The Danish author Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) gained international fame for his fairy tales.  In fact, at the time of this blog posting, Edward Erikson’s famed statue of the Little Mermaid, which is permanently located in Copenhagen Harbor, is on display in Shanghai, China for EXPO 2010.  It is timely that the Rare Book & Manuscript Library has recently cataloged a copy of Andersen’s tales that he inscribed to a neighbor’s daughter.

IUA15161, the library’s copy of Andersen’s Femten eventyr og historier (Fifteen Tales and Stories), is inscribed to Mary Bruun on the front wrapper.  Mary Bruun was born in 1863 and was the daughter of Andersen’s Odense neighbor, Georg Lassen Bruun.  Andersen’s young neighbor shows up several times in the bibliographical and biographical record of Hans Christian Andersen’s life.

In addition to the library’s copy, there is record of Andersen inscribing another book for Mary Bruun.  In May 1866, he inscribed a copy of Billedbog uden billeder (A Picture-book Without Pictures, also known as What the Moon Saw) to her.  His inscription, “Den lille Mary Bruun, et Vesitkort fra H. C. Andersen,” can be roughly translated as: ”[To] Little Mary Bruun, a visiting card from Hans Christian Andersen.”

Mary Bruun also appears in Andersen’s diary at least once.  In an entry for 3 January 1872, Andersen writes of seeing young Mary at the theatre, attending a show with her father for the first time: ”I Theatret den lille Mary Bruun første Gang, (hun var med sin Fader min Nabo i A Portas Gaard); hun nikkede saa glad og lykkelig” (Dagbøger IX, p. 192-3).

For more examples of Andersen’s dedication copies see Arne and Mads Portman. Omkring en Samling H. C. Andersen Dedikationer. (København: Victor Nielsen Tryk, 1967). The Portmans’ work includes almost 100 examples of Andersen’s presentation inscriptions.  Andersen’s diary is published in 12 volumes as Dagbøger 1825-1875 (København: Gad, 1971-77). AD

At the early age of four Dr. William Moon (1818-1894) lost sight in one eye due to scarlet fever and by 1839, he became totally blind. Moon quickly devoted his attention to learning the various types of type for the blind and eventually began teaching other blind pupils of various ages, which led to the formation of the Asylum for the Blind, Easton Road, Brighton. Observing that his pupils had a difficult time committing many passages to long term memory, Moon desired to develop a new method of reading that was based loosely around the Roman alphabet. Moon developed his new Moon Type and published his scheme in 1845. Moon type was very successful, especially with readers who had lost their sight later in life after learning how to read. Throughout his career, Moon published more than 300 works in Moon type in over 400 different languages and dialects and set up Home Teaching Societies and Free Lending Libraries across the United Kingdom. It is estimated that his embossing stereotype plates produced over 200,000 imprints.

During our cataloging of the backlog in the Rare Books & Manuscript library, we stumbled upon a box of materials for the blind that had not been touched since the late 1980’s. This box included four volumes in Moon type, Shakespeare’s Henry V printed in Boston line type [IUQ04524], and a fragmented run of the Michigan Herald for the Blind [IUQ04525], donated to the Rare Book & Manuscript Library by Professor Joseph Larsen in 1987.

IUQ04520 is Moon’s “First illustrated reader” published in the late 19th century. This reader credited on the title page as “Owing to the extensive use of the Elementary School Series, published by Messr. Daldy, Isbister & Co.,” and includes eight embossed plates of images that would allow readers to ‘see’ illustrations of the topic being discussed in the text. This is an early use of the tactile images that would later become popular in works for the blind, especially children’s works. IUQ04521 is Moon’s adaptation of T. Nelson and Sons’ Royal school primer printed in the late 19^th century. IUQ04522 is the first volume of a 10 volume English dictionary that Moon produced during the last years of his life. This volume contains definitions for words A-Base. IUQ04523 is a unique find and is not listed in the bibliography found in Rutherfurd’s William Moon and his work for the blind (1898). It is an illustrated history of the United States based on the popular work by John Fiske (1894). This work provides illustrations and embossed maps with captions for the reader.

