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 GLANCE 
 
 r i ft a t e i t r a r i t s 
 
 LUTHER FARNHAM. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PRESS OF CROCKER AND BREWSTER, 
 
 47 Washington Street. 
 
 1855.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, 
 
 BY LUTHER FARNHAM, 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
 
 PREFATORY NOTE, 
 
 A few years since the late Prof. B. B. Edwards, 
 D. D., requested me to prepare for the Bibliotheca 
 Sacra, of which he was an editor, an article on pri- 
 vate libraries. The preparation of the paper was 
 commenced, but on the death of Prof. E. was sus- 
 pended, until recently, when it was completed accord- 
 ing to the original plan. By request the manuscript 
 was read at the regular monthly meeting of the New 
 England Historic-Genealogical Society in October 
 last, and in accordance with a unanimous vote of the 
 Society, it is now published. 
 
 The libraries noticed are chiefly of Boston and 
 neighborhood, and embrace only those that have acci- 
 dentally or otherwise come to my knowledge. Of 
 course, the faintest glimpse of libraries, such as is 
 given, does not do them justice, and is a very imper- 
 fect view of any one of them ; still it was all that the 
 plan of the Essay embraced. Possibly there may be 
 a demand for a view of the wealth of all the private 
 libraries in this section of the country, or even of the 
 whole land, at no distant day. This commencement 
 of researches in a new and interesting field of inquiry 
 is respectfully dedicated to all collectors and lovers of 
 good books, with the hope, that they may find in it 
 somewhat of entertainment, if not of instruction. 
 
 L. F. 
 
 Boston, December 1, 1855.
 
 A GLANCE AT PRIVATE LIBRARIES- 
 
 THIS country is sadly in want of books. We 
 can boast of a land stretching from sea to sea, 
 with the greatest varieties of climate, soil and 
 productions. Our national power upon land and 
 water is unquestioned. In opulence, population, 
 present and prospective, in the character of its 
 institutions, and in the intelligence of the people, 
 and in most that goes to make a great nation, 
 this republic ranks as a first-rate power. The 
 most civilized states of Europe send their agents 
 to examine our system of free schools, with the 
 idea that the old world may be better off to in- 
 troduce them ; and our institutions of mercy and 
 charity are more than respectable ; while Amer- 
 ican ships and other fruits of our skill excite 
 general admiration. We hear of men from the 
 other side who visit us to witness the autumnal 
 tints of an American forest, or to gaze upon Ni-
 
 6 
 
 agara, or a prairie, or the lakes, or the father of 
 rivers. 
 
 But what visitor crosses the sea to view our 
 libraries ? Who has ever heard of them abroad, 
 except their diminutive size and meager charac- 
 ter has given them a " bad eminence ?" We have 
 not a single library with one hundred thousand 
 volumes, while there are several in Europe with 
 five times this number of books, and one or two 
 with a million or more.* Indeed, our largest 
 public libraries would attract no special notice in 
 a small town on the Continent. And our libra- 
 ries (unless there may be recent exceptions) have 
 been as much wanting in the quality of their 
 books, as in their quantity. To look at many of 
 the volumes that are to be found in our public 
 libraries, one would think, that those who by a 
 figure of speech are called the donors, ought to 
 pay for their storage, particularly, where they 
 mar the appearance of very nice library halls. 
 They remind one of the books that are sometimes 
 sent to the missionaries of the western section of 
 our country, apparently because the proprietors 
 
 The Paris corrcipondent of an American journal has recently wrilten of what 
 toe terms the largest library in the world. He say* : " The Bibliotheyue Rationale, 
 in (he Rue Richelieu contain* at the present time fourteen hundred thousand vol- 
 umes, or about four limes the whole number of books in the public libraries of Mas- 
 Hchiuetts. The volumes are mostly in handsome binding of colored leather en- 
 rithed with gilt, and are placed in solid walls from floor to ceiling, with net work 
 /or protection a* high as the baud can reach.'*
 
 know not how else to dispose of them, forget- 
 ting that the only light that many books can 
 shed is that evolved when they are used to kin- 
 dle fires. 
 
 America has produced a few authors worthy 
 the name ; but it has been in spite of the want 
 of books in this country, and not through their 
 abundance. Our great authors have found the 
 material of their works in the vast libraries of 
 Europe, or else they have imported it for them- 
 selves at a very heavy expense. The late Presi- 
 dent Adams undertook to collect the authorities 
 referred to by Gibbon in his History of Rome, 
 not half of which were then, probably, to be 
 found on this side of the water. The lecturer 
 upon any historical subject, except that pertain- 
 ing to America, would be obliged to visit Europe 
 to find ample materials, certainly if he was con- 
 fined to the public libraries of this country. 
 
 Our nation is not to be reproached for its pau- 
 city of libraries. There were many things that 
 necessarily preceded large public collections of 
 books. The land was to be cleared and cultivated. 
 After bread came the church, the school-house, 
 and the town-house, and such collections of books 
 as might be expected in a new country of vast 
 material resources, that began early to mature,
 
 8 
 
 and that are now developed with wonderful ac- 
 tivity. " The set time " for the proper materials 
 to cultivate the mind is at hand. Already public 
 attention is directed to the subject. Very re- 
 cently a few libraries in this country have indi- 
 cated a most promising growth. It is quite safe 
 to predict, that a few years more only will be 
 needed to give us, at least, two or three collec- 
 tions of books of two hundred thousand volumes 
 each ; and looking forward hah a century, we 
 can see a national library of half a million or a 
 million tomes, for when any important enter- 
 prise is once started in America, it moves forward 
 as in no other country of the world. 
 
 One result of the scarcity of public libraries 
 has been the increase of valuable private collec- 
 tions of books. American scholars have done 
 from necessity what they might not have done 
 without such a stimulant. And then, we have 
 readers who have preferred to own such books as 
 gratified their reading inclination, rather than to 
 be confined to a small circulating library, or to a 
 larger public one, in neither of which, owing to 
 their size, as compared to the number of readers, 
 could there be a reasonable hope of securing a 
 required book, without an outlay of time, trouble 
 ;nul disappointment, more than equal to the cost
 
 9 
 
 of it. And then we have a very useful class of 
 persons who, though not pretending to be great 
 scholars, have spent much time and money 
 in collecting books, old or new, American or 
 foreign, general or special ; but always to some 
 useful end, as well as to the inferior one of grati- 
 fying personal and public curiosity. Such per- 
 sons are sometimes termed amateur collectors. 
 They love books and they love to own them. 
 They love to arrange them chronologically, or by 
 subjects, or by some other order. They may 
 fancy to collect the first editions of books of a 
 world-wide reputation, or to possess all the oldest 
 books, whether printed or written. Or they may 
 collect all the valuable new books in whatever 
 language published, or in whatever country. The 
 collector may adopt another course, and pile up 
 all the books in a given department of knowl- 
 edge, say, law in its most comprehensive sense ; 
 theology, or medicine, history, or biography. 
 
 For private collections, this last plan is, per- 
 haps, the most important in a public view ; for if 
 it were practicable for a number of gentlemen to 
 unite, with the understanding that each should 
 make a perfect collection in his department, in a 
 brief period, there might be found in this coun- 
 try, and in any particular portion of it, all the
 
 10 
 
 books and manuscripts that any author or scholar 
 would have occasion to consult, that readers 
 would be glad to read, or the curious to see and 
 to handle. 
 
 The few private libraries of Boston and neigh- 
 borhood, that we have found the time to glance 
 at, have revealed quite unexpected riches. The 
 ten having the largest number of books contain, 
 by a pretty careful estimate, ninety-two thousand 
 volumes ; and the twelve largest have more than 
 one hundred thousand volumes. It is safe to say, 
 that we have thirty other private libraries that 
 will give an aggregate of one hundred thousand 
 books. There are then within ten miles of the 
 State House private libraries of one thousand vol- 
 umes and upwards each, that w T ill count up from 
 two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand 
 volumes. We believe that this will be regarded 
 as a low estimate, by those at all conversant with 
 the wealth of books among us that have never 
 met the public eye. A pretty good story for one 
 little section of the country. And if other por- 
 tions can make as good a report, (and it is not to 
 be doubted that, in respect to the size of libra- 
 ries, better returns can be made,) then our coun- 
 try is about as much distinguished for its private 
 libraries of note, as it is undistinguished for large
 
 11 
 
 and rare public libraries. Why, the library of 
 Lord Spencer, of England, is thought to be very 
 large, with less than sixty thousand books. Many 
 Americans own libraries that would be thought 
 creditable for an English nobleman. And it 
 would not be surprising, if at the present mo- 
 ment, we could show a larger number of rather 
 uncommon domestic libraries than Great Britain 
 itself. That this country may at some future day 
 be in advance of the father-land, in this depart- 
 ment, seems not improbable, since some of the 
 finest libraries of that country have recently been 
 sold and scattered.* That, for example, of Horace 
 Walpole, at Strawbury Hill, was sold in 1840- 
 1842, for the large sum of near $200,000.f 
 
 Let us now examine more in detail, a few 
 libraries. That of Mr. Edward Everett,J though 
 not half as large as some others in the country, 
 is one of the most perfect in its arrangement and 
 most useful for a general scholar. The depart- 
 ment of international law, diplomacy and politi- 
 cal economy, (to which Mr. Everett has been led 
 by his public duties to pay particular attention,) 
 
 * For the present, new libraries may be forming in Great Britain as fast as old 
 ones disappear. 
 
 t Democratic Review. 
 
 t It is due to Mr. Everett, and to others, to say, that they were reluctant to have 
 their libraries brought thus prominently before the public, and only consented at the 
 urgent request of the writer, and perhaps with the hope that such an article may be 
 of some utility.
 
 12 
 
 is well supplied. It contains the principal collec- 
 tions of treaties, elementary writers and commen- 
 tators on these subjects. In American history, 
 general and special, and in works belonging to 
 the political progress of the country, the collec- 
 tion is full ; containing complete sets of Force's 
 Archives, Gales and Seaton's State papers, the 
 Annals of Congress, the Congressional Globe, 
 Niles' Eegister, and numerous other works of this 
 class. In the department of American literature 
 are found complete sets of most of the literary 
 and scientific journals which have been published 
 in the United States ; also many of .the principal 
 works in American science, such as Wilson, Audu- 
 bon, Michaux, Nu Hall ; and a very fine large 
 paper copy of the Exploring Expedition and the 
 accompanying reports. The collected works of 
 the great American statesman, and also of the 
 principal American authors are in their places. 
 Another division of the library contains the 
 standard authors in prose and poetry of Great 
 Britain, many of those of recent dates being 
 presents from the authors. Complete sets of the 
 leading English periodicals are found in this class, 
 which is also well supplied in English history. 
 The department of ancient literature, sacred and 
 profane, contains copies of the Scriptures in the
 
 13 
 
 original and other languages, among them a fine 
 copy of Eliot's Indian Bible ; a large number of 
 dictionaries, cyclopedias and grammars, and the 
 principal Latin and Greek authors. The division 
 of modern languages is supplied with the princi- 
 pal works of the French, Italian, and German 
 standard writers, with a few in most of the other 
 languages of the Continent of Europe. In French 
 history, we notice, besides the more popular au- 
 thors, the great work of Dom Bouquet, a copy 
 formerly belonging to Joseph Bonaparte, and 
 the Documens Inedits, published under the gov- 
 ernment of Louis Philippe. There is a copy of 
 Voltaire's Historical Essays in several volumes, 
 which formed a part of the travelling library of 
 Napoleon I., and was presented by his nephew, 
 the Prince Canino, to Mr. E. The library also 
 contains a pretty large collection of works in 
 practical theology, ethics and mental philosophy. 
 A few years ago Mr. E. presented to the city 
 of Boston, as a contribution to the Public Library, 
 a collection of Congressional documents and other 
 works pertaining to the politics and history of 
 the country, amounting to more than a thousand 
 volumes. The number of volumes remaining is 
 from seven to eight thousand. A separate apart- 
 ment connected with the principal library room
 
 14 
 
 contains a large collection of pamphlets. They 
 are arranged according to subjects in above four 
 hundred pamphlet cases, and must amount to five 
 or six thousand. This is in addition to many 
 hundreds which have been separately bound up. 
 A large cabinet is filled with Mr. E.'s manuscripts, 
 consisting of his own letter-books, diaries, and the 
 letters of his correspondents, the latter arranged 
 alphabetically in port-folio volumes ; the whole 
 amounting to a hundred and thirty or forty vol- 
 umes. These manuscripts cover the entire period 
 of Mr. E.'s literary and public life. Among the 
 files of his correspondence are letters from a large 
 number of the men of eminence in this country 
 and Europe for the forty last years. There are 
 also a few manuscripts of some antiquity, among 
 them a collection of the original commissions and 
 grants of the Spanish Crown to Columbus, sub- 
 stantially a duplicate of that preserved at Genoa, 
 and published in 1823. 
 
