[Rarebooks] FS: Woman Missionary's Commonplace Book, 1830s

[Bob Petrilla]

Anonymous. WOMAN MISSIONARY'S COMMONPLACE BOOK: Handwritten in India, South
Africa, and Connecticut, 1832-1837. Original manuscript. 266pp, written in
ink, in a small and legible hand. The entries are labeled variously:
Calcutta and Hartford, Connecticut in 1832; Edington, Wiltshire in 1834;
Cape Town, South Africa in 1835; Madras, India in 1836 and 1837. Bound in
vellum-backed plain boards, much scuffed; contents clean and tight.  9" x
7.25"  Good condition.
This commonplace book focuses on the writer’s three main interests:
Anglican missionary work, India, and biography. The first two of these
often intersect, in entries such as excerpts from R.C. Money’s “Christians
in India” (8 ½ pp.), an even longer (20+ pages) excerpt from “Historical
and Ecclesiastical Sketches of Bengal,” (a work printed at Calcutta in
1829), and poems such as “The Ganges” and other works, many written by
Anglican ecclesiastics, including John Turner, Bishop of Calcutta. One long
section relates to the first Bishop of Madras, Daniel Corrie, who was
appointed in 1835 and died in 1837. Our compiler copies six poems and
articles relating to him and his death. There are also two poems to Laura
Corrie, one written by her grandmother, who is presenting her with a cross
on the day of her marriage in 1835. Both poems were entered by the compiler
of this commonplace book at Cape Town in 1835 and tagged as being composed
by “H.E.”  Many of the religious poems are tributes to various reverends
and bishops (all named) who have died, and some poems have the compiler’s
“footnotes” added, e.g. “he was going to India as a missionary and arrived
at Madras.” There are a number of religious poems by Anglican hymn writers
including Edmeston, Bowring and Bromley, and there are also numerous
extracts from The Christian Intelligencer, The Christian Observer and The
Christian Guardian. Also present several inspirational poems involving
death. Our compiler is interested in biography as well, and includes many
passages on the lives of British poets and writers (Bunyan, Edgeworth,
Richardson, etc.). Her favorite subjects are writings by or about Samuel
Johnson and Mrs. Thrale (10 pages); and those by or about Hannah More (22
pages). The final 68 pages of the book are devoted to Agnes Strickland’s
biographical works on the Queens of England, Scotland, etc., with page
numbers from the original books scrupulously noted.   $250.00

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