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Tag Archives: Switzerland

On Jon’s Desk: Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus — a spooky reminder of the price of over-ambition

31 Monday Oct 2016

Posted by Jonathan Bingham in Book of the Week, On Jon's Desk

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19th Century Literature, Ambition, Brothers Grimm, Creature, Frankenstein, Frankestein Castle, Galvanism, Germany, Gersheim, Johann Conrad Dippel, Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, Monster, Murder, North Pole, Percy Shelley, re-animation, Scientific Discovery, Spooky, Switzerland, Theodor von Holst, Victor Frankenstein

pr5397-f7-1831-frontis-right

1831 edition illustrations by Theodor von Holst

“The day of my departure at length arrived.”

Title: Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus

Author: Mary W. Shelley

The National Library (Third) Edition; First Illustrated Edition

Published: London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1831

Pages: 200; Introduction and Preface included.

Call Number: PR5397 F7 1831

pr5397-f7-1831-title

Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley wrote the majority of Frankenstein during the summer of 1816 while vacationing in Switzerland with friends, her future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley among them, and completed the work in 1817. She was twenty years old when the story was first published in 1818. The story received very mixed reviews. Shelley revised it (to make it more conservative) for the third edition. She also included an extended introduction, in which she described how she came to write it:

“In the summer of 1816, we visited Switzerland, and became neighbors of Lord Byron. … But it proved a wet, ungenial summer, and incessant rain often confined us for days to the house. Some volumes of ghost stories, translated from the German into French, fell into our hands. … “We will each write a ghost story,” said Lord Byron; and his proposition was acceded to.” (Introduction, pages vii – viii)

She went on to describe a conversation between Lord Byron and Percy Shelley concerning galvanism (the contraction of the muscle when stimulated by electric current), during which the question arose as to whether a creature might “be manufactured, brought together, and endued with vital warmth” (Introduction, page x) through this process. Her participation in this discussion led to a sleepless night and acted as the catalyst for the creation of her shocking story.

"Night waned upon this talk, and even the witching hour had gone by, before we retired to rest. ... behold the horrid thing stands at his bedside, opening his cutrains, and looking on him wsith yellow, watery, but speculative eyes." - Mary Shelley, Introduction, Pages X & XI

“Night waned upon this talk, and even the witching hour had gone by, before we retired to rest.” – Mary Shelley, Introduction, Page X

One other probable source for the foundation of Mary Shelley’s story exists. Traveling along Germany’s Rhine River in 1814, she stopped at the city of Gersheim. Ten miles from this city was Frankenstein Castle, where two centuries earlier an alchemist had engaged in experiments and allegedly exhumed bodies to use for conducting medical research. It is possible that Mary Shelley had heard the tale told by the Brothers Grimm about the alchemist Johann Conrad Dippel’s accidental creation of a monster when one of the bodies under study re-animated after being struck by lightning. Despite Shelley’s stay in Gersheim, a link between her story and this tale has not conclusively been made.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the story of a young, ambitious scientist, named Victor Frankenstein, who discovers a technique to impart life to non-living matter. Using large body parts, due to the difficulty of manipulating small ones, Victor creates an eight foot tall monster with yellow eyes and skin that barely conceals the blood veins beneath. The young scientist is severely disappointed with his creation’s grotesqueness and abandons it, causing it to suffer torment and ridicule.

pr5397-f7-1831-frontis-left

After some months the creature finds the scientist in the mountains, where he has fled out of guilt, and begs his creator to take him in. Victor refuses and the creature is subjected to rejection at every turn. The creature swears vengeance on his creator for bringing him into a world that hates him and returns to the Frankenstein family estate, where he murders the scientist’s brother. The creature again confronts the scientist and demands that he return to his research and produce a wife for it. Victor Frankenstein, afraid for the safety of his family and friends, agrees, but after commencing the work becomes increasingly concerned the creature will spawn a new race of monsters if its wish is fulfilled. The scientist reverses his decision and destroys his own work.

Shortly thereafter Victor marries and the creature murders his new wife. Victor chases the creature to the North Pole, where he is found by a crew of explorers. Dying of hypothermia, Victor relates his tragic story to the crew’s Captain. After Victor dies the Captain sees the creature on the ship, mourning the death of his creator. The creature tells the Captain that Victor’s death has not brought him peace, rather it has left him completely alone. The creature then vows to commit suicide so that no one will ever know of its existence. The Captain watches as the creature drifts away on an ice raft, never to be seen again.

