Category: Rare Book

The first class session in the Rare Book Room this term was for DIG 220: Electronic Literature with Dr. Mark Sample and his students.  Electronic literature?  In the Rare Book Room?  Yes, because one of the interesting things to do as we look at using/reading/researching texts online, is to compare that to how we’d use the same text in a physical space.  So, we looked at the “Affordances of the Codex,” or to put it another way, the attributes of the physical book.  What do we do differently; how do we interact differently; what do we see in a different way when we use physical books?

The five affordances we attributed to physical books were:

• Books are simultaneously sequential and random access.

For example, we can look at a dictionary and read from A to Z, or we can find the definition of a particular word.  We can look at a book of short stories and read the first story through to the last, or we can choose a story to read.

• Books are volumetric objects.

They have size and shape.  They “contain” the information in a three dimensional way.  Or, the shape may be representative of the contents.  The book “Snake Poems,” by Margaret Atwood literally unfolds like an accordion or “snake.”  “Gulliver’s Travels” text of his visit to the land of the giants is huge; the text of his visit to the Lilliputians is tiny.

• Books are finite (bounded information spaces).

Single titles may be bound in one or more volumes; multiple titles may be bound together; single titles bound in one volume may be divided into parts.

• Books offer a comparative visual space.

Books may be printed on the “front” side (the recto) of a leaf, but not on the “back” side (the verso.)  Notes, glosses, or translations may be on pages opposite the text itself.

• Books are writable as well as readable.

We all often take notes, underline, or mark passages in books (our own, of course, not those which we check out from the library!) for our study.  But, some books in the Rare Book Room have recipes on a flyleaf, notes from previous owners regarding their readings of the book, children’s drawings, gift inscriptions and other markings indicating their use.

Some of these affordances may also apply to electronic texts, but some don’t.  How do you see them differently?

Thanks, Dr. Sample and students for a great discussion!

“It’s alive! It’s alive”
You probably associate that line with the movie, “Frankenstein.” And, you’d be right. You’d be wrong, however if you think the monster is Frankenstein. That was actually the name of the doctor who created him, and both were born from the imagination of Mary Shelley, who began her book Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus during the summer of 1816 when she was not yet nineteen. Mary (the lover, and later wife of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley), Shelley, Lord Byron and John Polidori were spending time in Geneva, and the gloomy, rainy weather often kept them indoors. Among the often occult topics of conversation was galvanism, the contraction of a muscle that is stimulated by an electric current. One rainy afternoon, Byron suggested that they have a contest to see who could write the best gothic horror story. Mary’s was the only one which was completed. Her story is of a doctor, Victor Frankenstein, who experiments with a technique for giving life to non-living matter which ultimately leads to his creation of The Monster. Full of gothic elements, and considered to be one of the earliest examples of science fiction, it is more than that. It explores themes of goodness and beauty as well. Shelley’s tale was published in London in 1818, but that first edition was published anonymously. Her name did not appear as the author until the second edition was published in France in 1823.
Although when first published Frankenstein did not receive favorable critical reviews, it did gain almost immediate popular success, and the story has been retold in theatrical productions, movies (and movie spoofs) through the years. Although Mary Shelley continued to write, she will always be remembered for Frankenstein.
We have in the Rare Book Room an early copy of the celebrated novel.

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus / by Mrs. Shelley. Boston: Sever, Francis, & Co., 1869. Third American edition. Includes both the original preface, and the preface the author wrote for the 1831 Bentley’s Standard Novel edition (London). Rebound in brown buckram, but retains the original green paper wrappers. Includes original publisher’s ad for “the elegant Cambridge edition” of Vanity Fair.

The Scarlet Letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of America’s most well-known writers, and was first published in March 1850 by Ticknor Reed and Fields in Boston. In November of 1849, James T. Fields, the junior partner in the firm (Boston’s most eminent) went to Salem to see Hawthorne, came back with an unfinished manuscript and began advertising this new work of Hawthorne’s. The tale of Hester Prynne (the adulteress branded with the scarlet letter A by her Puritan judges,) the Reverend Dimmesdale (father of her child) and Pearl (the child of the ill-fated union) is one with which most of us are familiar, since it’s often “required reading” in high school English classes. If you haven’t read it since high school, however, get it out again. You may find that your reaction to this masterpiece is quite different now.

Thanks to Dr. Wilber Fugate, Davidson class of 1934, we have a first edition, first issue of The Scarlet Letter in the Rare Book Room, one of only 2500 copies printed. According to one antique bookseller, Phillip J. Pirages, “this is a volume of firsts: the first edition, first issue of Hawthornes’ first novel, his first publication for Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, and generally recognized as the first major American novel.” There are several points which determine the first issue, including the absence of the preface which Hawthorne added later, and several misprints which were corrected in later issues.

 

 

 

 

 

Our copy has been rebound in quarter red morocco with red linen boards, and uses raised bands, black morocco spine labels, and gilt spine lettering. The inscription on the title page reads “C. G. Atherton to Hon. J. Hurst Jr.” Charles Gordon Atherton was a lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. Senator from New Hampshire from 1843-1849, and from 1852 until his death in 1853. He served as Chairman of the Committee on Printing (Twenty-ninth Congress), the Committee on Roads and Canals (Twenty-ninth Congress), and the Committee on Finance (Thirtieth Congress.)

I wrote an earlier blog on The Golden Cockerel Press , one of the famous private presses represented in our Rare Book Room.  Another private press which was also noted for its beautiful volumes was the Nonesuch Press.

The press was founded in London in 1922 by Francis Meynell, his wife Vera, and their friend David Garnett, co-owner of a bookshop in Soho.  Nonesuch Press published its first book in May 1923, and from then until the mid-1960s it produced more than 140 books.  Unlike most private presses, Nonesuch used a small hand press to design their books, but then had them printed by commercial printers.  This method allowed the books to be designed with the quality of a fine press, but since they were commercially printed, to be available to a wider audience at lower prices.  Nonesuch editions are prized by collectors, and we have several in our collection thanks to Dr. Harold Marvin, Davidson class of 1914.

Two of the titles in our collection are

The Princess of Babylon by M. de Voltaire, and Graziella by Alphonse de Lamartine.  The Princess of Babylon was printed in a limited edition of 1500 copies (ours is #106) on Batchelor’s Kelmscott hand-made paper, and bound in vellum backed marbled boards.  It is beautifully illustrated with plates and decorative vignettes by Thomas Lowinsky.

 

Graziella was also printed in a limited edition consisting of 1600, of which 600 were for sale in the United States.  This semi-autobiographical novel tells the story of a young Frenchman’s romance with a Neapolitan fisherman’s daughter.  It was bound in decorated cloth boards and includes 30 illustrations, some in color, by Jacquier.

 

Thanks, Dr. Marvin, for your wonderful gifts to our library!

When you hear the word “marble” what comes to mind?  Small round glass balls you played with as a child?   The streaks of fat alternating with lean in a rib-eye steak?  Your beautiful variegated stone kitchen counters?  All are accurate.  But what if I told you that the Rare Book Room has several examples of “marbled” paper?  Do you picture paper that has hardened to rock?  Actually, “marbled paper” is given that description because of the appearance of the paper —with streaks and patterns like marble.

It is made by transferring water colors floating on the surface of a gum solution to a piece of paper.  The colors are drawn on the solution with sticks or combs to create patterns such as swirl, splash, and feather.  Colors vary, from dark to light; from the use of many colors to few.

The technique was found as early as 118 in Japan, but the Persians are credited with first using it for books.  It was first used for the endpapers of a book, but it is also used for covers and bindings, and was used heavily in Europe and the U.S. in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.  It has more limited use currently, but has been revived for special books of limited editions.

The Rare Book Room has several examples of this beautiful technique, many currently on display.  So, if you’re in the area, come by the RBR to see some of our beautiful “marbled paper” books.

