The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1871-08-24
Our Olio.
The Libraries of Paris.

Before the breaking out of the Com.
munist war Paris was rich in public
libraries. There were six Of these pro
perly so.called, but there were also large
aud valuable collections of books, man.
uscripts and State papers in various
institutions aud Government depart.
ments, which comprised most valuable
materials for his history. Ofthe latter,
much has disappeared, and some, pro
baby, destroyed. One Of the first cares
of the present government has been to
restore the public libraries, as far as
possible, to their condition as it was
before the war, and attention has been
specially directed to the Imperial Lii.
brary This magnificent collection OF
books aud manuscripts was by far the
largest and best in the world, the near.
est approach TO it being that OF Munich,
aud, after that, the British Museum. II
contained about ,SO0,000 printed vol.
umes, and about 200, 900 manuscripts,
the former being arranged on shelves
measuring, in all, seventeen miles; but,
strange to say, there is no complete
catalogue Of the contents Of this i'm
meuse treasure, and some portions OF
the manuscripts have not even been ex
amined, much less sorted There are
among them many ''palimpests, that is,
manuscripts upon which recent writing
has been placed over ancient writing,
and several valuable ancient writings
have been recovered through the re.
searches of profound scholars like Tis
chendorf and Michelet, who have traced
out the original writing beneath the
superscribed composition The practice
OF writing over other writing was com
mon 10 the middle ages, when paper
was scarcely knowa, and prepared sheep
skin or parchment was costly aud hard
to be got; and in consequence of it many
works of the cloister aud writers OF
Greece and Rome, as well as those Of
medieval authors, have been withdrawn
from sight, except by such labor as that
noted. A few years ago, the great Ger
man Biblical scholar, Tischendorf, while
studying in the Imperial Library, dis
covered copy Of one of the numerous
ESQ called) Apostolic Epistles which
were current in the second century Of
the Christian Era, but are now disputed
as apocryphal, and he strongly urged
upon the French Government the pro.
priety Of employing commission Of
experts aud learned men to examine
these manuscripts minutely Itappears,
however, that very little was dono by
the authorities in the matter. When
the siege cf Paris was commenced, the
books aud manuscripts were removed to
vaults aud other places OF safety, where
they fortunately remained during the
Communist convulsion, and thus escaped
the mad fury Of the demagogues and the
petroleum of the Paris Amazons. Some
idea of the value Of this truly "Imper-
ial' Library may be formed not only
from the number Of books and manu-
scripts above mentioned, but also from
it's possessing rare aud very valuable
works, in choice bindings, (formcrly
exhibited to the public in glass cases;)
among them were Gutenberg's Bible
(l450,) Faust's Psalter (l457, aud
several Of Caxton's carly printed books;
also autograph letters OF Henry Nv,
Louis XIV, Turcnne, Madame de Sew
igne, Rachine, Corneille, Molierc, Boil
H. a