Librairie Hachette

“ Comment vivaient-ils? Par Claude Quouiam, pseud, of Claude Derod £ Etienne Serqery, pseud, of Jean Mathiei, illus d* Alfred Mattauch. Prance. 157 p. e Librairie Hachette; 30Sep76; APO-86897.
APO-86 898.
Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et qraveurs. T. 7. By Emmanuel-Charles Benezit, nouv. ed. entierement refondue, revue £ corriqee par Emmanuel-Charles Benezit, Henri Benezit £ Suzanne Boucheny. Prance. 792 p. Add. ti: Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et qraveurs. NB: revisions £ additions. e Librairie Grund ”

“ Hansel et Gretel, Le Sonqe du pauvre. D'apres Perrault, Grimm 6 les Contes des mille et une nuits, adaptation de Marc Saver, pseud, of Philippe SchuHer 6 Daniel Sassier. France. 28 p. NH: translation. © Librairie Hachette; 30Sep77; AFO-89671.
AFO-89672. La Petite sirene. La Petite poucette. La Petite fille aux allumettes. D'apres Andersen, adaptation de Marc Saver, pseud. of Philippe SchUMer £ Daniel Sassier. France. 29 p. NM: translation. e Librairie Hachette ”

“ Le fietour de la belle inconnue. By Barbara Cartland, traduit par Honigue Thies, pseud, de Max Jalade. France. 257 p. Prev. pub. under the title. The Unknown heart. 3 on translation; Editions de Trevise; 30Apr77; AFO-88220.
AFO-88221.
Audacieuse Gloria- D' Ann Forman Barron, traduit par Evelyne Stauffer. France. 320 p. Prev. pub. as Banner bold and beautiful. NM; translation. C Editions de Irevise; 10Apr77; AFO-88221.
AFO-88222.
Les Six compaguons au concours hippigue. By Paul-Jacques Bonzon, illus de £obert Bressy. France. 156 p. Librairie Hachette; 30aar77; AFO-88222. ”

“ In 1855 he also founded Le Journal pour tous, a publication with a circulation of 150,000 weekly. Hachette also manifested great interest in the formation of mutual friendly societies among the working classes, in the establishment of benevolent institutions, and in other questions relating to the amelioration of the poor, on which subjects he wrote various pamphlets ”

“ As for the volumes of the library, they are wired within the cases, and turn their gilded backs upon the visitor, keeping their treasures of wit and wisdom just as intangible as if still in the unwrought mines of human thought. ”

“ It occupies no less than thirty-eight treble-columned folio pages, and contains the titles of more than three thousand works. To attempt to convey to the reader an idea of this curious and sumptuous library, without transcribing a large proportion of its catalogue, I am afraid will be a futile labor; but as that would occupy too much space, and to many of my readers be, after all, dry and uninteresting, I shall merely give the names of some of the most conspicuous. Years indeed it must have required to have amassed a collection so brilliant and superb in those days of book scarcity. ”

“ In the past librarians have hesitated to discard any book which has once been placed on the shelves. They have believed that all printed matter has value and that a book which belongs to the library is sacred and must on [Pg 132] no account be destroyed. It is difficult to defend such an attitude. If we admit for the time being that the librarian never makes mistakes in acquiring books, still it is sure to happen that many books will outlive their usefulness, except as a part of the history or bibliography of the subject. ”

“ The advantages of a printed catalogue he states under five heads: " (1) that it is in less danger of partial or total destruction than a manuscript volume or drawers of cards;" " (2) that it can be consulted out of the library;" " (3) that it can be consulted in other libraries;" " (4) that it is easier to read than the best manuscript volume, and very much easier to consult. A card presents to the eye only one title at a time, whereas a printed catalogue generally [55] has all an author's works on a single page. ”

“ This is an age of books of reference, and as knowledge increases, and the books which impart it to readers become unwieldy from their multitude, there are sure to be forthcoming those who will reduce the facts into a handy form. I have gathered in the following pages the titles of some of the best books of reference which are to be obtained. Many, if not all of these, are to be found in that magnificent library of reference—the Reading Room of the British Museum. In some cases where the books are constantly being reprinted, dates have been omitted. ”

“ Reference work in libraries large and small has for its first rule: Meet the inquirer more than half way. To the stranger a library is often an oppressive place, an awesome place—in his imagination. He comes in shyly; everyone appears busy, his question suddenly seems to him trivial; he won't trouble these wise and busy people with it—and goes out. ”

“ As the catalogue embraces far more titles of books, pamphlets, and periodicals than any other ever printed, it is a great public boon, the aid it affords to all investigators being incalculable. And any library possessing it may find, with many titles of rare and unattainable works, multitudes of books now available by purchase in the market, to enrich its own collection. ”

“ In a small library, however, or in any library in which money for salaries is limited, and the work to be done in the regular matter of attending to the public, lending books, etc., is great, do not waste time in trying to arrange or catalog pamphlets. ”

“ Some collectors place all their fame on the view of a splendid library, where volumes, arrayed in all the pomp of lettering, silk linings, triple gold bands, and tinted leather, are locked up in wire cases, and secured from the vulgar hands of the mere reader, dazzling our eyes like eastern beauties peering through their jalousies! ”

“ A catalogue of a library is, strictly speaking, but a list of the titles of the books, which it contains. It is not generally expected to give any further description of a book than the author gives, or ought to give in the title-page, and the publisher, in the imprint, or colophon; except the designation of form, which is, almost universally, added. ”

“ The approximately 3,000 works include books, pamphlets, articles, chapters in books, exhibition catalogs, calendars and guides to manuscripts, works on library collections and book collecting, and discographies; they exclude book dealers’ catalogs, bibliographies appended to monographs, and works on the Civil War, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa. Organized in a single alphabetical list by author or title of anonymous work, entries generally provide basic publication information but no annotations. ”

