New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-11-26
NEW ORIEANs REPUBLICAN, SUNDAY. NOVEMBER 26. 1876

and this will NO doubt have the effect Of ct
least preserving the works for, II may DO,
generations. Although in the Times re-
ports of tho sale from day to day, the names
Of the purchasers of some OF the books
were Civ. n, it was impossible to give any
thing like IN idea of how and whittier this
sing ular collection has been dispersed In
this article it is proposed to show this ~ TAR
- 10 practicable.
There can be NO question that tho name
of Mr.. J., w. Drexel stands 1t the head OF
the list of purchasers. AL his valuable
purchases were made for him by Mr.. ID:
Fisher. of Nassau street. Next to Mr.
DrexeI, - purch sser Of very scarce books,
comes Mr.. Assy, of Chicago, for whom Mr.:
Joseph Sabine purchased. Mr.. Cooke, of
Providence, gathered in . vast quantity OF
good works, and Mr.. r. L. Stuart, ex-Sena-
tor H. c. Murphy, L. e. Chittenden, Mr..
Fredericksen, Mr.. Brayt0n Ives, Colonel
Hawkins, W. s. Ph@nix, Hon. John 4
Bartlett, L. w. Alexander, Mr.. Fisher
Howe, and . number of New York mer-
chants who objected to have their names
made public, were the prominent pur'
chasers. The library has therefore been,
to great extent, disposed among private
Libraries, and not few of the gems of the
collection will 60 to England. To begin
with, the purchases made by Mr.. Fisher for
Mr.. j. w. Drexel, the total sum ex-
pended could not have been much
less than $l2 900, probably the largest
sum expended by any one gentleman. Mr..
DrexePs object WAS to secure few works
of unsurpassed imporsance and, except at
this sale, absolutely unObtainable. In this
he was eminently successful, and he has
added to his magnificent private collection
at least two works of national Importance,
and one for which the British government
through special agent commended. The
Caxton, which was bought for $l0o5, was
only second IN value to the fine copy In the
Lenox library, and it would have been
great pity had Mr.. Jeffries succeeded in
carving off this noble work to London
The collection of Dibdin's photographed
works, in ffty-One volumes, wac also ap-
other prize to secure, even at the high
price of $3.50. The amount of care Will b
had been expended in gathering togeih
this unique collection can not be over
estimated. Such Q work can never be
duplicated, and at anytime it can not
fail to bring it's price in the mar
kst: The most Important '.as;.I purchase hs;.;
Of view, was the acquisition by Nj. Drexel
of the great "Washington" at = cost of
$4O8O. This work has already been fully
described in the Times, and it IL gratifying
that it did not 20 out Of the country. The
incident connected with the sale of the
Rembrandt Peale Assemblage of Washing.
tonian Nement0es gave additional interest
to the disposal of another highly interest
ing work. After the auctioneer had made
the statement that there was desire to 90
cure the work for Mount Vernon, there
seemed to be disinclinAti0n to bid against
any one who, it was thought, might pre-
sent it to tho nation. Mr.. Drexel secured
1t for tl75. 1t originally cost $500. It 10
not known what Mr.. Drextl will do with it.
Mr.. Drexel's other purchases were all of
very high class, and good judgment was
shown in the stlections.
Mr.. E. g. Assay. OF Chicago, was then the
next largest purchaser OF Americana. Mr..
Assy has been book collector tor many
years, and has now one of tho most valua-
bic private libraries in the country. When
the great tire took place in 1871 his house
was burned, but it was singulsrly fortunate
that, with Wow to keeping his books safe
during . visit to Europe, he had them oil
removed to M. Ssbin's house, in Brooklyn.
this sale referred to tho early history OF
American, and it 10 some satisfaction to
know that they have gone into the hands of
90 enthusiastic and accomplished student
of American history. The purchases made
by Colonel HAWKING were exclusively con-
fined to the very earliest specimens Of print
ing, aud although he paid high prices for
the few gems he secured, they were BY NO
means extravsgant. The purchases made
BY Mr.. Cooke, OF Providence, can not be
classified. Mr.. Cooke il "building up .
library" at any cost, and he picked mp
Q vast number of miscellaneous works,
for which he generally paid good prices.
1t WAS openly stated in the auction
room that Mr.. Cooke intended present
ing library to the city in which
he resides, and ON being questioned BY .
Times reporter, Mr.. Cooke laughingly re-
piled, SWELL, have never said that l in
tended to do such thing" The purchases
made by OK Senator Murphy, . genuine
book collector, who is also possessed OF .
magnificent collection Of rare works; We re
almost exclusively confined to works re-
| lstipp to the early settlement of this coun-
try. The other purchasers of rare Ameri-
cana were Mr.. Bartlett, Mr.. Chittenden,
Mr.. Ives, Mr.. T. L. Stuart and Mr.. Dwight.
the latter representing the Congressional
Library. It will thus be seen that while
the library has been dispersed, the more
| valuable works, especially those of his
| torical character, have gone into the libra
| ries of few well-knoWn gentlemen, whose
| refined taste and love for such books are
| proverbial. 1t would not be doing justice
| to the subject to close this notice without
| word of reference to the aucti0neer. MI
! Ssbin's reputation - photographer il nm
| eaualed, and NO one could spend an hour in
| the action room without noticing that the
| auctioneer was man of rare wit and had
profound knowledge of books. He kept
| Che audience in . roar Of laughter, and in
| terspersed his Jokes with remarkably frel
ssrcasms about public men, dead and
| alive.-Nesc York Times.