Catalogue of Books, belonging to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania (1829)

"The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania have long had in contemplation to cause a Catalogue of the Library to be made, with a view of increasing it, and rendering it worthy of the first literary institution of this commonwealth; but they were disc ouraged not only by the small number of volumes that it contains, but by the little attention that was paid to it for such a considerable time, in consequence of the successive changes which the University experienced in its organization, which occasioned the loss of so many books, so that the sets of valuable books have been broken, which it will be necessary to replace entirely."

The catalogue is organized by subject, beginning with "Theology and Ecclesiastical History and Biography" and concluding with a small section on "Modern Literature." As represented in the catalogue, Penn's Library was overwhelmingly weighted toward tradi tional subjects -- theology, philosophy, classical literature, philology, and law -- and consists almost entirely of European imprints from the sixteenth to the early nineteenth centuries. It contained few books written by Americans and fewer still print ed in America. One looks in vain for traces of "the Founding Fathers" in the Founders' Collection.

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