Shortly after the At first he chiefly turned his attention to the American trade, in which Delf was already engaged, and in 1855 brought out the first edition of his famous "Bibliographical Guide to American Literature," which, four years later, was expanded to nearly five times its original size with the help of Mr. Benjamin Moran, late of the American Legation in London, and other friends. appearance of the first edition of this work, he paid a visit to America, where he was warmly received, and on his return to England, he edited and published (in 1857) "The Literature of American Aboriginal Languages." The work was based on the manuscript of Dr. Hermann E. Ludewig, whom he had met at New York in 1855. Ludewig had contemplated a new edition of the Vater-Jülg "Linguarum totius orbis index," and the catalogue of books relating to the American languages was intended to be an instalment towards it. He died while his manuscript was in the press, so that the task of editing it devolved upon Mr. TRÜBNER, who added to it a memoir of his friend. The value of the book to the linguistic student need not be insisted on; the languages of America, many of which are now extinct, are of the highest importance to Comparative Philology, while the literature in which they are embodied is often hard to trace or even to discover. The keen interest Mr. TRÜBNER took in the study of languages generally was only exceeded by the yet greater attraction which the languages of the East in particular had always exercised upon him. Hardly had he come to London, with time and strength fully occupied (as might have been supposed) in the necessary routine of business, when he began to study Sanskrit under Professor Goldstücker and Hebrew under Dr. Benisch. It was no wonder, therefore, that he seized the earliest opportunity of founding and developing a great Oriental publishing trade. Wherever Oriental matters were known and studied, the name of TRÜBNER soon became a household word, and the foremost Oriental scholars of the day were proud of forming his acquaintance. His knowledge of Sanskrit prevented him from being dependent on the judgment of others in regard to books relating to India, and enabled him to test the real character and value of the works he published, and the authority of the scholars he associated with. He was, in fact, considerably more than merely an Oriental publisher; he was himself an Orientalist, and the enthusiasm which he felt for the subject induced him to undertake the publication of works that others might have shrunk from, and recalled the golden days of the Alduses or the Elzevirs. One of the first results of the development of his Oriental business was the foundation of this Record, the original title of which was "TRÜBNER'S American and Oriental Literary Record. A Monthly Register of the most important works published in North and South America, in India, China, and the British Colonies; with occasional notes on German, Dutch, Danish, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian Books." The first number appeared on the 16th of March, 1865. The Record is now one of the most valued adjuncts of the Orientalist's library, and has assisted the progress of Oriental studies to an extent which can hardly be overestimated. More than a thousand copies of it are distributed to the leading libraries and Oriental scholars of Europe, Asia, Australasia, and America, and contain matter which would be looked for elsewhere in vain. The foundation of the Record was followed thirteen years later by that of "TRÜBNER'S Oriental Series," which began with Dr. West's edition of Haug's "Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings and Religion of the Parsis." The Series includes works of the most varied character, and relating to different parts of the Oriental world, but all are alike by scholars of the highest reputation and are of supreme interest to the student of Oriental life. The extension of his Oriental business and his "faith," as Professor Max Müller expresses it, "in Oriental literature," did not allow Mr. TRÜBNER to neglect those other subjects of enquiry and research in which he had also always felt an interest. His "Philosophical Library" is a proof of his sympathy with metaphysical speculation, while his numerous publications relating to the religions of mankind, some of which are embodied in his "Oriental Series," are evidences of the interest with which he followed modern researches into the history of religion. At the same time he never lost his original love of languages in general, and though those of the East naturally held the first place in his regard, he lost no opportunity of furthering the study of them whatever they might be. With this object he brought out in 1872 a "Catalogue of Dictionaries and Grammars of the principal Languages and Dialects of the World," an enlarged edition of which appeared only two years ago. In the same year he printed for private circulation a small tract he had translated from the German under the title of "A Chapter from Brunnhofer's Life of Giordano Bruno." This, however, was not the only work he had privately printed. In the autumn of 1879 he had translated Scheffel's "Die Schweden in Rippoldsau," and Eckstein's "Eternal Laws of Morality," a small edition of which was distributed among his friends. One of the most touching of memorials, moreover, is a book