Harold and Mary Jean Hanson Rare Book Collection · Gainesville, Florida

Unresolved early ownership → Florida State Museum → University of Florida Libraries, July 8, 1955

RepositoryUniversity of Florida Libraries, George A. Smathers Libraries, Harold and Mary Jean Hanson Rare Book Collection (Rare Books, Non-Circulating)

LocationGainesville, Florida

Shelfmark / Call Number913.32 R817r ↗

BindingOriginal cardboard boards, brown with gold decoration, with the spine reinforced in black bookcloth and the call number handwritten on it in white paint. Not rebound. The covers are heavily worn, with the decorative design on both boards now largely illegible; the surviving color reads closer to puce, though the decoration itself is confirmed gold.

Edition EvidenceThe illuminated title page carries no “Second Edition” statement, confirming the 1858 first edition.

Presentation / AssociationNo presentation inscription is recorded.

Provenance

The volume carries a University of Florida bookplate recording it as the gift of the Florida State Museum. A pencil inscription on the title page dates its entry into the UF Libraries Rare Book Collection to July 8, 1955, and the title page bears two blind-embossed UF Libraries stamps. One front endpaper carries an inscription that has since been scratched out; the surviving traces appear to be nineteenth-century brown ink, but the content cannot be recovered. The front pastedown bears the inscription “80964,” of uncertain origin. No other ownership marks are present.

Provenance Chain

Unresolved early ownership → Florida State Museum → University of Florida Libraries, July 8, 1955

Sources and Documentation

Correspondence with University of Florida Libraries staff, and six copy-specific photographs. Next sources for the "80964" number and fuller institutional history: University of Florida Archives and its published finding aids; Florida Museum (formerly Florida State Museum) institutional history.