Book of the Week — Tablettes De La Vie et De La Mort

18 Monday Sep 2017

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attorney, bibliophile, ceremonies, Christine A. Jones, Eugène Paillet, fidelity, fleurs de lys, French, Greek, Hebrew, Jean Thomas, Jesuits, judge, King Henri IV of France, Latin, law, Louis XIII, Lyon, Montauban, morocco, ornaments, Paris, Penard Fernández, Pierre Mathieu, quatrains, reception, religion, royal, Royal Historiographer, Société des Amis du Livre, The University of Utah, Toulouse, tragedies, translation, Valence, war, World Languages and Cultures

“It seems that from a King, the Majesty fades
Without many servants trailing his royalty
It may be grand to engage them in spades
But it is a great pain to depend on their loyalty.”

Tablettes de la vie et de la mort
Pierre Mathieu (1593-1621)
A Paris: Iean Petit-Paz, rue S. Iacques, à l’eseu de Venise, près les Mathurins, MDCXXIX (1629) avec privilege dv Roy
First and only complete edition with Latin translation
PQ1820 M28 T11 1629

Pierre Mathieu studied under the Jesuits and mastered Latin, ancient Greek and Hebrew. When he was nineteen his first tragedy, “Esther” was performed and published in Lyon in 1585. Before his death, Mathieu published four more allegorical tragedies, exploring contemporary issues of war in defense of religion. He studied law at Valence, receiving his doctorat in 1586. He was chosen and sent by the residents of Lyon to King Henri IV of France in 1594 to represent to him their fidelity. A year earlier, he had been put in charge of organizing the ceremonies of the king’s royal reception during his visit to Lyon. In Paris Mathieu became Royal Historiographer and was privileged guest of the royal court and the king. He fell ill accompanying Louis XIII at the siege of Montauban and died in Toulouse.

This collection of cultivated admonitions was written by Matheiu for Henri IV and then Louis XIII, Henri IV’s son. It is made up of individual parts that were published over a period of sixteen years (the last posthumously) — and were printed alone, in pairs, or all together, often in this irresistible little palm-sized format. Matheiu intended his readership to memorize the three suites, or volumes, each of one hundred quatrains. Attorney Jean Thomas (act. 1645) translated the French into Latin, printed in just this edition.

The present copy belonged to Louis XIII or was for presentation by him. It bears the book plate of Eugène Paillet (1829-1901) and the stamp of one Penard Fernández.

Paillet was a Parisian lawyer and judge and one of the great French bibliophiles of the nineteenth century. He was particularly interested in acquiring a number of different editions of the same work in order to illustrate the history of the publication. He was a founding member of the Société des Amis du Livre in 1874.

The translation of the quatrain above is by Christine A. Jones, Professor, World Languages and Cultures, The University of Utah. She explained that this was a “quick, unpolished” translation “to give the reader a sense of the irony and juicy moral ambiguity of the poems.”

French text facing the Latin translation, ornaments throughout. Each page bears various hand ruled borders in light faded red ink. Bound in contemporary gilt red morocco, chain-and-bloom roll around a central panel diapered with a dotted roll, interstices with fleurs de lys, which also fill the single vertical spine compartment. Marbled pastedowns, all edges gilt.

Book of the Week — A General Account of the Development of Methods of Using Atomic Energy for Military Purposes Under the Auspices of the United Stated Governement

07 Monday Aug 2017

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Albert Einstein, Army Corps of Engineers, atomic energy, electromagnetism, fission, Franklin D. Roosevelt, General Leslie R. Groves, Henry De Wolf Smyth, Hiroshima, isotopes, Japan, Manhattan Project, Metallurgical Laboratory, military, Nagasaki, neutrons, nuclear weapon, physics, Princeton, science, Smyth Report, United States, United States War Department, University of Chicago, uranium, war, weapons

“These questions are not technical questions; they are political and social questions, and the answers given to them may affect all mankind for generations. In thinking about them the men on the project have been thinking as citizens of the United States vitally interested in the welfare of the human race. It has been their duty and that of the responsible high government officials who were informed to look beyond the limits of the present war and its weapons to the ultimate implications of these discoveries. This was a heavy responsibility. In a free country like ours, such questions should be debated by the people and decisions must be made by the people through their representatives. This is one reason for the release of this report. It is a semi-technical report which it is hoped men of science in this country can use to help their fellow citizens in reaching wise decisions. The people of the country must be informed if they are to discharge their responsibilities wisely”
— Henry De Wolf Smyth

A GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF METHODS OF USING ATOMIC ENERGY FOR MILITARY PURPOSES UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, 1940-1945
Henry De Wolf Smyth (1898- 1986)
Washington, D. C: U. S. Govt. Print. Off., 1945
First edition

On August 6, 1945 the United States government dropped a uranium bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. One week later, after a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, the United States War Department issued an official account of the Manhattan Project which produced the bombs, written by Princeton physicist Henry D. Smyth.

