THE FLYLEAF
PUBLISHED BY THE
FRIENDS OF THE FONDHEN LIBRARY
AT THE RICE INSTITUTE HOUSTON, TEXAS
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2011 with funding from
LYRASIS Members and Sloan Foundation
http://www.archive.org/details/flyleaf1957712fond
THE FLYLEAF
Quarterly Vol. VII, Nos. 1 & 2 March 1957
THE FLYLEAF CHANGES EDITORS With this issue the FLYLEAF regretfully an- nounces the resignation of its founding editor, Alan McKillop. Professor McKillop's wide knowledge of books and his enthusiasm for all matters of interest to the scholar and the bibliophile have made the FLYLEAF a delightful experience for the Friends of the Fondren Library. His own well- turned paragraphs and his choice selections from 18th-century writers and other worthies of the past have given the brochure both liveliness and charm. And many a rare or choice volume has found a ready sponsor in a generous Friend because of Editor McKillop's appealing thumb- sketch of it. His kind services will be greatly missed.
The FLYLEAF is indeed fortunate in its new editor, Wilfred S. Dowden, Associate Professor of English at Rice for the past seven years. Professor
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Dowden* s main field of interest is English Romantic Literature and he is a specialist in the works of Byron. During the academic year 1952-53 Mr. Dowden held a Fulbright Lectureship at the University of Vienna. He has the true scholar's interest in books and libraries and is a most worthy successor to Professor McKillop as editor of the FLYLEAF. The next issue of the FLYLEAF will be under Professor Dowden 's editorship.
R. W. C.
3. LIBRARIES AND LITERARY RESEARCH IN ENGLAND
by
Carroll Camden Professor of English at the Rice Institute
Given at the Spring Meeting of the
Friends of the Fondren Library
May 13, 1956 Lecture Lounge
This evening I should like to discuss with you the three great libraries of England and the facilities they offer for literary research. Then I should like to compare them with one of our own great research libraries, and conclude with a discussion of the won- derful Axson Collection of eighteenth century plays and the story of how the Fondren Library was able to obtain it.
In England, the Bodleian Library is second in holdings only to the British Museum. It is a vast library, which is housed in a quadrangular building, much of which dates from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The entrance is panelled and furnished in oak, with an exhibition case and many portraits, in- cluding that of Sir Thomas Bodley. To get to the library proper, one mounts an old staircase of shallow and worn steps to the public part of the library, known as the Arts End. We pass the Lower Reading Room, go up the stairs past the Upper Reading Room until we arrive at Duke Humfrey's Library. This is the most ancient portion of the library and is the section where the rare books must be consulted. It was founded and built between 1*1-50 and 1480, and once contained the manuscripts of the famous humanist and benefactor, Duke Humfrey of Gloucester. I did my reading in this oldest section, and my wife and
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I decided that it was useless to speculate on what parts were possibly "newer" or "older" in this antique building. I presume that the ascent to the reading room on the third floor was much steeper at one time; there were plain evidences that this staircase was a late addition.
By 1550 Duke Humfrey's Library was a flourishing institution, but in that year the King's Commissioners despoiled it of books, and in the following year the University removed all of the furnishings. The Bodlei now has only three of the manuscripts originally donated by Duke Humfrey. In 159^ a^ the years fol- lowing, Sir Thomas Bodley refitted and restored the library, and it was formally opened or reopened in 1602. Duke Humfrey's Library now consists of a room roughly in the shape of a block I. From the Arts End, where one enters, an impressive view can be had down the length of the room, to the Selden End. On each side of the aisle are readers' desks in alcoves, and wooden Morris chairs; here books were chained until 1761. The lighting is somewhat dim and is controlled by a central switch located in the demesnes of the chief attendant. The ceiling is particularly notable; it consists of illuminated panels which bear the arms of the University. On exhibit in the Arts End may be seen a twelfth century version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a seventh century copy of the Laudian Acts of the Apostles, The Romance of Alexander of about 13^> and the famous Shelley Collection of holograph poems and portraits. The Bodleian contains about one and three-quarter million volumes, including thousands of ancient manuscripts, such as a letter from an Egyptian schoolboy of the second or third century. By an original grant of the Stationers' Company in 1610, the Bodleian has the right to a copy of every book published in Great Britain.
When we went up to Oxford in September, we found
that as far as library service was concerned, we had
selected the wrong time of the year. All of the col- leges were in vacation, and within a week of our
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departure the Bodleian would have been closed for the annual vacation. Here again, however, the noted British kindness and good will prevailed, and the librarian enlisted his best efforts for us.
The college libraries were closed, of course, but a colleague cycled over one morning with a unique copy of a book which I had particularly wanted to see. One of the Bodleian librarians also undertook a correspondence in my behalf with a somewhat gruff librarian of one of the colleges; he was acknowledged to be unpredictable, and he at first denied that the book was in his library; next, he said that he could not find it; but at last the book was delivered.
