Category: Afterlives (Page 1 of 2)

            In my earlier two posts about Moby Dick; Or the Whale with illustrations from Rockwell Kent I have given a description of the physical copy and written about its position in the life of the novel more broadly. That is, this edition of Moby Dick popularized the novel and brought it to the attention of readers worldwide. This blog post returns to the copy in the Dickinson College archive. While there is much we can learn from writing about this edition more broadly it is impossible to ignore the differences between specific copies and what that can tell us about its individual history. This one, for instance, holds the signature of “Barbara S. Roberts” on the inside cover.

Roberts was the second wife of long-time Dickinson College librarian and historian Charles Coleman Sellers. Sellers’ attended Haverford College for his undergraduate degree before matriculating to Harvard University where he earned his Master of Arts. From 1937-1949 he served as the bibliographic librarian as Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut before joining the Dickinson College faculty as the curator of our Dickinsoniana collection, our archival materials. Sellers became the librarian of the college in 1956. He earned his doctorate from Temple in 1957 and would retire as Librarian Emeritus with the rank of Professor and college historian at which point he wrote Dickinson College: A History. Seller was incredibly dedicated to Dickinson; a memo put out by the President of the college following his death states that instead of flowers people should donate to the “Charles Coleman Sellers Endowment Fund in care of Dickinson College.” Sellers also won the Bancroft prize for his work on Charles William Peal. (Dickinson College Archives).

Following Sellers’ death his nephews Nicholas and Peter Sellers donated the entirety of his 2,500-book collection to Dickinson College. Archival documents note that about 40% of the Sellers’ collection was made up of duplicate copies, and according to an appraisal done by The Americanist: Scholarly and Antiquarian Books located in Pottstown, PA, the total value of the collections sat at $13,500, though, we have two appraisals: one which puts the value of Sellers’ books at $27,117. This is a significant discrepancy, and there appears to be no reason for this. The Americanist completed both documents in April 1980. Perhaps, the more valuable appraisal includes the value of the shelves, or other items in the Sellers’ library, or the lower value is after the College sold the duplicate copies to friends of the library. Imagine the potential learning lost by this decision.

One should not neglect the role of Barbara Roberts in the curation of this collection. Indeed, at its core, this story is a tale of two people who enjoyed literature and valued the physical culture of the written word. Barbara Sellers’ obituary describes her as a “woman who attempted and accomplished things.” For many years she owned a bookshop and tended it with “business-like acumen and with acute attention to excellence in books.” Charles Sellers’ will leaves the entirety of his collection to his wife. I, personally, would not leave my books to just anyone, and I do not even own anything valuable, thus Sellers’ actions demonstrate his opinion of his wife’s expertise. Indeed, the Will states that the collection is hers to do with as she pleases.

            Of course, Roberts owned more than just this copy of Moby Dick, so any number of the books within the collection are hers though many sources from our files place sole ownership of the collection on Charles Sellers.

What this points to is the dedication of the Sellers’ family to the archival trade and the collection of the physical culture of literature. Over the course of this semester our class has focused largely on the efforts of the artisans that turn texts into books. Yet, we must also think about those who owned these elements of material culture. It takes more than just artisans to maintain these critically important elements of our collective literary culture.

            Further, we should also question the scope of our lives in relation to our books. I am writing this post in December 2024. 94 years ago, Barbara Roberts signed her name on the inside cover of this copy. Could she have possibly imagined that almost 100 years later, over 50 years after her death, someone studying works from her collection? That the course of her life as a collector serves as inspiration for generations of students with literary interests?

I’ll end this post with two final notes: First, a thank you to the Sellers’ family for providing me with the opportunity to work with this book. Second, perhaps this story can pose a question to all of us: What will our books become once we are gone?

Works Cited

Banks, Sam. Letter to The College Community. February 11, 1980. Folder 1. Charles Coleman Sellers File. Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA. 2 December 2024.

Banks, Sam. Letter to Nicholas Sellers. March 3, 1980. Nicholas Sellers File. Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA. 2 December 2024.

—. Letter to Peter Sellers. March 16, 1980. Peter Sellers File. Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA. 2 December 2024.

Barbara Sellers’ Obituary. July 2, 1979. Barbara Sellers File. Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA. 2 December 2024.

“Charles Coleman Sellers (1903-1980).” Charles Coleman Sellers (1903-1980) | Dickinson College, archives.dickinson.edu/people/charles-coleman-sellers-1903-1980. Accessed 3 Dec. 2024.

The Americanist. Appraisal of Sellers’ Collection. April 24, 1980. Folder 1. Charles Coleman Sellers File. Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA. 2 December 2024.

The Americanist. Appraisal of Sellers’ Collection. April 25, 1980. Folder 1. Charles Coleman Sellers File. Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA. 2 December 2024.

Cookbooks hold stories beyond simple annotations or dog-eared pages. Each stain holds a memory, each inscription is a recipe, and every modification is a history waiting to be uncovered. Anyone who cooks or bakes regularly is likely making changes or additions to their recipes, which calls for immediate and specific notations within the physical book. Dickinson’s edition of The Frugal Housewife by Lydia Maria Child is not an outlier. As a book in extreme disrepair and one where every page has a stain or note, this cookbook was well-loved.  

Child’s intended audience for this book is made explicit in its full title: The Frugal Housewife: Dedicated to Those Who Are Not Ashamed of Economy. The cookbook is intended for housewives in the mid-nineteenth century who are looking for cheap, easy, quick recipes and remedies. In other front matter, Child makes a note that this fourth edition includes an additional section titled “Hints to People of Moderate Fortune.” She states that her intentions for the book are “written from the same motive, viz: an honest and independent wish to be useful.” This book intends to be useful and frugal, evident in both the long title and additional note.  

This 1831 edition did, in fact, reach multiple frugal housewives. From what I can tell, I think the cookbook reached at least three different owners. The first owner is Mrs. Mary Webb Cady. She made many notes and additional recipes throughout the entirety of the cookbook, writing and stamping her name across much of the front matter. She was either very possessive of this book and the many additions she made, or she was simply ensuring that she never lost the book (Figure 2). A detailed internet search revealed a woman named Mary Webb who married Mr. Hiram Cady (Figure 1). While I cannot be certain that this Mary Cady is the same owner, her name and signatures line up, and the timeline would make sense, as she was born in 1806 in New York. Unfortunately, I cannot find much further information on her. Due to the era and societal norms, we can assume that Mrs. Cady was a housewife, and her many notes and additional recipes throughout the book show that she spent significant time cooking and baking.  

