Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-16
TRAVELS IN PHIL IADELPHIA
By Christopher Morley

attached to it where the true saints of the
bookworld might be buried. 1t seems hard
that those who have SO long trodden the al
coyes of peace should be inferred elsewhere.
To many devout souls Libraries are the
greatest churches of humanity. Even the
casual dropper in realizes that the Mercan-
tile is more than mere gathering of books.
1t is a guild, a sort of monastery. The
members have secret raptures and sidelong
glances whereby they recognize one another.
AS they walk down the long entrance pas
sage they are purged of the world and the
worlds passions. AS they pass through the
little swinging gates that shut out the mere
visitor, as they bury themselves in shadowy
corners and aisles pungent with book per-
fume, they have the grateful bearing of
those secure in a strong fortress where the
devil cannot penetrate. For my own part
/ have only one test of good library, which
I always employ when l get anywhere near
a card catalogue. There is certain work,
in three volumes. famous chiefly because
Robert Louis Stevenson took the second vol
ume with him on his immortal Travels With
a Donkey. 1t is called Pastors of the Desert,
by Peyrat history Of the Huguenots IT
you will turn again to Il: l.. SIS chapter
called A Camp in the Dark you will see that
he says:
had felt no other inconvenience. except
when my feet encountered the lantern VI
the second volume Of Peyrats Pastors OF
the Desert among the mixed contents OF my
sleeping bag.
! am happy to assert that the Mercantile
has set of these volumes, and therefore one
may pronounce it an Al library.
OF COURSE the Mercantile has many
~ more orthodox treasures than Peyrat
though its function Is not to collect in
cunabula or rare editions but to keep its
members supplied with the standard things.
and the important books and periodicals OF
the day. Mr.. Hedley was gracious enough
to take me into the locked section of the
gallery, where there are alcoves teeming
with old volumes and rich in the dust that
is so delightful to the lover of these things.
He showed me, for instance, first edition
| of the Authorized or King James Bible, i'm
printed at London by Robert Barker in 1611.
Inside the front cover some one has written
| in pencil "Charge 5f.'t l am no expert on
| these matters, but wonder II many a col
| lector would not pay a hundred times as
| much for 1t nowadays? On another shelf
| saw a beautiful edition of Eusebius's Chroni
| cles, printed at Venice in 14S3 the paper as
| fresh and the rubrication as bright as when
1t was new. Opening 1t at random, l found
the following note, which seemed quantity
| topical:
| Ammo salutis s11. Ammo mundi 6010,
| Locustes gregatim ex Africa yolantes Ital-
| lam infestant
| (Year of grace s11, Year of the earth
COLO. The locusts flying in swarms from
| Africa, infest Italy.)
In this book some former owner has writ
ten, with the honorable candor of the true
| booklover:
| De isto pretioso volumino animadvertere
Tibet, quod non est edition premiere" sicut
opus Deburii falso ostendit.
w. H. Black, Feb, 1881.
| Concerning this precious volume It is
permitted TO remark that II Is not the first
edition. as the work Of Deburius falsely
maintains.)
Ignoble Deburius, shame upon him!
Mr.. Hedley also showed me the famous
Atlas Major of John Blaeu, the Dutch pub
Usher, issued (in Spanish) In Amsterdam II
1862. eleven huge tones In white yellum
stamped In gold These marvellous large
j scale maps. msgniacentiy colored BY hand