CHICAGO.

The overwhelming and almost unparalleled disaster which has involved the destruction of a great city in a tempest of fire, is a subject of such wide-spread interest that our readers will not need an apology from us for saying a few words concerning it.

The daily papers have teemed with bulletins, dispatches, and personal narratives, to the almost neglect of other topics, and the great heart of humanity has been responsive to the needs of the hour. Resolutions of sympathy have taken the substantial shape of contributions of money, of food, of shelter, and of raiment, not merely from American citizens but from the world over, not excluding the "heathen Chinee,"* and as we write there can be reckoned up a grand total of cash contributions amounting to several millions of

dollars.

Surely so vast a disaster has never before elicited so vast an exhibition of sympathy and aid, and realized the poetic idea of "one touch of nature" making "the whole world kin."

But our special purpose is to say something of the books and libraries that have been included in the great catastrophe. Chicago was not merely the great entrepôt of grain, cattle, and the vast products of the northwest; it was also the point from which was distributed the riches of the Eastern States and the Old World, among which books figured to a very large extent. We do not think that any city in the world possessed, in such close contiguity,

*Captain Hervey, who employs about seventy Chinese at Belleville, N. J., related to us the following incident: A few days after the fire the foreman, an interpreter of the Chinese, called on him and said, “Captain-great fire-Chicago-you give something?" "Yes, I give something." "Then we give something." And the result was an unsolicited contribution of $100, being an average of $1.25 each.

Of

three book stores which rivalled in architectural effect, in convenience of arrangement, in elegance of finish, and in variety of stock, those occupied by S. C. Griggs & Co., W. B. Keen & Cooke, and the Western News Company, all situated on State street, itself an avenue of great width, each store being 45 feet wide and 160 feet deep, and including the basement, seven stories high, all filled to repletion. course, they were not filled with rare and and costly books, and their loss in that respect is merely one of dollars and cents; but they were great distributing centres of educational and popular books, adapted to the tastes of their buyers. Messrs. S. C. Griggs & Co. had given some attention to books of a higher class, and their stock included many elegantly bound and richly. illustrated books adapted to homes of taste and wealth. Messrs. Keen, although booksellers, did an extensive trade in stationery, while the trade of the Western News Company was mainly in newspapers and magazines, yet they kept a large stock of the books of the day. Among the other booksellers whose stock was destroyed must be included Cobb, Andrews & Co., on Lake street near the Tremont House, whose stock was very large; A. S. Barnes & Co., of New York, had a branch establishment on State street, and lost everything; the law booksellers lost all; Mr. R. E. Moore, who had a stock of books and paintings in Crosby's Opera House, lost everything, and had no insurance.

In the matter of public libraries Chicago was not equal to itself. In the race for material wealth its citizens had not the leisure for great culture, and its public libraries were hardly worthy of so rich a city; a larger public library was one of the things talked of, with an early prospect of fulfilment, but is, of course, for the present postponed. The most prominent literary institute was the Chicago Historical Society, who had within a few years

erected a so-called fire-proof building on Ontario street, west side-an ill-chosen locality-but an elegant building, but the casket was more precious than the jewels, it was fitted up with a lecture room on the ground floor, and a library and picture. gallery up stairs; but the library was a mere assemblage of indifferent books, not the material for an historical society. We do not recollect being impressed with any of the books having much value except the second edition of Hakluyt's Voyages, 3 3

vols., folio, and vols. I 107 of

borough's Antiquities of Mexico, with colored plates. There were many black letter folios dating from 1470 to 1490, to which a former librarian attached a great mercantile value, and felt for the writer an evident disgust when he told him he could furnish any number of such books at five dollars each. The pamphlets were very numerous, exceeding 70,000 in number, and we regard their loss as being greater than that of the books, and the loss of the paintings as greater than either, for there were some possessing merit and value. Of course the loss of President Lincoln's original draft of the "Proclamation of Emancipation," which was purchased for $20,000, is irremediable.

The library of the Young Men's Association was not extensive, but the loss of their hall, presented to them by Mr. Farwell, is more serious.

Of private libraries destroyed the number is legion-some of the best are saved. Mr. H. T. Munroe's library is safe, his law library being at his office is destroyed, indeed, nearly all the law libraries are burnt.

Mr. Asay's valuable library was saved by what his friends thought bad judgment. Early in the spring Mr. A. had determined to visit Europe with his family, to be absent about eighteen months, and when the writer was in Chicago in July, took him to the rooms of the Fire Proof Safe Deposit Company, on Randolph street, to see the place in which he designed to store his books; that the place was safe there seemed no doubt, but we suggested that his books would be in much better condition if they could be kept in book cases as usual, and our offer to take charge of them was accepted, and at much trouble and expense they were sent to our home in Brooklyn,

and remain to gladden the eyes of their owner on his return.

The most important of the "destroyed" libraries was that belonging to Mr. E. B. McCagg, its formation has been the labor of many years-and it was alike creditable to the scholarship and industry of its cultured owner-it was particularly rich in books relating to the history and discovery of the Northwest, and included many books of much rarity, which cannot easily be replaced. The most important work which we recollect was a fine tall set of Purchas' Pilgrimage, 5 vols., folio-among other rarities were some early editions of Champlain's Voyages; a few of the Jesuit Relations; a fine copy of Hennepin's Travels; and a copy of the first edition of Jefferson's Notes on Virginia-printed for presentation only. Mr. McCagg's Collection of Paintings was extensive and choice. It is a little remarkable that his large and elegant hot-house, with all its plants, remains erect and almost unscathed by the fire. Mr. McCagg was absent in Europe at the time of the fire, and is fortunately pecuniarily able to bear his loss.

Next in importance was the collection belonging to Mr. Perry H. Smith, consisting mostly of fine books of plates, Galleries, &c., but especially strong in the department of Political History. The room in which the books were arranged was remarkable for its elegance, and generally for the corresponding elegance of the bookswe recollect taking exception to some of his Chicago bookbinding, and to the prominent position of a set of the Illustrated London News. We understand that Mr. Smith's family barely escaped with their lives, such was the rapidity of the tempest.

Mr. John B. Gérard possessed a small but well-formed library. His house was next door to the Chicago Historical Society, and he was at first reported to have lost his life within its walls. We are glad to be informed that he was not burnt, even if his books and his papers and everything

else was.

Mr. J. Young Scammon, the banker, possessed a fine library, conspicuous for the large collection of books on Swedenborg and Swedenborgianism, a small portion. only of which was saved; the Rev. Mr. Collier's library is said to be partly saved, but in a damaged condition.