The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1903-01-04
Hunting for - u
x y Rare Books.

shops are uncxcelled by those Of any other city
/ in America As Tor the collectors they are ev-
erywhere The various departments Of the gov
eminent are full OF them--nen and women who
spend their earnings in book collecting They
are to be encountered Of all kinds and conditions
from the wealthy collectors Of rare aud beautiful
bindings TO the man who has made a collection
Of dime novel and Deadwood Dick literature
from the earliest specimens, and from the old
( lady who buys everything on cats to the man
who is hungry for mushroom lore
Book collecting, as q fine art has history
sngularly romantic and replete with interest
Slater states in Of his excellent works on
rare books that one OF the most remarkable events
IN book collecting occurred at the shop OF Rob.
ert II. Evans, bookseller. Pail Mall London, on
May is 1912 and forty.one days following, when
the great library of the Duke OF Roxburghe was
sold at auction This sale was interesting by
reason of the fact that the collection was the
most extensive, varied and important that had
/ hitherto been offered for sale in England and
owing also 10 the collection having formed a sort
Of connecting link between the old and the new
methods OF collecting.
The collection was Of a general character that
appealed to adj classes OF bookmen, yet at the
same time it was not quite such a library as
modern collector might be expected to get to-
gether for the tendency Is now to specialize, and
many OF the books which the duke obviously took
/ an interest in are today almost worthless Among
OF volumes of SCOTS Law, Cheyne on the "Gout,
Sir Il. Bliekmore on the Spleen and Vapours, -
and other nonsensical books.
However there were others like the "147I
Boecacio," which produced q regular Waterloo
Of book battles between Earl Spencer and the
marquis OF Blandford, resulting in a victory for
/ the latter, who secured the work, paying for It
the sum OF za6o or $1,000, which Slater says
was the most idiouc price ever paid for a
book and the "Fest,vale ard Book OF Common
Prayer printed by the Caxtons in 1888. This
sale took place during the British literary renas-
sance. when hooks, literature education, and
learning had become a great popular fad, and not
withstanding the worthessuess Of many of the
works OF this collection Of 10000 volumes, they
were all sold at fair prices
One phase Of book hunting in which every col
lector is deeply interested has TO do with the
matter OF lucky finds Valuable books. maya.
zines ard pamphlets in soiled and unattractive
covers oftentmes fail 10 attract the attention
OF the dealer and find their way TO the two, three
FIVE and teu-cent counter on the sidewalk so that
here, as 40 al literary centcrs there are mer
and women who would rather do without dinner
than miss their daily search aud scrutiny Of III,
cheap literature stands in front of the boob
stores.
Windtalls, however do not occur often anc
when they do the department clerk who spend
his spare time and earnings IN book COLLECTING
must he something Of diplomat TO secure th
prize, the finding Of which is the easiest part o
the bargain The second-h hand book dealers o
the capital have learned 10 know these people
as the police and detectives come in time to b
familiar with crooked and shady characters. an,
} when one Of them enters with old book o
pamphlet picked up from the disordered mas
! Of cheap reading the sidewalk stand an
with bland countenance offers the amount 70
which this literary junk is advertised the boo
: seller becomes suspicious, and though be ma
8 be ignorant Of the character of the work, and I
5 doubt to whether IT IS really valuable, h
I takes the book In his hands, replies that he Ca
not sell it for that price that it reached III
three cent counter by mistake that II belongs j
the family, and that he does not care 10 sell
any price
{ The discoverer thus bafhed, may grow india
: nant as much as he likes. but it does not hel
t matters and he leaves determined that next tim
he will manage things differently Then afte
he has gone the book seller looks mp the wor
: in question and if he finds that 1t is rare an
valuable work, advertses II properly and realize
handsomely on its sale
The shrewdest hook hunters Of the class ahov
! mentioned, usually when they discover a vau
able work on the cheap counter, leave penci
mark upon it, and going away, engage some per
? son with whom the bookmen are unfamiliar
+ sometimes a colored bootblaek or jantor, 10 dro
around and purchase the work which they them
2 selves are afraid to attempt for fear Of arousin
; the suspicious of the bookdealer and thus losin
the prize.
. The latest rarity now on the market is cop
of a small periodical published In New York jus
( after the Revolutionary war In which Poe's poer
: OF The Raven" appeared for the first time, be
} fore It had appeared in book or pamphlet form
1t was picked up by q book firm in OF tn
Z Northern cities two weeks ago, and is nov
3 being well advertised
{ It Is curious that the finest collection Of Tnr
Americana ever offered at auction was pickle
up as q windfall for the Of E so by Lon
, don book seller in 1893 Slater, in his "Ro
nance Of Book Collecting gives the details o
the find as follows;
I'm the summer of 1895 London book selle
was offered a small library stored In provincial
town some thirty miles distant. The owne
copied the title pages of few OF the books, AM
these were Of such a character that the boo
seller went over and eventually paid the pre
asked which was 6 50. The majority Of th
volumes, as is usually the case with old-fashione
t Libraries, were almost worthless. There wer
sermons preached in the long ago to sleeping cor
c eregations, tracts and pamphlets on nothing /
particular, an old and well-thumbed prayer boo
or two. and the usual ponderous family Bib
in furnished gilt On casual survey, the Who'll
OF the books might have passed muster at
. third-rate auction, and yet the book seller wa
r only too glad to see them safely housed in Lor
I don.
"The reason was this Among the refuse wer
b Americana some of extreme rarity, such
I those who deal in such books are perpetually o
the lookout for, and rarely find even at their fu
value. These were sold the following Decembe
realizing somewhere In the neighborhood Of 6 90
($sooo).s Among the treasures culled from th
} pile OF old junk were Hakluyts THE Prinepi
r Nauigatones Voiages, Traffques and Dscoueric