owners. The auctioneers, who look out for the owners' interests, have long ago discovered that a few good items which ought to bring the buyers together to compete, will, if buried among a lot of ordinary, uninteresting titles, generally sell for low prices. They, therefore, hold back the better class of material, oftentimes, until they have enough from various consignors to make up a sale. The name of one owner may be put upon the cover of the catalogue, thus raising it above the level of the ordinary miscellaneous sale. Again, as many of the larger buyers reside in New York, the Boston and Philadelphia auctioneers prefer to bring together the better material, which is likely to tempt New York buyers to attend in person, into one sale occupying several days and with two sessions a day, thus offering enough material in one sale to make it worth while for the out-of-town buyers to come on. The New York auctioneers generally have but a single session a day.

Judged by the prices realized, the most remarkable sale of the season was the one held on the evening of February 6th by Mr. Anderson. This was a series of 266 lots, being books from Whittier's library, many with autograph inscriptions by their several authors, some with notes, autograph manuscripts of some of his poems, and letters to him by Emerson, Holmes, Tennyson, and others. The material was sold by Mr. Whittier's literary executor, Mr. Samuel T. Pickard, for the purpose of securing the funds necessary for the care and maintenance of the old Whittier Homestead at Amesbury, Mass. The Whittier manuscripts sold especially well, one lot, his poem, "In School Days," nine stanzas, with his letter sending it to the magazine “Our Young Folks," in which it was printed, brought $540. The draft of a message to Congress by President Lincoln, in his autograph, a single quarto page only, given to Whittier by Charles Sumner, brough $845. Some very interesting letters to Whittier by his contemporaries brought very high prices: Holmes, $230; Bayard Taylor, $102.50; Tennyson (containing four lines in verse, his epitaph on Gordon), $400, etc.

Mr. Harold Peirce, of Philadelphia, a well-known collector, sold a considerable portion of his library in three sales, conducted by Mr. Henkels, on March 6th, 7th, March 27th, 28th, and May 5th, 6th. The collection was mostly modern books, English and American. It was very full in some lines, while in others there were noticeable gaps. The series of Kelmscott Press Publications was the most complete, probably, ever offered, and included proofs and special issues of some items never before put up at auction in America. Some were presentation copies and several were of the very limited issue on vellum.

There were also complete sets of the issues to date of the Vale Press, the Doves Press, the Essex House Press, and the Daniel Press. Aside from the very complete series of these modern presses, a few items of Americana and a few early English books, the wealth of the library lay in its first editions of nineteenth century English and American authors. The series of the writings of John Ruskin and William Morris were especially full, though Keats, Lamb, the Brownings, Shelley, and others were represented by rare titles, generally in fine condition. The most notable series of any American author was that of Eugene Field. This included a copy of the famous Tribune Primer, the only copy ever sold at auction. It brought $300. This was the identical copy which sold in the French sale in 1901 for $250. It was a presentation copy. Numerous other items of the sale deserve special mention but we have space only for a word about the Poe material, belonging to Mr. William Nelson, which was included in the Peirce Catalogue. This Poe material unfortunately had been through the Paterson fire and the manuscripts and some of the most valuable books had been injured. The manuscript of "The Bells," not quite complete, brought $2,100, and that of the poem "For Annie," brought $425. The best of the books was an interesting copy of "Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems," Baltimore, 1829. This was a copy given by Poe to his cousin, with autograph inscription. He seems afterwards to have taken it back as it was the copy used by him in preparing for the press the 1845 edition of "The Raven and Other Poems," and contained corrections and alterations in his autograph, as well as notes by the printer. It was in poor condition, the leaves being loose and fire-scorched, but nevertheless it brought the great sum of $1,825. This identical copy sold in the George H. Moore sale in 1893 for $75. That was before it had been injured by fire. The other Poe items will be found entered in their place in our list.

The library of the late William D. Whitmore, of Boston, was sold by Libbie in November, occupying two sessions a day from the 11th to the 14th. The catalogue contained 2,941 lots, nearly one-half of which were genealogies, mostly American, and being without much doubt the most remarkable collection of books of this class ever sold at auction in this country. The second part of the catalogue included a series of about 150 titles of ChapBook Literature, "Mother Goose," "Goody Two-Shoes," etc., as well as some other titles of interest; also some rare American engravings and some valuable autographs.

The collection of the late Peter Gilsey was sold in three

March 18-20. The collection was miscellaneous in character, being fuller, perhaps, in the line of the drama than in other departments, though there were some very interesting Civil War items.

On April 27th and 28th, Mr. Anderson sold Part VII. of the Collection of Thomas J. McKee. Part I. was sold in 1900, Parts II. to IV., in 1901, and Parts V. and VI. in 1902. This Part VII. was largely made up of drawings, prints, playbills, and other material mainly dramatic in character, which does not find a place in our record.

