Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1900-07-10
WORKS OF ART
Owned by Akron Man.
Mr.. William n. Hunt Has
Fine Collection
Picked up In His Exten-
sive Travels.
Bricks Taken From Ruins of
Pompeii.
Four Thousand Photographs Taken In
Foreign Countries.

Foreign Countries.
The Cleveland Sunday Leader con
tanned very interesting article in ref
erence to a collection Of photographs
possessed by William III. Hunt. for
merly a well known Akron man. The
article is printed below. 1T reads:
Hidden away in trunks and packing
cases and consigned to the safety of a
storage house, VIM. H. Hunt has one
of the finest private collections of pho
tographs in the country. \ part of the
collection Mr.. Hunt keeps in his rooms
at the Stillman for the satisfaction of
his friends, but there is room there for
but a small portion of the collection,
and the remainder he has been compcll-
ed to store away.
Mr.. Hunt has also what is supposed
to be the only collection of ancient
Pompeian' and Roman bricks in the
country, for the reason that bricks are
about the last thing traveller in for
eign countries would think Of collect
ed by this collection, however, that it
is sent for to be exhibited at the con-
Nentions of brickmakers, builders, and
architects held from time to time in
various cities. Mr.. Hunt always yac-
cedes to these requests, and his col
lection has been seen by thousands Of
of the men directly interested in bricks
and their uses.
The circumstances under which the
collection of bricks We're made We're
odd. Some years ago professor in
one of the educational institutions of
Pittsburg brought home from a Euro
pean trip "a brick. He had taken it
from the wall of one of the ruined
houses at Pompeii bringing it merely
as a memcnto and not for any particu-
lar interest in bricks as bricks. The
manager of n brick manufacturing
company happened to see the brick
and borrowed it. Using it as a model
he had made a new style of bricks,
which he called Pompeiian, and adver-
tised as modelled after the bricks used
in the building of that ancient city,
and dilated on the virtues of the bricks
used in Pompcil because they had
withstood the ravages of the centuries
that have passed since that wonderful
city was built. As Il matter of fact
the bricks he made were not the Pom
peian bricks i'm material, shape or any
thing else, for the reason that bricks
like those of the Pompeiian make
would not be useful for modern build.
ings. The advertisement was effect
i've, however and many thousands of
the so-called Pompeiian bricks were
sold
The matter attracted Mr.. Hunts at
,ention. and the next time he was in
Europe he took the trouble to add to
his collection specimens of each of the
different kinds of ancient bricks he
could find in Rome and Pompeli. There
are about 20 different varieties In Mr..
Huns collection and not one of them
would be suited to modern buildings.
l'hey are very irregular in shape and
are not often more than an inch and
half thick, although larger In their dl-
menslons than ordinary modern bricks.
'"TLe ancients of Pompeii and other
similar cities" said Mr.. Hunt, to
reporter, never used bricks for the
facing of the walls they built. The
bricks were always covered with
suarlace of stucco, plaster or cement
so that they were not seen at all SO
long as the building remained in good
state of preservation. For that reason
there was no occasion for them 10 be