#alexander turnbull

Retrospective cataloguing work recently turned up a book inscribed to the founder of our library Alexander Horsburgh Turnbull (1868-1918) when he was just sixteen.

The inscription, found in an 1867 edition of Alain-René Lesage’s picaresque novel Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane, reads:

Neuilly 14 Novembre [18]84.

14 rue Borghese

A Manoury.

A mon cher élève [i.e. To my dear student]

A Turnbull.

Thanks to some detective work by Anthony Tedeschi, our Curator Rare Books and Fine Printing, the inscriber has been identified as Arthur Maximilien Manoury (1849–1900), who is listed in the 1891 Paris electoral roll as living in 14 Rue Borghese in the commune of Neuilly (officially Neuilly-sur-Seine from May 1897) in the department of Hauts-de-Seine, just west of Paris.

By November 1884, Turnbull was no longer enrolled as a student at Dulwich College, London, having left at the end of the Lent term in March. Manoury was presumably hired as a private tutor so Turnbull could continue his French education. His comprehension of the language as a student at Dulwich is described in Eric McCormick’s biography as ‘rather better than average’ (p. 59) and, while not exactly a glowing endorsement, young Alexander must have improved and impressed Manoury enough to be given such a kind gift.

This book is one of just two books from Turnbull’s youth found in the collection to date. The other volume is an 1883 edition of works by the English poet and intellectual John Milton (1608-1674).

–

Alain-René Lesage,  Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane. Paris:  Garnier frères, 1867, Alexander Turnbull Library, R407877.  

                         Here stand my books, line upon line
                         They reach the roof, and row by row,
                         They speak of faded tastes of mine,
                         And things I did, but do not, know.

                                                            ~ Andrew Lang

This morocco binding rainbow comprises 11 of the 12 ‘Coloured’ Fairy Books, e.g. blue, red, yellow, green and so on, published between 1889 and 1910 by Scottish author Andrew Lang (1844-1912) and his wife Leonora (1851-1933). 

They were collected by Alexander Turnbull, who had each volume rebound in the rich colour of each title fairy. Only the Violet Fairy Book (1901) is lacking for reasons unknown.

Rather than see them discarded, Turnbull requested his binders affix the original gold-blocked covers to the front pastedown (and the original spine strip to the rear pastedown) in each book as shown here in the Brown Fairy Book (1904) and in this previous Turnbull Rare Books post:

https://turnbullrarebooks.tumblr.com/post/102849803244/a-decorated-publishers-bookbinding-from-the-1890s