Prepared in the Interests The of Book Collecting at …clements.umich.edu/Quarto/Quarto_1st...

TheNo.26! Issued Occasionally for The Clements Library Associates

Prepared in the Interests

of Book Collecting at the

Unive rsity of Michigan

[Sept: 1952

'(he John W. WatlingFunds

No one cou ld work for long withthe la te John W. Watl in g withoutrealizing that few institutions wereas close to hi s heart as th e Clem­ents Library. A further e vidence ofthis love and affection came to ligh twhen Mr Watling's will was read.He had very kindly provided a be­quest of $5,000 to T he ClementsLibrary Associates, of which h e hadbeen chairman of the Execu tiveCommitt ee from th e fou nding of .the organiza tion. Fur th ermore, MrW atling placed no restr ictions onthe bequest, allowing i t to be dis­persed as the Executi ve Committeedetermined . At i ts meeting on J une20, the Execu ti ve Committee ofThe Clements Library Associa tesadop ted the following resolu tion :

T he John W. Watling T rust FundThe John JV. Watling Memorial Fund

T he $5 .000.00 bequest gratefully re­ceived by The Clements Library Associatesunder the will of the lat e J ohn W.Wa lli ng. former Chainuan of the Execu­live Commi ttee of The Associa tes and anenthusiast ic friend of the Library and ofboo k collec tors, shall be paid over to thev ice-President in ch arge of business an dfinan ce of the Un iversi ty to be held andin vested as The Joh n W. Watling T ru stFund (or The Cleme nts library Asso­dates an d as part of the Un iversity's trustfunds. and to pay to T he Associat es theincome (rom th e T ru st Fund regu larlyand such part of th e principal there of asthe Executive Committee may at an y timerequest.

No request sha ll be made for any partof the principal of th e Trust Fund exceptfor th e purchase of boo k or manuscriptmat eri als for the William L. ClementsLibrary, which th e Execut ive Committeeconsiders arc ot herwise not ob tainable , andthe Committee may accumulate income(rom the Trust Fund and restore an y partof the principal thereof which it may h aveso used .

T he Associates will at an y tim e accep tany su ms from other persons whic h maybe design at ed for thi s Trust Fu nd an dwill tr ansmit them to the Vice-Presidentof the Un iversity to be held and used inthe same manner .

The Income from the T rust Fund andany part of the principal thereof thatmay be paid to the Executive Committeepursuant to its req uest shall be designatedon the accounts of The Associates as TbeJohn w. Watling Memorial Fund andshal l be expended only for the purchaseof book or manuscript ma ter ials for theLibrary . The Associat es will a t any timeaccept any sums from other pe rson s forthe Memorial Fund and any sums whichmay be received in memory of Joh n w.Watl ing shall becom e part of the Memo­rial Fund unles.s spe cial ly designated forthe Trust Fund.

AU book and man uscript materials pur­chased thro ugh th e Memorial Fund shallbe so designa ted on the Library recordsand an appropriate special book plateshall be designed and shall be SUitablyaffixed to the material.

No part of the Trust Fund or theMemo rial Fund shall be used for anyot her purpose than the p urc hase of bookor ma nuscript materia ls for the WilliamL. Clements Library.

The Associa tes hope th at fr iendsof the late Chairman of the Execu­ti ve Committee will join to enlargethe J ohn \\' . Watling Trust Fundand the John W. Watling Memo­rial Fund. Checks may be sent tothe Library, made out in favor ofthe University of Mi ch igan or theClements Library.

Charge and CounterchargeEach year j un ior hi gh school stu­

dents from Ann Arbor and otherMichigan towns visit the ClementsLihrary to see some of our greatAmerican treasures. \Ve try to ex­plain our en thusiasm for history h)­telling them about some of themore fasci nating episod es of Amer­ican history which are not found intheir textbooks. W e have built upa little fund of stories from whichwe draw as we display the boo ksfor their eager eyes. One of th e tid­bits we like is the absorbing ab­surdities of Andre T hevet, theFranciscan fr ia r wh o acco mpaniedNicholas Durand de Vill egagnonto Brazil in 1555.

