Emerson contrasts the abundance of a large institutional library with the smaller collection in his own study. His point is not that extensive libraries lack value, but that a reader does not need access to every available book in order to encounter the works that matter most. A carefully chosen collection can contain much of what an individual considers intellectually essential.

Within Books, the remark reflects Emerson’s wider emphasis on selective reading and independent literary judgement. He is sceptical of treating quantity as a measure of intellectual value, preferring sustained engagement with strong books to indiscriminate consumption. The statement is therefore partly personal, since it reflects his own reading habits and collection, but it also advances a broader principle: the usefulness of a library depends less on its size than on the quality of the works chosen and the attention given to them.