In writing
about the poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – Paul
Revere’s Ride,
Evangeline, and The Courtship of Miles Standish – I’ve been using an edition of
his poetry published in 1898 by Houghton Mifflin. It’s the illustrated “household edition”
of his complete poems
and, according to the price sheet at the front of the volume, it would have
cost $1.50 when it was published. (I have the non-gilt edition; the gilt-edged
edition would have been $2.00.) That translates to about $42.00 today, and
about $56.00 for the gilt edition.
The first
owner of the book inscribed her name and the date on an inside cover page:
Catherina Gerhard, Christmas 1899. The inscription suggests it was a Christmas
present, and that Catherina was pleased enough with the gift to write her name
inside.
Something
I never noticed before, likely because the book opened to the page with the
name and date, was that the page before it was slightly stuck to the front
cover. I carefully pried it apart, and discovered no additional writing or
inscription, but a visiting card, simply printed with the name “Miss Jenny
Todt.”
To
continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak
Poetry.
Top photograph: The visiting card of Miss Jennie Todt found inside Longfellow's Complete Poems.
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