o the literary committee. Baxter
having expressed the desire that the poem be not read aloud at a meeting
of the club, as was the custom, since he wished it to be given to the
world clad in suitable garb, the committee went even farther. Having
entire confidence in Baxter's taste and scholarship, they, with great
delicacy, refrained from even reading the manuscript, contenting
themselves with Baxter's statement of the general theme and the topics
grouped under it. The details of the bookmaking, however, were gone into
thoroughly. The paper was to be of hand-made linen, from the Kelmscott
Mills; the type black-letter, with rubricated initials. The cover, which
was Baxter's own selection, was to be of dark green morocco, with a
cap-and-bells border in red inlays, and doublures of maroon morocco
with a blind-tooled design. Baxter was authorized to contract with the
printer and superintend the publication. The whole edition of fifty
numbered copies was to be disposed of at auction, in advance, to the
highest bidder, only one copy to each, the proceeds to be devoted to
paying for the printing and binding, the remainder, if any, to go into
the club treasury, and Baxter himself to receive one copy by way of
remuneration. Baxter was inclined to protest at this, on the ground that
his copy would probably be worth more than the royalties on the edition,
at the usual ten per cent, would amount to, but was finally prevailed
upon to accept an author's copy.

While the Procrustes was under consideration, some one read, at one of
our meetings, a note from some magazine, which stated that a sealed copy
of a new translation of Campanella's Sonnets, published by the Grolier
Club, had been sold for three hundred dollars. This impressed the
members greatly. It was a novel idea. A new work might thus be enshrined
in a sort of holy of holies, which, if the collector so desired, could
be forever sacred from the profanation of any vulgar or unappreciative
eye. The possessor of such a treasure could enjoy it by the eye of
imagination, having at the same time the exaltation of grasping what was
for others the unattainable. The literary committee were so impressed
with this idea that they presented it to Baxter in regard to the
Procrustes. Baxter making no objection, the subscribers who might wish
their copies delivered sealed were directed to notify the author. I sent
in my name. A fine book, after all, was an investment, and if there was
any wa