^/Ji£«v;^ M^^he^ to$7 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/collectorsaddresOOhunnrich COLLECTORS One Hundred and Two Copies of this hook have been printed on hand-made paper^ of which two are for copyright COLLECTORS AN ADDRESS Read to the Club of Odd Volumes at its Annual Meeting, Boston, Decembee 18, 1907 / BY THE PRESIDENT JAMES FROTHINGHAM HUNNEWELL BOSTON THE CLUB OF ODD VOLUMES 1908 Copyright, 1908 By Thk Club of Odd Volumes THB UNIVERSITT PRBBS, CAMBRIDGE, U. 8. A. COLLECTORS COLLECTORS A .T the beginning of another year of our Club life, several subjects for remarks occur to me, or have been suggested. Besides speaking as presiding of&cer at more than eighty meetings, and on the many varied topics then considered, I have presented, and read or spoken, at least fifteen papers. Still there are subjects as yet untouched, or hardly touched, on which I would like to talk, for they much interest me, and I hope would interest you; and still the question remained open, until a very simple thought occurred to me, and that may well be the subject for an address to-night, on our Twentieth Anniversary. All of us are Collectors, and some review, necessarily condensed, of what elsewhere they were, and what they did, and results [7] COLLECTORS that followed, is consistent with our activ- ities and purposes. It is not necessary, and indeed there is not now time, to consider anything in Antiquity. We begin with some of the great — the greatest — collectors in the Middle Ages; these were some of the Mo- nastic Orders, notably the Benedictines. Literature and History owe a large debt of gratitude to this illustrious Order. The libraries they made or gathered were, in their time, the shrines and strongholds of Civilization. All the world has never seen a grander and more impressively seated institution than Saint Benedict's Monastery on the Monte Cassino. Venerable in age and history, vast in size, with its church interior covered by gold and marbles, gorgeous even for Italy, it stands on its lofty heights looking out over the craggy Appenines and the wild Abruzzi. Secluded in quiet, simple rooms is, or was, the famous library. Through many a generation it grew by the patient art of the transcriber, [8] COLLECTORS and then by the far more rapid work of the press, but always, in both periods, by the spirit of the collectors there gathered, and continuing through the centuries. In place after place, end to end of Italy, this work went on. It culminated in the achievement by the greatest of ecclesiastic powers, that of the Supreme Pontiffs, in their wonder of the world, the Vatican Library. Honor and treasure of Civilization it grew, and has remained, and thanks to Heaven the spoiler has not entered, as into the Monasteries. On similar, though on lesser, yet on grand scale, was the work of the collectors in the Monasteries of England. After the labors of the Scriptorium, it was in one of them that the Art of Printing had its first home in that land. In many an one of them the collectors gathered, and the precious results of the collectors' labors abided until that Day of Doom, wheu Henry Tudor, Eighth of the name, by imperious passion, by stress of politics, let loose greed to ravage those wonderful institutions. [9] COLLECTORS Never, otherwise, in the long history of the Imperial Island, have there been such institutions, homes of collectors built in such grandeur and beauty. Monasteries have been world wide, but nowhere built with more beauty. Nowhere in the land where they stood, filled as it is and has been with monuments of its peoples' history, are there now other such impressive relics. Printing in England that began at West- minster — and to-day they show the very spot — was soon established at St. Albans. Prom these places started the immense development of book-collecting in that country and in the wide English speaking world. The bookmen, and any other class of men, could not have started from nobler homes. To-day these homes stand vast and impressive examples of monumental art and history and religion, and also of the grandeur and beauty of monastic conception and achievement. Many of the extensive and varied buildings of both institutions have been destroyed, but in each place the chief [ 10] COLLECTORS of them stands in glory. We realize what these institutions were in their prime as we also realize that Westminster and St. Albans were simply parts of an immense whole, churches of Monasteries. Take another example, where the collect- ing and saving of books is said to haye been very notable — Glastonbury. Consecrated and used, for services of religion, for nearly a thousand years, of immense extent and exceptional grandeur, its occupants, we are told, were collectors, and had a great library. Nobly housed, and well cared for, continued the library, until passion and politics of a King, and greed of robbers, seized the ancient and glorious home of piety and of the collectors, hung the last Abbot on Tor Hill, because he would not surrender his trust, and reformed the Monasteiy into utter ruin, its stones into field-walls and pig-pens, its library into kindlings and wrapping- paper. But the souls of the old collectors rest in Heaven — their work in their time well done. Similar devastation swept over [11 ] COLLECTORS all England; it was a woeful time for Caxtons. Let me mention another example by- quotation from a