T hevet's Les Singula ritez de LaFrance Antarctique was publishedin Paris in 1557 and again in the ­following year_ I t contains a briefaccount of Villegagnon's colony atRio de J aneiro, a great deal aboutthe customs of the Indi ans of Sou thAmerica, and a report of a fantastictrip to the west coas t of SouthAmerica. Enchanting small wood­cuts scattered th rough th e book con ­tai n some of the earliest pictorialrecords of bananas, toucan s. fiyingfish, an teaters, armadi llas, swee tpo tatoes. cigars, etc. Justin Winsorpolitely called T hevet "menda­cious," but we have more baldlycalle d h im a liar. We hasten to addthat there are provable fac ts whichThevet records accu ra tely, particu­larly whe n he is writing about thearea around the rocky island onwhich Fort de Co lig ny was estab­lished.

T he story of the French colonyin Brazil is fantastic and the morewe have dug into it , the less certainwe are that anyone in volved in theevents kn ew how to tell the wh oletruth, Quite recently, we acquiredthe firs t edi tion of a little book byone of Thevet's detractors, Jean deLery, It carries the title Histoired'u n VO)'age fait en la T erre duBresil, outrement di te Ameriqueand was published at La R ochellein 1578, De Lery was a youngH ugu en ot who accompanied twoprotesta nt mi nisters to the Ville­gagno n colony . H e arrived afterT hevet h ad left for France and he,in turn. made tracks for h ome be­fore very long. H is book contains ami n ia ture hi story of the colony,lo ng an d important des criptions ofthe Indians and their cus toms, anda violent attack on Villegagnon andThevet .

De Lery lived in th at bloody cen­tury of H enri II, the Edict of

Nantes, the St. Bartholomew's DayMassacre, Admiral de Coligny, theCardinal de Guise, and the Siege ofSancerre. It was a period when anindividual life was held cheap andthe cruelty of the men of one na­tion toward their brothers of an­other was a matter of pride. Butinternational strife could not matchcivil wars for brutality. The strug­gles of the Huguenots, backed asthey were by strong political andmilitary forces, brought religion in­to almost every aspect of living inFrance. The religious beliefs of theFrench were a bloody thread woveninto the fabric of their existence.De Ury was in opposition to Ville­gagnon and Thevet. Although hisHistoire is fairly moderate in tone,his convictions in -religion inclinedhim to censure instead of praise .He could see nothing good inVillegagnon, even though, in man­aging a quarrelsome colony, theleader displayed skill in holding thegroup together against their com­mon enemies.

Villegagnon had already madeone voyage to Brazil before he at­tempted to colonize the place hehad chosen at Rio de Janeiro.When preparing his enterprise inthe New World, he offered the col­ony to_his countrymen as an oppor­tunity to annoy their enemy Spain.The [act that the area belonged toPortugal (with which countryFrance was at peace) seems not tohave disturbed Villegagnon. Se­cretly, he offered the colony to Ad­miral de Coligny, one of the greatHuguenot leaders, as a refuge forhis coreligionists. The first year insturdy Fort de Coligny was success­ful. although more colonists werebadly needed. Villegagnon wrotehoneyed letters to John Calvin andother leaders of the reform move­ment urging them to send ministersskilled in converting the Indiansand colonists. The two Genevanministers whom de Lery accom­panied had been thus encouraged,and had set out at Calvin's bidding.Nearly three hundred men, sixboys, and live women formed theparty. The New World met them

with troubles which they had hopednever to experience again. Ville­gagnon, now that he had colonists,did not trouble to conceal his zealfor the Roman Catholic faith. Hepersecuted the Huguenots in num­erous ways, drove them from thefort to the mainland, where theywere attacked by the natives andthe Portuguese, and eventually, itis said, threw a number of themfrom a cliff into the sea.

The majority of the Huguenotcolonists petitioned Villegagnon toallow them to return to France; deUry was among them. They weregiven a most unworthy ship which,although they feared it would neverreach France, they preferred to riskrather than stay at Rio de Janeiro.The last few chapters of de Lery'sbook tell of the extraordinaryvoyage home, of the thirst andhunger they experienced, and ofthe appalling fate which almostswallowed them when they reachedFrance. Villegagnon had sent asealed package with the captain ofthe vessel to be delivered to themagistrate of the first French portoff which the ship might anchor.The packet contained leures-de­cachet accusing the colonists onboard the ship of being hereticsworthy of burning at the stake. For­tunately the ship reached the portof Hennebonne which was con­trolled by Huguenots rather thanby supporters of the Cardinal de ­Guise. Otherwise the charges againstThevet might never have beenmade by de Lery,

'The Missing Six FeetFor a reason, which could be de­

termined without too much difficul­ty if we wanted to take the trouble,we seem to be abnormally attractedto the rare and the unusual. Forinstance, we would prefer that greatrarity a short presidential conven­tion. It was not realized in thisyear, 1952. We are also attractedstrongly to a large number of ex­ceedingly rare books, many ofwhich are to be found on theshelves of the Clements Library.

Rare books we love, admire, carefor, because of the stories that aretold in them. Between televisionand radio, reading has probablybeen on the decline in this country[or a few years, and perhaps, forsome time to come will continue todecline. Indeed, it is interesting to

speculate on the number of readersof this note, and the probablylarger number who might haveread the Quarto if it had been pub­lished (en years ago.

One of the rarities in which weare interested (a rarity other thanthe modern reader) is a little bookof which the Library owns twocopies. OUf first was given to us anumber of years ago by AssociateWilliam R. Coe, of New York. Oursecond copy was purchased for usby The Clements Library Associateslast month. Each is in its originalbinding, although the second copyis much inferior in its condition.The book is Mr Estwick Evans'A Pedestrious Tour of Four Thou­sand Miles, Through the WesternStates and - Territories during theWinter and Spring of I8I8. It waspublished in 1819. The title ap­pears on the cover, as well as onthe normal title-page. It is an ac­count of Mr. Evans' (we call him"Pedestrious" Evans) adventureson a walking tour, which took himfrom New Hampshire straight ac­ross the country around the south­ern rim of two of the Great Lakesto Detroit. From there, he retracedhis footsteps to the Ohio River,which he then followed south andwest to the Mississippi and thenceto New Orleans. At New Orleans,he took a ship back through theGulf of Mexico, stopping at Ha­vana, and on into the Gulf Streamto New England.

His descriptions of the country­side are unusually charming; hisaccounts of his adventures are toldwith spirit and skill. He reportsvarious conversations and observa­tions on visits with numerous im­portant citizens whom he met onthe way. In our own area, he calledupon Lewis Cass and dined withthe Cass family. He was a little re-

luctant, incidentally, to take dinnerwith Cass because he felt that histravelling costume-ethe only one hecarried-was inappropriate. Earlierin the book, he had described hisdress as follows: "Mine was a closedress, consisting of buffalo skins.Over my shoulders and under onearm was strapped a double leathercase, with brass chargers, for shotand ball; and under the other arma case for powder strapped in thesame way. Around the waist was abelt, wi th a brace of pistols, a dirk,two side cases for pistol balls, anda case for moulds and screw. Alsoaround the waist was buckled anIndian apron, which fell behind; itwas about eighteen inches square.covered with fine bear skin, trim­med with its fur, and having overthe lower part of it a net for game.This apron contained a pocket­compass, maps, journal. shavingmaterial, a small hatchet, patentfire works, &:c. My cap and gloveswere of fur, my moccasons of deer­skin, and on my shoulder I carrieda rifle."

Owners of copies of the Pedes­trious Tour will find by comparisonthat the version above does notagree with their copies. Ours is aunique copy extensively correctedand revised in manuscript by theauthor (about 1830) for a newedition which was not published.For instance, after the first sentencequoted above, the original versionread, "On my shoulders were epau­lettes made of the long hair of theanimal; and they were for the pur­pose of shielding the shouldersfrom rain." Perhaps they droppedoff during the long trek-or theymay have leaked. In the earlier ver­sion, Evans carried "a six-feetrifle:" in the corrected copy it be-

- came _simply "a r'ifle."It might be fun someday, per­

haps in 1969, to publish the secondedition "as revised by the author."

