SPECIAL REPORT
OF THE
LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS
TO THW
JOINT COMMITTEE ON TiHE LIBRARY
CONCERNING THE
HISTORICAL LIBRARY OF PETER FORCE, EsQ.
W A S H I N G T O N.
1867.








:REPO RT.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS,
WASHINGTON, January 25, 1867.
In pursuance of the unanimously expressed desire of the Joint Committee on the Library, at the close of the last session of Congress, the
undersigned has made a thorough examination of the historical library
belonging to Peter Force, Esq., of Washington, and has now the honor
to submit the following report:
In prosecuting an investigation into the character of so extensive and
important a collection of books, with a view to form an intelligent judgment of its extent and value, it was necessary to enter closely into
details, and to devote much time and assiduous labor to the work. The
undersigned has spent from two to three hours per day: for the term  of
about two months, in the examination, and every book in the library
has passed through his hands. The result is that he is in possession of
a virtually complete inventory of the-collection, in all its varied departments, which must, however, be greatly condensed for the purposes of
this report, so as to embrace only the more important facts and figures.
For the purpose of more convenient and accurate consideration, the
contents of the library' will be referred to under the following distinct
classes:
1. Printed books relating to America.
2. Early American newspapers.
3. Pamphlets relating to America.
4. Maps.
5. Incunabula; or books printed during the infancy of the art.
6. Manuscripts and autographs.
7. MS. materials for the American Archives, or Documentary History
of America.
1. In the department of books relating to America, the library embraces
the largest private collection ever brought together, having been formed
by Mr. Force with special reference to assembling the fullest materials
for editing his American Archives. The plan of this work embraced
nothing less than a complete publication of all the more important original
State papers, letters, narratives, and other documents relating to the settlement and history of the United States, from the discovery of America




in 1492 to the establishment of the present Government in 1789'. His
library embraces an immense collection of the early American voyages,
in Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, and English, while in
books and pamphlets relating to the politics and government of the
American colonies, it stands unrivalled in this country. In the field of early
printed American books, so much sought for by collectors, and which ae
becoming annually more scarce and costly, this library possesses more
than ten times the number to be found in the Library of Congress. Not
to dwell upon particulars, it need only be mentioned that there is a perfect copy of Eliot's Indian Bible, the last copy of which offered at atiction brought $800, and was last year resold at $1,000; forty-one different works of Increase and Cotton Mather, printed at Boston and Cambridge, from 1671 to 1735; a large number of still earlier books and
pamphlets by Norton, Cotton, and other Puritan divines; and a very
complete representation of the numerous and much sought for publications of the presses of Franklin and the Bradfords. In the Laws and
Journals of the early colonial Assemblies, from New Hampshire to Georgia, there are over two hundred volumes, of the utmost interest as showing the legislative policy of the colonies in revolutionary times; and as
but few of these have been reprinted in any of the modern collections,
they are not in the Library of Congress. When it is-remembered that the
Congressional Library is for the use of our national legislature, and represents the nationality of the American people, it is plainly of the utmost
consequence to render it complete in all that can illustrate our history
and progress as a nation. Two predominant ideas should be kept steadily
in view: first, as the library of a legislative body, it should be made
absolutely complete in all that relates to the departments of law, government, and politics; secondly, as the great national library of the
United States, it should contain all publications relating to our own
country-its discovery, settlemrent, topography, history, biography, religion, natural history and politics. In each of these two departments it
should be the aim of such a Library to possess every book which has been
issued, since the American publicist and historian can make no exhaustive research without having access to all the materials which former
writers have accumulated. Especially should an effort be made to
acquire as soon as may be all the early publications, whose increasing
scarcity and cost are making it annually mlore difficult to procure them
at all.
2. In the department of early printed American newspapers, there are
unusually complete files of the leading journals of Massachusetts, New
York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and other States, dating from 1735 to 1800,
and covering with much fullness the period of the Stamp Act controversy,
the revolutionary war, and the establishment of the present Constitution.




