From the journal of Meriwether Lewis: Thursday, June 13, 1805:
my fare is really sumptuous this evening; buffaloe's humps, tongues and marrowbones, fine trout parched meal pepper and salt, and a good appetite; the last is not considered the least of the luxuries.
"I'm a bibliophile," admits Peter DeLafosse. And a man who loves books just can't help but be excited about the upcoming 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
The bicentennial gives the University of Utah's Marriott Library a chance to show off rare books, art and letters in an exhibition, "The Journals of Lewis and Clark," which runs through June 25. "Basically this exhibit will trace the 200-year printed history," said DeLafosse.
On Tuesday, DeLafosse will give a gallery talk to highlight the exhibit. Earlier this week, as he helped install the displays, DeLafosse described some of the books.
About an ancient-looking green volume he said, "A first edition, in French, of Patrick Gass' journal." Gass' was the first journal published after the expedition, and the first language it was translated to was French.
As DeLafosse arranged a pamphlet, opening it to a biography of Vardis Fisher, he noted that Fisher, who wrote of Lewis and Clark in his "Tales of Valor," also taught English at the University of Utah. He taught from 1925-28, and Wallace Stegner was one of his students. Stegner counted Fisher as a mentor, said DeLafosse.
All the books in the display — from the 1810 French translation to the brand new 13-volume compilation from the University of Nebraska Press (currently selling for $1,100) — all are part of the library's Special Collections. As for the art, it includes digital prints of aquatints made in the 1830s by Swiss artist Karl Bodmer — the originals of which are also owned by the library. (Bodmer traced Lewis and Clark's route, making sketches as he went. The scenery is thought to have changed very little in the 20 years between their trek and his.)
And the letters? Well, perhaps the most interesting one in this display is a rather rare first printed edition of Thomas Jefferson's letter to the U. S. Senate, "communicating discoveries made in exploring the Missouri, Red River and Washita, by Captains Lewis and Clark . . . February 19 1806."
All in all, DeLafosse says, "The library has a pretty good collection of Lewis and Clark materials." Madelyn Garrett, curator of rare books, goes him one better in describing the library's Bodmer collection. "One of the best in the United States," she said.
Still, she added, as spectacular as the paintings are, as fascinating as the books may be, the real reason so many people are drawn to Lewis and Clark is because they represent an America that no longer exists.
Friday, June 14, 1805:
I selected a fat buffaloe and shot him very well, through the lungs; while I was gazeing attentively on the poor anamal discharging blood in streams from his mouth and nostrils, expecting him to fall every instant, and having entirely forgotton to reload my rifle, a large white, or reather brown bear, had perceived and crept up on me within 20 steps before I discovered him . . . I ran about 80 yards and found he gained on me fast, I then run into the water . . . about waist deep, and faced about and presented the point of my espontoon, at this instant he arrived at the edge of the water within about 20 feet of me; the moment I put myself in this attitude of defence he sudonly wheeled about as if frightened . . . and retreated. . . .
If you go. . .
What: "The Journals of Lewis and Clark" exhibit
Where: University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library, 5th floor
When: through June 25
How much: free
Phone: 581-8558
Web: www.lib.utah.edu
Also: Reception Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. and Gallery Talk at 6 p.m.
E-mail: susan@desnews.com