ts among books.
They are not necessarily rare volumes, though frequently they are
large-paper copies, and for the true collector they do not offer so much
attraction as the Second Class, in which we place those books that are
more eagerly sought after. These are generally rare books, such as
incunabula and the higher class English literature of the seventeenth
century, and are to be found in the libraries of wealthy collectors who
are also learned men. They are always well bound and in good condition,
though sometimes they have their headlines shaved, occasionally they are
slightly imperfect, or have been cleaned and repaired. But they are
always desirable books, and evoke spirited bidding whenever they appear
in the auction-room.

Class Three comprises the great army of what may be termed 'middle-class
books.' They are bound usually in half-bindings, when they are not in the
publisher's cloth, and are good, clean, _sound_, copies of such works as
county histories, antiquarian books, sets of the learned societies'
publications and of 'standard authors.' They are such stable and solid
books as you will usually find in the libraries of the well-to-do middle
classes. In short they are gilt-edged securities, and command a steady
price in the market.

To Class Four may be assigned the volumes contained in the average
second-hand bookseller's shop in this country. They are the [Greek: hoi
polloi] among books, and for the most part they include the more frequent
and more modern English works. Usually they are quite desirable copies,
though frequently they lack a portrait or other plate, sometimes they
have a torn or mounted title-page, or other imperfection. They are
generally in cloth or calf bindings which are almost invariably somewhat
decrepit, being either rubbed or perished, or cracked at the joints.
They are dusty and rather unkempt, and fox-marks are common, for such
volumes have passed through many hands and have not always been accorded
the care that is due to good books. But it is here that one comes across
books 'in the original boards uncut,' and, if expense be no object to
you, you may often raise such purchases to a higher class.

Books in Class Five are the outcasts of the book-world, being those
decrepit volumes which stack the bookstalls and barrows in the larger
towns. They are the weedings of auction sales and shops, books that are
not worth cataloguing by the dealer. Like human beings they have drifted