“It makes me happy that the collection can be used for a wide range of teaching and research activities”
Utrecht University Library receives large collection of 18th-century English literature
Peter de Voogd (link in Dutch only) is emeritus professor of English Literature. This spring he donated a large part of his collection by and about novelist Laurence Sterne and of 18th-century English literature to Utrecht University Library. A conversation about collecting, marbled pages and a collection which is suitable for many kinds of research.
How did you start collecting?
“I wanted to take my doctoral degree, and finding a subject was not too hard. I was an avid reader of the author Henry Fielding and I immersed myself in his contemporary William Hogarth, a painter and engraver. I thought it was a logical combination, the more so because they had referred to each other. How do different kinds of art works relate to one another, what are the differences between a tragedy in literature or a large historical tableau in the art of painting? The concept ‘ book’ and the relation between literature and the visual arts has always fascinated me.
Only, the problem was: Fielding and Hogarth could hardly be found in the Netherlands. But international antiquarian bookshops were thriving and 18th-century books were dirt cheap. So I ordered the books from England. I thought: if I spot them, I buy them and then I have the books in my own home. And that is how it started.”
How did you fall under the spell of the novel Tristram Shandy?
“I had read Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne and I had found it an enjoyable and interesting book, worth rereading. I was sitting in the Bodleian Library in Oxford and just for fun I requested Tristram Shandy and came across the unique marbled page in volume three. This struck me in such a way that I wanted to find out more and during my next visit I requested all editions of Tristram Shandy. For a whole week I have been looking at all those marbled pages. My interest had everything to do with my already existing fascination for the relation between written and visual arts.”
Who was Laurence Sterne?
Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) was a clergyman in Yorkshire, who in 1759 began writing the novel Tristram Shandy which was published in five instalments. The book became a success overnight. In the novel he develops a technique which is a forerunner of the “ stream of consciousness”, later used by James Joyce in Ulysses.
Typographic elements in the novel
The marbled page in Tristram Shandy can be found in volume three, chapter 36. In each copy of the first edition you will find a page with a unique, handmade marble pattern. Sterne also played with typography and the book as object in other ways. For instance, in volume one there is a black page symbolizing the death of the character Yorick and an empty page in volume six, inviting the reader to imagine the most beautiful woman in the world.
“By that marbled page Sterne makes undone what is typical of a printed book, namely the fact that there are multiple identical copies., That happens the moment you realise that that particular volume you are holding in your hand is unique. No other copy is exactly the same, because it is handmade.”
For a whole week I have been looking at all those marbled pages.
“ I wondered why he did that. I think he wanted to attract attention by doing something different. He wanted to be world famous. But he was also very interested in the book as object and what effect you can achieve with that. In his very first letter to the publisher he specified exactly what the book should look like, and up until the last print run he was present at the printer.
And that is how I arrived bit by bit in the field of Sterne knowledge and my collection grew steadily.”
Why did you decide to donate the collection to Special Collections?
“A few years ago I thought: all right, I am a mortal human being, what am I going to do with my collection that is made up of first editions, translations, objects and drawings. If I put it up for auction, my offspring will benefit, but if the items would be spread among different owners, the collection as a whole is lost and so also its value.
Then I brought it up with Utrecht University Library and to my great joy they immediately responded with great enthusiasm. I am glad because I know the collection is in good hands. It makes me happy that the collection can be used for a wide range of teaching and research activities. I can imagine that a translator scholar is happy with a text of which approximately 150 translations exist. Or an art historian who is interested in book illustrations. Because Laurence Sterne is such a visual writer he is the most illustrated novelist in the entire English literature. Or think of a book historian or a book designer.”
It makes me happy that the collection can be used for a wide range of teaching and research activities
The thing is: it does not necessarily revolve around Laurence Sterne. The literary aspect is getting of secondary importance. So if you look at it from an educational point of view then Sterne is the excuse and the object, the appearance of it, is of major importance. Because a book will last forever."
Beginning this autumn, a start will be made by cataloguing the collection in WorldCat. It is already described In the Digitaal Repertorium (in Dutch).. Do you want to consult the collection? Please contact Special Collections.