“ The great object of a Public library is despatch in procuring books. This can only be secured by perspicuity in describing them. In my humble judgment no better mode could possibly be devised for obtaining any particular work than the printed tickets which I suggested in 1837, and which are now in use. By specifying the Titles from the Catalogue, and copying from it the Press-marks, the applicant can at once identify the particular edition or copy of an edition which he requires. ”

“ A rate-supported library should be practical in its aims, and not a mere curiosity shop for a collection of curious and rare books—their only merit being their rarity, their peculiar binding, singular type, or quaint illustrations. ”

“ The quest of the book that is out of print, and must be had at second hand by diligent search and patient waiting, is an exceptional delight. Nevertheless, a special and more accessible pleasure lies in the catalogue, whether of a publisher or a bookshop. All but a handful of us are certain to come upon titles that kindle the imagination or rekindle the memory. ”

“ As has been already stated in Chapter VI, a tendency persists, in spite of all that can be said, to buy books in cheap lots, irrespective of their contents, or to what extent they strengthen any section of the library. ”

“ Some of the modern publishers’ monthly catalogues are much more helpful than any journal or review, because they add brief descriptive notes to each entry of a new book. A plain, practical note outlining the principal contents and intention of a book is worth pages of critical remarks to the librarian book-buyer. ”

“ The amateur and book-collector, in commencing the foundation of a library, will do well to pause before they adopt a species of binding that will in after years create a feeling of annoyance, and perhaps lead to pecuniary sacrifice. ”

“ But facsimiles and other aids have been greatly multiplied of late years; many a book can be run down and the identification verified in a few minutes, and the possibility of hunting successfully in one’s own library presupposes the purchase of many books giving full information as to their origin. These, while offering the means of identifying other books, will themselves raise no questions, so that the collector’s life need not be unceasingly strenuous. ”

“ The most which one man can hope to effect, in this department, is to examine and describe books, in some special branch of knowledge, or books of some particular class, as palæotypes, books privately printed, a selection of books most esteemed by collectors, &c. It is too much to expect, that every librarian can find time, or possess learning, for such a description of all books under his care. Besides, this would be a waste of labor and of money. ”

“ Every general and special bibliography from the British Museum catalogue to the small select catalogues issued by local libraries, every index, every special catalogue, indeed every catalogue within reason of other libraries which a librarian can procure, is a necessary tool in building up the collection and in tracking information when it is complete. ”

“ The publishers will be pleased to send, upon request, an illustrated catalogue setting forth the purposes and ideals of The Modern Library, and describing in detail each volume in the series. Every reader of books will find titles he has been looking for, attractively printed, and at an unusually low price. ”

“ The Uniform Library will bring out a cheap edition for the people, first, of all his hitherto published works, to which will gradually be added his unpublished works as fast as they can be produced, that the British Public may be made familiar with all that he has written. ”

“ Propriety and sympathy of costume go very far indeed to establish and augment the estimation of printed volumes with manuscript tokens of former proprietorship. The collector who chooses this field of activity has to weigh the correlation and harmony between the volume itself and the individual or individuals to whom it once appertained. We have usually to content ourselves with the interest resident in an autograph, with or without further particulars; it is a book, perhaps, which formed part of the library of a distinguished Elizabethan or Jacobean writer or public character ”

“ A catalogue which contains such exact reproductions of rare and authentic portraits, is itself a work of art, and serviceable to the student. When the shop of a bookseller, with a promising catalogue which arrives over night, is not too far distant, bibliophiles have been known to rush to the spot in the grey morning, before the doors open. There are amateurs, however, who prefer to stay comfortably at home, and pity these poor fanatics, shivering in the rain outside a door in Oxford Street or Booksellers' Row. ”

“ When any lot of books is acquired, whether by purchase from book-dealers or from auction, or by presentation, the first step to be taken, after seeing that they agree with the bill, and have been collated, in accordance with methods elsewhere given, should be to stamp and label each volume, as the property of the library. ”

“ The more clear and definite your orders are made out, the more promptly and completely can your bookseller supply them.
An ideal bookseller, qualified to act as your agent, is one who has familiarized himself with the various editions of books, and will always make selections with greater stress on quality than quantity; who will not send you the second edition of a scientific work when a third is out ”

“ Those French gentlemen of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries who loved books, and formed large libraries, adopted the Italian fashion of having their treasures sumptuously bound. The magnificently illuminated manuscripts, and livres d’heures, which were produced for the great lords and ladies in the fifteenth century, required no ex-libris, for on nearly every page occurred the arms or badges, the ciphers, or the initials of the fortunate owner, whose right to the book was thus for ever placed beyond all question or doubt. ”

“ There is but one way of obtaining a perfect index to the condition of the national library at a given time: the catalogue must be reprinted along with the numerous accessions which have been accumulating while the first edition has been going through the press—a national undertaking which will commend itself to men of letters more readily than to ministers of finance. ”

“ The custom is extending of taking extra numbers of the popular magazines and lending them as if they were books though generally for a shorter period and without the privilege of renewal. When this is done, put each magazine in a binder made for the purpose, and marked with the library's name, to keep it clean and smooth, and to identify it as library property. Similar binders are often put on the magazines which are placed in the reading rooms. (See Library Bureau catalog.)
Complete volumes of the magazines are in great demand with the borrowing public. ”

“ Books as they come from the dealer are not always perfect. To make sure that their purchases are in good condition some libraries collate all their books as soon as received, that is, look them through with care for missing pages, and injuries of any kind. ”