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Saturday, May 9th, 2009
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11:28 am - Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary
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I am happy to announce Celebration Edition # 328:
"Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary, Being the Diary of Celia Fiennes"
by Fiennes, Celia, 1662-1741
with an introduction by Emily Wingfield Griffiths (26 August 1828 - 11 October 1917)
London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/fiennes/saddle/saddle.html
"My Journeys as they were begun to regain my health by variety and change of aire and exercise, soe whatever promoted that was pursued" -- Celia Fiennes.
Surely her health must have prospered, for Celia Fiennes to have travelled so energetically. She gives detailed information about the medicinal wells and baths which she visited on her journeys. She covered much of England, and ventured as far as Wales, riding side-saddle, proudly calculating her mileage each day. The state of the roads was a significant concern. In Lancaster, she writes: "The streets are some of them well pitch'd and of a good size; when I came into the town the stones were so slippery Crossing some Channells that my horse was quite down on his nose, but did at length recover himself, and so I was not thrown off or jnjured." Hazards were many and varied. In some areas, "the Country here about is so full of moore or quagmires and such precipices that one that is a stranger Cannot travell wth out a guide, and some of them are put to a Loss sometymes." Once she suspected she was being shadowed by some highway men. The inhabitants' calculation of distances between destinations was a more frequent matter of note: "to Culimton 13 mile more, but Indeed these were very long Miles, ye hostler at Tanton did say tho' they were reckon'd but 16 miles it really was a good 20 miles and I am much of that mind."
Wherever she went, Celia Fiennes described the great houses and estates of the time. Almost everywhere, she seems to have had relatives, or at least acquaintances. She discusses local industry and educational institutions as well as homes and gardens, but only rarely mentions the houses' inhabitants. It is startling for a modern reader to realize that when Celia wrote, Hampton Court was new and unfinished. It met with her approval: "it looks Like a little town ye buildings runn so great a Length on ye ground, Ye old buildings and ye New part wch King William and Queen Mary built. Ye Queen took Great delight in it. Ye new was but just ye shell up and some of ye Roomes of State Ceil'd but nothing ffinished." She also describes some of the great pageantry of her time, such as attendance upon parliament, and the manner of a state funeral, as well as day-to-day details of the cost of food and the type of coal available in various parts of the country.
Her account is impersonal, in that it describes where she went and what she saw, rather than what she said or how she felt. And yet, reading it, I cannot help wishing that I could rise in the morning, and get upon my horse, and ride through the English countryside with her. I feel her wanderlust reaching out to me, and wish that I too were reviewing the country round from the top of Ely-minster, that "Stands on so advantagious a ground, and so Lofty built yt its perspicious above ye town".
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| Saturday, February 14th, 2009
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5:52 am - Runaway Countess; We Poor Shadows; Came the Stranger; Guests in the House
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I am delighted to announce the online publication of 4 books by Hermynia Zur Muhlen (1883-1951):
"The Runaway Countess." New York: Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, 1930. Translated by Frank Barnes. [First published in U.S.A.; Copyright not renewed.] German title: Ende und Anfang: Ein Lebensbuch (1929).
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/muhlen/runaway/runaway.pdf
"We Poor Shadows." London: Frederick Muller, 1943. No translator named. [Reproduced with permission.] German title: Ewiges Schattenspiel (1938-1939).
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/muhlen/shadows/shadows.pdf
"Came the Stranger." London: Frederick Muller, 1946. No translator named. [Reproduced with permission.] German title: Als der Fremde kam (1946).
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/muhlen/stranger/stranger.pdf
"Guests in the House." London: Frederick Muller, 1947. No translator named. [Reproduced with permission.] German title: Nora hat eine famose Idee (1932-1933).
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/muhlen/guests/guests.pdf
The pdf files contains page images, so they are quite large. These pdf editions are the gift of Lionel Gossman, Professor emeritus of Romance Languages at Princeton University. I am very grateful for his generosity, his hard work, and his patience. Dr. Gossman has written a biographical article about Hermynia Zur Muhlen, which is available at:
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/muhlen/gossman.html
I have also asked his permission to reprint the following excerpt from an email message which he sent to interest me in Hermynia Zur Muhlen's work. It captured my attention, and I hope it will also catch yours. Read and enjoy! Mary Mark Ockerbloom
Hermynia Zur Muhlen
From: Lionel Gossman
Hermynia Zur Muhlen was an Austrian countess from a very old family (Folliot de Crenneville-Poutet). She became a socialist and was even a member of the German Communist Party in the 1920s. Though she resigned from the Party in the early 30s, she remained a socialist and a passionate anti-Nazi. In addition to her "proletarian" fairy tales for children in the 1920s (illustrated by artists like George Grosz and John Heartfield and published not only in German but in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Czech, Japanese, Chinese, even Yiddish and Esperanto translation), she translated about 50 novels and large books from English, French, and Russian into German -- including the major works of Upton Sinclair, whom she made into a bestseller in Germany.
As she had broken with her family and her husband -- a German landowner by the name of von zur Muhlen, who had an estate in Estonia (then part of the Czarist empire) -- she had to earn her living by her writing. Hence, no doubt, not only the innumerable translations, but a series of detective novels published under an American sounding pseudonym (with herself supposedly as "translator") and countless feuilletons (short stories and sketches) for the daily and weekly press. With all of this, she still had time to write original works of her own: an absolutely charming and witty autobiographical memoir (consisting chiefly of anecdotes, chronologically arranged), which was published in German in 1929 and in English translation as "The Runway Countess" in 1930; followed by two novels inspired by her own life experiences: "Das Riesenrad" (1932; English translation: "The Wheel of Life", 1933) and "Reise durch ein Leben" (1933; English translation: "A Life's Journey", 1935). These two novels belong to the German genre of the Bildungsroman or novel of education and growing up (as, in a way, does the autobiographical memoir), except that the central figure is a woman, not a man. Both novels are also directed against traditional conservative "growing up" novels for young girls in Germany.
Since 1919, Zur Muhlen had been living in Germany with her partner, a Viennese Jew by the name of Stefan Isidore Klein, whom she had met at a sanatorium in Davos, Switzerland. (She suffered from tuberculosis all her life.) On Hitler's coming to power in 1933, she and Klein left for their native Austria. Here she wrote a novel entitled "Unsere Töchter die Nazinen" ("Our Daughters, the Nazi Girls"), consisting of the interlocking first-person narratives of three women in a small South German town whose daughters have become Nazis -- a widowed aristocrat, a widowed social democratic working class woman, and a middle-class doctor's wife, whose husband's practice has lagged behind that of the elderly Jewish doctor in the little town. This novel, which aims to explore and expose the attraction of National Socialism to young women in social, psychological, and economic terms, has not been translated into English. 1933 also saw the publication of an entertaining comic novel "Nora hat eine famose Idee" (published in English translation in 1947 as "Guests in the House"), probably written to bring in some cash, though the issues of the time are by no means absent even from this light-hearted, almost farcical little work. This was followed in 1936 by "Ein Jahr im Schatten," a novel about family relations in the context of the clouds gathering over Europe at the time.
In 1938, after the Anschluss, Zur Muhlen and Klein left Austria and sought refuge in nearby Bratislava, Slovakia (where they got married), but when Czechoslovakia was occupied by German troops and Slovakia became an independent puppet fascist state, the couple fled to England. From 1939 until their deaths (she in 1951, he in 1960), they (mostly she) eked out a penurious existence, working for the BBC and writing short pieces for the exile press. Zur Muhlen did publish two more novels, however, during these last years in England. Both appeared in English: "We poor Shadows" in 1943 and "Came the Stranger" in 1946. The former is, in my view, an extraordinary historical novel covering the period from the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to the 1848 Revolutions; the latter brings to life the situation in Slovakia on the eve of the German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia and the setting up of the separatist puppet state of Slovakia. Both novels show not only a sharp sense of history, but an acute sensibility to human relations, especially the complexities of the marriage relation, and to the irremediable sadness of aging and of le temps perdu. I don't know whether any male writer has ever dealt so insightfully with the marriage relation.
Zur Muhlen has now been almost completely forgotten, except for some specialists in Exil-Literatur in Austria and Germany, where there have also been reprints of two or three of her novels, some of her children's fairy tales, and a selection of her hundreds of feuilleton pieces. To the extent that she is remembered at all it is because of her children's fairy tales. I believe, however, that her longer narrative works are extremely well written, sharply observed, moving, and of great historical and psychological interest.
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| Monday, December 29th, 2008
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12:15 pm - In Seven Stages: A Flying Trip Around the World
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During Christmas and New Years of 1889-1890, two women raced around the world.
Nellie Bly, aka Elizabeth Jane Cochrane Seaman (1867-1922)
Nellie Bly was a crusading journalist who worked her way up from a hardscrabble childhood to George Madden's Pittsburgh Dispatch and then to Joseph Pulitzer's New York World. Her brand of sensationalist news stories, combining first hand experience and moral campaigning, were often obtained with considerable personal discomfort. When Pulitzer sought for new ideas for a stunt and a story, Bly suggested beating Jules Verne's fictional journey "Around the World in 80 Days". Pulitzer proposed sending a man, but Bly threatened to quit and go round the world in competition if the trip was assigned to someone else. The idea was put aside for almost a year. Then Pulitzer sent Bly off at a day's notice, leaving November 14, 1889, to travel eastward round the globe. She crossed to England, then France, where she stopped to visit Jules Verne, almost missing an essential connection as a result, but she received his blessing on her journey.
