{"id":497,"date":"2024-12-12T19:00:38","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T19:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/?p=497"},"modified":"2024-12-20T03:17:21","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T03:17:21","slug":"a-selection-of-one-hundred-and-forty-of-the-most-favourite-english-scotch-irish-and-american-songs-part-two-origins-of-its-publisher-and-publication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/2024\/12\/12\/a-selection-of-one-hundred-and-forty-of-the-most-favourite-english-scotch-irish-and-american-songs-part-two-origins-of-its-publisher-and-publication\/","title":{"rendered":"A Selection of One Hundred and Forty of the Most Favourite English, Scotch, Irish, and American Songs, Part Two: Origins of its Publisher and Publication"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

How might the history of a publisher bring a book into context\u2014even with no indication of who actually edited it? A Selection of One Hundred and Forty of the Most Favourite English, Scotch, Irish, and American Songs<\/em> was published by the press of \u201cA. Loudon,\u201d as according to its title page. Archibald Loudon\u2019s deep roots in Carlisle, PA provide a clear outline of his cultural and publishing interests. They even strongly suggest an answer to the mystery of whether he himself edited A Selection<\/em>, or if he republished the whole collection. One of the few things we can attempt to trace about the book are Loudon\u2019s reasons for publishing it, beginning with the context surrounding his career.<\/p>\r\n


Books were Loudon\u2019s \u201clife-long pursuit\u201d according to historian Eric Fretz. Loudon\u2019s frantic history of inserting himself into early Carlisle\u2019s publishing world reflects this passion: even before the opening of his own publishing press, he participated in the book-loving community of the town. He engaged in book-binding, sold stationary, and was established postmaster of Carlisle in 1802 (Fretz 62). His duties as postmaster were not unimportant tasks, and impacted the spread of information locally. The management of post caused political opinion impact, influenced monetary management, and the title itself indicated a position of high governmental trust. Hungry for more, he officially began his publishing career through a friend: George Kline, who printed Loudon\u2019s publications prior to the opening of Loudon\u2019s press in 1804 (Fretz 62). As for A Selection,<\/em> it was published by Loudon\u2019s own press in 1806, fresh off the excitement of its opening two years prior.<\/p>\r\n


Loudon\u2019s devotion to the literature-world of Carlisle was so intense that despite the small magnitude of his success as a publisher, more than one historian (including Eric Fretz and William A. Hunter) considers him one of the most important printers of early Carlisle. Fretz characterizes Loudon as a \u201cdisseminator of early American culture\u201d (Fretz 61), justifying this title by describing his varied publishing interests and role as postmaster. Loudon did, in fact, intend to spread his publications as far as possible, and to do so by appealing to the most popular subjects of the time. Loudon was known to be \u201ckeen as to social trends\u201d (Fretz 64), and seemed to attempt to balance these wider social trends with local interests. He spent much of his effort editing his most well-known publications, a series of \u201ctrue accounts\u201d taken from a number of American-colonial interviewees regarding their encounters with local indigenous American populations. American \u201cfrontier\u201d stories were a consistent interest of Loudon\u2019s and of the larger Pennsylvania populace at the time, too: stories of white settlers waging war against Native Americans spread rapidly (Fretz 64). His enthusiasm for spreading local stories continued through the establishment of his own paper, The Cumberland Register,<\/em> from 1805-1813 (Hunter). But Loudon was also infatuated with the world of art, especially theater. He published a significant number of plays, was a well-known enjoyer of music, and even published the work of a little-known Cumberland County poet, Isabella Oliver (Fretz 62). Loudon was ardent, and his publications from his own press were both edited and printed by him. Considering all this interest in music and theater, A Selection<\/em> joins the ranks of a large number of artistic publications that Loudon dedicated time to during his career, bearing the obvious mark of his press:<\/p>\r\n

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The image above displays the book imprint of A Selection<\/em>, \u201cWhitehall,\u201d used as Loudon\u2019s imprint from 1805-1809 (Schaumann). The nickname refers to the white walls of Loudon\u2019s press, formerly located at 28 High Street. In fact, his old paper press from the building was obtained by the Cumberland County Historical Society\u2014it hasn\u2019t moved very far! It stands in the museum as a reminder of the early impact of Loudon\u2019s press, and I\u2019ve included an image of it for reference. (For context, the paper press would\u2019ve been used to make paper sheets more even, flat, and dry by pressing. The plaque next to the press includes these details.) The \u201cWhitehall\u201d imprint, displayed clearly in A Selection<\/em>\u2019s front page, is another bold reminder of Loudon\u2019s press and the pride he took in it.<\/p>\r\n


