chaser notes the numbers of the lots he desires and the limit of
price to which he is prepared to go. It is then forwarded by mail to
the auction house, where the slips are tabulated by a clerk, the names
and amounts being placed against each item in a specially prepared
catalogue. Incidentally, it may be stated that all bids are
considered as strictly confidential.

At the time of sale, the principal of the establishment, or one of his
chief assistants, takes his place in the audience on an even footing
with all other buyers, and uses the bids, as enrolled, in competition
with such as may be offered by other attendants at the sale.

Where two or more bids have been received on any item, the competition
is first narrowed by the elimination of all except the two highest
ones, and then the start is made at a figure just beyond the second
highest. The battle between the auctioneer, acting as the
representative of the out-of-town bidder, and some ardent book lover
personally attending the sale, for the possession of a particularly
coveted work, often provokes genuine enthusiasm. It is finally knocked
down to the highest bidder at the point where competition ceases, and
this is often much below the limit named by the buyer. The wise
purchaser at auction, when assured of the honorable standing of the
house with which he deals, will not hesitate in sending liberal bids,
for by so doing he will gain much and lose little.

The methods of conducting sales and handling bids differ somewhat in
the various cities, but that, as above outlined, is adopted by the
leading houses. In some concerns, the auctioneer himself executes the
commissions from the rostrum, but when this is done, even though he
may be a man of the strictest integrity, the method is open to
criticism, it being well understood that the reputation of an
auctioneer is largely dependent on the high prices he obtains.

There is a material difference between the English and American
methods of cataloguing books for sale at auction. In England the
charges are inclusive, the cost of printing, postage, etc., being
assumed by the auctioneer, so that he finds it to his interest to
compress catalogue descriptions into the narrowest possible compass,
to minimize the distribution of the catalogue, and to spend as small
an amount of money in advertising as possible. In America, the charges
are exclusive, the commission representing the auctioneer's only
interest, and the incid