The Book-Hunter
so distinctly represented in tangible symbols; and the reality of the
elucidation is increased by the sort of innocent surprise with which the
historian approaches each "lot," evidently as a first acquaintance,
about whom he inquires and obtains all available particulars,
good-humouredly communicating them in bald detail to his reader. Here
follows a sketch--and surely a tempting one--of a New York interior:--
"Mr Burton's library contains nearly sixteen thousand volumes. Its
proprietor had constructed for its accommodation and preservation a
three-storey fire-proof building, about thirty feet square, which is
isolated from all other buildings, and is connected with his residence
in Hudson Street by a conservatory gallery. The chief library-room
occupies the upper floor of this building, and is about twenty-five feet
in height. Its ceiling presents a series of groined rafters, after the
old English style, in the centre of which rises a dome-skylight of
stained glass. The sides of the library are fitted up with thirty-six
oak book-cases of a Gothic pattern, which entirely surround it, and are
nine feet in height. The space between the ceiling and the book-cases is
filled with paintings, for the most part of large size, and said to be
of value. Specimens of armour and busts of distinguished authors
decorate appropriate compartments, and in a prominent niche, at the head
of the apartment, stands a full-length statue of Shakespeare, executed
by Thom, in the same style as the Tam o' Shanter and Old Mortality
groups of this Scotch sculptor.
"The great specialty of the library is its Shakespeare collection; but,
although very extensive and valuable, it by no means engrosses the
entire library, which contains a large number of valuable works in
several departments of literature.
"The number of lexicons and dictionaries is large, and among the latter
may be found all the rare old English works so valuable for reference.
Three book-cases are devoted to serials, which contain many of the
standard reviews and magazines. One case is appropriated to voyages and
travels, in which are found many valuable ones. In another are upwards
of one hundred volumes of table-talk, and numerous works on the fine
arts and bibliography. One book-case is devoted to choice works on
America, among which is Sebastian Munster's Cosmographia Totius Orbis
Regionum, published in folio at Basle in 1537, which contains full notes
of Columbus, Vespucci, and other early voyagers. Another department
contains a curious catalogue of authorities relating to Crime and
Punishment; a liberal space is devoted to Facetiae, another to American
Poetry, and also one to Natural and Moral Philosophy. The standard works
of Fiction, Biography, Theology, and the Drama, are all represented.
"There is a fair collection of classical authors, many of which are of
Aldine and Elzevir editions. Among the rarities in this department is a
folio copy of Plautus, printed at Venice in 1518, and illustrated with
woodcuts."
The author thus coming upon a Roman writer of plays, named Plautus,
favours us with an account of him, which it is unnecessary to pursue,
since it by no means possesses the interest attached to his still-life
sketches. Let us pass on and take a peep at the collection of Chancellor
Kent, known in this country as the author of Kent's Commentary:--
"To a lawyer, the Chancellor's written remarks on his books are,
perhaps, their most interesting feature. He studied pen in hand, and all
of his books contain his annotations, and some are literary curiosities.
His edition of Blackstone's Commentaries is the first American edition,
printed in Philadelphia in 1771. It is creditable to the press of that
time, and is overlaid with annotations, showing how diligently the
future American commentator studied the elegant work of his English
predecessor. The general reader will find still more interest in the
earlier judicial reports of the State of New York, printed while he was
on the bench. He will find not merely legal notes, but biographical
memoranda of many of the distinguished judges and lawyers who lived at
the commencement of the century, and built up the present system of
laws.
"In proceeding from the legal to the miscellaneous part of the library,
the visitor's attention will, perhaps, be attracted by an extensive and
curious collection of the records of criminal law. Not merely the
English state trials and the French _causes celebres_ are there, but the
criminal trials of Scotland and of America, and detached publications of
remarkable cases, Newgate Calendars, Malefactors' Register, Chronicles
of Crime, with ghastly prints of Newgate and Old Bailey, with their
executions. The Chancellor is not responsible for this part of the
library, which owes its completeness to the morbid taste of his
successor, who defends the collection as best illustrating the popular
morals and manners of every period, and contends that fiction yields in
interest to the gloomy dramas of real life."
The practice attributed to the Chancellor of annotating his books is
looked on by collectors as in the general case a crime which should be
denied benefit of clergy. What is often said, however, of other crimes
may be said of this, that if the perpetrator be sufficiently
illustrious, it becomes a virtue. If Milton, for instance, had thought
fit to leave his autograph annotations on the first folio Shakespeare,
the offence would not only have been pardoned but applauded, greatly to
the pecuniary benefit of any one so fortunate as to discover the
treasure. But it would be highly dangerous for ordinary people to found
on such an immunity. I remember being once shown by an indignant
collector a set of utterly and hopelessly destroyed copies of rare
tracts connected with the religious disputes of Queen Elizabeth's day,
each inlaid and separately bound in a thin volume in the finest morocco,
with the title lengthways along the back. These had been lent to a
gentleman who deemed himself a distinguished poet, and he thought proper
to write on the margin the sensations caused within him by the perusal
of some of the more striking passages, certifying the genuineness of his
autograph by his signature at full length in a bold distinct hand. He,
worthy man, deemed that he was adding greatly to the value of the
rarities; but had he beheld the owner's face on occasion of the
discovery, he would have been undeceived.
