A long-time librarian at UMass Amherst and Brown University, Barbara Parker was an avid collector of rare books. Interested in the history of printing, binding, and book design, and herself a bookbinder, Parker collected widely, from early printing to the Victorian book artists of the Chiswick Press.
The Parker Collection contains an eclectic mix of books to illustrate various aspects of the history of the book through 1900. Intended for hands-on instructional use, the collection includes eight volumes printed prior to 1600, a leaf from the Nuremberg Chronicles, and an assemblage of works by Charles Whittingham and the Chiswick Press. In addition to fine examples of binding and illustration, the collection includes works printed by Elsevier, Gregorium de Gregoris, and Domenico Farri, five by Joseph Barbou, and two each by the Aldine Press, Simon Colin, and John Baskerville.
Triumphus mortis, from Gregorium de Gregoriis edition of Petrarch (1508)
A book collector and librarian, Barbara Parker worked for eighteen years as a cataloger of the Latin American collection at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries. Parker began her career at her alma mater, Brown University, during the 1950s and 1960s, eventually becoming an assistant at the Annmary Brown Memorial Library, then a separate library and museum center on the collection of the noted book collector and patron of the arts Rush Hawkins.
At Brown, Parker developed a strong interest in incunabula and early printed books, and particularly in typography, illustration, and binding. Though priced out of the market for collecting the rarest and earliest works, she saw an opportunity to collect later generations of printers and illustrators working at the top of their craft. With the advice of the head of Special Collections John Ettlinger, she began to scour rare book shops and catalogues for worthy volumes at reasonable prices.
While developing her collection, Parker began to study bookbinding with Dan Knowlton, a bookbinder for Brown's Special Collections, learning to repair or rebind some of her inexpensive books in the style of their times. Parker came to the UMass Amherst Libraries in 1977, settling in Vermont after her retirement in 1995.
Scope of collection
The Parker Collection contains an eclectic mix of books to illustrate various aspects of the history of the book through 1900. Intended for hands-on instructional use, the collection includes eight volumes printed prior to 1600, a leaf from the Nuremberg Chronicles, a lovely second edition of Thomas Hobbes' translation of Thucydides, and an assemblage of works by Charles Whittingham and the Chiswick Press. In addition to fine examples of binding and illustration, the collection includes works printed by Elsevier, Gregorium de Gregoris, and Domenico Farri, five by Joseph Barbou, and two each by the Aldine Press, Simon Colin, and John Baskerville. The collection includes several examples of Parker's own work as a binder.
Inventory
[Leaf V from the Liber chronicarum]. [Nuremberg] : [Anton Koberger]
1493
Parker 103
Petrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374: Petrarcha : con doi commenti sopra li Sonetti et Canzone. Venetiis : Gregorium de gregoriis
1508
2 volumes in leaves : illustrations ; 21 cm.
Parker 62
Libri de re rustica : M. Catonis lib. I, M. Terentii Varronis lib. III, L. Iunii Moderati Columellae lib. XII, eiusdem De arboribus liber separatus ab alijs, quare autem id factum fuerit, ostenditur in epistola ad lectorem, Palladii lib. XIIII. Venetiis : In aedibus Aldi, et Andreae soceri, Mense Maio
Eutropij de gestis Romanorum libri decem [Breviarium ab urbe condita] . Parisiis : Apud Simonem Colinaeum
1542
60 numbered leaves ; 16 cm.
Parker 1
In omnes M. Tvllii Ciceronis Orationes doctissimorvm virorvm lvcvbrationes : accurate in unum uolumen collectae, locisque non paucis ad ueritatem emendatae. Venetiis : Apud Aldi Filios
Ovid: Le trasformationi / di Lodovico Dolce, tratte da Ovidio ; con gli argomenti, and allegorie al principio and al fine di ciascun canto. Venetia : Apresso Domenico Farri
Vega, Lope de, 1562-1635: Novelas amorosas de los meiores ingenios de Espana. En Barcelona : En la emprenta administrada por Thomas Vassiana
1650
4 preliminary leaves, 371 pages ; 16 cm.
Parker 20
Aesop: Fabulae aesopi : Graecè and Latinè, nunc denuo selectae : eae item, quas Avienus carmine expressit ; accedit Ranarum and murium pugna, Homero olim adscripta. Amstelodami : Apud Paulum Matthiae F.
1660
158 pages, 2 unnumbered pages : illustrations ; 16 cm.
Parker 34
Cooke, James, 1614-1694: Mellificium chirurgiae : or, The marrovv of many good authors enlarged. London : Printed for T. R. and J. Sherley
1662
509, 351 pages ; 16 cm.
