Used book

Judged by the books that surround me, it is dear at a penny.

Paradise Lost the word-play is not unworthy of mr zangwill but when mr walters writes i have frequently trodden snow-covered ground with my nose a few inches from an open book i wish him for the time being good afternoon and seek other company preferably that of some lover of the emerson who wrote see thou bring not to field or stone the fancies found in books leave author's eyes and fetch your own to brave the landscape's looks or better still canst thou copy in verse one chime of the wood-bell's peal and cry write in a book the morning's prime or match with words that tender sky i know a pretty little edition of the religio medici writes mr le gallien in his retrospective reviews which has been quite spoiled for me by the astounding remark of its editor upon brown's beautiful description of his life as a miracle of thirty years yet its actual incidents justify no such description mr walters will not thus spoil for his readers the work of the writers he loves he strikes no jarring note on the contrary he is capable when writing of books book-making and book buying of an enthusiasm which i envy as much as i admire i have confessed he says in his chapter on second-hand books that i am of the company of book-lovers who delight in dipping into the lucky tubs to be found outside booksellers windows i know of no pleasanter way of spending a spare half-hour give me a few loose coppers place my feet upon a likely road and i am content i am now let me say of the happy company of book fishermen and this, mark you, is fishing in real earnest, this effort to hook good food for the mind, to place in one's basket a book that delighteth and giveth perennial satisfaction.

The comparison of a book-seeker to an angler is as happy as it is original, and the phrase, though phrase-making must not be confused, as Leslie Stephen points out, with thought-finding, a book fisherman, has something of Charles Lamb's own self-pleasing quaintness.

Lamb would indeed appear to be Mr. Walters' favourite author.

natural however if the lover of books should at times overlook the greatest of figures in a company so vast he will do well if he but keeps a warm corner or two in his heart for old friends and an open place for new ones and if meanwhile he can manage to keep his mind fresh and active ready to receive new ideas and eager for fresh knowledge he may surely rest content happily for the makers of books we have not all the same taste some are for this class of book others for that some seek knowledge others seek entertainment but i am running away from the vein in which this little book was started i am forgetting to set forth my own little likes and dislikes there is a reason however and it is this I have nothing more exciting to confess at this point than the plain fact that I am of the company of bookmen who read simply for the love of it.

CHAPTER VII.

SECOND-HAND BOOKS.

THE LOVE OF BOOKS IS A LOVE WHICH REQUIRES NEITHER JUSTIFICATION, APOLOGY, NOR DEFENSE.