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 The Miami Bulletin 
 
 Published Monthly by Miami University 
 
 And Entered at Postoffice , Oxford , Ohio, as Second Class Mail Matter 
 
 Series VI. FEBRUARY, 1908. Number 10 
 
 History of the Library of Miami University. 
 
 BY WM. J. McSURELY, Librarian. 
 
 The records of the Board of Trustees show that in 1811 
 and 1812, “the Rev. John W. Browne, a missionary in Ohio 
 and elsewhere/ ' made collections of monies and books for 
 the University. On April 17th, 1812, the treasurer was 
 authorized to call on Samuel J. Brown and “secure the books 
 which had been forwarded to him for use in the Univer- 
 sity.” Those months of the dawning of the War of 1812 
 could not have been a very promising time for securing gifts 
 in this northwest, but pioneer ministers were men of faith 
 and courage. It is interesting to know that this Home Mis- 
 sionary, as he went here and there, asked gifts for the new 
 college, soon to be opened. Certainly it was expected that 
 this new college would help to train men for the ministry, 
 and would greatly help the church, and it surely did. The 
 Rev. Browne died in 1812 or 1813, for in November of this 
 latter year a committee was appointed to confer with the ad- 
 ministrator of his estate. But the matter was not fully set- 
 tled until July 6, 1824, shortly before the University opened. 
 Among the receipts of the University at this time was a sub- 
 scription of books to be yet supplied. 
 
 April 12, 1821, the Board, in making plans for the open- 
 ing of the University, speaks of “plans to provide a suitable 
 building, a library, and apparatus/' The gift of John 
 Harvard's library made sure the founding of Harvard Uni- 
 
versity. Our fathers who established Miami University 
 looked upon a library as essential in the very beginning. 
 
 It seems that “The Circulating Library Society of Cin- 
 cinnati" was in debt to the Miami University- For, in April, 
 1824, the President of its Board of Directors addressed a 
 letter to the Trustees of the University, proposing to pay its 
 debt with books. On July 6, the Board agreed to this pro- 
 posal and thus became the possessor of 64 numbers of Rees' 
 Encyclopedia at a cost of $120, and agreed to become respon- 
 sible for the remaining numbers as they were issued. These 
 were estimated to cost about $100. We have this Encyclopedia 
 yet, and it cost us a good price, about $220. But Encyclopedia 
 makers were not very plentiful in those days. It is probable 
 that we have some books that were collected by the Rev. Mr. 
 Browne, 96 or 97 years ago. We certainly have owned this 
 Encyclopedia 87 years. 
 
 At a meeting of the Board held November 5, 1824, at 
 which time the University was opened, it was resolved 
 “That the meetings of this Board shall hereafter be holden 
 in the Library Chamber," and this rule is observed to this 
 day. This “Library Chamber" is the library room of to- 
 day, save that for a time there was a recitation room taken 
 off the west end. But in 1853 the partition was removed, 
 and ever since the library room has been the entire north 
 half of the main building, second floor. We would not say 
 one word to the discredit of the old “Library Chamber." It 
 has brought us large enjoyment and gain. Its walls hold 
 many secrets of the Board. But we are glad to believe that 
 we now see on the horizon the promise of a new building. 
 We will tenderly remember the old room, while we gladly 
 hail the new edifice. 
 
 At this meeting it was also ordered by the Board “That 
 the Professor of Languages take charge of the Library, and 
 that he shall permit no books to be taken out of the library ex- 
 cept for the use of the Faculty." Mr. William Sparrow had 
 been chosen to this chair, and of course was the first librar- 
 ian. But in a brief time he left to enter upon a professor- 
 ship in Kenyon College, and on March 24, 1826, Dr. Wm. H. 
 McGuffey was elected Professor of Languages and became 
 
librarian. In some of the old catalogs he is designated as 
 Professor of Languages and Librarian. 
 
 On March 31, 1828, the following action was taken by 
 the Board: — (This was the first set of rules adopted for the 
 management of the Library.) 
 
 1. No student shall receive from the library more than 
 two volumes at once; nor keep them longer than two weeks. 
 
 2. The library shall be opened for receiving and dis- 
 tributing books every Saturday in term time between the 
 hours of 2 and 5 p. m. 
 
 (The above was changed. I recall that in 1853, and 
 thereafter, the library was opened on Saturday forenoons 
 only, from about 9 o’clock to 11). 
 
 3. Whoever shall keep a book from the library longer 
 than two weeks, or shall injure a book, or permit it to be in- 
 jured whilst in his possession, shall be fined 6 1-4 cents each 
 week he detains the book from the library, and pay the 
 amount of damage in case of injury. 
 
