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- Original Leaves from Famous Books
Original Leaves from Famous Books
Show more"The greatest of the English epics is Beowulf, written shortly after the year 700, probably by a monk in a Northumbrian monastery. The subject matter is an accumulation of centuries of pagan and Christian legends. These are given local and contemporary color by the description of many of the eight century social manners. This epic has great pictorial power, stately speeches, momentous action and the portrait of the idealized King. Beowulf, the mildest, kindest, and most beloved of men, makes this long poem one of the most important heritages from our Teutonic ancestors. The reflections of the author show a Christian point of view, while the descriptions of the ceremonies are pagan. The original text, mutilated and incomplete, written in a most archaic English, was a challenge to the translator, William Morris. "To Morris, the story,' so writes H. Holliday Sparling, 'or what remains of it, was intelligible and interesting, but not even he could render it in terms that are intelligible to any but a highly trained reader." (Ege, Otto F.) Beowulf was "done out" of the Old English by William Morris, assisted by A.J. Wyatt, in 1894. In 1895, it was issued as the thirty-second publication of the Kelmscott Press, founded in 1891 by Morris. The type is the "Troy", Morris' second type of design of which he wrote, "... herein the task I set myself was to redeem the Gothic character from the charge of unreadableness... I think I may claim (the "Troy") to be as readable as a roman". The Kelmscott volumes generally are regarded more as objects of art than readable books. Nevertheless, Morris' ideals did more to raise the standard of printing in many countries and to encourage individual expression than the work of any other printer who preceded him". (Ege, Otto F.)
Original Leaves from Famous Books
Otto F. Ege Collection
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Show more"In the year 1748, Dodsley, the best known publisher of London, and six other bookseller paid Samuel Johnson a sum of ?1575 to compile a Dictionary of the English Language. This sum emboldened Johnson to move from his squalid quarters in the Strand to a pretentious house on Gough Square, in London, where he and five or six amanuenses labored for seven years, instead of three as first planned. Johnson's method was to read incessantly the best authors and to underscore the illustrative quotations he wished used and then to give them to his assistants to insert in their proper places. The general excellence of the definitions, the judicious selection of quotations, the etymologies, though often faulty, make the Dictionary useful and entertaining reading today. "Pension, an allowance made to anyone without an equivalence. In England it is generally understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country". "Lexicographer" Johnson defined as "a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people". Johnson in the preface reveals much of himself. "... In this work, when it shall be found that much is omitted, let it not be forgotten that much likewise is performed;...that the English Dictionary was written with little assistance of the learned, and without any patronage of the great, not in the soft obscurities of retirement, or under the shelter of academic bowers, but in midst of inconvenience and distraction, in sickness and in sorrow..." The work was printed by W. Strahan and seen through the press by Andrew Millar, one of the underwriting publishers. The underwriters received excellent returns on their original investment as edition after edition issued from the presses." (Ege, Otto F.)
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Otto F. Ege Collection
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Show more"Montaigne, the foremost apostle of urbanity and detachment, wrote his Essays between the years 1571 and 1588. In the note "The Author to the Reader", the purpose is clearly stated. "...I desire therein to be delineated in mine owne genuine, simple, and ordinarie fashion...; for it is myselfe I pourtray... Thus, gentle Reader , myselfe am the groundworke of my booke: it is then no reason thou shouldest employ thy time about so frivolous and vaine a subject. Therefore Farewell." In these three books of Essays, Montaigne is always asking, "What do I know?" and then in discussions and personal essays he gives us meditations on his wide classical readings, observations of life around him, and revelations of his own whims and habits. Montaigne also shows that he believes in fraternity and the underlying goodness of humanity and he is therefore a leading representative of the French spirit in the Renaissance. The standard English translation is the one used in this edition, made by John Florio in the early part of the seventeenth century. This polyglot scholar, born in Italy, later a teacher of French and Italian at Oxford, made in this translation an English masterpiece and gave us Montaigne, the solitary philosopher, "the best companion in the world". In 1901, Bruce Rogers, "the ideal of all those who have tried to produce books", designed a special font "Montaigne" for this monumental edition of the Essays in attempt to meet a want for a large type face that would avoid the blackness of Morris' types and the thin effect of the ordinary types when used in the larger sizes". The Essays of Montaigne is one of the famous Riverside Limited Editions for which literary selections were determined by the rule that the text should 'allow of an individual style of typographical treatment." (Ege, Otto F.)
