Jewels in her Crown:
Treasures from the Special Collections of
Columbia’s Libraries
Printing History & Book Arts
1.
Aelius Donatus (fl. 354 CE)
Ars Minor
[Mainz: Johann Gutenberg, ca. 1450]
Printed on parchment, Folio 12, lines 4-28
Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Plimpton Collection
The momentous accomplishment of Gutenberg’s first printing of the Bible was preceded by a number of necessarily experimental publications which developed the technique of printing with moveable type. This fragment, printed using the type of the 36-line Bible, is a relic of those trials. The text is part of a Latin grammar written by Donatus, who was the teacher of St. Jerome. His grammar was one of the most popular teaching aids during the medieval period, and Gutenberg seems to have found it advantageous to publish many editions of it, not only as practice but also as a source of much needed revenue. There are twenty-four known editions of the text in Gutenberg’s earliest type, all preceding the famous Bible. Described by earlier scholars as a “Pfister imprint,” dated ca. 1460, recent investigations indicate that this fragment belongs with Gutenberg’s work, probably dating not later than 1452.
Gift of George Arthur Plimpton, 1936
2.
Canon Missae
Mainz: Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer, 1458
Printed on parchment
Missale Cracoviense
Mainz: Peter Schöffer, 1484
Printed on paper
RBML
In 1457, Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer completed the printing of the Psalterium latinum, the first printed book to give both the names of the printers and the date of its printing. The following year they used the same type and ornamental initial letters to print the exceedingly rare Canon of the Mass, in this copy bound at the center of the Missal for the use of Cracow (printed in 1484). The missal is, in the reality of its physical production and in reflection of its liturgical use, two separate books. One of nine editions produced by Schöffer between 1483 and 1499, the missal is printed on paper, using font sizes that are smaller than those of the canon. They printed the 12-leaf canon of the mass – the section with the consecration prayers – on parchment for durability, and in a larger font size for legibility. It was sold as a separate unit so that the purchaser could remove the canon of whichever missal he was using and insert this much nicer version. The advertisement put out by Schöffer in 1470 still included this 1458 canon among the books he offered for sale; presumably one could purchase it as late as the 1484 date of the present missal. Although Columbia’s copy of the canon lacks three leaves, it is one of only three known copies to survive (together with a few isolated fragments). Of all the acquisitions that Henry Lewis Bullen made for the American Type Founders Company Library, he was most proud of this one.
Purchased with the American Type Founders Company Library & Museum, 1941
3.
Doctrinale
Printed on parchment, Folios 21-22
[Holland?: Laurens Janszoon Coster?, by 1463?]
Lower pastedown in the binding of UTS Ms. 14
The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Leander van Ess Collection
The 1499 Cologne Chronicle, while assigning the first printing from moveable type to Mainz, yet mentions that its forebears were “the Donatuses in Holland.” Fragments of elementary grammar texts composed by Donatus and Alexander de Villa Dei survive, and are tied through study of their fonts to what may be the remnants of Dutch prototypography. Almost all such fragments, however, are now removed from their context, rendering their place and date of origin yet more obscure. The startling exception is the present pastedown in a manuscript containing works by Albertus Magnus and Raymond Lull. Paul Needham has taken into consideration evidence of the manuscript scribe’s colophon: Conrad Itter signed his work four times during the course of 1463; Needham has identified the manuscript’s paper stock and the paper stock of the flyleaves used by the binder; and he has studied the blind-stamped tools used on the manuscript’s binding of calf over oaken boards.
The result is a verifiable proposal for the place and date of production of the manuscript: Cologne, 1463. By extension, we now have a terminus ante quem for the manuscript’s pastedown and thus for Dutch prototypography that is some four years earlier than paper evidence amassed to date, and some eight years earlier than ownership inscriptions have attested. The Burke Library’s fragment, because it survives in a context, advances knowledge of the means we have used for five hundred years to spread knowledge: printing itself. The manuscript and fragment came to Union Theological Seminary in 1838 with the library of Leander van Ess at that time the largest and most comprehensive theological library, with the largest number of incunabula, in the New World.
Purchased with the Leander van Ess Collection, 1838
4.
Iamblichus Chalcidensis (ca. 240 – 325)
De mysteriis Aegyptiorum, Chaldaeorum, Assyriorum
Venice: Aldi et Andreae soceri, 1516
RBML, Phoenix Collection
The 1516 edition of works of neo-platonic philosophers, including Iamblichus, Proclus, Porphyrius, Synesius and others, translated into Latin by Marsilio Ficino, is one of the significant books issued by the Aldine press. This copy is bound in an architectural style, ca. 1545, one of four known showing porticoes and the only one without perspective features, made by Claude de Picques for the noted French bibliophile Jean Grolier (1476-1565). The motif is derived from an illustration of the Corinthian temple in Diego da Sagredo’s Raison d'architecture antique (1539). Among the owners of the volume after Grolier were Count Hoym, ambassador to France from Saxony and bibliophile, the dealer-bibliophile A.A. Renouard who documented the Aldine publications, and the notorious thief Count Libri.
Bequest of Stephen Whitney Phoenix, 1881
5.
A Booke Containing Divers Sortes of Hands
London: Thomas Vautrouillier, 1570
RBML, Plimpton Collection
This work, an enlarged adaptation of De Beauchesne’s Le Thresor d’Escripture (Paris, 1550), was the first book on handwriting to be printed in England. De Beauchesne, a French Huguenot immigrant, was a writing master who became tutor to Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia, only daughter of King James I. Baildon’s role in the work is uncertain; he may have cut the woodblocks, or edited the work. Containing thirty-seven leaves (this copy lacking nine leaves, dedication and letter press), the work includes admirable examples of gothic and secretary hands, as well as chancery, italic, secretary written with the left hand (a reversed hand read through a mirror) and other hands. One other incomplete copy of this edition and a fragment are known to exist.
Gift of George Arthur Plimpton, 1936
6.
William Caslon (1693 – 1766)
A Specimen by W. Caslon, Letter-Founder, Ironmonger-Row, Old-Street, London
London: W. Caslon, 1734
RBML, Book Arts Collection
Daniel Berkeley Updike wrote in his Printing Types, “In the class of types which appear to be beyond criticism from the point of view of beauty and utility, the original Caslon type stands first.” William Caslon, an engraver, began his career as a typefounder in about 1720 by cutting a font of Arabic-language types for use by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. In order to sign his name to a printed proof of these letters, he cut his name in a pica roman. These roman letters were so admired that he turned his attention to various other sizes of roman and italic, followed by Hebrew, black letter, Coptic and many other exotic types, as well as ornaments. He did not issue his first specimen until 1734 – the date is printed at the end of the brevier Greek at the lower right corner. Shown here, this is the only known complete copy of this type specimen, with Caslon’s Ironmonger-Row, Old-Street, London address. In the only other recorded copy, at the British Library, the line of ornaments at the bottom has been cut off.
Purchased with the American Type Founders Company Library & Museum, 1941
7.
Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790)
Composing stick
RBML, Typographic Realia
This composing stick may have been purchased in France in the 1780s by Benjamin Franklin while he was serving as United States minister to France. During this period, Franklin had his own private press in his house at Passy, outside of Paris. He used his press to produce leaflets, broadsides, and even passports for American citizens. Made of wood, the composing stick has a head, knee, and rail faced with brass, and uses the slotted knee and screw system, standard at the time, to fix the length of the line of type being set. According to Henry Lewis Bullen, who acquired it for the American Type Founders Company Library and Museum, it was used by Franklin and his grandson, Benjamin Franklin Bache.
Purchased with the American Type Founders Company Library & Museum, 1941
8a.
Diarium commentarium vitae Alexander Anderson
Autograph manuscript, 3 vols., 1793 – 1799
RBML
8b.
John Plumbe (1809 – 1857)
Daguerreotype portrait of Alexander Anderson
New York, ca.1846
RBML, Woodblocks, Related Material
8c.
Alexander Anderson (1775 – 1870)
Wood engraving of garden-house scene, signed in the block “AA”
6.5 x 8 cm.
RBML, Woodblock No. 6
Alexander Anderson has long been considered the father of wood engraving in America, being the first in this country to adopt the technique developed in England by Thomas Bewick. Wood engraving produces a finer image than the standard woodcut by working on the denser end-grain section of the wood. Anderson acknowledged his debt to Bewick in 1804 by creating an American edition of Bewick’s A General History of Quadrupeds (1790) with his own re-engraved blocks, adding “some American animals not hitherto described.”
Anderson’s connections to Columbia are many. He received an M.D. from Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1796, engraved Columbia’s commencement ticket in 1794, and a bookplate for the College Library. As noted in his diary, he began sketching the design for the bookplate on March 14, 1795, delivered the finished work to President Johnson on March 25th, and was, after some effort on his part, paid £2, 8s on May 7th.
Columbia’s daguerreotype portrait of Anderson is one of two likenesses “taken in duplicate” in New York by photographer John Plumbe no later than 1847, when Plumbe went bankrupt. Anderson continued to produce wood engravings until at least 1868, two years before his death at the age of 94. Also on display is an early wood engraving by Anderson, depicting a summer, garden-house scene, and signed “AA” in the lower left of the block. It was published in A Memorial of Alexander Anderson, M.D., New York, 1872.
(Diary) Vols.1-2, gift of Phillips Phoenix; Vol. 3, gift of Mrs. Castle, 1911
(Woodblock) Purchased with the American Type Founders Company Library & Museum, 1941
9.
Washington Hand Press
New York: R. Hoe & Co., 1843
Foolscap size (platen 35.3 x 49.4 cm., bed 45.6 x 60.9 cm.)
RBML
This press was used for over a hundred years by the American Bible Society, founded in 1816 to encourage a wide circulation of the Holy Scriptures. The Society started doing its own printing of Bibles in about 1844; thus this press, built in 1843, would have been one of the first it acquired for the purpose.
The Washington-style press employs two major innovations that distinguish it from the presses used since the 15th century: it is built of metal, and it uses a toggle action. A number of improvements in press design took place rapidly in the early 1800s, which simplified and reduced the cost of manufacture while developing maximum power with minimum effort. Samuel Rust of New York designed the main features of the Washington press: a “figure 4” toggle, which provided greater power than previous levers; and a lighter, stronger, frame, which could also be disassembled for moving.
R. Hoe & Co. bought Rust’s patent and manufactured over 6,000 of these presses between 1835 and 1902. Simpler and cheaper though slower than the increasingly sophisticated presses becoming available through the 19th century, these presses found a niche in small shops doing short runs, and for extra fine printing. A number of contemporary fine printers use Washington presses today. This is one of the four presses owned by the Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
Gift of the American Bible Society, 1953
10.
Kelmscott Press
Specimen copy of the Kelmscott Chaucer
Pigskin binding by J. & J. Leighton, 1896
RBML, Book Arts Collection
In addition to a regular copy of the Kelmscott Press’s edition of the works of Chaucer, bound in half-holland paper, the Rare Book and Manuscript Library also owns this specimen binding, made for William Morris by J. & J. Leighton, the text block made up of mostly repeating sheets from the print run of the book. Morris’s wish was that the binding be executed in 15th-century style, using pigskin over oak boards, with blind-tooling. The tools were cut specially for this binding, and were based on designs found on two incunables owned by the British Museum, the Apocalypse block book and the Richel Bible. According to Sir Sydney Cockerell in his “List of All the Books Printed at the Kelmscott Press,” in A Note by William Morris on his Aims in Founding The Kelmscott Press, this was the only design executed by Leighton’s. It was then used by the Doves Bindery to bind forty-eight copies, including two printed on vellum, in full white pigskin.
Purchased with the American Type Founders Company Library & Museum, 1941
11a.
Self-portrait, 1924
Pastel, from Sketch book F1
RBML, Arthur Rackham Collection
Sketchbook for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, ca. 1908
Pencil, 18 pages, Sketch book F4
RBML, Arthur Rackham Collection
This haunting self-portrait reveals the genius of one of England’s most renowned children’s book illustrators. Born in 1867, Arthur Rackham entered the Lambeth School of Art in 1884. From 1885 to 1892 he worked as a clerk in an insurance office. In 1893 he began what would be his life’s work, illustrating the Ingoldsby Legends, and Charles and Mary Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare. He became famous with Grimm’s Fairy Tales in 1900, and Rip Van Winkle in 1905, and through an exhibition held at the Leicester Galleries in 1905. The Rackham collection at Columbia University contains 413 drawings, watercolors, and oil paintings, as well as 30 sketch books, including this one of sketches for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In addition, the collection contains some 400 printed books and ephemera.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred C. Berol, 1967
12.
W. R. Johnson (b. 1933)
Lilac Wind, poems by W.R. Johnson on a pulp painting made by Claire Van Vliet with Kathryn Clark
Newark, VT.: Janus Press, 1983
1 folded sheet, 9 pp.
RBML, Book Arts Collection
Claire Van Vliet established the Janus Press, one of the country’s most creative private presses, in 1955, at West Burke, Vermont. Over the past fifty years, the Press has become known for its harmoniously balanced textual and visual elements, as well as for the careful consideration of inks, complex bindings, papers, boxmaking, and typography. Lilac Wind consists of a single printed sheet in which the illustration is integral to the paper itself, produced by the “painted papers” technique. The text poem by W.R. Johnson was printed on a pulp painting made by Van Vliet with Kathryn Clark, rendering each of the 150 copies unique. The Rare Book and Manuscript Library holds a complete collection of the books and ephemera produced by the Janus Press.
Purchase, 1983
13.
Vincent Fitz Gerald & Company
Maquette for The Reed, by Jalaluddin Mohammad Rumi, translated by Zahra Partovi
Watercolor, ink and pencil on cut paper, by Susan Weil, 1989
RBML, Vincent Fitz Gerald & Company Archives
The fine press company created by Vincent Fitz Gerald, a Columbia alumnus, is the embodiment of that nexus of creativity that makes New York City such a vital place. Through the generosity of Sylvia and Joseph Radov, the Rare Books and Manuscript Library now owns a nearly complete run of the publications of Vincent Fitz Gerald & Company, and also holds a significant portion of its archives.
As Village Voice theater critic, translator, and Columbia alumnus, Michael Feingold, a member of the company, has written: “In our degraded age of uncaring mass manufacture ... one artist was able to find so many kindred souls to share his love for works that are beautiful, meaningful, individual and scrupulously made.” Fitz Gerald has brought together the work of such authors as Jalaluddin Mohammad Rumi, James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Edith Sitwell, Lee Breuer, and David Mamet with artists such as Susan Weil, Judith Turner, Edward Koren (also a Columbia alumnus), Neil Welliver, Dorothea Rockburn, and James Nares. Texts have been newly translated by Zahra Partovi, yet another graduate of Columbia, and Michael Feingold. Other members of the company include artisans such as book designer and calligrapher Jerry Kelly, paper artist Paul Wong of Dieu donné Papermill, and printer Daniel Keleher of Wild Carrot Press, in addition to Partovi, who is also a book binder.
Purchased with funds provided by Sylvia and Joseph Radov, 2003
East Asian Collections
14.
China, Shang Dynasty, ca. 1300 – 1015 BCE
Scapula, (11.4 cm. x 18 cm.)
C. V. Starr East Asian Library
An image of this bone is seen in countless textbooks as an example of the earliest Chinese writing. Dating from about 1300 to 1050 bce, it is a fine example of an authentic oracle bone. Questions of moment to the ruler and his people, about weather related to agriculture, about marriages of importance to the state, and about sacrifices important to the order of the world, were scratched onto the surfaces of bones or shells. Then heat was applied, and by the cracks on the surface, the diviner could read the answers of Heaven. These bones were unearthed by farmers and came to be known only at the turn of the last century. Together they provide information about the life of the ruling class of the Shang dynasty, some 3,250 years ago. Columbia’s collection of oracle bones is an important one, donated over the first half of the twentieth century by a number of scholars and collectors.
15.
China, Zhou Dynasty (1050 – 256 BCE)
Vessel (gui)
Bronze, (height 15.9 cm., bottom diameter 30.5 cm.)
Office of Art Properties
This bronze ceremonial vessel, with its smooth green patina, is a type (gui) that was used as a container for food, probably for grain. The body is round, with two dragon head handles and a band of conventional dragon motifs on the upper part. The vessel is raised on three legs, which are given the form of human figures.
Sackler Collections at Columbia University
16.
Hyakumantō dhārāni (One million pagoda dhārāni)
Kyoto, Japan: 764-770 CE
Cypress and cherry wood, (height 13.6 cm., bottom diameter 10.5 cm.)
C. V. Starr East Asian Library
As a gesture of appeasement (disguised as a gesture of Buddhist piety) after a political power conflict between the monk Dōkyō (d. 772) and the aristocrat Fujiwara no Nakamaro (706-764), the Empress Shōtoku (r. 764-770) ordered the production of one million miniature wooden pagodas with copies of at least four different dhārāni (mantras or charms). These pagodas, containing the rolled-up dhārāni, were then distributed to ten major temples. Most have been destroyed or lost over time. Only the Hōryūji (a monastery temple in Ikaruga, Nara prefecture) still owns approximately 1700 of its original one hundred thousand sets. In addition it is estimated that almost as many sets are held in public and private collections. The pagodas were made of two parts: the hollow bottom portion was made of hinoki (cypress) wood, and the top seven-tiered spire of cherry wood. The dhārāni were printed, most likely by the metal-plate method and, at least tentatively, form the earliest extant examples of printed text. They are also the only known printed texts from the Nara period (710-794), and as such remain of great interest in the history of printing.
17.
Japan, Fujiwara period (12th century CE)
Standing Bodhisattva
Wood, (height 85.1 cm.)
Office of Art Properties
This Bodhisattva, with inlaid eyes of painted crystal, stands on a low, lotus pedestal.
Sackler Collections at Columbia University
18.
Da bo re bo luo mi duo jing (Prajna-paramita sutra)
Fenghua xian: Wang gong ci tang, 1162 CE
One volume of six surviving volumes
C. V. Starr East Asian Library
This extremely rare volume was identified by visiting scholar Shen Jin, from Shanghai Municipal Library, in 1987, as one of only six known surviving volumes of the original 600-volume printing of this Buddhist sutra. Printed apparently privately during the Song Dynasty (960 – 1279 CE), it is believed to be the oldest book in the Chinese collections at Columbia University. The Prajna-paramita sutra is one of the most important sacred books of Mahayana Buddhism, and Chinese translations of Indian sutras were used in the spread of Buddhism – and of the Chinese written language as well – throughout East Asia.
19.
China, Yuan Dynasty (1260 -1368 CE)
Bronze, varied sizes
C. V. Starr East Asian Library
Also known as “Ordos” crosses, from the region of China believed to have produced them, these unusual artifacts emerged only in the early part of the twentieth century. Christianity has had a long history in China, and Nestorians were welcome and active in China as early as the Tang dynasty (618-907). However, it languished for centuries until the Yuan dynasty. Many members of the Mongol ruling family were Nestorian Christians, including Khubilai Khan’s mother, as well as large numbers of the general northern population. One of Khubilai Khan’s advisors was a Nestorian priest who traveled to Europe – the western-most reaches of the Mongol empire – on behalf of the Mongols. While the use of the items is not certain, each one has a small ring on the back, indicating they might have been used as ornaments, either on a belt or as a pendant. Given their appearance near grave sites, some scholars have suggested that they may have been used in funeral rites.
Gift of Anne S. Goodrich, 1986
20.
Yongbi Ŏch’on’ga (Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven)
Korea: s.n., 15th cent.?
C. V. Starr East Asian Library
These two volumes are from Yongbi Ŏch’on’ga (Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven), volumes 9 and 10 (of 10), printed in the late fifteenth century from the original blocks. Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven is a poem in 125 cantos, written in Korean, with a Chinese translation following. It was commissioned by King Sejong (1419-1450) and was compiled in 1445 by three court poets and scholar-officials. King Sejong recognized that the Chinese writing system, which was used at the time for all government business, was inappropriate for the sounds of Korean; furthermore, he believed it was important to convey the spoken language in writing. King Sejong invented the Korean script (called han’gul or “Korean writing,” since about 1913), in late 1443 or early 1444.
These volumes are a tangible legacy of two related seminal historical and cultural events. The poem itself was composed to celebrate the legitimacy of the Chosŏn dynasty, which lasted from 1392 until 1910. In the history of Korean culture, it was a kind of declaration of cultural independence. The invention of a true alphabet that represents the sounds of the Korean language had enormous implications for the development of a national literature, and ultimately national consciousness. The history of printing in Korea, the most advanced in East Asia in the fifteenth century, is also illustrated by this first printing of han’gul.
Owned by Yi Sŏng-ŭi, Purchase, 1968
21.
Urashima Tarō
Japan: s.n., 1550
C. V. Starr East Asian Library
These volumes are fine examples of a genre known as Nara e-hon (Nara illustrated books, although with no known connection to the city of Nara or the historical Nara period, 645-794). The beautiful manuscript books and scrolls were actually produced in the late Muromachi (1336-1600) and early Edo (1600-1868) periods. This volume recounts the folk story of a young fisherman, Tarō from Urashima, who rescues a turtle from a group of children. The turtle later returns to take Tarō under the sea to the Palace of the Dragon King. He is treated with great kindness, but becomes too homesick to remain. When he returns to his island home he discovers that hundreds of years have passed while he was under the sea.
22.
Urashima Tarō
Japan: s.n., 16--?
Painted scroll, (48 x 1,105 cm.)
C. V. Starr East Asian Library
This scroll, which has seven illustrations, including two contiguous pictures, is another version of the folk tale of Urashima Tarō. The story progresses as the scroll is unrolled, from right to left. It is an example of illustrated manuscript material that continued to appear even as the development of popular printed book publications began to expand. The combination of text and illustration has a long history in Japan, with popular books of the Edo period (1600-1868) developing integrated text and picture to a high degree – the forerunner of today’s manga, or cartoon books.
Gift of Bertha Margaret Frick, 1959
23.
Nogŏltae ŏnhae
Korea: s.n., Yongjo yon’gan, 1670
C. V. Starr East Asian Library
Printed with bronze moveable type, in a font created in 1668, these volumes form a textbook of colloquial Chinese for Chinese-Korean interpreters. Each Chinese character is followed by two han’gŭl (Korean alphabet) transliterations, the one on the left indicating the standard Chinese pronunciation as recorded in fifteenth-century Korean lexicons; the one on the right indicating a contemporary northern Chinese pronunciation. The set also includes a complete translation of the Chinese text into seventeenth-century spoken Korean. All the linguistic information contained in this format provides valuable data for scholars studying the developments of spoken languages as well as written languages.
Owned by Yi Sŏng-ŭi, Purchase, 1968
24.
Murasaki Shikibu (active ca. 1000 CE)
Genji monogatari kogetsushō (The Tale of Genji)
[Japan]: Murakami Kanzaemon, 1673
C. V. Starr East Asian Library
This 60-volume woodblock-printed edition of the 54-chapter masterpiece of Japanese literature, The Tale of Genji, was edited by Kitamura Kigin (1625-1705) and includes six additional volumes of commentary. The influence of The Tale of Genji has been felt not only in all areas of literature—poetry, drama, prose fiction—but also in visual arts and popular culture, as seen in the woodblock print accompanying this volume. In the twentieth century, it was translated into English three times, and into modern Japanese by many famous writers, including a recent version by Setouchi Jakuchō that became a best seller. The volume is open to the final chapter, “The Bridge of Dreams.”
The edition was part of a gift to the East Asian collection from the Imperial Household Ministry of Japan in 1933 of 594 volumes either printed or written during the Edo period (1603-1868). Together they represent many of the most important texts in Japanese culture, covering history, poetry, and government, including the illustrated encyclopedia Wakan sansai zue.
Gift of the Imperial Household Ministry of Japan, 1932
25.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798 – 1861)
Yume no ukihashi (Bridge of dreams)
n.p.: Iseya Ichibei, 1845-46
Japanese paper, oban (approx. 38 x 25.5 cm.)
Print # 54
C. V. Starr East Asian Library
Circa 1845-46, Utagawa Kuniyoshi produced a series of prints with allusions to the Genji Monogatari (Tale of Genji). The series was entitled Genji kumo ukiyo-e awase (A comparison of prints of the floating world with the cloudy chapters of Genji), and consisted of sixty designs, one for each of the fifty-four chapters of the Genji Monogatari , and six supplemental designs. The series is unusual in that the scenes depicted in the main body of the print have nothing to do with the actual content of the corresponding Genj chapters, but instead depict famous Kabuki actors. Only in the scroll-like inset at the top of each print a poem and minor symbolic representation of the theme of the relevant chapter refer to the novel. It is thought that this approach was used to circumvent the 1842 Tenpō reform laws forbidding the depiction of actors and prostitutes in works of art. Like the woodblock-printed volume shown elsewhere in this exhibition, the print here displayed corresponds to the so-called “Bridge of dreams” chapter of the novel.
26.
Court of Raja Jaisingh II (1686 – 1743)
Yantraraja
Manuscript on paper, 35 folios, Jaipur, ca. 1693-1743
RBML, Smith Indic 73
The Rare Book and Manuscript Library holds a significant number of Indic manuscripts, most of them acquired by David Eugene Smith in Bombay and Kashi in the early years of the 20th century. The subject matter of these manuscripts is predominantly Jyotihsastra (Hindu Astrology), including astronomy, mathematics, divination and predictive astrology. According to a note made by Smith, this manuscript on the astrolabe was copied by a priest in the court of Raja Jaisingh II in Jaipur, India, and was purchased by him in Jaipur at Christmas, 1907. Jaisingh, the great warrior-astronomer who ruled from 1693 until 1743, founded the city of Jaipur in 1727. His observatory and huge masonry instruments constructed there are still in use today, and were used by him and his court to achieve significant advances in the exact sciences.
Gift of David Eugene Smith, 1931
27.
Andō Hiroshige (1797 – 1858)
Tōkaidō Go jūsan Tsugi no Uchi: Fujikawa
(Fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō: Fujikawa station)
Japanese
paper, oban (approx. 38 x 25.5 cm) Print #
38 C. V. Starr East Asian Library The
Tōkaidō was the highway connecting Edo (now Tokyo) and Kyoto during the pre-modern period in Japan. It consisted of fifty-three “stations” or
rest stops, including the starting point in Edo and the end of the route in Kyoto. It was a popular subject among artists of ukiyo-e (“floating world” woodblock
prints), among them Andō Hiroshige (1797-1858), who made a number of
different series representing the fifty three stations. Most of these series
were produced in a horizontal or landscape format. However, the series that
came to be known as the upright Tōkaidō is in vertical or portrait
format, and is generally considered the best of these series. The print here
displayed depicts a group of travelers on horseback entering Fujikawa station
during a heavy snowfall. 28. Amanoto
Toryū (1818-1877) Kyōka
chakizai gazōshū Tokyo: Seiryūtei, Ansei 2, [1855] C. V. Starr East Asian Library Kyōka
or “mad verse”
is a comic variant of waka, a 31-syllable Japanese poetry form heavily
dependent on pivot words (kakekotoba) and related words (engo). Kyōka
were written mainly during the Tokugawa period (1600-1868), and were popular
among all classes. Many woodblock print artists illustrated kyōka,
either individual verse as surimono (small edition or special occasion prints),
or collections of verse in book format, an example of the latter is displayed
here. Kyōka chakizai gazōshō (Collection of comic verse
on tea utensils) is divided into two parts, the second of which contains verse
by a number of poets. The first half of the book contains illustrations by two
different artists, figures by Utagawa Yoshitora (a pupil of Kuniyoshi) and
landscapes, such as the one here displayed, by Hiroshige (1797-1858). 29. Tibetan Printing Block Tibet, 19th century Wood, (40 x 9 x 3.5 cm.) C. V. Starr East Asian Library This block, carved on both sides,
contains sections of the Prajna-paramita sutra, included in Chinese translation elsewhere in the
exhibition. The Tibetan language version was printed on both sides of long
sheets. The leaves were traditionally unbound, but assembled in order between
wood “covers,” and bound up with colorful cloth. Printing blocks such as this
provide scholars and researchers with information about specific editions of
the sacred texts. 30. Fabric “cheat sheet” China, n.d. Ink on silk, (40 x 43 cm.) C. V. Starr East Asian Library The Chinese examination system, stretching though two
thousand years of Chinese history, theoretically created a system of
meritocracy, in which any man of whatever background could join the governing
class by means of his learning. By late Imperial times, successful candidates
were appointed only to districts other than their own, to avoid conflicts of
interest and other seeds of local corruption. But the examination system itself
became increasingly bureaucratic and exacting, leading to a condition, according
to Benjamin Elman, in which “cheating became a cottage industry.” Since
candidates and their possessions were physically searched before they could
enter the examination hall, in which they were locked for the three days of the
examination, it is hard to imagine how successful any of the attempts at
cheating actually were. This handkerchief is covered with hand-brushed tiny
characters representing some of the texts a candidate was required to know. Gift of Anne S. Goodrich, 1986 31. Chen Menglei
(1651 – 1741) and Jiang Tingxi (1669 – 1732) Qin ding gu jin tu shu ji cheng ?: Zong li ya men shi yin ben, 1890? 1,672 volumes (original gift in
5,044 volumes) C. V. Starr East Asian Library East Asian Studies at Columbia University began in 1901,
following donations by Columbia College graduate and Trustee General Horace
Walpole Carpentier of $100,000 and by Dean Lung, his employee, of $12,000. In
1902 the Trustees approved the creation of the Dean Lung Chair in Chinese
studies. University President Seth Low solicited the gift of books through the
American ambassador in Beijing, and received the donation from the Empress
Dowager of China of the 5,044-volume encyclopedia. The Qin ding gu jin tu
shu ji cheng follows a line of increasingly extensive encyclopedias, but is
substantially larger than its predecessors. It is divided into thirty-two
classes or sections of various length, grouped under six main categories
approximately representing Heaven, Earth, Man, Science, Literature, and
Government. None of the content is original; rather, both text and
illustrations were compiled and copied from earlier works. Columbia’s set is
from the second edition, published in 250 copies, and is one of only three such
sets outside China. The first Dean Lung Professor of Chinese, Frederick Hirth,
raised funds to rebind the volumes, received in their original format of
several small silk-sewn volumes in a book case, into Western style bindings,
thought at the time to be easier to handle and keep safe. Gift of the Empress Dowager of China, 1902 32. Jo Davidson (1883 – 1952) Portrait of V. K. Wellington Koo Paris, Valsuani Foundry, signed by the artist, 1920 Bronze, (60.5 x 25.5 x 23 cm.) RBML, Art Collection V. K. Wellington Koo (1888 – 1985) graduated from Columbia College in 1908, also receiving from Columbia an AM in 1909, a PhD in 1912 and a
LL D in 1917. This bust portrait, depicting Koo at the beginning of his
diplomatic career, was one of a number of portraits sculpted by Jo Davidson in
1920 of the delegates to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. RBML is also the
repository for Dr. Koo’s papers, including correspondence, diaries, memoranda,
manuscripts, notes, printed material, and photographs, that he gave to Columbia in 1976. They document his work in many areas, including as the Republic of
China’s ambassador to France (1932 – 1941), to England (1941 – 1946), the
United Nations (1944 – 1946), and the United States (1946 – 1956). Gift of Mme. Juliana Koo, and Patricia Koo and Kiachi
Tsien, 1989 33. Chinese
Paper Gods Beijing, China, ca. 1931 Chinese
paper, ink, and watercolor, (29.5 x 25.5 cm., 50.5 x 30 cm.) C. V. Starr East Asian Library In 1931,
while living in Beijing, China, Anne Swann Goodrich assembled a substantial
collection of folk prints of a type now commonly referred to as “paper gods.”
After publishing a study about them in 1991, she donated the collection of over
200 prints to the C. V. Starr East Asian Library. The inexpensive prints were
typically hung about the home or pasted on doors as protection against evil.
Frequently they were burned and replaced, generally at the beginning of the new
year or some other auspicious point of the calendar, as a symbolic send-off to
heaven to mediate on behalf of the owner. These paper god prints are thin
sheets of paper with the image of a god woodblock-printed on them. Some are
mostly black and white with just a few splashes of color. An example of this
can be seen here in a depiction of Sanjie Zhifu Shizhe, a messenger of the
gods. He delivered charms and acted himself as a charm against evil spirits who
cause disease, particularly during the fifth month. This period was considered
to be malignant by the Chinese as a time when contagious diseases were likely
to appear. Other prints are quite colorful, like the other example here, which
is a depiction of Zhong Kui, considered one of the most effective protectors
against evil spirits, expeller of demons, and protector against poisons.
Although his picture is usually pasted on the door on the last day of the year,
like Sanjie Zhifu Shizhe, he is particularly worshipped during the fifth month. Gift of
Anne S. Goodrich, 1991 34a. [Pigŭk
sosŏl] Pulsanghan insaeng (An unhappy life) Kyŏngsŏng-pu:
Hongmun Sŏgwan, Shŏwa 11, [1936] C. V. Starr East Asian Library 34b. Yǒngsǒn (n.d.) Syongdo
mallyŏn pulgasari chyŏn (The account of a pulgasari in the last years of
Songdo) Kyŏngsŏng-pu:
Tongyang Taehaktang, Shōwa 11, [1936] C. V. Starr East Asian Library 34c. [Kodae
sosŏl] Tang Taejyong chyŏn (Biography of Tang Taizong) Sŏul
T’ŭkpyŏlsi: Sech’ang Sŏgwan, Tan’gi 4284, [1951] C. V. Starr East Asian Library A
collection of 155 exceptionally rare, early twentieth century traditional style
Korean popular novels is housed in the C. V. Starr East Asian Library. These
novels are deemed unique and no other copies are known to exist, as they were
in all likelihood lost or destroyed during the Japanese occupation and the
subsequent Korean war. The novels were printed in Korean script at a time when
this was discouraged by the Japanese occupation government. Since the Korean
language has changed considerably in the course of the twentieth century, and
most published material before the twentieth century was typically written in
formal language and Chinese script, the novels also provide a unique record of
the colloquial language of the time. As these novels were not produced through
the major publishing houses, most are physically sub-standard products, printed
on cheap paper with primitive printing methods. Most volumes have gaudily
colored covers and are no more than thin booklets, most of them with well under
a hundred pages. The three volumes here on display are a traditional style
popular novel (kodae sosŏl) chronicling the life of the Chinese
emperor Tang Taizong (626-649), a tragic novel (pigŭk sosŏl)
about a life full of hardship, and the story of a mythical creature (Pulgasari)
during the last years of Songdo (modern Kaesŏng), the old capital of
Chosŏn (1392-1910), said to eat metal, to expel nightmares, and to purge
noxious vapors. 35. Peter H.
L. Chang (Zhang Xueliang), (1901 – 2001) “Recollections
of Xian Incident [Review]” Jiangshang,
[May 10, 1946] RBML,
Chang Papers Peter
Chang (his name also rendered as Zhang Xueliang, and Chang Hsueh-liang) was
born in Manchuria in 1901 and died in Hawaii in 2001. After his father, Chang
Tso-lin (Zhang Zuolin), a leading war-lord know as the Old Marshal, was
assassinated in 1928 by the Japanese, Chang took his place as the Young
Marshal, becoming one of the most powerful military figures in China. In 1930,
Chang became Deputy Commander in Chief of the Chinese Armed Forces. In 1933 he
traveled to Europe. Upon his return to China, Zhou Enlai convinced him of the
need for a united front between the Nationalist and Communist Chinese against Japan. On December 4 1936, Chiang Kai-shek, the nationalist leader, met with Marshal Chang in Xian,
ostensibly to plan a campaign against the Communists that was due to begin on
December 12. Chang arrested Chiang Kai-shek, an event that became know around
the world as the “Xian incident.” Two weeks later, Chiang was released after
agreeing to work with the Communists in fighting the Japanese. After the Xian
incident Marshal Chang might have chosen to join the Communists. Instead, he
surrendered to Chiang Kai-shek who placed him under house arrest for the next
50 years. Marshal Chang lived comfortably in a house with an extensive garden.
The house was filled with paintings and calligraphy honoring the Chiang family,
including a number that were draw by Madame Chiang Kai-shek. Many of these
items are now in the Chang Papers, along with correspondence, manuscripts,
photographs, published materials, and memorabilia documenting the life of Peter
and Edith Chang. Gift of
Peter H. L. and Edith C. Chang, 1994 36. Chūgoku sanjū emaki Watercolor, (49 cm. x 1219.2024
cm.), Scroll 2 of 30, 1949-1959 C. V. Starr East Asian Library The Japanese artist Fukuda Bisen
twice painted a thirty-scroll series on Chinese landscapes, only to have the
first set destroyed in the great Tokyo earthquake of 1923, and the second by
the bombing of Tokyo in World War II. By chance, another painting by Fukuda was
accidentally noticed and admired by General D. D. Eisenhower, then President of
Columbia University. The artist was inspired to redo his series, which depict
the great Yangtze River of China, to present to Columbia University. The artist
donated the first scroll in 1951, and completed the entire set in 1960. The
length of the scroll is used by the artist to create a panoramic view of a
great river, viewed as though passing through the landscape on the water. Painted for Columbia University and donated by the artist, from 1951 through 1960 New York City History 37. Johannes
Nevins (1627 – before 1672) Document
pertaining to a plot of land Manuscript
document, signed, with wax seal, New York, 6 July 1658 RBML,
Van Courtlandt Papers The seal
on this document is the first seal of the City of New York, granted to New Amsterdam in 1654 and used until 1659. The document, signed by Johannes Nevins, the
Clerk of the Burgomasters from 1658-1665, confirms Oloff Stevenszen Van
Courtlandt’s (1600 – 1684) ownership of a plot of land on Stone Street. Gift of
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Cremin, 1970 38. New York City, Coroner’s Office Minutes of the Coroner’s Proceedings in the City and
County of New York Manuscript on paper, 1747-1758 RBML These
early reports kept by John Burnet for New York City and County document
colonial attempts to establish causation of injuries related to untimely and
unnatural death. They offer an invaluable insight into the history of forensic
pathology in America, showing the fees and duties of the coroner as well as
documenting court testimony in criminal and civil proceedings. Gift of
Mrs. Charles Blyth Van Courtlandt Martin 39a. Charles Willson Peale (1741 – 1827) Portrait of Alexander Hamilton Watercolor on ivory, (4.5 x 3.5 cm.), ca. 1780 Office of Art Properties 39b. Alexander (1757 – 1804) and
Elizabeth Schuyler (1757 – 1854) Hamilton Gold double-band wedding ring of Elizabeth Schuyler
Hamilton, and wedding handkerchiefs of Alexander and Elizabeth Hamilton, 1780 RBML, Hamilton Memorabilia American
portrait painter, naturalist, and patriot, Charles Willson Peale was a
distinguished painter of American statesmen of the Revolutionary era; of George
Washington alone, he painted some sixty portraits. This miniature of Hamilton (1755–1804) is thought to have been painted in 1780, the year of his marriage, at
the insistence of his wife, Elizabeth Schuyler. She is credited with
embroidering the silk mat. At the time, Hamilton was serving as Washington’s secretary and aide-de-camp. He studied at King’s College in 1773 and 1774, but
his education was interrupted by the American Revolution. The renamed Columbia College granted him an honorary master’s degree in 1788. (Portrait) Gift of Edmund Astley Prentiss (Wedding Ring and Handkerchiefs) Gift of Furman
University Library through the suggestion and assistance of the Hamilton family descendents: Mrs. Marie Hamilton Barrett and Mrs. Elizabeth Schuyler
Campbell, 1988 40. Tammany Society Journal & Rules of the Council of Sachems of Saint
Tammany’s Society Manuscript on paper, 1789 - 1796 RBML, Kilroe Tammaniana Collection The
Tammany Society was founded in New York City by William Mooney, a Revolutionary
War soldier, as a patriotic fraternal order in opposition to the Society of the
Cincinnati, an organization of officers. This volume records its first
meetings. In order to mock the aristocratic Cincinnati, the society was named for
Tammany, an Indian chief, and used American Indian names, imagery and ceremonies. Focused
on youth, young men who could not normally participate in political events
could experience something of politics within the society, and it developed
into a political club, its clubhouse known as Tammany Hall. Led by
Aaron Burr, the Society helped to carry New York for Thomas Jefferson in the
election of 1800. It became increasingly political by the nineteenth century
and enjoyed the support of newly arrived immigrants through its program of
aiding and helping them to become citizens. “Boss” William M. Tweed, the
society’s most powerful member, ruled New York like a despot, and Tammany Hall
became synonymous with City Hall. Tammany retained considerable influence into
the twentieth century until Robert Wagner was elected mayor on an anti-Tammany
ticket. Gift of
Edwin Patrick Kilroe, 1942 41. Archibald
Robertson New
York from Long Island Ink and
color wash on paper, (43.8 cm. x 62.2 cm.), ca. 1795 Office
of Art Properties Immigrating from Scotland in 1791, Robertson set up
practice in New York City as a miniaturist. In addition, he also made numerous
landscapes and city views. Together with William and Thomas Birch, who worked
in Philadelphia, he helped to introduce the English topographical watercolor
tradition in the United States. This view across the East River to Manhattan, depicting an expansive landscape, stems from that tradition. The building at
the right is George Washington’s headquarters. The location is identified in an
inscription across the bottom of the sheet. Gift of J.
Pierpont Morgan 42. DeWitt
Clinton (1769 – 1828) Letterbooks
Bound
manuscript on paper, Vol. 17, 1808-16, of 24, 1785-1828 RBML,
DeWitt Clinton Papers Congress
established the First Bank of the United States, headquartered in Philadelphia, in 1791. By 1816, Congress chartered the Second Bank of the United States. In the manuscript from DeWitt Clinton’s own letterbooks shown here, Clinton
argues passionately that New York City deserves to be the home of the national
bank, writing: “New York is the commercial capital of the union. In her center
is one third of our commerce and from here is derived one third of our revenue.
There are ten times more goods purchased here.” Clinton’s wish prevailed,
marking the commercial and political ascendancy of New York over its rival Philadelphia. The library’s DeWitt Clinton holdings contain 15 volumes of letters received
by Clinton (1785-1828), 8 volumes of letterbooks of his own letters and writings
(1793-1828), and one volume of miscellaneous papers in various hands. Gift of
William Schermerhorn, 1902 43. Alexander
Jackson Davis (1803 – 1892) United States Custom House Watercolor and black ink on paper, (21 cm. x 36.5 cm.), ca.
1834 Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Drawings and
Archives, Alexander Jackson Davis Collection I In 1833,
Davis and his partner Ithiel Town won the competition for the US Custom House
to be built on the site of Washington’s Inauguration down the street from Trinity Church. The architects lost control of the construction, that being given to Samuel
Thomson, and the finished building lacks the majesty of this drawing
particularly in the reduction of the dome. A magnificent section, this drawing
shows Davis in full command of his artistic and architectural powers. The
proportion and harmony of the design are wedded to a direct and rich exposition
of the architectural structure and detail. Architect,
writer, renderer, theorist, it is hard to overestimate Davis’s position in
American architecture of the 19th century before the Civil War. Davis designed civic and urban buildings for the burgeoning city of New York and with his
friend, the landscape designer Andrew Jackson Downing, brought to life the
romantic vision of Gothic cottage in the Hudson Valley. Fortunately his work
survives in large numbers in three major repositories: the Avery Library, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the New-York Historical Society. Purchase, 1940 44. Richard Upjohn (1802 – 1878) Trinity Church perspective view Watercolor on paper, ca. 1840 Avery Library, Drawings and Archives, Upjohn Collection At the
head of Wall Street stands Trinity Church built by the dean of American
Episcopalian architects, the Englishman Richard Upjohn. Upon his arrival in the
United States, Upjohn passed the first five years in Boston where he met Dr.
Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, who became the Rector of Trinity in 1838. The
standing structure of the church was found to be unstable and the new rector
called in Upjohn to build a new church, which was dedicated in 1846. This
rendering, thought to be executed by Fanny Palmer, an artist for Currier &
Ives, portrays the urban church as a typical English country side church rather
than the dominant element of its neighborhood. Upjohn
was joined in his practice by his son, Richard Michell Upjohn, most famous for
his design of the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford. His son, Hobart, also
became an architect, with a practice in the New York area and North Carolina. Hobart’s son, Everard, also an architect, taught at Columbia for many years. Upon the
request of Avery Librarian Talbot Hamlin, Everard and his children donated his
family’s architectural drawings to the library through a series of donations,
the last in 1983. The papers of the firm were donated to the New York Public
Library. Gift of the Upjohn Family 45. Abraham
Lincoln (1809 – 1865) Manuscript
letter in John Hay’s hand, signed by Lincoln, to Columbia University President
Charles King Washington, D.C., June 26, 1861 RBML, Columbia College Papers At
commencement exercises held at the Academy of Music on June 27, 1861, President King announced that the University was conferring an honorary Doctor of
Laws degree on President Lincoln. Preoccupied by the events of the Civil War, Lincoln could not travel to New York to receive the degree, so Professor Francis Lieber
was sent to Washington to present the diploma. Lincoln wrote to President King
to thank him for the honor. Signed by Lincoln, the text of the letter is in the
hand of John Hay, one of Lincoln’s two private secretaries. The divisiveness of
the Civil War, as well as the election of 1860, was doubtless in the
President’s thoughts when he wrote of preserving the country’s institutions and
of the honor being a gesture of “confidence and good will,” awarded two months
after the war began. Gift of
Janet Haldane and her children, 1983 46. Louis
Prang (1824 – 1909) Views
in Central Park, New York Boston: L. Prang & Co., 1863-69 5 series
of 12 chromolithographic cards, (6.3 x 10.1 cm each) Avery
Library, Classics Collection By the
mid-nineteenth century, New York City had expanded northward at such a
precipitous pace that the question of open space was addressed by legislators,
who passed an act to create a large public park. In 1857, the same year that
Columbia College moved uptown to Forty-ninth Street and Madison Avenue (where
it remained until 1897), a competition was announced for the design of Central
Park. The entry selected for the site (which extended from 60th to
106th Streets between Fifth and Eighth Avenues) was the now-famous
Greensward Plan, created by Calvert Vaux (1824-1895) and Frederick Law Olmsted
(1822-1903). Today,
it would be impossible to imagine Manhattan without this urban oasis. In the
park’s first decades, its distinctive blend of English picturesque and more
rugged American Adirondacks style captivated the entire nation. Numerous
prints, stereograph photographs, and souvenir books celebrated what quickly
became one of New York City’s major tourist attractions. These color lithograph
album cards, issued in series for mounting in scrapbooks (a Victorian pastime),
depict favorite landmarks. The first three series were published in 1863, and
the last two in 1869, by the Louis Prang firm, one of the finest lithographic
concerns in the United States. All five series in full are known to exist only
at Avery. Purchase,
1986 47. Architectural
Iron Works of New York Illustrations
of Iron Architecture, Made by the Architectural Iron Works of the City of New York New York: Baker & Godwin, Printers,
1865 Avery
Library, Classics Collection This
catalogue of buildings, storefronts, and architectural elements is a noteworthy
example of Avery Library’s unrivalled collection of more than ten thousand
catalogues from the American building trades. Daniel D. Badger’s Architectural
Iron Works was one of the larger American foundries producing cast-iron
architecture. In 1865 Badger decided to advertise his firm’s work with this
volume listing its principal productions, including about 400 buildings and
storefronts in New York, but also ones in Richmond, Virginia, and Sacramento,
California—not to mention Alexandria, Egypt, and Panama. The book also featured
claims for cast iron as a new building material and, most important, 102
lithographic plates of architectural details as well as whole facades, printed
by the prominent firm of Sarony Major & Knapp. Plate
III (one of a handful of color plates) shows the E. V. Haughwout Building
(1857), designed by architect J. P. Gaynor as an emporium for the sale of
glassware, silverware, clocks, and chandeliers, and the first New York City
store to have an elevator for customers. The cast-iron facades at the northeast
corner of Broadway and Broome Street recall the arched windows set between
columns at Venice’s Biblioteca Marciana, testimony to Badger’s assertion “that
whatever architectural forms can be carved or wrought in wood or stone, or
other materials, can also be faithfully reproduced in iron.” The Landmarks
Preservation Commission designation report quotes an architectural historian on
the significance: “In this one building are combined the two elements that
provided the basis for today’s skyscraper—the load-bearing metal frame and the
vertical movement of passengers.” In
parallel, one might say that in this one publication are combined the elements
that provided the basis for the flourishing of trade catalogues for decades to
come—promotional writing and mass printing technology, in the service of
prefabricated materials and building parts. Purchase,
1944 48. Daly’s Theatre, New York Account book Manuscript on paper, 1872 RBML, Dramatic Museum Manuscripts Augustin
Daly (1838- 1899), playwright, adaptor and critic, is considered one of America’s greatest theatrical managers. Daly’s first original work was the wildly
successful melodrama Under the Gaslight (1867). He opened his first New York theater, The Fifth Avenue, in 1869, and a few years later established Daly’s
Theatre on Broadway with a stock company in which John Drew and Ada Rehan were
stars, and many other 19th century luminaries appeared from time to
time. Some stars, like Clara Morris, left the fold, but others, like Ada Rehan,
John Drew, Mrs. Gilbert, and James Lewis stayed with him for years. The library’s
Daly’s Theatre records include 10 volumes of business records connected with
the daily operations of the theater from 1872 through 1899, including income
and expenditures, rosters of personnel, attendance books for members of the
company, salary accounts, receipt books and one volume having to do with
directions for the settings for various plays. Brander Matthews Dramatic Museum
Collection, transferred to RBML, 1956 49. Charles
Follen McKim (1847 – 1909) Typed
letter, signed, to Stanford White, with initial sketch of Low Library New York, 3 pages, July 24, 1894 Avery
Library, Drawings and Archives Collection, Stanford White Collection When Columbia purchased the land on Morningside Heights, it was the first time that the
university had acquired land with the express purpose of building a campus. The
university had previously occupied existing buildings on other sites. At the 49th Street campus, the university utilized the buildings of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum even
after new buildings by Charles Coolidge Haight were erected. A competition for
the new campus was announced and McKim, Mead and White were chosen from the
competitors, who included Richard Morris Hunt, Haight himself, and Ware and
Olmsted. The
focal point of the new campus was the library, named after President Seth Low
in honor of his donation of one million dollars to erect this building. In this
draft of a letter to his partner Stanford White, Charles McKim, the lead
designer, explains that he cannot go golfing in Europe with White as President
Low has cut out such a lot of work for him. On the verso of this letter emerges
the conception of Low Library, remarkably close to the final version. This
letter was found within the office correspondence of Stanford White, who had kept
the letter under M for McKim. Avery Library received the incoming and outgoing
correspondence from the White family along with other gifts. From the
successor firm, Walker O. Cain Associates, the library acquired many of the
architectural drawings of the Columbia campus. The bulk of the firm’s archive,
more than 100,000 drawings as well as papers and files, was donated to the New York
Historical Society. Gift of
the Stanford White Family, 1981 50. William
Barclay Parsons (1859-1932) Diary,
Rapid Transit System of New York Typescript,
4 vols., with author’s initials in vol. 1, 1900 - 1904 RBML William
Barclay Parsons attended Columbia University and graduated in 1882. He was the
co-founder of the Spectator and became one of the great developers of the
civil engineering projects that ushered America into the modern age of
industrial design. He was chief engineer for the Rapid Transit System of New
York, and designed the original plans for the Interborough Rapid Transit system
which opened one hundred years ago, in 1904. His thorough
examinations of Manhattan’s topography resulted in his use of the less
expensive and more efficient cut-and-cover construction method for the first
subway lines. Parsons made an important survey of Chinese railroads (1898-99),
was on the board of consulting engineers for the Panama Canal (1905), and was
Chief engineer for the Cape Cod Canal (1905-14). He served as a colonel in the
Spanish American War and a general in World War I. Even his overseas duty did
not diminish his dedication to improving Columbia University, as he was
chairman of the Board of Trustees, a founder of what would become the Starr
East Asian Library, and a confidant of Nicholas Murray Butler during this time.
In addition to this diary, Columbia received Parson’s diaries kept during his work
on the Panama Canal and during World War I, as well as his fine collection of
railroad prints. Gift of William Barclay Parsons, Jr., 1958 51. Lewis Hine (1874 – 1940) Photograph of welder, Empire State Building New York, 1930-31 Avery Library, Drawings and Archives, Empire State Building Archive At the
time of its construction in 1930-31, the Empire State Building was the tallest
building in the world, its construction a fascination to everyone. As part of
the publicity for the building, the Empire State Corporation hired photographer
Lewis Hine to take photographs of the workers. Renowned for his social
documentary of immigrants, child labor, and the poor and working classes, Hine
was compelled by the economic realities of the Depression to take this
advertising job. His photographer’s eye was, however, unchanged by those
realities and delivered an intimate and often heroic vision of American
workers, published as Men at Work: Photographic Studies of Modern Men and Machines
(Macmillan Company, 1932). The Hine
photographs are part of the Empire State Building archive. Included in this
collection are over 400 demolition and construction photographs taken during
the razing of the Waldorf-Astoria and the building of the new skyscraper. There
are more than 20 scrapbooks of news items collected by clipping services that
document the publicity blitz promoting the building. Post-construction, the
publicity machine continued with the photographs of dozens of celebrities and political
figures who found the Observation Deck of the Empire State Building the perfect photo opportunity. Gift of the Empire State Building Corporation, 1971 52. September
11th 2001 Oral History Narrative and Memory Project Oral History
Research Office The
Columbia University Oral History Research Office [OHRO], in collaboration with
the Institute for Social and Economic Research Policy [ISERP] at Columbia University, has undertaken a major oral history project on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and their aftermath. More than 300 audiotaped
interviews have been conducted with a wide variety of people who were directly
and indirectly affected by the catastrophe. Many of the interviews were
conducted within six to eight weeks of the attacks, in order to document the
uniqueness and diversity of experiences of and responses to the catastrophe as
close to the events as possible. Initial funding for the project was
provided by the National Science Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and Columbia University. The early success of the project was also made possible by a
concentrated effort of volunteer oral historians, historians, sociologists,
journalists and student interviewers. The
objective of the Oral History Memory and Narrative Project is to gather as many
different perspectives on the impact of September 11th as possible, by asking
individuals to narrate their experiences of the events and their aftermath
through the telling of their life stories. The project is designed to
return to the same individuals at least twice, over a period of two years, to
assess the influences of September 11th on their self-understanding over
time. While the nucleus of the project is in New York, an effort has been
made to collect life stories around the country, and the scope of the project
will expand internationally pending future funding. Interviews have been
conducted over a broad spectrum of ethnic and professional categories, and
include those who have been discriminated against or lost work in the wake of
the events. Through the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, clusters of
interviews have been conducted with Afghan American immigrants as well as
refugees, Muslims and Sikhs, Latinos, and community and performance artists
whose lives and work have been influenced by the September 11th events. Art & Architecture 53. Marcus Vitruvius
Pollio (b. ca. 80/70 BCE) De
Architectvra [Rome?: s.n., 1486 or 1487] Avery
Library, Classics Collection Avery
Library, a memorial to Henry Ogden Avery, a New York architect who died
tragically young, was expressly established to make expensive treatises and
plate books accessible to architects and students. It was only quite natural,
then, that the first printed edition of Vitruvius’s De architectura
should enter Avery’s collections early on. Eight years after the library’s
founding, in March 1898, Henry’s father, Samuel Putnam Avery – a superlative
book collector as well as one of America’s first great art dealers – presented
a copy of the editio princeps to Columbia University. Most of
the little that is known of Vitruvius’s life has been gleaned from his ten
books on architecture, probably written around 30-20 BCE. He was a freeborn
Roman citizen with a liberal arts education as well as architectural training.
His text, the only architectural treatise to survive from Western antiquity,
remains the most important document for understanding the built environment of
the ancient Roman and Greek worlds. Although no papyrus scrolls of De
architectura are extant, medieval manuscripts are preserved. Probably at
least two fifteenth-century manuscripts were used by Giovanni Sulpicio, a Roman
humanist, to produce this first edition from movable type, which, like the
manuscripts, includes little illustrative matter (actually just one woodcut
diagram). The book is presumed to have been printed at Rome, current
scholarship favoring Eucharius Silber over Georg Herolt as printer. The
Avery copy is the second of two variant printings and is bound (as is often the
case) with the first printing of an ancient work on Rome’s waterworks,
Frontinus’s De aquæductibus (Rome?: s.n., 1486 or 1487), in early
nineteenth-century diced russia leather, decorated in gold and blind. The
annotations of a late fifteenth-century reader appear in its margins. The
inside front cover bears S. P. Avery’s bookplate with a quote from John Lyly’s Anatomy
of Wit (1579): “far more seemely were it for thee to have thy Study full
of Bookes than thy purses full of mony.” Avery Library today includes well over
a hundred different editions of Vitruvius among its 380,000-some volumes. Gift of
Samuel Putnam Avery, 1898 54.
Leon
Battista Alberti (1404 – 1472)
De re
aedificatoria Florence: Nicolaus Laurentii Alamaus, [1485]
Avery
Library, Classics Collection Although
Vitruvius’s is the oldest architectural treatise to survive in the West, the
first to have been printed from movable type was Alberti’s De re aedificatoria.
Indeed, Alberti’s was the first architectural treatise to be written in the
West since Vitruvius and consciously recalled the ancient work, being likewise
divided into ten books. Alberti wrote his text for patrons as well as
architects, in elegant Latin, a deliberate effort to bring status to
architecture and the architectural profession. He presented his treatise in
manuscript to Pope Nicholas V in 1450. The text was posthumously printed at Florence in 1485, with a preface by the scholar-poet Angelo Poliziano, addressed to
Lorenzo de’ Medici. Lorenzo already owned a manuscript of De re
aedificatoria, and he may indeed have lent it to the printer for the
setting of type. Avery
acquired the editio princeps within a year of its founding, from the New York City bookseller Stechert. The copy has been dutifully annotated by a non-Italian
student of the first half of the sixteenth-century; that is, up until leaf 23
of 204, where he appears to have stopped reading. Alberti’s treatise included
no illustrations, but for the first book on Lineaments, the reader has added
diagrams that reflect the author’s discussion of angles, arcs, and circles. The
volume was rebound in the late nineteenth century and bears the gilt arms of
the Bibliothèque de Mello on its front and back covers. Purchase,
1891 55. Underweysung der Messung Nuremberg: Hieronymus Andreae, 1525 RBML, Book Arts Collection Best known of the books on the
geometry of letterforms is Dürer’s Unterweysung der Messung (A Course on the
Art of Measurement). The text is printed in a form of blackletter known as
Fraktur. The book presents the principles of perspective developed in
Renaissance Italy, applying them to architecture, painting, and lettering.
Dürer’s designs of roman capital letters demonstrate how they can be created
using a compass and straightedge. Purchased with the American Type Founders Company Library
& Museum, 1941 56. Antoine
Lafréry (1512 – 1577) Speculum
Romanae Magnificentiae 610
prints of varying sizes mounted on sheets, 76.8 x 55.2 cm. Avery
Library, Drawings and Archives The Speculum
Romanae Magnificentiae is a collector’s album of engravings of Renaissance
Rome that takes its name from a title-page designed by Etienne Dupérac (ca.
1573-77) and published by Antoine Lafréry. In his shop at Rome, Lafréry offered
for sale well over a hundred prints of Roman subjects, which could be
supplemented with other prints, and bound up by visitors to the eternal city.
These sixteenth-century albums were in turn acquired by later collectors who
further expanded them. The
Avery-Crawford Speculum is what may be called a “super” Speculum,
consisting of over 600 prints assembled by the 26th Earl of Crawford
(James Ludovic Lindsay, 1847-1913), most probably from two Speculum
exemplars of 168 and 433 prints each. As was the fashion with these
nineteenth-century amalgamations, the prints were removed from their old mounts
and bindings, laid down on fresh sheets, and boxed. The Avery-Crawford Speculum
is distinguished by the number of unusual suites and single prints it contains,
as well as its size. Purchase,
1951 57. Sebastiano
Serlio (1475 – 1554) Book
VI, On Domestic Architecture Ink,
wash, and pencil on paper; drawing: 73 drawings on mount (62.3 x 47 cm.), and 63
text leaves (38.7 x 27 cm.), 1541 - ca. 1551 Avery
Library, Classics Collection “Book VI
is a unique treasure because in the great variety of needs it seeks to
accommodate it gives us, as no other book of its age has done, an insight into
Renaissance society and customs.” So, the architectural historian James
Ackerman introduced this manuscript in its first complete printing, over four
hundred years after its creation (Myra Nan Rosenfeld, Sebastiano Serlio on
Domestic Architecture . . . The Sixteenth-Century Manuscript of Book VI in the
Avery Library of Columbia University, 1978). The
Italian architect Sebastiano Serlio planned to issue seven books on
architecture, among the first illustrated manuals of their kind to be printed
in Europe. For reasons not fully known, one of these failed to find a
publisher, Book VI, On Domestic Architecture. The Avery manuscript of
Book VI is one of two extant in Serlio’s hand. It passed through various
private owners—some unknown and debated, some clearly known (the Bird family of
Cheshire, England, in the eighteenth century, and Dr. David Laing of Edinburgh in the nineteenth)—before arriving at Avery, on deposit, in 1920. Serlio
probably began work on the book, a series of designs for houses both modest and
regal, after arriving at the court of François I at Fontainebleau. Although the
volume was not published as intended, its ground plans, elevations, and cross
sections appear to have been known and influential. Drawings that have
fascinated historians include ones for the chateau at Ancy-le-Franc, which
established Serlio definitively as its architect, and Serlio’s proposed plan
and elevations for the Louvre, the earliest grand designs for the Parisian
royal palace; and one of the first Renaissance designs for a domed secular
building, noted for its similarity to Palladio’s Villa Rotonda. Purchase,
1924 58. John
Shute (d. 1563) The
First and Chief Grovndes of Architectvre vsed in all the auncient and famous
monymentes: with a farther & more ample discouse vyppon the same, than
hitherto hath been set out by any other. Pvblished by Ihon Shute, Paynter and
Archytecte London: Thomas Marshe, 1563 Avery
Library, Classics Collection The
First and Chief Grovndes of Architectvre is the first book in English on architecture and
of excessive rarity, even in an imperfect copy such as Avery Library’s, one of
only two copies held outside the British Isles. Shute was a painter-stainer and
does not seem to have worked as an architect, although he identifies himself as
such. He had visited Rome and includes his own accounts of ancient buildings
there, although his text in the main is indebted to Vitruvius, Philandrier, and
Serlio, being largely a manual on the five orders. The
book’s four engraved plates are less accomplished than contemporaneous
Continental work. The larger woodcut illustration of the Composite order has,
perhaps, greater charm and is the one original plate surviving in the Avery
copy. Shute’s book was influential in establishing English architectural
terminology. One of the earliest English textbooks, it appears to have been
popular, going through three further editions in the sixteenth century. These
editions are even scarcer than the first, with no copies traced for two of them.
According to library lore, the first edition was serendipitously acquired for Columbia when an Avery librarian walked into a London bookshop and asked if they had any
Shute. Purchase,
ca. 1947 59. Thomas
Wright (1711 – 1786) Various
& Valuable Sketches and Designs of Buildings Album of
ca. 175 drawings mounted on ca. 64 full leaves and numerous partial leaves, ink,
pencil, and wash on paper, (30 x 25.5 cm.) Avery
Library, Classics Collection Thomas
Wright is best known as an astronomer, but he was also active as a landscape
gardener and architect. His Universal Architecture (1755) in two parts
(Arbours and Grottos) is a beautiful printed book of true rarity. This
manuscript volume, however, is even rarer, being, of course, unique, and one of
just two surviving that document Wright’s designs beyond his published work. For
thirty years, Wright was employed by the 4th Duke and Duchess of
Beaufort at Badminton, where he filled their grounds with follies, grottoes,
and garden buildings, in the rustic, gothic, and Palladian styles. He also designed
country houses, pavilions, and gatehouses for other wealthy patrons. Some
drawings in the Avery volume have been identified as specific built projects
for Badminton and elsewhere; others are still unassigned. An identified and
wholly fantastic design is the garden barge with Chinese-style pagoda for
Frederick, Prince of Wales, intended to travel the Thames. The
Avery Wright manuscript was previously owned by Sir Thomas Phillipps
(1792-1872), the greatest of all manuscript collectors (he owned over 100,000).
Its front endpaper is inscribed: “Phillipps MS / 13448* / and / 13451 / (vol
1).” Phillipps manuscripts were dispersed in a series of sales, this one at London, in 1898. Purchase,
1967 60. François
de Cuvilliés (1695 – 1768) A
collection of engravings after the designs of François de Cuvilliés, the elder
and his son, François the younger (1731 – 1777) Paris and Munich, 1738 - ca. 1772 Bound
for Victor Massena, Prince d’Essling (1836 – 1910) Avery
Library, Classics Collection This
large and unique compendium of ornament and architectural design by one of the
greatest of rococo designers, Cuvilliés the elder, and his son, both architects
at the Bavarian court, has been fully analyzed by Herbert Mitchell in The
Avery Library Selected Acquisitions 1960-80: An Exhibition in Honor of Adolf K.
