The Original Library Project not only attempts to identify any volumes owned by the University of Mississippi between 1849 and 1858, it also documents their current physical condition, including inscriptions, handwritten notations (referred to as “marginalia”), and inserted ephemera.

Inscriptions may provide information on a book’s donation or prior ownership. While marginalia often comment directly upon the printed text, some writings and doodles are little more than graffiti. Inserted items such as a photograph or a list of semester assignments may once have served as a forgotten bookmark.

Edmund M. Blunt, The American Coast Pilot; Containing the Courses and Distances between the Principal Harbours, Capes and Headlands, from Passamaquoddy through the Gulf of Florida…with the Latitudes and Longitudes of the Principal Harbours of the Coast: Together with a Tide Table (New York: 1817).

The ink inscription reads “From A.W. Banks to Lt. Allen Deas, U.S.S. Jn. Adams, West India Station, 1825.” Faintly penciled below is a later 1837 notation listing four lieutenants of the U.S.S. Constellation and documenting their presence off the coast of Vera Cruz in June 1837.

In the early nineteenth century, both the U.S.S. John Adams and the U.S.S. Constellation patrolled the Caribbean to suppress piracy.

The round pink label documents that the volume was in the stock of a New Orleans bookseller during the 1840s. Subsequently, the volume passed into the possession of the University of Mississippi library.

George Crabb, English Synonyms, with Copious Illustrations and Explanations Drawn from the Best Writers (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1850).

During the Middle Ages, scribes would often pen an elaborate excruciating curse on manuscripts to protect their labor intensive productions. One library reader obviously felt that this particular invaluable reference work merited a similar malediction: “Don’t steal this book my honest friend for fear the gallows will be your end.”

Thomas Campbell, Frederick the Great and His Times (London: H. Colburn, 1842-1843). 4 volumes.

Each of these four volumes contain notes, marks, and names of past students. Shown here, “J.S. Carlton” attended the university in 1872 and would later become circuit clerk of the Panola County Court.

Adolphe Brongniart, Tableau des genres de vetetaux fossils consideres sous le point de vue de leur classification botanique et de leur distribution geologique (Paris: L. Martinet, 1849).

Penned on the title page is a poetic quote from Lord Byron: “Shrine of the mighty can it be – that this is all that’s left of thee.” At first glance, the verse might seem appropriate for a book on fossils…until one realizes the French title refers to plants not megafauna!