Project update 10 - Melbourne calling

This week I travelled to Melbourne for the Medieval Imagination exhibition opening and a number of related events. On Wednesday night I attended the Foxcroft lecture by Professor David McKitterick from Trinity College, University of Cambridge. I also organised meetings with Special collections staff at the University of Melbourne and the State Library of Victoria.
Interesting observations from many:

• All "Rare books" at SLV are housed in the one secure area including Australian pre-1850 and non-Australian pre-1800 items.
• SLV have been purchasing duplicate copies of novels by key twentieth century authors for the RB collections - and they don't remove the bookjackets.
• If SLV have duplicate copies of an item they nominate a preferred copy for issuing. Staff are trained to select the copy according to specific criteria eg. the copy with a Library binding rather than fine binding.
  
• Neither institutions have linked online database records to individual hardcopy records for rare printed books eg. EEBO.
  
• Both institutions place acid free strips in the volumes with location and barcode attached.
• Both institutions have dedicated staff to manage rare printed collections.

Medieval diversion

Now that was a good exhibition opening or was it just that SLVIC surpassed the SLNSW kpi for food & drink at an event?
As you can see from this fuzzy image taken on my mobile phone...this evening I attended the opening of the Medieval Imagination Exhibition at the State Library of Victoria. Yes, there were wandering minstrels and medieval knights. This medieval guard's name is Egfroth. The early rumour was that over 500 had accepted an invitation to the opening. Staff were asked not to bring partners and the Library genealogy centre was cleared to hold the overflow. Luckily, the weather may have affected the numbers. There was plenty of champagne for all and the venison pies, mini beef morsels with yorkshire pudding and quail thingies were excellent. There was also an eel dish which I avoided - along with the mead. Phil - I've asked for the menu!
Seriously - The Victorian Premier opened the exhibition in the Experimedia centre at the State Library of Victoria - adjacent to the Keith Murdoch Gallery. The exhibition is excellent with some wonderful examples of medieval books and illuminations. SLNSW has five items in the exhibition with over half of the 105 items on display from the manuscript collections of Cambridge University.

Project update 9 - Woodcuts and eBay

Historia Maioris Britanniae was written by John Major (or Mair) and printed in Paris in 1521. It is one of the earliest histories written concerning Scotland and Britain and contains the earliest printed account of Robin Hood. The title page includes one of the earliest woodcut illustrations of a printing press. Accessioned in 1965, SC 957 is still without an electronic record - our copy has a decorated fore-edge which includes the title of the volume.
Curiously you could have bought a copy of this rare volume on eBay. The reserve price was $2,001 US dollars and there were eleven bidders.
Right now you can bid on a 1588 edition of Historia delle stationi di Roma. So far there has only been one bid of 49 Euros!

Novel diversion

When the Free Public Library opened in 1869 there was a conscious decision to remove novels from the shelves - clearly a bad influence on young people and time-wasters. Curiously the novels of Walter Scott escape the embargo. Sighted this week was an 1870 list of novels removed from the collections and sent to the Asylum at Rozelle for the entertainment of the inmates. The list included the dubious but fascinating titles of Rough and Smooth, Nanette and her lovers, Respectable Sinners, Tempter and the Tempted. Also included were "Austin novels" - Emma, Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey and another subversive tale - The Last of the Mohicans.

Which leads me to a number of questions. Were these novels first editions? - a valuable loss! How do we select and preserve potential valuable or significant first editions for the future? eg. Did we purchase a first edition of any titles in the Harry Potter series - what condition are they now in? Do we purchase hardcover editions of new titles by significant authors - or paperbacks? We remove all book jackets from non-Australian titles thus de-valuing important titles. Finally, how many valuable first editions are lurking in the shelves unidentified and possibly heading out the door regularly on ILL?
A small example from a recent Bonhams sale. We do not have a hardcover edition of an early Tolkein - signed or not - although I remember clearly borrowing a copy from my primary school library!
Your thoughts?

( Arthur - No more files please...unless they refer to the Tangye brothers or George Chalmers manuscripts...)

