Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-11-27

limited COltlOnS lana SDrne Only lOT pTl-
vate crcuaton--and almost all being
greatly valued by librarians and book
collectors the task was not a slight one
and might have been impossible to any
one but b. f.. Stevens. Before he died,
however, he had nearly completed 1t, and
he left instructions under which his late
partner and successor. Mr. Henry b.
Brown, shipped from London a few days
ago to the university box of the Henry
Stevens books This was received last
week, and the volumes, thirty-six in num-
her, arc in the Billings Library. Among
them are seven sixteenth century Span
ish historical tracts and letters, compris
ing Memorial of Don Diego Columbus,
Admiral of the Indies, 1920 to the King
of Spain, in regard to the attempts of
Las Casas to christianizc the Indians on
the American Terra t'irma, printed from
the original manuscript in the possession
of Mr.. Stevens; two letters of fernando
Cortez, 15il-i2, printed from the original
| manuscripts and three Las Casas tracts
of 1920 to 1854, printed from original auto
graph imprinted manuscripts concerning
izng the natives in the New World, with
epistles dedicatory, and abstracts in Eng
! lish also a letter of the dean and faculty
of the University Of Salamanca, 1911.
in reply to a question reIerred to them
| by Charles Y. of Spain, As to whether
| baptized Indians could be made slaves
! privately printed for Mir. Stevens from the
1 ;,, I,;..
portant letters and tracts are beautifully
printed in black letter. from the CHS
wick Press and bound in morocco. There
are catalogues of the America books in
the British museum; of Mr.. Stevens = own
collection of rare English looks; OF y 00)
American Historical Nuggets; taken from
| the Stevens diggngs' and of various i'm
portant sales of Americana in London
| Most of these catalogues are scarce and
| greatly priced, because they are larded
with valuable historical notes and
| quaint remarks. There is a copy Of
/ the Historical and Geographical Notes
/ On the Earliest Discoveries III America.
! showing up some of the mistakes of the
/ early navga tors and bund,rs oi geogra-
Atlantic coast of North America crept
in and then out of the maps. OF this ele-
cant volume containing a number of pho
toithoerarhic reproductions of early
charts of North America, only one hun
drcd copies were printed. Other volumes
are as follows:
Johann Schooner. Reproductions of His
Globe of 1923, Long Lost" The only know,
copy OF this ancient globe came to lisht
in l's5, and was secured by Mr.. Stevens.
On it America instead of being broken up
into many islands, as in previous globes,
appears as one continent. Among the
Illustrations are facsimilCs Of four earlier
globes. One such globe, believed by Mr.,
Stevens to be the earliest post Columbian
globe extan;, of engraved copper, WAS
noticed by Mr.. Stevens, being kicked
about the rooms of the late Richard NJ.
Hunt, by Mr. Hunts children. Mr.. Hunt
had picked it UP for trine in a town in
France, and had no suspicion Of its valIe.
it is now in the LenoX Library.
Bibles IN the Caxton Exhibition, 1877, "
being a description Of one thousand Bibles
in various languages, from Gutenberg s
Bible Of 400 to the Bible printed. complete.
ana bound. in twelve hours of one day,
the Goth of June. 1877, at the oxford Press
the greatest typographical feat ever per
fornicd-to commemorate in part the 4G0th
anniversary of the publication of the first
book printed (by Caxton) in the English
language. In the introduction to this list
"sting history of the art of printing as
illustrated by the printed Bible, and
among other things unravels the mystery
which up to the issue of this volume, hao
hung around the place and publisher OF
the Coy erdale Bible of 1855, the first com
plete English Bible, called by Mr. Stevens
The most precious volume in our Ian.
guage'; and in the prologue to the intro
duction, which he entitled The Favour,
he pays his respects to some of the critic.
of the Saturday Review. and declines tC
submit to their "Saturdalian drbble o.
biblical stuff and nonsense"
History of the Oxford Caxton Memoir
ial Ril le' privately printed at the Elzevi
Press for the author.
"Renjamn Franklins Life and Writ
ngs." This contains a history of th
Stevens collection of books and manu-
scripts relating to DR.. Franklin. which
was purchased by the United States gov
, eminent for $4,000
, "Rccollections of Mr.. James Lenox
, describing, among other things, the for
G nation of the famous Lenox Library
about which Mr.. Stevens knew as nue.
as Mr., LenoX himself, for he spcn
a twenty five years in ransacking Europ
h for nuggets for it, and other years u
the catalogue of the library which Wa
h never completed.
4 "Who Spells Our English Books Iii
;, tie typographical gem, long out of print.
:, American Books with Tails to En-
private list of unfinished American per
h, odicals, memoirs, reports, journals an
the like, supplied by Mr. Stevens to tn
a British museum.
Others of these books are equal
worthy of special notice; but not to fun
ther extend these notes we only mentio
three posthumous works of Mr. Stever
contained in this collection, viz:
THE New Laws of the Indies, for IL
Good Treatment of the Indians" This beat
a tiful books fac smile reprint of the orit
:, nal Spanish edition OF the laws promu
gated by the Emperor Charles the FIT
70 hn nj, ltua ttnp Of hn Anna rion,, l,