 (The “6 1-4 cents,” or Spanish fippenny bit, was a relic 
 of Colonial times. The days of the nickel had not then 
 dawned.) 
 
 4. The senior class only shall be allowed to take books 
 from the library. 
 
 (This was changed the next year, and students of the 
 college classes were allowed the use of the library, upon pay- 
 ment of a library fee of 50 cents per session. 
 
 5. The Professor of Languages shall discharge the 
 duties of Librarian. 
 
 The first appropriation for the Library was made Septem- 
 ber 28, 1825. The University had been opened one year and 
 upon the recommendation of President Bishop it was re- 
 solved “That there shall be appropriated annually the sum of 
 $50 to be expended in subscriptions for periodical, literary and 
 scientific publications, and the further sum of $200, for the 
 purchase of works of history and science, at the discretion of 
 the President, which sums shall be annually paid upon his 
 order without further appropriation.” This order stood 
 until 1834, when the annual appropriation was fixed at $50. 
 The library fee was stricken out, and the use of the library 
 restricted to the faculty and the seniors. 
 
 3 
 
In 1833, “A Catalogue of the Books Contained in the 
 Library of Miami Universtiy” was issued. It was printed 
 here in Oxford, and published by W. W. Bishop. There are 
 a few copies yet extant. The books are “ arranged according 
 to subjects/ ' and their classification is not exactly according 
 to Dewey. The list is an interesting one, and the number of 
 volumes in some classes is as follows: -Biography, 37 
 volumes; Greek and Latin Classics, 180 volumes. (A number 
 of preachers must have unloaded their bookshelves.) Civil 
 and Ecclesiastical History, 112 volumes. (Not a single his- 
 tory of the United States; Robertson's America is here 
 and Ramsey's America.) 
 
 Medicine, Chemistry and Natural History are grouped in 
 one classification, and credited with 26 volumes. This was 
 the beginning of literature in our present departments of 
 Chemistry, Biology and Nature Study. 
 
 Another classification makes a jumble of Natural, Mental 
 and Moral Philosophy. Think of dumping Dr. Culler and Dr. 
 Powell into the same nest. Under this heading we have 42 
 volumes and most of these are on the mental and moral line, 
 as might be expected, since the strong, clear headed Scotch 
 President had charge of this course. 
 
 The Periodical list is almost wholly scientific and does 
 not contain a single journal that we take today. We have an 
 almost complete set of the North American Review, whose 
 publication was begun in 1815, but evidently it had not been 
 susbcribed for when this catalogue was published. 
 
 The list of poetry is a curiosity. Here it is:— Burns’ 
 Poems, La Henriade, two volumes, Ossian's Poems, two 
 volumes, Paradise Lost, Crabbe's Borough, Hudibras, two 
 volumes, Milton's Poems. Ten volumes in all and not an 
 American poet in the list. 
 
 They were rich in Theology, 157 volumes, and many of 
 these were great folio books, weighty in every way. We 
 have the Biblia Sacra Polyglotta in six folio volumes, which 
 is a beauty and a wonder in its mechanical execution, print- 
 ed in London in 1657. We have a folio volume by John Calvin 
 concerning the twelve minor prophets, published in Geneva 
 in 1559, more than half a century before the Colonists came 
 to Jamestown. On its title page is a large anchor, with’[a 
 
 4 
 
serpent twined about its stem. If any one wishes to read 
 this book, he must first master the Latin language. We 
 have quite a number of books rare and curious and valuable. 
 If these were collected by the Rev. John W. Browne, the old 
 missionary should be gratefully remembered today. And 
 the old ministers who gave us such books were not throwing 
 out rubbish to us, in our infancy and need. They gave us 
 something worth while. When we set up our new library 
 building, I bespeak for these and other rare and valuable 
 books, a room where they can lie on shelves, covered with 
 glass doors, where they may be seen and yet not often 
 handled. 
 
 In its collection of Philology the library was rich for 
 that day. It had 179 volumes in Latin and Greek and 
 Hebrew and French and German and Spanish and Portuguese. 
 The language business meant work. Hebrew was then a 
 part of the University course for such as expected to enter 
 the ministry, and the library had a large collection of He- 
 brew books. 
 
 What do our readers think of this collection under the 
 classification of Fiction, Wit and Humor? Shakespeare's 
 Works, ten volumes, Les Aventures de Gil Bias par Le Sage, 
 four volumes; The Spy, 2 volumes, (this looks home like.) 
 Don Quixote, (in Spanish,) six^ volumes, (It isn't yet worn 
 out;) Novelle Italiene, Voyage to the Moon, Merry Tales of 
 the Three Wise Men of Gotham. I don't think the ‘ ‘Voy- 
 age to the Moon" can be found. Some one must have taken 
 it as a guide book. 
 
