The Washington herald., 1922-11-19
- -
Nth o. Palace
Whole Costing
NOW Literally
Priceless, to Be
Presented TO
the American
Nation
(continued from Preceding Page)

"Of the Civil War period there is
Lincoln's notebook consisting Of news
paper clippings interspersed with Px-
plantations and corrections in his own
handwriting. giving his views on negro
equality, a point raised in the Lincoln
Douglas debates and on which he had been
very much misrepresented. There is also
Herndons Life of Lincoln, Shermans
Memoirs, not all of which were published,
and Autograph Letters and Documents of
from seventy-five to ninety per cent of
all the Northern and Confederate officers
who took part in the war. Many of these
are accompanied by photographs. The
manuscripts of John FiSkc'S Histories oc-
cupy about foot and a half of shClfroom.
"Of English literature, both of printed
books and manuscripts. the collection in
the Huntington Library is one of the
finest outside of the British Museum and
the two University libraries in England,
OF English books printed prior to l64l
this library already contains over 1900
volumes, nearly as many are in the
University Library at Cambridge, which
has about 5000 volumes; but if quality
instead of numbers is considered, the
Huntington Library far surpasSeS that of
Cambridge University in this field.
'Of typographical monuments there are
the first books printed with movable type,
the Gutenberg Bible; the first book
printed in England; the first book printed
in the English language, and the first
book printed in the British colonies of
North America.
9Th" collection Of Early editions of
Shakespcarc'S Works is undoubtedly the
finest in the world. Of the Four Folios
printed in 1923, 1882, 1663-l664 and
1888. it contains twenty-nine copies, dis
playing all of the different title pages and
important tcxtual variations. OF the
Quarto Plays it has all the First Editions
with tho exception of one, that of Titus
Andronicr>.' Of this only single copy
is kr W. ;'at is owned by Mr.. H. C.
Foger, Of Brooklyn. n. Y.
1t contains the only known copy of
the 1890 "dition of Shakespeare's Venus
and Adoni>, published in the poets life
time.
The collection of manuscripts of
English literature is highly distinctive
Most important of all is the celebrated
Ellesmere Chaucer, written within a few
years of Chaucers death. This is the
basis of all the printed editions of his
Canterbury Tales Then there is copy
of Milton's 'ComuS, in the handwriting
of Henry LawPs, who wrote the music
for that Masuue. The Towneley and
Chester Mystery Plays have already been
mentinned 4 COPY Of Covers 'COnfesSio
AmantiS' and of Mitons 'COmus' (iuSt
referred toD were procured in the Bridge
water House Library. An important collcc-
ton of English Plays from the same source
is the I.arpent Collection. This consists of
about 1000 plays in the original manu-
scripts. som" in the handwriting of the
authors Themselves, many accompanied ny
letters from their respective authors
Dryden, Garrick, the Sheridans, the
KemhleS and others.
"Of modern English authors manu-
scripts mention may he made of Black
norp's Lorna Doone,' Thackeray's 'Ad-
ventures of Philip, Reade'S The Cloister
and the Hearth Ruskin's Seven Lamps of
Architecture with many of the original
drawings. Borrow's Life of Baldcr,'
Trollope's The Bclton Estate, John
Arlington SymondS' Michael Angelo
tranz'ation- Of tho Odyssey and Tliad'
and many Of his original productions,
SvmhVrn"', Rosaind,' Gissing's The
Whirlnool.' Mrredith's Diana of the
Crossway,. seventy-fve pages. all that
remains, of the manuscript of Conrad's
'Nostromo. and Kipling's From Sea to
Sea. Of Meredith's writings there are
also his criticisms of over one thousand
books which he wrote while employed as
reader for Chapman and Hall. the London
publishers. Mention should also be made
of tn" note hooks of DR.. Samuel johnson,
Landor, Coloridge, Lamb. Shelley, Arthur
O'Shaughn"SSy. Stevenson and about 500
autograph letters of Dickens
"Thr"" of the most interesting letters
in th" collection consist of letter written
by Charles Lamb. proposing marriage to
the actress, Miss Frances Kelly; her
answer declining the proposal, and his
reply, in which he expresses the desire that
their previous friendly relations with each
other might remain unbroken. An auto
biography written by Elizabeth Barrett
Browning at the premature age of four
teen years is probably the earliest manu-
Of hat rrift taI ,,Tb