Feast Day of Saint Cyriacus

Today marks the anniversary of the death by beheading of Saint Cyriacus and his companions, Largus and Smaragdus. They had fallen afoul of the Emperor Diocletian.  Cyriacus had converted the daughter of the emperor, then went on to stage a mass baptism at the court of a Persian King. Cyriacus and company were tortured and beheaded on this day in the year 303. Their relics were placed in the Church of Saint Maria, in Via Lata, in Rome.

The images you see here are from the front and back of a leaf from a twelfth-century English martyrology in our Fragmenta Manuscripta collection. Martyrologies were anthologies that provided narratives of the lives and passions of saints, arranged according to their feast day. These were read aloud in monastic houses during the office of prime.  The image on the left is the recto. The reading for Saint Cyriacus begins in the middle of the page, where you see the rubric and a fine blue and ochre arabesque initial. The leaf was trimmed along the bottom so it is not continuous with the text on the top of the verso of the folio (below). The text there provides the rationale for the day’s celebration: “However often we brothers celebrate their martyrdom, so often we say praise of the savior. And however often we observe their passions; so often we proclaim the grace of Christ.” The text on the verso looks forward to the Day of Judgment: “And because in the present age the faults of many are not known but in the future time it will be written, when god will judge the hidden things of men and will illuminate dark hiding places and will make manifest the heart’s deliberation. It will be known.  Do not fear the fury of persecutors. And the madness of blasphemers because the God of judgment will come, whereby our virtue and their wickedness will be demonstrated.”

We encourage you to join us in observing  this solemn occasion with a visit to the Rare Books Room.

 

 

 

Tips for Travelers

Cover of Baedeker's Lower Egypt (Leipzig, 1895)Travel guides began to appear in the eighteenth century with the rise in popularity of the Grand Tour. Wealthy young men traveled the continent, seeking to experience culture and the arts and enjoying European society. While the outbreak of the French Revolution curtailed the practice, peacetime brought tourists back to Europe.
Travels in nineteenth century Europe were facilitated by the advent of stage coaches. They allowed those who could not afford to hire private transportation to travel more economically. Additionally, the adventurous and self-sufficient could travel independently, departing from established routes. These travelers were served by guidebooks. In addition to listing of routes and overview of culture and history, these books offered practical advice on everything from where to stay, what to wear, and who to tip.
Title page from Letters from Italy (London, 1800)Special Collections has several guidebooks from this period. Mariana Starke’s Letters from Italy (London, 1800) reassured travelers that travel was safe and that the cities of Italy had not been robbed of their artwork. Starke gave her readers practical information about specific sites. Karl Baedeker published his first guidebook in 1839, basing the content on his personal travel experiences and including detailed maps. These guides became extremely popular. The firm is still producing guidebooks today. While not technically a guidebook, Bachelder’s Popular Resorts and How to Reach Them (Boston, 1875), gave travelers to the United States guidance on how to reach newly establish National Parks in the west.
Detail of the map of Stockholm from Baedeker's Norway and Sweden (Leipzig, 1879)

Advice from our guidebooks:

Avoid local fauna:
“The sting of a scorpion (seldom dangerous) or bite of a snake is usually treated with ammonia.”
Baedeker’s Lower Egypt(Leipzig, 1895)

How to pack:
“A soft or compressible portmanteau is not recommended, as the “Skydsgut”, who is sometimes a ponderous adult, always sits on the luggage strapped on [the pack horse]. A supply of stout cord and several straps will be found useful, and a strong umbrella is indispensable.”
Baedeker’s Norway and Sweden (Leipzig, 1879)

Illustrations of Yellowstone National Park from Popular Resorts and How to Reach Them (Boston, 1875)Visiting a National Park:
“If the National Park of the Yellowstone be the objective point, the tourist will continue on the Union Pacific Railroad to Corinne, Utah, at present the nearest approach by rail. From Corinne, the trip is completed partly by stage and by saddle, but should only be undertaken by person of strong physical endurance, after special preparation.”
Popular Resorts and How to Reach Them (Boston, 1875)

An early rating system:
“The Cappella Sistina contains some of the finest frescos in the world, namely, The last Judgement, by Buonarroti, immediately behind the alter, and on the ceiling, God dividing the light from the darkness, together with the Prophets and Sibyls, stupendous works by the same great Master !!!!!”
Letters from Italy (London, 1800)
 

Description of artwork from Letters from Italy (London, 1800) with many exclamation marks.Starke’s use of multiple exclamation points following her descriptions functioned as a kind of rating system. Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel frescos earns the highest praise, a rare five exclamation marks.

