October 2021: Early Twentieth Century Female Authors

The October 2021 meeting surveyed the writings of early 20th century female authors.  Books by American, British, Danish, and Irish writers were presented.  With very little duplication among the members, thirteen different authors were discussed, most of whom had prolific writing careers.  Most of the female writers discussed are easily recognizable literary figures, but a few lesser-known authors who wrote mainly nonfiction were also examined.  Two volumes—presentation copies with inscriptions and an amazing provenance—by one of those unfamiliar authors lead off this survey.

 

Ida Husted Harper (1851 – 1931)

Ida Husted Harper was an American author, journalist, and suffragist.  She is most recognized for her biography of suffragist Susan B. Anthony (1820 – 1906), which Anthony invited her to write.  Harper published the 2-volume The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony in 1898.  Harper published a third volume in 1908, two years after Anthony's death.  Prior to the third volume of Anthony's biography, Harper and Anthony collaborated on a History of Woman Suffrage published in 1902; this book became known as Volume Four.  Following Anthony's death, Harper continued the work, writing Volumes Five and Six (1922) herself.  The six-volume set of The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony in 3 volumes and the History of Woman Suffrage in 3 volumes is collectively considered the complete work.  In addition to Harper and Anthony, the History of Woman Suffrage series was additionally produced by two other prominent suffragists, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Matilda Joslyn Gage.

The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony

Harper, Ida Husted.  The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony.  2 volumes.  Indianapolis and Kansas City: The Bowen-Merrill Company, 1898.  First editions of the original 2-volume biography. Both volumes are inscribed by the subject, Susan B. Anthony, to Sarah M. Gage, daughter of Frances Dana Gage, a notable suffragist, abolitionist, and author.  Anthony inscribed and dated the books on Christmas day, December 25, 1905, two and a half months before her death.  The books were kept in the Gage family, documented by subsequent inscriptions, as Sarah M. Gage later presented them to her sister-in-law, Sarah Sanborn Gage.

Gage family inscriptions

 

Edith Wharton (1862 – 1937)

Edith Wharton (née Jones) was an American novelist and short story writer who published 46 books from 1878 to 1937.  She published 15 novels, 7 novellas, 11 short story collections, 3 poetry books, 9 nonfiction titles including her autobiography, and one anthology as editor.  Wharton's writing often explored themes of social reform and social mores related to the excesses of the Gilded Age.  She was born into an upper-class New York family and drew upon her insider knowledge of "American aristocracy" to portray the lives and morals of the Gilded Age's benefactors.  Her writing dared to lift the lid on the society in which she lived.  Wharton was the first female to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1921 for The Age of Innocence (1920).

The House of Mirth and The Fruit of the Tree

Wharton, Edith.  The House of Mirth.  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914.  A volume from Scribner's uniform collected editions of the works of Edith Wharton.  The House of Mirth was first serialized in Scribner's Magazine beginning in January 1905; it was first published in book form in 1905.  One of her early works about New York high society, Wharton's story sought to critique "a society so relentlessly materialistic and self-serving that it casually destroys what is most beautiful and blameless within it."  Wharton's pastor described it in a letter to her as, "a terrible but just arraignment of the social misconduct which begins in folly and ends in moral and spiritual death."

Wharton, Edith.  The Fruit of the Tree.  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914.  A volume from Scribner's uniform collected editions of the works of Edith Wharton.  First published in 1907, this lesser-known Wharton title stirred much controversy when it came out because of Wharton's blunt treatment of untenable labor conditions and management's concern with maximizing profits.  While a fictional tale, Wharton's psychological and social portraiture raised profound ethical questions about industrial standards and practices of the time.

The Hermit and the Wild Woman and Other Stories and Ethan Frome

Wharton, Edith.  The Hermit and the Wild Woman and Other Stories and Ethan Frome.  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914.  A volume from Scribner's uniform collected editions of the works of Edith Wharton.  The Hermit and the Wild Woman and Other Stories was first published in 1908.  Wharton's fourth short story collection contains seven morality stories and showcases her ability to write vastly different characters from story to story.  The novella Ethan Frome was first published in 1911.  It is a study in suffering which raises difficult moral questions about the "American economic and cultural realities that produced and allowed such suffering."

The Children

Wharton, Edith.  The Children.  New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1928.  Third printing.  The Children tells of seven stepsiblings escaping the constant back-and-forth shuttling between their parents.  They flee under the watchful eye of the eldest sister and their protective nanny when they stumble into a chance encounter with a traveling stranger who happens to be an acquaintance of the children's parents.  This later Wharton novel continues themes of abandonment, pseudo-adoption or family adoption, and family secrets found in her earlier works.

This copy of The Children came from the Robert McNamara estate and Diana Byfield McNamara book collection.

 

Willa Cather (1873 – 1947)

Wilella Sibert Cather was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet known for her stories of life on the Great Plains.  She published 16 books in her lifetime, including 2 poetry collections, 12 novels, and 4 short story collections.  A fifth collection of short stories was completed and submitted before her death but published posthumously.  Two additional volumes of collected stories were published later.  Cather won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1923 for One of Ours (1922); she was the second woman to win the prize, behind Edith Wharton.