 The masked door, communicating with one of 
 the adjoining rooms, presents three rows of imita- 
 tion shelves, with the titles of the lost works of 
 ancient literature and imaginary French works, 
 very skilfully executed. 
 
 We have thus taken a bird's-eye view of the 
 library proper. It has been too hasty and imper-
 
 15 
 
 feet to give any adequate view of its treasures. 
 Before dismissing the subject we may observe 
 that the library room is ornamented with the por- 
 traits and busts of some of the most distinguished 
 men of our own and foreign countries. The 
 room being lofty and wholly lighted from above, 
 is well adapted to show them to advantage, as ar- 
 ranged, a bust and a statue alternately on the 
 tops of the cases. Among the busts and portraits 
 in the library and the adjoining rooms are those 
 of Presidents Washington and J. Q. Adams, Mar- 
 shall, Webster, Clay, Channing, Prescott, Burke, 
 Grotius, Sir Walter Scott, the Poet Rogers, Lords 
 Aberdeen and Brougham, and several family 
 likenesses by Copley, Stuart, Powers and Healey, 
 together with a few copies from the antique. 
 A beautiful deer-hound in marble, by Horatio 
 Greenough, guards the entrance. 
 
 A few articles of curiosity are distributed about 
 the library and adjoining rooms. Among these 
 may be mentioned implements and weapons of 
 the native tribes of this continent, and of the 
 islands of the Pacific ; an ancient halberd from 
 the tower of London ; specimens of the stamped 
 paper prepared under the stamp act in 1765 ; 
 balls from some of the principal battle fields in 
 Europe and America ; an ear of Indian corn from
 
 16 
 
 an ancient Peruvian tomb ; various local souve- 
 nirs of foreign countries ; a small lock of the hair 
 of Napoleon I., and so forth. 
 
 The library room itself is worthy of inspection. 
 It was added by the owner to his mansion house. 
 It is altogether a very striking one, and is beau- 
 tifully adapted to the double purpose of a library 
 and a study. In this very room have been pre- 
 pared numbers of those orations and less formal 
 addresses that have charmed Senates, alike with 
 the more miscellaneous assemblies that have 
 never heard our Cicero but with the greatest de- 
 light. If the great orator has caught any inspir- 
 ation more than the subject and the occasion 
 have excited, in connection with his own genius, 
 it has come from those speaking shelves, those 
 towering busts, those animated faces, that look 
 out from the canvass, all conspiring to make one 
 eloquent. 
 
 The library of Mr. William H. Prescott, the his- 
 torian, has one or two thousand volumes less than 
 that just spoken of. It is systematically arranged 
 in a beautiful room that he built for the purpose 
 on the rear of his residence, Beacon Street. The 
 strength of the library is in history, and particu- 
 larly that history that has aided him in becoming 
 a leading historian of the world. It is principally
 
 17 
 
 found in four very large cases that line the walls 
 of the room. The library is fullest in English 
 works, is very rich in Spanish, full in French, and 
 presents a good collection of Italian books, since 
 the owner once designed to write a history of 
 Italian literature. 
 
 Mr. Prescott is constantly receiving presents of 
 books from all portions of the world. Among 
 them is Mr. Ford's Hand Book of Spain, two 
 superb books from an English poet whose ac- 
 quaintance he made when in Europe, with this 
 poetical inscription : 
 
 "A few short days may form friendships, 
 Which no length of days can dissolve." 
 
 The great attraction of the library are some 
 thirty volumes of manuscript that the histo- 
 rian has collected, to be used in the construc- 
 tion of his immortal histories. These manuscripts 
 have cost him about as much as the whole library, 
 beside. The library abounds with curiosities, 
 such as the original letters of Ferdinand, Isabella, 
 and Charles V., the vase of an Inca, from Peru, 
 a piece of lace from tke shroud of Cortez, 
 together with striking portraits of Ferdinand and 
 Isabella, of Columbus, of Don Sebastian, King 
 of Portugal, and of most of the characters that 
 figure in his histories. Perhaps, the pet orna- 
 
 3
 
 18 
 
 ments of the library are two swords, the identical 
 weapons worn by his grandfather, Col. Prescott, 
 and his wife's grandfather, Capt. Linzee, the first 
 of whom led the American troops at the battle of 
 Bunker Hill, and the last of whom was about as 
 prominent a leader on the other side.* The 
 swords are crossed, presenting a loving union, as 
 they hang from the ceiling. 
 
 The historian does not do his writing in his 
 library, but in a room directly above it, which is 
 reached by passing through a masked door filled 
 with mock books, up a long winding staircase. 
 The study overlooks Chesnut Street and the Back 
 Bay, is very light, to meet 'the wants of one 
 whose sight is imperfect, and is every way 
 adapted most admirably to its purpose. In this 
 room, of moderate size, have been composed many 
 of those charming pages that have delighted alike 
 the reader in various parts of the world, and of 
 various languages. Here, using an apparatus 
 such as the blind use, the author dashes ofi^ on an 
 average, seven pages of one of his printed histo- 
 ries daily, or as much a*s the man with the best 
 pair of eyes ever ought to write. It must be re- 
 membered, that he could not write thus rapidly 
 
 Lord Mahon, in his History of England, refers very pleasantly to these swords, 
 in a foot-note. He trusts they will be an emblem and pledge of the prepciual 
 umity that shall exist Itetwccn the tuitions represented.
 
 19 
 
 without the previous labor of turning over and 
 digesting the matter, that he finally puts on pa- 
 per, in so finished a state, that only a practiced 
 eye and mind might think it needed further fin- 
 ishing. 
 
 In years past, during two or three months of 
 the summer, Mr. Prescott has been accustomed 
 to compose at his former country seat, on that 
 rock-bound peninsula Nahant ; and later in the 
 season, for a month, at his farm in Pepperell, an 
 estate that he possessed from his ancestors. His 
 library has not accompanied him to these beauti- 
 ful spots for thought and composition, but only 
 such books and manuscripts as answered an im- 
 mediate purpose. 
 
 One of the most attractive libraries is that of 
 Mr. Rufus Choate, that embraces, including pro- 
 fessional books, seven thousand volumes, many of 
 which are quite rare, and in the best editions. 
 His books are scientifically arranged, and present 
 themselves in the most inviting manner. No one 
 could live in his library, we dare say, without be- 
 coming a reader, if he had no previous taste, and 
 he would stand more than an even chance of be- 
 coming a scholar. Indeed, a person can hardly 
 fail of being educated by and according to his 
 daily surroundings. The library room or rooms
 
 20 
 
 of Mr. Choate, (for the entire second story of a 
 good sized house are devoted to such guests as 
 Horner, Demosthenes, Pindar, Livy, Bacon, Shake- 
 speare, and such worthies, or to what are popu- 
 larly called books,) are extremely attractive, since 
 though not originally built for the purpose, they 
 appear to entertain their undying guests grace- 
 fully, and yet with no sort of art, or pretence. 
 
 This library is particularly rich in the Greek 
 and Latin classics, for which the owner has a pas- 
 sion, and has read for their own sake, more, per- 
 haps, than any other professional gentleman in 
 this country. His shelves exhibit five or six edi- 
 tions of Pindar, Horace, Livy, and of other Latin 
 and Greek authors. The library abounds with 
 political volumes, and is full in the department 
 of history ; and in theology and ecclesiastical his- 
 tory we know of no layman who has such trea- 
 sures. On these last subjects he has the leading 
 Christian fathers. On the law of nations it is 
 pretty full, and very full in law in general, in 
 which is embraced a rare book, Suazez De Legi- 
 bus et Deo Legislatore. Science has not been 
 forgotten, as Bayle's Dictionary in French, Eras- 
 mus, Lipsius, and similar works declare. In cyclo- 
 paedias of various kinds there is a tempting dis- 
 play. Among rare books not noticed in the libra-
 
 21 
 
 ries just described are Rymer's Foedera, Du 
 Cange's Glossarium, and Athenaesius. In a word, 
 it is a library such as a first-rate lawyer and 
 scholar would select, who had also a great love of 
 books in general, particularly those containing 
 good old English literature, both prose and verse.* 
 What a pleasant change this library, after the 
 conflicts of the Court House. 
 
 The late Mr. Abbott Lawrence found a source 
 of recreation during thirty or forty years in col- 
 lecting some ten thousand volumes. They are of 
 quite a miscellaneous character, such as an active 
 business and practical man, who did not pretend 
 to be a scholar, would be likely to gather around 
 
 * It is evident that Mr. Choate spoke from experience in the following eloquent 
 words, which he used in the course of his address delivered at Danvers in Septem- 
 ber, 1354, at the opening of the Peabody Institute in that town. The thoughts are 
 the more appropriate since one special object of Mr. Peabody of London, the gen- 
 erous founder, was the gathering of a library : " Let the case of a busy lawyer tes- 
 tily to the priceless value of the love of reading. He comes home, his temples 
 throbbing, his nerves shattered, from a trial of a week ; surprised and alarmed by 
 the charge of the judge, and pale with anxiety about the verdict of the next morning, 
 not at all satisfied with what he has done himself, though he does not yet see how 
 he could have improved it, recalling with dread and self disparagement, if not with 
 envy, the brilliant effort of his antagonist, and tormenting himself with the vain 
 wish that he could have replied to it and altogether a very miserable subject, and 
 in as unfavorable a condition to accept comfort from wife and children as poor 
 Christian in the first three pages of the Pilgrim's Progress. With a superhuman 
 effort he opens his book, and in the twinfling of an eye he is looking into the full 
 ' orb of Homeric or Miltonic song,' or he stands in the crowd breathless, yet swayed 
 as forests or the sea by winds hearing and to judge the Pleadings for the Crown, 
 or the philosophy which soothed Cicero or Boethius in their afflictions, in exile, 
 prison, and the contemplation of death, breathes over his petty cares like the sweet 
 South ; or Pope or Horace laughs him into good humor, or he walks with ^neas 
 and the Sybil in the mid light of the world of the laurelled dead and the court 
 house is as completely forgotten as the dream of a pre-adamite life. Well may he 
 prize that endeared charm, so effectual and safe, without which the brain had long 
 ago been chilled with paralysis, or set on fire of insanity !"
 
 22 
 
 him. The strength of the library is in English 
 and American literature. There is a rich col- 
 lection of the histories of the different states, 
 counties and towns of this country, together with 
 general histories of the nation. Then, there is 
 a valuable collection of the various dictionaries 
 and encyclopedias, and a good variety of books 
 on political economy, geography, biography, and 
 on biblical literature. Among the various Bibles, 
 is to be found Scott's, which, although prepared 
 by a clergyman of the Church of England, is one 
 of the most common books to be found among 
 the Puritans of New England. 
 
 Added to the books, Mr. Lawrence collected 
 in his own language, he had a considerable num- 
 ber in French, and a few in Italian, Spanish 
 and German. He never proposed the object to 
 himself of collecting a library, but as a prac- 
 tical man, and as one who has been considera- 
 bly in the public service in this country and 
 Great Britain, simply purchased books when he 
 wanted them, and armed to buy books of every- 
 day use, and not those merely interesting to the 
 antiquarian, or the bibliographer. 
 
 Mr. L. preserved his pamphlets and his letters, 
 in the course of a long period of correspond- 
 ence with the most eminent men of the world.
 
