The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 13, 1928, Page PAGE THREE, Image 3
| CAMPUS
a Rare Books In
Library
BY R. M. KENNEDY
Aldine Editions
This library is indeed rich in posses
sing -seven specimens (one a duplicate)
of the work of the celebrated 15th-16th
century printers, the family of Aldus
(really the name was Manutius).
Ours are all folios and, with.the pos
sible exception of the first named be
low, are in modern covers. The first
two, it wil1 be noted, are incunabula
They are:
1. Iamblichus De Mysteriis Aegypto
rum" (bound in with the writings o!
several other ancient philosophers), Ven.
ice, 1497.
Of this work we have two copies, one
of which, in red morocco, may be it
the original binding. Some of Aldus' pro
ductions, we are told, he bound very
beautifully. This book, both in print and
cover, merits Renouard's description of
a copy that he had inspected: "Premiere
cdi'ion, Rare et beau volume."
2. Julii Firmici Astronomicorum libri
octo integri": also a compilation, the
popular or binder's title of which is
"Astronomici Veteres Grasce et Latini,"
Venice, 1499.
This book has illuminated capitals and
astronomical drawings.
3. Simplicii Commentaria in octo Aris
totelis physicae auscultattionis libros cum
ipso Aristotelis textu Gracce. Venice
1526.
4. Simplicii Commentaria in tres lib
res Aristotelis de Anima. Venice, 1527.
5. Johannes Grammaticus in libros die
Seneratione. Venice, 1527.
6. Omnia Thenistici opera, Venice,
I133. Renorard says this is a first edi
tie of Themistiuls.
For more than a century (1490-1597)
the Aldus es:allishment produced at
Venice books that, to borrow the ex
pression of another, are "remarkable
for scholarl' correctness and beauty of
typograBhy, and that are now trebly
prized for their rarity." Among them
are some of the earliest editions of
*reek. Latin, and Ita)ian writers.
T'he founder of the house was Aldrs
Manutius, born ii 1450, died in 1515.
A fter his death his three sons carried
en :he business. The last of the family
to conduct it was a grandson, Aldus
lanutius the Younger, who died in 1497.
This remarkable printing house issued
9N works, all bearing the well-known
insignia of an anchor and a twisted dol
phin. This design was adopted from a
coin which Erasmus says was sent the
irst Aldus by the Renaissance scholar.
Rambo (Updike "Printing Types"). All
of our copies, i.t may be remarked,
hear this stamp.
Renouard, in the Preface to his "An
sales de l'imprimerie des aIdes, ou His
toirs des trois Manuces et (de l'urs edi.
tions.' Paris, 1803, says: "Among all
those who to the present time have p)rac
tised the art of typography, that art
in which half-success is as easy as true
superiority is rare, the elder Aldus and
his son Paul deserve in every wvay to
o'ccupyv the first rank. Filled with an
enthusiastic admiration for the literary
masterpieces of Greece andl Rome, they
sacrificed the adlvantages of fame andl
fortune and devoted their entire lives
to dIrawing the ancient writings from
he chaos into which eight centuries of
haitrhari sm had plunged them."
Aldrs the firs designed nine varicies
of~ G'reek and fourteen of Lati letters.
1lie also inventedI the Italic type, first
ned by huimi in 1501. . The Venetian
'e'.ate gave him exclusive rights to
emptloy it and three successive Popes
corfirmed his patent. The Italians them
selves called it "Aldino" type.
McMAS'1
A thetfic
iCorner Sumter and Hamntton St
FEATURE
Old Slave House
Razed on Campus
Last Relic of Slavery Removed
to Make Room For An
other Garage
H J. V. NEILSON
The au:omobile has pushed andther
familiar landmark aside and the red
brick walls of another reiic of sla'very
are being razed. The little red house
in the rear of the Davis-McCutchen
residence on the campus is now almost
completely demolished to make way for
parking space for the descendants of
those students who used to make the
lives of the dwellers in that lit.le house
miserabie by steal+ng "massa's" chickens
in the dark watches of the night.
Long before the Confederate war the
T'his Aldus also first used a small
format, as some one has called it, a sort
of "lEveryman's Library," cheap popular,
pocket editions of the classics, selling
them at about two shillings a volume.
The rarest, and hence most valued of
the Aldine editions are those issued he
tween 1490 and 1512. Of these we own,
as said, two examples.
Tldike tells us that when the founder
of this great house lay in state in death,
his hooks, which he loved so dearly,
were grouped about him-a more beau
tiful and appropriate tribute in his case
than the customary heaps of flowers.
Elzevir Editions
The Elzevirs, for several succeeding
generation, covering a period of a cen
tury and a half, in the 16th and 17th
centuries, were the foremost printers
of the Netherlands, which had succeeded
Venice as the center of fine typographi
cal work.
Louis, the founder of the house, es
tablished himself at Leyden in 1580 and
his first book came out in 1583.
His five sons, and then his grandsons,
carr'ed on the business at Leyden, Utrect
aid Amsterdam.
'he most famous of the family were
lonaventr.re. son of Louis, and Abraham,
a grandson, who in 1625 began publish
ing popular, low priced editions, 12 mo.,
16 mo., and even as small as 32 mo., ei
the Latin, French and Italian classics.
In this respect they repeated what
Aldus had done a century earlier at
Venice, and therefore they scarcely de
serve their reputation as pioneers in the
product on of cheap, convenient-sized
literature.
Updike ("Printing Types," 1922)
says that these tiny volumes are what the
"romantic novelists-who are seldoi'i
go:sd biographers, like to call "Priceless
1?lzevirs," though they were then ai,d
are now cheap books."
Another authority more generously
says that these little editions are re
nowned for their "unsurpassed elegance
of design, clearness and regularity of
type and bear.ty of paper."
I find that we have two specimens,
both folios, of the wvork of the Elzevir;.
The title of one is, "Theatrum Geogra
phiiae Veteri-s," Leyden, 1618, This 's
a curious example of an early geography,
the maps adorned wvith drawings (of
animals on land and of ships and gro
tesue monsters on the seas.
The maker, Isaac Elzevir, a so0fl
L,otis, the founder, conducted a printing
house at Leyden rom 1616 to 1625. The
Encycllopedia Brittanica says that none
oIf his editions attainedl much fame. Still
it is a handsome volume.,
The title of the other is, "Novus Or
bis," by Joanne De Laet of Ant werp
printed by the "Elzevirs," (B3onaventure.
and Abraham, probably), in 1633. This
is also a geographical wvork, describ:ng
the Americas. It has on front and back
covers the gilt coat of arms of, appar
rently, a cardinal, to wvhom, doubtless, i'
onice belonged.
'ER, Inc.
STORIES -
little house made of red brick to match
the residence in front of it, was built.
Many generations of negro mammies clad
in gaudy reds and blues and smoking
clay pipes, have reared liiltie black boys
and girls who played about black iron
washpots. Many a grayhaired old Negro
man sat upon the steps of the iit le house
and mended fishing tackle or sharpened
hoes.
The big house has seen many changes.
Families have moved and new ones have
come in. Each little change however, has
been smoothed over by time and green
ivy which clung to both buildings. How
evcr,three years ago, the big house was
covered wi h stucco and little red house
was left uncovered and grotesque.
The university campus is being laid
out. The little house was in the way. The
descendendan's of the men whose socks
were darned and whose clothes were
washed by the residents in the little
house hardly knew that it stood there.
Perhaps a few stood by for a few mo
ments to watch the workmen as they
pulled -he little structure down, then thef
quietly went, thinking, if any went so
far, that their s- ripdown would have
more parking room now.
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