So, just what is a Japanese No (or Noh) play?  According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Noh comes from a Japanese word meaning “talent” or “skill.”  It refers to a traditional Japanese theatrical form, one of the oldest exant theatrical forms in the world.  It involves music, dance and drama, and has been around since the 14^th century.  Plots are drawn from legend, history, literature and contemporary events, with themes often involving dreams, the supernatural world, and ghosts.  All the performers in a No play are men, in rich and heavy costume.  The main character, the shite, often takes several roles, each represented by a mask so that the audience knows which character is on stage at the time.  There is actually little action, with the performers acting more as story-tellers than actors.

One of the most famous of the No plays is Matsukaze, translated as “Breeze through the Pines,” or “Wind in the Pines.”  It is a “wig play” or “woman play” in which the characters are women, although played by men.  In Matsukaze, the two main characters are the spirits of Matsukaze (the wind) and her sister Murasame (the Autumn rain).  They lived in Settsu Province, and when the news of the death of their lover came, they both died of grief.  However, their sprits lingered on.  As the play opens, a traveling priest asks about a local memorial, finding out that it was built as a tribute to the two dead sisters.  The priest meets them in a dream, they explain their past and are overcome with madness.  Their souls are released and they pass from the mortal world, leaving only the sounds of the wind and the rain behind.

Dr. Harold Marvin (Davidson, Class of 1934) donated a copy of Matsukaze to the library’s Rare Book Room from his private collection.   Our copy, Matsukaze a Japanese No Play by Kwanami, was translated by Dan Frank Waugh, was privately printed in New York City in 1933, and is number 15 of only 75 copies.  It was bound by hand at the Stratford Press in imitation vellum and textured gray and black paper boards.  It was printed on hand-made Japanese silk paper.

The delicate paper is uncut (folded at the top) and has deckled edges. The decoration on the title page is from an ancient Japanese sword guard and symbolizes the play Matsukaze.

Thanks to Dr. Marvin for deciding to give us this beautiful book.

The library’s 100,000^th volume, an addition to the Rare Book Room, was the 1^st volume of Burke’s Weekly for Boys and Girls, a short-lived serial (1867-1871) which was published in Macon, Georgia.  Our volume includes the issues for 1867.  It was given to the library by Dr. Leland M. Park, our former library director, who had received the volume from his father.

Burke’s Weekly was begun by two brothers, J. W. Burke (the publisher) and T.A. Burke (the editor) after the U.S. Civil War to provide southern children with a magazine of stories, games, puzzles, and poetry.  The timing of the publication in the South, when many of the region’s families were trying to rebuild from the war and had little money to spare, was not the best, and subscriptions lagged, so much so that the publication ceased in 1871.  The brothers indicated in its last issue that they thought a publication such as theirs was needed and desired, but that they had not succeeded in that enterprise.  They then thanked those who had supported them.

The stories in the issues had plots, which although they were interesting to children, also often included moral lessons.  Other stories, specifically aimed toward girls, included information on pursuits such as “keeping house” and helping their mothers with the household chores.  The activities of animals and children were often topics for stories, and the poetry was sometimes religious in nature, or had topics related to the seasons.

Issues also included a section called “Our Chimney Corner” which included riddles, and other puzzles.

Thanks to Dr. Park (and his father) for this volume.

If you’re a sleuth yourself, and/or a fan of detective novels, you’re no doubt familiar with the name of, arguably, London’s most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes.  Holmes is a fictional detective, created by the Scottish author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Doyle, born in Edinburgh, studied in Jesuit schools for ten years, and finished his education by studying medicine at Edinburgh University.  Some of his professors at the University became models for his later literary characters, including Sherlock Holmes.  Although trained as a physician, Doyle was not particularly successful in private practice, and often wrote stories while waiting for his few patients.  He wrote historical novels, essays, poetry, autobiography, and works on spiritualism and the supernatural, but his most successful works were the detective stories featuring Sherlock Holmes and his comrade, Dr. John Watson.  Holmes and Watson solved crimes that even Scotland Yard could not resolve.  Holmes was introduced in 1887 in “A Study in Scarlet,” published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, and the address of 221B Baker Street became a part of the London landscape, even though it was then a fictional address.   The characters of Holmes and Watson were instant successes, and stories of their adventures began to appear in the Strand Magazine.  By 1890 Doyle had left his practice of medicine and concentrated his entire time to writing.  Doyle eventually tired of his character, and killed him in “The Final Problem” published in 1893.  But the public would not accept Holmes’ death, and Doyle resurrected him in 1903.

