Five favourite fairy tales, part I
Posted on March 24, 2020 @8:36 am by cshriver
From “The Exceptional Tadpole” (PZ6 1897 .S537)
I hope you are all staying healthy and well today! While the Rare Books and Special Collections reading room is closed, we will unfortunately not be able to host some of the classes that we had scheduled to visit in the last few weeks of the winter 2020 term. We love hosting classes, as it allows us to introduce that many more students to our amazing collections. And it’s wonderful to see the interesting materials, some of which are new even to us, that professors select for the classes. But we especially love to see the results of the students’ work with our collections and the incredible insights they bring to their topics. Since we’re not open physically, we’re very happy to share some of this great student work with you virtually!
One of the assignments for Professor Pamela Dalziel’s winter 2020 course, “The Victorian Fairy Tale: Text and Image,” was a delightful project asking students to “choose five illustrated Victorian fairy tales available in Rare Books and Special Collections that you would like to have in your personal collection.” Some of Professor Dalziel’s students were kind enough to share their final selections with not only the team at RBSC, but also with the public through our blog.
From “The Old Woman who Lost her Dumpling” (PZ6 1898 H427)
So far we have seven assignments that students have been willing to share, some anonymously and some with author credit. I’ll post links to the final assignments a few at a time throughout the week. We hope you enjoy them and will perhaps be inspired to stop by RBSC to see some of these books for yourself once the RBSC reading room has reopened.
Five fairy tale selections, part I:
- Princesses, beanstalks, dragons, star-lovers, and lost dumplings
- Thieves and liars; mice, birds and sausages; and tadpoles and frogs galore
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RBSC Remote Reading Room service
Posted on January 12, 2021 @2:18 pm by cshriver
Due to the current situation with COVID-19, the Rare Books and Special Collections and University Archives reading room will be closed until further notice.
During this time librarians, archivists, and staff will be working remotely to continue to support patrons to the extent possible. Please see our Rare Books and Special Collections Remote Resources and Services Guide for more information and assistance.
You may also take advantage of our new RBSC Remote Reading Room service starting on January 25, 2021.
The RBSC Remote Reading Room allows you to consult rare book and archival materials remotely via a document camera. Scheduled sessions take place via Zoom, and an RBSC team member will be on hand to page through materials for you.
Remote Reading Room sessions can be booked for one hour, and patrons may request one rare book or one box of archival materials per session. Patrons can book up to three appointments per month and may request up to 10 image captures (JPG format) during each session. Requests must be submitted 7 business days in advance and sessions are available on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. (PT).
In order to schedule a session and for more details, please see the RBSC Remote Reading Room Request Form.
For any other inquires, please feel free to contact us through the RBSC contact form or by sending an email to rare.books@ubc.ca or to a specific librarian or archivist. Inquiries for University Archives can be sent through their contact form or direct email.
Also be sure to explore digitized materials from RBSC’s collections available through UBC Library’s Open Collections. RBSC’s LibGuides provide helpful links to digitized materials by subject matter or collection where available. There are also a number of digitized primary source materials available through UBC Library’s subscription databases.
Please check the UBC Library homepage and the Rare Books and Special Collections homepage for future updates about reading room operations. Thank you for your understanding during these uncertain times and be well.
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Take a tour of the Chung Collection
Posted on November 2, 2021 @1:39 pm by cshriver
The Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection, one of our most well-known and beloved special collections, contains material related to three broad and interrelated themes: early British Columbia history, immigration and settlement and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. The collection contains a wide variety of documents, photographs, books, artifacts and maps related to each of these themes.
Selections from the collection are on display in RBSC, organized to show some of the most compelling stories of Canada’s past.
Early B.C. history:
Related to early B.C. history are rare editions of the narratives of many Pacific voyages of discovery including Valdes, Galiano, Malaspina, Cook and Vancouver. The exhibition also features charts recording the exploration of the Pacific Northwest.
Immigration and settlement:
The Fraser River gold rush that sparked Chinese immigration to British Columbia is highlighted through books and government documents relating to the restriction of such immigration. Chinese-Canadian cultural, social and economic life is displayed through archival documents, photographs and artifacts.