My Antonia

Cather, Willa.  My Antonia.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1918.  First Editions Library facsimile edition, with slipcase.  The story as originally written by Cather was repeatedly rejected by potential publishers.  Cather's editor at McClure's Magazine suggested she rewrite it from the main character's viewpoint.  Cather asserted she chose to write it in first-person narration because she believed stories portraying deep emotion were most effectively narrated by a character in the story.  The 1918 edition opens with a conversation between an author-narrator—presumably Cather herself—and an older version of the main character, Jim Burden, before Jim's first-person narration begins.  Cather later agreed with the publisher to cut that introduction from the 1926 revised edition and subsequent printings.

 

Karen Blixen / "Isak Dinesen" (1885 – 1962)

Karen Christenze von Blixen-Finecke (née Dinesen) was a Danish author who wrote works in Danish and English.  Her earliest works in Danish, written in her early 20s, were published under the pen name Osceola; she published her first work using her given name in 1926.  For her works written in English, she used the pseudonym Isak Dinesen.  She also used the pseudonyms Tania Blixen in German-speaking countries and Pierre Andrézel for French.  In addition to her first four works published in Danish literary journals, Blixen published 7 books in her lifetime.  Four more books were published posthumously, as were three other collections of previously unpublished writings.

Last Tales and Ehrengard

Dinesen, Isak.  Last Tales.  New York: Random House, 1957.  The 12 short stories in this collection were written over a span of about 20 years while Blixen was also attempting to write a novel, which was never published, and three other short story collections.  She began compiling stories in 1953 though the book was not published until 1957.  The stories in Last Tales were originally written in English; Blixen translated them into Danish herself for concurrent publication as Sidste fortællinger.

Dinesen, Isak.  Ehrengard.  New York: Random House, 1963.  The first posthumously published Dinesen book, released shortly after her death.  The story was reportedly written during the summer of 1962, months before Blixen's death.  The publisher of the Italian translation described it as being "written in a prodigious Saint Martin's summer by the old and sick Blixen, on the threshold of death."  Then again, that same Italian publisher also thought Isak Dinesen was a man!

 

"Marjorie Bowen" (1885 – 1952)

Margaret Gabrielle Vere Long (née Campbell) was a British author who wrote exclusively under pseudonyms, publishing 160 books during her lifetime.  She wrote 114 books as Marjorie Bowen consisting mostly of historical romances, popular history, and biography.  Under the pen name Jospeh Shearing, she published 17 mystery novels inspired by true-life crimes.  Under the alias George Preedy, she published 27 non-supernatural horror novels; and, as Robert Paye she published 2 novels of supernatural fiction.

The Viper of Milan

Bowen, Marjorie.  The Viper of Milan: A Romance of Lombardy.  London: The Bodley Head, 1960.  With an introductory note by Graham Greene.  Bowen's first novel, The Viper of Milan, was first published in 1906.  It was written when she was 16 years old but not published until she was 21.  The story is set in Renaissance Italy during the 14th century and fictionalizes the brutal rivalry of the Duke of Milan and the Duke of Verona.  The book was repeatedly rejected by publishers who considered it inappropriate for a young woman to have written such a violent historical novel.  Once published, it became a best-seller and established Bowen as a successful author.

As one of the directors of The Bodley Head, Graham Greene advocated for the publisher to obtain the rights and republish The Viper of Milan.  The new edition was published in 1960, eight years after Bowen died.  Green often explained when asked about influential writers that he did not consider books read as an adult to be influential to the writer, but books read at a young age held considerable influence.  In his introductory note to this new edition, Greene writes that Bowen's novel, which he pulled from the library shelf and read at the age of fourteen, was the source of his ambition to become a writer.

Bookplate of Rolland Comstock

This copy of The Viper of Milan came from the library of book collector Rolland Comstock and bears his bookplate.

 

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 – 1950)

Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American poet, playwright, and performance artist.  She published 15 books of lyrical poetry and performed readings of her poetry to audiences across the country.  Several other poetry collections were published posthumously.  She was short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1921, and won the award in 1923, becoming the third woman to win the prestigious poetry prize.  She also wrote four plays in verse as well as the libretto for The King's Henchman, an opera in three acts.  She published her prose under the pseudonym Nancy Boyd, resisting lucrative offers to publish her novels under her own name.  Humorously, Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote the preface to one of Nancy Boyd's books, Distressing Dialogues (1924):

Miss Boyd has asked me to write a preface to these dialogues, with which, having followed them eagerly as they appeared from time to time in the pages of Vanity Fair, I was already familiar.  I am no friend of prefaces, but if there must be one to this book, it should come from me, who was its author's earliest admirer.  I take pleasure in recommending to the public these excellent small satires, from the pen of one in whose work I have a never-failing interest and delight.

Fatal Interview and Conversation at Midnight

Millay, Edna St. Vincent.  Fatal Interview: Sonnets.  New York: Harper & Brothers, 1931.  Second printing.  Millay's seventh poetry collection, Fatal Interview was her first collection consisting solely of sonnets.

Millay, Edna St. Vincent.  Conversation at Midnight.  New York: Harper & Brothers, 1937.  Stated first edition.  Millay wanted Conversation at Midnight to be read and thought of as a play, not a narrative poem; today it is most often simply described as a narrative poem.  The original manuscript was lost in a hotel fire and Millay had to reconstruct it from memory.

 

Dorothy L. Sayers (1893 – 1957)

Dorothy Leigh Sayers was a British novelist, poet, playwright, and classics translator.  She first wrote poetry before turning to crime stories and murder mysteries.  In the late 1930s, she abruptly stopped writing detective fiction and began writing religious essays and plays as well as translations of the works of Dante.  She published 65 books in her lifetime, including: 16 novels; 4 poetry collections; 6 stage plays, 4 radio plays, and 1 screenplay; 3 short story collections plus 4 edited anthologies; 6 English translations of classic works; and 21 nonfiction titles. 