entitled "Joseph Octave Delepierre, born 12th March, 1802; died 18th August, 1879; In Memoriam. For Friends only." Delepierre, the mere list of whose works fills the reader with astonishment, and whose first wife had been a sister of Lord Napier of Magdala, was Mr. TRÜBNER's father-in-law, and died in his house in Upper Hamilton Terrace. Mr. TRÜBNER has left behind him a manuscript on the history of the Book-trade in the classical period, a subject in which, as he has often told me, he had been interested from his earliest boyhood. He had collected an enormous amount of material for the work, and from time to time has spoken to me of publishing it as soon as he could finish it in accordance with the demands of a somewhat fastidious taste. The subject is one that has never yet been thoroughly handled, and it may therefore be hoped that the manuscript is in sufficiently mature a state to bear publication. It is little wonder that on a man like TRÜBNER-scholar, author and publisher combined-honours and decorations should have been showered. Among those that he received from the Duke of Saxe-CoburgGotha, the Emperor of Germany, the Emperor of Austria, the King of Sweden and Norway, and the King of Siam, the last was that, perhaps, which he most highly prized. It was nothing less than the famous order of the White Elephant, bestowed on him and Mr. Edwin Arnold for the services they had rendered to Buddhism in making its tenets known in the Western world. Mr. TRÜBNER's sudden death early on the morning of March 30 found his friends wholly unprepared. A year or two previously he had been somewhat ailing, but had since fully recovered, as it seemed, his health and spirits. Only the evening before his death he had entertained a chosen party of friends, who little imagined when they parted from him that they were never again to see their host's kindly face and to hear his sympathetic voice. Much as the cause of science and learning has lost in him, his friends have lost far more. It is difficult for those who never met him to realise his kindliness of heart, his charm of manner, and the sincerity of his nature. Shrewd and cautious as he was in business matters, the cordiality of his friendship, like his enthusiasm for learning, knew no bounds. Nothing could shake his confidence in his friends, when once made; he held loyally by them through good and evil report, sympathizing with their misfortunes and rejoicing over their successes. Success, indeed, was rendered doubly sweet by the knowledge of the pleasure it would afford him. No one sought his sympathy and counsel in vain, often as they were asked for. Time and labour were never grudged by him, if only they could contribute to the service of another. None will know how many are the struggling scholars who found in him the best and truest of friends, and who owe their success in life to his timely help. Generous to excess, Mr. TRÜBNER never thought of himself if only he could assist those who seemed to him deserving, or could in any way further the cause of learning and knowledge. A dinner at his ever hospitable table was an event not to be forgotten. The brilliant company, the perfect freedom from restraint, above all, the winning manners and genial conversation of host and hostess, made it one of the pleasantest experiences of life. Scholars and diplomatists, poets and explorers, gathered round his table amid an intellectual Babel of strange tongues, while the host's genial face presided above them all lit up with smiles of sympathy or keen intellectual interest. Mr. TRÜBNER'S wide sympathies, which made him welcome every new and original thought in the world of letters, however much it might seem to clash with preconceived opinions, naturally found plenty of scope in the world of action as well. Though a Liberal in politics, he deprecated the foreign policy, more especially in matters relating to the East, which the Liberal party has lately pursued, and during the last few years, accordingly, found himself from time to time in opposition to his old associates. Whatever, however, his views might be, he never hesitated to express them frankly, and to act upon them where he thought it necessary. His ideas were always clear, his expression of them equally so. Amid all his occupations Mr. TRÜBNER found leisure to attend the Congresses of Orientalists, where he was certain to be one of the most honoured guests. When last I met him, it was at the Oriental Congress at Leyden in the autumn of last year. It was pleasant to watch the active interest he took in all its proceedings, and the almost schoolboy delight with which he entered into the intellectual hospitalities our Dutch hosts had provided for us. Little did I think that the great Oriental publisher and kindly friend, who had done so much for the cause of Oriental studies, and whose friendship I had found so warm and enduring, would appear no more at any similar gathering. There are some men whose place can never be adequately filled, and NICHOLAS TRÜBNER was one of these. A. H. SAYCE. AM GRABE NICOLAUS TRÜBNER'S, 5. APRIL, 1884. So hast Du, lieber Freund, uns nun verlassen, Es sank die Sonne, die auf meinen Wegen Ein Blumenflor bedeckt in reichster Fülle, Dein edles, gutes Leben hat geendet, Der Glanz, den deinem Namen du gegeben, Es ist der Glanz, den gute Thaten schenken, Erinnerung an dich, den wir beweinen, G. H. |