 23 
 
 He had three volumes of dispatches received 
 by him while connected with three cabinets of 
 Great Britain, and three more of his own re- 
 plies to those missives. He learned not to allow 
 himself to burn scarcely any thing of either 
 printed or manuscript matter, a lesson that 
 many have yet to learn, before we shall cease to 
 mourn over the destruction of tjie materials of a 
 national literature, that persons thoughtlessly de- 
 stroy, but can never replace. 
 
 It may be mentioned in connection with the 
 library of Mr. L.,* that he had quite a rare collec- 
 tion of coins and medals ; and that his library is 
 ornamented with the busts of the men of genius 
 of America and Europe, and with appropriate pic- 
 tures. Indeed, his late mansion is full of engrav- 
 ings, of the works of the chisel and the pencil, 
 and of other curiosities, many of which he had 
 bought not only for the love of them, as he had 
 
 * Now that Mr. Lawrence is no more among us, it may not be improper to state, 
 that the writer visited him at his request, for the purpose of inspecting his library, 
 he having previously learned the plan of the library article. It was in his library, 
 where Mr. L. was accustomed to spend much of his time, particularly during his 
 last days, that he received the writer, and gave his personal attention in pointing 
 out some of the treasures of the room, and of those adjoining. He entered into the 
 spirit of our object, and appreciated its bearings in promoting bolh better public and 
 private collections of books, which he considered one great want of our country. 
 He conversed for more than an hour upon authors and books, upon art and artists, 
 and especially upon American education and literature ; and he spoke so intelli- 
 gently, and with so much good sense, that a stranger might have supposed he had 
 given his life to these subjects. It is not too much to say, and it is not out of place 
 10 say it here, that when Mr. Abbott Lawrence departed this life, one of the best 
 friends of literature and learning left us, and one of those very rare persons in 
 America, who can be said to have been a patron of scholars and artists.
 
 24 
 
 books, but also to encourage American authors 
 and artists, because their works are the last to be 
 appreciated and patronized in a new, and to a 
 great extent uncultivated country, like our own. 
 
 The library room of Mr. L. was built for a 
 library, and is, perhaps, the most pleasant room 
 in the house. It overlooks the Common, and is 
 every way attractive. Its pleasant aspect renders 
 it agreeable to the reader and student, as well as 
 its literary and artistic treasures. And we ven- 
 ture the observation, that the owner, after the 
 business day was over, found no room so pleasant 
 as this, and none where he could so truly rest his 
 body, and refresh his spirit. In this view, a good 
 library is worth more to a mere business man 
 than it costs. There is no recreation and rest to 
 be compared to that afforded by one, to a right 
 minded person. A library has been called a col- 
 lection of medicines for the mind ; and Diodorus 
 Siculus tells us that a king of Egypt inscribed 
 over the door of his library two Greek words, 
 which Englished mean, the dispensary for the 
 soul. 
 
 It has been a common idea that no matter how 
 retired, narrow and unattractive the room of 
 the student, that authors and artists can do best 
 in garrets. But this is all a mistake. There is
 
 25 
 
 nothing so conducive to good thoughts, as a good 
 place in which to think. Whatever authors have 
 done in attics, they would have done better in 
 the most attractive rooms, if they had been toler- 
 ably retired. We have learned lately that young 
 scholars need large, pleasant and well ventilated 
 school houses, to make the greatest proficiency 
 in their studies. The library should be just the 
 sunniest, cosiest, most agreeable room in one's 
 house. The possessor should love it. The wife 
 and children should love it ; and thus they will 
 all love the books the more, and will be sure to 
 become scholars or readers, -just the results we 
 ask of a private library. We say nothing of the 
 domestic bliss induced, for who does not know 
 that the family that truly enjoys the library, 
 loving both study or reading, or either one, enjoy 
 more than all the attendants of plays, and of 
 fashionable places, and all the pleasures of sights 
 and sounds that the whole round of nature 
 yields ? 
 
 The library room of Dr. John C. Warren is a 
 fine one that was constructed for the purpose, 
 overlooking a pleasant prospect. He counts up 
 about six thousand volumes, which he has been 
 busily gathering for more than half a century. 
 The books are arranged by subjects, in small
 
 26 
 
 cases, as follows : anatomy, surgery, medicine, 
 natural history, theology, history, general science, 
 classical literature, and miscellany. It will thus 
 be seen to be a professional library, -just such an 
 one as an eminent physician and surgeon should 
 possess. Several complete sets of medical jour- 
 nals, home and foreign, Cuvier complete, and 
 De Blainville look particularly inviting. The 
 proprietor has spared no pains in securing the 
 best books for his purposes, and in the best edi- 
 tions. He has a good collection of pamphlets, 
 which he preserves effectually by having them 
 bound. 
 
 Dr. Warren himself is the author of several 
 useful books and pamphlets, which he has pub- 
 lished at intervals during a long and useful life. 
 A late book of his is entitled the " Genealogy of 
 "Warren," and for beauty of illustrations and exe- 
 cution it excels any thing of the kind that has 
 been published in this country. 
 
 Among other curiosities he has the very Psalm 
 Book that he believes was taken from the coat- 
 pocket of his uncle General Warren, after he was 
 killed in the bloody conflict at Bunker Hill. 
 Several rooms of his house are filled with collec- 
 tions in the department of natural history, em- 
 bracing portions of the mastodon, and the fossils
 
 27 
 
 of America and of Europe. No one can look at 
 these without feeling that the President of the 
 Boston Society of Natural History has a genuine 
 taste in this direction, otherwise he would throw 
 his old stones and bones out of his windows. As 
 it is, he treats them as well as any other guests 
 he has, and, we believe, gives them the best 
 rooms. 
 
 Another rare private library is that of Mr. 
 Francis C. Gray, of nearly four thousand volumes. 
 He would have now possessed more, but for the 
 destruction of his law library in Court Street in 
 1825 by fire, by which he lost of law and classical 
 books two thousand. Mr. Gray's library is more 
 precious than large. The strength of it is in 
 English and French, and it is pretty full in the 
 classics and in German. . It contains many Anglo 
 Saxon and Norman books. And added to these, 
 there are Italian and theological works. The 
 proprietor has quite a collection of treatises on 
 the book of Job, as he once proposed to write on 
 that inspired poem. Among his rare and valua- 
 ble books are the first editions of Shakspeare in 
 folio, and that of Spencer ; Jameson's Scottish 
 Dictionary, Glossaire De La Romaine, (quite 
 rare,) a Russian Dictionary, Ferm's Original 
 Letters in the times of the English sovereigns
 
 28 
 
 Edward IV., Henry VI., and Richard III. The 
 library is quite full in works on the fine arts. 
 Mr. Gray has never attempted to gather a 
 library, but has purchased books for many 
 years as he found occasion to use them. He 
 has many valuable paintings, engravings and 
 maps. The library is well arranged, in a room 
 built for the purpose, which is situated like Dr. 
 Warren's, and reminds one of it. 
 
 Thus we have found three libraries on Park 
 Street, containing about twenty thousand vol- 
 umes, and if we embrace the choice library of 
 Mr. Ticknor, we shall have thirty-three thousand 
 on one short street, all belonging to persons, 
 living almost in adjoining dwellings. Such 
 another cluster cannot, we suspect, be found in 
 this section of the country. 
 
 The library of Rev. Nathaniel L. Frothingham, 
 D. D., is admirably adapted to the double purpose 
 of a library and study. It was built for those 
 purposes, is light, and is a room that a student 
 or reader would love. He has quite a collection 
 of the Greek and Latin classics, of works in the 
 modern European languages, of theology, of gen- 
 eral miscellany ; but he is richest in English 
 literature. His from three to four thousand pam- 
 phlets are bound and catalogued. The hundreds
 
 29 
 
 of sermons he preached during a long pastorate 
 are also chronologically arranged in cases, and, 
 with the well known habits of the author, we 
 may safely say, they are finished sufficiently for 
 the press. Dr. Frothingham is not only a reader, 
 hut a scholar and author, and to him his books 
 are what tools are to the mechanic. His occupa- 
 tion, as well as one chief source of his amuse- 
 ment, must cease without them. 
 
 It has given the writer pleasure repeatedly to 
 examine the library of Mr. Franklin Haven, who 
 added to business of the most arduous and re- 
 sponsible nature, has found leisure for reading, 
 and for some attainments in scholarship. His 
 library is more choice than large. There are 
 more than four thousand volumes, that have been 
 chiefly imported from Europe. 
 
 He is richest in English literature, in the best 
 editions, and in superb binding. We noticed, 
 also, the standard American works, and a fair 
 collection of books in the modern languages of 
 Europe. 
 
 Besides several rather rare books already men- 
 tioned in connection with other libraries, he has 
 a book of Plates, entitled Gallery Versailles, and 
 a magnificent work, Daniel's Oriental Scenery, in 
 three very large folio volumes. But we suppose
 
 30 
 
 that Mr. Haven values more than any other the 
 complete works of Daniel Webster, beautifully 
 executed, and which were presented him by the 
 author himself, as a slight token of the regard he 
 had for him, and as a memento of the friendship 
 that had existed between them for many years. 
 Such is the substance of a note accompanying 
 the volumes, a very valuable autograph. 
 
 Mr. Haven has, within a few years, built a 
 library for the reception of his books. It reminds 
 one of Mr. Webster's, at Marshfield, particularly 
 in the style of the cases. The room is forty 
 feet long, by seventeen wide, and the same in 
 height. 
 
 Mr. David Sears has about four thousand books. 
 He is particularly rich in French literature. He 
 has Voltaire in seventy volumes, Buflbn's Natural 
 History in one hundred and twenty-seven vol- 
 umes, Auber' History of the French Revolution, 
 Napoleon's Campaigns in Italy by the same, the 
 Encyclopedic Methodique of some two hundred 
 and fifty volumes, and Boret's Manual on the In- 
 dustry of France ; together with several French 
 works on military affairs. Another work is enti- 
 tled the Gallery of the Museum of France. 
 There is a pretty good variety of English books. 
 Wilson's and Audubon's Ornithology are worthy
 
 31 
 
 of notice, and several other works equally scarce 
 in private collections. He has a library room 
 proper, but no catalogue, and in this respect, he 
 seems to be in the condition of most who have 
 books enough to make such an article desirable, 
 but not indispensable. 
 
 Mr. Edward A. Crowninshield has one of the 
 rarest libraries of old English books in this section 
 of the country. It is not large, the entire num- 
 ber being from twenty-five hundred to three 
 thousand volumes. It is quite rich in early 
 American history and biography. He has a per- 
 fect copy of the old Bay Psalm Book, perhaps 
 the only one owned by a private individual in 
 New England. Among other rare books we no- 
 ticed, was an original copy of Cushman's Ply- 
 mouth Sermon, Purchas Pilgrims, Smith's His- 
 tory of Virginia and New England, (an original 
 copy,) Hypocrisie Unmasked by Edward Wins- 
 low, Hakluyt Voyages published in 1582, an 
 original copy of the Christian Commonwealth by 
 John Eliot, and a similar copy of Bradford and 
 Winslow's Kelation, published in London. Then 
 he has the first edition of Chaucer, by Thomas 
 Godfrey, of 1532 ; the same of Shakspeare's and 
 Milton's Poems. Other rare books are The School 
 Master, by Roger Ascham, Coryats Crudities of
 
 32 
 
 1611, from the library of the Duke of Sussex, 
 the whole Book of Psalms by Sternhold and Hop- 
 kins, and a book on angling by Bernes, bearing 
 date of 1486. Other books have a value more 
 than their natural one, from their former owners ; 
 such as the copy of Chaucer owned by Charles 
 Lamb, with his private notes, and several volumes 
 that belonged to Kobert Southey. Other books 
 that may deserve mention, are the Nuremburg 
 Chronicle of 1493, King James' Works, Dibdin's 
 Biographical Works, and Samuel Gorton's Answer 
 to Morton's Memorial in manuscript. We have 
 thus given an imperfect list of some of the rarer 
 gems of the library. The books are most ele- 
 gantly bound, and being so choice, make a very 
 fine appearance in the parlor of the owner's resi- 
 dence. One can hardly think of finer parlor or- 
 naments, and it is a matter of wonder, that those 
 who have no library proper, and are straitened 
 for room, do not line their parlors with books, in- 
 stead of packing them in closets, or attics ; and 
 thus render the best rooms more attractive, and 
 their books' more useful. 
 
