THE BOOKSTEALER.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 770, 19 March 1910, Page 10

THE BOOKSTEALER.

The announcement that in" the United States a .periodical under' the.name'.'of the "Book Stealer" is to.be published inspires an English literary gossip lo some pleasant, observations ' on'. hook stealers generally. They may (he says) belong to very different classes. For one thing, the most innocent of borrowers may become one if only he is a. little more bashful thaii his fellows. If he has kept a lent book' beyond a reasonable time, and especially if in the meantime he has knocked off one of . the boards, he may elect to put. it quietly in a. cupboard, although he knows very well that the consequence to his friend will bo that a , fine set of books will henceforth look on his shelves like a pretty'youth - with a front tooth knocked out. _ Even, hoy/over, where the appropriation is deliberate from the beginning a difference <of motive may produce adifference of.species. If the book were stolen for the sake of its literary contents it would' riot be a case : of vulgar thoft any more , than the hero of Barrie's play was guilty of burglary-in the, vulgar sense Who entered his friend's 'house at night to read his books, The men, however,- who steal Bibles and volumes of sermons do riot do so for devotional purposes, and W who, the other day, stole from a Boston, library a valuable book of Hawthorne's and, after soaking off the library plate, sold it to a dealer for a few coppers, was not only a thief but a very tiresome fellow to boot. There are, on the other hind, learned and even reverend antiquities who have a pugging tooth and cannot resist a rare edition, and in their case tho base word "theft" must be abandbned altogether, and, as someone suggests, "biblioHepsis" used instead.. Mr. Lang in his last book tells us that Evelyn, the diarist,: lent certain letters of Mary Queen of, Scots to Lauderdale and never saw them -again, and certain, other MSS. to Bishop Burnet with exactly the Same result, arid comments, "No man should- , 'trust, any. antiquary." And the tintrnstwprthiness of. antiquaries is an old reproach. Someone: calling on a friend. of ; Bishop More's found him be-,' stowing all .'the moSt valuable books in hiding plaoes, and saying' by way of apology; "Tho Bishop of Ely dines with me to-night." To point a like moral the following aneodote'./.Tvis, no doubt, invented. Two , .'collectors determined to make themselves, the happiest men in the world..; So'they printed a book on handmade paper with specially cast type, and limited the edition to two copies, sumptuously bound, of which each took one. Were they happy? Not for long. 'Each coveted his neighbour's book. So one day when one was, absent his friend called at. his house, -and under pretext of 'oollating the plates mutilated his copy. The outrage was soon discovered, and the culprit not; only haled before the seoular power arid subjeoted to a : thumping fine, but' was. reported, to the Bibliophile' Society, of which he was a member, with a view to having his name struck off the list of. members. Arid hero the point comes in. The book steaUr.acknowledged the theft, bnt instead of expressing contrition 1 used , .aii argunwmturiiad homineih. "Which pf'.ybu/'-'he asked; ; "in my"place, would not have'ddne the s'ariwp" and all were dumb. Their consciences smote them, and the offender's name' was allowed to stand; .■"■■.'..