Fontanus - (E-Journal - McGill University)

-, -

FONrANUS Goumal) 
Fontanus Publications 
The Fontanus Monograph Series 
and the annuaJ journal Fontanus, 
published by the McGill University Libraries, 
are devoted to the exploration 
and presentation of the collections of the 
McGill University libraries, museums 
and archives. 
General Editor: Hans Moller 
A sociate Editor: Richard Yirr 
FONT ANUS PUBLICATIONS 
Price 
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v. 1 1988 $25 
v. 2 1989 25 
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v. 4 1991 30 
v. 5 1992 Montreal 350th Anniversary Issue 35 
v. 6 1993 Redpath Issue 30 
v. 7 1994 Stephen Leacock Issue 30 
ONTANUS MO OGRAPH SERIES 
1 
11 
m 
IV 
Adam Gacek, Arabic Manu cript · in the Libraries of McGill University, Union Catalogue 
Calvin Evans, Seren Kierkegaard Bibliographies: Remnant 1944-1980 and 
Multi-Media, 1925-1991 
Barbara Lawson, Collected Curio : Missionary Tales from the South Seas 
Jolm Hobbins, On the Edge of Greatnes : The Diaries of John Humphrey, 
First Director of the United Nations Division of Human Rights, Vol. 1, 1948-1949 
Orders may be placed at : 
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1994 
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English

