put up
for sale is not invariably the most influential. There is no species
of weather-glass more sensitive than the bibliographical one; it
responds to the slightest change in the commercial temperature, and
must be carefully watched and studied by all who either seek to sell
at a profit or to buy without the risk of serious loss on eventual
realisation. Two books belonging to the same edition, bound in the
same style by the same person, are they not one as good as the other?
By no means necessarily so. Setting aside the extrinsic features which
confer arbitrary value on literary property, one of the copies may
have the start of the other, if it is something then in active or
general demand; one may occur when the trade has a glut of stock, or
has exhausted its credit at the auctioneer's; one may belong to a
"genuine" collection, while the other may labour under the suspicion
of being "rigged." Place them side by side; there does not appear to
be sixpence between them, yet under the hammer one lot may fetch
twice as much as the other.

This, it may be fairly argued, tells against the wisdom and security
of laying out money by collectors of moderate resources on such
doubtful investments; but look in whatever direction you please, and
you will encounter similar phenomena. The buyer of coins, china,
pictures, or any other curiosities, meets with an identical
experience. Immense sums are lost in these recreations by one class to
provide livelihoods, and very handsome livelihoods, too, for thousands
and tens of thousands year by year. Sometimes the amount is not
serious to the individual, or he can afford it; occasionally it is
otherwise.

Prices fluctuate, and their fluctuation is apt to be deceptive. It is
not merely the article which has to be considered, but the atmosphere
in which it was sold. No one can be sure that he has secured a bargain
till he sells it. At the Beckford sale the Thuanus copy of Buchanan's
_Poemata_, 1579, fetched L54; a year or two later it was offered at
L18, and in 1897 it occurs in a catalogue at L42. A rare theatrical
item in the Mackenzie sale produced L62, 10s. In another in 1897 a
second copy formed part of a bundle which brought 14s. At the Laing
sale Beza's _Confession of Christian Faith_, in Italian, 1560, said to
have been the property of Mary Queen of Scots, was carried to L149.
After being kept by the purchaser many years, it realised during the
current year L52. The _eclat_ which