Placzek (1980). It comprises 337 engravings on 307 leaves and includes the
celebrated Morceaux de caprice à divers usages characteristically
inventive and wonderfully bizarre. The
volume came to Columbia in 1962 as part of the John Jay Ide (1892-1962)
bequest, one of the most substantial gifts of books to Avery Library after the
initial donation of Henry Ogden Avery’s collection. Ide was a great-great
grandson of John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States and one of Columbia’s most famous graduates. He had a distinguished career as an aeronautics expert
but actually first studied architecture at Columbia, where, no doubt, Avery
Library inspired his love of books. Bequest
of John Jay Ide, 1962 61. James
Adam (d. 1794) British Order Ink and wash on paper with red highlighting, (116 x 60
cm.), 1762 Avery Library, Drawings and Archives The
third son of Scottish architect William Adam became best known as the partner
of his brother Robert, who was one of the most important architects in England in the second half of the eighteenth century and a leading international figure in
the neoclassical movement in Europe. Pursuant to their gaining knowledge of the
“spirit of antiquity” both brothers had undertaken extensive stays in Rome and had been guided by the French architect Charles Louis Clerisseau, a pensionnaire
at the French Academy in Rome. It was during James’s tenure in Rome, 1760-1763, that this drawing, replete with Crown of Britain and other symbols of the
Empire, was made as part of his project for the Houses of Parliament. Although
he had little chance of winning the commission, James dedicated the design to
the Earl of Bute, a close friend of the King. 62. Giovanni
Battista Piranesi (1720 – 1778) Elevazione ortografica della Tribuna, e del
Presbiterio della Basilica Lateranense From
Varj Disegni fatti d’ordine della Santità di Nostro Signore PAPA CLEMENTE
XIII NEL’ANNO 1764 . . . pe’l compimento della nuova Basilica
Lateranense: presentati nell’anno 1767 . . . Pen and
brown ink, with gray and brown washes on paper, (89.7 x 57.2 cm.) Avery
Library, Classics Collection This
artfully embellished section is one of twenty-three drawings at Avery that
present Piranesi’s ideas for the redesign of San Giovanni in Laterano at Rome. Widely acclaimed for their beauty and historical importance, they are justly
regarded as the crowning glory of Avery Library’s considerable Piranesi
holdings. Avery
began collecting the work of the great Venetian-born printmaker Piranesi soon
after its founding, acquiring an almost complete set of the Rome printing of his
Opere in 1892. Through the years, other notable materials were added: a
first state of the Antichità Romane (1756); a rare copy of the Lettere
di Giustificazione (1767); the Prima parte di architetture (1743),
Piranesi’s first printed work; and a manuscript account book recording
construction costs for Piranesi’s redesign of the church of Santa Maria del
Priorato in Rome (1764-1767). In 1970,
through the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Arthur M. Sackler, Avery acquired a
collection of most of Piranesi’s major works in their early states up to 1764.
And in 1971, once again through the Sacklers’ beneficence, Avery acquired
twenty-three of the twenty-five known large drawings for the redesign of the
Lateran Basilica, in memory of Rudolf Wittkower, chairman of Columbia’s Art
History and Archaeology Department from 1956 to 1969. Jointly
executed by Piranesi and his assistants, these drawings propose various
architectural solutions for rites in the church space, sympathetic with the
remodeling by Francesco Borromini (1599-1667). They were commissioned by Pope
Clement XIII and presented to his nephew Cardinal G. B. Rezzonico; however,
none of the six schemes was ever realized. They remain a magnificent record of
Piranesi’s second and final attempt to work as an architect. Gift of
Dr. and Mrs. Arthur M. Sackler in Memory of Rudolf Wittkower, 1971 63. Abraham
Swan (ca. 1720 – ca. 1765) A
Collection of Designs in Architecture, Containing New Plans and Elevations of
Houses, for General Use Philadelphia: R. Bell Bookseller, 1775 Avery
Library, Classics Collection Swan’s Collection
of Designs is the second architectural book to be printed in the Colonies,
and by far the rarest of the handful printed before 1800 in what came to be the
United States of America. It appears that only two other copies exist, at the
New York Public Library and Winterthur in Delaware. The
printer Robert Bell and engraver John Norman had announced their intention to
publish A Collection of Designs, in twelve monthly numbers, in their
publication of Swan’s British Architect (1775), the first book on
architecture printed in the Colonies. Perhaps because of the political
situation, only this, the first number, ever appeared. The book was dedicated
to John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress. Its dedication leaf
features an emblem engraved by Norman, symbolizing the unity of the thirteen
colonies. The
Avery copy was purchased by Richard Smith (1735-1803), a delegate to the
Continental Congress, while on recess in Philadelphia. His inscription on the
title-page, “Richd. Smith Novr. 15. 1775,” gives a terminus ante quem
for publication; the fascicule with its ten leaves of plates may have been
available some months earlier. In the twentieth century, the book was owned by the
Pennsylvania senator’s nephew and namesake, Boies Penrose II (1902-1976), who
affixed his ex-libris to the title-page’s verso. Purchase,
1990 64. Minard Lafever (1797 – 1854) Drawings for unbuilt church in Brooklyn Heights, 1840 Avery Library, Drawings and Archives Lafever’s
reputation rests on two aspects of his career. In the 1820s and 1830s, the
architect published several works that promoted the Greek Revival style. His Modern
Builders’ Guide, first printed in 1833, had seven editions by 1855, their
popularity due to their designs for townhouses then gaining fashion in New York. Lafever was also known for his Gothic Revival churches, mostly executed in Brooklyn. Upjohn’s Trinity Church, begun in 1839, had sparked this interest in Gothic
Revival churches. These drawings are designs for an unbuilt church on Henry and
Montague, which may be an early version of Holy Trinity on Montague Street. It
was perhaps too expensive for the funds raised by subscription. This drawing is
bound in a book of specifications for the church along with other drawings and
a print of Holy Trinity as built. Purchased
through the New York Chapter American Institute of Architects Heritage Ball
fund, 1989 65. David
Octavius Hill (1802 – 1870) A
Series of Calotype Views of St. Andrews Edinburgh: D. O. Hill and R. Adamson, 1846 Avery
Library, Classics Collection This
volume of twenty-two mounted calotypes is the third book of photographic
illustrations to be published and the first such to be devoted to the monuments
and scenery of just one city, St. Andrews, Scotland. David Octavius Hill was a
painter and illustrator and learned the art of calotype photography from Robert
Adamson (1821-1848), with whom he first teamed in 1843, to tackle a daunting
group portrait project. Adamson had been trained by his brother, John, who had
learned the process from Sir David Brewster, a friend of William Henry Fox
Talbot (1800-1877), the inventor of negative-to-positive paper photography. The Views
of St. Andrews has a printed title-page but no table of contents. There are
fewer than ten copies recorded, and each differs in assortment and number of
images. The calotypes in the Avery copy have faded, as is usual. Alas, the
ephemeral medium eerily seems to suit the medieval ruins, nineteenth-century
fisher folk, and top-hatted gentlemen depicted. Too fragile for exhibition, the
book is preserved and made available through study prints. Avery
acquired this volume early on from a London bookseller. For years it sat on the
open shelves, classed with other books on Scotland’s cities, more a novelty,
perhaps, than a “treasure.” Today, as photomechanical processes in book
illustration give way to digital ones, the significance of this volume is
obvious. Purchase,
1896 66. Dickinson’s Comprehensive Pictures of the
Great Exhibition of 1851. From the Originals Painted for H. R. M. Prince
Albert, by Messrs. Nash, Haghe, and Roberts London: Dickinson Brothers, 1854 2
volumes Avery
Library, Classics Collection This
deluxe edition was created to commemorate the 1851 exhibition in the Crystal Palace. Great Britain’s Prince Albert had proposed a trade exhibition like no other
before it, truly international, with the work of nearly 14,000 exhibitors from
twenty-six nations on view. To house such an event, Joseph Paxton (1803-1865)
designed a new type of building, using the latest in cast iron and glass
technology. Sited in London’s Hyde Park, the landmark structure, 1848 feet long
by 408 feet wide, was visited by more than six million people in the
exhibition’s five months. Public feeling for the temporary building was so
strong that it was re-erected in South London, in enlarged form, the year that
these volumes appeared. Fire destroyed the Crystal Palace in 1936. Dickinson’s
Comprehensive Pictures document the pomp and ritual in this resplendent space, and the
exhibits—from European bourgeois furnishings and modern machinery to an Arab
tent from Tunis, draped with leopard and lion skins. Avery’s set of these
spectacular large-format color plate books—from the genre’s heyday in the
nineteenth century—is a unique one. The fifty-five chromolithographs, with some
details colored by hand, are in proof impressions, many signed in pencil by the
artists. Purchase,
1963 67. Stanford
White (1853 – 1906) Album
of family letters with sketches Mixed
media, 1873-78 Avery
Library, Drawings and Archives, Stanford White Collection Throughout
his life White was a prolific letter writer, both professionally and
personally. This album, one of four in the Avery collection, contains letters
to his mother and father during his employment with Henry Hobson Richardson in Boston. The letters reveal his enormous energy, keen observation, and personal magnetism,
as well as his strong affection for his parents. White often included sketches
of scenes he described. At this early stage in his career, he had only recently
given up his wish to become an artist, instead focusing his artistic talents on
a career in architecture. Unlike the clarity of his artistic vision, White’s
handwriting was nearly illegible; fortunately his son, the architect Lawrence
Grant White, transcribed the letters when he compiled these albums of letters
and drawings. In
addition to these albums, the White family has donated more than 500 drawings
for the White houses in St. James and on Gramercy Park in Manhattan and a
variety of other projects. They have donated letterpress books with outgoing
correspondence and incoming correspondence for White’s professional activities
from 1887-1907 as well as a death mask and plaster cast of the architect’s
hand. Acquired by purchase and gift, 1999 68a. Louis H. Sullivan (1856 – 1924) Drawing for Doorknob, Guaranty Building, Buffalo, New York, 1895 Avery Library, Drawings and Archives, Louis Sullivan
Collection 68b. Yale & Towne Doorknob, Guaranty Building Cast iron, 1895 Avery Library,
Drawings and Archives, Louis Sullivan Collection Considered
one of Sullivan’s most famous buildings, the Guaranty Building retains much of
its original decorative elements designed by the architect. The drawing shows
the general outline of the doorknob that was used throughout the building. Yale
& Towne, a manufacturer of cast iron architectural elements, produced the
doorknob. The
drawing was part of a group of drawings that Sullivan gave to Frank Lloyd
Wright, who had worked for Sullivan as a young architect. The drawings were
purchased for Avery after Wright’s death by Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., whose family
had commissioned Wright’s Fallingwater. The doorknob was an extra found at the
building and donated to the library. Purchase, 1965 69. Frank
Lloyd Wright (1867 – 1959) Drawing
of dining room, Dana House, Springfield, Illinois Watercolor
on paper, (62 x 50.5 cm.), 1902-04 Avery
Library, Drawings and Archives Susan
Lawrence Dana commissioned this house from Wright in 1902-04, which is now a
state landmark. The cut-away view of the dining room, complete with furniture,
hanging lamps, sculpture, and wallpaper, makes the room look much larger than
its true size. This drawing appears in an early photograph of Wright’s Oak Park office and was purchased from the architect’s son, John Lloyd Wright. John
Wright’s notes indicate that his father was the draughtsman of the drawing,
although others have claimed authorship for George Niedecken, an interior
decorator who collaborated with Wright. Purchased
from John Lloyd Wright, 1969 70. Greene & Greene Detail drawing of decorative window, Earle C. Anthony
House, Los Angeles Pencil on paper, 1913 Avery Library, Drawings and Archives, Greene & Greene
Collection Born in Ohio and educated at MIT, these brothers designed several of the most distinguished Arts
and Crafts houses in the United States, mostly in Pasadena and other towns in
southern California. Combining Japanese-inspired wood construction and
individually designed and handcrafted furniture and objects in houses that
opened into the beautiful California climate, Greene and Greene defined the California bungalow in the early 20th century. This stained glass window was designed for
the house of the Los Angeles businessman, Earle C. Anthony, for whom the
brothers had also designed a showroom for his Packard dealership. The mixture
of Japanese-inspired line with California flora—here the live oak—was typical
of the Greenes’s design sensibility. The
Greene and Greene papers are spread among three repositories: the Gamble House,
the Environmental Design Archives at UC Berkeley, and the Avery Library. Under
the aegis of the Gamble House, now a house museum belonging to the University of Southern California, the three repositories cooperated on a “virtual archive”
of the three collections. The site can be located at the Gamble House’s
website: http://www.usc.edu/dept/architecture/greeneandgreene/. Gift, 1960 71a. Rafael Guastavino (1842 – 1908) Drawing for Dater House, Montecito, California Pencil & colored pencil on tracing paper, (24.1 x
18.7 cm.), 1917 Avery Library, Drawings and Archives, The Guastavino
Fireproof Construction Company/ George Collins Architectural Records &
Drawings 71b. Rafael Guastavino (1842 – 1908) Tile made for Dater House Polychromed terra cotta, (14.6 x 14.6 x 2 cm.) 1917 Avery Library, Drawings and Archives, The Guastavino
Fireproof Construction Company/ George Collins Architectural Records &
Drawings Rafael
Guastavino was a Spanish émigré architect who brought to the United States a centuries-old vernacular method of building fireproof vaults and domes and
adapted it to the steel-frame construction prevalent in this country. Although
Guastavino practiced as an architect in Barcelona and in New York on his
arrival, his career took an unexpected turn through his connection with Charles
McKim and his work at the Boston Public Library in the late 1880s. It was at
this building that Guastavino began to function primarily as a contractor
building vaults and domes. His company, the Guastavino Fireproof Construction
Company, under his leadership and that of his son, Rafael, Jr., was extremely
prolific. By the time the firm closed its door in 1962, they had built vaults,
domes, and other architectural elements in approximately 1,000 buildings in the
United States. Their best known works include the Oyster Bar in Grand Central
Terminal and the dome at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The
Guastavinos worked frequently with Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, the architect of
notable Gothic churches and the Nebraska State Capitol. Goodhue had an interest
in Mexican architecture, which he put to use in his designs for the
Panama-Pacific exposition in San Diego in 1915. These tiles were designed for
the Dater house in Montecito, California, but were also used in San Diego and at the Goodhue hotel in Colon, Panama. Goodhue, more than any other
architect the Guastavinos worked with, took advantage of the decorative
possibilities of the surfaces of the Guastavino vaults and domes. The
Guastavino papers were saved through the efforts of the late George R. Collins,
Professor of Art History and donated to the University in 1963. Professor
Collins served as custodian and guide to the papers until his retirement in
1988, when the archives were transferred to the Avery Library. Gift, 1963 72. Hendrick
Petrus Berlage (1856 – 1934) Frank
Lloyd Wright. Wendingen Amsterdam: “De Hooge Brug,” 1921 Avery
Library, Classics Collection This
special number of the Dutch art magazine Wendingen testifies to the
international reverberations of American architecture in the early twentieth
century, as well as the powerful intersection of typography and book design
with criticism and the visual arts. It also serves as a fine example of Avery
Library’s architectural periodicals collection, perhaps the largest in the
world. Under
the editorial and design leadership of H. Th. Wijdeveld, the periodical
entitled Wendingen—“Upheavals” or “Turnings”—was intended as a medium
for creation and not just art journalism. Individual issues were dedicated to a
single subject, with writings by noted practitioners. The distinctive format
and style of binding echoed Japanese traditions. Covers were conceived as works
of art, most being designed by “representative members” of the society
sponsoring the publication, Architectura et Amicitia. For this
issue devoted to Frank Lloyd Wright the artist El Lissitzky (1890-1941) was
paid to provide the cover design, among his first commissions upon leaving Russia. In the magazine’s fourth year (1921), German-language and English-language editions
of issues began to appear, evidence of its appeal beyond the Netherlands. This deluxe copy of the English edition of vol. 4, no. 11, is one of about 75
produced with heavier paper and hard covers. The text of the influential Dutch
modern architect Berlage introduces a selection of photographs and renderings
of Wright’s work, including Midway Gardens, Taliesin, the Imperial Hotel, and
the Barnsdale Theatre. A further seven issues of Wendingen would be
devoted to Wright in 1925-26. 73. Florine
Stettheimer (1871 – 1944) Portrait
of Myself, 1923 Oil on canvas,
on masonite or canvas mounted board, signed and dated, upper left, “Florine St.”
(100 x 65 cm.), 1923 Office
of Art Properties Florine
Stettheimer was an artist, designer and poet. Although during her lifetime she
was little known outside the circle of New York modernists of which she and her
sisters were a part, Stettheimer’s achievements in painting, costume and set
design have since been recognized as important contributions to American art in
the first half of the twentieth century. She was born in Rochester, New York, the second youngest of five children in a well-to-do German-Jewish family. In
1914, after studying art in both New York and Europe, Stettheimer settled permanently
in New York City with her mother and two sisters. Together they hosted salons
and intellectual gatherings for over twenty years that included such figures as
Marcel Duchamp, Carl Van Vechten, Georgia O’Keefe, and Alfred Stieglitz, many
of whom became the subjects of Stettheimer’s portraits. Her
first and only solo exhibition during her lifetime took place in 1916. It was a
great disappointment to her, and subsequently Stettheimer showed her work only
in group exhibitions. In her vividly colored portraits of family and friends,
Stettheimer experimented with modernist styles and expressed her often witty
social commentary on contemporary culture. She created sets and costumes for
two never-produced ballets and the well-known 1934 Gertrude Stein and Virgil
Thomson opera Four Saints in Three Acts. In addition to the paintings
cataloged by Columbia’s Office of Art Properties, the Rare Book and Manuscript
Library holds her journals, early paintings and drawings, scrapbooks, and figurines,
including those for Four Saints, included in the Theater &
Performing Arts section of this exhibition. Her Portrait of Myself shows the artist dressed in
a diaphanous gown; she floats beneath the arch of her signature, which ends in
a radiant sun and dancing mayfly. Gift of the
Estate of Ettie Stettheimer, 1967 74. Roy Lichtenstein (1923 – 1997) Untitled, 1974 Lithograph
and silkscreen with embossing, (103 x 81.875 cm., sheet; 82.6 x 60.6 cm., plate) 1/100,
from the portfolio For Meyer Schapiro, twelve signed prints by twelve
artists, published by The Committee to Endow a Chair in Honor of Meyer Schapiro
at Columbia. Office
of Art Properties This
portfolio is a tribute to Meyer Schapiro (1904–1996), distinguished teacher,
lecturer, and scholar, whose writings have influenced generations of scholars
and critics the world over, particularly in the areas of medieval and modern
art. Affiliated with Columbia since he enrolled as a freshman in 1920 at age
16, he earned three degrees at the University, including the Ph.D. in 1929,
with a dissertation on the Romanesque sculpture of Moissac. Schapiro began
teaching art history at Columbia in 1928 and rose through the professorial
ranks to become full professor in 1952. He was named University Professor, Columbia’s highest rank, in 1965 and was designated University Professor Emeritus 1973. Known as
a champion of the art of his time, Schapiro not only wrote about contemporary
art but was a friend of countless artists. As a gesture to their friend and
mentor on his 70th birthday, 12 artists, among them Jasper Johns, Ellsworth
Kelly, Robert Motherwell, Claes Oldenburg, Saul Steinberg, Frank Stella, and
Andy Warhol, in addition to Roy Lichtenstein, created this portfolio of
original lithographs, etchings, and silk screens. Philanthropy, Social Services, Human Rights 75. Memorial
to the Columbia College Board of Trustees Printed
document, with
signatures in ink, on paper, 26 sections, New York, 1882 – 1883 Barnard College, Barnard College Archives On April 22, 1882, a large public meeting was held to
discuss the reform of women’s higher education in the City of New York. The
venue was the Union League Club on East 39th Street, which had been
formed in 1863 to support the Union during the Civil War. Prominent speakers at
this meeting included Joseph H. Choate, the Reverend Henry C. Potter, and
Sidney Smith, who drew attention to the “empty minds and nimble fingers of
women” in arguing that there was a need for reform in women’s education. When
it was Choate’s turn to speak, he stressed that women were entitled to an equal
education and called for an end to the “educational privileging” of the male
sex. At the conclusion of the event, attendees began signing a petition calling
on the Trustees of Columbia College, the leading institution of higher learning
in New York, “to extend with as little delay as possible to such properly
qualified women as might desire it, the benefit of education at Columbia College by admitting them to lectures and examinations.” As more persons signed in
the subsequent weeks and months, section after section was glued on to extend
the document, until it was 75 feet long and held the signatures of 1,410
persons, including those of then United States President Chester A. Arthur,
Samuel P. Avery, Theodore Roosevelt, and Susan B. Anthony. Presented to the Columbia College Board of Trustees in
February of 1883, the giant Memorial served as proof that many progressive
citizens of New York favored the idea of post-secondary co-education, a trend
that was already well-established elsewhere in the United States. Although the
Trustees (with the lone exception of President Frederick A. P. Barnard) voted
to reject the Memorial’s substance, it did persuade them to immediately form
the Select Committee on the Education of Women. In the fall of 1883, the
Committee issued a report advocating the improvement of higher education for
women. Although still not allowed to attend the lectures that were so essential
to a genuine college education, qualified women were offered the Collegiate
Course for Women, which permitted them to receive syllabi and to take
examinations. When Annie Nathan Meyer enrolled in the Collegiate Course, she
found its shortcomings so great that she made it her personal mission to help
found an independent, four-year women’s college in the City of New York annexed to Columbia, and with precisely the same academic standards. That vision
finally was realized in the fall of 1889, when Barnard College opened with the
provisional blessing of the Columbia College Board of Trustees. In the spring of 2003, one hundred twenty years after it
was presented to the Columbia College Board of Trustees, the Giant Memorial was
returned to the Barnard College Archives by the Northeast Document Conservation
Center, following a process of manual restoration that took the better part of
a year, and was made possible by a generous gift from the Class of 1942.
Originally rolled on a wooden dowel, too fragile to be examined for many years,
the 75-foot document was meticulously repaired, flattened, photographed, and
cut into twenty-six sections which were individually encapsulated in Mylar. 76. Eastman
Johnson (1824 – 1906) Portrait
of Fredrick A. P. Barnard Black
and white chalk on prepared gray paper, mounted on linen, signed, (61 x 45.1), 1886 Office
of Art Properties Frederick
Augustus Porter Barnard (1809–1889) succeeded Charles King as president of Columbia College, now Columbia University. During his long administration (1864–89), Columbia grew from a small undergraduate college of 150 students into one of the nation’s
great universities, with an enrollment of 1,500. He was instrumental in
expanding the curriculum, adding departments, and fostering the development of
the School of Mines (founded 1864; now part of the Fu Foundation School of
Engineering and Applied Science). He extended the elective system and advocated
equal educational privileges for men and women. Barnard College, the woman’s
undergraduate unit of Columbia, was named for him, who was a staunch advocate
of higher education for women. Renowned for his sophisticated portrayals of
American rural life, Eastman Johnson was also one of the most cosmopolitan
painters of his era. During the 1880s, he turned almost exclusively to
portraiture. This chalk drawing is probably a study for the large oil portrait
that hangs in Low Memorial Library. 77. Records of College Donations New York Bound manuscript volume, 1901-30 RBML, Carnegie Corporation of New York Archives This volume contains the records of donations made by
Andrew Carnegie and subsequently the Carnegie Corporation of New York to
colleges and universities for their endowments, libraries, scholarships, new
buildings, programs and research. Gift of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, 1990 78. Carnegie Family Convention, Pittsburgh Black and white photograph, Pittsburgh Gazette Times, (25.4 x 30.5 cm.), April 1910 RBML, Carnegie Corporation of New York Archives This photograph shows the Carnegie family in Pittsburgh on the return of Mr. Andrew Carnegie (front row, third from the left) and Mrs.
Louise Whitfield Carnegie (front row, second from the left) from California en route to New York. Pittsburgh was the first place of residence in the United States for the 12-year-old Andrew, when he arrived from Scotland along with his
parents Margaret and William, and his younger brother Tom. The family chose Pittsburgh, since Margaret Carnegie’s sisters had already been living in the area. Pittsburgh witnessed Carnegie’s meteoric rise from bobbin boy on a cotton mill to a telegraph
operator, then to a railroad manager, then to a steel industry titan. Over the
years many other members of the extended family settled there as well. Andrew
Carnegie moved to New York City in 1867, but Pittsburgh has always remained the
site of his steel factories, and the recipient of many Carnegie benefactions. Gift of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, 1990 79. Typed letter, signed, to Robert A. Franks Skibo Castle, Scotland, September 1, 1910 RBML, Carnegie Corporation of New York Archives One of several hundred letters from Andrew Carnegie to
his close friend and financial agent, Robert A. Franks authorizing payments for
various charity causes. Franks was the president and director of the Carnegie
Home Trust Company (the trust to invest, keep, and distribute the money for
Carnegie’s pensions and philanthropic activities) and served as a trustee, an
executive committee member and a treasurer for both the Carnegie Foundation for
Advancement of Teaching and the Carnegie Corporation of New York until his
death in 1935; for some years he was also treasurer of the Teachers Insurance Annuity
Association of America. The letter uses simplified spelling, championed by the
New York State Librarian Melvil Dewey and much favored by Carnegie. This
spelling was used for all official documents in early days of the Carnegie
philanthropic foundations. Gift of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, 1990 80. Contract for “The Psycho-Analytic Problem of the War” Typescript, signed, Vienna, October 10, 1921 RBML, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Records This contract between Sigmund Freud and the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, is signed by Freud and James S. Shotwell,
the General Editor of the CEIP’s seminal 150-volume series Economic and
Social History of the World War. In December 1921, Freud, informing
Shotwell that he “can’t make any headway,” asked to be released from the
contract. In 1924, as the series was brought to a conclusion, Shotwell became
director of the CEIP Division of Economics and History. Gift of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
1953-54 81. Lillian D.
Wald (1867 – 1940) The
House on Henry Street Autograph
manuscript, ca. 1915 RBML,
Lillian Wald Papers One of
the most influential and respected social reformers of the 20th century,
Lillian D. Wald (1867-1940) founded the Henry Street Settlement in 1893. She
focused her energy on improving the health and hygiene of immigrant women on
the impoverished Lower East Side. Wald devoted herself to the community
full-time and within a decade the Settlement included a team of twenty nurses
offering an astonishing array of innovative and effective social, recreational
and educational services. Wald
pioneered public health nursing by placing nurses in public schools and with
corporations. She founded the National Organization for Public Health Nursing
and Columbia University’s School of Nursing, becoming an international crusader
for human rights and a labor activist. The Lillian Wald Papers focus on the
administration of the Henry Street Settlement that she directed until 1932, and
her involvement in numerous philanthropic and progressive causes. Her office
files trace the founding and growth of the Settlement from 1895-1933. Other
papers detail her activities on behalf of child welfare, civil liberties,
immigration, public health, unemployment, the peace movement during World War
I. The House on Henry Street … with Illustrations from Etchings and Drawings
by Abraham Phillips and from Photographs was published by Henry Holt and
Company in 1915. The book became a classic, influencing generations of nursing,
sociology, and social welfare students. Gift of
the Visiting Nurse Service, through Mrs. Eva M. Reese, 1967 82. Jessie
Tarbox Beals (1870 – 1942) Photograph
of slum children Photograph
#1900, ca. 1918-19 RBML, Community
Service Society Papers Jessie
Tarbox was born in 1870 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Her family’s comfortable
lifestyle allowed her, at the age of 14, to attend the prestigious Collegiate
Institute of Ontario. Her first photographs were of the children in her
classroom in 1888. By 1900 The County Reformer newspaper published
Jessie’s photographs of a carnival, making her the world’s first female
photojournalist. Her superb work led her to become one of the official
photographers of the St. Louis World’s Fair. In 1905 she moved to New York City where with her husband, Alfred Beals, she ran a successful studio until her
death in 1942. During
this time, she took many photographs for the Community Service Society, an
organization that, through its predecessor organizations, the Association for
Improving the Condition of the Poor and the Charity Organization Society, has tackled
the problem of urban poverty for 150 years. They were responsible for the first
public baths in New York City in 1852, the first model tenement in 1855, the first
shelter for homeless men in 1893, a prototype of the free lunch program in
1913, and the ground-work for New York State’s Old Age Assistance Act of 1930.
The Rare Book and Manuscript Library was designated as the repository of the
CSS papers in 1979, comprising to date some 300 linear feet of material, including
hundreds of photographs. Gift of
the Community Service Society, 1979 and ongoing 83. Varian
Fry (1907 – 1967) Surrender
on Demand Typed
manuscript, with autograph corrections, ca. 1942-45 RBML,
Varian Fry Papers Surrender
on Demand, published
just before VE Day in 1945, describes the dramatic story of the underground
organizations set up by Americans in France to rescue anti-Nazis from the Gestapo.
Fry, a 32-year old Harvard-educated classicist and editor from New York City, helped save 4,000 endangered refugees who were caught in the Vichy French
area during World War II, including Max Ernst, Marc Chagall, Hannah Arendt,
Andre Breton, Marcel Duchamp, Franz Werfel, and Alma Mahler. In 1991, 24 years
after his death in obscurity, Fry received his first official recognition from
a United States agency, the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. In 1996, he
was named as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Heros and
Martyrs Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem. Gift of
Annette Riley Fry, 1969 and 1974 84. John
Howard Griffin (1920 – 1980) Journal Typescript,
with interspersed photographs, 1950 - 1980 RBML,
John Howard Griffin Papers This
massive Journal runs to 2,762 pages of single-spaced typed pages and
covers the years 1950 - 1980. This page count does not include ten autograph
notebooks he kept while traveling. Griffin kept a journal from the age of
sixteen until twenty-one. When France was about to fall to the Germans, he gave
the journals to a schoolmate for safe-keeping. “Years later when I returned to France [in 1976], I retrieved the journal which had been buried on my friend’s father’s
farm during the war.” As he read what he had written so long ago, Griffin became saddened by the discovery that it was filled with petty reflection on
music, food, and literature and practically nothing on the World War. Griffin burned this journal. John
Mason Brown, the theatre critic, encouraged Griffin to write. The result was
his first novel, The Devil Rides Outside, written in 1949. Griffin began his mature Journal in December of 1950, the third year of his
blindness. He would regain his sight seven years later. When he was not working
on novels or short stories, he wrote his Journal, which became a seedbed
for most of the work he would publish later. Its pages are full of fragments
and drafts of stories and novels; essays and articles; meditations on human
rights, the Civil Rights Movement, and major events such as the murder of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., ethics, religion and philosophy; responses to the
music he listened to constantly; discussions of cooking, farming and family
relationships; insights into the realities of blindness and how the condition
is wrongly perceived by the sighted; speculations on psychology, sociology, anthropology
and the arts in relation to the diminishment of culture in America. Purchased
with the John Howard Griffin Papers, 1995 85. Hiroshima Project Typescript,
with photographs RBML, Ivan Morris Papers Ivan Ira Esme Morris was a member of the Columbia faculty
from 1960 until his death in 1976, serving as chairman of the East Asian
Department from 1966-69. His field was Japanese literature and culture, but he
was also very active in the human rights organization Amnesty International. A
member of the group’s executive committee in London, he co-founded an American
section and served as section chairman from 1973-76. Morris’s “Hiroshima
Project” recorded the personal accounts of survivors of the Hiroshima nuclear
bomb blast. Included with each account is a photograph of the person, bringing
to life their deeply personal struggles to live with the pain of their
experiences. These accounts also contain anecdotal documentation of the medical
problems suffered by each interviewee as a result of the blast, as well as
recording the exact distance that each person was from its epicenter. Gift of
Annalita M. Alexander, 1979 and ongoing 86. John
Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917 – 1963) Executive
Order, Equal Opportunity in Housing Typscript,
signed, with pen, November 27, 1962 RBML, Whitney
M. Young, Jr. Papers John F. Kennedy
had criticized President Dwight Eisenhower during the election campaign of 1960
for not eliminating discrimination in housing “by the stroke of a pen.” On November 27, 1962, President Kennedy issued this executive order prohibiting racial and
religious discrimination in housing built or purchased with Federal aid, and
set up the President’s Committee on Equal Opportunity in Housing. He then sent
this copy, with a pen used in the signing ceremony, to Whitney M. Young, Jr.
(1921-1971), Executive Director of the National Urban League from 1961 until
his tragic death in 1971. Young’s papers, including correspondence, speeches,
reports, testimony, press releases, and the texts of his radio broadcasts “To
Be Equal,” document his leadership. Gift of
Mrs. Margaret Young in memory of Whitney M. Young, Jr. (LL.D 1971), 1975 87a. Presidential
Medal of Freedom and Certificate signed by the President, Awarded to Herbert H.
Lehman (posthumously) by President Lyndon B. Johnson, December 6, 1963 Silver
miniature medal, ribbon bar, and silver lapel emblem, in walnut presentation
case lined with silver gray plush and white satin, with silver disk containing
the arms of the President of the United States inset in the cover of the case.
