acted from the Old World.[53] Here one is forcibly reminded of
those elements in the old-established libraries of Europe which no
wealth or zeal can achieve elsewhere, because the commodity is not in
the market.

[Footnote 53: "This collection [Mr Menzies's] contains four thousand
volumes, and is for the most part in the English language. Its chief
specialty consists in works on American history and early American
printed books. Among the latter may be mentioned a series of the
earliest works issued from the press in New York. Of these, is A Letter
of Advice to a Young Gentleman, by R.L., printed and sold by William
Bradford, in New York, 1696. Richard Lyon, the author, came early to
this country, and officiated as a private tutor to a young English
student at Cambridge, to whom the letter of advice was written. It is
undoubtedly the earliest work which issued from the press in New York,
and is so extremely rare, that it is questionable whether another copy
is to be found in the State. There is a collection of tracts comprised
in seven volumes, written by the Rev. George Keith, and published by
Bradford, at New York, 1702-4. Keith was born in Scotland, and settled
in East Jersey, in the capacity of surveyor-general, in 1682. The
several tracts in the collection are on religious subjects, and are
controversial in their character. As early specimens of printing, and as
models of the manner in which the religious controversies of the day
were conducted, they are both instructive and curious. In addition to
these is a work entitled The Rebuker Rebuked, by Daniel Leeds, 1703; A
Sermon preached at Kingston in Jamaica, by William Corbin, 1703; The
Great Mystery of Foxcraft, by Daniel Leeds, 1705; A Sermon preached at
Trinity Church, in New York, by John Sharp, 1706; An Alarm Sounded to
the Inhabitants of the World, by Bath Bowers, 1709; and Lex
Parliamentaria, 1716. All the above works were printed by Bradford, the
earliest New York publisher, and one of the earliest printers in
America. They constitute, perhaps, the most complete collection in
existence of the publications of this early typographer. The whole are
in an excellent state of preservation, and are nearly, if not quite,
unique."]

America had just one small old library, and the lamentation over the
loss of this ewe-lamb is touching evidence of her poverty in such
possessions. The Harvard Library dates from the year 1638. In 1764 the
college buildings were burned,