galeb – Pictures & Conversations

June 16, 2017July 12, 2024 by galeb

Extra-Illustrated: Literary Scrapbooking

Published texts have been embellished by their owners in many different ways: for example, beautiful leather and gilt bindings or fore-edge paintings. New in Special Collections, Facing the Text: Extra-Illustration, Print Culture, and Society in Britain 1769-1840 by Lucy Peltz discusses another method of embellishment, known as extra-illustration.

Peltz, Lucy. Facing the Text: Extra-Illustration, Print Culture, and Society in Britain 1769-1840. San Marino, California: Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, [2017]. Z1023 P45 2017

From Folgerpedia: “Extra-illustrated books are published texts that have been made into a unique copy by a former owner through the permanent addition of prints, autographs, letters, etc. Typically, the additions are mounted on additional leaves, and the book is rebound to accommodate its increased thickness.”

Popular in the late 18th and 19th centuries, extra-illustration is sometimes known as grangerizing, named for James Granger who published Biographical History of England in 1769, which identified and encouraged the collection of portrait prints. Many who owned that work inserted their printed portraits into the text. Shakespeare and the Bible were popular texts for extra-illustration, as were books describing travel. Not infrequently an extra-illustrated text, disbound and rebound to accommodate both text and illustrations, grew well beyond its original size.

Facing the Text begins with a description of the 45-volume extra-illustrated Bible known as the Bowyer Bible, in Bolton Central Library, UK. The Huntington Library owns a 60-volume extra-illustrated Bible known as the Kitto Bible.

The Folger’s 21-volume extra-illustrated Dyce-Hoe Shakespeare was originally a six-volume set. In Facing the Text Peltz discusses the characters and the culture that popularized extra-illustration and the significance of the practice in the history of the book.

Among the examples of extra-illustrated books in Special Collections are three from the Philbrick Collection.

A Walk from London to Fulham (images above), by Crofton Crocker, published in 1882, was originally a small pocket book. The extra-illustrated copy (DA683 .C76 1882) has been disbound and its pages and extra-illustrations beautifully mounted on larger pages rebound into a handsome, hefty volume.

The Book of the Princes of Wales (images above), vols. 1-2, by Dr. Doran, published in 1860, was also a small book. The extra-illustrated copy (DA28.3 .D67 1860) was disbound, and several pages together were inserted throughout a larger volume of mounted illustrations.

Special Collections’ extra-illustrated copy of Ellen Terry and Her Secret Self (PN2598.T47 C73), by Edward Gordon Craig, copyright 1931, has not been disbound. Instead portraits, notes, articles, and a variety of other extras have been added throughout the text.

May 25, 2017October 16, 2023 by galeb

New in Special Collections – The Noblest Roman

In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony names Brutus the “noblest Roman of them all.” New in Special Collections, The Noblest Roman: A History of the Centaur Types of Bruce Rogers (Z232 R67 K45 2016) offers another candidate for that title. Created in the early 20th century by Bruce Rogers, a celebrated American typographer who favored classical design, the Centaur typeface harkens back to type used in the incunabula period of printing. The name comes from the title of the first book printed using the type: The Centaur, by Maurice de Guerin, in 1915.

Here is high praise for the typeface from the Introduction, p. 11: “It will depend upon the skill and talent of the typographer to deliver the words to the reader, much like a musician interprets music for the listener…. The greatest achievement in typography, then, is to create the best-tuned instrument, capable of playing a tune at “perfect pitch.” The challenge is to do so with elegance, grace, and style, much like a musician. The Centaur type of Bruce Rogers is such an instrument: it possesses a degree of dignity and grace that is as sublime as it is impossible to replicate.”

Besides the examples of Centaur typeface you will see in this slim volume, Special Collections holds many examples of books using the Centaur font and of titles printed by Bruce Rogers.

Kelly, Jerry and Misha Beletsky. The Noblest Roman: A History of the Centaur Types of Bruce Rogers. San Francisco: The Book Club of California, MMXVI [2016].

February 20, 2017October 16, 2023 by galeb

Japanese Internment during World War II

During World War II many Japanese Americans were relocated and detained in camps, most located in western states, including California. Special Collections holds several collections of materials focused on Japanese internment. While exploring the Carey McWilliams War Relocation Authority Records for her research, Hilary Blum, a CGU student, was excited to find documents discussing the censorship of newspaper photographs from the camps. Here’s what she had to say about her discovery.

“Most scholarship concerning the reactions of Japanese Americans to incarceration during WWII addresses attempts to prove loyalty, for example, through cooperation with relocation or through military service. Scholars have also paid significant attention to those who resisted the removal of their rights through active means such as through the courts and through refusal to serve in the military. While cooperation and active resistance are important fields of study, little attention has been paid to the less apparent, everyday forms of resistance in the camps. In my thesis, I will address how many Japanese Americans resisted generalized anti-Japanese racism, racialized laws, incarceration, and cultural white-washing during WWII through greater adherence to traditional Japanese culture and religion and by documenting their experiences in the camps.

“I expect that the Claremont Library Special Collections will be very useful in my research. Recently I was excited to find War Relocation Authority [WRA] documents about the censoring of newspaper photography of the camps. The WRA wanted to control public perceptions of the camps and limiting photography was one way they accomplished this. I am also looking forward to exploring the Iwanaga Collection of Heart Mountain photographs taken by a person incarcerated there who wanted to document his experiences in the camps.”

If you are interested in exploring Special Collections’ holdings on Japanese internment, try searching for “Japanese internment” on the library home page (Library Search) and limit to Special Collections, or browse these archival collections in the Online Archive of California.

July 1, 2016July 12, 2024 by galeb

Volvelles – Movable Circles in Books

Volvelles are one of the oldest forms of movable parts in books. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, volvelle is from medieval Latin volvella or volvellum, most likely from the Latin verb volvĕre, “to turn.” The OED defines volvelle as “an old device consisting of one or more movable circles surrounded by other graduated or figured circles, serving to ascertain the rising and setting of the sun and moon, the state of the tides, etc.”

In Early Modern times, volvelles were used especially to illustrate principles of navigation and astronomy. These “movable circles” were generally constructed of paper and attached to the book page using thread or, sometimes, glue. “Because of the precision required to record accurately certain types of data–charting a lunar eclipse, measuring nautical distance or calculating a mathematical equation, for instance–such disciplines were believed to be well served by the volvelle’s capacity for both rigorous alignment and reliable precision.” (Helfand, Jessica. 2002. Reinventing the Wheel. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, pp.18-19.)

The Claremont Colleges Library Special Collections has several examples of volvelles in Early Modern texts and at least one 2014 publication. Here are images of volvelles from some of those texts.

Calendarium. Joannes Regiomontanus. [Venice]: Bernhard Maler (Pictor), Erhard Ratdolt, and Peter Löslein, 1476.

Breue compendio de la sphera . . .Martin Cortes. [Seuilla], [1551].

La Cosmographia de Pedro Apiano. Peter Apian. En Anvers, por Iuan Bellero al Aguila de Oro, 1575. Apian’s volvelles are quite complex, each having several different movable parts.

Delineacion de lo tocante al conocimiento del punto de longitud del globo de tierra, y agua, y de la causa de las crecientes, y menguantes del mar. Juan González de Urueña. En Madrid: Por Diego Miguel de Peralta, impressor y mercador de libros …, año 1740

Diderot Decaptioned. Charles Hobson. [San Francisco, California]: [Pacific Editions], [2014]

In Diderot Decaptioned, notice that, different from the Early Modern volvelles, these volvelles are under the page and turn to reveal different captions for each image.

July 17, 2015July 12, 2024 by galeb

In the Limelight: California Citrus

Fred Allen, one of the most popular comedians from the Golden Age of American radio, once quipped, “California is a fine place to live – if you happen to be an orange”. As it turns out, Claremont, California is an especially fine place to live – if you happen to be an orange crate label!

This summer, Special Collections presents In the Limelight: California Citrus, an exhibition centered on the history of the citrus industry in the Claremont area, curated by Grace Rodriguez (CMC 2015). Our inspiration stems from the recently-acquired Oglesby Citrus Label collection, which consists of over 80 labels as well as several books related to label collecting and history.

The most aesthetically dazzling and unique are on display, and originate from growers and packinghouses within the Claremont and Pomona area. The labels are supplemented with various other texts, photographs, and ephemera from our extensive collections including, but not limited to, paper citrus wrappers from Valentine Peyton (a prominent orange grower in La Verne), aerial photographs of Claremont covered in orange groves (circa 1939), and various issues of the California Citrograph, the industry’s official trade publication from 1915 to 1969.

In the Limelight stages citrus as the protagonist in Southern California’s rapid development during the early 20th century. Our exhibition also accentuates the orange’s role in selling the “California Dream” to people from across the country and even around the world…. Citrus crate labels were not just selling fruit! They are a juicy resource for anyone interested in advertising and marketing history, artistic styles of the period, representation of California and its people (native or non-native), and so much more.

The exhibit is located outside of the Special Collections Reading Room, in the 2nd floor Honnold foyer. It may been viewed at any time during the Library’s summer operating hours (Monday-Friday, 8:30am-7pm, and Saturday, noon-7pm). If you have any questions or want to see more of our collections, the Reading Room is open to the public during the summer on Monday through Friday, 1-5pm. You can also reach us by email (spcoll@cuc.claremont.edu) or phone (909-607-3977).

October 2, 2014July 12, 2024 by galeb

Censoring Shakespeare

The Family Shakespeare. In One Volume; in which nothing is added to the original text, but those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family. 8th ed. By Thomas Bowdler. London: Printed for Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, 1843.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, to bowdlerize is “to expurgate (a book or writing), by omitting or modifying words or passages considered indelicate or offensive; to castrate.” The word bowdlerize derives from the name Thomas Bowdler, who revised Shakespeare’s plays to modify or remove content he thought would be unsuitable for reading in a family setting. Several editions of The Family Shakespeare were published in the first half of the 19th century.

Bowdler’s preface to the first edition, published in 1807, is also included in the Special Collections edition published in 1843. In that preface he explains, “I can hardly imagine a more pleasing occupation for a winter’s evening in the country, than for a father to read one of Shakespeare’s plays to his family circle. My object is to enable him to do so without incurring the danger of falling unawares among words and expressions which are of such a nature as to raise a blush on the cheek of modesty, or render it necessary for the reader to pause, and examine the sequel, before he proceeds further in the entertainment of the evening.”

Here are examples of Bowdlerization:
Romeo and Juliet: Mercutio, Act II, Scene 4
Shakespeare, 2nd folio: “for the bawdy hand of the Dyall is now upon the pricke of Noone”

Bowdler, Family Shakespeare:
“for the hand of the dial is now upon the point of noon”
Othello: Iago, Act I, Scene I
Shakespeare, 2nd folio:
“I am one, sir, that comes to tell you, your Daughter and the Moore, are now making the Beast with two backs.”

Bowdler, Family Shakespeare:
“I am one, sir, that comes to tell you, your daughter and the Moor are now together.”

Special Collections holds hundreds of items by and about Shakespeare. Included in the collections are two editions of The Family Shakespeare, the one-volume 1843 edition in the Lindley Collection, and an edition in six volumes, published in 1853, in the Philbrick Collection.