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Letters on Literature-Part9_ANDREW LANG(1844-1912)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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read it in John Bunyan's good English. Then why must I ruin myself



to acquire "Voyage d'un Chrestien vers l'Eternite. Ecrit en

Anglois, par Monsieur Bunjan, F.M., en Bedtfort, et nouvellement



traduit en Francois. Avec Figures. A Amsterdam, chez Jean Boekholt

Libraire pres de la Bourse, 1685"? I suppose this is the oldest



French version of the famed allegory. Do you know an older? Bunyan

was still living and, indeed, had just published the second part of



the book, about Christian's wife and children, and the deplorable

young woman whose name was Dull.



As the little volume, the Elzevir size, is bound in blue morocco, by

Cuzin, I hope it is not wholly a foolish bargain; but what do I



want, after all, with a French "Pilgrim's Progress"? These are the

errors a man is always making who does not collect books with



system, with a conscience and an aim.

Do have a specially. Make a collection of works on few subjects,



well chosen. And what subjects shall they be? That depends on

taste. Probably it is well to avoid the latest fashion. For



example, the illustrated French books of the eighteenth century are,

at this moment, en hausse. There is a "boom" in them. Fifty years



ago Brunet, the author of the great "Manuel," sneered at them. But,

in his, "Library Companion," Dr. Dibdin, admitted their merit. The



illustrations by Gravelot, Moreau, Marillier, and the rest, are

certainly delicate, graceful, full of character, stamped with style.



But only the proofs before letters are very much valued, and for

these wild prices are given by competitive millionaires. You cannot



compete with them.

It is better wholly to turn the back on these books and on any



others at the height of the fashion, unless you meet them for

fourpence on a stall. Even then should a gentleman take advantage



of a poor bookseller's ignorance? I don't know. I never fell into

the temptation, because I never was tempted. Bargains, real



bargains, are so rare that you may hunt for a lifetime and never

meet one.



The best plan for a man who has to see that his collection is worth

what it cost him, is probably to confine one's self to a single



line, say, in your case, first editions of new English, French, and

American books that are likely to rise in value. I would try, were



I you, to collect first editions of Longfellow, Bryant, Whittier,

Poe, and Hawthorne.



As to Poe, you probably will never have a chance. Outside of the

British Museum, where they have the "Tamerlane" of 1827, I have only



seen one early example of Poe's poems. It is "Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane,

and Minor Poems, by Edgar A. Poe. Baltimore: Hatch and Dunning,



1829, 8vo, pp. 71." The book "came to Mr. Locker (Mr. Frederick

Locker-Lampson), through Mr. R. H. Stoddard, the American poet." So



says Mr. Locker-Lampson's Catalogue. He also has the New York

edition of 1831.



These books are extraordinarily rare; you are more likely to find

them in some collection of twopenny rubbish than to buy them in the



regular market. Bryant's "Poems" (Cambridge, 1821) must also be

very rare, and Emerson's of 1847, and Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes's of



1836, and Longfellow's "Voices of the Night," 1839, and Mr. Lowell's

"A Year's Life;" none of these can be common, and all are desirable,



as are Mr. Whittier's "Legends of New England (1831), and "Poems"

(1838).



Perhaps you may never be lucky enough to come across them cheap; no

doubt they are greatly sought for by amateurs. Indeed, all American



books of a certain age or of a special interest are exorbitantly

dear. Men like Mr. James Lenox used to keep the market up. One



cannot get the Jesuit "Relations"--shabby little missionary reports

from Canada, in dirty vellum.



Cartier, Perrot, Champlain, and the other early explorers' books are

beyond the means of a working student who needs them. May you come



across them in a garret of a farmhouse, or in some dusty lane of the

city. Why are they not reprinted, as Mr. Arber has reprinted



"Captain John Smith's Voyages, and Reports on Virginia"? The very

reprints, when they have been made, are rare and hard to come by.



There are certain modern books, new books, that "go up" rapidly in

value and interest. Mr. Swinburne's "Atalanta" of 1865, the quarto






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