﻿NOTES 



Watts de Peyster Collection — Napoleon Buonaparte 

 The collection of books in the Smithsonian Institution known as 

 the " Watts de Peyster Collection — Napoleon Buonaparte " was 

 brought together by General John Watts de Peyster, of New York, 

 a descendant of the distinguished family of that name which emi- 

 grated to this country early in the seventeenth century. General 

 de Peyster was born in 1821, just after the time of the great Napo- 

 leon, and early in life commenced to accumulate a library of Na- 

 poleonic literature which has grown under his fostering care to a 

 collection of books numbering in the thousands. Through his un- 

 tiring efforts the world has been searched for books, pamphlets, maps, 

 etc., relating to Napoleon Buonaparte or to the military celebrities 

 and others connected with him. 



In the latter part of 1901 General de Peyster offered to the Insti- 

 tution the collection, to be held intact and to be known by the name 

 above given. General de Peyster estimated that there would be 

 about two thousand titles, but considerably more than that number 

 have been received, and there is promise that further search will 

 reveal others in the libraries of General de Peyster's residences at 

 Tivoli and New York City. At the time of sending the first part of 

 the collection General de Peyster conservatively estimated its value 

 at ten thousand dollars, but this estimate is evidently far below the 

 real pecuniary worth of the collection, as many of the volumes have 

 long been out of print and are now well-nigh priceless. As a his- 

 torical collection the value of the library is beyond estimate. 



The books, together with the pamphlets and maps, are cared for 

 in twenty-four cases specially built for them and arranged along the 

 north and south walls of the main hall of the eastern wing of the 

 Smithsonian building. Each group of cases is provided with a con- 

 spicuous label giving the name of the collection. A number of busts 

 of Napoleon and of others of his time, which General de Peyster 

 collected in connection with the library, are to be placed on the tops 

 of the cases as soon as proper mountings are prepared. A special 

 bookplate is in preparation and as soon as engraved will be placed 

 in each volume. It is hoped that ere long a complete card catalogue 

 will be made and published, thus making this magnificent collection 

 more fully accessible to students. 



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