Journal of a Voyage
This week for Fridays at the Peel we take a peek at the Journal of a Voyage to North America, written by Pierre de Charlevoix and published in 1761. But if you’ve been a patron of the Butterflies & Aliens Library for any amount of time, you know I’m much more interested in the voyage taken by the book itself than the voyage it recounts within its pages.
At first glance, it looks like what it is… a matching pair of old books bound in brown leather.
But a closer inspection reveals two levels of life and love for these books. First, the books were loved so much they fell apart. They’ve lived a life. But second, the books were loved so much that they were carefully restored, with the evidence of the first love embedded right into the second.
What might appear at first glance as simply a decorated spine is actually the parts of the original spine reattached to a restored cover, along with the original leather-covered boards...
And while we’re taking this close look, check out the beautiful marbling on the outer edges of the text block, which continues onto the marbled end papers.
The end papers also bear some additional marks of the books’ travels, including a large library bookplate on the inside front cover showing the books’ current home and steward in Bruce Peel Special Collections at the University of Alberta, as well as identifying it as part of the A. C. Rutherford Collection, books owned by Alexander Rutherford, the first Premier and Minister of Education for the Province of Alberta, and now housed in the Peel…
…a small bookseller mark below and to the right of the bookplate, a rectangular black sticker with gold printing that reads “Supplied by The Museum Book Store, 45 Museum Street, London, W.C.…
…and on the inside back cover, another large bookplate-style sticker, this one describing the restoration work done by Courtland Benson in June 1982… two hundred and twenty-one years after the book was first published…
Picture of the bookplate applied to the inside back cover that reads “COURTLAND BENSON / Conservation Treatment / Journal of a Voyage (2 vols.) / Both volumes have been taken down and deacidified with Wri T’ O solution (pH 9). The signatures have been gaurded (sic) and re-sewn on five linen cords with a contin-uous gaurd of Japanese paper. A loose gaurd with a linen support has been sewn around the first and last signatures and has been put down onto the boards. The linen cords have been put into the boards and new silk headbands have been sewn over a linen core. The inner joints have been repaired with Japanese paper. The spine has been rebacked and the corners repaired with new calfskin. The original spine has been replaced except the title and volume pieces which have been tooled on leather skivers and put on. The leather has been treated with potassium lactate and leather dressing. / June 1982”
Of course, it’s not just about the vessel, the cargo matters too. Or would that be the passengers? While we’re all pondering the right metaphor, a peek at one of my favourite things to find inside a book… a fold-out map!
Look! It’s Montréal!
So whether we’re talking book as object or book as container, this two-volume set serves as a journal of more than just one voyage, in fact and in deed. And it’s not nearly done. Between the care in its restoration and the care it now receives in the Peel, this copy of Journal of a Voyage to North America could be available to read and research for two hundred years more. Which means if you’re ever going to be in the neighbourhood, drop the Peel a line and you too can be part of this next stage in their journey.
But in the meantime, happy exploring and happy reading!
– Winston