The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-09-02

But to return to Mr.. Young's plans
which took shape years ago while he was
in Athens and which are outlined in his
own, words thus:
. What a.. pity, 1 thought, that the wonderful
sculptures of ancient Greece scattered over
all Europe. The Elgin. marbles in London;
the Vatican, the Louvre, the palaces of Florence
and many other places hold these wonderful
treasures: How glorious it would be for strug-
CLING Greece If, in her beautiful and historic
capital, Athens, one building contained all those
priceless creations of marble. If they were
housed in a wonderful temple modelled after the
Parthenon, what countless thousands would jour
ney to view. them. What wealth they would
bring to the land. ~
..,., A Crest Purpose. -,
Then / thought of that other greater art, the
one most glorious of all-Literature. Then and
there 1 made resolve that would devote my
life to forming library, which would be the
most adequate tribute l could make to the Art
of Literature. I proposed to place under one
roof In the beautiful city of: Minneapolis, which
love-. all the best books of the living writers
OF every country In. the world, no matter In
what language written. Each volume was to
be inscribed by the author in characteristic
manner. If the writer a poet, it would
be desirable to have poem written on the fly
leaf.a "A novelist should write of the manner. he
conceived his plot, concerninsss the principal
characters Of his romance; historian. some
thing of the history he related; biographer, Of
the life Of his subject; traveller, of the lands
he visited: theologian. of the religion he ad.
yocated; a philosopher or scientist, of the facts
or theories he had promulgated =. -: 49,
In. a general way, something should be written
about the book or concerning 1t, so that it be-
came at. once unique, and had attached to 1t
forever the personality of the author. In every
case the inscription should be signed and dated
Such should be the composition Of my library.
g.. Work of Collection.
According to Mr.. Bradys article in The
| Critic and to what is known in Mime
apolis the work of collection has gone far
and is being carried on industriously and
discriminatory. But even Minnea poll
tans do not generally know how extern
si1ely Mr. Young has collected his ma
terial, Mr.. Brady says: ;
| In fireproof vaults in Minneapolis and in fact,
In. similar receptaces in many Of the great capt.
tails of the world, the treasures of this collection
| are stored temporarily. To open one of these
| vaults at random and inspect the contents is a
delight to the soul. Books beautifully in
by authors and enriched by original draw
Eings by their illustrators, original manuscripts
| of famous works, signed photographs autograph
letters, already of priceless value and destined
! to increase with every passing year. meet the
observer on every hand. :" s.'.,,'
AS an instance of how the library. grows, Mr..
| Young; purchased S47 volumes from the library
of Emile Zola after his decease, all of which had
! been specially inscribed for Zola by intimate
] friends, some of them being unique copiel
] tiers include over one hundred by lola bearing
upon his desire to enter the French academy,
which was never gratifed.. =.
| a}a,2.7..,-E A Temple Of Letters. =
4 when the library is suitably housed in the
noble temple Of letters, which is planned to In
4 cluties it. on the banks Of the far and beautiful
I Mississippi with proper provision for it,
maintenance and perhaps its future develop
ment that spot will be the Mecca of literary pill
grims for generations yet, to come; and pass
| ing years will only increase the value of tina
rare colection-an unique library among thu
Libraries of the world .
| It needs scarcely any added word Of
ours to convince readers of T h e J o u r.
n al that Mr.. Youngs plans are certainly
large and as generous as large, and that
if 1.-The temple of letters planned to in
clude'' the library is undertaken on az
magnificent scale as the work of build
ing the library itself has been carried on
/, Minneapolis will one day have three
| fold added cause for pride-n the library
in the temple that holds it, and in the lib
, .eral donor. THE Uneasy Chair.