The Man Born to Be King

Sayers, Dorothy.  The Man Born to Be King.  London: Victor Gollancz, 1943.  Contains the 12 plays which made up The Man Born to Be King: A Play-Cycle on the Life of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, a twelve-episode radio series broadcast on BBC from December 1941 to October 1942.  The book also contains an introduction by the author, production and casting notes, and a foreword detailing the history of the production and the controversy it stirred.  Sayers's introduction is an apologetic for both the theology and the structure of the play-cycle.

 

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1896 – 1953)

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was an American author who lived in, and wrote about, rural Florida.  In her lifetime, she published five novels, a memoir along with a corresponding cookbook, and one short story collection.  She also published around two dozen short stories in serial publications and literary journals.  Her short story "Gal Young Un" won the O. Henry Award for short stories of exceptional merit in 1932, and her novel The Yearling won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1939.  Posthumously, two more books were published.  The Secret River, a children's book, was published in 1955 and received a Newbery Honor in 1956.  An unpublished autobiographical novel, Blood of My Blood, penned in 1928 in response to a writing contest, was discovered in 1988 and published in 2002.

The Yearling

Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan.  The Yearling.  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1938.  First edition, thirteenth printing.  Rawlings's fourth novel, The Yearling was released in March 1938 and was an immediate commercial success.  It was selected for the April Book of the Month Club and sold over 250,000 copies by year's end.  It was the best-selling novel in America in 1938, as determined by Publisher's Weekly.  It ranked seventh best the following year, when it won the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Author signature

This copy is signed by the author on the front free end paper.

 

Elizabeth Bowen (1899 – 1973)

Elizabeth Bowen was an Irish novelist and short story writer.  She published 29 books during her lifetime, including 10 novels, 10 short story collections, and 9 works of nonfiction.  She is best remembered for her fiction about life in wartime London.  Bowen was regarded as a thoughtful writer.  She said she was interested in "life with the lid on and what happens when the lid comes off," to describe the irrepressible forces that transform human experience.  She wrote about the "innocence of orderly life" but also had a penchant for writing ghost stories.  After her death, three more short story collections were published which included previously unpublished stories.

Why Do I Write?

Bowen, Elizabeth, Graham Greene, and V. S. Pritchett.  Why Do I Write?: An Exchange of Ideas Between Elizabeth Bowen, Graham Greene, and V. S. Pritchett.  London: Percival Marshall, 1948.  With a Preface by V. S. Pritchett.  Given her reputation as a thoughtful writer, Bowen collaborated with Greene and Pritchett to address the question of the responsibility of the writer to society.  In a series of letters from each author to the other two—with everyone being included in all correspondence—they ponder the role of the writer in society: Do they have special duties? Or obligations? Or privileges? What is their social function?  One point on which the authors agree is that writers bear a responsibility to tell the truth.  Bowen concludes the interchange with the final letter, warning that writers must resist society's seeming "determination to make oracles out of writers light-headed with exhaustion."  Writers cannot maintain society's demand of a constant public life; rather, "the writer needs to re-charge his batteries by private living."  The most society should ask of the writer, Bowen concludes, is simply her/his demeanor.

 

Vivien Greene (1904 – 2003)

Vivien Greene (née Dayrell-Browning) was a British writer and a renowned collector of 18th and 19th century dolls' houses.  She published her first book, a poetry collection, in 1921 at the age of 15.  Later, she published three books on English doll's houses: English Dolls' Houses of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (1955); Family Dolls' Houses (1973); The Vivien Greene Dolls' House Collection (1995).  In 2006, the Bodleian Library posthumously published a short story she wrote for her husband, Graham Greene.

The Little Wings

Dayrell, Vivienne.  The Little Wings: Poems and Essays.  Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1921.  With an Introduction by G. K. Chesterton.  Because of the author's age, the book bears a note written by her mother stating in part, "All of the work of my young daughter contained in this first collection of her verse is original and has been written without aid of any kind… Vivienne's present age is 15½ years."

In 1921, Vivienne Dayrell (or Dayrell-Browning, as her mother preferred) published her first book, a small collection of poetry and short essays, with Basil Blackwell.  In 1925, she was working for the publisher when it published another aspiring poet's first collection of verse.  Vivienne wrote to the newly-published poet—one published author to another—to commend him on his book, Babbling April.  Their continued correspondence progressed to a romantic relationship and in 1927 Vivien (her now-preferred spelling) married Graham Greene.

Laurel for Libby

Greene, Vivien.  Laurel for Libby: A Tale with Cuts.  Oxford: Bodleian Library, 2006.  Facsimile edition of a small story book written for Graham Greene by his wife, Vivien, on the occasion of their tenth wedding anniversary.  In September 1937, Vivien had a dream about a mysteriously long-lived cat which lived 75 years through several generations of the same family.  Vivien wrote out the dream and worked with a local book binder to select the paper and materials to copy the manuscript and her own handmade block cut illustrations into a bound book.  She completed the sole copy of the story just in time to present it to Graham on their tenth wedding anniversary on October 15, 1937.  The lone manuscript remained in Vivien's possession until her death in 2003; the book now resides at the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford.

