Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-11-19


IN dingy Paris book -tall and =! she same time
purchased an edition OF the memoirs Of Mar, hal
suchet, Duke Of AIbufera. which contains the
authors own written presentation OF the book
20 Beliiard. then the French minister ~ war
London yielded Gen. Pike A rars 80 ~ a., IA
drama which was once owned by Horace Wal
pole and bears his autograph. and dozens 81
volumes on travels round out the mrs, half q,
the library.
REVIEWS AID JOURNALS
In the matter Of reviews and Journals the
organization il particularly rich. Archa,elop,cal
reports Of the Royal Academy run in cou,ple,o
series to within the last year or two. and tba
ROYAL Historical Society Is honored In tho same
way. The most interesting set OF Journals
though, comprises tIirty-four volumes, The
entire output Of the Royal Asiatic society he
tween the wears 1892 and lsS2 The earlier
numbers 81 this collection were very difficult 10
obtain and caused Gen. Pike an expense Of
hundreds of dollars. Two hundred volumes
bearing on the folk lore of all nations bring the
philologist down TO fac copy of each publca-
ton under the auspices OF the Early English
Text and Clarendon Historical societies. which
are mainly valuable from their completeness.
Gen. Pike was also fortunate as 20 securc .he
original Townley Novel; manuscript. with an
immense number of reprints OF an exceedingly
costly nature. Among these are Bibliothcca
Cnriosa and CollectRnca Adamaatea but par
ticuiarly rare is Higgins Anacalypss. Forty
SIX large 4oo-page volumes contain the scientific
results of the cruise of ii. VI. Challenger from
1873 70 1876. bat the set il a substitution work
not yet complete. although il has so far drawn
S4I4 for Its representation
From an artistic standpoint there is nothing
more highly priced in the library than two
large and htteen smaller portfolios called the
Superbillus of Basilica iii San Marco in Venice
Historical as If Is, and one Of the most superb
pieces OF foreign architecture. the Cathedral Of
-. Mark. or the Church of Gold. as it l. some
times called, was never honored with finely
engraved illustrative publication until 1878.
After ten years constant work the elegant adli-
tlon wes completed four years ago. and already
the seventeen folios are regarded bv connois-
seurs as worth double the S622 originally ex-
pended for their purchase
Copies of coins far back as the widows
mite OF biblical times are a fairly large repre-
sentation, but the most unique exhibit is a set
OF engravings made in 1885 from the collections
OF antique gems belonging to Earl Percy and
hon. {. F. Greville of London. These are now
in the British Museum. and from the fact that
further ensravings Of the kind are not likely 70
be ever reproduced the local possession Is an
oddly among oddities.
RARE ANCIENT FoIros.
Ancient folios are plentiful, and some OF the
first are those of Montfancon and Antiquities
Explained and Represented in Sculpture" The
latter comprises seven volumes and all wore
struck off in 1921. A Virgil printed at Parma
by Bodomain in 1898 is one of only twenty-five
copies, and three volumes OF Pitixos Lexicon of
Roman Antiquities. 1888, and seven volumes OF
Caylus' Antique Egyptiennes done at Paris
IN ILo6. are equally rare in their class. Some
1000 individual works of fiction of the heavier
quality, dozens of the original editions printed
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries In
Guiding the old romanees of chivalry about the
time of Charlemagne and Beowulf. and publi-
cations of the Palestine Exploration Society are
in n dnd rr.sh
North and South American Indian languages
The amount of research required for these last
mentioned works can scarcely be estimated
and the value Of the productions is bound to
| increase in the course Of years But il an i'm
mense amount OF research was necessary in the
instance referred to, the calculations fiend
would be compelled to brush up his arithmeti-
cal progression theories to figure out how much
of student an author must have been 70 cor
rectly translate the Lords PRAYER into LIS Ian
guages. Yet that is what some unknown
author did, and Bodomain printed the result of
his labors at Parma in lS06.
This book Gen. Pike also donated. and from
Its remarkable get up alone il would be valua-
Bile aside from the fact that the copy belonging
here was the private edition printed for Prince
Eugene Napoleon the adopted son of the great
Corslcan and at that time viceroy of Italy Like
many OF its companion books in the library,
/ the "Oratlo Dominica, as the title denomi-
| mates 1t, WAS found in Paris and obtained at n
| small cost II evidently drifted to the French
metropolis after the fall of the first empire,
and then escaped notice until Gen. Pike tiiscov-
cred the prize. Although a large effort in size,
each page contains small. darby ruled square.
within which the real printers impressions
were made. The title and presentation TO
/ Prlnce Eugene are Contained in the earlier
pages and numbers Of others succeeding are
devoted to the Introductory treaties covering
what the author declares "a his object in the
| Latin tonSue-the dissemination of the Chris
tan religion. The prayer follows in each dia-
lect known TO the earlier Christian nations and
| none are omitted from Hebrew aud Sanskrit TO
| Persian and Chinese. Altogether il is a wonder
ful composition, and its value in dollars and
| cents is something that bookworms will hardly
be made acquainted with. for the Supreme
Council would not part with it under any cir
curnstances.
Outside Of a few serial publications. which
are not vet complete. the library has probably
reached its limit in size, for the new rule prac-
ticaliy precludes further purchases. But If the
entire collection should ever be sold its addi-
ton TO the Congressional Library would make
Uncle Sams literary property tine finest in point
OF Quality in the world. although several
foreign libraries are three times its size in
quantity.