The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-06-05
A VALUABLE BOOK FOUND
RARE VOLUME IN POSSESSION or
MIR. JAM S TERRY.


Bound Number of "nIercurius Polit-
GUS" Published Ina 1858, VIII be Pre-
sented to Yale To-day-The Only Copy
Ia the WorId-strnnge Condolences
Connected with Its Discovery.
James Terry Of II College street will
present to Librarian Van Name of Yale
university to-day one of the most valu-
able volumes that has ever been added
to the Yale library and one for which
the British Museum would pay almost
any sum for possession. The book re-
ferred to is one that Mr. Terry acciden-
tally came across during his extensive
research in the interest of colonial Ii
braries and is q bound volume of the
old English newspaper 'Mercurius Poll
ticus," a weekly publication The vol
ume that Mr.. Terry now has contains
a COPY of the paper for each week be-
ginning Thursday, March 20, 1858, until
the issue of March 8, 1859. 1t is the
only copy of the papers in the world
and for this reason and for the reason
that by finding this particular volume
the set which is now in the Yale library
will be complete. The set of the
"Mercurius Politicus" bound, now in
Yale, is three times as large as the set
in the British Museum. The coinci-
dences which led up to the location of
this volume are most remarkable and
would probably never occur again in a
lifetime.
Mr.. Terry was seen last night by a
Courier representative and he related
the way in which he came across the
volume of the "Mercurius Politicus."
Mr.. Terry said that in 1862 a man in
a certain town in the northeastern part
of the state made his will and in it was
d provision to establish a library in a
small Connecticut town.
Mr.. Terry went to the town named in
the will to see if the provisions of the
will had been fulfilled. While tracing
that out he came across a gentleman
having in his possession the treasured
volume. Mr.. Terry knew at first sight
that the book was a rare one. He was
unable to secure the volume and came
back and notified Mr.. Van Name the
Yale librarian, who wrote to the pos
SCISSOR of the book and who, like Mr..
Terry, was unsuccessful in getting it.
On looking up the volumes in the Yale
library it was found that one volume
was lacking and accordingly the set
was not complete. This stimulated Mr..
Terry, who determined to secure it after
a wait of about six months.
The owner refused again to part with
the book and a new thought struck Mr..
To taI 1,a ~ Nf
the Connecticut Journal, of which the
Journal and Courier is lineal success
sor, and started a hunt. He began on
the files of the year 1860 and examined
every issue of the paper, thinking that
there would be some advertisement or
communication concerning the volume.
Sure enough he was rewarded in his
line Of research. In one of the papers
in the year 1908 there was an advertise
ment of William Lyon of New Haven
for his missing volume of "Mercurius
Politicus," which set Yale already had.
This was another point in favor of Mr..
Terry. He though that if he presented
the advertisement to the possessor of
the volume he would have little trouble
i'm getting it, but he still refused to
part with it. Last week after a lapse
of several months Mr.. Terry went to see
the gentleman and came back to New
Haven with the book in his possession,
having paid no little sum for it. He
will turn it over to the Yale library to-
day and the gift will afford a most
welcome surprise, for no one connected
with the college knew last night that
Mr.. Terry had possession of the rare
volume.
Included in the pages of this book are
many historical items of great interest
The pages are about by and of
course the old English type is used In
the upper right hand corner is the num-
Der of the edition, the first One in this
volume being 400 "Mercurius Polticus
Comprising the Sum of Forein Inteli-
gence with the Affairs Now on Foot in
the Three Nations of England Scotland
and Ireland, for Information of the
People" This wording is in the center
of the page and under it comes the
date, which is as follows: From
Thursday, March rs, to Thursday, April
l. 1853" Under this line is reading
matter
On the first page of the book is the
beginning of an address to Oliver Crom-
well, and under the date of September
3, 1868, occurs notice of the death Of
Cromwell. The first seven or eight lines
of the notice are as follows white
hal September 8. His most serene and
Renowned Highness Oliver, Lord Pro-
tector, being after sickness of about
fourteen days (Which appeared an Ague
in the beginning) reduced to a very low
condition of Body, began early this
morning to draw near the gate Of death,
and it pleased God about three o'clock
afternoon to put a period to his life"
All through the volume are interesting
articles and advertisements.