An Exhibit of Selected Acquisitions of the First 21 Years
Introduction
This exhibit marks two very important anniversaries for the Special Collections Division, both of which, had all gone according to plan, would have been celebrated nearly a year ago. In the first place, this is the first exhibit to be mounted since the completion of the renovation of the Gunlocke Room; in the second, it reviews the division’s acquisitions in its first 20 years. But renovations tend to lag behind schedule (this one certainly did), and we have the satisfaction of including in the exhibit four items that came in during our 21st year; a fitting revenge on “delays beyond our control.”
The individual items chosen for display are grouped (roughly, indeed) in this handlist by category, and these categories correspond to those areas in which our collecting has been concentrated over the years. Our holdings of Jesuit and Jesuit-related material are among the strongest, if not the strongest, in America. The acquisition of the Milton House Archives, the files of America magazine, and the papers of numerous individual Jesuits have reinforced our former strength dramatically. Yet in the library of the Villa le Balze, with its strong component of books owned and annotated by George Santayana, we were given an important first step in philosophy generally, and this had been multiplied in value most notably by the books and manuscripts by and about Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J., which have found their way to Georgetown in recent years.
American and English literature of the 19th and 20th centuries have proven fruitful fields for collecting, and we can point to the addition of substantial collections of such authors as William Everson, Edgar Lee Masters, Allen Tate, Langston Hughes, C. S. Forester, Anthony Powell, Charles Dickens, and Arthur Ransome as well as significant individual titles or small groups of books and manuscripts by such authors as A.C. Swinburne, T. S. Eliot, W. B. Yeats and a host of others. In the Levy Collection we acquired in a single group strong holdings of 14 major 19th century American authors, from James Fenimore Cooper to Mark Twain. The papers of Catholic authors have been a special interest, and we now have strong holdings of the works of Evelyn Waugh, G. K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, Eric Gill, Sir Shane Leslie, Sir Arnold Lunn, and Msgr. Ronald Knox, among others. But beyond all these we have concentrated on the work of Graham Greene. From Greene himself we acquired his correspondence with Evelyn Waugh and Edith Sitwell as well as substantial manuscripts, some of which came as gifts; from other sources we have added as much or more, to the end that we now count our Greene holdings amongst the strongest in America.
Much of our collecting in the fields of history, political science, and diplomacy and foreign affairs centers necessarily on files of people and institutions. And while some collections contain manuscripts or letters or other documents of considerable individual interest, the great bulk of such holdings lend themselves but ill to an exhibit. Yet opportunity has presented itself to acquire a large number of books in these fields—many, of course, by way of gift—including a number of books of great importance and sometimes of great rarity. In the same way, over the years we have developed good holdings of modern fine printing. A very strong collection of the work of Peter Beilenson serves as the anchor, but in addition we have added a number of very fine individual books.
The field of graphic arts represents a new departure. Concentrating originally on original editorial cartoons as materials supporting the history and theory of American politics and government, we have branched out into 20th-century American printmaking and book illustration. The cornerstone of the collections is the Jesuit Fine Print Collection, an assemblage of more than 1,000 American fine prints of the first half of the 20th century assembled by Joseph Haller, S.J. But the Jesuit Collection had been supplemented by a number of other outstanding holdings, including nearly 1,500 prints, drawings, and other works by Lynd Ward; large collections of the work of Isac Friedlander, Charles Quest, Norman Kent, and John DePol; and the superb Elder Collection of self portraits by 20th century American printmakers. The cartooning collections also flourish, and the large group of work by Georgetown alumnus Eric Smith is an especially valuable scholarly resource.
Obviously, when the selection process must winnow more than 60,000 printed books, almost 7,000 linear feet of manuscripts, and more than 10,000 prints, drawings and other examples of graphic arts, the natural curatorial tendency to stick pretty close to the high spots is a wonderful crutch. On the other hand, numerous collections, including some very large ones and some perhaps more important to scholars than some of the items on display, must inevitably fall by the wayside. In the same way, not all of the hundreds of donors whose gifts in kind have contributed so notably to our growth can possibly be remembered in such an exhibit as this, much as we might like to honor each of them. Our hope is that the exhibit captures in some small measure the intellectual breadth of the collections we’ve acquired as well as the excitement of landing the occasional “big fish.”
