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Recent Additions to the Collections |
Walker Percy Library
The library of novelist Walker Percy, consisting of approximately 2,500 volumes from the author's working collection. Many of the volumes are annotated by Percy, and they document his interests in philosophy, psychology, linguistics, and semiotics as well as the more purely literary influences on his work. The library also contains a very comprehensive collection of Percy's own works, including first editions, translations, and periodical appearances. The collection complements the Percy archive in the Manuscripts Department and the holdings of first editions in the Rare Book Collection. Acquired with funds from the Whitaker endowment and other sources. For a fuller description of the library and other Percy holdings, click here.
Carl W. Gottschalk Collection
A collection of more than 12,000 books, pamphlets, and other printed materials on the subject of the human kidney. The books range in date from the sixteenth century to the present and include texts in most modern European languages as well as in Latin. The collection is extremely comprehensive, consisting not only of such rarities as Eustachius's Opuscula Anatomica of 1564 (containing the first treatise devoted to the kidney) and the landmark texts of writers such as Descartes, Malpighi, Morgagni, and Richard Bright, but also many hundreds of works of lesser renown, which are, nonetheless, essential for an understanding of the development of kidney studies over the centuries. Gift of Dr. Susan Fellner and the children of Dr. Carl W. Gottschalk. For a fuller description click here.
Collection of the Works of Francis Carco and the Poètes Fantaisistes
A collection of approximately 750 works of Francis Carco and other members of the group know as the poètes fantaisistes. Prominent in Parisian literary circles in the first half of the twentieth century, Carco and his friends favored a lighter, more lyrical poetry in reaction to what they perceived to be the bleaker, sometimes depressing output of some of their contemporaries. The collection complements our recent purchases of twentieth-century French fiction and, with Carco's focus on life on the margins of Parisian society, provides insight into a broad range of issues related to criminality, sexuality, and gender in early twentieth-century France. Purchased on the Hanes Fund.
Collection of Samuel Butler's Hudibras
The collection consists of 130 editions of Butler's classic work, from the first edition of 1663 to the 1930s. More than fifty were printed before1800. A substantial number of the eighteenth-century editions contain the notable series of engravings by William Hogarth. Gift of Robert W. Severance.
Collections of the works of Cynthia Ozick and W. D. Snodgrass
Containing approximately 200 titles, these two author collections are virtually complete through 1990 (when the owner decided to concentrate his collecting interests elsewhere). They add significantly to our growing strength in American literature of the second half of the twentieth century. Gift of Henry Pearson.
W. H. Auden Collection
Acquired in June 1998, this collection consists of approximately 300 items, including books, periodicals, sound recordings, and news clippings by or about the noted English poet, W. H. Auden (1907-1973). Virtually all of the separately printed works of Auden are present in first and other important lifetime editions. In addition, eleven of the books are signed or inscribed by the English poet. Present also are two very fine photographic portraits of Auden by Carl Van Vechten (dated February 6, 1939) and Jill Krementz (1967). This new collection represents a splendid addition to our rapidly expanding holdings of twentieth-century English and American writers. It was donated to the Rare Book Collection by Mr. Robert P. Rushmore, an alumnus of UNC.
Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes Collections
These two collections contain approximately 1000 bibliographic items written in whole or in part by the American poet, Sylvia Plath, and her husband and English poet laureate, Ted Hughes. Both collections include first and later lifetime editions, proof copies and other bibliographical variants, broadsides, private press printings, and separate periodical appearances. The collection of Sylvia Plath is especially comprehensive and includes a number of extreme rarities, among them uncorrected proof copies of The Colossus (1960), The Bell Jar (1963), and Ariel (1965). The collection of Hughes also contains an abundance of proof copies and other variants and a complete run of the publications of the Rainbow Press, directed by Hughes and his sister Olwyn. Many of the private press printings were illustrated by the American artist Leonard Baskin. The core portions of both collections were the gifts of James R. and Mary M. Patton. The Rare Book Collection has added substantially to their gifts through purchases in the antiquarian book market.(updated 10/26/2005)
Twentieth-Century French Literature
This collection consists of 725 titles of twentieth-century French literature, including works by Camus, Colette, Duhamel, Kessel, Mauriac, Saint-Exupéry, Sartre, and Vercors. Most of the volumes are first editions in their limited and numbered form and are printed on paper far superior to the acidic material found in many French trade editions. These works complement our strong holdings in twentieth-century English and American literature as well as the Continental European works in translation found in our Grove Press Collection. The RBC acquired the collection with funds from the Hanes, Weil, and Pleasants endowments.
Grove Press Collection
This collection contains approximately 2,800 imprints of the Grove Press of New York, dating from the first publication of the press in 1949 to the mid-1980s. The books came from the library of Barney Rosset, the owner and director of the press throughout most of its history, and many of them were the original file copies of the company. The collection represents a very comprehensive but not exhaustive record of the printing activity of this controversial American publisher, one intimately involved in so many of the avant-garde and radical trends in literature and politics from the 1950s through the 1970s. The RBC purchased the collection with funds from the Hanes and Whitaker endowments.
