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PREFACE.

THE Library of the American Antiquarian Society, of which a Catalogue is now presented to the public, owes its origin to the sound judgment and sagacious foresight, not less than to the public spirit and zeal for the dif fusion of knowledge, which marked the character of ISAIAH THOMAS, the venerable Founder of the Institution. The important contributions made by Doct. Thomas, both as an author and a printer, to the cause of good learning, need not here be repeated; they already form a part of our public history. From his Press much of the early literature of the country. was supplied, and to his Pen was it occasionally indebted for suggestions and illustrations, in the form of notes, prefaces and appendices, giving increased value to the publications which issued under his auspices. His "History of Printing," written after his retirement from business, was the fruit of his past industry and research, and is a standard work on the shelves of our principal libraries.

During his active period of life, while engaged in the publication of books, to an extent which kept nearly twenty presses in constant operation, and at the same time in conducting a magazine and newspaper of wide circulation, Mr. Thomas necessarily collected many books, pamphlets, and papers, which already constituted a library of considerable magnitude. To this he subsequently made additions with a view to the preparation of his History. After the publication of that work, he justly considered the library which he had been gradually gathering, as a treasure of too much value to society to be hoarded in private while he lived, and perhaps scattered to the four winds at his decease. He was led by this consideration to propose an association for collecting and preserving the materials of history; to whose charge he might entrust his literary treasures, for the use of the present and future generations, and with the fond expectation that they would be the embryo of a Collection hereafter to rival the famous Libraries of Europe. His design was submitted to his friends, with whose advice and assistance he matured a plan of organization for the American Antiquarian Society, and procured an Act of Incorporation, October 24, 1812. He was elected the first President, and continued in that office till his decease, April 4, 1831, at the age of 82.

Immediately after the Incorporation of the Society, Mr. Thomas bestowed. upon it his library, then composed of about 3000 bound volumes, a great number of pamphlets, and a series of newspapers far more complete than any other existing in America. Soon afterwards a donation of 900 volumes was received through the hands of Mrs. Hannah Crocker, a descendant of the Mather family, (in part a gift from herself, and partly a purchase by Mr. Thomas,) being the remains of the library formerly belonging to Increase and Cotton Mather, the most ancient in Massachusetts, if not in the United States. A valuable addition was also made to the library and cabinet by the legacy of Rev. William Bentley, D. D. of Salem. The books bequeathed by Doct. Bentley amounted to several hundred volumes, principally German editions and in the German tongue, besides a collection of oriental manuscripts, including a splendid illuminated copy of the Koran, and several commentaries thereon.

Our munificent Founder continued to cherish the child of his old age, with truly parental assiduity. Every year he made liberal donations of books and rare curiosities, some of which were procured by him at considerable expense. The whole amount of his donations in books was between 7000 and 8000 bound volumes, a large number of unbound tracts, and the greater proportion of all the newspapers now belonging to the Society. He was at the charge of printing the first volume of Transactions, published in 1820. In the same year he erected the Edifice now occupied by the Society, and gave it for their exclusive use. And to crown his benefactions and place the existence and usefulness of the Institution beyond the reach of ordinary vicissitude, he endowed it, at his decease, with a fund, which, if not equal to all its wants, is ample compared with many other institutions, and will probably enable it hereafter to do good service in the republic of letters. There are many other benefactors of the Society entitled to their grati tude, among whom it may be permitted to the Committee charged with the publication of the Catalogue, to name the Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, our present President, whose solicitude for the interests of the Institution has been unceasing, and who has enriched the library with many volumes of great price and rarity. Mr. Thomas Wallcut of Boston has been the donor of a large collection of old books and pamphlets, especially suited to the objects and taste of the antiquary. The names of all donors, even of a single volume or tract, or any article of curiosity, are entered on our records, and will be transmitted, on the list of our patrons, to those who may come after us.

