WITH MANY INTERESTING AND VALUABLE ADDITIONS FROM OTHER SOURCES ON SALE, FOR CASH, AT THE AFFIXED PRICES BY GEO. D. SMITH 4 EAST 42d STREET 1900 NEW YORK THE DALY SALE. HIS IS A CATALOGUE of some of my purchases at the recent sale of the library of the late Augustin Daly, and also of some books secured from other sources. The Daly sale was a melancholy affair. The books, in the first place, were wretchedly catalogued, and the whole English press, led by no less an authority than the Athenæum, has gibed at the printed descriptions of the volumes. It is not enough to say the catalogue was worthless to prospective buyers, it was absolutely misleading. For instance, a manuscript of the "School for Scandal" was described as "the original manuscript entirely in the handwriting of Sheridan." Before the sale I advised at least one customer not to bid on it, and congratulated another, who was the underbidder, upon his not becoming the purchaser. Now the Athenæum says the original manuscript is in the possession of Mr. Algernon Sheridan, at Frampton Court, England! A collection of portraits of Shakespeare (which I bought and which is described in this list) was catalogued as lacking the first issue of the Droeshout print. Of course this statement was of equal value with the one about the so-called "Sheridan" manuscript. There was no excuse for either assertion. The offered copy of the "School for Scandal," I have good authority for saying, was probably written by the prompter of the theatre at which it was produced, and his handwriting bore about as much resemblance to Sheridan's as does General Washington's to my own. It is not my intention or desire to recapitulate all the errors and omissions of the catalogue (my business is to sell books) but to speak in a general way of the depreciation of prices caused by them and the injudicious arrangements made by the firm to which the disposal of the books was entrusted. Money was demanded of those who desired to examine the books, and no matter how often the private buyer wished to enter the auction rooms previous to the days of sale he was compelled to pay fifty cents for the privilege. After this sum had been |