Certificate signed by the President, with citation formally detailing the
achievements for which the President is recognizing the individual. RBML,
Lehman Papers 87b. Photograph
of President Johnson presenting the Medal of Freedom to Edith Altschul Lehman
(Mrs. Herbert H. Lehman) Washington, D.C., December 6, 1963 RBML,
Lehman Papers The
Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian award, which
recognizes exceptional contributions to the security or national interests of
the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public
or private endeavors. Among all American honors, it ranks second to only the
Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award. The medal
was established by President Truman in 1945 to recognize notable service in the
war. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy
reintroduced it as an honor for distinguished civilian service in
peacetime. While the medal may be awarded for singular acts of importance,
it is customarily given only for a lifetime of service or at the conclusion of
a distinguished career. With this criterion, it was altogether fitting that the
Medal of Freedom was presented to Herbert H. Lehman in 1964 for 35 years of
service as both Lieutenant Governor (1928-1932) and Governor of New York
(1933-1942), Director-General of the United Nations Rehabilitation and Relief
Administration (1943-1946), and U.S. Senator from New York (1949-1956). This
particular award ceremony was significant in that it marked the reintroduction
of the medal as a civil honor, but the occasion was also saddened by the
absence of two men: John F. Kennedy, who had been assassinated during the
previous November and Herbert Lehman himself, whose death in New York occurred
just minutes before his departure to Washington to receive the award. Lehman’s
wife of over fifty years, Edith Altschul Lehman, journeyed to the White House
and accepted the medal on her late husband’s behalf. As the
medal was presented to Mrs. Lehman, President Johnson read, “The President of
the United States of America awards this Presidential Medal of Freedom to
Herbert H. Lehman, citizen and statesman. He has used wisdom and compassion as
the tools of government and he has made politics the highest form of public
service.” Mrs. Lehman accepted the award and replied, “I can’t tell you how
honored I feel to accept this medal. I want to also say that the knowledge that
this medal was coming to him added a great deal to his last hours of life.” Among
Lehman’s fellow award recipients that year were: Thornton Wilder, Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe, E. B. White, George Meany, Marian Anderson, Edward Steichen,
Felix Frankfurter and the late President John F. Kennedy. Gift of
the Estate of Edith Altschul Lehman, 1976 88. Archdiocese
of Sao Paulo Projeto
A “Brasil: Nunca Mais” Sao
Paulo: Arquidiocese
de Sao Paulo, 1985 Arthur
W. Diamond Law Library, Special Collections “Nunca
mais — Never again.” On April 1, 1964 a military coup in Brazil established a regime which made political prisoners of dissenting citizens and
people who belonged to “clandestine organizations.” During the time Brazil remained under military control, from 1964 until March 1985, political prisoners
were detained by government security agents. Transcripts from 707 trials
conducted by the military indicate that physical and psychological torture was
practiced on prisoners in order to coerce confession. Lawyers for the
defendants, working with the Roman Catholic Church, photocopied over 1,000,000
pages of these records to analyze the trials and to discover the fate of
persons who had disappeared. The results of their investigations were
published in “Projeto A” of which this is the volume documenting torture. Acquired,
1987 89. Antonio
Hernandez Palacios (1921 – 2000) and Will Eisner (b. 1917) Les
Droits de l’homme Brussels: Magic Strip, 1989 Arthur
W. Diamond Law Library, Special Collections From Spain, France, Italy, Uruguay, Argentina and the U.S., six artists contributed stories to
illustrate what can happen in a world that disregards fundamental human rights
embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Scenes of these
sophisticated cartoons are situated in first century Jerusalem, twentieth
century Paris, and sixteenth century Italy. Of the 22 articles in the
Declaration, the artists chose to portray the right to life, liberty and
security of person; freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman treatment; the right
to a hearing by an impartial tribunal; freedom of movement within one’s country
and the right to return to one’s country; freedom of opinion and expression;
the right of participation in government and the right of access to public
services. This episode by Will Eisner takes place in an imaginary country where
citizens learn the results of failure to participate in elections. The
United Nations General Assembly adopted and proclaimed the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948. At their website, www.unhchr.ch/udhr/index.htm,
the Declaration is available in 300 languages. Gift of
Kent McKeever, 1989 History 90. Cone, 11.5
cm. high, 3.8 cm. diameter Ur, Southern Babylonia, ca. 2060
BCE RBML,
Cuneiform Collection This
cone was found prior to 1937 in what is now Southern Iraq in the archeological site
of Ur of the Chaldees, the birthplace of Abraham. It was built into a temple
wall with similar cones, serving a purpose similar to our modern corner stone.
The inscription, dating from the reign of King Libit-Ishtar, just prior to the
time of Abraham, is one of the best examples yet discovered of writing dating
from that period, and confirms the existence of some of the cities mentioned in
the Book of Genesis, once doubted, including Erech, Isin, Sumer and Akkad. Gift of
Frances Henne, 1973
91. Grant of the monastery of San Salvador de Cornellana to Cluny Manuscript
document on parchment, Lugo (?), Spain, March 7, 1122 CE RBML, Smith
Documents 2 Although this is one of a constellation of three 12th
century copies containing the same text with variant readings, the present
document has not been studied in context with the others to ascertain its
recipient. Presumably the three copies were to be retained by the parties
concerned: the French Benedictine monastery of Cluny; the Spanish monastery of San Salvador; the donating family. It has been speculated that Count Suero Vermúdez and
his wife, Enderquina made the donation in order to ingratiate themselves with
the clergy, thus counterbalancing the power of the queen of León and Castile,
Urraca (1081-1126). It was nonetheless Urraca herself, her son Alfonso and her
daughter Sancia who confirmed the donation, along with four bishops, two
priors, another count and a host of nobles listed in two long columns of
witnesses at the end of the document. Another charter, dated eight years later,
determined that, independently of the choices of the by-then king, Alfonso VII
and of Count Suero, the donation was legal and must take effect (showing how
little interest there had been on the part of king and count to bring the 1122
donation to effect). Gift of
David Eugene Smith, 1931 92. Marco Polo (1254 – 1324) Buch
des edeln Ritters und Landtfahrers Marco Polo Nuremberg: Friedrich Creussner, 1477 RBML, Engel Collection Fourteen
copies of this incunable survive, although not all with the woodcut
frontispiece depicting Marco Polo as a Renaissance gentleman, posing before a
cloth of honor. The German of the text was produced by an anonymous translator who
worked from a Tuscan copy: whenever he encountered a word he didn’t recognize,
he left it in that Italian dialect. As with many incunables, the printed text
stands independently of the surviving manuscripts (two, in this case);
presumably its exemplar was jettisoned once the printer, Creussner had finished
using it for setting the type. Gift of
Solton and Julia Engel, 1955 93. Gilles Le
Bouvier (1386 – ca. 1457) La
chronique des rois Charles 6 et 7 conformé aux troubles d’aujourduy Manuscript
on paper, France, late 15th century RBML, Jeanne
d’Arc Collection J1.C46 Gilles Le
Bouvier, herald of the King of France and King-of-Arms of Berry, was in the
army with Joan of Arc from the coronation of Charles VII at Rheims to her
capture at Compiègne. His chronicle was first published in 1661. This
manuscript is part of the collection formed by Acton Griscom, one of the most
important collections of books and manuscripts about Joan of Arc outside of France. Gift of Acton Griscom, 1920 94. Silver wire coin, Russia, Moscow Mint, 16th century RBML, Bakhmeteff Archive This coin was apparently produced during the reign of
Ivan IV (1530-1584) better known as Ivan the Terrible. Ivan IV was the first
Russian ruler who was formally crowned as Czar (1547). Ivan the Terrible
reformed the Government and Court, conquered Kazan Khan (1552) and Astrakhan Khan (1556) and created an empire that included non-Slav states. The home
policy of Ivan the Terrible was accompanied by repressions and the enslaving of
peasants. 95. Abraham Ortelius (1527 – 1598) Theatrum orbis terrarum Antwerp: Egidius Coppens Diesth, 1570 RBML Ortelius’s “Theater of the Whole World” is considered the
first modern geographical atlas and was first published on May 20, 1570. It proved to be so popular that a second edition appeared later that year. Ortelius
compiled and edited the work, gathering together the best maps that he could
find, and had them re-engraved in uniform size, listing all of the contributors
to the volume. Most of the engraving work was executed by Franz Hogenberg (fl.
1558 - 1590). 96. Joan
Oliva (1580 – 1615) Portolan
atlas of five charts of the the European and African Coasts of the
Mediterranean and Atlantic Manuscript
on 6 parchment leaves, signed, Italy, ca. 1590 RBML,
Plimpton MS 94 The
portolan chart is of the same tradition as the isolario, and many of the
portolan atlases made by the Oliva family and other chart makers of the period
include an isolario at the end. This fine example has only charts.
Portolan charts were used by mariners well into the seventeenth century, but
there was also a demand for richly decorated versions among the enlightened
wealthy. One can assume that the present atlas was meant for this market. Joan
Oliva was the most prolific member of a large family of Catalan chart makers,
one branch of which had settled in Messina (Sicily) some time before 1550.
Charts signed by at least sixteen members of the Oliva family are recorded,
with dates between 1538 and 1673. Gift of
George Arthur Plimpton, 1936 97. Peter I,
Czar of Russia (1672 – 1725) Patent Moscow, May 3, 1722 RBML, Bakhmeteff Archive, Georgii Mitrofanovich
Kiselevskii Papers Peter I was a grandson of Russian Tsar Mikhail Romanov
(1596-1645), a founder of the Romanov dynasty, and was proclaimed a tsar at the
age of ten. He introduced a series of important reforms, which placed Russia among the major European powers. Peter’s main goal was to regain access to the Baltic Sea and in 1700 he started the Northern War with Sweden. The war lasted for 21
years, after which Russia was declared an Empire. This Patent raises Yurii Gein
to the Rank of Colonel. It also signed by Alexander Menshikov (1673-1729),
Peter the Great’s close friend. Purchase, 1966-1967 98. A plan
of the boundary lines between the Province of Maryland and the three lower
counties on the Delaware with part of the parallel of latitude which is the
boundary between the provinces of Maryland and Pennsylvania Philadelphia: Robert Kennedy, 1768 2 sheets,
(54.5 x 76 cm., 54.5 x 77 cm.) RBML,
Historical Map Collection The
surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon established the boundary line in
1767, which was to bear their names, resolving a dispute of nearly ninety years
between the Penns and the Baltimores. The boundary, 244 miles in length, is
printed on two sheets, the eastern line on a single copperplate, the western
line, because of its length, divided into three parts, one engraved under the
other. This copy belonged to Benjamin Chew (1722-1810), a member of the
Boundary Commission established in 1750 by the English High Court. Gift of
the Chew Family through the Courtesy of John T. Chew, 1983 99. John Jay
(1745 – 1829) Federalist
Number 5 Autograph
manuscript, 4 p., 1788 RBML,
John Jay Papers Along
with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, John Jay formed the triumvirate of
authors who wrote and anonymously published The Federalist, an eloquent
series of essays in defense of the Constitution of 1787. Jay wrote five of the
essays, and this is his manuscript draft for Number 5, which varies from the
printed version. It is a concise, tightly argued exposition warning that
rejection of the federal form of government would reinforce and worsen the
already apparent sectional strife among the thirteen states; therefore, only
through the establishment of a united American state could the young nation
hope to succeed in its domestic and foreign affairs. Purchased
on the Frederic Bancroft Fund and Various Donors, 100. George
Washington (1732 – 1799) Proposals
for the additional army Autograph
manuscript, 4 p., 1798 or 1799 RBML, Hamilton Family Papers This
working draft of George Washington’s proposals for the new American army was
probably given by the President to Alexander Hamilton for his comments, since
it remained in the Hamilton family until coming to Columbia. Written on both
sides of two integral folio leaves, it has sections headed “Half-pay, &
Pensionary establishmt.” and “Compleating the Regiments and altering
the establishmt. of them.” Gift of
Marie Hamilton McDavid Barrett, 1988 101. France. Ministère de la Marine Comptabilité
particulière du Citoyen David, pour l’Expedition d’Angleterre Manuscript
on paper, 21 folios, Dunkirk, 1799 RBML, Montgomery MS 252 Robert
Hiester Montgomery (1872 – 1953) assembled an outstanding collection of books
and manuscripts that document the history of accounting and business procedures
from the 14th to the 20th century. These include
instruction books, daybooks, waste books, journals, bank books, ledgers,
receipt books, storage books, invoice books, registers, ships’ logs,
letterbooks, tax roll books, articles of agreement, bills of sale, deeds,
wills, and other business items, making it is the largest collection of rare
accounting works in the United States. This document, created for the French
Ministry of Marine by “Citoyen David,” gives detailed estimates of the amount
of money required for Napoleon’s projected invasion of England from Dunkirk. Gift of
Robert H. Montgomery, 1924 102. Kara
George (1762 – 1817) Agreement Belgrade, December 14, 1808 RBML, Bakhmeteff Archive, Prince Paul of Yugoslavia Papers This document represents an agreement between Kara
George, leader of the Serbian people in their struggle for independence from
the Turks and founder of the Karageorgevic dynasty, and the Serbian National
Council. It introduced a system of limited monarchy and established the legal
basis for the Karageorgevich Dynasty. The text was first published in the
“Istorija Matice Srpske,” [Novi Sad]: Matice Srpska, 1863, page 149. Gift of Prince Paul and Princess Olga of Yugoslavia, 1954-1985 103. Abraham Lincoln
(1809 – 1865) Arithmetic
exercises from manuscript sum book Autograph
manuscript, 2 p., 1824 RBML, Plimpton
Collection The
earliest known examples of Lincoln’s handwriting come from the arithmetic text
that he copied out for his own educational use while living in Indiana. His later law partner and biographer, William H. Herndon, acquired the hand-stitched
notebook in 1866. The leaves were later separated and scattered, and today only
ten of them are located. It was a fitting addition to the collection of George
Arthur Plimpton, a member of the board of directors of textbook publishers Ginn
& Company, whose vast collection shows the development of education. Gift of
George Arthur Plimpton, 1936 104. Funeral
scroll Manuscript on paper, Russia, (ca. 914 cm.), 1826 RBML,
Bakhmeteff Archive, Georgii Mitrofanovich Kiselevskii Papers This printed scroll (stolbets) depicts the order
of the Alexander I funeral ceremony. The scroll is comprised of 18 sections,
each 20 inches long and 3 inches wide. Each section describes a sequence of the
mourning procession, for instance, a mourning procession being held on the
occasion of a transfer of the deceased Emperor, Alexander the First, from the
Our Lady of Kazan Cathedral to the Peter and Paul Cathedral. After the Master
of Ceremonies there will be His Imperial Majesty’s Personal Convoy, etc. This type of funeral ceremony was introduced by Peter the
Great. The Tsar-Reformer had borrowed many details from Western funeral
tradition such as horses, shields with coats-of-arms, helmets, gold spurs and
swords. The last Emperor buried according to the adopted tradition was
Alexander III (1881). Purchase, 1966-1967 105. Alexander
Bestuzhev (1797 – 1837) On
Your Namesake Day Yakutia, May 18, 1829 RBML, Bakhmeteff Archive, General Manuscript Collection,
Bestuzhev Alexander Alexandrovich Bestuzhev (pseudonym Marlinsky)
was a military officer, popular writer, literary critic and poet. However,
after participation in the Decembrist Revolt of 1825, his life dramatically
changed. Bestuzhev was stripped of his noble status and exiled first to Siberia and then to the Caucasus. His prose and poetry were not published and his name was
not mentioned until his death in 1837. In 1838 Bestuzhev’s sister published his
collective works. A multivolume set was sold out within weeks of its issue. On Your Namesake Day was first published in this edition from an
incomplete copy and wrongly dated 1828. The original has never been found and
all later editions used the same incomplete copy. Gift of Ekaterina G. Garina, 1964 106. Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749 – 1838) Memorie. In tre volume. Seconda editione corretta,
ampliata e accresciuta New York: Pubblicate dall’Autore, 1829-30 RBML The
beginning of Italian studies in North America can be traced to 1825 when
Lorenzo Da Ponte joined the faculty of Columbia College. Da Ponte had arrived
in New York in 1805, an immigrant grocer and private teacher, who had fallen on
hard times following his days as Mozart’s librettist. While at Columbia, he finished writing his memoirs, that had been first published as a slim volume
in 1807 (“Storia compendiousa della vita di Lorenzo Da Ponte”), then as a three
volume work published serially from 1823 to 1829, and this revised and
augmented edition, published in 1829-1830. Da Ponte considered it to be his
lifetime achievement. Purchase,
2004 107. Nicholas
I, Czar of Russia (1796 – 1855) Autograph letter, signed, to Count Alexander Benckendorff
(with envelope) Peterhof, June 19, 1837 RBML, Bakhmeteff Archive, Benckendorff Family Papers Nicholas the First was the personification of classic
autocracy. His reactionary policies earned him the title “The emperor, who
froze Russia for 30 years.” Nicholas was faced early in his reign with an
uprising in the army, the Decembrist revolt, which he dealt with swiftly and
decidedly, thus establishing his reputation as a powerful leader. In this
letter to a close friend, Count Alexander Khristoforovich Benckendorff
(1782-1844), he discusses his architectural projects in Peterhof (his estate
near St. Petersburg) as well as his observations on a situation in England in the beginning of the reign of Queen Victoria. Purchased from the Benckendorff Family Estate, on the Tulinoff
Fund, 1995 108. John
Stuart Mill (1806 – 1873) Autobiography
of J. S. Mill, written by himself Autograph
manuscript, 210 leaves, 1861, 1869-70 RBML One of
the most versatile British thinkers of the nineteenth century, Mill was an
incisive critic of liberalism as well as its greatest exponent. His Autobiography,
published the year of his death, has eclipsed his political and economic
studies, such as the Essay on Liberty and Utilitarianism. According
to a note written by Mill’s step-daughter Helen Taylor on this manuscript, the
work was “to be published without alterations or omissions, within one year of
my death.” In fact, it was published from a hastily made copy, and it was not
until 1924 that an edition, based on this manuscript, considered more reliable
since it is in Mill’s own hand, was first published by the Columbia University
Press. The 1861 portion of the manuscript represents a heavily revised version
of an early draft done in 1851; the last forty-eight leaves are the only draft
of all but one small portion of the rest of the Autobiography. Gift of nine
members of the Department of Philosophy: Lawrence Buermayer, William F. Cooley,
John J. Coss, Horace L. Friess, James Gutmann, Thomas Munro, Houston Peterson,
John H. Randall, Jr., and Herbert W. Schneider, 1942 109. K. F.
von Gan Czar
Nicholas II with his family Photograph, Tsarskoye Selo, (18 x 24 cm.), July 17, 1906 RBML, Bakhmeteff Archive, Corps of Pages Papers Rare photo of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II
(1868-1918) holding his son, successor to the throne, Tsarevich Aleksei
(1904-1918). Next to him is his wife Alexandra Fiodorovna (1972-1918) and their
three daughters. This photograph was taken during maneuvers and a military
review at the Guard’s summer camp at Tsarskoye Selo near St. Petersburg. Gift of Colonel Meshcherinov, 1957 110. Nicholas Murray Butler (1862 – 1947) Medal, Nobel Prize for Peace, 1931 RBML, Nicholas Murray Butler Papers Nicholas Murray Butler, as Robert A. McCaughey has stated
in his 250th anniversary history Stand Columbia, “was the dominant
personality in Columbia University’s history in the first half of the twentieth
century,” serving as President from 1902 until 1945. He viewed the world, not
merely Morningside Heights, as worthy of his attention and considered himself
the last of America’s “presidential” university presidents. Even though,
according to then university archivist Milton Halsey Thomas, Butler spent the
last two years of his life directing the selected pruning of his papers for
posterity, they still amount to 600 boxes of material and 315 volumes of
newspaper clippings. Butler was also involved with the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace, serving as its president from 1925 to 1945. He used his friendship with
many world leaders, including Pope Pius XI, in pursuit of peace and
international cooperation, working to secure the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Treaty
outlawing wars. For this work he received the Nobel Prize for peace, jointly
with Jane Addams, in 1931. Gift of the Estate of Nicholas Murray Butler, 1947 111. Jane Addams (1860 – 1935) Twenty Years at Hull-House with Autobiographical Notes
... with Illustrations by Norah Hamilton, Hull-House, Chicago New York: The MacMillan Company, 1910 College,
Overbury Collection Jane Addams is best known as the founder of Hull House in
Chicago, one of the first social settlements in North America. During a trip to
Europe in 1887-88 with Ellen Gates Starr, she was inspired by a visit to the
Toynbee Hall settlement house, founded in 1884. Toynbee Hall was located in
Whitechapel, the area east of the City of London that would become notorious
for the exploits of Jack the Ripper beginning in August, 1888. Returning to the United States, Addams and Starr acquired
a large vacant house that had been built by Charles Hull, renaming it Hull
House. This would grow to a settlement that included thirteen buildings and a
camp near Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. In 1910, the year that Twenty Years at
Hull House was published, she became the first woman president of the
National Conference of Social Work. In 1920, she was instrumental in the
founding of the American Civil Liberties Union. For these and many other endeavors,
she was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace in 1931, along with Nicholas Murray
Butler. Bequest of Bertha Van Riper Overbury, 1963 112. Frances
Perkins (1880 – 1965) Draft
notes of reply to F. D. Roosevelt on her nomination to the Cabinet Autograph
manuscript notes, ca. February 25, 1933 RBML,
Frances Perkins Papers Frances
Perkins was the first woman ever to become a U. S. presidential Cabinet member,
serving as Secretary of Labor for all twelve years of the administration of
Franklin D. Roosevelt. She had been Industrial Commissioner of New York from 1929 to 1932 while Roosevelt was Governor, and after being elected President,
he asked her to join him in Washington. Before accepting his offer, she wrote
these notes in order to determine whether or not he would support her ideas.
These would become the most important elements of the New Deal: including
unemployment relief, public works, maximum hours, minimum wages, child labor
laws, and social security. Gift of
Frances Perkins, 1955 113. Harrison
& Abramovitz Sketch
of original plans for United Nations building Pencil
on tracing paper, (36.2 x 44.5 cm.), 1947 Avery
Library, Drawings and Archives, Wallace Harrison Collection The
United Nations was designed by a committee of international architects selected
by Wallace Harrison. Le Corbusier from France, Howard Robertson of England, and Oscar Niemeyer from Brazil were among the members of this committee, of which Harrison was the Director of Planning. The architects were charged with planning and siting
the buildings needed to house the complex functions of the newly formed
international council. As the architects presented and discussed ideas, the
concepts were turned over to a team of renderers, headed by Hugh Ferriss, to develop
the ideas into drawings. This drawing is one of many sketches Harrison made. Gift of Ellen
Harrison (Mrs. Wallace Harrison), 1981 114. Mikhail
Taube (1869 – 1961) Reminiscences,
1900-1917 [Fragment of a memoir] Paris, 1954 RBML, Bakhmeteff Archive, Mikhail Alexandrovich Taube
Papers In 1953, Anatolii Vel’min, Parisian representative of a
newly organized Russian Archive at Columbia University, asked Baron Mikhail
Alexandrovich Taube, former Professor of International Law at St. Petersburg University, Senator, and former Advisor to the Imperial Minister of Public
Education, to write a memoir about everything that he had witnessed and participated
in during his long life. The Archive pledged to pay $100 US for its first
‘commissioned memoir’. Of the three hundred memoirs now in the Bakhmeteff
Archive, over one hundred date from the time of this ‘memoir initiative’. Baron
Taube’s reminiscences will be published by the Russian Publishing House ROSSPEN
in 2005. Purchased on the Humanity Fund, 1953 115. Herbert L. Matthews (1900 – 1977) Interview
with Fidel Castro in Sierra Maestras Mountains Autograph
manuscript notes, February 17, 1957 RBML,
Herbert L. Matthews Papers During the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro’s forces were
attacked by Batista’s army at the foot of the Sierra Maestras in eastern Cuba. A government report claimed that forty of the rebels had been killed, including
Castro. Only a few of them escaped into the mountains, among them Fidel, his
brother Raul, and a gun-totting, asthmatic Argentinean physician, Che Guevara.
These few survived with the help of people who lived in the mountains, while
outside the Sierra Maestras few knew of the rebels’ existence. In early 1957, Herbert Matthews of the New York Times evaded
army checkpoints, interviewed Castro, and returned to New York. Publication of
the interview created a sensation and Cuba’s minister of defense called the
story a fantasy. The New York Times published a photo of Matthews and
Castro, making the Batista regime look foolish. With the publication of this
interview Castro gained the credibility and international support that allowed
him to overthrow Batista’s government. The Matthews Papers also include the
working notes, manuscript, and typescript of his biography of Castro, published
in 1969 by Simon and Schuster. Matthews had Castro sign one page of his notes as further
proof of the authenticity of his interview. That portion of the page was
detached, and for a time was missing, but was eventually returned to Matthews
who sent it along to join the other pages of notes, already given to Columbia. Gift of
Herbert L. Matthews, 1962 116. L. S. Alexander Gumby (1885 – 1961) Collection of Negroiana Multi-media, New York, ca. 1800 - 1961 RBML, Gumby Collection Earlier treasures of the Columbia libraries exhibits have
overlooked the achievement of Alexander Gumby, a book collector and Harlem hairdresser who compiled a remarkable series of scrapbooks that document African-American
life in America. Gumby started his collection in 1901 at the age of sixteen,
and in 1910 began the process of gathering the material into scrapbooks. Most
of the material dates from the period 1910 until 1950, the year that he
presented the collection to the Columbia University Libraries. Whole volumes are
devoted to major figures such as Booker T. Washington, Paul Robeson and
Josephine Baker. In addition to his six volumes of personal scrapbooks, labeled
“Gumby’s Autobiography,” that came with the original collection, the library
has recently acquired materials that were held back as too private, detailing
his life as a gay black man. Gift of L. S. Alexander Gumby, 1950 117. Kate
Millett (b. 1934) Sexual
Politics
[Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Ph.D.] Garden
City, New York: Doubleday, 1970 RBML In her
groundbreaking Columbia University dissertation, Kate Millett proposed an end
to patriarchy. Using passages from Henry Miller, Jean Genet and Norman Mailer,
Millett illustrated how men use sex to degrade women. Millett assailed romantic
love (“a means of emotional manipulation which the male is free to exploit”)
and called for an end to monogamous marriage and the family. The late 60’s and
early 70’s became the second wave of the fight for equal rights for women. At
that time woman were only 3% of the lawyers in the country and 7% of the
doctors, earning 59% of the salaries given to men for similar jobs. Millet used
the $30,000 that she earned for the initial publication of Sexual Politics to
establish the Women’s Art Colony Farm for writers and visual artists. Copy
submitted for the Ph.D., 1970 118. Thurgood
Marshall (1908 – 1993) Transcript
of Oral History Interview New York: Columbia University, Oral
History Research Office, 1977 Oral History
Research Office The
Columbia University Oral History Research Office is the oldest and largest
organized oral history program in the world. Founded in 1948 by Pulitzer Prize-winning
historian Allan Nevins, the oral history collection now contains nearly 8,000
taped memoirs, and nearly 1,000,000 pages of transcript. These memoirs include
interviews with a wide variety of historical figures, including Thurgood
Marshall, the first African-American justice of the U. S. Supreme Court,
appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967. Some interviews, conducted in
the late 1940s, contain recollections dating back to the second administration
of Grover Cleveland. An interview with Charles C. Burlingham conducted in 1949
opens with a discussion of the drafts riots during the U. S. Civil War. This
transcript of Thurgood Marshall’s oral history interview, conducted by Ed Edwin
in Washington, D.C. in February, 1977, captures something of his unique
presence, even on paper. 119. China Diary – Tiananmen Spiral bound notebook, Beijing, June, 1989 RBML, Harrison E. Salisbury Papers The
American journalist Harrison E. Salisbury was well-known for his reporting and
authorship of books on the Soviet Union. A distinguished correspondent and
editor for The New York Times, he was the first American reporter to
visit Hanoi during the Vietnam War. In 1989, at age 81, Salisbury journeyed to China to collaborate on a documentary marking forty years of the Chinese People’s Republic.
His assignment by Japan’s NHK TV coincided with the events in Beijing during
the first days of June, 1989. Salisbury found himself in a hotel room one block
away from Tiananmen Square, arriving the day before student demonstrators and
government troops met for their bloody confrontation. His book, Tiananmen
Diary: Thirteen Days in June, published later that year, records not only
the terror and confusion in Beijing, but also the reaction in the countryside,
where Salisbury traveled in the aftermath of the tragedy. Gift of the Estate of Harrison E. Salisbury, 1993 Theology & Religion 120. Aurelius Isidoros (4th century CE) Petition to Dioskoros Caeso Papyrus, in Greek, Karanis, 324 CE RBML, Papyrus P. Col. VII 171 This petition by Aurelius Isaidoros, the son of
Ptolemaios, from the village of Karanis, to Dioskoros Caeso, praepositus of the
5th pagus, is among the earliest known documents relating to the history of the
early Christian church. It contains Isidoros’s vivid account of how cattle
owned by Pamounis and Harpalos had damaged his crops, and how their cow had
“grazed in the same place so thoroughly that my husbandry had become useless.”
He continues: “I caught the cow and was leading it up to the village when they
met me in the fields with a big club, threw me to the ground, rained blows upon
me and took away the cow ... and if I had not chanced to obtain help from the
deacon Antonius and the monk Isaac, who happened by, they would probably have
finished me off completely.” Images of this petition, along with the translation used
here, in addition to entries for all of Columbia’s papyrus holdings, can be
found on the Advanced Papyrological Information System (APIS), a multi-institutional
database. Purchased from Dr. Askren, through H. I. Bell, 1924 121. Anthology
of Church Dogma Southern
France, second
third of the 9th century Manuscript
on parchment, 113 leaves RBML,
Plimpton MS 58 This
codex is composed of some twenty pieces of text, as if it were the casual
compilation of an owner-scribe, copying out passages of beauty or interest.
Scholars suggest, however, that the volume constitutes an intentionally formed
sequence, since six other manuscripts, all of the 9th century, repeat the same
series of texts. One text draws our attention: it is an extract of a letter
written ca. 798 by Alcuin to the future emperor, Charlemagne. It ends, in the
anthologies but in no other copies, with the wish that the recipient’s power
grow and prosper. Was the compiler of the anthology a member of Charlemagne’s
court circle? Following straight on after the pious closing of the letter is an
astronomical observation on the movement of the planet Mars during the summer
of 798. The wish and the astronomy were copied as a unit, in alternating lines
of red and black. Gift of
George Arthur Plimpton, 1936 122. Quran
3rd
section, in muhaqqaq script with Persian interlinear translation Manuscript
on paper, copied by the calligrapher Mes`ud and illuminated by Mahfuz, two sons
of `Abd al-Malek, scribe of Ghiyath, 91 leaves, 657 A. H. (1259 CE) RBML, Smith Oriental MS 263 Along
with his magnificent collection of primarily western printed books and
manuscripts on the history of mathematics and astronomy, David Eugene Smith
gave to Columbia a number of Arabic and Persian manuscripts, including a number
of Qurans and Quran fragments. This third volume of the Quran, from a set of
thirty, is similar to volumes from the later Abbasid period in the
Iranian-Iraqi tradition such as the eleventh-century Quran manuscript by Ibn
al-Bawwab in the Chester Beatty Library, dated 1001. The
Persian interlinear translation is in a version of naskh script and
appears in clusters of words and phrases, hanging at a forty-degree angle
beneath the corresponding Arabic phrase. The muhaqqaq, used for the
Arabic lines, was a favored script for the large Qurans of the 14th and15th
centuries. Here, the majestic muhaqqaq, outlined in gold, allows only
three lines per borderless page. In a reversal, the vocalizations are marked in
gold that is highlighted by black. Other aids to pronunciation are marked in
blue ink. The dots of the letters are black, nearly perfect circles. The text
is punctuated with roundel verse endings illuminated in gold, brown and blue.
Larger versions of these mark the end of every tenth verse, as well as the
points of prostration, in the wide margins. An illuminated teardrop-shaped
roundel in the margin also marks every fifth verse. Gift of
David Eugene Smith, 1931 123. Lexicographical
Works Manuscript,
Nestorian, on paper, 19th century Burke
Library at Union Theological Seminary, Syriac MS 19 The Syriac language was based on the East Aramaic dialect of Edessa, present-day Sanliurfa in Southeastern Turkey, which became one of the chief
centers of Christianity in the Middle East at the end of the 2nd
century. During the 5th century, Syriac-speaking Christians divided
over theological disputes into Nestorians, or East Syrians, under the influence
of Persia, and Jacobites, or West Syrians, under Byzantine influence. The Burke
Library at Union Theological Seminary houses a significant number of Syriac
manuscripts, the earliest dating from the 10th-11th
century CE. This volume contains two works that show the differences between
words written with the same letters. 124. Antiphonal Manuscript
on parchment, 171 leaves, Perugia, Italy, 1473 RBML,
Plimpton MS 41 Payment
records survive to document the date, the scribe, and the miniaturist of this
antiphonal: it was copied in 1473 by one Don Alvise, and the artist was Giapeco
Caporali. It is one of a set of four antiphonals: the present book covers the Sanctorale
from the vigil of Andrew (29 November) through John and Paul (26 June); a
second volume finishes the Sanctorale, and the Temporale occupies another two. The
other three volumes of the set are in Perugia to this day. All bear the
characteristic ownership note and call number inscribed at the foot of the
page: “This antiphonal belongs to the congregation of St. Justina (the saint
with the martyr’s palm in the roundel in the upper margin), of the order of St.