 The whole number of books in the Library at this time— 
 the ninth year after the opening of the University— was 
 1296 volumes. 
 
 After the resignation of Dr. McGuffey, the Rev. John 
 McArthur, Professor of Greek, was librarian for a time, and 
 he was succeeded by the Rev. Dr. James C. Moffat, Profes- 
 sor of Latin. 
 
 In 1841, it was ordered that the diploma fees be used for 
 the increase of the library, and in 1843 the librarian was 
 directed to make an annual report to the Board. In 1844, Dr. 
 Moffat, as librarian, reported 2057 volumes in the library, 
 
 5 
 
only 61 volumes more than had been reported eleven years 
 before. He also reported 244 volumes as missing. 
 
 In 1848, the librarian was obliged to report that his 
 orders for books exceeded his appropriation, and the Board 
 appropriated $100 to pay this balance, and also added $95 to 
 the annual appropriation for the coming year. And in 1851, 
 it was ordered that the appropriation “for the increase of 
 the library be henceforth limited to $100 per annum, in ad- 
 dition to diploma fees.” The appropriation went on in this 
 small way until the University was closed in 1873. In 1865, 
 a library fee of 50 cents per term was charged against every 
 student, and in 1867 the appropriation was limited to the 
 library fees. 
 
 In 1853, the library room was enlarged as has been al- 
 ready told and the two literary societies gave up their sepa- 
 rate library rooms and placed their books in the University 
 library and under the care of the librarian. This added 
 about 3000 volumes. But the arrangement was not satisfac- 
 tory, and in 1855 the Miami Union Society asked and secured 
 the return of their books. In 1856 the Erodelphian Society 
 presented a memorial to the Board of Trustees setting forth 
 that they had placed in the library of the University 1551 
 volumes by actual count, and in three years 264 volumes 
 were lost or stolen. This memorial was written by White- 
 law Reid and is one of his earliest “State Papers.” He was 
 then in training for the courts of Paris and London, and his 
 ’prentice work was well done. The next year the Erodel- 
 phians removed their books to cases provided for them in 
 their own hall. 
 
 In June, 1845, the Board’s standing committee had this 
 to say: “The Committee is of the opinion that the Univer- 
 sity library, as a whole, has too large a proportion of books 
 upon the abstruse sciences, in strange tongues, and of a 
 technical or a professional character, when compared with 
 its selections of history, poetry and general literature, and 
 that too large a proportion of the purchases made in the last 
 five or six years are of the former class. Collectors of books 
 should more consider the wants and tastes of the readers of 
 the library, than their own more cultivated and dainty tastes 
 for rare and costly books, which few persons can, or will 
 
 6 
 
read.’ 1 Then in a kind and sympathetic way (there were 
 two preachers on the committee,) they admonish dear Dr. 
 Elliott, the Librarian, to change the character of his pur- 
 chases. The Board adopted this report, and the next year 
 Dr. Elliott was commended for his compliance with the 
 Board’s wishes. 
 
 In those years the appropriations were placed at the dis- 
 posal of the librarian, and he was authorized to expend the 
 money and submit his vouchers when making his annual 
 report. 
 
 After Dr. Moffat’s departure, Dr. Elliott, the Professor 
 of Greek, was appointed librarian, and his reports are very 
 characteristic. He was one of the most polite and innocent 
 of men, without taste or aptitude for the business manage- 
 ment of the library. He begs pardon for the “informalities” 
 in his report. He speaks of “neglecting to take receipts,” 
 and at one time he speaks of an expenditure for which he 
 has no vouchers and says the Board “will have to take his 
 word for it.” The dear old Professor; may God forgive us 
 thoughtless boys for ever taking advantage of his guileless- 
 ness. 
 
 The good doctor spent one year across the sea, and dur- 
 ing his absence Dr. McFarland acted as librarian. His re- 
 port is also characteristic, for he saw some things that ought 
 to be mended. He counted the books. He found about 5218 
 volumes and that there were 419 volumes missing. He 
 suggested that too many people had access to the shelves. 
 The Board directed that only the librarian be allowed to 
 handle the books, and so the vigilant doctor, with a good 
 measure of success, enforced this order. After Dr. Elliott’s 
 resignation, Professor Swing had charge of the library, and 
 he was somewhat like Dr. Elliott, without taste for its busi- 
 ness detail. The following is taken from his report for the 
 year 1865: “That the Board may be informed as to the de- 
 tails of expenditure, I submit the librarian’s book, and 
 should it be desirable, in the judgment of your body, that the 
 truthfulness of this record be determined, the result can be 
 reached by comparing the accounts of the librarian’s book 
 with the books of the Robert Clarke Co., Cincinnati. As the 
 purchases of books are all made, with rare exceptions, at that 
 
 7 
 
house, it seems unnecessary for me to place book bills before 
 you.” Now, this would have seemed curt or pert in most 
 men, but no one who knew Professor Swing would think this 
 of him. Modest and retiring and delightful as he was, his 
 frank report was just a part of himself. 
 