 Mr. Richard Frothingham, Jr., of Charlestown, 
 has a good working library of more than four 
 thousand volumes, which he has found pleasure 
 in collecting since he was a mere lad. The
 
 33 
 
 strength of the library is in history and politics, 
 or on those subjects in which the owner is well 
 known to be most interested, and on which he 
 daily employs his pen. Besides books that we 
 have previously mentioned in connection with 
 other libraries, he has Rushworth's Historical Col- 
 lections, Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, histo- 
 ries of all the different States, so far as published, 
 nearly one hundred local histories, town and 
 other, of Massachusetts, the Congressional Globe 
 complete, every work on the Constitution of 
 the United States that has been issued, and the 
 Congressional Debates complete. He is quite 
 full in periodical literature and in cyclopaedias. 
 In the former department we noticed among 
 other tempting volumes, a complete set of the 
 Edinburgh Review, and among the latter, the 
 London Encyclopaedia. The number of pam- 
 phlets is large, and that of newspapers uncom- 
 monly so. 
 
 Another speciality may be mentioned, and that 
 is a complete collection of all that has been pub- 
 lished on the battle of Bunker Hill. 
 
 Mr. Lucius M. Sargent, of Roxbury, has a fine 
 library of several thousand volumes. Though 
 the writer has often been in the library, yet hav- 
 ing no design, at those times, to publicly notice
 
 34 
 
 it, he is now only able to say, that the library is 
 very rich in English literature, with such other 
 books as a scholar and reader of leisure would be 
 likely to gather around him. We remember to 
 have had our attention called to Hansard's Par- 
 liamentary Debates, to the Lives of the British 
 Lord Chancellors and Chief Justices. There are 
 many gems in the collection. Mr. Sargent's 
 house is full of works of art, and of divers curiosi- 
 ties, both interesting and rare. The library is 
 all the more attractive, particularly during the 
 warmer months, from its remarkable situation, 
 surrounded by a natural forest, from the fine 
 views in different directions, of land and water, 
 of cities, forests and fields that it commands, and 
 from its complete retirement, without giving to 
 the occupant any feeling of loneliness. 
 
 Mr. B. Homer Dixon has a speciality of from 
 twelve to fourteen hundred volumes, principally 
 on genealogy, heraldry, armory and kindred sub- 
 jects. It is, without doubt, the richest of the 
 kind in Boston, as may be inferred from the titles 
 of a few of his books, Logan's Clans of the 
 Scottish Highlands, most beautifully illustrated 
 with colored plates, Meyrick's Critical Inquiry 
 into Ancient Armor, as it existed in Europe, 
 Stothard's Monumental Effigies of Great Britain,
 
 35 
 
 Strutt's Complete View of the Dress and Habits 
 of the People of England, The New Statistical 
 Account of Scotland, by the Ministers of the 
 Respective Parishes, Crawford's and Douglass' 
 Peerage, Burke and other English Heraldic 
 works, Douglass' Baronage, etc. etc. The room 
 is well suited to the size and character of the 
 books, and the specimens of ancient armor with 
 which it 'is ornamented are both curious and 
 rare. 
 
 The library of Mr. George Ticknor is one of 
 the most distinguished. It is agreed, that he has 
 the choicest collection of Spaniah books out of 
 Spain. It is rich also in other departments. 
 The entire number of volumes is thirteen thou- 
 sand. The library room is one of the very finest. 
 It is a charming room that overlooks the pleas- 
 antest prospects afforded within the city of Bos- 
 ton and beyond it. It combines the full advan- 
 tages of a library, of a study, and of a sitting 
 room. Mr. Ticknor is understood to be particu- 
 larly liberal in lending his books to every one 
 who will use them. Having merely been in the 
 library, without examining a single book, we are 
 obliged to content ourselves with these brief gen- 
 eralities. 
 
 The library of Mr. J. Wingate Thornton, of
 
 36 
 
 Brookline, contains not far from fifteen hundred 
 books, relating specially to early American Colo- 
 nization, particularly of New England, and to the 
 rise of Puritanism in Church and State. Among 
 the rarities may be specified an elegant copy of 
 the 1617 folio of De Bry upon America, illus- 
 trated by his engravings from the original draw- 
 ings made by With, the artist in Sir Walter Ra- 
 leigh's Expedition to Virginia, in 1584 ; a fine 
 copy of Selden's Mare Clausum, 1652, sent by 
 Thomas Hollis to the Rev. Dr. Mayhew, and 
 containing manuscript notes by the former ; 
 also Heylyns Oosmographie, 1657, a folio from 
 the library of the Apostle Eliot, whose marginal 
 notes are scattered through the volume ; a copy 
 of Thane's British Autography, four volumes. 
 Mr. T. has "the Journall, The Faithful Post," the 
 newspaper published by the British Parliament, 
 1644-1650, and the Boston News Letter, the 
 Boston Post Boy, 1719, and successive years. 
 His copy of Prideaux's Connections is rendered 
 thrice precious since it came from the library of 
 Jonathan Edwards in 1751, and from that of his 
 pupil Samuel Hopkins in 1782. Other rarities 
 are an elegant copy of the first edition of Chil- 
 lingworth's Religion of Protestants, 1638 ; Nor- 
 ton's Orthodox Evangelist, presented by him to
 
 37 
 
 Richard Mather, with Mather's notes ; a large 
 and valuable collection of early New England 
 pamphlets, embracing the Missionary Reports of 
 Eliot and Mayhew among the Indians, etc. In 
 the rich collection of manuscripts the earliest is 
 the Sheffield Charter, a beautiful fac-simile of 
 which has recently been published. There are 
 also manuscripts of most of the early worthies 
 of New England. Among those of a later date 
 are originals of the parole of the British forces 
 cantoned at Cambridge, Dec. 13, 1777, under 
 the restrictions of the convention made on the 
 16th of October, between Lieut. Gen. Burgoyne 
 and Maj. Gen. Gates at Saratoga ; and the same 
 Nov. 17, 1778, signed " J. Burgoine, Lieut. Gen- 
 eral," and by Riedesel, Maj. General, and the com- 
 missioned officers, numbering several hundred. 
 
 Under date of Dec. 12, 1854, Mr. Charles F. 
 Adams says, in a note to the writer, " My library 
 is unfortunately so much scattered in four sepa- 
 rate houses, three of them in Quincy locked up 
 for the winter, that I can scarcely promise to 
 give you a sight of more than the portion I have 
 here, which is by no means the largest." The 
 portion referred to, Mr. Adams has collected him- 
 self. It is composed chiefly of modern editions 
 of the classics, and of English literature. The
 
 entire library is undoubtedly the largest in New 
 England, embracing from seventeen to eighteen 
 thousand volumes, that belonged to his father 
 and grandfather, the two President Adams', with 
 his own purchases. His father purchased his 
 books in Holland, Berlin, Russia and England, 
 while abroad in the public service. He bought 
 mostly in Holland. He was full in German edi- 
 tions of the classics ; very full in French, and 
 had a very large collection of English books. 
 Added to these, he had a large number of politi- 
 cal and diplomatic works, and the French biogra- 
 phies of the day. His law library was pretty 
 large. Both his father and grandfather left a 
 large number of volumes in manuscript, nearly 
 .one hundred and fifty volumes in all, the most of 
 which treasures the reading world have not yet 
 had an opportunity to examine. His father had 
 collected considerable theology. It is a noticeable 
 fact, that there are but two public libraries in 
 Boston that contain more books each than are 
 found in that of Mr. Adams. 
 
 We come now to speak very briefly of several 
 other libraries that we have not examined, nor 
 even seen. The information may yet be relied 
 on, as it has usually been furnished us in writing. 
 The library of Rev. William Jenks,D. D., contains
 
 39 
 
 near five thousand books, and would number 
 more, but for the books that he has given to 
 several public libraries at home and abroad. He 
 owned but eighty books when he left college. 
 He has purchased since as he wanted, and as he 
 could afford. The library is richest in philology 
 and biblical criticism. He has the Bible, in whole 
 or in part, in forty different languages. The next 
 fullest department is that of the Greek and Latin 
 classics. Then come theology, history, biogra- 
 phy, and his pamphlet department, in which are 
 from two to three thousand. He has considerable 
 law literature, and some Chinese books, and he 
 gave a larger number to aid in the formation of 
 the library of the Oriental Society, in which he 
 took an active and leading interest from the be- 
 ginning. 
 
 Mr. Robert C. Winthrop has never pretended 
 to collect an imposing library. The books he has 
 are " fit, though few." He modestly writes of it : 
 " It is a mere workshop, with twelve or fifteen 
 hundred tools, and makes no pretension to a 
 slwiv library"* 
 
 The following extract from a pleasant note 
 from Mr. Henry W. Longfellow, will remind the 
 
 * It should be mentioned, that Mr. Winthrop made a donation of books to the 
 Boston Public Library, a valuable collection of several hundred volumes.
 
 40 
 
 reader of what was recorded of the poet Words- 
 worth's books : " I am afraid my library is hardly 
 worthy of a place in your list. In fact it is hard- 
 ly a library at all ; but some books, scattered all 
 over the house, in entries, dressing-rooms and 
 closets, to the amount, perhaps, of three thousand, 
 though I have never counted them." A poet's 
 description of a poet's library. 
 
 Mr. Joseph E. Worcester, of Cambridge, has, 
 including pamphlets, considerably more than two 
 thousand volumes. He writes : " My library con- 
 sists of works on lexicograpy and philology, 
 geography and statistics, history, theology and 
 miscellaneous literature. My purpose has been 
 to make it as complete as I could in respect to 
 English dictionaries and glossaries, and perhaps 
 it is as complete as any library in the. country, in 
 relation to works of this kind. It comprises as 
 many as two hundred and twenty or thirty dic- 
 tionaries, but many of them are of little value. 
 
 Mr. Jared Sparks, of Cambridge, writes of his 
 books : " I have nothing worthy of public notice. 
 My collection consists of about six thousand vol- 
 umes, more than half of them pertaining to 
 American history, the others miscellaneous. I do 
 not perceive that they can be described in any 
 way to add interest to your article on libraries."
 
 41 
 
 The following brief description of the library 
 now belonging to Dr. Morrill Wyman, of the 
 same city, together with its touching history, will 
 be read with interest : " I send you a catalogue 
 of the library of Prof. Tiedeman, which has been 
 recently transferred to Cambridge. Prof. Tiede- 
 man is one of the most distinguished physiolo- 
 gists in Europe, formerly at Heidelberg, but for 
 several years resident at Frankfort. He is ninety 
 years of age and blind and was anxious to dis- 
 pose of his library, to enable him to increase his 
 means of support, taken from him during the re- 
 volution of 1848. An examination of the cata- 
 logue will show how rich it is in anatomy and 
 physiology and medicine. Some of the books 
 are exceedingly rare and of great value." It is 
 stated elsewhere, that the library is very valua- 
 ble, and contains five thousand books. 
 
 The library of Mr. Theodore Parker is under- 
 stood to be a rare one. He has been gathering 
 books with a busy hand all his life. He estimates 
 his library as containing from twelve to fifteen 
 thousand, in fifty or sixty different languages, which 
 he has collected from every quarter. The libra- 
 ry is "rich in theology, metaphysics, biblical 
 and patristic literature, in philology, in Greek, 
 Roman and German authors."
 
