WILLIAM JAGGARD

Member of the Royal Society of Arts, THE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
Author of the 'INDEX TO 'B P.C' 1887-96,' '
'SHAKESPEARE BIBLIOGRAPHY'

LONDON:

ELLIOT STOCK, 62 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.

1909

INTRODUCTION

OOKS bring every true student into close and intimate association

BOOKS

with the kings of thought, into communion with the most wise, gifted, cultured, forceful of earth's best men. Books breathe and breed a love of truth and justice, nobility and purity, beauty and courtesy. They teach how to enjoy the best in life and how to endure the worst. So, unconsciously maybe but none the less truly, every lover of good books renders a dual service, first, to his fellowmen, by helping to keep alight the sacred torch of learning, most potent force for world-wide concord and progress-second, for himself he secures the highest, purest pleasure civilisation has invented, and should perforce become thereby the worthier citizen. In their wellchosen libraries discerning bibliophiles may retire to havens of peace and melody, and quietly enjoy the very flower and fruition of man's supremest efforts. The book-lover believes with Carlyle that 'a book is the true thaumaturgic virtue by which man works all things whatsoever, and that the most imperative duty lies on every one to be assiduous in reading.'

Selection

Of books there are but two kinds-good and bad. therefrom by the novice is no simple matter, though less onerous when aided by a good map of the great book realm; and this brings one to the subject of bibliography or book-craft. The two kinds of books named may be sub-divided into three classes - books you must read, books you may read, books you need not read-and the natural question arises, Which are the best guides or, help-mates?

During the last generation bibliography has asserted and proven its right to a prominent position among the lesser sciences in this kingdom. In this matter Great Britain cannot be accused of any feverish or undue haste, in view of the excellent example set long since by our good neighbours in France and Germany. Bibliography of itself forms an exacting and intricate branch of knowledge, and

vi.

'Book-Prices Current' Index, 1897-1906.

for its complete mastery an average life seems all too short. Con-
siderable literary acquaintance is needful before the novice grasps
the magnitude of the first rudimentary fact that printed books exist
in millions, and that no man can ever know or handle them all, or
master their individual life-history. The British Museum alone
contains nearly four millions on its forty-eight miles of shelving.
Until within a comparatively brief span modern reference guides
for founding a library were difficult of access and consultation, and
when secured distinctly time-wasting. The technical wisdom-now so
easily obtained in a score of manuals was then mainly locked up in
the archives of the initiated or hopelessly buried in a maze of ex-
traneous information. In these latter days of increasing pressure
came the inevitable request for some quick, convenient and reliable
guide. This gave rise to the idea of a serial like 'Book-Prices
Current,' which was conceived and commenced in 1886. Among
the numerous publications dealing with the science of books it holds
a peculiar if not unique position. As I am in no way connected
with the work I may the more freely express an opinion on its
merits. The initial volume at once filled a vacancy and the work
thrived correspondingly. Within its limits it is a faithful reflex of
the auction room, that vortex which gathers to itself every species
of mundane property. To this ceaseless eddy comes in turn almost
every book, however old or new, rare or common. So that while
'B.P.C.' continues to appear it is obvious that but few books worth
mentioning can eventually escape its meshes.

'B.P.C.' is the combined product of some of the leading book experts, and therefore sufficiently authoritative to command respect and daily use. Apart from the titles it contains thousands of descriptive and historical annotations of considerable help to the bookman. To-day its twenty-four volumes make an imposing shelf of reference, well-nigh indispensable. In its twenty thousand pages the special detail sought for is generally to be found. So that the chase after a scarce tome now is often an elementary matter with this set at hand. Though it exists primarily to supply the current auction value of books, and has thereby exerted for a generation a steadying influence on the open market, yet are there countless technical points for which one naturally turns to it, commonly with satisfaction. One of the most trustworthy demonstrations of its virtues, perhaps,

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is that it has witnessed the both at home and abroad.

birth (and decease) of several rivals To all those, then, who have to do

with books, whether as a recreation, study, means of livelihood, or as an investment, such a time-saver as 'B.P.C.' hardly needs commendation of mine.

Every year sees fluctuations in book-values, which ebb and flow like the tide on the Stock Exchange. That inane slave-mistress we

call 'fashion' exercises almost as much power in the book world as in that of dress. A craze springs up like a breeze and its votaries fan it into a gale. Yesterday it was Bartolozzi, Bewick, Dickens, Kipling, Lang, and minor poets on major paper. To-day it may be Americana, Baxter prints, coloured books, Cruikshank, Kelmscotts, Mezzotints or Rowlandson. To-morrow, but there-the wise man first knows ere foretelling. These freaks and fads of fashion are largely surface currents caused by casual collectors, investors and readers. Beneath such superficial movements runs the deep abiding taste of the true scholar and connoisseur for that which is good and sure -the best classics, masters and craftsmen of all ages and countries—the gilt-edged consols which form the real fountain of learning, the basis of a time-tested library, and the guarantee of a nation's brain-power. The world's store of printed knowledge has now grown to prodigious proportions, well-nigh incalculable. Life is so short and excellent and of good

crowded that a systematic guide to what is report in literature finds a perennial welcome. Except in the matter of prices 'B.P.C.' is strictly impartial, and even in that direction it is more elastic than formerly. Unless there are good reasons to the contrary it is not usual to include any work which sells for less than a pound. Every conceivable subject is represented-‘B.P.C.' belongs to no exclusive school, order, age or country. A volume of the deepest religious conviction may stand in vivid contrast next to some scoffing atheist some highly moral tome may be a casual neighbour to some writer like John Ford, whom Macaulay declared to be 'painful to read and scarcely decent to mention.' In strange contiguity the work exhibits the abstruse and frivolous, grave and gay, beautiful and ugly, virtuous and vicious, smiles and tears, in fact, just many-sided life itself.

To see the world, the saying goes, it is quite unnecessary to leave England-a point of vantage on Ludgate Hill or on Liverpool's