 After the departure of Professor Irving, Professor Mc- 
 Farland was appointed librarian. This was in 1866, and he 
 had charge of the library until the University closed in 1873. 
 Again the Professor counted the books and found 262 more 
 volumes missing, and again the Board ordered that the 
 Librarian have sole charge of the books, and also the key of 
 the room. The venerable Dr. McFarland is still an honored 
 resident of Oxford and occasionally visits the library to 
 handle some books that are to him as old friends. Some of 
 us will never forget how earnestly and unselfishly during 
 the Civil War he shared the trials and dangers of camp life 
 and military service with the boys under his care. May God 
 bless him and lead him gently down to the setting of his sun 
 and keep him in perfect peace forevermore. 
 
 At the re-opening of the University in 1885 an appro- 
 priation of $500 was granted to the library to be expended 
 under the direction of the President, Dr. McFarland. A 
 reading room was arranged for and a few periodicals order- 
 ed. For three years Dr. McFarland had charge of the 
 library. He reported 7230 volumes. 
 
 In 1886 the state appropriation for the library was $1000, 
 and in '87, ’88 and ’89, $300 per annum. In 1888 the Board 
 added $350 to the state appropriation. In 1890 the state gave 
 $800 and the Board $200, the one-half to be divided among 
 the ten departments, being $50 to each Professor. This ap- 
 propiation of $1000 per annum has been continued until now. 
 In 1902, when the Normal College was opened, the state ap- 
 propriated $500 per annum to be used by the Normal College, 
 so that our library fund for the last five years has stood at 
 $1500 per year. 
 
 In 1888, Prof. William A. Merrill was appointed libra- 
 rian. At Amherst College he had been conversant with the 
 Dewey system of classification, and with the assistance of 
 some of the professors, he classified all the books in the main 
 library, according to this system. He reported 9266 volumes. 
 
 8 
 
In his reports he complained of the congested condition of 
 the library room and also of disorder and abuse of the room 
 and of the books by some of the students. The congestion 
 was relieved by the removal of the government publications 
 to another room, and the experiment of student help was 
 tried. In 1891 this was reported to be unsatisfactory. As the 
 number of students increased the necessity for a librarian 
 was reported as very pressing. In 1892 the Board gave 
 authority to impose fines upon any who failed to return their 
 books. In 1893 Professor 0. B. Finch was appointed librar- 
 ian in connection with his class room work. The library 
 was opened two hours per day, for each week day. Later it 
 was kept open four hours per day. 
 
 We are under great obligation to Professor Merrill for 
 his service, gratuitously rendered, in classifying and cata- 
 loguing the library. It was a great work, intelligently and 
 completely done. Our catalogue card case is a great conven- 
 ience, and to one who understands its story it readily guides 
 the seeker to where any particular book may be found. 
 
 In January, 1900, the present librarian took charge of 
 the library. But it was soon apparent that v/ith the in- 
 creased use now made of the library in college work, more 
 help was necessary, and in 1903 Miss Ella G. McSurely, who 
 had taken the library course at Pratt Institute, was made 
 Assistant Librarian. 
 
 The library is now open both forenoons and afternoons, 
 and on four evenings of each week. The library room is a 
 very busy place where you may find students and teachers 
 diligently employed. Today shows a great change from the 
 time when the library was open only for an hour or two on 
 Saturdays. The library is now an intelligence department in 
 college work, a place where the student finds many things he 
 needs to know, and also learns how to find them. 
 
 Our accession catalogue now calls for about 24,500 
 volumes. When we enter our new building we should take 
 account of stock and we probably will do so. We lose a few 
 books by deliberate theft, we lose more through thoughtless- 
 ness. 
 
 9 
 
RARE BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY. 
 
 Most of the arts and sciences look back with mirth, 
 reverent though it may be, yet with real mirth at the 
 early efforts along their various lines. Indeed chemistry is 
 avowedly ashamed of her direct descent from medieval 
 alchemy; while physicians would gladly silence the ubiqui- 
 tous whispers regarding the shady origin of their profes- 
 sion. Alone among this assembly may modern typography 
 look back to forbears worthy not only of respect, but of pos- 
 itive admiration; early printing, of as early a period as has 
 left a specimen extant, produced work worthy of the best 
 modern presses. Among the most beautiful of printed pages, 
 perhaps, are those which appeared within a hundred years 
 after the invention of printing. 
 
