Book-Prices Current: RECORD OF THE PRICES AT WHICH BOOKS HAVE BEEN SOLD AT AUCTION, FROM DECEMBER, 1888, TO NOVEMBER, 1889. Recently published in strong Buckram, price £1 75. 6d. BOOK PRICES CURRENT, VOLUME II. Being a Record of the Prices at which Books have been sold at Auction during 1888, with the Titles and Descriptions of the Books in full, the Catalogue Numbers, and the Names of the Purchasers. This volume has been very gladly welcomed by collectors, booksellers, and book buyers as being a most useful record of prices, and a book for permanent reference as to the value of works sold at auction. The very copious Index which accompanies the volume adds very considerably to its value. Opinions of the Press. "It will furnish a record of great use and interest to the bibliophile.”— Notes and Queries. "The practical utility of such a record will be best appreciated by those who have been accustomed to consult such guides as Lowndes and Brunet with a feeling that their information, though in great part obsolete, is at least much better than no information at all."-Daily News. "It will be serviceable to those who buy and to those who sell books; especially, we should imagine, to the latter. Also, it will enable owners to know the market value of their possessions, which is often, in these days of the first-edition craze, a great deal higher than the uninitiated would imagine."-Pall Mall Gazette. "Like other of Mr. Stock's publications, it is beautifully printed."— Printer and Stationer. "Such a publication has long been a desideratum needed by booksel'ers, librarians, and bibliophiles."-Trübner's Literary Record. Lib. Sci. Dunning Grant 1-27-39 37229 PREFACE THE number of sales by auction reported in this volume amounts to fifty-six, as against forty-nine reported in Vol. II, and seventythree in Vol. I, and although there is nothing very remarkable in any of these sales individually, yet in the aggregate they afford a bird's-eye view extending over the whole range of English literature. The same may be said, to some extent, of each of the other volumes of Book-Prices Current already issued, but a glance at the Index of this third volume discloses a larger assortment of books, and the absence of much of that monotonous recurrence which was especially noticeable in the other two. This may fairly be claimed as a distinct advantage, though it is subject to the usual exception with regard to the illustrated works of popular modern authors. These seem to be still increasing in number and in price, though the amounts realised at the Mansfield-Mackenzie Sale, in March last, for works of this class (post, p. 86 et seq.) were quite phenomenal. Beauty and appropriateness of binding, and excellence of condition, contributed alike to the realisation of the largest amounts ever paid for "picture books" of the kind. The same library was noticeable for the large number of theatrical works it contained; many of these were of the greatest rarity, and in the finest condition. The Burnett Sale, in April (post, p. 153 et seq.), was also remarkable, though to a less extent, for similar reasons. The sale of the season was, however, undoubtedly that reported on page 391, generally known as the Perkins Sale. The owner of this library had spent many years and large sums of money in the collection of early Shakespearean quartos; and though the results of his efforts look inferior indeed, when compared with those disclosed in the Daniel Catalogue of 1864, yet the dispersion was the most important that has taken place since that date. In the Athenæum of January 11 last, I contrasted the prices realised at this sale with those obtained for similar books at a very famous sale nearly a hundred years ago. The amounts are worth comparing, as they afford scope for reflection. In conclusion, I may add that, in accordance with many suggestions I have received, foreign printed works of a high class have been extensively noted, and the Index very materially enlarged and -it is to be hoped-improved. 3, Plowden Buildings, Temple, E.C. J. H. S. |