The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-06-07
LOSS OF RARE BOOKS

Sutro's Library, Which San
Francisco Can Never Replace.
BURNED UP IN GREAT pIsASTER
Valuable Collection Gathered By
Former Mayor In His Lifetime and
In Litigation After His Death.
Shakespeare Foli0s and Manu-.
scripts ON California's 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. It is known definitely that the
Upham building was destroyed by fire.
and the other building, being an old
structure not flreproofed, 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 great library
Of them. For ten years he and his
agents bought all over the world. Al
though he was imposed upon by q
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 conflscated 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 Call
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 a 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
$4,000 volumes. When it had grown
to that size Sutro brought bookman
named Moss from the British museum
and had him make a beginning OF clas-
styling and cataloguing it. Moss began
to straighten it out, but he had worked
only a year or two when he died. In
1897 Sutro died also.
1t 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-
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. DR.. Merit,
who had temporary custodianship of
the library, closed it absolutely. Since
that time no one has been permitted to
enter 1t except a custodian and an &C.
casional scholar who has been able to
get through the red tape which sur
rounded it.
Since the collection has never been
classified no one living knows abso-
iutely just what was there. Here, how
ever, are some Of the known treasures
He had complete collection of
Shakespeare folios-f1rst, 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 flre-to perish, probably. In the
San Francisco fire two and half CEN
turtles later. There was nearly q 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-
ssting 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 frsts Of Ben Franklin and