HOW TO BUY.
A discussion has arisen lately in bibliographical journals as to how best
to supply libraries with their books, the main principle agreed upon being
that it is the duty of the librarian to buy his books as cheaply as
possible. Some of these views are stated by Mr. H.R. Tedder in a letter
printed in the _Library Chronicle_ for July, 1884 (vol. i. p. 120). It
appears that Professor Dziatzko contends that the books should always be
bought as cheaply as possible, but that Dr. Julius Petzholdt holds the
opinion that the chief object of the librarian should be to get his books
as early as possible and not to wait until they can be had at second-hand.
Mr. Tedder thinks that the two plans of rapidity of supply and cheapness
of cost can in some respect be united. Of course there can be no
difference of opinion in respect to the duty of the librarian to get as
much for his money as he can, but there are other points which require to
be considered besides those brought forward before a satisfactory answer
to the question--How to Buy? can be obtained. There are three points which
seem to have been very much overlooked in the discussion, which may be
stated here. 1. Is the librarian's valuable time well occupied by looking
after cheap copies of books? 2. Will not the proposed action on the part
of librarians go far to abolish the intelligent second-hand bookseller in
the same way as the new bookseller has been well-nigh abolished in
consequence of large discounts? 3. Will not such action prevent the
publication of excellent books on subjects little likely to be popular?
1. Most librarians find their time pretty well occupied by the ordinary
duties of buying, arranging, cataloguing, and finding the books under
their charge, and it will be generally allowed that the librarian's first
duty is to be in his library, ready to attend to those who wish to consult
him. Now the value of his time can be roughly estimated for this purpose
in money, and the value of the time spent in doing work which could be as
well or better done by a bookseller should fairly be added to the cost of
the books.
2. It has hitherto been thought advisable to have one or more second-hand
booksellers attached to an important library, from whom the librarian may
naturally expect to obtain such books as he requires. Of course a man of
knowledge and experience must be paid for the exercise of these qualities,
but the price of books is so variable that it is quite possible that the
bookseller, from his knowledge, may buy the required books cheaper than
the librarian himself would pay for them. As far as it is possible to
judge from the information given us respecting the collection of
libraries, bookbuyers have little to complain of as to the price paid by
them to such respectable booksellers as have acted as their agents.
Perhaps too little stress has been laid upon that characteristic which is
happily so common among honest men, viz. that the agent is as pleased to
get wares cheap for a good customer as for himself. Mr. Tedder says in his
letter, "For rarer books I still consider it safer and cheaper in the long
run to cultivate business relations with one or more second-hand
booksellers, and pay them for their knowledge and experience." But is this
quite fair, and is it not likely that the rarer books will be supplied
cheaper if the bookseller is allowed to pay himself partly out of the sale
of the commoner books, which it is now proposed the librarian shall buy
himself? My contention is that it is for the advantage of libraries that
intelligent booksellers, ready to place their knowledge at the service of
the librarians, should exist, and it is unwise and uneconomic to do that
which may cause this class to cease to exist. Sellers of books must always
exist, but it is possible to drive out of the trade those who do it the
most honour. We see what has occurred in the new book trade, and there can
be little doubt that the book-buyer loses much more than he gains by the
present system of discount. When the bookseller could obtain sufficient
profit by the sale of new books to keep his shop open, it was worth his
while to take some trouble in finding the book required; but now that the
customer expects to buy a book at trade price, he cannot be surprised if
he does not give full particulars as to the publisher of the book he
requires if it is reported to him as "not known." Those only who, by
taking a large quantity of copies, obtain an extra discount, can make new
bookselling pay.
3. There are a large number of books which, although real additions to
literature, can only be expected to obtain a small number of readers and
buyers. Some of these are not taken by the circulating libraries, and
publishers, in making their calculations, naturally count upon supplying
some of the chief libraries of the country. If these libraries wait till
the book is second-hand, the number of sales is likely to be so much
reduced that it is not worth while to publish the book at all, to the
evident damage of the cause of learning.
It has been often suggested that an arrangement should be made by
libraries in close proximity, so that the same expensive book should not
be bought by more than one of the libraries. No doubt this is advantageous
in certain circumstances, but in the case of books with a limited sale it
would have the same consequence as stated above, and the book would not be
published at all, or be published at a loss.
