St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1891-07-11
LUCKY FINDS IN BOOKS.


LUCKY FINDS m BOOKS.
fe. Cents for the Fir.s American Edls,es
q the Vicar Of Wakefield.
Book collectors occasionally mako
lucky finds. Every bibliOmaniac is fa-
miliar with the story of the famous dis
covery of NJ. Tenant de LatOurs, the
! well-know French collector, who one
day, while strOlling along the quay OF
historic Louvre, saw = small, mean
looking volume lying upon book
stall, which he discovered to he a copy
| of ''Imitatio Christo," and moreover,
that upon the fly-leaf was the auto
graph of j. J. Rosseau. Securing tho
volume. he quickly returned home.
where he made the further discovery in
it of note written by Rosseau. dated
1868. in which he requested CORE
spondent to forward a copy Of the I'm
itatio Cristo." This, of course, was q
remarkable find, but il is no more won
desful or interesting than certain ones
which have been made by Philadelphia
| collectors
Not many weeks ago Mr.. George p.
Philes, the eminent authority upon
Americana, and especially New York
and Philadelphia imprints, quite unex.
pectedly. while looking over the books
upon the tcn-cent stand of q we'll.
known old-boOk store in this city, came
upon the first American edition of tho
"Vicar of Wakefield" printed in Phila-
delphia for William Mentz, and sold by
most of the booksellers in America,
I7:s.
In speaking of this book. Mr.. Philcs
remarked: This edition has become
so excessively rare that three perfect
copies only are. at present, known to be
in existence. One of these is in the
library of the Historical Society Of
Pennsylvania, and Judge Samuel W.
Pennypacker has a fine copy. 1t should
be remarked that this first American
edition is highly priced and eagerly
sought after by intelligent collectors of
choice books, not merely on account of
its extraordinary rarity, but more par
ticularly for its typographical. literary
and intrinsic value. Indeed, it may be
said to possess a certain manuscript
value. and faithfully represent the
original text of Goldsmith's immortal
work, being, in fact. an exact reprint
of the first English edition, printed at
Salisbury in 1866, and exhibiting all the
| peculiar characteristics mentioned by
Mr.. Foster in his careful description of
that edition.
THE word fudge is not repeated at
each pause by Miss Caroline Wilhclmina
Amelia Skegg's fascinating remarks on
/ Shakespeare, high life. and the musical
| glasses" -" as it is in the second and third
editions. and there is no table Of con-
tents, which, also, was first added to
| the second edition.
1t is not so many years since Mr..
Brindley, the famous New York col.
lcctor. was alive and was accustomed to
make frequent trips to Philadelphia in
| search of rare books. One of his great
| places for picking up treasures was Pol
locks. One day Mr.. Brindley happened
in this store, and seeing musty little
volume lying carelcssly upon the table
| he picked it up, and upon examination
discovered that it was the Laws of
New York." printed by William Brad
ford in 1898, in New York, being the
first work issued in that colony. Al
though aglow with excitement, Mr..
Brinkley calmly asked Pollock the
price of the book. 1T has been here
! for a good WHILE" said Pollock, lyon
can have it for sixteen dollars" Not
waiting to have his treasure encascd in
paper, Mr.. Brindley paid :he money
and departed. That same book few
years later at the sale of Mr.. Brindley's
library fetched sixteen hundred dollars,
being purchased by the New York state
library.
There are. il is said, but three known
copies in existence, two of these being
owned by the Historical society of Penn
sylvania.
Mr. Craig Richie, of this city, who
has been a book-buyer for thirty odd
years and has a well-selccted library,
which cost upward of seven thousand
dollars. was strolling one day in tho
ncighbOrhoOd of Tenth and Arch streets,
when out of mere idle curiosity he
stopped at Mr.. Cogan's bookstore on
Tenth street, below Arch. This place.
although not now existing. will be re.
membercd by collectors. Carelessly ex.
amining few of the books on the
shelves, Mr.. Ritchic opened and read the
title page of an old, mean-looking vol.
ume, which he discovered WAS q copy
of "Fontainc's Tales" London i'm
print of 1914, and quite unfamiliar
to him. Casually he asked the price.
Fifty cents" Cogan replied. So Mr..
Ritchie captured the book. and return
ing home, embraced the first spare mo-
ments to glance at its contents, when
he discovered that the stories were YER
sified in the free and easy manner OF
Boccaccio. After perusal the book
found a place upon a secluded shelf,
where il remained for long time quite
forgotten, in fact il is doubtful II IL
would have been remembered again II
Mr.. Richie had not, after . lapse OF
several years, received . prospectus
from well-known publishing house in
this city, which stated that II proposed
to place upon the Philadelphia bool,
market IN English translation pub
)ished in London, of "Fontaine's Tales, "
and it was further stated that this was
. book long out Of print, and therefore
the subscription price would be high,
and the edition, think, limited TO five
Hundred copiea-Philadelphia Press
Good WhlteWash.
Stake ope-half bushel of good unslalr'
ed lime with boiling water. cover itdur'
ing the process to keep in the steam.
Strain the liquor through . sieve and
add to it . peck Of salt previously dis.
solved in warm water, three pounds oi
ground rice boiled to . thin paste. one.
half pound Of powdered Spanish whit
ing. and one pound Of clean glue, which