Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/46

 tion with a cabinet-maker. When a young couple start housekeeping, they generally buy a considerable number of articles of furniture which are seldom used. Their purpose is mainly decorative, and there would be considerable wisdom in substituting for these comparatively useless cabinets, ottomans, hall-stands, lamps, screens, and whatnots, a suitable bookcase fitted with some of the books already recommended. A reference library, however small, is infinitely more valuable than numerous pieces of useless furniture, which are usually purchased more out of regard for convention than necessity or utility. Here, then, is a suggestion for some enterprising firm, to prepare and sell in combination the nucleus of a Household Reference Library, stored in suitable cabinets according to size.

Before leaving the subject of the Household Library it will be necessary to consider what provision should be made for the general book collecttioncollection [sic] in houses of moderate size. Houses possessing large libraries as heirlooms are naturally ruled out in such a survey, as are also those formed by certain millionaires at so much the foot run for books and binding. In addition to certain necessary reference and juvenile books, such as those already mentioned, every house should possess a general collection of literature of a varied character and on different subjects, including a large selection of good fiction. In the formation of such a collection, the taste and preferences of the collector must be the sole guides. It is a thankless task mak-