The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-10-12
Our Special Contributors--=ISo5.
LITERARY BYWAYS.
By JOEL BENTON.

full aroma and atmosphere of books
until he has had familiarity with or
made the round of the book stalls.
Yet good many people-the large
majority in fact of those who read
know nothing about these quaint and
fascinating places. The book stall,
for some reason or other, is almost
always a small, dark and dingy
place; and the books in it are, with
very few exceptions, invariably old.
Some of them frequently go back to
within a generations reach of the
year when printing was invented; a
few will wear the vellum covers;
some will be printed in black letter,
with enlarged tinted or ornamental
chapter initials; and of broken backed
ones, and those which need in differ
ent ways the bookbinder's attention
there is always to be seen numer-
GUS assortment. You may possibly
get late and very freshly made
book in book stall; but this is one
of the accidents of the place. 1t is
not by any means the intention of
the dealer to supply the demand its
appearance would imply. He merely
happened, like the fisherman who
went out fishing for sinners to catch
trout; and, unlike the aforesaid
fisherman, did not throw it back as a
violation of his intentions.
New books, however, it must not
be supposed, are any better than old
ones, any more than new lamps are
better than old lamps. In the
latter case where the lamp is of
the old Aladdin pattern the choice
must rest in favor of the old. In
the book stall the scale of preference
runs entirely in the direction of age
and established reputation, making
what is new of little consequence.
For no new book is of very great
value, and is never of uncertain
value, while many old books are of
priceless value. The old books ac-
quire their extreme worth for vari-
ETY. of reasons. They may belong to
limited editions, enhanced in value
because the plates are broken and
because there is no prospect of re-
print of the work. They may have
come out of some famous library, or
may bear some famous imprint, or
may contain famous former owners
autograph or book-plate, or both. If
you happen to go into book stall
and see any book that contains Cole
ridges or Charles Lambs, or De
Quincey's, or Tennyson's autograph,
you need not care whether it is an
almanac or mere primer; it is suffi-
cient to know that you have discov-
cred prize. If the book stall man
does not know the autograph is
there (and he sometimes fails to
know, you will get bargain in buy
ing it.
Of course any name which has au-
tographic interest and value enhances
the worth of volume or a set of
volumes. If book is an Aldine or
or an Elzevir or Bodoni-and, to-
day, if it has the early American i'm
print of Bradford or Benjamin
Franklin-its worth will be far more
than the uninitiated world think.
Books which have been extended" ;"
or, to speak untechnically, have been
opened to receive large amount of
additional matter = usually plates
and portraits apropos of the subject
and have been rebound, are among
the prizes that may be occasionally
looked for in book stalls. Any ordi-
nary book, bound by some binder of
artistic celebrity, may be of very
great value; but to identify such a
volume requires no little knowledge
of bookish lore on the part of the
buyer. First editions are often val
liable simply because they are first
editions; and again, because the first
edition of book may have been
really more nicely made than any
subsequent issue, while the text, of
course, and the illustrations, if there
are any, are of a more clear-cut i'm
preston.
Not all book stalls are alike in all
things, and yet how typical any one
is of the class. They are nearly al
ways in some cosy retreat, or corner;
and are dark, dingy, dusty. and in
curious disorder. Just why it is that
they must be kept SO dark and diff
cult for the encompassing of discov,
cries l never could exactly make out
Old books, as every one knows who