Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-04
CHANCE MEETING BRINGS RARE
BOOKS TO LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Representative Collins InStru-
mental in Purchase of
lnCunabuIa.
Collector Wanted Volumes for
Homeland, but Germany
Could Not Pay.

"A MISSISSIPPI lawyer and retreo
Berlin merchant met in Washington,
and from the handshake of two kindred
spirits has come a symbolic event-one
of those inconspicuous happenings
packed with meaning which sometimes
change the course of history.
One was Representative Ross A. Col
Inns of Meridian. Almost unsupported
by his colleagues this Southern legis-
lator concealed under the exterior OF
| the practical man of affairs another
| and deeper perSonality-the broad
scholar, the lover of learning, the stu
dent of human cultures and the phil
oSopher with certain ideas as to the
future and needs of democracy.
The other was DR.. Otto H. F. Voll-
behr, rich and patriotic German, medi-
eval scholar, follower of quaint and
colorful paths of erudition and enthuSi-
| aStic book collector, whose hobby had
such a hold on him that he couldn t
resist the temptation to buy a rare VOL
ume, and who now saw the dream of a
lifetime collapsing around him.
Meeting Strange Result.
| For both men the meeting had a
| strange result. From it the somewhat
| obscure Mississippi lawyer emerged as
J the legislative voice of intellectual
America. And the German patriot who
had devoted his time and fortune for
| the greater glory of the fatherland be-
came the great benefactor of a land of
in the growing movement for the kin
ship of nations.
DR.. Vollbehr for 80 years had devoted
most of his life to combing Europe for
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS printed in the If
teenth century, following Immediately
on the establishment of the first print
ing press in Germany by the unfor-
tunate dreamer, Johann Gutenberg, and
the predetermined magician, Faust.
1t had been labor of love. Upon it
DR.. Vollbehr spent the greater part of
his fortune.
With the fall of the mark and the
impoverishment of German institutions
after the war, he was able to secure
many rare volumes until he had the
greatest collection of incunabula in pri-
vate hands in the world. The greatest
prize of all was a Gutenberg Bible
one Of the three parchment copies re-
press, and conservatiVely valued at
81 ,500,000
Intended for Germany.
The collection of these books was to
be his life work and his monument
All the time he intended to present
them or sell them at a nominal figure
to Germany. Had it been left to him
self, he says, he would have turned
them over to his native land. But they
represented all he had, and his family
must be considered. He had an enor-
nous fortune-in books. There was a
ready market. He could have disposed
of them for many times their assessed
value to private American collectors.
But he could not bear to see them 60.
He wanted them kept together and
them away, as he wanted. He could not
break up the collection, which he loved
almost more than life itself.
In Europe he met Cardinal Munde-
lein of Chicago, then enthusiastic over
the vision of establishing a great re-
ngious university in the American city.
The prelate persuaded DR.. Vollnehr to
bring the collection to the EucharIstic
Congress in Chicago that Summer, in
the hope that they could be purchased
and form the nucleus of the library of
this projected institution.
The plan did not materiallze. DR..
Vollbehr sorrowfully packed his books
and planned to return to Germany
Plenty of American institutions wanted
few volumes or fragments of volumes.
He could have sold the Gutenberg Bible
page by page and realized approxi-
mately $3,000,000. But this, or even
the detaching of single book from the
collection, seemed like sacrilege to the
scholar.
Met Library Personnel.
The return to Germany was delayed.
There were several exhibits of parts of
the collection. DR.. Vollbehr became
acquainted with the personnel of the
Library of Congress, greatest collection
of books in the Western hemisphere
and one Of the greatest in the world.
1t appealed to him as an ideal depository
of literary treasures. He presented to
1t his invaluable collection of book
marks. But he could not see his way
clear to completely impovish himself
and his family by turning over to 1t the
Bible and the incunabula collection
which he had intended for Germany.
He offered TO compromise. He had
the collection appraised at a minimum
by American experts. They set figure
Of 100000 for the collection as a
whole-not, of course, for its value If
sold in separate items, which would
have been much greater.
Then DR.. Vollbehr offered the whole
to the American Government for
81 100000. That is, he offered to give
| the United States $l,500,000 worth Of
books free II they would take the rest
| of his hands.
Now, the difficulty was that the money
must come from the public purse, and
the guardians OF the public purse could
! not be expected to be very enthusiastic
over an opportunity to spend that much
! for what seemed luXuries-books in old
| French and German and in Latin which
| only handful Of scholars could read.
1t was-although Mr.. Collins SCOTS the
! idea-a new departure in government.
| At least 1t was the symbol of a new
! departure.
Saw Practical Investment.
Then DR. Vollbehr and Representative
| Collins met. The Mississippi lawyer
knew very little OF incunabula, but his
wide reading and his insight enabled
him TO grasp at once the Significance
of what was offered. This collection
was not a luxury. 1t represented, he
saw, one Of the most practical invest
ments the American Government could
make.
In the fifteenth century the mind of
| Europe was awakening. The concepts
which play the greatest part in the life
Of today we're being born, laboriously
and contusedly, in the thought Of Eu-
rope. 1t was the age OF the RenaiS-
sance, Of the Reformation, of the dis
covery OF America, of the emergence of
objective science out of philosophy, OF
the establishment of modern languages.
This age was not alone the cradle of
printing. It was the cradle of modern
thought. Nobody could possibly under
stand fully the thought trends of today
without tracing them back to the age
represented by these incunabula. And
the books themselves were a cross-sec-
ton Of the thought of the time. They
we're reference books" necessary fol-
! Congress, which deals in current eco
nomic and political concepts born in