College and Research Libraries


author, and he describes this in his character-
istically modest manner. Jefferson expected 
the library to be the heart and life blood of 
the University. U n d e r M r . d e m o n ' s guiding 
genius and w i t h the help of his " B o a r d of 
A l d e r m a n , " as he called his key assistants, the 
A l d e r m a n L i b r a r y has come close to achieving 
the stature which the founder's vision and 
personal efforts had established f o r it a 
century and a quarter before. 

L i b r a r y history has been neglected in the 
literature of scholarship. Academic libraries 
in particular have lacked chroniclers. T h e 
O l d Dominion's University L i b r a r y has had 
a particularly interesting history, and its 
publication is highly appropriate. N o one 
else could have told the story as w e l l as 
H a r r y Clemons, the tenth librarian of the 
University. H i s appointment at V i r g i n i a fol-
lowed a term as librarian and professor of 
English at N a n k i n g University in China, 
from which he w a s driven during the " N a n -
king Incident." T h e Chinese bandits forced 
him to decide between librarianship and a 
professorship of English, he says, by destroy-
ing his lecture notes. H i s story is told in the 
dignified prose of a man of letters, in a style 

all too rarely found in library literature. 
T h e volume is unencumbered by footnotes, 
but a single note at the end informs the reader 
that a f u l l y documented manuscript of the 
books has been deposited in the A l d e r m a n 
L i b r a r y and is available f o r examination. 

D u m a s M a l o n e has contributed an ad-
mirable f o r e w o r d in which he pays high and 
well-deserved tribute to the author and to 
the A l d e r m a n L i b r a r y . If Jefferson could 
return, M r . M a l o n e says, " H e w o u l d find the 
A l d e r m a n L i b r a r y , as thousands of students 
and hundreds of scholars have found it, a 
free and happy place. . . . T h e r e is more sun-
light . . . more w a r m t h and courtesy and sheer 
human kindness, than is commonly encount-
ered. M a n y have contributed to this spirit, 
of course, but the person most responsible 
for it is H a r r y Clemons, w h o with unerring 
instinct seized upon the best traditions of 
V i r g i n i a and of Jefferson and reincarnated 
them in an institution." 

T h i s volume which becomes an important 
milestone in the w r i t i n g of library history 
contains much of the spirit and w a r m t h to 
which M r . M a l o n e r e f e r s . — B e n j a m i n E. 
Powell, Duke University Libraries. 

T h e Graphic Image—Some Books about D r a w i n g s and Prints: the 
A n g l o - A m e r i c a n Tradition II 

English Drawings of the Tenth and Eleventh 
Centuries. By Francis W o r m a l d . N e w 
Y o r k , P r a e g e r , 1953. 83p. $6.00. 

Engraving in England in the Sixteenth and 
Seventeenth Centuries; A Descriptive Cat-
alogue with Introductions. P a r t I. T h e 
T u d o r Period. By A r t h u r M . Hind. C a m -
bridge, C a m b r i d g e University Press, 1952. 
$22.50. 

IVilliam Blake's Illuminated Books. A 
Census compiled by G e o f f r e y Keynes and 
E d w i n W o l f 2nd. N e w Y o r k , T h e G r o l i e r 
C l u b , 1953. 124P. $10.00. 
T h e three books to be reviewed here deal 

with drawings, prints and book illustrations 
in England. I had hoped to include them 
in my last review column in the October, 
1954, issue, which w a s devoted to the A n g l o -
A m e r i c a n tradition in bookmaking. H o w -
ever, so many books had to be included in 
that column that it became necessary to hold 
some over f o r another occasion. T h i s is 

one of the reasons w h y they w e r e not re-
viewed earlier (the other one being the pres-
sure of other obligations). 

O n e of the most interesting and most 
puzzling aspects of England's participation in 
the graphic arts of the W e s t e r n w o r l d is 
the sporadic nature of her contribution. 
W h e n seen in the broad perspective of a 
1000-year history, there is a curious pattern 
of high creativity abruptly followed by al-
most total sterility and vice versa. 

