including the books purchased subsequently in conformity with Mr. Ticknor's bequest, and revised all the titles. In addition to this work under the same oversight there is included in the catalogue the collection of Spanish and Portuguese books in the general library. All the annotations were furnished by Mr. Whitney. The Ticknor donation, when received, comprised 3,907 volumes; there have since been added to it 1,452 volumes, making a total of 5,359 volumes. Besides these the general library possesses 2,619 volumes. Both collections comprise 7,867 volumes. In these are included the pamphlets, all of which are bound, numbering 1,978, and making 9,845 titles of works contained in the present catalogue.

In reference to this collection it is proper to add here the following memorandum left by Mr. Ticknor:

Memorandum concerning a bequest to the city of Boston, of something more than three thou. sand five hundred volumes of Spanish and Portuguese books, and of four thousand dollars, five per cent. of the income of which shall, for twenty-five years, be employed in purchasing for the Public Library other books in the same languages.

In these arrangements, I have followed what, during the past course of the Public Library, has seemed judicious: namely, the general idea, that collections of books needed only by small portions of the community- unless they are books especially asked for ought to be obtained from the generosity of the persons interested in them, while the public should supply all others. Thus, in the case of Mr. Bates, it will be remembered that he directed a part of his last munificent gift of fifty thousand dollars to be expended in a particular rare collection of books on Music; the sons of the late Dr. Bowditch gave their father's important collection of books on Mathematics ;· and the late Theodore Parker gave his classical and scholarlike library. Meantime, however, the institution relied safely on the municipal authorities for all the current expenses of its administration, and for the resources needed in purchasing the large masses of books devoted to the culture, progress, and welfare of the community generally; just as we all rely on the city government for the support of our free schools, and for the same reasons.

A library, however, that is open to a very great number of persons as freely as the Boston Public Library is open, and as freely as many other libraries will become, — perhaps even our college libraries, is a somewhat bold experiment; and, therefore, a considerable time will probably elapse before it will be determined how such an institution can best be constituted, and how it can best be administered. But we may be sure, that, if we are willing to wait, we shall learn all that is really desirable to know on a subject growing so important.

Meanwhile, it seems impossible that harm of any sort can come from building up, during a moderate number of years, any particular department of the Boston Library, whether it be already strong, or whether it is still deficient. On the contrary, it seems likely to be of good example. For, if the collection of books in the Greek and Latin classics, or that in Astronomy, for instance, should thus attract notice by its completeness or importance, it seems sure that such departments as the German, or the Engineering, or the Chemical, will not be overlooked, while for reasons still more obvious and urgent, the departments in History, in Travels, in Biography, in Mechanics, and in the literatures of the United States, England, and France, will be rendered as complete as the resources of the institution will properly permit, just as they always have been, and, as I trust, they always will be.

At any rate, so far as my own little fund is concerned, I have provided that this experiment

shall go on for five and twenty years; but, after that time, that the subject shall be considered afresh, and, if it is no longer thought by the persons having lawful charge of the Library, that my little experiment should be continued exclusively in the purchase of books in Spanish and Portuguese, then that the whole income of my fund of four thousand dollars shall be, from time to time, devoted to the purchase, for the Library, of any good and solid books of permanent value in any language, and on any subject that may be deemed, by such persons having charge of the Library, most likely to advance the culture and well-being of the city.

MARCH 21, 1870.

This collection of books made by Mr. Ticknor was begun at Madrid in the year 1817, and actively continued, abroad and at home, till 1852. Subsequent to this date only such books were added as his orders had previously been unable to secure. It has been said that his efforts to obtain Spanish books through his various agents in Europe and elsewhere raised their prices in all the great book marts of the world. As a collection it is remarkable for its completeness in all that pertains to Spanish literature and belles-lettres. At the time it was collected no single library in Spain is said to have contained all the works which it possesses. Out of Spain, the Spanish library of the British Museum, the private collection of Lord Holland, and that of the Imperial Library at Vienna, are undoubtedly larger, if not so complete in the specialties of this Library.

In laying before the City Council the results authorized by their vote, the Trustees cannot but congratulate all persons interested on the thorough manner in which the work has been done. The arrangements for the shelving and safe-keeping of the books in the Library are apparently all that can be desired. The form in which the Catalogue has been arranged and printed will probably secure for it a cordial reception among the Spanish scholars of the world.

In conclusion, the Trustees hope that the duty committed to their charge has been so fulfilled as measurably to attain the high requirements of Mr. Ticknor's provision. In this matter, as in all others pertaining to the future of the Library, they recognize a continuous obligation to the Trustee who gave it from its beginning the benefit of his remarkable wisdom, of his disinterested service, and of his wide literary accomplishment. They gratefully admit that the labors of George Ticknor largely contributed to make the Library what it has since become, an institution whose usefulness, through municipal support and private beneficence, has fortunately extended far beyond the limits for which it was originally projected.

PUBLIC LIBRARY, May 26th, 1879.

WILLIAM W. GREENOUGH,
RICHARD FROTHINGHAM,

JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE,
HUGH O'BRIEN,

WESTON LEWIS,

GEORGE B. CHASE,

ROGER WOLCOTT.

1

PREFACE.

HE books whose titles are found in this Catalogue may be divided into three classes: 1. The collection received by bequest from Mr. Ticknor, — 3,907 volumes. 2. The purchases with the income of the Ticknor fund, 1,452 volumes. 3. The books in the Spanish and Portuguese languages and literatures in the general collection of the Boston Public Library,-2,619 volumes, and 597 bound pamphlets.1

The total number of volumes in the Ticknor collection is 5,359, of which 111 are pamphlet volumes, containing 1,381 pamphlets. The total number in the Ticknor and general collections is 7,867 volumes, and 1,978 bound pamphlets.

