In Praise of Women on International Women’s Day

Tracing women’s lives in the historical record reveals the multitude of ways women have charted their course in the world. There are women who led major endeavors. There are women who flouted conventions. There are women who supported themselves through their work. There are women who followed conventional paths as wives and mothers.

Thanks to Connie King, the Library Company’s Curator of Women’s History, the Library Company has an ongoing project to digitize women’s portraits. Please enjoy this fast-paced slide show of 101 portraits – featuring famous women, infamous women, public personalities, and women known only to their families and friends – all from sources at the Library Company.

In praise of all women, Happy International Women’s Day!

One of our favorite parts about working with special collections is seeing how previous owners interacted with the materials as objects. We found this fabulous #Feathursday feature, dated 1857, while cataloging our copy of The Select Letters of Major Jack Downing (Philadelphia, 1834). Here, the blank leaves bound at the front of the book were used as a drawing pad– thirteen years after the book was published. 

Smith, Seba, 1792-1868. The select letters of Major Jack Downing. Philadelphia: Printed for the Publisher., 1834. xi, [1], 212 p. :  ill. ;  18 cm

Amanda Smith, a Methodist evangelist and missionary, was born enslaved on January 23,1837 in Maryland. She later became one of the first black women international evangelists, living and traveling in England, Ireland, Scotland, India, Liberia, and other countries. She detailed these experiences in her life story: An Autobiography: The Story of the Lord’s Dealings with Mrs. Amanda Smith, the Colored Evangelist (Chicago, 1893). Smith’s portrait was beautifully rendered in gold leaf on the cover, a detail of which is shown here.

Learn about fellowship opportunities in the Library Company’s Program in African American History – Applications due March 1, 2018!

Smith, Amanda. An autobiography. Chicago : Meyer & Brother, 1893.

It’s time for a very #Slytherin edition of #PublishersBindingThursday! There is so much to love about our copy of Bailey’s Festus (Boston, 1847), including that gorgeous striped cloth and amazing serpent detail. This is a true #GiltyPleasure

Browse our database of 19th-century cloth bindings to see more!  

Bailey. Festus : a poem. Boston : Benjamin B. Mussey. 1847. 19 cm x 13 cm x cm       

We’re kicking off Black History Month with Carter G. Woodson, the “Father of Black History”. Woodson received his PhD in history from Harvard University in 1912, and later founded what is now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

His first book, The Education of the Negro prior to 1861, was a groundbreaking, and previously neglected, record of the African American pursuit of education in slavery and freedom during the antebellum era.

Learn about fellowship opportunities in the Library Company’s Program in African American History – Applications due March 1, 2018!

Woodson, Carter Godwin. The education of the negro prior to 1861. New York and London, G. P. Putnam’s sons, 1915. v, 454 p. 21 cm

It’s a #Feathursday edition of #PublishersBindingThursday! Our copy of Browne’s American Poultry Yard (New York, 1850) features a gold-stamped composite image based on several different illustrations from the text. #GreenPublishersBindingThursday

Browse our database of 19th-century cloth bindings to see more!  

Browne, Daniel Jay. The American poultry yard. New York : C. M. Saxton. 1850.  20 cm x 13 cm x 3.5 cm

Library Company research fellow Monica Anke Hahn snapped these shots of a book in our collection, People of All Nations (Philadelphia, 1807).

The text that accompanies the attached picture of the Englishman in this tiny little book (2" x 2.5") reads: 

“An Englishman is accused by foreigners with eating too much.  This man before us looks as if he was a cook, with roast beef, and we wish that every body may live well." 

#LCPFellowFriday #LiveWell

People of all nations : a useful toy for girl or boy. Philadelphia : Jacob Johnson, 1807.  [126] p. :  ill. ;  7 cm. (16mo)

We are enchanted by this stunning publisher’s binding on our copy of A Winter Wreath of Summer Flowers (New York,1855), which features paper onlays in several colors. It’s also enabling our summer daydreams on this winter day! 

Browse our database of 19th-century cloth bindings to see more! 

#GiltyPleasures #PublishersBindingThursday 

Goodrich, Samuel Griswold. A winter wreath of summer flowers. New York : D. Appleton & Co. 1855, [c1854] 

Library Company research fellow Monica Anke Hahn has been transcribing 1762 marginalia by Peter Collinson found in our copy of Maitland’s History of London (1739): 

“Those two nurserys of Vice & Lewdness, Bartholomew Fair kept in Smithfields, Southward Fair kept in the Borough, these had for ages continued to be held for Two Weeks Each, down to my Memory … but growing so notorious for all manner of Wickedness it was often with concern such scenes of Debauchery & Immorality was propagated to the Ruining and undoing the youth of this Great Metropolis.”

Over his years of ownership of History of London, Collinson tipped in numerous additional plates, plans, notes, documents, and clippings, with the last note dated just two years before his death.

Collinson played an enormous role in the life and career of Benjamin Franklin. Not only did Collinson “discover” Franklin, send him scientific equipment for experiments in electricity, and introduce him to members of the Royal Society for the first time, he also served as the first book purchasing agent for the Library Company of Philadelphia, Franklin’s historic experiment in democratizing knowledge. 

You can see a portion of Collinson’s copy of the History of London here.

#LCPFellowFriday 

Maitland, William, 1693?-1757. The History of London.  London [England]: Printed by Samuel Richardson [1739] viii, [8], 800, [14] p., [25] leaves of plates (4 folded) :  ill., maps, coats of arms ;  43 cm (folio)

Our copy of Life of General Scott (New York, 1852) is bound in blue wrappers made from a contemporary package of sewing cotton that was sewn on by a previous owner. #WrapperWednesday

Life of General Scott. [New York] : [A.H. Jocelyn], [1852]