A '97 Man's Love of Books

ONE of the impressive stories of Dartmouth growth centers in the Baker Library, and behind the main account of the expanding collections of valuable and needed books are innumerable stories of generosity by alumni and friends of the College. One such collection having significant value and a story behind it is that given by Hamilton Gibson '97.

Consisting of 536 bound volumes (100 of which are first editions) and numerous pamphlets about Dartmouth College, Mr. Gibson's gift is a substantial answer to the Library's expressed interest in Dartmouth material, the Indian and Overland Narratives, other books relating to the settlement of the West, and first editions of American writers of the early 19th century. In the Gibson collection are first editions of On the Frontier and Millionaire ofRough and Ready by Bret Harte, Representative Men by Emerson, Stolen WhiteElephant and Roughing It by Mark Twain, Eureka and The Conchologist'sFirst Book by Poe, Birds and Poets, FreshFields and Winter Sunshine by Burroughs, Uncle Remus and His Friends by Harris, Penrod and Ramsey Milholland by Tarkington, as well as first editions of James, Tennyson, Thackeray and Kipling.

The background of Mr. Gibson's collection is told best in his own words: "There is nothing at all unique about the books I gave to the Dartmouth College Library. They do represent books that provided a thrill in digging them out of a store shelf or from a counter in a book stall. There is that joy of discovery.

"As a freshman at Dartmouth in 1893, I fell like many others to the blandishments and persuasiveness of a Houghton-Mifflin salesman and partly filled a shelf with sets of Emerson and other classics. That followed with being a roommate of Semp Smith, a book purveyor to the underclassmates, whose value of a book was spun on the basis of how much profit there was in it for Smith & Patey. So when leaving Dartmouth in 1897 I had begun the habit of spending more than I should on books.

"It was in New York, where I got my first job after graduation, that the real bookworm bug hit deepest. At Charles Scribners Sons Bookstore at Fifth Ave. and 22nd St. the retail books were under the control of Henry L. Smith, Dartmouth 1869, who was the son of Dartmouth's President Smith (Asa Dodge), and a brother of "Sally Prex" Smith of our day at Hanover. Mr. Smith gave me a job in the retail store and for four years I was surrounded by all the books current, old, rare, first editions and foreign. That experience whetted the appetite. I was ever after sunk up to my last dime when browsing, buying when I could. Scribner's too, had the generous habit each Christmas of presenting us humbler clerks with our choice of books up to a set amount. That added to my collections.

"Thus it was that whenever I later travelled about the country I always could find a secondhand bookstore where some treasure might be found. My small collection of treasures came from stores in Berkeley and San Francisco, St. Louis, Kansas City, Boston, Chicago, St. Paul & Minneapolis, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Providence, Richmond, and other spots on my travels. New York, however, was the spot where everything in the book line ultimately gravitated, where the richest finds are found.

"Books are treasures and should be placed where they will serve the most persons. Therefore, it seemed to me that the Baker Library at Dartmouth was the spot where they should rest, so off they went, those which were acceptable to the librarian. At Dartmouth I hope they will be an ever useful adjunct to the growing volume that "Friends of the Library" are pouring into Baker."

As a collector Mr. Gibson sometimes displayed the clairvoyant qualities of the water dowser. Early in his career Rand and McNally gave him the assignment of digging up original photographs and data for a history of the United States. In Richmond he found an unpublished portrait of Robert E. Lee and photographs of Civil War generals by Brady, now in the famous Brady Collection in Washington.

Now retired and living in Orlando, Fla., Mr. Gibson formerly was an advertising executive and for many years was Western Manager for The McCall Company.

PRESIDENT DICKEY AND HAROLD RUGG 'O6, ASSISTANT LIBRARIAN, INSPECT THE GIBSON BOOKS