AD LECTOREM. Hp HE introduction to so dignified a, volume as JL this should be wholly dispassionate so the task to which 1 apply myself is a difficult one for since last evening I have been perturbed, unwont edly perturbed, in spirit, I was planning the preface to this very volume, and had about determined to begin this Ad Lectorem, in wise fashion, with that equally wise answer which Plato made to Xlmenea the Cretan, when the latter aakccl the famous phi losopher-collector why ho preferred a first edition to an eighteen thousandth, I had nearly reachoci this determination, I ay f when who should burst in upon me but my charming bibliophillc friend, W Irving Way, I waring thy astounding information that he had just picked up a tot edition of Andrew Langs U XX111 Hallack In Blue China M for eighty cents, a treasure recently Itated by the ScHbner at twenty dollars It seems that dttf teg a regular visit to the Saints ami Sinners Corner that day, Mr. Way conceived vl AD LECTOREM. the notion to investigate other parts of McClurgs book-mart adjacent to that resort of bibliomaniacs, and some good fairy tempted him to search out and cast curious and lingering and loving eyes upon a certain case in which lay a number of dainty parchment-covered books. In the lot Mr, Way detected a copy of the Ballades in Blue China 1 and he asked the handmaiden in attend ance thereabouts to show him that pretty volume, and let him hold it tenderly and reverently in his hands. He marvelled when he looked at the book and found no price therein and from m re cusi osity as he alleges, and a I do fully believe, he demanded the price and the guileless handmaiden God bless er, after consulting with a veiled, mysteriousperson in the financial department of the establishment, answered that although the reg ular price of that book wan one dollar the wnwl reduction of 20 per cent to the trade would w allowed in this Instance. Mr. Way furthermore alleges and this also do I Implicitly beikvc that the time occupied hi getting th tt Itwtk of Ballades Into his p HussUm t and lit Citing his eighty cents into the hands of MrCItu Co, , was neither more uor k s tinu thiitt in r uinrtt hy a ray of light to travel iHCi w ini es litn w measurement. AD LECTOREM. vli Since it became known that for a few paltry dimes our fellow-hunter acquired that genuine prize, poignant anguish has been experienced by the rest of us, and none has suffered more than I for though I covet not the responsibilities of a scapegoat, God knows I would cheerfully bear, instead of that man Way, the burden of shame resulting from having done a bookseller. It is true that I have one of these first Ballades but what of that Can an appreciative man have too much of a good thing, when that good thing Is a rare first edition You gather from this that I love first editions so 1 do, although 1 should tell you at once that the number of first editions I actually possess Is very few furthermore, the few are not particularly rare. But some time I shall have a larger and more interesting collection I am quite sure 1 shall, for I have located a number of treasures, and am conducting so aggressive and withal so discreet a campaign for their comprehension, that they are practically mine already. Three of these lovely mowx ux I happened upon la a New Eng land town quite recently. No, I shall not name that town 1 I had been permitted to prowl in the library ofthe little house where for many years have lived two female relatives, women of refined Viii A0 LECTGUEJVL tastes and much culture. At last I said, Are these all the books you have The answer was, Yes, these are all, except, perhaps, a few queer little old worthless specimens in the back room upstairs...