rare books

Inscription in Del Martin's "Lesbian/Woman"

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One of the most exciting things about working in MARBL, is the unexpected surprises that accompany archival materials. I was most recently surprised by the inscriptions I came across while surveying some of the rare books that comprise MARBL's LGBT collections.

MARBL holds many book titles that earn their status as "rare" due to their having one or more of the following qualities: being a first edition or limited printing, being formerly owned and/or annotated by a historically significant figure (such as a writer, activist, scholar), or being inscribed by the author. This information is generally accessible through discoverE, where researchers can view the details that qualify a book as rare and determine whether it is a book they would like to consult (as opposed to a copy held in General Collections). The status of "inscribed" only tells researchers that a book was, at minimum, signed by the author or another person involved in the publication process. Inscriptions can, of course, be longer notes that take on a variety of forms.

Here is a brief survey of some of the inscriptions that I have found:

Comprising part of the library of the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA), Lillian Smith's One Hour (1959, first edition) has an inscription dated August 15, 1965. Smith writes, "For Paula (the second) as a memento of your visit with us in the mountains. Affectionately, Lillian Smith." At first glance, this inscription is a sweet and simple note. Another look at the inscription gestures to Smith's life as a lesbian in the American South. Due to the political climate in which she lived, Lillian Smith and her life-partner, Paula Snelling, lived the majority of their life closeted. This inscription "for Paula" indicates the significance of Paula Snelling who was undoubtedly a more primary "Paula" in Smith's life. It witnesses the relationship of Lillian and Paula, and how they opened their mountain home to other writers and activists. 

Inscription from Lillian Smith's "One Hour"

Also part of the ALFA library, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon's Lesbian/Woman (1972, first edition) contains the inscription "For our Atlanta Lesbian Sisters- With thanks and appreciation for all you are doing to free our sisters- Love to you all, Del Martin" Martin's inscription, dated April 20, 1977, is a simple note that acknowledges solidarity in the gay and women's liberation movements. As founding members of the Daughters of Bilitis, a lesbian social and activist organization formed in 1955 in San Francisco, Del Martin's inscription documents the need for continued work to end discrimination against lesbians. (shown above)

Brion Gysin inscription in "A Problem in Greek Ethics"

MARBL's copy of the book A Problem in Greek Ethics: Being An Inquiry into the Phenomenon of Sexual Inversion by J.A. Symonds offers a haunting example of an inscription that documents how inscriptions can serve multiple purposes. The book was privately printed for the AEOПAГITIГA Society in 1908. Somehow, the already rare book made its way into the social circle of W. H. Auden and his contemporary, Brion Gysin. The inscription, written by Gysin, is a short story of how the book came into his possession. Gysin writes, "This book was picked off the Christmas tree for me by Wystan Auden to whose house I was brought as an unexpected guest on Christmas Eve 1946. "Is it all right?" [Auden] asked Peter Walsh who had brought me. "We're off to mass now; to do our duties and then back to the jollities." At this point I left with an odd woman named Emily Tompkins Fairelly, a worshipper of the feet, who had to see if her baby was well. I believe that later, she threw it or dropped it out a window, possibly a coward." The inscription is followed by Gysin's signature of ownership. Gysin's "note to self" is no longer a private memory, but has become part of the public history of the literary circles in which writers such as Auden and Gysin participated. More specifically, Gysin's inscription documents how a small group of gay writers spent their Christmas in 1946—not with relatives or children, but with another kind of family, a family that was literary, gay, and welcoming of like-minded strangers such as Gysin.  

In addition to these books, MARBL is home to many more books whose inscriptions gesture toward histories that can only be understood by piecing together fragments of the materials they left behind. Some of these fragments are accessible through public history resources such as local libraries and online encyclopedias, such as Wikipedia. Other fragments are accessible through MARBL that preserve additional manuscript and archive materials contextualizing the significance of these inscriptions. Complementing these incriptions, MARBL houses some of the personal papers of Brion Gysin, the library of W. H. Auden, the library of the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance, and many other collections that tell the stories of LGBT life in the 20th and 21st centuries.

In the spirit of public history and democratic access, MARBL is committed to keeping our doors open to any interested researcher, regardless of institutional or national affiliation. While no appointment is necessary to work with MARBL materials, we encourage researchers to contact Research Services so we can have materials ready upon your arrival, offer resources for additional materials related to your interests, and otherwise support your visit.

