THE GROLIER CLUB. Last month the Grolier Club held an exhibition of modern bindings, of the English, French, and American schools, at their rooms in Madison Avenue, New York. The collection included 135 examples all-with a single exception-the property of members of the Club. Its value may be estimated from the fact that the books were insured for $46,000. Among the more notable specimens was 'The Book of Four Colours,' a small 12mo, printed in four colours, and bound to match, by Marius-Michel. The colors of the inks-and of the moroccos used in the the binding are mauve, yellow, blue, and red. A production of Thibaron-Joly's was a "Siamese Twins" binding by means of which two tiny books-Walton's "Angler" and "Lives"-are so connected as to need but three covers between them. Petit's craft was shown by a copy of the first illustrated edition of Hugo's "Norte Dame," with a crimson morocco "doublé," with Gothic tooling, the tracery representing the design of the portal of Notre Dame, with the author's monogram in the centre. Edwards, of Halifax, furnished a volume of Byron's works, with a painted edge bearing a view of Eton College Chapel, which is only visible when the tome is partly opened. A history of Nell Gwynn, bound by Matthews. cost the compiler 11 years' labor and many thousand dollars for the plates and autographs set into it; the small 12mo of the original edition is extended to folio size; the binding is red levant, with "doublé " of blue, tooled with dentelle border; monograms of 'N. G." and the royal crown are alternately worked, in the panels, and the value of the binding is estimated at $1,500. A magnificently bound "Paul et Virginie," which took the prize at the Vienna Exhibition, again represented Marius-Michel. And finally, mention may be made of a copy of "Armsmear," bound by Matthews, which called forth the admiration of Petit at the Paris Exposition. Lortie's "Romuant de la Rose," in crimson levant, with richly studded geometrical border and centre, and roses illuminated in circles, David's "Danse des Morts" in black morocco, tooled with death heads and tears in silver, and Matthews's "Guttenberg" Bible, in dark brown levant, with a pure Grolier design inlaid with dark blue. CARLYLE'S WRITING DESK.. In reply to a sneering remark in the London Standard at Carlyle's bequest to him of his writing table, Sir James Fitzjames Stephen wrote to that journal: "Mr. Carlyle asked me to be his executor, and some little time after I had accepted that duty, asked me in his drawing-room, tɔ choose one of the articles of furniture or pictures contained in it to keep as a memorial of him. I chose the table-or rather desk -in question, partly because it was of hardly any intrinsic value (it was valued for probate at two pounds), and partly because it is of rather a peculiar make, and had for many years been associated with · 6 him in my mind. He told me he was glad I had chosen it; that it had belonged to his father-in-law; that it wasemarkably solid and well made; and that he had written all his books on it except "Schiller." Upon this the St. James Gazette asked "Who can wonder that the table is one of Sir James Stephen's 'most cherished possessions,' and that he constantly uses it? Who would not like to be able to write at the desk on which the 'copy' of 'Sartor Resartus,' and the French Revolution' lay, fresh from the author's hand? It was at this precious little table that Carlyle wrote all his works, except the 'Life of Schiller.' Somehow it would seem as if he could not get the true Carlylese afflatus when not by this piece of furniture, for the Schiller' is the only one of his books which might have been written by somebody else. There was assuredly no self-conscious vanity in desiring to leave the table to the friend whom he could safely trust to write upon it, 'nothing base or unworthy."" Whereupon a correspondent replied "You ask, Who would not like to possess the table, now the property of Mr. Justice Stephen, on which Carlyle wrote Sartor Resartus'? The name of the gentleman is E. Purcell. It was E. Purcell's "pride, his shame, his fate rather"-this is what E. Purcell says in the Academy — "to detect the impostor from the first." It was in his college-days that he read 'Sartor Resartus,' and he "saw as clearly then as to-day that of real thought, of real moral teaching, there was not one poor pen'orth therein-nothing but ditch-water got up to boiling-point by infinite toil of vulgar lungs and brazen bellows." Please to know that Sartor Resartus' has given E.Purcell "infinite annoyance." Don't go away thinking that E. Purcell read the 'Reminiscences' of the 'Pinchbeck Moloch.' He "never