'The interest of the book is heightened by the characteristic vignettes which are interwoven with the text on almost every other page.'--_The Standard._
'Lightly does he carry his learning and brightly does he sketch the bookmen and their riverside market. Of present interest to all book-lovers are his piquant contrasts of the old order and the new.'--_Saturday Review._
'To collectors the book will appeal with special force, but the general reader, if he be gifted with ordinary intelligence, will also enjoy it. It is not dry; in fact, to use the familiar expression, it is "as interesting as a novel."'--_Publishers' Circular._
'The book is full of stories of the characteristics of the fraternity, anecdotes, and biographical sketches of past stall-keepers and their most famous patrons.'--_Daily Graphic._
'Everybody knows M. Uzanne's pleasant, garrulous style--how he takes his readers into his confidence, how he spins phrases lovingly, and always keeps you in good spirits. He was just the man to write such a book.'--_Bookman._
'The work is always learned, and (what is not so easy) always light. Everybody who is the least of a book-hunter ought to read it at once, or rather, ought to hunt for it first; and then, to show that it is a better sort of book than many that are hunted, read it.'--_Scotsman._
Characters superscripted in the original are inclosed in { } brackets.
Variations in spelling have been left as in the original. Examples include the following:
Crede Creede Creside Cressida Faerie Faërie Magliabecchi Magliabechi Polychronicon Policronicon Schoeffer's Schoëffer Schoeffer with an oe ligature Sweynheim Sweynheym Troilus Troylus Zarothum Zarothus
The following words used an oe ligature in the original:
d'oeuvre Foedera Oeconomiques oeuvre Oeuvres Phoebum Phoenix Schoeffer Tragoedie
The following words appear with and without hyphens. They have been left as in the original.
book-buyer bookbuyer book-buying bookbuying book-case bookcase book-plate bookplate book-selling bookselling Coffee-house Coffeehouse sale-room saleroom waste-paper wastepaper
The following corrections have been made to the text:
page xiv: Purcell (p. 165)[original has 164]
page xv: necessarily a learned man.[original is missing period]