Theatre, Maurice Maeterlinck, 1901-1902,
modern morocco binding with delicate color detailing

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Today we take for granted that if we purchase a book it will come with a protective paper or cloth binding but this has not always been the case. The concept of the publisher printing and binding a book is a relatively recent phenomenon, dating from the first half of the 18th century. Before the Industrial Revolution books were made entirely by hand, from the paper production to the typesetting to the binding.

Sanctorum Kalendarii Romani, Christophe Plantin, printer, 1580,
fanfare binding, a distinctive style that was the height
of fashion in 1580

Generally each part of the production was performed by a separate business but, in contrast to today, the binding took place after it had been purchased by the consumer. The bookseller sold the books in a crude protective paper cover with the expectation that the consumer would have the volume bound to their taste and budget. This explains why you can take six examples of a 17th century work and find they are all bound in different materials and different styles. Cheaper bindings would have paper covers or use cheap leather such as sheep. The brown leather binding we’re familiar seeing on rare books is calf while the most expensive bindings would use goat skin, commonly known as morocco. Morocco has an attractive grain and takes color well. More expensive bindings could also be extravagantly decorated with gold tooling.

The Art of Contentment, Richard Allestree, 1675,
English binding from the 17th century with
distinctive "drawer handle" tooling

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MARBL was fortunate to recently receive a fascinating and rather gruesome gift in the form of the Atlas of the Diseases of the Skin by H. Radcliffe Crocker, published in Edinburgh in 1896. This large format work is lavishly illustrated with color depictions of many stomach-turning skin diseases.

Warts, Atlas of the Diseases of the Skin, 1896

Before the ability to reproduce color photographs scientific atlases such as this were used as reference books for the education of physicians. MARBL’s copy is particularly special due to its condition and housing. Initially the work does not look like a book at all as it is housed in a very large and heavy wooden box. Opening the box reveals not the expected two bound volumes but the work as it was originally issued in 16 parts each bound in a cheap paper cover. Copies in original parts like this are rare as they were meant to be bound together in two volumes once the set was complete. Title pages for both volumes were included in the final part. The reason why the original owner, a Dr. Webb Fowler of Coventry, England, had an expensive box fabricated rather than having them bound is unknown but he undoubtedly wanted to protect the substantial investment the set represented.

Outside of Box Holding the
Atlas of the Diseases of the Skin, 1896

Inside of Box Holding the
Atlas of the Diseases of the Skin, 1896

At one guinea or 21 shillings each, the entire set cost sixteen guineas or over £6,000 in today’s money, based on comparing average earnings. This work also represents a limitation of digitized images of books- it would be hard to digitally capture the splendid wooden box!

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1853,
red morocco Kelliegram Binding by Kelly & Sons.

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It's summertime, and either you're finding yourself lounging around on vacation with a good book, or you've been handed a list of "classics" to read before school starts. Whether you're approaching your next read from a place of leisure or education, we'd like to show you some staff favorites which can be found, most in their first edition glory, right here in the MARBL stacks.  We invite scholars and casual observers alike to experience all of our collections, and hope that if you have an interest in first editions, you'll find your way to MARBL to see how some of your favorite books looked when they were first printed. Here are a few staff selections to get you started:

MARBL has two copies of Toni Morrison's first novel, The Bluest Eye, one from the library of Louise Thompson Patterson, and one with the autograph of Lucille Clifton. The personal papers of both Patterson and Clifton can also be found in MARBL.

The Catcher in the Rye is a summer reading list staple. MARBL has both the first edition pictured here, as well as a second edition signed by the author.

There are many iterations of The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner depending on its edition, but did you know the first edition's cover was so intense?

Contrasting The Sound and the Fury's cover is this simple fabric one for MARBL's first edition, second issue of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

MARBL is home to a number of first edition copies of Atlanta native Margaret Mitchell's classic Civil War-era novel, Gone With the Wind. This one in particular is signed by Mitchell herself.

Not only do we have first published editions of books, but we also have proof copies which were sent to authors prior to publication. This is William S. Burrough's proof copy of Naked Lunch which is part of the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library.

While the contents of a book may remain the same, what makes one copy more interesting or more rare than another can depend on a great number of factors, with edition being only one of them. Previous ownership, inscriptions, binding, or the presence (or lack) of a dust jacket could all come into play. An example of this is the exquisite cover of Uncle Tom's Cabin above. It's not a first edition, though it is an early imprint, but it's a treasure to us because of the craftsmanship involved in the binding, which was done later by Kelly & Sons. 

There are many things to take into consideration when designating something "rare", and we hope that you'll come up and visit us to learn more about what can't be seen and enjoyed simply by reading a classic on a Kindle (though we love those, too!) Enjoy the rest of the summer, and come up and see us soon!