New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-04-09
On BOOKS.
III.
WITH FURTHER NOTES on MR. GLADSTONE
AND OTHER BOOK-LOVERS.
London. March %

II Mr. Gladstone could be induced 10 read a
page or two OF an author so frivolous as " Alex
andre Dumas the younger, he would find very
good account in very short space Of the modern
! passion for book-collecting. | ask VI. Dumass
pardon for calling him frivolous the word is NOT
applicable TO him. but | use it as | apprehend
Mr.. Gladstone might use il. Everything now
seems frivolous to him which has not some OBJ
yous relation TO the matter of Home Rule for
| Ireland. W. Dumas, it is true. is the first Of
| living dramatists, and something more. But II
Mr.. Gladstone could unbcnd far as to discuss
in the periodical press the proper dimensions Of
shelving for octavos. W. Dumas may be thought
worthy Of notice when he philosophers on that
singular alteration of the human mind which
leads considerable number Of persons 10 regard
books primarily as bric-a-brac.
True. Mr.. Gladstone's fluctuations on Libraries
are of yesterday, and NJ Dumass pages are fifteen
years old, but to have lived fifteen years is not,
after all, dcmcrit in written composition
What the Frenchman had 10 say on this subject
is TO bc found in his Preface to n book which the
great Englishman probably never read. "llason
Lcscaut' He might call it n damnabe book II
is, nevertheless, in its kind, one Of the master.
pieces of French literature, and it is also q great
iavorte with the collector. The first edition
was worth $16O when VI. Dumas
wrote; may soon, he thinks. be quoted
at 5000 1t is doubtful whether NJ Dumas was
not referring to the first illustrated edition in
= vols. 12mo, Amsterdam. 1853 copy of which
was sold in 1881 for nearly four times that sum.
But why is it, asks he, that a book, which hun
drcd years ago cost but :! should fetch $500 to-
day, while an edition of n classic ten years old
published at 81 can be had now for 10 cents?
The answer is cynical, but has truth enough in
it TO be worth Mr.. Gladstone's considering. 1t Is
perfectly simple. says VI. Dumas. As books are
longer read, whether in one edition or another,
people naturally buy only those editions which have
become rarties or curioSities. They buy the old
editions because they are dear, and the new ed-
tions cheap because they are not bought
There is something in that which Swift wouM
have liked Swift, who wrote Of one Of his own
books to Stella Like trae author, grow fond OF
it because it does not sell" The millionaire Of
to-day has found new way Of spending his mill
ions 1t no longer sufces TO be the posscssor Of
fine house, of carriages and horses, of good
cook and of good pictures. lie must he able to
show his friends old porcelain and old furniture.
old snuif-boxcs. which belonged, if you believe
the dealer. 10 Marie Antoinette or Madame de
Ponpadour and original editions in the binding Of
the period The millionaire of to-day, in short,
without collection OF some sort is not Million
airc. he is only a moneybags. The nobility OF
modern wealth dates from the day he began his
collcction that is the parchment deed Of the
parycnu.
Mr.. Gladstone would probably treat this vari-
Iety of the species to which lie half imaglnes he
mself belongs with but scant respect nor does
l. deserve respect He who buys from osenta-
tie, is 10 true lover OF books. Dr. Johnsons
rul for reading is also the rule for buying Let
him buy what he likes. His taste may or may
not . correct, but time and experience VIII re-
| form at cost which may surprise him. Mean
while g will have a good deal Of pleasure, and
he may even put on his shelves a book or Two
not ALTOGETHER worthless Charles Sumner, IN
| the days long since when we wandered about
Paris together. showed me evening a little
parcel Of looks that he had bought. One of them
was a worthless old volume in costly modern
binding the binding really fine had it only
been o. the right book What YOU
say is quic true" replied Sumner. but it gives
me pcaslhe. and why should not have it?'
Answer to that there was none. lie and Mr..
Gladstone wuld dare say. haze agreed. As
look over Nj Gladstone's article again. sentences
stand out froh il which denote a truly admirable
affection for Us books; admirable whether the
books deserve or not. He assumes, he tells
MS that bis bogy- lover is one whose love is a
tenacious, not ransitory love. He asks what
nan who really locs his books delegates 70 any
other human being. as long as there is breath in
| lis body. the office If Inducing them into their
homes. He disposcs With passing anathema OF
all such as would endevor to sole their problem
or compromise their dnicultes by setting one
row OF books in front If another. The library
must be busted. must be arranged. should he
catalogucd. What visa of till yet not I'M
sons not unworthy TO hayccome from a veritabe
collector.
Yet Mr.. Gladstones inn,meTble American
admirers and friends will not rice To hear that
what hc saws about books in her spiritual life
is better said than all which rates to their
material condition and envronmel There arc
,oomeufs or there is one momcr when his
enthusiasm for them he's proved ptcnt enough
to clarity his style; which under this TRANCE spell
becomes for this one moment almost cIcrammatc.
| Seldom. indeed, does the great deba,r care 10
mt lis thoughts into portable form. r TO give
/ them that last polish of phrase which mixes them
ouotable and memorable. There is. perhps. moth
inc very novel in the thought of this p,sage; it
is the form of it which is SO novel.
Books are the voices Of the dead hey are
4 main instrument of communion with Is vast
human procession of the other world Thy are
the allies of the Thought OF man. lHfN &c, III
a certain sense at cnmty with the world. 'keir
work is. at least. in the two higher compartments
of our thrccfold life In room well Tiled 'ith
them 10 one has felt can feel solitary.
Take thoss, tersc sentences out of their sethg,
and who would suppose they were by the autsr
or Church and State" or of the last speech n
Ireland?
No culogy can he permitted me on book
bc writes Why? For the odd reason
that they already draw their 'es'i-
mouiols from Cicero and Macaulay. The TWO
possaces from those two authors TO which he re-
lers in a toot-notc relate neither OF them III
strjetncss TO books Macaulays is the we'll
known page in the beginning of the essay on
Bacon: > panceyric upon authors. or upon the
great minds of former ages: rhetorical, ar'lhcia'
laborious. its genuincness of feeling overland WIN
ornament Cicero's, in the Grafton for Arenas