HOME LIBRARY OF MR. & MRS D.C. BROYLES
(Written by Grandson Broyles Hall)
The home library of Mr. & Mrs. D. C. Broyles numbered more than one thousand books. Since the library is no longer intact, I can only comment on the portion which I own and make a few remarks on the complete library as my memory best serves me.
In addition to standard reference book sets, world history books, histories of man, philosophy book sets, and war histories, the library contained the complete works of many current writers of the late nineteenth century and first twenty-seven years of the twentieth century.
I can remember reading, as a teenager, from the complete writings of Zane
Grey, Irvine S. Cobb, and Mark Twain. The Tom Sawyer volume was missing (unreturned
by a borrower) by
the mid-thirties, but the worn copies of Huckleberry Finn and A Connecticut
Yankee Etc., still remain in the Twain set: The Writings of Mark Twain (Author's
National Edition), published by Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York
and London, 1899.
The Harvard Classics set also enjoyed more usage than other sets, but, again, several of the volumes were loaned out and never returned. Grandmother and Grandfather Broyles were visited often by friends and relatives, and they were very generous in lending books.
Two more of Grandfather Broyles' favorite authors were Rudyard Kipling and Alexander Dumas. The volumes of The Romances of Alexandre Dumas number more than fifty. Again, I can remember while in my early teens trying to follow the escapades of The Three Musketeers.
The World's One Hundred Best Short Stories, Funk and Waganalls Co., 1927, apparently was another popular set. Two volumes of the ten volume set are missing. Authors represented include Fannie Hurst, Edgar Allan Poe, O. Henry and Robert Louis Stevenson. Even though published in 1927, it is interesting that Hemingway and Steinbeck are not represented in these volumes.
In addition to standard reference books such as the Book of Knowledge and World Book Enclyclopaedia, D.C. Broyles owned numerous volumes of history and biographies. These include Harper's Enclyclopaedias of United States History, and History of the American People by Woodrow Wilson and many biblical books.
The bindings of the books have survived the years quite well, especially one set entitled Draper's Self-Culture, Andrew Sloan Draper, Twentieth Century Self-Culture Association, New York, 1907. The books are printed on very soft paper of high quality, and the illustrations are beautiful. The ten volume set of books is bound in three-quarter leather.
Grandfather Broyles never removed the sales contract from one set of volumes. The contract is dated March 5, 1912, and signed by D. C. Broyles.--Town: Eden, Texas. His business is listed as "School Supt." A set of books today, bound in three quarter leather, with comparable illustrations, would cost several hundred dollars.
In 1912, D.C. Broyles made a down payment of $3.75, and agreed to pay $2.50 per month until he had paid the entire sum of $36.75 for the ten volume set.