“I have come to the conclusion that much can be learned about music by devoting oneself to the mushroom… the two words are next to each other in many dictionaries” —John Cage, from For the Birds: John Cage in Conversation with Daniel Charles
Field Guides & Fungus Lore: Foraging in Special Collections
Be they veiled with free gills, stalked, cup or vase shaped, puffed, jellied, or shelf-‐like, mushrooms since ancient times have been considered one of the most fascinating life forms. They have been observed and studied by vast numbers of amateurs and professionals, including biologists, ethnobotanists and ethnomycologists, ardent naturalists, and hipster foodies. In the pursuit of identifying which mushrooms are edible, which hold supernatural powers, and which are toxic many important texts have been written on the taxonomy, the ecology, the practical and economic uses, and of course on the deliciousness of fungi. Artists have also found mushrooms to be a constant source of visual pleasure and inspiration worthy of capturing in paint and photographs.
Over many years, Special Collections & Archives has acquired a rich and varied compilation of mycological writing and imagery starting with a very fine collection of material donated by American composer and founder of the New York Mycological Society John Cage. (Cage, who first visited the campus in the 1970s, roamed the woods with old friend and UCSC professor Norman O. Brown in search of chanterelles.) For a delightfully funny interpretation of a Matsuo Basho haiku on a matsutake by John Cage go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNzVQ8wRCB0.
While Cage’s collection includes a personal library of beautifully illustrated field guides from all over the world, we are also fortunate to hold several important regional guides authored by David Arora. These can be used not only to identify mushrooms found in our local vicinity but they also describe the California Central Coast’s habitat and the seasonal occurrences that promote the best mushroom hunting. Arora, a UCSC alum, is widely noted as the “high priest of mycology” in
international circles of mycophiliacs. Special Collections is especially pleased to exhibit Arora’s essay for the Friends of the Library’s Book Collection Context that won first place in 1973. Arora went on to found the Santa Cruz Fungus Federation in 1975, an organization that continues to this day with a large membership sponsoring an annual fungus fair. (See: http://www.fungusfed.org/) Its journal publication Duff is included in the exhibit.
Beyond field guides and other books documenting the long standing use of mushrooms by ancient peoples and their continued significance to modern day culture paintings and photographs by Ansel Adams, Morris Graves, Edward Weston, and other local artists can be viewed in Special Collections. A checklist of the exhibit follows:
Case 1:
Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz Fungus Fair Poster, 1992
Duff Santa Cruz, CA : The Fungus Federation, 1985-‐
Official publication of the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz. Special Collections holds issues from Oct. 1985 to 2011 , including the issue for April 2008, vol. 23, no. 8 called "Fluff".
Arora, David All that the rain promises and more... : a hip pocket guide to western mushrooms. Berkeley, Calif. : Ten Speed Press, c1991. QK617 A688 1991
“Before the concert.” Mushroom lovers are opportunivores, always ready to grab a meal when one presents itself. Five minutes before a chamber music concert, this trombonist was spotted gleefully gathering chanterelles outside the concert hall. Does the location look familiar?
Arora, David Fungal jungle: lesson, possession, obsession, or profession?
First prize essay in the UCSC’s Friends of the Library seventh annual book collection contest, 1973
Z997.2 S372 A66 1973
Case 2:
Hvass, Else Mushrooms and toadstools, in colour. Illustrated by E. Hahnewald. English editor, Vera Higgins. London, Blandford Press [c1961] QK617 H913
Fumika Encyclopaedia of mushrooms Kawasaki: S.E. Inc. 2003 PN6790 J3 F86 2003
Gibson, William Hamilton Our edible toadstools and mushrooms and how to distinguish them; a selection of thirty native food varieties, easily recognizable by their identification of poisonous species. New York, Harper & brothers, 1895 QK617 G45
Author’s autograph copy
Parker, Loni Mushrooms, a separate kingdom. Ill. and calligraphy by Loni Parker ; text by David T. Jenkins. Birmingham : Oxmoor House, 1979. QK617 P37 1979
Case 3:
Bone, Eugenia Mycophilia : revelations from the weird world of mushrooms. New York : Rodale : Distributed to the trade by Macmillan, c2011 QK605 B65 2011
Thomas, William Sturgis Field book of common mushrooms; with key to identification of the gilled mushrooms and direction for cooking those that are edible. New York: Putnam [1948] QK617 T6 1948
Lange, Morten and F. Bayard Hora Collins Guide to Mushrooms and Toadstools. London: Collins, 1975
Miller, Orson K. Mushrooms of North America New York: E.P. Dutton, 1980
Stamets, Paul Psilocybin Mushrooms Of The World : An Identification Guide. With A Foreword By Andrew Weil Berkeley, Calif. : Ten Speed Press, c1996 QK629 S77 S735 1996
Roberts, Peter The book of fungi : a life-size guide to six hundred species from around the world. Peter Roberts and Shelley Evans Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2011 QK603 R57 2011
Lincoff, Gary The Audubon Society field guide to North American mushrooms. Visual key by Carol Nehring. New York : Knopf : Distributed by Random House, c1981. QK617 L524 1981
Case 4:
Everything one needs while mushroom hunting.
Case 5:
Theatrum botanicum : The theater of plants, or An herball of a large extent : containing therein a more ample and exact history and declaration of the physicall herbs and plants that are in other authours, encreased by the accesse of many hundreds of new, rare, and strange plants from all the parts of the world ... : shewing vvithall the many errors, differences, and oversights of sundry authors that have formerly written of them ... : distributed into sundry classes or tribes, for the more easie knowledge of the many herbes of one nature and property, with the chiefe notes of Dr. Lobel, Dr. Bonham, and others inserted therein / collected by the many yeares travaile, industry, and experience in this subject, by John Parkinson .. London : Printed by Tho. Cotes, 1640 QK41.P37 1640
Gift of Kenneth V. Thimann family
One of the earliest examples of documenting the use of fungi for medicinal purposes.
Harwerth, Willi Das kleine Pilzbuch. Einheimische Pilze nach der Natur gezeichnet. Insel Bucherei, Nr. 503 Leipzig: Insel-‐Verlag, 1956. QK617 H32 1956
A Mushroom ABC Santa Cruz: Peter & Donna Thomas, 2001 Z239.G66 2001c
Badham, Charles David A treatise on the esculent funguses of England containing an account of their classical history, uses, characters, development, structure, nutritious properties, modes of cooking and preserving… London: Reeve Brothers, 1847. QK617 B13
Cooke, Mordecai Cubitt Edible and poisonous mushrooms. London: Society for promoting Christian knowledge; New York: E. H. B. Young & co., 1894. QK617 C8
Rolland, Leon Louis Atlas des champignons. Leon L'Homme, editeur. [Paris, P. Klincksieck, 1910?] QK617 R58
Above Case 5:
Morris Graves “Dear John, yum yum” October [1966]
Letter to John Cage. Tempera on paper
Case 6:
Wasson, Valentina Pavlovna and R. Gordon Wasson Mushrooms, Russia, and history. New York: Pantheon Books, 1957 Edition of 512 copies; this copy is no. 228 QK617 W35
Autograph presentation copy to John Cage from his friends, including signatures of Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Elaine de Kooning and others.
See also: “Seeking the Magic Mushroom: A New York banker goes to Mexico’s mountains to participate in the age-‐old rituals of Indians who chew strange growths that produce visions” by R. Gordon Wasson in Life Magazine May 13, 1957. Available at: http://www.imaginaria.org/wasson/life.htm.
This article introduced psychedlic mushrooms to mainstream America.
Aristospel, A.B. Svampplockarens A och O, Utg. Av A.B. Aristoospel.Granskad av Hugo Stelin. [Stockholm: V. Petterson 1947? -‐1951] QK617 A74 1947
Above Case 6:
Lucy Martin Prince. Agaricus augustus 2009
Gouache and watercolor on paper
Case 7:
Raschke, Ernst Walther Essbare Pilze. 31 farbige Abbildungen in natürlicher Grösse mit Beschreibung [von Raschke] München, Graser [1927] QK617 R375
Ramsbottom, John Poisonous fungi. With colour plates by Rose Ellenby. London: New York, Penguin Books, 1945. QK617 R34
Hastings, Somerville Toadstools at home: 60 photos. from nature of British fungi. London: Gowans & Gray, 1906. QK617 H34
Above Case 7:
Holly Downing From the Woods 2006
Messotint, edition of 40
Case 8:
Roms svampe-album, indeholder 30 farvetrykte tavler med 59 billeder af svampe. Kobenhavn: N.C. Rom [19-‐-‐?] QK617 R64
Edward Weston Toadstools 1932
Gelatin silver print
Dufour, L. (Léon), Atlas des champignons comestibles et vénéneux. 80 planches coloriées représentant 191 champignons communs en France. Paris: P. Klincksieck, 1891. QK617 D84
Smitt, Johan Wilhelm Skandinaviens förnämsta ätliga och giftiga svampar [af J.W. Smitt] Utgifna af C. Hartman. 82 figurer å 8 planscher i färgtryck. Stockholm, På. Em. Giron, 1874. QK617 S6
Palmer, Julius Auboineau Mushrooms of America, edible and poisonous. Boston, L. Prang & co. [1885] QK617 P25
Bresadola, Giacomo Funghi mangerecci e funghi velenosi. Guida pratica per il loro riconoscimento. Trento: Museo di Storia Naturale, 1954. QK617 B74
Case 9:
Arora, David Mushrooms Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide To the Fleshy Fungi of the Central California Coast. Ill by Michael Cabaniss Berkeley, Calif. : Ten Speed Press, c1979. QK617 A76
Arora, David Fungal jungle.
Arora, a UCSC alum donated his 2 vol. typescript “Fungal Jungle”, including photographs and photocopies for 199 plates to Special Collections.
Case 10
McIlvaine, Charles Toadstools, mushrooms, Fungi, edible and poisonous. One thousand American Fungi; how to select and cook the edible; how to distinguish and avoid the poisonous; giving full botanic descriptions ... Indianapolis: The Bowen-‐Merrill company [c1900]
Limited edition of 750 copies numbered and signed by the author. Special Collections’ copy is no. 118. QK617 M35 1900
Ansel Adams [Fungus, Santa Cruz] 1963
Gelatin silver print Photographed on the UCSC campus
Edward Weston Toadstool, 1931
Gelatin silver print
Case 11
From the John Cage Mycology Collection (MS 74):
Bibliographic index cards of Cage’s personal library on mycology
Spiral notebooks and single page from Cage’s New York Mycological Society walks in 1966
Chris Harley. Photo for John Cage, 1974. Archival photo print
Setus de Pais Vasco. Selection and commentary packet
Tea towel and tie with mushroom imagery
Plastic mushroom
Four membership cards to international mycological societies
Case 12
From the John Cage Mycology Collection (MS 74):
Poisonous Mushrooms. 1817 hand colored engraving from John Wilkes’ Encyclopedia Londinenis
Typed and edited manuscript page of Matsutake Haiku by Matsuo Basho and translation by R. H. Blythe
Mark Rutkoski. Untitled mushroom drawing for John Cage, 1980
Morris Graves. Cantharellus Aurantiacus at the Lake. Eureka Nov. 20, 1965. Pencil sketch
Comestible Essbar. [1880] chromolithograph printed by H. Furrer, Neuchatel