INVESTING IN BOOKS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 199, 16 May 1908, Page 12

INVESTING IN BOOKS.

If ,wellrto-do Englishmen could persuade themselves that a great book io as valuable a possession, whether ,to keep or to give away, as a Dresden' cup or a seventeenth contury tankard, the, financial side of these affairs would be more satisfactory, r

So writes .critic ,in tho London ■" Spectator," .in, discussing a large venture in pub- , lishing; and 'what lie says of wpll-to-do, Englishmen, is-equally .true of Americans. The deniand •for,.goodbooks of any. kind, and especially, for these which cost more than, popular fiction, is. lamentably smajl. A man who will iij vest 10,000 dols. in an automobile 1 , and .spend 3Q00., dols. a. year in running it, would '.be 'horrified by >th"e extravagance of a.n annual oiftlay of 500 .dols., for lmoks. This' is onp reason why tlio' prico qf such ap important work- asj. say,-' .Cromer's " Modern 'Egypt" is 6 dols.--That book will sell well, but riot■'welFenough to pe put on the market at a'narrow margin'above tho cost of manufactfiie. To road' and digest two solid volumes requires, in these days of. " storiettes " and other literature in tablets, a leisure and resolution that aro'rarely found together. ; On.e hundred Qfty' years ago— nay', ono the 'confirmed novel reader would sally, fort!) into " Clarissa. Har.lowe,'' I .' " Tom 'Jones,'!, and The Mysteries of Udolpho," in from four to eight yolunies; but- now' tliero is too much else to d<j. For such a vast • undertaking as. two vfllnmes tlie average professional or business man" is top busy; and the man who is in a position to enjoy a little Icjsjire devotes hiiiisolf to comic bbora, tfl dining out, to lounging at his p(ub;' to society, to h(s horses—to anything iir short, which, makes no demaiid. upon his powers of attention. . Both;for. tho,worker, then, 'ared tho .idler one of. the trr'pat attractions . of tho• Dresden cup and, tho seven-tecnth-cehtury .Jankard 'is .that .one is not called upon, to Ibplriat; thc)n for morp than five or ten'^minutes'at 51 ajid then; 'ex-: haustpd by. sjich cp.ntinuo'us. hi'ental .exertion, one can !turn ''tp> spm'ethirig 'olpp.-_ Fpr the men and women of the.mqtlern'hurrie(l. world, aesthotiq' arid : pleasuro ; must bo drawn from tho:cup';ah(l'tankard'or riotliing; for books'that are ; really books in any high senso of the' tsrjn seem to' bp. out of the question. ■ .■ . '■' '. . Against collections of brip-!>-brac, of coursp, we. could: and : '.would ;Say.'lipthihg; in their are,..excell.ent^Bpautiful objects of this kind may refino siid educate all ivho behold thPm; 'they are a source of delight which no man who can afford to indulge his taste should negleqt. Yet 'they, are hot tlie "and end of culture';' that is,-' if jro tipcepl Matthew'Ariiold''S dffinitipii. • " '(Culture .being a pursuit .of oiir, total perfectioji by means of getting io know, in all the' matters whiyh'most cpiicern iis; the best Tyhioh has. bron' thought' aiid said in tho work!; and through this -"knowledge turning aistream of-fresh.and free thought-uponour stock notions and habits."

. Admirablp,'.. suggestive, .and informing as cupis arid tankards may sometimes be, familiarity witli. their 'graceful .linos pan never be ' ; a' substit.uto.: for knowledge of bpoks, which mustremain the : chief medium- of our . acquaintance witli. the ,'hest'; that has been thought and.said. Ciiltiiro is not even to bo had,'by glancing at tlio pictures in tho illustrated periodicals, not even by-skimming tlio summaries in the " Digest of Drivel " and tho " Review of Rubbish." : '

■ In urging our. readers' to buy . and read more books, wo ho hope of /bringing' old and hardened sinners; to.repentarioe; Ays are solicitous chiefly for . tho , rising "generation— tho youth .'whose habit's may still bo formed, or at least modified., A father! whose iiicomo is less than 10,000 dpls. a year expects to spend frow .800 4pJs; to.JOQO dols. a year on the schooling of .a son'or' daughter • yet few fathers, "pveti, of ampler .meins, deliberately provide . their." children, with' : ono of tho cheapest and most efFectiyo instruments of education—plenty of the best books. What purchases are.jnade arq too often only the novels bought to read on the train or tlie latest'widely advertised sensation. Tho avor r ago private " library"in this city is a pathetic oollfiotidh ~of odds, and ends, picked up without-forethought-or oven intelligence/ The kitchen is . far mtfro systematically and thoroughly furnished; and tho mistress'of the house. TPould bo aghast at . the idea of sotting/, her dinngr j-table ...with a similar array of. coarse, "iiicongrupusjy broken, and ugly dishes. But'without 'a-'blush or a word of apology people, of wealth and presumably of some cultivation filltheir.:pitifully feiy shelves with books' that aro,.,a 'disgrace to their owners. -Thi» > shprt'eomirig is the leas excusable because in thesp' days of well-mado "reprints a very fpw hundred dollars will enable even'a ppor nian to. prpcuro. a library of t)io best histories, essays, letters, travels, poetry, and nqyels—books that are thoroughly interpstiiig:;arid; worth" reading.'' . 'And;:there . ha3 j ,never, been a time when it waf iraprc •iraportant , ''to offer".children excellent: books for homo reading. Tho problem of attracting the .young to literature has changed within two "dqeades. ' The follow newspapers are shrieking in .our streets., iho yellowmagazines, streaked, speckled, and spotted, catch the eye at every! corner, iho temptation to fritter away timo and energy, on scraps and snippets which are always vociferous]'and frequently' amusing has never been so, :.^rwhelininsi < ..';.The parent who wpuld'/ersct some"'barrier against this m.gulfing. flood must 'have in his own liouso books ;pf strengthj'aijcllyjtqlity. Ho iiiuat havo ■a library that is somptbirig better than: u literary catch-all.—Nejv York "Eveninc Post.", ' /'':■: b