_BOOK BUYING_
[Illustration: KELMSCOTT PRESS BOOK]
As by far the greater portion of rare and desirable books to be had in
America from time to time are sent over from England and the Continent by
dealers' agents, it follows that the amateur collector in this country
must depend largely on dealers for his supply of books. Except at
auctions, there are comparatively few opportunities of buying at
first-hand, although rare items of American printed books are sometimes
unearthed and, in the old book stores of the larger cities, bargains are
not uncommon. These latter, however, are usually limited, at best, to
picking up some good first edition of a modern author, worth, perhaps,
five dollars, and carelessly marked, with numbers of other books, at about
twenty-five cents. Better fortune sometimes attends. For example, one may
sometimes find a really rare and valuable book which, in dim but
inadequate realization of its value, has been marked higher than its
neighbors--perhaps up to about one-tenth of its real value. Such an
incident, however, is among the exceptions. In any case, the stories of
wonderful finds in years past, along the quays of Paris or in the stalls
of London are, for the American at least, almost like romances which could
never come true.
In buying from dealers, especially those who specialize in rare books, it
is often, unfortunately, necessary that the bibliophile of moderate means,
to whom these pages are particularly addressed, is obliged to pause before
the price of some much desired volume. His buying problems are much more
complex than those of his wealthy fellow-collector, to whom price is
little object, since he must not only hunt out the volumes he wants, but
also copies priced reasonably to be within his reach. Blessed, indeed, is
the willing self-denial which produces the ransom of a good book, at the
expense of the ephemeral luxuries of life! But under such conditions it is
essential that the amateur have a fairly complete knowledge of the value
of books, particularly along his own special lines, in order that he may
not be driven to unnecessary hardships through paying unjustly high prices
for his treasures.
While the prices of books vary greatly, according to condition and
binding, they also vary to an astonishing extent with various dealers. The
prices marked by some dealers are often high for certain kinds of books
and low for others. Bargains often may be secured from the dealer who
marks his books, not according to their present market value, but
according to the price he himself paid for them, since it follows,
naturally, that a bargain for him is a bargain for his customer.
Information of this kind, in respect to particular dealers, is very
valuable to the amateur who visits their shops, but he often gains it only
after considerable experience.
Cautious buying, so often sneered at, is, nevertheless, essential, and the
amateur bibliophile owes to himself not only complete information as to
the "right" editions of books, but also a thoroughly developed knowledge
and judgment which will enable him to value books with fair accuracy. He
must realize that in many cases the dealer is wily and seductive;
moreover, his wares plead for themselves to trouble the heart of the
hesitating purchaser. He also must develop a certain amount of guile, and
must be able to harden his heart, if necessary, against all appeal. This
is one of the most difficult of all things to do, and is the triumph of
knowledge over ingenuousness and of reason over bibliomania.
To the collector of moderate means, even though his library be small, his
books represent a certain form of investment, fairly secured. It has been
pointed out by Mr. J. H. Slater, editor of the English "Book Prices
Current," that books bought as an investment are not really so, because to
be a good investment they would have constantly to increase in value to
equal the income from the purchase price, had it been invested in another
way. This increase in value, however, often actually takes place, and in
a fair sized collection of books, judiciously gathered, the abnormal
increase in the value of some volumes will help to balance the
sluggishness or depreciation of others. The bibliophile, however, may well
rest content, and consider himself well repaid for his efforts to buy
carefully, if the value of his collection as a whole remains equal to the
sum total of his expenditures, and he may accept the pleasures of
possessing and reading the volumes in lieu of interest on the investment.
To get a general idea of the run of prices, the collector should obtain as
many priced dealers' catalogues as possible and study these carefully, in
making comparisons noticing any description of condition or binding which
might account for a difference in price between two copies of the same
work catalogued by different dealers. He should also study the volumes of
"Book Prices Current," both the English and American editions, which are
issued each year to subscribers and may be found at almost any large
public library. These books, for each year, give the prices realized at
auction during the year before, for all books which brought over three
dollars. These prices, however, must be considered with caution, as they
do not always represent true values, particularly in reference to sales in
Great Britain, where the operation of dealer's "knockout" cliques,
conspiring to keep prices low, except on items where collectors bid
direct, has been the cause of much scandal.
Advance catalogues of books to be sold at auction will be mailed by the
auction houses, on request. At auctions free from suspicion of unfairness,
the amateur will often find it to his advantage to buy, since he generally
has a certain amount of advantage over the dealer, not being obliged to
buy books so low that he may sell again at a good profit. He need
anticipate little difficulty in competition over books of moderate value,
provided he has taken the trouble thoroughly to inform himself as to the
correctness of the edition he proposes to buy and is able intelligently to
collate, either before the sale or immediately afterward. With items of
considerable importance, it is sometimes a better plan for several
reasons, under present auction conditions, to place the bid in the hands
of a well-known, reliable dealer who will bid in the book for a small
commission on the price paid, and who will assume responsibility for the
book being correct and perfect as represented in the catalogue.
