3m: PRIVATE LIBRARIES IN TH! NORTHERN COLON!“ fielhhrthoDogmofMA. MICMGAN STATE COLLEGE Jayce Elaine Fox 1951 ,-—-_~—-— m- 0-169 This is to certify that the thesis entitled THE PRIVATE LIBRARIES IN THE NORTHERN COLONIBS presented by Joyce Elaine Fox has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for MasterJLArLs. degree 111M O Major professor -% - .——-—-—.~- — —— .— a... . THE PRIVATE LIBRARIES IN THE NORTHERN COLONIES By Joyce Elaine Fox A THESIS 'Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan State College of A iculture and Applied Science in part a1 ful illnent of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of History 1951 THESIB ACKNOWLEDGMENT I wish to acknowledge the helpful suggestions and patient and painstaking criticism of Dr. Robert E. Brown in the writing of this essay. I also wish to express my gratitude to the department of history for their help in the form of a graduate assistantship and to my colleagues among the graduate students without whose friendship and encouragement this work would not have been possible. .13. (Ill 1 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ------------------------------------------------ 1 Chapter One: New England Private Libraries of the Seventeenth Century -------------------------- 1 Chapter Two: New En land Private Libraries, 1700-1 76 ------------------------------------ #9 Chapter Three: Private Libraries in the Middle Colonies, l66h-l776 ------------------------ 87 Conclusion----------------------- ------------------------- 120 Bibliography ---------------------------------------------- 125 to" ”c. ‘H .— fie - ‘ .‘r -7 v. - - .- ' ' - e ‘ - e C e .1 . - a, ‘ ' l T- I' - . . u ' u- -‘- ‘ -- 1 ‘ ~ __ r. -r ' ' ~ ‘7 o~ _.. W e " ' I . 5 -,v . _.- _ a '4 ‘ - - . e I O ,, 1 INTRODUCTION The problem of this essay in early American history is to determine as nearly as possible the actual numbers, contents, and value of the private libraries existing in the New Eng- land and middle colonies prior to the Revolution. The dates covered then are from approximately 1620 when the first per- manent settlers in New England landed at Plymouth in what is now Massachusetts to the year 1776 which marks the real begin- ning of the warfare of the American Revolution. A study of this type is of interest on several counts. Primarily, one can assume that within reasonable limits, what books these people owned, they read, and that what they read affected their thoughts, beliefs, and even actions. Thus knowing what the people (and particularly the leaders) of col- onial America owned and presumably read is one key to an ex- planation of the rest of the history of this particularly dy- namic, important, and interesting period in our country's de- velopment. However, I have made no attempt (nor do I believe it would be possible) to "tie in" the libraries with any parti- cular historical events of the period. The geographical area this study covers is from the sparse- ly settled northern region now known as Maine, where few people or libraries were found, as far south as the more populous colonies of Penneylvania and New Jersey, where relatively numerous and large libraries were found. For all practical purposes, the material has limited itself to a study of those settlements and peoples that were very predominantly English speaking. I have also purposely not included the abundant and interesting material on the college and university librar- ies developed during this period, the public libraries (par- ticularly of Boston and Philadelphia), and the rather numer- ous semi-public lending libraries as I felt them to be distinct and separate topics well worth specific studies of their own. The sources for a work of this type are quite widespread and, unfortunately, at times very difficult to obtain. When- ever and wherever possible, I have attempted to obtain the actual library inventories or catalogues listing the actual numbers, titles, and value of the volumes they contained. Unfortunately, however, at times when these were obtainable, those making the estate inventories seem to have had little or no interest in the titles and contents of these volumes and would either list a few titles (possibly those with which they were the most familiar) and then would lump together the re- maining volumes together under such vague and unspecific terms as "bookes," "several small bookes" or "old books" mak- ing them of no real practical value to a study of this type. Useful evidence was also sometimes found in wills in which specific titles or types of books would be mentioned. In certain cases (Benjamin Franklin and John Adams being the most notable examples) the actual autobiographies, correspondence and other writings of the colonial people themselves served as useful evidence for obtaining the desired information. It was also necessary at times to resort to the use of secondary material. The most useful of these were specialized articles dealing either with one or more particular private libraries or with the libraries in a particular colony or at a particular period. Biographies were probably the least useful and at times least reliable of the secondary sources, but in some cases furn- ished usable information. At times it was actually a very difficult matter to deal with the private libraries of the later part of the eighteenth century. Obviously these individuals were still very much alive in 1776 (and several until many years after that date), so estate inventories and wills would be of little or no value in determining the contents of their libraries in 1776. It was therefore necessary to use biographies, the people's own writings and correspondence, or any other available means of determining probable library contents to that time. ‘ I have attempted at all times to keep the organization of this essay as simple and logical as possible. Within each chap- ter, the libraries have been separated first into the various colonies in which they were located. The colonies were then discussed in the order of their settlement or acquisition by the British, and of course within each colony the libraries have been treated chronologically. Any deviations from this have been noted and explained. CHAPTER_I NEW ENGLAND PRIVATE LIBRARIES QE THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY This first chapter discusses the libraries of colonial New England from the year 1620, when the Pilgrims first land- ed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, to approximately the year 1700. Historians have shown a great interest in this very early period in American history and especially in the very first settlement at Plymouth. Consequently records, especially wills and estate inventories, for this period have been printed and made available and accessible in greater abundance than for most of the later settlements and periods. This section discusses seventeenth century private libraries that existed as far north as the region now known as Maine and as far south as Connecticut and Rhode Island. The men who settled the first New England colony, Ply- mouth, in 1620, evidently felt that books were of some im- portance even on the frontier. There is no available record of just when the first books were brought to Plymouth, but one of the earliest records of a library in this colony appears in the inventory of the estate of Samuel Fuller, taken in 1633. Some twenty-six books are listed by title, and only three of these could be considered non- religious - a book on government, one on husbandry, and a "dixionary." A volume of "notable things" might be classi- fied either way. Fuller also owned other unnamed books to l the value of £1. l. T. G. wright Litera Culture in EarIy New EngIand 1620 - 1120 (New Hana, , 29“". "' '— Just ten years later, the books in the estate of John Atwood were valued atéE9 when inventoried in l6h3. These in- cluded Aggg.§gg Monuments in three volumes, a history, Prynne's Historic W, and other books to the value of 53.2 Whether the books not discussed were predominantly religious or not is not known, but we do know that Atwood's library did include some works of a non-religious nature. Elder William Brewster died the next year, 16AA, leaving the best library then in existence in the colony. The cata- logue of his library lists some 393 distinct titles, four having two volumes, making a total of 397, not including "a bundle of smale books & papers." Disregarding thirty whose size is undesignated, and sixteen unidentifiable titles, their size can be classified as follows: folios, A8; quartos, 177; octaves gt infra, 121. By language, 62 are in Latin and 302 in English.3-_—- Brewster's library was not only larger than the other two, but also covered a wider variety of subjects. Taking in- to consideration cases in which a volume could be classified almost equally well under more than one heading, the list can be broken down thus: expository, 98; doctrinal, 63; practical religion, 69; historical, 2h; ecclesiastical, 36; philosophi- cal, 6; poetical, 14; miscellaneous, 5h. There also seems to 2. Wright Litera Culture 29. 3. H. M. Dexter, "Elder Brewster's Library,” Proceed- ings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Second SerIes, 9 be thirteen duplicates, suggesting the possibility that this library which was, indeed, of extraordinary size and quality for its time, might at least have had some small relation to the general needs, and was intended in part for general use.“ Analyzing the dates of publication of the 393 titles, and eliminating all of those of unknown date or unrecognizable, we find that 281 or roughly 75% of them were dated in or be- fore 1620, and 89, or nearly 25%, after 1620. With complete assurance lacking only in the case of six or seven, the print- ing and issuing dates of the later books can be assigned as follows: 1621, 8; 1622, 10; 1623, 5; 162A, 6; 1625, 13; 1626, 1; 1627, 6; 1628, 2; 1629, A; 1630, 2; 1631, A; 1632, A; 1633, A; 163A, A; 1635, 2; 1636, 3; 1637, 3; 1638, 5; 16A0, 1; 16A1, l; 16A3, 1. Thus it is evident that Brewster imported for him- self some of the newer literature from abroad after his arri- val in 1620, and, in fact, he bought books published every year but two until the year he died.5 A large part of Brewster's library dealt with religion, particularly Separatist Doctrine, but his interests were not confined entirely to religion. It included the major works of John Robinson, Barrow, Browne, John Smyth, Perkins and Ainsworth as well as Aristotle, Francis Bacon's Advancement 2f Learnin , books on silkworms and medicine, W. Hornsby's §gyggg g; Drunkards, a verse called A Good Wife; 25,3 rare one among '2: Ibid. 5. Dexter, "Brewster's Library," 82. -- run I. ,ng23, and a copy of a Tragedy g; Messalina, the Roman Em ress, "as it hath been acted with general applause, divers times, by the Companie of his Majestie's Revells. London, l6A0." Brew- ster also owned several works by Calvin, a Treatise 9f English Medicines, a Remedy against Famine g W353, a Hebrew Grammar, and a copy of Machiavelli's Egiggg but almost no classics or belles-letters. His interest in classical languages, though, is shown by his ownership of Morelius's Latig, 95335, gag Egg- lish Dictionary, and Buxtorf's Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon. Eleven of his books were printed in Leyden, Holland (1617- 1619) by Brewster himself. Brewster also had a great many books dealing in detail with the Bible and its various parts, which shows that he must, indeed, have been a close student of the Bible. The inventory of Brewster's estate taken on May 18, l6AA, valued his library at £42 193. (lld., including both Latin and English titles. The Latin volumes alone were valued at:§15 193. Ad., and the works in English at 527 Os. 7d.9 6. G. F. WiIIison,§aints and Strangers, Bein the Lives of the P11 rim Fathers & Their Familes, with the r FrIEHds é EBes; g‘ag Account 2: theIr Posthumous Wanderinginn Limbo TEEIr Final Ressurectign g Rise 39 Glor ,,§ the Strange,§i_- rIma es gngIymouth Rock (New York, I9£5), 3_O. 6. "Library of EIder Brewster," Proceedings of the Massa- chusetts Historical Societ , Second Series, III, 1336:IE87, IISt 265'- e 8. Dexter, "Brewster's Library," 82. 9. J. A. Goodwin, Th3 Pilgrim Republic: An Historical 32- view of the Colon 2; New Pl mouth with Sketches 22 the Rise 2; other-NeW_En Iand SettIEEents :53 Histor 2:,Congregationaiism, and thE—Creegs o? Ehe Period—(Boston, IESE), A32. II I. n I“ Not only men, but women also possessed libraries in the Plymouth colony. One of the early Pilgrim women, Ann Atwood, owned £7 worth of books at the time of her death in 165A, and her library included two unnamed works by Prynne, a French Testament, two other books in French, and "four and fifty smale bookes at 6d the piece."10 Unfortunately little can be de- duced from this meager information as to the library's actual contents, except that it did contain some books on religion (as Prynne was a religious writer), and some works in French. A much better known library was that of Captain Miles Standish whose library inventory I felt was sufficiently in- teresting and valuable to be included in full, both for its contents and as an example of a typical library inventory of the time. As taken on December 2, 1657, it listed: 5 s» cl It. the history of the world and the 01 10 00 Turkish history It. a cronicle of England and the coun- 00 08 00 trey ffarmer It. Ye history of Queen Eliszbeth, the 01 10 00 state of Europe It. Doctor Hales workes, Calvin's in- 01 0A 00 stitutions It. Wilcock's workes and mayor's 01 00 00 It. Rogers' seaven treatises and the 00 12 00 ffrench akadamey It. 3 old bibles 00 1A 00 It. Eeser's comentaryes, Bariff's artil- 00 20 00 ery It. Preston's Sermons, Burroughes Christ 01 0A 00 in Contentment, gosspel conversation, passions of the mind, the phisisions practice, Burroughes, Earthly minded- ness, Burroughes discovery 10. Wright, Literary Culture,i272 It. It. It. It. It. It. Here is a library in which medicine, military science, his- Ball on faith, Brinsley's watch, dod on the Lord's Supper, Sparke against herisys, davenporte apollogye A reply to Doctor Cotten on baptisme, The Garmon History, the Sweden Intel- ligencer, reasons discussed 1 testament, one psalme booke, Nature and grace in conflict, a law booke, The mean in mourning allegation again- st B.P. of Durham, Johnson against hear- ing a pcell of old bookes of divers sub- jects in quarto Wilson's dixonary, homer's Illiad, a comentary on James Ball catterkesmer an other pcell in octave 00 15 00 00 IO 00 00 06 00 00 1A 00 OO 12 OO 00 1A 00 11 tory, law and the classics were all represented in addition to a substantial number of religious works. William Bradford, an early governor and historian of the colony and also its richest resident, left a library at the time of his death in the spring of 1657. 12. Its exact contents are not known as several of the volumes are not named, but the cata- logue in the estate inventory of his wife, Alice Carpenter Southworth Bradford, who died on April 5, 1670, included: In the studdy in bookes Item mr Perkins two of them Item 3 of Docter Willetts on genises exodus & Daniel: Item Quicksarraden Item the history of the Church Item Peter Martirs Comon places Item Cartwright on remiss Testament Item the history of the Netherlands 00 00 OO 00 OO 00 OO *— II. ca1.Register, V, ‘tota v us of the books is 12. J} Winsor, ““iEstracts SILthe Earliest Wills in the IProbate Office, Plymouth, " New En land Historical and no. 3, July 1 7. 'a By myiigures t e {12 38. from total estate of 5.358 07s. Willison, Saints and Stran ers , 337. sagging;- Item Peter Martir on the Romans 00 05 00 Item Moors workes on the New Testament 01 00 00 Item Cottons Concordance 00 08 00 Item Speeds history of the world 01 00 00 Item Weams Christian Sinnagogue & the 00 08 00 protracture of the Image of God Item the Meathod of Phisicke 00 02 00 Item Calvins harmony and his Cement on 00 08 00 the actes Item Downhams 2cond: prte of Christian 00 03 00 warfare Item mr Cottons answare to mr Williams 00 02 00 Item Taylers libertie of Prophesye 00 01 06 Item Gouges Domesticall Dutyes 00 02 06 Item the Institutions of reasons Discused 00 06 00 & observations Divine and morrall the synode of Dart and the Appologye Item mr Ainsworth workes the Counterpoison 00 02 00 & the tryall . Item mr Ainsworth on Genises exodus a 00 0A 00 livitticus Item Calvin on Genises 00 02 06 Item gike on the Deceightfulnes of mans 00 01 06 art Item Gifford refuted 00 00 06 Item ng on the Comaundements and others 00 03 00 0 his Item 53 smale bookes 01 06 06 Item Calvin on the epistles in Duch: and 00 15 00 Divers other Duch bookes Item 2 bibles Ol 00 00 Item the actes of the Church 00 05 00 Item 3 of'mr Bridgg: his workes 01 00 00 Item the Lives of the fathers 00 03 00 Item a skin of buffe 00 05 00 13 From this list it is evident that Bradford's library was predominantly religious, but it also included works on history, geography and languages. Actually, few of the Pilgrims seem to have been without at least small libraries. A study of the inventories of over seventy estates listed in the first two volumes of the Plymouth I3. 52 E. Bowman,“Alice (Carpenter)ISButhworth)‘Brad- ford's Will and Inventory," The Mayflower Descendant, a Magazine g: Pilgrim Genealogy and History, III, 1901, 14 -1A7. Colony Records showed that only about a dozen failed to mention some books. However, in many cases, the books mentioned were few or the exact number was hidden under such phrases as "bookes" 1A or "all his bookes." Thomas Prince, a later governor of the colony, died in 1673, leaving some 187 volumes valued at 5&3 03s. 8d. from a total estate of fiA22. His estate inventory listed the follow- ing: Bookes Item a Great bible 10 s, Psalm book 6 d 00 10 06 Item mr Ainsworths Anotations of the 5 bookes of'Moses 01 10 00 Item Byfeild upon the Collosians 00 05 00 Item John Weames Exposition on the law of Moses 00 12 00 Item Weames off the Lathocker in Scotland 00 15 00 Item 1 exposition on the revelation 00 06 00 Item 1 books of Docter prestons unbound 00 02 00 Item mr hookers Survey of Church Discipline 00 02 06 Item Nortons Orthydox evangelist 00 02 00 Item Burrows Gospell Conversation 00 01 06 Item another of Gospell WOrship 00 01 06 Item mr Tillinghast Generation worke 00 02 00 Item New Englands Memoriall 00 02 00 Item a little Index and an answare to a question 00 02 00 Item Colpeppeers London Dispensatory 00 02 00 Item 7 paper Sermon bookes 00 01 09 Item 1 great bible 00 08 00 Item a Dispute betwixt the Lord Bishop and the Jesuite 00 0A 00 Item the key of the hebrew tongue 00 01 00 Item 1 Great old Psalme booke 00 00 06 Item 1 great Psalme books 00 02 06 Item 2 law bookes 00 02 06 Item 100 of Psalme bookes 07 10 00 Item William Cornwallis Essaies 00 01 06 Item 1 Psalme books 1 books of private 00 02 03 Comunion 1A. Wright,fiterary_CuIture,272 Item Prins workes on Canterberrys tryall 00 01 06 Item the voulcanus 00 00 06 Item 50 smale paper bookes to be Distributed bound up 15 Again a predominantly religious library is found with just a smattering of law, medicine and history and almost no belles- lettres. The next colony whose libraries are to be discussed is the Massachusetts Bay Colony, first settled by the Puritans in 1628, and where were found the largest and best libraries of the time. It has usually been considered to be the most influential in colonial New England, and the evidence to be given certainly supports any claim to its predominance in the field of private libraries. The first private library of importance referred to in this colony is the one collected by John Harvard, a young min- ister of Charlestown, Massachusetts, who died on September 1A, 1638, leaving what was for a minister of that time a relative- ly catholic collection of books. He had carried with him from England some 300 volumes, and his library included the classi- cal works of Homer, Plutarch, Pliny, Juvenal, and Horace, as well as Bacon's Essa s, a'Migggg £2£.Magistrates, and Quarles £11132 Emblems. He also purchased Saville's Eton edition of the works of Chrysostom at; 9 per set.16 The 373 or more vol- umes he left included books by Jesuit authors, and, indeed, he 15. G. E. Bowman, "Governor TREmas PrenceTs Will ani:In- ventory and the Records of His Death," Mayflower Descendant, III, 1901, 208-209. ""_"""""' 16. H. C. Shelley, John Harvard QEQIHig Times (Boston, 10. owned more volumes by St. Thomas Aquinas than by John Calvin, the theological forefather of Puritanism.l His library, though quite predominantly religious, did contain for its time a considerable number of books of a more literary nature. Included in addition to those already men- tioned were such titles as Elegant Phrases, Egrggglgf Eloquence, Isocratis Qrgg: ,Qrggg g ngig and at least two other books of poetry, Quarles ngms and "animae Gaudiajl'.8 However, the really major importance of his library was not so much its contents as the fact that it along with half of Harvard's estate was donated to the then infant Harvard College as a beginning for its library. A lesser known library than Harvard's is that of George Phillips, minister of the church at Watertown, who left a "study of bookes" valued atw£7l 9s. 9d. at his death on July 1, l6AA, indicating that he probably owned a quite sizeable library.19Unfortunately nothing is known of its contents. The only clue to the library of John Winthrop Sr. (1588- 16A9), governor of Massachusetts, is his gift of approximately forty volumes to Harvard College about the year 16A2. The I7. 3. H. TuttIe, “TEe Libraries 6? the—Mathers,fl AmeriEan Antiguarian Society Proceedings, New Series, II, 1910, 273 and . . r son, e Pur tan Pronaos: Studies ig the Intellectual Life 2§,Ngg EngIEEdlig,§§g SeventeentE Century (N3§:Tork, I935), 18. wright Litera Culture list 265-272. 19. Ibid., ’ir—fl. ""'""'_" ' 11. great majority of these were, again, religious (as was quite possibly his library) and included many in Latin, a French Bible, Chronologi§,iglgiyii Historian, a Greek and Latin Lexicon, Livy's history in two volumes, and Sibthorpe's Advisement £9 Catholickes ig Ireland.20Unfortunately nothing more is known of this library which seems to have contained at least works on history and religion. John Eliot, missionary and "apostle to the Indians” in the seventeenth century was the recipient of two relatively impor- tant libraries purchased for his use by the Corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England in 1651. The first was that of the Rev. Thomas Jenner who came to New England from England in 1635, settled first at Roxbury, then served as minis- ter at weymouth, Saco, Maine, and Charlestown, Massachusetts before returning to England in 1650. He sold to the Corporation exactly 200 books, almost all of which were religious works. Many of these were in Latin, and at least sixteen were by Calvin. About the only non-religious works were a Greek Lexicon, Rider's Diction , Barnard's 5131193 39 M M Men with Respect 1:3 Witchcraft, and Dodis Household GovernmenttzIIts contents, then, are relatively narrow and seem to reflect both that the predom- inant intellectual current of the time was religious and that 20. R. C. Winthrop, Life and Letters of“John Winthro , from £15 Embarkation for New EnEIEnd gr 1630: with Egg Efifl”Com an 9f Massachusetts Bgy, §g_fli§ Death in_1§A2, Second Edition (Eoston, 1369) 2 Vols., II, list, A38-A39. 21. C. F. and R. Robinson, "Three Early.Massachusetts Libraries," Publications of £33 Colonial Societ of Massachusetts; TransactionsIIEZQZITIIIVIIIg anaIyzed from Iist oT-t t as, - 12. Rev. Jenner had no great breadth of interest. The second library sold to the Corporation in 1651 was that of the Rev. Thomas Weld who had come to Boston in 1632, settled in Roxbury, and returned to England in 16A1. This library, purchased for i3A on August 18, 1651, included some 195 books, again mainly religious with Aristophanes being the only classical author represented. It, too, included some works in Greek and Latin, Cotton's Concordance, books by Calvin and Luther, sermons, a Greek grammar and testament, and “Down- hams warfare in 3 books."22Thus, except for the many books on religion, these two libraries would give no practical help to Eliot. Eliot, himself, and his colleague Thomas Mayhew, Jr., also owned and used Roger Williams's 531 1229 Egg Language 9; America and Mayhew also knew Latin, Greek and Hebrew and might well have owned some volumes either in or concerning these languages?3 John Cotton (1585-1652), a Puritan minister and scholar, left a large and valuable library. He estimated the value of the books at£150 "though they cost me much more.”2u0f this library, Cotton Mather, the famous Puritan minister said: "In- deed, his Library was vast, and vast was his acquaintance with it, but although among his readings he had given a special room 136 22. Robinson, "TEree EarIy Libraries, V anaIyzed from list, -15 23. F. B. Anderson, A Grandfather for niBengamin Franklin: The True Stor of a NantucEet Pioneer an“ tes (Boston, mo; 81" e 2A. Tuttle, "Mather Libraries," 273. {TH 13. unto the fathers and unto the school-men, yet at last be pre- ferred one Calvin above them." Indirectly we also know that he knew Aristotle's gguflyggg,,gg,ggglg, and g2 Generations gt Corruptione, as well as Pliny, Copernicus, Plato, and Galen. Cotton's library seems to have been particularly rich in class- ical and possibly medieval literature, but its other contents are not known. One Captain William Tyng of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, died the same year as Cotton, 1652, leaving the following library as listed in the inventory of his estate: Bookes, i3 folio.-Bookes of Martyrs in 3 volumes, BooEes of Statutes at Large, The Survey of London, Speeds Chronicle, Camdens Brittania, Ainsworth on Moses and Psalmes, Mr. Harris Workes, Dr. Sibs Saints Cordiall, Marchants Accompts, Gecords Herball. 4;; guarto.-A Concordance, Prestones Workes 2 of them, 3 er against Jesuit, Barriffe, The Soules implantation, Treatise of Magistracy Two, Childe of light in darknes, goodwin: Enonimous Tresure, Apeale to Parliament, Janua Linguarum, Ans. to hr Davenport, Parralells Censures observations, Dod & cleauer on Sacraments, defence of the Wach-Word, Sibbs on faith, Mr Barnard against Sepsratists, the Discoverer, Ecclesiastical cannons, Complaints euill doers, In- terest States and kingdomes, Bloody Tenent, Forbes h sermons, Axe at the roots, Popish Idollatry, Ex- perience of light & health, Circkle of Comerse Mary Pope, EdwardRenolds, Minester against briges, oc- trine of the Saboth, the still destroyer, a Vindica- tion of Mr Burrowes, a Duch Works, An apollogy of Brownists, Doctrinall & Morrall instructions, Re- formations obseruations, Censure on Anabaptists Answer, abridgmt of Camden, Tolloration Justifyed, 25. C. Mather, Ma aIia ChristiAmericang; gr tHe Ec- clesiastical Historg 0 New England; from its First PIanta- tion in the Year 0, Unto t e ear 2:,figE_Lord I523 (Hart- ford,-I8EFT, 2 Vqumes, I 2737 ' 26. T. Hornberger ‘Puritanism and Science-The Relation- ship Revealed in the Writings of John Cotton," N2! England Quarterly, X, No. 3, September, 1937, 508. (TH re (e I. /‘ 1A. Burrowes gospell Conversation, Moses Choice, Gospell Worship Churches Ressurection Cott, Childrens Bap- tisms, 7 vialls 3 Congregationall churches, Singin Psalemes. IQ 0ctavo.-Excellency of a gratious spirit, office of executors, pentisia Indicaria, Christians Engage- ment, Imposts and customes, Concordance, logick & Rethoricke, Christians dayly Walks, duch testaments a psalmes, An arrow against Idollotry; 16 Ciceroas orations. 27 Again we find a library including a great many religious books, but other interests are shown in such titles as Imposts g ggg- £3523, Circkle gf Comerssr,g§113g g; execu , Eggk§,g§,§§g¢ §g£23_§§ Lar e, Camdens Brittania (a history), and as about the only classical titles represented 16 Ciceroas orations., Tyng, then, owned books on government, history, law, and reli- gion. This libgary was valued at £10 in an entire estate of £2771; 1As. Ad.2 Two relatively small Massachusetts libraries of the early 1650's were those belonging to John Glover and the Widow Re- becca Bacon. In the estate inventory of John Glover of Boston, dated December 7, 1653, we find listed "bookes English & Lattine" valued at,£A. No idea of their number or contents is given.29 Two years later, in 1655, the Widow Rebecca Bacon died at Salem leaving a library consisting of ”3 Bibles, a Concordance, 27. W. B. Trask “Abstracts ofthe Earliest Wills on RE: cord or On the Files in the Country of Suffolk, Massachusetts," The New En land Historical 55g Genealogical Register fgr,§hg fair-1'5 fi Us. 3 . Wright, Literary Cultuie, 37. 29. "Records 0 t e SEIT3IE County Court, 1671-1680," Publications of the Colonial Society 2; Massachusetts, 2 parts, “xx—i, 1933. 2:37. (Th ,5 _. ,-. .3»... I‘. rvnr 15. Calvins Institutions, Luther upon the Galatians, Mr. Shepard's Merality of the Sabath, Nicholas Gibbins Disputations, Joshua Symonds bookes, 2 05 Dr. Sibs and 1 of Mr. Preston Markham and 3 10 smal bookes 52." Again, the majority of the books named were religious in nature. Here, as in many other instances, too, the appraisers noted the titles of folios and of the works they recognized, while the rsmainden,which would have been equally interesting to study, or even more so, were entered simply as I'small books" or just plain ”books." A private library might well contain books by classical authors, religious writers of various attitudes and beliefs, or even Catholic authors, but the founding fathers in Massa- chusetts were in no mood to tolerate books on Quakerism. On August 22, 165A the General Court of Massachusetts passed the following law: It is ordered, that all a euery the inhabitants of this jurisdiction that haue any of the bookes in their custody that have lately bin brought out of England under the name of Jenn Reeues & Lodowick Mugglteon....& shall not bring or send in all such bookes new in their custody, to the next magisfiF, shall forfeit the sums of ten pounds for euery such books that shalbe found....31 However, it seems most unlikely that this affected to any great extent either the size or contents of’many Massachusetts lib- raries, particularly because Puritanism, not Quakerism, was the predominant theology of the time. 30. Merison:‘Puritan‘Prenaos, 136. 31. wright, Literary CEIture, A8. 16. Returning again to a minister's library, the estate of Nathaniel Rogers, late pastor at Ipswich, was inventoried August 16, 1655, and his books were valued at {(100 out of a total estate of;§lA97.32Again no details concerning its con- tents are available, but its value indicates it was quite sub- stantial. Sometimes a man considered his library of sufficient im- portance to be divided item by item among his children. Nicholas Busby of Boston indicated specifically that certain of his books were to go to particular sens. In his will dated September 10, 1657, he gave his son John ”all my Phisicke books, as Glendall practice, Barrowes method, Dutch Phisicke & garden of health, Mr. Ceggans treatis, and the Dialogue of Phisicke Surgery, with Plinnys Natural Hystery." Abraham, another son, was given "my bookes of Divinities, vizt. Mr. Perkins Mr. £11123 sinops and Comentary on the Romans, & Mr Hieroms two bookss...." The division of the remainder of his library, however, he left to his sons individual tastes: "...as for theirest of my bookes of divinities, or Hystory, my desire is, they may Loveingly & Brotherly devide them between except the three Bibles.”33Frem this it can be concluded that the three predominant elements in his library were medicine (science), religion, and history. Governor Thomas Dudley died this same year, 1657, leaving a small but interesting collection of books including some on 32. wright LiterarIICuIture‘_§0. 33. mm’m—l . ——"" . 'ir.’ —.. --..‘— 17. religion but also a more representative collection of history and government than was usual for that time. His religious works included volumes by Calvin, John Cotton,and a book of Rogers sermons. In the field of history he owned a Turkish Histe , Comentaryes g; yg ygrrg igIFrgggg, Buchanany S292 H ster , Swedish Intelligencsr, Apology 2f yg Prince 9; Qrgggg, and a General Historng§,§hg Netherlands. His law books in- cluded an Abstract 2;,ggggl Statutes, and Camden: Aggglg,§gg- ggggg,§ligg (Annals of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth). 0f the classical authors, Dudley owned the works of Livy as well as a Latin Dictionary. A listing of "8 French books" shows an in- terest in modern foreign languages. Thus Dudley owned works of religion, government, law, the classics, and modern foreign languages - a more catholic collection than a great many to that time and one of the few not completely dominated by re- ligien.3h On occasion, a man might will particular books to his sons, but also include others in the division and distribution of his library. The Rev. Peter Bulkeley of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in his will dated January 13, 1658 stated: Item I do give to my Sonne John, Mr. Cartwright upon the Rhemish testament & Willetts Sinopsis. Item to my Sonne Joseph, Mr. Hildersham upon the one & fiftieth psalme, and ye History of the Council of Trent in Eng- lish, and Cornelius Tacitry in English, & Mr. Bolton on Can. 6: concerning a Christian walking with God. 35 3A. llGovernorThomas Dudley‘s Library,'New En land His- torical and Genealo ical Re ister for the ear I353, XII, 355. . "W HI I 33 0 Peter B ke ey," Ne§_En and Historicgl and Genealogical Register for the year l§§§, X, I57. in V a. w.- . '{h e 18. A little later he spoke of giving to Robert Merriam."Mr. Ruther- fords upon the dying of Christ, on Jn° 12," to William Hunt "Mr. Cooper on the 8th chapter to the Romans," and to Timothy Wheeler "Mr. Dikz on Jeremiah 17th concerning the deceitfulnes 3 of mans heart." In an addition dated February 26, 1658, he listed the following books to be bequeathed to his son, Edward: 1: I give him all Piscators Commentaries on the bible 2: Dr. Willett on Exod. & Levitt. on Sam. 1. 2. &.on Daniell Tarnovious in 2 vellums upon prephetas minores Dr Owen, against the Arminians in A0 I give him one part of the English annotations upon the bible, the other part to be to my son Gershom.... Mr. Aynsworth notes upon the 5 books of Moses & upon the psalmes.... 37 0‘ “PM His library was later inventoried atff123, indicative of an ex- tensive collection. Other volumes it contained that are worthy of note are Pontificate Romanum, Camden's Descriptig,§ritanniae, and a tract of King James I against demonology, indicating that the King might have been a believer in ghosts and spirits (and possibly witchcraft). 38 Cotton Mather wrote of Bulkeley that he was "a most excellent scholar" and ”a very well-read person."39 Here again is a predominantly religious library including some books on history. Still other evidence of a similar type is found in Edward Holyoke's will made December 25, 1658, which stated: 36. "WIII of Peter Bulkéley,fil69. . 37. Ibid. 38. E. B. Dexter, "Early Private Libraries in New England," Proceedin s of the American Anti uarian Society, New Series XVIIIr-Part 2, I957, IZO. 39. Mather, Ma alia, I, A00. 19. I ive my sons Holyoke all the books that are at Linn.... the books I have in my study that are Mr, Beanghans works I give him....and likewise I give all my maniscripts wat soeauer, and I giue him that large new testament in folio....a1se Mr. Ainsworth on the 5 books of Moses and the psalmes, ana my diiinary and Temellius bible in Latten, and my latten Concent and daniell bound together and A part of the new testament in Folio....and that old mani- script called Synas sight.... A0 From the titles mentioned, this library, too, seems to have been mainly of a religious nature. It was appraised at £20, not A1 including certain books ”lent out and not Gott in.” A Boston minister and teacher of the Church of Christ, Rev. John Norton, left a library consisting of 159 books in folio valued at£187 19s., and 570 books in A0, 8°, and 12° at "A3 one wth another 112.73" according to an inventory of April 2A, 1663. The entire estate was valued at; 3095 Be. Unfortunately, however, no titles are listed, and no hint as A2 to the library's contents is given. Three years later, in 1666, Thomas Wells of Ipswich left to his son his library which included "all the bookes, that I bought for his use, and my three physicke bookes and the books called the orthodox evangelist, the great sermon booke, and Hye- lings Geogripha." This library, in addition to religious works, included then some works on science and at least one on geography. During this same year, on July 12, 1666, Simon Bradstreet recorded in his diary the loss of the family library in Andover, A0. Trask, "Abstracts," IX, 1855 3A5. A1. Moris6n, Puritan Prona6s137 A2. Trask, "Asstracts, W18” 3AA. A3. Moris6n, Puritan Prona6s, 137. 20. Massachusetts. He said: "While I was at n. London.my fathers house at Andover was burnt, where I lost my books....Tho: my own lease of books (and papers espec.) was great and my fathers far more being about 800....3h It seems likely that quite a substantial library was thus destroyed, but of its contents again nothing is said. Evidence of a library at least partially purchased here in the colonies is found in the will of one John Wilson. In his will dated May 31, 1667 he said: ”To my son, gghg,flilggg, I give all my old Bookes and my new Bookes lately bought of Mr. Ughgr or of any others in New England, to be divided be- tween my son, gghglflilggg, and my daughter Mary Danforth....%5 Its exact contents are unknown, but at least some of it was purchased in America. A library quite typical of that belonging to many seven- tesnth century ministers was that left by the Reverend Benjamin Bunker of Malden at his death in 1669. It included about eighty volumes on religion and theology, among them Suarez's Metaphysics, twenty-five volumes of the classics, some belle-lettres and college texts, and two books of medicine.“6 Two small libraries of the 1670's were those belonging to John Symonds and Rev. John Oxenbridge. John Symonds of Salem .left "2 old Bibles, a Books of Best. Prestons Works and a books AA. wright Litera Culture AA. 1.5. Trask,,"AF—Jlstracts-m x i 1863, 3A3-3AA. A6. Morison, Puritan Pronaos, 135. 21. of Mr. Rogers works and a psalm books," with a total value of 185. Here again is an example of a library including nothing but religious books. Another library of whose contents we know little except for religious works was that belonging to the Rev. John Oxenbridge. In his will proved January 9, 167A/5 he be- queathed to his wife Susanna a few volumes "beside ye books she had in her former widow hood" including "Rogers on Judges, his 7 Treatises, and Thomas Goodwin 'his child of light'" and left 26 volumes to the Boston Public Library}+8 Evidence of two other private libraries, those of Richard Baxter and John Lightfoot, are referred to in reports of gifts to the Harvard College Library in 1675. Baxter, a celebrated non-eonformist, seemed to fear that his library would be seized to pay a fine and so sent to Harvard "some of my commentators, and some historians, among which were Freherus', Reuberus', and Pistorius' collections." 0f its exact numbers or contents other than religion or history, nothing is known. This same year, 1675, John Lightfoot bequeathed to Harvard his library containing ”the Targums, Talmuds, Rabbins, Polyglot, and other valuable tracts relative to oriental literature.” This is one of‘the very few references to oriental literature found in A9 seventeenth century libraries. Another interesting library was that of George Alcock, a """T7—‘I. bid., I36. A8. Tuttle, "Mather Libraries," 275-276. A9. C; A. Cutter, "Harvard Colle e Library,” North American Review, CVII, July-October, 1368, 572. 22. Harvard medical student, who went to England in 1676 and died that same year of Smallpox. An inventory of his estate in the Suffolk County Probate Court Records lists the library he left when he went abroad. Probably some of these books were in- herited from his grandfather, George Alcock, who emigrated in 1630 and settled in Roxbury as a physician, and from his father, John Alcock, also a practicing physician. A distinguishing feature of its contents is its strength in medicine and weakness in theology. Out of some eighty items, only ten or twelve, among them a Bible, a Psalter and a Greek and a Hebrew Testa- ment were religious. Sir Thomas Browne's Religio ggggg; is also included. Many of his medical works were obsolete, but others like those of Sennert and Harvey were up to date and the best available at the time. His non-professional tastes were shown in his ownership of 22g Quixote, the works of Justus Linsius, and Lord Bacon, as well as classics such as Horace, Homer, Hesiod and Plutarch. His library was valued at 517 13s. when inventoried on December 27, 1677.50This trend toward the diversification of libraries and the inclusion of more and more secular works progresses as the century advances. In direct contrast to this library is the one noted in the inventory of the estate of Andrew Sheppard of Boston, dated 51 June 1, 1676, listing only "two Bookes" valued at only 8d. 50. S? E? Morison, 1"The LiBfary of George Alcock, MedicaI Student, 1676," Publications of the Colonial Societ of Massa- chusetts, Transactions I930-1933T_IXVIIIT_Iist, -357. . "Records of the Suffolk County Court," XXX, A32. 23. Another primarily medical library of which an inventory remains is that of Samuel Brackenbury, a young physician of Suffolk County who died in the smallpox epidemic of 1678. He left a small library, including several works on chemistry such as the Basilica Chymica (1609) of Oswald Croll, and the Furni Novi Philosophici (16A8) and 92 9 Minerals (1651) of Glauber. His medical books included the collected works of Inn-'0‘ ‘-d. Etienne de la Riviere (1635), Medicine Practice (16AA) by 1“? Johannes Johnston, the Thesaurus by Dr. Adria of Masara, Burton's Anatomy 2;,Melancholy and four books by Dr. Thomas Willis, phy- sician in ordinary to King Charles IIof England, namely Diatribae Eggg (1659) on intestinal fermentation and the urinal system, Cerebri Anatome (166A), Pathologia Cerebri (1667, a pioneer work on the nervous system), and Pharmaceutics Rationalis (167A). He also owned an unnamed work of Descartes.52This is a very dif- ferent library from that of the typical religious-dominated one so prevalent at that time, and reflects the trend toward more secular collections found toward the end of the century. Another library not dominated by religious works is that of Daniel Russell of Charlestown who died in 1679 when less than ten years out of college. His collection included the poems of George Herbert, Samuel Butler, Anne Bradstreet and Michael Wig- glesworth, a few college classics, a ngk,gf Characters, Frgggh Paraphraseg, Decades Patavini, Seneca's work in English, Homer's Iliad, two folio Chaucers, the Parismus romance, a French and an Italian grammar, a work by "Sir Walter Raughleigh," a work 52} Morison, Puritan Pronaos, 133. 2A. by Machiavelli, Mrs. Rowlandson's narrative of her captivity (which along with his ownership of Wigglesworth and Bradstreet shows an interest in native authors), Barclay's Ar enis, about half a dozen medical books of the more popular sort (Culpeper, Lewes, Bailey's Directions for Health, Ambroise Pare in English), numerous college texts and "80 Pamphlets." This library con- ) tained a great many more literary works than the majority of in libraries discussed so far. The classics are also represented [ as are medicine and textbooks. It would be interesting to know I the contents of the "80 Pamphlets" to get a more complete idea of the contents of the library. 0f the library of Percival Lowell of the famous Boston family, we know only indirectly, but his descendants reported that he sat by day reading his Bible or Richard Hooker's Th3 Lgyg§,g§ Ecclesiastical Piggy or Burton's Anatomy 2: Melancholy. So it seems quite probable that these three books at least were in his library at the time of his death in 1682. The inventory of the estate of another Bostonian, Elnathan Chauncy, son of President Charles Chauncy of Harvard taken August 5, 169A included "a pool of Books as apprised by Doctor Graves Mr. Cotton Mather & Mr. Parris AA:O3:0 CfiAA 03s.] ." Unfortu- 55 llately, again, no titles or suggestion of contents are given. 53o IBide, Ijh-IBSe 5A. E. Greenslet, Th3 Lewells ggd their Seven Worllds (Boston, 19A6), 18. 55. J. H. Tuttle "Early New England Libraries," Publi- cations of the Colonial Society _o__f Massachusetts, Transaction; m. it KW . 25. The evidence presented in this chapter seems to support the generalization that as the century advanced, so did the libraries of the time with more of the classics, medical works, books on mathematics included more often even in minister's libraries in addition to the almost inevitable predominance of religion. For example, the Rev. Jonathan Mitchell of Middle- sex County who died in 1688 left about 181 religious works, 75 classics and the like, and 11 of medicine (a total of 267 books). Among the more unusual titles listed in his inventory are the histories of Raleigh and Alexander Ross, the Egggyg of Men- taigne, several volumes on mathematics, including Norwood's Trigonometry, George Herbert's Tem 1e, the Poetae Minores Grascae, the Meditationes of Descartes, Matthias Prideaux's Introduction for Reading all §gr§g g; Histories, and an Eng- 1ish translation (London, 1653) of the Peregrinagzo of Mendez Pinto in the Far East.56 The library of still another minister, the Rev. John Brock, who died this same year, 1688, also indicated the grow- ing emphasis on secular works. When the 386 volumes in his library were inventoried, they were found to include sixteen titles in mathematics, fifteen in medicine, eighteen in his- tory, and 65 classics, belle-lettres and grammars. The re- mainder were religious with one hundred volumes not listed 56. Morison, Puritan Pronaos, 135. 26. 57 by title. Here, once more, is a predominantly religious library, but one with a better representation in the fields of mathematics, history, classics and literature than a great many ministers' libraries of the time. The largest number of books listed in any estate inventory was the more than 6,000 volumes recorded as owned by Michael Perry, New England book-seller. This in itself indicates an interest in books if a man could engage in the business. These ‘— ___——__...._F..—— books were his stock in trade at the time of his death in 1700, but those listed represented only 213 titles. The Assembly'g Catechism, of which A28 copies were listed, apparently was the most popular title he sold. His inventory also listed over 900 primers of various sorts showing that there was considerable interest in education at the time. Other titles included were Willard's M23 gfflflgr, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Pro ress, Mather's Fglly g; Sinnin , Aesop's Egplgg, George Sandys' translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses,588tapleton's Juvenal, Plutarch's Lgygg, Lee's ggy gr Egggg, Peace 23,22g3h, Goldman's Dictionary and even Sturny's MagaziR-e:39 Three-fourths of Perry's stock was theological, 300 classi- cal literature, 50 on mathematics, 3A copies of popular astrol- Ogical works, 6 Common Prayer Books, 128 Bibles or parts of Bibles, and more than 300 Psalm Books. If his stock can be 57. Morison, Puritan Pronaos, 136 58. T.E. Keys, iiThe Colonial Library & the Development of Sectional Differences in the American Colonies," The Library Quarterly, VIII, no. 3, July 1938, 375-376. 59. W.B.Weeden cnm EWWQIMW 1620- 8 (Boston, 18903792 Vols., 1, 413. ’ 0. Dexter, "Early Private Libraries," 1A1. 27. considered to reflect the general trend of libraries of the time, the predominance of religious works is truly outstanding, with classical literature and "useful" books (primers, mathematical works and the like) far less popular, but probably more popu- lar than earlier in the century. I have purposely discussed the rest of the seventeenth century private libraries in the Massachusetts Bay Colony be- fore telling about the famous libraries of the Mather family, which by the end of the seventeenth century was the largest private library in all New England. My reason for this is that its history is virtually the only one I found that extended over almost the entire century, building up from generation to generation. Its history really begins in England about the year 1610 ‘with the early collection of books later brought over by Rich- ard Mather, the first of this notable family of ministers to settle in New England.61 Although not a great many of the de- tails concerning this library are known, we do know that he ‘willed Mr. Perkin's works, some three volumes, to Timothy, and "Rh; Scudder Treatise on Christians daily walks" to Elizabeth. .All the rest of his books were divfled among his other sons .Samuel, Nathaniel, Eleazar, and Increase, with Samuel getting a double portion as the eldest son. Samuel, in his will of 61. Tth e, Mather Libraries,“ 269. 28. March 7, 1672, gave "double porcion of my father's manuscripts and books in New England to my nephew Samuell Mather [Lbs son of his brother Timothy] .éé my own writings and manuscripts to my brother Nathaniel....” Nathaniel, Richard's second son, gave most of his books to his brother Increase's son, Samuel, while the library of Eleazar, Richard's third son, probably went into the hands of his own son, Wareham.6 0f the contents of these libraries, nothing is said, and of their dispersion nothing is known. The next (and most important) evidence in the study of the seventeenth century Mather libraries is a catalogue of the books in the library of Increase (1639-1723), the youngest son of Richard who inherited a share of his father's library. Increase, a very prominent minister of the time, wrote this list in his own handwriting. It was dated August 18, 166A, and listed about 675 titles,6h of which about 30 per cent were in Latin and some in Greek.65 The great majority of these were on re- ligion, with some colonial authors represented, among them John Cotton and Richard Mather himself. 6 It also included several books on government, such as Sir Walter Raleigh's The Preregatives 2; Parliament, as well as copies of Propositions Sent 39 the King g§_N§y Castle, and the Sglgmn_L§gggg_§gg 62. *Tuule,fiMather Libraries?Ti 277-279. 63. Ibid., 279 6A. I counted from the list in Tuttle, 280-290, about 66A - lt5A in folio, 166 in octave, and 5A small octave or l6to. 65. Keys, "The Colonial Library," 375. 80 33. Taken from list of this catalogue printed in Tuttle, 2 -2 . 29. Covenant. Also listed are a Hebrew Bible, several Greek and Hebrew grammars, and even a Syriac grammar. The classics are also represented by such authors as Juvenal, Cicero with his g2 oratore, g3 officiis, and orationes, Demosthenes, Horace, Homer, Ovid and Aesop. Indeed, classical literature numbered 21 titles, and history 72,67including History 9: the Waldenses and Jefferii Historia Gotteschalii. Two rather unusual works of interest also included were Willet and Holland's Qg_292§1 Judgment gf'Witches and Hall against long hair. At the end of this catalogue, Increase included a list of some seventeen titles out on loan to ten different people, including his bro- ther, and also lists four books that he himself had borrowed from one Mr. Gover.68 A study of Mather's correspondence also affords evidence as to his library acquisitions after the 166A catalogue of his library was made. On February 16, 1676/7, Richard Chiswell, a London bookseller, sent Increase the following books: A Coppy 5 s. d. Postage of 2 PaEquett wherein Letters for 0. l. 0 your Brothers Dr Tuckneys Sermons, A0 0. 8. 0 Straight. gate to heaven, 12° bound 0. 0. 8 Hotchkis reformation or ruins, 8O 0. 2. 0 Discovery of Pigmies, 8° 0. l. 0 Horologicall Dialogues, 8° 0. l. 0 Hornes Cause of Infants maintained, A0 0. 1. 0 Whiston on Baptism, all 3 parts, 80 0. 5. 6 State of Northampton, A° 0. 0. 3 67. Keys, “The Colonial Library," 375. 68. Tuttle, "Mather Libraries,” list, 280-290. 30. i: s. d. Tozer's Directions to a godly life, 120 0. l. 0 Barbets Chircurgery, 8° 0. 6. 0 Lsybournes Dialling, A0 0. 3. o Hook's Motion of the Earth, A° o O. l. 0 Stephenson's mathsmat. Compendium, 12 0. 2. 6 8 First principles of New England, A°. re- 0. 8. 0 turned 69 Added.-— Pacquet of advices to the men of Shafts- O. l. 6 ~bury, A° King & Ld. Chancellor's Speeches 0. O. 6 Dr. Stillingflset's Letter to a Deist, 8° 0. 2. 6 Mr Hales (of Eaton) his Tracts, 8° 0. 2. 6 Hornecks Law of Consideration, 8° 0. 3. 6 Walker of Baptism, 12° 0. 3. 6 Rules of Health, 12° 0. l. 0 Family Physitian, 120 O. l. 0 Judge Hale's Contemplations, 2 Vol. 8 0. 10. 0 2A Warrs of New England, A. (written by - - - Mather Catalogue No. 7. 8. 9. 10, fol. - - - 70 Samuel Petto informed Mather in a letter dated June 13, 1677, that he intended to send him "Dr. Owen of the reason of faith.” In another letter written on May 1A, 1678, Petto wrote: ”I have herewith sent you three books Christianismus Qhrigg- ianandus, and Mr. Ny's paper...also Mr. Troughton of Divine Providence & especially of pr determination & Concourse..."72 On August 23, 1679 Increase received a letter from Thomas Jolie in whidi Jolie said: "I have sent you herewith 2 treatises, vflrich severall yeares ages I drew up when I was a prisoner."73 ‘Increase's cousin Jonathan Tuckney wrote him from.Hacknsy, England, on September 9, 1679, saying: "I...sent you two 69} A book written by Inoreass Mather tfiat did not seII well. 70. "Mather Papers," Collections gggghg,Mggsachusettg His- torical Societ Fourth Series VIII 1 577. VI. IEid.: 3A1 ’ , , 72. Ibid., 3A3 73. I6id., 325 31. bookes of my father's labors, one English sermons, the other 7A Latin Prelections & Determinations..." Samuel Petto wrote to Increase again on January 16, 1681-2, informing him that he was sending him "Mr Stockton's book entituled Consolation in Life & Death." Abraham Kick wrote to him on August 5, 1683, hoping that "%é.the bookes sent by Mr. John Pecke come safe to your hand..." Samuel Baker informed Mather on September 2, 168A: I have given Mr. Epps order to send you 1. An Acct of the present state of the Prot. Religion, supposed by Dr. 0., though I guess you have it, for which reason I do not send you his Meditations of Glory. 2. A defence of his 12 arguments in answer to Baxter. 3. The Dr's Escot re- printed, with a Catalogue at the end, of all the Dr's books. A. A little book against Health-drinking. 5. The life of one Mr. Henry Dorney, who was an Elder of Mr. Row's Church, whose Discourses & Lrs in it I presume you will value.... 77 “A“ an .’ ”*l'w. His cousin, Jonathan Tuckney, wrote Mather again on August 29, 168A that "...whereas you desire to see Dr. Spencer of Prodi- gies, I have procured it you, & herewith send it...." 8 In a postscript to the same letter written five days later on Septem- ber 3, Tuckney added: "...and I desire you accept from me... another Latin piece of the same author's concerning Urig g Thummim; what they were...."79 In January, 1688-9, John Leusden of Utrecht, Belgium, wrote Increase stating that "...on the 30th 3%. Ibid., 533 762 Jamal: 598 s- 1m a: 79: ifb'i‘ofi: 355 32. of March I sent some books, vizt a New Lexicon, a Compendium of the Greek New Testament, Ewe Psalters in Hebrew and English, 0 and one in Hebrew & Latins." Unfortunately, a fire on November 27, 1676 destroyed a part of this magnificient collection. Cotton Mather, Increase's son, in his Parentator said: His own house also took a part in the Ruins: But by the Gracious Providence of God, he lost little of his Beloved Library: Not an Hundred Books from above a Thousand: of these also he had an immediate Recruit, by the generous offer which the Honourable Mrs. Bridget Hoar made him, to take what he Pleased from the Library of her Deceased Husband. 81 From entries in several volumes of the Mather Collection at Worcester it appears likely that Increase also bought books while he was living in London, 1688 to 1691.82 Increase also saw to it that his library was distributed as he wished. By his will, dated September 23, 1673 (although he did not die until 1723, some fifty years later), he gave one-half of his library and all his manuscripts to his son Cot- ton, one-fourth to his son Samuel of'Witney, England, and the remaining one-fourth to his "fatherless grandson, Mather Byles, in case he shall be educated for and employed in the work of 'the ministry."83 John Dunton in a letter written from Boston on March 25, 21686, said of Increase and his library: "After an hour spent “—70. Ibid. , 679 81. Tuttle, "Mather Libraries," 290 82. Ibid., 292 83. IBid., 292-293 33. in his company (which I took for Heaven) he shew'd me his Study: And I do think he has one of the best (for a Private Library) that I ever saw... Mr. Mather's Library is the Glory of New-England, if not of all America."8h Increase, then, had a truly magnificent private collection for his time, and though, as is to be expected, it was primarily religious, yet many works in the fields of classical literature, history, languages and similar fields were included. Fortunately, too, the preservation of his 166A listing of it is available to give a complete picture of it as it existed at that time. Cotton, Increase's son, carried on the tradition of the Mather libraries. Born on February 12, 1662/3, he received the largest part of his father's vast library after his death in 1723, and had begun his own library at the age of nineteen with some 96 volumes, of which 81 were theological and the re- mainder works on history, philosophy and philology.85 Cotton seems also to have manifested an early passion for books and learning, and his studies in preparation for college seem to have been more extensive than was usual at the time since he studied the works of Homer and Isocrates as well as those of’many Latin autggrs not even very familiar to those who had taken a degree. Cotton said of himself: 8A. Ibid., 29A 85. C.M. Andrews, Colonial Folkways: A Chronicle of American Life in the Reigg g_f_ the Geor es Wow Haven I92I) I52:IS . '36. 3. Sparks, The LiBrary 2f AmericaR Biogréphy (New York, .1856), 10 vols., VI, I7I. 3A. I am able with little study to write in seven languages. I feast myself with the sweets of all sciences, which the more polite part of mankind ordinarily pretend to. I am entertained with all kinds of histories ancient and mo- dern. I am no stranger to the curiosities which by all sort of learning, are brought to the curious. 87 This certainly implies a wide knowledge of bookes, and very probably a large library. Charles Chauncy, President of Har- vard, said of him: "There were scarcely any books written but he had [éomél how or other got the sight of them. His own library was the largest by far of any private one on the con- tinent." Cotton, himself substantiates this, stating in his diary, October 28, 1683, that he had "a Libra , exceeding any man's, in all this Land."89 Another diary entry of inter- est occurs on October 16, 1700, when he visited the widow of President Charles Chauncy and was offered his pick of Chauncy's library. He singled out about forty volumes "and some of them large Ones" to add to his library already numbering "between two and three thousand."90 Cotton, then, seems to have had a very large library, including volumes on religion, history, science and very likely literature. Hers, however, we must leave the story of the Mather libraries until the chapter dealing with New England private libraries of the eighteenth century and turn our attention to 37. T6ttle,3Mather Libraries:Ti 29A, 88. Ibid. 89. EDiary of Cotton Mather 1681-1708," Massachusetts Historical.Socist Collections, Seventh Series, VII, I91I, 2 parts, part , . 90. Ibid., 368. 35. the tiny colony of Rhode Island or Providence Plantations, found- ed by Roger Williams in 1636. Naturally there was not nearly as much material available on the private libraries of this settlement asfor its larger "neighbors," Massachusetts and Connecticut. The first library I found reference to was that of William Blackstone, a hermit minister, who died not far from Providence in 1675, leaving a library numbering some 160 volumes, and ten manuscript books valued in the estate inventory at the sum of 6 d. each or 5 s. for the lot. However, only one month after his death, King Philip's war broke out, and among the first things to be burned were his former home and its library.91 Its contents were not given or discussed. William Harris of Rhode Island, a contemporary and ad- versary of Roger Williams, left a library of about thirty vol- umes in 1680. Rather interestingly, over one-third of it, some eleven books,were on law, headed by Coke on Littleton. He also owned the "LondonDespencettory" and two other common medical books, a "Dixonarey," Richard Norwood's Trigonometry, Gervase Markham's Gentleman Jocks , Lambarde's Perambulation pf K223, Morton's New England Memorial, a treatise on "The Effect of Warr," a sprinkling of theology, and standard literature such 92 as Sir Mathew Hale's Contemplations, Moral Egg Divine. 91. C. F.‘Adams, 3Exercises at the Laying of the Corner Stone," Procesdingg of the American Antiquarian Societ , New Series XX, rPartI I909, lI: 92. Dexter, "Early Private Libraries," 137. 36. It is interesting to note the rather rare dominance of law books and the relative weakness of theological writings. Al- though all of its contents are not given, there also seems to be a left lack of classical authors. Hardly worthy to be called a "library" is the one book to his heirs by John Smith, a miller, who died at Provi- dence in 1682, just two years after Harris's death. In the line of books hecwned only one volume, a Bible, and that muti- lated ("some lost and some of it torn"). Only a biographer furnishes us with information concerning the library of Roger Williams (circa 1604-1683), religious dis- senter and founder of the Rhode Island colony. It is stated that: The material used by Williams..was built upon a long life- time of much reading and study. In his wide reading, he came "by books to know the affairs and religions of all countries; let any man read the works of the Papists, Luth- erans, Arminians, and amongst ourselves the Episcopal and Presbyterian writings, a man shall have wherein to exer- cise his judgment, memory, etc...he entered into Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Anglo-Saxon, and English philology; he dis- cussed English accidents, tautologies, grammar, diction, symbols, and figures of speech. Christian symbolics, com- parative dogmatics, biblical criticism, and history were called in to contrast the Quaker tenets with Papists, Prot- estants, Sectaries, and the many heresies of the past. In historical criticism he was especially advanced for his age. To understand fully the arguments and proofs in George Fox Di 'd Out of his Burrows requires a thorough training in apoIogEEIcs and dogmatics. He makes mention of Bellarmine, Plato, Diogenes, Machiavelli, Book.9§ Mar- tzrs, Chaucer, Baxter, Jeremy Taylor, John Bunyan, and- 93. ’R. Stewart, "Puritan Literature and the Flowering of New England," William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, III, no. 3, July, 1956, 5I9. ' "-“.-—.r 37. many other writers both Pagan and Christian....9h From this it seems quite likely that Williams owned a predom- inantly religious library with probably a liberal representation of history, classical languages and some English literature. One of the best known and most interesting Rhode Island libraries was that of Samuel Lee, a dissenting clergyman, who emigrated to New England in 1686 and became minister of a church at Bristol. On a voyage back to England in 1691 he was taken prisoner by a French privateer, and died in France. His library, however, remained in New England and was sold by Duncan Campbell "Book-seller over against the Conduit" in Bos- ton in 1693. It was considered important enough to be adver- tised for sale in a special book catalogue. On this catalogue cover, the library was advertised as containing "A Choice Variety of Books upon all subjects: particularly, Commentaries on the Bible: Bodies of Divinity. The Works as well of the Ancient, as of the Modern Divines: Treatise on the Mathe- maticks, in all Parts; History, Antiquities: Natural Philo- sophy Physick, and Chymistrys With Grammar and School-Books."95 About 1300 volumes belonging to Lee were recorded in this catalogue, about four-fifths of them in Latin. Books on di- vinity and ecclesiastical history made up about 30 per cent of the collection. Of divinity in Latin there were about 215 9h. J. Ernst, Roger Williams, New EngIaHdFirebrandf (New York, 1932), 1.76. 95. S. A. Green, Remarks On an Early Book-Catalogue Printed in Boston; with other BIEIIEgraphical Matter (nOP. n73. ’ O 96. Dexter, "Early Private Libraries," lhl. 38. titles, and in English 96. The headings of medicine and natur- al science included about 119 titles, and philosophy, including two works of Descartes, 71.97 There were also about 60 titles in mathematics, astronomy, and astrology, and some eight or ten volumes on law, such as Justinian's Institutes, Corpus gugingivilis, and Grotius's g3 jure belli.98 Histories in Latin included one of Normandy, one of France, one of Byzantium, one of Hungary, Dugdale's Monasticon, the works of Meursius, Cluvier, Vossius and Plutarch, Seldon's Mags Clausum and Poly- dore Virgil, totalling altogether 120 volumes. Histories in English numbered about #5 and included Sir Walter Raleigh's, Fynes Moryson's Travels, the History g£_§ganderbeg, an English naval history, Arthur Wilson's History of the Reign of James I, Sandys' History gf‘ghiga, a biography of Mary Queen of Scots, Howell's History of London,.and natural histories such as Bacon's and Evelyn's gylza. In addition, there were over 300 unclassified works in Latin.99 Indeed, Rev. Lee had an extreme- ly large and varied library, again predominantly religious and with an unusually high percentage of works in Latin. However, science, medicine, mathematics, the classics, his- tory and law were all represented to some extent, and the only real weakness of this library seems to lie in the field of modern literature and belles-lettres. 97. Morison, Puritan Pronaos, 140. 98. Dexter, "Early Private Libraries " lh2. 99. Morison, Puritan Pronaos, 1hO-14 . 1...... . 4 39. A little more information is available concerning the early private libraries of Connecticut where the first permanent Eng- lish settlement was made in 1636 by the Rev. Thomas Hooker and the Rev. Samuel Stone. The first library of which there is any mention in this colony is that of Edward Tench of New Haven, who died in 16A0 leaving a library valued at 12 10 s. in a total estate of 1.00.100 Fifty-three volumes of his are list- ed, including six Bibles, a Concordance, some forty books of Bible commentary and practical religion (the chief author rep- resented being Dr. Richard Sibbes), two or three medical books, one law book, Dalton's Country Justice, one book of cookery and household economy, and two agricultural works, Markham's Husbandry and Mascall's Government of Cattle.101 This pre— dominantly religious list again lacked any works of the classics, science (except for cookery and agriculture), or belles- lettres. Theophilus Eaton, one of the founders of New Haven, Con- necticut, although a wealthy merchant rather than a minister, owned a predominantly religious library. A catalogue of it shows a total of 95 titles. About two-thirds of the books :were in Latin and were, again, mainly theological. Most numer- ous were the works of Calvin (11 Latin folios) and David Pareus, an eminent German divine of the Reformed Church. Other departments of theology were also represented with books 100. Wright Literar Culture L9} 101. Dexter: "Early Private Libraries," 49. 40. on dogmatics, practical theology, sermons, and polemics, in- cluding writers such as John Robinson and Henry Ainsworth. The classical authors represented in this library were Plutarch, Virgil, and Ovid in an English translation. More modern Latin works listed were Sir Thomas More's Utopia and Erasmus's Pyg- ygybg. No belle-lettres were found in this library, and almost no science with the exception of "Lawsens Anatomy." The only modern history was Sir Walter Raleigh's History 9;:Iglflgylg, and in ecclesiastical history, the popular Foxe's Books 9; Martyrs. An unidentified book on military discipline, Mar- tin's Hebrew Grammar, a Greek grammar and "Kecker, Syst. mathem." complete the library of this well-to-do merchant who left his library to the town of New Haven at his death in 1658.102 Two other early connecticut libraries about which less information can be given were those of William Ames and Rev. Thomas Hooker. Ames, a teacher of theology at Cambridge Uni- versity, had intended to follow Rev. Hooker to Connecticut, but died soon after Hooker left for New England. However, his library did reach New England as it was brought here in the early summer of 1637, just one year after the first permanent JEnglish settlement in the colony, with his widow and children.103 'Phe library of Hooker, himself, was inventoried at the sum of £300 from a total estate of51336 15 s. in 161.7, suggesting a 102. F. B. Dexter, "The First Public Library in New Haven," Papers of the N__e__w Ha____v_en Colony Historical Society, VI 1900,1,ist 9- 13'— . ' .‘ 103. Tuttle, "Mather Libraries," 273. 41. 10h large library. Unfortunately, however, none of the details concerning its contents are available. Evidence of book ownership is also found in some rather peculiar and amusing entries in Connecticut estate inventories. Robert Day of Hartford died in 161.8 leaving an estate off 11.3 including "one pound in bookes, and sackes, and ladders." Joseph Clark of Windsor owned goods valued at EU. at his death in 1655 and one item from his estate inventory included: "For bacon, l muskett, and some bookes,§;2.123." In 1661, John Wakeman of New Haven left an estate of $300 including "three shirts and some old Bookes, fifteen shillings." At his death, Nathaniel Bowman of Wethersfield possessed "Books, bottles and odd things" with a total value of 12 s. Gov. John Haynes of Hartford left an estate of more than £1400 including "1 greats bible and 1 gilded looking glass, 16 shillings" as the only reference to any sort of library.105 Three Connecticut ministers, Rev. John Norton, Rev. John Davenport, and Rev. John Wareham left libraries between the years 1663 and 1670. The Rev. John Norton left a library of 729 volumes valued at £300 in 1663, and the library of the Rev. John Davenport, one of the colony's earliest settlers, was appraised at£233 173. after his death in 1670, SUggggt- ing that he, too, probably owned a substantial library. Mr. John Wareham, pastor of the Church of Christ at Windsor, ’IOA. Weeden History of New England *I’ 230. 105. Dexter: "Ear y Private Libraries," 137 and lh5. 106. Morison, Puritan Pronaos, 135. fir. . «Til-tn. “PM #2. died this same year, 1670, leaving a library valued até 82 107 As. About the only library belonging to a woman to which I found any reference in Connecticut was that of Dame Anna Palsgrove, the widow of a physician. At her death in 1669 she left a collection of medical books (probably left by her husband) and Pliny's Natural History.108 A far better known library was the one belonging to John Winthrop, Jr. (l606-l67h), a governor of Connecticut. His library of some 269 titles contained a few Latin classics, some works of Cornelius Agrippa, Aristotle, Aquinas, Erasmus, Grotius on "True Religions," Machiavelli's Qggtya Tyrannos Bloundevill on horses, an abridgement of Coke, Godwyn's Qiyil and Ecclesiastical Rites 22.222 Hebrew, Jamblichus' ‘Lulli Raymundi, Sir George Mackenzie's Moral Galantry, two books by Melancthon, three by Paracelsus, a few on mathe- matics, and many of a mystical nature such as Flannel's Philosopher1§.§tggg. Pascall is represented by Leg Provin- ciales, and also included are William West's S bio ra h , ‘works on astrology, anti-papal and theological treatises, ,Qggia Politiae, William Potter's Egy,tg_flgglt§, a folio tract 109 of 1650, and Castiglione's Book 2; the Courtier. 107. Stewart, "Puritan Literature,"3l9. 108. Dexter, "Early Private Libraries " 136. 109. Stewart "Puritan Literature," 332, and Weeden, History 2; Na! En land, I, 230—231. y: l #3. This library shows that Winthrop was a man of relatively broad interests, concerned not only with the things of the soul, but also with the state, law, geography, the classics, and literature. Among those of a general cultural character were Scaliger's edition of the Latin poetry of Ausonius (Heidelberg, 1588), Boistuat de Launai's Theatre 532 212mg, Cluvier's _I_n_t_r_9_- ductio in Universam Geographiam, an Italian translation of Erasmus's Christian Prince,and a collection on political and economic theory including Potters' Hey tg_Wealth, Machiavelli's Prince, Jean Bodin, and the Vindiciae contra Tyrannos. He also owned two volumes of Lgy Hymges gg_§y,dg Ronsard, gentil homme Vandomois, as well as The Historie 2: George Castrio‘tL surnamed Scanderberg, The Historie g; the Troubles g: Hun arie, by Martin Fumee, Lord of Genille, Camden's Annales figyum Anglicarum Regnante Elizabetha, the works of Hesoid, and Stephanus's Greek Anthology. As to the languages in which his books were written, half were in Latin, 71 in English, 23 in German, 17 in French, 12 in Dutch, 7 in Italian, A in Greek, and one in Spanish showing a wide knowledge of both ancient and modern languages.110 Several items of interest concerning books and libraries ‘were also found in Winthrop's correspondence. Henry Jacie ‘wrote to him in January, 1631, saying, "A book of the Northern Star (by Dr. Goad) was sent you to go herewith." The next 110. Morison, Puritan Pronaos, 131-132. ,lul‘tdlwlll'rl .I. l lllllfllfllll ’IIII.§\ 1. Ah. year Edward Howes wrote him saying that he had sent books to James Downing, John Winthrop Sr., as well as Winthrop Jr. who received at this time the Swedish Intelligencer, Archymedes, an alamanac, and a "books of the probabilities of the North West Passage." Howe also included Smyth's £322 9; Gunneyy and Norton's Practise g; Artillery for the use of a Mr. Samford. March, 163A, Howes also sent him the following list of books: Li. s. d. Dr. Fludds Macrocosme in 2 volumes 1 10 0 Isogoge Phisico Magico &c. 0 l 6 Petrus Galatinus de Arcanis Catholicae O 10 O veritatis Phillippi Grulingii Florilegum .O 2 O Mercurius Rediuiuus per Norton 0 2 6 The Rarities of Cochin China 0 l 0 Wingate Logarithms . O A 6 An English Crammer O 1 0 The Gunners Dialogue 0 2 O Bedwells Messolabium O l 0 111 Writing from Pequot to England in 16h8, Winthrop said: I am glad to heare of those books coming forth. Paullin and Propugnaculi Fabri, and Helmont's Workes...I desire also yt in high Dutch, Galuberus, if you approve of it, and more I desire you earnestly to procure for me, that is Vigineer des Cyphres wch you know is to be had at Paris. 112 Two letters from Henry Oldenburg to Winthrop give evidence of Winthrop's interest in science. Oldenburg wrote to Winthrop on March 26, 1670 saying: "... you are to receive with it some few books lately printed here by several Fellows of ye Society, viz.: 1. Mr. Boyles Continuation of ye Experimts concerning the Spring and weight of the Aire. 2. Dr. Holders PhilOSOphy 4111. wright,iLiterary'Culture,i32-3L. 112. Andrews, Colonial Folkways, 152. 45. of Speech. 3. Dr. Thurston Q2 Respirationis usu primario. 113 A. The Transactions of the last year." Oldenburg wrote to him again on April 11, 1671 stating: I herewith send you a few philo50phica1 Books printed here; viz.:-- 1. Mr. Boyl's New Tracts about ye wonderful rare- faction and Condensation of the Air, etc. 2. Monsr Charas's New Experiments upon Vipers. 3. The Transactions of 1670. To these I adde a small discourse, originally writ- ten in French against yt great Sorbonist, Monsr Arnaud, touching ye Perpetuity of ye Romish Faith about the Eucharist....llh July, 1672 Winthrop received a letter from William Coddington of Rhode Island informing him that "G. F. {George Fog hath sent the a booke of his...& two more now....Allso I remember before thy last being in England, I sent thee a booke, written by Francis Howgall against persecution...."115 Two other libraries of this period of which little de- tail is known were also referred to in letters to Winthrop. Stephen Bachiller wrote to him May 18, 16th saying, "I have had great losse by fire, well knowne, to the vallue of 200 11., ‘with my whole studdy of bookes,"116 implying at least that he had owned a library of some size. Lion Gardiner wrote to Winthrop in 1650 with reference to obtaining a pastor for the small (but unnamed) settlement of which he was leader, and 113. fiHenry Oldenburg to John Winthrop," Proceedin s g: the Massachusetts Historical Societ for 1828, XVI, 25K. 11:. "Henry Oldenburg to John Winthrop," 251. 115. "Winthrop Papers," Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Societ , Third Series, I, ISZ§,-289. 11 . Wright, Literagy Culture, 3h. ial 46. said that his library contained "First, the 3 Books of .Martters, Erasmus, moste of Perkins, Wilsons Dixtionare, a large Concordiance, mayor on the new Tstement," and concluded saying, "Some of theas, with othar that I have, may be uce- full to him."117 For being purely theological, however, the library of John Kirby of Middletown, Connecticut is indeed unique. He died in 1677 leaving only nine books, all of them Bibles.118 The last seventeenth century Connecticut library to which I found reference was that of Deacon George Clark of Milford who owned "Recbrd's Arithmaticke" at his death in 1690.119 For the region now known as Maine, first settled in l6hl, a book of old wills served as the primary source of information concerning seventeenth century libraries. The will of William Scadlocke of Cape Porpus, dated January 7, 1661/2, stated: "I bequeath Vnto my daughter Susanna Mr. Cottons workes Vpon ye _ new Covenant, of grace: I bequeath a booke Intitled meats out of the Eater to my sun William/ & to my sun John I bequeath a book concerning Justifying faith/ & the practice of pyety to Rebeccha...."120 This curious old will consisted almost en- tirely of this bequest of books, so evidently Scadlocke con- sidered them very highly. It is also interesting to note that 117. Ibid., an. 118. Dexter, "First Public Library," 307. 119. Dexter, "Early Private Libraries," 136. 887)12C2). W.M. Sargent (ed.), Maine Wills: 1650-1260 (Portland, 1 , . #7. every title is religious, and even more significant is the fact that this is the only seventeenth century will included that mentioned books at all. From the facts presented it is possible to draw some con- clusions as to the overall contents of seventeenth century pri- vate libraries in New England. Probably the most outstanding fact that this chapter has pointed out in example after example was the predominantly religious contents of an overwhelming number of these New England libraries, particularly in the early part of the century. Bibles, psalters, catechisms, collect- ions of sermons and other religious writings composed the major portion of the majority of seventeenth century New England libraries. However, exceptions to the usual religious-dominated library were found, especially later in the century. The li- brary of Miles Standish is probably the earliest example of this, and the predominantly medical libraries of George Alcock and Samuel Brackenbury, and the relatively high percentage of law books in the library of William Harris were probably the most striking later examples of this. A factor closely related to this was the evidence of the great predominance of libraries belonging to ministers. The material presented certainly upholds the belief that they were the major book owners, and probably the better educated people of their day. Again, exceptions can be noted, with the library of John Winthrop Jr. of Connecticut being probably the most A8. notable example. Returning briefly to a discussion of the contents of these early libraries, we found that, in addition to religious works, these collections also often contained the classics, works on medicine, law, agriculture, dictionaries, grammars, and occas- ionally works in modern foreign languages such as French or Dutch. The most glaring and widespread deficiencies were in the fields of literature and belles-lettres, with contemporary poetry and drama being extremely rare and fiction almost non-existent. However, as has already been pointed out, as the century pro- gressed, the libraries began to include more and more secular works such as the classics and also showed an increased interest in scientific books. The rather widespread mention of books in wills implies that these early settlers placed considerable value on their books and took real pride in their collections. Unfortunately, however, the appraisers of many of these early estates were not interested in their contents and often made their listings and references to them so unspecific as to make them virtually worthless as evidence. In comparing the libraries in the various colonies, Massa- chusetts shows her predominance. Within her borders were found the largest and best libraries of the period. It seems not un- reasonable to presume that she was the literary and intellectual leader of her time and Boston the intellectual capitol of New England. 49. CHAPTER 2; NEW ENGLAND PRIVATE LIBRARIES - 1200-1226 It is necessary now to begin the story of New England Pri- vate Libraries again with the year 1700 and complete the dis- cussion to the year 1776, showing the growth in both size and variety of contents that occurred during that period. I have chosen the year 1776 as the closing date because it marks the real beginning of the hostilities of the Revolutionary War, and therefore serves as a convenient termination point in the story of colonial private libraries. Indeed, one might well classify 1776 as the date ending the colonial period and call the next period in American history the Revolutionary era. The first colony whose libraries will be discussed in this "new era" is Massachusetts, which again shows her predominance in the field of libraries. An auction sale of the books of two Nassachusetts ministers, Rev. Rowland Cotton, and Rev. . Nathanall Rogers, is the first evidence of eighteenth century Nassachusetts libraries. The Rev. John Checkley of Boston wrote to the Rev. Dr. Zachary Grey on October 8, 1725, men- tioning that he had attended this auction sale. The libraries of Rev; Cotton, late pastor of the church in Sandwich, Massa- chusetts, and of Rev. Rogers, late pastor of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire, church were auctioned off by Samuel Garrish, a Boston bookseller, on October A, 1725. They contained volumes on divinity, philosophy, history, law, mathematics, poetry, and voyages and.travels. Classified by size, they included 120 ll 50. folios, 220 quartos, and 335 octavos or less for a total of 695 books. Since the libraries of the two men were listed together, it is impossible to know which one of them owned various books, and also unfortunately no idea is given of the number of books included under the various subject headings. Also indirectly we know that John Wise, a colonial demo— crat from Massachusetts, a minister from 1675-1725, and a political philoSOpher and thinker, either owned, or at least read, books concerning law, the classics, the church fathers, Reformation leaders, politics, history, philosophy, and fellow New Englanders. He acknowledged his debt to Samuel von Pufen- dorf (l632-l69h), an eminent German jurist and a major figure in the natural law school whose great work was Qg Jure Naturae gt Gentium, a persuasive commentary upon the whole philosophy of natural law. He also quoted the works of Plato, Aristotle, Virgil, Cicero, Cato, Plutarch, and Aesop; the church fathers, especially Tertullian and Eusebius of Caesarea; early and later Reformation leaders such as Martin Luther, Benedict, Turretin, William Ames and John Owen; as well as the Mathers, Nicholas Noyes and John Cotton of New England. He also mentioned such diverse political and philosophical figures as Boethius, Ul- pian, Machiavelli, Richard Hooker and Sir Edward Coke, as well 2 as Greek, Roman, English and ecclesiastical histories. l. E. F. SlaTLer, John Checkley; g; the Evolution QfREli - ious Tolerance i2 Massachusetts Bay, 2 Vols., (Boston, 1897 , II 1 " e , 2. C.L. Rossiter, "John Wise: Colonial Democrat," New England Quarterly, XXII, l9h9, 1A-15. 51. Samuel Sewall (1652-1730), famous jurist and diarist, has left us in his "letter books" and renowned diary evidences of his library. On July 13, 1680, he recorded in his diary: "Mr. Wotton gave me a very good Book, well bound and Lettered on the Back, of Mr. Flavell's....Mr. Matthew Wotton, bookseller, sends me by his Servant a parcell of Englands Duty, which are 25...." July 26 of that same year he stated that he had bought at Holburn a Greek Testament and Shepherd's Abridgment 2; Egg Lgyg for 185. 6d.h On August 1, 1689, he recorded paying "To Mr. Wotton, for Baker's Chronicle,£0.l7.6." Just one week later on August 8, he spent "To 2 Pole's Anotations and 2 Cat- echises. 5;A.8.0. Leusden's Hebrew Bible ~‘ijl.l8.0." On Jan- uary 2, 1700/1 he recorded: "Gave to the College-Library Dr. Owens two last Volumes on the Hebrew."7 Sewall reported read- ing "...Mr. Caryl on Job. 12.22...." on January 1, 1709, and on July 18, 1711 said:. "we recreated ourselves with Mr. Watt's Poems...." June 24, 1721 he recorded that he had "receiv'd 10 7. of the Folios of Dr. Owen's Life...." Sewall's correspondence adds a great deal more detail to our'knowledge of his library. On March 6, 1687/8 he wrote to IEdwsrd Taylor inquiring about the Magdeburg Centuries (a complete 3. "Diary of Samuel Sewall, " rCollectIEns of‘tHe MassaChusetts Historical Societ Fifth, Series, TVoIs. (V, VI, and—W I 1.. A. ‘Ibi ., 5. 5. 1 . 6 7. IBE., VI, 28. 8. I611, 271. 9. 151., 323. 0. THE, VII, 289. a 52. history of church matters from the earliest times to the period 11 of the Reformation) which he wished to own." In a letter to a Mr. Stretton, probably written late in 1691, he asked Stretton "to buy Bellarmine," two volumes, polemical works, fair print. Some Spanish Books; Barthol. de las Casas in Spanish, and in English too; Grafiar and Dictionary, if to be had; and what else you shall see convenient for my purpose of getting a Smattering of the Spanish Tongue: provided you exceed not forty shillings l2 ...." On April 25, 1698, he sent an order by Capt. Thomas Carter for "Spanish Bible of Cypriano Valero, Deodats Italian 13 Bible." June 10, 1700 Sewall sent the following order to Mr. John Love, a London merchant: Ars Cogitandi. 2 Le Grands PhilOSOphy, Latin. Heerboordi Meletomata. 3. Dr. Charletons Physiologia. Dr. Moors Imortality of the Soul. Metaphysicks, Ethicks Glanvils Sceptis Scientifica. Dr. Wilkins's nattural Principles, and Duties. His World in the Moon. Stallius his Regulae Phylosophicae. Stierij Questiones Physicae cum Praeceptis PhiloSOphiae Burgerdicus, Logick with Heerebords Notes. The great His. Geographical, and Poetical Dictionary being a curious Miscellany of Sacred and PrOphane History printed at London for Henry Rhodes, If there be an Edi- tion since 169A, Send the best Two of them. Francis Turretini Institutio Theologiae Elencticae in tres partes distributiae Ato. Turretini Disputationes de satisfactione Christi. Ato. 117’ "Letter Book’of Samuel Sewall:"'Collections g; the Massachusetts Historical Society, Sixth Series, 2 Vols., 17-76. 12. Ibid., 123. 13. IbidT, 199. I": I'- 53. Poles Synopsis criticorum in five volumes, if light on them a peniwoth. A K Edward 6th, his Common Prayer Book, of Queen Eliz. The Queens Bible....If the money doe more then hold out, send in School Books; Esops Eng. and Lat, Corderius Engl. and Lat., Terrence Eng. and Lat., Ovid de Tris- tibus, Metamorphosis, Virgil, Tullies de Officijs, Grammars, constr Q1] ing Books...” 1A July 1, 1700 he added to this order: A Narrative of the Portsmouth Disputation between Presby- terians and Baptists at Mr. Williams's Meetinghouse, Bp. of Norwich's Sermon of Religious Melancholy, Amintor a Defence of Milton, with Reasons for abolishing the 30th January; Two of them. Account of the first Voyages in America by Barthol. de las Casas; two of them. Account of a Jew lately converted, and baptised at the Meeting- house near Ave-Mary-Lane; Four of them. 15 In writing to Paul Dudley on November 20, 170%, Sewall spoke of 1 having received an Old Testament in Spanish. Late in 1700, he wrote to John Love again saying: ...send me a Bus. of Dr. Bates's Harmony of the Divine Attributes, 6. Flavels mental errors, 2 Mordeus Geographie rectified, 12. Colsons Seamans Kalendar. 6. Wakely's Com- pass rectifier. 6. Norwood Epitome of Navigation. One great Histor. GeOgraph. and Poetical Dictionary of the newest Edition.... 17 This order shows an interest in works other than those of a religious nature. Turning now to Sewall's eighteenth century correspondence, we find him writing to John Love again on October 11, 1701 that: ...Dr. Nehemiah Grew has put forth a book entituled Cos- mologia Sacra, or a discourse of the Universe as it is the Creature and Kingdom of God....also a Treatise of Dr. Holder concerning Time, and another of the natural 1‘}. Ibid. , 237-80 15. 1513., 239. 16. Ibid., 246. 17. IBIH., 248. 5A. Grounds of Harmony....Send one of each...Send in the As- sembly Confession of Faith and Catechismes in Latin bound up together. 18 On March 10, 17OA/5 he asked Thomas Newton to "...Buy for me all the statutes at large made since Mr. Keeble's Edition. 168A. Let them be well Bound...The Register, Crompton [Euris- diction of divers Courts], Bracton, Britton, Fleta, Mirror Horn's Miroir des Justices]....Heath's Pleadings, Sir Edward 19 Coke's Reports." Another order to John Love on January 7, 1712/3 included: Pole's English Annotations. Mr. Henry's Annotations so far as he he gon. The Dutch Afibtations. Cambridge Concordance. Tremellius and Junius Latin Bible of a fair print to carry to Church. Dr. Lightfoot's Works in Volume. Tigurine Bible. Pareus his Adversaria on the Bible. Harris's Lexicon Tenicum. Alcuinus Pauli Freheri Theatrum virorum Eruditione clarorum. Dr. Preston's Works. Rushworth's Collection abridg and improvd, two Setts. Ray of the Wisdom of GOD in the Creation. All Calvin's CBmentaries. Dr. Owen's two last volums on the Hebrews, from the 6th Chapter to the End. Stillingfleet's Origines Sacrae, Irenicum, Church Rome. Supplement to the great Historical Dictionary. Dr. Edwards his Tracts. Two Herbert's Poems. Mr. Watt's Hymns. Virgil in usum Delphini. I have Ovid's Metamorphosis, if there be anything else of Ovid in Usum Delphini, let me have it. ' Dr. Arrowsmith's Armilla. If any of the Old Books be so scarce, that they are very 20 dear; forbear buying them; and acquaint me with the Price.... ‘18. Ibid., 26f. 19. 11313., 310, 20. IBE., II, 10-12. 55. Still another letter to John Love of March 20, 1715/6 reported: "I have the Statutes at large to the Two and Thirtieth Year of Charles the Second....I desire you to send me the Statutes at Large from that time all along....Send me Dr. Owen upon 21 the Hebrews, all the A Books...." On August 21, 1716 Sewall added to this order: "Two Setts of Dr. Calamy's Abridgment 22 of Mr. Baxter's Life." writing to Samuel Storke on August 30, 1720, Sewall asked him to: ...goe to Mr. John Clark...and subscribe for Six books for me that are going to be Printed, of Dr. John Owen; several valuable Manuscripts &c. of that excellent Author. If the book be already printed, buy two of them, or three well bound in Calves Leather, and send me.... 23 In another letter to Storke written on October 2, 1728, he re- quested: Three Sets of the Dutch Annotations 2d hand if fair and reasonable. Pool's Engl 1:shj Annotations at 2d Hand, three Sets also if fa r and good. Twelfe of the Assembly's Confession of Faith, larger Catechisme with proofs at Length. Shorter ditto &C. bound up together. Dr. Calamy of the ejected Ministers two Vols., and his Answer to him that insulted him. 2A Mr. Baxter against the National Conversion of the Jews. From this evidence, we can conclude that Samuel Sewall's library was predominantly religious, but also included works on law, government, classics, geography, navigation and even a little poetry. He also seemed to be a student of languages, TB? . 24. T633” 253. 56. especially Latin and Spanish. Although its exact contents and value are not known, it seems from the rather large orders he frequently made that Sewall probably owned a quite large and valuable library. It is time now to return to the famous library of the Mathers, the largest and in many ways the most interesting private library in all New England, and complete its story which we left in the year 1700. Several of Cotton Mather's diary entries give hints as to its size and contents. Late in November, 1702, he wrote: "My Study, is tho' a Large, yett a Warm Chamber. (the hangings wherof, are Boxes with be- tween two and three thousand Books in them,)...." In February, 1705/6, he spoke in his diary of a present of books from the "Library of the three Famous Shepards," probably Thomas Shepard of Cambridge and his sons Samuel and Thomas, which enriched his library not only with its printed books, which, even priced low, might have been worth more than £12, but also with manu- scripts of the Shepard's themselves which Mather felt were even 25 more valuable. Writing in his diary on February 12, 1708/9, Mather said: Tho' I am furnished with-a very great Library yett seeing a Library of a late Minister in the Town to be sold, and a certain Collection of Books there, which had it may be above six hundred single Sermons in them; I could not forbear mentioning my Wishes in my Prayers be- .fore the Lord,-that in case it might be a Service to His 25. Mather Dia , Part I, 532. 57. Interests, or to me in serving His Interests, He would enable me in His good Providence, to purchase the Treas- ure now before me. But I left the Matter before Him with the profoundest Resignation willing to be without every Thing that He should not order for me. Behold, a Gentle- man, who a year ago treated me very ill; but I cheerful- ly forgave him! carried me home to dine with him; and up- on accidental Mention of the Library aforesaid, he, to my Surprize, compelled me to accept of him a Summ of Money, which enabled me to come at what I had been desirous of. 26 Mather's correspondence also refers to books he obtained as additions to his magnificent library. In a letter to a Mr. Ward from Boston, November 20, 1716, Mather said: ...I have a mighty Thirst after the Sight of Books, now and then published in Holland: which may upon sending you the Titles be transmitted with the Goods that you may send hither....There is one Thomas C enius, who had published above a dozen little Duodecimo Volumes of Collections of small Treatises, full of Erudition....Our dear Mr. Loftus, will explain what they are; and will direct how to come at them....27 Also in November, 1716, John Winthrop wrote to Cotton Mather thanking him for the communications from the Royal Society and for the loan of a book by a Dr. Woodward called Naturalis Higg- 'gy;§ Telluris which Mather owned.28 In a letter to John Win- throp dated July 15, 1720, he said: "Within these Few Days, I have received packetts of books from Gresham-Colledge; by which I am sensible, that some Egrmer packetts from them hither have unhappily miscarried...." In another letter to Winthrop on December 26, 1720, he tells of an interesting addition to his *2o. Ibid., Part II, 2. 27. IEid., 421-422. 28. Wright Litera Culture 190. 29. Ibid.,'1787“'£z'“"“‘” 58. library: "I have newly received large packetts from Tranquebar in the East Indies; with a New Testament & some little Books of piety, printed in the Damulic Languagg & character; which are the first things that ever were printed in those parts 30 ' of the world...." The exact fate of the Mather library is not definitely as- certainable. On March 15, 172A Cotton wrote in his diary a most moving passage concerning his financial difficulties and his beloved library, saying in part: ...I am a very poor Man. I have not a Foot of Land upon Earth. Except a Library and a little Household Stuff, I have nothing upon eart . And this also I am now offering unto my Creditors, to satisfy for Debits, wherof I never did myself owe a Farthing. My very Librar , the Darling of my little Enjoyments is demanded from me: Tis inex- pressible, how much this condition pleases me, gladdens me! 31 However, his fears do not seem to have beaI borne out, and apparently his library was still intact at the time of his death, February 13, 1727/8. One rather curious reference to the Mather library in later years occurred in the correspondence of Abi- gail and John Adams. Abigail, in a letter to John written from Braintree, Massachusetts, June 25, 1775 and referring to the great conflagration at Charlestown said: "Mr. Mather [probably Cotton's grandson, Samuei] got out a day or two be- fore Charlestown was destroyed, and had lodged his papers and 70. Ibid. , m g. 31. Mather Diar , Part II, 707-8. 59. what else he got out at Mr. Carey's, but they were all con- sumed...."32 Her husband, John, writing from Philadelphia on July 7, 1775, added this comment: "The loss of Mr. Mather's library, which was a collection of books and manuscripts made by himself, his father, his grandfather, and great-grandfather§ and was really very curious and valuable, is irreparable...."3 However, no other reliable record of the loss of this library has been found, and the library apparently seems to have been intact at the time of the death of Cotton's tory grandson, Sam- uel, in 1785. A letter in support of this written by Samuel and quoted in an introduction to an 1862 edition of Increase Mather's History pf King Philip's W3; said: "My Father's Li- brary was by far the most valuable Part of the family Property. It consisted of 7000 or 8000 Volumes of the most curious and chosen Authors, and a prodigious Number of valuable Manuscripts, which had been collected by my Ancestors for five Generations." He considered that these books were worth at least £8,000 ster- ling. 3A Thus, although I was unable to find any catalogue or in- ventory of Cotton Mather's library at the time of his death in 1727/8, it seems reasonable to assume that it very likely con- tained some 3,000 or more volumes of many different types, par- ticularly religion and science. It seems also to have been 32. C.F. Adams, Familiar Letters of John Adams §p§.Hi§’Wife Abi ail Adams Durin pfig Revolution withfg Memoir p: Mpg. Adams (New York, 187 , 2. 33. Ibid., 76. 3A. Tuttle, "Mather Libraries," 298-299. 60. passed down from Cotton to his son, and from there to Cotton's grandson which takes us into the Revolutionary period and out of the scope of this paper. Three smaller but interesting Massachusetts libraries of the period 1729 to 1736 were those belonging to Edward Taylor, William Pepperell, and the Rev. Thomas Harvard. Edward Taylor, a New England poet and Harvard graduate of 1671, owned books of poetry, the classics, religion and medicine. The inventory of his estate taken after his death in 1729 listed 192 items valued at 55A, including many texts on theological doctrine, an occasional medical volume, a book of Anne Bradstreet's ver- ses,35Theocritus' Id 113, Homer's Iligg, some works of Horace, Seneca, Statiusé and the Greek minor poets, and a volume on versification.3 Just a year later, in 1730, a law library was ordered from London by William Pepperell, but its specific con- tents are unknown. That year Governor Jonathan Belcher of Massachusetts ordered that the Court of Common Pleas be re- constituted and placed Pepperell at its head in order to get a clerk appointed for it. Pepperell then ordered a law library from London, and on its arrival applied himself to the study of 37 that subject. The last of this trio of library owners, the 35. T. H. Johnson, "EdwardTaylor: A Puritan 'Sacred Poet'", New England Quarterly, X, No. 2, June, 1937, 321. 36. S. E. Lind, "Edward Taylor: A Revaluation," New England Quarterly, XXI, 19A8, 522. . J. G. Palfrey, A Compendious History pf New England from the Discovery py Europeans to the First GeneraI’Congress p: phETAnglo-American Colonies, A—V3i§., (Boston, 188A), IV, 5A. . \ww- '2' I'- f {I 61. Rev. Thomas Harvard, minister of King's Chapel, Boston, died in 1736 leaving a scanty library of "only ninety works, mostly small and of poor quality." The only specific titles in it to which I found reference were Fuller's Medicinal Gymnastipg, one volume, Sydenham's Wprkp in one volume valued at 1A 3., and Howe's Blessedness 9313p; Righteous valued at 8 5.38 Again only indirectly can we learn of the contents of the library or at least the reading of Benjamin Colman (l673-17A7), the first pastor of Boston's Brattle Street Church, and widely known in his day as a liberal and accomplished preacher. He knew William Whiston's New Theory pf the Earth and referred to articles in Chamber's Cyclopaedia, first printed in London in 1728. Colman also used evidence from Cato, Emperor Marcus An- toniusé the stoics, Steele's Christian H239, and of course, the Bible. 9 Thus, he may well have owned books on religion, the classics and possibly an encyclopedia. One of the largest libraries in eighteenth century New England belonged to the Rev. Thomas Prince of Boston (1687-1758), a very active book collector, who for fifty years with great enthusiasm, perseverance and intelligence collected and anno- tated contemporary books and manuscripts of his generation. From his grandfather, Thomas Hinckley, the last governor of Plymouth Colony, Prince acquired the rudiments of his biblio- thecal knowledge, probably his interest in book-collecting, and 38. Weeden, History prew England, 5A5. 39. T. Hornberger, "Benjamin Colman and the Enlightenment," Ngy England Quarterly, Vol. XII, No.-2, June, 1939, 231 & 239. 1‘ 1‘ I1 62. also many books for his own library which he began collecting as early as his seventh year. His earliest books are not known, but Justin Winsor, who eventually catalogued what remained of his library, said that he exchanged one of his first books for Michael'Wigglesworth's,Q§y pf 229p, one of the most popular books of the day. A note in this book records its acquisi- tion in exchange "for one had A. D. 169A."t+O Some information is also available concerning Prince's book purchases. While travelling abroad to Barbados, Madeira, and England and after his return in 1717 he seems to have purchased books steadily.hl One item in the manuscript account book of Daniel Henchman, bookseller, showed the following: * Revd. Thos Prince Dr. December 20, 1726 To 56 octavos 2d hand 7.00.00 8 Quartos 5' 2.00.00 3 Folios 2.00.00 A2 Unfortunately, however, none of the titles are given. Many of the intellectual leaders of Massachusetts seem to have borrowed and loaned books, especially since books were not cheap in those days. For example, Cotton Mather wrote to Prince on April 16, 1718 saying: "Many pages would not be enough to express the Thanks I owe you, for the Long Loan of your Pri- deaux....great Riches are added unto the Biblia Americana, by these your communications...[Eskslif you'll favor me, by this A0. C. L. Cannon, American BookiCollectors andiCOllecting from Colonial Times to the Present (New York, 19Al), i-2. Cannon, American Book Collectors 3. A2. Wright, Literary Culture, 179. “xx 14".. w! 63. Bearer, with the Book of Poetry, you bought the last wek at your Booksellers." Again on December 11, 1718, Mather wrote that Prince had William Whiston's Speculation upon celestial Explosions, and that he wished to see it.)+3 Prince also owned some valuable papers and manuscripts. The brightest jewel of his collection was the manuscript flig- 5231 9; Plymouth Plantation written by William Bradbrd and borrowed by Prince to use in compiling his Chronological History of New England. He got it floayJudge Samuel Sewall who had himself borrowed it from Major Bradford, a grandson of Governor Bradford. He eventually inserted his own bookplate in this volume, and this led to its eventual return to America by the Bishop of London 169 years later.hh From Gov. Thomas Hinckley, he acquired manuscripts now catalogued as the Hinckley Papers which included letters to and from colonial governors, official papers of Plymouth Colony, and others dealing with legal affairs and accounts. Also included were letters from William Penn, Governor Josiah Winslow, Governor Bradstreet, Gov. Jacob Leisler, Roger Williams, the Rev. John Cotton and others.h5 He also owned the Mather papers which he assembled chronologically into seven folio volumes covering the period 1632-1689. These were of great value for students of ecclesiastical history as well as serving as political annals and for recording domestic occurrences. During Prince's absence in England, however, some L3.7'Tuttle, "Mather Libraries,fifi295. Ah. Cannon, American Book Collectors, h-E. #5. Ibid., 6. 64. papers "of curiosity and value were unhappily lost." He also at one time had in his possession three manuscript volumes of Gov. John Winthrop's Journal covering tge history of the colony of Massachusetts Bay to the year 1649. Almost no traces of any interest in manuscript collecting were found in seventeen- th century New England, and this is probably a new development in this period. At his death in 1758, Prince turned his library over to South Church on the following terms: ...that the said Church make a rule and order that the key of said library shall always be kept by one of their Pastors; that the New England library be always kept in a different apartment from the other Books, and that it may be a rule that no Person shall borrow any book or paper there from: but that any Person whom the Pastor and Deacons of said Church...sha11 approve of may have ac- cess thereto, and take copies hence.... #7 Although the exact contents of his library at this time are not known, a complete catalogue was made in 1812 of all that remained of his library. It stated that "there are new bound 90 vol. Octavo; (95 twelvemo); l6 Folio; 22 Quarto...." He seems also to have owned the principal philosophical works of Sir Kenelm Digby in the original l6hh-l6h5 edition, a collect- ion of pamphlets in eighteenth century binding presented to the American Antiquarian Society on July 26, 1815 and including New England First Fruits; London, 16h3; Good News from New England, London, l6h8; Q; the Conversion 9; Five Thousand and Nine Hundred East Indians by Joseph Caryl, London, 1650; The 46. Ibid. #7. Cannon, American Book Collectors, 9. 65. Day-Breaking if not the Sun-Rising, London, 1647; The Clear Sun-Shine 9f the Gospel by Thomas Shepard, London, 1648; The Glorious Workers gf the Gospel by Edward Winslow, London, 1649; Strength out gf‘Weaknesse, London, 1652; Tears 9; fig- pentance by John Eliot, London, 1653; A Late and Further Mani- festation, London, 1655; A Narrative g; the Troubles with the Indians by W. Hubbard, Boston, 1655; and Entertaining Passages Relating £9 Philip's Wag‘by Thomas Church, Boston, 1716.1+8 Prince's library, then, seems to have contained an unusually high percentage of contemporary volumes and papers, and, in- deed, in this respect was probably superior among colonial li- braries. Biographers are again the chief source of information con- cerning the library of Jonathan Edwards (1704-1758), the dynamic religious leader of the "Great Awakening" in the middle of the eighteenth century. His father, the Rev. Timothy E. Edwards, was an eminent Latin, Greek and Hebrew scholar and saw to it that Jonathan achieved accuracy and maturity in these fields of literature. At the age of fourteen, Jonathan read John Locke's Eggay‘gnlflgmgn Understanding (very likely belonging to his fa- ther), and in this same period read in the field of science, especially in Issac Newton's works},9 As a student at Yale, he was required to memorize (and thus probably owned) "the #8. Ibid., 10-111 49. Sparks, Libragy 3; American Bio ra h , Vol. VIII, 10 and P. Miller, Jonathan Edwards (New York, 1545), The American Men of Letters Series, 3 . 66. Assemblies Catechism" in Latin and Ames's Theological Theses. He also took courses in Cicero and Virgil as well as the New Testament in Greek and the Hebrew Psalter. He asked his fa- ther for Alstead's Geometry and Gassendus' Astronomy as well as the App pf Thinking. He read the third Earl of Shaftes- 50 bury's treatises on ethics and the study of science, and also as a student read Solomon Stoddard's IQ; Safety pf Appear- ipg and Th9 Appeal pp pp; Learned.51 He later read Berkeley's Egpgy Toward §_New Theory pf Vision and his treatise concern- ing human knowledge.52 Edwards borrowed books, bought books and read avidly. Evidence of this is the elaborate notebooks he made in which he accumulated, arranged, and sorted the knowledge he gained from reading and upon which he based his later writings and sermons. In his Catalogue, a homemade notebook of forty- three pages bound in heavy brown paper, he entered more than 600 titles of the books he was reading or wanted to read, ad- ding notes and comments. Thus his library very likely con- tained volumes on religion, law, science, philosophy, mathe- matics, languages and the classics, although we have no de- finite information as to its exact numbers, contents or value. In one very interesting statement, he deplored America's )50. A. C. McGITTert, Jr., Jonathan Edwards (New York, 1932 7. ’ . O. E. Winslow' Jonathan Edwards, 1203-1258: §_Bi- (New York, 1940’, 64 51 o ra h 55. Ibid., 244. 53. Winslow, Edwards, 119-120. f. 67. dependence upon England in intellectual matters. In a sermon preached during one of the great revivals, whether that of 1734-5 or 1740-1 is not clear, Edwards pointed out how English manners and customs were sped in America, and commenting upon the cultural dependence of the colonies upon the mother coun- try said: ”we are [i3 country dependent on then, we are such to their government, we have our books, and our learning from thence, and are upog‘many accounts exceeding liable to be corrupted by then." Some idea of the contents of the Rev. William Smith's li- brary can be gained by a study of diary entries-referring to books he leaned various friends and relatives. For the year 1739 he stated: "Lent Mr. Lord 1 vol of Spectat Eel r; Ir. Bass 2 ditto, Isaac, one; Mr Humphrey 2 voll. Spect [ptd] r... Books lent: Spectator, one volume to my Brother Isaac. One volume of the Guardian to Mr. Abbot. Dr. Mathers Life to Mr. Fox: 1 vol. of Spect'or to Mr. Bass and l v. of Dr. Sharp Ir. Humphrey 2 vol. 55 Hr. Bay ey, the His Ltory] of England In 1741 he recorded lending iflr. Gay's Sermon tgbhr. Bass," and ”June Lent Mr. Gay 2 Books Law and Burnet.' For the year 1749 we find the following entry: 54. 'P} Miller wJonathanEdwards‘ Sociology of the Great Awakening," New England uarterl , XXI, 1948, 54-55. 1738 {gé :Digriesho Rev.H1 am Smith and Dr. Cotton Tufts, , - 4 case usetts storiggl Society Proceedings m1, mos-1569, LE9. ' 56. ."Diary of Rev. Smith," 454. 68. Books lent, 1749 To Mr. Gay 1 vol. history of ye Reformation To Mr. Gay 1 vol. of Dr. Sharps Sermons. To Mr. Shute 1 vol. of Dr. Watts Sermon. To Cotton Tufts Several Books. To Deb. Bodlam 1 vol. of Spectator. To Mr. Humphrey 1 vol. of Pride. 57 A similar list for 1755 included: Books Lent: To Mr. Gay, Burnet's history of the Reformation, 3 vol. To Mr. Chranch Locke's Letters To Mr. Shute, 1 vol. of Dr. Watt's Serman, and 2 Ser- mons of Mr. Gees To Mrs. Jenny Goold, the 8 vol. of the Spectator To Lucy 1 vol. Spectator To Joseph Diar, Mr. It. and Littles To Sarah Diar Gardoner's Life. 58 It is interesting to note that four of these borrowers were women. In 1759 he spent at various times £4 for books,£l 10 s. for books and $2 5 s. for bookbinding. His last diary entry referring to his library occurred in 1768 and recorded lend- 59 ing "Dodrige to the Widow Thayer." His library, then, seems to have contained works on religion, history, biography, agri- culture, 1aw and several current periodicals. Again there is unfortunately little definite information on the library of Samuel Adams, Boston patriot and leader in the movement towards independence, to the year 1776, but a study of his collected writings does afford some clue as to works he read and probably owned. In a letter to John Smith, Esquire, dated Boston, December 20, 1765,6he mentioned "Dr. 0 Ellison on temporal & spiritual Liberty." In an article 57. Ibid., 437. 58. $513., 465. 59. T—bid., 467 a 469. 60. H. K. Cushing, ed., pp; Writings pf_Samue1 Adams, 4 Vols., (New York, 1904), I, 55. {h 69. presumably written by Adams under the pseudonym "Vindex" and addressed to the printers of the Boston Gazette, December 19, 1768 61 law. In another newspaper article, this time for the Boston he referred to Coke, the well known writer of works on Evening Ppgp of February 13, 1769 under the pseudonym "Can- idus," he quoted Virgil.62 Thus, though the evidence is mea- ger, we can conclude that he quite likely read and owned works on religion, law and the classics. A few definite titles have been assigned to the library of Joseph Hawley (1723-1788), a colonial statesman and revolu- tionary leader from Massachusetts. He owned Hunt's Explana- pipp_gn Daniel, Dr. Samuel Mather's Entrance lppp ppg Kingdom 2£ Heaven, Willard's Truly Blessed Mpg, Virgil's works, and Cicero's Orations and Rplgp pf Pleading. After his gradua- tion from Yale in 1742, he became the owner of two works of theological study, Bishop Usher's Bpgy pf Divinitie and Dupin's three volume History pffppp Church fgpgwppp Beginning pf Egg ‘nglg to the Year of Christ 121§. In 1744 he read and possi- bly owned "a most Dangerous and Corrupt Book," Experience Maya 2. hew's Grace Defended ip_g Modest Plea for pp Important Truth. Hawley knew Lord Hale and cited him liberally in a long article ‘written for the Bgston Evening Pgst of January 25, 1768. He ‘was also familiar with Coke's work which he purchased for 61} Ibid., 271. 62. Ibid., 309. 63. E. Francis Brown, Joseph Hawley: Colonial Radical (New York, 1931), 11. 64. Ibid., 18 and 20. 70. £5 13 s. d 4. in 1758, and cited him along with Blackstone in an argument written about 1770 on the question "Are the Justices of the Superior Court removable at Pleasure or for just Cause only." In his commonplace book (a sort of liter- ary diary), he wrote an explanation of a passage in Blackstone's third volume which was not so "clear and obvious as others." Tradition has also made him conversant with Bracton, Fleta and Rastell.65 In other words, he seems to have owned books on religion, the classics, history and law. Specific information can be given for at least a portion of the library of James Bowdoin, (1726-1790), later governor of Massachusetts, because a list remains of the books left in his mansion when it was taken over by British General John Burgoyne to use as his headquarters. In this catalogue made on September 9, 1775, I counted 341 volumes, including many on history, several on travel, some written in Latin, many on religion and law including the laws of Massachusetts and Con- necticut, the works of Voltaire and Rabelais and several others in French, a biography of Cotton Mather, collections of sermons, books on mathematics, astronomy, poetry, the famil- iar Gardener's dictionary and other works on agriculture, volumes on geography (including collections of maps), survey- ing, philOSOphy, the classics (including Lucan, Horace, Plu- tarch and others), dictionaries, plays, including those by 55. E. Francis Brown, “The Law Career of MajOr Joseph Hawley," The New England Quarterly, IV, No. 3, July, 1931, 485. 71. Shakespeare, medical and surgical works, and books by contem- porary English literary figures such as Addison and Steele. In other words, Bowdoin's library in 1775 was a very catholic collection with no one type predominant and showing an ex- tremely wide range of interests. However, while Burgoyne was residing at Bowdoin's home, Bowdoin was living at Middleboro at the home of Judge Andrew Oliver and quite likely had at least part of his library with him, so this catalogue is very likely not a complete list of all the books he owned in 1775, but is no doubt a fairly representative collection.66 Reported readings are again the only evidence of the li- brary of Timothy Dwight (1752-1817) of Massachusetts, a teacher and president of Yale University. According to his biographer, he read the historical parts of the Bible, the catechism, Watt's Divine Son 5, Lily's Latin Grammar, Salmon's Grammar, Josephus, Prideaux, a history of the Jews, Rollin, Hooke's Histoyy pg 39mg, various histories of Greece and England, and accounts written by the first New England settlers. He also read the Boston Chronicle and the current magazines the Rambler and the Tatler as well as Homer, Horace, Cicero, Milton's Payp- gippqupp, Thompson's Seasons, and much of Dryden, Pope, and the Spectator. The only actual book purchase he made that is 67 referred to is that of Ward's System pf'Oratogy. However, I 66. J'.4H. Tuttle "Bowdoin Library, 5 Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, LI, 1917-8i list, 361-8—— 67. C. E. Cunning ham, Timoth Dwi ht 1253- -1812, Bipgraphy, (New York, 1942), 15, 16,17, 29, 37, and 39. 72. feel that his reading tastes quite likely reflected the actual contents of his library which probably contained works on re- ligion, history, classical languages and literature, belles- 1ettres of Englisi authors, and current newspapers and periodi- cals. Again specific detail is unfortunately lacking as to act- ual library contents, but Dr. Nathaniel Ames (17h1-1822) of Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts showed a lively interest in drama in his diary entries to the year 1776. April 29, 1759 he "went see The Drummer acted at How's"; on April 21 he recorded "The Orphan acted, ye 13th inst."; on June 20, "The Recruiting Officer acted by ourselves, then public...."; on July 6, "The Revenge acted...."; and on September 7, "Cato acted this evening." The next year, 1760, he recorded on April 8, "Tancred and Sigismunda acted...."68 The only other books I found referred to were as follows: On April 2A, 1759 he stated that he had begun reading Locke, and on February 16, 1761, he began to recite Watt's Astronomy.69 Thus his library very likely contained both classical and contemporary dramas as well as textbooks common to university students of that day. The writings of John Adams (1735-1826), a leader in the revolutionary movement in Massachusetts and eventually the second President of the United States, contain numerous refer- ences to books and to his library. In a letter to his friend 68. C. Warren, CJacobin and Junto: Earl American Politics as Viewed in the Diar of Dr. Nathw 1e¥ Ames 1228-1822 TCambr1dge 1931) 18 and 25. Ibid., 18 and 21. 73. 70 Richard Cranch dated September 2, 1755 he mentioned Milton. A year later in 1756 he commented on his current readings. On May 2 he said "...I have been studying the first part of Butler's Analogy."71 On May 23 he wrote: "This week I have read one volume of Duncan Forbe's works, and one half of Bent- ley's Sermons at the Boilean Lectures,"72 and on May 30 stated: "This week I have wrote the eighth Sermon of Bentley's.... Read part of the first volume of Voltaire's Age of Louis XIV."73 On October 5, 1758 he stated: "I am resolved to translate Justinian and commentator's...and read Gilbert's Tenures... [and] on a Sunday I will read the Enquiry into the Nature of the Human Soul, and for amusement, I will sometimes read Ovid's Art of Love to Mrs. Savil."7h In December he discussed Shake- speare's King Lear and read aloud Cicero's four orations again- st Catiline.75 On October 12, 1759 he began to transcribe from Brightland's English Grammar and to compare Dr. Cowell's Institute69312hg Laws with Justinian's Institutes of the Lagg Q§_figmg:7 Also in his journal for 1759 he advised: "...search ...in Roman, Grecian, French, English treatises of natural, civil, common, statute 1aw....Study Seneca, Cicero, and all 70. C. F. Adams (ed.], The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With Agfife of the Author, Notes andIllustrations, IC Vols., (Boston, 18567: I, 27. ““71. Ibid., II, 16. 720 Tbido, 18. 73. IEIH., II, 21. 74. TEL, 37. 750 We, 51-2. 76. Ibid., 80. 74. other good moral writers; study Montesquieu, Bolingbroke, J 77 Vinnius, &c...." In 1760 he wrote: I have read a multitude of law books; mastered but few. Wood, Coke, two volumes Lillie's Abridgment, two volumes Salkeld's Reports, Swinburne, Hawkin's Pleas of the Crown, Fortescue, Fitzgibbon, ten volumes in folio...besides octavos and lesser volumes, and many others, of all sizes that I consulted occasionally without reading in course, as dictionaries, reporters, entries, and abridgments. ...However, I have read no small number of volumes upon the law in the last two years. Justinian's Institutes I have read through in Latin, with Vinnius's perpetual notes; Van Muyden's Tractatio Institutionum Justiniani ....Wood's Institute ofgthe Civil Law I read through. These on the civil law. On the law of England, I read Cowell's Institute of the Laws of England, in imitation of Justinian, Doctor and Student, Finch's Discourse of Law, Hale's History, and some reporters, cases in chan- cery, Andrews, &c., besides occasional searches for busi- ness. Also a General Treatise of Naval Trade and Commer- ce, as founded on the laws and statutes.... 78 On May 29, 1760, he said: "I must run over Fractions again... and now and then a few questions in Fenning and Hammond and Ward, or else I shall totally forget my numbers."79 June of this same year he recorded readings in Horace, Homer, Timon of Athens, Naval Trade, Coke, Andrews, Locke, and some current magazines, and on August 19 said: "Read Pope's Homer in about a week."80 On December 6 he recorded.talking with a person named Zab about Newton, Bacon, Locke, Martin, Chambers, Rown- ing, Desaguliers, S'Gravesande and similar authors.81 He stated on February 9, 1761: "Last week rambled and straggled from Corpus Juris Canonici to Bolingbroke, from Bolingbroke 77. Ibid., I, L6. 78. Ibid. 79. IEIH., II, 83. 80. Ibid., 87-97. 81. IBIH., 105. 75. to Pope, from him to Addison, from him to Yorick's Sermons etc...." On October 18, 1761 he recorded reading in Pope's Satires, and on November 10 made the stagement that in the 3 past year he "bought some books, &c...." Unfortunately he gives us none of their titlesnor any idea of their general type or contents. October 22, 1762, he read in Thompson's Travels in Turkey gag Asia and on February 1, 1763, read five sermons in Dr. Sherlock and several chapters in An Inguigy Into the Origin 9f 9 E Ideas 3f the Sublime and the Beautiful. h He mentioned reading Shakespeare's Li£g_gf,§ing Heggy XIII on December 30, 1765, and just two days later, on January 1, 1766, mentioned Hutchinson's Histogy 2: Massachusetts.85 On July 18, 1766, he described an interesting addition to his library in the following terms: "I accidentally found a curious volume....It seems to be a collection of pamphlets, published in the memorable year 1640, bound up together in one quarto volume. Lord Digbie's Speech, 9 November, 1640, concerning grievances and the Triennial Parliament, Harbottle Grimstone's speech, 18th December, 1640, moving for an impeachment of the Archbishop....Pym's speech afger the articles against Sir George Ratcliffe were read."8 On July 29, 1766 he recorded purchasing Gilbert's Law,gf Evidence at Boston.87 In almost his only reference to purely fictional reading, he stated on 82. Ibid., 117. 83. Ibid., 132-3. 84. Ibid. 137 and 141. 85. bids 170-1. 86. 1 ., II, 196. 870 IEido’ 198. 76. July 2, 1771: "I have been...reading the achievements of Don Quixote." Again on November 21, 1772 he spoke of the gradual increase of his library, but gave no specific details concern- 89 ing it. However, the most all-inclusive statement he made concerning his own library and the purposes it was to serve appeared in his diary entry for January 30, 1768, a part of which stated: I am mostly intent, at present, upon collecting a lib- rary; and I find that a great deal of thought and care, as well as money, are necessary to assemble an ample and well-chosen assortment of books. But, when this done, it is only a means, an instrument. Whenever I shall have completed my library, my end will not be answered. Fame, fortune, power, say some, are the ends intended by a li- brary. The service of God, country, clients, fellow- men, say others. Which of these lies nearest my heart? Self-love but servles the virtuous mind to wake, As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake; The centre moved, a circle straight succeeds, Another still, and still another spreads; Friend, parent, neighbor, first.it will embrace, His country next, and next all human race. 90 One of Adams's biographers ranked Adams's library as one of the largest and most diversified in colonial times. He said this library was a "speaking instance of the intellectual tastes of an educated American gentleman and man of action of 'the eighteenth century" and was a collection of over 3,000 volumes, surpassed numerically only by one other private li- ‘brary, that of Col. William Byrd of Westover, Virginia. How- everg certainly not all of these were collected by 1776. He fiurther stated that Adams's interests lay mainly in the fields 88. Ibid., 286. 89. Ibid., 302. 90. Ibid., I, 84. ~‘.\~' 77. of law, government and politics, but that the Greek and Latin classics were represented in his library by nearly one hundred volumes in the originals besides some translations from French and English authors. In his collection, classical historians and philosophers outnumbered the poets and dramatists. He seemed to own few works of fiction, one being the Satiricon of Petronius of which Adams had two copies. He also owned many complete sets of works such as a three volume edition of 91 Plato, according to one biographer. Thus, although we cannot state the actual number of books in John Adams' library in 1776 nor their exact value, his rather frequent references to his readings and his quotations from them support the conclusion that he owned books on law, politics, government, philosophy, the classics, travel, mathematics, science, religion, some current periodicals and belles-lettres and probably even a smattering of fiction. In other words, his interests were relatively broad with law and government seemingly particularly favored. His wife, Abigail Smith Adams, was also familiar with the .1iterature of the times. She seems to have known the writings of Nulton, Shakespears, Dryden, Pope, Addison, Swift, Tillotson, Butler and Locke and the periodicals the Spectator, the Guardian, and the Tatler.92 She was also probably familiar with some clas- sical authors and literature, and in 1775 contrasted the conduct 91. D. M. Robathan, "John Adams and the CIassicsTfiCEgy gig-.2851 @arterly, XIX, March, 1946. 91. 2 . Adams, Works, I, 63. it: 78. of the British General Thomas Gage of Boston with that of Julius Caesar and even earlier quoted Polybius.93 It seems not unlikely then that she used her husband's library and be- came acquainted with some of these authors there. Unfortunately very little information is available con- cerning the library of Thomas Hutchinson (1711-1780), governor of Massachusetts and historian. The only reference I could find was a statement saying that his books "would have given any cultivated Englishman a reputation for good taste and dis- criminating judgment" but giving no idea of their numbers, contents or value. We now return to a discussion of private libraries in the Connecticut colony from 1700 to 1776, which show a definite increase in contents and a marked trend toward secularization. The first eighteenth century Connecticut library to which re- ference was made was that of John Eliott of Hartford who owned in 1719 some 243 volumes. Included were two volumes of the Tatler, some old histories, sermons, a few medical books, a larger number of law books and other miscellaneous literature now almost completely unknown. Among the more familiar titles 'were Thg,flhglg,gggy 2; flag, Call 29 Egg Unconverted, Erasmus's Colloquies, Calvin's French Commentary, Religio Medici, A'Qg- fence 9; Human Learning, Bacon's Book Learning, Aristotle's 93. Robathan, "John Adams,"93l4. 94. C. L. Becker, Beginnings pf the American People (Boston, 1915), 170. 79. Logic and works by Josephus, Cicero, Lucan, Horace,0vid, Virgil, Homer and Seneca. The largest library in New London, Connecticut in 1726 I belonged to one George Dgnnis and contained some 139 books 9 "mostly of small value." Unfortunately, however, nothing is known of the type of books it contained. Two interesting references to Connecticut libraries ap- pear in the diary of John Adams. On June 7, 1771, while travel- ling through Connecticut he had occasion to note the existence of the following library: In Kibby's bar-room, in a little shelf within the bar, I espied two books. I asked what they were. He said Every Man his own Lawyer, and Gilbert's Law of Evidence. Upon this I asked some questions of the people there, and they told me that Kibby was a sort of a lawyer among them; that he pleaded some of their home cases before justices and arbitrator's, &c. Upon this I told Kibby to purchase a copy of Blackstone's Commentaries. 97 Just two days later, on June 9, 1771, while on the same journey, he stopped at Middletown, Connecticut, and recorded in his diary the following information: Looking into a little bedroom in this house, Shaler's, I found a few books, the Musical Miscellany, Johnson's Dictionary, the Farmer's Letters, and the ninth volume of Dr. Clarke's Sermons. This last I took for my Sabbath- day book, and read the sermon on the fundamentals of Christianity.... 98 The remainder of the Connecticut libraries were still in the process of being collected in 1776, so final information 92. Weeden,History of New Enland,Vol. II, 546. 9 . Ibid. "' "— 97. Adams, Works, II, 271. 98. Ibid., T2 . 80. concerning their value and exact numbers to that time are not obtainable. However references to them and indirect evidence of reading done from them will have to serve as evidence in attempting to determine as nearly as possible their contents and value. Rather arbitrarily, then, I will discuss the libra- ries still in the process of formation in 1776 in an alphabetical order by the last name of the owner or collector. Ethan Allen (1739-1789), the famous Revolutionary war hero, was not without access to the literature of the day. He was born at Litchfield, Connecticut, and while preparing for college as a youth, he met Thomas Young, an itinerant medico who lived near Salisbury, Connecticut, and carried books as well as medical equipment in his saddlebags. Young was far from being a "frontier illiterate." Indeed, he had read wide- ly, attended college, and copied or memorized passages from his favorite books which he laid before young Ethan. One of the most prominent of these authors Allen learned about from Young was Charles Blount, an early champion of Deism who used the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew classics, including Plutarch and Tacitus, the scholastics such as Thomas Aquinas and Athanasius, as well as "moderns" such as John Locke, Hobbes and Machiavelli in his arguments. Allen also became acquainted with Locke's §§§§y.g§.giyil Government and Eggay_gg.flgg§g Understanding as well as Warburton's Divine Legation pf Moses, Watt's Sermons and Salmon's Geographical Grammar through the contents of Young's 81. 99 saddlebags and memory. Thus we know through Ethan Allen that Young (and possibly Allen himself at a later date) owned books on religion, geography, government, philosophy, and very pro- bably, since he was doctor, some on medicine and surgery. Joel Barlow (1754-1812), an early American Poet, very likely had not collected much of a library by 1776. However, we do know that he studied from Dilworth's Spelling Bppk and Lily's Latin Grammar as a boy, and very probably either he or his father owned these books before 1776.100 Two libraries are also mentioned as owned by members of the Trumbull family of Connecticut in the eighteenth century. John Trumbull Sr. (1714-1787) owned a library containing many theological works, and about 1760 he obtained Shephard's Th3 Parable,g§,phg Ten Virgins, Hucheson's Exposition pf ppp Bppk pf ggp, and Marshall's Egg Gospel - Mystery pf Sanctification. His son, John Trumbull, Jr., was born about 1750 and probably read and owned Virgil, Cicero's orations and g3 Oratore, Horace, and a Greek New Testament as was required of all Yale Univer- sity students of the time.101 He wrote a poem entitled, "On the Philanthropy of the Author of Tristram Shandy. 1769," so he must have at least read and quite likely owned this volume 102 if he was to become so familiar with it. 99. J. Pell, Ethan Allen (Boston, 1929) 14-16. 100. T. A. Zunder, :52 Earl Days pf Joel Barlow: A Con- pggticut Wit-Yale Graduate, Editor, Lawyer and Poet, Chaplain Durin pp; Revolutionary War - Hi§_LifE and Ngrks Engm 1254- MNew Haven, 19347, 16:77. 101. A. Cowle, John Trumbull: Connecticut Witt (Chapel 1936), 21.-20 Hill 102. Ibid., 47. 82. The only suggestion of the possible contents of the library of Noah Webster (1758-1843), the author of the famous speller and dictionary is, again, in the books from which he was taught. He received his earliest instruction from Thomas Dilworth's Spelling Book, a primer, and a psalter on the Bible, so it is 103 quite likely that he or his family possessed these books. The next New England colony whose libraries are to be dis- cussed is Rhode Island, where again we find an increase in both the numbers and contents of libraries. The earliest ac- count of reading Elizabethan plays in New England occurs in this colony, and is referred to in Samuel Sewall's diary for the year 1706 which reads as follows: I set out [from Bristol]...for Narraganset. Din'd at Bright's E? tavern at Newporp]: while Dinner was getting ready I read in Ben Johnson, a Folio.... 104 A biography again gives all the available information con- cerning the library of Robert Feke (1705 to about 1750), one of the earliest American artists and portrait painters. His biographer states that by the 1740's, Feke was acquainted with Samuel Richardson's novel Pamela Andrews and with the writings of Lord Shaftesbury. Indeed, he even went so far as to paint a portrait of the ideal representation of Pamela Andrews, so must, indeed, have been quite familiar with it and very possibly 105 owned it. Of any other probable contents of his library, 153. H. R. Warfel, Noah Webster: Schoolmaster to America (New York, 1936), 11. 104. "Sewall's Diary," II, 167. 105. H. W. Foote, Robert Feke: Colonial Portrait Painter (Cambridge, 1930), 31. 83. however, we unfortunately know nothing. A collection of old books, a diary, a will and a few letters in the possession of the Marchant family show that Henry Marchant of Newport and South Kingstown, Rhode Island, a graduate of the embryo University of Pennsylvania, an attorney- at-law, a colonial agent, and member of the Continental Con- gress owned a varied and extensive library. Most of his col- lection was in thick folios, bound handsomely in calf and printed almost without exception in England. Some of these may have been purchased by Merchant on a visit to England in 1771-1772 to secure compensation to Rhode Island for services rendered during the French and Indian War. He owned Katherine Iacaulay's History pf England from Egg Accession gflggmgg I 52 the Elevation of the House of Hanover. He also owned a History 9; England in two huge folio volumes of 800 pages each written in French by Rapin de Thayras and translated in- to English by N. Tindal, M. A., vicar of Great Waltham in Es- sex. Also listed among his volumes were the works of Sir William Temple, Algernon Sidney, A Treatise 2f Militagyggis- cipline by Humphrey Bland, Ag_§§§gy,gg the History 93,9213; Society by Adam Ferguson, Johnson's Dictionary in two volumes, fourth edition, John Locke's Egggy Concerning Human Understand- igg, the Poetical Works 2£_Alexander £922 in four volumes and Bell's edition of the 222 g g£_§§gg§ Britain, complete from Chaucer to Churchill. Listed among his books on law were The Principles 9: the Laws 92 Scotland by John Balfour and 84. Observations 2g Reversionary ngments 23 Schemes for Provid- 106m ing Annuities for Widows and Orphans by Richard Price. That he possessed a rather sizable library seems quite likely from the following statement in a letter from Marchant to Mr. Alexander Grant, a London merchant, written from Newport, Rhode Island, February 12, l7hh saying: "I have had many Books of Them [Brotherton & Sewell at the Sign of the Bible opposite the Royal Exchange] and it may not be amiss to let them know you want Them for me." He then inclosed an order for the following books: Sir William Temple Works 2 folio Volumes Sidney on Government with his Life and Apology Sir Matthew Hale's Pleas of the Crown; published with Notes by Soloni, 2 Volumes Lord Talbot's Reports Wilson's Reports Banbury (Will) Replica of Copy in the Exchequer publish- ed by George Wilson Plowden's Reports Vattally, Law of Nations. I think the Title is in 2 or 3 Quarto Volumes. Burroughs Settlement Cases Adjudged from the Death of Lord Raymond, 1732 The Complete Body of Husbandry: - A large folio Volume The best Treatice(:si§] in l Octavo Volume upon For- estry 107 Shortly after the Battle of Lexington in 1775, Narchant moved from Newport to South Kingstown and at this time bought for his son William a Short Introduction Lg English Grammar for 3 3 l—g—O . _ the sum of 2 s 6 d. This is the last reference found to 106. S. S. Brayton, “The Library of an Eighteenth- Century Gentleman of Rhode Island " New England Quarterly VIII, No. 2, June, 1935, 277-280., — ’ 1070 Ibid., 280-10 108. Ibid., 282. 85. his library before 1776, and.we can thus conclude that quite likely it was a relatively large library containing books on law, history, government, philosophy, military science, poetry, agriculture and textbooks, with special emphasis on works of law and government. Thus we can conclude that private libraries in New Eng- land from 1700 to 1776 were more catholic in their scope and subject matter and relatively larger than those of the seven- teenth century. Even more important, however, was the ever lessening emphasis on religion and the great increase in books on law, history, agriculture, science, the classics and other secular subjects. However, though secular works be- came more and more important, religious books were still very widespread, although they did not predominate the entire private library field as they had in seventeenth century New England. Subjects such as drama, poetry, belles-lettres and even fiction, which were largely neglected in seventeenth century libraries, were also more widely found and more abun- dant. Another interesting trend of this period is the increas- ing interest in book-collecting in a more or less scien- ‘tific sense and as an end in itself. The prime examples of this, of course, are the libraries of Thomas Prince, who seemed to make a real study of rare and valuable volumes and *was particularly interested in contemporary and early colon- :ial books and manuscripts, Cotton Mather, who owned what was 86. probably the largest private library then in existence in New England and was also interested in odd and unusual works and manuscripts, and John Adams, who frankly stated the purpose of his library and his interest in books. Again, as in the seventeenth century, iassachusetts show- ed her superiority over the other New England colonies of the time. Connecticut seems to have had the next best collect- ions. Ministers, too, seem again to have been the largest book- owning group. However, there were also several important 1i- braries owned by lawyers and government officials such as John Adams and Henry Marchant. Even the library of Samuel Sewall cannot be completely excluded from the ranks of the ministers as he was originally trained and educated for the ministry although he did not practice this profession. Thus we can say that eighteenth century New England pri- vate libraries were, on the whole, larger and somewhat broader in scope than their seventeenth century predecessors. 87. CHAPTER III PRIVATE LIBRARIES IN THE MIDDLE COLONIES 1665-122 . Since there did not seem to be sufficient available mater- ial on the private libraries of the so-called "middle colonies" of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania to warrant a separate chapter hr each of the two centuries under discussion, I have- chosen to include the existing material on private libraries from the time of their coming under British control or founding to the year 1776 in one chapter. Indeed, these three colon- ies were later in their founding and coming under British con- trol than the majority of the New England colonies already studied, and therefore the records of any seventeenth century private libraries are relatively scarce. As we shall also see, the libraries in these middle colonies seem to have been rela- tively more catholic and less predominantly religious than those of New England. The first colony to be considered, New York, was taken over by the British from the Dutch with almost no resistance in 1661., and had its name changed from New Amsterdam when it was granted by King Charles II of England to his brother, James, Duke of York. I found only two references to seventeenth century New York libraries. The first record of a private library is found in the inventory of the estate of Pastor John Yongs of South- old, Long Island, who died February 21., 1671/2. Listed in it is the item "Old bookes - by Mr. Hubard prised at £5." Since the entire estate was valued at only £97, it seems safe to assume that the reverend was not a wealthy man and owned a -v-- I. 88. 1 rather meager library, although its contents are not given. The only other reference to seventeenth century New York li- braries I found was a statement from a secondary work that books and libraries were scarcer in New York than in New Eng- land, and that those that did exist in the seventeenth century were chiefly religious and theological works owned by the cler- gy.2 For lack of evidence to the contrary, I am inclined to agree with this rather reasonable statement, especially since the evidence given on private libraries in seventeenth century New England supports the fact that ministers were very definite- ly the leading book owners of the time, and that a great many of the libraries of the time were predominantly religious. The first library of which I found mention in eighteenth century New York was that belonging to Col. William Smith of St. George's Suffolk County, who left a library worth 31.0 at his death in 1705.3 Unfortunately, no other details concern- ing its numbers or contents were obtainable. A letter to the editor of a New York newspaper gives evidence of another library. One N. 3., an unidentified resi- dent of Hampstead, Long Island, and correspondent of the N3! 1233 Eggkly Journal, wrote the following information to its editor, Peter Zenger, on march A, 1733: "my library is not 1. ET_Whitaker (ed.), Whitaker's Southold: Bein a Sub- stantial Re roduction gf the Histor -of SoutEoId, ng IsIand, Its FIrst Cent (Princeton, I93I), III. . L. . Wrighté Atlantic Frontier; Colonial American Civilization 1602-1 New Yor , , . 1927)3.733. T. ams, rovincial Societ , 1620-1763 (New York, , C 89. large, it consists of a Bible, Pool's Annotations, Calamy's Sermons, Dr. Clarke's and Locke's'Norks, Hugo Grotius, The Tale of a Tub, De m. Jure Divina, Jacob's Law Dictionary, Pryn's Animadversions, The Compleat Justice, Bunyan's Pil- grinds Progress, 2 Prayer Books, a Psalter, and one Primer.” This library, though small, showed its owner's probable interest in religion, law, philosophy and even contemporary literature, a fairly catholic collection and not a predominantly religious one. Probably the best private library in the colony in the eighteenth century was that belonging to Dr. Samuel Johnson (1696-1772), the first President of King's College (Columbia University). According to a secondary account, he had the "library of a nobleman." English authors represented in his collection were Stanley, Raleigh, Ogilby, Bacon, Dryden, New- ton, Locke, Swift, Hilton and Prior. Classics numbered 31 volumes, history 15 volumes, and philosophy 18 volumes, again showing the trend towards secular literature. Unfortunately, however, the catalogue of this library exists only in manu- script form and was unobtainable, so I was unable to determine its exact contents and value. Another library whose catalogue exists only in manuscript farmland about which no definite details can be given is that E. C. Cook, Liter “IETIuences in colonial Lows- a ers, 170h-1750 (New or 1§I2), I33. . T. E. Keys ”The Colonial Library and the Develop- ment of Sectional Differences in the American Colonies," Librggy Quarterly, VIII, July, 1938, 381. . .3 .r "a?" I. I. I'D 90. of Dr. Alexander Innes of New Jersey and New York, a digni- tary of the Church of England in the eighteenth century.6 Turning now to New Jersey, whose territory was also in- cluded in the extensive grant of land given by Charles II to his brother James in 166A, we find that the library situation on its plantations seems to have been somewhat of an improve- ment over that of its larger neighbor, New York. For example, an interesting statement was made by Jasper Danckaerts, a traveler in this region, in his Journal, dated November 20, 1769. Speaking of the town of Burlington, New Jersey he said: "we went again to the village this morning, and entered the ordinary exhorters' house....Ne found lying upon the window a volume of Virgil, as if it was a common handbook, and also Helmont's book on Medicine....' Information is also found on three other seventeenth cen- tury New Jersey libraries, those of John Allen, John Skeene, and Elisabeth Tatham. John Allen of Nbodbridge left a library of some 252 volumes in l68h, and John Skeene of Peachfield in Burlington County left a library valued at more than £21., al-' though nothing is known of its numbers or contents. One of the few women in this period to have any number of books listed in their estate inventory is Elisabeth Tatham.of Burlington, widow of John Tatham, who in 1702 listed 552 volumes which her husband 6: Ibid., 380. 7. B. 3. Bartlett and J. F. Jameson (eds.) Journal 2; Jaspgr Danckaerts 1612-1629 (New York, 1913), 99. l‘ . e s . . . . \ i. . - . \ I , '. . I \ s . v . ' I ‘ , . . . I. s e f ' I . x t ' do - « ‘ , . . . '0 _ O I C I 1 . a . ,7 n 7 . i I . . . . . - I ‘ ‘. » ' s . . , r . -‘ f . . . . . , . , i . , , I ,. - o i l A ' o t n , - . . .. . -- -.. -2. l ,7. w’- a , I O s 'a...' .. . 91. 8 had collected in his mansion house. However, I felt it should be mentioned in this section on seventeenth century libraries, as the great majority of these volumes seem to have been her husband's and were collected by 1700. Again, almost no idea of the contents of seventeenth century New Jersey libraries can be gained except for Danckaerts rather obscure reference suggesting that the reading of the classics might be widespread. Turning now to the year 1700-1776, I was able to find no references to any private libraries in New Jersey in the early part of this period. However, evidence that there must have been some interest in libraries at this period was the estab- lishing by royal charter of a Library Company in Burlington in 1758.9 Charles Bead III (1715-177t), a leader in agricultural experimentation and development, donated a three-volume set of _A_ Collection 9;. Voyages g5; Travels (London, 17“.), and three other works of folio sise: Igglggmgg Chronol , containing 3 _V_i_e_! g; Universal Histo , Lr_om_,_ 29.! Creation _t_g 53:; Leg; _l_7_O_Q; Historical C llections, by Heywood Townshend, M. P. (London, 1680); and William Sheppard's _A_n_ Epitome g; All, 33;; 9329; in}; Statute L913 933 ig 1.22.9.9. (London, 1656). He also donated in smaller volumes a set of 1h; Poetical Es ist ; p; 3:22 2123 _a_r_x_d Characters 9._f L1; 313; English Posts (London, 1723), a 933- ference about §_h_g next Sugcession £9. ,t_._h_e_ Crown g_f_ England (1681), ""'""8. Wright, Elana—Fe ontier, 2W . 9. C. B. Nbodward, PIo Es and Politicks- Charles Read If C a New Jerse £19, 11;; Notes _o_:_1, g_r_ c't'iI'ture HIE-I ew Bruns Ml), E5. J, 1‘. " -- 1‘ ...v v n _' . y -. ,‘. - - _ .0 -' ., 92. and _N_a_x_i_.n_g, Theologica11%_de_ag, 95g Sentences, extracted by J. Gambold (London, 1751). Thus Read seems to have owned books on history, law, voyages and travels, and poetry, in addition to agriculture, although it seems highly probable that he gave away none of his very favorite volumes. Several works on agri- culture were also donated by some of Head's friends. William Smith gave a copy of1233 Husband-man's,§gigg, in k Parts, second edition (New York, 1712), John Smith gave a copy of 139. 1g! Agt,gf figrdening, by Leonard Heager (London, 1699), A Treatise gg,§gg;§ Tr e , by Thomas Hitt (London, 1755), and ;,Cgmplgte ngy_gfbhusbang;y, by Thomas Hale (London, 1676). Samuel Smith contributed T_h_e_ m 9; Raising, Qrdering _a_ng Impromg Forrest 1533;, by N. Cooke (London, 1676). However, nothing more is known of these libraries, although it seems quite pro- bable that they also included still other titles on agriculture. This evidence shows that eighteenth century colonists had a real interest in scientific agriculture. The last of these three colonies whose libraries are to be considered is Pennsylvania which was granted to Nilliam.Ponn by King Charles II in 1681. Fortunately more information is available concerning the value, numbers and contents of libra- ries within its boundaries than for the other colonies of this section, New York and New Jersey. The library of John Bartram (1699-1777), a Pennsylvania {2. :gigward,FIogghs,§g§,E§lIticks, E77' 11 —m‘-h 9‘- I O a I . . ,7 A U i ’1 --~ .~ .- «a... 4‘ .- - a s \ X .\ I. a Q. -~. 0 I — I 93. botanist and explorer, contained about the year 1739 many scientific works sent by European friends, a volume of the Spectatog papers and probably some historical works.12 Pater Collinson sent him from England scientific books such as Sir Hans Sloane's Natural Histggy 2; Jamaica.and books "to re- plenish thy inner man,” such as Robert Barclay's M £2; 323,9uakerg. Hark Catesby sent him a copy of his Histgrz 2; American M, Dillenius his Histogy g; m, Linnaeus his Systema Naturae and Characgres Planetarum, and Gronovius his Iggg§,Lapideae and his 112;; Virginica. Besides these works, some books on surgery in the Pennsylvania Historical collection bear his sighature. This, too, seems to have been a primarily secular library. His son, William, born in 1739, carried on in his father's footsteps, but details concerning the contents of his library to the year 1776 are lacking.1 Evidence of an even earlier eighteenth century library, that of the Honorable Charles Bead II, one time sheriff of Philadelphia, is found in an ad of the Penngylvania Qggette for August A, 1737. It stated: Whereas the Library late of Charles Read, Esq., is vary much despers'd, and many Sets of Books broken, parti- ififiiin‘3fi.§i2°‘22?’n3‘§§:§'aG‘Ji‘Edéi’é. 323%“332, °€.5°"‘°°' gether with several valuable Treatises. These are therefore to desire those who have any Books lately belonging to the said Charles Road, that (in order I'GI’ 838 an """I2"—E"EEFE'3E"33EE"'a'wIIII"'BEFE"'T'B$E"I"—"'E' h1“231;2212334TP5II§3 I pEI , 1955), 3:. hofgrsl gin, amBartramc Int:rpreter of the _A_m_____erican Landscapg g(BalEHore, ,91. . I; u‘ r! -.5 .— 9b. to prevent the Expence of repairing the Library afore- said) they would generously and gratefully return them. It Evidently Read owned quite a sisable library, although we do not know any of the details of its contents. The library of his son, Charles Read III, was discussed in the section on the private libraries of the colony of New Jersey in the eighteen- th century. A library reflecting its owner's interest in science, mathematics, the classics, history, voyages and travels, re- ligion and philosophy was that of James Logan (167h-l751), a deputy of‘Iillian Penn in the Pennsylvania colony. Even be- fOre he came to America at the age of 23, Logan had collected a library of some 800 or 900 books which he had to dispose of before leaving England for America. The only books definitely known to have been in this library were Ptolemy's Algggest, and Euclid's Elements bound with Companus's Comment , both of which were printed fin Venice in Latin in 1515. He re- purchased this: books in 1726. In Pennsylvania, he seems to have pursued his goal of collecting a good scientific and classi- cal library. For ten years before he started the construction of his country seat at Stenton, he read the literary reviews of the day and bought important works which interested hie as soon as they came from the press. In 1708 he purchased Charles Hayes's Ireatige gg,Fluxions, and Newton's Principia. In 1713 he ordered through an agent the works of John Keill which 1h. Woodward, Flogghs Witicks,75. I“. l -. or I" I. 95. he said were available at the shop of William Innis, bookseller, at the sign of the Plume and Feather in St. Paul's Churchyard, London. A year earlier he ordered issues of the Spgctator and later Bayle's Historical Dictionagz. Logan asked Fettiplace Bellers in 171k to send him ”anything that's new’and valuable." At this time he was also buying books from Christopher Bate- man, and in 1718 asked him for editions of the classics, say- 1 ing that he had most of the works of the Latin authors but wanted better editions of them. He also studied the works of Linnaeus, and had the works of Gronovius, Charles Poumier and at“, . large numbers of botannical and herbal "theaters." He also was interested in and owned books of early voyages and travels such as Purchas's Hig,Pilgrimes, Capt. John Smith's Vir inia, Dampier's ‘ BEE... £9 £2! §_p_a_i_n and the like. He quoted and probably owned the writings of.Milton and Chaucer. Of the more contemporary authors, Logan liked the satires of Pope, Defoe and Swift. In drama, he liked the writings of the classical Greeks, and of the more modern English and French dramatists he liked the works of Shakespeare, Racine, Mbliere and Corneille. In the field of religion, he owned the writings of Bellarmine, Bishop Burnet, John Calvin, Jean de Labadie, and even John Eliot's Indian Bible. He owned books by modern European philosophers such as Descartes, Leibnits, Hobbes, Voltaire, Locke and Malebranche.15 One of the most notable sections of his library was his col- lection of scientific works which one author says covered "the whole compass of that remarkable outburst of scientific IS. Cannon, Americani3335‘Collectors, 29-33. investigation that began in the seventeenth and came to its strength in the eighteenmcentury....Certainly no college li- brary in the America of his time could offer the quivalent of his collection in this field."16 That Logan was a serious book collector is evidenced by the fact that he owned and used a great many library aids. F17 He received and kept many book catalogues sent to him by dealers « 1 and other bibliographers, and in addition owned Bishop Ken- nett's Bibliothecae Americanae Primordia, 1713, Haittaire's Annals; gnggraphicilgbflgggig,inventae 0rigine..., 1719-1722, E" and James's Cataloggg Universalis librorum'gg Bibligtheca Bodleiana, 1620. He also seems to have been one of the first persons to bring incunabula (cradle-books or books printed before 1500) to America and seems to have owned Boccatii, Jo, Genealogia,2g2£gg Gentilium printed in 1&91 and Boetii, Anitii Manlii, 9225;, Veneti, 1&91. The book by Boccatii (Boccaccio) was bound with Peter Apianus' Introductig,ggg- l7 ggaphico, Ingolstadt, 1553. There is some doubt as to the number of books Logan owned and their exact value, but by his will dated in l7h9 (although he did not die until December 31, 1751), he willed 2,000 vol- umes from it to "the public" of Philadelphia and some to the Philadelphia Library Company founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1731, but left an indefinite number to his family. However, 16. ‘IETET"§L. 17. Isffi.: 3k-5. -.,- u . a . . . 'w.. e '\ 4 A . . a P. . r l,_ g _ t a . 4 ., _ . . o\ t t . O ' . s . I\ O . 0‘. 7 . , . . . . . ‘u . as l. o , I» 97. his library has been considered by some to be the third best book collection belonging to a colonial American, ranking be- hind those of th; Hather family and Col.‘William.Byrd of West- over, Virginia. The following excerpt from his will gives some idea also of his library's contents: In my libr ...are above one hundred volumes of authors, in folio, al in Greek, with mostly their versions; all the Roman classics, without exception; all the old Greek mathematicians, vis., Archimedes, Euclid, and Ptolemy, both his geography and almagest, which I had in Greek (with Theon's commentary in folio, above 700 pages) from my learned friend, Fabricus, who published fourteen vol- umes of his Greek Bibliotheque in Ato....Besides, there are many of the most valuable Latin authors, and a great number of modern mathematicians with all the three edi- tions of Newton, Dr. Halley, W’ lis, kc. 19 A manuscript account of Logan's library written before 1776 says: ' ...he was almost constantly immers'd in affairs of a Political nature his Turn of mind was notwithstanding en- clin'd to learning a chiefly in the mathematical Sciences &.the languages 0 which he was reckon'd a master. he collected near three Thousand volumes in almost all Sciences arts & languages, not without a considerable expence.... 20 Thus he seems to have owned books on mathematics, the classics, voyages and travels, religion, philosophy and science, a pri- marily secular library. Another Pennsylvanian who seems to have been interested in the classics, Friend Robert Strettel, mayor of Philadelphia 19: E. VI’Lamberton ”Colonial Libraries of Pennsylvania," Penns lvaniaiMagasine.g£ Histogy gag Bi ra h , XLII, Ho. 3, ’20. Ibid., 210. . \L“ 98. in 17h9, brought together a library of Greek, Latin and French Literature at his Germantown estate.21 Its exact contents, numbers, and value are unknown. The reading and libraries of eighteenth century women in the middle colonies is quite a controversial (and rather amus- ing) issue. Three young ladies of the period, all from Phila- delphia, seem to have had libraries. Sally Hister was given £22225 Andrews, £21}; Grenville, Caroline Helmouth and some , ”Ladies Magazines.” Sara Eve, the fiancee of Benjamin Rush, whose library will be discussed a little later, read and pro- g bably owned Thomson's poems and Thg_flgg§ Indian, and Elisa- beth Sandwich read and possibly owned Pope's Homer, Rabelais, French authors and newspapers and ”bought little books at Hivington's,” (a Philadelphia bookstore).22 In 17th, young) ‘Hillimm Black of Virginia spent an evening with.some other gentlemen in the company of five Philadelphia debutantes of the time. He rather amusingly records in his diary that the girls began to discuss and criticise plays and authors, ”Ad- dison, Prior, 0tway, Congreve, Dryden, Pope, Shakespeare, to...were names often in question...,; and soon the men found themselves well "beyond their depth.” However, Andrew Burnaby, and English clergyman, who travelled through the middle colonies in 1759-1760, had quite a different account. In his book written about this Journey called Travels Throggh.thg, 21. C2Bridenbaugh,“'TEE'Press and the Book In Eighteenth Century Philadelphia " Penns lvania Magazine gg'Histogz and, Biography, va, No. i, W, . 22. Ibid., 27. 23. 1513., 28. ‘_ -... 1;- :9, ' I. r‘. 99. ‘gigglg Settlement; ig‘!gggh America, London, 1798, he said: ”The women are, generally speaking, handsome....They have but few advantages, and consequently are seldom accomplished; this makes them reserved, and unequal to any interesting or refined conversation...they seldom read, or endeavor to improve their minds....'2‘ Since all the evidence I found on libraries owned by Pennsylvania women was in Philadelphia, however, and since Reverend Burnaby was no doubt speaking about both the frontier and back-country as well as the more settled areas and cities, his statement may well have been true for the population in general. Two Philadelphia Quakers, Isaac Norris Sr. and his son, Isaac Jr., also owned libraries. Isaac lorris Sr. began to assemble books at his home, Fair Hill, as early as 1722 when he sent to England for a copy of Hfllton's Pg;adisg,§gg_. His son, Isaac Jr., built up this collection by careful purchase and.se1ection, and at his death, it passed into the hands of his son-in-law, John Dickinson, author of the "Letters From a Pennsylvania Farmer,” and signer of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, where it met the critical approval of John Adams, who pronounced it ”a grand library" in 177h. Unfortunately none of its specific contents or its value are know.25 John Adams writings are the source of information and Wan and A_S"""fi*berts5 e3s.,mgs in American Histog (New York 1928), 7 . en augh, ”The Press and the Book," 2t-25. II . . \ a \ ~ O O 0 g . I e . . P a I ., . ,,._ - , 4—. - -.o . m e 9 ' 0 .~.. 100. comments concerning other Pennsylvania libraries of the time. He recorded in his diary on September 7, 177# that he ”Dined with Mr. Miers Fisher, a young Quaker and a lawyer ggf Phila- delphia]. ‘we saw his library, which is clever....' On November 2‘, 1775 he wrote: "Dr. Rush [Benjamin Rush, a Phila- delphia physician] came in.. .he has been much 127London. .. [from where] Dilly sends him.books and pamphlets...." He also stated that Ir. Joseph Galloway, delegate from Pennsylvania to the First Continental Congress, in presenting a plan of a proposed union between Great Britain and the colonies on September 28, 177A, mentioned Burlamaqui, Grotius, Puffendorf, and Hooker, from which one might infer that Galloway knew and quite likely owned writings of these authors.28 Unfortunately nothing more is known concerning these libraries other than these brief references. I am.including here a reference to no particular private library, but a statement I felt particularly interesting and quite possibly significant of the private libraries of the delegates to the First Continental Congress, held in Philadelphia and beginning in September, 177k. 'Hilliam Bradford, a young Philadelphian, wrote to his friend James Madison at Princeton, New Jersey, that he had been "hanging around" near Carpenter's Hall during the secret sessions of the Continental Congress. Young Bradford Pumped the city librarian to learn what the 2 0 Ad“., VorE'. II, 36;. 27. bid. 1:277 28. 1511: 388. e . . . . . ll 0 p t . ' t I \ O . .,_,_g . I -- 101. delegates were borrowing and reading. He wrote to Madison that "Vattel, Burlamaqui, Locke and.Hontesquieu seem to be the standards to which they refer...by which we may conjecture that their measures will be wisely planned since they debate on them like philosophers."29 Probably a number of these dele- gates were already familiar with the works of these authors as being contained in their own private libraries. Two famous Pennsylvania Quakers, John'Hoolman and Anthony Beneset,also contributed to the library history of this period. Hoolman, who was born in 1720, said in his Journal for 17k2: "My Parents haveing a large family of children, used frequently on first-days after meeting, to put us to read in the Holy 30 Scriptures, or some religious books, one after another....' Evidently then his father owned a library including religious works, although we know nothing more of its contents. Also from his Journal we find that he did not confine his reading (and probably not his library) to exclusively Quaker or even religious literature. He quoted Cowe's Primitive Christianit , Fox's ALE! 32g Honuments, Thomas'a Kempis, French writers in English translations, books on travel written by Jesuit fathers exploring India and Africa, and agents of the East India Comp pany.31 In a supplementary note at the end of the volume, the 29. I. Brant _James Hidison: 153 Virginia Revolutignist, 2 Vols. (Indianapolis, I9hI), I, 76. 30. J.‘Woolman The Journals and Essa s 2; John woolman Edited from the OriginaI Ms—nuscri tfiit a io a EIcaI Intro- duction, I. HTGummere, ed., Eancocas'mt'fon (fiew York, I977), 31. Hoolman, Journal, a sim. V \ .--— ., I e. . . ... ”no 4. 102. editor spoke of finding one of Hoolman's account books which included a list of books loaned to various persons, including .3125 leg 11;; 0.33. _La_wy_e_1; and the writings of Eusebius,3§verard, Desiderius, Behemen, and Edward Taylor which he owned. Un- fortunately I could find no record of any will or inventory of any estate left by him. He died on October 9,, 1772. The second of these influential Quakers, Anthony Beneset, an eighteenth century schoolmaster and leader of religious thought, referred to books several times in his correspondence. In a letter to a schoolmaster friend written about 1752, he said: "I would advise thee, as soon as thou canst spare the money, to buy thee a good dictionary. Bailey's Diction , 'with an English grammar at the end, is a very good one.... A _Y_o_ugg 19;; Companign may also be very serviceable to thee in several respects...."3‘ Quite likely Beneset, himself, owned both these works. In a letter to another friend, Sam- uel Fothergill, dated October 17, 1757 he said: "I herewith send thee a new Edition of John Everard's writings...."35 On December 30, 1757, Beneset wrote to a John Smith saying: "I send herewith two copies of the first part of the 'Economy of Human Life' [by Robert Dodsley] .‘36 In another letter to Smith written February 8, 1760, he listed the magasines he “no m. id., 632. 33. 1513., («3. 3k. 6. 3. Brooks, Friend Anthony Beneset (Philadelphia, 1937) 209- 55. Ibid., 223. 36. 1543., 225. .4. . ’I 103. recently purchased for Smith from David Hall, a Philadelphia printer and partner of Benjamin Franklin, including the 992922, Hagasine and the Gentleman's magazine. Beneset also said that some Friends were reprinting a book called Th2 331.22 Eh: Sabbath.g§fl§ggt,' "to which I prevailled with them to add, The Prefatory Discourse to Hartley's Sermons & 2 Dis- courses out of‘Wilm. Dell's works, vis. Christ's Spirit a Christian's Strength, a Christ ye Stumbling Stone...."37 0b- viously he knew these works, and quite likely owned them. In still another letter to Smith dated December 11, 1760, he said: 'I...send thee two new Pieces...wrote by Law & Heartleye..be so kind as to send them back by a safe conveyance; one is borrd. & the other I have not yet read thro.” 8 Evidently he owned one of these books, both of which were written by re- ligious writers. On March 2, 1765 he sent Smith ghg‘gggglg- ggplg,lhgasines, ndon Hagasines, American magasines, and Universal Magasine . On July 16, 177k he sent Samuel Allin- son John‘Hoolman's Journal ”and that part of his work publish- ed in ].?.ng1and."‘.o He thus also probably owned some writings by this contemporary Quaker author who had died only two years previously, and whose writings were partly religious. At the time of his death in 178k, then, Beneset's library seems to have contained religious works and very likely some magasines, 3’e 1513. gas-be 33' $4 ‘3‘5’2'7 to: 151%.: 313: ° O ._. e \ .— Ir II 10h. a dictionary and some common textbooks of the day, although its exact value and contents in 1776 are not known. John Smith, with whom Beneset corresponded, married Hannah Logan, James Logan's daughter, and seems to have owned books on religion, travel, biography, science, poetry, belles- lettres and even some fiction if a secondary account of him is to be believed. It states that he read Sherlock's Practical meditation m 1.113 Egg; Lag; Things, volumes of sermons, Steele's Christian Hero, unnamed volumes on travel, biography and science, Steele's Conscious Lovers and The Funeral, Thomson's So honisba, Shakespeare, Atalantis, £29.22! Andrews, 1'93 £2933, five volumes of the popular Turkish 8 , and in poetry Thom- son's Seasons, Pope's Windsor £95353, and Paradise Logg.kl It seems reasonable to suppose that he owned at least some of these works and that quite likely his library reflected to some extent at least his reading interests which were quite varied.‘ Another Quaker, Thomas Cadwalader, an eighteenth century physician, bought widely in the fields of general literature and scientific works while pursuing his medical studies in France and England.“2 He other details concerning his lib- rary are known. Dr. John Morgan, another physician, owned one of the most catholic libraries in all the colonies on the even of the II. Earnest, John and‘WIIII_'—Eartram, '29. b2. Bridenbaug 5, ”TE; Press and the Book, " 25. ”arc—w I. ‘Q 105. Revolution. It included, besides a rarely equalled medical and scientific collection, books on art, archaeology, archi- tecture and general literature, including Ariosto's and Bo- ccaccio's works in Italian, Hume in French, voltaire's Tancred and some Italian manuscripts. Evidently Dr. Mbrgan had very broad interests and a knowledge of modern foreign languages and probably a fairly catholic book collection of a predomi- nantly secular nature. For any student of early Americana, however, the library of the relatively poor Eugene du Simitiere of Philadelphia is of supreme interest in the eighteenth century. He collected the first really important assemblage of Americana both in printed form and in manuscripts in this period, and this collect- ion has since become the backbone of the notable selection of early American books, newspapers, and pamphlets now belonging to the Library Company of Philadelphia.kk Once again our only hint as to a.mmn's library comes from his reported readings. Alexander Graydon (1752-1818), an author and soldier during the Revolutionary war, entered an academy at the age of eight and there read Aesop's fables, an abridgement of Roman history and Telemachus. He later read Ovid, Virgil, Cicero, Caesar, Sallust and Horace, as well as 11333;; Preserved, Rollins belles-lettres, and the celebrated political poem of the time, 1132 washing 9; 5.3;; Blackmoor 1.4. 1513.: 26. 3x 106. #5 white. If this is a true reflection of the contents of his library to the year 1776, it must have contained many of the classics and possibly some history and general literature (belles-lettres). ‘We now come to a discussion of the library of one of the most interesting personalities in all American history, Ben- jamin Franklin, statesman, scientist, diplomat, author, print- er, Journalist and sage. Of the library of his father, Josiah, Benjamin said: ”My father's little library consisted chiefly of books in polemic divinity, most of which I read....Plutarch's Lives there was in which I read abundantly, and I still think that time spent to great advantage. There was also a book of De Poe's called an Essay on Projects, and another of Dr. Mather's called Essays to do Good....""6 An older brother of Benjamin, James Franklin, returned to England to learn the printer's trade, and when he came back to America, brought with him some of the newer literary works such as those of the poets Butler, Du Bartas and Cowley, and the prose works 22; Turkish m.:h.alr_22umnu .mmgss akin.mm.m Shakespeare. In his autobiography, in addition to his ‘5. I. Craydon Temoirs of His LE Il'ime with ”E minis- ences of the men and Events oT-tEE—Revolut on 5 Alexander Hm! on, Kenneth—'3‘, . ., mmm p a, 46*, , 91. . B. Franklin, The Autobio ra h of Benfamin Franklin & Selections from His writin s {n.p., IéaIV, ustrated ern rary Edition, . #7. C. K. Shipton, "Literary Leaven in Provincial New England," is; England Quarterly, II, No. 2, June, 1936, 211.. MA; ’- 107 e father's library, he mentioned the library of one Matthew Adams saying, ”And after some time an ingenious tradesman, Hr. Matthew Adams, who had a pretty collection of books, and who frequented our printinghouse, took notice of me, invited me to his library, and very kindly lent me such books as I chose to read.”‘l.8 Unfortunately nothing more is known concerning this library. Franklin's early passion for books is shown in the follow- ing passages from his autobiography: From.a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books. Pleased with the Pilgrimfls Progress, my first collect- ion was of John Bunyan's works in separate little volumes. I afterward sold them to enable me to buy R. Burton's Historical Collections; they were small chapmen's books, and cheap, #0 or 50 in all. #9 A little later he stated: When about 16 years of age I happened to meet with a book...recomme ding a vegetable diet. I determined to go on it.... [ then proposed to my brother, that if he would give me, weekly, half the money he paid for my board, I would board myself. He instantly agreed to it and I presently found that I could save half what he paid me. This was an additional fund for buying books.... I took Cocker's book of Arithmetick, and went through the whole with great ease. I also read Seller's and Shermy's books of Navigation.... And I read about this time Locke On Human Understanding, and the Art of Think- ing, by Messrs. du Port Royal....Soon after I procur'd Ienophon's memorable Things of Socrates.... 50 Franklin also mentioned other eimhteenth century librar- ies in his Autobiography saying: "My friend and companion Collins...set out before me...leaving his books, which were a W. an. 5 “Antonio ra h , T. 1.9. Ibid., 26 III—"Lu 50. TEL, 16. :fll W609" 0 fl \ O O O O 108. 51 pretty collection of mathematicks and natural philosophy." Later he said: "I made an acquaintance with one Wilcox, a bookseller....He had an immense collection of second-hand 52 books." Hundreds of examples could be listed of authors and books Franklin mentioned and quoted in his own writings, but since that does not prove whether or not he actually owned the books, I will limit my references to specific mentions of his library or particular books acquired or ordered as found in his writ- ings and correspondence. I have organised these references into four groups: first his quite heavy correspondence with William Strahan, a London bookseller; next his correspondence with others but Strahan or his immediate family dealing with works of a scientific nature; third, his correspondence with his immediate family; and lastly, his correspondence dealing with books of a general literary or religious nature. Franklin bought a number of books from William Strahan, a London bookseller, with whom he corresponded quite regularly. In his first letter to Strahan in which I found any reference to books he said: ”If Hr. Warburton publishes a New Edition of Pope's Works, please to send it me as soon as it is out.... Whatever Thomson writes send me a doses copies of. I had read not poetry for several years, and almost lost the Relish of Collected and Editedn wit‘13'0";a_17fl'?'£"cingf-F:—“—a{“'1a —3%—HE Egg 02;? : ME’ 7” I 261:7“- myt 55 109. 53 it, till I met with his Seasons...." In another letter to Strahan written just a few months later, Franklin stated: "I thank you for Mr. Dobb's piece....I have long wanted a friend in London, whose judgment I would depend on, to send me from time to time such new pamphlets as are worth reading on any subject (religious controversy excepted), for there is no depending on titles and advertisements.'5h ‘Writing once more to Strahan, Franklin asked him ”Please to send me a book lately advertised; I think it is called a Collection of Sen- tences, Wise Sayings, etc., by some officer about the Parlia- ment House....'55 The next year he wrote to Strahan requesting him to send him "Viner's, Bacon and Danver's Abridgments of the Law, with Wood's and Coke's Institutes," the Complete Attorne , in six or eight volumes, 8 vo, and "a new trans- lation of Tully on Old Age."56 In a later letter referring to books he had previously received from Strahan, Franklin said: ”In the parcel of books I had from you, l7h7...there was a number of law books....please also to send me the last three volumes of the 8 vo Universal History to complete my set...."57 A few months later, Franklin asked Strahan to send him "the remaining volumes of Viner as fast as they are published.“ 8 Writing to Strahan again the next year, Franklin said he had "‘""53. Ibid., Fobruary 12, 17“, II, 21.2. 51.. TEFL, July 1., 1741., 278-9. SSe .m., Ju1y3, 1759, 376e 56. WBI3., February lb, 1750, III, 39. 57. Ibid., June 28, 1751, 51. 58. Ibid., September 22, 1751, 56. r. 110. written for a few books, mostly school books, and still want- ed Volume IVII of the Universal History to complete his set.59 A short time later he wrote once again to Strahan saying: "I received...the two Vols. of Viner...mistakenly got the 2d vol. of Fosters Natural Religion in boards, which I keep, hav- ing the first."60 The next year Franklin told Strahan to "...send me here the quarto abridgment of the Philosophical Transactions, except the first five volumes which I have. Send me also Fielding's Proposals for Employing the Poor...."61 In two more letters to Strahan, written in 1753 and l75h. Frank- lin reported in the first one having received "Bower's second volume," and in the second requested: "Please to send me the Philosophical Transactions from the End of Martin's Abridg- ment, 17AA, to the gresent time....send...a1so Dampier's VOy- ages A vols., 8 vo. However, this letter of 175$ to Strahan was the last record I found of any correspondence between the two referring to books. Franklin's correspondence also showed his interest in science and his ownership of works in that field (in addition to those mentioned in his correspondence with'William Strahan or his immediate family). In a letter to Cadwallader Golden he reported owggng a copy of "Dr. Mitchell's tract on the Yellow Fever.” Three years later he wrote to his friend 59. IE Lde’ M‘I‘CH 21, I752, 31. 60. 1533., June 20 1752 90. 61. 1513., May 9, 1753, 11.3. 62. IBI3., October 27 1753 and April 18,175h, 165 & 196. 63. Ibid., November 28,17h5, II, 293. ., r... N‘ {x I. 111. Janos LoganA thanking him for "the piece on the Generation of Plants." h In a letter to Jared Eliot, probably written in 17b9, he reported having perused Eliot's two essays on field husbandry.65 In a letter to a John Perkins5Franklin recorded: ”1 have a £23322 piece printed at Paris, 172h, entitled, 0b- servations sur la Saign‘; du pied, st sur la Purgation, au commencement de la Petite Verole, et Raisons de doubts contre l'Inoculation."66 Franklin later wrote to James Bowdoin, whose library will be discussed in the chapter on private li- braries in the New England colonies in the eighteenth century, that he was sending him Dr. Brownrzgg's treatise on common salt which Franklin seemed to own. In another letter to Cadwallader Golden Franklin said: "Since my return I have re- ceived from Italy a book in quarto, entitled Dell'Elettricismo Artificiale e Naturals Libri Due, di Giovambattista Beccaria de '06. RR. delle Scuole Pie, printed at Turin, and dedicated to the King."68 writing to Cadwallader Evans he stated: "Hr. Henry's Re ister, which you communicated to me last year, is thought a very ingenious one....I send you a late French treat- ise on the management of silkworms,"6 (which Franklin himself possibly owned). In a letter to the Rev. John Ewing, Franklin reported: "I received...severa1 Copies of your Observations 6‘. 1513., 5ct05er 35,17I3, 332 65. THE. , 383. 66. I513. in st 13 1752 III 67. 1513.: chgberé 13 1755 J: 68. 1513., August 30,175h 229. 69. 1513., September 7, l7é9,V V, 219. 1A. 112. of the Transit of Venus, for which I thank you...I shall78end the new Volume of the Transactions to Mrs. Franklin....' Franklin also mentioned books and his library in letters to his immediate family. While on a trip to New York in 1757 he wrote to his wife, Deborah, saying that "Among my Books on the shelves, there are two or three little Pieces on the Game of Chess. One in French bound in Leather, 8 vo -- one 131a blue Paper Cover, English; two others in Manuscript....' While on this same Journey, he wrote his wife again from Wood- bridge, New Jersey stating: "In my Room on the Folio Shelf... stands a Folio, call'd the Gardener's Dictionary, by P. Miller ...." In this s;me letter, he mentioned a Treatise of Cyder- making he owned. In still another letter to his wife, this time written about a year later from London, Franklin reported sending their daughtgg Sally "two sets of Books...2§g world and ,Ihg Connoisseur...." One of his most interesting acquisitions obtained while on a later Journey to London is told about in a letter to his cousin Samuel Franklin: A person, that deals in old books...acquainted me, that he had a curious collection of pamphlets bound in eight volumes folio and twenty-four volumes quarto and octave ....0n examinin., I found that they contained all the principal pamph ets and papers on public affairs, that had been printed here from the Restoration down to 1715... and the collector, I find from the handwriting and various other circumstances, was your grandfather, my uncle Bfinjamin.7;Wherefore, I the more readily agreed to buy t “eoee writing to his son‘william from London on this same lengthy 7U. 151d., August 27, I775, V, 270. 71. 15513., April 29 1757 III, 393. 72. 1813,, May 21, 1757 596- 73. $5311., January 21 1758, 1.31.. 71.. 15113., July 12, 1771, v, 333-1.. 1T- 113. trip, he discussed the present state of his library in London: I am almost settled in my new Apartment; but Removing, and sorting my Papers, and placing my Books and things has been a troublesome Job. I am amaz'd to see how Books have grown upon me since my Return to England. I brought none with me, and now have a Roomfull; many col- lected in Germany, Holland and France; and consisting chiefly of such as contain Knowledge that may hereafter be useful to America. 75 Numerous mentions of works of a general literary or relig- ious nature were also found in Franklin's correspondence. Cor- responding with Nrs. Jane Macon, Franklin advised her to read Jonathan Edwards' latest bookb entitled.§ggg Thoughts Concern- _i_q; 2;; Present Revival g_f_ 3.11 ion 15 3193 En land, which he had read and possibly owned. In a letter to Samuel Johnson, D. D., be asked: "If you have a spare one of your 'Essays on the Method of Study', its English edition, please to send it me."77 Franklin wrote to Lord Kames in England in 1760 and mentioned reading (and probably owning) Kames' Principles 2; [532121,78 and in a later letter to Kames he wrote of reading his Introduction §2_thg_5£§_2£ Thinking.79 writing to Col. Henry Bouquet, Franklin stated: ”I have lately received a Number of new Pamphlets from England and France, among which is a piece of Voltaire's on the Subject of Religious Tolera- 80 . tion.” An undated letter from Franklin to the printer of 75. 1513., November 3 I772 :55. 76. IBEL, July 23, 171.3 Ii, 23:. 77. 15131., December 21., 1751 III, 62. 73. 1533., May 3, 1760 IV, 12. 79. 1513., November, 1761 120. 80. 15131., September 30, 1751., 267. e . \ e . a D \ e e 1 I I 1 O ' 1 . _. I . 1 ' t ‘ I 1" . s‘ e e' e e. a t .- _' . .e o 11h. the London Chronicle said: I met lately with an old Quarto Book on a Stall, the Title-Page and the Author's Name wanting, but contain- ing Discourses, address'd-to some King of Spaine, on the means of extending the Greatness of that Monarchy, translated into English, and said in the last Leaf, to be printed at London by Bonham Norton and John Bull, Printers to the King's most excellent Majestic, MDCXIII. 81 Corresponding with Charles‘w. F. Dumas, who lived in Leyden and served as a secret agent for the colonies in Holland during the American Revolution, Franklin said: "I received...the very entertaining and inforzgng Books you so obligingly sent me, for which I thank you." He also wrote to Cadwallader Evans saying: "With this I send you our last volume of Philo- sophical Transactions....when.you and your friends have per- used it, please to deliver it to.Mrs. Franklin to besput among my books. Thanks for the books on the silk affair." writ- ing to Thomas Cushing he reported: "I was a Subscriber to a Set of Plates pug‘lished here [London] , entitled The Senator's Remembrancer.... Franklin wrote to Dr. Richard Price thank- ing him for a book entitled An £222§%5&9.§§3 Public gn,§he Subjegt g: th3.Nationg;,ngbt,(l77l). ‘ In 1772 Franklin wrote to Francis Hasera thanking him for the pgzphlets on proposing V to establish life annuities in parishes, and to the Rev. ‘William.Smith expressing his thanks for the books "the Society" 31. Ibid., n.5d. 39. 82. 1513., July is 1768 v, 150. 83. 1516., Augusti’? 1770 270. 81.. 1313,, June 10, 1771 327. 85. mam February 11 1772 389. 86. 1513 June 17, 1772, 1.06. I . e e O e e e . . _ . . . . . . ,1 . . . . . . . w . . o . . . . . . l . m . . m e 0 e e C 0 e .1 '1. Fe O I\ _ . .1 . . . v . e . . . e P» . . . Dy~ D‘ '4 . . , e .. ee .1 , - I n 'e . 115. i 37 i had sent him. In 1773 Franklgg received pamphlets from Ben- ; Jamin Rush and Anthony Beneset, and also wrote to John Bas- kerville: "I duly received yoga...valuable Present of Shaftes- bury, excellently printed...." writing once again to C. W. m mn‘ L.- .44. 11 A] J J F. Dumas, Franklin said: "I am much obliged by the kind pres- ent of your edition of Vattel....Iour manuscript {Ig§§,gug,lg Gouvernement gt‘lgiRoyaut63 is also well relished....I thank you, likewise, for the other smaller pieces, which accompanied Vattelo 'Lammfisasasaiggaeas/mam Britanigue g; lg§_Colonieg, '&c....' Even royalty added books to his collection, as can be seen in a letter from Frank- lin to His Most Serene Highness, Don Gabriel of Bourbon thank- ing him for his "excellent version of Salust." 91 Franklin was also a student of modern foreign languages and seems to have read and owned books written in these lan- guages. In his autobiography he stated: "I had begun in 1733 to study languages; I soon made myself so much a master of the French as to be able to read the books with ease. I then un- dertook the Italian....I afterwards with a little painstak- ing agguir'd as much of the Spanish as to read their books al- so." 37. Ibia., A ust 227'1772, #31} 88. 1513.,J y 11, i773,n 100. 89. 1513., September 21 1773 61125. 90. 1513., December 951775 #32. 91. 1513., December 12, 1775, #36. 92s Me, I, 3h7e I. m e O C O n a--:-, O , < . , a . I I , 1 O \ ' I 'a --n 116. Evidence of both Franklin's forgetfulness and his li- brary are found in the ads of his own newspaper, the Penngz - Iggig,Gasette. On July 2t, 1735, the following ad appeared: "The Person that borrowed B. Franklin's Law-Book of this Pro- vince is hereby desired to return it, he having forgot to 93 whom he lent it." Similar ads were: Lent some time since a Book entitled Campbell's Vitruvius Brittannico's, the Person who has it is desir- ed to return.it to the Printer hereof. Also the first Vblums of Clarendon's History. Lent to Capt. Lawrie (and left by him in the Hands of some of his Acquaintance in Philadelphia) the second volume of State Trials, wrote on the Title-Page, William.Shaw. The Person who has it, is requested to bring it to the Printer hereof. Lent, and forgot to whom ‘Wood's Institutes of the Laws of England, Folio. ihe Person that has it, is desired to return it to the Printer hereof. Lent but for ot to whom, the second Vblume of Pamela; a1so the f rst volume of the Turkish Spy. The persons that have them, are desired to send them to the Post-Office. 9h Thus we can see the extreme breadth of Franklin's inter- ests and learning which covered almost every phase of life. 'we can gather from the evidence cited from his autobiography, correspondence and other writings that he owned books dealing with religion, science, the classics, law, philosophy, govern- ment, mathematics, poetry, drama, fiction and current periodi- cals, with scientific publications being possibly the most 93. Cook titer _13113ences"II§, 1393 3')" 135 L: ’01“. LEON 3.21.5112. (New York. - , . my I\ 117. predominant single group. Unfbrtunately, however, no real estimate of its sise or value in 1776 can be given, but it is certainly an excellent example of the trend away from.relig- ious works towards secular works so prominent in the eighteen- th century. 