BOSWELL'S EBONY CHEST.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19157, 14 November 1927, Page 12

BOSWELL'S EBONY CHEST.

REMARKABLE LITERARY FIND. PAPERS IN PERFECT PRESERVATION. (reon otra owir cobbbspoxdbkt.) LONDON, September 21. Lieut.-Colonel Ralph Isham, a prominent American book collector, who served with the British Army during the war, has secured a remarkable collection of Boswell material, the contents of the famous ' ; Ebony Cabinet," which is so frequently referred to by Boswell and is the subject of several particular clauses in his will: the cabinet in which he preserved his most valued papers, diaries, correspondence, and. literary materials. , Mr Geoffrey Scott, who has examined the papers, explains in a letter to "The Times" the nature of the literary find. , , "It has been traditionally handed down," he says, "that all .Boswell's papers were destroyed at his death. There was never any clear authority for this belief, but Birkbeek Hill reported that when he approached the then heirs of Boswell at Auchinleck he was told, 'There is nothing here.' The lapse of time and the non-appearance of the documents seemed to_ confirm the erroneous statement, which Boswell's biographers have repeated. Ad a matter of fact, the papers had been preserved at Auchinleck and passed by will and normal inheritance into the hands of Boswell's great-great-grand-son, Lord Talbot de Malahide. "The existence at Malahide Castle of certain Boswell archives has been known to a few students and collectors for two or three years past, but the papers were entirely inaccessible alike to the curiosity of scholars and the cupidity of dealers. Their nature was a matter of mere speculation: they might well have been mostly documents relating to property and estate. In now parting with them, Lord Talbot has been chiefly influenced by the knowledge that they are passing to a collector who for many years has made Johnson and Boswell his principal study, in whose hands they will remain safe, and by whom they will be brought duly to the world's knowledge. Unbelievable Riches. "Colonel Isham, with the utmost generosity, allowed me, as a student of Boswell, immediately to go through the unbelievable riches of his acquisition, and while it would be premature to give any list before the paoers have received closer and more particular study, I may say at least they surpassed all expectations and satisfied nearly every hope. Unfortunately the great bulk of the Boswell manuscript was found by Lord Talbot to liave perished to powder. This appears to have been the manuscript of the life of Johnson, of which only about 30 pages survived the effects of damp. But this disappointment is compensated by the richness of variety of tjhe new material, comprising, for example, a poem by Goldsmith and an intensely vivid description of Voltaire written by Boswell when he was his guest at Fernoy. Rousseau, Pitt, Bums—almost every handwriting that could bo wished is represented. Considerable light is thrown on Boswell's methods of work. With the exception already named, the papers are in perfect preservation.

Colonel Isham, a Boswellian scholar who has built up one of the most remarkable collections of Johnsoniana, will immediately himself undertake the publication of this new material, borne time will naturally be required to arrange it in the most convenient classification, but in order that curiosity may not be unduly prolonged, it is his intention to publish the material in successive portions. "Colonel Isham is linked to this country by strong and exceptional ties or sympathy and service: and while Englishmen must view with patriotic regret the passing of these papers to New lork, lovers of literature will, rejoice that they are in safe hands, that they are undispersed. and, above all, that they are found."