The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1880-03-24


Mr. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
When and where the first public library ex-
listed in the world is one of the things we of
the present day do not know and cannot find
out. What person or persons first founded
such an institution, of what material its con-
tents were composed, in what alphabet or Ian
guage they were written, how large it was,
how long it lasted and what finally became of
it, are questions useless to ask because utterly
impossible to answer. All knowledge of such
matters has long ago persisted with the lost
and forgotten records of the prehistoric man.
1t may be considered as toleraby certain that
when mankind had once arrived at the point
of inventing writing, or to speak in broader
terms, the art of expressing ideas, thoughts
and facts by visible characters; the making
of books of some sort or form and the collect
ing of the same into some suitable place for
depositand reference, followed naturally and not
very remotely. Coming however from theregion
of mere probability to that of sure knowl-
edge and ascertained fact, we find that the first
library of which we have any trustworthy ac-
count was located in Egypt and also that the
oldest authentic books and manuscripts now
in existence, are Egyptian. These as most of
my hearers are aware are composed of papy-
rus, material which in its general proper
ties and appearance as well as in It's method
of manufacture, is not unlike the Hawaiian
tapa fabric, which, had the aboriginees of
these islands possessed written language,
would have furnished an excellent material for
the recording and preserving of their litera-
AZURE. 1t is not only curious but truly won-
derful to observe the perfect state of preserva-
ton in which many of these Egyptian manu-
scripts exist at the present day, after having
lain hidden in the temples and tombs OF that
wonderful peoplefor thousands of years. The
fibre of the papyrus is still firm and tenacious,
the colors of the ink clear and vivid, the char
acters perfectly legible, and now that modern
scholarship has discovered the key to the al
phabet and language in which they are writ
ten, we can to-day not only peruse Egyp-
tian history as recorded by her own historians,
not only read the achievements of her kings
and armies, but we can enter into her system
of government and religion, her domestic eco
nomy and the social condition of her people.
Sitting comfortably ON our own verandahs, we
can read the same poetry and novels with
which the contemporaries of Abraham and
Moses solaced their leisure hours and can even
copy the very prescriptions whereby the Egyp-
tian NJ. d. was wont to treat the various ills
to which Egyptian flesh was heir at time
when Joseph was telling fortunes in the court
yard of an Egyptian goal and the Hon. Mr.
Potiphar's beautiful and accomplished wife
was still a reigning belle at the court of King
Pharaoh.
1t is not my purpose however to weary
your patience or consume your time by at
tempting to detail the variety of forms which
books have assumed in different ages nor the
multifarious materials of which they have
been composed. Paper, leather, cloth and
textile fabrics of various kinds; tablets of
word, metal, ivory, stone, wax and in fact al
most every conceivable substance on which
characters and figures can be either written,
painted or engraved, have i'll their turn served
to record and preserve the products of human
thong lit and the record of human achieve
ments. One variety of book has however been
discovered in considerable quantities within
the present generation, which to us of to-day
seems so curious as to deserve passing notice.
In the course of the extensive excavations
made some years since by Mr.. Layard on the
site of ancient Nineveh, there was discovered
among the ruins of the palace of one of the
Assyrian kings, what on examination proved
to be the remains of a large library The
any of the materials usually employed for
that purpose, consisted of vast number of
thin plates or tablets of baked clay or earth
enware. These plates were covered with in
scriptions or writing in what is known as the
cuniform or arrowhead alphabet. The let
tiers had evidently been cut or stamped on tie
surface of the plates while the clay was in the
soft state and the whole thing then rendered
hard and permanent by baking, the same as
ordinary crockery. These plates were num-
bered and had evidently been arranged in
cases. The whole collection, or rather what
remained OF 1t, has been removed to the British
Museum, and the cuniform alphabet being now
as well understood as the Egyptian Hierogly-
phics, the scholars of our day can now read
the same records from the identical, self-same
pages which once met the eye of Assyrian
monarchs who were contemporary with the
Kingdoms of Israel and Judah and whose wars
and treaties with the chosen people are re-
corded in the Old Testament
AS before remarked the first library of
which we have any definite account was in
Egypt, having been founded by Rameses IL.
who reigned about 400 b. @. From what we
now know of the civilization and intellectual
development of that country, it is almost GER
tain that numerous large collections of books
must have existed among people of so much
wealth and culture, though it is probable that
the learning of that age like the learning of
many periods since, was mostly in the hands
of the priesthood. Many other nations of an
tiqulty had elaborate written languages, pro-
duced many books and collected Libraries. In
most instances all trace of these has long van
ished from the earth and time would fail us to
speak of them even briefly. Rome however,
tha ~. - H. Il
link between the old and the new, claim a mo-
ment's notice. To one Asinius Polio is as
signed the honor of founding the first public
library in Rome. At a later period they be-
came numerous, no less than twenty-eight
being mentioned as existing at one time, while
many individuals like Cicero are known to
have been enthusiastic collectors of books
But after all the Romans were essentially a
race of gigantic robbers and their literary
treasures, like their treasures of various
other kinds, were largely the fruit of the
spoilation of other nations. 1t was therefore
with a certain sort of poetic Justice that the
plumber Rome had been for centuries collect
ing within her walls, became at last the prey
of other races of marauders, fresher and more
vigorous than her own. In the successive in
vasions of the northern barbarians, the libra
ries of ancient Rome disappear from view, be-
ing either destroyed or hopelessly scattered
Before leaving these remoter periods, some
mention ought to be made of the celebrated
Alexandrian Library, perhaps the largest and
certainly the most famous library of all anti
guilty. Founded by Ptolemy Softer, this library
was enlarged from time to time and under
went various vicisitudes until the year A. D.
6l0 when it persisted on the capture of the
city by the Moslem forces. When the fierce
Arab tribes, filled with the fiery zeal with