The Dog's Tooth is the blog of the Special Collections unit of Memorial University Libraries. It will be updated regularly with news about acquisitions, donations, exhibits, lectures and other happenings in Special Collections, as well as interesting pickings and choosing from literature about special collections, book history and bibliography. The blog title refers to the medieval practice of burnishing gold leaf illumination with a dog’s tooth.
Closely related to the 2016 George M. Story lecture, there will be an interdisciplinary symposium on the history of the book in Newfoundland and Labrador on 7-8 May in Arts 1043. It is hosted by the Department of English, the Basilica Museum, and the Newfoundland Historical Society.
Featuring talks by researchers in English, History, Religious Studies, Sociology, and Special Collections, among other areas, the symposium is free and open to the public.
In 2013, Roger and Marlene Peattie made a second significant donation to Memorial University Libraries, adding approximately 1000 volumes to the existing special collection of Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian-Illustrated books. The 2013 donation also included a collection of picture books (approximately 1250 titles) and a small number of letters and documents by Pre-Raphaelites and their associates. More about the new additions and how to access them can be found here.
The Permeable Barrier: A Catalogue of Seventeenth Century Print Works at Memorial University Libraries.Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Medieval Fragments. A Teaching Portfolio. Manuscripts in the Age of Print. Meant to Convey Aspects of Manuscript and Print Culture in the Transition from Script to Print, compiled by Dr. Scott Gwara (University of South Carolina).
The eighteen manuscript fragments in the portfolio highlight some of the ways in which print culture affected the layout and decorative style of manuscripts, as well as some of the ways that manuscripts continued to influence printed books. The portfolio also provides evidence of the continued use of manuscripts and the production of new manuscripts throughout the hand-press period. Selected examples below.
Archaized fragment. Processional from the Royal Abbey of St. Louis at Poissy. Single folio on vellum, c.a. 1490.
A script made to look like print. Luxury illuminated Pontifical. Single folio on vellum. Northern France, ca. 1525.
Printed Book of Hours decorated by hand. Folio printed on vellum and illuminated by Gilles and Germain Hardouyn. Single folio on vellum. Paris, dated 1513.
Fifteenth century text showing erasures, substitutions, abbreviations, notes & directions (margins), added texts and music (margins); music on paper stubs inserted into the gutter;continually updated for more than 200 years. Complete quire from an Antiphonal. Eight consecutive folios on vellum, foliated 45-60. The Netherlands, ca. 1450
Decorated folio from a stenciled Gradual on vellum. Spain, c.a. 1700.
Miniature from an eighteenth-century Persian Work. Sa’di (Saadi), The Gulistan or Garden of Roses. Single folio on strengthened paper. Persia, ca. 1760.
Indenture document (mortgage). Single document on vellum. England, dated 25 March 1774: approx. 620 x 800 mm. .
The Alcuin Society Book Design Awards Exhibit (2013) is now up for your viewing pleasure on the third floor of The Queen Elizabeth II Library. There are a limited number of catalogues available with the exhibit—first come first served. The books will be on display until early December.
For his contributions to research on book publishing and on Pre-Raphaelite literature and for his continuing contributions to Memorial’s intellectual life, Dr. Roger Peattie will be recognized with an honorary doctor of laws degree during the St. John’s session of convocation on Friday, Oct. 17, at 3 p.m.
Cornwall, Barry. English Songs, and Other Small Poems. London: Chapman and Hall, 1851. Pastoral fore-edge painting showing cows, horses, people and lambs.
Moore, Thomas. Poetical Works of Thomas Moore. London: George Routledge and Sons, 1900. English ‘town square’ fore-edge painting depicting town buildings (perhaps Hight Street, Edinburgh) and a number of people, including two unfolding a piece of red fabric.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Poetical and Dramatic Works of Coleridge. London: C. Daly, 1890. Fore-edge painting: portrait of Coleridge and a ship scene from the “Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.”
This summer the Queen Elizabeth II Library is hosting a commemorative exhibition of artists’ books from the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition. The exhibition contains approximately forty-five unique or limited-edition works from ten countries. For more information about the Al-Mutanabbi Street Project please visit the organization’s website.
(above) Miriam Schaer, USA. Witness, 2012
(above) Donna Ruff, USA, Rabii, 2011
(above) Al-Mutanabbi Street Exhibit, QEII Library. Level 3.
Koran. Glasgow: David Bryce, c. 1900. (824)pp. 1.0″x 0.75″
From the collection of Hannah Rabinowitz, with her miniature bookplate to the front paste-down. Printed entirely in Arabic and representing one of the most famous of all David Bryce publications, these Korans were distributed to Muslim Ottoman soldiers fighting for the allies during World War I.
Printed on thin tissue paper, with minute headers and ornaments throughout. Re-bound in red morocco with gilt decoration to the spine, and in a matching red morocco slipcase.
The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments. Glasgow: David Bryce, (1901). 876pp. 2.0″x 1.25″
Jointly published with Henry Frowde in London. A later edition of the smallest complete bible in the world, first published in 1896, and later under various imprints.
Bound in the original limp black leather, with elaborate gilt-stamping to front panel and spine. Housed in the original metal case with a red cloth inlay to the cover that holds a magnifier.
Contains full-page illustrations of biblical scenes.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Glasgow: David Bryce, (1904). 509pp. 2.0″x 1.25.” With the additional imprint of Frederick A. Stokes of New York. One of a set of Shakespeare’s complete works issued by David Bryce and dedicated to British stage actress Ellen Terry. Bryce published a number of literary sets dedicated to Terry, and according to Bondy, these volumes are “Bryce’s greatest achievement as a leading promoter of miniature books.” With the seldom-seen original printed dust wrapper.
As Bondy notes, the type is clear and readable to the naked eye. Illustrated with a frontispiece engraving depicting a scene from the play.
The Life of General Tom Thumb. Troy, NY, Merriam, Moore & Co., (c. 1850). 64 pp. 2.0″ x 1.5″. From The Tiny Library series.
Illustrated with a black & white frontispiece. A biography of Charles Stratton, known as General Tom Thumb, intended for children. Stratton was the smallest man in the world at the time, and became a celebrity while touring the world with P. T. Barnum and performing at Barnum’s American Museum in New York City. The biography is followed by rhymes and a short moral tale. Contemporary owners’ inscriptions to front endpaper and paste-down.
Burns, Robert. Saturday Night and Other Poems. Edinburgh, Andersons, (c. 1925). x, 372pp. 2.0″ x 1.5″
Illustrated with a black & white frontispiece depicting the Cottar returning home from his day’s toil. A collection of Robert Burns’s poems, focused on the experiences of the common people, bound in red, blue, and green silk tartan. With gilt leather lettering piece on the spine.
Twenty-four broadsides created by Richard Outram and Barbara Howard have been added to the Special Collections holdings of the Queen Elizabeth II Library’s Special Collections. These works are in addition to the holdings of the Gauntlet Press Collection and the Robert D. Denham Collection.
The Dog's Tooth 