The library of Edwin P. Whipple was sold by Libbie, April 7th and 8th. It was primarily remarkable for the large number of presentation copies of first editions of books of American authors, most of them given to Whipple by his contemporaries, the famous group of New England authors of the last century. Two copies of "Fanshawe," that much sought after "first book" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, were sold during the year, both in Libbie's rooms. The first, a very fine one, was sold with the library of Edwin F. Conely, of Detroit, October 28th to 30th, for $840. The second, not its equal in condition, sold with the library of John J. May, of Dorchester, Mass., January 27th to 29th, for $650. Both of these collections included numerous other good first editions of the writings of the great American authors, some being presentation copies.

The library of the late Mr. Peter Marié, mainly art works and fine bindings, was sold by Mr. Kirby at the American Art Galleries, April 3d to 8th. Another library in some respects of quite similar character was that of the late Mr. Henry G. Marquand, which was sold, with the same owner's pictures, rugs, and other art objects, in the same rooms on January 14th and following days. Many of the prices paid were phenomenal, and not a guide, by any means, to the actual value of the books.

Bangs & Co. during the season had very few sales of importance. One, made up largely of books from the library of Daniel F. Appleton, was prepared by them and the catalogue printed with their name as auctioneers, but before the sale took place Mr. Anderson had taken possession and he conducted the sale. This catalogue contained a number of items of great rarity and value, including a long series of editions of the English Bible, and editions of the Prayer Book. A copy of Coverdale's version, 1535, the first Bible printed in the English language, some leaves in facsimile, brought $3,000. The first edition of the King James Version, 1611, brought $200. The first "Edward VI." Prayer Book, 1549, with some imperfections, brought $720, and the first "Elizabeth" Prayer Book, 1559, brought $1,550.

Among the other books were some very rare first editions. Browning's "Pauline,” the Maxwell-Morgan copy, which brought $260 in 1895 and $720 when resold in 1902, now brought $1,025. The catalogue included many other first editions of the works of the greater English and American authors, mostly of the nineteenth century, and, with few exceptions, they brought very good prices. The Bierstadt copy of Whittier's "Moll Pitcher" was among them; although without the covers and not uncut, it brought $285. In 1897 the same copy sold for $100.

Almost at the end of the season, on May 8th and 9th, Mr. Henkels had an important sale, catalogued as "The Proud Papers," and being, in greater part, the letters, manuscripts, books, and newspapers of Robert Proud, whose "History of Pennsylvania" was published in 1797-98. They comprised a long and remarkable series of letters of William Penn, the first proprietor, the manuscripts of Proud's own works, more or less being unpublished, the files of Pennsylvania newspapers which he brought together, Penn's "Account of Pennsylvania," 1681, "Frame of the Government," 1682, "Letter from Pennsylvania," 1683, etc.

The total number of lots in the season's catalogues is something over 120,000, of which less than one in ten finds a place in our compilation. These lots were described in 176 catalogues, representing 355 sessions, sold on 308 days. This is the largest total of any season since we have kept the record.

Recognized and used as "American Book-Prices Current" now is, it is almost unnecessary to prefix any explanatory words regarding the scheme of the volume. As, however, this annual volume is likely to fall into the hands of some who are not familiar with the work, we add a few words of explanation.

The minimum limit of price fixed is three dollars, and no lot selling for less than this amount has been included. Nor is it claimed that every lot selling for three dollars and over will be found in the record. Current books which can still be had of the publishers are generally excluded, and in cases where "remainders" are being worked off by throwing copies into numerous sales, a representative selection only is generally introduced. Some other titles, of which a considerable number of copies have been offered, are represented by a selection only; and some others selling at about our limit, more especially books in foreign languages, as well as occasional cases where the catalogue description was too meagre to identify the book, have been excluded.

The arrangement throughout is generally the same as the previous volume. Books are entered under their author, where

of the title. To this there are some exceptions. Anonymous histories and biographies will usually be found under their subjects. The publications of clubs and societies are usually under the name of the society; but, occasionally, publications of some of the minor societies will be found under the name of their author. Different books by the same author are arranged alphabetically by titles, and different editions of the same book are arranged according to the date of publication. Books from the Kelmscott Press, Vale Press, Essex House Press, Roycroft Press, Dores Press, and the Elston Press are entered under the headings of the Presses. The autographs are, of course, arranged alphabetically by authors.

The date given under each lot is that of the first day of the sale. The full period covered may be found by referring to the chronological list of sales following this Preface. The number in parentheses is the original lot number in the sale catalogue. Books in American auction rooms are sold by the volume, but the prices here given are for the lot, not per volume.

The abbreviations used in describing the autographs are well known to collectors. A. L. S. is Autograph Letter Signed; A. L. is Autograph Letter, unsigned; L. S. is Letter Signed, the signature only autographic; A. D. S. is Autograph Document Signed; D. S. is Document Signed.

October, 1903.

L. S. L.