Finally, this exhibit is a visual acknowledgement of the debt Georgetown owes to Joe Jeffs for the work he did for so many years in building at Georgetown a solid base of the books, manuscripts, and other materials essential for the original scholarly research. Joe’s interest never was (and probably still isn’t) centered solely on special collections; we heard on a regular basis of the need to think of “the library as a whole.” But Joe always understood that scholarship cannot always get along with a microform, a facsimile, or a reprint, that some kinds of scholarly endeavor require access to the first edition, to the manuscript, and to the quotidian letters and memoranda of diplomatic and political life. He did not want a special exhibit mounted when he retired; now we can say “Thanks, Joe.”
Special Collections Division
Georgetown University Library
September 1991
PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
Biblia Latina with Strabo’s Commentary
[Biblia Latina cum glossa ordinaria Walafridi Strabonis et interlineari Anselmi Laudunensis. Strassburg? Adolf Rusch? Not after 1480]
Four volumes. First printing of the Bible with the massive Glossa ordinaria of Strabo, one of two variant typesettings thus far not differentiated by bibliographers as to edition; Georgetown also holds an imperfect copy of the other setting. Purchase (Detroit Collection).
Grynaeus’ Seneca
L. Annei Senecae opera, et ad dicendi facultatem, et ad bene vivendũ utilissima, per Des. Erasmum Roterod. ex fide veterum codicũ, tum ex probatis autoribus, postremo sagaci non nunqu ã divinatione, sic emendata, ut merito priore aeditione, ipso absente peractā, nolit haberi pro sua. Confer & ita rem habere cõperies. Adiecta sunt eiusdem scholia nonnulla. Basileae in Officina Frobeniana. Anno M. D. XXIX.
First edition of Erasmus’ edition of Seneca. This copy was the property of the noted humanist and author Simon Grynaeus, by whom it was most copiously annotated; from him it passed to his son Johann Jakob, who added significant commentary in his own right. Purchase (Detroit Collection).
The First Ratio Studiorum
Ratio atque institutio studiorum per sex patres ad idiussu R. P. Praepositi Generalis deputatos conscripta. Romae. In Collegio Societatis Iesu. Anno Domini. M. D. LXXXVI.
First printing of the Ratio, distributed to the various Jesuit provinces for classroom trial and comment. A revised, though still preliminary, second edition appeared in 1591. Only in 1599 was an authoritative edition published. This is the only copy of the 1586 edition recorded in North America. Purchase, together with a copy of the 1591 Ratio, on funds provided by Homer Hervey, Paul Straske, and Mrs. S. R. Straske.
Catholics in England in 1608
Robert Persons, S.J. Letter signed, with autograph postscript and accompanying autograph note, 3 pages, July 5, 1608.
A letter from the noted early English Jesuit to Fr. George Birkhead, then lately appointed Archpriest of England, concerning the appointment of bishops and the state of Catholics in England. Purchase (Milton House Archive).
Santayana on James
Essays in Radical Empiricism by William James. Longmans, Green and Co., Fourth Avenue & 30th Street, New York, London, Bombay and Calcutta 1912.
A posthumous volume of essays edited by the philosopher’s better-known kinsman, Henry James. George Santayana’s copy, with the copious marginal annotations common in his books; often, as here, Santayana seems to be carrying on through his annotations a running conversation with the author he is reading. Gift of the Marquesa Margaret Strong de Cuevas de Larrain (Library of Villa le Balze, Fiesole).
Wittgenstein’s Tractatus
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus By Ludwig Wittgenstein With an Introduction by Bertrand Russell, F.R.S. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company, Inc. 1922.
First edition, original cloth. From the library of Charles Augustus Strong, Villa le Balze, Fiesole. Gift of the Marquesa Margaret Strong de Cuevas de Larrain.
The Phenomenon of Man
P. Teilhard de Chardin Le Phénomène humain [Paris, 1947]
An early (if not the first) mimeographed version of Teilhard’s magnum opus, finally first published a dozen years later, in English, after its author’s death. This copy bears a presentation inscription from Teilhard “A mon ami Leroy/ Teilhard” on the upper cover. Gift of Pierre Leroy, S.J.
The Fellowship of Man
Martin Luther King Jr. and Wyatt Tee Walker. Typed letter signed, 1 page, June 28, 1962.
President and executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference writes to John LaFarge, S.J., about his leadership role in the creation and furthering of the “Second Emancipation Petition.” Gift of America.
