Rare Book Theft - Transylvania University

Approximately 13½ inches by 10 inches, one inch thick, aproximately 60 pages, bound in vellum.

It begins with a complete calendar, two months to the page and includes all the saints of the anglican church. There is one full page illustration and each page of text is resplendent with initial letters heavily illiminated in gold. Intricate floral decorations add much to the beauty of the manuscript. An inside flyleaf has an inscription and armorial marks indicate this illuminated manuscript once belonged to the Knolles family. It was a family psalter written on vellum. The manuscript was written at Winchester in 1425.

Gift to Transylvania of Joseph Clark Graves in 1959. He purchased the manuscript from Rev. William Bumstead who received it as a gift from the DuPont family.

From Sotheby’s appraisal description: "21 pencil drawings after John James Audubon, apparently for the 1856-57 octavo edition of Birds of America. Philadelphia and New York ca. 1855 (Ca. 266 x 173 mm). Some marginal losses and tears. Plates 73, 202, 159, 215, 213, 216, 217, 11, 70, 189, 208, 115, 117, 116, 195 (Morton’s Finch Male), 211, 81, 194 and 2."

From the Clara Peck Collection.

This collection of twenty-one drawings were discovered among the belongings of the elderly granddaughters of the lithographer who was entrusted with the work of printing the plates for the first octavo edition of Audubon's great work. It had been supposed that all of these drawings were destroyed when the printing was completed. The drawings were laid away when the lithographer died, and remained undisturbed for about 70 years. In preparing the octavo edition it was necessary to make new drawings for all the folio bird plates, often making very considerable changes in the composition of the plates, owing to the limited width of the new pages. Changes are apparent in almost all these plates. Audubon added the numbering of the plates and the part in which each was to appear, the name of the bird figured, and other notations and directions in his own hand.

From Sotheby’s appraisal description: "Ortus Sanitatis translate de latin en francois. Paris: pour Anthoine Verard, [c. 1500]. 2 volumes, folio. 4 full-page woodcuts and approximately 450 woodcut illustrations in text. Goff H-490."

Both volumes are approximately 36.5 high by 25cm wide. One volume is approximately 7.5cm deep and one is approximatly 9cm deep.

Part of the Clara Peck Collection.

It is bound in pale, off-white vellum. Woodblock print on parchment with some hand written pages. Illuminated by hand. It was a presentation copy for Henry VII.

Description of Hortus Sanitatis from bookbinder Gabrielle Fox:

Volume 1 (it appears that this vol. 1 may in fact be vol. 2)

• Binding in full vellum over wooden boards with inside bevel
• Fore edge clasps missing
• Pale blue and cream double strand simple endbands (with multiple threads for each color)
• Originally laced into boards (?)
• Vellum a bit soiled and marked and cracking
• Triple single lines of blind tooling on either side of bands (4) and similarly at head and tail
• Stamped markings on tail spine going vertically: 4 D(?) L
• Right side of the lettering along the very top layer of leather is missing on the label
• Rust colored leather label in sheepskin(?) with double gold lines at top and bottom
• Back joint split from head down to second cord, third cord area of vellum missing and from fourth cord to tail vellum split
• Back inner joint has been nibbled at head about a quarter way down
• Also eaten at fore edge at turn-in through endpaper
• Front joint has slight tears and is wearing at head and tail
• Inside front joint is pulling badly and split head end
• Flyleaf looks more recent
• Slight tear on lower left of first page vellum
• Overall condition of the text is remarkably good with only some flaking of blue areas of the coloring

Volume 2

• First notice that lower back joint has split and someone has stuck about a quarter of the tail spine vellum down to the text with some sort of adhesive
• Binding is same as volume 1 in style, but the wooden boards are missing and card has been used to replace them and there is only one very inflexible endband at the head woven in several shades of what now appears to be beige
• Inside all the strain is directly on the cords because the endpaper has split and the cord appears to be of a much more inferior quality than that in volume 1
• The head cord at both front and back is fraying out and ready to snap
• Front outside hinge is fine
• Some of label is missing, but all the lettering is there
• Tape found on verso of second flyleaf and several other small spot

Comments

It is interesting that both volumes are worn more at the back joints than the front, when it is usually the other way around.

It appears that volume 2, which is most likely volume 1, had lost its boards and that both volumes were recovered at the same time.

This same volume may have been resewn because the cord is not the same as that of Transylvania's volume 1.

The least amount of interference is desirable, but the bindings have deteriorated since I first examined them in the late spring (2003), so I am a bit concerned and wish to make them as strong as possible without making major changes.

It is my feeling that foam cradles are necessary to limit further wear, but understand because of their expense only one set is within the budget.

Treatment

Volume 1

• Back outside joint opened and lifted at both spine and board edge
• Alum tawed goatskin fed in and original vellum placed back on top

Volume 2

• Paper lifted on inside board edges front and back
• First flyleaf on one side is removed and attached to text as has already been done on the other side
• Alum tawed tabs are attached to spine and placed under lifted paper at head and tail at both front and back boards
• Paper placed back down on front and back boards
• Tape is removed and replaced with Japanese tissue and paste

Materials Used

• Alum tawed goatskin pared by hand
• Zen Shofu wheat starch paste cooked
• Japanese tissue

Images of Hortus Sanitatis

From photos taken by Simonetta Cochis.