book I have been reading since writing the above lines — Bradley's Wiltshire, page 183, where he describes the wrecking of the grand Abbey of Malmesbury, and the barbarous destruction of its noble library. "Thus,'' says he, " did some men of Wiltshire plug their ale casks and clean their guns with the precious records of medieval history, while their neighbors blew up prehistoric temples to build pigstyes." Then ensued collecting of a sort known even to our time; the private, though he might be titled, collector appeared and continued. Monasteries disappeared, but throughout the land remained or arose the Eesidence, and there, chiefly in the country, lived collectors on small or large scale, forming libraries of various duration. Permanent as have been many English families in occupation of ancestral homes, [ 12] COLLECTORS the tenure could hardly be as prolonged as that of a self-perpetuating institution like a monastery. Still there have been in England, as perhaps in no other country, many long established family libraries, the existence of which began with the enterprise of a collector. It may be the inevitable y in human affairs, that has ultimately caused a dispersion, for, in some ways regrettably, this has in large number of cases proved unavoidable. There is a certain fascination about such collections — some of us who saw the Carter Brown library in its spacious and charming old family home can have and appreciate this feeling. In the limits of this Address, that pro- poses to review our subject to the present time, we cannot illustrate it by full lists; we can only use examples. Notwithstanding many a dispersion, there are still valuable libraries in old mansions. At Burleigh, the Marquis of Exeter's, and Longleat, the Marquis of Bath's, each one of the grandest mansions of Queen Elizabeth's [ 13] COLLECTORS reign, are large collections, as I saw during the past summer. In more recent mansions, like Chatsworth, the Duke of Devonshire's, and Eaton Hall, the Duke of Westmin- ster's, for instance, are superb libraries, as also at Alnwick Castle, the Duke of Northumberland's, and Castle Howard, the Earl of Carlisle's — all of which I have seen less recently. In many smaller homes there have been lesser, but precious, evidences of old collect- ing, but there has been great ransacking of the secluded places. Of the great private libraries that have been dispersed there are many examples. In 1812 occurred the forty-two days' sale of the extraordinary library of John, Duke of Eoxburghe (Bib. Dec. iii, 51). Although the books were scattered, the result of the sale was the formation of the Roxburghe Club, thirty-one, and later forty, members, and the long series of publications they prepared. Another notable sale was that of Sir Mark Masterman Sykes's library and prints in 1824. \ u ] COLLECTORS During the earlier part of the Eighteenth Century, Charles Spencer, third Earl of Sunderland, formed a library " famous throughout Europe," that for nearly a century and a half occupied the stately gallery at Blenheim Palace, from which it was removed and sold 1881-83. The long and grand apartment is now redecorated, and is a combination of drawing-room and library, and contains a large number of sumptuous modern books. At about the same time, 1882 and 1883, removed from Hamilton Palace, was sold the very large and rich library of William Beckford of Fonthill Abbey, that formed a part of the library of the Dukes of Hamilton. In 1885, from Osterly Park, the Earl of Jersey's "important collection" went to Sotheby's Auction-room, five months after Sir John Hayf ord Thorold's went there from Syston Park. In January 1886 from Banbury went also there Michael WodhulFs triumphs of collecting between 1764 and 1816. Curious parts of his books are his memoranda in a [15] COLLECTORS bad hand and by a bad pen, carefully omitted in the sale catalogue, as for instance (No. 1208) in a volume that brought £130, Mr. Wodhuirs note that Sep. 12, 1779, he bought it in the room for a guinea and a half. Of the older collections not dispersed the most famous, and perhaps most precious, of all English private libraries is that dating chiefly from 1790, formed by Earl Spencer at Althorp, but it is no longer in its old home and is now in the dismal smoke of Manchester. At the Annual Meeting Dec. 23, 1903, I read a paper on the "King's Tracts" in the British Museum, a rare example of the vicissitude, the romance, and the value of collecting. Formed of all obtainable printed matter relating to the Civil War, at great cost of labor and money, having all sorts of escapes, generations later bringing a mere fraction of money cost to the owners, it yet remains substantially intact, I understand, evidence that could not be duplicated about an important period in [ 16] COLLECTORS national history. Pecuniarily it was the reverse of Mr. WodhulFs book; as a service to country and history it was and is a glory to the collector, George Thomason. In that vast aggregate of collections in Art and Literature, the British Museum, it may be difficult to mention one pre-eminent. The King's Library by rank and fact has precedence. Of private collections the Grenville Library is a noble monument to the patriot and scholar who formed it — Thomas Grenville. In a secure building, and in glazed — and locked — cases, its treas- ures are seen. A great part of it, he said, was " purchased by the