VO L. I. NO.7 THE CLEMENTS LIBRARY ASSOCIATES APRIL 1997

THE C LEMENTS LIBRARY CELEBRATES 75TH ANNIVERSARY

The Clements Library will cele brate its history, and designing teac hing material s ing a one year post-graduate intern ship 75th Anniversary and the Associates based on the Library's collec tions for use in library scie nce, archi ves or other 50th Anniversary in 1997-1 998. To in public schools. fields in the hum anities related to the mark the occasions, a campaign to raise The final category sets fort h long ­ Library's holdings; developing continu­ $1.500,000 is being launch ed. The term goal s for the coming decade: ing education and cultural programs. Associates Board of Governors is building endowment funds so we can Lastly, we need to begin active planning planning a variety of activities ­ for an addition to our building, programs, publ ications, a although actual construction celebration banquet - for the will be the object of a future coming year. We will be making fund-raising effort. regular announcements, and It has now been over ten hope that all the Library's friend s years since the Clements will enjoy participating in the mounted a fund-rai sing festivities. The Associates Board campaign. Our goals are of Go vern ors has set specific modest by the standards of goals and priorities for the 75th peer institutions but substantial Anniversary fund-raising by our own.I can only speak campaign, identifying them in for myself, bu t I believe the three categories. most gratifying donations are The first category centers on those made to meet worthy, our immediate goals, proj ects specifi c needs. The generous which we hope to accomplish response of our Associates to within the next year and a half. the November dues letter was OUf top priorities include the trul y exciting. As we plan our purcha se of several major items; 75th Anniversary Celebration, retros pec tive conversion ofour we welcome your sugges tions boo k car d catalog into a national and appreciate your continued bibliographi c database, the supp ort. Research Libraries Info rmation This issue of the Quarto Network; im provement of our may appear a very odd way to exhibit space: restoration of "kick off' a fund-raising priceless maps; repl acement of The Clements Library Associates Board ofGovernors campaign. The subjects worn building furni shings; commissioned a portrait ofDirector John C. Dann by tou ched upon ~ the literature creation of new library promo­ Boston artist Gary Hoffman as part ofthe forthcoming 75th of the somewhat disreputable tional material ~ brochures, Ann iversary Celebration. Donn 's portrait now hangs in the sport of boxing, colonial guides, a video; and funding Rare Book Room with those of founder William L. Clements Maryland bookplates, tran s­ a varie ty of events celebrating and the Library :" first two Directors, Randolph G. Adams porting a rhinoceros from India the Library' s 75th Anniversary. and Howard H. Peckham, a reminder ofthe administrative to America for exhibition The second category aim s continuity enjoyed by the Libraryfor three-quarters of purposes, perpetuating a to ex pand the Clements Library's a century. geographical error on eigh­ academi c mission . Our goals teenth-century map s, and a include establi shing a new publicati on develop specific subject areas such as classic tale of seduction - are certainly fund , increasing support for our Price American Judaica, Asian-Am erican an odd mixture and seemingly a bit Visiting Research Fellowships , creating history, Frontier history, American superficial for a library which prides a premier lectureship in early Am erican business or journalism history; establi sh- itself on the Columbus Letter, the - - (iJ- - handwritten orders which started the pamphlets on the settlement of Virginia, are able to serve them well. American Revolutionary War, an the earliest known portrait engravings A library such as this is only as original copy of the Treaty of Ghent, or of Franklin and Jefferson, volume one good as its collections. The Clements Grant's letters to Shennan announcing complete of Isaiah Thomas' first Library, thanks in large part to the the capture of Richmond. where is the newspaper, and the earlie st atlas of sea visionary terms of Mr. Clements' gift, traditional military and political history charts published in America. A year the genero sity of its Associates, and a for which the Clements Library collec­ does not go by that we do not add a few supportive University. has done an tions are famous? items of this sort. exceptional job of keeping its focus on That happens to be the very point A truly great research library, its primary purpose - building the I wish to make. On its twenty-fifth however. is known not only for its collections so that year by year, it can birthday (1948), the typical Clements exciting high points, but for the breadth serve a larger and more sophisticated Library visitor would probably have and depth of its collections. Seventy­ constituency of researchers in whatever been shown. or been pursuing research five years after its founding, the aspect of American history they care to in source materials documenting the Clements Library is not only a notable investigate. discovery of America, the Stamp Act, or resource for studying the Age of Our modest but essential fund­ the Battle of Lexington, The original Discovery and Exploration or the raising effort in celebration ofour 75th Clements collection of 1923 was rich in American Revolution, but a wonderful Anniversary is aimed at making it the "great books" on the "great events" place to investigate American sports possible for us to continue concentrating of American history. Our resources on and leisure activity, the reading and on the fairly straightforward activity of these timelessly important subjects are book-collecting habits of our ancestors, building the collections. We are now several times richer today than they were ecology and the gradual change in much more than a great book collection. then, and the Library continues to add to attitudes about the treatment of animals. We are a rich and unique repository of its collections in its traditional areas of the fine points ofcartographic history. our nation's past experience - a strength whenever it has the opportunity. or crimes and scandals which tell us national treasure. With your continued In the past few years alone we have something about the failings of our support, we will only get better, acquired the letterbooks of Anthony changing civilization. These are subjects - John C. Donn, Director Wayne' s Pallen Timbers campaign, which interest today's students, and we