Selden wrote in his _Table Talk_: "The giving a bookseller his price for
his books has this advantage; he that will do so, shall have the refusal
of whatsoever comes to his hand, and so by that means get many things
which otherwise he never should have seen." And the dictum is as true now
as it was in his time.
Many special points arise for consideration when we deal with the
question--How to buy at sales? and Mr. Edward Edwards gives the following
four rules for the guidance of the young book-buyer (_Memoirs of
Libraries_, vol. ii. p. 645):
1. The examination of books before the sale, not during it. 2. A steady
unintermittent bidding up to his predetermined limit, for all the books
which he wants, from the first lot to the last; and--if there be any signs
of a "combination"--for a few others which he may _not_ want. 3. Careful
avoidance of all interruptions and conversation; with especial
watchfulness of the hammer immediately after the disposal of those
especially seductive lots, which may have excited a keen and spirited
competition. (There is usually on such occasions a sort of "lull," very
favourable to the acquisition of good bargains.) 4. The uniform
preservation and storing up of priced catalogues of all important sales
for future reference.
A case of conscience arises as to whether it is fit and proper for two
buyers to agree not to oppose each other at a public sale. Mr. Edwards
says, "At the sales Lord Spencer was a liberal opponent as well as a
liberal bidder. When Mason's books were sold, for example, in 1798, Lord
Spencer agreed with the Duke of Roxburghe that they would not oppose each
other, in bidding for some books of excessive rarity, but when both were
very earnest in their longings, "toss up, after the book was bought, to
see who should win it." Thus it was that the Duke obtained his unique, but
imperfect, copy of Caxton's _Historye of Kynge Blanchardyn and Prince
Eglantyne_, which, however, came safely to Althorp fourteen years later,
at a cost of two hundred and fifteen pounds; the Duke having given but
twenty guineas."[13]
It is easy to understand the inducement which made these two giants agree
not to oppose each other, but the agreement was dangerously like a
"knock-out." Mr. Henry Stevens (in his _Recollections of Mr. James
Lenox_) boldly deals with this question, and condemns any such agreement.
He writes, "Shortly after, in 1850, there occurred for sale at the same
auction rooms a copy of '_Aratus, Phaenomena_,' Paris, 1559, in 4^o, with
a few manuscript notes, and this autograph signature on the title, 'Jo.
Milton, Pre. 2_s._ 6_d._ 1631.' This I thought would be a desirable
acquisition for Mr. Lenox, and accordingly I ventured to bid for it as far
as £40, against my late opponent for the Drake Map, but he secured it at
£40 10_s._, remarking that 'Mr. Panizzi will not thank you for, thus
running the British Museum.' 'That remark,' I replied, 'is apparently one
of your gratuities. Mr. Panizzi is, I think, too much a man of the world
to grumble at a fair fight. He has won this time, though at considerable
cost, and I am sure Mr. Lenox will be the first to congratulate him on
securing such a prize for the British Museum.' 'I did not know you were
bidding for Mr. Lenox.' 'It was not necessary that you should.' 'Perhaps
at another time,' said he, 'we may arrange the matter beforehand, so as
not to oppose each other.' 'Very well,' I replied, 'if you will bring me a
note from Mr. Panizzi something to this effect: 'Mr. Stevens, please have
a knock-out with the bearer, the agent of the British Museum, on lot **,
and greatly oblige Mr. John Bull and your obdt. servant, A.P.,' I will
consider the proposition, and if Mr. Lenox, or any other of my interested
correspondents, is not unwilling to combine or conspire to rob or cheat
the proprietors, the 'thing' may possibly be done. Meanwhile, until this
arrangement is concluded, let us hold our tongues and pursue an honest
course.' That man never again suggested to me to join him in a
'knock-out.'"
In another place Mr. Stevens relates his own experience as to holding two
commissions, and the necessity of buying the book above the amount of the
lowest of the two. The circumstance relates to a copy of the small octavo
Latin edition of the _Columbus Letter_, in eight leaves, at the first
Libri sale, Feb. 19, 1849. Mr. Stevens writes, "Mr. Brown ordered this lot
with a limit of 25 guineas, and Mr. Lenox of £25. Now as my chief
correspondents had been indulged with a good deal of liberty, scarcely
ever considering their orders completely executed till they had received
the books and decided whether or not they would keep them, I grew into the
habit of considering all purchases my own until accepted and paid for.
