The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1876-02-22
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better understood If we know all the cir
| cumstances connected with its creation.
The history of The books in the Aston H.
brary would be q work of much interest.
| and when take up volume this thought
10 present. Books, like men, have their
| individual characters. Soine are true,
some partially false, while others are Who'll
ly frauds. Straznicky had great book love,
! but he never was an Efficient hand In the
service OF the public. The man who is al
most invariably met at the important post
IN the library is Frederick Saunders He
has been in books all his life. as a dealer.
book maker, and now librarian His
salad for the Solitary" and salad for
| the Sociable, are both charming volumes.
In all probability Mr.. Saunders will be pro-
NOTED to the place which death has made
vacant. This will give him q small in
crease in salary, but it cannot increase bis
duties, Tor he has for years borne the bur
den OF this great institution.
WHAT ONE FEELS.
| The Astor library contains nearly 1907
600 volumes, the aggregate weight of which
is 800 tons. When man looks into the
catalogue and sees how immense are the
| literary treasures which surround him. the
effect Is staggering. 1t impresses one with
consciousness of his ignorance. AS gaze
| upon the crowded shelves, reaching to an
elevation Of 80 feet, | may exclaim how
many volumes are here of which | have
never yet heard even the names The very
beat readers are seldom able to compass
more than a literature of one nation, but
in this place how many nations are repre-
| sented? One may here get an idea of the
brain work which has been applied to
authorship. To be deep reader Is rot e.-
sential to the collecting OF great library.
What is required is to be acquainted with
the character Of books, rather than their
contents. First class librarians learn the
reputation, as well as the names, Of au-
thors, and this serves much better than
perusal of their pages. Every v, lume in the
Astor has a value, due either to its author
or subject. The librarian must also know
the geography of departments, alcnves and
shelves, SO that he can readily place his
| hand on any volume 1t will require two
years OF practice here to become toerably
acquainted with this detail hut much
longer experience is needed to ensure a
rapid reference. Mr.. Saunders has in his
minds eye the entire contents Of the struct-
IRE, and can refer rapidly TO any volume
| required.
| BOOK HISTORIES.
AS have said previously, the history Of
books is in itself suhj'ct of great inter-
est. Some of the most useful have grown
out of small beginnings. John Bunyan
tells us that he did not expect to make a
volume when lie began "Pilgi ms Pro-
gres-." He says
When at the ,rst took my pen In hand
Thus Tor u write, did lot Understand
| | IA a lie HI,
Few who look at SO small avoume as
"Butlers Analogy" would thin.. it was in
the authors hands for 90 yc'r. ,,or you'd
any one who reads wv -erly" imagine
that the first half OF this be aiiuful tale Law
in the authors drawer for rs o years before
| he had r. solution to fnish it, The history
of Gibbons II ,me" is an interesting feature
in the photography, aud one might inquire
how an Englishman was led to grspple with
30 foreign and remote subject. l he su-
thor explains by saying that during visit
to Rome, one evening October 10, 176i.O
"as sat musng amidst the rains OF the
capitol while the barefoot friars were sing
| ing vespers the idea of writing tue decline
and fall of the first empire entered my
m nd" He also tells us Of the completion
| Of the work. ,'It was at Lausanne. the
night of June 81, 1877, between the hours
| of IL and II, that wrote the last lines in
q summer house in my garden" etc. The
autobiography o. Gibbon is to me fascin.
ating book, and the paragraph in which he
records his feelings as he finished his life
work is very touching. These scenes would
each make pretty theme tor an artist.
| ''' OTHER BOOK MATTERS "'
| Speaking of books, one is led to notice
some other peculiar incidents Thompson,
whose "seasons' were so popular, wrote
winter first, but it is the last IN the SERIES
Fielding wrote ''Tom Jones" in the brief
leisure which he stole from the office of po-
lice justice in London. Never before or
since has a police justice produced first
class novel. Fielding gives us In his next
book an instance of a parody which has
outlved the original This is found in
"Jos-ph Andrews which is parody on
Richardson's Pamela a book now hardly
heard Of. The librarian at the Aston will
tell you that Fielding Is seldom called for,
which ia not TO be regretted. But it s sad
to see how johnson is losing hold Oh pop
ulsr perusal. 1t is said that he composed
almost half of his satire "London" before
penning a line. Tradition says that he
| wrote ''Rasselas" in order to raise money
| to defray the expenses. of his mether's fu-
| neral This is a doubtful statement. Cole
ridges "Ancent Mariner" which is one
of the most popular of modern poems, fell
dead from the press but cultivated taste
now pronounces it a wonderful production.
Byron was made an author by the attack
opened on him in the Edinburgh Reriev,
but Henry Kirke White and John Keats
were both killed by just such attacks. How
differently these things operate Irving Of
tered his sketch Book" to John Murray,
| ~ hn mad IL ht,r ffar I'D lad tn,
be his publisher. The Bronte girls began
authorship by issuing volume of poems
on which they sunk Gl50 They then tried
novel, and sent 1t % six publishers, one
after the other, but each refused IL. Then
Charlotte determined She would vi rite one
that no one could refuse aed the wonder
full little genius produced "Jane Eyre
Such are among few OF the facts connect
cd with authorship.
ANONYMOUS
| The habit of publishing anonymously is
very ancient, and Virgil tried the method
when he wrote verses laudatory to The EN-
peror. As might have been expected, the
credit was appropriated by another, and
Virgil's strategy in exposing the fraudulent
claimant was capital hit. The most won-
ierful Of all anony mons writer's was the
author of "Junius' and his srcret is the
best kept OF anythng Of tbe klpd on rec
ord. II is generally admitted however,
that Sir Phillip Francis was the man Byron
issued "Don Juan anonymously, but
though he wac then in Italy the public soon
settled the question of its authenticity.
Another remarkable instance OF the kind
"The Doctor" Which sIprsred annoy
mously in london 90 esrs Hpo Iis style
snd its indications of extraordinary reading
20 the part of the ulhor, led ihe public 10
charge 1t to S1uthey lie was indeed its
tuthor, hut to blind the r-ader he intro
duced illusions 10 himsef ans ,rg other
| writer's, and actual, quoted some, of his