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Tag Archives: gold

Book of the Week — Queen Moo’s Talisman

22 Monday Oct 2018

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Africa, Alice Dixon Le Plongeon, American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal, archaeologist, Asiatic, Atlantic, Augustus Le Plongeon, Brahma, British Isles, brooch, Buddha, cataclysms, Chichén Itzá, Cloverland Magazine, Codex Cortesianus, copperplate, cultural, Daily Mining Journal, dance, earthquake, Egypt, English, Flood, frescos, gold, Greece, Henry Dixon, Ida Simmons, immortality, India, inscriptions, island, jadeite, John Olof Viking, Khans, linguistic, macaw, manuscripts, Maya, Mayan, maypole, Mediterranean, Mexico, Michigan, mural, musci, New York, ocean, pastedown, Peru, Peter Eckler, photographer, Prince Chaacol, printer, prospectus, Queen Moo, Ramayana, rare books, reincarnation, serpent, Siam, songs, Swedish, talisman, The Word, Theosophical Publishing Company, Troano Codex, Uxmal, vocabulary, Yucatan


When grief shall rend thy heart, seek thine own soul;
Shut out life’s din, and find that sacred goal.

Queen Moo’s Talisman: The Fall of the Maya Empire
Alice Dixon Le Plongeon (1851-1910)
New York: Peter Eckler, Publisher, 1902
First edition

Alice Dixon Le Plongeon was an English photographer, amateur archaeologist, traveler, and author. She was the daughter of Henry Dixon, a copperplate printer and photographer.

She travelled with her husband, Augustus Le Plongeon, to Mexico in 1873. They were early excavators of the ancient Mayan sites of Chichén Itzá and Uxmal.

While studying the artifacts at Chichén Itzá, the Le Plongeon’s pieced together a narrative of Queen Moo (the Mayan word for “macaw”), an ancient Mayan ruler, and her brother and consort Prince Chaacmol (“powerful warrior”). In November 1875, they unearthed a large statue and other artifacts near the Platform of the Eagles and Jaguars at Chichén Itzá, including a piece of jadeite that Augustus had set in a gold brooch. Alice wore the talisman for the rest of her life.

A talisman I give thee — jadeite green,
‘Twill ever lend thee intuition keen,
Its wearer may with love herself surround,
For with attractive force it doth abound.
Would one deceive, and traitor prove to thee,
His mind with this thou wilt quite plainly see.
Thro’ centuries this talisman can bind
Two souls — desiring this, the way thou ‘lt find.
But keep it sacredly for thee alone;
If thou lose this a foe will seize thy throne.

Even though the archaeological community was not receptive to the Le Plongeons’ theories about Queen Moo, Alice publisher her epic poem. In the introduction, the author discusses the connections, linguistic and cultural, her husband, made between the Maya empire, Egypt, India, Buddha, Brahma, the Ramayana, the Mediterranean, Africa, Greece, Peru, Siam; and the maypole dance — practiced in the Yucatan and the British Isles.

Referring to the Troano Codex and the Codex Cortesianus, he connected the word “CAN,” “the generic word for serpent,” found inscribed in ancient Yucatan ruins with the Khans of Asiatic nations. Dr. Plongeon interpreted inscriptions in both manuscripts as the story of a great flood caused by an earthquake, submerging a “great island in the Atlantic ocean,” suggesting that the Troano Codex dates the disappearance of the island 8,060 years before the writing of the manuscript. “Judging from Egyptian records, the cataclysms must have occurred between ten and eleven thousand years ago.”

The publisher’s prospectus described the work as “a dramatic…account of events which caused the dismemberment of the Maya empire, according to Maya [manuscripts], mural inscriptions and frescos at Chichén in Yucatan. Interesting data are also given concerning ancient rites and religious ideas of the Mayas, their belief in the immortality of the soul, its reincarnation in human form, and its power to manifest, while disembodied, to those in the flesh.”

At the back of the book is included several songs with music, words by Alice Le Plongeon and accompaniment by Ida Simmons.

Rare Books copy is inscribed by John O. Viking, a correspondent of Alice Le Plongeon’s, on the front free flyleaf, “From/John O. Viking/Ishpeming, Mich./April 30th 08/To Sister Benediction/ 8/28, 1950.”

