thousands of volumes of newspapers and ephemeral journals, and
was acquired in the year 1863, for the National Library of France, where
it will ever remain a monument to the enlightened and far-sighted spirit
of its projector.

In like manner, the late Peter Force, Mayor of Washington City, and
historiographer of the "American Archives," devoted forty years to
amassing an extensive collection of _Americana_, or books, pamphlets,
newspapers, manuscripts, and maps, relating to the discovery, history,
topography, natural history, and biography of America. He carried off at
auction sales, from all competitors, six great collections of early
American pamphlets, formed by Ebenezer Hazard, William Duane, Oliver
Wolcott, etc., representing the copious literature of all schools of
political opinion. He sedulously laid aside and preserved every pamphlet
that appeared at the capital or elsewhere, on which he could lay hands,
and his rich historical collection, purchased by the government in 1866,
thirty-three years ago, now forms an invaluable portion of the
Congressional Library.

Of the multitudinous literature of pamphlets it is not necessary to speak
at length. Suffice it to say that the library which neglects the
acquisition and proper preservation and binding of these publications is
far behind its duty, both to those of its own generation, and to those
which are to follow. The pamphlet literature of every period often
furnishes the most precious material to illustrate the history and
development of that period. The new ideas, the critical sagacity, the
political controversies, the mechanical and industrial development, the
religious thought, and the social character of many epochs, find their
best expression in the pamphlets that swarmed from the press while those
agencies were operating. The fact that multitudes of these productions
are anonymous, does not detract from their value as materials for
students.

Pamphlets, from their peculiar style of publication, and the difficulty
of preserving them, tend to disappear more quickly than any class of
publications except newspapers, and broad-sides, and hand-bills. They are
far less likely to be preserved in the hands of private holders than even
reviews and magazines. It is the common experience of librarians that a
pamphlet is far more difficult to procure than a book. Multitudes of
pamphlets are annually lost to the world, from the want of any preserving
hand to gather t