"Owning a first-edition book is like having a baby and not being able to cuddle it," says George Murray of J. N. Barfield* Books in New York City.

"A scratch, a rip, or smudge diminishes a first edition's value as an investment." For those who wish to own fine books and read them, too, leather-bound volumes offer handsome rewards. Barfield's collection dates from about 1870 to 1929, when bookbinding went the way of the stock market, never to rebound. The shop welcomes and educates browsers.
~ BOUND TO BE ENJOYED, Country Living Magazine, Dec. 1991.

*J. N. Bartfield Rare and Fine Books, New York