An autographed letter from the author to Viking dated June 22nd in the original mailing envelope and regarding the purchasing of copies of Queen Moo, some Mayan vocabulary, and a few printer’s errors in her book, A Dream of Atlantis, mounted on front pastedown; a typed letter signed by the author to John O. Viking dated May 6th, 1908 regarding the possible publication of A Dream of Atlantis in the magazine The Word also laid in at rear; typed letter signed by an associate of the Theosophical Publishing Company of New York dated August 25th, 1910 addressed to Viking and informing him of Alice Le Plongeon’s death in original mailing envelope affixed to the rear pastedown.

John Olof Viking (b. 1874) was a Swedish-born writer who settled in Michigan with his family in 1882. He worked as a staff writer for the American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal. His articles also appeared in other publications, including Cloverland Magazine and Daily Mining Journal.  

Frontispiece of the author with tissue guard captioned in red. Further illustrated with thirteen black-and-white numbered drawings and three headpieces. Title-page printed in red and black. Bound in publisher’s gray cloth lettered in gilt on front board and spine. Top edge gilt.

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Like gold to airy thinness beat

10 Wednesday Oct 2018

Posted by rarebooks in Uncategorized

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gold, John Donne, souls


“Our two souls, therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to airy thinness beat.”
— John Donne, from “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”

John Donne: a fragment
Robin Price
Los Angeles: Robin Price, Publisher, 1993
N7433.4 P753 J6 1993

Letterpress from handset Deepdene italic and Garmond in copper and black. Fern illustration from polymer plate. Multi-color monoprint on Penshurst handmade paper from the Barcham Green mill, wrapped around two-ply museum board. Accordion-fold structure. Edition of thirty-five copies.

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Book of the Week — A Journey Over Land: from the Gulf of Honduras to the Great South-Sea…

23 Monday Jul 2018

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1735, animals, berries, Central America, chocolate, corn, eggs, Englishman, fowl, gold, Honduras, honey, India, insects, Isthumus of Panama, Jamaica, John Cockburn, lizards, London, map, Mayans, milk, Nicholas Withington, Panama, Pedor Poleas, pirates, plantains, San Pedro Sula, San Salvador, Spaniards, tobacco, travel narrative, vegetation


There needs no Apology in Behalf of Books of this Nature; they have, at all times, been favourably received, and never rejected, but upon plain and undeniable Conviction of Insincerity. They agreeably amuse, and usefully instruct; and are consequently relished by Readers of every sort. They are pleasing to those, who, at every turn, would be surprised with extraordinary Events, unexpected Accidents, and miraculous Deliverances; and acceptable to those, who, moving in a loftier Sphere, are desirous of converting all they know to public Use; and these, regardless of what the former most admire, are particularly sollicitous after Descriptions and Accounts of Persons, Places and things. — from the preface, A Journey Over Land

A Journey Over Land: From the Gulf of Honduras to the Great South-Sea…
John Cockburn
London: Printed for C. Rivington, at the Bible and Crown in St. Paul’s Church-yard, M.DCC.XXXV (1735)
First edition
F1431 C66 1735

This narrative, so fantastic, was long considered to be a work of fiction pretending to be fact. John Cockburn tells a tale of extraordinary and harrowing adventure, beginning when he and his crew were overtaken off the coast of Jamaica by another ship, “…mostly Spaniards, and commanded by Captain Johnson the Pirate, an Englishman, and Pedor Poleas a Spaniard” in 1730. The surviving crew escaped from jail in San Pedro Sula in Honduras, crossed the Isthmus to San Salvador and traveled to Panama overland.

“This was the first setting out of a Journey, as we computed, through an unknown Tract of Land, (at least to us) which took us up ten Months, and I may say some times proved insupportable; for we were all the while exposed to many Dangers, and underwent many Hardships, as was possible for human Nature to sustain.” In his book, Cockburn described vegetation; animals; insects; and wrote short but vivid stories about the governments, dress, characteristics and customs of the descendants of the great Mayan empire and other native peoples (many of whom were at war with each other).

