the market of late, and that even the practice of the cataloguers has changed, as if to keep pace with that spirit of restlessness which is death to old time habits as personified by the collectors of a decade or two ago. We read stories without end of the patience of the old school, and lifetimes spent in close application to the business of accumulating an enormous number of books of all kinds to furnish a library that should answer every imaginable question that the wit of man could propound. These libraries have blended with, or at any rate are fast returning to, the world from whence they came, and the modern bookman seems to have fixed his attention upon books of a special kind, interesting, no doubt, but not of a character which can be described as absolutely necessary for purposes of reference or research. The numerous public libraries scattered about the kingdom have perhaps contributed to this result in no small degree. Books of occasional practical use are much more easily obtained now than they were even ten years ago; in fact, in many instances there is no necessity to buy them at all. Another consideration also influences the collector. He has become aware that large general libraries seldom stay long in private hands, and never unless a series of the most favourable circumstances combine to preserve them intact; that their formation takes a lifetime, and that a pecuniary loss is absolutely certain to attend their disposition. The matter of interest on sunk capital is fatal to every scheme for founding a general library on commercial principles that has ever yet been formulated. This is not always the case where books of a special character are concerned, and it cannot be asserted that books are often bought now without any calculation as to their probable fate in the market of the future. If they are, then BOOK-PRICES CURRENT and all other works of the same class are existing without patronage, for the mere amusement of their compilers and publishers. The truth is that collectors are not now prepared to pay more than they can help for such books as they require, and that they take a keen interest in backing their judgment, so to speak, against that of anyone else who happens to possess the same tastes. It is repeatedly said that books have at last attained to precisely the same level as bric-à-brac. This by way of comment on the large prices which are occasionally paid for pamphlets of little apparent interest, old books which can be read in scores of cheap editions, and volumes which nobody now reads at all. If this be true, it is the specialists who have made it so; they are backing their respective judgments in every bid they make. Generally speaking, it is perfectly clear that the specialists now rule the book-market, and that all very high prices are either paid by them, or by representatives of the large public libraries in England or abroad. It was recently stated in several of the literary journals that the season 1898-99 had witnessed no great rise in prices. It depends, of course, what is meant by the word "great," but this is certain, that works of the kind reported in BOOK-PRICES CURRENT, that is to say, the better-class standard and collector's books, strictly so-called, have increased in price most materially during the last twelve months. Original and scarce editions of the English classics are becoming scarcer and more valuable, and the prices obtained for them are steadily increasing. First editions of modern and contemporary writers of the first rank are in the same position, only in their case the rise has been much more rapid. A glance at the sums realised for copies of the original editions of many of the works of Stevenson and Kipling will confirm this. As a whole, the value of really good books, or books that are specially sought after on account of their merit, scarcity, or for any other reason, are distinctly and patently rising in value, and in many cases the accretion is most marked. The following tabular analysis will show the position at a glance : The average sum paid per lot was £1 6s. 7d. in 1893 ; £1 8s. 5d. in 1894; £1 11s. 4d. in 1895; 135. 10d. in 1896; £2 13s. 9d. in 1897; £2 15s. in 1898; and £2 19s. 5d. in 1899. In 1897 the average was strongly influenced by the very large amount realised by the Ashburnham Library, and the comparatively small number of lots contained in the catalogue, and the same remark applies to some extent to the average of 1898. This season there has been nothing abnormal to disturb the average, and yet we find it standing higher than ever, i.e., at £2 19s. 5d. This shows as conclusively as anything can do that desirable books of every kind are rapidly rising in value, and the inference is that they have not yet attained their maximum. We shall probably never again see an average of £1 6s. 7d. as disclosed by the sales of 1893. Perhaps the most extraordinary incident in the book world is the position now assumed by the works issued from the Kelmscott Press. These have increased in value enormously during the last few years. In or about February, 1898, the "Chaucer" stood at about £28; now £58 has to be paid. In 1894 "The Story of the Glittering Plain," issued on May 8, 1891, could be got for about £5; the present price is about £28 and has been £33. Not all, or indeed many, of the Kelmscott Press books have been so fortunate as these, but all, with rare exceptions, are worth much more now than they were twelve months ago. I am often asked what I think the future of these books will be; whether they are yet at their highest point. I can only say, for the benefit of any who choose to regard my opinion in this respect as worth considering, that another five years will see many of the present prices doubled at least, and all of them much enhanced. Time will show whether this be true or the reverse, or only partly true. At any rate, the assertion is not made recklessly, but based upon arguments which appear to me to be sound and conclusive. DUKE OF EDINBURGH ROAD, September 30, 1899. J. H. SLATER. |