 

Lillian Hellman (1905 – 1984)

Lillian Hellman was an American playwright, author, and screenwriter known for her successful Broadway plays.  She authored 11 plays and 7 screenplays.  She received one Tony Award nomination for Best Play for Toys in the Attic (1960) and one Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Little Foxes (1941), becoming the first female screenwriter to receive an individual Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.  Hellman co-wrote the book for the operetta Candide, having originally conceived the idea of adapting Voltaire's novella into a play with incidental music.  Hellman also wrote a novel and 4 memoirs which focused mainly on her colorful lifestyle and passing acquaintances during her thirty-year relationship with Dashiell Hammett.  Her memoirs were criticized as being less than accurate; novelist Mary McCarthy said of them, "every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the'."

Four Plays by Lillian Hellman

Hellman, Lillian.  Four Plays by Lillian Hellman.  New York: The Modern Library (Random House), 1942.  With an introduction by the author.  Includes her first four plays: The Children's Hour (1934); Days to Come (1936); The Little Foxes (1939); Watch on the Rhine (1941).

 

Eudora Welty (1909 – 2001)

Eudora Alice Welty was an American short story writer, novelist, and essayist who wrote about the American South.  She published 21 books, including 12 short story collections, 6 novels, and 3 essay collections.  Best known for her short stories, she published her first collection in 1936, and won the O. Henry Award for short stories of exceptional merit on four occasions (1941, 1942, 1943, and 1968).  She also received the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Optimist's Daughter, and the 1983 National Book Award for The Collected Works of Eudora Welty.  Welty was the first living author to have her works published by the Library of America.

The Robber Bridegroom

Welty, Eudora.  The Robber Bridegroom.  New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1942.  The novella is inspired by, and loosely based on, a Grimm fairy tale of the same name.  Welty's The Robber Bridegroom is a Southern folk tale set in Mississippi along the Natchez Trace, and fairy tale characters are reimagined in the Old South as flatboatmen, river bandits, plantation planters, and Southern belles.

 

Flannery O'Connor (1925 – 1964)

Mary Flannery O'Connor was an American short story writer, novelist, and essayist.  She is known as both a Southern writer for her Southern Gothic style and a Catholic writer for the theological and ethical themes explored in her work.  She published two short story collections and two novels during her short lifetime.  Posthumously, seven books were published under her name, including previously unpublished prose, a collection of her letters, a collection of book reviews, a prayer journal, and a complete collection of her short stories.  The Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, established in 1983 and named in her honor, is an annual prize awarded by the University of Georgia Press for a collection of short stories or novellas.

The Complete Stories

O’Connor, Flannery.  The Complete Stories.  New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971.  This posthumously published short story collection comprises all the stories published in A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories (1955) and Everything That Rises Must Converge (1965) plus several previously unpublished stories.  The collection won the 1972 National Book Award for Fiction.

A Prayer Journal

O’Connor, Flannery.  A Prayer Journal.  New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013.  With an Introduction by W. A. Sessions.  This posthumously published journal was discovered among O'Connor's papers now held at the University of Georgia.  The journal entries were written between 1946 and 1947 while she was a college student at the University of Iowa.  The journal shows the inseparable nature of her desire to be a writer and her yearning to know God.

Introducer's signature

This copy is signed on the title page by William A. Sessions, who wrote the introduction.  Sessions, an author and biographer, is known for his writing about, and relationship with, O'Connor.

September 2021: The Roman Empire

The Roman Empire ruled the September 2021 meeting.  Covering large spans of both geography and time, the topic provided an opportunity to show a wide range of books, from classic texts to modern retellings.  From ancient Rome to medieval Britain to Reformation France, the books presented emphasized the influence of the Roman Empire and its continued impact following its decline.  Members offered works of mythology, theology, and history.  The books are arranged here in categories of primary texts, reference and nonfiction, and historical fiction and modern retellings.

Primary Texts

Ashen Sky

Gilman, Benedicte.  Ashen Sky: The Letters of Pliny the Younger on the Eruption of Vesuvius.  Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2007.  Illustrated by Barry Moser.  Gilman translates the two letters written by Pliny the Younger (61 – c. 113 CE), a lawyer and magistrate of Rome, to Cornelius Tacitus (c. 56 – c. 120 CE), a historian and politician, about the death of his uncle, Pliny the Elder (c. 23 – 79 CE), a philosopher and provincial governor, and about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE.  Gilman also introduces the letters and provides information about the volcanic eruption, biographical sketches of the writer, recipient, and subject of the letters, and the history of the letters' survival.  Moser illustrates Pliny's descriptions in the letters with black-and-white relief engravings.

The City of God

Augustine, 354-430.  The City of God.  Translated by Marcus Dods.  New York: The Modern Library (Random House), 1977.  Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430 CE) wrote The City of God in response to allegations that Christianity was responsible for the decline and fall of Rome.  Theodosius I, emperor from 379 to 395 CE, issued the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 CE, which established Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire.  Thirty years later, in 410 CE, the sack of Rome by the Visigoths resulted in a backlash against Christianity by many Romans, who saw the city's fall as a punishment for abandoning the traditional Roman religion, paganism, in favor of the Catholicism of the Nicene Christians.  Augustine wrote The City of God arguing that Christianity was not responsible for the sack of Rome; instead, Christianity was responsible for the success of Rome.  It was written not only in response to the criticism of the pagans but also to console Christians during this stressful time.  Augustine claimed the book's message was primarily spiritual, not political, despite the context in which it was written.  He contended even if the earthy Empire was imperiled, the City of God would ultimately prevail; he asserted his focus was on the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, rather than the earthly politics of Rome. 

