La Chronique Anonyme Universelle

We are in the midst of installing our next exhibit, due to open May 12th, From the Fall of Troy: Medieval Chronicles. A featured piece is a large fragment of a manuscript scroll, La chronique anonyme universelle jusque’ à la mort de Charles VII produced in 1461. It has an international scope, but it was clearly written for the use of the French. It displays successions of the Popes, Kings of France, Holy Roman Emperors, Kings of England, and a chronology of the crusades. Like many chronicles, it uses a genealogical structure to tell history through individuals’ exploits.

The full scroll would have been eighteen meters long and could be unfurled at ceremonial occasions. The structure of the chronicle makes one wonder how it was read. The four timelines are not in sync on the “page,” so each narrative stream must be read separately. But, to an audience used to episodic reading, this may not have been as jarring as to a modern audience expecting clear narrative structure.

Our fragment features miniatures of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, Godfrey de Bouillon as King of Jerusalem, and St. Louis onboard a ship. You can see it on display in the Class of 1965 Galleries May 12th through the end of June. After that, just ask for Rauner MSS 461940.

Vanity Plates

A bookplate is one of the ultimate stamps of ownership - other than writing in the margins.  Both a status symbol and art in it's own right, the plate and its design reflect the owner's accomplishments and personality.

Shown here are three particularly expressive plates belonging to the swashbuckling Douglas Fairbanks, the brooding Victor Hugo, and Vermont's own Calvin Coolidge.  The Dartmouth Alumni Magazine recently featured several other ex-libris in the March/April issue.

To see these plates and many others, please visit Rauner Library and ask about the bookplate collection.

Mao's Little Red Variant

We recently acquired two copies of the first edition of the famous "Little Red Book," Quotations from Chairman Mao (Peking: Central Political Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, 1964). Why two copies? Because, while they were issued simultaneously, they have variant bindings for their intended audiences. The workers' copy, meant to be shared, was issued with a bright red vinyl cover that could stand the wear and tear of the factory floor or be carried into the field. The party leaders, on the other hand, received theirs in a paper cover.

The ironies abound; not the least of which is that our workers' copy is in much better shape and shows almost no wear at all. To examine both, come to Special Collections and ask to see Rare DS778.M3 A25 1964.

Uncommon Book

Described as a self-consciously hand-made object, "Common Threads" by Candace Hicks is a hand-embroidered canvas book that some have also described as a sculpture.

Because it is shaped like a book, (or our expectations of a book, anyway), and because it has words on a "page," I am still left wondering about its "bookness." The narrative, as such, captures daily events as they emerge and get "jotted" down, (well, sewn in, actually).

"Her choice of the book as a principle medium is due to the phenomenon of the book as authoritative. Books provide an arena in which fiction can be accepted as fact and observations can take on a mythic narrative quality." -- Booklyn Artists Alliance

Oh, this is Common Threads IV. The artist is still considering how and to what extent a series will emerge.

Ask for Presses H520hico.

Risley Family, Stonecutters

200 years ago, on April 23, 1810, Levi Newcomb of the Class of 1810, died in Hanover just a few months before his anticipated graduation. Fellow members of the Society of Social Friends, one of two literary societies active at the College at the time, engaged the Risley family of stone cutters to create Newcomb's gravestone, based upon this design. The marble stone as executed by the Risley's varies somewhat from the drawing, and can still be seen in the Dartmouth Cemetery.

The Risley papers document only three student stones, but the family produced gravestones for Dartmouth faculty members, many Hanover residents, and in 1810 were contracted to carve replacement table stones for Dartmouth founder Eleazar Wheelock and his wife Mary. Although there are only a few design drawings within the papers, they do contain deeds, orders, receipts, business correspondence and almost 175 epitaphs, providing an unusual insight into early New England gravestone carving practices and production.

As for the Newcomb family, Levi's father was the Hon. Daniel Newcomb, Harvard 1768, who also sent his elder son to Dartmouth. Henry Newcomb, Class of 1807, joined the U.S. Navy after graduation and died in 1825 when the ship bringing him home on furlough, the brig Helen, foundered and all but one of the crew perished.

The original drawing for Newcomb's gravestone can be found in the Papers of the Risley Family, MS-235 and is discussed in Margaret Moody Stier's "'Wonderfully Lettered and Carved': The Gravestones of the Risley Family, 1786-1835," Dartmouth College Library Bulletin, April 1983.

Plan of Paris

One of the pleasures of working in Rauner Library is the "discovery" of things we never really appreciated. While preparing for a class session on French cultural history, we found a catalog listing for Turgot's ambitious Plan of Paris from 1739. The book contains 20 plates that fit together to create a detailed, bird's eye view of Paris as it was in 1739.  The cartographers were given permission to enter any structure in Paris so they could accurately depict every feature of the city.

Curiously, the map is not laid out in the conventional north-south perspective.  Instead, we see the city from the east. The reason?  So the facades of the east-facing churches could be displayed.  Fully assembled, the map would be approximately eight feet tall and ten feet wide.

Come see the atlas by requesting Rare Book G1844.P3 B7 1739.  Kyoto University Library created an interactive digital version.

SS Dartmouth Victory

One of the 534 Victory ships built during World War Two, the SS Dartmouth Victory was hull number 169.  Construction was carried out by the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation and the ship was launched on February 15, 1945.  After final completion on March 17, 1945, the SS Dartmouth Victory served as a cargo transport for the remainder of the war.  The ship was later taken over by American President Lines and renamed the General Arthur.

Victory ships were designed as fast cargo transports and were built in large numbers to offset losses caused by German submarines. Due to slow initial delivery, though, the Victory ships saw most action in the Pacific.

Shown here are the SS Dartmouth Victory's launching and the Dartmouth alumni who attended the event.  Ask for the "Dartmouth Victory (SS)" photo file to see additional images.