Q. & A.Q. What is the book? A. Petit

CatechismeHistorique .. . Par M .Fleury . . . Detroit: Theophilus

Mettez, 1812. Q. Is it a rare book?A. Yes. Five copies only are listedin Michigan Imprints Inventory .Q. Why did you want the book?A. Collectors set impossible goalsand hope, with luck and persever­ance, to come very close to them.We hope to have a copy of each ofthe so-called Richard Press im­prints. Q. Why do you want them?A. They are part of the heritage ofMichigan and the University. Q.Why? A. A Short Historical Cate­chism (the alternate pages are inFrench and English) was printedunder the direction of FatherGabriel Richard. Q. Who was Fath­er Richard? A . One of Michigan'sgreat citizens, a priest, an educator,a congressman, and a co-founder ofthe University of Michigan. Q.Why was the book , published?A . As a textbook, in the form ofquestions and answers, for use inone of Father Richard's schools.Q. Where was the book published?A. In Detroit. Father Richard hireda printer to run the small press heowned-the second Detroit press­for the benefit of his fellow-citizens.

Q. How did you get the book?A. We were offered a copy by aNew York dealer at a very highprice. Q. Did you buy the copy?A. No. While it was in the Libraryand about to be returned reluct­antly, another copy was offeredfrom California at a much betterprice. Q. Did you buy this secondcopy? A. No. The Clements LibraryAssociates bought the book for theLibrary.

Merrily to BreakfastA touch of humor in a time of

strain can be a wonderful relief, asthose of us who observed the Re­publican National Convention cantestify. The demand of DelegateRomany of Puerto Rico for a pollof his delegation blew away the ten­sion that had troubled the Conven­tion for many hours. Humor isfound in the strangest placesl TheAssociates secured for the Library

_recently a copy of Massachusetts, orThe First Planters of Neui-England

. _.. Boston, 1696, the first NewEngland book with an antiquarianflavor. There is humor even in thatsolemn volume although it is onlya collection, probably suggested byJoshua Scottow, of contemporaryaccounts of the early, difficult yearsof the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Among the manuscripts printedis the letter of Thomas Dudley tothe Countess of Lincoln in whichhe summarizes the events of hislirst year in ' the New World. Theaccount has been called "the mostinteresting, as well as the mostauthentic- document in our earlyannals." It is a tale of disasters,courage, hard work, and great faith"in the power of God," yet there isfound on the last two pages the fol­lowing bit of sly humor.

"Upon the Twenty-fifth of thisMarch," wrote Thomas Dudley,"one of Watertown having lost aCalf, and about ten of the Clockat night, hearing the Howling ofsome Wolves not far off, raisedmany of his Neighbours out oftheir Beds, that by Dischargingtheir Muskets, near about the placewhere he heard tlte Wolves, hemight so put the Wolves to flight,and save his Calf: The Wind serv­ing fit to carry the Report of theMuskets to Roxbury, three milesoff, at such a time; the Inhabitantsthere took an Alarm, Beat up theirDrum, Armed themselves, and sentin Post to us to Boston, to Raise usalso: So in the morning, the Calfbeing found safe, the Wolves af­frighted, and our danger past, wewent merrily to Breakfast."

"Cultural Tidbits"The heading above is used in a

new inter-American literary newsjournal which came to us the otherday from Mexico City. We thoughtit worth using (at least once) be­cause it seems to express the char­acter of the letters transcribed be­low. The discoverer of the firstchoice specimen from the Papers ofNathanael Greene was our goodfriend and Associate, Father CharlesMetzger, S.]. The day was rather

warm and the sound of leaves beingtu rned in the Man uscri pt Roomswas just about all that di sturbedthe quiet when, suddenly, therewas a roar of laughter which quitestartled the dust from the tops ofthe hook cases. We tra cked thelaughter to its source and insistedon a copy of the cause for readersof The Quarto.