But if we had come to Oxford at an awkward time, nevertheless the compensations were evident, for we had Duke Humfrey's Library almost to ourselves, and we entered fully into that feeling of possession which makes travel exciting. The library room is a wonderful survival of Renaissance architecture modi- fied by a lingering medieval atmosphere. But for us, as I have said, the lighting was bad, the chairs uncomfortable, the desks awkward; and in a cold Sep- tember, there was no heat. One cannot work long in this library without feeling the heavy effect of times past. We admired modern Britain in the splen- did hardihood of the girl at the desk in a flimsy dress with no sleeves, and thought her a worthy descendent of the readers who long ago might have been carried frozen from their seats. We have so many creature comforts in our own country that we feel we have the right to study in comfort, and while Duke Humfrey's Library must not be missed, neither is it a place in which to linger past the necessary time. Certainly no one should pass up the unbelievable ex- hibits in the cases; a text of Plato from the third century B.C.; scraps of a Sappho text; a fine Western text of Euclid; and wonderfully illuminated manuscripts.
Across the street from this building which con- tains Duke Humfrey's Library are the new buildings of
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The Bodleian, which were erected in 19^0 at a cost of almost $3,000,000, a large part of which was contributed by the Rockefeller Foundation. In this building may be seen a copy of Shakespeare's first published work, Venus and Adonis (1593); a first folio of Shakespeare, which had originally belonged to the Bodleian, was removed, and repurchased by the library in 1906 for about $10,000; and a copy of the first book published in England (Caxton's Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, 1475). Here also is a wealth of manuscript material, such as auto- graph works of Addison, Pope, Shelley, Tennyson, Charles I and Sir Christopher Wren; and also some miscellaneous items, including a wooden . chair taken from Drake ' s ship "The Golden Hind."
Besides the Bodleian Library, many of the Oxford college libraries have important collections of books, as well. Magdalen College has many examples of early printing and many valuable manuscripts, such as a hand- somely illuminated 11th century version of the works of St. Chrysostom. Queen's College has a Shakespeare first folio. Balliol and Trinity are also well stocked; but particularly valuable for scholars is the remarkable collection of books at Corpus Christi College, which contains a larger number of unique copies of Elizabethan books, not as yet listed in bibliographical manuals.
The University Library at Cambridge is not at all the weather-worn and seat-worn institution which exists at the Bodleian; it is instead a modern structure, in rather poor taste, which was completed in 193^ at a cost of a million and a half dollars, half of which was con- tributed by the Rockefeller Foundation. It is quite modern in all respects, including the worst sense of the word. This large library could have been erected anywhere in this country and excited no comment; but on the banks of the river Cam it looks miserable. In- deed it was interesting to find that we reacted so violently to what would have been a commonplace struc- ture at home. But the very unexpectedness of it, and the disappointing fact that it looked as if it had been
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constructed with American money (although actually de- signed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott), combined to make us review the inadequacies of Duke Humfrey's with great charity.
The building contains the usual main reading room, the Acton Historical Library of 60,000 volumes, a peri- odicals room, and the Anderson Room for readers of manuscripts and rare books. The Main Reading Room provides space for 150 readers, being about 200 feet by kO feet. The University Library at Cambridge does not have the treasures that may be found at the Bodleian. Perhaps the reason is that the selling and pilfering of books from the Bodleian took place around 1550, while it was not until the eighteenth century that a university librarian at Cambridge sold off most of the books. There are, however, many important books and manuscripts here: a manuscript of Bede's Historia Ecclesiasticus t dating from 730; a tenth century Book of Deer, with charters in the Gaelic language dating from the twelfth century; and a corrected proof sheet of Milton's Lye id as (1638). But at Cambridge it is the College Libraries which con- tain the literary gems. Trinity College owns a manuscript book in the handwriting of Milton, which contains Lycidas, Comus, and a sketch for Paradise Lost in dramatic form; and also the manuscripts of Thackeray's Henry Esmond and Tennyson's In Memoriam, the diary of Macaulay, Edwin's psalter written at Canterbury in 1150, and a fifteenth century Roll of Carols which is the earliest known manu- script in harmony. At Magdalene College may be seen the famous Pepys Library shelved in the same twelve book- cases of red oak in which Pepys had arranged his treasures in his own house. Peterhouse proudly displays a manuscript of Chaucer's Astrolabe, which is purported to be in the handwriting of the author; unluckily we were unable to examine this prize exhibit, because the librarian was on vacation. Perhaps the most famous of the Cambridge Libraries, certainly the most famous besides Trinity is the library of Corpus Christi College. Here may be seen the tenth century Winchester Tropary; the earliest manu- script of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; the great work of
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Matthew of Paris; St. Jerome's version of the Four Gospels, which was sent to St. Augustine "by Pope Gregory; a psalter "belonging to Thomas A. Becket; a fifteenth century copy of Piers plowman; a copy of Chaucer ' s Troilus and Criseyde dating from 1*4-50; and many other priceless treasures. Interestingly enough, the Corpus Christi library receives an annual check by the Masters of Gonville and Caius College and of Trinity Hall. Any manuscripts missing are forfeited to Gonville and Caius, when found; and any manuscripts suffering from neglect become the property of Trinity Hall.
Whatever the deficiencies of the architecture of the Cambridge University Library, we were graciously received; and again every effort was made to secure for me the books I wanted to see.
