The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-10-28

come tattered and torn. They hay.
to be cleaned and covered with crepe
line, which makes them practically
indestructible. Each letter is
on a separate sheet and il the wrlUr-
is on both sides Of the page 1t is r-
hinges. 1t is h finest
preparing OF the world and is bet.e~
than that Of the Vatican, which ~.
long stood at h head as to the bea...
of its manuscript preservation.
Other Collections.
During my chat with Mr.. Hunt
asked as to the other great mann
script collections Of the world. lie
replied:
There are only three really great
historical collections. that OF The
British Museum in London, the Biblo-
tecque Rationale in Paris and the ora
we have here. I do not know which
is the largest. but the British Museum
has been at the job Of collecting for
more than 200 years, while the Par
slams have been working at it even
longer. Our collection began only tn
years ago, and at the present rate IF
| progress it will soon have a larger
and more complete collection han
they have. We shall have more doca-
ments relating to h history Of the
| United States than the British have
relating to h history Of England
These papers are separate and
apart from our government archives.
are they not?"
Yes. These are private papers and
letters. The official archives are the
papers Of the government. AS far as
they are concerned we are lamentabIv
wanting. Not a single department II
our government has all of it's archiVts.
and not one of them knows as to what
it has and what it has lost. An n
ventory has never been taken. IN
deed, there is not a country Of Fu-
rope that doe not keep its Official
documents in better shape thar W.
do"
What is the Oldest official docu-
ment in existence"
1T it not SO very, very old. People
did not begin 10 write until modern
times, and the earliest written English
document dates back only to the thir-
teenth century. The first English au-
thor who wrote was Chaucer. Tie
lived in the fourteenth century. and
that is not long ago. The earliest
modern official document in any Ian
guage is in the archives at Milan,
Italy. This was written on parchment
paper about A. d. S23 by King otho
and Queen Agatha. There is another
document written just a little later IN
the archives of Dresden, n another
in hose Of Magdeburg."
Tell me something about the Nati-
can collection? ?"
THE Vatican is a library. Of itself
It is composed exclusively of manu-.
script-that is, of manuscript BOOK.
written mostly before the age 81
printing. These books are chief.
ly religious and are not ind
vidual manuscripts. The Vatican Ia,
the Oldest written manuscript. ID
long ~antedates the oldest official docu.
ment which, as I have said, was Of tn,
ninth century. The oldest piece d
writing on paper dates back to tht
the third century. Both Of these are
second century, and there is one from
the third century. Both of these are
in a perfect state of -preservation
One of them is a copy Of some o1
Virgins poems, and the other is
transcript of a prayer"
In addition to the Vatican library
Italy has a number Of other valuabl.
manuscript collections. The Librars
OF Florence has the papers of Galileo
5 most of which were. written before a.
went blind and q few afterWard. IE
the archives there they have also tn
. papers OF Dante. / have seen then
all and they are wonderfully pre-
served"
FRANK G. CARPENTER.
NAVAL STORES.