Evening star., 1914-12-23

jury upon this country than any otner
except Madison The passage Of the
bill to purchase these books would put
$23,90O into Jefferson's pocket ana give
us about 5000 books, good, bad ana ia :
different; old, new and worthless; IN
languages which many cannot read and
most ought not, which is true Jener-
sonian, Madisonian philosophy to peg
gar the people and disgrace the nation.
Other men thought differently. how
ever. as the passage of the bill proved.
Despite Mr.. Kings
Other Men Hold criticism. it was
n:r. W., generally conceded
of great value. A leading weekly pa
per of the period claimed that it was
library which any monarch of Europe
would be proud to own, and for which
the British parliament would have been
willing to pay at least $4,000 pounds
sterling. The authority for this last
statement was not given.
Mr.. Jefferson was over fifty years col
lectlng his books. Every disengaged
afternoon during his stay in Paris was
spent at book stores, turning over,
with his own hands, books relating to
He also had offers at the leading book
marts of Amsterdam. Frankfort, Ma
drid and London, especially for books
relating in some way to America. filS
collection originally amounted to be
tween 5000 and 10000 volumes, relat-
ing to general science and literature,
but particularly to matters concerning
American statesmen.
X \
jefferson was asked to put price
upon his books and declined to do so
at first, but final
Upon REQUEST ly suggested the
Decides Values. folios, os, ss for "a quar-
tos, SO for octavos and 81 for duo
decimos. After reserving certain vol
umes for his own use, 6,4S7 were set
aside for the national library and the
sum of $23,950 paid for them. This
sum was greatly below their value, in
the opinion of those best competent to
Judge, because books at that time were
far more costly than now. 1t was
patriotic impulse which led Jefferson
to offer them to the national govern
ment, in recognition of the fact that
they were actually needed. 1t would
have been absolutely impossible for the
nation to secure a collection of equal
breadth within any reasonable time. In
turning them over to the government
he sacrificed long-cherished. personal
ambition, to use them in founding the
library of the University of Virginia,
but he felt constrained to place them
where their immediate need was most
urgent. ~
wagon loads and hauled from Montl-
cello to Washington, the last loao leaS-
ing Jefferson's home April IS. 1915. The
lack of business methods existing IN
those days is typified by the fact Ihat
it was over three months before Je.-
ferson received any notice of the sare
arriva1 of his beloved books in the
CAPITAL city He wrote sever, i times,
and it was not until July 81 tnat John
Nulligan. who had taken charge OF
their arrangement, took time to write
that they had been received IN gooo
condition.
The library was first placed IN room
in Blodgett's Hotel on the northweSt
corner Of 7th and E streets, about half
way between the Capitol and the
White House, and was not moved INTO
the Capitol building until December
of 1918. 1t has passed through Two
fires. the last one destroying a large
part of the books, including most OF
the Americana, which has been deemed
an irreparable loss. OF the 1000 odd
books now remaining the large ma
iortty of them are upon law. and their
safety from destruction Is due to the
fact that at the time of the last fire
they happened to be stored in the law.
room of the Capitol. The reduction of
the collection from nearly 1000 to a