INTERESTING BOOK SALE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13762, 29 May 1908, Page 8

INTERESTING BOOK SALE.

SOME HISTORICAL WORKS. The safe of the late Mr. C. W. BenbowV library in Wellington by Mr. Wilson proved a very interesting one. The library'consisted of some 7000 .volumes. The books were catalogued in about 1300 lots, and the sale should run into considerably over £1000. The prices for ordinary English classics and books of travel were very high; indeed, in many cases the bidding was rash, and as much as £4 was on occasions paid for lots that could be obtained from England for half the price. The library included a number of somewhat rare New Zealand books, which in nearly every instance fetched high prices. The first 23 volumes of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute fetched £8, which was cheap to. the buyer. There were, of course, some " finds" on the part of successful bidders. One of the shrewdest buyers present was Mr. Charles Wilson, of the General Assembly Library, and one of his best purchases was a very unpretentious little lot catalogued "A Foregone. Conclusion and Twenty-four . Others." This he got for 235. ;■ It contained a little New Zealand book by Sir George Grey, which is now extremely rare, and worth about £4. This book gives a, description of one, of the . ." Pro-ConsulV' overland journeys in the North Island. Gibbon's; "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,'' eight volumes, reached £4. Thompson's '.' Story of New Zealand" fetched £1 7s 6d, which is somewhat beyond its general price. One buyer secured a bargain in Sir George Grey's "Journey in Western Australia." The buyer, on taking his, purchase home, found that it 'was "a presentation copy from the author to Captain Eyre, afterwards Governor Eyre, and that the latter had marked many passages for copying. Altogether, the sale was the most successful that has been hold in Welligton for many years.