Mount Vernon signal. (Mt. Vernon, Ky.) 18??-current, 1920-03-12
TRANSYlvANIA HAS
OLDEST LIBRARY
PRICELESS COLLECTION or
BOOKS OWNED ~ LExiNo.
TON COLLEGE NOT IN
FiREPRooF HOUSE.
MANY WORKS ARE IN LATIN
Ancient Medical and Law Books Could
Not Be Rspiseed--Many Of Them
Centuries Old.

| Ancient Medical and Law Books couIs
Not Be Rspiaeed--Many Of Them
Centuries Old.
Lexington, Ky.--1he Oldest librar,
In Kentucky and one Of the Oldest II
the United States. a library estimated
by lovers Of old books to be wortl
$250OOO, which 10 centuries old, IL on,
Of the possessions Of Trnnsylvanir
College, the first college west Of the
Alleghenies. whose financial founda
ton was formed by the eschested es
tates Of three Revolutionary period
tories.
Probably nowhere else In America
II anywhere else In the world, can the
volumes of Transylvania's OLD library
be duplicated.
Many Of these priceless old books
are of the sixteenth ana seventeenth
ccpturies, true examples Of whit was
then fine art. the type ns clear as the
day they were printed, many Of til.
texts In Latin, though some of them
like william Cowper's ANATOMY OF
Human Bodies" 1893. and Culpepper's
Astrological Judgment Ut Diseases. .
1866. both published In London, are "a
the English of that time.
These books were purchased by
liilllIlia i6innl6iialiu 80 s46nlaf6<61H
were costly and few. Dr. Charles
Caldwell, Of the Medical College oI
Pennsylvania, took with him to Pari.
in 1921 the sum Of seventeen thou
sand dollars with which to buy book
for the medical library, aud these
hooks still are consulted by the me,lI.
cal experts Of America. who can find
them nowhere else. DIR. Caldwell
found that because of the stormy times
IN France Idany libraries which had
belonged to Frrn,iimen heretofore In
rhe wealthy classes had found theIi
way to the booksellers shelves.
Tells Of Purchases.
II found and purchased" he says IN
his report, ''no inconsitlerable number
Of the choicest works Ut the fs,thers vi
medicine, from Hippocratcs to the ~
vival@ Of letters --works when IN Il,
other way, and perhaps nt M othes
time, could have been collected 81
readily and certainly AMI On terms 90
favorable. either In Paris or any other
city OF the world. Hence the decided
superiority Of 1'ransyivania's medical
library. In those works, to any other
In the west AMI south, and probably IN
the whole United States"
DIR. Peter and Dr. lush, of the med.
ical school. in 1897 made another for.
elgn purchase for the medical college,
when they Spent eleven thousand del
lars for books aud apparatus In Lon
don and Paris. One Of Daguerre's
cameras, first given to the world IN
that year, is among the apparatus they
brought back TO Lexington, and II Ii
Today In Transylvanin nuseum, along
with other rare and costly apparatus
Of that early date.
This medical library IL practically
intact, and IL rich In rare material for
the medical student and author. Print.
ed in the clean, clear type Of the pc
riod, their bindings are such as to de-
light the eye of The book lover ana
connOisseur.
Rahnescue's Works.
The collection OF medical bOtanles
and works on natural history especial
ly are interesting and show the intiu.
ence Of RafinesQue himself, who for
seven years. from 1910 to 1926, was
the head OF this department In Tram
sylvania. Among he-bird books there
il the set Of Alexander Wilson, pub.
lished In Philadelphia from 1903 to
1873, with tive volumes added to II
about twenty years later by Charles
Luclen Bonaparte; George Edwards
Natural History Of Birds" and
"Gleanings of Natural History" pub.
lished in London, lI43 10 I7Gi: 'Tle
Natural History Of Carolina, Florida
and the Bahama Islands" by Mark
Catesby. published In London In 177l |;
all large volumes with beautiful, clear.
cut plates. Besides these, there Is the
"pictiOnairre DIES Sciences Naturelles."
Of NJ. DumOnt de Sainte-Croix, printed
In Paris between 1916 and 1880, prob.
ably the most artlstically Illustrated Of
uny In the set.
The first publication on The general
botany of North America is In this
library. II Is the "FlOra BorealI-Amer-
icana" of Andreas Michaux, published
In Paris In 1903. There are also
"Flora Vlrglnica," by JOIN. Clayton.
published In Leyden In 1902; William
e. Is. Barton's "rhe Flora of North
America" published IN Philadelphia la
1923, and many others NJ equal H.
terest.
The Old Law Library.
Tho old law library was once as VAL
liable as the medical and other sclen-
tific hooks. but unfortunately has not
been so well preserved through the
centuries. There are left. however.
many Interesting books. among them
the Hargrave collection Of state trials,
In which are found the proceedings ut
the trial Of Captain William Kidd for
piracy; the trial of Anne R0leyn. In
which her last letter to King Henry Ia
al NM