Rare Book Monthly

Articles - July - 2016 Issue

In a Change of Plans, Gordon College Will Not Be Selling Part of its Rare Book Collection

Announcement of the Vining sale, a sale which will never be held.

Announcement of the Vining sale, a sale which will never be held.

A major controversy from last year over a library's plan to sell some of its rare books appears to have been quietly resolved in a way that will please those who support retention of the full collection. A year ago, Gordon College, a private, Christian school north of Boston, announced it would sell 10% of a rare book collection to support the maintenance of the remainder. As with all such plans, it stirred up a hornets' nest of opposition, some from faculty, some from alumni and others. It was sufficient to put the plan on hold, and now it appears to have been permanently cancelled.

 

In early 2015, Gordon College announced it was going to sell 10% of a specific collection. They even went so far as signing on Doyle New York auction house to conduct the sale. Doyle posted an announcement of the sale and a general description, though not the specific lots. That description said, "The selection is exceptionally rich in early travels and voyages, Shakespeariana, material relating to linguistics and philology, and Americana, among other fields. Most notably it includes copies of the first and second Bibles in the Massachusett language, 1663 and 1685 respectively, which were painstakingly translated into that language over a fourteen-year period. Both editions were printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the 1663 edition is the first Bible in any language to be printed in North America."

 

To be sold was not 10% of all of their old books. It was 10% of a specific collection, given to the college in 1921 by the heirs of Edward Payson Vining, a railroad officer. While Vining was not a railroad magnate, he was still a very successful official who was able to retire early and devote the bulk of his life to his loves – book collecting and writing. Some of his theories were a bit esoteric, perhaps a result of having too much time on his hands. He wrote a book about how the first overseas visitors to America were neither Columbus nor the Vikings. He believed some Buddhist monks from Afghanistan were the first to arrive. He also wrote a treatise on how Hamlet was really a woman. When you have lots of time and money, you can do things like this. Meanwhile, he built a fine book collection, worth a very substantial sum, that his family gave to Gordon, undoubtedly fulfilling Vining's wishes in the process.

 

Gordon gratefully accepted the valuable contribution, but evidently didn't really know what to do with it. For years, most of the collection remained in boxes. By 2015, some of the books were showing their age and the problems associated with keeping them in less than ideal conditions. The type of care, climate control, and such really needed was not within the budget of an institution whose focus was something other than preservation of old books. This was not a desperation situation. Unlike some colleges these days, Gordon is not at risk of going out of business. They're doing fine. It's just that maintaining the collection would require significant financial investments that might need to be drawn away from activities closer to their primary mission, educating students. So, administrators decided to sell 10% of the collection to raise the funds necessary to create facilities up to the task of preserving the remaining 90%.

 

Naturally, there were objections. This is an issue that pits preservationists against practical financial managers, and there is rarely a clear right and wrong here, just strong differences of opinion. It has happened before and will happen many times again. However, in this case, there was a twist that favored the preservationists. The 1921 gift of the books was subject to some conditions. Exactly how that was stated was lost, no one still having a copy of the original agreement. What was still around was a comment written in a book by the college's then President, Nathan Wood, in 1953. He wrote that the trustees "voted to accept the library on the understanding that the library shall be retained intact as a memorial to Edward Payson Vining and that no material change shall be made in its contents which would affect its material or sentimental value."

 

Would a sale of 10% constitute a material change in its material or sentimental value? Estimates indicated the books to be sold might be worth $2 million, but it was unclear whether the 10% of the quantity of books also represented 10% of its value. It could be more, or less. As for sentimental value, who knows? Gordon's position, at least from a public image standpoint, was further eroded by comments from Vining's 76-year-old great-granddaughter opposing the sale. The college decided to cancel the sale at Doyle scheduled for April 14, 2015, while it decided what it should do next.

 

Now, that decision has apparently been made, and without the fanfare that accompanied the prior announcement. According to the Salem (Massachusetts) News, the college has withdrawn the original plan. A spokesperson for Gordon said the college was responding to the strong feelings of faculty that another solution be found. While no details of how the issue of cost of preservation will be handled were given, Gordon did say it was exploring options with other institutions, possible grants, and such to resolve the concerns without selling off part of the collection.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Freeman’s | HindmanWestern Manuscripts and MiniaturesJuly 8, 2025 Freeman’s | HindmanWestern Manuscripts and MiniaturesJuly 8, 2025
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    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
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    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
  • Forum AuctionsFine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper  17th July 2025 Forum AuctionsFine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper  17th July 2025
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    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
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    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’sBooks, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to ModernNow through July 10, 2025 Sotheby’sBooks, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to ModernNow through July 10, 2025
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    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
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    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
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  • DOYLERare Books, Autographs & MapsJuly 23, 2025 DOYLERare Books, Autographs & MapsJuly 23, 2025
    DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
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    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800

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