http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/ News of acquisitions, holdings, and activities of the Rare Book Division in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library en Copyright 2010 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:35:00 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss

• Art librarian Sandy Brooke and art bibliographer Nicky Shilliam actively acquire rare books for the Marquand Library of Art and Archaeology. Each year they report news of their successes in the annual newsletter of the Department of Art and Archaeology. Their acquisitions build on more than 100 years of collecting, thanks to the generosity of many, but in particular Alan Marquand who provided the core collection and to a substantial endowment established under the family name. See their reports in




2010 Newsletter (pdf, 14mb)
2009 Newsletter (pdf, 15mb)
2008 Newsletter (pdf, 27mb)
2007 Newsletter (pdf, 12mb)

• Staff associated with the Manuscript Division have recently published Greek Manuscripts at Princeton, Sixth to Nineteenth Century: A Descriptive Catalogue, after years of preparation. It is a most substantial work with 250 illustrations, the majority in color. Copies are available from the Princeton University Press.

• Helene van Rossum has posted the first entry in a new blog on campus The Reel Mudd Films and other audiovisual materials from the Mudd Manuscript Library

]]> http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/07/collecting_rare_art_books_at_p.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/07/collecting_rare_art_books_at_p.html Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:35:00 -0500
Liberty & The American Revolution: Selections from the Collection of Sid Lapidus '59 won the Katharine Kyes Leab and Daniel J. Leab "American Book Prices Current" Exhibition Award from the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS), of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association. The catalogue took the honors for division one of the award competition's five divisional groupings. Exhibition organizer and catalogue editor, Stephen Ferguson, received the award certificate on Sunday June 27, during the annual meeting of the American Library Association in Washington, D.C. The awards recognize outstanding exhibition catalogues issued by American or Canadian institutions in conjunction with library exhibitions, as well as electronic exhibition catalogues of outstanding merit. Richard Noble, chair of the RBMS Exhibition Awards committee and rare books cataloger at Brown University, said of the catalogue: "The purpose of this catalog is succinctly put in [curator] Stephen Ferguson's preface: 'How does one gain ... a sense of the past? Not only by experiencing books as physical objects, seeing them as readers of that day saw, felt, and handled them, but--through the extensive quotations from the books themselves found in this catalogue--by making them speak as well.' This is, in essence, a catalogue of books and a book of quotations that trace the evolution, in a multiplicity of spheres, of the concept of 'liberty'--a concept which it is all too easy to interpret ad lib. Whatever else the many books presented in this catalog may be about, the organization of the entries and passages quoted all address the question posed in the introduction by Sean Wilentz: 'What are the boundaries of American liberty?' The texture of these texts is itself a pedagogical device, a taste of the books. Pick it up and read it aloud to yourself and you realize that this is also a catalog of voices." For more on the awards, plus details of the division two Leab Award going to another Princeton University Library catalogue, Beauty & Bravado, see: http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/news/ala/2010-rbms-leab-exhibition-award-winners]]> http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/06/exhibition_catalogue_liberty_t.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/06/exhibition_catalogue_liberty_t.html Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:21:00 -0500 Author: Selikovitch, George, 1863-1926. Title: Arabish-Idisher lehrer : ṿeg ṿayzer far di Idishe legyoneren in Tsiyon = Turjumān ʻArabi wa-Yahūdī / fun G. Zeliḳoṿits. Edition: 3. oyflage. Published/Created: Nyu Yorḳ : Sh. Druḳerman, 1918. Physical description: 31 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. Location: Rare Books: Oversize (Exov) Call number: PJ6309 .Z444 1918 Rachel Simon, Senior Librarian and specialist for Middle Eastern languages in the Library, has just published "Teach Yourself Arabic -- In Yiddish!" in the most recent MELA Notes: The Journal of the Middle Eastern Librarians Association. [For full text of the illustrated article see: sitemaker.umich.edu/melanotes/files/melanotes82complete1.pdf.] She details the fascinating story of Getzl (George) Zelikovitz (1863-1926), a linguistic prodigy born in Lithuania, educated at the Sorbonne, and served as an interpreter under Lord Kitchener in the Sudan. He settled in the United States in 1887. He remained in the US until his death, working chiefly as a journalist for the Yiddish press in New York and prolifically publishing fiction, poetry and works of scholarship. In 1918, he separately published in Yiddish an instruction book for learning Arabic -- certainly a first of its kind and surely the sort of publication that could only come out of melting pot America. According to Dr. Simon, "The introduction [of Arabish-Idisher Lehrer] explains the purpose and method of the book. Its goal is to teach colloquial Palestinian Arabic--namely, not literary Arabic--to Jewish Legionaries, settlers [kolonisten], merchants, tourists, learned people [maskilim], laborers in Palestine, and maybe even Hebrew teachers abroad. This aim and the target population dictated the method, structure, and style of the book: a practical teaching aid in Yiddish, so that following a short study period the student would be able to talk with Arabs." (p. 4-5)
She concludes: "The book does make the student somewhat aware of Arab customs, but it reflects more Jewish and Western views and issues. Although it was intended to serve as a guide for Jews as to how to reach out to Arabs, it is more reflective of Western Jews, their beliefs, customs, and modes of expression." (p. 14-15)]]> http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/06/teach_yourself_arabic_in_yiddi.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/06/teach_yourself_arabic_in_yiddi.html Noteworthy long-held accessions Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:47:00 -0500
Part of the story of the rising professional self-consciousness among American artists during the nineteenth century is the creation of art academies and associations. Following a model first set up in Philadelphia, artists in New York in 1859 set up "The Artists' Fund Society." "The name of this association shall be " The Artists' Fund Society." Its location, the city of New York. Its objects, the accumulation of a fund for the aid of its members in disablement, in sickness and distress, and the assistance of the widows, children, and families of deceased members." --Extract from the Consitution, Article 1, Name. Funds were raised chiefly by an annual auction of member's paintings. More than twenty seven auctions were held between 1860 and 1889. The Library now has an extensive set of the catalogues for these sales. [Call number: (Ex) Item 5732011. At right is a clipping about the 1875 sale, laid into the catalogue for that year.] Many are priced by member David Johnson (1827-1908). Some has his comments. Such priced catalogues are a unique source for tracking changing art values, shifts in taste, as well as supplying raw data for establishing an artist's oeuvre. A brief history of the fund is given in the catalogue for the 26th sale (1886): "After the death of Mr. Ranney, which occurred twenty-six years ago, his pictures were sold at auction, for the benefit Of his widow and children. A specific sum of money being required to relieve a mortgage on the house in which his widow lived, his brother artists determined each to contribute a picture to be sold with, the Ranney collection. To accomplish this end the business required an organization, and the necessary officers were duly appointed. At the close of this generous act on the part of the artists-the pecuniary results being much larger than they had hoped. for-it was resolved to Continue the organization, in order to be prepared to meet any similar emergency in the future. Several plans by which the object might be effected were brought forward and discussed arid finally the one by which the 'Artists' Fund Society' is now governed was unanimously adopted and in 1861 its charter was obtained from the State. For twenty-six years the Society has been enabled-from the funds accruing from its annual sales-to afford relief in time cases of misfortune common to all classes of professional men. Since its commencement it has paid thousands of dollars to widows and orphans of deceased members, besides relieving many cases of actual need among the living. The Society has three funds; the First for the widows and orphans of deceased members; the Second for the relief of members; and the Third a Benevolent Fund which is used to meet the wants of artists not members of the Society. The first two funds are kept supplied by the annual sales of works contributed by the members. The third fund is made up by donations in pictures or money, from those interested in artists who have been unfortunate through sickness and other causes. Mrs. A. T. Stewart, some years ago, donated to the Society $2,000 and Mrs. Edwin White, $1,000, which sums were placed to the credit of this fund, invested in U. S. Government bonds, yielding a small but sure revenue, which is judiciously administered by the Board of Control after favorable report by a regular 'Visiting Committee.' This Benevolent Fund is inadequate to meet the demands which are constant and increasing."]]> http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/06/the_artists_fund_society_of_th.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/06/the_artists_fund_society_of_th.html New acquisitions Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:17:00 -0500
Three books from the Retirement Library of Thomas Jefferson are now held in Firestone: one came as a gift in the 1870s, another was presented in 1905, and the third gift arrived in 1944. Their journey toward Princeton began in Washington in 1829 when Nathaniel P. Poor auctioned the library formed by Jefferson during the latter years of his life.
At Monticello each book had a particular place in Jefferson's bibliothecal scheme. Central to the scheme was his positing a continuum between book in hand and thought in mind. For Jefferson, mind entailed memory, reason, and imagination. These three faculties were, in turn, mirrored by human endeavors in history, philosophy, and the fine arts. Considered as an outcome of one of these endeavors, any book could be placed within one of these three classes or its sub-divisions. So placing it situated the book both in mind and on the shelf. Now held at Princeton are auction lot numbers 236, 716, and 753. It's extraordinary that these three gifts -- each received decades apart -- today form a pattern: the Library now has one book each from Jefferson's three major classes.