Fontanus Publications

Harvie, Ron

Notes and Comments 
Howard Barnes, Louis King, Norman Shaw, John Stuart Foster, David Keys, Anna McPherson, Stuart Marshall, 
Walter Hitschfeld and Robert Bell, each of whom merits an article to himself or herself. And that excludes all the 
physicists who are still alive and working in the Department. 
It must not be forgotten that the Macdonald Physics Building was designed not only for research but for teaching, 
too. Indeed, in an early article in Nature on "Physics and Engineering at the McGill University, Montreal" 
(October 4, 1894), the Physics Building is described as "designed for the teaching and study of physics (including 
mechanics) with special regard to (1) its intrinsic importance as an integral part of a liberal education in the Faculty 
of Arts; (2) its essential necessity as a study preliminary to the courses of engineering, mining, and practical 
chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science, (3) prosecution of scientific research." It will be noted that the 
principal aims did not include the education and training of professional physicists! That came later, as Rutherford 
and others demonstrated the potential of Montreal as a world centre of science. 
The Macdonald Physics Building served its original purpose, as a home for the teaching and development of 
science, until well past the Second World War-far beyond the original 50 years suggested by Eve-but, inevitably, 
it became too small and too inconvenient to satisfy the needs of modem physics. In 1977 the Physics Department 
moved into a new building on the upper campus, appropriately named the Rutherford Physics Building. The old 
Macdonald Building was then gutted, remodelled (at least, internally) and converted into a library. The Physical 
Sciences and Engineering Library was officially opened on May 19, 1982. Thus William Macdonald's original 
bequest, for the service of science and engineering, lives on in another guise. Long may it continue! 
Views of Rome, Visions of Rome 
Piranesi W i t s  from the Nobbs Collection in the Blackader-Lauterman Library, 
McGill University 
By Ron Hawie 
Ph.D. candidate, Department of Art History 
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) was one of the great masters, along with Rembrandt and Goya, of the 
highly demanding medium of etching. He was also that rarity, an artist who was able to combine commerce and 
conviction. For while he successfully supplied the ever-increasing demand by tourists for inexpensive souvenirs 
of Rome, Piranesi never abandoned his own personal vision of what the city stood for. 
Briefly stated, Piranesi's concept was that the seeds of classic art had origniated in Italy, germinated in Greece 
and flowered most perfectly again in Rome.' The more that archaeological discoveries refuted him, the more 
steadfastly, and profusely, Piranesi maintained his position. This wrong-headed obsession led Horrace Walpole to 
write of "the sublime dreams of Piranesi, who seems to have conceived visions of Rome beyond what it boasted 
even in the meridian of its splendo~r."~ Piranesi's images, however, clearly matched the romantic, neoclassic 
sensibility then so prevalent, particularly in northern Europe. 
Although his name is forever attached to Rome, Piranesi was actually Venetian. He was born, and had his early 
training (as an architect and a theatrical set decorator) in Venice, and the romantic spirit of this city seems to infuse 
his etcher's needle. So does the Venetian sense of drama, which had been sharpened by study with Bibiena, the 
self-styled inventor of the scena per angolo, (the use of exaggerated low-angle diagonal perspective in stage 
scenery). Thus, Piranesi's work melds two traditions which appear mutually exclusive: that of the Baroque theatre 
with that of topographically accurate renderings of ar~hitecture.~ 
View of Ponte Fabrizio. ca. 1762. 
Notes and Comments 
Piranesi was also a very productive artist. During his career, he made over 1000 etchings, most of them large 
and densely detailed. Moreover, he claimed that he had to take 4000 impressions-far beyond the normal number- 
from every single plate in order to make a living! For this reason, he was careful to develop a technique based on 
parallel etched lines, rather than cross-hatching, so that the images pulled from his plates would remain crisper and 
clearer over large numbers of impressions. It is this volume of prints, often with only minor revision, taken over 
a long period of time which has made dating Piranesi's work so t r i ~ k y . ~  
Piranesi first went to Rome in 1740, where he studied etching and met the important cityscape-painter Pannini. 
1743 saw the publication of his first mature work, the Prima Pane di Architemre e Prospettive, done in a rather 
stiff, formal style and not a major success. He returned to Venice that year, where he is believed to have worked 
in Tiepolo's studio. In 1745, he returned to Rome as a print-publisher's agent and remained there the rest of his 
life. The first segment of his famous Vedute di Roma may have been published in 1748, although the first dated 
edition is from 1751. Piranesi continually expanded this work over the years until it comprised 135 plates. 
- 
Perhaps the best known of Piranesi's works, the Invenzioni Capric. di Carceri, or Imaginary Prisons, first 
appeared in 1749. These fourteen etchings of malevolent-looking architectural mazes have created today's image 
of Piranesi as a proto-Freudian artist of surrealistic, demonic dreamscapes (see Postscript below). 
