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BYU HistoryNew acquisitions to the Wordsworth Collection
May 14, 2009
Two notable recent additions to the Rowe Collection of William Wordsworth:
William Green, A description of a series of 60 small prints (1814).
This book contains etchings of the Lake District by an artist from Ambleside. Green originally intended to include a tourist guide as well, but the cost of printing the illustrations alone prohibited including anything more than brief descriptions of each plate. The book was published the year after the Wordsworth family moved to Rydal Mount.
Joanna Baillie, ed. A collection of poems, chiefly manuscript, and from living authors (1823).
Baillie collected over 80 original poems from contemporary authors, including two sonnets by Wordsworth, “Not love, nor war, nor the tumultuous swell” and “A volant tribe of bards on earth are found.” Wordsworth altered these sonnets before republishing them in later collections of his poetry.
Shakespeare in Special Collections
April 21, 2009
The birth of William Shakespeare is traditionally dated to April 23, 1564. We know he was born in late April because parish records in his birthplace of Stratford show that he was baptized on April 26. It has been convenient to speculate that Shakespeare’s birthday is April 23 since we know he died on that day in 1616.
The library has not actively collected historic editions of Shakespeare, choosing to focus its collecting efforts in rare 19th-century literature instead. Yet Special Collections still has several important Shakespeare items, including a small collection of leaves from the 1623 First Folio (a page from Richard III is shown above). We also own copies of Julius Caesar and King Lear printed during the English Restoration.
Students and scholars who wish to study the First Folio and other earliest printings of Shakespeare’s poems and sonnets can visit Special Collections to consult facsimiles of these books on CD-ROM. These digital facsimiles feature searchable text and can be accessed in our reading room. They can also be made available for class visits to Special Collections.
New works in the Robert Burns Collection
April 3, 2009
Since 2009 is the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns’s birth, publishers are issuing many new biographies, critical evaluations, and editions of his poems to mark the occasion. The BYU Burns Collection has received a number of new books on Burns in just the past three months:
Biographies and Criticism:
- Robert Crawford, The Bard: Robert Burns, a Biography (2009)
- John Rodger, ed., Fickle Man: Robert Burns in the 21st Century (2009)
- Catherine Smith-Mason, The Stars of Robert Burns (2008)
- Donald Smith, God, the Poet and the Devil: Robert Burns and Religion (2009)
- Ferenc M. Szasz, Abraham Lincoln and Robert Burns: Connected Lives and Legends (2008)
Editions and Works Inspired by Burns:
- Arnold Johnston, The Witching Voice: A Novel from the Life of Robert Burns (2009)
- Rabbie’s Rhymes: Burns for Wee Folk (2008)
- Tam O’Shanter, illustrated by Alexander Goudie (2008)
New Acquisition–Leslie Norris Papers
March 16, 2009
Leslie Norris was born May 21, 1921 in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. Writing poetry from a young age, he later added short stories, works for children and radio broadcasts to his repertoire. Leslie published his first volume of poetry at 19. A few years later he launched a successful career as an educator. Eventually he was able to combine his writing and teaching both in Great Britain and the United States. In 1983 he accepted a six month appointment at Brigham Young University which resulted in involvement with the university over three decades, until his death on April 6, 2006.
Leslie won numerous prizes in the United States and Great Britain. He also had an international reputation.
We are excited to have recieved Leslie’s papers. The papers are currently being processed and should be ready for patron use later this year.
New acquisitions in rare literature
March 10, 2009
With the assistance of the Friends of the Harold B. Lee Library, Special Collections recently acquired a first-edition copy of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ famous classic, Tarzan of the Apes. The novel spawned some two dozen sequels, a comic strip and comic books, radio and television programs, and numerous film adaptations. Burroughs was a prolific author of adventure and science fiction novels. He even dabbled in westerns and historical fiction. He is best-known for his Tarzan and Mars series. Special Collections owns an extensive collection of Burroughs’ first editions, many in their original dust jackets. With this latest acquisition, the library now has an entire collection of first editions of the Tarzan books, including posthumous short story collections likeTarzan and the Castaways.