William Wordsworth Collection
This collection, totaling 492 titles, focuses on two areas: works of Wordsworth printed after 1850 and general anthologies (containing one or more poems by the English Romantic) published at any point before the end of the nineteenth century. These volumes complement the RBC's existing holdings of first and life-time editions of the works of Wordsworth. The RBC acquired the books with funds from the Whitaker endowment.
Byron Collection
The collection consists of approximately 120 editions of the works of George Gordon, Lord Byron. This splendid and very comprehensive collection of first and other significant life-time editions originally belonged to Robert Voitle, Professor of English at UNC, now deceased. This new addition nearly doubles the size of our Byron holdings. The RBC purchased the collection with funds from the Whitaker endowment.
Robert Louis Stevenson Collection
This collection contains fifty-nine works of Scottish novelist, poet, and short story writer Robert Louis Stevenson. This modestly sized but well chosen collection focuses on first editions and contains virtually all of the better known works of the author. Notable individual volumes include first editions of An Inland Voyage (Stevenson's first book, 1878),Treasure Island (1883), A Child's Garden of Verses (1885), Kidnapped (1886), and The Master of Ballantrae (1889). The collection was the gift of Drs. Carl W. Gottschalk and Susan K. Fellner.
Ted Hughes. Howls and Whispers. Northampton: Gehenna Press, 1998. With illustrations by Leonard Baskin. This remarkable work contains fifteen poems concerning the poet's life with Sylvia Plath, which were not included in the earlier publication of his Birthday Letters (1998). It was the last publication of Hughes's own poetry before his death in late 1998. The UNC copy is one of ten issued with a separate suite of the Baskin illustrations, three original watercolors by the artist, a manuscript draft of one of the poems, and one of the copper plates used in the production of the book. Purchased on the Whitaker Fund.
Katherine Anne Porter. Eudora Welty: A Note on the Author and Her Work. New York: Doubleday, Doran and Co., 1941. This exceedingly rare brochure contains not only Porter's brief sketch of the young Mississippi writer but also the full text of Welty's short story "The Key," which would appear a few months later in her collection A Curtain of Green. It constitutes Welty's first separate publication. Purchased on the Whitaker Fund.
Henry Shaw. Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages. London: Bernard Quaritch, 1843. This landmark in the history of nineteenth-century English color printing was originally published by Pickering of London. This copy of the large paper issue has (to our knowledge) a hitherto unrecorded Bernard Quaritch imprint on the title-page although the sheets are clearly those of the Pickering first edition. Purchased on the Whitaker Fund.
Sylvia Plath. Three Women. (1962). A small collection of materials relating to the publication of Plath's verse-play, which first appeared in a BBC radio production in August 1962. The collection includes a copy of the mimeographed script employed in the original radio broadcast (S. Tabor, An Analytical Bibliographical of Sylvia Plath, A3a) and later used by the designer, Stanislawa Gliwy, for his production of the Turret Press edition of the work (Tabor A3b.1). This copy is marked up with Gliwy's directions to the printer and is accompanied by a full mock-up of the printed version as well a variety of proof states of selected text pages and of the linocut illustrations. The collection also contains a copy of the final Turret Press edition in unbound sheets. Acquired on the Weil Fund. Uncataloged.
Husain Gvalyari Ibn Muhammad Sarni Husaini. Bahr al-Hayat ("The Ocean of Life"). Manuscript in Persian, North India, about 1718. Illuminated with 21 color miniatures. The Bahr al-Hayat is a mid-sixteenth century Persian translation of an Arabic work which was itself derived from an earlier Sanskrit text intitled Amritakunda ("The Pool of Nectar"). The manuscript acquired by UNC is one of four known copies of the Persian text that contain illustrations of twenty-one yogic asanas or postures. The UNC copy is reputed to be the best preserved of the four. The Rare Book Collection purchased the manuscript in support of strong research interest in the Department of Religious Studies at UNC.
Sylvia Plath. Colossus. New York: Knopf, 1962. First American edition of Plath's first full volume of poetry. This copy is especially interesting as it is inscribed by the author to Alfred Young Fisher, her former poetry professor at Smith College. The book is accompanied by a letter to Professor Fisher, affirming the importance of his teaching for her and requesting his intervention in securing several reams of pink Smith College memo paper, which she commonly used for early drafts of her poems. She enclosed a sample of the paper with the letter. Gift of Mr. F. Weston Fenhagen. Call Number: RBC Patton PS3566.L27 C6 1962, copy 3.
