Three Essays: Book-Buying; Book-Binding; The Office of Literature (Printers' Series Book 6 of 6)
New York: The Grolier Club, 1924. Limited Edition. Large Hardcover. Near Fine / No Jacket. Item #2332265
One of 300 copies. Boards lightly soiled.
xxvi, Printers' Series Book 6 of 6. Three Essays: Book-Buying; Book-Binding; The Office of Literature. Libraries are not made; they grow. Your first two thousand volumes present no difficulty, and cost astonishingly little money. Given L400 and five years, and an ordinary man can in the ordinary course, without undue haste or putting any pressure upon his taste, surround himself with this number of books, all in his own language, and thenceforward have at least one place in the world in which it is possible to be happy. But pride is still out of the question. To be proud of having two thousand books would be absurd. You might as well be proud of having two top-coats. After your first two thousand difficulty begins, but until you have ten thousand volumes the less you say about your library the better. Then you may begin to speak. It is no doubt a pleasant thing to have a library left you. The present writer will disclaim no such legacy, but hereby undertakes to accept it, however dusty. But good as it is to inherit a library, it is better to collect one. Each volume then, however lightly a stranger's eye may roam from shelf to shelf, has its own individuality, a history of its own. You remember where you got it, and how much you gave for it; and your word may safely be taken for the first of these facts, but not for the second. The man who has a library of his own collection is able to contemplate himself objectively, and is justified in believing in his own existence. No other man but he would have made precisely such a combination as his. Had he been in any single respect different from what he is, his library, as it exists, never would have existed. Therefore, surely he may exclaim, as in the gloaming he contemplates the backs of his loved ones, "They are mine, and I am theirs." - Augustine Birrell. Augustine Birrell, (born Jan. 19, 1850, Wavertree, Lancashire, Eng.—died Nov. 20, 1933, London), politician and man of letters whose policies, as British chief secretary for Ireland (1907–16), contributed to the Easter Rising of Irish nationalists in Dublin (1916). A lawyer from 1875 and a Liberal member of the House of Commons (1889–99, 1906–18), Birrell became well known in British literary circles for two essay collections titled Obiter Dicta (1884–87). After serving as president of the Board of Education (1905–07), he reluctantly accepted appointment as chief secretary for Ireland. In 1908 he was successful in getting Parliament to create the National University of Ireland—with constituent colleges in Dublin, Cork, and Galway—and the independent Queen’s University Belfast. Although the new universities were legally nondenominational, under Birrell’s plan the Irish Roman Catholic bishops were permitted a considerable degree of supervision. Throughout the crisis of 1912–14 over the third Home Rule Bill—which Ulster unionists opposed and from which they demanded their counties be exempted—the Liberal government relied upon Birrell to ensure the continued support of John Redmond’s Irish Parliamentary Party (commonly called the Irish Nationalist Party), upon which it was dependent for its parliamentary majority. But Birrell’s influence, like Redmond’s, declined when World War I caused the suspension of Home Rule. Despite the armed parading of republicans in Dublin, as well as their staging of mock attacks as rehearsals, Birrell seemed unable to sense any peril and was shocked by the rebellion of Easter 1916. He resigned amid general condemnation, which was tempered by respect for his frank avowal of responsibility.
Price: $40.00