Parker 42
Thucydides: The history of the Grecian War : in eight books. Written by Thucydides. Faithfully translated from the original by Thomas Hobbes of Malmsbury. London : printed by Andrew Clark for Charles Harper
Cicero, Marcus Tullius: M. Tullii Ciceronis Epistolarum libri XVI ad familiares ut vulgo vocantur / ex recensione Ioannis Georgii Graevii. Amstelodami : Apud Danielem Elsevirium
1676-1677
2 volumes : portrait ; 20 cm.
Parker 57-58
Virgil: The works of Virgil : containing his Pastorals, Georgics, and Aeneis / translated into English verse by Mr. Dryden. London : Printed for Jacob Tonson, at the Judges-Head in Fleetstreet, near the Inner-Temple-Gate
Milton, John, 1608-1674: Paradise lost : a poem, in twelve books. London : Printed for Jacob Tonson, at Shakespear's Head, over-against Catherine Street in the Strand
Milton, John, 1608-1674: Paradise regain'd. : A poem. In four books. To which is added Samson Agonistes. And Poems upon several occasions. With a tractate of education, 5th ed. London : Printed for J. Tonson
1713
8 unnumbered pages, 388 pages, 11 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 14 cm.
Parker 11
Racine, Jean, 1639-1699: Oeuvres de Racine. A Londres : De l'Imprimerie de J. Tonson and J. Watts
1723
2 volumes : illustrations ; 30 cm.
Parker 96-97
Boccaccio, Giovanni, 1313-1375: Il Decameron di Messer Giovanni Boccaccio. [Londra] : [Per Tommaso Edlin]
Horace: Quinti Horatii Flacci opera. Londini : Aeneis tabulis incidit Iohannes Pine
1733-1737
2 volumes : illustrations ; 24 cm.
Parker 73-74
Ovid: Ovid's Art of love : in three books : together with his Remedy of love / translated into English verse by several eminent hands ; to which are added, The court of love ; a tale from Chaucer ; and The history of love ; adorn'd with cuts. London : Printed for J. and R. Tonson and S. Draper
1747
323 pages, 6 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations ; 17 cm.
Parker 37
Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599: The faerie queene. London : Printed for J. Brindley ... and S. Wright
1751
3 volumes : illustrations ; 28 cm.
Parker 85-87
Terence: Publii Terentii Afri Comoediae sex : ad optimorum exemplarium fidem recensitae ; accesserunt variae lectiones e libris mss. and eruditorum commentariis depromptae. Lutetiae Parisiorum : Apud Natalem le Loup, and Jacobum Merigot
1753
2 volumes : [7] plates ; 16 cm.
Parker 40-41
Lucretius Carus, Titus: Titi Lucretii Cari de rerum natura libri sex : accedunt selectae lectiones dilucidando poemati appositae. Lutetiae Parisiorum : Typis Josephi Barbo
1754
xxxvj, 288 pages, 1 unnumbered page, VI leaves of plates : illustrations ; 16 cm.
Parker 25
Martial: M. Valerii Martialis Epigrammatum libri : ad optimas codices recensiti et castigati. Lutetiae Parisiorum : Typis Josephi Barbou
1754
2 volumes : frontispiece ; 17 cm.
Parker 26-27
Bunyan, John, 1628-1688: The pilgrim's progress : from this world, to that which is to come: The third part. ... To which is added, the life and death of John Bunyan, author of the first and second parts, 17th ed. London : Printed for C. Hitch and L. Hawes [Bound by Parker with the 21st edition, by W. Jonston, 1755]
Ovid: P. Ovidii Nasonis Opera : quae supersunt / ed. by Nicolaas Heinsius. Parisiis : J. Barbou
1762
3 volumes, 3 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations ; 16 cm.
Parker 28-30
Horace: Quinti Horatii Flacci Carmina : nitori suo restituta. Parisiis : Typis J. Barbou
1763
x [i.e. xi], 1 unnumbered page, 370 pages, 2 unnumbered pages, 1 unnumbered leaf of plates : illustrations ; 16 cm.
Parker 43
He Kaine Diatheke = Novum Testamentum, juxta exemplar Millianum. Oxonii : E Typographeo Clarendoniano
1763
415 pages ; 30 cm.
Parker 98
Ariosto, Lodovico, 1474-1533: Orlando furioso. Venezia : A. Zatta
1772
4 volumes : illustrations, plates, portrait, facsimiles ; 29 cm.
Parker 90-93
Sallust: C. Crispus Sallustius et L. Annaeus Florus. Birminghamiae : Typis J. Baskerville
1773
4 unnumbered pages, 317 pages, 1 unnumbered page (the last page blank) ; 31 cm.
Parker 94
Arabian nights entertainments : consisting of one thousand and one stories / told by the Sultaness of the Indies, to divert the Sultan from the execution of a bloody vow he had made to marry a lady every day, and have her cut off next morning, to avenge himself for the disloyalty of his first sultaness, &c., 14th ed. London : Printed for T. Longman
1778
4 volumes ; 18 cm.
