e late Mr. Stibbs bought the 'remainder' of Keats's
'Endymion' at 4d. per copy. We do not know what he realized by this
investment, but their value for some years has been L4 and upwards.

[Illustration: _The late Henry Stevens, of Vermont._]

The subject of book-finds is one about which a volume might be written.
Every 'special' collector has his fund of book-hunting anecdotes and
incidents, for, where the rarity of a well-known book is common
property, there is not usually much excitement in running it to earth.
The fun may be said to begin when two or three people are known to be on
the hunt after a rare and little-known volume, whose interest is of a
special character. To take, as an illustration, one of the most
successful book-hunters of modern times, the late Henry Stevens, of
Vermont. Until Mr. Stevens created the taste for Americana among his
fellow-countrymen, very few collectors considered the subject worth
notice. And yet, in the space of a quarter of a century, he unearthed
more excessively rare and unique items than the wildest dreamer could
have supposed to exist. Books and pamphlets which were to be had for the
proverbial old song when he first came to this country quickly became
the objects of the keenest competition in the saleroom, and invariably
found buyers at extravagant prices. As an illustration, although not an
American item, we may mention that when a copy of the Mazarin Bible was
offered at Sotheby's in 1847, the competitors were an agent of Mr. James
Lenox (Stevens' client) and Sir Thomas Phillipps in person; the latter
went to L495, but the agent went L5 better, and secured the prize at the
then unheard-of price of L500. At first Mr. Lenox declined to take the
book, but eventually altered his mind, wisely as it proved, for although
at long intervals copies are being unearthed, the present value of Mr.
Lenox's copy cannot be much short of L4,000. During 1854 and 1855 Mr.
Stevens bought books to the value of over 50,000 dollars for Mr. Lenox,
and on reviewing the invoices of these two years, 'I am confident,' says
Mr. Stevens, 'that, if the same works were now' (1887) 'to be collected,
they would cost more than 250,000 dollars. But can so much and so many
rare books ever be collected again in that space of time?' In December,
1855, Mr. Stevens offered Mr. Lenox in one lump about forty Shakespeare
quartos, all in good condition, and some of them very fine, for L500,
or, including a fair set of