1829 · Deerfield, New Hampshire
by Manuscript Library Catalogue
Deerfield, New Hampshire, 1829. Folio Ledger. 330 x 200 mm., [13 x 7 ¾ inches]. [264] pp. Bound in original marbled paper boards, sheep leather spine, pages ruled in red ink. Binding worn, upper hinge broken. Ink marks on pastedowns and free endpapers; ‘Deerfield Library’ inscribed on rear pastedown; some ink blots. Laid in is a scrap paper receipt listing the name of eleven library subscribers.
A founding document of the Social Library of Deerfield, N.H., incorporated on the 15th of June 1805. The ledger opens with a priced “Catalogue of Books Belonging to the Proprietors of the Social Library in Deerfield,” a list that runs to three pages and offers a direct view into American reading practices in the early national period. Standard works of ancient and modern history and philosophy are well represented, as well as American classics of the revolutionary period: Benjamin Franklin’s works, George Washington’s letters, Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia. The fiction listed and mostly English and includes Tobias Smollett’s Roderick Random, Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa Harlowe and The History of Sir Charles Grandison, Lawrence Sterne’s Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho, Frances Burney’s Camilla. Other title of note include Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, James Cook’s Voyages, and Samuel Johnson’s Lives of the Poets.
The library catalogue is followed by over two hundred pages of lending records entered in ink and pencil, spanning twenty-five years. This information is a detailed index of reading tastes and library practices in a small New England town. Almost all of the member of the Social Library were men, but an ‘Anne March’ was one of the original proprietors. The final page of the ledger is titled, “A List of Names o f Proprietors who have Rec’d a Catalogue of Books & By-Laws of the Society Library in Deerfield,” with thirty members listed.
A fascinating survival, worthy of further study. (Inventory #: 1354)
A founding document of the Social Library of Deerfield, N.H., incorporated on the 15th of June 1805. The ledger opens with a priced “Catalogue of Books Belonging to the Proprietors of the Social Library in Deerfield,” a list that runs to three pages and offers a direct view into American reading practices in the early national period. Standard works of ancient and modern history and philosophy are well represented, as well as American classics of the revolutionary period: Benjamin Franklin’s works, George Washington’s letters, Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia. The fiction listed and mostly English and includes Tobias Smollett’s Roderick Random, Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa Harlowe and The History of Sir Charles Grandison, Lawrence Sterne’s Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho, Frances Burney’s Camilla. Other title of note include Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, James Cook’s Voyages, and Samuel Johnson’s Lives of the Poets.
The library catalogue is followed by over two hundred pages of lending records entered in ink and pencil, spanning twenty-five years. This information is a detailed index of reading tastes and library practices in a small New England town. Almost all of the member of the Social Library were men, but an ‘Anne March’ was one of the original proprietors. The final page of the ledger is titled, “A List of Names o f Proprietors who have Rec’d a Catalogue of Books & By-Laws of the Society Library in Deerfield,” with thirty members listed.
A fascinating survival, worthy of further study. (Inventory #: 1354)
(202) 578-4803
