The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-20
SUHRO'S RARE BOOKS BURNED
ONE LOSS WHICH SAN FRANCISCO
CAN NEVER REPLACE.

z u VIZ
An irreparable loss Of the San Francisco
% rthouake was the destruction OF the
great Sutro library of old books. This
was stored in two divisions, n in the
I-pham Building, at Pine and Battery
streets. and one in a building at Montgom-
ery and Washington. It is Known def
nitely that the Upham Building was de-
stroved by fire, and the other building,
being an old structure not freproofed, in
the centre of the burned district, must
have gone too
Adolph Sutro made a fortune in the Com
stock and the other Nevada silver proper
Ties in the early days. Later he built a
five cent road to the Ocean Beach, in oppo-
sition to the regular street car companies,
which we're charging a ten cent fare. built
a rark overlooking the Gin House and
seal Rocks, which he gave TO the people
of san Francisco, and handed over to them
also the Sutro baths, having the largest
svlmming tank under a roof in the world.
On the strength Of these gifts and his
genuine personal popularity he was elected
Mayor of San Francisco.
Early in his career Sutro developed a
hobby for old books and conceived the idea
of c,llccting a great library Of them. For
ten years he and his agents bought all over
the world. Although he was imposed
upon by a great many forgeries and ao-
nuired much that was v~alueless. he made
some fortunate purchases, and his whole.
sale method Of buying enabled him to get
a great deal of gold along with the dross.
For example, in 1885 or thereabouts,
Bavaria coniscated the property Of the
80, 4, - l.. A. 1t--1@-. THAI
books were Jumped into one great lot. and
Sutru bought them all, including thousands
of manuscripts dating back before the age
of printing, which have never come Under
the notice of scholars In the same way,
when the Mexican Government discovered
n forgotten collection of books, memorials,
diaries and manuscripts bearing upon the
early history Of California and Lower Cali
fornia, especially 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 its
boxes. He had a standing order with
Quaritch for certain lines Of books, and he
wa willing to pay anything for what he
wanted. In the end the collection rea ched
q total of about 225 900 volumes.
When it had grown to that size Sutro
brought a booknan named Moss from the
British Museum, and had him make be-
ginning of classifying 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 col
lection either to the University Of California
or 10 the city. But he left no late will. The
only one in existence was drawn up before
the time Of his collection, and it left all his
books and papers to his sister, DIR. Emma
Sutro Merritt. 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 maria ge; and some OF his chill
dren by his first marriage raised a contest
of their own. The estate has remained ever
since tangled in the courts. DR.. Merritt,
who had temporary cistodianship Of the
library, closed it absolutely. Since that
time, no one has been permitted to enter it
except a custodian n an occasional scholar
who has been able to get through the red
tape which surrounded 1t.
Since the collection has never been classi-
fed, no one living knows absolutely Just
what was there. Here, however, are some
of the known treasures.
He had a complete collection OF Shakes
pears folios-irst, second, thtDl and fourth.
Some of the early pages of his first folio were
missing and were supplied in fac-simile
The ma ges Of the second folio were slightly
.corched, because it had passed through
tho London fre-to perish. probably, in the
Sin Fra ncisco fire two and a half centuries
later. There was nearly a full set OF folios OF
ben Jonson.
The collection of Shakespea riana in
Guided the rent roll of Shottery Meadow,
s ratford. which he had some difficulty in
getting out of England, the newspapers and
The au, horities Of the British Museum de-
ella ring that such documents should not go
out of their country.
An old pra yearbook and a hymnal. bound
literally in boards, were interesting histori-
cally, 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 collec-
ton Of the Book of Common Prayer was
very strong, including most OF the famous
editions from the time Of Edward VI. down
20 the last century.
\ RANDOM SUMMARY VI IN Ot'S'
books would include some specimens oil
Gutenberg and Caxton printing, a great
deal of fine work from the Aldine and Elz'vir
presses, several frsts Of Rem Franklin, and
MANY rare and valuable incunabula, or
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 work in the
collection, according to Sutro' was one OF
these Hebrew manuscripts. 1t was valued at
$4,000, and Sutro had some correspondents
over it with the Vatican authorities, who
wanted to buy 1t and paid for a transcript
ton Of its text.
There was also discovered a few years
ago an incomplete and u~ncatalogued
Shakespeare first folio which he bought in a
lump with a number Of other old books.
Outside Of these books, valuable only to
n bibliomaniac. there was a great mass OF
matter which made strong appeal to scholars,
and which would have made this library
of great value to any university. His
collection of British pamphlets and broad
sides, running from the early seventeenth
century to the late eighteenth, was said by