'Civilization mates but ill with Romance, and for the passing of Superstition (the child of Imagination and Romance) none can shed a tear. Yet at least it served to raise our daily lives out of the rut of commonplace. Our pulses are no longer stirred at the mere mention of the word MAGIC, and even BLACK MAGIC is coldly discussed where not so very long ago none would have dared speak it save with 'bated breath.' Yet we are all mystics by birth, and scarce one of us there is who as a child has not experienced the fear of darkness. We cannot explain it, and though the child may soon be taught to laugh at his fear, yet none the less was he endowed with this unaccountable dread of the UNKNOWN.
Among real book-collectors probably this particular branch of specialism attracts but few; for the greater part of those who collect such works are students of the occult (whether serious or idle).
- P.B.M. Allan, The Book-Hunter at Home