Of this task his daughters, aided by any female friends who might be
staying with them, were the performers; and not fewer than from 1200 to
1400 volumes were so bound by them at different times, filling
completely one room, which he designated as the Cottonian library. With
this work he was much interested and amused, as the ladies would often
suit the pattern to the contents, clothing a Quaker work or a book of
sermons in sober drab, poetry in some flowery design, and sometimes
contriving a sly piece of satire at the contents of some well-known
author by their choice of its covering. One considerable convenience
attended this eccentric mode of binding--the book became as well known
by its dress as by its contents, and much more easily found.

With respect to his mode of acquiring and arranging the contents of a
book, it was somewhat peculiar. He was as rapid a reader as could be
conceived, having the power of perceiving by a glance down the page
whether it contained any thing which he was likely to make use of--a
slip of paper lay on his desk, and was used as a marker, and with a
slight penciled S he would note the passage, put a reference on the
paper, with some brief note of the subject, which he could transfer to
his note-book, and in the course of a few hours he had classified and
arranged every thing in the work which it was likely he would ever want.
It was thus, with a remarkable memory (not so much for the facts or
passages themselves, but for their existence and the authors that
contained them), and with this kind of index, both to it and them, that
he had at hand a command of materials for whatever subject he was
employed upon, which has been truly said to be "unequaled."

Many of the choicest passages he would transcribe himself at odds and
ends of times, or employ one of his family to transcribe for him; and
these are the extracts which form his "Commonplace Book," recently
published; but those of less importance he had thus within reach in case
he wished to avail himself of them. The quickness with which this was
done was very remarkable. I have often known him receive a parcel of
books one afternoon, and the next have found his mark throughout perhaps
two or three different volumes; yet, if a work took his attention
particularly, he was not rapid in its perusal; and on some authors, such
as the Old Divines, he "fed," as he expressed it, slowly and carefully,
dwelling on the page and taking in its content