Gift to the Library.

Through the generosity of Assistant Professor Coolidge and of Mr. J. Randolph Coolidge of Boston, the Library has lately been enabled to buy the great collection of books formed by Count Paul Riant, who died in 1888, relating to the Crusades and the History of the Latin East.

Count Riant was a thorough scholar, who had devoted his life to the study of the Crusades and all historical questions connected with them. As the founder of the "Societe de l' Orient Latin," as a prolific author, and as a keen learned expert in the study of manuscript, he has done more than any other modern writer to advance our knowledge in this field. At his chateau in the Valadis where he passed his summers, he had gathered a great library of books relating to the subject of his studies, and it is the portion of this collection relating to the Crusades and the history of the Latin East that has now been bought for the Harvard Library. The collection probably numbers about 15,000 volumes and after the removal of duplicates, which will be retained in Paris for sale, may add 10,000 volumes or more to the Library. The printed catalogue covers nearly a thousand pages and while the collection is strongest in the special subjects already mentioned, including the whole course of the struggle between Turkey and the European nations, it is also rich in the general sources of mediaeval history, particularly Ecclesiastical history. It contains much that is interesting and precious, bearing on the customs and superstitions of the middle ages, worship of relics, of the Virgin and saints, pilgrimages to holy places, the history of the military and religious orders, etc. In the collection are about a hundred books printed before 1500, and one hundred and seventeen manuscripts.

Another smaller portion of Count Riant's library relating to Scandinavia was bought some years ago by Yale University.