Octavo Series. AMERICAN fference LITERARY THE PEN 18 MIGHTTER THAN THE SWORD." Publishers' Circular. .......................... 339 American Sunday School Union 335 AND Issued on the 1st and 15th of each Month, at $2.00 per Annum in Advanec. CONTENTS. OUR CONTINENTAL CORRESPONDENCE.......... OBITUARY............................ PERIODICALS GEORGE W. CHILDS, PUBLISHER, Nos. 628 & 630 CHESTNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA, PHILADELPHIA, APRIL 1, 1867. 338 318 319 323 ........... 324 324 BOOK NOTICES.... ANNOUNCEMENTS ................................................................ 327 LIST OF ADVERTISERS. Ditson, Oliver & Co. ....... .......................... 339 .......... 339 TRÜBNER & CO., 60 Paternoster Bow, London. GAZETTE RATES OF ADVERTISING. One Page, each insertion...................... $20.00 12.00 Vol. VIII.-No. 11. 340 ................................. 338 Nelson, Thomas & Sons.... ..................... 830 Virtue & Yorston....... 340 Widdleton, W. J........................... 334 Quarter Page, each insertion.. 46 66 AGENTS IN EUROPE AND ELSEWHERE. .$7.00 ..... 4.00 GUSTAVE BOSSANGE & CO., 25 Quai Voltaire, Paris HENRY LEMMING, 9 Calle de la Paz, Madrid. GEO. N. DAVIS, 119 Rua Direita, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Agent for South America. STEPHENS & CO., 10 Calle Mercaderes, Habana, Agents for the West Indies. Subscriptions or Advertisements for the "American Literary Gazette" will be received by the above Agents, and they will forward to the Editor any Books or Publications intended for notice. APRIL 1, 1867. OUR CONTINENTAL CORRESPONDENCE. PARIS, February 15, 1867. WILL you let me gather some of the more salient characteristics of the late M. Cousin from the numerous biographical sketches which have appeared of him since I touched upon his career? The great accusation brought against his memory is his avarice. I am inclined to think the charge proved. He unquestionably had fits of generosity, but all vices are intermittent, and misers' feasts are proverbial for prodigality. For instance, when M. Franck, at the beginning of his career, was menaced with consumption, and ordered by his physician to spend a winter at Pisa, M. Cousin offered him his purse. MM. Janet, Bersot, and Waddington, who were his secretaries (and rumor alleged he treated his secretaries with particular harshness), continue to be his friends. One of M. Cousin's warmest friends, in defending him from this reproach, says: "They have confounded in M. Cousin's character two things which are completely distinct: hardness and avarice. He was hard to himself, tasking his mind with persevering labor even when it was rebel to inspiration, feeding himself with stoical sobriety, ignorant of luxury, denying himself the comforts of wealth, braving humidity and cold in the sombre chambers of the Sorbonne, which he seemed to think sufficiently warmed and heated by the inner fire which always glowed within his breast. Hard as he was upon himself, how could he have avoided being often hard upon others? But the best-known acts of his life demonstrated that he was not avaricious. Did he not give us, at his own expense, the two magnificent editions we possess of the works of Proclus and of Abailard? Did he not found, two years ago, a prize in the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences double in value those established by the government? Did he not purchase with his own money that incomparable library in which one was sure to find what was to be found nowhere else, and which he bequeathed to the State with a salary for the librarian ?" The reply to these questions is made by events which we see occur every day of our lives. There was Capt. U. P. Levy, notorious for his avarice, and scarcely less notorious for his harshness to the sailors under his command, yet he left the great bulk, if not the whole of his estate for the education of sailor boys. In the daily relations of life M. Cousin was "hard" upon everybody near him where money was concerned, and if he could avoid payment of money, he did so. I could instance a great many anecdotes in illustration of this trait of his character, but I have no room for them. He was asked one day what woman in the world he would prefer to have as a wife; to the surprise of everybody present (who expected he would have declared for Mme. de Longueville), he said: "If I were a marrying man, I should prefer Heloise for my wife." He was a good listener. "When anybody spoke in his company of things he knew nothing about, but which could in any way touch his habitual meditations, at the very first words his precipitate gestures were ended, his attitude became motionless, his head bent forward towards the speaker, and his admirable eye, embracing the whole speaker, seemed to seek to penetrate to the very depth of his mind. He could remain in this way for whole hours at a time, which may seem incredible to those who have seen him in another aspect." A friend of the late Leon Gozlan has published some conversations held with the latter. I translate some sketches of our literary men, which are excellent caricatures: " Chateaubriand, a pagan 3 with sacred hearts, a Narcissus of the Dead a sobbing but not a blind Homer, reading