Of course, the American scholar thinks first of the British Museum when planning to study in England; this institution has for generations been the haunt of writers, students, and researchers on all subjects, and on this side of the water we feel quite at home with the idea of working there. It may cause us some surprise, then, when we find that the British people look upon the Museum as a museum first. Most of them know of the General Reading Room, which is open to the public with slight formalities, but few of them are interested in it or in the rare book room or the manuscript room.
The Museum dates from the middle of the eighteenth century, when Parliament set up a board of trustees to take charge of the library, antiquities, and works of art, valued at $250,000, which Sir Hans Sloane bequeathed to the nation, subject to a payment to his family of about $85,000, which was raised by public lottery. The trustees were also given charge of the famous library of Sir Robert Cotton, collected during the Elizabethan age. Montague House, built in Bloomsbury in 1678, was obtained to house these collections. At about the same time, the Trustees were given charge of another famous collection, the library built up by Robert Harley and
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his son in the early years of the l8th century. Four years later George II gave to the collection the Royal Library of 10,000 volumes, which the English kings since Henry VII had gathered together; this gift also included the privilege of compulsory copyright deposit. Thus the library side of the British Museum got its start. When the Museum was first opened, a room was provided for students using the library, but they were admitted only upon certain days and their use of books and manuscripts was severely limited. Not until 1831 was the library opened every week day.
The main reading room of the Museum offers accom- modations for ^50 readers. Here is located the famous bound volumes of the catalogue, there being no card catalogue. The room is circular in shape, lit. by a great dome. It was redecorated sometime between the two wars, in a most agreeable shade of soft light blue; all the desk and table tops are done in leather of this color; the metal balustrades running around the wall at regular intervals are of a classic design in bronze finish. The woodwork is all light in color. The most pleasing effect in the room, however, is that of the many thousands of books which line the continuous wall of the great circle. Anywhere you stand, you are look- ing at them from some distance, and the general impression is like that of short strokes of pastel colors, with blue and red striking the eye. I am sure that my description is quite inadequate; you must really see it for yourself. It is, perhaps, something like the reading room of the Library of Congress.
Beyond this room lies the North Library, where all rare printed books must be consulted. Besides having the largest collection of early printed books in English, and other notable works important for the student of literature and history, the Museum also includes a very large number of valuable manuscripts, including the manuscript of Beowulf. Just as at the Bodleian and the Cambridge University Library, here too books have a way of getting away from the library, and the present Keener sometimes purchases books which have in them the stamp
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of the Museum. Frequently the "books have been sold by previous Keepers, who thought they were duplicates or were valueless.
The superintendents and attendants at the British Museum are very courteous and obliging to Americans. To say that they were delightfully kind to us would surely be no exaggeration. Tney even overlooked an unwitting offence of my wife's; she had carried a book from one library room for use in another, and was the cause of a notice being put up to the effect that Readers were kindly requested not to remove books from the rooms where they were lodged.
Formalities connected with research at both the Bodleian and at the British Museum are made as painless as possible for all of those who have a legitimate reason for using these libraries. At the Bodleian the reader is asked to sign the register and to agree not to damage books or remove them from the library. He is then handed a folder of instructions containing only reasonable prohibi- tions: manuscripts and rare books must not be left on a desk; ink may be used but only from official ink bottles; eating and drinking in the library is prohibited, also smoking, and the "kindling of any fire or flame." After the formalities are done with, the reader is free to request any book or manuscript without restrictions. The attendants are very obliging, and work goes along at an easy pace. If one's research is in the period before 16^0, the shelf numbers of books may be found simply by locating the desired books in the Short Title Catalogue, and in the margin will be found the call-number.
Most of my work was done at the British Museum, however. Here the rules for readers are pretty much the same. Fountain pens and ink bottles may be used with care, and so on. The greatest dif- ficulty experienced by the reader of rare books
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at the Museum is that there is no Short Title Catalogue with the press marks indicated. The result is that the main catalogue must "be used for all books. This may not seem to "be a great inconvenience, until one learns that this catalogue consists of about 150 or 200 bound volumes in which information about the library holdings has been pasted. Since a great effort is made to keep the catalogue up to date, slips are constantly being pasted into the catalogue, and frequently there is no space for them. The result is a good bit of confusion. The reader looks for his book in the proper alphabetical listing, but if it is not there he must not conclude that the Museum does not have the book. He must then look at every entry on this page, and also at every entry on the two pages preceding the two pages following. If the book still is not to be found he must not give up hope yet, because many author entries in the Museum catalogue do not correspond with the entries in the Short Title Catalogue, though the latter was made up from the former. If you know that the book is in the Museum because the Short Title Catalogue has it so listed, the next step is to consult the inquiries desk. Here you will find two or three remarkable individuals, who are not only kind and considerate, but actually apologetic. They are familiar with all the quirks of the cato,logue and will locate the book for you if it is in the Museum, although it may take them a day or two to find it.
Rare books must be consulted in the North Library; if the reader intends to spend most of his time on such books, he may be provided with a desk on which he may leave his working materials. He may also leave on his desk any books which are not marked rare; the rare ones must be returned every evening, but will be held on reserve. In connection with this system, there seem to be some inconsistencies. I have found several books
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which were marked as rare, although many libraries have copies, although the "book is available in many bookshops, and although the Museum itself may have as many as five copies of each. On the other hand I have found at least two books which were not marked rare, but which were actually unique copies.