'In concluding this section on Pennsylvania private li- braries, it seems fitting to include a statement made by Frank- lin concerning the large German population in Pennsylvania. In a letter to one Richard Jackson written in 1733, Franklin stated: "They [the German pepulatioé] import many books from Germany; and.of the six Printing-Houses in the Province, two are entirely German two half German half English, and but two entirely English." Evidently, then, at least some of the German speaking population of Pennsylvania owned libraries, although again we know nothing of their numbers, value, or contents. It is necessary now to draw some conclusions as to the private libraries in the middle colonies from.lééb to 1776. References to any seventeenth century libraries, were, in- deed, scarce, particularly in the colonies of New York and Pennsylvania, and none of real importance were found in this period. However, the eighteenth century showed a marked in- crease in the numbers and sise of private libraries, parti- cularly in the latter part of the period. 95. F1anklin,‘writin s,'flay 5, 1733, 111, 115. “wok“! "'4' \ - ~ \ . e , . e | . /‘ 118. In both numbers and size of libraries, Pennsylvania show- ed her predominance over the neighboring colonies of New York and New Jersey for all but the very earliest years of the per- iod under discussion. It seems reasonable to assume from the evidence presented that as Boston seems to have been the "lit- erary capitol" of the New England colonies, so Philadelphia assumed a similar position in the literary life of the middle colonies. As far as library contents were concerned, the collect- ions on the whole showed a very definite trend away from re- ligious domination and towards a greater variety of contents. Certainly one could not say that religion, science, philoso- phy or any single type predominated as it did in seventeenth century New England. Books on almost every subject were found - religion, science, law, government, philosophy, mathe- matics, classics, poetry, drama, agriculture, medicine (al- though I found relatively few references to libraries belong- ing to physicians or surgeons), voyages and travels and even a smattering of fiction which was virtually non-existent in the libraries of seventeenth century New England. Also sever- al contemporary authors and periodicals seem to have been relatively common (Pope, Addison, Steele, Locke, voltaire and magazines such as _'1'_1_1_g m, 1133 S ectator, and 1'93 Gentlemen's Magazine). However, again, probably the most important trend of the period was the trend towards secularism in libraries. Unfortunately, the available evidence is not sufficient .— more-q __, 119 . to allow any real supposition as to Just how widespread li- braries (and literacy) were. About the best that can be said is that there were libraries (and good libraries) in the middle colonies of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania from the time of their founding to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. 120. CONCLUSION What then can be concluded concerning the numbers, con- tents, and value of private libraries in the New England and middle colonies (ranging from Maine on the north to Pennsyl- vania and New Jersey on the south) from 1620 to 1776? It cer- tainly is not sufficient to say merely that there were many li- braries existing in this period (and many of them.good ones). First of all, one can hardly overemphasise the great pre- dominance of religious works (Bibles, psalters, catechisms, collections of sermons and other similar volumes of a religious nature) in the private libraries of seventeenth century New England. Example after example was cited of this fact, and it certainly stands out as the major trend of the earlier part of the century in particular. However, as is to be expected, there were some very definite exceptions to this generalisation, with the predominantly medical libraries of George Alcock and Sam- uel Brackenbury, and the rather high percentage of law books in the library of William.Harris being probably the most not- able exceptions. As the seventeenth century wore on, however, this pre- dominantly religious trend in libraries began to undergo some modifications, and secular works - the classics, scientific 'works (including works on agriculture, medicine, and surgery), and even occasionally some literature and belles-lettres - came to be more and more prevalent in the libraries of the time. 121. Even with these modifications occurring in the later part of the century, however, literature and belles-lettres (including poetry, drama, and fiction) are the outstanding weaknesses of the period, with almost no references to fiction being found during the entire century. It would not be accurate, however, to leave the reader with the impression that only books of a religious nature were found in seventeenth century libraries, even in the early part of the period, for such was not the case. ‘Works on medicine, law, agriculture, government, the classics, dictionaries, gram- mars, and even an occasional book either in or concerning a modern foreign language such as French or Dutch were found. It is also interesting to note the rather widespread men- tion of books in wills. This seems to imply that these early settlers placed considerable value upon their books and li- braries, took real pride in their collections, and were inter- ested in the disposal of their contents. As has already been hinted, as the seventeenth century progressed and much more strongly in the years from 1700 to 1776 the trend towards the predominance of secular rather than religious works increased in both the New England.and middle colonies. Books on law, history, the classics and other secular subjects became more and more prevalent. The number of li- braries including works of drama, poetry, belles-lettres and even fiction, which were for the most part lacking in seventeenth 122. century libraries, also increased in this period. It is inter- esting, too, to note that more and more books by contemporary authors and more and more current periodicals were included in libraries as the century advanced. During this same period, an interest in book collecting in a more or less scientific sense and as end in itself also seems to have developed with the libraries of the Mhthers (Cotton and.his son and grandson, both named Samuel), Thomas Prince, and John Adams being probably the most noteworthy ex- amples. In other words, eighteenth century libraries seem to have been on the whole larger and somewhat broader in scope than their seventeenth century predecessors. Unfortunately, the evidence of seventeenth century 11- braries in the middle colonies of Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey is, indeed, scanty, and.it is almost impossible to make any generalisations as to their contents with the extremely limited evidence available. However, the collections found in the eighteenth century were, on the whole, quite catholic with all types of subject matter being found - religion, science, law, government, philosophy, mathematics, classics, poetry, drama, agriculture, medicine and even a smattering of fiction with no one type predominating. However, there is somewhat less available evidence of libraries in the middle colonies on the whole than for their northern neighbors of New England. In the New England colonies in particular in both the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, ministers were the 123. largest bookpowners, and seem to have in general been the bet- ter educated people of the time. The great predominance of re- ligious books in the early part of this period is no doubt di- rectly related to this fact. However, physicians, surgeons, and leaders in law and government were also well represented among library owners in both the New England and middle colon- ies. As for a comparison of the numbers and value of libraries in the various colonies discussed, Hhssachusetts very definite- ly showed her predominance through this entire period and lives up to the claims of those who state that she was the leading colony of the time in things of an intellectual nature. Con- necticut was probably the next ranking colony during the seven- teenth century with Pennsylvania and Connecticut both showing evidence of relatively good libraries in the eighteenth cen- tury. It also seems reasonable to conclude from the evidence presented that Boston was more or less the "literary capitol" of the New England colonies with Philadelphia occupying the same position in the middle colonies. Unfortunately, no definitive statement can be made as to just how many libraries existed in the New England and middle colonies from 1620 to 1776 or their total value. About the best that can be concluded is that there were private librar- ies - many of them large and important - existing in this period. 12h. BIBLIOGRAPHE It is, indeed, a difficult job to attempt to classify the works used in a study of this type. Primarily the trouble lies in the fact that it is almost impossible to separate them categorically into primary and secondary sources, as in many ‘ instances both primary material (such as wills or listings of r~~ estate inventories or the like) and secondary material (com- r ments by the author on the subject's books and libraries) , were contained in the same book or periodical article. There- fore I have determined that the most practical method is to flirt-{Jam a» are I . 4 break down the works used into four major categories, source material from.periodicals, source material from books, se- condary material from periodicals, and secondary material from books. Where one volume or article might be classified in more than one of these categories, I have rather arbitrarily included it in the one I personally felt the most logical and noted its deviation from.the standard. §ggrgg Material f;gg,Periodicalg: As might be expected, historical journals and publications of historical societies afforded the bulk of source material from periodicals. Rec- ords of some of the very earliest New England libraries were found in two articles by George Ernest Bowman in Th; Hazflower Descendant,‘g Quarterly Magazine 2; Pilgrim.Genealogy §gg_ Histo , vol. 3 (1901), "Alice (Carpenter) (Southworth) Brad- ford's‘Will and Inventory," lib-1&9, and."Governor Thomas Prence's Will and Inventory, and the Records of His Death," 125. 203-216. A list of the library of Theophilus Eaton given to the town of New Haven is listed in an article by Franklin B. Dexter, ”The First Public Library in New Haven," in 2222;; g; 3333 £2! 59123 993.291 Historical Societ , vol. 6 (1900), 301- 313. Three articles from the Publications gfithg Cglonial Society 2; Massachusetts also give source material concerning early libraries. The primarily medical library of George Al- cock is discussed and listed by Samuel Eliot Horison in 235- lications gf‘ghg Colonial Society 2; Massachusett , Transact- igngnlaigglgzfi, vol. 28 (1935) in an article titled "The Li- brary of George Alcock, medical Student, 1676," 350-357. In this very same volume, the Rev. Charles F. and Mr. Robin Rob- inson wrote of "Three Early Massachusetts Libraries," 107-175, sold to the Corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel. In Publications 25,322 Colonial Society 2; Massachusetts, 921: lections, vols. 29 and 30 (1933) were included "Records of the Suffolk Country Court, 1671-1680." Source material was also found in three articles from the N2! England Historical gag Genealogical Register. Justin‘Winsor wrote one titled ”Ab- stracts of the Earliest'wills in the Probate Office, Plymouth" appearing in vol. 5, no. 3 (July, 1851), 335-339. ”The Will 7 of Peter Bulkeley" was printed in vol. 10 (1856), 167-170. Nillimm B. Trask collected ”Abstracts of the Earliest'Wills on Record, or On the Files in the Country of Suffolk,lnassa- chusetts," which appeared in vols. 9 (1855), 3h3-3h9; 11 (1357), 33841.6; 17 (1863), 31.3-31.7; and 30 (1876), 1.32-1.35. 126. Two articles giving some primary material on the library of Elder William Brewster of the early Plymouth Colony appeared in the Proceeding;‘ggflthg,nassachusetts Historical Society. The first one, ”The Library of Elder Brewster" appeared in vol. 3, second series (1886-7), 265-271, and the second by Rev. Henry M. Dexter titled "Elder Brewster's Library” appeared in vol. 5, second series (1889-90), 37-85. Also appearing in the Proceeding; 9f,thg_Massachusetts Historical Society were let- ters from.'Henry Oldenburg to John Winthrop,” vol. 16 (1878), 2hb-2h5 and 250-251, "Diaries of Rev. William Smith and Dr. Cotton Tufts, 1738-178h," vol. #2 (1908-9), 110-471, and Julius Herbert Tuttle's "Bowdoin Library," vol. 51 (1917-8), 362-368 listing the catalogue of the library of James Bowdoin that was left in his home when it was taken over by British General Bur- goyne in 1775. Probably the most important source of primary material among the periodicals, however, were the Collections gf:t§g,!§gsachusettg Historical Society. Included in these volumes were the "Winthrop Papers," vol. x, third series, (1819), 1-127, the ”Diary of Samuel Sewall" in three volumes, vols. 5, 6, and 7 of the fifth series (1878, 1879 and 1882), and "The Letter Book of Samuel Sewall," vols. 1 and 2, sixth series (1886 and 1888). These Collection! also included two works giving source material concerning the famous Mather Li- braries, ”The Rather Papers," vol. 8, fourth series (1898), and "The Diary of Cotton Mather, 168l-1708," vol. 7 (1911) in two parts. A mention of the extremely useful article by Julius 127. H. Tuttle titled "The Libraries of the Hathers' (which also gave some secondary evidence of other New England private libraries as well as both primary and secondary material on the Mather Libraries) appearing in the American Antiguarian Society Proceedingg, vol. 20, new series (1910), 269-357, con- cludes this section on source material from periodicals. F §9_u_r_'_c_e_ Material £593 £9233: A great deal of material con- é cerning libraries and their contents was found in such things as the collected writings, correspondence, journals and diaries of persons living in the colonial period. Rather interesting- ly, however, almost all of these come from the eighteenth cen- tury. The only two exceptions in this essay were 1113 1.3;; gal Letters 9; _._I_<_g_h_1_1_ Winthro , .1292 3114 hbarkation f9; 3;! Eggland 1.3 1629, y_1_t_h 39; Charter gag Company 2; 3h; Massachusetts _B_ay, 339 Hi; 2339; in 1652, edited by Robert Charles Winthrop, second edition, 2 vols., (Boston, 1869), and They Journal 9; m Danckaertg, 1619-1689, Burleigh James Bartlett and J. Franklin Jameson, eds., (New York, 1913). Danckaerts was a traveller in America and included some information on the libraries of the middle colonies. Several journals, writings, diaries, corres- pondence and the like for the eighteenth century included source material. Concerning the library of the Pennsylvania Quaker, John Woolman, we have 1h; Journals and My! 9; Mn Woolman m .119; Egg Criginal Manager-1g: w _a_ Biographical m- m, Amelia Mott Gummere, ed., Rancocas edition (New York, 1922). From my own personal point of view, however, I felt 1‘ f‘ 128. that the most interesting reading I did in connection with this essay was in the writings of that extremely colorful American, Benjamin Franklin. Information concerning his library was found in The Autobiography 9; Benjamin Franklin gag Selections §r_og H_i_g Writings, Illustrated Modern Library Edition (n. p., 191.1.) and 11:; Writings 9; Benjamin Franklin, Collected §_n_d_ gag;- If (New York, 1907) which make fascinating and valuable reading in- deed. Not much material on libraries was available in The ‘Writings gg‘gggggl,ggggg edited and collected by Harry Alonso i'. Cushing, A vols., (New York, l90h). Much more useful infor- mammm=omammgiimm.mmimll- lustrations, Charles Francis Adams, ed., 10 vols., (Boston, 1856). John and his wife Abigail also mention the library of the Nathers's in Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife also edited by Charles Francis Adams (New York, 1876). A very limited amount of material is also available in Memoirs 2.1: mi 92. 3.12.2. all ______nen1n1scencos 22 2.1.1.9. sen 29.9.. m 2: Egg Revolution by Alexander Gra don, John Stockton Littell, ed. (Philadelphia, 1816). Some information concerning libraries in the middle colonies was found in an account of the travels of Andrew Burnaby, an English clergyman who travelled through the middle colonies in 1759 and 1760, included in Selected Readings i3 American History edited by Theodore C. Pease and 129 . A. Sellew Roberts (New York, 1928). The only available in- formation concerning libraries in the state of Maine was in- cluded in _Mgi_gg Ell—1.23 1252-1769 compiled and edited by Wil- liam M. Sargent (Portland, Maine, 1887). Unfortunately, how- ever, the state library fire made it impossible for me to com- plete the use of this book as it was unobtainable either at the University of Michigan library or through inter-library loan. Secondagy Material £31)! Periodicals; Historical journals and publications of historical societies are the chief source of secondary material concerning libraries. For example, Th; Proceeding; 9_f_ Egg American Antiguarian Society include a speech by Charles Francis Adams at the "Exercises At the Laying of the Corner Stone," vol. 20, new series (1909), part 1, 7-17, which mentioned the library of an early Rhode Island minis- ter, William Blackstone, and a much more valuable article by Franklin B. Dexter, "Early Private Libraries in New England," vol. 18 (1907), part 2, 135-1h8. An article containing pre- dominantly secondary material on "Gov. Thomas Dudley's Library" was found in the N_ew_ England Historical 93 Genealogical n25- igggy, vol. 12 (1858), 355. Another valuable article of a more general nature was Julius H. Tuttle's ”Early New England Libraries," Publication; 93; 2133 Colonial Society 2; Massachus- _e_t_5._s_,' vol. 13 (1912), 288-292. Randall Stewart contributed an article on "Puritan Literature and the Flowering of New England" to the William m Iggy Quarterly: A Magazine g_f_ 130. Egyly American Histo , Institutions, §gg_Culture, vol. 3, no. 3, third series (l9h6), 319-3h3. However, the information on libraries given in this publication was almost entirely limited to those south of the region covered.in this study. An extremely helpful article was Thomas E. Keys, "The Colonial Library and the Development of Sectional Differences in the American Colonies, the Libra 9w terly, vol. 8, no. 3 (1938), 373-391. This article, however, was not as valuable for the secondary material it presented as for its listing of the lo- cations of the catalogues and inventories of many important libraries of the period. Th3 Pennsylvania Magazine 2; Histogy gag Biography contained two important articles on private 1i- braries of that colony, E. V. Lamberton's "Colonial Libraries of Pennsylvania," vol. #2, no. 3 (July, 1918), 193-235, and Carl Bridenbaugh's "The Press and.the Book in Eighteenth Cen- tury Philadelphia," vol. 65, no. 1 (January, 191.1), 1-31. Evidence of libraries from gifts to Harvard College was found in Charles A. Cutter, "Harvard College Library,’I ggygh_Americmn ,ngigy, vol. 107 (July-Oct. 1868), 568-59h. The largest shngle source, however, for secondary material from periodicals was the Egg England Quarterly: _A_n_ Historical £211.91 p_f_ 913! England 'Lifg gag Letters. At least ten useful articles were found within its pages. Since there is no particular connection between these articles, I will rather arbitrarily discuss them briefly alphabetically by the last name of the author. Susan Stanton Brayton wrote "The Library of an Eighteenth Century 131. Gentlemen of Rhode Island," vol. 8, no. 2, (1935), 277-28h, telling of the library of Henry Marchant. E. Francis Brown wrote about "The Law Career of'Major Joseph Hawley," vol. 6, no. 3 (1931), k82-509, and included some material on Hawley's library. Two articles were contributed by Theodore Hornberger, "Benjamin Colman and the Enlightenment," vol. 12, no. 2 (1939), ““fi 227-211, and."Puritanism and Science - The Relationship Re- vealed in the writings of John Cotton," vol. 10, no. 3 (1937), P 503-516. Two articles mentioning the library of Edward Taylor, an early New England poet, were written by Thomas H. Johnson ;' and Sidney E. Lind. Johnson's article was titled "Edward Taylor: A Puritan 'Sacred Poet", vol. 10, no. 2 (1937), 290- 323, and Lind wrote "Edward Taylor: A Revaluation,” vol. 21, no. A (1918), 519-530. The library of Jonathan Edwards, the dynamic leader of the so-called "Great Awakening" was mentioned by Perry Miller in ”Jonathan Edwards' Sociology of the Great Awakening," vol. 21 (19h8), 50-77. Another source for infor- mation concerning the library of John Adams in addition to his own writhgs and correspondence was Dorothy M; Hobathan's "John Adams and the Classics,” vol. 19 (19h6), 91-98. The only avail- able information concerning the library of John Wise was Clinton L. Rossiter's ”John'Wise: Colonial Democrat,” vol. 22 (19h9), 3-32. The last article of importance from.the 33! England Quarterly was Clifford K. Shipton's "Literary Leaven in Pro- vincial New England,” vol. 9, no. 2 (1936), 203-218 which men- tioned particularly libraries of colonial Connecticut. l\ '. Ca 6-. 132. Secondapy Material fyggflgppgg: Several books gave a more or less general history of the entire colonial period or a particular section of either country or time. In all these books, any mentions of libraries were more or less incidental and not particularly valuable: Florence Bennett Anderson, A Grandfather £2; Benjamin Franklin: 1.9.2 True Stogy p; _a_ Nantuck- Beginnings .o_f_ _t_h_e_ American Pepple (Boston, 1915), John A. Goodwin, Th; Pilgrim Republic: _Ap Historical Review if 3333; Colony pf Np! Plnouth with Sketcheg pf 31;; Rise 2; other Le! England Settlements, 1'2; History p_f_‘_ Congregationalin, £93 pp; 932291 pf pp; 2211‘!!! (Boston, 1888), Cotton Mather's famous Magpalia Christi Americana; pg phy Ecclesiastical Histogy 9; 3.231! land; mainline Plant: .aaaszsgléago lain Eh; 139; p_i_‘_ 93; Lord 1628, 7 books, 2 vols. (Hartford, 1855), John Gorham Palfrey, _A_ Comdious Histogy 2; N3! England £593 3113 Discovery py Euromans 39 pp; F3553 meral ngress pf 3.2; Anglo-American Colonies, 1. vols. (Boston, 1881). Rev. Edmund F. Slafter, £2135 Checkle ; pg 39:, Evolution _o_f Religious 121;;- 22; in Massachusetts‘_B_a_y, 2 vols. (Boston, 1897), William B. Weeden, Economic 9.9. M Histog pf l_l_e_w_ Mlmd, 1639-1182, 2 vols. (Boston, 1890), Whitaker's Southold; Being g Substan- gg Reproduction 2;; pp; Histoyy '9; Southold, _ngg m, _I_t_c_ gm Centu_ry, edited by Rev. Epher Whitaker (Princeton, 1931), and George F. Willison, §_a__i_._npg gag Stran ers, M 54;; Lin; 2; pp; Pilgrim Fathers pap}; 19.9.3.3 Families, _w_i_t_h_ 1'93}; Friends ’. ( e 9 I - .. _ . i gas-w- D - a I u. _ 133. £15322, 11.13;; 112.9} Ressurection a, Big; _tg Glo , 5 Lb; Strange Pilgginages g; Plnouth 325,; (New York, 191.5). Another group of books was more valuable to this study and contained information more specifically relating to lib- raries. By far the most important secondary source for this essay was Thomas Goddard wright's Literagy Culture ig‘gggly Egg England, 1329-1129 (New Haven, 1920). Mr. Wright did an alas- ing ammunt of both accurate and detailed research in the field of private libraries and his book is indeed invaluable to a study of this type. Its rather lengthy appendix also presents some primary material in its listings of catalogues and inven- tories, but I felt that the work belonged primarily in this secondary category. Some valuable information as well as sole bibliographical suggestions for this study were found in James Truslow Adams, Provincial Societ , 1999111§2_(New York, 1927), part of the History of American Life Series. Substantial amounts of material on a few important library owners was found in Carl Leslie Cannon's American B2 5 Collectors 3;; Collecting 11:93 Colonial m 29. m Present (New York, 191.1). Sanuel Abbott Green's‘Miscellaneous writings (n. p., n. d.) included naterial on the library of the Rev. Sanuel Lee in the section entitled "Remarks On an Early Book-Catalogue Printed in Bos- ton; with other Bibliographical Matter." Another important book for the early part of this study was Smnuel Eliot Mbrison's The Puritan Pronaos: Studies in the Intellectual Life of New 13h. England in _t_1_1_e_ Seventeenth Centugy (New York, 1936). Less valuable works were Charles M. Andrews, Colonial Folkways: A Chronicle 2; American 1._i_f_e_ _ig Egg M 9; 3h_e_ Georges (New Haven, 1921), Elisabeth Christine Cook, Literary Influences in Colonial News rs, 1195-1129, (New York, 1912), and Louis Booker Wright, 1133 Atlantic Frontier: Colonial American W— p2... m, lggz-lzg; (New York, 19m . ' The least important group of secondary sources were the biographies. On the whole they were less reliable and less helpful than any other large category. For that reason I do ‘fi- _ not feel it necessary to comment on each one of tha individ- ually, so will merely list them alphabetically by the last name of the author: Irving Brant, £234 Madison: 1h; Virginia Re_v_g- lutionist, 2 vols. (Indianapolis and New York, 191.1), George S. Brookes, _F_r_:_l_e_ng_ Anthony Beneset (Philadelphia, 1937), E. Francis Brown, 1953p); .liaw_1_e_y: Colonial Radical (New York, 1931), Alex- ander Cowie, 19g Trumbull: Connecticut 1;; (Chapel Hill, 1936), Charles E. Cunningham, Timothy Dwight 1122-1811, _3 Biography (New York, 191.2), Ernest Earnest, John 91d Hgllian Bartgam: Botanists 33g Elplorers 16122-1111, 112-1&2} (Philadelphia, 191.0), James Ernst, ggggy Williams: _H_e_! M Fiyebrand (New York, 1932), H. Bryllion Fagin, Hi1liam Bartram, Intergeter g; 3.11; American Landscaa (Baltimore, 1933), Henry Wilder Foote, 39.22.12}. £3153: Colonial Portrait Painter (Cambridge, 1930), Paul Leicester Ford, M; gay-M Franklin (New York, 1898-9), e .—-l. e l u 135. 191.6), Arthur Cushman McGiffert Jr. , Jonathan Edwards (New York, 1932), Perry Miller, Jonathan Edwards, The American Men of Letters Series (n. p., 191.9), John Pell, m A119; (Bos- ton, 1913), Jared Sparks, _Tge_ Libragy pg American Bio ra h , 10 vols. (New York, 1856), Harry R. Warfel, N333 Webster: Schoolmaster pg America (New York, 1936), Charles Warren, Diapy 21 _D_:_‘=_ Nathaniel Ames 1128-1822 (Cambridge, 1931), 01a Elisabeth Winslow, Jonathan Edwards 1102-1158: A biography (New York, 191.0), Carl Raynond Woodward, Plogghs 3951 Politicks; Charles 1392 pf__ 19! leggy ;a_n_d_ H}; £9.29. pp Aggiculture 111i- _1_.17A (New Brunswick, 191.1), and Theodore Albert Zunder, 11;; £2121 gay; 91 1991 112110;: A Connecticut 1:11;. - 1313 Graduate, Editor, layyer in}; get, Chaplain during 3113 Revolutionary HE; - 13;; Life An_d_ Works from 1125-1181 (New Haven, 1935). " -4 -.. (I d. . ‘ I- O. r t\ e .. ‘ . u u c ...? . a»... .... . .. .. ...- .. . .4 .. . ..w _. ‘W 3’ . aufire 1.. .f! c ”a, o. I t. _ “V’ndflth . . , , ._ . t. . u) . . ... . . in.. . Ce) . . I. . i. . a (f ‘l’ I 0‘ . . . V . . \ 1 . v. \\. _ 1. . . I. a. fix. f1.) . ... \ . . .r .. 7w J . .(l v.1. . . u . ’23Pn , N. . 11:42... .... / m” .r, ..- . 131.. . . .. .u . .. l o I . - o4. . . 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