The program to develop a nuclear weapon had its origins in 1939, when a group of scientists, including Albert Einstein, apprised President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the vast destructive power that could be unleashed by the recently-discovered fission of uranium. By mid-1942 a top-secret program had been instituted under the Army Corps of Engineers’ Manhattan District. Smyth’s involvement began with his research at Princeton, where he headed the physics department, on electromagnetic methods of separating uranium isotopes. In 1943 he was appointed associate director of the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago, working on the production of the heavy water needed to regulate the speed of neutrons in a chain reaction.

In April 1944 General Leslie R. Groves, chief of the Manhattan Project, asked Smyth to prepare a report on the project for release after the expected deployment of the bomb. The press release became known simply as the “Smyth Report.”

The Risk of Being Less Free

04 Tuesday Jul 2017

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Alexander Hamilton, Articles of Confederation, Benjamin Warner, Charleston, Chief Justice of the United States, Constitution of the United States, Constitutional Convention, engravings, James Madison, John Jay, New York, New-York Packet, Philadelphia, portraits, President of the United States, Publius, Richmond, Ronald Rubin, Secretary of the Treasury, South Carolina, The Daily Advertiser, The Federalist, The Independent Journal, The New-York Journal, Virginia, war

“The violent destruction of life and property incident to war, the continual effort and alarm attendant on a state of continual danger, will compel nations the most attached to liberty to resort for repose and security to institutions which have a tendency to destroy their civil and political rights. To be more safe, they at length become willing to run the risk of being less free.”
― Alexander Hamilton

The Federalist: A Collection of Essays…
Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804), James Madison (1751-1836), and John Jay (1745-1829)
New-York: Printed and sold by J. and A. M’Lean, no.41, Hanover-square, M,DCC,LXXXVIII (1788)
First edition
JK154 1788

Although written for the purpose of supporting New York state’s ratification of the Constitution of the United States, these essays were eventually published together as The Federalist and were soon recognized for their brilliant commentary on the new republican charter. The use of The Federalist as a tool for interpreting the Constitution began before it was officially ratified and has continued to the present day. The Federalist is the fundamental document left by the framers of the Constitution as a guide to their philosophy and intentions.

Alexander Hamilton was the principal force behind the pro-ratification pamphlets, enlisting fellow New Yorker John Jay and Virginian James Madison as coauthors of the essays. The individual responsible for each essay is not clear. The first essay by “Publius” (the pen name for all three authors) appeared in the 27 October 1787 issue of The Independent Journal, and all or some of the subsequent numbers were also printed in the New-York Packet, The Daily Advertiser, and The New-York Journal. The first thirty-six Federalist essays were collected and published by the M’Lean brothers in March 1788 and the final forty-nine, along with the text of the Constitution, followed in a second volume in May. The last eight essays were printed in book form before they appeared in newspapers. In all, the essays represent one of the most important American contributions to political theory.

The first edition of the collection was of five hundred copies, fifty of which were purchased by Hamilton and sent to Virginia. The sale of the others was poor. The publisher complained in October 1788, long after New York had ratified the Constitution, that they still had several hundred copies unsold.

The Federalist, On the New Constitution, Written in 1778, by Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Jay, and Mr. Madison
Philadelphia: Published by Benjamin Warner, No. 147, Market street, and sold at his stores, Richmond, Virginia, and Charleston, South Carolina, 1818
Fifth Edition
KF4515 F4 1818

Despite the poor sales of the first edition, The Federalist was published again and nearly continuously to the present day. The fifth edition of The Federalist contains an appendix of the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States with Amendments, not found in the fourth edition. The Philadelphia imprint contains revisions by Madison, along with his claims of authorship of some of the essays previously attributed to Hamilton. This is the second single-volume edition printed, complete with full-page engraved portraits of Hamilton, Madison and Jay. It was published the same year as a Washington, D.C. imprint.

James Madison became the fourth President of the United States.

