The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1920-03-04
TRANSATLANTIC HAS
OLDEST LIBRARY
PRICELESS cTIoN OF
BOOKS OWNED BY LExlNo.
TON COLLEGE NOT IN
FlREPRooF HOUSE.
MANY WORKS ARE IN LATIN
Ancient Medical and Law Books Could
Not BE RepIaeed-Many of Them
Centuries Old.

Lexington, Ky.--1he oldest library
In Kentucky and one of the oldest in
the United States, library estimated
by lovers of old books to be worth
$250,000, which is centuries old, is one
of the possessions Of Trnnsylvania
College, tie first college west of the
Alleghenies, whose financial founda-
ton was formed by the escheated es-
tates of three Revolutionary period
tories
Probably nowhere else in Amerlcn,
IL anywhere else in the world, can the
volumes of TRANSFORMERS ola library
be duplicated.
Many of these priceless old books
are of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, true examples Of what was
then fine art, the type as clear as the
day they were printed, many of the
texts in Latin, though some of them.
like William Cowper's "Anatomy of
Human Bodies" 1908, and Culpeppers
astrological Judgment of Diseases. ;"
1855, both published In London, are in
the English Of ulat time.
These books were purchased by
Pennsylvania long ago, when books
were costly and few. DIR. Charles
Caldwell, of the Medical College Of
Pennsylvania, took with him to Paris
in 1921 the sum of seventeen thou
sand dollars with which to buy books
for the medical library, and these
hooks still are consulted by the medl-
cal experts of America. who can find
them nowhere else. DIR. Caldwell
found that because of the stormy times
IN France lnany libraries which had
belonged to Frrnchmen heretofore in
The wealthy classes had found their
way to the booksellers shelves.
81 found and purchased he says in
his report, mo incOnsiderable number
Of the choicest works Of The fathers Of
medicine, from Hippocrltes to the re,
vival of letters---wOrks when in no
other way, and perhaps at no other
time, could have been collected so
readily and certainly and on terms so
favorable, either in I'aris or any other
city of the world. Hence the decided
superiority of Transylvania's medical
library, In those works, to any other
in the west and south, aud probably in
the whole United Srates."
DIR. Peter and DIR. Hush, of the med
ical school, In 1885,, made another for
eign purchase for the medical college,
when they spent eleven thousand dol.
lars for books and apparatus In Lon
don and Paris. One of Daguerres
cameras, first given to the world Iii
that year, Is among The apparatus they
brought back to Lexington, and 1t is
today in TransylvanIa's museum, along
with other rare and costly apparatus
of that early date.
This medical library is practically
intact, and is rich In rare material for
the medical student and author. Print
ed In the clean, clear type Of the ne,
Rod, their bindings are such as to de
light the eye of the book lover and
| cOnnoisseur.
The collection of medical botan ies
and works on natural history especial.
ly are interesting and show the iniu
| ence of RahnesQue himself, who fol-
seven years, from 1910 to 1926, was
the head Of this department in Tran.
| sylvania. Among the bird books there
ls the set Of AleYand Wilson, pub,
lished in Philadelphia from 1903 tn
1913, with five volumes added to II
about twenty years later by Charles
Lucien Bonaparte; George Edwards
Natural History of Birds" and
"Gleanings Of Natural History" pub
lished In London, 1743 10 1884; 'The
Natural History Of Carolina, Florida
and the Bahama Islands" by Mark
Catesby, published in London in It'll
all large volumes with beautiful, clear.
cut plates. Besides these, there is the
'Dictionaire des Sciences Naturelles,' "
of M. DumOnt de Sainte-C roix, printed
in Paris between 1916 and 1880, prob.
nbly the most artlstically illustrated OF
any in the set.
The first publication on the general
botany Of North America is in this
library. 1t is the "Fl0ra Boreall-Amer.
ieana" of Andreas Michaux, published
in Paris in 1903. There are also
Flora Yirglnica," by John Clayton.
published in Leyden In 1902; William
q. Is. Barton's "The Flora Of North
America" published In Philadelphia IL,
1923, and many others OF equal In
| terest.