Cockburn mentions food, because it was so scare, continually, writing about corn (“Turtillias,” “Tamawlas”), plantains, fowl, berries, lizards, milk, honey, eggs, and “At last, we spy’d a Lady, in one House, very well dressed, to whom we went and begg’d her Charity. She presently made Chocolate, giving us plentifully of it, which was more acceptable to us at that Time, than Gold…”

Tobacco was second only to chocolate in its desirability: “These Gentlemen gave us some Seegars to smoke, which they supposed would be very acceptable. These are Leaves of Tobacco rolled up in such Manner, that they serve both for the Pipe and Tobacco itself. These the Ladies, as well as Gentlemen, are very fond of Smoking.”

The book was re-printed many times. A folding map depicts Central America and the Isthmus of Panama.

The edition is appended with A Briefe Discoverye of Some Things best worth Noteing in the Travells of… a popular travel narrative by Nicholas Withington, who arrived in India in 1612.

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Ioyfvll newes out of the new-found vvorlde [order]

03 Tuesday Jul 2018

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American, Americas, apothecaries, armadillos, Atlantic, Bonham Norton, Book Arts Program, bookseller, botanists, Bristol, British, calf, cancer, cassava, cigars, cocoa, common cold, cure, De Jonge Amerikaan, disease, docks, English, entrepreneur, Europe, ginger, gold, handmade, herbs, Indians, Inquisition, iron, John Frampton, Jonathan Sandberg, London, medicine, merchants, minerals, monks, Native American, nephrite jade, Netherlands, New World, Nicolás Bautista Monardes, nicotain, papermaking, papers, paradise, physician, plant, poison, print culture, quinine, rhubarb, sasparilla, sassafras, Seville, silver, smoking, soldiers, Spanish colonies, syphilis, tobacco, tobaco, trade, vernacular, woodblock, woodcuts


“This is the substance which I haue gathered of this hearb, so celebrated and called Tobaco for that surely it is an hearb of great affirmation for the excellent vertues that it hath…”

Ioyfvll newes out of the new-found vvorlde
Nicolás Bautista Monardes (ca. 1500-1588)
London: E. Allde, by the assigne of Bonham Norton, 1596
Third English edition

Translated by John Frampton (fl. 1577-1596) from several treatises first published in 1565 by Nicolás Monardes, the son of a bookseller, and a distinguished physician of Seville. Monardes, who never traveled to the Americas, wrote several treatises  on healing, medicine, and trade with the Spanish colonies on the Atlantic. He learned most of what he wrote about from spending time at the Seville docks, where he gathered information from sailors, soldiers, merchants, monks, royal officials, and even women.

Monardes described the cultivation and use of quinine, sassafras, cassava, rhubarb, ginger, and sasparilla. He wrote about cocoa, armadillos, minerals and metals (iron, silver, nephrite jade), and diseases like syphilis.

He wrote a lengthy description of an American plant introduced to Europe, calling it “tobaco” or “nicotain,” which he claimed was an antidote to poison. He wrote of more than twenty conditions, including the common cold and cancer, that could be cured with the use of tobacco.

“The Indians of our Occidental Indias, doo use the Tobaco for to take away the wearinesse, and for to make lightsomnesse in their Labour, which in their Daunces they bee so muche wearied, and they remaine so wearie, that they can scarcely stirre: & because that they may labour the next day, and returne to do that foolish exercise, they receiue at the mouth and nose, the smoke of the Tobaco, and they remaine as dead people: and being so, they be eased in such sorte, that when they be awakened of their sleepe, they remaine without weariness, and may return to their labour as much as before, and so they doe alwaies, when they have need of it: for with that sleepe, they do receiue their strength and be much the lustier.”

John Frampton, a Bristol merchant, had been imprisoned by the Inquisition. He translated several Spanish texts about the New World while in confinement. The British looked upon the New World as long-lost paradise with its vegetative bounty and ancient wisdom regarding human ailments, beneficial not just for its precious metals but for its plants. Being published in the vernacular, first in Spanish, then in English, meant that common readers, along with botanists and apothecaries, bought the publications. Frampton, ever the entrepreneur, re-titled the work “joyful news,” counting on brisk sales of the book and the trade in plants from the Americas. The “trade” print culture disseminated new data targeted toward popular practicality but also imagination, circulating news of an “other” ready reality just waiting ’round the bend. Such was the miracle of discovery, such was the miracle of plants, such was the miracle of print.

