Henry Brugsch, a scholar who, quite independently of Lepsius, had become one of the most eminent leaders in the science of Egyptology, had in 1863 founded an organ of his own for Egyptological research, under the name of “Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Alterthumskunde” [Journal of Egyptian Language and Archaeology:] A profound estrangement, increased by adverse casualties and incidents, had up to this time kept these two eminent men asunder. But Brugsch, after successfully conducting the new journal to the end of its first year, obtained a place in Egypt in the Prussian consular service, and left Europe. The relations between him and Lepsius at this time became more friendly, and Lepsius undertook, “with the coöperation of H. Brugsch at Cairo,” the management of this journal of Egyptology. Scholars from all countries furnished contributions to it, and for some time it remained the chief organ for the special investigations of Egyptologists. It also received Assyriological works. It had afterwards as competitors, first in France the Vieweg “Recueil”[85] and then the “Revue Égyptilogique”[86] founded in 1880, by Revillont and Brugsch, and in England the “Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology.”[87] Yet, in spite of the rivals mentioned, the German journal maintained its rank and its importance. This was the case even after Lepsius, overwhelmed by his official duties and with enfeebled health, resigned the lion’s share of the editorial work to the distinguished young Egyptologist, A. Erman. Erman taught as a private lecturer at the Berlin University in the time of Lepsius, and has lately been appointed professor there.
H. Brugsch-Pasha still worked for the “Zeitschrift,” even after he had founded the “Revue Égyptologique” in conjunction with Revillout, and his relation to his older colleague became more friendly with time. After the death of Lepsius, Brugsch again became editor of the “Zeitschrift” and dedicated to the senior master an obituary which was couched in the warmest terms.
In the autumn of the year 1869, Lepsius undertook his third and last journey to Egypt, and was present at the opening of the Suez Canal. His hasty trip to Upper Egypt could yield little fruit to science, but it served to give him great pleasure, and in his letters to his wife he could not sufficiently praise the amiability of the Crown Prince, to whom, as cicerone, he showed the monuments.
A great number of distinctions were conferred upon the Master during the latter portion of his life, but in consequence thereof, at a time of life when others feel the desire for rest, he was induced to assume a burden of duties which would have oppressed many a man in his prime.
In 1873, he was appointed privy counsellor to the government, and was entrusted with the temporary direction of the Berlin library. We were witness to the extreme and careful deliberation with which he considered the matter before assuming this onerous office. He did not conceal from himself that it would hinder the completion of many an enterprise which he had already begun and which was very dear to him; but on the other hand he told himself that he was the right man to regulate and carry through numerous affairs which he knew would be of benefit to the important institution which he was to conduct.
The broad and firm foundation of his education, his prolonged work as a student at Paris, Rome and London, and his practical intelligence, specially fitted him for the place of a chief librarian. He entered upon the post on the twenty-fifth of March, 1874.
Pertz had formerly been a very useful man, but had now become enfeebled by age, and was difficult to manage. We learn from the most authoritative of all sources that Lepsius, at the instance of Delbrück, then vice-chancellor, undertook to induce Pertz first to resign the management of the collection of the archives of the German people, (the Monumenta Germaniae), and afterwards to retire from his office of chief librarian. After Lepsius had succeeded in this—the wits of Berlin called him Propertz, as the successor of the aged Pertz,—the Minister, Falk, invited him in April, 1873 to assume the management of the Royal Library. The place was at first provisional, but when he definitively assumed the office in March, 1874, he did it under the condition that the Budget for the library should be considerably increased, and that provision should be made for erecting a new building. Of this there was and is urgent need, for the limited amount of space in the old “roccoco-cabinet of Frederick II.,” produced, and still produces, incredible disadvantages. After inspecting many large foreign libraries during the long vacation of 1873, and taking into consideration everything which he found there suitable for the end in view, Lepsius looked over the plans of the grounds available for this purpose. As the result of his reflections a bold idea saw the light of day. The place which he chose for the future library of the capital city was the great square enclosed by Unter den Linden, Charlotten, Dorotheen and Universitäts streets. This was a bold but extraordinarily happy project, which might perhaps have been adopted, had it been earlier laid before the Government and the chambers. But the golden days of flood in the Prussian treasury were passing away. Lepsius succeeded in arranging that the rear portion of the Dutch palace, towards Behren Street, should be specially appropriated as journal rooms, whereby space was procured for from one to two hundred thousand volumes more. But he did not live to see the realization of his project. Nevertheless, the impulse given by him is still working, and the day cannot be far distant when a worthy domicile will be provided for the treasures of the Berlin library.