European immigration to Canada is illustrated with promotional brochures and posters encouraging settlers to the West, and archival material from the Clandonald colony in Alberta, a community of immigrants from the Scottish Hebrides.
Canadian Pacific Railway:
Documents, maps and publications show how the Canadian Pacific Railway was built, and how Vancouver was chosen as the western terminus. Photographs and accounts of the building of the railway are presented, along with vibrant posters promoting travel and tourism via C.P.R. rail and steamships. Beautiful examples of cruise ship memorabilia provide a glimpse of the style of the times.
RBSC offers a drop-in tour of the Chung Collection room every Thursday at 10 a.m. The exhibition is also open to the public, free of charge during Rare Books and Special Collections opening hours (Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.). We hope to welcome you for a visit soon!
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Chung Collection drop-in tour will resume in March
Posted on February 19, 2020 @3:55 pm by cshriver
Rare Books and Special Collections’ regularly scheduled drop-in tour of the Chung Collection for Thursday, February 27, is cancelled for a special event. We apologize for any inconvenience. The weekly Chung Collection tour will resume on March 5, 2020 from 11 a.m.-12 p.m.
The Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection, one of our most well-known and beloved special collections, contains material related to three broad and interrelated themes: early British Columbia history, immigration and settlement and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. The Chung Collection contains more than 25,000 rare and unique items (documents, books, maps, posters, paintings, photographs, silver, glass, ceramic ware and other artifacts), and selections from the collection are on display in RBSC, organized to show some of the most compelling stories of Canada’s past.
If you are unable to make the drop-in tour, you are welcome to browse the exhibition anytime RBSC is open, Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The exhibition, on level 1 of UBC Library’s Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, is free and open to the general public, as well as the UBC community. For more information, please contact Rare Books and Special Collections at 604 822-2521.
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Get to Know RBSC!
Posted on January 16, 2020 @10:11 am by cshriver
Have you ever been curious about what we do or what we have at RBSC? Join our weekly tour of Rare Books and Special Collections at the University of British Columbia Library for an introduction to our space and our unique materials and collections. Tours are free and open to the general public, as well as the UBC community. No need to RSVP, just drop in to learn what RBSC is all about!
Every Wednesday at 11 a.m.
Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1st floor
1961 East Mall, UBC Vancouver campus
For more information, please contact Rare Books and Special Collections at (604) 822-2521 or rare.books@ubc.ca.
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Past Purrrrfect
Posted on January 7, 2020 @8:38 am by cshriver
Past Purrrrfect: Cats in the Collection
(special supplemental exhibit
In the Doghouse: Historic Hounds)
Rare Books and Special Collections
Jan. 6 — Feb. 29, 2020
“Time spent with a cat is never wasted” – Colette
Have you heard the mews?! Libraries and archives have always been home to our feline friends, and Rare Books and Special Collections at the UBC Library is no exception. We don’t have a resident kitty patrolling our reference room, vault or stacks, but we do have numerous cats “living” in our collections. Proving our predecessors were just as obsessed with collecting cat related archival and rare published materials as we are, Past Purrrfect highlights materials from the 19th to the mid-20th centuries featuring a bevy of furry felines. In this exhibit you will find kitties playing, sleeping, prancing, purring, and being naughty. From our diverse holdings, items on exhibit range from photographs and family albums, children’s literature, correspondence from noteworthy individuals, pop-up books, bookplates, and artist editions.
Archival Materials
Our archival records are broad in scope, and include correspondence from well-known historical figures, as well as celebrated authors. RBSC hold 89 letters written by Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, with many focused on cats. She writes about her own pet Mr. Muff, and about finding homes for them among her correspondents. Writing to her friend Mary Mohl on January 20th, 1877, Nightingale writes:
Dearest Madame Mohl This is solely about cats: The Tom kitten with a ‘pretty face’, which you said you would like (your own descendant) when you were here has been scrupulously set apart for you. He has now, I think, the longest hair I ever saw: is most affectionate & very clean: I was in hopes that you would have let me know any opportunity by which he could have been sent to you at Paris: (as you did not summon him to go by with yourself). Could you let me know whether you still wish to have him: his name is Biz: & whether there will soon be a safe opportunity of someone going to Paris who would carefully take him to you: I should think he would be greatly admired even in Paris: {If he stops here, he {will be stolen or lost: dearest friend, no more to-day: ever your old Flo.