fluently the Iliad bound as the Bible, a sort These are the more recent publications: Dr. P. Em. Chauffard's "De la Spontanéité et de la Specificité in Diseases;" Ch. Fay's (Marshal Bosquet's aide-de-camp) "Souvenirs of the Crimean War;" Messrs. Goizet and Burtal's "Universal Dictionary of the Theatre;" F. L. Gomez's "Essay on the Theory of Political Economy, and its Relations with Morals and Right;" Dr. E. Goubert's "Normal and (especially) Abnormal Perceptivity of the Eye for Colors, and especially Blindness to Colors;" De APRIL 1, 1867. Janze's "Constitution (of France) of 1852;" A. de pieces. Be good enough to allow us to play it no Lamartine's "Antoniella" (a new autobiographical more. The performance of the play has never novel); Latour du Moulin's "Questions Constitu- taken place since then. What a curious history tionnelles ;" Abbé Le Saux's "Manuel de l'Aumo- might be written of plays and books once in possesnier d'Aliénés" (of the Chaplain of Insane sion of the greatest popularity, and which now lie Asylums); Ed. About's "L'Infame;" L. Quicherat's undisturbed beneath the accumulated dust of "Adolphe Nourrit " (a life of the celebrated singer); years on some library shelf. One of the newspaV. Cherbuliez's "Le Grand Œuvre;" L. Strauss's pers published this week a curious confession, which "United States; Historical, Geographical, etc., In- the late Eugene Sue made to one of his friends: formation;" C. A. Sainte-Beuve's "Nouveaux "At the battle of Navarino, the French officers ran Lundis," Vol. 7; Ch. Combe's " Exposition of forward on a plank thrown from one ship to another the Principles of the Mechanical Theory of Heat so as to form a sort of gangway. Mahmoud was and their Principal Application;" G. Duplessis' the name of the Turkish vessel. As aide-major I "Essay of a General Bibliography of the Fine Arts;" followed the officers with an axe in my hand. M. Gaume's "Credo, or Christian's Refuge in the Powder and the roar of the cannon had made a Present Day;" A. de Gondrecourt's "Rubicon" (a madman of me. I belabored right and left the poor novel); "Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Geog- wretches who raised their hands to signify Quarter! raphy for the Bookseller and Book-lover" (contain- Out upon it! I gave them my axe on their heads, ing the ancient and modern geography of Europe, on their faces, on their breasts; on men standing with the vulgar names of places, from the decline of and fighting, and on men fallen on the deck. I Rome to the invention of printing); “Bibliographi- gave them my axe without rhyme or reason, withcal Researches about the Introduction of Printing;" out giving a thought to the subject, hitting right "A List of Abbeys belonging to the Lettered Orders and left. I buried my axe in the dead, in the which existed in Europe" (published in numbers; wounded, in the prisoners, in doors, hammocks, the first has appeared; cost of the whole work, 30 nettings, shrouds, masts, cabin windows, a negro francs); the third and fifth numbers of Ernest boy, a Macedonian dog, a barrel of sardines. I Rénan's "Mission to Phenicia ;" C. Selden's wielded my axe with fury; I destroyed with rap"Musique en Allemagne" (Essay on Mendelssohn); ture. There is not a day, there is not a night I do and Mme. de Robert Robersart's "Orient Egypt" (a not think with poignant remorse of my crimes of journal of travels). these two hours. I have hated war ever since the evening of this sanguinary day. The flat, tame shore of Navarino had that evening become a pandemonium from the number of corpses and limbs which bestrewed it." . . . It is said H. Delaborde will publish the manuscripts (they are numerous) of M. Ingres. . . M. Thos. Couture has a work in press: "Painters and Painting." . . Prof. Nardin is translating into French Count Alexis Tolstoi's "Death of John the Terrible." . . There has long been a great deal of doubt upon the site of Joan of Arc's stake at Rouen. M. de Beaurepaire has settled the question to the satisfaction of the local authorities. He declares she was burned in the middle of what is now the Place du Vieux Marché. G. S. It is announced the Messrs. Pereire have determined to publish the "Encyclopædia of the Nineteenth Century," which M. Duveyrier's death led them to abandon. . . Prince Talleyrand's "Memoirs" will be published this year; there will be an edition published at Brussels and one at London. None will be published in Paris, as it is feared the Government would seize it. . . It is once more said the French Government is about to come to M. de Lamartine's aid, Some time ago the Emperor offered to pay all of M. de Lamartine's debts and graut him a pension suited to so eminent a genius. M. de Lamartine declined to accept it from the Emperor, but hinted he would accept it from the French Parliament; so it is said a bill is soon to be presented to the Chambers to provide for these objects. Here is a description of M. de Lamartine's study, which may be read with interest: "I was the other day in M. de Lamartine's study. The servant was shaking and sweeping. The magnificent carpet, with a white ground, was covered with snuff. M. de Lamartine snuffs more than twenty old women, and the greater part of his pinches fall on the carpet.' M. Sainte-Beuve