Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-09-30

ucLdiS VI IilO
commissariat department of the Con-
federacy, including the cost of man
ufacturing harness, shoes, shirts,
clothing, wagons, ammunition, etc,
are found in manuscript records of
a Confederate officer appointed for
the purpose of examining the ac-
counts and abilities of the various
quartermasters of the Army of Vir-
gnia in 1862 and 1853. 1t tells of the
capture by the yankees" of all the
quartermaster's stores at Salem, Va,
in December. 1858, and contains be-
sides two samples of Confederate en-
velopes and five autograph forage or
ders signed by Confederate officers.
Perhaps one of the oldest works in
the collection is from the pen of Jo-
names de Verdena, probably printed
in 1494. On the first page Is printed:
"Sermenes dnicales Gu expositionib
euangelier," etc.
Especially interesting just at this
time, with impeachment proceedings
against a governor before the public,
Is "A History of the United States
for the Year 1885," in which the
charges of speculation against Alex
ander Hamilton are fully refuted by
ume. 1t is one Of the first edition,
up in an effort to suppress 1t. 1t is a
refutation of the charge that he had
dealings with James Reynolds for
purposes of improper pecuniary spec
ulation and q frank avowal of his re-
lations with Mrs. Reynolds.
An interesting example of early
English or Anglo Norman work Is
found in a book. manuscript on vel
lum, probably written bv an English
scribe. 1t Is illustrated with a large
figurative initial on the first pags
with ten other initials of interlaced
work and scrolls in colors. On the
first page is the stamp "Collegium
Ludovici Magni' Louis XIV, and
two inscriptions, apparently contem-
porary with the manuscript. reading
lex Biblotheca domus Choleteae,"
and "iste lib. est de collin. choleteru."
Jean Cholet. the founder of the Cholet
College. died in the eleventh GEN.
fury, and the college was founded
about that time. This manuscript
was possibly written for the stu
dents or by one of them.
OF the innumerable books on Nor
monisnN in the collection is one by
Joseph Smith, jr., entitled 1.-THE Book
of the Mormon; an account written
by the hand of Mormon, upon plates
taken from the plates of Nephi." 1t
is a first edition and very scarce.
There is also an excessively scarce
first edition of perhaps the rarest
of all books on Mormons. It is enti-
tied "a Voice of Warning and In
struction to All People," and con-
tains declaration of the faith and
doctrine of the ter-day saints, COM
monty called Mormons. The author
was one of the earliest Mormon mis-
sionaries to travel to the frontiers
of Missouri. and was one of the
pioneers to the valley of the Great
Salt Lake.
Casper Peucer's commentaries de
Praecipvis Divinationum Generous"
will undoubtedly attract the eye of
many collectors. 1t is a first edition
of one of the most famous books on
occultisfn and was published in the
sixteenth century. The author was a
son-in-law of Melancthon.
Continuing through the Nelson IL
barry one finds the first two books to
be copyrighted in the United States.
They are David Ramsay's History of
the Revolution of South Carolina y
and his History of the American
Revolution" Ramsay was resident
of Charleston, g. c., during the great
er part of the Revolution, and his first
mentioned works are based on per-
sonal observations or on conversa>
tions with participants.
The above are only few OF the
most notable in the collection of 1000
that will be offered for sale at auc-
ton, which sale undoubtedly will at
tract the attention of book collectors
from all parts of the country.
The Freneau Collection.
Mr. Nelson's collection of the works
of Philip Freneau, the poet of the
Revolution, is very full and very
valuable. Among the editions are "A
voyage to Boston" philadelphia,
1775). and volume printed in
Philadelphia in 1876, containing all of
Freneau's poems up to that year. At
Philadelphia, in 1894, there was pub
lished a book, including 1.-THE Village
Merchant" and THE Country
Printer" by Freneau. OF this Mr..
Nelson has a copy, and he owns also
copy of the Poems, written by
Philip Freneau, of New Jersey" be-
tween the years 1853 and 1894, and
printed at the press of the author
in Mt. Pleasant, 1895. The Typography
of this book is very attractive. the
arrangement of the title page with its
fifteen stars calling for special no.
tice.
other Freneau items in the collec-
ton are the poets Miscellaneous
Works." 1888; Letters of Robert
Slender" 1893; Poems" Philadelphia,
1909, in two volumes, with the rare
portrait of st. Tammany; Poems"
New York, 1916, in two volumes, one
set cut and one set in boards uncut;
Poems" London, 1851; Poems" New
nf nj y.fn
uncut, and also, some manuscript
verses. unpublished, written about
1774.
Freneau published at Mt Pleasant
for year beginning in 1875 the Jersey
Chronicle. A unique Freneau curiosity
in Mr.. Nelson's library is a broad
side containing the poets announce
ment of the publication of The Mon
mouth Gazette a paper which never
saw the light. A part of this broad
side, which is dated New York, Feb
ruary Is, 1891, Is reproduced on this
page. In it Freneau said:
1T is proposed by the subscriber, If
sufficient encouragement should be
afforded, to publish at Mount Pleas
ant, near Middletown Point, in East
New Jersey, a weekly newspaper, to
be entitled the Monmouth Gazette, or
General Magazine of Information and
Amusement.
1.-THE growing population, opulence
and Importance of the extensive
county of Monmouth seems to de-
mand a circulation of foreign and do
nestle intelligence, as we'll as political
information among its inhabitants. in
mode different from what has hith-
erto been adopted through the uncer-
tain and very difficult communication
of the public prints from the city of
New York, and which. when they are
received, are in a great measure taken
up with local matters, most commonly
undressing. to the Jersey reader.