opened them." And why? "There was no need." E. Purcell cannot ever read the histories of the "windbag, quack, sham, charlatan" for five minutes, "without a feeling of repulsion and anger." I cut this out of the Academy last week, and put it in a neat but inexpensive frame. It seems to me worth preserving." Mr. David Ker complains that no provision has been made in the International Exhibition recently opened at Liverpool by the Queen for a library and suggests as a basis for the undertaking the following:-"Extracts from American Beef," by John Bull, with several rare cuts. "Fancy Brec; or the Career of a Loafer," a cereal story by Sir Samuel Baker, with preface by the author of " Yeast," "Thoughts on the Corn Laws," by John Bunyan, "The Quality of the Mersey is not Strained: a survey of the Liverpool Water Works, by a Sanitary Commissioner,” "The Brass of Some People," by the author of "The Wealth of Nations," "Thanksgiving Turkey," uniform with "Turkey Thanksgiving," with numerous plates, "Czar-tor Re-Czar-tus; or, Despotisma Exploded," "a nihilist report. (Dynamite Edition,) “Hammer and Tongs: or, the Battles of Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovel," by Mr, Irons. "Magazines of the Month," a squib, by the author of "The Widow's Dynamite," "Race of Ham," by Lord Bacyn, with illustrations by Pygmallon Fryer. Thomas Beaver has left $100,000 for the purpose of founding a public library and gymnasium at Danville, Penna. These laughable calls upon a library for books are recorded in The Library Journal: "Santa Claus bounded." (A bound volume of St. Nicholas.) "Snow bier." (Zenobia.) "Pneumonia series." "Phantasmagoria by Hans Christian Andersen." (Improvisatore.) "Mr. Isaac's Tale of Modern India." "Erskines Letters on representative men." "Gosher's Winter in Russia." Dr. E. Reyer contributes to the Centralblatt für Bibliothekswesen an interesting paper on American libraries. Mr. William Winter has founded in the Staten Island Academy and Latin School at Stapleton a library in memory of his son, who was a student there for some time prior to his sudden and painful death in January last. It will be called "The Arthur Winter Memorial Library," and already contains a large collection of books. The trustees of the British Museum are about to publish a classified catalogue of all the new European and American works, with the exception of fiction, which have been received into the Museum Library since the 1st of January 1880. This catalogue will be the largest classified catalogue of general literature in existence. From the eighth annual report of the Librarians of the Borough of Wigan, Eng. we learn that the attendance, on Sundays, at the News Rooms alone during the past year was 10,573. The French National Library claims to have the largest collection in the world of Greek MSS. The Vatican has 3,560; the British Museum 716; the Escurial 586; and the Bibliothèque Nationale 4,600. The Royal Library at Dresden has recently acquired for the paltry sum of $1,250, the collection of maps of Dr. J. C. Adelung, who died in 1808. There are 20,000 sheets, including many maps torn out of books, and they fill 200 large drawers. In 1815 the heirs of Dr. Adelung asked $11,250 for this collection. The Mitchell Library, Glasgow, Scotland, now possesses 62,382 volumes, 6,944 additions having been made during the past year, 4,492 by purchase, and 2,452 by gift. 'La Halle aux Cuirs' says that the Library of Marlborough House, near Methly, in Yorkshire, Eng., formerly contained two books bound in leather made from the skin of the witch Mary Ratman, who was executed for murder at the beginning of this century. The same journal adds that in Paris copies of books bound in human skin are occasionally to be found. The leather is said to be very solid, thick, and well grained. The singular management of the free public library of San Francisco has again been forcibly exemplified. The directors have determined to open the library only from 1 to 9 o'clock p. m. from May 15 to July 15, in order to give each employee a fortnight's vacation. Four years ago the average daily attendance was 2,000 and although the city has grown at least 30 per cent in three years the daily attendance is now only 1,200. The Russian Imperial Library has published a short account of the collection of MSS. of Bishop Porphyrius. This collection was purchased from the bishop's private library for 15,000 roubles. It comprises Slavonic, Russian, Greek, Ethiopian, Syrian, Arabic and other MSS. and in addition some specimens of ancient printing collected by the Bishop during his residence of eighteen years in the East. The library of the Hon. Abram S. Hewitt of Lexington Avenue, New York was destroyed by fire on the 6th ult. The special feature of the loss is that all the books which were gathered by the late Peter Cooper were burned. The loss is estimated at only $4,000. The fire is supposed to have been caused either by rats gnawing matches or by the inevitable plumber's mischief working fire-pot. A recent report of the Bibliothèque Nationale estimates the average space occupied by volumes. It posesses 1.923,562 volumes on 5,232 mètres of shelving for folios, 5,298 for quartos. 