stand in their shoes, take the same inland views, and study under the same circumstances. He must read the same reports of the navigators, in the same languages, and he will most likely by this process see the blunders that very early confused the geographers, and have since puzzled the historians. Bring all these books, maps, and languages together, and the sun will rise. We shall then ascertain our historical bearings, and know whither and how far we have drifted these four hundred years. Our moorings to the apron-strings of the Old World will be cut, and the two hemispheres will revolve as loving companions and equals in the waltz of the spheres. It is difficult at this late day to attempt anything like a complete collection of the history and literature of the Old World, but it is unpardonable to neglect that of the New. The mere difficulty of language is not insurmountable. Did not an editor of the North American Review learn the Spanish language that he might write understandingly of the South American Republics? And would not Southey's History of Brazil have been a far better book had he given the same prominence to the numerous Dutch works on his subject that he did to the Portuguese? Some folks affect to despise translations, and divers editions. It is not so with the true historian and experienced researcher. A good translation is itself occasionally a useful comment on the original work, and moreover, the translator being often better up in the subject treated than the author himself, sometimes corrects many errors, and makes valuable additions. There are dozens of such examples recorded in this Catalogue, f. i. see N° 878 Hearne, and No 1562 Pike. Again, other important books are known to us only through translations, as N° 460, the Life of Columbus by his son. comparison of the English and French editions of N° 249, Bouquet's Account of the Expedition against the Ohio Indians, is a notable instance in favor of the translation, which contains a valuable Life of Bouquet, not in the original. The superiority of many Dutch editions over the original works is proverbial. The plates and maps are almost always far supe A rior, and the translator is generally an expert. The French, English, German, Spanish, Swedish, and American books relating to America translated into Dutch are very numerous, and generally, in some respects, possess points superior to the originals, insomuch that, as far as the department of American history is concerned, all such books should be accessible somewhere in America. On the other hand, translations are important sometimes from their very badness or untrustworthiness, and should be preserved in our most important libraries as a means of tracing to their true source misstatements and falsehoods. How many misstatements are attributed to Herrera, which can be traced no nearer that author than Capt. John Stevens' English translation and abridgment, in six volumes? It is absolutely necessary to study this latter book to see where so many English and American authors have taken incorrect facts. So of many French and German translations which are the parents of errors sworn on to the original authors. out Worse still, it is not unfrequently necessary for an historian to be acquainted with a book only to be certain that it is good for nothing. There are many such in this Catalogue, and some of them will very properly bring good prices too. They have good titles, and read well. Such a book is Peters' History of Connecticut, N° 486, a book of not half the historical value of Knickerbocker's New York, and withany of its wit. Yet it has often been quoted by French and German authors as true history. The writer has before him a remarkable book of this good-for-nothing kind, of excessive rarity if not unique. It was reprinted some years ago at Rouen, in fifty copies, which reprint is now almost as rare as the original. The original will be sought, now that its title has got into catalogues, as ardently as if it had any historical value. The title is, "Relation du Voyage des Dames Religieuses Ursulines de Rouen, a la Nouvelle Orleans. Parties de France le 22. Fevrier 1727. & arrivez à la Louisienne le 23. Juillet de la même année. Les noms desquelles Dames Religieuses sont marquez dans ladite Relation. 100 pp. Small octavo. Chez Antoine le Prevost, Rouen, 1728." The editor, in behalf of his numerous notes, historical, biographical, explanatory, geographical, bibliographical, gossipy, and personal, desires it to be understood that they are to be taken at what they are worth, he having given them only where he had something to say, or some duty to perform either to himself or to the public, and that they are not designed to force up the prices of the particular lots to which they are attached; but are intended rather to shed a bibliographical flavor over the entire Catalogue. Most of the better and rarer lots of known and prime importance are recorded without comment, as Mather's Magnalia, Hazard's State Papers, etc., the titles sufficiently explaining themselves. On the other hand, many of the more elaborate notes, some of them not complimentary to the books, will cost far more in printing than the lots will sell for. Neither has he indulged in overmuch bibliographical quiddling about the mechanical and manufacturing points of the books, as to the quantity of the paper, the quality of the binding, the brilliancy of impressions, the crushed levant (whatever that new-fangled term may mean) and the number of copies of certain recent reprints, the inertia of which on shelves it is hard to overcome. It is not easy to convey any adequate idea of a large uncommon collection, like this, short of a patient reading of the entire Catalogue from end to end. The editor therefore has exercised his ingenuity to sweeten the labor, and thinks perhaps it may bait the attention of the indifferent reader to be informed that in the General Histories of North and South America there are many works of authors such as Acosta, Anglerius, Apollonius, Barcia, Barlæus, Benzoni, Clavigero, Eden, Hazard, Herrera, Labat, Laet, Lafitau, Las Casas, Peter Martyr, De Solis, Garcilasso de la Vega, etc. In local and particular history of Colonies, States, cities, towns, villages and parishes, the titles are too many to specify here. In bibliography, the reader is invited to consult the Catalogue under Asher, Bibliotheca Chethamensis, Blades, British Museum, Catalogues, Collier, Fry, Harrisse, Macray's Bodleian Library, Moule, Nutt, Quaritch, Rothelin, Stevens, Whiting, Boturini, and the notes under several of the Mexican titles. For rare and valuable Manuscripts, he is referred to Benedict Arnold's characteristic Autograph Letters from Ticonderoga, Fay's urgent letter to the Green Mountain Boys to reinforce General Gates against Burgoyne; Gorton's Answer to Morton's New Englands Memorial, the original Autograph MS written in 1669; Riccio's MS account of Hernandes' Natural History of New Spain; and the Original Book of Minutes of the Corporation for New England in London for thirty years, 1655-1685, under N° 1399. For the Indian languages of America, see under Avila, Juan de la Anunciacion, Mexico, 1575; Paredes, Tapia Zenteno, Villegas, etc. Works pertaining to Canada, Acadia, and the British Provinces generally are numerous, some of which, as rare as they are important, may be seen under Canada, Champlain, Charlevoix, Cornutus, Denys, Examen, Hennepin, Joutel, LaHontan, LeBeau, LeClercq, LeJeune, Mackenzie, Memoires, Montcalm, Nova Scotia, Relation, Shea's Publications, Shirley, Tanner, Thevenot, Thevet, Tupper, and Vimont. Pertaining to New England, California, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, the Mississippi Valley, the Great West and North West, the works are numerous; and equally so on Mexico, and other parts of Spanish America, as Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, etc. The works pertaining to Washington, Franklin, and Hamilton, are well represented, and so are the departments of early geography and discovery, atlases, maps, the Indians, slavery, colonies, the old French War, the Stamp Act, the Revolution, tobacco, statistics, etc. Though last not least, there is a large number of works the natural history of this Continent, not the least curious of which is N° 2435, wherein the learned author endeavors to account for the introduction and rapid increase of Asses in the New World. He says nothing however about their being found among either bibliographers or book collectors. on Boston, Feb. 22, 1870. H. S. Arrangement of the Sale FORENOONS AT IO AFTERNOONS AT 2 O'CLOCK 1870 Tuesday Forenoon, April 5th Nos 1 to 353 Tuesday Afternoon, April 5th Nos 354 to 631 Friday Afternoon, April 8th Nos 2285 to 2545 |