Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1911-05-08


of the finest old books Ia print Ncr,
so'd go mbulous prices.
How many Of the books on cal,
today r,lI ever bring anything. over
as rclins Th, question Is easily an
Favored, iur of ai periods In ia. biz.
tors of i,ttofs more reading trash i,
being ptt out iust now IN the shap,
of popular hrst sellers the world has
lever known.
II is O. Tact thoi the books of today
are written 90 scli To- catch IN. pop.
uiar fancy uutklc 70 the popular ,ry
and v,:t often to APPEAL directly to
the Immoral or nt least tn, somi-
Immortal OF modern lite. There are
few. aud yer, frw books that are Of
fc,cd to-day that have real literary
merit, compared With the productions
of th, dead Rnd gone writers.
There arr large number OF books
it ~ true. that are clever. pleasing
aud cntor,uininE aud we'll worth the
money Tor which thcy are sold. be.
cause th,N de- no harm and very me
| qucntly de- good But even these
books are iu tb, minority. taking
modern literature fpr the last ten
years as a criterion.
such writers as gave to us the
books that live noW and are worth
in the original great sums were men
who spent the best years Of their life
~ their compositions Like the mas
iors of art aud OF music. the masters
of literature produced classics be-
cause they wrote az they felt aud ny
they saw
II would b, hard. indeed. to admit
that our writer's of popular fiction
today write of lfo as 1t Is, Tor To- do
So would cast q rather severe blot
upon tho evolution Of the human race.
Villains. dcspcradocs, clingine maids
aud schoming women have existed ~
all times. and sin exist NO douh, IN
tn" usual numbers hut tho way their
characters are dishrd up by some of
our recent writer's leaves much to bo
desired. oven viewing them from the !
point 90 horrible examples
Tho Hoe sale. of course. deal, With !
uripual copies al great age ana
hence the extravaganza OF tho prices
paid Il
liut once upon time there were
many Of those original editions cast
aside Ia attics. store rooms and trash
heaps. 10 the same places go the |
best sellers OF today In the mos, part, !
but. unlike the first editions of the |
masters. they are quite likely 90 re- I
main there to the end.
Time may come when an era OF {
perverted literary tastes may make .
them valuable. but 1t viii DO "a sad .
era to live in.
II is n hcaithlul sign In "A literary
way, that collectors appreciate aud .
are sim willing to pay for the Hoe
collection. /, indicates that a revival
of the art of writing may not be
forlorn hope
But one-iourth ct the Hoe collcc-
ton has been disposed oi and before
thr sales are ended, which viii De
some time next year. fuzzy three mil
lion dollars viii be realized
Mr. Hoe, the owner of the collcc-
tipn, died In 1909. and until his death
none bat himself and his librarian
knew ot IA, value of has books. lie
loved books books Of inertia and
after the invention of the printing
press had provided him with the
means 10 enjoy his tastes. he devoted
his time to collecting real books
the works of the great writer's In their
original form.
Even the members of MIR. Hoes
family and his own most intimate
friends had but sliRht knowledge of
tn wealth of the rows upon rows OF
books which lined the shelves OF nine
if tho rooms of his old brown stone
ouso at II Fast Thirty sixth street
Sow York For years these nine
.ooms were sacred To- Mr. Hoe and
lis Librarian. 80 one else had keys
10 the rooms aud no one elsc gave his
who came IN to dust
once u wock. Was allowed to cross
Their thresholds.
MI Hoe spent the greater part ol
ius life In amsssing what was perhaps
ih' most comprehensive and valuable
private library IN the world, II COM
tanned more than 20.00o volumes. and
an idea OF the amour, ~ labor in
VOWED IN arranging ana listing this
collection mas be gained by consider
INK that the librarian was constantly
AZ work FOR eight years preparing
caioiogae. which comprises sixteen
large volumes in Itself
Unlike many others. MI Hoes H.
brarA was not dwaricd In "A single
speciality. but 1t was u carefully chos-