23,494 for octavos, -in all 34,624; in short each volume requires 1.76 linear centimètres. The folios fill 15.3 per cent, of the shelving, and the quartos 15.5. The total number of volumes mentioned above does not include the duplicates. Moreover pieces bound together are counted as one volume. Therefore M. Delisle considered that the total number of "pieces" that is of volumes and pamphlets independent of binding, is at least 2,200,000. Mr. Mudie furnishes some interesting particulars about his celebrated circulating library to a writer in the Leisure Hour. He orders 600 copies in advance of new works by Miss Braddon, Ouida, and several other popular novelists. In other cases only a few copies are ordered; the supply being regulated according to the demand. Of "Enoch Arden' he ordered 1,500 copies, and of the "Idylls of the King" 1,000. There is little demand for poetry nowadays, except, it seems, Mr. William Morris's. The interest in biographies is short lived. Gordon is "forgotten" already; Froude's "Carlyle" is hardly ever 'wanted;" Cross's "George Eliot" is "beginning to pall." The Magazines most read are the Nineteenth Century, the Fortnightly, and the American illustrated magazines; 250 copies of each of these are taken. 3,000 copies of "Livingstone's Travels were ordered, 2,000 copies of Essays and Reviews, 3,000 copies of each of George Eliot's novels, and 2,000 copies of the Queen's last book. As many as 1,000 copies of a "shilling dreadful" have been taken. BIBLIOPHILIANA. Selections from Walt Whitman's poems are to be published in London by Chatto & Windus in a volume uniform with their edition of Bret Harte's poems. W. M. Rossetti is writing the Introduction. It was quite to be expected that Captain Burton's translation of the Arabian Nights' would speedily rise in value. The publication price was 52 dollars but already 90 dollars and upwards have been paid for copies. An expert in such matters tells the London Publishers' Circular that in his opinion "the book will if completed-be worth in a few years 240 dollars." So mote it be. In the Capitol, Montgomery, Ala., is religiously preserved a large Bible, printed by the American Bible Society in 1851, and bearing upon a fly-leaf this sentence: "The oath of office, as first President of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America was administered to Jefferson Davis upon this Bible by Howell Cobb, President of the Provisional Congress, at the front portico of the Capitol in Montgomery on the 18th day of February, A. D. 1861." The book, it may be added, is still used in swearing in Governors of the State. The City of Liverpool is remarkable for the literary nomenclature of her streets. They have been named not only after authors but after various characters in their books. There is Skakespeare-st., and there are Falstaff-st. and Viola-st.; Rosalind-st. and Olivia-st.; Hotspur-st. and Macbeth-st. Then there are Wordsworth-st. and Longfellow-st.; Tennysonst., Enid-st. and Elaine-st., and a street named after the Lady of Shallott. Dickens-st. heads a list of such familiar names as Pickwick-st., Winkle-st., Tupman-st., Dombey-st., Dorrit-st., Nickleby-st., Copperfield -st., Micawber-st., Pecksniff-st., and last, though not least, a street named after Sam Weller. A movement having been started in England to commemorate the centenary of Lord Byron, which will occur in 1888, the poet's grandson, Baron Wentworth, writes that, in his opinion, such a demonstration is not to be approved. Nevertheless, he says: "I feel that if the greatest poets and critics of our time were unanimous in wishing to accord recognition of some kind to the name of Byron, his family must respectfully acquiesce in any legitimate honors that were offered with such sanction. But I do not know how far such unanimity exists or is likely to exist, and it is manifestly unfair that Byron should receive any of the ridicule which might attach to those who made inadmissible claims concerning him. I therefore think it is my duty, as his descendant and in his name, to point out that no mere clique of unknown men without weight or