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~ News from the Rare Books Department of Special Collections at the J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah

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Tag Archives: New York

A Christmas Mystery

25 Sunday Dec 2016

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angels, Christmas, Elston Press, faith, gilt, handmade paper, Helen Marguerite O'Kane, leather inlays, marbled endpapers, New Rochelle, New York, Sir Galahad, William Morris

pr5078-s4-1902-headinhands

“Enter Two Angels in white, with scarlet wings;
aso, Four Ladies in gowns of red and green; also
an Angel, bearing in his hands a surcoat of white,
with a red cross.”

SIR GALAHAD, A CHRISTMAS MYSTERY
William Morris (1834-1896)
New Rochelle, NY: The Elston Press, 1902

Originally published in 1859, this was William Morris’s first published poem in book form. The poem, about the reaffirmation of a doubted faith, was illustrated by Helen Marguerite O’Kane (1879-1927) and printed in black and red by her husband, Clarke Conwell. Decorated borders and two full-page pictures illustrate the text. The typesetting of this book is somewhat controversial. Early critics called it ostentatious. Later, others argued that the page size carries the bold, striking type well. Printed on handmade paper. This copy is bound in full green crushed morocco. The spine is gilt with raised bands decorated with gilt borders with floral designs. Leather inlays are on the front and back covers. Gilt also borders the inside covers over marbled endpapers. Edition of one hundred and eighty copies.

pr5078-s4-1902-title

pr5078-s4-1902-youmustyou

pr5078-s4-1902-cover

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Book of the Week — The Collected Poetry of W. H. Auden

28 Monday Nov 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Eleanor Nicholes, New York, poetry, Random House, rare books, The New Yorker, W. H. Auden

pr6001-j4-a17-1945-dustjacket

For, given man, by birth, by education,
Imago Dei who forgot his station,
The self-made maker who himself unmakes,
The only creature ever made who fakes,
With no more nature in his loving smile
Than in his theories of a natural style,
What but tall tales, the luck of verbal playing,
Can trick his lying nature into saying
That love, or truth in any serious sense,
Like orthodoxy, is a reticence.
— from “The Truest Poetry is the Most Feigning or, Ars Poetica for Hard Times”

The Collected Poetry of W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden 91907-1973)
New York: Random House, 1945
First edition, tenth printing

Stanza quoted above from folded clipping out of The New Yorker, date unknown, found tucked into this copy after the title-page.

pr6001-j4-a17-1945-ephemera

Rare Books copy inscribed and dated December 1954 by Auden to Eleanor Nicholes, who donated the book to us.

pr6001-j4-a17-1945-title

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Banned! — Quipu

28 Wednesday Sep 2016

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Andean, banned, Cecilia Vicuña, Granary Books, Inca, Jerome Rothenberg, New York, print, quipu, Spanish, University of Utah, Western

“It is a prayer for the rebirth of a way of writing with breath.”

n7433-4-v536-c48-2012

CHANCCANI QUIPU
Cecilia Vicuña
New York: Granary Books, 2012

Quipu, or knotted cords, encoded the spoken language of the Inca, representing both single sounds and whole words, and was used as a form of communication for nearly 5000 years before it was banned by the Spanish in 1583. From the booklet: “Chanccani Quipu reinvents the concept of ‘quipu,’ the ancient system of ‘writing’ with knots, transforming it into metaphor in space; a book/sculpture that condenses the clash of two cultures and worldviews: the Andean oral universe and the Western world of print.” From the colophon: Jerome Rothenberg assisted Cecilia Vicuña in translating her poem.” Edition of thirty-two copies, numbered and signed by Cecilia Vicuña and Jerome Rothenberg. University of Utah copy is no. 14.

