New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-01-16
THE BOOK-LOVER.
A PHOTOGRAPHY OF MATTHEW ARNOLD
MR. ANDREW LANG'S VARYING
VIEWS-ARNOLDS
POPULARITY,
London. January 8.

London. January g.
Mr.. Andrew Lang who is the delight of thu
diiettante, has suddenly taken up his parable
against one OF their favorite pursuits; which once
was also favorite pursuit OF his own. He now
denounces-no, denounces is not the word; he Is
| seldom enough in earnest about anything to de-
nounce anything; let us say he now softly de-
rides the collecting of books. Or, in pursuit of
that accuracy about which Mr.. Lang is so care
less, will say he derides the collecting of books
written by Matthew Arnold What is his quar-.
rel with the great writer who is gone? / dare
say 1t is an old quarrel One does not commonly
get up quarrels with dead authors, nor is Arnold
one of the dead authors to whom Mr. Lang has
written Letters. Old or new. there is a quar-
rel, on Mr.. Langs side; an enmity to Arnold which
leads him to discourage the buying of early edi-
tions of that author 1t cannot matter much to
Arnold, nor even to Arnolds friends But curl
osity is strong and one would rather like to
know what Arnold did or said in his lifetime to
rouse these angry passions, if passions they be,
in SO gentle breast as Mr.. Andrew Langs.
Mr. Smart has just published an Arnold Bibn-
ography, and the author of The Library and Of
Books and Bookmen wants to know what the use
of it is Time was when Mr.. Lang would have
shrunk from posing as a Philistine. He has
written, If not with exactness. yet with SYM
pathy about the enthusiasts of the book-lover.
lie said, among other things that the passion for
books like other forms of desire. has its changes
OF fashion the jingling truism which he is now
himself making truer. He has said many pretty
things about the bibliophile he is was, him.
self bibliophe. And now he calls him bibDo-
fool 1t is pleasure to reflect that Dr. Murray
has got beyond the letter b in his new English
Dictionary, land cannot preserve this hatefut
neologism in that great warehouse OF words
into which he dumps so much rubbish which a
sounder Judgment or more strict system would
have excluded.
The inconstant Mr.. Lang is at the pains to de-
fine his ncologsm for us. The blOLloiool Is one
who wants First Editions. The definition Is
outobiographical Mr. Lang has long wanted
First Editions, and years went by became INC
possessor of many which suppose he possesses still
The difference between him and the true DID
hophile is, nevertheless, marked The biblio-
mile is n collector who collects only the best, or
as near the best as he can get. Not the edition
only. but the condition, is to him vital matter.
His books must be perfect. sound, clean but not
cleaned in the original binding if they be so at
tainable as free from the Of the restorer
as from the ravages Of time. Indeed, time Is less
an Enemy OF Books than the binder or any other
Of the human race who proposes to make good
the losses which the lapse of years and the active
hostility OF bookworms, gas, housemalds. dust
curious friends, and other foes infiict lie Is
one who bears in mind and practises the golden
rule of collecting; always the best. never tho
second-best. If you cannot have the best you can
go without.
There is a note on this point by Brunei which ID
instructive In describing the first AIdine
Ovid. 1923, the great photographer says Il
/ ~. nd br1 o.
cory. in blue morocco, and have great desire
10 procure the first volume, the Metamorphoses,
in the same binding and not otherwise IL ne
had stoned there he would have been admirable.
with his not otherwise But. alas tho flesh Is
weak and even Brunei had not the full courage
of his opinions He adds: Meantime. 81.
Techener has obtained for me a very fine COPY
OF this volume, edition OF 1913 ~, IN blue
morocco IKE the other two. which belonged to N.
Laurin, with his motto. Virtus in arduo, on one
side OF the cover, and on the other the inscrip'
tion NJ Lavrini ct amcorum'
Till Mr.. Lang appeared on the scene there was
nothing more melancholy in photography than this
avowal-Brunet, the excellent Brunei himself,
consenting TO complete-heaven save the mark!-
Grolier's copy of the first Aldine Ovid with vol
ume which was neither the first Aldine nor
Grolier's. but a pastiche Of both. True, it was
only for the tme-that the excuse with
which he beguiled his conscience. but believe
he went TO his grave the of this hybrid
copv First volumes of books which belonged to
the illustrious Grolier do not turn up in every
lifetime. and if you possess the second and third
and want the first the odds are million to one
AGAINST YOU Mr. Lang has told us. l think In
the little volume he calls The Library. that he has
more imperfect and poor copies OF INST ana othef
early editions than any man who ever lived.
lie MAKES the confession jauntiy-he is always
aunty. especially on serious subjects He did not
at that time foresee that he was TO invent the
word bibliofool.
Matthew Arnolds earlier volumes OF Poems
have for many years been scarce books. and the
price OF them in the market-if there can be SAID
TO be a market for such wares-has ruled high,
as the writer's Of many articles have IT, but
SAYS the backsliding Lang: - If one wants Mr,
Arnold's Poems, one buys them, and with his
prosc works. There they are nicely printed and
not ruinously expensive Whose voice Is this :
Is It the same which was once heard saying that
Old books are often literary relics. and as dear
and sacred to the lover OF literature as are relics
Of another sort TO the religious devotee' Can II
hc the same which affirmed: "The amateur likes
70 see the book in its form the author knew
IT, He takes a pious pleasure in the nrst edluon
Of Les Prccieuses Ridicules tMDCLX, just as
Moicre saw it when he was fresh in the business
Of authorship" or his who added, All edi-
tons published during great mans life have ths
attraction, and seem to carry us closer TO hs
spirit? And who summed up the matter with
a touch Of true imaginative feeling: Yes. it IS
sentiment that makes us feel lively affection for
the books that seem 10 connect us with great
poe,s and students long ago dead. Their hands
grasp ours across the ages Wien he wrote thus
lie breathed the upper air. When he commenh
the latest collected editions, nicely printed -
which they are not-and SCOTS ut the true lover
of books who prefers the first editions ana mas