Samuel Johnson. Thoughts on the Late Transactions Respecting Falkland's Islands. London: Cadell, 1771. The very scarce first state. This copy belonged to Horace St. Paul, an acquaintance of Johnson. The Rare Book Collection acquired the work along with sixty other English pamphlets, bound in twelve volumes, all of them from the library of St. Paul. The volumes contain a number of other Johnson pieces. Acquired on the Whitaker Fund. Call Number: RBC J.-B. 701, vol. 12, no. 6.
Allen Ginsberg. Howl and other Poems. San Francisco: City Lights, 1956. A pristine copy of the first edition. Acquired on the London Fund. Call Number: RBC PS3513.I74 H6 superv'd.
Jacques Lefèvre d'Etaples. Artificialis introductio per modum epitomatis in decem libros Ethicorum Aristotelis. Paris: Wolfgang Hopyl and Henri Estienne, 1502. The earliest known imprint of the Estiennes and a major addition to the RBC's collection of the publications of this French printing dynasty. Call Number: RBC Estienne PA3893.E6 L4 1502.
Giovanni Boccaccio. Il Decamerone... London [i.e., Paris: Prault], 1757. Five volumes. One of the masterpieces of Hubert François Gravelot, who provided drawings for eighty-nine of the 111 plates and all of the tailpieces used in the work. The UNC copy is from the large paper issue and contains early impressions of the engravings (authenticated by small stamps on the versos of the plates). Call Number: RBC PQ4267 .A2 1757.
Jean de La Fontaine. Contes et nouvelles en vers... Amsterdam [i.e., Paris: Barbou], 1762. Two volumes. The so-called "Fermiers-Généraux" edition with eighty engravings after Charles Eisen. In this copy six of the plates are in proof or "uncovered" states. Call Number: RBC PQ1809 .A1 1762.
Samuel Johnson. Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth.... London: E. Cave, 1745. The RBC copy includes the rare folded leaf with the proposals for Johnson's edition of Shakespeare. Call Number: RBC J.-B. 21 superv'd.
Horace. Opera. Parma: Bodoni, 1791. One of fifty large-paper copies from a total edition of 128. Call Number: RBC Folio-2 PA6393 .A2 1791.
James Fenimore Cooper. Water Witch, or, The Skimmer of the Seas, a Tale. Dresden: Walther, 1830. 3 volumes. First edition. Call Number: RBC PS1418 .W3 1830b.
Oscar Wilde. Salomé. London: Elkin Mathews and John Lane, 1894. With a frontispiece and nine illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley. This copy has a separate portfolio containing proofs of each of the published plates as well as three suppressed plates. Call Number: RBC Folio PR5820 .S2 1894.
Bernard Shaw. How He Lied to Her Husband: A Warning to Playgoers. London, ca. 1904. Shaw's prompt copy with his manuscript comments in several places in the text. Call Number: RBC Shaw 29 1904 superv'd.
Bernard Shaw. The Shewing Up of Blanco Posnet: A Sermon in Crude Melodrama. London, ca. 1909. Shaw's prompt copy with his manuscript comments on several pages and typed revisions pasted in. Call Number: RBC Shaw 49 1909c superv'd.
Samuel Beckett. Whoroscope. Paris: The Hours Press, 1930. First edition of Beckett's first separate publication. Number eleven of 100 numbered copies, signed by the author. Call Number: RBC PR6003.E282 W49 superv'd.
Samuel Beckett. En attendant Godot. Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1952. First trade edition. Call Number: RBC: PR6003.E282 E45 1952
Vladimir Nabokov. Lolita. Paris: Olympia Press, 1955. 2 volumes. First edition. Call Number: RBC PS3527.A15 L59 1955 superv'd
Henry Miller. Black Spring. Paris: Obelisk Press, 1936. First edition of Miller's second book, signed by the author. Call Number: RBC PS3525.I5454 B6 1936.
Anais Nin. Preface to Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer. New York: Gemor Press, 1947. The first separate edition of the preface, signed by Nin. Call Number: RBC PS3525.I5454 T786 1947.
Robert Lowell. Land of Unlikeness. Cummington, Mass.: Cummington Press, 1944. First edition of the poet's first book. Call Number: RBC PS3523.O89 L3
Sylvia Plath. Ariel. London: Faber and Faber, 1965. First edition. This copy is inscribed by Ted Hughes (Plath's husband and the editor of this posthumous work) to Robert Lowell, once Plath's teacher and later the author of the introduction to the American edition of Ariel (1966). Call Number: RBC Patton PS3566.L27 A7 1965, copy 1.
Ted Hughes. Mokomaki. Illustrations by Leonard Baskin. Leeds, Mass.: Eremite Press, 1985. One of ten special copies (in an edition of fifty) which includes a separate suite of the engravings, one of the plates used to produce the illustrations, and an original watercolor by Baskin. RBC Patton Folio-2 NE2012.B37 A4 1985.