Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/39



intelligent man, whether an enthusiastic book-lover or not, recognizes that books should form part of the fittings of every room in a house. Whether the apartment be a library, study, parlour, nursery, drawing-room, kitchen, bedroom, dining-room, boudoir, hall, or den, books of a suitable kind should form part of its equipment. There is much to be said in favour of gathering the book-wealth of a household together in one place, but there are practical inconveniences connected with this course which make it undesirable. If all the books are in the 'Library' one has to endure the nuisance of demands for particular works, coming from the kitchen, drawing-room, or bedroom, and the difficulty of securing their prompt and accurate return. It also imposes upon the butler, the maid-of-all-work, or whoever admits and attends upon callers, the awful responsibility of procuring from the library a pass-time book to amuse the waiting visitor in the drawing-room. This might easily lead to frightful complications, as, for example, an author receiving a presentation copy of his own work 19