Elizabeth Bisland (1861-1929)
Elizabeth Bisland was a southern belle, born on a Louisiana plantation, whose family inherited Mount Repose, in Mississippi when she was 14. Her father served as a surgeon in the Confederate army, but unlike many southerners, prospered after the war. Elizabeth was brought up in an environment of wealth and culture, and eventually moved to New York, where she became an assistant editor at Cosmopolitan magazine. She was described by Lafcadio Hearn as a combination of "shyness and force": others have suggested the shyness was a "deception of manners." When the newspaper's owner, John Brisben Walker, heard about Bly's trip, he decided that he would make it a two-woman race. Bisland was reluctant to leave on short notice -- she had social obligations! -- but 24 hours later she set off in the opposite direction, travelling west by train to San Francisco, and taking ship to the Orient.
The contrast between the two women is a fascinating one. Their books, detailing their two trips around the globe, are quite different.
The differences are apparent from the moment of packing. Nellie was determined to carry a single hand-bag, so as not to be held up at any point by her luggage. She had ordered two dresses for the trip, one winter and one summer-weight, but "I got everything in at last except the extra dress. Then the question resolved itself into this: I must either add a parcel to my baggage or go around the world in and with one dress. I always hated parcels so I sacrificed the dress, but I brought out a last summer's silk bodice and after considerable squeezing managed to crush it into the hand-bag."
In contrast, Bisland writes: "I finally managed to get all absolute necessaries of travel into a good-sized steamer trunk, a large Gladstone bag and a shawl-strap, but found, by experience, that my progress would have been in no degree retarded, and my comfort and happiness far better served, by carrying a second and larger box with everything I could possibly have required. I managed the trip on two cloth gowns, half a dozen light bodices, and an evening silk, but might quite as well have carried my entire winter and a large part of my summer wardrobe."
Nellie's dashing account is precise and detailed, focusing on specifics of the journey, the sights she sees, and the foibles of the individuals she meets. Bly didn't learn that she was racing anyone except Time, until about halfway through her trip, in Hong Kong, but she is acutely aware throughout that her goal is to beat Verne's fictional record. Elizabeth Bisland's account floats along on romantic images and not-so-romantic prejudices, only occasionally acknowledging that she is concerned with anything other than an attractive Sikh policeman, or dinner with a dignitary on board ship.
In Penang, Bisland writes: "We are ferried to land in crazy sampans, the only alternative from out-rigger canoes – a narrow trough set on a round log and kept upright by a smaller floating log connected with the boat by bent poles. Only a native, a tight-rope walker, or a bicyclist would trust himself to these."
Nellie Bly leaps into just such a boat at Colombo: "The boat was a rudely constructed thing... probably five feet in length and two feet in width across the top, narrowing down to the keel... balanced by a log the length of the boat and fastened out by two curved poles, probably three feet from the boat. These boats are called by tourists, outriggers, but are called by the people of Ceylon, catamarans. With but slight exertion the men sent the boat cutting through the water, and in a few moments we had distanced the steam launch and had accommodations engaged at the hotel before the launch had landed its passengers."
In the end, their routes significantly affected their experience of the last few days of the race, and perhaps its outcome. Battered by January storms in the north Atlantic, Elizabeth Bisland was cold, hungry, exhausted, and miserable. After twelve days at sea, she was happy to see the faces of friends awaiting her at the pier. She had gone round in the world in 76 days. But Nellie Bly had beaten her. Met by a special train at San Francisco on January 22, the last few days of Nellie's trip were a triumphal progress, a "maze of happy greetings, happy wishes, congratulating telegrams, fruit, flowers, loud cheers, wild hurrahs, rapid hand-shaking and a beautiful car filled with fragrant flowers attached to a swift engine that was tearing like mad ... on–on–on! It was glorious! A ride worthy a queen." On January 25, 1890, Nellie Bly stepped triumphantly onto the platform at Jersey City, completing her trip in 72 days.
Nellie Bly's account has been on the Celebration website since October, 2000. I'm happy to add Elizabeth Bisland's book as Celebration edition #323.
"Nellie Bly's Book: Around the World in Seventy-Two Days"
Bretano's: London, 1890. Pictorial Weeklies: New York, 1890
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/world/world.html
"In Seven Stages: A Flying Trip Around the World"
New York: Harper and Brothers, 1891
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bisland/stages/stages.html
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| Saturday, November 1st, 2008
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10:42 am - Sultana's Dream; Divine Perfections; Bloom of Monticello
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I'm happy to announce three short works. They are quite diverse!
"Sultana's Dream."
by Rokheya Shekhawat Hossein, ca. 1878-1932.
From "The Indian Ladies' Magazine", Madras, 1905.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/sultana/dream/dream.html
"Sultana's Dream" is one of the earliest examples of feminist science fiction in any language. It depicts a gender-reversed purdah in an alternate and technologically futuristic world. The short story, written in English, was first published in the Madras-based "Indian Ladies Magazine" in 1905, and three years later appeared as a book. The author, Roquia Khatun, was born in 1880 in what was then the British Indian Empire and is now Bangladesh. Her father was a highly educated zamindar (landlord), and her eldest brother Ibrahim taught both Roquia and her sister Karimunnesa English and Bangla, considered the language of the common people. Married at 16, Roquia's husband Khan Bahadur Sakhawat Hussain encouraged her to write. Roquia became a noted Muslim feminist, writer and social reformer. She established the first school aimed primarily at Muslim girls, naming it in memory of her husband, who had recently died.
"Her Uncommon discoveries of the Divine Perfections and Glory; and of the Excellency of Christ."
by Sarah Pierrepont Edwards, 1710-1758.
From Dwight, Sereno. "The Works of President Edwards: With a Memoir of His Life." Vol. I. New York: G. & C. & H. Carvill. 1830. pp. 171-190.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/pierrepont/conversion/conversion.html
Sarah Edwards was the wife of a New England preacher who was deeply engaged in trying to rouse the religious fervour of New Englanders in the 1740's. Sarah herself experienced intense religious emotions, and "was overwhelmed, and as it were swallowed up, in the light and joy of the love of God." Her husband Jonathan Edwards encouraged her to write an account of her visionary experiences, and included a heavily edited version in his book, "Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New England." He presented Sarah's account in the third person, and excised many personal details. In the 1820s Sereno E. Dwight included a direct transcription of the original manuscript in his memoir of Jonathan Edwards, "The Life of President Edwards." Since that manuscript has been lost, Dwight's chapter XIV is the most accurate version of Sarah Edwards' narrative available.
"The Bloom of Monticello"
by Elizabeth Hatcher Sadler,
Richmond, Va.: Whittet & Shepperson, 1926. Copyright not renewed.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/sadler/bloom/bloom.html
This little book celebrates Thomas Jefferson: not the man, or the statesman, but Thomas Jefferson the gardener. Through excerpts from his garden books and letters, and anecdotes from his descendants, we see him worrying about the state of his trees, and instructing his children and grandchildren in the planting of grasses and bulbs.
In scope, Jefferson's "garden" at Monticello was really an experimental station, a huge botanical garden containing thousands of useful and ornamental plants of all types. People from all over the world sent him plants and seeds, and he collected wherever he went, and gave freely to others. He cultivated both native plants and exotics, at a time when native plants were often viewed as inferior. He sponsored the Lewis and Clarke expedition to explore and observe the west. Sadler's book offers a charming introduction to the man and his garden. Information about the house and grounds and tours, and some video clips showing them as they are now, are available at http://www.monticello.org/gardens/
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| Wednesday, October 1st, 2008
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10:01 am - A Day on Skates & NEW EXHIBIT: Newbery Winners
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I am delighted to announce a new "Special Collection" at the Celebration of Women Writers:
"Newbery Honor Books and Medal Winners By Women 1922-1964".
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/_collections/newbery/newbery.html
Back in January, I posted about the copyright status of the various Newberys.
http://merrigold.livejournal.com/2008/01/19/
Of the dozen Newbery honor or medal winners by women which are not under copyright, eight are now online at the Celebration of Women Writers. Another, "The Jumping-Off Place" by Marion Hurd McNeely, is to be reprinted by the South Dakota State Historical Society Press later this year [See http://www.sdshspress.com/index.php?id=192&action=912 ]
The Celebration also includes several online editions by women who later received Newbery honor or medal recognition, which predate the giving of the Newbery awards.
The newest addition to the Newbery Exhibit is Celebration edition # 319:
REF http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/stockum/skates/skates.html
AUTHOR [stoc11] Van Stockum, Hilda, 1908-2006
CONTRIBUTOR [mill02] Millay, Edna St. Vincent, 1892-1950
TITLE A Day on Skates, The Story of a Dutch Picnic
NOTE New York and London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1934. Copyright not renewed.
LCSUB Netherlands -- Fiction
I am thankful for the help of Gail Chesler, who transcribed and proofed "A Day on Skates" so that it could be included in the Celebration. She did a wonderful job, and I hope you will enjoy the book. The color illustrations are delightful: if nothing else, see the snowball fight!
Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote, in her Foreword to "A Day on Skates":
"This is a book which mothers and fathers will sit up to finish, after the protesting child has been dragged firmly off to bed. Nobody who is once well along in this book will let the fortunes of Evert and Afke – and even more particularly, perhaps, of Simon – rest in uncertainty until tomorrow, except such members of the household as have no choice in the matter. ... It is most unlikely that the small reader, or for that matter the reader who is very large indeed, will be indifferent as to whether or not the burgomaster changes his mind about (but I mustn't tell you what); whether or not the boys get safely down from (but I mustn't tell you where); whether or not Simon ever wins the friendship of (no, I mustn't say of whom). ... this is a book which should be in the library of every child who likes to read, or likes to look at pictures, or is curious to know what children in foreign countries are like."
I hope you will all enjoy this book, and the Newbery exhibit, as much as I do.
Best wishes, Mary
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| Sunday, September 7th, 2008
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7:10 pm - Lost Indian Magic
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I am happy to announce online edition # 318:
"Lost Indian Magic: a mystery story of the red man as he lived before the white men came."
by Grace Purdie Moon (1884-1947).