These books are the only works in Moon type cataloged at the University of Illinois, and provide very unique examples of a rarely-used reading system for the blind for students on the Urbana-Champaign campus. DG

While cataloging the Nickell Collection of 18th-century English Literature, a presentation copy from Alexander Pope to William Oliver has been discovered.  Alexander Pope (1688-1744) is best known for his poems, which include The Rape of the Lock (1712) and An Essay on Man (1733-4).  But Pope was also a prolific letter writer due to a feeling of alienation that stemmed from his affliction with a form of tuberculosis which attacked his bones and left him severely hunchbacked and in chronic pain throughout his life.  This presentation copy inscribed to his friend William Oliver, a two-volume collection of Pope’s letters, further emphasizes the privileged place of letters in Pope’s literary output.

William Oliver (1695-1764) met Alexander Pope and Bishop William Warburton through Ralph Allen, a mutual friend.  The friendship between Oliver and Pope is evidenced through the fact that Pope later designed a memorial for Oliver’s parents and supplied the verse for it.  William Oliver was a prominent Bath physician and inventor of the Bath Oliver, a biscuit which is still being made and consumed in Great Britain today.

The two volumes of Pope’s letters are a large paper issue bound in full calf.  Volume I [Q. Nickell B. P825p11737d] bears the inscription: “The Gift of the Author as a Mark of the Friendship with which he is pleased to honour W: Oliver 1739”. Volume II [Q. Nickell B. P825p1w1741] bears the inscription: “Ex dono amicipium Auctoris Gulielmo Oliveri” and has Oliver’s bookplate, done by J. Skinner, a known Bath engraver of bookplates.

The Rare Book and Manuscript Library has a significant collection of Alexander Pope material acquired through the purchases of the collections of Lloyd F. Nickell, an alumnus of the University of Illinois, and George Sherburn, Harvard professor and noted Alexander Pope scholar. AD

Recently donated by Roberta Lynn Hay, Pre-1650 MS 209 is a large and imposing addition to The Rare Book & Manuscript Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Once used for the observance of the Divine Office, this manuscript is one volume of an incomplete antiphonal of the Temporale cycle of a non-Dominican monastery or church. An antiphon is a response to a Psalm, in this case sung in Gregorian plainchant. This volume’s text provided the antiphons used in a monastery or church for the six-eight week period from the beginning of Advent through the beginning of Ordinary Time (including Nativity, Christmastide, Circumcision, the Epiphany and the Octave of Epiphany).

An antiphonal would traditionally be placed at the front of a choir on a lectern, in good light or under candlelight, so that all of the members of the choir could see the chant. The text for the verse or Psalm only needed to be large enough for an intoner to read, however the response or antiphon needed to be large enough for the entire choir to read. The contents of the codex, in this case, dictated the physical size needed for it to function properly. Because an antiphonal was needed for each order of the Office, it needed to be a very durable and easy-to-use item. The utilitarian aspect of these manuscripts explains why MS 209 is so heavily used, has such thick binding chords, very thick boards, and leaves made from durable parchment.

This manuscript was probably produced in the 15^th or 16^th century in Spain at a monastery or church for local use. MS 209 was a heavily used manuscript, which is apparent from its current condition. Upon a casual browse, a reader of this manuscript will immediately notice the darker condition and flexibility of the corners of the leaves, due to the amount of page-turning required for each hour of the Office. Some of the leaves have drops of wax found on them, which illustrates that this manuscript was sometimes read under candle-light. In MS 209, certain prayers and songs have been erased and replaced with new prayers or antiphons. The insertion of a new set of antiphons and responses were all probably due to changes within the Catholic Church. This evidence also shows that this manuscript was not a static text, but a fluid thing that could be changed to conform to current trends or rules.

Measuring at over 50 cm tall, MS 209 is the largest music manuscript in the RBML. It is comparable in size and use to a seventeenth-century Spanish Gradual on display at the Music and Performing Arts Library, donated in 2009. (http://www.library.illinois.edu/mux/about/exhibits/gradual.html) DG