tageous rather than otherwise; but when we consider that a missing volume may not be found for years, and a missing plate, which must necessarily be procured from some other work, itself imperfect in other respects, perhaps not at all, it is difficult to see in what the advantage really and in the long run consists. I have known several book-hunters who adopted this plan for a time, but one only who persistently followed it through a long life. When his books came to be sold, it was found that time had curbed his hand, and had been much too short to enable him to complete even a section of his library, truly described by a hunter after unconsidered trifles as a thing of shreds and patches.

In some cases, and particularly when operations are conducted on a limited scale, it may be advantageous, or even desirable to "make up" a book, rather than to spend a large sum of money on the purchase of an entire copy. This is a question of individual taste, of time, and of depth of purse, which each can answer for himself. Under all circumstances and in every instance, however, it is better to have an imperfect book than one which has been cut down by the binder. The former may be completed, the latter can never be anything better than it is an object incapable of reparation from the very nature of the case, and altogether discredited.

CHAPTER VI.

ROUGH DIAMONDS.

O close and searching is the hunt for old books of a certain kind, that every outof-the-way stall and shop in the metropolis is regularly and systematically visited by the dealers or their agents.

Mr. G. A. Sala states that most of his interesting, curious, or valuable books have been picked up from the costermongers' barrows which line the New Cut on a Sunday morning; and certainly the presence of the crowd which perambulates that and other thoroughfares of the metropolis where the peripatetic dealers are in the habit of congregating, would seem to argue that not only must there must be something of interest to detain them, but also that the chance of acquiring a bargain must be remote in the extreme after a certain hour of the day.

The first hypothesis is more or less justified,

the second only partially so, for the majority of those who are found turning over books on the stalls are either actuated by idle curiosity or in search of some work, generally of an educational kind, which they may happen to want at the time. From such bookworms as these there is little to fear, for in all probability they would not be able to identify an uncommon work, even though they should take it up and examine its pages from cover to cover. They would see nothing of importance, for example, in the "Scholemaster" of Roger Ascham, the tutor of Queen Elizabeth, valuable not so much from the nature of its contents— which, as a matter of fact, are now but seldom read-as on account of its being the first important work on education in the English language.

So far as regards the "jackals," however, the case is different. The men indicated by this predatory title make a business of thoroughly searching all the stalls, either on their own account or as agents for the booksellers, with whom they are occasionally connected. They are, as a rule, good judges not only of old books, but of china, prints, and all articles which may conveniently be classed under the head of bric-à-brac; and everything of this nature which comes within their ken is carefully scrutinised

and bought up, should it disclose the slightest margin of profit.

I once knew a "jackal" who kept an old curiosity shop in one of the slums off Drury Lane. He was ill-conditioned, dirty, and, as a rule, taciturn and surly, but withal one of the best judges of antiquities, including old books, if they can be so classed, in all London. His shop was a mere storehouse for the numerous articles he picked up during the rounds which occupied half his time, the other half being spent in reporting his purchases to likely customers, whom he called on personally with a list of his gleanings. At his death his shop was found to be stocked with the accumulations of years—a miscellaneous assortment of the most curious and out-of-the-way articles, procured for the most part from street stalls and the shops of the marine store dealers.

Into the nets of such men as these is swept nearly every unconsidered trifle which awaits a purchaser, and the amateur requires all his wits and needs to be up very early in the morning, and that in its two-fold sense, if he would hold even a semblance of his own against such professional competition.

It has already been pointed out that a large proportion of the books which may be styled "valuable "—that is to say of some value beyond

a nominal sum-are easily judged from their appearance; but there are many which, although they look mean and worthless, are, nevertheless, of the greatest possible interest to the collector, being scarce, and, for various reasons, the majority of which it would perhaps be impossible to analyse, of considerable importance from a pecuniary point of view.

I am not aware that a list of what may be called "rough diamonds" has as yet been compiled, nor could even a tolerably complete one be attempted within the compass of a small book. The advantage of some such list would, however, be exceedingly great to the collector, for he would then be able to draw his own conclusions with regard to other works of a similar description. Books which are old, perhaps battered, but yet complete, and frequently "uncut," mean in appearance, and seemingly worthless, are just the kind that are likely to be met with for a small sum. Inferior-looking themselves, they are often found in inferior localities-in dirty shops among masses of rags and bones, scrap iron, and other abominations. The reader will not find them in the main thoroughfares, except at a price.

It is no use haunting the shops of the recognised dealers, after the manner of the American gentleman, who, not so long ago, "rushed," as

H