Treasure Trove Thanks To One Man’S Vision, Spokane’S Library Owns A Little-Known Collection Of World-Class Literary Artifacts

The Gutenberg Bible, the first book ever printed in the Western world and what many consider to be the most beautiful, was produced about 1450. There is one perfect leaf of that Bible in the downtown Spokane Library.

Peter Lombard was a profoundly influential Italian theologian who lived about 1100. A handwritten Latin manuscript of one of his most important works, written in Gothic cursive in 1475, was attached to an iron chain to prevent it from being stolen during the Middle Ages. The book, still attached to a five-link rusting chain, is in the downtown Spokane Library.

In 1913, Edward Sheriff Curtis published “The North American Indian,” a remarkable history and photographic record of the vanishing American frontier. A subscription edition of the 20-volume set, with 1,500 photographic plates and 700 larger plates, is in the downtown Spokane Library.

All are a part of the Fuller Collection, a little known selection of rare books, bookplates and prints owned by the Spokane Public Library. Valued at $1.6 million, many of the more than 900 items are stored in a specially built 14-by-18-foot vault on the second floor of the downtown building where the temperature never rises above 68 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity, for books, is letter perfect.

This library within the library was the work of one man: George Washington Fuller. A Boston-educated bibliophile, he used his personal taste and public funds to build the collection over the 25 years he served as the city’s library director.

Each item, hand-picked, was meant to educate the citizens. But the sum of the treasures catapults the city’s library into the realm of much larger libraries, museums and universities.

“It puts us in a different category. As far as scholarship, it puts us in a very special class,” said Ron Miller, of the library board.

Through cycles of city budgets, the building of the Hillyard and North Hill branches, the crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, Fuller collected rare books.

“We have had a number of bad years in Spokane, but we stuck to a budget, reserving a fourth of our book fund, whatever its size, for things that don’t wear out,” he wrote in 1928.

Among those:

Original editions of the Lewis and Clark Journals, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the 1830 Book of Mormon.

Two fine arts books containing prints of the Spanish artist Goya, including the rare Los Caprichos, valued at $175,000.

A collection on the history of writing and printing, including Babylonian grocery receipts from 4000 B.C.

Some of the items Fuller acquired became the basis of the Northwest History Collection, the library’s renowned resource room that draws historians and writers from Timothy Egan to Jess Walter to J. Anthony Lukas.

Researchers, including Mormon elders dating to Fuller’s time, studied original editions too after hearing that the Book of Mormon had been altered. They were “greatly relieved to find that it is not so,” Fuller wrote.

Other items, such as “The Quadrupeds of North America” by John James Audubon, are continuously rotated through two glass cases on the second floor.

But the library today struggles, as it has for 70 years, with how to use the collection. For much of its existence, it has been boxed and shelved.

“What terrifies most of us is how you preserve these great works. How do you let the public see them, and where is the money going to come from for preservation?” said Diann Brown, library board member.

Yet Fuller never doubted the wisdom of his acts.

“Some people would see him as a visionary. Some people would see him as someone who squandered public money,” said Aubrey George, the city’s current library director.

“I’m intrigued by everything about him,” said Nancy Compau, who cares for the Fuller Collection. To Compau, historian of the Northwest Room, Fuller was a brilliant writer, historian, actor and librarian who brought the larger world and its past to Eastern Washington.

To book collectors, Fuller was a perceptive and accomplished eye.

To Spokane sixth-graders who fall silent when Compau shows them a page of the Gutenberg Bible, he is a time traveler, a conduit between the past and the future of this city, the original Lincoln Street Bridge.

George Washington Fuller

He was, first and foremost, a snob.

Also a rare-book scholar in a profession that he believed had none.

“American librarians have not been distinguished as scholars but rather as good Rotarians or publicity men,” he wrote icily. Their expertise was “catalogues.” Worse, they were women.

“Women have usually been classed with the enemies of fine books, along with fire, pestilence, dampness and worms,” he wrote in 1928.

American librarians couldn’t see beyond their immediate budgets, he complained. But he did. Like Europeans of old, Fuller saw libraries as permanent treasure houses whose museum function served adult learning, community pride and history well.

“He was a true book man,” said Toni Savalli, retired deputy director of the Spokane Public Library. “He really believed that the citizens of Spokane should have the opportunity to see these beautiful, rare things.”

Fuller arrived in Spokane in 1906, intending only to visit. He was 30, a graduate of Tufts in Boston who had worked as a reporter and newspaper editor in Bangor, Maine. He had practiced law and worked as a Unitarian minister. It was in that role, visiting his church territory in Idaho and Montana, that he first came through Spokane and was “called to the pulpit” of the First Unitarian Society. He served for four years.

Then, in 1911, he was named the librarian of the Spokane Public Library, a position he held until illness forced his retirement in 1936.

His influence on Spokane was broad even for his era: He also was secretary of the city’s major charity, the Social Service Bureau. He helped found the drama league and what is now the Eastern Washington Historical Society.

He wrote four histories of the Inland and Pacific Northwest that are still considered the definitive works of their time.

And he collected books. Almost upon arrival at the Spokane Public Library, he began combing antique stores, meeting dealers and traveling to auctions on the library’s behalf.

The beleaguered communities of post-World War I Europe and the breakup of several large private collections helped create a bonanza for the savvy collector, which Fuller apparently was.

“It’s an unusual and intriguing collection,” said Phillip J. Pirages, the rare book expert who appraised the collection and a similar public library collection in Portland. “He chose wisely.” It includes items in several categories of collectable books: early printing, important illustrated books, Americana, fine art and “very nice” miscellaneous items, Pirages said.

Fuller shopped by studying book dealers’ lists, then responding with a variety of inquiries so as not to give away which item he thought was the bargain.

He bought a $750 John James Audubon set at an auction for $250 because it was missing one plate. He found the plate later for $1.50. An Audubon set today is worth $27,500. The Curtis subscription cost the library $3,200. Today, it is worth $375,000.

The increase in value was a source of great delight for Fuller, but that was not his intent. Fuller meant to educate people about Spokane’s history, U.S. history and the history of the book, from bibliographies to illustration to printing.

Initially, he stored the items in rows of large boxes on the balcony shelves in his office at the old Carnegie Library. Teachers, students and researchers would come and sit. Space was so tight that a large part of the fine arts and history books immediately went into storage.

Finally, in 1929, the city approved a library annex, and the collection went onto roller shelves and into glass cases and crammed stacks. Items were more closely viewed on a strictly supervised sign-out basis.

After the library moved into the former Sears Building, the collection was stored for many years on the third floor on wooden shelves, covered with clear plastic to guard against water leaks. When the library moved into temporary headquarters during construction of the current building, Savalli and Compau contacted an archivist who showed them how to store the items.

“Most of us didn’t realize how precious they were, and it wasn’t until the 1991 library bond issue passed that we’ve given the collection attention,” Miller said.

Over the past two years, items have been cataloged. Last spring, Pirages appraised each item, which, overall, he found in good to excellent condition.

“This is material that has not had a lot of use from the public, but it is a little treasure trove of cultural artifacts, and however much use there has been of the material, the Spokane Public Library is preserving those cultural artifacts,” Pirages said.

The library wants to use the items, as well. But money is limited.

In Fuller’s time, circulation was about 600,000. Today, it’s at more than 2 million with entire arenas Fuller could have never envisioned: audio and videotapes, the Internet and five branches.

The library board, propelled by Cal Shumaker and Ron Miller, recently created a new Spokane Public Library Foundation with a goal of raising money to preserve and protect the collection.

Privately, librarians are worried that a short-sighted public would demand the items be sold to, say, expand hours or cover a budget shortfall. The collection is not even as valuable as it could be because there are fewer buyers interested in items stamped “Spokane Public Library.”

And while Pirages said libraries like Portland would love to have many of the items, board members and staff ask, why would they sell Spokane history to another city? “There was never an intent to sell,” Savalli said. “The collection’s worth is in the examples of what books were like. It’s the root of everything else you’re seeing.”

“It would be a disservice to the past, to the present and to the future to get rid of what’s important,” said Brown, chairwoman of the Foundation Board.

Brown said she tries to think of the collection in terms of her children, ages 10 and 13, and what they will find in Spokane in 30 years.

“We have a lot of choices. We have to ask ourselves what is the legacy we will leave?”

Hidden gems

Fuller loved libraries. Like most librarians, he collected periodicals and public documents, but even those choices were rare and fine, including: the reports of early Catholic missionaries to their superiors in Montreal about the Spokane area; Washington Territorial Gov. Isaac Stevens’ reports on the Indian wars; and the only existing copies of newspapers from Colfax, Cheney and Spokane before the turn of the century.

Early geographies also fell in these categories, including the voyages of Capts. Cook and Vancouver.

But Fuller went beyond acquiring books on architecture, sculpture, drawing, decoration, design, painting, photography, music and science, including an original edition of Charles Darwin’s “Origin of the Species.”

“We have no intention of collecting books just because they are old,” he wrote. He wanted them to demonstrate history or the history of human communication.

The Babylonian cylinders from 4000 B.C., for example, were the prototype of the rotating printing press. Illuminated manuscripts were written by hand as opposed to printed, and decorated with gold. The collection includes several examples.

Before Gutenberg invented movable type, books were “printed” using woodblocks. The Nuremberg Chronicle, the great picture book of the Middle Ages and what is considered first world history, has 1,800 of those woodcuts and is an important part of the collection.

Fuller collected Bibles, including Native American language Bibles, and geographies, including Ptolomy’s Geography, which contains a map of America dating from 1552 that does not reflect much of the Pacific Northwest.

Bibliographies were a major reference portion of the collection, as well as dictionaries, including Florio’s World of Words, used by William Shakespeare.

“I’m amazed every time I look through this list. It’s just amazing what’s here,” said Dennis Fredrickson, manager of reference services for the Spokane Public Library.

Fuller himself was an accomplished historian. The New York Times praised his 1931 book on the Pacific Northwest as a “thorough and brilliant handling of the factual history.” But the Portland Oregonian took offense at Fuller’s critical look at the area.

“The total impression to be derived from the latter chapters of his book is of a region preoccupied with material development and politics,” the Oregonian groused. The Northwest, Fuller wrote, had no universities, libraries or art galleries that could compare with anything farther down the coast.

He aimed to change that by opening the door to history, say, with a copy of Poor Richard’s Almanac dating from 1765.

“People thought he was crazy, and now we say, how did he have so much insight?” Brown said.

Fuller and his wife lived in the Altadena Apartments at Sixth and Stevens. They had no children.

On April 21, 1935, he suffered an intense allergic reaction to primroses at the library. Apparently, according to newspaper accounts, the attack was so severe that he was away from work for more than a month.

In the spring of 1936, he collapsed at the corner of Riverside and Monroe and was taken home by police. Newspaper accounts attribute an unspecified illness. Some speculate that he drank. After two months on sick leave, his contract was terminated and he was replaced. He died in 1940 at 63.

Savalli never knew him. But his philosophy and legacy echoed through her entire 50-year career. She returns to the library each week to volunteer, and she climbs the stairs to the Northwest History Room, where she helps care for the Fuller Collection. En route she passes the art panels depicting the evolution of human concepts, the progression of thought.

“That’s what the Fuller Collection is,” she said. “A history of art and ideas and how they were passed on.”

ACCESS TO COLLECTION CONTROLLED How do you see the Fuller Collection? Not easily. As the library considers how and where to display more of the items publicly, individual access is closely controlled. You can search for what is in the collection using the catalog system with staff assistance. But only credentialed researchers can now view items, and only under supervision. Requests must be made in writing two weeks in advance. They must include personal information, length of time needed to examine the items, and the reason for needing to do so. You may be asked to provide proof of academic credentials or previous experience with rare and archival materials. Viewing is by appointment only, and researchers must provide both a photo I.D. and local address. Viewers can see only one item at a time, in the Northwest History Room of the library, where there are no bags or pens allowed. You must wear cotton gloves, and no photocopying is allowed. Staff will examine the work upon your leaving, and the cost of any damage will be assumed by the researcher. The most information on the Fuller Collection can be found at www.spokpl.lib.wa.us.