The International Monthly, Volume 2, No. 4, March, 1851. Various
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on the subject; so much so, indeed, that the Trustees of the British Museum are desirous of doing every thing that I think right; and it is probable that ere long a very fine work will be published at the public expense, containing all the drawings (about 130) and inscriptions. I am to write and publish a small descriptive and popular work, for my own advantage, just sufficient to satisfy the public curiosity about Nineveh and the excavations. It will contain an account of the works carried on, a slight sketch of the history of Nineveh, a short inquiry into the manners, customs and religion of the Assyrians, my own adventures in Assyria, and a little information on the language and character, with an account of the progress made in deciphering. There will be two volumes I presume, and I have already advantageous offers from publishers. My reason for entering into these details, is to ask you what the law is in America, and whether any influential bookseller would be willing to give me any thing for the copyright, and if so, how it could be managed? If you could do any thing for me in this matter, I should really be much obliged to you, and I am willing to abide by any arrangement you might think advantageous. I think the work will be attractive—particularly in America, where there are so many Scripture readers.
"I took Florence on my way, expressly to see you and Powers. Although I was disappointed (and very greatly too) in the first, I was greatly gratified in seeing Powers, and can assure you I left Florence with as high an admiration for his genius and character, as you can have, although unfortunately I was only able to pass an hour or two with him, my stay being so short. I showed him all my drawings, and, as you may suppose, passed a very pleasant morning with him, Kirkup, and Migliarini—all enthusiastic in seeing my drawings, and persons worth showing such things to. Two hours, spent in this way, go far towards recompensing one for any labor and sacrifice. I got your address from Powers, intending to write to you as soon as I reached England. It gave me the sincerest pleasure to hear every one uniting in your praise; I regretted the more that you were absent, and that I was unable to see your works. I was delighted to find that such brilliant prospects were opening to Powers, and I learnt from him, what you hint at in your letter, that you also were prospering, and that substantial advantages were pretty sure. I have only now to get a little money in my pocket, and then inshallah (as the Turks say), I'll have my picture out of you. To return to business for a moment (pardon me for doing so), I think the drawings will be published in first rate style and at a very moderate price: about £10—not a shilling a drawing. Pray mention this to any of your bookseller friends, and perhaps they may be induced to take a few copies. It will be a work which no library ought to be without; it will, I hope, quite surpass the French publication both in execution and subject, and will be sold at one-tenth of the price—theirs coming to nearly £100. I inclose a letter of thanks for the Secretary of the Ethnological Society, which pray send, and also add on my part, many thanks for this honor, which I can assure you I particularly appreciate. My names are Austen Henry Layard, and my designation simply "attached to Her Britannic Majesty's Embassy, at the Sublime Porte." Lady Canning and her family are still in England, Sir Stratford at Berne. It is doubtful when they will return to Constantinople, but I presume ere long. I am ordered out in May, and am named commissioner for the settlement of the boundaries between Turkey and Persia. I wish I had you with me during my commission, for I shall visit a most interesting country, totally unknown, and with magnificent subjects for such a pencil as yours. I am sorry I did not know of your visit to England. I have many influential friends, who would have been glad to welcome you, and who might have been useful. I am now passing a month or two at Cheltenham, for the benefit of my health, which has suffered a little. I will write to you again soon with something more interesting. Believe me, my dear Kellogg, yours ever sincerely,
Upon the publication of his great work on Nineveh and its Remains, thus modestly announced, and his One Hundred Plates, he went back to the East, to renew his researches. Of the results of his recent labors we have already written, in the International for December.
Dr. Layard is a person of the most amiable and pleasing character, with all the social virtues which command affection and respect, and such capacities in literature as make him one of the most attractive travel-writers in our language. The world may yet look for several volumes from his hand, upon the East, and we are sure they will deserve the large and permanent popularity to which his first work has attained in every country where it has been printed.
THE ASTOR LIBRARY
We present above an accurate view of the exterior of the Astor Library, in Lafayette Place, from a drawing made for the International under the direction of the architect, Mr. Alexander Saeltzer. It is destined to be one of the chief attractions of the city, and information respecting it will be read with interest by the literary and learned throughout the country.
It is now three years since John Jacob Astor died, leaving by his will four hundred thousand dollars for the establishment of a Public Library in New-York, and naming as the first trustees, the Mayor of the city of New-York and the Chancellor of the state for the time being. Washington Irving, William B. Astor, Daniel Lord, Jr., James G. King, Joseph G. Cogswell, Fitz-Greene Halleck, Henry Brevoort, Jr., Samuel B. Ruggles, Samuel Ward, and Charles Bristed. On the twentieth of May the trustees held their first meeting, accepted the trust conferred on them, and appointed Dr. Cogswell, one of their number, superintendent of the Library. Of the bequest, $75,000 was authorized to be applied to the erection of a building, $120,000 to the purchase of books and other objects in the establishment of the Library, and the residue, after paying for the site, was to be invested as a fund for its maintenance and increase. In September, 1848, the trustees selected the site for the edifice. It is convenient for all public purposes, and affords the comparative quietude and retirement which are desirable for an institution of constant resort for study and for the consultation of authorities. In October, Dr. Cogswell was authorized to go to Europe and purchase at his discretion books to the value of twenty thousand dollars. The object of the trustees in sending him abroad at that particular time was to avail themselves of the opportunity, afforded by the distracted political condition of Europe and the reduction of prices consequent upon it, to purchase books at very low rates; and the purchases were made at prices greatly below the ordinary standard, and the execution of his trust in all respects amply vindicated the high opinion entertained of Dr. Cogswell's fitness for his position.
The plans for the edifice submitted by Mr. Saeltzer having been adopted, the work was commenced and has been vigorously prosecuted until the present time, when the front and nearly all the exterior are completed. The Library is of brown stone, and in the Byzantine style, or rather in that of the palaces of Florence, and is one hundred and twenty feet long, sixty-five feet wide, and sixty-seven feet high. Scarcely a particle of wood enters into its composition. No building in the United States, of this character, is formed to so large an extent of iron. Its uses, too, are altogether novel, at least in this country, and ingenious. For instance, the truss beams, supporting the principal weight of the roof, are constructed of cast iron pipes, in a parabolic form, on the same plan as the iron bridges in France and other parts of Europe, with a view to secure lightness and strength. The Library Hall, which occupies the second floor, is one hundred feet high, and sixty wide, in the clear. The ascent from the front is by a single line of thirty-eight Italian marble steps, decorated on either side, at the entrance, by a stone sphinx. Upon nearing the summit of these steps, the visitor finds himself near the centre of this immense alcove, surrounded by fourteen brick piers, plastered and finished in imitation of marble, and supporting iron galleries, midway between the floor and the ceiling. The side walls form one continuous shelving, of a capacity sufficient for 100,000 volumes. This is reached by means of the main gallery, in connection with which are four iron spiral stairways and an intervening gallery, of a lighter and smaller description, connected by its eight staircases with the main gallery. The whole are very ingeniously arranged and appropriately ornamented, in a style corresponding with the general architecture of the building. At an elevation of fifty-one feet above the floor of the main hall, is the principal skylight, fifty-four feet long and fourteen broad, formed of thick glass set in iron. Besides this there are circular side skylights of much smaller dimensions. All needful light is furnished, by these and by the windows in the front and rear walls. Free ventilation is also secured by iron fretwork, in suitable portions of the ceiling. In the extreme rear are the two rooms for the librarian, to which access is had by means of the main galleries.
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