The Book-Hunter at Home

The Book-Hunter at Home, by P.
B. M. Allan

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Title: The Book-Hunter at Home
Author: P. B. M. Allan
Release Date: September 22, 2007 [EBook #22716]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE BOOK-HUNTER AT HOME.
Of this edition 500 copies have been printed, and 50 upon fine paper.

[Illustration: THE BOOK-HUNTER AT HOME (JAN SIX, BY
REMBRANDT)]
THE BOOK-HUNTER AT HOME
BY P. B. M. ALLAN
THE SECOND EDITION, REVISED
[Illustration]
LONDON PHILIP ALLAN & CO. QUALITY COURT, CHANCERY
LANE
First Edition--1920
Second Edition--1922
PRINTED BY WHITEHEAD BROTHERS, WOLVERHAMPTON.

THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY
TO THE HONOURABLE AND VERTUOUS LADY MISTRESS E.
K. A.
MADAM,
It would be churlish indeed were I to send this book into the world
without some acknowledgment of the share which you have had in its
making. Indeed, I feel that you are chiefly responsible for it: without
your encouragement, your active help, your patience with me at all
times (at which I marvel constantly), it would never have arrived at
completion. Truly it is your name, not mine, that should appear upon
the title-page; for although mine may have been the hand that penned
the words, certain it is that yours was the mind that guided my pen
throughout. It is to your sympathy, your judgment, your excellent taste,
that I am indebted for every good thing that I have penned; and where I

have put down aught that is trite or insipid, it is due to my own natural
obstinacy in refusing, or carelessness in neglecting, to defer the matter
to your better judgment. Thus it is only right that whatever praise may
be bestowed upon this book should be accorded to you; my shoulders
alone must bear the censure of the discerning reader.
I am, Madam, your very dutiful, and loving husband, THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE
In placing this second edition before his fellow book-lovers, the author
would like to take the opportunity of thanking the numerous
correspondents who have written to him from all parts of the world. In
truth book-collecting establishes a bond between its devotees that is
effected by no other pursuit.
The first edition was put forth only after much hesitation, and with a
good deal of fear and trembling: that a second edition would ever be
required was unthinkable. But since the book has so obviously been the
means of bringing pleasure to so many, the author feels that it is his
duty to bring this second edition 'up to date,' to make it as perfect as his
poor skill allows. Accordingly the volume has been revised throughout,
a number of additions have been made, both to the text and in the
matter of footnotes, and the prices of books have been amended
according to present conditions. Three illustrations have been added.
QUALITY COURT, July, 1921.

CONTENTS
CHAP PAGE I. ADVENTURES AMONG BOOKS 1 II. THE
LIBRARY 31 III. BOOKS WHICH FORM THE LIBRARY 58 IV.
CHIVALRY AND ROMANCE 84 V. THE CARE OF BOOKS 106 VI.
THE CARE OF BOOKS (Continued) 126 VII. BOOKS OF THE
COLLECTOR 160 VIII. A PLEA FOR SPECIALISM 194 IX. A
PLEA FOR SPECIALISM (Continued) 230 INDEX 267

ILLUSTRATIONS
THE BOOK-HUNTER AT HOME frontispiece THE PERON page 96
THE HALL OF THE KNIGHTS " 104 THE HOME-MADE
LIBRARY " 128
[Illustration]
CHAPTER I
ADVENTURES AMONG BOOKS
'Thou shalt make castels thanne in Spayne.'
CHAUCER.
IT is a sad truth that bargains are met with more frequently in our youth
than in our age. The sophist may argue that age begets philosophy, and
that philosophy contemns all worldly things; yet certain it is that the
book-hunter, one of the most philosophical of beings, remains on the
look-out for bargains to the very end of his career. Nevertheless, it is a
fact that in youth alone do we make those great bargains which lay the
foundations of our careers as book-hunters.
It is this sad truth which fosters in most of us the belief that we live in a
decadent age, and that the days of our youth were infinitely more
seemly than those which we now endure. But it is we who have
changed: the bargains are still there, and may still be had at the cost of
youthful energy and enthusiasm.
'Ah, but you can't get the bargains nowadays