Written in Latin, Augustine completed De civitate Dei contra paganos (On the city of God against the pagans) in 426 CE, sixteen years after the sack of Rome.  The book was first translated into English by John Healey in 1610.  It was again translated by Marcus Dods (1834 – 1909), a biblical scholar and minister of the Free Church of Scotland, and first published in 1871; Dods credited George Wilson and J. J. Smith with translating some sections of the book.  Dod's translation was first republished by The Modern Library with a new introduction by Thomas Merton in 1950.  This copy is a reset issue of the 1950 edition, issued May 12, 1977. 

The History of the Kings of Britain

Geoffrey of Monmouth.  The History of the Kings of Britain.  London: Folio Society, 1984.  A pseudohistorical account of British history, Geoffrey's work chronicles the kings of the Britons over roughly two thousand years.  The work was widely popular and considered historically accurate well into the 17th Century.  Though its historical accuracy has been discounted, the work retains significance as medieval literature.  Written around 1136 and originally titled Historia regum Britanniae in Latin, the book contains the early known version of the King Lear story as well as early Arthurian legend.  Book Four of The History of the Kings of Britain covers the Roman rule of Britain beginning with the invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar and ending with the death of Constantine.  While some of the events described by Geoffrey are corroborated by contemporary histories, many more accounts are outrageously inaccurate.

Douay-Rheims Roman Catholic version of the Bible, in
3 volumes: Old Testament, books 1 and 2; New Testament

Martin, Gregory.  The New Testament of Jesus Christ, Translated Faithfully into English out of the Authentical Latin.  Rhemes: John Fogny, 1582.  Roman Catholic Version, or Douay–Rheims Bible.  New Testament.

Martin, Gregory.  The Holie Bible, Faithfully Translated into English out of the Authentical Latin.  Doway: Laurence Kellam, 1609.  Roman Catholic Version, or Douay–Rheims Bible.  Old Testament, Volume One: Genesis through Job.

Martin, Gregory.  The Second Tome of the Holie Bible, Faithfully Translated into English out of the Authentical Latin.  Doway: Laurence Kellam, 1610.  Roman Catholic Version, or Douay–Rheims Bible.  Old Testament: Volume Two: Psalms through Malachi.

Title pages of the Douay-Rheims Roman Catholic version of the Bible

One of the most important and enduring actions by the Protestants at the beginning of the Reformation era was to translate the Bible into the language of the people so that they could read and interpret it for themselves.  The Roman Catholic Church for centuries had recognized the Latin Bible only as the true Word of God and left it to the clergy to interpret it to the people who were not able to read it for themselves.  When the Protestant reign of Queen Elizabeth was restored after the Roman Catholic tenure of "Bloody" Mary, a number of English Catholic leaders immigrated to France and established a seminary in the city of Rheims to educate their ministers to restore the Catholic Church in England after the Reformation antics were over.  

Amazingly, the Catholic leaders in Rheims received permission from the Pope to prepare a translation of the Latin Bible into English.  One of their professors, Gregory Martin, was authorized to do the translation, and the New Testament was completed in 1582, though the Old Testament was not published until 1609-10 after the seminary had moved to the city of Douai.

The Roman Catholic version never achieved the popular endorsement of the people.  The Catholics had been taught for centuries that the Latin Bible was the only true Scripture and would not consider an English translation, and the Protestants found amusement in many of the unusual renderings, once referring to it as "a translation in need of translation."  Consider this verse from the popular 23rd Psalm: "Thou hast fatted my head with oil, and my chalice inebriating, how goodly is it!"  

Psalm 23 (22 in the Roman Catholic version)

As in the Protestant Bible with its anti-Catholic annotations, the Rheims/Douai version was equally anti-Protestant: "One cannot serve God and mammon, Christ and Calvin, the true church and heretical conventicles."  Later editions made improvements over these first printings, especially the revision by Richard Challoner, but the Roman Catholic version never achieved the recognition and respect which the Protestant versions, particularly the Authorized "King James" Bible, enjoyed.

Reference and Nonfiction

Rome and The Roman Empire

Fowler, W. Warde.  Rome.  Second edition, revised by Martin Percival Charlesworth.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1952.  Reprint.  Volume 42 of The Home University Library of Modern Knowledge.  Fowler offers an overview of the development and growth of the Roman Empire.  The majority of the work focuses on the Republic, the period in which Rome was led by a representative government; minor attention is given to the Principate, when the republic was transformed into an emperor-run government.  First published by Fowler in 1912, a second edition was revised by Charlesworth in 1947 for the Home University Library series.

Charlesworth, Martin Percival.  The Roman Empire.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1954.  Volume 219 of The Home University Library of Modern Knowledge.  Charlesworth describes the everyday life of Roman citizens in the first three centuries of the Empire, covering the reigns of Augustus through Constantine (27 BCE – 337 CE).  He depicts the living and work conditions, prevailing thoughts, and benefits and protections afforded by Roman citizenship.  Charlesworth argues life in imperial Rome was generally peaceful and stable during the first two centuries, but this standard of living waned in the third century, following the reign of Caracalla (198 – 217 CE).

The Home University Library of Modern Knowledge was a series of popular non-fiction books that ran to over 200 volumes. The first volume was published in 1911.  The series was bought out by Oxford University Press in 1928 and continued under that name until 1966.

