hen purchased, and in the cash column the
price which was paid for it.

In our book-hunter's ledger the first few pages are headed

[Greek: Theta]
(_Books presented to me_)

and the next heading is

[Greek: Phi]
(_Books published by instalments, extending over several years_)

Then comes

A

1900

and so on, each year having a letter assigned to it.[51]

Now for the practical use of this ledger. Inside the front cover of every
one of his volumes our book-hunter affixes a book-plate; and in the
left-hand bottom corner of this he writes the year-letter and number of
the book's entry in his ledger: _e.g._ A 24, L 7, etc. Thus supposing
that one wishes to find out when and where one acquired a certain book
and how much was paid for it, one has only to raise the front cover of
the volume in question, and find its index mark. Suppose it to be 'E 28.'
Turning to our ledger we find that E represents the year 1904, and No. 28
is the volume in question. Similarly A 24 signifies No. 24 of 1900, L 7
is No. 7 of 1911, and so on. If your library be a large one, and a search
for the volume would entail trouble, you may conveniently pencil this
index mark against the book's entry in your catalogue, but in such a way
that it cannot be mistaken for the shelf-mark.

It is as well to write the entries in the ledger upon the recto of the
leaves only, so that the verso (being numbered like the _opposite_ recto)
may be used for recording the bindings, published prices, previous
owners, etc., of the volumes opposite. When all the letters of the
alphabet have been used up, they may be repeated doubled, as AA 4, DD 32,
etc.

C 1902 C

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|1. | Fuller's 'Holy Warre,' 1647 | Thorp, Guildford | 17th January | 9 | 0 |
|2. | Vredius--'Sigilla Com. Flandriae' | Poynder, Reading | 23rd January | 12 | 6 |
|3. | Anstis--'Observations on the Bath' | Harding, London | 3rd February | 2 | 0 |
|4. | | | | | |
|5. | | | | | |
|6. | | | | | |
|7. | | | | | |
|8. | | | | | |
|9. |