On Jon’s Desk: Annals of the American Revolution, celebrating Patriots’ Day

17 Monday Apr 2017

Posted by Jonathan Bingham in On Jon's Desk

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Academy of Woodstock, Annals of the American Revolution, Battle of Concord, Battle of Lexington, Battle of Saratoga, Boston Marathon, Boston Tea Party, Calvinist Congregational Church, geography, George Washington, Jedidiah Morse, Jon Bingham, liberty, Maine, Massachussettes, Patriots' Day, Revolutionary War, University of Edinburgh, Yale University

“Immediately upon the arrival of the tea-ships in the harbor of Boston, the first step taken was to request the consignees to refuse the commission. The inhabitants warmly remonstrated against the teas being landed in any of their ports, and urged the return of the ships without permitting them to break bulk. Resolved not to yield to the smallest vestige of parliamentary taxation, however disguised, a numerous assembly of the most respectable people of Boston and its neighborhood, repaired to the public hall, and drew up a remonstrance to the governor, urging the necessity of his order, to send back the ships without suffering any part of their cargoes to be landed. His answer confirmed the opinion, that he was the instigator of the measure.

…

Within an hour after this was known abroad, there appeared a great number of persons, clad like the aborigines of the wilderness, with tomahawks in their hands and clubs on their shoulders, who, without the least molestation, marched through the streets with silent solemnity, and amidst innumerable spectators, proceeded to the wharves, boarded the ships, demanded the keys, and without much deliberation knocked open the chests, and emptied several thousand weight of the finest teas into the ocean. No opposition was made, though surrounded by the king’s ships; all was silence and dismay.”

– Jedidiah Morse, Annals of the American Revolution, pages 176 & 177

Title: Annals of the American Revolution; or a Record of the Causes and Events which Produced, and Terminated in the Establishment and Independence of the American Republic

Author: Jedidiah Morse, D.D.

Printed: Hartford, CT: 1824

First Edition

Call Number: E208 M88

Happy Patriots’ Day! Unless you are from the New England area, you may not know what Patriots’ Day is. It is the commemoration of the first battles of the American Revolution (Lexington and Concord) and is observed on the third Monday of April in some states (Maine and Massachusetts, for example). Each year the Boston Marathon is run on Patriots’ Day, linking the Athenian and American struggles for liberty (the twenty-six mile race being so named after the Greek Battle of Marathon). For those of us who want a link to the past that does not involve the pain of running twenty-six miles, a book about the American Revolution provides just such an opportunity. So while some people may show their Patriot-ism in Boston via running shoes, let’s take a look at Jedidiah Morse’s Annals of the American Revolution.

Morse’s Annals of the American Revolution is a compilation of accounts relating events leading up to and through the Revolutionary War. The book also includes an index with descriptions of the notable military leaders of the time. The accounts begin with the establishment of the British colonies in North America in the 16^th century and end with General George Washington’s resignation of his commission as the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army in front of Congress on December 23^rd, 1783.

Jedidiah Morse was a geographer and pastor. Born August 23, 1761 in Woodstock, Connecticut, Morse attended the Academy of Woodstock and then Yale University (M.A., 1786), and later graduated with a Doctor of Divinity from the University of Edinburgh (D.D., 1795). His writing career began after starting and teaching at a school for young women. He saw the need for a geography text book and wrote Geography Made Easy (1784), followed by American Geography (1789). Morse was a pastor in the Calvinist Congregational Church, but remained active in education and geography throughout his life (died June 9, 1826, age 64, New Haven, Connecticut). He published sixty-three works during his career, most of them religious.

~Contributed by Jon Bingham, Rare Books Curator

Book of the Week — The Architextures 1-7: The Man of Music

13 Monday Feb 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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abaca, Anthropology, Belgium, bookbinding, brass, California, Cambridge, Carolee Campbell, clamshell, English, Felix Titling, Fuji Paper Mills Cooperative, Fulbright, Guatemala, history, Ian Robinson, initials, Japan, Jonathan Cape, Katie MacGregor, King's College, kyosei-shi, letterpress, London, London School of Economics, MacGregor/Vinzani, Maine, Meridien, Nathaniel Tarn, Ninja Press, Pablo Neruda, papermaking, Paris, poetry, Princeton University, Rutgers University, Sherman Oaks, Tokuschi-ma, United States, University of Chicago, Vandercook Universal I, Whiting, wood blocks, Yale University

“Who are we that fled the thousand lives we did not lead in order to escape the very one life that we were destined for?”

The Architextures 1-7: The Man of Music
Nathaniel Tarn (b. 1928)
Sherman Oaks, CA: Ninja Press, 1999
PS3570 A635 A7 1999

Nathaniel Tarn was born in Paris and lived in Belgium until he was eleven. He studied history and English at King’s College, Cambridge. After returning to Paris he studied anthropology and received a Fulbright grant. He studied at Yale University and the University of Chicago and did his doctoral fieldwork in Guatemala. He then completed his graduate studies at the London School of Economics. Tarn published his first volume of poetry, Old Savage/Young City, in 1964. His next published work was a translation of Pablo Neruda’s The Heights of Macchu Pichhu, published by Jonathan Cape, in London. He joined Jonathan Cape as General Editor of its international series.

In 1970, he immigrated to the United States, became a citizen, and taught as Visiting Professor of Romance Languages at Princeton University, and later, at Rutgers and other universities.

Of his poetry, Ian Robinson wrote in 1982, “Landscape, geography, and the history and culture of that landscape, that geography, of the societies living there now and that lived there once, all of the present in its present, are the key factors for Tarn.”

The Architextures 1-7 are the first seven from a collection of seventy prose poems.

The book was handset and letterpress printed on a Vandercook Universal I with Meridien type in six colors and 72pt Felix Titling for display and opening initials. Paper is dove-gray abaca, made by Katie MacGregor at the MacGregor/Vinzani papermaking studio in Whiting, Maine. Six-color wood blocks illustrate the text throughout.

Ninja Press was begun in 1984 by Carolee Campbell, whose main publishing focus is contemporary poetry. Carolee began her book work as a photographer working with nineteenth and twentieth-century photographic processes. Binding her photograph sequences introduced her to bookbinding and experimental book structures. She then expanded her book work with letterpress printing. Bookmaking opened “the way into contemporary poetry — confronting it for the first time with a directness and penetration she seldom experienced as a reader.” (Ninja Press) All book work from Ninja Press is by Carolee Campbell.

Bound in torched and patinated thin brass boards, with a spine of brass and stainless steel hinges. Issued in a clamshell box covered in black kyosei-shi, a handmade paper from the Fuji Paper Mills Cooperative in Tokushi-ma, Japan. Edition of sixty-five numbered copies, signed by the poet and the bookmaker.

A fine piece of early Americana and a very fine gift

20 Tuesday Dec 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Donations

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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!

Recommended Workshop – Quarter Leather Flatback Lap-Case Binding

22 Thursday May 2014

Posted by rarebooks in Recommended Workshop

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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.

OPEN BOOK

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

Tag Archives: Yale University

On Jon’s Desk: Annals of the American Revolution, celebrating Patriots’ Day

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Book of the Week — The Architextures 1-7: The Man of Music

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A fine piece of early Americana and a very fine gift

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Recommended Workshop – Quarter Leather Flatback Lap-Case Binding

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