In Frankenstein, Victor obsesses over creating life in an unnatural way. He lets his desire to push scientific boundaries cloud his ability to make a responsible decision concerning his work. This ultimately leads to terrible consequences for Victor and his family. As Victor dies from his over-exposure to the harsh environment of the North Pole, he warns the Captain against over-ambition. This warning plays a role in the Captain’s decision to not continue his scientific expedition and possibly saves the lives of him and his crew.

Victor’s ambition and poor decisions concerning his work lead to the murder of multiple people he loves and then finally to his own premature death. The creature commits these crimes as a way to punish Victor, much like a child lacking attention will resort to lashing out in negative ways to force an interaction with a parent. The story evolves from one of scientific discovery to one of horror only after Victor rejects the creature.

Victor’s creation repeatedly reaches out to him and is continuously rejected. The creature understands that it is the ability to form a connection with another that makes one human. He tries to blackmail Victor into creating a wife and, in that way, fulfill this need. Again Victor denies it of the one thing that would make it human, continuing its neglect and alienation. The reader must contemplate how differently the story may have ended if Victor had formed a loving connection with the creature quickly after bringing it to life. It is spooky to consider in what ways our ambition may block the forming of these vital connections. To what level are we Victor and to what level are we the creation?

Contributed by Jon Bingham, Rare Books Curator

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Book of the week — Decalogus

15 Monday Aug 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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blindstamped, bookbinder, Bridwell Library, Case Western Reserve University, cross, Czech, Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia, Decalogus, Dutch, English, French, German, handmade paper, inlays, Italian, Jan Sobota, Jarmila Sobota, Latin, Loket, morocco, Old Testament, Pilzen, Portuguese, Prague, Slovak, Spanish, Switzerland, ten commandments, United States, University of Utah

N7433.4-S657-T46-1999

DECALOGUS
Loket, Czech Republic: Jan and Jarmila Sobota, 1999

The ten commandments of the Old Testament in Latin, Czech, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and Slovak designed as a cross.

Master bookbinder Jan Bohuslav Sobota (1939-2012) was born in Czechoslovakia. He studied binding in Pilzen and Prague until 1957. In 1982 he defected to Switzerland. He took his family to the United States in 1984, where he worked as a conservator at Case Western Reserve University before going to Bridwell Library, where he was Director of the Conservation Laboratory from 1990 to 1997. He and his family returned to the Czech Republic in 1997

Handmade paper printed in gold. Bound in pale turquoise morocco with binder’s blindstamped monogram on rear cover, upper cover with colored morocco inlays, comprising a central square cross. Issued in gold pouch. Edition of one hundred copies, numbered and signed by the artists. University of Utah copy is no. 6.

N7433.4-S657-T46-1999-(Lord Thy God)N7433.4-S657-T46-1999-(Czech)

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Forty Years, in memoriam

30 Thursday Apr 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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American, aquatint, Boulder, British, Buddha, C. David Thomas, China, Cochin China, collage, Colorado, communists, Cornwall, Daphne, Dong Ho, drawings, Earl of Macartney, Edinburgh Review, Emperor of China, English, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Fred Siegenthaler, French, Fulbright Scholar, George Schneeman (1934-2009), GI Bill, Granary Books, Hanoi, helicopter, Hermetic Press, Ho Chi Minh, HP Photosmart Pro B9180, Huu Mai, Indochina, injet printer, International Volunteer Services, Italy, J. Willard Marriott Library, Jeff Branin, John Balaban, John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, Kawabata Press, Korea, Lancashire, letterpress, London, love, magnesium plates, Massachusetts, Millbrook, Minneapolis, Muttenz, National Book Award, National Poetry Society of America, Nepal, New York, Norman Morrison, North Carolina State University, North Vietnam, Orient, Oxford, paper, papermaking, Phan Ke An, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, philately, Philip Gallo, Pleiku, poems, portfolio, postage stamps, President, propaganda, puzzle, Raleigh, Rhamnoneron blansae, Rhode Island School of Design, Richard Nixon, Rives 300 gm, Robert McNamara, Robert W. Chandler, Sir John Barrow (1764-1848), South Hinksey, South Vietnam, Strand, Switzerland, T. Cadell, Ted Berrigan (1934-1983), Tet Offensive, Torpoint, United States, University of Minnesota, University of Tulsa, University of Utah, US Army, Verona, Vietnam, Vietnam War, Vietnamese, W. Davies, Walter Jones, wars, Wellesley, Westview Press, William Alexander, William Carlos Williams Award, woodblock printing



