David A. Robertson was president of Goucher College during its tumultuous move from the downtown Baltimore campus to its current home on a hilltop in Towson. In October 1942, Robertson and his wife, Anne Knobel Robertson, were injured in an auto accident in Baltimore. He recovered from his injuries, but she, originally diagnosed with a concussion, died on November 4. President Robertson and his wife’s friends created a fund to donate books to the Goucher Library collection in her name, each identified by the “A.K.R.” bookplate on the verso of the front cover and a hand-printed pen dedication note from her husband on the facing free endpaper. They populate the Main Collection like Easter eggs, waiting for students to discover them and to be reminded of a man’s long lonely love for his wife. Continue reading Seigfried Sassoon (1886-1967), David A. Robertson (1880-1961), and Anne Knobel Robertson (?-1942)–Grief, Love, and Books
Monthly Archives: July 2020
Fun with “A Concordance to the Works of Jane Austen,” Peter L. DeRose and S. W. McGuire, compilers. 3 vols. (NY: Garland, 1982)
While cataloging this donation from the estate of JASNA founder J. David Grey, I noticed that in addition to the typical concordance’s listing, from A to Z, of every usage of every word in an author’s work or works in its phrase context, the third volume of this one ends with Jane’s entire vocabulary stacked in a usage frequency list. Continue reading Fun with “A Concordance to the Works of Jane Austen,” Peter L. DeRose and S. W. McGuire, compilers. 3 vols. (NY: Garland, 1982)
“Egyptian Days”: Medieval help for your calendar from the Berners Hours (Bruges, ca. 1470, atelier of William and Marie Vrelant)
While transcribing the saints and bishops whose prayers were invoked for each month of the year in the Berners Hours calendar, I kept hitting some tough red Latin phrases at the start of each month. This time, rather than ignoring them, I searched for them and found each one listed one line of the dangerous “Egyptian days” on which specific types of bad fortune might be expected. Continue reading “Egyptian Days”: Medieval help for your calendar from the Berners Hours (Bruges, ca. 1470, atelier of William and Marie Vrelant)
Jesse L Cassard Jr., a found silver watch, Another Brownie Book (1890), the Star Spangled Banner, and Sara Provan’s post-1946 Brownie camera
While processing a sequence of C19-20 children’s books for Special Collections,we happened upon a copy of Palmer Cox’s second opus in the wildly popular “Brownie” series, appropriately named “Another Brownie Book” (NY: Century, 1890). Continue reading Jesse L Cassard Jr., a found silver watch, Another Brownie Book (1890), the Star Spangled Banner, and Sara Provan’s post-1946 Brownie camera
Elizabeth Coatsworth & Lynd Ward (illustrator), “The Cat Who Went to Heaven,” NY: Macmillan, 1931
A Newbery Medal winner for 1931. Coatsworth teamed up with the amazing Lynd Ward to tell a Buddhist tale about a painter, his housekeeper, and the calico cat she brings home instead of dinner. Continue reading Elizabeth Coatsworth & Lynd Ward (illustrator), “The Cat Who Went to Heaven,” NY: Macmillan, 1931
Which archbishop belongs to this coat of arms? An 1852 Canon Missal without much provenance evidence
Catholic Church. “Canon missae : ad usum episcoporum ac praelatorum solemniter vel private celebrantium.” Rome: Society for the Propagation of the Faith, 1852. 213 pages, 1 ill., 44 cm. (i.e., it’s huge!) Continue reading Which archbishop belongs to this coat of arms? An 1852 Canon Missal without much provenance evidence
[Applestein-Sweren Contest] Indochina to Vietnam: A (re-telling) search for identity through narratives
We are raised and familiarized ourselves with the narratives we are told, given and taught. So when those narratives are challenged, we are confused and forced to step out of our comfort zone. Or at least that what happened to me in my high school U.S History class where I first experienced an identity crisis at sixteen; that was the first time I heard stories from the “other side of the battlefield.” Continue reading [Applestein-Sweren Contest] Indochina to Vietnam: A (re-telling) search for identity through narratives
Julia Rogers’ “Playtime Picture-Book” (London: Dean & Sons, 1885-7)–Cultural uplift and a strange dose of the future Edward Gorey
Julia Rebecca Rogers (1854-1944) played a crucial role in founding Goucher College by leaving to the college the bulk of her fortune, over $900,000, which was used to build a Library at the new Towson campus. Daughter of an iron and steel magnate, she devoted her life to philanthropic causes in aid of women’s education and the arts. Generally, we do not know much about the childhoods of famous and generous donors, but in this case, Julia Rogers left the college a copy of what may be one of her earliest childhood books: “The Playtime Picture-Book.” Continue reading Julia Rogers’ “Playtime Picture-Book” (London: Dean & Sons, 1885-7)–Cultural uplift and a strange dose of the future Edward Gorey
Did anyone notice when Spenser’s and Shakespeare’s Early Modern English became Modern English?
[ … ] “In the mean time, ‘tis a surprizing Reflection, that between what Spencer wrote last [1599?], and Waller first [ca. 1625?], there should not be much above twenty years distance: and yet one’s Language, like the Money of that time, is as currant now as ever; whilst the other’s words are like old Coyns, one must go to an Antiquary to understand their true meaning and value. Such advances may a great Genius make, when it undertakes any thing in earnest. Continue reading Did anyone notice when Spenser’s and Shakespeare’s Early Modern English became Modern English?
Jane Austen and family, “Charades &c.,” London: Spottiswode, [1895]. Want to match wits with the Austens? Try number V
J. David Grey’s large donation to Goucher’s Burke Austen Collection is slowly being processed, and amid the usual editions of “Emma” or “Sense and Sensibility” in Icelandic or Persian which this “completist” collector loved, we also find the occasional small press run edition of Austeniana made expressly for Janeites. In this case, it’s an anonymous collection of charades or riddles, many accompanied by engravings giving clues before the answer key on the final page. Continue reading Jane Austen and family, “Charades &c.,” London: Spottiswode, [1895]. Want to match wits with the Austens? Try number V