Illustrations and decorations by Carl Moon (1878-1948).
New York, Frederick A. Stokes company, 1918.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/moon/lost/lost.html
Grace Purdie Moon and Carl Moon are well-known as some of the earliest authors and illustrators of children's books about Native Americans, and for the ethnological record they created through their photographs, paintings, and books.
Carl Everton Moon (or "Karl Moon" as he signed his early works) was born on October 5, 1879, in Wilmington, Ohio, the son of a doctor. His fascination with Indians began as a child. "I was still very young when I made up my mind to go West into the Indian country, as soon as I could grow up. When I was twenty-three I did just as I said I would do, but instead of hunting Indians with a gun and bowie knife, as the story book heroes always did, I was to hunt my Indians with a camera, paint brushes, and a writing pad. It was a lot more fun than the gun and bowie knife way, and a lot safer."
Carl Moon spent six years' apprenticing with various photographers in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Wheeling, West Virginia, before opening his own studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The hot dry climate had been recommended for his first wife, Bessie Wilson, who had tuberculosis. She died soon after the move, around 1903. With determination and perseverance, Moon developed friendships in several nearby Indian villages, sometimes spending weeks at a time there. Having gained their trust, he began to make photographic "art studies" of the Pueblo Indians. Carl Moon saw himself as a historian and an artist, recording the Southwestern Indians as they had lived before civilization changed their way of life, society, customs, and dress.
Grace Purdie was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Feb. 5, 1884. She studied at the University of Wisconsin and the Art Institute of Chicago. Her father was a professional archaeologist who had studied the Mayan ruins in Mexico, and Grace went on his expeditions. She met Carl Moon in 1909, on a trip to the Grand Canyon where Moon had moved to work for the Fred Harvey Company. Their common interests drew them solidly together. They were married June 5th, 1911, in Saint Joseph, Missouri. They travelled extensively among the Hopi, Taos, Havasupai, Navajo, and other tribes.
In 1914, the Moons moved to Pasadena, California, to open their own studio. They continued to sell Carl's stunning photographs, but Carl began to concentrate on painting, often using his photographs as a basis for his paintings. Many of his paintings were used to illustrate his wife's books. Grace gave up her own painting to focus on writing. Her book "Runaway Papoose" was a Newbery Honor Book in 1929, and is said to have lost the medal to Eric P. Kelly's "The Trumpeter of Krakow" by a single vote. The books are notable for the sympathy and respect with which she treats her Indian characters, and also her emphasis on brave female protagonists. Grace once remarked, "Mr. Moon and I like to write about Indians and picture them because I think way down in our hearts, we almost wish we were Indians ourselves."
I checked the copyright renewal records for the Moons, and found that while most of their copyrights were renewed, one or two were not. Based on the copyright renewals I checked, the following books by Carl and Grace Moon are in the public domain in the United States and can be republished online. If anyone wants to work on them, please let me know.
"Indian Legends in Rhyme", Stokes, 1916 -- Full copyright term completed, work is in public domain
"Lost Indian Magic", Stokes, 1918 -- Full copyright term completed, work is in public domain [See this edition!]
"Wongo and the Wise Old Crow", Reilly, 1923 -- No copyright renewal, so work has entered public domain
"Tita of Mexico", Stokes, 1934 -- No copyright renewal, so work has entered public domain
Most of their other titles were renewed, and cannot be legally reproduced without permission:
By Grace Moon:
Chi-wee: the adventures of a little indian girl, Doubleday, 1925 [Renewed]
Chi-Wee and Loki of the Desert, 1926 [Renewed]
Nadita (Little Nothing), Doubleday, 1927 [Renewed]
Runaway Papoose, Doubleday, 1928 [Renewed] Newbery Honor Book, 1929
The Magic Trail, Doubleday, 1929 [Renewed]
The Missing Katchina, Doubleday, 1930 [Renewed]
The Arrow of Teemay, Doubleday, 1930 [Renewed]
Far-away Desert, Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, Doran & Company, inc., 1932. [Renewed]
Book of Nah-Wee, with Carl Moon, Doubleday, 1932 [Renewed]
Shanty Ann, Stokes, 1935 [Renewed]
Singing Sands, Doubleday, 1936 [Renewed]
White Indian, Doubleday, 1937 [Renewed]
Solita, Doubleday, 1938 [Renewed]
Daughter of Thunder, Macmillan, 1942 [Renewed]
One Little Indian, Whitman, 1950 [Renewed]
By Carl Moon:
The Flaming Arrow, Stokes, 1927 [Renewed]
Tah-Kee: the boy from nowhere, Stokes, 1932 [Renewed]
Painted Mocassin, Stokes, 1931 [Renewed]
Photographic Studies of Indians (photographic portfolio) c1910 [online at archive.org]
Indians of the Southwest, 4 vols. of Photographic prints. 1905, 1936. Copyright not checked.
For information about the Moons, and a wonderful collection of their photographs and paintings, I recommend "In Search of the Wild Indian: photographs and life works by Carl and Grace Moon", by Tom Driebe, Moscow, PA: Maurose Publishing, 1997.
DATABASE CHANGES:
You may notice some slight changes on the Celebration pages. John and I have done an overhaul of the underlying women writers database. We are now including the Library of Congress authorized forms for names whenever possible. We have also changed the specification of birth and death dates to ISO standard date format, which allows us to include day and month and year information for birth and death dates. One effect of this is that you may see some redundancy on the pages, and possibly, some conflicting information, if the authorized form of a name includes date information and we have birth and death dates as well. We will be adding new authorized forms and updating date information on an ongoing basis. If you see something that you think is just plain wrong, please do let us know.
Best wishes, Mary Mark Ockerbloom
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| Sunday, August 3rd, 2008
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10:24 pm - The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World
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Please note that my email address has changed.
To contact the Celebration, please use celebration.women@gmail.com
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I cannot tell you how delighted I am to announce a complete online edition (#317) of:
"The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World"
by Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1624?-1674)
London: Printed by A. Maxwell, 1668.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/newcastle/blazing/blazing.html
"Rather than not be Mistress of a World, since Fortune and the Fates would give me none, I have made One of my own."
The Blazing World is one of the first works of science fiction written in English. Moreover, it was written by a woman, and published under her own name, at a time when women rarely wrote, and then anonymously. In 1666, the Blazing World appeared as an appendix to Margaret Cavendish's "Observations upon Experimental Philosophy". It was published on its own in 1668, for the delight of "all Noble and Worthy Ladies".
A young Lady is blown to the ends of the earth, quite literally, where it is discovered that her planet and another are "joyned together as Two several Worlds, at their Two Poles." The rest of the travellers die of cold, but she survives, and "finding the Boat swim between two plains of Ice, as a stream that runs betwixt two shores, at last perceived land, but covered all with Snow: from which came, walking upon the Ice, strange Creatures, in shape like Bears, only they went upright as men; those Creatures coming near the Boat, catched hold of it with their Paws, that served them instead of hands".
What's not to love? A fantastical voyage, a new world, intelligent bear-people? That's just the beginning of Margaret Cavendish's fantasy of the Blazing World. She mixes imagination with social, political, scientific, and philosophical reflections, in a sometimes dizzying swirl. The Lady learns the inhabitants' language, and spends much of her time interrogating the animal scientists of the Blazing World and reflecting on their theories and arguments. Cavendish's descriptions of the scientists of the Blazing World reflect her own rather difficult relationships with the scientists of her day.
Eventually, the Lady (now Empress) decides that she must have a scribe to help her. The spirits of famous men such as Galileo, Descartes and Hobbes are "so self-conceited, that they would scorn to be Scribes to a Woman", but another writer is suggested -- the Duchess of Newcastle herself. "Although she is not one of the most learned, eloquent, witty and ingenious, yet she is a plain and rational Writer; for the principle of her Writings, is Sense and Reason, and she will without question, be ready to do you all the service she can." Margaret Cavendish Duchess of Newcastle and the Lady of her creation form a deep and intimate friendship, creating and exploring worlds. Alas, that the Duchess of Newcastle found no such scholarly patroness in real life. We can be thankful that she had a long supportive relationship with "her dear Lord and Husband," whom she applauds in her tale of the Blazing World, and who encouraged her to write and publish.
Best wishes< Mary Mark Ockerbloom
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| Sunday, July 27th, 2008
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6:31 pm - It's like this, cat
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I am happy to announce online edition # 316:
"It's like this, cat"
by Emily Cheney Neville, (1919-1997)
Illustrated by Emil Weiss.
New York: Harper & Row, 1963. Copyright not renewed. A Newbery Medal Winner, 1964.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/neville/cat/cat.html
I can remember reading "It's like this, cat" when I was a kid. I borrowed it from our school library. The farm on the Canadian prairies where I grew up was a long way away from New York, where the book was set, but the book's themes of growing up, tensions with friends and parents, and increasing independence, were universal. For all that Neville's main character was a boy in New York City, and I was a girl in small-town Saskatchewan, I could relate.
When I found that the online database of the United States Copyright office didn't have a renewal record for "It's like this, cat", I was delighted at the opportunity to make it available online -- and to read it again myself. Reading it now, I can consciously appreciate Neville's skill as a writer. She does a terrific job of creating a young teenager's world, in which events are seen from his perspective. The things that are important to him aren't necessarily "big" events from the perspective of the adult world, but they are very big events to a young boy or girl. What happens when my friends change in ways I'm not ready for? What do I do when I have a disagreement with a friend? How do I talk to my Dad about something that concerns me? Will he listen? How do I ask for a girl's phone number without feeling embarrassed?
