Vanity of vanities

This advertisement in a recent NYRB caught my eye. A rather old fashioned sort of publication for which one wondered at the demand: is it just vanity publishing by a well endowed university? That said, it looked rather fun, the sort of thing I might pick up as a remainder for say £50.

Inspection of their web site suggested that the list price was of the order of £1,200, but I failed to get it to tell me how much all 24 volumes would be, purchased as a set. However, it did tell me about a 1,656 page synopsis, a snip at $90.95. So off to Amazon where I was able to get one for about £20 which seemed more in line with its value to me.

Maybe one day the gods will smile on me and I will come across the real thing.