Archives West Finding Aid

This artificial collection is primarily made up of individual leaves separated from bound manuscripts and printed texts. Some leaves were donated to Oregon State or acquired individually; some leaves were included as parts of leaf portfolios compiled by Otto Ege, Alfred W. Stites and Foliophiles, Inc., and others. Cuneiform tablets from Iraq, a Balinese palm leaf book, and an example of early Chinese block printing are also included.

The leaf portfolios present in the collection include: G. M. L. Brown / Foliophiles’ Pages from the Past: A Collection of Original Leaves from Rare Books and Manuscripts (issued 1926-1927); Otto Ege's Original Leaves from Famous Books. Nine Centuries (unknown issue date); Otto Ege's Original Leaves from Famous Bibles. Nine Centuries (unknown issue date); Foliophiles, Inc.’s Pages from the Past, Set 2: Western Literature; Pages from the Past, Set 4: Woodcuts and Engravings; and Pages from the Past, Set 6: Religions of the World, all issued in 1964. All sets are incomplete, and several sets contain multiple leaves from a title.

The information physically carried with some leaves through time was often incorrect or conjectural. These original labels and handwritten notes were the starting point for research but most have been negated or expanded by the present effort. Most items from Pages from the Past retain their original black card mounts and labels, though the original housing and front matter for the sets has been lost. Original labels may include outdated language, speculation, or inaccurate information.

The Foliophiles’ Pages from the Past sets were highly variable in their makeup and have been called “vexingly inconsistent” to collate (Fred Porcheddu). It is believed that an incomplete portfolio set of Pages from the Past: A Collection of Original Leaves from Rare Books and Manuscripts (1926-1927) was donated to OSU, but the date of that donation is unknown. An OSU Library catalog card indicates that Pages from the Past, Set 2: Western Literature; Set 4: Woodcuts and Engravings; and Set 6: Religions of the World were probably acquired by the library in 1964 or later and added to the McDonald Collection. Legacy descriptions for items previously in the McDonald Collection can be viewed in this archived finding aid. At some point, numerous items were adhered together in a gathering. The remains of that adhesive can be observed on the edges of the following leaves: Box-Item 4.5, Box-Item 4.16, Box-Item 4.16, Box-Item 4.20, Box-Item 4.29, Box-Item 4.46, Box-Item 4.47, Box-Item 4.48, Box-Item 4.49, Box-Item 5.3, Box-Item 5.30.

Provenance for most items in the collection is unknown. The example of Chinese block printing is a significant and notable item (if correctly identified), but it is unrecorded in McDonald Collection inventories or other sources. Dawson's Book Shop, an important rare book supplier for universities on the West Coast in the 20th century, advertises a set of six original leaves for sale in 1940, including a sample of block printing dated to 1440, a leaf from the Nuremberg Chronicle, and a leaf of "Justinian, printed in red and black by Bautista de Tortis, 1496." These leaves are present in this collection (though the block printing example has been dated by a previous evaluator to be much earlier than 1440), but the other three leaves are not present here. The precise phrasing of this advertisement was also on the original plain label attached to this item, suggesting that Dawson's Book Shop was a likely source of acquisition.

The cuneiform tablets are likewise notable items, but are not mentioned in The Daily Barometer or other university sources until a Daily Barometer article on May 26, 1964, on the occasion of the opening of the McDonald Room in Kerr Library. An Oregon Stater article from September 1990 identifies McDonald as the donor, but there is no supporting evidence for that claim. One Pages from the Past set issued in 1964 contained cuneiform tablets (see Western Michigan University Library's example, or Ohio State University Library's example), but OSU lacks large portions of this set (as it is enumerated in OCLC 7625055). However, it is possible OSU purchased these tablets individually from Foliophiles at the same time the other Pages from the Past sets were purchased. While Foliophiles sets issued in 1964 and 1967 also included examples of palm leaf books, the one present in this collection was acquired before these sets were issued, and is mentioned in an article on the McDonald collection in the Daily Barometer of March 11, 1960.

Place of publication, publisher, foliation, page numbers, and/or plate numbers have been included when discernible. Measurements and line counts for manuscripts have also been included. Notable illustrations or illuminations are briefly described. Manuscript leaves are on vellum unless otherwise specified.

Items identified in Scott Gwara’s handlist Otto Ege’s Manuscripts include the matching handlist number (Gwara, Scott. Otto Ege’s Manuscripts : a Study of Ege’s Manuscript Collections, Portfolios, and Retail Trade ; with a Comprehensive Handlist of Manuscripts Collected or Sold. Cayce, SC: De Brailes Publishing, 2013.)