There are in Dr Wynne's book descriptions, not only of libraries
according to their kind, but according to their stage of growth, from
those which, as the work of a generation or two, have reached from ten
to fifteen thousand, to the collections still in their youth, such as Mr
Lorimer Graham's of five thousand volumes, rich in early editions of
British poetry, and doubtless, by this time, still richer, since its
owner was lately here collecting early works on the literature of
Scotland, and other memorials of the land of his fathers. Certainly,
however, the most interesting of the whole is the library of the Rev. Dr
Magoon, "an eminent and popular divine of the Baptist Church." He
entered on active life as an operative bricklayer. There are, it
appears, wall-plates extant, and not a few, built by his hands, and it
was only by saving the earnings these brought to him that he could
obtain an education. When an English mechanic finds out that he has a
call to the ministry, we can easily figure the grim ignorant fanatical
ranter that comes forth as the result. If haply he is able to read, his
library will be a few lean sheepskin-clad volumes, such as Boston's
Crook in the Lot, Fisher's Marrow of Modern Divinity, Brooks's Apples of
Gold, Bolton's Saint's Enriching Examination, and Halyburton's Great
Concern. The bricklayer, however, was endowed with the heavenly gift of
the high aesthetic, which no birth or breeding can secure, and threw
himself into that common ground where art and religion meet--the
literature of Christian medieval art. Things must, however, have greatly
changed among our brethren since the days of Cotton Mather, or even of
Jonathan Edwards, when a person in Dr Magoon's position could embellish
his private sanctuary in this fashion.
"The chief characteristic of the collection is its numerous works on
the history, literature, and theory of art in general, and of Christian
architecture in particular. There is scarcely a church, abbey,
monastery, college, or cathedral; or picture, statue, or illumination,
prominent in Christian art, extant in Italy, Germany, France, or the
British Islands, that is not represented either by original drawings or
in some other graphic form.
"In addition to these works, having especial reference to Christian art,
are many full sets of folios depicting the leading galleries of ancient,
medieval, and modern art in general. Some of these, as the six elephant
folios on the Louvre, are in superb bindings; while many others, among
which are the Dresden Gallery and Retzsch's Outlines, derive an
additional value from once having formed a part of the elegant
collection of William Reginald Courtenay.
"But what renders this collection particularly valuable, is its large
number of original drawings by eminent masters which accompany the
written and engraved works. Amongst these are two large sepia drawings,
by Amici, of the Pantheon and St Peter's at Rome. These drawings were
engraved and published with several others by Ackermann. Both the
originals, and the engravings executed from them, are in the collection.
The original view near the Basilica of St Marco, by Samuel Prout, the
engraving of which is in Finden's Byron, and the interior of St Marco,
by Luke Price, the engraving of which is in Price's Venice Illustrated,
grace the collection. There is likewise a superb general view of Venice,
by Wyld; a fine exterior view of Rheims Cathedral, by Buckley; an
exterior view of St Peter's at Caen, by Charles Vacher; and the interior
of St Germain des Pres at Paris, by Duval."
The early history of the American settlements is naturally the object
around which many of these collections cluster; but the scraps of this
kind of literature which have been secured have a sadly impoverished
aspect in comparison with the luxurious stores which American money has
attracted from the Old World.[53] Here one is forcibly reminded of
those elements in the old-established libraries of Europe which no
wealth or zeal can achieve elsewhere, because the commodity is not in
the market.
[Footnote 53: "This collection [Mr Menzies's] contains four thousand
volumes, and is for the most part in the English language. Its chief
specialty consists in works on American history and early American
printed books. Among the latter may be mentioned a series of the
earliest works issued from the press in New York. Of these, is A Letter
of Advice to a Young Gentleman, by R.L., printed and sold by William
Bradford, in New York, 1696. Richard Lyon, the author, came early to
this country, and officiated as a private tutor to a young English
student at Cambridge, to whom the letter of advice was written. It is
undoubtedly the earliest work which issued from the press in New York,
and is so extremely rare, that it is questionable whether another copy
is to be found in the State. There is a collection of tracts comprised
in seven volumes, written by the Rev. George Keith, and published by
Bradford, at New York, 1702-4. Keith was born in Scotland, and settled
in East Jersey, in the capacity of surveyor-general, in 1682. The
several tracts in the collection are on religious subjects, and are
controversial in their character. As early specimens of printing, and as
models of the manner in which the religious controversies of the day