The Library of Congress at present possesses not even a fragment of a
file of any revolutionary or ante-revolutionary newspaper, the earliest
American journal in its collection being the Boston Centinel of 1789.
The Force library has no less than 245 bound volumes of American
newspapers printed prior to 1800, besides about seven hundred volumes,
bound and unbound, of journals printed from 1800 to the present time.
WMhen it is considered how much these contemporaneous chronicles of
events add to the stores of inform'ftion in request by the student of
history, the great importance of not losing such an opportunity of
acquiring them becomes too evident for argument.
3. Pamphlets relating to America. The number, variety, and value of
the pamphlets embraced in this library are entirely unrivalled in any
American collection, public or private, unless it may be by the rich stores of
the Boston Athenmum. Of pamphlets printed prior to 1800 there are 8,310,
while of pamphlets printed between 1800 and the present date, the collection rises to between 30,000 and 35,000. It is now generally admitted th'at
the pamphlet literature, especially of the last century, is full of the most
vital materials for politicai history. They rank next to newspapers in the
light they shed upon the characters and events of any period, and, indeed,
before the newspaper had assumed its present influence, importance, and
firequency of publieation, the pamphlet literature of the times was what
newspapers now are, strikingly reflecting the political and social spirit
which bore sway at the epoch of their publication. The whole number
of pamphlets in this noble collection is nearly 40,000, and as Mr. Force
was so fortunate as to secure, many years since, five great and unbroken
collections, formed by leading politicians of different parties, who arranged
and bound up for convenient reference all the pamphlet literature of
their time, the collection is not only unmatched, but at this day unmatchable for completeness. Indeed, there are few either of books or
pamphlets published in America or in Great Britain upon our affairs
which are not to be found here. The Library of' Congress at present
possesses less than 6,000 pamphlets. Yet the political history of our
country cannot be written without them. The great use made of
pamphlets by the most philosophical of modern historians indicates how
much we may be indebted to these often unconsidered trifles for the most
invaluable materials of history.
4. In the department of maps and atlases relating to America, the
Force library embraces a collection not only large, but, in many particul;lrs unique. Not only the early atlases of' Delisle, Jefferys, Des Barres,
Faden, and other geographers, with a complete copy of the scarce'" Atlas
of the Battles of the American Revolution," but an assemblage of detached
maps over une thousand in number, and chiefly illustrative of America, are
here found. Among these, the most valuable are a series of original mili



tary maps and plans in manuscript, covering the period of the French war
and the war of the Revolution. These are of exceeding interest, and
many of them are the work of officers of the British army stationed in
America, bearing such inscriptions as the following:
"Plan of the rebel works at West Point," (a pen drawing,) date 1779
"Plan of the Rebel Works on Prospect Hill," also on Winter Hill and
Bunker Hill, several distinct maps, date 1775.
The number of these original mnaps, many of which are unpublished
and therefore presumed to be unique, is over 300, covering the whole
country, from Canada to the Gulf.
5. Of books known as incunabula, or specimens of the earliest devel
opment of the art of printing, the collection is large and valuable. I
embraces a complete series of imprints by the most distinguished of the
early printers, representing every year from  1467 to 1500, besides s
large number printed in the following century. The number of books printea
in the fifteenth century is 161, and there are over 250 more printed prior
to 1630. This collection was formed with special reference to illustrating
the progress of the art of printing.from its infancy, and is one of the
best, if not the best, in America.
6. Autographs and manuscripts. Among the manuscript treasures o
this library are 48 folio volumes of historical autographs of great raritI
anrid interest, embracing, especially, a collection of revolutionary letters
chiefly military and political, and all of unquestionable authenticity.  I
need only be added that the National Library now possesses not a solitarl
specimen of original autographs ill the shape of letters or papers of ouj
revolutionary generals and statesmen, to show how  greatly this depart
ment of the collection would add to the value of that library. The Fore
collection embraces two volumes of an original military journal {(
Major General Greene, covering the yelars 1781 and 1782; a private joui
nal kept by Arthur Lee while minister to France in 1776-7; thirty o
forty orderly books of the Revolution; twelve or more military journal
of British officers during the same period; twenty-five manuscript narri
tives of military expeditions, all unpublished; twelve folio volumes of th
papers of Paul Jones while, commanding American cruisers in 1776 t
1778; a volume of records of the Virginia Company from 1621 to 168l
mostly unpublished; two autograph journals of George Washingtor
one dated 1755, during Braddock's expedition, and one in 1787, at Moun
Vernon; besides a multitude of others. There is also an unpublishe
manuscript of Las Casas, in four folio volumes, entitled' Hlistoria Apo
ogetica de los Indias Occidentales," and an "iHistoria Antiqua de Nuev
Espania," in three volumes.
The whole number of volumes in manuscript reaches 429; and the