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The Joy of Collecting The Newberry Library
Great institutions tend to be deceptive. They so often tempt us to awe that we forget how much of their resources are the legacy of individuals. And with books, as with art, individual collectors can make very significant contributions. No institution can have infinite resources, or time, or expertise. But collectors can specialize and become expert, and often do go well beyond any reasonable call of duty. The Newberry Library is an institution which pays tribute to the collectors and benefactors who do much to build and develop its collections, and "Recent Acquisitions" is a tribute which contains fascinating tales. It serves toward a very serious commitment -- preserving a full and true record. At the exhibition's opening, Paul Saenger, Collection Development Librarian at the Newberry Library, noted: "Interpretation, when original, but wrong, is of no virtue." In recent years, Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel paintings and DaVinci's "Last Supper" have undergone restoration allowing us to see the authentic, or what survives of it. And, with later overpainting and the patina of centuries set aside, furious controversies have raged. Set conceptions are sometimes cherished over the truth. Much of the Newberry's commitment is, in a gentler practice, to seek out and preserve the original evidence and "to obtain those materials that challenge conventional opinion and therefore make scholarship at once more difficult and more productive." Only the original physical object offers the full evidence of its authencity (or lack thereof). With print and manuscript material, as with paintings or art prints, watermarks, paper chemistry, pigment composition-- as well as the work embodied in them -- offer a preponderance of evidence, and confirm or debunk new-found or previously unknown discoveries. Often, the future brings new means of investigation -- and originals must be consulted for evidence which earlier was not even conceived of as such. As this exhibition shows, the Newberry Library serves both aspects of original knowledge. Featured in "The Joys of Collecting" is Cantate, an unpublished early 18th century manuscript by the composer, Alessandro Stradella. Its authenticity is confirmed by the preservation of other materials. Not only does its acquisition and permanent access to scholars add new light on the composer and his times, but the Newberry, in a very active dedication to its mission, has arranged for performance of the piece. Collection originals may often contain cultural and social material which editors, serving different and often textural ends, fail to include in trade publications. One can find modern editions of works by John Calvin, but this exhibition presents Jean Calvin's Harmonia ex tribus Evangelistis in its first edition, printed by Robert Estienne at Geneva in 1555 and among the first books displaying the now familiar gospel numberings. For those who have seen the Art Institute of Chicago's current exhibit, "Land of the Winged Horsemen/ Art in Poland 1572-1764," this Newberry volume displays far more than Calvin's thought. The book is dedicated to Augustus Sigismond II, King of Poland (+1572), who was a sympathetic correspondent. Theirs was a situation in deep contrast to that in France at the time.
Many of the items reflect the particular social interplay of their period. The Chronolgie collee of Claude de Vals (Paris, 1618) seems orthodox enough for its time -- but closer examination reveals that it is a book assembled by binding a series of engraved sheets. As engravers of the period were enjoined from competing with printers of books, they slyly circumvented the restriction by supplying coherent separate leafs, and let the buyer fulfill the obvious. "The Joy of Collecting" displays many new items which underscore the Newberry's strong commitment to the book as a physical or unique object. Curator Paul Saenger noted that in many cases "a richly annotated copy is chosen because of its potential contribution to intellectual history or the history of reading." In all, in this exhibition one often sees objects which can never be replaced with copies or reproductions. Not only does the marginalia or obvious physical material offer clues for the investigator, but often, the item is a repository for evidence still unsuspected -- traits which only future technologies and research will show to be important. In the interim, the exhibit offers as well the sheer pleasure of the authentic -- a link with history. And in this pleasure, a particular delight is the "Hours of Louis XI, manuscript written in France about 1480." The volumes stir the heart more than all the university histories ever taught in a classroom. Above all, "The Joy of Collecting" offers a range of items which please by their refined beauty. L'Oleandro (Verona: Officina Bodoni, 1936) by the Italian artist and writer, Gabriele D'Annunzio, is a classic 'artist's book,' refined and sensuously designed. A final item of particular interest in Chicago is Mostly True by Brian Andreas. This is a handcrafted manuscript book executed by Rosie Kelly, and it won the 1995 Newberry Library Purchase Award. "The Joy of Collecting" will continue at the Newberry Library through July 14, 1999. It is testimony to the efforts of many and the need for, as well as the sheer joy of collecting and is well worth a trip to 60 West Walton, Chicago, Illinois. --G. Jurek Polanski Jurek Polanski has previously written and art edited for Strong Coffee in Chicago. He's also well known and respected among the Chicago museums and galleries. Jurek is currently a Visual Arts Correspondent for ArtScope.net. |
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