uartoThe

b,CEll FOR THE CLE~r E:i\'TS LIBRARY ASSOCIATES

Fall M eet ing

OL'R FALL ~ I EETIXG , October 28, a t 8:00, promisesto be one of th e best ever . It would be a littleund ignified to call it a "three ring cir cus," butwe ha ve schedu led three major att ract ions.

Dr. H oward H . Peckham. d irector of the libraryfrom 1953 to 1977, will return to deliver theRandol ph G. Ada ms Lecture, evalua ting thelegacy of the Am erican Revolution Bicen­tennial to ser ious hi stori cal scholarsh ip. Thecelebration of our nation 's two-hundredth birth­da y su per ficially looked like a "s ide-show," butbeh in d th e fireworks an d parades . last ing contri ­butions were made to our understanding of therevolu tion by hi sto ri an s, preservat ionists, libra­rie s and m useums.

In conjunction with the Clements Li brary's re ­cent publication, T he R evolution R em embered,we commissione d ar tist Andrew N athaniel \ Vyethto do a series of eigh t pe n and ink drawings ofwartime inci dents captured in the pe nsion ers'memoirs. The original drawings will be on dis­pl ay, and a handsome portfolio, limited to 1000copies, signed by the ar tis t , is being prep ared as agift to Associate members,

:\of r. " ' yeth, who resides in Lebanon, Connecti­cut. comes by his artist ic interest and talent n atu­rall y. bei ng a grandson of N . C. W yet h, and grandnephew of Howard Pyle, who created some of thefinest examples of American hi storical ill ustra­tion . Som e of ~rr. \ Vyeth 's o the r work will alsobe on di splay. The artist will be in attendance,

The even ing will also be the officia l openi ngof an exhibi t marking the 200th ann iversary ofth e Ben edi ct Arnold-john Andre affair. T helibrary's xlanuscript Di vision contains most ofth e original docume nts on this exciting cha pterin the Revolut ion, inclu ding Arnold's famousletter, in cod e. offeri ng \ Vest Point to the Br it ish,

The evening's program promises to be a "sell­out, " so make your reservat ion s earl y.

Nu, rB£R 129. SEPT ., 1980

Gift

T H F. LIBRARy HAS recen tl y been th e gratefu1recipient of on e hundred and one pamphlets andbooks, two photographs, and four manuscriptletters from Associate Xlrs. Al bert C . J acobs ofAnn Arbor. Mrs. J acobs is the d aughter ofJu n iu s E. Beal, Ann Arbor publishe r , Universityregent, and book collector. Mr. Bears knowledge­a ble appreciation of fellow regent \Villiam L.Clem ents' collec tion ena bled him to play a pri ­mary role in th e establishmen t of the library .

The pamph lets and books are a delightfu lcross-section of 19th -cen tu ry American a, in clud­in g hi stori cal novels, almanacs, and promotion a llitera tu re. The 1'\\'0 large photogr aphs, datin gfrom th e 1890·s, show the old Dental College­En gin eerin g Building which was the ori gin alstruc ture on the library's present site. Manu­scripts include a rare document of 1789 signedby and docket ed wit h four lines in th e Mohawklanguage by the famou s Ind ian chief J osephBrandt; a 1793 lett er by the great Americanprinter Isaiah Thomas, described elsewhere inth is issue; a two-page letter of Edward Everettto Henr-y Dearborn. Dec. 22, 1827, about politics;and a fine letter of He nry Schoolcraft to Ne wYork antiquarian Dr. John \ V. Francis, Dec. 27,1854,

Chapbook

P EDDLERS HAWKIl"G every conceivable commodityhave always been par t of British street life . Pen nypamphle ts, ha nd bills, and broadside posters hol da par ticula r fascin ation for bibli ographers andbooksell ers for a number of reasons: they areoften charm ing yet crude in appearance, coarsein langu age, and scarce. Easily and often anony­mously printed and q uickl y sold, these werenatural veh icles for avoid ing the sheriff, thecen sor, and the Sta tioner. This was truly a li tera­tu re of the ma sses, often u ngrammatical, bawdy,

THE CLEMENTS LIBRARY ASSOCIATESof The University of Michigan

BOARD OF GOVERNORS

Appointed by the Regents of the University

Mrs . John Alexander, Ann ArborMrs. Noyes L. Avery, Jr., Grand RapidsCarl W. Bonbright, FlintEdward W. Bowen, Bay CityRobert P. Briggs, Elk RapidsC. E. Frazer Clark, Jr., Bloomfield HillsBly Corning, FlintThomas N. Cross, Ann ArborDuane N. Diedrich, Muncie, In d.,