Numerous Sherlock Holmes clubs, called the Baker Street Irregulars, formed with many famous names on their rosters.  Sherlock Holmes stories have been translated into more than 50 languages, and have been adapted into many genres such as plays, films, television series, and cartoons.

The library’s Rare Book Room houses two first edition volumes of the Sherlock Holmes stories,

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, published in London in 1892 by George Newnes, and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes,

published by Newnes in 1894.  Both volumes are beautifully illustrated by Sidney Paget.

Thanks to Mr. Wilbur Fugate, class of 1934, for these wonderful volumes.

MaxBeerbohm was born on August 24, 1872 in London, and is noted for both his wit and his talent as a caricaturist.
His only art classes were those he took under “Mr. Wilkinson” in the day school he attended between 1881 and 1885. He attended Merton College, Oxford, and there met Oscar Wilde who introduced him to other literary and artistic figures of the time. He was not a great student, and left Oxford in 1894 without getting a degree, but he had by then already made a name for himself as a humorist. One of his pieces of fiction, The Happy Hypocrite is represented in the holdings of the Rare Book Room.

The Happy Hypocrite, by Max Beerbohm. New York: The John Lane Company [1915]. Gift of Dr. H.M. Marvin.

While at Oxford, “Max” as he signed his drawings, began being known for his caricatures, done in pen or pencil with watercolor tinting. Thirty-six of his drawings were published by the Strand Magazine in 1892. In 1913 The Times called him “the greatest of English comic artists,” and his caricatures were widely published in magazines and exhibited in galleries. Collections of his caricatures are located in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; the Tate Collection; The Victoria and Albert Museum; and the University of California. The Rare Book room is fortunate to have some of his volumes of caricatures including:

A Peep into the Past, by Max Beerbohm. [New York: M. Harzof], 1923. Facsimile of the manuscript followed by the printed text. Limited edition of 300 copies printed on Japanese vellum. Gift of Dr. H.M. Marvin.

A Survey, by Max. London: W. Heinemann [1921]. First edition, limited to 275 numbered and signed copies. 51 tipped-in mounted plates of caricatures in half-tone. Our copy is number 4. Gift of Dr. & Mrs. Richard Huddleston.

Things New and Old/ by Max Beerbohm. London: W. Heinemann, 1923. First edition, limited to 380 numbered and signed copies. Our copy is number 226. Gift of Dr. & Mrs. Richard Huddleston.

The Golden Cockerel Press was established in London in 1920. It had three owners during its history, but the most notable was Robert Gibbings, under whose leadership it became known as one of the fine private presses. Beautiful typefaces, handmade paper, woodcuts and engraved illustrations…all are represented in our Golden Cockerel Press editions, and Davidson can thank Dr. Harold Marvin, class of 1914, for donating to us many of the beautiful limited edition volumes he collected. Here are images of the first 9 volumes from the press, printed from 1921-1922, all from our collection.
The Golden Cockerel Press’s first printed volume was A. E. Coppard’s Adam & Eve & Pinch Me.

Book number two was Terpischore & other poems by H.T. Wade-Gery.

Signs & Wonders, by John Davys Beresford, was book number three.

Number four, another work by A.E. Coppard, was Clorinda Walks in Heaven.

Book number five was Kanga Creek, written by Havelock Ellis. Our copy is signed by the author.

Puppet Show, Golden Cockerel’s book number six, was written by Martin Armstrong. Another A. E. Coppard book was publication number seven, Hips & Haws: Poems.

Another book of poetry, number eight, was Gipsy-night, and other poems, by Richard Arthur Warren.

And, book number nine, was Masques and Poems by Peter Quennell.