Benedict (in his black robes in the roundel to the right), assigned to the use
of the monks of St. Peter’s in Perugia (Peter with his keys is in the bottom
roundel).” The historiated initial depicts the calling of Andrew, as he leaves
his boat to follow Jesus (Mark. 1:16-18).Though this antiphonal is bound in diced Russia leather dating from the 17th century, it retains most of the original 15th
century metal ornaments (including the stamps of the Holy Monogram, the Agnus
Dei, a sunburst, and a flower). Gift of
George Arthur Plimpton, 1936 125. Biblia
Germanica Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1483 Burke
Library at Union Theological Seminary, Frederick Ferris Thompson Collection Anton
Koberger’s Biblia Germanica, the ninth German Bible to be printed, appeared
in 1483, the year that Martin Luther was born. It contained a set of 109
woodcuts illustrating major incidents of biblical history by the “Master of the
Cologne Bibles.” This set became the standard for German biblical illustration
through the 16th century. Koberger (ca. 1445 – 1513) became one of
the most important printers in fifteenth-century Germany. He may have operated
as many as twenty-four presses and produced some 250 works between ca. 1471 and
1504. Gift
Mrs. Mary Clark Thompson, 1923 126. Book
of Hours, use of Paris Manuscript
on parchment, 197 leaves, Paris, ca. 1485 RBML, Phoenix Collection The
artist of this book of hours is known as the Chief Associate of Maître François
or sometimes as the Master of Jacques de Besançon. Large numbers of works are
attributed to his hand, in particular books of hours. He painted these with
unvarying competence but also with constancy in his choice of subject matter
and arrangement: the same compositions are repeated again and again. Here on
ff. 194v-195 we see his usual martyrdom of St. Catherine of Alexandria: the
wheel on which she would have been tormented stands ruined behind her, and the
frustrated executioner has finally opted for beheading. On the facing page, a
somewhat less frequent scene shows dainty Genevieve picking her way along a
country path; as a tiny devil with large bellows attempts to extinguish the
flame of her taper, an angel constantly relights it. Bequest
of Stephen Whitney Phoenix, 1881 127. Nocturnale
for Carthusian Use Manuscript on parchment, Germany, in or after 1514-15 Burke
Library at Union Theological Seminary, MS 111 “I look
from afar, and behold I see the Power of God, coming like as a cloud to cover
the land . . .” This response to the first reading in Advent is what normally
determines the iconography of its historiated initial. It seems to have been
the inspiration for the present illumination, but here, instead, the vision of
God’s power is incarnated in the Virgin and Child. While
the iconography is unusual on medieval terms, the late date of production of
this manuscript may explain a loosening of traditional image patterns. The
manuscript was copied in or after 1514/15, when the Carthusian order received
authorization to celebrate the feast of their founder, St. Bruno. In the
calendar of this manuscript, in the hand of the original scribe, we find the
feasts of Bruno (6 October), Hugh of Lincoln (a bishop of that order; 17
November), and the feast of the relics, celebrated by Carthusians on 8
November. The three feasts are to be honored cum candelis, ‘with
candles,’ just as we might put candles on a birthday cake to signal the
importance of the day. The
codex itself is a celebration of Milton McC. Gatch, librarian of the Burke
Library for many years. The library’s Friends purchased the manuscript in his
name, in recognition of his studies on Leander van Ess (1772 – 1847), a German
who had owned this same manuscript some one hundred and fifty years earlier. Acquired by the Friends of the Burke Library in Honor of M.
McC. Gatch, 1995 128. Martin
Luther (1483 – 1546) Der
Prophet Jona Augsburg: Johannes Knobloch, 1526 Burke
Library at Union Theological Seminary, Leander van Ess Collection Jonah
was the first of the prophetic books Luther translated. Others appeared
separately over the next few years, before a complete translation of the
Prophets was issued in 1532. According to Luther, Jonah was “well suited for
the present time” immediately following the Peasants’ War because it taught
trust in God and reminded readers of Christ’s death and resurrection. It was
printed sixteen times in 1526 alone, thirteen in German and three in Latin. Reformation
pamphlets commonly had woodcuts on their covers or title pages. The woodcut on
the title page of this unbound Augsburg printing of the pamphlet shows Jonah at
various points in his story. The
library of Leander van Ess, a Roman Catholic priest, was particularly strong in
materials on the German Reformation, and contained a number of Luther’s
“Flugschriften,” literally “flying writings,” ephemeral pamphlets such as this
one. He kept these pamphlets in a separate part of his collection and they have
been reconstructed on the basis of numbered stickers which remain on most of
them. A man far ahead of his time, van Ess instituted a number of reforms in
his Marburg church, including the use of vernacular throughout the service,
turning the priest to face the congregation, and giving detailed explanations
of what was going on as mass was celebrated. He was a very popular preacher and
his sermons attracted both Catholics and Protestants. Purchased
with the Leander van Ess Collection, 1838 129. Babylonian Talmud Manuscript on paper, 152 leaves, copied by David ben
Me’oded of San‘a, Yemenite Rabbinic, 1546 RBML, Hebrew Manuscripts Although the two versions of the Talmud, the Jerusalem
Talmud completed about 400 CE and the Babylonian Talmud completed one hundred
years later, constitute the primary body of Jewish law and thought, its text
exists in only one complete manuscript copy of each version, and even
incomplete copies are scarce. This one, copied in the 16th century in Yemen, is known as the “Columbia Talmud.” It, and a companion volume containing the
Megillah, was copied by David ben Me’oded of San‘a, who appears to come from a
family of scribes. The text has been found to differ from all of the other
known manuscript copies, and from the first printed edition of 1516, in a large
number of cases, establishing beyond doubt that it came from an independent
source. These two volumes came to Columbia along with a
collection of Jewish manuscripts, in Hebrew and Arabic, acquired by Professor
Richard J. H. Gottheil for the library in 1890. With the financial support of
Temple Emanu-El in New York, Gottheil had been appointed professor of Rabbinic
Literature and Semitic Languages in 1887. It was the first endowed chair for
Jewish studies in the United States. The foundation of the library’s Judaica
resources also came from Temple Emanu-El, through their gift of 2,500 printed
books and 50 manuscripts from their library in 1892. Today, the Rare Book and
Manuscript Library holds more than 1,000 manuscripts in Hebrew and a variety of
European languages, as well as 28 fifteenth-century and 300 sixteenth-century
printed Hebrew books. Purchased
from Ephraim Deinard, 1890 130. Gospel
lectionary Manuscript
on parchment, 99 leaves, Spain, second half of the 16th century
This book containing the gospel readings for the mass is
an example of the influence of printed books on manuscripts during the 16th
century. According to the prefatory statement on folio ii verso, the text of
this manuscript was corrected on the basis of comparison with a Roman missal
printed in Venice in 1577 and then compared to another missal printed in Salamanca in 1588. The style of illumination shows Flemish influence in the naturalistic
fruits and flowers on a gold ground. The text appears as if in a frame hung
against a tapestry of lush vegetation. On the right is the gospel for the first
Sunday of Advent, Luke 21. The binding is in contemporary calf over wooden boards, gilt
stamped, with gilt edges. Gift of John M. Crawford, Jr., 1971 131. The
Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New: Newly Translated out of
the originall tongues & … revised, by his Maiesties speciall
Cōmandement London: Robert Barker, 1611 Burke
Library at Union Theological Seminary, Frederick Ferris Thompson Collection The King
James version, or the “Authorized” version of the English Bible was made by a
team of translators appointed by James I. It was first published in this
edition of 1611 and remained the standard English Bible until the nineteenth
century. This copy, with a contemporary English binding, is one of the
treasures of the Burke Library’s Thompson Collection. Gift of
Mrs. Mary Clark Thompson, 1923 132. Hymnal Manuscript
on parchment, 399 leaves, signed by Nikoghayos, Crimea, Kafay, 1646 Burke
Library at Union Theological Seminary, Armenian MS 1 The
binding on this hymnal is a fine example of traditional Armenian bookbinding
techniques that were still being used in 17th-century Crimea, including a loop board attachment, cloth doublures, traditional endbands,
blind-tooled leather fore-edge flaps, and a vertically ruled spine. What is
particularly notable is that the illuminator and scribe, Nikoghayos, also bound
the book. The text is an abbreviated version of the Armenian Hymnal (Sharaknots‘),
with decorated headpieces at the major divisions of the book. 133. Solomon
Stoddard (1643 – 1729) Common
Place Book and Sermon Notes Manuscript
on paper, 1660-64 Burke
Library at Union Theological Seminary, MS 104 Solomon
Stoddard was born in Boston in 1643 and graduated from Harvard College in 1662. From 1667 to 1674
Stoddard served as the first librarian at Harvard. This volume contains his college notes. These
include the name of the instructor for the day, as well as the scripture that
was expounded in class and then applied to seventeenth-century society. Using
what would have been the blank portions of the pages, and turning the volume
upside down, Stoddard also used the volume to make notes for sermons that he preached
during the early years of his ministry at Northampton, where he served until his
death in 1729. His grandson, Jonathan Edwards, was ordained associate pastor of
the Northampton church in 1727. 134. The
African Union Hymn book, designed as a companion for the pious, and friends of
all denominations … compiled by Peter Spencer Wilmington: Published by P. Spencer, for
the African Union Church, 1822 Burke
Library at Union Theological Seminary An
extremely rare early hymnal for the African American Church, this is the only
copy recorded in the national databases. The “Union Church of Africans,” also
called the “African Union Church,” was chartered by Peter Spencer (1782 – 1843)
in Willmington, Delaware in 1813. Now known as the African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church and Connection, usually called the “A.U.M.P. Church,” it is the oldest independent black denomination in the United States. Although it began as a Methodist Protestant church, by the 1880s it considered
changing to an episcopal structure, a change that was not formally adopted
until 1967 when it consecrated its two leaders as bishops. 135. Amanda
Smith (1837 – 1915) An
Autobiography: the story of the Lord’s dealing with Mrs. Amanda Smith, the
Colored Evangelist; containing an account of her life and work of faith, and
her travels in America, England, Ireland, Scotland, India and Africa, as an
Independent Missionary Chicago: Meyer and Brother, 1893 Burke
Library at Union Theological Seminary Amanda
Smith’s Autobiography reflects a remarkable career. This is the first
edition of her often-reprinted narrative. The Burke Library was supported by
the interest and knowledge of the late Professor James M. Washington in
building this area of the collection. 136. Collection
of magical prayers and “images” Manuscript
on parchment, 191 leaves, copied for Akāla Wald Baqqala, early 20th
century Burke
Library at Union Theological Seminary, Ethiopic MS 5 This
collection of Ethiopian magical prayers includes those that can be used against
demons for each day of the week, and prayers for overcoming enemies. It also
includes “images,” an “image” being a hymn in honor of a saint in which the
different members of his or her body are addressed in successive stages. The
book is bound in wooden boards covered in reddish tooled leather in which
crosses have been worked. The leather carrying case was used to facilitate easy
and safe transport. The manuscript’s elegant script is enhanced by two kinds of
decoration: abstract, linear motifs that highlight textual transitions and
figural representations. This is a fine exemplar of an African Christian
culture to which the African-American community has, from earliest days, looked
as a source and model. 137. Emily
Grace Briggs (1867 – 1944) The
Deaconess in the Ancient and Medieval Church: A Study in the History of
Christian Institutions Autograph
anuscript, written in partial
fulfillment of the Ph.D., Union Theological Seminary, 1913 – 1925 Burke
Library at Union Theological Seminary, Archives, Emily Grace Briggs Papers In 1897,
Emilie Grace Briggs became the first woman to earn a degree from Union
Theological Seminary. Union was one of the first institutions of theological
education to admit women students in great quantity and to hire and tenure
women faculty. Briggs later enrolled in the Doctoral program at Union, and wrote this dissertation, now among her papers held by the Burke Library
Archives. Between 1913 and 1925, as women elsewhere were marching for the right
to vote, she revised her manuscript for publication as the final step toward
receiving her Ph.D. degree. She was unable to find a publisher, and she and her
work were largely forgotten. 138. Dietrich
Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945) Application
to Union Seminary Printed
document, completed by the author and signed in ink, Berlin, February 12, 1930 Burke
Library at Union Theological Seminary, Archives, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Manuscript
Collection Dietrich
Bonheoffer was raised in the academic circles of the University of Berlin where his father was a professor of psychiatry and neurology. He studied theology at the
universities of Tubingen and Berlin from 1923 to 1927, and served for a year as
assistant pastor for a German-speaking congregation in Barcelona. With this
document he then applied for one year of graduate study at Union Theological
Seminary that began in September, 1930. He returned to Germany the following year. With the
rise to power of the Nazis in 1933, Bonhoeffer was a vocal opponent of the
regime, speaking out in particular aginst its policies of anti-Semitism. His
stance became politicized in 1938 after he became involved through his
brother-in-law, Hans von Dohnanyi, in a plot to overthrow Hitler. Although he
returned to New York in 1939, he stayed for only two weeks, writing to Union’s Seminary’s Reinhold Niebuhr: “I will have no right to participate in the
reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the
trials of this time with my people.” Following the failure of the July 20, 1944 attempt to assassinate Hitler, Bonheoffer was arrested and excecuted on April 9, 1945. His Letters and Papers from Prison, published in 1951, contain some
of his most profound writing. 139. Elizaveta
Kuzmina-Karavaeva Skobtsova (1891 – 1945) Untitled Watercolor, (21 x 27 cm.), Paris, [1930s] RBML, Bakhmeteff Archive, Mother
Maria Papers Elizaveta Iurievna Kuzmina-Karavaeva
Skobtsova, later known as Mother Maria, was a Russian Orthodox religious
thinker, poet and artist. Her multi-faceted legacy includes articles, poems,
art, and drama. In the 1910s she was part of the literary milieu of St. Petersburg and was a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. She fled Russia soon after the Bolsheviks takeover and lived in Paris, where she became a nun. In
1935, she participated in organizing the so-called Orthodox Action, which was
designed to help Russian immigrants in France. She and her fellow-workers from
Orthodox Action opened a house for homeless and sick immigrants in Paris. During the Nazi occupation of the city, the house was transformed into a refuge for
Jews and displaced persons. Mother Maria and her son were arrested by the Gestapo
in 1943 and died in the Ravensbruck camp in Germany. Mother Maria’s selfless
devotion to people and her death as a martyr will never be forgotten. In 2004,
the Holy Synod confirmed the glorification of Mother Maria. Gift of
Sofia Pilenko, 1955 140. Thomas Merton (1915 -- 1968) The Seven Storey Mountain Typed manuscript, with Merton’s emendations in ink, 649 pp.,
Trappist, Kentucky, 1948 RBML, Thomas Merton Papers Thomas Merton graduated from Columbia College in 1938, and received his Master’s in English in 1939. He had converted to Catholicism
while at Columbia, but surprised his many friends and professors, including
Mark Van Doren, by becoming a Trappist monk, a member of the Cisterian Order of
the Strict Observance, in 1941. He was later ordained a priest, taking the name
of Father M. Louis. Among Merton’s most widely read writings is his
autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, shown here in the original
setting-copy for the first edition. In addition to Merton’s own changes, the typescript
also has editor Robert Giroux’s corrections in pencil and a copy editor’s
marking in red pencil. Less well known material in Columbia’s Merton Papers are
most of his lecture and conference notes which he used while serving as master
of scholastics and, later, master of novices, prior to his untimely death in Bangkok in 1968. Gift of
Robert Giroux, 1991 Health Sciences 141. Articella
nuperrime impressa cum quamplurimis tractatibus pristine impressioni
superadditis Lyons: Jean de la Place, for
Bartholomew Troth, 1515 Augustus
C. Long Health Sciences Library, Archives & Special Collections Nothing
certain is known of the origin or the use of the Hippocratic Oath in the
ancient world. The first Latin translations appeared in the 12th century.
However, the Oath only became part of the European medical tradition when it
was included in the Articella, a popular compilation of Greek and Arabic
medical texts in Latin intended as a handy guide for the practitioner. The
first printed edition of Articella appeared about 1476; the second
edition of 1483 was the first to include the Oath. In this 1515 edition the
Hippocratic Oath begins in the middle of folio xvii. Purchased
with the John Green Curtis Library, 1914 142. Jacopo
Berengario da Carpi (1460? – 1530?) Commentaria
cum amplissimis additionibus super anatomia Mundini Bologna: Hieronymus de Benedictis, 1521 Augustus
C. Long Health Sciences Library, Archives & Special Collections Human
dissection was reintroduced into the study of anatomy for the first time in
1500 years by the Italian universities around 1300. Among the first notable
anatomy teachers was Mondino de’ Luzzi (d. circa 1318) whose Anothomia,
published in 1316, would be a popular textbook for the next 200 years. Berengario
da Carpi, one of Mondino’s successors at the University of Bologna, produced this massive commentary on the Anothomia in 1521. It is the first
anatomical text to contain illustrations based on human dissections, of which Berengario
performed hundreds. The striking woodcuts are, unfortunately, too abstract to
be useful to the student. Although both Mondinus and Berengario criticized the
anatomical knowledge of the ancients, they did not succeed in overturning their
authority, especially that of Galen, the 2nd century A.D. physician
whose works defined medical orthodoxy in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. 143. Hans von Gersdorff (1455 – 1529) Strasbourg: Johannes Schott, 1528 Augustus
C. Long Health Sciences Library, Archives & Special Collections First
published in 1517, the Feldtbuch was addressed to the military surgeon.
It focuses on treating wounds, amputating limbs, and extracting bullets and
arrows, though it also has chapters on subjects as varied as anatomy,
medications, and leprosy. The
illustrations, attributed to Hans Wechtlin, are well known for their realistic
depictions of surgical operations and are often handcolored, as in this copy.
Its pictures, along with its practical advice, made the Feldtbuch one of
the most popular – and plagiarized – surgical works of its time. The first
edition showed the first printed picture of an amputation. Purchased
with the George Sumner Huntington Library, 1928 144. Andreas Vesalius (1514 – 1564) De humani corporis fabrica libri septem Basel: Joannis Oporini, 1543 Augustus
C. Long Health Sciences Library, Archives & Special Collections Vesalius’s Fabrica is an epochal work, the starting
point of the modern study of anatomy and, by extension, of modern Western
medicine. Besides its importance to medicine, it is a masterpiece of the book
arts and a landmark in the organization of knowledge. At some point, probably
while finishing his medical education at Padua, Vesalius realized that Galen,
the “Prince of Anatomists,” had never actually dissected a human body. With
conceptual blinders removed, he undertook his own comprehensive survey of the
body, completing the work in July 1542 after two years’ labor. He was twenty-seven
at the time. The celebrated frontispiece is a visual representation of
Vesalius’s belief that knowledge of the body could be gained only through the
direct experience of dissection by the anatomist. Vesalius is shown at the
center of an imaginary anatomical theater performing a dissection with his own
hands while a vast crowd looks on. The barber-surgeons who previously opened
the cadavers at dissections have been banished to the floor, where they quarrel
over who will sharpen Vesalius’s razors. The dogs on the right and the monkey
on the left can be seen as a sly reference to Galen’s animal dissections. The
Health Sciences Library is one of the few to own four copies of this first
edition. Purchased with the John Green Curtis Library, 1914 145.Fukuda Bisen (1875 – 1963)
Albrecht Dürer
(1471 – 1528)
Andrew Carnegie (1835 – 1919), Carnegie
Corporation of New York
Andrew Carnegie (1835 – 1919)
Sigmund Freud (1859 – 1939)
Cuneiform
Tablet
Denga
Alexander I, Czar of Russia (1777 – 1825)
The Oral History Research Office has never confined its work to one area of
historical experience or to one region. It is the only oral history program in
the country which conducts interviews over a broad range of fields and areas.
Thus it has attracted scholars from around the world, whose research has
examined almost every aspect of our recent past. The focus of the collection is
United States political and cultural history. However, there are large
projects in the history of China and Argentina, and some scattered interviews
on the histories of other countries. Each year approximately 200 to 300 interviews
are added to the collection through the efforts of the OHRO itself and by
donation. These interviews generally fall into two categories: longer
biographical memoirs and shorter interviews focused on specific topics or
experiences. Harrison E. Salisbury (1908 – 1993)
Half a century later, with the re-emergence of the womens movement, large
numbers of women entered seminaries, persuing careers in theological education,
positions of church leadership, and religious scholarship. In 1997, one hundred
years after Briggs had received her first degree, she inspired the founding of
the Archives of Women in Theological Scholarship (AWTS) at Union. At that time,
no institution had a program devoted to preserving the records of women
theologians. The inaugural collection received by the Archives came from
Phyllis Trible, formerly Union’s Baldwin Professor of Sacred Literature. The
archive now houses 17 personal and institutional collections that document a
diverse range of individuals and groups.
Purchased with the George Sumner
Huntington Library, 1928
Feldtbuch der Wundartzney
Giovanni Andrea dalla Croce (1509? – 1580)
Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library, Archives & Special Collections, Jerome P. Webster Library of Plastic Surgery
Croce’s Chirurgiae is notable for its description of all the surgical instruments used before and during his own time. It also has the earliest known illustration of neurological surgery in progress. Shown here is a trephination, the drilling into the skull to relieve pressure. It accurately depicts the operation taking place in a private home, with family members and servants (as well as the family cat and a mouse) present.
Bequest of Jerome P. Webster, M.D., 1974
146.
Venice: Gaspare Bindoni the Younger, 1597
Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library, Archives & Special Collections, Jerome P. Webster Library of Plastic Surgery
Tagliacozzi, professor of surgery and anatomy at the University of Bologna, published De curtorum chirurgia to instruct surgeons on all they needed to know about reconstructing noses and ears. It is the first published work on plastic surgery. The work’s twenty-two plates depict every step of the process of rhinoplasty and are among the best-known illustrations in the history of medicine. Shown here is the patient, immobilized in a vest of Tagliacozzi’s devising, waiting for the skin graft taken from the arm to adhere to the nose. The process was supposed to take two to three weeks.
De curtorum is the centerpiece of the great library on the history of plastic surgery assembled by Dr. Jerome P. Webster (1888 – 1974), professor of surgery at Columbia and first director of the division of plastic surgery at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. The Webster Library holds seven copies of the first edition of this work as well as two copies of the extremely rare pirated version printed in the same year.
Bequest of Jerome P. Webster, M.D., 1974
147.
De motu cordis & sanguinis in animalibus, anatomica exercitatio
Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library, Archives & Special Collections
Harvey’s discovery of the circulation of the blood is generally regarded as the most important breakthrough in the history of medicine. It is also the starting point of modern physiology. It had long been believed that blood was continually created afresh in the liver, which then sent it out to be absorbed by the body. Harvey, though experimentation, observation, and measurement of blood flow, realized that the circulation was a closed system in which the heart played the central role.
Although Harvey lived to see his theory generally accepted by the medical world, it first met considerable opposition. This third edition of De motu cordis – which is actually only the second complete one – prints the text interspersed with a point-by-point counter-argument by Emilio Parisano, one of Harvey’s most vocal opponents. Harvey’s professor at Padua, Girolamo Fabrizio [Fabricius], had discovered the valves of the veins but had not understood their purpose. When Harvey wanted to demonstrate that the valves directed the venous blood flow back to the heart, he simply adapted a plate from one of his former professor’s works, De venarum ostiolis. This is the only illustration in any edition of De motu cordis.
Purchased with the John Green Curtis Library, 1914
148.
Micrographia: or, Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses
London: Jo. Martyn and Ja. Allestry, 1665
Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library, Archives & Special Collections
Hooke constructed one of the first compound microscopes. Micrographia is an account of his discoveries using it and is the first book devoted entirely to microscopic observations. It also introduced the word “cell” to describe the structure of tissue.
The spectacular plates are renowned for their clarity and detail. It seems most are derived from Hooke’s own drawings, though a few may be the work of Christopher Wren. This is of a bluebottle.
Purchased with the John Green Curtis Library, 1914
149.
King’s College Board of Trustees
Draft of medical diploma of Robert Tucker
Manuscript on paper, New York, May 15, 1770
RBML, Columbia College Papers
Though Columbia’s medical school, now known as the College of Physicians and Surgeons, is the second oldest in the United States, having been founded in 1767, two years after the Medical College of Philadelphia, now the University of Pennsylvania College of Medicine, Columbia has the honor of having conferred the country’s first doctor of medicine degree on Robert Tucker in 1770. While Tucker’s diploma appears to no longer survive, this draft preserves the text, if not the format, of one of the founding documents of American medicine.
150.
The Natural History of the Human Teeth
London: J. Johnson, 1771
Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library, Archives & Special Collections
Hunter was one of the greatest surgeons of the eighteenth century. Though not a dentist, he wrote several works that laid the foundation for much future dental research. His first major treatise was this meticulous study of the mouth, jaws, and teeth, which described with unparalleled accuracy the growth of the jaws and their relationship to the muscles of mastication. The work also did much to popularize the terms cuspids, bicuspids, molars, and incisors. The illustrations by the Dutch-born artist Jan van Riemsdyck are renowned both for their accuracy and for their beauty.
Purchased with the George Sumner Huntington Library, 1928
151.
Doctor Bard’s Lectures upon the Palsey
New York, February 11, 1774
Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library, Archives & Special Collections, Graham Family Papers
The King’s College Medical School opened in the fall of 1767, boasting an impressive faculty of New York’s leading medical men. Among them was Samuel Bard (1742-1821), who served as dean and would later win fame as physician to George Washington during his first term as President. The medical school, along with the rest of the college, closed in 1776 as a result of the disruptions of the American Revolution. These notes of Bard’s lectures taken by medical student James Graham in 1774 are the only ones from the pre-revolutionary school now in the possession of the University.
Graham did not receive a medical degree from King’s, but he later practiced medicine in Walkill, New York, and his son George was a member of the medical class of 1819.
Purchased with the assistance of W.W. Palmer, M.D., 1940
152.
De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari commentarius
Bologna: Ex typographia Instituti Scientiarum, 1791
Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library, Archives & Special Collections
Galvani, professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna, was studying the nervous system of the frog when he noted that distant electrical discharges would cause violent muscular contractions in a dissected frog if the lumbar nerve was in contact with a metal instrument. He called this force “animal electricity” but it quickly became known across Europe as “galvanism.”
Galvani was in error – the phenomena he observed was caused by the generation of electricity by different metals in a moist atmosphere – but his mistake had manifold consequences. The idea of galvanism forms the background to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, while the physicist Alessandro Volta, in disproving Galvani’s theory, was led to the invention of the electric battery.
Galvani first published his findings in the proceedings of the Bologna Academy and Institute of Sciences and Arts in March 1791. A very small edition of the paper was then printed to be distributed to Galvani’s friends. Though the Health Sciences Library owns one of that rare edition, the copy on display here was part of a printing later that same year designated for public sale. The plate shows Galvani’s laboratory with the dissected frog’s legs, an electrostatic machine (left), and a Leyden jar (right).
Purchased with the John Green Curtis Library, 1914
153.
De l’Auscultation Médiate, ou Traité du Diagnostic des Maladies des Poumons et du Coeur fondé principalement sur ce Nouveau Moyen d’Exploration.
Paris: Brosson & Chaudé, 1819
Vol. 1 of 2 Volumes
Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library, Archives & Special Collections
Laennec discovered “mediate” auscultation in 1816 while examining a female patient whose stoutness made “direct” auscultation – where the physician placed his ear on the chest of the patient – impractical. Taking a piece of stiff paper, Laennec rolled it into a tube and placed one end on the patient’s chest and the other against his ear. He had inadvertently invented the stethoscope.
This first edition of Laennec’s De l’Auscultation Médiate [On Mediate Auscultation] depicts his stethoscope after three years of experimentation. A wooden tube about 30 centimeters long and about 6.75 millimeters in diameter, the instrument was constructed in two pieces that could be unscrewed for easier portability. Readers could purchase the instrument directly from publisher at first, but the simplicity of the design allowed it to be replicated by any competent woodworker.
Purchase, 2002
154a.
Notes on Nursing: What it is, and What it is Not
London: Harrison, [1860]
Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library, Archives & Special Collections Auchincloss Florence Nightingale Collection
Notes on Nursing is Nightingale’s best-known work and the most influential book ever written on nursing. In simple, direct prose, Nightingale set forth her principles of patient care, which stressed cleanliness, fresh air, warmth, light, and proper diet. A popular book, Notes sold over 15,000 copies within months. Nightingale inscribed this copy in its year of publication.
154b.
A. A. Turner
Portrait of Florence Nightingale
New York: D. Appleton & Co., undated
Carte-de-visite, signed, 10 cm. x 6 cm.
Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library, Archives & Special Collections Auchincloss Florence Nightingale Collection
Cartes-de-visite were small, mass-produced cards with photographic portraits of notable people. They were very popular in the mid-19th century and frequently kept as souvenirs. The production of cartes-de-visite with Nightingale’s portrait attests to her fame. Although Nightingale signed this card in 1867, the photograph was likely taken in London soon after her return from the Crimea.
155.
The Holy Bible, containing the Old Testament and the New
Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library, Archives & Special Collections Auchincloss Florence Nightingale Collection
This Bible belonging to the Nightingale family passed down to their most famous member, Florence Nightingale (1820-1910). Though deeply Christian, Nightingale did not feel bound by any particular dogma, and was influenced by Anglican, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Unitarian beliefs. She signed this family heirloom at the beginning of the New Testament.
Gift of Hugh Auchincloss, M.D., 1942
156.
Ueber die Localisationen der Gehirn-Krankheiten
Stuttgart: Adolf Bonz & Co., 1878
Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library, Archives & Special Collections, Freud Library
In 1885, Freud studied with Jean-Martin Charcot, a charismatic lecturer and outstanding clinician, at the famous Salpêtrière hospital in Paris. Freud greatly admired Charcot, even naming his first son Jean Martin in Charcot’s honor. This copy of the German translation of Charcot’s lectures on the localization of brain disorders bears Freud’s ownership signature.
The New York State Psychiatric Library acquired part of Freud’s library in 1939, after Freud had to flee Nazi-occupied Vienna. It has been housed in the Health Sciences Library since 1978.
157.
Totem und Tabu
Autograph document, Essay II, section 3, Vienna, ca. 1912-13
Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library, Archives & Special Collections
In Totem und Tabu, a study in cultural anthropology and psychoanalysis, Freud made use of Sir James Frazer’s The Golden Bough to theorize about early human culture. He believed that the Oedipus complex was at the root of civilization’s origin—when, Freud asserted, a dominant patriarch was slain and eaten by a primal horde.
Freud gave the manuscript of part II, sections 3 and 4, to his Hungarian disciple Sandor Ferenczi. After Ferenczi’s death his family held the manuscript, which was nearly destroyed in 1945 when the family home caught fire during the Soviet capture of Budapest. The manuscript later passed to Ferenczi’s literary executor, Dr. Michael Balint, whose son, Dr. John Balint, later donated it to the Health Sciences Library.
Gift of John Balint, M.D., 1998
History of Science, Mathematics, Technology
158.
Cuneiform Tablet
Larsa (Tell Senkereh), Iraq, ca. 1820 – 1762 BCE
RBML, Plimpton Cuneiform 322
“Plimpton 322” is known throughout the world to those interested in the history of mathematics as a result of the interest that Otto Neugebauer, chair of Brown University’s History of Mathematics Department, took in the tablet. In the early 1940s, he and his assistant Abraham Sachs interpreted it as containing what is known in mathematics as Pythagorean triples, integer solutions of the equation a2 + b2 = c2, a thousand years before the age of Pythagoras.
Recently, Dr. Eleanor Robson, an authority on Mesopotamian mathematics at the University of Cambridge, has made the case for a more mundane solution, arguing that the tablet was created as a teacher’s aid, designed for generating problems involving right triangles and reciprocal pairs. Mr. Plimpton, who collected “our tools of learning” on a broad scale, would have been delighted with this interpretation, showing the work of an excellent teacher, not a lone genius a thousand years ahead of his time.
Gift of George Arthur Plimpton, 1936
159.
Omar Khayyam (1048 – 1122 CE)
Maqalah fi al-jabr wa-al muqabalah
Manuscript on paper, 56 leaves, Lahore, India, 13th century
RBML, Smith Oriental MS 45
Best known in the west as the poet who wrote the Ruba 'iyat, Omar Khayyam was also one of the leading mathematicians of the Islamic world. This manuscript of his “Algebra,” written in standard Arabic scientific characters, was probably copied from an earlier manuscript; the work begins with basic definitions and makes its principal contribution in the field of cubic equations. Although the “Algebra” was unknown to western mathematicians until the eighteenth century, Omar received wide recognition for it in the Islamic world. He was called to the court of Sultan Malik Shah I (1054-1092), where he revised astronomical tables and introduced a highly accurate calendar. Among the other fourteen works bound in this volume are two by Sharaf al-Din al Tusi (d. ca. 1213/1214), one on the height of vertical objects and the other on the height of the North Pole, and treatises by Alhazen (965-1039) on the astrolabe, and by al-Farabi (ca. 870-950) on music.
Gift of David Eugene Smith, 1931
160.
Arte dell’Abbaco
Treviso: [Gerardus de Lisa de Flandria or Michele Manzolo], 1478
RBML
This unpretentious little book could almost be taken as a symbol of the third component in the collection of George A. Plimpton: “reading, writing and ‘rithmetic.” It intends to teach commercial arithmetic, starting from the most elementary level to explain numbers and their positions as designators of units, tens, hundreds, and so forth. On the opening displayed a reader has noted the method for calculating differences in income for those who invest varying amounts of money at different times. Graphically clear are the various earnings of Piero, Polo and Zuanne. Their names, and indeed the entire text, are in the local vernacular: Venetian dialect, not Italian. Abbacus, or commercial arithmethic, was solidly vernacular, Latin being reserved for the abstract studies of the universities.