Other letters referencing cats are written by Malcolm Lowry, Ethel Wison, and Charles Darwin. Lowry, best known for his novel Under the Volcano, elaborated in a postscript in a June 20, 1950 letter to fellow author Christopher Isherwood, about issues with some troublesome felines:
P.S. I begun to write this letter originally, returning the complement (which I appreciate) in my own handwriting, such as it is — though I have no pen that works — taking advantage of this to write outside. But a cat spilt coconut oil on it. Then another cat spilt beer on it. Finally it blew into the sea, Retrieved thence it came somewhat to pieces and was, besides, a bit illegible. So I gave in, temporarily, to the machine age.
Originals of the above correspondence, along with letters by Darwin and Wilson on a feline theme, are on display as part of the Past Purrrfect exhibit.
Also in the exhibit, are photographs of cats selected from the Uno Langmann Collection of BC photographs, Wallace and Madeleine Chung Collection, Icelandic Archives of British Columbia, and other photographic holdings. These images show that from the early days of photography cats have been worthy subjects to record for posterity, either captured on their own, or with their human companions. These images also demonstrate that cats are integral and loved members of the families who give them shelter, whether that is a comfortable home or somewhere less traditional.
- Governor Frederick Seymour, Vancouver Island, c186-?. BC-1024/1. From 1864 to 1866, Seymour served as the second Governor of the Colony of British Columbia, and then as first governor of the united colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia from1866 to 1869. This photo, taken with what we assume is his cat, is from his period in public office.
- Captain A.J. Hailey in uniform with a cat on the first C.P. R.M.S. Empress of Canada, between 1920 and 1929. RBSC-ARC-1679-CC-PH-44-1-CC-PH-05702. The Empress of Canada was operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. Based in Vancouver, she began her maiden voyage in 1922 serving the Asia Pacific route to Japan, Hong Kong and China. Like many vessels, the Empress of Canada had a ship’s cat, shown here with Captain A.J. Hailey. Ship’s cats were common on oceangoing vessels, controlling rodents and providing companionship.
- [Portrait of a girl with cat], c. 1890s. UL_1603_0063. This charming image is from an album documenting an unknown family living in British Columbia in the 1890s. We don’t know exactly where in Vancouver this image was taken, nor the name of the girl (or the cat), but the affection between the two is obvious.
Books
Past Purrrfect contains volumes from our book collections, including examples from our vast children’s literature holdings and the Alice 100 collection celebrating 100 years since the original publication of Alice in Wonderland in 1865. The collection was donated to the UBC Library in 1965 by the graduating class of 1925 to mark their 40th anniversary, and contains numerous variations of the iconic Cheshire Cat among its illustrations. Also shown are classic stories such as Puss in Boots and the Tale of Tom Kitten, along with lost favourites that are deserving of renewed interest. One discovery in researching this exhibit is the Cats Tea Party. Listed in our catalogue without any attributions, research revealed that its illustrator is Harrison Weir. Weir was a prolific author and illustrator active in the late 19th Century known for his books about nature, and particularly for his drawings of cats. Weir is also referred to as the “Father of the Cat Fancy” and organized the first cat show at the Crystal Palace in London in 1871.
- From the Cats Tea Party, illustrated by Harrison Weir. This book was published by George Routledge and Sons in England in 1871, the same year as Weir organized the first cat show. This show at the Crystal Palace led to cat fancy (the recognition and registration of pedigreed cats) as we know it today. Weir founded the first National Cat Club in England in 1887.
- This volume of Alice in Wonderland, published in 1948 in London contains illustrations by George Soper (1870 – 1942). Soper was an illustrator and etcher, contributing his talents to children’s literature at the turn of the 20th Century. In addition, his work depicted country and rural life.
Croquet
A cat capturing a croquet ball, 1926, by Louis Wane. Arkley_25_0009.
The Tremaine Arkley Croquet Collection consists of over 2,400 items depicting the game of croquet (and earlier pastimes of its type) from the 18th century to the present. Within the collection are numerous examples of animals enjoying this most Victorian of pursuits, particularly cats whose cunning sportsmanship is exceptionally suited to the game. Included in the exhibit are drawings by Louis Wane (1860-1939) one of the better-known illustrators of children’s fiction featuring cats. Wane produced numerous books and hundreds of illustrations starring large-eyed anthropomorphic cats and kittens. Other items on display show less refined creatures (dogs) disrupting play and causing havoc.