In order to compare the opportunities for research in the United States with those in England, you may be interested to hear something about the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D. C. The Folger is a very good example of a superb library which had very modest beginnings. Henry Clay Folger became a collector of Shakespeare and Shake speareana through the purchase at auction in 1889 of a copy of the Fourth Folio of the works of Shakespeare for $107-50. For the next forty years Folger bought quietly and wisely, spending most of his spare time reading bookseller's cata- logues, examining the books as they arrived, and storing them in bank vaults and warehouses, since he did not wish to spend money on a library in his own home. In 1932, however, the collection was housed in a new structure, which was built across the street from the Library of Congress. The library building, which is classic in style, contains an Exhibition Gallery, a Reading Room, an Auditorium, and offices for the staff, as well as the usual vaults and stacks for books. The Reading Room is modeled after a typical English Great Hall, with a high trussed roof, and contains at one end a beautiful stained glass window de- picting the Seven Ages of Man and reproducing the stone -work of the window in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford. The Auditorium suggests an Elizabethan playhouse. It is not a reproduction, but in size, shape, and decoration, it is strongly influenced by the specifications of the Fortune Playhouse of 1600, with three galleries, and a platform stage provided with inner and upper stages.
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When the three thousand packing cases were opened, it was found that Folger had collected seventy- nine Shakespeare first folios, including the copy which the printer had presented to a friend, no other library having more than five. There were also from 20 to 50 copies of succeeding folios through the 4th, including copies which had belonged to David Garrick, George Colman, and Samuel Johnson. There is even a manuscript version of Henry IV, which was prepared in l6ll for use at court. As a basis for the study of Shakespeare's creative genius, Folger assembled an almost complete collection of the familiar English source-books. Particularly may be mentioned the unique copy of Greene's Pandosto (1592), one of two known copies of Lodge's Rosalynde (1590), the only extant copy of the first edition of Marlowe ' s Hero and Leander (1598)> and one of two known copies of Greene's Groat sworth of Wit, which may contain the earliest allusion to Shakespeare. From the works of Shakespeare and the sources of Shakespeare, the Folger Library extended its holdings to the Tudor and Stuart drama- tists. It has the manuscript of the Macro plays, among which are The Castle of Perseverance and Mankind, two of the earliest morality plays. The interests of the library have now been further extended until they include books on all subjects from 1^75 to 1700. At the present time there are over 25,000 volumes of English Renaissance books, as well as several thousand more of the Restoration period. There are some 1500 unique items, and 4,000 more which are unique for the United States. The most important single purchase was made in 1938, after Folger 's death, when the Library obtained the famous collection of Sir Leicester Harmsworth, containing 9,000 volumes. Although the collection was worth well over a million dollars, the Folger Library was able to get it for around $1^0,000 since it would have a permanent home, would be kept to- gether as a collection, and would be available to scholars. This collection covers the history of
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Britain in all its aspects, up to 16^0. The Folger is continuing to purchase books and manuscripts of this period as they come to light or are offered for sale. In 1953-195^ it purchased the Losely collection of manuscripts "brought together by the More family, the head of which disinherited his daughter Ann when she married John Donne, who quipped: "John Donne, Anne Donne, undone." Just last summer the library was able to purchase the two missing volumes of Bishop Perkins' works, which had been alienated from the collection.
The Folger Library has found that to complete its collection it must not wait until booksellers issue catalogues. As the director says, "Books do not roll up to the door and offer themselves. They have to be searched for in countless out-of- the way places." To this end, the library sends Miss Eleanor Pitcher, one of its staff, on buying » expeditions to England for six months out of every year. She spends her time searching in cold cellars and dusty attics, staying in miserable country hotels through all kinds of weather. Most of her work is dull and dreary, going the rounds of bookshops in small towns and large, and keeping her ear open for any hidden collections. In the loft of the Shipdam Church she found a collection which had been stored, never opened, for 200 years. The collection was sold to the Folger in order to put a new roof on the church. Sometimes a collection is discovered in an old country mansion, but the Library must wait until the cantankerous owner dies and the books can be obtained from the son, who wants to sell.
On one occasion an old Welshman had heard that Billy Graham was coming to London, and since he had a Bible that he wanted to sell, he went all the way to the big city, but Graham did not want the copy. Then he noticed an article about the Folger Library, and wrote, offering to sell to them. Miss
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Pitcher drove over to Wales to see the book and found it to be a unique copy of a thumb Bible. She had it sent to Maggs Brothers for appraisal, so that the old man would get a fair price.
On another recent occasion, the Folger Director, Louis B. Wright, was driving through a little town in Southern England, when he stopped to watch a roof being thatched. He talked to the workman and found that he was the owner of an odds-and-ends shop. Wright asked if he had any old books and was told that there was a pile of trash he might look through. In doing so he found a medical book of 1678 priced at 1/6 (21^), which he bought. Upon returning to London he found that the book was quite rare, only four known copies existing, and was even offered $300 for it. Thus it may be seen that the purchas- ing of books does not always go to the financially strong. Of course our Fondren can not go to such lengths in buying books, but there are many things we can do which I shall mention later.
