Now experts at the Heidelberg University library say dated notes scribbled in the margins of a book by its owner in October 1503 confirm once and for all that Lisa del Giocondo was indeed the model for one of the most famous portraits in the world.

Barbour, Ralph H. [BOONE, Joel T.]. THE ARRIVAL OF JIMPSON [Signed by Presidential physician and Congressional Medal of Honor Winner Joel T. Boone]. New York: Appleton, 1904. First edition. 8vo. Pictorial cloth. Good only. Starting at the front hinge, some faint dampstaining throughout. Still, sound and presents well. No DJ. Inscribed warmly on the ffep by Congressional Medal of Honor winner and White House physician under three Presidents, Joel T. Boone, to a relative of the President he would soon serve under: “To / Charles Delano Henry Large, / my new found friend / who, I hope, will love / Mercerburg Academy as / I do. / With every good wish / for happy and profitable days at the School on the Hill / From his friend / Joel T. Boone / Mercerurg ‘09 / 10.19.28 / (This book was a gift to me in 1904).”

The inscribee was a cousin of Herbert Hoover’s wife who was just beginning his studies at the school Boone also graduated from. Boone was physician to Presidents Hoover, Harding, and Coolidge. Serving as a Marine in the medical corp during WWI, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for: “leaving the shelter of a ravine, went forward onto the open field where there was no protection and despite the extreme enemy fire of all calibers, through a heavy mist of gas, applied dressings and first aid to wounded marines [...] When the dressings and supplies had been exhausted, he went through a heavy barrage of large-caliber shells, both high explosive and gas, to replenish these supplies, returning quickly with a sidecar load, and administered them in saving the lives of the wounded. A second trip, under the same conditions and for the same purpose, was made by Surgeon Boone later that day.” Boone’s papers, recently opened to research, have proven a valuable resource on the Presidents he served under. An uncommon signature with a warm association.

Interested in purchasing? You might want to hurry. It may not be as interesting as that previous inscription, but I have a feeling this may soon creep into my own personal collection nonetheless…

I’m slowly forming a collection of books with interesting non-authorial inscriptions or marginalia. I’m fascinated by the way reader’s interact physically with books and the narratives and emotions these markings can suggest. And I plan on highlighting some of these here. The above is one of my favorites. I found it this past July in a small bookshop in Colorado Springs, Co. I love the intimate mini-portrait it paints of the relationship between ‘Ben’ and ‘Leo,’ and admire the rare historical glimpse it provides into a period of gay life usually, well, kept in the closet.

And no, it’s not THAT ‘Splendor in the Grass.’