The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-03-29

tupieces Of TASTE, valne and elegance. The
three SUBSEQUENT reigns had little lnf1H-
ence on the tate, nov IN fact assured. OF
the kings library Under Charles *.
Jean Gosselin superintendent the transfer
of the collection from fontainebleau .
not known, bat they safely weathered the
stormy period Of the league Henry ".
caused the library 20 be Installed at the
College de Clermont-now Lycee LoulS-
Ie-(irsnd-left vacant BY the JeSuits who
had recently been expelled from France. 1t
was next transferred 10 the convent Of the
Cor1eliers. and under Louis KILL, when IL
Numbered Is, s46 volumes. to . spacious
house in the Rue de II Harpc. The latter
monarch added 100 vo.umes purchased
from Philippe Huranls. bishop Of Charities.
An important distinction should here be
made between the kings library and the
kings cabinet The former has grown 10
be state collection. while the latter re
manned the kings private property. The
kings cabinet Was az the Louvre. and no
confusion is ever made between the two
repositories. At later date the king >
cabinet bore the name Of the library of the
Louvre; il was burnt down .; the time of
the commune. and Little remains of the
once unique collection Of precious objects
il contained
The royal library assumes considerable
importance under Louis XIV. In 1.666
Colbert purchased two houses adjoining
which the hooks were removed. The
most important acquisition made by that
monarch were. The collection OF the
brothers DEpuy. comprising 1000 vol
uIhes, that Of De Thon. together
with the cabinets Of Charron de
Menars and Jolly de Fleury; that
of CASTOR d'Orleans. full Of treasures
brought from the Luxembourg palace; that
OF Mentel. 1a.0O volumes; and the coilec-
lions of Able de Marolles, Maurice de Tel
lier. archbishop of Rheims, Jean Bigof, De
Gaignieres, etc. AT the death OF Louis
XIV. il Is computed that there we're no
fewer than 1000 volumes in the royal
library.
The number of precious books continues
10 increase during the whole Of the eight
eenth century In LII Charles d'Hozier
donates his genealogical cabinet. !" which
becomes the nucleus Of tina. priceless coli
lection OF title deeds nov belonging to the
National library. In i7S2 Seigneiay made
an offer of has great uncle Colbert's cabi-
net 70 the king, which. among other pre-
cious objects, contained upHards of GOO
antique manuscripts. The Faiconet. H1et
and La yalliere collections were further
gency of the Due d 'Orleans, the buildings
proving inadequate for the number of vol
umss which had accumulated. the books
were transferred 10 the present edisice, .
mansion thaf formerly belonged to Cardi-
nal Nazarin.
Hitherto the kings library had been
normally accrued by gifts, purchases and
however. changed this regular condition
of things, and assigned to il q mass of
books and manuscripts arising from the
connseation of all the libraries belonging
TO the monastries and other religious es-
Establishments which we're suppressed in
l.39 Among the larger collections thus
acquired were those Of the Grands Angus
the priory Of the Bsancs- Manteau, the semi
mary of the foreign missions and the alb
bey of Saint Victor.
The upShot was an over-crowding which
proved detrimental 70 the proper preser-
walton of the books. The people, more
over, when the collections were removed
from their old repositories, committed
acts of vandalism for no other purpose
than TO show their allegiance TO the new
order Of things which had set in. Thus,
the rich bindings, whereon figured the
biaxonry of armorial bearings and the
covers decorated with religious emblems,
royal crowns and coats Of arms were ruth
lessly gashed and torn by rabble Of
fanatic tools. The convention had TO pass
a decree forbidding this wholesale destruc-
ton of books and art objects under the
feudalism and royalty" The decree.
which was rendered in the second year OF
the republic (17ai1, came much too late.
however. TO prevent the loss of many valu-
able works. Two years previously, no
fewer than 1000 boxes full of historical
and genealogical documents belonging to
the Olairamhault calumet were publicly
burnt in the Place Tendome.
Accidents also occurred. such as the IRE
which broke out ar the library OF saint
German des Pres, usar which church some
idiot had established powder-magazine
Administration and official simplicity,
moreover. added its quota 10 popular van
dalism. Not TO have the trouble of trans
ferring . library which had been confisca-
ted by the authorities. the whole would be
summariiy disposed Of by weight 10 any
publisher, who thus scquired a fortune for
a few crowns In more instances than
one the military authorities were supplied
with paper stolen from among the heaps OF
hooks which had not yet been inventoried.
If anything, the depredations were per
haps less wanton IN Paris than in the
provinces, where for many years the ar
chives furnished any amount of parchment
a; nominal price.
Those among the coniiscated collections
which reached the National library re-
NAMED intact and were at once classified
The labor this work enfaile3 on the direc-
tors was, of course, enormous, and greatly
rebounds 70 their credit
Since those troubled times the National
library may be said 10 be without any his
tory. II weekly receives copies Of all the
books or printed matter published
throughout France: 1t purchases the more
important works that appear abroad. and
il daily receives disinterested. but no. over
important, donations contributed from
private sources. Yet. even within the
present century, il has been augmented by
fairly valuable collections, such as the
therin cabinet and an additional Hozler
cabinet, which has notably increased the
Old stock Of title-tseeds: the Labedoysie
collection of 1000 volumes bearing on
the French revolution, 20oo volumes on
Nol;aire. contributed BY Bencho1. and
800 volumes by Noniaigne, donated by
Layen. etc.
The fact. however, that many Of these
volumes already Agure on the shelves OF
the National library Getracfs sornew hat
from the yalue of such collections. one
OF the most precious acquisitions of late
years Is rhe Ashburnhanl collection. al
most entirely made up ef precious manu-
scripts, stolen IN France by the famous
Liori and sarreptitiously sold oy him in
England The noble earl, who had ex-
pended large sums in their purchase. did
not hesitate. as soon as he learnt how they
had been procured 10 make restitution Of
them 10 their rightfnl owners. The nego-
tsailons which leu up to this honorable ar
ranreEnent were very ably conducted by
NJ. Leopold Delish, the present director Of
the National library.
MAg2rIs TX Gousxoxr.