• Memory / History is represented by

• Reason / Philosophy is represented by
• Imagination / Fine Arts is represented by

[Jefferson's own handwritten entries in his 124 page library catalogue, now available digitally at the Library of Congress.]

Auction lot number in red crayon on front paste-down. (Ex) 9825.380 • Inscribed by Professor Charles A. Young in 1860, who gave it to the Library in 1905.

Lot number in pencil; Bigelow's inscription in ink. (Ex) HB871.E93 • Purchased by Andrew Bigelow and sold at his sale in 1877 to a member of the Green Family of Trenton, NJ , who, in turn gave it to the Library in the 1870s.

(Ex)2767.1665 • Pencil note in back of volume 1 details sale of book in 1831. There are two slips of ms. notes initialed 'V.S.' and dated 'Febr 12 [18]32' mounted on two leaves in companion portfolio. Gift of Henry N. Paul in 1944.

]]> http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/05/post_4.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/05/post_4.html Noteworthy long-held accessions Wed, 19 May 2010 13:52:00 -0500 (Right) Curator John Delaney, holding front cover, remarks on the Atlas
to colleagues associated with the Near Eastern Studies Program: James Weinberger, Michael Cook, Sükrü Hanioglu, Michael Laffan, Svat Soucek.
[Photograph courtesy of William Blair]
(Above) Title page of the Atlas. [Call number: Historic Maps, item 5745136]
(Below) Detail of east coast in the map of North America. Princeton University Library's Department of Rare Books and Special Collections announces the acquisition of a rare Ottoman imprint, Cedid Atlas Tercümesi (New Atlas Translation). Printed in Istanbul in 1803 in an edition of just fifty copies, the Atlas is the first Muslim-published world atlas based upon European geographic knowledge and cartographic methods. The Library of Congress reports just seven extant copies in Istanbul, and it appears that there are only three others in the U.S.: Library of Congress [see LC's announcement], the Newberry Library, and the John Carter Brown Library [see JCB's note(item 30)]. These are the only known complete copies outside of Turkey. The Atlas is based upon the General Atlas of the Four Grand Quarters of the World of William Faden, a copy of which was acquired by Mahmud Raif Efendi when he was a private secretary at the Ottoman embassy in London. While still in London, Mahmud Raif Efendi wrote a geographic work, İcalet (or Ucalet) ül-Coğrafya, in French. This 80-page geographical study was translated into Turkish, printed in 1804, and bound with the Cedid Atlas Tercümesi. This modernizing bureaucrat is also the author of Tableau des Nouveaux Reglemens de l'Empire Ottoman, a work describing military reforms undertaken in the empire. Princeton also owns a copy of this important work. The purchase of Cedid Atlas Tercümesi was made possible by funds from two sources: the Rare Books Division and the Friends of the Princeton University Library. For more information, contact John Delaney (delaney@princeton.edu), curator of Historic Maps.]]> http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/05/_princeton_university_librarys.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/05/_princeton_university_librarys.html New acquisitions Thu, 06 May 2010 15:10:00 -0500 About two years ago, 19th century American book trade circulars, announcements, advertisements and such like ephemera started appearing on the antiquarian market. They all had one thing in common --- they were originally once part of the 19th century business records and working papers of the successful American dictionary publisher G. & C. Merriam Co., Springfield, Mass. How and why did this happen? The short answer, I am told, is that a branch of the Merriam family put them into the hands of a bookseller in Tolland, CT., the firm Eclectibles. Even though substantial, important parts of the company archives were already preserved in two major research libraries (Yale [GEN MSS 370] and the American Antiquarian Society[Mss. Dept., Mss. boxes "G"]), this trove was deemed dispersible. And, scatter it did. Here's a list of booksellers who in turn hived off portions from the Eclectibles tranche: Peter Luke (New Baltimore, NY), Robert Rubin (Brookline, MA), M & S Rare Books (Providence, RI), James Arsenault (Arrowsic, ME), Lawbook Exchange (Clark, NJ), David Lesser (Woodbridge, CT), Between the Covers (Gloucester City, NJ), Bartleby's Books (Washington, DC), Richard Thorner (Manchester, NH), Bookworm and Silverfish (Rural Retreat, VA), ... (and others yet to be identified.) Curators, historians, private collectors, and library donors have been following this dispersal. While it is not yet fully known where bits and pieces have come to rest, the following table summarizes institutional holdings: • American Antiquarian Society - Adding Merriam items to its broadside collection, such as two items listed in its recent '2010 Adopt a Book' catalog. See numbers 58 and 65.
• Dartmouth College Library -- Richard Thorner, chair of the Friends of the Dartmouth College Library purchased and donated a small collection of Merriam material relating to Dartmouth. These can be discovered in the Library's catalog by searching the terms "Charles and George Merriam" joined with "Dartmouth College"
• Princeton University Library -- About 20 items, dating between 1834 and 1868, recently acquired, such as the 1854 circular pictured above. More items will be added. Holdings can be found by searching for "Merriam Company records" in the Library's main catalog.
• Yale Law School -- More than 30 items: "catalogues, invoices, book orders, prospectuses, and advertisements ...[which] demonstrate Merriam's importance to mid-nineteenth century legal publishing and the nature of the field at that time." See: http://morris.law.yale.edu/record=b822176~S1

Even though the dispersal has proceeded briskly in the past two years, as of March 18, 2010, Eclectibles (Tolland, CT) had the following (to quote my notes):
"Business records relating to the G & C Merriam wholesale and retail book trade during the 1830s to the 1860s. Total of about 1200 to 1300 items, consisting of the following record groups:
1. Invoices, incoming printed circulars such as stock listings and trade sale announcements, covering letters for shipments, requests for consignments - all from publishers and booksellers from chiefly the major centers (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati) as well as from country locales such as Great Barrington, Mass. About 750 items in this group, distributed into 6 folders and 6 loose leaf binders. Folders and binders cover sub-arrangements such as: incoming records with publishers of children's books, incoming records with San Francisco publishers such as Bancroft, incoming materials with southwestern US publishers, a notebooks of about 30 printed trade sales announcements chiefly from Bangs (NYC), etc.
2. Freight shipment receipts for payment by Merriam to various RR and steamboat firms. Such are still in docketed bundles. About 500 items.
3. Bills of lading incoming material, ca 75 items."

Someday, I am hoping to report that this remaining, residual group has been acquired by a research library, thus preserving a remarkable asset for understanding American book history.
]]> http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/04/dispersal_of_a_book_trade_arch.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/04/dispersal_of_a_book_trade_arch.html Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:52:00 -0500 Recently acquired: an extraordinarily well-preserved example of a 19th century literary gift annual, a genre of artfully confected book issued for the holiday season, featuring contemporary poetry, essays, travel description, music, exquisite illustration (color as well as black and white), together with fine paper and superb printing.

Friendship's Offering, or the Annual Remembrancer: a Christmas Present, or New Year's Gift, for 1825. (London: Lupton Relfe, 13, Cornhill). Dimensions: 14.5 x 9.5 x 2.5 cm. Gift edges. Case includes original purple silk ribbon pull. Bookseller's ticket on front pastedown: Zanetti & Agnew. Repository of Arts, 94 Market Street, Manchester.

As described in "List of Plates" on page [ix]:
Above left: "Illuminated external Embellishment" • above right: "Illuminated Title Page"

(Left) Spine of paper case ("external Embellishment") • (Right) Front cover with blind embossing

For contemporary opinion, see:
[Review]. The Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 94 (1824), p. 445

"The example of Mr. Ackermann, who has the merit of first introducing from the Continent this species of annual literature, has been followed by two powerful rivals. The first of these which comes under our notice, "Friendship's Offering,'' wears a most captivating appearance, not only as far as external embellishment, embossing, illuminating, &c. but from the beauty of the engravings and the interest of many of its articles, which are original compositions of no ordinary cast. The success of a trial last year has evidently stimulated the proprietors to increased efforts. The present volume contains Views of Constantinople, St. Petersburg, Berne, and Naples, with good Descriptions. Copies of celebrated Pictures, after Murillo, Claude, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Westall, Stothard, &c. The original articles bear the names of Mrs. Opie, Miss M. Edgeworth, Rev. T. Dale, H. E. Lloyd, esq. &c.&c. At the end of the volume is a blank Diary for memoranda, headed by 12 very neat wood engravings of antient castles, churches, &c. all in the county of Kent. The aim of the editor of "Friendship's Offering" appears to have been to combine the elegance of art and flowers of literature with the utility of the superior class of pocket-books, and in this (with the deficiency of an almanack, which would have necessarily much increased the price) he has in a great degree succeeded."]]> http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/04/_friendships_offering_or_the.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/04/_friendships_offering_or_the.html New acquisitions Sat, 10 Apr 2010 15:03:00 -0500


