Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/11



all the difficult, hazardous and thankless tasks which well-meaning persons can choose for the improvement of their fellows, perhaps none is so unproductive, in some quarters, as book-selection and the recommendation of reading matter. In ninety cases out of a hundred, persons who read books recommended by others will contemn the judgment and taste of the recommender, and even hint at a certain lack of knowledge and critical perception. As a rule, educated and well-read people should never be assisted in any way in their reading or choice of books, because they are almost sure to resent even well-meant efforts, as an officious intrusion into the sanctity of their own superior knowledge. And, no doubt, it is somewhat of an insult to a thorough-going specialist to have some less-learned bibliographer thrusting forth with his selection of books and annotations, as a kind of last word on the subject. Furthermore, the book-browser, or desultory reader, is another who scorns aids to systematic study, or the scientific formation of libraries, and the field is thus narrowed 1