Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1892 — LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

THE NEW BUILDING THE FINEST IN THE WORLD. New Approaching Completion-Mow Books WUI Be Handled by Masllhmry—Boom for 8,000,000 Volnmee—Great Libraries of Ancient and Modern Ties ■« Unde Sain’s New Library. An underground cable road will connect the new Library of Congress with the Capitol. It will be on a Lilliputian scale, and the little cars run upon it will envy only books as passengers. So rapid and effective will this method of communication be that Congressmen will be able to procure at the briefest notice volumes that are needed off-hand for reference or for use in debate. From a station situated midway between the House and Senate orders will be telegraphed or otherwise swiftly sent, and the books on arrival distributed by messengers. This will be a very different affair from the famous “hole in the ground* which was made seventeen

years ago to connect the Capitol with the Government Printing Office by a gigantic pneumatic tube, big enough for a man to be whisked through. It was intended for conveying public documents, but the $15,000 spent on it was wasted, inasmuch as it never worked, and it is now used merely as a conduit for telephone wires. There is no library building in the world that at all compares with the one now being erected by Unde Sam. Novel mechanical devices will constitute one of its most interesting features. Improvements of the kind have never been thought of abroad, where the great book collections are usually so managed that their treasures are to a great extent unavailable. In the Library of Congress the volumes will be handled almost entirely by machine. Orders will be sent to the bookstacks and books brought from them to the desk for distribution by trays suspended from endless chains, the latter being made to travel by means of an engine in the basement. The mechanism will be noiseless and invisible also, the carriers going beneath the floor of the great central readingroom to and fro between the Librarian's desk and the book-stacks. Every arriving tray will dump itself automatically at the desk. Likewise, in taking volumes back, each tray will spill its contents of its own accord at a certain time. For example, if a book belongs on tier 7, the desk attendant waits until the carrier marked 7 oomee along and puts the volume on it as it passes. When it gets to tier 7 the book spills out by the action of a peg and catch, and the person in charge of that tier puts it away on its proper shelf. A Great Collection. - When one learns that there are 650,000 bound volumes in the library of Congress, mind does not grasp the fact with very clear comprehension. It is easier to absorb the idea when it is explained that this number of books, placed side by side on a shelf, would stretch eleven miles. But the new

building was not planned to aooommodate only so many, the obvious expectation being that the great collection will grow enormously through centuries to come. Adjoining the central rotunda are two structures which might be compared to gigantic honeycombs, made wholly of iron Instead of wax. and designed to hold not neetar, but knowledge. These, are called book stacks, and each of the pair will contain bO 000 volumes. Each of them is 65 feet high, 112 feet long, 45 feet wide, and has nine stories. On the iron shelves, made gridiron fashion, the books will be placed back to back, with Just enough room between the book-cases to afford narrow passageways. Thus they will have plenty of fresh air. which is as necessary to books as it is to human beings. Books must have ventilation, else they will rot, and they have to be kept cool. Heat makes them decay and bad air anuses mould. Books stored by this stack system, which is a comparatively new invention, can not possibly be burned. If set afire, nothing else combustible being at hand, they merely smolder. However, 1,€00,000 volumes do not by any means represent the capacity of the building. It is anticipated that the library of Congress will be the biggest in the world some day, and provision has been made to the construction of the edifice for accommodating 5,'.00,00<) books. All binding will be done on the premises, an item which costs SB,OOO annually. There will be plenty of room also for the copyright civiaion, which requires great space for the filing away of all publications, etc., on which copyrights are granted. Copyrights are issued for a good many things besides books, periodicals, and oamphlets. They are given for new pieces of music, engravings, chromes, and even puzzles and games. The games and puzzles are not themselves subject to copyright, but the directions for them are so, toeing printed matter. Veiy commonly the man there is no need building blocks, chopped-o* anlmata.

parlor billiardtablen, or what not—and they are duly stored. Uncle Bam has enough of such articles in the Capitol at present to stock several toy shops for next Christmas. Not a little of the printed matter submitted for copyrighting is immoral and so unfit for publication as to render it liable to seizure under the laws. But, oddly enough, the Librarian of Congress has no discretion in this regard, and he is compelled to grant the copyright in every instance, so long as the material is original. A common fraud attempted is the request for a copyright on an old book published under a new title. In order to guard against this the assistants in charge of the copyright business must be familiar with everything that has been issued from the press. Obviously this is not wholly possible, but it is wonderful how near they coiqe to it, so that it is very rare for such a cheat to pass undiscovered. People offer many things for copyrighting which do not come legally within the range of that institution. Recently dozens of applications have been made for copyrights on campaign badges. The most interesting was a mlnature diaper with a gold safety-pin stuck through it, inscribed with the words, “Vote for My Papa—Baby Ruth.” The applicant was referred to the Pa'.ent Office. Library Skeletons. Every great library has its skeleton—that is to say, a collection of books unfit for general perusal, which are hidden

away in some corner. Unfortunately there are many works of this description which are classical, and to destroy them would be regarded by all bibliophiles as an atrocious act of vandalism. Such volumes are kept by Librarian Spofford in a little room by themselves, and none of them can be obtained without his special permission. In this curious assemblage novels of a century ago bear a conspicuous part. Their contents afford a vivid conception of the improvement in morals and refinehient

of speech which has marked the last 100 years. A good many odd things find their way into a big library. One small collection in Mr. Spofford’s charge is kept by itself, the volumes composing it being printed on wall paper. They were published in the South during the war when paper was a scarce article.'- A pair of wooden decoy-ducks on top of a stack of books seem rather out of place, but they are accounted for by the circumstance that in a catalogue of a col- , lection purchased some time ago the words “Two De. oy Ducks” appeared at the end. This was mistaken for the title ot a book, and the du'-ks were ordered to be sent to ‘Washington with the rest. The plan of the new Library of Con-

gress is copied after that of the British Museum, in respect to having the reading room in the middle, with the book stacks around it. Mr. Spofford will sit at an elevated desk in the center of the big rotunda, so as to overlook everything, and keep an eye on the readers. There will be space for 3GO people, seated at desks arranged in concentric circles. From behind a ring-shaped counter surrounding the librarian, his assistants will give out and receive books, the endless chains of traveling trays dumping and taking on their loads inside this ring. The four interior courts, open to the sky, are already completed as to their walls, which are faced inside with dazzling white tiles, for the purpose of reflecting the great-

est possible amount of light through the windows. The book stacks have been completed and sections of the build ng containing them have been roofed over. The masonry of the rotunda is all up, and the construction of the dome will be begun this fall. A new kind of glass is likely to be adopted for the skylights. Being formed on a sort of wire net, it cannot tumble and do damage if broken. One of the most remarkable things about this building is that it will be finished at the appointed time, four years hence, and the cost of it will come within the appropriation, which was s€.<oo,ooo. Nine lusts of famous writers will occupy niches in

the window-caps on the west front-Uok-ing toward the Capitol, but these literary celebrities have not yet been selected. The keystones of the window arches on the four faces of the structure bear sculptured heads representing the thirty-three types of races of mankind recognized by ethnologists. They were made from models and pictures at the National Museum, under the direction of Piof. Otis T. Mason. Foreign Libraries. The British Museum, though architecturally only an uncouth as-emblage of buildings, has the finest library in the world. With one exception it is the largest. In cosmopolitan interest it is without a rival, posse-sing the best Hungarian collection out of the country, the best Hutch library out of HoJi land, and, in short, the best library in i any European language outside of ; the territory in which the language is j vernacular. The Chinese books numI ber 27,( 00. The biggest library in exi istence is the Bibliotheque Nationaie at i Paris, which has 1,800,000 betmd voli umes. The oldest of great modern j libraries, it has had the aid of several l kings and other powerful personages since its formation. The beginning of I it was the collection of King John, the i Black Prince’s captive, who bequeathed it to his successor. Charles V. There is no general catalogue for the use of readers. The Vatican Library at Rome was founded in the fifteenth century by Pope Nicholas V. However, it was based on collections far more ancient, and there is evidence that a pontifical library existed from the fifth century. The present building was erected by Sixtus V. in 1588. It contains 220,< 00 printed volumes and 22,000 manuscripts. It is open to the public only between November and June, and is always closed on Sundays and feast days. There is no proper catalogue, and the librarians rely on imperfect written lists. The thiid largest library in the world is the Imperial Public Library at St. Petersburg, which claims 1,000,000 volumes. The most ancient libraries known of were those of Assyria. Only forty years ago discovery was made of the royal library at Nineveh. Digging brought to light the chambers that contained it, the floors of which were covered a foot deep with clay tablets bearing cuneiform characters, many of which were so small as lo require a magnifying glass for reading them. These were the books of that strange and warlike people ot antiquity, the tablets being inscribed with a stylus while soft and afterward baked. The library belonged to the luxurious mdnarch Sardanapaius, who was a great patron of literature. It included 10,000 distinct woiks, some extending over many tablets, methodically arranged and catalogued. The institution was open to the public. Most ot the tablets which were found whole are now in the British Museum. In ancient Egypt were many libraries, such collections being usually deposited in temples and at the tombs of kings. The books were written on papyrus scrolls. Under the Ptolemies the biggest of the libraries, at Alexandria, had 400,000 volumes or rolls. It was destroyed accidentally by the spreading of the flames when Caesar set fire to the fleet in the harbor.

THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

READING ROOM OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM

UNCLE SAM’S NEW LIBRARY.

WORKING ROOM OF THE BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONAL. PARIS.