Ramsey County History – Summer 2007: “Mystery in the Library: The Bishop Jade Books and the St. Paul Public Library”

Mystery in the Library: The Bishop Jade Books and the St. Paul Public Library
Author: Biloine W. Young

The article revolves around a local library “mystery.” It began in April 22, 1915, when a candy store located in the Market House building caught fire. It spread to the second story, which housed the St. Paul Public Library with its 158,000 books. Two men among the watching crowd of 25,000 decided to save the “Jade Books” that were inside. These books were part of a rare edition written by a man named Bishop, who was fascinated with the gem and had given the books to the library. They ran through smoke and succeeded in carrying out the heavy tomes. Since only one-hundred copies of the books were ever made, the mystery is how St. Paul ended up having a set of them. Young recounts the story of Bishop’s deathbed decision to put the books together and how he made a list of all the institutions he wanted to have the books. St. Paul received set number twenty-seven, but to this day no one knows why.
PDF of Young article