Drawing and song by Kenneth Phillips Britton. Original [ca. 192-] in James Brownlee Rankin Autograph Collection,
(Princeton University Library collection number C0120,
box 1, folder 1.)
Source for drawing at left: James Baillie, Single. Hand-colored lithograph. New York, 1848. (Courtesy of American Antiquarian Society)

Give me a book instead of a wife And I shall ask no more of life. A book all grief and pain assuages Through the silent thoughts upon its pages. A book has not a painted face And can be kept right in its place. CHORUS Heigh-ho! The bachelor life! A book shuts up in time of strife, But you can't say the same of any man's wife. Heigh-ho! —— Give me a book instead of a wife And I shall ask no more of life. A book gives joy and bright romance, But never wants to go out and dance. A book at night likes it covers, too, But it never pulls them off of you! [CHORUS] Heigh-ho! The bachelor life! You can cut a book with a carving knife, But you can't say the same of any man's wife. Heigh-ho! Kenneth Phillips Britton.

]]> http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/03/bachelors_co.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/03/bachelors_co.html Noteworthy long-held accessions Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:43:00 -0500

Recently purchased: Fifty-two pamphlets relating to English public libraries, published between 1877 and 1895. Many are embossed with the seal: Free Pubic Library, Wigan.
Call number: Ex Item 5688646.
Many are not recorded as being held by libraries in the United States.
A sampling of topics:
• Moral Influence of Free Libraries [no. 26]
• Libraries for the working classes [no. 38]
• Remarks on the employment of women in French libraries (in French) [no. 43A]
• That English libraries were superior to American libraries in that they had rooms for the reading of newspapers [no. 10]
• The effects of allowing readers to browse the stacks and select books on their on [no. 15]