" I t is w e l l known that the condition of 
English art f r o m about the middle of the 
ninth to the middle of the tenth centuries 
w a s bad," states Francis W o r m a l d in his 
English Drawings of the Tenth and Eleventh 
Centuries. T h i s book, by the professor of 
paleography at the University of London, 
and f o r m e r l y assistant keeper in the British 
M u s e u m ' s D e p a r t m e n t of Manuscripts, re-
cords the first significant revival of the graphic 
arts in the British Isles a f t e r the stupendous 

222 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



e a r l i e r achievements of the Irish monastic 
artists and their f o l l o w e r s . 

P r o f e s s o r W o r m a l d shows us h o w the 
impetus of the Benedictine r e v i v a l of monas-
ticism in E n g l a n d opened the w a y f o r an 
i m p o r t a n t n e w school of A n g l o - S a x o n book 
illumination. H e sees more clearly, perhaps, 
than many other historians t h a t the many 
b e a u t i f u l and sensitive d r a w i n g s in these 
manuscripts w e r e not merely unfinished studies 
f o r illuminations, but independent w o r k s of 
graphic art. T h e y have their o w n style and 
f l a v o r and a special intensity. T h e influence 
of the f a m o u s U t r e c h t P s a l t e r , the ninth 
c e n t u r y masterpiece of C a r o l i n g i a n i l l u s t r a -
tion, is j u s t l y emphasized as the s t a r t i n g 
point f o r significant g r o w t h . T h e subsequent 
emergence of an independent a r t of d r a w i n g 
is traced in a considerable number of m a n u -
scripts w h i c h can safely be identified not only 
w i t h W i n c h e s t e r , but also w i t h other monas-
teries. 

O n e important aspect of this early E n g l i s h 
graphic a r t stands in need of more p r o f o u n d 
interpretation, but not necessarily at the 
hands of the p a l e o g r a p h e r or the a r t his-
torian. T h e s e illustrations are the result 
of a v e r y p a r t i c u l a r spirituality and religious 
devotion. T h e term " r e v i v a l of m o n a s t i c i s m " 
does not explain sufficiently the rise of these 
magnificent graphic visions. W e have to turn 
to the w r i t i n g s of one of the g r e a t modern 
interpreters of medieval religious l i f e f o r a 
key that w i l l open the door to a f u l l e r u n d e r -
standing of these m a n i f e s t a t i o n s : 

T h e f a t h e r s of t h e C h u r c h a n d t h e con-
t e m p l a t i v e saints, a w a r e t h a t t h e i r d e e p e s t 
e x p e r i e n c e of G o d w a s a l w a y s s o m e h o w 
associated w i t h t h e L i t u r g y a n d i n t i m a t e l y 
d e p e n d e n t on the P s a l m s , h a v e sometimes 
p r o c e e d e d to a r g u e , a posteriori, t h a t t h e 
t r u e m e a n i n g of t h e P s a l m s w a s a h i d d e n 
a n d a l l e g o r i c a l m e a n i n g . T h i s is w h a t h a s 
sometimes been called the 'mystical' sense 
of S c r i p t u r e . T h e l i t e r a l sense, w i t h its b a t -
tles, its t r i u m p h s , its a g o n i e s a n d its m o r a l i z -
ing, is only an o u t e r shell. T h e ' r e a l ' m e a n -
i n g of t h e P s a l m s is held to be a s p i r i t u a l 
k e r n e l w h i c h must be a r r i v e d at by p e n e t r a -
tion of the 'letter.' T o c l i n g to t h e l i t e r a l 
m e a n i n g alone is, a c c o r d i n g to this line of 
t h o u g h t , to miss the w h o l e significance of t h e 
P s a l m s , f o r 'the letter killeth.' ( T h o m a s 
M e r t o n , Bread in the Wilderness, N e w Y o r k , 
N e w D i r e c t i o n s , 1953.) 

