New-York tribune., 1896-01-19

nj Rv Engene Field. svo. pp. x.i, 253. New-York:
Charles Scrbncr's Sons.
What happens TO a man 0hen he falls IN love
depends of course. upon the man ana upon the
object OF his passion. II Is recorded OF one mild-
manrered bachelor. person OF irreproachaoie
conduct and the most studiously regular habits
man who paid his taxes and chose his cravats
~. n the same punct l!ous system II is recorded
of this parsonage say, that having become en-
amoured OF n lady as placid as himself, ne look
up a position from day to day on the br.nk OF
ra 'lroad "cut," and as the trains passed shrek
ing beneath his feet he would break all the WIN
dows he could with cunn.ng.y fired" fragments Of
coal! He illustra ted the reaction OF a ruminatlVe
eoul under the cxctements of a newly discovered
emotion There are many other cases In history
OF men whose deeds have been curious enough
when they have fallen in love. The symptoms OF
chicken Dbl oman.a," the primary stage or the
Grand nass,on." as The book-over experiences it.
seem to promise extraordinary do.ngs on the
part OF the patient those to which we nave
lust rcre-red They are flushed cheeks. wrote
the lato Eugene Field In his last book. sparkling
eyes. a bounding pu.se and quick respiration
This period Of exaltaton IL not unirequeh'y lo'-
lowed by a condition Of collapse In when we Hhu
the victim pale. pulscless and detected. lie ~
pursued and tormentcd OF imaginary horrors he
repropches himself for imaginary crimes, ana ne
nnnIores piteously for relief from fanced dangers
But as the mania Increases II We are to believe
Mr. Field Il carries the patient into "A coh"to
of re-enforccd exa.tation-the true or secondary
stage OF II bl.omaria;" and then. contrary 10 al
exnectation the man does tho least offensive and
most natural OF things. He takes to readns IN
hed-and smoking too in the same place. Tie
selleth all that he hath and buyeh with the pro-
ceeds a copy OF one Quntus Ilorat!us Flaccus,
fine copy. rare copy copy which Deco'hetn
the envy Of all the bibliomaniacs in town. lie
writeth verses some OF them good and many OF
them bad But in everything he H. harmless. In
everything as Eugene Fed proved re ~ 'o'aOie
and a boon companion.
This is the impression TO be derived from The
Love Affairs OF a B.bomanac." Field wrote 1t
lust before he died and. as his brother tens us
In q pleasant introduction OF half dozen pages
he prt into the work all the enthusiasm and bb!o-
nanlacal tenderness OF his long experience as a
collector OF books and a lover OF them oNen Il
mar is one of these two things before he Is the
other often he * only o. the two; but with
Fled there seems to have been a fusion OF both
characters at the very beginning. When. In the
company OF Tt;le Captivity Waite. he hrs' as
covered the delights OF the famous "New-England
Primer" he may not have attempted at once 10
make the book the nucleus OF library. But the
inst,nct OF the bbliomaniac was already In his
heart as he turnel the quaint pages with Capt!V-
,tv at his side She herself he SAYS. approached
closely TO realization OF the ideals OF i.)ok-a
slxtecnno II you pleasc-falr TO ooK ui"h' "
c.ca- clean type. well ordered and wen e1.''n'
amply margnsi neltly bound; human book.
whose text as represented by her disposition anu
her mind corrosponded fclc.tousy with the come
rncss Of her exterior" Il never think or speak
or the 'New-England Primer" says THIS am sing
h,broman,ac that DO not recall Captivity
Waite" The episode might be taken as a fair IL
lustration OF what Fields love affairs "a bibho-
maniac were from beginning TO end. Inc hooK o'-
fore us opens on this charming "hrsi love. ana
as the CHAPTERS 20 on they present the same " n
ming mixture OF booksh with more ari.ess fent'-
rnents OF bbloman.acal with sunny human ie''-
ings Field conceived the volume as recording '"'
,alk and rcco!lect.ons OF a collector of mature
wears looking back fondly upon the passions of MS
lfo and passing them on 10 his fellows Win m''-
cstv but w!tha n convict on that he VINO inAKci
two b'blomanlacs to grow frenz.oi where Only
ono was mad before = benefactor 10 IN" human
race There f. a Judge Mcthucn In the book inc
authors companion IN b!bllomaniacal crime anu
between the two we get a disrursVe account o'
theif dealings with tne tender paSs'on-not 'h'
tender pass on tha; the poets pirate o. hut the
tenAeres, passion o. ali. the one for which men
ro hungry content with certain leathery smell
n certain aroma OF old ink old paper ana OLD
binding. which comes from, say the Uu'n'us
Horai.us Flaccus have cited. or from some
kindred source
"The Ncw-England Primer" was Feds hrst
love 'Roblnson Crusoe" was his second. ana about
,b,s time he fell in with Grmm's fairy tales. In
consequence we find him in his third chapter
talking about zone of the b.bl!omanlacs most char
acteristc pleasures "the luxury OF reading IN bed
and 1t is fairy lore that this particular bibio-
maniac Is read ng. The combination was irressi-
,ble to him. and IT proves the same to his reader
though the bbl.omaniacs sister. MISS susan IN
sists that such practices make him THE most eN-
asnerating man I'm the world" We had forgot Miss
Susan She too n collector ana though she
thought her blbllomaniacal brother foolish enough
for his pass.on OF accumulation. she hal her own
treasures and would not give them up. Her broth
er's mania was fastdious. He kept good company.
He fell in love with good books. He remembered
always the good stories, and he has put a host Of
thcnn I'm this volume. For example apropos Of
what one can carry with him. there Is this one
about Porson. the imperial Porson. This human
monument OF learning happened to be travelling
in the same coach with "A coxcomb VINO sought 10
ar his pretended learning by quotations from the
anconts At last old Porson asked: Prithee, sir.
whence comes that quotatlony From Sophocles,
ouoth the van fellow BE so Kind as TO find u
for meg asked Porson producing a copy OF So
phoces from his pocket Then the coxcomb not at
all abashed, said that he meant not Sophocles.
but Eurpides Whereupon Porson drew from an
other pocket copy OF Eurpidcs and challenged
the ups,art to md the quotation In question.
Full OF confusion the fellow thrust his head out
of the window OF the coach and cried to the
driver: In Heavens name. put me down at once.
for there Is an old gentleman In here that hath
the Bodleian Library In his pocket! y
Field was good-humored, II ever a bibliomanac
was and there Is acid in this book Of love
affairs but he was dearly fond OF story like tnat
lust quoted, and he tells another, better. II any
thing which carries similar point. That he
founded 1t fact. in al probability. Is In no
way calculated to diminish Its fun MY book
seller told me the other day that Just before |
entered his shop a wealthy patron OF the arts and
tod du,fth m uh H., hpl N
have rebound. i can send 4 TO Paris or TO Lon
DON sad my bookseller. If You have no choice
OF binder / VIII ntrust IL to Zaehnsdorf. with In
strucions to lavish his choicest art upon It, but.
indeed have choice cred the plutocrat proud
ly noticed large number OF Gro.ier bindings
q; the Art Institute last week ard want some
thing OF the same KIND myself Send the book to
lrolier nd teu him 10 do his nrettlesi by IL