Figure 1: Marriage Note in the Cady Family Bible

Figure 2

I assume another owner also possessed this cookbook after Mrs. Cady due to a separate handwriting and darker pencil used for some drawings and recipes. While most of the additions to the book are in the same handwriting and light-colored pencil, and the many recipes match with the handwriting of the signatures, there are a couple of signatures at the very back of the book in much darker, less discernable handwriting. This makes me assume that there was indeed a second owner of this edition of The Frugal  Housewife, but they either did not own the book for long or did not use it nearly as much as the previous owner due to their general lack of marginalia.  

Figure 3: Recipe on top of page is Mrs. Cady’s, Recipe on bottom of page is our unknown owner’s

In a discussion with Malinda Triller-Doran, an archivist and librarian at the Dickinson College Archives, I learned that this book’s passage to the Dickinson Archives is not fully clear, but it is assumed to be part of the large donation from Charles Coleman Sellers’s Library. Charles Coleman Sellers was a librarian and curator for Dickinson College on and off between 1949 and his death in 1980. Sellers was also an author and librarian at other institutions as well, and his biography in the Archives states, “Sellers is best known in the Dickinson community for his Dickinson College: A History, published in conjunction with the bicentennial celebration of the College in 1973.”

Figure 4: Image of Charles Coleman Sellers

Ms. Triller-Doran informed me that after he died in 1980, he donated his collection/personal library to Dickinson. It is presumed that The Frugal Housewife was one of these donated books based on the timeline it was donated and the general lack of information on its journey to Dickinson. Only two other cookbooks lie in the archives: The Cook’s Oracle and Housekeeper’s Manual by William Kitchiner (published 1830) and American Domestic Cookery, Formed on Principles of Economy, for the Use of Private Families by Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell (published 1822), neither of which are recorded to be a part of Sellers’ donation. While The Frugal Housewife’s journey to Dickinson remains unclear, it continues to hold significant history and information about its previous adventures.  

This edition of The Frugal Housewife has not been rebound and is completely falling apart. Most of the pages are no longer tied or glued together, and the front and back covers have completely fallen off. It is now held together by a gentle string around the entirety of the book and must be untied to open and re-tied once the reader is done. This indicates that the book is either not used much anymore (as there is no reason to rebind it) or the disrepair has happened more recently than one would think. If it has not been rebound yet, we may be able to assume that it did not need to be rebound until quite recently. A book this old and well-used is expected to be run down, and the fact that it was owned by a librarian for the last century or so makes me assume that the reason for its current state of disrepair is that the librarians who have looked after it had not wanted to interfere in the history of the book itself. Rebinding it may have been frowned upon since it would hide the historicity of the book’s frequent use, which is made evident by its disrepair, or may have simply been too expensive. We can assume much about this edition of The Frugal Housewife by its disorder, stains, marginal notes, and added recipes. What many may view as ruin or destruction has only added to the value and intrigue this cookbook holds.  

Works Cited 

“Brief Life History of Mary.” FamilySearch.Org, ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LD5F-34T/mary-webb-1806-1876. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.  

“Charles Coleman Sellers (1903-1980).” Charles Coleman Sellers (1903-1980) | Dickinson College, archives.dickinson.edu/people/charles-coleman-sellers-1903-1980. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.  

Triller-Doran, Malinda. Personal Interview. 26 November 2024. 

A Selection of One Hundred and Forty of the Most Favourite English, Scotch, Irish, and American Songs is no insignificant part of the early publishing world of Carlisle, PA, considering its connections to publisher Archibald Loudon. I’ve discussed Archibald Loudon and the physical book in-depth in previous blog posts, however, here I want to uncover the intended and actual readers of the book. (Here are links to the previous posts: 

Loudon was aware of current publishing trends (Fretz 64)—so, it’s not unreasonable to say that he might be able to provide insight into the wider reading audience of Carlisle. He dedicated himself, for example, to subjects like the arts, including theater, poetry, and song. He lived and worked during a time when the town was forming its initial artistic legacy. In fact, he likely wanted a stake in the already-rapid growth of Carlisle. Early Carlisle was a standout amongst the landscape of Pennsylvania, though you wouldn’t know it today. Historian Judith Ridner describes it as “a sizable and significant place” with urban features that were considered unique in the eighteenth century (2). It functioned as a “migration gateway” that grew into a bustling center for “divergent interests” (3), and there is something to be said about the fact that “divergent interests” describes Loudon’s publishing history perfectly. 

His writing, editing, and publishing cover a significant number of Carlisle histories and issues, especially white settler interactions with and violence against Native populations. (The Carlisle Indian Industrial School, a boarding school for Indigenous American children intent on erasing their cultural history as they grew into adulthood with a history of violent institutional tactics, was later founded in the nineteenth century.) Loudon extensively participated in Carlisle’s long history of literature recording the colonization of/expansion into Native American land. His Scottish immigrant family had personal violent conflict with local Indigenous peoples when first settling in the U.S. (Hunter). This further exemplifies Loudon’s personal, political, and business stakes in his publishing history. By publishing the work of a local poet, Isabella Oliver, Loudon demonstrated a proactive attempt at shaping the landscape of Carlisle’s creative arts.

 A Selection, then, is a venture into compiling songs relevant to him and his Scottish-American history, as well as representing the larger population of Carlisle. Early Carlisle has a deep history of Scottish and Irish immigrants settling in or near the town (Ridner 8-9). I have been unable to uncover much detail about the publication history or reasoning behind this particular book of Loudon’s—he never published other songbooks—but his wide variety of artistic publications speaks partially for itself. (I’m working under the speculation that Loudon had at least some small part in the selection of songs in A Selection, rather than republishing one other compilation. My blog post titled “Origins,” describes how I came to this conclusion.) Assuming the majority of his publications came from personal interest mixed with the intent of success, the focus on Scottish-American and Irish-American music fits neatly as an answer to the question of the book’s intended audience. Loudon likely knew that he could rely on the audience of the immigrant population of Pennsylvania. Ridner focuses intently on the intersecting cultural groups of historical Carlisle, investigating the ways that “similar regional affiliations linked settlement patterns and ethnic identity among the mid-Atlantic’s Euro-American colonists” (7). Loudon’s publication of A Selection is a prime example of appealing to cultural identities similar to his own, a group which made up a large portion of the Carlisle population during his time. They were one of the largest immigrant groups in the eighteenth century traveling to British North America, and by far the predominant ethnic group of early Carlisle (8). Loudon sought monetary and cultural success both by the advantage of belonging to this group, and by seeking to appeal to it. 