THE JACKSONIAN UNICORN

Short-tempered, short-sighted, and Curiosities in Europe for centuries. reputation of the pachyderm as an sharp-homed. the rhinoceros was the pachyderms (rhinos, elephants, and American icon was ensured. The rhinos perfect animal for the savage world of hippos) exerted a particularly strong and elephants that occupied center stage Jacksonian politics. Until the Pliocene fascination for American s. Their size in early national museums, then. became epoch. rhinos had been among the most and power, and their exotic good looks, part of the intellectual project of building abundant perissodacty ls on the conti­ made these creatures popular fare for a nation - they signified our strength nent, but like the Federalists, they had children' s books and scientific minds. and vitality, our control over nature and become extinct by the mid-1820s. In Noting the paucity of large-bodied over the colonized nations from which October 1826, however, a lone rhino mammals in North America, French they were liberated , appeared on our teeming shores. the first natural historians in the 1790s theorized For men like Marmaduke Burrough, in over a million years. and within five that the impoveri shed climate of the rhinos also promised fun and profit. As years. he and his thick-skinned compa­ United States must have stunted the a young man enamored of natural triots could be found treading the stage growth of its fauna. Simply put. history, Burrough studied the closest ofPeale's Museum in New York. America lacked the vital spark that subject available at the time. medicine, chewing the scenery at Washington animated the Old World, To nationalists and pursued his science on the side Gardens in Boston. touring the Eastern like Thomas Jefferson. of course, this wherever and whenever he could. His seaboard with the American National was pure balderdash. With the vast. lucky break came in 1828, when he Caravan, or biding time with the Associ­ unexplored reaches of the nation before received a little slop from the bucket of ation Menagerie. Among the earliest of him, Jefferson looked to the elephantine diplomatic spoils. a consular appoint­ these immigrant sons was a three year­ bones of mastodons and mammoths ment in Calcutta. old rhino captured on the plains of the littering the countryside (having studied Exotic and virtually unknown to Brahmaputra River north of Calcutta. them himselt) , and asked Lewis and Jacksonian Americans. the Indian and sold to Marmaduke Burrough Clark to keep an eye out for any subcontinent overflowed with natural (ca,1798-1844) in March 1830, In pachydermal herds that might still be riches. Shortly after assuming his post, Burrough' s papers, recently acquired by roaming the trackless Louisiana Pur­ Burrough ambitiously set out to join in the Clements Library, lies one of the chase, Although the explorers returned the scientific bonanza, setting his cap on best-documented stories of rhinocerine empty handed, the American ardor for acquiring the most treasured resource of immigration before this century. gargantuan creatures survived; the all. a live rhinoceros. Spum ing an

PAG E 2 T HE Q1JARTO exorbitant offer from the and tasteful, and that Rajah Budinath Roy to females "need enter­ supply a rhino at 9,500 tain no compunction or rupee s, he accepted an delicacy of feeling in offer he could not refuse acco mpanying their by a man name d Andrew Husband s or friends." Davidso n: a nine foot The most reveal­ female accompanied by ing feature of these a much smaller male. advertisements, Althou gh there were howe ver, is the way in already at least three whic h Burrough made rhinos in the United clear, that like the States, Davidson assured Diagram ofthe proper relationship between a rhino handle r and his charge, unciv ilized, colonized Burrough that "there is design ed as atl advertisement fo r Marmaduke Burrough sexhibition" people of the world, room enough in America rhino s could be for even more than three improved. Despite the Rhinoceroses, as I'm informed 'tis Burrough. his servan t, and rhinos set sail absence (or death ) of the refined female, rather a large Town." To spice up the aboard the Georgian , in June 1830, the Packet boasted that the male on deal, Davidson even offered to rig a bou nd for the United States. exhibit,"though stupid and savage by harne ss for the female to allow her to Burrough's rhinos next surfaced in nature.. . . is not altogether incapable of draw a carriage or plow - the ultim ate November 1830. when the male was domestication. or insensible to the civilized act - adding ruefully that the placed on exhibit at 48 South 5th Street, kindlier affections." As proof, it clai med young male was unlik ely to coo perate in Philadelphia, appropriately enough, only that the present specimen "is perfectly this enterpri se "as he was cau ght when about a block from the State House. In a gentle, and obedi ent to the command of too old."Even British cool, it seems, media blitz, this rhino was boasted of as his keeper, (who is a native of Bengal)." cou ld not offset bad habits acquired in "distinct from all the others" of Africa, Turning the rhino into a cash cow, ch ildhood. Java, or Sumatra. and was said to be however, proved to be too demanding a True to form, this savage rascal powerful and brave, and "in excellent job for a dilettante showman like refused to recognize legitimate com­ condition." An ad in the Pennsylvania Burrou gh. After already shelling out merce and threatened to capsize the deal, Packet vowed that "the pub lic has 500 rupee s for shipping, and $7.50 for not to mention the boat on which he was that essential rhino acces sory, a good , being transported to Calcutta. In a fit of stout chain, Burrough found that the shipboard pique, he badly injured his costs rapid ly esca lated. Between legs while struggling with tbe rope s that December 1830, and January 1831, his bou nd him, delaying any further acco unts include entrie s for $20.00 for progress while he healed, Stating the engravings, $65.00 for placing ads in the obvious, Davidson begged Burrough not American Sentinel and the Pennsylvania to remove the restrainin g nose ring, for it Inquirer, $6.00 for printin g 300 fliers, might be "rathe r a difficult business to $80.00 for two months' rent, and put it in aga in." Onc e in Calcutta, the TO DE Sl:":N, $120.00 for "two men in attendance:' A 1 he Tlor-ocrDJt.U!•"111imtJt Creatinn, male settled into a resigned calm, and AT No. 4S Scum t"tr r u S I"lIn r, friend, George Hough, advised Burrough A Iil ing H hi I I Oi:.t'rO~ or Uui eurn, ":011 ..11 ill th e Davidson turned his attention to nurture. l\:fIl h e hlJ g'l"ge tl f lhe t:.,." l ; nm lar. n hibiling :ll to sell, but to hold out for a 100% return , 'he roo!p I"tely ece u pie d 10, lh e All lunml Ot\ Ch eu Experienced in rhinocerine cuisine, he l'IJlye r, a 1I11!" hetuw 'V~ lllul ~ 1 ' " t' U , where the "T here bei ng so many [rhinos] at home;' recommended that Burro ugh lay in a Lallie_ nlltl G enth-nun of ~ I ,il",d e ll,h i::l lind it' em-i. he thought, "ought not dim inish the rOil' . are rupecl l' lllJ hl\'iltd 10 cull ami ~t:e tbis good stock of dried doobgrass, well '"tr)' eJ:tl":lo;:lhu ary aniroet , value of yours as I believe it the finest pressed, along with a good quantity of animal which has been taken home." This advertismentfor Burrough s Rhino or pressed wheat bran , adding that the Burrough sold out. The subsequent fate Unicorn appeared in the Pennsylvania disceming pachydermal palate preferred Packet in January 1831. of Burrough's rhino rema ins uncertain. its bran wetted with salt water,"as the Howe ver there are tantali zing clues. animal is fond of salt and might eve n A massive poster for the Association prefer it with the Bran." For a change of seldom enjoyed an oppo rtunity of Menagerie of New York, printed for the pace, the rhino might enjoy its bran witnessing so rare and interesting a winter of 1834-35, depicts a rhino in a patted into cakes and baked , to which curiosity; and circumstances rend er it wheeled cage, and the accompanying Davidson prag matically added "I ha ve quite certain, that many years must text inform s the audience that this rhino no doubt he would eat ship biscuit," elapse, ere another animal of the kind was seve n years old, weighin g 4,200 though in his experience, rhinos "did not can be import ed here." Even at 25¢ per pounds - the right size and age for like biscuit when very hard." Finally, head (half price for childre n), the rhino Burrough's beast - and it reported "the for the ult imate in rhino comfort during was a bargain. and despite all the growth of its horn is much retarded as it hot weather, a good salt water bath was excitement and savagery in store, the continually thumps its head against the recommended twice a day. With this last whole family could attend. Burrough bars of its cage ." piece of advice carefully in hand , guaranteed that the display would be tidy - Robt Cox, Manuscript Curator

