rarely, if ever, offer their publications for
sale outside of the membership. Any one, therefore, representing
himself as an authorized agent of a book club may usually be branded
as an impostor. Most book clubs print only such number of copies of
each publication as are subscribed and paid for by members in advance,
and the funds thus advanced are used to pay the cost of the edition.

Notwithstanding the evils referred to, the book club is with us to
stay, and the very fact that it is continually pestered by these
hangers-on is conclusive proof of its potency and usefulness; features
which insure its secure foundation in the community.

Very few people are able to appreciate the amount of gratuitous labor
performed by the officers and committees of private book clubs. It is
erroneous to suppose that beautiful books are a purely natural
offspring of the book club. The preparation of the material for
publication and successfully following it through all the various
stages of manufacture requires an enormous amount of detail work, as
well as an accurate knowledge of bookmaking. The president of a
prominent book club recently said, in his annual address to the
members:--

"I wish that our members could be witnesses at the many conferences
held by the Committee on Publications and by the Council; of the
various experiments needed to settle upon the size and shape of the
book, the size of its page and its margins, the style of type, the
initial letters, head-bands, tail-pieces, engravings, etc. etc.; of
the printer's endless proofs, the making of a special paper (which
sometimes proves to be unsuited), and, finally, the style of binding.
What material, color, and general make-up shall it have? If our
members could thus follow the progress of the work from beginning to
finish they would be reconciled to disappointment. At any rate it is
through their subscriptions that these experiments can be undertaken,
and it is by knowledge thus gained that the Club has won credit for
the Arts and Crafts of our country, and made an honorable record even
in other lands; so that to be a member of the Club has become an
enviable distinction."

Owing to the tricks and stratagem practiced in _manufacturing_ "de
luxe" editions, some of our bibliophiles have taken matters of
bookmaking into their own hands, with the result that they have
organized clubs and societies, the members of which take much pleasure
in introducing to their library