New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-07-31
THE COLLECTOR.
A STIDY OF TIE CONTRAST BETWEEN TIE
COLLECTOR OF BRIC-A-BRAC AND THE
COLLECTOR OF BOOKS.

collection OF Dflc-a-Dfac Hau Dccu previously us
persed by the same auctioneer, the total realized
being just over half million dollars 1t is the
familiar proportion: the pennyworth of bread to
the intolerable deal of sack Earlier in the cen
tury the proportions might have been reversed.
Then and in the last century as well, the fashion
ran to the collection of books, or, as the phrase
was forming a library. Now the fashion is for
pictures furniture. porcelain, snufiboxes old
plate. and what are called objects of art in
general
The late Mr. IIollingwor,h Magnac may or may
not have been reading man. Between the col
lection of books and the reading Of them. there Is
known TO be difference. But it is quite obvious
that he cared nothing for books Us books; and
did not collect them as he collected ename's ana
ornolu. book TO him was not beautiful thing
in itself not an object Of art; not treasure 10
DO coveted and acquired lie belonged 10 the
happy period when il still possible for the
lover of fine things to buy them at reasonable
price. lie paid, for example, in 1S42, just shor'
of $500 for the Henri DpuX ever which has now
been sold for 100000. Very likely The lesser
sum was then thought large price. Henri
DeuX ware is not very lovely type OF faience'
its value consists in it's extraordinary rarity, in
the difficulty of the process, and In n KIND si
Fictitious celebrity which has somehow connected
probably Faience d'Oiron This is one of those de
lusvr examples which tend 10 foster in the breast OF
the amateur the notion that collecting is form
of investment. II may he; it more often turns
out speculation and failure.
Whatever it he. Mr. Magniac drew the line at
books, and it would be interesting TO know why he
did, and why so many others of his kind do the
same Fashion is not quite a sufficient cXplana-
ton of such an eccentricty. Many man is indie
pendent of those dictates OF others which are
summed up under that name Many man buys
what he likes, not what other people like. Ii
he does the latter, he buys possibly on rising mar
ket; too often market that has touched high
water and begun to fall. There is no necessary
connection between the enjoyment OF beautiful
things for their own sakes, and the kind of en-
joyment man has in thinking he has bought them
cheap. and may some day sell them dear. The
pleasure of possession and the pleasure of ostcn-
tation are also unlike. The pride of showing ones
treasures is innocent enough, but again say, the
man who really justifes his passion is the man 10
whom the beauty or other desirable quality of his
acquisitions is the first, and not the second. con
sideration. Such man would perhaps value art
whether it took the form of picture, or Of an
engraving or of an illustration to a book. Why.
therefore, should be 50 often care little for
books?
1t il distressngly notorious that, in these days.
he often does not II YOU can get access TO houses
in which famous collections recently formed are
enshrined you will certainly be struck by the
inferiority of the library 10 everything else. |
don't say there are no exceptions but this is the
rule: as IL was the rule with Mr.. Hollingworth
Magniac The $500 for books to the $500. 900 for
bric-a-brac may he an extreme instance; II is not
solitary. II could he matched in more than one
famous house Of the present day. one might be
named in the building of which. the park included
not less than 100000 have been spent, and on
the contents az much more. Almost everything
is admirable and splendid except the library. and
the library would perhaps fetch at Christe's, not
Sothehy's about as much as tho Magniac library.
A man who will not look at picture unless
IL he a masterpiece: who would not tolerate
cnp by ANYBODY but Celn: whose tapestries
are signed BY Boucher: for who's, interiors half
n dozen French chateaus have been stripped
contents himself with the cOmmOncst editions OF
the commonest books. in bindings which are not
bindings and in u condition which would make
the rarest volume valueless: or valueless TO any
body but Mr.. Quaritch Why?
The interest in books implies no doubt,
Special education: a particular kind Of culture .
but so does the interest in pictures. The late
Sir Richard Wallace said he had rather study a
picture than book at any time. SO did the Lord
Hartford to whose accumulatons he succeeded.
There is such a thing as mania for paintings.
and such q thing a mania for bsOts Lord
Hertford's rooms in Paris were not merely hung
with pictures they were warehouses: the
pictures, almost all Of them fine, stood on the
floor, three and four deep. about the walls. If
he wanted 70 look at one, or 10 show YOU one.
he had 30 exhume it, turn it round, turn it right
cid nm
Hebers booSs-his libraries rather-are n still
better known instance. lie had a dozen or
more several in England, several in Holland
Germany, and elsewhere He bought libraries
he had never seen. and. believe, never saw some
OF them to the day of his death. lie had many
copies OF tire same edition Of the same book in
the same state. lie often did not know where
any one Of them WAS, and if he wanted 10 con-
suit the book, bought still another copy; which,
in its turn, presently became swallowed up in
this great sea of printed matter.
Yet nobody ever doubted that Lord Hartford
cared for pictures, that llebcr cared for books
1t is idle TO lay down general rules or to try
to extract from the hundreds Of facts that
might he cited Each man cares in his own
way or perhaps does not care. IL Is known that
the present Lord Spencer does not care for the
splendid library Of which he is the custodian at
Althorp. The fact has been stated here in print
and may, therefore, he stated again. II implies
no reproach upon Lord Spencer, and it forms,
imagine no part of the body of reasons which
have induced him 10 resolve 10 part with this
library. lie is keenly sensible OF the lustre
which the possession OF 70 magnificent Il col
lection confers upon him and upon his family.
1t happens that the photographed taste is wanting
to him just a. IL is wanting 10 many scholars 10
whom a book Is only tool.
This, / admit, does not help US much in
our search for an answer TO the question we
started with, nor explain why the millionaire.
who insists on splendor in other matters, should
put up with what is merely squa i'd in his library