New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-03-02
TIE RLOnGETT CASE.

Tho bool- oonn+ is often as-We all know. be-
gui,ing creature Innumerable stories have for
wears been told of his almost Incredible peru
nacity and aplomb. The man who met the re-
fusaI of his victim to buy set OF volumes win
an offer to sell him, for five cents placard
reading. Book agents not admitted to these
Offices" was typical in his sublime ehrontery
The result has been that the incursOns of the
| 'profession" hayeprovoked almost as much mirth
as wrath But the settlement of the suits
brought bv the executor of the late Mrs. BlOdS-
EFT to set aside book contracts into which she
entered when enfeebled in body and mind by
illness and old age reminds us that TRANSACTION
in this field of commercial exploitation is not
by any means invariably a laughing matter. On
the contrary, it calls, in case like that OF MIS-
Bodgett, for the most vigorous reprobation.
Here was q venerable lady, devoted in her
time to literature and art, whose condition
gravely impaired her capacity for business.
Sensitive, however to the cultivated interests
which had so long given her pleasure, she was
prevailed upon TO subscribe to arrangements
which if carried out, were bound TO make
astounding inroads upon her fortune. Pos
sessed of scarcely more than $oOo0OG she
agreed TO contracts running to $2S3,TI0 for
books which, TO put it mildly, were not in the
least Indispensable to her last few years OF
life Possibly some braZen promoters might
be FOUND VINO WOulu assert JHdI 10 DC dSSuIcu
of the ownership of an illuminated edition of
modern novelist, in 112 volumes of text and
eighteen volumes Of illustrations, at $1,000 a
volume, would comfort a human being lying at
deaths door. To ourselves the proposition
seems not simply preposterous, but disgusting.
How far Mrs. Blodgett was herself respons-
HE for the burden thus imposed upon her re-
sources is eloquently shown by the settlement
aforesaid 1T Is generally understood" runs
one report, that quite little less than $4,000
was paid in settlement of the largest claim"
One of the five actions brought by the executor
was allowed by the defendant to 90 by default
and the carrying of the whole business into
court is said to have saved the Blodgett estate
at least $4,000. Obviously the merits OF the
case call for no comment. But 1t must be said
that this episode will have served a doubly
good purpose II it warns the public against
placing confidence too easily in those publishing
schemes which have been iourishing so rankly
of late in certain twilight corners of 1.-THE trade"
Possible buyers are approached on the principle
that commodity is worth anything that you
can get for 1t; they are dazzled by representa-
tons as to the luxurious or otherwise special
character OF the work, which is always offered
to them as appearing in strictly limited edi-
ton, and almost before they know it they are
landed as signat0ries to contracts into which
your shrewd, experienced book lover would
never dream Of entering.
When some one like Mrs. Blodgett is en-
tangled-aged, Ill and, as her physician testified,
suffering from an impairment Of her faculties
recourse TO the law may. as we have seen prove
effective. But the ablebodied individual who
with his eyes open, takes a piunge into the
vortex of speculation in books OF certain sort
and value" has only himself to blame If he
emerges discounted. The price of immunity is
Intelligence, q knowledge of books as objects of
purchase, If not as literature. When the indi-
vidual is confronted by wonderful prospectus
and various resplendent sample volumes the
thing for him to do is to sleep on the copper
tunity" placed before him. Then, if the work
offered to him Is a classic, let him consult repu-
table booksellers as to the qualities and prices
OF the editions in the market Let him finally
seek advice as to the merits of the costly edi-
ton that is pressed upon him, consulting more
than one Of his friends. If. after doing ali this.
he concludes that the gorgeous volumes are
worth to him, what he Is asked TO nav for Them
there Is nothing more to be said-save that a
| fool and his money are soon parted.