The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-01-26
TREASURES OF BODLEIAN LIBRARY.

The literary wealth Of this celebrated library,
in one sense, is almost inoaculable, its con-
tents embracing as they do some Of the rarest
books and manuscripts in the world. An
interesting account Of visit to this great
literary treasure house is given by Curtis
Gould, editor Of the Boston Commercial Bulletin,
in his series Of "Over the Ocean" sketches,
from which we extract the following:-
Here we look upon the first Latin Bible ever
printed, the first book printed in the English
language by Caxton at Bruges in 1472, and
the first English Bible printed by Miles Cover
dale. Here was the very book that Pope Gre
CORY sent to Augustine when he went to con-
vert the Britons, and which may have been
the same little volume that he held in his
hand when he plead the faith of the Redeemer
to the Saxon King Bthelbert, whom he con-
verted from his idolatrous belief twelve hun
dred years ago. ! looked with something
like veneration upon little shelf containing
about twenty-five volumes OF first editions of
books from the presses of Caxton, Gutten-
burg, and Faust, whose money value is said
to be E25, 900, but bibliomaniacs will we'll un-
derstand that no money value can be given
to such treasures.
Ranged upon another shelf was a set of first
editions of the old classics. In one room in
alcoves, all classified were rich treasures of
literature in Sanscrit, Hebrew, Coptic, and
even Chinese and Persian; some of the latter
brilliant in illumination. Here was Tippo
Saib's Koran, with its curious characters, and
the Book of Enooh brought from Abyssina
by Bruce, the African explorer, and my kind
cicerone handed me another volume whose
odd characters l took to be Arabic or Coptic,
but which was q book picked up at the cap
ture of Sebastopol in the Redan by an English
soldier, and which proved on examination to
be the "Pickwick Papers in the Russian Ian
guage.
Besides these there were specimens of all
the varieties of illuminated books made by the
monks between the years 500 and 1000, and
magnificent bookmalleTs they were, too; this
collection is perfect and elegant, and the speci-
mems of the rarest and most beautiful descrip-
tion, before which, in beauty or execution, the
most costly and elaborately illustrated book of
the day sinks into insignifcance this may
seem difficult to believe, but these rare old
volumes, with every letter done by hand, their
pages Of beautifully prepared parchment, as
thin as letter paper, the colors gold en-
blazonry, and all the different hues as bright
as if laid on but year, are a monument of
artistic skill, labor and patience, as well as an
evidence of the excellence and durability of
the material used by the old clustered church
men who expended their lives over these
elaborate productions.
The illuminated books of the hours, and a
Psalter in purple vellum A. d. 1000, are the
richest and most elegant specimens of book
work | ever looked upon. The execution,
when the rude mode and great labor with
which it was performed are taken into conside-
ration, seems little short of miraculous.
These specimens of Illuminated books are
successively classified down to those of our
own time. Then there were books that had
belonged to kings, queens, and illustrious or
noted characters in Euglish history. Here was
book of the Proverbs done on vellum, for
! Queen Elizabeth, by hand the letters but a
trife larger than those of these types, each
proverb in different style of letter, and in
different handwriting. Near by lay volume
presented by Queen Bess to her loving bro
ther, with an inscription to that effect in the
'Virgin Queen's' own handwriting. Then
we examined the book of Latin exercises,
written by Queen Elizabeth at school, and it
was curious to examine this neatly written
manuscript of school girl Latin, penned so
carefully by the same fingers that afterwards
| signed the death warrants of Mary Queen of
Scots and the Duke of Norfolk, and her own
favorite Essex. Next came copy of Bacon's
Essays, presented by Bacon himself to the
| Duke of Buckingham, and elegantly bound in
green velvet and gold, with the donors
miniature portrait set on the cover; then
copy of the first book printed in the English
language, and copy of Pliny's Natural His
tory, translated in 1476, Mary de Medicis'
prayer book, royal autograph book of visi-
tors to the University, ending with the sigma
lures of the present Prince of Wales and Prin-
cess Alexandra.
There was also a wealth of manuscript
documents, host OF curious old relics of an
tiquity have forgotten, and others that time
only allowed a glance at, such as the auto
graphic letters of Pope, Milton, Addison, and
Archbishop Laud, Queen Henrietta's love
letters to Charles before marriage, and Mon
mouths declaration, written in the Tower the
morning of his execution, July Is, 1855.
Among the bequests left to this splendid
library was one OF 1885, 900 for the purchas-
ing of the most costly illustrated books that
could be had, and the collection of these mag
nifcent tones, in their rich binding, was of
itself wonder; there were hosts of octave,
royal octave, elephant folio, imperials, etc.;
there were Audubon's Birds and Boydell's
Shakespeare, and hundred of huge books of
that size, many being rare proof copies. Then
We came to large apartment which repre-
sented the light literature of the collection.
For space of two hundred years the library
had not any collection of what might properly
be termed light reading. This gap was filled
by a bequest of one af the best, if not the
very best collections of that species of litera-
ture in the kingdom, which commences with
first editions of Cock Robin and Dame Trott
and her cat, and ends with rare and COSBY
| editions of Shakespeare's works,