English book a r t more than held its o w n 

through most of the M i d d l e A g e s . H o w -
ever, t o w a r d s the end of that period, d u r i n g 
part of the f o u r t e e n t h and v i r t u a l l y all of the 
f i f t e e n t h century, w e see again the flagging 
of artistic c r e a t i v i t y . T h u s it happened t h a t 
at the beginning of printing E n g l a n d ' s con-
tribution w a s insignificant. T h i s condition 
is recognized in A r t h u r H i n d ' s basic r e f e r e n c e 
w o r k on Engraving in England in the Sixteenth 
and Seventeenth Centuries: 

W h i l e a host of c r a f t s m e n , in G e r m a n y 
a n d the s u r r o u n d i n g countries, w e r e e n g r a v -
i n g p l a t e s f o r p r i n t i n g in t h e fifteenth cen-
t u r y , n o t h i n g w a s p r o d u c e d in E n g l a n d . T h e 
b e g i n n i n g of the c r a f t of l i n e - e n g r a v i n g in 
N o r t h e r n E u r o p e d a t e d f r o m t h e first half 
of the fifteenth c e n t u r y . . . . F r o m the c r a f t 
of the g o l d s m i t h , a n d e n g r a v e d d e s i g n s on 
m e t a l , it w a s only a s h o r t step to the use of 
m e t a l plates, s i m i l a r l y e n g r a v e d , f o r p r i n t i n g 
on p a p e r . It is the m o r e s u r p r i s i n g t h e r e -
f o r e t h a t this step w a s only t a k e n in E n g l a n d 
a f t e r the p a s s i n g of the g r e a t g e n e r a t i o n of 
l i n e - e n g r a v e r s on t h e c o n t i n e n t of E u -
r o p e . . . . 

T h e g r a d u a l r e a w a k e n i n g of native enter-
prise in English graphic arts, the g r o w t h 
f r o m tentative beginnings to indigenous 
strength, is the basic story told in the first 
v o l u m e of this i m p o r t a n t w o r k by the some-
time K e e p e r of P r i n t s and D r a w i n g s in the 
British M u s e u m . O r g a n i z e d as a comprehen-
sive catalog, it records all prints " m a d e 
f r o m e n g r a v e d or etched plates of copper, 
or other m e t a l , " including " w o r k by f o r e i g n -
ers in E n g l a n d as w e l l as by n a t i v e c r a f t s -
men, and also occasional w o r k done abroad 
closely related to E n g l a n d . " 

A g e n e r a l introduction of 38 pages, ex-
plaining the g e n e r a l principles of the w o r k 
and providing the reader w i t h a continuous 
n a r r a t i v e , is f o l l o w e d by the c a t a l o g . T h i s 
is the main body of the w o r k , comprising 
o v e r 250 pages, and a r r a n g e d as a series of 
biographical articles in chronological o r d e r . 
T h e n f o l l o w s additional i n f o r m a t i o n in the 
f o r m of notes, a bibliography, etc. A n im-
pressive series of 156 plates, many of them 
s h o w i n g several subjects, conclude the v o l -
ume. 

A n e x t r a o r d i n a r i l y vivid picture of E n g l i s h 
l i f e in all its aspects emerges f r o m these re-
productions. T h e y bring t o g e t h e r a body 
of pictorial i n f o r m a t i o n not previously as-
sembled and k n o w n only in isolated examples 

APRIL, 1955 223 



to most students of graphic arts and English 
history. 

In the eighteenth century Britain's con-
tribution to the graphic arts of the W e s t e r n 
W o r l d is at least on a par with that of the 
European continent. D u r i n g the d a w n of 
the mechanical era and at the height of in-
dustrialization in the mid-nineteenth century 
Britain w a s the leader. Its importance is 
paramount in the revolution against the evils 
of mechanization. 

