Free list

“ One book, clean and fresh from the bookseller’s counter, is worth half a dozen of the soiled and messy knock-about volumes, which many of our medical men assure us carry disease-germs in their too-frequently fingered pages. Free Libraries are undoubtedly very useful resorts for betting men. ”

“ There is one small appendage of the private library which must be mentioned before we close the chapter. A list of the prices which he has paid for his books forms a record that is indispensable to the book-collector. It is impossible to carry all one's 'bargains' in one's head, and if pencilled inside the book itself it is exposed to that publicity which one naturally shuns. Such a record is of something more than curious interest, for a knowledge of the rise or fall in the price of those books in which he is interested is essential to the collector. ”

“ Now we give the boys of America the opportunity of getting the same stories and better ones for five cents. Do you not think it is a rare bargain? Just buy any one of the titles listed below and read it; you will not be without Brave and Bold afterward. Each story is complete in itself and has no connection whatever with any story that was published either before or after it.
We give herewith a list of all of the back numbers in print. You can have your newsdealer order them or they will be sent direct by the publishers to any address upon receipt of the price in money or postage stamps. ”

“ But here, through the length and breadth of this glorious land, are thousands and yet more thousands of free libraries, containing all manner of books, of every age and nation, awaiting your demand. They contain all that is splendid in the way of printed matter, but also much, alas, that is not worth any man's time; so that though the best lies open and free to us, it is mingled with a vast amount of wretched trash. ”

“ The principal objections are the great bulk of a catalogue constructed upon such a plan, and the sacrifices of one of the principal advantages of an alphabetical classed index, the congregation of a great number of minor subjects into a grand whole. In such an index, for example, works on the liberty of the subject, Bankruptcy, Divorce, though formed into special lists, would still be found together within the covers of the same comprehensive volume on law, and, taken all together, would afford a general view of whatever existed in print upon that grand division of human knowledge. ”

“ Nor ought the Librarian himself to lend books unless he receive a pledge of equal value; and then he ought to enter on his roll the name of the borrower, the title of the book lent, and the pledge taken. The larger and more valuable books he ought not to lend to anyone, known or unknown, without permission of the Prelate....
Books which are to be kept at hand for daily use, whether for singing or reading, ought to be in some common place, to which all the brethren can have easy access for inspection, and selection of anything which seems to them suitable. ”

“ Such a library report should never fail to set forth the great benefit to the community which a free use of its treasures implies, while urging the importance of building up the collection, through liberal gifts of books, periodicals, or money, thus enabling it to answer the wants of readers more fully, year by year. ”

“ We are glad that you like The Great Round World. Why don't you try and get it for yourself by becoming one of our agents? You can get your own paper free of charge for two subscriptions, and it would be very nice to own it yourself, and be able to read it whenever you wanted to. ”

“ A reader seeking a book of a known author, in the vast majority of cases, wants simply the number by which to call for it, and can find it much sooner in a brief title catalogue. In the rare cases where more is needed the class number refers instantly to all these facts on the cards. On the other hand, a reader seeking books on a known subject, needs the full title, imprint, cross-references, and notes, to enable him to choose the book best suited to his wants. ”

“ Why should I become? I tell you, life reminds me of one of those boxes built to hold circulars or catalogues or free-distribution periodicals. They are marked on the outside ‘Take one?’ But there is nothing inside. Everything has been taken. We can’t all draw prizes,—we can’t all be prizes. ”

“ Such stories may be had for the asking and played up when there is "nothing doing this week." The use of good feature stories bearing directly on the life of the community will fill one's column, put money into one's pocket, and add readers to the subscription list of the paper. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The list may be commended to the study of those who think classification a simple matter, or a classed catalogue serviceable otherwise than as an index to an alphabetical one. Seven thousand pounds had been expended upon the simple sorting of titles, a task merely preliminary to that of printing them, which might be considered as at least nearly half done, if only the influx of new titles could be stopped, which was impossible. The Trustees wisely determined to throw no more good money after bad ”

“ AN ACCOUNT OF THE HARLEIAN LIBRARY. To solicit a subscription for a catalogue of books exposed to sale, is an attempt for which some apology cannot but be necessary; for few would willingly contribute to the expense of volumes, by which neither instruction nor entertainment could be afforded, from which only the bookseller could expect advantage, and of which the only use must cease, at the dispersion of the library [1] . ”

“ We have just issued a new and complete Catalogue and Wholesale Price Lists, which we send gratuitously to any Bookseller or Librarians on application.
Orders solicited from Librarians, Booksellers, Canvassers, News Agents, and all others in want of good and fast selling books, and they will please send on their orders. ”

“ Why waste a lot of time looking over your newsdealer's whole stock of paper-covered books, when by ordering the titles in THE SELECT LIBRARY you are sure to get novels that cannot fail to interest and please you? They represent a careful selection from over five hundred standard titles. Every book in the line is in great demand. ”

“ The work is easy; the letters to be written are the length of the ordinary business letter, and all we require is neatness and correctness. We furnish all materials free of charge, paper, etc., and prepay all costs of delivery to your home. ”