In 1756, Piranesi published the four-vlume Le Antichita Romane. This massive work, combining dramatic scenic 
views of Roman monuments along with exact architectural renderings of them, made Piranesi a celebrity throughout 
Europe and shows him clearly as both a great artist and a dedicated archaeologist. 
Throughout his life, Piranesi continued to publish all his works extensively, in various permutations and 
combinations, with continual additions and revisions. He also created a vast series of single plates of architectural 
ornaments and details, which has been invaluable to scholars of the antique style ever since. Piranesi died in 1778, 
and his sons Francesco and Pietro continued the publication of his work. In fact, Francesco etched additional plates 
in the manner of his father, adding yet another difficulty to the cataloguing of Piranesi's work. In 1798, the 
brothers took all Piranesi's plates to Paris, where they were published until 1839. Then they were bought by the 
Camera Apostolica and returned to Rome. 
The etchings owned by McGill were collected by the well-known Montreal architect, Percy E. Nobbs, and 
presented to the Blackader-Lautennan Library by his son after Mr. Nobb's death in 1964. It is interesting to note 
that the collector's own fascination with the structure of bridges is reflected in the group of prints: four of the seven 
are bridge scenes. 
1. Frontispiece with Statue of Minerva, ca. 1748. 
49 x 63 cm. 
Third State 
F. 786; H.Z5 
From Piranesi's Vedute di Roma, this served as the frontispiece to Volume 11 in posthumous editions. It 
is an example of a capriccio, a collection of ancient buildings and/or sculpture arranged arbitrarily to make 
a dramatic image: nowhere like this actually existed, although elements in it are recognizable, e.g. the 
Hercules Famese, a Roman marble copy of the 4th century B.C. bronze attributed to Lysippos, can be seen 
in the upper left comer. 
Judging by the address in the lower left margin, this impression dates from between 176 1, when Piranesi 
established his studio in Palazzo Tomati, and 1778, the year of his death. 
View of the Temple of Sibyl, Tivoli, ca. 1780. 
Notes and Comments 
2. View of a Cistern a t  Castel Gundolfo, ca. 1764. 
40 x 61 cm. 
F. 531 
This is Plate 22 from Piranesi's Antichita d 'Albano e di Castel Gundolfo, published in 1764. The summer 
residence of the Popes since Urban VIII (1623-44), Caste1 Gandolfo is on the edge of Lake Albano, south of 
Rome. In ancient times, the area was a reservoir for the city, and this etching shows the ruins of a water- 
collecting cistern. Stylistically, it is very reminiscent of the dark, disturbing series, Imaginary Prisons, 
perhaps Piranesi's most famous work. 
This particular impression was printed after 1870. 
3. View of Ponte Fabrizio, ca. 1756. 
36 x 60 cm. 
F. 531. 
From L.e Antichita Romane, the four-volume work which made Piranesi famous in artistic and antiquarian 
circles throughout Europe, this shows the best preserved of the ancient bridges of Rome. Built by the consul 
L. Fabricius in 62 B.C., the bridge links the east bank of Rome to the Isola Tiberina. It is now known as 
the Ponte dei Quattro Capi. The wonderful detailing shows why Piranesi was, and is, so highly regarded 
among architects and archaeologists. 
This print was taken after 1870. 
4. View of the Temple of the Sibyl, Tivoli, ca. 1780. 
47 x 65 cm. 
This etching is by Francesco Piranesi, the artist's son, and was part of Raccolta de' Tempi Antichi, which 
he published two years after his father's death. The composition is based on one of the most evocative plates 
in the Vedute di Roma (F. 766; H. 63), but Francesco took only half the image created by Piranesi, changed 
the angle of viewing slightly and added statuary and other figures. 
Tivoli, twenty miles northeast of Rome, was a favorite resort of well-to-do Romans and reached the zenith 
of its splendor under Emperor Hadrian (117-38 A.D.). This temple dates from the first century B.C. and to 
this day its true identity remains unknown: it is sometimes called the Temple of Vesta. 
The print dates from after 1870. 
5. View of the Ponte d 'Elio Adriuno, ca. 1756. 
37 x 60 cm. 
F. 347 
Another plate from L.e Antichita Romane, this image shows the ancient Pons Aelius, built by the Emperor 
Hadrian in 134 to provide easy access to his massive tomb, now known as the Caste1 Sant'Angelo and one 
of Rome's major sights, on the right bank of the Tiber. This bridge is now best known for the statues of 
angels bearing the instruments of Christ's Passion, commissioned from Bemini in the 17th century (the actual 
statues were carved by Bemini's assistants). 
This impression was printed after 1870. 
Notes and Comments 
6. View of the Isola Tiberina, ca. 1775. 
47 x 71 cm. 
Third State 
F. 836; H. 121 
Legend says that the island in the Tiber acquired its religious significance in 292 B.C., when a snake 
brought to Rome from the Temple of Asklepios at Epidauros in Greece escaped and swam out to it. A temple 
to the god of medicine, the Roman Aesculapius, was immediately built there. In the print, a plate from the 
Vedute di R o m ,  remains of the ancient embankment are clearly visible and a statue (Piranesi's invention) of 
the god with the snake on his staff is seen at letter B. 
Judging by two sets of numbers in the upper right comer, this impression dates from 1830-39. 
7. View of the Ponte Molle, ca. 1762. 
43 x 66 cm. 
First State 
F.f 767; H. 64 
Another plate from the Vedute di R o m ,  this shows the Milvian Birdge, which takes the Via Flaminia 
across the Tiber north of Rome. Originally in the countryside, the spot is now near Rome's Olympic Stadium 
