DUMMY LIBRARIES.

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 235, 6 October 1886, Page 3

DUMMY LIBRARIES.

How Would-be Literary Men Impose

Upon Their Friends.

While waiting in tho houso of a friend not long ago, I espied a well-filled book-case, and, with tho greedy oye of a bibliophile, I determined to put iv a few minutes ex amining the volumes. Tho koy was in .fee door, and it was but tho work of a moment to turn it and gain access to the printed treasures bayond. The booke were beautifully bound in different shades of calf, and presented a glittering and tempting sight. I skimmed over tho titles —they comprised the whole range of English fiction from "Tom Jones "to "Daniel Deronda," with not a few of their French cousins. Theo logy, science, art and belles-lettres were all represented by the leading works of thebeEt authors, and there was beaide a choice collection of nii-Ctllaneous literature. Ono ehelf waa devoted to the classics. A bulky volume labelled Cicero attracted my attention. Mechanically I laid hold of it and removed it from the shelf. It was remarkably heavy, and on turning it about I discovered it was no moro or less than a pasteboard box, tho lid of which formed the front cover of tho alleged book. Lifting this up I disclosed to view a flat, transparent flask of extremely fine Henderson county whisky. While} struggling with the cork my friend entered. " Ah," he said, " I soe you aro as great an admirer of Cicero as I am— cheese it, my wife's coming. Thero wasn't a book in tho case. They wero all dummies. I inquired of a promiment binder about such devices, and he said : "My dear boy, I receive orders to bind dummy libraries every year. I make them cost a good deal. but nothing, of course, like what the real thing weuld be. Sometimes they are as you described, and again th.y are solid blocks of wood. Bound in bright colours and behind glass doors (the keys of which are generally thrown away), tbey make an attractive eight. Generally 1 choose the titlc3 from the best literature, but often I use Tom Hood's list of dummy titles —you remember it: ' Boylo of Steam, ' Liie o' Bannister, by Lord Stair,' ' Records of the Brit. Arm, by one of the Germ. Leg.,' 'Cursory Remarks on Swearing,'' Velney, Voltair and Volt, in 3 vols.,' 'Barrow on the Common Weal,' etc. Some of my customers want theso to impose upon their friends, others wish them to conceal things Buch as you describe, and others still use a few of them when they are using a real book so retain in place the rest of the volumes on the shelf. I have just sent away a volume bound unattractively in cloth and labelled Agricultural -Reports for 1885, which in reality is an exceedingly rare and racy French novel, which was translated into English for the benefit of the court of Charles 11. We don't like to do that sort of thing, but can't very well refuse when a good customer requests it."—" Chicago News,"