Page:Library Administration, 1898.djvu/62

 National library to collect and preserve the choicest products of foreign literature, and here a double difficulty is encountered. In the first place, where lists of new books are regularly issued they are nowhere complete, and though the proportion of books among the unrecorded ones that are desirable to purchase is necessarily small, nevertheless important matter is frequently missed. For instance, it is a familiar fact that many modern literary movements in France have at first found their only expression in booklets and journals published by obscure coteries of innovators, some of whom afterwards rose to fame. These are cheap enough as a rule, but if systematically purchased will cumber much shelving before they bring in an adequate return. On the other hand, they are difficult to procure, and always costly, as soon as they have attracted attention. The early books of Paul Verlaine offer a striking example of this difficulty.

The literary productions of countries where no book-lists appear are extremely difficult to hear of, since they are always few in number, and obscurely issued. The publications of South and Central America, and of the Dutch and Portuguese colonies, present these difficulties in collection.

It will be admitted, therefore, that the first desideratum of the librarian — a complete list of the world's literary produce — is an unattainable ideal. The difficulties in the way are not, however, all insuperable. The reviews, especially those that are written for specialists, make known a large number of books not elsewhere mentioned, and the librarian