Books handsomely and elaborately bound, especially when bearing the
imprint of some famous binder, generally command prices at auction and
from dealers, rather in excess of their true value. There is always a
ready market for such books among wealthy collectors. A desired book with
the pages in good condition, but in a shabby binding, can generally be
bought, and then equally well bound by a competent binder, at a saving
under the price of another copy already resplendent in crushed levant. On
the other hand, a book in an elaborately jeweled binding of excessive
value often sells at auction for less than the original cost of the
binding. A book bound by such a celebrated binder as Roger Payne will hold
its value while the binding remains solid, with little dependence on the
contents of the book itself.
These remarks, however, as all remarks about auction prices must be, are
only general, for the varying state of supply and demand is often met with
in extremes in the auction room.
As the market value of books changes constantly, and depends not only on
varying rarity, but also on demand, it is necessary that the collector
have some idea as to what constitutes rarity, and the conditions governing
demand. For this a considerable amount of study is necessary. It has been
pointed out that rarity itself does not make for value, if there is no
demand. An unique copy of a book is necessarily rare, but if no one wants
it, it will not bring a price in proportion to its scarcity. This is a
hard rule which one must apply, and a rule often unjust to the books
themselves. Yet, while there are many books of great merit slowly
disappearing from the world because of neglect, it is also true that the
books most in demand and commanding the highest prices in first or early
editions are, in the main, books of great intrinsic merit, well known and,
for one reason or another, justly famous.
The bibliophile must judge for himself as best he may, what books indicate
by their nature and celebrity a permanent value and what books command
excessive prices for the moment simply because of inflated interest and
demand. Conditions governing market value change in large, general
movements, often affecting whole classes of books. As an example, one may
note the comparatively high prices paid a century or more ago for early
editions of the Greek and Latin classics, while treasures of early English
literature sold for a few shillings; while at the present time these
conditions are almost entirely reversed and some almost unique classic
volume in extraordinary condition is required to create much of a
sensation. It may be remarked here, however, that the early classics, the
foundation of our present language, should have a permanent value, if such
an attribute can be rightly assigned to any books at all, and it may be
assumed that almost certainly the day will come when these early and
important works will again be in great demand and will bring prices all
the higher because of the scarcity which has accrued to them in the
meantime through the loss, in one way or another, of many of the extant
copies.
The greatest care is necessary in purchasing modern editions, especially
of modern authors, as the number of modern books and editions, whether the
books be good, bad or indifferent--the latter two adjectives usually
applying, unfortunately--present an extremely complex field from which
only great foresight will select books of merit which will be sought after
several generations hence.
The amateur should also observe with a certain amount of suspicion books
printed in very "limited" editions, with a view of establishing immediate
rarity, permitting himself an interest only in those of obvious merit,
where the limited edition is not necessitated by limited demand, and
avoiding those books so printed of which previous editions much in demand
have been issued. Privately printed books in limited editions, such as the
books issued by the Villon Society, which include John Payne's important
translations from the French and Italian, and the various issues of the
Kama Shastra Society[30], in which Sir Richard Burton, the gifted
orientalist, was actively interested, being not only first editions and of
marked literary merit, but also books fairly certain to be in demand, and
rare, may generally be considered of sound value and interest. Books from
famous private presses, examples of the highest state of typography of
their time, such as the Kelmscott Press books printed by William Morris,
or books printed by some famous printer, such as John Baskerville, of
Birmingham, are almost certain to increase substantially in value in the
long run over their present-day prices and are, moreover, delightful books
to have.
To be properly considered with the general subject of buying, are the
special copies of volumes known as "association books." These are unique
copies, connected in some direct way with the author or with some
prominent personage. Because of the sentimental interest attached, these
usually command high prices. Included under this heading are presentation
copies with inscriptions by the author, the author's own copy of his book,
generally with autograph corrections, and books with autograph annotations
by some contemporary or later, but equally famous, person or author. There
is no standard by which to judge the proper value of such special copies
as they are unique, and such copies may change hands several times at
close intervals with a considerably varying but generally increasing
price. Copies of this kind are generally held at high ransom by dealers,
especially in the "high rent districts" of our large cities, and the
amateur bibliophile is wiser to hope merely that, as sometimes happens,
chance may throw such copies, until that time unrecognized as such, into
his hands without extra premium. Dealers, and even collectors, often
attempt to establish an association value in a book by inserting autograph
letters or signatures of the author; but such volumes, although thus made
of considerable interest, obviously cannot properly be considered under
this heading.