 Dr. John Jeffries has a collection of near two 
 thousand volumes, mostly medical works, that 
 he inherited from his father, who perhaps had 
 the best medical library of any physician in Bos- 
 ton in his day a library that he gathered him- 
 self in Europe, while he studied and practiced 
 abroad. In the collection are several very old 
 and rare books on anatomy, beautifully illus- 
 trated. One volume has an account of the first 
 case of dissection in England of a subject who 
 died from an epidemic disease. A picture repre- 
 sents two dissectors over the dead body, one of 
 whom is offering up a prayer to the great Cre- 
 ator. There was a rule that the body should not 
 be touched before prayer. We also noticed in 
 this library several old and rare classical works. 
 As Dr. Jeffries the father owned it, it had exten- 
 sive literary as well as professional treasures, and 
 was altogether a large and valuable library for 
 the last century on this side of the water. 
 
 The library of the Rev. Cyrus A. Bartol, a 
 next door neighbor of Dr. J., on Chestnut Street, 
 is of about the same extent. It is composed of 
 theological, literary and miscellaneous works, with 
 a fair proportion of books in the learned lan- 
 guages. It is a good working library for a hard 
 toiling pastor, and it is pleasant to record that
 
 43 
 
 the possessor lends more volumes than he uses 
 himself. Thus his volumes are twice, yea thrice 
 useful. 
 
 The reader who is interested in subjects of this 
 nature, will thank the Rev. Barnas Sears, D. D., 
 of Providence, for the following details on his 
 library, which are taken from a letter of his un- 
 der date of Dec. 28, 1854. 
 
 " I counted the volumes of my library to-day 
 for the first time, and found that the number is 
 four thousand eight hundred and twenty-five. 
 My library embraces Latin and Greek classics, 
 and philological and antiquarian works in illus- 
 tration of them, all choice editions, purchased on 
 the recommendation of German professors ; 
 works on the earlier literature of Germany, 
 England, France, with some on the old Norse, 
 Danish, Swedish, Dutch and Provence languages. 
 I have a pretty full collection of old works on 
 systematic theology, including the best editions 
 of several of the Lathi and Greek Fathers ; 
 select works, old and recent, on the interpreta- 
 tion of the Old and New Testament, mostly in 
 Latin or German. But my library is more especially 
 historical, both ecclesiastical and secular. I have 
 a good supply of the general histories of the 
 Church, of Greece and Rome, of the Middle
 
 44 
 
 Ages, and of all the countries of modern Europe ; 
 but the most rare and valuable part of my library 
 consists of original special histories relating to the 
 period of the Reformation, and what preceded or 
 followed it, every thing that belongs to, or bor- 
 ders upon the sixteenth century ; histories of 
 cities and towns, of Emperors, Electors, Dukes, 
 Landgraves; of eminent scholars, and theolo- 
 gians, (with their works) ; a complete library of 
 some hundreds of volumes on Luther ; the 
 works of Luther, Zuingle and Melancthon ; the 
 original editions of many of Luther's tracts, and 
 others of his times ; histories of universities and 
 gymnasia ; histories of monastic orders ; histories 
 of medicine, of Roman and civil law, of philoso- 
 phy, ancient and modern, of the different branch- 
 es of theology ; histories of literature, ancient 
 and modern, general and special ; biographies 
 more numerous and more select than in any pri- 
 vate library that I have seen in this vicinity, in- 
 cluding all the more valuable ' monagraphs,' as 
 they are called, of the German scholars. I have 
 also numerous volumes of original letters, Eng- 
 lish and German, and diaries, etc. Indeed, the 
 more special the history, the more valuable in 
 my estimation. Most of my books came from 
 Germany, and are in German or Latin. I have
 
 45 
 
 many volumes that were printed in the early 
 part of the sixteenth century." 
 
 We have a letter, dated Boston, Feb. 13, 1855, 
 from Mr. Fletcher Webster, relating to the library 
 of the late and lamented Hon. Daniel Webster. 
 The following extracts give a general idea of the 
 collection. "The library consists of about five 
 thousand volumes, including the law-books. I am 
 not aware that it contains any very rare or cu- 
 rious works. It is well selected for general read- 
 ing, and very full on certain subjects. Agricul- 
 ture, botany and history occupy a very consider- 
 able space on its shelves, and it has nearly all 
 the popular philosophical works. Of late years 
 my father seemed to seek books of reference, 
 encyclopaedias, hand-books, elementary treatises 
 on such subjects as astronomy, geology, agricul- 
 ture in its various branches, and works of that 
 nature. There is a very large collection, I should 
 say, of dictionaries, topographical, commercial, 
 botanical and maritime, in various languages. 
 There are few novels, except those of Scott and 
 Edgeworth ; but all the best poets, whom he was 
 fond of reading and quoting, are found, together 
 with the standard British and Latin classics, and 
 many editions of Shakspeare. 
 
 "The collection is chiefly English, though there
 
 46 
 
 is a very considerable portion of works in French 
 and other languages. Of maps there are several, 
 as it was my father's custom to let nothing re- 
 main uncertain, or half understood, and his maps 
 and dictionaries were constantly referred to, on 
 the slightest occasion of doubt. There is a large 
 number of religious works, which he read very 
 much, (as I believe you are aware,) and many 
 Bibles, of different editions and in various lan- 
 guages. His library was by no means designed 
 for show, nor were the volumes gaudily bound. 
 The only show book that I now call to mind is 
 Audubon's great work on the Birds of America. 
 I am not aware, my dear Sir, of any further de- 
 scription that I can give you, without going very 
 much into detail. You can readily conceive what 
 volumes a person of my father's tastes, pursuits 
 and character would naturally collect, to meet 
 his wants as a lawyer, statesman, agriculturist 
 and general student. The collection of official 
 documents is quite extensive." 
 
 The writer is able to add, that he had the 
 privilege, during Mr. Webster's life-time, to 
 examine his library repeatedly, and he feels 
 that the above note of his son has not spoken 
 of it in terms at all extravagant. His Con- 
 gflMBOtuU books were more numerous than
 
 any collection we know in this vicinity, and 
 the library which was built a few years be- 
 fore the exit of the great statesman, taking 
 into view its architecture, its position, which 
 commands fine views of an open country, in 
 the distance, and near, green fields, and a tiny 
 sheet of water, is one of the most agreeable. 
 It is a pleasant recollection of our's, that we met 
 Mr. Webster, the first time we ever saw him at 
 Marshfield, in that very library, on the afternoon 
 of as pleasant a June day as ever gladdened his 
 lovely home. The conversation for nearly an 
 hour turned upon his books in general, upon 
 the Bible in particular, and upon the Chris- 
 tian ministry, especially in Boston and neighbor- 
 hood, when Mr. Webster removed there in 1816. 
 The illustrious speaker was in his best mood, arid 
 discoursed to a little party of us, as he alone 
 could; and such was the impression that he 
 made upon one of the party, at least, that he 
 could almost write out his converse verbatim 
 even after a lapse of so many years. He re- 
 marked, on that occasion, that he had been 
 collecting his library for thirty years, and that 
 he had gathered only those books that he wished 
 for his personal use. 
 
 During the month of July last, and after the
 
 48 
 
 foregoing was prepared, the writer passed three 
 days at Marshfield, in the company of Mr. 
 Fletcher Webster and others, in examining with 
 particular care the rich stores of the family 
 library. We are now prepared to say, that the 
 collection is better and fuller than Mr. Webster's 
 note has made it. We now estimate the books 
 at more than six thousand volumes. Of these 
 some two thousand are political, if we embrace 
 under that term congressional and diplomatic 
 works. There are fully a thousand books of his- 
 tory ; of cyclopaedias, dictionaries and hand- 
 books, there are five hundred. We know of no 
 private library so full in this department. The 
 same may be said of maps and guide books. On 
 agriculture and works bearing upon it, we should 
 say there are half a thousand. There is scarcely 
 a useless book in the whole collection. The 
 library is eminently one containing useful, every 
 day knowledge ; and one would judge from the 
 books, that the owner bought for his own use 
 and not at all for display, that he meant perfectly 
 to understand every subject that he was called 
 upon to investigate in his varied relations and 
 callings ; yea more, that he was interested to 
 know every thing, that it is proper for man to 
 know. And we suspect there is hardly a good
 
 49 
 
 book in the whole collection that he had not 
 read and mastered. We did not notice an infidel 
 book, or one that would corrupt the mind, or the 
 heart, but on the contrary, all are of a character 
 to make both better. If " a man may be known 
 by the company he keeps," then the man who 
 collected and lived with these books, must be set 
 down not simply as a great, but as a good man. 
 
 The library is now perfectly arranged by sub- 
 jects in the several cases, as follows Reference 
 books ; Poetry and Romance ; History and Biog- 
 raphy ; Politics ; Theology and Philosophy ; 
 Law; Diplomatic and Congressional ; Agriculture 
 and Science ; Miscellaneous. All the books are 
 properly classified under these subjects, and they 
 are mainly in the Mansion Library Room, and in 
 the Law office. Beside these, there are twelve 
 hundred law and congressional books in the old 
 Winslow House, awaiting better accommoda- 
 tions. 
 
 This library should be preserved as it is, and 
 no doubt will be. Every visitor is desirous of 
 seeing it as Mr. "Webster saw it, and as he used it. 
 It is one of the great attractions of his home. 
 For forty years the lamented owner was collect- 
 ing these literary works, and they are good re- 
 presentatives of his mind and heart. These were
 
 50 
 
 the companions of his leisure hours, and those 
 who have admired him in the Senate and in 
 Court will know, when they see these books, 
 that what they heard with so much pleasure, 
 was the result of much study, which is a weari- 
 ness of the flesh. 
 
 Mr. Caleb Gushing, of Newburyport, (now of 
 Washington,) is known to have a rare collection 
 of books in Chinese, which he collected while a 
 Minister in "the Central flowery nation." He 
 has also a precious museum of Mexican books 
 and antiquities. The late Mr. Andrews Norton, 
 of Cambridge, left a valuable library, containing 
 books of theology, and those bearing upon that 
 subject, which, it is well known, occupied his 
 mind as a thinker and author. The library in 
 connection with that of his son, Mr. Charles Eliot 
 Norton, numbers about six thousand. It has 
 been publicly stated, that Mr. Charles Sprague 
 has a fine library of three thousand volumes, 
 and a rare collection of paintings and sculpture. 
 The poet's well known love of home, may have 
 been much fostered through these domestic atr 
 tractions. 
 
 The library of the Kev. Thomas Whittemore, 
 of Cambridge, contains two thousand volumes, 
 and he has generously given a thousand to va-
 
 51 
 
 rious literary and other institutions. As we 
 might expect from the studies to which the pro- 
 prietor has given the greater part of his life, his 
 collection is fullest in dogmatic theology. He is 
 quite full in ecclesiastical and general history ; 
 and next in importance stand biography and 
 miscellany. 
 
 The late Rev. Alexander Young, D.D., had a well 
 selected and valuable library of from two to three 
 thousand volumes, which is still entire at his late 
 residence. It may be termed in general a mis- 
 cellaneous library, and particularly full in Eng- 
 lish literature. There are a good variety of 
 books in the departments of theology, history, 
 and the ancient classics. Several of the books 
 remind the beholder that Dr. Young had a great 
 taste for the early history of his country. The 
 library of Mr. Lemuel Shattuck is rather a spe- 
 ciality on statistics and sanitary science, as his 
 publications would lead one to expect. The other 
 departments of human knowledge in which he is 
 fullest are history, local and general, public docu- 
 ments, biography and natural history, giving an 
 entire aggregate of about two thousand volumes. 
 Mr. Marshall P. Wilder, of Dorchester, has a special- 
 ity, too, on agriculture and horticulture, to which 
 subjects he has given his leisure for many years.
 