T HE Q1IARTO PAG E 3 GRE NADA' SFIRST REVO LUTION A CA RTOG RAPH IC CURIOSITY

Grenada, most southerly of the Wind­ events of 1983 when United Slates naval the island. A lofty penin sula command­ wards of the eastern Caribbean, dangles and military forces intervened in this ing the entrance provided the site for Fort at the end of that string of lush and small Caribbean state . Point Salines Royal, constructed of stone in 1705-06. moun tainous volcanic islands. Indeed. then served as more than a landmark, for Warfare returned to Grenada in the long westerly curve of Point Salines much of its length was taken up by an 1762 when the British captured the gives Grenada a distinctive shape that unfinished airport that was a drop zone island as they swept through the Spani sh rather resembles a fish hook. Point for American para troopers and a and French Caribbean near the end of Salines shelters Grande Anse Bay and a battleground for their light with the Seven Years War. The peace of 1763 number of lesser inlets from the south­ Grenadan PRA and Cuban forces. awarded Grenada to Britain. but the War east trade winds to form a broad Invasion and turmo il are no strangers to of American Independence gave the roadstead that has served as the island's Grenada 's history. The peop le of the French an opportunity to return , In 1779 primary anchorage for large vessels, island have been affected by the shifting French naval and military forces lay from warships of the seventeenth century political interests of outsiders from the siege to Fort George, the former Fort to the cruise ships of today. time of Columbus until their indepen­ Royal, and look the island. The Peace of It was the distinctive form of dence in this century. 1783 restored Gre nada to Britain, and, Grenada that drew our attention to a European explorers first sighted though shaken by the French-inspired peculiar series of early eighteenth­ Grenada in 1498 during Chri stopher Fedon's Rebellion in 1795, the island century maps of the Windward Islands. Columbus' third voyage.He named the remained a British colony until its also known as the French Antilles . In island Concepcion, but it was the independence in 1974. each of at least seven examples in the English who made the first attempt at Despite all this acti vity, Grenada Clements Library map collection, settlement in 1609. The native Caribs was not particularly well rendered on Grenada has been moved to the west and repulsed them but were not so fortunate maps until the middle of the eighteenth rotated nearly 180 degrees from its true when a French expedition arrived in century. Smaller scale maps ofthe position and relationship to the island 1650. Over the next one hundred years Caribbean generally show a nondescript chain - literally turned upside-down. the French developed "La Grenade" as round ed island form or an exaggerated What happened here? one of their sugar islands. The chief sickle-shape, as, for example, Samuel For many readers, the name settlement, Port Royal. was established Thornton 's ca.1700 chart of the West Grenada will conju re up memorie s of the on a fine harbor at the southwest end of Indies. Such maps at least place Grenada in the correct location, and the Guillaume Delisle's upside-down Grenada showing the "Fort et Bourg" and the distinctive "Pte. des sickle shape reflects the westward reach Salines" at the northeast com er ofthe island. They properly belong at the southwest. The town is today of Point Salines. known as St. George 's, and the fort was renamedfo r King George III when the British took the island In 1717, however, the premier ill 1762. geographe du roi, Guillaume Delisle, publi shed his Carte des Antilles Francotses et des Isles Voisines. As the King's geographer, Delisle had access to Jo manuscript maps and surveys in the Royal collections, including those of army and navy officers. He was known for his care in assembling maps from the