Bequest of George Arthur Plimpton, 1936
161.
Georg Agricola (1494 – 1555)
De re metallica
Basel: 1556
RBML
Georg Bauer, better known as Agricola, spent most of his adult life as a physician in the mining region of Joachimsthal in Bohemia. There he observed first-hand every aspect of mines, mining, and minerals. His subjects include, among other things, administration, prospecting, equipment, diseases of the lung, ventilation, ore transportation, soil erosion, and descriptions of eighty different minerals and metallic ore. The book contains 273 splendid woodcuts by Rudolf Manuel Deutsch.
Bequest of Daniel E. Moran, 1939
162.
Astrolabe
Italy, signed by Bernard Sabeus, 1558
RBML, Smith Instruments
This western astrolabe was made by Bernard Sabeus or Zabeus, who worked in Padua during the years 1552 – 59. It came to Columbia with the mathematical instruments and books collected by David Eugene Smith. Smith was professor of mathematics at Teachers College from 1901 until his death in 1944, serving as Teachers College librarian from 1902 until 1920. When he began giving his collection to the Columbia University Libraries in 1931, it included 12,000 printed books on the history of mathematics, ranging from the 15th through the 20th century. It also included 35 boxes of historical documents relating to mathematics; 140 boxes of his own professional papers; 350 volumes of western European manuscripts dating from the 15th to the early 20th century; 670 volumes of Oriental (primarily Arabic and Persian) manuscripts dating from the 8th to the early 20th century; 88 volumes of Chinese and 363 volumes of Japanese block-print books; 3,000 prints portraits of mathematicians; and some 300 mathematical instruments and related objects.
Gift of David Eugene Smith, 1931
163.
Venice: 1610
RBML, Smith Collection
This thin pamphlet entitled “The Starry Messenger” contains the first publications of modern observational astronomy, and some of the most important discoveries to be found in scientific literature. Galileo was the first astronomer to make full use of the telescope, learning of its invention in the summer of 1609. He constructed his own, eventually perfecting it to a magnification of 30 diameters, and began a series of astronomical observations. He observed the craters of the moon, saw the vast number of stars in the constellations and Milky Way, and discovered four new “planets,” the satellites of Jupiter. He also declared himself to be a Copernican, and while none of his work proved that Copernicus’s theory of the universe was right, it proved beyond doubt that the Aristotelian/Ptolemiac world-view was wrong.
Gift of David Eugene Smith, 1931
164.
Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727)
The Three Mysterious Fires: Commentary on Monte -Snyder’s Tractatus de Medicina Universali
Autograph manuscript, 3 pp., after 1678
RBML, Smith Historical Manuscripts
In addition to his many renowned contributions to mathematics, physics and astronomy, such as the discovery of the law of universal gravitation, the invention of calculus, the construction of the first reflecting telescope, and the first analysis of white light, Sir Isaac Newton devoted many years of his life to chemistry, alchemy and metallurgy. For 250 years after his death, his manuscripts and books lay in a large chest into which he placed them in 1696 when he became Master of the Mint. They remained untouched until 1872 when Newton’s heirs donated his papers to Cambridge University. After the University Library accessioned those items of scientific interest, they returned to the family all personal items, including the alchemical manuscripts. In 1936 these “personal papers” were dispersed at auction. This manuscript, a commentary on Johann de Monte-Snyder’s Tractatus de medicina universali (1678), testifies to the depth to which Newton pursued studies in alchemy.
Gift of the Friends of the Columbia Libraries
165.
Giovanni Domenico Cassini (1625 – 1712) and Giovanni Cassini (1677 – 1756)
Planisphere terrestre ou sont marquees longitudes de divers lieux de la terre
Paris: Jean Baptiste Nolin, 1696
RBML, Historic Map Collection
This is the first map constructed using scientific data. Under Giovanni Domenicis Cassini’s direction, coordinates of latitude and longitude for points throughout the world were collected by the Académie Royale des Sciences for over thirty years. These were placed on the floor of the Paris Observatory, creating a planisphere that was 24-feet in diameter, with the North Pole at the center. Cassini’s son Giovanni drew the much reduced version that was then engraved by Nolin.
Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Alexander O. Vietor, 1958
166.
John James Audubon (1785 – 1851)
The Birds of America
London: Published by the author, 1827-1838
RBML
America’s premier artist-naturalist, Audubon was born in Les Cayes, Santo Domingo, and spent his boyhood in France. At the age of eighteen he came to the United States to enter business but spent an increasing amount of time pursuing his childhood interest in drawing birds. By 1820 he was already devoting his efforts to what would eventually become The Birds of America, which would illustrate all the then-known birds of North America. In 1826 he left America in search of a publisher for the material he had already produced; his genius was immediately recognized in Great Britain, both by artists and scientists, and publication began. Over the next decade work continued, Audubon receiving assistance from his sons Victor and John and from William MacGillivray who collaborated with Audubon on the text which appeared in a five volume work, Ornithological Biography (1831-1839), published in Edinburgh.
Columbia was one of only three United States colleges or universities (along with Harvard and the other Columbia College, now the University of South Carolina) to become original subscribers to the “double-elephant” folio edition. It was published in less than two hundred sets with 435 hand-colored aquatints, principally the work of Robert Havell, Jr. The entry for “Columbia College State of N.Y.” appears in Audubon’s Ledger “B,” dated May, 1833. Audubon had visited the college, then located at Park Place, and had shown his drawings to a gathering in the rooms of Columbia’s president, the Rev. William Alexander Duer. A subscription of $800 was raised, and Ledger “B” records that the set was “Completed Nov. 10, 1838 – (Bound).”
Purchased from John J. Audubon by subscription, 1833
167.
Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre (1787 – 1851)
Historique et description des procédés du daguerréotype et du diorama
Paris: Susse frères, 1839
RBML, Epstean Collection
Edward Epstean (1868 – 1945) began collecting books about the history and science of photography in order to aid his own work, beginning in 1892, as a pioneering photo-engraver. His collection was also focused on the applications of photography to the graphic arts, and is an important, though not widely known, addition to the rich holdings of the RBML pertaining to the art and technique of printing.
Gift of Edward Epstean, 1934
168.
Robert Stephenson and Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
“America”
Watercolor drawing, signed with perforated initials “F.S.K.,” 1828?
RBML, Parsons Railroad Prints R5
William Barclay Parsons (CC 1879, Mines 1882) is best remembered as the chief engineer for the Rapid Transit System of New York, opened in 1904. However, he was also a great collector of books and prints. After his death, his family presented his book collection to The New York Public Library, but his collection of some 235 transportation prints came to Columbia. The collection includes prints dating from 1820 to 1880, covering primarily railroad transportation in Europe and the United States.
General Parsons purchased this watercolor of the legendary locomotive, originally named the “Pride of Newcastle,” at the American Art Association sale (December 18, 1930) of the collection of Cornelius Michaelsen, who had purchased it in London. “America” was built by the firm of Robert Stephenson and Company, and was similar to the firm’s “Rocket” built for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway that won the Rainhill locomotive trails in 1829. The fate of the “America” remains a mystery. It may have exploded on July 26, 1829 during its maiden run near Honesdale, Pennsylvania. If so, it would have been the first commercial steam locomotive to run in the United States. Its sister locomotive, the “Stourbridge Lion,” made its first run successfully on August 8, 1829.
Gift of Mrs. William Barclay Parsons and Family, 1934
169.
Unidentified photographer
Portrait of John Watson Webb
Daguerreotype, (33.3 x 27.9 cm., plate), (27.9 x 22.9 cm., image, oval), 1850s
Chandler Chemical Museum Collection
Office of Art Properties
The
Chandler Chemical Museum was established by Professor Charles F. Chandler in
order to illustrate the things he discussed in his many lectures. He began to
collect material for the museum almost immediately on his arrival at Columbia in the 1860s. For half a century, he bought rare and interesting exhibits of
chemicals and of products of various chemical industries. Many times were paid
for out of his own pocket, and other materials were donated by the chemical industries.
First located in Columbia’s campus on 49th Street, the museum was
eventually moved to the East End of Havemeyer Hall when the university was
relocated to Morningside Heights. When the museum was dismantled in 1987, some
of its collections were transferred to Art Properties. Daguerreotypes
of this size, called mammoth plates, are rare. They were evidently difficult to
make, and few are known to exist. John Watson Webb (1802 – 1884) was a journalist
and diplomat. After an early career in the army, in 1827 he settled in New York City, where he became an editor and the owner of a number of newspapers. From
1861 to 1869, he was minister to Brazil. 170. Michael
Idvorsky Pupin (1858 – 1935) X-ray
photograph of lead shot in hand Photograph,
1896 RBML,
Michael Idvorsky Pupin Papers Michael
Idvorsky Pupin received his Columbia College undergraduate degree in 1883 and his
PhD at the University of Berlin in 1889, returning to teach at Columbia in 1892. The subject of electrical resonance engaged his attention between 1892
and 1895, and resulted in the electrical tuning which was universally applied
in all radio work. In February of 1896, following Wilhelm Roentgen’s November
1895 discovery of “new kind of rays,” he discovered a rapid method of X-ray
photography that used a fluorescent screen between the object to the
photographed and the photographic plate. This shortened the exposure time from
about an hour to a few seconds, and is the method now in universal use. In
April of that year he discovered that matter struck by X-rays is stimulated to
radiate other X-rays (secondary radiation), and invented an electrical
resonator. Pupin received 34 patents for his inventions, and won the Pulitzer
Prize in 1924 for his autobiography From Immigrant to Inventor. Columbia University’s holdings include architectural drawings, blueprints and graphs,
photographs, portraits, awards and diplomas. This print of an x-ray photograph,
showing lead shot in a human hand, was probably taken in February, 1896. Gift of
Mrs. Rose Trbovich Andrews, 1965 & 1970 171. Harold
Miller Lewis (1893 – 1978) Laboratory
notebook, recording Edwin H. Armstrong’s discovery of superheterodyne reception Autograph
manuscript, 137 pp., Paris, July 21, 1918 – January 8, 1919 RBML,
Edwin Howard Armstrong Papers Edwin
Howard Armstrong (1890 – 1954) is the largely unsung electrical engineer and
inventor of three of the basic electronic circuits underlying all modern radio,
radar, and television. Upon graduating from high school, Armstrong began to
commute by motorcycle to Columbia University’s school of engineering. In the
summer of 1912, while a junior at Columbia, he made his first major invention:
a new regenerative circuit in which part of the current at the plate was fed
back to the grid to strengthen incoming signals. This single circuit yielded
not only the first radio amplifier but also the key to the continuous-wave
transmitter that is still at the heart of all radio operations. Armstrong received
his engineering degree in 1913, filed for a patent, and returned to Columbia as an instructor and as assistant to the professor and inventor, Michael Pupin. During
World War I, Armstrong was commissioned a Captain and sent to Paris. While
working under his direction in the Paris laboratory of the U.S. Signal Corps,
Corporal Harold M. Lewis kept this notebook in which he recorded the invention
of Armstrong’s superheterodyne circuit, the basis for most radio, television
and radar receivers. On August 13, 1918, Armstrong first explained to Lewis his
new short wave amplification system; the complete circuit designs and the first
working model were finished between August 14 and September 3, 1918. Thus, Armstrong had created a circuit capable of handling radio signals at much higher
frequencies than were then possible. Lewis went on to a career in radio
engineering and patented nearly sixty inventions of his own. Upon the success
of early radio broadcasting after the war, Armstrong became a millionaire, but
continued at Columbia University as a professor and eventual successor to
Pupin. In 1941 he was given the highest honor in U.S. science, the Franklin
Medal. In 1933,
Armstrong brought forth a wide-band frequency modulation (FM) system that in
field tests gave clear reception through the most violent storms and, as a
dividend, offered the highest fidelity sound yet heard in radio. But in the
depressed 1930s the major radio industry was in no mood to take on a new system
requiring basic changes in both transmitters and receivers. Armstrong found
himself blocked on almost every side. It took him until 1940 to get a permit
for the first FM station, erected at his own expense, on the Hudson River
Palisades at Alpine, N.J. It would be another two years before the Federal
Communications Commission granted him a few frequency allocations. Armstrong
spent the rest of his life fighting infringements on his patents. Drained of
resources and exhausted, Armstrong committed suicide on January 31, 1954. His estate eventually won $10,000,000 from multiple corporations in patent
infringement actions. The Armstrong Papers were given to Columbia in 1977 by the
Armstrong Memorial Research Foundation. Gift of
Keith E. Mullinger of Pennie & Edmonds, Patent attorneys for Armstrong, 1983 172a. Academic
cap worn by Marie Curie while receiving honors at American colleges and
universities, 1921 RBML,
Meloney-Curie Papers 172b. Marie
Sklodowska Curie (1867-1934) Impressions
of America Autograph
manuscript, 11 leaves, 1921 RBML,
Meloney-Curie Papers The
American editor and journalist Marie Mattingly Meloney first met Madame Curie
in May 1920 when she went to interview her at the Radium Institute of the
Sorbonne. When Mrs. Meloney learned that the scientist had no radium with which
to carry on her experiments, she founded the Marie Curie Radium Fund and raised
over $100,000 from private donations for the purchase of one gram of the
precious element. Curie’s visit to the United States was arranged by Mrs.
Meloney for May and June of 1921 so that the scientist could personally receive
the radium from President Harding at a White House reception. During her stay,
Curie attended dinners and receptions in her honor and visited colleges and
universities, as well as such tourist attractions as the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls. A few days after her return to France, she sent this manuscript of her
account of the visit to Mrs. Meloney for publication in The Delineator. Gift of
William B. Meloney, Jr., in memory of Marie Mattingly Meloney, 1956 173. Delano and Aldrich Marine Terminal, LaGuardia Airport Pencil on tracing paper, (50.8 x 36.2 cm.), 1943 Avery Library, Drawings and Archives, Delano &
Aldrich Collection With
their society connections, the firm was widely known as architects of urban
clubs, such as Manhattan’s Union, Knickerbocker, and Colony Clubs, and country
estates, the Charles Lindberg and Otto Kahn residences among their best known. They
worked extensively at Yale University, Delano’s alma mater. Delano and Aldrich
were also responsible for a large-scale renovation of the White House under
Harry Truman. Yet at the end of their career, they were heavily involved with
the new mode of transportation, the airplane. They designed airfields for
Pan-Am in Florida, Panama, and Guam. The firm received this commission for the
Marine Terminal at LaGuardia in the late 1940s. The terminal is still the
departure gate for the Boston shuttle and thousands of passengers walk through
this building everyday and admire the decoration. Avery is
the largest repository of drawings of the work of Delano and Aldrich. The
original gift by Delano was in 1951. The next and largest gift, including over
6500 drawings and 3,000 photographs, was donated by the estate of the successor
firm headed by Alexander McIlvaine. Subsequent donations of the drawings of the
Knickerbocker, Colony, and Union clubs have come into the collection in the
last several years. Delano’s personal papers are at Yale University. Gift,
1985 Law 174. Nicholas
Statham (fl.1472) Abridgment Arthur
W. Diamond Law Library, Special Collections By the
Statute of Quo Warranto (1290), the English fixed a date for the limit of legal
memory: 3 September 1189, the beginning of the reign of Richard I. With a habit
of legal record keeping so deeply ingrained, one understands the need for
organizing and systematizing court records and judges’ decisions to give
attorneys a durable frame of reference. Lawyers were accustomed to compile
their own commonplace books to keep track of significant points, pleadings, and
decisions, but these were for generally personal use. One lawyer, Nicholas
Statham, made an abridgment of cases drawn from the manuscripts of English year
books, the oldest legal records of the common law, which was ultimately printed
in the last decade of the fifteenth century. Statham’s Abridgment dealt
with cases from the reign of Henry VI (1423-1461). Cases were arranged
alphabetically by subject under such topics as jurisdiction, fines, disclaimer
and damages. The copy on display shows how lawyers continued to add cases to
the abridgment by covering the margins with notes. The abridgment format
continued to be a useful tool for lawyers until the nineteenth century, when
abridgements of reports ran to 24 volumes. Purchased
on the Carpentier Fund, 1917 175. Johannes
Andreae (d. 1348) De
arbore consanguinitatis, affinitatis et cognitionis spiritualis Manuscript
on paper, Germany, November 24, 1483 Burke
Library at Union Theological Seminary, MS 8 The
famous Bolognese authority on canon law, Johannes Andreae, wrote several
treatises in regard to relationships considered too close for marriage. These
were often illustrated with tree diagrams to facilitate understanding of the
concepts of consanguinity, or blood relationships, affinity, or relationships
by marriage, and spiritual relationships, those created through sacramental
duties such as that of godparent. In this manuscript, the Arbor affinitatis
(f. 7v) shows a person in an Italianate hat above the tree who may represent
the author. The Arbor consanguinitatis (f. 3v) shows a pope above the
tree, undoubtedly Innocent III. The work was often found bound after early
printed copies of the great collections of canon law. The Burke Library has
copies so bound, but this one came to New York with the library of Leander van
Ess unbound, as it remains today. Purchased
with the Leander van Ess Collection, 1838 176. Thomas
Littleton (1422 – 1481) Tenures London: Richard Tottell, 1557 Arthur
W. Diamond Law Library, Special Collections, Krulewitch Collection This
treatise on land tenure was the authoritative work on English landholding in
all its complex forms: fee simple, fee tail, tenant at will, tenant by copy,
tenant by the verge, in a vocabulary that preserves such legal terms as parcener,
socage and frankalmoign. It was the book every law student read and every
lawyer had to have from the time of its first edition in 1481 until the
mid-nineteenth century. Many editions were printed in order to meet a great
demand for the volume. Sir Thomas Littleton, Justice of the Common Pleas,
wrote it as a book of instruction for his sons, which may account for its
refreshingly simple and direct style of writing, even if the terminology is
technical. Littleton wrote in French, the language of the court, although
English translations began to appear in the early sixteenth century. Copies of
this book often contain annotations by lawyers who added references to
decisions of cases. In addition, the book’s compact form lent itself to
portability. Gift of
General and Mrs. Melvin L. Krulewitch, 1970 177. William
III, King of England (1650 – 1702) Anno
regni Gulielmi III Regis Angliae, Scotiae, Franciae & Hiberniae, Decimo London: Charles Bill and the Executrix
of Thomas Newcomb, 1699 Arthur
W. Diamond Law Library, Special Collections This
book of English statutes belonged to Joseph Murray, (1694-1757), a lawyer in
colonial New York. A prominent and successful practitioner, Murray served on
the vestry of Trinity Church from 1720 to 1726 and as warden until 1757. He was
a member of the King’s College Board of Governors since its foundation in 1754.
Although married, he had no children and when he died in 1757, he bequeathed
his library to the recently founded College, along with a considerable
remainder of his estate. With enough money to import law books from England, Murray assembled an excellent library of law reports and treatises. Unfortunately
the College library suffered plundering during the American Revolution
resulting in the loss of many of Murray’s gifts. Gift of
Joseph Murray, 1758 178. Catherine
II, Empress of Russia (1729 – 1796) Nakaz
Eia Imperatorskago Velichestva Ekateriny Vtoriya, Samoderzhitsy Vserossiiskiia
dannyi Kommissii o sochinenii proekta novago ulozheniia St.
Petersburg:
Akademii nauk, 1770 Arthur
W. Diamond Law Library, Special Collections After
coming to power in 1762, Catherine II traveled across Russia to meet her subjects. During her journeys, she was struck by the pressing need to
create a uniform body of laws for her country. This book is a publication of
her instructions to the Commission on the Code of Laws which she called into
being and charged with that responsibility. Her instructions were printed in
columnar style in four languages: Russian, Latin, German and French. Montesquieu’s
De l’esprit des lois and Cesare Beccaria’s Dei delitti e della pene,
an essay on crimes and punishments, strongly influenced Catherine’s ideas. In
this spirit, she envisioned Russia as a European country; she endorsed lofty
concepts of equality; and she asked for administrative and judicial reforms in
the structure of government. Although members of the Commission on the Code met
for many sessions and debates over several months, they failed to codify any
laws. In the end, privileges of the nobility were not curtailed, nor were there
land reforms, nor freeing of the serfs. Catherine’s attentions had been drawn
to expanding the borders of her Empire, fighting wars with the Turks, and
responding to internal unrest. Acquired
in 1937 179. Ephraim
Kirby (1757 – 1804) Reports
of cases adjudged in the Superior Court of Connecticut; with some
determinations in the Supreme Court of Errors Litchfield:
Collier & Adam, 1789 Arthur
W. Diamond Law Library, Special Collections This was
the first publication of decisions of an American court, the Superior Court of
Connecticut. Lawyers and judges faced a dilemma after the thirteen colonies won
independence because there was no publication of American reports during the
colonial period. Would lawyers continue to base their arguments on English law
reports which were not widely available in the new nation? How could decisions
of American courts be cited if they were not printed? Connecticut was first to
address this problem. The legislature passed and act in 1784 requiring judges
to submit written judgments which could be kept on file with the clerk of the
court. Filing decisions, however, is not the same as publication for sale or
distribution. It was the initiative of Ephraim Kirby, a private citizen who
recognized the need and opportunity, who undertook the task of finding
interested purchasers to subscribe to a volume of reports. Names of 230
subscribers listed in the back of the volume show that lawyers from Vermont and New York were interested to acquire reports from this court. Nor was it a
simple matter for Kirby to assemble these reports. The court was ambulatory,
meeting in New London, Hartford, Litchfield, Windham, Fairfield, and New Haven counties. The completed volume covers decisions from 1785 to 1788 and
distinguished Kirby as the first reporter of court decisions in the United States. 180. William
Samuel Johnson (1795 – 1883) Litchfield
notebook of law lecture courses Manuscript
on paper, Litchfield, Connecticut, 1817 Arthur
W. Diamond Law Library, Special Collections, Johnson Collection The Litchfield Law School, established by Tapping Reeve in Litchfield, Connecticut, was the
first law school in America. From its opening in 1774, the school trained more
than 1,000 students before it closed in 1833. The course of instruction
included lectures by Reeve, a graduate of Princeton College, and moot court
sessions. Students transcribed Reeve’s lectures into notebooks like this, which
would later serve as useful reference works in the law office. William
Samuel Johnson (not the first president of Columbia College, but related to
that family) received his A.B. from Union College (Schenectady, N.Y.) in 1816 after which he read law at the Litchfield Law School. He began his practice
in New York City and was later elected to the N.Y. State Senate in 1848,
representing the sixth district in Manhattan. Gift of
William Samuel Johnson 181. Georgios
Kalognomos Enchiridion
peri synallagmatikon Athens: Philolaos, 1841 Arthur
W. Diamond Law Library, Special Collections This
manual on bills of exchange and contracts is one of the earliest law books to
be printed in Greece. Greece had won its independence from the Ottomans only
two decades earlier and was beginning to develop their own civil and commercial
codes. Nothing is known about the author, who was a lawyer, except that he
also translated books from French into Greek. Acquired
in 2003 182. Benjamin N.
Cardozo (1870 – 1938) Communism Autograph
manuscript on paper, 66 pp., Senior Thesis, prepared for A.B. degree, Columbia College, 1889 RBML,
Benjamin Cardozo Papers Born in
New York, Cardozo attended Columbia College, graduating in 1889, and Law School but left without taking a law degree. He served as counsel to other lawyers, and
soon gained a reputation as a “lawyer’s lawyer.” He was elected to the New York
State Supreme Court in 1913, then a year later to the New York State Court of
Appeals, becoming Chief Judge of the court in 1927. Especially
in commercial law, Cardozo’s opinions carried great weight in New York and
throughout the country. His decision in the landmark case of McPherson v. Buick Motor Co. (1916) changed the
very nature of product liability law, making manufacturers directly liable to
the consumer. Cardozo
argued that rules of law should be judged not by their antiquity or logic but
by the extent to which they contributed to society’s welfare. He was appointed
to the Supreme Court by President Hoover in 1932 to succeed Oliver Wendell
Holmes. Joining the liberal block headed by Justices Louis D. Brandeis and Harlan
Fiske Stone, he voted to uphold much of the early New Deal legislation. In his
six terms he showed promise of becoming one of the Court’s great justices, but died
before he could leave a significant corpus of opinions. His papers held by the
Rare Book and Manuscript Library include his senior thesis, shown here, as well
as his lecture notes kept as a student at Columbia, and his commonplace books. Gift of
the Estate of Benjamin N. Cardozo, 1938 183. Hirobumi Itō (1841 – 1909) Teikoku
kenpō, Kōshitsu tenpan gige [Commentaries on the Constitution of the Empire of Japan and Imperial ordinance] Tokyo: Kokka Gakkai, 1889 Arthur
W. Diamond Law Library, Toshiba Library for Japanese Legal Research The
Constitution of the Empire of Japan, Japan’s first constitution, was promulgated in 1889,
after two decades of careful studies on the constitutions of the United States and Europe, in particular that of Germany. With this constitution Japan was to set forth the foundation of a modern state. However, the articles concerning
the emperor and the state were still deeply rooted in Japan’s old Shinto tradition. The Emperor is sacred and inviolable (Article III). The
Emperor is the head of the Empire, combining in himself the rights of
sovereignty, and exercises them, according to the provisions of the present
Constitution. (Article IV). Hirobumi Itō, who became the first prime
minister of Japan in 1885, played a leading role towards the adoption of this
monarchism. In this commentary wrote Itō, “The Sacred Throne of Japan is
inherited from Imperial Ancestors, and it is to be bequeathed to posterity; in
it resides the power to reign over and govern the State” (Itō, Miyoji, tr.
Commentaries on the Constitution of the Empire of Japan). After the
promulgation of the constitution, Kotarō Kaneko, a graduate of Harvard Law School and one of the draftsmen of the constitution, visited with the
translated edition prominent legal scholars in Europe and the United States, including Oliver Wendell Holmes, then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of
Massachusetts. The reactions were generally positive and approving. The Toshiba
Library also houses the translated edition. Gift of the
Family of Justice Jiro Tanaka, 1982 184. Yatsuka
Hozumi (1860 – 1912) Kenpō Teiyō [Outline of the Constitution]
Tokyo: Yuhikaku, 1911 Arthur
W. Diamond Law Library, Toshiba Library for Japanese Legal Research “[T]he
Emperor is the state.” (p. 79, v. 1). This often-cited line eloquently
summarizes Hozumi’s view of the state. According to him there are two forms of
state (kokutai), monarchical and democratic, depending on the bearer of
sovereignty, and two forms of government (seitai), absolute and constitutional.
The kokutai is eternal while the seitai is not. “In a society,” he claimed,
“there is from the start a heaven-sent leader.” Within that framework, Japan’s millenary imperial lineage constituted the “unbroken monarchical state. Hozumi’s
conservative views conformed to the intent of the constitution’s authors, and
helped him reach an influential position in academia as well as in the
government. As with most prominent scholars of the time, Yatsuka Hozumi studied
law in Germany for several years. Upon his return to Japan, he taught at the
Imperial University of Tokyo from 1889 until his death in 1912. Kenpō
Teiyō is considered his most important work. The book displayed is the
second edition of the original published in 1910. Gift of the
Family of Justice Jiro Tanaka, 1982 185. Tatsukichi
Minobe (1873 – 1948) Kenpō satsuyō [Principles of the
Constitution] Tokyo: Yuhikaku, 1932 Arthur
W. Diamond Law Library, Toshiba Library for Japanese Legal Research Today
Tatsukichi Minobe is one of the most respected legal scholars in the history of
Japan. Educated in Germany, he represented the liberal constitutional views
against views of his senior colleague at the Imperial University of Tokyo,
Yatsuka Hozumi and his successor, Shinkinchi Uesugi. Minobe did not espouse the
divinity of the emperor. He argued that the sovereignty resided in the state, of
which the emperor is an organ (kikan). Though Minobe was not the first nor the
only one to challenge Hozumi’s theory, his “emperor-organ theory” was severely
attacked when the military power ascended in the 1930’s. As a result, his
publications on constitutional law including Kenpō satsuyō
were banned from the public in 1935. After World War II, however, his views
gained much popularity. This is the fifth revised edition of Kenpō
Satsuyō, originally published in 1923. Gift of the
Family of Justice Jiro Tanaka, 1982 186. Dwight’s
retirement folio Manuscript
folio, Dempsey & Carroll, New York, 1891 Arthur
W. Diamond Law Library, Special Collections This
hand-colored memento was presented to Theodore W. Dwight (1822-1892) upon his
retirement as the first Dean of Columbia College School of Law. In 1858, Dwight
had been called from the Law Department of Hamilton College in Clinton, New York by the Law Committee of Columbia’s trustees to organize a department of
law and jurisprudence at Columbia. As Professor of Municipal Law, Dwight directed
the instruction and oversaw the expansion of the school for 33 years. At the
School’s first commencement in 1860, twenty-seven men were graduated. When
Dwight retired in 1891, the graduating class had grown to 230 members. Students
of the classes of 1891 and 1892 commissioned this book of remembrance, richly
illustrated with colored vignettes and borders. Members of these classes,
including Benjamin N. Cardozo, signed the folio, which shows the Law School building, then located at Madison Avenue and 49th Street. George
Welwood Murray Fund, 2001 187. Edmonston
Studio Harlan
Fiske Stone with his law clerks Photograph,
(26 x 35 cm.), Washington, D.C., 1938 Arthur
W. Diamond Law Library, Special Collections, Stone Collection Harlan
Fiske Stone was dean of Columbia Law School from 1910 to 1924 before his
appointment, first to be Attorney General of the U.S., then to the U.S. Supreme
Court. Every year on the Court, Justice Stone held a dinner for his current and
former law clerks, many of them graduates of Columbia Law School. Pictured in
row 1: Oliver Merrill, Milton Handler, Robert Cogswell, Justice Stone, Alfred
McCormack, Francis Downey, Adrian Leiby; in row 2: Warner Gardner, Howard
Westwood, Herbert Wechsler, Alexis Coudert, Thomas Harris, Walter Gellhorn,
Louis Lusky, Harold Leventhal, Wilbur Friedman, and Allison Dunham. Gift of Harlan
Fiske Stone 188a. Telford Taylor (1908 – 1998) Public
Relations Photo Section, Office Chief of Counsel for War Crimes, Nuremberg, Germany, APO 696-A, US Army, Photo No. OMT-IX-P-7 OMGUS
Military Tribunal – Case 9, Nuremberg, Germany Palace of Justice, Nuremberg, German: February 13, 1948 Black and
white photograph, 20.3 x 25.4 cm. Arthur W.
Diamond Law Library, Special Collections, Telford Taylor Papers 188b. Telford Taylor (1908 – 1998) Statement
on Nuremberg Trials for the International News Service Typescript,
May 9, 1949 Arthur W.
Diamond Law Library, Special Collections, Telford Taylor Papers Telford
Taylor was an attorney, historian, writer and legal scholar. Taylor was a
Professor of Law at Columbia University Law School (1963 – 1976) and served as
Nash Professor Emeritus of Law (1976 – 1998). From 1945 to 1946, Taylor was a member of the Office of United States Chief of Counsel, Nuremberg War Crimes
Trials, Nuremberg, Germany. In 1946, Taylor was appointed Chief Counsel, and
Prosecutor for the Nuremberg Military Tribunals that ran from 1946 to 1949. In
this photograph, Taylor is shown presenting the closing arguments of the
prosecution in the Einsatzgruppen case. The defendants, as officers of the
Einsatzgruppen extermination units, were charged with furthering Hitler’s
program of genocide through the murdering of approximately one million Jews,
Gypsies, Poles, Soviet officials, and others marked in the Nazi race
purification plan for the strengthening of Germanism. “When a plan was so
criminal that Himmler and Hitler were ashamed of it,” stated General Taylor,
“it must have been indeed horrible.” In his May 9, 1949 statement to the International News Service, Brig. Gen. Taylor announced the
end of the Nuremberg Military Tribunals. The document contains Taylor’s original corrections and clearance stamps from the Security Review Section, Public
Information Division, Special Staff United States Army. Taylor declared: “… I
venture to predict that as time goes on we will hear more about Nuremberg
rather than less, and that in a very real sense the conclusion of the trials
marks the beginning, and not the end, of Nuremberg as a force in politics, law
and morals.” … “Nuremberg was part of the process of enforcing law – law that
long antedated the trials, and that will endure into the future; law that binds
not only Germans and Japanese, but all men.” Gift of
Professor Toby Golick, 1999 189. Faried Adams R. v. Adams and others. South African Mass Treason Trial Pretoria: Special Criminal Court in Pretoria, 1959-1960 Arthur W. Diamond Law Library, Special Collections In the
long struggle to end apartheid in South Africa, this trial of 156 people
accused of conspiring to overthrow the state by violence brought the world’s
attention to racial and political discrimination in South Africa. The accused
were a cross section of South African society: Africans, Indians, Europeans
from many professions and occupations: students, doctors, lawyers, skilled and
unskilled laborers, shopkeepers, teachers, and tribal chiefs. Many were members
of the African National Congress (A.N.C.) which had been a motivating force for
the adoption of the Freedom Charter by the Congress of the People in 1955.
Among the accused was Nelson Mandela, who, with his law partner Oliver Tambo,
had opened the first African legal practice in Johannesburg in 1952. Mandela’s
testimony is preserved in this transcript, containing his views on non-violence
and on the Freedom Charter. After a lengthy trial, the defendants were all
acquitted, but this trial was only the beginning of the movement to establish
equality before the law in South Africa. Gift of
Thomas G. Karis, 1986 Literature 190a. Homer
(fl. 9th or 8th century BCE?) Iliad [Book 2.433-452] Papyrus
fragment, Greek: Ist Century BCE – early Ist Century CE Col.
inv. 517b, P. Col. VIII 196 RBML 190b. Homer
(fl. 9th or 8th century BCE?) Odyssey [Book 12.384-390] Papyrus
fragment, Greek: IIIrd Century – IInd Century BCE Col.
inv. 201c1, P. Col. VIII 200 RBML The Rare
Book and Manuscript Library houses Columbia’s extraordinary collection of 2000
papyri fragments. The fragment to the right from the Odyssey is Columbia’s earliest Homeric fragment, dating from
between the third century to the second century BCE. Most papyrus finds are non-literary texts, but among the
literary pieces, Homer is the most frequently represented author. Fragments of
the Odyssey are much less
common than those of the Iliad,
being outnumbered four to one. (Iliad) Purchased from M. Nahman through H. I.
Bell, 1930 (Odyssey) Purchased from Dr. Askren through H. I.
Bell, 1924 191. La Mort le roi Artu Manuscript on palimpsested parchment and paper Northeastern Italy, 94 leaves, 14th century RBML, Western MS 24 This Arthurian romance is an amalgam of contradictions,
proof of the divide between today’s world and the world that produced the
manuscript. Its 19th-century owner was the famous bibliophile, Baron
Horace Landau, a representative of the Rothschild banking house in various
cities across Europe. It must have been Landau who had the book bound by one
of the foremost Florentine binders, G. Berti, in a sumptuous purple morocco
binding with inlays of gilt-patterned green morocco at the corners, and gilt
dentelle on the turn-ins. Clearly, the codex was highly valued by its
aristocratic owner. But in its day, the book was a casual way to pass the time:
a fairy tale, in the vernacular, partially copied on cheap second-hand parchment
(the underlying text seems to be a notarial register from the province of
Vicenza), and partially copied on poorly sized paper; even the effort to
provide good penwork initials petered out after the first four gatherings. The
book provoked confusion in today’s scholars, as well: it was registered as
French in origin, according to the too-simple logic that its language declared
its place of birth. Bequest of Prof. Roger Sherman Loomis, 1968 192. Homer
(fl. 9th or 8th century BCE?) Ilias; Ulyssea; Batrachomyomachia; Hymni xxxii Venice: Aldus and Andreae Asulanus,
1517 RBML,
Plimpton Collection The two
volumes of this heavily annotated copy of Homer’s works in Greek belonged to
Philip Melancthon, the chief figure in the Lutheran Reformation after Martin
Luther. Melancthon used it in his lectures to his pupils in 1518 in Wittenberg and presented it to Martin Luther, who may also have made some of the
annotations. Melancthon began teaching at the University of Wittenberg in 1518,
and it was there that he met Luther and formed with him a warm personal
relationship, which, but for the years 1522-1527, lasted until Luther’s death.
Melancthon taught Greek and Latin literature and was a popular lecturer,
frequently drawing more students than the much admired Luther. Gift of
George Arthur Plimpton, 1936 193. Edmund
Spenser (1552? – 1599) Colin
Clouts Come Home Again London: Printed for William Ponsonbie,
1595 RBML,
Samuels Collection This
pristine copy of Edmund Spenser’s allegorical poem Colin Clouts Come Home
Again, once owned by the poet Frederick Locker-Lampson, came to Columbia with the library of Jack Harris Samuels. Samuels received his Masters in English
and Comparative Literature at Columbia in 1940, and from then until his sudden
death in 1966 amassed a library of nearly three thousand first editions
covering over four centuries of English and American literature. Bequest
of Mollie Harris Samuels, from the Library of Jack Harris Samuels, 1970 194. Valerius
Maximus (fl. 20 CE) Facta et dicta memorabilia Manuscript in Castilian, on paper, 292 leaves, Spain, middle of the 15th century RBML, Lodge MS 13 Rarely
in recounting the story of a medieval translation are we allowed a glimpse of its
people and its movements, such as we have here. Valerius Maximus composed a
gossipy, moralizing book, full of instructive examples, arranged by a
particular vice or virtue, such as Anger, Cruelty, Bravery, Gratitude. His
Latin was translated twice into Catalan, and, at the end of the fourteenth
century, one of the Catalan translations was turned to Castilian. The Catalan
writer’s name is well known—Antoní de Canals—, but only the present manuscript
and one in Seville contain the name of the man who brought the text from
Catalan to Castilian: Juan Alfonso de Zamora, a Castilian emissary to the court
of Aragon in Barcelona. In the early 1420s Juan Alfonso dispatched his newly
finished work to Don Fernando Díaz, archdeacon of Niebla and Algeciras, who
apparently corrected the language, but also seems to have been responsible for
adding a gloss. The Archdeacon's gloss—based on the Latin commentary of one
Brother Lucas—sometimes is written out separately from the text), and sometimes
is incorporated into the text. This copy of the Facta et dicta memorabilia is bound with bevelled wooden
boards in contemporary blind stamped brown morocco; there are remains of green
cloth on the fore edge strap closing to a clasp on the lower board; the spine,
however, is repaired. Purchased with funds bequeathed by Gonzalez Lodge, 1958 195. John Milton
(1608 – 1674) Letterbook Manuscript,
54 leaves, after 1659 RBML This
letterbook comprises a series of transcripts of 156 Letters of State by Milton, mainly in Latin, but including ten in English known from no other source. There
are also other writings by him, including a draft entitled “Proposal of certain
expedients for ye preventing of a civill war now feard, and ye settling of a
firm government,” as well as treatises, apparently by other authors, probably
used by Milton in his official work as Latin secretary to Cromwell. The
“Proposal” was unknown until the letterbook was purchased for Columbia by
Nicholas Murray Butler in 1921. The transcripts of letters are almost certainly
in the hand of the amanuensis who signed the Paradise Lost contract; Milton had been blind since 1652. The manuscript belonged to the great English collector,
Sir Thomas Phillipps, as well as to Bernard Gardiner, Warden of All Soul’s
College and keeper of the Archives of Oxford University who, in 1703, kept his
accounts and other records in the back of the volume. 196. Phyllis
Wheatley (1753 – 1784) Poems
on various subjects, religious and moral London: Printed; Philadelphia:
Re-printed, Joseph Crukshank, 1786 RBML This is
the first American edition of the first book of poems by an African-American
and the first substantial work by an African-American to be published in this
country. Although the English edition is common, there are only seven known
copies of the American edition. Purchased
on the Charles W. Mixer Fund, 1983 197. Hornbook
mould Wood, England?: 18th century? RBML,
Plimpton Hornbook No. 6 George
Arthur Plimpton (1855 – 1936) used a hornbook image on his bookplate, and he
collected hornbooks, such as this one that could have been used to make such delightful
things as gingerbread hornbooks. It was the perfect emblem for his collecting
interests. Education through books was also his profession, he having joined
the text book publishing firm of Ginn & Company in 1881, and serving as its
chairman from 1914 until 1931. Gift of
George Arthur Plimpton, 1936 198. Sir
Thomas Lawrence (1769 – 1830) Portait
of George Gordon, Lord Byron Oil on
canvas mounted on composition board, (29.8 x 25.4 cm.) Office of
Art Properties The
painting is one of more than 60 portraits of English authors given to Gift of Dr. Calvin H. Plimpton and his mother Anne Hastings 199. Mary
Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797 – 1851) Frankenstein,
or, the modern Prometheus London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding,
Mavor, & Jones, 1818 RBML,
Samuels Collection Mary
Wollstonecraft Shelley was the daughter of William Godwin, a political
theorist, novelist and publisher, and Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A
Vindication of the Rights of Women. In 1814, she and Percy Bysshe Shelley,
who was already married, fell in love and fled to Europe. During the summer of
1816, while visiting Lord Byron at his villa on Lake Geneva, Byron challenged
each of his guests to write a ghost story. In response, Mary began writing what
became Frankenstein, in rivalry with Byron’s fragmentary “Vampyre.” In
December of that year, Mary and Percy were married, two weeks after his first
wife committed suicide by drowning. Rescuers had taken Harriet Shelley’s body
to the receiving station of the London Society, where various methods,
including artificial respiration and electric shock, were tried, but to no
avail. Frankenstein was inspired by
the science of the day, including the work of the Italian physician Luigi
Galvani, who investigated the electrical properties of living and dead matter.
As Mary Shelley wrote of her talks with Byron and Percy Shelley, “Perhaps a
corpse would be reanimated; galvanism had given token of such things.” Bequest
of Mollie Harris Samuels, from the Library of Jack Harris Samuels, 1970 200. Autograph album Mixed media, ca. 1830 RBML, Bakhmeteff Archive, Lermontov
Collection A set of
three Russian salon albums filled with autograph poems and original drawings,
some of which can be attributed to the famous poet Mikhail Iurievich Lermontov,
author of a well-known novel A Hero of Our Time. According to the
Russian tradition those albums were passed on from one generation to another.
Two of these albums belonged to the Vereshchagin family, Lermontov’s closest
friends during his Moscow years. The third album belonged to Varvara Lopukhina,
a portrait of whom is included in this volume. Apparently, Lermontov met
Varvara Lopukhina around 1827 and fell in love with her. Unfortunately, she
didn’t share his feelings. Hurt by her “betrayal” (she married Mr. Bakhmeteff
in 1835), he later portrayed her in Princess Ligovskaia and other novels
as a weak and deceitful lady. Purchased from the von Hugel
Family, 1935 201. William
Pratt (1822 – 1893) Daguerreotype
portrait of Edgar Allan Poe Daguerreotype
photograph, (10 x 7.5 cm.), Pratt’s Gallery, Richmond, Virginia, September 1849 RBML William
Pratt opened the Virginia Sky Light Daguerrean Gallery in Richmond in 1846,
seven years after the daguerreotype was introduced into the United States. As Pratt related the history of this portrait to the St. Louis writer Thomas
Dimmock, Poe had never fulfilled a promise he had once made to pose for Pratt
until writer and photographer encountered one another on the street in front of
the latter’s shop in mid-September 1849. Poe, arguing that he was not suitably
dressed, was coaxed upstairs and photographed. The image shows a man, as
disheveled as he claimed to be, with a haggard face which betrays the steep
decline in his emotional and physical condition; Poe died in Baltimore three
weeks later. The enterprising Pratt held a patent on a daguerreotype coloring
process, used to impart the faint flesh tone to Poe’s face and hand. Bequest
of Mrs. Alexander McMillen Welch (Fannie Fredericka Dyckman Welch), 1951 202. Harper &
Brothers Contract
between Herman Melville and Harper & Brothers for “The Whale,” [Moby Dick] Manuscript,
2 pages, signed by Allan Melville for Herman Melville, New York, September 12, 1851 RBML,
Harper & Brothers Papers The
records of Harper & Brothers, dating from 1817 to 1929, along with the
pre-1974 records of its successor, Harper & Row, came to Columbia in 1975.
Included in the archive are contracts, ledger books, copyright records,
correspondence and publishing records of some 240 American and British authors.
Also in the gift was Harper & Brothers own archive of 2,700 of their
publications. In addition to this contract for “The Whale,” the Harper &
Brothers Papers also contains contracts for Herman Melville’s Mardi, Omoo,
Pierre Redburn, Typee, and White-jacket. Mardi, Omoo and Typee are
signed by Melville; the others are signed by his brother Allan Melville. Gift of
Harper & Row, 1975, 1989, 1990 203. Walt
Whitman (1819 – 1892) Leaves
of Grass Brooklyn, New York: 1855 RBML The
Moncure D. Conway copy of the first edition, first issue, of Leaves of Grass
is autographed by Whitman on the title-page. Laid into the volume is the
holograph letter from Whitman to Conway, July 21, 1870, stating that “a verbatim copy of Emerson’s note” is being sent. The note referred to, copied
entirely in Whitman’s handwriting, also accompanies the volume; it is Emerson’s
well-known letter of July 21, 1855, in which he praises Leaves of Grass
in the highest terms and greets Whitman “at the beginning of a great career.”
Moncure D. Conway (1832–1907), a Virginian by birth, gave up the ministry
because of his anti-slavery pronouncements. He did his most important work as
an editor in Boston, where he conducted The Dial and The Commonwealth. Gift of
Solton and Julia Engel, 1957 204. Stephen
Crane (1871 – 1900) Maggie,
a Girl of the Streets, a story of New York, by Johnston Smith New York: 1893 RBML Stephen Crane
was born in Newark, New Jersey, on November 1, 1871, as the 14th child of a Methodist minister. He started to write stories at the age of eight and at
sixteen he was writing articles for the New York Tribune. Crane studied
at Lafayette College and Syracuse University. After his mother’s death in 1890
- his father had died earlier - Crane moved to New York, where he lived a
bohemian life, and worked as a free-lance writer and journalist. While
supporting himself by his writings, he lived among the poor in the Bowery slums
to research his first novel. Crane’s
first novel, Maggie, A Girl of the Streets, is the tale of a pretty,
young slum girl driven to brutal excesses by poverty and loneliness. Crane had
to print the book at his own expense, borrowing the money from his brother. The
novel’s sordid subject, its air of relentless objectivity, and its sense of
fatalism have led some historians to claim it as the first American
naturalistic novel, a claim supported somewhat by Crane’s statement that he
intended it “to show that environment is a tremendous thing in the world and
frequently shapes lives regardless.” The novel is original in its conception,
and remarkable in both the brilliance of its method and the vitality of its language.
Stephen Crane died of tuberculosis at the age of 28. Gift of
the heirs of Wilbur F. Crane and from the libraries of Jonathan Townley Crane
and Wilbur Crane 205. Charlotte
Perkins Gilman (1860 – 1935) The
Yellow Wall Paper Boston: Small, Maynard & Company,
1899 Barnard College, Overbury Collection Charlotte
Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wall-Paper” as an article that first appeared
in the New England Magazine in January, 1892, and was reprinted in this
separate edition seven years later. It tells a largely autobiographical story
of a woman who has a nervous breakdown after childbirth, is confined by her
physician and husband in order that she have complete rest, is driven mad by
hallucinations of a woman imprisoned behind the wallpaper in her room, and who
frees herself by tearing down the paper. After
attending the International Socialist and Labor Congress in England in 1896 as one of the few female speakers, Gilman returned to the United States and published Women and Economics, reviewed by the Nation as “the most
significant utterance on the subject since Mill’s Subjection of Women.”
Her argument did not blame men, but pointed to a gradual change in society from
a time when the sexes were equal to a time when women had become economic
slaves. Despite recognition of her theories in the early years of the 20th
century, she was largely forgotten until Women and Economics was
republished in 1966, placing her in the line of important people in the history
of women’s rights. Bequest
of Bertha Van Riper Overbury, 1963 206. Siegfried Sassoon (1886 – 1967) Notes and rough drafts Autograph manuscript, 77 pages, 1906 RBML, Siegfried Sassoon Papers Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves and Edmund Blunden were
the surviving British poets of World War I, among the much longer list of
those, such as Rupert Brooke, Wilfred Owen and Isaac Rosenberg, who were
killed. In addition to the manuscript drafts and typescripts of two volumes of
Sassoon’s autobiography, The Old Century and Seven More Years (1938) and
The Weald of Youth (1942), Columbia owns thirteen volumes of his early
notebooks. These contain drafts of over two hundred poems for the period 1894
until 1909, from age eight to twenty-two. This volume contains four of the
poems that appeared in his first book, Poems, 1906. 207. Gertrude Stein (1874 – 1946) Tender Buttons, Objects, Food, Rooms New York: Claire Marie, 1914 Barnard College,
Overbury Collection Tender Buttons, Gertrude Stein’s fragmented rendering of familiar
objects recreated in the cubist mode, was her first independently published
work, following her self-published Three Lives (1909) and Portrait of
Mabel Dodge at the Villa Curonia (1912). Carl Van Vechten, Stein’s loyal
supporter from the time of their first meeting in 1913 until his death in 1964,
had recommended that she offer Tender Buttons to his friend Donald
Evans. He had just started his own press, named for Claire-Marie Burke, and
issued the following in an advertising brochure: “Claire Marie believes there
are in America seven hundred civilized people. Claire Marie publishes books for
civilized people only. Claire Marie’s aim, it follows from the premises, is not
even secondarily commercial.” Bequest of Bertha Van Riper Overbury, 1963 208. Virginia
Woolf (1882 – 1941) Two
Stories London: The Hogarth Press, 1917 Virginia
Woolf, novelist, critic, and essayist was born on January 25, 1882, the daughter of Julie Duckworth and Sir Leslie Stephen. In 1912 she married political
theorist Leonard Woolf. Her first novel The Voyage Out was well
received. Throughout her life she had suffered from deep depression and
debilitating headaches. In 1913 she attempted suicide. Partly for
therapeutic reasons she and Leonard Woolf bought a hand press and taught
themselves typesetting. From this they set up The Hogarth Press in 1917, which
was run from their home, Hogarth House, in Richmond, south west London. The
first publication was Two Stories with a story from each of them, The
Mark on the Wall by Virginia and Three Jews by Leonard. The Hogarth
Press published work by other modern writers including Katherine Mansfield, T.
S. Eliot, Maxim Gorky, Christopher Isherwood, Robert Graves, and E. M. Forster.
Virginia Woolf is considered to be among the most important English novelists. 209. Manfred
B. Lee (1905 – 1971) and Frederic Dannay (1905 – 1982) The
Roman Hat Mystery: A Problem in Deduction Typescript,
carbon, with
autograph manuscript notes in pencil by RBML,
Frederick Dannay Papers “Ellery
Queen” was “born” in 1928 when the two Brooklyn-born cousins, Frederic Dannay
and Manfred B. Lee, themselves both born in 1905, decided to enter a
mystery-novel contest sponsored by McClures magazine. The rules required
that entries be submitted under a pseudonym and the cousins, believing that
readers would remember an author if the name also appeared throughout the book,
chose Ellery Queen because it seemed unusual and memorable to them. Dannay and
Lee were familiar with chosing pseudonyms; they had each changed their names,
from Daniel Nathan and Manford Lepofsky, as young men. Just before Dannay and
Lee were awarded first prize for their submission, McClures went
bankrupt, but the story, The Roman Hat Mystery, was published in 1929 by
the Frederick A. Stokes Company, thus launching the career of Ellery Queen. The
creation of a detective who was also a writer of mystery stories proved to be
extremely popular, and Ellery Queen eventually amassed a reported 120 million
readers. Gift of
Richard and Douglas Dannay, 1985 & 1987 210. Hart
Crane (1899 – 1932) The
Bridge Typescript
with autograph corrections, 99 pages, ca. April-September 1929 RBML, Hart
Crane Papers Hart
Crane began work on The Bridge, his most ambitious work, in the early
1920s. Obsessed by what he called America’s postwar vertigo, he envisioned the
work as an epic “synthesis of America and its structural identity.” The
Bridge was first published by Harry and Caresse Crosby at their Black Sun
Press in Paris in 1930. This working typescript for their edition contains
notes and corrections in the hands of the Crosbys, as well as that of the author.
Among its nearly two thousand items, the Hart Crane Collection contains two
complete typescript versions of the poem and the extant drafts of the
individual pieces which make up the larger work, as well as the letters of
agreement with Horace Liveright for the American publication of both White Buildings and The Bridge. Purchased
on the Frederic Bancroft Fund 211. Alexei
Remizov (1877 – 1957) Deed (Gramota) Ink and
gouache on paper, (20 x 26 cm.), Paris, April 24, 1932 RBML,
Bakhmeteff Archive, Nikolai Vasilievich Zaretskii Papers Russian modernist writer, Alexei
Mikhailovich Remizov, didn not belong to any particular movement. During his
long and prolific literary career (1902-1957) he always experimented with old
and often forgotten Russian words and expressions trying to revitalize the
language. As a true Modernist, Remizov cultivated paradox and myth in life and
writing. In 1908 he created a secret literary society “The Great Free Order of
the Apes” (with its acronym Obezvelvolpal) ruled by the King Asyka. Remizov
himself was a permanent Scribe of the Order and later invented its own Charter
and personally designed hundreds of Deeds (Gramotas). In his designs he
often used the Glagolitic letters (Old Slavonic alphabet). His literary game,
started as a pure joke, later became a favorite entertainment for many famous
Russian intellectuals such as Ivan Bunin, Nikolai Berdiaev, Vasilii Rozanov,
Lev Shestov, Alexei Tolstoy and others. Purchased from Nikolai Vasilievich
Zaretskii, 1954-1957 212. René Bouchet Portrait
of Bennett Cerf Charcoal
on paper RBML,
Bennett Cerf Papers Bennett
Cerf was born in 1898 in Manhattan and graduated from Columbia University with a degree in journalism. In 1925 he acquired the Modern Library with Donald
Klopfer, providing the foundation for Random House Publishing. “I’ve got the
name for our publishing operation. We just said we would publish a few books on
the side at random. Let call it Random House.” Two years later the Random House
colophon made its debut. Cerf was part of the vanguard of young New York publishers who revolutionized the business in the 1920s and 30s. He died in 1971. Gift of
Phyllis Cerf Wagner and the Cerf Foundation, 1975 – 1984 213. James Joyce (1882 – 1941) Ulysses Paris: Shakespeare and Co., 1930 RBML,
Book Arts Collection This copy
of the eleventh printing of James Joyce’s Ulysses was imported by Random
House and seized as pornographic by United States Customs in New York on May 8, 1933. The District Attorney marked the objectionable passages, such as the heavily
marked pages in the Ithaca episode, to prepare the government’s case for use in
the now famous court proceedings. In his decision, made on December 6, 1933, Judge John M. Woolsey recognized that the intent of the work was not pornographic,
and that the test for obscenity could not be the presence of isolated obscene
passages, but the effect of the work in its entirety. The result of the
decision was to permit Random House to publish Ulysses, on January 25, 1934, without legal risks; and the long range consequence was the eventual
publication in the United States of other controversial works by authors such as
D. H. Lawrence and Henry Miller. Gift of
Bennett Cerf, 1935 214. Vladimir
Nabokov (1899 – 1977) Untitled
Poem, Album Paris, February 1937 RBML, Bakhmeteff Archive, Sergei
Viktorovich Potresov Papers This autograph album covers the
years 1906-1913 and 1917-1948, respectively, and has entries by Konstantin
Balmont, Ivan Bilibin, Ivan Bunin, Vladimir Nabokov, and Maximilian Voloshin
among others. It has been assumed that the initiator and keeper of the album
was Sergei Potresov, Russian émigré writer and critic who used the pseudonym of
Sergei Iablonovskii. Most of the epigrams, poems, drawings, and designs in the
album are on white standard pages. Some drawings and other entries have been
glued onto the pages of the album. Nabokov’s untitled poem was
written in 1935 in Berlin and was first published in Paris in 1952. Right
above his entry Nabokov wrote “My dear Sergei Viktorovich, I can’t recall any
of my poems about Blok, so I decided to include my favorite poem.” Purchased from Maria A. Berman, 1960
215. Rockwell Kent (1882 – 1971) Ceramic
cup, saucer, plate from the “Moby Dick” Ceramic
dinnerware set, Vernon
Kilns, Los Angeles, 1939 RBML,
Rockwell Kent Collection Kent produced three patterns for
dinnerware manufacture between 1938 and 1940. The “Moby Dick” pattern uses
designs of whaling ships and whales different from the Kent drawings in the famous edition of the Melville novel published in 1930. It was issued
in a twelve-piece set. Gift of
Mr. & Mrs. Alfred C. Berol, Dan Burne Jones, Corliss Lamont, and Mrs.
Arthur Hays Sulzberger, 1971 216. Cornell
Woolrich (1903 – 1968) Night
Has a Thousand Eyes Typed
manuscript, carbon, with autograph corrections, 372 pages, ca. 1945 RBML,
Cornell Woolrich Papers Cornell
George Hopley-Woolrich was born in New York City on 4 December 1903, the son of Genaro Hopley-Woolrich, a civil engineer and Claire Attalie Tarler. After his parents
divorced, Woolrich spent his early years with his father traveling through Mexico and Central America, before moving back to New York City at the age of twelve to
live with his mother. He attended Columbia University intermittently between
1921 and 1926 but never graduated. Of all
his major novels, Night Has a Thousand Eyes,
published in 1945 under the new pseudonym George Hopley, is the one most
dominated by death and fate, and in it Woolrich depicts the terror that is
generated by knowing the exact moment and nature of one’s death. By the mid
1940s Woolrich was regarded as the premier American suspense writer. After a
stroke rendered him unconscious, he died on 25 September 1968, less than two and a half months short of his sixty-fifth birthday. He left his estate of
some $850,000 to Columbia University to establish a scholarship fund for
journalism in his mother’s memory. He also left his papers and his copyrights
to the Columbia University Libraries. Bequest
of Cornell Woolrich, 1968 217. Gwendolyn
Brooks (1917 –
2000) Annie
Allen New York: Harper, 1949 RBML,
Pulitzer Prize Papers Gwendolyn
Brooks was the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize. This is the copy
that was sent to the Pulitzer Prize Committee. She was awarded the 1950 poetry
prize for this book, a verse narrative pairing the mythic imagery of a young
woman’s hopes and dreams with the realities of her life as a black woman. Gift of
the Pulitzer Prize Committee, 1950 218. Ralph
Ellison (1914 – 1994) Working
notes and outline for Invisible Man Typed
manuscript, 9 pages, 1952 RBML,
Random House Papers Invisible
Man
is one of the great novels of American literature and perhaps the most profound
sociological exploration of African-American culture ever written in novel
form. In this hand-corrected typescript submitted to Random House, Ellison discusses
the concept of invisibility as applied to the novel as follows: “First a couple
of underlying assumptions: “Invisibility”, as our rather strange character
comes in the end to conceive it, springs from two basic facts of American life:
From the conditioning which often makes the white American interpret cultural,
physical, or psychological differences as signs of racial inferiority” and “the
great formlessness of Negro life wherein all values are in flux.” In these
working notes Ellison discusses the predicament of the Negro in American life,
a person who must act logically in a predicament which is not logical. Life for
the Negro in the world and word of Ellison is either tragic, absurd, or both. Gift of Random House, Inc., 1970 219. Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961) Autograph letter, signed to Daniel Longwell San Francisco de Paula, Cuba, 3 pages, July 6, 1952 RBML, Daniel Longwell Papers Daniel Longwell (1899 - 1968) began his distinguished
career as an editor at Doubleday, supervising the publication of books by Edna
Ferber, Ellen Glasgow and other writers. In 1934, he joined the staff of Time,
Inc., becoming one of the founding editors of Life magazine, and serving
as chairman of its board of editors from 1946 until his retirement in 1954. In
this letter, written from the Finca Vigia, his beloved house in Cuba, Hemingway
tells Longwell how important it is for him to have The Old Man and the Sea
published in Life where people who could not afford to buy the book
would be able to read it, adding, “That makes me much happier than to have a
Nobel prize.” The work appeared in the issue of September 1, 1952. Hemingway would receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954, “for his mastery of the art of
narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and
for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style.” Gift of Mrs. Daniel Longwell, 1969 220. Allen
Ginsberg (1926 – 1997) Howl (for
Carl Solomon) Typescript
with autograph corrections, 7 pages, January 1956 RBML, Carr
Papers Ginsberg
graduated from Columbia College in 1948, traveled widely, and held a number of
jobs, ranging from floor-mopper in a cafeteria to market researcher, before
writing Howl, now recognized by many as the most significant of the Beat
Generation poems. Ginsberg enclosed this typescript in a letter to Lucien Carr,
in which he called attention to the “new style, long lines, strophes.” Howl
is a violent lament of the destruction by society of the poet’s generation, and
both the style and content clearly demonstrate that the poem follows in the
tradition of Walt Whitman. The first edition, preceding Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s
City Lights Books publication, was mimeographed, and Ginsberg sent a copy to
his former English professor Mark Van Doren, now in the Rare Book and
Manuscript Library’s Van Doren Papers. 221. Dawn
Powell (1896 – 1965) Charts & Casts & Notes for Golden Spur Autograph manuscript, on folder paper, March 1958 RBML, Dawn Powell Papers The Rare Book and Manuscript Library is the principle
repository of the papers of novelist and playwright Dawn Powell, the gift of
Elizabeth T. Page and the ongoing gift of Tim Page. Among the papers are drafts
and working notes for her novel The Golden Spur. These include this
chart that she began in March, 1958, showing how she kept track of characters,
places, spots and episodes for the work, such as: “Cassie Bender, gallery.
Would have had a tea-room in another age,” and under “Spots:” “Hotel Le Grand.
Golden Spur Cafe. Supermarket. Wash. Sq. Park.” Born in Mount Gilead, Ohio in 1896, Dawn Powell ran away
from an abusive stepmother when she was thirteen and settled with her
unconventional aunt in nearby Shelby, Ohio. “Auntie May,” a divorcée, owned a
home near the railroad depot, made lively by Powell’s cousins, Auntie’s lover,
and passing strangers who stopped for meals. Encouraged by her aunt to further
her education, Powell begged a scholarship to Lake Erie College for Women.
There she wrote and performed in plays and edited the Lake Erie Record,
a campus quarterly, which often contained her playful yet pessimistic stories.
In 1918, Powell moved to New York City. She married Joseph Gousha, Jr., a
Pennsylvania-born poet turned ad man, and the couple had a son, Jojo. They
settled in Greenwich Village. Powell loved her bohemian neighborhood and the Manhattan nightlife that she spent alongside friends John Dos Passos, Edmund Wilson, E. E.
Cummings, and others from the literary scene. Powell set her fiction in the small Ohio towns of her
youth and later, most successfully, in familiar New York neighborhoods and
cafés. Though dogged by Gousha’s drinking, Jojo’s probable autism, financial
strain, and her own struggles with alcohol, illness, and depression, Dawn
Powell managed to write sixteen novels, nine plays, and numerous short stories and
reviews. She died in 1965. Powell’s wicked sense of humor, keen ear for
dialogue and human sense of pathos pervade her barbed, shrewd fiction about
mid-century Americans in Manhattan and Ohio. Her remarkable diaries, published
in 1995, were hailed by the New York Times as “one of the outstanding literary
finds of the last quarter century.” Columbia University’s holdings include her
personal and professional correspondence, drafts of her plays and novels and
her diaries. Gift of Tim Page, 2002 Music 222. René
Descartes (1596 – 1650) Renati
Des-Cartes Musicae compendium Utrecht: Gesberti a Zÿll, & Theodori
ab Ackersdÿck, 1650 Gabe M.
Weiner Music & Arts Library The Compendium
is both a treatise on music and a study in
methodology. In it Descartes shows himself to be a link between the musical
humanists of the 16th century – he was influenced particularly by Zarlino, whom
he cited – and the scientists of the 17th. The work is noteworthy as an early
experiment in the application of an empirical, deductive, scientific approach
to the study of sensory perception and as being among the earliest attempts to
define the dual relationship between the physical and psychological phenomena
in music. Descartes divided music into three basic component parts,
each of which can be isolated for study: the mathematical-physical aspect of
sound, the nature of sensory perception and the ultimate effect of such
perception on the individual listener. He considered the first of these to lend
itself to pure scientific investigation, since it is independent of personal
interpretation. He characterized the process of sensory perception as being
autonomous, self-regulating and measurable. This is the realm where practical
aspects of music are dealt with (e.g. rules for counterpoint) and to which the
great bulk of the Compendium is devoted. To Descartes the impact of
sound on a listener’s emotions or ‘soul’ is a subjective, irrational element
and therefore incapable of being scientifically measured. He described it as a
psychological-physiological phenomenon that clearly belongs to the areas of
aesthetics and metaphysics, of which he was to develop the principles later in
his philosophical writings. The distinction he made in the Compendium,
between sound as a physical phenomenon and sound as understood by the human
conscience, permitted him to pass from a rationalist concept of aesthetics to a
sensualist one in his later work. This concept was influential in the
development of a philosophy for the affections in music in late 17th-century
Germany, especially through his treatise Les Passions de l'âme
(Amsterdam, 1649). Purchase, 1901 223. Henry
Purcell (1659 – 1695) Orpheus
Britannicus. A collection of all the choicest songs…The Second Book, which
renders the First Compleat London: William Pearson for Henry
Playford, 1702 Gabe M. Weiner Music & Arts
Library Henry
Purcell was one of the greatest English composers, flourishing in the period
that followed the Restoration of the monarchy after the Puritan Commonwealth period. Purcell spent much of his short life in the service of the Chapel Royal as
a composer, organist and singer. With considerable gifts as a composer, he
wrote extensively for the stage, particularly in a hybrid musico-dramatic form
of the time, for the church and for popular entertainment, a master of English
word-setting and of contemporary compositional techniques for instruments and
voices. He died in 1695, a year after composing funeral music for Queen Mary. Purcell
wrote only one full opera, Dido and Aeneas, with a libretto by Nahum
Tate. He provided a number of verse anthems and full anthems for the liturgy of
the Church of England, as well as settings of the Morning and Evening Service,
the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, Te Deum and Jubilate. Purcell’s secular vocal
music includes a number of Odes for the feast of St. Cecilia, patron saint of
music and a number of Welcome Songs and other celebrations of royal occasions.
