The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-02-26
PRECIOUS BOOKS ON A TOUR.
Trip to Europe of the Wife of n Bibliophilo
Troubles of a Book Lovers Household.

PRECIOUS BOOKS ON A TOUR.
Trip to Europe of the Wife of n Bibliophilo
Troubles of a Book Lovers Household.
Never allow your husbands to go in for
bibliophilandering.'' said the wife OF a con-
firmed bibliophile to . group OF sympathetic
women who were having tea with her last
Tuesday. III q man drinks or CANDLES you
may be able to reform him. but you can't do
anything with a ~bihliomanlac. and a collection
Of rare books can make more trouble In a fam
lily than half a dozen children"
She was joking. and every one laughed. but
she was also telling the truth. The wives of
bibliomRniacs haven't received half the con-
sideration and sympathy they deserve. Tit
wife of an artist has some compensations. She
has n rival in art. but her husband does try to
sell his precious pictures. and she shares
profits. The wife OF a bibliomaniac has no
such consolation. Her husband never sells.
He only buys. and il she economies in clothes
and opera tickets she only makes 1t possible
for her husband to come home some evening
hugging a long-coveted volume and looking
s~heepish but triumphant. The apologetio
manner of the man who comes home at 4 in
the morning. after a night at the club. isn't a
circumstance to the cringinG guilt of the bib
liomaniac who faces his wife with a conscious
ness that. in his overcoat pocket is a copy of
Keats which was q bargain, but which makes
impossible that sable collar she has been talk
ing about.
There Is one woman in New York who hasn't
been able to keep a housemaid more than two
weeks since she can remember. and it Is all
because schools Of domestic economy do not
give their pupils a course in bookmaking and
book values. How can q maid who doesn't
know whether Aldus Manutius was a horseless
carriage or q stove polish pay proper rever-
ence TO a book found in low company on the
library table. As for travelling. the biblio-
phile's family must give that up unless they
can 20 without the head OF the family. If he
left his books at home. the nervous strain OF
being separated from them aud knowing they
were unprotected would rob travel of all 10Y.
One New York book lover has been trying for
years to go abroad. but has never been able to
make provision for his books that would JUS
tify him in leaving them. Last summer he
reused himself to heroic effort and ANNOUNCED
to his wife that they would sail in juno. She
looked at him in amazement and gasped:
But your boOksl"
There was a fine imitation OF the Spartan
father In the air with which he said: W will
For a few days she didn't believe in her
good fortune. She was afraid to trust in it;
but her husband went about with an air OF
Remuneration and determined seli-sacrihco;
SO az last she ordered 2 trayellinEE Z, suit and
w. W. q" oLIO
maniac grew moro and more depressed as
the sailing date drew near. but he did not fall
his book shelves with anguish in his face. but
le didn't volunteer any as to
what he intended e do with his treasures, and
inquiries. Three days before the fatal 10th
Of june a man brought three heavy trunks TO
them in the library. The bibllomaniac came
home to dl9neri but i displayed ~ ID ne Yp appetlte;
his wife meeklY followed him
Il am going to send the books to the storage
S%9nmpapy's vaults he said ip tragic tones;
shelves. lingering over each one and wrapping
it carefully before putting It into the trunk.
volume and lay it aside. When the shelves
were empty he turnedto the snail pile OF books
that he n had d,I not so wrapped up. Il can't send
But the storage building is quite safe."
yentured his wife;
New York;" %groaned the husband. And
ieg , then I b t9r six m Iast mantb Thf e aon shst h shs,r
be repla led, and that Coleridge with the an:
rotations, There isn't ANOTHER like It. and
those ,ed LAMP tram NAM No. cant be sep
We'll. lust take them with you" suggested
his wife cheertnilyyii The looked
why, ny dear, think Of the danger they'd
he EXPOSED to on trains and in hotelsl No, |
He laid the treasures back on the shelves and
the wife saw Europe fading In a dissolving
Il promised I'd go this time and I'll Ro.'he
said heroically as he left the breakfast table
tie next .,61t morninS; III nack those b few books
self. | couldn't trust it with a porter. I can
keep II with me on the train and the only dan
from tine hotel on II short excursion whore we
S"%id tb t have wn,I Ehf r. p 20 I al e. a. t Tlth h5 US Per-
SO the books and the family went abroad.
and at the tea with which this story. opens the
biblomaniae's wife told the story Of their ad-
when we were once settled on the steamer"
would sail. but Tom was simply funsreal. lie
would have backed out then II he had dared.
t 3a ! Il to S essar nR Rin sy Tp, bun %af h S9 wonl az nave haHe il!
" It's awful to have those books exposed to
the periiS OF an ocean voyage. for eight days,
Jessie Theres no telling what may happen,'
Il pointed out the fact that the child rem and
didn't seem to think that that had anything TO
DO VIII che H. subject; He Just Looked L. at me re-
shas sReIiey ana and i't he t eaicr Iidsss's so y2a k'nq bs
duplicated. That portmanteau went with us
everywhere, and not a porter was allowed
around as best we could. but Tom chung to the
portmantean Tith q death grin, and he came
anywhere, Il. the porter would insist upen
,%nrryInE all the hand luggage. aud We couldn't
eEnlaln to him, n he didPt speak English, and
were leagued together for the purpose OF get
ting hold OF that Shelley. Once, down In Italy.
the books were carried off on a train while we
were out getting. some fruit at d station. and
we almost raised a riot and uverthreW the
Italian Government before we got those pre-
circumstance to the row Tom kicked up. and
was positive we would all land In an italian
bring Shelley and ColerilRe back to our arms.
and after that starvation wouldn't have driven
US 70 lea, o the pO~rtmsnteau.
You don't know how exciting European
travel can be unless you've travelled with vol
nmes Of Shelley, and Coleridgs that can't
be duplicated. The ordinary tour must be
tame. IL you want the.real JOY OF life. marry o
blblioDhIle and 20 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS"