■J^^l t":^ m^'-- / OforncU ImnctBtta Sltbrati; 3tt;aca, Netn Inrk The date shows when this volume was taken. To renew this book copy the call No. and givt; to the hbrarian. HOME USE RULES All Books subject to Recall All borrowers must regis- ^ ter in the library to borrow books for home use. " - «• " All books must be re- turned at end of college ■ year for inspection and repairs. Limited books must be re- ^.,^ turned within the four week limit and not renewed. •"••" Students must return all books before leaving town. "" " Officers should arrange for the return of books wanted "" "* " during their absence from ^^ ^^ _ town. Volumes of periodicals and of pamphlets are held in the library as much as - possible. For special pur- poses they are given out for a limited time. Borrowers should not use their library privileges for the benefit of other persons. Books of special value and gift books, when the giver wishes it, are not allowed to circulate. Readers are asked to re- port all cases of books marked or mutilated. Do not deface books by marks and writing. Cornell University Library Z1207 .C62 Uncommon scarce and rare books relating 3 1924 029 555 558 ^ olin Overs // ir^i 'So h Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029555558 9 Ktmtxtmu UNCOMMON, SCARCE AND RARE BOOKS RELATING TO ^xm^vicatta EARLY AMERICANA HE great libraries of American History in the John Carter Brown Memorial Library, Providence, Rhode Island, and Lenox Collection, New York Public Library, are not likely to be duplicated, either in America or Europe. In the field which they cover there are few missing links in the chain of funda- mental material which recites the Discovery and Col- onization of America. With the amount of remaining material exist- ing and much of this now locked in the more important libraries of America and Europe, it is not probable at this time or in the near future that other S'uch complete libraries can be made. The collector or student purchaser of today reads with great in- terest of the conditions and opportunities existing fifty years ago. The labors of Mr. Obadiah Rich and Mr. Henry Stevens in getting to- gether original materials of American History, arid later transferring them to Mr. Brown and Mr. Lenox, formed an epoch in American library history ; and it is fortunate, indeed, for students of history in the New World that these men, so deeply interested as they Were, lived at that time and that they spent their money so liberally in founding such libraries. The original investigator of early general American history, for exhaustive study will go probably always to Providence or New York : but nevertheless other important libraries have been formed in other parts of the country, which upon specific subjects of American his- tory, perhaps surpass, in completeness the above great general libra- ries. Chicago is indebted to Mr. Edward E. Ayer for the formation of a great library upon the Indians and relative subjects. The library of the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Mass., is unique in having a wonderful collection of Colonial newspapers, school books and almanacs of Colonial times; and the student, for an investigation and full appreciation of life in Colonial days, will examine these papers for a mirror of the times. Of the great libraries of American History, now in private hands, unquestionably the best, is the collection of books formed by the late Mr. E. D. Church, now ovmed by Mr. Henry E. Huntington, which combines the rarest of several collections purchased by Mr. Church. It contains many rarities of early American History nowhere else found, and is particularly rich in its collection of Colonial Laws. ^mj^ticana Great interest in American History by many men has led to the formation throughout the country of many collections upon subjects relating to its history from the period of Discovery to our own time : and in the lists of historical subjects there are collections of State His- tories and Settlements ^ Laws, Colonial and State ; Indians and Cap- tivities ; Western Territorial History, etc. Manuscripts and books re- lating to eminent men who have been prominent in the making of the United States, have made subjects for important and numerous col- lections, so that altogether while early American History is well con- centrated in a few libraries, there yet remains to be done the concen- tration of materials for a great and complete general library of his- tory subsequent to 1800. The list, herewith, of several hundred titles of rare or uncommon books relating principally to the Discovery and Colonial periods of American History, forms part of a collection of about three thousand titles relating to the same subjects. The list is offered without a suggestion as to completeness, but is in response to a frequent re- quest for an indication of the subjects of the collection. The subjects altogether are so extensive that completeness is an impossibility, but the purpose of the owner has been to gather to- gether as best he could the fundamental materials on the subjects, leaving other and more easily attainable material to the Public Library; but even in this effort, success is far from complete, and more material is wanted than is secured. The words of that great bibliographer and book-lover, Joseph Sabin, which he placed upon the title pages of his Dictionary of Amer- icana, are appropriate to the unsatisfied effort of any would-be col- lector of Americana : "A painful work it is, I'll assure you, and more than difficult, wherein what toyle hath been taken, as no man thinketh, so no man believth, but he hath made the triall," A collection of books upon a subject is not a library on the same subject. Though with diligence and painstaking a collector gathers to- gether the fundamental materials relating to a subject, it is still in- complete and is not developed into a library until there is added to it all relative material with the work of other students on the same subject. William L. Clements. Bay City, Michigan, November, 1914. mmm(^(Fi\r^^ ^Imertcana RELATING TO THE DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION PERIODS Mela, Pomponins. POMPONIJ MBLLAB C0SM06RAPHI GEOGRAPHIA. Vene- tijs, Erhardus Ratdolt, 1482. Columbus, Christopher. HPISTOLA. Rome, Stephanus Plamick, 1493. Fernandl and Helisabet edition. Sabellicus, Marcus Antonius. BNNBADBS MAEOI ANTONIJ SABELLICI AB ORBE CONDITO. Venetlls, Bernardinum et Matheum Venetos, 1498. Sabellicus, Marcus Antonius. SBOVNDA PARS BNNBADVM MAEOI ANTONII SABELLICI. Venetiis, Maglstum Bernardlum Vercellensem, 1504. WaldseemuUer, Martin. COSMOGRAPHIAE INTRODVOTIO. Argentoracos, Joannes Gruniger, 1509. POMPONIVS MELA. IVLIVS SOLINVS. ITINBRARIVM ANTONINI AVG. VIBIVS SEQVESTER,