John LaFarge S.J. Papers, Box 17, Folder 10
ENGLISH LITERATURE
Grace Darling and the Laureate
William Wordsworth. Grace Darling [Carlisle: Printed at the Office of Charles Thurnam, 1843]
First edition of one of Wordsworth’s elusive privately printed poems, this copy signed at the end and given by the poet to the wife of the noted painter B. R. Haydon. Accompanying Grace Darling is a four-page autograph letter from Wordsworth to Haydon transmitting the poem and mentioning the recent offer of the position of Poet Laureate as well as Wordsworth’s reason for wishing to decline. Purchase.
Great Expectations in Cloth
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. In Three Volumes. … London: Chapman and Hall, 193, Piccadilly. MDCCCLXI. [The right of translation is reserved.]
First edition, with the correct title pages, in the original cloth. Traces of removed library labels on the upper cover of each volume. Gift of Mary Ziegler Fockler (Ziegler Dickens Collection).
Gladstone in French
[A. C. Swinburne] Autograph manuscript, 2 pages [1887]
A violent and vicious satire in French directed against Gladstone (“Pierre-Joyeuse” in the manuscript), published in the St. James’s Gazette on December 21. This manuscript is clearly a draft version of the final text. Purchase.
Ulysses in Wrappers
Ulysses by James Joyce. Shakespeare and Company 12, Rue de l’Odeon, 12 Paris 1922.
First printing, one of 1,000 copies, this being #602, one of 750 on handmade paper. Original wrappers, in part unopened. Purchase.
The Original African Queen
The African Queen by C.S. Forester William Heinemann Ltd London: Toronto [1935]
“Proof copy” (so designated on upper wrap) of the first edition, containing variations in format from the published version; the only copy recorded. Gift of George M. and Penelope C. Barringer (C.S. Forester Collection).
Evelyn Waugh on the BBC
Evelyn Waugh. Autograph letter signed, 3 pages, December 17 [1951]
A lengthy letter to Waugh’s biographer, Christopher Sykes, concerning the details of a BBC broadcast of a dramatization of the author’s Helena and expressing some discontent: “Gielgud a disappointment. No pomposity.” Purchase.
Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time
[The complete set of 12 volumes in Anthony Powell’s novel sequence comprising: A Question of Upbringing, A Buyer’s Market, The Acceptance World, At Lady Molly’s, Casanova’s Chinese Restaurant, The Kindly Ones, The Valley of Bones, The Soldier’s Art, The Military Philosophers, Books Do Furnish a Room, Temporary Kings, and Hearing Secret Harmonies. London: Heinemann, 1951-1975.]
First editions, each in dust jacket. The third novel in the sequence is signed by Powell, and the final nine each bear a presentation inscription from Powell to his longtime friend, the bookseller Handasyde Buchanan. Gift of Todd Haines (Anthony Powell Collection).
Jones on Easter
David Jones. Autograph letter signed, 6 pages, May 11, 1974.
A typically-arranged, multi-color letter, one in a series written by the author to Pamela Donner. In this one he writes anew to replace “a whole lot of stuff about the word ‘Easter’” which he mislaid somewhere “in all this ghastly muddle of papers, etc.” Purchase.
David Jones-Pamela Donner Collection, Box 1, Folder 12
Markoe’s Algerine Spy
The Algerine Spy in Pennsylvania: or, Letters Written by a Native of Algiers on the Affairs of the United States of America, from the Close of the Year 1783 to the Meeting of the Convention. ---Facto pius et sceleratus eadem. Ovid. Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by Prichard & Hall, in Market between Front and Second Streets. M.DCC.LXXXVII.
First edition. Attributed to Peter Markoe, and generally considered one of the earliest American novels. A fictionalized commentary on contemporary events in the epistolary tradition popular in England throughout the eighteenth century. Gift of Russell J. Bowen (Bowen Collection).
Brownson’s Copy of Thoreau’s Week
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. By Henry D. Thoreau. Boston and Cambridge: James Munroe and Company. New York: George P. Putnam. Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blackiston. London: John Chapman. 1849.
First edition, original cloth. Inscribed by Thoreau “Rev. O. A. Brownson with the Regards of the Author--“ Purchase (Detroit Collection).
The Printed Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. The American Publishing Company, Hartford, Conn.: Chicago, Ill.: Cinncinnati, Ohio. A. Roman & Co., San Francisco, Cal. 1876.