Celebrating Wallace Stegner
February 18, 2009
Today marks the 100th birthday of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Wallace Stegner. Stegner, who spent part of his teenage years Salt Lake City and received a BA from the University of Utah, wrote short stories, novels, and non-fiction. He was also a well-known conservationist and teacher, who mentored acclaimed contemporary American authors like Edward Abbey, Wendell Berry, Ken Kesey and Larry McMurtry.
Several of his books are about Utah or take place in Utah settings: his 1943 novel Big Rock Candy Mountain follows its characters through a period of residence in Salt Lake City; nonfiction works like The Gathering of Zion (1964) and Beyond the Hundredth Meridian (1954) examine the exploration and settlement of Utah in the 19th century.
Special Collections owns first editions of many of Stegner’s works, as well as this 1955 letter to Jeanne W. Gunn (MSS SC 1483). Gunn had inquired about Stegner’s career; in his reply Stegner discusses his time at the University of Utah and getting his first book, Remembering Laughter, published.
The Robert Burns Collection in the media
February 5, 2009
In conjunction with the library’s new exhibit, “Robert Burns and the Poetic Image,” Special Collections’ Robert Burns Collection was recently featured on KBYU-TV’s “BYU Weekly” and KBYU-FM’s “Thinking Aloud”. Follow the links to view or listen to the programs.
Collecting Robert Burns on his 250th Birthday
January 20, 2009
January 25th, 2009 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet. Celebrations are currently taking place all over the world, from poetry recital competitions to Burns Suppers to an attempt at setting a world record for the largest toast to the poet.
Special Collections’ Robert Burns Collection contains a wide variety of printed material from other significant Burns anniversaries, including the centenary of Burns’ death in 1896 and the bicentenary of his birth in 1959. Programs from special events, souvenir pamphlets, and popular literature about Scotland’s Bard are interesting cultural artifacts which provide evidence of Burns’ popularity and the ways in which his life and works were interpreted over the past centuries.
At this time, Special Collections is striving to collect not only scholarly works published to coincide with the Burns 250th anniversary, but ephemeral productions as well. We are also launching an exhibit of items from the Burns Collection, entitled “Robert Burns and the Poetic Image,” which will be on display on the main floor of the Harold B. Lee Library starting this weekend.
Charles Dickens’s holiday tales
December 5, 2008
As the holidays approach, many will celebrate this year by reading or viewing one of the numerous film or stage adaptations of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. While this tale has become a well-loved classic, Dickens’s other Christmas books are relatively unknown today.
Dickens published these holiday tales in the 1840’s — a decade often referred to as the “Hungry Forties,” which was a particularly difficult time in the British Isles. Poor harvests, high prices, and other economic troubles fostered poverty and social unrest. Dickens’s Christmas books, though wrapped in the trappings of holiday sentimentality, were meant to carry messages about the plight of the working classes and the oppressed.
Dickens issued five Christmas books, beginning with A Christmas Carol. All were bestsellers, though not all of them were well-received by contemporary critics. Following A Christmas Carol (first published December 17, 1843) were The Chimes (December 16, 1844), The Cricket on the Hearth (December 20, 1845), The Battle of Life (December 19, 1846), and The Haunted Man (December 19, 1848). Special Collections has first editions of all five of the Christmas books, including copies signed by Dickens.
Victorian and Early Science Fiction
November 11, 2008
Early science fiction novels make up an important part of the literary collections in L. Tom Perry Special Collections. The Victorian and Rare Book Collections contain first and early editions of science fiction classics like Edwin Abbott’s Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Mars Books, and the works of H.G. Wells — including a first edition copy of The War of the Worlds and a copy of The Time Machine signed by the author.
These books, as well as novels by lesser-known authors, can be found by searching the library catalog and limiting your search by library to “HBLL Special Collections.” Or, simply visit Special Collections, and we can help you access a particular title.
The library catalog allows searching by genre if you do not have a particular title or author in mind. Science fiction and fantasy are subdivided by the nationality of the author. To find science fiction or fantasy fiction, enter one of the following terms and choose “genre/form”:
- Science fiction
- Science fiction, American [French, etc.]
- Fantasy fiction
- Fantasy fiction, American [French, etc.]
- Fanzines
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