The King's English

Four hundred years ago, King James I of England commissioned a new translation of the Bible, hoping to create a single, authoritative text that would mediate between the divergent religious views of Puritans and Anglicans.

Each edition of the King James Bible published since its first printing in 1611 reflects something about the lives of the individuals who produced and used it.  For example, a pocket-sized copy printed in the mid-17th century was clearly treasured by its owner, who delicately embroidered the binding with portraits, probably of herself and her husband, on the front and back covers.

Come visit this and many other editions of the King James Bible at Rauner’s current exhibit, The King’s English, on display in the Class of 1965 Galleries through the end of October.

The exhibit is timed to coincide with a lecture by Adam Nicolson, author of God's Secretaries: The Making Of The King James Bible.  Scheduled for October 19, 2011, the lecture will be followed by a reception at Rauner. For more information, see the Department of Religion's website.

Reading in Parts

Imagine starting to read a novel and not finishing it for 19 months. We are not slow readers, but we have tried the enlightening exercise of reading a mid 19th-century novel in its original parts. Pictured here are the 20 issues (in 19 parts) of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield. The first issue came out in May 1849, and the parts continued to come out monthly until November 1850.

That is a very different kind of reading than we do today. Most people read David Copperfield for class--so, very quickly--devouring the novel in a week or so. Others might be more leisurely, dipping into it nightly over a month or so to savor the Victorian melodrama. Few people would dole the book out in 30-page segments over a year and a half. When read this way the book becomes a part of the yearly cycle and fodder for conversation with your friends. Like a popular television series, everyone is at the same place at the same time.

Serialization explains a lot about Victorian literature--the frequent cliff hangers, the repetition of characters' key traits, the tangential forays that fill an issue--and the advertisements within the parts reveal the intended audience. Our David Copperfield hawks mattresses, needles, children's clothing, Punch, and Locock's Female Pills.

To see the parts (all at once!) ask for Val 826D55 P51.

Picturing the Civil War

Most of us have, at some point or another, encountered the stunning and terrible images of Civil War battlefields created by Mathew Brady. While visually arresting, these images are almost devoid of humans, other than the rows and piles of dead bodies. Brady made some portraits and posed groups, but no candid imagery. This is because the collodion wet plate process used by photographers at the time demanded long exposures, sometimes several minutes long, even on a bright day. Thus anyone moving about would become at best a blur and at worse invisible. Because of this we must turn to other sources for visual documentation of the last war fought on American soil.

One source of visual documentation in Rauner's collection, is the diary of Newton T. Hartshorn. Hartshorn enlisted as a private in U.S. Engineer Corps in 1861. His dairy provides a wonderful written account of his life in the services, but also includes a number of sketches depicting the daily life of a soldier. His sketches include camp life, scenic views, patriotic imagery and the advance to Bull Run.

Hartshorn was eventually promoted to Captain in the War Department Rifles where he was assigned to the White House, as part of president Lincoln's guard.

Ask for MS-19 the Hartshorn Family papers, box 1

Zodiac Man

If you perceive of the body as a microcosm of all of creation, you had better pay attention to the universe when you are treating a patient. The medieval sensibility closely linked the stars and the humors of the body. This famous, hand-colored illustration of "zodiac man" comes from a 1500 printing of Joannes de Ketham's Fasciculus Medicinae. Originally printed nine years earlier, it is thought to be the first medical textbook in the era of print.

The text surrounding zodiac man gives practical, and crucial, advice to physicians about the proper timing for medical procedures. Treating maladies of the head would be very dangerous when the sun is in Aries because of the sign's anatomical association.

The concepts linking the zodiac with health persisted long after more modern medical practices came into fashion. In his 1740 Poor Richard's Alamanck, Benjamin Franklin repeats the iconic medical chart as a handy guide for medical diagnosis and treatment.

To see Ketham, ask for Incunabula 74, and for the 18th-century survival of medieval medicine, ask for Rare PS749.A2 1740. You can also see the National Library of Medicine copy of Ketham online.

