New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-07-12
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
cp,,N,S 11TFRARy WEALTH.

c,7,1oGrF OF THE SPANISH LIBRARY BE BE;
QUEATHED BY GEORGE IiChHoh W91rSgY
Boston, 1879. Larse Svo, XIV, 4fo pp uo"''0 W.
umus. - III, ord
The publication Of the Catalogue OF spanish 'nu
Portuguese books that have excited so deep an -
terest among special scholars throughout 'no ,.
,zad world in connection with the life ana
- - ~ ceoroa Tclnor. and which were noOly
beoueathed by him TO the Boston Puohc li"i"I -
ON ,.,,e,t not 70 he recorded without emotion. Ever
s;noo tbo vear 1871. when the Tcknor collec''o"
WIS understood 10 have been ranIerreu Ho' i'
now historic halls in Bcacon-St. to the more 'c''
.;hIe galleries of the Public Library the spans"
49, and ,ihliophile have looked forward WIN
no small degree of impotence to the issue VI ."o
technical register of that collection Al I"S' "i'i
eight wears of careful labor on the part Oh 'e cur"
tors and corps Of aids, under the unrem''lhg uii'
100 Of Mr. Whitney the resut comes forth ahke
honorable TO the founder, the trustees ana inc eur
tor II is pleasant to know that on these clsallah
-. ,boro evist under one roof, accessible to
III Tho original treasures of the Peninsular press
rro its very inception down to the latest zdrzHed
of non Nfonso's time, Grave tones in venerable
llr,, from which Columbus may have mbloed
wisdom; volumes historical by reason OF lnqulsl-
tor,oI ink and scissors have their place beside the
monumental "Cervantes" OF Rivadeneyra, and the
inedit.,d Documents of Saliva and Sancho-kayon.
Here is the completest apparatus for the historian
of an Alfonso the Sage, or OF Charles ana Fmllp'
rs well as for the compiler of anthologles from the
savs of Juan Roiz to the most recent penny ballad
Of "Pepillo the Sghtless," champion minstrel OF
Madrid There is rich Ceryantes collection, and
Lone with Calderon in the scandaous paper and
nriut of the Fourth Philip and Second Charles. I'm
fine about 900 solid volumes, sin PAPA di6Vnd y con
nina basfdRte of one of the most remarkable, be-
sause most national and original, hteraturos the
world ever knew constitute notable reunion
lasting glory to country. 1t Is the best VndIca
lion OF the donors industry, worthy monument to
his learning the complement of, and the key to, his
uncomfortable history of the Spanish literature.
The execution of the "Tlcknor Catalogue" as IL
will always be called, is in view of the perpeAiteS
Inherent in this class Of compilations, vertable
triumph. 1t is arranged in alphabetic order under
the first dpelEd0 or cOgnOmen of the author, and
again nv cross-references TO the titles of his works
and even under the general subject of them. So.
nnder "Mraclc,D Hermit" Commerce" 81 Law
History Drama" Philosophy" America,
"Peru" etc, ETC.. a short memorandum OF every
writing on that head, saves the non-Speclallst a
world of trouble. Again, suppose, for example, the
ktudent remembers title, or part OF title, but not
the authors Nance by turning to the title, OF II a
fragment to the general subject he Will be reminded
of the name he seeks to recall, where full de-
'sils viii be furnished In the single case OF the
kpanish drama the importance OF this system is IN
calculabe. You may only remember Inc o'aI ol
gevilleD the Nina Boba," the Impulse of
Rlood , " Don Sancho," Carlos the Bewitched," or
even only "Roelas and Guadalupe" with tins
Catalocue Won will be " forwarded at once to des-
t,natlopp In case of controverted authorship, you
have the results of TcknoT, Wolff Schlegel. La
Barrera Saliva of Valencia, the editors OF the Au-
torres Espanoles" and all sources presented before
Won at a glance. Mr.. Whitney and his hard work
Ing corps in Boylston-st have accomplished great
work and put all book-men under lasting oDlIga-
lions. ,,
Weonly take exception to one thing, and that ad-
dresses itself TO the American cataloeWhg System III
n single particular. We stoutly protest against
abridged titles and colophons in rare and ancient
books What might we know If we had Heoer' La
Serua. Condo RcgO, the first Saliva La Romano ana
others. properly cataloguedi No economy was ever
more shorisighted Very often it happens that the
most valuable information to editions authors
ded;oqtorias penealoges and in many cases blogra-
phes night Le elected, if the titles and final notes
had been uniformly given in full, as is done IN Cal
lardo, saliva Mallen, and the recent sale cata-
Iocues Of PARIS. Illustrations OF this would require
O separate dissertation.
But the Catalogue with it. photographed values
Is before the public and it would be grstuitous on
part TO pursue Tue rev lev "a IT'S v''-N'' w i
fer TO set night some obscure pointsbecome so. be-
cause national feeling and religion eyade or ustoTJ
them-touchug the cause of the extreme rarity OF
Spanish book, of the good periods, and the dlihcui-
ties of securing perfect copies OF Them
The only wonder is that even the lnqusitors
eopies-audfew others survived the ho9a9aS-Should
have attained our times at all. From a. d. l23o To
the reaction against the liberty of worship in lloO
there was no settled legislation on books and goddess
Don JAYNE, Of Aragon, prohibited and destroyed
the first Spanish translation of the Bible made
Q233l by the Jew, RTab David klmCh, aud on 'the
other hand 80 years later Don Alfonso of Casrllle
translated the Bible again. as it exists in five folio
volumes in the EscuIial to-day. But when the Lee
,nousin Bible was printed at Valencia IN 117S the
Inouisition that rose three years after, prompt
10 commit the whole edition to the flames. The
fiery suppression of " heTetical, scandalous incon-
vepient and malsonant' literature that followed,
was the monopoly Of the Church. This invasion Of
the civil jurisdiction was feebly resisted by Govern
ment in 500. ten years after the expulsion Of the
Jews. On the Sth Of July, the Catholic soyereigns
issued the first literary edlct from Toledo Edi ion Of
AIcad 1903. TO- BY that document every ''pIess-
book" Euro de molde must have royal license ssu-
able by certain prclates, their Gpp0iatees, and
all suspected volumes were TO be burned OF course
the press sank again into the hands OF the Inqusi
ton where the trainers Of the Pragnat.c knew 1t
would.
From that date, as we Learn from the preamble of
Philip IFS decree Edition Of 1859, Jdlidd the III
qusitOrs who were a law unto themselves, pub
hshed annually lists of forbidden books, aftixing
them, like Luther's theses, TO the door OF parish
church and metropolitan cathedral. BY this means
the Erasmian reform, which was powerful in Spain
between 1926 aud 1850, utterly suppressed,
and its adherents. ike LUIS de Granada. John of
Ayila. Constantine, Luis de Leon, S. Francisco de