Roman Britain

Richmond, Ian.  Roman Britain.  London: William Collins, 1947.  From the Britain in Pictures series (#113 of 126 titles), published from 1941 to 1948.  Richmond was an archaeologist and Professor of the Archaeology of the Roman Empire at the University of Oxford.  He also held simultaneous posts at the British School at Rome, the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, and the Society of Antiquaries of London.  Using antiquities and artifacts excavated at archaeological sites in Britain, Roman Britain provides a history of Britain in the Roman period, focusing on the period 55 BCE to 449 CE.  Richmond's history is complemented by 8 color plates and 22 black-and white images, illustrations, and maps.  Richmond expanded this popular essay into a much larger book of the same title in 1955.

The Britain in Pictures series was published from 1941 to 1948, consisting of 126 printed titles (out of 132 intended books).  The purpose of the series was to tell a social history of Britain to instill a sense of pride in its citizens during and after World War II.  Seeking to maintain a sense of national identity, the series sought to celebrate Britain's contributions to the arts, sciences, industry, and culture.  Michael Carney, a bibliographer of the series, called it "the best kind of propaganda."  Many of the books were written by popular authors of the time including George Orwell, Cecil Beaton, Edith Sitwell, Graham Greene, John Betjeman, Vita Sackville-West, and Elizabeth Bowen.

Historical Fiction and Modern Retellings

I, Claudius

Graves, Robert.  I, Claudius.  New York: Random House, 1961.  Book Club edition.  First published in 1934, this historical novel is written in the form of an autobiography of the fourth Roman emperor, who ruled from 41 to 54 CE.  The novel tells the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, which consisted of the first five emperors of Rome: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero.  While a work of fiction, Graves draws from historical accounts of contemporaneous Roman historians Suetonius and Tacitus.  I, Claudius was followed by a sequel, Claudius the God, in 1935.  I, Claudius won the 1934 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction.

The Dark Island

Treece, Henry.  The Dark Island.  New York: Random House, 1952.  First edition.  "A distinguished historical novel of the dawn of Britain," The Dark Island is part of the author's Celtic Tetralogy.  The story is set in first century Britain and situated in the time of Caratacus (c. 10 – c. 50 CE), a British chieftain of the Catuvellauni tribe, who resisted the Roman conquest of Britain.  Treece's fictional story follows the context of the defeat of Caratacus by the Romans after the invasion.  Treece portrays Celtic Britain as a dark and violent world before the "civilizing" influence of Rome; the Romans, however, are not the heroes, as the theme of this story is the notion of holding on to ideals in the face of overwhelming forces.

Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes

Riordan, Rick.  Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes.  New York: Hyperion Publishing, 2015.  Illustrated by John Rocco.  Dubbed the "storyteller of the gods," Rick Riordan refreshingly retells the myths and legends of the ancient Greek gods and heroes.  Told in the voice of Percy Jackson, the author's modern fictional character and narrator, ancient Greek mythology is reimagined in the modern world.  The Greek gods, for example, live atop the Empire State Building but humans cannot see the additional floors.  Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes retells the legends of the Greek heroes Perseus, Psyche, Phaethon, Otrera, Daedalus, Theseus, Atalanta, Bellerophon, Cyrene, Orpheus, Hercules, and Jason.  This title is a companion to Percy Jackson's Greek Gods (2014), which similarly retells the myths of Zeus, Hestia, Demeter, Persephone, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Athena, Aphrodite, Ares, Hephaestus, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, and Dionysus.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Ultimate Guide

Knight, Mary-Jane.  Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Ultimate Guide.  New York: Hyperion Publishing, 2009.  With trading cards (9 cards).  The Ultimate Guide is a novelty companion book to Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.  The handbook is a fully illustrated guide to the gods, heroes, and monsters of the Percy Jackson universe of Greek mythology.  The manual-style book features a flap enclosure with a magnetic clasp containing trading cards, diagrams, and maps.

The Ultimate Guide trading cards

August 2021: Temperance and Prohibition

Temperance and Prohibition served as the topic for the August 2021 meeting.  Members presented books both related to the Temperance Movement and written about or during Prohibition.  A driving force behind the Temperance Movement was a conservative Christian ideology devoted to moral reform, and several religious books—on both sides of the alcohol debate—were shown.  These texts relied heavily on Scripture to justify their positions on the consumption of alcohol.

While the Bible—or, more accurately, particular interpretations of the Bible—informed and influenced the Temperance movement, it is important to note that the temperance movement also influenced new, contemporary English translations of the Bible.  Several Bible translations which pay special attention to alcohol were shown.

Non-religious books, both in support and critical of temperance and Prohibition, were also shown, as were several more recent works of fiction set during the temperance movement or Prohibition.

Religious Books

Six Sermons on... Intemperance
Title pages of 2nd edition (left) and 10th edition (right)

Beecher, Lyman.  Six Sermons on the Nature, Occasions, Signs, Evils, and Remedy of Intemperance.  Boston: Printed by T. R. Marvin, 1827.  Second Edition (meaning printing).

Beecher, Lyman.  Six Sermons on the Nature, Occasions, Signs, Evils, and Remedy of Intemperance.  New York: American Tract Society, 1838.  Tenth Edition (meaning printing).

Six Sermons on the Nature, Occasions, Signs, Evils, and Remedy of Intemperance was one of the most influential religious tracts on temperance during the movement.  Beecher published the tract following the delivery of a series of sermons on the topic at his church in Litchfield, Connecticut, where public intoxication was a growing concern and where a formal meeting of the town's clergy, including Beecher, vowed to stand against it.  It was first published in 1826, privately printed by T. R. Marvin in Boston.  Copies of the sermons were sent throughout the country and were quickly reprinted by various tract societies.  The book was translated into several languages and became popular in Europe, also.  It remained constantly in print for nearly 50 years.