A Voyage to Cochinchina, in the Years 1792 and 1793: containing a general view of the valuable productions and political importance of this flourishing kingdom, and also of such European settlements as were visited on the voyage: with sketches of the manners, character, and condition of their several inhabitants…
Sir John Barrow (1764-1848)
London: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies in the Strand, 1806
First edition
DS506 B37 1806

John Barrow traveled with the Earl of Macartney to Cochin China, now known as Vietnam; Madeira; Jamaica; Rio de Janeiro; Java; and Djarkarta as part of the first British embassy to China, from 1792 to 1794. Barrow acted as official interpreter to the Emperor of China, who was contemptuous of the entire mission and dismissed it almost immediately. The Edinburgh Review, October 1806, was as underwhelmed with the Barrows book as the Emperor was with the British: “His views are often narrow, and oftener unsound…deceived by imperfect information.” Barrow had published a work on his travels to China in 1804 and was known as an expert on the Orient. His work evinced a belief in the superiority of British civilization. His extensive notes on Cochin China range from its history to particulars about its art, architecture, and religious ceremonies. According to Barrow the substance of his writings were taken from a manuscript memoir by Captain Barissy, a French naval officer who had commanded a frigate in the service of the King of Cochinchina. Barrow was the son of a Lancashire tanner, educated in the local grammar school. He became a teacher of mathematics to young men headed for a career in the navy. Illustrated with nineteen aquatint plates taken from drawings by William Alexander who also traveled with Macartney. This is the first illustrated English work on southern Vietnam.




The Beacon Banner: Short Stories about the War of Resistance in Vietnam
Huu Mai, et al.
Hanoi: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1964
First edition
PZ1 B356 PL4382 E2

Illustrations by Phan Ke An.




Vietnam Poems
John Balaban (b. 1943)
South Hinksey, Oxford: Carcanet Press, 1970
PS3552 A44 V5 1970

During the Vietnam War, John Balaban performed alternative service as a conscientious objector. He went with the International Volunteer Services to Vietnam where he taught until the Tet Offensive during which he was wounded in the shoulder by shrapnel. Balaban has been awarded The Academy of American Poets’ Lamont prize, a William Carlos Williams Award from the National Poetry Society of America, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and was twice nominated for the National Book Award. He was named the 2001-2004 National Artist for the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. In addition to writing, he is a translator of Vietnamese poetry. He is Poet-in-Residence and Professor of English in the creative writing program at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Edition of six hundred copies.




Nam
Jeff Branin
Millbrook, Torpoint, Cornwall: Kawabata Press, 1981
PS3552 R318 N35 1981

Jeff Branin served a tour of duty in the Vietnam War in 1968 and 1969, building bunkers and latrines and serving as a replacement commanding officer. In these poems Branin writes of rocket attacks, casualties, atrocities against civilians and sexual misadventures using the jargon of the Vietnam-era US soldier.




War of Ideas: the U.S. Propaganda Campaign in Vietnam
Robert W. Chandler
Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1981
DS559.8 P65 C45 1981

This book focuses on advertisement techniques used as propaganda by the United States during the Vietnam War. Many of these pieces were taken by American anti-war campaigns for use in their own material. Chandler writes that US propaganda in Vietnam was targeted toward three groups: communists and communist supporters in South Vietnam, masses and elite in North Vietnam, and non-communists in South Vietnam. University of Utah copy gift of Walter Jones, as part of his Collection on the Vietnam and Indochina Wars, donated to the J. Willard Marriott Library in 2011.




In the Nam What Can Happen?
Ted Berrigan (1934-1983) and George Schneeman (1934-2009)
New York: Granary Books; Minneapolis: Hermetic Press, 1997
PS3552 E74 I656 1997