Alexander Hamilton, who had represented New York at the Constitutional Convention, became the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury, holding the post until he resigned in 1795.

John Jay became the first Chief Justice of the United States in 1789, stepping down in 1795 to become governor of New York, a post he held for two terms, until retiring in 1801.

Rare Books copy of fifth edition is gift of Dr. Ronald Rubin.

Book of the Week — Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant

20 Monday Feb 2017

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American Civil War, bankruptcy, cancer, Catholic, editor, Gertrude Stein, Jew, Julius Caesar, Mark Twain, memoirs, military, New York, peace, politics, President, Protestant, Samuel Clemens, stenographer, Ulysses S. Grant, Union, veterans, war, Webster

“‘Let us have peace.’ The expressions of these kindly feelings were not restricted to a section of the country, nor to a division of the people. They came from individual citizens of all nationalieties; from all denominations — the Protestant, the Catholic, and the Jew; and from the various societies of the land — scientific, educational, religious, or otherwise. Politics did not enter into the matter at all.”

PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF U. S. GRANT
Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885)
New York: C. L. Webster & Co., 1885-86
First edition
E672 G76 1885

An ineffectual, if not disastrous, president, ruined by bankruptcy after being defrauded of his estate, and dying of throat cancer, Ulysses S. Grant, Union hero of the American Civil War, agreed to publish his memoirs. He needed the money to try to secure an economically stable future for his family.

Samuel Clemens, whose pen name was Mark Twain, served as his editor. In the last month of his life, Grant struggled to dictate his notes to a stenographer and managed to finish his memoirs shortly before his death. For Clemens, witnessing the tenacity of the dying man, Grant became, once more, a heroic figure.

The memoirs focused almost entirely on the old general’s actions during the war. Still considered among the greatest of military memoirs, the two volume set became an immediate bestseller, praised for its high literary qualities. Grant’s style was straightforward and compelling. Clemens compared the book to Julius Caesar’s Commentaries. Gertrude Stein admired the book and said that she could not think of Grant without weeping.

His Memoirs were a financial and critical success. Thousands of war veterans and their families made a ready market for the book. Grant’s family, who received seventy-five percent of the royalties, quickly re-established their fortune, receiving nearly a half million dollars from the book.

A fine piece of early Americana and a very fine gift

20 Tuesday Dec 2016

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almanac, American, American Antiquarian Society, American Revolution, Americana, battles, Benjamin Franklin, bibles, bindery, books, bookstores, Boston, broadsides, Caleb Alexander, Charles River, collector, Concord, dictionaries, Dr. Ronald Rubin, English, Greek, Greek New Testament, history, independence, Isaiah Thomas, John Mill, Lexington, literature, London, Maryland, Massachusetts, medicine, music, Newburyport, newspaper, Nova Scotia, Oxford, pamphlets, paper mill, printer, printing history, rare books, Ronald Rubin, sedition, Vermont, Virgil, war, Worcester, Yale University

HE KAINE DIATHEKE, NOVUM TESTAMENTUM
Wigorniae, Massachusettensi: excudebat Isaias Thomas, Jun, 1800
Editio Prima Americana

This is the first American printing of the Greek New Testament, considered a milestone in American printing history.

Isaiah Thomas’ printing shop was dubbed “the sedition factory,” during the American Revolution. Thomas moved his press from Boston across the Charles River to Worcester in order to avoid confiscation by British troupes. His press reassembled, Thomas remained in Worcester for the rest of his life, printing the first reports of the battles of Lexington and Concord (“Americans! – – – Liberty or Death! – – – Join or Die!”) and continuing to print until he sold his business in 1802.

Isaiah Thomas was born in Boston in 1749. Thomas was apprenticed to a printer, at the age of six, after the death of his father. He stayed for ten years, then broke his bond and headed to London, much as Benjamin Franklin had done earlier. Thomas got as far as Nova Scotia, where he stayed to print a newspaper. After six months, he was sent packing because of his anti-Stamp Act actions. After another foray, this time to the south, Thomas returned to Boston to set up his own newspaper, The Massachusetts Spy. At the same time, he began what would become a lucrative printing business, which included an almanac and the Royal American Magazine, in 1774.

