The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1919-05-08
LITERARY TREASURE HOUSE.
Christian World May Again Have Ac-
cess to Ancient Records.

ine thorough investigation OF the
literary treasures stored away III 'ne
great libraries there.
The contents of the bookshe!Nes VI
.bo Ct Sonhia and palace libraries
are known, but in the cellars ulloo'
the palace library there are ln"n'
o,rscrints in Arabic, Greek, Latln
and Eastern languages. These manu-
scripts are in hopeless CONFUSION anu
M nerson with special aptitude 1oE
research work has been permitteu ~
examine them in recent years. ABOUT
% rears ago German dragoman
obtained permission from tie sultan
to soend a week in those cellars III
+b.t time he was able to make onl!
. very superficial examination OF the
manuscripts, but his search, snort as
il was, revealed many books IN Green
and Arabic of great value. Among
tho discoveries he reported were the
lost books of Livy, the great Roman
historian.
Among celebrated British scholars
who are planning to go to Constantl-
NOBLE to delve among the long.hlooen
manuscripts is Sir Edwin Pears, the
historian, who has spent many years
in Constantinople. Sir Edwin told the
Associated Press correspondent that
at least six months would be required
for the investigation. He does not
think the libraries have been dam
aged by the Turks, who, he says, are
utterly Indifferent to their value. His
only fear is that the manuscripts
will be found in a sad state as a re-
suit of neglect.
The fine libraries of the Byzantine
empire we're taken by the Turks IN
1453. The greatest number OF BOOKS
are deposited, not in St. Sophia s, as
popularly believed, but in the I'M
perial palace about a quarter OF
mile from the church. Under Turkish
rule these libraries were added to
from time to time, the most notable
ACQUISITION resulting from the defeat
by the Turks of the king of Hun
gary. whose collection of books was
brought to Constantinople and placed
either in St. Sophia or the palace Ii
brary.
"The shelves of the palace Ii
brary," said Sir Edwin, "have been
constantly picked over and the most
important manuscripts probably have
been stolen or destroyed. At pres
ent, what is shown to visitors is
room<about 80 feet long and Is wide,
nicely fitted up with glass cases con-
tanning books with we'll polished
bindings. But there is not book
displayed which an archeologist
would consider worth having. The
cellars, however, contain hundreds
of manuscripts which have never yet
been satisfactorily examined.
''The library in St. Sophia's also
contains many unclassifed works and
it may be that they include maru-
scripts of importance.
The greatest finds of manuscripts
made in the vicinity of CONSTANT
nople during the last half-century
were not in the palace or St. Sophia
libraries but in local libraries be-
longing to the Greek church. One
of these, which Sir Edwin terms the
most important theological find of
the century, was book containing
the teachings of the Twelve Apostles,
a document frequently quoted in the
early centuries of Christian litera-
ture. The last half of the text had
been copied and preserved, but the
complete copy was lost until about
40 years ago."
eat that time," Sir Edwin said,
s'the grand old scholar, Bishop Brien-
MUS Of Nicomedia, the modern Ismid,
one of the few Greek scholars who
not only knows Greek we'll but is an
authority on photography, was look
ing for the epistles of st. Clement.
I'm the library of the church of
the Holy Sepulchre in Constantinople
he came across a small volume en-
titled simply Saint Clement" 1t
contained not only the epistles of st.
Clement but the teachings of the
Twelve Apostles, lost since about
1850. Some authorities date the book
as early as 70, some as late as 12O.
Another book of equal value was
discovered in the library of St. So
phia in about 1875, called The Man
uscripts of Critobolus.' This is the
only record we possess containing an
account, from the Greek side of the