Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1884-03-30
RARE BOOKS.
The Craze for Costly 0ut-of-PriEt
VCIumss,
A Chat With a Well. Known New York
Dsalcr-Some of the Best Known
American Collectors Features
of their libraIu..
New York Mail and FyDres,,

New York Mail and Express.
Dir. Woodward, the we'll known sell
Ter of rare books, surrounded by thOus.
ands Of musty but rare and valuable
volumes, discu ssed bibliomania with a
reporter for the Mail and Express yes.
teIday. "Iu order to be successful
book colItctcr," said he, "a man re.
quires plcuiy Of money, and should
have spare million for which he has
no other use before beginning. James
Lenox had it. John Carter Brown, OF
Providence, is to day one Of the heaviest
buyers of rare books I know Of He
has several hundred thousands thus In.
vested already. Henry G. Murphy,
whose collection was lately sold, spent
a large amount of money in books, but
his collection was not as choice as lovers
of books imagined before it was cata-
logued for sale. Murphy started out
forty years ago as a collector, and en-
toying the advantages he did,
should Have Captured More Nuggets
than appeared on his catalogue. His
ministry to Holland under Buchanan
threw him into the midst OF the best
book mArts in the world, and it was
supposed that he had awaited himself
Of his opportunities. During his min.
istry he also made frequent trl ps to
Paris, where to-day more rare old
American books are on sale than In
New York. l notice that one of the
books of his collection was bought in
1915, according to the catalogue. That
was time when many books were
purchasable for q - bill that would
bring more than 500 now.
"The
Greatest Living American Collectors.
so far as l can tell, are Charles II. Kalb-
tleisch Of this city, BraytOn Ives,
Charles J. Barnes, of Chicago; TheO'
dore Irwin, of Oswego; DR.. Thomas
Adds Emmet and DR.. Samuel 5. Pur-
pie, OF New York. Possibly in running
over these have omitted the most con.
Scicuous collectors, but for the moment
Icannot recall the names of any Others.
A great many men who in their time
made some stir a. collectors sold the re-
suit of their Iabors. John A. Rice and
| Z. G. Assay, both OF Chicago, were two
who did this. At q profit? Well, ]
hardly think so. Collectors, when
they sell, do so at loss, as a man has
got to live some years to have the in
crease in value cOunterbalance the cost
If selling. Rice, after making his col
ecti0n, sold it at auction In New York,
ma Assay disposed Of his to l.. Il. Lei
Ter, u millionaire Of Chicago, who has
,Gded to it. The collection of Mr.. kalb'
teisch is mainly of Americana.
| although not confined to that line.
.c&rcely know how to characterize 1t
It is probably one OF the richest OF Its
,!ze ia the country, and in value would
Average more Per Volume
than any other. A few hundred vol
umCs is Tie extent of it, but they rep
resent tens of thousands of dollars
Barnes, of Chicago, IS the great pub
Usher Of that city. He has rare and
costly books Of every description, but
his prOclivitIes are toward Americana
| Ives | hear of as a careful buyer Of
| costly books. BaIlow's collection Is one
of the finest and most interesting Of
Americana in the world. 1t is made
up of the Col. ASpinwall collection
which he acquired about twenty years
agO, and one or two otlers. ] do not
believe he has added much TO it lately
| as have not heard of him as buyer IN
recent years. Irwin has a Gutenberg
Bible among his rare volumes. dc
not know to what line DR.. Emmett con
fines himself, hut most Of his works are
American. He has spent great deaI
on rare prints and engravingS for use as
extra Illustrations. DR. Puppies passion
is for works on genealogy."