Many of the books that I see on bookstore shelves awaiting today's kids seem to be "big problem" books. Too often the message seems to be "the world is big and terrible and scary" and "awful things can happen to you out there". It was a pleasure to me to sit back and reread Emily Neville's account of growing up in the early sixties, in a New York where Dave Mitchell could ride his bike - or walk - across the city to see a friend. There's a sense of peacefulness, of innocence, of a slower pace, in "Cat". When it was written, Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy were still alive. Harry Belafonte was a million-selling recording star -- the Beatles were about to release their first singles in North America.
Reading Neville's book as an adult, I can see that the city itself is a main character, and that the book is intentionally structured to take one all over the city, indeed, to enable one to fall in love with the city, from Coney Island to Manhattan, from Brooklyn to the Parkway and the Fulton Fish Market. Emil Weiss' illustrations are perfect for the book. The line drawings have a lightness and a flowing energy that are wonderfully matched to the characters and events. Both the author and the illustrator lived in New York City, and knew it well. The Newbery Medal was a truly fitting award for this book, which beautifully captures a specific time and place in recent American history.
Read and enjoy! Mary
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| Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
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1:40 pm - The Blue Cat of Castle Town
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The announcement of an online edition of "The Blue Cat of Castle Town", Celebration Edition # 315, is perfectly suited to America's approaching July 4th celebrations.
"The Blue Cat of Castle Town"
by Catherine Cate Coblentz (1897-1951)
Illustrated by Janice Holland (1913-1962)
New York: Longmans, Green, 1949. Copyright not renewed. [Newbery Honor Book, 1950]
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/coblentz/cat/cat.html
"Sing your own song," said the river...
"With your life fashion beauty...
"All that is worth doing, do well ..."
So sings the river to a small blue kitten. The small blue kitten must go to Castle Town, and teach a human to sing the river's song, if he is ever to have a warm place by a hearth. To whom shall the kitten sing the river's song? Who, in the town, will listen, and learn to sing? Will darker songs, of speed and greed, predominate?
The Blue Cat of Castle Town" mixes history with fantasy, creating a delightful fable which will be enjoyed by adults and children alike. Catherine Cate Coblentz visited the real Castleto'n, Vermont, in the summer of 1946, and became intrigued by its history. Her attention was caught, in particular, by a carpet picturing a blue cat, made by Zeruah H. Guernsey Caswell (1805–ca. 1895).
Sometimes known as "The Caswell Carpet", the rug is part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of New York. An image of the rug can be viewed online at
http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/pinfo?Object=14759+0+none where it is described as follows:
"One of the most famous embroidered rugs is the Caswell Carpet, a portion of which is seen here. It was made in Vermont between 1832 and 1835 by Zeruah Higley Guernsey, who later married a Mr. Caswell; the rug is known by the latter name. The wool used in the rug was grown, spun, and dyed at home. Nearly eighty separate blocks were embroidered in a double chain stitch, or 'Kensington stitch,' on a coarse homespun foundation. Each block has its own complete design. While floral motifs predominate, diversity is achieved by modifying the floral forms and by varying their arrangement within each square. In some blocks, flowers or leaves stand alone; in others, they are combined with baskets, vases, birds, or butterflies. The overall design is further enriched through the inclusion of non-floral motifs such as kittens and puppies and, in one square, a bridal couple, believed to refer to the approaching marriage of the maker. On one end of the carpet is a long panel embroidered with a sawtooth border and a central design showing a basket filled with flowers and fruit. During the summer, when the fireplace was not in use, this panel covered the hearth; in winter it was folded under the body of the rug, in order to leave the hearth uncovered. The presence of the hearth panel indicates that the rug was not made solely for decoration, but that year-round utility was also a consideration in its design."
For a year and a half, according to Catherine Coblentz, "the Blue Cat sat on her pillow night after night, trying to purr his story into her not-unwilling ears." We can be thankful that she heard his song, and sang it for us, in "The Blue Cat of Castle Town." The book brought her much-deserved recognition when it became a Newbery Honor book in 1950. Regretably, the Blue Cat was one of the last books Catherine Coblentz wrote: she died on May 30, 1951.
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| Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
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8:30 am - My Father's Dragon
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I am delighted to announce Celebration Edition # 314:
"My Father's Dragon"
By Ruth Stiles Gannett (1923-)
Illustrations by Ruth Chrisman Gannett (1896-1979)
New York: Random House, 1948. Copyright not renewed. A Newbery Honor Book, 1949.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/gannett/dragon/dragon.html
"My Father's Dragon" was transcribed and proofed by Gail Chesler. Thank you so much, Gail! This is an absolutely delightful book, one that many children and adults have loved over the past 60 years. The story of a small boy who goes off to find and rescue a baby dragon is timeless. The illustrations are perfectly suited to the story. "My Father's Dragon" was considered one of the "100 Best Books For Children" by the National Education Association in 1999 and I heartily agree with them!
Elmer Elevator, the protagonist, is independent, curious, ingenious, and kind. Because of his awareness of and consideration for an alley cat, Elmer finds an opportunity for a greater adventure. His sense of the injustice of the animals of Wild Island towards the dragon drives the story. Elmer's social intelligence is key to solving the problems he faces. Elmer is able to listen to and understand others, including those with whom he doesn't agree. As a result, he discovers unexpected, creative solutions and acts effectively.
Ruth Stiles Gannett, the author of the book, lived at her father's home in Connecticut for a couple of weeks while she was "between jobs", some time after she graduated from Vassar College. She amused herself during a rainy week by writing the first draft of "My Father's Dragon". Her stepmother, artist and illustrator Ruth Chrisman Gannett, created the wonderful illustrations for the book, and her future husband, artist and calligrapher Peter Kahn, helped with the maps of Tangerina and Wild Island that became the book's endpapers, and the layout and choice of type for the book.
"My Father's Dragon" won the New York Herald Tribune Children's book award, and was chosen as a Newbery Honor Book. With its sequels, "Elmer and the Dragon" (1950) and "The Dragons of Blueland" (1951), it is currently in print. These are probably Ruth Stiles Gannett's best-loved works. She has also written and published "Katie and the Sad Noise" and "The Wonderful House-Boat Train."
Ruth Chrisman Gannett (1896-1979) illustrated books for her second husband, Lewis Stiles Gannett, as well as her step-daughter, Ruth Stiles Gannett, and other authors. In 1946, Ruth Chrisman Gannett won a Caldecott Honor citation for "My Mother is the Most Beautiful Woman in the World", based on a Russian folktale. In 1947, Ruth Chrisman Gannett won the Newbery award for the illustrations to Carolyn Sherwin Bailey's classic "Miss Hickory".
We can be thankful that these two women collaborated so effectively, in writing and publishing "My Father's Dragon." Read and enjoy!
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| Friday, May 2nd, 2008
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8:47 am - Spice and the Devil's Cave
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I am happy to announce online edition # 313:
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/hewes/spice/spice.html
"Spice and the Devil's Cave"
by Agnes Danforth Hewes (Mrs. Laurence Ilsley Hewes) (1874-1963).
New York: A. A. Knopf, 1930. Copyright not renewed. [Newbery Honor Book, 1931]
"Spice and the Devil's Cave" is set in the 1490's. It is a story of the spice trade, and of Portugal's search to find a new sea route to India by going around the "Devil's Cave" -- the Cape of Good Hope. Cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and other spices that people today buy in any large grocery store, with little thought of their source, were a valuable, sought-after resource. The possibility of a new trade route was enough to shake empires. Hewes says "of all the varied streams of history that have poured thru Syria, the one that has most attracted me is that of trade, especially the trade that brought the Occident and the Orient together. From the first time I saw a string of camels come in from Damascus, the romance of trade laid hold of me." (Girlhood in Syria, p. 21)
In writing about the Middle East, Agnes Danforth Hewes wrote about a world she knew, one she and her mother were born into, in which she had spent her childhood. I was able to find some details about her in "A Girlhood in Syria", a collection compiled by her daughter, Mary Calhoun Hewes Dosch (Edinburgh, Printed by G. Wilson, 1967). According to "Girlhood", Agnes Danforth Hewes was born in Tripoli, Syria, on March 30, 1874. (The Davis family genealogy website gives her birthdate as 30 MAR 1872 and her sister Helen Danforth's as 1 NOV 1874, so there may be some question about this birthdate.) Agnes' parents were medical missionaries: Dr. Galen Bancroft Danforth, and Emily Reynolds Calhoun Danforth. Sadly, Emily and her husband both died young: Galen on July 9, 1875, of a tropical disease, and Emily on January 13, 1881. After Galen's death, Emily was in poor health. According to Agnes, "I was left entirely to the care of my dear good kind nurse and to the other house servants... So, naturally, I grew up speaking Arabic." Her maternal grandmother, Emily Pitkin Reynolds Calhoun, was away visiting America with her husband, missionary Dr. Simeon Howard Calhoun, and other members of the Calhoun family. Rev. Calhoun died in Buffalo, NY, on December 14, 1876. Agnes' grandmother, Emily Pitkin Reynolds Calhoun, returned to the family home in Abeih, Mt. Lebanon, Syria, to care for her daughter and granddaughter. Agnes writes "When my grandmother returned to live with my mother, she found a little granddaughter who couldn't answer her English -- or shall I say American -- greeting!" (Girlhood in Syria, p. 20-21) From then on, Agnes was brought up by her maternal grandmother at Abeih.
A family friend wrote of a visit to Abeih: "What a walk that was! You know the whole setting of the picture -- the rugged mountains, the steep zigzag path, the flowers and verdure of May, the wide expanse of sea in the background, that in the gorgeous sunset seemed verily the 'sea of glass mingled with fire.' [As we climbed the rugged path] ever and anon we stopped to rest, sitting down on some projecting rock and looking back upon the glorious sea and sky in the West that seemed the very gate of heaven..."
