booktraces

A Kiss Goodbye, A Kiss Hello

~ Annie Swafford
A Kiss Goodbye, a Kiss Hello
A Kiss Goodbye, a Kiss Hello

The book, The Life and Death in Rebel Prisons by Robert Kellogg, published in 1865, contains an imprisoned marking within the binding. Etched into the fabrics of the page are a pair of red lip stick markings. A kiss goodbye, or a kiss hello?

A kiss goodbye to the man on their way to Lee’s army or a kiss hello to the man who safely arrived to Newbern. A kiss goodbye to someone fallen at the hands of Lee in battle. A kiss hello, to the death and demise of the village of Newbern; a kiss goodbye to the village itself. A kiss hello to welcome the men of Charleston. A kiss hello to the anniversary of our nation, to the harbinger summer and the bright Southern sky. Did a woman fall in love with a man who arrived in Charleston? Did she lose him on the journey there. Did she lose him in the prison, Andersonville. Was the last time she saw the man she loved before he was captured–before he was killed? Did a man carry these lips within the binding of his hands as he wept alone in prison. Did he lose it on the way? Is it a kiss goodbye to those southern days, those summer celebrations, the last of what was left. Was it a kiss hello to the arrival of something fresh and new? The lip prints evoke many questions as to their origins. A kiss of death or a kiss of love? If anyone knows the woman who owns these lips, ask them why they pressed this print.

Check out the post on Book Traces! http://www.booktraces.org/book-submission-life-and-death-in-rebel-prisons/

Standard English Poems: Spenser to Tennyson

~ Annie Swafford ~ 1 Comment

While searching through the PR section of the library catalog for the Booktraces assignment, I stumbled upon this collection of poems selected and edited by Henry S. Pancoast. It was published in New York in 1899 by Henry Holt & Company. There wasn’t much of anything written throughout the actual pages of the book, but the both inside covers and the pages immediately following or proceeding were filled with quotes and poems from various sources.

booktraces 1

Pasted onto the inside cover are an introduction to a poem by Miss Anna Bartlett Warner and the poem itself, which begins, “It seems so strange to think of days when I shall not be here…” Both excerpts appear to be typewritten.

On the opposite page, the name Amy L. Abel is written in ink. The small “’10” beside it was interesting – especially considering that at least one of the poems its owner inscribed in the book is from 1915. As a quick analysis of the handwriting still heavily suggests that it originates in the correct time period, it can be assumed that Ms. Abel wrote in the book on more than one occasion.

Continue reading →

Book Traces

~ Annie Swafford ~ 1 Comment

Looking around the library I came across some interesting book marginalias. Most of them were the name of the owner of the book or some notes about it. If you looked around the pages you could probably notice some more notes inside the book but most of them were more recent written by pen and for sure not from the 19th century. To make sure I was getting the right marginalias I relied on dates written on it that assured me the authenticity.

The first book I found was Poems by James Russell Lowell published in 1885, New York.

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURESSAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

The first pages had a lot of annotations. Unfortunatelly it is not so easy to understand them because of the way they were written. The first one looked like a list of things to read, but that is an personal opinion, I not 100% sure. The first one doesn’t have the but the handwritting is the same as the second one that has a date.

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

The second page starts with “To my girls” followed by New York, Oct. 24th 1889.

20141005_223404(2)

The second book is Tragedy of Othello by William Shakespeare and was published in 1886, New York.

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

On the first page you can notice the name of the original owner of the book, Nellie J. Bates from March 1887. Unfortunatelly I couldn’t find anything about the person.

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

The third book is The Poetical Works of Thomas Lovell Beddoes published in 1890, England.

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

The first page has the name of the owner, place (Cambridge) and date (1897). Nothing was found about the owner too.

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

Nicholas Nickleby and other Booktraces

~ Annie Swafford

When we were given the book traces assignment, I immediately looked for one of my favorite books from the 19th century: The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens.