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Banned! — Лолита

27 Tuesday Sep 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

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American, banned, British Customs, British Isles, English, France, Gone With the Wind, Graham Greene, Lolita, London, Margaret Mitchell, Minister of the Interior, Modern Library, New York, novel, Paris, Phaedra, pornography, postscript, printing, publisher, Putnam, revolution, Russia, Russian, smuggled, Soviet Union, Sunday Times, translation, University of Utah, Vladimir Nabokov

«Лолита , свет моей жизни , огонь моих чресел . Грех mой , душа моя . Ло -ли –та…”

 

Lolita-cover Lolita-back Lolita-spine

Лолита
Владимир Набоков (1899-1977)
New York: Phaedra, Inc., Publishers, 1967
First hardcover edition in Russian

First published in Paris in 1955, then in New York City in 1958 and London in 1959, Vladimir Nabokov’s novel, Lolita, is a controversial masterpiece of English literature.

Originally published as a paperback by a relatively unknown publisher, the first printing of 5,000 copies sold out before year’s end. Graham Greene wrote in London’s Sunday Times that it was one of the three best books of the year. Other early reviews were hardly so generous. Many considered it pornographic. British Customs was ordered to seize copies coming into the British Isles. A year later, France’s Minister of the Interior also banned it.

Times change. In 1998, Lolita was included by Modern Library in its list of 100 best novels of the 20th century.

This is the first edition in Russian, translated by Nabokov, whose mother-tongue was Russian. He added a postscript that appears only in this edition, describing his ambivalence toward his translation. Nabokov’s American publisher, Putnam, chose not to publish the Russian edition, concerned that it would not be a commercial success. Perhaps they were satisfied enough with the response to their American edition, which went into a third printing within days and sold one hundred thousand copies within three weeks. Up until that time, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind (1936), was the only other American novel to have done so well.

All of Nabokov’s writings had been banned in the Soviet Union, although copies of his work were smuggled in. Nabokov was, after all, the son of aristocratic Russians who fled the country during the Revolution. The first printing in Russia was not until 1989. The work, by the once-outlawed, un-favored son of the Soviet state was a stunning success. The first edition in the Russian language was first issued in wrappers. This is “issue b,” in pink cloth, with gilt title stamp along spine and with dust jacket. University of Utah copy donated by Anonymous.

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Journal of the week — Liberator

05 Monday Sep 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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art, Communist Party of America, Crystal Eastman, e. e. cummings, eat, Ernest Hemingway, Europe, fiction, Floyd Dell, government, Helen Keller, Howard Brubaker, John Dos Passos, John Reed, Labor Herald, Liberator, Max Eastman, New York, newsprint, poetry, politics, reporting, Robert Minor, Soviet Russia, Soviet Russia Pictorial, The Masses, United States, work, Workers Monthly, World War I

HX1-L5-V.2

“I have to work here but I don’t have to eat here.” — Howard Brubaker (1882-1957)

LIBERATOR
New York: The Liberator Publishing Co., Inc.
HX1 L5

Liberator began publication under the editorship of Max Eastman (1883-1969) in March 1918. Eastman’s sister, Crystal, worked closely with him, and wrote many of the reports from Europe. Liberator was published to take place of the American radical periodical, The Masses, which had been shut down by the United States government in December 1917 as offensive and contrary to mailing regulations during World War I. The Masses was anti-war. Many of its editors and writers contributed to Liberator.

Liberator fused politics, art, poetry and fiction. The international reporting that came out of it was among the best in the United States,  including stories filed by the legendary John Reed (1887-1920) from Soviet Russia. Other contributing artists and writers included e. e. cummings (1884-1962), John Dos Passos (1896-1970), Ernest Hemingway (1999-1961), Helen Keller (1880-1968), and Carl Sandburg (1878-1967). Almost every important radical or liberal literary figure of the time was represented in it.

The Liberator began to take a definite political line. In 1922, Eastman left the Liberator, and the Communist Party of America (CPA) took it over. It merged with Labor Herald and Soviet Russia Pictorial to form Workers Monthly, an organ of the CPA, in November 1924. Prime movers Max Eastman and Floyd Dell (1887-1969) left the editorial board, and Robert Minor (1884-1952) and other closer followers of the Communist line replaced them.

The publication, from its evocative cover art, to the typesetting required to meet the standards of its writers, was expensive to produce. To offset cost, Eastman used cheap newsprint, resulting in a publication that is incredibly fragile. Few copies survive.

