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Page 65
In October, 1855, Mr. William B. Astor, son of the founder, conveyed to
the trustees the lot, eighty feet front by one hundred and twenty deep,
adjoining the library on the north, and proceeded to erect upon it an
addition similar in all respects to the existing structure, the library
thus enlarged being opened September 1, 1859, with one hundred and ten
thousand volumes on its shelves. The addition led to a rearrangement of
the material, the old hall being devoted to science and the industrial
arts, and the new to history and general literature. In 1866 Mr. Astor
further signified his interest in the library by a gift of fifty
thousand dollars, twenty thousand dollars of it to be expended in the
purchase of books, and on his death in 1875 left it a bequest of two
hundred and forty-nine thousand dollars. In 1879 Mr. John Jacob Astor,
grandson of the founder, added to this enduring monument of his family
by building a second addition, seventy-five feet front and one hundred
and twenty feet deep, on the lot adjoining on the north, making the
entire building two hundred feet front by one hundred deep. At the same
time an additional story was placed on the Middle Hall, and a new
entrance and stairway constructed. The enlarged building, the present
Astor Library, was opened in October, 1881, with two hundred thousand
volumes and a shelf-capacity of three hundred thousand. Its present
contents are estimated at two hundred and twenty thousand volumes,
exclusive of pamphlets. The shelves are ranged in alcoves extending
around the sides of the three main halls and subdivided into sections of
six shelves each, each section being designated by a numeral. Each shelf
is designated by a letter of the alphabet, beginning at the bottom with
A. The alcoves have no distinguishing mark, the books being arranged
therein by subjects which the distributing librarian is expected to
carry in his mind. The first catalogue, in four volumes, was compiled by
Dr. Cogswell and printed in 1861. This was followed in 1866 by an index
of subjects from the same hand. Recently a catalogue in continuation of
Dr. Cogswell's, bringing the work down to the end of 1880, has been
prepared, and is being printed at the Riverside Press, Boston. The
current card catalogue is arranged on the dictionary plan, giving author
and subject under one alphabet. Opposite each title is written the
number of the alcove and the letter designating the shelf. By the
regulations the reader is required to find the title of the book desired
in the catalogue, write it with the number and letter on a slip of paper
provided for the purpose, and give it to the distributing librarian, who
despatches one of his boy Mercuries to the shelf designated for the
work. More often than not, however, the reader asks directly for the
book desired, without consulting the catalogue, and it is rarely that
the librarian cannot from memory direct his messenger to the section and
shelf containing it. In the matter of theft and mutilation of books the
library depends largely on the honor of readers, although some
safeguards are provided. All readers are required to enter their names
and addresses in a book, and the volume on being given out is charged to
them, to be checked off on its return: it would be difficult, too, for a
thief to purloin books without being detected by the employees or the
porter in the vestibule. Yet books are stolen occasionally. In June,
1881, a four-volume work by Bentley on "Medicinal Plants," valued at
sixty dollars, was taken from the library. It was soon missed, and
search made for it without avail. A few weeks later, however, it was
discovered by the principal librarian in a Broadway book-stall and
recovered.
Few strangers in the city depart without paying a visit to the Astor
Library, and it is one of the few lions of the city that do not
disappoint. The main entrance is approached by two flights of stone
steps, from the north and south, leading to a brownstone platform
enclosed by the same material. From this, broad door-ways give entrance
to the vestibule, sixty feet by forty, paved in black and white marble,
and wainscoted four feet above the floor with beautifully variegated
marble from Vermont. The panelled ceiling is elaborately frescoed, as
well as the upper part of the walls. Busts of the sages and heroes of
antiquity adorn the hall. From the vestibule a stairway of white marble,
with massive newels of variegated marble, leads up to the library
proper. The visitor enters this in the centre of Middle Hall. Before
him, separated by a balustrade, are the desks and tables of the
distributing librarian and his assistants. The ladies' reading-room is
in the rear. On the left and right arched passages give access to the
North and South Halls, in which the main reading-rooms are situated. The
ceiling above is the skylight of the roof, and the alcoves, filled with
the wealth of learning of all ages and peoples, rise on either hand
quite to the ceiling. At long, green-covered tables, ranged in two
parallel lines through the halls, are seated the readers, in themselves
an interesting study. Scientists, artists, literary men, special
students, inventors, and _dilettante_ loungers make up the company. They
come with the opening of the doors at nine in the morning, and remain,
some of them, until they close at five in the evening. There are daily
desertions from their ranks, but always new-comers enough to fill the
gaps. Their wants are as various as their conditions. This well-dressed,
self-respectful mechanic wishes to consult the patent-office reports of
various countries, in which the library is rich. His long-haired Saxon
neighbor is poring over a Chinese manuscript, German scholars being the
only ones so far who have attacked the fine collection of Chinese and
Japanese works in the library. Next him is a _dilettante_ reader
languidly poring over "Lothair:" were the trustees to fill their shelves
with trashy fiction, readers of his class would soon crowd out the more
earnest workers. Here is a student with the thirty or more volumes of
the "New England Historic Genealogical Register" piled before him,
flanked on one side by the huge volumes of Burke's "Peerage" and on the
other by Walford's "County Families." There are many readers of this
class, the library's department of Genealogy and Heraldry being well
filled. There is a lady here and there at the tables working with a male
companion, but, as a rule, they are to be found at the ladies' tables in
the Middle Hall. There seem to be but two classes of readers here,--the
lady in silken attire, engaged in looking out some item of family
history or question of decorative art, and the brisk business-like
literary lady, seeking material for story or sketch. Any student or
literary worker who can show to the satisfaction of one of the trustees
that he is engaged in work requiring free access to the library receives
a card from the superintendent which admits him to the alcoves and
places all the treasures of the library at his command. A register is
placed near the distributing librarian's desk, in which on entering each
visitor to the alcove is required to sign his name, and in this register
each year is accumulated a roll of autographs of which any institution
might be proud. Famous scholars, scientists, authors, journalists,
poets, artists, and divines, both of this country and of Europe, are
included in the lists.
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