He wrote a considerable quantity of solo songs, in addition to the songs included
in his work for the theater. Gift of Mrs.
Elaine Schenker, 1960 224. The Beggar’s
Opera Playing
Cards, England, ca. 1730 RBML,
Albert Field Collection of Playing Cards The
Field Collection, one of the most comprehensive collections of playing cards in
the world, consists of close to 6,000 packs. Included in the collection are
tarot packs; miniature packs; packs depicting generals, presidents, and sports
figures; and transformation packs, where suit signs change into human heads,
butterflies, bees, birds, or fish. The collection also contains depictions of
historic events, representing changes in social customs, political context, and
design. A sequence of packs from early 20th-century Russia, for example, shows
increasingly vicious images of the imperial court. The deck of cards shown here
contains the words and music for the songs in John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera,
first performed in London on January 29, 1728. Albert
Field, who performed as a magician during his early years, incorporated card
tricks into his magic acts, and collected cards from the countries he toured.
Field received a B.A. in English Literature from Columbia University, and an
M.A. from Harvard, and then taught English and science in New York City high
schools. Field met Salvador Dali in the early 1940s, and was chosen by the
artist to be his official archivist in 1955. Field proceeded to catalogue
thousands of Dali works and fakes, eventually becoming the foremost authority
in the field. Bequest
of Albert Field, 2003 225. Leonard
Euler (1707 – 1783) Tentamen
novae theoriae musicae St.
Petersburg:
Typographia Academiae Scientiarum, 1739 Gabe M. Weiner Music & Arts
Library Swiss mathematician and scientist Leonard Euler’s residency
in Russia coincided with the grand cultural vision of Catherine the Great and
her determination to Europeonize Russia. Under Catherine’s patronage science,
the arts and trade flourished. Catherine is credited with luring Euler back to
St. Peterburg during the Enlightenment. He was one of the first
mathematicians to apply calculus to physics, and is considered to be one of the
most prolific mathematicians of all time. He was the perfector of integral
calculus, the inventor of calculus using sines, and is particularly renowned
for his study of motion. Euler
presented a developed theory of consonance, based upon an explicit,
mathematical rule for determining the ‘simplicity’ of a set of frequencies such
as those making up a chord. He derived his rule from ideas of the ancients,
Ptolemy in particular. It could not take account of difference tones and
summation tones, for they had not yet been reported, but it permitted Euler to
determine by routine calculations the most complete systems of scales or modes
ever published. The last chapter of this work sketches a theory of modulation.
Euler thus began to construct a mathematical theory of the consonance of a
progression of chords. From
Dr. Anderson’s Collection, Given by the Alumni 226. Vesperal Manuscript on paper, Austro-Hungarian
Empire, 1766 Gabe M. Weiner Music & Arts
Library Three
slim volumes, of an original four, contain the musical compositions for the
Divine Office at vespers; the music was so well known that only its opening
bars were recorded, since the short cue would be sufficient to the singers. It
is possible that this vesperal was produced for use in a church of the Theatine
order: their founder, St. Cajetan, is honored here with arrangements for his
feast (7 August). The only other unusual saint so fêted is St. Leopold (15
November), who was Markgrave of Austria in the 15th century. Austrian
ownership is proven by the elaborate achievement of arms on folio 2 in each of
the three volumes: the double-headed displayed eagle, wearing the collar of the
Order of the Golden Fleece, grasping the two swords and orb in his claws, carries
emblazoned on his chest the twenty-two coats of arms of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
On the same leaf is the signature of one Johann Hermann, qualifying himself as
“Music.” (for “musicista”?), and the date, 1766. It would have been a worthy
accomplishment to have copied out by hand all of these texts and music, and to
have done so with such consistent elegance. Gift of John and Johanna Bass,
1962 227. Whittier Perkins’ Yankee Doodle: A
Collection of Dancing Tunes, Marches & Song Tunes Manuscript,
36 leaves, ca. 1778-1788 RBML Known as the
“Whittier Perkins” manuscript because of the ownership inscription, this
volume, in a contemporary leather binding, contains more than two hundred tunes
from the American Revolutionary War era, scored for melodic instrument. Many of
the melodies are of English origin, but the spirit of the times is reflected in
the titles given to the tunes, such as “The Free Born Americans” and
“Washinton’s [sic] Health.” The most famous piece in the collection is “Yankey
doodle,” which appears here in its earliest known American form. In addition,
the manuscript contains such well-known songs as “The 12 days of Christmas” and
“Greensleeves.” Gift of
Robert Gorham Davis, 1965 228. Joseph
Mazzinghi (1765 – 1844) Paul
et Virginie: the favorite grand ballet, op. 7 composed by Sigr. Onorati ; the
music by Joseph Mazzinghi London: Printed for G. Goulding, [1795?] Gabe M. Weiner Music & Arts
Library An English composer of
Corsican origin, Mazzinghi was the eldest son of Tommaso
Mazzinghi, a London wine merchant and violinist. Apparently at the instigation
of both his father and aunt, Mazzinghi commenced lessons with J. C. Bach. He
was appointed organist at the Portuguese Chapel in 1775 when only ten years
old. He later studied with Sacchini, Anfossi and possibly Bertolini. In 1779
Mazzinghi was apprenticed as copyist and musical assistant to Leopoldo De
Michele, chief music copyist at the King’s Theatre. Five years later he
advanced to the position of harpsichordist and was then engaged as house
composer to the King’s Theatre (1786–9). In this position he provided ballet
music, directed operas and was responsible for arranging pasticcios. Mazzinghi
was a prolific composer for the ballet, having written some two dozen works for
the King’s Theatre and Pantheon. As was customary, Mazzinghi
was required to arrange existing music for the ballet as well as compose new
works. Among Mazzinghi’s more successful ballets were those he composed for
Noverre during the period 1787–9. Paul et Virginie was among the more
popular ballets after Noverre’s departure for France in 1789. Mazzinghi joined
the Royal Society of Musicians on 3 June 1787. He may have had a financial
interest in the music publishing firm of Goulding, who published most of his
music from about 1792. Mazzinghi died on a visit to his son at Downside
College, and was buried in the vault of Chelsea Catholic Chapel on 25 January
1844. 229. Joseph Haydn
(1732 – 1809) [Gebote
Gottes den Herm] Die X Gebothe Gottes, in Musik gesetzt als Canons von Joseph
Hayden (Eigenthum der herausgeber) [The Ten Commandments] Vienna: Artaria & Comp. [1810?] Gabe M. Weiner Music & Arts
Library Joseph Haydn
was born in 1832 the son of a wheelwright. Throughout his career he composed
for his patron, Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy. During this period, Haydn was the
director of an ensemble of about twenty musicians, with responsibility for the
music and the instruments. Even if his music was not as emotionally intense and
radical as that of Beethoven (who was his pupil at one point), or as profound
and probing as Mozart’s (who was his good friend), Haydn’s music shows a very
solid structure that was an important part of the Classical Era. In
Haydn’s sacred vocal music the aesthetics of through-composition is a matter
not only of cyclic integration, but of doctrine and devotion. Many of these
works are organized around the conceptual image of salvation, at once personal
and communal, achieved at or near the end: a musical realization of the desire
for a state of grace. At the time of his death, Haydn was mourned as one of the musical
giants of his time. His long career enabled him to produce a vast quantity of
works that defined the Viennese Classical style. Gift of
John and Johanna Bass, 1962 230. Ludwig
van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) Wellingtons-Sieg,
oder: Die Schlacht bey Vittoria. In Musik gesetzt … 91tes Werk Vienna: S. A. Steiner & Comp., 1816 Gabe M. Weiner Music & Arts Library, Deposit to RBML, Anton Seidl
Papers This
first printing of Beethoven’s Wellington’s Victory, Opus 91, the “Battle
Symphony,” was owned by conductor Anton Seidl. Seidl came to prominence as
Wagner’s principal assistant at the first Beyreuth festival in 1876, and he
became a member of the Wagner household. After conducting in Europe, Seidl was
invited to conduct German opera at the Metropolitan Opera House. He made his
debut on November 23, 1885, conducting Lohengrin. When German opera at
the Met was dropped in 1891, he became the conductor of the Philharmonic
Society of New York, returning to the Met in 1897. During this time he became a
naturalized American citizen, dying suddenly of ptomaine poisoning at the
height of his career in 1898. Gift of
the Friends of Anton Seidl, 1905 231. Ludwig
van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) Notes
on Mozart’s Requiem and sketch for Missa Solemnis Autograph
manuscript, n.d. RBML This working
sheet contains Beethoven’s analysis of the Kyrie fugue from Mozart’s Requiem
on one side and a sketch for his Missa Solemnis on the other. Beethoven
invented special symbols for Mozart’s use of double counterpoint and compound
4/4 meter, and made frequent use of this meter in his late fugues, especially
the Gloria fugue in the Missa Solemnis. Gift of
Roberta M. Welch, 1953 232. Anton Bruckner
(1824 – 1896) Symphony
IV, (Romantic) Manuscript,
with title page and many corrections in the composer’s hand, 121 leaves, [1878] Gabe M. Weiner Music & Arts
Library, Deposit to
RBML One
of the most innovative figures of the second half of the 19th century, Bruckner
is remembered primarily for his symphonies and sacred compositions. His music
is rooted in the formal traditions of Beethoven and Schubert and inflected with
Wagnerian harmony and orchestration. Until late in his career his reputation
rested mainly on his improvisatory skills at the organ. The Fourth Symphony,
like the Third, exists in three distinct versions. The first was completed in
November 1874 (ed. Nowak, 1974). In this
revision of 1878, Bruckner ‘tightened up’ the first two movements, revised the
finale and replaced the original scherzo with a new movement. In 1880 Bruckner
substantially recomposed the finale. The work, comprising the first three
movements of 1878 and the finale of 1880, was given its first performance by
the Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Hans Richter, on February 20, 1881. After
this performance, Bruckner unsuccessfully attempted to get the symphony
published. In undertaking the third and final revision, Bruckner was assisted
by Ferdinand Löwe and probably by the Schalk brothers. 233a. Edward
Alexander MacDowell (1860 – 1908) Indian
Suite, [Suite
No. 2, Op. 48] Autograph
manuscript, Boston, ca. 1889-1897 RBML,
Edward MacDowell Papers 233b. Columbia University Silver
cup presented to MacDowell by Columbia students, 1904 RBML,
Edward MacDowell Papers A Columbia University committee, after hearing a performance of McDowell’s Indian Suite by
the Boston Symphony Orchestra on January 23, 1896, decided to recommend MacDowell as the university’s first professor of music. The cup is engraved with
the names of his students and inscribed, “with the high esteem and affection of
his classes at Columbia University.” (Manuscript)
Gift of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, 1969 (Cup) Gift
of Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Evans, 1972 234. Gustav
Holst (1874 – 1934) Egdon
Heath Autograph
manuscript, August, 1927 Gabe M. Weiner Music & Arts
Library, Deposit to
RBML The
music of “Egdon Heath,” inspired by Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native,
is elusive and unpredictable. Its three main elements are set out at the
beginning – a pulseless wandering melody, first for double basses and then all
the strings, a sad brass processional and restless music for strings and oboe.
All three intertwine and transmute, eventually coming to rest with music of
desolation, out of which emerges a ghostly dance, the strangest moment in a
strange work. After this comes a resolution of sorts, and the ending, though
hardly conclusive, gives the impression of an immense journey achieved, even
though “Egdon Heath” lasts no more than 12 minutes. 235. Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945) Rumanian Folk Music Autograph manuscript, ca. 1942 RBML, Béla Bartók Papers Central to Béla Bartók’s work as a composer was his work
as an ethno-musicologist. With fellow Hungarian composer, Zoltán Kodály, he
travelled throughout Eastern Europe and Turkey collecting folk music prior to
the devastations of World Wars I and II. Alarmed by the spread of fascism, Bartók
emigrated to the United States in 1940. On his arrival, he was commissioned by Columbia to transcribe a large collection of Yugoslav folk music, and was awarded an
honorary doctorate by the University that year. He prepared the manuscripts of
his work on Rumanian and Turkish folk music for publication, but was unable to
find a publisher. He then donated the material to Columbia along with his
tabulation of Serbo-Croatian folk music, held in the Parry Collection at
Harvard, that had been published. By 1943 his health was failing and he died
from leukemia in New York in 1945. His Rumanian and Turkish manuscripts were
later published by his estate. Gift of Béla Bartók, 1943 and 1944; transferred to RBML
from Central Files, 1981 236. Boris
Artzybasheff (1899 – 1965) Marian
Anderson Painting
in tempera and pencil for the cover of Time, December 30, 1946 RBML,
Art Collection During the
1930s, Arturo Toscanini had told the American contralto Marian Anderson, “A
voice like yours comes but once in a century.” In 1941, when she booked
Constitution Hall in Washington, D. C. for a concert, her booking was cancelled
by the Daughters of the American Revolution, the owners of the hall. Walter
White of the NAACP told Eleanor Roosevelt what had happened, suggesting that
the concert could be held out of doors on government property. Mrs. Roosevelt
called Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, and the concert was held on the
steps of the Lincoln Memorial before a crowd of 75,000. Despite this triumph,
Marian Anderson did not make her Metropolitan Opera debut until 1955, when she
was fifty-three, becoming the first African American to sing at the Met. Bequest of
Boris Artzybasheff, 1965 237. Douglas
Moore (1893 – 1969) “Augusta’s
Aria,” from The Ballad of Baby Doe Autograph
manuscript, ink and pencil, ca. 1956 RBML,
Douglas Moore Papers The
Ballad of Baby Doewas commissioned by the Koussevitsky Foundation of the
Library of Congress for the 200th anniversity of Columbia
University. Completed in 1956, it has become one of the most popular American
operas of the modern day. The story is a mixture of romance and frontier
rowdiness, a tale of wealth turned into poverty by the change of the silver
standard during the William Jennings Bryan era. Douglas
Moore was educated at the Hotchkiss School and Yale University (BA 1915, BM
1917), where he studied composition with Horatio Parker. He began to write
songs for social events, developing a gift for writing melodies in a popular
style. This skill was reinforced by further songwriting during his World War I
service in the US Navy (from 1917); the resulting collection, Songs My
Mother Never Taught Me (1921), co-authored with folk-singer John Jacob
Niles, brought Moore his first public recognition. In
1926 Moore was appointed to the faculty of Columbia University, where he became
chair of the music department in 1940, remaining in that post until his
retirement in 1962. He gradually became one of the most influential figures in
American music, both as a teacher and as a director or board member of many
organizations, including ASCAP and the National Institute and American Academy
of Arts and Letters. Moore’s papers include his professional and personal
correspondence, original scores and sketches, and production notes, libretti and
data concerning his major works. Gift
of Mrs. Douglas Moore & Family, 1971 and 1973; and on-going gifts of Mary
Moore Kelleher & Sarah Moore Theater History & Dramatic Arts 238. William Shakespeare London: Isaac Jaggard and Ed. Blount, 1623 RBML, Phoenix Collection As the
monumental work of Charlton K. Hinman has shown, from about February until
December 1622, three folio books were in the process of being printed at the
printing house of William Jaggard: Vincent’s Discoverie of Errors,
Favyn’s Theatre of Honour and Shakespeare’s works. All three books are in
the RBML collections, along with copies of the other three Shakespeare folios.
This copy of the first folio came to Columbia with the library’s first rare
book collection, that of Stephen Whitney Phoenix. Bequest
of Stephen Whitney Phoenix, 1881 239a. Richard
Brinsley Sheridan (1751 – 1816) School
for Scandal Manuscript,
97 pages, late 18th or early 19th century RBML 239b. Richard
Brinsley Sheridan Miniature
portrait RBML, Plimpton
Miniatures Late in
the eighteenth century, Sheridan told a publisher who asked for a corrected
copy of School for Scandal, that after nineteen years he was still not
satisfied with the text. Whether he ever completed a definitive text is not
known, but he may have continued to work on the play as late as 1815. This late
version, although not complete, shows some significant changes from an earlier
one that has long been accepted as the basic text. The manuscript is in five
hands: one appears to be either that of John Palmer (1742?-1798), the original
performer of Joseph Surface, the hypocritical brother in this popular comedy,
or, according to some scholars, that of George Steevens (1736-1800), the
commentator on Shakespeare and collaborator with Samuel Johnson. (Manuscript)
Brander Matthews Dramatic Museum & Library Collection (Portrait)
Gift of Mrs. Francis Plimpton, 1987 240a. Frances
Anne Kemble (1809 – 1893) Muslin
bodice of the costume worn as Juliet, debut appearance, Covent Garden, London: 5 O ctober 1829 RBML,
Dramatic Museum Collection 240b. Frances
Anne Kemble (1809 – 1893) Journal
by Frances Anne Butler, with the author’s ms. annotations Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard,
1835 RBML,
Dramatic Library Fanny
Kemble was not yet twenty when she made her debut as Juliet at Covent Garden on 5 October 1829, wearing this bodice. The London Times reported: “Upon the
whole, we do not remember to have ever seen a more triumphant debut. That Miss
Kemble has been well and carefully instructed, as, of course, she would be is
clear; but it is no less clear that she possesses qualifications which
instructions could not create, although it can bring them to perfection.” Some
critics thought she was even better than her famous aunt, Sarah Siddons, had
been at the same age. In 1832
she traveled to the United States with her father, the actor Charles Kemble,
and was an immediate success in New York and during a tour that lasted for two
years. She married Pierce Butler in 1834. Butler was a retired actor and
Philadelphian who owned a plantation in Georgia. Her diary from this time was
published in two volumes in 1835, and in this copy she has made annotations
throughout. Visiting Butler’s plantation, she was shocked to see the
institution of slavery first-hand. Other parts of her diary were published as Journal
of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1835, and reissued in New York and London during the American Civil War in order to influence British opinion
against slavery and the South. Brander
Matthews Dramatic Museum & Library Collection 241. Fortune
Theatre Model London: James P. Maginnis, ca. 1912 RBML, Dramatic
Museum In 1599,
Philip Henslowe, theater producer, and Edward Alleyn, actor and founder of Dulwich College, contracted with Peter Streete, carpenter, to build a theater north of
Aldersgate on Golden (formerly Golding) Lane in London. Streete had been the
contractor for the Globe Cheatre that had opened in late 1599. Henslowe paid
£520 for the Fortune, opened in 1600, and almost twice as much to have it
rebuilt of brick after it burned in 1621. The wording
of the Fortune contract was exact enough to enable reconstructions to be made.
This one was made by James P. Maginnis of London, under the direction of Walter
H. Godfrey, for Columbia professor and theater history pioneer, Brander
Matthews. The scale is 3:100. It became part of his Dramatic Museum, a vast
collection of books, manuscripts, prints, photographs, recordings, puppets,
masks, set models, theater models, and other museum objects, that he began in
1912. The
Fortune Theatre was to be three stories high, on a low wall foundation of brick
“underpinning”). An open stage 43 feet by about 27 feet was to be surrounded by
galleries, including four “gentlemen’s rooms” and other “twopennie rooms.” The
stage, modeled on that of the Globe in Southwark, would have its pillars
“wroughte plasterwise [i.e.strapwork pilasters], with carved proporcions called
satiers to be placed and set on the top of every of the same postes.” The
reconstruction shows how the gallery, the essential feature of the new
theatres, was copied from the coaching inns (such as The George Inn, still
partly standing in Southwark), which in turn had adapted it from the large
house. The Fortune was located only a few blocks away from what is today the
Barbican Arts Centre. Brander
Matthews Dramatic Museum & Library Collection 242. Thomas W.
Lamb (1871 – 1942) Drawing
for a proposed new lobby, Audubon Ballroom, New York City Charcoal
and pastel on tracing paper, 1930 Avery Library,
Drawings and Archives, Thomas W. Lamb Collection A
Scotsman who emigrated to Canada and then New York, Lamb became one of the
leading theater designers in the early 20th century. He designed or renovated
theaters for several chains, including Loew’s, Fox, and Poli, at sites in New York and around the world. For Manhattan, the archive contains a large number of
projects or renovations in Manhattan alone, including the old Madison Square Garden at 8th & 50th St., and the Eltinge, among others. There are theaters
for Calcutta, London, Cairo, Toronto, and Johannesburg. This drawing is part of
a set of proposals for the renovation of the Audubon Ballroom, a theater Lamb
had designed in 1912 and later became famous as the site of the assassination
of Malcolm X. The building was redeveloped in 1995 as the Audubon Business and Technology Center by Columbia. Due to the instability of the abandoned structure, only the
façade was salvaged and reinstalled. The
collection, containing over 20,000 drawings, was donated by John McNamara in
1982. McNamara, also a theater architect, had been Lamb’s associate and then
successor. At the time of the donation, McNamara was at work preparing the
Winter Garden Theater for a new production called “Cats.” Gift of
John McNamara, 1982 243. Joseph
Urban (1872 – 1933) “Blue
Nursery Scene,” The Ziegfeld Follies, 1931 Theater
set model; gouache, watercolor, and graphite; wooden base with paper board
drops supported on metal poles; paper and transparent tissue paper decorations,
some supported with wooden bases RBML,
Joseph Urban Papers Joseph
Urban studied architecture at the Akademie der bildenden Künst in his native Vienna. He established himself as an architect as well as a book illustrator, exhibit
designer, interior decorator and set designer, often in collaboration with the
painter Heinrich Lefler. Urban and Lefler were co-founders of the Hagenbund, an
exhibiting society similar to the Secessionists. In 1912 at the age of 40,
Urban emigrated to the United States and became the designer for the Boston
Opera Company where he introduced the innovations of the New Stagecraft from
the European theater. After
the Boston Opera Company went bankrupt in 1914, Urban began designing sets in New York. He designed the Ziegfeld Follies, as well as all other Ziegfeld productions, from
1915 to 1932. In 1917 he began designing for the Metropolitan Opera and
continued to do so until his death in 1933, with operas including the first
American productions of Puccini’s Turandot and Richard Strauss’s Egyptian
Helen, and the first Metropolitan Opera productions of Verdi’s Don
Carlos and Richard Strauss’s Electra. From
1921 to 1925 Urban was also the art director for William Randolph Hearst’s
Cosmopolitan Studios. He had branched out to other artistic endeavors since
moving to New York, including designing shop windows, roof gardens and interior
decoration. From 1921 to 1922 he introduced the works of Viennese artists to
the United States through his Wiener Werkstätte shop. He received his license
to practice architecture in the United States in 1926, after which he designed
homes, buildings, ballrooms and theaters in New York and elsewhere. Notable
examples of his extant architecture are the Paramount Theater Building and Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, and the New School and the Hearst Magazine Building in New York. Columbia’s massive Joseph Urban holdings
cover his entire career. Most recently, the Joseph Urban Stage Design Models
and Documents project, through a grant from the National Endowment for the
Humanities, has made possible the preservation of 240 three-dimensional models
created by Urban for New York theaters between 1914-1933, including productions
for the Ziegfeld Follies, such as the “Blue Nursery Scene” in 1931, the
Metropolitan Opera, and a variety of Broadway theaters. The project has also
created digital images of the set models and related stage design documents and
drawings that are linked to the online finding aid: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/indiv/rare/guides/Urban/. Gift of
Mrs. Joseph Urban, 1955 244. Florine
Stettheimer (1871 – 1944) Maquettes
made for costumes and scenery for Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thompson’s Four
Saints in Three Acts Wire,
crepe paper, thread, feathers, sequins, toile, velvet, cellophane, New York, 1934 RBML,
Florine Stettheimer Papers Artist
Florine Stettheimer is best known for her lavish sets and costumes that she
designed for the first production of Gertrude Stein’s opera Four Saints in
Three Acts, with music by Virgil Thompson. Rather than use flat drawings,
Stettheimer created these figures using a wide variety of materials, including
the newly invented cellophane, seen here on the palm trees, and used
extensively for the set itself. Shown here is part of the maquette for Act I of
the opera, with the figures for the characters, from left to right: Saint
Settlement, The Compere (in black), Saint Teresa I, The Female Dancers (three),
Saint Teresa II, Saint Ignatius, and The Commere (in red). Gift of
Joseph Solomon, on behalf of the Estate of Ettie Stettheimer, 1967 245. Ely Jacques
Kahn (1884 – 1972) Drawing, Dowling Theater, Times Square, New York City Charcoal and pastel on tracing paper, [1944-47] Avery Library, Drawings and Archives, Kahn and Jacobs
Collection A 1906
graduate of Columbia College, Kahn spent several years at the Ecole des
Beaux-Arts in Paris before returning to New York to join the firm of Buchman
and Fox. The firm had many connections in the retail and garment industries;
department stores were among their clients. Bloomingdale’s and
Oppenheim-Collins were two of their major patrons. Kahn, along with Raymond
Hood and Ralph Walker, was one of the most successful New York architects of
the 1920s. His buildings include 2 Park Avenue, the Squibb Building, Bergdorf-Goodman, 120 Wall Street, 525 Seventh Avenue, the Film Center Building, among many others. Because of Kahn’s decorative talents, the buildings were also
known for their colorful lobbies and elevator cabs and exterior ornament. Around
1940, Kahn teamed with a younger architect, Robert Allan Jacobs, son of the
architect Harry Allan Jacobs, who had just returned from working in Le
Corbusier’s office in Paris. This project for a post-war theater shows the
exuberance and eagerness for a post-war New York City. After years of war-time
blackouts, these drawings promised a return to the bright lights and excitement
of Times Square. Unfortunately, this project was not built. The Kahn
collection was the gift of Hellmuth, Obata, and Kassabaum, the successor firm
to Kahn and Jacobs. Additional personal materials, including scrapbooks,
clippings, and photographs, were gifts of Mrs. Ely Jacques Kahn. Gift of Hellmuth, Obata, and Kassabaum, 1978 246a. Tennessee Williams (1911 – 1983) Early
draft of The Eclipse of May 29, 1919 [The Rose Tattoo] Typed
manuscript, annotated, ca. 1948 RBML, Tennessee Williams Papers 246b. Black
glasses owned by Tennessee Williams at the time of his death RBML, Tennessee Williams Papers Tennessee
Williams was born Thomas Lanier Williams in Columbus, Mississippi on March 26, 1911, the son of Cornelius C. Williams a shoe salesman and Edwina Dakin the
daughter of an Episcopalian minister. Williams received a BA from the University of Iowa in 1938 and, supported by odd jobs, set out immediately to become a
writer. He first gained fame with The Glass Menagerie in 1945. The play
drew on his family experience, as would much of his subsequent writings--an
absent father, an eccentric Southern belle mother, a shy troubled sister, all
seen through the eyes of the sensitive artist brother. The
Glass Menagerie
was followed by a succession of hits which securely established Williams’
reputation as a major American playwright. He won the Pulitzer Prize for A
Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955. The
Rose Tattoo, shown here in an early draft, received the Tony Award for best
play in 1951. The
Rare Book and Manuscript Library began collecting Tennessee Williams materials in
the 1970s, and by 1990 had acquired a substantial collection of scripts,
production material, photographs and correspondence. The largest part of the
collection, including the pair of black glasses shown here, was purchased from
the Tennessee Williams estate in 1994 and consists primarily of material found
in his Key West house following his death. (Manuscript)
Gift of the Friends of the Columbia University Libraries, 1986 (Glasses)
Purchased with the Tennessee Williams Estate, 1994 247a. Samuel
(1899 – 1971) and Bella Cohen Spewack (1899 – 1990) Kiss
Me, Kate, “Script A” Typescript,
with autograph corrections, 1948 RBML,
Sam and Bella Spewack Papers 247b. First
Tony award for Best Book (Musical), 1949 RBML,
Sam and Bella Spewack Papers The idea for Kiss Me, Kate came from producer Arnold
Saint-Subber. In 1935, while working as a stagehand for the Theatre Guild’s
production of The Taming of the Shrew, he noticed that Alfred Lunt and
Lynn Fontanne were involved in a relationship that was almost as tempestuous
offstage as it was onstage in their roles as Petruccio and Katherine. With the
book written by Sam (Columbia College, Class of 1919) and Bella Spewack, and
the music and lyrics written by Cole Porter, with liberal use of Shakespeare’s
dialogue for the “onstage” musical numbers, Kiss Me, Kate opened on December 30, 1948 at the New Century Theatre and ran for 1070 performances. It won five
“Tony” Awards in 1949, the second year of the awards and the first time that
musicals were honored separately, including this one given to the Spewacks, and
awards for “Best Musical,” and “Best Score.” The award for “Best Play” was
given to Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. The Spewack Papers contain a large amount of material
relating to the creation, production, and performance of their works for stage,
screen, radio and television; Bella Spewack’s work for various charitable
organizations including UNRRA; and the manuscripts of novels, short stories and
articles written by the Spewacks. Bequest of Bella C. Spewack, 1990 248. Judy
Garland (1922 – 1969) “The
Judy Garland Story” Typescript,
New York, March 1961 RBML,
Random House Papers This is
Random House’s copy of Fred F. Finklehoffe’s transcription, made in Mexico City, in February 1961, of the tape-recorded interviews that he had made with Judy
Garland in London and elsewhere in 1960, for her proposed, but never written
autobiography. Playwright, screenwriter, and producer, Fred Finkelhoffe worked
on the screenplays for six of Garland’s films, including “Strike Up the Band,”
“Girl Crazy,” and “Meet Me In St. Louis.” On page one of the transcript she
states that, “Contrary [to] many rumors, I was not born in a trunk, but in a
lovely white house with a garden, and until I went back to see it again when I
was fifteen, always I thought it was the biggest house I’d ever seen.” Gift of
Random House, Inc., 1970 249. Tom
Stoppard (b. 1937) Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern are Dead Mimeographed
copy of typescript, signed and inscribed to Carl [Petersen] by the author, New York, ca. 1967 RBML, House
of Books Collection The
House of Books opened in New York on October 10, 1930, under proprietors Louis Henry Cohn (1888-1953) and Marguerite Arnold Cohn (1887-1984). It specialized in
20th century British and American first editions and brought the
Cohns into contact with many of the major literary figures of the day,
including Tom Stoppard. This play was his first major success. It tells the
tale of Hamlet from the point-of-view of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor
characters in Shakespeare’s play. Bequest
of Marguerite A. Cohn, 1984 250. Robert
Wilson “The
Life and Times of Sigmund Freud” A Three Act Dance-Theatre Concert, Brooklyn Academy of Music Poster,
lithograph, “after engraving by William Blake/R. Wilson 70/300,” 1969 RBML,
Robert Wilson Papers Robert
Wilson was born in Waco, Texas in 1941. He attended the University of Texas, Austin, 1959-1962 and the Pratt Institute, 1962-1965 where he earned a BFA in
architecture. By 1968 he had gathered a group of artists that became known as
The Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds in honor of Wilson’s former teacher. Together
they worked and performed at 147 Spring Street in lower Manhattan. The Life
and Times of Sigmund Freud, along with The King of Spain, were both
produced in 1969. His Einstein on the Beach, a collaboration with
composer Philip Glass, appeared in 1976. In the
early 1980s, Wilson began working on his multi-national epic, “the CIVIL wars:
a tree is best measured when it is down,” his most ambitious project to date.
Created in collaboration with an international group of artists and planned as
the centerpiece of the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival in Los Angeles, the full
opera has not been seen in its entirety, but individual parts have been
produced in the United States, Europe and Japan. Columbia’s Robert Wilson Papers include correspondence,
outlines, scripts, production notes, technical materials, story boards,
contracts, posters, programs, announcements, reviews, and other printed
materials relating to all aspects of Wilson’s theater works, opera, films,
artwork and video productions. Also included are the files of the Byrd Hoffman
Foundation. Gift of
Robert Wilson and the Byrd Hoffman Foundation, 1988-91
Columbia by Dr. Calvin H. Plimpton, who had been president of Amherst
College and of the American University of Beirut. The collection had been
assembled by his father, George Arthur Plimpton, the noted publisher of
text books. Both father and son delighted in quizzing visitors about the
identity of the sitters. Dr. Plimpton remarked that having a “visual
impression...of these authors...increases our enjoyment and even
understanding of their writings.”
Plimpton to the George A. Plimpton Collection (RBML)Alexandra
Vereshchagina (1810 – 1873)
Frederic Dannay, 292 pages, [1929]
The typescript of The Roman Hat Mystery is inscribed on the title page
by Dannay: “This is the only carbon-copy of the original typescript of ‘The
Roman Hat Mystery’ still in existance. The original typescript, and all other
carbon copies, were destroyed. – Ellery Queen 12/22/41.” It and the majority of
Columbia’s Ellery Queen papers were given by Frederic Dannay’s sons, Richard
and Douglas. Their gift also included the files of Ellery Queens Mystery
Magazine, containing some 4,600 manuscripts submitted to the magazine over
a period of 40 years, nearly all with Dannay’s manuscript corrections.Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies