New York Public Library

“ Faithful as they have been to the fundamental requirement of adapting the building to its purpose as a library, they have also succeeded in making it look well; and they have succeeded in making it look well partly because the design is appropriate to its function as a building in which books are stored, read and distributed. A merely monumental library always appears somewhat forbidding and remote. The Library looks attractive, and so far as a large building can, even intimate.... ”

“ The collection is literally saturated with the pioneer spirit of America. It portrays the struggles, exploits, trials, dangers, feats, hardships, and daily lives 4 of the American pioneers from the days of the Puritans to the death of Custer, and breathes the spirit which, for two and a half centuries, shaped the conquest and development of the Continent north of the Rio Grande. It is a literature intensely nationalistic and patriotic in character; obviously designed to stimulate adventure, self-reliance and achievement; to exalt the feats of the pioneer men and women who settled the country ”

“ In the realism of its plan and in the mixture of dignity and distinction in the design, The New York Public Library is typical of that which is best in the contemporary American architectural movement; and New York is fortunate, indeed, that such a statement can be made of the most important public building erected in the city during several generations. ”

“ Many of the boys and girls who encountered Pontiac, Boone, the renegade 8 Girty, Mad Anthony, Kenton, and Black Hawk in their pages were incited to find out something more about those characters and their times, and thus were introduced to much of the nation’s story and geography. Manliness and womanliness among the readers were cultivated by these little books, not by homilies, but by example. It can be truthfully said that the taste and tone of the life of the generation which grew up with these tales were improved by them. No age limit was set up among Beadle’s readers. ”

“ The editorship of the house was entrusted to Orville J. Victor, one of the most remarkable figures in the history of American literature. For thirty years, Victor personally studied, passed upon, and edited the thousands of publications of the House of Beadle. He insisted, first of all, that the narratives must be true and accurate portrayals, in spirit, of the pioneer times and people with which they dealt. They had to reveal wilderness life and struggle as it was, and depict the conditions amid which the 6 pioneers did their work. ”

“ Near the 42nd Street entrance a corridor runs east to the Children's Room (No. 78) . The visitor to the building should not fail to see this room, with its attractive furnishings, its collections of brightly colored picture-books, and pictures.
The object of the room is not only to perform the usual work of a children's room, but also to interest and help parents and others in selecting children's reading. Authors, artists, and publishers come here for information about books for children. Another purpose is to furnish suggestions for similar rooms elsewhere. ”

“ Throughout the thirty or more years in which the Beadle books held ascendancy they were so cheap, and so common, that they were almost never saved. In that respect they suffered the fate of all common things. It is almost always the case that the commonest objects of one generation become the rarest objects of two generations afterward. Their very commonness is the quality that keeps them from being treasured by their original possessors. ”

“ Any layman can satisfy himself, by a brief observation of the building as a whole, that the architectural balance of the structure demands figures of heroic size to flank the main approach. With that requirement in view, the designer of such figures has but a limited choice of subject, since there are few living creatures whose forms possess dignity without being cumbrous. ”

“ It has already taken its place in the public mind as a building of which every New Yorker may be proud, and this opinion of the building is shared by the architectural profession of the country. Of course, it does not please everybody; but if American architects in good standing were asked to name the one building which embodied most of what was good in contemporary American architecture, The New York Public Library would be the choice of a handsome majority. ”

“ Nearly all are shown in the exhibition cases in a manner to reveal their outward appearance and the dramatic or quaint illustrations with which they were embellished, but certain of the books of each variety are opened for a proper display of the title-pages.
Although every one of the thirty-one types of Beadle books (and doubtless many of the individual items also) will awaken vivid memories in the minds of elder visitors, the dominating influence of the exhibition—especially to those historically inclined—will be the effect which it produces as a whole. ”

“ The stack is not open to readers or visitors.
Genealogy Room. At the northern end of the Main Reading Room is the room devoted to Local History and Genealogy (No. 328) . The collection numbers about thirty thousand volumes.
American History Division. At the southern end of the Main Reading Room is the room devoted to American history (No. 300) . It is one of the strongest [40] divisions of the Library, since its books are so distinguished among collections of this kind as to make them of the greatest importance to students and scholars in the field of American history. ”

“ Probably a majority of the Dime Library tales portray the conditions and famous characters of the Far West, and among the pioneer phases of western life with which its titles deal are overland emigration, fur trapping, lumber-camp life, gold hunting, the Texas War, the exploits of the Texas Rangers, the stage coach era, cattle rustling, ranch life, vigilante rule, the depredations of road-agents, Indian fighting, and conditions in all the new states and territories. ”

