Rare Book Monthly

Articles - July - 2020 Issue

J. Wilson Poucher and Paul Blue Quietly Nearby

J. Wilson Poucher used his days well

Along a walk within the New Paltz Rural Cemetery on Plains Road at New Paltz there are hundreds, I suppose thousands, of stones, some almost 200 years old, randomly time-worn, others resistant, seemingly immune to weathering, determined to carry names and dates and associated relationships into the ages.  Each name has a story.  Many have slipped away, too often, whether their lives were short or glorious, lived alone or in company of family, eventually saw children, grandchildren, friends and neighbors laid down nearby.  Lives are complex but in their endings seem remarkably similar, invariably quiet and still.

 

In that place, once or twice a year, I stop by the monuments and markers of people I knew, whose stories were once in black and white, now greying away, the boy in the 5th or 6th grade who died of an accidental gunshot.  He was a solid kid he was, Paul Blue.  His story is of a life he didn’t live.

 

Nearby in an older section is another stone I know something about:  Poucher.  J Wilson Poucher, a substantial man in his life, 1859-1939.  How does one accomplish so much while another lived so briefly he never blew out the candles on his 12th birthday.  They were very different but both deserving.

 

Their paths crossing at a common place, in Ulster County at the intersection of chance and intention, in the mid-Hudson valley.

 

Paul was a New Paltz kid, a towhead, a future basketball or baseball player.  J. Wilson was an unusual intellect, a Columbia county native whose intelligence was early and often valued.  Teachers saw potential and let him into their schools and academies on reduced terms.  He was a star in the making and went on to Union College, thereafter going on to Albany Medical College where his judgment and steady hand set him apart as potentially a surgeon. 

 

Upon graduation he became a country doctor in April 1883 beginning at the lonely crossroads at Modena that runs east-west and north-south within the town of New Paltz.  He married a local girl that forever connected him to the place, although his life would be led on progressively larger stages.

 

He had a gift for languages and mastered German to be conversant on the emerging science of disease germs, sepsis, and antisepsis.  In 1885 he decamped to Germany to study at Heidelberg, later travelling extensively, and in time assisting many of the great European physicians. 

 

Back home in 1887 Poughkeepsie, facing the Illinois Mountain across the Hudson River, he established a surgical practice at fresh built Vassar Brothers Hospital and was appointed as surgical staff, becoming expert in a broad range of procedures, in time developing the appendectomy as a life-saving procedure.

 

When, in 1898, the Spanish American War began, he offered his services both to Washington and New York State and was commissioned First Lieutenant and Assistant Surgeon and ordered to New York City to assist for recruiting the 201st Regiment.  In time  it became his responsibility to manage 15 surgeons on staff, while what he most learned was to set standards and listen to diverse opinions.  On matters of life and death the definition of success was simply to bring comfort and save and extend life.  He was remarkable.

 

The war past and back home to Poughkeepsie, as surgery was increasingly understood, he then sought for greater complexity as a political being.  His battleground was the Poughkeepsie Common Council and found bribes as common as ticks, neither of which were to his liking.  When defeated he felt only relief.

 

Now a full-fledged success with a broad practice, he then returned to where his European studies were completed 20 years ago, traversing the Atlantic on the S. S. Rhyndam in late spring, to return on the Rotterdam, spending 90 days on the continent and expending a full quarter of his autobiographical account, Reminiscences, to convey his impression of Europe recovering and the feeling entre deux guerres.

 

For a man born in 1859 life expectancy was shy of 50, and as a doctor he knew more than he wanted about death, dissipation and disease.  He saw all that.  So at 65 he began his next career, embracing his intellectual passion; local history.  In medicine, he was methodical and in pursuit of history he would be equally determined and leave a distinguished body of research, continuing to publish into his last year, his works randomly appearing in the Rare Book Hub Transaction Database, as well on Biblio and Abe catch as catch can.

 

J.W. Poucher and Helen W. Reynolds.  Old Gravestones of Dutchess County.  1924

 

Stories of the Wild Flowers.  1931

 

J. W. Poucher B. J. Terwilliger.  Old Gravestones of Ulster County.  1931

 

Reminiscences.  Personal and Professional 1859-1939.  1939

 

And for Paul, a random shot ended his chance.  He was a classmate.  Were he with us today he’d be 74.  I remember and miss him.

 


Posted On: 2020-07-02 00:24
User Name: mairin

A nicely crafted and tender piece, Bruce. The nostalgia and sentiment work nicely in your remembrance of Paul Blue. I admire your continuing loyalty to your roots in New Paltz, New York ~ an essential part of your personal history. (One never forgets such ties.)

Maureen E. Mulvihill, Princeton Research Forum, NJ.
Guest Writer-Researcher, Rare Book Hub.
_____


Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.

Article Search

Archived Articles

Ask Questions