The Amenities of Book-Collecting and Kindred Affections

book itself, its scarcity, together with the urgency of the demand for

it (a book may be unique and yet practically valueless, because of the fact that no one much cares to have it); and second, the plentifulness of money, or the ease with which its owner may have acquired his fortune. No one will suppose that, at the famous auction in London something over a hundred years ago, when...