VO L. I. NO.7 THE CLEMENTS LIBRARY ASSOC IATES APRIL 1997

THE C LEMENTS LIBRARY CELEBRATES75TH ANN IVERSARY

ing a one year post-graduate intern shipin library scie nce, archi ves or otherfields in the hum anities related to theLibrary 's holdings; de veloping continu­ing education and cultural programs.Lastly, we need to begin active planning

for an addition to our building,although actual construc tionwill be the object of a futurefund-rai sing effort .

It has now been over tenyears since the Clementsmounted a fund-rai singcampaign. Our goals aremodest by the standards ofpeer ins ti tutions but substantialby our own. I can only speakfor myself, bu t I believe themost gratify ing donations arethose made to meet worthy,specifi c needs. The generousresponse of our Associates tothe November dues letter wastrul y exciting. As we plan our75th Anniversary Celebratio n,we welcome your sugges tionsand appreciate your continuedsupp ort.

This issue of the Quarto

ma y appear a very odd way to"kick off' a fund-raisingcampaign. The subjectstou ched upon~ the literatureof the somewhat disreputablesport of boxing, colonialMaryland bookplates, tran s­porting a rhinoceros from Indiato America for ex hibitio npurposes, perpetuating ageographical error on eigh­teenth-cen tury map s, and a

classic tale of seduction - are certainlyan odd mixture and see mingly a bitsuperficial for a library which pridesitself on the Columbus Letter, the

develop specific subject areas such asAmerican Judaica, Asian-Am ericanhistory, Frontier history, Americanbusiness or journalism history; establi sh-

history, and designing teac hing mat erial sbased on the Library's collec tions for usein public schools.

The final category sets fort h long ­term goal s for the coming decade:building endowment funds so we can

The Clements Library Associates Board ofGovernorscommissioned a portrait ofDirector John C. Dann byBoston artist Gary Hoffman as part of the forthcoming 75thAnn iversary Celebration. Donn 's portrait now hangs in theRare Book Room with those of founder William L. Clementsand the Library :" first two Directors, Randolph G. Adamsand Howard H. Peckham, a reminder ofthe administrativecontinuity enj oyed by the Libraryfor three-quarters ofa century.

The Clements Library will cele brate its75th Anniversary and the Associates50th Anniversary in 1997-1 998. Tomark the occasions, a campaign to rai se$1.500,000 is being launch ed. TheAssociates Board of Governors isplanning a variety of activities ­programs, publ ications, acelebration banquet - for thecoming year. We will be makingregular announcements, andhope that all the Library's friend swill enjoy participating in thefestivities. The Associates Boardof Go vern ors has set specificgoa ls and priorities for the 75thAnniversary fund-rai singcampaig n, identifying them inthree categories .

The first category centers onour immedi ate goals , proj ectswhich we hope to accomplishwithin the next year and a half.OUf top priorities include thepur cha se of severa l major items;retros pec tive conversion of ourboo k car d catalog into a nationalbibliographi c database, theResearch Libraries Info rmationNetwork; im provement of ourexhibit space: restoration ofpriceless maps; repl acem ent ofworn building furni shings;creation of new library promo­tional material~ bro chures,guides, a video; and fundinga varie ty of events celebratingthe Library' s 75 th Anniversary.

The second category aim sto ex pand the Cleme nts Library 'sacademi c mission . Our goalsinclu de establi shing a new publi cati onfund , increasing support for our PriceVisiting Research Fellowships , creatinga premier lectureship in early Am erican

- - (iJ- -

handwritten orders which started theAmerican Revolutionary War, anoriginal copy of the Treaty of Ghent, orGrant's letters to Shennan announcingthe capture of Richmond . where is thetraditional military and political historyfor which the Clements Library collec­tions are famous?

That happens to be the very pointI wish to make. On its twenty-fifthbirthday (1948), the typical ClementsLibrary visitor would probably havebeen shown. or been pursuing researchin source materials documenting thediscovery of America, the Stamp Act, orthe Battle of Lexington, The originalClements collection of 1923 was rich inthe "great books" on the "great events"of American history. Our resources onthese timelessly important subjects areseveral times richer today than they werethen, and the Library continues to add toits collections in its traditional areas ofstrength whenever it has the opportunity.In the past few years alone we haveacquired the letterbooks of AnthonyWayne' s Pallen Timbers campaign,

pamphlets on the settlement of Virginia,the earliest known portrait engravingsof Franklin and Jefferson, volume onecomplete of Isaiah Thomas' firstnewspaper, and the earlie st atlas of seacharts published in America. A yeardoes not go by that we do not add a fewitems of this sort.

A truly great research library,however. is known not only for itsexciting high points, but for the breadthand depth of its collections. Seventy­five years after its founding, theClements Library is not only a notableresource for studying the Age ofDiscovery and Exploration or theAmerican Revolution, but a wonderfulplace to investigate American sportsand leisure activity, the reading andbook-collecting habits of our ancestors,ecology and the gradual change inattitudes about the treatment of animals.the fine points of cartographic history.or crimes and scandals which tell ussomething about the failings of ourchanging civilization. These are subjectswhich interest today's students, and we

are able to serve them well.A library such as this is only as

good as its collections . The ClementsLibrary, thanks in large part to thevisionary terms of Mr. Clements' gift,the genero sity of its Associa tes, and asupportive Universi ty. has done anexceptional job of keeping its focus onits primary purpose - building thecollections so that year by year, it canserve a larger and more sophisticatedconstituency of researchers in whateveraspect of American history they care toinvestigate.

