The first sale of books by auction which is recorded as having taken place in England was held in Warwick Lane exactly 213 years ago, and Dr. Lazarus Seaman, whose library was dispersed on the occasion in question, appears to have confined his attention strictly to Latin Bibles of the 16th century, the cumbrous works of the Puritan divines, and the great editions of the Fathers--huge folios thought so little of that, allowing for the change in the value of money, they can now for the most part be bought from the booksellers for less than they could then at auction. The reason which prompted this old collector to limit his purchases to works of a single class was in all probability much the same as that which prevails under similar circumstances at the present time, namely, a natural desire for finality, the outcome of an experience which shows plainly enough that in order to form a complete collection of anything its scope must be reduced to the smallest possible compass. As a matter of fact Dr. Seaman appears to have embarked on a somewhat extensive undertaking, for in the period mentioned by far the greater majority of works issued from the press were of a religious nature. Still the incident is valuable from an antiquarian point of view, as it forms a good precedent for a large body of modern collectors who, like Seaman, follow the prevailing fashion of the day. This fashion on being analysed will be found to vary at different periods and to be of longer or shorter duration according to a variety of circumstances which appear to be entirely without the range of argumentative discussion.