In the Doghouse: Historic Hounds
Running concurrently with Past Purrrfect, we have devoted space for those who may be more partial to dogs, as we don’t want lovers of canines to feel left out. In the Doghouse: Historic Hounds is curated by iSchool graduate student (and RBSC Archival Assistant) James Goldie. In James’ words:
Humans and dogs have evolved alongside each other for millennia, so why should cats get all the glory here at RBSC? Many dog-related phrases and idioms have negative connotations (“dogs days,” “dog-eat-dog world,” and “sick as a dog” to name just a few), however, this part of our exhibition seeks to reclaim the notion of being in the doghouse. Here you’ll find materials celebrating our tail-wagging, four-legged friends. Though today we live in an age of doggy daycare and paw-sized winter boots, affection for dogs (and the central role they’ve played in our lives and imaginations) has changed very little in the last 150 years. Purebreds and mongrels alike are featured throughout our collection, as evidenced by this sampling of photographs, books, correspondence, and more — a veritable dog’s breakfast of archival resources we hope will delight you as only these special animals can.
Scholarly Purr-suits: cats and dogs in the library
In addition to Past Purrrfect and In the Doghouse at Rare Books and Special Collections, please also enjoy the following feline and canine themed exhibits at other branches of the UBC Library:
David Lam Library and Canaccord Learning Commons
Friends from another Species: the Business of Pets
January 13- February 14, 2020
The David Lam Library and Canaccord Learning Commons’ part in the exhibit will include highlighting aspects of the print and electronic collection, as well as search strategies that help people find information on pets and the pet related industries. This includes market research resources like Passport GMID and IBISworld, as well as resources on influencer marketing and social commerce. Engagement activities include a photo wall of a variety of pets that have captured the hearts of many through various social channels.
Curators: Irena Trebic, Kim Fama, Christina Sylka
The Truth About Cats & Dogs: Children’s Books About the World’s Most Popular Pets
January 6 – 20, 2020
This exhibit will feature fiction and non-fiction children’s books about cats and dogs. From well-loved classics like Old Yeller by Fred Gipson to newer graphic novels like Fluffy Strikes Back by Ashley Spires, library patrons and pet lovers of all ages will find something of interest.
Curators: Jennifer Abel, Carmen Marchal, Stephanie Marston, Elena Pederson
Specific location: Collection Spotlight area (Main Level of UBC Education Library)
It’s Reading Cats and Dogs
February 1 – 28, 2020
It’s Reading Cats and Dogs will explore the literary, historical, and cultural obsession with our canine and feline companions through a selection of materials from Koerner Library’s holdings. The display will also highlight the cats and dogs of Koerner Library staff, with photos as well as book recommendations paw-sonally approved by our furry friends.
Curators: Keith Bunnell and Alexandra Alisauskas
Specific location: Koerner Library, Fireplace
Wild Observations: Felidae and Canidae around the World
January 6 – February 28, 2020
A selection of books highlighting the fossil history, genetics, and conservation of wild cats and dogs from Woodward Library’s collection.
Curators: Sarah Parker and Chantal Lyons-Stevenson
Specific Location: Woodward Library, Memorial Room
All of our cats and dogs will delight and amuse you!
Acknowledgements
A special thank you to exhibit sponsor, Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association (VOKRA).
Additional thanks to exhibit supporter Catfe for providing a Nine Lives Card (9 visit admission card) for raffle. Enter at the front desk of Rare Books and Special Collections. The winner will be drawn at the end of the closing day of the exhibit, February 28th.
Both VOKRA and Catfe, among other animal rescue organizations in the lower mainland, provide a valuable community service in assisting with caring for, and finding forever homes for the many cats in their custody. If considering a pet there are many wonderful rescue animals waiting for homes.
Please adopt, don’t shop!
