The Year of the Library (1995-96): Selected Acquisitions from Special Collections

Apuleius cum commento Beroaldi. Et figuris noviter additis.
[Venice: Philippus Pincius, 1510]
An early illustrated edition, with 37 woodcuts in the text, bound in later quarter sheep and boards. Gift of Katherine A. Bowie.

98A396

[Works, in Greek]
Glasgow: In aedibus Academicis, excudebant Robertus et Andreas Foulis, 1756-58. Four volumes.
First edition thus, bound in full red morocco gilt. The masterpiece of the Foulis brothers' press, set in a new Greek type specially cut for this edition by Alexander Wilson. Gift of Katherine A. Bowie.

09B09

Il Petrarcha con l'espositione d'Alessandro Vellutello di novo ristampato con le figure a i triomphi, et con utili in varii luoghi agiiunte.
Vinegia: Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari, 1547.
A beautifully illustrated edition, bound in early 19th-century English panelled calf. Gift of Katherine A. Bowie.

General LC PQ4476 .A2 1547b

Prose di M. Pietro Bembo nellequali si ragiona della volgar lingua.
[Vinegia: Giovan Tacuino, 1525]
First edition, bound in later half vellum and boards. With the old ownership stamp of the "Loci Cappuccinorum Veronae" applied liberally throughout the text. Gift of Katherine A. Bowie.

General LC Folios PC1073 .B3 1525

Valerii Maximi factorum: ac dictorum memorabilium liber.
[Venice: Joannes and Gregorius de Gregoriis, de Forlivio?, not after 1485]
The 14th edition in Latin of this very popular history; it was first printed in 1470. There were nine subsequent Latin edition in the 15th century, as well as two in French and one in Spanish. Rebound in modern buckram. Gift of Katherine A. Bowie.

General LC PA6791 .V6 1484 Vault

Poems by Mr. Gray.
Parma: Printed by Bodoni, 1793.
First edition thus, one of 100 copies printed on large paper, bound in later half calf and boards. Gift of Katherine A. Bowie.

General LC Folios PR3500 .A1 1793

Case 2: Literature

Poems.
London: Chapman Brothers, 1847.
First edition (preceding the American edition), in the first binding. A. C. Swinburne's copy, with his bookplate. Purchased on the Mayfield Fund.

Levy PS1624 .A1 1847

The Alien Sky.
London: Eyre & Spottiswoode [1953]
First edition of the author's second novel, advance proof copy in printed wrappers with the dust jacket used on the published edition. Gift of George M. and Penelope C. Barringer.

Booker Prize PR6069.C596 A432 1953p

The Aunt's Story: a Novel.
[London]: Routledge & Kegan Paul [1948]
First edition, in dust jacket. Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper "Jean Scott Rogers/ from/ P. V. M. W./ Sept. 9th, 1948."
Gift of Henry I. Nowik.

95A201

The Life of the Right Reverend Ronald Knox.
[London]: Chapman & Hall, 1959.
First edition, one of 29 copies of the presentation issue printed for the author. Inscribed by Waugh on the front free endpaper "For Diana [Lady Diana Cooper]/ with all love from/ Evelyn / 8th October 1959."

97VA1

(1804-1864).
Document signed as weigher and gager in the Boston Custom House, circa 1840. Gift of Eugene L. Meyer and Deborah Meyer DeWan.

(1899-1966).
Typed letter, signed, dated April 10, 1946, 1 page, from the writer to friend, "Miss Thompson," enclosing the accompanying autograph manuscript, signed, for the short story entitled, "The Eleven Deck Chairs," 6 pages: "...which appeared in Town and Country and then in The Bedchamber Mystery," written by Forester "...on my knee to while away the time waiting about the Mayo Clinic for examination." Purchased.

Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection I, Box 7, Folder 6

Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.
Wilmington: Printed for, & Sold by J. Wilson, and J. Johnson, 1796.
First American edition, bound in contemporary (publisher's?) mottled sheep.
Gift of Patrick J. Sheehy.

