Birch Bark Poems

Sometimes a book's form and content give little indication of the life its author led. Birch Bark Poems, by Charles Fletcher Lummis, is just such a book. A collection of small poems written in the transcendental style, Birch Bark Poems is printed on thin and delicate birch bark, sporting beautiful engravings of birch trees on front and back.

Birch Bark Poems began as a summer enterprise in Lunmis's college years. Lummis attended Harvard and was a known jock and rebel, but during his summers he worked at the Profile House in the White Mountains as the in-house printer of things like menus and programs. Lummis had been enamored with printing for several years, and was efficient enough at his job to do some projects on the side.

Lummis was a fairly serious poet, and after a few years on the shores of Profile Lake (where he was known to sleep in a birch bark canoe) he had written enough poems that he deemed publishable if they were to come in an attractive package. Lummis printed his poems on birch bark, puzzling out the medium's eccentricities and making about a dozen little books to sell for twenty-five cents each in the Profile House gift shop. The books were far more popular than expected, and by the end of the next summer Lummis had printed over 3,500 copies in various editions. Lummis's enterprise was so successful that other publishers in the area began to put out similar books of poetry and engravings of local scenes on birch bark, and even on fake birch bark paper (Birch Bark Souvenirs, Views, F41.32 B57; Smith's Birch Bark Poems, PS595.W4 S54 1900;  and A Voice from the Mountains PS595.W4 G73).

Lummis was an excellent self-publicist, so he had the brilliant idea that he would send a few copies of his book to the eminent poets of the day--Whitman, Longfellow, and Lowell, to name a few--who actually responded with encouragement. With these poets' blessing, Lummis proceeded to send his book to literary journals and even Life Magazine, who thought the binding of the book was better than the poems within, but that they "may have some lasting power."

To learn more about Lummis's colorful life, see Mark Thompson's American Character: The Curious Life of Charles Fletcher Lummis and the Rediscovery of the Southwest (New York, Arcade, 2011).

Ask for White Mountains PS3523.U49 B5 1870, PS3523.U49 B5 1880, and PS595.W4 B46 1900 to see editions of Birch Bark Poems. For a political rather than aesthetic use of birch bark for printing, check out Pokagon's Red Man's Rebuke.

Posted for Kassie Amann '16

The British Gazette

In the age of the internet we forget that there once was a time when the news was not accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In those days people relied on the broadcasting services and the newspapers for that steady stream of news. It is, therefore, not surprising that when a 1926 general strike related to coal miners shut down the United Kingdom,
the fear of rumors replacing factual news accounts was worrisome to its government.

With "nearly all the newspapers hav[ing] been silenced," the government decided to go into the newspaper business themselves, likening the lack of accurate news to that of "African natives" carrying tales from place to place. Winston Churchill, who at that time was the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was instrumental in getting it done. Drawing on his past experience as a journalist he offered editorial guidance - turning the newspaper into an effective organ for the government. Printed on the presses of the Morning Post, the British Gazette set out "to carry full and timely news throughout all parts of the country."

Run without profit (it sold for 1 penny) and entirely at the expense of the government, the paper was published between May 5 and May 13, 1926 and was disbanded when the strike ended after 9 days.

The entire run of the British Gazette can be found in in the Forsch Collection of Winston Churchill material, MS-788.

John Williams and The Picture Printer

It must have seemed impossible. In the early 1800s, George Baxter awed England with his innovative color prints, easily mistaken for hand painted illustrations. Such detailed and vibrant prints had never been produced before on a press. And, they have not been reproduced with equal quality, leading some to suggest that Baxter kept his true methods secret.

Baxter’s patented technique is a two-step process. The first step is to print a key plate, which contains the details and shading of the final image. Usually, he used aquatint, which is an etching technique that can produce watercolor-like gradients of ink. After the key plate, the second step is to print several woodcuts layers. He often used between 4 and 20 different woodcuts, but sometimes up to 30. The final result was a color print with unprecedented depth and range of color.

In addition to his passion for engraving, Baxter was a devout Christian. He developed a relationship with the London Missionary Society’s publisher, John Snow, who inspired Baxter’s decade long venture into missionary printing. During this decade, Baxter produced many prints with religious themes and, on Snow’s advice, began selling his prints as separate objects.

Among these specimens was a handsome portrait of the popular missionary, John Williams. Williams was an active member of the London Missionary society and traveled extensively in Polynesia, spreading Christianity. In 1837, he published A Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands chronicling his missions. It featured Baxter’s portrait of him, which is a particularly significant print because it was the first of Baxter’s many color portraits. His religious portraits and other missionary prints were among his most popular works. The subject matter appealed to the Victorian enthusiasm for religion and support of the missionary efforts. Even the royal family raved about Baxter’s prints. John Williams, in particular, was very highly regarded, so Baxter’s prints of him sold well. Despite Baxter’s popularity, he was not a great businessman. Plagued by an inability to meet deadlines, he was unable to make a profit and went bankrupt.

Ask for Illus B334wi or Illus B334mu to see the color printing in person.

Posted for Marie Schwalbe, Thayer School.

Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral?

Rauner's Paradisi in Sole...