and completely urbanized. The bridge is best known as the site of the battle between Constantine and 
Maxentius in 3 12 A.D., at which the Emperor, inspired by a vision of the Cross, converted to Cristianity and 
was victorius. 
Again, the fine detail of the etching underscores Piranesi's knowledge of the architectural methods of the 
ancients as well as his abilty to enliven what might have been a dry archaeological subject. 
This particular impression (which shows some damage in the lower left comer) was probably made during 
Piranesi's Ilifetime, i.e. before 1778. 
There is a copy of Piranesi's Opera Varie di architettura, prospettiva, grotechi, antichita in the Department of 
Rare Books and Special Collections. It was published in Rome by Giovanni Bouchard in 1760-61. It was through 
the efforts of Ramsey Traquair, Director of McGill's School of Architecture from 1913-1939, that the McGill 
libraries was able to acquire this important work. The McGill copy of the Opera Varie, bound in an 18th-century 
English binding, includes a complete set of the 14 prints of the first edition of Piranesi's Carceri series. (The Rare 
Book Department's Print Collection houses a complete set of the dramatically reworked fourth edition of the 
Carceri.) Among other important prints in the volume are a complete 2nd edition set of the Prima Parte, the thirty 
plates of the Antichita Romne de Tempi della Reppublica, four Grotteschi, and the title-page and 8 plates from the 
Trofei. 
Notes 
1. A. Hyatt Mayor, Giovanni Battista Piranesi (New York, 1952) 3. 
2. Peter Murray, Piranesi and the Grandeur of Ancient Rome (London, 1971) 58. 
Notes and Comments 
3. Rudolf Wittkower, Art and Architecture in Italy 1600 to 1750 (London, 1958) 237. 
4. Andrew Robinson, "Dating Piranesi's Early 'Vedute di Roma'" Piranesi tra Venezia e llEurope (Venice, 1983) 
11 ff. 
5. The "F-" and "H-" numbers refer to the two standard catalogues raisonnks of Piranesi's work, Henri Focillon, 
Giovanni-Battista Piranesi, essai de catalogue raisonnt de son oeuvre, (1918): and Arthur M. Hind, Giovanni 
Battista Piranesi: A Critical Study, (1922). 
"House Portraits" 
Four Krieghoff Oil Paintings at the McCord Collection 
By Conrad E.W. Graham 
Curator of Decorative Arts, McCord Museum of Canadian History 
The McCord Museum of Canadian History acquired in 1990, as the gift of Mr. And Mrs. David M. Campbell, 
four "house portraits" by Cornelius Krieghoff. "House portraits" while popular and not unusual in Britain and the 
United States, are much less common in Canada and were commissioned only by the most well established citizens. 
These four Krieghoff paintings are an important addition to the McCord Museum's collection of historical paintings. 
Cornelius Krieghoff was born in Amsterdam in 1815, the son of Ernest Krieghoff a wallpaper manufacturer of 
Dusseldorf, Germany and a Flemish mother. Brought up in Bavaria he is said to have studied painting in 
Dusseldorfl and have travelled Europe as an itinerant musician and painter. In 1837 he emigrated to the United 
States and enlisted as an artificer in the American army. He made drawings for the army during the Seminole War 
in Florida.' Discharged from the army in Burlington, Vermont in 1840, he married Emily Saintaguta of 
Boucherville, Quebec shortly thereafter, although no marriage certificate has been located. By 1841 the Krieghoff 
family was living in Montreal but in the middle of the year moved to Rochester, New York probably because he 
could not obtain enough work as an artist. By 1845 they had returned and had taken up residence in Longueuil. 
Krieghoff worked in the Montreal area until 1853 when he moved to Quebec where he remained until 1863 and to 
which he returned in 1869-187 1. He died in Chicago in 1872.3 Krieghoff was trained in the German genre painting 
tradition, and the secular subject matter had a sense of immediacy that Canadian customers came to prefer over the 
more formal neo-classical subjects that had preceded Krieghoff in Canada. 
The four "house portraits" painted by Cornelius Krieghoff in 1846, and now part of the McCord collection, were 
commissioned by the Hon. Edward Hale (1800-1875). They represent one of the earliest commissions that 
Krieghoff received upon setting up his studio in Montreal. In a letter from Fanny Hale to her brother Edward she 
makes reference to the fact that she is sending him sketches of the old house and how wonderful it will be to have 
them in c ~ l o u r , ~  this probably refers to the sketchbook of her mother Elizabeth Hale now in the National Archives, 
O t t a ~ a . ~  This sketchbook includes six sketches of the manor at Ste-Anne-de-la-P6rade and were probably used by 
Krieghoff in preparing his composition. The two ancestral houses were most probably painted from engravings. 
Krieghoff would have considered this commission to be a very important one as it was this type of clientele which 
he both wished and needed to cultivate in order to survive in Canada. Likewise, when displayed in the Hale house, 
the paintings displayed their old and new world roots and that they were part of the "establishment". 
The Hon. Edward Hale (1800-1875) was a businessman of some standing, a member of the House of Assembly 
for Sherbrooke and a Legislative Co~ncillor.~ He purchased 600 acres on the banks of the St. Francis river in late 
1833 or early 1834 and probably built the house "Sleepy Hollow" during 1834. The museum has portraits of both 
Edward and his wife signed and dated by Alonzo Slafter 1834, and Slafter is known to have been accepting 
commissions in Sherbrooke during this year. 