Lyman Beecher (1775 – 1863) was a prominent, influential Congregationalist pastor in Connecticut, where congregationalism was the established religion of the state.  During that time, Beecher publicly feuded with protestants, defending Puritan orthodoxy and the established state church.  Congregationalism was disestablished as the official church of the state of Connecticut in 1818, however, and Beecher countered that the disestablishment created a greater need for active and zealous clergy in society.  Beecher, therefore, embraced that which he once so vehemently opposed—protestant evangelicalism—citing its focus on moral reform.  It was during this time that Beecher became a leading voice of the temperance movement and wrote Six Sermons on... Intemperance.

Beecher fathered eleven children, including Harriet Beecher Stowe, the temperance writer, abolitionist, and author of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

The Holy Bible Repudiates "Prohibition"

Brown, George G.  The Holy Bible Repudiates Prohibition. Compilation of All Verses Containing the Words "Wine" or "Strong Drink," Proving that the Scriptures Commend and Command the Temperate Use of Alcoholic Beverages.  Louisville, KY: George G. Brown, 1910.  In the preface, the author identifies as a Kentucky "whiskey merchant and manufacturer" and defends his Christian upbringing and devotion in regard to his chosen profession.  He then sets out to quote and comment on every verse in the Bible—220 in total—which contains the word "wine" or "strong drink."  He offers a commentary on each—sometimes as short as one sentence, others as long as several pages—usually in which he gives the context of the verse or an interpretation which tries to conform the passage to his thesis that Scripture does not prohibit the consumption of alcohol but rather commends and even commands it.  Brown conveniently omits other biblical passages which mention drinking or drunkenness—which he readily admits—because his argument is narrowly focused only on the references to "wine" and "strong drink."

In a 26-page essay titled "Reflections" following his evidence of the use of the words "wine" and "strong drink," Brown sets forth his argument against prohibition.  He begins with a premise that the duty of the church is to combat sin, while civil government is responsible for the regulation of society.  He then weaves a theological argument for free will with a political argument for freedom of religion to counter what he calls the "religious fanaticism" of the proponents of prohibition and their "false doctrine."  Civil government, Brown argues, must reject this religious fanaticism and continue to "guarantee to individuals the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," which includes the freedom to consume alcohol (in moderation).

Bibles

Many translations and interpretations of the Bible seek to address contemporary issues, and temperance is no exception.  Several translators sought to address alcohol consumption in their translations and interpreted select passages to conform to a temperance ideology.  A key passage which serves as a good test of a translator's intention is John 2.  The passage on the wedding at Cana tells the story of the first miracle performed by Jesus in John's account of Jesus's public ministry; this is the story in which Jesus turns water into wine.  How translators treat this passage—either in their translation of the text or in notes about the verse—is an indicator of their position.  For each of the Bibles presented, the translator's work on John 2 is highlighted.

Family Bible: The New Testament

Edwards, Justin.  Family Bible. The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. With Brief Notes and Instructions. Containing the References and Marginal Readings of the Polyglot Bible.  New York: American Tract Society, 1851.  Justin Edwards was born in 1787 in Westhampton, Massachusetts, ordained a minister in Boston in 1812, and in 1825 organized the American Society for the Promotion of Temperance.  He was honored with an honorary doctorate from Yale in 1827 and spent the rest of his life traveling and speaking against alcohol consumption.

Title page of Family Bible: The New Testament

In his notes on the wedding feast at Cana (John 2), he argues that after the water-pots were filled with water, instead of turning all the contents into wine, Jesus only turned the water taken out of the kegs into wine; he notes, "that which was drawn out was made wine, but whether that which remained was, we are not told."  He also notes that "good wine was that which was destitute of spirit," and "that the best wine is harmless; that the most useful, which has the least strength; and that the most wholesome, in which nothing was added to the juice of the grape.”

Notes on John 2

The Christian's Bible: New Testament

LeFevre, George Newton.  The Christian’s Bible. New Testament. A Translation from the Greek, Chiefly of the Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus; These Being the Oldest and Most Complete MSS. of the New Testament. It Is Not Simply a Translation of Words, but Under the Guidance of the Holy Ghost. His Thoughts, as Recorded in Greek by His Specially Inspired Writers, Are Made Known unto Us. By a Servant of Christ.  Strasburg, PA: George N. LeFevre, 1929.  George LeFevre was born in Strasburg, Pennsylvania in 1850 and educated at the University of Lewisburg (later Bucknell University).  He was originally a lawyer but, disturbed by the dishonesty among lawyers, he left the profession.  LeFevre was a member of the Olivet Hard-Shell Baptist Church but finally left that church because the minister married a washerwoman instead of a society lady which disgraced the church.  Later he disinherited a daughter who became a missionary without his approval.  LeFevre never affiliated with another church but focused on his own translation of Scripture.  His translation of the New Testament was an "immersion" version (emphasizing that immersion was the only legitimate form of baptism).  He self-published his translation in a limited edition, and it was never reprinted.  LeFevre writes profusely in defense of his translation and how it is unique in rightly expressing what God has to say to us through Scripture.

