The Wandering Poet of New Hampshire

This blog began its life as a way to mark this week in U.S. history, particularly the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, and the week in which Lincoln was assassinated four years later, 15 April 1865. Somewhere along the line, however, it took a turn toward the work of George Gordon Byron DeWolfe, “The Wandering Poet of New Hampshire.”

According to Bela Chapin’s The Poets of New Hampshire, George G.B. DeWolfe was born in Canada in 1835. He left home at the age of twenty to come to the United States where he started his career traveling from place to place, writing verses on people and events. Many of his verses were printed as broadsides, and Dartmouth holds eight of them, including this one on the assassination of President Lincoln.

DeWolfe’s poetry documented a wide range of topics, from murder and disaster, to visits by famous people. Dartmouth’s collection of his broadsides is fairly representative of his work, including a beach gathering in Salisbury, a celebration in Londonderry and President Grant’s visit to Nashua… along with a murder, an assassination and a fire.

Sadly, the College does not own his last broadside, published three years after his death, the verse composed by DeWolfe from beyond the grave through the mediumship of Miss Lillie.

Ask for Broadside 000099 to see the original.

Selling Huck Finn

It sure looks like Huck Finn, but it's not. A closer inspection of this rather slim volume of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn reveals that it is not all there. No, it is not an expurgated edition designed to satisfy censorious school boards, but a sample volume used by book sellers to market the first edition.

In the 19th century, many rural areas did not have book stores. At that time, the traveling book seller was still a major component of the book distribution network in the United States. This salesman's sample book featured the gold stamped publisher's binding, the table of contents, a list of illustrations and enough text to get a feel for the novel. Emphasis was placed on the physical qualities of the book and nearly all of the sample pages are illustrated. Two alternate de-luxe bindings are also displayed. At the end are eight pages of blank ruled paper for orders. This copy, which we recently acquired, has 12 signatures representing orders from the town of Edinburg (perhaps Indiana). None opted for the more expensive bindings.  Take a look by asking for Rare PS1305 .A3 1885.

Bindings options

Orders

An Open Polar Sea

Early expeditions to the Arctic attempted to force their way through sea ice in hopes of finding a practical northwest trade route to the East Indies, but even after unpredictable ice conditions and extreme cold made it clear that the tantalizing shortcut was impractical, if not impossible, explorers continued to push their ships and crews into the Arctic's icy waters.

One reason for the persistence of these explorers was a theory that the seas around the pole were not covered in ice, but open and easily navigable--if the explorers could only push their way through the thick ring of ice surrounding those warmer waters.

The theory of the open polar sea was persistent, with roots stretching back to the 1600s and lasting late into the 19th century. Its proponents included many prominent figures in the history of Arctic exploration, including Danes Barrington, a powerful politician in the British Admiralty, and Elisha Kent Kane, a famous and popular American explorer.

A number of authors published books and pamphlets in support of the open polar sea theory, including American hydrographer Silas Bent. Bent writes with conviction in An Address Delivered before the St. Louis Mercantile Library Association, January 6th, 1872, upon the Thermal Paths to the Pole, the Currents of the Ocean, and the Influence of the Latter upon the Climates of the World, arguing that warm ocean currents moving north from the equator must surely create an ice-free zone around the pole.

Despite reports from whalers and explorers of impenetrable sea ice in the northern oceans, some armchair theorizers and even British naval officials remained convinced of the existence of an open polar sea well into the nineteenth century.

Ask for Stefansson G615 .B42 to explore this curiosity yourself.

Posted for Anne Peale '11

Lewiston - a Town that Disappeared

Do you ever wonder what can happen to make a town vanish?  Lewiston, VT, started out life as a small community on the Connecticut River.  Founded in the late eighteenth century, the town really came into its own when a more modern railroad station was constructed there in 1884.  The station, which replaced an earlier, smaller freight depot (see image) was used by the towns of Norwich, VT, and Hanover, NH, and provided coal and other necessities to the area. 

In the early twentieth century, the station's importance began to decline and with it the town's.  Most of the area rail commerce became centered in White River Junction, VT, though the station in Lewiston remained open until 1960.  Having barely survived the construction of the Wilder Dam in Wilder, VT, in 1950, which flooded much of the low-lying farm areas near the river, the final blow came in 1967 when most of Lewiston was razed to make way for Interstate 91 and the access roads to Norwich and Hanover.  Today only a few scattered buildings remain of what was once a typical rural community.

Lewiston ca. 1870

Lewiston in 1967 - before the I-91 construction.

April Fool's Day - The Autumn Version

While attempting to showcase this day of hoax and trickery, of practical joke and parody, we sadly discovered that Dartmouth historically hasn’t been all that big on April Fool’s Day.

However, for many years the editorial board of The Dartmouth took full advantage of its powers before turning the newspaper over to the new board by publishing a spoof issue late in fall term. Campus, national and international events and people were all potential targets. In light of current renovations to the Hanover Inn, it’s interesting to note that one year The D reported that the College was turning the Inn into a dorm, rooms going to the students who submitted the best essays on why they deserved to live like kings. The College got rid of varsity hockey in favor of figure skating, appointed George Steinbrenner as Athletic Director, and removed the bells from Baker tower because, well, the chimes were never on the right hour anyway and the bonging was just so annoying. On the world stage, The D announced there had been worldwide peace for a full 20 seconds one year, and reported on Quebec’s invasion of Ontario in another.

The humor was not always appreciated, and some readers found certain columns offensive. Still other articles were so subtle that one reader (me) briefly believed that the College actually was going to close, and sell, all fraternity houses. However, I doubt anyone took The D’s claim seriously when they reported that after 191 years in business, they would cease publishing; obviously they were having way too much fun for that to be true.

The Second Folio

One of the most requested items in our collection is our copy of Shakespeare's first folio from 1623. But we want to spread a little love to the rarely requested second folio of 1632. Textually, it is similar to the first folio, though many minor editorial changes were made to update language and correct errors. It also contains what is believed to be John Milton's first published poem: "An Epitaph on the admirable Dramaticke Poet, W. Shakespeare." Milton would have only been 24 years old at the time, but the young poet served as a tie to the first folio where the brief "To the Memory of M.W. Shake-speare" appeared, likely written by Milton's father.

We actually have two copies. The one pictured here was donated to the Library by Allerton Hickmott '17, who also gave us the first folio, third folio, fourth folio, several original quarto editions and a fabulous collection of Elizabethan drama and poetry.

So, next time you are in the mood for some Shakespeare, ask for Hickmott 2, the lonely neighbor of Hickmott 1.

The Perfect Page

An imperfect image of a perfect page

In 1470 Nicolas Jenson printed the first book to employ his new Roman type, Eusebius's De euangelica praeparatione. Jenson is believed to have come to Venice from Germany where he had learned the new craft of printing. When he set up his own printing house in Venice, he cut his type to reflect the humanist hand favored by Italian scribes. The result is the grandfather of all Roman typefaces, one that is still emulated today.

Jenson is also famous for his austere text blocks, perfect in proportion and obsessive in layout and typography. Below is T.J. Cobden Sanderson's homage to Jenson, his The English Bible (Hammersmith: Doves Press, 1903).

To see Jenson's masterpiece, ask for Incunabula 54. For the Doves Bible, ask for Hickmott 94.