has been elected to succeed M. Victor Cousin as one of the managers of the "Journal des Savants." . . The Madrid newspapers announce the death of Senor Serafin Esteban Calderon, 66 one of the most intelligent bibliographers of Spain." He wrote several works over the signature of "El Solitario." M. Guizot is reading the proofs of the eighth and last volume of his "Memoirs ;" they come down to the 22d, 23d, and 24th February, 1848. The volume will be published in April... A bookworm has discovered that "Mérope" was played only 29 times, and Voltaire received 3,600 francs copyright from it; "La Métromanie" returned Piron 3,000 francs for its first 23 performances, and afterwards he received nothing more for it; Crebillon received 1,140 francs for 18 performances of "Electre;" Thomas Corneille's "Timocrate" ran 80 nights in four months, and the spectators continued to ask it; at last the actors, tired of the same piece, sent their spokesman on the stage to say to the audience: "Gentlemen, you are never tired of hearing 'Timocrate,' while we are tired of playing it, and run risk of forgetting our other "" NOTES ON BOOKS AND BOOKSELLERS. THE FORCE LIBRARY.-Mr. A. R. Spofford, the Congressional Librarian, has recently made a report to the Joint Committee on the Library, justly urging the purchase by Congress of the historical library of Peter Force, Esq., of Washington. Some of the many interesting facts stated by Mr. Spofford concerning the library are as follows: In the department of books relating to America, the library embraces the largest private collection ever brought together, having been formed by Mr. Force with special reference to assembling the fullest materials for editing his " American Archives." The plan of this work embraced nothing less than a complete publication of all the more important original State papers, letters, narratives, and other documents relating to the settlement and history of the United States, from the discovery of America in 1492 to the establishment of the present Government in 1789. His library embraces an immense collection of the early American voyages, in Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, and English, while in books and pamphlets relating to the politics and government of the American colonies, it stands unrivalled in this country. In the field of early printed American books, so much sought for by collectors, and which are becoming annually more scarce and costly, this library possesses more than ten times the number to be found in the Library of Congress. Not to dwell upon particulars, it need APRIL 1, 1867. only be mentioned that there is a perfect copy of "Eliot's Indian Bible," the last copy of which offered at auction brought $800, and was last year resold at $1,000; forty-one different works of Increase and Cotton Mather, printed at Boston, and Cambridge, from 1671 to 1735; a large number of still earlier books and pamphlets by Norton, Cotton, and other Puritan divines; and a very complete representation of the numerous and much sought for publications of the presses of Franklin and the Bradfords. In the Laws and Journals of the early colonial Assemblies, from New Hampshire to Georgia, there are over two hundred volumes, of the utmost interest as showing the legislative policy of the colonies in revolutionary times; and as but few of these have been reprinted in any of the modern collections, they are not in the Library of Congress. In the department of early printed American newspapers, there are unusually complete files of the leading journals of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and other States, dating from 1735 to 1800, and covering with much fulness the period of the Stamp Act controversy, the revolutionary war, and the establishment of the present Constitution. The library of Congress at present possesses not even a fragment of a file of any revolutionary or anti-revolutionary newspaper, the earliest American journal in its collection being the " Boston Centinel" of 1789. The Force library has no less than 245 bound volumes of American newspapers printed prior to 1800, besides about seven hundred volumes, bound and unbound, of journals printed from 1800 to the present time. The number, variety, and value of the pamphlets embraced in this library are entirely unrivalled in any American collection, public or private, unless it may be by the rich stores of the Boston Athenæum. Of pamphlets printed prior to 1800 there are 8,310, while of pamphlets printed between 1800 and the present date, the collection rises to between 30,000 and 35,000. It is now generally admitted that the pamphlet literature, especially of the last century, is full of the most vital materials for political history. The whole number of pamphlets in this noble collection is nearly 40,000, and as Mr. Force was so fortunate as to secure, many years since, five great and unbroken collections, formed by leading politicians of different parties, who arranged and bound up for convenient reference all the pamphlet literature of their time, the collection is not only unmatched, but at this day unmatchable for completeness. Indeed, there are few either of books or pamphlets published in America or in Great Britain upon