The Washington times., 1922-11-19
OOCCSSStO W O>
Uith 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
Lincolns notebook consisting of news
paper clippings interspcrSCd with cX-
plantations and corrections in his own
handwriting, giving his views on negro
equality, 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 FiSkcS Histories oc-
cupy about foot and half Of shelfroom.
"Of English literature, both Of printed
books and manuscripts. tn" 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 1000
volumes, nearly as many are in the
University Library at Cambridge, which
has about 5000 volumes; but if quality
instead of numbers is considered, tn"
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
A. D,;t Of
North America.
"Thc collection of Early Editions OF
Shakespeare's Works is undoubtedly the
finest in the world. Of the Four Follos
printed in 1923, 1852, 1663-l664 and
1855, it contains twenty-nine copies, dis
PLAYING all of the different title pages and
important textual variations. Of the
Quarto Plays it has all the First Editions
with the exception of one, that Of Titus
Andronicus Of this only single copy
is known, that is owned by Mr.. H. c.
Foger, of Brooklyn, N. Y.
at contains the only known copy of
the 1890 edition Of Shakespeare's Venus
and Adonis,' published in the poets life
time.
"Tbe collection Of manuscripts of
Enrlish literature is highly distinctive.
Most important of all is the celebrated
Ellesmere Chaucer, written within few
wears 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 Lawes, who wrote the music
for that Masque. The Towneley and
Chester Mystery Plays have already been
mentioned. A copy of Covers 'COnfessio
Amantis' and Of Millions 'Comus (just
referred to- were procured in the Bridge
water House Library. An important collec-
ton of English Plays from the same source
is the Larpent Collection. This consists Of
about 1000 plays in the original manu-
scripts, some in the handwriting Of the
authors themselves, many accompanied by
letters from their respective authors
Drvden, Garrick, the Sheridans, the
Kembles and others.
"Of modern English authors manu-
scripts mention may be made of Black
nore'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 Bladder
Trollope's The Belton Estate, John
Addington Symonds Michael Angelo
Tennysons 1dylls of the King, Morriss
trAnSlaJlOnS Ol Tile OuyoeCN llId'
and many of his original productions,
Swinburnes 'Rosalind,' Gissing's The
Whirlpool Merediths Diana of the
Crossways,' seventy-hve 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
hooks which he wrote while employed as
.eader for Chapman and Hall, the London
publishers. Mention should also be made
If the note hooks Of DR.. Samuel Johnson,
Landor, Colcridge, Lamb, Shelley, Arthur
O'Shaughncssy, Stevenson and about 600
autograph letters Of Dickens.
Three Of the most interesting letters
in the collection consist Of a letter written
bv 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-
script Of that gifted authoress