T h e r e is one artist whose w o r k and life 
can be looked upon as symbols of man's fate 
in the industrial revolution. W i l l i a m Blake, 
the prophet w h o used the imagery of w o r d s 
and pictures in a combination of unique ef-
fectiveness, made a significant contribution to 
the multiplication of the printed image, which 
helped pave the w a y for mass production of 
picture printing. B u t he also fought passion-
ately f o r the freedom of man's individual 
soul. H i s desperate struggle against an in-
different and often hostile w o r l d did not end 
with his death. T h e verdict of "naive 
dilettantism" long stood in the w a y of a 
f u l l e r appreciation of his genius. 

N o w , it seems, he is recognized more gen-
erally and perhaps more generously, than 
ever before. N o less than three important 
books about W i l l i a m Blake have appeared 
within the last t w o years. T o a large extent 
they are the results of the combined efforts 
of scholars and bibliographers on both sides 
of the Atlantic. T h e r e is Joseph H . W i c k -
steed's Jerusalem: A Commentary (London, 
T r i a n o n Press for the W i l l i a m B l a k e T r u s t , 

1954) ; A l b e r t S. Roe's Blake's Illustrations 
to the Divine Comedy (Princeton, Princeton 
University Press, 1953); and the census of 
IVilliam Blake's Illuminated Books, by 
G e o f f r e y Keynes and E d w i n W o l f , 2nd. 

T h i s book is actually a revised and much 
enlarged edition of a section in the G r o l i e r 
C l u b ' s Bibliography of Blake, printed in 1921. 
In the 32 years since its publication more 
than 40 hitherto unrecorded copies of il-
luminated books have come to light; these 
are listed here and the previous descriptions 
c a r e f u l l y gone over. T h e r e are eight plates 
of reproductions. 

T h e bibliography, which forms the main 
body of the w o r k , is arranged in chrono-
logical order. U n d e r each title w e find a 
brief "description," a detailed analysis of 
"contents," listing and describing each plate 
in its various states, a most interesting 
"note," and a listing of existing copies, fol-
lowed by references to "facsimile reproduc-
tions." T h e " p r e f a c e , " revised and expanded 
f r o m the 1921 edition, contains a c a r e f u l 
description of W i l l i a m Blake's graphic tech-
nique, pointing out his possible sources and 
explaining his processes. 

O n e of the most important things about 
this census is that, along with the very com-
plete and up-to-date bibliographical appa-
ratus, it contains in the notes to each title 
a brief but penetrating commentary on W i l -
liam Blake's literary and artistic intentions 
and the significance of each book within the 
l i f e w o r k of the a r t i s t . — H e l l m u t Lehmann-
Haupt, New York, NY. 

N e w Mexico's Undergraduate Library 
(Continued from page 156) 

( H a l f - c a r d s filed in the main catalog 
should prevent this in part.) 

( 2 ) G r e a t e r possibilities f o r loss and for 
"missing" category books through mis-
shelving by student users. ( C h e c k i n g all 
items leaving the room, plus constant shelf-
reading and attention to shelving practices 
eliminates much of this. Students are 
asked not to reshelve books themselves.) 

( 3 ) Possible confusion caused by subject 
arrangement as opposed to the more com-
mon decimal classification. M a n y items 
might logically be placed in more than one 
section, adding to the confusion. T h u s 

consultation by card catalog is still some-
times necessary even though it is an open-
shelf collection. 

( 4 ) Occasionally when discharging books 
received at the Circulation D e s k student 
assistants have discharged the locator card 
as a charge and have returned the " U G " 
book to the stacks, causing a "book miss-
ing" report. 

( 5 ) Duplication of processing. F i v e 
more cards must be typed and books 
slipped again, f o r items which have been 
already slipped and cataloged upon initial 
a r r i v a l in the library. 

224 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES