Recent Acquisitions
Prometheus Unbound. A Lyrical Drama. In Four Acts. With Other Poems. (PR5416 .A1 1820)
Prometheus Unbound. A Lyrical Drama. In Four Acts. With Other Poems. (London: C. and J. Ollier, 1820.) With the cancelled preface, half-title, and final leaf of advertisements. The rare first edition, first issue, with both the Contents leaf A3, incorrectly printed "misellaneous"--slit for cancellation but still present--and the cancel (corrected to “miscellaneous”) bound in after A8.
(July 7, 2009)
Thomas Jefferson Letter to Henry Remsen (MSS 7391)
Jefferson, Monticello, writes to Remsen concerning the purchase of a machine for cutting nails, noting that he is finding "nail making profitable and convenient ... and is ... getting more into it." He notes that he has a dozen hands already employed and expects to increase their number. He concludes with a note about the possibility of the French making peace with their continental enemies and adds a postscript about some enclosed bills of exchange [not present]. A lengthy docket by Remsen on the verso notes that he has sent the enclosure to Van Staphorsts & Hubbard, Amsterdam, has paid for the machine and its transportation, and has paid for hoop iron.
(February 16, 2009)
Drawings of Western Africa by John Revey ( MSS 14357)
The collection of 32 drawings (watercolor, crayon, ink) documents a ship's tour and survey of the Slave Coast from Ghana, Sierra Leone, El Mina, Cape Palmas, the Bight of Benin, Whyda, Fernando Po, the Cameroons, concluding at Corisco Bay, an island off Equatorial Guinea.
Both the life and customs of the native inhabitants, and incidents and places associated with the slave trade are rendered in detail, with penciled annotations. Scenes depict slave factories including Cape Coast Castle; a slave stockade; dwellings for "Liberated Africans"; Kroomen; locations and structures of various Christian missions; native customs including execution of a witch, a burial, and mourning; occupations; dwellings; weapons, furniture, baskets and other implements of daily life; edible plants; and maps and topographical drawings.
(October 1, 2008)
Mark Twain's Copy
In the Himalayas and on the Indian Plains / by C.F. Gordon Cumming. -- A new edition with forty-two illustrations.-- (London: Chatto & Windus, 1886.) Original publisher's pictorial cloth. There are approximately 55 marginal notes made by Mark Twain totaling about 260 words on 37 pages, and an additional 24 mathematical calculations in his hand. There are as well approximately 44 notes totaling about 145 words to 35 pages by his wife Livy and daughter Clara. Nearly a dozen notes that have been crossed out in pencil, some easily deciphered, some heavily crossed out. The Clemens family acquired this book abroad sometime before departing Australia and boarding the P & O steamer Oceana headed for Ceylon and India the first week in January 1896. Marginal notes indicate that Twain also read and annotated the book in 1897 while writing Following The Equator.
(July 18, 2008)
Papers of Anne Spencer (MSS 14204)
A 40-year effort by the University of Virginia to acquire the papers of poet Anne Spencer finally met with success in June. With her family’s blessing, the late poet’s literary life on paper was boxed up at her home in Lynchburg, Va., and delivered to the Special Collections library. The University Library began courting her in 1968, but Spencer, considered one of the most important voices of the Harlem Renaissance literary period, was not interested in having the University procure her papers while she was still alive.
Spencer's papers include published and unpublished manuscripts of her poetry; personal, literary, and family correspondence; journals; financial records; photographs; and, nearly 1,000 books from her personal library. Her papers complement Special Collections'extensive holdings in American and Virginian literary archives
(June 11, 2008)
Papers of Julian Bond (MSS 13347)
The University of Virginia Library has acquired the personal papers of civil rights activist, former Georgia state senator and representative, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chairman, and university professor Julian Bond. One of the first African Americans to reach national prominence in politics, Bond began his political career in as a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), known for its voter registration drives in the South.
The collection holds 47,000 items, including photographs, recordings, and drafts of more than three hundred speeches. It contains Bond’s correspondence with influential civil rights activists, and memorabilia from the many organizations, schools, and events that he supported. The collection also chronicles Bond’s service in the Georgia General Assembly, and documents his 1976 presidential run and leadership of the NAACP. The papers complement the Library’s existing collection of records of the Southern Elections Fund, an early political action committee that Bond founded to aid the election of rural Southern black candidates.
(March 27, 2008)