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3. The selection of books for the first purchase must be made. This 

 will, I suppose, comprise three classes of works: 1. Those which may be 

 immediately needed in the scientific department; 2. Bibliographical works 

 and descriptions, histories and catalogues of similar institutions; and, 3. 

 The general collection, consisting of the memoirs, transactions, and jour- 

 nals of the learned societies of Europe and America. These three classes of 

 books will form a library quite unique, and one of great utility. The 

 catalogue, if it be made with fulness and accuracy, will be a valuable pub- 

 lication. I tliinlv, further, that a somewhat extended list of books should 

 be made out for future purchases. These lists should be intrusted to 

 honest and faithful men in some of the principal book marts in Europe, 

 with orders to buy the books whenever they can find them — at say one- 

 half ^Ae ordinary prices. In this way we should obtain at very low prices 

 great numbers of the books which we shall want. Of course, the same 

 list should not be left \vith different men. The work should be done 

 with care, and by consultation with the best scholars in the country. It 

 will be difficult to find the necessary bibliographical helps. The best col- 

 lecdon of them in the country is in the library of the Brown University, 

 but this is very imperfect. 



4. The first purchases are to be made, and the arrangements for future 

 purchases. These, of course, should not be commenced until the lists are 

 as far completed as they can judiciously be in this country. 



5. Another subject contemplated in the programme of organization, and 

 which should receive immediate attention, is the procuring of copies of some 

 of the most celebrated loorks of art. It will probably be best to confine the 

 purchases at first principally to plaster casts of some of the finest specimens 

 of ancient and modern statuary. These can be procured very cheap, and 

 convey, of course, a perfect representation of the original. I have no doubt 

 that for a public institution, and one under national auspices, we could, 

 whenever we desire it, obtain permission to take casts directly from the 

 statues. 



The expense of doing so would of course be somewhat greater than 

 that of purchasing such copies as might be found in the market, but a 

 small difference in expense is not to be thought of in such .a case. It 

 would further be desirable to commence the purchase of the models of an- 

 tiquities, such as models in cork of some of the houses, temples, theatres, 

 baths, &c., &c., in Pompeii and Herculaneum. These can be procured 

 at comparatively small prices. Models of every interesting part of Pompeii 

 which has been excavated, presenting in miniature a perfect view of nearly 

 the whole on the scale of 1 foot to 150, might be procured for about ,"$2,000. 

 It might also be well to procure a few Etruscan vases; also a few antique 

 coins and medals, sufficient to convey some illustration of numismatics, as 

 a subsidiary branch of history. The Regents should of course decide 

 what proportion of the appropriation for collections should each year be 

 expended for these purposes. I will merely remark that $1,000, or even 

 $500 at the outset, prudently expended, would procure a very interesting 

 collection. 



I have thus stated quite in detail the work which must be done before 

 the library can be ready for use, or rather before any part of it can be placed 

 upon the shelves. Before it can be ready for use, much more is to be done 

 in arranging and cataloguing. To lay properly the foundation of a large 