Views of Rome, Visions of Rome: Piranesi Prints from the Nobbs Collection in the Blackader-Lauterman Library, McGill University

Complete Vol 7 (1994)

Frost, Stanley Brice

James McGill and the War of 1812

Graham, Conrad E.W.

Notes and Comments 
3. Rudolf Wittkower, Art and Architecture in Italy 1600 to 1750 (London, 1958) 237. 
4. Andrew Robinson, "Dating Piranesi's Early 'Vedute di Roma'" Piranesi tra Venezia e llEurope (Venice, 1983) 
11 ff. 
5. The "F-" and "H-" numbers refer to the two standard catalogues raisonnks of Piranesi's work, Henri Focillon, 
Giovanni-Battista Piranesi, essai de catalogue raisonnt de son oeuvre, (1918): and Arthur M. Hind, Giovanni 
Battista Piranesi: A Critical Study, (1922). 
"House Portraits" 
Four Krieghoff Oil Paintings at the McCord Collection 
By Conrad E.W. Graham 
Curator of Decorative Arts, McCord Museum of Canadian History 
The McCord Museum of Canadian History acquired in 1990, as the gift of Mr. And Mrs. David M. Campbell, 
four "house portraits" by Cornelius Krieghoff. "House portraits" while popular and not unusual in Britain and the 
United States, are much less common in Canada and were commissioned only by the most well established citizens. 
These four Krieghoff paintings are an important addition to the McCord Museum's collection of historical paintings. 
Cornelius Krieghoff was born in Amsterdam in 1815, the son of Ernest Krieghoff a wallpaper manufacturer of 
Dusseldorf, Germany and a Flemish mother. Brought up in Bavaria he is said to have studied painting in 
Dusseldorfl and have travelled Europe as an itinerant musician and painter. In 1837 he emigrated to the United 
States and enlisted as an artificer in the American army. He made drawings for the army during the Seminole War 
in Florida.' Discharged from the army in Burlington, Vermont in 1840, he married Emily Saintaguta of 
Boucherville, Quebec shortly thereafter, although no marriage certificate has been located. By 1841 the Krieghoff 
family was living in Montreal but in the middle of the year moved to Rochester, New York probably because he 
could not obtain enough work as an artist. By 1845 they had returned and had taken up residence in Longueuil. 
Krieghoff worked in the Montreal area until 1853 when he moved to Quebec where he remained until 1863 and to 
which he returned in 1869-187 1. He died in Chicago in 1872.3 Krieghoff was trained in the German genre painting 
tradition, and the secular subject matter had a sense of immediacy that Canadian customers came to prefer over the 
more formal neo-classical subjects that had preceded Krieghoff in Canada. 
The four "house portraits" painted by Cornelius Krieghoff in 1846, and now part of the McCord collection, were 
commissioned by the Hon. Edward Hale (1800-1875). They represent one of the earliest commissions that 
Krieghoff received upon setting up his studio in Montreal. In a letter from Fanny Hale to her brother Edward she 
makes reference to the fact that she is sending him sketches of the old house and how wonderful it will be to have 
them in c ~ l o u r , ~  this probably refers to the sketchbook of her mother Elizabeth Hale now in the National Archives, 
O t t a ~ a . ~  This sketchbook includes six sketches of the manor at Ste-Anne-de-la-P6rade and were probably used by 
Krieghoff in preparing his composition. The two ancestral houses were most probably painted from engravings. 
Krieghoff would have considered this commission to be a very important one as it was this type of clientele which 
he both wished and needed to cultivate in order to survive in Canada. Likewise, when displayed in the Hale house, 
the paintings displayed their old and new world roots and that they were part of the "establishment". 
The Hon. Edward Hale (1800-1875) was a businessman of some standing, a member of the House of Assembly 
for Sherbrooke and a Legislative Co~ncillor.~ He purchased 600 acres on the banks of the St. Francis river in late 
1833 or early 1834 and probably built the house "Sleepy Hollow" during 1834. The museum has portraits of both 
Edward and his wife signed and dated by Alonzo Slafter 1834, and Slafter is known to have been accepting 
commissions in Sherbrooke during this year. 
Cornelius Krieghoff (1 8 15-1 872), King 's Walden Hertfordshire. 
Oil on canvas, 1846; Size: 29.3 x 39.7 cm. 
Gift of Mr. & Mrs. David M. Campbell; McCord Museum of Canadian History, M990.758.1 
Cornelius Krieghoff (1 8 15- 1872), Plantation near Guisborough Yorkshire. 
Oil on canvas, 1846; Size: 29.0 x 39.0 cm. 
Gift of Mr. & Mrs. David M. Campbell; McCord Museum of Canadian History, M990.758.2 

Cornelius Krieghoff (1815-1872), Sleepy Hollow Sherbrooke, Quebec. 
Oil on canvas, 1846; Size 29.3 x 38.7 cm. 
Gift of Mr. & Mrs. David M. Campbell; McCord Museum of Canadian History, M990.758.4 
Notes and Comments 
Edward Hale's father John Hale (1765-1838) first came to Canada in 1793 as aide-de-camp and military secretary 
to Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent (1767-1820). In 1799 he married Lady Elizabeth Frances Amherst 
(1774-1826) daughter of Lt. General William Amherst and niece of General Jeffrey Amherst and brought his wife 
to live in Quebec. He returned as deputy paymaster general and eventually was receiver general. He was a 
member of the Legislative Council from 1808 to 1838 and a member of the Executive Council from 1820 until his 
death.7 On 27 September 1819 he bought the seigneury of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pkrade from Anne Tarieu de 
Lanaudikre. It was an historic seigneury as Madeleine de Vercheres had come here as a bride in 1706. This 
became the family seat in Canada and summers were spent there until the return to Quebec for the winter social 
calendar. 
The third painting represents the "Plantation" the house of Edward Hale's grandfather General John Hale (1728- 
1806). The property came to him through his wife Mary Chaloner (1743-1803) and was a portion of the old 
Chaloner grant of monastery lands near the town of Guisborough in Yorkshire. His grandfather had also had 
Canadian connections. As colonel in command of the 47th (Lascelles) Regiment, he joined with General Wolfe in 
the assault upon Quebec in 1759, and it was he who camed to England news of the victo~y and of the death of 
General Wolfe. 
General John Hale had been born in 1723 at "King's Walden" depicted here as the fourth of the house portraits. 
This property had entered the family in 1575 and was purchased by Richard Hale a citizen and merchant of London 
who founded the grammar school in Hertfordshire. It had been a property of the Crown and is first listed in the 
Domesday Book as " Waldeni". The manor lies in the parish and village of King's Walden, Hertfordshire. 
The four house portraits have come with a clear provenance having descended in the Hale family until their 
purchase by Mr. Campbell. 
Notes 
1. J. Russell Harper, Krieghoff (University of Toronto Press: Toronto, 1979), 5. 
2. Ibid., 8. 
3. J. Russell Harper, Early Painters and Engravers in Canada (University of Toronto Press: Toronto, 1970), 184. 
4. McCord Museum Archives, Hale Family Papers, 1846. 
5. Colin M. Coates, "Like 'The Thames towards Putney' The Appropriation of Landscape in Lower Canada", 
Canadian Historical Review, Vol. LXXIV (number 3, September 1993), 317-343. 
6. Dictionary of Canadian Biography (Vol. X ) ,  326-327 
7. Dictionary of Canadian Biography (Vol. W ) ,  372-373. 


