The Roman Index of Forbidden Books

In 1901, a reviewer of the Roman Index of Forbidden Books opened his criticism by congratulating himself upon having before him a genuine copy of that book, of which, he says, only a very limited number were printed for the exclusive use of “the leaders of the Church.” Owing to its scarcity, he thinks, the owner of the volume, which he had borrowed, must have paid at least two hundred dollars for it. He could have bought a brand new copy for $2.25. The Index of which he speaks, issued by order of Leo XIII, in 1900, is for sale in this country by B. Herder, St. Louis, Mo. So 
2

are the three later editions (1901, 1904, 1907), the last two issued under, and by order of, our gloriously reigning Pontiff, Pius X. When the critic felt his heart beat with joy upon being allowed to view with his own blessed eyes a book so rare, so expensive, and so jealously guarded by “the leaders of the Church,” a whole edition of that same book had already been sold, and a second was about to be put on the market. Its title is now:

Index librorum prohibitorum, Leonis XIII Sum. Pont. auctoritate recognitus SS. D. N. Pii P. X iussu editus. Præmittuntur Constitutiones Apostolicæ de examine et prohibitione librorum. (Index of forbidden books, revised by the authority of Pope Leo XIII, and issued by order of His Holiness Pope Pius X. Preceded by the Apostolic Constitutions on the examination and prohibition of books.)