Agnes Danforth Hewes was deeply inspired by her childhood home. "My fairy godmother's priceless gift to me was to let me live my first twelve years in Syria. That, in a nutshell, is my feeling about Syria! That is why I wrote my first book, because I loved Syria so much -- its magnificent brilliant scenery, its dear warm-hearted people, its customs come down from the Bible times, its beautiful dignified speech, its rich historical background -- that I wanted American children to love it, to see it with my eyes. I felt as if no one could afford to miss knowing my Syria. I feel so still." In later years, when readers commented on the vividness and accuracy of her descriptions of Syria, she declared that the land of her birth was "written in my heart."
What makes "Spice and the Devil's Cave" particularly interesting is the mixing of cultures that Hewes describes. One of the main characters in the book is a Jew, Abel Zakuto, who lives in Lisbon. A major theme in the book is the shifting treatment of the Jews under Manoel I of Portugal. Because of his interest in exploration, explorers Bartholomew Diaz, Vasco da Gama, and the youthful Magellan meet at Abel's house to exchange the latest news about "the Way of the Spices"; Nicolo Conti, a young Venetian shipbuilder, offers his assistance; and there a young girl, from a Muslim background, finds shelter. These entwined cultures -- Jewish, Portuguese, Venetian, and Muslim -- are generally treated by Agnes Danforth Hewes with respect. Portuguese and Venetians express their dismay at the expulsion of the Jews; da Gama, originally proposing to bring Christianity to the East, returns with a greater appreciation of other religions and cultures.
During her life, Agnes Danforth Hewes travelled far from her beloved Syria. She apparently graduated from Elmira College, New York, which has been characterized as "the mother of women's colleges." She married Laurence Ilsley Hewes of New Hampshire in 1901, and had several children between 1902 and 1916. Her first book, "A Boy of the Lost Crusade", appeared in 1923. Twelve more historical novels for young readers followed, several of them dealing with exploration and expansion along early trade routes, and the clash of eastern and western cultures. At some point, Agnes Danforth Hewes moved to San Francisco, California, where she died on September 30, 1963.
Agnes Danforth Hewes left us an example of tolerance and a heritage of historical interest in "Spice and the Devil's Cave" that is still relevant. Some of her other books, such as "Two oceans to Canton; the story of the old China trade" (New York, A.A. Knopf, 1944) and "Jackhammer; drill runners of the mountain highways" (New York, A. A. knopf, 1942) were not copyright renewed and could potentially be republished online.
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| Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008
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12:29 pm - In Times Like These
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I am happy to announce Celebration Edition # 312
"In Times Like These"
by Nellie L. McClung (1873-1951)
Toronto: McLeod & Allen, 1915
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/mcclung/times/times.html
'"I will not have my wife sit in Parliament," another man cried in alarm, when he was asked to sign a petition giving women full right of franchise. We tried to soothe his fears. We delicately and tactfully declared that his wife was safe. She would not be asked to go to Parliament by any of us – we gave him our word that she was immune from public duties of that nature, for we knew the lady and her limitations... But he would not sign." -- Nellie McClung, "In Times Like These"
Nellie McClung was a feminist, politician, and social activist -- and she was funny.
Nellie Letitia Mooney McClung (October 20, 1873 - September 1, 1951) was one of the most important leaders of Canada's first wave of feminism. Her great causes were women's suffrage and temperance. She is still remembered for her role in the famous "Person's Case" in which Canadian women were legally declared persons, in 1929.
Born in Grey County, Ontario, Nellie moved with her family to a homestead in the Souris Valley of Manitoba when she was seven years old. As a young woman, she joined the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), which advocated reforms to address the social and health problems caused by alcohol, and spearheaded the campaign for women's right to vote. In 1896 Nellie married Robert Wesley McClung, the son of another WCTU member. The marriage was a supportive one: Nellie continued to be politically active, as well as publishing sixteen books and raising five children. She wrote: "Ideas do not break up homes, but lack of ideas. ... the happiest marriage is the one where the husband and wife come to regard each other as the dearest friend, the most congenial companion."
In 1911 the McClungs moved to Winnipeg where Nellie was involved in the WCTU, the Winnipeg Political Equality League, and the Canadian Women's Press Club. As a speaker on suffrage and temperance, McClung combined quick wits with a strong sense of humour and a genuine affection for her audience. She was energetic, outgoing, and knew how to make her points both effective and memorable by wrapping them in humor. It is clear she was a compelling speaker. In 1914, McClung and other reformers put on a play called "The Women's Parliament", in which Nellie played a leading role, parodying Premier Rodmond Roblin. Performances were packed; Nellie's satire was met with uproarious laughter by enthusiastic audiences. Her work in 1914 set the stage for Roblin's subsequent defeat.
In 1914 the McClungs moved again. In Edmonton, Alberta, Nellie McClung continued her political and literary careers. She joined the Edmonton Equal Franchise League which fought for women's rights, prohibition and factory safety legislation. Nellie was active in campaigning and speaking in Canada and the United States. In 1916 the new Liberal government gave the vote to Manitoba women. Women in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia gained the right to vote in provincial elections the same year, and other provinces followed.
However, the years of the first world war were difficult ones for McClung. A committed Christian, she had believed that pacifism was fundamental to a truly Christian life. As Canada entered the war, Nellie and many of her friends were torn apart over the question of whether to oppose Germany. It was no academic issue: Nellie's eldest son, Jack, "a boy who has never had a gun in his hands, whose ways are gentle and full of peace" went overseas to fight. She could not bear to believe that the lives of Jack, and so many other boys, could be meaninglessly wasted. Nellie accepted the war reluctantly, in the belief that even greater evil would come of not fighting. She also saw that war-time presented opportunities for women to advance the suffrage and temperance platforms, and expand their involvement in previously male-dominated areas of society. Her book "In Times Like These" is a collection of essays and lecture material, reflecting her thinking before and during the early years of the war.
The book touches on a wide variety of issues, with McClung's characteristic humor. In "Should Women Think?" McClung points out: "The world has never been partial to the thinking woman – the wise ones have always foreseen danger. ... If women learned to read there seemed to be a possibility that some day some good man might come home and find his wife reading, and the dinner not ready – and nothing could be imagined more horrible than that!" But, she says, "If God had not intended us to think, he would not have given us our intelligence. It would be a shabby trick, too, to give women brains to think, with no hope of results, for thinking is just an aggravation if nothing comes of it." Religious conviction was an engine that empowered Nellie to political action: '"Thy will be done" is a call to fight -- to fight for better conditions, for moral and physical health, for sweeter manners, cleaner laws, for a fair chance for everyone, even women!' This call for justice is repeated consistently throughout her work. Nellie appeals "to men and women everywhere who love a fair deal", "fair play", and the "square thing".
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| Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
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10:59 am - The Quaint and Curious Quest of Johnny Longfoot, the Shoe King's Son
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I am happy to announce Celebration Edition # 311:
"The Quaint and Curious Quest of Johnny Longfoot, the Shoe King's Son"
by Catherine Besterman (1908-)
Illustrations by Warren Chappell (1904-1991)
Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1947. Copyright not renewed.
Newbery Honor Book, 1948
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/besterman/quest/quest.html
There is a slight Alice-in-Wonderland quality to this Newbery Honor Book. Things are never quite as you might expect them to be. Young Johnny is sent off by his shoemaker father to visit an unknown relative. During his travels, he makes friends with talking dogs, teaches bears to dance, and tries to find a pair of seven-league boots for a tricky cat. All in a normal day, yes? I think my favorite characters were the bears. Johnny is a basically friendly boy, who wants to get along with others, although he occasionally bends the truth a bit. In Johnny's topsy-turvy world, the oddest things can happen.
If you are enchanted by this book, consider working on its sequel, "The extraordinary education of Johnny Longfoot in his search for the magic hat", Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1949. Both books were written by Catherine Besterman, with illustrations by Warren Chappell. Their copyrights were not renewed, so they can be reprinted on-line. I was able to find this description of the sequel:
"Johnny must learn many things other boys didn't know. (His family) must find him a most unusual tutor who could teach him arithmetic, algebra, Egyptian, Greek and modern history, and several foreign languages, including Chinese. But where could they ever find a teacher who knew so many things? Finally it was decided that the only one with so much knowledge was - a cat!"
Read and enjoy!
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| Saturday, February 2nd, 2008
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9:38 am - Runner of the Mountain Tops (A Newbery Honor Book, 1940)
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I'm happy to announce Celebration Edition # 310:
"Runner of the Mountain Tops: The Life of Louis Agassiz"
by Mabel Louise Robinson (1874-1962)
With decorations by Lynd Ward (1905-1985)
New York, Random House, 1939. Copyright not renewed.
A Newbery Honor Book, 1940.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/robinsonml/runner/runner.html
I'm feeling inspired, these days, to work on Newbery books. Two of Mabel Robinson's books were listed as Newbery Honor recipients: her young adult novel "Bright Island" (considered the best of her books) in 1938, and her biography of Louis Agassiz, "Runner of the Mountain Tops", in 1940. The copyright to "Bright Island" was renewed, but not the copyright to "Runner of the Mountain Tops".
"Runner of the Mountain Tops" is a biography of renowned scientist Louis Agassiz. Born in Switzerland, educated in Germany, Agassiz was a vibrant, outgoing boy and man who found the world around him endlessly fascinating. Gifted with boundless energy, intelligence, and charm, he radiated enthusiasm, never happier than when he was sharing his ideas with others and challenging them to extend their horizons. Robinson's account is of interest to anyone who likes science, the history of science, or, for that matter, gifted children.
