PREFACE
The work which here sees the light was begun, in the expectation of making a compilation of much less bulk, as far back as 1896, and, excepting some periods of quiesence, when the demands of more pressing and more important work could not be put aside, has been carried on, with more or less vigor, for nearly ten years. It has, of course, grown enormously in the interim.
The prices paid for rare books at auction are not always an infallible guide to their real value, but at least in the case of books for which there is a moderately active demand, auction prices are usually admitted to be the best and most accurate accessible guide. Such being the case, our compilation "Auction Prices of Books" is sure to be a great labor-saving tool to every librarian, rare book collector, or rare book dealer. Here and there, there may be still one or two of those men who, endowed with rare mind and unimpeachable memory, are able to carry, ready at instant command, a mental record of years of experience among rare books of some class or classes, which to them is infinitely more valuable than any printed record can be. Such men did live in times past when there were fewer books and fewer book-collectors, and a few may still survive in these days of such multitudes of books both new and old. Such, if such there be, may even find occasional use for the printed record. It has not, however, been made for such, but rather for that large army of librarians and book-sellers, who are not thus gifted by nature, or who have other interests which distract and divide their attention, and for a still larger army of collectors to whom book-collecting is a pastime and recreation, and to which can be devoted only odd times and hours left from other occupations of business or enjoyment.
To all of these busy librarians, book-sellers and book-collectors, to whom time is more than money, this compilation of ours is offered, in the hope that they will find it a piece of modern labor-saving machinery which they will find constantly useful.
The four volumes here presented aim to take the place, to a considerable extent, of the eighteen volumes of the English "Book-Prices Current" and the ten volumes of "American Book-Prices Current," besides numerous catalogues of sales at auction in both
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