Thank you also to Library staff and friends who helped make this exhibit possible: Jacky Lai (invaluable curatorial assistance and exhibit support), James Goldie (Curator of Dogs), Barbara Towell, Anne Lama, Hannah McKendry, Chelsea Shriver, Weiyan Yan, Hiller Goodspeed, Claire Williams, Felicia de la Parra, Matt Patton, Michelle Blackwell, Elissa Wong, Kristy Woodcock, and Katherine Kalsbeek.
– Krisztina Laszlo, Curator of Cats and RBSC Archivist
Past Purrrfect, which is free and open to the public, will be on display in the Rare Books and Special Collections reading room. The RBSC reading room is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, please contact Rare Books and Special Collections at (604) 822-2521 or rare.books@ubc.ca.
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Meet John Fluevog!
Posted on December 20, 2019 @2:10 pm by cshriver
The Mini Gorgeous is UBC Library’s favourite Fluevog shoe, as voted on by Library personnel in an online poll.
The David Lam Management Research Library and Canaccord Learning Commons, Rare Books and Special Collections, and the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at UBC Library are delighted to host Vancouver shoe designer and international style icon John Fluevog for a meet and greet and book signing on Wednesday, January 8, from 12:30-2:00pm in the foyer of UBC Library’s Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, level 2.
Join us for this opportunity to welcome John home to Vancouver after a successful North American book tour, congratulate him on 50 years in the business, talk shoes, and ask him to sign your copy of Fluevog: 50 years of Unique Soles for Unique Souls. (Copies will also be available for purchase.)
You will also have a chance to visit UBC Library’s exhibition “50 Years of Sole: A History of Fluevog: Honouring a Vancouver Icon,” which highlights how John Fluevog has successfully built a business, a brand, and a community over the course of 50 years.
The event is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Rare Books and Special Collections at (604) 822-2521 or rare.books@ubc.ca.
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Unique Soles for Unique Souls
Posted on December 20, 2019 @1:50 pm by cshriver
“Life’s too short to wear boring shoes.” — John Fluevog
The David Lam Management Research Library and Canaccord Learning Commons, Rare Books and Special Collections, and the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at UBC Library are pleased to present “50 Years of Sole: A History of Fluevog: Honouring a Vancouver Icon,” which is on display in David Lam Library from November 20 to December 24, 2019 and continues in the New Year in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre through January 13, 2020.
The exhibition coincides with the 50th anniversary of Vancouver-based John Fluevog Shoes, and the publication of a new book, Fluevog: 50 Years of Unique Soles for Unique Souls. John Fluevog is a celebrated Canadian shoe designer known for his witty and unconventional style, as well as the uplifting messages that he includes on every pair of shoes. His designs are among the most distinctive footwear of the last fifty years.
Darren Dahl, Senior Associate Dean, Faculty at the UBC Sauder School of Business, Director of the Robert H. Lee Graduate School and Professor in the Marketing and Behavioural Sciences Division, attests to Fluevog’s significance as both a business and a cultural treasure, affirming that “Fluevog put Vancouver on the map for innovative and progressive shoe design.”
John Fluevog’s work in shoe design and business has been a winding journey with ups and downs. His career began in Gastown, where the Vancouver flagship store is located today, when Fluevog partnered with Peter Fox in 1970. The partnership, known as Fox and Fluevog, lasted a decade and saw the opening of multiple stores before an amicable split. The split marked the birth of “John Fluevog Shoes” with more store openings in Seattle, Boston, and Toronto. Fluevogs broke into the mainstream in the 1990s when they were worn by both Madonna in the film Truth or Dare and by Lady Miss Kier from the band Deee-lite. To keep up with demand, John opened up stores in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago. Today, Fluevog has 27 stores in the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, and Australia. Throughout his career, Fluevog has woven his love of cars, his focus on community and culture, and design and sustainability into his craft and stores.
The Mini Gorgeous is UBC Library’s favourite Fluevog shoe, as voted on by Library personnel in an online poll.
The exhibition hosted within the David Lam Library and Canaccord Learning Commons highlights how John Fluevog has successfully built a business, a brand, and a community over the course of 50 years. Just as Fluevog values its customers as collaborators, locating the display in a vibrant, learner-centred space allows students to experience directly Fluevog’s collaborative, creative, and inspiring approach to business.