VICE CHAIRMAN

William C. Finkenstaedt, DetroitHarlan H. Hatcher, Ann ArborPeter N. Heydon, Ann Arborj amcs M. Klancnik, ChicagoJames S. Schoff, New YorkRoy 1\1. Tolleson, Jr., DetroitMrs . David F. Upton, St. Joseph, CHAIRMAN

Lee D. van Antwerp. Northbrook, Ill.John D. Wheeler, Bay CityJohn C. Dann, Director of the

Library, SECRETARY

radical. Even the moralistic pieces tend to besensational, closely akin to the magazines offeredat supermarket checkout lines today.

The chapbooks sold by these street vendors(often known as chapmen) are rarely prized fortheir factual content, and there are very few suchproducts of the European press which have anyAmerican in terest. Indians transported in alltheir savage splendor to Europe, such as thefamous "Four Indian Kings" brought by ColonelSchuyler to the court of Queen Anne in 1710, in­sp ired a certain amount of this literature, pre­sumably the result of public curiosity. One otherarea of American colonial history which touchedlower class life in Britain sufficiently to produce

a popular literature was the voyage to the New\Vorld. The British Museum and the BodleianLihrary have several broadside verses of the 17thand early 18th centuries with such charming titlesas The Maydens of Londons brave adventures,or, A Boon Voyage intended for the Sea, T herVoman Outwitted: or, the lfleaver's n';ft'cunningly catch'il in a Trap, by her Husband ,who sold her for ten Pounds, and sent her toVirginny, and A Voyage to Virgin ia: or, T heValliant Souldier's Farwel to his Love. Suchverses were obscurely printed and reprinted.sometimes more than a century after they werefirst composed.

We have had the good fortune to pick up on eof these, printed in Sheffield, England, at theend of the 18th century but unquestionably writ­ten decades before. The title is self -explanatory.being only slightly shorter than the text!

The Poor Unhappy Transported Felon: Beinga Sorrowful Account of the Fourteen Years Trans­portation of James Revel, The Unhappy sufferer,at Virginia in America, who was put apprenticeby his father to a tinrnon, near Moorfields wherehe got into bad company, and before long ranaway, and went robbing with a gang of thieves­but his master soon got him bach again. Yet hewould not be kept from his old companions, butwent thieving with them again; for which he wastransported fourteen years. With. an Account ofthe way the Transports work, and the punish­ment they receive for committing any fault. Con­cluding with a Word of Advice to All YoungMen.

Two copies of a London edition of the verseare located in American libraries, but the Shef­field edition appears neither in Sabin or Mansell.

Collecting Americana

THF. UNIVERSITY OF "MICHIGAN PRESS, as part of itsnew Michigan Faculty Series, has just issued atitle many of our Associates will want to acquire.In Historical Americana: Books from Which OurEarly History Is H'rilten, Howard H. Peckham,former director of the library, provides a descrip­tion of how the "facts" of our history became apart of our common knowledge.

Through ten illustrated, topical chapters, Mr.Peckham delves into the fascinating world of theprimary sources, the first-hand narratives, thehighly-prized. seminal books, which provide thefactual foundation of our knowledge of Ameri-

can di scovery, sett lemen t. rel igiou s a nd literarydevelopment, science, music, th e Revolution andwestward movement, sport, and architecture. Afinal chapter provides a few h ints to the as piringcollector . In keepin g wit h th e rest of the series,H istorical A mericana is aimed at the educa tedpublic, not simp ly the speci alist. It does not over­pO\ver th e reader with minu tiae and ret ains thelight. winy. and highl y readable style charac teris­tic of all th e author 's d isti ng u ishe d publicat ions.

Tile paperback book, which retails for $5.95,is ava ilable by mail fro m th e Universit y ofMichigan Press . Box 1101, Ann Arbor, Michigan48106, or can be ordered through bookstores . Asan added attraction, it wil l be ava ilable to Asso­ciates a t the fa ll meeting a t a substa n tia l dis count.

