Personally, as I have suggested in other chapters, I should be delighted to see some organized association brought into existence of which all those interested in the making and selling of books could become members, so that representatives of the different departments of the trade might meet together and talk over or discuss questions connected with it. This I am sure would lead to a greater and more satisfactory prosperity in all departments of the publishers' and booksellers' trade than has ever yet been attained. CHAPTER VIII Limited Editions and the Pleasures of Collecting It would be quite impossible within the limits of a short chapter to deal with such a great subject as the above title represents. The subject, however, is fascinating not only to the book collector but to those in the trade, both new and second-hand, through whose hands the books pass. Until the introduction of printing, what may be termed books or literature were all limited editions, as in olden times it was only by the industry of the scribes that other copies could be produced. Privately printed originally meant printed in a university or private residence and not in the offices of an ordinary printer. Now, however, privately printed and limited editions have each much the same meaning, as they are both practically limited in the numbers printed. I must confess that I have a profound sympathy with all collectors of this particular class of book-producing, for it is with great pride that one takes down from the shelves a volume of this class of literature and reads how many copies of it were printed, and any history that may be connected with it. This attraction is from my point of view as far apart as the poles from that of collecting works produced before the origin of printing or even those in the centuries afterwards, where frequently the mistakes in printing make the value of the book. Such, for instance, as that of the Bible where the word "not" is left out in one of the commandments, or where a chance misprint or mistake is noted in some of Shakespeare's or other Elizabethan plays. A long list could easily be made of the small things that render some of these ancient volumes valuable.