HERE AND THERE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21112, 20 February 1932, Page 9 (Supplement)

HERE AND THERE.

Tim last letter to be written by John Wesley fetch' 11 £2lO at a recent London sale. It was dated February 24, 1791, and was addressed to William Wilberforce. An authoritative estimate puts the number of books published since the invention of printing at 16.000,000. The modern output of new hooks is about 200,000 every year. The most valuable book in England is probably the " Codex Alcxandrinus," a four-volume transcription of the Scriptures in the British Museum. It is said to be worth £325,000. The library of 400 books collected by Rupert Brooke was purchased for £420 by an American firm at a recent London sale. The volumes range from " Through the Looking Class," given to him in 1891, to books bought during the war. Mr. J. I>. Priestley, who has just bought Coleridge's old house iu The drove, Jfigligate, lias as neighbours Mr. John Drinkwaler and Sir Neville Pearson. All are keen tennis players, and recently Mr. Drinkwaler and Sir Neville defeated a team representing the literary side of the I'.. 8.C., consisting of Mr. B. lv Nicholls and Mr. K. Maschwilz.