L' UN IOH best and most recent sources and for being a stickler for detai l. What a shock it is. then, to see the French Antill es ('AIUO UACOU rendered carefully from Guadeloupe south to a perfectly recognizable .f" •OU L E S G -RENAJJ I L J... f~S Grenada, with all its place names, harbor and fort intact, placed on the map

H' I. r f i r (".." , upside-down. Pointe des Salines (Point " ".I.. t ."R ...... : I',;,-,./r rt 1 tid n (111l1 Salines) is shown at the northeast rather 1, /,.1.. 'r. Af..., .,.. "" ,. i, '-.,~ than at the southwest comer. I.. t..- ",(~ fI~ lf c " " J'~ .{, /.. II ,! "" It ....';,.." How did a cartographer of ].!'.{,. ... . ,,/ f,, ' .... - Guillaume Delisle's stature and reputa­ FJ ':' ''~ flO ('....jf.•V ...· " . ", /;,/,;,~.rA"~: i~ . -to' tion come to make such a glaring error? R.I1' ~ ,-r , ••1., ~~:,...." .. The title of the map tells us that Delisle prepared it from the manuscript memoirs of a royal engineer. M. Petit. A cata-

PAGE 4 TH E Q1JARTO \ .),, ~ \ I f \

A detail from Samu el Thorn ton s A New and Correct Large Draught of the Tradeing Part of the West Indies (London. cu. /700). A sickle -shaped Grenada is correctly placed at the end ofthe "Caribe Islan ds " with the main anchorage prope rly shown near the south west end.

logue of manuscript maps in Delisle's , ' -; '~~~ ~~ ~ : l possession lists a plan of the islands I: nes AN Tl l.U; ;: ~: . a .ces Saul eu rs f R M.~·Q I:;l l:ll : \ from Guadeloupe to Grenada drawn by .T E>U loLUV"'.'''t • "'::::-:::;:::=:=:- • Petit in 1713 or 1715. The engineer was t " then surveyor-general of the French 1 Antilles and might have prepared his " map to document France's island 1 colonies in the aftermath of the War of the Spanish Succession and the Treaty of Utrecht. Without seeing the manuscript Ge o· r d~ · plan, however, we cannot confirm St. • ~ ton & t ow n..'. ,- whether the Grenada error was that of " Petit, Delisle, or Delisle's engraver. One simple explanation may be that Pt. Sal toe s --'~'-.J 12:' i ~ the error occurred during the engraving process. For printing, the map was laid A modem map of Grenada with significant place E out to fit a piece of copper, an expens ive names noted by Delisle. Sketch by Mary Pedley. i": commodity and not always available in 1- large sizes, The printed map of the Antilles was substantially reduced from the island intact. The inverted Grenada Petit's manuscript - 22% in its north­ was later copied by the Dutch map south orientation and 34% east to west. publishers Ottens (1730) and Coveus & The printed border of the map is very Mortier (1733 or before). Delisle's son­ close to the edge of the plate mark, and in-law and heir, Philippe Buache, there was little extra space on the 1717 reprinted the 1717 Carte des Antilles in plate to fit in all the French Antilles. As 1745 without correcting Grenada's shape Delisle or one of his assistants laid out and position. It was not until the French the full circuit of islands, it is possible naval hydrographer Jacques-Nicolas " that they simply ran out of plate. Rather Bellin published his 1758 chart of the than begin anew the task ofdrawi ng on a Antilles and his Grenada of 1760 that the Carte des Antilles Francoises et des Isles votsmcs by reduced scale, they may have decided to island once more assumed its rightful Guillaume Delisle (Pa ris, /7/7). Dutch copyists Ottens tuck Grenada into the available area in a place on the map. (1730) and Coven s & Mortier (1733 or before) each manner that, although it rotated the re-engraved this map on wider pla tes and added insets island 180 degrees, still placed its true - Brian Leigh Dunnigan, Map Curator or notes hut did not correct Delisle :'!erro r. Philippe north end adjacent to the small islands to Mary S. Pedley, Assistant Map Curator Buache ( J745) simply added a new date to Delisle .~, 1717 plate and reissued the map. the north and otherwise kept the shape of

THE Q!)ARTO PAGE 5 W HAT DID OUR FOREFATHERS READ?

