Keeper of rare books and editor of publications at the Boston Public Library, ZOLTAN HARASZTIrecalls for us, in the paper which follows. the little-known figure who teas chiefly responsible for establishing the first public library in the United States. Mr. Haraszti, a scholar of wide interests, is the author of John Adams and the Prophets of Progress, an excerpt of which we published in the Atlantic a few years ago.
An inveterate arguer, John Adams made copious — and highly explosive — notes in many of his books now at the Boston Public Library. He was especially incensed against the philosophes, whom he held mainly responsible for the French Revolution. In a book on Adams, now in preparation, ZOLTAN HARASZTI brings together some fifty thousand words of these hitherto unpublished comments. They should be indispensable to historians. Mr. Haraszti is Keeper of Rare Books at the Boston Public Library and, since its inception, has been editor of More Books, the library’s monthly bulletin.