authority would have the smallest right to possess themselves of Byron's memory as if it were their inheritance; and if real men of letters are divided in opinion as to his true place in English literature his representatives would ask that his grave may be left in peace." In the volume of "Dickensiana " recently published in London there is a reference to an amusing blunder of a German critic who gravely stated that "The absurdities of English pronunciation are well exhibited in the case of the word' Boz,' which is pronoun. ced 'Dickens.'" In this volume are reprinted the scattered passages from Notes and Queries which show that Sam Weller's story of the muffins is not Wellerian at all, the genuine one being contained in Boswell's "Johnson"; that Sam's "Fleet" story of the prisoner wno, on being threatened to be locked outside, trembled violently and never ventured out of the prison gates afterwards, was published in The Mirror in 1824, and is,in point of fact, "a well known Joe Miller"; and that Fagin is but the prototype of Wotton. To crown oll, the ferreting contributors to Notes and Queries have discovered that Mr. Pickwick's celebrated trouvaille-the stone inscribed with "Bil Stumps, his mark"-was so fully and accurately described in The Annual Register for 1771 that no room for speculation on the score of "coincidence," is left. 46 In a bookseller's recent catalogue we find it stated as an inducement to purchase, Samuel Adams's "Oration at the State House in Philadelphia, on Thursday 1st of August, 1.76," that the much quoted, sneering allusion to the British as a Nation of Shopkeepers," commonly and erroneously attributed to Napoleon, appears therein for the first time. No doubt Adams quoted the phrase, but its author was Adam Smith. In the Wealth of Nations,' 1775, Vol. ii., Book iv, Ch. vii, Part 3, occurs the following passage "To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers, may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers." The quotation from Adams's Oration runs: "Men who content themselves with the semblauce of truth and a display of words, talk much of our Obligations to Great Britain for Protection: Had she a single Eye to our Advantage? A NATION OF SHOP KEEPERS are very seldom so disinterested." It is curious to reflect what a plausible essay De Quincey might have written to prove that Greek was Greek to Pope. We do not mean by this that his acquaintance with the alphabet was as limited as that of the schoolboy who knew most of the letters by sight but not by name. We do mean, however, that Pope was considerably less than a poor Greek scholar. It is much to be suspected that he translated the Iliad by the aid of the Latin Version and the translations of Hobbes and Chapman, troubling himself mighty little with the original. There are expressions enough in Pope's letters to convict him of being no scholar. Yet he did not shrink on that account from placing the greatest scholar of his age in the "Dunciad." When Bentley heard of this insult he quietly remarked: "Ah, I spoke slightly of his translation of the Iliad, and the portentous cub never forgives." De mortuis nil nisi bonum is a just and charitable maxim, to be studiously observed for a varying term of years in different cases. But when that term has passed, justice and even charity demand that we should alter the maxim into De mortuis nil nisi verum. Mr. Ruskin has given vent to some characteristic remarks on the education of children as viewed by himself and Carlyle. I know of nothing that has been taught the youth of our time," he says, “except that their fathers were apes, and their mothers winkjes; that the world began in accident, and will end in darkness; that honor is a folly, ambition a virtue charity a vice, poverty a crime, and rascality the means of all wealth, and the sum of all wisdom. Both Mr. Carlyle and I," he adds," knew perfectly well all along what would be the outcome of that education." The Boston Browning Clubs are amusingly described by Mr. Arlo Bates in The Providence Journal. The central and prime principle of all these clubs," he says, seems to be that a poem by Robert Browning is a sort of prize rebus, of which the solution is to be reached rather by wild and hap-hazard guessing than by any process of reasoning. 'What does it mean?' is always the first question, although to an ordinary and common place intellect it may appear perfectly obvious that it means what it says. There are delightfully original ideas evolved, now and then, in these discussions. One evening when A Toccata of Gallupi's' was being read, and the passage was reached: Those commiserating sevenths- Life might last! We can but try!' 