Book Prices Current Vol 36

Author : John Herbert Slater
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9780331871265
Total Pages : 566 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (712 download)

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Download or read book Book-Prices Current, Vol. 8 written by John Herbert Slater and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2017-11-24 with total page 566 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Book-Prices Current, Vol. 8: A Record of the Prices at Which Books Have Been Sold at Auction, From December, 1893, to November, 1894 That some material change is, even now, coming over the book market is evident. Fashionable books in the finest condition, or which for one reason or another are exceptionally desirable, hold their ground, as already stated; but most of the others in the same category appear to be slowly, but surely, declining in value. Collectors are possibly beginning to formulate a new rule, credit able to their taste no less than to their discretion, that the real value of a book does not only consist in the price paid for it, for that may dwindle away in after-years, but also in its power to instruct and improve, always remembering, however, that the question of scarcity can never be entirely eliminated, for if it could, it were better at once to have a library of reprints at a small cost than a few books at a high price. This suggestion would, from the collector's point of view, be rank heresy - an offence which it is desirable to avoid the commission of. It is, however, equal or worse heresy against the best traditions of literature to esteem a book, not on account of its merits, but merely because it sells for a large amount of money. This, very probably, represents the feeling which is gradually coming over the great mass of book-collectors, for it is noticeable that works of utility and real merit are being credited primarily, and not secondarily, with those qualities, and realising higher prices than they did a year or two ago. The time may even come when the ancient classic authors, now sadly neglected, may once more occupy their former enviable position, to the still greater detriment of a mass of light literature, got up in limited editions for the mere purpose of stimulating the desires of those who are not rich enough to compete for recognised and very expensive rarities. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.