Most volumes on the Clements Library's death of Rosse, the church fell vacant for is that it is oriented lengthwise, the shelves were acqu ired because of their many years. horizontal measurement being greater content, but occasionally a book is And what is the book the Reveren d than the vertical, and it is printed entirely purchased becau se its prove nance tells Rosse owned? It is the second volume in red ink. The design of the plate was us something about our ancestors' ofTobias Smollett's. The Expedition also personalized to some extent, in that reading habits and intellectual interests. of Humphry Clinker, 3 vols. (London, a volume of Shakespeare in the fore­ Particularly desirable are volumes with 1771), highly predictable reading for an grou nd documents a rather shadowy colonial bookplates that document the Oxford educated. eighteenth-century career in the theater which Eddis had existence of large personal libraries and cleric living in a rural colonial American followe d in his youth. The plate is parish. Although Rosse himself undoubt­ affixed to a 1753 Engl ish translation of edly would have had Loyalist sympa­ Espiard's, The Spi rit ofNations, a thies in the American Revol ution, the theoretical study of national charac ter, family must have survived the conflic t. the sort so dear to the hearts of There is an ink inscription that Mrs. America' s Revolutionary generatio n. Rosse presented this volume to a Thi s is exactly the type of book one neighbo r in 1812, and it happil y survi ved would expect to find in the library of a to the present day - book plate intact. man whose Letters f rom America The second bookplate is most attempted to describ e colonial society to unusual. Designed and exec uted by a European audience. When Eddis J. Smithers in Phil adelphia, ca. 1770, returned to England in 1777, he left this it belonged to William Eddis who particular volume behind. Inscriptions emigrated to Ann apolis before his indicate that as of 1810 it belonge d to Loyalist sympathies drove him back to Sa muel Jenifer, and in 1823 it was England in 1777. His autograph bought at a sale of Jen ifer 's effects by signature appears on many pieces of J. Barnes. colonial curren cy issued in Mary land Too often rebindin g of seventeenth­ before the war. Edd is is primari ly and eightee nth-century books, even remembered for his book, Letters from tod ay, ob literates book plates, and with America...1769 to 1777 (London, 1792 ), them evidence ofour colonial forefa­ an invaluable, highly readable source on thers' reading habits. It isimportant that Maryl and society in the years leadin g up such information be saved. and particu­ to the Revolutionary War, larly fort uitous in these two cases. What make s this bookplate notable - Jolm C. Donn. Director provide hints of the original owner's social aspirations. Two books with particularly interesting bookpl ates recently came our way. Both date from the decade before the American Re volution, both are from Mary land, and both have armorial designs in a "Chippe ndale" panern . The bookplate of John Rosse AM ofAll Hallows. Worcester, Maryland, was probably engraved in England. It follows a fairly standard pattern for eighteenth-century armorial boo kplates. Rosse had attended Ca mbridge Univer­ sity and matriculated at Merton Coll ege, Oxford in 172 3. He was obviously proud of his educational attai nments. He emigrated to Maryland in 1754 . and served for twenty-one years as the last rector of All Hallows Parish Church in Snow Hill, Maryl and . With the coming of the Revolution and the retirement or

PAGE 6 THE QYARTO ix years after the coach, Mary said she met SBritish conquest of Charle s Lumley. who told Canada in 1759. Thomas her she "might be the Dunckerley, describing happiest woman in himself as a "super­ England." Mary under­ annuated" officer ofthe stood his mea ning. Luml ey, Roya l Navy. strugg ling (Q use plain words, was to support his family on pimp to the Prince ofWales, an annual pension of £44. and Lady Ranelagh was his sent a letter to Major confederate . When the Edward Walpole of the 16th Prince appeared. Mary Light Dragoons. Major recalled that she "could deny Walpole was the grandson him nothing: ' In the course of of one of the most famous several days the future king polit icians in British history, visited her five times. Sir Robert Walpole. described Soon after returning to by some historians as the first THE CONFESSION OF Somerset House, where the Prime Mini ster. Dunckerley' s Dunckerleys had a "grace and letter to Major Walpole in 1766 MARY BOLNIST favor" apartment in the once roya l somehow found its way into the palace. doubtless arranged for them pape rs of Sir Henry Clinton. and today by the Walpoles, Mar y found herself is part of the collections of the Clements Gardens was a popu lar and fashionable ill and pregna nt. When she told the wife Library. resort in Chelsea. the Lo ndon suburb. of the head porter. herself probably part This is no ordi nary letter begging and there the widow Ranelagh presided. ofthe conspiracy. what had happened. for help. It is drenched in sex, scandal, As she stepped out of Lady Ranelagh's Lumley sent a note enclos ing £50 and the eternal sad story of power "acquainting me, it was by the and privilege. Today it would Command of his Royal High­ make the front page ofthe tabloid ness." She also confessed to her press. Thomas Dunckerley husband whe n he returned from claimed to be the bastard son Chat sworth in May. At ftrst he of the late King George II. His seemed pleased. but later turned mother. Mary Bcln ist. according ugly. Near her term, in October, to her enclosed testament take n he threw a cat in her face and ju st before her death in January "swore he would mark the 1760. served in the household of bastard ." They separated soon the wife of Sir Robert Walpo le in after she gave birth to Thomas. the early 1720s when the Prince of Returning to England from Wales (the future George II) met Quebec on HMS Vanguard in and "debauched" her. When she 1760. Tho mas learned that his learned of what had happened. mother had just died and for the Lady Cath arine Walpole quickly ftrst time heard the story of his arra nged a marriage for Mary to paren tage from her dea thbed Mr. Dunckerley, an attendant of con fession. But the French were the Duke of Devonshire, who counter-attacking in Canada. and happened to be visiting Sir Robert he cou ld not linger. His captain Walpole in Norfolk. Dr. Bland told him that no one exce pt the perfor med the ceremony. king would believe his story. and Sometime later, after to say nothing until he could Christmas 1723, while Mr. take it directly to George II. But Duncker ley was away attend ing when Thomas returned again the Duke of Devonshire at from Canada, the king was dead. Chatsworth, his magni11cent hous e in Derbyshire, Mary was inveigled Above: George l/(1683-1760!. to visit Lady Rane lagh. Rane lagh King ofGreat Britain

