The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-07-23
QUAINT, CURIOUS
AND NEW VOLUMES
JAMES MURRAY Dew EY's COL.
LECTION OF BOOKS.
He Has Them on view in One of
the Store Rooms of the Board of
Trade Building-Books Are All
Arranged in a Methodical Manner
That Makes It Easy for the Book
Lover to Find Just What He
Wants--Some Old Volumes. .

To the general public of Scranton
and vicinity it perhaps is not fully
| known that outside of the larger cities
| of the country that in this section of
| the state there is but one complete
store devoted exclusively to the sale
of books and books alone. Mr.. James
| Murray Dewey has recently removed
| to his handsome new quarters in the
| eastern store room on the ground floor
of the Board of Trade building. Mr..
Dewey has devoted many years of con-
stant study to photography. No man
in the land is in position higher than
Mr.. Dewey in this particular line. He
| is in touch with all the great book
| markets of Europe and America.
| And what a variety of books in prices,
binding, subjects, sizes and editions!
He has books ranging in price from 25
| cents to $500 a volume, on every sub
| ject from fiction to philosophy, and
| bindings from cloth to tree calf and
| the finest morocco. He has books
| printed the current year and books
| printed from the first types made by
| Gutenberg in Mentz, nearly $50 years
| ago. He has books from Ga mo to a
folio. from a vest pocket size to single
volumes large enough to tire a man to
| carry. -
The stock is so methodically arranged
on the shelves that If you are inter-
ested in a particular subject you can
find all the works in stock on that sub
ject at a glance. Works in philosophy
occupy one tier of shelves, books on
science another. theological works and
works on comparative religions, an
other; poetry, the drama, general lit
l. Nt.t.. IL a..
tion, and works of art-each subject
has its especial location on Mr.. Dewey's
shelves.
| STOCK OF ART WORKS.
He has an especially fine stock Of art
works, containing reproductions of the
most celebrated paintings in the world.
His fine illustrated editions of works
in general literature with steel and
copper plates or rare wood engravings
by noted engravers are beautiful be-
yond description. Among the illus
| trated works is a set of Goethe in the
original German and a handsome edi-
tion of Ovid's Metamorphoses in the
| original Latin with a French trans
lation on opposite pages.
| While Mr.. Dewey's stock is marked
by some of the finest specimens of the
perfection of the arts of binding, print
ing and engraving of these latter days
of the perfection of the useful arts. yet
he has few rare old works that show
by contrast the advancement in the art
of book making.
He has a folio Bible printed in 1477
1t is the Latin Vulgate, or st. Jerome s
Latin translation of the Scriptures
which also was the first work ever
printed from type. 1t was printed just
forty years before the Reformation
nine years after the death of Guten-
berg, the inventor of printing, and
| twenty-seven years after the first bool
was ever printed from type in Europe
This was printed six years before
Luther was born. The work is beauti.
| fully ornamented with elaborately
| wrought initials, all the exquisite han
diwork of monks who We're certainl,
artists in this difficult art of initia
illustration.
Mr.. Dewey has also a copy of one o
the earliest editions of Luther's Ger
man translation of the Bible. 1t wa
| printed in 1858, twelve years afte
Luthers death, and it is a quaint ant
interesting volume.
, AN OLD VOLUME.
Another old volume is a folio copy o
the very first edition of the King Jane
Version of the Bible, commonly calle,
the Authorized Version. 1t, of course
; bears the date of 1911, being a copy o
the original first edition of the Protes
tant English translation of the Bibl
most in use.
There are works also that have bee
in the Libraries of famous men. Their
is one neat set of IL mo. books boun
in tree calf from the library of tn
4 late Henry Ward Beecher and eac
I volume of the set bears the autograp
of the celebrated pulpit orator.
However, the most surprising fes
lures of all are the prices at which tn
books are offered. There is scarcely
y book that is not to be had here frol
80 to IS per cent. of the publisher
price, and editions difficult to obtai
s | he can get at auction prices.