Illustrated with twelve woodcuts depicting herbs and plants. Rare Books copy bound in 19th century calf, ruled in gold.


De Jonge Amerikaan
Netherlands, ca. 1800
NE1154 J66 1800z

Woodblock depicting a Native American in a feather headdress and loincloth smoking a long clay pipe in a coastal setting with two ships behind him. Around this scene are a crown, trident, winged-staff, cigars, snuff jar, tobacco leaves and baled tobacco. It is likely that this woodblock was printed on paper used for tobacco wrappers, a practice that began as early as 1660 in Holland, one of the world’s great shipping centers.

Below are three prints made by Jonathan Sandberg using the woodblock, demonstrating different papers, including a paper handmade by students in last spring’s papermaking class offered by the Book Arts Program.



On July 1, 2018 The University of Utah went tobacco free and said farewell to its last cigarette.

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Virtue and Knowledge

14 Thursday Sep 2017

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Alexander the Great Gualterus de Castellione, allegory, battle, Biblioteca Angelica, Boccaccio, Boethius, Bolognese, Bosone da Gubbio, Campaldino, canticle, Canto, Christian, Cicero, Dante Alighieri, destiny, dialect, Europe, exile, facsimile, Florence, gold, Guelphs, hand-treated paper, hell, Holy Trinity, Italian, Jacopo Alighieri, Latin, littera textualis, manuscript, medieval, miniature, paradise, Petrarch, philosopher, poem, poet, purgatory, scribe, soldier, song, tanned leather, tercets, terza rima, The Divine Comedy, Thomas Aquinas, tripartite stanza, Tuscan, vernacular, Virgil

PQ4301-A1-2016-Devil

“Consider your origin. You were not formed to live like brutes but to follow virtue and knowledge.”

La Divina Commedia Angelica
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
Castel Guelfo di Bologna, Italy: Imago la Nobilita del Facsimile, 2016
PQ4301 A1 2016

Facsimile. MS1102 from the Biblioteca Angelica, this late fourteenth century Bolognese codex contains The Divine Comedy, commentary by Jacopo Alighieri and Bosone da Gubbio, and a fragment of a poem written by Alexander the Great Gualterus de Castellione. Each of the Cantos are introduced with a miniature depicting the contents of the song. Thirty-four other miniatures depict scenes from hell in bright colors on a gold background. The manuscript is incomplete. Empty spaces were left for miniatures for the songs of “Paradiso” and “Purgatorio.” It is likely that only one scribe is responsible for the text. The script hand is littera textualis. The facsimile has hand applied gold leaf before each canticle on hand-treated paper. The binding is hand stitched in a naturally tanned leather.

Dante Alighieri, born in Florence, to a notable family but of modest means, was an Italian poet and philosopher. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La divina commedia (The Divine Comedy), a medieval Christian allegory of man’s temporal and eternal destiny. The poet draws on his own experience of exile from his native city, in which he encounters hell, purgatory, and paradise. Along the way, the poet offers analysis of contemporary problems and spiritual wisdom through inventive linguistic imagery. Dante wrote his epic poem in the vivid Italian vernacular, rather than Latin, using primarily a Tuscan dialect which became the literary language in western Europe for centuries. Dante’s use of the vernacular opened his work to an audience broader than the academy.

Dante was classically trained and drew on the works of Virgil, Cicero, Boethius and others for his philosophical thinking. He was also well aware of more contemporary writers such as Thomas Aquinas. A soldier, he fought in the ranks at the battle of Campaldino in 1289 on the side of the Guelphs — a battle instrumental in the reformation of the Florentine constitution.

Dante is credited with inventing terza rima, composed of tercets woven into a linked rhyme scheme. He ended each canto of the The Divine Comedy with a single line that completes the rhyme scheme with the end-word of the second line of the preceding tercet. The tripartite stanza is symbolic with the Holy Trinity. Later Italian poets, including Boccaccio and Petrarch, followed this form.

