The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-10-03
wher. Rar. Book. Cam. From.

Where Rare Books Came From.
Book collecting is one of the sports
Of mi~llionaires In this country, and the
zest shown in 1t is one OF those few
things the war hasn't lessened. It Is
not SO In England, although we look to
tina country for most Of the tNngs,
even Americana. that figure with fabu-
lous prices. The auction room where
these precious volumes are bartered Is
a center of romance for many who find
that there Is something more In the
matter than the glamour of high fg-
ures: Mr.. Clement HI. Shorter writes in
the London Sphere Of q little volume
recently privately printed, called Notes
On the History Of Sotheby's"-the great
DOCK auction room Of London. Mr..
Shorter. with the enthusiasm of a fire.
quenter, says that the author of the
book, Mr.. G.. r. Hobson, has "told the
story " = = with that dash of ro-
nance which must always obtain where
n book auction Is concerned" Here
Is some Of the romance:
THE first book auction held in this
country took place in 1876. but the
nrst great book a%uctioneer was Samuel
Baker, whose first. sale was held in
l744. There were not regular book
auctioneers or auction houses until his
time. In .1778 Baker was joined by his
nephew, John Sotheby, and three gen.
erations of SOthebys were associated
with the firm, the last Of whom was an
author who wrote 'Ramblings In the
Elucidation Of the Autograph of Mil
tor; He died In 1862. A Nr. John
Wilkinson became a partner In 1S42 and
a Mr.. William Hodge in 1864. and thus
we have the firm Of Sotheby, Wilkin-
son d Hodge, although not one Of these
m is now in the business.
But to return to the real omanc
OF Sotheby's, Its wonderful sales Of
books, connected with which it has is
sued no fewer than 1000 separate cata-
logs. Some OF them, beautifully illus
trated, are SO interesting that one
binds them In ones library, especially
when they are concerned with the
books OF noteworthy people. The re-
cent Morrison sale was a case in point,
when the letter of Mary Queen of Scots,
probably the most wonderful letter in
existence. was privately purchased for
the benefit of the nation, and when
the Nelson autographs and a
scripts. many Of the letters being to Sir
William Hamilton, or TO his wife, Lady
Hamilton, were knocked down for
G2,50O.
THE most interesting feature with
regard to these sales, as 1t strikes me,
is the large place which the ,ireek and
Latin classics played in ths sales OF
the 18th century and the small place
they play in the modern world. But
the most amazing thing of all is the
great enhancement of prices under
modern commercial conditions, and
largely due, no doubt, to the fact that
the American millionaire is frequently
a great book buyer, although his
brother in England is rarely so. This
would account for the fact that one OF
Shakespeare's first folios sold for e40
19s. r$205] in 1899. and a copy fetched
93,600 1918 $4,000 in 1907. MI. Hobson
points out that a collection Of early
quarto plays sold in 1898 for e22 IS
(s110.75l, and that 1t would be con-
sidered cheap at $4,000 1885 ,000l to-
day, and might easily fetch double or
treble that sum. When tho sale of
Henry Fielding's library took place In
1854, books with his autogra phed notes
fetched only a few shillings, whereas
in 1911 the novelist's copyright agree
ment with his publisher sold sor f1,015
$5,075l.
"One Of the most interesting things
in this book is a facsimile Of one of
each Of the love letters OF Robert and
Elizabeth Browning: a collection OF
letters which in 1913 sold for RS,660
(~$32,?50). But the material provided
in MI. Hobson's interesting book is
infinite, and Is worthy memento OF
the firms change of address from the
Strand to the West End OF London. a
hange however, which I personally
greatly regret. AS an inhabitant OF
Fleet street. An occasional visit to the
salssrooms when they were In my i'm
mediate neighborhood was an agree
able pastime, but to me the West End
of London is usually inaccessible
and more so than ever now that the
taxicab has departed from u streets
Moreover. I greatly regret that these
sales should be held at h awkward
hour Of / o'clock. l am quite sure thai
it is not a wise decision which keeps
I'D this curious custom. From / till 2
is the conventional luncheon hour OF
the English public, and 1 can imagine
that, fortified by a good lunch, many
buyers would bid more briskly il the
sales commenced at Q or even at !
o'clock"