Our modest but essential fund­raising effort in celebration of our 75thAnniversary is aimed at making itpossible for us to continue concentratingon the fairly straightforward activity ofbuilding the collections. We are nowmuch more than a great book collection.We are a rich and unique repository ofour nation's past experience - anational treasure. With your continuedsupport, we will only get better,

- John C. Donn, Director

THE JACKSONIAN UNICORN

Short-tempered, short-sighted, andsharp-homed. the rhinoceros was theperfect animal for the savage world ofJacksonian politics. Until the Plioceneepoch. rhinos had been among the mostabundant perissodacty ls on the conti­nent, but like the Federalists, they hadbecome extinct by the mid-1820s. InOctober 1826, however, a lone rhinoappeared on our teeming shores. the firstin over a million years. and within fiveyears. he and his thick-skinned compa­triots could be found treading the stageof Peale's Museum in New York.chewing the scenery at WashingtonGardens in Boston. touring the Easternseaboard with the American NationalCarav an, or biding time with the Associ­ation Menagerie. Among the earliest ofthese immigrant sons was a three year­old rhino captured on the plains of theBrahmaputra River north of Calcutta.and sold to Marmaduke Burrough(ca,1798-1844) in March 1830, InBurrough' s papers, recently acquired bythe Clements Library, lies one of thebest-documented stories of rhinocerineimmigration before this century.

Curiosities in Europe for centuries.pachyderms (rhinos, elephants, andhippos) exerted a particularly strongfascination for American s. Their sizeand power, and their exotic good looks ,made these creatures popular fare forchildren' s books and scientific minds.Noting the paucity of large-bodiedmammals in North America, Frenchnatura l historians in the 1790s theorizedthat the impoveri shed climate of theUnited States must have stunted thegrowth of its fauna. Simply put.America lacked the vital spark thatanimated the Old World, To nationalistslike Thomas Jefferson. of course, thiswas pure balderdash. With the vast.unexplored reaches of the nation beforehim, Jefferson looked to the elephantinebones of mastodons and mammothslittering the countryside (having studiedthem himselt) , and asked Lewis andClark to keep an eye out for anypachydermal herds that might still beroaming the trackless Louisiana Pur­chase, Although the explorers returnedempty handed, the American ardor forgargantuan creatures survived; the

reputation of the pachyderm as anAmerican icon was ensured. The rhinosand elephants that occupied center stagein early national museums, then. becamepart of the intellectua l project of buildinga nation - they signified our strengthand vitality, our control over nature andover the colonized nations from whichthey were liberated ,

For men like Marmaduke Burrough,rhinos also promised fun and profit . Asa young man enamo red of naturalhistory, Burrough studied the closestsubject available at the time. medicine,and pursued his science on the sidewhereve r and whenever he could. Hislucky break came in 1828, when hereceived a little slop from the bucket ofdiplomatic spoils. a consular appoint­ment in Calcutta.

Exotic and virtually unknown toJacksonian Americans. the Indiansubcontinent over flowed with naturalriches. Short ly after assuming his post,Burrough ambitiously set out to join inthe scientific bonanza, setting his cap onacquiring the most treasured resource ofall. a live rhinoceros. Spum ing an

PAG E 2 T HE Q1JARTO

Diagram ofthe proper relationship between a rhino handle r and his charge,design ed as atl advertisement fo r Marmaduke Burrough sexhibition"

and tasteful, and thatfemales " need enter­tain no compunction ordelicacy of feeling inacco mpanying theirHusband s or friends."

The most reveal­ing feature of theseadvertisements,howe ver, is the way inwhic h Burrough madeclea r, that like theunciv ilized, coloni zedpeop le of the world,rhino s could beimproved. Despit e the

absence (or death ) of the refined fem ale ,the Packet boasted that the male onexhibit, "though stupid and savage bynature.. . . is not altogether incapable ofdomestication . or insensible to thekindlier affections." As proof, it clai medthat the present specimen "is perfectlygentle , and obedi ent to the command ofhis keeper, (who is a native of Bengal)."

Turning the rhino into a cash cow,however, proved to be too demanding ajob for a dilettante showman likeBurrou gh. After already shelling out500 rupee s for shipping, and $7 .50 forthat essential rhino acces sory, a good ,stout chain, Burrough found that thecos ts rapid ly esca lated. BetweenDecember 1830, and January 1831, hisacco unts include entrie s for $20.00 forengravings, $65.00 for placing ads in theAmerican Sentinel and the PennsylvaniaInquirer, $6.00 for printin g 300 fliers,$80.00 for two months' rent, and$120.00 for "two men in attendance:' Afriend, George Hough, advised Burroughto sell, but to hold out for a 100% return ,"T here bei ng so many [rhinos] at home; 'he thought, "ought not dim inish thevalue of yours as I believe it the finestanimal which has been taken home."Burrough sold out. The subsequent fateof Burrough 's rhino rema ins uncertain.Howe ver there are tantali zing clues.A massive poster for the AssociationMenagerie of New York, printed for thewinter of 1834-35, depicts a rhino in awheeled cage, and the accompanyingtext inform s the audience that this rhinowas seve n years old, weighin g 4,200pounds - the right size and age forBurrough's beast - and it reported "thegrowth of its horn is much retarded as itcontinually thumps its head against thebars of its cage ."

- Robt Cox, Manuscript Curator

TO DE Sl:":N,1 he Tlor-ocrDJt.U!•"111imtJt Creatinn,

AT No. 4S Scum t"tr r u S I"lIn r ,A Iil ing Hhi II Oi:.t'rO~ or Uui eurn, ":011..11 i ll th e

l\:fIlh e hlJ g'l"ge tl f l he t:.,." l ; nm lar. n hibi ling :ll'he roo!p I" tely ece u pie d 10, lh e All lunml Ot\ Ch eul'IJlye r, a 1I11!" hetu w 'V~lllul ~1 ' "t'U , where theL allie_ nlltl G enth-nu n of ~I ,il",d e ll,h i::l lind i t' em-i.rOil' . are rupecl l' lllJ hl \'iltd 10 cull ami ~t:e tbis'"tr )' e J:tl":lo;:lhu ary aniroet ,

This advertisment for Burrough s Rhino orUnicorn appeared in the PennsylvaniaPacket in January 1831.

seldom enjoyed an oppo rtunity ofwitness ing so rare and interesting acuriosity; and ci rcumstances rend er itquite ce rtain, that many years mustelapse, ere another animal of the kindcan be import ed here." Even at 25¢ perhead (half price for childre n), the rhinowas a bargain. and despite all theexcitement and savagery in store, thewhole family could attend. Burroughguaranteed that the display would be tidy

Burrough. his servan t, and rhinos set sailaboard the Georgian , in June 1830,bou nd for the United States.