Take a sweater:

“Villa Borghese (This beautiful and magnificent Villa is so cold, and so much is to be seen in the grounds, that it should be visited in warm dry weather only).”
Letters from Italy (London, 1800)

Local insects:

“The gnats which swarm in some of the inland districts, especially in the Swedish Norrland, including Lapland, are a great source of annoyance and suffering, but the plague generally abates after the middle of August.”
Baedeker’s Norway and Sweden (Leipzig, 1879)
 

Where to stay in Vienna:

“The inns of this City are bad and dear; Wolf’s is deemed the best, and the white Bull once was tolerable; but the present Master is so notorious a Cheat…; besides which, his dinners are so bad that it is scarcely possible to eat them. Indeed, the only way of living comfortable at Vienna is to take a private lodging.”
Letters from Italy (London, 1800)

 

Detail from a map of Alexandria in Baedeker's Lower Egypt (Leipzig, 1895)Advice for cigar aficionados in Egypt:

“Cigar-smokers will find it very difficult to become accustomed to the Oriental tobacco, but they will find tolerable cigar-shops at Alexandria and Cairo… As a general rule smokers are recommended to carry with them, both in going to and returning from Egypt, as little tobacco as possible,… as a rigorous search is often made and a heavy duty exacted, both at the Egyptian, and at the French, Austrian and Italian Frontiers.”
Baedeker’s Lower Egypt (Leipzig, 1895)
An explanation of hieroglyphics from Baedeker's Lower Egypt (Leipzig, 1895)Special Collections has several of Baedeker's Guides in our collection. Search for Karl Baedker (firm) in the Merlin catalog. Limit your search to Special Collections.
home Resources and Services, Special Collections and Archives Salamanca, Wellington’s Masterpiece

Salamanca, Wellington’s Masterpiece

Portrait of Wellington from Baines' History of the Wars of the French Revolution (London, 1817). The word Wellington is a facsimile of the General's signature.July 22, 2012 marks the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Salamanca. While Napoleon was in the midst of his Russian campaign, other generals were busy consolidating France's position in Spain against a combined force of English, Portuguese, and Spanish rebels.

Though Wellington is probably best remembered for the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the battle at Salamanca is often called his masterpiece. On the afternoon of July 22nd, after a full day of fighting, Wellington recognized a weakness in the French army lines. His decisive orders for attack led to a rapid victory for the British forces.

Page from Southey's "Life of Wellington" (Dublin, 1816) describing the moment when Wellington gives the orders that will lead to victory atThe relative quickness of the British success following this action inspired friends and enemies. The French general Maximilien Foy famously declared "Wellington defeated an army of 40,000 in 40 minutes" when he wrote about his experience at Salamanca in his journal. Robert Southey’s account of the battle from his book Life of Wellington emphasized the dramatic moment Wellington gave his orders.

"Lord Wellington was at dinner when he was informed of this movement [of French troops]: he saw at once the advantage which had been given; he rose in such haste as to overturn the table, …and in an instant was on horseback, issuing those orders which won the battle of Salamanca."

While these accounts might not be strictly true, they do reflect the quickness of this stage of the battle and the strategic skill shown by Wellington.

Up to this point, Wellington had generally been regarded as a defensive general. Salamanca established his ability as a skillful soldier and tactician. This statement from Baines’ History of the Wars of the French Revolution is characteristic of many of the tributes to the battle and to Wellington:

Page from Baine's History of the Wars of the French Revolution (London, 1817) describing the battle of Salamanca.

"The battle of Salamanca was distinguished from all other battles hitherto fought in the peninsula, by several important circumstances: it was more masterly in the design, more gallant in the execution, and followed by consequences of far greater importance."