"On publick Sarvis Onrebell

Generall Green

"Camp at Mecords ferr ey Septem­ber 18, 1781

"Onred Sir

"this Day I Came to Camp andSpocke to Colo malbeday and hegot in a gra te passhan and Said hewood not give oup the Commandtill he had Express Orders fromyour Oner I told him that I hadorders by word of mouth But hewood not know now man withoutExpress Orders from your onershand which I Hope you will Sendby the Berer What part of themillisha is to be garde and if aneyparte of the millisha that is hereon Command is to be Sent you willplease to Let me know I shall wateyour order all from your

"Humbl Sarvant"Francis Lock"

T he second tidbit is a printedletter from the Azores written in1884 by Antonio Ramos da SilveiraCoutinho. Perhaps it belongs in theUniversity's fine Transpor ta tionLibrary, although we probably likeit too well to let it go. The letter,addressed to Lt. B. M. Mason, readsin part as follows:

"I have the honor to acknowledgthe recip t of your letter of 4th ulti­mo, fulfilling an order of the H on­orable Secretary of the Navy De­partment, relative to my communi­cation of May 15th, referred to thesubject , of setting locomotive En­gines IN SAIL VESSELS. There­fore , I am greatl y pleased for thisopportunity, to inform the sameH onorable Secretary, that the busi­ness in question now , is so easy tobe conceived, that anyone needsnot toomuch doing, to understandit, by the way I am going to de-

scribe ; subdning myself to your re­quest.

"Do place with firmness, to thedeck of any vessel, a locomotiveEngine, without whee lson, and thenmake it work as usually ; thi s is allwhat men have to do, for the pur­pose of seeing a ship go over thesea, as the STEAM VESSELS donow at our sight. 'This may also beused by the steam vessels, for thiergreater speed on sea.

"T he locomotive Engines may beperfixed on an axis , in the center ofthe frame; in order as to make theEngine move, to any side wanted;to approach the vessel to any objectintended necessary-as to an othervessel, wharf, and so on.

"So, I am sure the great pressureof the locomotive, will force thevessel to go with speed even yetmore, than the Engines do INSTEAM VESSELS.

"This description is only a sum- ·mary one; and needs not any drau­ings or skatches to be produced, inorder as to be well understood; andis of a nature so simple, that beingsubdued to the judgment of theNavy Department, Gentlemen, ofcourse will do me justice: '

Our Friend WasinghtonA recent gift of The Associates

has irritated us to the po int wheremost of the staff would like toscream with rage and frustration.It is an especially important book,but we can't seem to decide justwhere it /its in . T he .ti tle is M em­oire Contenant le Precis des Faits. . . [Par is) Sur l'Imprime. De l'Im­primerie Royale. 1756. It is a kindof White Paper from the Fren chCou rt complaining of the mili taryact ions of the Bri tish inNorthAmerica . OUf particular interest(tex tua lly) is in the appearance ofthe "Journal du Major Wasingh­ton," which is the first appeara ncein print of the captured journalWashington had written during hisfamous expedition to western Penn­sylvania.

Our irritation over the M em oire

is purely bibliographical. You see.Lou is X V was somewhat a nnoyedat the antics of the Brit ish alongthe Ohio River and, since he wasnot certain that his ow n cla im to

the cou ntry was entirely justified.he made a display of his d ispleasureby circu lating the "facts in thecase." T his he did by distributing amanuscript memorandum to Euro­pean chancellories. -O,e Britishthereupon published a semi-officialset 01 Observat ions which gave theFrench a fine opportun ity to hreakinto print with their charges and aset of justifications. Using the Roy­al Pr inting House, Louis XV prin t­ed and reprinted the M em oiremany times. We have long had ninevariant printings of the piece andwe have known for many ),ears thatthere was one other on record.About fifteen years ago , one of ourCurators of Book s spent man yhou rs tracking down th ese variantprintings and putting them in alogical order. Ever ything seemedset tled. Then the James C. McCoyLi brary was placed on the marketthis last spring and much to ourconsternation the McCoy copy ofthe Memoire was found to matchnone of the known variants . Well,consternation and delight, for it isalways pleasurable to secure some­thing no one else seems to have.OUf irritation stems from the factthat we have not been able yet tofit thi s new copy into the sequenceof printings. 'Vhen we have solvedthe problem (as we shall even tually)we may. in the words of ThomasDudley, go "merrily to Breakfast."

R andolph G. Adams

Memorial Lectu re

to be held here in