Project update 8 - Moore College Library

This Wednesday I went to Moore College Library. The Senior Librarian, Kim Robinson, talked about the collection and showed me some of his recent acquisitions and favourite pieces.
One of the reasons I wanted to see the college library was an intriguing line on their website -

The Library has a continuous history of book collection since 1856. With its Bray collection, originally given to the Port Jackson Lending Library in 1809, the Library holds some of the first public library books to come to Australia.

Hold on - what is the Port Jackson Lending Library and what about our claim to be the earliest library open to the "public" in 1826! When Reverend Samuel Marsden returned to England in 1807 he posted a notice in a London Newspaper asking for books for a public lending Library. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge sent over a collection of books. Each of the items had a standard printed book plate with "Port Jackson" hand written on the blank line before the title "Lending Library". Apparently they sent collections of books to locations around Great Britain and overseas so it wasn't so much an official title of the Library but a geographic location. The collection became part of the Diocese Library which was presented to Moore College in the 1950s.

One of the items Kim showed was Liber Epistolarum Sancti Hieronymi printed by Nicolaus Kesler in 1497. The Epistoles of Saint Jerome contains a famous woodcut by Albrecht Durer which depicts St. Jerome removing a thorn from the foot of a lion. On my return I checked our catalogues for the same publication. According to the card entry, LQ2/J was purchased in 1941 from a Miss Beale. It isn't in the best condition. The original stamped leather binding on wooden boards needs repair. Durer's woodcut is there on the verso of the first leaf. Our woodcut has a rough red wash to highlight the figure of St. Jerome.

Code of Conduct diversion

I have a box of Library correspondence from the 1870s on my desk. Thank you, Arthur. Whilst pursuing the provenance of a few items I have come across a hand-written draft of the Library Regulations c.1870 as the Free Public Library was being established.
"It is a truth universally acknowledged" that the behaviour of clients in the reading rooms has not altered but been merely amplified over the past one hundred and forty years.
According to the draft

6. No person will be permitted to sit in the Room with his hat on - nor will any person who is intoxicated, or in a dirty condition be admitted to the Library.

8. Any visitor writing in or upon, folding down a leaf, defacing, mutilating, or otherwise injuring any book; spitting on the floor, smoking in the doorway, or in any way injuring the furniture etc: eating food or fruit; or not conducting himself with proper decorum will be excluded from the Library.

Project update 7 - Council minutes and melodies

The week started off with a "casual" read of the Library Council minutes from 1870 to 1900. I was looking for references to purchases or donations plus picking up interesting discussions. As previously discussed in Project Update 5, W. J. Stephens as Trustee and President, is frequently referred to in the minutes. He personally selects material for the collections from Booksellers catalogues and assists the Librarian with donations and selection lists.
I would like to look at the correspondence from the 1870s - 1880s. Does it exist? Any suggestions? I'm still looking for a lead on why and how we acquired the Slave Trade manuscripts!

On Friday I met John Stinson, formerly from La Trobe University. Some years ago he examined and organised the filming of the Rimini Antiphonal. He was in Sydney to attend the performance on Friday night (Fantastic event - the accoustics were amazing - Gallery seats were excellent!) John was interested in a Gradual from the Richardson collection, Not as beautiful as the Rimini but worth digitising. The folios have been bound in the wrong order. We wouldn't disbind the volume and re-order but this could be done electronically! John is keen to study the manuscript further when it is online.
While I had an expert on hand I took the opportunity of showing John a couple of other items from the collection. According to a brief card entry this image from Richardson 223 is the first leaf of a small 15th century manuscript containing the Office of the Dead. It is much smaller and less ornate than the larger antiphonals from the Richardson collection.

RB/MSS 90 is a small bound manuscript of approximately 21 leaves. The hand Gamut uses a theory from medieval music attributed to Guido of Arezzo. Each section of the hand represents a note within the hexachord. It allows a singer to simply represent and recall the notes of a song or chant.
This manuscript, c. 1790, needs some conservation work.

Darwin diversion

There is some serious content on this exhibition site for the 2005 Darwin exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History - Meet the Curator, Behind the scenes, public programs, podcasts, videos...something to think about for next year's 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.