Contents
1.ANDERTON (Basil). Report of the Annual Meeting of the Library Association, Held in Belfast, 1894. pp. 7. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Andrew Dickson. 1894.
2. AXON (William E.A.). The Geographical Distribution of Men of Genius. pp. 335-345. Manchester, 1883.
3. [AXON (William E.A.).] The Mayor of Manchester and His Slanderers. pp. 16. Manchester, Tubbs and Brook, 1877.
4. [AXON (William E.A.).] The One-Legged Robin by a Manchester Pythagorean. pp. 16. One illustration. Not published, 1879.
5. BAILEY (W.H.). The Paris Free Libraries and Libraries of Industrial Art. Report on the Congress of the Library Association of Great Britain, at Paris, September, 1892, Read at the Meeting of the Salford Royal Museum and Free Libraries Committee on Tuesday Evening, October 25th, 1892. pp. 8. Manchester, Herald & Walker. 1892. Presentation copy: 'With W.H. Bailey's Compliments'.
6. The Bibliographical Society News-Sheet, No. 15. pp. 57-60. January 1896.
7. Bibliothèque du Protestantisme Français. Le Musée Carnavalet. pp. 2. Paris, Imprimerie de la Bourse de Commerce. N.D.
8. County Borough of Birkenhead. Library Committee. Report on the Belfast Meeting of the Library Association of the United Kingdom. pp. 12. Birkenhead, H.W. & J. Allen. 1894.
9. Catalogue of the Permanent Circulating Library of the London Institution. July 1st, 1875. pp. 48. London, Waterlow and Sons. 1875.
10. BROWN (James D.). Clerkenwell Public Library, London. Librarian's Report to the Commissioners on His Visit to American Libraries. pp. 4. 1893.
11. Concise Guide to the Mitchell Library, Glasgow. Containing Complete List of Periodicals in the Magazine Room. Second edition. pp. 34. Glasgow, David Bryce and Son. 1894.
12. COTGREAVE (A.). Cotgreave's Library Appliances: A Description of Various Inventions and Designs for Simplifying and Facilitating the Work in Libraries and other Literary Institutions. pp. 12. Diagrams. Richmond, Edward King. N.D.
13. COTGREAVE (A.). Indicators versus Card-Changing with some reference to the Intercourse Between Librarian and Reader. A Paper read before the Library Association, Monday, July 10th, 1893. pp. 12. London, John Bale & Sons. 1893. Crayon underlining.
14. COTGREAVE (A.). Further Notes on Cotgreave's Library Indicator. To which is added a description of the Indicator Book, which was exhibited and highly commended at the conference of Librarians, held at Manchester, Sept. 23, 24 & 25, 1879. By the Inventor. pp. 16. Wednesbury, Kirby & Bytheway. 1880.
15. The Truth about giving Readers Free Access to the Books in a Public Lending Library, by One who has tried the System in two large Libraries. pp. 8. Frontispiece on inside wrapper. London, No publisher. 1895. Printed on the recto of the back wrapper: Public Library Systems of Lending out & Recording Books. Summary of Returns on the Open Shelf or Free Access System.
16. DAWSON (Charles). Address of the Public Libraries Committee of the City of Dublin to the Right Hon. William Meagher, M.P., Lord Mayor. On the occasion of the Opening of the Public Libraries, 1st October, 1884. pp. 3. Dublin, Dollard. 1884.
17. The Dictionary of National Biography. Dinner to Mr. George Smith. From the reports of the Times, Standard, Daily News, and Daily Chronicle of June 7, 1894. pp. 12. London, Spottiswoode & Co. 1894.
18. FROWDE (John). Society of Public Librarians. Report of the Inaugural Address delivered at the Library Bureau, Bloomsbury Street, London, on December 4th, 1895. pp. 5. London, A. Smith & Co.,1895.
18A. GOSS (Chas. Wm. F.). Editorial Tactics and the New Society of Public Libraries. pp. 3. N.D.
19. Conference on the Future of Free Libraries. Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Manchester Literary Club, January 31st, 1887. pp. 11. London, John Heywood; Manchester, Deansgate and Ridgefield. 1887.
20. GARNETT (Richard). President's Address to the Aberdeen Meeting of the Library Association of the United Kingdom, September 5th, 1893. pp. 15. 1893.
21. GILBURT (Joseph). De Soldes d'éditions. One folding page. N.D.
22. HAGGERSTON (W.J.). The Library Indicator. A Paper Read before the Northern Union Mechanics' Institutions. Reprinted from the 'Tradesmen's Advertiser'. pp. 8. Newcastle, G.W. Havelock. N.D.
23. GLADSTONE (W.S.). Mr. Gladstone on Public Libraries. Reprinted from 'The Times,' 'Daily News,' 'Standard,' 'Telegraph,' 'Chronicle' &c. pp. 7. N.D.
24. GLADSTONE (W.S.). A Grand Old Book Hunter. Reprinted from 'The Daily Chronicle', Aug. 20, 1892. pp. 4. London, E. Menken. 1892.
25. HALE (Edward E.). Books That Have Helped Me. pp. 29-38. N.D.
26. IRELAND (Alexander). Manchester Public Free Libraries. Address on the Moral Influence of Free Libraries, delivered at the Opening of the Longsight Branch Library, on Saturday, July 23rd, 1892. pp. 13. Manchester, Henry Blacklock & Co. 1892. Presentation copy.
27. LANCASTER (Alfred). On the Advantage of Occasional Exhibitions of the More Rare and Valuable Books in Public Libraries. pp. 4. N.P., No publisher. N.D.
28. Library Association of the United Kingdom. Aberdeen Meeting, 1893. to be held in Marischal College, Aberdeen. Programme of Local Arrangements. pp. 10. Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Press. 1893.
29. Report of the Council of the Library Association of the United Kingdom to the Sixteenth Annual Meeting, held at Aberdeen, September 5, 6, and 7, 1893. pp. 12. N.D.
30. Library Association of the United Kingdom. Annual Meeting, 1887. Report of Committee on Statistics of Free Libraries. pp. 8. Birmingham, White and Pike. 1887.
31. Library Association of the United Kingdom. Fifteenth Annual Meeting, Paris, 1892. Notes on some of the Principal Libraries of Paris to be Visited by the Association. pp. [4]. Paris, Chambers. 1892.
32. London Library, 12 St. James's Square, S.W. Law and Regulations with an Introduction and a List of the Members. pp. 72. Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Press. 1883.
33. LUPTON (William). Lupton's Reader's Vade Mecum. Designed for the Use of Members of Free and Other Libraries: An Improved Facility for Ready Reference. Second edition. Birmingham, Wm. Lupton & Co. 1891.
34. Manchester Free Public Libraries. Handbook, Historical and Descriptive. pp. 59. London, John Heywood; Manchester, Deansgate and Ridgefield. 1887.
35. MORRELL (W.W.). A Public Library for York. A Letter to the Rt. Hon. The Lord Mayor of York (Ald. Philip Matthews). pp. 11. York, printed by the Yorkshire Herald Newspaper Company, Limited. 1891.
36. The Municipal Libraries of Paris. pp. 9. N.D.
37. The National Library (Bibliothèque Nationale). pp. 12. Paris, Imprimerie de la Bourse de Commerce. N.D.
38. OWEN (Evan). Libraries Association of the United Kingdom. Workmen's Libraries in Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire. A Paper read before the Eighteenth Conference of the Libraries Association of the United Kingdom held at Cardiff, September 1895. pp. 15. Cardiff, The Cardiff Stationery Company. 1895.
39. PRESTON (William C.). Mudie's Library. Illustrated by F.G. Kitton and W.D. Almond. Reprinted from 'Good Words', October 1894. pp. 30. London and Edinburgh, Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. 1894.
40. GILBERTSON (W.) and HIBBERT (James). Borough of Preston. Report to the Free Library Committee of a Scheme for the Foundation of a Free Public Library and Museum, in Association with the Harris Trustees. N.P., No publisher. 1879.
41. A Rationalist Bibliography. Preliminary List. Issued for the Rationalist Press Committee. pp. 20. London, Watts & Co. N.D.
42. RAWSON (Harry). Histoire, Organisation et Utilité des Bibliothèques Publiques de Manchester: Discours Prononcé, le 13 septembre 1892, dans la salle de l'hémicycle de l'école des Beaux-Arts, Paris, devant l'assemblée annuelle de l'association des bibliothèques publiques de la Grande-Bretagne et Irlande. pp. 12. Manchester, Henry Blacklock et Cie. 1892.
43. RAWSON (Harry). The Public Free Libraries of Manchester: their History, Organization and Work. Reprinted from 'The Library', Oct. 1892. pp. 9. London, John Bale & Sons. 1893.
43A. Remarques sur l'emploi des femmes dans les Bibliothèques. pp. 3. N.P., No publisher. N.D.
44. ROBERTSON (Alex W.). The Board School in relation to the Public School. A Paper read before the Aberdeen Branch, Educational Institute of Scotland, 17th January, 1896. pp. 16. Aberdeen, The University Press, 1896. Presentation copy.
45. Description of the New Public Library for the Parish of Saint George, Hanover Square. pp. 4. [London], Wightman & Co, Westminster Press. N.D.
46. SUTTON (Charles W.). George Eliot: A Bibliography. A Paper read before the Manchester Literary Club, January 24, 1881. Reprinted from the papers of the Manchester Literary Club. pp. 11. Manchester, No publisher. 1881.
47. SUTTON (Charles W.). The Writings of "Doctor" Thomas Deacon, of Manchester 1718 to 1747, and of his Opponent the Rev. J. Owen, of Rochdale. A Bibliographical Note. Reprinted from 'Local Gleanings' in the 'Manchester Courier'. pp. 18. Manchester, Thos. Sowler and Co. 1879.
47A. SUTTON (Charles W.). Lancashire and Cheshire Archaeology. A List of Contributions in some Archaeological Journals. Reprinted from the Palatine Note-Book, September and October, 1881. pp. 8. Not published. Manchester, Printed by A. Ireland & Co. 1881.
48. Catalogue of Local Views &c at the Wandsworth Public Library. pp. 16. Wandsworth, W. Etherington. 1890.
49. Library Association of the United Kingdom. Cardiff, 1895. Opening Address by the President (Lord Windsor). pp. 7. Cardiff, William Lewis. 1895.
]]> http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/02/the_truth_about_giving_readers.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/02/the_truth_about_giving_readers.html Library history Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:18:00 -0500 Fanny Hill. The IR image below, labeled 'NjP' in the upper left, is the lower portion of FH page 13. (This FH fragment is on the front cover of Princeton's copy of The Medical Repository (New York, 1810) [Ex item 5483676])

Note the line below the last line of text reads 'Vol. I B' -- Such a notation, called a 'signature,' signaled to both printer and binder that all text printed on this sheet was a unit which in turn was part of series. Text on sheet 'B' follows text printed on the sheet signed 'A', and in turn, is followed by text on sheet 'C', and so on.


The Princeton example is not the only 'B' sheet fragment known. There are others at the American Antiquarian Society, under call number BDSDS 1810. However, the following image, labeled 'AAS' in upper left, is an unmarbled fragment and it shows theirs is a variant 'B' sheet. At the foot of AAS's p. 13, the 'B' is positioned under the 'r' and 'e' of 'frequently' and lacking the preceding notation 'Vol. I' (In the Princeton example, the 'B' is below the 'y' of frequently.)


What can we learn from the above evidence? First, this evidence contradicts what Richard Wolfe says about the printing of FH in his Marbled Paper (Philadelphia, 1990). He states "...its first twenty four pages had been printed (that is, one whole sheet had been perfected)... (p. 91)" Clearly, the case is otherwise: more than one sheet was involved, viz. sheet 'B' and a sheet prior to 'B' were printed. In fact, at AAS, among the FH fragments, are a group of 11 that clearly belong to the sheet prior to 'B.' This sheet is signed '☞ 2'. (Piecing together the '☞ 2' fragments shows that the original sheet size was 43.5 cm. wide by several mm. more than 55 cm. long. These dimensions are within the range of the paper size contemporarily called 'printing demy.') Second, the signature 'Vol. I B' in the Princeton fragment, in contrast to the 'B' alone in the AAS fragment, provides a more nuanced understanding of the printer's thinking the project. 'Vol 1' implies at least a second volume. Indeed, late 18th century London editions were issued in two volumes. Moreover, fragments of sheet '☞ 2' at AAS, include the title page, here transcribed: MEMOIRS of a WOMAN OF PLEASURE. Written by herself. Volume I. -- Seventeen Edition. With Plates designed and engraved by a Member of the Royal Academy. LONDON: Printed for G. Felton, in the Strand, 1787. ]]> http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/02/_view_image.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/02/_view_image.html Book history Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:18:00 -0500 Statistics (as of 17 February 2010): Holdings of Shepard books by libraries • 41 titles in 43 volumes at the Princeton University Library [from the library of Samuel Miller (1769-1850)]
• 16 titles at the Princeton Theological Seminary Library [also from the library of Samuel Miller (1769-1850)]
• 65 titles in 19 volumes at the American Antiquarian Society [Mostly in the Mather family library; note: 25 are bound in one volume inscribed "Thomas Shepard 1660" - see: Thomas J. Holmes, "Additional Notes on Ratcliff and Ranger Bindings," Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, N.S. 39:2 (1929: Oct 16), p. 291-295)]
• 7 titles at the Massachusetts Historical Society
[See http://www.masshist.org/blog/236 for much provenance detail from Jeremy Dibbell]
• 6 titles at Harvard (5 at Houghton, 1 at the Divinity School Library)
• 1 title at the John Carter Brown Library [detail]
• 1 title at the Pierpont Morgan Library (TS II's Eliot Indian Bible) [detail]
• 1 title at the Huntington Library [detail]
• 1 title at the Folger Library [detail]
• 1 title at the New York Public Library [detail]
• 1 title in Bentley Collection at Allegheny College
• 1 title at Boston Public Library

Total extant: 142 titles distributed among thirteen libraries In addition, there are books known but untraced, as per the following entry from the diary of John Langdon Sibley, librarian of Harvard (assistant from 1825-1826 and 1841-1856, librarian from 1856-1877, and librarian, emeritus from 1877-1885.)
"December 21, 1854
Thursday. Called on Rev. William Jenks, D.D. to procure a tracing, for Duyckinck, of New York, of an autograph of Thomas Shepard. He said Charles Francis Adams was a descendant & might have some of his books & writing; but unless he had he knew of only one besides the one in a Bible which he owned, & that was in a set of Augustines Works which he gave to go to the missionaries in Syria, where it probably now is. The Dr. showed me the Bible, also Cotton Mather's manuscript Paternalia, which he owns & various other rarities, among them incredibly long & minute genealogical tables of his family. ...." (source: http://hul.harvard.edu/huarc/refshelf/Sibley.htm) [For details about some of the Thomas Shepard books, see http://www.librarything.com/catalog/ThomasShepardLibrary] [As to manuscripts of Shepards: see: American Antiquarian Society (Shepard Family Papers), Houghton Library (Shepard, Thomas, 1605-1649. Papers (bMS Am 1671)), New England Historic and Genealogical Society Library (Mss 553: TS I compiled "Confessions of diverse propounded to be received and were entertained as members" ca. 1635-1640) and the New York Public Library (TS I's Journal, call number Mss Coll 2741)] Selected notabilia • Inscriptions (one of several examples)

"Thomas Shepard's Book. 1669. June. 8. # Bought with the money (viz. ten shill[ings]) wich that most Reverend & Apostolicall man of God, Mr J. Willson, 1st pastor of Boston 1st Ch[urch] gave me in his Will. He dyed Aug. 7. 1667." - on gutter of the title page of George Gillespie, Aarons Rod Blossoming (London, 1646) (Ex 5919.391) • Annotations In addition to written marginalia, Thomas Shepard II (1635-1677) used system of symbols to mark passages, such as The origins of these symbols appear to be from a common stock of astronomical and chemical signs, such as those given in Basil Valentine in his Last Will and Testament (London, 1671) "Chymicall and Philosophycall Characters usually found in Chymicall Authors." Such symbols are also seen at http://earlymodernpaleography.wordpress.com/2010/04/25/chymical-characters/ Assuming that a sign's original significance might give a clue as to its meaning for Thomas Shepard II, some findings show this assumption to have some validity. For example, there appears to be some consistency with the use of the quartered circle or the circled cross. Among the several significations for this sign, it was an early sign for Terra (Earth). What sort of passage would have earthly import? A number of times, Shepard marked passages relating to the duties of magistrates with the quartered circle. Here's an example,

Page 64 in Samuel Rutherford, Free Disputation against Pretended Liberty of Conscience (London, 1649). (RCPXR 5747.795) • Summaries of text
Found between pages 90 and 91 of Thomas Hall (1610‐1665) The Beauty of Magistracy, London : printed by R[obert]. W[hite]. for Nevil Simmons Bookseller in Kederminster, 1660. (RCPXR 5228.427).
Slip measures 7 cm x 7 cm. Apropo of this small slip is the following from Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana (Volume II, p. 124 of the 1820 edition): “... his piety was accompanied with proportionable industry, wherein he devoured books even to a degree of learned gluttony; insomuch, that if he might have changed his name, it must have been Bibliander. ... he had hardly left a book of consequence … in his library (shall I now call it, or his laboratory) which he had not so perused as to leave with it an inserted paper, a brief idea of the whole book, with memorandums of more notable passages occurring in it, written in his own diligent and so enriching hand.” In the above passage, Mather is writing about TS III. Yet to be determined is which Thomas Shepard wrote this summary. Other notable topics

a] Several books have long, detailed indices written in the hand of either TS I or TS II or both. Why were certain topics deemed index-worthy?

b] Shorthand -- A number of the books have notes in shorthand. Could these shorthand notes relate to the document in shorthand discussed in the following article? Francis Sypher, "The 'Dayly Observation' of an Impassioned Puritan: A Seventeenth-Century Shorthand Diary Attributed to Deputy Governor Francis Willoughby of Massachusetts," Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society,N.S. 91, April 1981, pages 91-107. The 'Dayly Observation' diary has written on its cover, in the hand of Isaiah Thomas: "Sermons by Rev. Thos Allen and Rev. Thos Shepard the Elder with Observations in Shorthand supposed to be written by Thos Shepard junr son of Thomas Shepard of Cambridge" and it forms part of the Mather Family Papers at AAS.
c] The larger question of the dispersal of the Shepard family library. Ownership evidence in Shepard books at Princeton indicate that the heirs of TSIII held the books throughout the 18th century. Preliminary findings show that they passed to Samuel Miller sometime between the mid-1790s and mid 1810s. The Shepard books that did not get to Miller each have their own story of successive possessors.

d] The signature and date 'Thomas Shepard's book. May 9, 1667' appears on a front free endpaper of Princeton incunable ExI 5201 .678, Biblia latina [Lyons:] Johannes Siber [after 7 May 1485, about 1488] (Goff B-615). The Bible also carries the TS brand on the top-edge. Could this Bible be the earliest, still extant dated instance of American ownership of an incunable?]]> http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/01/post_3.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/01/post_3.html History of collecting Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:52:00 -0500
Detail from Martin Luther, Enarrationes (Strasbourg: Georg Ulricher, 1535), leaf 453 verso.