 52 
 
 The library of the Right Rev Manton East- 
 burn, D. D., contains near three thousand well 
 selected volumes in the departments of theol- 
 ogy, classical and English literature, in Italian, 
 German, French and general miscellany. These 
 subjects well represent Dr. Eastburn's book tastes 
 and studies. His Stephen's ^Eschylus of 1557, 
 a Greek Lexicon by Suidas, and Walton's Poly- 
 glot Bible, and others may be mentioned. The 
 books of this library bear the appearance of hav- 
 ing been much studied. Indeed, the criticism 
 that one might pass upon some libraries is, that 
 the books appear too nice, and too little read, 
 so that he is led to infer that the knowledge is 
 rather upon the shelves, than in the heads and 
 hearts of the proprietors. / 
 
 The library of Mr. Samuel G. Drake embraces 
 above six thousand volumes. Ten years ago the 
 proprietor sold a library of some three thousand 
 volumes, that were principally duplicates, so far 
 as rare books were concerned. The prominent 
 subjects of Mr. D.'s library are history and an- 
 tiquities. It is pretty full in old English history, 
 embracing the most important of the old black- 
 li-tter chronicles. In the naval history of Eng- 
 land it is uncommonly rich. But the chief de- 
 sign oC the library is to elucidate the early his-
 
 53 
 
 tory and antiquities of America. He has almost 
 everything concerning the Indians, embracing 
 besides bound volumes above a thousand tracts 
 upon the aboriginal tribes, many of them very 
 rare, and hardly to be found elsewhere. 
 
 The local history of New England, in particu- 
 lar, has long received special attention. Mr. D. 
 has, besides, nearly all the published histories of 
 states, counties, cities and towns, and a collection 
 of seven or eight thousand pamphlets, illustrative 
 of the local history of the divisions above enu- 
 merated. He has also two hundred volumes of 
 English local histories, and a large number of 
 early w r orks on heraldry, pedigrees, and such sub- 
 jects. The manuscripts of the library are con- 
 siderably numerous, covering the period of the 
 early settlement of New England many of them 
 autographs of the early settlers of Bradford, 
 Winslow, Winthrop, and their compeers. 
 
 Mr. John Wells Parker, of Eoxbury, being re- 
 quested to furnish the writer a sketch of his 
 library, that was understood to be considerably 
 a speciality of newspaper literature, writes as 
 follows : 
 
 "My library is a miscellaneous collection of 
 about one thousand volumes, and several hundred 
 pamphlets. Of newspapers I have one hundred
 
 54 
 
 and fifty bound volumes, and a large number un- 
 bound. These were mostly obtained by my 
 father, the late Samuel Parker, who took much 
 interest in collecting them. 
 
 u About two years since I succeeded in obtain- 
 in the Essex Gazette from 1768 to 1771, some 
 numbers being missing in the first three years ; 
 so that I am only wanting in the files for 1772 and 
 1773, to have a file of the paper from 17G8 to 
 the present time, if we call the present Boston 
 Daily Advertiser a lineal descendant of that 
 journal. Fortunately I have files of other news- 
 papers for those missing dates. 
 
 " I have a few numbers of the News Letter for 
 1710 ; also a file of the same for the years 1733 
 and 1734, and many numbers between that date 
 and 1775. In addition may be mentioned the 
 New England Weekly Journal, 1727 to 1729, 
 and for 1733 and 1734, and files of the Weekly 
 Advertiser, Boston Chronicle, Boston Post Boy, 
 Boston Gazette, etc. My files of newspapers for 
 that interesting period of ten or twelve years 
 immediately preceding the Revolution are mostly 
 in excellent preservation. Of the New Hamp- 
 shire Gazette I have some numbers published in 
 1758. Tliis paper is still published, and is, I 
 111 ink, the oldest continued newspaper in the
 
 55 
 
 United States. I have specimens of most of the 
 newspapers ever published in Boston. 
 
 "My father wrote a sketch of the Boston 
 newspapers, in a series of numbers, which, subse- 
 quent to his decease in 1831, were published in 
 the Daily Advertiser. He also collected a series 
 of General Election and Artillery Election Ser- 
 mons, of which I have a very good collection 
 from 1700 to the present time. Of discourses 
 published in Boston prior to 1775, I have up- 
 wards of two hundred. 
 
 "At a meeting of the New York Historical 
 Society, recently, it was stated that their col- 
 lection of newspapers alone amounted to two 
 thousand volumes. We have nothing in any 
 New England library that will compare with it in 
 this respect." 
 
 The Eev. Alexander H. Vinton, D. D., has a 
 good library for a clergyman, and of special 
 value for a minister of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church. His study is lined with most of the 
 standard works on divinity; and in works on 
 ecclesiastical history and biblical literature he is 
 quite full. And then he has a pretty good sup- 
 ply of works on general history, biography, 
 science, agriculture, and that kind of literature 
 that most aids and interests one of his profession.
 
 56 
 
 Dr. V. has aimed, in purchasing, to secure books 
 upon every branch of human knowledge that he 
 is called to investigate, and to be quite indepen- 
 dent of public libraries. And this he has accom- 
 plished through his own collection of one or two 
 thousand good books, and the free use of the 
 Sears' Library, which has been attached to St. 
 Paul's Church by the munificence of a member 
 of the parish. This last library numbers about 
 fifteen hundred well chosen volumes, chiefly of a 
 religious and theological character. 
 
 Dr. Joseph Palmer has been at the pains of 
 collecting a thousand volumes, such as are not 
 usually found in American bookstores. He has 
 imported the most of them from Europe for his 
 own use as a compiler of statistics, and a writer 
 on general subjects. He has a considerable num- 
 ber" of works in the various learned languages, 
 and altogether his collection is more valuable 
 than large. Dr. P. states, that Dr. N. B. Shurt- 
 leff, with whose collection he is familiar, has 
 twice as many volumes as his own library con- 
 tains, and that the books are of a similar de- 
 scription. 
 
 There are agreeable rumors of good libraries 
 in Salem. No one who has ever met Mr. Ste- 
 phen C. Phillips in his parlor can have failed to
 
 57 
 
 r *" 
 
 have observed those nicely bound ornaments in 
 the shape of books, which are set off to advan- 
 tage in several handsome cases. In that same 
 city, Mr. Matthew A. Stickney has a collection of 
 some fifteen hundred tomes, hi addition to a 
 speciality of almanacs. If one travels farther 
 east, to West Newbury, and should chance to be- 
 come the guest of Major Ben. Perley Poore, at 
 the Indian Hill farm, he will by no means suffer 
 from a famine of books, particularly in the de- 
 partments of history, general literature and agri- 
 culture. The father of Major P., the late Mr. 
 Benjamin Poore, who at one period of his life 
 was a distinguished farmer, had collected several 
 valuable works of the last class. But the gem 
 of his literary stores is a large and valuable 
 collection of autographs,* beautifully arranged. 
 It is particularly full of the letters of distin- 
 guished Europeans, since the residence of the 
 collector abroad for several years gave him spe- 
 cial opportunities to enrich the foreign depart- 
 ment. 
 
 * The Rev. William B. Sprague, D. D., of Albany, N. Y., has one of the largest 
 and rarest collections of autographs in this country. The Rev. Thomas Smyth, 
 D. D., of Charleston, S. C., possesses a choice collection. That of Mr. E. H. Lef- 
 finwell, of New Haven, Conn., is valued at several thousand dollars. Other pre- 
 cious collections are those of Mr. Lewis J. Cist, of Cincinnati, of Mrs. Z. Allen, of 
 Providence, of Mr. Mellen Chamberlain,, of Chelsea, and ef Mr. Charles H. 
 Morse, of Cambridge. 
 8
 
 Passing to the western portion of the State, in 
 the town of Buckland, we find a library that is 
 creditable for a young farmer, in a retired place. 
 Mr. Francis H. Forbes, the owner, is a great 
 reader, and has been accustomed to purchase a 
 book as he wished to read it. He now counts up 
 nearly twelve hundred volumes, and in connec- 
 tion has a good collection of engravings. The 
 volumes are chiefly in the departments of Eng- 
 lish literature and the ancient classics. 
 
 Mr. George Brinley, Jr., of Hartford, Conn., 
 has the reputation of possessing books to the 
 amount of several thousand, particularly illustra- 
 tive of the early history of this country. Another 
 collection of about three thousand, on miscella- 
 neous subjects, is in the hands of Mr. Charles K. 
 Dillaway, of Roxbury. Another important library 
 is that of Rev. Dr. Francis, of Cambridge, which 
 is large and very rich in old English literature. 
 The late Mr. James Brown, of Watertown, col- 
 lected a fine library on English literature, horti- 
 culture, and ornithology. The books are of the 
 best editions and binding. The travels of Mr. B. 
 in Europe and his frequent visits to London and 
 Paris, gave him a fine opportunity to select good 
 books for himself, as well as for others. Certain 
 editions of British authors that he obtained are
 
 59 
 
 very rarely seen in this country, or any other. 
 The library is still preserved as he left it. And 
 every body knows that it would have been much 
 larger, but for the generosity he displayed to- 
 wards several of the public libraries of this com- 
 munity. 
 
 The late venerable Mr. Thomas Wigglesworth 
 left a respectable miscellaneous library. Gould's 
 ^yC Birds of Europe, in fifteen folio volumes, in su- 
 perb binding, and costing sixteen hundred dol- 
 lars, is specially worthy of mention. It is a very 
 rare book, in either public or private collections, 
 in the United States. The library is still in the 
 possession of the family. If the books of the 
 sons of Mr. W., living near their aged mother 
 in Franklin Place, are embraced, the family 
 can reckon up from two to three thousand 
 volumes. 
 
 The library of the late Gen. H. A. S. Dearborn 
 embraced thirty-five hundred volumes, besides 
 pamphlets. It contains many works on Natural 
 History. The character of the books generally 
 may be represented by Gen. D.'s habits as a gen- 
 eral reader. The library is now in the possession 
 of the family at Roxbury. His son, Mr. William 
 L. Dearborn, of the same city, has a collection of 
 fifteen hundred tomes, which is mostly a very
 
 60 
 
 valuable speciality, relating to the profession of 
 Mr. D., civil and military engineering. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Dowse, of Cambridge, has a large 
 library of the very best English classics, of the 
 best editions and binding. The venerable owner 
 has been gathering these stores for many years, 
 and it has evidently afforded him great pleasure. 
 The writer can barely say, that he has glanced 
 at the library that seems to be the richest and 
 fullest in English literature of any owned by a pri- 
 vate individual in New England. 
 
 Mr. Edward Everett gave the following beauti- 
 ful and valuable notice of Mr. D.'s library in the 
 course of an address introductory to the Franklin 
 Lectures, in Boston, in 1831, on the "Advantage 
 of Knowledge to Working Men."* 
 
 " I scarce know if I may venture to adduce an 
 instance, nearer home, of the most praiseworthy 
 and successful cultivation of useful knowledge on 
 the part of an individual, without education, 
 busily employed in mechanical industry. I have 
 the pleasure to be acquainted, in one of the 
 neighboring towns, with a person who was 
 brought up to the trade of a leather-dresser, and 
 has all his life worked, and still works, at this 
 business. He has devoted his leisure hours, and 
 
 * See Everett'* Orations and Speechet, Vol. I. p. 324.
 
 a portion of his honorable earnings to the culti- 
 vation of useful and elegant learning. Under 
 the same roof that covers his workshop, he has 
 the most excellent library of English books, for 
 its size, with which I am acquainted. The books 
 have been selected with a good judgment, which 
 would do credit to the most accomplished scholar, 
 and have been imported from England by him- 
 self. What is more important than having the 
 books, their proprietor is well acquainted with 
 their contents. Among them are several vol- 
 umes of the most costly and magnificent engrav- 
 ings. Connected with his library is an exceed- 
 ly interesting series of paintings, in water colors, 
 copies of the principal works of the ancient 
 masters in England, which a fortunate accident 
 placed in his possession, and several valuable pic- 
 tures, purchased by himself.' The whole forms a 
 treasure of taste and knowledge, not surpassed, 
 if equalled, by any thing of its kind in the 
 country." 
 
 Mr. Zelotes Hosmer, also of Cambridge, has a 
 very choice library of English and American 
 literature. The proprietor modestly speaks of it 
 as "small and undeserving of public mention." 
 But his friends and those who have examined 
 the books judge otherwise. He has many old
 
 62 
 
 English books, of great value, some of which are 
 literally " worth their weight in gold." The room 
 that is lined with these treasures is one of the 
 pleasantest of his picturesque cottage. From a 
 survey of five minutes we should pronounce both 
 books and room gems of their kind. 
 