“ But every such work filling one or more volumes should be entered separately under its author or title as if it were published independently, and should have the same subject-entry. (See § 125.) Works that fill part of a volume are to be entered analytically, (See § 126.) Of course any volume consisting of three or more treatises, put together with a collective title by the society, should be entered under it as collector, if no collector’s name is given. ”

“ 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. ”

“ I have told you about making your own index to any important book you read. I ought to have advised you somewhere not to buy many books. If you are reading in books from a library, never, as you are a decently well-behaved boy or girl, never make any sort of mark upon a page which is not your own. ”

“ Many a mailing list is choked with deadwood—names that represent curiosity seekers and the company loses on both hands, for it costs money to get those names on the list and it costs more money to get them off the list. ”

“ One sometimes has the pleasure of running across some reference in a catalogue to a book of which one has a better or more interesting copy at half the price. For example, I saw quoted in a catalogue the other day at eighty pounds a “Set of the Life of the Prince Consort, in five volumes, with an inscription in each volume in the autograph of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. ”

“ I purpose to offer a few hints to these solitary readers, who may, I trust, find much profit out of the restrictions of providence, and do their work well even though it be done alone. On the blank pages of your necessity you may make records of your own, worth more to you than volumes of other people’s print. ”

“ Most people nowadays are collectors in a small way of Autographs, China, Furniture, Prints, Miniatures, or Silver, and would take up these fascinating hobbies more extensively, and collect with profit, if they had a knowledge of the subject.
It is to the beginner and would-be collector that Unwin’s “Chats” Series of practical handbooks especially appeal. They are the recognized standard guides to collecting, each volume being the work of an expert on the subject dealt with. ”

“ Among the numerous works of fiction whose titles, at least, have become familiar as household words, a selection has been made under the title of The ROYAL LIBRARY of Choice Books, comprising those works which the general reader may be supposed most desirous of possessing. Such works are here presented to the public in a handsomely-bound and well-printed Series, each volume being Complete in itself, and containing a work of sterling interest and value, at the low price of 2s. ”

“ The competitor who can completely out-distance the average library is the keen private collector with a generous purse and unlimited leisure. In his case the librarian can only hope that his will contains a clause in which his collection and the library are in happy juxtaposition. With relation to actual buying, it is a good axiom never to purchase anything except “on approval.” It is really wonderful how attractive a commonplace and almost valueless item can appear to be in an agent’s catalogue. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As I have said elsewhere, it has been no part of my object in writing my book to advocate indiscriminate collecting. But for those who are already collectors I have one word of advice on the subject of the arrangement of their treasures. Some enthusiasts advocate a chronological arrangement, others a genealogical, others a topographical: and the advocates of each theory paste down their specimens in scrap-books or other volumes in adherence to their own views. ”

“ Others will hide them in all sorts of out-of-the-way places, while others again will cut them to pieces, or in some other way destroy them utterly. It is the most usual thing, for me, at any rate, and therefore presumably for others who are known to write about books, or to give the reports of the auction-rooms, to receive a bundle of title-pages as samples of the volumes to which they belong, with a request for information as to how they ought to be bound, and what they are worth. ”

“ The book-collectors are of a higher order,—not that their pursuit necessarily implies knowledge; it is the love of possessing rarities, or the pleasure of pursuit, which in most cases actuates them;—one person who had spent many years in collecting large paper copies, having obtained nearly all which had ever been thus printed, sold the whole collection for the sake of beginning to collect them again. ”

“ For that reason it is perhaps needless to do more than name the cash book, ledger, petty cash book, cash receipt book, and postage book as the principal records maintained for financial purposes. Many librarians unite their issue and receipts from fines books, while others keep separate records; but it is best for beginners to keep their cash affairs strictly apart, and in the ordinary fashion of good business houses. The donation book is the record of all books, prints, maps, or other gifts to the library, ruled to show the following particulars: Author and Title | Vols. ”

“ There are also many curiosities of compilation in auction catalogues. Not to name errors of commission, like giving the authorship of books to the wrong name, and errors of omission, like giving no author's name at all, some catalogues are thickly strewn with the epithets rare—and very rare, when the books are sufficiently common in one or the other market. ”

“ This economy especially applies to songs.
10. Booksellers and auctioneers are to be considered as the authors of their catalogues, unless the contrary is expressly asserted.
Entering these only under the form-heading Catalogues belongs to the dark ages of cataloguing. Put the catalogue of a library under the library’s name. (§ 56.)
11. Put the auctioneer’s catalogue of a public library under the name of the library, of a private library under the name of the owner, unless there is reason to believe that another person made it. ”

“ All collectors of out of the way books know the pleasure of the exercise of p. 3serendipity, but they enjoy it in different ways. One man will go home hugging a volume of sermons, another with a bulky collection of catalogues, which would have distended the pockets even of the wide great-coat made for the purpose, that Charles Nodier used to wear when he went a book-hunting. ”