[Illustration: AN INTERESTING BROADSIDE PRINTED AT THE FAMOUS CATNACH PRESS, BEING ONE OF A SERIES DESCRIBING INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A SOLDIER.] CHAPTER XVIII A HISTORY OF ONE'S COLLECTION Reasons for compiling a history of one's collection--The part played by photographs--Armour suggested as an example--Material for grangerizing In this concluding chapter we have a suggestion to make to the collector of ample leisure moments; briefly, it is that he should draw up a history of his treasures. Such a work has many valuable advantages; first, it helps to co-ordinate the pieces which our collection contains; second, it provides work of a fascinating nature; third, it leads us to hunt through books and collections and so increases our knowledge; and fourth, it provides us with a kind of catalogue of our treasures which should prove of value for insurance and other purposes of identification. Collectors of most kinds of curios are able to keep their specimens in methodical array. The philatelist, for instance, preserves his stamps within the covers of one or more albums; the print-lover places his pictures in portfolios, whilst the china-collector uses a cabinet for housing his treasures. The collector of military curios, however, cannot adopt any of these methodical arrangements, for it is impossible to assemble, we will say, armour, postage stamps, medals, and badges with any pretence of order. This is where the history of one's collection steps in; it describes the pieces and explains where each is to be found. * * * * * The first stage in making such a history consists in procuring photographs or well-executed drawings of every specimen in our collection. Photographs are, of course, much more useful than drawings, and as nearly every house boasts of a camera nowadays the former should not be hard to obtain. The prints should be mounted in a loose-leaf album, the pages of which must be much larger than the prints. Mounting may be performed in many ways, but it will be well to use a photographic paste, to use it sparingly, and to paste the whole of the backs of the prints. The third step consists in adding written matter under and around the prints. This data should describe not only the article portrayed, that is to say, its use, its sequence among other similar things, its composition, and so on, but also where and how it was personally obtained, what was paid for it, and in what particular place it is kept.