“ The very first issue of this series is shown. It is Edward Wheeler’s story of “Deadwood Dick, the Prince of the Road.” Among the more important items in this division of the collection are Omohundro’s story of the Scout New Wylde, Captain J. F. C. Adams’ “Oregon Sol,” the same famous pioneer’s tale of “Nick Whiffle’s Pet,” Mayne Reid’s “The Yellow Chief,” Prentiss Ingraham’s “Buffalo Bill’s Bet,” and Ingraham’s “Pony Express Rider.” The dominant motif of this series is far western adventure, but there are also numerous stories portraying life in New York City. ”

“ These books are lent not only in Greater New York, but are sent free by mail to blind readers in all parts of the States of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. A teacher employed by the Library goes to homes and institutions in the City of New York to teach adult blind persons to read by touch. ”

“ Many of the “Pocket” series also dealt with the settlement of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys from 1780 to 1815, and with the Far West from 1849 to 1869. This “Pocket” series is bibliographically known as Type B of the Beadle publications, while the original yellow-backed books belong to Type A.
The next two groups—Types D and E—have a common title, the “Boy’s Library of Sport, Story and Adventure,” and are distinguished from one another by the larger size and earlier issuance of the Type D items. They are imperial octavo in size, whereas the Type E publications are ordinary octavos. ”

“ These offices are open for any persons who have occasion to visit them for business reasons, but they are of no interest to sightseers. In Room 100, devoted mainly to the cataloguing work of the Circulation Department, there is a card catalogue of all the books in this Department,—that is, in the Branches of the Library. ”

“ The Dialogue series contained at least forty-one issues, and the speaker series is known to have embraced twenty-five books. Numerous copies of each are shown, the Speaker No. 1 being dated 1861.
Erastus Beadle was himself a great lover of out-door sports and out-door life (due, no doubt, to his immediate pioneer ancestry) , and in addition to the baseball guides he published many other similar hand-books. The Library exhibition contains copies of the Beadle “Book of Cricket,” of “Football,” of “Croquet,” of “Skating,” of “Curling,” of “Pedestrianism,” and of “Riding and Driving.” ”

“ Although this series is among the most rare, no less than thirty-nine examples are in the collection. They embrace historical tales dealing with Kit Carson, the Gulf Pirates, the Black Hawk War, Pioneer Life in Texas, the New York Wilderness, the Seminole War, Early California, the Trappers of the West, the Civil War, Early Ohio, Marion’s 11 Rangers, the Settlement of the Susquehanna Region, and many other equally absorbing phases of American pioneer conditions. ”

“ The Trustees hold office continuously, and vacancies are filled by vote of the remaining Trustees. No Trustee receives any compensation for his services. The immediate management of the Library is entrusted to the Director. The Staff numbers between twelve and thirteen hundred persons, including those in the Central Building and in the Branches. As the buildings are open between twelve and thirteen hours a day the Staff works in two shifts. Somewhat less than half of the Staff are employed in the Central Building. ”

“ For a long time a considerable part of the reading public in the East looked upon these tales from the Far West as unadulterated fiction, entirely 7 harmful in its effect. Uncounted armies of boys who lived between the Mississippi and the Atlantic were taken to the woodsheds by their fathers, and there subjected to severe physical and mental anguish as a result of the parental discovery that they were reading such “impossible trash.” ”

“ Over the mantelpiece in this room is the inscription:
THE CITY OF NEW YORK HAS ERECTED THIS
BUILDING FOR THE FREE USE OF ALL THE PEOPLE
MCMX
I LOOK TO THE DIFFUSION OF LIGHT AND EDUCATION
AS THE RESOURCE MOST TO BE RELIED ON FOR
AMELIORATING THE CONDITION PROMOTING THE VIRTUE
AND ADVANCING THE HAPPINESS OF MAN ”

“ Most spectacular and attractive of all, in their outward appearance, are the books of the Type H series. These are likewise octavos, published in 1870 and the years immediately following, and they have dramatically drawn covers published in colors. For a long time it was not known by modern bibliographers that these tales were published by Beadle, since, almost without exception, they bear an imprint reading “Frank Starr and Company, Publishers, 41 Platt Street.” ”

“ The Branches are spread over a large territory, and from the northernmost of them, in the Borough of The Bronx, to the one farthest south, on Staten Island, the distance is about forty miles. A directory of Branches is on page 77.
Circulation of Books. The New York Public Library, according to the general custom of American libraries, imposes few restrictions upon its readers. [56] This fact, together with its situation in the metropolis of the country, is the reason why it is probably used more than any other library under one management in the world. The use is constantly growing. ”

“ The succeeding group (belonging to Type K) reveals another striking reversal of form and outward appearance. These are fat little 12mo books of about 200 pages each, with colored illustrated covers. But much of the coloring used in decorating the covers in this series, was not done by the printing press. It was performed by paint brush and human hand, on each separate volume, as part of the original publication process. As a result of this innovation, and also of course due in part to the increased size of the books, these volumes were sold at 20 cents each. ”