Lepsius did much for the internal regulation of the library. He spoke with special pleasure of the system introduced by him for the disposal of newly-procured books as well as of the cataloguing, and the following innovations: Here, as elsewhere, the titles of the books desired by different individuals were written upon cards and handed in. If it was impossible to satisfy the demand thus expressed, the card was simply returned, and such returns were far more frequent in the Berlin library than in any other. Lepsius therefore directed that thenceforth the cards containing such demands as could not be complied with should be kept, and he made it the duty of the higher officials of the library to find out whether the refusal was owing to any negligence of the subordinate employees. The cards requiring books which could not be furnished were preserved, and it was soon evident that certain books were repeatedly called for. These were naturally such as were particularly important for students, and Lepsius caused several copies of them to be immediately procured. He also invited the most experienced professors to supply him with the names of those works which were of special weight in their own departments, but too costly to be procured by individuals of narrow means. He proceeded upon the correct principle that precisely those books which students could not buy for themselves should be at their disposal in the library. According to his own reckoning, up to that time a third of the books demanded had not been delivered, while a year after he took the management only one-twelfth were not delivered. The scant courtesy, indeed the incivility, of the Berlin library under Pertz, had been really notorious, and presented a glaring contrast to the obliging spirit encountered in the other large German libraries, especially those of Göttingen, Munich and Leipsic. This bad reputation was in some measure improved under the administration of Lepsius.
The multitude of duties which devolved upon the chief librarian did not hinder him from continuing to hold the office of president of the board of directors of the Archaeological Institute. This, although it conferred honor, yet consumed much time. Lepsius had held the post since Gerhard’s death in 1867, and when he became manager of the library the directors were no less men than Haupt, Curtius, Mommsen, Kirchhoff, and afterwards Hercher. Under his presidency the Institute had been enlarged from a Prussian institution to a scientific institution of the whole German empire. The construction of a stately building at the capital had been authorized and completed. It was also largely owing to Lepsius that the scholarships for young archaeologists were increased in number and amount. The application for them constantly became more numerous, and among the archaeologists were many philologists, who wished to participate in the benefits of the Institute. The archaeologists generally received the preference, but Lepsius specially and rightly interested himself for the young private professors of the university and the teachers at the gymnasiums. He desired that they might acquire more elevated views of art, and a more enlightened conception of science and of life, by a sojourn on the classical soil of Italy, where the whole spiritual existence of a well-prepared and susceptible youth is so easily broadened and ennobled. Entirely apart from whatever scientific gains he may have won, the memory of Italy must illumine the teacher’s life, his academical discourses, and even his dryest teaching, and lend to all a higher inspiration. Lepsius was also enthusiastically interested in the founding of a subordinate branch of the Roman Institute at Athens, and exerted all the influence in his power in favor of it. Ernest Curtius, “whose intellectual Fatherland is Greece,” showed himself most active in carrying out this project. The correspondence which Lepsius had to conduct, as president of the board of directors in Berlin, had so increased that in 1874 he was obliged to write about eighty letters in a quarter of a year. Since 1833 he had belonged to the Institute as a corresponding member, since 1835 as a regular member, since 1836, first as a director, and finally as presiding member of the central board. When he retired in 1880 the Institute awarded him the well-deserved honor by electing him an honorary member.
He had been made a Doctor of the Theological Faculty in Leipsic in 1859.