Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-11-17

brother and chief legatee will not. ow-
ing to his advanced age. ever visit
Minneapolis.
Experts in books agree that Mr..
Stewards library is unique. There was
nothing else like it in the Twin cities;
scarcely in the Northwest. 1t is par
ticularly rich in three particulars, in
volumes on the Civil War, on Lincoln
and on Napoleon Bonaparte.
1t is not that any one book is rara
avis, from the standpoint Of the book
collector. That there are not some UNI
usually valuable separate books is
something OF surprise to those who
remember that Mr. Stewart had ali
brary. They fancied, some way, that a
half dozen or more of the dusty tones
would prove long lost editions or
something of that sort.
Edmund 3. Brooks, an expert in
such matters, says this is not the case
Mr.. Brooks hesitates to undertake to
place any money value on the collec-
ton, but expresses the opinion that
the library is unusually valuable on
account of the fact that it is so rich
in the three particular lines.
1T probably would not be difficult"
he said. Ito duplicate these books on
the Civil War. on Lincoln and on
Napoleon, but it would take time and
trouble and not a little money. The
value of the library lies in, the fact
that the books are already collected.
Each book on Napoleon, for example.
is worth more by the very fact that
there are so many others on the same
subject.
The Lincoln collection is by no
means as comprehensive as that Of
Judge Fish, but l imagine there are
comparatively few Napoleon collec-
tions held privately equal to that left
by Mr.. Stewart. Then, too, his books
on the Civil War are very interesting,
not SO much. perhaps, from histori-
cal point of view, but because they
present many sidelights on most
interesting period.
The inventory of the Stewart library
shows two long, closely typewriter
pages devoted exclusively to Napo-
leonic works, numbering several hun
dred volumes. There are histories of
Napoleon. lives of Napoleon without
number almost, memoirs and secret
memoirs. TRANSACTIONS from other
tongues, books published in 1915. 1918,
1906 and earlier, books on Napoleon as
d military genius. as citizen, as a
husband: caricatures of Napoleon, de-
lenses of Napoleon and attacks upon
him; books of Napoleon's marshals
anecdotes of Napoleons court and
family life. books on Napoleon's activ-
ity at st. Helena, on Napoleon in Rus
STA, on the Waterloo campaign, on
Corsica and Nalopeon's early life, on
Napoleon's intrigues, books of his let
ters, on the Napoleonic medals, on his
life at Elba. on his surrender on his
death; secret histories of his court,
poems on Napoleon. on Napoleons
confidential correspondence, on the
Napoleon museum, on the restoration
on every subject in any way related to
the great leader and his dynasty, and
even a volume entitled. Historic
Doubts Relative to Napoleon Bona
parte."
While less numerous than the Napo-
leonic books, Mr.. Stewards war Ii
brary is unusual. 1t includes many
personal memoirs and the story of the
war from numerous standpOints,
southern as we'll as northern. The
Lincoln collection includes I; dozen or
more lives of the martyr ident,
with sore Or more of related works.
Fiction is conspicuous by it's COM
parative absence in the Stewart liz
brary. The general works include in
stead, hundreds of volumes of the
classics, Goethe, Plato, Tacitus, Pepys,
Homer. Pliny, sets of Prescott, of Alb
bolts histories, of lives from Sir Wal
ter Scott Grover Cleveland. Of the
works of Sheridan. Jonathan Edwards.
Voltaire. Edgar Allen Poe. Goldsmith.
Pope, Addison, Balzac. Cooper and
Victor Hugo, and all the way from
Beaumont and Fletcher to Robert
louis Stevenson. Whatever fiction
there is is standard.
Some 4ueerly assorted titles are The
Trial of Henry Ward Beecher and
Dante's Paradise Lost; the official re-
port of the Cling murder and the Hay
ward trial and Old Testament Stories,
illustrated; the Freethinkers nictorial
Text book and The Rhine of the An
Gent Mariner; American Millionaires
and The Universal Songster; The
Mysteries of London, and The Home
Handbook Of Hygiene MINNEAPOLIS
Evening Journal.