Crotchet Castle. By the Author of Headlong Hall.
London: Published by T. Hookham, 1831.
First edition, bound in later half crushed morocco and boards.
Gift of Patrick J. Sheehy.

Castle Rackrent, an Hibernian Tale.
[London] Printed for J. Johnson, 1800.
First edition, bound in later full polished calf. Gift of Timothy W. Childs.

Case 3: The John L. Brown Papers

A collection of literary letters to John L. Brown, author, scholar, translator, editor, professor, diplomat, and foreign correspondent. From 1949 to 1962, Dr. Brown worked for the U.S. government in a number of capacities: as director of the Economic Cooperation Administration, Information Division, the Marshall Plan, France; chief of regional services for the U.S. Information Service at the U.S. Embassy in Paris (1950-54); and cultural attache to the U.S. Embassy in Brussels, Belgium (1954-58), and in Rome Italy (1958-62). From 1964 to 1968, Dr. Brown returned to government service as counselor for cultural affairs to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

An extremely rich and accomplished career comprises the other portion of Dr. Brown's diverse professional work. From 1962 to 1963 Dr. Brown was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut. During this time he also completed a book on changing American-European intellectual relations entitled Il gigantesco teatro (Rome: Opere Nuove, 1963). From 1968 to 1979 he taught comparative literature at the graduate school of the Catholic University of America. He has lectured extensively on American-European literary and intellectual relations both at the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. Department of State and at many U.S. universities, as well as in Canada, France, Mexico and Portugal, where he was Senior Fulbright Professor at the University of Lisbon (1979-80).

Dr. Brown's unique friendships with many luminaries of the twentieth century are reflected in the rich correspondence (over 271 folders) comprising this collection. Subjects include the visual and performing arts, history and politics, music composition, writing (both poetry and prose), as well as publishing.

Gift of John L. Brown.

John L. Brown Papers 1
(Note: see also John L. Brown Papers 2, 3, 4, and 5, received at later dates)

Case 4: Fine Prints

"Counterpoint," 1942
serigraph, ed. 25
Pure abstraction is perhaps the ideal matter for serigraphs. Note the clean edges of the Landon's flat, rather than tonal, color planes, each sharply separated from the other. Could this be an argument between two philosophers, two lawyers, or possibly an ump and a batter?

1982.8.8

"Masquerade," 1976
color etching with aquatint, ed. 19/30
For those who find abstract imagery hard to read, could that be the hooded Lucy and Linus in the lower right of the image following Snoopy on their trail of Halloween peregrinations?

1996.11.3

"Playful Construction," 1983
color woodcut, ed. 1/XX
In this print, Drewes, the master of the color woodcut, employed the same flat colors and clean edges in his composition's elements, with each separated from the other as Landon had done in his serigraph. But he placed them against a colorful wood-grained background to achieve the playful spirit of his vision.

1996.14.9

"Trio," 1970
aquatint, ed. 25/75
from his Transitions Suite
In the raisonné catalogue of Tobey's graphic work, Heinrich Pelzet put this way: "He weaves a closely knit texture of relationships comparable to chamber music..."

1991.21.2

"Movement in White," 1970
aquatint, ed. 25/75
from his Transitions Suite
Pelzet continues: "His creations lack neither symphonic forcefulness nor lyric simplicity, which convinces through its silence. This kind of effect can only be achieved through patient work, dedicated contemplation, and tremendous attention to detail."

