New-York tribune., 1885-01-17
TIE SYSTON LIBRARY.
,,,r,, oovr GENERAL REFLECTIONS ON
VIII rau, 1U aTyING AND SELLING OF BOOKS

iTIoM THE RheohA" LONDON December 70.
-. enormous sums bid for the Mazarin piD'0
~ psolmorum Codex IN the Syston Library
- NAV at first sight, seem PROOF Oh senu.uo ~
.,,bpsasm for books; and 80 IL less oeeioo .nU
,osser but still very large prices ootaipeu ~. go
,,.ber hooks. / have already dweit Oh .no
of ignorance which goes to the swen'ns " aritv
,usiasm, pointing out regfetiuhy 'n"' u.oaern
or celebrity seems sufficient 1or many ,;,io, Of
Fnolisu buyer and that regard W 'uo -, :. hut
honr-the true touchstone of coiec'ihe-s ~.
ooo n,;uht Rut there is another side 10 tho
W. .h;ob this last sale presents, ano'her leu
- r,or IN this and to many that ha'o s'
before it, ~ boo, almost as
pooks for many years past have been anno'v q,
.,,,ob oh;acts of speculation as stooKs 'nous
.irors in the same way. Prices nave ooon -
-. dawn as suited the convenience OIL certain
Is an. sa,e were not of too great in"h -.
= .knock-out" was arranged. ,ors of
..r.a into a conspiracy of silence the uieh'v
a. - Aid not bid against each other' 'r'u"o s
,.I--,as xvare .acriaced for song In pupi'o' az"
,oso,d m nriyate to the harpes whose com
80 .oa rIundered the real owner. very oino,c
oans care adopted for increasing prices whion
3. What we have chiefly to do with now ono
the simplest is sort of tacit agreeiho"' A 80
.nacu,atiye booksellers to keep priVato ou' ' -.
Of the auction room. If you chose 10 s0nu y ,rau
commission to dealer or to the au0'Vn 0a',n,oa
and GOOD. If you appeared IN person a"u .,sh hoob
In compete with the trade, tho pi,'o q. I'd Won
vou wanted was run up for your So. ,oIra
s0a -. :. .o or nav much more than It's value'
n@u ~ -, -. - osa there were one dealer ID DOCKS
s,,,I,i+ion IL was to create something hAo
~I,, in everything that was most iai0
and nracions Let us suppose that ne sousnS "
o,,na, customers of every nation W 'on" -
.on,,nissions to him under penalty OF suieins % a'
A.. nr,vate buyer present in the room 'uno
srhorn ia a story of a well-known oookseiiof VIZ
Gonna wears ago was in the haolt oi ieo'i' his
0ono So, Co. hooks to be bought by auction ior his
ZEN in-shal we say Russiaf lie iounu
s1 H., chat he was allowed to buy none VI 'n0
hoolTs for which he bid. His customers IL 49,
torrd that il became useless to senu nun oo .I'.
.;ors aud he was ruined. BY some means =,
,,onv of these commissions, as no sIo
fornd their way to the hands Oh ,no 80
who had steadily bought over nt0 ,a
80, 80 bool, he wanted. Imagine the s',n0
enterprising dealer teihng nov, him
saoTar that he must buy through him ana pay h'ili
Cor his trouble or take the consequences
" s,,oh Incidents as these throw any hgn' on 'n0
."osa in nrices' If they do not, let us penc'f"'e
,:..,o fr,tber into this realm Of fancy. Inc sie''
r,So libraries and museums have each OIL lnen
nIo
.ho;r o,vn AGENTS in the various European c"pi'"s
- .-ho,o tboir commissions for the purchase VI
- bv auction are entrusted. Inc Di.u9H
Museum has But it happens th''' tho "sD
pr;,,sb Museum in LendOn is person whom oui
;mopinary monopolst might, II lie had iv"l 80
once in this real world, consider rival Nv" -. -
yor nv a fresh effort of the mlnd' cohceNo 'N''
,,o,onolist should resolve that he ana he aLono
ongbt to be the agent of the BRUSH AiuSeuN w
in
,,ou nictnre him to yourself as buying, in P
ance of this purpose every important oooA 1 "H-.-
the Museum wanted Can you pursue 'n0 ms
- ,-ou see the Museum, after once OF twice
weakly purchasing from him the coVe'eu 49, .ioo
bs had refused TO allow the authorities ana trustees
- No+;on IN buy for themselves resolving lot
SO mart that if such a game as TINS weIe u Oo
.,Io,,od II should cost the gamester dearf DO yoh
t,ornon 70 have heard, by chance, that the Museum
r., ,ot.l,, in several cases, enlarged the limits 0i
;ts commissions to its own agent TO poih' I"i
,ond the market value of the book IL Y arscu ,H ~
buv, Would it surprise you 10 10 'o
49, notwithstanding this. the book sun
s n the hid of his rival Aud If any or all OF IheSo
incidents instead Of being mere creations VI mo
brain. had really occurred. would they OF "ouiu
they not inevitably increase, and enormously IN,
crease the cost of rare books to the booK-ouSers VI
England and American
Ills not needful to pursue such pohcy INTO H'
remoter but equally sure results IL is enough !"
ace that it must drive all buyers but those OF large
means from the field that 1T must limit the huni,
ber of collectors; that 1t must lock up masses Vi
booLs in the warehouse whence the prohlbltlve
.,,,oG+ ord nrice mt upon them by the dealer to
,,oLi losses in these ventures prevent their pass
inc IN genuine possessors that 1T directly fosters
tho natural tendency of the mere tradesman TO tols
unon the public poor copies of famous books AS to
the latter point may add that nothing IS more
common than for q bookseller Who has worX Oh
his shelves and quoted at great sum III ms ca'"
logue 10 buy other copies as they occur OF 10 rii
them mn in the aucton-rocm to protect" as N
caiis II his own wares The result OF this pollcy Il
that he oyerstOcks his shop ultimately with th'
moor eopies bought for more than their value les
percbance some possible customer should thlhk
GOOD example dear because an inferior one had beeI
sold cheap.
In the case of the PSalmorum Codex, when teiu
The final offer of "a $50 the penultimate BIDDER wa
Mr Fliis and as Mr. Ellis holds the commission
of the British Museum, it was at first supposed Una
he was acting for that institution in his attempt
secure this treasure. 1t is now said that the Bsr
Library and not the British Museum was his princl
nal. Mr.. Ouaritch, who bought the book, told some
body that he had large American commission, an
n large Engsh-the latter being not less tina
$4,000. Finally, he bought for himself
The English press itself is more OF less respoi
sible for the prevailing want OF discrimination D'
tween books in ordinary and books III exraordinar
condition The AheaGum is perhaps the creates
offender Of ALL 1t reports the chief sales, ana II
Yeports are so abbreviated as TO be completely mis-
leading. The essential facts are not stated WI
give Won ilagrant instance. A copy OF La For
taine's Contes ct Nouvelles en- vers, Amsterdam
1852, the edition known as that of the fermie'
G6neraux was sold by auction in Londo
some little time ago. and, being moe
crate copy, fetched moderate sum. Our literar
oracle thereupon remarked that tie same boo
49,. r.4nhod 10 coo francs / neod not +