I should like now to tell you of the chain of events leading up to the purchase of the Axson Col- lection of Eighteenth Century Plays, which we are very fortunate to have in our library. The collection is particularly important to us because it may well serve as the nucleus for a fine research library, and because it shows how such a library may be started. Sometime in the early days of December, 1955> I re- ceived a letter from Dr. Alan McKillop. He had found a note in the secondhand book catalogue stating that a bookseller named John Rothwell was the agent for the sale of a collection of some 2,000 eighteenth century plays. Knowing that such collections come on the market only rarely in these days, Dr. McKillop requested me to examine the collection to see if it were really as good as it sounded. Since the address given for the bookshop placed it only a short bus- ride from the hotel in which we were staying, my wife and I went around that very morning to have
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a look at the books. We had a slight amount of difficulty in locating the address, chiefly because it turned out to be an apartment house instead of a bookshop. A further difficulty was encountered be- cause the porter at that address had never heard of the name of Rothwell. But while we were talking, a Mrs. Stock came in and informed us that her husband used the name Rothwell for his book dealings. She invited us up to her apartment, and there we found the collection displayed in bookcases covering three walls of a room. The books were chiefly bound separately in red and in half morocco, although some of the plays were bound together in old bindings. We spent the morning going carefully over the collec- tion, and examining as many of the individual plays as we could. We were amazed and delighted both at the wealth of the collection and at the fine state of preservation in which we found them. I talked with Mr. Rothwell (or Mr. Stock) on the telephone, and he kindly let me take back to the hotel a folder containing the complete catalogue of the collection; then I discovered tha.t there were actually over 2100 plays listed. Knowing that the purchase of such a valuable collection would involve a rather large' sum of money, and feeling that a judgment could be made only upon the possession of pretty complete informa- tion, I made a hurried and sketchy list of around 1,700 of the titles and sent it on to Dr. McKillop. It soon. became apparent that we must move rather quickly, since two English libraries wanted the collection and two American Universities had a list of the plays and were actively considering purchase. The rest of my correspondence with Dr. McKillop and with President Houston necessarily was handled by means of cablegrams. Very soon, however, the sale was consummated and the books belonged to the Fondren. As you no doubt know, the money for the purchase came partly from a bequest in the will of Miss Willa Boord, who in her turn had received it from a bequest in the will of Dr. Stockton Axson, and partly from the
generosity of Mr. Jessie Jones, who wished to contri- bute to a memorial to Dr. Axson.
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The collection, as I have indicated, comprises essentially about fifty percent of the plays published between 1700 and 1800. It contains also a few pieces printed prior to 1700: for example, there is in the collection a first edition of Colley Cibber's Love' s Last Shift (1696), usually considered to be the first play which broke with the tradition of the Restora- tion comedy of manners and thus became the first sentimental or moralizing play in the eighteenth century manner. Also present in the collection are first editions of three of Congreve â– s plays (The Double Dealer, The Old Bat che lour, The Mourning Bride), and one first edition by Mrs. Aphra Behn (Sir Patient Fancy). There is also one play in manuscript; this is Joseph Craddock's historical tragedy The Czar, which was refused a production by Garrick when he was manager of Drury Lane, and was not printed until 182^.
Particularly notable also is a collection within the collection. There are seventy-three plays which were written by David Garrick or in which he had a hand, having written a prologue or an epilogue or made some other contribution. Garrick was manager of Drury Lane for nearly thirty years, having bought a half interest in the theater, and there he produced twenty-four of Shakespeare's plays. He was also a famous actor in both comedy and tragedy, and achieved eminence in seventeen Shakespearean roles. In 17&9 he organized the Shakespeare celebrations at Stratford. Because of his authoritative position in the drama, he managed to put his stamp on almost every manuscript that passed through his hands, and he collaborated in one way or another with almost every dramatist of his time.
The range of the plays in the collection covers the entire field of interest in the eighteenth century. You remember that Polonius, in describing for Hamlet the versatility of the acting company which had come to Elsinore, said that they were the best in the world
for "tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral- comical, historical -pastoral, tragical-historical."
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But the types in the Axson Collection go far beyond these, and include tragedy, comedy, farce, opera, dramatic entertainment, comic interlude, ballad opera, musical interlude, allegorical masque, musical drama, tragi -comedy, burletta, ballad farce, pastoral, droll, musical drama, historical tragedy, operatic farce, comic opera, sacred drama, and dramatic novel. I am sure there are some types which I have missed, but this list will give a good idea of the kinds of plays current in the eighteenth century.
The famous General John Burgoyne, who led the British when they gained possession of Fort Ticonderoga, but who was severely defeated by the American Revolu- tionists at the battle of Saratoga, is represented in the collection by two plays : the first edition of a comedy named The Heiress, and all of the seven editions of a dramatic entertainment entitled The Maid of the Oaks. George Colman, Senior, is represented in the collection by twelve plays, including Achilles in Petticoats, four editions of The English Merchant, seven editions of The Jealous Wife . ten editions of The Clandestine Marriage, and four editions of The Musical Lady.
