BOOK-PRICES CURRENT

ALPHABETICAL ARRANGEMENT

throughout, with cross references.

Being a Record of the Prices at which Books have been sold at Auction, with the Titles and Descriptions of the Books in full, the Catalogue Numbers, the Names of the Purchasers, Special Notes on certain Books.

Demy 8vo. bound in buckram, and printed on good paper, with fine margin for notes, price £1 12s. 6d. net each.

Opinions of the Press.

"We acknowledge, with much pleasure, that 'Book-Prices Current' is now the most carefully edited work of its kind published in this or any other country."-Athenæum.

"With the present season of book auctions, 'Book-Prices Current' reaches its 25th year, and it is, we believe, the only purely bibliographical periodical in existence which has continued to appear for a quarter of a century regularly, uninterruptedly, and with a promptitude which is a credit to those who produce it and a boon to those who use it. It has had many rivals and imitators, both at home and abroad; but the only effect of this rivalry has been many improvements in matters of detail."-The Times, Sept. 29th, 1911. "It exhibits all those good qualities of accurate record which have raised the publication to such a position of universal esteem."-Publishers' Circular.

Uniform with BOOK-PRICES CURRENT,

INDEX

TO

BOOK-PRICES CURRENT

1907-1916.

Constituting a Reference List of Subjects and, incidentally, a Key to Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature.

"If money, as Anthony Trollope neatly put it, be the reward of labour, too much is certainly not asked for the labour which has marshalled into order a manuscript involving 33,000 distinct titles and considerably over 500,000 numerals.' The typographical arrangement of the volume will receive praise from those who can understand the difficulties of the printers' task."The Guardian.

RECORD

A

RECORD OF THE PRICES AT WHICH BOOKS

HAVE BEEN SOLD AT AUCTION,

FROM OCTOBER, 1918, TO AUGUST, 1919, BEING THE SEASON 1918-1919,

INDEX TO

Book-Prices Current

Volumes XXI. to XXX.

For the Years 1907-1916,

FORMING A KEY ΤΟ BOOK PRICES CURRENT, AND, INCIDENTALLY, .TO ANONYMOUS, PSEUDONYMOUS, AND SUPPRESSED LITERATURE, WITH A SUPPLEMENT OF BIBLIOPHILES AND BIBLIOPOLES.

Uniform with "Book-Prices Current." Demy 8vo.

The Clique says:-"In the course of testing a great number of references, to see whether we could discover any errors, we are glad to say that we can find none. This is high praise when the author says in his preface, 'This Index contains about one hundred thousand entries, while the numerals employed, which closely approach a million, almost defy counting.' Among the great advantages of the Index may be mentioned the promptitude with which the reader may now find and compare the relative value of any book during the decade covered (bringing to a point the various copies sold), enabling him to ascertain whether its value has increased or dimished during the period. . . . The Second Index is so superior to the former one that the permanent value of B.P.C.' as a bibliographer's guide is increased fourfold. This index is one of the largest ever compiled, and it represents three years' work."

The Library Association Record says:- "These volume are indispensable to every reference library, and add considerably to the reputation of English Bibliography."

LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK, 7, Paternoster Row, E.C.

INTRODUCTION.

THAT newly published books have increased in price
is common knowledge, though the extent of the rise
attained by second-hand volumes is apparently not yet
fully realised, except by those who are most intimately
connected with them. New books, owing to the exces-
sive cost of paper and for other reasons, have latterly
been limited in number, while old books are, in popular
terms, practically unlimited in that respect, and as a
whole cover a much wider field. Most of them, it is
true, have not maintained their published price, though
almost all which are worth any appreciable amount
have risen in value to at least some extent during the
last twelve months. As to the aristocrats of the book-
shelf those rare volumes sought for in every nook and
cranny, almost always without success-the rise has
lately been phenomenal. At no time have the sums
obtained for most of these been so great, and only those
whose business it is to watch the activities of yesterday
and to-day can have the least idea of what is likely to
happen to-morrow, so far as these old and costly books
are concerned. Records appear to be made only to be
broken, collectors both here and in America jostling
one another to obtain what their hearts are set upon,
often regardless of cost.

Provided that some work is of an exceptional char-
acter, rare in itself and greatly desired, there is no
saying to what heights it may aspire so far as its pric

in the market is concerned, and its ultimate fate is a
matter of pure speculation. It is difficult to say when
these high and seemingly excessive amounts first began
to become general, but I should think about ten years
ago, when the equivalent of £7, 100 was obtained at the
Hotel Drouot, Paris, for the six volumes of the Œuvres
de Molière published in that city in 1773. The reason
for the competition on that occasion was that the
volumes contained the 33 original drawings in sepia
by Moreau, which figured in the Soleinne set, and after-
wards became the property of M. le Vicomte Frédéric
de Janzé. The set was the same, apparently, and had,
therefore, tradition in its favour. Whether this seem-
ingly record price, as it was at that time, for a printed
book of comparatively modern date, set a fashion, it
would be useless to enquire; but certain it is that it
has been much exceeded since. For instance, the Hoe
copy, on vellum, of the Biblia Sacra Latina, printed by
Gutenberg and Fust at Mainz, sometime during the
years 1450-55, was sold by Mr. Sidney Hodgson, of
Messrs. Hodgson & Co., at New York, in April, 1911,
for $50,000, or, in round figures, £10,000, and that
seems to be the largest amount ever obtained at a sale
by auction for any printed book. Books in manuscript
have realised more, as for instance the one reported
on page 351 of the present volume of BOOK-PRICES
CURRENT; but so far as printed books are concerned,
I know of nothing which has exceeded the sum obtained
at New York for the Gutenberg Bible.

A glance at the Table of Contents, based upon the
records displayed in the following pages, shows some
very large totals. Lord Mostyn's collection of Early
English Plays, though not so very extensive, realised