Rare Book Monthly

Articles - October - 2016 Issue

Old Books / New Editions. Part I.

- by Maureen E. Mulvihill, Guest Writer & Former Detroiter

Welcome to this first installment in my three-part essay series on new editions of 17th-century women writers. We begin with Stuart courtier and poet-painter, Lady Anne Killigrew (London, 1660-1685). Lady Anne's writings have received three (yes, three) editions in recent years, most recently Margaret J. M. Ezell's Killigrew (Toronto, 2013; cover displayed here). We shall identify the distinguishing features of Lady's Anne elegant poetry-book (1686), and its continuing value among collectors and book historians. We also shall assess the editorial practice and methodologies of the new Ezell Killigrew, and probe some unsettled issues of Lady Anne's biography and authorship. Finally, we shall muse on the likelihood of an authoritative Killigrew in future years. < Click here, for essay >  

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Posted On: 2016-10-07 21:26
User Name: mairin111

7th October 2016.
Posting for Elaine Pfeiffer, Collector. Berlin / NYC.
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Hello, everyone. So it's all eyes on Lady Anne! This essay and Ezell's "Killigrew" are impressive developments from the scholarly end of the book business. Thank you, Rare Book Hub; and thank you, Maureen Mulvihill, for this first essay in your Old Books / New Editions series. Killigrew is an attractive case of a literary novice pressed into a posthumous fame; how much she desired that fame must be sorted out. Hasn't anyone rummaged through the Killigrew and Coleraine papers by now? I don't see that they have (archival excavation must be next). She is one of the least examined of early women poets, so we are grateful for this spectacular essay and its attention to the new edition. Maureen, Harold Love's anthology of Restoration verse (Penguin) ignores several women writers, including Killigrew; and in the excellent anthology, Reading Early Modern Women (Routledge), from Helen Ostovich and Elizabeth Sauer (a brilliant gathering of illustrated 'pages'), Killigrew is under-represented with just one short, but informative, piece on her self-portrait, by Robert Evans. So it's high time that Anne Killigrew receive a new, 21st-century 'face'. Maureen's essay will advance the interests of Killigrew, the new edition, and the Other Voice series from Toronto. Thanks, also, for good information on recent book valuations for Killigrew, plus all the (necessary) images and caption notes. And I like the contexts on book history, book arts, and textual editing (and news of the book's errata). This is a significant essay, not least for its comments on the imperatives of modern scholarly editions. May it be appreciated and widely read. (A price above rubies, Maureen.) ///
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Posted On: 2016-10-08 18:17
User Name: alice185

Many thanks to Rare Book Hub and Maureen Mulvihill. An outstanding essay on Killigrew, which raises good questions about her biography and about the nature of fame for early modern women writers; extrinsic factors such as early death, social class, or activity in multiple artistic or intellectual fields could be powerful drivers of reputation. Thanks also for the comments on the nature of editing, and on the appreciation of the materiality of the original edition. Looking forward to the other essays in the series.
Alice Browne
http://blog.historians.org/2015/05/aha-member-spotlight-alice-browne/

Posted On: 2016-10-11 15:17
User Name: heldridge

Loved this piece, and the images. I'm thankful that Killigrew is getting this attention and that more is surfacing on her brief but impactful life.
D. Heldridge
Collector
San Francisco

Posted On: 2016-10-13 03:20
User Name: mairin111

Anne Killigrew & Jonathan Swift.
We are grateful to Hermann Real, co-director, Ehrenpreis Centre for Swift Studies, Münster, Germany, who, having seen my Killigrew essay, alerted me to Swift's interest in Killigrew, evidently, and the (documentable) fact that Swift's library included a copy of Killigrew's poetry-book of 1686. Many thanks to Dr Real for this important information. He also has requested an inscribed color copy of my Killigrew essay for his Archives at the Swift Centre in Germany. Interestingly, the Swift-Killigrew connection is not mentioned in three (3) recent books on Swift, by Damrosch, Mahony, and Glendinning; nor in 3 editions, to date, of Killigrew's poetry, from Morton, Hoffmann, and Ezell. So an interesting new connection for scholars to investigate. Maureen E. Mulvihill.

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Posted On: 2016-10-13 13:28
User Name: igrundy

It's great to see this kind of detailed scrutiny applied both to the work of an early modern poet and to scholarly treatments of her. Why did Anne Killigrew achieve an immediate posthumous fame which, remarkably, she has succeeded in holding onto? Other girl-poets untimely dead, whose grieving relatives printed their poems, like Grace Gethin and Mary Monck, achieved no such reputation. I'd like to think the reason is the quality of Killigrew's writing. Orlando: Women's Writing in the British Isles (which we are happy to see cited here) calls her "a poet of power and originality." And her painting! Thanks to Maureen Mulvihill for showing us her "Venus Attired by the Graces". This may be an apprentice work, but it is beautiful and striking. If it lived in London instead of at Falmouth in Cornwall it would surely by now grace the covers of several paperback books! And thanks for uncovering the fact that Swift owned a copy of Killigrew's poems. Now, did he buy it or did someone give it to him? And who? The trouble with scholars is that they're never satisfied. Along with the message of thanks comes the message, Give us more!

