Evening star., 1927-03-09

Mrs, Coolidge and Mrs. Jardlne,
of the amaryIlis show of the Departm
passed. To this day one will find
certain fonts in use among printers,
including the Government Printing
Office. called Jenson type. The
Thacher collection has three of his
books. q the work of Aldus the
Thacher collection has Theodorus
Gazas Introduction to Greek Gram
mar and one of the volumes of his
great edition of Aristotle. \
Great Greek Lexicon.
Another great book is the Greek
Lexicon of Suidas, printed in Venice
by a Greek, Zakharias, a Cretan OF
Rhethymno, who printed four Greek
books in the last two years OF the
century. This was the first OF the
four. Its fine capitals and head
pieces in red had the admiration OF
William Morris of Kelmscott, VINO
owned this copy. The colophon shows
that the work was issued under me
patronage of Anna, daughter OF
Lucas Notaras, Duke of CONSTANT
nople.
The art of printing, however, owes
more than mere patronage and finan-
cial. support to women, for quite
number of incunabula were actually
printed by them, and Mr.. Thacher ob'
tanned at least two of them. In Flor
ence a convent of Dominican nuns.
Apud SAnctum Jacooum de Ripoi
printed 70 books. The nuns them
selves worked as compositors with
some occasional help from printers
from outside: their confessor acted as
treasurer and overseer. Some OF their
business accounts have survived and
show very interesting facts as to the
profits made. Their 20 books are chief
ly religious and devotional, though
some of them are not Another wom-
an printer was Liga Boaria, who pub
lished an edition of Alexander Gailus
in Venice, 1892, of which a copy is In
this collection.
Through the terms of Mrs. Thacher's
will, the Library of Congress comes
into the possession of fifteenth cen
tury books from the presses of Ger
many, Italy, Switzerland, France, Hol-
land, Belgium, Austria, Spain, Eng
land Sweden and Portugas--S40 diff.
ferent editions 920 volumes from $50
presses; books written in Latin. Greek,
Hebrw, German, Dutch, Bohemian,
Italian, French, Spanish and English.
Columbus Material Valuable.
OF very especial importance is the
printed material relating to Columbus,
to the early explorations of America
and to early cartography Ihese
groups aggregate upward OF SUI vol
umes. To name only a few OF these
works, significant among them are
Strassburg. 1909, editions of Valid
seemueller's 'Cosmographiae Intro
ductio," in which the suggestion was
first advanced that the newly dlscov-
cred continent should be called Amer
lea; Fernando Gorgas America
Painted to the Life" London, Noah
Brook, 1859; Peter Martyrs Historic
de rIndie Occidental" Venice, 1884;
Nicolas Monardes' "Historia Medicinal
de las Indias Occidentaies," Seville,
1859. and the 81 editions of Ptolemy.
The works on cartography and DIS
coyery were used by Mr.. Thacher in
his work on the Continent of Amer
ica." published in 1896 and called the
most sumptuous bibliographical and
oartogra phical work on the discovery
and naming of America that has ever
apueared in English, and used also in
his monumental work, "ChriStopher
columbus, His Life, His Work, Ills
Rernains as Revealed by Original Rec
ords." in three volumes, published In
1903 and 1904.
Among the original materials Mr.
Thacher printed In this work, accom-
nanied by English translations, are ex
tracts from Peter Martyrs "Epistles,
tho two Genoese lives by Gallo ano
Senarega from Muratori, Giustiniano'
life from his "Psalter," the various
versions of the Toscaneili letters, con
siderable extracts from Las CaSas
History of the Indies" the journal
of the first voyage, the Santangel anc
Sanchez letters in facsimile and trans
lation, facsimiles and translations o1
the demarcation bulls, the treaty OF
Tordesillas, facsimile and translation
of the Syllacio-Coma letter on the sec
ond voyage, the Chanca letter, the dc
Torrea memorandum, the narrative oi
the third voyage from Las Casas, the
letter to the nurse of Prince John, the
"I.;bretto" in facsimile and transla
tion, the Porras and Mendez narrative:
relating to the fourth voyage. and the
| "I,ettera Rarissima" in fac-simile ant
| translation. The material acquired b,
| MFR. Thacher in accomplishing thi:
| work Is part of the bequest to tn,
| National Library.
Relics Are Included.
| With these books relating to CO
lumbus are two small lockets. one tn
| shape of sphere, the other the shap,
| # a cross, inclosed III metal frames
each locket containing minute frag
| ments of bone which Mr.. Thache
considered worthy of being describe'
! as a part of the true remains of Co
| lumhus. The documents upon which
he based his opinion certify that tn
| fragments were taken in 1877 from
| leaden casket inscribed with the nam
and title Of Columbus, by the enginee
| Castillo, then in charge of repairs il
the Cathedral of San Domingo.
The autograph collection of roya
documents includes an official docu
ment signed by Henry V in 1880, an
there are letters also from Richar
III, Henry VIII, Mary Queen o
| Scots, Elizabeth, Charles l, Cromwell
Charles III, Anne, George III an,
others. The Oldest royal documcn
is signed by Charles V, King o
France, In 1874. The Napoleoni
group has two letters signed by Ma
Doleon and letters from his father
Carlo Bonaparte; his mother, Letiti
Bonaparte, Josephine, Marie Louise