HX1-L5-V.2-Spread20

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Journal of the week — Slovo

06 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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American Film Center, Andy Warhol, Antoine Perich, artists, avant-garde, concrete poetry, digital art, Dubrovnik, filmmakers, Francois Poyet, inkjet printer, Interview, Isidore Isou, Jean-Pierre Gillard, Joel Fremiot, letter, letter-forms, Lettrist, literary, Michel Jaffrennou, New York, Paris, poets, Romanian, Serbian

NX456.5-L4-S5-v.1-frontNX456.5-L4-S5-v.1-back
NX456.5-L4-S5-v.1-cover

Slovo
Paris: publisher not identified, 1967
NX456.5 L4 S5

This is the only issue of the Lettrist literary serial published under the direction of Antoine Perich. “Slovo” means “letter” in Serbian.

Perich, born in Dubrovnik, lived in Paris from 1965 to 1970. He became close to the Lettrist artists and poets there, as well as a group of underground filmmakers. He presented programs of avant-garde films at the American Film Center every week. In 1970 he moved to New York, where he became friends with Andy Warhol and was a contributing photographer to Interview. In 1977, he designed and built an electric painting machine, a prototype for the inkjet printer, making Perich a pioneer of digital art.

Lettrism was a multi-disciplinary creative movement formed in Paris in 1946 by Romanian ex-patriot, Isidore Isou. The idea was to incorporate all fields of knowledge, social and natural sciences, into artistic endeavors. Contributions in this journal came from Joel Fremiot, Jean-Pierre Gillard, Francois Poyet, and Michel Jaffrennou.

One sheet, printed recto and verso, folded into eight sections. Illustrated with stylized human figures suggesting letter-forms as well as concrete poetry.

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Indigenous Peoples — student response

03 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Courses

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accordion fold, American, ancient, animal hide, Ann Wilcox, Antonio del Rincon, Antonio Peñafiel (1831-1922), archaeology, Austria, background, bark paper, Book of Mormon, books, border culture, Brisa Zavala, cactus, Catholicism, Cecilia Vicuña, Chanccani, codex, Codex Tulane, códices, collage, colonial, colonized, colonizer, comic books, context, demographics, dictionary, English, Enrique Chagoya, experience, facsimiles, feathers, Felicia Rice, form, genealogical, genealogy, geography, grammar, Granary Books, Graz, Guillermo Gomez Peña, gum wrappers, handwritten, Incan kipu, indigenous peoples, indigenous populations, interdisciplinary, Isabel Dulfano, Japanese, Joe D'Ambrosio, knots, language, Latin America, library, linguistics, literature, Luise Poulton, manga, manuscripts, Marriott Library, Mary Elizabeth Smith, Maya, Mayan epigraphy, Melissa Gutierrez, Mesoamerican, metallic, Mexican, Mexico, Middle American Research Institute, Miranda Best, Mixtec, Moving Parts Press, Nahuatl, New Orleans, New York, Oaxaca, Pedro Balli, performance artist, Phoenix, pictographs, poem, pop-culture, pop-up, pre-Hispanic, priest, quipu, rare book collections, Rare Books Department, resources, saguaro, Salt Lake City, Santa Cruz, Spanish, surreal, Tulane University, University of Utah, wool, words, writing

These commentaries are excerpts from an assigned project for Humanities4900/6900, “Indigenous Peoples: Social and Cultural Perspectives,” taught by Isabel Dulfano, Spring semester 2016. Students studied demographics, Mayan epigraphy, Incan kipu, archaeology, linguistics and other topics as an interdisciplinary approach to critically expanding their understanding of indigenous peoples, historically and in a contemporary setting.

Dr. Dulfano arranged for two class periods to be devoted to working with pieces ranging from Mesoamerican codex facsimiles to 16th through 19th century books to 20th and 21st century artist’s books from the rare book collections. The students looked at books which reflected the colonized and the colonizer, the perspective of Church and State, and self-referential texts depicting imposed visions of time and place.