In retrospect, observers recognized July 22, 1812 as a turning point in the Peninsular War, not only for Wellington's reputation but for the morale of French army on the peninsula. British forces eventually drove the French armies from Spain and invaded Southern France in 1814. If British officer William Napier is to be believed, Wellington was aware of the shift on the afternoon of the battle. Napier recalls seeing Wellington late in the day at Salamanca "…alone, the flush of victory was on his brow… With a prescient pride he seemed only accept his glory as an earnest of greater things." Those greater things would culminate in the Battle of Waterloo, and the final defeat of Napoleon.

Map of the Battle of Waterloo from Southey's Life of Wellington (Dublin, 1816).
Robert Muir's Book Salamanca, 1812 (Yale University Press, 2001) is a source for more information about the battle and its' importance.

Depictions of Hell

 

This outline drawing of hell-mouth filled with heads illustrates Psalm 5.7. It is taken from "Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile," vol. viii, "The Paris Psalter."According to an article published in the Weekly World News, the temperature of hell is precisely 285 degrees Fahrenheit. When temperatures soar, it is good to be reminded that there are hotter places than Columbia, Missouri. Many whose works are represented in our collections have depicted hell to provide an avenue for encouraging better behavior, or, more recently, for providing entertainment. Perusing their works also provides an avenue for indulging schadenfreude. This week we bring together works from our collection of diverse periods and genres that share a fascination with hell.

Dives and Lazarus0001lgThe parable of Dives and Lazarus will be well known to many. To summarize, in life, the rich man (Dives) ignores the plight of Lazarus, a leprous beggar outside his gates. After death, however, the circumstances  of the two men are reversed:

110001sm“The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he called out, `Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame."

Larazus, though willing, is not permitted, and the rich man is left to suffer his torments without relief.

The image above on the right comes from a copiously illustrated late nineteenth-century Bible from our Rare Books Collection. The image above left is of a miniature illustrating Luke 19-31. It comes from Das goldene evangelienbuch Heinrichs III, a facsimile of the Golden Gospels of Henry III. This facsimile was made in Germany in the 1933. Henry III (1017-1056) was a scion of the Ottonian dynasty, and, like his predecessors, was known for commissioning books with sumptuous decoration. In the detail below, you can see the fate of the rich man’s soul as it is pulled from his body (far left), carried  to Hades by a devil (middle), and as it stands and utters its request to Lazarus in the company of other tortured souls and of Satan.

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Title page from "Josephus's Discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades,"Our collection houses a number of sermons that were designed to remind their hearers of the end that had been prepared for them. In the early third century Saint Hippolytus (170-235 CE) in which he described Hades thus:

"In this region there is a certain place set apart, as a lake of unquenchable fire. Whereinto we suppose no one hath hitherto been cast; but it is prepared for a day afore determined by God: in which one righteous sentence shall deservedly be passed upon all men."

On the left is the title page of the 1737 edition of the sermon edited by William Whitson. Whitson followed tradition in attributing this work to first-century Jewish historian Jospehus, though scholars now attribute it to St. Hippolytus.

Title page from "Tormenting Tophet, or, a Terrible Description of Hell, Able to Break the Hardest Heart, and Caus it Quake and Tremble"Woodcut from Bernardo Stagnino's edition illustrating the ninth circle of hellHenry Greenwood preached a sermon on the grounds of St. Paul's cathedral on June 14, 1614. The sermon was titled Tormenting Tophet, or, a Terrible Description of Hell, Able to Breake the Hardest Heart, and Cause it Quake and Tremble and published in 1628. Greenwood uses the sermon to think through the nature of hell. In particular, he relentlessly questions the nature of hell-fire, whether it is allegorical or substantial (substantial, he avers); if substantial, then of what material (of a special sort that does not require wood); and whether this material is corporal or spiritual. “What is most probable,” he concludes, is “ that it is, and shall be, a corporal fire, with an extraordinary afflicting power given unto it, tormenting both soul and body….[T]his fire shall outwardly burn thy flesh, and a worm shall inwardly gnaw your conscience.”

map0001lgThe topography of hell will be familiar to readers of Dante’s Inferno. The engraving on the left comes from a three-volume Italian edition illustrated by Luigi Portirelli and published in 1804. Also among the many editions we have of this work is an early sixteenth-century edition that contains woodcuts by several artists. On each page, the copious commentary of Christoforo Landino overwhelms Dante's text. The image on the right contains text and commentary for the end of Canto XXXIII and the beginning of Canto XXXIV. "Look straight ahead and see if you can make him out," begins Hollander's translation of this last canto of Dante's journey.

