First 100 Books Purchased for the Rochester Public Library

The Rochester Public Library began organizing in 1911, which included identifying and purchasing the first books to be loaned. During the course of our research for the Centennial, we found the original accession book listing items that were added to the RPL collection starting in 1912. All of these books were purchased locally from Scrantoms.

For your reading pleasure, here are the first 100 books purchased by the Rochester Public Library:

  1. The Two First Centuries of Florentine History by Pasquale Villari
  2. Switzerland of the Swiss by Frank Webb 
  3. View of the State of Europe During the Middle Ages, volumes 1-3 by Henry Hallam 
  4. French Traits by W.C. Brownell  
  5. The Life of Alexander Hamilton by J.C. Hamilton 
  6. Henrik Ibsen by E.W. Gosse  
  7. Philosophy of the Beautiful by W.A. Knight 
  8. The Architecture of the Renaissance in Italy by W.J. Anderson 
  9. Development of the Drama by Brander Matthews (later edition)  
  10. Andes and the Amazon by C.R. Enock  
  11. Little White Bird by J.M. Barrie  
  12. Circuit Rider by Edward Eggleston  
  13. Conscript by Erckmann-Chatrian  
  14. Friend Fritz by Erckmann-Chatrian 
  15. Madame Therese by Erckmann-Chatrian  
  16. Blue Grass and Rhododendron by John Fox 
  17. Crittenden by John Fox 
  18. Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come by John Fox 
  19. Sprightly Romance of Marzac by M.E. Seawell  
  20. Daughter of a Magnate by F.H. Spearman 
  21. Black Arrow by R.L. Stevenson  
  22. David Balfour by R.L. Stevenson 
  23. Island Nights' Entertainment by R.L. Stevenson 
  24. Master of Ballantrae by R.L. Stevenson 
  25. Merry Men & Other Tales by R.L. Stevenson 
  26. New Arabian Nights by R.L. Stevenson 
  27. Prince Otto by R.L. Stevenson 
  28. St. Ives by R.L. Stevenson  
  29. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by R.L. Stevenson 
  30. Treasure Island by R.L. Stevenson  
  31. Wrecker by R.L. Stevenson  
  32. Adventures of Captain Horn by F. R. Stockton 
  33. Chosen Few by F.R. Stockton 
  34. House of Martha by F.R. Stockton 
  35. Late Mrs. Null by F.R. Stockton 
  36. Mrs. Cliff's Yacht by F.R. Stockton 
  37. Storyteller's Pack by F.R. Stockton 
  38. Watchmaker's Wife by F.R. Stockton  
  39. House of Mirth by Edith Wharton 
  40. Fruit of the Tree by Edith Wharton 
  41. On Newfound River by Thomas Nelson Page 
  42. The Boy's Catlin by Humphreys, ed. 
  43. Story Book by W.D. Howells 
  44. Evening Tales by Frederic Ortoli; translated to English by Joel Chandler Harris
  45. Around the World in the Sloop Spray by Joshua Slocum 
  46. Personally Conducted by F.R. Stockton 
  47. History of the Jewish People by O.F. Kent
  48. Amateur Emigrant by R.L. Stevenson 
  49. Poems and Ballads by R.L. Stevenson 
  50. Life of Benvenuto Cellini by J.A. Symonds 
  51. Lettering and Writing by Percy J. Smith
  52. As Others See Us by J.G. Brooks
  53. Tarry at Home Travels by E.E. Hale
  54. Shakespeare by W.A. Raleigh
  55. William the Conqueror by E.A. Freeman
  56. History of the Thirty Years War by J.C.F. Schiller
  57. Letters from Japan by Mrs. Hugh Fraser
  58. Development and Evolution by J.M. Baldwin 
  59. Chemistry of Food & Nutrition by H.C. Sherman 
  60. Monopolies & Trusts by R.T. Ely 
  61. New England and Its Neighbors by Clifton Johnson
  62. Letters by Matthew Arnold
  63. Persistent Problems of Philosophy by M.W. Calkins
  64. Walter Pater by Arthur Benson 
  65. Savings and Savings Institutions by James Henry Hamilton
  66. History of Coinage and Currency in the United States by A. Barton Hepburn
  67. Political Growth in the 19th Century by Sears
  68. History of the United States by James Ford Rhodes
  69. Costume in England by F.W. Fairholt, volumes 1-2
  70. Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibson, volumes 1-5
  71. Statesman's Yearbook, 1912
  72. Dark Ages by Charles Oman
  73. Close of the Middle Ages by Lodge
  74. European History by Arthur Hassall, volumes 1-2
  75. Europe in the 16th Century by Johnson
  76. Selected Chapters of American History by MacDonald 
  77. The Road by Jack London
  78. Sea Wolf by Jack London
  79. Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister 
  80. Long Road by John Oxenham 
  81. Old Town by Riis 
  82. Child Life, Primer through Fifth Reader by Blaisdell 
  83. History of England by Lingard 
  84. Reminiscences of Peace and War by Sara Pryor 
  85. Chaucer by William Tuckwell 
  86. A Singular Life by Elizabeth Ward
  87. Tales from Shakespeare by Charles Lamb
  88. Theodore Parker by John White Chadwick 
  89. Thomas Bailey Aldrich by Ferris Greenslet 
  90. Thomas Jefferson by Henry Childs Merwin 
  91. Carlyle's Laugh by Thomas Higginson 
  92. Passages from American Notebooks by Hawthorne
  93. A Reader's History of American Literature by Thomas Higginson & Henry Boynton 
  94. Japanese Interior by Alice Bacon
  95. Corneille by Leon Vincent
  96. Country Road by Alice Brown
  97. Queen of Sheba by Thomas Bailey Aldrich 
  98. Stillwater Tragedy by Thomas Aldrich 
  99. Two Bites at a Cherry by Thomas Aldrich 
  100. Dr. LeBaron by Jane Goodwin Austin