1991.21.1

"Circumvention," 1950
color intaglio, ed. 6/10

1980.1.15

Case 5: Diplomacy

A collection of manuscripts and photographs relating to the life of Panamanian diplomat Ricardo Joaquin Alfaro (1882-1971) and his wife Amelia Lyons de Alfaro. Dr. Alfaro's long and distinguished career included appointment as judge of a joint commission for settling Panamanian and U.S. claims on the Panama Canal (in 1915-18, 1934-36, and 1953); as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the U.S. (1922-30 and 1933-36); as well as minister of foreign relations (1946-47). In 1928, Dr. Alfaro was elected vice-president of Panama, and after the revolution in 1931, he accepted the invitation to become his country's president until 1932. He was defeated in the 1940 presidential election, but he continued to serve his country by helping to draft a new constitution for Panama in 1944. In 1945, Dr. Alfaro headed the U.N. Relief and Recovery Administration mission to ten Latin American republics. He was alos Panama's delegate to the U.N. conference on international organization in San Francisco and chairman of the special committee that drafted the Spanish text of the United Nations Charter of 1945. In 1949, Dr. Alfaro was chairman of the legal committee of the third session of the U.N. General Assembly that drew up the text of the Convention on Genocide. From 1959 to 1969, Dr. Alfaro was a judge in the International Court of Justice, serving his last three years as vice-president. He retired from official duties in 1964.

Gift of Mrs. H. Cabell Maddux, Jr., and in part, Mrs. Frank H. Weller.

Alfaro Family Papers

A collection of correspondence, manuscripts and printed ephemera relating to at least three generations of Byington family men who distinguished themselves in American diplomacy.

Byington Family Papers 1

Byington Family Papers 2

Byington Family Papers 3

Correspondence, photographs and printed material represent the distinguished career of Cornelius Van H. Engert (1887-1985) as U.S. diplomat. Born in Vienna, Austria, of Dutch parents, Engert was educated at the University of California. From his days as a student interpreter for the American Diplomatic Corps in Turkey, in 1912, Engert served in many leading capacities at posts primarily in the Middle East and Latin America. While serving as an attache to the U.S. Embassy in Turkey during the early years of World War I, Engert was interned by the Turks for several weeks following the rupture of diplomatic relations with the U.S. Later that year he was assigned to the American legation at the Hague. In 1920 he was appointed second secretary to the U.S. embassy in Teheran, and in 1922 became the first U.S. diplomatic officer to visit Kabul, Afghanistan. Other subsequent posts included Havana, San Salvador, Santiago, Caracas, Peking, Cairo (1925-33); and finally resident minister and consul general at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (1933-37) during the Italian War. In 1942, Engert became the first U.S. minister plenipotentiary to reside in Kabul and served there until 1945. He retired in 1946 and became a diplomatic adviser to UNRRA (1945-47), followed by a variety of positions, including the World Bank and various associations particularly concerning the Middle East.

Cornelius Van H. Engert Papers 1

Cornelius Van H. Engert Papers 2

Case 6: Society of Jesus

Regulae Societatis Iesu.
Rome: In Collegio eiusdem Societatis, 1580.
First formally published edition, bound in contemporary limp vellum. The librarian's fifth rule provided for easy access: "Omnium librorum, qui domi sunt, catalogum habeat, diversarum facultatum auctoribus ordine alphabetico in diversas classes distributis." Purchased.

96VA2

The Spiritual Exercises.
Saint Omer: Printed by Nicolas Joseph Le Febvre [1736]
Printed in France for use in England, this copy of this copiously illustrated edition remained on the Continent, where it was heavily annotated by G. van Hooff, a Belgian seminarian, in 1873 and 1874. Bound in contemporary mottled calf. Purchased on the Blessed Margaret Pole Fund.

 98A131

Dominus, ac Redemptor noster Jesus Christus.
[Rome: Ex Typographia Reverendæ Cameræ Apostolicæ, 1773]
First edition of the papal brief which announced the suppression of the Society of Jesus, unbound (as issued). Acquired together with the brief Gravissimis ex causis, issued three weeks later, which provided for the enforcement of Dominus, ac Redemptor. Purchased.

96VB22

A collection of letters from Jan Philip Roothaan (1785-1852) to his family, dating 1804-1851. Born and educated in Amsterdam, he began his studies to enter the Society of Jesus in 1804, at a time when it was surviving only in White Russia. A few years after the order was restored by Pope Pius VII, in 1814, Roothaan took his final vows. He then spent some time accompanying the Jesuit vice-provincial, Nicholas Godinot, S.J., on visitation in Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. This allowed Roothaan to visit his family in Amsterdam for the first time in seventeen years, as well as an opportunity to impress Godinot, with his great talents as a linguist and manager of missions. In 1824 Roothaan was appointed rector of the newly founded college in Turin where he continued to build his reputation in the eyes of Rome. In July 1829, he was named the twenty-first general of the Society of Jesus on the death of the former general, Aloysius Fortis, S. J. Roothaan was to remain in this capacity until his death in Rome in 1852.