Facsimile edition of 423 copies, 25 hors de commerce. University of Utah copy is no. 18.

PQ4301-A1-2016-Lion

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Book of the Week — Godescalc Evangelistary

22 Monday Feb 2016

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Aachen, baptism, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Byzantine, Carolingian illumination, Charlemagne, Christ, Christ in Majesty, Christian, Darmstadt, divine, evangelists, Fountain of Life, Godescalc, Godescalc Evangelistary, gold, Gospel, Hildegard, Insular, Italy, lectionary, medieval, miniscule, nature, Pepin, Pope Adrian, Primus, script, scriptorium, silver, stars

ND3359-G55-C75-2011-titleND3359-G55-C75-2011-pg54spread

“Golden words are painted [here] on purple pages,
The Thunderer’s shining kingdoms of the starry heavens,
Revealed in rose-red blood, disclose the joys of heaven,
And the eloquence of God glittering with fitting brilliance
Promises the splendid rewards of martyrdom to be gained.”

GODESCALC EVANGELISTARY
Darmstadt: Primus, 2011

Facsimile. The Godescalc Evangelistary was commissioned by Charlemagne and his wife Hildegard. Written by the scribe Godescalc, it was produced in the court scriptorium at Aachen between 781 and 783. The lectionary was made to commemorate Charlemagne’s march to Italy, his meeting with Pope Adrian, and the baptism of his son Pepin. The dedication poem includes details of Charlemagne’s march and is signed by the scribe. Charlemagne and Hildegard are both mentioned at the end of the manuscript as its patrons.

The Godescalc Evangelistary is the earliest known example of Carolingian illumination, a fusion of Insular, early Christian, and Byzantine styles. The artist used elaborate shadings in light and dark to give the figures depth. The codex is decorated with four full-page miniatures of the Evangelists, all placed at the opening of the book. Two additional full-page miniatures depict Christ in Majesty and the Fountain of Life. The Gospel readings are written in gold and silver ink.

The poem compare’s the book’s gold and silver with the stars, indicating the early medieval belief that the written words directly reflect Christ’s divine nature – the word made flesh.

This was the earliest style to use miniscule script as a regular element of the script. The script is on a purple background within framed embellishments.

The Godescalc Evangelistary is now preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. Facsimile binding with debossed Charlemagne monogram. Binding is hand-sewn according to the original foliation of the manuscript and attached to the book block through a traditional bookbinding process. Facsimile edition of 98 copies in Arabic numbers and XX copies in roman numbers.

 

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Continental Paper Currency, 1776

02 Thursday Jul 2015

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American Congress, Benjamin Franklin, British, Chester County, colonies, colony, Congress, Continental Congress, Continental paper currency, Counterfeit, currency, Elisha Gallaudet, FUGIO, gold, Hall & Sellers, independence, Ivy Mills, pence, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, political revolution, pounds, shillings, silver, sovereignty, Spanish, sundial, war


CONTINENTAL PAPER CURRENCY, 1776
Philadelphia: Printed by Hall & Sellers, 1776

Loosely united in the midst of political revolution and war, the British colonies had no unity whatsoever in currency. Each colony began printing its own paper currency valued both in British-style pounds, shillings, and pence and in the universally familiar Spanish milled dollar. Each colony valued the Spanish dollar at wildly different rates.

In the early flush of independence, the Continental Congress decided to use currency as one indication of sovereignty by launching a standard currency for all the colonies. An emission totaling $4,000,000 payable in Spanish milled dollars, or the equivalent in gold or silver, was authorized by the congressional resolution of February 10, 1776. Of this, $1,000,000 was reserved for the first national fractional currency.

The front design on the fractional notes included the first use of the “FUGIO” (I fly) legend and sundial as well as the “Mind your Business” legend. The back showed the thirteen linked rings representing the colonies and the legends “We are one” and “American Congress.” These designs were created by Benjamin Franklin. The devices and border designs were cut by Elisha Gallaudet. On the fractional bills the dots in the corners of the front design reflected the denomination.