profits of a sinecure office given me by the Public. ... I feel it to be a debt and a duty that I should acknowledge my obligation by giving the Library so acquired to the British Museum for the use of the Public." The most amazing example of private collecting now intact in the British Empire, we might perhaps safely say in the world, is the Wallace Collection, Manchester Square, [17] COLLECTORS in the large family residence adapted for it; painting, bronzes, armor, porcelain, furniture, almost every form of art bric-a- brac, are shown in profusion, and there are bindings and illuminated books. Not only is it amazing that such a collection could be made, largely by one man, but also that the articles, especially rich French Eighteenth Century furniture, have been left in the world. At the meeting of the American Anti- quarian Society April 1896, in "Notes on Early American Literature,'' I reviewed the extent to which our people before the Eevolution were collectors and owners of books. It appeared that they were to only a very small extent. Eecently, by another member, the investigation has been enlarged, and an even more positive conclusion reached ; it is that the first two generations in our country were practically without books and literature. Libraries were few and small, and even some of those were burned or lost at an [ 18 ] COLLECTORS early date. Three before 1775 are well known, for they were very exceptional. Governor Hutchinson's, one of them, was destroyed by a mob in Boston, August 1765 — one of the most disgraceful acts in our history. Another was that of the Reverend Thomas Prince, the result of long labor, at his death (1758) given as a trust to the Old South Church. Depleted by acts of war and other shrinkage, it is now deposited in the Public Library. The third, and perhaps the greatest, of the three was formed by four, or five, generations of Mathers. It remained probably intact until the Revolution, and then there is a mystery about it that, twenty years ago, I tried to clear up. The statement was repeatedly made as historical that it was burned in the destruction of Charlestown June 17, 1775, but after diligent inquiry I could find no clear contemporary evidence that it was, but strong presumptive evidence that it could not have been. Sub- sequently I have found a statement in a letter printed in (June?) 1775, that "Dr. [ 19] COLLECTORS Mather had his whole furniture, with his library, plate, etc., consumed in the fire at Charlestown." Still, years ago I counted eleven hundred of the books on the shelves of the American Antiquarian Society. Mr. Wm. H. Whitmore (Prince Cat. viii) thought that the Mather Library " wasted piecemeal as it passed from neglect to utter dispersion.* ' The Eeverend Dr. Samuel Mather, the last owner of the collection entire, died June 27, 1785. In his long will, dated thirty-four days earlier, he left it to be substantially a family library until he had a descendant a minister, to whom it should be given. There are particulars too long to be quoted here from a copy before me. It seems as if there must have been many books, and yet by appraisal Oct. 29, following, the valuation is so small that it could only be one of a fraction of the entire collection. I am still without conclusive evidence that it was burned in Charlestown, but I feel sadly sure that the greatest example of early American collecting ended in dismal wreck. [20] COLLECTORS After the Eevolution the most distin- guished of all Americans was, to a consider- able extent, a collector. George Washington formed and left a library of nine hundred volumes. Its history is also curious. It, also, ceased to be a family library, and not very long after his death was dispersed, but happily few of its parts have been lost. By far the largest number of the volumes now together is — thanks to Boston intelli- gence and money — now here in the Boston Athenaeum, some 354 volumes and several hundred unbound pamphlets. During the Nineteenth Century, espe- cially the latter two-thirds, collectors in our country became numerous, active, and successful. Years ago, on a minor line of collecting, I laid aside sale catalogues of private libraries; the more important, usually priced, were bound. For some time I gathered from New York and else- where, but later chiefly from Boston, as the number and bulk of the catalogues became inconvenient; I must have 400 of them. It [21 ] COLLECTORS is safe to say, I think, that over 500 private American libraries have been sold within the past thirty years, and there seems to be no end of the offerings. While many of these libraries were of moderate size and value, there were not a few important. Two of them, rivalled by very few in the world, have been given to corporate uses, the John Carter Brown and the James Lenox. The largest and most important library of Americana ever dispersed in this country, and one that can never be dupli- cated, was that of George Brinley, sold 1879 to 1893. The sale of the First Part in New York, 1879, was memorable ; never had such an amount of early New England Americana been offered together, and the attendance was exceptional. I was almost the only private buyer present from this region, and I look back on that sale some- what as Dr. Dibden might have regarded the Roxburghe ; but alas ! no club followed, and of the book-men I met there I do not now know of one