Beyond this community, however, he intended to introduce these artistic pursuits to the wider Carlisle and Pennsylvania colonist public. His consistent patronage of artists in Carlisle, particularly those of the same ethnic group, speaks clearly to this hypothesis. It’s a strong piece of evidence in support of the role he wanted to take on as what historian Eric Fretz calls an “early disseminator of culture” (Fretz 61), particularly Scots-Irish and Euro-American culture. Fretz holds a high opinion of Loudon, made clear by the credit he gives to his artistic and publishing dreams—and can also be read as insight into Loudon’s intended Pennsylvania audiences. Fretz’s admiration may resemble the respect given by other Carlisle citizens, publishers, and art-lovers at the time, despite his strictly local influence. However, I’m unable to find information on the life or cultural identity of Eric Fretz beyond his interest in Loudon, so this should be taken with a grain of salt. 

Ridner explains her desire to study the intricacies of Carlisle history as a way to provide insight into the larger history of American development through the micro-history of Carlisle development (3-4). Archibald Loudon serves a similar purpose for the history of Carlisle development—his micro-history is reflective of Carlisle publishing trends and colonial interests, from widespread perceptions of Indigenous communities to a high valuation of theater, poetry, and music, and trade. 

“Chas H.”

Though Carlisle’s early history paints a relatively clear picture of Loudon’s intended audience for A Collection, there’s a mystery remaining that I’m quite fond of: the names written on the inside covers of the Dickinson College Archives’ copy of the book. I’ve been stumbling through research, trying to discern the cursive letters of the surnames of the elusive “Chas. H” and “George W” that previously owned the book. (I’ve included images here of the signatures as they appear on the inside covers.) I’ve concentrated my online searching to Carlisle, PA, when researching the potential surnames for “Charles” and “George.” A notable lead I possessed in this search is George’s note of the year he acquired the book: 1838 (see second image). I’ve tried to put these results in conversation with the limited information I can glean from the alumni records of Dickinson College. While I haven’t found any definitive matches for the folks who wrote their names in the book, there are a couple alumni with name similarities. Charles Kuhn was a part of the class of 1802, but did not graduate, and there is no further information about him.

“George W” “his Book 1838” “song Book 1838”

As for the “George W” who owned the book in 1838, George W. Corner became a trustee of Dickinson College post-graduation, and was a part of the class of 1841 (Reed). Unfortunately, it’s impossible to say whether the book was donated by someone who attended the college or not, due to a lack of record on how it came to the Archives, and digging up family trees online has proven to be unproductive when the cursive letters are unclear. However, I did find something I previously missed: what looks like “1842” written in pencil, underneath “Chas. H.” The fragments found in this copy may not form a complete story, but they give hints at a timeline of the book’s ownership. The names and dates written inside are an indication that despite Loudon’s small area of influence, audiences of A Selection passed the little book around.

Bibliography:

A Selection of One Hundred and Forty of the Most Favourite English, Scotch, Irish, and American Songs. 1806. SC 398 87 S698.

Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections.

Fretz, Eric. “Archibald Loudon of Carlisle: Disseminator of Early American Culture.” Cumberland County History, vol. VII, no. 2.,

pp. 61-67. Cumberland County Historical Society.

Reed, George L. Alumni Record Dickinson College. Dickinson College, 1905.

​​Ridner, Judith. “Introduction.” A Town In-Between: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and the Early Mid-Atlantic Interior, University of

Pennsylvania Press, 2010, pp. 1–11. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt3fhb4h.5. 

(Image Credits: taken by iPhone, by author, inside the Dickinson College Special Collections.)

French Cookery: The Modern Cook, by Charles Elme Francatelli, is a cookbook that was published in 1846. This book was the first of Francatelli’s four cookbooks. Francatelli was an important chef in London during this time. He was educated at the Parisian College of Cooking (Flantzer, 2018). Francatelli also served as the chef for Queen Victoria for about two years and was known for having a strong effect on the cooking community. I went more in-depth about Francatelli’s life, education, experiences, and influences in my past blog post. This specific book that I have been studying and researching is now in the possession of the Dickinson College Archives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. In this blog post, I will go in-depth about who used this book and how it came to be a part of Dickinson’s Archives collection. I have written two prior blogs about the history and composition of this book that I would recommend reading along with this one (blog post 1 and blog post 2)!

French Cookery: The Modern Cook was primarily used by upper-middle-class families;  this was Francatelli’s intention. On the title page of the book, he specified it was “adapted, as well for the largest establishments as for the use of private families” (See Figure 1). The title page tells us that this book was meant for familial and restaurant use; however, it isn’t clear which class of people it was meant for. The actual recipes had to be examined to be able to answer, “Who used this book?”  Each recipe is of very high quality and includes expensive ingredients. Bishop uses a great example of the recipes for Lamb’s ears (Bishop, 2018). This book includes three separate recipes, all with expensive ingredients such as a full lamb, cayenne, parmesan, and veal. Because the ingredients used were difficult to obtain, those making these recipes needed the money and resources to access them. As I discussed in my previous post, Francatelli’s next two cookbooks were marketed toward lower-class families and the staff of the upper class. The intended purpose of those books was indicated in their titles: A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Class (1852) and The Cooks Guide and Housekeepers and Butlers Assistants (1861). His fourth cookbook was for confectionary foods and wasn’t marketed for a specific class of people. This book reached its intended audience; the recipes weren’t accessible to lower-class people as they couldn’t afford the ingredients.

This specific copy of French Cookery: The Modern Cook, had at least two owners. This book was donated to Dickinson College only five years after its publication; the first owner was Mrs. B. Stilingfleck. This name was an approximation by the Dickinson College archivists; her signature was included on the title page (see Figure 1). The signature has faded a bit, and there is an ink bleed over the last name. There was no information on her in the Dickinson College records or online. A few dogeared pages in the cookbook tell us this cookbook was used, including a traditional filet recipe and a tapioca pudding recipe (more information about this is in my first blog post, linked above). The second known owner was William Armstrong Graham. His name is on the gift plate inside the cover; he donated the book in 1851(see Figure 2). He was an alum of Dickinson College, class of 1844, and went on to study at the Princeton Theological School, eventually becoming a member of the clergy of the Presbyterian church (I found this information through the help of the archivists and “House Divided,” a Dickinson College resource about the civil war). Dickinson College at this time had two societies that were dedicated to conversations around literature, as well as gathering books (a lot of the material that makes up the Archives currently). Graham donated this copy to the Union Philosophical Society. John Fletcher Hurst, class of 1854, accepted this book into the Union Philosophical Society’s collection. Hurst, a member of the Union Philosophical Society, went to work in law for a while after graduation but ultimately became a Methodist Bishop and became the Bishop of Washington, DC. He is most notable for founding American University in Washington, DC (House Divided). I asked the archivists if there was any more information about Graham’s donation or if there was a record of more donations from him. Unfortunately, due to a fire in 1904 that burned down Denny Hall (an academic building at Dickinson College), most of the records from the Union Philosophical Society were lost; Denny Hall was where they stored all their records. Due to these two snafus, there is no information about Graham’s relation to the Union Philosophical Society or any other potential donations he may have given them.