What has made the identifying the Shepard books possible? Nothing in the catalogue records identified them, so the process proceed by other means. At the beginning stages of the process, I soon noticed attributes common to all -- the books had accession numbers falling into a close range of numbers, the date of accession stamped in each was also within a close range, and usually the books bore a Princeton bookplate noting that the books were formerly owned by the Reverend Samuel Miller and had been given by one of his descendents. Those commonalities suggested that by closely examining the full listing of the Miller gift in the Library's accession books, I could come up with a set of possibilities from which Shepard books could be positively identified. The Miller gift came in 1900 and, the Library's accession records for that era always listed author, title, place and date of publication, size, and a note about the binding. Given that the last Shepard died in 1685, it was self-evident that the Shepard books would be a sub-set of all books in the Miller gift printed before 1686. Together with my assistant, I set out to examine every pre-1686 book in the Miller gift. This examination is still in progress and, because individual books are routinely reclassed and relocated as library circumstances change, identifying the present shelf location of a pre-1686 Miller book has sometimes involved piecing clues together from various now superceded Princeton library catalogues. One book, discovered Friday, January 8, reminded me that each and every pre-1686 Miller book needs to be examined, if all the Shepard books are to be found. Accession numbers 150673 to 150678 are for a set of the works of Martin Luther in Latin. My instinct was that ownership of the works of Luther by a Puritan was unlikely, and, given the press of all that needed to be done, perhaps this entry could be skipped. (There is no entry under Luther in the listing of the holdings of the library of Cotton Mather, see: J. H. Tuttle's `The Libraries of the Mathers' in the "Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society" 20 (1910): 269-356.) Nonetheless, my assistant and I looked at the set (reclassed sometime during the 1930s from theology to German literature - but that's another story) and when the first large volume came down from the shelf, she said "It has the brand!" We quickly pulled down the other volumes. All marked. Remarkable: the Shepards owned a set of Luther. The last volume to come down off the shelf, labeled 'VIII' on the fore-edge, was their copy of Luther's  Enarrationes (1535). It completely surprised us. There on the last leaf was the following: "Thomas Shepard's Books: 1649: August: 25: NE:" The date had a familiar ring to me - I knew I had read it somewhere before. The genealogy of the Shepard family provided the answer - this was the death date of the first Thomas Shepard, the family patriarch and pastor of the church attended by the first students of Harvard College. And so, new questions arise: Is it likely that Thomas Shepard I signed this on his death day? If his son Thomas, chief inheritor of the books, signed it, then why did he date it on the day of his father's death? Could it be that some of the Shepard books at Princeton indeed carry the reader's notations in the hand of Shepard I? [To be continued] ]]> http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/01/part_2_books_in_the_collection.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/01/part_2_books_in_the_collection.html History of collecting Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:15:00 -0500 Library Company of Philadelphia, there was notice of a new addition to those books "in the collection known to have been owned by Americans before 1700, " The recent acquisition put their "current tally at about thirty-six." Of course, it's normal to wonder if this is a big number, small number, or just about the mean for an historic American library. It's difficult to contextualize this number because much remains to be done to systematically identify such books. Similarly, little is known about what the order of magnitude for the total sum might be. One conjecture about the over-all was offered 74 years ago. In 1936, Harvard historian Samuel Eliot Morison proposed that "it would be an interesting and by no means insuperable task for one of our industrious bibliographers to make a catalogue of all the books that are known to have been in New England before 1700. My guess is that he would find about ten thousand separate titles, and that the number of copies of each work would range from several thousand of the Bible, and several hundred of the more popular works of puritan divinity down to a single copy of the less common works." (Intellectual Life of Colonial New England, 2nd ed. (New York, 1956), p. 149.) He (or she) (a.k.a. "industrious bibliographer") has yet to appear on the scene.
                            • • •
The rare books collections at Princeton offer material for such a catalogue ranging from books owned by John Norton (1606-1663) (Princeton call number: Exov 5763.518) and Daniel Russell (d. 1679 in Charlestown)(Princeton call number: RCPXR 5959.277), down to John Cotton (1585-1652) (Princeton call number: Ex 5456.276). Only single books are associated with these names, whereas, on the other hand, a remarkable tranche of more than 20 chiefly seventeenth century works of puritan divinity come from the personal library of the Reverend Thomas Shepard (1635-1677) to which his son and heir the Reverend Thomas Shepard (1658-1685) added a few. In addition to dated signatures appearing in the books, each and every one carries the marking depicted here on the top-edge:



The mark is the monogram 'TS' branded into the top edge. Appearance suggests two simple branding tools at work: a straight bar for the cross stroke and down stroke of the 'T', and a half-circle stroke first eastward, then turned westward to form the 'S.' [To be continued]]]> http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/01/books_in_the_collection_known.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2010/01/books_in_the_collection_known.html History of collecting Fri, 01 Jan 2010 11:27:00 -0500 "I think it necessary to assign the reasons why I have annex'd to this Narrative a plate, that must strike HOME to the hearts of the most harden'd, and prove to the most humane, offensive.; but it ought to be remember'd, that many people who are able to read, and even to write, are, nevertheless, unable to understand what they do read; and many such persons, I fear, are intrusted with the care of the poor. A print, therefore, to such people, is a lesson which all capacities may learn; it is a language every man can read; and as it has some, though very faint resemblance, of the deathly figures from whence it was taken, I flatter myself, it may make a deep and permanent impression on the minds of those men, who are disposed to forget that we are all made of the same composition; and that the day is not very remote, that even the youngest, the fairest, and the most beautiful part of the creation must fade, and become an object in the grave, at least, as ghastly as any of these. I must likewise bespeak the favour of the candid reader, to excuse the many errors of my pen: it was wholly written in the evening of a day, most disagreeably employed in a capacity in which I never served before, and hope I never shall again; a day, in which my mind has been distracted, not only by seeing shocking deformities in death, but in life also; a day, in which I have seen men, sinking with age and infirmities into the grave, violating with oaths and lies, the consecrated ground, which in a few months, (perhaps days,) may cover their bodies for ever."
-- Philip Thicknesse, An Account of The Four Persons Found Starved to Death, at Datchworth in Hertfordshire. By one of the Jurymen on the Inquisition taken on their Bodies. The Second Edition, with Additions. London: Printed (for the Benefit of the surviving Child) for W. Brown...; and R. Davies.... 1769, page 9-10. [Acquired in November 2009; call number (Ex) Item 5642061. According to the English Short Title Catalogue no copy of this Second Edition is recorded as being in a North American library. Princeton's acquisition of this copy is being reported to ESTC accordingly.] "In 1769, ... a retired officer with a restless moral conscience, Philip Thicknesse, wrote a horrifying account, accompanied with an equally horrifying print, of Four Persons Found Starved to Death, at Datchworth. Such things were not supposed to happen in Hertfordshire, in what were called the Home Circuits surrounding the capital.
   But there were probably as many wretched people like the Datchworth victims in the south (especially in the impoverished southwest of England) than in ... Northumbria. For it was in southern England that the social results of 'rural improvement' -- for good as well as for ill -- were most dramatically apparent, especially in the lean years of the 1760s, when a succession of wheat harvest failures sent prices soaring and unleashed food riots in the towns and cities all the way from London to Derbyshire."
-- Simon Schama, A History of Britain: The Fate of the Empire, 1776-2000. New York: Hyperion, 2002, page 33. More on the Datchworth victims from the RSC in London: http://www.rsc.org/AboutUs/News/PressReleases/2009/Datchworth.asp]]> http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2009/12/a_print_is_a_lesson_which_all.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/rarebooks/2009/12/a_print_is_a_lesson_which_all.html New acquisitions Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:21:00 -0500