our affairs which are not to be found here. The Library of Congress at present possesses less than 6,000 pamphlets. In the department of maps and atlases relating to America, the Force library embraces collection not only large, but in many particulars unique. Not only the early atlases of Delisle, Jefferys, Des Barres, Faden, and other geographers, with a complete copy of the scarce "Atlas of the Battles of the American Revolution," but an assemblage of detached maps over one thousand in number, and chiefly illustrative of America, are here found. Among these, the most valuable are a series of original military maps and plans in manuscript, covering the period of the French war and the war of the Revolution. These are of exceeding interest, and many of them are the work of officers of the British army stationed in America, bearing such inscriptions as the following: "Plan of the Rebel Works at West Point" (a pen drawing), date 1779. "Plan of the Rebel Works on Prospect Hill," also on Winter Hill and Bunker Hill, several dis tinat mane data 1775 The number of these original maps, many of which are unpublished, and therefore presumed to be unique, is over 300, covering the whole country, from Canada to the Gulf. Of books known as incunabula, or specimens of the earliest development of the art of printing, the collection is large and valuable. It embraces a complete series of imprints by the most distinguished of the early printers, representing every year from 1467 to 1500, besides a large number printed in the following century. The number of books printed in the fifteenth century is 161, and there are over 250 more printed prior to 1600. This collection was formed with special reference to illustrating the progress of the art of printing from its infancy, and is one of the best, if not the best, in America. Among the manuscript treasures of this library are 48 folio volumes of historical autographs of great rarity and interest, embracing, especially, a collection of revolutionary letters, chiefly military and political, and all of unquestionable authenticity. The Force collection embraces two volumes of an original military journal of Major-General Greene, covering the years 1781 and 1782; a private journal kept by Arthur Lee while minister to France in 1776-7; thirty or forty orderly books of the Revolution; twelve or more military journals of British officers during the same period; twenty-five manuscript narratives of military expeditions, all unpublished; twelve folio volumes of the papers of Paul Jones, while commanding American cruisers in 1776 to 1778; a volume of records of the Virginia Company from 1621 to 1682, mostly unpublished; two autograph journals of George Washington, one dated 1755, during Braddock's expedi tion, and one in 1787, at Mount Vernon; besides a multitude of others. There is also an unpublished manuscript of Las Casas, in four folio volumes, entitled "Historia Apologetica de los Indias Occidentales," and an "Historia Antiqua de Nueva España," in three volumes. The whole number of volumes in manuscript reaches 429. But perhaps the most important part of this collection remains yet to be alluded to. It is the materials in manuscript which form the collection made by Mr. Force for the great work of his life, the " American Archives, or Documentary History of the United States." It consists of the whole un published materials for that work, including a countless variety of documents transcribed with the utmost care from the originals in the archives of all the old thirteen colonies, as well as many early and unpublished papers relating to American affairs derived from other sources. The originals of some of these have been destroyed by fire since these copies were taken. The whole of these materials would make about 360 folio volumes in manuscript, and they are thoroughly analyzed and classified by States. As to the numerical extent of this library and its commercial value, the whole number of volumes, by actual enumeration, is 22,529, without reckoning the pamphlets as volumes. If the pamphlets are counted (as is done in most libraries), the number of volumes rises to about 60,000. There are not less than 45,000 separate titles in the collection. Out of these, 7,850 volumes are duplicates, already in the Library of Congress. Taken as a whole (and the library will not be divided), it is unquestionably true that so extensive a collection of the most rare and valuable books and manuscripts relating to America could not be assembled at so late a period as the present, even with unlimited means. Mr. Force has not himself put a price upon the collection, and never until within two years has be APRIL 1, 1867. A SAN FRANCISCo, Feb. 16, 1867. EDITOR AMERICAN PUBLISHERS' CIRCULAR: You in the most random manner. If there are one hun entertained the idea of parting with this library, which represents the assiduous gatherings of fortyfive years' incessant and intelligent devotion to one idea, viz., the history of America. But a price has been put upon it by others. The New York Historical Society, through its librarian, offered Mr. Force $100,000 for his collection, conditioned on its ability to raise the amount by subscription. Mr. Force accepted the offer, but