'Were you happy?'-'Yes'-'And are you still as happy?-Yes-and you?” -Then more kisses.'-'Did I stop them, when & million seemed so few?' Hark-the dominant's persistence, till it must be answered to! When a lovely young woman, her dark eyes shining with the ardor of her inpiration, suddenly bent forward with clasped hands crying: 'Oh, why can't we get the toccata and have it played; and then when the the sevenths and the dominant came in we should know just where we were and exactly what notes met those words.' I do not know if the ingenious scheme has ever been carried out; but the proposal illustrates excellently the sort of literal interpretation which these students of Browning require." Mr. Montnomerie Rankine suggests in Notes and Queries that Dickens had a reminiscence of Richardson in his mind when he named Mrs. Gamp's immortal friend Mrs. Harris. In 'Pamela' Miss Darnford relates to her mother that, the heroine being unwilling to have a midwife in the house, was hoodwinked thus: "This day, Mrs. Harris, a distant relation of mine tho' not of yours, sir and madam, is arrived from Essex, to make me a visit; and Mr. B. has been so good as to prevail upon her, in compliment to me, to take up her abode here, while she stays in town, which she says will be about a week." It seems possible that this may have suggested the name. Reviewing Mr. John Morley's new edition of Boswell, published by Routledge & Sons, The Athenæum remarks:-"In the later years of his life Johnson undoubtedly occupied a position of eminence. The numerous allusions to him in the periodicals and literature of the time show the interest which he inspired; but this interest was very different from that with which his memory is now regarded. Few of his contemporaries were aware of the strange tenderness which his rugged demeanour concealed. His reputation was great, but it excited curiosity rather than admiration. There is one cause, often overlooked, to which Johnson probably owes something of his present fame, quite apart from his being the protagonist in Boswell's volumes. He is a prominent link between two of the most interesting periods of our history. Born at the commencement of the last century, he had been taken as a child to the curious service At the Healing.' He himself was one of the infirm persons presented to the Queen on their knees while the Queen lays her hands upon them and puts the gold round their necks.' Of this quaint ceremony he retained a dim recollection to the end of his life. Pope had read and admired Johnson's poetry; Johnson had some indirect communication with Swift; and yet it was not very uncommon (we speak from personal experience) in the early part of the present reign to meet with those who had seen and conversed with the author of 'Rasselas.' This distinction is, of course, accidental, but it has contributed to Johnson's celebrity." BOOK PUFFING EXTRAORDINARY.-It is amusing to read the means, by way of puffing, to increase the sale of some of the books sold by subscription. This is particularly the case with General Grant's Memoirs. In an article in the New York Tribune of the 11th instant, it is stated that the office of C. L. Webster, No. 42 East Fourteenth Street, "is crowded with anxious book agents, who are waiting more or less impatiently for the delivery of the second volume of Gen. Grant's Memoirs." That "Mr. Webster had gone to Canada to escape the rush and worry of meeting the extraordinary demands which kept pouring in by mail, telegraph and telephone for the work." "We add," continued Mr. Hall, who was in charge, "that we printed of the first volume, 250,000 copies and had several subsequent editions of 25,000. About 300,000 copies of the second volum are now ready for distribution, and we shall get out extra editions if the demand increases. We expect to sell 500,000 of each volume." This statement that there is this enormous number of copies on hand, while such "crowds of anxious book agents are so impatiently waiting their delivery," does not indicate good business talent. Why not distribute the books at once instead of accumulating 300,000 copies? Now if we estimate that it will take one hundred copies to fill a goodly sized box, it will require three thousand boxes to hold the 300,000 copies. The office at 42 East Fourteenth st. must be spacious to hold such numbers. A little further on, however, the agent qualifies his statement by saying that they "have been sending out copies as fast as they have been printed."