From Brisa Zavala:

F1219-P39-title
Nombres geograficos de Mexico…
Antonio Peñafiel (1831-1922)
Mexico: Oficina tip. De la Secretaria de foment, 1885
First edition
F1219 P39 1885

As part of a two-day class activity we visited the Marriott Library’s rare book collections and had the opportunity to interact with facsimiles and original copies of books pertaining to indigenous peoples of Latin America.

On the first day we interacted with pieces dating from the 8th century Common Era to 1899. One of the books that caught my eye was Nombres Geograficos de Mexico, 1885. This book contains names of various geographical places in Mexico, some of which still remain as the names of towns in present-day Mexico. The author, Antonio Peñafiel, was the Director General of the Census Department of Mexico. The book was bound and organized in a traditional western way, is about the size of a notebook, and written in Spanish. The first half contains detailed explanations of the meaning of each geographical name and the second half contains colored pictographs corresponding to each place name.

F1219-P39-pg11

I particularly enjoyed looking at this piece. I have traveled in Mexico and noticed many names of smaller towns in Nahuatl, but never knew the meaning of the name. I am studying Nahuatl at the University of Utah and I have some knowledge on how place names are formed but it was fascinating to not only learn the meaning behind the names but also see corresponding pictographs.

On the second visit to the Rare Books Department we looked at “contemporary” books, also pertaining to indigenous peoples of Latin America. My favorite piece was Codex Espangliensis: From Columbus to the Border Patrol.

N7433.4-G652-C63-1998-cover N7433.4-G652-C63-1998-Noctli
Codex espangliensis…
Guillermo Gomez-Peña
Santa Cruz, CA: Moving Parts Press, 1998
N7433.4 G652 C63 1998
Text in English and Spanish written by performance artist Guillermo Gomez-Peña, collage images by Enrique Chagoya and designed and printed by Felicia Rice.

This piece “confronts realities and surrealities of border culture, juxtaposing examples of graphic art from pre-Hispanic times to present-day Mexico with traditions of Western art and contemporary American pop-culture.” The book is structured as an accordion-fold similar to Mesoamerican codices. However, it is printed on one side only and thus can be read western-style. The print is black and red and the art style has a strong resemblance to Japanese manga and comic books. I plan to visit Rare Books soon and “read” this piece with more time to observe and pick up on the detail.

My experience with the rare book collections expanded my knowledge not only of what kinds of “books” exist, both in past and present times, but also how time periods effect contents and form.

As a student of the Nahuatl language it is very important to me to have access to codices and other material written in Nahuatl, from grammar to doctrines. It is also interesting to experience how the form of older texts, such as the accordion structure, has impacted contemporary texts and how these forms are used to make a statement. It is important to society to preserve these books in order to preserve knowledge and to allow for future studies of past societies. This opportunity was extremely enriching academically and all students should visit the rare book collections.

From Melissa Gutierrez:

At first I thought it was odd that we were going to the library to see old books, to be honest, at that moment I would rather have had a class discussion on the very many topics regarding the indigenous populations we had been learning about. However, going to see the rare book collections was a surreal experience. Having about 40 some books laid out on tables, waiting to be explored was an invitation to me. That invitation was to sit down and dive into history and discover. I found this experience to be powerful and enriching. The old books came to life, helping me picture and understand history on a whole new and different level. When I sat down with the books it gave me the opportunity to ask myself, “Do I value history?”

PM4063-R5-title

PM4063-R5
Arte mexicana
Antonio del Rincon (1556-1601)
En Mexico: en casa Pedro Balli, 1595
First edition
PM4063 R5

One of the books that I enjoyed analyzing was a book written in the 1500’s. This book was written by a Spanish priest who learned the language of Nahuatl. The book had grammar and a dictionary. The book was falling apart and not handwritten. While looking at this book I wondered what the Spanish priest thought as he was learning Nahuatl. Most Spanish priests believed that they were helping the indigenous peoples come to God by converting them to Catholicism. I wonder how it would have felt to be part of that project. Did the Spanish priest have indigenous people help him learn and understand Nahuatl? These are the kinds of questions I asked myself while analyzing the book.

