Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1866-06-08
A VALUABLE LIBRARY.

suits OF commercial circles, to wander in
to the moro secluded walks Of literature
painting or music; and one day last week
We had the pleasure Of visiting ono Of th,
finest libraries ever collected by or retain
ed in the possns ion Of a Southern gentle
man, and which WAS the property and the
pride o. 49, late Mr.. A. A. Smets. Til,
mar v could, amid all tho cares anc
perp.>,-..'cs of mercantile life, preserve III,
taste anG inclination for books, and those
selected from the classics of every country
and time, is as much by his example {
public benefactor as he who rests upon the
laurels of building railroads or opening
manufactures.
No biblopole, nor even simple love-
OF books can visit this choice library with
out admiration. In our country, where sc
few enjoy the means of accommodating val
liable books, and where so few who have
the means have the taste for literary trea
sures' it is rare to meet with very large OF
very rare collections. But here is certain
Iy one of tho finest and most recAercA,
private libraries in the country. It does
not rest its claims upon the number of vo /
umes which it contains, of which there are
perhaps, ten or twelve thousand, but upon
the choice selection Of its authors and the
great variety Of the editions. 1t is COM
posed of works in all branches of learning
and the fine arts, embracing the earlier and
later poets, the more celebrated novelists,
the best historians and biograpLers, and
every standard work in the realms of lit
erature.
The library contains the riches of learn.
ing, from the elaborate missal of the
twelfth century, to tho recent files of mod
ern magazines. The antiquarian delves in
the black-letter tome bearing the imprint
OF Caxton, and the admirer of Dickens
finds his author clad in his best typograph-
lcal dress. The enthusiast in large paper
copies, where "a rivulet of text mcanders
through meadow of Margin" can rcyel
IN his own peculiar delight, and the bibli-
opole who rejoices in "only copies, sup
pressed editions" and works valuable only
from some imperfeclion which gives them
rarity, can here find ample room for the
Indulgence of his taste. Here can be seen
one of the original editions of Hogartb,
than whom, no greater pictorial satirist
ever existed; and there, too, is ono of the
early subscription copies Of Boydell's
Shakespeare, whose plates, worn hy frequent
Impression, havo reduced cugravings to
cartoons. He will find on the shelves a
magnificent copy OF Montfaucon's anti
quities, bound in vellum, work which Sir
Walter Scott always had by him, and here,
too, are the literary remains of the Great
Wizard of Scottish tale.
The library is peculiarly rich in illum-
mated missals, several of which, both in
rarity and workmanship, are almost price
less. The world owes a great debt to the
monks of the middle ages; debt seldom
dreamed OF, and still more seldom ac-
knowledged. During that period of histo-
~ well and truly known as 'tbe dark
ages" it was only in the monasteries that
the smoulderipg embers of literature we're
kept alive, and by the reverend fathers of
that day, whose equal leisure and taste
induced the task Of preserving such frag-
ments of learning as were then cxtant.
Neither time nor space permits us to 20
into an elaborate enumeration of the treas
ures which grace the shelves of this mag.
ni6cent library. 1t is to be sold, and
ehould, if rossibfc. never leave the State,
but he pu .ascl either by some wealthy
gentlemen of literary tastes, or, far better,
by some public institution, whose access to
it would tend to foster love for books
the purest and most ennobling of all loves.
We trust never to see or hear of its being
dlsmembered and its contents going to en-.
rloh various collections. A we'll selected
library is a harmonious whole, and can no
more spare any Of its parts without losing
i# completeness than the human body can
be deprived Of limb.-Sayanuah Re-
publican.
In republishing the above, the Milledge.
Vile Recorder, says:
We have often visited the above named
"otary OF smets, and to the lover of liter.
s.a'e no greater treat presented itself to
'ne eye: Mr. 8. was peculiarly fond Of
old and rare works, nor did he count tha
cost when he found a work he dss;,ad -
We have known him to give a. much =,
ffoaa sioo to $500 for a single book, and