The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-06-02
LOSS OF RARE BOOKS
Sutro's Library, Which San
Francisco Can Never Replace.
BURNED UP IN GREAT DISASTER

BURNED UP IN GREAT DISASTER
Valuable Collection Gathered By
Former Mayor In His Lifetime and
In Litigation After His Death.
Shakespeare Folios and Manu-
scripts ON California; History.
An irreparable loss of the San Fran
cisco earthquake was the destruction
of the great Sutro library Of old books
collected by the late AdOlph Sutro, for
mer mayor Of the city. says the New
York Sun. This was stored in two d.
visions, one in the Upham building at
Pine and Battery streets and one In a
building at Montgomery and Washing
ton. 1t is known definitely that the
Upham building was destroyed by fire,
and the other building, being an old
structure not fireproofed, in the center
Of the burned district, must have gone
too.
Early in his career Sutro developed
q hobby for old books and conceived
the idea Of collecting a great library
of them. For ten years he and his
agents bought all over the world. Al
though he was imposed upon by
great many forgeries and acquired
much that was valueless, he made
some fortunate purchases, and his
wholesale method Of buying enabled
him to get a great deal Of gold along
with the dross.
For example, in 1885 or thereabouts,
Bavaria confscated the property Of the
Catholic monasteries in the kingdom.
Their books were Jumped into one
great lot, and Sutro bought them all.
including thousands Of manuscripts
dating back before the age Of printing,
which have never come under the no
tice of scholars. In the same way,
when the Mexican government discov-
cred a forgotten collection of books,
memorials, diaries and manuscripts
bearing upon the early history of Cali
! fornia and Lower California, especial
" the mission period in the boundaries
Of the present United States, he bought
them all. This collection, from which
it was prophesied the true history of
the old Pacific coast would some day
, be written, was never even taken from
! it's boxes. He had q standing order
with Quaritch for certain lines Of
books, and he was willing to pay any
thing for what he wanted. In the end
the collection reached a total Of about
225,OOO volumes. When it had grown
to that size Sutro brought bookman
named Moss from the British museum
and had him make beginning of clas-
styling and cataloguing it. Moss began
to straighten it out, but he had worked
1897 Sutro died also.
It had been his intention to give the
collection either to the University Of
| California or to San Francisco, but he
! left no late WILL The only one in ex-
istence was drawn up before the time
| Of his collection, and it left all his
books and papers to his sister, DR.. En-
ma Sutro Merritt. There followed
double contest over his property, which
was found to have deprecated greatly.
| A Mrs. Kluge appeared, who said that
she was his wife by contract mar
rage, and some Of his children by his
| first marriage raised contest Of their
| own The estate has remained ever
since tangled in the courts. DR.. Merritt,
who had temporary custodianship Of
the library, closed it absolutely. Since
that time no one has been permitted to
enter it except a custodian and an &C.
casiOnal scholar who has been able to
| get through the red tape which sur
! rounded it.
classified no one living knows abso-
! iutely just what was there. Here. how
| ever, are some of the known treasures:
He had a complete collection Of
| Shakespeare fOliOs-frst, second, third
and fourth. Some Of the early pages
of his first folio were missing and were
supplied in facsimile. The pages Of
the second folio were slightly scorch-
ed, because it had passed through the
London fire-to perish. probably. in the
San Francisco fire two and half Gen.
turtles later. There was nearly a full
set of folios of Ben Jonson.
The collection Of Shakespeariana in
cluded the rent ron of Shottery Mead.
ow, Stratford.
An old prayer book and a hymnal,
bound literally in boards, were inter-
esting historically, for authenticated
documents showed that they were the
very books placed In the hands Of
Charles II. on his re-entry into London
after the restoration. His collection of
the Book Of Common Prayer was very
strong, including most of the famous
editions from the time of Edward VI
down to the last century.
A random summary of the other
SHOW books would include some
specimens Of Gutenberg and Caxton
printing, great deal Of fine work
from the Aldine and Elzivir presses
several firsts of Ben Franklin and
many rare and valuable !ncunabula
OF the Hebrew collection, said to be
very valuable, less is known, but some
Of the scrolls dated back to the tenth
century, and the one most valuable