From Ann Wilcox

N7433.4-V536-C48-2012
Chanccani quipu
Cecilia Vicuña
New York: Granary Books, 2012
N7433.4 V536 C48 2012

The piece that impressed me the most was Chancanni Quipu. It was a modern quipu that had writing on the wool, rather than knots in the wool. The writing was of a Chancanni poem. I thought this piece was interesting because it had a mix of the ancient system of writing of the quipu and modern system of writing with words.

The writing was a mix of Spanish and the Chanccani language. Accompanying the quipu was a translation of the poem and a brief history and explanation of how quipu are made.

The important thing about this piece is that it takes ancient culture and practice and puts a modern spin on it. The author, using diverse cultural cues, was able to communicate in a way that people from diverse cultures could understand. I think that it also shows that there are many forms of quipu now and authors can be creative while still connecting with their culture. It is an important piece because it wasn’t a bound book or words or illustrations on paper. This was a new medium that the author found to communicate and still be effective.

The experience of seeing the rare books, especially in the context of indigenous work, opened my eyes to the amount of types of book and recording methods there exist in the world. It impressed me that there were so many perspectives shown through the pieces. I valued that I got to touch and read the book in person and not through pictures. It was a very special experience and I don’t think that it can be replicated. I will always appreciate this experience, especially when I am visiting museums and see works of art and literature that are behind glass. I will think of this experience, when I got to handle the books myself.

From Miranda Best:

F1421-T95-no.61
Codex Tulane
Graz, Austria: Akademische Druck-u Verlaganstalt; New Orleans: Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University, 1991
F1421 T95 no. 61
Facsimile with introduction by Mary Elizabeth Smith (b. 1932)

The first piece I would like to discuss is the Codex Tulane, ca. 16th century. The codex, originally made from overlapping animal hide, is an early Colonial manuscript from the Mixtec-speaking region of southern Mexico. The manuscript presents genealogical information with a list of native rulers of two Mixtec communities. Within this list are contained more than one hundred male and female figures, seated opposite of their spouses.

The piece is beautifully made. Although we were only able to see a facsimile, it is wonderful to experience these pieces in physical form. How amazing it would have been to touch and see the original piece!

Something interesting about the experience I had was that when I approached the codex, the way it was rolled up was in a way so that I would be unrolling it from the bottom and opening it up. When I began to see the figures, they were very simply drawn, but further up, as I unrolled the codex, the figures began to be a little more elaborate. What I observed is that it was the same figures, but something was added onto them as it went up each row. I did not quite understand what was going on until Luise [Poulton] explained that it could be like genealogy and it made a lot more sense to me. I felt like I could connect with what I was seeing. I loved being able to see the advancement of the figures. It made me wonder if it meant that there was a connection with those who seemed to be of higher power (higher up on the codex) and those who were further down (with less details and figures added).

The first day in the library, I had a hard time finding pieces that I could really connect to. All of the pieces were beautiful and I thought they were interesting, but I did not feel anything super exciting about them. I enjoyed this codex after I understood a little more about it and I liked learning about the resources we have available to us. I would love to take more advantage of this and utilize it to learn more about the history of these people. I thought it was very interesting that Luise pointed out the importance of looking at the “who, what, where, when, why and how.” Not because it is something new to me, but rather something that Professor Dulfano is always pointing out to us. We cannot read a piece of literature without understanding the context and its background. It makes for a much more fulfilling experience.

BX8625-M39-1983-cover

BX8625-M39-1983-title

BX8625-M39-1983-2-3spread

Ump’it u yeybilil ti’ u libroil Mormon: hahil t’an Yo’olal Cristo
Salt Lake City: Dza’an ohetbil tumen u Iglesia Jesucristo ti’ le Ma’alob Maco’obo’ tu Dzo’oc kino’oba’, 1983
BX8625 M39 1983

The second day in the library was a real treat. I felt a connection with a lot of the pieces and definitely enjoyed the experience more that day than the first day. Of all the pieces I saw, my two most favorite were the Book of Mormon, written in a Maya language and the 1997 piece by Joe D’Ambrosio, Oaxaca and the Saguaro. It is one of one hundred and twenty five copies made. The University of Utah copy is numbered 19.

