Page:Livingston, Auction Prices of Books, 1905, Volume 1.djvu/14

X PREFACE The spelling of our transcript of titles is haphazard, as was that of the original catalogues. Sometimes the old spelling has been copied exactly, sometimes it has been modernized. The aim has been only to give so much of the title as would enable the user to identify the book under discussion. The work is a price list, not a bibliography.

No explanation of abbreviations is necessary, but it will not be amiss to tell just what is included in the brief description of each lot, the sale of which is recorded.

First is the binding. In some cases, notably in the earlier sales, this was not given in our source. In the case of modern books where the binding is not specified, it was probably, in most cases, cloth. In the case of many thin pamphlets of older date the probability is that the books in question were unbound.

Second is the mention of any special feature regarding the copy described, or imperfections if any were known.

Third is the name of the sale, where the name of the owner of the book sold is given, or the name of the auctioneer under whose auspices the sale was held. These auctioneers are well known, Sotheby, Puttick, Christie, and Hodgson in England and Leavitt, Bangs, Libbie, Anderson, and Henkels in America.

Fourth is the date of sale. Where the name of the sale is given, only the month and year are given. Where the auctioneer's name only is given, the day of the month is generally added, this date being the first day of the sale.

Fifth is the number in the original sale catalogue, enclosed in parenthesis. This makes it easy to refer to the original extended description in the sale catalogue.

Sixth is the price. This is the price for the lot and is given as sold, English records in pounds, shillings and pence, American records in dollars and cents.

Presentation copies where so described (in almost every case) contained autograph inscriptions by the author, though this is not generally stated. Where there was evidence that the inscription was in the hand of the recipient, or other than the author, it is so stated. The name of the person to whom the book was given, when a person of importance, is added.

The note as to the size is not to be relied upon. There is no fixed nomenclature in use by cataloguers, and as in most English sale catalogues, 8vo is made to include all 12mos, 16mos, or smaller, it has been necessary to do the same here. In the words of