The first four emissions of Continental paper currency from May 10, 1775 through May 6, 1776, included a dollar bill. There was one signer, in red ink, on the fractional bills and two signers, using red and brown ink, on the dollar denominations. Counterfeit detectors for the dollar denominations were made on blue paper. The paper, made at Ivy Mills in Chester County, Pennsylvania, contained blue fibers and mica flakes.

On this bill is printed, “This bill entitles the bearer to receive three Spanish milled dollars, or the value thereof in gold or silver, according to a resolution of Congress, passed at Philadelphia, Nov. 2, 1776.”

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Recommended Workshop – Quarter Leather Flatback Lap-Case Binding

22 Thursday May 2014

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Acme Bookbinding, Alcoa, alum-tawed, aluminum, Austin, Ben Verhoeven, Book Arts Program, BookLab II, Bridgeport National Bindery, Brigham Young University, Cartier Magnani, Christopher Stern, cloth, Columbian handpress, Craig Jensen, Dartmouth College, Dearborn, Didot, Don Etherington, engraving, Environment Defense Fund Headquarters, flatback, Ford Motor Company, Gary Frost, Gary McLerran, Gaylord Schanilec, gold, Gregynog Prize, Harold B. Lee Library, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center Conservation Department, Italy, Japanese, Jennifer Sorensen, Jensen Bindery, Jim Larsen, laid paper, lap-case binding, leather, lettering, letterpress, letterpress printed, Marnie Powers-Torrey, Michael Bixler, Michigan, Midnight Paper Sales, milling, Monotype Bembo, Monotype Univers, mould-made, National Design Award, Oxford Book Fair, paper mill, Paul Parisi, Peter Waters, Presidential Award for Sustainable Development, Provo, Rare Books Division, Red Butte Press, relief prints, Salt Lake City, San Marcos, slipcase, Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, sycamore, Texas, The Guild of Book Workers, The Library of Congress Restoration Office, tooled, trees, University of Texas, Utah, Utah State Board of Education, William McDonough, Winifred Bixler, Wisconsin, wood cuts, wood engravings, Yale University, Zerkall

The Book Arts Program presents
Quarter Leather Flatback Lap-Case Binding

Thursday, Friday, & Saturday, June 19-21
9PM – 5PM
Book Arts Studio, Level 4
J. Willard Marriott Library
Workshop fee: $240 plus materials fee

This workshop focuses on the construction of a flatback lap-case binding. The lap-case binding, sometimes mistakenly called a modified Bradel binding, has been used frequently over the years for editions bound by Jensen Bindery, BookLab, Inc. and BookLab II. The structure has continuously evolved through its many applications. This workshop tracks that evolution, specifically addressing structure, materiality, and the relationships between parts to make a beautiful looking and functioning book. Examples of various lap-case bindings are available for students to examine. Previous bookbinding experience required, preferably previous leather working skills.

Instructor Craig Jensen began his career in 1977 when he was appointed Library Conservator for the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University in Provo Utah. From 1977–1978 Craig served an internship at The Library of Congress Restoration Office under the direction of Peter Waters and Don Etherington. In 1981, Craig was recruited by Don to serve as Head of Book Conservation at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center Conservation Department at the University of Texas at Austin. In 1988 Craig became President and CEO of BookLab, Inc., a partnership with Gary Frost, Paul Parisi of Acme Bookbinding and Jim Larsen of Bridgeport National Bindery. BookLab expanded its offerings beyond edition binding and box making to include library repair services, and pioneered preservation photocopy and digital reproduction of out-of-print brittle books. BookLab was one of the first companies to digitize a book. Following the close of BookLab in 1998, Craig worked for Acme Bookbinding as Vice President for Imaging. In January 2003, Craig returned to his roots and predilection for hand work by forming BookLab II in San Marcos, Texas. He continues to produce custom designed housings and fine limited edition bindings for some of the best-known libraries and private presses in the world. In 2011 Craig received the Lifetime Achievement Award from The Guild of Book Workers.

http://www.oxfordamerican.org/articles/2014/feb/20/solost-most-beautiful-books/

Relicensure points are available from the Utah State Board of Education.

 For more information:bookartsprogram@utah.edu or 801-585-9191

The Rare Books Division supports the Book Arts Program through its collections.