Roothaan is credited with strengthening the Society of Jesus spiritually and intellectually, as well as reorganizing its activities. The letters in this collection provide a unique insight into the personal and family life of a famous Society general. Roothaan wrote at length in both Dutch and French to his father, Mathias, and to his brother, Albert, regarding his belief in the divine plan of God, as well as demonstrating an ongoing concern for his family's spiritual and physical well-being.

Gift of Dr. Clemens Roothaan

Jan Philip Roothaan, S. J. Autograph letter signed, in Dutch, 1 page, to his father, Mathias Roothaan and mother, Mary Angela Ter Horst Roothaan. Written from de Zond, June 10, 1804.

Jan Philip Roothaan, S. J. Autograph letter signed, in Dutch, 1 page, to Albert Roothaan, with autograph note signed, in French, from Nicholas Godinot, S. J., to Albert at the bottom of the same leaf. Godinot's note sends greetings, June 20, 1823.

Jan Philip Roothaan, S. J. Autograph letter signed, in French, 1 page, to brother Albert, discussing death and God's will, Albert's upcoming visit to Rome, and family matters, May 19, 1835.

Jan Philip Roothaan, S. J. Archive

Lucile Swan (1890-1965), painter and sculptor, was born in Iowa and began her studies in art in 1908, at the Chicago Art Institute. In 1912, she married artist Jerome Blum, from whom she was divorced in 1924. Two years later she moved to New York, and in 1929, she accepted a commission from the Cenozoic Laboratory in Peking. That same year she met the Jesuit philosopher and paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, at a dinner given by Dr. Amadeus Grabau. Swan was later to recall that the meeting changed her life, as she and Teilhard de Chardin became lifelong friends. Over the years, a copious correspondence was exchanged, which now comprises part of this collection, and spans the years from August 1932 to March 1955. Most of the letters were published posthumously in The Letters of Teilhard de Chardin and Lucile Swan, edited by Thomas M. King, S.J., and Mary Wood Gilbert (Washington, D.C., Georgetown University Press, 1993).

The dynamics of the friendship, as well as a significance of this collection, are delineated in the account of Lucile Swan in the Prologue to Letters: "Teilhard would regularly bring a draft of what he had just written for her to read, and then he would explain and elaborate on it. Later, if it was in French, she would translate it. Then they would talk it over, and if it was clearly what he had intended to say, Teilhard would incorporate it into the whole of whatever paper he was writing. Lucile noted in her appointment book, Line-a-Day, that it was on June 13, 1940, that Teilhard brought her l'Homme, afterwards re-titled to Le Phénomène Humain. Lucile noted that 'This was the work he had put his heart into and was the essence of all his writings. He was very happy about the book. I thought he felt this time there would surely be no objections that it would be published.' She said, 'I was thrilled as I read it and every day we would discuss it and he would explain things to me...."

Acquired from Mary Wood Gilbert.

Lucile Swan Papers

Case 7: Leon Robbin Collection

Autograph manuscript, 7 pages, dated August, 1863.
"Margarita and Bettina," song couplet with accompaniment for the piano, is believed to be an early, unprinted work of the composer, most likely written while he was conductor of the Vienna Kai Theatre. Also included is the text for all six stanzas written in von Suppé's own hand. The lettering on the manuscript was done by its previous owner, Prof. Robert Haas.

Gift of Leon Robbin.

Autograph manuscript, signed, 3 pages. comprising the words and music for the song "Moon-Flower." The manuscript, which is in the key of F, is noted by Cadman as being "Original Ms. Op. 81, No. 3." Also shown with the manuscript is the sheet music of Cadman's "Three Songs From a Tropic Land," in which "Moon-Flower" is the third piece.

Gift of Leon Robbin.

Autograph manuscript, signed, 5 pages. Comprising the words and music for the song "My Mother Often Cautions Me."