Consequently when positive orders were given, which was very seldom, I
grew likewise into the habit of buying the lot as cheaply as possible, and
then awarding it to the correspondent who gave the highest limit. This is
not always quite fair to the owner; but in my case it would have been
unfair to myself to make my clients compete, as not unfrequently the
awarded lot was declined and had to go to another. Well, in the case of
this Columbus Letter, though I had five or six orders, I purchased it for
£16 10_s._, and, accordingly, as had been done many times before within
the last five or six years without a grumble, I awarded it to the highest
limit, and sent the little book to Mr. John Carter Brown. Hitherto, in
cases of importance, Mr. Lenox had generally been successful, because he
usually gave the highest limit. But in this case he rebelled. He wrote
that the book had gone under his commission of £25, that he knew nobody
else in the transaction, and that he insisted on having it, or he should
at once transfer his orders to some one else. I endeavoured to vindicate
my conduct by stating our long-continued practice, with which he was
perfectly well acquainted, but without success. He grew more and more
peremptory, insisting on having the book solely on the ground that it went
under his limit. At length, after some months of negotiation, Mr. Brown,
on being made acquainted with the whole correspondence, very kindly, to
relieve me of the dilemma, sent the book to Mr. Lenox without a word of
comment or explanation, except that, though it went also below his higher
limit, he yielded it to Mr. Lenox for peace.... From that time I
resorted, in cases of duplicate orders from them, to the expedient of
always putting the lot in at one bid above the lower limit, which, after
all, I believe is the fairer way in the case of positive orders. This
sometimes cost one of them a good deal more money, but it abated the
chafing and generally gave satisfaction. Both thought the old method the
fairest when they got the prize. But I was obliged, on the new system of
bidding, to insist on the purchaser keeping the book without the option of
returning it." There can be no doubt that the latter plan was the most
satisfactory.
Some persons appear to be under the impression that whatever a book
fetches at a public sale must be its true value, and that, as the
encounter is open and public, too much is not likely to be paid by the
buyer; but this is a great mistake, and prices are often realized at a
good sale which are greatly in advance of those at which the same books
are standing unsold in second-hand booksellers' shops.
Much knowledge is required by those who wish to buy with success at
sales. Books vary greatly in price at different periods, and it is a
mistake to suppose, from the high prices realized at celebrated sales,
which are quoted in all the papers, that books are constantly advancing in
price. Although many have gone up, many others have gone down, and at no
time probably were good and useful books to be bought so cheap as now. If
we look at old sale catalogues we shall find early printed books,
specimens of old English poetry and the drama, fetching merely a fraction
of what would have to be given for them now; but, on the other hand, we
shall find pounds then given for standard books which would not now
realize the same number of shillings; this is specially the case with
classics.
The following passage from Hearne's _Diaries_ on the fluctuations in
prices is of interest in this connection:--"The editions of Classicks of
the first print (commonly called _editones principes_) that used to go at
prodigious prices are now strangely lowered; occasioned in good measure
by Mr. Thomas Rawlinson, my friend, being forced to sell many of his
books, in whose auction these books went cheap, tho' English history and
antiquities went dear: and yet this gentleman was the chief man that
raised many curious and classical books so high, by his generous and
courageous way of bidding."[14]
These first editions, however, realize large prices at the present time,
as has been seen at the sale of the Sunderland Library. It is experience
only that will give the necessary knowledge to the book buyer, and no
rules laid down in books can be of any real practical value in this case.
Persons who know nothing of books are too apt to suppose that what they
are inclined to consider exorbitant prices are matters of caprice, but
this is not so. There is generally a very good reason for the high price.
We must remember that year by year old and curious books become scarcer,
and the number of libraries where they are locked up increase; thus while
the demand is greater, the supply diminishes, and the price naturally
becomes higher. A unique first edition of a great author is surely a
possession to be proud of, and it is no ignoble ambition to wish to obtain
it.
FOOTNOTES:
[13] _Libraries and Founders of Libraries_, 1864, p. 404.
[14] _Reliquiæ Hearnianæ_, 1869, vol. ii. p. 158.