XXIV NORTH AMERICAN LINGUISTICS. 
Field (Thomas Warren) — continued. 
exhibit some of its formiflable proportions. It was plainly demonstrated that the 
projected task must be either abandoned or greatly abridged. That portion of the 
task which could be most readily detached and wrought into unity was the cata- 
logue of works on the American aborigines, in the author's possession. To deter- 
mine the selection of works which should be included in that category, they haye 
been subjected to a few simple rules of classification. 
"All works which purported in their titles to contain historic, narrative, or lite- 
rary material relating to the American Indians. 
'' Books in which any distinct portion, chapter, or appendix claimed by its head- 
ing or table of contents to be devoted to that subject. 
"Works containing engravings illustrative of the manner and peculiarities of 
the aborigines, when derived from actual observation. 
"All treatises or essays uijon their origin, or the pre-Columbia,n discovery of 
America, as affecting the source of its population. 
"Those works of fiction or poetry founded on Indian life, to which were ap- 
pended historical notes, incidents of personal experience, or traditions and legends 
of the Indians. 
"All works containing grammatical analyses, or vocalmlaries of their language, 
as well as translations into or from them, would of course form a part of the col- 
lection."— Pre/ace. 
Catalogue | of the | Library | belonging to | Mr. Thomas W. 
Field. I To be sold at auction, [ by | Bangs, Merwin & Co., j May 
24th, 1875, I and following days. | 
New York. | 1875. | c. lsh. 
Pp. i-viii, 1-376. 8°. Compiled by Joseph Sabin. "The collection of books 
described in the following pages is, beyond all question, the most extensive in its 
special department ever offered for sale. Its acquisition has been the unwearied 
occupation of Mr. Field for many years, and the result is an unusually com- 
plete series of books on a subject which is daily iucreasing in interest— the Ameri- 
can Indians. It is scarcely necessary for me to say that it is simply impossible to 
study the history of this continent without referring to this topic. An entirely 
complete collection of books relative to the Indians includes a large proportion of 
the works which compose American history. » * * 
"Mr. Field's ' Essay on Indian Bibliography' has formed the basis of the present 
catalogue. We have added to it the titles of such books as have been purchased 
since the publication of that work in 1873. To the works thus added the notes 
appended are sometimes by Mr. Field. Many works of importance, which were in 
his possession at the time of its publication, had accidentally dropped out of his 
list. ' * * 
"The titles in Mr. Field's essay have sometimes been abridged, sometimes given 
in full; his elaborate ,ind elegant notes have in many instances been shorn of their 
chief features, but the reader can supply that want by procuring a copy of Mr. 
Field's essay. 
"The reader of the essay will not fail to notice the strong humanitarian views 
which are held by Mr. Field. It would be difficult for any one to add to the ener- 
getic adjectives which distinguish some of his denunciations of the perpetrators of 
cruelties on the Indians."— Pre/ace. 
Finotti [Rev. Joseph M.) Catalogue | of the | Library | of the late | 
Eev. Joseph M. Finotti, | Member of the New England Historic- 
Genealogical I Society, American Numismatic Society, &c. | To be 