Another point of pride for Loudon was his ancestry. From what I can tell, it has influenced nearly all of his publication interests, A Selection<\/em> included due to its inclusion of Scottish and Irish songs in its compilation. In fact, though there is no indication of which songs are of which cultural origin, Eric Fretz identifies the majority as Scottish (63). Loudon\u2019s parents were Scottish immigrants, and moved to America in 1754 (Hunter). Most families in Carlisle during its early history as a town were made up at least in part of Scottish or Irish folks who immigrated to British colonial America. Another significant part of A Selection<\/em> is American \u201cfrontier\u201d songs, ones discussing the founding fathers, military power, and colonization, especially George Washington (Fretz 63). These songs accurately showcase Loudon\u2019s blatant \u201cpioneering\u201d interests (Hunter), and correlate with his most popular publications of stories of war with Indigenous Americans. In fact, Loudon\u2019s family has a history of violent conflict with local Native American populations, attempting first to settle on Indigenous land before relocating, causing Loudon to eventually settle in Cumberland County (Hunter). William A. Hunter notably skims swiftly past the conflict between Loudon\u2019s family and local Indigenous peoples, choosing to focus on how it impacted his future edited story collection. However, there is far more substance to this direct link, including his consistent interest in popular \u201cfrontier\u201d stories, his dedication to \u201cdisseminating\u201d Scottish\/Irish-American colonial stories, and the American songs included in A Selection<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n


Interestingly, through a Cumberland County Historical Society article on Loudon, I\u2019ve been able to find a portrait of him, as seen above. He appears quite stoic, his expression neutral and focused and his dress professional. He\u2019s perhaps distant, both in his place in the larger space of the portrait and in the way he faces the side, not the front, and does not look at the viewer. There aren\u2019t any extra objects, colors, or lighting included in the portrait, leaving all the focus on Loudon and his impression. From my research, the portrait seems to be an accurate depiction of his hunger for himself and his business to be seen and successful, and this intensity and focus comes across. The portrait, though unrelated to A Selection<\/em>, makes an interesting addition to supplement Loudon\u2019s familial background, career, and known character.<\/p>\r\n

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With those three attributes above for context, it becomes clear why Loudon would take interest in publishing A Selection<\/em>. But the mystery remains of whether Loudon reprinted the compilation entirely, or edited the selection himself, something that Eric Fretz only touches on briefly as a question (63). To me, however, answering this question is vital to my thinking about my project\u2014so I\u2019ll offer a hypothesis with the above evidence I\u2019ve gathered. Due to Loudon\u2019s personal connections with the cultural origins and topics of the songs included in A Selection<\/em>, I believe he had some hand in editing the collection. The subject of the compiled songs align with Loudon\u2019s publication history, and with his interest in art and music. This would imply that the \u201cmost favourite\u201d songs were Loudon\u2019s own \u201cmost favourite,\u201d adding personality and clarity to the book\u2019s title. After all, why would the songs not be some of Loudon\u2019s \u201cmost favourite\u201d if he took pride in colonial expansion and his Scottish ancestry?<\/p>\r\n


The main issue with this answer is that Scottish and Irish immigrants made up the majority population of Carlisle. It isn\u2019t impossible that the compilation in its entirety could have existed prior to A Selection<\/em>\u2019s publication, and suited the interests of another editor or publisher. However, since I am unable to find proof of its existence prior to Loudon\u2019s publication (as are the historians discussing early Carlisle publications), I\u2019ve settled largely into my previous theory. If nothing else, it is a fictitious story that ties Loudon\u2019s history and this book\u2019s publication together in a neat and well-researched bow.

Bibliography:

A Selection of One Hundred and Forty of the Most Favourite English, Scotch, Irish, and American Songs<\/em>. 1806. SC 398 87 S698.<\/p>\r\n

Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections.<\/p>\r\n

Fretz, Eric. \u201cArchibald Loudon of Carlisle: Disseminator of Early American Culture.\u201d Cumberland County History, vol. VII, no. 2<\/em>., pp.<\/p>\r\n

61-67. Cumberland County Historical Society.<\/p>\r\n

Hunter, William A. \u201cArchibald Loudon, Pioneer Historian.\u201d1962. C H H947a. Cumberland County Historical Society.

Schaumann, Merri Lou. \u201cArchibald Loudon (1754-1840).\u201d Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Library, Cumberland County<\/p>\r\n

Historical Society, gardnerlibrary.org\/encyclopedia\/archibald-loudon-1754-1840.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Image Credits:

Oil on canvas of Archibald Loudon, painted in 1807 by Cezeron (1952.005.001).<\/p>\r\n

https:\/\/gardnerlibrary.org\/encyclopedia\/archibald-loudon-1754-1840.<\/p>\r\n

Remainder of images taken by iPhone, by author.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How might the history of a publisher bring a book into context\u2014even with no indication of who actually edited it? A Selection of One Hundred and Forty of the Most Favourite English, Scotch, Irish, and American Songs was published by the press of \u201cA. Loudon,\u201d as according to its title page. Archibald Loudon\u2019s deep roots […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-origins","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}