Burrough's rhinos next surfaced inNovember 1830. when the male wasplaced on exhibit at 48 South 5th Street ,Philadelphia, appropriately enough , onlyabout a block from the State House . In amedia blitz, this rhino was boasted of as"distinct from all the others" of Africa,Java, or Sumatra. and was said to bepowerful and brave, and "in excellentcondition." An ad in the PennsylvaniaPacket vowed that "the pub lic has

exorb itant offe r from theRajah Budinath Roy tosupply a rhi no at 9,500rupee s, he accepted anoffer he could not refuseby a man name d AndrewDavidso n: a nine footfemale accompanied bya much smaller male .Althou gh there werealready at least threerhinos in the UnitedStates, Davidson assuredBurrough that "there isroom enough in Americafor even more than threeRhinoceroses, as I'm informed ' tisrather a large Town." To spice up thedeal, Davidson even offered to rig aharne ss for the fem ale to allow her todraw a carriage or plow - the ultim ateci vilized act - adding ruefully that theyoung male was unlik ely to coo perate inthis enterpri se "as he was cau ght whentoo old." Even British cool, it seems,cou ld not offset bad habi ts acquired inch ildhood.

True to form, this savage rascalrefused to recognize legitimate com­merce and threa tened to cap size the deal,not to mention the boat on which he wasbeing transported to Calcutta . In a fit ofshipboard pique, he badly injured hislegs while struggling with tbe rope s thatbou nd him, delaying any furtherprogress while he healed, Stating theobvious, Davidson begged Burrough notto remove the restrainin g nose ring, for itmight be "rathe r a difficult business toput it in aga in." Onc e in Calcutta, themale settled into a resigned calm, andDavidson turned his attention to nurture .Experienced in rhinocerine cuisine, herecommended that Burro ugh lay in agood stock of dried doobgrass, wellpressed, along with a good quant ity ofpressed wheat bran , adding that thedisceming pachydermal palate preferredits bran wetted with salt water, "as theanimal is fond of salt and might eve nprefer it with the Bran." For a change ofpace, the rhino might enjoy its branpatted into cakes and baked , to whichDavidson prag matica lly added "I ha veno do ubt he would eat ship biscuit,"though in his experience, rhinos "did notlike biscuit when very hard." Finally,for the ult imate in rhino comfort duringhot weather, a good salt water bath wasrecommended twice a day. With this lastpiece of advice carefully in hand ,

T HE Q1IA RTO PAG E 3

GRE NADA'S FIRST REVO LUTIONA CA RTOG RAPH IC CURIOSITY

the island. A lofty penin sula command­ing the entrance provided the site for FortRoyal, cons tructed of stone in 1705-06.

Warfare returned to Grenada in1762 when the British captured theisland as they swept through the Spani shand French Caribbean near the end ofthe Seven Years War. The peace of 1763awarded Grenada to Britain. but the Warof American Independence gave theFrench an opportunity to return , In 1779French naval and military forces laysiege to Fort George, the former FortRoyal, and look the island. The Peace of1783 restored Gre nada to Britain , and,though shaken by the French-inspiredFedon's Rebellion in 1795, the islandremained a British colony until itsindependence in 1974.

Despite all this acti vity, Grenadawas not particul arly well rendered onmaps until the middle of the eighteenthcentury. Smaller scale maps of theCaribbean generally show a nondescriptround ed island form or an exaggeratedsickle-shape , as, for example, SamuelThornton 's ca.1700 chart of the WestIndies. Such maps at least placeGrenada in the correct location, and thesickle shape reflects the westward reachof Point Salines.

In 1717, however, the premiergeographe du roi, Guillaume Delisle,publi shed his Carte des AntillesFrancotses et des Isles Voisines. As theKing's geographer, Delisle had access tomanuscript maps and surveys in theRoyal collections, including those ofarmy and navy office rs. He was knownfor his care in assembling maps from thebest and most recent sources and forbeing a stickler for detai l. What a shockit is. then, to see the French Antill esrendered carefu lly from Guadeloupesouth to a perfectly recognizableGrenada, with all its place names, harborand fort intact , placed on the mapupside-down. Pointe des Salines (PointSalines) is shown at the northeast ratherthan at the southwest comer.

How did a cartographer ofGuill aume Delisle 's stature and reputa­tion come to make such a glaring error?The title of the map tells us that Delisleprepared it from the manuscrip t memoirsof a royal engineer. M. Petit. A cata-

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events of 1983 when United Slates navaland military forces intervened in thissmall Caribbean state . Poin t Salinesthen served as more than a landmark, formuch of its length was taken up by anunfinished airport that was a drop zonefor American para troopers and abattleground for their light withGrenadan PRA and Cuban forces.Invasion and turmo il are no strangers to

Grenada 's history. The peop le of theisland have been affected by the shiftingpolitical interests of outsiders from thetime of Columbus until their indepen­dence in this century.

European explorers first sightedGrenada in 1498 during Chri stopherColumbus' third voyage. He named theisland Concepcion, but it was theEnglish who made the first attempt atsettlement in 1609. The native Caribsrepulsed them but were not so fortunatewhen a French expedition arri ved in1650. Over the next one hundred yearsthe French developed "La Grenade" asone of their sugar islands. The chiefsettlement, Port Royal. was establishedon a fine harbor at the southwest end of

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Grenada, most southerly of the Wind­wards of the eastern Caribbean, danglesat the end of that string of lush andmoun tainous volcanic islands. Indeed.the long westerly curve of Point Salinesgives Grenada a distinctive shape thatrather resembles a fish hook. PointSalines shelters Grande Anse Bay and anumber of lesser inlets from the south­eas t trade winds to form a broadroadstead that has served as the island'sprimary anchorage for large vessels,from warships of the seventeenth centuryto the cruise ships of today.