"House Portraits": Four Krieghoff Oil Paintings at the McCord Collection

Guidelines for Authors 
Fontanus is an annual publication devoted to scholarly research based principally upon McGill University 
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199 


Guidelines for Authors

Chronicle

Cohen, Martin

Notes and Comments 
The Redpath Family and the McGill Libraries' Collections 
By Martin Cohen 
Assistant Technical Services Librarian, McGill University 
In celebrating the centenary of the Redpath Library, we also celebrate the role of Peter Redpath as benefactor, 
since it was his donation of money that made the construction of the building possible. However, it behoves us at 
this time as well to mark the Redpath family's donations and influence upon the subsequent growth of the McGill 
collections - both Peter Redpath's donation of over 3,000 carefully selected books purchased by him on McGill's 
behalf, together with another 2,000 plus bequeathed to McGill by his widow, and the subsequent creation of the 
Peter Whiteford and Jocelyn Clifford Redpath Memorial Fund, an endowment existing for the benefit of the McGill 
Libraries which has enabled the purchase of a number of fine and scarce items since its establishment in 1903; the 
W.W. Redpath Fund, which was used for much of the early building up of McGill's engineering collections; and 
the Sir Thomas and Lady Roddick Fund, used from its establishment in 1954 until today for the purchase of rare 
books. 
Peter Redpath began donating books to McGill in 1866. His method of donation then, in which he persevered 
in subsequent years, was not to give McGill as sum of money earmarked for the purchase of books; rather, what 
he did was to choose volumes from his own shelves, and to add to them large quantities of books that he had 
purchased for the express purpose of donation (mostly from the firm of Macmillan & Bowes in Cambridge), and 
have them shipped to McGill. His first major donation, in 1866, was of 544 volumes, concentrating at that point 
on history;' later in the year, he had printed a catalogue, eight pages long and in pamphlet form, to serve as a 
finding-aid for (and probably also to publicize) his donation.' This catalogue is here reproduced as Figure 1. 
It must be conceded that, for all his concentration on British history, Redpath cast his net pretty wide. Works 
in French, Italian3 and German take their places in the "Redpath Historical Collection;" and, in a gift which 
anteceded the major donation by a year, a selection of classical authors is listed, witness no doubt Redpath's feelings 
that McGill should be able to provide a good, sound middle-class education. In later shipments, the diversity 
becomes even greater; a shipment from Macmillan & Bowes, detailed on an invoice found in file RG40 c15 171 1 
in the McGill Archives (shown here as Figure 2), shows Redpath as donating in 1893 a couple of hundred volumes 
ranging from a complete Rousseau to the publications of the Chaucer Society to a number of reference works that 
are standard even today. In the meantime, with the aid of the distinguished historian Henry Morley, Redpath was 
building up a magnificent collection of historical tracts and pamphlets which he also donated over the years (these 
are treated in Allan Bell's article in this volume). The accessions books of the McGill University Library4 show 
that number 1 to 2,608, let alone others further on, all represent titles donated by Redpath. The value of his gifts 
was estimated at about $12,000 in 1894 dollars.' 
The P.W. and J.C. Redpath Memorial Fund, thus named in memory of two nephews of Peter Redpath, was 
established in 1903 by the agreement of Grace Redpath, Peter's widow, to donate an initial $5,000, then an annual 
sum of $4,000 - very substantial at that time - for the purchase of books for what was then the Redpath L i b r a r ~ . ~  
These donations continued for six years. At her death in 1908, Mrs. Redpath left no money for books, but instead 
"such books and manuscripts as the librarian of the University of McGill College, Montreal, shall choose to said 
library "7 from her late husband's shelves. These consisted of over 2,000 volumes, largely of English literature - 
such things as sets of Thackeray, Irving, Scott, Macaulay, and Carlyle, and also of Bullen's edition of the British 
dramatists and Bell's of the British poets - two omnium-gatherum sets which enjoyed a reputation for completeness, 