Salesrooms in Every City

For the World Columbian Exposition of 1893, the Singer Manufacturing Company produced a set of souvenir cards featuring photographs that were "taken on the spot in various countries and provinces and colored there to correctly represent the native costumes."  The cards were billed as "national costume studies, reliable and perfect in every detail."  On the reverse of each card was a snapshot description of the country (or region) sketching the geography, religion, and history of the area.  The omnipresent sewing machine in each image and the phrase "Salesrooms in Every City in the World," were a not-so subtle sales pitch to prospective buyers.

The 1893 World's Fair was ostensibly held in commemoration of Columbus' arrival in the new world and Singer's cards were a clever marketing tie-in to that theme.  Though European countries far outnumber their non-western counterparts (Spain is featured on no less than seven of the thirty-five cards), Singer did include cards for China, Japan, Tunis, India, Algeria, Ceylon, Burmah, Manilla and Zululand.  As one would expect, these regions were closely associated with European colonial power and the descriptions of these regions emphasize the "civilizing influence" of the western world and extolls Singer's part in that endeavor.  In India, Singer was already "helping the people of India toward a better civilization for nearly twenty years."

Ask for Rare Book GT595 .C68 1892 to see all of the cards.

The Eliot Bible

If someone handed you the first Bible printed in America, you might be surprised to find that it was written not in English, but in Massachusett, an Algonquian language. Published in 1663, the Eliot Bible is one of the many treasures at Rauner Library and an example of the use of written word as a means of evangelism in American history.

John Eliot, the "Indian Apostle," came to America from England in 1631 with the goal of preaching in the New World. Although he first worked with the young colonists, the idea of evangelizing the natives was never far from his mind; he wrote, "I do very much desire to translate some parts of the Scriptures into their language and print some Primer in their language where to initiate and teach them to read." Eliot's ambition, says Cotton Mather, was to fulfill the words of the Massachusetts Royal Charter "To win and incite the Natives of that Country to the knowledge and obedience of the only true God and Saviour of Mankind, and the Christian Faith."

Eliot began this mission by regularly visiting the nearby Massachusett tribe for three or four days at a time, learning their language and teaching them his. With this knowledge, Eliot began the task of translating the Bible into the native Massachusett tongue, phonetically, using the English written language – a feat that took him ten years. This was also the first time that a Native American tongue had been given an alphabet and a written language.

The translation would not have been possible without the help of John Sassamon, a member of the local tribe who could speak and write English. Sassamon was adopted by an English family after his own family succumbed to disease (most likely brought by the Europeans). Sassamon would later go on to be the first Native American to attend Harvard University.

One thousand copies of Eliot's "Indian Bible" were printed under the full title "The Holy Bible Containing the Old Testament and the New Translated into the Indian Language," by Samuel Green of Cambridge. It would take about 120 years until the first complete English edition of the Bible would be printed in America.

The main goal of the printing of the Eliot Bible was not to give Native Americans a Bible of their own, but to give English preachers a means to communicate the Word of God to the natives. The importance of the Bible today is not textual accuracy, but rather it is an emblem of early Colonial and Native American history.

Come by Rauner to see the "Eliot Bible" and hold a part of the history of America. Ask for: Rare BS345 .A2 E4 1663

Posted for Thea Stutsman, '13

Animal House

In 1977, Patrick Murphy was a police sergeant in the city of Cottage Grove, Oregon when he was hired to coordinate security for the production of the movie Animal House. Based in part on Dartmouth class of 1963 co-screenwriter Chris Miller's experience in the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. The production had settled on the campus of Faber College in Oregon as a location after having been turned down by twelve colleges in six states.

According to a fan website, Sgt. Murphy was also tasked to keep John Belushi happy and out of trouble. In addition to appearing in four scenes of the movie and allowing the crew to use his personal station wagon as a dolly, Murphy received an autographed original script signed by the entire cast with a letter of thanks from director John Landis. Addressing the letter to Sgt. Murphy and "all of the other Faber Policeman," Landis quips, "When you see the finished movie and you're all movie stars just remember who made you international celebrities."

Even though critics universally panned the movie upon its release, it went on to become a commercial success, grossing more than $90 million in its first year. It also launched the movie career of John Belushi and re-introduced toga parties to college campuses

To see the script and a call sheet from the movie ask for MS-1175.