Original Leaves from Famous Books
Otto F. Ege Collection
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Show more";In terse, restrained language, Sir Sidney Lee, in his life of Shakespeare, gives us a fine example of criticism when he writes, 'In knowledge of human character, in wealth of humor, in depth of passion, in fertility of fancy, and in soundness of judgment he has no rival ?.. To Shakespeare the intellect of the world, speaking in diverse accents, applies with one accord his own words: 'How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In apprehension how like a god'. The First Folio, printed in 1623, contained not only all the works previously printed, but also seventeen others, 'all true to original copies,' which no doubt means the manuscript copies in the possession of the company of the players to which Shakespeare belonged. These were edited and seen through the presss by his fellow actors and friends, John Heminge and Henry Condell, 'without ambition either of selfeprofit or fame'. In an epistle, To the Great Variety of Readers, regarding Shakespeare manuscripts, these men say, 'his mind and hand went together; and what he thought, he uttered with that easiness, that we haue scarce receiued from him a bolt in his papers'. The Second Folio appeared in 1632, the Third Folio, many of which were lost in the great London fire, in 1664. The Fourth Folio, the last, was printed in 1685. In each reprinting, more typographical errors or 'corrections' crept in , due to careless proofreading, or ignorant actorsin their attempt to modernize the lines" (Ege, Otto F.) ";Herringman?s shop, 'The sign of Blue Anchor', was one of the chief lounging places for the literary lights of Restoration London. The paper used for the Folio was the best crown paper available, much better than that used for the printing of Bibles in those days" (Ege, Otto F.) "And art alive still, while thy Booke doth live" (Ben Jonson)
Original Leaves from Famous Books
Otto F. Ege Collection
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Show more"In sheer literary excellence, it is hardly conceivable that the bible of 1611 known as the King James Authorized Version will never be surpassed. The scholars and the linguists who worked for seven years on this version spared no pains to make it as perfect as they could. It was planned for the average man and woman. They did not disdain, as stated in the preface, "to bring back to the anvil that which we have hammered". The style is an evolution, "a revision of revisions" of the bible made during the sixteenth century in England. It rests largely on the simple and energetic diction of Tyndale's translation of the New Testament, first printed in Germany in the year 1525. The predominance of Saxon words is very remarkable. In the preface, drawn up by Dr. Miles Smith, later bishop of Gloucester, the authors disclaimed all originality and wrote, "We never thought from the beginning... to make of a bad one a good one... but to make a good one better or out of many good ones principal good one." Many great English authors give unstinted praise to this Bible. Macaulay says, "If everything else in our language should perish this book would alone suffice to show the whole extent of its beauty and power". Tennyson says "The Bible ought to be read, were it only for the sake of the grand English in which it is written, an education in itself". However, it was slow to win its ultimate position of unquestionable supremacy. King James deserves little credit for this work which bears his name. Barker, the printer, advanced considerable money to the editors during the period of writing. The nickname, The "He" Bible, was given to the first printing because of the wording in Ruth III:15, "and he went into the city". The second issue printed "she"." (Ege, Otto F.) With the Apocrypha
Original Leaves from Famous Books
Otto F. Ege Collection
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Show moreCaption: "The Koran, the book of laws and religion of over 200 million Moslems, was dictacted by the prophet Mohammed after extensive travels to Syria and Palestine with a wealthy uncle. It was on these expeditions that Mohammed gained his concepts of monotheism and star worship. The 114 chapter of the Koran, arranged according to their length, have strange titles such as The Ant, The Spider, The Greeks and The Sun. The followers of Mohammed believed that the text contained revelations from the angel Gabriel, given to Mohammed in dreams after the year 600. The Koran gave all believers equality and eliminated the priestly class. It is held in great respect by Moslems, who, according to George Sale, the first translator of the Koran into English, do not dare to touch it without first being washed, nor to hold it below their girdles, nor knowingly suffer it to be in the possession of any person of a different persuasion. They swear by it and carry it into battle. This book was likely written in Cairo. With religious fervor rivaling that on the medieval monks, and with an alphabet surpassing the European one in artistic possibilities, the Moslem calligraphers of the Koran gained just honor and lasting renown. The art of writing is regarded by the Moslems as the finest of the arts, but few wrote before the time of Mohammed; in his own tribe, the Koreishites, only seventeen knew how to write. The prophet is not numbered among these. This leaf was written by the Egyptian calligrapher Mohammed ibn Kuzel Al Isawai with a reed, on egg-glazed paper that antedates any European-made paper by half a century." (Ege, Otto F.)
