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An Initiative of the Friends of the University of Adelaide Library

The rime of the ancient mariner; illustrated by Gustave Doré.

Samuel Coleridge (1772-1834)
London: Doré Gallery, 1876

Rare Books & Manuscripts
Rare Books Oversize Collection RB/E 821.72 C69r.D

We thank our donors...

Conservation treatment of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was funded through the generosity of an anonymous donor, as well as Ron Layton and Suzanne Layton.  Their combined donations have ensured this magnificent 19th century literary work will be available for future generations of researchers for many years to come.

Synopsis

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born in 1772, the youngest of ten children.  At school he excelled at Hebrew, Latin, Greek and English composition, and in 1791 he entered Jesus College, University of Cambridge.  He had intended to focus on a future with the Church of England but poetry was never far from his mind, and he soon befriended poets Robert Southy and William Wordsworth, the latter of whom would influence his work considerably.  His writing began to take on a more natural style, and in 1798 the pair produced a volume of poetry, Lyrical Ballads, now considered the first great work of the Romantic school of poetry.[1]  It included Coleridge’s longest major poem, ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner describes the experiences of a sailor whose ship is forced by a storm into Antarctic waters.  Along the way, the mariner encounters an albatross who guides the ship and its crew out of the ice and into calmer waters.  To the crew’s initial dismay, the mariner kills the albatross, a mistake for which they will all dearly pay.  Their ship is pursued by angry spirits into uncharted waters where they are confronted with a ghostly hulk.  On board, a skeleton and a deathly-pale woman are playing dice for the souls of the mariner’s crew.  One by one they die, leaving the sailor alive to see, for seven days and seven nights, the curse in the corpses’ eyes.  Spared death, he begins to appreciate the sea creatures, admiring their beauty and blessing them.  The bodies of the crew begin to rise again and guide the ship to the mariner’s homeland but, riddled with guilt, the sailor is forced to wander the earth, telling his story over and over, teaching a lesson to all he meets – a penance for shooting the albatross…

The Library’s 1876 copy of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a substantial folio edition, measuring 80 cm in width when open.  It includes thirty-eight magnificent engravings by renowned French artist, sculptor and printmaker, Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré.  Publishing his first illustrated stories at just fifteen years of age, Doré would go on to illustrate the works of major poets, including John Milton, Dante, Lord Byron and Edgar Allen Poe.  He was prolific in his work and throughout his lifetime produced more than 8,000 wood engravings, 1,000 lithographs, 400 oil paintings and 30 sculptures.[2] The Rime of the Ancient Mariner showcases some of Doré’s finest work.

Original Condition

Imitation morocco grain red cloth.  Heavy soiling and stains to covers with scuff marks to both boards.  Front board attached only by a section of the endpaper, and back board loosely attached by two sewing supports, both of which are likely to fail with continued handling.  Front endpaper torn and previously repaired with an adhesive, increasing stress on the flyleaf.  Back endpaper split along the inner hinge, revealing spine lining and sewing structure.  Head and tail caps splitting.  Spine tears along both joints, with spine cloth only loosely attached.  Covering cloth also split along board edges and corners, revealing delaminated and weak millboard.  Text pages and plates dusty, with some tears attributed to the swinging guard system used to attach and sew the plates into the binding structure.

Restored Condition

Covering cloth cleaned with smoke sponge, minimising surface dirt. Prior adhesive repair to front flyleaf released with steam humidification. Original spine cloth removed, along with acidic spine lining and white plastic adhesive. Existing sewing consolidated using Kozu shi repair paper. Weak and torn areas of cloth at corners, joints and edges resized with Methyl Cellulose and deformations in board corners corrected with ultrasonic steam humidification and pressing. Delaminated areas of board consolidated with wheat starch paste and losses to covering cloth at corners infilled with unbleached aero linen, toned to match original cloth. Four large sutures attached across spine and into slots within the boards at original lacing positions.  Replacement lining of handmade paper applied to create a smooth surface for tight back spine cloth replacement. Textblock mechanically cleaned with smoke sponge. Weak areas of paper and splitting paper guards resized, with the latter then consolidated using Usumino repair paper. Losses to paper guards infilled with Japanese Kozo paper and paste.

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Footnotes:

[1] 1. “Poet: Samuel Taylor Coleridge”, Academy of American Poets, undated. https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/samuel-taylor-coleridge, accessed 18 May 2020

2. “Gustave Doré”, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library: Online Exhibits, Tulane University, 2016. https://exhibits.tulane.edu/exhibit/fairy_tales/gustave_dore/, accessed 18 May 2020

Lee Hayes
January 2021

University Library
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