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Among the careless destroyers of books still at work should be
classed Government officials. Cart-loads of interesting documents,
bound and unbound, have been sold at various times as waste-paper,[1]
when modern red-tape thought them but rubbish. Some of them have been
rescued and resold at high prices, but some have been lost for ever.
[1] Nell Gwyn's private Housekeeping Book was among them,
containing most curious particulars of what was necessary in
the time of Charles I for a princely household. Fortunately it
was among the rescued, and is now in a private library.
In 1854 a very interesting series of blue books was commenced
by the authorities of the Patent Office, of course paid for out
of the national purse. Beginning with the year 1617 the particulars
of every important patent were printed from the original specifications
and fac-simile drawings made, where necessary, for the elucidation
of the text. A very moderate price was charged for each,
only indeed the prime cost of production. The general public,
of course, cared little for such literature, but those interested
in the origin and progress of any particular art, cared much,
and many sets of Patents were purchased by those engaged in research.
But the great bulk of the stock was, to some extent, inconvenient,
and so when a removal to other offices, in 1879, became necessary,
the question arose as to what could be done with them.
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