University of Vermont - Ariel Yearbook (Burlington, VT)

Page 14 text:

12' THE ARIEL, 1907 General 1Rusb GZ. 1bavohins, ELTLE. E DEDICATE this issue of the ARIEL to a stanch friend of the University, a Vermonter of Vermonters, a gallant defender of the Union during the Civil War, and a good fighter always for the rights of man, and for the ideas on which the' fathers originally founded the government under which we live. The first time the writer of this sketch met General Hawkins, he was in Burlington with the hope to find in one of the University builde ings the right place in which to hang a large painting for which the walls of his own house nowhere gave sufficient room 3 but unfortunately, a suitable position could not be discovered. One painting in the library, his gift, must be familiar to many who have no suspicion whence it came, the admirable portrait of George P. Marsh, by Thomas VV. VVood, the well-known artist of Montpelier and New York. -- A few volumes of exceeding rarity and value were given to the library in 1897. These came originally from the Ambrosian Library in Milan. One is a photo-lithographic reproduction of the Ambrosian codex of the Old Testament, the Syra Peshito of the 6th century, once regarded by the Roman Catholic church as the most ancient of the complete manu- scripts of the Old Testament. The work is in two volumes, imperial folio, and appeared in 1876-83. A second work is a like edition of the Syra Hexaplaris, a Syriac reproduction of the famous Hexaplar Greek text of the Old Testament, a codex found in the East and taken to Milan in the 17th century. A third work is an ancient liturgy written in the 9th century by an archbishop of Ravenna, of which sixty copies only were made. A fourth imperial folio contains passages and pictures reproduced from an old vellum Iliad, along with some scholia on the Odyssey, and is one of the most beautiful books ever produced by the art preserva- tive.

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THE ARIEL, 1907 after the chartering of the academic college, the medical college was organizedg then followed the agricultural col- lege g and now our scientific school is in full blast in all its branches. W7 ith this development of course there was a steady increase in the number, and improvement in the equipment of the buildings. Today our university is ranked among the best, in the minds of even disinterested people when they base their judgment on facts. Her academic college, her medical college, her agricultural college, her scientific school,- all stand side by side with the best. Thus stands our Alma Mater today, founded on the bed-rock of faith and determination, and built of adamant, the unsubdued and unsubduablef' Bravely she has shouldered her responsibility as a chartered university, and she cannot but carry her work to a just completion. Such she is and therefore welove her. Iustly her sons the World over thrill with pride and burn with devo- tion at the name of their Alma Mater. We can do no better than to join with our Sophomore brother:- Raise her proud battle cry Shout, shout that name on high For her we'll live and die Grand old Vermont! Long shall her name survive Long shall she live and thrive Nobly her sons shall strive Grand old Vermont!

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THE ARIEL, 1907 13 Of the first work named above, but two other copies have found their way to the United States, of the Second, one other, of the third and fourth, our copies are believed to be the only ones in America. A rare item, to use a bookseller'S word, is a copy of the first English translation of Rabelais, by S. T. U. Cf dated 1653. The donor's note on a Hy-leaf says that it is the only copy seen or heard of, as offered for sale in forty-three years of book-collecting. ln 1898 Gen. Hawkins gave the University his entire collection of books on the Civil War, the gathering of which had begun long before the struggle was ended. The original 1,450 volumes fnow increased by additional gifts to I,688j includes histories, general and special, biog- raphies, military criticism, rosters, general orders, poetry, lampoons, stories, etc. The Confederate Statutes, reports and orders are here 5 also specimens of the Southern School-books and novels of the time. Many rarities are comprised in the collection. Some graduate from our De- partment of History, it is hoped will some day make the Hawkins Col- lection his workshop, and send out a substantial contribution to our knowledge of that great coniiict. General Hawkins has been a book hunter all his life. Not many years ago fin I887D his accumulations demanded So much space that he Sent 5,000 volumes to the auction room. The- range, and the results, of his bibliographical investigations are best indicated in a quarto volume issued by him in 1884, the title of which we copy in full: TITLES OF THE FIRST BooIcS FROM THE EARLIEST PRESSES, ESTABLISHED IN DIFFERENT CITIES, TowNS AND MONASTERIES IN EUROPE BEFORE THE END OF THE FIFTEENTI-I CENTURY, WIITH BRIEF NOTES UPON THEIR PRINTERS. ILLUSTRATED WITH REPRODUCTIONS OF EARLY TYPES AND FIRST ENGRAVINGS OF THE PRINTING PRESS. BY RUSH C. HAWRINS. New York and London: MDCCCLXXXIV.