Evening star., 1933-12-28
FORTUNE IN BOOKS
. IS DISPLAYED HERE
Priceless Volumes Exhibited
Before American PhiIoIogi-
cal Association.
BY JAMES WALDO FAWCETT.


A fortune in old books was carried
INTO Washington yesterday, remained
here a few hours, was displayed few
minutes, and then was carried away
again.
Only IS small volumes in number,
their owner, DR.. George A. Plimpton
OF New York, estimates their value at
the equivalent of a kings ransom. He
conveyed his treasures to and from
the CSUital in plain tan leather suit
case. The occasion Of the visit was an
address before the 65th annual meet
ing Of the American Pathological Asso-
Ciatic-,, in conjunction with the Arch
Biological Institute of America and the
Linguistic Society Of America.
DR.. Phmpton explained that he has
been collecting ancient manuscripts
and books for many years, but that he
is not general collector. His inter-
estS center about textbooks exclusively.
in his New York home he has gathered
literally thousands of volumes of that
department of literature, the instru-
ments,v as he calls them, 'of our civ
tlization of today"
Owns Many Volumes.
The books he brought with him t.
bA4AetAd dGC AlAS lCNlllC OIlly d
small fraction of his vast library
when asked how many different titles
he possessed. he could not give the
liable Volumes" he said lin large
vault built IN the basement and under
the sidewalk of nv home"
A prize pearl exhibited to the audi
enCe Of scientists was a tiny fragment
Of vellUm, only 81 by 1916 inches
IN size 1t is portion of single page
Of the celebrated Latin grammar of
Donatus. printed by Johann Gutenberg
at Mainz about 1850. The remainder
Of the book is lost, and DR.. PlimptQn
declared that only one other such
fragment is known to exist-a similar
half-leaf in the British Museum,
London.
Dr. Plimpton gave brief outline
sketch Of the author. "Aelius Dona-
tus," he said, was born about 333 AID.
He taught rhetoric at Rome and st.
Jerome was one of his pupils. His
Elements of Grammar or 'Ars Gram
matica,' served as the basis of nearly
al subsequent elementary works on
that subject and was generally used in
the schools of the middle ages. He also
wrote an able commentary on Terence
which is eXtant."
PrlnteO BEFORE BlDle.
SO important was the Donatus gram
mar that it was set up in type and
printed before the Bible.
In DR.. Plimpton's fragment there was
an original cut or hole, neatly mended
with vellum, before printing. The text
Is in black Gothic letters, with initial
strokes and paragraph mark supplied
by hand in red.
Another rare item displayed by the
speaker was a Latin grammar manu-
script by the Greek scholar Guarino.
137o-146O- He also exhibited the Latin
grammar used by George Washington
Parke CuStiS adopted son of George
WaShington-a book by Edward Rigg
of New York, printed by Hugh Gaine
In 1873. The latter contains two auto
graphs Of CuStis
DR.. PlimptOn owns the largest COL
lection of manuscripts covering the era
of st. Patrick and ST. Augustine and
coming up to the twelfth century in
private hands in America He has the
earliest known manuscript of Euclid
and the first printed Euclid; also
manuscript Of a sermon by the ven
cradle Bede, an exceedingly rare and
curious manuscript by the scholar Al
Cuin, a manuscript Of Caesars Com
mentarieS, an illuminated manuscript
by Cornelius Nepos of fifteenth century
date and a manuscript of the book of
job, written about 100.
Library Open to Scholars
His library is open to accredited
scholars, and it is his hope, he ex-
planned, to make his collection avail
stand stan and m us use q it intelligentiy. My
aim" he said, "is to gather the books
that throw light on educational prog
Seached our present cultural elevation"
DR.. Plimpton is president of the board
Of trustees of Amherst College and a
member Of the Plan and Scope Com
mittee Of the Folger Shakespeare Ii
brary. He is the author Of The Edn-
cation of Shakespeare" and other works