
any love Of them, OF because they could app.es. =
ciate "the precious 1fe-b1ood OF amaste1-spfi''
s.that seasoned life Of = man presat'ea Alu
stored up in books, as Milton terms it, pos n0A
| the
MEAN AxD soRnD MOTIVE
of making money! How inexpHcsble seena
| the ways Of Providence, that placed an ~.
cash in the pockets Of such v1etches, lnsteaa =.
IN the pockets OF persons Like rs who kne" n''
| to use it
There are some persons who hare no a5mpasn3
With the iuveterats book-buJer !; VINO cano.
! appreciate the niser-hke feeling which pfomp'.
a man to accumulate on his shelves hnnoFeo' ..
volumes which he can never 1ead. liners ~
those to whom the artificial refinemenss "nN-
have grown up about tho outa1de OF n's1a -
ture yield 20 r1easure,-to whom one xsn ~
pickcring's gorgeous editions, Or eve. esss
AAhfA