Last fall, Olin Library’s Special Collections became the grateful recipient of a very special gift. Wallace Meissner ’72 presented the University with “Three Stories and Ten Poems,” an extremely rare book by famed author Ernest Hemingway. One of only 300 published copies, this volume of poetry was Hemingway’s first book. Five of the poems in the book had previously been published in “Poetry: A Magazine of Verse.”
“This volume was published in 1923 by Contact Editions, the publishing company of [twentieth-century writer and publisher] Robert McAlmon,” said Suzy Taraba, University Archivist and Head of Special Collections. “He published many ex-patriots, including Gertrude Stein.”
After deciding to give this book to the University, Meissner announced that it was to be in the memory and honor of Paul Horgan, a Wesleyan writer in residence for years.
“I wanted to find a better place for it, where people could see it, use it, and take better care of it, so I naturally considered donating it to a collection,” Meissner said in an interview published on the library website. “Remembering Paul Horgan – his influence on my life, the generosity of gifts to me from his own library – made Wesleyan seem the perfect destination. It just seemed the right convergence of time, people and place.”
“Meissner studied with Horgan, who was known as both a generous teacher and mentor,” Taraba said. “It was in honor of this relationship that Meissner gave the book.”
When he graduated from college, Meissner was given the book by his father as his present, as he wanted to be a writer, and was particularly fond of Hemingway. Now, due to Meissner’s benevolence, University students will also be able to enjoy this literary treasure.
“Undergraduates will definitely be able to use the book,” Taraba said. “I’ll show it to classes in this field, and also any other student who would wish to see it.”
Currently, the Hemingway book is housed in the special collection’s Davison Rare Book Room. About 1500 of Wesleyan’s 25,000 rare books are kept in this room. The room was a gift of George Davison, who graduated in 1892, and it opened in 1952.
“Davison felt a physical connection with the past by handling his books,” Taraba said. “He gave the books to Wesleyan so that undergraduates could have the joy of handling old books that he had.”
While Special Collections receives gifts on a regular basis, it also buys books frequently. Recently, Special Collections purchased a book called “Zweite Enzyklopedie von Tloen”.
“It is one of 50 projected volumes by two German book artists named Peter Malutzki and Ines von Ketelhoudt,” Taraba said. “The set is based on a story by Jorge Luis Borges, in which an encyclopedia said to contain all of the information in the world is lost. In the late 1990s, these two authors decided to recreate this lost encyclopedia. So far, twenty-seven of these artist books, which look like encyclopedias, have been published.”
The set of books is written in English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. In every volume, each of these languages is present. The volume most recently purchased by the university is called “Name.”
“’Name’ is a telephone book, probably from New York, chopped up and bound into a book,” Taraba said. “On top of this they have printed a text, and also names of famous artists, authors, and singers. This kind of book, one made up of pieces of other publications, is a typical style of the two book artists.”
Book artists Malutzki and von Ketelhoudt do about five volumes of the set per year. Each of the two do the books individually instead of working together. “Name” was written by Malutzki.
According to Taraba, these and other books are available for student use in the special collections and archives reading room. Special Collections’ drop-in hours are Monday through Friday 1p.m. –5 p.m., and by appointment.
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