Recently acquired: Promotional poster (36 x 24 inches) for John Cameron Simonds,The Story of Manual Labor in All Lands and Ages. Chicago: R. S. Peale & Co., 1887, (‘C SOLD ONLY BY SUBSCRIPTION’), together with a copy of the book itself and a four-color advertising brochure.[Call numbers: poster (Ex Item 5875923), book (Ex Item 5876150), brochure (Ex Item 5876134)]

From the Preface:

“Of late, a change has overtaken the Muse of history. Interest has been awakened, not in the general, but in the soldier; not in the king, but in the subject; not in the noble, but in the peasant. Thoughtful men are now asking: What of the artisan ? What of the mechanic? What of the farmer?

… The minds of men are no longer bewitched by the genius of Napoleon Bonaparte; all eyes are now turned to the Third Estate, and that proletariat that shattered one of the most hoary and brilliant monarchies of Europe, and shook the political foundations of the Old World to the very center.

Our book is a response to this change in public opinion. But in this age of innumerable books, it may be reasonably asked: Why should this book be written? We answer: Because a similar book has not been written. It is the story of manual labor in all lands and ages. So far as known to the authors, there is not a similar book in the English language, and it may be said, indeed, in any language.”

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For three other pairings of subscription book promotional poster together with the book itself see:

•‘So striking that it sells on sight’ • ‘The only non-sectional historical war adventure book’
[Book and poster for Deeds of Daring by Blue and Gray (1886)]

• Life in Utah; or, The mysteries and crimes of Mormonism(ca. 1870) (WA) BX8645 .B3 1871 (book) and (WA) BX8645 .xL5e (poster)

• History of the Donner Party: a tragedy of the Sierras (1879) (WA) Rollins 1636 (book) and (WA) Item 5868704 (poster)

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.”

(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.

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.

UPDATE – October 4, 2010 — Today, Eclectibles (Tolland, CT) reported that the tranche of Merriam material held by them has been acquired by the Beinecke Library at Yale University and is now in Yale’s possession.