Another catalogue, dated June 1805, shows that at this period women held a position amongst the booksellers. This catalogue was issued by Elizabeth Mathews, 18 Strand, and the terms of the sale were four months' credit for £10; four and eight months' for £20; four, eight, and twelve months' for £50; four, eight, twelve, and sixteen for £100: money was evidently not of the same value then as now. Some of the most important books in this catalogue were "Annual Register," 33 vols.; Buffon's "Natural History," 15 vols.; Sheraton's "Cabinet Maker's Drawing Book," 18_s._; "Encyclopædia Britannica," 20 vols. Another of the same period also contained many important works such as "Johnson's Dictionary," in 4 vols., Mavor's "Voyages and Travels," 25 vols., Radcliffe's "Mysteries of Udolpho," 4 vols.; "Pinder's Works," 5 vols.; Pope's "Homer," 5 vols. "Shakespeare's Works," in 21 vols., and with four different editions in 10 vols. and two in 9 vols., are all in this catalogue. From this period onward the same characteristics appear in catalogues, but by degrees, when publishers only sold the books they published, the constitution of the catalogue and the sales greatly changed and the business done was more ordinary and commonplace. I have spent many most enjoyable occasions when attending these sales, and also met there many distinguished people connected both with the trade and also with the making of literature. As a few samples of the characteristics and the business done at some of the sale dinners when the custom was drawing to a close, I may mention that at Murray's sale, in 1885, the completing volume of the "Speaker's Commentary" was among the works offered, and some 2,500 copies were sold within the first ten minutes; of that great traveller Du Chaillu's "Land of the Midnight Sun," in 2 vols., about 1,800 copies were sold. The educational works of Dr. Smith were then in great demand, and there were disposed of at this sale some 7,500 copies of his "English Course," and of the Latin 16,000, while of "Little Arthur's History of England," 12,500 copies were sold. At another sale, when Bishop Wilberforce's Life was the leading book offered, the principal sales were as follows: 1,000 Mudie's Library, 900 Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 450 Hamilton & Co., 250 Smith & Son, 100 W. Kent, and 100 Hatchard's, whilst 22,500 of Smith's Latin Course were quickly purchased. Times and the methods of education have greatly changed, but there are two things respecting these sales which strike me very forcibly. These are the comparatively small sales to-day of the above-mentioned educational works, also whether the publisher has been wise to stop these trade sales. They undoubtedly not only brought publishers and booksellers together, but offered an inducement to the booksellers which does not exist to the same extent to-day to make up stock orders and interest themselves in books.