IMG_20141002_101333_873

IMG_20141002_101404_316

 

The edition in Sojourner Truth Library was published by Macmillan in 1907. I have to say, I was disappointed not to find more markings in this incredible book, but one marking I found was some underlining and, beside it in pencil, the word “EGAD.” I am assuming this word is a a direct response to the conditions of Dotheboys Hall in the 1800s. Dotheboys is a fictional boarding school that Charles Dickens created as an example to show the public in a more persuasive way that boarding schools are terrible places to send your children. In this example on pages 35 and 36, Dickens paints a picture using the characters’ discussion of the demise of a young boy who only had a dictionary to lay upon. The reader seems to have had a very personal response to this image. This reader’s response is what Dickens was aiming for in the readers of his generation. Though Nicholas Nickleby is a long novel with many themes and subjects, bringing attention to the insufferable boarding schools of the time was very important to Dickens when writing this book. There are many more examples of the conditions in the boarding schools. Perhaps the novel was too long for the reader to continue, or maybe this statement was the first to really show what occurs in these schools and the reader became less sensitive to the images. Either way, I thought this was an amusing reaction to find out of very few other markings in the text.

In another book, (I regret to say I didn’t document which – likely because there were no other markings), Amy Louise Cooper signed the flyleaf of the book on June 28th, 1888.

IMG_20141002_102102_674

The inscription is barely visible now, but it really makes me wonder how far this book has traveled, and whether it has been read entirely, and, if so, how many times it has been read. A quick Google search of Amy Louise Cooper will bring up quite a few people from the past, but, without a sense of geography, there’s no way of knowing which one this book belonged to.

Searching in the library for book traces was a lot of fun, and I will definitely be looking for more in the future. I really enjoy history when I can interact with it, and seeing the words in the handwriting of previous readers makes reading the novel itself so much more satisfying and interesting. The book traces website is fascinating, and I hope I can contribute more book traces as I find them.

-Brooke Chapman

Book Traces- Edward Bulwer Lytton’s The Caxtons

~ Annie Swafford

When exploring Edward Bulwer Lytton’s novel The Caxtons, I found plenty of marginalia of multiple kinds spanned throughout its pages. The novel focuses on the struggle of the Caxton family to keep their prestigious ancestry and tradition alive. Some of the marginalia I have chosen relates to this, while other instances were annotations denoting influential quotes or comments on Lytton’s writing.

IMG_0948

This excerpt from the text shows a comment on a group of dialogue that reads “This calumny will go on forever!”. For those unfamiliar with the term, a calumny is defined as a false or malicious statement designed to injure the reputation of someone or something. In this scene, we see one character attacking one of the Caxtons about the honor of their ancestor. It is clear that the calumny the reader who wrote this is referring to is the attacking of the Caxton ancestor.

IMG_0950

This excerpt of the text is most likely marked up due to the novel’s theme of the rejection of fate and destiny. “Any weapon that conquers fate is noble in the  hands of a brave man, uncle”.  The fate which needs conquering would be the conformity to social norms based on one’s ancestry, such as Pisistratus Caxton must face in this novel. Eventually fate is conquered when the great Caxton name is plagued with financial instability, preventing him from becoming the scholar that his father and ancestors were. Multiple Caxtons move to Australia at the end of the novel which symbolizes redemption and the freedom from that useless fate which consumed their name for so long.

IMG_0947IMG_0951

These marginalia don’t necessarily involve the plot of the novel, but they do offer insightful quotes about life and human nature.

“so that the son might have no excuse for the sins that Want whispers to the weak.”

“While there is life, there is hope of repentance”

IMG_0944

The final piece of marginalia that I wish to discuss regards gender roles in the Victorian era. the passage in the image describes a woman who does not follow the social norms of the era but is not frowned upon either. Instead the author surprisingly puts her equal if not above any man. This passage surprised me, and surprised the other reader as well leading him to write “A man wrote this!” in the right hand margin.