The morning times., 1895-10-19

notably rich In early printed books, has
many hundreds OF volumes OF great rarity
| and value OF books printed prior 10 the
year 1900, or what are known as IDcuna-
bula, or cradle books, published in the
| infancy of the art of printing, there are
| some four hundred volumes, representing
| every year from 1867 TO 1900 These are
all printed in black letter or Gothic type,
| and are predoDdera,ely in the Latin Ian
guagc, although some are in Italian and
| French
''The oldest book In the library is Con
stituti!ons OF st. Clement a folio of 1867,
on large, handmade paper, in beautiful
| gothic type and is remarkable for the
elegance and uniformity of what printers
would term the mixing. In fact. the even
ness OF the impression on every leaf would
do credit to the best printing office OF the
nineteenth century
Among the most valuable and inter
estlng OF early printed books n our Ma
tional Library are the first editio a of
many notable English writer's There Is an
original OF the first Shakespeare fobos OF
1923, as well as original copies of the three
succeeding editions of the immortal bard in
folio.
RARE PARADISE LOST.
"The first edition of Milton's Paradise
Lost, of Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy,
and OF Walton's Complete Angler, a rare
and curious book, are also found.
''Some very early black-letter translations
of the Greek and Latin authors, as Ovid's
Metamorphosis, Eliny's Natural History,
Virgil, Homer, Seneca's Morals, Cicero.
Plutarch's Lives, Livy, etc, are
to be found In the collection.
The first editions of most of the great Eng
lish writers of the~seventeenth and eight
eenth centuries have been gathered, while of
authors who are honored with several re-
printed editions, the last and best edition
is also generally found.
"Inearly printed books relating to America
both north and SOUTH he continued, 1.-The
Congressional Library is particularly rich.
Here may be seen John Smiths map OF
New Eng land, printed In 1916, which Ia
actually an account of Virginia, and is
the first history OF that early colony, put
forth with a map. Numerous tracts and
pamphlets relating to Virginia, published
between 1909 and 1850 are also here.
EARLY AMERICAN BOOKS.
"The original of Hamor's Virginia His
tory, Thomas's History of Pennsylvania,
Denton's New York, Josselyn's New Eng
land, Lawson's Carolina, Lederer's vir-
ginin, with map, and others too numerous
to name in this collection are among
the precious nuggets of the Governments
Library.
"Some OF the most valuable and un-
common of the Americana, in the very
rare cases when put up at auction from
private Libraries bring from 500 to $500
each.
mo opportunity has been neglected for
many years past of adding to the large
and pricel ess collection OF books re-
lating to the discovery, settlement his
tory, topography, biography, and national
history OF this country. 1t is obviously
the business and duty of the great National
Library of America to collect sedulously
in this field.
'While the Congressional Library should
be very strong in political science. Juris-
prudence. and economies, as befits great
legislative library, it should also possess
every book and pamphlet relating to the
United States in its widely distributed
domain, as we'll as those illustrating all
the countries of the American continent
and adjacent islandA"