Initials of Timothy Alden together with stamp ‘T. Alden’s. Given by Mr Daniel Waldron, 1802’ Title page of Malvezzi, Virgilio. … David persecuted, London, 1637. Ex 3131.656.328.56.

I first became aware of the special respect paid to books formerly owned by Timothy Alden (1771-1839) in 2005 while working on one of the central questions of the Davies Project, directed by Princeton president Harold Shapiro. That question was: why and how did Princeton become a collector of rare books? That research resulted in an 80 page article published in 2023 in the Princeton University Library Chronicle, entitled ‘Rare Books at Princeton 1873-1941’. A central theme of the article is that there was no one genesis point, but ‘rare book collecting’ as we understand it today developed over generation after generation as each cohort rethought, revalued, reorganized and repurposed the Library. One major milestone on this journey was the establishment of the ‘Art Room’ in 1878 as a separate space and separate stock in the Chancellor Green Library. The chief documentation of this establishment is a manuscript catalogue currently held in the Library records at the University Archives.
While the great majority of books in the ‘Art Room’ were illustrated works about major artists, ancient ruins, or monuments of architecture, mixed in were books that we today would call ‘rare books,’ chiefly association copies either by or once belonging to ‘worthies.’ Decisions about including these books was likely the decision of head librarian, Frederick Vinton. In 1874, Vinton published a chief desideratum for a library of an American institution of higher education in his article ‘American College Libraries’.

… It is the duty of every college to provide largely for a knowledge especially of the American history. Our nation is to the full as unique in modern times as Israel was in ancient. God’s providence has made use of each as a lighthouse to for the world. … American institutions endure on condition of the continued knowledge of American history and principles among us. … It is the imperative duty of American colleges to make known the history of our republic and of our fathers. … It must be known in particulars and in original sources. How shall we sure that Bancroft has given us the true history of our revolution, unless we have the contemporary narratives? … Within the present century, every considerable nation of Europe has been reprinting its old historians, and bringing to light its medieval records. Our government leaves such enterprises to local historical societies. American colleges should help to cultivate, diffuse, and impress this knowledge.

Toward that end, Vinton stocked the ‘Art Room’ with books of four men whom he deemed to rank among ‘our fathers’ — Gov. Jonathan Belcher, the Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon, Thomas Balch, and the Rev. Timothy Alden. While the first two may seem obvious choices given the importance of each in Princeton’s early history, the final two appear to be a bit curious. Thomas Balch (1821-1877) was an historian of American revolutionary history and promoter of the idea of international arbitration. The Rev. Timothy Alden had a varied career as clergyman, bookseller, librarian, historian of American local history and Native American history, headmaster of various secondary-school academies, but is best known as the founder of Allegheny College in 1817 in western Pennsylvania as well as its remarkable library for its day including the books of the Winthrop family.

Initials of Timothy Alden. Title page of Bastwick, John. … Apologeticus ad praesules anglicanos criminum ecclesiasticorum in curia celsae commissionis. [Leiden?], 1636. Ex 5934.15. [In 1878, this book was located in the ‘Art Room’].

Stamp ‘T. Alden’s. Given by Mr Daniel Waldron, 1802’ Title page of Malvezzi, Virgilio. … David persecuted, London, 1637. Ex 3131.656.328.56.

Signature of Timothy Alden on title page of Fenton, Roger. A treatise of usurie. London, 1611. Ex HB521 .F36.

While piecing together the story of the various association books in the ‘Art Room,’ I became intrigued by those once owned by Timothy Alden, chiefly because of the elliptical way he marked his book, with simply his initials ‘T.A.’ Frederick Vinton must have recognized the initials, but I needed dispositive evidence that the initials were indeed Alden’s. Between 2005 and 2026, I discovered beyond the two preserved in the ‘Art Room,’ another eight Alden books in the Library, making a total of ten, acquired at different times between 1810 and 1921. One discovered recently firmly linked his ownership with the initials ‘T.A.’. On its titlepage it bears not only his initials but the stamp ‘T. Alden’s. Given by Mr Daniel Waldron, 1802.’ (Il Davide perseguitato. David persecuted, written in Italian by Marques Virgilio Malvezzi, and done into English by Robert Ashley, gentleman. [London, 1637], Ex 3131.656.328.56.  See title page in full at the beginning of this essay.). The earliest record of this book is in the catalogue of the Library’s holdings made in 1810. (Books with both this stamp and other Alden markings are also in the New-York Historical Society; Waldron was a wealthy man of property in Portsmouth, NH, during the years Alden served as minister to a parish there.)

The following is a list of the 10 Alden books and the dates when they were first recorded in the Library’s holdings: