The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-07-06

of 95S manuscript volumes. all Of
which had fallen into private hands
after the dissolution of the monster
les half a century before
The burning of the Strasburg IL
brary during the Franco-Prussian
war destroyed more valuable works,
among them the records of the legal
proceedings between Gutenberg and
his associates as to whether or not
he invented the art of printing
In 1898 Guarino. a learned Italian.
travelled through Greece in search of
| lost manuscripts. His search was
rewarded by the acquisition of valu-
able papers. Returning to his native
land a storm overlook the vessel and
| the CAPTAIN ordered the cargo to be
thrown overheard. Such was his an
guish at the loss that il is said his
| hair turned white in a single night.
A similar fate befell, in 1898, a
wealthy burgomaster of Middleburgh
named Hudde. Prompted by literary
curiosity, he betook himself to China
disguised as a mandarin. For thirty
years he travelled through the Celes.
| tial empire, devoting his fortune to
| the collection of manuscripts. Re-
| turning to Europe, he was ship
| wrecked and all his treasures were
| lost.
The great Pinelian library, con-
| sidered at the time one of the largest
| and most valuable in the world, was
| bought in 1900, after the death of
| the possessor, who chartered three
| vessels to convey it to London. He
was pursued by corsairs, who finding
| it carried cargo of books and manu-
scripts, destroyed them all by cast
1 ing them into the sea; the others es-
| capped uninjured.
The Jewish Talmud has come down
| to us only through the heroic efforts
| of the Hebrews themselves and the
| intrepid service of John Reuchlin. It's
! reading was condemned by various
| edicts of emperors and kings; its cir
| culation was prohibited by popes and
| theologians. Twelve Thousand cop
| les of this monumental work were
| burned at Cremona in 1863, and q
similar fate befell 5000 copies of the
| Koran, by order of Cardinal Ximines,
on the taking of Granada by Ferdi-
nand and Isabella.
'Sappho composed nine books of
I poetry Only two odes and few
fragments remain. OF the seventy
| five (some say ninety-two) plays of
Euripides only eighteen have been
saved.
Only seven of the 100 works OF
Sophocles are extant. The same num-
Der is all that survive of the seventy
tragedies written by Teschylus.
ONLY forty-three out of the 1000
dramas written by Aristophanes have
come down to us. Only few frag-
ments exist to- prove the wonderful
wit and wisdom of Menander
Only thirty of Livy's lao books
survive; only two of Varo's 400 vol
umes; only four of the thirty books
of Tassos great history, and none of
the "Amales' of Atticus remain.
The dissolution of the monasteries
in the reign of Henry VIII saw the
destruction of more than one hun
dred libraries, the contents of which
were either burned, sent abroad to
foreign bookbinders or sold as waste
paper. So, when Sir Thomas Bod
lev took up his residence at Oxford,
toward the end of the reign of Eliza
beth, he tells us he found the libra
ries 'in every part wasted and
ruined"
The invasion of Ireland resulted in
the almost total humiliation OF her
ancient literature, so that few nations
can be compared with her in the eX-
tent of manuscript loss.
Perhaps the largest and most valu-
able of literary treasures the world
has lost was the AleXandriap library.
This collection, the most remarkable
of the ancient world, Is said to have
contained, in it's most flourishing pc
Rod. 100000 or some say 100000
manuscripts.
It's royal founder collected from all
nations their most choice compost
tions. One of his successors went so
far as to refuse to supply the Athen-
ians with wheat until they had given
him the original manuscripts of
Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides
When julius Caesar laid siege to
the city most of this library was de-
stroyed by fire. 1t was later re-
placed by the collection presented to
Queen Cleopatra by Mark Antony.
But it was not destined to endure
long. When the Emperor Theodo-
sius ordered the destruction of all
heather temples within the Roman
empire, the Christians, led by Arch
bishop Theophilus, did not spare that
of Jupiter, in which were kept the lit
erary treasures From this general
destruction about 1000 manuscripts
escaped, only to be, burned in $40 by
the Saracens under the Caliph Omar.