First edition, first issue of the classic American novel of which Georgetown acquired the holograph manuscript in 1934. Purchase (Levy Collection).
Kilmer’s Last Letter
Joyce Kilmer. Autograph letter signed, 4 pages, July 2, 1918.
The last letter home, addressed to his wife Aline, written by the poet. Concerned mostly with the trivialities of life at the front, but expressing joy at his son’s confirmation and the hope that he will soon begin serving at Mass. Part of an extensive series of letters to his wife. Gift of Kenton Kilmer (Kilmer Papers).
Hughes Helps a Fellow Poet
Langston Hughes. Autograph letter signed, 7 pages, September 6, 1930.
Hughes offers whatever help he can provide in helping to publicize Outside of the World, the first book of poems by the letter’s recipient, Katherine Garrison Chapin Biddle. At one point he adds “How much I wish that I could do just one fine thing in which some of the glow…would be kept aflame in my own work for the light and nourishment of my people.” Part of a series of letters to Mrs. Biddle. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Randolph Biddle.
The “Benfolly” Mediterranean
The Mediterranean and Other Poems by Allen Tate. Privately printed 1936.
First edition, original wrappers and glassine jacket; one of 12 copies of what Tate christened “The Benfolly Edition,” with a typed note by Tate explaining the circumstances of printing laid in and with his presentation inscription to Kathleen and Francis Biddle. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Randolph Biddle.
Pound on Banking
Ezra Pound. And the White House. Typed manuscript with holograph revisions, 4 pages, signed, 1940.
From Rapallo, Italy the poet argues in favor of issuing national defense bonds backed by the real wealth of the country (i.e., land) and not through the banking system backed by the taxing power of the government. Published in America in a much-edited form in the issue for July 27, 1940. Gift of America (America Magazine Archives).
Everson as a Poet and Printer
triptych for the living: poems by william everson, with prints by mary fabilli. The seraphim press: 1951.
One of a stated edition of 200 printed and bound in full vellum by the poet; in fact, less than 100 copies of the book were ever distributed. Gift of Victor C. Ferkiss.
GRAPHIC ARTS
Prince Bantam
Lynd Ward. Watercolor on board, 1929. Initialed in the image.
Ward’s original finished drawing for the frontispiece of Prince Bantam, the first book for children by May McNeer, the artist’s wife, and the first of many on which they collaborated. Gift of Nanda Ward and Robin Ward Savage (Lynd Ward Collection).
Music in Black and White
Isac Friedlander. Rhapsody in Black. Wood engraving, 1931. Signed and dated in pencil.
One of a small number of impressions of this image celebrating one of the musical sides of the Harlem Renaissance. Gift of Gilda Friedlander (Friedlander Collection).
Death Comes for the Archbishop?
M.C. Escher. Die Droom [The Dream]. Woodcut, 1935. Signed and annotated in pencil.
One of the earliest and most powerful of Escher’s surrealistic woodcuts. Purchased by the donor at Escher’s first show in the United States, at the Whyte Gallery in Washington, 1937. Gift of Eric F. Menke.
The New Deal Restaurant
Roy D. Evans. Oliver Twist – Modern Version. Ink on board, 1936. Signed, dated, and titled in ink.
Editorial cartoon published in the Columbus Dispatch May 22, 1936. An attack on waste in the New Deal relief effort, portraying Harry Hopkins as the complaisant waiter serving up the bucks with little regard to who gets the lion’s share. Gift of Diana Hopkins Halstead for the Harry L. Hopkins Papers.
The Artist Himself
Milton Avery. [Self Portrait], etching, 1937. Signed, dated, and numbered in pencil.
Number 44 of 60 impressions. Purchase (Elder Collection).
Wood’s Sultry Night
Grant Wood. [Sultry Night]. Lithograph, 1939. Signed in pencil.
Published by Associated American Artists. Because of its subject matter, Sultry Night was published in an edition of about 100, far fewer than the normal AAA run of 250 copies. Purchase.
More Music in Black and White
Charles Quest. Break Forth into Singing. Wood engraving, 1948. Signed, dated, and numbered in pencil.
Number 10 of 25 impressions. Gift of the artist (Quest Collection).
A Famous Maryland Character
Eric Smith. Gov. Schaefer Responds to His Critics. Ink on board, 1991. Signed and annotated in ink.
