BOOKS, BOOKSELLERS, AND BIBLIOMAMACS. 



V. " The Book of Iddo tlie Seer." 

 See 2 Chrou. ix. 29 ; and xii. 15. 



VI. " The Book of Nathan the 

 Prophet." See as above. 



VII. " The Prophecies of Ahijah 

 the Shilonite." See as above. 



VIII. " The Acts of Eehoboam, 

 in the Book of Shemaiah." See 2 

 Chron. xii. 15. 



IX. " The Book of Jehu the sou 



41 



of Hanani." See 2 Chron. xx. 

 34. 



X. "The Five Books of Solo- 

 mon, treating on the nature 'of 

 trees, beasts, fowl, sei*pents, and 

 fishes." See 1 Kings iv. 33. 



XI. You may add the 151st 

 Psalm. I have it somewhere in 

 the house, but cannot at present 

 find it. (Mr. Ames to Mr. Da Costa.) 



BOOKS, BOOKSELLERS, AND BIBLIOMANIACS, 



FRANKLIN AS A BOOKSELLER. 



One fine morning when Franklin 

 was busy preparing his newspaper 

 for the press, a lounger stepped into 

 the store, and spent an hour or 

 more looking over the books, &c., 

 and finally taking one in his hand, 

 asked the shop-boy the price. 



" One dollar," was the answer. 



" One dollar," said the lounger, 

 "can't you take less than that?" 



"No, indeed; one dollar is the 

 price." 



Another hour had nearly passed, 

 when the lounger said 



"Is Mr. Franklin at home?" 



" Yes, he is in the printing-office." 



"I want to see him," said the 

 lounger. 



The shop-boy immediately in- 

 formed Mr. Franklin that a gentle- 

 man was in the store, waiting to 

 see him. Franklin was soon behind 

 the counter, when the lounger, with 

 book in hand, addressed him thus : 



" Mr. Franklin, what is the low- 

 est you can take for that book?" 



" One dollar and a quarter," was 

 the ready answer. 



" One dollar and a quarter ! Why, 

 your young man asked me only a 

 dollar." 



"True," said Franklin, "and I 

 could have better afforded to have 

 laken a dollar then, than to have 

 been taken out of the office." 



The lounger seemed surprised, 



and wishing to end the parley of 

 his own making, said 



"Come, Mr. Franklin, tell me- 

 what is the lowest you can take for 

 it?" 



" One dollar and a half." 



" A dollar and a half! Why, you 

 offered it yourself for a dollar and 

 a quarter." 



" Yes," said Franklin, "and I had" 

 better have taken that price then, 

 than a dollar and a half now." 



The lounger paid down the price, 

 and went about his business if he* 

 had any and Franklin returned 

 into the printing-office. 



SALE OF ROXBURGH'S LIBRARY. 



Unlike most other species of pro- 

 perty, books, in some instances, ad- 

 vance in value in proportion to their 

 age. Many cases might be cited to- 

 prove this ; the most remarkable 

 on record is that of the great sale 

 of Lord ^Roxburgh's library, in 1812, 

 which occupied forty-five days at 

 auction, and which cost its founder, 

 fifty years, before, less than 50QO r 

 but which actually realized on the 

 occasion referred to the enormous 

 sum of .23,341. One book, the folio 

 (first) edition of Boccaccio, printed 

 by Valdarfer, of which it is believed 

 this was the only copy extant, 

 brought 2260. Its original price 

 was something like ten shillings. 

 Bibliomania was at this time, cer- 

 tainly, at its extreme height. 



