QUEEN ELIZABETH'S GOLDEN MANUAL OF PRAYERS (BACK COVER) 263 THE FRONTISPIECE TO 'THE LADIES' LIBRARY' OF STEELE 266 ELIZABETH PINDAR'S BOOKPLATE 267 THE ESHTON HALL LIBRARY 269 'EARNING HIS DINNER' 275 THE KING'S LIBRARY, BRITISH MUSEUM 276 'STEALS A BOOK, PLACES IT IN A NOVELETTE, AND WALKS AWAY' 280 'HE HAD PLACED THE BOOK IN HIS POCKET. SOMEONE HAD RELIEVED HIM OF IT' 282 THE LATE HENRY HUTH, BOOK-COLLECTOR 300 MR. HENRY H. GIBBS, BOOK-COLLECTOR 302 MR. R. COPLEY CHRISTIE, BOOK-COLLECTOR 303 THE LATE FREDERICK LOCKER-LAMPSON 312 PORTRAIT BOOKPLATE OF MR. JOSEPH KNIGHT 313 'AN ORDER FROM MR. GLADSTONE' 315 PORTRAIT BOOKPLATE OF MR. H. S. ASHBEE 316 MR. T. J. WISE, BOOK-COLLECTOR 317 MR. CLEMENT SHORTER'S BOOKPLATE 318 MR. A. BIRRELL, BOOK-COLLECTOR 319 FACSIMILE OF TITLE-PAGE, 'PILGRIM'S PROGRESS,' FIRST EDITION 321 [Illustration: _Roman Book-box._] PREFACE. _'THE Book-hunter in London' is put forth as a contribution to the fascinating history of book-collecting in the metropolis; it does not pretend to be a complete record of a far-reaching subject, which a dozen volumes would not exhaust; the present work, however, is the first attempt to deal with it in anything like a comprehensive manner, but of how far or in what degree this attempt is successful the reader himself must decide._ _The task itself has been an exceedingly pleasant one to the author, and it only remains for him to thank, collectively, the large number of friends and acquaintances who have so cordially favoured him with advice and information on so many points. In only a couple of quite unimportant instances has he experienced anything approaching churlishness. The geniality and courtesy of the book-collector are proverbial, but specimens of a different type are evidently to be found here and there._ _As regards the chapter on Modern Collectors, the author's object has been to deal with a representative selection of the bibliophiles of to-day. To aim at anything like completeness in this section of the book would be highly undesirable, having regard to a proportionate representation of the subject as a whole. Completeness, moreover, would be an impossibility, even in a volume devoted entirely to modern men._