LITERARY TREASURES

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 122, 13 August 1927, Page 13

LITERARY TREASURES

THE MANTELL COLLECTION Press Association. WELLINGTON, To-day. j Though not yet available for inspection or consultation, the Muntell col- j lection ot books and manuscripts recently presented to the 'Turnbull Lib- j rary is now so far arranged that the value of the gift is becoming apparent, being comparable to the Grey collection in Auckland. The late Mr. W. B. D. Mantell appears to have been in personal touch with most of the literary men of the j Victorian era. There are autographed copies of Byron’s early works, letters i by Shelley, Mrs. Browning. Carlyle. - Bulwer Lytton, Charles Darwin, Kichaid Owen Charles Lyell and others. A fifth-folio Shakespeare is among the treasures, also several quarto voltimes of Ben Jonson’s plays and early editions of some works of Spenser. : Mr. Mantell was well known to scientists in Great Britain. America and the Continent, and his friendships in- i volved great correspondence comprising thousands of letters, including some from Lyell, Darwin, Owen, Tyn- I dall, Deshayes, Sowerby, De La Beche, and Dana. The books include autographed copies of first editions of many of the scientific works of his j day.