living. [22] COLLECTORS While, as already indicated, a large part of the American private libraries formed in the last century have been sold and dis- persed, there are notable examples of others preserved and intact. The two greatest have been mentioned. In the Boston Public Library, among minor collections gathered there, are two large and important. One is the library of a historic family, per- haps the most distinguished in America, the Adams; and the other of an eminent Bostonian chiefly prominent in scholarship and literature, George Ticknor. The former library relates largely to public affairs, the latter to Spanish literature. Treasured worthily by the Massachusetts Historical Society is the magnificent library of English literature gathered and given by Thomas Dowse, and, in another room, is that of the Kev. Dr. Eobert Gr. Waterson. At the Boston Athenaeum, besides the Washington books already mentioned, is the remarkable and large collection of pam- phlets made early in the last century by [23 ] COLLECTORS William S. Shaw, a striking example of the wisdom of the collector. I have been told that he went from house to house and gath- ered publications that certain superior beings (as they think themselves) throw into the waste-paper basket or sell to the junk dealer. The result of his work was an array of local literature that could not now be duplicated. In the Librarian's Department of Har- vard University very unusual and interest- ing collecting is now going forward in reproducing the library of the Reverend John Harvard that was burned about a century and a half ago. President Dunster left a rough list of the books, some of which are so imperfectly mentioned that they cannot be identified. Nevertheless, fully one-haK of the (354?) books are now duplicated. At the Armory of the Cadets, among the many trophies and relics of the War for the Union there gathered, largely by the Loyal Legion, is the immense and precious col- [24] COLLECTORS lection of portraits and views made and mounted by Colonel Arnold A. Rand, who has thus proved himself one of the heroes in the Army of Collectors. All of us know that, among the many dispersions in the last thirty years, there have been several that were events of note in their time; for instance, the Wm. Menzies in New York, 1875; the G. E. Hart (of Montreal) in Boston, and the S. L. M. Barlow in New York, both 1890, and the George Livermore, 1894, and Charles Deane, 1898, both in Boston. In recent years, indeed, the number of sales notable in some way, and worth recalling, is impressively large. Additionally, in this period, we realize that our Club is old enough to supply examples of the disper- sion of the gatherings of collectors. Like the five just named they contained Ameri- cana. In 1899 was sold the large library of C. Eadward Pratt, and two years later that of Frederick W. French, remarkable for fine bindings, first editions, and rarities, all [25] COLLECTORS suited to the taste of the times and pro- ducing in no few cases record prices. In November, also 1901, were sold the collec- tions of John Haigh, largely Masonic. And now at the close of this review of collecting comes the old question cui bono? — and on this subject it is easy to answer. From personal to public reasons there is a great deal of good in it. Few human tastes, as they might be called, rival it in value. To the collector himself it is con- stant pleasure and improvement. His gath- ering is often from obscure places, often insecure for rarities and treasures. He is a preserver as well as collector, he is no unimportant agent in civilization. He may have the trials of Greorge Thomason, and his heirs the loss that after weary years came to the heirs of that heroic collector, but a great work for country and for civili- zation will have been achieved. Or, he may have the monumental glory of Brown, of Lenox, of Wallace, of Grenville. What- ever the outcome, he has had honorable [26] COLLECTORS pleasure, and has done good service in his time, and, it may be added, for long coming time. Let us keep in mind the words of Milton: " A good book is the precious life blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose, to a life beyond life." MENU OF THE DINNER Club of Odd Volumes Annual Meeting Algonquin Club, Boston December 18, 1907 Menu CLAMS OYSTER SOUP BAKED CODFISH IN CREAM FRIED FROST FISH HAUNCH OP VENISON, ROASTED SAUaUETASH EELS A LA MARECHALB ROAST WILD GOOSE BAKED INDIAN PUDDING CRANBERRY TARTS APPLE PIE AMERICAN CHEESE The First Celebration of the Landing of the Pilgrims Extract from the records of the Old Colony Club of Plymouth of date Friday, December 22, 1769. " The Old Colony Club, agreeable to a vote passed the 20th inst., met in commemoration of the landing of their worthy ancestors at this place. * * * * At half after two a decent repast was served up, which consisted of the following dishes, namely: 1. A large baked Indian whortleberry pudding 2. A dish of sauquetash 3. A dish of clams 4. A dish of oysters and a dish of codfish 5. A haunch of venison roasted by the first jack brought to the colony 6. A dish of sea fowl 7. A ditto of frost-fish and eels 8. An apple pie 9. A course of cranberry tarts, and cheese made in the Old Colony, dressed in the plainest manner. (all appearances of luxury and extravagance being avoided, in imitation of our worthy ancestors whose memory we shall ever respect.)" /py/