he great Protector, he found his richest quarry in a
collection of pamphlets in the British Museum Library. An indefatigable
patriot and bookseller, named Thomason, had carefully gathered and kept
every pamphlet, book, periodical, or broadside that appeared from the
British press, during the whole time from A. D. 1649 to 1660, the period
of the interregnum in the English monarchy, represented by Cromwell and
the Commonwealth. This vast collection, numbering over 20,000 pamphlets,
bound in 2,000 volumes, after escaping the perils of fire, and of both
hostile armies, was finally purchased by the King, and afterward
presented to the British Museum Library. Its completeness is one great
source of its value, furnishing, as it does, to the historical student of
that exceedingly interesting revolution, the most precious memorials of
the spirit of the times, many of which have been utterly lost, except the
single copy preserved in this collection.

Several great European libraries number as many pamphlets as books in
their collections. The printed catalogue of the British Museum Library is
widely sought by historical students, because of the enormous amount of
pamphlet literature it contains, that is described nowhere else. And the
Librarian of the Boston Athenaeum said that some readers found the great
interest in his catalogue of that collection lay in its early American
pamphlets.

As another instance of the value to the historical stores of a public
library of this ephemeral literature, it may be noted that the great
collection of printed matter, mostly of a fugitive character, relating to
the French Revolutionary period, gathered by the late M. de La Bedoyere,
amounted to 15,000 volumes and pamphlets. Fifty years of the life of the
wealthy and enthusiastic collector, besides a very large sum of money,
were spent in amassing this collection. With an avidity almost
incredible, he ransacked every book-store, quay, and private shelf that
might contribute a fresh morsel to his stores; and when Paris was
exhausted, had his agents and purveyors busy in executing his orders all
over Europe. Rival collectors, and particularly M. Deschiens, who had
been a contemporary in the Revolution, and had laid aside everything that
appeared in his day, only contributed at their decease, to swell the
precious stores of M. de La Bedoyere. This vast collection, so precious
for the history of France at its most memorable period, contained
several