 Repeated visits have made us place a higher 
 and higher value upon the very rare and valua- 
 ble library of Mr. George Livermore, of the same 
 city, containing between three and four thousand 
 volumes. Nearly a quarter part of the entire 
 collection consists of Bibles and Biblical Works, 
 in various languages, versions and forms, from 
 the ancient Hebrew manuscript Roll to the most 
 modern translation of our own times. 
 
 Among the manuscripts of interest is The Pen- 
 tateuch carefully written on thirty-six skins of 
 parchment, and measuring fifty-eight feet in 
 length and one foot in breadth. This fine apo- 
 graph is rolled upon a pair of handles and en- 
 closed in an embroidered silk cover. It was for- 
 merly used in a Jewish Synagogue, and is a good 
 specimen of an ancient volume or rolled book. 
 
 Two copies of the Bible entire, in the Latin 
 Vulgate version, written by monks in the middle 
 ages upon the most delicate vellum, are elabo- 
 rately illuminated with beautiful initial letters,
 
 figures and miniatures. They are of the twelfth 
 and thirteenth centuries. Each was, perhaps, 
 the work of a whole life. 
 
 To these may be added, an Evangelistarium, or 
 Selections from the Gospels, for the use of the 
 Church, written on parchment in the eighth cen- 
 tury, seven hundred years before the invention 
 of printing, one of the oldest, if not the oldest, 
 book in this country. It was obtained at the 
 sale of the library of the Rev. Dr. Hawtrey, Pro- 
 vost of Eton. 
 
 The Book of Job, a metrical version, by George 
 Sandys, is supposed to be the original autograph 
 copy of the author. It was formerly in the 
 library of the late Duke of Sussex, and is par- 
 ticularly described by Dr. Pettigrew, in the Bibli- 
 
 j 
 
 otheca Sussexiana. 
 
 Next in order to the manuscripts is the BIBLIA 
 PAUPERUM, a Block Book, or series of Wood Cuts, 
 representing scripture subjects, with a few lines 
 of text coarsely engraved upon the same page. 
 The precise -date is not known, but bibliographers 
 are generally agreed in the opinion that it was 
 printed as early as the year 1440. 
 . There is in this library a fragment of the cele- 
 brated MAZARIN BIBLE, the first look ever printed. 
 Although the date does not appear, this work is
 
 64 
 
 well known to have been the first that issued 
 from the press of Guttenberg, and to have been 
 completed in the year 1455. Mr. L. has also the 
 New Testament, printed by Faust in 1462,, being 
 the first in which the date is given ; and quite a 
 number of Bibles published within the first half 
 century from the invention of printing. Serve- 
 tus's Bible, published in Lyons, 1542, is a very 
 rare work. The entire edition was ordered to be 
 burnt, by the Roman Catholic authorities, on ac- 
 count of the supposed heretical sentiments con- 
 tained in the preface and in some of the notes. 
 The author, in 1553, shared the same fate with 
 his Bible. He was burned alive for heresy, and 
 as many of the Bibles as could then be found 
 were used to kindle the wood at the time of his 
 martyrdom. But very few copies escaped the 
 flames, and there is probably no other in this 
 country. 
 
 Cromwell's Soldier's Pocket Bible, of which 
 only one other copy is known to be extant, is a 
 great curiosity. It consists of selections from the 
 Scriptures, published in 1643, for the use of the 
 army during the civil wars. Here are copies of 
 both editions of Eliot's Indian Bible the first con- 
 taining the rare dedications to King Charles II., 
 of which only twenty copies were printed ; and a
 
 65 
 
 perfect copy of the Commentary of Nicholas de 
 Lyra, beautifully printed in black letter, in 1483, 
 being the first work of the kind ever published. 
 
 Of English versions Mr. L. has all the editions 
 of Wyclif, several of Coverdale, Tyndale, Cran- 
 mer, the Genevan, the Bishops, the Douay and 
 the most remarkable editions of our present au- 
 thorized version, from the first Black Letter Folio 
 of 1611, to the recent revision of the American 
 Bible Society. 
 
 A splendid unique large paper copy of Reeve's 
 Bible, with several hundred original water-color 
 illustrations, by Harris of London, and a 'New 
 Testament printed entirely in letters of gold, 
 were added to the collection on account of their 
 beauty as works of art. 
 
 A special interest attaches to some copies of 
 the Scriptures in Mr. Livermore's library, on ac- 
 count of their former ownership. The Venice 
 edition of the Latin Vulgate, 1478, was once 
 the property of the unfortunate Pope Pius VI., 
 and has his arms stamped upon the covers. s On 
 the same shelf stands Melancthon's own copy of 
 the Bible, with numerous notes on the margins 
 in the hand writing of the Reformer. A copy of 
 the Geneva version, presented by Admiral Sir 
 Isaac Coffin to the late Rev. Dr. Homer of New-
 
 66 
 
 ton, (from whose library it was purchased,) was 
 supposed by its former owners to have been the 
 identical copy presented by the printer to Queen 
 Elizabeth. The Royal arms can still be traced 
 on the covers. It was printed in 1576. But the 
 Bible of Adam Winthrop, of Groton, England, 
 the father of the first Governor of Massachusetts, 
 is more highly prized by the present proprietor. 
 
 A manuscript Koran, brought many years ago 
 from Turkey by Edward Wortley Montagu, and 
 the Book of Mormon, with the autograph of 
 Joseph Smith, possess an interest of a different 
 kind. 
 
 Mr. L. has, in a large portfolio, THE LORD'S 
 PRAYER in more than eight hundred languages 
 and dialects. This remarkable work was printed 
 at the Imperial Office in Vienna, and exhibited 
 as the contribution of the Emperor of Austria at 
 the World's Fair in London. Only a few copies 
 were allowed to be sold. 
 
 It may be mentioned that the only two New 
 England subscribers to Halliwell's magnificent 
 edition of Shakspeare, now publishing in Eng- 
 land, in twenty folio volumes, and limited to 
 one hundred and fifty copies, are near neigh- 
 bors to each other Mr. Hosmer and Mr. Liver- 
 more.
 
 67 
 
 Mr. Livermore has from his boyhood been 
 much interested in the subject of general Bibli- 
 ography, and he has collected a considerable 
 number of the best works on this subject, includ- 
 ing typographical antiquities, and accounts of the 
 most celebrated public and private libraries. In 
 this department may be found nearly all the 
 publications of Dibdin, several of them presenta- 
 tion copies from the author ; works from the 
 presses of Guttenberg, Faust, Caxton, Wynken, 
 de Worde, Pynson, Baskerville, Stephen Daye 
 the first American printer, Dr. Franklin, and 
 nearly all the most famous printers in Europe 
 and America. Also privately printed books from 
 Strawberry Hill, Lee Priory, the Roxburghe and 
 other clubs. We might mention many other cu- 
 rious and rare volumes. The larger part of this 
 library consists of standard works of English 
 literature, history, biography, poetry, etc. etc. 
 the best editions of the best authors. 
 
 Another library, in the same city, is that of 
 Mr. Charles Deane.* This collection would be 
 prized, not so much for its size, as for the rare 
 
 *Mr. Barry, in his recent history of Massachusetts, Vol. I. p. 106, in a foot-note, 
 pay* the following deserved compliment to Mr. D. and his library : " The valuable 
 notes accompanying this document, (the first Plymouth patent, published by the 
 Massachusetts Historical Society,) are from the pen of Charles Deane, Esq., a gen- 
 tleman than whom few are more conversant with the early history of Massachu- 
 setts, and whose well-stored library is a treasure of rare works on American 
 history."
 
 68 
 
 and valuable works which it contains. In sev- 
 eral particulars it corresponds to that of Mr. 
 Crowninshield, already briefly noticed. It com- 
 prises a fair proportion of English literature, em- 
 bracing history, biography and bibliography. 
 There are many early and first editions, among 
 which may be enumerated the first edition, in 
 English, of Sir Thomas More's Utopia, 1551, of 
 which Dibdin, in 1808, remarks : " There is no 
 copy of this curious and rare performance in the 
 Bodleian Library, nor in the British Museum." 
 Also, Fryth's Reply to More, on the Sacrament, 
 containing u The Artycles wherefore Johan Fryth 
 dyed;" published in 1546. The first edition of 
 Butler's Hudibras, in their several parts, may 
 also be mentioned, as also of Milton's Paradise 
 Lost, and Paradise Regained. 
 
 Mr. Deane's taste and reading, led him, at one 
 time, to make a collection of books relating to 
 the subject of philosophical necessity or the free- 
 dom of the will ; embracing writers from Hobbs, 
 Cudworth, Collins and others, down to authors of 
 our own time. 
 
 The speciality, however, of this collection, is 
 American history, and more particularly works 
 relating to New England history. Among the 
 earliest books on America we will mention Peter
 
 69 
 
 Martyr's " De Orbe novo," three Decades, pub- 
 lished at Alcala in 1516. (The first complete 
 edition, in eigU Decades, was printed in 1530.) 
 Martyr is one of the earliest historians that treat 
 of Columbus, and was his cotemporary and inti- 
 mate acquaintance. Probably the earliest book 
 in English relating to America, was prepared by 
 Bichard Eden, and published in 1555. It con- 
 sists of translations of four of Martyr's Decades, 
 followed by translations from Oviedo and others. 
 A fine copy of this work is in this collection. 
 Also, a copy of the first edition of Hakluyt's 
 Collection of Voyages, 1589, which once belong- 
 ed to Thomas Cavendish, the celebrated English 
 navigator, and bears his autograph. 
 
 Among the works in this department which 
 were issued in the seventeenth century, we will 
 briefly mention the Commission of " Sieur de 
 Monts," published in 1605 ; the works of the 
 celebrated John Smith, from his Description of 
 New England, 1616, to his True Travels, 1630, 
 containing his rare maps ; Whitbourn's New- 
 foundland 1620, and 1622; Mourt's Relation, 
 1622 ; Winslow's Good News from New England, 
 1624 ; Vaughan's Golden Fleece, 1626, with Capt. 
 John Mason's Map of Newfoundland ; Drake's 
 World Encompassed, 1628 ; Wood's New England
 
 70 
 
 Prospect, 1634 ; Thomas Morton's New English 
 Canaan, 1637 ; Lechford's Plain Dealing, 1642 ; 
 Eliot's Christian Commonwealth, no date; (Mr. 
 Aspinwall's copy of this book was for a long time 
 considered unique.) Johnson's Wonder Working 
 Providence, 1654 ; Gorges' America Painted to 
 the Life, 1659 ; Winslow's corrected edition of 
 the Cambridge Platform, 1653 ; The Buccanneers 
 of America, 1684 and 1685; Josselyn's New Eng- 
 land Rarities, 1672, and his Account of two Voy- 
 ages to New England, 1673 ; Massachusetts, or 
 the First Planters of New England, 1696. 
 
 This collection also embraces nearly twenty of 
 the original tracts of John Cotton ; the earliest be- 
 ing a Sermon preached by him at Southampton, 
 on the occasion of the sailing of Winthrop's fleet for 
 New England, in 1630, entitled God's Promise to 
 his Plantation. His books containing his contro- 
 versy with Roger Williams, and with Robert 
 Baillie, are among the number. Mr. Deane has 
 nearly all the tracts relating to the progress of 
 the gospel among the Indians here, published for 
 the benefit of friends to the cause in England ; 
 also, many of the books written by the Mathers, 
 Richard, Increase, and Cotton ; also many of the 
 original works of John Robinson, the pastor of 
 the Pilgrim Church at Leyden ; and all the edi-
 
 71 
 
 tions of Morton's Memorial. Many tracts relat- 
 ing to the controversy here with the Quakers 
 may also be noticed. 
 
 Of the more modern publications, in this 
 library, in the department of New England His- 
 tory, we will merely allude to the collections of 
 all the Historical Societies, and nearly every town 
 History which has been written. 
 
