age (excepting those printed
in the fifteenth century), nor solely on account of their rarity. It
is quite apparent that a rare book for which there is no demand can
have no value. It is the combination of desirability and rarity which
gives value, and that value fluctuates with the demand, being subject
to the caprice of the collector or the fashion of the day. This may be
illustrated by the collecting of first editions. Thirty years ago the
first editions of modern authors brought small prices; twenty years
later they were eagerly sought for; while now a reaction is taking
place, and only the great rarities in this line find a ready sale.

At the present time the books which are most quickly sold in this
country are those relating to American history, particularly those on
the discovery and settlement of the continent, the Indians, the
American Revolution, navy, local history, and genealogy, etc. Books on
these subjects which are really rare, find a ready sale.

First editions of the early books in _belles-lettres_, books with
presentation inscriptions from their authors, books containing unusual
examples of early engravers, or those made famous by the illustrative
work of such artists as Rowlandson, Leech, and Cruikshank; these are a
few of the lines in which there are numerous collectors, but it should
be understood that they are only a few of the more conspicuous out of
hundreds of similar lines of interest. The number of collectors is
multiplying with the increase of the country's wealth, and there is a
growing tendency for collectors to take up new subjects, which very
much broadens the interest in the books of bygone days. To enumerate
these subjects at length would be but to detail the personal interests
and hobbies of thousands of cultivated collectors. It may be safely
prophesied that books which are regarded to-day as rare and desirable
by any considerable number of collectors will, on the whole, command a
steady increase in value. The tendency, however, is strongly toward a
decrease in the value of books of moderate value and a large increase
in the value of especially desirable items. The accounts given in the
daily press of the finding of valuable books are the innocent means of
misleading a great many people, who labor under the delusion that
because one early edition of a book commands a large price, another
edition of about the same time must necessarily have the same value.
This is one of many error