Gift of Leon Robbin.

Autograph manuscript, 11 pages, dated 1842. Bearing the title, "Vas ist des Deutschen Vaterland."

Gift of Leon Robbin.

Case 8: The Thomas Merton-Edward Rice Correspondence

This collection contains the correspondence between the Trappist monk Thomas Merton (1914-1968) and Edward Rice (1918-), writer, artist, and photographer, written between the years 1940-1968. The two men first became acquainted at Columbia University, where they were both working on their undergraduate degrees. Merton had only just transferred  to Columbia in his junior year, having completed his freshman and sophomore years at Cambridge University. They first met while working on Columbia's student literary publication, the Jester of Columbia. The friendship they developed at Columbia was lifelong. When Merton made the decision to enter the Catholic Church in 1938, it was Rice that Merton asked to act as his godfather. Although Rice had drifted away from the church during his student years, he agreed. Perhaps because of the influence Merton had on his life, Rice rediscovered his faith and went on to found and edit the Catholic magazine, Jubilee. The content of much of the correspondence in this collection has to do with the publishing of this magazine. Merton, who was a frequent contributor, provides advice and encouragement to his friend Rice, who not only had to overcome the hurdles set up by the Trappist censors, but the financial woes of trying to keep an independent publication afloat. The magazine was acquired by the publishing house Herder & Herder Inc. in 1967.

Although Merton and Rice had corresponded throughout their adult lives, the letters included in this collection reflect the interests that would dominate the last years of Merton's life, and for which work is most recognized: the peace movement, the ethics debate over atomic weapons, and Eastern spirituality. His friend Jim Forest of The Catholic Worker, and a friend of Thomas Merton's, referred to this period in Merton's life as one when he reentered the world from his previous cloistered existence in the monastery at Gethsemani and, through his writings, became actively engaged in advancing the public discourse on the great moral issues of that age. It certainly was his most prolific, with Merton producing scores of articles, reviews, and books, along with maintaining a large correspondence. Several of the letters found in this collection are referred to by Edward Rice in his semi-biographical work on Merton The Man in the Sycamore Tree: The good times and hard life of Thomas Merton (Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1970).

In contrast to the image of the contemplative hermit, the Merton that is revealed in these letters harkens back to that of his student days at Columbia University. The tenor of the correspondence is light-hearted, often revealing a playful and irreverent side to Merton. Bro. Patrick Hart, who wrote the forward to the volume of published correspondence between Merton and the philosopher Robert Lax, another friend of Merton's from his days at Columbia, refers to the style of writing one sees in these letters as those of "anti-letters," for their free-style form and content.

Thomas Merton-Edward Rice Collection

A Few Miscellaneous Good Books

Civitates orbis terrarum
[Cologne, 1576] Parts 1 and 2 (of 6)
Publication of this great atlas of city views was not completed until 1618. Bound in one volume in modern full red morocco. Gift of the estate of Mrs. F. Sadleir Dinger.

77VB2

Pauline of the Potomac, or General McClellan's Spy; an authentic and thrilling narrative of the beautiful and accomplished Miss Pauline D'Estraye, who since the opening of the Southern Rebellion has performed some of the most startling and noble deeds that have ever been recorded in history. This heart-stirring narrative has been compiled from reliable sources, including the diary of the lovely heroine herself. Beautifully illuminated with magnificently colored engravings, executed specially for its pages.
by Wesley Bradshaw (pseudonym)
Philadelphia: Barclay & Co. [1862]
First edition of the first of several wartime novels by Alexander featuring female spies. Purchased on the Bowen Fund.

General LC PS1029.A16 P3 1862

An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine.
Philadelphia: Printed for Mathew Carey, 1803.
Second American edition of this standard English Roman Catholic catechism, bound in contemporary (publisher's) sheep. Purchased on the Morgan Fund.

General LC BX1961 .H39 1803

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Twelve illustrations with original woodcuts and an original etching by Salvador Dali. New York: Maecenas Press/Random House, 1969. First edition thus. Copy #188 of 2,500. Gift of Clifford Young.