John Brown and the "Secret Six"

150 years ago this week, the radical abolitionist John Brown was hanged for treason after his raid at Harpers Ferry. His views and subsequent execution made him a martyr for many in the North, and Harpers Ferry was one of the sparks that set the fires of the Civil War burning.

Rauner Library holds an extraordinary letter from Thomas Wentworth Higginson written to Brown in November 1859 while he was awaiting execution.  Higginson was a member of the "Secret Six," a group devoted to assisting Brown by raising money for the Harpers Ferry insurrection and, later, money for Brown's family. This letter reports on a visit Higginson paid to Brown's family and obliquely refers to a plot by the "Secret Six" to break Brown out of prison:

"God bless you, my friend. You know us and we know you. We have not given up the hope of seeing you face to face again. But should we never do it, we will not desert your children."

Higginson was the only member of the "Secret Six" not to flee the country after Brown's capture. A 19th-century man-of-letters, he went on to lead an all-black regiment in the Civil War, become editor of The Atlantic Monthly, and, in later years, edit the first edition of Emily Dickinson's Poems.

Ask for Rauner Manuscript 859608 to see the original in Rauner.

Diamonds are Forever

When you think of secret agents, who springs to mind?  For many it's James Bond, Ian Fleming's charismatic spy 007 with his "license to kill."  Diamonds are Forever (London: Jonathan Cape, 1956) is the fourth book in the series and follows Bond's escapades as he tracks down the leaders of a smuggling ring with the assistance of Tiffany Case - the obligatory "Bond girl."  The catch phrase "shaken, not stirred" makes its first appearance here in a dinner scene with Bond and Case.

As with many of the Bond novels, the film adaptation features a radically revised plot and characters.  Ask for Rare Book PR 6056 .L4 D52 1956 to read the original and find out what was changed in the film version.

A French Perspective on the American Revolution

This recently acquired collection of engravings commemorating the American Revolution was published as Recueil d'estampes representant les differents evenemens de las guerre qui a procure l'independance aux Esta unis de l'Amerique (Paris: Ponce & Godefroy, circa 1784). It depicts scenes of battle, highlighting those where French forces played a role and is the first French book to mention the United States in its title. Pictured here is Liberty being ushered in (carrying the banner of Louis XVI and Charles III) at the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

Ironically, our copy once belonged to Caroline, duchesse de Berry.  Caroline lead her own failed rebellion in 1832 against King Louis-Phillipe in an attempt to place her son on the throne. She was arrested and exiled to her native Italy.

American Cookery - Happy Thanksgiving!

The earliest known recipe combining turkey and cranberries appeared in Amelia Simmons' American Cookery: or, the Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry, and Vegetables. And the Best Modes of Making Pastes, Puffs, Pies, Tarts, Puddings, Custards, and Preserves, and All Kinds of Cakes, From the Imperial Plum to Plain Cake. Adapted to This Country and All Grades of Life.  In this first cookbook written by an American for American consumers, Simmons calls for the use of ingredients specific to North America such as cornmeal from American maize. American Cookery also introduced the use of pearlash, an early non-yeast leavening agent and a precursor to baking powder.

This early edition (Walpole, N.H. : Printed for Elijah Brooks, 1812) provides the following recipes for some traditional Thanksgiving dishes.

To Stuff and roast a Turkey or Fowl

One pound soft wheat bread, three ounces beef suet, three eggs, a little sweet thyme, marjoram, pepper and salt, and some add a gill of wine; fill the bird therewith and sew up, hang down to a steady solid fire, basting frequently with butter and water, and roast until a steam emits from the breast, put one third of a pound of butter into the gravy, dust flour over the bird and baste with the gravy; serve up with boiled onions and cranberry sauce, mangoes, pickles or celery.

Pumpkin

No. 1. One quart stewed and strained, three pints milk, six beaten eggs, sugar, mace, nutmeg and ginger, laid into paste No. 7, or 3, cross and chequer it, and bake in dishes three quarters of an hour.

Ask for NH Imprints, Walpole 1812b to see other early American recipes.

Poems and Heaths of New England

After Emily Dickinson's death, her editors, Mabel Loomis Dodge and T. W. Higginson, selected a sampling of her poetry from the voluminous manuscripts she left behind. In their introduction to Poems by Emily Dickinson (Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1890), they described the poet as "a recluse by temperament and habit, literally spending years without setting her foot beyond the doorstep." They graced the cover of the book with a stand of indian pipe flowers stamped in silver. It was an conscious choice meant to convey a specific meaning that helped to establish the popular conception of Emily Dickinson.

This past week we acquired a contemporary description of the indian pipe in the privately printed The Heaths of New England.  Next to a dried specimen of the indian pipe the text, poetical in its own right, states:

Among the dark tall hemlocks this pale herb lifts its flower which is of the same hue as the stem.  Plants which have chlorophyll prepare their food from the crude inorganic elements of the earth and air.  This is therefore a root parasite, living on the juices elaborated by some other plant.

Ask for Val 816 D56L211 to see Dickinson's Poems; White Mountains QK495 E68 H35 1880z for The Heaths of New England.

Winnie-the-Pooh

According to the introduction of A.A. Milne's classic story, Winnie-the-Pooh's name was a hand me down from a swan.  Milne writes "...we took the name with us, as we didn't think the swan would want it anymore.  Well, when Edward Bear said that he would like an exciting name all to himself, Christopher Robin said all at once... that he was Winnie-the-Pooh."

Here is Pooh from the first edition (London: Methuen and Co., 1926) dreaming of Heffalumps and honey.  Ask for Sine Illus S44win to see this favorite.

New Woodcuts at the Hood

Do these two woodcuts constitute the earliest printed image of Jerusalem? Recently acquired by the Hood Museum of Art, the prints are dated to around the 1460s. They are the only known surviving fragments of what was a much larger depiction of the cycle of the Passion, originally composed of twelve sheets measuring about 44 by 44 inches. The images and xylographic inscriptions refer to a number of scenes from the Life of Christ, other saints, and pilgrimage routes. The entire arrangement would have likely served as a visual aid on the walls of a church or convent to guide the viewer on a spiritual journey.

The iconography and identification of specific buildings, as well as the spatial representation of the city, are similar to the images and inscriptions published in the Liber chronicarum, also known as the Nuremberg Chronicle, of 1493—a copy of which can be found in Rauner Library. In each case the Dome of the Rock, the Qubbat as-Sakhrah (completed in 691 C.E.), is inaccurately identified as Solomon’s Temple. The woodcuts can be viewed by students and faculty members at the museum, while the early publication is available in Rauner Library.