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz is a scientific hero, with an enthralling life full of challenges and achievements. He was born on May 28, 1807, the eldest surviving son of a minister and his wife in the village of Môtier, Switzerland. They were not wealthy, and their village offered few resources for the education of a gifted boy. Nonetheless, Louis' family sent him to school and university. Louis was an energetic and determined student, earning a Doctorate in Philosophy (focusing on natural history and botany) and a medical degree. Initially, Agassiz focused his considerable abilities on ichthyology -- the study of living and fossil fish. He emphasized careful observation, brilliantly organizing myriad details into a new classification system. His 5-volume work, "Recherches sur les poissons fossiles" ("Research on Fossil Fish") took years to complete, and was magnificently illustrated by artist Joseph Dinkel. It provided a solid foundation for the building of Agassiz' reputation.
When Jean de Charpentier suggested to Louis Agassiz that the alpine rocks of the Jura Mountains might have been moved by glaciers, Agassiz was skeptical. However, given such an intriguing problem, he could not resist investigating. He climbed and explored extensively, constructing a hut on one of the Aar glaciers to investigate the structure and movements of the ice. Agassiz' alpine adventures should delight even the most thrill-seeking boy. In 1840, Agassiz published his two volume "Etudes sur les glaciers" ("Study on Glaciers"), and proposed that a vast "Ice Age" had covered most of the earth in the recent geological past -- a radical idea stimulating much new work.
In 1842-1846 Louis Agassiz issued his "Nomenclator Zoologicus", classifying (with references) all the names used in zoology for genera and groups. He argued, also, that it was impossible to effectively classify creatures without taking into account factors such as their succession in past geological ages and their geographical distribution upon the earth. ("Essay on Classification", 1851.)
In spite of major achievements systematizing and extending knowledge in the areas of zoology, glaciology, and geology, Agassiz had little hope of advancement in Europe. He travelled to American in 1846, where he lectured widely. After two years, he was offered a position as professor of zoology and geology at Harvard University. In America Agassiz became a renowned teacher, a promoter and popularizer of both natural science and education. One of Agassiz' dreams was to create a great museum of natural history. He lobbied constantly for funds and resources, and the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard opened in 1859 as a result of his tireless efforts.
Although other scientists drew upon Agassiz' work in support of Darwinism and the new and radical theory of evolution, Agassiz himself rejected Darwin's ideas out of hand. The son of a minister, believing deeply that God's Divine Plan was embodied in nature, Agassiz found Darwin's ideas too painful to consider.
Many of Agassiz' ideas have been superseded, but Agassiz's works on living and fossil fish and on glaciers remain classics. His work on glaciers revolutionized geology. He trained and influenced a generation of American zoologists and paleontologists, shaped the practice and education of American science, and made science widely accessible to men -- and women -- "in the street."
It's a pity that in "Runner of the Mountain Tops", Robinson's enthusiasm for her subject overruns her ability to tell a compelling story. At one point, I checked: the word "genius" appeared 41 times in the book, the word "brilliant", 31 times! Robinson spends too much time rhapsodizing about Agassiz, when she could be giving us more specifics.
And Louis Agassiz did have failings. He was appallingly poor at focusing on the details of day-to-day life -- things like budgeting for the support of his assistants, or considering the financial and emotional needs of his wife and children. I am unfailingly irritated by the attitude that the weaknesses of a great man can be overlooked, because he was a great man. Too often, Robinson seems to suggest that Agassiz' early assistants should have been overjoyed to work long hours for little or no pay, and his first wife should have been happy to accommodate any number of creatures and people in her home, in addition to her three small children. Personally, I can't help feeling considerable sympathy for that homesick first wife, with her first baby, in a remote town where she didn't speak the language.
Yet, in the end, in spite of such weaknesses, "Runner of the Mountain Tops" is worth attention -- both the book and the man that the book is named after, Louis Agassiz.
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| Saturday, January 19th, 2008
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8:52 pm - The Windy Hill (Newbery Honor Book, 1922)
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The new Newbery and Caldecott winners were recently awarded by the American Libraries Association, and it seems only fitting to celebrate by announcing an on-line edition of one of the earliest Newbery honor books:
"The Windy Hill"
by Cornelia Meigs (1884-1973)
New York: The MacMillan Company, c1921.
A Newbery Honor Book, 1922.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/meigs/hill/hill.html
Three of Cornelia Meigs' books were chosen as Newbery honor books: "The Windy Hill" (c1921), "Clearing Weather" (c1928), and "Swift Rivers" (c1932). Meigs finally won the Newbery Medal for her biography of Louisa May Alcott, "Invincible Louisa" (c1933). Her books are still worth reading. Meigs makes American history vivid and personal. On the back of a dust jacket, she describes the childhood that laid the basis for her storytelling skills.
"My father was an alluring story teller and had a great store of tales to hand on to his children. His father and grandfather before him had evidently been possessed of the same art and had thus kept vividly alive the stories of a remote past. All of us have heard our elders discuss the Civil War until we have learned much of the events and atmosphere of that time. But in our house the War of 1812 was just as familiar, the difficulties with the Barbary Pirates were almost as well known: while my father knew tales, heard only at second or third hand, which went all the way back to the Revolution. ... We lived, moreover, in the comparatively new West, where the Indians had disappeared only a generation ago and where a nice old lady, who was our neighbor, had made the overland trip to California during the gold rush and could tell us endlessly of her adventures by the way. Is it any great wonder that the history of our country became for me personal and fascinating record about which I could never hear and study enough! ... Such was the background of my early years, out of which all my stories must have come."
In "The Windy Hill", two teenagers have come to visit an uncle, who is troubled and upset. A neighbor tells Oliver and Janet stories that help them to understand the historical background underlying the present conflict in their family. These family stories also help Oliver to understand his own internal experience. The stubborn pride and impulsiveness of his ancestors exist in him as well, and by the end of the book, Oliver sees their consequences a little more clearly, and achieves greater self-control. He begins to understand that the first unwitting step down a road may take someone far from where they meant to go -- that, as Meigs points out, "a person thinks it a little thing when he first confuses right with wrong". Kindness, consideration for others, and acting on behalf of the community, are virtues that Meigs values, and in her stories, meanness and dishonesty eventually lead to their own downfall.
"The Windy Hill" was published in 1921, so its copyright has expired. Between 1923 and 1963, authors had to explicitly renew the copyright of each book to extend their copyrights to the fullest possible term. Since the 1964 Newberys were awarded to books published in 1963, they were subject to the explicit renewal requirement. After 1963, copyrights renewals occurred automatically.
I was curious enough to look up the copyright renewals of the Newbery Honor and Medal books published between 1923 and 1963, in Stanford University's copyright renewals database ( http://collections.stanford.edu/copyrightrenewals/ ) and in the United States Copyright Office's database ( http://cocatalog.loc.gov ).
I was excited to find that more than a dozen post-1923 Newbery Honor Books, and two post-1923 Newbery medalists, appear not to have been renewed. Assuming that there aren't any errors, in the databases, or in my searches of them, it should be legal to put the following books online. (It's always good to double-check: I found two renewals which did not appear in the Stanford database, when I double-checked it against the print version :-) Eleven of the books are by women, five by men. I would be happy to give the books by women a home at the Celebration, if anyone wants to work on them.
* 1964 Medal Winner: It's Like This, Cat (c1963) by Emily Neville (Harper)
* 1952 Honor Book:
o The Defender by Nicholas Kalashnikoff (Scribner)
* 1950 Honor Book:
o The Blue Cat of Castle Town by Catherine Coblentz (Longmans)
* 1949 Honor Book:
o My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett (Random House)
* 1948 Honor Book:
o The Quaint and Curious Quest of Johnny Longfoot by Catherine Besterman (Bobbs-Merrill)
* 1947 Honor Book:
o The Heavenly Tenants by William Maxwell (Harper)
* 1940 Honor Book:
o Runner of the Mountain Tops: The Life of Louis Agassiz by Mabel Louise Robinson (Random House)
* 1935 Honor Book:
o Day On Skates: The Story of a Dutch Picnic by Hilda Von Stockum (Harper)
* 1934 Honor Books:
o New Land by Sarah Schmidt (McBride)
o Big Tree of Bunlahy: Stories of My Own Countryside by Padraic Colum (Macmillan)
* 1931 Honor Book:
o Spice and the Devil's Cave by Agnes Hewes (Knopf)
* 1930 Honor Book:
o Jumping-Off Place by Marion Hurd McNeely (Longmans)
* 1929 Honor Books:
o Tod of the Fens by Elinor Whitney (Macmillan)
* 1926 Honor Book:
o The Voyagers: Being Legends and Romances of Atlantic Discovery by Padraic Colum (Macmillan)
* 1925 Honor Book:
o The Dream Coach (1924) by Anne Parrish (Macmillan), illustrated by Dillwyn Parrish
* 1924 Medal Winner: The Dark Frigate by Charles Hawes (Little, Brown)
[the original edition was not renewed, but there are renewal records for later editions which would apply to new materials/illustrations ]
Best wishes to everyone in 2008! Mary
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| Friday, December 21st, 2007
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9:56 am - A Christmas cake in four quarters; Keo the Otter
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"Season of light, season of cheer, season of peace,
May it last throughout the year."
The kids are singing and dashing about the house; I should probably bake some cookies, but instead I'm messing about with the computer. Along with my good wishes, I would like to send you two new books to read for Christmas.