Editorial cartoon published in the Annapolis Capital-Gazette February 12, 1991. An unflattering visual commentary on Governor Schaefer’s sometimes sharp responses to criticism from members of the public. Gift of the artist (Eric Smith Collection).
HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
Molina’s Vocabulario
Vocabulario en lengua Castellana y Mexicana, compuesto por el muy Reverendo Padre Fray Alonso de Molina, de la Orden del bienaventurado nuestro Padre sant Francisco. … En Mexico, En Casa de Antonio de Spinosa. 1571.
First edition of the first Spanish-Nahuatl dictionary. Although the present copy has the first title supplied in facsimile, the loss is more than compensated by the presence of an extensive commentary on virtually each entry in a third Native American language. Purchase.
Bodin on Absolute Government
Les Six livres de la republique de I. Bodin Angevin. A Monseigneur Du Faur Seigneur de Pibrac, Conseiller du Roy en son Consil privé. A Paris, Chez Iacques de Puys, Libraire Iuré, à la Samaritaine. 1576. Avec privilege du Roy.
First edition of Bodin’s justification of the absolute sovereignty of the king. Gift of Eugene E. Oakes.
Europe Discovers Asia
Peregrinaçam de Fernam Mendez Pinto. Em que da conta de muytas e muyto estranhas cousas que vio & ovvio no reyno da China, no da Tartaria, no do Sornau, que vulgarmente se chama Sião, no do Calaminhan, no de Pegu, no de Martauão, & em outros muytos reynos & senhorios das partes Orientais, de que nestas nossas do Occidente ha muyto pouca ou nenhũa noticia. … Escrita pelo mesmo Fernão Mendez Pinto. … Em Lisboa. Por Pedro Crasbeeck. Anno 1614. A custa de Belchior de Faria Cavaleyro da casa del Rey nosso Senhor, & seu Livreyro.
First edition of one of the first major European accounts of the Far East, long thought to be rather imaginative rather than factual, but later supported by other observers. The La Vallière copy, in later French red morocco with the gilt super-ex-libris, as cited by Brunet. Purchase (Detroit Collection).
Southwell and the “Popish Plot”
Edward Coleman. [Copy of an] Autograph letter, signed, 1 page, October 2, 1678.
Coleman was the first of 35 individuals executed in the course of Titus Oates’ fraudulent testimony regarding the “Popish Plot.” In this letter he thanks Sir Robert Southwell for assistance; this letter and the remainder of the items in this volume are from Southwell’s papers and concern his defense against a late charge of contributing to Coleman’s conviction. From the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps. Purchase.
Locke on Participatory Government
Two Treatises of Government: In the former, The false Principles, and Foundation of Sr. Robert Filmer, And his Followers, are Detected and Overthrown. The latter is an Essay Concerning the True Original, Extent, and End of Civil Government. London, Printed for Awnsham Churchill, at the Black Swan in Ave-Mary-Lane, by Amen-Corner, 1690.
First edition of John Locke’s classic of political thought. Although the binding had been discreetly rebacked, the text is in part unopened. Purchase.
The Empire of Haiti
Nomination de l’Empereur d’Hayti, J. J. Dessalines. [De l’Imprimerie central du Gouvernement, 1804]
First edition; only recorded copy. Following Napoleon’s model, Dessalines declared himself emperor of the newly liberated Haiti; wanting to go one step further, he had this ostensible appeal from his troops to take the title backdated so that he could claim Napoleon followed Dessalines. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roderick Engert.
A Writer in Wartime
Barbara Ward. Autograph manuscript diary, September 11, 1939-January 26, 1940.
Entries in this section (part of a very long series) document the famous economist and environmentalist’s work at Chatham House, Oxford, and her beginning duty with The Economist in London. At 25, she can accuse herself of “complete moral collapse” for spending a day reading a detective story. Gift of the Hon. Robert Jackson.
Before the Crusade in Europe
Dwight D. Eisenhower. Typed letter signed, 1 page, October 3, 1945.
Harry Hopkins had written to Eisenhower recommending Cass Canfield and Harper’s as publishers for the inevitable memoirs; Eisenhower puts Hopkins off quite gently, and adds some interesting comment on the complexity of his postwar duties in Europe. Gift of Robert Hopkins.
Harry L. Hopkins Papers I, Box 6, Folder 8
DIPLOMACY, FOREIGN AFFAIRS, AND INTELLIGENCE
The Art of Diplomacy
L’Ambassadeur et ses fonctions par Monsieur de Wicquefort, Conseiller aux Conseils d’Estat & Privé du Serenissime Duc de Brunsvic & Lunebourg Zelle &c. … A La Haye, Chez Maurice George Veneur. M DC LXXXII.
Two parts in two volumes. First edition of the first work to treat the art of diplomacy in a practical and theoretical manner. Wicquefort’s work was translated into English and first published in that language in 1716. Purchase.
Smith’s Memoirs of Secret Service
Memoirs of Secret Service. By Mathew Smith of the Inner-Temple, Esq. London, Printed for A. Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane, 1699. [bound with] Remarks upon the D--- of S-----‘s Letter to the House of Lords Concerning Capt. Smyth. Being a Vindication of his Services from the Imputations therein laid upon them. … London; Printed, and sold by the Booksellers …. 1700. [and] A Reply To an Unjust, and Scandalous Libel, intituled, A Modest Answer to Captain Smyth’s Immodest Memoirs of Secret Service …. London, Printed in the Year, 1700.
First edition of one of the earliest first-person accounts of intelligence operations, together with two further pamphlets justifying claims made in the first publication. Gift of Walter Pforzheimer, in honor of Russell J. Bowen.
The Nicaragua Canal, 1791
Mémoire sur un nouveau passage de la mer du Nord à la mer du Sud. Par M. Martin de la Bastide. A Paris, De l’Imprimerie de Didot fils aîné. M. DCC. XCI.
First edition of perhaps the earliest printed proposal for an interoceanic canal across Central America; its author favors the route later unsuccessfully developed across Nicaragua. With a folding map of the region. Purchase, on funds provided by William S. Abell.
Diplomatic Life in Siam
[Hamilton King] Autograph manuscript diary, June 12, 1904-January 15, 1905.
The arrival of Prince Adalbert of Prussia on November 26 was the signal for a fortnight of diplomatic balls and busy-ness quite beyond the usual routine of court functions and headaches caused by various members of the European and American diplomatic community. Part of a series of informative personal diaries. Gift of Cora Lee King Rose and Anne Lee Stewart (Hamilton King Papers).
Czechoslovakia Comes of Age
Alice Masaryk. Typed letter signed, 2 pages, September 17, 1918.
A formal letter outlining the administrative disposition of Czechoslovak armed forces written for Richard Crane in the State Department by the daughter of the first president of Czechoslovakia, Thomas G. Masaryk. Gift of Bruce Crane Fisher (Richard Crane Papers).
Versailles and the League of Nations
Conditions de Paix Conditions of Peace [n.p., 1919]
Proof copy (cover printed “Epreuve,” and numbered “no. 5” in blue crayon) of the Treaty of Versailles, in which was printed the Covenant of the League of Nations; with the separate 15-page “summary” laid in. Signed by each of the members of the Comité de Rédaction on May 6, 1919, this copy was that belonging to the American member of the committee, James Brown Scott. Gift of Eleanor H. Finch (James Brown Scott Papers).
How Stevens Came to Panama
William Howard Taft. Typed letter signed, 3 pages, March 22, 1925.
A letter of high recommendation of the merits of John Frank Stevens’ work on the construction of the Panama Canal from his boss at the time, then Secretary of War Taft. The letter anticipates and supports the award of the John Fritz Medal to Stevens. Gift of Donald H. Stevens (John Frank Stevens Papers).
The United Nations
Charter of the United Nations and Statute of the International Court of Justice. San Francisco, 1945. [and] Interim Arrangements Concluded by the Governments Represented at the United Nations Conference on International Organization. San Francisco, 1945.
First printings of the Charter and Interim Arrangements. This set is one of 351 copies printed on treaty paper and, of those, one of only 28 sets bound in cloth. Gift (together with a second set, in the “ordinary” paper bindings) of Mary A. Semel.
MODERN FINE PRINTING
Belgian Art Nouveau
L’An. Franz M. Melchers. Poëmes par Thomas Braun. Editeur E. Lyon-Claesen. MDCCCXLVII [i.e., 1898] Bruxelles.
First edition, one of 1,070 copies. A presentation copy from the author to fellow poet (and later Belgian ambassador to the United States) Robert Silvercruys; in fact, the text ‘illustrates’ the sixteen color lithographs by Melchers. Gift of Patricia McMahon Fox.