N7433.4-D34-O29-1996-cover
Oaxaca (Wa-ha-ka) and the saguaro (sa-wah-row)…
Joe D’Ambrosio
Phoenix, AZ: D’Ambrosio, 1996
N7433.4 D34 O29 1996

This book was hand bound by the author in a brown cloth and Mexican bark paper. The front cover has a beautifully structured cactus with twisted material to give more structure to the cactus.

N7433.4-D34-O29-1996-Feathers

Throughout this book, you will find beautifully crafted pop-up images and real feathers, as well as other illustrations.

This piece made me very excited for numerous reasons. First, I love books made from raw hide/leather, or other natural materials. I find them so beautiful and real. The cactus made it even more exciting to see what was inside. As I flipped through the pages, I really enjoyed seeing the illustration because they reminded me a lot of my childhood. Pop-up books were my favorite as a child, so it was a nice moment to reminisce. Other illustrations in this book continued to remind me of my childhood and some of the art projects I did. There was one page in particular that was decorated with a metallic material. It almost seemed to me to be made from gum wrappers. I used to peel apart gum wrappers and use the silver part to make figures on another piece of paper. This particular page reminded me of that.

N7433.4-D34-O29-1996-pg8-9apread

Generally speaking, it was a beautifully made book and very enjoyable to look at. But it was an even more delightful experience because it had a nostalgic feeling for me.

As I mentioned above, I had a better experience the second day than the first. I don’t know if it was because there were more pieces that caught my attention or if it was because we had more time to look at everything. But it really made me appreciate the resources we have and made me think how privileged we are to have access to such “rare objects.” Many of these books, codices, etc. are completely from “out of our world” and we have the opportunity to step inside the world of others and experience it. If we had had more time, I would have loved to look longer at all the books and discover what they were all about. As it was, I only got to observe a small portion of everything. I would love to be able to go back and see what more there is and learn more.

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Earth Day — “…oceans both…”

22 Friday Apr 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Events

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Barry McCallion, collage, East Hampton, Joelle Webber, New York, onlays, Richard de Bas, Saint Armand, suede, Walt Whitman

“You oceans both, I close with you,
We murmur alike reproachfully rolling sands and drift,
knowing not why,
These little shreds indeed standing for you and me and all.”

Pg3

WHITMAN CROSSHATCH…
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
East Hampton, NY: 2015

From the artist’s statement: “both a hunt for, and a despair of, meaning. The ‘Likeness’ that the poet recognizes in the sea-tossed windrows of: ‘Chaff, straw…’ describe a purposeless world…[Whitman’s] life persistence after the abyss has looked us in the eye, is heroism. By setting the text on diagonals and verticals at odds page to page, the book captures the poet’s bleak mood. Whitman’s own resolution takes the visual form of bright colors, and a text that meanders – in and out as the tide – but does not dissipate.”

Unique artist’s book by Barry McCallion. Unnumbered pages, including title-page and half-title and colophon. Text printed on paper mounted on blue Saint Armand paper, interspersed with the broken up text on cream Richard de Bas, painted in various colored India inks, collaged onto various grids which form crosshatching. Binding by Joelle Webber: hand-sewn in gold suede with onlays of yellow, red, green, blue and white forming cross hatch on front panel. Housed in red cloth with blue edges over boards, clamshell box with title on spine on paper with repeat of crosshatch motif, crosshatch motif repeated on front panel. Signed by the artist.