Soon after the incorporation of the Society, the National Government made provision for supplying us with copies of the public laws and documents. The Legislatures of several of the States have generously made a similar provision. The government of Massachusetts furnishes two sets of all the publications ordered by the legislature, including the statutes and judicial reports. These documents compose a valuable portion of our li

brary; and should the example be imitated by the other States of the Union, a collection of public documents would soon be formed, whose importance to the statesman and the historian cannot be too highly estimated.

The present number of bound volumes in the library is about 12,000, including upwards of 1200 volumes of pamphlets, and more than 700 bound volumes of newspapers. There are about 500 pamphlets yet unbound, exclusive of duplicates, and nearly 1000 volumes of unbound newspapers. Nearly all the American papers printed before the Revolution are in this collection, and of some of them a more complete series is here to be found than is any where else in existence.

The Manuscripts of the Society are of considerable value, especially that portion of them which relates to the early ecclesiastical history of New England. They embrace many of the papers of the Mathers, Richard, Increase, Cotton, and Samuel; those of John Cotton, minister of the first church in Boston, and of John Cotton, the second, minister of Plymouth. There are many other manuscripts which have already been consulted with advantage by authors, and others who have had occasion to investigate the venerable records of the past. The lapse of years will add to their importance; and those time-defaced pages, which are now merely glanced at as objects of curiosity, will hereafter be studied with an intense and eager in

terest.

The Cabinet of the Society is not yet of great extent. The articles of most interest are those illustrating the manners of our fathers, and the weapons of war, articles of apparel, and domestic utensils of the aborigines of North America. Specimens of this kind, of American origin, are more to be desired by an American Society of Antiquaries, than any articles, however rare or antique, brought hither from the ransacked domains of the old world. The cabinet contains a collection of coins, comparatively small, but amounting to nearly 2000 pieces, of which, however, many are duplicates. Among them is a considerable number of coins of the Roman Empire, and a few said to be of still more remote antiquity. It is believed there are specimens of nearly all the pieces of money ever struck in the present United States.

The Library and Cabinet of the Institution are deposited in a building, in the construction and occupation of which great precaution has been taken for the security of the treasures accumulated within its walls.

The Second Volume of "Archæologia Americana" has lately issued from the press. The long delay which took place between the appearance of the first and of the second volume is to be imputed, not to the want of materials for the publication, or inclination to spread them before the public, but to the want of sufficient funds, which have but recently come into the possession of the Society.

The foregoing sketch of the origin of the Society, its objects, history, and present condition, it is hoped by the Committee will not be deemed an unsuitable introduction to this volume.

A Catalogue of the Library has long been a desideratum, not only to the members of the Society, but to all who sought access to their archives. Without such an index, a great portion of our volumes were no better than sealed books to every enquirer who had not time or patience to seek, among the undigested mass, for such dates and facts as he desired to ascertain. The Catalogue now published is almost wholly the work of the late lamented Librarian, Christopher C. Baldwin, whose decease the Society deplores as an irreparable loss. It was prepared by him with great care and labor, and is a monument of his untiring industry. It has been completed and brought up to the present date, by the acting librarian, Maturin L. Fisher, Esq. Its accuracy, as far at least as regards the bound books, has been since subjected to the test of a careful comparison of its titles with the correspondent volumes on the shelves of the library. It is in the alphabetical form, which has been generally adopted by librarians, as more simple in its arrangement and more convenient for reference, than a systematic index. The plan pursued was to give the name of the author when known, and where the work is anonymous, briefly to state the subject. Each letter of the Alphabet has been paged by itself, to facilitate the insertion of future additions under the respective letters, and thus render a new edition of the whole Catalogue unnecessary, at least for several years. Our list of books, it will be observed, contains an unusual proportion of tracts, for which reason it is swollen to a size somewhat disproportionate to the solid contents of the library. But we prize this large collection of pamphlets, as a most important part of those materials for history which it is the great object of the Society to preserve; and if the list was confined to these alone, we should judge it of sufficient consequence to warrant a publication.

A written Catalogue of Manuscripts, very minute in its titles and details, is now in a course of preparation, and will be kept in the library for the inspection of all who may have occasion to consult it.

By order of the Council,

JOHN PARK.