T H E Q1JAR, TO PAGE 7 In fact, by 1766, when Dunckerley sent his story to Major Walpole, virtually all witnesses were dead. Walpole, LANDING THE whose chief vices were said to be KNOCKOUT PUNCH drinking and gaming, himselfdied in 1771, having done nothing for Dunckerley except pass the letter and its enclosure on to fellow officer Colonel Henry Clinton. who also appears to have done nothing . The affair is puzzling. Dunckerley's name does not appear on the lists of British nava l officers for the eighteen th century, although he claimed he had been an officer for twenty years. "D unckerley" is a very unusual name and does not appear in a search through the usual historica l indexes. But details in the story as documented by Thomas ring true. Geo rge Augustus, both as Prince of Wales and later as King George II, took pride in his sexual prowess and treated any pretty woman within reach as fair game. Lady Catharine Walpole, in whose household the Prince had Ilrst spotted Mary, was herself notoriously wanton. Dr. Bland, who married the Dunckerleys, can be identified as Henry Bland, headmaster of Boxer Tom MoJineux was the first Am erican athlete to challenge a European champion in Eton College, where Sir Robert Walpole any sport. He went to London in 1809, trained with William Richmond. anoth er expatriate had sent his sons. Dr. Mead, sent to boxer, andJought a match with. British champion Tom Crib in /8 /0. A racist referee and audience denied Molineaux his clearly won victory. A rematch, shown here, was set in attend Mary early in her pregnancy, was Ireland the fo llowing year, but Molineaux hadJailed to train properly and was beaten in a fashionable physician known to keep a eleven rounds. "seraglio." Mrs. Cannon, who attended the birth , was midwife to the roya l fami ly. ~king instant ~d v ~nt ag~ of a one-. somew hat disreputable but exceedingly The story of Thomas Dunckerley T time opportunity IS as Important III important workingman's magazi ne from and his mother Mary leaves us feeling rare book coll ecting as in boxing! the age of pre-Prohibition saloons and uneasy, as we often do in glancing at the Nat Fleisher was the leading figure "tonsorial parlors:' The Gazette is a lurid headlin es on supermarket tabloids in American profe ssional boxing from uniqu e historical record of urban life, today. Is it true? Most of the names the 1920s until his death in the 1970s. crime, off-Broadway theatrical gossip, check out. but why is Thomas missing He edited Ring Magazine and was popul ar amusements, and the Wild West, from the list of naval officers? Does the boxing's preemin ent historian . Flei sher which so fascinated eastern readers. The apparent obscurity of mother and son collected eveything in print relating to Ga zette is essentially the only detailed suggest that these were little people, on boxing , creating an extraordinary source of information on boxing in the whom the great depended for serv ices. archive. He saved book s and ephemera era ofJohn L. Sullivan. The Clements but who could be tossed aside with a few that libraries had never taken seriously owned a few rare pamphlets on profes­ crumbs when their service was no longer and most people simply threw out after sional and amat eur boxing, but this needed? If nothing was done by Major readi ng. Drawing on his personal single purchase greatl y increased the Walpole or Colonel Clinton to assist library, Fleisher published authoritative library's ability to serve social historians Thomas. their very inaction would fit annual yearbook s and wrote several fine interested in 19th cen tury urban popul ar this interpretation. Tempted to believe histories of boxing. culture, including boxing. Thomas Dunckerley's story, we can also Four years ago, Fleisher's virtually This winter, the bulk of Nat fit it to the endless sad story of famo us complete run ofthe National Police Fleisher 's personal library was offered people troub led by too much time, Gazette, from 1876 to 1932, came up for for sale at Swann Galleries. Amidst the money, and prestige, and by too little sale at a spo rts memorabili a auctio n in signed photogra phs of Joe Louis, self-restraint. New York. This was the publisher 's own posters, watches, and autograp hs which - Arlene Shy, file, acquired by Fleisher at a bankruptcy attracted great interest amon g collectors, Head, Reader Services sale in the depths of the Depression. It is were obsc ure British and American one of only two extens ive runs (the other books and pamphlets on pugilism, items is in the Library nf Congress) of this so rare as to be virtually unob tainable.

I'AG E 8 THE Q1JARTO The Fleisher Sale was a once-in -a-Iifetime opportunity to Below: William Richmond. born on Staten Island in J763, emigrated acquire. at one auction. not only the basic sources of to England in 1777 under the auspices ofGen. Lord Percy. After his boxing history, but a remarkable selection of the ephem­ active boxing career, he owned a public house and was often consulted eral rarities which transform a strong collection into a by aspiring fighters. truly great one. The Clements bid vigorously and got every lot it wanted. Among the scarce pamphlets were "lives" of. and "how to" manuals by Tom Hyer, Yankee Sullivan. \Villiam Poole, Ned Donnelley, James Ward, Jack Randall, "Bauling"Nelson, John McConnick. and John L. himself - names now largely forgotten, but famous in their own day as sports heros idolized in America and England. Unlike baseball, yachting, cricket, and football, the other newsworthy competitive sports of the nineteenth century. boxing successfully never banned athletes on racial grounds. Boxing is an important chapter in Afro­ American history. Among the Fleisher Sale acquisitions. The Black Champions ofthe Prize Ring (1890), published by the Police Gazette, is a particular treasure. William Oxberry's Pancratia, o r, a History of Pugilism (London. 1812), was the first book-length history ofthe sport. The Fancy, by An Operator (London, 1826), in spite of its unorthodox title and authorship. is another serious, book-format co mpilation.Pierce Egan's Boxiana (London, 1812­ 1829) is the real "bible" of the sport. Complete sets, like the one we purchased from the Fleisher Sale, are scarce because they were originally issued in monthly parts, put

Below: Fon ner slave Tom Molineux had earned a reputation as a greatfighter even befo re he purchased hisf reedom in 1809. together in five thick volumes and pub lished over a twelve-year period. Odd numbers occa sionally surface on the rare book market. but to secure the entire set is a collector's lifelong dream. The Clements has now acquired the cornerstones of boxing history. What is particularly pleasing. in spite of their London imprints, is that all are true "Americana" of a type which entirely eluded Sabin and his fellow bibliographers. Throughout. these works contain a con siderable amount of material on American prize fighters. Two Afro-American boxers, Bill Richmond of Staten Island, born in 1763, and Anna polis-born Tom Molineux (1784-1812), were the first American athletes to gain international stature. Following the tradition established by William Clements' collecting at the tum of the century. the Library has transformed its holdings in one partic ular area from mediocrity to excellence by taking advan­ tage of two once-in- a-lifetime opportunities. The history of sports, leisure activities, and popu lar amusements is currently of great intere st to historians. Whether one studies the sport of boxing itself, the ideal s it represented, or the questions of class and ethnicity so central to the sport's development, the Clements is prepared. as few other libraries are, to serve scholars. - John C. Dann, Director

