I love
finding handwritten names, dates, or messages inside books‡. One of
my most treasured books (The Children of
Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien) contains a message by my late mother, and,
therefore, I always wonder at the messages or names found inside the covers of second
hand or donated library books. (The older, the better, in my opinion.)
Touching History
The last
time I visited the university library I found inscriptions in two of the books
I was using. What made it even more interesting; was that I was the first to
borrow the books since their donation. (I’ll admit that this happens quite a
lot just because my studies aren’t exactly “mainstream”.) But back to the
books.
Donating Treasure
The first
is a 1928 edition of the Dutch poem Mei (byHerman Gorter), donated to the library by Mrs H. de Bruyn. The bookplate on the
inside cover is one showing the old name of the university (Rand Afrikaans
University/Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit in Afrikaans)*.
Her name is
written (though I am unsure of whether she wrote it herself) in a lovely
handwriting with “Pretoria” and the date “1/7/29” (as best as I can make out)
written below.
The ink faded as the paper slowly turned a deeper brown, but as
I paged through it, a “bookmark” caught my eye.
It is a
simple piece of dark coloured yarn, cut with scissors on one side, seemingly broken
by hand on the other, is placed between the only pages I saw any other markings
or notes – perhaps made by Mrs de Bruyn?
I really
wonder what significance these two lines held for the reader. And I was quite
surprised that this volume is available on the open shelves!
The Unreadable Name
The second
book also contains a name and date, but I cannot read it and, unfortunately, it
does not contain a bookplate like the other. The book, Geschiedenis
der Noord-Nederlandsche Letteren in de XIXe Eeuw in biographieën en
bibliographieën, 1830 – 1900, contains the name and the date “1914”. The frontispiece has a lovely plate
of the serious-looking, and seriously moustached writer, Dr Jan ten Brink (1834– 1901).
Unfortunately
records of those who donate books to the library are not kept, so I have had no
luck in tracking down who Mrs de Bruyn was/is and what other donations she may
have made. This, of course, leaves me with a small mystery – and also goes to
show that I can be very nosy when it comes to books...
‡ Just to be clear: this does not
include the defacement of books. (Although that may also tell its own story.)
* It is now part of the University
of Johannesburg.
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