It was the distinctive form ofGrenada that drew our attention to apeculiar series of early eighteen th­century maps of the Windward Islands.also known as the French Antilles . Ineach of at least seven examples in theClements Library map collec tion,Grenada has been moved to the west androta ted nearly 180 degrees from its trueposition and relationship to the islandchain - literally turned upside-down.What happened here?

For many readers, the nameGrenada will conju re up memorie s of the

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Guillaume Delisle's upside-down Grenada showing the "Fort et Bourg" and the distinctive "Pte. desSalines" at the northeast com er ofthe island. They properly belong at the southwest. The town is todayknown as St. George 's, and the fort was renamed fo r King George III when the British took the islandill 1762.

PAGE 4 TH E Q1JARTO

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A detail from Samu el Thorn ton s A New and Correct Large Draught of the Tradeing Part of the West Indies (London. cu. /700). A sickle -shapedGrenada is correctly placed at the end of the "Caribe Islan ds " with the main anchorage prope rly shown near the south west end.

Carte des Antilles Francoises et des Isles votsmcs byGuillaume Delisle (Pa ris, /7/7). Dutch copyists Ott ens(1730) and Coven s & Mortier (1733 or before ) eachre-engraved this map on wider pla tes and added insetsor no tes hut did not correct Delisle :'!erro r. PhilippeBuache ( J745) simply added a new date to Delisle .~,

1717 plate and reissued the map.

12:'

- Brian Leigh Dunnigan, Map CuratorMary S. Pedley, Assistant Map Curator

the island intact. The inverted Grenadawas later copied by the Dutch mappublishers Ottens (1730) and Coveus &Mortier (1733 or before). Delisle's son­in-law and heir, Philippe Buache,reprinted the 1717 Carte des Antilles in1745 without correcting Grenada's shapeand posit ion. It was not until the Frenchnaval hydrographer Jacques-NicolasBellin published his 1758 chart of theAntilles and his Grenada of 1760 that theisland once more assumed its rightfulplace on the map.

A modem map of Grenada with significant placenames noted by Delisle. Sketch by Mary Pedley.

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logue of manuscript maps in Delisle'spossession lists a plan of the islandsfrom Guadeloupe to Grenada drawn byPetit in 1713 or 1715. The engineer wasthen surveyor-general of the FrenchAntilles and might have prepared hismap to document France's islandcolonies in the aftermath of the War ofthe Spanish Succession and the Treaty ofUtrecht. Without seeing the manuscriptplan, however, we cannot confirmwhether the Grenada error was that ofPetit, Delisle, or Delisle's engraver.

One simple explanation may be thatthe error occurred during the engravingprocess. For printing, the map was laidout to fit a piece of copper, an expens ivecommodity and not always available inlarge sizes, The printed map of theAntilles was substantially reduced fromPetit's manuscript - 22% in its north­south orientation and 34% east to west.The printed border of the map is veryclose to the edge of the plate mark, andthere was little extra space on the 1717plate to fit in all the French Antilles. AsDelisle or one of his assistants laid outthe full circuit of islands, it is possiblethat they simply ran out of plate. Ratherthan begin anew the task of drawi ng on areduced scale, they may have decided totuck Grenada into the available area in amanner that, although it rotated theisland 180 degrees, still placed its truenorth end adjacent to the small islands tothe north and otherwise kept the shape of

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THE Q!)ARTO PAGE 5

Most volumes on the Clements Library 'sshelves were acqu ired because of theircontent, but occasionally a book ispurchased becau se its prove nance tell sus something about our ances tors'reading habits and intellectual interests.Particularly desirable are volumes withcolonial bookplates that document theexistence of large personal libraries and

W HAT DID OURFOREFATHERS READ?

death of Rosse, the church fell vacant formany years .

And what is the book the Reveren dRosse owned? It is the second volumeof Tobias Smollett's. The Expeditionof Humphry Clinker, 3 vols. (London,1771), highly predictable reading for anOxford educated. eighteenth-centurycleric living in a rural co lonial Americanpari sh. Although Rosse himself undoubt­edly would have had Loyalist sympa­thies in the American Revol ution, thefamily must have survived the conflic t.There is an ink inscription that Mrs.Rosse presented this volume to aneighbo r in 1812, and it happil y survi vedto the present day - book pla te intact.

The second bookplate is mo stunusual. Designed and exec uted byJ. Smithers in Phil adelphia, ca. 1770,it belonged to William Eddis whoemigrated to Ann apoli s before hisLoyalist sympathies drove him back toEngland in 1777. His autographsignature appears on many pieces ofcolonial curren cy issued in Mary landbefore the war. Edd is is primari lyremembered for his book, Letters fromAmerica...1769 to 1777 (London, 1792 ),an invaluable, highly readable source onMaryl and soc iety in the years leadin g upto the Revolutionary War,

What make s this bookplate notable

is that it is or iented lengthwise, thehorizontal measurement being greaterthan the vertical, and it is printed entirelyin red ink . The design of the plate wasalso personalized to some extent, in thata volume of Shakespeare in the fore­grou nd documents a ra ther shadowycareer in the theater which Eddis hadfollowe d in his youth. The plate isaffixed to a 1753 Engl ish tran slation ofEspiard 's, The Spi rit ofNations, atheoretical study of nat ional charac ter,the sort so dear to the hearts ofAmerica' s Revolutionary generatio n.Thi s is exactly the type of book onewould expect to find in the library of aman whose Letters f rom Americaattempted to describ e colonial society toa European audience . Wh en Eddisreturned to England in 1777, he left thispart icular volume behind. Inscription sindicate that as of 1810 it belonge d toSa muel Jenifer, and in 1823 it wasbought at a sale of Jen ifer ' s effects byJ. Barnes.