A few weeks ago, the W. D. Jordan Library at Queen's University in Ontario posted an image on Instagram of John Parkinson's gardening book, Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris (1629), with the casual note, "Of particular interest in this lush Garden of Eden is the mythical Lamb of Tartary, in the middle behind the figure of Adam."

At that, our book nerd senses tingled. We set off in search of the Lamb of Tartary in our collections to find out what it was.

Edward Topsell, in his 1607 Historie of Fovre-Footed Beasts, writes that in "Muscovy" near the Volga, there is a "certaine beast of the quantity and forme of a little Lamb, the people call it Boranz ... [that is] generated out of the earth like a reptile creature ... [and is] thus lieth a litle [sic] while and neuer stirreth far from the place it is bred in, I mean it is not able to moue it selfe, but eateth vp all the grasse & green things that it can reach, and when it can find no more, then it dyeth." He cites "Sigismundus," Topsell's anglicized name for Sigismund von Herberstein (1486-1566), a Hapsburg nobleman and diplomat who wrote the first account of Russia widely known in Western Europe, Notes on Muscovite Affairs (1549). Von Herberstein was known for his accuracy, refusing to record anything unless it had been corroborated by multiple sources.

The legend of the Vegetable Lamb endured through the Enlightenment. Denis Diderot (1713-1784) was the co-founder, co-editor and author for the 18-volume Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, one of the foundational Enlightenment texts. Published over a period of 21 years (1751 to 1772), the Encyclopedia was meant to change the way humans thought. The entry on the "Agnus Scythicus" (Scythian Lamb) describes the Lamb -- which was probably a misunderstood plant -- and then immediately launches into a diatribe about truth. "All the wonder of the Scythian lamb reduced to nothing, or at least to very little, to a hairy root which people twist and turn to make it look a little like a lamb."

"Agnus Scythicus" entry in Diderot's work

Today, most historians agree with Diderot, and cite the wooly fern Ciborium barometz as the inspiration for the legend.

For Topsell, ask for Rare Book QL41 .T66 1607. John Parkinson's Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris is Val 635 P229p. Diderot's
is Rare Book AE25 .E53 (18 vols.) Luckily for those of us who don't speak French, the University of Michigan has translated the entries into English (Scythian Lamb, cited above).

Artifact of His Time

We are always blogging about the really cool things you can find in Rauner. Usually, once things come here, they stay, but today we focus on one of our favorite things that we are losing. Dean of Libraries, Jeffrey Horrell, is retiring in June. A frequent denizen of Rauner, when he is here, he is definitely one of the coolest things not exactly in the collections, but among the collections.

We thought we might be able to declare him a part of the archives, but then we realized we would have to put a twenty-five year restriction on him (Dean's records, you know), and that seemed a little unfair to his family and friends. So, he'll just be deaccessioned and cast out into the world.

We will miss the delight he took in everything he saw in Rauner and his unceasing support for the collections. But, what we will miss most is the care, thought, and support he gave all of us everyday. He made us better at what we do, and made Dartmouth a more humane and decent place to work.

Bellicose Paperwork

Mileage stamps

When the United States entered World War II in 1942, the American economy shifted to a rationing system administered by the Office of Price Administration (OPA). It became illegal to sell items without the correct amount of ration stamps, no matter how much money a customer had. As you might imagine, this led to an explosion of paperwork.

Today, these ration books are not only historically significant, but aesthetically appealing, as the government used patterns, watermarks, and color to deter counterfeiters. Most of the symbols were patriotic and bellicose, ranging from eagles and American flags to tanks and airplanes.

The most commonly rationed items were gasoline, rubber, and oil, as these were all in high demand for the war. "Rubber footwear" required special permissions and paperwork, including a "Certificate to Acquire Men's Rubber Boots and Rubber Work Shoes." Even "Non-Rationed Shoes" required stamps.

The government privileged the military in the culinary realm, sending preserved food (like canned goods) and specialty food (like chocolate) to soldiers overseas, while Americans faced food rations. In our collection we have sugar allowance coupons -- but this sugar is only "for home food processing," unless you had a Special Application (Form R-315). This sheet of rationing coupons for "Meats, Fats, Fish, and Cheese" is for citizens living along the Mexican border; the back includes instructions in Spanish.

These rationing cards come from MS-1280 (Office of Price Administration Ration Cards Collection), Box 1. Come by and figure out how many stamps you'd need to get that new bike. Or take the OPA's advice: "If you don't need it, DON'T BUY IT." 

Howl for Wess

Wess Jolley, our Records Manager, is retiring later this month. He was interim director of Special Collections for about a year. During that time, he discovered his favorite book in the collection: an inscribed copy of Allen Ginsberg's Howl, the Pocket Poets Series edition from City Lights books. When he made that discovery we discovered that our Records Manager was a Ginsberg fanatic (how many institutions can say that?).

So, in Wess's honor, we again present you with Allen Ginsberg's doodling dedication to Richard Eberhart celebrating his "Home Made Hebrew Thought" traveling through "the Stem of William Blake.""Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?"

It is pretty amazing. You can see it by asking for Eberhart PS3513.I74 H6. And here is another cool Howl (as well as the story of the relationship between Eberhart and Ginsberg).