Unknown to Claiborne and Beard

\VF.ARY T RAVELLERS to Cinc in na ti lat e in 1847could have been rested and refreshed at "the larg­est and mo st splend id estab lish men t in the W est­ern Coun try," accord ing to an in terest ing pam­phlet recen tly received. The it em is ti tled Bill ofFare and R egulat ions of th e Great lVestern Din­ing Rooms and R estaurat [sic], which was estab­lished and operated by Sh ires & Evans. It is infact a menu; twenty-fou r pages descr ibing thefinest west ern cuis ine of the day.

If the co un try was st ill a bit rough then , andnot up to eastern standards. still the restaurant'smenu could not be faulted for variety and qu an­tity. Under the heading of roasts, for example.are listed all th e items wh ich could be obta inedin th at form. T he hungry diner could choosefrom forty possibilities: anyth ing from beef, veal,and pork roasts. to oppossum, woodcock , andplover, to shad, pi ckerel , and catfish. If roasts didnot appeal, one migh t select bak ed clam pie,mutton, or Indian cak es; boiled pig's feet. Irishpotatoes, or green corn ; broiled mackerel, rabbit,or buffalo: fried eels, sau sages , egg plan t, or mush.T h ir ty-two stewed di shes were offered, not tomen tion eigh tee n kinds' of soups and twenty kindsof bread. And a t the last , to finally sate one'sappetite, one could choose on e (or more?) of thesixty-six desserts on th e menu.

Of course. what may set presen t-day dinerswishi ng for a time-machine arc the pri ces. In thepubl ic ord ina ry, or dini ng room. breakfast couldbe had for 15 cen ts, dinner for 20 cents, and su p­pe r for 15 cents. Meals in th e privat e ordinarywere 20 cen ts for break fast or su ppe r, and 30 cents

for the b ig noon meal. If the d iner wanted alight er and less expen sive re past, the proprietorswo uld serve meat-and-vegetable pl at es for adi me, and soup at all hou rs for a ni ckel a bowl.

T he pamph le t descri bing the estab lish ment ofShires &- Evans was a gift to the library from Mrs.Dwigh t Du mond, a nd bears on its cover the name"J as G. Birney / Saginaw / Mich igan." Whetheror not Mr. Birney ever enjoyed the meals ofSh ires &: Evans, we do not know. although weknow from :1 letter in our co llec t ions tha t h is sonwas i ll Cincinnat i in Decemb er 1847, and wroteto hi s father in Saginaw. And we also know th atsomeone in the no ted an ti-slavery fam ily wasimpressed enough to follow the in struction whichthe proprietors placed on th e cover of th eirmenu-ad : " Please not to destroy this Pamphlet;it will be found invaluable to families and others,as a referen ce. and serve to show to stra nge rsabroad th e abundance and variety of ourMarkets,'

Polit ical H an dbook

EDWARD CIIAMBERLAYNE, an En gli sh scholar writ­ing in the las t de cad es of the seventeenth century,began a useful tradition . In 1669 he publishedA ngliae Notitiae, or the Present Sta te of Engiand,the first pol itica l ha ndbook. Our gene ration.wear ied by electronic polit ica l reporting andin stant polls can only marvel at Chamberlayne'sconfiden ce . He set out to "inform the World ofthe Present Sta te of th is Kingd om; divers re­flecrions arc made upon the Past State, so bycompu ti ng that with the Present. some worth yperson s may thereb y, no t only be moved to en ­deavour th e Restoration of wh at was heretofor ebett er, and the abolition of wh at is now worse,bu t also in some measure may foresee withou tconsult ing Astrologers. and Apocal yp tic Men ,what will be the Future State of th is Nat ion."

From th e beginning Angl iae N otitiae was a re ­marka ble success . From its in ception to 1755 atotal of 36 ed it ions was pu blished. The seriesprovides an inv aluable source of in form ation forany one studyin g En gli sh history. It is far moreth an a li st of officeholders but rather attem p ts tocollect informat ion on a wide range of topics­economics, demo graphy, linguisti cs, law, topog­ra phy, amo ng others.

\Ve are indebted to Pr ofessor J acob M. Pricefor a fine 1682 edi tion of Angliae Notit iae, whichgreatly stre ng the ns our Cha mberlayne collec tion .

Rumford's Ideal House

SIR HENJAMI:-l TIIO:\1PSON , Count Rumford (1753­1814), was best kn own as th e " master of fire andfuel, " a philanth ropist-scientist whose invest iga ­tions of heat rival ed Benjamin Franklin 's workon electr ici ty. Rumford's interests ranged fromdesign s for chimneys a nd carr iage wh eel s to coo k­ing pots and soup kitchens. In 1812. a t th e age ofsix ty. he heard from Thomas Bu tler, of Philadel ­phia . who sough t Rumford's ideas on building ahouse. In a letter now a t th e library. Rumfordreplied:

" Were I to bu ild a house for myself I kn owthat I should pay particular attention to m anycircumstances little attended to by arch itects. . . .It would be easy to sta te in gene ral ter ms th at myhouse wo uld be o nly one story h igh , th a t it wouldfront full to the so u th , th at th ere would be onl yone very large window in each room, whi ch shou ldbe double in winter, that a pi azza o r ope n G all ery,roofed, should give sha de to my 'windows in sum­mer when the Sun is hi gh . The co mmunica tionbetween the apartments should be estab lished bymeans of a corr idor ahout 6 or 7 feet wide, run­ning from on e end of the bu ild ing to th e o th er,on th e north side, which would tend much tomake the house warm in winter and cool insummer."

Thermodynamics figured in all aspects ofRumford's construction: " I would make all thewalls of th e house very thin, but double, leavingahout 18 inches of confined a ir between the twowalls. whi ch , to make them st rong, might be con­ne cted here a nd there by sma ll arche s which wouldserve as braces. The free spare included betweenthe two walls might be employed as cupboardsor clo sets, which might easil y be concea led infitting up th e inside of the rooms, by for ming thewainscot into panels .

" I wou ld su ppor t th e front ' part of th e roof ofmy o pen Galler y with a row of very slenderco lu mns, pl aced at considerable di stances fromeach other a nd on th ese columns I wo uld est ab­lish a broad entablature, to hide th e roof, leavingroom at the bottom of it for the passage of therain and snow. This arra ngemen t would defendthe walls o f th e rooms from th e ra in , wh ichwould tend greatly to preserve th e building andrender the apartments dry and wholesome. . . .These are hut rough hints."

Rumford di ed two yea rs a fte r expressi ng theseinteresting views, never having built a house ofhis own. Th is ex cellent letter was purchased fromthe Diedrich fund.

Summ er Fun

THE 19TH CENTURY was a razzle-dazzle heyday ofmech anical wonder and Yankee kn owhow. Along­side hero- inven tors like H owe, Edi son , Morse,Colt, J\fcCormick and Good yea r, were thousandsof anony mous tinkerers who patented everythingfrom a pple corers to hath tubs to stea m engines,In ternational fa ir s exhibit ed th e new marvels andad vert iseme n ts ex to lled improved, pri ze-winning.never-fail product s.

Drawing on illustrat ed art icles from ScientificA merican and ads from broadsid es and city direc­tories, th e Clements Library presen ted a popularAu gllSt jScl'tcmber ex hib it entit led " Gadgets.Gi zmos , Gewgaws: 19th-century American In­gen uity ." The show emph asized humorous andbi zarre inven t ions suc h as Brown 's Pat ent BabyT ender, Prof. Chase 's re spiration cabinet andHouse's Patent Alarm Bcd, an d included water­proof clothing. mechanical limbs, washing ma­chines, collapsible furnit ure, shower-baths, bi­cycles , office machines. stoves, and kit chen gadgetsof all kinds and descriptions,

The exhibit, p repared by Assistant ManuscriptCu ra tor Barbara Mit chell , was en ha nced by thegracious loan of numero u s colorfu l trade cardsan d gadgets from th e collect ions of the H enryFord Museum in Dearborn.

Virt ue of Procrast ina t ion

ISAtAIt T uoxtx s (1749- 1831) was the grea test ofour ea rl y American printers, not only because ofthe quality of hi s work, but his innovative pub­lishing practi ces and hi s co nsu ming interest inthe h istory of h is craft in America. T he AmericanAntiquarian Society, which he founded in 1812,continues to nourish today in Worcester, Massa­chusetts.

Mrs. Loretta Beal J acobs of Ann Arbor hasgiven us a letter o f Thomas to Dr. J ohn Lathrop,dated March 6, 1793, which provides an interest­ing footnote on bookbinding practices in theeigh teenth cen tury. He no tes that "Your ser monshave been o u t of the press about a fortni ght. andare now in the hands of th e binder. I regret thenecessity of binding th em so speedily from thepress, as when th e printing is fre sh , th e binder'shammar blurs th e printing. . .. No books shouldbe bound until 6 or 8 months a fte r printing­this is the reason that in England, new hooks arepublished in boards."