After the war for independence was won, Thomas built his press into an enterprise that included a bindery, a paper mill and bookstores from Vermont to Maryland. In 1773, he established the first press in Newburyport, Massachusetts, at the request of some of its citizens. He printed books on medicine, music, history, and literature; and printed spellers, dictionaries, and bibles. Caleb Alexander (1755-1828), a graduate of Yale University, worked with Thomas as editor for his first American editions of Virgil and other works in Greek, including He kaine diatheke. Alexander based his edition on a 1707 Oxford edition by English scholar John Mill (1645-1707).

Thomas retired around 1802, about two years after his printing of He kaine diatheke. He spent the rest of his life collecting printed American works – books, pamphlets, broadsides, almanacs, and newspapers. He used these as primary sources for his History of Printing in America, published in 1810. He donated his collection to the American Antiquarian Society, an institution he organized in order to provide a home for print material from early American history.

This is the most recent of numerous gifts throughout the years from Dr. Ronald Rubin, a collector, like Isaiah Thomas, of early Americana and a very fine friend of Rare Books. Thank you, Dr. Rubin!

Book of the Week – The Martian Chronicles

28 Monday Dec 2015

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colonialism, colonization, Doubleday & Company, exploration, Garden City, human spirit, Mars, New York, novel, Pulitzer Prize, racial prejudice, Ray Bradbury, stories, war

The Martian Chronicles
Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)
Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1950
First edition
PS3503 R167 M3 1950

Ray Bradbury’s second novel is a collection of interconnected stories about the exploration and colonization of Mars. In these stories he addresses racial prejudice, colonialism, the devastation of war, and the triumph of the human spirit. In 2007, Bradbury received the Pulitzer Prize for his body of work.

Book of the week – Thomas More

06 Monday Jul 2015

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Act of Succession, Amerigo Vespucci, crime, Francis Bacon, Henry VII, historiated, History of Richard III, imprisonment, Latin, Plato, poverty, Raphael Hythloday, religious intolerance, Republic, Shakespeare, taxation, Thomas Hobbes, Thomas More (1478-1535), title page, Tower of London, treason, University of Utah, Utopia, war, woodcut, woodcut initials, Zangrius

THOMAE MORI ANGLI, VIRI ERVDITIONIS PARTIER AC…
Thomas More (1478-1535)
Lovanij: Apud Petrum Zangrium Tiletanum, sub fonte, Anno 1566
PA8553 A2 1566

This collection of Thomas More’s works includes the original Latin text of Utopia and is likely the fourth Latin printing of the work. It also includes History of Richard III, on which Shakespeare based his play, and a piece written during More’s imprisonment in the Tower of London.

Utopia, first printed in 1516, a satire on the administration of Henry VII, puts forward political and philosophical principles of a fictional ideal state. The literary form, most likely based on Plato’s “Republic,” was later adopted by Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes. The title has become a word synonymous with an optimistic but impractical social reform. The book addresses, among other social ills, religious intolerance, extreme punishment for crime, unjust taxation, and disparity of wealth between social classes. The protagonist, Raphael Hythloday, discovers “Utopia” when travelling with Amerigo Vespucci. In Utopia there is no war, no crime, and no poverty.

Thomas More refused to subscribe to a new oath required by the Act of Succession (1534). For this, he was cast into the London Tower, where he was kept, tried for treason nearly a year later, convicted and beheaded.

Title-page carries Zangrius woodcut device of a fountain within a historiated fame. Woodcut initials throughout. University of Utah copy bound in seventeenth-century calf with preserved gilded spine.

Shakespeare is coming! The First Folio will arrive at the City Library in October.

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.”

Daily Utah Chronicle Article – Fighting Words

12 Wednesday Sep 2012

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American, Daily Utah Chronicle, pamphlets, revolution, revolutionary, University of Utah, war

Fighting Words: American Revolutionary War Pamphlets was a featured article in the Daily Utah Chronicle, the University of Utah’s student newspapers.

Fighting Words featured in the Daily Utah Chronicle

“Conner said. “Everybody has learned about the revolution — seeing the real documents makes it more alive for students, for anybody who looks at it.'”

OPEN BOOK

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

Tag Archives: war

Book of the Week — Tablettes De La Vie et De La Mort

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Book of the Week — A General Account of the Development of Methods of Using Atomic Energy for Military Purposes Under the Auspices of the United Stated Governement

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The Risk of Being Less Free

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Book of the Week — Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant

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A fine piece of early Americana and a very fine gift

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Book of the Week – The Martian Chronicles

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Book of the week – Thomas More

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Continental Paper Currency, 1776

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Daily Utah Chronicle Article – Fighting Words

Fighting Words featured in the Daily Utah Chronicle

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