With such a
basis acquired, he can afterwards wander into those special byways
of book-buying which happen to suit his special predilections. Every
Englishman who is interested in any branch of his native literature,
and who respects himself, ought to own a comprehensive and inclusive
library of English literature, in comely and adequate editions. You
may suppose that this counsel is a counsel of perfection. It is
not. Mark Pattison laid down a rule that he who desired the name
of book-lover must spend five per cent. of his income on books. The
proposal does not seem extravagant, but even on a smaller percentage
than five the average reader of these pages may become the owner, in
a comparatively short space of time, of a reasonably complete English
library, by which I mean a library containing the complete works
of the supreme geniuses, representative important works of all the
first-class men in all departments, and specimen works of all the
men of the second rank whose reputation is really a living reputation
to-day. The scheme for a library, which I now present, begins before
Chaucer and ends with George Gissing, and I am fairly sure that the
majority of people will be startled at the total inexpensiveness of
it.
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