The Archivists of Dickinson College who helped me examine this copy of French Cookery: The Modern Cook didn’t notice any repairs to this book. It doesn’t look like the book has been rebound. Seemingly, this is the original binding because of the broken binding (see Figure 3) and the gold-etched illustrations on the cover and spine that match the illustrations in the book (see Figures 3 and 4). As for repairs, all of the pages look consistent with one another, and none of them look as if they’ve been altered since their printing. The book was in a good enough condition when donated to not need repairs. Even now, the book is still in pretty good condition; it is separating from the spine, but all the pages are still readable with no significant damage (see Figure 5).

There are some unanswered questions about this copy of French Cookery: The Modern Cook. It is nearly impossible to know for sure who had the book after Mrs. B. Stilingfleck and how William Armstrong Graham came to have it. We also do not know if this book was a part of multiple donations from Graham or if this was a stand-alone donation. I don’t know for sure that this copy didn’t go through repairs of any kind. Despite all that I don’t know about this book, I have learned a lot through the limited resources I’ve had access to. The Archivists have given me resources and rich information about the production, afterlife, and history of French Cookery: the Modern Cook.

Works Cited

Bishop, Amy. “The Booker T. Washington-W.E.B. Du Bois Debate.” Cardinal Tales Highlights from 2018, Iowa State University Digital Press, 7 July 2021, iastate.pressbooks.pub/cardinaltales1/chapter/rare-book-highlights-.

“Graham, William Armstrong,” House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/5768.Susan, and Susan. “Charles Elmé Francatelli, Maitre d’hôtel and Chief Cook in Ordinary to Queen Victoria.” Unofficial Royalty, 9 Aug. 2024, www.unofficialroyalty.com/charles-elme-francatelli/.

“Hurst, John Fletcher,” House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/5951.

Remillard, Lynne. Union Philosophical Society, chronicles.dickinson.edu/studentwork/1934/social/unionphilsociety.html. Accessed 29 Nov. 2024.

Susan, and Susan. “Charles Elmé Francatelli, Maitre d’hôtel and Chief Cook in Ordinary to Queen Victoria.” Unofficial Royalty, 9 Aug. 2024, www.unofficialroyalty.com/charles-elme-francatelli/.

Random House’s First trade edition of Moby Dick; Or the Whale with illustrations from Rockwell Kent affected the life and modern conception of Melville’s novel in two distinct and interesting ways. First, this edition contributed significantly to the popularity of the novel and second its impact on the growth of Moby Dick scholarship and literary studies more broadly.

Given our modern perspective and understanding of Moby Dick within the American literary canon, I am shocked to learn that Melville’s novel languished in relative obscurity at the beginning of its life. In 1920 literary scholars began to gain traction leading to the growth of the story’s popularity with the broader reading public. The fame of the novel grew further in 1926 with the creation of The Lakeside Press’s 3-volume edition with illustrations from Rockwell Kent. The explosion of the novel’s notoriety came with Random House’s publishing of the First trade edition in 1930 in Octavo format, which is the subject of this post. Perhaps, the success of this edition comes from the fact that it is the perfect size for the average reader’s hand. The 3-volume edition, published by The Lakeside Press, uses a folio format and functions as a coffee table book. The more useable Random House edition better combines the function of the novel as both a work of art and a useable item. (Manhattan Rare Books Company, 2024).

            One can easily see why this edition plays such a critical role in Moby Dick’s rise into the upper echelon of American Literary Achievement. The Manhattan Rare Books Company wrote that this edition represents “one of the greatest matches between illustrator and subject matter in the history of print.” I agree complete with this analysis. After reading the novel with these engraving included, I noticed the fantastic nature of the images and wondered if the novel could exist without them. This ties into Roger Chartier’s idea that authors do not write books; they write texts(Chartier, 2015). The craftsmanship of the printers and the talent of Rockwell Kent make this edition of Moby Dick truly special. Consider the last book you read. Would you have the same reading experience if you read a low-quality edition?

            Bad or low-quality editions significantly damage the reading experience. Yes, there is nothing wrong with reading paperback editions, and for the most part, these are the version of texts I read, but a fantastic edition makes for a sensational reading experience. Indeed, I as a reader have a deep attachment to beautiful books. I enjoy holding high-quality work and feeling the effort of the variety of artisans whose creation I have the opportunity to experience. Currently Penguin Random House produces a clothbound edition of Moby Dick in their “Penguin Clothbound Classics” line of products. Perhaps, we as a society think that classic texts prove themselves worth of the beauty that truly talented artists imbue into their physical forms Rockwell Kent’s stunting illustrations contribute significantly to the already tremendous reading experience. While, yes, Melville’s prose is elegant, there is something special about opening the novel and seeing a full-page picture of Ishmael.

The editions with illustrations from Rockwell Kent hold a unique position at the center of scholarly intrigue. This book’s position as a work of art and one of the great triumphs of illustrations in the history of printing leads scholars like Matthew Jeffrey Adams to consider the role of these images in the development of academic writing surrounding the novel more generally. Adams argues that Kent’s work functions as literary criticism because of his extensive research into Melville’s source material and visual inspirations. Kent then employed these same images in his own artistic rendition. Adams also suggest that Kent’s work begins the development of the academic discipline “Melville and the Visual Arts.” (Adams, 2018). I agree with Adams’ argument. Obviously, Kent put significant work into researching his illustrations. The design of the images perfectly integrates with the text as seen in the image above. The chapter finishes detailing Ishmael’s journey to New Bedford and immediately see the engraving of Ishmael walking. So, just as I established my mental imagine of Ishmael and his journey Kent presents his own. Thus, providing me with the opportunity to compare our visual understanding of the character. This is such a fun experience that I find it difficult to imagine reading the novel without it.

Indeed, Moby Dick; Or the Whale’s history is long and rich, beginning with its publication in 1851 and its 70-year journey to fame and rightful position at the heart of the American literary canon as well as its role at the subject of extensive scholarly research.

            With prices on rare book websites ranging from 1,500 to 4,500 dollars this edition has monetary value. There are, of course, much more valuable books out there like the Sarajevo Haggadah or the first edition of the Gutenberg Bible. As a subject of scholarly and recreational interest as well as a symbol of American Literary culture and canon this edition has significant value. Further, we should consider this version an example for future generations. Even as we continue with digitization efforts, and the eBook market continues to grow, we must still remember the value of high-quality physical copies. These editions possess the opportunity to bring authorial and visual art together. We must work to maintain this fantastic element of physical culture.