the undertaking failed last winter for lack of funds. large dealer in American books has offered the same sum for the library for speculative purposes, but Mr. Force refused it, as he will not part with it to be scattered, nor upon any condition except that it be kept together in some permanent and fireproof public repository. Mr. Bancroft, Mr. Henry have published several communications in regard C. Murphy, and other gentlemen whose knowledge to uniformity of size in trade lists. Something of American books and their values is both compre-should also be said in favor of uniformity of arhensive and accurate, concur in estimating its fair commercial value to be at least $100,000, the sum at which it can now be procured. That these sources of so much hitherto unpublished history should go into private hands to be scattered, or consumed by fire, could not but be regarded by every intelligent American as a national misfortune. The British Government is now engaged in publishing the materials for the history of that country, as found in its own unpublished archives and in those of foreign nations. On this work it has expended $15,000 annually for the past ten years, or $150,000; about the same amount as our own Government expended on the unfinished "American Archives " of Mr. Force. Whether Congress should ever complete that publication or not may safely be left to the future to determine; but what cannot safely be left to the future is the possession and control of the documents from which alone such a publication can be made. The British Government expended, in 1865, £22,000, or $110,000, for books, manuscripts, and binding for its national library, the British Museum. It has spent over $100,000 per annum for several years past for the same purpose of enriching its collections of books, besides larger sums for salaries, antiquities, and objects of natural history. Congress represents the richest and most liberal people in the world, and may safely be asked to do once in a century what the British Government does every year of its existence, namely, to devote $100,000 to increase its national repository of knowledge. It is not creditable to our national spirit to have to admit the fact-which nevertheless is true -that the largest and most complete collection of books relating to America in the world is that now gathered on the shelves of the British Museum. rangement in trade lists. The leading publishers of 66 Let all book cata BOOKSELLER. NOBLE GIFT FROM D. APPLETON & Co.-We republish, with pleasure, the following correspondence. The house of D. Appleton & Co. has but few rivals, and no superiors, in energy, enterprise, and integrity. This munificent act on their part will give the world assurance of their public spirit and unsectional and unselfish regard for the best interests of our common country: edited by J. Hammond Trumbull, President of the Connecticut Historical Society. Only two hundred and fifty copies are printed of the volumes of this series. This firm announce also a library edition of Chapman's Homer, which will be put to press as soon as a sufficient number of subscribers are obtained to warrant so costly an undertaking. This work will be in five volumes, uniform with Pickering's edition of the works of Milton, in eight volumes, octavo, 1851. Fifty copies are to be issued on large paper, and only five hundred copies of the small paper edition will be printed. The edition will not be stereotyped. It is LONGFELLOW's translation of Dante's "Divine Comedy" is in the hands of the printer. It will be published in three volumes royal octavo. intended to make it a model of Boston workmanship. The "Inferno" will be published next month, the "Purgatorio" in May, and the "Paradiso" in June. The price of each volume will not be less than five dollars. 1 ANOTHER EDITION OF DICKENS.-Besides their "Household" edition, and the recently announced "Riverside," Messrs. Hurd & Houghton promise to publish very shortly a new "Globe" edition of Dickens' works, to be completed in thirteen volumes at $1.50 each. These volumes will contain Darley & Gilbert's illustrations; and will be of handy size, and printed on good paper in fair and legible type. HIGGINS & LUNT have published Lechford's "Plain Dealing, or News from New England-London, 1642." It is one of their library of reprints of the early documents of New England history. It is "No. 443 BROADWAY, March 23. To the Board of Trustees of the Peabody Education Fund: GENTLEMEN: Profoundly impressed with the munificent gift of Mr. Peabody, and the untold blessings which it will be the means of diffusing throughout the South and Southwest, and having been devoted for many years to the promotion of the educational interests of our country, we cannot refrain from asking your permission to participate in this noblest of all noble charities. Munificent as Mr. Peabody's donation is, we feel that not only will the extensive and desolate field to which it is to be applied require it all, but that the co-operation of others who sympathize with the great object he has in view may also be desirable. In furtherance, therefore, of the end proposed by Mr. Peabody, the providing of educational fa |
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