Last but not least, our extensive Comics Collection weighs in on the nature of hell. Gary Panter’s  Jimbo’s Inferno, published in 2006, superimposes the landscape of the Inferno onto a contemporary shopping mall. The result is, according to the subtitle, “A Ridiculous Mis-recounting of Dante Alighieri’s Immortal Inferno in which Jimbo, Led by Valise, in Pursuit of the Soulpinx, enters Focky Bocky, Vast Gloomrock Mallscape."

Title0001lg copy17lgIf Jimbo's Inferno brings hell up to date with some of the more banal features of contemporary American culture, Lucifer (for mature audiences only), reinvents hell as a steamy piano bar in Los Angeles. Lucifer was created by Mike Carey, Peter Gross and Ryan Kelly and published in 2001.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catherine the Great

150 years ago today, on July 9, 1762, Catherine the Great began her thirty-four year reign over Russia.  Following the assassination of her husband, Peter III, Catherine assumed the throne and presided over what became known as both the Golden Age of the Russian Empire and the age of the Russian Enlightenment.

Catherine was born in Stettin, Prussia (now Poland) on May 2, 1729.  Her name at birth was Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg.  When she married Peter III, she converted to the Russian Orthodox faith and changed her name to Ekaterina, the Russian equivalent of Catherine.  She gave birth to four children and all were most likely illegitimate, although Peter III claimed the firstborn son, Paul, as his heir.  Most likely, Paul was actually the son of one of Catherine's lovers, Sergei Saltykov.  Catherine never remarried, but instead maintained a string of lovers up until her death at the age of sixty-seven.

image of Catherine's charter
Charter signed by Catherine the Great

 
Special Collections at Ellis Library possesses a charter signed by Catherine the Great's hand that promotes Aleksandr Mukhanov, a young Russian nobleman, from regimental baggage-train driver to Lieutenant-Captain (Secund-Rotmistr) in the Horse-Mounted Guards.  The charter was produced in 1790 and is extremely ornate.  If you would like to stop by and see the charter in person, we would be happy to bring it out for you during our normal operating hours.

home Cycle of Success, Special Collections and Archives Special Collections is on C-SPAN!

Special Collections is on C-SPAN!

Watch our very own Alla Barabtarlo show off a few highlights of our collection on C-SPAN’s Book TV.

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Kelli Hansen

Kelli Hansen is head of the Special Collections and Rare Books department.

London and the Olympics

2012 London Olympics LogoThe 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London begin later this month on July 27th. For nineteen days, athletes from 205 countries will compete in 300 events for gold, silver, and bronze medals. Over one billion people watch the Summer Olympics, when it is held every four years. This month, the colonnade of Ellis Library is showcasing both the history of the Olympic Games and this year’s host city, London. As you are walking through the library, why don’t you stop by one of the displays and learn about some of the most memorable moments in Olympics history, or the history and culture of the only city in the world to host the Summer Olympics three times.

home Resources and Services, Special Collections and Archives The Fourth of July Orations Collection: Independence Day 1812

The Fourth of July Orations Collection: Independence Day 1812

July 4, 2012, will likely see many Americans partaking in backyard barbeques and enjoying fireworks displays. However, generations of earlier Americans celebrated Independence Day in a different way: with a sermon.

On this day two hundred years ago, the young United States was preparing itself to go to war yet again with a world superpower, Great Britain. In Washington, renowned orator Daniel Webster delivered an impassioned anti-war address on the subject.  The war, he argued, would damage American business and place American liberty in peril:

Under these circumstances we believe that the War, “instead of elevating will depress the national character; instead of securing, it will endanger our rights; instead of improving, it will prejudice our best interests.”

