By Adrienne Rusinko
September means class is now in session! To celebrate the start of the semester, we have a terrific trove of tiger designs. A limited run of stickers are now available at Special Collections Firestone, Special Collections Mudd, and the Princeton University Library (PUL) Makerspace.
Pennsylvania (Away), 1956 October 13, Athletic Programs Collection (AC042), University Archives
Saturday, October 13, 1956, the Princeton University Tigers football team traveled to Philadelphia to face off against the University of Pennsylvania Quakers, and crushed them 34-0. In what the New York Times called “Its Most Lopsided Triumph Over Rival Since 1889” (a whopping 72-4), the Tigers posted 379 total yards. In comparison, the Philadelphia Eagles,1 in their crushing defeat of the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2025 Super Bowl, posted 345 yards.
- Go birds! ↩︎
هذا کتاب عجائب المخلوقات / من تاليفات زکريا بن محمد القزوينى [The Wonders of Creatures and the Marvels of Creation / written by Zakariya ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini], Islamic Manuscripts, Garrett no. 426Lq, Manuscripts
Zakariya al-Qazwini (1203-1283 C.E.) was a cosmographer, geographer, philosopher, and judge born in Qazwīn, Persi, whose most famous work, من تاليفات زکريا بن محمد القزوينى [lit. This is the Book of Wonders of Creation], is one of the most widely read texts of the Islamic world.
The richly illustrated manuscript is divided into two parts, the cosmological and the terrestrial. The first covers the cosmology, such as celestial spheres, as well as astrology and chronology. This tiger comes from the second section, which discusses the seasons, bodies of water, classical elements, flora, fauna, minerals, and mythical creatures like djinn and dragons.
雲龍九郎偷盗傳 [Unryū Kurō chūtōden], PL798.2 .U58 1858, East Asian Library Rare Books
This tiger comes from the back cover of one of the volumes of 雲龍九郎偷盗傳, or, The Thievery of Unryū Kurō. The original Edo period e-hon (illustrated book) comprised only 4 volumes, and was written by Sanba Shikitei and illustrated by Utagawa Toyokuni. These volumes were published posthumously after Sanba’s death, but in 1929, the woodblocks used to print the books were destroyed in a fire. His disciple Rakutei Seiba began to revise and expand on the original texts with ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kunisada, eventually passing the torch to Kanagaki Robun, who worked with another ukiyo-e artist, Utagawa Yoshitora, to finish the last of the 10 volumes.
The stories tell the tales of two rival thieves, Unryū Kurō, whose name translates to “Cloud Dragon”, and Toraōmaru, also known as the Tiger King. The two were often in competition with one another, using violence, magic, and cunning against anything standing in their way. Both Toraōmaru and Unryū Kurō were depicted as villains who ultimately meet their demise at the hands of a great warrior, symbolizing the triumph of good over evil, but the mythology of the Cloud Dragon and Tiger King continued in various retellings and artworks throughout the Edo period.
Decalcomania is a limited monthly release of stickers made available at Special Collections Firestone, Special Collections Mudd, and the PUL Makerspace. All images are selected from materials held by Special Collections. Check out the Special Collections website for information about visiting our reading rooms.
Did we run out of your favorite sticker? Do you want to make your own? Head over to the PUL Makerspace! Design your own or reprint a Decalcomania sticker using the cutting machines.
Digital images of some of the materials in Special Collections can be found in the catalog and finding aids. Our blogs and Digital PUL have collection highlights.
For Further Reading:
If you want to see more tiger-related archives, you may enjoy the Tiger Tuesday series on the Princeton University Archives Tumblr.
You must be logged in to post a comment.