Parker 50-53
Gessner, Salomon, 1730-1788: Oeuvres complettes de Gessner. Paris : Cazin
1780
3 volumes : frontispiece (portrait), 14 platess ; 13 cm.
Parker 4-6
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de, 1547-1616: Historia del famoso cavallero, Don Quixote de la Mancha. En Londres : Se hallaran en las librerias de B. White, P. Elmsley, T. y T. Payne, y J. Robson
1781
6 volumes in 3 : folded map. ; 24.5 cm.
Parker 76-78
Virgil: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera, pristino nitori restituta, cum notis and variis lectionibus ex codicibus and optimis exemplaribus. Parisiis : Typis Barbou
1790
2 volumes : frontispiece, plates. ; 17 cm.
Parker 32-33
Anacreon: Anakreontos Teiou Mele : praefixo commentario quo poetae genvs traditvr et bibliotheca Anacreonteia advmbratvr. Parmae : In aedibvs palatinis : I. B. Bodonivs regis catholici typographvs et R. Parm. typogr. Praef
2 unnumbered pages, 130 pages : illustrations ; 19 cm.
Parker 55
Bouilly, J. N. (Jean Nicolas), 1763-1842: Una travesura : melodrama en dos actos. Madrid : Impr. De M. Repuelles
1803
110 pages ; 16 cm.
Parker 24
Cervantes, Saavedra Miguel de, 1547-1616: La Galatea. Madrid : [Libreria de Gomez Fuentenebro y Compania]
1805
3 volumes : illustrations, plates ; 15 cm.
Parker 14-16
Harvey, Christopher, 1597-1663: The school of the heart; : or, The heart, (of itself gone away from God) brought back again to Him, and instructed by Him. Bristol : Printed by J. Lansdown and J. Mills
Dean, Henry, 1788-1849: Dean's analytical guide, to the art of penmanship : containing a variety of plates in which are exhibited a complete system of practical penmanship, 2d ed. New York published for the author, and sold by Hopkins and Bayard; Baltimore : S. Jeffries
1808
xvi, [17]-110 pages : 36 plates (1 folded) ; 28 x 22 cm.
Parker 84
Bewick, Thomas, 1753-1828: A general history of quadrupeds, 6th ed. Newcastle upon Tyne : Printed by Edward Walker, for T. Bewick, and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London
Russia : being a description of the character, manners, customs, dress, diversions, and other peculiarities of the different nations, inhabiting the Russian Empire. London : Printed for R. Ackermann
1811-1823
4 volumes : color illustrations ; 12mo.
Parker 12
Dobson, William (Writer on dog training): Kunopaedia. : A practical essay on breaking or training the English spaniel or pointer. London : Printed by C. Whittingham, for the editor, and sold by J. Callow [etc.]
1814
xliv, 235 pages : including frontispiece ; 23 cm.
Parker 67
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824
: The siege of Corinth : a poem ; Parisina : a poem. New York : Van Winkle and Wiley
1816
91 pages, 3 unnumbered pages ; 15 cm.
Parker 17
Poliziano, Angelo, 1454-1494: Opere volgari di Messer Angelo Poliziano : contenenti le Elegantissime stanze, Alcune rime, e l'Orfeo / colle illustrazioni del P. Affo. Venezia : Molinari
1819
2 volumes in 1 (8 unnumbered pages, xl, 208 pages, 1 unnumbered leaf of plates; xxxvii, 113 pages) : portrait ; 14 cm.
Parker 8
Episcopal Church: The Book of common prayer and administration of the sacraments and other rites and ceremonies of the Church. According to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the United States of America : together with the Psalter, or, Psalms of David. Philadelphia : S. Potter and Co.
1821
1 volume (unpaged) : illustrations ; 14 cm.
Parker 9
Dibdin, Thomas Frognall, 1776-1847: The library companion, or, the young man's guide and the old man's comfort in the choice of a library. London : printed for Harding, Triphook, and Lepard, and J. Major
1824
[1]-8p., [i]-li [1], [1]-912 pages ; 22 cm.
Parker 70
Rogers, Samuel, 1763-1855: Poems. London : Printed for T. Cadell, Strand
Holbein, Hans, 1497-1830: Icones Veteris Testamenti; : illustrations of the Old Testament. London : W. Pickering
1830
14 pages, 90 leaves : XC plates ; 20 cm.
Parker 61
Douce, Francis, 1757-1834: The dance of death exhibited in elegant engravings on wood : with a dissertation on the several representations of that subject but more particularly on those ascribed to Macaber and Hans Holbein. London : W. Pickering
Northcote, James, 1746-1831: One hundred fables, : selected from Northcote, Bewick, and others. Embellished with one hundred and twenty-nine engravings on wood. Philadelphia : T. Wardle
1836
iv, [13]-234 pages : illustrations ; 19 cm.
