|
UM
library adds 1814 edition
of Lewis and Clark journals
UM
has acquired the earliest authorized edition of the Lewis
and Clark journals. The 1814 two-volume set -- bound in
red morocco leather -- is valued at about $15,000.
The
books, titled "History of the Expedition Under the
Commands of Captains Lewis and Clark, to the Sources of
the Missouri," are in Special Collections at the Maureen
and Mike Mansfield Library. The volumes are special for
two reasons: They document the earliest official U.S. expedition
into what would become western Montana, and they were once
owned by Henry Villard, the German-born financier who brought
the railroad to Missoula in 1883 and for a time controlled
most major transportation in the Pacific Northwest.
The
books are among 1,417 first printed in Philadelphia. They
originally sold for $6 per copy, and this first authorized
edition leaves intact the raw quality of the diaries, retaining
a sense of danger and high adventure.
Frank
D'Andraia, UM dean of library services, said the volumes
were acquired thanks to the interest and support of the
Theta Rho Chapter of Delta Delta Delta, a former UM sorority
that disbanded in 1971 after 45 years of campus involvement
and community service. Though the sorority is no more, its
alumnae placed chapter assets into a special trust that
primarily benefits the UM library.
"The
journals are, of course, the single most important volumes
in the area of Western travel and exploration," D'Andraia
said. "This acquisition is timely because of the upcoming
bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and they
are of great value to us as a research institution."
D'Andraia
said the library has earlier unofficial editions of the
Corps of Discovery journals that historians will be able
to compare with the latest acquisition -- an edition that
was finally published eight years after Lewis and Clark
returned from the wild in 1806. He said the price of the
Villard journals would have jumped $100,000 or more if they
had the big, folding map that was included with many copies
of the 1814 editions. "But that map was probably removed
and used," he said, "or maybe our copy never had
it."
Special
Collections librarian Chris Mullin said the Lewis and Clark
volumes most likely decorated Villard's office during his
railroad baron days. They were part of Villard's 168-volume
collection, all bound in red leather, that bore the title
"U.S. Explorations West of the Mississippi."
Mullin
said wealthy people in Villard's day often would collect
first editions of books and then have them rebound to make
them more attractive. After Villard's retirement the book
apparently remained in a railroad library until 1970, when
the Northern Pacific became part of Burlington Northern
and the library was dispersed.
He
said the Mansfield Library now owns 18 volumes from Villard's
personal collection. Mullin said he jumped at the chance
to expand UM's collection when he spotted the journals for
sale in a Texas book dealer's catalog at a reasonable price.
"Really,
we lucked out," he said. "I was one of the first
people to see that catalog."
UM's
1814 edition of the Lewis and Clark journals is on display
in a new case outside the Special Collections office on
the fourth floor of the Mansfield Library. Like most items
in Special Collections, Mullin said, the volumes are available
for use by researchers, students or the general public under
controlled conditions in the library.
|