If one goes in for odd titles, he may find such interesting bits as Henry Carey's Chr ononhot ontholo go s The Most Tragical Tragedy That Was Ever Iragedized; Henry Macready's The Bank Note or Lessons for Ladies; The Dramatist or Stop Him Who Can; The Earl of Mar Marred, With the Humours of Jockey the Highlander; The Female Fop or The False One Fitted; The Happy Prescription or the Lady Relieved From Her Lovers; He Would if He Could or An Old Fool Worse Than Any; The Lawyer ' s Fortune or Love in a Hollow Tree; and The Modern Breakfast or All Asleep at Noon.
There are several reasons why the Axson Collec- tion has great value for research. In the first place there are many plays in the collection which are not recorded in the standard reference works of the drama;
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there are others which are known to be unique, such as the edition of Shakespeare's The Tempest which was used in the revival of the play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and which contains the songs and choruses used at that time. Perhaps the most important of all are the many separate editions of the same play (very frequently all the editions which exist) that are made available. If a student wishes to study a play, he needs to see all the variations of it which are in existence, so that he may better estimate exactly what the author wrote and what changes were necessary because of the changing climates of opinion.
We are very proud of this fine acquisition for the Fondren Library. Many scholars over the country will find it profitable to come here for study of the plays. Of course we must not stop with the plays we now have, but must keep adding to the Axson collection until it contains possibly every edition of every play which was published in the eighteenth century. The original collector has spent the past fifteen or twenty years in bringing the books together, and he still retains an interest in completing the collection. He has promised to give us what aid he can, but of course substantial funds will eventually be needed.
In conclusion I should like to make one tentative suggestion to the Friends of the Fondren Library: that it may be well to encourage students, young graduates, and older members of our com- munity to start forming limited and specific col- lections of their own, with the intention of leaving them to the Fondren when they have finished with them. Two advantages may be derived from such a scheme: the collectors will find pleasure and intellectual profit in their collections, and the Fondren Library will gain greatly in the end.
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PERIODICALS NEEDED
The Library would "be glad to have the following magazines to complete its files:
American Artist Feb., March, May, 1955
March, 1956
Architectural Forum July - December 1935
January - June 1936 January 1939 January 19^8
Fortune May 1956
Holiday February, June 1956
January-February 1957
House & Garden March 1956
Illustrated London News May 22, 195^
December 3> 1955 June 9, June 30, 1956
Michigan Society of
Architects Bulletin March, 1956
Motive February 1956
New Statesman & Nation October 9, December k, 1954
January 29, February 5> March 12, November 5> December 2k, 1955 January 21, 1956
Newsweek July 1956 to date
Opera News Volume 1-11
February 7, October 21, December 3, 17, 1956
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Readers Digest Scientific American Theatre Arts
Virginia Cavalcade Writer
November, December 1955
September - November 1956
March 1950, September 1955
January 195^-
June, September 195^
Fall, Winter 1955
All issues, 1955 and 1956
If you can supply these, please notify Mrs. Jameson, JA Q-klkl, Extension 328
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GIFTS Anonymous donor
Sister M. Agatha
Reuben Askanase Rice Aston
Marilyn Barthelme Joseph L. Battista James Porter Baughman
Mr. & Mrs. Val T. Billups
Mrs. Charles W. Bryan, Jr. & Mrs. H. D.
Payne
Mr. & Mrs. J. C Burkhill
Watch your thirst, an autographed copy of play by Owen Wister
$50 bond of the Republic of Texas Texas almanac for 1868 Castroville and Henry Castro . . .
Subscription to Jewish Digest
Collection of novels and encyclopedias
Les gens de Mogador, by Barbier
Publications on Latin America
114 colored slides and several colored transparencies of birds
Garcilaso de la Vega, El Inca: The Royal Commentaries of Peru, London 1688
Pathfinders of Texas, by Mrs. Frank de Garmo
Miss Emilie Clarkson Miss Laura Clarkson
G. H. Cloud, Humble Research Laboratory
Theory of ordinary differen- tial equations Pamphlets on education in England
Collection of World War II newspapers
Technical periodicals
23-
GIFTS
Hardin Craig and Hardin Craig, Jr,
Current Study Club
Mr. & Mrs. Hendrix Davis
William Adams Delano
Alexander Deussen Mr. & Mrs. Win. S. Dix
;Drama Section, College Women ' s Club
C. A. Dwyer
Mrs. A. D. Dyess, Jr.
11 Galateo, by Giovanni della Casa; 156l; Satires of Juvenal and Flaccus, 1711; Omnia Andrea Alciati emblemata. . . l6l3; Commentary upon epistle of St. Paul to Philemon, by Win. Attersoll, l6l2 ; Cordubensis Pharsali, by Lucanus, 1728; and several hundred volumes on English and American literature
$15.00 annual gift for purchase in field of English literature
Collection of recent fiction and non fiction; files of the National Geographic
Life of Pierre Charles 1' Enfant, by Caemmerer
Files of technical periodicals.