Parker 49
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616: The poems of Shakespeare. London : William Pickering
1837
lxxxix, 288 pages, 1 unnumbered leaf of plates : portrait ; 16 cm.
Parker 35
Donne, John, 1572-1631: Devotions ; with two sermons : I. On the decease of Lady Danvers, mother of George Herbert ; II. Deaths duel - his own funeral sermon ; to which is prefixed his life, by Izaak Walton. London : W. Pickering
1840
cviii, 227 pages : illustrations ; 18 cm.
Parker 36
Rogers, Samuel, 1763-1855: Italy, a poem. London : E. Moxon
1842
vii, 320 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm.
Parker 63
Juvenal: Decii Junii Juvenalis aquinatis satirae decem et sex : Auli Persii Flacci satirae sex. Londini : C. Whittingham
1845
1 volume (unpaginated) ;29 cm.
Parker 88
Rathbone, Hannah Mary, 1798-1878: So much of the diary of Lady Willoughby as relates to her domestic history, : and to the eventful period of the reign of Charles the First. London : Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans
1846
220 pages : illustrations (coat of arms) ; 17 cm.
Parker 39
Brathwaite, Richard, 1588?-1673: The penitent pilgrim. London, printed in the year 1641 : Reprinted for W. Pickering
Helps, Arthur, Sir, 1813-1875: Friends in council : a series of readings and discourse thereon. London : William Pickering
1851
2 volumes ; 18 cm.
Parker 47-48
Baena, Juan Alfonso de, 1406-1454: El cancionero de Juan Alfonso de Baena (siglo xv) : ahora por primera vez dado á luz, con notas y comentarios. Madrid : M. Rivadeneyra
1851
lxxxvii, 732 pages : 2 folded facsimiles in colors. ; 25 cm.
Parker 81
Daniel, George, 1789-1864: Democritus in London, : with the mad pranks and comical conceits of Motley and Robin Good-fellow, to which are added notes festivous, etc. London : W. Pickering
1852
4 preliminary leaves, 312 pages ; 17 cm.
Parker 46
Terence: P. Terentii Afri Comoediae. Londini : Excudebat Carolus Whittingham
1854
463 pages ; 29 cm.
Parker 89
Homes of American statesmen : with anecdotical, personal, and descriptive sketches. New York : G.P. Putnam and co.; London : S. Low, son and co.
Church of England: The Book of common prayer, ornamented with wood cuts from designs of Albert Durer, Hans Holbein, and others : in imitation of Queen Elizabeth's Book of Christian prayers. London: W. Pickering
1855
716 unnumbered pages : illustrations ; 19 cm.
Parker 56
Lockhart, J. G. (John Gibson), 1794-1854: Ancient Spanish ballads; : historical and romantic. London : J. Murray
1859
1 volume (unpaged) : illustrations, plates, portrait ; 27 cm.
Parker 82
Voltaire, 1694-1778: A philosophical dictionary / from the French of M. de Voltaire ; with additional notes, both critical and argumentative, by Abner Kneeland. Boston : J. P. Mendum
1865
2 volumes in 1 (lii, 408, 416 pages, 2 unnumbered leaves of plates) : illustrations, portrait ; 26 cm.
Parker 80
Walton, Izaak, 1593-1683: The lives of Dr. John Donne, Sir Henry Wooton, Mr. Richard Hooker, Mr. George Herbert, and Dr. Robert Sanderson. Boston : Ticknor and Fields
1866
xii, 403 pages, 1 unnumbered leaf of plates : illustrations, portrait ; 17 cm.
Parker 38
Humboldt, Alexander von, 1769-1859: Views of nature, or, Contemplations on the sublime phenomena of creation : with scientific illustrations. London : G. Bell
1889
xxx, 452, 16 pages ; 19 cm.
Parker 54
Ruskin, John, 1819-1900: The King of the Golden River, or, The black brothers : a legend of Stiria. London : Aylesbury : Hazell, Watson, and Viney
1892
64 pages, 2 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations ; 20 cm.
Parker 60
Gibson, W. Hamilton (William Hamilton), 1850-1896: Sharp eyes; : a rambler's calendar of fifty-two weeks among insects, birds and flowers. New York : Harper and Brothers
Lewis, H. A.: Hidden treasures, or, Why some succeed, while others fail. Springfield, Mass. : King, Richardson and Co.
1897
1 volume (various pagings), 5 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm.
Parker 104
The new penny magazine. London : s.n.
1898-
Parker 68
Nunn, Henry D.: The unfolding life; : passages from the diaries, notebooks and letters of Howard Munro Longyear, and from the letters he received from his parents and friends. Boston : Privately printed by D. B. Updike, the Merrymount Press