 The Miami University Library is so fortunate as to pos- 
 sess an old volume from this early period, printed in Stras- 
 burg by Martin Flach, in 1491. This was only forty years 
 after printing from movable types had been invented by 
 Gutenberg in Mainz, before which time all books had been 
 laboriously written by hand in monasteries or by professional 
 scribes. To the people a book had always meant a written 
 document; so that these early printers in order to sell their 
 products, made them as much like manuscripts as possible, 
 even referring to their new work as 4 "artificial writing." 
 Some said it was a profanation; the scribes scoffed at the 
 art and sought to have the “humbug" repressed by the 
 state. 
 
 The book we have is called Aurelii Agustini opuscula 
 plurima , Aurelius Augustinus being the Latin name for 
 Saint Augustine. There is no title page proper; the title is 
 simply printed in ordinary type on the first page. The in- 
 formation usually^given here, however, is found in a colo- 
 
 IO 
 
phon or inscription at the end of the book, and gives the 
 place of impression as Argentina, Latin for Strasburg. 
 Every initial letter in the book is dashed with red, while all 
 the larger initials were done in by hand in red pigment, that 
 the volume might as closely approximate a manuscrript as 
 was possible. Included in the same covers is a lesser book 
 purporting to be a history of the world. It is called Fasci- 
 culus Temporum and contains many early and very crude 
 wood cuts. The volume is bound in boards, real wooden 
 boards covered with pig skin, and perforated with worm 
 holes, the ravages of the numerous book worms that have 
 made holes in the paper in the book. The tracks of the 
 human book-worm are evident too, in numberless references 
 and annotations on the page margins. 
 
 The old Latin volume of Calvin's writings which Dr. 
 McSurely mentions in his article is indeed most interesting. 
 It was printed by Johann Crispin at Geneva, in 1559, and in 
 as much as Calvin was living there at that time, it is highly 
 probable that he himself oversaw the production of this 
 work. The “Epistola,” or preface, is printed in an exquisite 
 font of italic type, which was used only for such prefaces 
 and notes. An interesting circumstance of the origin of this 
 type is that the first font of it was cut in imitation of Pet- 
 rarch, the poet's handwriting. Today the Germans call it 
 Cursiv, while our own name, Italic , comes from its having 
 been first used in Venice. 
 
 Another very interesting Calvin book is one which bears 
 on its title page this inscription: Sermons of Maister John 
 Caluin f upon the Books of IOB Londini Impensis Georgij 
 Bishop. The volume is noteworthy as exhibiting the inter- 
 changing of u and v, and for its being the oldest book we 
 have in the English language; it was printed in 1584. 
 
 Of interest second only to that of the Strasburg volume 
 is our copy of Plantin's wonderful Bible, published at Ant- 
 werp in 1571. It consists of the Greek and Hebrew versions 
 with interlinear translation into Latin. The Greek starts 
 in at the “ front" cover, the Hebrew at the other, both work- 
 ing towards the center of the book, where they meet. 
 
 This curious arrangement was necessitated by the nature 
 of Hebrew printing which runs from right to left; the pag- 
 
 ii 
 
ination of the book follows the same scheme as the two ver- 
 sions, beginning at each cover with 1. The book is of great 
 historical interest and is described at length in the Encyclo- 
 pedia Britannica under Plantin . 
 
 Two volumes of the plays of Plantus, one of Latin 
 poetry, and an old Greek Bible in richly embossed pigskin 
 finish the catalogue of the books we have which were print- 
 ed before 1600. In the books of poetry, italic type is used 
 for the text, and the notes are done in Roman type. The 
 Bible, printed in 1545, is not divided into paragraphs and 
 verses and is the oldest book in the library with numbered 
 pages. 
 
 We are in fortunate possession of two examples of the 
 work done by the Elzevirs, famous seventeenth century 
 printers in Europe. These are both in Latin, one being none 
 other than our old companion, Caesar's Commentaries. The 
 Biblia Sacra Polyglotta of which Dr. McSurely has spoken 
 is from the London press of Thomas Roycroft, and exhibits 
 wonderful early fonts of foreign types ; it gives the versions 
 of the Bible in seven different tongues. 
 
 The January number of the Miami Student contains ex- 
 cellent cuts of several of these rare and beautiful books. 
 
 Murray Sheehan, '08. 
 
 12