Too ofte n rebindin g of seventeenth­and eightee nth-century books, eventod ay, ob literates book plates, and withthem evidence of our colonial forefa­thers ' reading habi ts. It isimportant tha tsuch information be save d. and particu­larly fort uitous in these two cases.

- Jolm C. Donn. Director

provide hints of the original owner' ssocial aspirations.

Two books with particu larlyinteresting bookpl ates recentl y came ourway. Both da te from the decade beforethe American Re volution , both are fromMary land, and both have armorialdesigns in a "Chippe nda le" panern .

The bookplate of John Rosse AMof All Hallows. Worceste r, Maryland,was probably engraved in England. Itfollows a fairly standard pattern foreighteenth-century armorial boo kplates.Rosse had attended Ca mbridge Univer­sity and matriculated at Merton Coll ege,Oxford in 172 3. He was obviouslyproud of his educational attai nments.He emigrated to Maryland in 1754 . andserved for twenty-one years as the lastrector of All Hallows Parish Church inSnow Hill , Maryl and . With the comingof the Revolution and the retirement or

PAGE 6 THE QYARTO

Above: George l/(1683-1760!.King ofGreat Britain

coach, Mary said she metCharle s Lumley. who toldher she "might be thehapp iest woman inEngland." Mary under­stood his mea ning . Luml ey,(Q use plain words, waspimp to the Prince of Wales,and Lady Ranelagh was hisconfederate . When thePrince appeared. Maryrecalled that she "could denyhim nothing: ' In the course of

severa l days the future kingvisited her five times.

Soon after returning toSomerset House, where the

Dunckerleys had a "grace andfavor" apartment in the once roya l

palace. do ubtless arranged for themby the Walpoles, Mar y found herself

ill and pregna nt. When she told the wifeof the head porter. herself probably partof the conspiracy. what had happened.Lumley sent a note enclos ing £50

"acquainting me, it was by theCommand of his Royal High­ness." She also confes sed to herhusband whe n he returned fromChat sworth in May. At ftrst heseemed pleased. but later turnedugly. Near her term, in October,he threw a cat in her face and"swore he would mark thebastard ." They separated soonafter she gave birth to Thomas.

Returning to England fromQuebec on HMS Vanguard in1760. Tho mas learned that hismother had just died and for theftrst time heard the story of hisparen tage from her dea thbedcon fession. But the French werecounter-attacking in Canada. andhe cou ld not linger. His captaintold him that no one exce pt theking would believe his story. andto say nothing until he couldtake it directly to George II. Butwhen Thomas returned againfrom Canada, the king was dead .

Gardens was a popu lar and fashiona bleresort in Chelsea. the Lo ndon suburb.and there the widow Ranelagh presided.As she stepped out of Lady Ranelagh 's

THE CONFESSION OFMARY BOLNIST

Six years after theBritish conquest of

Canada in 1759. ThomasDunckerley, describinghimself as a "super­ann uated" officer of theRoya l Navy. strugg lingto support his family onan annua l pension of £44 .sent a letter to MajorEdward Walpole of the 16thLight Dragoons. MajorWalpole was the grandsonof one of the most famouspolit icians in British history,Sir Robert Walpole. describedby some historians as the firstPrim e Mini ster. Dunckerley' sletter to Major Walpole in 1766somehow found its way into thepape rs of Sir Henry Clinton. and todayis part of the collections of the ClementsLibrary.

This is no ordi nary letter beggingfor help. It is drenched in sex, scandal,and the ete rna l sad story of powerand privilege . Today it wouldmake the front page of the tabloidpress. Thomas Dunckerleyclaimed to be the bastard sonof the late King George II. Hismother. Mary Bcln ist. accordingto her enclosed testament take nju st before her death in January1760. served in the household ofthe wife of Sir Robert Walpo le inthe early 1720s when the Prince ofWales (the future George II) metand "debauched" her. When shelearned of what had happened .Lady Cath arine Walpole quicklyarra nged a marriage for Mary toMr. Dunckerley, an attendant ofthe Duke of Devonshire, whohappened to be visiting Sir RobertWalpole in Norfolk. Dr. Blandperfor med the ceremony.

Sometime later, afte rChristmas 1723, while Mr.Duncker ley was away attend ingthe Duke of Devonshire atChatsworth, his magni11cent hous ein Derbyshire, Mary was inveigledto visit Lady Rane lagh. Rane lagh

T H E Q1JARTO, PAGE 7

LANDING THEKNOCKOUT PUNCH

Boxer Tom MoJineux was the first Am erican athlete to challenge a European champion inany sport. He went to London in 1809, trained with William Richmond. anoth er expatriateboxer, andJought a match with. British champion Tom Crib in /8 /0. A racist referee andaudience denied Molineaux his clearly won victory. A rematch, shown here, was set inIreland the fo llowing year, but Molineaux hadJailed to train prop erly and was beaten ineleven rounds.

In fact, by 1766, when Dunckerleysent his story to Maj or Walpole, virtuallyall witnesses were dead. Walpole,whose chief vices were said to bedrinking and gaming, himself died in1771, having done nothing forDunckerley except pass the letter and itsenclosure on to fellow officer ColonelHenry Clinton . who also appears to havedone nothing .