Ted Berrigan was a poet at the epicenter of the sixties literary underground. He served in the US Army, sent to Korea in 1954, where he did not see action. He earned a BA in 1959 and an MA in 1962 from the University of Tulsa under the GI Bill. George Schneeman received a BA in Philosophy and English Literature from St. Mary’s College, began graduate work in English Literature at the University of Minnesota and then enlisted in the US Army. Posted in Verona, Italy, Schneeman began painting. From the colophon: “First made as a one-of-a-kind collaborative book in 1967-68…The present edition is a simulation of the original…” From Granary Books: “The original was passed back and forth between Ted Berrigan and George Schneeman for about a year, remaining in the hands of one or the other for weeks or even months at a time – poet and artist each adding, subtracting, working over words and images. The material used were pen and ink, white acrylic paint and collage…The ‘finished’ project languished in a drawer in Schneeman’s studio on St. Mark’s Place for thirty years. Produced when the Vietnam War was rapidly escalating, this work is by turns surreal, incisive, hip, outrageous, cartoon-like, flip, sinister, humorous, dreamy, sarcastic, witty – always right on target – a vivid evocation of the times and the broad range of emotional responses to the War.” Letterpress printed in several colors from magnesium plates on Rives 300 gm paper by Philip Gallo at The Hermetic Press. Unbound gatherings in a plexiglass case. Edition of seventy copies, twenty lettered (a-t), hors de commerce. University of Utah copy is no. 42, signed by Berrigan and Schneeman.




Vietnamese Hand Papermaking and Woodblock Printing
Fred Siegenthaler
Muttenz, Switzerland: Paper Art, 2003
TS1095 V53 S54 2003

Fred Siegenthaler writes on the nearly extinct traditional manufacture of paper in Vietnam: processes of making inks, paper, and printing. The book includes paper and print samples from Dong Ho, a village famous for its woodblock printing, located just outside of Hanoi. Included are fourteen different original hand papers and six colored original woodcuts. From the colophon: “The text of this book is printed on paper made of Rhamnoneuron blansae…handmade multilayered Daphne paper from Nepal was used for the cover of the book.” Edition of fifty copies, signed by the author.


N7433.4-T478-C4-2009
Christ Meets Buddha
C. David Thomas
Wellesley, MA: C. David Thomas, 2009
N7433.4 T478 C4 2009

In 1968, C. David Thomas joined the US Army and was sent to Pleiku, South Vietnam as a combat engineer and artist. Thomas drew a picture of a fellow soldier’s girlfriend. In lieu of payment for the drawing he asked his friend, who worked in personnel, to change his records and shorten his stint in Vietnam from twelve to eleven months. Thomas was able to return to the United States weeks earlier than originally scheduled. The helicopter on which he routinely rode was shot down during what would have been the twelfth month of his tour of duty. There were no survivors. Thomas holds an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. He was a recipient of a Fulbright Scholar Grant to Vietnam. Thomas describes Christ Meets Buddha as autobiographical and a metaphor for his life. The digitally-created puzzle pieces contain religious imagery, war imagery, and family photographs. From the colophon: “These artist’s puzzle books are comprised of the six separate images…Each image is presented in its own linen box made by craftsmakers in Hanoi, Vietnam. All assembled puzzles are 29×23 inches made from twenty individual pieces. Each puzzle piece is printed using archival paper and ink by an HP Photosmart Pro B9180 inkjet printer. The pieces are then mounted on black felt and handcut…” Edition of ten copies. University of Utah copy is no. 1, signed by the author.




Postage Due: Forever Stamps
C. David Thomas
Wellesley, MA: C. David Thomas, 2009
N7433.4 T478 P67 2009

A series of unofficial postage stamps inspired by people and events from the Vietnam War era. From the introduction: “I never really thought about the importance of how we chose what images to place on our stamps until one day in 1995, when I went to the post office and asked for an interesting stamp. The woman behind the counter handed me a sheet of the recently issued Richard Nixon stamp. This stamp was issued only twenty years after he was forced to resign in disgrace as the 37th President of the United States. Needless to say, I handed them back to her with some choice words…in 1996 I went to the philately society in Hanoi, Viet Nam while doing research for a book on President Ho Chi Minh. I found dozens of stamps of Ho Chi Minh…and…a 1966 stamp depicting the shooting down of the 1,500 US aircraft brought down over North Viet Nam and one with the image of Norman Morrison, the man who immolated himself outside Robert McNamara’s office at the Pentagon. Just a few days before the US Post Office issued Robert Indiana’s LOVE stamp in 1973, the US heavily bombed the densely populated city Hanoi killing hundreds of innocent Vietnamese civilians…I have begun to understand the real power of this little jewel which may be the smallest form of propaganda available to all governments. These miniature posters travel all over the world…” Portfolio of unbound folded leaves issued in black linen box. Edition of twenty-five copies. University of Utah copy is no. 12, signed by the author.

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