A Christmas cake in four quarters
by Lady (Mary Anne) Barker (1831-1911)
London & New York: Macmillan and Co., 1871.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/barker/christmas/christmas.html
This book contains anecdotes of Christmas in four different countries: England, Jamaica, India, and New Zealand. Lady Barker had lived in all of them. She was born in Jamaica and spent her childhood in Great Britain. Her first husband, George Robert Barker, fought in the Crimea and the Indian mutiny, and was knighted and promoted to Brigadier-General for his leadership at the Siege of Lucknow. Lady Barker joined him at Simla in 1860, but he died only a few months later. She then returned to England, where she met her second husband, Frederick Napier Broome. They married on 21 June 1865, and spent the next “three supremely happy years” sheep-farming in New Zealand. After a disastrous winter, they sold out and returned to England. There Lady Barker began to write, reworking a set of letters to her sister Jessie for publication as "Station Life in New Zealand" (1870). Her adventures did not stop there. Broome became Colonial Secretary of Natal in 1875, and Lady Barker travelled with him to Mauritius, Western Australia, Barbados, and Trinidad. As Lady Barker and later as Lady Broome (Broome was knighted on 3 July 1884) Mary Anne published 22 books, including "A Christmas Cake in Four Quarters" (1871). Celebrating Christmas Day at Steventon, an old English home, the adults amuse the children with stories of Christmases in other lands. The book is more interesting today for the details of life in various countries, than as a children's story: anecdotes include a spooky tale of play-acting ghosts, a charming Christmas morning in Jamaica, and a chilling account of survival during the Sepoy Mutiny.
Keo the otter
by Virgie Bernhardt (fl.1937)
Illustrations by Marjee Peters (fl.1937)
Milwaukee: E. M. Hale and Company, 1937. Copyright not renewed.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bernhardt/otter/otter.html
Since the four quarters were more suited to adult readers than to children, I've put up a short children's book as well. "Keo the Otter" is a pleasant little book with lots of illustrations and short descriptions of otter life. I hope it will be enjoyed.
Best wishes to all,
Mary
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| Sunday, December 16th, 2007
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10:11 am - The Tragedie of Mariam
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I am happy to announce Celebration Edition #306:
"The tragedie of Mariam, the faire queene of Jewry written by that learned, vertuous, and truly noble ladie, E. C."
by Lady Elizabeth Cary (1585-1639)
London: Thomas Creede, for Richard Hawkins, 1613.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/cary/mariam/mariam.html
Elizabeth Tanfield Cary, Lady Falkland (1585-1639) was a poet, translator, and dramatist. Precocious and studious, she was associated with the literary circle of Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke. A daughter's biography, "The Lady Falkland: Her Life (ca. 1643-1650)", credits her with the authorship of a number of poems and translations. (It also makes her the first woman writer to be the subject of a literary biography.) Various writers dedicated works to her, attesting to her literary reputation. Unfortunately, most of these have been lost.
Her surviving play, "The Tragedie of Mariam", was written as a closet drama around 1602-1604. It was intended for private reading rather than public performance. When it was finally published in 1613, Elizabeth Cary became the first woman dramatist to be published in England. In "The Tragedie of Mariam", Elizabeth Cary adapts and expands upon the basic plot and characters of an ancient story of evil King Herod and his wife Mariam.
Her play examines the ways in which women exert power through relationships, in a society where they have little formal power. Cary contrasts a range of female characters, including Mariam (Herod's current wife), Salome (Herod's sister, married to Constabarus), Doris (Herod's divorced wife) and Alexandra (Mariam's mother). Through Mariam and Salome, in particular, Cary raises key questions of integrity and honesty, and asks whether emotional honesty can survive in a marriage of disparate power.
In the first half of the play, Herod is believed to be dead. The chorus of the play warns that "To heare a tale with eares prejudicate, It spoiles the judgement, and corrupts the senses ... [and] makes us take for truth ten thousand lies." In their hope that Herod is dead, others reveal feelings and secrets that were carefully hidden from him. Herod's return in the second half of the play endangers them.
Mariam, believing that Herod is dead, can admit to herself that "that Love which once on him was firmely set" is now turbulently mixed with anger and revulsion. After divorcing his first wife and marrying Mariam, Herod has killed Mariam's brother and her grandfather to ensure his uncontested right (through Mariam) to the throne. Herod is also violently possessive and left instructions for Mariam to be killed if he died. If Herod is dead, Mariam is released from an irreconcilable conflict: how can she be a virtuous and obedient wife to a man she now hates? When he returns, the question becomes: Will chastity be a sufficient virtue to protect her, if she refuses to please?
The chorus articulates an essential question of Cary's play: Does a wife give up all right to her own thoughts as well as her own body, when she marries? Do both become the 'possessions' of her husband?
When to their Husbands they themselves doe bind,
Doe they not wholy give themselves away?
Or give they but their body not their mind,
Reserving that though best, for others pray?
No sure, their thoughts no more can be their owne,
And therefore should to none but one be knowne.
Then she usurpes upon anothers right,
That seekes to be by publike language grac't:
And though her thoughts reflect with purest light,
Her mind if not peculiar is not chast.
For in a wife it is no worse to finde,
A common body, then a common minde.
When Herod returns, in the second half of the play, it is clear that he shares the view of the chorus. When Mariam chooses personal integrity, and truthfulness about her feelings, over wifely obedience, openly displaying her grief and anger at his actions, Herod exclaims:
Oh thine eye
Is pure as heaven, but impure thy minde,
And for impuritie shall Mariam die.
Herod's sister Salome appears in startling contrast to Mariam throughout the play. Whereas Mariam is repeatedly referred to as innocent and chaste, Salome is flagrantly sexual and amoral. Having found a new man to desire, her only concern is how to rid herself of her previous choice: she has already betrayed one husband to his death, and attempted to break Hebrew law to divorce another. Thriving on lies and blackmail, Salome has tried to turn Herod against Mariam in the past. In one scene, I imagine her carefully admiring her nails, as she casually offers the vacillating Herod advice on how to kill Mariam, "Then let the fire devoure her."
Repeatedly, characters reiterate that all Salome's plotting, even Herod's jealously and violence, could not have harmed Mariam had she been willing to dissemble and show Herod a pleasing face. Mariam herself says:
Had not my selfe against my selfe conspirde,
No plot: no adversarie from without
Could Herods love from Mariam have retirde,
Or from his heart have thrust my semblance out.
It is this which truly makes this play "The Tragedie of Mariam", in the classic sense of tragedy. Mariam's death results inevitably from her own character, from the very qualities that make her admirable to us today, her personal integrity and honesty.
Elizabeth Cary's personal history suggests that questions of integrity, honesty, and personal voice, versus wifely humility and obedience, were important in her own life as well as in her play. Elizabeth was betrothed to Sir Henry Cary in her teens. Sir Henry went off to the Netherlands to fight in the Protestant wars against Spain not long after their wedding. The new bride continued to live in her family's home for several years, finally joining the Cary household in 1603. During their marriage, Elizabeth bore 11 children by her husband. However, religious differences put an increasing strain upon their relationship. Henry was a strict Protestant. In 1622, he was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland, and moved the family to Dublin. There he was notable for his cruel treatment of Irish Catholics. Elizabeth's early attraction to Catholicism increased over time, and she was appalled at his actions in Ireland. The couple separated and Elizabeth returned to England in 1625. In 1626 Elizabeth professed Catholicism as her faith. She was confined to her room for some weeks, in hopes she would recant the conversion. Henry, upon hearing the news, took her children from her, cut off all financial support, and disowned her. They were partly reconciled before Henry's death in 1636. Elizabeth died in 1639. By 1643, Puritans and Royalists were tearing England apart in civil war.
Many thanks go to Laura June Dziuban, who painstakingly transcribed "The Tragedie of Mariam" from a facsimile reprint. She did a great job on it! and it is much appreciated.
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| Monday, October 1st, 2007
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2:15 pm - Journal Kept During The Russian War
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I am happy to announce Celebration Edition # 305:
"Journal Kept During The Russian War: From The Departure Of The Army From England In April 1854, To The Fall Of Sebastopol."
By Frances Isabella Locke Duberly [aka Mrs. Henry Duberly] (1829-1903).
London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1856 (Second Edition).
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/duberly/journal/journal.html
Fanny Duberly, at age 25, accompanied her husband to the Crimea, and remained there until the end of the fighting. She was the only officer's wife to remain throughout the entire campaign. She survived the severe winter of 1854-55, witnessed the battle of Balaklava, and rode through the ruins of Sebastopol. Through it all, she was determined to keep a brave face: "I would scorn & dread to let them [the soldiers] know such thoughts were ever in my mind. Half of them know me as the never omitted guest, where a dinner is wanted to be amusing & brilliant & half as the rider of their troublesome horses. I wish I was a man."
So wrote Fanny in a private letter to her sister Selina. I suspect Fanny would have been quite successful as a man -- indeed, as an officer. Intelligent, forceful, with a grasp of military tactics, a passionate love of horses, and an impressive resistance to cold, scant food, and unsanitary conditions, I can imagine her storming the barricades of Balaklava with the best of the them.
But Fanny, with all her intelligence and determination, was restricted to being the wife of a soldier. Her husband Henry was a poor youngest son, whose ability to rise in the military was restricted by his lack of money, and it must be admitted, by his placidity and lack of "dash". As army Paymaster for a "smart" cavalry regiment, Henry achieved an akward balance between financial security and social status.
Despite differences in personality, restless Fanny and quiet Henry were a devoted couple, rarely apart. Fanny's letters show a deep and consistent attachment to Henry, and it is clear that his presence was essential to her comfort. Fanny was determined to accompany her husband wherever he was posted, and went to considerable lengths to do so. She was aided and abetted by friends in both the army and navy. Without their help -- especially the navy -- she could never have made it to the Crimea.
At one point she writes, 'Lord Lucan, who commands the Cavalry, sent an order to Major De Salis, yesterday, to the effect that, "unless Mrs. Duberly had an order sanctioning her doing so, she was not to re-embark on board the 'Shooting Star,' about to proceed to Varna." Major De Salis returned for answer, that "Mrs. Duberly had not disembarked from the 'Shooting Star,' and he had not sufficient authority to order her to do so."'
After an order restricted the number of horses to be taken, making it impossible for Fanny to ride with the army, she deeply lamented her separation from Henry. "At ten o'clock to-day, with failing heart, I parted from my dear husband, and watched him go ashore; whilst I, alas! having no horse, cannot follow him, but must go on board the "Shooting Star," and get round by sea. How I hate it! How much rather I would endure any hardship than be separated from him at this time!"
Fanny eventually arrived at Balaklava, where she was reunited with her Henry. Conditions on shore were so bad that she regretfully begged a place to live on board ship. On the "Star of the South," within the partial protection of the harbour, she rode out a violent storm which destroyed ships and badly-needed supplies. Two weeks later, bodies were still afloat in the harbour. "I was scarcely over the ship's side, when the boat drifted – oh, horror! – against a dead body, one of the many that were floating in from the wrecks outside."
The situation in the Crimea were appalling, and bad decisions created extra hardships for the British army. The harsh conditions of daily life -- starving, wet, freezing, and surrounded by cholera-carrying filth -- killed thousands of men and horses. Fanny wrote scathingly:
'If any body should ever wish to erect a "Model Balaklava" in England, I will tell him the ingredients necessary. Take a village of ruined houses and hovels in the extremest state of all imaginable dirt; allow the rain to pour into and outside them, until the whole place is a swamp of filth ancle-deep; catch about, on an average, 1000 sick Turks with the plague, and cram them into the houses indiscriminately; kill about 100 a-day, and bury them so as to be scarcely covered with earth, leaving them to rot at leisure – taking care to keep up the supply. On to one part of the beach drive all the exhausted bât ponies, dying bullocks, and worn-out camels, and leave them to die of starvation. They will generally do so in about three days, when they will soon begin to rot, and smell accordingly. Collect together from the water of the harbour all the offal of the animals slaughtered for the use of the occupants of above 100 ships, to say nothing of the inhabitants of the town, – which, together with an occasional floating human body, whole or in parts, and the driftwood of the wrecks, pretty well covers the water – and stew them all up together in a narrow harbour, and you will have a tolerable imitation of the real essence of Balaklava.'
Not surprisingly, the British soldiers on shore were in poor condition to fight an opposing army. "The appearance of the officers very much resembles that of the horses; they all look equally thin, worn, ragged, and out of condition in every way." If Fanny sometimes seems to have more sympathy for the horses than for the men, perhaps it is because the horses had no share in creating the conditions which they must endure.
From the heights above, on October 25, 1854, Fanny saw both the triumph of Sir Colin Campbell's thin red line, and the heart-breaking destruction of the Light Brigade. "Now came the disaster of the day – our glorious and fatal charge. But so sick at heart am I that I can barely write of it even now. ... presently the Light Brigade, leaving their position, advanced by themselves, although in the face of the whole Russian force, and under a fire that seemed pouring from all sides, as though every bush was a musket, every stone in the hill side a gun. Faster and faster they rode. How we watched them! ... presently come a few horsemen, straggling, galloping back. "What can those skirmishers be doing? See, they form up together again. Good God! it is the Light Brigade!"
Fanny laments the decisions of the British leaders on several occasions. "Ah, how have our resources been wasted! – our horses killed! – our men invalided; while over it all broods the most culpable indifference!"
The Crimean war was a time of great hardships, great mistakes, and great sorrows. But Fanny Duberly was a woman of great spirit! She survived the entire war -- and a later posting to mutinous India -- before settling down with her beloved Henry in England.
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| Monday, September 3rd, 2007
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8:40 pm - The Mystery at Number Six
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I am happy to announce the completion of Celebration Edition # 304:
"The Mystery at Number Six"
by Augusta Huiell Seaman (1879-1950)
Illustrated by W. P. Couse.
New York: The Century Co., 1922.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/seaman/six/six.html
Ah, summer. The end of summer comes all too soon, and with it, a return to the more mundane world of school, schedules, and planned activities. Or so it seems nowadays. Summer has the allure of adventure, possibilities, discoveries, of mysteries. It seems only right that "The Mystery at Number Six", by Augusta Huiell Seaman, is a summer story. A young girl and her parents have moved to Florida, to live near her older cousin. Together the cousins explore the Florida phosphate mines, both working and deserted, and meet a mysterious girl. Who is she? How can they find out?
A first impression of "The Mystery at Number Six" may suggest that it is annoyingly stereotypic. But the idea that first impressions are misleading is a key theme throughout the book. Almost all the characters manage, at some point, to confound the expectations and first impressions of the curious cousins, Bernice and Sydney. Several of the key characters totally overturn their ideas, which makes for a good mystery!
One thing that may put readers off is the use of the term "Cracker". Bernice and Sydney repeatedly refer to one of the characters as a "Cracker woman", generally in the third person. From their hesitance to use the term face-to-face, it appears to be somewhat impolite. Even today, there doesn't seem to be a strong consensus about the meaning of "cracker." It generally indicates poorer rural people in areas of Florida and Georgia, sometimes with negative connotations such as laziness, ignorance or violence; sometimes with positive connotations of independence, self-sufficiency, and an ability to do without modern conveniences. The term's significance seems to vary depending on where and when it was used, and it is authentic "local color", but I found it jarring.
Seaman's descriptions of Florida and the phosphate mines are vivid and memorable. Seaman effectively contrasts the working mines with abandoned ones which have been rapidly reclaimed by abundant Florida vegetation. She writes: "There is nothing more utterly fascinating than an abandoned South Florida phosphate-mine pool, nor is there anything farther removed in appearance from the same mine in full operation." The phospate mines of Florida are one of Seaman's most unusual settings, and it is worth giving "The Mystery at Number Six" a chance to correct any awkward first impression it may make.
Read and enjoy! Mary
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| Saturday, September 1st, 2007
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8:12 pm - Update: Illustrated "Gardening by Myself"
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I am happy to announce that ALL sections of Mrs. Gatty's "Book of Sun-dials" are now assigned. Thanks to everyone who is helping to work on this!
I am also delighted to announce the addition of color illustrations to Anna Warner's book, "Gardening By Myself". We recently drove through New York State, and stopped to tour Constitution Island, where Anna and Susan Warner lived and wrote. I took lots of photographs, some of which I've added to the on-line edition of Anna Warner's book:
Gardening by Myself
By Anna Bartlett Warner (1827-1915)
New York, A. D. F. Randolph & Co., 1872.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/warner-anna/gardening/gardening.html
Constitution Island is across from West Point, and was left to West Point by Anna Warner. Access to the island is limited, so if you are interested in visiting, you should check with the Constitution Island Association http://www.constitutionisland.org/ in advance to see if it's possible to visit. You should take picture ID with you, as you have to go through a security check to get to the boat dock.
Our kids enjoyed the boat ride over to the island as well as the tour around the house and grounds. On the island, we saw various fortifications dating back to the Revolutionary and Civil wars, as well as the Warner house and gardens. The house and gardens have been restored fairly accurately to the way they were in the 1870's, thanks to members of the Constitution Island Association, who maintain the gardens, and serve as docents for the tours.
The Warners ended up on Constitution Island rather unexpectedly. Henry Warner was a successful New York lawyer, with an interest in speculation. He bought Constitution Island thinking it might be a suitable location for a spa. A few small rooms left from the barracks of 1775 were the only building on the island, and Warner had them expanded to serve as a summer home. The new addition featured high ceilings and larger windows, but no fireplaces. In 1837, as part of a financial panic, Henry lost his fortune. With his young daughters Anna and Susan, and their Aunt Fanny, he moved to the island. The Warners lived there for the rest of their lives. In the winter, they retreated to the original rooms of the house, where fires could be burned, closing off the unheated addition until warm weather returned.
The rooms the Warners lived in are maintained much as they were when Anna Warner lived in the house, and the Warner's actual possessions and furniture remain there. Anna's garden tools can be seen in the kitchen. A small writing desk by a window may be the spot where Susan wrote novels. Little is left from their upper-class life in New York: a few pieces of silverware, some bits and pieces of china, a picture or two. (One important portrait remained because it was collateral for a loan, and so could not be sold off by the bailiffs!) The only thing the Warners managed to keep was their books. Clearly, they loved books! Almost every room in the house has high shelves, filled with titles, many in beautiful condition. They even had a "travelling bookcase," which could be closed up and taken along when visiting elsewhere.
The interior of the house is dark. Limited electric lighting has been added for tours. I was struck by the windows. In parts of the house, the walls are almost three feet deep, and the windows are very small. The summer windows tended to be larger for cross-ventilation. Notably, almost every window affords a lovely view of one of Anna Warner's gardens.
The restored gardens include a long walking path up to the house, a cutting garden, and an herb garden. There is also a sheltered corner with some rose bushes, and a tiny grape arbour. The Constitution Island Association has worked hard to restore the gardens so that the plants in them are true to Anna Warner's descriptions in "Gardening By Myself". When we visited, the cutting garden was filled with a colorful riot of zinnias and dahlias. One or two persistent roses lingered in the rose garden. The herb garden was redolent of lavender and sage. The show-piece of the grounds was the 300-foot-long pathway leading to the house. None of my photographs really do justice to it. Drifts of phlox, black-eyed susans, daisies, a few late lilies, globe thistle, celosia, salvia, cleome, artemisia, and many more plants, attracted clouds of bees and butterflies. The pathway is graceful, relaxing, and welcoming. It is quite a contrast to the jutting rocks and ragged trees surrounding it. It's impressive that Anna Warner managed to create this arc of beauty in such a wild spot. Even in the summer sun, I couldn't help imagining the island on a damply windswept winter day, and shivering a little.
Best wishes to you all, Mary
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