but a choice among difficulties.

The objects further to be contemplated in
the bestowal of our books, so far as I
recollect, are three: economy, good arrangement,
and accessibility with the smallest possible
expenditure of time.

In a private library, where the service of
books is commonly to be performed by the
person desiring to use them, they ought to be
assorted and distributed according to subject.
The case may be altogether different where
they have to be sent for and brought by an
attendant. It is an immense advantage to
bring the eye in aid of the mind; to see
within a limited compass all the works that
are accessible, in a given library, on a given
subject; and to have the power of dealing
with them collectively at a given spot, instead
of hunting them up through an entire
accumulation. It must be admitted, however, that
distribution by subjects ought in some degree
to be controlled by sizes. If everything on a
given subject, from folio down to 32mo, is to
be brought locally together, there will be an
immense waste of space in the attempt to
lodge objects of such different sizes in one
and the same bookcase. And this waste of
space will cripple us in the most serious