The San Francisco call., 1910-08-16
JARBOE LIBRARY
GOES TO STANFORD
Famous Collection of French
History Purchased From
Lawyers Widow
Especial Dispatch to The Call

STANFORD UNIVERSITY, Aug. 15-
dltlon to the Stanford library has just
oeen made by the purchase of the Jar
poe collection" on the French revolu-
tlon. Regarded as one of the very
pest private collections on French his
tory in this country, the entire lot
OF rare volumes is now being trans
Ierred from their Santa Cruz home to
stanford university
Inis collection takes it's name from
the man who originally brought the
DOCKS together, John r. Jarboe, a
prominent lawyer in San Francisco
~ years ago. Jarboe died July
Z. 1888, and the Bar Associa ton of San
Francisco issued a memorial com
nemorative of his life and services.
he was of French descent, his family
having come to this country with Lord
baltlmore. He entered Yale univer-
slty at the age of IT and gradu-
uated in 1855, the youngest and among
the first of his class. The following
year he came to California and after
teaching short time he began to read
law He was admitted to the bar in
1858.
The memorial says: HE was/a great
lover OF literature, and a very wide
ana extensive reader. Books were his
passion and delight. He gathered
around him one of the choicest collec-
tons of books in the state, many of
them being in rare and costly editions,
and some being so unique and curious
that such can only be found in the IL
braries of bfbliophiles. His collection
OF books and prints of the French rev.
oiution is one of the very best in the
hands of any private person"
To -.
ing history. At his death, II years
ago, it passed to his wife. Mrs
Mary H. Jarboe, now living at San Ra-
fael. The library was for some years
kept in her country home and was
then removed TO her house on the
oceanside at Santa Cruz where it was
carefully packed in covered cases. The
existence of the library at Santa Cruz
was known to a number of persons,
and some institutions talked of pur
chasing it; but because it was under
cover very few actually had an op-
portunity of examining it.
The books had been considered eX
tremely valuable and it was not be-
lieved that they could ever be obtained
by any outside parties. One of the
reasons of its sale to Stanford was
main intact and would retain the name
of the original collector
The librarys value does not lie in
its size but in the character of it's con-
tents. The collection contains approxi-
mately $500 volumes. These are al
most entirely original copies, many of
them printed at the time of the French
revolution, and most of them being
very rare. The collection of contem-
porary pamphlets alone comprises ], 500
titles, and memoirs are included in
surprising numbers. The plates and
prints on subjects relating to the
French revolution are most attractive
and will deeply interest all art lovers.
Though containing matter relative to
the whole revolutionary and Napol-
comic era, the collection is particu-
larly devoted to the first three years
of the great revolution, and is for this
period one of the very best collections
in the country. 1t is surpassed only
by the Andrew d. White collection at
Cornell university, which is the best
in the United States.
The books have only recently been
transferred from Santa Cruz to Stan
ford and are now being catalogued and
accustomed. They will be placed at the
disposal of the university constituency
as soon as possible. This latest adj
dition to the historical collection and
the other famous collections, such as
the British Sessional Papers, gives the
local university library high ranking.
The Jarboe collection Is largely written
in French. 1t will be especially valu-
able for advanced work by graduate
students in the history deOartment