Bruce Rogers’ Fra Luca
Fra Luca de Pacioli of Borgo S. Sepolcro by Stanley Morison. The Grolier Club New York MCMXXXIII.
One of 330 regular-paper copies of a work designed by Bruce Rogers and printed at the Cambridge University Press. The title page is widely regarded as one of the triumphs of twentieth century typographical design. Gift of Patricia G. England.
Everson’s Novum Psalterium
Novum Psalterium Pii XII An Unfinished Folio Edition of Brother Antoninus, O.P. Los Angeles MCMLV
Stated edition of 48. One of nine additional, unnumbered copies reserved to Estelle Doheny, who financed the publication of this fragmentary work printed by Brother Antoninus [=William Everson]. With preliminary pages printed by Saul and Lillian Marks at the Plantin Press, Los Angeles. Purchase (Detroit Collection).
Barry Moser’s Moby Dick
Herman Melville. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. The Arion Press: San Francisco 1979.
One of 265 copies, illustrated with wood engravings by Barry Moser. Purchase.
General LC Folios PS2384 .M6 1979
GRAHAM GREENE
Greene’s First Book
Babbling April by Graham Greene. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1925.
First edition of the author’s first book, in the printed dust jacket. With a later inscription from Greene to Joe and Jeannine Jeffs. Gift of Joseph E. and Jeannine Jeffs.
The New Novelist on Reading
Autograph letter signed, 2 pages, May 22 [1929]
One in a long series of letters from Greene to his brother Hugh. In this one, written shortly after the publication of his first novel, The Man Within, Greene comments extensively on recent reading he has enjoyed (and bemoans the need of purchasing a set of tails for a publication party thrown by his American publisher). Purchase.
The End of the Affair I
The Point of Departure. Autograph manuscript, 121 pages, [1946?]-1947.
The first draft of Greene’s novel ultimately titled The End of the Affair, heavily corrected, with the text organized somewhat differently from the plan adopted for the final version of the novel. Purchase (Walston Papers).
The End of the Affair II
The Point of Departure. Typed manuscript, 290 pages, [1948?]-1949.
Ribbon copy of the typescript, with holograph corrections throughout and with an inserted leaf giving a completely revised final page of text, but still with the original title. With Greene’s presentation inscription to Catherine Walston (to whom The End of the Affair was dedicated) on the upper wrapper leaf. Purchase (Walston Papers).
Greene on the Road
Autograph manuscript diary [176 leaves] 1966-1973.
One of an extensive series of “travel diaries” kept by the novelist throughout his life. This one, entered in a printer’s dummy for Hugh Greene’s Victorian Detective Fiction, records impressions of visits to Cuba, Israel, Argentina, Paraguay, South Africa, and Sierra Leone, among other places. Purchase.
VOYAGES AND TRAVELS
The First Atlas of Cities
Civitates orbis terrarum. [Coloniae Agrippinae, 1576-1618]
Six volumes bound in two, each bearing the seventeenth-century gilt super-ex-libris of Gaspard Coignet de la Thuilerie, comte de Courson. A complete, uncolored copy of the first atlas of cities, the work of Georg Braun and Franz Hogenberg (parts 1-5); part six was produced by Anton Hierat and Abraham Hogenberg. Gift of an anonymous donor.
Hogarth’s “Proper Cutts”
A. De La Motraye’s Travels through Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa; with Proper Cutts and Maps. Containing A great Variety of Geographical, Topographical, and Political Observations on those Parts of the World; especially on Italy, Turky, Greece, Crim and Noghaian Tartaries, Circassia, Sweden, and Lapland. … London: Printed for the Author, in the Year M DCC XXIII.
Two volumes. First edition of one of the most celebrated works of travel of its time. Among its reasons for continued interest is the extensive suite of plates in each volume engraved by William Hogarth. Gift of George C. McGhee (McGhee Library).
Ackermann’s Oxford
A History of the University of Oxford, its Colleges, Halls, and Public Buildings. In Two Volumes. … London: Printed for R. Ackermann, 101, Strand, by L. Harrison and J.C. Leigh, 373, Strand. M.DCCC.XIV.
First edition of the best-known of the voluminous literature devoted to Oxford. This copy complete with 115 hand-colored plates, bound in contemporary half red morocco gilt. Gift of Mrs. John Moors Cabot.