The display on level 2 of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre also features original multimedia illustrations from Vancouver artist Robert Chaplin’s The Elves & the Shoemaker, featuring charming and helpful elves making and wearing Fluevog shoes. The book is a delightfully illustrated adaptation of the Brothers Grimm original tale, inspired by the soul and soles of Fluevog shoes.
Complimenting the displays in the David Lam Library and the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, the Walter C. Koerner Library will host a book display starting on December 1 that delves into the “sole” of Fluevog, bringing together materials on the subjects of footwear, fashion, celebrity, subculture, and Vancouver history that influenced and were influenced by John Fluevog. The display will also feature interactive de-stressing activities that tap into Fluevog’s creativity and playfulness.
Drop-in tours of the exhibition at the David Lam Library and Canaccord Learning Commons will be offered on the following dates:
November 26: 12:00-12:30pm and 12:30-1:00pm
November 28: 12:00-12:30pm and 12:30-1:00pm
We are pleased to announce these tours during Global Entrepreneurship Week, and we will feature subsequent posts featuring short interviews with UBC Fluevloggers on UBC Library’s Small Business Accelerator: sba.ubc.ca.
We are also delighted to host John Fluevog for a meet and greet and book signing on Wednesday, January 8, from 12:30-2pm in the foyer of UBC Library’s Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, level 2. Join us for this opportunity to meet John Fluevog in person, congratulate him on 50 years in the business, talk shoes, and ask him to sign your copy of: Fluevog: 50 years of Unique Soles for Unique Souls. (Copies will also be available for purchase.) The event is free and open to the public.
For more information, please contact Rare Books and Special Collections at (604) 822-2521 or rare.books@ubc.ca.
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Fashioning the Landscape
Posted on December 10, 2019 @9:37 am by cshriver
Rare Books and Special Collections at UBC Library is excited to announce a new public exhibition in the Chung Collection exhibition room, “Fashioning the Landscape: Women’s Interwar Sportswear at the Canadian Pacific Railway Resorts.” The exhibition has been guest curated by Klahanie Research.
Interwar CPR brochures courted elite female consumers by advertising resorts as more gender neutral spaces than day-to-day life. Images of progressive women’s sportswear, which borrowed from men’s fashion, were used to rationalize and naturalize the rugged activities of the recreational holiday landscape. Distant, isolated, outdoor locations helped to relax social codes that would have been more vigorously enforced in more formal, populated urban centres. With the removal of city clothes, women symbolically shed workplace and household inequalities and seized pleasure with an outfit for every activity. From arrival to an evening of glamour, this exhibit explores the sportswear of: golf, hiking, skiing, canoeing, swimming, and riding, worn across CPR resorts.
“Fashioning the Landscape: Women’s Interwar Sportswear at the Canadian Pacific Railway Resorts,” which is free and open to the public, will be on display in the exhibition room of the Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection, in the Rare Books and Special Collections reading room. The RBSC reading room is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, please contact Rare Books and Special Collections at (604) 822-2521 or rare.books@ubc.ca.
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An Ocean of Knowledge, a Sea of Books
Posted on October 24, 2019 @10:55 am by cshriver
Many thanks to guest blogger Alvionne Gardner-Harrison for contributing the below post! Alvionne is a graduate student at UBC’s iSchool (School of Library, Archival and Information Studies) and is currently working with UBC Library’s W.C. Gibson History of Science and Medicine Collection as a professional experience project.
An Ocean of Knowledge, a Sea of Books: The Ocean and its Inhabitants in the W.C. Gibson History of Science and Medicine Collection
For Science Literacy Week 2019, one of the exhibits shared by Rare Books and Special Collections focused on materials from the W.C. Gibson History of Science and Medicine collection. With exhibit items ranging from sea otters on book-bindings to hand-painted seaweed fronds, and from the earliest studies in microscopy to guides for hobbyist naturalists, “An Ocean of Knowledge, a Sea of Books” gives some historical background to the ocean science highlighted in this year’s Science Literacy Week theme.
The exhibit of European scientific literature and illustration from the 17th-19th century explores representations of oceanic life and the techniques and technologies that were used to gather, organize, and distribute information about oceanic organisms. For much of the history of science that the W.C. Gibson collection documents, manuscripts and printed books were the main format in which new scientific observations and ideas were disseminated. The physical qualities of organisms such as fish, molluscs, and sea mammals that were encountered on colonial scientific expeditions, could best be preserved through detailed illustrations that were then reproduced in copperplate and sometimes coloured by hand. These striking images, organized according to new taxonomic systems like that of Linnaeus, were distributed in books such as those in this exhibit. The books included in the exhibit’s cases, some of which are featured below, highlight both ocean science and scientific literacy prior to the 20th century.
Microscopy, Taxonomy, and Colonial Voyages
Significant advances in technology, both intellectual and material, were required for European scientists to systematically study oceanic organisms, as was the expansion of colonial voyages. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek and Robert Hooke contributed to the nascent biological sciences through their development of microscopes and their demonstration of how they could be used to study microscopic organisms and the structures within larger organisms.
- Hooke, Robert. Micrographia (1665). [QH271 .H79 1665]
- Leeuwenhoek, Antoni van. Vervolg der brieven (1704). [QH41 .L4393]
- Mantell, Gideon Algernon. Thoughts on animalcules: or, A glimpse of the invisible world revealed by the microscope (1846). [QL365 .M35 1846]
Snow, In forbidden seas. [F5817.S3 S6].
- Pennant, Thomas. Arctic Zoology, II (1784). [QL105 .P4]
- Linné, Carl von. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines (1767). [QH43 .S9 1767]
The Material Science Book
The physical descriptions of organisms that were encountered on both local and colonial scientific expeditions could be communicated most effectively through detailed illustrations. These images were then reproduced as prints which were made from copperplate engravings, and which could be easily shared throughout the scientific community. In the 19th century, these illustrations were also widely printed in less expensive—but often beautifully bound—books for the general public, who enthusiastically engaged in early popular science.
- Gosse, Philip Henry. A history of the British sea-anemones and corals: with coloured figures of the species and principal varieties (1860). [QL377.C7 G67 1860]
- Adams, Henry Gardiner. Beautiful shells: their nature, structure, and uses familiarly explained, with directions for collection, cleaning, and arranging them in the cabinet and descriptions of the most remarkable species (1871). [QL405 .A33 1871]
- Recent polar voyages: a record of discovery and adventure from the search after Franklin to the British polar expedition, 1875-76 (1877). [G625 .R35]
Hamilton, The natural history of the amphibious carnivora. [QL737.P6 H2 1839]
- Hooker, Joseph Dalton. The botany of the Antarctic voyage of H. M. discovery ships Erebus and Terror, in the years 1839-1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross (1844). [QK5 .E6 1844]
Inconceivable Ichthyology
This case featured examples of illustrations depicting fishes identified and illustrated during global voyages of exploration and organized according to the binomial nomenclature of Linnaeus.
- Richardson, John. Ichthyology of the voyage of H.M.S. Erebus & Terror, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross (1844). [QL636 .R52]
- Schomburgk, Robert Hermann. Natural history of the fishes of Guiana (1843). [QL632.A3 B8 1843]
- Bennett, James William. A selection of rare and curious fishes found upon the coast of Ceylon: from drawings made in that island, and coloured from life, with letter-press descriptions (1851). [QL634.C3 B4 1851]
- Fries, Bengt Fredrik. A History of Scandinavian Fishes, Vol. II (1893). [QL633.S22 F74 1893 v.2]
From “Sea Monsters” to Seals
In addition to an extensive selection of books on fishes, the Gibson collection includes scientific materials on aquatic plants, molluscs, seabirds, and sea mammals, among other groups of organisms recognized during the 19th century.
- Sowerby, George Brettingham. Genera of recent and fossil shells (1820). [QL 404 S 68]
Dewhurst, The natural history of the order cetacea. [QL737.C4 D5 1834].
- Dewhurst, Henry William. The natural history of the order cetacea, and the oceanic inhabitants of the Arctic regions (1834). [QL737.C4 D5 1834]
- Hamilton, Robert. The natural history of the amphibious carnivora, including the walrus and seals, also of the herbivorous cetacea. [QL737.P6 H2 1839]
- Snow, Henry James. In forbidden seas: Recollections of sea-otter hunting in the Kurils (1910). [F5817.S3 S6]
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