the field of American
history. The foundation of this collection was formed by the books on
American history owned by James Lenox, the founder of the Lenox Library,
one of the components of the present New York Public Library. The tablet
in the floor near the entrance of Room 300 is inscribed as follows:

IN MEMORY OF
JAMES LENOX
A NATIVE AND RESIDENT OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
BORN AUGUST 19 1800
DIED FEBRUARY 17 1880
THE TRUSTEES OF
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
IN PERFORMANCE OF A GRATEFUL DUTY
HAVE CAUSED THIS TABLET TO BE PLACED
HERE AMONG THE BOOKS HE CHERISHED
AS A MEMORIAL OF HIS SERVICES
TO THE HISTORY OF AMERICA

From the corridors on the front and sides of the third floor, rooms open
in the following order, beginning with the corridor at the south,
running along the 40th Street side of the building:

=Reserve Books= (No. 303): In this room are kept the rare and reserved
books of the Library.

Among the foremost treasures of the Library are: the Gutenberg Bible
(printed by Gutenberg and Fust about 1455, one of the earliest books
printed from movable types); the Coverdale Bible (1535); Tyndale's
Pentateuch (1530) and New Testament (1536); and Eliot's Indian Bible. In
fact, the collection of early Bibles in English is one of the great
collections of the kind in existence. The Library also owns four copies
of the First Folio Shakespeare (1623); several copies of the Second,
Third, and Fourth Folios (1632, 1663-64, 1685); thirty-five editions of
the Shakespeare Quartos, before 1709; eight works printed by William
Caxton (1475-90); the Bay Psalm Book, the first book printed in the
territory now comprised in the United States (Cambridge, 1640); and the
Doctrina Christiana, printed in Mexico in 1544.

[Illustration: BOOK STACK

(SHOWING HALF THE LENGTH OF ONE DECK)]

One contribution to the Library has been commemorated by a tablet near
the door of this room. It bears the inscription:

THE
BAILEY MYERS COLLECTION
OF
AMERICANA
FORMED BY
THEODORUS BAILEY MYERS
OF
NEW YORK CITY
1821-1888
GIVEN BY HIS WIDOW, DAUGHTER
AND DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AS A
MEMORIAL OF HIM AND HIS SON
THEODORUS BAILEY MYERS MASON
LIEUTENANT COMMANDER
UNITED STATES NAVY

Opposite, in Room 304, is the office of the Bibliographer of the
Library, and of the Chief of the American History Division.

=Prints Room.= Open