George Herbert Powell

Not exclusively for bibliophiles, this kaleidoscopic 1896 gathering of essays and sketches on books, book-collecting, and literature includes “The Philosophy of Rarity,” “A Gascon Tragedy (14th Century),” “A Shelf of Old Story Books,” “The Pirates’ Paradise (1740),” “A Medley of Memoirs,” “With Rabelais at Rome (1536),” and “The Wit of History.”