The Himes and Dunaway Society

The members of the Himes & Duniway Society have had an active six months. Two major events highlighted the Society's activities.

Our summer garden party was hosted for the fourth year by our wonderful den mother Gwyneth Gamble Booth at her lovely book filled Portland home. Our members and guests were treated to a delicious feast and then retired for a presentation of the books and writings of Wallace Stegner. Our speaker was none other than noted Stegner biographer and personal friend of Stegner, Richard Etulain. Professor Etulain took us on a trip starting with Stegner's early works through his writings and work ending at Stanford.  For more information about this remarkable writer please see Stegner: Conversations about Literature and History by Richard Etulain.

Our fall event was a “bring a book” luncheon at the Multnomah County Library. Each attendee was invited to bring a book and spend four to five minutes talking about its importance to the member's collection. The attendance was overwhelming and the books and collectables were remarkable in their variety. The range included a simply beautiful incunabula leaf brought by Phil Pirages from his personal collection. The page on vellum was wonderfully illustrated and hand-printed in Latin providing priests with ideas for sermons. On the other end of the spectrum, Geoff Wexler brought from the Oregon Historical Society a copy of Oregon Trunk, a lusty paperback of how life really was on the Oregon Trail. Ann Bahde from Oregon State University brought The Double Suicide, The True History of the Lives of the Twin Sisters Sarah and Maria Williams Containing an Account of Maria's Love, Mock Marriage, Suffering and Degradation etc., etc., etc., author unknown. Jack Walsdorf brought news of a printing press used by William Morris which was up for auction [which has since been purchased by the Cary Collection at the Rochester Institute of Technology for $233,000 –editor’s note]. Steve Delamater from George Fox University brought a very early example of a hand-printed Ethiopian Coptic Christian Psalter. It was an event to remember as there was truly something to intrigue every collector.

The Himes and Dunaway Society is especially excited to be the co-sponsor for the second year of the Reed College Book Collecting Contest. In addition, this year we are working with Oregon State University to cosponsor the Oregon State University Book Collecting Contest. As many of you know the local contests fill the submissions to national contest supported by the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA), the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies (FABS), the Center for the Book and the Rare Books and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress.

Let us know if you are going to be in Oregon (info@himesduniway.org). Information about our Society and its events can be found at www.himesduniway.org.