New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-12-24
MEMOIRS OF II. H. BANCROFT.
HISTORY OF A GREAT LITERARY ENIEK'
PRISE.


great literary undertaking which durln" peiioa
., ,Iir,v vcors has been pursued by MI. Ban
croft with uniagging industry and enthusiasm
7, &c hook which should he read widely. ior IL
is the chronicle of a peculiarly American ehei
prise: one which may with exceptional IA
actness be said to its genesis 10 ihhuen''0
and conditions directly sprin2ng from hinoii @
institutions and modes of life and thoueh' Il,
whole of the circumstances deserve 10 n~ s'u'i'"
carefully for they unique, ana 'neS die '"s
FESTIVE in Wholesome directions.
The early wears Of II. II. Bancroft were sf~n'
IN an Obio farm and there he Established dis
constitution. and learned to WORK ana a'So :"
nature and outdoor life. Thence he passeu, d.
-, h.. accidcnt to the business of bookselilhe'
in This State and when the gold excitement "
CaIifornia ran through the land he. Ike thous'n'
of vounr men lust entering life, was ura"" W WV
Pacific Coast His mining experience was s',iV
and bitter. hut he had the good sense 10 prom ~
il and 10 abandon occupation OF "i'm Nv
know nothing for one with which ne was 'al''i'"'
RookselinC at that time and In tha' rcRloD' ''S
no thought to have been rather I"Iloln "'p
A., a. = matter of fact there was always goo"
demand for literature in San Francisco a''el ~.
g., ,,vo or three wears of widness had passea'
end from the time Mr.. Bancroft oPNheu us
.tore in Montcomery-st. there was hd'"iS "'
;od whom he did not do we'll II mue'' ho"-
.r no clearly rointcd out that he possessed le
orLablo business aptitudcs lie SAYS hl"S'h
chat il was never diflcut matter Tor MIN " az
cumnlate property. and this Is opNlo"sN WY,
,houch not all the truth. Inc fac' Is 'ii"' IN
,iftod with that peculiar business iac"l'S' ooD
,,o,ding organizing and executive aoiii'H'
sterling Judgment and bold enterprise ny WHY"
fortunes arc acquired. and there can NC ho u'"'
49,, 70 no had devoted himself to the making oil
ooft
in tho country to-day. This is point I" ~
,as;od Many mon who affect to dcsplse
uoaltb lack altogether the faculties WHEREBY II
, no anasscd and thus only bcllttle wha' 10 w
,o,d their reach like the fOA III the ia""' D"'
here was man who had all the powers hecesSaiS
90 become a multi-millionairc. and VINO H'' ~"
1;heratalv turned his back upon his opportunities
IN order TO devote himself TO literature
Ar. Rarcroft's account of the beginning OIL hi'
life enterprise is very Interesting. IL gre" V"'
If a small thing. He Was collecting suo' 'oV"
about California could he plckcd up 'oi VIZ
,,urnose Of publishing a gazetteer. Vt the moment
his plans looked farther, nor did theN ioI io'N
t,orword As he searched for data ana doc"-
,oonts his eyes were opened by degrees to Inc l"c
chat n GREAT deal had been written a""u' N"i'
fornia and the Pacific Coast. mus ne was II" o'''
step bv step. in the path OF me speclal c"o'''''
and his interest enlisted In this aspect VI
the work long before il occurred 10 llh I" i'"N'
.n,. sorious use of the library he was bringing
,orctber. Beginning with books in EnelNh ne
naturally found soon that his researches must W.
carried into Spanish literature, ana tha' "eio
onc. oncned the magnitude of the task began To
he apparent After ransacing the hooN-s'or's
nj the Eastern States le was drawn 10 Europe
and in London and Paris he perhaps first realized
how costly an undertaking he was emharKco upon
Then came the sale Of q wonderful library ot HcN-
lean and Central American books, and b" p'r-
chased boldly and largely. his check having been
drawn for some $50. 600 for the acquisitions o'
that one auction. The more he had the more
the needs of his library expanded moreover ana
nv the time he had exhausted the placer dlgeIngs'
70 use a Californianisrl, and II became n]esSarN
10 drift" to follow the vein, the question no"
10 utilize this library was pressing one
It was not enough for him to possess the most
complete collection of books about the racine
Coast. This collection was nothing in his eyes
unless all that was valuable in II could he on
tracted and put at the disposition Of the world
Other men have fallen under the collecting passion
md have spent Incredible sum, in irving 20 create
nonopolies of certain lines Of literature hut who
among such dictionaries ever conceived the IDEA
of benefting the world by his hobby? Up 70
this time there but one method in all such
cases No matter how extensive the field TO he
explored if a man conceived the plan Of q great
history he set about extracting, classifying and
preparing the material with his own hands, or
at best, with secretary, nc'er rejecting upon
the precarious nature of such an arrangement, Of
the length of time involved. of the todiousness
of the work In this case the magnitude of the
scheme was itself enough To staggcr the bodcst 4;
for il was in contemplation 10 write the histories
of a score of nations, States peoples, to chronicle
the past of half continent, 10 trace the Vicissi-
tudeS of many centuries, to plunge into the dm
annals of extinct races whose monuments had
hafled investigations and to give an account al
numbers Of wild tribes whose customs were Ia
he digged ont of musty and forgotten trcatiscs in
many languages For any man to attempt
such work IN a single lifetime was quite evi
IDENTIFY impractlcablc but Mr. Baacroit had al
ready made up his mind that the work should hs
DONE and under his direction, and he was no,
one TO he turned aside by diG;cultes. BY methods
alike simple and ingenious and capable Of indcf
mite expansion, he made il possible 10 employ
large stan of assistants III extracting the nfoma
ton from the library in classifying IT. and i,
arranging it under large numbcr Of heads 81
methodically that the historian himself could
any moment lay his hand upon whatever facts o
references or authorities Inc required. Thus th
most pressing part of the problem Was solved
There might very we'll be work for lifetime eve
now. but means mad been found of avoiding Tin
hopeless confusion and the smothcrlng effect of
TOO pOnderous' collection of material.
All that was really valuable in thirty. forty
fifty thousand books could he got out and classific
and put IN shape for use. II remained only I
determine upon what plan the great work Shout
he arranged, and upon what point to begin il
Finally the history of the native deter
mined upon and prosecuted steadily until tn
five volumes covering that important and diff
cult subject We're completed. 1t then tina
the first knowledge of Mr.. Bancrofts entcrpris
WIS given TO the world. Expressions Of admir-
ton began 10 reach him from the highest author
ties and the verdict of almost unanmor
approval and congratulation. From that time II
work has proceeded steadily and RAPIDLY unt
nnAN whom NJ Rancrn1t is nhln IL annnIn.