Page from Webster's speechNot only that, but the war would in effect ally the U.S. with Napoleonic France.  What could be worse than that?  Webster can’t think of much.

If there be any among us so infatuated, or so stupified [sic], as not to shudder at the prospect of a French Alliance, let them come and behold the nations that lie mangled and bleeding at the foot of the Tyrant’s throne, in a mixture of moral and political ruin.

Webster’s speech is one of the 450+ sermons and addresses that are now preserved in the Fourth of July Orations Collection in Special Collections.  Spanning 1791 to 1925, the collection documents the issues and debates that mattered to the American people across a broad span of our history.

The collection is completely digitized.  It is available online at the University of Missouri Digital Library, and also in traditional format in the Special Collections Reading Room.

Poems about Fathers

Happy Father's Day!  Today we're offering a selection of poetry by, for, and about fathers.  John MacKay Shaw, a father of two, was a businessman and bibliophile with a particular interest in the literature of childhood.  He wrote this volume of poetry, entitled The Things I Want, at the request of his young children, Cathmar and Bruce, in the 1930s. Shaw's library is now housed at the Florida State University Libraries.

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Wyatt Prunty is a professor of creative writing at the University of the South, and his poem "To My Father" deals with a son watching his father struggle with disease.  This copy of the poem was produced as a broadside by the Palaemon Press.  The edition was limited to 126 copies; the Libraries' copy is number 99 and was signed by Prunty.

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Finally, from the library of John Gneisenau Neihardt comes Father: An Anthology of Verse, published in 1931.  The anthology contains poetry both humorous and sentimental on the subject of fathers, fatherhood, children and families.  Neihardt received this book as a review copy, and the book still has its original review slip.

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Agnieszka Matkowska

PhotoSpecial Collections and Rare Books bids a fond farewell to Agnieszka Matkowska. Matkowska has been in residence during the past academic year to consult the Lord collection. The late Albert Bates Lord (1912-1991) was a professor of Slavic and comparative literature at Harvard University best known for his contribution to the understanding of the world’s oral traditions, especially those of the former Yugoslavia. His family donated his library to Mizzou in the Spring of 2011. It comprises a collection of almost 2000 books, articles, and even artifacts, many of which are in the closed stacks of Special Collections and Rare Books.  The A.B. Lord  Fellowship in Oral Tradition  makes these volumes available to international scholars by allowing them to remain in residence at Mizzou for a semester or longer. Matkowska,  PhD candidate from Poznan, Poland, was the award’s first recipient.

[Click on any of the images to enlarge.]

Among Buryat Performerslg

 

Buryat performer at the annual "Yerd Games" festivalMatkowska studies the oral legends of the Buryat people, a group of 450,000 individuals spread across Siberia, Mongolia, and Inner Mongolia. The Buryat people have a rich heritage of oral tradition, though the current generation of performers might be the last. According to Matkowska,   “When in 2011 I was doing my fieldwork in the Irkutsk Oblast’, a region bordering Lake Baikal, it was sometimes hard, so I became doubtful few times. In those moments Galina Vitalievna Afanasyeva-Medvedeva, a befriended professor and an expert in the field of Baikal folklore always raised my spirits emphasizing that what I do is of extreme importance as the folklore of that area is in decline and these processes are irreparable.”

Shaman Rock, in Lake Baikal, is considered sacred by the Buryat people.Matkowska, is writing a dissertation that investigates the factors contributing to variation that occurs across multiple tellings of Buryat oral legends. Before coming to Columbia, Missouri, she undertook fieldwork in southern Siberia along the shores of Lake Baikal. While there she recorded performances and interviewed performers. She was even invited to observe a shamanistic ceremony, a privilege seldom granted to an outsider.  While in residence at University of Missouri, Matkowska has taken advantage of the many comparative and theoretical studies in the Lord collection, gaining insight into the different methodological approaches she could take: “There are many ways to bite the cake,” she says “I just have to figure out which way will make it taste the best.” Matkowska will defend her dissertation in February at Adam Mickiewicz University.

Shamanistic ceremony, Tulunzha near Ulan-Ude, November 2009