Works Cited

Abrams, Matthew Jeffrey. “Illuminated Critique: The Kent Moby Dick” Word & Image, Vol.33, no.10, 2018. https://dickinson.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01DICKINSON_INST/1d86qtd/cdi_scopus_primary_2_s2_0_85041602666. Accessed 6 November 2024.

Chartier, Roger. “Communities of Readers.” The Broadview Reader in Book History, edited by Michelle Levy and Tom Mole, Broadview Press, 2015, pp.251-266.

“Melville Herman. Rock Well Kent. Moby Dick” Manhattan Rare Books Company, https://www.manhattanrarebooks.com/pages/books/2845/herman-kent-melville-rockwell/moby-dick-moby-dick. Accessed 6 November 2024.

“First Edition Points and Criteria for Moby Dick (illustrated by Rockwell Kent)” First Editions Points, http://www.fedpo.com/BookDetail.php/232. Accessed 6 November 2024.

“Moby Dick by Melville, Hardcover, Random House” AbeBooks, https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Melville&bi=h&bx=off&ds=30&pn=Random+House&recentlyadded=all&sortby=1&tn=Moby+Dick&wassortselected=true&yrh=1930. Accessed 6 November 2024.

Richard Knolles’ The Generall Historie of the Turkes has enjoyed a long afterlife. Since its first publication in 1603 later scholars republished and updated the book, and it gained the respect of notable writers. The copy which now resides in the archives of Dickinson College, a first edition, bears witness to this four-century long history. While the provenance of this copy only becomes clear from the mid-twentieth century, the book carries several marks of this past–seemingly having been subject to many repair jobs.

From the moment it of publication in 1603, The Generall Historie became an instant classic. The book, being the first major English work tackling the history of the Turks, garnered an appreciation for Knolles’ ability to create a narrative from different sources (Woodhead 2004). This regard can be seen by the fact that The Generall Historie got republished in six editions in its first century of existence (Woodhead 2004). These were not mere reprints either; other authors such as Edward Grimeston extended the narrative to the year of their publications using diplomatic dispatches, even after Knolles’ death Woodhead 2004). That subsequent scholars felt the need to regularly update the history marks it as something special.

Scholars endured in their appreciation for the work. Writing in The Rambler no. 122 over a century after Knolles wrote his book, writer and critic Samuel Johnson praised him as the best historian England ever had, and that The Generall Historie in particular, “displayed all the excellencies that narration can admit” (Johnson 1751). The book’s influence does not stop there; Its fans included Lord Byron, and scholars believe it influenced even the writing of Knolles’ contemporary, Shakespeare (Bingham 2017). All this is to say that, centuries after first being put into print, The Generall Historie became immensely popular and shaped the English world’s perception of the Ottoman Empire and of History writing.

Figure 1: the beginning of the Discourse section

One question that that emerged during my research is over the book’s last section, titled “A briefe discourse of the greatnesse of the Turkish empire.” According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Knolles added this section starting with the second edition, making its presence in a first edition striking (Woodhead 2004). It of course could have been added after the fact–it starts at the beginning of a gathering, according to the signature mark–but that the page also contains the end of the proper narrative bugged me (figure 1). Surely the placement would not so neatly align between editions, and the discourse would start on a separate page. As an amateur I could not discern if this section got added afterwards by physically examining it, so comparing it to other copies became my best bet. I found a digitized first edition on Google books, and it matched Dickinson’s copy exactly, and a digitized 1631 edition on the Internet Archive has the same discourse on its own page after a continuation of Knolles’ narrative. It is certainly possible that two copies could have been altered the same way, but I believe this is doubtful. More work must be done to know for sure. Two possible scenarios include the title page simply wrong, or that the ODNB’s claim is incorrect.

Figure 2: various marks and doodles picked up over the centuries

Besides this possible addition, the only marks from the first few centuries of the book’s life are scant doodles and the wear of time (figure 2). More recently, however, the book has seen quite substantial repair work. Certain pages have extensive decay; large chunks of paper missing and their edges frayed. In these areas, someone has added a backing of a thin sheet of perhaps rice paper to stabilize the damage (figure 3).

Figure 3: An example of extremely worn pages with repairs

There have also been missteps. On page 534 and 535, another person appears to have placed several pieces of tape, the adhesive leaving massive brown stains on the pages (figure 4). It is unknown when work occurred, but they certainly wanted to preserve this copy.

Figure 4: Tape and stains from the adhesive

During the early 1940s Dickinson’s copy finally surfaces in the historical record. At some point, this copy came into the possession of Francis Wayne McVeagh. According to an inscription on the reverse of the title page, he gifted the book to his friend T. Edward Munce on June 13, 1941. An alumnus of Dickinson College (class of ’39), he sent the book to the institution in 1958 according to a memo, where it has resided ever since

Figure 5: Memo that dates when The Generall Historie came to Dickinson

(figure 5). This paper trail may give insight into another of the book’s mysteries: when it got rebound. The current binding is not original; the endpapers are of a much different stock, and the title on the spine has the modern spelling for starters. This begs the question of when this rebinding took place? A clue might be that MacVeagh’s message to Munce is written on the title page. Why not on write this on the blank endpapers instead of the centuries old paper? Munce wrote his name on the endpapers at some point, so why not MacVeagh? A possible solution could be that the rebinding occurred when MacVeagh or Munce owned the book. MacVeagh could not have written on the endpapers because they did not exist. This theory is, admittedly, a stretch. The work required to definitively prove this one way or the other is beyond my ability, requiring someone properly trained in book conservation and history.

The Generall Historie of the Turkes has been enjoyed by countless readers over the centuries. As an important work of history, its value has been recognized by several of those readers. As a work of history, it serves as a testament to that discipline’s early beginnings. The quality of Knolles’ narration impressed many critics over the centuries like Samuel Johnson. The care put into its restoration by a mystery book conservator who repaired this copy’s pages proves many people have recognized the immense value in its pages. The Generall Historie of the Turkes has had quite the afterlife indeed.

Works Cited

Bingham, Jonathan. “On Jon’s Desk: The Generall Historie of the Turkes, a beautiful book

linking the past with the present.” The University of Utah, 27 Mar. 2017, https://openbook.lib.utah.edu/tag/the-generall-historie-of-the-turkes/.