if not for scholarly accuracy, in their day. 
From then on, the donations of books obviously ceased, and the Redpath Fund lay dormant, collecting interest, 
until it was revived by Lady Roddick, Peter Redpath's niece and the sister of Peter W. and Jocelyn Redpath, in 
Fontanus VI 1993 143 
Notes arid Cornmerits 
A CATALOGUE$+ O F  
ITISTORICAL WORKS 
gresenttb to t te  %nibtra& of @t631 CoLIege, Bbtrfnal. 
Ulr PETER REldPA'I'W, Esq, 
r 866. 
Annual Register, from the beginning in I 758 to the year 1865. 
With Index. rog vols. 
ENGLISH ISTORICAL SOCIETY'S PUBLICATIONS, 29 ~01s. 
bound in 27 :- 
Adami Murimuthensis Chronicon, ed. T. Hog. 
Chronicon Florentii Wigorniensis, ed. B. Thorpe. 2 vols. 
Chronicon Walteri de Hemingburgh, ed. H. C.  Hamilton. 
2 vols. 
Chronicque de la Traison et Mort de Richart Deux, ed, B. 
Williams. 
Codex Diplomaticus Anglo-Saxonum, ed. J. M. Kemble. 6 vols. 
Henrici Quinti Gesta, ed. B. Williams. 
Nennii Historia Britonum, ed. J. Stevenson. Gildas de Excidio 
Britanniae, ed. J. Stevenson. 
Nicholai Triveti Annales, ed. T. Hog. 
Ricardi Divisiensis Chronicon, ed. J. Stevenson. Gesta Stephani. 
Rogeri de Wendover Chronica, ed. H, 0. Coxe. 5 vols. 
Ven. Bedae Historia Ecclesiastics, ed. J. Stevenson. 
Ven. Bedae Qpera Wistorica minora, ed. J. Stevenson. 
Willelmi Malmesburiensis Gesta Regum Angloru~n, ed. T, D, 
Hardy. 2 vols. 
\ \ ' i l l c b l ~ r ~ i  cle Ncwl~urgh T-listorin, etl. 1-l, C:+ Hamilton. 2 vols, 
Figure 1. The first catalogue of the Redpath Historical Collection, 1866. (Department of Rare Books and Special 
Collections, McGill University Libraries) 
Notes and Comments 
1927. The only highlight of that nineteen-year interval was the publication in the McGill News in 1922 of the 
following comment on the collection: 
The Redpath Historical Collection was begun by the late Mr. Peter Redpath soon after he became a Governor 
of the University. It received substantial yearly additions from him up to the year of his death. It is now 
large and valuable, and affords excellent opportunities for the study of history. Its most striking feature - a 
series of political, religious, and social tracts, for which the first selections were made by the late Professor 
Henry Morley - was greatly enriched by the late Mrs. Redpath, and at present comprises about 10,000 
brochures, dating from 1600 A.D. to the end of the nineteenth c e n t ~ r y . ~  
The tale resumes in 1927. In that year, Lady Roddick embarked upon an active plan of increasing the amount 
of the P.W. and J.C. Redpath Memorial Fund; her gifts were of varying sizes, but added up, from 1927 to her 
death in 1954, to $43,100 plus an "anonymous" $8,000 in Victory Bonds. Simultaneously, over the period 1930- 
1951, John R. Redpath donated $14,850 in cash and bequeathed $25,000 in bonds upon his death. All this money 
was designated for the purchase of books. Upon her death in 1954, Lady Roddick's will provided for a bequest 
of $125,000, distributed between the Redpath Memorial Fund and the Sir Thomas and Lady Roddick Fund, and 
more gifts were subsequently given by Mr. James B. Redpath, starting in 1956 and ending with his death in 1992. 
The total capital of the P.W. and J.C. Redpath Memorial Fund (April 1993) now stands at about $280,000.9 
In accordance with what were known to be Lady Roddick's stated wishes, the Redpath Fund has been used 
largely for the purchase of rare and fine books. For example, in 1935, funds were drawn from it toward the 
purchase of Luther's Enarrationes epistolarum et evangeliorum (1521); some sixteenth-century (i.e. first) editions 
of Italian novelle were purchased in 195 1, as were the three sets of the Letrres cabalistiques (7 vols.), Lettres juives 
(8 vols.), and Lettres chirzoises (6 vols.) of the Marquis de Boyer d'Argens, dating from 1766-69, and Rousseau's 
Corresporzdence originale et inkdire de J.  J .  Rousseau avec Mme Latour de Franqueville ef M.  de Peyrou, 2 vols. 
(1803). The cost of the Boyer d'Argens and Rousseau sets together totaled FF 10,000 - no mean sum in 1951." 
This is not to say that smaller pieces, which can only be described as general antiquarian purchases, were not paid 
for out of the Redpath Fund. 
The scope widened yet further in the 1960s, with the fund being used to purchase material for the Rare Book 
Department that extended beyond the traditional book with two covers. Thus, in 1961 we find that a collection of 
