the Royal Danish Academy of
Sciences, in seventeen volumes, catalogue of antiquities, chiefly
British, at Alnwick Castle, and one of Egyptian antiquities at the same,
from the Duke of Northumberland, a complete file of the "Liberator,"
from Mr. Wendell Phillips, numerous works on Oriental art, from the
imperial governments of Japan and China, and many thousand folio volumes
of Parliamentary papers and British patents, from the British
government. Of its Orientalia and its department of Egyptology the
library is especially proud. The latter so good an authority as
Professor Seyffarth pronounces second only to that of the British
Museum.

In addition to the large collection of costly books of art with which
this library is enriched, there are some of the rarest manuscripts and
earliest printed books to be seen kept in glass cases in the Middle
Hall. Among these may be mentioned the superbly illuminated manuscript of
the ninth century entitled "Evangelistarium,"--one of the finest
existing productions of the revival of learning under Charlemagne; the
"Sarum Missal," a richly-emblazoned manuscript of the tenth century;
some choice Greek and Latin codices once belonging to the library of
Pope Pius VI.; and the Persian manuscripts recently acquired, which
formerly were in the library of the Mogul emperors at Delhi, bearing the
stamp of Shah Akbar and Shah Jehan. The writing is by the famous
calligrapher Sultan Alee Meshedee (896 A.H., or 1518 A.D.).

There is as great a popular misconception of the character and purpose
of the Lenox Library as of the Astor. The two are like and yet
unlike,--alike in the rich treasures which they contain, but quite
unlike in their scope and purposes. In reality the Lenox is a museum of
art rather than a library: its books are, with few exceptions, rarities,
"first editions," illuminated manuscripts, specimens showing the advance
of the typographic art from the beginning, books of artistic interest,
and works not to be found in this country, and sometimes not in Europe.
Its collection of paintings and sculpture is important as well as its
literary treasures. It is not a library of general reference, though
many of its works will be sought by scholars for the value of their
contents: it is, in short, a private art-gallery and library thrown open
at stated times and under certain restrictions to the public. The
library owes its existence to the munificence of Mr. James Lenox, a
wealthy and educ