“Generall Historie of the Turkes First Edition – Richard Knolles.” Bauman Rare Books

<https://www.baumanrarebooks.com/rare-books/knolles-richard/generall-historie-of-the-turkes/111711.aspx>

Knolles, Richard. The Generall Historie of the Turkes. Adam Islip, 1603.

Knolles, Richard. The Generall Historie of the Turkes. Adam Islip, 1603. Google Books.

https://books.google.com/books/about/The_generall_historie_of_the_Turkes.html?id=BudbAAAAcAAJ.

Knolles, Richard. The Generall Historie of the Turkes. Adam Islip, 1603. Internet Archive, 2

Mar. 2021, https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.02270/page/n805/mode/2up.

“The Rambler.: [pt.4].” In the digital collection Eighteenth Century Collections Online.

University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/004772607.0001.004.

Woodhead, Christine. “Knolles, Richard.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford

University Press, 2004. https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128- e-15752?rskey=i063hN&result=1#odnb-9780198614128-e-15752-div1-d1770859e286.

Figure 1
The signatures of Hatty and Alice B. French

In my previous post on An Almanack, I determined that this book is not an almanac by any means. The book does not contain meteorological predictions, but rather the children’s literacy pamphlet The New England Primer. However, in understanding this book to be a children’s text the inclusion of owner’s names helps determine the afterlife of the present copy of An Almanack. Although difficult to read due to the combination of foxing and the writing being in pencil, the inside cover has the signatures of sisters Hatty and Alice B French (fig.1). I used Ancestory.com for much of the information I was able to collect on the sisters, who thankfully provided New Hampshire as their residency as “N.H.” (fig. 1). Including their residency made finding them much easier on Ancestory.com, I was able to narrow down the search results and it helped to ensure that I had the correct people while I was looking through documents. Hatty and Alice were the youngest of 9 siblings and the daughters of Stephen and Sarah Stevens French. Harriet “Hatty” Augusta French was born on April 19th, 1848, and passed away on November 8th, 1888. Little is known about Hatty as she never married and did not have any children. There is, however, a wealth of information about her younger sister Alice that contributes to the concept of how An Almanack was intended to be read and its value by the church.

Figure 2 The New London Literary and Scientific Institution record

Alice Bird French- Mills was born on August 25th, 1851, and passed away on May 20th, 1912. There are records of Alice attending the New London Literary and Scientific Institution in 1871, and Boston University in 1877 (fig. 2). Alice is attributed the title Doctor, which was rare for women in the late 1800s, with approximately 2,432 women practicing as doctors according to Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Dr. Alice Bird French married her husband Dr. Henry Mills in April of 1880, the same month she earned her degree. Henry had previously been married twice, both wives passed away along with the three children he had fathered with them. He was 78 when he married Alice, while Alice was only 29. The two did not have any children but rather conducted work together at their sanitorium until Henry’s death in 1897. Sanatoriums in 1880 as isolated environments used to treat tuberculosis (Harvard Library). The exact sanatorium the two worked at is unknown but sanatoriums were common in New York, the residence of the couple following their marriage. 

On February 19th, 1900, Alice applied for a passport which she was granted. The passport allowed for her to travel Syria and Palestine for a year when she returned in 1901 fig 3. There is however no record of this trip, apart from the dictation of such on Ancestory.com. After her return to the country, she began to preform medical missionary work as part of the Presbyterian church. The Womans Board of Home Missions was the organization she worked for in the Appalachian Mountains. She lived out the rest of her life in West Virginia, doing missionary work in Coal River, Dry Creek, and Raleigh County. She passed away in New Jersey.

Figure 3
The passport application of Alice B. French

The information learned about Dr. Alice Bird French- Mills explains how An Almanack was used in 1850. Raised in a religious household, Alice and her siblings, especially Hatty due to her birth and the publication being four years apart, would have likely learned to read the New England Primer within the almanac. English was taught through a religious lens, including the alphabet taught in relation to biblical stories, with images and brief references. Even the introduction of An Almanack makes the claim that the book was held in such regard that it would be placed next to the Bible on a bookshelf. Alice becoming highly educated as well as a missionary supports the idea of the Primer as a tool to educate children in English and religion.  

Figure 4 & 5 The religious stories used to teach letters, and the introduction describing the importance of the primer

Works Cited 

AncestryLibrary. Ancestry.com, ancestrylibrary.com. Accessed 2 Nov. 2024. 

“Contagion: Historical Views of Diseases and Epidemics.” Curiosity Collections, Harvard Library, curiosity.lib.harvard.edu/. 

Justin, Meryl S. “The Entry of Women into Medicine in America: Education and Obstacles 1847-1910.” Hobart and William Smith, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, www.hws.edu/about/history/elizabeth-blackwell/entry-of-women-into-medicine.aspx#:~:text=By%201880%20there%20were%202432,by%201900%20there%20were%207387.&text=The%20first%20medical%20society%20openings,of%20acceptance%20for%20female%20practitioners. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024. 

New Hampshire State, General Court, Assembly, Census. Assembly Document. 15 June 1860. Ancestry Library Edition, ancestrylibrary.com. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024. 

Newman, H. (1843). An almanack containing an account of the Coelestial Motions, Aspects, &c. For the year of the Christian Empire, 1691. Ira Webster. 

“Passport Request.” 15 Feb. 1900. Ancestry Library Edition, ancestrylibrary.com. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024. 

U.S., School Catalogs, 1765-1935. Ancestry Library Edition, ancestrylibrary.com. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024. 

Nestled in between the dust jacket and cover page of “Gospel Hymns Combined” rests the calling card of a familiar donor to the Dickinson College Archives (figure 1). George Alan, professor of philosophy and theology from 1963 to 1974, subsequently served his community as dean of Dickinson College until 1996 with a brief one-year stint as interim president after his predecessor had resigned his duties in the winter of 1986.

Figure 1: Calling card of Dr. George Allan, Dickinson Archives.

After completing a four year degree at Grinnell, he earned a master’s degree in systematic theology at Union Theological Seminary and then a Ph.D in Philosophy at Yale. Dr. George Alan maintained a special fascination with the spiritual throughout his entire life, further noted by his membership in the Metaphysical Society of America. Prototypically scholarly, the gentle lines of wisdom that would one day wrinkle his brow would begin taking root in 1935 at the bleak cold of dawn of the blistering winter plains of North Dakota (figure 2). Dr. Alan notes in an autobiographical sketch from 2012 that his Whiteheadian interpretation of life was rooted in “North Dakota realities,” primarily due to the Depression era mentality of his family, “celebrating the good things when they came and when they were gone rejoicing that once, uniquely and fortunately, they had been.”

Figure 2: Dr. George Allan.

