Rare Book : Hough's American Woods Part I

This month's feature is Volume 1 of Romeyn B. Hough's American Woods. It is numbered in our rare book library as #581.97 H81am. Published in 1888, this volume, along with 12 other volumes, contains samples of almost all known trees in America at the time. Each page is a removable sheet with transverse, radial and tangential slices of wood samples inserted, and the common name for each tree is provided in English, German, French, and Spanish. This volume contains 25 sample pages, and a booklet with further information on each specimen. 

This artifact is a first edition publication from a 13-volume set, and comes with a custom-made box and cover. The box has special hand-marbled pieces on the top and bottom, usually seen on the end sheets of books or used as the cover. The wood samples in each page were cut by a special machine that Hough patented in 1886, and were made thin enough that light travels through the slices, making finer details clear. The first three volumes cover trees native to New York and the states around it; originally, Hough had planned out 15 volumes covering the entirety of American tree species, but died before completing the set. After his death, Hough's daughter Marjorie published the 14th volume, documenting trees native to Florida. Purchasers at the time of publication often only collected volumes relevant to their location, so complete sets are rare, but our rare book library contains all 14 volumes of the extended set.  

We hope that you enjoyed this peek at our collection! We'll be back next month with another artifact. Have a great June!