Plodding Along
Acquisitions have been somewhat slow over the past few months but in
some instances that’s good because I’m presently in somewhat delicate
negotiations for two higher-end acquisitions including an archive of material
between Mosher and a member of the Walt Whitman Fellowship, and a collection of
ten Mosher books in superlative Arts & Crafts bindings. If nothing else
these will form the basis for a couple future essays to Endpapers, but for now these have been the items which have most
recently come into the Mosher collection during the past couple months:
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1.
A two-page autograph letter from Dewitt Miller is
printed on the pictorial letterhead of The Savery
House, Des Moines, Iowa, 8 January, no year [1898] addressed to "Dear Mr
Mosher: Please send me a copy of the Japan Germ at $20. In the mail with
your favor came a note from the Hon. A. P. [Addison
Peale] Russell (author of Library Notes) addressed to J. Dewitt Miller (the Bibliotaph)... which possibly answers your query. I'll
think of something I'd like to have you print." Jahu Dewitt Miller (1857-1911) was an American educator,
librarian, journalist, minister, orator, and book collector. He grew up on his
father's farm in rural New York. When he was 14 years old, he entered the
Collegiate Institute at Fort Edward, New York, and after he graduated, became a
member of its faculty. As a teenager, he taught a wide range of courses at the
Institute. He also held the position of librarian. By the age of 17
he began a lifelong passion of collecting rare books. He traveled around
New England, preaching and lecturing, and later became a renowned speaker on
the Chatauqua circuit. His rare book collection
had been moved from the family farm after his mother's death to a country store
in Carmel, New York, under his sister's supervision. Before Miller's
death in 1911, the collection was relocated to the Seminary at Forest Glen,
Maryland. (Biographical note provided by David Holmes)
2.
Received a copy of Mosher's edition of Primavera (1900) signed by the American
poet "Sara Teasdale / June 10, 1904 / St. Louis" (1884-1933-committed
suicide) and carrying the bookplate of Howard Wilford
Bell which is hand-dated "OX Mch 13 1901"
and with the booksellers ticket of Williams & Norgate
of Oxford. All very curious. I haven't been able to find out much on Howard Wilford Bell except that he was a publisher in England, but
I’m not sure of any connection to Sara Teasdale. It's also highly interesting
to note that Sara Teasdale wrote the poem "Primavera Mia" which
appeared in her book Helen of Troy and
Other Poems (yet another Mosher connection?) in 1911. How did Teasdale get
the book from Bell? All these are unknowns.
3.
Several bindings have come in, but nothing to crow
about except for one with a Chinese chop mark and very unusual gold tooling.
The book is Walter Pater's Essays from
the Guardian (Mosher, 1897). It was on eBay and had unusual Ricketts-like
markings around the perimeter of the dark blue morocco covers. Unknown to the
seller, the binding is actually stamped BOUND BY BLACKWELL. Henry Blackwell was one of
the binders who started out under Matthews and who eventually set up his own
bindery in New York as did his fellow co-worker, James MacDonald. There was a
bookplate but it was removed from the book, yet a note written in pencil
remains on an endpaper saying "Clark book plate" which I presume
designates the owner, not the name of a designer, and it may indicate this book
was once held in the Clark Library of Williamstown, Massachusetts? or the Clark Memorial Library of UCLA?
4.
I will make a few comments about the copy No. 1 on
Japan vellum of Pater's The Renaissance
from his large “Quarto Series” which I bought off the Internet. The book’s
binding was in a shambles. It’s somewhat of an important copy in that it was
owned by Emilie Grigsby and it shows up in the catalogue of her books for sale
at auction. I also acquired another copy of the Swinburne Laus Veneris (this too being a copy No. 1 and
in far nicer condition) at a garage sale in New York City earlier this year.
Funny that I should get both copy #1’s of The
Renaissance and Laus Veneris from
Grigsby's library within a few months of one another. I sent both the Renaissance and yet another Japan vellum
copy of Swinburne's Laus Veneris --sold
to me by the widow of Dick Fredeman--to a book
conservator who agreed to try to replicate Mosher's Japan vellum printed
wrappers-over-boards. I sent him jpg images of the two covers. He used photoshop and was able to replicate the covers and sewed on
new boards. Quite frankly, he did a marvellous job of it. I never expected to
see the returned books looking much like they did when originally issued. Just
amazing.
5.
Received an absolutely pristine copy of The Standard Writing-Book which was
printed sometime between 1882-1889 by McLellan,
Mosher & Co., Booksellers and Stationers at No. 37 Exchange Street,
Portland, Maine. It includes two monograms for the business. This lined
blank-book is yet another example of the kind of material Mosher had printed
before The Mosher Books came into being. In addition to that, two copies of The Old Farmer’s Almanac by Robert E.
Thomas were entered into the collection. One is dated 1889 and carries the
imprint of McLellan, Mosher & Company. The other
is dated 1892 and carries the imprint of only Thomas B. Mosher. These were both
part of the stationary and bookselling business which predated and then
overlapped with the publishing of the Mosher Books beginning in 1891. Both
carry extensive back-page advertisements on the businesses which are
by-in-large similar except for the 1889 advertisement of George Varney’s A Brief History of Maine for which
Mosher wrote his first introduction to a book.
6.
Another book from
Flora Lamb’s personal library was added, this being a copy of Edith M. Thomas’s
Lyrics and Sonnets (Boston & NY,
1887). The book bears the ownership signature of “Abba Goold
Woolson / New York. Feb. 21. 1889.” Woolson (1838-1931) was a writer, editor, poet and lecturer
in the Boston area. She wrote numerous books including Browsing Among Books, Woman in American Society, and George
Eliot and Her Heroines among others. She also edited Dress-reform: a series of lectures delivered in Boston, on dress
as it affects the health of women. The Thomas book later became the property
of Annie Belle Morrell who then inscribed to Flora M. Lamb who was the
long-time assistant of Thomas Bird Mosher. It’s also interesting to note that a
poem entirely in the hand of, and signed by, Edith M. Thomas appears on the
first flyleaf. Another book which came along with this was Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism inscribed to Flora M Lamb from
Elinor C. Stewart in April 9, 1927. Enclosed is a
Western Union telegram from Stewart in Plainfield, NJ thanking Flora Lamb for
some kindness she bestowed on her on that date, and a little card accompanied
the book as well.
7.
Along with the
book from Flora Lamb’s library was a copy of Sydney King Russell’s Lost Warrior which Flora Lamb published
through the Mosher Press in 1931. This copy appears to be a printer’s dummy
with the printed cover over a mass of blank pages followed by only 30 numbered
and printed pages. The published book is 108 pages in length.
8.
I picked up a
copy of the new published Arden
(Arcadia Publishing, 2010) by Mark Taylor as one of the photographic books in
the “Images of America Series.” The book’s importance for the Mosher Collection
is that it shows a picture of William Roberts who, along with his wife, ran the
Roberts Press in Rose Valley and who later moved to Arden in 1917. Roberts
corresponded with Mosher and I wrote a little piece about this for the March
2010 issue of Endpapers entitled “The
William Roberts of Rose Valley Connection” (p.23). It’s so nice to match a face
to a correspondent. I picked this up while doing a tour of Arden and Rose
Valley this past spring hosted by Jack and Betty Jean Freas
of Tamerlane Books, so thanks to them I came upon this new picture book of
Arden and the Arden Community.
9.
The last item of
any interest is a copy of Frederic Rowland Marvin’s Fireside Papers (Boston, 1915) which was in Mosher’s library. It’s
inscribed “Mr. Mosher / with regards of the author / Frederic Rowland Marvin.”
This is the second book I have from Mosher’s library that’s by Marvin, the
other being Flowers of Song from Many
Lands--Being Short Poems and Detached Verses Gathered from Various Languages
and Rendered into English (Troy, New York: Pafraets
Book Company, 1902) which was printed by D. B. Updike at The Merrymount Press in Boston. Although 1,000 copies were
printed, only sixty-three (this is copy #52) "contain a portrait of the
Author on parchment…" The book also contains the original prospectus and a
letter from the author to Thomas B. Mosher, dated 16 April 1903, so it appears
that Marvin’s acquaintanceship with Mosher spanned over at least a dozen years.
One other thing of personal
interest is that the book came to me by way of Kinsey Baker of The Book Haven.
It was from the same bookseller that I purchased my first Mosher book, and
since Kinsey will be closing his business as of January 15, 2011, it’s somewhat
touching that this book from Mosher’s library should come to me just six months
before The Book Haven is only a memory.
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I know, a lot of this is
without glamour or glitz, but that’s part of what building a research
collection is about. There’s a lot of material which, when standing alone,
gives one little idea about anything beyond its mere presence as an object or
scrap of paper. But slowly some things develop into a snapshot and then into a
larger picture until, in some instances, a full story can be told. One doesn’t
know when one piece will illumine another or hold greater interest beyond
itself. That’s why one struggles to continue searching and adding to a
collection. There’s something to say for Michael Zinman’s
idea of creating a critical mass, but then again buying just for the sake of
buying isn’t the answer. There has to be deliberation and guided selection,
informed choice, a weighing of the item against what one already has, and
selections that move in accord with a plan however that’s been defined by the
collector. And all of this has to be tempered by patience and, unfortunately,
supported by one’s
wallet. As I stated at the beginning of this enumeration of purchases, there
are two events on the horizon which represent particularly upper level
acquisitions—very showy and particularly important. As collectors we live and
breathe more robustly when such opportunities to boost our collection beyond
its present level present themselves, but all the in between time counts too.
That’s what the above represents—the in between times.
Philip R. Bishop
July 9, 2010