The arte of engling, 1577> (fac- simile, ed. by Gerald E. Bent ley)
Collection of recent plays
Abstracts of valid land titles (Texas), 1859, by Jchn Burlage
History of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, 6v., by Gibbon. Surrey edition
2k ,
GIFTS
Mrs. T. C. Edwards
Robert Eikel
Finlandia Foundation
Ann Fowler
Great Southern Life Insurance Company
Mrs. T. D. Gresham
H. Guyod
William M. Hart
G. Herzog
Mr. & Mrs. C. W. Hight
Laurent Hodges
Carrie Holcomb
Houston Endowment C. M. Hudspeth
Books and pamphlets on Texas government
Butterflies from China, Japan and Core a, 3v., by Leech
Subscription to Finlandia Pictorial
Architecture of the South, by Forman
Books on insurance
The Aristocrats, by Saint Pierre
Technical periodicals
h volumes
Technical periodicals
Works of Cooper, 8 v. Popular Science, lo v.
History of Scotland, 8v. , by J. Browne
Texas Ornithological Society Newsletter, numbers to complete file
Aunt Dicy tales
Martindaie-Hubbell Law Directory 3 v.
25.
GIFTS
Thorkel Jensen
Mrs. Augusta Jones
Willard Jones
F. M. Kannenstine
C. E. Kievlan
m A. Kirkland Mrs. B. M. Kuminir Mrs. Walter G. Langbein
A. A. Lief este, Jr. Robert F. Lent
Linneas of Texas
Statistics in psychology and education, by Garrett
Present day psychology, by Roback
View of the center of Paris taken from the air
Complete (or nearly complete) files of technical journals; many bound, including Geophysics, Institute of Radio Engineers Journal, Electronics, Bell System Technical Journal
Opera stars in the sun, by Matz
Life Magazine, v. 1-4
Files of Opera News
History of the Louisiana Purchase exposition, by Mark Bennett
The house for you, by Sleeper
St ani s law No akowski , 20 re- productions 6- year plan of building the foundations of socialism in Poland
10 albums of records, Swedish folk songs; compositions by modern Swedish composers
26.
GIFTS
Alan D. McKillop
Andrew Muir
Haskell Munroe
Philip Myers
Natl. Assn. of Corrosion Engineers
Mr. & Mrs. Dennis 0 ' Connor
Dick Quinn
John Baker Prickett
Douglas Ragland
J. R. Risser
Rolle, Jewitt & Beck
Rotary Club of Houston
R. J. Schwartz
Early masters of English fiction This latest book Collection of hooks on English and American literature
Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church 1956 issues
Pamphlets on Presbyterian Church historical foundation
Lore of the lakes, and Memories of the lakes by Dana Thomas Bowen
Files of technical periodicals
Texas Irish empresarios, by William H. Oberste
Files of technical periodicals
Programs of Houston Symphony Society, 1941-1950 (This completes our file from 1932)
Carus math, monograph, no. 11
Microwaves, by W. W. Hansen
Subscription to Esquire
Service is my business
21 volumes
27.
GIFTS
Rolfe C. Searcy
Fred V. Shelton
Walt Silvus
Emylou Spears William F. Spiller Milton D. Stark
John Van Neste Talmadge
Kiyoko Tanabe
A. R. Thomas Albert Thomas
Tactics and techniques of infantry , k v. ROTC manual. Engineers Collection of fiction and non fiction
Ouevres completes, k v. Moliere
Catcher in the rye, by Salinger
Collection of modern fiction
1st year set of Great Books
Hydrogen ion concentration, by J. F. Ricci
A new approach to the geological setting of early man
Japanese fine arts, by Sagara A wanderer in Japan, by Edmund Blunden
Collection of books
Bound sets of Congressional Records as volumes are com- pleted. We are much indebted to Mr. Thomas for helping to have the Fondren designated as a depository for U. S. Geo- logical Survey publications.
28.
GIFTS
Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company
James Vinson
R. C. West
Mrs. George Westfeldt
Joseph B. Wilson
James Dean Young
Trans gas, bound volumes for 195^, 1955
Faerie Queene, k v., 1758
Files of technical periodicals
De Gaulle material
Per weg durch das dunkel, by Lienweber
Collection of new fiction and non fiction
Chaille Eice Literary Society
$50 for phonograph records
Owen Wister Literary Society Alumnae
$150 annual gift for current fiction shelf
Rice Hillel
$75 for books
Sarah Lane Literary Society
$25 for phonograph records
Student Religious Council
A democratic manifesto, by Stumpf
29.
MEMORIAL GIFTS IN MEMORY OF Anthony Barnett Mrs. Whit Boyd
James R. Brannan, Jr. Eddie Cadwallader William T. Carter, Jr.
Dunbar N. Chambers Edward T. Chew Everett Lee BeGolyer Rudolph J. Depehbrock
John K. Dor ranee
Hershel M. Duncan
W. J. Dvorak Robert Earle Elam, Jr. Stephen P. Farish Dr. James G. Flynn Laura D. French
DONOR
Mr. & Mrs. Robert W. Maurice
Mr. & Mrs. W. J. Dissen Mr. & Mrs. R. J. Fleming
Mr. & Mrs. Stewart Jamerson
Ralph A. Anderson, Jr.
