WHAT MAKES A BOOK RARE?

摘要

The words "rare books" connote costly volumes in fine bindings treasured for their beauty and age, but medical libraries have in their historical collections comparatively few that may be described as such. The greater number are of a more recent date, less handsome in appearance and valued chiefly for texts of significance in the development of medicine and allied sciences. The relative importance of the individual texts is usually easy for the librarian to determine, but an appraisal of their cash value is a much more difficult problem. There is no one source to turn to for the answer, and a search through booksellers' catalogs is tedious and may be unrewarding. Often the librarian must rely upon his own appraisal of the merits of an individual work.