The binding of this book is made of otterskin, with decorations characteristic of Eastern Woodland Indians. It covers a Hebrew and Chaldean (i.e., Aramaic) dictionary owned by David Brainerd (1718–1747). Brainerd became a missionary after he was expelled from Yale University for making controversial religious statements. He preached for four years among Native Americans in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey before dying in the home of Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758), third president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). Gift of Mrs. William F. H. Edwards. Edwards Collection, Rare Book Division.
FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION: See this item’s catalog record, with a larger image of the book. Read more about this item on the Rare Book Division’s blog.
This famous map is known as the “Beaver Map” for the inset reference to American industriousness and the lucrative fur trade. The map also documents Great Britain’s ongoing dispute with France over the boundaries of their American colonies. Historic Maps Collection.
John James Audubon’s nickname was the “American Woodsman,” an image he encouraged by wearing a buckskin coat and oiling his hair with bear grease. equally ambitious project, The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (1845–1848). The American lithographer John T. Bowen (ca. 1801–1856) drew the plates from watercolors like this one, and the work was produced in Philadelphia, making Quadrupeds a truly American production. Gift of John S. Williams, Class of 1924. John James Audubon Collection, Graphic Arts Collection.