Sylvae: Fifty Specimens Printed Directly from the Wood with Historical Anecdotes and…
Ben Verhoeven
Stockholm, WI: Midnight Paper Sales, 2007
N7433.4 V45 S9 2007

Artists’ statement: “Twenty wooded acres surround Midnight Paper Sales in western Wisconsin. This book documents the journey Ben Verhoeven and Gaylord Schanilec into the woods to create a work not only about these trees, but of these trees. In all, 24 species have been catalogued through image, historical anecdotes, and notes taken during the cutting, milling, engraving and printed. The 53 images consist primarily of long grain and end grain specimens which have been taken from this property. In each case the image is manipulated through either color, impression, engraving, or some combination of the above to emphasize a certain characteristic of a species. The text varies as well from tree to tree, focusing on what role each played in the local history and in this project.” Illustrated by Gaylord Schanilec with 53 relief prints (wood cuts and wood engravings) printed by reduction process engraving directly from the wood specimens; including two fold-out illustrations of the maple grove and a map of Farm 590 indicating where the wood was harvested. Letterpress printed by Ben Verhoeven and Gaylord Schanilec on Zerkall mould-made laid paper. Michael and Winifred Bixler cast the Monotype Bembo. Lapped case binding by Craig Jensen and Gary McLerran in quarter leather over bare quarter-sawn white oak boards, white alum-tawed goat skin spine with tooled title lettering in gold. Issued in a dark blue Japanese cloth slipcase, lined with black paper. Awarded the Gregynog Prize at the Oxford Book Fair, 2007. Edition of one hundred and twenty copies. University of Utah copy is no. 105, signed by the author and the artist.


 

Something Lived, Something Dreamed
William McDonough
Salt Lake City: Red Butte Press, 2004
HT167.5 W47 M33 2004

In 1981 William A. McDonough founded William McDonough + Partners which designs environmentally sustainable buildings and industrial manufacturing processes. He attended Dartmouth College and Yale University. His first major commission was in 1984 for the Environmental Defense Fund Headquarters. He re-engineered Ford Motor Company’s River Rouge Plant in Dearborn, Michigan, covering more than ten acres of the roof of the truck assembly plant with a low-growing ground cover. He is the only individual recipient (1996) of the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development. In 2004 he received a National Design Award from the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. His essay, “Something Lived, Something Dreamed” was commissioned by the Red Butte Press. Printed with Monotype Univers and Didot on cotton paper commissioned from Cartier Magnani paper mill in Italy by Marnie Powers-Torrey and Jennifer Sorensen using an 1846 Columbian handpress. Illustrated by Christopher Stern (d. 2007). Bound at Book Lab II (San Marcos, Texas) by Craig Jensen in recycled aluminum donated by Alcoa, over sycamore boards. Edition of one hundred and twenty-five copies. University of Utah copies are nos. 34 and 47.


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Book of the Week – The Hand-Book of Wyoming and Guide to the…

19 Monday May 2014

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

≈ Comments Off on Book of the Week – The Hand-Book of Wyoming and Guide to the…

Tags

Black Hills, Cheyenne, Chicago, gold, Goose Creek, Robert Edmund Strahorn, Rocky Mountain News, Union Pacific, University of Wyoming, Wyoming, Wyoming Territory, Yellowstone Falls

F761-S89-Bear
F761-S89-YellowstoneFalls
F761-S89-GooseCreek

The Hand-Book of Wyoming and Guide to the…
Robert Edmund Strahorn (1852-1944)
Cheyenne; Chicago: Knight & Leonard, printers, 1877
First edition
F761 S89

In 1876, gold was discovered in the Black Hills of Wyoming. The Union Pacific took advantage of the situation by promoting Cheyenne and the surrounding area with guides such as this, pronouncing its route as the shortest and safest way to get into the Black Hills. The guide included useful instruction for the visitor to the area…after all, who would want to settle there? Unlike many travel writers of the era, Robert Strahorn was no tenderfoot. As a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News, he traveled extensively, knew the area well and included thoughtful observations along with fairly trustworthy facts. The text is accompanied by many illustrations and pages of advertisements. This is the first published history and guidebook for Wyoming Territory. The Marriott Library’s copy, once held in the University of Wyoming’s library, retains its original paper wrappers.

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