Whitehead’s doctrine emphasizes the importance of subjective experience, arguing that subjective experience is not just a byproduct of how biological processes sense an objective reality and that the relationships that arise from intertwining subjective experiences are the basis of reality. That these subjective experiences are a result of the inherent consciousness of humans given by God “the supreme receiver,” who gathers these consciousnesses and responds to them in a process. However, Dr. Allan takes this sensibility a step further.

Interviewing Dr. Allan as his quaint home in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, I was stirred by his contention that “God is directive, but not commander,” in that the concept of “God” was created by our subjective experiences to embody what a society deems as “right” offering subconscious guidance in the direction of “good” and away from “wrong.” That is not to say that Dr. Allan was insistent on minimizing those who are religious by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, he made sure to mention that he was good friends with a great many followers of the Western religions, many of whom were colleagues who he “misses dearly,” and that he has a great respect for the East Asian religions (which he mentioned embody the idea of God as a conceptual directive rather than personal God). In fact, he had a great reverence for one minister in particular, his father.

George Allan’s deep fascination with theology most likely came from his father, all though he made no literal claims of such in my interview. His father, born ino American citizenship in 1890 to Scottish parents in New York would find work in his young adult life with religious organizations before entering the seminary. Deemed unfit to serve in WW1, he would instead help survivors and refugees at the docks entering the New York harbor. Through this line of work he would eventually find his way into the Presbyterian church and would be sent out to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to minister there. Eventually however, he would come into disagreement with the Presbyterian Church and join the Shriners and Congregational church respectively in Grand Forks North Dakota, where George Allan would be born.

Figure 4: Torn Binding of “Gospel Hymns Combined,” 1890.

In his capacities as a member of the Shriners as well as a minister in the Congregational Church, Dr. Allan’s father could have been, as Dr. Allan stated in the interview, involved in Sunday school sessions in some capacity. The scribbles on the back flyleaf suggest that this was at one point in the hands of a child

Figure 3: Scribbles on back cover and torn flyleaf of “Gospel Hymns Combined,” 1890.

suggested by tears on the back flyleaf (figure 3). The general wear and tear of the book could have been as a result of rough careless handling by a child or student, as the binding is torn and the front and back covers are degraded (figures 4, 5, and 6).

Since joining the Dickinson Archives, the book has not received any maintenance or repairs. The binding and boards are all original, and so are their damages. The paper is blotted and stained, yellow and brown as a result of many years of oxidation, and still torn. The fact that Dickinson has not given the book any special attention indicates that this book is not an inherently valuable text.

Figure 5: Degradation of front cover of “Gospel Hymns Combined,” 1890.

Figure 6: Degradation of back cover of “Gospel Hymns Combined,” 1890.

However, the lack of conservation or restoration efforts on the book does not diminish its historical value, nor its subjective value. While the written text has had no impact on American culture in a broad sense, it could have played in the life of  George Allan’s father as well as the children who could have been handling the book during Sunday school. Dr. Allan mentioned that his father divvied up his library after he passed away between George Allan and his siblings. Among the books that he acquired, Dr. Allan donated a large portion of them to the Dickinson Archives, “Gospel Hymns Combined” presumably among them.

References

Waidner-Spahr Library. “George James Allan (1935-).” Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections. 2005 https://archives.dickinson.edu/people/george-james-allan-1935

George Allan. “Autobiographical Sketch.” Brill.com. 2012. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://brill.com/previewpdf/book/edcoll/9789401210737/B9789401210737-s020.xml&ved=2ahUKEwjb2d7lnJGJAxXAq4kEHQodO6YQFnoECBUQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2RtSt7tsu97hWlsvf_RX7_

Researching the afterlife of Baedeker’s Great Britain introduced me to an entire subsection of the book collecting world I had previously been unaware of. My intention was to try and track what I am calling the Edition Evolution of the Great Britain Guide, as my copy is the sixth edition, and given the scope of my guidebook (the table of contents spans several pages, and as I mentioned in my previous post, it covers content from geographic locations, floor plans, and popular activities within its area), it is not unreasonable to assume that there would be at least some form of significant change between editions. Luckily for me, I was not disappointed.

In my research, I was able to find out some of the history behind the legacy of Karl Baedeker, spanning several generations of Baedeker, and their guidebooks. Karl was born in 1801, into a family of bookseller and publishers. He started the “Baedeker” business in 1827, which coincidentally was around the time when tourism was really taking off (pun unintended). Following the foundation of this business, his first guidebook was published in 1832, 74 years before the publication of my own guidebook. The first edition was titled Rheinreise von Mainz bis Koln, as the Baedeker family was German – the first English edition guidebook wouldn’t be printed until 1861. This edition was called Baedeker’s Rhine, the first edition of which is currently being sold for a little over $5,000. As his company built its reputation, Karl travelled everywhere he could to gather the information to construct his guidebooks, until his death in 1859. He is hailed as the inventor of the formal guidebook according to at least a few people, including a chapter in a book titled Giants of Tourism by D.M. Bruce, R.W. Butler, and R. Russell, where they refer to him as “the perceived ‘inventor’ of the formal guidebook,” and his guidebooks themselves as a “bible” for 19^th-century travelers. After Karl’s demise, his three sons continued his business, and it is still operating to this day.

As I gathered this information, I came across a wide variety of Baedeker’s guidebooks that are being sold online. First editions go for quite a bit of money, especially on rare book seller’s websites. But they are also being sold on places like Etsy, eBay, Amazon, and generally a good number of used bookselling platforms. Even when I narrowed my search down to just the Great Britain guide, there are still a lot of results. This surprised me – given the condition of my book, which implies that it was largely used a shelf piece or perhaps escapism on behalf of the owner, I had assumed that these books were pretty exclusively “collector” edition books. But the original intention of the books was for them to be actively used as convenient travel guides, so of course they were widely spread for tourism purposes. I also came across a lovely book called the Baedekeriana (2010) by Michael Wild, who was fascinated by the history of the Baedekers and wanted to compile it. It includes written accounts from people who worked with the Baedekers, and is an anthology of articles about past Baedeker guidebooks.

The Baedekeriana details the intense attention to detail and accuracy, as well as the impact that cultural differences and World War I and World War II had on the printing of guidebooks, especially for a German-based company. I am excited to spend more time understanding this history myself, but for now I turned my attention more avidly towards the specific evolution of the Great Britain guidebook. Initially, I was only able to find the editions that bookended my own – the 5^th edition, printed in 1901, and the 7^th printed in 1910. Given that my own book was printed in 1906, these dates only affirmed to me that the attention to detail referenced in my research on the Baedekers was accurate.