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Otto F. Ege Collection
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Show more"Samuel Johnson was an Episcopal minister in Connecticut. He refused Benjamin Franklin's offer of first presidency of the Academy of Pennsylvania (now the University of Pennsylvania). Three years later, he accepted the same office at King's College (now Columbia University). Johnson, did, however, prepare two texts for the students of Franklin's academy, who ranged from fourteen to sixteen years of age. The first of these was Noetica. The title page states, "The First PRINCIPLES of Human Knowledge, Being a LOGICK including both METAPHYSICS and DIALETIC or the art of REASONING with a brief PATHOLOGY, and an Account of the gradual progress of the HUMAN MIND, from the first Dawnings of Sense to the Highest Perfection". The full title for Ethica, the second work is, "The First PRINCIPLE of Moral Philosophy and especially that part which is called ETHICS in a CHAIN of necessary CONSEQUENCES from certain FACTS" Benjamin Franklin, because of his wide interest, important inventions, searching intellect and epoch-making contribution to democratic government, is considered one of the most distinguished of men, as well as the outstanding printer in his own period. During his long and busy life, here and abroad, his interest in printing never lessened. When he wrote his will in his closing days of his life, it began: "I, Benjamin Franklin, of Philadelphia, Printer, Late Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States to the court of France..." (Ege, Otto F.) "The first college textbooks to be written and printed in North America"
Original Leaves from Famous Books
Otto F. Ege Collection
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Show more"Milton's brilliant and profound mind, which illuminated so many aspects of life in one of the most important of eras, the seventeenth century, still challenges us today, three centuries later, in our struggle for human and individual liberty. To deep thought Milton added consummate art. Milton's position as the "greatest" pamphleteer and as the author of the "greatest" ode in the English language, the "supreme" monody, and the "mightiest" sonnet in any language, is rarely questioned. Dr. Johnson once commented, "Milton, madam, has a genius that could cut a colossus from a rock, but could not carve heads on a cherry stone." Paradise Lost is generally conceded to be Milton's greatest work, but he himself, as well as Coleridge and Wordsworth, considered Paradise Regained to be his masterpiece. This work was published in 1671, four years after Paradise Lost, upon which he had spent at least twenty years. It is not a sequel to other. The text is concerned with St. Luke's account of the temptation of Christ and is written in less ornate and figurative language than was used in Paradise Lost. The poem Samson Agonistes is memorable for the fusion of a Semitic theme, Greek tragic manner and matchless English verse. In 1900, Cobden Sanderson, the mystic, established the Doves Press. His books were, according to his own words, "...to be symbols of a vision of Cosmic Order, Order wrought in Rhythm and touched with Beauty and Delight." He wished "...to print in suitable form some of the great literary achievements of man's creative and constructive genius." The Roman type of Jenson was the model for the Dove Press. Pollard calls it the finest roman type in existence. Ransom, commenting on the Doves Press books, states, "They approach dangerously near to absolute perfection in composition, presswork, and page placement." (Ege, Otto F.)
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Otto F. Ege Collection
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Show more"James Thomson, like Virgil, with leisure assured by patrons and political pension, had unusual opportunities to observe nature and to write and rewrite his poems. The various parts of The Seasons first appeared between the years 1726 and 1730 and in their final polished form in 1744. With their swelling phrases and Latinized diction, these poems of Thomson are superficially Miltonic. Dr. Johnson wrote of Thomson, "The reader of The Seasons wonders that he never saw before what Thomson shows hum that he never felt what Thomson impresses". Today we still enjoy the sensitiveness to light and movement, the ultimate knowledge of the ways of animals and birds, and the ability of Thomson in his Seasons to lure us from a real world to imaginative reverie. With a subtle appreciation of quiet rural life is coupled a conception of a God in nature, as well as an unquestioning in the God of orthodox Christianity, and there is also an apparently unrelated enthusiasm for economic progress in Britain. "It seems paradoxical that Bodoni, the founder of "classic" formalism in printing, chose to print Thomson's romantic Seasons in sumptuous format and to include the following in the dedication to his patron, David Steuart, of Edinburgh: "If I particularly wish immortality to any of my works it is to this, that the testimony of my respect and gratitude for a person of so much worth and eminence may be handed down to future ages". Bodoni is often called "The King of Typographers and the Typographer of Kings". According to Peddie, Bodoni "incontestably represents the highest point of aestheticism that can be reached by typography." (Ege, Otto F.)
Original Leaves from Famous Books
Otto F. Ege Collection
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Show more"This first complete edition of Haklyut's Voyages gathers and describes the "Principal Navigations, Voyages, Tarrifques and Discoveries of the English Nation Made by Sea or Overland to the Remote and Farthest Distant Quarters of the Earth at any time within the compass of these 1600 years". This new and enlarged work extended into three volumes. The third volume deals with America and comprises eighty-one voyages to the new continent, ranging from the period of discovery to the end of the sixteenth century. Here we find the ringing tales of achievements of the Cabots, Cartier, Frobisher, Raleigh and Drake. Inspiration from this important and exciting compilation of England's searchings "further than ever any Christian hitherto hath pierced" was, as has been frequently stated, largely responsible for Britain's subsequent domination of the sea. The modern Hakluyt Society has issued over two-hundred volumes, each dealing with a separate voyage, with and introduction by an eminent scholar. The printing of a volume as large as this was a major undertaking and required all the material and financial resources of Robert Barker (also the printer and one of the sponsors of the first issue of the King James Version of the Bible), as well as the help of George Bishop, a wealthy alderman of the city of London and deputy printer to the Queen, and of Rolfe Newberrie." (Ege, Otto F.)
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Otto F. Ege Collection
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Show more"It has been the privilege of few human beings to enjoy the breadth and variety of personal experiences of life that were the lot of England's first great poet, Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340-1400). He was a page in the royal household, prisoner of war, foreign diplomat, collector of customs, member of Parliament and clerk of the King's works. His personal background and wide reading in Latin, French and Italian ("of bokes rede I ofte, as I you tolde") , is mirrored in his Canterbury Tales. According to Dryden, "The matter and the manner of these tales and of their telling are so suited to their different Education, Humor and Calling, that each would be improper in any other mouth". These tales represent almost every type of medieval literature: the pious tale, the saint's legend, the sermon, the metrical romance and the romantic epic. The Canterbury Tales is Chaucer's most famous and varied work. Troilus and Criseyde, the most finished work of Chaucer, is one of the finest narratives in the English language. The poem, while dealing with the unimportant event of the Trojan war, becomes a great psychological study of the dealing character, Troilus, son of King Priam, and of his love of his widow Criseyde. In mood, the work ranges from gay wit to tragic grief. Chaucer's Romaunt of the Roses is a masterful translation of the great French allegory of refined love. "Adam Islip printed in London from the year 1594 to 1603. His first edition of Chaucer?s work was issued in 1598. Many "reforms" and "improvements" were made in the second Islip edition, "Sentences and proverbs noted... obscure words prooued, the Latine and French not Englished by the Chaucer, translated". (Ege, Otto F.)
Original Leaves from Famous Books
Otto F. Ege Collection
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