Page:The library a magazine of bibliography and library literature, Volume 6.djvu/310

 298 The Library. The late Lord Derby had probably some such idea as this in his mind when he said, with his usual shrewdness, that a library in a country house should merely consist of books of reference. But, however that may be, a reverence for books, even by the unlearned, is a feeling worthy of due cultivation, and you as its priesthood should be held in the greatest honour. Nor is the world of to-day indifferent to either of these sentiments. In every country in which I have resided I have found philobiblion societies and book collectors held in the highest esteem. Nay, I myself have sometimes been treated with unwonted honour merely because I am the happy owner of what is alleged to be the smallest book in the world ; while many years ago I knew in Africa a young lady who was reputed a great heiress, and was wooed and triumphantly won in that capacity, though her sole fortune consisted in the possession of a rare, or rather unique, Egyptian manuscript. On the other hand, the absence of bibliographical knowledge has sometimes led to strange results. A non-literary but obviously intelligent gentleman a self-made man, in fact having accidentally come across a copy of Shakespeare, ordered his bookseller to send down in his next parcel of new publications whatever fresh work might appear from the pen of the same author, as, in his opinion, he was a very entertaining fellow ; while a continental capital was thrown into an uproar by one whom we all love and revere inquiring by telegraph whether her daughter, who was recovering from her confinement, had seen " Barchester Towers," for the whole afternoon had been fruitlessly spent by chamberlains and aides-de-camp in a search for Dr. Towers, M.D. Had they known their Trollope properly they would not have mistaken the title of one of his novels for the name of some eminent physician on tour. And now, with these very imperfect observations, I propose to give place to one who will far more properly than myself inaugurate the due commencement of the business of the meeting.