twenty-eight "photographs of Napoleon," priced at "approximately $25" - a bargain indeed! - was bought from R. 
Viollet, 6,  rue de Seine, Paris, and that two Japanese prints were bought only days later from a New York dealer, 
the Redpath Fund paying for both acquisitions. A Mercator map of the Greater Antilles (Amsterdam, 1607), 
together with a collection of English-made maps of roughly the same period, were acquired thanks to Redpath 
money in 1966; and so it goes in this vein. The current use of the Redpath fund is, as mentioned, as supplementary 
funding for the purchase of rare books and examples of fine printing. 
It would be invidious to single out one "major contributor" to the collections of McGill University Libraries. 
However, if we count his own personal donations together with his "posthumous" ones bought out of the funds 
established by his family, Peter Redpath would certainly have to be a very strong contender. On this hundredth 
anniversary of the Library that was his major gift to McGill, we can contemplate with pride his actions, and those 
of his descendants, in providing materials to fill that library and its successors. 
Notes and Comments 
~ a c m i l l a n  & kobes, 
~aoksr l l rrr  an3 Btationrrs, 
Gambribgr,... 26. /kJj 
-P- f k@- -H  
.A?- 2- I3-++) 
. .g2. 12.  6 
- - I .  0 . 0  
/&- J 
- 
- 
. . E Z / .  0 . 0  
- 
- - - .  
. . - 
- -  - _ _ .  
- - .  f 3 .  /o - 0  
k W % - / m - 6 4  - -  - - - . . z  1 16.0 
- - _ 
- . . .  f 1 8 .  / 8 . 0  
- : - - g  5. /z.o 
. - - .  f 8.  0 .o 
- - - .  f /. / o - 0  
Figure 2. Invoice for books, 1893. 
(McGill University Archives) 
Notes and Comments 
Notes 
1. Scrapbooks, McGill University Archives, no. 1, p. 22. Provenance not indicated, but probably from The Gazette 
at some time in 1866. 
2. McGill University Archives, file RG40 c2 1452. 
3. For an interesting example, see Dionysios Hatzopoulos and Richard Virr, "The Voyage of Giovanni da 
Verrazzano: A Newly Discovered Manuscript," Fontanus V (1992), 7-32. 
4. Preserved in the Retrospective Conversion Unit, Central Technical Services, McGill University Libraries. 
5. Scrapbooks, no. 1, p. 220, (Gazette, 7th July 1894). 
6. Scrapbooks, no. 2, p. 34 (Gazette, 4th July, 1903). 
7. Scrapbook, no. 2, p. 261 (Montreal Star, 28 May 1908). 
8 .  McGilE News, 3, 3 (1921/22), 4. 
9. Financial information from the files of the Secretariat of McGill University now lodged in the University 
Archives, and oral information from Mr. Calvin D. Evans, Area Librarian, Humanities and Social Sciences Area 
Library, and Mr. Matthew Collier, Treasurer's Department. 
10. Information from the order books of the Redpath and McLennan Libraries, now housed in the Monograph 
Acquisitions Unit, Central Technical Services. Further order information provided is drawn from the same source. 
Redpath Hall and the Faculty of Music 
By John Grew 
Dean, Faculty of Music 
Over the years Redpath Hall has played a major role in the life of the Faculty of Music, and prior to the 
construction of Pollack Concert Hall it served as the Faculty's main concert hall. The sixties were especially 
significant for the growth of the Faculty of Music, and under the leadership of Dean Helmut Blume the concert life 
in Redpath Hall took on a new dimension. Hundreds of CBC broadcasts originated from this hall, and the "Faculty 
Fridays" were heard from coast to coast. 
With the opening of Pollack Concert Hall in the spring of 1975, Redpath Hall was temporarily lost too the 
Faculty of Music. However, the gift of the University Organ gave new life to this great hall, and eventually 
returned it to the Faculty of Music as a concert venue. As part of our academic exercise the Faculty presents over 
400 concerts a year, and well over 100 of these take place in Redpath Hall. In addition, the organ is the main 
teaching instrument for what has become one of the most flourishing programmes of organ study in North America. 
And the concert going public of Montreal has rediscovered the splendid acoustics of this hall as it has become home 
to organizations such as Musica Camerata, Allegra, Le Clavier d'autrefois, and Ensemble Arion. 
The University Organ (see illustration on page 34) was inaugurated in May 1981 with a four day symposium 
entitled "The Organ in Our Time." Subsequently, the papers and proceedings of this symposium were edited by 


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