Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1906-05-19

collected by the late AdoIph Sutro. for
msr mayor OF the city. says the New
York Sun. This was stored ln two d.
visions. one In the Upham building at
Pine and Battery streets and one In a
building AT Montgomery 0nd Washing
ton. IL is known definitely that the
Upham building was destroyed by FIRE.
and the other building. being an old
structure not freproofed, 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 or collecting a great library
or 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 or buying enabled
him 10 get "a great deal OF gold along
with the dross.
For example. in 1856 or thereabouts,
Bavaria conhscated 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
IL was prophesied the true history OF
the old Pacific coast would some day
be written. was never even taken from
its boxes. He had standing order
with Quaritch for certain lines OF
books. and he was willing 10 pay any
thing for what he wanted. In the end
the collection reached total Of about
5000 volumes. When IL had grown
to that size Sutro brought a bookman
named Moss from the British museum
and had him make "a beginning Of cIas-
styling and cataloguing IT, Moss began
TO straighten IL out. but he had worked
Only year OF lWO Wueu Ne uleu. IN
1897 Sutro died also.
IL had been his intention to give the
collection either 10 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 il left all his
books and papers to his sister. DR.. En-
ma Sutro Merit. There followed a
double contest over his property. which
was found TO have deprecated greatly.
A Mrs. Kluge appeared, who said that
she was his wife by a contract mar
riage. and some OF his children by his
first marriage raised a contest Of their
own The estate has remained ever
since tangled in the courts. Or. Merritt.
who had temporary custodianship Of
the library. closed II absolutely Since
that time no one has been permitted TO
enter IL except a custodian and an oc-
casional scholar who has been able to
get through the red tape which sur
rounded II.
Since the collection has never been
CLASSIFIED no one living knows abso-
lutely just what was there. Here. how
ever, are some OF the known treasures:
He had complete collection OF
Shakespeare first. second. third
and fourth. Some OF the early pages
OF his nrst folio were missing and were