Mr. Ticknor's library was collected for use in the preparation of his History of Spanish Literature, and it will be possible for the student, with this Catalogue in hand, to accompany him, step by step, through the entire course of that work. Many of the volumes contain his manuscript notes, some of which are printed for the first time in this Catalogue, while an additional interest is attached to some from the fact that they are presentation copies, and contain the manuscript notes of Yriarte, the Comte de Puymaigre, Southey, Ferdinand Wolf, and others. All bear witness to Mr. Ticknor's careful study, and must claim our reverence his companions, and as the source of his invaluable literary history.

It has not been regarded as falling within the scope of this Catalogue to mention in each case the rarity of these books, or their relative value. Nor is this necessary, for both can be imagined when it is remembered how precious are the early editions of Spanish works published before the eighteenth century, and how large a portion of them has disappeared. Their scarcity may be attributed to their limited editions, to the indifference of authors, as is seen in the accounts given of Calderon, Góngora, and Lope de Vega, to the religious zeal or the carelessness of the Spanish people,

1Of the books in this division there are in Spanish, 1,308 volumes and 543 pamphlets; in Portuguese, 95 volumes and 27 pamphlets; in other languages, 1,216 volumes and 27 pamphlets.

2 These notes serve as a supplement to the History. A few of them have been printed in the fourth American edition.

and to the chances of war. The archives and monastic libraries of Spain have in many cases been burned or scattered, and the suppression of books by the ecclesiastical power has been extremely rigorous.3

The accounts of the destruction of books by Archbishop Ximenez, afterwards made a cardinal, and the description given of the burning of Don Quixote's library by the Curate and the Barber-where even the housemaid, it is said, was more fond of burning books than of plying the shuttle- may be regarded, the one as a faithful picture, and the other as an equally truthful satire on the zeal of the nation in the destruction of its literature. Salvá states in regard to the "Cancionero General" of Fernando del Castillo, of which nine editions had been published, that he had never seen a copy of any of them on sale. The "Exámen de ingenios" of Juan Huarte de San Juan was so thoroughly suppressed that, although eleven editions had been published, Feyjoó begged a friend to procure a copy of it in Latin, Italian or French, because, as he said, he could hardly hope to find one in Spanish.7 Sir Edmund Head states, on the authority of Richard Ford, that a search of more than twenty years has not revealed a perfect copy of the "Arte de la pintura” of Pacheco.

8

These three books (the first two of which are in the Ticknor library) are cited as examples of a class of rare books largely represented in this collection, many of which are not mentioned in bibliographies.

The classification of the Ticknor library in the years 1871 and 1879 is as follows:-9

1 Preface of Señor Cañete to the Farsas y églogas of Lúcas Fernandez, p. xiii.

2 Preface of Señor Gayangos to Al-makkari's Mohammedan dynasties of Spain, p. xxi.

3" No bookseller or other person whatever shall bring or introduce into these realms, have in his possession, or sell, any book or work, printed or manuscript, of those that are forbidden by the Holy Office of the Inquisition, whatever be the language, subject or title, under penalty of death, and the forfeiture of all his property; and all such volumes shall be publicly burned in the plaza of the town. . . ." From the original Decree of Philip II., dated Valladolid, Sept. 7th, 1558, and printed early in the following year by Sebastian Martinez (Cuaderno de leyes), Fo, black letter, ff. (6), sign. A, B, C.-W. I. KNAPP.

The statement of Robles, in his Life of Ximenez, that one million and five thousand Arabic books were destroyed by the latter at Granada in the year 1500, is regarded as an exaggeration, and the number has been estimated at eighty thousand (Preface by Señor Gayangos to Al-Makkari). Since the note on page 237 of this Catalogue was printed the writer has been informed that in the Biblioteca Nacional at Madrid there is a manuscript (S. 226), entitled Sobre la prohibicion de libros, dated 1633, and written officially on the occasion of a controversy between the Papal Nuncio and the government of Philip IV., involving jurisdiction, and that the figures there given correspond with those of Robles.

5 Cornhill Magazine, June, 1875.

Catalogue, London, 1826, p. 6.

Ticknor's History, ii, 219, note.

Hand-book of the history of the Spanish and French schools of painting, p. xi.

Owing to the crowded state of the shelves, 164 volumes, mostly recent additions, have been placed outside of their proper classification, for which due allowance has been made in the last column.

150-169.

Miscellaneous prose and poetry (including the Biblioteca de autores

It will be seen that the larger part of the collection is embraced in the departments of history and general literature (El teatro, Libros de poesía, Libros de entretenimiento). The manuscripts are mostly transcripts from

originals in Europe.

Among these books are found copies of Florian's imitation of the Galatea of Cervantes, and Don Quixote, the former a prize won by Mr. Ticknor at school in the year 1804, the latter a gift in 1805, just after he had entered Dartmouth College, from his friend, Jas. Freeman, the minister of King's Chapel in Boston. These may be called the foundation of the library, the collection of which was begun in earnest soon after his arrival in Spain in the year 1818.1

Mr. Ticknor's unpublished letters describe the difficulties he experienced in finding books, notwithstanding the aid he received from Conde, and other friends. For assistance he resorted to priests who had access where book merchants could not penetrate. In the autumn of the year 1818 he purchased in Portugal, as he states,2 "a collection of books in Portuguese belles-lettres and literary history as complete as I could get, because I knew I never could hope to have anything in this language and literature which I did not bring with me; for our curiosity does not yet venture so far on the mare magnum of letters and learning."

1 The first book purchased was probably a copy of Don Quixote, in which is written "Perpignan, 29 April, 1818, just entering Spain. Most of the notes were made the following summer when I read the D. Quixote with Conde, in

Madrid."

2 Unpublished letters.