Title page of The Christian's Bible: New Testament

In the Gospel of John, Chapter 2 (where the guests drank freely of the so-called "wine" at the Cana feast), LeFevre adds this colorful note:

This does not imply any intoxication, as some misinformed persons have supposed, any more than to say persons "drank freely" of lemonade.  The Greek word that specifically means an intoxicating wine or beverage is not used at all in connection with this miracle.  Christ here did instantly what he does in several months through His natural laws, made the healthful juice of the grape; or what He called "the fruit of the vine" when He instituted the Lord’s Supper; and what we today call – unfermented wine, which was the common drink of the Jews.  Intoxicating wine was considered spoiled wine, just as today when the housewife finds a jar of her canned fruit has fermented, she speaks of it as spoilt.

Notes on John 2

Copies of LeFevre’s New Testament are very rare, and this particular copy includes a hand-written letter from LeFevre to a churchman who had just purchased a copy, which was being sent by mail to him.    

 

The Holy Bible: A Purified Translation: The New Testament

Reynolds, Stephen Mills.  The Holy Bible: A Purified Translation: The New Testament.  Glenside, PA: Lorine L. Reynolds Foundation, 2000.  Stephen Mills Reynolds, the translator of this version of the New Testament, was born in 1909 in Ohio, educated at Miami University, Princeton University, and Columbia University, ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1934, and served as a chaplain in the U. S. Navy during World War II.  In many places, he translates the word “wine” as “grape juice.”

In the story of the Last Supper in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus takes the cup and says, “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”  An accompanying note states: “Jesus called the drink of the Last Supper ‘the fruit of the vine.’  This excluded alcoholic wine, which is not the fruit of the vine but rather the excretion of yeast, a microorganism that does not come directly from the vine.”

Notes on Matthew 26 (left) and John 2 (right)

The explanation of why Jesus performed the miracle of turning the water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana (John 2) is even more amusing.  Reynolds admits that Jesus did perform this particular miracle, but for a very interesting reason.  He says that Jesus only did this because his mother Mary was so insistent.  That was because at this time in her life Joseph had died, she had fallen on hard times and gone into the catering business.  She was catering the wedding feast and the fact that they ran out of wine was a bad reflection on her ability to perform her job.  He goes on to say that Mary never asked Jesus to perform this particular miracle again because she was afraid that “strong drink” would come between her and her place at the cross.  Sharing this story with some students at Columbia Theological Seminary, one of them commented, “Well, I guess after Cana, Mary only catered ‘immaculate receptions!’”

Non-religious Books

Inebriety: Its Source, Prevention, and Cure

Palmer, Charles Follen.  Inebriety: Its Source, Prevention, and Cure.  Philadelphia: The Union Press, 1907.  Eighth edition.  First published in 1896, Inebriety offered a comprehensive overview of the neurologic and psychiatric science of the time, using lay terms which were more accessible to a general readership.  Palmer couched neurological and psychiatric aspects of behavioral therapy into a paradigm of moral behavior; cognitive-behavioral techniques, for example, were described as "purging evil thoughts."  This moralistic language, combined with the readability of the text, made the book extremely popular with temperance adherents.  The book was regularly reviewed in religious publications, keeping it in demand.  By 1899, the book was already in its seventh edition, and had sold more than twenty-five thousand copies by the time of its eighth printing in 1907.  A popular feature of the book was a fold-out flow diagram visually depicting the characteristics and mental activity of inebriant (abnormal) behavior, titled "Diagram of the Moral Manifestations Resulting from the Normal and Abnormal Conditions of the Nervous-Mental Structure."

"Diagram of the Moral Manifestations Resulting from the Normal
and Abnormal Conditions of the Nervous-Mental Structure"

The Eighteenth Amendment

Murphy, David A.  The Eighteenth Amendment.  New York: Peter P. Mulligan, Inc., 1923.  Published a little over three years after the passage of the Volstead Act in July and the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment in December of 1919, The Eighteenth Amendment explores theories of how and why Prohibition became "the supreme law of the land" as Warren Harding declared.  Like many, if not most, Americans, Murphy was stunned not only by the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment but also by its rapid progression through the process.  He asks, "What happened in Congress and in the ratifying legislatures that 'this amazing invasion of our liberties' should fall upon a constitutionally free people?"

Murphy argues that Prohibition was neither the will of the people nor the desire of Congress.  He posits that someone or something drove Prohibition behind the scenes and questions whether the truth will ever be known.  He then works through a series of theories—both founded and unfounded—to examine the controversial amendment and to answer the question, "Who would benefit the most?"  Among the possible benefactors of Prohibition: soft drink makers!  Murphy speculates:

About the time Prohibition went into effect, ginger ale and other soft drink makers (some of them using the drug caffein in their mixtures) and distributors began heavy selling campaigns, engaging high-priced press agents just released from reform and similar drives and operating offices in Washington in proximity to the House of Congress and not far from the House and Senate buildings.

This copy is inscribed on the front free end paper, "with compliments of the author, D. Murphy."

Author's inscription

The Poisoner's Handbook

Blum, Deborah.  The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York.  New York: Penguin Press, 2010.  Deborah Blum is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and science writer.  In The Poisoner's Handbook, Blum chronicles the pioneering work of chief medical examiner Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler in the 1920s as they begin a forensic study of poisons and toxins as murder weapons.  While they focus on mysterious deaths and murders, Norris and Gettler begin to see other, less insidious ways toxins unwittingly harm and kill people.  The effects of Prohibition are a case in point: Prohibition sparks a chemistry war between bootleggers and government chemists, resulting in cocktails becoming "a game of Russian roulette" in New York's speakeasies.  As a result of Norris's work, in 1927 he was elected chair of the advisory board of the Association Against Impure Liquor.