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Books of the week — T. B. H. and Fanny Stenhouse

11 Monday Apr 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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anti-Mormon, Appleton, Brigham Young, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, convert, excommunicated, Fanny Warn Stenhouse, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Hartford, Italy, Joseph Smith, Lausanne, Lorenzo Snow, Missionary, New York, newspaper, polygamous, pro-Mormon, Russell Brothers, Salt Lake City, Scottish, Swiss Mission, T.B.H. Stenhouse, Thomas Stenhouse, Utah Territory, Worthington

“There is a power in combined enlightened sentiment and sympathy before which every form of injustice and cruelty must finally go down.” – Harriett Beecher Stowe, 1874

BX8635-S74-1854-title

LES MORMONS (SAINTS DES DERNIERS-JOURS) ET LEUR…
Thomas Brown Holmes Stenhouse (1825-1882)
Lausanne: Imprimerie Larpin et Coendoz, 1854
First edition
BX8635 S74 1854

T. B. H. Stenhouse was a Scottish convert, one time missionary companion to Lorenzo Snow in Italy, and first Mission President over the Swiss Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While serving in this position he edited the Latter-day Saints periodical, Le Reflecteur and published Les Mormon et Leurs Ennemis, written for the purpose of defending the LDS faith against anti-Mormon arguments popular at the time. In 1855 Stenhouse and his wife, Fanny Warn, emigrated to Utah Territory and settled in Salt Lake City. Stenhouse became the editor of the Salt Lake Telegraph, a pro-Mormon newspaper. In 1862, Stenhouse took a polygamous wife. Fanny Stenhouse objected. In 1870, Thomas and Fanny Stenhouse acted on growing disaffection with the church, Thomas having become particularly uneasy with Brigham Young’s heavy hand in the daily lives of the of the Saints. Thomas and Fanny left the church and were then excommunicated. In 1873 Stenhouse wrote The Rocky Mountain Saints: A Full and Complete History of the Mormons, an expose against the church. This work became a standard for anti-Mormon attacks on Joseph Smith.

BX8611-S76-1873-CoverBX8611-S76-1873-pg372-373spread

“It was worse than civil war, worse than a war of races; it was religious hate! It was fed by fanaticism on both sides.”

THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS…
T. B. H. Stenhouse 91825-1882)
New York: D. Appleton and company, 1873
First edition
BX8611 S76 1873

BX8645-S74-1872-coverBX8645-S74-1872-Pg72

“I had had it all fully explained to me, and I thoroughly understood the beauties of the system in the sight of the Elders…but it is miserable work to try to convince others of a thing that you yourself detest.”

A LADY’S LIFE AMONG THE MORMONS
Mrs. T. B. H. Stenhouse (1829-1904)
New York: Russell Brothers, Publishers, 1872
First edition
BX8645 S74 1872

Fanny Stenhouse wrote her own story of disenfranchisement in A Lady’s Life Among the Mormons (1872). The book was reprinted as Tell It All: A Woman’s Life in Polygamy (1874), with a preface by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

BX8645-S74-1874-TitleSpread

“But darker days – days of severer trial were creeping slowly near me…Now the dark shadow of an accursed thing was looming in the distance, but approaching surely if slowly.”

TELL IT ALL: THE STORY OF A LIFE’S EXPERIENCE IN…
Mrs. T. B. H. Stenhouse (1829-1904)
Hartford, CT: A. D. Worthington, 1874
First edition
BX8645 S74 1874

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Book of the Week — Jabberwocky

28 Monday Mar 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Alice, Book of the Week

≈ Comments Off on Book of the Week — Jabberwocky

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aluminum foil, Barry McCallion, collage, drawing, East Hampton, India ink, Jabberwocky, Joelle Webber, Lewis Carroll, New York, newspaper, Richard de Bas, St. Armand, wove paper

Jabberwocky

“…somebody killed something, that’s clear…,” said Alice.

JABBERWOCKY
Barry McCallion
East Hampton, NY: 2015

India ink washes, various collage and drawing elements incorporating metallic gold paper and aluminum foil with text from newspaper type, copied on various papers, each letter cut out and collaged in a myriad of shapes and sized as well as colors. Richard de Bas cream wove paper. Bound by Joelle Webber: hand-sewn yellow colored silk over boards with title on front panel, a reduced reproduction of the title-page. Blue and silver endpapers by St. Armand, terracotta colored guards. Housed in tan linen over boards, clamshell box, title in red reproduced from the title-page with yellow and red reproduction of first page inset on front panel. Signed and dated by the artist.

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