THE Qj,JARTO PAGE 9 CLA PURCHASES ANNOUNCEMENTS Tom was unfailingly enthusiastic and supportive of Library acquisitions. The Associates Board of Governors at Pri ce Visiting Research Fellowships With his enco uragemen t, the Michigan the October I, 1996 meeti ng Map Society was founded , based at the made the following purchases for the 1997 Price Visitin g Research Fello w­ Clements. Tom was a dedicated Lib rary 's collecti ons: ships were awarded to three Ph.D. voluntee r. On three occasions, when ca ndidates. buildi ng renovation projects requi red Humphrey Marshall, The History of Elizabeth Fenn, Yale University, for moving a significant part of the Library 's Kentucky (Frankfort , Kentucky, 1812). her dissertation, "As the Fire Consumes collection , Tom reported daily, in blue the Gras s: The North American jea ns and flan nel shirt, working side by John Hall, The Cabinet Mak ers'Assis­ Smallpox Epidemi c of 1775-1783." side with the staff, packing and mo ving tant. Embracing the Most Modem Style Catherine Ann Lawrence, Yale boxes. disassembling and erec ting ofFurniture (Ba ltimore, 1840). University, for her dissertation, "Narrat­ shelving, all the time end earing himself ing the Empire: Private Visions and to everyone in the Library with his Daniel B. Hutchins. Civil War Pocket Published Lives ofBritish Soldiers energy, gentle humor. and engaging Diary ofa Sergeant in the IIIth New and Sailors in the Late Georgian Age. con versa tion. York (New York, 1864). An acco unt of I770s-1830s.'· Many contributions have been his Anderson ville capt ivity. Greg O'Brien,University of received by the Library in Tom 's Kentucky. for his dissertation, "T o memory. They will be used to purchase H.D. Gurn ey, photographer. Two cartes Sati sfy Our Wants': Trade, Diplomacy, a stric tly limited edition of engraved ­ de visite photographs of Belle Boyd and Politics among the Choctaws, American maps and prints collected by (Natchez, Mississippi , 1863-1865). 1759-1801." Rich ard Rawlinson (1690-1755), issued Applications for 1998 Fellows hips, by the Bodleian Library from the which provide support for travel, should original copper plates discovered in the be made between October I and 1980s. Along with the famous print of December 20, 1997. For further the Wren Building in Williamsburg, information contact Head of Reader found a half century ago, these engrav­ Servi ces, phone (3 13) 764 -2347, fax ings are belie ved to be illustrati ons for (3 13) 647-071 6, email ashy @umich.edu. an unfinished work on American geography by Willi am Byrd II ( 1674­ 1744 ), Virginia planter, colonial official, IN MEMORIAM and author. Contributions toward this purchase will be gratefully received by T HOMAS N. C ROSS. M .D. the Director.

On Decem ber 13, 1996, Thomas N. Cross, M.D. died in Ann Arbor after CRAIG W. ROSS a short illness. A longtime Clements Library Associate, he had served on It was with sorrow that the Lib rary the Board of Governors since 1972. learn ed, early in Ja nuary, of the death of A graduate of Groton School, Yale antiquarian book dealer Craig W. Ross Confederate spy Belle Boyd, 1843-/ 900 University, and Columbia College of (1914-1996) of Medina, New York. A Carte de visite by H.D. Gurney. Physician s and Surgeons, he did his real friend to the Library's Director, residency in Psychiatry at the Neuropsy ­ Craig Ross provided a good many Pennsylvania German Fraktur bookplate, chiatric Institute of the Univers ity of treas ured book s and manuscript collec­ ca. 18205, in Jacob Laux man uscript Michigan Medic al Center. He was on tions over the past three decades. He tunebook. the Unive rsity of Michigan Medical had a keen eye for the special item and a School staff and later in private prac tice delightfully modest sense of the profit Two Fren ch manuscrip t maps, ca. 1740, in Ann Arbor. margin needed to keep a dealer in showing attacks on Cartagena and A direct descendant ofThomas business - so much so that almost every Porto Bell o. Jeffe rson, Tom had a deep interest in ite m was sold before his famou s American history and collecting. mimeograp hed catalogues arrived in the R.J . Skinner, Life and Confession of Following his father, former Director of mail! Fortunatel y, he kept the particular John M 'Affee, who H.,'as Executed at the New York Botanical Gardens, Tom interests of valued customers in mind Dayton, Ohio,fur the Murder ofhis was an enthusiastic co llector of map s and quot ed prized item s on an individual Wife (Dayton, Ohio, 1825). and man uscripts, both literary and basis. Craig and Vivian, his wife of fifty­ historical. Tom had a particu lar fascina­ nine years who survives him, graciously RJ. Skinner, ASerious Warning to tion with Rudyard Kipling, an interest welcomed clie nts to their home. Craig Young Men, or the Lif e and Confession that led him to write a biograph y of that was a man of sterling character and ofJohn M 'Affee (Day ton, Ohio, 1825). high ly complex individu al which was constant good humor who will be missed Broadside. published in 1992 . by all who knew him.