—" We have," continued Mr. Hall, 10,000 agents altogether in the United States, Canada and Mexico have proved the most profitable, and perhaps the most widely circulated book ever published. We have had to get hides from all parts of the world to bind it." This is a remarkable statement about leather, when we assert that most of the copies, as is the case with all books, are bound in cloth and require no leather. It is certainly an extraordinary assertion, although it is in keeping with the rest of the article, that the enterprising publishers must "get hides from all the world to bind it." It is safe to say that the Harpers, the Appletons, or any of the large publishers of school books could at any time supply the publishers of Gen. Grant's Memoirs with all the leather they want. The poor agent whose nerves are so shattered that he has run away to Canada to escape the calls for books "through the mails, telegraphs and telephones" is to be pitied. We advise him to try a bottle of Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup, which will quiet his nerves, and then return to his work in distributing the 300,000 on hand. In answer to the question of the reporter how much has Mrs. Grant been paid so far? the reply was that "a check had been given her for $200,000 on account long ago, and that if the second volume sells as well as it promises now, the Grant estate will get $500,000 out of it." Now, in my opinion, these exaggerated statements are all gammon. The work is a most interesting one, a large number of copies will be sold, and there is no necessity for all this puffing. J. R. B. and English Amounts under one dollar can be sent in 1 and 2 cent postage stamps. Foreign money postage stamps will be accepted for Advertisements and Subscriptions. Foreign Postal Orders payable to J. J. Bender, Pittsburg, Pa., U. S. A. ADDRESS all literary communications and Books for Review, to Halkett Lord, Editor, Jersey City, N. J. That we may not be charged with giving too short notice of advance in price of subscription, and for the benefit of those who have forgotten to remit in time, we hereby agree to accept $1.00 per year for renewal of subscription from our subscribers who will remit, upon the receipt of this June Number. A cover will be a new feature of THE BOOKMART, Furnishing almost 40 pages of choice literature pertaining to books and business in their purchase and sale, We trust that our readers and the trade will appreciate the endeavor. What is said of the publication East and West: Bridgeport, Conn., May 17th, '86. Bookmart Publishing Co., The Bookmart Publishing Co. Gents. Am just home from a long trip and only had time now to read up April No. of BOOKMART. I note your advance in price and I hasten to take advantage of it by sending my dolJar although my subscription is not quite out yet. As I look over the volumes (I have them all) I can but feel that this has been one of the most satisfactory subscriptions I ever made. Yours Resp'y, T. H. Smith, Western Department, U. S. Special Aegnt, North British & Mercantile Insurance Co. To the editor of the BOOKMART: paragraph or letter which pointed to the high prices charged in America for English books. A literary friend enables me to corroborate this. He sends me from the United States an advertisement of a book which in England can be bought by any private person for 10s. 6d. I take the liberty of enclosing it in this letter as perhaps worthy of publication in your book-lovers journal which you modestly call the BOOKMART. I don't know any publication which so happily unites the practical, as seen in the setting one of the books wanted department, with bibliographical information and the more fanciful notabilia which please the connoisseur in litiature. Your obedient servant, RAVENSBOURNE. Hints on Catalogue Titles, and on Index Entries. With a Rough Vocabulary Terms and Abbre viations from a Foreign Catalogue, and some Passages from Journeying among Books. By Charles F. Blackburn. 8vo, cloth, $5.00. It is the opinion of a writer for The London Telegraph that the two systems-the sale of flimsy novelettes for a few pence and the library circulation by the hundred of new novels-doubly contribute to keep down the English standard of fiction. He adds: "The majority of the subscribers to the libraries are novel-readers, and nothing else. They are often incapable of making their own selections, and as a rule leave the matter to the librarian. He, therefore, must take in a supply to suit this indiscriminate demand. His subscribers want stories of some kind or another, and so there is a steady manufacture of worthless tales which pass in and out of what those readers call their brains. Three or four hundred novels were printed last year. Of these not more than twenty will be read this year by |