74 



THE OOLOGIST 



THE SALE OF THE JOHN LEWIS 

 CHILDS LIBRARY 



In our April issue we published 

 some observations by an Eastern man 

 who had gone West, and now we have 

 the pleasure of publishing the follow- 

 ing observations of a Westerner 

 from Central Illinois, who while labor- 

 ing under a state of more or less men- 

 tal aberration, went East for the pur- 

 pose of attending the sales of the 

 Libraries of the late John Lewis 

 Childs, and one of Dr. W. C. Braislin, 

 which were sold at auction, in New 

 York City; the first on March 26th 

 and 27th, and the last on April 2nd and 

 3rd. 



John Lewis Childs spent a lifetime 

 gathering together a Natural History 

 Library which was a monument to any 

 man and which contained some of the 

 most splendid works on Natural His- 

 tory subjects in existence. After his 

 death there appears to have been no 

 sentiment moving anyone to perpet- 

 uate his name by keeping either his 

 collection of Natural History objects, 

 or his great library together. We 

 have already commented on the man- 

 ner in which his Natural History spec- 

 imens were dissipated to the four 

 winds. And here is what became of 

 his library. 



It was first sold to a New York book 

 dealer, at a price as we understand it 

 of ten thousand dollars. This man 

 catalogued it and sold it at auction 

 on the above dates, March 26th and 

 27th, at the American Art Association 

 Rooms in New York, for more than 

 twenty thousand dollars. 



Some of the prices realized were as 

 follows: 



Audubon & Bachman Quadrupeds of 

 North America. 3 Volumes. $140.00 



The Dr. Shattuck copy of the orig- 

 inal Elephant Folio of Audubon's 

 Birds of America, which was one of 

 the finest, if not the finest copy of 



this publication in existence, the 

 plates having been personally selected 

 and colored by Audubon and present- 

 ed to his friend Dr. Shattuck, together 

 with the five volumes of Text accom- 

 panying it, went for $4,000.00. 



A complete file of the Auk, and of 

 the Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornitholog- 

 ical Club. $250.00. 



The Natural History of Carolina, 

 Florida and the Bahama Islands, by 

 Mark Catesby. Two Volumes. 1771 

 $275.00. 



A Monograph of the Pheasants, by 

 William Beebe. 4 Volumes. 1918-22 

 $150.00. 



A complete file of "The Ibis" 

 brought $530.00. 



The Breeding Birds of Floral Park. 

 Illustrated by 42 water color paintings, 

 by Allen Brooks. $480.00. 



The Orchid Album, by Warren and 

 William. 11 volumes, with 528 colored 

 plates. $115.00. 



Catalogue of Birds of the British 

 Museum, 1874-98. 27 volumes, and 

 Catalogue of the Bird's Eggs in the 

 same Museum, 1901-1912. 5 volumes. 

 $240.00. 



Buffons' History Natural. Histori 

 Naturelle des Oiseuax. 15 volumes, 

 1770-1786. $100.00. 



A complete set of the writings of 

 John Burroughs. 23 volumes. $210.00. 



Dressers' Birds of Europe. 8 vol- 

 umes, 1871-96. London. $280.00. 



Edwards' Butterflies of North Amer- 

 ica. 3 volumes. $155.00. 



D. G. Elliott's Monograph of the 

 Pheasants, 1872. $290.00. 



The same author's Monograph of 

 the Birds of Paradise. 2 volumes. 

 $160.00. 



Gould's Monograph of the Trochil- 

 idae. 5 volumes. $380.00. 



Holbrook's North American Herpe- 

 tology. 5 volumes. $142.00. 



Alfred Malhebres' Monographis des 

 Picidies, 1861-2. $155.00, 