PAG E 10 T H E Qj)ARTO "C"~'/' CURRENT EXHIBIT

~ events as well. When the French of his Political Register to ch~m :" ,: Revolution triggered war between pion the rights p f working men ~nd ' Britain and France, Americans the cause ofparliamentary reform. found themselves strongly divided in By 1835, no w ri t er ,wa~ more their loyalties. "Peter Porcupine" widely kn o ~nin Britain, among - took the Federalist. anti-French side. every c1as s . ~B ut 'ii "w as in America But he insisted he was no more than in the I790s that Cobbett first f\meric ~n deI1l?cT,acyand ugly a loyal. independent Englishman developed his inimitable style, a ipolitics are ~not -a n ew ~c ,om b i n a t ion . defending British interests in peculiar blend of personal ,an ec d o t e~ ;~~: Since 1776, the price ofpopular America against attack from andco~trov ~rsy;()bse~a~ i on '£md"8;r/";" gov~i?ment, where all decisions are Revolutionary France and her arg~ment ; t ha~JTlage him-'one of the

op en~y debated and con t~ste~ : hai Republican supporters. %:, ~/:~'~ " gfe ~t , ~a ti ~i ca l , w~i t eEs and political been a political process that includes Returning to England in 1 800 ; '~ ,, ~ C'ommentators i n~ the English

exaggeration, misrepresenration, and Cobbett became a leader in the "C la~iuage . yiciouS'personal attacks':'Not even Radical movement. using the pages %/ today has political wa~(are gone lower thanlhe level ofpersonal abuse seen in the I790s, when the Foundin g Fathers held power. Englishman Winiaf!lC()bbett" writing as "Peter *"' Porcupine;" was one of the most '~<0 '-"" ~, ''7. abusive - and effective 3:-journalists , of that t;~ubled decade:": "' Cobbett spent eightye'ar;in " • America, from 1792 to ISOO. ,puring . that time he rose from an emig'rant ",/~, " language teacher to one of the stT()ngest forces molding public opinion in 'the Ne¥/ Republic. "~~ ter Porcupin e",becamea superstar i n ' ~ :< ,/;< American journalism ""::'-,lovedOf 0 hated, but unriv'aledfor his vigorous, • . . ~~ %' racy political commentary. As a writer and publisher, Cobbett was remarkably prolific. He produc"ed a sc~or~'o{ pan1phl et~, a sertsational mag azine , ~ th e Political Censor; and""" "};,, created The Porcup i n ~"G~zet(e, , 'fo r a brief period the most widely ie ~ ~ : /,~ ',newspaper in ~ he c o u n t ry~ ,Unques- tionabl y, CobP"ett was a founder of the :American political press. ' Ccbbeu'sstay in America coincided with a decade of extraordi­ ~ nary political ~~ncor, ~' the Federalist and Republican partiesbegan to develop their identities '0d,diaw their battle lines> Controvcrsy'was fueled by the intense rivalry bet~een " :~;~,, J-I,and deeply personal. Domestic ~'/ / , ' __"d ~' ~ ' , ;;.': '~" , "!; ',' ""-"':, , " 0~,~ )? l i t i ~ s were inflamed by foreign" "::,';' t ~/!~ji;: ,

T HE QlJARTO PAGE 11 CALE N DAR OF EVE NTS

Aprill-.June 27, Exhibit, "' Peter Porcupine': Nas ty Political Press in the New Republic, 1793-1800," Open weekdays 12 noon to 4:45 pm.

April 16, Clements Library Associates Spring Lecture and Exhi bit Opening. Committee ofManagement Professor Emeritus John Shy, UM Lee Bollinger, Chairman History Department, will speak on "The New Republi c in the 1790s: Revoluti on Cleveland Thurber, Jr. Stabilized," 4 pm at tlieLibrary, Maris Vinovskis reception following. Robert Warner John Dann, Secretary

A view ofthe South Side of the Stale House, Philadelphia b.v William Birch, 1800.

May 2, University of Michi gan Depart­ Clements Library Associates share an interest in American ment of History Honors Con vocation, history and a desire to ensure the continued growth of the 9-11 am, Reception for graduating Library's collections. Funds received from Associate member- History majors and their parents, 4-6 pm. ships are used exclusively to purchase historical materials. May 4, 19thAnnual AnnArbor Anti­ Annual Membership Contributions: Student $15; Donor $25-49; quarian Book Fair, a benefi t for the Associate $50-99; Patron $100-249; Fellow $250-499; Benefactor Clem ents Library, at the Michigan $500 and above. Contributions are tax deductible in accordance Union Ballroom, llam - 5 pm, with current Federal and State Law and may be made by check admission $3,00, or credit card. Published by the Clements Library, University of Michigan, 909 S. University Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan May 6, Clements Library Board of 48109-1190; phone (313) 764-2347; fax (313) 647-0716; email: Governors Special Meeting regarding the 75th Anniversary Celebration, first [email protected]; internet: www.clements.umlch.edu; session 10 am -12 noon ; Lunch in the Arlene Shy, Editor; Kathleen Horn, Graphic Designer, Library; seco nd sess ion 1-2:30 pm. U-M Marketing Communications. @ May 8, UM Waterman Alumnae Meeting and Prog ram , '''I had no Idea !' Regents ofthe University: Disco vering Clements Library Trea­ Laurence B. Deitch, Bloomfield Hills; Daniel D. Horning, sures," 1-3 pm . Grand Haven; Olivia P. Maynard, Goodrich; Shirley M. McFee, Battle Creek; Rebecca McGowan, Ann Arbor; .JulyI-August 29, Exhibit, '"tn the Andrea Fischer Newman, Ann Arbor; Philip H. Power, Good Old Summertime'; 19th Century Ann Arbor; S. Martin Taylor, Grosse Pointe Farms; America on Vacation," featuring Lee C. Bollinger, ex officio photographs, prints, ephemera, and travel literature from the Library's collections.

PAGE 12 T HE QUARTO