Beinecke Osborn c391

Title Untitled
Archive Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Call Number Beinecke Osborn c391
Complete Yes
Description

Anne Dickinson, 1787.

Only considered as a miscellaneous verse manuscript up to p. 146 (/338) because the later section is in different hands, and is dated after 1820. 

95 poems.

Many poems about couples where one of the two dies; very much a women’s manuscript, with themes of love, conduct, friendship, pets etc.

Format Quarto
Book Size 20.5 x 15.7cm
Filled Page Count 131
Item Count 98
Poem Count 95
Periods
First Line Index Yes
Digitized No
Region
Additional Genres List of jury members, Prose, Recipe
Print Sources
Major Themes

Major themes prominent among the manuscript contents in alphabetical order.

Minor Themes

Other themes of interest among the manuscript contents in alphabetical order.

Links
Bibliography
Citation

Beinecke Osborn c391.” Manuscript Verse Miscellanies, 1700–1820, edited by Betty A. Schellenberg, Simon Fraser University, https://mvm.dhil.lib.sfu.ca/manuscript/70. Accessed .

Created 2019-09-04 1:13:44 PM
Updated 2024-03-15 5:51:06 PM
First Line Context Print Source
As those we love decay, we die in part

pg. 64

Local title: n/a

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Cries Celia to a reverend Dean

p. 86

Local title: n/a

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: "Says Celia, to a reverend Dean" rather than "Cries."

Other: n/a

Unknown
Dear Cloe, while the busy croud

p. 17.

Local title: The fireside.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Dear Peggy, since the single state

p. 49.

Local title: Advice to a young lady lately married.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Father of All! in every Age

Page: n/a

Local title: The universal prayer.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
I am monarch of all I survey

pp. 79–81

Local title: Verses Written by Alexander Selkirk in the Year 1707 when on the Island of Juan Fernandes.

Attributed author: Alexander Selkirk.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Lock'd in the arms of balmy sleep

p. 27. 

Local title: Verses written by a gentleman on being awakened in the night by a violent storm of thunder and lightening.

Attributed author: a gentleman.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: Missing the last 8 lines of the poem; last line is "Shrinks in new terrors dead."

Other: n/a

Unknown
The Counsels of a Friend, Belinda, hear

Page: n/a

Local title: Advice to a Lady.

Attributed: The honourable N—.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
The Curfew tolls the Knell of parting Day

Page: n/a

Local title: An elegy.

Attributed author: Thomas Gray.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
The rose had been wash'd, just wash'd in a shower

p. 73

Local title: n/a

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Thee, Mary, with this Ring I wed

Page: n/a

Local title: Verses sent by a gentleman to his lady, with a ring, by the author of those with a knife.

Attributed author: a gentleman.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
To thee dear wife,—and all must grant

p. 76.

Local title: Verses sent by a gentleman to his wife, with a looking glass.

Attributed author: a gentleman.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: First line: To you dear girl, and all must grant...

Other: n/a

Unknown
Where the loveliest expression to features is join'd

p. 11.

Local title: Verses written upon Mrs. Crewe.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Feature Note
Author attributions

Frequent. 

Binding

Pre-bound paperbook. Significant lack of order across volume, items stuffed in, repetitions. The gutter never swallows the text. 

Green binding.

Decorations - hand-drawn

Inside-front-cover beautiful coloured illustration of a house.

Hands

Single in this first section. The manuscript as a whole (including the prose letter inserts) consists of many hands.

Indications of use

J.A. Giles’ note on the inside-front-cover: "Whenever literature or poetry was named, she produced this book." 

Some poems finished on the sides of pages eg. pp. 2, 17, 28 implying that this first section of the book was compiled sporadically, and a little out of order. 

Insert at the bottom of p. 12 (an epigram) seemingly in the same hand but added later to the remaining space on the page in a different colour ink.

Annotations.

pp. 76–97 were used by a child for handwriting practice. 

Item formatting

Lines under some titles.

Lines between items when they don’t end at the end of a page.

Organization

Sequence of three poems about dead pets pp. 115–118.

Original poetry

Yes; poems by Martha Roberts (who is seemingly a cousin), by their uncle, J.B. Dickinson, and others.

Ownership mark

Ownership mark on inside front cover reads “Anne Dickinson’s Book, April 11th: 1787.” 

The book was also used to store letters by Maria Stow from the 1740s, and later, letters to Anna Dickinson in the 1850s. William Dickinson seems to have intended to take over the book in 1828 (PDF p. 170), but died, according to a cataloguer’s note. Someone else (unidentified) (likely a relative of A.D. and W.D.) seemingly took it over for him (PDF pp. 175–­203, 204–207). There is one contribution by Anne Dickinson to this section, mourning William.

Page layout

The first verse miscellany section is paginated 1–81, which is not the complete section.

Title page

Not for the book as a whole or the first section, but there are title pages later on: [PDF p. 170] "William Dickinson's Poetical Common-Place Book. written by him about the year 1828" and [PDF p. 175] "Poetical Common Place Book." Both of these are in different hands, neither of which is that of the compiler of the first verse section.