Rare Book Monthly

  • Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Roberts (David) & Croly (George). The Holy Land, Syria, Idumae, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia. Lond. 1842 - 1843 [-49]. First Edn. €10,000 to €15,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Incunabula: O'Fihily (Maurice). Duns Scotus Joannes: O'Fihely, Maurice Abp… Venice, 20th November 1497. €8,000 to €12,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: An important file of documents with provenance to G.A. Newsom, manager of the Jacob’s Factory in Dublin, occupied by insurgents during Easter Week 1916. €6,000 to €9,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: WILDE (Oscar), 1854-1900, playwright, aesthete and wit. A lock of Wilde’s Hair, presented by his son to the distinguished Irish actor Mícheál MacLiammóir. €6,000 to €8,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Heaney (Seamus). Bog Poems, London, 1975. Special Limited Edition, No. 33 of 150 Copies, Signed by Author. Illus. by Barrie Cooke. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Binding: Burke, Thomas O.P. (de Burgo). Hibernia Dominicana, Sive Historia Provinciae Hiberniae Ordinis Praedicatorum, ... 1762. First Edition. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: COLLINS, Michael. An important TL, 29 July 1922, addressed to GOVERNMENT on ‘suggested Proclamation warning all concerned that troops have orders to shoot prisoners found sniping, ambushing etc.’. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Scott Fitzgerald (F.) The Great Gatsby, New York (Charles Scribner's Sons) 1925, First Edn. €2,000 to €3,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Yeats (W.B.) The Poems of W.B. Yeats, 2 vols. Lond. (MacMillan & Co.) 1949. Limited Edition, No. 46 of 375 Copies Only, Signed by W.B. Yeats. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of the Russian Empire, Description in English and French, Lg. folio London (S. Gosnell) 1803. First Edn. €1,000 to €1,500.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of Turkey, Illustrated by a Series of Engravings. Lg. folio Lond.(T. Bensley) 1802. First Edn. €800 to €1,200.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Mason (Geo. Henry). The Costume of China, Illustrated with Sixty Engravings. Lg. folio London (for W. Miller) 1800. First Edn. €1,400 to €1,800
  • Sotheby’s
    Fine Books and Manuscripts
    8 December 2023
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: [Austen, Jane] — Isaac D'Israeli. Jane Austen's copy of Curiosities of Literature. 100,000 - 150,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition in boards of the author's debut novel. 70,000 - 100,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Brontë, Charlotte. "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me..." 100,000 - 150,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Eliot, George. The author's magnum opus. 25,000 - 35,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Whitman, Walt. Manuscript written upon the Death of Lincoln, 1865. 60,000 - 80,000 USD
  • Sotheby’s
    Important Modern Literature from the Library of an American Filmmaker
    8 December 2023
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Kerouac, Jack. Typescript scroll of The Dharma Bums. Typed by Kerouac in Orlando, Florida, 1957, published by Viking in 1958. 300,000 - 500,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. The autograph manuscript of "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." [Key West, finished April 1936]. 300,000 - 500,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Miller, Henry. Typescript of The Last Book, a working title for Tropic of Cancer, written circa 1931–1932. 100,000 - 150,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Ruscha, Ed. Twentysix Gasoline Stations, with a lengthy inscription to Joe Goode. 40,000 - 60,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. in our time, first edition of Hemingway’s second book. 30,000 - 50,000 USD
  • Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: Samuel Augustus Mitchell, A New Map of Texas, Oregon and California with the Regions Adjoining, Philadelphia, 1846. $3,500 to $5,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: 17th–19th-century case maps of various locations. $1,500 to $2,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Andreas Cellarius, Haemisphaerium Stellatum Boreale Cum Subiecto Haemisphaerio Terrestri, celestial chart, Amsterdam, 1708. $2,500 to $3,500.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: Vincenzo Coronelli, Set of engraved gores for Coronelli’s monumental 42-inch terrestrial globe, Venice, circa 1688–97. $18,000 to $22,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer, group of four navigational charts, Antwerp, 1580s. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Thomas Bros, Block Book of Berkeley, Oakland, 1920s. $800 to $1,200.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: John Nieuhoff & John Ogilby, An Embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, map of China, plan of Canton, London, 1673. $1,200 to $1,800.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Frederick Sander, Reichenbachia, St. Albans, 1888-1894. $5,000 to $7,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Two early illustrated works on horsemanship and breeding, Nuremberg, early 18th century. $700 to $800.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: John Gould, A Monograph of the Ramphastidae, or Family of Toucans. Supplement to the First Edition, London, 1834; 1855. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: John Pinkerton, A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in All Parts of the World, London, 1808–14. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Oakley Hoopes Bailey, Hackensack, New Jersey, Boston, 1896. $800 to $1,200.
  • CHRISTIE’S
    Valuable Books and Manuscripts
    London auction
    13 December
    Find out more
    Christie’s, Explore now
    TREW, Christoph Jacob (1695–1769). Plantae Selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini in hortus curiosorum. [Nuremberg: 1750–1773]. £30,000–40,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    VERBIEST, Ferdinand (1623–88). Liber Organicus Astronomiae Europaeae apud Sinas restituate. [Beijing: Board of Astronomy, 1674]. £250,000–350,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ALICE & NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT. Master of Jean Rolin (active 1445–65). Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, [Paris, c.1450–1460]. £120,000–180,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    A SILVER MICROSCOPE. Probably by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), c.1700. £150,000–250,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    AN ENGLISH HORARY QUADRANT
    C.1311. £100,000–150,000

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