The affair is puzzl ing. Dunckerley'sname does not appear on the lists ofBritish nava l officers for the eighteen thcentury, although he claimed he hadbeen an officer for twenty years."D uncker ley" is a very unusual nameand does not appear in a search throughthe usual historica l indexes. But detailsin the story as documented by Thomasring true . Geo rge Augustus, both asPrince of Wales and later as KingGeorge II, took pride in his sexualprowess and treated any pretty womanwithin reach as fair game. LadyCathar ine Walpole, in whose householdthe Prince had Ilrst spotted Mary, washerself notoriously wanton. Dr. Bland,who married the Dunckerleys, can beidentified as Henry Bland , headmaster ofEton College, where Sir Robert Walpolehad sent his sons. Dr. Mead, sent toattend Mary early in her pregnancy, wasa fashionable physician known to keep a"seraglio." Mrs. Cannon, who attendedthe birth , was midwife to the roya lfami ly.

The story of Thomas Dunckerleyand his mother Mary leaves us feelinguneasy, as we often do in glancing at thelurid headlin es on supermarket tabloidstoday. Is it true? Most of the namescheck out. but why is Thomas missingfrom the list of naval officers? Does theapparent obscurity of mother and sonsuggest that these were litt le people, onwhom the great depended for serv ices .but who could be tossed aside with a fewcrumbs when their service was no longerneeded? If nothing was done by MajorWalpole or Colonel Clinton to assi stThomas. their very inaction would fitthis interpretation . Tempted to believeThomas Dunckerley's story, we can alsofit it to the endless sad story of famo uspeople troub led by too much time,money, and prestige , and by too littleself-res traint.

- Arlene Shy,Head, Reader Services

T ~king instant ~dv~ntag~ of a one-.time opportunity IS as Important III

rare book coll ecting as in boxing!Nat Flei sher was the leading figure

in American profe ssional boxing fromthe 1920s until his death in the 1970s.He edited Ring Magazine and wasboxing's preemin ent historian . Flei shercollected eveything in print relating toboxing , creating an extraordinaryarchive. He saved book s and ephemerathat libraries had never taken seriouslyand most people simply threw out afterreadi ng. Drawing on his personallibrary , Fleisher published authori tativeannual yea rbook s and wrote several finehistories of boxing.

Four years ago , Fleisher's virtuallycomplete run of the National PoliceGazette, from 1876 to 1932, came up forsale at a spo rts memorabili a auctio n inNew York. This was the publisher 's ownfile, acquired by Fleisher at a bankruptcysale in the depths of the Depression . It isone of only two extens ive runs (the otheris in the Library nf Congress) of this

somew hat disreputable but exceedinglyimportant workingman's magazi ne fromthe age of pre-Prohibition saloons and"tonsorial parlors:' The Gazette is auniqu e historical record of urban life,crim e, off-Broadway theatrical gossip ,popul ar amusements, and the Wild West,which so fascinated eastern readers. TheGa zette is essentially the only detailedsource of information on boxing in theera of John L. Sullivan. The Clementsowned a few rare pamphlets on profes­sional and amat eur boxing, but thissingle purchase greatl y increased thelibrary's ability to serve social historiansinterested in 19th cen tury urban popul arculture, including boxing.

Th is winter, the bulk of NatFleisher 's personal library was offeredfor sale at Swann Galleries. Amidst thesigned photogra phs of Joe Louis,posters, wa tches, and autograp hs whichattracted great interest amon g collectors ,were obsc ure British and Americanbooks and pamphlets on pugilism, itemsso rare as to be virtually unob tainable.

I'AG E 8 THE Q1JARTO

The Fleisher Sale was a once-in -a-Iifetime opportunity toacquire. at one auction. not only the basic sources ofboxing history, but a remarkable selection of the ephem­eral rarities which transform a strong collection into atruly great one.

The Clements bid vigorously and got every lot itwanted. Among the scarce pamphlets were "lives" of. and"how to" manuals by Tom Hyer, Yankee Sullivan. \VilliamPoole, Ned Donnelley, James Ward, Jack Randall,"Bauling" Nelson, John McConnick. and John L. himself- names now largely forgotten, but famous in their ownday as sports heros idolized in America and England.Unlike baseball , yachting, cricket, and football, the othernewsworthy competitive sports of the nineteenth century.boxing success fully never banned athletes on racialgrounds. Boxing is an important chapter in Afro­American history.

Among the Fleisher Sale acquisitions. The BlackChampions ofthe Prize Ring (1890), published by thePolice Gazette, is a particular treasure. William Oxberry'sPancratia, or, a History of Pugilism (London. 1812), wasthe first book-length history of the sport. The Fancy, byAn Operator (London, 1826), in spite of its unorthodoxtitle and authorship. is another serious, book-form atco mpilation. Pierce Egan's Boxiana (Lond on, 1812­1829) is the real "bible" of the sport. Complete sets, likethe one we purchased from the Fleisher Sale, are scarcebecause they were originally issued in monthly parts, put

Below: Fon ner slave Tom Molineux had earned a reputation asa great fighter even befo re he purchased his f reedom in 1809.

Below: William Richmond. born on Staten Island in J763, emigratedto England in 1777 under the auspices ofGen. Lord Percy. Aft er hisactive box ing career, he owned a public house and was often consultedby aspiring fighters.

together in five thick volumes and pub lished over atwelve-year period. Odd numbers occa sionallysurface on the rare book market. but to secu re theentire set is a collector 's lifelong dream.

The Clements has now acquired the cornerstonesof boxing history. What is particularly pleasing. inspite of their London imprints, is that all are true"Americana" of a type which entirely eluded Sabinand his fellow bibliographers. Throughout. theseworks contain a con siderable amount of material onAmerican prize fighters. Two Afro -American boxers,Bill Richmond of Staten Island, born in 1763, andAnna polis-born Tom Molineux (1784-1812), were thefirst American athletes to gain international stature.

Following the tradi tion estab lished by WilliamClements' collecting at the tum of the century. theLibrary has transformed its holdings in one partic ulararea from mediocrity to excellence by takin g advan­tage of two once-in- a-lifet ime opportunities. Thehistory of sports, leisure activities, and popu laramusements is currently of great intere st to historians.Whether one studies the sport of boxing itself,the ideal s it represented, or the questions of class andethnicity so cen tral to the sport' s deve lopment, theClements is prepared. as few other libraries are, toserve scholars.

- John C. Dann, Director

THE Qj,JARTO PAGE 9

CLA PURCHASES

The Associates Board of Governors atthe October I , 1996 meeti ngmade the following purchases for theLib rary 's collecti ons:

Humphrey Marshall , The History ofKentucky (Frankfort , Kentucky, 1812).

John Hall, The Cabinet Mak ers'Assis­tant. Embracing the Most Modem StyleofFurniture (Ba ltimore, 1840 ).

Daniel B. Hutchins. Civil War PocketDiary of a Sergeant in the IIIth NewYork (New York, 1864). An acco unt ofhis Anderson ville capt ivity.

H.D. Gurn ey, photographer. Two cartesde visite photographs of Belle Boyd(Natchez, Mississippi , 1863-1865 ).

Confederate spy Belle Boyd, 1843-/ 900Carte de visite by H.D. Gurney.

Pennsylvania German Fraktur bookpl ate,ca . 18205, in Jacob Laux man uscripttunebook.

Two Fren ch manuscrip t maps, ca . 1740,showing attacks on Cartagena andPorto Bell o.

R.J . Skinner, Life and Confession ofJohn M 'Affee, who H.,'as Executed atDayton, Ohio,fur the Murder ofhisWife (Dayton, Ohio, 1825 ).

RJ . Skinner, A Serious Warning toYoung Men, or the Lif e and ConfessionofJohn M 'Affee (Day ton , Ohio, 1825).Broadside.

ANNOUNCEM ENTS

Pri ce Visiting Research Fellowships

1997 Price Visitin g Research Fello w­ships were awarded to three Ph.D.ca ndidates.

Elizabeth Fenn , Yale Unive rsity, forher dissertation, "As the Fire Consumesthe Gras s: The North AmericanSmallpox Epidemi c of 1775-1783."

Catherine Ann Lawrence, YaleUniversity, for her dissertation, "Narrat­ing the Empire: Pri vate Visions andPublished Lives of Bri tish Soldiersand Sai lors in the Late Georgian Age.I770s-1830s.'·

Greg O'Brien, University ofKentucky. for his dissertation, "T oSati sfy Our Wants ': Trade, Diplomacy,and Politics among the Choctaws,1759-1801."

Application s for 1998 Fellows hips,which provide support for travel, shouldbe made between October I andDecember 20, 1997. For furtherinformation contact Head of ReaderServi ces, phone (3 13) 764 -2347, fax(3 13) 647-071 6, email ashy @umich.edu.

IN MEMORIAM

T HOMAS N. C ROSS. M .D.

On Decem ber 13, 1996, Thomas N.Cross, M.D. died in Ann Arbor aftera short illness. A longtime ClementsLibrary Associate, he had served onthe Board of Governors since 1972.A graduate of Groton School, YaleUniversity, and Columbia Co llege ofPhysician s and Surgeons, he did hisresidency in Psychiatry at the Neuropsy ­chiatr ic Institute of the Univers ity ofMichigan Medic al Center. He was onthe Unive rsity of Michigan MedicalSchool staff and later in private prac ticein Ann Arbor.

A direct descendant of ThomasJeffe rson, Tom had a deep interest inAmerican history and collecting .Following his father, former Directo r ofthe New York Botanical Gardens, Tomwas an enthusiastic co llector of map sand man uscripts, both literary andhistorical. Tom had a particu lar fascina­tion with Rudyard Kipling, an interestthat led him to write a biograph y of thathigh ly complex individu al which waspublished in 1992 .

Tom was unfailingly enthusias ticand supportive of Library acquisitions .With his enco uragemen t, the MichiganMap Society was founded , based at theClements. Tom was a dedicatedvoluntee r. On three occasions, whenbuildi ng renovation projects requi redmoving a significa nt part of the Library 'sco llection , Tom reported daily, in bluejea ns and flan nel shirt, working side byside with the staff, packing and mo vingboxes. disassembling and erec tingshelving, all the time end earing himselfto everyone in the Library with hisenergy, gentle humor. and engagingcon versa tion.

Many contributions have beenreceived by the Library in Tom 'smemory. They will be used to purchasea stric tly limited edi tion of engraved ­American map s and prin ts collected byRich ard Rawlinson (1690- 1755), issuedby the Bodleian Library from theoriginal copper plates discovered in the1980s. Along with the famou s print ofthe Wren Building in Willi amsburg,found a half century ago, these engrav­ings are belie ved to be illustrati on s foran unfinished work on Americangeography by Willi am Byrd II ( 1674­1744 ), Virginia planter, co lonial official,and author. Contributions toward thispurchase will be gratefully received bythe Director.

CRAIG W. ROSS

It was with sorrow that the Lib rarylearn ed, early in Ja nuary, of the death ofantiquarian book dea ler Craig W. Ross(1914-1996) of Medina, New York . Areal friend to the Library's Director,Cra ig Ross provided a good manytreas ured book s and manu script co llec­tion s over the past three decades. Hehad a keen eye for the special item and adelightfully modest sense of the profitmargin neede d to keep a dealer inbusiness - so much so tha t almost everyite m was sold before his famou smimeograp hed catalogues arrived in themail! Fortunatel y, he kep t the particu larinterests of valued customers in mindand quot ed prized item s on an individualbasis. Craig and Vivian, his wife of fift y­nine year s who surv ives him, graciouslywelcomed clie nts to their home. Craigwas a man of sterling character andconstant good humor who will be missedby all who knew him.

PAG E 10 T H E Qj)ARTO

~

events as well. When the French of his Political Register to ch~m:" ,:Revolution triggered war between pion the rights p f working men ~nd 'Britain and France, Americans the cause of parliamentary reform.found themselves strongly divided in By 1835, no writer ,wa~ moretheir loyalties. "Peter Porcupine" widely kno~nin Britain , among -took the Federalist. anti-French side. every c1as s . ~But'ii "w as in AmericaBut he insisted he was no more than in the I790s that Cobbett firsta loyal. independent Englishman developed his inimitab le style, adefending British interests in peculiar blend of personal ,anecdote~;~~:America against attack from andco~trov~rsy;()bse~a~ion '£md"8;r /";"Revolutionary France and her arg~ment; tha~JTlage him-'one of theRepublican supporters. %:, ~/:~'~ " gfe~t, ~ati~ical,w~iteEs and political

Returning to England in 1 800;'~ ,, ~ C'ommentators i n~ the EnglishCobbett became a leader in the "C la~iuage .

Radical movemen t. using the pages %/

"C"~'/'

CURRENT EXHIBIT

f\meric~n deI1l?cT,acy and uglyipolitics are ~not -a new~c,ombination.

Since 1776, the price of populargov~i?ment, where all decisions areopen~y debated and cont~ste~: haibeen a political process that includesexaggeration, misrepresenration, andyiciouS'personal attacks':'Not eventoday has political wa~(are gone lowerthanlhe level of personal abuse seenin the I790s, when the Foundin gFathers held power. EnglishmanWiniaf!lC()bbett" writing as "Peter

*"' Porcupine;" was one of the most'~<0 '-"" ~, ''7.

abusive - and effective 3:- journalists, of that t;~ubled decade:": "'

Cobbett spent eightye'ar;in" • Americ a, from 1792 to ISOO. ,puring .

that time he rose from an emig'rant ",/~,

" language teacher to one of thestT()ngest forces molding publicopinion in 'the Ne¥/ Republi c. "~~terPorcupin e",becamea superstar in '~:<,/;<

American journalism ""::'-,loved Of 0

hated, but unriv'aled for his vigorous,• . . ~~ %'

racy political commentary. As awriter and publisher, Cobbett wasremarkably prolific . He produc"ed asc~or~'o{ pan1phlet~, a sertsationalmagazine, ~the Political Censor; and""" "};,,created The Porcupin~"G~zet(e, , 'for abrief period the most widely ie~~ : /,~

' ,newspaper in ~he country~ ,Unques-tionabl y, CobP"ett was a founder of the:American political press. '

Ccbbeu 'sstay in Americacoincided with a decade of extraordi­

~ nary polit ical ~~ncor, ~' the Federalistand Republican partiesbegan todevelop their identi ties '0d,diaw theirbattle lines> Controvcrsy'was fueledby the intense rivalry bet~een

" :~;~,,J-I<nnilton and Jefferson ~!,thi n

' ~/; Washington' s first Cabinet - ,:' '0 _" " o" " ' " ", "" "" ,-"

'""''';''' anilll~s~ty that was both ideological::: >,and deeply personal. Domestic ~'// , ' __"d ~' ~ ' , ;;.': '~" , "!; ',' ""-"':, , "

0~,~)? l i ti~s were inflamed by foreign"

"::,';' t ~/!~ji;: ,

T HE QlJARTO PAGE 11

Committee ofManagementLee Bollinger, ChairmanCleveland Thurber, Jr.

Maris VinovskisRobert Warner

John Dann, Secretary

Clements Library Associates share an interest in Americanhistory and a desire to ensure the continued growth of the

Library's collections. Funds received from Associate member-ships are used exclusively to purchase historical materials.

Annual Membership Contributions: Student $15; Donor $25-49;Associate $50-99; Patron $100-249; Fellow $250-499; Benefactor$500 and above. Contributions are tax deductible in accordancewith current Federal and State Law and may be made by checkor credit card. Published by the Clements Library, Universityof Michigan, 909 S. University Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan48109-1190; phone (313) 764-2347; fax (313) 647-0716; email:

c1ements@umich.edu; internet: www.clements.umlch.edu;Arlene Shy, Editor; Kathleen Horn, Graphic Designer,

U-M Marketing Communications. @

Regents of the University:Laurence B. Deitch, Bloomfield Hills; Daniel D. Horning,

Grand Haven; Olivia P. Maynard, Goodrich; Shirley M. McFee,Battle Creek; Rebecca McGowan, Ann Arbor;

Andrea Fischer Newman, Ann Arbor; Philip H. Power,Ann Arbor; S. Martin Taylor, Grosse Pointe Farms;

Lee C. Bollinger, ex officio

CALE N DAR OF EVE NTS

Aprill-.June 27, Exhibit, "' PeterPorcupine': Nas ty Political Press in theNew Republic, 1793-1800," Openweekdays 12 noon to 4:45 pm.

April 16, Clements Library AssociatesSpring Lecture and Exhi bit Opening .Professor Emeritus John Shy, UMHistory Department , will speak on "TheNew Republi c in the 1790s: Revoluti onStabilized," 4 pm at tlieLibrary,reception following.

A view of the South Side of the Stale House, Philadelphiab.v William Birch, 1800.

May 2, University of Michi gan Depart­ment of History Honors Con vocation,9-11 am, Reception for graduatingHistory major s and their paren ts, 4-6 pm.

May 4, 19thAnnual Ann Arbor Anti­quarian Book Fair, a benefi t for theClem ents Library, at the MichiganUnion Ballroom, ll am - 5 pm,admission $3,00,

May 6, Clements Library Board ofGovernors Spe cial Meeting regardingthe 75th Anniversary Celebration , firstsession 10 am -12 noon ; Lunch in theLibrary; seco nd sess ion 1-2:30 pm.

May 8, UM Waterman AlumnaeMeeting and Prog ram , ''' I had no Idea !'Disco vering Clements Library Trea­sures," 1-3 pm .

.July I-August 29, Exhibit, '"tn theGood Old Summertime'; 19th CenturyAmerica on Vacation," featuringphotographs, prints, ephemera, andtravel literature from the Library 'scollections.

PAGE 12 T HE QUARTO