Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-10-18
MOST ANCIENT BOOK
Oldest Known Is in Papyrus
PriSSe in the Louvre.
IN EGYPTIAN HIERATIC
Treatise on How to Behave Wise.
ly" and Thought to Have Been
Written About $3.50 B. C.
From the Editorial Review.


One of the oldest writings in the world
| is an inscription in Egyptian hieroglyphics
preserved in the Ashmolean Museum at
| Oxford England. What is regarded as
| the oldest piece of literary composition
| and the oldest book eXtant is in the Papy-
rus Prisse in the Louvre at Paris.
| 1t is in Egyptian hieratic writing. and
: 1t is ascribed to q. c. $780, but supposed
| to have been composed az early as Il. c.
$3.50. Curiously enough, it consists of a
treatise on How to Behave Wisely
| Much1 Of the advice given in language
quaint and forceful is applicable. to this
| day just as to that bygone past.
| The oldest guidebook in the world is
Pausanias' Description OF Greece de-
scribing a journey made through thct
| land of wonderful memories by an OBJ
servant old antiquarian of aniable temper
and simple faith.
| The oldest Latin document is wax
! table in cursive lettering formed by a
stylus and dated a. ID. ID. 1t was dscOv-
! cred at Pompeii in 1915, and can now be
seen in the National Museum at Naples.
! The Book of kells. produced in the sew
| enth century is the glory of Trinity
College, Dublin. The taste and delicacy,
| the originality and the elaboration OF col
oring place it among the wonders Of the
world. The book is so perfect that one
| can examine it most closely under the
strongest masnify,ng glass without find
ing lack of alignment or an irregula-ity
| in interlacemcnt.
Art of Illuminating.
The med cval miniaturists raised the
art of Illuminating to the highest pinnacle
OF perfection. The most renowned m.nia-
turist was Guido Clovio -6-157S). The
examples of his work in the British
Museum are not placed on public eXhi6i-
ton. being regarded as too precious to
run risks at the hands Of our curio hunt
ers or i.onoclasts.
Among the superlative "rarities'' are
| the printed books sent forth during the
first twenty-five years after the printing
art had come to stay. Such are the
twentyfour copies of the Mazarin Bible
of Gutenberg and Schieffer about las,
the Mentz Psalter by the same printers In
A! 1iJ7 chs was the ii. st book printed with
| a date, the first edition of Ivy Q469).
| the only copy of which on vellum is in
| the British Museum, where also are the
Bedford Hours, the SforZa Book of Hours
and Queen Mary's Psalter
= 1t is now almost impossible to obtain
an example of Cations press, except in
portions of books. 1t IS known that there
arc odD examples extant in the world.
England possesses four-fifths of that
Cations Cato" third edition, was the
first in which printed signatures were
used and it was also the first English
book to be illustrated by woOdcuts.
| The earliest personal name in English
literature is that of Caedmon in the mid
! die of the seventh century. The manu-
script in the Bodle:an Library at Oxford
| Is supposed to conta.-i most of his poems.
which are chiefly religious in character.
Receipt From Pompeii.
unique find the receipt given to
Cmbrica Junuaria. discovered at Pompeii,
is now in the National Library at Naples.
The Vatican Library. at Rome. ranks
high, not from the standpoint OF numeri-
! cal accessiOns, but on account of the
priceless Importance of its manuscripts
and archives. Other notable libraries in
Italy are the Ambrosian, at Milan; the
Laurent;an and the st. Mark di Florence
and the Padua University Library.
Few libraries in the world are more
magnifcently housed than the Vatican
Library. It's treasures include COOS
volumes, 1000 incunabula. JOO Aldines
and number of biographical "rarities' y
There are two early manuscripts of Vir-
gil in the Vatican. and in the Ambrosian
Library, at Milan. an ''1iiad," all be-
fore the fourth century and distinguished
by paintings based upon classical models
There are 81 1913 Latin and 4.I4S Greek
manuscripts. 1t contains also the pa!imp.
sest of DE Republican" by Cicero, pro-
duced in the fourth century OF the Chris
tian era. and fourth century Terence
The treasures of the Vatican Library are
in three parts. the department of printed
books. archives in manuscript. consist
} ing of correspondence of the holy see
with the governments and potentates oil
the world, and literary manuscripts tina,
, are world famous.