The Aura of the Original

The Huntington’s Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is a true original. More than 600 years old, it has captivated scholars and library visitors alike. Linne R. Mooney has made news by identifying the scribe who produced the rare treasure.

Another important version of the Canterbury Tales is housed at the National Library of Wales, copied out by the same hand, although the stories of the pilgrims have been presented in a slightly different sequence. One is hardly a “copy” of the other in any traditional sense of the word, but rather both are valuable and rare versions of the same celebrated poem.

Ten years ago, The Huntington published its own copy of the Tales. The facsimile edition is a photographic reproduction of the Ellesmere manuscript and extends its circulation to scholars who are unable to travel to the Library.

Such a “copy” does not diminish the value of the original work. Rare books and masterpieces hanging in art galleries have a special aura made evident by the throngs of visitors who find their way to the world’s museums to get a glimpse of them. They are irreplaceable cultural and historical touchstones. But what about the plants in the Huntington’s gardens?

In plant propagation, a horticulturalist can make new “originals.” For example, in A Shared Curiosity, writer Catherine Phillips explains how a plant growing in the Desert Collection nursery is a direct vegetative link to a specimen first documented by a collector in Mexico in 1951. Cuttings of a particular cactus passed along to former botanical director Myron Kimnach in the 1950s led directly to the plant we see today in the nursery. It is not a facsimile but rather a clone.

In Quietly to the Rescue, an article on the Huntington’s International Succulent Introductions program, Traude Gomez-Rhine explains how John Trager has been germinating seeds and cross-pollinating plants for more than 20 years, creating clones of countless rare succulents. In the plant world, the rarer an item, the more you want to reproduce it and circulate “copies” that will ensure the survival of the species. Through plant propagation, a place like The Huntington is helping to spread the aura of the original.

Matt Stevens