A Catalog of the Books Belonging to the Charleston Library Society

and that the different sections and the divisions to which those sections belong, should, if possible, be so arranged that their connexion can be readily traced. Upon the success with which these two purposes are accomplished, must depend the utility of every systematic Catalogue.

The third object for which Catalogues are consulted is merely bibliographical, connected with the history of books, the origin and progress of printing, engraving, &c. and is not of general interest nor of equal importance with the preceding divisions-yet many very valuable collections of books have been made with reference principally to typographical rarity or excellence; and many large Catalogues have been published of which the sole object has been to elucidate the history of printing, and to designate the marks, peculiarities and dates of early editions.

It will be perceived, therefore, that two of the objects for which Catalogues are consulted are of universal interest, the third only partial Every good Catalogue of a Library ought to include a systematic and alphabetical arrangement; every complete Catalogue will embrace also at least a bibliographical appendix.

But where a Library, like that which belongs to the Charleston Library Society, contains but a very few of those books which are distinguished for their antiquity or rarity, even this appendix appears to be superfluous; and the Committee deem it sufficient to recommend that a Catalogue be published, comprising

1st, A systematic, and

2dly, An alphabetical arrangement of the books which belong to this Society.

The Committee also present for the consideration of the Society the following brief outline of the systematic Catalogue which they recommend for adoption.

All Literature proceeds from the understanding. Its sources are in the mind. It derives its power from the human intellect, and to its intellect it addresses its researches, it communicates its discoveries, it imparts its knowledge. Whatsoever has been devised by man, whatsoever has been revealed from on high, has been communicated and must be comprehended through the powers of the understanding. It may not then be improper in an arrangement or classification of literature to commence with the inquiries which have been directed to those faculties from which literature had its origin, and without which it could have no existence.

If the first division of literature should comprehend the inquiries of rational man into his own nature, into those causes and principles which have made him rational and have in truth enabled him to make this inquiry; the next should be directed to that Power from whom these faculties have been derived; to Him who is the origin of all that we possess or know, of all that we pursue or perform. The researches which have been made into the nature and attributes of the Deity, the ordinances, dispensations and duties which result from the relation of man to his Creator, the forms under which he has been worshipped, and the errors with which that worship has been clouded, will necessarily be included in this division.

From the duties which man owes to his Creator, the transition is natural to those which he has to perform to his fellow beings. The first and most obvious are to the persons immediately connected with him in the intimate relations of domestic life. In savage or civilized society, among the wanderers of the desert or the congregated multitudes of populous cities, the obligations of private and personal morality are studied and sanctioned; and the mutual duties of husband and wife, of parent and child, perhaps also of master and servant, form a part of that code which has resulted almost inevitably from the nature and condition of human existence. The doctrines and systems of ethics, the speculations on the passions and emotions of man, should form another great division of human literature.

A wider range of inquiry arises when detached and isolated families become accidentally associated, or by natural increase have extended into regular societies. It then becomes important to investigate the principles and structure of the government that unites them, the propriety and efficacy of the laws that guard them, and the operation of those establishments that promote or retard their welfare. The science, therefore, of government, jurisprudence and political economy, and the examinations which have been made of the policy of different governments in their domestic administration, or in their relations with other governments, will form another class in the distribution of literature.

Connected with these researches are the inquiries which have been made into the pursuits and employments of man in society, the illustrations which have been given of his inventions and discoveries. This wide and comprehensive division embraces the occupations and improvement of man through the whole period of his temporal existence. From the rude and simple arts which were necessary to his physical existence; from the wild and coarse amusements that bee guiled the leisure of savage or pastoral society; from the emblematic devices of ignorant and unlettered ages; to the unnumbered improvements of the present day; to the diversified and ever changing pursuits of social life; to the sublime speculations of cultivated and aspiring talent; to the discoveries which have made man the master of the material world. All that the teeming and prolific mind engenders whilst brooding in solitude, or exercised by the relations of civilized society; all that the active enterprize and persevering labour of man has performed, must find a station among the records of the literature, the arts and science of an enlightened age.

But neither the improvements of the human race, nor even the associations from which these improvements have generally sprung,were uniform or simultaneous. The increase and dispersion of the human race, their re-union in societies, their inventions and discoveries have all been progressive. In reviewing these events, it has been necessary to determine the period of each and every remarkable incident which has occurred in the progress of these temporary or permanent establishments, the date of each great revolution among nations or in governments, of each invention in art, or discovery in science, and of every change in the moral or physical world: To trace and describe distinctly the progress, duration and decline of each nation or commu

nity of individuals, to examine the location of societies and nations on the globe, and to delineate the natural and artificial divisions which have been made on its surface. To illustrate these great branches of Chronology, History and Geography, may be added the collateral aid derived-st, from the history of those individuals who have become distinguished amidst the revolutions of the world; who have merited commemoration as the improvers or benefactors of society; and even of those who have been merely remarkable from peculiarities of fortune or of character. 2dly, From the adventures and observations of individuals who have visited and explored the different divisions of the globe. 3dly, From the documents which have been published by governments or by statesmen. 4thly, From the monuments which remain of ancient ages, exhibiting the progress and improvement of the arts in different nations and at different periods; and, finally, from the history of the arts and sciences themselves, or of the human mind.

From this outline the following general distribution of literature may be deduced.

Literature treating

1st. Of Man in his intellectual capacity. On the Philosophy and Discipline of the Human Mind.

2d. Of Man in relation to the Deity. Theology.

3d. Of Man in relation to his fellows.

Ethics.

4th. Of Man in relation to Society. Government, Jurispru

dence and Politics.

5th. Of the pursuits, the improvements and discoveries of Man in Society.

6th. Of the History of Man in Society.

For the execution of this work it is unpleasant to apologize, but the individual on whom the duty devolved was obliged to employ others to furnish him with the titles of the books, and often when mistakes were suspected, he had not leisure to refer to the originals. From the great confusion as to subjects in which the books were placed, it frequently happened that books which ought to be associated, are in a few instances even now separated, as the Library was never at one time fairly in the view of the compiler. These errors can however be easily rectified when another Catalogue shall be required, and the books which are now misplaced can be restored to their proper position. The only alteration of any importance which has suggested itself in the progress of the work, is to arrange the works on Statistics with the works on Geography, immediately after the geographical description of particular countries. For although Statistics form a very important branch of political economy, it yet in fact happens that almost every statistical work contains some geographical notices, and every geographical work combines some portion of statistical information-in most, these subjects are so equally bae lanced that it becomes very difficult to locate the works when thsections are widely separated.

In most instances the works in each subdivision have been ar ranged alphabetically, either according to the names of the writers, or of the places which are described. In the last division the works on History and the Voyages and Travels have been placed chrono. logically. In some instances where the sections are somewhat miscellaneous, books on particular subjects have been placed together, sometimes marked with an asterisk, sometimes without; but these small groups may be considered as the rudiments of future sections, when the number of works on each subject shall authorize the division

In the 272d page, in the section containing the History of Literature, the Arts and Sciences, it was forgotten to notice that the History of particular branches, such as Poetry, Mathematics, &c. had been placed at the head of their respective sections. It was intended to refer to them, but the references were accidentally forgotten. In the works relating to Biography, the Lives of Monarchs, including necessarily the History of the country over which they reigned, have generally been placed in the class of History. The Lives of Indivi. duals who only performed a part, morc or less important, in the public transactions of their day, have been placed in the section of Historical Biography.

The following memorandums may amuse those who feel some interest in this Society, or who delight to trace even in detail the progress of particular institutions.

The Library was kept first at the house or store of JOHN SINCLAIR, the first Librarian. Sickness obliged Mr. Sinclair to leave the province, and WILL. HENDERSON was appointed his successor on the 20th Feb. 1755, and kept the Library at his own house, (the places of abode of these gentlemen are not noted.) On his resignation WILL CARWITHEN was elected on the 1st. Sept. 1756, and the Library was removed to his residence in Elliott-street, "as a central part of the town very convenient to the members." In 1764, Gov. BOONE of fered the Society the room which "had lately been the Council Chamber," but after some discussion it was ascertained that the building belonged to the Crown, and that neither the Governor nor the Legislature could give the Society a tenure which would justify the expense that the removal would occasion. GABRIEL MANIGAULT, Esq. who had been President or Vice-President of the Society for ma◄ ny years, then presented the Society with a lease for twenty-one years of a convenient building in or near Kinloch Court, and prepared it for the Library at his own expense; and the Library was removed there in the beginning of 1765, and continued until the fire of 1778. Mr. CARWITHEN died in the summer of 1770, and WILL. HORT was appointed Librarian; he resigned in a few months, and THOMAS POWELL was elected on the 4th Feb. 1771; after holding the office fourteen months he resigned and SAMUEL PRICE Succeeded in April, 1772; he continued in office until the end of 1778, and FR. J. FARIAU was elected in 1779 and again in 1780, and continued Librarian until the summer of 1783. After the fire of 1778 temporary accommodations were procured for the Library. In January, 1780,

WILL. H. GIBBES, Esq. offered a part of his office; the remnants of the Library, however, appear to have been cased up after this time, for in April, 1783, a Committee was appointed to inquire for a proper room that the books may be opened." Mr. DAN. CANNON loaned the Society a room in Queen-street for a short time; but when Mr JOHN MCALL was elected Librarian on the 1st July, 1783, he removed the books to his office. In April, 1784, the Intendant and Wardens of the City offered the Society a room in the Exchange, whither the Books were removed. In Oct. 1787, the Council required their room, and the Library was placed at the corner of Broad-street and the Bay. In January, 1788, it was removed to the corner of Traddstreet and the Bay. In January, 1791, it was again removed to the corner of Broad and Church-streets, and in Nov. 1792, finally placed in the room it now occupies in the upper story of the Court-House.

When the Court-House was rebuilt by subscription, after having been burned in 1788, the members of the Library Society subscribed very liberally, and promoted the subscription with their influence, with an understanding that their books would be permitted to occupy some portion of the building-and in this arrangement there has been hitherto a liberal acquiescence.

Mr. M'CALL resigned as Librarian in 1787, and Mr. PHILIP PRIOLEAU was elected in November. He died in 1790, and WILL. BLAMYER was appointed on the 1st Nov. to succeed him. On Mr. BLAMYER's resignation, JOHN DAVIDSON was elected on the 25th Sept. 1797. On his death, greatly lamented by the Society, in June, 1813, BENJ. LEEFE was elected. He resigned in 1815, and Mr. WILL. LOGAN, the present Librarian, was appointed.

The following gentlemen have presided over the Society since its first institution.

JOHN COOPER,

JOHN LINING,

CHARLES PINCKNEY,

JAMES MICHIE,