The flyleaf, 1957

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

2.

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

ar

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

5.

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

6.

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

7-

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

8.

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

9-

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

10.

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

11.

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

12.

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.

13.

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

Ik.

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

15.

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

16.

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.

17.

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 ■ 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."

l8.

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;

19.

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.

20.

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

21.

Print

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

22.

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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