----------------------+

FOOTNOTES:

[47] It may be that you are contemplating the erection of shelves for
your books? If so, perhaps the writer's experience may save you some
little time and trouble. But if your treasures are already housed in a
manner fitting, then he will claim your indulgence and ask that you be so
good as to skip the next few pages.

[48] But as the shelves are not fixed to the uprights, it is a simple
matter to remove each shelf in turn from the room, and brush out the dust
with a stiff clothes-brush.

[49] It does not represent the Roman Venus, and there is no place named
'Milo.' Were the statue anywhere else than in the Louvre, probably it
would be known generally (as it is to scholars) by its proper name--the
Aphrodite of Melos.

[50] The writer possesses a copy of the first edition of "Mr. Sponge's
Sporting Tour," which is a perfect museum. At some period of its
existence it was relegated to the harness-room; and its leaves bear the
insignia of almost every known preparation used in dressing boots,
harness, saddles, buckles, dogs, horses' hoofs, and human hair. Not for
all the wealth of the Indies would he remove a single stain. Most of them
have been identified by his friends (it is feared with more regard for
humour than accuracy) in marginal notes. Sherlock Holmes would certainly
have considered it worthy of a monograph.

[51] I will not venture to suggest that you follow the example of a
book-collecting acquaintance who has an extra heading for 'Books that I
have _acquired_!'

[Illustration]

CHAPTER VII

BOOKS OF THE COLLECTOR

'To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and
discretion.'--PROVERBS, i. 4.

JUST as anyone who sets out to collect prints or antiques must provide
himself at the outset with certain books necessary for obtaining a
knowledge of the subject, so the book-collector must gather to himself
those works which, if studied carefully, will enable him to become
thoroughly conversant with the objects of his favourite pursuit. To the
real collector there is no more delightful reading than the literature
which deals with the subject he has made his own; and the more ample and
specialised it be, the greater will be his delight.

What bibliophile has not read, and read again, such delightful works as
Burton's 'Book Hunter,' Blades' 'Enemies of Books' and 'Life and
Typography of William Caxton,' 'The Library' and 'Books and Bookme