The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-07-25
From the New York Times.

From the New York Times.
 6HE fight which a rich woman Is (V making against the payment of a $35,0OO balance on a set of
 books for which she contracted to pay $97, ,50O, adds another chapter to the story
 of how some of the book agents of Amer
 lea try to get rid of their wares. That they are often successful is shown by the fact that their commissions run all
 the way from s25,0OO to s100,0Oo year. At least this Is the estimate placed on their annual earnings by New York lawyer who has investigated their meth- ods for clients who have been persuaded to purchase the expensive volumes. according to this lawyer certain DOCK agents make a speciality of choosing rich widows for their operations. Being care ful readers of the newspapers from all
 sections of their country. the agents note the death of every prominent man. or particular interest to them Is the value | of his estate and the extent Of ms H. brary. Making a careful memorandum or ] the necessary facts, the agents, who often ! work in pairs, wait for a reasonable time to elapse after the death of the man whose widow they have decided to ap- proach. Then one of them calls on her. | In keeping with the part he plays he IS well dressed. Also he has made 1t his business to have at his tongues end the history of rare editions and knowledge of literature in general. Being good talker. he sknows how to make the best
 use of these tools of his trade. But as ola tn
 has not called to sell books. He has sim ply dropped in, as book lover, to browse
 around the library of one whom he has
 been informed is herself a connoisseur of books.
 From a friend whom he met recently in New York so the book agent tells the unsuspecting widow, he has learned that | the library left by her husband contains some of the rarest works in America | in fact, he Is quite certain that from the little he has heard there are some vol umes which no one else is so fortunate as to-possess.
 All this pleases the widow. Usually she readily consents to go with the affable caller to look through the library. Here.
 as at other residences where he has told | the same story, tHc dBcht linus HuCh eo 1 admire. There is set of Thackeray of which he is sure only very limited edi- | ton was printed and on the topmost ] shelf he discovers book, rusty and | dust laden. It draws forth his warmesr | praise for it bears a date and a pub 1 fishers name which so he assures the widow, makes it worth practically its | weight in gold.
 | And so he goes from shelf to shelf. l pausing occasionally to admire till, the 1 library browsing at an end, the agent re-
 marks with an air of disappointment: | 'I had thought to find set of so-and- l so-in fact, 1t was the expectation of sec 1 ing 1t that brought me here. That alone
 would have been well worth the jour ney
 l The widow has never heard of this par 1 ticular set of books. though the author | himself is familiar to her, and less ex- ! pensive volumes of his work are already l in her library. But as the agent describes | to her the illuminated pages and other :, features, without which no book in his | line is complete, she gradually concludes 1 that to make her library fully rounded out she must possess the book her caller SO | highly recommends.
 You don't happen to know where can obtain the books?"
 Strange as it may seem, the agent con-