 The four last mentioned libraries are situated 
 on, or near Dana Hill, in Cambridge, and three 
 of them are very near each other on Main Street. 
 Together they must number from fifteen to 
 twenty thousand volumes, and it is safe to say, 
 that they are worth more than one hundred 
 thousand books, so called, that are not unfre- 
 quently found in both public and private collec- 
 tions. And best of all, the proprietors, though 
 active business men, and three of them mer- 
 chants of Boston, have a thorough knowledge 
 of their books, and each is truly a scholar in his 
 chosen field of human learning. 
 
 We have thus taken a very cursory view of 
 the private libraries of one little section of our 
 country.* Justice has not been done to a single 
 collection mentioned, and if all had been fully 
 
 * No doubt several important libraries even in this section have been uninten- 
 tionally overlooked.
 
 unfolded to the public gaze, a volume, or rather 
 volumes would have been written. If the intel- 
 lectual riches of these libraries have been tolera- 
 bly indicated; if scholars may ascertain from 
 the above descriptions where they may probably 
 find a rare or valuable book, that they neither 
 own nor can find in any public library or book- 
 store ; if through this paper, which is believed 
 to be the first extended one that has ever ap- 
 peared in this country on this subject, similar ac- 
 counts shall be drawn out, touching the richer 
 private stores* of books in other and more favor- 
 
 t What is in store for the lover of bibliography and for the general reader, from 
 other sections of the United States, may be imagined from the following paragraphs, 
 which we clipped from a New York paper several years since : 
 
 " It is surprising how many very large and excellently selected private libraries 
 have been collected in this country. In most parts of Europe public libraries are so 
 common and so accessible that there is comparatively liille need of private collec- 
 tions, except upon specialities ; but here, for the most part, public libraries are few 
 and meagre, and of so miscellaneous a character as to be of little value for special 
 uses. Among the largest private libraries with which we arc acquainted is that of 
 Rev. Dr. Smyth, in Charleston, S.C , containing about eventeen thousand, very rich 
 in theology ; Hon. Mitchell King's, in the game city, nearly as large, and abounding 
 in the choicest classical productions, in best editions, as well as in books of art ; 
 Mr. Barton's, in Philadelphia, say of ten thousand, containing the best collection of 
 Shakspeare's editions, commentaries, illustrations, etc., to be found in the world ; 
 Dr. Rednon Coxe's, in the same city, about twenty thousand ; K. D. Ingraham's, 
 ditto, of thirteen thousand, altogether the most curious in historical, biographical 
 and juridical literature to be found in this country. 
 
 " In this city the number of good libraries is very large. Dr. Moore's, we be- 
 lieve, has more than twelve thousand volumes ; that of Edwin Forrest (collected 
 chiefly by the late William Leggett) is nearly as large, and is very rich in the best 
 English literature. The library of Mr. Lenox is large and of extraordinary value, 
 having cost, probably, more than any other private library in the country. Mr. Ban- 
 croft ha* the beat historical library in the city, and the best collection of manuscripts 
 illustrative of American history in the possession of any individual in the world. 
 Very extensive and valuable libraries are also owned by Dr. J. W. Francis, and 
 Rev. Drs. Hawkes, W. R. William*, Bethune and Griswold, the last having con- 
 tained, before the destruction of a portion of it recently t>y*fire, more than thirteen 
 thousand books, chiefly American."
 
 73 
 
 ed portions of the land; if information at all in- 
 structive, curious, or entertaining has been com- 
 municated to the reader ; if any shall be led to 
 place a higher estimate upon the untold bles- 
 sings that flow to the owner of a good library, as 
 well as to his family, neighborhood, friends and 
 acquaintances, the special objects of this essay 
 will have been secured. 
 
 Is tljere any mere earthly comfort, after fam- 
 ily and friends, like that to be derived from a 
 rich private library? The man who possesses 
 that has ever with him a perpetual fountain 
 springing up, (not half a taile distant, which 
 he must share with hundreds or thousands,) 
 but in his own house, to purify his soul and to 
 illumine his understanding. The great lawyer, 
 then, who said, that " he should have died long 
 ago had it not been for his library," uttered no 
 extravagance. Such expressions call up the 
 lines of an English poet : 
 
 " What strange art, what magic can dispose 
 The troubled mind to change its native woes ? 
 Or lead us willing from ourselves to see 
 Others more wretched, more undone than we ? 
 
 In this connection, the library of the late Dr. Wainwright, of the same city, may 
 be mentioned, that contained ten thousand volumes ; and also the large libraries of 
 Mr. Peter Force, of Washington, and of Mr. Brown, of Providence. The late Mr. 
 Bowditch, the mathematician, had a rare library, which, by the generosity of the 
 family, is open to the public. The library of the late Rev. Dr. Jarvis was noted in 
 its day. 
 
 8
 
 This, books can do ; nor this alone ; they give 
 
 New views to life, and teach us how to live. 
 
 Come, Child of Care ! to make thy soul serene, 
 
 Approach the treasures of this tranquil scene ; 
 
 Survey the dome, and, as the doors unfold, 
 
 The soul's best cure, in all her cares, behold ! 
 
 Where mental wealth the poor in thought may find, 
 
 And mental physic the diseased in mind ; 
 
 See here the balms that passion's wounds assuage ; 
 
 See coolers here, that damp the fire of rage ; 
 
 Here alt'ratives, by slow degrees control 
 
 The chronic habits of the sickly soul ; 
 
 And round the heart and o'er the aching head, 
 
 Mild opiates here their sober influence shed." 
 
 No man in this age should think of building 
 him a house without including a library. Better 
 omit the drawing-room, and almost the dining- 
 room than this, for what society can one be 
 called to entertain* like the nobility of all ages 
 whose names are inscribed upon books ? And 
 might we not as well be without a fitting room 
 to partake of the food that perisheth, as to have 
 no suitable place in which to partake of that on 
 which angels and the Supreme feed alike with 
 man ? Men speak of a house as furnished if 
 there be a beautiful and bountiful supply of up- 
 holstery. But it is no such thing, if these are 
 all. The most ornamental the most appropriate 
 furniture for the old and the young and for 
 little children at home, the food for the mind 
 and heart, good books are wanting. The late 
 Rev. Dr. Greenwood confirmed this view, in these 
 words:
 
 75 
 
 " A house is never properly furnished unless 
 it contains one well filled book-case, at least, 
 and if it is a house of any pretensions, it ought 
 to have its library, and that not merely a nom- 
 inal library ; since for a sum formerly paid for 
 the Bible or Cicero, a man may line the side of 
 a room with the best works in all languages." 
 
 Many might include works of Art in the 
 proper f furnishing of a house. In the highest 
 sense of the language, they should be included. 
 But books are more a necessity. If one has not 
 the elementary school books, at least, he cannot 
 be qualified for any business by which he may 
 hope to gain a livelihood. Besides, if we are to 
 choose between having the works of Homer, 
 Milton, or Washington, and having their por- 
 traits, should we not select their works? We 
 can hardly love a picture. We can admire it as 
 a work of genius, or as an image of one we love. 
 But we may love good books, for they literally 
 contain -^ 
 
 " Thoughts that breathe, nnd words that burn." 
 
 They give us, as it were, the very minds and 
 souls of their illustrious authors. The very best 
 that belonged to the characters of authors re- 
 main with us in their works, a perpetual occa- 
 sion of our admiration and our love.
 
 76 
 
 The delicacy of treating of the above list of 
 private libraries is removed, when their relations 
 to public libraries, and to scholars and readers 
 generally, are considered. Several of these libra- 
 ries would have been much larger and richer, 
 had not their generous owners loved themselves 
 less, and the public good more. The truth is, 
 some of our valuable public libraries have had 
 their beginning and a very considerable propor- 
 tion of their growth from the material given 
 from private.* And then, for many practical 
 purposes, most of the libraries called private are 
 public. Their doors are freely thrown open to 
 all good and true scholars, and they never honor 
 their proprietors more than when using their 
 books. And, in most cases, a worthy scholar, or 
 reader, would find no difficulty in securing the 
 loan of a book to take to his own rooms. Thus 
 these rich private fountains of knowledge are 
 owned substantially for the good of all. This is 
 the true object o/ a library to be useful to as 
 many as will use it. Perhaps there is no small 
 act of kindness that a man can do for his fellow 
 that may bless him so much, and so long, as the 
 
 It ho* been stated in the journals of the day, that the library of the late Rev. Dr. 
 Sharp, of Boston, consisting of seventeen hundred volumes, has been purchased by 
 a few thoughtful persons, and presented to the library of the Newton Theological 
 Seminary.
 
 77 
 
 loaning him a good book. How many suffer for 
 the lack of books, and grow up with no taste for 
 reading, for the simple reason that they neither 
 owned, nor could borrow books in then: youth. 
 What an influence for good would flow from col- 
 lections of only one thousand volumes each, 
 owned by single persons in every little neighborhood 
 in the land, if freely loaned to all who would 
 make a good use of them. Private libraries, 
 open to all, have these peculiar advantages, that 
 no extra expense is required for a library build- 
 ing, or for the librarian. In a particular manner 
 a hotel cannot be said to be furnished, we had 
 almost said, in the moderate sense, that has not 
 a good collection of books. How many a book- 
 loving traveller or boarder has pined in one of 
 these houses of entertainment, finding it sadly 
 wanting in the best of entertainment, making 
 him feel that he is a sojourner in a literary 
 Sahara. 
 
 There is an intimate connection between suc- 
 cess in the learned professions, in authorship and 
 in numerous callings, and the books a man can 
 call his own. Who ever heard of a great lawyer, 
 physician, preacher, scholar, or author, whose 
 study did not show the well-thumbed books, 
 whose daily intellectual company at home were
 
 78 
 
 not the great thinkers and writers of all ages ? 
 The very sight of a book, like a man's face, 
 sharpens the intellect of him who glances at it. 
 Books are not so much to be valued for the 
 thoughts they give, as for those they suggest, 
 and for the general quickening they give to all 
 our mental powers. For those who think and 
 write for the public, books are indispensable. If 
 a young minister is to be settled over a people, 
 to feed them " with knowledge and understand- 
 ing," one would suppose, that while his examin- 
 ers would not fail to test his soundness upon the 
 "five points," or other of theology, and to in- 
 quire if he had been thoroughly educated at the 
 universities, they would also ask him if he had a 
 good library. For a parish to let their pastor go 
 without a sufficient supply of good books, is to 
 starve his mind, and through his, their own. So 
 we may reason with regard to our physician, and 
 our lawyer, and our author, and the teacher of 
 our children. They cannot give us and ours 
 what they have not themselves received, and 
 books are their great sources of information. 
 How appropriate that inscription now to be read 
 over the door of a library of book-loving Eng- 
 land : " Non minima pars est eruditionis bonos 
 nosse libros."
 
 79 
 
 A man may walk through his own library 
 with something of the awe he has in a city of 
 the dead. He treads the silent walks of those 
 who are absent, but not lost. He sees the tombs 
 of such as cannot die. 
 
 " Crown'd with eternal fame, they sit sublime, 
 
 And laugh at all the little strife of time. 
 
 Lo! all in silence, all in order stand, 
 
 And mighty folios first, a lordly band ; 
 
 Then quartos their well order'd ranks maintain, 
 
 And light octavos fill a spacious plain : 
 
 See yonder, ranged in more frequented rows, 
 
 A humble band of duodecimos ; 
 
 While undistinguish'd trifles swell the scene, 
 
 The last new play and fritter'd magazine. 
 
 Hail, then, immortals ! Ye who shine above, 
 
 Each in his sphere, the literary Jove ; 
 
 And ye the common people of these skies, 
 
 A humbler cloud of nameless deities ; 
 
 Whether 'tis yours to lead the willing mind 
 
 Through history's mazes, and the turnings find ; 
 
 Or whether led by science, ye retire, 
 
 Lost and bewilder'd in the vast desire ; 
 
 Whether the Muse invites you to her bowers, 
 
 And crowns your placid brows with living flowers ; 
 
 Or godlike wisdom teaches you to show 
 
 The noblest road to happiness below ; 
 
 Or men and manners prompt the easy page 
 
 To mark the flying follies of the age : 
 
 Whatever good ye boast, that good impart ; 
 
 Inform the head and rectify the heart."
 
 University of California 
 
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