are sometimes
grotesquely amusing, and are perhaps as often attributable to the
ingenuity of the printer as to the ignorance of the cataloguer.
Booksellers usually content themselves with seeing one proof of their
catalogues, and as the variety of books dealt with is so great, it would
need at least half a dozen careful revisions to secure anything like
correctness. As a general rule, the catalogues of London booksellers are
exceptionally free of blunders, provincial compilers (notably one or two
in Birmingham) being far behind their Metropolitan rivals. The example
of

'Mill, John S., On Liberty,
" " On the Floss,'

is almost too well known to again bear repeating; the same may be said
of the instance in which Ruskin's 'Notes on the Construction of
Sheepfolds' was catalogued as a book for farmers, and of that in which
Swinburne's 'Under the Microscope' was classed among optical
instruments. The cross-reference of

'God: _see_ Fiske, J.,'

is a gem of absent-mindedness. Here are four more gems which appeared in
the catalogue of a public library:

'Aristophanes: The Clouds of the Greek Text.'
'Boy's Own Annual: Magazine of Gymnastics.'
'Swedenborg: Conjugal Love and its Opposite.'
'Tiziano (Titian), Vicelli Da Cadore.'

The following is a good specimen of a bookseller's inspiration in
reference to the entry 'Bible--2 vols., 12mo., _Edin._, 1811' in his
catalogue: 'Sir Brunet and Dibdin in praise of this beautiful edition.
As most nearly approaching unimaculateness a better copy than the
present one could not be found.' This example is on a par with that in
which an early Missal is catalogued as an 'extremely rare old printing
and engraved work,' its author being 'Horae B. V. Mariae and usum
Romanum,' whilst it is stated to be bound by 'Chamholfen Duru,' whoever
he may be. Equally intelligent is another item from the same source,
'Newcastle (Marguis de Methode, etc.), oeuvre auquel on apprende,' etc.
Perhaps it was the cheapness--sixpence each--which prevented two items
from having fuller descriptions:

'Horace, the Poems of, very interesting.'
'Jokely, very interesting, 12 months.'

Perhaps '12 months' is the term of imprisonment which any bookseller
deserves for publishing such absurdities. Another gem in the way of
blunders is the following:

'There's (Lord and Lady) Legends of the Library at Lilies,
2 vols., 8vo., bds., 2s. 6d., 1832.