Fig. 1

My edition of the guidebook is described as having “22 maps, 58 plans, and a panorama” (Fig. 1). The 5^th has “18 maps, 39 plans, and a panorama”; the 7^th “28 maps, 65 plans, and a panorama.” The visible growth of content just in the frontmatter of each book is a testament to the attention to detail given to the content of each guidebook. Over just 9 years there is an increase of 10 maps in just one specific guidebook. How are other books growing? How did this specific guide change along with significant world events?

I was able to find an 1894 Baedeker’s Great Britain on eBay that showed some of the internal book – it has “16 maps, 30 plans, and a panorama.” Interestingly, the title page says it has 16 maps, but the list of Baedeker’s guide books behind the front cover lists the third edition of Great Britain as having 15 maps. I’m not sure why this discrepancy exists, and after taking a closer look at the other PDFs I found, the 5^th edition describes the Great Britain guide book in that same list to have “16 maps, 30 plans, and a panorama”, the 7^th doesn’t display that list at all, and mine is frustratingly obscured by a library identification card.

Something else I stumbled across while I was traipsing across the internet trying to find other editions of the Great Britain guide was the shocking discovery of just the Baedeker maps being sold. The very things that drew me in initially are apparently the main draw for a good number of interested parties. On Etsy some of them are being sold for $115, which is an unfortunate loss for those looking to find intact editions.

Works Referenced:

Wild, Michael. Baedekeriana: An Anthology. Red Scar Press, 2010.

Every book we read is a material item, and just like artifacts of the past, they have extensive histories often stretching back decades before we read their pages. An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts Containing their Foundation, Proceedings, and the Succeses of their Missionaries in the British Colonies, to the Year 1728 is no different. David Humphreys wrote the book to describe the royal-funded Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts’ efforts to evangelize in the British North American colonies. Joseph Downing printed An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society (title shortened) in 1730 in his Bartholomew-Close, London, print shop. Downing was a close associate of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts which provided him a steady income in the book printing industry in the first decades of the eighteenth century (Jefcoate, doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/53804). Outside of working for the Society, Downing was a prolific printer in his own right, even printing translated German texts. Downing died in 1734, but his work and connection to the Society in London continued under his widow’s supervision.

Downing’s printing of  An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society lived on past his death, with the work eventually travelling across the Atlantic Ocean to the Thirteen Colonies that David Humphreys investigated in when writing the work in 1730. Between the 1690s and his death in 1735, Philadelphia politician and merchant Isaac Norris collected an array of books, particularly about scientific works (Korey, 2). Given the fact that Norris Sr. died only five years after Downing printed An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society, the work likely came into the Dickinson College Library’s “Norris Collection” through his equally intellectually invested son Isaac Norris Jr. Born in 1701, Norris Jr. amassed a vast personal library by the 1760s, including prominent literary works such as John Milton’s Paradise Lost (Korey, 7). Norris accumulated scientific works as his father initiated, but also collected North American-specific works on the history of the Thirteen Colonies such as Humphrey’s book. In an indication of elite Enlightenment polyglotism in North America, Norris’ titles were primarily non-English books, written in French, German, Greek, Latin, Dutch, and Italian (Korey, 9). In his introduction for the 1975/1976 The Books of Isaac Norris (1701-1766) at Dickinson College, Edwin Wolf derides the few English works as “relatively unimportant theological works,” which undeniably includes the English theological work An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society. Most importantly, Norris Jr. collected contemporary works (those published in the mid-eighteenth century like An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society) in particular, ordering copies of freshly printed books. Norris held only a handful of pre-1700 works in English (Korey, 10). Norris read many of the 1,902 books (1,750 volumes) in his collection, etching notes in the introductory flyleaves (Korey, 13). No such notes exist in An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society, so it is difficult to assess if Norris read the 1730 work. However, once the book travelled to Dickinson College, it likely became a staple textbook of the institution.

After Norris’ death in 1766, the collection passed to his son-in-law John Dickinson (Korey, 8). Humphrey’s 1730 work was part of this, in the words of John Adams “very grand,” collection. In 1784 John Dickinson, the namesake of Dickinson College, donated the Norris Collection to Dickinson College (Korey, 21). The Norris Collection formed the core of the early Dickinson College Library, contributing to one of the most extensive educational libraries in the new nation, larger than those at more established institutions such as Yale. An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society was one of these 2,700 volumes that graced the normal shelves of the Dickinson College Library from 1784 to 1934 (Korey, 16, 19). However, by 1975/1976 An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society was in poor physical condition after centuries of use (Korey, 160). No front cover existed, an unusually prominent mark of damage compared with the reports of other Norris Collection works in generally average quality.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Christian theology played a vital role in the pedagogy of Dickinson College. In fact, Benjamin Rush in part chartered Dickinson College to counter the intellectual supremacy of radical Philadelphia Presbyterians in Pennsylvania (Korey, 1). Given An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society’s placement on the regular Dickinson College Library shelves alongside more modern works for 150 years and the close connection between Dickinson College’s religious foundations and the book’s study of eighteenth-century religion, it is undeniable that Dickinson College students handled the work frequently even centuries after its publication.

The copy in the Norris Collection is not the only edition surviving today. According to WorldCat.org, Downing printed editions of An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society in 1720 and 1728 (search.worldcat.org/formats-editions/10536619?limit=50&offset=1). As late as 1967, an unknown printer re-printed a modern copy of the work in microfilm (search.worldcat.org/title/1127677992). Today, numerous copies of Downings’ 1730 printing abound in online stores. On the Bauman Rare Books website, the work has a sale price of $3,800 (baumanrarebooks.com/rare-books/humphreys-david/historical-account/91250.aspx). Even if the work no longer graces the shelves of the Dickinson College Library today, readers continue to purchase it across the globe.



Works Cited

“An historical account of the incorporated Society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts: containing their foundation, proceedings, and the success of their missionaries in the British colonies, to the year 1728.” World Cat. search.worldcat.org/formats-editions/10536619?limit=50&offset=1. Accessed 6 November 2024.

“An historical account of the incorporated Society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts: containing their foundation, proceedings, and the success of their missionaries in the British colonies, to the year 1728.” World Cat. search.worldcat.org/title/1127677992. Accessed 6 November 2024.

“Historical Account.” Bauman Rare Books. baumanrarebooks.com/rare-books/humphreys- david/historical-account/91250.aspx. Accessed 4 November 2024.

Jefcoate, Graham. “Downing, Joseph.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23 September 2004. doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/53804. Accessed 3 November 2024.

Korey, Marie Elena. The Books of Isaac Norris (1701-1766) at Dickinson College. Carlisle, PA, Dickinson College, 1975/1976.