Added title page, engraved, has imprint: London : W. Pickering ; New-York : C.H. Peabody, 1831., Herman Melville's copy with his manuscript notes. Won by Melville at the Albany Academy in August 1831 as the 1st premium in the 2d class in the 4th dept. Melville's name stamped on the cover in gold and label from Albany Academy awarding him the book on inside front cover. Verses in Melville's hand on front and back fly-leaves. Markings in another hand also., and Imperfect: added title page and frontispiece wanting; p. 179-180 wanting.
Publisher:
C.H. Peabody,
Subject (Name):
Melville, Herman,--1819-1891--Ms. notes and Melville, Herman,--1819-1891--Ownership
Manuscript, in multiple hands, of a collection of about 100 short English verses concerning such subjects as friendship, nature, and deaths of family members. Titles and authors include The Child’s First Grief by Baxter, Walking Out into the Fields by "Miss Anna Maria Porter," and Lines on a Wild Rose, by "Eliza Thomas 18th June 1831." The volume also includes several verses about album-writing, including a preface titled Address to an Album signed "M. B. 1828," The Album’s Petition, and an untitled poem beginning "Write for an album! What a task for me!" by Selina Barker. 27 detailed watercolor and pencil drawings of flowers, birds, butterflies, country views, harbor scenes, and architectural subjects, several of them touched with gilt, are interspersed throughout the volume.
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain --Social life and customs --19th century
Subject (Name):
Barker, Selina, Baxter, Mary, Herbert, George, 1593-1633, Porter, Anna Maria, Southey, Robert, 1774-1843, and Thomas, Eliza
Subject (Topic):
English literature --19th century, English poetry --19th century, Farewells in literature, Friendship --Poetry, Riddles, Sentimentalism in literature, Watercolor painting --19th century --England, and Women authors
Manuscript on paper, in a single hand, containing brief quotations and maxims on approximately 500 primarily moral and philosophical subjects, arranged alphabetically under Latin headings. Sample headings include Ars, Consilio, Deus, Felicitas, Ingratitudo, and Veritas. Under Passio, the author writes, "There is noe heat of Affection but is joyn’d with some Impotence of brain"; under Vita, the author lists "Lives of persons written," including "Of Cowley, by Dr. Sprot, Of Mr. Herbert, Dr. Donne, Sr. Henry Wotton, & Mr. Hooker by Mr. Isaac Walton." The volume also includes commentary on the popes; the derivation of the phrase "Hocus Pocus"; and notes about political figures in Europe.
Description:
Imperfect: errors in pagination; pages 336-339 wanting.
Subject (Geographic):
Europe --Politics and government, Great Britain --Intellectual life --17th century, and Great Britain --Religious life and customs --17th century
18th-century poems, songs, and ballads, by various authors, including some by Alexander Pope (1688-1744), Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), [Richard] Steele (1672-1729), Benjamin Hoadly (1676-1761), Nicholas Howe, and John Wilmot, 2nd earl of Rochester (1647-1680). and Titles included: Quid Nunc, On Mr. Jervise refusing the Lady Sidney a breakfast ... at Bath, The Broken mug by Dean Swift, A petition to His Grace ye Duke of Grafton, His Grace's answer by Dean Swift, On the bench of Judges, An acre on ode ye 16, On a lady who writ in praise of Mira, An apology to my Lady Corbet writ in Ireland.
Autograph manuscript of a collection of didactic material. The manuscript begins with specimens of calligraphy, labeled Courte hande, Chancerie hande, Secretarie hande, cloven hande, curled hand, chayned hand, and Roman hande, as well as examples of writing in reverse and recipes for making ink, red wax, and white letters on black paper. This section is followed by arithmetic tables; measurements and conversions for dry goods as well as salmon, eels, wine, and oil; a sample genealogical chart drawn as a tree; instructions on how to use counters for counting; and a chart of the names of English kings and the years of their reigns up to James I, dated 1607. The bulk of the collection, however, consists of several hundred Latin proverbs on such topics as error, excellence, faith, honor, and ingratitude, followed by English proverbs and admonitions, and then several English proverbs translated into Latin. This section includes excerpts from King James' Basilikon Doron and How to live and that well by William Perkins. These proverbs are followed by "prettie and necessary rules for such as use to deale in merchandize, easy to be had in memorye," and, at the end of the manuscript, genealogical information for the Hill family, beginning in 1568.
Description:
Imperfect: some pages mutilated with loss of text.
Subject (Name):
Hill family, James I, King of England, 1566-1625, and Perkins, William, 1558-1602
Subject (Topic):
Arithmetic--Handbooks, manuals, etc, Calligraphy --England, Children--Conduct of life, English poetry --17th century, Genealogy--England, Proverbs, English, Proverbs, Latin, Recipes--Great Britain, and Weights and measures--England
