Several of the ornately decorated displays remain locked and emptyof visitors because the library cannot afford the staff needed to keep them open Budget problems have become increasingly severe in recent years.Bond says as book prices and salary levels for skilled librarians have escalated taster than general inflation

The University operating on a financial system that makes all subdivisions responsible for their own income, has not stepped in to help.If Bond is frustrated by any aspect of his job, it is this situation and thedarkened rooms upstairs.

But a slight frown passes quickly as he describes the detail on an exactreplica of an 15th century English plaster ceiling in the Hyde Room, which houses a collection emphasizing the work of the Samuel Johnson. James Boswell circle. Books here and elsewhere will stand as Bond's permanent legacy-the brilliant acquisition he has made for Harvard.

He points to the portraits of famous literary figures on the walls,distinguishing between the originals and the careful reproductions."We know where the rest are," he says of those masterpieces Houghton lacks, adding without hesitation, "And I trust they will come to us eventually; like all other things it is a matter of time, but they will come."

Yen-Tsai Feng, librarian of Harvard College, describes Bond's success in bringing top collections to Harvard. "Often with donors it is his quietmanner, his deep knowledge and his caring for the books themselvesand the library in his charge "Feng adds, "It is also a gentle humor...thatis important in any career to succeed."

In appreciation of his work, Harvard has established a William H BondBook Fund which Bond himself neglects to bring up. "It is is very dear to his heart, I think," says feng, "but Mr. Bond is too modest to talk about it."No successor has been named to head Houghton, but a nationwide search inunder way.

Teacher as Well

Feng echos others in the field who stress Bond's skills as a teacherin addition to those as a curator. As with the library, he inherited fromWilliam Jackson a rather esoteric English department course English 296,"Descriptive and Analytical Bibliography." Bond is now Harvard's last professor of Bibliography, explaining that Eng. 296 still "emphasizes that a book can be seen as an artifact special in the way that something might be in the Peabody Museum." In the class, he adds, "we look at the type, the paper the ink, the binding it is a complete study."

"Bond has probably had even more impact as a teacher outside of the classroom. He conveys his love for the library to everyone around him, colleague say often providing the encouragement or the specific advice a scholar needs to push through a rigorous project.

"William Bond teachers with everything be does," Says Roger Stoddard,assistant librarian at Houghton "Someone with his experience with a collection can help a reader in ways that defy filing and catalogues."

"And Bond says he's sorry more people haven't experienced what he offers.Though the absolutely silent reading room (no pens allowed, only pencil's is usually in use he says."The Harvard faculty doesn't take as much advantage of the library as it might. Under graduates, however have wandered in with increasing regularity recently, he says, and now comprise about 15 percent of those who use facility.

In a farewell address to his co-workers this spring. Bond tried to express his determination to help others enjoy his life's work. He quotedfrom a speech given in 1822 by Joseph Green Cogswell, then librarian of Harvard Cogswell described the importance of a great library-one whichhas the book you need even if you are the only one who wants it for a hundred years.

Cogswell made specific reference to an extraordinary book in the Harvard collection Hearne's Acta Apostolorum, one of a total printing of 120volumes. Bond borrowed the example for his speech, but decided that it would be tun to find the book as well. His search in Widener ended successfully, as usual.

But the small, ornately bound volume yielded" a special electricshock," says Bond, turning it over in his hands. He discovered immediately that it was one of the books given to Harvard in the 1760s by Thomas Hollis V "That's why this has been a good career," says William Bond