VOL. XVIII. LONDON. DECEMBER, 1886. No. 12 



ON A NEW LIBRARY PEST.* 



BY DR. H. A. HAGEN. ' 



Everybody now-a-days has books, even if he never reads them. It 

 has become an acknowledged fashion — the more books the larger the 

 wisdom, the finer the culture. The climax is reached in France, where 

 you can buy as decoration for fine rooms large libraries, where all the 

 prominent classic authors are represented only by the handsomely lettered 

 backs of the volumes, stored in cabinets witli glass doors. The key of 

 the cabinets is invariably mislaid ; in fact, the cabinets do not open at all. 

 But even where book-cases contain real volumes, it is interesting to observe 

 which authors are never taken out. In German private libraries, the 

 binding of Klopstok's masterpiece, the Messiah, is almost invariably as 

 fresh as possible, and in England and here I have often seen Paradise 

 Lost in a very fine condition. As an instance of the contrary, when I 

 was a young man, an older prominent naturalist singled out a volume 

 from my library in a condition best to be described by book and binding 

 in tatters, and then exclaimed, " That is just how I like to see books." It 

 was on bugs, and my scientific digestive organs Avere at that time in excel- 

 lent condition. Later I was always interested in picking out books in 

 similar condition in libraries, in order to have an idea of the taste and 

 favorite studies of the patrons. I should state that the first prize could 

 be given to a copy of Pepy's Memoirs, in the truest Billingsgate condi- 

 tion, greasy as candles. It was in a library intended for the culture of 

 the young. 



Let that be as it is ; but certainly no owner of books likes to have his 

 property destroyed except by himself I had beheved until recently that 

 the most obnoxious enemies of books were my special friends, the insects. 

 But I see now that I was decidedly wrong. A most interesting publica- 

 tion, " The Enemies of Books," by William Blades, in London, which 



*■ Read before the Boston Thursdav Club, January, 1886. 