Mr. & Kirs. C. A. Dwyer Mi-. & Mrs. George R. Brown
Mr. & Mrs. George R. Brown
Mary F. Fuller
Mr. & Mrs. George R. Brown
Mr. & Mrs. G. R. Adams Mrs. T. M. Swope
Mr. & Mrs. George R. Brown Mr. & Mrs. Herman Brown
Mr. & Mrs. Ben M. Anderson
Mr. & Mr. C. A. Dwyer
Mr. & Mrs. George R. Brown
Willi am J. Condon
Mrs. R. E. Elam, Jr.
Mr. & Mrs. Perry Olcott
Mary F. Fuller
Anne H. Wheeler
30.
IN MEMORY OF
Mrs. Daniel E. Garrett
Mrs. Mab Hall Glenn Mrs. W. J. Goggan
Walter L. Goldston Henry L. Gossman Mrs. J. W. Gray Mrs. Charlotte B. Grote Sarane Ives Hall
Allen W. Hamill
Mrs. Herbert J. Hawthorne
Harry H. Hedges, Sr.
Homer Henderson
James E. Holt, Jr.
Mrs. J. Frank Keith
Gus Kellogg
Louis Wiltz Kemp
Ann Calhoun
DONOR
Mr. & Mrs. Herman Brown
Mr. & Mrs. George R. Brown
Mr. & Mrs. Chas. W. Hamilton j
Dr. & Mrs. Hugh C. Welsh
Mary F. Fuller
Mrs. Joseph Pound David Pound
Mr. & Mrs. Harvin Moore
Amy Lee Turner
Mr. & Mrs. Harvin Moore
Mr. & Mrs. Fred M. Johnston
Mr. & Mrs. Edward H. Phillips, Arthur Hall
Mr. & Mrs. Ben M. Anderson
Mr. & Mrs. Robert W. Maurice
Mr. & Mrs. Robert B. Turner
Mr. & Mrs. Charles W. Hamiltoij
Mr. & Mrs. Derry H. Gardner
Mr. & Mrs. Herman Brown
Mr. & Mrs. A. A. Nance
Joseph W. Petty, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Earl Fornell
Mr, & Mrs. Albert M. Lewis Mrs. Lillian A. Calhoun
31.
IN MEMORY OF W. S. Mackey Dr. Henry Maresh
Max Marks
Mrs. Harris Masterson
Adrian Moore
James R. Moore
Helen Butler Morrison
W. Kyle Morrow
Adele Austin Neblett Edward J. Nolan
Brent Oberer
Mrs. Wirt Adams Paddock
Mrs. L. 0. Perkins Edward W. Pollok, Sr.
DONOR
Mr. & Mrs. David Hannah
Joseph W. Petty, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Harvin Moore
William J. Condon
Chautauqua Study Club
Mr. & Mrs. Chas. W. Hamilton Officers and Directors of the Nat'l. Bank of Commerce of Houston
Mrs. C. B. McKinney
Mr. & Mrs. George R. Brown
Mrs. W. H. Norris B. Burnett Carson
Estelle Neblett Folk
Mr. & Mrs. George R. Brown Mr. & Mrs. Herman Brown
Mr. & Mrs. Chester R. Gosnell
Mrs. T. D. Gresham
Mr. & Mrs. R. A. Tsanoff
Mrs. R. C. Meysenburg
Mary F. Fuller
Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Rutter
Mr. & Mrs. H. Fletcher Brown
Lillian J. Smith
Mary Snoddy
Mr. & Mrs. C. J. Robertson, Jr.
Mr. & Mrs. Chas. W. Hamilton R. B. Everett & Company
32.
IN MEMORY OF
Mrs. Curtis Quarles
Mrs. Edwin J. Rhodes
Mrs. J. J. Riley
Mrs. C. J. Robertson, Sr.
Ada Kopp Rolke
Charles Siegel
William Schimmelpf ennig
Walter Springall
Charles H. Squire
Albert M. Tomforde Curtis Howe Walker Mrs. James 0. Winston Forest E. Wood
DONOR
Mr. & Mrs. Perry Olcott
Mr. & Mrs. George R. Brown
Mr. & Mrs. W. M. Rust
Mrs. T. D. Bresham
Mr. & Mrs. J. T. McCants
Stanley Siegel
Mr. & Mrs. Robert W. Maurice
Mrs. Paul H. Aves
Mr. & Mrs. Joseph A. Hafner, Low Temperature Laboratory Mr. & Mrs, R. A. Wright
Mr. & Mrs. J. T. McCants
Mrs. Arthur Boice
Mrs. W. S. Farish
Mr. & Mrs. Chas. W. Hamilton
i
33.
FRIENDS OF THE FONDKEN LIBRARY AT THE RICE INSTITUTE
President, Carl Illig Vice President, Mrs. Robert J. Cummins Membership Secretary, Mrs. Charles W. Hamilton Recording Secretary, Mrs. John Mason, Jr. Treasurer, Charles W. Hamilton
BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Mrs. Edward W. Kelley Mrs. W. A. Kirkland Wendel D. Ley Charles F. Squire Robert B. Turner
Alan D. McKillop, Editor, the FLYLEAF Raemond Craig, Publication
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