Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-13

Another great curiosity Is volume OF
Irish manuscript. which Is a doctrinai
torian. DR.. Geoffrey Heating. and Is be-
lieved to be an autograph OF the author:
There 10 also q Preachers Barrel or
liberal dimensions. bearing the date or
1471 The sermons are written with the
greatest Of precision and care.
Sir Thomas More's Utopia OF 1915 10
worthy Of notice. The Justinian code IS
marvel Of patient work and q, P ;ss
law. The initial letters at the beginning
Of paragraphs are all painted by hand
The law Is placed In q box and all refer
ences and comments are methodicaIy ar
The friends Of the university have pur-
chased for $4,000 the library of Dr.
John G. Shea, the historian Of the Catholic
Church in the United States. 1t contains
nearly 800 Indian dialects. There are as
many Indian grammars, vocabularies In
manuscript and an equal number OF works
on Indian customs; usases and dress.
and Abuaki. besides numerous others pre-
pared by Jesuit missionaries. There are
also epistles and Bibles in Chinook. OF
chipwe and Aztec. Pilgrims Progress in
Dakota and many books printed in Mexi-
CO from 1880 to 1900. The rarest Bible in
this collection is Sixtus edition of the
vulgate, Rome, 1892 while there are
others issued in 1894. 1883. 1912 and 1910.
tiers.
The books relating to the Aztec dis
coveries are Of the greatest interest. one
volume in the art collection: called HIS
torische Hieroglyphen der Aztecken." by
Alexander Won Humboldt and presented
to Riggs Library by the Duke de Loubet,
gives large Illustrations OF their image
writing. The Ten Commandments done In
image writing are curious in the extreme.
So also is a document eleven feet long,
which Is copied from the original This
10 the report which the priest reads to
his parishioners at the end OF the year.
tered over its eleven feet Of length repre-
sent gifts the church has received during
the year.
For instance, any transaction which in
wolves the sale OF i've stock is recorded by
means Of making just as many heads as
there are animals, or whatever the object
may be. Everything is represented by SYM
bols as nearly like the object as possible.
1t Is the belief Of students of these HERO
glyphics that this was simply the written
language Of the poorer or uneducated
masses, for the weather. or nobler class
of Aztecs were known to have possessed
q culture and learning to compare IA
vorebly with that OF any nation or that
age.
The greatest age is found in the list
of Bibles. There Is one OF 1879 printed be-
by George Schwartz. American consul at
Vienna In 1S43. Seventy-five languages
are represented In the scriptural works.
There is the great Polyglot OF Walton.
The deliberately illustrated "Physics
Sacre" OF Scheuchzer I'm the Amsterdam
edition, with the plates engraved by J.
Pfefel, imperial engraver OF Augsburg.
A few other old ones are the first
Rheims edition of the Bibe. 1633-163o.
first Geneva edition of the "Sainte Bible"
In addition to these there Is the enormous
"Acta Sanctorum'' of the Bollandists. be-
gun I'm 1913 and still In course OF com.
pletiOn.
II is the plan OF the. university to sup
plement the great national library with
works not likely to be procured by the
as those I'm asceticisn.
apologetics, Typography. liturgy and
opera jesuitica, IN the last of which the
Riggs is expected to become the leading
library of the world. acquiring the stock
of Jesuit works which will run into the
hundreds of thousands.
To facilitate this plan the new Riggs
annex, the latest gift Of the Riggs fami-
~. Is most acceptable. This new addi-
ton, which is the old study hall just be-
meath the Riggs library. is now being
furnished. In all probability II will be
ready for public inspection by Thanks
giving. All Of the ancient and historical
works and the Shea collection will be
arranged and CLASSIFIED In the new work
ing or reference library. while the main
library will be devoted to the already
enormous and rapidly growing colleo-
ton of religious works.
Father Shandle. the librarian Of the
Riggs library. 10 an enthusiastic book
lover. 1t distresses him exceedingly to
find any Of his treasures marked or multi
lated In any way. He has the whole
library at his fingers ends, or better. 6
the tip Of his tongue.