De Beaumarchais compared the writing of a book with the creation of a child: "Concus avec volupté, mènes a terme avec fatigue, enfants avec douleur" ("Voluptuously conceived, wearily brought to term, and painfully delivered"). Anyone who has spent nine months or more to produce a book will readily agree that such a work is an extremely personal effort, represents much labor and is, at least in its author's opinion, a unique achievement. To read an old scientific book in its original edition, as the author intended it to he seen, is probably the best reason for collecting books.
There are other good reasons, such as the aesthetic pleasures of the fine ancient typeface on handlaid paper, the old engravings on foldout pages, the marbled end-papers and the finely tooled and gilded spines. Another reason to collect is for scholarship, and today it is possible to have at least reprinted copies ...
